The Athletic Football Show: A show about the NFL - Week 16 recap, part one — Eagles-Cowboys thriller, Justin Jefferson and George Kittle shine, Lions let us down, and more

Episode Date: December 26, 2022

The holidays brought us a uniquely busy weekend of football. So busy, in fact, that we had to split the Week 16 recap on The Athletic Football Show into two parts. In part one, Robert Mays and Nate Tice focus on Saturday's games. The guys dig into the Eagles-Cowboys thriller, gush over Justin Jefferson and George Kittle, lament the missed opportunity for the Lions, and discuss a whole lot more.Follow Robert on Twitter: @robertmaysFollow Nate on Twitter: @Nate_TiceSubscribe to The Athletic Football Show...AppleSpotifyYouTube6:30 Cowboys beat Eagles30:35 Justin Jefferson is ridiculous41:15 Good for Daniel Jones and the Giants47:42 George Kittle and the 49ers' wealth of options54:02 Texans/Bears battle for the #1 pick60:59 Lions let slip a great opportunity71:03 Seahawks are running out of steam76:15 Bengals nearly let one get away Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

This is the Athletic Football Show. The Athletic Football Show. I'm Robert Mays. Join me today. That's my good friend Nate Tyson. How you doing, buddy? Doing great. A little Christmas weekend with the little guy.

It was awesome. I was really proud of my gift giving this year. So that was awesome. And we cooked a nice prime rib yesterday as well and did a good job on it. Actually cooked it, you know, thoroughly through, gave it the time that's needed on it. And I was in charge of it. My mom was like, hey, go pick up the meat. And, you know, like, hey, you got to put it in the oven for this.

You got to coat it with this. You know, you got to do this. And we did it. We did it. My wife and I did it. So we're very proud of ourselves in our first family Christmas, I guess you could say. That's very adult of you. It was.

And you're a father now. You're contributing to the meal. When I go home for Christmas, I do absolutely nothing. I know. I contribute in no way. I ate all day yesterday. We started. My mom makes like a breakfast casserole in the morning.

Okay. It is just deeply Midwestern. And I love it so much. Casseroles are so Midwest. We have that. And then my brother works at a restaurant. He came over and made like a ridiculous charcutory board in the afternoon. So we're eating that.

And then my mom makes these cookies every year that she's made them for my entire life. You've talked about these. Yeah. They're white chocolate chip and they have like orange zest in them. So they're like creamsicle kind of flavored cookies. Okay. And she makes hundreds of. of them. And so from the time I get there on Christmas Eve until the time I leave left last night

on Christmas Day, I ate 50 cookies. I'm like, that's not an exaggeration. And then so- your high school weight. I'm telling you, I just revert so fast back there. My fiance gives me such shit about it. She's like, you're like a 10-year-old boy when you go home. But my mom likes that. That's what she wants us to be when we go home. So my day-to-day life, I cook a lot. I take care of my house. I am a 35-year-old man, just not when I go home for Christmas. But it was amazing. I consumed 10,000 calories yesterday. It's not an exaggeration.

And I feel like absolute garbage. So let's do this. Oh, that's great. Oh, well, it was like stressful for my wife and I yesterday because we were hosting. That was the way it was like, well, we have the baby. You know, we can't really travel anywhere. My parents are like, okay. You go pick up the meat and prep the prime rib and do everything.

Okay. And my wife and I'm like, oh, shoot, we kind of literally bit off more than we could show. But I actually turned out to be. great, but we're really proud of ourselves. Now we're actually getting the host at our house, so we're actually like getting some good reps in, you know, once we can like reaffirm ourselves to the public life, the public eye a little bit once now the little guy's getting a little bigger. So it was a good tester on, except it was on Christmas with six people. I trust that you did a great job and that is a hugely important step. That's going to be a long way off for me ever hosting Christmas Day.

It's going to be a mom joined for a very long time. All right. We're recording this on Monday, December 26th in the morning. We're going to do this in two parts to make up for the fact that we did not record a show on Saturday or Sunday after these games. So we're going to talk about the Saturday games today. We're going to talk about the Sunday games on a second show. I know that's not the best separation of how to do this, but it was the easiest. So this.

So that's why we did it. So we're going to do what kind of feels like our typical Sunday night show here for the Christmas Eve Saturday games. And we are going to start with Eagles Cowboys, which was an absolute banger. Such a fun game. So much happening. Great way to spend some Christmas Eve time on the couch with family watching football, which that's mostly what I did during this weekend was watch football on the couch. So biggest takeaway for you from Eagles Cowboys is you try to. sort through the mess.

This is a, that Eagles team is very talented and they have a lot of good players on offense and also just, you know, I liked how the Cowboys looked on offense. That's really what I was hoping to see because when we went to this show or went to this weekend, we talked about how this is kind of, you know, with Hertz aisle there, kind of, you know, kind of loses some luster of the matchup and kind of how the playoff is shaking out. So really focusing on Cowboys' Offense versus Eagles defense. I don't know. I thought the Cowboys' offense gets some good marks for what they did, even outside that initial pick six, which is just a brain fart from DAC.

But I thought Minchu came in. When Gardner Minchew was with the Jaguars, actually was very interesting to watch him because he's limited. We all know he's limited. But you watch him, it's like he always tries to do the right thing. He's going to get to that one read and do it correctly. Like it doesn't matter what you run for him. He could run all concepts. The Eagles are a kind of greatest hits offense where they just run like kind of some five or six money plays.

So he's going to get the ball to the right guy. It's pretty fun where you could just, you know, run sluggos to AJ Brown and launch up go balls. And I guess the QB sneak is still part of their toolbox with Gardner Mitchie and said Jay one hurts, which actually surprised me. So I also thought that the Eagles team did more under center with him, which makes sense because he's very comfortable doing that. But on the flip side, well, I thought was really interesting with the Cowboys. and this is my biggest takeaway from their offense. This whole year, I dive into true media. I have this way too many columns in my QB stats.

I don't know if you've ever seen it. You can kind of click for everyone, like the filters that we have preset. I have way too many QB stats. Oh, I like this one. I like this one. I noticed that the Cowboys don't use a lot of empty. And I was like, that's kind of interesting. I think Dak would be a very good empty quarterback.

He can run just enough in case things break down. He's very smart. But they don't run a lot of empty. Yesterday, they ran 13 snaps of empty. The entire season, Dack has only run 18 going into this weekend. I wonder why that would be. I know. I've been trying to figure it out maybe just the threat of the run game, which is so much

to their offense, that would be my one, one maybe thing where they always want to have that threat that they could run the ball. So I don't know. I just think that's really interesting because Tony Pollard and Zika are good receivers, so you can split them out, you know, you got personal tight outs. It might give them some answers against the defense that sometimes can be. Oh, you're saying for the why they did in the Eagles game? Yeah.

Oh, I have a theory. Just because the Eagles check. The Eagles check into a nice basic static too high. Yeah, that makes sense. Okay. I figured there had to be like one lever they were trying to pull then. That's exactly what it was. It was just a, yeah, but throughout the season, I'm not sure, but why they did against the Eagles was I, that's what I think is that the Eagles have one or maybe two empty checks.

Most defenses only have a couple checks when you're in empty. If you run a lot of empty, they might have more. But if you're the Cowboys, Eagles probably on one or two empty checks. And sure enough, every time they lined up, the Eagles were in just a nice. soft, safe, too high coverage or even if they rotate down to three. But what helps is when you have a supercomputer like Dak, a quarterback, is he can just pick you apart. And you can see Dak lighting up the middle of the field, especially kind of, oh my God,

just runoffbacks, tight end, CD Lamb. And when you go empty, I talked about this before. You're basically running two concepts on either side, the three-man concept and the two-man concept, typically. And when usually, when you're running those concepts, it's either a quick game. kind of thing, or it's a five-step drop, which is kind of an intermediate dropback, and you run a lot of high lows. And that's why you're seeing that over and over.

