NFL Daily with Gregg Rosenthal - Week 4 MNF Recap | Jets-Dolphins & Bengals-Broncos

Episode Date: September 30, 2025

Nick Shook and Jourdan Rodrigue team up to provide recap and analysis of the Week 4 Monday Night Football doubleheader that featured a must-have win for the Miami Dolphins over the New York Jets, and in Denver, a blowout victory for the Broncos over the Cincinnati Bengals. The duo talks the Tyreek Hill injury, Darren Waller's return to the NFL, glimpses of hope for the Jets, as well as where the Bengals stand after two losses in Joe Burrow's absence. That and much, much more on the latest recap from NFL Daily!NFL Daily YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/nflpodcastsSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

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

It's everything you need to understand the why behind what happens on Sunday. Don't miss it. Listen to the Move the Sticks podcast on the IHeart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. I'm Marcus Grant. And I'm Michael Florio, and together we host the NFL Fantasy Football Podcast. Ready to dominate your fantasy league this season? Then you need the NFL Fantasy Football Podcast, your ultimate source for player news, draft tips, and winning strategies. Whether you're a rookie manager or a fantasy vet. We've got the insight to help you crush your opponents.

Listen to the NFL Fantasy Football podcast on the IHeart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. Toyota, the official automotive partner of the NFL. Visit Toyota.com slash NFL now to learn more. Talk about low. It takes a snap play action, rolling to his right, throws across his body for the end zone. Touchdown. Darren Waller again. His first game back from retirement.

and he's got a double action to the end zone. Dolphins extend the lead of 16-3. Ah, yes, Darren Waller emphatically announced his return to the NFL with two touchdown catches. The Dolphins rediscovered their offensive mojo and dominated the jets in some snazzy black uniforms on Monday night at Hard Rock Stadium, 27, 21 over New York in a game that wasn't that close.

I'm Nick Shook filling in for Greg Rosenthal, who's still gallivanting around Europe. And I'm joined by none other than the superstar herself, Jordan Rodrigue. Jordan, there was one key injury in this game that might temper the excitement for the dolphins fans. But what a time for a performance like this. Yeah, so much of this offense specifically looked like the Miami Dolphins plus, you know, the Miami Dolphins that we're used to seeing and then a little extra that we've been wanting to see from the Miami Dolphins. and Darren Waller from getting involved immediately on the opening script to catching the first

touchdown pass, then to follow it up again. And then to be on the hands team at the end, recovering the onside kick, when the Jets brought it with an eight, this is an, and this was an interesting game. Obviously, it stings a lot now afterward. Miami is relieved to be out of the Easter egg, the egg column, Ofer. The donut. The donut column. Yeah, I was looking for the word.

It's been, we've been, we've been watching a lot of football. the last couple of days, Nick. They're relieved for that, but obviously Tyreek Hill with what Mike McDaniel says now is a dislocated knee. Sounds like he's reaching out to teammates from the hospital as we record this, but really scary moment for Tyree Kill as he was carted off the field during tonight's game. Yeah, it was one of those gruesome tackles in a sport that's filled with them. Unfortunately, that's just the nature of the game sometimes.

And his leg, you know, as he lands on the ground, you can see his leg bent at an awkward angle. and you feared that it was going to be something significant and it has been confirmed that it is. So it's a blow for the dolphins for sure, but we shouldn't let that sully this night for them too much because for the first time all season, it felt like, like you said, the dolphins were back to who they were.

Mike McDaniel was in a flow offensively. He's drawn up all kinds of pre-snap motion, some orbit motion. They're getting some jet motion happening. And it's opening everything up for a dolphin's offense that had felt a little clogged up in the first couple of weeks, started to show some signs against Buffalo. but really took full advantage in this game against New York.

But before we, like, really get into their offensive successes, this early on looked like a game that was going to be back and forth because the Jets went down the field and we're about to get in the end zone when the Dolphins' defense came through, punching out a fumble out of Brayland Allen's grasped and recovering it just short of the goal line. And let me tell you, if there's a play that turned the tide for the dolphins in this game against the Jets, it was that one because they followed it up

with a long march down the field, a 15 play, 96-yard drive that ends in Darren Waller's first touchdown of the game. And you know what? This is a little, I don't know, out of the norm for this show, but we'll just get to it right now. Let's get it done right now because Darren Waller, he delivered on Monday night. That's right. It's time for who delivered presented by Uber Eats and nobody delivered more on Monday night than Darren Waller. in the shockdown takes a snap looks to his right back middle back of the end zone it is fought for and caught touchdown going up high and guess who it's the big body darren waller with his first score as a dolphin what a play look like a younger man there you know and this is this has been a long runway for darren waller i think obviously they would have to have him earlier in this season certainly Mike McDaniel and Frank Smith, the OC, who has such a close bond with Darren Waller is the entire reason why Darren Waller is in Miami right now because of the work, not just schematically and as a coach, but personally helping Darren Waller through one of the hardest periods of his life. When he connected with Frank Smith back in Las Vegas, this is a bond that they've been waiting to show on the field for a while, but Darren Waller was out of football for so long relative to,

