NFL Stock Exchange: An NFL Draft Podcast - 201. "What Matters Most" From Each Game in NFL from Week 6 (2023)

Episode Date: October 17, 2023

Hosts Trevor Sikkema and Connor Rogers give you their takes for what matters most from every game of the Sunday slate of games from Week 6 in the 2023 NFL season

This episode is brought to you by our good friends at NFL Sunday Ticket on YouTube TV. I'm sure by now you've all got back into your Sunday routines, but they could be even better. With NFL Sunday Ticket and YouTube TV, you get the most live NFL games all in one place, every game, every Sunday. And you can even watch up to four different games at once with MultiView, one of my favorite inventions of this decade. It's exactly what you need to catch all the action. Make your Sundays more magical. And also, YouTube TV is great. I got it this year.

It's awesome. Sign up now at youtube.com slash BS, device and content restrictions apply. Local and national games on YouTube TV. NFL Sunday ticket for out-of-market games excludes digital-only games. Welcome to the NFL Stock Exchange Podcast. In this episode, we're giving you what matters most from every game in the Sunday slate from week six in the NFL. You know the drill. Could be anything. Could be a rookie standout performance, how we think these teams are going to be long-term,

short-term, whether the win or the loss mattered more, something about a coach, a player, anything. We're telling you what mattered most. I'm Trevor Sycamore. With me, as always, is Connor Rogers. Let's ring the bell. Welcome to the Opening Bell of the NFL Stock Exchange Podcast. I'm Trevor Sycamore. That is Connor Rogers. Joining you guys on a What Matters Most Monday edition of the show. If you're new here, what we basically do is we go down all of the Sunday games. Sorry, Thursday Night Football.

And we tell you what matters most. So that could be anything from a draft angle. It could be, you know, from a 2023 standing angle, like what we think of the team short-term, long-term. It could be individual performances, coaching performances, everything. We open it up to let us talk about what we think matters most. Connor, thrilling victory, my friend. I did not get to see any of the SNY segments yesterday, but I have to imagine you and the fellas were having a ball

as the New York Jets defeated the Philadelphia Eagles. Were you not? We had a good time. We always have this running joke that the Jets don't play normal games in a sense of when you cover the team because, I mean, to put it in perspective, we watched the game in a giant conference room and to kind of put it in people's mind for people that have watched the show succession some of succession was shot at the

smy studio yeah i didn't know that so those kinds of rooms so when you look at it like that we're in that conference room the studio is on the other side of the building and we're on as soon as the clock hits zero so as soon as the game runs out we're on now the thing is the jets always play games down to the final second so you have to figure out usually the two minute warning like when am i gonna run across get miked up sit in the chair hopefully catch the end of the game on all the monitors in the studio and then we're on and yeah what am i going to be talking about a crushing jets loss an incredible season altering win that's what it's like covering a team that is a giant roller coaster every single week so it was thrilling is absolutely the way to put it it was a lot of fun i was gonna say it was the it was the

peak part of the roller coaster yeah this weekend getting to defeat uh one of the well yeah last undefeated right the last undefeated team that's no longer undefeated because we don't have any more undefeateds here in the nfl season but uh buddy i'll let you choose i mean we can start with that game if you want or we can go a totally different direction we can start in chronological order we can start with the london game where do you want to begin this conversation of what matters most from week six I guess we can go in order because we'll spend plenty of time because of how relevant the Eagles are to the league and now where the Jets stand and that was you know along with 49ers Browns one of the biggest ones of the whole week so we'll work our

way down and keep everybody on their toes so Titans Raven in london i don't know about you but i woke up sunday feeling 22 it feels no i just i wish i did not wake up on sunday feeling 22 at all fell 42 uh when i'm sitting there and i'm on my computer and i was watching some of the tape from morgan washington and i'm just like really bullshitting around, drinking coffee, getting ready to, you know, pack up my suit and get down to the city. And I'm like, there's another London game on every like it was. It was like nine fifty five. And I was like, it's almost like regularly scheduled program.

And great for the European fans that love American football. I think that is absolutely an awesome fact of it. But it is at the point where the luster over here has or not even maybe the luster, but it's almost routine where I'm like another London game. And this was a peak London game, a lot of field goals. It's true. It's, you know, a lot of nonsense. I really came out of this game, Trevor, with a question, which I usually do for at least one of the what matters most. And why do the Ravens let inferior teams hang around?

Like, I don't have an answer because they're so much better. And to be fair to the Titans, everything that could go wrong for the Titans in this game went wrong. Like your best player in Jeffrey Simmons has a penalty that you probably should have just let him and Odell go. But, you know, when you get caught and Odell go. But you know, when you get caught, you get caught. Yeah. Their quarterback gets hurt. Malik Willis, you know, they couldn't get anything going. There's all kinds of questions there. But that

doesn't take away that the Ravens are playing down to teams much worse than them. And that's a red flag to me right now. so i mean for well first of all before before i get into my ravens talk here i actually kind of like the london games because for me and you 1 p.m to whatever it is seven is it's hectic like it is a hectic six hours and the london game is almost like, oh, only one game? I get to see all of it. Right. I get to see all of the London game.

I get to see more of the London game than the Jets because I have to run across from the conference room to the studio and I miss something of that game. It's a little bit of a warmup before we have self-induced ADD for the next seven hours with Scott Hansen and the rest of the country. But, you know, I think, well, my what matters most here for this game,

and I do want to talk a little bit about the Titans because I think their quarterback situation now is a little bit more interesting, especially for guys who do draft evaluation and players in Malik Willis and Will Levis who we think are going to have a hand in what the Titans are going to do as a quarterback moving forward. I think the Ravens are a top five team in the NFL. I really do. Their grades across the board on the defensive side of the ball are top three.

It's right up there with the San Francisco 49ers and the Dallas Cowboys. And we know that the Cowboys kind of – we're recording this before Monday Night Football so we'll see how they play watch what you say yeah but as of as of right now as we were recording this their numbers look over inflated against some bad football teams on the defense side of the ball so yeah I mean you can make a case maybe the Ravens are better than the the Cowboys and maybe they're the second best defense in the NFL behind the Niners. But this defense is going to have them in games.

I think this is a really, really good unit. Much better than they were last year. I think Lamar is, I'm going to say it, playing the best football that he's ever played in his NFL career. Yeah, his stats lie. Lamar, I know he had the MVP season. And there was a lot of shock factor with Lamar's MVP season and I think he himself was more of a runner than he was a passer certainly at this point in his career so like what Lamar was doing as a true dual threat quarterback was so shocking to the

league that we couldn't help but talk about it every single week lamar is still that in elite rushing threat right now but he's also so much more mature as a passer like the dude's always had the arm to be able to complete every single throw but now you can watch him stay calm go through progressions navigate pressure and and and keep his eyes down the field and he's delivering some absolute dimes. Obviously, the week before, we talked about how the drops let him down and everything. I'm not going to lie, man. It sounds weird saying this because it is the NFL, but I feel like the Ravens should be undefeated right now. To me, this team's in the conversation with the Chiefs, the Eagles, the Niners, and the Dolphins as the top five teams in the NFL.

I really do believe that and i'm sorry i'm sliding buffalo here but the injuries have just really sucked for that team and so going back to your point on the ravens they have let these teams hang around because i genuinely think the ravens have been better than all five of the teams that they have played against six they have their bi-week five six whatever it was i think the ra that they have played against. Six? They have their bye week? Five? Six? Whatever it was. I think the Ravens could have legit be undefeated right now. So what the Ravens record is, I think it could be even better.

I think that they have a winning record right now, but I even think that that doesn't do them justice. This is one of the best teams in the NFL, in my opinion. Lamar Jackson's playing as good as he has ever played, which is incredible to say with him having an MVP trophy already. And I really do. I think that Baltimore is going to be an absolute force

throughout the rest of the year, and they're going to be one of the toughest teams every single week. They have the roster to do it, and they have a superstar quarterback to do it. It's just a matter of will they play down to teams? And they have a huge test against the lions next week. And the good thing is for the Ravens,

they are three in one on the road. So now they get a nice big home game against a tough team in the lions. Then they got Arizona, Seattle, and before they get to some division games. So I think they're in the dress. I think the toughest part for baltimore is they still really want to run the ball like without lamar and dobbins getting hurt just it throws a massive

wrench into that man yeah it sucks because i i felt like dobbins could have been that bell cow player to all right maybe he's not breaking the rushing record or anything, but have a healthier yards per carry average from somebody that wasn't Lamar Jackson. And this team is so multiple on offense. They've got an excellent dual threat at quarterback with Dobbins in the background that are sorry, backfield. They would have had a really healthy rushing average I believe they've got

really great playmakers who okay they let them down big time last week but it's still a lot of guys who are capable of being good receivers in that past I have questions there that's where I have questions I I don't think they I just think it's all there for Baltimore it is all there for Baltimore this is a Super Bowl caliber team, in my opinion, and that's my what matters most. I don't think that's crazy. I I'm a big fan of the Ravens roster. I think that some guys got to step up in the past game. I know way outside their comfort zone, and that's why they're letting teams that are not even on their on the same playing field as them hang around. It's how they lost the Steelers, who, I mean,

I want to sit here and say the Ravens are 50 times better than the Steelers, but they lost to the Steelers. So they gave that game away. Who do you think, okay, so just as a little conversation with the Titans, who do you think starts the last game of the season at quarterback for the Steelers? Will Levis. Okay, so you think no question is Levis? You can't draft a guy unless Malik just runs wild with this opportunity.

