NFL Daily with Gregg Rosenthal - TNF Recap & Week 5 Locks!

Episode Date: October 5, 2018

In a room filled with heroes – Dan Hanzus, Gregg Rosenthal, Marc Sessler & Chris Wesseling – react to Tom Brady’s 500th career passing touchdown on Thursday night prime time (:05) & the plot thickens in Wess’s endeavor to anoint a best man (7:15).  The heroes then explore Week 5’s match ups and share their locks of the week, including – can Tennessee keep their win streak going in Buffalo (8:40), the Baker Mayfield-lead Browns charge into battle against division rival Ravens (20:05), who will prove triumphant in a rematch of last season’s NFC Championship game (47:35), will Josh Rosen impress in his second start (52:45) & is Washington’s defense stingy enough to stymie Brees and the Saints (1:04:40)?Learn more about your ad-choices at https://www.iheartpodcastnetwork.comNFL Daily YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/nflpodcastsSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

This is an I-Heart podcast. Hey, everybody. Daniel Jeremiah here. And I'm Bucky Brooks. On Move the 6th, we take you inside the game from breaking down college prospects and NFL rookies to evaluating team building philosophies, coaching trends, and how front offices construct winning rosters. We study the tape, talk to decision makers, and give you a perspective you won't find anywhere else.

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Listen to the NFL Fantasy Football podcast on the IHeart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. Toyota, the official automotive partner of the NFL. Visit Toyota.com slash NFL now to learn more. White the single back behind Brady, who's under center. He screens it left. The catch made by Patterson ducks into the end zone. Touchdown, Patriots. Street to the right.

Brady takes the staff. And he throws in left for a wide open white who dives into the end. end zone touchdown Patriots a first in 10 from the Cole 34 Brady with a play fake to Michelle stands in the pocket bouncing right sliding back left directing traffic a lot of time to launch a long hierarchy pass to the end zone caught by Gordon in the right side in the end zone touchdown Patriots so sexy flash Gordon number 500 in the regular season career a sexy Thursday night victory for the New England Patriots 38 to 24 over the game

Indianapolis Colts who put up quite a fight considering they were down about 10 starters in the game. I'm Greg Rosenthal. I've got Chris Wessling with me. We're going to get to Dan Hansis and Mark Sessler and preview all the week five games

in just a minute, but let's start with Brady to Gordon, Chris Wessling. Are you feeling better about the Patriots offense after the last couple of weeks? Yeah, I wouldn't say because of Josh Gordon, but the way they came out with Julian Edelman and that chain-moving methodical, you know, just bully your way down the field or, you know, however Tom Brady's

been doing it for the last ever many years, they look like the same offense, you know, on that first drive. And then, you know, the Jordan thing is just a great play and bad defense. I'm not reading too much into that. Well, he did a great job, just the athleticism. If you watch him cutting back for the ball and even the cut that he made to peel off to kind to get open for Brady. It gives you some indication of what he could do in the future.

But, you know, as a Patriots backer, you do see some identities starting to form and them figuring out. Number one, they've got a really good interior offensive line. They're blowing open holes in the running game. That definitely helps. Huge holes. It's helped Sony Michelle a ton the last couple of weeks. And then they have a lot of guys who are run-after catch guys.

Philip Dorset, you know, when he gets the ball. Gordon can be that eventually. Julian Edelman looked like Julian Edelman tonight, looked very strong. James White is going to be a huge part of the offense. And it's a lot of guys can get the ball too quickly. Brady gets the ball out of his hands and they can make some plays. And they're starting to kind of figure out what it is that they do well. I was happy to hear Troy Eggman say early in the game that Brady came to James White

and said, I'm going to have to lean on you more because I feel like he's been underutilized going back to last year. If they toy around with Rex Burkheads and Dionne Lewis's and all these other guys, and it's like, yeah, but James White has always been your best passing down guy. Let's use them more. Yeah, and they don't have any choice now. Sony-Michel is getting a ton of work, and James White's going to get a ton of work, and that's just the way it's going to be moving forward. With that said, you know, the Patriots were extremely lucky in this game to catch the Colts

who were down five starters going into the game, you know, three on offense, two on defense, and then lost a handful. more during the game on four days rest, on the road. It could have been an even bigger blowout, if not for the two interceptions from Brady that were both drops by the Patriots. But once again, we've talked about it all year. The Colts have been pretty impressive in terms of how scrappy they are, really on both sides of the ball.

And even though they're one and four, if I'm a Colts fan, I'm feeling good because Andrew Luck looks like Andrew Luck again. By my count, they lost eight starters on defense by the end of this game. Right. It was ridiculous. And had no quit in them. And to me, they put forth more effort with, and this wasn't a fair fight. They were playing with one hand tied behind their back and still put up more of an effort than some of their previous iterations, which just bowed to the cult.

And I think Andrew Luck's a huge part of that. You saw the emotion when the cult intercepted a pass from Brady that kept it a 14-point game, and luck is going crazy on the sideline, getting everyone else excited. Like, he is loving playing football, and even though his arm is getting better every week, and maybe it's not the canon that it used to be, it's obviously. Well, you can tell he trusted so much more the last two weeks than he did the first two weeks. But the thing I was going to say was, okay, the arm's getting better. But you know what doesn't change is, like, his feel of the game of football and his intelligence and his leader, all that stuff, I think, has been there.

His movement in the pocket. Right, that's all there. And that, to me, is a great sign. I think the coaching staff for the Colts is so much better. You are not what your record says you are all the time. They're much better than one and four. In long term, if I'm a Colts fan, I think they might have a shot in some of these Colts-pats games in the future.

Even if he's still getting his arm strength back a little bit, like he seems more precise to me. Even when we are questioning the arm strength early on, he's been accurate. And some of those passes tonight were just gorgeous. If I'm a Colts fan, I'm feeling pretty good because nobody expected them to be a contender this year. But like you said, the positive signs are there.

They're so undermanned. The way they go in with their backfield every week against actual running back. Yeah, it's rough. And they protected Luckwell tonight, which I think is a little bit of a red flag for the Patriots defense who just does not have. By the way, go ahead. You have, what, 121 passing attempts in five days? That has to be a record.

Yeah, if his arm wasn't, you know, sore or tie. before these two games back to back, it's got to be now. So I wouldn't say all is fixed in New England. They got a big game next week against the Chiefs, but they're certainly looking to be in much better shape and right back in the mix. Let's talk with our buddies about a great week five slate.

There are some bangers on this schedule, and I want to talk about them, so let's send it over to Daniel Hansus. The Around the NFL podcast is Sneaky Bad at Everything. Welcome back. That was a little on the nose. That's nice. To another edition of the Around the NFL podcast, my name is Dan Hansis,

and I'm joined in a room filled with heroes. Mark Sessler, Chris Wessling, and Greg Rosenthal. What is up, boys? Hey, Dan. Hey, Chris. Sneaky bad at being bad at podcasting. Oh, I turn that right around on. Matt Money Smith.

A little double negative for you. That's how grammar works, Matt Money-Smith. Learn it. Classic Zessler. All right. Great times this week on the Around the NFL podcast. We hope you're following along. We're now, this is our third ep of the week.

We have the Tuesday Twitter show, which again you could catch up on any time you want. And now this is our Thursday preview show. You heard at the top of the show, of course, a dynamite. dynamite recap of Colts Patriots by Wes and Greg. I really liked what you guys did with that. And now we're going to, it was good. Thanks. Yeah.

And now we like to spread my wings with these little recaps. I'll be on my way to Tybee by the time anybody hears this. Ooh. Yeah. What do you got going on there? Keish and I are just going for about 40 hours to go down and check out some wedding stuff and then fly back in time for Sunday's games. Weddings in May, right?

Weddings in May. We've got to find a venue. We have to check some other wedding thing. I have like a major spidey sense on a massively delayed plane on the way back, and Wes doesn't get here until about Tuesday. Streets are talking, by the way, on David Ely and his chances to be best man, which we've talked about on this podcast. Yeah.

