NFL Daily with Gregg Rosenthal - Week 14 Recap: Steelers-Ravens SNF thriller & Wentz injury puts damper on Eagles' division title

Episode Date: December 11, 2017

A room filled with heroes- Dan Hanzus, Gregg Rosenthal, Chris Wesseling & Marc Sessler- recap all of the Week 14 action, including the big news of the night, a serious injury to Eagles quarterback Carson Wentz (2:00); The Jaguars’ big win over the Seahawks, which caused some fans to act up towards the end (14:00); A rough day for Derek Carr and the Raiders (38:00); An all-time game between the Bills and Colts, which will be known as the “Snow Bowl” (48:00); Another great game out of Jimmy Garoppolo, giving 49ers fans hope for the future (1:00:00); And an incredible Sunday Night Football matchup between the Steelers and Ravens, including an unbelievable game from Antonio Brown. (1:13:00)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. Let's talk a little bit about Fat Head, because that's what this episode is sponsored by. Okay, let's talk about it. Fathead, real big wall decals or life-size action images that you could stick on any smooth surface. Choose from hundreds of officially licensed athletes,

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wall decor is sure to amazing So go to www. fathead.com slash around to place your order and get 20% off site wine. The Around the NFL podcast is saving it for the religious podcast. 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 Rosenthal.

What's up, boys? Hey, Dan. Hey, Chris. The flagship edition of the Around the NFL podcast presented by head and shoulders. I'll tell you what, though. A little bit of a bad mood. You have a right to be. A little bit.

Yeah, because I know it's, you know, free food, and we're not supposed to complain. Oh. The wild boar. This is the reason. I thought you were going to talk about the football developments. There were some downers that happened. I'm getting there, Greg. Let the bit play out, okay?

wild boar ragu cheesy polenta being served for dinner today sounds good really testing the limits of what we can complain about in terms of free food today it's uh it's become apparent to us over the past three four weeks if not longer that what we thought was meals we appreciate that they cost no money uh thought they were being delivered from local eateries are simply probably being made in the warehouse space the warehouse space behind uh our own in health house cafeteria. That's the behind, that's, that's, that's some good scoopage there. Good scoge there, Mark.

I may not be right. I'm not saying it's triple source. There's just whispers. Okay. Now the bit, you took it deep, which is a nice deep dive. But I'm also in a bad mood because it looks like we lost another superstar quarterback. This time Carson Wentz and Wes, this one hurts. He was the most fun player to watch this year.

I thought, if previously Deshawn Watson was the most fun player to watch, or Aaron Rogers or Andrew Luck. All the fun players have been struck down, smited by the injury gods. We should note, as we tape this, our guy Ian Rappport said the Eagles fear. It's a season-ending injury. ESPN had a very similar report. I feel like one in every 25 of these fears where it's not confirmed end up being wrong. I like the arbitrary number there, 25.

Maybe one in 50. It's happened. It's happened. Isn't Ryan Tannihil last December? Right. That's a good example. Of course, he didn't play again. I like how the football gods spared Ryan Tannahill, at least temporarily.

I don't know. I'm just hopeful. These gods are evil. I'm hopeful. They're the worst. These are Old Testament gods. Yes, they are. They're the worst.

And Mark, we talked about this, you know, sad fans of our teams. Screw the football gods. And what can you do to me? You can't do anything more, so whatever. Right. I curse at them and what are you going to do? First you think, make life even uglier for our teams. But I will say one thing about it's not just that Carson Wentz to me was the most

fun player to watch at this point in the season. The Eagles were the team I enjoyed watching the most. Sure. And when you replace Carson Wentz with Nick Foles, the fun quotient dives deep into the earth. Rather have Nick shook behind center, to be quite honest. Sure.

Anyway. That would be an interesting to watch. We got a lot of games to get to and let's start there. There's no better place to start then at the Los Angeles Coliseum where Carson Wentz most likely played his final game of 2017. Damn, you. you football gods damn you fourth and goal once time runs out passes to geoffrey for the touchdown what a

catch right off the top of the grass and a new franchise record for philadelphia's carson wince passes 33rd touchdown of the season joe buck with a call on fox there yes was that the final pass of carson wents's magnificent sophomore season the eagle star threw for four touchdowns before exiting with a potentially serious knee injury. The Eagles showed some gumption without their star forcing a big Jared Gough turnover that led to a go-ahead field goal. They tacked down some late points

with some special teams, shenanigans, a 43 to 35 win at the Coliseum. Mark, here was the textbook definition of, oh boy, am I going to pronounce this one right, a Pyrrhic victory. Chris Wesleyan, you know, Chris did not come up with this term, but you... I believe Plutarch did.

There you go. So someone who... Pyric? Did I get it? Yeah, Pyrrhic. I think you nailed it. I was worried it might have been Pyrrhic. Plutarch, a couple generations older than West. Is that the guy from Animal House? No.

I'm not sure about that. I don't believe he's an important historical victory in ancient war times. Oh, go ahead. Not in America. But 280 BC. What a killer loss for the Rams. But yet you look at this Eagle season, and they're 11 and 2. In any other scenario where Wents had survived this game,

you have essentially won your division and you've basically told the rest of the NFC it's us and it's everyone else. And now we're looking at a team that could capture the first round by here because their slate down the stretch is manageable to say the least and yet the air is completely out of the balloon.

It's really strange because this result and this game mattered so much to this season. The Eagles winning the game after Foles came in almost feels like an afterthought, but it was a big achievement, not just for Foles, who hit a third down or two, but ultimately it was the running game and the defense. Chris Long with a massive play. This game really could have changed the NFC picture if the Rams could have figured out a way to do it. Now the Eagles get a chance, like you said, Mark, to win some games.

And I don't think this is a situation where they're like the Raiders last year and their season's just over. They've got a very good defense, one of the best in the league. They've got a very good running game, and I think Nick Foles could be one of the better backups in the league. That's a low bar, but he could be in that system. So I don't think they're necessarily cupcakes. It's devastating. They're not fun, but I don't think they're necessarily out of the NFC picture, especially because I expect them to be the one scene now.

So you'd say they are much closer to the Case Keenham Vikings than the last year's Raiders. Like if the Vikings can be a Super Bowl contender with Case Keenum, why can't the Eagles with home field be a contender? At least to play a team like the Saints or the Vikings, whoever, it is pretty tight. It's looking far ahead, I know. And that's why if you're an Eagles fan, and I commend you if you're even listening to this podcast right now, this would be one of those shows where I would just, I would need to go underground as a sports fan when something this bad happens. Now your hope goes from, it goes, and Colleen's a big Eagles fan.

And all season, she kind of had a take about this team that lined up probably with a lot of Eagles fans, which was like, I don't even know how to process this. I'm just really nervous. Something bad is going to happen. things are going too well, and that's exactly what's happened. So now they're in a position if you're an Eagles fan where you need Nick Foles to pull a Case Keenham for them really to be a Super Bowl contender still, and that is a hard thing to pull off. Maybe they won't be horrible like what happened with the Raiders, but still, you're asking a lot now.

Maybe they won't be horrible like the Packers were. I will say one thing about Eagles fans. I was out on Friday our day off, and three different places in L.A. around town swarming with Eagles fans. People kill the Eagles fans historically, saying they're throwing batteries and they want to bite Santa's nose off all this stuff. They did. They did that stuff. They travel well.

They travel well. Say it bite Santa's nose off? Imagine these guys. No, they booed Santa, Mark. Well, that's what we know. We don't know what else they did to Santa. How many of you have seen Santa in person? We don't know what the state of his nose is.

But I will say this, all those Eagles fans flying home tonight, can you imagine where they are compared where they were four hours ago? Their linebacker, Nigel Brown. Adam said after the game that Carson Wentz is our everything. He's like I guess that makes him the sun god raw. I mean, that's our everything is pretty high praise.

And the sad thing is like this game I think showed I know the score was close, but I really felt like the Eagles were the better team in this game. They end up with 455 yards to just 300 for the Rams. I felt like the Rams had a special team's touchdown, which helped keep them in it. And ultimately the Eagles are a better

team. And yet, I don't know. Like, what does it matter? Hopefully when we wake up tomorrow, this pod will be at a date because it's like, oh, actually, it's not a tear, but you have to operate under the reports that are very ominous that this is the end of the road for Wins. And it's just depressing. For the Rams, they had some really key. This was a big setback for them. Not only could have they gotten into the number one seed for the NFD. What, are you doing some calculations right now?

