NFL Daily with Gregg Rosenthal - Week 7 recap & London report

Episode Date: October 26, 2015

A room filled with heroes – Dan Hanzus, Gregg Rosenthal, Chris Wesseling, and Colleen Wolfe – break down all the action from Week 7 of the regular season including the Patriots and Panthers improving to 6-0, and a strong come-from-behind win for the Redskins. Then, the heroes check in with Connor Orr and Marc Sessler in London for a report on the Bills-Jaguars game, and their full experience in the UK.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 has the papers. Welcome back to another edition of the Around the NFL podcast. My name is Dan Hansus, and I am joined by a room full of heroes. Colleen Wolfe, Chris Wessling, and Greg Rosethal. What's up, boys? Hey, Dan. And girls?

I'm just so happy. I don't have to do that weird, awkward. ISO camp thing, where I don't know what to do. Is there any way to do that anyway? Just an awkward ISO on Colleen. We're doing it. There we go. There you go.

Yeah. And an awkward ISO. Hey! And then I do one of these. And it's weird. If you're listening to the podcast on the way to work or if you're pumping iron and you want to see an awkward ISO, check out YouTube. com where you can watch this whole episode.

You can see Colleen trying your best to overcome the awkwardness. Yeah, I know. I don't really. Yeah, it's weird. The wolf woman. You usually sit in with us for a portion of the podcast. I do. But with Mark Sessler in London, with Connor Orr,

and we're going to get to them a little bit later via the phone. You're going to sit in the entire show. Yeah, it's crazy. I would imagine there's a lot of nerves coursing through you right now. No. No. Not at all. Little butterflies in the old stomach.

I did have a cookie before I came up here, so maybe that's what that is. But yeah, no, I'm fine. Is it true that you swallowed tobacco juice on your way to the studio? I was questionable before the podcast, but I did play. Okay. So, Colleen's here. Thank you for joining us.

A very busy day on Sunday. Colin, you're on the NFL Game Day Blitz. The couch show with Dave Damashek. Uh-huh. How's that going? NFL now, Game Day Blitz. It's good. We did all sorts of stuff today.

We got up, walked around a little bit, so that was good. That's called Exploring the Space in the studio. Uh-huh. It was fun. And then David Nicol, he brought his son. over dressed as a football and Shaq kicked a field goal with him. That sounds potentially litigious. But it was fine because it was all for NFL now.

Dave's great with kids. So this is our Sunday night, our flagship show I like to call it, Chris, as you know. Our weekly recap, this one, Week 7. Hubba, hubba, we are rolling. And we got a big show this week and we're going to a lot of games to get to, but none bigger than the showdown in the AFC East between. between the New England Patriots and my New York Jets. We'll talk about that.

It was, it did live up to the expectations. It was a very good game. Maybe not the ending that I wanted, Greg. A little different in this. Okay, you've recovered, though. You seem a little down in the dumps. Was it a little awkward watching the game? Well, we'll get to that.

We'll get to that. As I said, Mark and Connor from London, we're going to get them on the phone. Talk about both the game, the Bills and Jaguars played, of course, early this morning. and the big tweet-up at a London pub where I've been told an estimate of 50 to 70 listeners were at the bar with the heroes. Wow.

How about that? 50 to 70,000. That would be crazy. You're disappointed as the podcast. No, it was great. I'm looking forward to hearing more. And then finally, Andrew Luck's struggles continue. As we're going to go through all the games,

we'll get to the Colts and Saints and Andrew Luck. maybe had a nice statistical day, but it doesn't mean he had a good day. So that's all the stuff we're getting into and a lot more. So why don't we get going? Please. We'll start, yes, at Gillette Stadium, where the Patriots, yes, remain. Big Brother in the AFC East. Tom Brady led New England on two fourth quarter touchdown drives a difference in a 30 to 23 win over the New York Jets.

This was the game where the Jets were up by 30. Five points in the fourth quarter. They seem to be in good position, but Tom Brady still exists. And that's the difference in this rivalry. It's been, it's not Rex Ryan's fault or Herm Edwards' fault or Todd Bowles' fault. It is the Patriots have perhaps the greatest quarterback ever, still in his prime at age 38, and he led against the number one defense, just like he did against the number one defense last year in the Super Bowl. In this case, it was the Jets turn, getting two touchdowns put on him.

in the fourth quarter. Brady's surgical in this game, Greg Rosenthal, looking every bit the MVP through week seven in my mind. The Jets did their best. They hung with them. It's a moral victory if you want to look at it that way. Disappointing for me as a Jets Vanks. I thought they were right there, but the difference is number 12. Well, for the first and last time in his career, Tom Brady led the team in rushing. 15 yards. That just shows, though, that they didn't even bother to run. And when they tried a little bit, it didn't work. They don't have Dionne Lewis in the game, so James White gets almost all the snaps at running back.

They survive that. And I've been thinking about this a lot lately because I was thinking Tom Brady was declining in 2012. It was like three years ago when we thought he started to go down because we're just trained to believe that players are going to get worse when they're 35, 36 years old. It's very natural. It's normal. And yet he's really throwing a perfect game right now for this season.

Obviously, his numbers of, you know, yards per 10. aren't as high in this game as they're going to be, but he was playing a great defense, and he got 30 points, and they got the fourth quarter comeback in the win. But he's essentially, what is he now, 16 touchdowns, one interception, and the interception was a drop from Julian Edelman. He's essentially throwing a perfect game. We noticed he remade himself over the last few years. He's much more nimble in the pocket than he was a couple years ago.

And we noticed this last year when they played the Broncos, the difference between Peyton Manning and Tom Brady and their pocket movement. and that win over the Broncos last year, Manning couldn't move in the pocket, and Brady looked as nimble as can be, and he's looked even more nimble this year. Not to mention he's got a hose. I mean, people have been waiting for his arm to fall out,

but his arm is still top-notch. It's one of the best in the league. And he dealt with a lot of drops, too. Ten. Yeah. Which is an astounding number. Five alone from Brandon Lafell, who was activated from the Pup list.

Okay, so that's why his yards per attempt was bad. Could not catch. So really, he could have been, you know, 40 for 50 or whatever it was. I mean, this, it was just such a, a great performance and they ran the ball nine times all game and people talk about how it's important to have balance and all that four of those are brady and yeah i assume a couple were the kneel down uh yeah and no there was no kneel down but uh we'll get to that too because brandon marshall played a factor in that but um josh mcdaniels and bill bellichick have the confidence and they

have something very few coaches can can say which is we can't run the ball tom take care of this win the game and he could do it against the great defense i mean it's it's a very good It's so frustrating to watch it as a Jets fan. I mean, I've been watching this stuff since 2001 or whatever it's been. And when he says things in the media, like I can play 10 more years, and he's playing at this level right now, I legitimately get nervous that Tom Brady will be beating my favorite team for 25 years. I can tell right now. I always know when Dan Hanses is upset because he really gets into a neat, gets a certain look on his face. It's like serious Dan comes out.

And it's rare. And I just really wondered during this game, what was going on between the two of you? What was the dynamic like? Well, you asked me that over at the damage check, the couch show, and it's interesting because I'm, first of all, I'm the one that's covering the game, quote unquote, so I'm the one watching it. And Greg has his boss duties, so he's watching other games. Well, we also sit apart.

I'm sitting in the middle of the room, a lot going on over there. You admitted it as much after the last Super Bowl that you've already, that was like the cherry on the top of the Sunday. And no matter what happens going forward, you don't really care. So that's not what I said at all. I said, I'm just good from here. They've done enough.

Exactly. And that informs your fan experience and it changes the dynamic completely. But I still was nervous kind of watching how this game was laying out. Then again, we're at work and I'm covering two other games. And I'm also, you know, managing our entire news thing.

So we're paying attention. I'm just saying we're half paying attention to the game on some level. The thing that gets me is Dan, running over after they, you know, score the first touchdown or they take a lead at some point. And he just starts dancing around the room and

shoving it in our news director's face, Dave Schott, who's a big fan, and just being like, yeah. And the thing that gets me is shot not deserve it, by the way? No, he totally deserves it. And most Patriots fans do as well. But the thing that gets me about Jets fans is no matter how many times, you know,

they pull the football away from him. Like, there was no doubt in Dan's mind that the Jets were going to win this game and that this was the time, and they were all feeling so good about it. It sounds very thrown of slees, this opinion to have. Yeah, because I am, listen, the last true fan standing on the Around the NFL podcast, as I said.

And the bottom line is I never give up on my team. I believe they're finally going to get over the hump. I can testify there were quite a few fist pumps and, oh, yeah, it's coming from the head. I was very excited. And I wasn't obnoxious all game. I got excited at one point, but I kept to myself. Brandon Marshall has been the key to the Jets offense. him and Chris Ivery this season.

