The Athletic Football Show: A show about the NFL - Week 10 Recap: The Rams and Seahawks are on a collision course

Episode Date: November 10, 2025

The late window in Week 10 may have been nothing but blowouts, but it did lay bare for us one clear and obvious truth: the Rams and Seahawks are two of the best teams in the league. That's where Robert Mays, Derrik Klassen and Dave Helman begin the Week 10 recap episode of The Athletic Football Show. The guys also give plenty of love to the Patriots, Dan Campbell as playcaller, and Jonathan Taylor; wonder what went wrong with the Bills, Jaguars and Panthers; and highlight a few things that made them feel romantic about football on Sunday.(Timestamps are approximate)0:00 Welcome to the show1:30 Rams & Seahawks best teams in the NFL?5:15 Seahawks dominant defense8:20 Matthew Stafford & Rams offense reaching final form12:50 Do the Seahawks belong at the table?17:30 Patriots-Tampa Bay Buccaneers25:55 Not Drake Maye’s best game31:30 Lions-Washington Commanders & Dan Campbell the play caller34:20 What was different for Jared Goff, Lions offense today?39:30 Jonathan Taylor & Colts-Atlanta Falcons44:15 Daniel Jones turning back into a pumpkin?49:10 Bills-Miami Dolphins1:04:30 Jaguars-Houston Texans1:13:05 Panthers-New Orleans Saints1:16:00 The Bryce Young experience1:24:00 How could you not be romantic about football?1:26:55 Caleb Williams1:33:30 What did we learn today?Connect with The Athletic Football ShowX: https://x.com/TA_FootballShowIG: https://www.instagram.com/tafootballshowYT: https://www.youtube.com/@TAFootballShowTikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@tafootballshowDiscord: http://discord.gg/theathleticfootballshowCall us: 847-448-0701Email us: [e-mail]: Robert MaysCo-Hosts: Derrik Klassen and Dave HelmanExecutive Producer: Michael BellerVideo Producer: Katy DuffyAudio Producer: Michael BellerSocial Producer: Scott KrinchFollow Robert on Bluesky: @robertmays.bsky.socialFollow Derrik on Bluesky: @qbklass.bsky.socialFollow Dave on Bluesky: @davehelman.bsky.socialFollow Robert on X: @robertmaysFollow Derrik on X: @QBKlassFollow Dave on X: @davehelman_Theme song: HauntedWritten by Dylan Slocum, Trevor Dietrich, Ruben Duarte, Kyle McAulay, and Meredith VanWoert / Performed by Spanish Love SongsCourtesy of Pure Noise / By arrangement with Bank Robber Music, LLC Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

To the athletic football show, I'm Robert Mays. A very fun week 10 slate is in the books. Had a lot to dig into today with Dave Hellman and Derek Klessen. Kick things off with the Seahawks and the Rams, just putting together ass kickings over the course of those games, and what that means for next week when those teams will play each other and what feels like an early candidate for the game of the year. Talked about the Patriots,

Dan Campbell, the play caller, and Jonathan Taylor grabbing our attention in week 10. Little WTF with the Buffalo Bills getting demolished by the dolphins, which I still don't know what to make of that. The Jags blow a massive lead in the fourth quarter against the Texans. And then the Carolina Panthers,

who were favored by five and a half points, lay an egg against the New Orleans Saints. Chat about a couple of things that made us feel romantic about football in week 10, including me being, I don't know, more excited about the Bears quarterback on a recorded on a microphone than I've ever been since I started doing this.

And so if you want to check that out, that comes a little bit later in the show. And then we talked about something we learned in Week 10, which is that there is a reason that people get so invested in these young quarterbacks because as Drake May has shown us, they can change everything for their respective franchises. A lot to dig into. Let's get to it with me, Dave Hellman and Derek Klesson. 10 on the NFL Slate fun game in Berlin this morning. The game happened in Berlin.

I can never keep track where the European games are happening. Big win for the Colts. We'll shout about that a little bit later. A sleepy afternoon slate, but not one, one with implications, one that I think there's a lot to say and we'll dig into that. And then the morning slate today was perfect because there were seven games. There were three games that I think rose a little bit above the rest of them. So we had three games each on their own TV with the four box on the fourth one.

And so there was like a cleanliness to the way that today went as like a watching experience, even if the afternoon slate was pretty boring. The three did not rise above. One was just the Bears game. That's so true. It rose above in my mind, in my own personal experience. It had a dramatic finish. It was not something you can take for granted.

It was just a nice, pristine way to watch the games. Unfortunately, the afternoon slate that had a couple games, you know, we were excited about whether it was the Rams of 49ers game. You know, we wanted to see what would happen with this version of the Cardinals after beating the Cowboys last week. Things got out of hand very, very quickly in all three of the games. games that were happening in that slate. The fact that almost all of them had similar scores,

like the fact that the Washington game, the fact of the Lions game and the Seahawks game both ended 44 to 22, and then the Rams game ended up 42 to 26, it was an evenness to everything that was happening. About halfway through that afternoon slate, my mind immediately went to next week. Because we were watching the Rams and the Seahawks both absolutely destroy the teams that they're playing.

And my prevailing thought I was on watching those games is like, all right, let's make this a fair fight. Like, let's get these two teams on the field together and next week, next Sunday, we finally get that. We get the two teams that arguably look like the best teams in the NFL right now squaring off against better opponents

than the ones they played against today. And like that is truly the best way to frame it is that these might be the two best teams in the NFL. You posed it earlier when we were watching these games when they started to get out of hand. You were like, are these going to be the two best teams in football? In my mind, immediately we went well, If I had to pick one, it's probably the Rams.

For me, like, I'm kind of there with this team on the way that they're playing on both sides of the ball is incredible. Like, it's just, we talked about it earlier on the show or on the preview show, like, they're Petri dish for cool football. And also they have some of the best players that are all Hall of Famers. But then I was trying to think, like, do I really think to see Hawks are the second best team? And I couldn't find another one that I would knock off for them. Like, maybe the lions at their best, like, maybe one or two others. But, like, they're in the conversation. I think if you're arguing, you're just doing it based on vibes.

And I like, what I mean by that is just how you feel about Patrick, homes and record be damned. The chiefs are like in that conversation no matter what. But it's in terms of how they've played, what they've done, it's hard to go against it. And we were talking about that. We were able to do a lot of things today because we didn't really have to hang on every single snap. I don't know that I've ever been this well prepared for a recap show.

By like midway through the second quarter, I was like, all right, let's check in on some early games that I didn't all the way see. but these are two teams, the Rams and Seahawks, two teams where even in their losses, it's been by the skin of their teeth. To me, it's about the high and the low. Can you blow an NFL team out? Yes.

You just blow them off the field. Unequivocally. Yes, we just watched it happen today. And then at your worst, what have you looked like this year? And we were talking about this again in our extended conversations this afternoon. If you stack up the losses for the Rams and the Seahawks, these are two of the only teams in the NFL

that have not gotten convincingly beat at any point this year. Right? So the Rams two losses, they get the ball punched out at the one yard line in that weird Thursday night loss to the 49ers.

It's a coin flip game they easily could have won. They have a field goal blocked, the game winning field goal blocked in return for a touchdown in the loss to the Eagles. And then the Seahawks have the Tanjus play at the end of week one,

and then they lose a back and forth whoever had the ball last game against the bucks. And so they're capable of destroying lesser opponents and their worst has not been very bad. I think you can make an argument. These are the only two teams

that have not convincingly lost a football game in the NFL this year. Their total margin of defeat between the two of them, four losses is 17 points. And six of that is the Jordan Davis return that was amazing, but totally unnecessary. So literally, by the skin of your teeth.

Yeah, I mean, when you're talking about losses that aren't convincing or just not having a bad day at the office, these guys are as good as it gets really. Two blowout wins. We're not talking much about what actually happened in the games today because I don't know if anything that notable happened that we didn't already know coming into the games. That's kind of how I'm seeing these two performances from the Rams and the Seahawks collectively today. The Seahawks specifically, right? Like that game just got off kilter so quickly. They scored the same defensive touchdown twice in the first

20 minutes of the game. They had run 17 offensive snaps when it became 28 to nothing. And then it took them 23 offensive snaps to get to 35-0. Sam Donald threw 12 passes in this game. He threw two passes in the second half. That's what we were dealing with. It was a ridiculous game. Like that one, the fact that it is truly, when you say the same defensive play that scored twice, it was Tyrese Knight knocking the ball out of Jacobi Bress's hand.

And him like being a quarter of an inch away from like that counting as forward passes, probably in both cases. And then DeMarx Lawrence picks it up and brings it back. And like they just, the way that this defense can play, the way that that offense can play when they're in a machine. I mean, you were even saying it. Like, they, JSN scored a touchdown

like what felt like three real life minutes into this game. I don't even know if that was it. It felt like faster than that. It was just immediate. We weren't done with Jags Texans. We weren't like settled in our seats. Yeah.

When the Seahawks went up in this game, we weren't done with the foolishness in Houston. I think my biggest takeaway from this game on the Seahawks side of it is that the lesser defenders on this team are the guys that maybe are a little bit more of unknowns. I think there were a lot of the role players. had moments in this game.

Obviously, Tyree Snight is stepping in for Ernest Jones. I think using Tyree Snyde more as a blitzer than you would with Ernest Jones because at this point, his career, he's better moving forward than backward. Makes sense he has two game swinging sacks. Drake Thomas had a ridiculous play in this game. The other offball linebacker for the Seahawks, he comes in like a missile on a TFL at one point in the first half. Nick Eminwari, that to me might be the biggest one,

where this is a guy that has been central to your plans and the way that you want to construct your defense. And, you know, he's a rookie. Even in this game, there were a couple moments where he had some issues with guys like Trey McBride, but he had like four past breakups in this game and again, looked pretty darn good in coverage. And even a guy like Nehemiah Pritchett, like there were guys that had, there again, like down the list role-playing dbs that had like a PBA or two in this game.

And so I think it just speaks to like how complete of a team this can feel like on defense for Seattle top to bottom in any given. week. And even like last week, Ty Okada had the really impressive interception, but this week he exploded somebody over the middle. I forget who it was, but they were trying to run a deep route over the middle and he just blew them up. But Emin Wari, there was one play in particular. Obviously,

he was really good in past coverage in this game. I think when he's just like playing one-on-one, he's a very good coverage player. Like just length, movement skills, he's really good. But they, I think the first play of the second quarter fired him off the right edge. And Arizona's trying to do this pull protection, pull the guard, get the back out there. And he's supposed to just

how quickly Emin Wari closes and then when Jacoby Reset tries to slide up, him just being so long to just reach out, grab him and pull him down, it's like that's why you draft athletes like that to play that position. Seattle has three of the 10 highest single game pressure totals in the league this year. Three of the 10? 25 against Jacksonville, 23 today, 23 against San Francisco in week one. Nobody else has more than two.

I am very excited about watching them play against the Rams offense because the Rams offense had that version, And whatever Seattle's defense, the version of the game, which is like, ah, this is what they do. At their best, they can absolutely annihilate somebody. That's what I felt about the Rams' offense today. Rams' offense had a 59.7% offensive success rate per true media today is the seventh highest mark of any team in any single game this season.