Let's just say, I feel like the odds have been going up and up. And a certain, you know, there was another, you know, there's a question whether he's going to be there at all. Let's just put it to that. You've been clean to that notion. Wes, who would have a better shot of being? and your best man. And not be a big wedding. David Ely or Loose Cannon? Lose Cannon. No, there's major issues going on downstairs with Ely and his team. And that's trickled down to you guys as well.

And I think Dave, before he's the best man, needs to get his own ship under control. Before he's the best man, he needs to be the best boss. Oh, I like Dave. He's an excellent boss. Let's check in with Dave next. Don't take it halfway. Come on. Eric and I in London. We did some bonding in London. You know, she's, it's hard for David. No, I say Erica's raced into the standings here. Yeah, I would wear a tux for you, West. Thank you. Love that.

We'll get Eelion next week maybe to just see where he's at because it took quite a lot of fire just now. We're going to go through each of the week five games, and why don't we get it going and why don't we start with a AFC affair? I almost fell into the trap there. Oh, shoot, it's going to come up soon enough. Let's see if I have any intra-inter situations going on this week. We should have that under control.

We got one coming up a little later, so we'll see how it goes. The Tennessee Titans. Some people call them the Titans. Some people call them Titans. One thing you have to call them is a winner of three straight games. Each of those wins coming by three points. Now they travel to Buffalo to face the Bills, who with the exception of one shining effort in Minneapolis in week three,

have looked like the worst team in the NFL. Well, you could certainly make that argument. So here we go, Mark Sessler. Titans a chance to stack another W before a major showdown with the Ravens in week six. Yes, Sunday night, Wes told me you have to watch Titans Eagles on Game Pass. And I did follow that advice because when Wes likes the game on game pass, it does not disappoint. And I think this Titans team is so completely different than Titans teams of old. And the whole Titans thing at this point does not apply.

two things I really liked about the Eagles game. One, I thought they got great pressure up the middle against Carson Wentz. And it wasn't just Lyman. They were using Malcolm Butler got in Wenz's face. That was fantastic. And I thought that the way that they dealt with overtime, fourth down conversion after fourth down conversion

and Marriota made that one huge money throw to keep the drive alive. Oh my God, after he put the throw on the money for a bomb to Darius Jennings that he just dropped, and he came back and still converted all those fours. So resilient. The only one thing that concern me a little bit, and I don't know if it's a week-to-week thing,

but I sometimes feel like their best runner is Marriota, and I don't see a running game that from quarter to quarter feels entirely sustainable. I think they can fix that. Derek Henry and Dionne Lewis are both around three yards of carry. They got Jack Conklin back their right tackle. The one should help. That should help.

My concern with the Titans, and this is a little bit of a trap game, by the way. You're going to Buffalo, and you've got the Ravens next weekend. You're coming off a big game. a big game against the... It is, but sign me up for a trap game against the... Yeah, no, I hear you on that. But there are two things that I'll point out.

Yes, the running game is heavily reliant right now on the quarterback, a quarterback who struggles to stay healthy. The other half on the defense, which has been very good this season, but keep in mind, their red zone defense is not only been the best in the league this year, and you don't take anything away. Just 20% of red zone trips with the opposition has led to a touchdown. If they kept that pace up, that would be the best percentage since 2000, start tracking these things, is that sustainable or we do for aggression to the mean?

And this is a team that's winning every week by three points. That would be devastating. Yeah, they don't have a lot of margin for error. They have things to be excited about like their rookie Harold Landry. But the one thing is Bill Belichick defenses are often among, if not the tops in the red zone, because they give up a ton of yards. They don't give up a ton of points. That's going to be Mike Brable's philosophy is you let them move the ball a little bit,

but you keep them low on the scoreboard. They've been doing that. And that one game, I might have said it's Sunday night, but that changed my mind on a team and a player more than any game all season in that now I see them as a factor. I want to see Mario to do it again because it was one game, but now I think just the AFC is wide open and it doesn't seem that crazy. What little thing I know I probably alone in this one, I actually really like their new uniforms. I do too. I disagree.

I like the home. The road are fine. The blue on blue, I find atrocious. I don't know what it is. I just, I'm drawn to them. Another thing this team has in its corner, they are feeling themselves. the energy, the way they're swarming, the way their sideline is getting fired up for every, like, effort play. And I think it comes from having so much confidence in their coaching staff.

Players just want their staff to be smarter than the other team's staff. And so far this year, the Titans coaches have been that. And quickly on the bills, I think Josh Allen is going to get thrown so many different looks because he clearly isn't going to be ready to change out of plays right now. And you just see the bills snap the ball on plays that they have no chances. Even if they had better personnel, they would have no chance to get positive plays. And why isn't that going to happen this week? It should.

Moving on, the New York Giants coming off a disappointing home loss to the Saints now travel to Carolina to face the Panthers. The Panthers who ridiculously are coming off a buy week for a game that's going to be played on October 7th. So there will be obviously fresh and they've had time to rest up for the Giants. All of it adds up to a tough task for the Giants. Stephen. Wes? I liked what I saw out of the Giants offense in week three, and it erroneously

led me to believe that they might be breaking out. And then, listen to these two quotes. After Eli Manning, I'm watching that game, and in the middle of the third quarter has not completed a pass longer than 11 yards. Odell Beckham is a little frustrated right now because Eli isn't throwing it to him deep.

And Eli says, risks are not what you want to take. You throw the ball down the field when it's not risky, and then there's forcing things, and that leads to turnovers that leads to mistakes. That's one quote. Here's the other one. Here's Bill Parcells talking about old washed-up quarterbacks.

They're torn between the turnover, which they don't want to make because it's a killer, and throwing the ball when the separation between the receiver and the defender isn't quite enough. They're not confident throwers like they were than when they were younger. And Eli Manning... He's sub-tweeting to Drew Bloodsoe right there, by the way. Since the beginning of the 2016 season,

and this is going back three years now. The Giants are the worst offense in the NFL. They don't average more than 16 points a game. And no quarterback, maybe no player I've ever seen has more excuses made for him constantly than Eli Manning. It's time to score more than 30 points in a game. And they might need to this week because the Panthers' offense is a better offense this year.

The early returns on Norv Turner updating that offense a little bit or basically just getting rid of Mike Shula, I'm liking what I'm seeing in terms of the play calling. This is a team that even when their defense doesn't play as well can put up some points, and I don't see why they wouldn't. And Luke Keakley, not that Luke Keakley needs any love, but he looks extra special this year so far through three weeks, and he'll be a terror shutting down Saquan Bark.

It does feel like the Panthers have not played in about four months, but the last time we saw them, they wiped out the Bengals defense with their ground game. And you are now playing a Giants team that ranks 29th on the ground, and it looks that way sometimes when you're watching these teams, against their defense. I love this matchup for the Panthers. And Dan, I do not love this week. Jimon! Thank you for playing along. I, in fact, like the Panthers so much that I think the are going to get wiped here. The Panthers are my confident. Lock at the week. I'm locking it up.

It's a safe pick, and I feel like you're going to get this one. I am one and three right now. I've got to stop, you know, spinning the dice on totally absurd locks. By the way, West, just let's check in. I know it's a bye week, so he hasn't played four games yet. But Norv Turner over the summer, I see Cam as a guy that can be in the mid-to-high 60s as a completion percentage. Right now, Cam Newton, 65.4%.

Things are looking up for Cannes. It would be by far a career high. 67.4. Ooh, that. I mean, so is the whole league, but yeah. Yeah, I mean, let's give it more than three games. So let's see what happens. 67.4, you're right.

Chris Wesley. Last year, 59.1. That would be quite a jump if you could hold this. Very fun. You're really excited. Moving on, the Miami Dolphins and Cincinnati Bengals are squaring off. This is a Bengals team that is looking a lot better Greg Rosenthal this season at 3-1. They won that shootout with the Falcons last week.

The Dolphins humbled, my goodness, by the Patriots, seems to set up well for us. Cincinnati to keep rolling. Your thoughts? It does, but the Bengals are a little banged up this week. Tyler Ifer obviously is not coming back. John Ross is injured. They've had injuries that are up in the year as we're talking about going into this game, yet you don't really worry about their offense on a week-to-week basis right now. I know Mark is very excited about what Bill Lasers done this year, your boy.

