The Athletic Football Show: A show about the NFL - Football GM: Sean Payton's headscratchers, the Lions' ascendance, the 49ers' dominance, and more

Episode Date: October 14, 2023

Sean Payton has dished out more than his fair share of criticism since taking the Broncos job. Seems like he deserves some himself, too. Mike Sando and Randy Mueller discuss that on this episode of The Athletic Football Show's Football GM. The guys also get into, in order, Zach Wilson, the Packers, the Lions, the 49ers, Jimmy Garoppolo, Bill Belichick, Deshaun Watson's shoulder, the Jaguars' performance in London, and Week 6 picks.Follow Mike on Twitter: @SandoNFLFollow Randy on Twitter: @RandyMueller_Subscribe to The Athletic Football Show...AppleSpotifyYouTube Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

This is the Athletic Football Show's Football GM podcast. Welcome everybody to the Football GM podcast for this NFL, 2003 season heading into week six. We got one game in the books, Kansas City Chiefs 19, Denver Broncos 8. My co-host, Randy Mueller, texted me during the game, observed that this was not the highest level of football. By the way, that's Randy Mueller, the GM. I am Mike Sando, both from the Athletic.

Hopefully you've been with us. If you're new, welcome. But Randy, there's a lot to unpack about not just this game. We're not going to dwell on just one game in this, but there's some tentacles off of the performance that we're going to get to. And it's funny initially, Randy, I sort of sketched in some, I was looking a little bit more granularly at, okay, the Denver offense or this or that. But we're going to zoom out a little bit, which I think sometimes is when we have some of our better conversations.

Broncos fall to 1 and 5 under Sean Peyton, despite holding Kansas City to 19 points. We could certainly blame Peyton's offense. We could get into just how limited the passing game has become lately. But let's talk about a head coach, Sean Peyton, who seems to have an opinion on everything, doesn't he, Randy? Well, a couple things. One, good to be with you again. Two, Thursday night football is always a little bit of a quality adjustment, I think. That's just kind of become a given over the years now.

We don't always get the highest football quality, but we understand that. And yes, three, when we see these games, it kind of changes and develops narratives around the league, whether it's a Thursday night or a Sunday night or a Monday night. The things that happen are the things that drive decision makers, to drink as they manage their teams throughout the season. And hopefully we can bring some of that to the listeners. And yeah, I agree with you. I think we all knew when Sean Payton got this job that he was the new sheriff, right?

And he kind of spoke on a lot of things. He had a lot to say, as Nathaniel Hackett found out, as others have found out along the way. But one thing you do when you do say a lot is you give, you know, a lot of reason for those other four fingers coming back at you when you point yours, you know? Yeah. So, so I think we've seen some of that. And yeah, I think Sean has stepped on his own, you know what, a couple times. He'd probably be the first to admit that. But yes, it is a 30,000 foot view that we can take a look at today, just based on the things that we've seen happened so far. And some of that was in the offseason. Some of that was with team building of this team, which he's had some say in. There's a lot of, you know,

narratives around that, hey, this was all George Payton, this was all the team that was there. They've added players since Sean was there that he had the sign off on, particularly in the offensive line that, in my opinion, is still struggling. So there's plenty of blame to go around. We know Sean put it on a lot of others when he first got there or this summer. It's a tough spot right now for Denver, because you're right, they are one win into a 17-game season, and at some point they're going to turn the page to look to 2020. The question is when? Yeah, let's though zoom in on the second quarter of this game because Sean Payton's

Super Bowl winning coach, air to Bill Parcells. Like I said, he's got opinions on officiating. He's got opinions on what the league office is doing right or wrong. He knows that Nathaniel Hackett was a joke. He's got opinions on Russell Wilson getting the play call on time or not. A lot of opinions were a wrist-bended up if we have to. We'll go real remedial. Well, guess what, Randy?

My oldest son is 22 and coach is the head coach of JV high school. I don't think he's calling timeout with 22 seconds left in the second quarter to give the other team a chance to kick a field goal. If he did, I'd say, you know what? That happens when you're coached in JV. When you're coached in JV high school and you're in your first year of doing it. That could happen. How does that happen to Sean Payton who says he lost track of the down? To me, that's got to be circled and underlined and red flag.

here, doesn't it? I mean, isn't this an all-time great coach? Well, it definitely happens. I've been around it before, not necessarily from the head coach, but I've spent a lot of years in the box upstairs to where once in a while, a play caller on one side of the ball or another might get his downs a little confused, and you might do something different. I've never seen it on this platform, though, where, and he admitted afterwards, we're not being critical. He admitted it was a bonehead move. He called time out after a third down to punt, which gave the chief's time to go down. and kick a Harrison-Butker longfield goal to end the half.

Bruehomenal in a close game. Yeah, in a close game. You can't really come back from that kind of stuff when you have a team that has little margin frere like the Broncos do. But from a bigger picture, and that's what I started to say early on, is it eats at your credibility in your locker room when you do make these kind of mistakes.

It's a little different now when you jump somebody about something and you've done just the same or an equal level of screw up, they don't take it as well. And I think the one thing Sean has done, and I've been around a long time, so of you, Mike. There's one thing that players really don't take well to is when it is all about to coach all the time. Because it is a players league, and they want to be recognized because that's who people pay to see. And I think in this case, Sean has, and again, it happens when you get all the bells and whistles, and accolades and have been, yeah, are recruited to come to be the savior. I get it.

But it doesn't come easy to those players in the locker room. And I just wonder if that was one screw-up, but we also documented a couple other screw-ups that happened during the summer. How many swings and misses do you get before they start to look at you a little sideways? Hey, they've used nine timeouts and first halves above five minutes this year. It's by far the most in the league. They're game mismanaging all over the place. and you can blame Russell Wilson earlier for a couple of them, whatever. But I think what we're seeing is that Sean Payton doesn't listen to anybody.

All these teams have advisors. I mean, you're telling me you don't know what down it is in the second quarter. Well, I can tell you one reason why, because everyone's afraid to tell you what down it is, probably. That's probably part of it. I would be definitely questioning the assistance if I were the owner or the GM in charge and just say, hey, did you guys not see that? What? Did you, couldn't you have jumped into advice?

But you're probably right. they're a little bit tiptoeing on eggshells and no one wants to jump in and say hey Sean what the you know what the F of you doing you know well this I'm just I don't have that great of a memory but I remember last year Nathaniel Hackett was the head coach and he was ripped left and right game management what a joke from game one from game one hey guess what I hear Jerry Rosberg's available you think the Broncos are going to make Sean Peyton bring them in you think anyone's having that conversation you've talked before you've written about it hey we're going to have really frank conversations between the GM and the head coach to have really, you know, to really have a good operation. Do you think anyone's saying, hey, Rossburg's available, Sean? You're going to bring them in? I don't think so. Yeah, that's probably not going to happen. At 18 million a year, I think the ownership probably thinks they're getting more for their bang than having to hire someone else to manage the game. Do you see Bill Belichick or Bill Parcells or Nick Sabin, one of these guys hiring a game manager to come tell him when to call timeouts and keep track of the downs? Well, no, but guess what?

about 31 other teams have people doing that. And it's because there's so many hard, look, it doesn't mean that Bill Belichick doesn't know when to call the time out, but you've got so many things you're managing during a game. By the way, Sean Payton is calling the plays on offense. So he has a full blade. He doesn't have Drew Breeze there. He's been playing for 20 years. I know Russell Wilson's veteran quarterback, but he's new in this system, and he struggled

with some of these things over the years. So is that the equivalent of a coaching wristband? We're asking Russell to wear a wristband. He doesn't want to wear it. So does the coach need a wristband? What are saying? Hey, I thought I had a good little zinger with the Rosberg thing. You are going wristband for the head coach.

