NFL Daily with Gregg Rosenthal - Week 4 picks & Giants vs. Redskins recap

Episode Date: September 26, 2014

A room with some heroes -- Dan Hanzus, Gregg Rosenthal and Marc Sessler -- recap the Eli Manning and the Giants' big 'TNF' win over the Redskins and preview every other game on the Week 4 slate in the NFL.Learn more about your ad-choices at https://www.iheartpodcastnetwork.comNFL Daily YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/nflpodcastsSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

This is an I-Heart podcast. The Around the NFL podcast wants to see you and bring your playbook. 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 some heroes, Mark Sessler and Greg Rosethal. What up, boys. Well, we've lost Wesleying. He apparently is in a vehicle headed towards Las Vegas. I think we've lost Dan.

too i don't know who this guy is here we got you know td he because we're on camera now and he's like tell me where to put my cord for my headset and it just knocking me out of first they take away the chairs that had the armrest well you've got a collared shirt on too you seem overly dressed up that's definitely i do wear collared shirts i don't know why everyone's so stunned by this when um you know once a week or so like in march you wore one of these shirts sure why not um by the way I don't know if you've noticed Mark and Greg that on our Facebook feeds Emmy Awards all over the place.

Oh, it's... Oh, you mean from TD? Top to bottom. TD loves showing that off. Well, I was going to build up to TD, but yeah, TD got one as well. And first of all, I'm going to congratulate you. Mark is dismissively shaking his head.

Congratulations. That's a really nice honor. That is a very typical Dan move to throw me under the bus when it's his ire that's been raised by this dynamic. Here's the one thing I will say. I think it's wonderful that you won an award. Have a nice time with it.

See, your true nature came out there at the end. Enjoy it. But honestly, how do we, Greg, this feels like it falls on you a little bit. Everyone, Ben Lieberberg, our great photographer, has a Facebook photo holding two Emmys. Right. We got TD displaying one on Facebook with hashtag blast. How do we get Emmys? Well, you can do projects like the JFK Memorial.

or something like that. They can have their Emmys. We've got a Stitcher. Which would you rather have? We've got a Stitcher Award and a Best of iTunes. I don't see those on Facebook. I don't see our Stitcher Award either, by the way. Anyone gets an Emmy, like 60 people, people that barely worked on something.

I got an Emmy back at NBC once for NBC Sunday Night Football that I participated in an online chat. I did the second half of the game of chat. But then that's why your hunger to get an Emmy is. low because you have one. They hand it out to anyone, pretty much. Basically, they're being handed out like cups of coffee. You don't have to do too much. TD's going to wear this as a necklace.

Well, all I can say is, yes, there's some people that get it without doing much. I played my part on a team. Well, we don't know what to say. Nobody doubts that. Anyway, so, I mean, it's just a grim reminder of where we are on the food chain. Dan, I think we need to go pitch a low-level project. Get our names hooked onto it as some sort of high-level executive producer.

And then don't touch that project again. Stay away. The metal, the hardware will flow in. The gold. But congrats, Deerey. Thank you, guys. Don't let our bitterness affect your glory. It's weird to me that you want this so bad.

I like material things. Dan's a competitor of a guy. I don't know if you notice. He doesn't like the podcast. You know what? I despise the Jeremiah podcast, although I like the man. Not be named. Yeah.

I moved the sticks. Actually, that last episode with Baldinger and talking offensive was really good stuff. You're a hardcore into football. It's a great show. Everyone should download it. It's good stuff. This is the best podcast. And I'll tell you why.

People are going to find out in the next 43 minutes or so why this is the best podcast on NFL. And I'm not afraid to say it. And it's going to get us an Academy Award one day. Just wait and see. Today's show is going to be all about week four. It's going to be our preview show where we go over all the games. This is, Greg, I don't know if you're aware, the first buy week week of the seasons. Not only that, six teams on a buy.

That's a big number. So to me, what that tells me is that gives us more time to chew on these other games. Get excited, people, because we're going to get in-depth on all these games. A lot of hero picks on the table. Almost too many hero picks on the table, and we'll get to that a little later. So, all right, before we get going, like we do every week, let's throw it to coverage of the Thursday night game with Greg and Mark. Hit it, guys. Thank you, Dan.

Thursday night. This game looked like a good one, and we got another stinker. The Giants rolling up on the Redskins, 45 to 14. So much for road teams always lose on Thursday night. You know, I have not covered too many of these Thursday night games, and you were kind enough to let me handle last Thursday nights, demoralizing watch between the Bucks and the Falcons. And tonight, it started off looking like it might be a game, but it got out of hand in that second Well, it was still a good story tonight. You have Eli Manning five touchdowns, learning that Ben McAdo offense, this Giants team putting together as complete a performance in back-to-back weeks as you could ask for, and then you had the Kirk Cousins epic meltdown in the second

half ends up with five turnovers. So even though it wasn't a very good game, I feel like the stories that came out of this game are pretty interesting moving forward. Yeah, and another reminder, for those of us that, you know, as a living, we comment about football, you know, not to draw massive conclusions after a couple weeks because, you know, there was breathless reports before kickoff that the Redskins might be ready to crown Kirk Cousins as their quarterback of the future. And you made a good point. You said, well, let's see what happens over the next six weeks, five weeks. And tonight did not help his case at all. Right. If he has even one more game like this, that discussion is over. We report on

NFL network NFL media insider Ian Rappboard that the Redskins believe Griffin would accept a backup role if that was the case that he would take it well and that their eyes are wide open to looking to see what Cousins does over the next six weeks but I think the problem that he had tonight is when things got bad he didn't bow up and start playing better he totally crumbled and freaked out like a young player and just started throwing up some crazy passes you know he wasn't accurate he didn't make good decisions and he had bad luck it was like the holy triumvirate yeah and you know in the past we've seen when it was kyle shanahan running this offense in washington that they really let alfred morris be a big centerpiece 63 yards tonight didn't have a bad night but they

seemed to keep putting the game on cousin's shoulders and that's almost like the way for gruden back in cincinnity with andy dalton that went really wrong tonight but a big story for me also is a Giants defense, a secondary that made a ton of plays. We loved Prince Mukamura. He's played well all season. Really good season so far for him, yeah. Dominique Rogers Cromarty left this game with an injury, so that's something to watch. Because going into this game, Rogers Cromarty and Emucomara have been one of the better

duos in the league. I know they didn't have a great week one in Detroit, but since then they had two really good games. Their pass rush is deep. It's not as good as it once was, but it has Pierre Paul. Kewanuka had a big play tonight. Who was it? Robert Ayers just put one of the Redskins on their backs.