Are you breaking out the Greg Rosenthal calculator? I really wasn't. Oh, wow. We're dialing up. All right, Rosenthal Playoff Calculator now online. All right, Greg running on a 1987 modem. You were online with the machine. I was going to go a different route mentioning the two cornerback that got hurt, including one for the year.

But now since the tabulator is out, Seahawks Rams next week, NFC West, of course, on the line in Seattle. Rams win that game. You still got a pretty good chance at a buy. That's it. Kavon Webster. out for the year. Deep math from Greg there. I'm not sure how any of us could have come up with that.

Kvon Webster out for the year. Tremaine Johnson, concussion. Well, that wasn't really Greg's fault. That wasn't. Let us know when you actually have some tabulations. It's early. Yeah. Running on that modem, information will be coming, you know, three or four hours.

Here's the reality. In the NFC now, there's a million scenarios. All these teams are still playing each other. Oh, good. Greg Rosenthal, playoff, Calculation. later now online. Let's move out.

Newton fakes to Stewart and running the shell. Good move. 40, 45, 50. Newton to the 40. Newton to the 30. Newton to the 15. We have fun here.

We have fun here. 8-yard line. Woo! Oh my goodness. How to come up with a play like that? Oh, Mick Mixon and his friend of WBT with a call there. Cam Newton's 62-yard jaunt. stuck a fork in a spirited Vikings comeback as the Panthers escaped with a huge

31 to 24 win in Charlotte, snapping Minnesota's eight-game winning streak. Wes, you don't always know what version of the Panthers you're going to get. Today we got the version that could beat anybody in the NFC. It was basically three big plays. Jonathan Stewart went untouched 60 yards on third and one to kick off the scoring, I believe, on the Panthers' first drive. That was a big play. Cam Newton did his typical escape artist routine in the pocket to open up the second half

and hit Devin Funches for a touchdown. And then that 62-yard jaunt that you described where he put a hell of a juke move on Andrew Sendejo. He ended Sendejo. He ended Sendejo. Those were the three big plays. And then the Vikings, I don't know if self-destruck is the right word, but they made a lot of key mistakes, including big drops by a kai.

Kyle Rudolph, Stefan Diggs, and Adam Thielen. Hmm. You don't expect that the way this season has gone so far. I thought Keenham played much better than his stat line would show. He brought them back a couple of times in the fourth quarter and was undone by mistakes. In terms of... And by an offensive line that was just ravaged by injuries. We just talked about two other NFC powers coming out of it.

Does it raise or lower in a considerable way your faith in either team? I would say that I think a little bit differently about... about the Vikings because if you look hard enough, you see two chinks in their armor. They, by the end of the game, they're playing without three-fifths of their offensive line. Mike Remmers, their right tackle has been out for a while. Their starting center, Pat Elfline did not play. And then left tackle Riley Rife suffered an ankle injury during the game. That's huge.

Keenan was sacked six times today. His first nine starts of the season, he had only been sacked five times total. So this was a totally different operation they were running. And then their kicker, Kai Forbeth, appears to have the first. Yips. He's missed five kicks in the last four weeks. Guy's guy. The Vikings, I mean, the Panthers, when they can run the ball, are a very dangerous team. I mean, the Vikings today couldn't run it at all.

McKinnon leads them with 46 yards. And maybe it was just the big plays, but that's, like, kind of all they need with their defensive line in Carolina. I give the Vikings a pass, though. We went into week 11 looking at the Vikings saying, wow, we're going to learn a lot about the Vikings over the next four weeks. They have the Rams and then three road games against NFC playoff contenders, the Lions, Carolina, Carolina. You went three in one. And I think ultimately, you know, you looked very good doing it.

The rest of their schedule is not tough. They have a chance to get the one seed now if the Eagles were to slip up with foals and they're in good position to get the buy. And if you're Carolina, you're asking, speaking of the football gods, you go into Green Bay or you have Green Bay next week and you're getting Green Bay with Aaron Rogers versus what would have been, you know, a sort of a dead in Green Bay team that it could have been easily flattened here. landing spot next week. They get to go, come home and face Cincinnati, who look terrible this week, and it might be a dead team walking at this point. So you assume if they could get write the ship a little bit, get to 11 and 3, and then you got the bears in the finale. They're still in really good shape. That's the Vikings, yeah. Yeah. And the Panthers have a chance now to get a buy as well. I mean, they are tied for the division lead in the NFC South. Even though it's been ugly at times, they are right there in it. And I like seeing in this game, Mario Addison,

and Julius Pepper both seem to have really good games. Addison's played well the last couple weeks. Like, that needs to be their identity. And Newton didn't have a big passing game today, but that run is just a reminder that he is completely unique in terms of what he can do with the game on the line. So even when he's not sharp throwing the ball or they're not having a great day,

he's always capable of stuff like that. That was a big time run. With the Vikings looking like they were poised to maybe steal that game, and Newton just said, nope. Well, that's why I say that my opinion on the Panthers, wasn't really changed. Addison and Peppers played great, sure. It was against the decimated offensive line, too. And then on offense, you know, 60 of Jonathan Stewart's 103 yards came on one play. 62 of Cam Newton's 70 rushing yards came on one play. He only had 137 passing. It was just

the big plays, and I don't know if you can count on that every week. What a year for the dirty South. Finally, my obsession with the NFC South is coming home. It's paid off after half a decade. What a year for two nine and four teams. You got the Falcons at eight and five. It's fun. Congratulations, Greg. Let's move on. Check in on another NFC playoff hopeful. And Blake Borders who has played in. Deep and he's got it.

Keel and Cole. Touchdown, Jacksonville. 75 yards. Chris Myers with Fox. Blake Bortles on target all day. Throwing for two touchdowns. And the Jaguars defense made big plays when it counted to hold off the Seattle Seahawks 30 to 24 at the chlorine pit.

Greg, once again, the Jaguars author, a performance that makes you think maybe, just maybe. This is a formula they could replicate for a few weeks in January. This was the biggest win in the Jaguars organization in a decade. I don't even think it's not a hot take.

There's no debate. It was also the win this year that started to, I think maybe we'll convince people nationally that this is a legitimate, dangerous team in the NF, AFC, because Bortles is absolutely playing better. And I don't want to hear from Seahawks fans that mentioned that the Jaguars got some breaks in this game. Bobby Wagner went out with a hamstring injury in the second half.

KJ. Wright went out with an injury late in the game. That was all important. But the Jaguars were winning this game in a balanced way where the defense kind of started to collapse in the fourth quarter when Russell Wilson started doing his thing. two drives that took only one or two plays. And the Jaguars' offense did their job. They had a five-minute drive. They picked up first downs when they needed to.

Leonard Fournett closes out the game with a third and eleven run, essentially. And it's a balanced team. They're good enough on offense to beat pretty good teams. I watched the end of this game, and it's not the first time I've seen Pete Carroll Seahawks totally lose their composure and act like sore losers. Michael Bennett might, I don't know, he might be suspicious. I think he might.

Ridiculous takedown of Brandon Linder. Total stunner that Michael Bennett didn't handle losing well again. This has happened a few, too many times with Pete Carroll's teams. Quentin Jefferson tried to go into the stands. It was, I mean, it was embarrassing for this evening. That got a little, that got a little scary for a second because you got the malice in the palace flashbacks there. We do not want the 300-pound lineman jumping into the audience to beat up on a Portly fan. We didn't want that.

We were watching that together, and you're watching what could be potentially 10 to 15 NFL.com post this one if you're in another step. You might have a few, you might still have three or four from this game, I think. You're nine and four, you're Jacksonville. You have the Texans next week. And then you go play the 49ers.

You could easily be 11 and 4 heading into that final week's showdown with the Titans. And if the Titans don't get their act together, maybe you've won the division by them. Right. I think maybe they have and they could even theoretically get in the mix for a buy, more likely a season. I think today was huge.

Today was huge for the AFC South. And you see their confidence. I mean, Jalen Ramsey, who Wes has talked up as his defensive player of the year, had a good game. AJ Bouye was even better. I mean, the two of them together just play with such an incredible confidence. Bouillet had two interceptions. They picked off Russell Wilson three times overall. At one point, Russell Wilson was nine for 17 for 36 yards in two interceptions.

That is midway through the third quarter. And then he got it going kind of like he always does, but it was too little at that point. To Seattle's credit, or excuse me, to Jacksonville's credit, Russell Wilson started to look like he was going to do one of those things and steal another game, and Jacksonville stepped up and got the stop and then ran the clock out. Yeah, they got the ball back with four or five minutes to go, only down six, which it looked like they were not going to be in a position to do that.

