NFL Daily with Gregg Rosenthal - Week 11 Recap

Episode Date: November 23, 2015

A room filled with heroes - Gregg Rosenthal, Chris Wesseling, Marc Sessler, Dan Hanzus and Colleen Wolfe – break down all the Week 11 action, including the Cardinals pulling out a last-second win over the Bengals, and Tony Romo returning to save the Cowboys from their 7-game losing streak. Plus, the heroes discuss whether or not the Seahawks are still in the mix for a playoff spot.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. The Around the NFL podcast have never been in my kitchen. Welcome back to another edition of the Around the NFL podcast. My name is Dan Hansis, and I am joined by a room filled with heroes. Mark Sessler, Chris Wessling, and Greg Rosethal. What's up, boys? Hey, Dan. It's great.

Excellent hand gesturing, Dan. Yes, thank you. Usually I am aware what the inside jester. joke is or what overtly what the money drop is in terms of what it's referencing. In this case, I had no idea. Greg knew immediately.

What was the... As I do with most things. Yeah, you're a genius, you're unflappable. What was the money tag? We've never been in their kitchen. Okay. I'm going to do that with that. Wes, who is familiar with the subject matter that Greg said it was from, said, I have no idea what you're talking about. Mark and I completely blank slate.

If you know, if you're a listener or viewer on YouTube, hit us up. at hashtag nonsensical money tweet and let us know if you get the answer. Maybe we'll send you a prize. Just add something to these players. Here comes thousands of tweets. Free Around the NFL podcast and video episodes for the rest of the season for who I think is. Well, that seems like a great prize.

Yes, this is the Sunday night flagship program of the Around the NFL podcast. The Week 11 recap. That all checks out, doesn't it, Mark? That's accurate. I think you've done that well. Huh, thank you. And, yeah, I mean, this is the last week with no buys, with buys, excuse me. After this, 16 games a week, a lot of football to get to.

So this is almost our last buy on some level. Does that make sense, Greg? Not at all. Okay. Now we get a little extra time, so if you've got any, you know, 80s, 90s pop star sort of takes that you have, this is the week to get it in. Popstar takes from the 80s by Dan Hanson. 80s pop star takes. I'm just saying in the future 16 games, there's going to be no room for them.

Oh, it's all business. That's how you would like our podcast. For you, for Greg, this is what he'd like. This podcast, all business, the old, the Jezelnik Haha Hour, all fun, all party, all business, and party. That's how Greg would like it. Perfectly parceled out for Greg's wishes. His own Berlin Wall. Well, that's not how it's ever going to be, Greg.

We're going to mix it up. No one wants that. Okay, so yes. Great to hear Dan's takes on Whitney Houston. It's coming up, the greatest love of all. Coming up on today's show, which again, if you're listening to this, you could check us out on YouTube. The show is on. Also, NFL now, of course, our Sunday night show.

Coming up, the Carolina Panthers attempting to be the first 10-0 team in the NFL. So we'll get into that. See how that played out. Brock Osweiler made his first start of his career, I believe, on his 25th birthday. That's right. Not mistaken. And we'll talk about how that went. And then the Sunday night football, really, Greg Giddy down in the newsroom.

Giddy and also bittersweet because this was a game you wanted to watch fully without being distracted. The Cardinals and Bengals are quite a matchup. We're going to go through that game at the end of the show. The team of ATL. There hasn't been really been these inter-outer conference games between two heavyweights this year if you think about it. So, yes, great game there, of course. Also, Connie Fox, the great Colleen Wolf, will join us all ahead of us. So this is, I'm going to say it, a very good show coming up.

Again, Dan, you're correct. All right, good. So let's get into it. Affirmation. Let's start. We talked about the Carolina Panthers entering this week at 9 and 0. And now, yes, they are 10 at 0 because Cam Newton set a career high with five touchdown passes, leading the Panthers to a 4416 shalacking over Wes, you boys, the Redskins.

The Panthers are now 10 and O. And Wes, after a week of Cam Talk, much of it nonsense, the quarterback showed why his game is all that matters. Yeah, I don't really care about any of that dancing or off the field stuff. He went 11 for 11 to start last week's game against the Titans. Then he threw four touchdowns in the first half of this game. The Panthers got 27 points off of Redskins' turnovers in this game. It was a total domination by the Panthers. And everything about this team seems to get better by the week.

Jonathan Stewart's running better than he has all year. Devin Funch has stepped up again today, giving Cam a bigger target at wide receiver. Coney Ely has four sacks, four games in a row with sacks, and Kirk Coleman is playing great at safety for them. They're getting a lot better. They get Charles Johnson, their best pass rusher off of I.R. Boomerang next week. This team is getting stronger. Wait a second. Do I sense Chris Wesleying getting some tingling about 16 and 0, Carolina Panthers? Well, I don't know about 16 and 0. I don't really care about the undefeated stuff.

It's pretty interesting, though, that this Panthers team has a legit chance for it. I don't really believe that you look at a schedule and say, oh, they'll win this game, they'll win this game, they might win this game. Is that what we do? It's what everybody does. Like you can look ahead of schedule. Teams are totally different in two weeks. Well, you're at the point where you can look at a team like the Redskins on the Panthers schedule, and you can expect them to win by three scores because that's what they do at home.

Whatever the style is, and right now the style is a really dieticians. dynamic offense. I mean, Cam Newton, I think, played his best game of the season last week until this week. You can tell me if you think it was better or worse than last week, but he has played better each and every week. That's why I wasn't really understanding the MVP talk in September, but right now the passing attack is a huge part of the reason they're putting up so many points. Well, you mentioned their dynamic offense, but this was really about the defense who kept creating turnovers to put Cam Newton within the 30 or 40 yard line so he didn't have to really drive much. And this defense, hasn't played a snap in the red zone for two weeks. What about the Redskins? What a disaster because, you know, I escape this because they keep calling the Redskins your team. They're not my team. It's this side of the room. We've both liked Kirk Cousins because he's had those moments.

But I read you right up today. We are, we are. And you've called him really nothing better than a 20-something ranked quarterback out of 32. Which is how I felt about him all year. He's about the 20th to 23rd best quarterback in the NFL. He can't make all the NFL throws. He's sloppy with the ball. And he made a couple of throws today

where he just didn't have the muscle on it. And Panthers' defenders closed quickly. Like this throw right here to Derek Carrier. Good timing behind the glass. To me, he's a lot like quarterback like Alex Smith, who's going to be the product of what's around him. And last week, I didn't think Kirk Cousins played an especially crazy good game.

He kind of did the Kirk Cousins things. And his defense was awesome. And his running game was awesome. and his receivers were awesome. And then when the rest of the team is outmatched like they are against Carolina, then Kirk Cousins gets blamed for everything. You can compare him to Alex Smith. I think he's kind of a poor man's Matt Hasselbeck.

He's little physically challenged, but if everything's right around him, things can go well. And back to Carolina, I know one of the major kind of points a lot of people were making early in the season was that Cam Newton was put in a difficult spot in terms of playmakers, and that got worse when Calvin Benjamin blew out his knee this summer. what's changed on offense that has allowed him to thrive more throwing the ball? The opponents that played the Titans and the Redskins.

I was trying to set you up for a Devin Funches on the rise. No, I mentioned Funches. And he has helped, but it's mostly you've played the Titans who have a pass rush but have a banged up secondary, and you've played the Redskins who are mediocre. So I think that's the biggest thing. And again, they kept getting the ball in the Redskins territory when the drive started because of their defense.

How about Mike Sula? what if he could win coordinator of the year? Called another great game today. While he ties his dad's undefeated record. Well, there's also Dave Damashik. The Dave Damashik football program will be having his fourth annual pie off on Monday where I'll be defending my back-to-back titles

with my mother-in-law's pie. That's, by the way, I'm going to make a roll even. That's not even a humble brag. That's a brag. Well, that sure is a brag. But you said humble. How about Greg? You enter the competition, eat some humble.

pie Mike Shula. Wow. Got there. I've been saying for a few weeks, and you're right, I couldn't have been more wrong about Shula entering this season. I think they have not done well with Cam Newton's progress up until this year, and it doesn't change the fact that their offenses and their play calling before this year were questionable, but they're doing an amazing job, a very tough run game to prepare for it.

Let us move on to another NFC favorite. Pump the brakes, ladies and gentlemen. The Packers are dead narrative because Aaron Rogers, and Eddie Lacey look like their old selves and a 30 to 13 win over the Vikings in Minnesota. Greg, these teams are now tied to top the NFC North, but the division, it runs through Green Bay. It does because Green Bay gets them later at home.