you know how you need to stay in shape for the game and get mentally and physically back and ready to go and they've been waiting for this and he showed up in a big way for them Nick this was uh and I know we're going to get into it more but this was to your earlier point like this was a game I thought the Jets had finally like re-arrived right after this first game that they played of the season where they looked so strong despite the loss and they looked their run game was incredible and Justin Fields looked awesome and all these things this started this way too. 11 of their 12 opening script plays were heavy personnel run game, multiple tight ends, extra offensive lineman, combination of Breece Hall and Braylon Allen and the

fullback gets in there as well. And they are just looking dominant, 6.9 yards per carry. And I don't often put too much stock in like one play early in a game deciding the entire outcome of the game. But this is still a Jets team that is super new. with itself and figuring itself out. They were super undisciplined, the entire game, penalties everywhere. They clearly are not, they clearly don't quite have the collective identity yet to withstand some of this adversity. And so this fumble by Braylin Allen, who then left the game with a knee injury,

and that's something definitely to keep an eye on as well. This just spider web for them. They were totally lost after that. They could not stay in their A plus plan. Miami went back down and scored, took a lead, obviously. And to that point, it was a 10-point lead, and that meant that they had to pass more. And the one thing that this offensive line still doesn't quite have together yet with Justin Fields is pass protection and Anthony Weaver for all of the yardage that that was carved up against his defense and for all of the push that the opposing offensive line was getting against him in the run game, he did dial up some really nice pressure designs and they hassled that offensive line and they caused them to jump and there were shift penalties. So that one fumble when everything was going so well in that A plus plan ended up mattering so much more than I think normally something that early would.

Yeah, absolutely. And I think that the Dolphins capitalization of that turnover, of that takeaway was just as important as that fumble because this is a division rivalry game. It's a three nothing game. It was almost a seven three game in the Jets favor. Instead, they'd capitalize, they'd take advantage to respond and score. And it was really important to me in that sequence because on the playoff, prior Mike McDaniel schemes up something fantastic and Tua goes away from where he probably should have gone and tries to hit Waddle on the outside on a throw that was never going to be there,

it was covered. They run a nice little trail concept over the middle where he's got two options sitting in the middle of the field and you think, oh no, they just missed their opportunity. But then he goes to Waller, who makes that contested catch over Sauce Gardner, which really hammers home the point you just made, which is that they took control of this game. They set the tone. And that's why Darren Waller is our choice for Who Delivered, presented by Uber Eats. Yes, that was Who Delivered, presented by Uber Eats. When football makes you hungry, get game day deals on Uber Eats, the official on-demand delivery partner of the NFL, order now. And I think it's almost midnight here in the Eastern Times. A little bit earlier out there for you, Jordan.

You can order all the time with Uber Eats. I see the moon. As Joe and Troy were talking about in the later game that we'll talk about, I see the moon out my window. Yes, yes, you do. I think we all right now, although the temperatures may vary depending on where you are. Let's go back to the Jets here real quick because you're absolutely right. I think that they kind of crumbled because, look, they've been pretty punchy in some of these games. The Steelers game in week one, they were punchy against the Buccaneers last week. The damn near came back and won that game with their fight.

And that's one thing they've had in every game fight. And they kind of fought in this game, but they couldn't get out of their own way. I mean, there was a number of issues with this team, whether it was operational, where they had 13 penalties accepted for 101 yards. It was fumbles. It was trying to dial up a third and long read option because you may not trust Justin Fields to hold on to the ball or find somebody open in that situation given that he'd made a blunder before. It's even fair catching the ball at their own too. And I think that plays, these key plays obviously, they say what, seven plays may determine a football game.

Turnovers usually, if you look in the turnover category, you can determine who won that game most often, not all the time. But there was another play made by that Anthony Weaver defense, which has been under fire that made a huge. huge difference in this game when they got after Justin Fields. Look at that situation there, Jordan. They're near midfield. They're still down to nothing, but they're in the fight. They're trying to battle as they have for most of this season, but the dolphins slam the door with plays like that. And I think for as much as Miami figured things out offensively, it was really the all three phases of the game, and especially the defense bouncing back from some tough outings that really drove home this

victory and made it an emphatic one for them. Well, I will say I have zero trust in the Dolphins run defense. They looked so soft up front against the run. And that is, that's again, why it was so key for them to get a lead early. These Dolphins teams that used to kick the doors down on people did exactly that. They depended on exactly that. To get a lead early, and stay in their A plus plan offense and defense because one thing they are going to do is be able to rush the passer with that front. And there was a lot of really, you know, solid design when the pressure was there, the coverage was also for the most part there as well for them. And I really feel like this was so interesting by Miami because it gave them also a little bit of that juice and confidence on offense. And Tua, I think, really carried the group in that regard.

