The Athletic Football Show: A show about the NFL - Buccaneers-Patriots gets sloppy, the Dallas Cowboys look dangerous, Zach Wilson & Justin Fields get wins & more week 4 reaction with Nate Tice

Episode Date: October 4, 2021

Week 4 NFL action is nearing a close, and Robert Mays and Nate Tice have tons of thoughts on Sunday's slate of games.What happened in the in between Tom Brady, Bill Belichick & Buccaneers vs. Patriots?How dangerous are the Dallas Cowboys and Trevon Diggs right now?What about what Kyler Murray in Arizona and what's going on with rookie QBs Trey Lance, Justin Fields, Zach Wilson, and Trevor Lawrence?And Who's Got the Belt for week 4?All that and more on a postgame reaction edition of The Athletic Football Show. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

This is the athletic football show. Welcome to the athletic football show. I'm Robert Mays. Joining me tonight is my good friend Nate Tyson. How you doing, buddy? I'm doing well. You're just so excited from that, what was it, the most extraordinary regular season game in living memory?

I think as that game was being hyped up, 80 pass attempts in the rain. That was a little slinging in the rain type of game tonight. That was a lot of fun. Yeah, it was that soaking wet game in Fox Row in 19. 17 game. I'll remember it for the rest of my life. I, it seems like my experiences with Foxborough in any

sort of big time capacity have to be disgusting. Like I just remember they just fog and mist. And I remember a game in the snow trying to get an Uber from that stadium when I was covering a game there. And I had to walk to the Bass Pro

shop down the road. It's a weird setup down there if you've never seen it. But all the people getting back to their cars and now sitting on traffic on the one after watching that ugly game, I'm feeling for them. What do we take it away from that game? My first thought, terrible field goal decision by Bill Belichick. Like, I just don't think you can kick that ball in that spot.

In the rain with a guy who, I mean, we heard about his plant leg 17 times over the course of that second half. That seems like a strange choice to me in that moment. Especially like you and I were kind of doing double do. Like we're prepping for this, but we're watching the end of the game. And like, I'm looking up and I was like, maybe it's closer that. I realized. Like maybe I'm not realizing. It was it was not close kick. That was why when they trotted them out there, I was like, this isn't that much of a decision to me. Like if it was a 45-yard field

goal, maybe, how far was it? Wasn't it? It was 54? Yeah, that's in the rain. That seems like way, way, way, way, way too much. Bad plant foot in the rain because we all know like, you know, slipping in the rain is already one thing you have to worry about. Now imagine kicking going in that as already seen people struggling to even grip the ball a day. Like Brady almost went under 50 percent. it was so rainy today. Just beautiful October football weather in New England. They managed to squeeze it out, obviously, an ugly win, but you'll take that on the road against the team that still has a pretty darn good defense.

We talked about that on Friday. What did you make of the plan that Belichick and the Patriots defense had against Brady? Do you feel like that on top of the weather gave him some trouble over the course of today? Because they did look much more disjointed on offense than we typically have seen from them this year. Yeah, they like played. The Patriots kind of played the Patriots way on defense, like, which I actually kind of like, they didn't blink. Like they, it wasn't so much the kitchen sink that they were throwing at them, but it was more like, we play the we being the Patriots played their defense really well. A lot of the one double stuff or they're rushing five and just playing man coverage behind it.

It was so jarring to see now Tom Brady, after we see years and years of quarterbacks, especially young quarterbacks double clutching in the pocket getting pushed on them. And then the quarterback, oh, having to throw the ball away. all of a sudden seeing Tom Brady being that quarterback that's double clutching and breaking out contained like it just is very jarring to watch happen in New England. But it was just they had a good game plan. They understood the weather. They kind of just understood that the weaknesses of that defense can be usually a tight end or a running back beating you because it's hard to double those types of guys.

And with gronk out and really Gio Bernard, even though we don't think of him as a matchup nightmare, he would have really helped tonight just having him underneath. You can see where that was coming into play because it's hard to push the ball downfield. Brady's Adad averaged up the target today. It was 10.7. And that's really hard to do in the rain. That's a hard offense. We've talked about this.

That's credit to the bucks for so far this past year and a half making a hard offense look easy. We've said that before, but it looked hard tonight. It really did. I have a strange question for you. Do you think teams take weather into account when they're planning schematics? Because man coverage, you typically have to play a little bit tighter than you do against zone, right? about ball placement, which was part of the argument as to why the Chargers might have thrown more man cover against Mahomes. It's like, we're going to make you make every pinpoint throw.

In the rain, would it make more sense? The Patriots are already a man heavy team, but in the rain, would it make more sense to maybe lean on more man coverage in order to make a team play a little bit more pinpoint on offense? I think so. And also, because if say if you were wanting to go zone, it would be almost like, hey, what's cloud the side that could do more damage? Like, if say if it's really windy out go like, hey, the side that the wind winds going towards, like, what's cloud that side? But man coverage, yeah, that's what, that's why you do man coverage is you're forcing offenses to beat you, beat you one-on-one, to have somebody beat you one-on-one.

And what's one of the weaknesses, I think, you know, that they might have is winning those one-on-ones or like, that's what you say in the rain. I mean, honestly, you want you, you think Mike Evans or Godwin and Antonio Brown over the target. There are a lot of different considerations. Yeah. You also have to be more precise. the best way to win against man is running away.

And also you have to anticipate those throws as a quarterback. That's one of the hardest things that a lot of these quarterbacks have to do. We'll get into rookie quarterbacks later is learning to throw against man over and over and over. Because you have to throw to a spot and trust that guy's going to be there and have to hold onto the ball an extra half second. So that's what it's really hard to do in the ring because you're just adding that extra variable that you have to think about. What did you think of the Mack Jones performance? Obviously, his numbers and completion percentage all of that. stuff looks great. He was getting rid of the ball quickly. He was 12 and 14 for 134 yards against the

blitz before their final drive, which is an efficient, you know, doing what you want him to do in those moments. I didn't come away from that game thinking he's the next great quarterback in the NFL, but I thought he looked like he knew what he was doing. Yeah, and that's exactly it. That's him from Alabama was like you always knew where the ball was going to the right spot. And I think that's still the same thing. He's the guy that you're still hoping he pushes the ball. And I get the weather today, but that's kind of been his MO good and bad so far is that five point three are air yards per target today it seemed like that too like and that that's kind of how he's been this whole season it's that's that's the chad pennington comparisons come in is that like it's super accurate i mean rare accuracy but then it's

oh can you throw that dig instead of checking it down you're right you're happy with it but it's like oh you you don't want that derrick car problem to come up which he's beaten this year but it's that's that's it's a rookie you also have to remember it's a rookie so it's good that his eyes are going to the right place and that he's super accurate. It's just that you hope maybe that he's now taking more doubles and triples when they're there instead of just always taking the single. I will say, compared to the other rookie quarterbacks that we've watched, many of whom have looked lost at times, really uncomfortable when it gets muddy in the pocket when there's guys around them. His ability to navigate those situations looks far more advanced than the other guys that we've

seen in the reps that we've seen to this point. He's not as physically talented as any of them, but he has been much better at dealing. with the pocket and maneuvering it and navigating it and just those aspects to his game. So that's a positive. There are commendable things to what he did tonight. But I think all of it comes with like a large lump of salt. Yeah, they were putting them over a little bit on commentary tonight. Like they made it just sound like it was like, I mean, it was like a debut in a wrestling.

They had to try to compare Mack Jones and the greatest quarterback of all time. So if they could shrink that gap as much as possible, that was the goal. He had a ball where Matt, Mac Jones. I'm not trying to like dog him or anything, but the ball was like looping out like on a checkdown. or something like that. And he's like, you know, I think Collinsworth was like, you know, he's going to get there. He's going to get to that level. And I was like, I don't know if you can improve that, Chris.