He's been so great on a weekly basis. But one thing I'll say, and he is on his fourth team, despite being a borderline hall, fame candidate at this point of his career, is he does one or two things, whether it's physically or mentally, almost every week that makes you scratch your head. In this case, he had a drop touchdown on third down

early in the fourth quarter that really, obviously, cost the Jets four points on an easily catchable ball. Ryan Fitzpatrick should have three touchdowns today and no interceptions. It's a physical mistake. it happens. But then another mental error. On the last play of the game, the Jets kick a 55-yard field goal, and then they recover the onside kick. So I'm excited. Greg's, you know, not even paying

attention really. I was watching it. And they, you know, Fitzpatrick drops back, completes a pass around the 35-yard line, 8 seconds, 7, 6 seconds. The Jets race up. Brandon Marshall went down field jogging back, not aware that he needs to get to the line, doesn't get set. They spiked the ball at one second, but it's an illegal procedure, game over. That can't happen. And he tweets after the game that I should walk home to New York after what happened today. But it's like, same thing happened when he said, this is the stupidest play in history with his lateral. Happening for 10 years.

I mean, these things, I guess that's part of the Brandon Marshall experience. It's part of the Ryan Fitzpatrick experience, too, because I don't think Tom Brady makes that throw. That was a very risky, a very risky throw to go in the middle of the field. And it was only like a 10-yard gain for very minimal gain. and then they were snapping the ball literally with one or two seconds. When he threw that pass, everyone in New England, certainly everyone on the sideline, Bill Belchick's thing, thank you, Ryan Fitzpatrick.

They're playing for a Hail Mary, which they didn't, there wasn't a lot of time left after the recovery. I think there was around 15 seconds, but they could have maybe done a sideline outpass and given them a little bit more time. They could have tried to run a couple more plays at that. Potentially, no timeouts. Other things in this game, Chris Ivory had a bad hamstring,

heard it on the first play, so that was, He needed him, too. I mean, for him to be compromised in this game was not great. But that's part of the Chris Ivory experience. That's true. You can't expect him to play 16 games, and that's why he's one of the most valuable running backs in the NFL. Because there's such a drop-off between him and Bilal Powell and Zach Stacey. I do admit, though, the Jets should be a little higher on that old watchability rankings,

which was scientifically done. But maybe it didn't take into account everything going on there. Marcus Gilchrist, I've noticed, has played very well for them. He went for a ride today on Gron. Yeah, that's true. Gronk had a career high 11 catches. You know, he's so great. This is why the Patriots are the best team.

They can play any style you want against the defense it calls for it. They'll spread you out like the Jets and the Bills. And they'll win with Amandola and Grunk. And then against a team like the Colts, they'll play power football and they'll win with Grunk and blunt. I mean, they can play any style you want. And when they play a team like the Jets, you said it. It's not just having confidence, hey, here's the ball, Tom Brady. we're not going to bother to run the game.

That just still takes a different sort of mindset that that's just, we're going to approach every game totally different. That just most coaches, I don't think we'll ever have the comments. I thought Todd Bowles at the end of this game, too, just his facial expression when he was walking off the field. I think he really thought that they were going to win that game. They were close.

They played well. And he looked so upset. You could see it. I don't buy into the moral victory angle, which I've heard some Jets fans, and I've seen it on Twitter, but they haven't that far behind in terms of as a team, but the difference is,

at the quarterback position. They're good. Jets are good. Patriots are great. I agree. The Jets are good. Moving on. All right.

So we talked about the Jets and Pats. Speaking of good teams. Yes. Well, we'll see about that. High octane humiliation time in Miami, where the dolphins hung a 40 burger on the Texans in the first half. En route to a 44-26 victory. The stat line that stands out above all others here, Collian Wolf.

The dolphins had a 35-0-0. lead before Houston had its first yard. Wow. Wow, wow, wow. There's no way that's ever happened that NFL has been. Never, never happened before. Don't even need to check Elias Sports Bureau. We'll never happen again.

Ryan Tannahill in this game, too, you guys. Dating back to his last game, he had 25 straight completions, which is an NFL record. Who would have thought that Ryan Tannahill would have done that based on the way that he was playing before last week? The stat lines are crazy in this game. He was 18 and 19 for 244, four touchdowns, perfect pass rating of 158.3. And I don't think he threw more than a couple passes in the second half. Joe Philbin is somewhere thinking, what, you couldn't have kept me around to play the Titans and the Texas?

That's what I can't play. You couldn't have drawn up these game plans while I was there. Joe Philbin would have lost to these teams. No, that's unfair. They would have. Everyone's going to quit on him. That means they would have lost. Look at Philman's team last year.

They went through a similar stretch where they could win the game and then they stopped winning. They quit on their coach. Dan Campbell, though, my point was essentially Dan Campbell's not going into the room and drawing up the offensive game plans. He'll be the first to tell you that. I think he's definitely going in and saying, I want more Lamar Miller, and I want more power football.

Last week, they played a lot less out of the shotgun than they had in the last year and a half combined. I think he's absolutely changing. And one thing he did is play your boy, Richard Matthews, every single snap. And he had a great week last week, and he came through with a big play again today. Jarvis Landry's been playing well all year.

I mean, the whole thing with adding Cameron Wake last week was you just added a total zero to someone that's hurting your team on the field to, okay, now we have one of the best pass resters in the league back again. He and Sue combined for four sacks today. Jarvis Landry, too. Jarvis Landry looks so good. Looks like a superstar in the rise if they can never get consistent on that offense. His 50-yard touchdown was a thing of beauty. I think it would be on any top 10 list this year at the end of the season. And Lamar Miller, he had 236 yards and two touchdowns in the first half.

First half. I mean, I've never seen anything like it. Woo! And if you, and if you, you know, Dan Campbell, they were actually passing the ball up 41-0 at the end of the second quarter, too, because Campbell, I guess, this was like, oh, make a statement, this is our time to ride. I heard him say that. Also because he's not Gus Brad.

Well, I thought that was really impressive, not to go back to last week, but that was one of the things I was impressed by Campbell and the team last week is they ran the whole. game to set up throwing deep, being very aggressive late in that game, even though they had a big league last week, which is something that you would see, you know, smart coach do. I don't know, what do you do also now if you're Bill O'Brien? Well, let's talk about the biggest story to me coming out of this game is Arian Foster is going to miss the season with a torn Achilles tendon according to our NFL media insider Ian Rappaport. And on one hand, it's like, well, the Texans were already bad.

They're two and five. They've gotten blown out, you know, twice now in the last month where they weren't even remotely competitive. On the other hand, Aaron Foster looked really good last week. This is a team people thought would be in the mix. There are only one game out in the AFC South. And losing Foster for the season kind of feels like that's finito. You're done. Yeah, he just can't stay healthy.

It's his third major surgery in two years. And we know he's kind of a different cat. So you wonder how many of these, like, crazy injuries he could take before he decided. do I really want to keep fighting when my body is telling me something different. And now, Wes, because I know you'll like this. And it might not be the first time, the last time we do it, but here we go.

And the disrespect that they show our quarterbacks, I'm tired of that, too. Because both those kids can play. They just need a chance. And one of them is going to get it. Enough is enough. Every player that is out there, all 90 players are players that I want for the 2015 season.

When you happen guys show up to practice tomorrow, they better be ready to eff and go. Ryan Malt didn't even make the plane to the freaking game today he had to fly commercial I don't fly commercial If you had to put all the money in your bank account on which player did not make

his team's plane this morning Wouldn't he be your guest? Ryan Malt would be your guest And Brian Malt is a limited player and Ryan Malt's a total goober Last time I remember it was the alarm clock This time he legitimately said he got stuck in traffic Using all my excuses from when I was like 19 years old

Stuck in traffic Is Houston's coaching staff intact before their next game? Oh, yeah. And I think going into next season, I don't think they could do anything that's going to lose their job just about. They had a really good year one, a bad year, too, and a team and owner, I think that's shown that he wants to see how things play out. He did it with Gary Kubiak. He gave him a lot of time. He didn't win without a quarterback.

Right. And, yeah, to my point, I guess I made a couple weeks ago, I think it was about Houston. J.J. Watt was the number one player in the top 100 players. at 2015 this past year and his team was losing 41-0 at halftime today. It's like defensive players you could be great

but you can't dictate the game the way like a quarterback can't. Well, their defense, you know, the quarterback to be seems everyone's just going to blame the quarterback for everything in Houston and Brian Hoyer is not the reason why they're down 40 and nothing

against the Falcons, you know, and the Dolphist. That's an entire team. They have some good players on defense so is it the coaching? I don't know. Romeo Cornell's definitely not doing a good job. Right?

I mean, it's a little bit of everything. I don't think you can put everything on Brian Hoyer. He's played very well the last two games going into this. Not today. Nate Washington had a good game, but, I mean. It was all garbage. Junk time. Junk time, yeah.

Frank Grimes did a really good job on D'Andre Hopkins. All right. Before we get out of this, the Dolphins are a good team. Let's see. They got the – No, they are a good team. Let's talk about Wes here because West is a little over-excited about. They got two cupcakes with a rah-rah coach.

What do you want to wait until they start knocking off everybody and then say they're I give them all the credit in the world for taking care of business against two bum teams. Let's see what they do against the Pats. Well, that's not your measuring stick. If that's the case, then the Jets stick. No, the Jets are good. No, the Jets are good. They lost.

They lost to the patch. You can't use the Pats as a measuring stick for one team. Be competitive. Be competitive. They're a different team, then. I'm not saying you have to beat them. Be competitive. They're three and three.