That was one of my favorite play. No, their pass rush looks good. And let's not forget their newfound playmaking tight end, Larry Donald, who three touchdowns, the first three scores for the Giants. The last guy to do that back in 1962, Jacks fans will know this guy, Joe Walton, who I only know as a child

is this sour-faced, embattled coach. Apparently he was a tight-end. one point and quite a good one. I did not know Joe Walton was going to make it on the show. It's funny, though, you talked about not getting too caught up with storylines earlier in the year. How about off-season storylines? Tight end was supposed to be the big problem in New York. Even Tom Coughlin complained about it publicly. Say, we don't have any

tight ends. And here's Larry Donnell. He's been very consistent. All four weeks, he's been a factor. He scored three touchdowns tonight, but he's been a factor all three weeks. And Eli, man, he has to be said, played almost flawless football, ended up with an interception, but was near perfect in the first half, and he did drop some deep passes, which we hadn't seen out of him earlier in the season. First thing for that. And really, you know, before he kind of, he spread out a few interceptions late in the game, very close to after four weeks reaching that 70% completion rate

that we all laughed at. Yeah. You know, he, yeah, in completions late, right? He's at, I think, 66.9 or something right now, which is a career high for him. And, you know, Listen, I think, you know, I was one of the people that laughed at the whole concept of Ben McAdoo coming in and, yeah, and it's, it shows you that these guys have a chance every week to prove us wrong. And I feel differently about the Giants than I did two weeks ago, which means two weeks from now, I will be right again. Well, their schedule is tough coming up. They host Atlanta, and then they go on the road for Dallas and Philly. So that's a big stretch for them against another NFC contender and then the two division games on the road. but you pick off a road game in the division.

That's almost like an extra half win. And the Redskins, on the other hand, are now 0-and-2 in the division. And I think they're a better team than they showed tonight, but they're now one and three. They're in last place. They're in a tough spot here. And their defense, just the secondary, they've lost a lot of pieces. I think they'll be better on offense,

but I'm not sure how much better they're going to be on defense week to week. Speaking of defense, though, Landbacker Brown and Rockball had this to say about Eli Manning's performance. Manning, man, you're doing a hell of a job coaching this, man, but he's throwing that thing. Yeah, that's true. Sometimes there's no defense for a perfectly thrown Eli Manning pass. Well, and that was a clip during the CBS telecast tonight, and the coach huddled over Raqpo just sort of shook his head and said,

you're right, not that I am doing a great job coaching, but we cannot solve this guy. How often have we said that about Eli Manning? I know. This was one of his better performances we've seen in a while since he was really on fire for much of the 2011 season and really the early part of 2012 and it's been all downhill since then. I will remember this game though as the second half of Kurt Cousins

when it all comes down to it. Terrible body language. You didn't like the body language. That's what I said. It was crumbling. But let's go over it here. Here's his second half performance. They start off nice.

with a touchdown drive, then interception, interception, three and out, interception, interception, three and out. You are a factory of sadness. That's right. That clip now needs to be applied to the Redskins and their fan base. Very ugly times. I don't know about you, but we're sitting in an empty studio. I can already see the phantom vision of Dan spinning his finger telling us to get out of this segment.

Yeah, let's move on to some happier news, and that's looking ahead to the rest of Sunday's games. and back to you. All right, let's move forward. All right, gentlemen, so let's start off now with the top games that kind of jumped out to us in week four. We'll go around the horn.

I'm looking at you, Mark. I'm looking into those blue eyes, those pale blue-colored eyes. Slightly awkward moment here on the podcast. Ed Call-Chek of Live once said in Lightning Crassers. Tell me what jumped out to you, your game that you're excited to watch on Sunday.

Well, I was asked to come up with one of the matchups and I just pick this one. Why do you always undermine our segments? I wanted to be honest. That's how we do this. So you picked the game. I picked a game. And you know what?

That's the idea. I picked the Packers and the Bears. I normally, I didn't grow up loving the old black and blue division. I'm not a gigantic Packers Bears guy. The Browns aren't playing this week, but you can pay attention to the rest of the league and get excited. There's other teams. That's right. And when I look at this game, it is intriguing for a lot of reasons, mainly because we're

We all thought Green Bay Super Bowl contenders going to roar out to a 3-0 start. Instead, they're 1-2. Only 14% of 1-3 teams even make the playoffs since 1990. And we all say you can't call something a must-win game, but you've got to take care of business if you're the Packers, and it starts with an offense that isn't getting it done over the last three weeks.

Well, this is a team, first of all, not many of those 1-2 teams had Aaron Rogers. Probably none of them. I don't know. Packers have been. been in a bad spot plenty of times under Aaron Rogers and Mike McCarthy. They were in the year that they won the Super Bowl. A lot of years, they've been hovering around 500 and they go on a run. So I hesitate to say anything's a must win this early. But the problem with them right now is they're

predictable. They're keeping the same formation on the team because they, on the field, because they want to do hurry up all game, and they've become very predictable. It's very strange to see the Packers offense so stymied like that. It's like, like Randall, For instance, who I thought might, in a weird way, lead the NFC and catches this year, used to be someone that used all over the field. We're not seeing that. They have, they have, I think Brady is only one quarterback, has fewer big plays of 25 yards and more through the air than Aaron Rogers. Yeah, I mean, there's no doubting they've gotten off to a very slow start. But we all talked about this on the last show that we're not extremely worried about this team just yet.

And when you look at our picks, across the board, we went with the Packers. and when I think about this game, I think about a Chicago team that didn't blow me away by any stretch against the Jets. I didn't think they played very well at all. They were lucky to get a win there. And I think Green Bay is in a situation

where they've had a week of preparation knowing the mistakes they've made, hearing the talk that they're off to slow start. I think everything is cresting in a nice way for them to deliver a memorable performance to the point where when the Vince Lombardi Trophy is raised in February,

this will be the game that people will remember as when the Packers started clicking and made their rise. Well, you're sticking by your pick, which is laudable. I don't know. We both picked the Packers. We both had the Packers winning. We did, so they got to start winning. That's true. They haven't won a road game yet.

This is on the road. You said they have to hold serve, but it's tough to win in the division on the road. If they lose this, they're 0 and 3 on the road, 0 and 2 in the division. I do think they win. I don't love their offensive line. In their defense that we corrode about all offseason, talking about how fast, how athletic. Athletic, what a great defense is going to be.