If you look at the two schedules, Minnesota's is much harder, and this score wasn't close. If you take away the standings, this just looks like any Green Bay Minnesota game basically since Mike McCarthy's been there. Green Bay dominates on the scoreboard. I didn't think when you watch these two teams, they looked wildly different,

but Green Bay had the players that made the big plays, and they were efficient in the red zone, and they had a defensive line that had one of the performances of the year by a group. As good as Rogers and Lacey were, and we'll talk about them, the game balls have to go to the defensive line. They just made the day impossible for Teddy Bridgewater. Minnesota, for quite a bit out of the gate here,

the defense especially was playing well and keeping Green Bay at bay. And then all of a sudden, I think Minnesota's offensive line is a continuing issue for this team. And otherwise, very good team. I agree. Really, you could go down the list.

Clay Matthews had a good game. Mike Daniels is going to be paid an outrageous sum of money this offseason. Dayton Jones had a good game. Julius Peppers had a good game. I think Teddy Bridgewater had one of his better games of the year in this game because he had four or five really impressive plays.

He got out of trouble when he absolutely could. He played through a tough injury, and yet they still lose 30 to 13. One of my bigger takeaways from what I had just kept my eye on this game for obvious reasons is it did feel like after a period of weeks and also popping up in the injury report with a shoulder issue this week that Aaron Rogers getting a little of that swagger back in this game.

He kind of looked comfortable, made some plays improvising. He looked like Aaron Rogers. He did. He had those, he had four or five just a most crazy outrageous throw. you'll ever want to see, which is what he was doing in September. Now, when he struggled the last few weeks, we said, well, you can't count on doing that each week. I didn't think the offense was wildly consistent.

Their biggest problem to me is Randall Cobb. I mean, they threw the ball to him nine times for two catches. He had two or three drops, two or three miscommunications. That happens each and every week. James Jones woke up and started making tough catches, but the number one thing they have to be excited about is Eddie Lacey. Because that's what's been missing, and that's what they were last year when they were a balanced team and the passing game is less predictable because you can pound the rock

and Lacey look great today. I don't know what it is about him. Maybe it's his size in that he gets big and fantasy football players, just fret. But he's been in the league for three years. I've had to write articles in the last two years just to tell people to stuff off the lids that what he's put on tape, we know he's good at football. Eddie Lacey is good at football. He's going to come around as soon as he's healthy.

He's a good football player. Don't worry about it. Well, but he wasn't helping them for half this season. Right. But he's going to come around because that's what good football players do. He was arguably the best running back in the league in the second half last year. So I felt like this was overdue. And when James Starks didn't make the most of his opportunity last week,

you knew Lacey was going to get another shot of it. And, yeah, they're totally different with him running the ball well. Starks isn't a shadow of Lacey, and they have to acknowledge that at this point. He's a good backup, and Lacey that week off did him good. I mean, that could prove to the one of the smarter coaching decisions of the year. He was dragging Linval Joseph on one certain play that I think just showed his strength. And, I mean, they really won up front.

I mean, it's such a cliche to say that. But on both sides, they were just the tougher team. And that's kind of what Mike Zimmer's built this whole thing on is that we're going to be tougher, and the Packers just blew the doors up. What does this say about Dom Kepers? They didn't have sacks for three straight games, and then they dominate the line of scrimmage

and have Bridgewater on the run all game. I think it says a lot about Minnesota's injuries that they've had on that line, and they're just not where they're right tackle, T.J. Clemming says, really struggled lately. And Khalil, I think, is playing, Matt Kalil is playing through an injury. He really struggled. I mean, they were losing one-on-one matchups. Then late in the game, Bridgewater and the offense couldn't pick up where the blitzes were coming. But I think the bigger problem, really from the first snap was that they were just getting to Bridgewater all day.

I would say, and Wes, I'm sure your friends over on the Viking subreddit board, you know, are going to be unhappy about how things turned out. But I wouldn't call this even like a La Raville Magnifico of the Vikings or anything. I think it's just a reminder when the Packers are right, they're a much better team than the Vikings who are a fine enough team, and they'll probably win 10 games, and they'll probably end up in Lambo in January on the road in a playoff game, but they are just not in Green Bay's class when Green Bay's got its act together. I don't disagree with any of that.

I think the Vikings are a good team, but they don't have Aaron Rogers, and they don't have, you know, they don't have the same weapons that the Packers have, the same coaching. The Packers have earned this. They did move the ball, and like I said, total yards were about the same. Adrian Peterson's got to stop fumbling the ball. We call him the best running back in football, and he is, but he has six fumbles right now. I believe that leads all running backs by two. Matt Jones, I think, is next.

So, I mean, I'm not saying that that ruins his entire season, but that's a pretty big problem. A huge one today when they were driving to try to get within one score. He's been fortunate enough that he's only lost two, but it is a little weird, especially weird. All six have been at home. Mark. That's, I mean, I don't know if there's a whole lot to that, but that is odd. It's just weird. It's strange.

Anything else to say about this game, gentlemen? Wes, are you okay with... I know you kind of went back and forth, a lot of blocking going on this weekend with the Vikings fans, I would imagine, on Twitter? Yeah, they handled things like Andy Dalton did to JJ Watts, so that's how that ended. Bridgewater, by the way, win some toughness points

because he got knocked out. It looked like he might have been out for the game. He had to go to the locker room. He was clearly playing through a lot of pain and made some nice plays in the second half. He did. He took a beating. Moving on, the Indianapolis Colts wiped out of 14.

deficit and kept their place at top to the AFC South with a 24-21 win over the Falcons in Atlanta. Remember when we wrote that mid-season predictions? I had the Falcons out of the playoffs. I'm feeling good about it right now. They seem to be going down in flames. Mark.

I don't think you're wrong necessarily because they've lost three of four. And today, what happened was a chance to completely own and take this game and turn it into a blowout. And they let the Colts with a 40-year-old Matt Hasselbeck climb right back in. There was not a lot special going on with the Indianapolis Colts offense,

but they did just enough and Hasselma got a great drive at the end for the game-winning field goal. And the Falcons have to beat themselves up over this. Matt Ryan, three interceptions. One of them came off of the game ending, Hail Mary, so that's, I don't count that one, but a terrible one down by the goal line where he threw a pass that DeQuil Jackson picked right off and ran in, and that gave the Colts new life. And the Falcons, this is, they beat themselves up here. that Julio Jones, 160 yards, at times in the first half especially,

it was so easy for Ryan to find open receivers all over the place. On their first touchdown, that guy, the fullback is in the end zone. There's no one within 15 yards of them. The Colts look completely disorganized, and they found a way to win this game. Didn't help that Devante Freeman left with a concussion early in the game? I think that had a lot to do with what happened to them on offense because they definitely, they were trying to, they moved into a lot of hurry up and stuff, but they had nothing on the ground.

Tevin Coleman had a killer fumble and didn't offer much. They're stacking up some of these crazy wins, which is, you know, money in the mojo bank, the Colts, that is. I mean, you got the Titans win, you got the Broncos win. You know, you've got all the other games that were the biggest wins of Chuck Pagano's life. If nothing else, they're a team that when they're down on the road, even with Matt Hasselbeck, I think believes that they can pull off some crazy stuff. Yeah, I still don't see much to like about the Colts, to be honest with you,

but this was a huge victory for them. If there was, like, an anti-power rankings of home field advantages, where does the Georgia Dome stack up? Is it, you know, 28, 29? It's in that range. I mean, without the big crowd. Nobody's scared to go into the Georgia Deney. No. Does anybody scared to go into Cleveland?

Well, but that's just because they stink. Oh. The Edward James Olmostone would be up there. Certainly, San Diego. I hate to say it. San Diego right now. The Meadowlands is not a place that team shiver when they walk into it against the Jets. I think it's more like if you're a good team and no one's scared.

of your home stadium, then you got issues, and that's the Falcons in theory. It's crazy, if you think, look at the NFC, who are the two playoff teams going to be? You figure one of them is going to be the NFC North second place, and then Falcons are in great position, but we're just assuming now, I think Seattle's going to be the one maybe that pushes up and takes them. You know who's on the old Zeusers poop list? I'd love to know. Matt Ryan.

Really? With good reason. What is the poop list all about? It's basically when I believe in you and I vouch for you and I defend you in certain social situations or in fantasy drafts. And I believe that you are better than what others think. And Greg, you probably agree with me on this.

And then you come out in your prime age 30 or 31 season and you deliver really a middling quarterback season. He should be way better than he is. That's what I thought anyway. Poop list. One of the riskiest places to be if your goal in life is to avoid the poop list, is to be on Dan's fantasy team.