But what have we seen from Malik Willis to think that is going to happen right now? Yeah. I hope it does. I'm rooting for Malik Willis. I know. I would love for Malik to play as good as he possibly can i just don't know if it's going to hold off levis i think levin i think levis starts the last game and probably a few games prior to that for this team down right all right so 49ers

browns oh yeah all right so browns win this game. Hats off to a man. 19 to 17. They take down Brock Purdy. Now, you know, down the stretch, some injuries to Debo Samuel, some injuries to Christian McCaffrey, injury to Trent Williams. Right. So they had some, some big name players that weren't available as they were kind of going through that, that last ditch effort to try to get ahead on the scoreboard. But Hey, Browns did what nobody else has been able to do in the regular season,

and that's hand-broke Curry that L. And so what did you think about this one? What mattered most for you? So I'll say this about the Browns before my what matters most, which is Niners-centric. The Browns, like the Jets, and I'm trying to think if there's another team in the NFL like this. You know what? The Eagles are like this too.

Those teams can win games on the backs of their defense and their run game in ways that a lot of teams really can't in today's NFL. They win a game and you're like, how the hell did they win that game? When you look at what they got out of their quarterback, maybe the Eagles don't fall into it. Cause Jalen's really, really good. But I think they, they compliment or supplement Jalen better than most teams with the jets and the Browns. You look at, I mean, the Browns were starting PJ Walker in this game, not too far moved from having to start Dorian Thompson Robinson. And that speaks volumes to what they have everywhere else on the team,

notably the defense. And it's, it's wildly impressive. It's why they can come out and beat anybody on any given day. And it's how they beat the Niners. But what matters most for me from this game is Niner centric. And that is, we are going to find out a lot about Brock Purdy without Debo Samuel and

Christian McCaffrey. Sure. And I don't think, cause some people might respond well yeah you're like good luck to any quarterback without his two best weapons he still has Brandon Ayuk he still has George Kittle he still has Kyle Shanahan like that and I'm not a Brock Purdy hater I'm not I there's no reason to be I just and I think Brock Purdy's done a lot of really good things. I think he's gotten a lot better this year. But I think there is now, and this game is a good example of it, because, yeah, you could say they got in position to win the game with a field goal. He almost gave the game away on that drive.

Correct, yeah. It was not a good drive. There is so much nuance with Brock Purdy that does not get talked about. No, and this is a good place to actually have the conversation. I mean, we had people on the big TV networks last week saying that Brock Purdy should be front-runner for MVP. It's like, come on. Pendulum always swings too far one way or the other.

There's so much progress to contextualize stuff like this. What are we doing? It always has to be one end of the spectrum it's i've seen it well brock purdy is like a you like a ai generated quarterback that just presses a button that kyle shanahan tells him to and that's where the ball goes i mean if you told me that then i'd probably believe you then there's somehow figured out a way to have surgery into brock purdy's brain to where it was actually a micro trip that that that kyle shanahan was controlling with an xbox controller on the sideline connor i'd believe you i would believe a black mirror episode

you just wrote a black mirror i just started watching that show oh well i would i would stop if you want i was gonna say function yeah it'll eat at you so and then there's obviously the conversation where people are like well brock purdy's actually an elite quarterback and if brock purdy plays at a really high level without a couple of these guys and in some big games to the niners then it's a big statement by him. But I think without those two, especially those two, because Debo and Christian McCaffrey schematically are the most manufactured touches, right? Like, Ayuk actually plays the wide receiver position,

I think, in its more natural form. Kittle's an athletic tight end. Debo is a very unique weapon. Christian McCaffrey is a very unique weapon. It is easier to get the ball in their hands than it is the other guys. And that's why the difficulty level just got cranked up for Brock Purdy. Yeah. Well, man, I do want to touch on Brandon Ayuk before I flip over to my What Matters Most from Cleveland. But, dude, Ayuk is having an unbelievable season. I mean, he had a really productive year last year over 1,000 yards. But we're going to get to Tyree Kill later this show.

Tyree Kill is the only player who has a higher receiving grade and a higher yards per route run average than Brandon. I use those right now. This dude's the offense for this team. Yeah. You know, I, I, I, I,

I do agree with what you're saying. It's not as manufactured as it is for those other guys, but Holy hell, it's almost 30% of a wide receiver usage percentage. You know, they're going to this guy a lot and he continues to reward him. Iuke is just playing incredible ball. So it deserves that recognition.

You know, him uh iuk is just playing incredible ball so it deserves that recognition you know you talked about how the niners have a defense where they can win you games the browns would you say the browns what have a defense that can win you games didn't you say that about the niners or did i miss that no i said i said browns jets eagles to be fair the niners too but they have so much ferrari on offense that you kind of yeah i know you know so i was i was well i was about to echo that anyways i was about to say the browns are absolutely a team that can win games of their defense i looked up some statistics for them before the show number one in the nfl in epa per play allowed because this defense isn't just good it's insane so number one in epa per play allowed first in total yards per game allowed it's 200 they're averaging only giving up 200

total yards we're six weeks into the season like last year to give people context last year the niners were number one in the nfl and they were giving up 300 yards per game. They were number one and were giving up 100 more yards per game than what the Cleveland Browns are averaging right now. In order for you to find a defense that even allowed less than 250 yards on the season, you'd have to go all the way back to 2008. It was the 2008 pittsburgh steelers so that's and that's i think the steelers were at 237 so that the information that i have only went back to 2004 so i you know you go back pretty damn far i think to find a team that had a season total of only 200 yards allowed. Now, I think that that number is going to go up, but it just is a testament to what Jim Schwartz is doing with that unit.

And when you look at what's different between this year and last year, I first looked at the blitz rate. I was like, OK, are they being more aggressive? Are they trying to manufacture pressure more? Are they really getting after the quarterback? Because they are at a pretty high clip. And no, the blitz percentage is pretty much the same i mean i think that they're they're blitzing around 30 at the time this year where it was just over 25 last year but that's kind of around the same percentage that's that's not a big shift in in um in philosophy there but what is different this year is they are playing a lot more single high man coverage. Last year, they played in either cover three or quarters.

So some sort of zone coverage. 54% of the time. This year, they're playing in cover one. So single high responsibilities with man underneath over 40 percent of the time now i think a big difference there is want thornhill who they signed from the chiefs this past off season and he has been the guy who has been their primary free safety it's allowed grant delpa to play a lot more in the box so he's more of a physical strong safety type and it's allowed guys like denzel ward and and martin emerson to be able to play closer to the line scrimmage

and play press and play man and so that is how the browns are being more aggressive this year they're looking at the guy on the other side of the line scrimmage they're looking him in the eye and they're saying i'm covering you across the board with one thornhill a ton of experience two times super bowl champ in that spot to play that center fielder role. So it's all just coming together for him. Just some numbers there to contextualize what the Cleveland Browns are doing. They're kind of just manning up and trusting a lot of their guys. And now they have somebody on the back end who they trust a ton,

clearly, to play that deep safety role. So Browns are rolling, man. What a win for them. And what a season for their defense so far. That's a great call out because he is one of the guys in the league that has the vision and range to allow you to do that. And I think it's become a little bit of a lost art in a sense. Like it's almost if you ask someone like, hey, name the best like single true roaming single high back end safeties in the league. It's I feel like it's it is a lost art. It's very hard to do.

Not a lot of teams are comfortable running it as much anymore. And Thornhill. Well, we just live in a too deep world now. Right. I mean, exactly. It's the drop eight thing where you're going up against the best quarterbacks in the NFL and you're just dropping as many guys as you can into coverage. And when that's the case, you don't have to play single high. So it's, it's definitely when you can, it's fun.

You can get aggressive as hell and play a lot more man coverage. So, um, man, just a, a great combination of, of skill and deployment of that skill from, from shorts and that, that Cleveland unit. So where are we going next? Panthers-Dolphins. All right. For me, I mean, there's nothing to say about Miami that we haven't already said, I think, right now.