If you're going to run quarters, to beat quarters, you're running high lows. You get those intermediate guys, tatch down, hit a dig behind them, get those little soft spots. So I feel like that's why they were trying to attack it. And that's why you're just seeing Dak just pepper over the middle over and over. And he was brutally efficient. He was 65% success rate, passing the ball in first and second down. he was just do do do do do this was the highest percentage of his true dropbacks with no play action and no screens which is tied into all the empty usage so and he also had three scrambles and one design successful design were big in the first half he making some plays with his legs on third down came up big multiple times in this game he ran four times they all went for 10 or more yards like i mean that's that's a good day on the ground especially for deck who kind of picks and chooses his spots so i thought it was a really uh another

brutally efficient game from the Cowboys and they had some explosiveness and then you just see, you know, they kind of created their own luck at the end with the Ty Why Hilton play. But I don't know, I really like the game playing and I think they really found their version of an easy button, which I think was empty formations at this game. Believe DAC was 23 of 23 or something close to it against zone coverage in this game. And I'd never get them right ever. Remember, we talked about this game coming into it and what the Jags did to them a little bit. I said, if I'm playing against the Cowboys,

I think I'm playing more man than I want to, and I'm just doubling C.D. Lamb. And in this game, DAC was three of nine and took two sacks against man coverage. And it was 23 of 23 against Owen. You saw it. There was one, I think, third down in completion. They just won double 88.

We're just going to double 88, and we're going to force you to make a play to somebody else. And they did. You know, there was one, I think, Dalton Schultz completion against, I believe it was Edwards on like a little overroute from the slot. in like the red zone area at one point. So it's like they did something against it.

But I do think that DAC being able to kind of pick apart this defense and more static zone looks was a problem. And also saw it quickly. Avanti Maddox was having a huge game. He had a pass break up on the first drive. He had a near sack that I think that should have been called the sack. He was around Dak's legs and like, what is a defensive player supposed to do? Like he's in the grasp.

if he throws him down. It's a penalty. So that was whatever. And then he makes the play on that throwback where he gets hurt. And then so Josiah Scott comes in. They're already playing with, I believe it's Blankenship back there, right? So you got read Blankenship and Josiah Scott now in there instead of Avante Maddox and C.J. Gardner Johnson.

And that showed up a lot in this game. They were just, C.G. CidLand was going absolutely ham from the slot. the entire game. And even at the touchdown, I think it was just cover three. And Cid Lamb was working from the slot. And no one carried with him going vertical.

And Blanketship just had no shot. And the corner on that side got held down by some sort of like a quick out route to that side. So I think those injuries showed up in a big way. And I think the DAC was amazing against zone. I think that Cid Lane was fantastic in this game. So I think there's something to be learned about how much man you want to play against the Cowboys as they're currently concerned.

Because if you let DAC just go to work with space, I think that that is an advantage for them. I think that their past catching options right now are such that I would challenge everybody that isn't seedy. And there was one third down, I believe it was third down, where they played man on the outside, and Bradbury just bullied Michael Gallup for an incompletion. And you can do that right now. So the same feeling I had about the Cowboys passing game coming into this is the same one I have coming out of it. I thought the Eagles run defense was pretty good in this game. All things considered, you know, this is an area where teams have gotten after them this season.

I thought that they were more than good enough in that area of the game to feel good about what it might look like moving forward. And overall, let's go to the Eagle side of things first before we get big picture takeaways. Because my biggest thing, and I know that you love the Dallas offense, I'm sure that's where you wanted to start. I came away from this game just being so incredibly impressed with every level of the Philadelphia Eagles organization. Even though they lost this game, I was like, holy shit, is this team in a really good spot? Just from the amount of talent on the roster. And that showed up two specific places to me in this game. Devante Smith made like five insane plays.

Insane plays in this game. Just insane plays. The twisting one on the sideline where he somehow got his feet. down the dig where he's coming over the top of somebody the idea that this man is the number two receiver on an NFL team is insane is patently ridiculous because what he can do play in and play out he is one of the best receivers in the history of college football he won the heisman trophy he is the first receiver to win the heisman trophy essentially since tim brown because Desmond Howard won it when he was also a returner.

That is how good Devante Smith was playing in Alabama. And he is the number two receiver on this team. He is unbelievable. He's insane. Dallas Goddard in this game made like three ridiculous plays. And not even just contested catches, but they're having him run little return routes from the slot and like attack J. Ron curse in man coverage. Like in situations where Dallas is usually set up to erase tight ends, Dallas Goddard is still making place. Yep. That's just being something.

Yes. And so you have. Curse is a good tight end eraser. That's exactly what he does. He's one of the best in the league at it. And you have Goddard still making place. So that's the personnel side of this. And then play calling wise, you talked about it.

They run the sluggo on the first drive, which is just a beautiful call. Beautiful. The touchdown. early. You got to get Diggs early. You got to get him thinking the rest of the game. There's a late third down because they ran the slug early. Diggs doesn't jump on the slant on A.J. Brown because he's so worried about getting burned on it. That's. And that was a huge third down as they were driving. I think it was in the red zone again. They hit that slant to J. Brown. And then the touchdown to Smith. It's fourth and two. They've run that slide RPO. I don't know how many times in short time situations in the season. So if you guys can picture it, it's the play where they're in shotgun. They run an RPA. Dallas Goddard is coming across the formation on a slide wrap. And with Hertz, it's so dynamic and it's so lethal because he can hand it off if the look is there. He can keep it or he can throw it to Dallas Goddard. He has those three options.

And on fourth and two, you're screwed. Like, no matter what you do, you're probably screwed. So Eagles run this with Minshu and they have Devante Smith release late and hit him over the top for a touchdown. with they know that digs knows that that's the play they want to run and that's their money play on fourth and two it's just a beautiful little tweak on something they've done all season so that's the coaching side of you know who the other receiver was in that game too it was Zach Pascal they were all the way they were going on the blocking because that that's the thing with devante smith he's he's the slim reaper and everything he's a hell of a blocker like he likes the block and that's that's him

getting rewarded for that was hey we're in our blocking receiver package and that's why it's when a receiver can block because you don't have to take them off. That's such a tell. If I have all these tight ends or fullbacks in and I have Zach Pascal out there, I'm like, well, I kind of, I know what the Eagles are going to be running here. But if I have Devonte Smith and Zach Pascal, like, okay, all right, maybe a little change up here. And sure enough, they, they, it was perfect. I loved it because they sold the picket screen that they run, you know, that's, he's sliding

across. They basically run, it's a wall for him, you know, like inadvertent wall. They get in the way, rub route, if you want to call it. But it was perfect. It was such a great design at like the perfect timing on a fourth down. Yeah, Michael Kiss had the great text or great tweet saying like, yeah, that's galaxy branding it right now. Yeah, let's take AJ Brown off the field on a key fourth and one, fourth and two. I love it though.

I absolutely love it. It was great. So two notes about the coaching. One. For most of this season, I was not a big Nick Siriani for Coach of the Year booster. I just thought that the way this roster was constructed was they were the most talented team in the league. They've done such a great job of filling in the holes, not just with anybody, but with like star level players this offseason. Redick, A.J. Brown, C.J. Brown, C.J. Gardner Johnson, all the moves that they made. I was like, this is an amazingly built team.

And I think that a lot of the things that he's done and deserves credit for over two years, when you're the head coach, assembling the staff that he's assembled with the guy who's going to get a head coaching job. I have to assume after this season in Shane Steichen, Jonathan Gann has done a good job on the other side of the ball. We can hem and hall about his approach to the Cowboys in this game. It's over a two-year span, how flexible they were last year. But as things have gone on this season and as maybe the dolphins have fallen a little bit on offense, the Giants aren't really rolling the way they were early in the year. After watching that game yesterday, I have no problem with Nick Siriani winning coach of the year. What he's been able to do week in and week out, how just well coached that team is,

how ready they were with Minchew, a quarterback, some of the wrinkle. on offense, which I know he has a huge hand in. It's kind of an over two year award if I'm going to give it to him, but I'm totally okay with that. And then the other coaching takeaway, Steichen is a head coach. But he 100% deserves it. He should. It's not, they have a lot of good players on that team, but the way that offense has

been coached all season, how many answers they have, how well they move the ball with Gardner, Minchu, a quarterback consistently throughout that game. If they don't fumble the ball, I'm not. The interceptions Dallas deserves credit for, two amazing plays by Bland and Curse. If they don't fumble the ball in their own territory and they don't give up a third and 30, the Eagles win that game on the road against the Cowboys with their backup quarterback. Right, which is extremely impressive. Did you see a couple times, I'm glad he brought up Seriani and Sikin because there's a time.