The Niners actually had a higher success rate in the game today, but they were down 21 to nothing. There was one point where Mac Jones was like 20 of 24. I was like, oh, my God. That's conversation to be had when we preview the Seahawks game. Like, all right, the Rams defense has looked very good against Lester opponent. What do they look like against the Seahawks offense that has been the most efficient passing game in the NFL for a huge chunk of the year? That's a conversation for next Thursday.

On the other side of the ball, the Rams offense continues just kind of be what you want it to be. There are so many plays in this game where it's like, I love watching this. Like the dagger completion to Devante Adams on one of the first couple drives. There was a deep out that Stafford hit to Puka that's like, all right, these two guys in this offense, this is a perfect expression of what they're giving you. they had a screen to De Xavier Smith out of 13 personnel at one point in this game. It's just all the layers that we've seen from the Rams offense combined with Matthew Stafford just like making it rain out there. Like watching him play right now and the way that he is like driving the ball to all levels of the field, the little like sidearm flip he had on the right side in this game,

he is playing as well as I think I've seen him play as the Rams quarterback, which is kind of wild considering the heights. that he has reached, plus all the questions we had coming into the season. And so the fact that that's the formula on the Rams offensive side of the ball, combined with what the Seahawks defense looks like, I could not be more excited for what next week is going to be. It's funny because, I mean, Stafford's been the man for most of the time that he's been in L.A., especially when the Rams have a healthy offensive line,

the way that the counting stats are totaling up here, because, like, you know, they love to run the ball. they give Kiron Williams healthy opportunities. Like Matthew Stafford's stat line doesn't always mirror the way that he's playing. It does right now. He's thrown like 14 touchdowns since week six, I think. He has 25 touchdown passes the year.

He hasn't thrown a pick since the Philly loss. That was all the way back in week three. I think like, you know, all week leading up to a game like this, you hear people saying like, nobody's, nobody's talking about Matthew Stafford's MVP candidacy. And then you do a game like this in the late way. though. And even if even if people aren't paying close attention because it's a laugher of a game, I mean, the box score is inarguable. It absolutely measures up to the

eye test. To me, it just like, this is the final form in the sense of like when they were doing it in 2021, the run game sucked. It was a shotgun offense that like they were just, Sean McVeigh was like, I need the big boy gunslinger quarterback. And they brought in Matthew Safford to do that. And it was an incomplete offense at times, but they just kind of got hot. And they were obviously really good when they needed to be. This feels more like he can still do all of that, but they can get under center. They can go 13 personnel,

run the ball in the need to. They can throw some funky screens to role players. They just, they can, their ability to blend some of the under center, we're going to get heavy, we're going to run the ball, which is what I think McVeigh wants to be at his core,

really with Stafford being the gunslinger that he is like, and then on top of what you're saying, having Puka be what he is, Devante Adams bringing back to like backside cutters in the offense. And the red zone stuff with Devante Adams. That was another like, what is, what are the final layers of all of this?

now. That's like, I think that's a great way to frame it. Like this really does feel like we've kind of reached like the zenith of like what the Rams want to be

offensively worth. They're checking every single box that even at other times like no matter, you can bring it all the way back. Let's bring it all the way back to like 2018 when they were able to run the ball at will

and the screen game was really dynamic. The dropback game wasn't what it can be now because Jared Gough was not at that level back then. And so they really are able to check off every single box offensively right now in a way that they never have been for the entirety of the McVeigh era, even when they were winning the Super Bowl, which is wild to say.

Did you hear the stat I gave Derek right before we came in here? No. Weeks 1 through 6, and we've been joking about it all season. Like, they've just been peppering Devante in the red zone. And it hasn't been working that well. Weeks 1 through 6, Stafford was 2 of 13 targeting Devante Adams in the red zone. Two touchdowns, but 2 of 13. Over the last month, 7 of 9 in the red zone with 6 of those going for touchdowns.

If you just do it enough, eventually it worked. The two Hall of Famers figure it out. It's a happy learned hot a pot sort of moment like the Rams in their red zone was. Or their former red zone was. Last thing I wanted to hit before we move on from these two games, I think it's time to have a conversation. The Seattle Seahawks are arguably the best team in the NFL, full stop.

They're not at the table right now. That needs to change. Yeah. Like even if we think the 49ers are a likely playoff team, and if you get in the dance, anything can happen, all that kind of stuff. Fred Warner and Joey Boser, or Nick Boser are not walking through that door.

The trade deadline is over. Even if the Niners are a good story, even if Kyle Shanahan is going to be on the short list for coach of the year, all that stuff. We'll do midseason awards later this week. The Seahawks need to be at the table. Before we play this game next week

with the Seahawks and the Rams, the Seahawks need to be at the table. Derek's here, but you're talking to me. Like, you're directing all of this vitriol at me. And that's fine. And you know what? I'm not going to push back because I will just say,

the Niners schedule does not really get hard from here on out. Like, he's still trying to hang on. I know. But having, like, the Niners have plenty of opportunity to keep winning games. I just want you to know. But watching them play a team like the Rams, it's easy to just accept, like, the ceiling has been lowered in our, like, definitively. Like, and it's not coming back, right? Like, Warner's not coming back.

Boas is not coming back. We were joking during the game. Like, what is? What is Robert Sala even supposed to say in a situation like this? Where it's just like, look, just don't loaf. Don't like, don't be embarrassing on tape and we'll just get through this together. To that point, there was one play. This is my favorite play in the game.

The Rams went three person or 13 person on had all three tight ends to the left hand side. And San Francisco came out in base and they had Bryce Huff as the defensive end to the tight end side. And that's just like, what do we all think is going to happen here? And exactly what you thought was going to happen. It was going to happen here. And so I also think, too, like the table framing is good because obviously we have 10 teams. 14 teams get in. There's realistically four teams who get in who just don't have it.

And like I do think the Niners will get in, but realistically probably just... I can't imagine. Even and like, you know, Purdy's on the way back and maybe one... So they say. Maybe one, yeah, same thing with the IUC. Like maybe one day he'll play football again. But even if all that happens, I don't see the path to three or four playoff wins in a row for San Francisco. So I'm not that worried about it.

Unless Brock Purdy can play like base defensive end, I don't know. I'm not sure that's going to be the difference maker for the Niners. And it's it's not as if like we're just doing this because the Niners look that hopeless on one side of the ball. Like the Seahawks might be the best team in football. So I've gotten a issue with this. And if I had reluctance before, it has nothing to do with what the Seahawks have put out there. It's just, again, you can't go back on some of this stuff. So I think it's okay to get enough of a sample size.

and I feel like we have it now to say, okay, Niners, sorry, but it's a lot less flippant than us, which is probably good. Somebody's got to ride this stuff out, man. But here we are. We're heading into Week 11. And again, you know, if some of these guys coming back from injury on the Niners roster were on the defensive side of the ball, I might be fighting this, but that's not happening. And the Seahawks, they definitely deserve it.

So the Seahawks are now at the table. It is 10 teams. Bellar, when are we cutting it down? We are going to do that in a week and a half. Week and a half. Yeah, like November 19th. We're going to cut it down from 10 to 8. Cut it down from 10 to 8 because we need real stakes in this.

Like, we can't just have it be 10 teams the entire year. He's already in pain from what that cutting it down to eight conversation is going to look like. I'm ready to kick people out of the door. So the midweek shows, we have our mid-season awards this week, and then we will be cutting the table from 10 teams to 8 teams. We're trying to make the most of Derek being here, and we're going to make him do 10. I just don't want to log a week. I just don't want to log into the Discord

when a team that we've kicked off the table wins like a third game in a row in December and people are in the chat just like, bring me Dave's head. I need to talk to him about this team. The fact that the Ravens are still at the table, you won that one. You didn't know.

I'll take my shibble at the price. Well, it sounds like in a week and a half I'm going to have to fight about it again. Well, maybe not. So speaking of the AFC North, we are not going to hit the Sunday night game today. We're going to talk about that on the hangover show tomorrow. same with Ravens Vikings.

So we're going to hit those two AFC North games and then what was the third one we were going to talk about tomorrow? Do you remember? Browns and Jets. Browns Jets. So that was the third one.

So those were three games that we'll be chatting about on the hangover tomorrow. Right now, we're going to get to some other performances that jumped out to us in week 10. It's time for you have my attention. All right, before we move on, we're going to take a quick break.

Gentlemen, you had my curiosity. Now you have my attention. The New England Patriots after a 28, 23 win over the Tampa Bay Buccaneers are now 8 and 2. A lot of the conversations we've had about New England on this show, even when we've probably included them in this segment over the first nine weeks of the season. My guess is it's been a lot of Drake May, you have my attention. Drake May had some moments in this game.

Drake May was not at his best in this game. And the fact that the Patriots didn't need him to be, to beat a very real Tampa Bay Buccaneers team that Walt banged up has still been a pretty good team over the course. of this season. I think that says a lot not only about what the quarterback is doing, but what the rest of this team is capable of. And so after that win today, a multifaceted win today,

New England Patriots, you have my attention. It was a lot of guys. It really was. Like, Drake May had a number of good throws that we'll end up talking about, but like Trayvion Henderson finally having a huge day, I thought the defense in large stretches played pretty well. Like, Baker hit a number of, like, really good, like, dig route throws in this game.

But down to down, it was not very consistent for the, bucks offense. Like they really held them to a pretty good game there. And like I'm, what is really becoming impressive to me about this team is like, yeah, when it first started to happen, I was a lot of like, okay, you get the quarterback, Drake May looks awesome, everything is going to start to falling in line.

But the fact that, and Dave, I'm not doing this just to gas you up. Claven Chase on had a rep in this game. He made one of the plays with the game. He was really good all game, but there was specifically, so for one, he's been a good pass rusher this year, but him being like a lighter guy, it's like, okay, you could sell me on him being like a

decent DPR if things really turned on for him. There was in the middle of the third quarter they tried to like zone run at him and he stonewalls K. Dotton. I'm like, all right man. If this coaching staff is getting K-Livon Chase on to like set the edge like that, there

something's going on. Oh so we're talking about even different plays because he may like he blew up the fourth and three that put the bucks behind the eight ball and what and I just loved the like the synergy of it because all season long, Baker's been breaking out of that situation and doing some

goofy shit and scrambling, making an extended throw. And K. Levin, he stunts inside, blows it up. And he doesn't get the, actually nobody gets the sack because Baker's a freak. But he blows the whole thing up and two other guys come in and clean it up. And like, week after week, teams fail to make that play on Baker Mayfield. And I thought it was very poetic that the Patriots pulled it off. I laughed so hard. Because on that play, like he, he, uh, Kalevon comes in, he hits Baker and then the other guy's clean up and Baker like bends himself in half to break out of it. And on the TV copy, you see him just pop out of this massive humanity like Michael Myers, like just the unkillable man, but the Patriots rarely, they, they managed to get it done,

which has not been common this season against Baker Mayfield. There are a few layers to point out. So that's the fourth and three at the end of the game. And then two plays later, Trevion takes it 69 yards, arguably could have gone. on down to end the game, decides who wants to score a second touchdown, respect that. On that fourth and three, you're talking about, there's a backup left guard in the game because Ben Bredesen left this game early, which if I were a Bucks fan and just the amount of offensive Wyman in and out of the lineup, you get Luke Kedeky back today, but then you have to

lose your starting left guard. That's how it works. So Michael Jordan fails to pick up Chase on as a looper on that play. He pressures Baker, blows up the fourth and three. On the third and three to play before that, just talking about role players getting involved here, Craig Woodson drives on a throw to Kate Otten that should have been a pretty easy completion, breaks it up to force that fourth and three, and that allows Kalevon-Ches-on to make that play to, in effect, give the Patriots a chance to win the game. So that's kind of what we're getting at here is that there are a lot of guys getting involved through the Patriots, especially on defense in this game, that now that this team is 8 and 2,

they're going to be a playoff team, we're going to start to get to know some of the guys who are chipping in here maybe in more quiet ways. And actually one more in terms of guy who's like, I don't know if he had like one super play in this game that really stood out to me, but Kyris Tonga, their other defensive tackle who is not Milton Williams and Christian Barmore, he is awesome. Like he is a really, really good run defender for them. And I do think that he makes the job easier for these linebackers and especially with some of the injuries they've had at linebacker outside of Robert Spillane.