They're huge on Laser right now. I am. I mean, we did a little game pass. special where we handed out some awards and I gave him my early lead for and I typically think offense more than defense for some reason but I gave Bill Laser my assistant coach of the year award which is a very prestigious

that is a real NFL award for some of you that may not know that that is an actual that is voted upon and the Bengals to me I know 2015 was a surge year for Andy Dalton I think this offense to me is the most fun Bengals offense that I've watched since working here in a long, long time, certainly during Andy Dalton's career.

It's not just based around A.J. Green at this point, they are spreading the ball around. And Dalton, to me, you know, two weeks ago, or a couple weeks ago against the Panthers through four picks, you're wondering if he's just going to unwind and fall apart. Comes back against the Falcons last week and played one of the best games I've ever seen play. You say A.J. Green's not the entire passing game. Tyler Boyd has more receptions in yards than Green.

He ranks in the top 12 in both of those categories among wide receivers. They're having a breakout year. What a difference that at the end of that game and back-to-back fourth downs, what is the matchup that Andy Dalton goes to? It's Tyler Boyd against Desmond Truffant, who's the top cornerback of the other team, and Boyd wins that both times. And they're scoring all these points without Joe Mixon.

It looks like Joe Mixon is back this week, although they might lose Gio Bernard. So as long as he got one of those two guys healthy, Gio Bernard, I think, has shown he's one of the best backups in the entire league. So as long as one of those guys out there, they're fine. Why were the Dolphins so terrible last week? What changed other than the opponent? I think the opponent.

I think it was a strange game defensively for the dolphins. It was a bit of a fluky game. I also think just game plan-wise, for whatever reason, the Belichick had Ryan Tannahill holding the ball forever and not knowing what he was seen, dumping the ball off on third and long. I don't think this is some gimmee game for the Bengals. I don't give them that respect yet that I'm just like assuming

that they're going to win week after. I don't think you're going to get that Dolphins game from last week four or five more times this year. They're better than that, but I think there's a major psychological thing going on against the Patriots for all the other three teams in that division. And if you get down against New England, 17 or nothing, which one of those three teams believes they're going to come back and do anything other than get wiped? It was a bit of a game-planned game and like one-busted coverage leads to the Corderole Patterson, a fluky turnover where Tannahill couldn't get the ball. but they also just offensively, that's more of my concern for the dolphins. I'm not sure what they are.

They are counting on Ryan Tannahill to hit the two deep shots of game that he tries, and if he doesn't, they don't have much. Kenyon Drake's not playing. Frank Gore is playing more than Kenyon Drake, which is crazy. And they won the Raiders game because of, you know, trick plays because of Jekine Grant and Albert Wilson. And I don't know if you can count on that every week

to be like the base of your offense. Let's move on. The Baltimore Ravens are 3-1, atop the AFC North. and now they travel to Cleveland to face the Browns who are coming off a very disappointing loss to the Raiders, a game they let get away, didn't get any help from the game officials.

I got some blowback, Mark Sessler, on Twitter from people who are saying, like, all you guys cared about was what the Browns are getting dealt with. The Raiders got banged on some calls too in that game. Earlier. Well, there was a lot that happened in that game, and that is fair. I saw some of that, too. I think, you know, we're probably, we're obviously focused a little bit more on the Browns

because of Mayfield and because of what's sort of happening with them in general. The Raiders, that game did not just come down to the Carlos Hyde's spot and all that business. A lot, the Browns had chances to win that in other areas too. And the Raiders took care of their own business in overtime. You could feel that game was over the minute the Hyde spot did not go Cleveland's way. I loved what I heard from Hugh Jackson this week to get Nick Chubb more involved because I'm watching that game and he finds that extra gear when Gary on Conley has the angle on the first long run and then some of the jump cuts he made on the second long run

this guy needs to be a bigger part of the office. Yeah, you look great. I mean, something that's consistently bit Cleveland every week, and it's easy to kind of just whip through it on Game Pass 2, is they have, I think, hands down, the worst special teams unit in football. It is a disaster, and it's not just the missed field goals. It is punt and kick returns that are creating good field position for the other team.

The second thing is that Baker Mayfield, I think all the targets on this team are getting used to Baker Mayfield's Velocity versus Tyrod Taylor's. A couple of them have mentioned that. There are drops. There were a lot of drops against the Raiders. Callow had an awful game. Five or six.

So terrible drops. I mean, they got to correct that. And they're playing a Ravens team that gives up 2.3 points per game in the second half and has the lowest, in a good way, pass a rating for wide receivers. But you say they give up 2.3 points per game in the second half. They haven't given up a touchdown yet. That's good. So this is a tough matchup for Cleveland.

It's good that they're home. And then the other side on the Ravens, I just want to point out. I know we've talked about it in this podcast, but again, Wes wrote about it and his MVP breakdown. Joe Flacco is playing incredibly well right now. And it's fun to kind of go back to the summer and look at some of the kind of the predictions and the takes and regurgitations of takes that then the season starts and everything goes to hell and everybody doesn't look so smart anymore.

But with Joe Flacco, there was a lot of talk like Flacco looks great in camp. He looks motivated. Lamar Jackson's on his tail, but he's going to make sure he's going to put some distance and he's done that he looks i wouldn't say he's 2012 joe flacko in the playoffs i think he's just as good as well he's throwing the ball downfield more he's throwing the ball with accuracy downfield he looks like a different guy and how much does that have to do with his health which there's no back-and-kne issues this year but also that wide receiver group which has got completely remade and i think you put those two things together and explains a lot's mostly outside

of steve smith why did it take them seven years to get a cast around flaco to make him look better along with the fact he doesn't have a back and truth. I mean, they've tried. They've put resources in. They haven't chosen well. This year they did. It's been one of the few weaknesses of Ozzie Newsom that he loves old wide receivers

who are usually a little washed up. And the ones that he chose this year not as old. They're kind of in the middle of their career, but all had questions about him. And they're all hitting. Willie Sneed is a huge addition for this team. I think the Saints kind of miss them. Not that their offense is struggling,

but I think they wish probably he was on their team and Cameron Meredith was not. And I think the Ravens are going to be even more dangerous because they get Hayden Hurst back this week who look great in the preseason, and I think it's going to be a big factor for them at tight end. It's amazing to me they're playing this well, and Alex Collins hasn't done anything yet.

Yeah, they don't have much of a run. Hayden Hurst could be coming back for Baltimore, their first round pick, so that would be another weapon. Now, Cleveland could not do anything against tight ends in Oakland, so that is a concern. But the Browns, you know what we're going to see? Probably a fun game.

Four for four. They could be four, no. They could be 0 and 4, but every game has been entertaining right down to the last drive. Let's move on the Green Bay Packers coming off that 22, nothing win over the bills in week four. Now travel to Detroit to face the lines. They're one in three. And it's been a frustrating start for Matt Patricia and company, Chris Wesleying. Now they get a Packers team that's still trying to figure it out on offense.

Not only trying to figure it out, but might be starting three different. rookies at wide receiver this week. Randall Cobb has a hamstring injury. Geronimo Allison is concussed and Devante Adams came down with a calf injury that forced him to miss Thursday's practice. They might be starting Marquez Valdez Scantling, Jamon Moore, and Equanimius St. Brown as their three wide receivers. That would obviously be attached for the Lions, but the way Aaron Rogers is playing,

and I got a lot of flack for putting him in my top 10 in the MVP award, that just tells me that these people aren't watching Aaron Rogers play every week. What? Or they've gotten too used to him being great and not seeing how it stands out compared to everyone else. I don't detract from Aaron Rogers because his receivers drops his perfectly thrown passes. He's played, I did the QB index for the first time this week

where I ranked all 32 and you do like an average score per game. I would say he's been the most consistent quarterback where he's basically been the same very good player every week. I had him as number four right now behind Breeze, Gough, and Mahomes. But like, it's hard for me to, But imagine anyone else you would put them below this year other than those three guys. Give me a break. You have to think this is a good outside of the issue, personnel issues for Green Bay.