There were some blown coverages by the Jaguars. Blakeboard, I mean, this team is feeling themselves. After the game, he said, we're just, like, teams aren't used to this coming down here. We beat the crap out of them. For six minutes. He said, yeah, we beat the crap out of them for 60 minutes. Blake Bortles, very confident. Don't get too confident, though, Blake.

A lot of football. I like it. Two good games in a row, no doubt about it. Be confident. That's important in sports. He'll get too confident. Also, on a big third down in 13, they decided to run the ball with Four Nett instead of Portals. And then on a third and 11, third played ran it to Four Nett again.

We brought up the same play. It was a beguiling call, yet it shows you where the coach is out is. And then in the end, it worked. the next drive. Bordos, it should be said, though, is playing better? I mean, he has made good decisions, and for the most part made pretty good throws the last few weeks. Special things happening down in the chlorine pit. Let's move on and check in with another NFC hopeful. Third down and six from the 25 of Cleveland. Williams-Lanbeck. Quick toss, Adams, left side, spins loose. Got the first down. And more to the end zone for the touchdown. And the Packers

have won in overtime again. Devante Adams, a walkoff 25-yard touchdown reception. Brad Huntley to Devante Adams in overtime did it for the Packers, who rallied back from two touchdowns down in the final quarter, a 27 to 21 win in overtime over the Browns who fall to 0.13 in cruel fashion. That is two straight overtime victories for the Packers. And Nick Shook now joins us. Nick Shook, of course.

Ohio native wrote about this game on NFL.com and for much of this contest shook it looked like the Packers were going to blow a golden opportunity but the Browns open the door and now it's Aaron Rogers set to walk back into the NFC playoff race. I actually wrote a lot more and had to

I was told to go back and cut it down a little bit and change the tone a little bit. Who told you that? Ouch. From ranting shadowy league figures didn't force now. I mean, what a game for the Packers who for three quarters looked like they didn't care if they were, you know,

wanted to be in the playoff picture at all. They didn't care that Aaron Rogers, you know, was set to come back next week and look like they were sleepwalking through the thing and then somebody woke them up and said, hey, you're going to lose to the winless team here. You're going to be the guys. You're going to be the 2016 Chargers. You better fix that. And luckily for them, they did.

Yeah. And Wes, I guess we should give it up to Brett Hunlou, who's up and down. But at the end of the day, he gets the ball back to Aaron Rogers, barring a setback, seven and six, and they're still alive. It looked like it was going to be a lot worse. And with a few good performances, including the end of this game, he kind of kept his team in it. And that's what they wanted him to do. Would you mind if I gave it up for Devante Adams instead? Go ahead.

Do it. I feel like Devante Adams, Greg mentioned this before, has earned himself a lot of money, and the Packers are going to have some decisions to make because they've already paid Jordy Nelson and Randall Cobb, two receivers who aren't as good as Devante Adams. Right. I mean, the difference between Adams and Nelson has showed up even more with Brett Hunley. Because Adam can make plays on his own. He is a huge reason why they've won any of the three games that they have with Brett Huntley. 95% of wide receivers in the NFL may be more on that game-ending play gets spun down after a three or four-yard game. Really, it was almost looked like a play where they were just trying to get close for a field goal.

But when you have a player special as Adams, he turns it into the touchdown. He goes right up the tunnel. Great tunnel move. You know, we've seen players go up the tunnel after a big play. Yeah. Sometimes it's not so organic. This time the tunnel was right there. Devante Adams runs up the tunnel.

And it's over time too. And it's over time. The game is over. And it's like, let's get out of here. And I wrote about this on NFL.com. Organic in the sense, there's a tunnel. It's game's over. It's time to go home.

Symbolic in, hey, guys, let's get the hell out of Cleveland. Let's get back on the plane because Aaron Rogers is going to play with us now. If you've got to be excited if you're on the Packers, they must be flying on that plane because they saved their season when it all seemed lost in a really embarrassing way. And if you're Aaron Rogers, the playoffs begin right away because you have the Panthers and then you have the Vikings. Still has to get medically cleared, which Ian Rappaport, the NFL Media Insider, said. I think you could just call him Ian at this point, or rap sheet. I thought that was a bit. I guess it's been before a year. I don't know.

They NFL network I was going to say it's NFL network Oh that's right He said Rogers Look great at practice But that

The doctor's test Of how strong the bone is Really has nothing to do with that Well wouldn't we Don't you feel like we would Have heard something somewhere That there's some measured doubt Or concern that he might

I mean all we're hearing Is glowing reports If suddenly he weren't cleared I mean You got to be kidding me with that concept He's really raised the stakes on his relax and run the table bit.

In those scenarios, like all they had to do was control their own destiny. Now they need some help for him to come in and save the day. You know what? The Seahawks, I think, help. I think it felt like the end of some. It's funny how much things can change in a week, and maybe this is an overreaction too. But the Seahawks losing Bobby Wagner and KJ. Wright, we'll see how serious those are and losing this game.

They feel like they're going to be, I feel like they're going to fall out of it. And so that's one team. You still got to pass the Falcons most likely. If the Seahawks beat the Rams next week, all bets are all. Right, but I don't think they will. I don't know. I'm kind of with Greg on this because I went into last week's Sunday night game expecting that game to be the Seahawks fall off where they would just get destroyed by the Eagles.

And obviously that didn't happen. It depends if Wagner comes back. Isn't they playing in Seattle? They are. Everything changes. You guys are writing off the Seahawks in Seattle. No, I'm not. I'm not.

I'm not. But if Wagner, you know, we talked about Wentz could have been the MVP. Bobby Wagner could have been the defensive player of the year. and he, that looked like an injury that might keep him out for a long time. That is a big time injury. And now you got the Packers coming in. And you do feel like, like what did you rant about, by the way? I want to.

No, let me set this up. So now we got Shook and Sessler together. The rant was about the Browns letting a golden opportunity to get on the board slip away. And now there's only three chances left to avoid infamy. There it is. I was waiting for that. I actually had to go through a multi-stage process today with this one. Usually, like, the Browns lose the game, and I'm like, yeah, you know, they're a young team, they're not good, you know, this and that.

Mark, standby, you're on deck. This game gave me more hope in this season than I've had since they won their one win last season. And then they ripped it all away. There's a stat that I quote tweeted somebody on today. They had something like 22 last play walk-off losses since 1999, four in Hugh Jackson's time. And you wonder why, when they're up by two-tweighed. touchdowns, and people are coming to the newsroom and sitting down next to me, and me and Mark are looking at each other across the newsroom thinking, oh, this might be it.

And they're saying, hey, the Browns are going to do it. The Browns are going to do it. They're going to win. I say, shut your mouth. You've got your mouth when you're talking to me. You just jinxed them. You don't want Shook saying that to you either. And it happened again today. Well, I don't think either one of us at one point were greatly, we went and talk to each other

like four times. Two things have to happen. I think it's so dark at this point that you can't come out of this with the Giants grabbing the number one pick and getting at that, you know, an able. the consensus number one quarterback. Don't have to worry about that now. I think this took care of that, but now something attached to that is pretty dark because you have the Ravens, the Bears in Chicago who just wiped out Cincinnati today,

and then you go on the road to play Pittsburgh. Owen 16 is, it's not just on the horizon potentially. It feels like it would be shocking if it doesn't happen. And I wonder if that will be enough for Cleveland to go from number two, back to number one on Dan's pain rankings. I wonder what more Cleveland would need to do to get that number one spot again. It's been a bit of a... Because the number one team is the Chargers

and they're kind of the friskiest team in the AFC right now. The Chargers, it was more a statement on the people of San Diego. We were, but it's funny because when that came out, back then we were... I like how that is stuck in your crawler. Oh, it absolutely has. Because I had ears on the entire conversation that made that happen. And I kept telling you guys, stop acting like Cleveland is this, upstart team that's about to reel off nine victories before even September's hit.

And, you know, you're 0 in 13 at this point. A couple days ago, though, you're very optimistic about the future. And if you want to improve your team and improve your coaching staff, oh and 16 would be infamy, and I hope it doesn't happen. And maybe this will happen at 1 and 15, too, but you might get a bad coach out of there. Because I'm not sure, like, this is another example of a team that should have won a game that lost the game.

And at some point, doesn't that come down to coaching? on some level, pro football talk reporting tonight that a lot of people believe, even though Jimmy Haslam says Hugh Jackson's back, that John Dorsey is going to try to convince him to get his own coach, which is the earliest possible power struggle in NFL history. We're two days in. One thing, though, when they cut away to Hasl and John Dorsey sitting together like eight times, and Dorsey every time is talking nonstop.