Because that puts you in the crosshairs. A lot of pressure on Ryan this year. He hasn't come through. You're right. He's not playing great with Kyle Shanahan. We expected this marriage to be better. Well, but also, I mean, even with Eli Manning last year

before O'Dell Beckham hit the scene, there were a lot of struggles. And I wonder with Ryan if it's going to take more than a season for him to be at home in Shanahan's offense. I mean, it seems to be some groin pains, but you nailed it. When Freeman went out,

the running game went away. It would help if Ryan, would have helped if Roddy White didn't fall off a cliff. I mean, they need to find another receiver. Yeah. You know. Any other thoughts on this game, gentlemen? I'd be concerned about one thing with Hasselback.

He's, listen, he is who he is, and he came in and he's a good job managing this game. But he got hit a bunch. There was only two sacks, but he took another six big hits. And we saw Andrew Luck with that all the time. What? Do you know who's behind Hasselbeck? Yeah, I think I do. Who is it, Mark?

I have no idea. Oh, that's right. Yeah. That's right. Praise clip or Jesus. Well, I don't think we're going to be seeing him anytime soon, hopefully. But it's just that Andrew Luck gets killed behind this line. And now you've got a 40-year-old quarterback taking those hits. That's fair.

Moving on, Justin Tucker hit a field goal at the end of the fourth quarter. It was the difference in a 16-13 win for the Ravens over the Rams. Geez, St. Louis. Get it together. The big story, though, Wes, was injuries. Both Joe Flacco and Justin Forsett were lost for the year to serious injuries. It just can't get worse for the Ravens, worst-case scenario. I don't think victories get more Pyrrhic than this one.

You lose your most valuable offensive player, Joe Flacco. You lose your starting tailback, Justin Fawcett. A couple of weeks ago, you lost your best wide receiver and Steve Smith. Early in the season, you lost your defensive leader in Terrell Suggs. You've lost your starting center. You've lost Dennis Pitta, Matt Elam, Lorenzo Talaferro. You lost your first-round pick for Sean Param. Ray Lewis stinks on ESPN.

They've lost half their roster. So they've got three victories this year, all three by the toe of Justin Tucker. And they have to be right in the mix as a favorite for the number one overall pick now. Because you know who's going to be quarterbacking them now? And their schedule is brutal. Matt Schaub is going to be their starting quarterback. If there's one that I could pull a miracle, it would be clipboard. They don't have an easy game outside of maybe, you look at Cleveland on Monday night, you know, next week.

That's maybe the only chance of a real win you have. Their schedule is brutal. That's a good chance. That's a chance, at least. Oh, it's definitely a chance. That's an ugly Monday night game. Let me ask you a question, Mark. You got at Browns in week 12, Johnny Mansell's big audition begins.

You want that number one pick. Are you a little torn about who you want to win that game? I think it's the one year that you look like you are maybe going to get the number one pick. It's the Ravens that are probably going to steal it from you. But I mean, we don't know enough about the draft right now to know what the difference between the first, second and third player out there is. The other story in this game was Jeff Fisher leaving a, concussed case Keenum on the field for two more plays after it was pretty obvious to anyone watching at home that he was concussed he took a massive hit he literally put his hands on his

head a teammate tried to help him try to help him up and he fell backwards and was woozy the game stopped he leaves him in the game the next two snaps in completion fumble that loses the game and then a season-crushing field goal by the Ravens basically, you know, ends the Rams. That is about as ugly an ending and as bad as it gets for Jeff Fisher of the competition committee did this? That's right. The sequence happened quickly. It's not like Jeff Fisher had all day to sit there and say, all right, I need to get this guy out. But you would have hoped that him or the spotter. Somebody would have gotten him out of it. Keenham walked over to the sidelines and either talked to a trainer or the quarterback. Should have been out of it. I couldn't really

tell what it was, but the game stopped for long enough that he went over and talked to someone else. Yeah, so you basically failed on two levels, the health of your player, and he fumbled right after that because you left him in concussed. So strategically, you failed too. I'm going to draw a parallel here whereby Jeff Fisher is George Bush and Greg Williams is Dick Cheney pulling the strings. He's like, you leave him out there. He'll see his way through this. Accurate. Again, Dan. Not to mention, he chose to start Case Keenham. And did Case Keenum look like he was ready to start an NFL game? No, he looked like Nick Foote.

Well, no one was killing that decision on Thursday. He didn't look much different than Nick Fools. No, I think we were on point with that. We basically said that Foles had to go, but they were still banged because Case Keenom was involved. They just don't have a good quarterback right now. This is sneakily a horrible offensive line, too. Greg Robinson, the number two overall pick in the draft 2014, leads the NFL in holding penalties and whiffed on Courtney Upshell on that sacked.

He's killed him last week, too. And they started two guys named Corey Wickman and Albert Donald or something. I don't know. Somebody at right tackle. So the whole right side of the offensive line was overwhelmed by late round rookies. There's no greater fear if you're a team holding the number one or number two pick than to be in a weak draft class where it's going to be two linemen that are going to go one too. So they're probably not that great. We've seen that act before.

We've just getting nailed on that too. Bad times in St. Louis. This is a team, Greg, where Todd Gurley was going nuts and there was a lot of guys. good vibes. The defense is making plays. Now all of a sudden you look up, they're four and six and get beat by the Ravens. That's two out of three weeks where they've lost these games with tepid play calling at the end, where they

lose by a field goal, the other one was to the Vikings. Yeah, everything, it's all bad. When you have this bad quarterback play, they're not going to overcome it. Are they going to make it to seven and nine this year? That is an uphill battle right now if you look at their schedule and the way they're playing. And that's not going to be second place, Greg, sandwiches. That is a troubling proposition

that I made right now. I'll admit. forward. Big game in Chicago where Brock Osweiler threw two touchdowns at his first career start. He led the Broncos or played a big role in the Broncos 17-15 win over the Bears at Soldier Field. This is a game that came down to

a two-point conversion try by the Bears that they did not convert. The big question, of course, is whether Gary Kubiak would dare keep Oswald in the lineup if and when Peyton Manning is ready to return. You think it's going to happen, guys? Do you think Osweller did enough?

I mean, what it sounds like, because Kevin Patcher did the write-up on this, the thing that they feel like the Osweiler fits what they want to do on offense, and it's your first game all year where the quarterback didn't generate a turnover. So that to me, I think it's very possible if when they go back and they look at what happened and look at the film, and they feel like this is less of a liability than Peyton Manning at this point. Well, our guy, Ian Rappaport, NFL Media Insider, extraordinaire, reported before the game.

Is that part of the title? There, I just added it. It's part of his new contract, getting paid big bucks. He said that this is going to be an extended audition for Osweiler. That's the plan. Mike Silver said this was essentially a benching for performance reasons. He was even a little stronger on it and that they want to evaluate what Osweiler can do. I read Kubiak's quotes after the game. He said he can do everything that we ask him to do in this offense.

I was very encouraged. And he really stressed, like Mark said, this was the first game we didn't have a turnover. So he did enough. Also, the ground game blew up today was the best day. on the ground all season, which is a big part of what Kubiak wants. They rolled Peyton Manning out on Monday last week. You don't get over plantar fasciitis and a rib injury

in one week. I mean, he got rolled out as early as you can be rolled out. So it would shock me if he's playing in a week 12. Especially with Oswald, they're playing well today. You would think that give Manning at least three weeks or whatever, let both the injury heal as much as it can heal on

a 40-year-old guy and also see if Oswald is playing well. Best case scenario, Oswald is killing it, and your crew cruising and you have an excuse not to play him. Where it gets tough is if he's kind of like hanging in that middle ground where he's made some plays but they've also lost some games and Manning's ready to go, it could get ugly.

Well, as long as he's okay, Gary Kubiak, the first thing he says is I think if Osweiler plays, he's going to get a lot better as he goes because he has all the tools and everything that I want and we want to, you know, he has to show us he has time. Now they play New England next week, so they are proving it, assuming they start

Osweiler next week, that they just believe that's their best chance to win. is Brock Osweiler, because they would love dearly to win that game. It also helps Osweiler or any quarterback when Ronnie Hillman and C.J. Anderson are doing things. They combine for over 160 yards between the two of them. I mean, there have been a lot of games this year where Manning, in his limited state, didn't get any help on the ground. So they need that type of balance on this team.

But a Broncos fan, or Kubiak might argue, Osweiler is one of the reasons they ran the ball better. He was under center. I think it was something like 20 times. Interesting thought. a lot more successful and, you know, normal when they're under center. It was a strange game. I saw John Fox go for it on fourth down a couple times. What?