I don't know if you can improve zipping the ball out on a field out. Like you're going to, I think he's maxed out there. You got to understand what he can improve on. But I don't think arm strait's going to help out that much. This is going to be the Patriots formula this year, though, right? I mean, it's going to be great defense, which they have played for the most part through this entire season so far and them trying to matriculate the ball on offense. very workman-like offensive performances, I think, is what we can expect from them.

And that's okay. He's a rookie quarterback. That's what we should have expected. Their weapons, I think, still leave a decent amount to be desired. So they will find themselves over the course of the year. I still think their ceiling is quite limited on that side of the ball. But I didn't think that they were a contender coming into the season anyway. I think they will be feisty, annoying team to play every single week.

That is a pain in the ass. That is my takeaway from that. That's what they were tonight. And that's what they're going to be for a while. the one other thing I'll say, I am genuinely concerned against a more high-powered offense about what the buck's secondary

is going to look like. Because we said it all spring. People ask me on radio shows in conversation, what would stop the bucks from repeating this year? And it's health. It's always health. I mean, when you have these situations, they're the healthiest team in the NFL last season.

And health is not consistent from year to year. It's random. It's a roll of the dice for pretty much every single team that's not the Rams. The Rams are always healthy. They have figured something out. And the Chargers and Giants for years. And the other side of it.

Yeah, that was always the opposite. And the unfortunate part is that is the area of their roster where they could afford the least amount of injuries because they weren't deep there to start with. And now, I mean, Richard Sherman's off the street and he's starting in a matter of days because they need him to. Losing Carlton Davis, if it's for any extended period of time, it would be devastating for them. Because, I mean, Ross Cockerel and Richard Sherman, it's like 2014. Like, I just, it's a very strange situation and not the one that they had planned for. And apparently, Antoine Whitfield was out at the end of the game with a concussion, which losing guys there, that's when the team starts to deteriorate quickly. Secondary and offensive line, things can go south really, really fast.

So it's just something to keep an eye on against teams that are averaging more than 5.3 yards per target. And especially since teams are not really keen on running the ball against them anyways because of either they and everything they have. So it's like, all right, well, it's more incentive that they're going to be chucking and ducking against them. I mean, that's just, it just makes sense now. So that is something that's to be circled and kind of looked at every single week is how other teams can get after them through the air. All right. Let's talk about the folks that got our attention this week. Gentlemen, you have my curiosity.

Now you have my attention. Every NFL Sunday, there's a lot going on. I have three TVs in the basement. I have five full games going on at once plus the red zone. There's a lot to sort through. So every week we like to take some time to step back and talk about who grabbed us, who made us sit up and take notice in that wall of stimuli that was coming at us. And I want to start with the Arizona Cardinals because that is a statement win today against a Rams team that was absolutely rolling.

I have my thoughts about the Cardinals and it's a different takeaway than I expected before rewatching. the game. What is your main takeaway after watching the Cardinals do that to the ramps today? Oh my God. Kyler Murray, like, take a bow. I mean, if you are standing up right now, take a bow. Like, he's just, he is playing fan fricking task. It's, it's wild. It really is. It's wild. He punishes everybody. It's different from Lamar. Lamar punishes past Rush lanes, but then he's scrambling. Like, he can throw on the move, but that's, he's going to beat you down what scrambles. Kyler beating you with his legs and then also with his arm talent is like he converted

two third and extra extra longs today that just totally changed the game. Which ones? So the 13. 16 scramble is like a back breaking play. That's a that you look around and just like, what are we supposed to do? It was a Sony Michelle fumble and then they get the ball. The Rams defense steps up. Third and extra long.

They're outside field range. I think they're out of the 42. Third and 16, he scrambles against the first down. They had a pass rush round. And it's like, okay, she's, that's a tie turner. And then the two minute drill, they had third and 14. And again, it was just outside field goal range. He, he starts scramble and then he throws it down to, checks it down to Edmonds.

And it was just like, that, I mean, that's just like, what do you do? Because that's, you have your coverage. You have a good pass rush. And it's just like somebody to make a play, like good, come on defense. Like what? How do you coach that up on defense? That's so frustrating. And that's so, especially who has an offense that has been just cooking so far this year.

And it was really Stafford. Stafford missed some throws today. Yeah. They'd made those mistakes and the, the Cardinals took advantage of it, the entire game. The run game looked good. And it just every time they got in third and long and they're converting. Like, I mean, they were just doing enough.

And Cowher's actually just hitting some of those plays, like, hit some balls over the middle. Like Kyle Martin. The throw does it, Max Williams is ridiculous. Like, Chef's Kiss beautiful. It was an awesome, awesome throw. So on those, on those coverages, it's, it's kind of cool for me, because it's reminding me of old Big Ten coverages, uh,

with, with quarters. they, they, that backside safety has to push to number three vertical and that's the tight end usually. So, Kyler beating the linebacker pushing back and then the safety pushing over is like, like you said, chef's kiss. It's like, oh, that's like, that's a one percent throw. And the fact that he's a Rogers throw, like that's like the throws that Rogers makes. Because it's a liner, but it gets over a guy. And it's like, oh, the touch and everything else on that throw is, is beautiful and having to make that.

He made so many on time quarterback plays today on top of the bonkers out of structures. stuff. He was working AJ Green down that right side line, just like getting hitches out before he was even out of his break, taking advantage of that one-on-one down the field, working very quickly and on time and in rhythm as a passer, unbelievable accuracy. And then those two third downplays. The third and 16, it's funny because you say, what are you supposed to do about that as a defense? He's a guy that you draw it all up on the board.

It's like, if we do this, we're fine. And then he just takes the board and smashes it over his knee. On offense, he does the opposite. where the stuff on the board isn't that impressive and then you put him in there and it looks amazing. That's what it was today. That third and 16 play, Kenny Young has him and they,

it was a five man pressure and he's looping around to the outside. I assume when they're drawing that up, it's like, all right, you maintain contain here. Like you're coming out here. You have to have contain here. He's going to run right into you. He's going to run right India.

He did run right into him. Then he snapped his ankles on the way to the sideline. He made so many plays today And it was funny because we were talking about it Before we started recording And you said, I don't still I don't know about like the structure and the offense Everything else I was like come on man

Like really we're gonna do this again And then I went back and watched it And I was like you're totally right I know He's just making crazy stuff happen I I feel very comfortable in saying this Through the first four games of the year

He is the most valuable player in the NFL I don't know if he is the AP the most valuable player winner, but based on whatever that criteria is, the Cardinals are 4 and O. He is the most valuable player to the success of his team in football through the first month.

I don't really think it's that much of a conversation. Like Mahomes may be, and like Lamar maybe just like pure value to what they are and their success. I think that Kyler is in that number one spot with a pretty comfortable lead. For me, it's, yeah, it's Kyle or Mahomes. So those are only two, like we're talking.

And then there's some other fun dark horses right now. I should say dark horses, but others in the convoy. But to me, it's Kyler and then it's a breath and then it's Mahomes. And that's another big breath. And that's how I look at it right now. We, we, I'm glad you brought the AJ Green stuff. We talked about, you know, Ramsey being in the slot. And today he was in the slot almost like three quarters of the time on the snaps today,

at least when the game was still in an actual game before a blowout. And it makes sense. Like, I was like, man, AJ Green keeps getting the ball. And, you know, Donja Hopkins on the other side, all outside. It makes sense. Jaylon Ramsey's on the inside. Where are they going to attack on the outside? Like they just went, oh, okay, you can't put number five everywhere.