No, no, I'm just saying tongue in cheek. Is this the equivalent of that, you know? So now everybody have to wear a wristband if you're on the sidelines too to know what the hell to do? I mean, come on, seriously? I want Russell Wilson to say, this would be great. If Russ's like knew this was coming to a head and he was just had it, because I give Russ credit. After the game, he was like, I got to play better. That had to be very hard for him to say because he has taken it on the chin repeatedly.

And his coach has hung him out to dry a couple times and really made him sound remedial. It would be so great if he had said, hey, you know, I don't know what we're doing with these timeouts. If the head coach has to wristband it, we'll do that. Wouldn't that be amazing? That's the things you want to say to your boss, but you can't, you know? Well, I'm kind of saying it kiddingly. I don't think that Sean should do that and I don't think he needs to do it. but it's just kind of an equivalent of, hey, we're all accountable.

We all can screw up. So maybe we ought not call everybody out all the time and just bite our lip and not say, you know? Absolutely, yeah. And that's usually the best policy for anybody. The quarterback has a pretty good game. And they clearly lost because the receivers were, you know, dropping the ball. He says, hey, look, I got to play better. The quarterback says that.

Right. We can all worry about what we have to do. And, you know, maybe it's going to get back to that real quick for Denver. I think that had to be pretty humbling. Well, I do think in listening to Sean afterwards, I think there's some humility in there. I think he's worried about the rest of the talent level, especially on this offense. The defense is one thing. It's not an area where he spends a ton of time. That's easy to place blame over there. I think, although I would like to talk about their defensive players, of which I think, I think, I think, I would like to talk about their defensive players, of which I, think there are still some pretty good players on defense. And you remember a year ago, we were all talking about how talented this roster was. And now they've been shucked because they've been historically bad on defense. They still have some pretty good players over there that are misaligned, are misused. It's a mess, no doubt. But anyway, I think Sean's worried about this offense and where it can go from here. So I do think there will be heads rolling. There will be some price to pay for the ineptness on

offense that we both have said probably is not going to fall at the feet of Sean. But when you sign Ben Powers, you sign Mike McGlinchy, you pay these guys tons and tons of money and don't get production from them. That's a concern. And Sean had something to do with that as well. Their first pick in this year's draft, and we know they gave away a lot of picks already. So the first pick was Mims, the receiver. He's been kind of a no show too and spotty production at best. So, you know, their receivers were put on notice in the offseason already. We know that those guys were shopped last off season. That message has been sent.

And guess what? They really haven't come through. Sean has a system that he wants to, I'll just say, cook with. And it is not functioning now. And so there's going to be more change. And I think Sean understands that. And all levels of this offense need work. It's just not good enough, including the coach, by his own account.

So the question is, when do you do it? When do you start to focus and when do you try to turn the page? Well, yeah, to me it feels like the last couple weeks that they're not even trying on offense. What I mean by that is it's beyond conservative. I mean, these are remedial plays where third down, they're just sprint right up. You know, it's just like basic stuff that's not even. Hard to defend them. Not hard to defend.

To me, the last couple weeks in particular, they're making Russell Wilhelm. and they're putting guardrails up at the bowling alley. They're putting the draining wheels on his bike. They're running the orange safety flag up. They're putting him in his car seat, popping in the pacifier. Last week, it was so conservative against the Jets that when Robert Sala, the Jets coach was asked about it, he really had to pause and collect himself and said,

let me say this the right way. And he said, they're not letting Russell play quarterback. Well, I felt it again last night. I mean, he had 22 pass attempts and he had 95 yards in the game. that's kind of hard to do. It's a rare, you know, it's rare to have that many past attempts and get so few yards. I realize the chiefs are good on defense. Is he setting this up to basically say, we can't play offense this way, make a change of quarterback,

which signals will look to the future. We already saw them release or they're going to get rid of, you know, they traded Randy Gregory. They're going to get rid of Frank Clark. Frank Clark is next, yeah. Yeah, so is this, is the way they're playing offensively sort of a prelude to throwing in the towel as well? Well, again, I don't know when the change would happen, but I do think I've been around when a new coach comes in and he wants to do it with his players. There's no doubt about that. There is ego involved. And I think Sean is really good at what he does. And I think at the end of the day, he's going to want to do it with his guys. And that may be at the end of the year just walking into Mr. Walton and saying, hey, this isn't working.

with the guys we have, you've got to let me do it with the guys I want. So that's probably coming at some point. I thought it was interesting when I heard you talk about, you think they've kept the wraps on Russell, and I understand that. I don't know how problem, well, I do know how problematic that contract is and how moving on from that is really hard, but that doesn't mean he has to play. He can be around somewhat, although I think there's always going to be this cloud of what happened last year. Let's face it. Last year was a dumpster fire. It was really bad. They let a particular player run their whole operation. That's unheard of and a bad deal. So I agree with what Sean said. Would I have said it publicly no? But now, and again, I went back and looked at some

stuff from last year, and we talked about it before the show, Sean Payton was on record saying that Caleb Williams, the quarterback from USC, is worth tanking for. I'm paraphrasing, but that's really what he said. He said he is a generational talent and worth people to lose games on purpose. And he cited two or three times when it's happened already. He said, now that's going to be a problem for the league. But the fact that he's thinking like that way back the wind tells you exactly what he thinks of Caleb Williams right now. So they're in on pace. I got news for you. They're on pace to win about two or three games. They're in the mix for the first pick. So at some point, I'm not saying it's now, but at some point, will they move the meter to toward 24 and just say, hey, what do we need to

do to find a way to acquire this kid to move forward? Or the likes of. I think that's probably coming sooner than later. I've said for the last week or so that I think they're going to be a player at the trade deadline. I think they will move players for any price and just about anybody on their roster. And as we know, the trade deadlines October 31. So this is going to be fun narrative to watch from the outside as to who they move on. And it was funny. They said, I don't know if it was on the game last night, but I saw some highlight shows afterwards.

and when Cortland Sutton caught the touchdown in the end zone, they said he needed to stand up with that sign on his chest like in the fish that saved Pittsburgh and open it up and say, trade me, trade me, trade me, while all the cameras were on him just to get him out of there. So that might be a little extreme. But that's kind of what we're looking at is at some point there's going to be more exits. Hey, you mentioned they got read of Randy Gregory. Here's why they got read of Randy Gregory. His backup's better than him, okay? Nico Bonito is a really good rusher. I think a guy that's going to be a future, really good player in this league. So they got rid of him for that reason. But there's going to be others where the backups aren't as good, but they need to find out how good they are. So there's some depth to this conversation that over the next couple weeks, I think we should probably dig deeper into. And each time we see them, it's going to give us more narrative and more information. So, yeah, the Broncos are one game worse this year than they were last year. They were two and four at this time last year.