He also went for, you know, he was very aggressive, and it didn't work. So it was very un-fox-like, and it came back to Hanam. Connie Fox coming up a little. That's a corrective mechanism. Schenarian behavior. He will be rewarded for that. And if you want to, again, like, kind of tie things together a little bit, the running game better with the quarterback under center,

Vernon Davis doing something six for 68 in this game. So if he's going to be part of the offense with Osweiler, a lot of reasons to stick a Brock. Vernon Davis ends his 47 games losing streak personally. As TD would tell you, the young quarterback's best friend is a tight end. Oh, that's a good point. That's a really good point.

How's Austin Sotharian Jenkins doing TD? Where's TD? He's back there. Our producer, extraordinaire. He's quit mic work. He only does mic work now. the Mike and Rob show. He's shaking his head in shame behind me right now.

Feels right. He does a lot of, you know, he does a lot of mic work on the Mike and Rob show, I heard. Yeah, he's very involved in that vehicle. Pushing that. Start dropping a beat and then he might join the conversation here. Too shan. All right, we love you, Tuddy. We move on to the Oakland Raiders, another team.

This is, you know what, this is a hard season. You know, football, everybody can be, quote, unquote, experts, but it's not that easy because the Oakland Raiders were a team we thought were ready to take off. Guess what happens? The Detroit Lions team that was what, once 0 and 7, now showing some signs of life. They badly outplayed the fading Oakland Raiders

an 1813 win for Detroit. It shouldn't have been that close, I don't believe. Mark, what happened to the whole Raiders rising from the ashes? I don't think that they badly outplayed them, but what happened in this game was what we like about the Raiders, their offense, and their big play offense

and their aggressive passing game, did not show up for the first half, 57 yards passing. Derek Carr could not get on track the entire time. They got a little bit more aggressive in the second half, but the Raiders just the team that we've seen that was been fun to watch did not show up today, where Detroit got finally, no, Matthew Stafford is still very frustrating to watch. I'm not a big fan of covering Lions games for that reason.

But Matthew Stafford put together one of his better games of the season. He didn't turn the ball over. He had a drive where he accounted for 75 of 80 yards. This was the game-clinching drive, where he was good on the ground, ran for a touchdown, and made throws. Him and Calvin Johnson finally had some chemistry today. So Detroit basically just won a game

where the Raiders that we've seen were not present. It was a weird showing by Oakland. Didn't help that Amari Cooper had probably the worst game of his young career. Give it to Darius Slay. I mean, according to the Detroit cornerback, who did an excellent job. One catch for five yards.

Cooper continues to have bad drops. And that hurt this team today. Make up for it. With something Odell Beckham doesn't. struggle with. Well, that's right. He's been compared to him a lot. But Darius Slay, like Greg saying Big Play Slay, has been one of the best cornerbacks in the NFL for the past month.

Yeah, he's been great. I call him Big Play Slay. Well, that's a cash rate. It's actually a great nickname. It's better than Doug or not. They came out of the by, a different team. That performance in Green Bay, I thought, was really impressive on both sides of the ball. Their defense was outstanding against Green Bay. And I

thought Stafford played just about his best game of the season against Green Bay, and now they back it up. We talked about it Actually, on Thursday's podcast, it wouldn't be shocking if this team is just like a solid team the rest of the way, and they're showing it. It shouldn't have even been this close because Ebron dropped a big pass in the end zone where they could have put them up more. I think the offense of coordinator switch has helped the Lions. Their offense is more organized and their players will be put into a better position. Jim Bob Cooter.

Coots, what about the motivational ploys of one Jimmy Dean Caldwell? Don't know if that's his middle name. I'm not sure what's happening behind the scenes there, but something is effective. If you're right. Give it to the Cooter. Yeah, let's call it his. It's been a bad day for a lot of AFC hopefuls, like the Raiders. They're down to six losses.

But if, you know, if the bills lose on Monday night, the second wildcard spot is five losses. So all these teams that keep losing and feels like, oh, now they're totally buried and done. It's like they're all still in it. It's going to take it. Well, as West said down in the newsroom, the entire league seems to be four and six right now. Oh, yeah. Everybody's four and six or five and five. And just I want to call attention.

Mark, your write-up, which is excellent. We write up all these games. I don't know what the percentage of our audience that actually reads the material. I would hope it's 100%. Our readership is much bigger than our listenership overall, so hopefully they're reading.

It's a crossover, you'd think. You wouldn't think. One of my favorite things about reading a Mark Sessler joint is some of his colorful, descriptive language. Oh, Mark. It's whatever I'm like. Anyway, one of my favorite terms

you use for carries or rush. is totes. Oh, besides, you know what? You get stuck where you have to use the same word, like 14 times. It's a cute word. It's kind of adorable. It's like a little button nose. Nice tot.

Not sure where I picked it up, but I don't think I'm the only football writer using it. Speaking of cute, how about Chris Wesleyan with the glasses on? Hot paternal library guy. Yummy. All right. Hot Uncle Wesley. That really hit home. You got him to blush a little bit.

He knows it's true. He's like a little. Literary Lumberjack. Can we get an awkward Wes ISO can? There it is. If you're watching on YouTube. Literary. I like it, though.

I think Wes looks good with glasses. Good wave. Can we get another wave like that, Wes? Lumber, lumbo. Lumber sexual? You work out a couple times last week? Yes, it worked out. I'm just saying, you look like you're working out.

That's good. A little swole. Thank you. Craig. Appreciate that. Moving down. We did meet with a voice coach last week who noted that West looks jacked up.

did. He made a point of it. Like, you work out, correct? And everybody was like, um... Then he asked me to touch him. Well, that was... It was great. Well, there's no context to that anecdote, but we'll leave it right there. That's better to leave it that way. Let's move forward. Yes, there is. I caught the big, fat middle, which wouldn't be Wes, who's been working out a lot of the AFC playoff picture and the New York Jets, unfortunately, are right in the middle of that with the Houston Texans. Those teams met today. And T.J. Yates, My goodness.

Through two touchdowns, both to DeAndre Hopkins, leading the Texans to a 24-17 win over the fading New York Jets at NRG Stadium. The Jets have now lost four or five after a four-on-one start, falling deeper into the mud pit. That is the AFC playoff picture. I have to say this. I'm going to say it. Hopefully I'll be proven wrong for the second time about my team this year. Try to get a whole thing started. Reverse jinks?

You know, the Jets are. are good? Yeah, it's been a curse since then. Jets are bad. They're bad? They are legitimately a bad team for five consecutive weeks now. Even the game they won against the Jaguars, they really had no business winning. And, you know, this is not on one person.

That's the thing, that's what annoys me about this. It's like, yes, I've gotten excited about Jets teams in the past and been let down. But everything checked out at a certain point where they had a great deal. defense, a great running game, and Ryan Fitzpatrick playing well. Now you fast forward. Here we go. You have a secondary that can't cover. You have Fitzpatrick coming down to Earth, does not know how to protect the ball, doesn't know how to, you know, for a Harvard guy, he makes a lot of stupid decisions with scrambling. Chris Ivory has just disappeared. I don't know, I have no idea what happened to Chris Ivory. He seems to be battling lower body injuries every week and maybe

that's the problem. Brandon Marshall had his typical two drops a week. Devin Smith has been a Nightmare is a rookie. You name it. It's gone wrong. And Daryl Revis toasted. Has perhaps the worst game of his career, his illustrious career. D'Andre Hopkins even threw some hardcore shade at Revis after the game, saying he didn't really do anything different.

He just played his game and then did air quotes when he said Revis Island. When you get hit with the air quotes, that's when you know you're on the decline. And here's the thing. Revis, and this is, you know, this is my Patriots fans. Well, Greg, it's loving the fact that they're not attached to Revis at that price tag. Patriots fans are... They have Malcolm Butler. They have their own readers.

I don't want to paint Patriots fans with too broad a brush, but you're terrible. All of you? I haven't done anything. No, because... I tweeted in a moment of honesty when the game was getting out of hand for the Jets that Revis is no longer the same Revis. He's still a very good corner, but he's no longer in that, you know, number one guy in the league territory. And then I got flooded with a bunch of boneheads sullies from Southie.

Like, yeah, Belichick did it again, he stole Revis's soul. It's like, no, Revis is still very good, but when he's against DeAndre Hoppians, he can be exposed. It could have been a lot worse. T.J. Yates missed a long pass in the first series. Revis could have given up two long touchdowns. On the Texan side of the ball, guys, this team looks really good on defense now. Their offense, T.J. Yates had a nice game, did not only had one turnover, didn't throw an interception, but their defense looks great.

Watt, blowing up game plans week after week. But their defense in DeAndre Hopkins, if they have a quarterback that doesn't implode, they're another team that you could say can take that six-playoff spot. Well, I really owe T.J. Yates and the Texans an apology after I said they have a 3% chance to win this game. Yeah.