Come on. It's not been great. People have faulted Rogers. You know, when I go back and watch those games, it's not on him alone. It's not Rogers. No. But his numbers reflect wider problems with the team.

He's holding onto the ball too long sometimes. I think the offensive line will get better, especially in the run game. But to me, I don't know, just something is out of sync. It's hard to put your finger on it. And the fact that those other guys, boykin, Cobb to a certain degree and Devante Adams, they're not getting

open one-on-one. Against the Bears, everyone should get open. This secondary is not good. This defense is not good. They have not particularly played well. I think they look better than they have been because they played a 49ers team that's struggling a little bit on offense. A Jets team it's lucked out in that one.

I like when all five of us pick one way, it's such a recipe for complete disaster. It is. So let's move on to another game now and another NFC contender off to a slow start and Greg Rosenthal downstairs in the NFL media newsroom said hey guys this is the game I want to

talk about privately shared that with us and now the stage is yours Greg to talk about the Philadelphia Eagles heading to Philadelphia Eagles the other way to say that city's name 3 and O heading to San Fran to face the 49ers well this is closer to a must win

for me for the 49ers because they're at home for this game they could go to 1 and 3 they're in the toughest division in football right now in the NFC West. And it's not a matchup that serves up pretty well for them right now because their defensive problems are significant. Philadelphia is going to be missing half their offensive line.

Jason Kelsey is now out, and he's a big loss. You know, on that move, the sticks podcast, TD, Bollinger was talking about Kelsey as the most agile center in the entire league, the best guy at going out and blocking on the edge. So that's a big loss for them. And their replacements that were in last week, now they're down to their 8th, 9th, 10th offensive linemen. They did not look good, and yet I took the Eagles for this game

because I think Chip Kelly is a better coach than Jim Harbaugh, and I just think the Eagles' offense is the best group in this game. You know, someone in this room wrote a highly compelling article just before the podcast and published it on our website, and what it talked about was that this is a matchup of the best. Who wrote it? One of us, the guy speaking right now. Oh, is you?

Yeah, the best fourth quarter offense. against what has been this season the worst. No one's scored more points in the fourth quarter than the Eagles. That also reflects the fact they've had to come back into games, but the 49ers have not scored a touchdown in the fourth quarter all season. Well, if Kerry Williams is to be believed, the Eagles will be so tired going into this game, they might not even show up.

I believe he was spoken to by Chip Kelly and Chip Kelly's henchman, and we won't be hearing those complaints again. Do we have less respect for Chip Kelly that he's still starting this clown each week, Carrie Williams? Put him on the bench for these. ridiculous. Dan's respect level for Chip Kelly was already at a point that couldn't get a whole lot lower, so let's have an issue of respect.

It's more, you know, is he truly the genius? No, I don't believe he is. Well, he's 3 and 0 right now with a team that's gotten two lousy games out of their quarterback. Well, let's see how we... Doesn't have a pass rush, and yet they're just dialing up wins. Let's say how we picked them as a group. I took the Niners, as did Mark and Wes and Greg and Kevin Patcha, our Chicago correspondent,

went with the Eagles. I just, I look at the Niners. I know they have tons of problems, but I think this is a game where they're going to backs against the wall. They can't go one and three of that division. They're at home. Jim Harbaugh's, you know, crazy man. You know he's going to have him pumped up.

If they haven't quit on them entirely, I really think this is a game. The Niners will win. If they don't win, the wheels could be flying off. I think that's the key question. You mentioned it. Ian Rapaport, NFL Insider, Ian Rappaport has mentioned a couple times this season that that is not.

not a happy locker room, and they aren't on board with Harbaugh, and that Harbaugh has, you know, his eyes are wandering to maybe the next experience on the coaching road. Well, everyone picked the 49ers when they open Levi Stadium. Well, of course, they'll take care of the Bears. You know, that's the type of game. Oh, they're going to be so fired up the stadium. They lost. Everyone took them last week in Arizona, because that's a spot.

You know, they need to win badly. That's the type of game. The 49ers always win. They're going against Drew Stanton, and they lose that game. the Packers and the 49ers to me are actually similar types of teams. We're betting on their history showing up that they've been good the last few years. But sometimes teams, they just get worse. That's what I think the 49ers are going to be this year.

I just think they're going to be a lousy, drama-filled team that wins seven or eight games. And you have been pining for this all-off season. Well, someone's got to fall. We can't have the same teams every year. How about a team that went out and named its stadium after a pair of jeans? That is the recipe for a downturn. Typically grim. At least it wasn't like Rangler Stadium.

That's fair. At least Levi's is a classic. A little bit less offensive. All right, moving on. The game that I... I like that we just take all these shots at, you know, different league sponsors throughout the show. That's... Listen, as long as no one's listening to the show, we're cool.

I like the game jumped out to me. Maybe not the most beautiful game of the week in terms of Super Bowl contenders. But how about the Buffalo Bills, 2-1, going to Houston to face the 2-1 Texans, two teams that have been a little bit surprising this season. What I'm really interested to seeing, and one thing to keep an eye on is Arian Foster, as of the taping of this podcast and Vodcast video segment. No, let's not go with that. Okay. Arient Foster is a game time.

What? Did you make that up? Things I heard. That's like a glossary term that MTV dropped like 14 years ago. We got to put some highlights in the video podcast, by the way, because like, why would anyone want to watch it? Would you want to watch that? You know, probably some people did, and you just convinced them to click off and go to. to another website.

So excellent job by you. If they made it this far, we already got the click. I'm just saying, would you want to watch just people sitting around talking? Maybe if they were to at some point begin to discuss the game. Right. That's probably, they need something to watch. But can I go back to my Aaron Foster point? Please.

Okay. He's probably a game time decision. He's got that hamstring issue. So that's something to watch out for. But I'm really interested to see, again, E.J. Manuel holds the key to the kingdom in Buffalo. I want to see how he does. on the road against the defense that has some players on it. J.J. Watt could destroy his life potentially.

But I think this is a compelling matchup between two teams and I expect it to be a field goal game. I'd like to hear what Ryan Fitzpatrick has to say to E.J. Manuel before the game about here's what happens when they tell you in Buffalo that you're their savior quarterback. Let's talk again in a few years. Well, the bills, I mean, the bills couldn't have been better to Ryan Fitzpatrick. Right. He's a $60 million contract. He's got to live for the rest of his life off that.

All right. From that angle, it's not a disaster. They treated me really well, and I just let them down. That's what he would say to E.J. Manuel. Okay, well, that mystery has been solved. It's a reunion week in the NFL. And the Fitzpatrick, Buffalo one is it's hard to get as excited about that. I get goosebumps. Greg and Patcher both took the bills.