Tua, to me, for major parts of this game, looked like himself again, like a couple of years ago, Tua, Tua, that we've seen. And it wasn't just some of the timing throws that he made. And I also thought that they had a really good plan, and I'll get to that in a minute. But it wasn't just the timing throws and seeing the field really well and anticipatory throws and those things. It was the ball handling that he had. He had an incredibly sick play where he flips the hand off behind his back on like a little, I guess I want to call it a reverse. It wasn't really, but it was sort of a run fake reverse,

but he flips it behind his back, looking, you know, like he's like throwing an alley-up to somebody. And that was a cool play. And then the timing on some of the run fakes, he faked at one point, a handoff to the left, and the entire play flow went that way. And then instead, he tucked the ball and he went to his right. Instead, some of the movement that they were getting with Tua

and his confidence in that and deploying some of these plays, what was really important when the Jets, they saw early, the Jets were going to do what the Jets do, which is play a lot of man coverage. A lot of things that they were doing, you kind of expected they were going to do, which is run the condensed sets. The cut splits were going to be close together, which means that they could set natural pick plays for each other, for the receivers, but also all of these motions designed to spring a receiver clean off the line of scrimmage. They were running a lot of that with Tyreek Hill early, those types of things. That is what we saw, have seen the dolphins do when they were at their peak.

offensively. And all of those things put together combined with the Jets own being put back on their heels into their B&C plans because of that early turnover, all of these things combined to set up, I think, Tua for this extreme night of confidence and playmaking ability. And yes, obviously them losing Tariq Hill hurts them. But on the other side, they're running the ball. They're sticking with the run. And again, because they're able to, because they have a lead, they're not panicking. You know, they get what, A-chan has like 99 yards.

He still doesn't go over 100, but he's not even been close this entire season to 100 yards. And he did go over 100 scrimmage yards, 101 scrimmage yards. So this was something where they stuck with it and they closed the game out this way. And I just thought we saw so much of that like spark back in this offense despite the fact that this is still a, you know,

a 1 and 3 team with some serious problems. Yeah, absolutely. And there are serious problems, but in a game like this, you are, if you think that you're going to be the team that you believe you can be, you have to deliver a performance like this. And they did. They did. And I think that even at one and three, they are going to be feeling so much better going into the next week. The NFL, in football, but especially the NFL, is such a week by week sport. It really does matter from one week to the next, how you're feeling coming out of a game. Are you angry because you lost a close one? Are you ecstatic because you finally felt like yourself again? Tua had a good way of describing it after the game. You know, my thoughts are out to the guys that got hurt tonight. My thoughts and prayers are also at REEK. You know, but it's a great feeling that we feel tonight. Obviously, when you win, you know, that's in a way one of the best deodorants for what you could be going through. So I would say, you know, we're enjoying it right now.

But we just got to find a way to continue to stack those wins in the wind column and continue to continue to keep that going throughout the season. I think you lined himself up for a brand deal there. I don't know about you. I think that sweat campaign's over with Old Spice. They might be given to a call. I know, right? I love that.

And man, he might need it because he ran so much boot leg action tonight and so much deep developing, long developing play action to move his launch point, which is, again, another thing that worked so well against this man coverage and this front that the Jets have, this is something on the Jets side, Nick, they're going to have to like really self-scout because this will kill them every single week that a team does these things against them. They don't even have to do it at the level that the dolphins executed it tonight. If they have a run game and they can get the play fakes going and they can get some of those bootlegs going and they can just shift and move the point, the launch point for the

quarterbacks to the point where he lets go with the football and change direction of the way the play is flowing, the way the dolphins did so well tonight. The Jets were not disciplined in in not biting on those fakes over and over again. They were not disciplined. You mentioned the penalties. Their defense, this is not the way Aaron Glenn wants to play. You could see it all over his face on the sideline. I think to his credit, he was with his guys the whole way through.

But, you know, this is not the way that he wants to play. And then when the Jets made incredible plays down the field and, you know, we're starting to try to get something together, Justin Fields and Garrett Wilson together, you know, kind of all by their lonesome trying to make things happen. You know, it still was too little too late because they were so undisciplined with self-inflicted errors throughout. Yeah, and, you know, we get to the fourth quarter. You know, I said that this game finishes 27, 21, but it wasn't really that close. It wasn't.