It must have been a fork down. It was a forked down because I think that's why they were showing them. They showed them on the sideline, but it was really great as you saw them communicating, Siriani and Steichen. And it was awesome because you could tell they're, he's down, Stikens down, you know, halfway down the field looking on with his call sheet. And Seriana was like, okay, get ready for, you can see him say, get ready to go for it. Yeah.

And they show Stikin because they were talking about him as a head coach can or whatever, but it was perfect timing because then they show him going, okay. And he got, he has the next play call ready. But it was just, that's communication. You should hear, people don't realize how chaotic headsets are on game day. on some teams. Sometimes it's awesome and there's only one guy talking. It's amazing on one side of the ball, but sometimes it can be very chaotic. But when you have a head coach that just doesn't even hesitate, he's not hemming and ha and going, all right. Well, hey, should we feel a goal at here?

Like, should we get that? Nope, nope. Hey, get the fourth down ready. Boom, boom, boom. And he had a play call ready. I think they converted on that one. I totally agree. I, this, I've had Siriani as my coach of the year of my both editions of the 30s so far. Another plug for those articles. If anyone wants to check them out. They're a couple of weeks redone, or a couple of weeks late now. But, but I agree because every time I went into the season, I'm like, well, it's going to be a very simplistic offense. We'll see once the defenses have answers for it.

And every time a defense has had an answer, they have a counterpunch. It's just really cool. And nothing overly revolutionary, but it's just all good sound stuff that they just run really well. I mean, really good players helps, but it's just good football. Like, that's the best way to describe what this Eagles offense is. It doesn't matter if it's Minchu or hurts in the game. It's just good football.

And they got to be rewarded for that or at least commended for how they put together this offense. Because you could screw this up. There's doing teams with plenty of good players before and they try to galaxy brain and get too cute with everything. They just mainline it. This is just distilled offense. Like, hey, easy answers with easy counters to it. What are we going to do off a slant route? What's run a slug-o?

Boom. All right, what are we going to do? We're going to do a pop pass to Devante Smith. Like there's as opposed to anything that's like two counters. convoluted. It's very simplistic and a good way type of football. And yeah, I agree. They've done a great, great job. It's not their fault. They have to go against like Michael Parsons on key fourth downs at the end of the game. But like, that's the thing is players make plays at the end of the game, but those coaches do everything they could to get them in that position. Minchu was 8 of 8 against the

Blitz for 96 yards in this game. I was going to say, they tried to heat him up. And it was it didn't work. He was making plays left and right. And I'm 100% with you. I'm so impressed by what the Eagles have done, especially on the offensive side of the ball over the last two years, and we've talked about this before. Stuyken doesn't come from the world that they currently live in. No. We're of Turner guy. Spent a lot of time with the chargers on multiple staffs and how they've sought out creative and sound answers for the personnel that they have, how flexible they've been. So the more I've learned about the Eagles approach to certain things, just like little nuts and bolts of

how they scout themselves in the off season or how they approach some practice periods or what the dialogue between their offensive coaching staff is like, I become more and more impressed with it and I gain more and more respect for it. And some of that comes from Reich. Some of the things that they do are old Colts things that Siriani started doing when he was in Indianapolis. But there are so many things where it's like, oh, that's a good idea. You get a lot out of that. And I have to assume that Stuyken wherever he goes will bring a lot of that with him. And, you know, it's, we talk about the creativity and the design and the X's and O's parts

of this. But I just think that the feeling in the building and the vibe they created and just the curiosity and the humility and just kind of all of those things that are associated with the staff and what I've seen from them, both, you know, in conversation and on the field, I want some of that. It's not a, I want this playbook sort of thing. Right. when you're hiring this coordinator in this specific situation.

And I think that's why he's as good a candidate as any in this cycle. And I'm excited to see what he can do when he gets a job because it's going to happen. Yeah. No, I totally agree. It's all that communication and game planning. I actually had that thought, not even watching this game, but actually watching Mike McDaniel versus Matt LaFlor. And I kind of was just laughing because I actually worked with both of those guys

when I was with the pockets. Yeah, that's right. And I'm watching them. I'm like, also my first thought I was like, holy shit, these guys are both head coaches now. Like, what, just crazy how much time, how quick time goes. But I'm watching them and just, it's kind of cool to see, you know, not everyone has hit, but see so many of these young guns at coaching, at head coach, kind of hitting.

You know, Sierra Leone is another one. And all these younger guys that it seems like they've learned a lot of the right lessons. Like, yeah, I'm sure they'll have some confidence. I mean, they're just, I mean, all of them. Even a guy that I've besmirched in the past, but I've complimented this year, you know, Zach Taylor. That's another young guy. Like coming from those Shanahan, I know Seriali's different from that, but these younger coaches just seems so much more worldly with how they communicate, how they run to practice.

So open-minded. And like curious. You put a great word, which I know we both have talked about how like people should be more curious. But I like that for years and years and years. It was always my way, my way, my way. This work. This West Coast offense works in 1992. And we're going to read it the exact same way.

I mean, I've heard, listen to Joey Harrington talk about Steve Mariucci, talking about how they don't. throw hot because that's, you know, Steve Young didn't throw hot or Joe Montana didn't throw hot or whatever it was. And now these coaches are like, oh, that's a good play. Who cares if it's not mine? That's a good way to run practice. Who cares if it's not my idea? And that's the humility aspect. Yes. And it's so good. You have to do it. It's 22. And it's cool to see some of these coaches getting, doing it and succeeding because now they kind of get more credibility and more people will want to do it that way, which I think is great for for the NFL. And even just the small thing of Syriani being like, you know what you call plays.

you many guys are like, nah, it's my offense. You know, I got to call it. It's my offense. Exactly. There's just been none of that. And I think that they've benefited from it in a really big way. Absolutely. Final kind of period at the end of the sentence, I am excited for these teams to play again.

I too. I really, really hope that we get there. Because I think that we will. You know, if you're looking at the tea leaves and kind of how it all plays out, there's a very good chance that in the division around the Cowboys will go to Philadelphia. And it would be amazing. I mean, that, that is everything that you could want from a playoff game.

So there's some juicy playoff games that might be lining up. But also, I just got to laugh too, at Michael Parsons going ballistic at the end, asking for a timeout so you can empty the take off for it. I saw that. That was pretty badass. That was amazing. That was awesome. It was like a health power up in a video game.

He was like, all right, here, get me charged up here. I mean, that was pretty sweet. The last thing I'll say, Eagles got their own pass rushers. Redick paid to big. plays to get even to that third and 30. The inside move and sweat finishing it off was a beautiful little rush design. Some dudes on both sides of the ball on this team. There's a lot of stars. The end was stars making star plays. Devonthe Smith going up and jumping on a guy, Michael Parsons, stars making plays. That's what end of game should be. That's what it was.

Hope we get to see the full strength, Eagle secondary against this Dallas defense or this Dallas offense when we get the rubber match because I do think we're trending in that direction. All right. We're going to take a quick break here. And then we're going to get back with a couple guys who grabbed our attention today. Gentlemen, you have my curiosity. Now you have my attention. All right. Let's start it off here.

Justin Jefferson. Minnesota Vikings. You have my attention. I'm moratorium on one score game talk, on whether this matters, any of that shit. I don't care. For right now, for this moment,

I do not care. That dude, for the first half of the year. It was really hard for me to conceive of a non-quarterback being more valuable than Tyree Kill had been to the dolphins. Right. And it's because of how many ways he was affecting the game. It wasn't just the catches he was making. It was how he was structurally changing the ways that teams had to play against the dolphins.

So when you're affecting it, not only with your own production, but with the quieter ways you're influencing every single play that you're on the field, that's why to me he was the offensive player of the year. He was the most valuable non-quarterback in football over the first half of the season. I've changed my tune on that as I have watched number 18 for the Minnesota Vikings play over the last few weeks. And as the dolphins have fallen off a little bit, a bunch of different reasons. The last touchdown he scores. Okay.

Yeah. They're bracketing him on that play. Yes, they are. double teamed on the play with the safety playing downhill in the red zone yes they're double teaming him on the play i'm sure you guys have seen it it's a disgusting release on the corner with a little swim over so he stacks the corner immediately and then he has to do a second release on the safety who is bracketing him and he has a two-way go based on where he's lined up and where the safety is and he can take it to the corner if he wants but the move he puts on it to take it inside,

to run through a double team in the biggest moment of the game on third down to score a touchdown and this team is still fighting for the number two seed, all that stuff. The guy is unbelievable. He is absolutely unbelievable. And that's before we even get to, the third down catch he makes against the blitz on their last drive where he's just in open space and sliding a really nice play by Kirk.

