The Athletic Football Show: A show about the NFL - Titans top Rams, Jags stun the Bills, Chiefs edge Jordan Love's Packers, Broncos shut down the Cowboys & more with Nate Tice

Episode Date: November 8, 2021

Another NFL Sunday down, and another one full of weird results, like the Derrick Henry-less Titans topping the Rams in Los Angeles, the Kyler Murray-less Cardinals stomping the 49ers, and the Broncos keeping Dak Prescott and the Dallas Cowboys offense at bay, just to name a few. Robert Mays and Nate Tice react to these storylines + the Ravens running game, Jordan Love's debut & loss to the Chiefs, Matt Ryan's Surprisingly Great Performance & tons more NFL week 9 discussion.Athletic discount @ theathletic.com/footballshow 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. It's my good friend Nate Tyson. How you doing, buddy? Doing well. That was a day.

That was an NFL Sunday where it seemed like just like what usually happens like one, one game, like one screwy game that we talk about. We have our section. You know, what the hell just happened? And it was just like, but it happened like in five or six games today. It was very hard to sort through everything. Last week, we had a long conversation about what the AFC looked like. We tried to tear it out.

And we had a really hard time with the second tier in the AFC because it was so muddled and there was so many teams jumbled up. But in our minds, there was a higher tier in the NFL. Like, if you looked at the NFC, we had four or five teams we felt really good about in the NFC. And then the bills, we thought, oh, those teams are kind of a cut above everybody else. Yep. They all lost today, except for a couple exceptions. In that tier, we included the Rams, the Packers, the Cowboys, and the Bills, all of whom lost today. So it's not as if there's one or two surprising losses or upsets for us to break down.

That's everything. That was week nine in the NFL. And it was like just as well I was honing in, I'm like, okay, these are the contenders. You know, this is our like six or seven. I can I can cut out some of the fat. Okay, a couple of rookies. I'll keep an eye on on some of the crappy teams. All right, just watch these really focus on these teams.

Yeah, whatever. Just blow it up. Like, we got Colt McCoy winging it. We got, we got Lavey on Bell and Devante Freeman partying like it's 2016. Like this is just, what a Sunday. We have one, one loss team remaining in the NFL. One. That's it.

Every other team in the NFL that's not Arizona has at least two losses. We're going to get to the Cardinals a little bit later today in the show. But let's start with the game that we just watched. kind of a shocker. We expected the Rams offense to look good as they have all season. We spent a ton of time on Friday's show talking about them and just how easy they were making it look in the passing game and how they were able to really just dominate teams in their dropback game.

They score 16 points against Tennessee, average 4.7 yards per play. The Titans defense was the most impressive part of this game. We spent so much time last week thinking about what do the Titans' offense look like? How will they construct this thing without Derek Henry? And then their front and Kevin Byard and a couple other guys just play out of their minds. Yeah. Like we, I've been watching this Rams offense week after week. And it's like, I mean, honestly, if you ask me Friday, this was the one team I felt so good about.

It was like the Rams and the Bucks. You know, those are like, okay, I really feel good about those. And it was this performance today. It was like just the the stafford blemishes. He had the, you know, he had what everyone's calling now. He had a wince moment. Like now those plays. when they're about to get the safety and they throw a pick.

That's a wence now. But that like that happened, just their offense. Like they actually finally had a team that really took it to them up front, especially on the interior, which we'll talk about later. But especially on the interior. And that was the first time I've seen, even when they played the Cardinals, I didn't ever felt that pressure was giving, you know, Stafford huge issues.

There was a couple times where it came up. But it was never like just never felt that way. And then this was the first game where it was like anytime he was trying to work on a back side, which we have commended, that's what Stafford can do. He can get to those number three reads. The pressure was getting home. Like they were doing the weight twists and everything. And it was like we had noticed with this Titan's defense how up front, how well they're playing up front.

And it was like they're okay. I was like, oh, wow, they're doing some good things. They're actually like disrupting plays. And we kind of get to see it on a national spotlight. It was just shocking to see it against this ramps team that looks like a juggernaut. I mean, I thought they were. And I mean, I guess the Vaughn Miller stuff maybe took some, maybe they blew their load a little bit. Got a little too excited, wait for Vaughn next week.

But I don't know. It was a good performance by the Titans. I mean, just they took advantage of the mistakes by the Rams. But it was just, it was weird seeing a team look so mortal on this offense that really had been taking it to every defense that they faced. The funny part and kind of the most surprising part about how this, the offense was rolling for the Rams so far this year was the way their offensive line was playing. Because before the season, coming into it, you absolutely could spin this yarn about

how Stafford could look like this. This was on the table. But the offensive line, think about how much attention we paid to the offensive line around the draft. How surprised people were they didn't go make any moves. And they moved Brian Allen back to center late in camp. All right. We're going to roll with Corbett at Guard and we're going to have David Edwards play at another spot. And it had been working very well.

But if you think about just the pedigree and the track record of the guys on that offense, it is the least proven group. But they've been playing at a really high level. And today they got taken advantage of it. And this is a version of the Titans defense that I don't know who the heck is playing corner at this point. But they've had this handful of guys play like this over the last month or so. Jeffrey Simmons was a monster today. De Nico Autry has been really good and versatile for them. Landry has his up there in pressures is one of the most productive pass rushes in the league this year.

It's much of athletic football show All-Stars. Yes, yes. They're graduating. I'm so proud of them. And then the pick six that Byard had is just, that's a great play. That is him just. Unbelievable play. Seeing that thing from a mile away coming downhill.

And just that was like a, that was like a really like heady like feeling where the game was. Okay, usually after a play like that, the quarterback just wants to get back on track. And oh my God. So that was like a nice like 40 chess move. Like it really was. You got commend them. And it's funny because they don't, they're not super well rounded on defense. They again, they have holes.

But these guys, these three or four kind of upper echelon players that they. have had so far are continuously making plays. And that's, Byard has been one of those guys. He can make a splash play for you and he did. And then the other guy, getting Jan Brown back is nice for them. They're getting healthier.

There were a couple plays where he was running to the post and cover two. And just those elements, it's like, all right, even if we have a couple holes, we still have enough on defense. It's a really impressive performance by them. So if they can find themselves a little bit on offense as they get a little bit more time and their defense doesn't have to play like this every single week.

But if they can get more out of it, who knows? This team has the best record in the AFC with how muddled everything else is. Why not the Titans? I'm sure they're asking themselves that. Right. And it was like Derek Henry goes out. Even myself, I was like, well, you know, they really build around them that kind of like just keeps them on track all the time.

And it was like, it didn't matter. They wanted a different way. And how many times we talk about teams have to find a different way to win. And it wasn't like they did this against some scrub team. It was the Rams in L.A. It was like, wow. Okay. Like props to you guys.

And I look at like David Long stepping up like they're getting like okay these guys are improving they're like they're getting performances out of guys that they maybe not thought there would just be the league average. So that's like that is usually what you need to be a surprising unit. And that's I mean the Titans are doing stuff. And like you said, I don't even know who's playing corner and they're doing this stuff. It's a testament to to Mike Vrable and the fact that they have a uniformity and the attitude they play with. And that's his whole schick, right? And it's probably overblown and silly at times. But it does matter.