What they also had was a little bit of luck that they got that biweek so nice and early so they'd get rid of Philbin and change the tires. I mean, they're back to 400. Everything is going perfectly for them now. They needed that luck. All right. you know, Connor or Mark Sessler in London, you know, the plan was for us to have them on Skype, on the video, and we'd be able to talk to them. Technology, 2015, we're not there yet. It's still going to be my favorite part of the show. Yeah, I mean, whether it's video, we got them on the phone. So here we are on the line right now. Mark and Connor, are you there, boys?

Hello. There we go. And this is, we did get one photo. And if you're watching the show on YouTube, you can check out Connor and Mark. Looks like they're standing in front of a river and holding bags of merchandise. Is that correct? Yeah, it's the river tamed, you know, so it's a pretty big deal. And we bought some soccer jerseys. We're all in, baby. We're not coming home. That's right.

As TD pumps his fist behind the glass, you went to a soccer match yesterday, correct? We did. We went to see Fulham, which is, you know, I, basically went in knowing literally nothing. But they have a little tiny 30,000-person stadium called Craven Cottage, is that right? Yeah. And it was absolutely the best time I've had in ages.

You basically stand outside, get a few pints, and then you go in, and it is utter chaos for two plus hours. This is what Mark needed, by the way. You needed the getaway, experience something new, take him out of the rut. The crushing tedium of life won't hit him hard at all when he gets back. Oh, no, no, no, no.

And he's grinding out hamstring injury reports on Thursday. But forget about that. In the now, you're still in London, and this is what we're going to get into. We'll start with the game, of course, the Bills and Jaguars, a big Jaguars victory that we'll get it to you guys were at the stadium at Wembley covering. And we also want to, of course, talk about the tweet-up that you guys had at a pub in London town. So let's save that for the end. Let's talk about the game first. And this is a game, of course, guys, that the Jaguars jumped out to a 27-3 lead,

almost lost all of it. In fact, they did lose the lead late in the game, but then a late touchdown drive. Final score 34-31 Jaguars over the injury depleted bills, depleted bills. What were you guys seeing live from Wembley? Well, I mean, you know, the Jaguars locker room, I mean, you'd expect it to be like a little bit down because they were up 27 to 3, but everyone was elated. There were guys dancing in front of cameras, and there were people going nuts because, you know, the sense that I got from everybody was like, let's just win a game and figure it out. Like, you know, we have all

23, 24, 22-year-old kids. Let's just try to get one and then, you know, and we'll move on. Well, they've only won 11 since they fired Jack Del Rio, and they're only one game out of first place. So as bad as it was, when they lost that lead and they fired. finally needed a drive, they did come up with one. That was the biggest thing, you know, I talked to, like, one of the players who had kind of been there for a little bit longer, and he said that Blake's throw took some serious, the quote was like serious balls or something like that because... We call it onions here at stateside.

Onions, right, right. He'd thrown, like, an awful pick six, like two drives or three drives before that, and it was like another deep route. It was across his body, and he nailed it. It was a great throw. Then again, we might be talking about how the Jaguars completely self-destructed and Bordles was a huge reason why. If not for a very shaky penalty call, Mark, I know you were in the Bill's locker room and they weren't too fired up about that. Well, no, I think that, you know, across the board, you know, Nicol Roby was sitting in his locker.

You know, the difference between the Jags locker room and the Bills was in the Buffalo room, they got out of there about as fast as possible. And they were out in the hallway, taking, you know, personal pizzas to a bus that was getting them out of the country. This went completely against what they were planning. And, you know, that call changed the game. I think they would have, they would have iced it. It had it, you know, it was a third and 15. Roby gets nailed with the PI, 17-yard flag, new life for the Jaguars. And it completely changed all week long, all the bills talked about was the favorable matchup against the bad team, get to form.

and three, get to your by week, get healthy, and, you know, kill some of these narratives that have played Rex Ryan this season. Everything went opposite. Rex didn't even seem angry after the game. He just seemed completely, utterly exhausted. I'm sure he's drained again because he knows that it's his defense that ended up losing this game. And if you're a Jets fan, you've seen this before.

Besides, Rex Ryan's known for his defense, and, you know, there have been some very good defenses in his NFL career. but it's not the first time a Rex Ryan defense has blown a lead on the final drive of the game. Sometimes his defenses can't close, and that's what happened today. Yeah, I mean, I think it's one of those things that, you know, Rex, his defense is going to eventually, you know, he always says it's kind of an unwritten book and, you know, it's constantly evolving, but clearly something's broken here. I mean, you know, when the players are complaining about it, when Jim Kelly, who's done, you know, everything he could to support Rex Ryan is going out at charity events,

been bashing this defense. I mean, you know, I think it's time to maybe, you know, take a spare moment and really just to kind of take a look in the mirror and see what you're doing on defense. Although, E.J., let's be honest, E.J. Manuel lost them the game. The defense, the bills turned the ball over four times. And the bill's defense played more than well enough to win for 90% of this game until that last drive. I mean, the E.J., that six minutes, Mark, you wrote about it, was just one of the six

craziest minutes we've seen all season. It went from three nothing to 28 to three. in six minutes. Yeah, and I think, you know, the fans, the takeaway with the fans at Wembley is they, you know, I think when this series started way back when they would get most excited about an extra point. They're a much savier crowd, and I think they recognized they were watching a quarterback completely collapsed.

I mean, it was, it was, it happened all in eight plays. And it was, for all this bizarre narrative about how E.J. Manuel is seen as the better option than Tyrod Taylor and there's this sneaky thing where they want to have him to be a starter, that needs to absolutely go away. Oh, it will. I think it will. I think that's safe to say. Rex said after the game, he's 100% confident in E.J. Emmanuel as the backup quarterback.

Well, as the backup quarterback, that's because their third quarterback was on a different team a week ago. I mean, what's you going to say? Also, I wish you weren't a liar. I'm 100% sure at Rex Ryan's lying. Yeah, I hated that. We were talking about the game. it like before the game you guys were walking around and everything like that in the pregame and all

that yeah i mean it was it was totally cool i mean there was such like a tailgating atmosphere i mean there were streets just like flooded with people um you know drinking and like uh there was like a waffle place that you could like get waffles before the game like that was really cool and uh like everybody like there were guys like we had a podcast listener calling like across he was like 200 yards above us, and then two seconds later, Mark and I were talking, and he arrived out of breath to just take a picture. It was super amazing. I mean, the fans there were some of the coolest people.

I think that transitions nicely to the second reason for this call, which is Saturday night, your meetup at a local pub in London with some of our loyal and some extremely loyal around the NFL listeners who met up with you guys and, you know, we were getting some dispatches throughout the evening back in L.A. But tell us a little bit about that. It sounds like quite a scene.

Yeah, I mean, we were blown away because Connor and I, you know, after going to the game yesterday, the soccer game, made our way over. Match. This pub was the match, correct. I'm still learning. You know, this was just a block off

where the NFL on Regent, the major party that went on all day long happened. And we didn't know what, to expect. I think we were thinking, you know, listen, I guarantee probably like 10 people show up and they'll be awesome. We'll have a great time. We'll sit at a big table. And we walked into this quaint, rather small pub, and it was absolutely bursting with podcast listeners. And it was, we were stunned. And then I did not see Connor again for five plus hours because the two of us were at either ends of this bar just having great conversations with these. And you said it, they are loyal. And they

were absolutely asking questions about every one of you guys. They knew everything. They want to know about Dan Hansa's hair. They were asking if the boss is an authoritarian figure or if he's a friend behind the scenes. And Wes did everyone know about the island that West came from and what it's like to go out for beers with West? It was unbelievable. And Patrick's body, too.

Patrick's body and a part of his body. People knew about David Ely, the NFL.com editor, were asking questions about his dog and all this other business. I don't even know that Ely has a dog. Sounds like you guys were like the Beatles in 1963. You were flying high, let's admit it, Mark, after you left there. And in a good way. When you left there, describe your own emotions after you left that bar that night.

We were just a band who made it very, very big. Honestly, though, that means that had to be, like, you know, pretty surreal. It was... One of my, my sister's boyfriend came over, too, and just to say hi, because he lived in London, and he saw, like, this line. Humblebrake. People, like, taking pictures with us, and he was just like, what the heck is going on? Like, what is this? You know, it was awesome.

I mean, it was one of the coolest things I'd ever been a part of. Wow. It's wild, because I was thinking, like, if we did that in L.A., would anyone show up in L.A. No. Nobody would care. We got, I think, there would be. We love you, England. Eight to ten people, for sure.

But, yeah, that is the great. thing about this podcast is that we do have listeners literally all around the world. But the UK audience has been so great to us from the very beginning. Like I'm talking when it was just the ATL debate club. There was an immediate connection. So this, you know, hopefully we all eventually get over there and get to experience it and meet people. But this sounds like, you know, a great meeting between human beings, Wes. And this is what is what it's all about. That interaction, West, that's what I'm talking about. I was going to say I'm a little jealous.