So I think it's very possible. And I think that actually if Haslam, you know, wanted to show some faith in his new hire, that maybe there's a reason you don't bring Hugh Jackson back. There's been too many games like this. One final point. Unfortunately, I could never change the pain rankings because I was told the shadow league figures not to write about the pain.

Oh, that's it. San Diego forever. You know what? Justice is served. They're all out surfing right now. They don't care. They get nice weather. Yeah.

They have an 80-degree Christmas. What do they care? People from San Diego hate when people not from San Diego say that. It's like, you shouldn't have to worry about anything. You can surf. Like what? What if I don't surf? What a rough life they have.

All right, let's move on. One more thing, the Eagles, you brought up Carson Wentz again. This is a report from Adam Schefter. Carson Wentz's ACL was loose when it was tested manually today, which is why the team fears it's torn. Wentz is scheduled to undergo an MRI in Philly on Monday. That according to Adam Schefter of ESPN. So as we get the drips and drabs of the Carson Wentz situation,

we'll share it in this podcast. Moving on. Second and five. Back to Prescott's left. This is a blitz, and they throw a slant of Des and he caught it and broke away 40, 30, 20, a block from Beasley and into the end zone, and there's your big play. Brad Sham, the Sham God, KRLD with the call. Dak Prescott threw three touchdown passes, including that 50-yard strike to Des Bryant as the Cowboys kept themselves in the NFC playoff picture with a 30-10 win over the Giants who need a lot more than Eli Manning to stay competitive in games. against teams that need Ws. Mark,

Dak Prescott is playing like a star again. That and the nearing return of Zeke Elliott keeps Dallas in the hope of business. Took care of business today, that's for sure. I mean, this game, you could feel, I think, in MetLife Stadium that, you know, when it opened and Eli Manning under center, that this MetLife, which is a stadium,

which has been quiet for the Giants all year, understandably, was raucous for a brief amount of time. The problem is, is that Eli Manning, despite all the reputation and the fanfare at this point is a guy that opened 13 for 15 and all I could think of were the two awful incompletions he threw. And as the game wore on and Dallas got hot and Des Bryant shook off two early drops

to streak for a 50-yard touchdown that tied the game at 10-10. Dallas just took off from there. The Giants never scored again. Their defense gives up big plays. And Eli Manning has not a surprise, zero deep ball at this point. His receivers made a couple incredibly awful drops.

They've got nothing else to rely on that side of the ball, and the better team just utterly took over down the stretch. Giants scored 13 points in two games against the Cowboys. The Cowboys who have given up more points per drive than any team in football going into last week. I mean, that says all you need to know about the 2017 Giants, but the Cowboys found a way to win two ugly division games. They get the Raiders who are not looking very good next week.

Like, it is a little more fun to have them and the Packers in this NFC race, but neither team got a ton of help this week. Especially with Carson Wentz now, probably exiting the picture. Aaron Rogers and the Cowboys are always fun to have around. What are those teams sneaking in? I would sign off on that. It's like, I just don't know what's going to happen. If nothing else, the week 16 game, when Zeeke comes back against Seattle,

which is on Christmas Eve, like that feels like it could be a really big game. game as long as Dallas can take care of business next week against Oakland. That's a home game too, which was set up really nicely for the Cowboys. I think it's hilarious how we look at different teams with very similar records. Like, you look at all these teams who are now seven and six after this week, and they're still in the hunt and they're still in contention. And some of them have belief. And then you look at other ones with the same exact record and you have, you know,

no confidence in them. I can't. Like the Lions, who we'll talk about a little later. No one's talking about them the way we're talking about Dallas and Grubay. You've watched enough Lions games to know, you know, and I don't think this team has it. And I'm not sure. Sure if the Cowboys have it. I don't think the Cowboys have it.

For three quarters, this was a tie game. Well, all I'd say, though, is that they've somehow, over the last two weeks, they figured out how to live with that, Ezekiel Elliott. They had their best rushing performance of the season last week. And today, I thought Dak Prescott played one of the best games he's played all year, career high in yardage, and it didn't look. That's no, you know, that box score holds up. That's big.

Dahl stays alive. Let's check in. Oh, go ahead, Russ. Was that a God Sham God reference? I think it might have been. I've been calling him the Sham God for a couple of years now. It must be God Sham God. Former Providence Point Guard?

Yeah. It has to be Sham God. Great Elite 8 run by God Sham God back in the day. Yes, that's where it's from. All right, cool. I'm glad we figured that out. Speaking of the Lions, Prater's ready from 46.

There's the snap by Mulebox, spot by Martin, kicked by Prater is up, and it is good. He nailed it. He sure did, Dan Miller, WJR, with the call. Maddie Stafford threw for 381. With that bum hand, Matt Prater hit the 46-yard field goal in the final seconds. And the Detroit Lions, they stay in the race, a 24-21 win over the lowly Tampa Bay Buccaneers.

Greg, this is what the Lions do. They hang around, but for how much longer? Who do they play next week? I think that's... You want me to tell you? I'll tell you right now. Answer to the question. Do you want to do some tabulation?

They essentially look, they look like the same team that we've seen all season, which is... The Bears. Home to Bears at Sincie, home to Packers. Let's tabulate, baby. That's manageable. Just looking for excuse. Great first and thall playoff calculator now online. Now online.

Weirdly, the calculator now says they've won the Super Bowl. Wow. Bad calculator. They're going to do it. This performance was similar to what they've done all year with. Matthew Stafford made a lot of great plays. Their defense kind of collapsed at some big spots and allowed a big comeback. there were eight turnovers in this game.

I felt like every time I looked up, James Winston or Stafford were turning the ball over. Winston had three. Stafford had two. But at the end of the game, when they needed to, they made the drive for the game winning field goal. And Matt Prater, your boy, Dan, came through.

Yeah, you know, I'm not huge on the earring and his general demeanor at a Super Bowl four years ago. We know. But he is an excellent place kicker. I got to give him that. How excited should we get about a Lions team that had Amir Abdul as a healthy scratch today?

Really? He was healthy? He's been hurt lately. I read early that they thought it was more for performance. Now, I'll have to look into that. But they... Come on with this. They certainly didn't miss him, I thought, last week.

53 yards rushing. Like, come on. Come on with these teams. No, I'm sorry. They're very frustrating team. He is a healthy scratch. He was out with an injury last week, and they just kept him on the sideline. How about that?

It is... It's called me doing my homework. I thought he was supposed to be like Gail Sayers, Todd Bullson. Or Barry Sayer. I guess they're happy to have 2.9 yards rushing in a critical game against an NFC opponent. They're, well, I think Theo Riddick's been a better player for them, certainly this year. Their win was typical, too, because your boy, West, Glover Quinn, made an incredible play for a force fumble was a key to their victory. And Darius Slay made a great interception.

They do have individual players. Eric Ebron had one of the better games of his career. Like, they have individual players that you can get excited about. It just doesn't add up to enough. It adds up to an 8-and-8 team. Yeah, the schedule makers don't do them any favors making them play the Packers in the last game of the season every year.

Ah, yes, the old policy. Let's play the divisional games last. Got to do it, got to do it. All right, there you go. Nick Shook, you are now, luckily, we had a little miscommunication. Shook was getting into the car to leave right when I hit him up on our I.M.

Client that shall not be named. But now you can get back in the car, Shook, and you're going to go get a pump on? Oh, yeah, you know, it's early. Get your pump it. Time to get one on. I have one says that. No, one has ever said, get a pump.

No, it is a hideous phrase. Get a pup in? That is normal gym terminology. Yeah, really? Thank you. That's lingo. People are still saying that now, though. It sounds like something that a meathead.

We say it all the time, Mark. Guys like Nick and I, just like. I'm an undercover meathead. I have one question for you, Dan. Yes, Nick. What kind of earring was Matt Prater wearing? It was a diamond stud in his left ear, I believe. Oh, all right.

Which is, I mean, whatever. The earing wasn't a big deal. It was the earring in concert with the elitist attitude taunting reporters from the little bullpen they had set up at Media Day. Well said. You can't touch me. I'm guarded by Bay. It was like, Matt, first of all, come back to us, bro. I can't believe I'm talking about this again.

I talk about Matt Prater's behavior at the Super Bowl 48, 47 media, like three times. Every season. Anyway. He's your Al Leiter. Yeah, he's my lighter. Wes at Super Bowl 48 had a run in with Al. lighter at the New Jersey Meadowlands. That's a story for another time.