So, all right, Kyle is just going to pound it, all those stop routes. And if those guys want to be, even though they moved DeAndre Hopkins a little bit today, left and right only outside receivers, it's just so hard to go against two ball winners like that. Not everyone's going to have corners that can match up against that all the time. and then Kyle would do all the stuff in the middle. And the fact that he hit a couple intermediate throws, like he hit an overthrow to, I think Hopkins on a white cross concept.

And it was just like he threw, like you said, he threw it right on time. He put that low, he put a low two. It was just like the ball placement on that was great. And then he had the whole shot to Hopkins up the right side line too. That's a perfectly placed ball.

I mean, the fact that on top of the, again, three or four back breaking, just devastating out of structure plays on third down, we can mention five, six, seven throw. where he's just playing really good quarterback,

that's the dangerous, dangerous combination. And that's where he is right now. And then on defense, Byron Murphy played really well. We did like several big plays in this game. Antonio Hamilton, who was just like a street free agent corner. That was huge pass break. I'm on a third down to Cooper Cup where he's just going to bring him out of the slot. Yeah.

Yeah. That's and that's what's happening with this team right now is that you have these ancillary pieces that are playing. well. The line is playing really well. I think the left side, like Humphreys and Pew are playing well. Did she, Humphreys had a pancake on a pole. Like it was like, like, I was like, who is this? Do you know what else I like, though?

And it's stark contrast to a lot of the other things you see in the red zone with teams that are frustrating right now. The fact that they're always spread out. Their numbers advantage in the run game in the red zone gives them such a leg up because they're just running into these five-man boxes from the two-yard line. And when you already have a one-man advantage because of what Kyler can do, and then you actually can outnumber people or at least go hat for hat inside the two as all of these other teams are struggling to punch the ball in,

it gives them an advantage in a really important part of the field. I mean, consistently, they're just converting in that area. And that's some of Kyler. What he can do for you there in the run game is important. But just in terms of structure and numbers before the ball is even snapped, they're often in a really good place and their guys up front are playing pretty well. It negates any advantage like one guy can have.

Like an Aaron Donald can't wreck as much if you're in the gun spread. Because say he gets up field, it's almost like they just wadded up and build a wall and Coward just gets up field or James Connor because he's like a battering ran for him. It's like a perfect little compliment with those two. It's very complimentary. I was going to say that. It's true with all of their scope position players, right?

Yep, because they got the big body guys and they got Rondale, and it's just, they've put it together in a really cool way. It does work together. We'll see what happens with the construction of the offense, but the construction of the personnel, especially the co-position players, I do like. The one other play I will mention, we talk about third down, ridiculous plays. We didn't mention this because this is a third in short. The play where Donald just obliterates the inside move against Pew,

and then Kiwa-Marie makes Aaron Donald miss in space. It's like, all right, this is now on a whole different level. Like, he's just doing this to everybody. Making Kenny Young miss on a big third down is one thing. Doing that to Aaron Donald is we're talking all time players and the best athletes and the best talents in the league in that moment working against each other. It's a little different than the Jags defense. What also was like this Rams defense because that was my argument for it. I was like, well, the Rams have some stars.

I're going to be able to make some plays. And it's like the star beat the other star. That's a little tough. But, oh, man, like you said, I'm still a little apprehensive on the Cardinals as a whole. But it's just like, man, if Kyler plays like this, this is so much fun to watch. Like, these are just hero plays. And he's now done it for straight weeks. And it's like, okay, there's going to be, there's going to be a frustrating game in there.

But it's, I think this is more of the majority now that he can consistently do this. That's pretty cool. I totally agree. All right. Let's get to our next one here. The Dallas Cowboys, you guys have my attention. Notably, they're off. and then a couple pieces on defense.

I want to talk about the whole team because I think there were some notable things on both sides of the ball. Let's start with the run game. Because it's easy. We love Dak. Dak is playing very well. They have a lot of talent in the passing game.

And the running backs are good. Tony Pollard is playing as well as any running back in the league. And Zeke had a really good day. But their line, I think we deserve some attention here because coming into the season, it wasn't necessarily given to me that they'd have this elite offensive line. Tyrone Smith has been hurt for years on and off. I mean, Tyrone Smith is a Hall of Fame talent at left tackle.

He's been hurt for years. They've had questions about, all right, the names are the same. How good are they really? They're playing at an upper, upper echelon level, and you could just see that throughout the entire game today. Yeah. And it's that run game. It's no matter, you know, it's a good run game when they can run any type of

concept and it looks great. Like they run inside zone, outside zone, split zone, duo. And then also like a few weeks or last week, they ran QB draw. I'm not QB draw. I'm sorry. Running back draw at least four or five times. And actually I know what the Cowboys signal for it now, which is pretty fun. It's just, it's honestly just like a cowboy draw like that, you know, like,

that's really funny. Wow. West. Yeah. I know. I want to change it deck. Uh, but it's, uh, but they did it over and over and over when they're going no huddle and it just looked beautiful because the Cowboys old line was passing off games.

which is like if you're doing that on draw, that's, oh, that's, that's the good stuff. If you're running duo and you're doing QB or you're doing running back draw well, it's like, okay, that's good old line play because that means those guys are winning the one-on-ones and, you know, mowing down some double teams. But the last side, like Tyrant Smith, we talked about before the show, he was, he's cutting guys off now again. He, I mean, it's dominance on every single play. Zach Martin, Zach Martin, like we know how good he is. But just how good this run game looks, every single snap is so much fun.

And the receivers have bought into blocking. Mari Cooper is now getting pulled inside to block. Both of these tight ends, they go 12 personnel and it's an advantage. Like both of the tight ends can hold their own on the edge so they can do those other types of runs. And then they get their third tight end. They really can. Even when they're double teaming together, they look good on it and they're getting movement on guys, which it's so funny. Because remember when we talked about this on Friday, we're talking about how the cart or the Panthers front was built.

They have all that beef inside, but their edges are smaller. So they gapped them out running that double tight stuff on one side and those double teams with those tight ends against a 240 pound edge rusher, you're going to get some movement on those plays. And that's exactly what was happening. And also they were getting to inside zone a lot, like when the Panthers were going too high, but then Shaq Thompson and the other linebackers were playing really low. So when they're running the zone stuff, they're basically just wadding it up because the double teams only have to climb like one or two yards. And so it was just like, oh, and then all the cutbacks were happening. Because all the linebackers just getting caught in the wash and just washing down. When you're getting three yards of movement on the double teams and you don't have to come off on the linebackers, that's when you know you're cooking.

And that's exactly what was happening today. It helps a lot. Oh, and the other thing, too, was because the Panthers kept going big nickel. Like they'd have chin in the slot. And so the cowboys were going 13 personnel. We're getting three. They're getting sprinkle in there, 87, the other tied end. And so they're just like, okay, like, we'll just go hip slot out of 13 personnel.

And they're just pounding the rock. Like, like last week, they went against the Eagles. who were putting Avanti Maddo in the box. It gets two eyes. They're like, okay, let's just run duo over and over. And then this week, they're like, okay, you guys want to just go big nickel. And we have all this, all this beef on our side. Like, okay, we'll just do it over and over.

And they did. Like the fact, they were third best DVOA and run DVOA going into this week. And I think it's going to improve. Oh, they will because the Panthers are number one. The Panthers are number one and run defense DVOA. So they absolutely will be. On the first drive, there was the, on the big Zeke run, the first big Zeke run, Tyron Smith scooped a guy that was a gap and a half over.