The rest of us took the Texans. So those are the games of this group. We got excited. I don't even know if they need Arian Foster in this game because they got Sessler's boy, Alfred Blue. Actually, I went back and watched Alfred Blue. He looked good. Well, he had a 46-yard run at one point. I think he had, like, nine of his other 13 runs were less than two yards.

Even when they were short, though, you know, Bill O'Brien's been talking them up all week. There's another angle in this game. I know you want to move on. We do, yeah. Doug Barone and Bill O'Brien, best of buddies throwing zingers at each other week. Their wives were college roommates. By the way, this is not an even match. I feel really good about having the road underdog.

I think the bills are a good team. team here. The Texans are lousy. Scouter shot Fitzpatrick last week. How dare you? One mistake. One game of mistakes. He's been great his whole career. That's not true. All right. That's it. Those are the three games that jumped out to us. And now we'll go into an extended version of everyone's favorite interlude of the pick segment. Defend your hero. Defend you're a hero Of course that's handsome Hank

The notorious DOP Also of the I think Mark you called him On the previous podcast A character On the Dave Damshack football program I believe a personality Personality

Right a sidekick And also someone who does something On NFL.com Right I didn't want to drill down too hard It's complex People don't care Elliot Harrison's sidekick

Essentially That's the end of this show So Henry is in England right now for the football games across the pond i think he's doing some dispatches too for the around the yeah a couple posts oh good so anyway so yes this is the defend your hero segment where uh each week usually at least one of us have a pick that goes against the grain and everyone else goes in the other direction uh in this week in particular i'm really out there i have a grand total of four hero

picks which i'm pretty terrified about actually but why don't we start first of all with mr keff Patrick coming at you, who went out on a limb, believes that, speaking of England, the Raiders will get off the Schneide in London at Wembley Stadium and take down the Miami dolphins who are in all sorts of tumult right now with Ryan Tannahill coming out and naming himself the starter. Joe Philbin on Thursday, although he didn't say as much in the press conference, there was a report out there. I believe in the Miami Herald that he had a private meeting with the team and essentially apologize for putting

this unnecessary distraction on the team about not naming a quarterback. So Tanna Hills has started. I don't know how long his rope is, but I think Patra is buying into the fact that the dolphins are reeling, you're going to lose again. Patra ain't here.

But Mark Sessler is. So Mark Sessler, defend that hero. That was a gallant lead in. Right. I think you already defended it. I'm not sure where to go. You've taken a lot of the fire out of my argument, which did not have a lot of fire to begin with.

I thought as the host, I needed to set it up and then you would go to deep diving into under the cracks and crevices that people don't even know the lot. If Dan hadn't set it up, he'd already be circling his finger in the air. Let me see why I think Patra did this.

A, number one, Patra, I think went 14 and 2 last week. 13 of 3. 13 and 3. So really anything he does, I'll just say probably a good move on his part. He did an outstanding. You know, this was basically an attempt to get under the skin of Handsome Hank, who is in London and a lifelong Dolphins fan.

I think it was a little bit of a nudge that said, oh yeah, yeah, you on your business trip overseas. Not all things will be rainbows. And one thing that I can see happening here is Oakland winning this game. If you go back and watch, listen, sometimes these teams that are so hapless or potentially hapless, if they're going to grow, it's not going to always happen in week one. Oakland is not a very talented team on offense,

but Derek Carr, whoever likes to dismiss entirely, I thought he did some good things against New England. Yeah. He was far from a disaster. And they made the most of a bad offensive line in New England right now that's not getting the job done. Oakland hung in there. Who thought they were going to lose that game 16 to 9? Some of that I think was the product of New England not being itself right now.

But your point is a good one that. Well, my point is that Oakland took New England a little bit out of its game. And they kept New England off the field for a big chunk of the first half. They did a good job. And this is Miami's offense has been an issue. Tanna Hill, I think, is 31st in the league in completion percentage. He's in the Gabbard zone for the season. yards per attempt, he's 32 right now.

That offense was supposed to come in and electrify right out of the gate the same way Phillies did. And if the running game isn't working, if they can slow down Miami's run game, they're going to give Miami problems. Patrick's not insane. Derek Carr did something last week that Ryan Tannahill still can't really do. And that's throw the ball before your receiver makes his cuts. And I noticed that three or four times in the Raiders game that Carr let go to the, the ball. It's a timing pattern.

His guy hasn't even made his cut. It's right there on the money. Tannahill is one of those guys. Mayok always talks about, like Jay Cutler. He's got to see it before he throws it. There's no anticipation. There's no feel of the pocket. I mean, Carr was a better quarterback last week. I don't know if he will be this week.

I think the Dolphins defense is the best group in this game. That's why I took them. But it wouldn't surprise me. I don't think the Raiders are big underdogs in this game. I really don't. It is. As far as Hero picks go, I think this is a strong one. But I mean, I use my Duracel power pick. Good for you.

Ow! On the Dolphins, just because I think the Dolphins, a couple weeks ago, I sent a tweet out that I thought the Dolphins had a good shot at getting to 4-0. That's obviously not going to happen. But I thought through the first week. Maybe not a tweet you want to bring back up. Listen, I'm not one of these pundits that don't bring up their failures. That's a pet peeve of mine.

You're a pundit? You shut up everyone and listen to me when I speak. that I think that, honestly, the dolphins aren't as bad as maybe they've seen the last two weeks. And the Raiders stink. Come on. See, that's where I disagree. I think people just look at Oakland, and I don't know how many Raiders games you watch this. Oh, they're terrible. I'm going to keep – you know, you'd be smart to pick against them every week this season.

You probably get 11 of those right. But if you watch that Patriots game, they were not a disaster. Justin Tuck played a little bit better last week. But the difference is Cameron Wake, Olivia Vernon, the defensive talent on Miami, is strong, and I don't see any reason to believe that the Raiders are going to put up more than 14, 17 points. Two words, Khalil Mack, next game.

Boom. All right, we're going into the next four picks are all hero picks of mine. As I said, I'm terrified about it. Greg, why don't you, you know, I guess teed up. We should start with the one that, if I were you, I'd feel the best about. Okay.

Because not only is it your team, the New York Jets, but they're at home against the team that's typically uneven, the Detroit Lions defend your hero. I mean, I think the Jets, they look really bad on Monday night and their inability to take advantage of the bears that were trying to give them that game. But I think ultimately they've been a good team at home in the last couple of years, especially with Gino Smith Behind Center.