Yeah, that was a... Well, I was very confident about this game, too, but, again, the Jets, there's no logic to the Jets anymore because they've just changed as a team. Well, you said Drell Revis isn't going to fare well when he's against guys like DeAndre Hopkins. But how many guys are there right now that are at DeAndre Hopkins level?

Antonio Brown and Julio Jones. He gets spoiled. That's what I'm saying. He has to be put at that spot now. That's where this is what this season has been. With nobody throwing to him. Right. Right.

He's making stars out of TJ. Yeah. T.J. Yeats. Right. Just imagine, and I wrote this in the recap, what would happen if the Texans ever gave him a real quarterback. Yeah, with three of us, it's those guys will give him trouble now. No one used to give him trouble.

Well, now there are certain guys that do. You said this isn't on one person. The Jets collapse. But I think classic Greek literature tells us about hubris and the gods will punish. Okay. Isn't this on you for your Jets are good hashtag campaign? I refuse to like...

Screen is good or something? As... It was a little bit of hubris. No, there was no hubris. It was just optimism. I'm an optimistic person by nature. And listen, I haven't had a lot of positive things to root for as an NFL fan.

And when I see a team, playing well. And you guys were all in agreement. It checks out. Well, they were a good team. That's why I'm so frustrated is that there's nothing I can point to to say this guy got hurt or something happened here or the schedule tightened up. It's just all those things that were working are no longer working. And Greg, by the way, one last thing.

Todd Bowles after the game did not give Ryan Fitzpatrick an ironclad pass that he's going to continue to start. I'm sure we'll see him next week starting, but Gino Smith could reenter the picture. Well, he shouldn't. If Ryan Fitzpatrick plays a couple bad games, I think you should give Gino Smith a look. Well, haven't we already seen Gino Smith? I'm with Mark. We know who Gino Smith is. Not in this offense for half a game, and he was okay. When you said all those things were checking out for while they were a good team,

part of that was Ryan Fitzpatrick was playing at a high level. But if you look at the 12 seasons of his career, there's no reason to expect that to continue necessarily. So I think if he continues to struggle, there's two bad games for him in a row, really three out of four. I would say, then why not think of a change? And he threw interceptions on their last two possessions. Fitzpatrick was not a good quarterback in this game. So, and I misspoke before, the Texans are not only in the mix for a playoff game, they're in the mix to win their division.

So all of a sudden, the Texans in great shape, the four committee is sweating. I'll put it that way. Yeah, it was about a month ago that every Texan game, John McLean, their beat writer, their longtime writer, was tweeting out deadly, fatal tweets about how disastrous this team was. And then they're about to do what they did last year, which is go 9 and 7 without any indication of the wild. NFL doesn't make any sense.

The AFC is so bad and this won't happen, but as we go into week 12, the AFC South very much could have two playoff teams. Stop. If the season ended today, one of them's tied for that wild card spot. That's what happens when like... It won't happen, but it seems like the Jets and the bills are like the favorites, and those franchises typically fall in their faces.

It leaves the door open for weird stuff to happen. And the Raiders, it's going to be wild. The Jets are still five and five, though, which, like we said, they're still right in the middle of everything. But they're a bad team now, you said. They're bad, but maybe they can be good once again. Because nobody knows anything about the NFL. Exactly. All right.

Now, it is that time of show. We love it every Sunday. This is a woman who does great work. Listen, okay, Greg, she's a person who does great work. Calm down with the political correctness. Now we can't say a person to a man or woman. You're interpreting my laughter. to so many incorrect things that say a lot about you.

Mark, you saw what he was doing there. Well, I mean, he was like, oh, the woman should, you know, her body is her body. Frank's brought like four woo-ees during the Jets recap, so he's saying he's not loving it. He's loving it, and he's loving what you just said. Anyway, our next guest is a woman biologically. But she's also a great person, and that's why we have her on the show. She's one of the heroes. Her name is Connie.

Fox It's this thing again, huh? Whoa. All right. What's up, everybody? Do one of these or something, I don't know. It never gets less awkward. It doesn't.

The old travolta dance move. Awkward. I so. Welcome back to the show, Colleen. It's great to be back. Great to be awkward. Happy to be here. It is great to be awkward.

I'm awkward sometimes. We're all a little awkward. Can it account for that? Yeah, so it's a nice little asylum for the awkward. Greg, you know all about that, right? I am a walking awkward. You're a walkward. How's your Sunday going?

You're on the old NFL Game Day Blitz program on NFL Now, hosted by Dave Damson. Yes, on the couch, Rosie was in, and so was Sessler today. We all had some good fun, some good talk. Yeah. Mark, how was your appearance? It was, you know, I'll let someone else judge it, but it was a lot of fun. I'll let you judge it, Colleen. You judge it.

Mark effective? Yes. Yes. He always. Always delivers. Not always. Who's better, Greg or Mark? Well, I feel like all of these hours have blended together, so I can't. It's a little fuzzy at this point. Very good. You're like a politician.

Do you want to talk some football with us? Let's do it, yeah. Okay, let's do it. Let's start with the Dallas Cowboys, who now just as a quick refresher, in case you haven't been tracking the NFL, they started out 2-0 at Tony Romo, bangs out his collarbone. He sits out seven weeks. They lose all seven games with Brandon. Whedon and Matt Castle at quarterback, but now here we go.

Tony Romo back in the lineup, and guess what? The Cowboys are winners again, and this is not a coincidence. The veteran quarterback threw two touchdown passes, including was a two or three? Two is right. Bang, nailed it, including the game winner to old friend Des Bryant, a 24 to 14 win over the Dolphins. Greg, the Cowboys got their closer back, and it did wonders. It did.

They looked like the Cowboys of 2014. Now, Tony Romo's first pass was a left-handed pass out of the end zone with pressure coming at his face. Matt Castle and Brandon Whedon aren't doing that kind of improv to get out of a tricky situation. Tony Romo also looked like those guys with two terrible interceptions. One killed a nice drive. I mean, they were just both awful throws. But the difference is he can make up for it with five or six really good plays often under pressure. And he did that.

Ultimately, though, the defense in the running game were the difference. Chris Wessling, your boy, Darren McFadden, at the end of the game, they just line up, they get the ball back with about six minutes left in the game, and they just start giving it, give it back, give it to McFadden, give it to McFadden on 3rd and 14, give it to McFadden on first and 10. He's just picking up first down to the game. Over the past month, McFadden's giving them what DeMarco Murray gave him last year. Give it to them 25 times a game, 30 times a game,

it'll turn that arm 50 yards. And this is a game where he started out very slow, too. Didn't look, I don't know if he looked healthy. I had a bold prediction that Romo would throw for four touchdowns, and he threw for two. So my bold prediction is half right. You were half correct. Yeah.

Colleen, and you are someone that's well-versed the NFC East, someone from the Philadelphia metro area. Seeing Tony Romo lead a Cowboys team back, you've seen this many times. I've seen it before. Do you believe it in your heart? Now they have a Thanksgiving game. against the 10 and O Panthers.

That's going to be a fun watch. Do you believe he can put him on a run? Now he's shown that he's healthy and can make plays. Well, I think that he sees the weakness in the division and it's almost like bloods in the water. So he knows that he can lead this team. They're only two games out of first place in the NFC East. It's crazy.

They constantly had the ball, too, in this game. I mean, the time of possession, they ran so many plays. The Miami Dolphins defense was completely exhausted by the end. The crazy thing is that the Dolphins defense, of line dominated the Cowboys up front in terms of rushing the passer. And even the running game in the first half, but you're right, they wore him down. It was like it was exactly like last year where the Cowboys defense was getting off the field pretty quickly.

And by the end of the game, they just were totally gas. I mean, Indomac and Sue had one of his best games of the season, if not his best, after another big one last week. Olivier Vernon, I mean, they were all over Tony Romo and it didn't matter. But I got to give some credit to Jason Garrett. Whoa. Because Jason here, early in the game, he set the tone. On a fourth and one call on his side of the field, he says, I'm going to go for it.

I'm going to trust our offensive line to pick up that yard, and he got it with Darren McFadden. And on the other side of the ball, Dan Campbell had a very similar situation, and he doesn't go for it. He decides to punt at midfield, and he also decides to punt on fourth and six down 10 with six minutes to go. And the football gods don't like that. I don't believe of my team. They didn't get the ball back till less than a minute ago. The game was over. You blew it.

Go ahead. You blew it. He blew it. I mean, you're the Cowboys. You were exactly right, Colleen. The blood is in the water. The two other NFCE teams that played today gave up like a combined 90 points. Anything can happen in this terrible division.