In moments like this where you're rotating out pieces, we're going to talk about another team later that didn't play like that with backups today. So it does matter. Let's keep going here and keep running through teams that lost an embarrassing fashion. The bills lose to the Jaguars, 9 to 6. You go back and you watch, it's like, how did this happen? It's a pretty obvious answer. They got their asses kicked up front is how this happened.

Now the question for me is, okay, when you watch that today and we'll dig into some of the specifics. But is this symptomatic of a larger issue with the bills? And should we be worried about this moving forward? Or is this a blip? Is this just a speed bump that isn't really indicative of where this team is going? But today was, to me, a little bit worrying. Yeah, I have now become a full believer in their defense. I really have.

Now I'm just seeing them and how they perform. And so it's like, okay, that's one thing. But their offense is now, we're in week nine. I mean, and we, all this energy we spend on the chiefs offense and what's happening to them and defense is squatting on them and not being able to run the ball. I mean, cookie cutter that for the bills. I mean, it's the same stuff. I mean, the same issues they're having.

They don't have an identity in the run game. The passing game has become in a way their chaos they used to create has now become almost basic or telegraphed. Like, you know, defense has no almost how to like be patient against what the bills. You know, again, Josh Allen is Professor Chaos. So it's like also when they have to like be on script, like when Josh Allen has to throw like it's just a drop back concept and work intermediate, he's now off rhythm. Like he feel, I feel like he is not comfortable just dropping back and throwing over the intermediates like benders. I saw him run four verts a couple times today.

But he was bailing out of the pocket when he didn't have to. I think that's he's uncomfortable. I think he's the clock is ticking right now because of the way that they're playing out front. Yeah. Oh, sorry. Oh, well, I was going to say, I can't believe it. But it's like this happened last year too. It's like they missed John Feliciano.

Yes. Feliciano at left guard, not just performance-wise, but he is so important for their protection stuff. And I know this first hand, John was the backup interior alignment for us with the Raiders. And one of the things about him is that he is very cerebral and he's really good with protection stuff. He's a full-blown center mind right there. Him being out showed up over and over again.

Every time they brought pressures, the Jags brought pressures on third down, it was like a free runner coming on the interior. That's pretty, and that's why Josh Allen felt like he was getting heated up. They only brought five on like six plays in this game, but every single time they did, it worked. And it wasn't crazy stuff. It's like nickel pressures. There was a one play where they brought, I want to say the safety 21 late with Miles Jack. But even that play, it's not super complicated.

The biggest problem they had today was they couldn't block with four. The Jags had 17 pressures on their 46 past straw snaps with four guys. All four of their sacks came when they brought four. guys. When you are getting free rushers and a team is only bringing four, you're not going to win. And that's what was happening today. I tweeted out a picture of just the worst version

of it, but they ran a simple inside twist with the two tackles. Three guys went with one of the defensive tackles and I think it was 91. Duane Smoot was the free runner. Just running out on third down. And that happened a lot today.

Cody Ford had a nightmarish day. I mean, It is the type of day where you just feel the quicksand and it never, never ceases. That was him today. And it's going to be a problem for them moving forward if he has to continue to play. But it wasn't just him. Dara Williams had some really bad moments. On the final sack, he was out of his stance about a second and a half late.

He had a couple penalties. Yes. Yeah. And they just, they were all over the place on third down. And you could feel that discomfort and anxiety in the pocket. And that led to Allen just doing some really bad. of Josh Allen stuff. The pick late to Josh, to Josh Allen, which, God, everyone was really excited about that today.

Okay. Okay. I felt like a hater for a little bit because I was like, all right, all right. We're driving this into the ground, guys. His name is Josh Allen. It was a lot of attention paid to it today. But that play was a good example. And the other one that, like, just a small thing, the third and two where he fumbles,

he should have given that ball. And it's just those tiny little moments that are turning from small mistakes into catastrophic mistakes that Josh Allen pick. They fail to pick up that pressure. But instead of it just being a bad play, it turns into a catastrophic play because he's trying to make something happen. And that was happening consistently today. When I went back and I watched some of that game today, I expected crazy blitzes and all

of this stuff. And the fact that it wasn't that and they still couldn't protect, that's how you have that sort of game on offense. And it felt like, it's weird about, I'm about to say this, is like the Jaguars, were like a step ahead coverage-wise from what the bills were expecting. I can't believe I just, those words just came out of my mouth. But it's like, honestly, like at the beginning of the game, the Jaguars were playing man. And I think the bills were like, excuse me, like you're going to go man of coverage against us.

But then it was great. Like they got into the Red Zone. They were expecting, man, because the bills ran mesh. And then nope, Jaggs ran zone. It just ran soft zone. It just caught it up. And it was like, I think Alan had a scramble. They didn't get it.

But it was like they just kept them a page behind. And then they started heating them up. They threw in third downs. I think, yeah, so like you said, five pressures. That makes sense. It was all like third downs. It seemed like. And it was just, it seemed like they just kind of like kept them guessing without doing too much,

which is really weird to say. It's terrifying. It's just, yeah. Right. It wasn't like anything revolutionary where I was like, man, I could see how he got confused. It was more like they had the wrong play at the wrong time. But it was like, how do you not have answers? And losing one at once and just getting beat up up front.

Yeah. And that's the problem is when they don't bring more than you can block. ever and you still can't block anybody, that's when disasters happen. And that's exactly what today felt like. Speaking of that, Cowboys. Sure. Sure. It was 30 to 16 to the Broncos.

This to me was a mix of stuff, right? There were some bad moments for Dallas, fourth and one on the first drive. This is what this game felt like to me. Some rough moments for the Cowboys. But every single time there was an. opening for Denver. Somebody made a play. So perfect example.

Fourth and one on that first drive. You don't get it, but you don't get it because Justin Simmons takes grass on that play and makes a tackle in the backfield. Play later in the game. Amari drops a third and one at midfield. Okay? Yep. They line up on fourth and one.

Kenny Young sees something, makes a check to, I believe, man coverage, does a great job against Dalton Schultz after he motions across the formation. They try a little slant flat. Kenny Young sticks with him. Dak has to clutch it, throws it away, drive over. So yes, he should have caught the third and one, but on fourth and one, somebody made a play. And that's what the Broncos did consistently today.

To me, it was a combination of Dallas just not being very sharp and the Broncos guys just stepping up routinely over the course of the entire game. The Broncos offense, too. and I'm going to talk about their defense, but their offense too had like a perfect game play. Like they had an answer for like what the Cowboys wanted to do. Like they, they watched that Vikings film like that game last week. And they had everything we talked about on Friday. It was like also they was like they listened to Ardeno, saw it or just like, oh, I'm going to do that against the next.

But like I can tell you one thing. If there's anything I'm for sure about that happened on Sunday is that the Cowboys will never wear that red stripe on their helmet ever again. It was so bad. I've never been more sure about it in my life. life. But after that performance, yeah, Jerry's not taking that. That thing is staying in the locker room. But, but you know, it's not your day when you get a block punt and the other team gets a first time. Oh, that's exactly right. I mean, that was just a horrific moment. I'm trying not to

read too much into how the Cowboys day went, but I do want to commend what the Broncos did. I mean, but the Cowboys just missed chances. The times that they could have made a play, you have to make plays. That's why you're a player. Like, you have to make those plays. And Dak was missing. He was throwing he was looked like he had just too much juice on everything today. Like he was a salient, like a little too much like he was amped up or something. Like that CD play where he has to jump. Like he should have caught that ball. But the fact that he had to jump for it adds just a slight layer of difficulty that doesn't need to be there.