I know he's just putting that ball into space, but staring down the barrel and making that throw. He did that a couple times in this game. His toughness and ability, willingness to kind of stand in there and deliver. That shit is real. And then Jefferson on that third down screen. They threw a screen to him on third down and he takes it. The guy is unbelievable.

He set the Minnesota Vikings single season records for catches and yards. I don't know if you're aware of this. Some decent receivers have played for the Vikings. Yeah, a couple of them at the same time. I know. He's, he's in striking distance of Calvin Johnson's yard record. Like, that's, he's right there. I think was he at 1756 and Calvin Johnson's at 1964. Like, he's right there. That's screen. I mean, that's, that's the thing with him is he's such a complete receiver because you can line them up in the slot, line him up outside. You can run short routes with them long routes. This game showed that off so much.

That's exactly it. I mean, there's a stock route on the outside. Okay, that's one way to run a route there. then you have Poor Fabian Moreau was so scared of him. He was so scared of him the whole game. I felt so bad for him. Oh my God. And like the Giants were blitzing, of course. And that's where they set them up on that screen or got them on that screen. Because we also, Jefferson on overs and Outbreakers.

Oh, even before, I think they ended up in an incompletion or interception or something like that. But anyways, uh, Jefferson and Kirk Cousins with the one cool mind belt that they have. We talk about Josh Allen and like Stefan Diggs having like, probably the most them in Mahomes and Kelsey having like the most mind belt of mind belts. Cousins and Jefferson have it on like one route and it's the deep comeback or a deep out to the field. And which is for a quarterback is a spot throw. That is I hit the back of my drop. I'm throwing to this area and I and I'm assuming my receiver is going to win.

Watching him and Jefferson do this like every week is pretty awesome because you don't see that throw that often. And Cousins usually as he's getting clothes lined, we'll just whip it out there. And there's Jefferson no matter what, winning a lot. on that route time and time and time and time again. But that screenplay, this was a catching the Giants in their pressure look. You know, Wink brings an exotic. He brings a free safety in the will from the weak side. And then showing pressure across the board.

Jefferson's in the slot. And this is the advantage of having him in the slot, genuinely, not in a sense where the giants see that and go, well, that's weird. Why are you in the slot? He can line up there. That's where versatility comes in play. So he's running his screen. And they're asking the Giants.

because they're bringing this exotic in two minute. They're having Tibido bail to cover number two. Yeah, that's right. And then they have Jahad Ward running with Hawkinson going three vertical. So it's like not really the guys you want out in space. So you got two offense alignment and ended up on a safety. Tidado is playing really well. Kind of turns like a battleship a little bit at times.

So it's like he's not really the guy you want out there. He want him going forward. And then also he gets the other chunk to set up the field goal. It's just like, and then they kick the 61 yards. or easy-peasy. Like, it was the easiest 61-yarder you'll ever see. That is just all of it coming together. It was him and a slot, them catching an opponent trying to do what they want to do.

And, you know, not only just counterpunching, I'm throwing a haymaker that sets up the game-winning play. And it all comes to how talented he is and how versatile he is. And he could just do everything great, not just everything well, everything great. And that's what's awesome about them. It's not just a speedy burner. He can block. He can run underneath stuff. He can create after the catch.

He's awesome. I love watching him break on routes because you always talk about it, how his upper body and lower body and his legs are just all like he can just move. He's unlike anybody. He's one of one in the way that he moves. He's so incredibly hard to deal with. It's funny. I was thinking in this game because Hunter at a sack, they have one of those guys on either side of the ball.

Daniel Hunter doesn't move like anybody else. Yeah. He's like the weirdest pass rusher in the league and guys have trouble dealing with it sometimes. It's like, obviously Jefferson is the best offensive player in football. But the fact that they have these. two guys that are just very strange movers and are really important to them on both sides of the ball I thought was funny. But Hawkinson also, this is the game where you make that trade. I mean, not only the huge play on the touchdown, I mean, which is just a go up and get it sort of play. It's a

matchup throw. They're not drawing that up for any tight end. You know, you go out and get a guy you think can make that play. And then there was another one where it was I think it was a third down. They ran him on a little whip underneath, like drawing up plays for him in high leverage moments. and you go out and get a guy like that in part so you can do that. And so I think that you have to mention what he did in this game. One more giant specific note. Oh, Ezra Cleveland, fantastic block on that screen on the Jefferson screen. He's coming all the way from the left guard spot, gets out in space, makes a huge block on that.

I wanted to mention that. Giants blitz the lot in this game? Or excuse me, Vikings did? Vikings blitzed a lot in this game. It was like a quarter of dropbacks to mixed effect. You know, Patrick Peterson got home first. sack. Eric Kendrick's tip to pass. Giants caught him with a little screen to Sequin, which I think pumped up the numbers a little bit. Interesting to see them bringing more pressure. You know, they obviously

did last week against the Colts just because they had to. They had to force the issue because they were down by so much. But over the last few weeks, it seems like they might be thinking maybe we need to get a little bit more aggressive and be a little less static on that side of the ball. So I'm paying attention to that as a, what are they going to tweak maybe down here, down the stretch? here on defense because that's that seems like it's one of the answers yeah i actually watching this game because it feels like daniel jones just how he plays is uh you can start seeing where maybe other teams weaknesses are when they go against the giants because i think uh dab will in the that they will that uh in kaffka and that giant staff kind of know what they are what they're

dealing with with that personnel grouping on offense but so they are just going to straight line it and the viking defense what i just kind of knows that no the pressure thing is so important the fourth and two Sequant TD was a pressure look, pressure front. They ran zone read and Daniel Jones's running ability blocks a guy because he just reads it. And then boom. Big scrambles in this game by him, by the way. And that's what I was going to say is the Vikings are one of the worst teams that looked it up because I'm watching Daniel Jones run around is they're one of the worst teams against QB scrambles. Not QB run plays, but just scrambles.

And also like plays dropbacks that takes three or more seconds, which makes a lot of sense based on how they play because they play such match heavy. defense and you look at every pass play with them, watch their linebackers. As soon as the snap of the ball, Kendrix and Hicks, they look outside and they look to match their coverage rules. They're not keeping eyes. It's not a zone coverage where you have eyes on the quarterback. It's a great point. It's a great, great point. You can see that deep into plays often. And a lot of those scrambles, everyone's attached to somebody. And that's why he has so much space. And that's why the longer to plays go, the softer that Vikings defense gets. They want you to throw quick. But the longer it goes, they have so many eyes and they're playing to timing two and a half seconds three seconds.

Okay, we do this. They're going to run this route. And so you can just really see stuff kind of open up for other teams. And I could see that against the Giants especially. But also, no, another great call was that the the Giants ran so much play action in this game. And it was all week's own action, which is to the open side. And I was like, why do they keep doing that? It's old school.

We actually, I get mad at the Chargers for doing this too many times, but it's kind of the Gordon Ramsey meme where it's it's like, you know, Joe Lombardi does it. And it's like, you know, it's like, you're an idiot. You're a fool. And then the other person and then the giant staff does it. And it's like, oh, sweetheart, you're so good. You know, they do a hip slot formation, which is a, what, two tie downs on one side, two receivers on the other side. Classic play action formation like shot play. They kept doing it, kept doing the same fake. I'm like, man, why do they keep going to this? Well, they're getting the Vikings to declare their formation or their coverage formation. But also, it's because they have this guy at left tackle name Andrew Thomas,

who had a couple moments. But, but. But when you can do that pass protection when you have a dude at left tackle because he is on an island. And that's why they can get to it over and over. I just thought that was interesting. I was like, oh, that's right. That's a Jimmy's and Joe's kind of thing opening up some X's and O's for an offense. One more thing I wanted to point out, just like in the sliding doors moments, things with the Vikings. Yes.