So again, it's just a lot of these guys that were supposed to be just like, okay, can you patch this spot up for us? And they've been more than that. Which I don't, speaking, mentioning one of my favorite players. Not like a superhuman game from Roberts Blaine, but just doing his Robert Blaine thing, throwing himself around like a crash test dummy. Love watching him.

Christian Gonzalez had a very, very nice game today. So he gets one DPI at one point on a fade in the third quarter and then he gives up a catch on that same drive. He's playing off coverage. They like a little deep out to him at Kibuka. But you look at the game as a whole. In-man coverage, nine snaps against, to Bucca today per next gen stats, three targets, one catch for 11 yards on those nine

plays in man coverage. Overall, he's on a Buka a huge majority of the time in this game and three catches for 56 yards on nine targets on the plays where he is covering a mecca abuka. And the Bucs really had nowhere else to turn in the passing game. And so you felt the fact that the Patriots against this version of the Buc's offense with this few weapons, they could really kind of snuff them out in man coverage. And that should necessarily be surprising, given the talent that the Bucks have a corner, but it still is nice to see that gear of this defense, even if the Bucks are banged up,

to be able to do that against a team that has a real NFL offense. Exactly. It was at least like, again, this Patriots defense against better teams is going to have some holes. But like, you tried to build this roster a certain way with just like, can we get man coverage guys and then a front that is just going to like kind of mess up, mess some stuff up every now and then. And like, you get in some of these games some proof of concept of that. And so again, I thought their defense played a really, really good game today.

I didn't have time to go back and rewatch the entire thing from the All-22 angle. But I just think it's interesting. As aggressive as he is and as good as he's been at doing it at times this year, Baker only attempted one throw of 20 plus air yards. And like throughout the game, you could see him looking for it. And he would ultimately settle or check it down or scramble or move off of it. And to just eliminate that aggressiveness from a guy who, plays that way like Baker

Mayfield, it stood out to me just watching him not attempt throws. And I think part of that probably is because that's how much man coverage they played. Like, Baker to me is not a guy who like layers the ball against man coverage all that well. I don't think he likes that. He's very good about like knowing where the spots are in the zone. I know we've got a good zone meter here.

I'm going to throw it, especially earlier in the year down the field. That's a lot of what they were doing, especially to Emeka-Buka. So against these teams, I can just play. They built the whole thing to play man coverage. It's just like it's a tough day for him, especially when offensive lines got injured. He's really only got one of his best receivers. It's a tough scenario.

The bucks were actually, if you look at like success rate and down-to-down efficiency in this game, it wasn't too bad. They just had a lot of like third and fourth downs that did not go their way. Obviously, you have the OPI on the fourth down that they would have converted. That turns into a fourth and 13. That's a swing moment in the game. And they had multiple plays in this game where they're trying to get Ibuka in one-on-one moments on third down.

Option routes, whip routes. And those are the moments where Gonzalez really shines through. In the first quarter, Baker nearly gets picked by Gibbons on like a little bender. He doesn't find him. And on the next play, it's third and six. They tried to get a Bucca on an option route. And Gonzalez is just all over it. And then in the first quarter, again, they try to get Gonzalez one on one against

Ibuka and he just completely snuffs it out. And so you saw that over and over and over again in this game where they were like, this is your receiver that we are even slightly worried about. This is one of the best man coverage corners in the entire NFL. That's what we're going to rely on. don't trust anyone else to beat us and they were right. The bucks as currently constructed did not have the horsepower to make that happen. And the last thing I'll say too, Dave, you made a point of like Baker was throwing trying to

throw down field and then realizing it's not open. I'm going to check it down. Without Bucky, like the backs are just not as good at like that's just not as scary. It's just not as scary. And like Sean Tucker had a drop in this game. I think on a screen, which again, if that's Bucky, he's probably not dropping that. Like it's just when you don't have as much of the explosive guys as you want, it's just tough to live the way that they were trying to live.

It was a shaker game for Drake May overall. You just look at the numbers, and then there were some stretches. The red zone pick was bad. Even the first drive of the game, right? He throws a fade to Matt Collins. This is like nowhere near getting completed. They ran a corner rat to Matt Collins against two man. Vea kind of walks Bradbury back into him.

Diabi gets the corner against Campbell. It's condensing a little bit. He sails that throw. And so he just looked more uncomfortable in this game than he has most of the season up to this point. And that necessarily shouldn't be surprising. Like the Bucks defense has been a really good unit. But then you have a couple moments and a couple of stretches from Drake May in this game where you're like,

oh, yeah. Like that's the guy I recognized from what this entire season up to this point has looked like. That's why he is in the conversation to be the MVP. We can talk about some of those. But it wasn't the best game from him, but there was more than enough when they needed it for him in like really high leverage moments. And here's my copium aspect, too. I'll do my Derek impression defend the guy I love this

give me a break here throw a in zone interception like a boneheaded mistake like that against a good team at their place very often in the league that costs you in a game that you lose and to not have that happen to bail your quarterback out of a mistake like that

it's a mark of a pretty good team like good teams do shit like that yeah I there were just Drake May what he can do against the blitz yeah is just like he just he's calm this is actually my overarching reason why I think they're just a fun team to watch

and just a good team to watch it just never feels unsettled like even if they get backed up or he does make us mistake or whatever it is or you know defense puts them in a bad spot field position wise they just it always feels like it's going to turn out fine and you just see that in the moments where he splits

like even if they get free rushers like I think it was towards the end of the second quarter it was the two minute drive Yes, the two-minute drive. There's a third and seven blitz, and he just, they get a free rusher off the left side. So he's standing there. Like, he knows he's going to take this shot. But again, we've talked about this with him with the blitz.

His ability to just, like, kind of get a little bit higher with his throwing motion when he has to, pop it over the defender, rips one to DeMario Douglas right past the little zone defender sitting on the hash. Like, he just, his ability to see it and throw it. He's so confident. He's so accurate in all these moments. He's just phenomenal to watch. That was my favorite stretch of the entire game from him. was that drive in the two minute. And, I mean, he stacked up, like, multiple plays on that drive.

He rips one to digs on a crosser against quarters for about 20 yards. Comes back with a curl to Mack Hollins against quarters, which is, like, on time, accurate throw. If he throws, those are, like, ropes. Yes. Like, it is straight through the guys' chest. Because they're playing in, like, a condensed way. They're coming down on those routes.

And so he, those rows have to be on time, accurate, and he throws two missiles in a row. And then that play where he, so on that play you're talking about that he hits to Marro Davis on, Lavante David comes untouched on that play. And what I love about that play is that Davis is coming on a little, like, quick in-breaker, like, little tiny, like, glance. And Anthony Nelson is dropping out into the lane that you would typically throw that ball.

And so what Drake does, knowing that the space is vacated because the off-ball linebackers are the ones that were blitzing, he leaves it in the middle of the field inside of where Nelson is, and it becomes a catch-and-run for DiMario Douglas. And so that is just like a nicely layered ball and then that drive ends with the beautiful throw to Stefan Diggs in the back left corner of the end. On the last play that is a gorgeous play. And then the other one, again,

just like the layering he can do and the touch he puts on some of these throws, the one he hit to Kyle Williams on the touchdown. I've got it pulled up right now. It's just beautiful. It's 21 personnel, it's play action, it's a little crosser to Kyle Williams, and the touch he puts on that ball

to allow him to run after catch and finish that thing off, 72-yard touchdown. Again, it wasn't a perfect game, but there are three, four, five moments where you're like, oh, shit, this guy can be fucking play. The Kyle Williams played to me,

like, I think he has two superpowers. One is, like, his core strength is bonkers. So on that play, they have a tight, I think it's Austin Hooper on the right side, loses through his inside shoulder. So Drake May, if the Titan to his right is losing through inside shoulder,

that's like crowding your throwing platform. He just stands where he just snaps it and throws it right over, I think it was Chris Braswell, maybe. It was Chris Braswell. And then the way that he, leads Williams perfect stride. It's like he was sprinting

on air. It's like he wasn't trying to catch a football. And I do think Drake May has a special ability to do that. I got the end zone copy up in front of me right now. Like his elbows way down by the small of his back and he could probably feel Chris Braswell's breath on his neck when he let this ball go.

And it's just perfect. I don't know. If it's not the best throw that happened this weekend, it's up there, man. It's so good. You look at it. They had 7.4 yards per play in this game. And some of that is the long runs of Travion Anderson.

But they were explosive, even if down to down, they weren't quite as efficient, quite as consistent as they have been in other games this year. And so a big win for the New England Patriots. A couple nice no moments for Trayvon Anderson. You know, the fact that we got to see him, like, be that home run hitter in this game in a way that we haven't. That's also a nice thing to see.

He probably should have gone down. But I was going to defend him. Like, given the way that the first half of his season is gone, it is completely justifiable. If he's like, screw that, I'm going to force you to give me more snaps with what I'm doing here. And yeah, I mean, two house calls in one game is a great way to do that. So we're on to our next one here.

The Detroit Lions destroy the Washington Commanders 44 to 22 in a very interesting game. A lot going on during this broadcast. Lions go to six and three. Commanders fall to three and seven. I'd say the most notable thing in my mind. even with all of the other stuff going on today, was the fact that mid-game, we find out through a couple different avenues.

One, Mike Garifolo tweets it out. Clearly, he had been picking up some string over the course of the week about this potentially happening, that with Dan Campbell's little reader glasses on and his play sheet in front of him, sure seems like he's the one calling the plays and that there had been a disconnect in his words that had formed between John Morton

and some of the players and the coaches on staff. and then at halftime, Megyn will leave you from Fox, asked Dan Campbell, are you the one calling plays? And he essentially admits it. He's like, I felt like we needed to mix it up a little bit.

So this was our first effort since, you know, that half a season when him and Ben Johnson were kind of doing it together, that we have seen Dan Campbell as the primary play caller for the Detroit Lions. I don't know, pretty good first game.