I'm very jealous of Mark and Connor that they got to have that experience, and I hope to do it myself someday. Yeah. I would say that, like, one thing, what we were doing mostly was answering questions about the entire group. And the one thing people want to probably,

in America, would say, well, people in London don't know their football. They're probably just complete naive. Absolutely not the truth. Like, you could walk into an American bar and there'd be less football knowledge than what we dealt with last night. These guys are literally obsessed with the game

and we were having great conversations and the questions they were asking were like tough to answer in some cases. I mean, they're plugged in. They were asking a pro football focus rankings and things of that nature. Well, as the night went on, there was less analytical talk.

And that takes us to the final question, I guess I have, which is Connor or, Mark Sess. better friends or best friends? The best friends. We're actually getting an apartment together and we're cutting off all ties with everyone in the U.S. Well, you guys can hang out in your untucked plaid shirts together forever.

Well, there was a little street that we wandered down after the soccer game and there was beautiful little apartments and I texted Simone and I basically said, you just start packing those boxes because we are getting out of the U.S. We're done with America. Bye-bye. This is going to be a crash back in L.A. No, I like it.

I'm worried about this. When I first got the text, I thought, well, maybe we can do like men and Blazers in reverse. We got to get some UK company. Sorry, NFL. Maybe they'll send us over there. We can go over, be a show over there, just like the men and blazers came over here to talk soccer. We go over there to talk football. Jimmy Hendricks broke in England in the UK before he broke in America.

Maybe we could be the Hendricks of Sports. podcast. I like where this is going. I think there's something, too. The Hendricks model ends poorly, so we... Yeah, this is like David Hasselhoff being huge in Germany or whatever. All right. Connor, Mark, I know you have flights. Connor, back to your haunted mansion. Mark, back to your invisible prison here in Southern California. So travel safely. What's that? He said not true. Okay. Travel safely, and that sounds like a great

trip and a good adventure, and we can't wait to see you guys. Cheers. See you guys. All right. So there you go. Colleen, obviously not part of that. No, not. I wasn't.

You do have ties yourself to England. Yeah, I studied abroad there. So I lived there for like four months, which was awesome. But the exchange rate was crazy at that time. So, I mean, the pound was like, it was so expensive to do anything. So I didn't really get to do a whole lot. So you're not a fan of London or... Oh, I loved it.

It was great. But I did go surfing in the Irish Sea. That happened. Yeah. I went co-steering and hiking. I went up to Wales. That is humble-bred. What's co-steering?

Co-steering is like cliff jumping and also it's like there's all these crazy rock formations. So you climb up and then we were jumping off ruins and stuff. It's the craziest. That's pretty badass. And you went surfing on Saturday here in southern California. I did. And actually, and I'm just. realizing it at this moment, the last time I had surfed before yesterday was in the IRC.

Well, all right, we got it. You're exotic and do exciting things and you're active. Great job, Colleen. It doesn't like people that go to other... Not only doesn't like to go to other countries himself, he doesn't like hearing stories about it. This narrative is getting tiresome. I love the world. There was just a massive tweet up for our podcast. I know Mark, you know, he texts Simone, hey, we're moving over to lunch.

You know, I would love London, too. But, you know, that picture looked pretty gloomy. I'll take L.A. I was on the beach as well, 85 degrees yesterday in week seven. Good, stars and stripes. Mark and Connor looked great, by the way, in that photo where they should have been holding hands almost. It was perfect. This really is the show. If you have not watched the podcast on Sunday night yet on YouTube, this is the show.

Because between Colleen being heel, which helps on a number of levels for us. And then on top of it, you get to see the photo as well. It's going to be good. Please watch us. You can see that little creek that they call the River Thames, too. Oh, how dare you? I'm not impressed with that river. Shots fired.

All right, let's get back to the games. Let's move it to the NFC, where Teddy Bridgewater threw for 316 yards and two scores and the Vikings sacked Matthew Stafford seven times in a 28-19 win over the Lions. Colleen, the Lions had an 11-point lead in this game. What the hell went wrong? The offensive line.

That went wrong. That's important. I mean, they had a season high, Minneapolis did, or Minnesota, had seven sacks in this game. And Detroit, they hadn't allowed that many all season long. So the offensive line completely imploded. Stafford actually needed x-rays after the game. Took another beating. He said it was fine.

But on the other side of things, we saw guys like Stefan Diggs again have another great game. It's for real. Teddy Bridgewater, I mean, if he could play the lions all the time, That'd be great for him. He had an awesome game for him. Also, AP, well, he didn't end up being six, so that's good. He played. The best part is, so, yes, the story, and we kind of hinted at it earlier in the podcast

was that on the flight into Detroit, it was a bumpy flight, and Adrian Peterson, and kids, you should not do this because it's gross and also dangerous for you. He takes dip, the chew, and he swallowed it. According to the report. According to the telecast, he swallowed it when they hit a bomb. bumper when they were landing. His story is that it was some shellfish that he ate that led to a reaction. He doesn't know where the tobacco story came from.

But here's what I, if I were him, that's exactly what I would say, too. Like, what tobacco story? No, no, no, no, chew. It was just seafood. He said, I'm immune to swallowing dip. I've been doing it for 10 years. I feel like it might have happened. You could build up an immunity to them?

Well, this did come up in the newsroom, and there was a former baseball player that was like, well, some people do. swallow the dip. I was like, on purpose? Really? That's how to do damage. Baseball for years. I never met anybody who swallowed on purpose? I don't know if I share this story on the podcast before, but I'll do it real quick. I used to go to

all my dad's softball games on Sunday mornings as a boy. And one time there was this guy, like a guy trying to be a cool guy. He had a big wad in his mouth. And he was pitching and he accidentally swallowed swallowed it. And then within seconds, just started yacking all over the pitchers bound. And

all like the kids watching were like screaming and like everybody's like oh my god oh i tried it one time and i almost passed out from it some people love it i had a coach who encouraged me to do it he was a bad man apparently but this was junior in high school and i took some red man and i was out there playing shortstop seeing pink elephants i mean it gets you hot why was he encouraging you to do it be a man have some chew very strange this was this was the 80s how do i get this back to the game yeah let's try to start Fans were wanting to throw up after watching another home lost.

I don't get it. That's how bad it was. Yeah, that's how bad it was. Doesn't it feel like they've lost at home every week, too? It also feels like the Lions, Vikings, and Bears have only played each other this season. Like, that's how the Vikings are four and two. I don't know why. It seems like this NFC North is in this strange Bermuda triangle.

This is the second time these two teams have played. So it's not just a feeling that the Vikings have been in the division a lot. They at least have an identity. I think they kind of know what they are. It might not be that exciting. but their defense is it. We haven't gotten a lot of good Bridgewater games start to finish this year.

I mean, if he starts playing in a more consistent level and Diggs being a guy that could end up being a player now, a fifth-round pick could be a steal, you put in some AP, this team is a playoff team. I feel like they're one of the wildcard teams. They look that way to me so far. Well, they traded Hodges, a linebacker two games ago, and look what Eric Kendrick has done since then.

Led the team in tackles in week six. He leaves him in sacks with two. in this game. And then look at the last two draft classes. 2014 brings you your quarterback. And Anthony Barr, one of the best young linebackers in the NFL. You get Eric Kendricks and Stefan Diggs here. We haven't seen much of Trey Wains yet,

but that could be great back-to-back draft classes. Ben Val-Joseph is playing pretty well with them. It was a draft pick, I mean, a free agent pickup a couple years ago that didn't get a lot of love, but he is getting a lot of money. And they're surviving games where they're not getting great Adrian Peterson games. You know, last week they won a game where he struggled. this week he struggled for most of the game but then broke off a 75-yard run

and that was basically it for him for the day. Is it safe to say that he's not quite the same guy anymore? I think it's the offensive line. He didn't have a chance last week. I didn't see this game yet but last week he didn't have a chance. I think he looked pretty good actually. Yeah. Pretty good though. I mean, that's not a... No, I think it's the line. I think it's a lot of times

before when I've seen his games this year he didn't look like he could really reach that next level when he was running. It almost looked like his legs were a little heavy. and on that one long run that he had, he, I thought, reached that speed. He's always had a little hitch in his giddy. Yeah. Even at his peak when he ran for 2,000 yards.

So he's almost hard to judge in that spot. But, yeah, maybe some improved line play. Let's move on. The Saints opened up their road matchup against the Colts with 20 unanswered points then held on, come back by the Colts. But ultimately, the Saints, a 27 to 21 win in India. Another terrible loss for the Colts.

Wes, Andrew Luck, threw for 333 yards, three scores. But his stat line was deceiving, wasn't it? Yeah, pay no attention to the box score. He played terribly. He started out 0 for 5, didn't complete a pass until 9 minutes left in the second quarter. Wow. The slowest start he's had in a game in his career, and he's regressed. We said last week he's not the same player he was last year.