If Flot catches that ball and that interception counts, they probably lose this game. Right. It's just that those are the little tiny things. And I just, that's the one thing I, last thing I wanted to say about that. And then before we move on, two things about the Giants. One, I'm impressed with Daniel Jones. Like, I think that Daniel Jones is like a starting caliber quarterback in the NFL in the right situation. And the reason I say that is, if we get to a moment for the Giants where it's like, all right, we give him a deal where it's, I don't know, the exact numbers on it, where you can keep the cab number fairly low in 2023.

You give them some guaranteed money. and that's your starting quarterback next year with all the potential options, which I think they would explore at the right price. That's not the worst outcome. I think that he is more than capable of playing at a reasonable level in this offense with this coaching staff, especially when they upgrade their past catching options.

I thought that he played pretty well in this game. And overall, I have been impressed by him. I don't want to just hand wave some of the stuff he's done this year because I do think that it's a great coaching staff. The offense is very well conceived, but I also think that he's made some real. plays this season. I think this is one of his better games. He has. They've streamlined the attack for him as far as a runner. And like I said, the play action stuff is great for him.

Get him on the move. He can throw the shit out of the ball when he's got a nice clean pocket. He's, I think he has that classic. I think on the board, he's really smart. And I think he's not a quick action thinker. So it's, but he's improved on his fumbles, which has always been an issue. Like, and I think he's just, he's making quicker decisions. I want to say quick, but quicker than what he has been in his past, but that shows improvement. Like, he's such a good athlete. He has so many good tools. Like, he's a big, tough runner and he can throw him deep.

Like, he can do all the classic kind of things you want to quarterback. You could do a lot worse than Daniel Jones. That's where I'm out with him. It's not like he's just like, wow, this guy shouldn't be playing snaps. It's like, this guy can, he can do enough for you and actually make some plays for you. He's improved on some of the poor aspects of his game. So, yeah, I agree with you. I think he's played good ball this year for them.

I think in a world where we have, With no receivers, by the way. No receivers. No receivers. Teams are going to need quarterbacks this year. And I don't know where he's going to wind up, but I think that he deserves a chance to start somewhere in 2023, whether it's with the Giants or somebody else. Mitch Trubisky got another chance. Yes.

I mean, come on. You can do a lot worse than Daniel Jones, I think, is a good place to land. One more note about the Giants. Dexter Lawrence is insane. He's a monster. He's insane. He is unlike any player that we have seen in the NFL. in the last decade when you consider like certain physical characteristics and how he affects the game.

Dexter Lawrence right now in the NFL is second in pressures among interior defensive alignment. He has 60 pressures so far this season in 15 games. Okay? Yeah. He weighs 350 pounds. He is bigger than you realize. He's 3.50. He plays two thirds of his snaps as a nose tackle.

Can you remember somebody that has, and also, by the way, he plays like 83% of the giant snaps. He is second in the NFL among interior defensive linemen in total snaps. He's not just some two-down guy. Him being on the field this often is a 350-pound guy and not only racking up pressures and counting stats, but also on a per snap basis, he's one of the most effective interior pass rushers in the league at 350 while playing nose tackle. while playing more than three quarters of a team snaps. There hasn't been a guy like that affecting the game this way at that position in the league since I've started covering the league, I don't think.

He's like Poe. Like he's like even better than Don Terry Poe. Yeah, that's the only like that's the only one I can even come close to. Just the fact. They had some decent numbers as a past rusher a couple years ago. But if you look at it, I searched on true media. He is the first player in like, in like 10 years. Since they started, I think, tracking pressures, he's the only guy that weighs more than 350 to get 60 pressures in a season since true media started tracking.

How about him and Christian Wilkins were on the same front in college? By the way, that 2019 draft have to reconsider it a little bit. What Christian Wilkins is doing? What Dexter Lawrence is doing? And what Quinn Williams is doing in year four? Yes. I think all of those guys, you know, they were at different levels. I think that Dexter Lawrence had a really,

Wilkins was really good last season, and I think people are noticing it now because he's on a team that's winning some games. But Lawrence has not been affecting the game the way he is this season in previous years. Quentin Williams has gone from being a solid player last year to being an all pro-level player this year. Those guys have all of them kind of made me rethink that defensive line class from that 2019 draft because a year into their careers,

two years into their career, I think that all of those picks were kind of, And when you draft an interior defensive lineman in the first round, you know, what can you expect? Those guys are all ridiculous now. It's amazing. Jeffrey Simmons was in that class too. Yes. Like this is a monster class.

I'm maybe just Ed Oliver was in that class. Oh my God. Brian Burns, but that's an edge. But yeah, no, I agree. He was good right away. Yeah. He's, he looks phenomenal. I know we're going to talk about them in a second.

Oh, my God. He looks so good. But no, that's, no, it's a really, really good interior line class. I mean, and then, man. the Raiders just ended up with Farrell. That's just what's so fascinating with that. All those guys and they ended up with Farrow. Jonathan Abram and, well, Josh Jacobs obviously has kind of re-

constructed his narrative. But it's funny. Sometimes guys take a little while to come on and those three guys have turned into different players. It makes sense, especially if those guys are coming out younger in the interior defense line. They take, well, you take some maturation, you know, get a little maturity in that body. And now just like day to day as work ethic and all that.

Not that I'm saying these guys didn't have it and being a pro, but also just, you know, grown up. Like just your body, just take all that and be able to play 80% of your snaps and the interior defense aligned. That's what happens when you get older. They just get naturally strong. They got dad strength now. Like that's on top of their natural strength that they've had. He's a special player. I've really, really enjoyed watching him.

He's fun because he is really unique. Okay. Next one here, George Kittle and the San Francisco 49ers. You have my attention. I wanted to talk about this because the way that. the Niders have been successful this year and how it's kind of dominant their offense has been in stretches. We've talked so much about McCaffrey and just kind of the overall construction of it. You forget that this guy can just take over a game when given the opportunity. And the idea that

they just have these guys lurking in their skill position group that can do this. The first touchdown that he scored, Barnwall and I were talking about it on Twitter and we were trying to figure out what happened, why him and McLeod were in the same spot. And the Washington played a version of like inverted cover two where both corners dropped out and then the safety drop, the post safety dropped down in the middle of the field. So Kittle sees that. And when you watch the play, it looks like he's supposed to be running a little crosser. Like he starts from left to right moving across the field.

And he immediately takes it vertical because he sees all that space and scores like a 50 yard touchdown. He's a tight end. I know. The idea that you have this. unbelievably explosive guy who's converting routes midway through the play and scoring 50 yard explosive touch. Yes.

It's like having a 260. 260 as just a dominant blocker. Yeah. Like making speed at three route conversions in the middle of plays for explosive touchdowns is bonkers. But that's the type of player this guy is. I mean, it's a 30 yard yak touchdown on the second one. Like that, like if you look the angles to the defender. is like, okay, nice 10-yard gain.

And then he's, he out angles. He has an angle eraser. Yeah, he erases angles. And this is the, this is the versatility of the 40-9 offense, I guess. You got the 260-pound wide tight end catching the naked and creating yak. And then you got your Z receiver, Juan Jennings panicking a guy on a block down field. It's like, so you got the receiver blocking like a stud and the tight end route running everybody. No, he's, the fact that he's going rogue on a vertical touchdown.

down. Usually when someone's like going rogue, it's like, oh, oh, I did it like, I don't know, short route. I hitched it up instead of running it out or it's in the red zone. I just stopped in open space or something like that, not down the field. And I was wondering that because that's, that's one of the qualities of a Shanahan offense is guys are very detailed, like you have to be. That's why there's always players in the doghouse in that offense is because probably they botched something. And so you're seeing two guys hugging each other on a touchdown on the end zone. I didn't even think anything of it. I was kind of in just the midst of watching all the games. I was like, oh, that's funky.

And then I saw that Twitter thread of you and Barnville talking about it. I saw the dots. And it was like, yeah, somebody went rogue there. And sure enough, there, Kittle just wanted to call his own number. You could see him take it vertically. He was moving across the field and just saw that space and took it. I wasn't sure if that was built into the play because we've talked about this. Remember the CDL, the DAC interception on the throw to CDLAM against the Packers,

where if it's middle of the field closed and middle field open, you convert that is a read route. So, but that wouldn't explain why. No. If it is, you wouldn't have McLeod on that route. So it was just confusing, but then Kittle after the game comes out, says, yeah, I just ran the wrong route, which is just beautiful. Like that is just absolutely love that.