If you guys can go back and watch the play, watch where Tyron Smith starts and then watch where he gets to on the tackle. He literally turns him all the way around. He flips the sips. On that reach, which is crazy. It's a crazy block. And then a couple plays later, the Zika run that got them inside the five, if you watch the broadcast angle of it, the double team that Martin and Steele have, you can hear it on the broadcast angle. You can hear the impact they make on the double team as they're climbing up to the linebacker. They've had a couple of those today where the movement they got, they literally didn't have to come off on the linebacker because they just dumped the defensive tackle into his lap.

It was, I mean, and then you combine that with just little tiny wrinkles in the passing game. The double move to Amari Cooper where he motioned over is just like a subtle little thing. They, one of my, the, that's Cedric Wilson touchdown. They had on the bubble pump, right? Well, because they threw the bubble to him on a third and short earlier in the game when he was the number three receiver. I can't remember as DAC was motioning to him. I didn't hear what he said, but he gave him a little hand signal and they threw the bubble to him for a first down. And they set up with that same look, but the tight end was the number three receiver.

It was the flat. Yep. So, Cedric Wilson fakes the block and then cuts back inside the fake bubble and then they scored touch it off of it. It's three series away. Same look, same situation. similar situation and it's just a little tiny compliment on it. Those wrinkles in the passing game plus with the talent that they have and them just mowing people down in the running game.

It's easy to get excited about where this team is right now. That was the best defensive football through three weeks. Maybe a product of who they played, but still. Deck only threw 22 passes. And it was just like, it's like because he didn't have to. They only went three for nine on third down and they dominated the game because they were so good on first and second down. I mean, that just speaks to how good.

they were in the run game and also just what they had to do in the past game like the naked game all looks good because everyone has to honor the run game and then tight in and it's honestly like one of those things where there's sometimes a lot of or not sometimes a lot of times when there's some blocking tight end or and I'm sorry pass receiving tight end in and it's like all right when he blocks down you know it's going to be a bootleg because you're like this guy's not getting asked coming in the game but it's like with the cowboy's tight ends they actually have to honor it because they're like well they do ask you guys to like we block and down block and do all the actual real thing so it just opens up all the other stuff.

I just love the mix of personnel's too. Like totally. They're going jumbo and putting Connor McGovern at fullback. Yep. And then just the 13 personnel, then they can go four wides on the next play. It's really, it's, it's cool. I mean, this is what Boise State used to do under Calhoun Moore, like when he was a quarterback. They just mix all these personnel and formations and everything.

And it's just like, oh, okay, what's do at the NFL level with awesome players? Yeah, he's really good. It's very fun to watch right now. I want to call on parents. pitch at the end. Yeah, exactly. The Z-ZK end off. It's like, okay, cool.

Let's just do that shit now. It's a fun offense. It really is. I want to talk about the defense. Before we do that, I want to just mention a lot of credit to Terrence Steele. Somebody who struggled to even stay on the field at some points in his career when he had to play. They brought in Tine Seki this offseason. I assume with designs on making him their swing tackle.

And now Collins gets hurt. They bring Steele in to be that guy. And just playing really well, especially in the run game, playing with confidence. And just, think we sometimes over, players can get better. They can improve, they can put in work, and for that guy to take the steps that he's taken, for them to be able to drop him in there and still play an elite level along the entire offensive line and not miss a beat, I think is a huge credit to him and the work that he's

put in in the gains that he's made. Same goes for some of the guys on their defense. And we, all they need to do is make four or five plays a game. They need some drive-ending sacks. they need a pick or two, which apparently Trayvon Diggs is going to get every single week now, and they can win games. And that's what happened today. I love some of the stuff they're doing with certain pressure looks.

I mean, this is a defense that I did not expect to enjoy watching coming into the season. And because of a couple specific guys and a couple curveballs they're throwing at people, I actively don't mind watching the Cowboys defense. Yeah, it's either going to be like a train wreck play or like something really flashy and fun. Which is great. That sounds perfect to me. We kind of talked about it. It's almost like what it's the chief's formula.

I mean, it's exactly it is. It's going on full court pressing. That's basically what they're doing. It's what's score a bunch of points on offense and control the rock. And then it's like when we don't have the ball, let's get the ball back as quick as possible. And literally they work that they play,

I think the fastest pace in the league right now. So that's you're not even a joke. That's how they play. It's like VCU. What is that? Havoc ball? Yeah. Yeah.

Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. It's 60 minutes of havoc when you play. the Dallas Cowboys right now. That's what it is. It's just an onslaught of talent. I mean, that's honestly what they go for. And on defense, like, just not only just Michael Parsons and his rushing, and I'm going

to butcher this guy's name. Everyone said I was going to butcher his name, but Osa Oga do Ozua, Oga was their third round pick. But he is playing phenomenal as a third round rookie, just creating past rushes. And some of it is showing up in the box scores, but just if you just watch all these third downs, he is teeing off on guys. and getting really him and Randy Gregory with DeMarcus Lawrence. DeMarcus Lawrence was playing extremely well, especially in week one. And then it's, it was a shame that he got hurt, but all these other guys are stepping up.

What other dude by committee? And they know they need to. And that's why it's cool is that they were a couple big plays today where they had Parsons lined up over the center and using him as the penetrator in stunts where he's the one clearing out people. And Gregory was the looper. Gregory got one sack out of it I think they got another one later in the game and then Gregory had a really nice hump move for a sack I mean he

played really well today so just that by committee pass rush approach is really working for them and then Diggs is like I really think he's just a superstar now I don't like no else what else to say about it because the first pick he had I don't know if because he

the first pick Donald threw right to him I don't know if Donald thought because my assumption on that play, and I don't know, is that Darnock thought it was man coverage and that Diggs was on the point man in the bunch. And when he ran a little shallow cross, Diggs had followed him. And so in his mind, he just thought he was gone. And he was sitting there in zone coverage and threw it right to him. But the second one, that's just him playing downhill on the ball. I mean, that's just great cornerback play. And he's doing all that stuff. I mean, that's exactly what the pick six was against Philly. Yep. Yep. That was an undercut. I mean, that was great. And, and, And honestly, he probably gets a lot of experience stopping all those stop routes because that's what the Cowboys do in practice. Hey, hang, no pot shots at the Cowboys offense. They're playing too well. They don't deserve that from you.

They don't. They don't because I'm enjoying it too much. Yeah. But is it funny, too, though, the Panthers, I have to talk about their offense real quick, was that even with Chris McCaffrey out, they still had to get to the choice concept. Just put. It's a great idea. But DJ Moore running back. Let's do it.

Let's get him on the choice concept. But it worked. It did, it did. But I mean, this Cowboys at this unit, it's this is what they have to do. Like, Michael Parsons is like, we're going to take the Melvin Ingram crown for the best spinner. Like him and, or from him and cloudy, like just having him just penetrating on that. That's a lot of heat. That's a big body that's really athletic.

And even if it's like he's not getting the sacks, that just, it creates a lot of muck for the quarterback to. It's exactly right. Can't step up. He can't like, especially when you get into those third and sevens, third and eights from these quarterbacks, you know, they have to start driving the ball. So it's like you might not get the sacks, but it's just making it harder. And then that's why Dix can, you know, start cutting on these balls. It's a trickle down effect.

That's what pressure can create. And that's what they're doing a good job for considering like you said, it's by committee. And that's, it's fun. A couple more quick ones here, just people that grab by attention today. I wanted to mention the Ravens just because it wasn't the most exciting win in the world. They beat Drew Locke, who played for a good chunk of that game. But I still wanted to acknowledge that the Ravens went on the road against the team that is 3 and 0. and just the game was never in doubt.