Do you feel like at any point there's a level of self-like reflection here? You've gotten into with Matthew Prater. You've gotten into with Bennett, Michael Bennett. I mean, the common denominator potentially here is a Dan Hansis individual versus just the irritated player. Let's again look at the two individuals in this case. You have a strong case. Look at what Michael Bennett did today.

Look what he did to the reporter with cancer last season. And then look what he said about my genitals. I can only hope to one day roam among notable public figures and try to... Did I ever... Shook, we'd love it. Did I ever tell you about the time I wore an earring to a job interview? What? Wait, I'm going to guess Wes's earring.

You had the hoop. The earring awards to the interview was the Diamond Stud, but I actually... I had one of those crucifix earrings that Barry Bonds had. Oh, no. This was like 1996, I think I was a mailman. Is there a picture? Do you have any photographic evidence of this time? of your life because we got to put it on the Twitter.

I don't know if I have any pictures like in L.A. You had a Barry Bond's crucifix earring? I did. This is the most amazing revelation I've ever heard. This is breaking news. Were you interviewing at a charity? I was interviewing at a law firm, like the most conservative law firm in Cincinnati. Well, you were a God-fearing man, at least.

And they gave you the job? She gave me the job and she said, let me give you a piece of advice. Never, ever wear an earring to a job interview again. It's like, but I can go 40-40 if I could just get the chance. All right, Nick Shook, get that pumping. All right, too. You get a pump on. You drink your protein shake.

You put on one of those belts and, uh, let me put a bandana on if you're shook. Got to get on your weight lifting gloves once you lift the kind of weight that Shook lifts. Oh, yeah. Yeah, you got to treat yourself right or your body will betray you. But Shook's body is not betraying him. And that's just a compliment. I took the work of the workforce seminar about sexual harassment. Nick Shook is a healthy individual.

That's all I'm saying. That's it. Complementary. That's all. Please, please. Let's move on. Filling the temperature of the room correctly. Yeah, don't know that.

Go. Get a right side run at the 10. Inside the 5. He's got a hot five. Dragging riders all the way into the end zone. Touchdown. Kansas City. Skittles in the sweet necker of the end zone on a 13-yard,

right side run Mitch Haltes of KCFX with the call the Chiefs are off the Schneide Cream Hunt ran for 116 yards and a touchdown and the Chiefs shut down Derek Carr and the Raiders

in a 26 to 15 win Kansas City's losing streak over at four they write the ship a little bit here as we head toward the final games of the season Oakland meanwhile pulled another no-show in a game with big stakes. Greg, how will you remember the 2017 Raiders?

As a team that didn't show up to their biggest games, that not only didn't win those games but weren't competitive, that stepped on the field against a team in free fall in Kansas City and was so clearly out-coached. And this is what I think we've been saying when we've had some faith that Andy Reid will figure out a way, to right the ship. Ultimately, the mismatch of Andy Reid and Nagy, their offensive coordinator, against the Raiders defense. And whatever they were doing defensively to slow down Oakland

and the lack of, you know, solutions that Oakland could come up with, I think was the difference. Because the players aren't any better on Kansas City than Oakland. And this was a very one-sided game. The final score is really misleading. It was 26 to nothing through three quarters. And it could have been 38 to nothing if not for two or three red zone drops and misplays by the chief. Like, it was just a total no-show, and it was a type of game, I think, that could get coaches fired if the next couple weeks are like this. What an embarrassment. It shows you that even a team today, pick a team that we're super excited about, could be an epic disaster a year from now. It's like the Raiders we came in thinking, they haven't had major injuries that have set them back like some of these other teams.

Derek Carr was an MVP-level quarterback last year, and the guy feels like he's falling off a shelf to me. I mean, what a letdown this season has been. I mean, they entered the season. They're done. A lot of fork in them, by the way. I know there are only one game back in the years. We did. We forked them back in the day, too, didn't we?

I don't know. I don't even remember. Lindsay, let us know if we forked the Raiders. We did. I remember we did. Okay, good. Good job, guys. But, you know, Derek Carr suffered the ankle injury, the leg injury last season,

got healthy. Everyone excited about the team. They get Marshall and Lynch is the final piece. And then, like, in a game like this, As they say, the game script changes, and Marshaun Lynch only shows up in garbage time, basically, and they're not even competitive. It's just been such a bummer of a season for Raiders and the people of Oakland who are losing this team. And this was supposed to be that bittersweet Super Bowl run year. And that's been part of the reason why I blame the coaching.

Like, Marshaun Lynch was running great from the beginning of the game on, and they just went away from him so early. And Derek Carr was clearly not playing well. was one of, I think, his worst games in the last few years, certainly missed receivers that were open. Rich Gannon, former Raiders quarterback, really killing Carr for not seeing guys that were open down the field. Like his mind was a little scrambled, some miss throws, some picks, and give the Chiefs credit.

Well, here's what Derek Carr had to say after the game. It sucked. It wasn't good enough, and you put it all on me. Don't you blame. One coach, one player, it's all my fault. Well, coach is off the hook, Greg. So you can put that to bed. I'll put a little on the defense, too.

I mean, secondary is so bad for that team. Guys are wide open for the Chiefs. And Chris Jones for the Chiefs had a monster game. Really ended a bunch of drives. And gives the Chiefs a chance here. As bad as this last six weeks have been, they can essentially win the division next week by beating the Chargers at home.

On Saturday. Ooh, a little Saturday football back. All right, I like that. Yeah, and we are sometimes too quick to write off teams. All took the Chiefs winning a game, and all of a sudden it seems like they're in the driver's seat again. I like the Chargers to win that game. I don't think they're as good a team.

But if they do win that game, that will be a season sweep over the Chargers. You don't think the Chiefs are as good as. Yeah, I don't think the Chiefs are as good as the Chargers. But if they could somehow win that game, they're in great shape. All right, let's check. Much better matchup than last year's Bryce Petty versus Matt Moore Saturday. Thank you. I'll never forget that matchup.

I seriously don't even remember it happening. Let's check in on the chargers. Underneath center is Rivers, fakes the handoff. Oh, no, that voice. Right as Rivers. Going deep has a receiver. Tyrell Williams makes the catch. 25, 20, to the house.

Rivers to Tyrell Williams, 75 yards. Knock on wood. By the way, people, we didn't understand that the reference was tied to said song, but we've all heard that song. I've heard that song a thousand. What is the song? I saw the tweet. on wood.

Amy's thunder. Give me more. Give me more. The whole thing. Just give me a little more of the melody. I'm not a good singer. Some of the shoulder shaking, you were just. But it's like, it's a, I mean, it Hananos, I think we've heard that song probably 12 times.

Yes. Is it like a 70s, like pop? Hmm. So. Well, and I've just been hearing it in the streets of L.A. Matt Money Smith clearly, you know, is getting it going. And now people are just saying it to each other outside of car. You know, as the cars go by, they're yelling it.

It's an influence. Matt Money Smith's going to get an extra playoff. game to announce as well. Think about that, too. Like money, that's carefully chosen. Like, he wants to have basically a catchphrase that he's known for. He's going with knock on wood and I like it. I'm in.

Are we all signing off on knock on wood? He tapped into his musical background perfectly. All right, beautiful. Let's put a knock on wood on our countdown, but I don't know if we've heard our best knock on wood yet. So let's keep our ears attuned. Anyway, Phil Rivers passed for 319 yards. Two touchdowns.

The Chargers continued to thrive. Four straight wins now, a 30 to 13 win over the Redskins. Sizzler, the Chargers are the proverbial team. Nobody wants to play right now. They are. And, you know, instead of some sort of a letdown, like you might expect from some of these teams to get hot for two weeks, then let go, an utter rampage in the first half.

Five straight scoring drives. and they essentially, 354 yards in the first half, which is the most of the charges have had since 1991 and the most by any team in the first half since 2010. And it looked that way. And it wasn't just big plays. They had big plays, but they minced up Washington, a team that looks totally lost at sea over the last two weeks.

Kirk Cousins, meanwhile, had 112 passing yards in the first half. You think maybe this Redskins team can come back. How do they answer? Seven passing yards in the third quarter. They never got anything going. There was never any threat of Washington getting into this game on any level. They didn't score at one point for something like 37 minutes. And L.A. at home in a stadium with a lot of Redskins fans in there took care of business.

And they hammered this team. It was impressive to watch. This was an 0-4 team that has more opposing fans at their home games. Essentially don't have a home field advantage. and they climbed out of 0 and 4 to first place at 7-6. It's really impressive. It's pretty amazing. They just have it.