They score a touchdown inside two minutes with a touchdown pass from Justin Fields to Garrett Wilson. That was truly an incredible catch. And it was actually one of two incredible catches in this game because the first one was wiped out by an offensive pass interference penalty that I don't think really happen. But if you're watching on YouTube, you can see it now. Garrett Wilson essentially Mosses the nearest defender on a bar. ball that probably could have been placed better, but it was placed well enough for Wilson to go up and get it. And it just kind of shows how special of a player he is and why he's right to be frustrated with the current state of this offense. And at one point in this game, he's shouting at

the sideline throwing the ball. Like they're in a desperate situation. Let me go make a play. He's able to make a play there. It doesn't amount to much in the end. But it is a preview of what they can be. It's just that right now the operational issues, the small things are limiting them from what they can be. Yeah, self-inflicted, self-inflicted, self-inflicted all night. That was the Jets. And you saw, like I mentioned, Aaron Glenn sticking close to his players, I do think that this will come together. I think that again, this was not, this was not a team that doesn't have an idea of what it wants to be. It's got a lot of little steps in the middle. You saw it with their opening script. This is exactly who they want to be. You saw it on that pass. And I thought it was a well-placed

ball considering where Garrett Wilson, you know, only put it where you know Garrett Wilson is going to go up and get it right over the back of the head of the safety. And I think that this was, you know, the two-point conversion, you saw how clean their operation was on some of these things when they were able to move the ball. Justin Fields had a massive pickup himself on the ground, missed a couple throws, but when he had to make a play in a cruiser situation in a deficit, when he actually got the chance, when they weren't being backed up by penalties or his offensive line wasn't struggling at pass pro. You could see the identity in the vision and especially in the run game

with this group. It's all the little steps in between. And it's this defense that is somehow has less of an identity than this offense, which, you know, and you know Aaron Glenn and Steve Wilkes are not going to stand for that. They just, it's just a little fundamental things that have to apply for this team. And it's going to be a long journey in that regard. But if they stay disciplined and I liked what I saw from Aaron Glenn when Garrett Wilson was getting upset, he went over and he wrapped his arm around the back of his head, you know, dad to son style and was kind of like talking to him and in his ear and Garrett Wilson was fired up and he should be, right? He's every right to be. But Aaron Glenn did not, he just sort of attached to him. He

didn't let him go off into his own head. He just, he stayed there and he talked to him and he talked to him. When he fumbled, Aaron Glenn went over and talked to him after that, reassured him. They were going to come right back to him. Unfortunately, he got injured on the kickoff right after um and and so this this is a team that if they can stay together if they can stay connected i do think there are bright days ahead of them yeah there are and i think that's part of the process of turning around a team uh our writer at nfl dot com kevin patrick actually made this comment tonight you know over our messaging where he was like they're essentially mirroring what the dan campbell lions were when they first started it's just that nobody cared that the

lion sucked in the and the jets operate in new york and they're going to be under major scrutiny That's the only difference. He has such a way with words. Coming at you. Yeah, coming at you. Exactly. And I think he's absolutely right because they are going to be under the microscope because they play in New York.

But at the same time, like, these things don't happen overnight. The first thing you fix is the details, is the operational issues, is the penalties. And once you get that sorted out, I think in my, you know, just evaluation of this team where they stand right now, they need to figure out who exactly they want to be with Justin Fields at quarterback because, you know, they have the new OC, they got the new staff and everything else. and we've talked about Tainer Engstrand and how this offense is going to look and how they looked in week one against the jets and how they haven't really looked

like that entirely since then but there's still glimpses of it but when it comes down to you can run the ball well you can kind of play big man ball with that offensive line you don't know your past protection with him yet you have not figured that out that was painfully clear tonight but who do you want justin fields to be because there were times where it felt like they didn't necessarily trust him to throw the ball unless they absolutely had to but at the same time you can kind of understand why because Justin fields made a hell of a play on fourth down to try to keep the Jets in it in the second half. Fourth and one on the Dolphins 43 under 940 to play in the third with the Jets down 14.

They need this one here. Fields takes a snap, fakes the handoff, move to his right, back to his left. He's going to have to be special with his legs, and he will across the edge. Now he's got green grass in front. Fields across the 20, weaving back the other way. Fields is going to score. Spectacular run, a 43-yard touchdown, and Fields gets the Jets within a score. And yes, it was a fantastic play.

Also, I just realized I didn't credit who was on the call earlier. There was Noah Eagle and Mike Mayock Westwood won on that call and the first call of the game as well. Shout out to them doing a great job calling this primetime game. But that's an example of what he can do. You and you let him extend plays. Now, the big knock on him for a long time in Chicago was that he held onto the ball too long. But at least now he's running with a bit more conviction and realizing, look, I'm a supreme athlete. I can outrun this defense and make a guy or two miss and get in the end zone.