The difference is they're allowing about 33 points a game. compared to 16 last year. So they've gotten worse. And Randy, when you really are giving it up on defense, it's really, really easy to lose. It's hard to win. No quarterback, no offense overcomes consistently when you're allowing 30 points a game. I know they were better last night. But when you're really bad on defense, you can have a great ticket to that top pick, is what I mean.

It's really easy to not win. It is a negative drain on your organization as well. When you give up 300 yards rushing, it's, it's, it's a body blow for 15 rounds. And it gets old watching that. And you're right. Hope dwindles quickly when you have no answers, especially on defense. And I'm agreeing with you. I think I would rather have an offense that struggles than a defense that struggles, to be honest with you, because I think you have a better chance to manufacture stuff on offense. Defensively, like I said, they're a mess. They're all over the place. And I say that. And when I watch the

tape, I see four or five players that I think are really good. And at times, show spurts of being really good. But for some reason, they just can't put it all together and get in the right gaps and play with discipline and really set up a pass rush that is congruent with what's in the back end. They're just not playing good team ball. Interesting. Well, I want to get to the Zach Wilson Jets review because you looked at some film, but this Denver thing is interesting. I'd love to talk about maybe next week or another time we'll talk more about their defense because I was actually asked about recently, hey, this top defense, where are the good players, you know, and you can kind of see a corner and a safety, and you mentioned Benito,

but that could be an interesting discussion down the line. There's going to be plenty of time to talk about Denver in a big picture sense. I want to transition, though, off of Denver and that game, yesterday as we were kind of going through things we wanted to talk about, I said, hey, we haven't really heard as much about Zach Wilson lately. You know, there's been so many other stories around the league, a lot of other quarterbacks that are kind of in the, you know, in the spotlight, and the chatter around Zach Wilson has died down, which is probably good.

I mean, no one's talking about, you know, Joe Amos not holding interviews saying he's terrible and they've got to move on. I think that's great for the Jets, great for everybody. The last couple games, he's played Kansas City in Denver. Wasn't off the charge, but hey, he completed 72%. Tough still to find explosive plays, but a couple touchdowns, one interception. Just curious what you see from him, Randy. You said you were going to dive in, look at a little bit of the film. What do you got? Well, I love this because so many, and I mean many, many had a hundred percent conviction that this season was over and that nobody wanted anything to do with Zach Wilson. He got to go. I don't care who we get. You heard it on TV for weeks. He's got to go.

We'll get a guy off the street to play quarterback. Well, I don't know that he was that awful if you consider all the other parts that were moving around him. And we said this last year as well. They have not been very high IQ offense for for multiple years. And so they've tried to make it remedial. They've tried to do what we talked about earlier and make it a paint by numbers. Here's the problem when you do that with quarterbacks. You talk about playing with guardrails on them. You have no chance. Defenses are way too good. You can't project a robotic quarterback to do this. Everybody says, oh, let's run boots, let's run play action. You can do that all you want. But guess what? The defense is not going to have to cover half the field. So they're going to, they know, they know what's coming and they'll take away

all your options. I think what we've seen with Zach Wilson the last couple weeks is Nathaniel Hackett's willingness to set an offense that fits exactly what he wants to do. He had installed all kinds of graduate level things for Aaron Rogers, top notch stuff for a 15 year Hall of Fame quarterback. Now they went to the opposite when Zach came in there. They were playing the Cowboys in that first game, they went back to paint by numbers and they found out that's not enough. So the fine line of what you bring to the gunfight is not maybe a tank, but it's not a 22 either. You got to have something in between from a caliber level. And I think that's what they've done the best job doing the last couple weeks. I see a quarterback in Zach now who the game is finally slowing down for him a

little bit. And I see like I mentioned, Nathaniel Hackett knows that sweet spot in between basic and graduate level. They initially called plays to, so really, so Wilson didn't have to make any decisions or reads. They just said execute this with training wheels. I see a guy now who's actually playing with confidence. He's showing arm talent that some of us have seen since the BYU days. He's able to fit throws into tight windows. He's anticipating pretty good. Is he perfect? No. Is he making all the throws? No. But now the half field reads are commonplace. He's looking off defenders with his eyes. This is all happening with confidence showing me that the steps he's taking to progress as a quarterback are there. You even see now a guy that boom, boom, he doesn't see it.

He takes off and runs. He was afraid to do that early on. This kid's a very good athlete. And he showed that in their last game as well. So I just think that his vision still a work in progress. He missed a tight end in their Denver game a week ago, wide open Indian zone. I get it. But he still made some really high quality throws that those traits are hard to find. So I just think the kids starting to shine a little bit. I think there's plenty there to work with and plenty left there for Jet fans to not, you know, give up the hope on. And so I'm positive on Zach Williams-Wilson right now, but there's some details that I think lie on the desk of Nathaniel Hackett in how they present a game plan week in and week out, and that's really important. Yeah. And so I think what

maybe we're to a point now where, hey, we've seen obviously a lot of bad from Zach Wilson in the past. We've seen some better. And maybe we're out of the cycle of every week being a referendum on whether he needs to be cut or he's going to be good, right? I mean, they're going to play the Eagles this week. I mean, they're going to play the Eagles. The Eagles just told Sean McVeigh, Matt Stafford, Cooper Cup, and the new receiver, Pooka, to 14 points last week, I think it was. So this could be a difficult challenge. They're not the Eagles. They could lose this game and Zach Wilson could throw two interceptions and we're not going to just suddenly come back next week and say he can't play.

There's going to be a process, right, Randy, over the course of the season, where you're going to take your lumps sometimes still, but we're at least seeing some signs of life. We're seeing signs of life in the areas that are the most critical, in my opinion, to develop at the position. You've got to say this, Mike, and we can say Zach Wilson is this or that, or he's not this or not that. He is tough, he has thick skin, and none of this shit seems to bother him, where it may run me or you out of town.

Are you kidding me the pressure that this kid has been under and the narratives that have been pointed at him? And I give the kid credit. It kind of makes me smile. He has stood up. He's taking it. And he doesn't have to. He's going to be a multi-millionaire regardless. So I give him credit for being able to stand in there.