He's never lost back-to-back games at the Meadowlands in his career. And, yeah, what you said, I mean, you nailed it. Nailed it. They're two teams, both teams are kind of hard to figure out right now. And I think I'm taking the home team. I don't know if I can trust the Lions to do well. In that setting, I think the Jets will play better this week than they did on Monday. I just feel good about the Jets here.

I think, Dan, as a point, you know, there's probably a little bit of buyer's remorse on the part of the entire area around the NFL group. We all picked the Jets. We got fried for it. It's like, I'm not going to make that mistake again. The Lions have three plus turnovers in eight of the last 10 games. A bunch of those came on the road. You can say that doesn't matter. But you know what?

New York did not look as bad to me as the score in part of that game last week. I think that Rex Ryan is one of the, remains one of the better coaches in the AFC, especially with the defense. You have to win the matchup with Megatron. That's your challenge right there. I don't think they're going to win it, but the question is whether they get killed on it. Keep them from just going off. He hasn't even practiced as we tape this.

But that happened last year. How many weeks were we writing an injury update on Megatron on Saturday? Antonio Allen, your Jets cornerback, says he wants to hold Megatron without a catch. That's his goal. I mean, it's good to have the goals. And by the way, one Jets-related thing, this narrative that's been floating around or it's been pushed ever since Gino bombed on Monday night

that all of a sudden is his job in danger and all this. It's completely stupid. I mean, the Jets still believe in Smith, and he showed enough this season, Monday notwithstanding, to have a pretty long leash right now. So Gino Smith is not on a week-to-week deal right now. Michael Vick is not about to go into the game for the Jets. One reason I took the Lions was because of how,

how they closed out the game against Green Bay. This was a team that always used to struggle to run the ball when Scott Linnehan was running the offense and close out these late games and you'd have some crazy plays because they'd just throw. And I like this running game. I like the movement that Matthew Stafford is showing this year. I don't know if he's gotten better at that.

I swear he's gotten better at moving, running, avoiding tacklers. He's looked really good. They really played it up on Monday Night Football in week one when he was dodging the Giants that he spent the offseason. getting better shape and all that, and I think maybe that has something to do with it. One last thing. We talk about Calvin Johnson.

The wide receiver that might be the most important of this game is Eric Decker in his health, because if he can't go or if he has to pull himself out of the game like he did last week, then New York suddenly has nothing vertical down the field. You're going to have to score some points, I think, in this football game. Agreed. That will be a big difference.

So you're saying Stephen Hill, not going to, oh, wait. Yeah, Stephen Hill working at a local price right in, like, East Hampstead, New Jersey. You know where he is? He's on a practice squad of the Carolina Panthers. And that's. Nug. Dan's next hero pick. How about that for a transition?

I am retiring from the host chair after that. Baltimore Ravens, Carolina Panthers should be one of the best games of the week. You're the only one that took the Panthers to defend your hero. First of all, I really liked that transition. Again, Stephen Hill to Carolyn. That was really solid. Yeah, the Panthers are good. I can't believe I got a hero pick on this.

They stumble on Sunday night. Sometimes games get away from a team. That's what happened against the Steelers. But that doesn't mean that all of a sudden I don't think that the Panthers can go into Baltimore and be a Ravens team. I'm sorry. I mean, Ravens to me are an eight to nine win team, maybe 10 at the ceiling. But they're not a great team by any stretch. I think the Panthers are better.

I think Pam Newton's another week removed from ankle surgery. I think that they're just the better team. with a better defense, and that will carry the day. One thing I noticed last week in the game against the Browns for Baltimore, their run defense, and this has been a theme all season, has gotten better in Baltimore. They're doing a nice job against the run. Their defense in general is tough,

and Carolina doesn't bring much on the ground. So suddenly it's going to put a lot of pressure on Cam Newton to make plays through the air all game long. And Baltimore's offense, you've got Steve Smith. He's fired up to come in here and have that game. that puts everyone on the map to say, Panthers, you made a mistake by letting this guy. Dave Gettelman, you wanted to save your pennies?

You just let your best wide receiver walk out the door. Have a nice afternoon. And he famously said, even before he had signed with the Ravens, that if the Panthers are on his schedule, get out the goggles, because there's going to be blood and guts everywhere on the field. Nice. In Carolina, this game is not played in Carolina, but close enough. And Joe Flacco had a funny line also yesterday.

He was asked if he thought that Steve Smith would be coming to him asking for more targets. and Flacko's response was I'm not going to listen to that maniac that will mess up my play or something like that and then they asked Smith about it of course and he said I guess that's some type of backhanded compliment but he kind of took it

in stride so no the other and Dennis Pitta him not in the picture out for the year maybe out for his career unfortunately with that hip injury that's a big loss and Owen Daniels will not fill that void anytime soon this is the best game of the week now that I think about it maybe I should have taken it at the top

of the show because these are two teams I don't have a feel for yet this season, but I think they both could be pretty good. That's why I took the Raven. I feel weird about it because I still like the Panthers. I got a hero pick on the Panthers earlier this season, so it's worked out well for me. They've always been very good to us here at the Iranian football podcast.

They've been great. But the Ravens have impressed me, too. You mentioned them stopping the run. Their offensive line is so much better. Absolutely. They're going to be without their left tackle at Eugene Monroe for three or four weeks, so that could be a big factor. But they're so much better run blocking and pass blocking,

They're good up front. I thought it was a coin flip type of game that these both could be playoff teams, and that's why I took the home team. Talked with your band, Dan, Daniel Jeremiah yesterday, and he... I like DJ, by the way. I know you do. A lot of people in the Ravens organization... You just don't like his podcast.

Yes, sorry. It's not a mistake that big plays are coming off the right side of that line. They're much happier with the right side of the line right now. And one guy to look for rookie running back Lorenzo Talia Farrow looked fantastic against Cleveland last week. Kind of unstoppable. He had a summertime arrest. Went off the grid. No one had much to say about him.

He's an X factor here. Anybody that wants to call Lorenzo Taliaferro L.T., do not do it because that is a great name, and that should be said fully first and less every time on every reference. All right. Another great name. I don't know. I got to come up with one. Almost.

Sean Payton. No, not so much. Des is a pretty good name. Des Bryant. Des Bryant. Dallas Cowboys, New Orleans Saints. Put too much pressure on yourself. I remember these games from the last five years.