Outside of that Patriots game, the Lions have the worst red zone defense. They are giving up 35 points per game and 200 yards rushing. Which is a great sign because the Packers are feeling Aaron Jones right now. Aaron Rogers wants him to play. McCarthy's talking him up. That guy's got to get more touches. Stafford looked better last week. He has been really just blending into the background,

which is strange for Matthew Stafford the first three weeks of the season. If missing a lot of deep throws, I thought that was at least a positive for them coming out of the Dallas game. I thought they had jump started their season with the Patriots win and then they lose the next week. They sandwich that Patriots win the Lions with two kind of heartbreaking losses. If they can beat the Packers at home and Packers team that is banged up, you find out you get your feet under yourself again and you're okay at two and three.

It's a big game for the lines because they're kind of banged if they lose. If they lose in that division, you're good thing. If you go one in four, you have a 6.6% chance of making the playoff since 1990. I got to be honest with you. Feeling pretty good about the lines in this game. You're going to, how good? Daddy's one and three. Daddy can't get crazy.

I was going to say. But I would predict them to win this game. We shall see what happens. Moving on, the Jacksonville, Jaguars. the Jets in week four. And now, riding high at three and one. They travel to Kansas City to face the only undefeated team remaining in the AFC.

It is the Chiefs on a short week. Oh, but what a week it was because Patrick Mahomes absolutely cemented himself as a early MVP favorite with a brilliant fourth quarter against the Broncos. They come from behind 27, 23 win. If you want to, if you're hankering for our analysis on that, game and you you're like oh where you obviously are it's the tuesday twitter show we we we we start every episode uh with a breakdown uh what mattered from monday night football so cycle back and check that out if you're curious but now greg rosenthal let's talk about this game

this is the game of the week game of the week oh yeah game of the week i mean this is maybe the game of the year oh slow down drag slow down well just in terms of the match that i you know you're watching this offensive supernova team who has been extra good at home against Supernova against I don't know if that's an underrated

Oasis song but I would say number two all time behind Live Forever I don't think it's I think it's deeply on people's radio

I don't know that was like a smash hit for them I think it's an epic there weren't a lot of epics in the 90s people got sick of it I didn't get sick of it

I'm not sick of watching this it's also like the rare seven minute long radio play right it's true extended Dan long song what was the

back to you guys Yeah, the G&R, back-to-back. November rain was, those are the two kind of epic songs of alternative rock in the 90s. Hi, guys. We're old. Listen to us. The Chiefs in this offense going up against this defense, and you almost get the feeling that the Jaguars are like... Epic by Faith No More, another kind of...

This is long banger. Drag is struggling here to get the plopping fish? Yes. How about Ugly Kid Joe? I hate everything about you. Was that an epic? Well, now you're just naming songs. I like how, like, Erica, who was four and a half years old.

when this happened maybe if not less what year was it how old are you i don't know uh it was ninth we're talking like 1990 made no more that was like 91 maybe gregg's itching gregs itching to talk rap right now yeah you want to get a rap taken there i'm you don't can you figure out how old you were then in 1991 what was the 1991 i was not created wow all right yeah not created yeah interesting terminology that's so concerning i had a job yeah i am so concerned were you made like in a lab or something yeah no i was born in 1992.

Okay. Good year. Yeah, Mark was in college then? No. No, not sure. Getting close. Actually, I was at the tail end. Started in August or September, yeah.

Yep. That's cute. I know. I want to, forget Faith Nemort. I want to talk about Tyreek Hill, Jalen Ramsey. Ugly Kid Joe. It's got to get a lot of attention

because of the trash. I don't care about that as much as just Jalen Ramsey saying, look, I'm going to be up there on the line of scrimmage, press man coverage. Let's see what Tyreek can hill can do what better matchup could you have can we ask for better reporting than title mongering like this has become reporting over the last three or four years in the NFL so-and-so player

said so-and-so about you what do you have to say to that oh damn it's just like old all right it's already a great matchup as gregg said i in fact i would love to pick the jaguars in this game but i can't because the greatest mystery in the NFL in 2018 2017 which blake borders are you going to get in a given week? You just don't know. And D.D. Westbrook had a great game last week against your Jets, Dan. He did. Everybody did, but he did as well.

They have a pretty good receiver group, despite, you know, the big injury that they lost. I mean, Keel and Colin Westbrook, to me, is a fine starting group, and they're explosive. I think if you're the Jaguars, and so far this year, you have one great Bortals game, one good, very good Bortles game, and then two clunkers. Two games where it looked like he did to know how to play quickly. That's just the ratio. That's going to be the ratio. If you're the Chiefs.

I don't think you can win a Super Bowl if that's the ratio that you're getting out of your quarter. Yeah, I don't think they can win a Super Bowl. Well, then that's on them because they spent all offseason trying to convince us how into Blake Bortles they were. But this should be a good one because you're playing the Chief's defense who can't tackle anyone. You can run on that defense too. I mean, if you're the Chiefs, this is the Jaguars,

then you have the Patriots, then the Bengals. We're going to find out what we think. I think it was on our Twitter show where I was saying, I thought this Chief's team is so different than the ones before, but I wonder if I'll be saying that after those three games. Not getting Eric Barry back and then not being able to trade for Earl Thomas, which Ian Rappaport reported they were very keen on doing, is a killer combo.

But they do have players playing well. Like, D. Ford is playing well. And he was back at – played well against Denver. Chris Jones is playing well. You know, they have play – I do think actually the defense can come together. And I would love that.

The secondary would bother me, but the rest of it, yeah. Are we going to get Tony Romo in the booth on this one, right? I would hope so. I mean, Wes watches, do you know that Wes, he watches the condensed generally, but for Romo every week, he just treats himself and watches the full two hours. That's true. Pour myself a glass of wine, get out the charcutor report, watch Tony Romo. I also do that for Packers games.

I would probably like Kleenexes, you know, it's just like a great night at home. I put Romo on Cardinals Niners. That is a heat seeker. Thank you, Ben. Moving on. Oh, let's pick that game. Let's pick Jacksonville, Casey. I'm taking the Jags.

Chiefs. I'm taking the Chiefs at home. I would have taken either home team. This is a coin flip. Let's go with the Chiefs at home. But it could go either way. Moving on, the Denver Broncos, they could not defeat the Chiefs

on Monday night football, dropping to 2 and 2. Painful loss for the Broncos. They now travel to the Meadowlands to face the Jets, who have been woeful since week one. Here's a nug. That's not a great nug.

if you're a jet ban they scored 31 points in the third quarter against the lions in the monday night opener they've scored 41 points in the 13 quarters since so this is an offense that has completely gone off the rails sam donald is missing throws uh i believe the scheming is is not great either the protection is not great the running game's not great everything's a mess so the broncos i think as a road team you got to feel pretty good going into the metal ends because the jets can't score. I'd agree with you. One thing that really bothers me about the Jets watching their offense, and I watched that

Jaguars game this morning, and it's at 38 minutes I will not get back in my life. But it is, I feel for Sam Darnold, because I don't know what's going on. I don't know what the thinking is during the week when they prepare for these games, but we know that he's not throwing the ball deep downfield and not calling those plays. But it's third and seven over and over, and they're asking him to dump the ball off to Isaiah Crowell two yards behind the line of scrimmage and he goes he goes four yards gets ransacked and the jets seem to have they seem to be idea free on offense and it's an indictment of the coaching staff because I do wonder if there was a different group of thinkers in that building that we would

see a different start for Sam Darnold I don't want to let him off the hook I think he's going to have a good career but AJ Boyer dropped the pick six Jalen Ransy dropped an easy interception in the end zone there was a pick called back Arnold's one touchdown came when they recovered a fumble inside the 10-yard line so he didn't have to do much. I mean, he looks lost to me, like Dan said. Well, I would like to know where you rank Case Keenham, Greg, and your quarterback index. Because he's not having a good year. No, he is 24.