Blood's in the water. Now you face the Panthers on Thanksgiving Day. Well, that's going to be. Right. That's the thing. I don't think we can talk about this. I mean, this was a very impressive performance, but you can't really talk about, like,

the Cowboys are going to go and run until after Thursday. If they win that game, sure, but if not, they're three and eight, and this didn't really be anything. I mean, look out if they somehow beat the Panthers and knock the Panthers off. Yes. They will be, there will be some swagger. They'll be playing well, and they will probably look like the best team in the league, and we'll get to the Eagles a little later, or the division, I should say.

Sorry about that. But, you know, we were crowning the Eagles a couple weeks back. That's not so wise anymore. So we'll see what happens. But, you know, the Cowboys, listen, Wes, I know it's your worst nightmare that the Cowboys can get hot here. Why? Oh, they can't get hot.

They can't? It's not possible that the Cowboys can get hot. This team is broken. The coach cut a couple of guys for not wearing a suit, and they let Greg Hardy go out there every week. That's true. That is ridiculous. Come on.

The Cowboys sliding scale of justice is. They're broken. Morally bankrupt. Hilarious. But it doesn't mean they can't get hot. They're too sensitive. I believe it does. I believe it does.

I believe this one. will come back to haunt them probably in a last minute loss to the Panthers in a few days. That could happen. I'm excited for that game, by the way. That's going to be a great game. Why? Sorry, Mark. No, I'm saying I genuinely glad for you.

You're glad for me that I'm excited about the game? Yeah, that's good. He's admiring that you're still finding joy out of football. I do. I think that's nice. I never give up. I never give up on a team. That's why you say I'm a dreamer with the Jets.

Well, it's because I always believe. We're not discussing the Jets, though. Well, you're the one that brought it back to you were happy that I'm happy. I'm happy about watching football. So you brought it back to the Jets in a way. Everybody can be happy. It's okay. To me andering path, I'm not sure where we've gotten to at this point.

All right. So Dow is finally back in the win column. Let's move on. Oh, man, James Winston, the subject of so much debate. Prior to the draft, would it be a bust? Would it be some guy that would be a total clown and bomb out in the league? Steal crab legs. Imagine you just kept stealing crab legs?

That would have been funny. Which, by the way, to me, was always the weirdest crime because you can just go down to the water and get. him for free. Well, if you're like a crow magnum, man. Anybody can get crabs out of the water. Anyway, James Winston. Why steal him when the earth gives them to you? You know that that area has lots of crabs you can just go get? Mm-hmm. Do you know that that particular area? In Florida, yes. Did you recently watch Castaway or something? Is that why you think it's so easy to catch

us? I mean, I lived on an island for eight years. It's pretty easy to get a crab. There were a lot of crabs there. If you're watching on YouTube, we actually have breaking footage of Winston getting crabs out of the water. In truth, in truth, it highlights of James Winston throwing touchdown passes because he threw five of them, which is an NFL, he tied an NFL rookie record. He led the Buccaneers to a 45 to 17 beatdown of the host Eagles. The same Eagles, as I was just saying,

we were championing them as the team to beat in the NFC East. Forget all that, because guess what, Colleen? They stink. They're awful. This was such a bad, bad. game. Chivas Winston, five touchdowns, and then you have Doug Martin, who runs for 235 or some yards on the ground.

One of those runs was so ridiculous that he was running and basically just like swatting Nolan Carroll out of the way. It was so bad. Doug or not. Then you have Mark Sanchez who throws three picks, right? And one of them is so, so bad that you have, it's a pick six and basically. they just walked right in to returned it. They just walked right in.

So it was such a mess. You had Bradley Cooper, not Bradley Cooper, Riley Cooper. I always call him Bradley Cooper. Because he's usually in the press box. Same number of catches over the last month. Yes, he finally caught a ball. And then everybody who had left the game was just mocking him and cheering.

It was such a disaster this game. Bronx cheer. I wish I had peeked behind the curtain. I didn't get my off day until Friday last week, so I didn't get to watch the box. until after our podcast were done. I wish I had watched it before because this was the most excited

that I've been about James Winston. Even though it was only a 10 to 6 game against the Cowboys, he only scored one touchdown. I just love the way he climbed the pocket and he's so competitive. And it doesn't surprise me that he's like has a five touchdown game. Just days after you said to me

as we were leaving, I'm not as impressed with Winston as you are. Well, things can change. It's all me for not watching the game. The Eagles defense coordinator who grew up under Dick LeBoe in Pittsburgh who regularly absolutely destroy. He destroyed rookie quarterbacks, Dick Lebeau.

His record against first and second year passers is unbelievable. They have to be impressed, the Eagles with James Winston. He destroyed them today, and I look at that Eagles team, and it's what we said on an NFL now hit. No identity. There's nothing about this team that gives you a lot of hope going into next season. And I got to wonder if Chip Kelly even wants to still do this another year. Billy Davis, actually, after the game, he said about the defense, we got to clean some stuff up. Some stuff.

There wasn't a lot. You think? You got to clean everything up. They should move Howie Roseman further from, like, the main complex, put him in, like, in a condo somewhere. Maybe that will solve the problem. That might. This game really seemed to stir some stuff up in Philly because, you know, Mark Sanchez and Darren Sproul got into. And then the Philadelphia Inquirer quoted an undisclosed player after the game saying he wasn't sure DeMarco Murray was putting out the right effort, referring to his slide for a first down last week.

Instead of taking a hit, he slid. And I'm not sure he said that DeMarcoe Murray is putting forth the effort. It seems like bad vibes in Philly. Your husband over there, Gonzo, John Gonzalez, is he safe? Well, he is because all of the Eagles fans have left the area, it seems. They were gone from the game. He said that at one point, there were some Eagles fans left, so Stockholm syndrome is real.

Well, they get the Lions on Thanksgiving, which at least is a quick chance to possibly rebound. I mean, you're talking about next year and whether Chip Kelly will be there. Yeah, the Lions maybe. this point are favored. They're playing better right now. But this season is far from over for this team. It's not like they can just throw in the towel. It just shows, though, how much things can change. We thought this defense was what was good about this team. And in September, we would have said the Bucks have the worst offensive line in league. But that's why, you know, seasons change

within the season and narratives change. And now that defense is not a good team. Well, I was actually wondering at one point, did somebody get hurt? Were there any injuries that I missed? Was somebody out like i i was like i couldn't understand why they looked so bad and no everybody was fine a month ago we were saying how great the run defense is and now they've averaged they've given up five and a half yards per carry over the last month and i just think it's so telling when you see darren sprolls who is such a mild-mannered nice person getting into it with mark sanchise i mean that's just the the team is just sort of unraveling they were up 163 at home against the dolphins last week i just did some quick math, Greg, and you could check me out if I'm

correct. Since then, they've been outscored 62 to 20 by their two opponents. So they've been out-coached, out-played, out-boxed, out-genius. They have an out-genius. And Greg, you're right. The season shifts over and over, and maybe

even a week, two weeks from now. We'll be saying something else about the Eagles, but there's still a team to me when you're losing games like this, something is absolutely missing with the master plan in Philadelphia. This is the most eye-opening. And we spend all this time on the Eagles. But the story here is this young Bucks team is exciting

and that they're 5 in 5 in Winston and Dougie fresh and they're watchable and even the defense is playing better. Love those Bucks. Let's move on to a team just like the Bucks, but in the other conference that is surging. The Kansas City Chiefs are back from the dead and on a four-game winning streak after a way too easy, 33 to 3.

You don't get that too often. 33-3 conquest over the Chargers in San Diego. Alex Smith hasn't thrown an interception since week three, and Spencer Ware became the latest running back to show that Casey's running back depth chart goes beyond Jamal Charles. Got some players in that backfield. He ran for 100 and 100 yards and two touchdowns and just 11 carries. The chargers, I got to say, you know,

and all do credit to the chiefs who really are five and five now. Again, we talk about that AFC mess at the bottom of the wild card standings. You know, they're just as good as that. any of those teams will be interesting to see. But Mike McCoy, you know, two, what was it, nine and seven seasons the last two years. But this year, six straight losses now, hot butt.

How about a little hot butt? Mike McCoy? Not the wording I would use, but I think. You got a hot butt. I thought it was Lovie Smith, who, according to you, had a hot butt. Well, he had a scorching butt, but now it's a cool butt. So someone put some lotion on his buttocks. It's a lot to keep track of.

Not a good sign. They come out of the buy like this, the charger. I mean, this is the season, when we've said it before, that it feels like everything is caving in on them. And it's only going to, I mean, they have a lot more, you know, six more games to play. One thing, we don't have to spend too much time on this because there isn't much to go through. But, you know, we shouldn't mention Spice Racks guy, Melvin Gordon, 37 yards.