Pretty good first entry in that. It's Washington, and Washington's defense is falling apart, but not a bad performance from the Detroit Lions offense. Dan Campbell, the play caller, you have my attention. I believe that was Detroit's second best offensive success rate for any time in the last three seasons.

The only game better was when they just demolished Jacksonville last year, like 52 to 6 or whatever. That game sticks out a lot when you're looking at like multi-season stats, like single game moments. So, yeah, I mean, yes, Washington's defense is basically a smoking crater, but second best offensive success rate for an offense that has had God knows how many 30, 40, and 50 point games over the last three years, I'd say that's pretty good against anybody.

Well, and they also, Dan Campbell said after the game when he was talking about it, he was like, you know, he was really trying to like dance around what was going on. But one of the things that he did say was like he just thought maybe going to a different play caller could get us a different rhythm. You know what rhythm probably means to Dan Campbell? It probably means running the ball really efficiently. And in this game, they did that. They had a 47% rushing success rate, which was their second best of the season and their best

since they played Baltimore in week three, which like that version of the Ravens barely felt like a real defense at that point. So for them to do that in this game and kind of get back to, again, I think what Dan Campbell wants to be, you know, we joked all offseasoner. Like some people tried to make the cope of like when Ben Johnson left,

oh, it's Dan Campbell's offense. Well, now we are at least getting like a real entry into like it is Dan Campbell's office. Now we get to find out. And so the fact that you are moving on from your play call or halfway through the season, that's not necessarily a good thing. But the fact that you can go to your head coach and have a game like this,

We'll see what it looks like against better defenses. But again, this is a good first entry in this version of what the Lions' offense is going to look like. Just digging into some of the specifics of what was different for Detroit's offense today compared to so far over the course of this season. More Jumbo than in any game this year for the Lions, 10.3% of their plays. It was 10.6 yards per play when they were in those Jumbo looks. They had one player where they broke it out in Jumbo into a gun. And it was like an easy pitch and catchdown on Ross St. Brown. Dan Skipper was lined up as the number one receiver to the right side.

So they did a little bit out of that more than we had seen from them pretty much any game this year. They did less two or more tight end stuff than in any game this year. They had been at least 50% of their plays with multiple tight ends on the field since week six. Today it was 26.5%. And so I think some of the jumbo stuff was replacing some of the two tight end stuff that they had been doing previously. They had their highest play action rate of the year per next gen sets, 51.4%. of dropbacks involved play action. It's the first time all season.

They've been over half their snaps. And the one that's really notable is that since week six, so in their last three or four games, they had been in the gun on more than two-thirds of their plays over that stretch, which is kind of out of character for what you'd expect from this offense. Today they were back under center on about 50% of their plays. And so it really did feel like, you know what, some of this like gimmicky bullshit or just some of these things that maybe are a little bit

further remove straying from who we want to be, we're going to get back to basics today. And so that is the version of the Detroit offense that we got in this game. Yeah, and I mean, how many of like specifically last week when they were playing against the Vikings, how many of their worst plays were like they're in gun, the Vikings like double dog blitzed over the center

and they just like they got exploded. And I think Dan Campbell probably went into this game after watching that film. And he was like, I don't want that to happen again. I would not like to be in the formations or the down in distances for any of that stuff to happen. And so I just thought they played a really put together game. And like some of just like the particular play calls I thought were fun.

Like to me, Dan Campbell is a Sean Payton guy. And I think that you see some of that. And so the first Gibbs touched it on the first try. They just have two tight ends aligned to the right side and the back to that side. They send both tight ends on vertical routes. It pushes all those defenders a little bit up the field, obviously, and that they just throw the little Texas route to Jemir Gibbs under it. And he's as athletic as he is. He's going to make that work every time.

Just very small, just like that's just sound football. ball type of place that we got from them today, it felt like. And we already qualified all of this with who they're playing and I get that. And I'm sorry if I'm dog piling on the commanders. But having multiple guys on your offense who look like they're moving at a different speed like it's college ball. That's, I mean, that that's not good for the commanders anyway. It's great for the lions. But like Jemir Gibbs and Jammoh Williams, some of the stuff they're doing, particularly, I mean, Gibbs, Gibbs was incredible.

Yeah. And unfortunately, we all know how good he is and how explosive he is, but it looked that much worse against what Washington's trotting out there, where it's just like, what are you supposed to do? It also felt like they were getting James Williams involved in a way that he just hasn't been recently. I think he had seven targets in this game, which then matches his season high up to this point. And even just some of the stuff that they were doing with him with, like,

one-on-one comeback routes on the outside. Like, giving him targets in those moments that are not necessarily designed targets, It's just like, where you have a one-on-one, we trust you to get open in this moment. That's not normally how we've seen him use within this offense. And so the fact that he was kind of featured in a slightly different way, again, if you're trying to find the layers and kind of the nuances of what felt different today, I would also pinpoint that as one of them. Which, like, I'm excited about that because, like, even going all the way back to when he was coming out of Alabama as a prospect,

like, to me, his stop and start and, like, ability to throttle up and down at the top of routes with his speed was like, you want to weaponize that as much as you can. and I think especially with the new play caller with Morton this year, they just kind of struggled to figure out what that was supposed to look like. Obviously earlier in his career, he had the suspension, he had some drop issues. So there's just like always kind of been something. But I think if Dan Campbell feels comfortable that he has the formula to unlock a player like that. I mean, Gibbs and Williams is probably about as fast as a duo you can find outside of Miami

in terms of your two best skill players. The last thing I want to mention about this game, you know you're getting your ass kicked when you have a guy that just purposely essentially gets himself thrown out of the game. Duran Payne just like walling off and punching Amon Raus Saint-Brown in the face knowing it's like this is it for me today. That's the type of game we were dealing with with the alliance. That whole play just you only need to see that snap to know what happened here because that was the Jemir Gibbs 13-yard touchdown run. He goes off right tackle, breaks a tackle in the backfield, and then just punks Washington's defense getting to the edge. He outruns like three guys to the corner, get to the,

upfield. Then they finally corral him at the five and Sam Laporta and Amin Ross St. Brown are like, you. This is getting to the end zone. We don't care. And then yeah, and then your best defender gets thrown

out after that happens. And it's just like all right, we can probably move this to the quad box. We know what's going to happen. Yeah, I can understand not wanting to be involved in that game anymore if I were to Ron Payne. I'm not really blaming him for that. No. Last one here. Jonathan Taylor has a monster game

against the Atlanta Falcons early this morning. The Colts beat the Falcons 31 to 25 in overtime. Let me pull up the numbers just so I have them in front of me here. As a team, the Indianapolis Colts run for 323 yards in this game. Jonathan Taylor, for his part, runs for 244 yards on 32 carries. In a game where the Colts turned the ball over multiple times, Colts gave up six sacks, multiple fourth down failures, just was not the well-willed machine

we have seen for a good majority of the season from the Colts, and it did not matter in large part because of what they're running back was able to do over the course of this one. Dave Jonathan Taylor, in a big win for the Colts, you have my attention. I know we're doing a mid-season award show later this week, so we don't have to get too deep into this right now,

but I was watching this, and I know there's a lot of love for JT for offensive player of the year right now. Obviously, JSN is having an incredible season. But I watched this game and I watched the way it ended. And I watched what Jonathan Taylor did to get them back into this because the 83-yarder gave them the lead for the first time.

That happened mid-fourth quarter. It gave them the lead for the first time since mid-second quarter. Like this absolutely was in the fire for the Colts. Put some back on top. Seals the deal. And I just found my. myself the whole time thinking, and I get, there's a lot of components to it, right? Like the offensive line has been phenomenal this year.

The passing game all works very well and plays off of each other. But Jonathan Taylor, any running back would have this Colts team like playing pretty well. Jonathan Taylor is why the Colts are like an exceptional team. Like Jonathan Taylor elevates the ceiling of this team so, so much. And it was on display throughout this game. It reminds me exactly of the conversation we're having about taking. one park with last. Yeah, it's very similar. Similar DNA in the play caller.

It all looks the same. Yeah, I just, you have really good offensive line play, really good offensive infrastructure, but when your back can kind of take that thing to the next level, I've used this analogy many, many times over the last year. I've always, when we've thought about running back value and how you

sequence the right running back with the rest of your team building plan, I've always said that an elite running back, I've said recently, that an elite running back is like adding a lighter fluid to a fire that's already lit. unless the fire is already lit, the running back can only do so much for you. We've seen good running backs not really perform well in bad situations. But if you've been able to rub two sticks together based on the quality of your

offensive line and your play caller, a guy like this can turn his thing into an inferno. And there have been a lot of moments so far this year for the Colts offense, including today, where that was the feeling that you got. Second most rushing yards over expectation in a game by a running back this year. That's not terribly surprising because the entire. 83 yard It was over expectation He should have gotten dumped in the back

He just runs into his own linemen And then backs out of it And he's like oh there's nobody in front of me Forced 11 missed tackles in this game That's third highest in a game this season By a running back Rush for 11 first downs in this game Which is the most by a running back

In a game this year The only like the craziest thing to me Is that this wasn't his career high somehow Really? Yes It was His third 200 yard day but second to he had 253 against Jacksonville the year he had 1800.

That makes sense. Getting that close to the record and it not being your best day is kind of insane. He's just, he's so impressive, man. And I, there are a lot of good players on the Colts, but like are they exceptional at anything else other than just toting the hell out of this damn rock? Like I was thinking about it too. Like, Sauce Gardner gets here just in time for DeForest Buckner to go on injured reserve. and you could tell how much they missed him

trying to defend the run against Atlanta. I just, I kind of think they'd be up shit creek without this guy just being the best running back in football this year. Do we want to have like a preliminary Daniel Jones conversation after the way that the last two weeks have gone? Are you at a point where you're

slightly worried about this being a team that just traded two first round picks for a defensive player? He's Daniel Jones. That's where you currently sit. You are right now waiting for him to turn. back into a pumpkin. You're one of those people. I'm like in between. Actually, it's funny, I was selling you this right before we went live.

When Daniel Jones gets the ball out, it still looks really good. Like even against, I know he threw a bunch of picks last week against the sealers, but like down to down, they were actually so pretty good. He made a lot of really impressive throws. And then even this week, like when the ball came out, he made a number of really, obviously the throw that he makes to Alec Pierce on the touchdown, like giving him chances. But he just made a number of other, especially to the intermediate area, has been very accurate. but for the first like eight weeks of the season he just wasn't getting sacked or turning the ball over the way that he used to

in a way that was just like are these eight weeks real or are the six other seasons that he'd played in the NFL more real and it just feels like some of that stuff is coming back to earth so I don't think he's going to be like all bad I just think that there's going to be more volatility with him moving forward than there was for the first six seven weeks of the season when everything was just kind of going perfectly and he just wasn't taking sacks. I had a thought this morning while I was watching this game

and getting ready to come to work where I was just like, it is kind of wild to think that Chris Ballard and the Colts decision makers were so encouraged by nine games of this Daniel Jones that that was enough for them to get rid of their first round draft fix for two years.