And it was a great example of that. well i just think he overall run in pass i think he's seeing the field better when you see it in flashes and i know people are going to eye roll i'll probably get some messages about like oh he's missed a bunch of throws or whatever yeah but when you look at when he's he's blocked up the way that he should be the way that any quarterback anywhere if you're not dealing with you know the bare minimum here should at least be able to you know develop a little bit under um when he's blocked up and when he when the offense is humming when they've got a rhythm when they've got a rhythm when they've got timing. He sees the field really well. And he sees it incredibly well, too, as a runner.

And he is really patient in finding his creases. And he does not take unnecessary contact as a runner, especially not in this game, which I thought was really interesting. He was very smart about the lanes he chose and the way that he decided to extend plays when he could. Now, some of it, lack of ball security under pressure at sometimes, which led to that big play earlier that you talked about. That's obviously an issue. But these are the reasons. why teams believe and the Jets certainly believe that they still have something here, that there is something still to be found, to still be developed, to still be move forward with Justin Fields at the helm. And I think he is, he's figuring, I think he's got to do a little

of that figuring it out himself too, of, of, you know, really understanding, hey, I now have to make sure that my offensive linemen are not are not jumping off sides. I have to set my motions correctly where I'm not double tapping one of my feet and messing up the tight end on one side or tapping a foot before another guy gets set to trigger another guy to come over in motion. This is going to be a lot of little details that all of these guys have to have, but that the quarterback must take ownership of and the head coach and the offensive coordinator and the defensive coordinator certainly all have a role to play in that. But if Justin Fields is truly going to be the person that they believe he can be and I believe he can be in carrying

this offense forward, all of those tiny little things. things have to get cleaned up and he's got to take ownership of that too. Yeah, definitely has to because you cannot survive in the NFL as an offense and especially a quarterback when you face a pressure rate of 48%, 48.6% Miami logged tonight against the Jets. Not looking good. It's going to take patience. It's going to take persistence for the Jets to figure it out. But I too believe, much like you, Jordan. And I'll tell you what, we could use a little bit of patience from our listeners because guess what? It was a doubleheader on Monday night. We got another game to talk about coming up next. We're going to head out to Denver to

talk about what happened between the Broncos and the Bengals. What's up, everybody? Daniel Jeremiah here. And I'm Bucky Brooks. On Move the Sticks, we take you inside the game from scouting reports and player development to team building philosophies, coaching trends, and how front offices construct winning rosters. Every week, we study the tape, talk to decision makers, and share the insights you won't find anywhere else. It's the kind of conversation that connects the dots. from college football prospects to the NFL stars of tomorrow. We break down the draft, analyze matchups,

and evaluate how teams put it all together on game day. Plus, we dig in the coaching strategies, roster construction, and the trends that shape the league year after year. Whether you're a die-hard fan or just love understanding the game on a deeper level, we give you the full picture. If you want insight that goes beyond the box score, this podcast is for you.

Don't miss it. Listen to the Move the Six podcast on the IHeart Radio app, Podcasts or wherever you get your podcasts. Hey, this is Matt Jones. I'm Drew Franklin. And this is NFL Cover Zero. We're just here to try to give you an NFL perspective a little bit different. Did you see the Colts Pretzel?

That was my other big takeaway from that game. What was that? Oh, my. We think NFL coverage should be informative and entertaining. And twice a week, that is exactly what you're going to get. Listen to NFL Cover Zero with Matt Jones. Jones and Drew Franklin on the I Heart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcast. Toyota, the official automotive partner of the NFL, visit Toyota.com slash NFL now to learn more.

I'm Marcus Grant. And I'm Michael Florio, and together we host the NFL Fantasy Football Podcast. Ready to dominate your fantasy league this season? Then you need the NFL Fantasy Football Podcast, your ultimate source for player news, draft tips, and winning strategies. Whether you're a rookie manager or a fantasy vet, we've got the insight to help you crush your opponents. Listen to the NFL Fantasy Football podcast

on the IHeart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. Toyota, the official automotive partner of the NFL. Visit Toyota.com slash NFL now to learn more. In a Cincinnati, Bo Nix, the Denver quarterback, gets the shotgun, snap, left tackle block, lines right throw, goal line, leaping, catch.

touchdown, Sutton, left and got it against his chest. Two yards deep in the end zone. Broncos a touchdown before halftime, and they get their lead up 20 to 3 over Cincinnati. Oh, Kevin Harlan and Kurt Warner on the call for Westwood won. It was a great catch on a great night for the Denver Broncos. J.K. Dobbins rushed for 101. Bo Nicks threw for over 300.