We saw that in week one, and we're still seeing it now. To me, I don't care what the rest of the process. problem is with the Colts, Andrew Luck is the biggest problem when your franchise quarterback has regressed to the extent that he has, where it's his arm, his pocket presence, which Greg once termed the eighth wonder of the world, and now it's a disadvantage every week. Wow. It's crazy to hear Chris say that, too, because, you know, everyone loves Andrew Luck. But to even suggest that Luck had some weaknesses in the past would be worth, you know, five

minutes scolding from Wes. I mean, he's about as big a fan of Andrew Luck. But, you know, West, of course, to his credit, is going to tell you what he sees. And what you see out of Andrew Luck this year is a guy, if it was a different quarterback, would just be getting killed because of the pocket presence, because of the decision-making, because of the way they're losing games with him, and then they weren't losing games with Matt Hasselbeck, the whole thing is bizarre. And the Colts keep getting shut out. I mean, of the first half of these games, this was the third time this year.

Out of seven games, they've been shut out three times. Also, you have T.Y. Hilton, who is this a violation? because I brought it up on the show earlier today. T.Y. Hilton, they're down 20 points, and he scores a touchdown, and he's celebrating. He's still doing his dance. I mean, when you're down 20-some points, shouldn't you maybe pump the brakes a little bit on that or no?

Perhaps. But there are personal glories to achieve, you know? You're right, Dan. Some guys are into the personal glory angle. We should all take a page from your book. Yeah, that's true. It's about the team. Beyond luck, this team, I think they were down 21 to nothing.

The defense was just going through the motion. allowing Mark Ingram to write and write through them. It's a team-wide problem, and I think they got those garbage-time touchdowns. Delvin Bro fell down on both of the long touchdowns to T.Y. Hilton. If not for those two plays, I think you might hear some talk about Chuck Pagano. Well, I was just about to say. Dean Haport said he's lasting to the end of the season. He said that before, and he was first in line to say Pagano is on the hot seat this year.

Those things can change. And that he's going to last through the season. Everything's fluid in the NFL. I was going to say, if you're Jim Merse, aren't you maybe sitting down with Ryan Grigson and saying, hey, do we have a Dan Campbell on this coaching staff? Like, is there someone on the staff that everyone likes, and maybe they could rally around them and save the season?

Because let's face it, even, yeah, they might win this division, but this is not a Super Bowl contender right now. Maybe that's what they need to do. They've got to do something rash or something desperate. I think that's crazy. I mean, I'm not even that huge a Pagano fan, but just the success that he's had there and the fact that they're in first place.

And the fact that the players do seem to love him, that you let them play out the season. If the players love him so much, how come they keep doing undisciplined things like turnovers, just hordes of ill-timed penalties, and then today, like going through the motions. I don't think going to Rob Chudzinski is going to change that, though. I mean, I think you let them play out the season,

especially when you're in first place and see that they've had success. If they have more halves like they did the first half today, I don't care what our guys are reported. NFL situations are fluid. A little sandwich talk real quick. Wes, Greg, you have a lock right now with your Andrew Luck won't receive an MVP vote. Oh, yeah, I like that. Enjoy your sandwich.

Wes, your Brandon Cook's wager is in trouble. However, your boy, I don't know if Mark Ingram was involved with any wagers or props this year, but he is your boy. He had a big game today. He did. Thanks to the Colts defense. He ran really well. Well, let's talk about the Saints for a minute quickly.

Do we think they're back here in the mix at three and four? Their defense is playing a lot better. I tend to think this was on luck today and the fact that the culture are train wreck, but the Saints defense played well. Bro's been good, like we mentioned, for the past month. Stefan Anthony came to play. Cameron Jordan has five sacks in his last two games. He's played well this year.

Yeah. This is a little bit of a scary fork week. We'll get into it more on Tuesday, but a little bit nervous. That's all I'm going to say. A couple teams got me a little nervous now. What about Ki-Haha? he was good too he's been good

he has been good I mean in the thing that I took with the Falcons game was they looked like the Saints offense and I know maybe it wasn't perfect here today but looked like the Saints offense 450 yards

Greg getting excited about the Saints they're in the mix NFC is gonna be tricky to get to get that second wildcarts but that's the thing there's still three games behind second place in the NFC staff they're a long way from matter

I don't consider the Saints all that frisky for the Wildcard picture they're certainly harder to beat now than they were a month ago but I don't think they're a playoff team. Let's move back to the AFC. The Chief's five-game losing streak is Dunzo. It's over.

Alex Smith threw for 251 yards and a score. Charkandric West added 110 yards in his first TD, a 23 to 13 win over the injury-plaged Steelers. West, the Steelers were in trouble when they fell behind and needed Landry Jones to start making plays. Accurate? More of the same from their play calling and coaching. They shackle their control.

quarterback won't let him attempt any passes go run heavy and then when they need him they expect him to play well but i don't think that's a winning recipe and it's it's one of the reasons why the cowboys went from brandon weed in the castle because you can't run an offense when you don't trust your quarterback to throw the ball and steelers didn't trust lander jones to throw the ball until they were coming from behind at that point he had three turnovers i feel like the football guys were just saying both of these teams were due the chiefs were very much overdue for a win they've been in all these games. Their defense has really impressed me the last few weeks, playing very well. And while the Steelers got away with a couple here, you go on the road to Kansas City. I mean, it wasn't, to me,

the records weren't that important when Landry Jones was starting. They weren't favored. That was a tough spot for Landry Jones going to Casey. As bad as Casey's record's been, they've, you know, they still got some fight in them, or at least they have some guys that can make plays in their building. So I don't see this was a huge upset that the Steelers went down in the spot. And what, they're four and three now? Yeah, they're four and three. So that, So they're okay. They're fine. Four and three, Tomlin said after the game, I believe,

that he expects Big Ben to come back to face the Bengals next week. Each time you lose these games, though, you know, that makes it like next week, for instance, we're talking Bengals Steelers. You have to win that game or the division's over at mid-season. You're four losses behind if you don't win that game. So that's what these losses do, that they would just be fighting for a wild card unless they can sweep the Bengals. To the AFC West, Derek Carr threw three touchdown passes,

and the Oakland Raiders, speaking of four teams, cruised to a 37 to 29 win over the Chargers in a game that wasn't nearly as close as the final score indicated. It was not. It was 30 to 6 at halftime. It was 37 to 6. It was a blowout.

That's what Rose was all saying. It was 37 to 6 going into the fourth quarter. You know, the Raiders are here, and they're not going anywhere, and I don't think they're going to the playoffs, so I don't think they're going to get us on the fork, but they're a legitimate team. and this AFC West is not great this year,

and it was begging for one of these two teams, I think, to step up and say, okay, we're going to be the second place team of this division. We're going to be in the mix. I think the Raiders are that team. They are to be one of the more consistent teams in the league. Wait, the Raiders. Last time we were this high on them was a few weeks ago,

and then they went and lost to the Bears. But I don't think they were that bad. I don't think they're a great team. I think they outplayed the Bears for most of that game. I think Derek Carr is pretty much the same guy each and every week. Amari Cooper is making Derek Carr's numbers look insane. Derek Carr was very late on a long throw down the field, and Amari Cooper just jumps up and turns it into a 42-year-old gain.

He takes a five-yard little throw, and then he makes seven people miss and runs it in for 55 yards. I just think it's a good team. Not a great team, but a good team. The Raiders are bad for years and years and years and years. They finally have now hit on back-to-back first-round picks. First, Khalil Mack. Now, Mari Cooper.

And you're seeing the difference on the field. You are. And also, luckily, M.C. Hammer was live tweeting this entire game. Hammer was. Yeah. It was Hammer time all the time on this. I mean, he had seen... The social media center on NFL Sunday Blitz was really enjoying that, I bet. Yes. No, yeah, exactly. Apparently, bankruptcy doesn't preclude you from getting a Twitter account. It's free. It's free, which is great for everybody. But the Chargers, when you look at their situation, they were down by 20 points at home to the race. that is no good. No, Philip Rivers started this game very poorly.

He would admit it. He did not play well at all in the first half. By then, the game was basically over. He had some ugly misses, an ugly interception, and their defense has been pretty bad overall all season. I have never seen Mike McCoy have any human emotion, but I've definitely never seen him be as angry as he was at the podium with some of the questions after the game.

And it just felt like he's gripping that podium a little tighter and he's starting to feel the walls coming in. This is an ugly 2-and-5 start for a team that has a really easy schedule the next month. So they, in theory, could bounce back a little bit, but this is a bad spot. But, I mean, you say they have an easy schedule, but we kind of know who they are. They can get beat by any bad team. On their best day, they can beat a good team. But I don't see them being a team that can go on a run.

And Colleen, you know, I was sitting in on a full show. I don't hand these invites out easily. Right. I know that. Not like candy on Halloween. I'm aware. Yeah, no, it was tough getting in here today. Joke. But you are invited into our conference room where we have, we have coffee and and Danish.

Sons, Danish, some bagels, a little lox. Greg, we got everything you could need. Gavell some fish. Is that going on? What a great Jewish outreach there. Oh, locks. Thanks, buddy. Oatmeal.

Everything you could ever want for breakfast. Forking. Well, we're going to, the fork committee will commence conversations. early this week, and you are welcome. That's wonderful. I'll give you a key card. We'll talk about the Chargers, the team of ATL from a year ago. Let's not talk about them being the team of ATL.