Like, they just controlled the entire game. And I think these are the games we sometimes gloss over. Lamar made some monster throws in this game. Like the touchdown to Marquis Brown is just a 60-yard bomb that he hits. And there were several other big plays with his arm. And it feels like to me, it's like Malcovich and rounders. It's like they're hanging around and hanging around. Like they're three in one now.

They're getting healthier. It's, I think that like this is not good for other people. Like this team just being relevant as we get deeper here is not something people want. It's not like they're just like you said, they're hanging around. And it's like not like this win today was more like, oh, no, like they, they are winning. Like this is not like, oh, man, they got lucky and they have to get healthy. Oh, let's see how Rashad Bateman does. It's like they're, they're running like hip slot stuff.

And Lamar was hitting dig. He had a dig to Mark Andrews and they hit like a blaze out to Sammy Walkins. So it's like, what the hell is this? Like, where is this comfort? from like, I know. So it's kind of cool to like, they're getting,

it's not perfect yet, but it's like what they're throwing in the past game. It's like I am getting more excited to see Rashad Bateman come along. Like Devin Doverny like has a couple nice plays today. And like I thought he'd be more of a gadget guy, but now he's running slants and some actual real routes. It's like, okay,

some of these pieces are coming along and the O line, the O line played well. I mean, that is a tough ass D line to go against or at least pass rush unit. And the Broncos were bringing a lot of shit. Like they, they brought five. They were trying to heat them up.

And Lamar did a good job. The O-Line did a good job protecting. And Lamar did a good job of just hanging in the pocket. Like he really did some quarterback things today. And it's like that speaks to what he did today. And the whole Ravens team really, their defense, that was like a exactly what you picture the Ravens defense doing. Bring five running man coverage.

Bringing five running man coverage. Well, it gets a team without any talent left a wide receiver. I mean, that's exactly what you can do. I mean, you could just suffocate them. They had no shot. And Drew Locke out of there. It was like a feeding frenzy. It was like, oh, boy.

He's going to have to beat Mandy and rest of the game. This is not going to be pretty. And that's why I want some caveats. Obviously, like beating Drew Locke and beating that team on offense, that's not the most impressive thing to me. It's the way they threw the ball against the Broncos defense. The Broncos defense is that all the guys are there outside of Bradley Chubb. It's for the most part, it's a unit that we're still excited about with that's very well coached

and has a lot of good players. And the Ravens slung the ball around today. The last guy I wanted to mention that has my attention because literally, this is what the segment is for when I'm watching 17 things. is happening. And out of the corner of my eyes, some guys just captivating. Taylor Heineke, it all, every end of the spectrum here, anything is on the table and I'm here for it. Like the two biggest plays he made today are just no, no, no, no, no yes plays to the nth degree. He, he's like watching like every time you watch him is honestly like the Cheriots of Fire

theme is just playing throughout the entire time. Like that's what he seems like. He is permanently in a sports movie. That's like a running joke now. But he, is. It's so true. It's so true. He reads the ball. Like, he reads every concept perfect. It's just that he's laid on some throws and he has no arm, like no arm strength. So it's like if the defense can't make a play on the ball in the air, like he's going to, he's going to get after you a little bit. Like that ball's looping the digs. And it's like, well, they're going for 20 yard gains because no one's breaking on it. I, I wrote it down. I don't know why. I think I just wrote Mox. And I think, I think the joke I was going for here, it's like if Mox is, oh, if James Vanderbeek's character from

Varsie Blues, Mok's. Like, if he made the NFL. That's, that's, that's, that's all right. Heikey. That's him playing quarterback. That's it. Where's number four or two? Like, it's, that's exactly what it is.

And, but, making, make that throw all the way back across the field to McKissick. And then the second touchdown to McCoran, he's just chucking it up there. Chucking it out. To be honest, we talk about guys playing like they had nothing to lose.

What does Taylor Heineke have to lose? Taylor Heineke is, where, when he go to school, Old Dominion? Old Dominion. He was a backup quarterback in the AAF. Like, this guy is, no one has ever been playing with house of money to the degree that Taylor Heinecke is right now. And that's fine. And that's why I love it. I do too.

It is watching him play football has been very entertaining over the, I mean, he has three starts this year, right? I mean, and two of them were wildly entertaining games. There are wins against the Giants and the Falcons. So I don't know how good Washington football team is, but I do know that he's given me some moments of joy. As you mentioned this to me today, we're getting the Fitzpatrick experience and the Fitzmajor experience. and the Fitzmagic experience with no Fitzmagic. It's pretty much the same thing. We're getting the do it, do it yourself version.

That's what we're doing. We're getting that, that version of magic. We bought the little shop, the little shop pack. Taylor He watched a YouTube video about how to be Ryan Fitzpatrick. That's exactly what we're getting from the Washington offense. He wants to slide a hand,

the David Blaine street magic. That's what he learned. That's his version of it. No, honestly, Tyler Heideke says, I was at Pitt, 2013, and he's torched us at Old Dominion. They ran no huddle,

and they ran honestly five plays like two double flats empty out of uh and curl flats like that's that's all they read they were in like five plays and they torched us i mean we ended up winning pit did but it was like ever since then he's been in my mind and i just he's never going to escape my i guess my football like analyzing career ever like he's just going to be a permanent character in that story why don't you explain this to me like i am an eight year old all right every week we're going to have someone kind of come and explain their performance to us because we're going to a need a little bit of context and a little bit of help. And I'm going with the quarterback play in Browns Vikings today.

At one point, I talked to you about this. It was the pointing Spider-Man meme with Kurt Cousins and Baker Mayfield. They were playing at about the same level. It was about the same level of unwatchable. The difference is, even if Kirk Cousin has been playing well this season, the Vikings aren't a contender. We know that. We think they could be a pretty good team.

The Browns are supposed to be one of the best teams in the NFL. I am concerned about how far that can go with Baker Mayfield playing at the level he did today and quietly at the level he did last week when we were all talking about Justin Fields and the offensive performance from the Bears. Yes. And that was something we talked about on the Friday show. And it was kind of like a drive-by I did. It was like a passing glance where we just like ricocheted something off Baker real quick.

But it's last week against the Bears, he took five sacks. And it was a lot of the same issues that Justin Fields was getting dinged for. Rookie QB making his first start against that blitzkriek of a defensive line. Baker was making the same mistakes. And this is a guy that was a former number one pick and now going in what is fourth year. And that's scary. And the guy that's about to like maybe get a big contract that he is bailing in the pocket, that he is not seeing intermediate throws like on play action concepts that are supposed to be there.

Like that's the design. It's supposed to be what they do. It's supposed to be how they're offensive. functions. This type of offense is we we have talked about a Shanahan Cubiak type offense and and Stephancy kind of is a hodgepodge of a lot of things, but it's, you know, that's where some of the roots are. It is core. That is what he is and wants to be. He loves the keeper game, maybe more than Gary Kubiak loves it. Yes, he does. And because, and we made fun of it sometimes is that we say it puts the quarterbacks with training wheels. Like that's what it does. It's like, oh, wow,

they have a training wheels offense. But the thing is when they're, if you only have to make seven quote unquote real throws or eight real quarterback throws, NFL quarterback throws, you have to hit them. Like that is, if you're only going to be asked to do those throws, you have to hit them a majority of the time. You might not, maybe not all of them. If you hit all of them, then you're Matt Ryan in 2016. Okay. Like that, you know, that's the type of performance you put on.

But you have to be able to put a majority of these throws ball on the money. And there was at least three. And that's just me counting on back of my head, not even taking notes on it, three daggers that he missed today where the game could have put the game out of hand. And the last O'Dell one is horrifying. I mean, that's just like, he gave him the palms up.