Whenever Sean Payton goes up against the Cowboys, it just seems like he's got a little extra juice in the offensive playbook. Bill Parcells's old team, his old team. Saints, Cowboys. Dan, you're the only one that has the Cowboys defend your hero. This is the only one I don't feel great about. I get sucked in. Everyone knows on this podcast.

I get sucked in by all NFCE's teams, but particularly the Cowboys and the Giants. But I think in this case, The only thing I can hang my hat on and feel somewhat confident about is that the Saints aren't going to be as good on the road. I think, Greg, you mentioned it yesterday in the newsroom. Were they 6 and 12? 6 and 12 since the start of 2012. On the road.

All you Saints fans that tweeted at me a couple weeks ago when I said they were a bad road team, like what am I talking about? Six and 12. Yeah. So, I mean, that tells you right there that no one should be blindly thinking the Saints are going to go into Dallas and wipe out the Cowboys. I think I liked what I saw from Tony Romo last week. I think the Cowboys are going to score points. I think this is a game that they're going to have to put up about 30 points. And I think they could do it against Rob Ryan.

Rob Ryan has shown that he could fail at Cowboys Stadium or whatever they call it now, AT&T Stadium. And I think he'll fail again. And I think Cowboys will come out with a nice little upset win. Stink does a study on successful plays. And the Saints and Cowboys' offenses lead the league and successful plays this season. And, you know, we look at the Saints that are one and two, what's wrong in New Orleans. Orleans. Actually, they've scored on 13 of 28 drives. That's the best in the league. And they have the best third down conversion in the league right now.

Well, what's wrong is their defense? Rob Ryan, he doesn't need to go on the road to struggle. He struggles everywhere. I guess they did fine last week against the Vikings. But statistically, they are among the worst defenses in the league so far, and they've got to go up against a very good offensive line and DeMarco. I feel like every other year, Rob Ryan is either a genius or a fool. That's true. This is the fool year. Next year, he'll be riding high again. Somewhere else.

Somewhere else. Yeah, the Saints are 31st in the league by football outsiders' numbers. The only team that's worse, you're Cleveland Browns. Oof. On defense. On defense. Right. Well, actually, aren't you the best at being the worst defense?

This is my favorite week of the year, by the way, having done now five seasons with Mark, whenever it's the Cleveland by week, you don't have to worry about Mark being in a bad mood at any point in the afternoon. Everything's going to be okay. It's going to be Mark just in January. enjoying pigskin. We can worry about ourselves and our teams instead of just worrying about Mark's well-being. Mark the whole time. I got one more, Greg.

Oh, yeah. I have no comment on that fine diet tribe that just came from the two in the year. The second week of the year that Dan has four hero picks. I had five actually in week. Oh, you did? And you hit three of them. Yes, I did. And so you still lead the season standings in hero picks, not an overall record.

Middle of the pack and overall, maybe in the back end. You've got three hero picks. I have two. Patra's got a couple. Your last one of the week, the Kansas City Chiefs at home on Monday night football against my New England Patriots defend your hero. I got to say,

I've said the Dallas game I have maybe a little bit of regret. This one I'm feeling good about Monday night. New England Patriots don't know what they're doing on offense right now. Gronk's not playing half the game, not moving too well. And the Chiefs do? Well, listen, the Chiefs, this is my concern about the Chiefs, is Jamal Charles if he's healthy. I know they have tons of injuries.

The Chiefs, maybe they're not. not the same team, but they're coming up a win. They're in their own building. It's going to be loud. It's going to be, there's going to be a lot of barbecue being ingested. I don't know how that affects the game, but it's still fun. I think the Patriots are going to continue to struggle on offense, even against a Chief's team that's not going to scare anybody.

And I think the Chiefs win. I really like, I feel good about this. The Patriots are not playing well. They've been able to, you know, the season has not started terribly for them, but at the same time, they could easily have lost all the games, really, they played, right? Well, the Vikings game was... No, that's fair. That's fair.

But still, I mean, I just feel good about this. I think Kansas City at home is in a good spot. You know, the Chiefs, I'm sometimes early in the year, I got stuck on what happened in week one with them, and they've got their issues, but they've run for over 300 yards in the last two weeks. They have success running the football. That's what they're about.

Alex Smith, you know, it's easy to overlook him, too. I think his play has been with what he's dealing with, and the shortcomings on the offensive line has gone above and beyond what they could have asked. I mean, he is quietly one of the better rushing quarterbacks in the entire NFL, and people don't want to see that. They'll look elsewhere. It's like this guy continues to make these plays. They have unbelievable limitations right now.

Pro football focus has the Chiefs and the Patriots offensive lines as the worst two offensive lines in the league overall and in terms of past protection. These two teams are really mirror images of each other because all they can do is think and dunk. I mean, Alex Smith didn't attempt a single pass last week that traveled more than 10 yards in the air. Not once. Wow. And they scored 34 points and they won the game

and he faced a lot of immediate pressure, but they ran the ball and he made good throws on third down. The two teams are very similar. They're not explosive. I guess it'd be a game you could play some fantasy defenses or something. Well, meanwhile, Brady is one for 17 on passes over 20 yards, which is worst in the league right now. I think for many of the same reasons,

Because in the past, you'd say, New England will spend that first month figuring out what it doesn't want to do on offense. And then it will, like, unlike some teams, transform itself and become something else. They might. But when your offensive line is looking worse than it has in a decade, the issues are there. I think Dan is maybe on to something with this home game on Monday night. Yeah. That can change. And here's the other thing.

And the Patriots are a marquee franchise with the most famous quarterback in the world and all that. fan bases get pumped up for that game when the Patriots coming into town on prime time that place is going to be loud the chiefs are going to be way into it I think it's a really good spot for him you know how you shut him up you have Chandler Jones match up against Eric Fisher and in that poor kid's career I mean wow Taylor Jones is just about the most impressive defensive player in the league right now and Eric Fisher is about the worst left tackle in the league that is the number one overall pick in an NFL drafts but I'm just saying that's how you They can shut it up.

Their defense looks good this year. Then you give the offense, which is centered around Julian Edelman right now, a chance to go out and score like 14 points. It comes down to Rob Kronkowski. He says he's going to play more of this game. He might want to lose that limp he's been walking with. I don't know if it's a limp, but he's certainly not as explosive as he's been in the past. Are you more explosive than Grunk or is he more explosive than you? I think Grunk would need about six more surgeries to be less explosive than me.

But I think he's starting to head downward, the slope. We all get older. And Gronk is too, and his top radius as well. The Patriots aren't going to be great for running for much longer. Greg, it's almost over. Best Patriots defense in a decade. I think that's going to happen. For an 8 and 18.