And Sean Payton, he must have found that chef's hat that Russell left behind when he skipped town and put it on because the man cooked up a feast for the folks in Denver on Monday night. The Broncos steamroll, the Cincinnati Bengals, 28 to 3 in a game. I'm not certain the Bengals knew they needed to show up for on Monday night in Denver. Jordan, what a showing for the now two and two Denver Broncos. Yeah, and you know what? It started a little rough for the Broncos, too.

We'll get into it, Nick. But this was a game that was so lopsided and so sloppy by the Bengals. both teams racked up some penalties, but the Bengals certainly are setting new milestones certainly every single week, it seems like. But this was a game where by the middle of the third quarter, in case you didn't tune in and you wanted to know how it was going, Joe Buck and Troy Aikman were talking about the moon, waxing crescent, if you were curious, how Joe Buck is a Taurus and roasting the officials for calling yet another penalty that they agreed was the right call to make in a moment, but unnecessary

because it kept stopping the game. And that really tells you what this was as early as midway through the third quarter. What started out a little sloppy on both sides turned into a very, very lopsided affair. Yeah, yeah, definitely. Basically, the Bengals mounted one effort and that was in their first drive. And for the rest of the night, they might as well have started the buses and pack things up because that's about as valuable, unfortunately, as they were on the field. It's funny that you mentioned their complaints about the penalties because I'm sitting here,

like furiously riding off of Jets Dolphins and just hearing Troy Akeman talk about how it's a bad product. It's just unnecessary. I'm like, wait a minute. How many penalties did they have in this game? Because I know the Jets just went for 13. Oh, let's see. Mental math, sometimes hard on this show. 18 combined accepted penalties between these two teams. The Bengals led with 11. So you want to talk sloppy. You can find it right there in statistical form. But all that being said, the Broncos for perhaps the first time this season got a just a complete offensive showing from this group. I mean, you can start with Bo Nix and how he's a bit of a tumultuous experience. He'll make a bad thrower, a bad decision here and there, and then he'll hit a big one. He'll run around the yard and be a gunslinger

and everything else. But it wasn't just that. It was the running game and how they complimented each other so perfectly. What did you see? What really stood out for you? Again, a stat line that tells you exactly where both of these teams are right in this moment, which is that J.K. Dobbins became the Sean Payton Broncos first 100 yards running back. So it's the first one in what, like 38 games. And then if you're looking at it from the other perspective, the Bengals allowed a second consecutive 100 yards rusher on their way to allowing over 500 yards of offense. Overall, it just depends. Glass half empty, glass half full, whichever side of the coin. you happen to be on, but J.K. Dobbins broke that open late in the game,

and finally, they have a little bit more of a balanced attack. 15 yards away from 100 yards is Dobbins. Uh-oh. Oh, oh. How many is that, Spita? He doesn't know. He's got his hands in the air. That was 16.

He's at 100 yards. Troy Aikman. There you are. He called it early. He's at 101. Joe Buck and Troy Akeman on the call for ESPN. excited for something to happen, Nick. I mean, at that point, I totally understand.

What do we have to look forward to other than the moon and our astrological signs? No, we got somebody finally hitting a milestone. Yeah, you're right. That's exactly the type of night it was. But, man, it's just so good. And maybe I'm just speaking from a point of bias or just, I don't know, I have a big heart at times when it comes to sporting events. But J.K. Daven's has been through so much over the last few years.

And really, if you go back to his career at Ohio State, he dealt with ankle injuries in big-time games that limited him even then, and they had tough losses, like to Clemson, for example. And now, after all of these trials and tribulations, he ends up with Denver after spending last year with their AFC West rival, the Chargers. And it seems like he's found the perfect home just pacing this ground attack and looking explosive in like the Dobbins we knew from before. Yeah, and that's exactly what they needed because Bo Nix can pay. pick up some yardage with his legs, obviously, and he scored their first touchdown on the move as well. And this is where, you know, they just haven't, they really want to get some of this play action game working. They want to actually move people off the line of scrimmage, doing all the things that Sean Payton has liked to have with previous teams, having a multi-threat rushing

attack where some of those players can also split out into the passing game. That is exactly what he wants to have and it took them a little while to get here you heard the stat i said it troy or joe whichever one i always mix up their voices said it and it but and it's taken forever and they they even you know they mixed up their backs at certain points to r j harvey got a couple of carries a couple of looks as well in the passing game they had a fullback in there at one point as well but this was going to be jk dobbins's game and you could almost tell there was just this concerted like want to uh to feed him having a lead helped, obviously, early on. But you could just, you could feel like this was going to be