And yeah, they play Philly this week. It may be a bad scene again. But I do agree with you that there is a little bit of a process here and that I think he's not out there on his own right now. Because let's face it, this offensive line is still no good. It's still bad. They're still not producing, but the things that Nate Hackett is doing kind of masks that a little bit and protects those tackles in a way that Zach can now at least step up, he can take off to run, just seeing the field a lot better. That sounds encouraging from a jet fan standpoint, too, some positive words about Nathaniel Hackett because we've, you know, obviously if Rogers were playing, he would probably get and deserve all the credit for whatever they were doing. But once they lost Rogers, the fear was, okay, geez, now you.

got hack it, is that a good thing with a quarterback other than Rogers? And so you've seen some positive things the last couple weeks with him too, huh? Well, we're six weeks in. I mean, it's obviously going to get better. He's got to find a groove as well. Nobody's going to get to the level we're at

being totally incompetent. That's just not going to happen. So eventually, things were going to work, you know, toward trending positive, and I think they starting to, are starting to with the Jets. Now, there's still a lot of things they got to fix. Defensively, you know not as good as people think they are. But I do think jet fans should have some hope. And again, don't hang

it all on beating the Eagles this week. Trust me, that may or may not happen. I don't love the matchup at all for the Jets, but it doesn't mean Zach Wilson stinks, you know, and can't play. This could be one of those weeks where we need that defense. We heard so much about to step up, right? Yeah. And give him a help because the matchup for the Jets offensive line, you would think will be tough. I'll be watching to kind of see how Zach Wilson handles it after the game. I thought there's been some positive that way, too. It's a tough market. It's been a tough, tough situation, but I think he had a, there was recently a post game where he said, hey, I got to remember, you know, that that ball that's in my hands determines the fate of everyone in this

building. And I like that type of a comment and self-awareness from him. And we'll see how he handles this Philly game. And, you know, maybe they do better than anticipated. So we'll see. You can't, you can't convince me that the Aaron Rogers edition has not helped this kid to this point, too. You're talking about a guy who's been there, done that. He's been by his side for the last six months. Even though Aaron is not playing, I would really love to have him around the building just for Zach's point of view and just to help him. That's so interesting to me, Randy, because we've made fun a little bit of Rogers having his own agenda so much, right? With the McAfee stuff shoot, we found out he made over a million dollars from McAfee. That's awesome.

But, but, you know, he's always kind of been a, I haven't perceived him to be during the end in Green Bay, the ultimate team guy. Yeah, not a give-back guy. He's not a give-back guy. He's not back to the game. But that's interesting. I've sensed that a little bit too. Obviously, in the case of Zach Wilson, he doesn't feel threatened in any way by Zach Wilson. It wasn't like they drafted Zach Wilson to replace him and he has to worry about people in the building really want to play Zach Wilson. So the dynamics are different with the Jets. But that's interesting to me that he could be a real positive resource for him because I wouldn't have necessarily thought that going in. I just think it's comforting. If I were Zach Wilson,

I would find a lot of comfort in that. And not that I can go hide behind Aaron Rogers, but I can have a sounding board. I can have somebody that's been there, done that. I can seek counsel from him. And I'm with you. Aaron didn't do any of this in Green Bay, but he's kind of moved on to where I'm in here for the team.

I'm in here for the good of the game. I'm in here for the good of the jets. And I just think the dynamics have totally changed from negative to positive with Aaron Rogers and his intangibles and off-the-field actions. Yeah. Yep. And then the whole thing, the expectation level changed for Zach Wilson. He's not seen as a savior. Now anything you get from him has felt like a bonus. And all of that psychologically creates a different mix for him, for the team, all of that. So been an interesting development to a really disappointing jet season, obviously losing Aaron Rogers. But maybe there's some silver linings in here along the way and they can salvage something out of it. We're talking about Aaron Rogers. I put a little note in our this week that I want to talk. about his old team, the Packers, even though they have a buy. I just didn't want to let them

totally off the hook because they had such a rough game against the Raiders. They get the buy. I'm just not sure at this point what we're supposed to get overly excited about. I just come back to them because I know they were a team you liked in terms of roster construction, the past rush rotation you saw in the preseason going into the year you liked. I know there was some hope with Jordan Love, who I think it's safe to say. hasn't been perfect in the first few games of this season. I just wondered, I know there were concerns with Joe Barry, the defense coordinator, but has your opinion on Green Bay changed?

Is this a more worrisome situation, or do you think they're going to be fine? Well, a couple things. Yeah, I think they're going to be fine, but here's what's kind of leading me down that road. I still have concerns about their defense. I think they have better parts than we see as a sum at the end of each Sunday. their parts aren't bad. Their parts, you know, they have players. Are they playing great? No. And yes, you mentioned that I have seen a ton of edge players that are NFL caliber throughout looking at their roster over the last couple months. Are they all playing good? No. I would say this, and this is factual, not my opinion. Green Bay is kind of outside the top 10 in almost every defensive category, including past rush rate. I thought they would be more dynamic on D.E.B.E.B.E.B.E.E. defense. They have parts to be dynamic and that part just hasn't happened. So for what reason, I don't know. I don't know where their game plan thinking goes sometimes. But I think what they're

trying to do is hold it together and be a bend but not break defense for the most part. They're not gambling much. They're not taking many chances. And if you could sneak into being a top 10 defense, that's probably good enough if your offense is really good. But the offense is where they've struggled, in my opinion, as much as anywhere, being not dynamic. I think what we, at least I overestimated was how these young receivers would be so slow to develop. And I'm talking about Christian Watson. I'm talking about Dobbs. I'm talking about all these young guys because we can't forget.

And we kind of make fun of Lizard and Randall Cobb with the Jets. They've been stabilizing forces in Green Bay too in that receiver room. Well, they don't have those guys anymore. They're playing a bunch of young guys. And Christian Watson, for as fast and big and athletic as he is, he is not a refined route runner. Plus he's been hurt forever and he never seems to be in a groove. But can he run deep and spread the field?

Yes, he can. Dobbs has been inconsistent as a past catcher too. But the biggest thing I've seen with their offense is they really miss Aaron Jones. They've become applauding power back with A.J. Dillon, kind of a downhill group that really doesn't have an offensive line to run downhill. So I think LeFleur is trying to manufacture a run game with some slow plotting parts. and they don't have that Aaron Jones juice. Last time we saw him, he was running 40 yards for a touchdown and hurt his hamstring running in the end zone to score.

And they haven't been able to get that. So I think they're running games behind. I think they're passing games behind. You mentioned Jordan Love. He's clearly not seeing the field as good as I thought he would now, but don't forget. He's still in what, this will be start eight for him, I think, in his career. So that's going to be a developmental process as well. So I think this team will be better around Thanksgiving than they are now.

I just think they need more time to develop and we may have rushed them. Okay. And it's hard to judge that they don't have the parts. Although I will say this, because they lost Lizard or let Lizard and Cobb go, I think they need a veteran receiver. And I would not be surprised if they made a play for somebody in the next couple weeks before the trade dead. Now, hold on a minute, Mueller. We were asking them to do it for Aaron.

We asked them to do for Aaron. Osse. But they really need it now. And they've always banked on these young guys to develop. I just don't think that's going to happen quick enough. And I think there is a void there. So, yes, we've been saying that for two or three years with this group. They've got to bite the bullet in some point.

And, you know, I don't know where they are cap-wise. If you could find a spot or cap-wise to make a Hunter Renfro acquisition work or something like that, you don't think he would help Jordan Love as a security blanket. I know he can't play now and he's awful, but it was just two years ago he had 100 catches, okay? So he wasn't awful in 2021. I just think there'll be a market for those kind of players, and I think Green Bay should be in it to find some. They're a young team. I think if I had this conversation with Brian Guticus, I could get him to believe that I understand these guys are going to be good, but we need to supplement it with a couple veteran-type guys.