Odell doesn't really show like O'Dell has a lot of personality, but he doesn't show up the quarterback like that. And he showed him up. And that's kind of telling, I think like that. It's like, oh, wow, that's some frustration that comes from not just that throw. You can question the decision to throw that ball in that moment,

but I don't. It's a touchdown. The game should be over. He's wide open. It was a dagger. I mean, you have to make that throw. And it's, Yeah.

His numbers today, 15 to 33 for 155. His average completion travels for, traveled 4.4 yards in the air. So many screens. So many screens because it's all they can do. On third down, it was all they can do. They have the best screen game in the NFL, in my opinion. The ways they can get to their screens are gorgeous. So they leaned on that in multiple third down situations.

How many ways they dress up their tight end screen game is awesome. Like, it's just so fun to watch. But that was the only part of their passing game that was fun to watch today. negative 13.5 completion percentage over expectation today. Negative 13.5. It was the third worst of the day. Teddy Bridgewater is number one. Trey Lance was number two, and Baker Mayfield was number three.

Again, one of these things is not like the other thing. Baker Mayfield is supposed to be on the ascent. And all of the plays in this game where he's bailing to the right again, where he's running out the back of the pocket and bailing to the right in the red zone multiple times. and I just think the way he's playing quarterback is concerning. Their red zone offense is really, really disjointed, in my opinion. I think he's part of that, but I also think they're not in a groove down there. When they put together their coaching staff two off seasons ago, when Stafansky was trying to build it,

one of the reasons they brought Shadow Shea in as their receivers coach was because the Kubiak offense can occasionally struggle in the red zone because it, play action and space is the currency that it trades in. When the field condenses, things can get a little tighter for you. The Patriots have always been excellent in the red zone. That trade, that family has been pretty good in the red zone. So it's just a, all right, let's get some red zone ideas and have him be a part of the staff. Their red zone packages not look good.

They've struggled in the red zone consistently this year. And it's just one of their issues. And when he's not playing well and they can't punch the ball in, I don't know. I'm just having this sneaking feeling about like they need, they need something needs to get right here. Like something needs to get back on track because whatever this is is not working at this current stage. Yeah.

And the fact that it's been like a couple of these weeks and it's against a varying kind of defenses that attack you, kind of like just, you know, some of the structure is the same, but like just how they get after you a little bit is different and that you struggle against both in similar ways where you're missing those type of throws and missing out throws where you're sailing the ball. like that's what's concerning too.

It's like he's never, Baker, his arm strength is good and we always, I think it gets exaggerated a little bit because he looks like he's throwing so hard when he throws all these, when he throws all these seam balls and everything. But he does have a strong arm. But the thing is,

sometimes he sees that late. And a lot of those throws that he throws real well sometimes be those seam balls. But the reason that you can throw those seam balls is because he can literally see it, like not anticipating a throw. I have made a joke that Baker is Russell Wilson without the athleticism. And that's sometimes what he looks like.

It's a really good comparison. It's a very good comparison. Same limitations. Those throws in the middle and then throws, like he wants to see stuff on the outside. He has to see it come open on the outside. But then he doesn't get that bail button that Russell has that Russell gets away with. So he doesn't have that room for error.

So if that's what your limitations are, it's you have to be a monster from the pocket. And then all those trunk throws, they're dialing up for you, you have to hit them. And the fact that he's so up and down like this. And last year, he creeped up when the weather, like when the weather wasn't shit for him in some of those games. But it was like he still had some of these throws that he just misses.

And it's like, that's hard. If the defense isn't always going to be dominant, they had a good game today. But like the defense sometimes isn't going to have those types of games. You're going to have to make those throws. If the defense on the other side of the ball is dialing up stuff against you, it's hard. And honestly, this game today, what we've knocked on Kirk Cousins about, it's, it's like Rai You and Ken from Street Fighter where it's like this. It's the same character, like the same issue. the same strain, same negativity, but they just dressed up just a little bit different.

That's what it feels like. It is the Spider-Man meme, but it's just any version of that where it's same character, but just different pixels and colors, that's what they are. It's Scorpion and Sub-Zero for Mortal Kombat. I have faith that they'll figure it out on offense. I just think that they're too well-coached. They have too many good players. They're still going to be a good team, but it's just, it's going to be in the back

in my head, like that little kernel of, is he good enough? And it's still going to be there for me when he has moments like this. All right. Let's get to a question of whether I need to pump the brakes on something this week. Pumping brakes, key. We use this time every single week for me to throw something out and you to tell me if I'm taking it a little bit too far. And this week I want to talk about the dolphins. Is the dolphins rebuild a letdown? We talked a lot about it.

You really, you think so. You think you were prepared to say this is disappointing. Like we are, failure might be too strong for me. But I think it is a decided letdown. I think it's definitely a letdown. It goes to show again, your process can be good and accumulating picks can be good. You still have to hit on some of these picks. Yeah, it's a coin flip.

Every single draft pick is going to be a coin flip, but you can't go over. And especially the emphasis, I do believe in Brian Flores. I think he's a good head coach. I think how he's handled personalities, how this defense plays week and week out, even when the team was shit a couple years ago, that's why. I was a bigger believer in him than maybe before, not really knowing who he was. But it's very telling that your quarterback in the future, you're Tua. Like that's who they kind of built this team around.

That's like it's anointed by the ownership and everything that when he went out, he was announced that he was out and Jacoby Brissette was a starter. The Vegas line didn't move at all. Zero points. And that's, that's scary. So that's my question. Do you feel like we're too quick to this because Tua has been hurt? Are we overstating how bad they look?

on offense and overall because their quarterback is not playing. Or are we so unenthused about the way that quarterback was playing with a prospect of him that we should remove that from the equation when considering if this is going well? I think it's a little bit of quarterback and it's a little bit of everybody. Like who are their players? Like who are these guys that they've drafted? That 2020 class looks really problematic. I mean, the fact that you're first to it, whatever about two, let's leave two aside.

Yeah, let's leave two aside. Austin Jackson has been rough. And he came into the league young, but this is year two. You want to see some progress. I don't know how much progress there's been. Noah Bignagni has been inactive. And this is a team that plays like 17 defensive backs and wants to be the Patriots. They want to go 70Bs.

The idea that your first round corner is a healthy and active in year two, that's tough. And then Robert Hunt, who they drafted in the second round, their offensive line is not good. it is a consistent problem against a Colts team that hasn't exactly been dominating people up front over the course of the season so far. It's, I don't know, man. I mean, it's, you talk again, the two injury.

I think that that deserves a little bit more time, but I mean, this team is one and three. They had playoff hopes this year. This was supposed to be the year where they really cranked it into high gear, and I know that their starting quarterback has been hurt, but you want to see the other aspects of the offense play better. The defense has still been fine.

I mean, they've been a top 10 defense. They've played pretty well. But the other aspects of this team have not come as far as anybody would have hoped over the last year or so. And even like a free agent signing like Byron Jones looks great. Like he does look perfect and what they're drawn to do. But it's like the other ones they've had have been like, what was that? Like Kyle Van Noe last year. Signed him for big money and then, okay, what's got after a year?

Yeah. Gone. But even like when it happened in the draft, I kind of let this gone unscathed. And I kind of like it back to it because I feel I feel empty inside not like like taking a pot shot at this. But like trading a first rounder for a small receiver in the top 10. Okay. Like trading up for that like with the jail and Waddle stuff. Like they might lose that first rounder next year with the receivers.