scratching and clawing, however it was going to happen. This was going to be the night that it happened. And I think it's a good breakthrough for J.K. Dobbins. And now they have to sustain. And I think that's going to be important as well because they've got to settle Bo Nix down and they've got to settle him into a rhythm because he had a couple of a pretty bad plays early in the game. There was one, they were down deep inside Bengals territory, inside the the 20, certainly. And he's leading Evan Ingram into the flat, into the left side flat. And he cuts the throw loose way too late. And Evan Ingram's out of bounds by the time he even makes the catch. They run the exact same play on the other side. This time he cuts it loose just right on time

and they get a short gain. And then, you know, two plays later, three, I think it's two or three plays later. Then he throws an interception. He makes a bad decision. He might have had it on the ground. Bonix have had it on the ground himself. If he picked it up with his legs, but then he overthought it. You could see him overthinking it in real time. And it's picked in the end zone by Dremetrius Knight. But the Bengals, of course, handed it right back to them just three plays later. And then this was the Bonix experience because then they get down the field again. And he hits Cortland Sutton for a 20-yard touchdown on third and two. And it was a great throw. It was a contested throw. It had to be threaded correctly. He saw it well. And it was it was right up the gut.

And it was just sort of a heartbreaker and a backbreaker if you're the side of the Bengals because then the explosives and some catch and run and yards after catch plays by Cortland Sutton as well just really started to break the explosives open for the Broncos. And it got Bo Nix into the rhythm that plus the run game that he needed to be in. Yeah. And I think that it got Sean Payton into the rhythm as a play caller. There's somebody overseeing the entire offense too because like they're mixing in like basically like jet sweeps around the end. And like that's how Marvin Mims scores on a 16 yard touchdown run. He had all of these different tools at his disposal. He could do, he had the full arsenal

because he also probably understood that the Bengals weren't going to mount much resistance with the defense, which, by the way, if we go all day back to week one, I'm going to say this for as long as they struggled defensively. The defense that they thought was great in week one was never a good defense and continues on nights like tonight

to show that they are not a defense that is at that level that they want to be at. And when your offense struggles like they have been without Joe Burrow, it makes for just a terrible viewing experience. Breaks my heart for Bengals fans who had high hopes coming into the season, but that two and a start feels like it was years ago for how they've played over the last two weeks. I mean, their offensive line we knew was a weakness already. But with Jake Browning back

there, this passing game is essentially just shrunk down to 75% of your attempts are going to be go balls down the sideline and giving T. Higgins or Jamar Chase a shot in a 50-50 ball and hoping that they come down with it. And the worst part about tonight was that oftentimes when they did make spectacular grabs, they were called back by penalties. And that just points to their operational issues and the amount of, you know, mistakes that they've made, 11 penalties accepted for 65 yards and plenty of them, you know, short-circuiting this offense, putting them behind the sticks and just making it so much harder for a backup quarterback who's behind a leaky offensive line,

who operating an offense that doesn't have much of a running game to speak of. And situationally, they can't lean on the run when they're down multiple scores and they're just trying to stop the title wave that's coming at them from an opponent that's superior to them. And against a defense like the Broncos, who have a ton of aggressive. PIN your ears back rushers who were going to get after the quarterback, Nick Benito, Jonathan Cooper, you can continue to go down the list. It just makes for a disaster scenario.

And that's exactly what we got tonight. Yeah, and they couldn't call anything else. But you mentioned those like longer developing plays down the sideline where it was like, I don't think Jake Browning that you really do have, that you have the audacity to try to make that throw every single time. I think what you're trying to do is draw a PI. Like, I understand. Just get it out.

Respect that you have for your receivers, two of the best. one of the best one and two tandums up there in the top three in the NFL, maybe the best in Jamar Chase and T. Higgins. And obviously, you know, he hit one down the field to T. Higgins early in the game. But I don't believe you have that much dip on your chip. I think that that was just try to get yards, however they come. You saw them trying to hard count as well. That didn't work because they had a self-inflicted penalty as well.

That was kind of questionable either way. Yeah, yeah. I wouldn't maybe have called that. But it was everything was going wrong. and a lot of it comes from, everything feels so difficult. And it's like there's not really any adjustments. And it's not just being in a deficit. They're in shotgun the entire time.