It's not like Broncos have a major quarterback advantage. He's 24, which is, you know. It's about where he is. Yeah, it's not great. It's behind Bortles. It's behind Tannahill. he is a guy who needs to play freely, I think. He just feels like a rhythm kind of streaky guy who needs to play freely.

And once he started throwing some interceptions earlier this year, he's not playing as freely. I thought actually his game against the Chiefs was maybe his best game until he missed that throw at the end. But there's just something about him that's just very up and down. And you can almost see him thinking as he's holding the ball. Which has been him most of his career. If you take away last season, we wouldn't be surprised.

And we're not surprised now. I think it's a good matchup for the Jets. I mean, you might say, okay, Broncos feel good for a road game. Sure, but this is a game the Jets can absolutely win. They can win, sure. And just to circle back to Keenham for one more second, that obviously there's only one team that wins the Super Bowl. All the other teams, you can a lot of teams you could point to one play

a season that will just haunt your dreams. And missing Demarius Thomas down the sideline, what a moment that would have been in Denver and what a win that would have been for the Broncos. It could change the whole complexion of that division, and he'll never get that throwback. So I wonder if they'll look back at the season, that will haunt them.

And on that drive, he made a couple money throws, too. I mean, he is, I am not giving up on the Broncos as a team that's going to be hanging around in December and maybe spoil some teams. We're talking about the wildcard teams. I think Denver is just like the dolphins, like the Browns, like the Ravens or the Steelers, they're in the mix, I think. I think what you talked about, that play that Keenham missed

feels to me like the opposite of the play that Mariotta made. and gave the Titans. One of the biggest wins any team will have all year. This was one of the biggest losses any team. Darnold is similarly, I don't know if it's overthinking, but he is trying to figure out the balance of the best thing he does right now is kind of get outside the pocket and make second reaction plays. But trying to figure out the balance of doing that or doing that too much.

Like you've got to be decisive and make a pro. So we spent all last off season glowing and rightfully so over what Sean McVeigh was help how he was helping Jared Goff before the snap and probably all week long. I just feel that what's missing here on this coaching staff, which is pretty, there's not a lot of identity on this coaching staff. Is someone helping Donald the same way? Well, we're going to find out. And I think this is a big game for the Jets season because if they stink out the joint again

and the defense, I think, has been fine on balance. They struggled last week and that's a whole other conversation. But if the Jets are aimless again on offense and Donald just is lost and doesn't look right. I start to worry, as a Jets fan, if this is Jared Gough in 2016, if this is Mitch Trubisky last year, where it's just now a countdown, okay, this is going to be the lost rookie season, and then hopefully they hire the right guy in January. I hope it's not going to go that route. That's what I've been expecting since the day they announced, and I've, and I get that. And I was saying it at the time. I've been expecting that since the day they announced

Todd Bowles was coming back. I never. God damn, if he didn't look great in week one and then often. But wait a minute. But wait a minute. Well, actually, if you go through a painful season and then you get the next Matt Nagy or Sean McVeigh? Aren't you in a much better place? Right. So you do want that. I wanted to have fun watching the season. I don't want to watch another four and 12,

five, and 11. I get that. I want Donald to have growth and be in an offense that's functional and not incompetent, but we'll see what happens. Moving on, the Atlanta Falcons, who have been incompetent on defense this season, 28th in the league overall, giving up more points than all but two teams in the league, and now one and three after letting one get away against the bank. angles travel to Pittsburgh to face the Steelers.

This is another tough game, Wes, for the Falcons, because the Steelers need a win in a bad way, too, and they're in their own building. It's a battle of incompetent defenses. The Steelers' defense isn't much better than the Falcons. I worry about the Falcons. Greg has picked them as one of his teams as he sees as a riser in the second half of the season. They just came off of three really good Matt Ryan games,

and I don't think it's any coincidence. All three of them came in their home field in a dome. and now they go play outdoors, and Matt Ryan didn't play so outdoors in the season opener. I feel so good about this, as a matter of fact. Oh. Uh-oh. What?

That I'm locking up the one-win Steelers. All right. I like that one. That's a good one. I was thinking of locking up the Falcons earlier. Do it. Lock off. When Grady Jarrett was out, that was like, oh, this is too much.

They lost their decks. I mean, it's like every week. Why not just do it anyways? I get it. Because I don't really believe it. I mean, I don't ever really believe my locks, but. He really cares about this segment. What's to win desperately?

Desperate. You want the trophy. Just admit it. You want it on the desk. In a separate segment, you called the Falcons your riser. Yeah. So I would say if they lose this, they have essentially fallen out of the race entirely. If they go one and four?

No, I would. Let's make it interesting. I'd say there's 12 games left. No, I'm not a remotely interesting. When I found a great, Grady Jarrett, losing Grady Jarrett, he's probably the most valuable player on their defense to lose that after what you've seen over the last couple weeks. It's a tough ass.

It's a tough ass, but I think these are two sloppy teams. I just think the Steelers are going to find ways to lose games this year in general. I don't know if it'll be this week or not, but they- Is that a predictable thing? Like, they are sloppy. They just, it just, everything around that team smells like a team that is going to have a franchise-changing type of season. No team in the league has more penalties,

and it shows. For them, that's 8 and 8. So you have to win 8 games along the way. Like, if they go 7 and 9 or 8 and 8, they're going to blow this thing up, and I think they could be headed. One great thing from our research book, and so Tamposi was born in 1992. You have to go back to when she was negative 4 in 1988. The last time his Steelers finished in last place in their division.

That's how consistent in this team is. Mike Tomlin was in high school, Antonio Brown was five months, months old. Negative 4 BLC. That's right. Mike Talman, by the way, get your team under control with all these penalties. Well, to Greg's point, they look slot. You don't see the stat that they have the most penalties.

You're not surprised by it because it shows up every week in killer situations. They're not built for Ben Rathesberger to be a mistake prone, ultimately average quarterback, which he's been through four weeks. Even his good games, like the Chiefs game and what's the other game I'm thinking of? He made a ton of mistakes. Even in their games where they scored a lot of points, he's been pretty sloppy. It's time to get James Washington involved.

And Antonio Brown has not had a really, like, insane Antonio Brown game. Oh, yeah. I think it happens this week, 160 plus yards. Lock it up. If we did, I would lock that up, but it's individual lockups. We're not there yet as a group. No, I meant lock up the Steelers. Oh, no, no, no.

I don't trust the Steelers right now at all. Moving on, the Oakland Raiders, they got a win. needed desperately against the Browns just barely 45-42 the offense came to life though got to give them credit as much as we buried the officials for kind of taking that win from the Browns it was the there was the Raiders who went right down the field scored got the two-point conversion and then won the game in OT so that was a nice win for them they now travel to Los Angeles to face the charges Greg Rosenthal you got Derek Carr Phillip Rivers John Gruden looking to build off that win

I've never felt more different about the chargers than the public does than this team, at least in terms of that I look at them more negatively than the public does. I usually am thinking that they're going to be a great value, let's say. You know, this isn't gambling advice, but they're often kind of undersold. Whereas this year, week after week, people can, you know, people in the desert consider them heavy favorites. And I just don't see that team this year. They're a great offense, special teams that'll get you beat, and a pretty bad defense, which doesn't really have an identity because you were expecting the secondary to be good,

and all the secondary does is give up big play after big play. So I don't know. Joey Bose is killing them on both in the past rush and in the second. 49ers could have easily won that game a week ago. That looked like a team. That looked like a game between two very evenly matched teams. And I see the same. week between the Raiders and the Chargers.

These are just two teams right smack in the middle of the NFL that you kind of expect it's going to come down to the last couple of minutes. And, you know, in that case, I kind of expect like the Chargers special teams are something to blow it sometimes. So two middle of the road, turds in the bowl. You see these two teams is fairly even? I feel like their 2018 play has been very even, yes. They've looked about the same, right smack in the middle.

Raiders, let's see. I think the Chargers' offense is. mountains better than the Raiders off. I do, too. Way, way better. I do too. But the special teams has been so bad for the Chargers. And that's like, I'm not going to ignore that.