Like in the big picture, nine games is still, like it's enough of a sample size for us to trust that the Colts are a good team. It's still not a huge sample size when you're talking about, yes, we are set here. We're burning the boats and it'll be Daniel Jones or nobody, basically. I mean, that's the signal that they sent with this trade.

And they won this game, I get it. But halfway through the game, I was like, that's pretty wild when you take a step back and look at it. But I'm not ready. Like in the context of this season, I'm not ready to worry about the Colts. In fact, I think this was a really impressive performance. performance to kind of, you know, like they're on their buy week now. They're taking the week off.

They get Kansas City on the road after the buy. Like to play 10 games and you get bloodied up a little bit, some teams get the better of you. They figure out some ways they can take advantage of you to rally and come from behind in a game that you trailed in the fourth quarter and find a way to win before you get a little bit of time off. I actually think that's pretty impressive. So I'm not worried right now. I am a little nervous about the thought of not having any first round. picks for a couple years. My biggest question with him is that, and this is something we talked about with Baker a little bit, you know,

over the last couple of years where for most of his career, Baker, when he was pressured, would run into trouble. It just was not where he was at his best. He tried to extend plays when he shouldn't extend plays. He had bad habits when it came to drifting in a pocket. And then over the last couple of years, he's

done a really good job of turning those into positives, his feel in the pocket and just his ability to get rid of the ball, the scrambling, all of that. And Daniel Jones did a very good job, scrambling today. That was a huge part of the Colts offense. But over the first eight weeks of the season, Daniel Jones was the only quarterback in the NFL with at least 100 dropbacks that had positive EPA when pressured. That just doesn't hold. He was having a, he had a 42% success rate on those plays, which was the best success rate of any quarterback in the NFL, one pressure

over the first eight weeks. So it was like four total positive EPA over that stretch. In the last two games combined. He has negative 33 and a half EPA 1 pressured. Negative 33 and a half. That is dead last in the NFL, if you can imagine. It would be pretty hard to be a whole lot worse than that. He's down to like a 35-ish percent success rate. And so it probably exists somewhere in the middle, right?

Like he probably won't be as bad over the course of the rest of the season as he's been over the last two weeks. But he also won't be as good as he was over the first eight weeks. So where he lands between those. two poles, I think that's going to go a long way and defining what the Colts offense feels like in the back half of the year. Yeah. And to me it's just like some of the interception stuff can go up and down. Like I think that can just be like weird. I'm like whatever. Yeah. Some of that stuff can just be like weird, whatever, bounces the ball, whatever. To me it's just that he took six sacks in the first seven games that they played. He's taken 15. He's taken 15. Yeah. He took 16 today. Yeah. He took seven today. He's just how many in the last three? In the last three, he's taken 15. Yeah. And 12 over the last. too. Seven?

Yes. Yeah. I mean, yeah, it's been rough. The one, the couple stood out today, but the one that was

particularly egregious is that they were trying to throw a screen on that third down. Yeah. And that ball just like has to get thrown at Jonathan Taylor's feet. And it doesn't and it turns into a strip sack. And so there are too many of those moments

over the last couple weeks. I thought that some of the turnovers last week specifically were kind of fluky. I was actually more discouraged by his overall play today than I was last week when they turned the ball over a million times. just because of what it looked like when he was getting heated up. Yeah. All right, before we move on, let's take one more quick break.

We're going to get to the other side of the coin here. It is time to talk about some of the lesser performances in week 10. Let's get to what the fuck. What the fuck? This is an easy place to start. Every once in a while when you're watching these games, it's like, all right, well, the show is programming itself. The Buffalo Bills get blown out today by the Miami Dolphins,

30 to 13. Bills fall to 6 and 3 on the season. The dolphins move to 3 and 7. I mean, there's no fancy framing needed for this. Buffalo Bills, what the fuck? In the same way that we were talking about at the top of the show, like teams, what is your floors, what are your ceilings? The bills have shown us multiple times now that they can get kind of hammered by teams that are like middle of the pack or worse.

The fact that this has happened to them by the Falcons, who have lost the game 30 to 0 to the Carolina Panthers, by the way. And this Dolphins team that came in two and seven, like that is unacceptable for a team that has, especially came into the year with number one AFCed type of aspirations. And then still I think through most of the season has been like you could be the AFC contender. For them to have multiple games like this against teams like the Falcons and the Dolphins is just like you can't, I don't care that you beat the chiefs already.

Like I just, these games cannot happen. The vibes in Buffalo have to be terrible between. Oh, absolutely. Nothing getting done at the. trade deadline, which like I personally don't really care about that. I mean, the cruel irony of this is that they tried to trade from Jay one Wano and then he lit them on fire in this game. Not only do they not get anything done, but a guy that they were reported to be interested in goes off in this game and you get your ass kicked by a division rival one week after that.

I mean, I'm not saying I think this, but I bet the, I bet there's a lot of sky's falling vibes in Western New York right now. what to you is the most troubling part of this Bill's performance? There, well, so not the, okay, I have multiple things. First, I would say, I would say why this game was so troubling is their offensive identity all year has been, can we get heavy and can we run the ball on you? And can we just make this thing feel kind of settled? Can we get into a rhythm?

They could not do that at all today. They ran incredibly poorly. And what they've been doing a lot of lately is, is like, getting into 22 personnel and I even did a video for it for our YouTube channel this week. Miami just blew them up. Like I thought their linebackers played a really good game. Matthew Judon on the edge was like really, really squeezing a lot of these plays. Like Chubb was really good.

Like they just, they did not allow the bills to get into the down and distances they want. And then when they went pure pass, like the other thing I was going to say like Josh Allen just doesn't look settled when they're in like drop. So that's the other thing. All right. I was going to say, what is your other concern? That's the other thing. Like when they get in pure pass. three step, five step drop back, none of the play action stuff off their heavy stuff.

He just looks more frantic than I think he usually does. I'm pretty sure they're screwed if they can't run the ball. Yes, that is how it feels. That's not that deep, right? Like, that's everybody in football for the most part. They feel more like the Falcons offense than they should. When the Falcons are running the ball, well, things tend to start to work out for them. But we know that it's generally flimsy.

The bills feel more like that than they should for a team that has their aspirations. Their first down rushing success rate on the year is 44.2%, which is the second best in the NFL. Today, it was 16.7. They could not run the ball on early downs. They also, to your point, they sucked in 21 and 22 personnel. They had the second best rushing success rate with those personnel packages on the field this year. Today, second best in the NFL would be 41%. Today it was 21%.

Like they weren't getting any movement. And you shouted them out, but I thought Jordan Brooks was freaking awesome. Every time that this team wins a game, they shouldn't. He's one of the reasons. It was the exact same situation when he destroyed the Falcons. I mean, he's been all over the place. I counted six run stuffs, including two on third down early in the game. He had a big play on Ray Davis in the red zone that stopped the bills.

And then on the next snap, Josh threw the end zone interception. So he had a great play there. And all of that's before he forces the fumble of Josh Allen on the 15-yard run. He was awesome. And I felt like every ball thrown under five yards, Jordan Brooks was just taking out a guy, whether it was like he was knocking the ball out or he was just making a really tackle for not efficient gain for the offense. And it's funny, you mentioned all their lack of success rate out of 22 personnel, which again has been their identity.

When they were finally driving in the late second quarter, they do a zone toss to the left, James Cook, out of this 22. personnel. It hits. He gets to like eight, 10 yards, ball gets punched out. And it's just like, it just felt like they were not settled at all. They could not find whatever their identity was. I do want to say that. And that's what I said, I'm not super duper panicking about this. It's pretty gross. And you lose a game by 17 points to the dolphins. I get it. But James Cook fumbles on a ball, on a run that gets you to the red zone, basically. You're down 13 nothing. Josh throws an in-zone interception that would have given you a chance to climb back in in the mid-third quarter.

And then after all of that, it's, you're down 16 to 6 with 7 to play when Josh fumbles on the, on the keeper that Jordan Brooks pokes out. Well, they had the worst tush push experiences of all time today. They had the fourth and one fake tush push where they threw the ball to Jackson Hawes down the field. That's a turnover on downs. And then on a converted one later in the game, he fumbles 15 yards down the field, Josh Allen does. they could have climbed back into this

and made it a goofy game where maybe they don't win but it's dramatic at the end and you're just like oh my god dolphins how did you not put this game away but every time it looked like they were going to do that they shot themselves in the foot and so I mean that is bad but over a larger sample size I'm thinking the bills can avoid doing that on a regular basis

I'm with you when it comes to tearing out the most concerning parts about this about this game and what they mean for this team moving forward. I probably have more faith that we won't see another game like this with them struggling on the ground. Like if you think about this game in the context of what the bills have been over the last three or four years, today they had a 23.1% rushing success rate,

which is their worst in a game since week 18 of the 2020-3 season for James Cook. And it's the third worst rushing success rate game he has had since he was a member of the Buffalo Bills. it's the worst EPA per carry mark for any game in which he has carried the ball 10 times since he's been a member of the bills. I don't think that will continue.

But what's concerning is, if you do remove that, how little it feels like they can tap into when they're forced to throw the ball, especially in pure drop-back situations. There was a bunch of different moments in this game. We were just kind of watching it unfold and it's just like, what is this?

There was a third and 10 early in the second quarter where they just throw a fade to Keon Coleman when he's like completely blanketed. It's like that's your best play here. And then there were multiple plays where if they aren't able to run like mesh or like crossing routes on third down against what they assumed to be man coverage, they just don't really know where to turn. And there were multiple moments in this game where you kind of felt that.

There was a third and seven in the second quarter. They run mesh into cover two. There's nothing there. Josh takes off. He gets sacked by Zach Seeler. There was another play that I thought was a really impressive moment from the Bills, or for the Dolphins defense in this game. it was they're down

it's in 252 left in the first quarter those are down 7-0 the dolphin or the dolphins check in to cover 2 after a motion that they think they're getting man coverage and then Josh throws at the James Cook for a four-yard loss on that play then there was another one

where he has like a quick little it's like a double slant and he has I think Keon Coleman on the outside slant who's looking at him and just refuses to throw the ball on like a second and 10 and so just it's coming from a bunch of different directions but every time they were in like a pure dropback situation in this game it just felt like it was unsettled

you're going to look at some of the stats in this game success rate everything else for the bill's offense you'd be like oh it wasn't that bad of a game every single big play they had in the passing game required josh allen to run around for three seconds before finding someone laid in the down nothing was on time for them consistently throughout this entire thing that's exactly when they started to come back it was just like old

like 2020 Josh hero mode stuff. It was not consistent put together offense. The one where he has the double slants and just doesn't trigger on it, that was like what we've lauded Josh for doing the past two years is like he's very efficient pastible just like tick, tick, tick through the progression, boom ball's going to be out. Just does not feel like obviously in this game didn't do that, but just more stretches of that this season where it's kind of felt that. And then even the red zone in the interception, obviously it's a bad play.

But like they take the number two and kind of yo-yo motion him. So it looks like it's going to be man. It plays out as man after the fact, but Josh Allen sees, I forget which tight end, get to the top of his route and like stutters and knows that it's not open. And then he just throws it anyway. And it's like that just doesn't feel like a mistake that he makes anymore. It was very bizarre. Another thing worth mentioning is the best bet they've got going in the passing game.