So sums them up. A reminder that those are the type of guys on this team. And that is why they're dangerous, because this is a group with, you know, McCaffrey has obviously done the damage that he's done. Debo's not even playing. Ayuk is capable of making two splashy plays a game. And then you have this guy who was an absolute game wrecker in certain situations, just sitting there. He's got 213 yards and four touchdowns in his last two games.

And we just forget about him sometimes. I know. You seriously do. I mean, when we were getting high on the 409ers, we're talking about how you can Debo and CMC and use all that. It's like, oh, yeah, Kittle. This guy who can split out and also line up in line and do everything. But also, and then on top of it, then you got like Ray Ray McLeod running for a 70.

something of yard touchdown like, a judge sweet touchdown. And that just takes advantage of, that's why having all these yak guys. And you can see Shanhan kind of like building these guys that he, he finally has a lot of saying personnel. So he's getting the guys that he wants. He's like,

hey, I'm going to get the ball in your hands. Go do something with it. Now you got Ray Ray Ray McLeod running for 70 something yards. All because Derek Forrest, who we really like takes one wrong step as a safety feeling to run. He takes, he gets too downhill too quickly and also it's a touchdown.

That's what this offense is. I mean, same with the kiddle touchdown on the second one, I should say. One wrong angle on the tackle, boom, punish touchdown. That's what this offense does. It's like you make one mistake either in the run game and the whole gap and filling out a gap or pass coverage and they're going to just get after you. And they just do it over and over and over. Luckily for Washington, everything broke their way.

You know, the Packers winning is not the most important thing, but they still, according to Austin Mock, have like a 36% chance of making the playoffs because Detroit and Seattle both lost. Which is crazy. Now the decision that Washington has to make is who's going to play quarterback. Right. You Yanke Heineke in that game and then Wentz played pretty well, comparatively when he went in.

They have a decision to make. I wouldn't be surprised if they went back to Wentz, which is, isn't amazing? This team has a better than a third of a chance to make the playoffs. And we were trying to figure out who their starting quarterback is in week 17. With Wentz and Heineke, too. But Washington, though, they make most of their chances. The John Dotson Red Zone touchdown was sweet.

Beautiful. And the Docs made a couple plays in this game. I just keep coming back to the fact that I'm intrigued by the talent on the team. They have a lot of dudes, man. I just, I'm intrigued by the talent on the team. I don't know what else to say about it. I am too. And also Washington blitz the crap, uh, Purdy.

They're trying, they're, hey, I can see Jack D'Oreal doing it, probably just gone, hey, rookie quarterback, let's blitz them. 26 dropbacks, 13 of them. They brought a blitz 50%. He did just fine. He did totally fine. He put his money where his mouth was, so he was fine. But no, I know.

This Washington team, they have a great dealine. And yeah, they have some talent on the offense. And it's just like, and they got cool designs. So I don't know. It's such a funky team. Like, that's the only way to describe the commanders. Last one here. Houston Texans.

You have my attention. Just a great, great football team. Love how hard love he's got those guys fighting here down the stretch. This is all rooted in the fact that if the Texans beat the Colts, in week 18 and the bears lose out, the bears get the number one pick. Oh my God. And it's perfect, man, because there's some dues up top. Well, everyone's like, everyone's like, well, why would it matter?

You know, the Texans, the Bears don't need a quarterback and the Texans do. It's like, you understand that there are other outcomes aside from use the pick. Yeah. In a draft where there were multiple quarterbacks worth taking at the top, I'd rather have the number one pick. And I keep saying it's, I'd rather go from one to three and still get Jalen Carter or whoever's going to be there and get all of the picks associated with that trade. So I'll take the number one pick. I'll be fine with that.

It's such an eye of the beholder quarterback class that that helps because it just takes one. It may maybe, oh, this team. Oh, I really like, you know, Levis. But they like Levis too. Oh, well, we got trade ahead of them. That only helps the bears. Only helps them out. Like that, that's the type of draft this is.

I'm curious though on a sidebar because, you know, Will Anderson and Jalen Carter, they're studs. Like the pretty freaking awesome man is I'm curious what the rise of Anthony Richardson that might happen over the next couple of months. I think I think so who's going to take that home run swing on him. So I think that's going to be really interesting to watch his stock the next few months because I don't think he's as big as a project as people realize. But no, it's a this this quarterback season or this draft season is going to be really interesting because I think this as opposed to last year, again, last year's quarterback class was sorry I've gone on this rant. this is just me like spitballing and it's 8 a.m. in the morning. His last year's quarterback class was so porous that it was eye of the beholder of who would you have the highest second round grade on.

Yeah. And this is who do you think is like a super who has a superstar potential? Who do you think is who would you take a top 10 pick on? Which is, oh, it's going to be really interesting how everyone breaks it. Because I can see the arguments for all these guys in just way different ways. How the bears navigate this is I'm always curious how teams do. Yeah. The last team that I think similar was Miami.

When Miami had the third pick, they get that haul from the Niners. They go all the way down to 12. And then they use some of that haul to move back up to six. So which in the moment I think is always dicey. But we have learned that teams are okay at figuring out where the tier drops of talent are within a draft. That's what it is. And so in that draft, the dolphins didn't, the tier drop didn't happen there. Pene Sewell went seventh.

Rishan Slater went after. Patrick Sartan went after that. But I think they wanted a playmaker. They wanted to come up and they thought that Waddle was that guy. But even if they had stayed, they probably wouldn't be know. Well, no, Devante Smith went 11th. I'm saying they probably still could have gotten Devante Smith. But that class was a sweet draft class.

It was a pretty good group. Michael Parsons went after that. So I will be curious to see if the Bears, if they do move back how far they want to move back. I'm in the mode now where just give me the picks. I love the guys at the top. there are so many holes. You're not one Will Anderson away from anything. Even if you think he's a really, really good prospect,

I want as many bites here as I can get while hopefully staying within the top ten. I guess is my ideal. The Bears front office has to have their ear to ground about where everyone's leaning. But they could take real advantage of this situation because it's the type of situation to take advantage of. It's what reminds me of a little bit is that is the Goff Wentz draft class. Yep. Where it's like, these guys are first rounders. Don't get me wrong.

But they're not like true top 10 graded guys. They're more like, some guys are late first round grades on them. So again, what have? Exactly. Ridiculous halls to move up to one and two. Exactly. So I think that's where we're dealing with this year. All right.

We're going to take one more quick break and then get some, get back with some things that maybe weren't as exciting here in week 16. I'm not mad. I'm just disappointed. All right. The Detroit Lions. I'm not mad. I'm really not mad. But I am disappointed.

I am disappointed as well. Say how much. We have been gas in the emotional stock. So hard over the last months. And then they go out and they do this. You know, in Mad Max Fury Road, where they, one of the guys, the war boys, is taking the gasoline and spitting it into the engine. Like, that's what we were.

doing with the lions. It's like, this is awesome. Because watching them was like watching Mad Max Fury Rounds. It was every week. No, I think not even Dan Campbell was mad. He was disappointed. He even went up to the coach and was just like, hey, that was a good ass kicking. It was an ass kicking. It was plain

and simple. It was an ass kicking. That's my only notes on it. I do think that the lions deserve some shaming for blowing this sort of opportunity when they came all the way back and they came this close to being able to really get a stranglehold on this thing. They had won after the Seahawks lost. They really would have been able to put themselves

in an awesome spot. Instead, I mean, now they're looking at, it's a mess. I mean, the numbers right now, I don't know, but it's dicey, you know, so right now the Lions, if they win their final two games and get one loss from Washington and Seattle or one loss by Washington and Seattle and two losses by the Giants, they get it. But they now pretty much have to beat the Bears and the Packers to feel good about getting into the playoffs. And that game against Green Bay in week 18, the Packers are not a bad team. So it's a lot to ask of the Lions.

But I want to give a lot of credit to Carolina in this game. I agree. Because both sides of the ball, just guys playing unbelievably hard. The offensive line obviously did a ton of work for Carolina. But the guys that really jumped out to me were the non-offensive linemen parts of this running game. They were asking Ian Thomas to make one-on-

one box against defensive ends multiple times in this game. And he was game. Leviska-Chanal was like laying the wood on. Yes. Throughout this entire game. And this is a team that five weeks into the season, they were a joke. The Matt Ruehara was a joke. And they could have folded up and went home.