The one thing that I did think that maybe might have thrown them off a little bit. So he was one of seven for four yards when they brought five today. They didn't do it a lot. And you know when they were doing it a decent amount? It was first down. They brought pressure. on first down several times today. Well, also, I think, out of certain formations,

I think they checked into it. Kenny Young came off the edge once. They just seemed to have a really good sense of what Dallas was doing and when. And they played man on six of 16 first down dropbacks, which for the Broncos seems a little bit out of character. It's more than they typically do. Deck was two of six for nine yards on those plays.

So a little bit more pressure on first down and a little bit more man on first down. I think he was just a little bit uncertain. in those moments and you get to third, fourth down, who the hell knows what's going to happen. Yeah. And it looked like the Cowboys today, and I can't believe this is so important, was they lot, like the 12 personnel that they love to be in with Blake Jarwin and him being out, like it seemed like they lost that crutch.

It seems like a lot of times that when they're not feeling it on offense, like, all right, we're getting into hip and we're going to run our run game. We got our three, four runs. We got pound away out of this. And like losing that crutch kind of like really made them feel basic. Like they were in 11 personnel a lot. and it felt very just kind of staticky, like our complaints about the Cowboys' offense. Like they lost that kind of pizzazz that they've shown a little bit this year.

Tyrant Smith being out doesn't help either. But like, Darren Steele had a rough day. I mean, it's not as bad as I think I expected it to be. I agree. I saw he was like 11 pressures or something. I expected it to be a disaster. It wasn't. He had a couple rough plays.

There was one where Dak dropped too far that I assume he's going to get blamed for from other people. But it was not something. that's going to torpedo your day like I expected it might be. It was just little stuff here and there. A couple guys I wanted to shout out on the Broncos. Draymont Jones had a really nice day. Made several big plays. He beat Zach Martin a couple times in this game.

He had a spin move on a third and nine that flushed out. And they got to fourth and two with like 815 left in the first quarter. And then he tipped the ball on fourth and two. So Dallas didn't get that. And then Dalton Reisner had a monster block on that run in the red zone. And then later in the game, he did talk about the exact opposite of the bills. Dallas, third and 10, 1250 left in the second quarter. They mug it up like they always do.

Parsons has walked up. They ran a stunt with Gregory coming all the way around. And Rosner just wadded up perfectly. Teddy layers a really nice ball to Tim Patrick on the right side line. First down, keep going. I mean, just and Teddy, I think several times today, really nice ball placement. The Patrick touchdown, it's a double move, but Diggs is in good position. Patrick just gets a little bit of separation late.

So I was very impressed by everything that the Broncos did today. I don't know what the Broncos are long term. I still think that they're, I don't trust their offense to be consistently good. I think that their defense has some moments, but they're capable of this. I just don't think they're capable of this consistently. I think that's an exact way to put it. It's like they're going to have some of these where they're well coached and it looks great. And I just think sometimes they're just, they get bad matchups, which is not what you want to contend or you want to be matchup proof, which we'll talk about a couple times.

But that's, I just thought they, I mean, they really did have a good game plan. I got a couple, like, a couple plays. Like, they had a third down pressure. They had a seven-man protection. Like, we talked about the bang-listed against the Ravens. Like, okay, so they, like I said, they watched last week's film, definitely. They went tempo early on. Like, if you noticed, they were really going into like, and I would say this about the Cowboys' offense or defense is Parsons is fast and all that stuff is sometimes they,

They have trouble get lined up at the snap of the ball. That's a big issue on their defense. So Broncos went tempo. Okay, boom, keep it at him, keep it on. Pell to the metal. Even in the red zone, like that PI, Cortland Sutton got, they, or someone Pied him, that play was taking advantage of the Cowboys red zone coverage because the safety pushes to the trip side vertical.

And quarters coverage, a traditional, they'll push, they'll push that backside safety to cover number three vertical. Number three stop. Number two went vertical. so the safety kind of hung up. So, like, that's why Teddy had a body to throw in. It got the P.I. But it was like that first Red Zone play, they had a plan for it.

And it's like, you know what I mean? They just every situation they had something. And it was like, okay, you got credit to their coaches. And I mean, it helps when you can just pound the rock all day with Javent Williams and Melvin Gordon just all day every day. And I'm pretty sure Garrett Bulls didn't play in this game either. So they put with their backup left tackle was in there. And they still managed to do that up front, which is impressive.

It is. All right. Last upset we want to talk about here. A weird game and not really enough. upset when you consider all of the circumstances about it. The Packers go in. They lose an ugly, ugly game to the Chiefs. So first things first year, how would you characterize the way that Jordan Love played?

He looked like a guy making his first start. I mean, that's just, okay, this is what a difference. We expect a quarterback just to be the throws. Like that is a nutshell, we're like, oh, it's just the throws they make. there's a when you're a quarterback it's also the operation of the offense yes and that was where jordan loves an experience showed up more than anything today i know he had the spray throws he's running around yada yada spaggs was having a field day today by the way oh my god he could not today was his like christmas for him he could not wait to do third down this week but like it first

first or it was maybe a second drive it was in the first quarter they ran due out a hip wing usually when the safety is down you have the motion to receiver in this is is what we go Gaga over Chris Godwin doing time after time after again. Jordan Love forgets the motion of Lizar down. So they run duo right into a down safety. You guys, free rider. Dylan ends up making a nice play on it. But it was like, okay, that's one.

Later on, how many times do you see Frank Clark teeing off on the snap count? He doesn't have to worry about Aaron Rogers as a little, you know, the false count, you know, the hard cadence. All those back shoulder throws. Those looked a lot less lively today when it's not Aaron Rogers hit the back shoulders. It's like it's just all the snap operation. Like even the center is an experience too playing center. It's how is like he was about to make a check. And usually you go because you have to give a cadence or you have to give a step.

And it's really hard. The offensive line is hearing hard words. They're hearing noises. They're hearing noises. So as a sudden they hear, rah, they're going to think it's a snap count. So as a as a quarterback, one of the things you say is easy, easy, easy. And you kind of like you kind of work into it. Love, Jordan just goes, easy, easy.

and he snaps the ball because it was just the guy I thought he snapped at him. God, that gives me flashbacks that just happened to me all the time. Oh, I know. We're on either side of this. All the time. That is just like, oh, my God, it takes me back in a bad way. So I would always wave at the center, be like, hey, easy.

Like real low. Yes, you have to. Yes. Chill, chill, chill. And Rogers is really good at that. Hey, but that's, it just, that's every quarterback, just like a pitcher having their own motion, every quarterback has their own operation, their own cadence, their own way of checking, their own way of doing everything.

only a dropback. So it's like all of a sudden, Jordan Love gets plopped in. It was like, oh, yeah, there's a big difference between you and Aaron Rogers right now. The frustrating part about this is that their defense played more than well enough for them to win this game. Mahomes went 20 of 37 for 166 the way that they played. And this is you're already winning if you convince the chiefs to play like this. Darrell Williams touched the ball 23 times in this game. Travis Kelsey and Tyree Kill had 19 combined targets.

if that is the way that they're approaching you, you're already at an advantage. And Williams had a 37% success rate when they rushed the ball. It's not as if they were gashing them on the ground. Every single Packers linebacker in this game made three ridiculous plays. Like Chris Barnes made multiple tackles in space.