This was a deep receiver class. And the guy and I like Waddle like he is a good player. But I do think like, you know, he's a small receiver that has to get dialed up and get off press. That's a little like, okay, what's your line of thinking there? Like you're not a piece of way. Like this offense is more than one piece away. This offense needs as much guys as possible. Like they just need talent.

And so that's like, okay, that's, you know, that really didn't get as many shots against it, that line of thinking that franchise building kind of move that maybe we've made fun of other teams for. And so it's just kind of one of those things.

They've swung and miss on a lot of these picks. I'm not saying waddles a bust or anything like that. But that's bad process. The other things have been good process, bad results. This was bad process and maybe decent results. I agree. I mean, you and I both talked about this.

Taking any receiver at six, it would have to be somebody truly, truly special. Yes. Let alone trading away a future first round pick to go get that guy. Yeah. Yeah.

It was a mistake in the moment, probably. And even if he ends up being a good player, I totally agree with you. And we'll see how this all comes along. It's still, these are still young draft classes. You know, these guys are 18 games into their career, in some cases, 20 games into their careers. It absolutely could turn.

around. But where we're at right now, all that we've seen, there is not much to get excited about with the young core of the players that they've drafted over the last couple years. There just isn't. It's my quarterback. I want to do a new segment and I want to, I want to be able to every single week. I want to have the option to do this. I want to be able to put up the quarterback bat signal for you. I want to be able to talk about something quarterback specific and I just throw it up if we need to over the course of the afternoon. The moment that Trey Lance got in the game today, the quarterback bat signal was up in the air.

I don't know, it's, it's Midge's face. Like, that's what it is. You know, the bad is like the bad signal is that actual bat. It's just a cutout stencil of Midge with this light shining through it. Just above the Vegas strip. That's what the quarterback bat signal is. Yeah, exactly. That's exactly what it is.

So Jimmy Garoppel has a calf injury, which. Yeah. Does he now? I didn't know your pride was. located on your calf. Wow. He was dealing with it all game, apparently. He's frustrated about it.

So, Trey Lance comes into this game, and as Kyle, Kyle Shanahan said afterward, he looked like a number two quarterback. That's why he's our number two quarterback. The final numbers are hilarious because he threw a 76-yard touchdown pass,

and he threw two touchdown passes. Negative 17 completion percentage over expectation. He completed 50, percent of his balls. It looked like his head was spinning out there. He was spraying a little bit. He, uh, he looked like that was one of the things that one of my negatives when I was writing him up was when he isn't anticipating, he could overstride. And that's a common common problem. Like, that's a Baker Mefield. I just talked about it is do you overstride? So the ball sails on you? He had a couple of those today. He was like those spray. Um, you know, it was kind of funny. I thought with this offense was the, we've talked about hip slot and that's 12 personnel version. The like the, the, like the, the, 40-N-Iers version is going what I call king slot, which is full-back slotted over towards a nub-tight end. And it honestly reminds me of like when Shanahan had RG3 as a rookie. Like that was the four in the pistol. They ran that formation so much.

And I could tell that was like Shanehan's way of going like, okay, let's make this as simple as possible for this guy. Because like, let's get, let's get his like, you know, let's get his feet wet a little bit. I think he even said like he goes, yeah, he looked okay for a guy that had no plays in the playbook, like, drawn up for him. That's why you hope this can look better. But dropped into this situation, I mean, it just looked like his head was turning like a merry-go-round. I mean, it was all over the place. And I have a lot of faith that will look better over time. But in this moment, it was a scattershot performance in more ways than one. I would say the one positive I did have with him, it was other than like the obvious athletic ability, was that like when he was

one and done on a lot of his reads, but the thing was was he was decisive at least. where he was like, he was like, Hey, one's not open, let's go, plant my foot. There was no head spinning

trying to find the perfect throw. He said, hey, I know, I know one route. Like, I've made it fun of Drew Locke for doing this

sometimes. He only knows one route on the concept. I think Tray Lance is the same way. He goes, I know what the X is tagged in here. He's not open. All right,

let's be an athlete, buddy. So it's like, all right, I at least appreciate that, uh, some decisiveness with the scrambling. All right,

while the bad signal is in the air, let's talk about some other rookie quarterbacks of the Bears. I tweeted this during the game. Every year, it seems like the Lions come along at the exact right time. The Lions come along at get right time, and that is what happened

today. Justin Fields looked so much better. The things they were doing for Justin Fields made so much more sense. The idea that there was under center play action. He was pushing the ball down the field. Who would have thought that was the way to use the guy who had incredible accuracy to all levels

of the field? Justin Fields looked like the prospect's Justin Fields today, which for the moment is very encouraging if you care about the Chicago Bears, which I do. So you're a little happy. This is why we're doing this right now, guys. His, his average average depth of target 13.6 today, which is hilarious. Do you know what it was on play action? No, it was 20. It was 20. It was 20 even. It was 20 even. He was 5 of 6 for 86 yards with an average depth of target of 20 air yards on play action today. Bombs away. That's what he could do and like he can zip those in there. I mean, he hit a couple today. Like they had the leaner kind of like corner post and he he didn't let the safety make a play because he put no

arc on it. He just like loop that one right in there like just throwing the go balls like you you those that go ball to mooney. The go ball to mooney was beautiful and then the seem to mute to mooney he held the safety with his eyes for just long enough and then came back to it. It's like all right, this is great. The one thing I will say about, like hard to get excited because it's Lions, Bill Laser was calling plays today. He has done a better job as the Bears play caller

over the last two years than Matt Nagy has. Point blank, the offense has looked better when he has called plays. He apparently now is calling plays again. I think that is a good sign for the Bears. I don't know what that means long term beyond this year, beyond the next couple months, whatever. But I do know right now.

I think this offense looks better with him dialing stuff up because they just seem more willing to be under center, to use play action, to do some of the stuff they did last year when they were trying to make things easier on Chubisky. It sucks that David Montgomery got hurt today because he's been playing pretty well. And I think that downhill running game is a big aspect of this offense. Hopefully Damien Williams can carry over some of that. But I liked what I saw from the way that the Bears deployed Justin Fields today. I agree. And just, yeah, his game flow is, is calling, his play calling flow was so much better. You could just see him setting up stuff, which was so good to see.

And, you know, and with Fields, it's, you know, I would say some of the quick game stuff, he still has to, you know, improve on, like getting the ball out just a hair quicker. Like he, you could tell he's almost too perfect with them and just letting those out a little bit. But man, like, he's already improved with some of the protection stuff. And even in and the shit start last week or the shit game last weekend, but the week that he had to come in against the Bengals, like he was adjusting protections. before the fall starts and stuff like that. That's all in the center. That's all another conversation.

But it's honestly, it was really cool to see him improving that way and then now having a good performance, like a full game performance. It's like, okay, cool. Like now we can actually see a rookie year as opposed to like a total train wreck and

actually like actually see tangible plays where you can grade this guy and actually enjoy him a little bit because he's a fun player. It's all I want. It's just to be able to have a real year from him. And I think that this is a step in the right direction. They won't play the Lions every week. I think it's very important to understand that, but this is a step in the right direction. Let's keep with the rookie quarterback check in here while the bat signals up.

We don't have to spend a lot of time on this. Zach Wilson's overall performance yesterday may or today may have not been great. He made some plays that just made me smile, though. I mean, there were three or four throws today. It was like, holy shit, okay. Yeah, even his bad games the last couple of weeks, he's had like two or three and those are like, holy shit. It's like going to his left and like 50-yard lazy.

on guys, but then it's like, there's about four or five plays where you're like, oh, boy, Zach, this isn't B. That's not New Mexico State you're going against. And I think this was, there was some of both today, but the splash plays that he made were excellent. The other question I have, does, is the F. The F.C. South, the worst division in football, I think is very clear. Yeah, that's easy to. No one wants to win it. Like, it's, who do you think is the best team in the AFC South as it currently stands. Oh, Titans, but that's like, I, that's just a gun to head. Like, I have to say that.