I think I'm crazy. No, I think it would just be fun. I think it would be fun if they started acquiring players now after Roger Black. I didn't say acquired players. I just said one. Yeah, yeah. Yeah, no, I got you. The other thing I picked up from there, Randy, was, wait a minute, you're saying a good running back makes a difference?

I thought they were all interchangeable. Just plug somebody in. We don't have to value the running back. But I know this, the first one minute of the broadcast of the last Packer game, we found out how crushed Matt Lefleur was that his number one running back wasn't going to play in the game. I mean, obviously it was a big deal to him. So I'm wink-winking a little bit, but some of these running backs actually do. make a difference. I think Matt's tired of seeing A.J. Dillon run into the back of his guard. Okay. That's just, and again, no offense to A.J. Dylan, he has a role to fill. I get it. He's,

he's a good player too, but he's not Aaron Jones. And I think that's why the dilemma, that's why you see the frustration is they don't have a juice guy. They don't have an energy guy. They don't have a guy that can break an arm tackle and jump to the next lane when they don't block it perfectly because they don't have a group up front that can block it perfectly. It's just not going to happen with this group. So I think that's the frustration you see it and the reason for it. All right. We're going to stay in the NSC North. We are going to talk about the Detroit Lions. Okay. The Detroit Lions. One year ago at this time, they were a one and four ball club. They were, their average point differential was minus six per game, which doesn't sound like a lot,

but that's a lot over a five game period. Okay. They were bad. They were allowing 34 points per game to their opponent. Fast forward now, 2003 season, Detroit Lions, four and one. They're allowing 21 points per game, 13 points better. They're winning by eight per game.

So year over year from this time last season, they are 14 points per game better in an average margin. I mean, that is a huge turnaround. And we've talked about, obviously, they got it going a little bit late last year, and now they look pretty good.

their toe against Seattle in the one game, but they've done well. And I'm not saying they've beaten Murderers Row. Kansas City was, you know, a little limited in the first game, Atlanta, Green Bay, Carolina, all have their issues. But they look pretty good. Jared Goff looks pretty good. Where does the GM's mind to go right now just kind of looking where they're at? Well, I think there's some lessons to be learned, that's for sure. I feel like I'm doing all the talking, Mike, so I apologize. Well, that's what we want the smartest possible. podcast we need you to talk now. You don't need me if that's the case. Trust me. I would say this

about Detroit, and you mentioned it, I know for a fact that this time last year they were contemplating changes. It was bad. They didn't want any part of what they were selling. And that's not a reflection of Aaron Glenn being good at what he does. They were just looking for change at this point. And I think the lesson is don't be so fast to pull the trigger. And don't think the people you have can't fix it sometimes. And I got to credit Aaron Glenn in that defensive group for doing that. Now, Aidan Hutchinson, some of these guys they've acquired have up the game. And they've upped it in a fashion that they have an identity now of what Dan Campbell wants and who he is and how he wants to play. And that cause has been furthered as well.

So I think their defense is good. I don't think it's great, but I think it's good enough to win with. And I think they are going to continue to improve. The elephant in the room for me is, and you touched on it, is Goff and their offense. And yeah, we saw it last year, so it shouldn't be a surprise. But I think Jared Goff's playing better right now than he did at any time when he was with the Rams. Wow. With the genius, Sean McVeigh.

So I think Ben Johnson's going to be a head coach. I get it. And I've never met the man. Don't know anything about him. Just watch the tape. That's all I would say. Watch what they do. Watch what they do offensively.

How they scheme things, the design, all that kind of stuff. I think it's second and third level stuff. And Goff is doing a great job running it. I think golf is playing with better anticipation, better poise. He is leading best. better now. Even ever since, do you remember last year, and I don't remember what point it was, but Dan Campbell kind of called him out. He kind of said, we got to get better out of our quarterback. Goff can't play like this or we're not going to be successful. And ever since that happened,

this kid has turned it around. So I always thought of golf as being maybe a little bit soft, but one of those guys that just kind of a little bit of a milk toast personality, you never saw it come out in any fire at all. But I think now he's gotten tougher. He's gotten the lead better. His skin has gotten thicker. And because of being around Dan Campbell and what Detroit stands for, it's become more blue collar. And so I think they're headed in the right direction with golf to the point where my question to you is they have to sign him to an extension, right? I mean, they have to. I know they picked a quarterback in the third round last year that's supposed to be the answer for the future, who I really like. But don't they have to sign golf at some point? They can

can't play without him right now. No, I agree. I agree. And I think, I think Goff's always been kind of a tough guy, but I think he's matured to the point now to where he's had some success a little bit more on his own, apart from McVeigh. I think he's getting a little bit more credit for being a good player. It's gone south a little bit with the Rams. We weren't really sure why, and I think most people just thought, well, you know, he took it on the chin a little bit there when they got Matt Stafford right away and won the Super Bowl. Well, McVeigh made it clear that, you know, he kind of poked fun at him, right, on his exit. It wasn't pretty when Goff left there.

Yeah. And when I think of the low point of him in Detroit, it might have been the 2021 season. They had that tie game against Pittsburgh, and Goff just, it was a struggle. I think they had a, I don't know if they'd even won a game at that point in the year. But he has bounced back. We give him some credit. Now, if you have, if Jared Goff's your guy. which I think we agree that he is.

I think he's going to be their guy, you're going to have a contract extension. That gives them some other options at the position, if you know what I mean. Well, again, yeah, I've kind of lived this backup quarterback spot. When we went to New Orleans, we were looking for a quarterback who we could kind of project into the future. And we had signed Jeff Blake, who I know we're going back a few years here,

but he was a really good player for us. Great deep bulb guy, yeah. Yeah, and he was our guy, but we were looking for a younger guy. and I had kind of had my eye on Aaron Brooks, who was a backup in Green Bay at the time. And I believe that the Green Bay had used a fourth round pick. Ron Wolf had picked him in the fourth round a year earlier. And actually, Mike McCarthy was his quarterback coach at that time, who was then our offense coordinator in New Orleans.

So long story short, we all kind of liked Aaron Brooks and offered Green Bay more than they paid for him. We gave them a third round pick for Aaron Brooks. And so it was one round up, and they really couldn't say no at that point. And we found our guy. And so I'm saying, golf is good. I get it. He should sign. If I'm one of these other teams, and if I had the same affinity for a Hendon Hooker at Tennessee,

who they picked last year, I might make an offer to Detroit now that they can't refuse. And I don't know who that team is. I'm kind of speaking off the cuff here. You know, if it's a, maybe it's in Arizona or somebody like, or Tennessee, somebody like that. How about Tennessee where Hooker played? you offer them a higher pick than they gave for him? Is that worth them considering? Now, Hooker is injured out all year because of a knee injury.