Orrin Berks had an incredible one. Campbell had one down on the goal line. Rashon Gary had multiple nice plays in this game, which helped having Andrew Wiley in there at right tackle. And that, Guess what? When you're trying to win a Super Bowl, when you're trying to be the number one seat in the NFC, when you have one loss and your defense is starting to come on a little bit here and is playing incrementally better, it would really help to have the defending MVP, the reigning MVP, who's one of the best players in the league and can keep the train on the tracks. But he's good. He's all set. He was all set for this week. But I mean, there's so many of our guys that are guys, but it's like, hey, I'm telling you, the athletic football. football show All-Stars. Like some of these guys are starting to creep up. Like Darnell Savage was flying

around. And it's, but like we say, you have to be a complete team to win the Super Bowl. You can't just rely on your MVP quarterback missing the game. Like it's those other, those other guys just have to step up. And honestly, like just watching this today, like just watching this Chiefs offense kind of, it's so weird. They start the game that like, hey, we're going to fix it. We're going to do all the stuff. We need to fix it. We're going to rec counter. We're going to get. hey, we're going to go under center, run play action out of 12 personnel. And as soon as they kind of get in a moment of panic, they go right back to what they are. And they go into the one by three formations where Kelsey's getting his ass kick.

It's they were fixing it a little bit. Like they put Kelsey in the slot. Like they went three by one to put Kelsey in the slot. But then it was just like, I don't know. It's so weird watching this chief offense have these struggles when it's just like, oh, it should be right there. It should be right there for them. But it's like they just don't do the things that I'm expecting them do, like going over the top. we're doing those explosive plays that I want to see out of them.

So I know we're talking about the Packers, but I'm just like, it's just the Chief's performance is frustrating. I think it's important to bring up because they won this game, but I'm way more worried about the Chiefs leaving this week than I am about the Packers. The Packers, I think, will be fine the moment that Rogers gets back. It's infuriating, I'm sure for Packers fans and for everybody else on multiple levels that they lost this game because he wasn't playing. And I'm sure there's a little bit of, oh, man, gritting your teeth thinking about what the Jordan

love era looks like moving. forward here. It's a little early, but you'd hope you look better than this. But with the chiefs, there's no missing quarterback. There's no like, oh, this is just a throwaway week. This is just another entry into what has been a really frustrating and kind of maddening season for them offensively. And it doesn't seem to be trending in the right direction. Yeah, it's, it's everybody's just like squatting. Like Kevin King was playing inside leverage, heavy leverage on Tyree Hill. worried about Tyrick Hill going over the top of them. And it's like, how does that work? Like, how, like, just, just go. Like, I don't even care if there's a high, what cloud safety over

there, a two, a two high safety. Just go pass them. Like, they don't take those shots. And then, and first, the first argument would be, well, they can't protect it. But it's not that. Like, they can manufacture the protection with it. It just seems like they're just like doing this to themselves. Like they want to do it. And Kelsey just looks so, so. I mean, he's dropping balls. It's just, they just look so out of sync right now. It's really frustrating to watch with someone who misses that offense. All right.

Every week, there's a ton of stuff going on during an NFL Sunday. So we like to kind of take a step back and think about and talk about who grabbed our attention, who kind of made us sit up in our chairs during a given week. Gentlemen, you had my curiosity. Now you have my attention. Let's start with the Ravens, because that game, was just entertaining as hell. And in a world where so many other teams are losing and losing in kind of horrible fashion,

this is a team that did not have its best day that got in a couple holes and still managed to win this game. And the Ravens are now a half game back in the AFC. They're sitting at six and two, even if we don't think they've played their best football really at any point. Yeah, this offense kind of feels like a fever dream right now. I'm telling you it. Because this day was so different than it's been.

throughout the year. That was the biggest thing, right? I mean, we were looking at the way they were throwing the ball in games like the one they had against the Colts and just their dropback game and what Lamar was doing. This game was straight out of 2019. They ran the ball for 247 yards. They have a lot of G. You actually had GT counter.

They're actually running the counter read stuff again. It was like, oh, okay, we're coming back to it. And yeah, it was fun to watch. They ran for 247. They average 0.3 EPA per rush. per run. Wow. For reference, only two teams in the league have averaged that throwing the ball this year.

And that's what the Ravens did running the ball today against the Vikings. Kind of nice. But yeah, Lamar like working in between the tackles. I'm telling you, Levyon Bell wearing a teens number or whatever he was wearing today. Like that was just so jarring. It's awful. I hated it. I hated it.

I hated it so much. Yeah, Devante Freeman catching flat routes in the red zone. Like, yep, sure. Okay. But I think it was hilarious watching Patrick Ricard. catching a couple balls, not including a touchdown. The best drive of any single player in the league today. When you consider all the circumstances.

You know, they had of Jurassic Park when all the velociraptors jump on the T-Rex, just try to take him down? Like, that's what it looked. Like he got the one in the flat. They're all just hitting them one after another. And he's like still barreling for it. Oh my God. I was dying.

Like that was the play where he, it was like third and 16. And he got it to fourth and two. And they went for it on fourth and two. So if he doesn't do that, they don't get that first down. It should have been like fourth and eight. Yes. Yeah. I know.

I know. And he just T-rexed it. He carried him for. And then he had another catch on that drive. And then he caught the touchdown on that drive. It all happened in the span of like 10 plays. You got to pack in your Patrick Ricard stuff into one self-contained element of the game. You got to focus.

You know, when you want to feature the main black bears of the NFL, you know, you got to focus into one drive. I know, it's just like, I know, it's just like when our offense is just like, oh, we got dial up her plays. That's like, that was, they featured him on that drive. But this. This Ravens defense is, we know what they are. We can only so many times say they play man that bring pressure and they do a couple zones in there. But it's kind of like I think I've clicked for me watching them is that they're going to be

very matchup dependent. I just think that's what they're with this defense. I think I've come to accept that, that they're not going to maybe every week be able to take it to every team. But I think they are for most teams because they can play man coverage and that is tough to win against week and week out. And I just, it's just a weird, weird team. I also watched Rashad Bateman.

I'm like, oh, this is great. And then Mark Andrews is dropping a ball. And then I see a play where they're running. It was like third and five. I don't think I tweeted it, but I was about to, but I didn't want to pile on. They like, they ran like three curls on like a third and five. Mark Andrews, uh, I was Hollywood Brown. And I would think it was Doverny, Debrony.

They were all like within about three yards of each other that the Vikings were able to cover all three with one and a half guys. And it was like, yep, there it is. That's the Ravens Passing attack. I know. But it was. So that's why it's so. hard for me. Sometimes I see all these good things that they do. It feels like every third down because they run five man protections turns into Lamar against the free runner off the edge.