It's rough. It's rough. All right, you have 10 seconds to talk about Trevor Lawrence because if we're doing a rookie quarterback check in. Trevor Lawrence is the truth. No one, no one should be negative on him. He is honestly a guy that is going to be a legit franchise quarterback.

He already is. The things he's doing right now is ridiculously rare. He's changing protections on every single play. He's making it like his eyes are downfield despite the pass rush. he's a rare athlete and he's six foot six it's like he's ridiculous just give him some time and you got to realize this team went one in 15 last year this team would be a laughing stock like one of the worst teams we've ever seen in the NFL if Trevor Lawrence wasn't a quarterback right now like that's what he he's just keeping up to competency and jacks about enough issues i think

as a franchise right now so just appreciate what Trevor Lawrence is because he's really ridiculous that was incredibly efficient your EPA per snap there was higher than the next guy we're going to talk about we're about to decide we're about to decide who gets the belt this week You're talking franchise, you're talking money, you're talking notoriety, wheel and dealing, limousine riding, jet flying, son of... Kent, man. The best part about these is that we don't know what they are every single week. Kent is just dropping in the wrestling drops unbeknownst to us, so they're a surprise to us as they are to you every single Sunday night, which is great. I guess it's Monday morning now, even in central time.

Every week we're going to pick who was just one cut above everybody else, the guy that just deserves the belt that week. I think we could give it to Kyra Murray. We've talked a lot about Kyra Murray the last couple of weeks. I want to give it to Patrick Mahomes. And it's for this reason. I am guilty of this. I already take Patrick Mahomes for granted.

He's so good and he's been so good that it's easy to forget or it's easy to take for granted that he is the most talented throw of the football that's probably ever lived. And today was one of those games. I think he made a throw from every conceivable arm angle over the course of those four quarters. He's doing everything right now. Like his in pocket stuff, ad-libbing stuff, like throwing it to the tight ends over the middle or to Kelsey over the middle, but then also just doing the trick shot stuff, like, you know, even just the shovel passes. And then Olson, you know, it's just a true.

trying to screw around at this point. It honestly feels like he's kind of bored. It's the Larry Bird story when he only shot lefty. Like that's what it feels like a little bit. Like he today he he had a 24.5 EPA. CPOE was 16.9 like 98th and 97th percentiles and we don't even blink an eye like because he just, it's such where it's so expected. Like it honestly is like Michael Jordan in the 90s where it's like the only we talked to like, Hey, Kyle, I mean really right now is the narrative MVP, but it's it's always going to be me Holmes this

title to lose. Like you always just, it's like, it's going to be Mahomes. And then it's like you have to do something special like Kyle is doing right now to even be in that conversation because he, he's had two games with the QBR over 90 right now. His QBR is 82.7. His 2018 season, it was 80.3. Like, he's, so he's already on a historic pace.

Um, he's only been sacked five times this year and he's only lost 29 yards on those five sacks total. Like he is, he's scrambled 15 times or he has 15 rushes. He's gotten seven for. downs on those 15 rushes. Like everything he does right now is just, it's ridiculous. And yeah. And I mean, I think he deserves the belt because it's just, he's thrown at 72% and it's

honestly, it's so much fun. It's so enjoyable to watch him, even especially going against a team maybe this week where it's like, you know, maybe not the greatest opponent. So you get to kind of see what the ceiling is for a guy like this. It's a lot of fun. The last touchdown to Hill, he's throwing off his back foot and it's just a, he launches at 50 yards in the air. Though that's cool.

To me, it's... That's cool. I'm going to love that stuff, right? I love, like, Justin Herbert opposite side hat, whole shots from 50 yards. That shit is fun to watch. Yeah. To Mahal stuff, it's the arm angle changes

within the pocket on shorter things. Because we've talked about this. Your RPO looks a lot different when he's put in on a guy running full speed, 12 yards past the line of scrimmage. His ability to fit those throws in with accuracy to just get guys moving, it's truly remarkable. And that touchdown he threw to Hill today on that exact type of idea where it's just pretty much sidearm, laser, low, just the accuracy, the arm angles, the creativity. It's, I just wanted every once in a while kind of step back and be like, we're watching something.

Like he is truly, in my opinion, I thought Aaron Rogers was. I said it for years and years and years and years, that he was the most talented thrower of the ball I've ever seen. This guy's more talented. Like, he can do more things. And sometimes I think it's just important to take a breath, step back, acknowledge that, and we'll move on to week five. And going from like that inevitable feeling that Rogers always gave you, like we felt

Sunday night, you know, or last week and all that, it's like, that's what my home is every time he gets the ball. It's like the Eagles went down and scored. The Eagles, I mean, we can talk about the Chiefs defense. on another time. But it's, they go down to score and you give ball back to the Chiefs and you're just like, well, here comes a touchdown. Like, you know, you just, it's like you're expecting a touchdown. Anytime it's not a touchdown, it's like, oh, wow. Like what happened there to the Chiefs? Because it's like that, that feeling that that way, that the joke, you know, like, I am inevitable.

Like that Thanos says, that's what Mahomes is. He is inevitable. Like just every time he touches the ball, it's like, well, if you don't, if you don't stop him for less than seven, it's like, good luck stopping this entire team because he just does it for 60 minutes. And it's just, it's unbelievable to watch weekend, week out the stuff that he's able to do. What are you watching this week? What are the things that you did not watch enough today that you want to go take a look at before we talk about next? I am for sure going to watch everything the Cowboys did today because that's become one of my favorite watches.

I actually want to see what the Panthers defense did because they did have some pressure stuff that was good. But the DAC just got the ball out quick. So I had that whole matchup I want to watch. I got to see what the hell that Saints Giants game was because I have no. Zero seconds. zero seconds of the game. I think about seven for me. And I have no idea what to make the Saints right now.

So I really got to get a better feel for them. You just can't watch everything. You can't watch everything every second. They're going to be games we just don't watch. And that was one of the games. I just, it wasn't odd. I did not see any, like I saw the end. But other than that, I did not see anything.

I want to go back and watch the Brown's defense and what they did today because the Vikings offense have been playing well. And so I know it was a bad day for Kirk, but I want to go see what the Brown's defense did because that's two games in a row where they have, played well. And I was excited about the talent they had on the back end. So I want to dig into that a little bit. And yeah, I have to go back and rewatch the Giants Saints game because I did not watch much of that. And I'm excited for Monday night tomorrow. Like, I mean, that's, that's going to be a fun one. Or tonight, I guess, if you're listening to this right now. But it's, oh, that's going to be a

fun. I think Raiders Chargers is going to be a lot of fun. Really looking forward to that. Speaking of tomorrow, we are having Stephen Ruiz from the ringer now, which is funny to say for me, on tomorrow to do the mailbag, please send in your questions. If you have not, I typically finalize the questions about 1 p.m. Eastern to give our guests some time with them and to give me some time with them just so you guys know. So it's kind of a, it's a soft deadline for getting in your mailback questions. You can call in the voicemail number if you want to leave a voicemail, which we love, is 872-22-2-7-3. One more time, 872-22-2-7073. you can also send us an email at athletic football show at gmail.com.

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If you're listening on the podcast, hope you. you're enjoying yourself as well. We'll be back on Tuesday with the Mailbag episode with Stephen Ruiz. Until then, enjoy Monday night football. Enjoy your day. We'll talk to you guys soon. This was The Athletic Football Show.