And the defense has been just as bad as the Raiders defense. The Chargers have been a little bit better. You're right. They have a lot of... Raiders averaging well over 400 yards per game on offense. The one thing I thought... They have the number nine offense in the league. When you talk about Big Ben being sloppy, Derrick Carr is throwing some awful

interceptions issue. Good running game. I think Marshaun Lynch looks awesome. Yes. He looked awesome. him against Cleveland. What's Doug Martin doing on this roster? I don't know.

He won't be there for long. John Gruden says he feels bad that he can't get Martin in the game. No, Marshall Lynch is one of the stories of the year. But to your point, Wes, the Raiders' ninth in offensive efficiency, according to football outsiders, and that checks out, they've been fine on offense. When the quarterback isn't throwing bad interceptions and when Martavis Bryant, who hasn't had a good year in four years, isn't dropping easy touchdown. I also think that the Chargers' lack of a home field advantage is,

so underplayed. I think it's a significant disadvantage. You think it's underplayed? I feel like it's pretty well established that it's a bad situation. How is it going to improve, by the way, when they move to an even bigger stadium that they can't fill? This whole thing is not much. I think they have less of a chance to win in L.A.

than they do on the road. I think they like being on the road. It was embarrassing last week. The 49ers fans took over that stadium. It's going to be the exact same thing this week with the Raiders. And to me, there's just something deflating and there's something that's going to pick up the Raiders. When you're scoring a touchdown on the road and the crowd's going crazy,

give me a break. Speaking of all pro wide receivers, we're waiting for a breakout from. Keenan Allen has not scored a touchdown since week one and hasn't quite been himself. But this is kind of a bit of a Keenan Allen thing where he'll kind of be quiet and then you forget about Keenan Allen. Then he rolls off like seven, 150-yard games in nine weeks.

That just hasn't happened yet. That'll make their offense a lot better too once that does happen. Donald Penn was placed on injured reserve for the Raiders and their number one draft at Colton Miller has not been playing well at all. tackle. That's one of the reasons they throw the ball so quickly. So that's a problem for them. Let's take a break here to hear from a sponsor. It's the Athletic.

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do go there. Please go to the athletic. I'm a subscriber. That is the number one spot to go to. I'm paying money. Yeah, yeah. Where do you go when you have a choice. Athletic or NFL.com? The athletic. I know where Greg is the model is simple. No ads, no pop-ups and no autoplay videos. Instead, readers subscribe for authentic in-depth

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is yes. It's funny they put that into the ad copy. The coverage will go back. Really shocking. Recaps and trade speculation to provide smarter analysis and a new perspective about the team and league subscribe and be part of the future of sports journals and Mark Sessler is the athletic the future of sports journals and if so, does that make us the past? Absolutely on both accounts.

We are on the wrong side of history right now. The athletic is on the right. We need to think long term. At some point, everyone working in sports will work for the athletic. So just, you know, don't burn any bridges right now. Get on board. I want you to play this back and see if I said one thing

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I'm not trying that. This is Greg. It's either take down the sponsor or your own employer. I just wish I had this, you know, offer code back when I paid. The athletic.com slash around the NFL. NFL back to the games. Yeah, like you'd an expense that, please. The Minnesota Vikings are something up with the Minnesota Vikings.

Something don't feel right. Something's not passing the smell test right now. They're one, two, and one. They hung with the Rams on the road in a tough situation. That was a tough game for any team. And on balance, the Vikings acquitted themselves well, but they couldn't get over the hump, which is telling, because they were viewed as a favorite in the NFC.

Now they need a win, and now they have to go to Philadelphia to face the defending Super Bowl. Super Bowl champion Eagles. Mark Sessler is an NFC championship game rematch, but this time it's Kirk Cousins and Carson Wentz instead of Case Keenham and Nick Bowles. It's a depressing rematch, I think, for Vikings fans, just because it feels like you're far away from that game right now.

I came out of the Titans game not worried at all about Carson Wentz. But that game was a really bad game for the Vikings. But the idea that you're just going to soar back to the championship against the Eagles or fill in the blank, there's a lot of questions because my the Vikings to your doesn't smell right situation with Minnesota their offensive line that's right you can see you can make that that is a hidden sound effect I don't need that sound like that's worse than me so phony the Vikings don't smell can we cease with that please probably not it's probably going to go on for the next like

nine to 12 weeks that would be my guess their offensive line is a major issue they bail on the run slash cannot run the ball there are too many players on their defense completely underperforming. They gave up 15.8 points for game last year. They're up to almost 30 right now, 27.5. They're stacked roster-wise

and outside of, I mean, Adam Thielan and parts of the offense are what we'd expect, but the whole defense right now has, did anyone really think they were going to beat the Rams at any point last week? I didn't.

No. Not for one second. But I thought they were hanging around. I didn't, but they played great offensively. They made the Rams defense as their little. My issue is their defense, though. They couldn't do a thing against

the Rams. But the Eagles aren't the Rams. No, they're not. I'm not saying that they can't win this game. And after watching what Corey Davis did to Jalen Mills, I think that Thielen and Stefan Diggs are licking their chops because this Eagle's secondary without Rodney McLeod and with Jalen Mills really in a slump, they are not playing well. Defense was disappointing against the Rams. That's meant to be their strength. Late when Kirk Cousin was dropping dimes in the first half, you did get the feeling, oh, they need this game, they want this game after the bills lost, but their defense just could not do anything. Short week. And, playing the Rams and we're dealing with some new injuries in their secondary.

They should be a little healthier for this one. And when you look at the Eagles, they're not the same team, obviously, that won the Super Bowl. They've been very mediocre. They're lucky to be two and two. The two wins that they had could have easily gone the other way, and they were outplayed in parts of those. And the biggest change to me for the Eagles is their offensive line is what defined them last year, and their offensive line is getting Carson Wentz killed right now.

They got beat up by Tennessee. 17 hits in both of the last weeks. The Colts beat them up pretty good up front, too. So that just makes you wonder, because that's kind of what you think of as the Eagles. It is. Really good football talk so far in today's episode, guys. I'm picking the Vikings in this game.

You need a little more mirth. Picking an upset. No, really good. So far. Yes, let's pick the game. West, you got the Vikings and an upset. Yeah, I don't think it's going to be a blowout or anything. I just have a feeling the Vikings' backs are against the walls,

and they're going to come up and winning it. How about you, Mark? I think the Eagles are not about to go two and three. They're going to win. I thought we had you again. Double back on your predictions. Keep getting them going inside out. No, because I, but this is the end of the slide.

There's going to be a riser in this quarter of the year. That is because of who they have coming up down the stretch. And by the way, my prediction ends this week. And I said they would lose three in a row, and this will be the third straight loss. Well, you can't really say three. They had already lost one when you made their prediction. Is it factual that it would be a third loss? You predicted two losses in a row

But then you predict them to win the little game But I will say that the Twitter show graphic was generous And said three when that's not really what I said You said they'd lose twice in a row as road underdogs Am I? Listen, am I right? We'll find out if I'm right This whole narrative dies It goes to Ben

Listeners, you're as confused as we are Just know that. I think any listener who is intelligent And can read context clues is hanging with us The Arizona Cardinals Wait, you didn't pick the game What's your pick? I got the Eagles Even though the Eagles aren't playing great

I don't like the Vikings this year. I'm going to lock it up and take the Eagles. Oh! Not that. Why not? I like that. I don't like this Vikings team. You want a little trivia question?

Yeah. Only one defending champion has started a season two and three and gone on to make the playoffs. One ever. What's the question? Which team? Seems like an obvious setup to the question there. Was it the...

He got you pretty good. Was it the Cowboys the year Emmett Smith held out? You got right team, wrong year, the 96 Cowboys. I just shouldn't have a toaster maybe. Pulled a Sessler and got too specific with my answer. The Arizona Cardinals, 0 and 4. They've been competitive at least in the last two weeks. They lost by two points to the Bears, three points to the Seahawks.

Wait, you're giving out cookies, cupcakes? Yes. For the Cardinals and their fans, yes, I'm going to do it. All right. Here are your cookies, ladies and gentlemen. They now travel to San Francisco to face the 49ers. Wes and Josh Rosen gets the build-off a promising first start. It was not bad in that game.