And we could also fork, well, actually, that's not fair. I just have to say it had to have been a great moment for Raiders fans there at the game today because they were loud and proud, and they were giving standing ovations to much of the game. Philip Rivers had to use a silent count again. It really had trouble getting plays off because it was just. It was a party in the second half. And I had to think, like, for those Raiders fans that have been loyal all this time and they're going to games for the Chargers, I mean, it had to have been a lot of fun

to just see them, you know, creaming. It had to be a lot of fun to watch that insane cut that Amari Cooper put on Jimmy. Oh, that was insane, yeah. And, you know, I got to give credit to any San Diego fans that went to that game after the news over the weekend about the teams moving forward with their quest to be playing in Los Angeles. It's just the situation is getting grim. for the charges this year. There's no way around it.

They're two and five. There's a lot of unrest in their own stadium situation. It's just, it's not a team I see making a spirited run to January. No, Antonio Gates didn't help the situation either for Phil Rivers today. Did not help at all. All right, moving on. Let's, uh, another, is it inter, is it inter conference or intra conference? I always get this one.

Who are the teams? Why not just say out of conference? I like to go with inter-intra, Atlanta, Tennessee. You don't know the difference between the two. If I know it correctly, I, I always get this. I prefer it. Inter-conference battle between the Falcons and the Titans. Matt Ryan threw for 251 yards at a touchdown.

And Devanta Freeman ran for another 100 yards, 116 this time. The Falcons edged the Titans 10-7. I don't like that score at all for the Falcons. But they won, Greg. Mediocre performance for Matt Ryan, and there's been quite a few now this season. He even got in that little intro you did. As it's throwing for 251 yards is some great achievement.

There's not a lot to talk about this game. set up. Yeah, go ahead. Six and one, the Falcons. I would say what they did was, well, it's hard to put a bow on their defense is greater than the sum of its parts, that both quarterbacks were lousy, and after Matt Ryan tried to lose the games to the Titans, Zach Mettenberger did a better job losing it with a late interception to Atlanta. The one difference is Atlanta has a running game. They have Devante Freeman. You know you're going to get that each week, and that was, to me, the biggest difference in the game. All you, fans of teams, want your

team to trade for Zach Mettenberger. Good luck. This is a shout at Greg, by the way. Read right through it. Greg didn't write a letter to his team saying trade for Zach Mettenberger. Oh, wow. Who did that?

Oh, come on. I was aware that I did. No, he has 11 drives today. They scored on one, which is about what he was last year when he had one of the worst drugs. He had one of the worst successful drive percentages in NFL history,

and everyone decided he was a good quarterback. I think he has potential. I'm not going to be. back off what I saw from last season. This was a bad performance out of him. He had Charlie Whitehurst disease, a lot of six-yard throws on third and 12, just a lot of pointless drives. The Titans are a tough watch right now.

What happened, by the way? We were so excited about the Titans, and I know Marioita being hurt doesn't help anything, but here they are, one in five, you know, not being a team that's fun to watch, a team of ATL nominee not too long ago. They just had a four-game homestand, which never, ever happens in the NFL. straight home games and they lost all four. And I was thinking it was like the first time in team history

they've ever lost a four game home. Wow. Well no kidding! I mean how many four-game homestands could you ever even have? That might be the first one ever and you lost all four. I mean that's hard to do. They have Antonio Andrews out there too. They have Antonio Andrews they decide as their primary back. He was the guy today. They judge skill

position talent worse than any team in the league and they have for the last few years. Two teams in the NFL have six wins despite their quarterback. I wouldn't say that about Matt Ryan. I mean, he made a lot of mistakes today. He's not having a good year. I can tell you that because our fantasy team, Milana Vintraub, I pounded the table on draft day. So let's make sure we get Ryan off the board here.

And I'm getting rewarded with like one touchdown a week. Yeah, well, I think he's played solid overall until the last couple weeks. Yeah, it's really just been the last two. He has not played well the last two weeks. He threw an interception. They decided to go for it on fourth and goal. on the goal line with just four minutes left and up three, which was a really gutsy decision,

and he threw an interception on the plate. Mettenberger gets them back in field goal range, looked like this thing was going to overtime, and then Mettenberger gives it right back. It saved us from a meaningless overtime. What if they go 3 and 13? Are they the Tatunes again? Have they cleared Titans because Marriott is there?

But if they still are tough to watch and don't really matter in a sense of the NFL, are they still the titans? I don't think you can go back on it. If Marriota turns into like the first six games Andrew Luck this year, then yeah, they might go to titoons. It's sad we're even having this conversation.

It's going to depend on how the quarterback plays like every other team in a league. Hey, more inter-conference football. Yeah, oh yeah. Get excited, Greg. I've seen myself and gave myself this one, maybe. Todd Gurley rushed for 128 yards, two scores, the first two touchdowns of his career,

leading the St. Louis Rams 24-6 win over the fading Cleveland Browns. Greg, Todd Gurley, just a rookie. But he's had a transformational effect on your boys, the 3-and-3 Rams. It's amazing how consistent is every week that he looks like the best player on the field, three straight weeks. It's 128 yards rushing. They said even going into the game, they wanted to get him involved as a receiver more, and so they did.

He led the team with four receptions, had 35 yards receiving. There was very little separating these two teams. other than the Browns turned it over four times on fumbles. Two of them were McCown, two of them from the receivers, and the Rams had Todd Gurley. That was really it. I mean, the Rams won with as little passing for most of the game as you can win with.

I just realized you were being 100% serious when you said you gave yourself a treat by letting yourself watch it. I thought you were joking. No, I was joking. I was in the end, but I was trying to give myself a treat. I thought it would be fun, but no. You thought this game would be fun at the Edward James Almost dumb.

Gurley finished with 163 yards from scrimmage. That was the same as Nick Foles, 163 years passing. That's pretty much Jeff Fisher's dream. I thought Levion Bell was headed toward that gronk, J.J. Watt, territory, where he's the gold standard by quite a bit at the position. I think Gurley's right there with Levi-on-Bel. I saw you getting a little Twitter spat about this. I don't know.

I got to see him be as big a factor in the receiving game, because that's not just something like, oh, yeah, Levian-Bel. But he's a better runner than Bell. That's why I think it's close, because Bell's a better receiver. And I know people who don't watch football will say, hey, you can't say that after three games. No, it's pretty easy to see. I mean, he looks so powerful when he runs that you really can't. You have to take that seriously because he just looks so good right now.

And he can, well, the thing you love is he can, you broke a tackle and then runs 48 yards. But then he also can make people miss in a small space without breaking the tackle. And he went around end for, I think it was a 16-yard touchdown at one point. So, I mean, he can do. He's average six yards per carry on the season. He can do pretty much anything as a running back. He makes them legit. They're one of those

They don't be hesitant Say it He's great He's just not as I love Levy on Bell I think he is so good as a receiver He can't put Gurley Right there again

Girlie's so good I mean Gurley's a good receiver too And he's so great as a runner Girlie fever Gurley man We might see Johnny Manzell To start next week Yeah Josh McCam got hurt

Shoulder injury Late yeah late in the game He got the shoulder injury Manzell comes in We'll see I mean now they might have no You don't think they go to Austin Davis No

Why not? I mean, why? They, didn't they... Nothing, he's just giving up on Johnny Mansell entirely. Mansell's the backup quarterback, and he played today. So that tells me he's the backup quarterback. It was great. Mark is lucky he was in London for this game, because this did not look like two uneven teams.

I think the Browns out gained him and found a way to lose 24 to 6. They just kept losing fumbles, and whenever they'd have a big play, a penalty took it back. I mean, a Joe Thomas holding penalty took away a huge play. So you have, speaking of sandwich wagers, Propositions, Greg, you have the Rams finishing at second place. It's time for them

to start stacking some dubs, by the way. This was one of those games. We kind of said, oh, this is where we learned about the Rams. Did they win a game they're supposed to? Well, they did. They won this game. Now you've got to win. You got the Niners next week. At home, take care of business there. Get over 500. At Vikings is a tough, but not impossible game. And then he got

home to Barris. And then at Ravens. So you should be a good position. By the time you face at Bengals, home to Cardinals, back-to-back weeks and late November, early December. Come on, Greg. I take care of business here. They're in second place.

The season ended today. I wanted to bet. We don't bet. Sandwich. Moving on, the Tampa Bay Buccaneers back in action against the Redskins. And the Redskins fell behind 24-0 in this game. But here comes Wes's boy, Kirk Cousins,

throwing three second-half touchdown passes, including the go-ahead score with 24 seconds to play. In the end, it was the Redskins, a 31 to 30 win, a thriller over the bucks. Colleen, you like that. You like that. Kirk Cousins, how about him?

Three touchdowns in this one. In the second half alone, this was his second time coming back on that final drive. Down 24-0. You guys saw the video how fired up he was after the game, but he looked great in the game too. I didn't see the video. What are we talking about? Oh, he, what was it, some type of gift or something? I don't know, something went out, but what did he say?

You like that. Well, basically, we had, I partly take responsibility. I was setting Greg up there, but then he left you hang out to drive for a couple seconds there. I floundered. I take responsibility in part. Redskins fans should thank me for the greatest comeback in Washington Redskins history. This team has been around for what, 80 years, West even longer. Since the 30s, at least.