I mean, you have a crazy Tyreek Hill touchdown. Tua is Tua. Raheem Mostert has been awesome for this team. Mike McDaniel, Mike McDaniel. For me, Trevor, what mattered most is I thought Bryce Young looked better in this game right out of the gate and is going to be fine. I mean, the things that we loved about Bryce as a prospect

were really on display in this game. The anticipation, the feel. It's also, too, when you go back to it, it's nice that Adam Thielen is having this season at, what, age 33 or something like that it's it's a fun story good for adam thielen good for the panthers the fact that bryce young has to pepper this version of adam thielen with double digit targets every single week speaks volumes of what is or should i say what is not around b Bryce Young right now. So all you can do is evaluate him individually in a vacuum

because there's not much else around him that's going right besides Thielen. And I think what we saw, that Bryce yesterday, especially in the first half, was the closest thing we've seen to the Alabama Bryce we grew to love. Yeah, we talked on the show last week when we did What Matters Most, and you and I agree that it just Bryce is just thinking too much certainly before this week it looked like he it was just in his own head that's kind of the way that I put it and to start the game against Miami

they were very quick they were quick on the line they had quick tempo stuff it was it was it was almost like a little bit of a two minute drill that they operated for that entire first quarter and with it Bryce looked very confident there wasn't this overthinking that was going on he saw the field he made the decision and he threw with great pace and accuracy so yeah as the as the game went on obviously the scoreboard gets a lot a little out of control Miami adjusts little bit. And it's hard to kind of keep that tempo on forever at the NFL level. So I just thought that I agree with you completely. It was very much encouraging watching Bryce play decisive.

And that's something that we did not see from him from previous weeks. So I agree. I think Bryce is going to be i think price is going to be fine man the part about this game that i was going to mention about the dolphins you said what more can be said about the dolphins i i'll add something new tyreek hill mvp like how close are we to actually having that conversation right now connor the man is averaging over five yards per route run this isn't per target this isn't per reception every single time tyreek hill runs a route the average is that the offense is going to pick up five yards if they go to him, knowing that he's not getting the ball thrown to him.

That just shows when they go to this guy and how often they target him. He rewards them at a level that I don't even know, man. I didn't have the time to go back and look how far back five yards per route run would rank over the last, whatever it is, 15 years of PFF data. But I'm pretty damn confident it's number one. So we are talking about a historic season from Tyree Kill and what he is able to do for that Dolphins offense.

Tua right now is the odds on MVP because he plays quarterback for that offense. That's right. That's it. That's the combo with Tyreek Hill. But does Tyreek Hill deserve to have that MVP? I understand that the world that we live in, it's going to go to a quarterback. But I think there's a legit case for Tyreek Hill

to actually be that MVP from that offense. That's something new that I would bring to the table. Because his numbers aren't just good. It's not just, oh yeah, look, another Tyreek Hill good game. It's historic, man. It's historic stuff that he's doing right now. It makes you ask the question, and you'd really have to think about this who's the more replaceable player in the dolphin situation is it like you say you go from two

against her and you go to mike white or tyreek gets hurt and you really just have waddle i get it barrios and cray craft and chase claypool the the vending machine. I know they have depth at wide receiver, but it's true. It's really true. That offense is Tyreek, even without the ball. That's the key to me. It's without the amount of space. Raheem Mostert's had a nice player. He's had a good career.

We don't look at Raheem Mostert like he's Christian McCaffrey, Jonathan Taylor, Derrick Henry, you know, Brees Hall, Bijan Robinson. It's because, and the offensive line doesn't have a ton of talent. They have a good scheme. But the amount of space that McDaniel creates and has the puzzle piece of Tyreek to do it. Right.

Interesting combo. If you ask me, that offense and what they do, the foundation of it is Tyreek Hill. It is. It's not Tua. It's Tyreek Hill. I agree. I think their entire offensive strategy is built around Hill. And because of that, I understand he doesn't play quarterback.

I know that that's not how the award works. I'm just throwing it out there. It's an offensive award, typically a quarterback award. And you usually have to be on one of the best offenses to win it on a winning team. It checks every box. It checks every box. It checks every box. He is plus 7,500 right now to win. And I believe it.

You know, it's crazy. He's actually not the top offensive player that's not a quarterback because McCaffrey's at like plus 12. McCaffrey's higher. Yeah. And I know it's crazy, Trevor. Like, I think you are right, and I still think it's crazy trevor like i think you are right and i still think it's a bad bet isn't that crazy sure right well i think you are right we know yeah

it's because this is a this is a voted award and it's a broken award in my opinion i agree i agree before we get to our next game yeah uh this fall season, it's all about the checklist, right? Whether it's to get back to school, you're getting in a new work routine, workout routine, whatever it is, you're setting up checklists. But the most important part on that checklist should always be securing your family's financial future, starting with life insurance. Fabric by Gerber Life makes it quick, easy, and affordable to protect your family so you can get back to enjoying life.

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in just minutes over at meetfabric.com slash stock exchange. That's M-E-E-T fabric.com slash stock exchange. Policies issued by Western Southern Life Assurance Company, not available in certain states. Price is subject to underwriting and health questions. All right, what game we hit next? Vikings Bears, because I think this is a quicker one.

All right. I wrote I literally wrote down in my notes app while doing all these games. Caleb Williams Bowl Part One is complete. Like that's what matters nothing else mattered from this game justin fields got hurt yeah which sucks but he got hurt again like justin fields got hurt again uh i mean the vikings won it wasn't pretty no it was not it indeed was not it wasn't a win where i'm like i didn't i didn't where the vikings turn it around no this is where the vikings start to lose a grasp on getting drake may and this is where the bears really are positioned now that they're going to be without

fields i can't wait till we get back into the bit. But it's like, oh, this team just had a crushing win. Just an absolute gutting win. It's kind of what I'm saying. It's kind of what I'm saying. The Giants, by the way, we'll get there. I mean, Giants fans probably still want to win. I don't feel that way with Bears fans or Vikings fans. I always kind of engage the pulse of the fan base. But the Giants still want to get i don't feel that way with bears fans or vikings fans i always kind of engage the pulse

of the fan base yeah the giants still want to get this season right and would have loved to win over the bills you know take with that what you will this one though was the caleb williams bowl where i feel like both teams like you know it's gonna be a big loss for us what a clutch loss for the chicago bears here the owners in the locker room high five and everyone my uh none of y'all will be here but thank you my what matters most from this game is uh i i agree certainly the results are a big part of what matters most, but man, Lou gets the Chicago's offensive coordinator. It's bad. Yeah. It's real. Like to me, that's the what matters most because it, whether it's fields,

which it doesn't look like it's going to be fields, but whether it's fields or whether it's some other quarterback, like this guy, she's not great at this, man. I'm not going to pretend to have put the headset on and be a play caller before. But there have been multiple instances over the last couple of weeks where they're just making it so much more difficult. I saw this from Leah Rahimi's timeline who works for NBC Sports in Chicago. And she pointed out a couple of the things from this past game.

But I went back to the Broncos game as well. There was an instance, fourth and one versus the Broncos. You're setting up in shotgun. It's a shotgun run. Like, come on, man. You're making the game more difficult. It's fourth and one. We live in the age of the tush push.

Like, you don't even have to do that exact play. But you are an offense. If the Chiefs line up in shotgun in fourth and one, I'm going to go, wow, great call, Andy. I will trust you with my entire life. I'll do a trust fall over the Grand Canyon with Andy Reid. I'm not going to do that with Chicago. They haven't earned that. Chicago makes offense look hard enough. So when you have fourth and one, you have one yard to gain to do that with Chicago. They haven't earned that. Chicago makes offense look hard enough.

So when you have fourth and one, you have one yard to gain to get a first down. You are going to purposefully snap the ball three extra yards back and say, no, no, no, we got this. No, forget the one yard. We're going to pick up four yards from when I handed off to the running back. You're the Chicago Bears. No, you're not. You're making it more difficult on your team this past week versus the Vikings it was a 66 game at this point it was third and two they're

in field goal range and they go shotgun what just run the ball you're already in field goal just run the ball if you want if I we've said this before multiple times on the podcast third and two if you can't pick up the two yards, you suck. That's just plain simple. The offense sucks. Go pick up the two yards, run the football, make it happen. But they didn't. They lined up in shotgun. They got two yards to gain, and they lined up in shotgun. Later in the game, it's

six to six. Third and seven, they're in field goal range, and they just run the ball out of shotgun on third and seven. And then you settle for a long field goal. Like, come on, man. What are you doing? That's why you're a bad team.