And instead, they're scrapping and fighting for their playoff lives and just handing out an absolute beating to a team that I think prides itself on physicality and all of that. So I want to give a lot of credit to Carolina while also being a little bit disappointed in the Lions. I agree. I'm right there with you. That's the thing. If the Lions lost, like how I'd build the narrative going into this weekend, I'd be like, okay, fluky game, 1714, you know, they didn't put some points, some turnovers. You know, DJ Moore hits a couple big plays down the field.

and Sam Darnold, you know, goes into his own version of chaos mode, which is not usually as cheeky and fun as Josh Allen's. It's more cruel and tragic. But he actually played well. But they, I mean, this Panthers team, since their biweek was week 13. So the last three games, they've had two urban Myers, you know, 200 yards rushing, 200 yards passing. They've had two of those in the past three weeks. They had two Irvins. But the first play of the game was exactly what you're talking about. who was blocking and how they're gaming this up. James Campin. Campin? Yeah, he's the old line coach under Mike McCarthy with the Packers for a long time. Was the Browns in 2019 when Chuck ran for all those yards doing some nice stuff in the wrong game. I'm glad he brought up the offensive line to who's blocking because it was just sound stuff,

split zone trap. But the first part of the game. Everything too. Because the wine back was sweet. And also they had a couple of plays where they're in spread, spread out formations. with trips to one side and like a little stack, and they have only the five got five offensive linemen in the formation, and they're

running zone read against six-man boxes. They had two huge chunks off of that. So it's heavy formation pushing people around, scheming up, advantageous looks against the run. On like five different levels, the Panthers running game was just awesome in this game. But the first play to Hubbard, it was a windback.

So it was another type of run. So that's just one guy coming around, the tight end on this one. Terris Marshall was pinning the down safety, running it, blocking is all about angles. So it's basically he's, he was the down block and then they pulled the tight end around. Marshall, I liked coming out of LSU, but one of my things about him was that I thought he was a little soft, especially the physical aspects of the game.

He's, I mean, he blocked with his ass off on that play. And that's what you're speaking to. All these guys are kind of like, they're buying in and a team that I thought would just ship it in. And you remember, they got, they got some, they got some dudes on this team, DJ Moore and on defense. Brian Burns, J.C. Horn. They got some disgusting for Brian Burns in this game. Absolutely disgusting inside move against Taylor. I knew he did the Spider-Man celebration, but I didn't know he sprayed the quarterback too afterwards. I don't know if

that's new. He websprays him now, which I thought was awesome. But this offense is awesome. They're doing like true open side nakeds and like they were putting the Lions linebackers in hell. That's what they were trying to do the whole game. And that is when you watch the personnel on this team, that's the one area we're like, oh, lions need to upgrade. Yeah. I know. Poor Alex Anzoloni, man.

And that's, they had him in hell because they were just going everywhere which direction. He's bouncing around trying to figure out what's going on. So they're running these naked and crossing his face and just forcing them to communicate all the time. And that's the thing also is even just the nakeds they ran to bootlegs. There's a true naked, open side naked where there's not a tight end down blocking. So usually when you have that tight end down blocking, that's a nice tell for the off ball linebackers. Oh, that guy's down blocking.

okay, hey, hey, over over. But when you have an open side, it was just a nice kind of like change up to like really mess with them because now you have the crosser coming across. So no, it was a great, great plan from the plan from the Panthers. I've watched them a couple weeks ago when they played the Seahawks. They've had some nice games recently. And it's just, you know, it's an interesting offense

and on top of all the talented defensive players they have. So yeah, props to that. Props to what that Panthers organization is doing right now in a weird way. They did a good job of making the corners tackle when they were in those kind of heavier formations, just putting guys on an island. It was Jacobs on one play, and then I think they did do a couped on another one, where they're just in 12 personnel just caving down that side. And we're going to make you make a play in space or make a play in the hole.

And multiple times it led to explosive plays. So the design, the execution. Yep. And on defense, so on beach side of the ball, okay, 52.4% rushing success rate for Carolina when they had the ball, which is the highest in the NFL last week. 0.31 EPA per rush. It's essentially just Mahomes. Point three is Mahomes, but that they did it while running the ball.

When Deonté Foreman becomes Patrick Mahomes with the ball on his hands. That's what it was. 16 rushing first downs. No one else in the league had more than 11 this weekend. 16 rushing first downs. No one else in the league had more than 11. Jesus. On the other side of the ball, the Lions had a 13.3 rushing success rate, which was dead last in the NFL this weekend.

So on the other side of the ball, they were kicking ass. Ionitis had some great plays against the run. Frankie Louvre has been a really nice player for them this season. Just another guy that most people don't know about. Burns had that huge sack. So just a complete effort. And then Terris Marshall win the 50-50 ball down the sideline. DJ Moore had a chunk play for a touchdown.

I mean, every single position group and every single aspect of the offense and defense for Carolina showed up on Sunday. And now if they went out during the playoffs. And guess what? I am more interested in seeing this Carolina team in the postseason than I am seeing the Tampa Bay Buccaneers. I agree with that. I'd much rather watch this young whatever team, like just Derek Brown out there, just all these guys stepping up. But I had much rather watch this team because at least they're doing some interesting stuff and they're playing hard. I try not to get overly reactive to this stuff.

But Steve Wilkes keeping this job as the interim coach. I'm usually of the mind. Guys, just clean break. Start over. he is making a real case for why he would deserve to keep this job with the way that this team is playing. A real case. I am so incredibly impressed with just the overall approach and mindset and everything that a team like that has at the stage of the season when you consider how it's gone. Really?

Yeah. They could have easily folded it in. I mean, but they fired rule. It was just kind of like, oh, wow, who's, you know, who started at quarterback. I thought that they would get the number one pick and that they would just have their quarterback and then figure it out next year. Yep, they're just punting on the season. I know. I mean, even with, you know, they're playing so hard.

And that's what we can talk about scheme stuff. We can talk about this. That's the human element of this. And that's NFL season is a grind. We're podcasters and it's a grind. You know, imagine coaching and playing 18 weeks. You know, it's a long. So the fact that they're just playing with heart and they're actually trying to scheme this stuff up like the coaches are.

I don't know, credit to all of them. So I agree with you. Wilkes is doing enough because he's at least showing leadership and guys are buying in. in a situation where they could, they traded CMC, like, you know, boom, okay, we're looking to trade Brian Burns. They could easily just fold it up, we're done and said they're, oh my God,

they actually might make the playoffs, but they're playing well. They're not lucking into it. No, no, definitely not. They're creating their own luck as a team. And I,

and I, that speaks to what they're doing. And yeah, I totally, even though Matt Ruhl is trying to take credit for it. Do you see the quote about it where you're saying like, he said, you know,

I put him in a position to play hard and win these games. Like, it's just like, oh my God, guy, but no credit to see wilkes and what the panther staff and players are doing because they're doing a great job next one here i don't spend a ton of time on this i'm not just i don't want to like get admonish them i just bummed that the seahawks seem like they kind of ran out of gas you know and that's that's what

it feels like you know i thought that the chief's defense played well on sunday i thought that that was a good sign from the chief's defense if you were looking at what they're going to look like top to bottom going into the playoffs. It just feels like the Seahawks, you know, turn back into a pumpkin is a little bit harsh, but they ran out of gas. You know, they playing with their back up right tackle for a huge chunk of this game after Abe Lucas went out. I think they were rotating in Damien Lewis with someone else.

They were rotating in somebody at guard in this game. I think just because of getting reps or maybe Lewis is a little bit dinged up. Their playoff front suffered in this game. I think that Gino is pressured on like 32% of his dropbacks. You can see it consistently affecting him. And they just couldn't get going. You know, the run game has been kind of meh. You know, even with Walker back, you know, they had some chunk runs, but down in and down

out, it hasn't been great. So now they're, if they win both of their remaining games and they get a loss by Washington and Green Bay, they get in is what we have in our notes here. It's like a 17% chance. And it really did seem like they were going to get in. So I know. Would have been nice, would have been a nice little feather. in the cap for a team that was rebuilding

at this stage, but still feel like even if this is the end of the road and they don't make the postseason, impressed by what the Seahawks have put together this year. And I'm still of the mind that I would franchise Gino and just give me one more year. I wouldn't want to commit anything longer term than that.