Which today worked out okay. It does. So many plays, two minotrol especially. He just made so many plays with his legs today. And that's why I think it's worth talking about just because they've won in so many different ways this year. And to see them do this where it is just counter. It's quarterback counter. It's all those pollers that were used to. And it's just a throwback version of this team. I mean, the one that, Vula Wave, it destroyed Kendrix on one that set it up with first and goal. And they ran the same play multiple times that GT counter where you pull the guard and the tackle and Lamar runs right behind it. And then they had little wrinkles off of it. One of the 20-yard receptions that Brown had in overtime, it was that play, but it was the pass

off of it. He just flips it to him in the flat, it runs up the sideline. So it just, again, a version of this offense that we hadn't seen in a while, but that's what they needed to go to to win today. And they're sitting there at six and two. Like we say, they just, this is a team that has the best special teams DVOA and they had a terrible special teams day. It's like, what do we say about good teams? They find a way to win. I know that sounds like an old coaching adage, but this is, this is kind of like watching a team

do it this way. And it's, it's fun. I mean, Lamar is going to keep them in every game just because even if throwing wise stuff's not happening, having a quarterback that can use his legs like he can. just special, special way. It's just going to raise the bar of the team. So that's what's so nice about Lamar Jackson. Is that like you're like, okay, we have nothing dialed up.

Hey, Lamar, go. And then hopefully we can run some fun pressures on and get after a bad protection like they did today sometimes. And it was just, yeah, that's their formula right now. Let's stick in the AFC North. Brown's defense. You have my attention. Yeah.

They dominated that game today. 0.29.29. 9.29. EPA per play for Burrow today, which is about as, it's twice as bad as any other passing game in the league would have been over the course of the season, just for some context there. That's how bad they were today. And it was not the Bengals playing bad. It was singular performances from some of the guys on the Browns.

Their stars step up. They were healthy on defense, kind of across the board for one of the first times this year. And I think you got a glimpse of what this year. unit can be when it's really, really clicking. They make it really hard on quarterbacks because they just tight coverage, like we've commended the bills on. It's like they've kind of like cousins of each other a little bit, like, you know, just kind of how they go about things.

But it's good coverage, putting a lot of bodies and throwing lanes. Hey, make an offense matriculate down the field, matriculate down the field. I'm sorry, matriculate down the field. meticulously matriculate. Maticusely matriculate. I know. Daylight savings must have screwed me up. But it's like, but just go down.

work your way down the field, make him run the ball, make him take the stuff underneath. But the thing is, if you want to drop back against that and actually maybe trying to get something down the field, you have to block up Clowny and Miles Garrett every single snap. And that is very, very hard to do every single snap. And getting Clowny, like, fully healthy. I'll say it again, just the synergy those two have, just the fact that he's such a terrorizing force in the run game because he's so disruptive is just helps them out. because it just closes off one side because you're kind of scared to run to his side because,

yeah, you might get one where he guesses the wrong way. But two out of four times, he's going to wreck our shit and it's going to look ugly. And then it's like, okay, but let's run to the other side. Well, there's Miles Garrett. Okay. So what do we do? Run up the middle. Okay.

Well, they're going to wad it up, you know, have bodies tight and they're like even fronts and all that. So it's like, okay. You know, but this is their version. This is the best version of themselves. And we haven't talked about all the power they're running on offense. Denzel Ward was awesome today. I mean, he made, he had as good a game as you could possibly have as a corner.

He had the pick six where that's just an amazing play. I mean, they have that. That's one-on-one with Jamar Chase on that side. That's why Burrow went to it. He trusted it so much. We've seen this work five different times in this area of the field. In the low red zone, he's been dominant. I'm going to go back to him no matter what.

Ward picks it off, takes it to the house. Later on, he had another past breakup. in the end zone. How many times this year have we seen a team in quarters in the red zone? And a team just runs that little quick post where they're just playing with the leverage and like, we're going to take this right now. And Ward comes down on it, has a PBU in the end zone, leads to a field goal. And then later, he had, they were at three by one, chases on the right side.

They wanted him on, I think it was third down. They wanted to slant to Jemar Chase. Again, one on one. It's a great matchup. We saw him roast Marlon Humphrey. for an entire game. For us everybody, it doesn't matter who he's got against. Ward is in his hip pocket the entire time without drawing a flag, PbU,

tips the ball right into John Johnson's hands. Those aren't cheap plays. Those aren't cheap picks. That is a corner taking over a game. And that is what he did today. Yep. And that's what running this type of defense, having a corner do that unlock so much. Because you can just go, hey, lock them down over.

over there. We're going to wad up everything else over here. I mean, that's all they're doing. And when you can, this guy, I mean, Jamar Chase has shredded people. I mean, the performance he against Marlon Humphrey was like actually very, it's burned into my brain. But being able to have these plays not only just become the one in the red zone two with the other PBU in there against T. Higgins. I think it was. Then the T. Higgins. Yep, T. Higgins on one. But it's not only those turn those plays that were going to be positives for the offense, like you're saying, But like you said, the other example, those are turning into positives for the defense. Huge.

Game swing in place. Double swings. Yeah. And it's just rather going like, oh, incomplete. It's a net neutral play. We'll punt. It's like all of a sudden, no, boom. It's turning into the advantage to the offense.

And honestly, just the Brown's run game today was awesome. I mean, just like this is what I expected. Yes. This Brown's offense. And like the Donovan People's Jones touchdown. Like this is what the team. This is what I thought they would look like. In August, this is what it looked like.

This is what I wanted the Browns to be. Miles Garrett, and it's so funny because in the first half, I was sitting there watching General Williams, I was like, he's playing well. Like, these are a good job again, and that it only takes two plays. He just roasts him on a little like rip and dip for a sack a half a second after Burrow gets the ball.

So they finished with five sacks. Troy Hill had a couple. He came out of slot pressure. And there was probably triple pressures. Like they have five sacks plus like 15. Yeah, and they had 12 hits. They had 12 hits. So you have front dominating the game.

You have Ward making some plays. and you have splash plays on offense, an explosive run here, an explosive run there, let's take a shot, let's go home. This is the team I thought they would be coming into the season.

There was so much talk about O'Do Beckham and what his workload, what he meant to the offense, why it wasn't clicking, and I don't know if they're better without him. I don't know anything about that, but I do know that this team that I saw today is the one that I expected to see,

and it's not as if they were beating up on a team that hasn't been good this year. The Bengals have beaten people, people. The Bengals are a really solid team, if anything else. And the Browns were, this is the best performance they've had all season by a lot. Yes. It's, it's what we needed to see really. Otherwise, it would be like, yeah, eject. Because I mean, but looking at that run game the whole day and seeing, you know, White Teller polling and knocking a guy, you know, knocking guys. Poor Jesse Bates. Yeah. Oh, I know. Twice. He got him twice a day. Poor guy. But like seeing that,

the tight ends down blocking, kicking guys out, and then running, okay, we hit three powers in the first quarter. Let's run a power play action and hit a shot play over the top. And that like, why that run game matters in that whole thing, no crap, no shit it matters for this team. But on that shot play, because they hit power out of that formation twice already, Jesse Bates and the other safety, other bangal safety, were at 10 yards. Yeah. And so they run, they run power with the polar. Even if those safeties recognize it's a pass, they already started at 10 yards. So that split second of hesitation, you're on an overpost combination and it's all over. You can play it perfectly, but the fact that they've been brought up, it's the classic run to set up to the past.

Guess what it works. If you can do it, it works. But I do. I have no idea what to make the OBJ thing. But it's just like this is, this version works for them. And it didn't work with OBJ in there. I mean, it did at times. It didn't.