That is, to me, the what matters most because the wins and losses mean a lot for the draft position. But moving forward, whatever they are going through on offense, when it comes to the decision making the philosophy everything like it's just it's not good right now and that to me is important because they've got to figure that part out too before they bring in whoever the next quarterback is for the bears so yeah i think listen no doubt it's it is an important conversation because if this franchise transitions to a top quarterback

pick this year like a lot of us think they are starting to you know head that way you're in evaluation mode right now and a lot of people are asking me when fields had those two good weeks like what's what's so different and i'm like well they're actually scheming up some throws for him and he's just hitting them like i i didn't think he was playing out of his mind right i thought the offense was finally doing him some favors and washington stevens also played terrible that game that they scored a lot of points on horrific but horrific so okay well now we can get to uh a matchup of teams that are right in the thick of things, and that would be, for me, the Bengals and Seahawks right now. Yeah. For me, what mattered the most in this game

and for the Bengals going forward is they really just try to get right on offense consistently. Not a week here or a quarter here or there and try to get healthy. T. Higgins gutting this out. They are very Jamar Chase one-dimensional. But what mattered for me is that the bengals pass rush was dominant in this game dominant and the type of pass rush that uh is the playoff bengals

defense were accustomed to seeing they had geno smith in absolute hell for a lot of this game i mean just to kind of show you the pressures from next gen stats. Sam Hubbard had nine. Trey Hendrickson had seven. DJ Reader had six. BJ Hill had six. Cam Sample. Shout out to Cam Sample. I really liked him coming out of Tulane that year. He had three. So the Bengals front was absolutely cooking against, you know, what's left of the Seattle offensive line. And they're going to have to, they're going to have to carry the load sometimes this year because the Bengals just aren't right on offense. And, you know, eventually we're going to run out of time for them to get right on offense, but they have Joe Burrow and Jamar chase.

So there's always that chance they figure it out. Cause those are the two best players at their position in this league, but the Bengals front really, really took over this game. In my opinion, I agree with you and I'll take it even kind of like a step further, But the Bengals front really, really took over this game, in my opinion. I agree with you. And I'll take it even kind of like a step further, maybe into like a long-term outlook. I said this a handful of times last year on the podcast, and I still think it's true.

The Bengals have one of the best home field advantages in the NFL. Good call out. The team wins so much if you include the postseason last year this team is nine and two at home since the beginning of 2022 they they are they are clearly better at home and i think that defense comes alive when they are at home it's not like i i just looked it up real quick and it's not staggering it's not like they're a top five unit at home and they're you know 20th in the nfl when they're not it's it's not quite that big of a difference but it

is certainly better when they're at home and i think that you see that defense feed off of that home crowd really really well and then knowing that you've got a healthy burrow when he's healthy on the other side of things, it just makes for a great pair when the defense is going to play better. And you know that that's going to most likely be the case when they're playing at home. So I bring that up to say,

what matters most to me is the team's back in a groove. Yeah, they're three and three, and technically they're in fourth place of the division, but they're back on track. Burrow looks great again and this team would benefit greatly from winning this division and not like they weren't already giving it their all to win the division but to me when we talk about a potential super bowl run for the cincinnati bangles how often they are at home to start the playoffs

and throughout the playoffs, that could mean all the difference in the world for a team that the numbers are staggering for how well they play when they are at home. So that was my what matters most from that game. It's a great point. That's absolutely spot on. They are a beast at home.

They are a team that when the defense is humming up front, they nobody ever talks about the Bengals defense because they have star talent at the most exciting positions in football that also coincide with fantasy and highlights. And that's quarterback wide receiver. But the defense is just as much of a reason of why the bangles have always been hovering around a super bowl in recent years and i felt like oh baby one of the best dcs in the nfl yes um absolutely so okay let's keep it moving and we go falcons commanders yeah yeah for me

in this one big win for the commanders who are just all over the place this year. But I actually have a Falcons one. This is now this is not the first time in anything different from when we evaluated him as a prospect. But when Drake London gets a real quarterback, like he's going to be that dude. That's all I could think of when watching this game

and watching Drake London. And it's completely insane that there's been some games where he's been a complete afterthought. In this game, he was targeted quite a bit, Drake London. He was targeted 12 times. He caught nine of those 12 targets for 125 yards. He is a player that... It got seven of those were for a first down, by the way.

He is a true above the rim, you know, contested catch big body can really trust him to go up and make a play kind of target. And in a league that gets smaller at this position every year, it feels like London can be a really, really special player. And Desmond Ritter did drop back and throw a lot in this game. That's something that we're not used to. He also made some really dumb mistakes. And I look at Drake London and go, if they get it right long-term at quarterback,

like Drake London is a 1,400-yard player in my eyes, Trevor. You know I love it. You know i absolutely love those words drake london uh is somebody whose skill set i absolutely love and and that is going up and being a grown-ass man over whoever's trying to cover him and we've seen that over the last couple of weeks that i've said before his draft class felt like he was a wide receiver one in this league and and i'm glad that he was picked as such by the falcons and I'm glad that when their passing game allows it, that they run their passing game through him because he has the talent that deserves it.

You know, my what matters most, I hate to sound like a broken record, but Desmond Ritter, he does not have the ball placement that you need to have to be a consistent starting quarterback in the NFL. You know, his adjusted completion percentage is over 70%. The last two years that he started at Cincinnati, he was also above 70%. So it's not the worst thing in the world. I think people can point to those numbers and say,

oh, he's not terrible with accuracy. I think ball placement is different. Ball placement is different than accuracy. And there were times this past weekend where you're just missing a guy by a little bit. And in the nfl the margin for error is so small and i just don't think ritter has that trait that he could just consistently have that kind of elite ball production that you're going to want to see um especially for a team that would have the chance to what we think is probably have the chance to pick a quarterback this upcoming year so ball placement remains an issue Sam Howell also is just such an enigma

right now to me he has been sacked 34 times this year by far the most in the NFL well actually I shouldn't say that because Tyrod Taylor started this past week and daniel jones is second with 28 so maybe if daniel where'd that get him what'd you say and where'd that put him out of out of playing well yeah and i i just sacks are not always an offensive line stat right right in fact there are plenty of instances where a sack is a quarterback sack even more than it is the offensive line so it's not just the offensive line not playing up to par with washington there's just a it feels erratic it just sometimes he's holding onto the ball way too long sometimes he just doesn't see it when he

needs to uh sometimes he just makes the decision to kind of tuck it and run maybe before he should navigates the pocket in a way that's counterproductive. Like, whatever it is, it just feels so – and it's unfortunately for Washington, and I hate to criticize it too much because it was a great win, but this kind of goes into another point that I have. I have no idea which Washington team I'm getting every week. No, no one does. No, I have no idea.

I mean, Washington took the Philadelphia Eagles to overtime a couple of weeks ago and then they got blown out by the bears. Like I, it does not get more Washington commanders 2023 than that. And to me, this was again, a game where, all right, they beat the Falcons. My, my immediate response is sure, man. Sure. Okay. Great. It's it's, they're going to be the most up and down team this season but what i really want to see and what matters most is sam's gotta navigate the pocket better he cannot keep taking all these sacks because it's just gonna it's just gonna hurt the team

in the long run it's growing year from him it's okay that we're seeing it now, but I want to see it get better as time goes on. I'm with you all the way. Saints-Texans, potentially the most forgotten game of the day. I think you're going to take the big home run cut on this one, so I'll be quick. Maybe it's probably premature to say this but trevor penning looks awful every time he has to play football and i didn't even i didn't even look up penning's

numbers uh he gave up five pressures in a sack called two two penalties were called on him grade last time i looked i know they get a little fluid the first 24 hours while we're adjusting and everyone's doing their thing it was at a 48.3 listen i love what i see from will anderson like i do will anderson was awesome in this game he was awesome but i at what point can penning play yeah i mean you draft penning in the first round to block will anderson right right like yeah you can't just because you're giving the hat to will will Anders, right? Right. Like, yeah, you can't get, just because you're given the hat to Anderson. Right.

Right. Is that miles Garrett? It's not going to get easier out there. And even if it was, you know, it's like you're drafting the guy in the first round to block good pass rushers. You didn't, it's not like Trevor Penny was a fourth round pick.

No, it's I just, that that's a tough, that's if that pick goes wrong for the saints it's it's really gonna set back their offensive line for a while considering the resources i can't remember who they picked padding over let's look it up let's play let's play a fun little game called how did the 2022 nfl draft go what all right i clicked 2022 in wikipedia and that brought me to uh the year in review i got you 22 i don't want this draft history.com okay so icky was off the board evan neal was off the board

charles cross is off the board damn kenny green was also off the board. Oh, yeah, Kenny Green went 15. Trevor Penny goes 19. Tyler Smith got picked after him. Cole Strange got picked after him. Tyler Linderbaum got picked after him. I guess Linderbaum. Abe Lucas had a really good rookie season. Yeah, but Abe was like a third-round pick. Yeah, no, I mean, that wasn't happening.

Yeah, I don't want to go too revisionist on it. It's not even that, though, to me. I just don't know when Penning became a first round player that year. When he fought everyone at the Senior Bowl and almost got everyone in the Senior Bowl. Wasn't it Salah had to tell him to like chill the fuck out? He was going to get a quarterback hurt. Yeah, dude. Like, yeah, Penning, Penning.