He suffered at the end of last season in college. So there's just a lot of dynamics here that present its case, all because Jared Goff is playing good. But I'm going to say this about Detroit and before I get off golf, I think a lot of that is because their offensive line is really good. So the lesson for me is all these other teams that are struggling with their quarterback, build an offensive line and you won't struggle with your quarterback. and I know that sounds simplistic and easier said than done,

but you don't see teams do it around the league enough. Pick an offensive lineman, signing them, and getting them right is not the sexy thing to do. But I think Detroit has leaned on an offensive line that is as good as any in the league to ride their success the last year and a half. And Goff had that when he was hot, and with the Rams too, they had a really good offensive line. But the Hendon Hooker thing interests me because, as I remember,

you liked his tape coming out. Oh, I think he's a starting quarterback in the NFL. I really do. I think somebody who can see their scheme through him, and that's what I saw. I saw an NFL guy who not only makes all the throws, but he was anticipating and doing a lot of NFL stuff when it comes to processing and throwing with confidence. So yeah, I did like him coming out. And I think someone at least ought to try to shake that tree in Detroit sooner than later to see if they could get a guy like that thinking about next year. It's interesting. Yeah, when I kind of look at some of these teams, I would be looking at, okay, a team that isn't going to be picking high enough to get Caleb Williams or somebody, right? One of those top guys here. If you're in the top five lotto business, you may not be, that may not be what you're looking at. But you mentioned a couple of teams there that were intriguing to me at Tennessee who's just been, you know, sort of rolling the dice with a bunch of throwing dart or darts to get one of these guys in the second or third round. I don't know what they think of Will Levis, but they're probably not going to bank at all on him. I wouldn't think at this point. So that could make sense. I'll mention a team to you. Yeah, there are some teams. You're right. How about Seattle?

Okay. Going forward. Yeah, Seattle's got Gino Smith and they actually like Drew Locke. So I don't know. Are they going to give up a two for Hendon Hooker, maybe? They like Drew Locke enough to say he's going to be the guy? Pete's a little different than other people. Okay.

They may or may not, but like Pete like would be excited to play with him, I believe. Okay. Now, most people wouldn't, but guess what? Everyone was saying he was crazy because Gino Smith can't play either. No, I got you. But yeah, maybe there's some other team. I'm not all in on Saddle doing it. It just came in my mind.

Yeah, no, they've been collecting them. So, yeah, the Tennessee one was interesting to me. I was just kind of looking through some of these other teams. Arizona is a good one. Arizona is not a bad one because they have, they have Dobbs who could be their backup. And who knows, we'll see if Kyler Murray comes back and plays well this year. That can answer that question. An interesting name in Hennon Hooker, somebody who's really off the radar because he hasn't played.

He can't play. He's not healthy. But if they go with golf and pay him, that could be an option. We'll see. All right, Randy, what else we got? 49ers, best team in the league for you? Easy call? Or do we not do this in week five?

No, I'm going to reserve the right to use a Mulligan down the road here. But right now, I think they are the best team. I think they're playing the best complimentary football. just don't have any questions really. And I know injuries are, you know, around every corner and that may change the outlook on how we see him. But for me, they've done nothing to get stronger. I have a lot of faith in Purdy. I don't see him as any liability whatsoever. I know there's still some questions out too. I think this kid's mature beyond his years. And I think they're going to ride that. I really do. And the way Kyle calls his offense, I always come back to this. So I apologize for kicking a

dead horse, but I thought Kyle changed the way he called games when Jimmy G played there the last year and a half. And I don't think he has to do any of that changing at all for Purdy. I think he can call his full, full gambit of offensive plays and run to the whole thing with Purdy there and trust him. Yeah, there's really nothing about Purdy that you see that looks like a red flag that it's going to all dry up. Is there? No, unless there's some durability factor, but they seem to find a way to keep him up, right? They don't have any problem picking up blitzes. And a couple weeks ago, he faced, It was some crazy number of blitzes, and I forget who they played, but I think we may even have even talked about it.

The Giants. Yeah. It was career altering for me that he stood in there and beat him down and welcomed blitzes. And that's a really hard thing for a young kid to do. And he did that. So everybody's answer to stopping rookies is, well, this blitz him. Let's get him on the ground. And that didn't happen with Purdy.

So I think eventually he's checking all these boxes, but he's got a lot of them checked already for me. He does have a lot of them checked already. I think, you know, it's, I wrote about him this week because it's hard to find, it's hard to compare situations. But, you know, everybody will want to give a lot of credit to Calshanahan. You've got the great, you know, a really good running back in Christian McCaffrey. You've got George Kittle. You've got some really perfect fit wide receivers, Debo Samuel, Brandon Ayuk. And so it's harder, you know, initially to know how much credit to give the quarterback.

All he can do is what he's asked to do. if they were to fall off, lose a couple guys, it looks a little different. Do we think that they're just fine with Purdy or that some of this could start to unravel? Has he not seen the situations that he's going to need to see? He's thrown five passes here, Randy, when they've been trailing. Now, he gets a lot of credit for that because he's making them be leading. But anything like that, how dependent do you think he is on the great stuff around him? Or do you see him as somebody who could maybe hold up a little better with a little bit more

of an average supporting cast. Have you seen anything in Brock Purdy to date that makes you think this is too big for him at all? nothing. No. So that's what I come back to. I don't think so. I think he's fine. I think he can take on more if he needs to. I think he understands his role as a point guard right now.

But if he's got to score a few points as that point guard, I think he's willing and able to do so. He knows his role. And the fact that we're never talking about him as being the reason where they're struggling at all is, you know, clear that they have good players around him. But he's never the problem or has never really set them back. They haven't had to overcome with the rest of the problem. their roster, anything he's done. So I don't have a worry. And to be honest with you, I think they're situated okay, because I think they like Sam Donald as the backup. I think Sam Donald could come in in this system and win a couple games. I really do. What does that say about Purdy?

Well, I'm not saying he's Purdy. I'm saying Purdy's got the job. He'll have it forever at this point, but I'm just saying they don't have to develop the quarterback that comes in. Like when Tray Lance came in, we had all kinds of questions. Oh, can he do this? Can he do that? I think Sam Donnell comes in and functions fine for them for the next three weeks if something were to happen to Purdy. So I don't think that's a slight on Purdy. I think it's just the state of the union in 49erland. Yeah, absolutely. So, hey, they added Randy Gregory, who, you know, you just mentioned one of the reasons Denver got rid of Randy Gregory is they had somebody better behind them. Do you like the move for them? Does it move the needle at all for the 49ers or no? I think it's fine. I think

you can always take pass rushers. I think Randy's liability is against the run. I think Denver needed him to play better against the run. They didn't have that. I think he'll be a spot player, a third down rusher, a guy that rushes when they get ahead. And like you mentioned, they're ahead often. So I think he'll shine with the 49ers, who wouldn't, we'll lining up, you know, with Bosa on the other side and some of the guys that they roll out there. So I think he'll be fine.

But I think his role and the expectations will kind of level the playing field in that Randy Gregory would just be a movable piece on sub packages and a nickel rush situation. I wonder if the 49ers think how they've got it rolling. With the trade deadline coming up, I wonder if there's anything up their sleeve. I mean, they've made some sensational move. The Christian McCaffrey move was a huge one. I don't necessarily anticipate anything like that. But they are a team that seems to really be active and kind of in everything, as you said.