He's getting belted. Well, when you come out and you tell Chris Wessling, one of the around the NFL dudes, that a guy's going to run for 2K as a rookie, he well let me he said if he had been drafted by the cowboys to be played behind that offensive line he would have predicted he would have predicted 2000 yards he would have predicted 2,000 yards let me just clarify again that spice rack

is Chris Wesleyan's desert friend who watches a lot of college football what does Greg call him my uh guru smangali convinced big things from group he's he's so bad that he when he broke a tackle at one point in this game you know it really made me go whoa because he He hasn't, what has he done this season? He's pretty bad that one broken tackle stands out where he did something. He did a heck of a job on this recap, by the way.

You did it just like Greg wants it. Not a lot of words, but you got the meaning across really well. I like that. This line, the running back death may have saved the season for the Chief. That's a good point. They plug in Sharcanric West. Everybody thinks Jamal Charles injury is going to torpedo the Chiefs, and they're playing better than ever.

They plug in this Spencer Ware character and he goes off. What about Don Terry Poe? When Patrick Ewing would go out of the lineup and something. only the Knicks would go on a big around. Oh, the old Bill Simmons Ewing theory? Wait a minute, yeah. There is some Ewing theory potential with Jamal Charles. There is.

Everyone they plug in blows up. Yeah, they're playing better without him. Dan Hansis could rush for 88 yards off seven carries. They've got people looking in the newsroom going, wow, I didn't know DJ Ware was still in the league. I'm like, I don't think that's not DJ. You idiots. Well, they don't even DJ Ware.

It's not DJ Ware. Wait, and Don Terry Poe, he scored a touchdown, all 34. 46 pounds of him. I have an issue with this. What? Some of our entities are tweeting out that he's officially the biggest man to ever score a touchdown. Officially.

It's not official because the refrigerator went way bigger than his listed weight. Fridge. Yeah, they had a listed at 3.35. And the fridge was like 3.80. The fridge was pushing four rocks. Yeah. No doubt. That's what's going on in San Diego.

It's a very sad situation. Anyway. The teams have outscored opponents by almost. a hundred points over the life. That's crazy. They're playing really good. What's your schedule look like? We don't have a...

It's manageable. Is it? It's nothing crazy. Yeah, they only have... If they win in Buffalo next week, that's their big gamer. It might be in Kansas City, but that's the match. Colleen's got some material here. Buffalo, it's the only team with a winning record.

That could be the team that gets the last wild card. Whoever wins that game. And can't you see the bills kicking that game away? I could totally see the at Raiders, home to Chiefs. That's their next three games. So, excuse, home to Chargers. So manageable for sure. We move forward.

Starting in place of an injured March on Lynch, rookie Thomas Rawls gashed the 49ers. This is lifted directly from Chris Wessling's right up. So I'll throw it right back at you, buddy. Great writing. Gash the Niners defense for 255 yards from scrimmage and a pair of touchdowns leading the Seahawks to an easy 29 to 13 win West. The Seahawks are back to 500,

and they may have found something special in the Beast Mode understudy. I don't want to say that Thomas Rawls is better than Beast Mode, Marshawn Lynch, but he's unquestionably outplayed him this year. Lynch had never had a 160-yard rushing game or a 200-yard from scrimmage game. Last time Rawls started in week 5, he went over 160 rushing yards. Today, he has 255 yards from scrimmage and just broke 49ers tackles, gashed their defense, and broke off chunk plays all game. game. He gives them something

that Marshawn Lynch does not give them right now, that big play potential. And there's a report that Marshaun Lynch is seeing a specialist in Philly this week. Sports hernia has been floated out there. That's a season-ending surgery if it happens. So we might see more of roles in the future. It's coming behind an offensive line that is not one of

the league's best, secondly. They're really improving the last couple of weeks. That's a big holes there today. It's a great run. And on top of it, I mean, this team, though, must have believed them going back to the summer because they let Kristen Michael and Robert Turbin walk in favor of this guy, and they were correct. It looks pretty smart. It doesn't even wear suits, bro.

Well, we've wasted a lot of type on our website talking about Kristen Michael, everyone in this room. You mentioned Chris that he's got the big play ability that maybe Marshaun Lynch doesn't, but he does have the same sort of finishing the play ability. I mean, this guy will not go out of bounds. He's a type of runner Jim Brown. He's not sliding for first down. Anytime he gets within a yard of the sideline, he just looks for someone to hit and keeps going.

He handled 30 touches today, too. That's like Colleen, when you get over to Blitz, you're just like, why are you hitting me right now? Right? Makes no sense. Well, I totally agree. For the Seahawks, beyond Thomas Rolls, they had 508 yards today, 28 first downs, and were exceptionally well-balanced.

Russell Wilson started 12 of 13. Tyler Lockett had two touchdowns. They had to have been really encouraged, even if it was against the worst team in the NFC. Jimmy Graham, get a touchdown? I don't believe so. their center and their left guard did go down too in this game so the blocking late in the game got a little dicey

are we I feel that the Falcons are just keeping the Seahawks seat warm in that wild card spot but still you're beating a Niners team that is devastated they don't even have Colin Kaepernick anymore you want to hear the Seahawks schedule I would like to hear yes Steelers at home wait I'm going to do win loss you ready All right. Big win at home.

At Minnesota. I'm going to lose. At Baltimore and Matt Schaub. Win. Two wins. Brown's at home. Win. Rams at home.

Win. At Cardinals in a game the Cardinals may not need because it's a season finale. I'm going to say they need it and the Cardinals win it. So they'll go four and two. That would put them at nine and seven. And they're in. That should be a matter. Yeah.

Yeah, they're in. I think I'd give them five and one. If the Cardinals don't need that win at the end, Seahawks are going to go in there and win. So they'll win nine and ten games, but we've kind of gotten sucked in before this season, or they're like, oh, now they're going to turn it on and then they lay another egg.

Maybe it'll happen again. The Niners aren't a good team, Mark. Do you think that it's time for the Seahawks to finally take flight, or are we still a little nervous? I don't think they're going to roll up 500 yards every week, but the difference between Seattle and potentially Atlanta is that Seattle last year started slow out of the gate and they have the experience from up and down that roster to get into the postseason

where Atlanta, to me, seems they don't have a roadmap right now. The final word goes to Colleen Wolfe on this game. Listen, that defense, the Seattle defense, needs to figure out how to cover tight ends because they gave up a lot of yards to, even today, to the 49. 100 yards to Vance McDonald and Garrett Seleck. Do you want to hear anything about the 49ers from this game? Even though I said Colleen last word, I'm going to take it and throw it back to you. Blaine Gabbard played pretty well.

He had three really impressive drives. You'd like to see more down-to-down and drive-to-drive consistency, but he showed athleticism. He showed a strong arm. And frankly, has been playing better than Colin Kaepernick has this year. And he's doing it with preseason level talent around him. And oh, yeah, by the way, the guy that started the Super Bowl a couple years ago will never play for the 49ers again.

And his season is shockingly over out of nowhere. Yeah, it's a little suspicious. With a surgery on a non-throwing shoulder. And the second that happened, I was like, okay, I can't wait for the cut. competing stories with different agendas to come out. And it literally took an hour. I mean, CSN, Bay Area had sources on both sides that were blaming each other. And it's amazing how quick.

Is this phone office, the biggest soap opera in the league? And those reporters up there, those guys love to mix it up, too. So it's quite a concoction. They're quite fiery, that beat. Molotov cocktail. Yeah. And the last word goes to Colleen Wolfe. Those reporters, really, they are something else.

up there in the area. Yes. Well, Colleen, you've said it all. You've come in here again, and even though it's football, you hit a home run, is what I'm going to say. Oh, that's great. Thank you.

I have to go home and make a pie now, I think, for this. Oh, you're in the pie off as well. Yeah. That's some new competition. You know what's one the last two years? You have, right? No, Zucer, yeah.

Yeah, because your mother-in-law made a pie. Well, it's a, just like the fantasy team. I don't think that's very fair. Just like the fantasy team. How do you take credit for that you won? What did you do? Just like my fantasy team is a multi-tiered beast. It's about delegation and finding people with strengths

and bringing them into your organization. And my mother-in-law, Anne, is an expert Texan woman in terms of what she does in the kitchen. Did you even sprinkle so much of sprinkle sugar on this pie? Well, you know what? You know her, that's it. Do you know why this pie's wedding? Yeah, I know my mother-in-law, yes.