A lot of his highlights that came out of Mobile we're fighting we're like after the whistle yeah look at how he plays after the whistle it's like that's a penalty in the nfl you lose the game because of that it's not fun anymore heavily penalized right now it's not nfl blitz where you could hit someone after the play but if it was if it was it would be sick that's not allowed. Maybe he's putting out tape for the future XFL. You know? It's a tough one. The Saints are a weird team this year. 3-3.

3-3. Weird team. The Saints piss me the hell off. I mean, this. We're really taking it easy on them this week. I mean, the Saints. You should not take it easy on the Saints. Because.

I get it. They're 3-3 this year. I think they beat the Packers if Derek Carr doesn't get hurt. I'm with you. You probably could have counted that one as a win. But this game was so frustrating against Houston, and it's not to take anything away from Houston, but it's like this offense is so feast or famine

that it's just, it's beyond frustrated. You, you look at, they had a, I can't remember if this was all in the same series or if this is, or if one of them was in the series before, but the game's coming down to the wire,

right? New Orleans has to score. They're at a point where they've got to push the ball. They're down seven. They've got to get in the end zone. It was like all four of their plays. Once they got within striking distance, we're like fade routes to Michael Thomas, like 40 yards down the field. Everything was just as difficult of a throw as possible. He wasn't getting separation and they just kept force feeding the same thing.

They had time to actually attack over the middle once, get a big chunk yard, get closer, get into the red zone. And then you got so many more things open other than just a 45 yard bomb or whatever it was. I don't remember. It was just so frustrating to me, the lack of creativity that they had on that very last chance. And it doesn't give me a lot of faith for what they're going to do moving forward. I mean, Derek Carr had an instance, and this is

the point that really pissed me off because I think this was the series before. They were going for it on fourth down again. It was and three and they throw they throw like three yards short of the sticks it's fourth and three essentially the game's on the line and you just throw it short of the sticks and tell alvin camara hey if you don't break three tackles game's over like how is derrick carr even throwing that pass right when did derrick carr become kirk cousins in that regard right like that is the moment last year when Kirk threw it five yards short of the sticks on on fourth and eight in the playoffs or whenever it was when people went okay this is it Kirk Cousins is over we're giving

it one more year that's it he's gone the contract is good we're moving on this guy does not have it he will not push the ball to where it needs to go and it's just so dysfunctional with the saints with car and it the reason why i say it pisses me off is because i think derrick car is a really talented quarterback he just can never put it together and no he can't and with pete carmichael as the offense coordinator carmichael's clearly not helping i wondered if he would he's clearly not helping. I wondered if he would. He's clearly not. If you're throwing it three yards short of the line of scrimmage on fourth and three with the game on the line and making Alvin Kamara break three tackles, the game's over.

The process is broken. And I think the Saints are a good enough all-around team to where they're going to win a handful of games this year. But, man, they should look better. a good enough all-around team to where they're going to win a handful of games this year but man they should look better and i think it's extremely frustrating how they don't look better as a team so that's my take i'm with you that was my they have no i'm with you all the way they have the talent they're in you know obviously a division that's right there for the taking. Derek Carr, this is a guy that's throwing the ball away on fourth down.

So these mistakes happening. I forgot about that. I mean, really? That play lives right freedom. I think about that play once a week. I don't know why. It's just, yeah. So a tough one for the Saints.

Good for the Texans, man. Good for the Texans. They are, we say it every week, they are building it right with D'Amico. They are building it right through their draft. Yeah. They're going to be, they're going to be just all right for the long term.

I agree. No, shout out to Houston. Hey, this podcast is brought to you by PrizePix. Our friends over at PrizePix, they're getting in on the NFLSC action to tell you guys all about how you can put some cheddar cheese on the line. Not only talk smack, say, oh, I think that this guy's going to do this, but make some cold, hard cash for it. Connor, I know that you've taken a peek into some prize pick lines for next week.

What entries do you like from our friends at prize picks when it comes next week? Cause this is the time to get it in folks. You want to get it in early before any of the lines change. So what do you like? So it's very early. I am looking at two Buffalo bills, one. I, and you know, while we're sitting here, Josh Allen's injury status is a little bit uh unclear well let's assume all is okay josh is a guy that seems to just always play anyway yeah i like

stefan diggs to have more than 86 and a half receiving yards he's gone four straight games of 100 plus he five of his last five to six this year have been 100 plus so let's go over that 86 and a half this is stefan diggs offense i'll go more than 86 and a half receiving yards and then the other one for the bills james cook's rushing against new england is at 53 and a half i will go less than that i think new england will do everything they can to stop james cook trevor what are you looking at okay I went off about how I think Lamar is playing incredibly well his line right now 45 and a half versus Detroit for rushing yards I'm going more I like that one a lot Detroit's gonna emphasize it I get it but it's still Lamar he's playing very very well over the last two games he's been either right at 45.

Actually, I think one game he was at 45, and then last week in London, he went over that 45.5. So I'm going to stick with the trend. I think he goes more than 45.5 on that rushing total. And then this one, I think this one's easy money, dude. Cooper Cup, Los Angeles Rams are playing the Pittsburgh Steelers. I have that correct, right?ams are playing the pittsburgh steelers i have that correct right they're playing the steelers and i gotta make sure yeah gotta make sure yeah the steelers cannot cover cooper cup they don't have not many humans they do not have the players

to do it the line is 97 and a half receiving yards cup has gone more than that in each of his last two games he has been back from injury and he is facing the juiciest matchup yet we're going more baby we're smashing more dude he's he's going so much more than 95 97 and a half i'm on both ears um i'm on both of those. I'm with Lamar getting the rushing going against the lions. And I do like Cooper to have more. I think he's a, you know, a hundred yards lock.

It feels like Puka Nakua, nice story, but this is still Cooper cups offense. It is still Cooper cups offense. If you guys don't know what prize picks is, prize picks is a skill-based real money, daily fantasy sports game. How does it work?

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Use the promo code NFLSE for a first deposit match up to $100. Guys, it's a free hundred dollars. You're going to sign up for it. Use the promo code price picks.com backslash NFL SC. Use the promo code NFL SC for a first deposit match up to $100. If you want to put it all on the line for Cooper cup, I wouldn't hate you for it, but I assume no risk assume no risk and liabilities it's the legal document that i've signed you can't come after my stuff i'm an llc all right what do you got next what's the uh what's what's next on the schedule i think this closes out the one o'clock

colts jags sure yeah that's jags i'll let I'll let yeah let you start this I was just gonna say Jags looked unstoppable against the yeah this game wasn't even as close as the 37 to 20 indicates everything that Jacksonville was doing seemed to be working I mean we've got an Evan Ingram one-handed catch we've got multiple receivers scoring touchdowns. You know, you got a wildcat formation. Travis Etienne scores a couple of times. The Jags just imposed their will on the Indianapolis Colts. And Gardner Minshew showed why he's a backup quarterback in the league. I know he's kind of like that fringe backup, that preferred backup, I should say. That's probably a better way to say it.

But when it all comes down to it, like draft anthony rich in it for for a reason you're trying to upgrade to something that's got a higher ceiling and um not that there was any real quarterback controversy before but my big takeaway was that that this is what it's supposed to look like for jacksonville and it was really good to see i think on both sides of the ball them playing really well and that they're capable of doing that throughout the rest of the year. Yeah, I think for me, I like that you brought up the spread of the wealth on offense, how they can really spread the ball around and get a lot of guys involved. I think one very, you know, I should say micro thing in this game is i thought this was some of the best we've seen of trayvon walker so far and i've been personally really tough on this pick he had a 19.4 percent

pass rush win rate win rate which for trayvon he's a guy that does not find himself into the double digits very easily um i thought he was very effective all around in this game. And I think if this is the version of Trayvon Walker they can get, that's a big step in the right direction for a defense that has it going at all three levels. Like the secondary has been awesome. They got speed in the middle of the field. They got good players up front. And Trayvon being a big part of that would really take them

to another level. I would love to see it, man. They need it. They really need it. Josh Allen has been playing really well. I think it's a contract year for him, isn't it? Josh Allen's, right? Should be.

I think he's in the last year of his deal. So good time to be playing really good football, but they need more than just him if they're going to get to where they want to go, for sure. The 4 p.m. slate know east coast time northern west coast yeah this is where the party started uh do we want to hit patriots raiders first yeah sure okay what do you got what do you got i just the demise of new england um i I have a serious take here. I really do. Was the demise of New England not serious?

Because I would tell you that it is. It is, but it is. They'll still find a way to beat Zach Wilson and the Jets. It's still like, I don't know how. I don't know how, but that is the game that they find a way to win. It's sickening. Here's my thing with New England right now.