Dalton Kincaid leaves this game with a hamstring injury. We talked about that. He feels like the most important piece of this passing game in a way that he has not been in the past. and he feels crucial to what they're doing. Both of his catches today were explosives, and then you lose him in the third quarter. So, I mean, hopefully that's not long-lasting because it looked rough.

I don't want to absolve the bill's defense in this game either, by the way. That's what I was going to say. One other small minor twist just in terms of like, maybe ego is the wrong word, but like, again, the bills built their offensive identity of like getting into like two backs, 21, 22 personnel, 13 personnel, all this stuff. When Miami got into that,

today, they kicked their ass. Yes. And that is embarrassing. That is embarrassing. That, like, you see this every day in practice and this Dolphins team rocks up to you with that same stuff and just Maltzy. Like, a number of their, the run game, I think it was a little bit more up and down. But, like, they're almost every big play action pass that they tried to hit out of

21, 22, whatever it was, they were able to find it, like consistently throughout the day. Dolphins, like, if you look at success rate and things like that, it wasn't a crazy day on the ground. They still had stretches in this game where they did just fine. The first drive of the game, the first touchdown drive of the game for the bills, that's one of those like, I can't believe you were letting this team do this to you. They just shoved it down their throat for that entire drive.

22 personnel lead play with Ingold goes for seven yards. They pull both Patrick Paul and Brewer into a six-man box. It's a 15-yard chunk as Milano misses a tackle. They flip it to A-chan on the perimeter. It's a funky look where they have like two guys offset in the shotgun to the right side, the dolphins do. And they flip it back to A-chan for a chunk to the left side. And then on that play, it's a little high low from a leak Washington to get the touchdown. And so they run it down your throat the entire way and then they hit a little high low for the touchdown.

On the next drive, there's a little bit of other. There's a 14-yard chunk to waddle off of play action where it's a, they're in jumbo and he hits a little play action drift route. And on the next play, they go jumbo 22 personnel again, the dolphins do, and they hit waddle on the sluggo for a touchdown against Harrison. It's 14-0. They hit another in the middle of the second quarter. they go like offset right eye formation out of 22 and they roll Tua to the left and then they have Waddle on a corner back to the right side into the boundary which like that's a perfect way to get to it to throw back to the to the boundary by the way is to like use the short side of the

feel it really is like I thought it was a really good design and so like as like almost every time they went into that heavy stuff and play action and like the bills just had no answer for it and then even again in the run game like the game effectively the game ending a chan run that puts it I think 30 to 13 to pretty much end it. They just run crack toss to the left side. Cedric Wilson nukes Jordan Poyer. Like explodes him and just like opens up the hole. And then I think Patrick Paul had like a free shot on a DB.

And it's just like when you give that amount of space to the fastest man in football at running back, like yeah, he's going to take it to the house. And on that play specifically, if you look at the way that it's lined up on the end zone film, Terrell Bernard has lined up like head up over the center. There is no action the other way. And he is late enough to get to that.

that action outside that Aaron Brewer is the center beats him to the spot and ends up sealing him off and allows A. Chan to get in for the touchdowns. That's the 35-yarder. On the 59-yarder, this is just like nightmare fuel where you have, it's Cam Lewis, misses A. Chan in the hole, Poir takes a miserable angle. Bernard gets washed out by Cole Strange and he's off to the races. On that play specifically, this is another one we're like, I can't believe you're letting them do this to you. Aaron Brewer has been better this year just in just in terms of like one-on-one physicality. He's put on weight, the play strength has improved. On that play, the 59-yard A-chan touchdown, Aaron Brewer, who still probably weighs like 305 on a good

day, one-on-one, handles Deion Walker, who is what, 6-8-3-30? And so the fact that this Bills team, or this Dolphins team was able to push you around in the way that they were so often in this game, that is just not a place you want to be. And it's so ironic because the bill's offense typically does that to teams. And their defense is now set up. to get their asses kicked by pretty much anybody that they want to play against that feels even like slightly interested in running the ball.

The chiefs just weren't, right? Right. And so if you're even slightly interested in running the ball in neutral down and distant situations, this bill team, especially without at Oliver, is just not equipped to deal with you. I say this all the time and I mean it.

The bills have, they have built up that sort of equity where I'm not going to worry too much about them and I trust them to sort of get things sorted over the length of, the length of the season and I mean they're six six and three it's all gravy but while y'all been talking I was just curious obviously you lose plenty of games but in this Josh Allen era since he became what he is he became one of the better quarterbacks in the league when they get

their asses kicked over the years it's Tennessee back when Tennessee was a contender it's Baltimore last year they've never gotten their shit rocked by mediocre teams twice in one year the way they have right now, like Atlanta and now Miami. That hasn't happened to them. And so does that mean that they're not going to win 11 or 12 games? Absolutely not. They probably will. But when it comes to playoff time and this is one of those teams where we're judging them

exclusively on what happens in the playoffs, that's kind of hard for me to ignore. Like when mediocre teams can do this to you, I think it's even if we're, we feel good that they're going to finish with a very good record that concerns me when you get to those sorts of games in the playoffs. If you want to play February football, your worst just should not look this bad. It just should not look this bad. Multiple. Everyone gets one.

We said that I think the other week. But multiple is just like, that's, it's really hard to live with. It says a lot about the next game that we're going to talk about, that the Buffalo Bills potentially had the, the Buffalo Bills may not have had the most embarrassing performance of week 10. That says a lot. At one point, when we're watching Jags Texans today, I think Dave was the one that said, Did you guys see the score in Jags, Texans?

Because when the Jags scored with a minute and 37 seconds left in the third quarter, they went up 29 to 10, and they ended up losing the football game. They got outscored 26 to zero in the fourth quarter. The Jags offense had one yard in the fourth quarter. They lose to the Davis Mills Texans, 36 to 29. Jacksonville Jaguars, a team that's still very much alive in the AFC wildcur. Rard race took a big hit today. What the fuck?

Wire to wire the bill's game was more embarrassing. That fourth quarter is preposterous. Like, because part of it too, like, obviously both sides of the ball have to collapse for that to happen. Davis Mills legitimately made a number of insane throws on them towards the end of the game. Like, he pinned a seam route on Nico Collins at a certain point. The touchdown throw to Schultz in the back of the end zone is delightfully layered.

Like, Mills actually made a number. number of insane throws. I wrote them down. Just in the fourth quarter of this game, you get Nico tipping the two-point conversion to himself. This is disgusting one-handed catch at the pylon. Then the bender you just talked about, 22 yards. Nico goes over Devin Lloyd while he's getting hit in the back by Andrew Wingerd pulls that in. Dalton Schultz, phenomenal touchdown catch. Jaden Higgins with a great high-pointing catch on a second and five. you get the DPI on Jerry and Jones, which I thought was kind of shitty,

to be completely honest with you. And then it's not a throw, but in that same quarter, Trevon Walker whips the right tackle's ass on third and goal and Davis Mills of all people houses, he scrambles for 14 yards to the house. Like Trayvon Walker, who got drafted one overall for his physical freakness,

makes that play. And I would never in my life, think Davis Mills is going to survive that pressure and that defensive end chasing him and get all the way to the end zone. And it was just that type of fourth quarter for the Jags. When Davis Mills crossed the line of scrimmage there, I was like, I don't know if he or I know what is going to happen next. I don't know if anyone's ready for this.

I, there was plenty of stuff to talk about in like the low lights for the Jags over the course of that fourth quarter. To me, the drive to make it 32 to 29. All right. Is that, am I getting the score right here? the drive, excuse me, the drive to make it 30 to 29. That to me is the most embarrassing one. So they hit Schultz on a big time third and 10

where he's coming out a little crosser and Mills makes a really nice throw on that play to get them out of the shadow of their own end zone. From there, the Houston Texans, this is very similar to the conversation we've had about the dolphins and the bills. From that point in that drive, the Houston Texans were like,

we're going to run the ball down your throat. The Texans. Duo for five yards Duo for six yards Duo insert with Xavier Hutchinson It was a great double team on the right side For another chunk DPI on Jones

And then no scrambles for the touchdown The fact that on that drive The Texans are sitting there being like We're going to run the ball straight down hill at you And there is not much you can do about it That was kind of the feel of this entire game The Jets or the Texans Had a 67% success rate on nine jumbo runs

in this game They had nine carries for 67 yards out of those looks. The Texans overall, per next-gen stats, had a 55% design rush success rate. That is the best rushing success rate they have had in a game since week one of the 2024 season.

Remember that game in week one where they played against the Colts? The one Kenyon Green game. And it was that monstrous Joe Mixing game or we're like, here come the Texans running game. No, no. That was the game. That was the only one that they had. So their best rushing success rate in a game

since that week one performance against the Colts last year. 0.24 EPA per rush. That is the best mark for the Houston Texans in a game since week four of the 2022 season per next gen stats. If you are the Jaguars, how do you feel good about that? When Juke Scruggs, who I thought was really good in the run game today, and Trent Brown, who is the backup right tackle on the worst offensive line in the league, are running the ball downhill at you with this game on the line.

And, like, in a way, like your playoff chances, like hanging in the balance at this stage, That is not the place that you want to be if you were the Jaguars defense. And that's exactly what happened today. We've been advocating for the Texans to give up thinking they can run the football for weeks. Just stop caring about it. Yeah. And today it was one of the reasons they ended up winning this game. The other, I mean, we have to mention the game that the front had in the moments that the front had in this game.

I mean, we can start with any of the guys you want to. But DeNeil Hunter and some of the moments that DeNeil Hunter had down the stretch to help the Texas. wins this game, absolutely wild. DeNeil Hunter was, I was telling this to you when we were watching the game, the fact that DeNeil Hunter can have a game like this where he looks like the best player you've ever seen, and he is technically the other guy in this front.

Well, that's what I love about it is that he gets one-on-ones because they chip to Will Anderson on pretty much every single play. It's so cool. Like there was, probably his biggest sequence of the day is early in the fourth quarter. They have a second and five where the Jags are kind of backed up in their own end zone.

Hunter spikes inside on a run play immediately blows it up. Like it is completely new. Walker Little has no shot of getting to him. On the very next play, it's third and nine. And now because he blew that up, now he gets a free pass rush rep on what he knows is going to be a good passing down. And they stunt him from,

he's over in the C gap. Like obviously outside the tackle, they loop him all the way back over to where the center would be. He gets free, they don't pick it up well, he gets a sack. Like he just, the speed and power at which he plays with sometimes, especially against a tackle like this, like Walker Little and Anton Harrison,

where I think that those are guys that you can push around a little bit. When you're as explosive as Hunter, like you just have these moments where you just look unbelievable. So the other guy in this tandem has 108 career sacks. And now, they gave him three and a half

in this game. He split one. But in a year and a half as a Texan, he's at 20 sacks during his time in Houston already. It's not bad. That is what seen. The Jags had a partner turn touchdown in this game.