You said, hey, if I'm the GM somewhere, if I'm the owner somewhere, I want us to be in on everything, right? I wonder if there's any, they don't really need anything, do they? I mean, you're not going to, you know, get an all-pro guard right now on this team. But what, you know, is there anything come to mind there to you if you were them you'd be looking at or not really? I would never say I don't need anything. I can promise you that. I would never say that. I would say I'm always looking.

And yes, your points are 100% valid. I would be shopping. I would be looking. I would be finding some piece, some part somewhere that we can acquire that make. sense. So I think I know John Lynch well enough. He's a smart guy. Kyle's the same way. He's going to empower him to go search and beat the bushes. I think this is a good group that's always looking. And I think Adam Peters is in that role as well, the assistant GM. I think they're always going to be shopping. It wouldn't surprise me if they picked up, you know, a backup safety or a third

corner somewhere else that, hey, we can build our depth to the point where kind of like Philly has done, built a team that's injury, you know, resilient and looking ahead. And that's the goal. That's the goal is to acquire 53 plus a 16-man practice squad. It's been my issue with a few of these teams around. They just never have enough talent. They never have enough guys. They win an offseason of signing a player or two, but they won't commit to pain and grinding on roster spots 50 through 53. I don't think you have to worry about the 49ers. They'll do that. You obviously don't I have to worry about the Eagles because they've shown they're willing to put their money where their mouth is. Hey, before we get into the GM Notebook and into our illustrious picks, which I'm sure we're going to be perfect again this week, just sticking in the West here,

Jimmy Garoppolo left the 49ers and went to the Raiders. He's one of three, I believe, starting quarterbacks that has more interceptions and touchdowns this year, Daniel Jones and Tanny Hill are the Edders. What does this tell us? You know, I'm not sure, Mike, other than you can't convince me that Derek Carr wouldn't be able to do what Jimmy G's doing. So maybe there's some personality issues as to why they flipped them. I think Josh McDaniels wanted Jimmy G to come in there and run his offense and not question anything about it. They were together for, you know, years in New England. I just think Jimmy G is not the same Jimmy G that he was when Josh had him in New England.

So I don't think that it was an upgrade in the swap. I said that from day one. I have a lot of respect for what Jimmy G can do and what he is as a person, but I just don't know that that's going to be a difference maker. Don't forget they've got Devante Adams, who's a top five receiver. They've got Josh Jacobs who led the league in rushing. Their offensive line is really a hodgepodge. It hasn't come together.

I can't tell you much about what I would have hope for with the Raiders. I just, I don't see it. Max Crosby, I see still as a game record we saw it the other night. I mean, the guy can still play. They have a few parts on defense. It hasn't come together. Their top pick, Wilson from Texas Tech this year, he was one of those guys that I said was free of any position could do anything.

They've lightened him up and made him a linebacker. I think that's the only thing they could have done to destroy him. So I hate the move. I hate where he's playing. I hate what they're getting out of him because of it. And so I was wrong. He wasn't insulated. He couldn't play every position.

They found the one that. He can't excel at. So I don't know. I don't see the positive vision there of where they're headed or what they're doing. It's hard. They haven't scored more than 18 points in a game. I guess Mack Jones and Zach Wilson also have more interceptions than touchdowns. But it's just striking to me when we're talking about Purdy, you know.

And at one point, Jimmy G had good numbers, you know, too in San Francisco. And you go somewhere else. Hey, you're reunited with your old coach. Guess what? It doesn't look good. So what do you got in the gym notebook? Well, a couple of things jumped out. at me this week and it started in New England. You mentioned them with Bill Belichick's comments

post game last week when he said, and I'm going to quote, we have to start over. End of quote. And my question is when I hear this, how low do you go to start over and where do you start in that? How far down the poll do you slide? Because Bill, his decision making, all these guys have made this team what it is. It's their team. It's his team. It's his team. There's nobody else to blame for having to start over. It is him. He's picked every player. So I just shook my head and I don't know. I mean, what do they do? I'll ask you. What do you do when you hear your, your architect say, we got to start over? And do I mention the 70-year-old architect who we all agrees the greatest ever. But now what do you do? I've said Bill, the GM has killed Bill

the coach for the last few years, especially. I don't see it any different right now. Oh, yeah, but Bill the GM is responsible for his handling the offensive staff the last couple years. I mean, that's been tough. Well, he is. I mean, he's same guy. Yeah. Yeah, yeah. So I'm with you on that. I think a lot's been said and written about what they're going to do there. There's a whole season to play out, but something big is going to have to change in a hurry. You can't be losing. In fact, I mean, shoot, I don't want to tip my picks before the picks segment, but I might pick whoever's playing against New England at this point. What else he got in the notebook? One other note I made from last week's games, Deshawn Watson, the quarterback from Cleveland, didn't play last week.

had some issues with his shoulder, is actually taken some heat from, I don't know if it's media fans for not playing. I guess the word is that the medical people cleared him to play. I saw this video of him throwing pregame yesterday, or last week for the GM and the coaching staff. I saw one throw and said, no way should this guy play.

He was so tentative. It was a painful look on his face. You know, a lot of times listeners may know that these players that are injured, you work them out pregame. You're on the field and half an hour. before you have to set your inactive. And so everybody does this around the league. And you get an idea of where a guy is health-wise.

Do you think it's always a little bit of a role of the dice? Do you think he can dress? Do you think he can help us? What if he gets hurt again in a quarter in the game? Now we're stuck with playing with, you know, 45 guys. So there's a lot of things that go into it. But I didn't just haven't liked the way he's been criticized. I think every player should be trusted with his own health.

I don't care what our team doctors used to say. I really don't. It's up to the player at that point. As long as the doctor tells me he can't injure himself worse and we're not doing him a disservice for rolling him out there. Everybody's pain threshold is different and everybody knows their body in a different way. So I'm just, I'm sticking up for Deshawn. That's what I'm doing. I'm just saying let's stop. Yeah. Now, you would draw a distinction though sometimes when these guys have these hold-ins. They're looking for a new contract and they're saying it's their handsering. That's a different thing than this where clearly there's an injury and there's an issue. there's no motive for him not to play, right? Well, yeah.

Put it on my radar. I was asked on a couple radio shows this week, what do you think about Deshaun Watson not playing? Well, I thought it was bullshit that you even say that. Of course he's going to play. We're not going to hold that against him. Nobody benefits from him not playing, least of all him. So he's a competitor.

He wants to play. And so you think he's going to withhold services? And I understand that if you're not 100%, sometimes you can't operate at 100%. But we watched Joe Burrow play a month on one leg. These guys are wired different. Yeah, I agree. All right.

What else? The last thing I wanted to mention was, and we've talked about it, the Jacksonville Jaguars going 2 and O while they were in London. We've said that this is the first time the league has had a team stay over there for more than a week. This was the second game of their two-game series over there in London. They stayed the first game the week after they beat Atlanta. They played Buffalo last week.