I'm fascinated by this bill belichick situation and why i am is because you have a legend of the sport of the franchise that this is a delicate situation like you can't just fire bill belichick and just start the process over and be like, okay, like that's not what happens here. Robert Kraft owns the team. He can fire Bill Belichick, but it's,

it's very delicate across the board for respect reasons and what he's done and all this, but on the bit, and I have, nobody knows what Kraft's going to do. We'll get there when we get there for me, Trevor evaluating Belichick in a nutshell, he has to do something that all great men with egos and most great men have egos. It's just

nature of human beings. He has to do something that he's uncomfortable with to revitalize his coaching career. And that's hire a real GM. It is. It's Bill Belichick, the evaluator, has dug Bill Belichick, the coach, such a hole that if he doesn't face the music and accept that, no matter how great of a coach he is, cannot get them out of it and if i'm robert craft and understanding there's a lot of emotion here this is a man that has been part of the reason let's not act like tom brady doesn't exist part of the reason our franchise turned the corner and turned into a dynasty my honest evaluation and what i would say to bill is, you can be the coach of this team still next year. We believe in you. I believe in you. But we need to shake something up on the personnel side of things.

And if you are not willing to accept that, then we do need to turn the page as a franchise. Everything was great, but the time has come. If you are not willing to face that music. And I'm not confident Bill Belichick will be willing to do that. I'm not either, man. I agree with you. I don't think you're wrong. I certainly agree with the sentiment that Bill Belichick, the team builder, has let down Bill Belichick, the head coach. And it's just a lot of responsibility, right? You know, we've, we, we talk about these head coaches that are also coordinators and how

it's really tough to be both because you're such a CEO of your team when you're the head coach, being a head coach and general manager, man, it's, I understand that it's, it's i understand that it's it's less cooks in the kitchen if you will right it's less hands that get involved it's it's less of a potential cog in the machine but man it's it's there's no question that this roster stinks it stinks it stinks and they're down some time like right like they're down everyone is their ground that's the problem stinks and they're down some time like right like they're down everyone is their ground that's the problem right right they're down christian they get two injuries and it's like we're playing who at where where when other teams are doing that it's like mac jones and quarterback oh wait there wasn't an injury for that one that's it that's its own issue

amongst the laundry list. I agree with you, man. I don't know if it happens, but I certainly agree with you. My what matters most is actually the Las Vegas Raiders. They come off a win in this one. They get a win and hurt sitting here at three and three. And I think that we look at this Raiders roster. And we also think that this is one of the worst rosters in the league.

Now, I think Jimmy has played decent for them and did we find out exactly the severity of his injury I mean he left and then he went to the hospital I didn't I didn't see anything after that when we were recording I saw that they think they avoided the worst so okay what is does avoid the worst mean that he's still missing time? Maybe. Back injury going straight to the hospital. Like that's right. That's worrisome to me.

But anyways, so if Jimmy misses time, if Jimmy misses time, did you say that's some old man stuff? Yeah. I mean, yeah. Like your back locks up or whatever. It's scary. It really is. I threw my back out last week. I've been on a heating pad regularly no actually wait did you do it from physical activity yeah i was using a leg press

machine that is nice but i didn't realize that the back plate of the of the leg press machine it can go uh forward or backwards and so if you don't put it all the way back then your back can get like rounded at the bottom when you're loading all the way close to your stomach and it can like round your back just naturally from how the seat is positioned and it did that and it's just your boy's been on a steady diet of Advil and heating pads ever since. That's not fun when you're 32. But anyways, whether they're missing Jimmy G for an extended period of time or not,

we looked at this roster and thought that they were destined for a top five pick. I look at their current record of three and three and the rest of their schedule. And I'm not so sure that's the case. I think this team might play themselves out of a top five pick. They've got the Chicago Bears next. Okay.

A winnable game. At Detroit, that's an L. New York Giants at home. That's a winnable game. Jets at home. Sorry, but winnable game. This is Zach Wilson, you never know. Dolphins, automatic loss.

Chiefs, automatic loss. Then it's the bye week, and then it's Minnesota. Okay, they could win that. Chargers, it's a divisional game. Chiefs, another loss. Colts, if Richardson's out for the year, that becomes winnable. And then they end the season with the Denver Broncos. So all of a sudden, we looked at this team that we said,

yeah, the Raiders are guaranteed to be a top five pick type of a team because you look at their roster. This team might win seven or eight games just because the schedule sucks. And if you do that, seven games last year could have got you a pick as low as 11th overall. You win eight games, you're picking in the teens. So, shit, man. Raiders might not have a chance to get one of those top couple of quarterbacks if they keep playing well enough to win some of these games down the stretch.

So, I just noticed that and figured I'd shout it out on our draft podcast. You know what? Good for them because we're tough on them when they've been awful under McDaniels, and now they're starting to figure it out a little bit. So it's tough to do the like, well, now you don't get the draft of quarterback suckers. Well, sure. But I get it.

It is a weird, just like the commanders this has to be for real like you got to stack them you don't want to fall into the seven win bucket like you just said you know what i mean that's the thing that you got to be careful with seven eight wins it's up for them because you're picking probably somewhere between eight and 14. Right. You know, who, who you got next? What are we doing next? Lions bucks.

Sure. Sorry. Sure. We have to do it eventually. I didn't lead with it. No. Welcome to the NFL stock exchange. How about the Lions went over the bucks?

Um, yeah. So I guess the, what matters most here is is mayfield was bad like mayfield was bad in this game if mayfield even plays like a mid-tier quarterback in this game they maybe went honestly there were some bad overthrows some bad misses some bad reads i mean mayfield just did not play well. It was his worst game in a Buccaneers uniform yet.

And I think that that matters certainly because of how he plays down the stretch will determine where the Bucs are not only picking in the order, but what they're doing at quarterback moving forward. And for Mayfield, I said this last week even before the game, the crucial part of evaluating Baker Mayfield for the Buccaneers is not now or at the time when things were going very well. The crucial time for Mayfield, as it has been in most of his stops previously, is Mayfield will play well.

He played well at times in Cleveland. The time in Carolina just was a nightmare, so I don't really – Yeah, but kind of erase that from our brain. He played well in that first game against the Rams. But then he also played poorly, and he was never able to get out of playing poorly. He was not able to ride the roller coaster back up and play well again. Can he do that in Tampa Bay?

Do they have the right quarterback, offensive coordinator connection between him and Dave Canales to where, all right, they were really bad against Detroit. They might have a little bit of a lull here, but can they pick it back up? Can it look even better than it did before? Because if that's the case,

that's somebody that you invest in. That's the quarterback that you're probably going to run with for the short term moving forward. But also, I'll say this too. The run game is horrific in Tampa Bay. Terrible. And I think the offensive line plays well. They've got Rashad White, Sean Tucker,

big fans on this pod. kishan vaughn they're not good enough they're just not i mean this team going into this week 30 second in yards per attempt 30 second in yards before contact 30 sec 30 31st and first down rushes now they are 32nd after this past weekend 30th in EPA per rush. And yet they have the fifth highest rushing percentage of plays in the league. So they want to stay balanced. They want to run the football. They don't have the backs to do it.

So this Tampa is never going to be a team that truly runs away from player from, from other teams that they are playing. If they can't get more efficient on the ground. And right now it's not just bad. Like it's, it's, it's last't get more efficient on the ground. And right now, it's not just bad. It's last in the league bad for this team. Yeah, there's no denying that. Rashad White has had the chances, too.

Right, right, right. There's no efficiency there. Trey Benson, you are. Fire it up. Him and Braylon Allen, get both of them out there. Sure. Figure it out. Did you have a what matters most for this?

I did, and it's Lions, which is good. It's just a weird take I have, or I don't know if it's that weird. I think we're at the point where Goff going number one overall and it not working out with the team that drafted him number one overall for the long term and he did a lot of really good things there but at the end of the day they moved on from jared goff that whole start to his career has completely blurred our perception of him being a good nfl quarterback i don't think he's great but I don't think he's average at all. I think he's, I think he's honestly really good at this point where it's like you say, Jared Goff was a third round pick and this kind of just, or the Kirk cousins wrote, like he went that route.

It feels like people would view him differently, but since Goff was a product of McVay when he was really young, and yes, Ben Johnson is doing good things for Jared Goff. No one is denying that. But when you watch him play now, and so much of his production coincides with, are they indoors or is the weather good? Because if it's one of those two things, Goff has a really good game, honestly.

He looks surgical to me, Trevor. And you go in our system and there's not the big time throw numbers or anything crazy like that. But you look at the product of running an offense, seeing things pre-snap, throwing with accuracy, playing in rhythm, allowing your players to get run after catch targets, right?