They had a muffed kickoff return that allowed them to score a touchdown in the short field. And so even the lead they got out on was not necessarily indicative of how their offense was playing against this defense. And at some point, and the Jags didn't just have the ball much in the fourth quarter, but multiple of the big chunk plays for the Jags in this game, one is just a dropped coverage where there's a miscommunication with Stingley. And I can't remember who the nickel was to that side where they dropped the receiver and it was a huge chunk gain.

The Johnny Munt's third and 17 conversion. is just a maddening play. Like, Caitlin Bullock, you see him after the play being like, I can't believe we just allowed that to happen. But I think eventually the Texans defense just kind of realized, oh, if we play man against this team, there's nothing they can do about it. And that's what the fourth quarter was.

Yeah, like who's going to beat them? Like, you have Jacoby Myers in his first day there, basically. Parker Washington, we like, but like, when you're playing man coverage with these corners with that pass rush against Parker Washington, he's probably not going to be the guy who beats you like that. Like this just, the other thing too is like, when this team really wants to play man coverage and they're on it, they're incredible. They've been arguably the best past defense in the league.

They're also, it wasn't just Hunter for the front. Like Trevor had a 56.3% pressure rate today. And on dropbacks of just four man rushes, which he had 20 of them, 60% pressure rate. Like this was when you think about like what is the dream scenario for a game looking like for the Houston, Texas defense, it was that. It's where you get pressure on two, like, all. almost two thirds of your dropbacks and then you have some of the best corners in the league. Trevor dropped back six times in the fourth quarter. He got one throw off.

I was going to say, I don't know how many of those he threw. And it was, it was mesh. And Aziz Al Shire almost picked it off. But that play specifically, so Hunter wins around the corner on that play. They're in man coverage. It was almost like a hilarious batted ball. It's just like it's funny that you're trying to throw this ball right now. It's like you think you're in control?

Do you feel like you're in control? that was the sort of moment from the Texas defense on that play. So a hellacious loss for the Jacksonville Jaguars in this game. Not to be outdone by the Carolina Panthers, who came into this game as five and a half point favorites. Our producer Katie mentioned this stat when we were talking about the preview show that we were going to do, and we didn't end up getting to it, but I think it's important to bring up here.

This game for the Carolina Panthers coming into it as five and a half point favorites, this is the 11th straight game they have lost outright as favorites. That doesn't seem possible. Have you watched the Panthers over the last two or three years? Being favored 11 times

as an NFL team, you would think you stumble into one. Not to not cover the spread. Lost those games outright. This is the 11th straight one. And I mean, this one is absolutely awful. Negative 0.32 EPA per play, 38% success rate.

the average three and a half yards per play. Carolina Panthers, a team that seemed like the vibes were good, seemed like you were on your way to being like a respectable NFL team of the course of the rest of the season. You know, maybe you weren't going to be a playoff team, but you were at least going to hang around

to have a game like this against the New Orleans Saints. What the fuck? This was too, to me, like, the Panthers run game is mostly good, but every now and then a team actually does kind of push them around back. And I thought the Saints actually did that today. Like their ends are a little bit bigger and I think they were able to handle that.

And then the game that Demario Davis had, he just, him and P. Warner, I thought, played really, really well today. And so when their front is, when the Saints front is playing at their best, they actually can look pretty good. And I just thought that like, I don't even know if there was anything schematic I'm taking away from like, there's a flaw in the Panthers. This was just like, the Saints kicked their ass today. It was the couple, there were two moments that stuck out to me in past protection

specifically where it's like, there's nothing going on like schematically here. It's just guys making really bad mistakes. There was one simulated or like kind of funky pressure where Austin Corbett just loses to, I think it was Shepard on a blitz. And Shepard eventually, Nathan Shepard pushes, gets back into it and bothers Bryce Young,

forces him to try to bail from the pocket. That ends up as a sack. And then there was another play where it was a simulated pressure about five and a half minutes left in the second quarter. And Nikki Aquano just doesn't block Cam Jordan. Yes. I'm glad he has help inside and it doesn't block him. I'm glad you bring him up.

Did you see the quotes that were coming out of the Panthers locker room after this game? No. Which I applaud, I applaud I applaud Iquia Kwanu for accountability, Jatavian Sanders too. But multiple guys on the Panthers are like, we didn't practice well. We weren't locked in on the small details. You know, like you can feel it on Thursday and Friday that you had a bad practice. And you can't wait until Sunday for that stuff to click in. Solve true.

I just need to know why the panther, like, you beat the Green Bay Packers with 16 points and think you've arrived? Exactly. You're not in position to overlook anyone. You don't get to look past the schedules. I mean, like, of all teams and like very few teams have a better idea of how bad it can be than the Carolina Panthers over the last two or so years. And it was a phenomenal win, but to read your own clippings after one game going into this one is, And especially, we've been saying it all year. I mean, with the exception of that Rams game last week,

the Saints have been a pain in the ass for everybody who's played. I guess the Seahawks too. So cool. The best two teams in the league crushed the Saints. And everybody else has had their hands full. And you, the Carolina Panthers are going to overlook them. That's crazy to me. I think the Panthers run game is going to be better in most games than it was today.

The Panthers defense, I still don't think played bad today. I mean, the two touchdowns, the tower shuck through, J.C. Horn fell down. Yeah, people just fell over, like whatever. He fell down on. of those plays. One, I mean, the design on the Joanne Johnson touchdown, he actually does get broken off, and that's a really well-designed play.

On the deep shot to Chris Olave, JC Horn just falls down while running with Chris Oliva. And so the Panthers defense is, you know, more competent than it has any right to be considering what they were last year, all that stuff. The only thing about this that I'm, like, truly worried about, and I'm kind of at a point where I'm like, I'm not sure we're coming back from this.

The Bryce Young thing to me feels like it's kind of on life support. It feels like it's a little over. The interception he throws at the end to Alante Taylor, where Alante Taylor is like fake firing as the nickel blitzer and then he pops out into like a deep flat. And Bryce Young feels like he's going to need to get a little bit sped up. He tries to put it over him. I'm honestly not even sure that he sees him,

but he tries to throw like the deep out just behind him and throws it like at. It's not like missing a linebacker that's dropping. He's a flat defender. You threw the ball right to him. And you threw it straight through his face mask. Like it just that we can't. There are still too many of those moments.

But to me, that's not even it. Like, the decision making is not what I'm most worried about. It's when you watch him play. And this has always been the concern. He just does not have the physical skill set. Well, him trying to wheel out of the Nathan Shepard side is exactly that. And he is not explosive enough or strong enough or big enough to be as creative as he wants to be. Like, the only way he was going to be able to survive as an NFL player.

was for him to play with incredible anticipation, timing, and accuracy across the board. And that just hasn't happened. If you're going to put him in moments where he has to create against NFL talent, NFL fronts, that's just not going to be a winning formula for you as a team. And so you're going to have to win in every other way. And that just hasn't happened. Those are the areas of his game when it comes to how you're seeing it, how well you're playing on time that should be improving as he's getting older.

it does not look nearly as good as it did in the back half of last season and so if that stuff isn't going to be trending in the right direction, he doesn't have the physical talent to survive otherwise. It's a sad place to reach, but like that's kind of where I'm at right now. We talked about it after the Packer game

and like as exciting as that was and most of the Panthers' exciting moments I mean, don't get me wrong, like he's made some nice throws over the course of the season against the dolphins and the cowboys, some throws stand out. But Bryce Young is not the reason why the Panthers have gotten to five wins at this point in the season.

Like it's been the performance of the offensive line, RICO Dowdle being a revelation, the defense being better than expected. Like the year three quarterback is not the spark for this whole thing. And that's, it's depressing. It sucks because you wanted to believe based on what was going on in the second half of last season. And that just hasn't carried over nearly as consistently as you prefer. He was so fun to watch. Like the way that he was playing and the way he was approaching the position and the aggressiveness and like just the willingness to push the ball down field.

Like I really liked watching him play the position last year. And so I wasn't sure what the ceiling was. Like to me it was about can he be a functional NFL quarterback? And if the circumstances with their offense get better. If they're receiving talent gets better, the offensive line continues to play well. If the defense can play at an average level and we see from him when we saw in the back off of last year, can this be like a frisky maybe wildcard team? A lot of that other stuff has fallen into place. He has not played that way.

And so I don't take, I don't relish landing at this point. Like I'm, it is a bummer and it is kind of depressing that he's just not a viable NFL quarterback as constructed, but he just doesn't seem to be one. It's almost more frustrating that I think he clearly does like get it. Like I think he's a smart player. He just like physically does not have the same stuff. Right, to overcome the physical deficiencies. Exactly.

It's like to go up to what you're saying of like, He can't play the way that he wants to play outside of the pocket. Caleb Williams has a 24% rate of throws outside of the pocket. Patrick Mahomes is at 21%. Bryce Young is just under that at 20%. And then just under him or Cam Ward and Jackson Dart. Those guys are all just way more talented. They have better arms.

Their athleticism is different. It's just Bryce Young doesn't quite have that to him. You just named like the all-canon team when you were listing those guys off. If you're going to get out of there, you better whip it, man. Mahomes. I mean, Cam Ward. You're talking about guys who can throw it through drywall, and that's just not, that's just not Bryce.

And just the explosiveness to wheel out of those plays. Like, I'm just, we'll talk about it in a second. I'm just thinking about that play that Caleb makes throwing back across his body to the middle of the field of Colson level. And like, there's like two people in the world that can make that play. But when you look at what that is, compared to what Bryce Young is trying to do out of structure, it's just vastly different things.

Can I cope? You sure can. You said viable. Like, he can be a viable. NFL quarterback, just not a starting quarterback. He'll have a career. He'll be done with the NFL. I don't think he's a franchise quarterback.

I'd be thrilled to have Bryce Young on my team and maybe he could win you a game or three if he needed him to. I absolutely think that's the case. And also, by all accounts, he's like a very good person to like having your life. I'm sure there will be a process of him coming to terms with this when it eventually gets to that point.

That's never easy when you're somebody who was a Heisman trophy winner of the number one pick in the draft, how he deals with that, I think, will go a long way and determining how the rest of his career goes. But by all accounts, he's like a pretty good guy to have a round. Absolutely. I'm curious to see, I mean, to him, but I mean, the Panthers as well. Obviously, the season's only half over.

They're five and five. And what does that look like for Carolina? I mean, we don't have to do it now. And again, I don't know exactly what the finances of it look like. Al-Mart. Right. We wanted, Kyla Murray in a lot of ways, is just fully realized Bryce Young.

He's Bryce Young with the physical talent that Bryce Young would need to unlock the things he wants to do. But if you're the Panthers, all right, we're getting in the weeds here, but like if you're the Panthers and you decide, and we don't know that they've decided this, but if you decide Bryce Young's not the guy, are you going to swap out Bryce Young

for the other five, ten quarterback? in the NFL? That would be really funny. Don't you want to find a more prototypical player? I know that's easier said than done, but do you really just want to trade in? My question would be where you're getting that quarterback. Yeah.

Right? And like, is this a draft where you can find a quarterback in the middle of the first round? Because that's where you're going to be picking it. Because the rest of your team is competent enough for, like Derek said, the goal for the seizure to be, don't pick in the top 10 anymore. You're probably not picking in the top 10 if you're Carolina. Don't pick in the top 10. And then they don't, but they need a quarterback.