In an insane amount of time. And this was the greatest one ever. And it started when I sent an email to our producer to get a little clip ready of West. really talking up that he wouldn't fork the Redskins because I was ready to stick it to West and fork him and then somewhere, Kirk Cousins heard it and he started going crazy

and he engineers the comeback and then he has a message for me. You like that! You like that! Right, run that back. You like that! You like that! That's like if you play like if I play that for my wife and she'd be like, sports are so stupid.

That's Kirk Cousins. I just have this like blurred image of... God, a maniac. From the actual video. It's him going to the locker room. You like that.

You like that! He randomly sees a reporter. At first, everyone thought it's like he's yelling at his critics and really sticking it to them. But he really wasn't. He was just seeing a guy, he just seeing a reporter he knows

and he's just kind of like, he just said, I get so amped up and so crazy after the game. He's like, I've done that before. It was just sort of... T.D., if you got like a... This is a job you could farm off to someone. But if you got like a,

Limp Biscuit instrumental track and then just laid that on top. It would sound like one of Limp Biscuits hits from the early 2000s. You like that! You like that! This game. It sounds like Will Farrell when he's like,

we can't lose our composure. And that's the funny thing. He was dead serious, like, all fired up. But good for Kirk Cousins. But, you know, Wes, who's in a bizarre pounding the table moment on the last podcast, saying that everyone in the NFC used to be forked except for the Redskins.

Well, that's not go crazy that they beat the bucks today. That was making a point. Did you guys think that the rest of the NFC East are some great teams? No, that helps your narrative. That's never been what I give us to say. No, why would you single out the Redskins as the worst? They aren't the worst.

You can make a choice of who you don't think is going to make it. I don't think Kirk Cousins is a playoff type of quarterback. I don't think they have enough going on. You've been crapping on Kirk Cousins all year. You don't like that. 300 yards, three touchdowns, zero interceptions that hasn't been done by Redskins quarterback in the 21st century. Well, I just said he had the greatest comeback ever. That's even better.

There you go. I was back, you know, when the Redskins were having different, you know, racist controversy. He's going to the buy week. He got Jordan Reed back today. He gets Deshaunette Jackson back. He gets some offensive linemen back. He's getting no help from the running game. It's hard to keep track of all the Chris Wesleyan rules because you were just telling us a few weeks ago when we were talking about some good performance against the Bucks that nothing that happens against the Bucs defense counts as anything.

Okay, that's fair. Oh, yeah. This is one of my favorite ones because very rarely does West get suck. into a clearly bad team and quarterback so I'm just along for the ride waiting for this to crash and Wes having to eat some good old humble pie. It's coming. They're a bad team but I want you guys to single out the other

three bad teams in the NFC East. Here we got some scientist's heat coming up right now. We've got a split screen up on YouTube. This is the show to check out on YouTube. I'll say it again. NFL playlist. Check out. Look at Greg and Wes. Bring that back in you could. Cowboys have one in a month. Let these guys get angry at each other now. Colleen let's just sit it out.

We already did get angry. What else is there to say. Name calling. Get petty. I don't like that shirt, Wes. Whoa. I'm not sure if I like it. You like that. You like that. You like it. I was just saying that.

Oh, man. Anyway, so, yes. But a big win for the Redskins, and yes, a very mediocre NFCE. So if you're three and four, like the Redskins are now, you're right in the middle of things. Yeah, and then you get a buy, and then you get to go to New England. Saved from the fork. New Orleans and at Carolina. Come out of those three games.

Yeah, that's true. If you, if the Redskins come out of those three games, anything better than four and six, I will buy, I will get you a sandwich. Hold on. Let me. Who loses the division? Who loses the division? What do you mean? Who's the worst in the division?

I don't even know the Redskins. I think it is the Redskins. I think Greg feels the same way, but I don't think there's a big difference. They have Patriots, Saints, Panthers, and you said if they come out. If they come out any better, if they go two and one. in those three games because if they don't go two and one they're going to be four and six you know after 10 games there's really you know and they play the giants and cowboys which are easy wins no i just realized by the way west i did realize you're in a tough spot right now

what patriots are your favorite team they're not my favorite team i respect them because they win every year you respect them they're great they run a great operation the two teams that have your most hardcore narratives right now the dolphins and redskins the next two weeks the The Pats get them. You've got narratives on the line and your number one team. You know what narratives? The Dolphins are a good team. The Redskins are a bad team in the balance.

The Pats are Revenge Tour. They're going to take out all of Wesleyan's stable of boys. I hate that I'm stuck defending the Redskins because they're a bad team. They're just in a bad division. Your stables got to be burnt to the ground after Tom Brady's through with it. It's the same reason I wanted to keep the Jaguars a lot because I knew the Colts were a bad, bad football team. Okay. All right.

Let's stick in the NFCE since it's such a fun division to talk about the Meadowlands. East Rutherford, New Jersey, right off Route 3, Colleen. I know you know the area well. I know it. Dwayne Harris scored on a 100-yard kickoff return minutes after the Cowboys. His former team, by the way, had tied the game in the fourth quarter. It was the key play in a 2720 win for the Giants over the Cowboys. West, the Cowboys are now 0 and 4 without Tony Romo.

They've gone from 2 and 0 to 2 and 4. Is this all these struggles? Is this all about the QB play? Yes, absolutely. And this sandwich you were going to give me for the Redskins, just give it to me for our McFadden Castle proposition, which McFadden, you know, put one on him today. Oh, yeah.

The heat between the signs is great. Yeah, I want to, I should, forget the science. Oh, you're a little fluster. You got to be flustered because I want to check out something. At a certain point, Wes, you have to be responsible as an NFL.com. Oh! Sorry. The headline to this game on NFL.com,

the second thing in the stack, right now, or I believe they've changed it, which is good. They made a good editorial decision. McFadden's breakout game ruined by lost to Giants. That was the big takeaway. Was Darren McFadden having a big game? Not the fact that the castle had three interceptors. You could have gotten there. Or the Giants won the game.

Or Dwayne Harris, a guy who was on the Cowboys, you know, beat of the Giants are now in first place. Oh, it was Darren McFadden's big day. He was the story of the game. They lost the game. They out they won, dominated time, possession, had twice as many first downs, and almost twice as many yards.

The editor-in-chief and Greg coming out right now. I'm not going to put a punt-returner as, like, the story of the game. Sorry. It is crazy, though. No contract got picked on more than Dwayne Harris, because he got a lot of money from the Giants being like, why would the Giants pay that much money to the Cowboys punt-returner? And wasn't it, I'm sure they would say it's all worth it just for this one play.

Well, Jerry was, Jerry Jones was a little, he admitted after the game. It was hard to see Dwayne Harris being the one to give him the loss. especially when the next play well not the next play but shortly after Duane they tie the game Cowboys come back and tie the game Castle had a great pass and on the very next play

Duane Harris 100 yard kickoff return and shortly thereafter Cool Beasley the Cowboys punt returner mops the fumble and the game and that would have been Duane Harris returning the punt if he still played for the Cowboys How about Orleans Darkwa today? Orleans Darkwa

One touchdown for him that was nice I wasn't why I didn't know who he was To Lane grad. I started to get texts from my buddies in New York that are Giants fans. They're like, Darkwa, Darkwa! I'm like, what the hell is this all about? Apparently, he's someone in the NFL.

Did you know it had to do with football? No, I just thought maybe they were just nonsense or something going on. It's a great game, for sure. Rashad Jennings hasn't really made plays all year except that one special team's play he made. He's been really slow as a running back, so it doesn't surprise me that they went to Orleans Darkwa and Shane Vareen over Jannings in most of this game. Well, and Andre Williams, who they're kind of not really buying into. Well, he doesn't really...

I will throw... I don't like this Giants team, but I will throw them a bone here. They are four and three. They're in first place, and they're doing it without Odell Beckham, Jr., being even close to his Michael Jordan form, West Bar some of your past analysis. He is not the same guy right now. And that is... You have to be very wary of...

I mean, I think he was 5 for 33 today, something very pedestrian. So it's a big difference with that team when they don't have a guy that's just tearing apart defenses on a weekly basis. He would have broken the Internet again today because in the exact same spot on the field with the exact same guy in coverage right here, almost pulled in another spectacular catch. And Brandon Carr got away with pass interference

the whole 30 yards down the field. He was grabbing his arm the whole way there. There's the difference between this year and last right there, though. Although I feel like I've heard that five different times this year that that Oda Beckham almost made the catch that broke the internet. There was one on the sidelines. Right. That's all we're going to hear about.

It just happened. Which is luck. Last year's catch was luck too. Wow. It took a lot of skills. Can you do that 10 times out of 10? No, it's luck. But he was, when we talked about him all through the off season, the guy that had, you know,

Jerry Rice sealing type talent. He's still that guy. He's just been a guy this year. We've talked about this. Drawing more attention than any wide receiver in the league, and it's one of the reasons why Eli Manning isn't getting sacked behind a horrible offensive line. To your point, though, about a lousy division.

I'm not getting too excited about any team who gives up 460 yards to a castle-led Cowboys team doubled in first down. Doubled in first downs, and for the most of the day, the Cowboys look better, and the Giants have gotten a few close wins, they've had a few close losses. You're right that they're all bad.