The ball's not late. There is something very very like when you look at a guy and go well his players have a lot of yards after catch form there's also an art to being the quarterback that gets the ball there early where they are set up to run after the count percent so i my whole thing with gopher at the point is he has such a blurred perception because of how his career started but it's okay to look at jared goff and go he's a really good nfl quarterback at this point of his career i love it i love the take where we go next cardinals rams uh a quick one for me okay real quick the rams offense will keep them interesting all year long they are I thought they'd be a really bad team I think they're a 500 or 9 and 8 team because Cooper Cup is one of the best skill players in the league Sean McVay is one of the best play callers in the league Kyron Williams

got hurt in this game but Kyron's been running with a lot of volume and running well Matthew Stafford is still a good player their offense has enough that the rams i'm shocked by this they will be relevant the entire season in my opinion i agree i agree man i was wrong about them i was on paper outside of their stars i mean it drops off so hard i think certainly in recognition and what guys have done um from a volume perspective already in this league. I mean, they're just, they're so green. They're so inexperienced. A lot of guys who are making names for themselves for the first time, which is great. And I agree with you.

I think the Rams are not going to go quietly into that good night, no matter what game they are playing. Mine is for the Cardinals. And, you know, I look at the Arizona Card Cardinals it's certainly a team that's in a transition period one of their first round picks this year has to be used on an offensive line right I mean you have Paris Johnson who's playing right tackle right now you can get out of DJ Humphrey's contract at the end of this season. And it's a much easier cut. He signed a three-year deal, not this past off season, but the one before.

I don't know if they would want to do that, but if they do that, it allows Paris Johnson to then go to left tackle. You could probably draft another right tackle. Like I think of this team adding Talisa Fuaga from Oregon State. And then all of a sudden you got Paris Johnson on one side and Fuaga on the other. And it's like, all right, now we're, now we'll cook up the oil.

But the offense, I mean, the interior offensive line is not really great either. Will Hernandez is playing well, but the other guys on there aren't. So when you look at how this offensive line is probably also a multi-year rebuild, does that go into the conversation about Kyler? Because I think a lot of people look at how the Arizona Cardinals have been

playing lately and they say like, all right, they're not going to take the number one overall pick. They're not going to, they're probably not going to be picking that high. They're going to roll with Kyler, use the picks on something else. I think that they could still certainly do that. I wouldn't totally write off them resetting the clock for a quarterback yet, because I think that they will be ample opportunities to trade kyler murray and get good things in return you get off of his contract that you signed and then you reset it with a

rookie quarterback contract and you know that you're still i mean the defensive line is nowhere near ready to compete and i don't think the offensive line is either. So it goes back to the timeline. Like if you think that you're two, three years away from really solidifying the offensive and defensive lines, at that point, where is Kyler in his contract? Are you basically just burning all of this money in cap space, knowing that your team's not really ready

and that you're not going to be as competitive as you want, especially in that division. So ultimately, I think what matters most goes along the lines of one of those first-round picks has to be used on the offensive line. But I think it also kind of starts a conversation about the timeline of quarterbacks as well. Can you move on from Kyler Murray? Because they already have a lot of really good picks.

But shoot, man, you can trade Kyler Murray for at least a first-round pick for somebody. What's Atlanta can trade Kyler Murray for at least a first round pick for somebody. What's Atlanta trading for Kyler Murray? When Kyler Murray's healthy, I mean, he makes the Atlanta Falcons, the division favorites, easy. And Falcons would give up a first round pick and more for that, even on a massive contract. That's what they want to be.

I think other teams are kind of in that position too. So I know we talk about this all the time with the Cardinals. I think that they're punching above their weight, kind of just like the Rams were, but offensive lines isn't there yet. And I think this is another week to show that. Your point about timelines though is fascinating and one that we will discuss a lot with them

going into the draft. There's so much quarterback drama in this draft, and it's going to be pretty nuts. The last game from the 4 p.m. slate before we do Sunday Night Football, we opened a little bit with Jets-Eagles. I think for me, Trevor, what matters most at its purest form is

the Jets went through the hell part of their schedule without Aaron Rodgers. They had Aaron Rodgers for four plays of those six games. Absolute hell. And they end up 500. They end up three and three. They beat the Bills, who were big time favorites in the division. They got the Nathaniel Hackett Revenge Bowl game against the Broncos,

and they beat the undefeated Eagles. They took the Chiefs down to really the final plays of the game. They got blown out by Dallas, and inexplicably, they lost to the Patriots and could have almost won on a stupid Hail Mary at the end of the game. I'm not saying the Jets should be better than 3-3, but the fact that they are 3-3

with the gut punch four plays into the season with Zach Wilson, their season matters after their bi-week. And that's remarkable in every sense of the word. It shows you that you got the right man at the top. That's it. That's you. There you go.

And that's, that's extremely important. And I'd agree with you. That's my, what matters most. I'll switch it over to the Eagles for my, what matters most. So I had some stats here because the Eagles are five and one, and it feels really weird to nitpick a five and one team,

especially a team that like could have been undefeated, right? We could be talking about that. It's still six. No, but it doesn't look the same for the Eagles as it did last year. and i think a big area of that has to do with the deep ball because last year when you look at passes that traveled at least 20 yards or more the eagles had a turnover worthy play rate on those passes of just 2.7 so whenalen Hurts was throwing it deep down the field, he was either hitting, like hitting, just straight up hitting his guys for big plays,

or he was throwing passes in which he was giving his guys a chance. And it wasn't like considered a turnover worthy play. Like it was a deep shot. You know, maybe he didn't hit it exactly the way you need to, but either he was hitting his guy in stride or it was not a turnover-worthy play. 2.7% is really low. This year, those same passes, 17.6% turnover-worthy play rate. So they're going from 2.7% to 17.6%.

That's the big difference for me is that throwing it deep down the field is not nearly as much of a guarantee of not just a big play, but also not a negative play as it has been in years past for the for the eagles so that to me along with a couple of other things is why i don't think they look as dominant i think that number comes down a little bit but to to believe that it's going to go sub 3% again, I think that's asking a lot. So the Eagles still believe they're one of the best teams in the NFL. It just might not look as easy for them as it did last year.

This year might be more of a grind to get back to the Super Bowl than 2022 was. I'm with you in every way. I mean, we talk about the Eagles every week and we're like, they just don't look like themselves yet, despite always winning. And they finally ran out of playing a dangerous game, right? It was like, I cover the Jets every week. I am very honest with my picks with the Jets. I don't just pick the Jets every week as much as that would be fun.

I thought they would beat the Bills when I thought Aaron Rodgers would play. I also thought they would lose by at least a touchdown to the Eagles. I thought the Eagles would be able to run down their throat. I thought that the pass rush would be too much for Zach Wilson. The Eagles were missing guys, but the Jets were playing practice squad corners. It's just, it is wild any given Sunday in the NFL. But the Eagles had been playing this dangerous game for really the entire season on and off. And it finally got them in. Maybe Trevor, maybe they need to actually lose one, right? Maybe they need to lose one. And they

have a really accountable group there with Jalen and all those veterans on defense, Jason Kelsey, that maybe they're like, okay, we're going to learn a lot from this loss because they are so talented and typically well-coached that they'll be okay. But this was, the ship was taking on water for a couple of weeks and it finally just,

it finally, you know, filled up. I agree with you. Before we get to the last game of the Sunday slate. I want to remind you guys that we are brought to you by Manscaped, who has taken a step up from ball of weed to bring your face to clean a shave it has ever seen. So this season, no need to toil in trouble. Manscaped's all new handyman is the best way to get rid of that stubble featuring a compact design and next gen next gen skin safe technology the handyman was designed to give you that smooth finish without the mess of a traditional safe shave get the sweetest treat this halloween by going over to manscape.com using the promo code pff for 20 off plus free

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collie but basically on my lap. It's dinner time for her. Isn't it amazing how dogs know? We're a little late. So I give her credit here. She's been really good. But it's, I mean, we're about a half hour past dinner and she comes strolling in.

She could barely fit in my desk area. It's just massive. And I'm like, okay, it's the last game. It's like what I have to say to anyone. I'm in a rush here. Marvel, my dog, is pushing it nowadays. We're talking like 3.50 p.m. He just starts being like.

It's like buddy. Next to me as I'm working, I'm like, dude, you're not that far removed from late lunch you're like we gotta that's the thing we've got to have discipline and structure in this household yes yes we are a tom coughlin household we are a bill parcells household so i've been getting 35 30 that's when it is i've been getting played i mean we do we do a cookie after the last night walk um usually a poop walk. Yeah. And now now like the casual walk before I leave for NBC in the morning, I'm getting I'm getting stared at.