And we're like, no, not like that. Like, oh, no. You played yourself. out of a quarterback. That is the saddest part about this season for the Carolina Panthers, unfortunately, even though so much about what they have been, has been very watchable this year. All right, let's talk about some of the moments that made us feel romantic about football on week 10.

I mean, this thing was a thing of beauty. Derek, why don't you kick us off, buddy? What made you feel romantic about football in week 10? Mine is very simple. One, I love watching Drake London, and I think over the past few weeks, he's been incredible. But towards the end of this game, when the Falcons were actually like coming back, and they went up a little bit and they scored a touchdown to go up one

and then they went for the two point to go up three. Drake London just completely destroys and pushes off Soss Gardner on this little Pyrion route to the left hand side and he catches it, he turns around, sauce Gardner's on the ground because he pushed him down there

and he just mean mugs him for like two seconds. And I was like, a player built like Drake London bullying a guy like Soss Gardner who's a little bit thinner. Just it's like, that's what bully ball receivers should look like and I just thought it was perfect.

I had a moment today watching the final two drives of that Bears game where it's just really, really wonderful to have the quarterback of your team make a huge play with the game on the line, right? And it's just not something I've really dealt with in my life, like a guy that you think is even capable of making those plays. And so what made me feel romantic about football in Week 10 is the last two drives that Caleb Williams had, right? I mean, the combination and the sequence of like what happened over those final two drives,

the play he makes the Colson Lovell and on 3rd and 10 on that play where he's wheeling out to the left side of the pocket. Like that's the type of play we expected him to make coming into the NFL. And they haven't been as prevalent as I thought they'd be, to be completely honest. And so watching him make that play out of structure and just go back and just if you want to watch the all 22 of that, pause it at the moment that ball leaves his hand and what his body is doing in midair. It's just very few human beings

that have ever played the sport are capable of that. He has plenty of deficiencies, but he is able to make plays that very few quarterbacks in the history of the league have been able to make. And so that was very fun to watch.

On that same drive, he throws, they brought in a dagger to Rome, and he throws it on time. It's a beautiful ball over the middle of the field. He has a 29-yard scramble to set up that first touchdown. And then on the next drive, that ball he throws to Luther Burden

down the red sideline. First of all, it's a great route by Luther Burden. It's a little stop and start hitch or come back on the right side. That ball is on him so quickly that it almost like surprises Luther Burden as he's catching it coming back around. And then obviously you have the 17-yard scramble for the game winner. And so I actually thought this is not a great game by the Chicago Bears. They probably don't win this game if Jackson Dart doesn't get hurt. I love the juxtaposition that a game that pissed you off as much as this one did also made you feel this romantic about football.

Because the quarterback wasn't the problem. today. There were so many other things that were probably they dropped the ball all over the place. I don't think it was a good game for Ben Johnson. The run game wasn't very good. And so for Caleb to be the one that actually kind of pulled this thing out of the fire and was one of the reasons that they won the game.

That just hasn't happened to me very often. And so that gave me a warm, fuzzy feeling that I am not used to. Such a quintessential Bears game. Like there's snow flurries on the screen. Ugly freaking game. It was disgusting. For the vast majority of this. Like how many, how many,

how many fourth down attempts were there? I mean, combined. Eight. Yes. Oh my gosh. Two conversions. Two of eight on fourth down. Just disgusting football.

But when you have a good quarterback at the end, it all feels a lot better when it's over. He just, he is undeniably talented. And I just think watching him kind of channel that in some big moments is enjoyable. When he turns the corner on some of those scrambles or like just, I mean, that last one is a boot. Like he's just and decides to run with it. When he starts to like go up field and take the corner. he just has a little bit of like his like top end speed isn't as impressive

as like Lamar but like that when he's turning the corner and hitting a gear it's as impressive as anyone it's almost funny it I don't even want to make this comparison I actually do think he's faster than this person but it's kind of a homzine in the way that like he's just faster than the guy chasing him yeah like he's consistently faster than the guy chasing him

he never he doesn't look that fast until he's passing the person and he's always trying to tackle him yeah so again there's a long way to go for this team It is a very uneven. The offense or the defense just continues to be maddening. I actually was really impressed with the way that Jackson Dart played for a good chunk of this game. The way he was playing on time, some of the throws that he was making.

So it's not a perfect game by any stretch. And it's a game they probably should have lost. But for it to end the way that it did, that made me feel romantic about football today. It was an incompletion. And he did this in the Monday night game against the Vikings too. Same thing. But for my money, when Caleb breaks out and just torques his whole body into a throw on the run, it's about as exciting a thing as happens in football.

It very rarely turns out well, unfortunately, at this point. I don't care. It's fun to watch. From a pure adrenaline standpoint, he did it against the Vikings on Monday night, and then today it was incomplete in the end zone to DJ Moore. But like the velocity he can put on the ball in that situation is breathtaking. It's amazing. Yeah, it's, you'd hope that, again, the talent can be pointed in the right direction more often

than it has been over the last couple years, but today was a very fun day. Dave, what made you feel romantic about? football and week 10. Kind of funny, Derek and I both went to the Berlin game, but I think it was like the most entertaining game of the day and like the most well-played game probably. I love when a team takes somebody's soul, and that's what the Colts did on their overtime drive. It was just the seven play sequence was phenomenal, and obviously you lean heavy on Jonathan Taylor, you start the drive with him. And then Daniel Jones, for all of his flaws on Sunday, made one of the best throws of his day

like the deep corner to Tyler Warren just fits it in perfectly into a window between three guys. So from there you're at the 33 yard line and they just run the ball five times in a row. And every single snap you can see the Falcons resolve get a little bit less.

Like the first play, Billy Bowman shoots his gap. He's got JT dead to rights in the backfield. It's going to be a TFL. You're going to bump them to a long field goal range. Badgley's been struggling. And it's like, oh, all right, like the Falcons might get the ball back, except JT just makes him look goofy

and turns that into a seven-yard run. And like you can see the life force kind of eb out of the Falcons. And from there, it's like a two-yard run. And then he get, and then they go back to him. It's a six-yard run. The tight ends are getting involved.

They move Tyler Warren into the backfield, like exclusively for the final three snaps where he's just running in front of Jonathan Taylor. Jesse Bates is in hell trying to deal with Jonathan Taylor on the second level. on the second level just every single time. And then you finally get down there, what, on the eight-yard line? And I'm not going to suggest anybody gave up. But I just, at that point, you know you're in easy fuel goal range.

Like the Falcons know the game is up and Jonathan Taylor just waltzes into the end zone. And like, go back and watch the sequence. Like on every snap, you just see the energy on the falcons side of the line of scrimas, just go down a little bit. And like to finish it in that manner with the way that Jonathan, the day that he had, To win the game that way, that's beautiful stuff. JT knows that we're doing our midseason awards this week. He knew that we were waiting a week compared to some other shows.

He wanted like one more entry into his offensive player of the year. He made a hell of an impression. All right, let's talk about what we learn in week 10 before we get out of here. You know, I think I've learned something today. I think at times when you are in our position doing this job, and you look at fan bases around the league, and you see how they respond to good or bad performances from their young quarterbacks. I think there's an inclination to be like, guys, just take a breath.

Everybody just like slow down for a second, both good and bad. Not every single game means that this guy is the greatest player of all time, and not every single game means that this guy is a lost cause. But this week specifically, I think, was a reminder of why it feels like the stakes are so high in those moments and in those conversations. When you look at what the Patriots have been because Drake May is what he is, and you compare that to what it must have felt like

to be a Patriots fan over the last four or five years, not some long stretch of incomes, but there have been some low moments for that team in the last four or five years. And when you find that guy, and it just completely changes the entire DNA of what you feel like as an organization, and you compare that to some of the other second year

that have not played that way this year. Like, can you watch what Michael Pennock, has been, and you think about how uneven and how almost like rudderless the Falcons have felt over the course of this season, you do realize that that is why that fan bases become hyper fixated on what these guys can be, because at the end of the day,

the reward really is as big as you want it to be. And I think this week specifically, and you compare that Falcons game to what the Patriots now feel like, that was just kind of crystallized for me when watching this slate. It is, it's easy for us as, you know, people on the macro level who, for the most part, aren't invested in these teams. Obviously, you're a Bears fan.

But for the most part, we're looking at this thing from 30,000 feet. And it's understandable to want people to take a chill pill. But it's kind of, it's kind of breathtaking when you consider the implications. And you see what Drake May did against the bills a few weeks ago. And even in what we consider a shaky performance, the way. way that he was able to stabilize things for the Patriots, I get why the discourse around Bo Nix and J.J. McCarthy is as toxic as it is because like every glimpse, every glimpse of that talent, every time it pays off or looks like it's going to pay off, how could you not think

about, well, what if this is the next Mahomes or the next Josh Allen? And every time it doesn't, you're, think of the conversation we just had about Bryce Young and what might be in front of the Carolina Panthers. That is equally terrifying. And so when you're invested in it, it makes sense even if it does get exhausting. And yeah, I think it's easy for us to take that for granted sometimes.

I'll say right now, and you guys have never watched games with me before this season consistently, the way that I watch Bears games right now is different than it has been over the last several years. I never really bought into the idea pretty quickly.

I was skeptical of whether Justin Fields would ever be that guy. I just, when you watch the timing that he played with just mechanically what he was as a quarterback, I always had my doubts. You're going to attest to this. I still believe that Caleb Williams

could be something. And when you have that in the back of your mind, it changes your relationship with what these games are in the moment. And I can feel it. I can feel it in how invested I am watching this. Like that kernel of hope changes your relationship to what this is.

And so I like to think that I'm immune to some of this stuff because of the way that my relationship with the sport and my distance from it at times, but I'm not. Like, it is a powerful, powerful drug when that guy is even the glimpse of an idea that could work out for you. And that's why it ends up so volatile is you have to take those kernels of hope. But then everyone that has a young quarterback knows that deep down, like 60 to 70 percent of first-round quarterbacks just like won't be on the team in five years.

Like, they're just not going to be good enough. And we all, everyone knows that. But when it's your guy, you just don't believe it until it's too late. It's I blew my own mind just thinking about the implications of all of it. And y'all can have a fun conversation about the game that J.J. McCarthy had against the Ravens today. But who knows? Maybe he'll have a rabbit in his hat next week. And the whole cycle just keeps on perpetuating itself.

We got a fun hangover coming tomorrow. We got Ravens Vikings. We've got some Jets Browns, which is the most hangover game of all time. And then we will chat about the Sunday night game. We will also be back here tomorrow night, recapping the Monday night game live from the studio for the first time. So if you guys have not checked out the Monday night and Thursday night recaps, I would highly encourage you to get on that tomorrow

because it's a big game. We're very excited about it. One other bit of housekeeping, tickets for our live show at Lincoln Hall in Chicago on January 7th go on sale tomorrow morning on Monday. So please be on the lookout for that. Very excited about it. 250 seats in the venue.

So if you want to come, encourage you to jump on that quickly. For now, that is all we've got. Appreciate you guys listening. We'll talk to you very soon.