And we felt bad for that kicker, but a better kicker, and they are right in the mix for the buy potentially. I mean, it's been that type of turnaround. Redskins had nine first downs. You don't see that too often where a team is in single digits. I mean, they almost tripled them in total yardage. It was 11 first downs to one at one point. I mean, the Redskins had no game plan to get back into this game.

And there was an interview, DJ Sweringer after the game, repeatedly said that he knew this team was going to come out flat with the Redskins because the way they looked in practice, they were blodd practice all week. That's not a great look for Jake Rudin. And again, you wonder if he is a guy to keep an eye on now as they've missed the playoffs two straight years and they're kind of stumbling down the stretch here. It could be a bloody black Monday this year. I know they're always pretty bad.

There are a lot of names in the midst. A couple scenarios out of the way already. I think we maybe could get another one or two out of the way. Greg, you're the QB index guru. Is there a hotter quarterback over the past month than Phil Rivers? No. I mean, and it's the opposite of what his last few years have been. If you guys remember, he's come out hot where people are talking MVP

through the first half of the season for two or three straight years, and then he's had a really tough, you know, closing stretch. This year he starts out slow, but no, I think he's playing as well as any quarterback in the league over the last month. Let's now check in. Oh. Oh, yeah. Chris Watson.

There he goes. It's about time. Look at you flying. Love having Wes in the studio with us. Let's check in with another and another AFC wild card hopeful. McCoy in the backfield takes the handoff, runs up the middle, breaks a tackle.

He's inside the 10, cuts to the left, into the end zone. Buffalo wins. 21-yard touchdown run by the Bills. They win in an overtime, 13 to 7. And a whole host of bills are diving all over the snow and chasing down LaShawn McCoy as the bills pull it out in overtime. Incredible game.

John Murphy, WGR, with the call. Yes, LeShon McCoy scored 21 yards out with 133 to play in overtime. And the bills got out of Orchard Park and a blizzard, a 13 to 7 win over the Colts. Well, forever a member of this game, or at least I would. as the Blizzard Bowl there are snow games and then there is what happened in Western New York today

it was and I watched this game closely for this podcast and the lake effect snow creates some of the most badass visuals you'll ever see in a football game the guys at NFL films assuming their cameras survived the weather it was so cold and miserable

that the Telestrator didn't work in the CBS booth to give you an idea of everything that was going wrong. There was no way to tell where you were on the field. There was hardly any penalties because nobody knew really what was going on. And yet, the bills almost let their season slip away. It would have been so billsian if it worked out that way because they had a 7-0 lead late in the game.

The Colts score with less than a minute to play to make it 7-6. And then the Colts, and give them credit, they decide to go for two to win the game. because Adam Vinatieri earlier in the game had badly missed a 33-yard field goal, I believe. And they do a really nicely executed play action, successful two-point conversion to Jack Doyle. And 8-7 lost for the bills to end their season would have been so Buffalo. But it was called back on a questionable offensive pass. Very questionable. They took away their story.

The Colts kind of got screwed in the game. One of only four penalties in the game, to your point. Yes. And so that pushed it back 10 yards. And then what is Adam Vittieri doing the snow with games and seasons on the line? He makes field goals. He hooks one in the point after to force overtime. There's no, there was no chance that thing was going through halfway there. And then it just hooked in like a slider to force overtime. And then after both teams traded possessions in overtime, including a very highly curious fourth and one punt from. their enemy 40-yard line by Sean McDermott where it looked like that he was playing for the tie and he was going to get killed in Buffalo for that they end up getting the ball back again and then Shady McCoy who's done this before dominated in the snow made the big run he went over 150 yards in this game and it was a type of game where one player likened it to running in sand deep sand because the snow it was eight inches high if you can imagine eight inches and it was

coming down at such a rate. Just watching, like, the safeties on a couple plays that they, that a running back did get a little momentum, watching the safeties try to run after, it was ridiculous. It was like a kid running through a snowstorm. They were like, lifted their legs. The storm didn't start until an hour before kickoff, and then it never let up. And there was some thunder, it was thunder, snow. Lake FX snowman, is no joke.

The bill survives. That Viniatry extra point. I can't think of too many moments in our newsroom that brought everyone. to its feet. That was my favorite weirdly newsroom moment of the year because when he kicked it and it looked like he pushed it right, the entire

room groaned and I happened to look up and I saw Mark Sessler just go oh, just like throw his arms up and he was really angry for some reason. I think he was just caught up in the moment but he had a look of like anger and he just turned his whole body and

face away from it. Never saw it go in. Then heard everyone go crazy. And Mark suddenly turns around. It's like, what? He made it. I'm like the guy that left like the game six of the of the Mets Red Sox World Series in the fourth inning. Chuck Pollock, who has been following the bills for over 40 years for the Olea Times Harold, said it was the worst conditions he's ever seen in Buffalo. It's the worst I've ever seen for any football. Steve Tasker, who was down on the sideline for CBS and he played there many years, as we know, said he had never seen anything close to it. It was really a truly, like if

you want to watch, if you've watched a million games. in your life. You want to watch a unique football game. Watch this Bill's Colts game. But the game, I mean, that's an important one for the bills who remain in the mix. It came so close to getting away from them. And they don't win without LaShawn McCoy, who's had an nice, an amazing career. But he's really, it continues to every season in Buffalo become the most important player there on offense, 156 yards.

That's the most he's ever had in Buffalo. And yes, that snowy Eagles game from about four years ago, that was his. his career high. He went for 217. So whatever it is, but he loves it. He's a mutter. If you're one of those guys who thinks that football should be played under perfect conditions every time, stay far away from me. I don't want to be your friend. Games like this produced joy. They're fun. And every coach in the NFL knows he has to build a team that can survive in any element. And I should mention that Nate Peterman started this game because Tyrod Taylor was out with a bruised knee. Peterman suffered, I believe, what they thought was a concussion, a head injury,

so Joe Webb is in this game throwing passes down the stretch and as you can imagine. Almost lost the game for them. Yeah, he threw a bad interception that Vinatari had a chance to win the game and couldn't get it done or how you guys would say, no Vinatari, sorry, had a chance to win the game.

So Joe Webb, a starter or playing this week, hopefully Tyrod Teller's back next week for the bills, but we shall see. How about Frank Gore? Unfortunately fitting for his season but he has the most carries he's ever had in a game 36 carries. He had 140 yards from scrimmage.

The Colts only had 227 as a team, and Frank Gore had 140 of them. Stephen Holder, their beat reporter after the game, said they have never seen a running back more beaten up, uniform bloodied, black and blue all over. That's a John Riggins game. Most carries in a game by both teams, 97 carries, I think it was, since 1981. And I know we should move and I don't want to pile on too much, but Chuck Bogan. Greg, you want to talk about the feature you? No, Chuck Pagano.

NFL.com slash Frank Gore. Got it. Chuck Pagano is on the way out. He inexplicably let the clock run down at the end of regulation for no reason at all instead of trying to get the ball closer. And he apologized for it after the game. He had no answer to him. He just said I, you know what it is? He's a bad coach.

Yeah, but this is next level. Like they just let the clock run down. It was crazy. It was like a brain. I mean, there was a lot going on in that game. You can't eat him. Cannot eat him. You can fire him.

Let's move on. Fourth down. And Mario's most reliable target on the sideline after getting drilled. Three receivers to the right. Mario daugged backs up as he goes to throw over the middle. It's joggle. Incomplete. Oh, a late flag is thrown.