Like, where's my cookie? And I'm like, no, no, no. That wasn't a poop walk or a night walk. There's no cookie in this. So that's what it is. It's the behavior treat, you know? Yep. All right. So Sunday night football,

Giants-Bills, a thriller, an unexpected thriller. Tyrod Taylor starts this game. I'll let you kick this one off, Trevor. It was surprisingly down to the last play in a game where the Giants were underdogs by at least two touchdowns. Yeah, I just think the Giants offensive line

is just simply not good enough this year. Yeah. Since week 11 of last year including the postseason the giants are 4 11 and 1 i mean it's just it's it's tough and yeah it's not great i mean no matter how you slice it i mean i understand they've gone through injury you know brian dable is clearly very frustrated about how his offense is playing it doesn't seem like they're in sync it doesn't seem like they're doing the things that he wants them to do. I don't mean to make him blameless. He's the head coach. He's the guy who went offensive or he's the one who won coach of the year. Like you got to figure it out. But I mean, there, we think of the giants,

at least I've certainly been guilty of this. As you look at 2022, you look at how they made the playoffs and how they overachieved and, and what Dable did and how he won coach of the year and you go man giants had a great year they did but down the stretch they were not good last year and they are starting this year still not good 4 11 and 1 since week 11 of last year offensive line really bad 0.8 yards before contact per attempt in the rush game. That is the worst in the NFL. Lowest graded pass block unit in the NFL. 31.9 pass blocking grades so far this season.

And most pressures allowed of their quarterback, 129. That is by a mile of any other offensive line. So the unit is just not. We saw Joe Shane, the general manager, want to emphasize the trenches in the season where, or in the draft where he took Kayvon Thibodeau and Evan Neal back-to-back for those two premium picks. He's not going to shy away from continuing to invest in the trenches if it is just not good enough.

And there are too many areas of the trenches for the Giants that are not good enough. I watched the last part of that game, Saquon Barkley had daylight for what it felt like was the first time off season. You know, they keep giving it to Saquon Barkley because he's one of their best playmakers.

But as we know, success in the run game, it totally starts up front. You've got to give him some sort of daylight. He cannot just make magic out of everything. And when they were able to give him just a little bit of daylight towards the end of that bills game, you saw a handful of chunk runs from him.

He was able to get in his space. He was able to do it quickly powerfully make guys miss and it was great there's not enough of that there's not been enough of that this entire season saquon's numbers are really suffering because of it and it's runs like what we saw last night that remind you this guy is still really talented and the problem is not that saquon sees it perfect every time but it's the offensive line is the issue for the Giants and it's letting them down big time and I don't know how much better this year is going to get knowing that the cavalry is not coming for the O-line so that was my what matters most is is how bad the Giants have been in the trenches this year yeah and that with the heroic off the couch performance by Justin Pugh, right? And it still isn't enough. That's what's crazy with their offensive line.

I think... So I look at this. What matters most are my big takeaway from this game as the Bills try to get right. And some people won't like this, but the honeymoon is obviously over for Brian Dable. The shit is getting real very fast. I think in New York,

this is tricky, but I think in New York, he's going to have to learn at times how to control his emotions with his quarterbacks. And I know football is a intense sport and we've all been yelled at by coaches. It's part of sports. It's part of the intensity.

I get it. But I was I woke up this morning and I was watching tape and I don't listen to the radio anymore. Literally ever. It's probably part of being a podcaster. You know what feels like 90 percent of the days. But I saw a tweet come across my timeline that Rex Ryan was on the local radio here

and it was very, very early in the morning. And I clicked it because I was like, I love listening to Rex when he has perspective of, you know, what it's like to be a coach in New York. And he talked about Jets Eagles, who's great, all that. But they asked him about Brian Dable and, you know, kind of yelling at the quarterbacks on the sideline.

And Rex was like, as a coach, you're going to get into your players. You're going to yell at your players. He's like, but he did. And this is the exact thing Rex said, but something along the lines of, he's like, you do need to watch how you do it so publicly. There's a time and a place to do it. And a lot of that time, it can be behind closed doors.

And I think Dable's frustrationsrations he really like turns into a tomato at daniel jones and tyrod taylor he's yeah he's visibly mad at them yeah right like it is your fault you idiot is what it looks like and he might be right but when you are the coach of a team especially in new york where the scrutiny of coaches i mean two weeks ago robert sala was fired and now he's back in the running for coach of the year right like that's that's the conversations that go on here day bull if they keep losing and the the meme of the game is always him screaming at whoever's playing quarterback for the Giants on that given day. It's going to wear out. It's going to wear out.

And I know some people won't like this tape because they'll be like, well, that's tough coaching. It is. That's coaching in all sports. We've all been yelled at. But I do think the act is starting to get a little thin. Sometimes just get out there, man, and be like, you know what? It starts with me. I wasn't good enough today.

And he's an accountable guy. I'm not saying he's not. But when that's always the meme from the game, it's a bad look. In my eyes, it's a really bad look. It's tougher in New York. Like whether you want to believe it or not, like the New York media, it is different.

Right, yeah, yeah. Especially for a team that played very well last year that is really underperforming this year because there gets to a point where you go like oh okay like did you also overperform as a head coach like if you're losing it on on your players and look i i don't want people to come away from this point thinking that we're soft and that you can't get into players and like there's best coaches in the nfl scream with their players right i mean like bill belichick it's another week he's breaking another microsoft surface on the sideline like nick saban greatest

college coach of all time like he's known for screaming his players like that sort of stuff happens hard coaching absolutely happens um not to put words in your mouth but i think that you're just saying like you do have to be aware of it i think especially we're a head coach on a very notable market team i think one of the hardest things about being a head coach in the nfl is emotions it really is because a lot of these guys are assistants for a long time. And the assistants of a team are more often than not the energy because the head coach has so many different highs and lows. One week you're fired, one week you're the goat, one week, whatever. And you're handling politics, You're handling your players. You're handling relations with the front office and getting talent. And you're meeting with an owner

all the time, depending where you're the head. There's too much for you to be kind of like this. So the emotions come from the assistants because they're in the meetings with the players every day. Like I'm the wide receivers coach. These are my guys. Your, your wide receivers are going to talk to their wide receiver coach more than any other coach on the staff or the offensive coordinator. They can be the guys going nuts on the sidelines because they have the time, right? Like if you're a defensive coordinator and your defense gets a huge stop to get off the field, you can go nuts with them because you don't give a shit about what's going on with special teams or offense as much when you're the head coach, there's not a part of the game that you're not involved in, all the way down to the TV timeouts. So I think Brian Dable is learning,

and what makes some coaches great is emotions, right? It really is. I mean, it really is. But I think he is still learning how to go from assistant to head coach because those emotional outbursts, they're going to happen. He's a human being but you do need to pick your spots with them and if they're happening every time you're losing that's not really a good practice right or wrong it is part of the job it's right you can love it

hate it i don't care it's right or wrong right or wrong it is part of the job. Although I do feel bad for him with the halftime run call because it seemed like Tyrod audibled into a run in the end zone. And then you can see it. Tyrod thinks they have a timeout. I don't know if you saw that. Yeah, no, he's played too long for it to not be that. And you can tell that Ty yeah no he's played too long to for it to not be that and and he and he you can tell that tyrod thinks he has a timeout because they stop the play and tyrod is just like

walking so gingerly he looks over to the sideline he's like all right what are we doing now and then you can tell everyone is screaming at them to go because they don't have time out and you see tyrod's body like jolt forward like oh, oh, okay, we got to do this. So I have that very frustrating moment for Dable. But again, right or wrong, it is unfortunately part of the job. And it's especially part of it if you're in New York and you're not playing well. So I don't want something like that to unfairly get on Brian Dable. But yeah, it might.

It's at least just something to monitor, you know. There we go. That's what, that's what we thought mattered most from week six in the NFL. Let us know what you guys thought mattered most, whether it was a take that we had on your favorite team or just a take that you have on your favorite team, what you think matters most, whether it's draft perspective, season perspective, coach, player, whatever it is, hit us up, let us know.

Best way to do that in the youtube channel for this video youtube.com backslash at nfl stock exchange comment section is the best way to do it while you're there please like and subscribe we would love you forever your audio only hit us up on x and instagram at tampa bay trey at connor j rogers uh we read the stuff that you guys send us there. So that is also a good way to get in on the conversation. We will have a more draft focused show on Wednesday. Not sure exactly what it's going to be, but Connor texted me yesterday and was like, Hey,

I think it's about time that we have an updated quarterback conversation. So it might be, we might do the whole show about the quarterbacks from the 2024 class and talk about how they have played halfway through the college football season. But whether it's the whole podcast or just part of the podcast, it will be a lot of what we talk about, Connor, because a lot of movement,

there's a lot of movement and a lot, we got to get people catching caught up on. Absolutely. We had a classic in Oregon, Washington. It felt like 90% of the tweets i saw from people that don't care about the draft or college until the night of the draft were like this is the guy and caleb williams that you said is going to change a franchise because he threw a couple

of interceptions oh brother but anyway yeah it's i mean i would i would like to catch up on these things and and this is a really talented, deep class with, I don't want to say a lot of movement, but I think a lot of players that are positioning themselves to be first-round picks. Yep. We're going to talk about quarterbacks and so much more on the Wednesday edition of the show.

I'm Trevor Sikama. That's Connor Rogers. Thank you guys so much for listening to the NFL Stock Exchange Podcast. We will see you oh my god Bye.