Hang in your hat on that. All right. So that's the last hero pick. Before we go into the rest of the games, TD, I want to check in with you real quick. This is perhaps the most important task that a producer for the Iran and the NFL podcast has you have not this will be your maiden voyage it's time to get into win gregg's toaster it is yep you're going to have to start just let you know you have time this is an assignment like when the back in school where they said you know this assignment isn't due for several weeks it's time

for our producer td to start looking for some as gregg puts it tomato cans for him to just cushion his title defense on and and and gold standard a great job job finding some competitors and now it is your turn. I used to love that. I used to watch the goal stand and do that. It was so funny he would get on the phone and call people. I'm like, what are you doing? It's like, yeah, I just listen to contestant. So I'm like, what? Did you ever think your career

would mimic that? Well, let's see. We'll see. Well, anyone out there listening, the less you know, the better contact TD, you know, it's a producer TD? It's fun to just be on the podcast. You don't need to worry about getting the answers right. We just want to set up all the tomato cans, just like Wesleyan had.

Oh, give me a break. Wesleyan had one week where it was 6-0 and 5 to 1. They could barely speak. And no, no, no, wait a second. Misinformation from the boss. And so anyway, yeah, don't contact TD, please, if you're a listener, and we love that you listen to the show. But don't contact TD just to get on the show.

Contact to win, to beat Greg. Because the big showdown, the Titanic showdown, the Tyson Holyfield, one type showdown, is Greg against West the rematch for all the marbles after West was taken down in trivia by Greg but Greg will get a couple challengers ahead of that

while West trains I don't agree with the faction If I get taken out it's over I don't agree with the faction of people that quickly labeled Greg the Buster Douglas in this scenario but if you're at home you kind of know if you're a...

I think Greg labeled himself though yeah well that was more about the women and the money and the video games and everything I've been doing all I do is win win win matter what? I've gained like 45 pounds. Wasn't there a Buster Douglas.

For people that aren't fans of boxing, Buster Douglas beat Mike Tyson in the Tokyo Dome in 1990, biggest upset of all time, then immediately gained 100 pounds, lost his title, and when it's like a diabetic coma. That's what Greg is angling for right now in his life. It's all been down here. So be the team to beat,

be the guy that beats Mike Buster Douglas. That's the challenge. And T.D. That is the challenge we throw out to you. we'll make it happen all right cool all right the rest of the games it's always a positive by the way dam when we can combine to put out a three decade old boxing narrative into the podcast that's good people like it i miss heavyweight boxing what a joke it is now uh Tampa bay buccaneers with mike lennon a quarterback someone get excited about this game because i cannot are heading to pittsburg to play the steelers the

steelers look great on sunday but at the same time let's not get too excited because they didn't look very great at all the week before that against the Ravens. So maybe we're not quite sure where the Steelers are at as a team. We kind of know where the Bucks are at. They were down 56-0-0 in the fourth quarter of their last game. But now they have Glennon, who is starting in place of the injured Josh McCown, probably for good you could potentially see it working out that way. If Glennon has some success, can either of you gentlemen make a case for the Bucks competing slash winning this game? I don't know. I guess if you're a coaching staff and you want to try to find the little tiny Achilles heel and the next opponent.

Well, when you watch the team coming up lose 56 to 14, the way that Bucks did to Atlanta, there's a whole lot of ways to attack a defense that's injury-riddled right now. And it starts with Levi-on-Bell. I think Pittsburgh doesn't need to do anything special. They need to keep doing what they were. That Baltimore game is, they had a weird little funk because they blew the doors off Cleveland,

and then that second half against Cleveland into the entire game with Baltimore was not. not who they seem to be the rest of the year. They looked like they got back on track last week. I can't come up with a case for the Bucks. Can you, Greg? No. I mean, I can make a stake.

Yeah, they look forcable. They've been the worst team in the league on balance. The best case is maybe Mike Glennon gives that offense a little bit of juice, but they just lost their offensive coordinator probably for the year. I mean, the Steelers are missing a lot of players on defense, too. I mean, they just lost three players to injury. Ike, Taylor, Jarvis Jones, Ryan, Z. year, so that's a problem.

But you look at the Steelers' schedule. They got the bucks this week and the Jags next week. It'd be a stunner if they're not four-in-one sitting pretty. It should be. And we mentioned on Sunday that we were thinking about sticking the old fork in the bucks and ruling that their postseason chances were a shot. We really should fork the bucks hard, but we're going to wait until West gets back. We basically forgot to.

Yeah, we forgot to fork them, but we're going to fork them. Stick a fork in them. Yes, we're going to fork them. By far the earliest forking we've ever accomplished here. Really, I already, there are pangs of regret that we didn't do it on Wednesday show, but that's how life works on. I think actually, I think we killed the Jaguars last year about week three or four. We didn't wait around.

We didn't wait around. Moving forward, the Tennessee Titans who, Greg, I don't know if Jake Locker's in the mix, is he? He missed practice Wednesday and Thursday. Goodness. And that means clipboard Jesus. Clipboard Jesus, aka the wandering log cabin resident. Charlie Whitehurst could be starting. Chaz Whitehurst likely or probably or possibly starting for the Titans

heading to Indianapolis to face the cults. So we have a Chaz Whitehurst against Andrew Luck matchup. That probably favors the Tennessee Tutans, I would think, correct? The name of the team is the Titans from Tennessee, Dan. Ah, okay. So the Titans of Tennessee favorites, correct? I watched Tennessee play the Bengals last Sunday. That was a game that was assigned to me at our workplace.

After watching two hours of Titans tape the day before you told me, which is crazy. Yeah, last week did not in general really. Meanwhile, you're- Sounds like a hot Saturday. Yeah, the one day at home, your kids are banging on the door. Let us in, Papa. Papa.

It was during their nap time, but I should have taken a nap myself. They are a team that is a sleep-inducing operation on offense. My problem with Tennessee is when Bishop Sanky, who has not been overly impressive is the standout and the only standout player on a team that got its butt kicked last weekend. There's nothing going on in this passing game. Yeah, maybe Locker isn't healthy, but it might have been time to take a look at the other quarterbacks anyways. No, that's the thing. This is Charlie Whitehurst. He. I think they should have sat Whitehurst and gone straight to Mettenberger. He's a sixth round rookie. That's just giving up on the season.

That's what I hate about this game and this team, the Titans, because it, already feels like their season is almost over. Well, I hate that. I don't want to think that. Looking at Jake Locker, here's the thing. It's a guy that we've seen his ceiling. Have we? I absolutely think so.