I agree with all bad. And I don't forget the Monday night performance, the Giants either. I mean, the point is, West, none of these teams are good. Thank you guys for admitting. And that is not something it's needed to be admitted. We've always, we've all been on the same page of that. Just the Redskins are a little bit worse.

We should be forking somebody in that division. Somebody has to be forked. You know, as a new member of the fork committee, it's a big spot for you. Where do you come down on the whole Redskins, NFC East? Redskins gate, I think we call it. A lot of pressure here, but. Speak your mind. Yeah, no, I mean, they look.

They definitely looked better today, and I think their defense, that front, they've been playing well. It's tough when you don't really have a running game to get going when you're playing from behind a lot. So it's sort of hard to get a temperature on them right now, but you could say that about a lot of things. Stop dancing around, Wolf. I know, trying to stop this. Give us the bottom line. Did Kirk Cousins fire you up after? I wouldn't fork them after this week.

Ooh. Well, I wouldn't either. I mean, you know. All right. They got the win. Let's see what happens next week. week now. But only because the division is so bad. You guys are the

chowderheads that were saying, got to be bold, got to be bold. Oh no, I wanted to fork them last week, but it's like now I'm like. I like being bold for teams I don't like. Well, so that's what we're doing. I'm still regretting being bullied into forking the Jaguars. Bullied. Bullied. Bowled by Dan into forking

the Jaguars. What happened? Why were you bullied? No, they... They got by some stiff. Dan may be promised that if they lose to someone, I would forked him. I didn't... Dan. I knew that the Colts are an awful football. football team. I did not put a gun to your head. They got beat by a crappy team. You guilty to be into it.

They've been getting beat by crappy teams all year. By the way, they almost blew this game. If you queue up the producer enough times to say, it's about me, it's going to make me feel guilty, and then I go along with your bullying. I did not ask. It's about me. I was waiting for it. All right. That's it. Colleen, are you leaving us now? We're going

to get to the Sunday night game next. So we're going to say goodbye to you. Okay, yeah, I'm leaving. You don't have to say goodbye. I'm leaving. You want to go surfing. Unless you want to just. Hang out, you know, for another hour. Yeah, I'm going to go home and watch the rest of this game.

Well, you did a very nice job. Thank you. There's no need for a committee to decide whether or not. Colleen needs to be forked. She is a talented. There we go. Successful. Stop there.

And exciting. Talent here at NFL media. And we would love to have you back next week. Thanks. I'll come by. Perfect. You don't even need to. You like that.

You like that. Oh, she's just like, on the old skinned? Well, someone tweeted at me. It's like, you know, I want, you know, let's push to have Colleen be a permanent part of the show. Well, how much more permanent does it need to be? All right, how about this? It's permanent.

You're here. You're part of the show. You were part of the heroes at the beginning. It wasn't like, and a special guest. It was just like Colleen, Wolf, Chris Wesleyan and me. And then you didn't think. Colleen, we'll see you next week. Okay.

And that takes us to Sunday night football. And the Carolina Panthers, get excited. Charlotte in the surrounding areas. Your team is 6-0 at 27 to 16 win over the Philadelphia Eagles. This is a game in which Cam Newton threw for almost 200 yards. And a touchdown, Jay Stewart, our boy, 24 carries 125 yards. A nice little performance, not what you would call, Greg, the most exciting game in the world, but this was what good teams do when they don't have, you know, big impact

players are going crazy, but they're a better team. They take care of business in their building, and that's what can. Carolina dead. It goes exciting if you're Ron Rivera and you're watching Kwan Short bust through the line. You're watching a team run the ball. This is basically Ron Rivera's vision. And I'm thinking when we're watching the Eagles get the ball at the end of the game with a couple chances to tie or maybe win the game. And they don't even really get close. This was the old Eagles that, you know, you expected so much out of their offense. Instead, the Panthers just totally shut them down. They didn't even cross midfield threatening to

the score. Talk about the old Eagles. This looks like the old 2013 Panthers that the ones that stole our hearts and we made them the team of ATL. I would be fine with it if they were the team of ATL right now. I've never fallen out of love. They say your first love, it's the toughest one to break. I mean, I still love watching Cam Nippon's some fun defense. The genius has no clothes. Oh, I see what you did there.

How long you didn't sit on that one? I actually just came up with them. I'm very proud. But we once said or once believed potentially that Chip Kelly's offense was so good that it was quarterback proof and they do not have a good quarterback San Bradford is not good. We get a weekly reminder of it. Tonight was

just another one and it just goes to show Chip Kelly for all his smart thinking and different ways of running offenses and getting more plays in a quicker amount of time he's just like every other coach if you don't have the quarterback you don't have the team. Sorry Chip

you're not special that's all I got Well, if you don't have the quarterback and you don't have the receivers, I mean, drops killed them throughout the night, including Miles Austin. What's going on, Jordan Matthews, by the way? He was supposed to have a breakout season. He can't catch anything. Right, he's dropping passes.

Miles Austin, this is the second game that he's basically ended with a drop. If I remember the Falcons opener correctly, the offensive line isn't playing well. You lose Jason Peters seven-time pro bowler in what looked to be a serious back injury. So there's a lot of things going on. It's not even just the quarterback. But I think that's to a credit of the Panthers who have played good defense for six straight weeks now. So it doesn't surprise me. Now we wanted to keep the Panthers play some decent teams they have and they've taken care of business.

We talked about in the preview that they have four legitimate stars on their defense with Thomas Davis, Luke Keekly, Josh Norman, who's one of the best cornerbacks in the league, and Kewan Short, who's going to get all-pro consideration at defensive tackle. And the crazy thing is they haven't gotten almost anything out of Keakley and Davis this year. Davis really hasn't had a good year. I don't think until tonight. I don't think he's really played particularly well. And Keekley has just been hurt.

I think they both had very good nights on Sunday night football. And Norman's playing outstanding Kewan Short. Now he gets a little national attention. I think he'll start getting that Pro Bowl love. It's become a bit of a tiresome narrative we've been talking about it. Cam Newton MVP. Again, the numbers aren't there, but he is lording over a 6-0 team now. What did you guys see from Cam today?

Do you like what you saw? Three interceptions. I mean, to me, it's kind of a game that I think about with a lot of this MVP talk. He's been very good, but I think it's a full team and he's not doing as much as Tom Brady's doing. Or Aaron Robb's, or Annie Dalton, for that matter. I love Cam Newton.

I've always loved watching him. I just don't think he's quite there. It's kind of gotten to the point where if you don't, you know, shower Cam Newton with praise, you're somehow greatly overlooking what he's been able to do. But it just happens that there are other quarterbacks that are in a much higher level. Back.

When you're playing at the level. Top five. That's where I've had him. Top five right now. When you got somebody playing at the level of Tom Brady, I don't, you can talk about Cam Newton all you want, but there's one guy atop the MVP race now and it's Tom Brady. Sorry, Cam. No doubt.

I love seeing Jonathan Stewart having such a nice couple of games here. I think he's run hard all year. He doesn't have the same explosion, but he's just, I mean, he got it, made a big play today. He doesn't even have the same explosion he had down the stretch last year. But he's not cheating. He's not cheating them on any. No, I agree. And you take a look at the upcoming schedule here for the Panthers.

They got home to Indianapolis, nice spot for them there. To get to 7 and 0, you would think, they would be in good shape. And then here's the game. Now, we want to figure out how good are the Panthers? Home against Aaron Rogers and the Packers, that's a good game to watch Sunday, week nine. Yeah, that's a great one. Maybe throw Wesabone, give them that game, unless you want it, Greg, but I'll stay out of this. I'll take it.

And by it's funny that we're just. just looking past the old Cam Newton andrew luck on Monday night football. Now there's a game for some narratives. We won't even get into it. But there's a narrative game if I ever heard one. Andrew Luck at his lowest moment in his career, I would say, and Cam Newton riding higher than he ever has. I've already started the narrative. Look at that. There you go. I've enjoyed this podcast tonight especially because there is a lot of scientist heat. But it comes out of a place of begrudging respect, yes or not. It's not even begrudging respect. We were having he even when the cameras are off

about nonsensical issues just how we do okay that's it those are the games of Sunday and it was a fun week who was great talking about it with you guys I love talking football with you guys and so I'm thankful it's not Thanksgiving yet but I'm saying that I'm thankful

Mark Sessler will be on a plane if he goes to sleep tonight and then gets up and then makes the flight a lot of things if he goes to sleep a lot of there's a lot of it's like a Ryan Mallet thing going on here. And nothing weird happens on the flight. Nothing weird on the flight.

No emergency landings. Things have happened on flights. If all that comes, you know, no incident, he will be back in that chair on Tuesday. The group will be reunited. But thank you very much to Colleen Wolf for joining us for the full show. Or just about. She did awesome. Connie Fox, they call her.

Oh, yeah. So thank you to Colleen. And thank you guys. We will be back on Tuesday with another big show going over Monday night and look ahead to Thursday night football. Maybe our fork discussion will continue. This is Dan Hansa signing up for the mailman,

the boss, and TD behind the glass till Tuesday. This is an IHeart podcast.