Yeah, I thought this is a battle of two quarterbacks that played better than you would think looking at the box scores or hearing people talk about it. Josh Rosen made some big throws and the ball placement on that one throw down the sideline to Chad Williams between two defenders that was, I think, overturned and called a non-catch when it was definitely a cat. Well, it looked like a catch to me. Anyway, yes, Josh Rosen's promising first start. I liked what I saw out of him, and it wouldn't surprise me if they won this game.

That was the highest-graded performance by a rookie quarterback in their first start. I think that pro football focus has ever had. Really? Which surprised me, but there may not be like a long list. And it was one of the reasons why I was especially furious at Mike McCoy. And really, Steve Wilkes, he said he was the one who told them to run at three straight times. Josh Rosen was dealing in the fourth quarter of that game. He was the best player on the team, and they took the ball out of his hands.

And that's why I really, as I'm someone that's rooting for Rosen in general, I just really like him, want him to do well. And I'm convinced this is the wrong staff for him, and I'm annoyed by that. Because it's, I don't know it by it, too. It might be for a few years here. It's not a great start for this. In a bad team.

Coaching. And a bad team, too. Do you like C.J. Beth, I do think that he might be, like, one of the 35 best quarterbacks in the NFL. Wow. I think that he's. His arm isn't like what you have went from a starter. but, and he's going to get hurt because he sits in there and takes too many hits,

but I do like him. He can definitely move the chains. Telling that Shanahan, they could have gone out and tried to find someone else or made some sort of a trade and shown ultra confidence in him right away. I also am annoyed that Kyle Shanahan doesn't have a better team. Here he's now wasting a year two, essentially. And I think he can be one of the great coaches in the league, but he's right in the middle of his coach in Prime.

And that is one reason to believe in Bethard, though, is because this is the guy Shanahan wanted. in the third round last year, way earlier than people expected. And it's the guy that Shanahan's been coaching every day and believes in for a year and a half. So that alone, if Kyle Shanahan believes in him, makes me believe in him. Let's continue to spin through the late games on Sunday.

The Los Angeles Rams, after a little mini-buye travel to Seattle to face the Seahawks. Rams, you want to talk about consistency on offense in their first four weeks, 33 points, 34 points, 35 points, 38 points. It's a team that averaged 30 points last year. in the 16 games, the starters played. They faced a Seahawks team, Greg, that has kind of gotten off the mat here with back-to-back wins,

but this is going to be a much bigger challenge and they had against Dallas and Arizona. It is especially because Earl Thomas isn't there. I mean, I think there's been so much focus on the off-the-field stuff with Earl Thomas that we kind of lose the fact that this is a team in Seattle, I think had a chance to make the playoffs. I know they're an ugly team, but I think they're going to be tough to play at home.

think the defense is coming together. And Earl Thomas, other than Bobby Wagner, you know, is maybe the most valuable player on that defense. Maybe he's even more valuable than Wagner. And now you take him out of the mix and it's just a little harder to imagine them slowing the Rams down. One thing I'm keeping an eye on with the Seahawks is a guy Mark loved in the preseason David Moore.

They are talking about taking some snaps away from Brandon Marshall and giving him than David Moore. And I can't wait to see that happen because I thought David Moore should a lot of playmaking ability in the preseason. Why not do that? I was thinking about this Rams team. Could they beat an AFC Pro Bowl team? An AFC Pro Bowl defense, if you put up the Rams for four quarters.

No. I mean, well, it's a weird alternate universe where this team has to be training the entire offseason together with a quality head coach. But if that's... No, I think because there be such a talent, like, in theory, the talent would be so much more for the Pro Bowl team, that they have that one week. And then they get the Rams team in, like, week 14. Yeah. I would take a lot of NFL teams over a one-week Pro Bowl team. I think the continuity of knowing every, you know, being a team.

I mean, in this case, I'm not just saying any team. I'm saying the Rams star power. They're like they could have seven pro bowlers. Can you ask you a question? I guess. This is how the show works. You're allowed to. Are they, is this pro bowl team playing a 3-4 or a 4-3?

They're very hybrid. They mix between the two at will. I have a surprising question. I have no idea why. Is it a home game for the Rams or are they on the road? It would be in Honolulu. a neutral site. Then that would be a Pro Bowl home game, right?

I mean, I guess. No, that's a very milk toast fan. I don't know if the, like, why Kiki locals are like, yeah, we really support Team Sanders. Is Dion Sanders the coach? Rams games are not the biggest home field advantage in the league either, by the way. Who's the defensive coordinator matching wits with Sean McVeigh? The loser of the AFC championship.

Or, or Dion Sanders? Right, is it Dion Sanders? And, like, Jerry Rice is his offensive coordinator? I'll take the Rams. If it's Dion. Sean McVevorst, Michael Irvin. I'll go with the Rams. Where were we?

In Seattle for a big game that... This was the game. Remember last year when the Rams, it was kind of that, hey, this is the changing of the guard. At the moment that the Rams went up there and cleaned their clocks, it wasn't necessarily clear

that the Rams were even going to win the division. And now it just feels like it could be stunning if the Seahawks won this. The Seahawks are still not taking care of Russell. Dwayne Brown might be there, but he's taking more sacks and QBiex. hits against the Rams in his career than any other team.

So they go and get Russell Wilson, and he's their only hope, I think, in this game. He has one of those special Russell Wilson. He needs to play better. I mean, I can smell the 12s coming at me this week because Russell Wilson's 21 in the QBN. I don't think he's played. Why are we so into smelling on this preview show? Everyone's smelling things. It's kind of gross.

I don't like it. Less, let's please. Greg's got a little congestion up there. I mean, it's a big hunker. It's all relative. There's always going to be something up there. Let's move on. Gross, the Cowboys.

Why? Why did you say that? What the hell is going on out there? The Cowboys. What are you talking about? Apologies, Erica. I'm just saying I got a big nose. There's a lot to fill.

I never noticed you had a big nose. Why can't it simply be two clear channels? Why must it be congested in your mind all the time? Let's get back to the Rosenthal family tree. Is that a trait? Oh, yeah, me and my dad, nice big. I mean, his is bigger, but, yeah, nice big one. I think you have a nice nose girl.

Yeah, I never noticed. The Cowboys, Sunday Night Football. Sometimes a big nose can be nice. It depends. No doubt. We'll take your word on that. Scotty Pippin? Sunday Night football.

The Cowboys are back on Sunday Night Football again. And they are two and two, and they had a last second win against the Lions. that was set up by Dack to Zeke. So that was a nice win. Jarrah's feeling himself. The Cowboys feeling good. Now they travel to Houston to face the Texans who got off the mat after an 0-and-3 start

outlasting the Colts, 37 to 34. Mark Sessler, was that a breakthrough for the Cowboys' offense at the end of last week? Or is it still a situation where you're wondering how they're going to score points to win games? I'm not wondering if they have. one of the best players in the entire league in Ezekiel Elliott. I will continue to

wonder about the rest of the offense. That wasn't the question. What was the question? I thought am I still worried about their offense. Is it a sign of things to come the way they were able to get those points at the end of the game? No, I don't think that is, if anything, maybe an aberration against a Lions team that's getting crushed on defense three out of four games so far.

The answer is the 1996 Cowboys. Hey, listen, a little trivia question. I give Wes half a point for that. I'll take it. He got the right team. That was a funny. Yeah, call back. What was the setup here?

What am I supposed to be doing at this point? You answered it? I apologize, Mark. This game is on my radar, and I may have to somehow schedule a doctor's appointment on Sunday night or something that will get me out of watching this. Do you want to go back to the ER? I might, because this is two teams that have so much ego

that they refuse to solve their own issues in the offseason. The Cowboys simply said, we're going to cut Des Bryant, do nothing at wide receiver, and hope that a rookie redraft and talk about him as he's on, you know, a number one X wide receiver, and then you find out now you got nothing. And the Texans, I understood that you added a few linemen, but not a single one of them have a grade of higher than like 56 on PFF right now. It's a disastrous line out of 100.