He's never on the field enough. We've seen him injured a lot. I don't know if we've seen a ceiling. Watching what he's done this season, it's like there are things about his game that if there hasn't shown any improvement in his accuracy, some of the throws he's making. It's not his overall game. It's just really, after this many seasons. since I understand he hasn't had consecutive starts,

but Ken Wisenhunt inherited a quarterback with a lot of issues, they're going to get a new one. Yeah, and it's not going to be Charlie Whitehurst. Four starts in his career, all in Seattle. He has a deep in the Gabbard zone career yards per attempt of 5.3, so that's just ugly. How does he made it nine years ago? I was just about to say that.

Do you know how big Charlie Whitehur's house is? Probably on the beach. Probably one of those things where you open up the sliding doors and the ocean is right in front of him and his surfboard is on the deck. That's Chas Whitehurst's life. And what has he done to deserve it? And we don't have any Emmys.

Lived in a log cabin during training camp. I can get behind that. He has a second house. Oh, I'm sure. That's in the woods. Because quarterbacks that stay off the radar but have something physical in terms of their size

that coaches like can exist for 10 years. If we had to see Whitehurst start two consecutive seasons, he'd be working elsewhere right now. He's probably a likable guy that works hard. I don't about the working hard part. He doesn't give that vibe off. I bet he has six Emmys. Oh, he's multiple Emmys.

He's been involved with a lot of projects, you know, on a low-level basis, and there comes the hardware just flows in. All right. Golden statues. Let's move on. The Jacksonville Jaguars will introduce Blake Bortles as a starting quarterback to the world, an NFL quarterback, against the San Diego Chargers. This is a tough task for the Jags who've looked obviously terrible through three weeks.

Now they move forward with Bordals. We've talked about at length how that might not matter, given the cast around him, especially his offensive line. Are the Chargers just going to wipe the floor here? You would think so. They've gotten a lot of injuries piled up on that team that people haven't really talked too much about. Woodhead and Matthews, but also Melvin Ingram.

Mantiteo is now out for a long time. It's a banged-up Chargers team, but they showed us last week going to Buffalo winning convincing, that they should take care of what's been the worst team in the league by far. I mean, the Raiders look great compared to the Jaguars. One thing I like about Bortles in this happened right away when he came in last week, and it was will he be able to produce, when he came in in the preseason, immediately the offense had more energy,

started to gain chunk yardage, started to score points. Chad Henney last week did what he normally does, which is do essentially nothing. Bortals came in, he wasn't perfect, but he quickly generated 223 passing yards and two touchdowns. I don't know if this is going to be as easy and out as it's been in the past for teams playing Jacksonville. This is the guy they should have started from the beginning

and he's behind a terrible offensive line. That's the cautionary flag. Well, the defense has been the worst in the league. I mean, they have been outscored by an average of 25 points. Their defense doesn't get any stops. The secondary is nowhere near the receiver. So you're playing a precise group like, the Chargers, they're going to score 30, 35 points.

But you're right, Bortals makes them watchable. I mean, he was a lot of fun last week. That's all you can hope for. I mean, because if San Diego can do what they did against Seattle and then go into Buffalo, underrated, tough place to win a game and go 2 and O in there in that affair, this is a game they should win by 25, 30 points. One of us is an affair.

It is an affair. Wow. An event, a happening. A showre that I think I'm going to make a pitch, Greg, that this is a good game for Dan to be covering. on Sunday. You just called it an affair. I think it's got your name all over it.

I believe it's a late game. I will be long gone. It's fortles. I mean, it is more fun. He made a lot of wow plays last week, evading pressure. He also made some boneheaded plays and some crazy. It's going to happen, though, right? Yeah, crazy throws, but he was fun to watch.

Finally, we head to Minnesota, where we have another new quarterback, another rookie quarterback, Teddy Bridgewater, making his first NFL start in place of that castle who broke bones in his foot. He's done. He gone for the year. So it's the Teddy Bridgewater era opening up against the Falcons. They were my dark horse candidate entering the season. I'm feeling great about that after Thursday. That 56 to 14 romp, I think, again, this will be a closer game, I think, but I believe that the Falcons will again score points. I think Adrian Peterson isn't on the Vikings in case people haven't noticed, and that's going continue to haunt them.

So you're saying Peterson won't be suiting up? I heard via sources that Adrian Peterson is not in the NFL right now. All right. Hot take from Dan with some NFL news information provided right there. Adrian Peterson won't be in the game. He's

our podcast, Adam Schaefter, right here. I really thought about taking the Vikings in this game. I still think they're going to be feisty this year. I think Mike Zimmer has improved that defense tremendously. And I think Teddy Bridgewater is going to be kind of fun. And all the reasons that, Mark, you picked them as a team of ATL candidate

and why I thought they'd be a dark horse team. I think those ingredients are still there. Even though the Peterson news now has died down a little bit, they're home for this game. I think they could be tough. It's amazing how quickly Minnesota became a completely different team. Right. Because you had your Adrian Peterson and Matt Castle combination,

which is very familiar to the troubles from last season. And then suddenly it's Teddy Bridgewater and a cast of different young players. I like it, though. I think it's the same with Jacksonville. Interesting. Suddenly the Vikings are interesting to watch because they've got their first round quarterback on the field.

But Atlanta, 455 yards per game over three weeks. I don't think we can look at this team and say, oh, they're about to stumble. But their one road game, they didn't do anything on offense, and they were playing a defense. A Mike Zimmer crafted defense. Very similar to this defense. And people forget the Vikings were among the worst two or three defenses in the league last year.

They are ninth in scoring so far, 11th in yards allowed. They've improved dramatically on defense. I don't think this is just going to be a walkover. Name to watch if the Vikings win this in the final seconds. Harrison Smith, safety. Why is that? Is that a Sessler? What's he going to do?

Just have a feeling he may have the turnover that changes the complexion of this game. Well, we all took the falcons, so it's not going to happen. I like to have my, I like to have both sides covered. I like that. That's a good way to play life. Both sides of the fence. That is it for Thursday's edition of the Around the NFL podcast. We will be back on Sunday where Greg, we will devote the entire hour retrospective of Derek Jeter's career with the Yankees, as was your request.

I'm just happy that you're going to have to. work during jeter's last game and you don't have to you know be at home that's what you think crying your eyes out or whatever would be going on we are friends in real life um okay so that's it we'll see you sunday this stan hansis signing off for the sizzler the boss tay d behind the glass until sunday night This is an IHeart podcast.