Mm-mm. Tough loss for the Titans. Dave Pash, K-T-A-R with the call. The Cardinals shut down Marcus Mariotas' latest comeback attempt. And Phil Dawson. Phil Dawson, still kicking. Four second-half field goals. The Cardinals, a 12-to-7.

win. If you want, you could say the Cardinals are on the fringes of the playoff race, but not really. But for the Titans, this was a very damaging loss for the Titans who fall out of first place in the AFC Southwest. What did you see from Tennessee today? Well, the running game is still mired in the mud. They don't go anywhere. They averaged 2.84 yards per carry between Derek Henry and DeMargo Murray. Taylor of the Juan, the really good left tackle, was out of the game early with a lower back injury. and Marcus Mariotta threw two more interceptions. He told the broadcast crew, Andrew Catalan and James Lofton,

it's not a mystery, it's mechanics. He said, I'm throwing off my back foot. And that's on me. I take the blame, but mechanics are the issue with me right now. And you could see it in this game. The Titans' offense is a mess right now, and this stuff finally caught up to them. They weren't, you know, they've been so lucky against bad teams,

and they weren't lucky in this game. How often do you see a first half that produces nine punts, a short touchdown drive, and a missed field goal? I, Wes, I don't think it's fair that you had to suffer through this game today. I believe you've been through enough. Derek Henry scored a touchdown late in the first quarter, and I think their drives after that were three punts, two interceptions, a missed field goal, and maybe a fumbler. But they did nothing after that touchdown the rest of the game. Was this like the wild boar ragu of those seconds? I'm interested in this wild

It's down there It's still available Something to keep an eye on As Mario to hurt his knee in this game Mike Malarkey said after the game In the first quarter And played through it Stayed in to throw the final fourth

Down Pass to cornerback Adore Jackson Now why you would have your cornerback As the intended target With the game on the line I have no idea You know the Titans aren't quite in the playoffs yet No they're not

I feel like you know they're What are they nine and eight And eight and five Look at their schedule They're 8 and 5. They're at San Francisco, which isn't quite as easy as it's been. And then they're home for the Rams and the Jags. If ever there was a team that could lose four straight to fall right out of the playoffs,

I think it's his Titans team. Certainly possible. They would not be a surprise at all if Jimmy Garoppolo beat the Titans. Jimmy Garabolo doesn't let anybody beat him. He's never going to lose. Greg's column on AOL.com will be up tonight. Let's move on. Snap, Trubisky, going to keep it on the redact.

Readdaction into the end's over the touchdown. Touchdown Bears and Mitchell Trubisky in from the four. Very exciting. Jeff Janiak, WBBM, with the call. Yes, Mitch Trubisky made some real hashtag strides on Sunday, throwing for one touchdown, running for another, as the bears whipped up on the Bengals 33 to 7 in Cincinnati. This was the most lops.

sided bears win in five years gentlemen as for the bangles six days ago well they were up what 17 nothing at the end of the first half against the steelers they looked like they were ready to make a charge in the playoff race and now they are at rock bottom and here is what our friend marvin lewis who's finally appearing that he might be at the end of the unendable coaching reign here's what he had to say at the end of the game well i'm uh um the loss of words there, babe, today. Our football team, I thought, had a good week of preparation, and we did not play close to the kind of football to win the football game today we needed to. Wes, we could kind of stick a pin in this for after the season, but I want you to just start working up your Marvin Lewis Obit for his time in Cincinnati. Yeah, he's been. Seems like it's going to happen.

He's been like Rasputin. I think they have Greg Rosenthal's favorite press conference of all time. Oh, yeah. With him and Mike Brown? The one where they were openly pissed at each other to announce his contract, his new contract extension. Mike Brown hates buying. That's not toxic at all.

Yeah, there's no West of us this year. Two years in a row without Westin. It's not the same, is it? It's like the year without Santa Claus. We almost need to like maybe find a backup to Westivis, right? Because who knows, Cincinnati doesn't look any closer to going on another extended playoff run. No, yeah, we talk about Black Monday having this, all this activity.

I think we could find out that John Fox and Marvin Lewis are gone long before the season ends. Interesting. All right, let's move on. Play action, Garoppolo boots left, throws to the far side, caught by Seleck, in for the touchdown. Touchdown, 49ers. Ted Robinson, KS-A-N with the call. Jimmy Garaplo threw for 334 yards.

That's the best he's ever had. And a touchdown helping to see. San Francisco 49ers to another win. Two in a row, 26 to 16 this time over the Houston Texans. Mark, by my logic, the Niners would be 14 and 0. Would that make sense? No, they would be 13 and 0. Next week they would be so powerful, they would have played an extra game.

Yes, they would have counted the last preseason game. They'd be 13 and 0 right now if they traded for their quarterback before the season. That's the magic of Jimmy G. It's what's fascinating about Garapolo in these first couple games is that, you know, last week we saw him play with pace and he was efficient and, you know, looked like he had been there for months running the no huddle and doing really anything that Kyle Shannon would want a quarterback to do. And this game, more progress. He's really has so little around him, but like some of the rare quarterbacks do, guys like Marquis Goodwin who's had, you know, really Marquis Goodwin is a good

piece in that offense. But with Jimmy G, suddenly he's got a hundred yard game today. Al Eusecheck looked like a badass the entire time. It opens up the running game for Carlos Hyde. And what Jimmy G does is he produces points. He finishes drives. And when they finally surround him with weapons, which could happen after this next draft and off-season cycle, this team, if you're a Niners fan,

you have so much to be hopeful for. And there's a lot already that you're starting to see the elements week to week. And, you know, the Texans have a lot of issues. I mean, D'Andre Hopkins is almost quarterback-proof, no matter what, whoever, who's in there, he is making incredible plays. But they just today could not get it done against the Niners, who I think with Jimmy G really feel like they could be, I don't know who's, let's look at their schedule,

but they couldn't get another two wins this season. That would be the best thing. And they've given me a lock two weeks in a row. Oh, yeah. And I'm not getting off this train. You're going to keep up picking bad teams the rest of the year. No, I'll pick the Niners. Oh, every week.

Let me see who they got. Oh, okay. Tennessee. The Titans. I'm locking it up. Oh, love it. Whoa, preemptive lock, I love it. Is that the first pre-week, like, before we get to the week, like?

Absolutely, we're breaking boundaries. Could I get a pre-Thursday night lock? I hope mine goes a little better than that did. Yeah, that was the Redskins pack. And that was breaking boundaries in the wrong way. Any other thoughts? Oh, so what was the situation with Tom Savage, a scary incident where he got taken down, appeared to be shaking, almost having a seizure-like motions,

body motions, and he stayed in the game? Went into the tent, came back into the game, left ultimately with a concussion. So, you know, I don't know how these things are looked at. It's not a perfect system. Yeah, it was not a seamless, I don't know. Bill O'Brien, after the game just said, well, I just coach. I don't have anything to do.

Yeah, I can say a lot of people going to try to not take accountability for this one. But who knows? Maybe he told him he was fine. Maybe he passed test A. It just did not look right. He passed the first one, and then somehow it was clear he actually did have a concussion. Rapsheet reported that the NFL has initiated a review of all aspects of the protocols and procedures relating to Tom Savage. There you go.

There you go. So we'll check in if that leads to any changes in the process. Anything else from this game, Mark? No. I would say if you're a Niners fan, put it on loop and start to feel excited about next season. The Niners have become my go-to Sunday night game pass game. Yeah. Wow.

I want to see what Jimmy G does. Yeah. Very good. All right. You won't be disappointed. Well, we're all looking forward to it. Let's move on. Simeon, once again, in the gun.

Quick pressure on Simeon, who throws a ball towards D.T. And D.T. adjust and makes the catch. Touchdown, Denver with a penalty flag thrown. That was an unbelievable throw under pressure by Trevor Simeon. Dave Logan, K-O-A with the call. Trevor Simeon threw for 200 yards on the nose and that touchdown to DeMaris Thomas. And the Rocky Mountain Avalanche completely short.

shut down the jets. Global warming is a myth. Oh, no. Bitch. In a 23-0-0 win. Let's not continue to spread that, shall we? At mile high. Thank you, Grant.

The Broncos snapped their longest losing streak, which was eight, uh, since 1967. So since they joined the NFL in the year of our Lord 1970, Chris Wesleying. Before I was born. Save for the theology podcast. Anyway, the Jets just didn't show up in this game. I did lock them up. It was kind of a showing of support for my favorite team,

although I've never really been confident in them. And they did not, they didn't come through. They finished with 100 yards of total offense, in fact. They had minus 14 yards at the end of the first quarter. Boy, how many yards of total offense? 100 on the nose. What? They, if they would have gotten one less yard,

it would have been just the second time. in the history of the organization, which spends about 60 years that they had less than 100 yards of offense. Nothing was working. Josh McCown broke his left hand. He got beat up in this game. He didn't play well. No one played well. He took some shots and then suffered a hand injury. After the game, he was fighting back tears, as he discussed, you know, the feelings he was having about what was a career best season that now may be over, depending on what they decide. But it's very possible that his season is done after week 14. Bryce Petty actually came into this game and did nothing.

So the Jet fans that want to see Bryce Petty, you might see Bryce Petty and you may not like what you see. So the Jets fall to five and eight. And with games, the remaining schedule at New Orleans, home to Chargers at Patriots. Ouch. Five and 11 is very possible.