I mean, you get into like the green territory when you have like the 70s and 80s. I mean, please, be competent. And I think they look at their backfield. They had an injured running back who was good last year, but he was injured this offseason. and you're trying to tell us that two-time-making leap bust Lamar Miller is your starter in 2018. Sit down.

It's going to be hard to follow that if you just killed both teams. Titans right-tackled Julian Davenport or Texans tackle Julian Davenport have five penalties the week before. So they benched him and then left tackle Martinez Rankin got worked over last week by the Colts. This is an awful offensive line. And I'm not sure if they're even the worst position group on this team. Their cornerbacks are wretched.

They don't cover anyone. Then again, like, you know, boo-hoo, you have to watch a football game with Dishon Watson, J.J.J. Watt, Jedevian Clownie, Ezekiel Elliott, DeAnd Marcus, Lawrence, cry me a river, buddy. I have my preferences, and that's your preference, not mine. I'm just saying there's some. I do think to Sean Watson in the offense, again, in the end of that Colts game, look good. You're missing a couple of stories.

Jalen Smith is a star now. And Layton Vanderash, the Cowboys' first round pick played really well. in place of Sean Lee last week. Was that Chedevian Clowney's best game? This year, by far. I'm ever? I don't think ever. No, he's had some dominant games.

But you're right. Vandreche, even when he came in for when Lee first got hurt two weeks ago, he just popped to the point that I don't think they're going to take him out of the starting lineup anytime. That's good. They've got to figure out how to stay on the field. Jalen Smith might end up losing some snap. They're going to play three linebackers.

How many years did Sean Lee get hurt and the Dallas defense immediately went down the two? 14 or 15. Good point. Depth is good there. That's why you're in the lab. Thank you. Thank you. And anytime, Mark, you want to join us, open advice.

I feel completely confident roaming around unscathed on the other floors of the house. Locking you in that lab. Speaking of locking, when we talk about that wide open AFC, we're running out of time here. When we talk about that wide open AFC, I believe the Houston Texans are going to be in that mix as well. And you know what, to get into that mix, you can't start one and four. You need to start stacking some dubs and put yourself in position. to make a December run, and that's why at home, Deshaun Watson knocking off the rust now, looking better and better.

Watt is back to being J.J. Watt, Clowny, prime time, the crowd, and a Cowboys team, yes, the defense is much improved, but that offense stinks, and you know it. That's why I'm going to lock up the Houston Texans. Also to get their one and three, I'm one and three in locks. We're both going to be two and three by Sunday night. Shoot for the stars. Bang. Bang.

Sit down, Newt, Rockney. Let's move on Monday night football. He's been sitting for some time or prone. The Washington Redskins are too or cremated. I don't really know what they did with Rockies' body after he passed away. It's actually a very painful topic for the family. Yeah, I'm going to move on. The Washington Redskins, Monday night football coming off that ridiculous week for by travel to the Superdome to face the Saints.

The Saints, we talked about earlier, took care of business against the Giants, a nice road win for that team. Now they're back in the dome. And Chris Wessling, sneaky good Redskins defense. Can they slow down Drew Brees and the Saints? I like the way you use sneaky good there because the Redskins defense is better than people think. I believe statistically they're top five this year.

I don't know if they're going to end up there, but they're a top 10 defense. The Saints are feeling themselves on offense. Alvin Kamara had a great game and Taysam Hill. This guy, you hear all... Put him on the MVP list. I put him out of mind. Come on, Greg.

Calm down with the Taysam Hill stuff. You hear all August about how the Ravens are going to do this and they're going to do that with Lamar Jackson. The Saints are going to do so much more with Taysam Hill this year than the Ravens are ever going to do in 2018 with Lamar Jackson. This guy gets the ball in his hands and makes plays. And you get Mark Ingram back, which I think is, I have no problem with a team getting a fresh hard-nose running back in week five.

You've gotten the first month of the season out of the way. this is an asset to the Saints. I mean, sometimes suspensions are not the worst thing if they play into keeping you healthy. Tom Brady, 2016, I think it was a factor and then went in the Super Bowl. That's a good point. Keep him healthy.

By both of you. Dan, obviously, agreeing. Oh, my God, what a point. I also like, like, Sean Payton, he, like, wears kind of everything that he does on his sleep. He wants to let you know how smart he is with Taysam Hill. And I embrace that. Like, he wants to show you, look at this, I'm going to have fun.

You don't think I'm going to take out Drew Breeze on one of the biggest snaps of the game. I'm going to do it, and it's going to work. And Tassam Hill is a freak of nature that I want to make everyone know. It feels like a bad quality for most humans, but a good quality for an offensive coordinator. Yes. Greg, you're very excited about Tassim Hill. But you're right, though. Like, when he is on the field, he pops.

He moves fast. His body type is, it doesn't really make sense. He looks like a quarterback. But then he'll, like, shoot. He'll go up, though, in between the tackles. He'll go out of Christian McCaffrey, or he'll bolt to the outside. He claims he's faster. I don't know, but.

He claims he's faster than Alvin Camara. And he's like one of the best gunners on special teams in the league. I think Vic and RG3 are the only quarterbacks ever to run a faster 40 than Taseom Hill. This is a tasty Monday Night, man. I really like this. Let's pick this one. Any Adrian Peterson revenge factor here? This is a team that cut him to the win.

I don't think the Saints did Adrian Peterson wrong. Mark. All right. Now, I attempted to, put that in there. Pick this game, Mark. Saints at home, Saints on a primetime slate, please. Sneaky good, what Redskins defense, Wes? I know, but I don't think Alex Smith can keep up with Drew Breeze in a shootout.

Really? No, I don't. I think Kirk Cousins can. Breeze has owned Alex Smith for the most part. I think the Saints win. Didn't Alex Smith keep up with Drew Brees in a shootout in the playoffs one year? Yes, that was his best moment in his career. I just saying is all.

He had the 49ers. talent, not Paul Richardson and Josh Doxon. They don't throw the right. Josh Doxon, who, what? When's the last time Josh Doxon made a play? 2009? I'll take the home team. Saints.

I just, I'm going to take the Saints too, and then I'm going to jamming a point that has nothing to do with that. And that's, that West has been saying, like, you could tell Adrian Peterson from last year. He's the same guy this year. I think he's another level. That week three. He's the same guy.

Playing behind a much better offensive line with the quarterback. The week three game, the suddenness and the explosion. It was there last year. He looks like he hasn't looked in about four or five years. I'm just saying this is an old school grinder type of team. It was there, but it's going another level this year. It's not. It was there.

And you know what? I think skipping training camp is a nice way to do all that. Maybe we should too. And you're fresh. What if we hit the scene around September 8th? I'd be fresher right now. This is a long-running Cessler. How about November 8th?

How about we left Bell this? Roll in like January 5th. All right. Good preview, guys. Nice job. Nice job with the law. We're going to have some fun on Sunday when football returns. Thank you to everyone that's listening.

You know what we haven't done in a while? Ask you guys to leave some comments on iTunes. That would be great because the shadowy league figures care about that stuff and it makes us look better for them. And we're always in an uphill battle with those jokers. So bang us with some comments. And also check out the around the NFL subreddit, which is happening. It's like a lot going on.

There's a lot going on there. 10,000 strong. It's an army that's growing. So check that out as well. Until Sunday night. This is Dan Hansa signing off. Well, I close it by saying until Sunday. So now I really boxed myself in.

Stan Hansa signing off for the quiet storm. The mailman, the old boss, and the loose cannon. Ricky Hollywood behind the glass. What's he going to do here? Until Sunday. Yikes. Ouch. Sully, shut the fuck up.

Press that button one more time. I swear to God, I'm going to rip that mustache right off your face. Wow. That would be amazing. Hey, everybody, Daniel Jeremiah here. And I'm Bucky Brooks. On Move the Six, we take you inside the game from breaking down college prospects and NFL rookies. To evaluate team building philosophies, coaching trends, and how front offices construct winning rosters.

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