It was inconsistent. But at least maybe they know their path now rather than maybe square peg round holding. I will say. some of the stuff they do inside the five just drives me nuts. Like they squandered multiple opportunities. They did not play a perfect game today. Yeah. This could have been uglier than it was when you consider some of the turnovers.

That's the third week we've noticed that too. Yes. It's the third week. It was low red zone. It's once they get inside the 10, it's so weird. It's just multiple plays today. I was like, ah, there's still a place that they can go after their performance today. But not they're five and four.

They have the same record as the Bengals. And we've talked about a million different times with how muddy the ASC is, who the hell knows? If they play like this and this is the team they can be for the rest of the season, they absolutely could be a major player in the playoff picture. Absolutely. All right. It's time now for State Farm's surprisingly great performance of the week presented by State Farm. I wanted to talk about Matt Ryan, 23 of 30 for 343 and two touchdowns against a Saints defense that came into this game ranked third in defensive DVOA and

gave Tom Brady a bunch of problems last week. I mean, 93.8 QBR, take a bow. Like, I mean, and he earned it. He did. This was, and he earned every single bit of this. We'll get into it. But when I went back and I watched this game, I had a blast. You called me. You were so excited to talk about it. You're like, yeah, yeah, the Sunday night game. Hey, hey, no, no. Do you see Matt Ryan? Do you watch this? I mean, they, like you said, they, he earned it. There was no cheap yards coming. on this. There's not cheap RPO's coming on a slant. You know, it's nothing like that. It was him play action, him scrambling. I mean, the touchdowns he made out of structure today were hilarious. He had a rushing, he had a rushing touchdown, where he just waltzed into the end zone.

It was so cool, doing it. It's an option, right? Like, that is supposed to be one thing he can do on that play. And then multiple times in this game, he made David on Yamada miss in the pocket stepped up and made a second reaction throw in a big moment. It wasn't just one or two times. It happened multiple times in this game. He ran for a key first down. What he was, he was so locked in today in every single way. It was a, that Falcon saint, rat, the Saints robbery. He'll get the juices flow. I mean, but that it was so cool. I mean, the touch, the rushing touchdown was so awesome. I've never seen like, he looked so cool. Like, The hard point, the hard point for me, it was like seeing another gangly, you know,

gangly quarterback doing these stuff. Like, like, whims going every which way. He like the hard point, he pump fakes. And then as soon as he walks into the end zone, I thought he was about to do the LT, you know, like the head. The little flip. Yeah, the flip. The Tana Hill flip.

Yeah, Tana Hill. It looked like a Tanniel play. Except it's 36-year-old Matt Ryan. I don't, like, it reminds me like you ever watch like, you know, a high school highlight tape and those, like a Kyle. where they have 100 throwing touchdowns and 40 rushing touchdowns. And then by the time they score, like, for the fourth time that game, they're like bored. Like most guys would be freaking out.

That's what it looked like. He like scored, flips the ball. I was like, yeah, I scored, whatever. But it was like, yeah, there we go, Matt Ryan. But it was awesome. I mean, watching them use Cordero-Patterson's been fascinating. Totally. I mean, their offense is so, it's so unique.

I mean, their best players. Their best players are a tight end who's not a tight end and a running back who's not a running back. Correct. And watching them use those guys. together is so interesting. Like the first big completion he had to Cordero. Yes.

They're in empty. Quana Alexander is on him because he's theoretically a running back with all the other personnel that around the field. And he runs a sluggo against Kwan Alexander. But Matt Ryan throws a perfect ball. And that happened multiple times today. And it's awesome. I can't believe you talk.

That's the exact play I want to talk about. It was the first third down in the game. And it was like, just like you say, just by definition, by definition that, yes, that is 11 personnel. But the Falcons 11 personnel has a running back wearing number 84. And it's not, you know, Thai Montgomery just getting it because, you know, because of injuries and all that kind of stuff. It's actually a guy that used to play receiver. And they and the fact is I think I posted a clip, but it was really cool.

It's like rather with Cordero-Parrison, you're going to go like, oh, he's at running back. Okay, but they're going to be an empty protection every single time because he can't pass protect. He's past protecting now. So they have this guy that's receiver running back can pass protect, run. I mean, it's just like, okay, cool. They've unlocked cordero parrots. like something that no one has done. People have been trying to do it for a decade now.

They found the Rosetta Stone to Cordero Patterson to translate them. But it's awesome. It's such a weird offense to watch, but it's awesome. It really is. And just Kyle Pitts is fascinating to watch. And it's cool. But yeah, props to Matt Ryan. I mean, yeah, that was a really, really vintage performance from him today.

I forgot on the one where he took off on third and one. He lost to Mario Davis in space. Like he made DeMario Davis miss in space on the third down scramble. Yes. So the two other plays I want to talk about, third and five at 155, I think, in the third quarter. The Saints were in that nickel look that they have. We talked about a million different times where they take out one of their defensive line. The dime look, where they take out one of their defensive linemen, they have two linebackers standing up.

So Juan Alexander is on the Agap on the left side on this play. And they bull dropped out, Kwan and DiMario Davis. Think about this just visually. He's over the right guard. and he has to cover Kyle Pitts as the number three receiver on the other side. So Matt Ryan does a fantastic job getting all the way to Kyle Pitts and just firing him an outbreaker for a 16-yard gain on third down. That's him understanding he's not going to be able to get back over there.

And as soon as he hit the back of his drop, fires it to him. 1443 in the fourth quarter, they're an empty on first and 10. Matt Ryan sees the capped corner on that side, the slot corner. he knows the slot corner is coming because they are in empty, and he just floats it to Patterson over the middle for a 13-yard game. So you have a guy making a team pay whenever they're bringing extra guys or whenever they're in a pressure look, making plays out of structure,

making free rushers miss in the pocket, and then pushing the ball down the field. He had a 12.3 completion percentage over expectation today against one of the best defenses in the entire league. I mean, again, they earned every. every single scent of this. I did not expect to have this much fun watching Matt Ryan throw the ball to Russell gauge.

But that was one of the coolest performances of the entire day. I'm not even going to pretend like I could say the other receiver's name that caught a couple touchdowns. I know his last name. Okay. There we go. Okay. Him.

But yeah, I mean, that good props to them. It was a lot, a lot of fun to watch. All right, guys. Remember, like a good neighbor, State Farm is there. get a quote today. Why don't you explain this to me like I am an eight-year-old? All right. It is time for explain yourself.

Every single week we like to pick a couple of performances. We're only doing one this week because for reasons. I'd like to look at a performance that we just need a little bit more context. We need some explanation for how this happened. There were a lot of candidates today, but we've talked about most of them. So all the upsets and all of the baffling performances we hit at the top of the show, there is one more though and that is the San Francisco 49ers losing 31 to 17 to a Cardinals team that not only did not have DeAndre Hopkins did also not have Kyler Murray and had absolutely no trouble moving the ball against the San Francisco team. How confident do you think Sheel felt when Alson Cowher Murray was announced as out?

I mean, I was like, I mean the line moved a bunch of points because I have made a million jokes on the show. I have that offense is coward do something funny well guess what today it wasn't it was like that was a great performance from the whole cardinals offense like in the run game and everything but having said that it was also not a great performance from that 49ers defense like that third and 18 check down to james connor embarrassing embarrassing that's the only word for it embarrassing there's nobody on that whole side of the field no it was like how does that happen like at 51 missed the just missed a tackle in space he had a rough day he had a rough day he had a rough day he had a rough day And so Cole McCoy averaged 9.4 yards per attempt in this game.