I just think, give me one more year. And then we'll see what a long term deal looks like. I still think that's the move, but it really does seem like they kind of ran out of gas here at the end. I mean, their greatest victory, weekend might have been the Broncos losing another game and I picked me in the number three pick and they have their second rounder.

No, they've been playing with House's money this whole year. And you said turning into pumpkin and I get why you're trying to like not trying to be mean, but they kind of have they just the wheels fell off a little bit. It's before noon. I haven't had that much coffee. That's, that's a little bit harsh. I think it's just because I'm wearing an orange shirt and you're just like,

oh yeah, pumpkin. That came to mind. I'm shaped like a pumpkin after how I've treated the last two days. That's all right. Maybe that's what it is. I'm a skinny, skinny pumpkin in the middle. No, but I want to speak to the Chief's defense a little bit because they, since their by week, which was week nine, so since week nine, I should say, their fifth in success rate, which shocked me just behind the jets. Yeah, they're 10th and defensive EPA per play and they're 16th in DVOA. But they're solid against the pass.

I think they're 12th in DVOA against the pass and like 18th against the run or something like that. I think that's more important to be good against the pass because of Mahomes. and how their play style is, how game scripts will be. A lot of teams might be catching up against us. And again, Spags will do this as the season goes along. He hones in on their stuff. It's not always perfect. They're using it.

They use a lot of 6 dB looks this game, which I thought was super interesting. So many young DBs. They're playing four rookie DBs right now. McDuffey, Joshua Williams, Brian Cook, Jalen Watson, George Carl Offis is stepping up. Leo Chanel is playing a lot of reps at lineback before. It was always going to be the youth

had been on defense. And it was going to take a while. And even if it was, imperfect by the end of the season, could their offense be good enough to still keep them in contention? And that's kind of where we are. Yeah. And the other thing too was also totally forgot they signed

Danny Shelton. And also I'm like, what's this big guy, this boulder in the middle? And I'm like, oh, that's Danny Shelton. He played like seven snaps for him, which that's huge for him. Just have a guy to eat some blocks for him. Like, just you need that guy. Just to take those seven to ten snaps for him, I think that'll help out on passing downs for them.

But speaking of which, they have, but speaking of which, they had him, they dropped eight and had him in past coverage, which I thought was freaking hysterical seeing Danny Shelton back there in past coverage. I love it. But I don't know, they, they're honing out of their stuff, a lot of matchy quarter stuff. They doubled D.K. Metcalfe a couple times. Which you can, because no lock it in this game also.

Exactly. They can do account. Exactly. That's why you need at least two receiving options in a modern passing attack. But no, I think they're coming into their own. And yeah, I don't want to discredit with the Seahawks and everything in their season because I agree with you. I mean, this is, they, on defense, this was the best Seahawks performance in a while.

Yeah, they played well in defense. They played really well. And I thought the chiefs were going to get after them and run the rock on them all day. And they played tough. Yeah. So I just think, yeah, Seahawks kind of don't have the horses the last 18 weeks. They might make the playoffs, who knows. Especially when Lockett is one of your horses.

Right. Again, you have an injury, a right tackle. It's a lot, a lot of stuff. So, yeah. Oh, man. Lane Johnson out for the rest of the regular season with abdominal injuries. Playoffs, TB. D per Eon rapid port.

Abdominal? Abdominal injury. Oof. Those are, that's not a fun one to come back. That's awful. That is. I got to mention that in the Cowboys' Eagles portion.

I'm really hoping that he gets back for the postseason because that would be such a bummer. I know. Just what these teams full strength, man. That's just all you want to see. It's just 100% against 100%. So speaking of last one here, Bengals were dangerously close to being involved in this conversation. Dangerously close.

You're on notice. Cincinnati Bengals for what the last couple weeks have looked like. Almost torpedoed. Stop playing with her food. Yes. Your solves against Tampa Bay. And then what happened? If they had actually blown that game, I would have been unbelievably frustrated with that.

Lyle Collins out for the season, torn ACL. That's a big one. That is absolutely something of monitor moving forward. Talk about these teams being at full strength. So that is something I wanted to talk about from this game, just very briefly before we wrap up. Other thing. Mac Jones play is bullshit. What he did?

Bullshit. I wanted to mention that in some capacity before we got out of here. He, uh, not, not been a great year by him in any, in any conceivable way. On field antics. Everyone's making it the comparison to a Duke basketball player and it's like so true, man. It's like, it's, it's, it's, it's, it's, it's, it's crazy out all the way with that. I mean, that would, I'm all fine with being competitive, psycho competitive even. That's just dirty.

And there's no need to be dirty there. That's no, there's no need for it whatsoever. I do want to talk about the two interceptions with Burrow because this was, I commended the Bengals and all the adjustments they've been making on this offense. The first interception, the Bengals love in nut crunch time, in high leverage situations around slant flat. And they ran slant flat and double slants. So like when you're putting in quick game, you have double slants and slant flat.

Those are kind of the two staple quick game concepts and stick. And outs, crossers, all that stuff. So they get into it. They run slant flats to the boundary, double slants to the field. It was second along. McCordy, he's looking at, Devin McCordy, who makes the interception, is looking outside at Jamar Chase. And as soon as he sees Jamar Chase run his slant, he jumps inside a tower boy on the inside slant. So it was just a tendency tell thing that I thought was like, oh, they, okay.

Well, of course, the Patriots are one taking advantage of that, but like put it on film. All right. but that's kind of a little like, oh, all right, they took away one of your, you know,

bread butter plays right there. And also the second interception came off of Hayden Hurst has been out. So the, why are you seeing Trent and Irwin running everywhere? God, someone compared him to some actor.

And I'll think of it by the time I'm finished with this. But why you're seeing so much of him is because of Bengals running 10 personnel with four wide receivers. They had six snaps of it, six snaps of it against the Patriots. It's a decent amount. But that led to the second interception. So the first touchdown to Irwin came out of 10 personnel.

They come back in the third down, the second interception, 10 personnel third down. Belichick brings a cover zero blitz because why that happens is if you're in 10 personnel, I know that receiver is not part of the protection. You might have a change up, you might, but I'm sure the Bengals, they've not shown this. They don't have some adjustment. When you have to block that cover zero looks at the Patriots and the dolphins do, it's, you need a tight end involved. You need to get a seventh guy involved to wad it up and I gash him down the field.

Belichick goes, well, you're not. have four receivers in the game. I'm just saying Belchick here because it's Steve and Bill. They had a sweet high five. It really hit home. That high five for me as a coach's a moment. I was. I'm sure that's hit harder for you now as a dad. It really has a little beautiful sweet moment there. It was. It was nice. But they knew, hey, oh, they're in 10 percent. Let's bring cover zero. What's their what's their asses off? And sure enough they did, bro had to get rid of the ball. Boom, pick six to a freaking what's the name, Speedy Gonzalez. Oh my God. Marcus Jones is the fastest guy in the league. Oh my God. I love him. So,

much. He's he's interception punt and receiving return for touchdowns already as a rookie. He has four catches. Three of them are first downs. He played 75 snaps on defense. He's returning kicks and punts. He's awesome. I freaking love him so much. But, you know, so, but he gets to pick six. The next third down, Patriots go, oh, you're in 10 personnel again? We're going to show cover zero. And then they bail out of it. Bengals run a screen to chase, but they get snuffed out to Jemar Chase. A later third down, they again show cover zero against the 10 personnel. This is the one that got tipped off Erwin's hands down the pipe. Pat's rotate to a cover, a two invert look. And actually, Burrow reads it really well.

And like, like advanced shit. Burrow had a couple of those on the game, a couple bad ones, but some advanced, advanced reading of the defense. But I thought that was really interesting. It was like, okay, they're put it on tape and the defense is showing the adjustment to it. So I'm curious what the Bengals counters for those are going to be. I think Bengals would be just fine. But that was very close to an absolute disaster. All right.

That is all we have for Saturday. Please come back momentarily here and check out our. Sunday recap that should be available in your podcast feed whenever you're done listening to this. So if you don't have time to listen to that, please subscribe to the athletic.com slash football show. Please subscribe to our YouTube channel. It's where you can listen and watch our Thursday night football recaps. It's where you can watch our Sunday night recaps live. We'll be doing a ton of more YouTube content here down the stretch.

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