90% of his dropbacks are in shotgun. And I know they won games like that with him back in 2023. I went back and I looked at all the next gen splits of how much. And it was a vast majority in the gun at that time as well. But they cannot run the ball and they cannot get anything going that would actually protect the quarterback, this backup quarterback who you should not expect to be Joe Burrow and be back in the gun. And in some ways, you know, everybody credited and lauded Zach Taylor for changing this offense around the first time around with Jake Browning. But what I saw from

this offense tonight is the same problem still exists and they compound because not only can you not run the ball, Chase Brown again coming into this game, averaging negative yards before contact per rush. So he's not getting any blocking help. Ten carries. for 40 yards and they having some type of an under center play action game or even a pistol play action and run game might have helped and it didn't you could have still kept the quarterback's eyes on the defense the whole time in pistol but you can't even use that as a threat because your run game is so bad and that is part of the problem this one issue has compounded in so many different areas including tying the backup quarterback one of his hands behind his back

and it's it's just it's just bad you like to me i don't even think you can put him in the pistol until the run game improves because in some cases that would keep the play action threat available to you in this case it wouldn't because teams don't think they can run to the point where they knew that the broncos knew every play was probably going to be a throw and they could stop the run with the guys that they had up front they were dropping guys in coverage part of that is they respect the receivers the one and two that they have there and they respect and i don't think it's because they respected Browning's ability to get the ball to them, but certainly it's because they respect the receivers themselves to try to make plays

happen. And even near the end, you saw they were able to start sending more and more guys on pressures because it just was, they could condense and condense and condense and shrink down because the run game was not a factor at all. Even in a deficit, you still should have tried to or had at least something there so you weren't so one-dimensional the entire time. Yeah, you would think with a lopside score like this that the pressure rate must have been sky high. For the Broncos, it was 37.9%. I mean, that's good, but that's not sky high. But then again, you must consider that the Bengals only ran 43 offensive plays because they couldn't sustain any possessions.

They got out, they were dominated in time of possession by nearly 16 minutes. Like, there was just no life to this offense. And it's funny because I think in common football discussions, parlance, whatever you might want to say, they always say, you got to stop the first. If you can't stop the run, you can't do anything in this league defensively. Well, for the Bengals, they can't stop. They can't stop an opposing run and they can't run the ball at all to the point where in a game like this, Denver comes out and says, screw the run. We know what they're going to try to be us with. Those awesome receivers they paid all that money to take that away and they're going to have, you know, no options. And that's also

a testament to their confidence in their defense. But for the Bengals, I think it just starts in the trenches. It starts in the trenches on both sides of the ball. And we knew this was going to be an issue. And unfortunately, once you take the magic elixir, the lynch pin, the magician with the wand, Joe Burrow out of the mix, it all kind of starts to fall apart. So it's not to be all doom and gloom. It's only week four, but I hate to say it about the Bengals right now. They're just in a tough place. And oh, by the way, the schedule doesn't get any easier. You go home and play Detroit. You go on the road to play the Packers. You come back home against Pittsburgh and then you play the Jets in week eight. You got to get to that point in the schedule with at least some signs of

life and competitiveness or else this is going to snowball and if it feels far away right now that two and no start it's going to feel light years away by the time you get to that point yeah you could see the frustration is right at the surface for so many people um you know jemar chase and and zach taylor there was a shot at one point cut to them having a discussion on uh sort of on the sideline but a little bit away from the sideline um and you know when you start seeing the broadcast cutting to people close-ups of people's faces and um sort of the the blank stairs the 30 mile stairs you know it's just it's not good and and the bengals they to their credit they did put so much into the guys that joe burrow wanted and they worked it out with trey hendrickson and

they figured out all of these things that were such big headlines and big issues for them um but But when you live by going all in around one player and then that player gets hurt, this is what you also die by. And that is what they're experiencing right now. And in the future, they're going to have to make these decisions about whether living on that Razor's Edge is sustainable for this organization. I don't think they're there yet. Injuries are what they are.

But this is going to be a question that as these things continue to get worse, these are the questions the franchise is going to ask of itself. they're also not going to face a defense with a top-tier defensive back that can shut down one of those guys like Patrick Sertan. According to next-gen stats, he allowed one reception for eight yards across 13 coverage matchups with Jamar Chase, including zero receptions on 10 matchups in man coverage. So you want somebody to put you on an island and shut you down. The Broncos have that guy, and they deployed him against Chase.

So it's not always going to be this difficult. There is a reason to be hopeful. It is a long season. This is a tough one. This was a tough one for the Bengals. You know what wasn't tough, Jordan? Doing the show with you. I don't even know if we left anything out.

I don't know if we're supposed to say anything else here, but I feel like at this point, this is where the show ends. Mom and dad left the house. Here we are. The kids are in charge. There's no rules. Take all the pizza rolls out of the freezer and put them on a tray in the oven.

Cook them up. We had a great time. Shout out to Greg. You'll get Greg tomorrow. No News Monday. All the News Tuesday with Jordan. I'm Nick Shook. That's Jordan Rodrig.

well Dave we'll see you tomorrow Hey everybody Daniel Jeremiah here and I'm Bucky Brooks on move to six we take you inside the game from breaking down college prospects and NFL rookies to evaluating team building philosophies

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