Yeah. And James Codder had a big day. There was not as if there was like one or two weird moments. They got beat up throughout the course of this entire game physically. James Conner's touchdown, the first one with it was with the power to the left or power to the right. They had a puller and they had a lead. Lead blocker was a tight end.

They're just crushing people there. It's not as if there's some wonky stuff going. on. They physically got beat up by a team today that did that had its backup quarterback in the game. Well, how about the exclamation point from you know, Benjamin? It's perfect example. Oh my God. Perfect example. That was like, I mean, you could hear the whole air come out of the stadium after that one. It was, but that's exactly what it was. They did take it to them. In offense like that, I'm like, oh, they just go hero ball, DeAndre J. Hopkins and now A.J. Green. And you would think this defense would know, hey, they're going to really go, you know,

probably worked the interior and they've had Christian Kirk there and Zach Ertz and, you know, the running backs can both all catch. And it was like, those guys still went off. Like that number 51, Aziz Al-Shiere, like he was getting, he got torch on an angle route from Ertz, I believe it was. And it was like, oh, they had a couple of those. Their fifth round rookie was starting at safety, Hafonga. Yeah. And that's so he was slow to trigger on stuff. And it was like, oh, it was brutal. That's why some of those runs were getting to the second level because there's no safety coming now. You could easily explain this away and say, well, they're hurt.

You know, Fongus starting, Tavon Wilson's getting snaps. Drake Kirkpatrick is playing. 51 is getting tons of run because Drake Glein was hurt. Yeah. They're always hurt. Right? They're always hurt. At a certain point, you can't, it's not as if this is not self-inflicted in some way.

They came into the season banking on Jason Ferrette playing the entire year. I love Jason Ferrette. I would love if Jason Ferrette. Jason Verrett stayed healthy. But that is not that you should be making. Correct. Jekwisky Tart has been hurt, right? He missed this game.

Do you know how many times Jukwisky Tart has played more than 12 games in the last five years? One. He's missed at least seven games every single year since 2017 except for one year. So it's not as if we can't see this stuff coming. Yeah. So other teams are also hurt. The Cardinals don't have J.J. Watt. They didn't have Kyler Murray.

They didn't have DeAndre Hopkins. They played with. some balls today. They played, they took it to them. 85, Wesley, he made a couple of plays down the field. You know, Benjamin touchdown, he's laying wood on a block. And that is, that to me was the most disappointing thing, is that it felt like they didn't want to play that type of game.

And so now you're in this place where this team is three and five. You watch them compared to a team like Tennessee with a bunch of backups in or Arizona today, you know, like, what is this team? Like, what are they? What are they supposed to be? And it's just their personnel concerns on defense are starting to creep up. Their offense was fine today. They, if you look at it, they had some big place and some rough turnovers.

The kiddle fumble, the Iuke fumble. That doesn't happen. The game is closer, but you cannot explain away the performance that they had on defense. That, there's no excuse for that. And what, like, their offense, by the way, why did they always have fumble issues? Like, I feel like the 49ers since Shannon's got there. It's like they always lead the league in fumbles. Like, I feel like this has been their MO and injuries, of course.

And it's like one thing kind of leads to another. But this is this defense, they're so, so, so predictable. And like you're just saying, if you know you're relying on injured guys or unproven guys, being predictable is not the way to win. you're relying on your front four winning. And we talked about, well, it's great when it does work. All the good defensive plays today for the four-niris was one of their front-four guys winning. It wasn't some cool pressure where I'm going to tweet about it later this week.

You know, it's nothing like that. It was one of the guys that was Armstead. It was somebody just wrecking shit. And then like, okay, getting home. But like, cool. Like, again, you go against Colt McCoy. Like, shouldn't be making plays and doing all this other stuff. It felt like they just got spread thin.

And it's like, you know, this team. You just had a good performance him against a couple weeks ago and you're going against should be a lesser quarterback who's not going to beat you with his legs. Like what the hell happened? Like, like you said, the Cardinals took it to him. It felt like the 49ers were just playing scared. Like throughout the whole thing. Like defensively. And then offensively, it's like, yeah, they come home. They do some stuff. And like they did look better. They realized that Brandon Ayuk is still alive. Like, you know, it helps have George Kittle. It helps have George Kittle healthy. See, like, but again, you just also, you see Jimmy being Jimmy, good and bad, a couple of plays, but then as soon as that first or second reads are covered, also, he clenches up in the pocket.

And you're just like, ah, and you're like, oh, yeah, that's right. That's right. You traded for Trey Lance, but then that makes you remember, oh, is this franchise in purgatory? Like, it's, I mean, it's just, you don't know, because even looking at their offensive line, they have Alex Mack and Trent Williams, both fine players old. I mean, let's be honest. They're in the 30s now. You know, the right tackle hasn't done much. It's just like a hodgepodge of parts.

And the right guard to me is very indicative of what's going on here. He got worked multiple times today. And so that to me is emblematic of a larger problem. Okay. He's getting destroyed. You drafted a guard in the third round this year, right? Second round. You drafted a guard in the second round this year who has not gotten on the field.

No. Yeah. He has not gotten the field. You have a third round running back that you traded a fourth round pick to get that can't get on the field and is in any. You had no second round pick last year because you traded it for Emmanuel Sanders. Yep. So the meat of this roster where the depth should exist, you see the holes.

And that is the problem here is that for as good of a schemer as Kyle Shanahan is, which I truly believe that he is. And the fact that this has been a top 10 offense again, what Jimmy Graspo, they move the ball today. They create explosive plays. I feel like the personnel choices and the overall vision on that side of things lacks focus and lacks vision and that is sabotaging whatever benefit you're going to get from Kyle Shan has an offensive coach. And where does that leave you? I don't know the answer to that.

Yeah. I think lacking focus is exactly what it is. Like even right there, I just like my last line here, I said they're just purgatory as a franchise because it's just some of it makes sense. As soon as I'm, like, starting to buy into, like, what makes sense there, they just, like, reconfigure it a week later. Or they tweak it. And it's like, okay, now Jimmy's back starting. And it's like, I don't know.

It's like, there's no path set. Like, it just, I, even with the offense doing well, I don't know what they hang their hat on right now. It wasn't run the ball today. Like, as we know, as Shannon had an offense. And I get that. I get, they have injuries. I get it. I get it.

They're playing a rookie runnerback. I get all that stuff. But it's like, that's usually what they hang their hat on. So you're going to hang your hat on offense with Jimmy passed about 40 plus times. that's not very fun to watch. Like that's a little scary to watch. Like especially how this defense is now, this defense that is relying on their front for getting home every single play,

which was fine a couple of years ago when Richard Sherman was playing well on a cheap contract, relatively, but relatively if you contract. And you had DeForest Buckner and you had all of these guys playing at a super high level. They just don't have that anymore. But not now. Yeah, I know. And like you're saying with the death,

and now you're training where your first round picks for the next couple of years with Tray Lancex. There it is. And now it's like, okay. were you okay you've set this path and you haven't committed to it so now what now what what what's happening now they are in a very strange place and i don't know what the end result is because they just gave him a huge contract extension and i there are a few bigger fans of kow shanahan as an offensive football coach than me i mean for the last five years i feel like i have trumpeted that cause as much as anybody has i think i've led that charge in a lot of ways one of the first conversations

we've ever had was talking about kow shanahan I mean, I was very early on that train, and I think it's hard now to be excited about every aspect of it. Because he has a ton of say, right? Like, this is his plan in every way. He touches every part of the roster. And this is a problem. We've seen this in the past, right? This happened with his dad.