It's purely because of the whipped topping that goes on the pecan pie. Well, listen, we are changing the game. I'm going to have to contact her. Yes, because what you have to do, when you go back to back, as we did with pecan pie, what you need to do is reinvent yourself. Not totally different, Greg, than when you two went away after Rattle and Hum and Joshua Tree and came back with Acton Baby.

You better watch out. This could be your Zuropa. Zoothoa is a great album. That was a great album. So, you know, back off with that. But this will be our Acton Baby Pie. So get ready. That sounds scary.

All right. Caution, baby. Or danger. I can't wait. All right. Well, Colleen, thank you again for stopping by. Will you join us next week? Yeah, sure.

And if we don't see you, happy Thanksgiving. Thanks. You too, guys. All right. Well, they're calling you back into the woods. I know. I got to go. And you're a woman, right?

I am. Last time I checked. And you're not offended by, like, me referring to you as a woman? No. Greg. Why would anyone have thought that? Dan, are you a man? Absolutely.

Okay. See? Why does this have to get even more awkward? I'm already on the awkward ISO cam. Well, it just makes more sense. It might as well get awkward if you're on the camp. All right, that's it for Colleen. Here we go.

Which takes us to Sunday night football and really, arguably, the best Sunday night football game of the year. Because here are the Arizona Cardinals enter this game at home coming up a big win last Sunday night against the Seahawks. And here comes the Bengals who lost them Monday night. And it lived up to the billing because in the end, a 34 to 31 win for the Cardinals, a game in which the Bengals battled back and wiped out a 10-point deficit in the fourth quarter.

But as the Cardinals have done all season, guys, big scoring down the, big plays down the stretch from our boy, Larry Fitzgerald, big throws from Carson Palmer, and then Chandler Canisero hits the field goal at the gun, 3431. Both teams now, eight and two. Greg, you get us going. They should put the Cardinals on national television every single week. This is why they're the team of ATL because when push comes to sub, they get it done.

If you're watching on YouTube, you're watching the beautiful pass from Carson Palmer to Larry Fitzgerald. And two guys who've been in the league for a decade, that was the matchup that mattered in the last couple minutes. Leon Hall versus Larry Fitzgerald and Carson Palmer reamed his old

teammate Leon Hall to end it. One thing we're seeing over, and over with this Cardinals team, two interceptions early from Carson Palmer. They have overcome turnovers like no other team in the league. It's because you give them any room to breathe, they're going to pile up yardage and points. And we're saying

here in the room, the Bengals, giving them even a minute to get down the field and seal the game, it was no effort. They went right down and did it. They continue to outplay teams every week and overcome these turnovers because they are a deep and talented roster that plays as a team.

Last week it was Andre Ellington and Geron Brown coming up big. This week is J.J. Nelson and David Johnson had a touchdown catch. It's a different guy every week. And I love that about the Cardinals. J.J. Nelson, four for 142 and a touch, you know, subbing for Michael Floyd, making big play after big play. And, you know, on the bangle side of the ball, this is a game that, yes, you've lost two in a row now and that's nothing to celebrate. And maybe you're a little upset about how you played the last couple of minutes of the game in terms of clock management. But also, you've lost two in a row. You know, Andy Dalton played a strong game overall.

They hung in a tough environment with a crowd that was going nuts. They got back into the game in the fourth quarter. So they showed they could hang with any team in the Cardinals. If we believe as a team of ATL, this might be the best team in football. The Bengals are showing that they can hang with anybody. Let's give the Bengals credit because when Marvin Jones dropped that pass down the sideline, the old Zusser said, and I quote, you guys aren't ready. Right.

And that was coming off the effort drops on Monday night, Andy Dalton missing deep balls. and you thought, you know, they started out this game. They established a 14 to 7 lead. Cardinals come storming back, and you think the Bengals are going to fold. To their credit, they didn't fold. And they've shown that a lot this year. Another bad sign for Westavis, potentially. I'm not worried about it.

I mean, think about where they were in the game entering the fourth quarter. At one point, they're down seven. Andy Dalton loses a fumble on a sack fumble. The Cardinals get the ball back on the 10-yard line with eight minutes to go. And at that point, the game feels over. But they stop them three and out right there. They have to kick a field goal. They're down 10.

They come all the way back to tie it. They really stopped Arizona from moving the ball at all in the fourth quarter until that last drive. I do want to know what do you guys think about the decision on third and two, I believe it was. And instead of trying to kill the clock a little bit and continue to move forward, maybe call a running play, they go deep down the sideline to A.J. Green doesn't work out. That gives the Cardinals enough time to win the game. Well, I mean, I think, as again, we were. saying don't give the cardinals anything close to a minute they'll do it but i like what the bengals

did with hugh jackson it's let's go for the win that was a very close to being a touchdown had it been we'd be talking completely differently about this team it showed big onions because there was a lot of you can make the case if they get the first down a third and three they could take the clock all the way down and either score the touchdown with seconds to play or kick the field goal and basically go to overtime they went for it i think patrick peterson was out of the game at that point So they had the matchup they wanted with A.J. Grain, who they believe is one of the best players alive at wide receiver. I like the call. And I also, you know, not for nothing, I was surprised they didn't take a closer look on review on that. You know, maybe his foot went out of bounds when he was about to go up for the ball.

But he did land on the pylon. There's a weird play not to review, in my opinion. Yeah. How about Marvin Lewis being aggressive? I mean, it's good. I think it's a good sign. You're right. Especially talking about the matchup is right. If you're going to go for the win, you go to your best players. We always preach that. This was another game where people were like, oh, this is the game Andy Dalton's going to truly melt, and we're going to start to look at the Bengals as this sinking ship. And you're right, it's absolutely the reverse. And you don't want to lose these games.

But the way this loss went down, it's another building block for a Bengals team that's getting better. It does make their season more complicated, though. There are only two games ahead of the Steelers, and they have another game with Pittsburgh coming up. It's in Cincinnati, but that's still coming up. They have a game with Denver. They're not two games, there are two losses as we're taping this behind the Patriots for the number one seat. Patriots are gone.

Still makes things a little more tricky, especially if the Steelers play really well. Patriots go in the Super Bowl, Greg. Cardinals, yeah. Cardinals got that magic. They got those two losses out of the way early, and they still have too many turnovers, but I think they've outplayed every team they've played this year.

Well, sure. When was the last time we saw a team lose the turnover battle? What is this? Three or four straight weeks, and they're winning every time anyways. Two more things. Mark, I offered you $2 to tweet out from your handle.

Rematch in February, please. You did not take the $2. I refuse because by the time you had said it, I'm sure 4,000 people had done something similar. And I don't want my name attached to it. I feel like you would have been ahead of it at the time. If you start a sentence on Twitter with um or a, you should have your Twitter taken away.

And Welp, everybody. Enough of that. Not that I see as much anymore. And also, one other thing, Larry Fitzgerald's final reception that got them in field orange. That put Milana Vintraub, our group fantasy team, over Matt Harmon, one of the fantasy poobas. Is that a word?

Yes. The grand Puba. A narrow victory, nine and two, that team. So there's another big win on Sunday night, Greg. What means a lot to Greg? No one cares about your fantasy team? Except for... It's talking about yours.

Except for Milana Vintraub. That's it. So any last words on that game? Another big win for the team of ATL Put him into Super Bowl I want to see him I want to cover him

Cardinals Patriots Super Bowl Oh and Billy Belich gets his heartbroken by Bruce Ariens I like that That's almost too much to take I almost like this Cardinals Bengals Wes who would you root for in that

in that game I would root for Bruce Arons I would root for the Cardinals You was carrying that Patswater up and down the hill That's the narrative That's the narrative that you started That does not exist

I was on the right side at the flake game let the record show uh the jury's out on that did you read that gq article what do you hide in tommy talk about it either way it never really mattered because he still had to throw football back down the world now i'm not going down there was um all right that's it that's a good show great recap of all the games on sunday in week 11 it's an accurate appraisal yeah this is just the first of another week of shows uh Thanksgiving week oh the guys are going to you know, take it easy, maybe do just one show during the... No, screw you for thinking that.

Seriously, I don't mean to be aggressive, but we're doing two shows before Thanksgiving. And on our choice, we're also doing an NFL now Thanksgiving night hit. That's true. I cannot wait to do that. You can check in on NFL now. So we're all over the map on this week coming up. So thank you so much for listening.

And yes, we'll tell you again in our upcoming shows, but enjoy your Thanksgiving week. This is it. That's it for the Sunday night edition of the Iran and the NFL podcast. This is Dan Hansus, signing off for Quiet Storm, the mailman, the boss, Brandon, TD, and the gang behind the glass. Until Tuesday. This is an IHeart podcast.