And I don't know if that's good enough for Todd Bowles. Really? See what happens. I don't know. If they lose out, still think he's in danger. I think he needs to win one of these games to be truly safe. That sounds great, but who are you going to get better than him? I don't know, but we never know. I don't know. It could be somebody out there. Jets probably wouldn't get him, but I'm sure

there's somebody that's better than Todd Bowles. I'm not a huge fan. That's Joseph, by the way, could use a couple more of these before New Year's Day. I'm not sure he's going to get him, but yeah, but this was exactly a game in which there were a lot of unused tickets at mile high, which probably doesn't sit well with ownership, they actually showed up on defense, which they hadn't done. And Trevor Simeon actually looked okay in this game. Hey, Team Tread.

The Trevor Express is back. If I remember correctly, as soon as you locked up this game, Mark said, this team is doomed. Well, because you locked it. I kind of felt. It was a shot at your locking skills

when I believe you lead all of us. Yeah, I never felt confident really in the lock, but it just seemed fun to support the gym. Jets and what would have kept them in the playoff race before we get to Sunday night football. I think this is the last time we're going to hear from Keith this season because the Jets will not have relevant football after what happened today. So let's hear what Keith had to say. I told I said in this podcast last week that I want my dad to share his actual feelings.

And I'm hoping, because knowing my dad, he should be pretty mad about how this game turned out. Let's hear what Keith had to say. His name is Keith His dance dad No doubt about it He's a big Jets fan What is he going to say About the game today

What is he going to say About the game today Today Today's Jets game 23-0 Was a total disgrace It was perfect I don't know

why once again the jets come out of the locker room sleeping where they've been able to overcome that in some recent games but today once again they just came out sluggish and the other team got ahead

and this time they weren't able to do anything 98 total yards offensively defensively it appears to me like most of the team had given up and I have to say bowls looks totally clueless on the sideline that's him and his coaching staff.

That doesn't like that. It appears to me that McGowan was injured earlier on a scramble. I think they should have pulled him. He obviously wasn't the same guy that he's been. Even though Petty didn't show much today, where was coaches talking to each other about what was going on? So terrible, terrible game today, but maybe we're expecting too much from this team.

All right, thanks. You know what I cannot wait for? You know, the Jets public relations department has been at times a tad sensitive to us when we write about them. You could say that. What does NFL media do when they get a complaint about Dan's dad? How do they handle that? There's no way to handle that.

He is in a punishment-free zone. I feel like, yeah, I think dad is bulletproof. Now, could old Danny boy take some fire? You could be watching the next three games with your dad, back in the childhood better. All right, let's move on. Oh, let's talk. Talk about action heat.

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Okay, let's move on. Deep down the right side line. Antonio Brown. He's amazing. Beast car on the play. Brown, 213 receiving yards tonight. Unbelievable, Al Michaels, NBC with the call. Antonio Brown could not be covered.

Once again, this time by a vaunted Ravens defense, his 34-yard reception, down the right sideline. Late in the fourth quarter, set up. Chris Boswell's. Go ahead, field goal, and then the Steelers held on for a 39 to 38 win, a game in which they overcame a nine-point deficit with less than six minutes to play in this game. Ben Rathlisberger, 44 of 66 for 506 and two touchdowns. And yes, Antonio Brown 11 for 2.13 on 18 targets.

Chris Wesleyan had to get going. So the three amigos will close this one out. Mark, the Steelers, you just can never count them out when Antonio Brown and Ben Rafflesberger are just plain catch. Yeah, I mean, I feel like for a while, people playfully talked about Antonio Brown as an MVP candidate, and you have to take the concept seriously. We've watched this.

They've been on primetime week after week at this point. Four weeks. They're America's team. And it's been fun. It's been a fun four weeks with the team. And listen, they absolutely, considering what's, happened to this team over the last seven days. The way they came back from a deficit against the Bengals on the hardest night you could ask for us as a team to do what they did on Monday night

and then to turn around and erase an 11 and then a nine-point deficit, you know, as the game ticked away with the Ravens marching up and down the field on Pittsburgh's defense, their offense tonight, you have to look at this team and say they could beat anyone in the league on the right night. We'll have to see what happens against New England. Who? The Steelers can beat anyone on any night with this passing game. And yet they were trailing in this game by nine points with seven minutes to go. They were trailing by more late in the third quarter. And all along, Mark Sessler is watching it saying Steelers are going to win this game.

With dread. You know, just so annoyed at the Ravens for every missed-up they made. And when the final drive starts, you just said, put six guys on Antonio Brown, do anything but let Antonio Brown beat you. And it's gotten, his magnificence has gotten almost so predictable that you tweeted out, Dan, right before Antonio Brown made that catch. You said, why do I feel like a 37-yard throw to Antonio Brown is coming? 34 yards, the next play down the sidelines.

You've got to find a way to not let him beat you. And yet, that's easy to say. True. Like, true greatness just can't be stopped. Truly great all-time receivers, which Antonio Brown is. And we've been talking about that a lot the last few weeks because there have been so many primetime games, they always get open.

And there was a key play on that last Steelers scoring drive, third and 13, where they did bracket up Brown and took him out of the equation. And then Rathlisberger, to his credit, and Rathlisberger played a brilliant game down the stretch here. He found, I believe it was Vance McDonald over the middle.

No, it wasn't Vance. It was Jesse James over the middle to convert that first down. And once they got that, you started to feel like they were going to be able to march the ball and then a few plays later, there's Antonio Brown. So, I mean, on the Steelers side, it really, it puts them, sends them into that Patriots game, which is going to be one of the biggest games of the season for any team with a lot of confidence that they could overcome anything.

And on the Raven side, they're still in good shape. When you look at their schedule, they're seven and six, and this loss hurts. But they still, I think, have a good chance of qualifying for the playoffs if they take care of business. But all that talk about the Ravens defense, Mark, being this great, unit that could be stacked up with all those Ray Lewis-Ds, stop. They get a stop in this spot, and they just couldn't get it done. It's, you know, there was one pass on Pittsburgh's final drive where Big Ben through an errant floater and had a Raven safety been 10 feet.

And Reed would have had it. Yeah, I mean, in a different direction, that game would have been over. And we'd be talking about Pittsburgh's epic collapse. But listen, this is how it ended. I mean, it was bizarre to watch the ball. You know, Flacco lost the ball, the fumble on Baltimore's final shot down the field. It dribbles out of bounds, and they're in the huddle as the game clock ticked off. They didn't realize that was happening.

They lost themselves at the end here. But ultimately, if I'm a Ravens fan watching the last two weeks, you scored 82 points. This loss hurts, and it makes you wonder about their defense, certainly. But you've got to feel good that your offense has finally woken up. Your next three games are, again, some cupcakes. You got the brown, sorry, Mark. You got the Colts and the Bengals. They're going to win those three games.

This team is dangerous. I think they can- That's an insult to Cupcase. I think they can fix their defensive problems. The fact that they've been able to run the ball and Flacco, while a few misthrows late in the game overall has been much better the last week. Alex Collins can play. He was running hard and making people miss.

So, like, those are positives, I think, if you're a Ravens fan. Like, that they're going to be a scary team, I think, going on the road to whoever they have to face in the division. already putting them in the playoffs. Well, yeah, Ravens fans are going to need about 72 hours to stay off any sort of football media outlet and just let this thing deal with. But you're going to close out the season if you don't be about 10 and 6. And tonight shows you that you can hang with what might be the best team in the AFC.

It's crazy, though, that this used to be like the ultimate, you know, AFC North, smash them out. Let's finally see some real football with some, you know, hard-nosed defenses up in the AFC North. Forget about that. It was a fun game, and you said it, Mark, while we were watching the end of this game, how all these incredible games, including this game, it's unfortunate that the Carson Wentz situation kind of tempers everything. But this was a banger of a week with a lot of great endings. Best week of the year.

In terms of games, I don't know. I mean, I would even go back to last year and say early on we could not, we were watching four or five games at the same time, watching them, you know, conclude dramatically. The late games are great. This was one of the best Sunday night games of the year. So what more can you ask for outside of wins? And the Jaguars are probably bummed because if the Steelers don't find away in this game

and then can't beat the Patriots next week, the Jaguars maybe sneak into the second seed. Now that feels like a long shot with the Steelers getting this win. But season's not over. Things can happen. But that's it for us. That's our show for Sunday. Thank you to everyone for listening.

Often imitated. never duplicated. Never. Don't try to do it. Yeah, next time you hear from us, it will be on Tuesday. It will be the video show with Connie Fox and hopefully West, but definitely Connie.

But until then, this is Dan Hansa, signing off for The Quiet Storm, the mailman, Nick Shook in absentia, the old boss, and Lindsay Fulton behind the glass. Till Tuesday. This is an IHeart podcast.