Yes. Where the general manager side of it starts to affect the coach side of it. And I absolutely think that's what's happening here is where the team-building vision of this is starting to sabotage, whatever benefits you're going to get from the I can create and manufacture explosive plays. Just give me the guys. Just give me the guys in what you're doing. I mean, the fact they're relying on Mohammed Sunu so much, like he's playing a good chunk of reps. I'm not saying rely on them.

But the fact that he's seeing the field is like that, I don't know, it's, it really reminds me of an NBA coach becoming a GM as well when they just, like you just said, they just can't get out of their own way. I saw it with Tom Thibodeau in Minnesota. I've seen Doc Rivers a couple times. It's like it's like they just they can't understand long term, midterm, short term. And it's just the short term now becomes outweighs everything else. And they always just shoot themselves in the foot. So as soon as one hole gets patched, also two more pop open because they haven't thought about that because they're worried about the game plan of that week. So it's that that is a concern because like you said, there's fingerprints.

There's a reason Alex Max on this roster. There's a reason Trent Williams is on this roster. Those are Kyle Shanahan guys. There's a reason to snooze on this roster. All those guys. and there's bad sides of that too. There's downsides of that too when you're not going against what you maybe think you like. And you've got to figure out what it is.

I want to put a bow on this very quickly by saying we also just can give some credit to the Cardinals. Yes. I'm coming out and playing like this today. Absolutely. I think their offensive coaching staff and just their approach overall deserves commending because you don't hand out an ass kicking like that with your backup quarterback without some real work that was done during the. week. So I wanted to acknowledge that for as disappointing as this performance was in the Niners, for as confusing as they are right now in the place they're at, this was a resounding win and a

resounding statement by the Cardinals. Because when you would, when you would a division game like this when you don't know what backup quarterback it's going to be, is it Matt Barclay? Is it Mark Sanchez? Is that their backup quarterback? No, it's called McCoy. It's that one. You just got to spin the wheel. It's like, all right, which backup quarterback are we getting? We got to chase Daniels appearance. No, okay, it's Colt McCoy. All right. That's his. I was saying this last night. I was at a party and we were talking about this. And I was like, I don't know why Colt McCoy is the backup quarterback for the Cardinals.

Because for the most part, if you look at backup quarterbacks throughout the NFL, you can easily hop-skipping a jump to how it happens, right? Case Keenum is the backup quarterback for the Browns. Case Keenum was the quarterback in Minnesota when Kevin Stefanski was the quarterback coach and then the offensive coordinator. Done. Chase Daniel is the backup quarterback for the Chargers. He was with Joe Lombardi in New Orleans.

he knows the offense. This is how we do this. It's typically some connection point. I don't know what it is with Colt McCoy and Cam Turner and Cliff Kingsbury. And I have no idea. So good for Col McCoy, I guess. I guess he's a good hang. I mean, that's what, hey, being a good backup quarterback, that's about 90% of it.

It's being a good hang in the meeting room. All right. Before we get out of here, we're going to hand out the belt. I've got an insensual appetite for life. And I want more, more, more. Who is that? Can you explain that to me? I know it.

That was Vince McMahon. I know that. But it was just, uh, that's just Vince being Vince, I guess. Mr. Big man character is just, yeah, that's just, uh, pure id. All right. I want to give the belt of Jefferson this week. Yeah.

I mean, having that sort of performance, three sacks. The Rams have given up six or eight sacks the entire season. they gave a five today. Yes. Oh my God. I believe that's the number. And they gave a five today. And Simmons was just dominant.

And we thought this could be there, right? Like he had this sort of ceiling. He's had flashes before for him to come in and just take over this game. It's why the Titans won. I mean, plain and simple. And this is a team that has the number one seat in the AFC right now and is cruising. And it's because of performances like this. Yep.

Yeah. last year we had kind of circled him kind of going like hey you know this guy he does some shit like maybe he's going to take that next step and you know it didn't wasn't always maybe consistent but he still had like a good year last year but then it's like really come on this year and especially at detackle maybe never shows up not never but sometimes doesn't always show up in the box score but it's like today it did but his his performance or like how he plays he's a brawler like he is a he's a wrecker he is just going to make make make the old line edgy he might not get the tfl but he's going to occupy two linemen and not let this

guy get to the second level and maybe not he's not going to be the vita vea a big plugger kind of type but it's more like that just like beat him up style more like the kevin williams style i think maybe that's a good maybe type of style to compare him to um of course because i only can reference nfc central and i've seen north defense alignment from the 2000s uh but it really i post a picture of me and a tommy harris jersey a couple weeks ago so don't worry we're on the same page. I know. I know. Yeah, we're on the same. Like, that's exactly we, we get into the same wavelengths. It's like, ah, it's been, what is it? It's been about six weeks since I've referenced 1999 Bucks Bears matchup. But like the Titans love their, this is like the epitome of the Titans,

like what Simmons is. It's a big, athletic, tough dude. Like that is what they like, this entire team. They have, you can knock him sometimes for it, but they have a type. And that's what he is. He epitomizes what that team is. And it speaks to his talent that he could pop his ace. ACL before the draft and still go in the first round. I mean, that just speaks to the talent level. So it's cool to see him healthy and maybe become more consistent and kind of get the love that I think, you know, he really is one of the upper tier, interior defense alignment in the NFL right now. It's cool to see some performance like that in Sunday night football. Well, speaking of one of the upper tier defense alignment in the NFL right now, he had 10 pressures tonight.

He's at 27 since week six, seven more than any other player in the league at. any position. Second is the Nico Autry. Who has 20. The best brothers. These two guys are wrecking shit. Tonight, they blitz Matthew Stafford.

So according to next gen stats on four of his 53 dropbacks, but they got pressure on 15 plays still with only four guys. All five of their sacks are with a four-man rush. That's tied for the most of any defense in the league this season. And it's because of Jeffrey Simmons playing the way that he did.

So it's a testament to him. It's a testament to the Titans plan on defense, and they have snuck up on us a little bit. It is 1 a.m. to me right now after dealing savings times. Thank for bearing with me here a little bit. That is all we got, guys. As always, thank you so much for listening. We sincerely appreciate it. Please submit your questions for this week's mailbag.

Our voicemail number is 872-22-2-2-7033. Nate is going to come on to do the mailbag tomorrow because I didn't book anyone else. And I asked him if he could do it. And he said, yes. So we're doing that. The voicemail, that is the voicemail line. Please call us. Please send us some questions on email if that you prefer that.

Athletic Football Show at gmail.com. So all of the scheme questions you guys have wanted answers to that I have been putting off, feel free to resend those because now I will feel very good about digging into them. That's all we got for tonight. As always, guys, thank you so, so much for listening. We'll be back with the mailbag on Tuesday or tomorrow. Time is a very strange thing with these shows. Please come back and check that out.

We'll talk to you guys soon. This was The Athletic Football Show.