And of all these games that for me happen in London, I've always thought that teams are slower. They are lacking energy. They lack juice. I don't know what it is if it's the flight across the pond, if it's when people travel. I've taken teams over there. And I thought we looked slow. I blamed a lot of it on the turf sometimes. They're playing on these soccer fields that can't hold big men.

You could never get traction. I always felt like these games are slow motion. But now we had Jacksonville stay a week, prepare in London, not travel, not get on a plane. And they played a team, in this case it was Buffalo, who did travel after practice on Thursday night, got into London Friday. And to me, from the get-go, it looked like two different teams. I thought Buffalo was slow. I thought they were lethargic. I thought Jacksonville came out of the gate with an aggressive game plan and really just kicked their ass and got after them. And so I thought it might send people back to the drawing board to how we

travel to London. Now this week there's another game, and I forget who's in it, but That team left on Monday morning. It's Baltimore's playing. Yeah. Baltimore, I think, left Monday morning this week, so they were going to be there all week. I'm anxious to see how their energy level is, what their legs feel like. I'm no travel expert, but I thought for a minute now that Jacksonville's proved you can do this, but it would be an enormous home field advantage to be able to stay over there and play two or three games and have everybody coming to you.

And if they show up like Buffalo did, that team in England's going to have a great home field advantage. Yeah, if there's a team stationed over there, it might be, you know, it might be 8 and 0 at home or 9 and 0 at home. Yeah, that's one point. Bringing these teams in. Yeah, that would be a really big advantage. Well, Raina, we started the season hot on our picks, had a dry spell. And then in the last couple weeks, or at least this last week, we were both one and the one. I won with the Eagles given four.

I lost on Houston getting a point in a half. They lost by two. That's just the way it is. Yeah, I mean, that's ridiculous. You did take Jacksonville on that one. I think you got five and a half points came out way ahead. And then shoot, I think I had no problem with you taking Arizona and the three picks against Cincinnati. If Joe Burrow was going to play the way he played before, all of the sudden he looked totally healthy.

So he was scrambling. So sometimes these injury things are hard to predict. What do you got this week? Well, I'm sticking to what beat me last time. And Joe Burrow got me, like you said. He was a different player last week. He actually was able to move from that stature. cement block that he had put on his right leg the last few weeks. He was totally different. I think

he finally shown signs of being healthy and way better. That probably does not bode well for Seattle going there. And so my pick, I'm going to take Cincinnati. I'm going to give the three points against Seattle. I saw enough of Borough where I think he's going to be somewhat problematic and more toward what he has been in the past. Seattle's coming off a by. Travels in normally a spot where they're pretty good. But I just think Sinci right now starting it all put it together. And I'm going to give the three points and take Sinci first off. Yeah, you know, that's just a really fun game to me because because I think even though Seattle's had a couple decent wins, I mean, the win at Detroit, like, you know, they're sort of in this stage where they've got some young guys kind of flying around.

They've been a little injured. I think they get one tackle back. But they, this would be kind of a little bit of a on-the-map game to me if they were able to win it, you know, and I don't really know what to expect. They've got some young guys shoot Burrow could go out there and throw for 300 yards with Jamar Chase having three more touchdowns. I mean, that could happen, but it's just sort of, there's sort of a team that, like I'm not anointing. I think that they need to show some things, but there's some interesting signs. Like, I think the way Pete Carroll reacted to winning at Detroit, he felt like that was kind of a step, you know, and then they've played some teams like the Giants that anyone's going to beat.

So this is a nice kind of barometer game for them, isn't it, on the road? Well, I think so because Cincinnati is a more seasoned team. This is a winning team. This is a Super Bowl team. And I think it's a different level up. I think they kind of snuck up on Detroit, a team that was still trying to find how they handle prosperity. I don't think they're going to have snuck up on Cincinnati.

I think Cincinnati will have their attention. And Cincinnati needs this win as well. My other game that I'll jump into is really based on something totally different from my normal mindset, I think the bills, after coming back from London, have a little something to prove. The bills play the Giants this week. And last check, the Giants were 14 and a half point underdogs. I know the Giants aren't playing good, Mike. And I've seen what the bills, both sides of the coin can be good and be bad. But I think the Giants circle the wagons slightly enough to cover 14 and a half points. So 14 and a half points is a lot of points in the NFL. Let me just share that

with you. Yeah. I'll tell you, Tyrod Taylor fan here, huh? Yeah, I just don't see Buffalo beating them by more than 14 points. And that half a point means something to me. Obviously, 14 is two touchdowns. But I'm getting 14 and a half. I just think it will be closer than that. I think the bills will win, but I think it'll be closer than 14 and a half. With Ryan Dayball against his old team that he knows really well,

you better get a good coaching job out of dayball this week, right? No doubt. 100%. He should have some answers and some things. What do you got? Well, so I'm kind of picking against teams more than four, I got you, all right. I'm going to take the Raiders and give three at home against the Patriots on this sort of basis.

Patriots losing 72-3 last two games, 34-0. I think we're past the point of saying, hey, Belichick's going to, that was an uncharacteristic loss. That was a blip. Yeah, that wasn't a blip. He'll have them ready to go this week. Patriots are one and four against a spread. And I think the Raiders have shown a little signs of life on defense just enough that, you know, going against where New England's at offensively. I think I would take the Raiders at home.

I think it's also another one of those where more so for Josh McDaniels and that staff, this has probably been circled for them more. You know, I think they'll know how to play them and it'll be helpful to them as probably a little bit of the. the better team right now. So I'm picking against the Patriots, more than I am picking the Raiders. But I think that's one that stood out to me. The other one is, I'll take Miami at home, giving 13 and a half against Carolina. I just don't know if there has ever been a wider gap in explosive playmaking ability, but from one team to the other in it.

Carolina is winless, losing by 10.6 points per game. They're one of three teams this year that has not covered the. game and a spread this season. By the way, the Giants and the Broncos are the others. Dolphins, despite all of the hoopla around them, they're four and one against the spread. I just don't see any reason to like Carolina on any front. I don't see the sign of life. I don't see how they're going to do it. I don't know what you think about that game. Well, I'm with you. Hope is hard to bottle. And I don't see a lot of hope right with what Carolina's got going right now. I'm with you.

100%. I don't, I can't dispute the pick. I mean, I love Miami as well as you do, but I think it's going to be a hard matchup. I don't think Bryce Young is ready for prime time. And if he is, I think there's a chance he might get hurt because we've talked about that. So I don't see it. Maybe they'll surprise me. I mean, we know the NFL is shocking every week, but I'm with you. I don't see that one as well. Yeah, I'm sure the Patriots and Panthers will win big just because I picked them. Anyway, I think we've had a good Convo here. You got anything else? Nope. I think people are tired of me. Let's move on and see where we are next week. I've said my piece.

All right. Yeah, I love it. I can't wait for the games this weekend. Everybody, you can find Randy's work. You can find my work at The Athletic. You can find us both on X now. Used to be Twitter on X. At Randy Mueller underscore. That's Randy. At Sando NFL. That's me. We'll talk to you next time. Thank you. podcast.