The Athletic Football Show: A show about the NFL - Week 7 Hangover: Celebrating the 49ers defense, the Chiefs offense, and Drake Maye's rise

Episode Date: October 21, 2025

The 49ers mash unit defense showed up in a big way against the Falcons. The Chiefs got Rashee Rice back in Week 7, and had one of their best offensive days of the season. Drake Maye and the Patriots took care of business against an inferior Titans team and are now 5-2 on the season. Robert Mays and Derrik Klassen dive into those three games on this episode of The Athletic Football Show. Plus, the guys help sad Titans and Saints fans sort through some feelings.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-Host: Derrik KlassenExecutive 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.

Welcome to the Athletic Football Show. I'm Robert Mays. It's the week seven hangover episode today. Me and Derek dug into three games from the week seven slate that we did not get to talk about in depth on the Sunday night recap show. Chat about the Sunday night game? Really impressive performance by the 49ers. I think you could probably hear it in our voices when we're talking about this game. But the collective energy that Robert Salas group brought on defense yesterday with how banged up they are and how many young players and backups are on the field for them, just really, really really.

enjoyable game to go back and watch. And on the flip side, a pretty disappointing night for an Atlanta Falcons team that continues to be very inconsistent. Also, chatted about the Chiefs' offensive performance against the Raiders. We chatted a little bit about how lifeless the Raiders were on offense last night. So this was mostly focused on what the Chiefs look like in game one with Rishi Rice back in the fold. Enjoyed that conversation.

And then dug into the Patriots Titans game, just more Drake Maylov because at this point, he just deserves it. and I don't really have to twist Derek's arm to get there. Also, we had a couple of your guys's calls in our Monday morning segment. We had some sad Titans fans, some sad Saints fans. So enjoyed this one. Hope you guys do as well. Let's get to it right now.

Digging into the week seven hangover today. We're going to hit three games like we normally do on this show and then get to a couple of your Monday morning voicemails. A little bit later, we're talking about the Chiefs and the Raiders. I don't know about your rewatch with the Chiefs. I mostly watched the Chiefs offense because we talked about the Raiders offense yesterday. And so that was why I wanted to do the Chiefs for the hangovers that I wanted to go back and watch the offense with Rishi Rice yesterday. And we'll also be chatting a little bit of Patriots Titans deeper into the show.

See, the Chief Raiders rewatch was interesting because, yeah, we pretty much already did the Raiders offense. Also, there's not much of it to watch to begin with, even if you wanted to. They ran like 30 plays. I was timing myself yesterday in the office to see how fast I could watch them all. That's amazing. Do you remember what you got to? Unfortunately, I couldn't do it without like taking notes. And so it did throw me off.

But I watched all 30 plays and took like real notes on all 30 plays in about 25 minutes. Yeah, like a lunch break's worth of time. It was ridiculous. And so you had that going on. And then even with rewatching the Chiefs offense, you only really needed to watch like four or five drives. So like it was a very, very sprinting through that experience for that game. It was tough yesterday. Just walking through like the process of how we do this.

You know, obviously there are always going to be a handful of games that. we want to hit on the hangover that we didn't hit on the show. Panthers Jets just didn't feel like something we needed to spend our time doing. And so when it came down to it, two of the games we talked about in some way on the show last night that I was like, all right, this is what I'm picking between was Bears Saints and Chiefs Raiders. And I didn't want to pick, I wanted to pick the Bears Saints game in part because I really wanted, I wanted to rewatch the Bears defense. I was like, all right, let's actually like sit down and really watch this.

But we've done the Saints every week. And so I was like, all right, that's probably a tiebreaker here. And I also really did want to study what the chiefs looked like with Rishi Rice back. So this was weirdly one of the most competitive spots in the Monday hangover shows that we've done over the first seven weeks. It might be really the only time where I feel like we've had to cut teams. Like we've had one or two decisions where like we get to recording and we cut a team because some news breaks or whatever it is. But like this was the first time I feel like prepping the show we actually had to cut somebody out, kick them out. I'll just watch the bear's defense in my spare time.

It's just like a pleasure watch. Instead of watching a movie tomorrow night, maybe that's what I'll make my wife sit down and watch with me. She'll sit down at like 7.30 on the couch and I'll be like, this is what we're watching tonight. She'll be thrilled about that. Let's start with the Sunday night game from last night, which was a notable outcome, right?

I mean, this is a Falcons team that had one of the more impressive performances of the season last week in beating the bills on Monday night. Their defense played excellent. The offense did enough to win that game. He saw some flashes from the running game and what they want to do from Bejohn. And then they come out and kind of laying egg. against the Niners last night. The Niners win this game 20 to 10.

Where do you want to start this game? Like, if you had to pick your most important takeaway from the Niners Falcons game last night, what would it be for you? I think probably the Niners defense in general, or at least like that side of the ball, because I think there's plenty of to talk about with... I'm happy to start there because that, I think,

I don't know if that defensive performance from the Niners is going to be the most important lasting thing from this game, right? Like, I think they'll probably struggle as the season goes on just because they don't have enough talent. I think that the Falcons struggles on offense may have a bigger impact on the season overall, just because we think that that unit is supposed to be good. And so the long-term implications of the game might not be rooted in the Niners' defense, but my number one thought while rewatching that game last night is,

holy shit, good for those guys. Like every single, that group, the 11 on that side of the ball collectively, whoever the hell was out there, Cal Shanahan said it at halftime, and you really felt it when you rewatched it. They just played so hard. Like that collective group just played their asses off for the entire game. They deserve so much credit. That is honestly what struck me.

That was the last thing I put in my notes is that the give a shit factor for this team. And for that defense is incredibly high. And to me, like, we'll go all the way to the end of this game and work back a little bit. To me, where I like really, you could feel it was fourth quarter, eight minutes, 20 seconds left. It's the fourth and one where they motion London from the left to the right. Chase Lucas follows him. They try to throw that speed out. Chase Lucas flies in front of it, almost like pick sixes it, but it goes through his hands.

And it's not just that that's a cool play from your backup nickel against one of the best receivers in the league on a fourth down where you've got to have it. The sideline goes nuclear because he falls into his own sideline and everyone's just like losing their shit for this guy. It's just like that's, it's just an awesome moment. Like he kind of won them the game right there. So I love this because I actually wanted to talk. talk about the play before that.

Okay. So on the play before that, it's third and one. Okay? It's not as if the Falcons got to fourth and one because it was third and ten or whatever. It was third and one. And on that third and one run, Pthoon does, and again, backup set linebacker does an incredible job of forcing that thing back inside. And one of their backup defensive linemen, Okuano, who number 91, who had an excellent

game in this game. He made four or five huge plays. He's coming from all the way on the other side, the other defensive end spot on this third and one. And because Bethune spilled it back inside, he tracks it down from all the way across the field to make a play for no gain. And then on the next play, Chase Lucas has that PBU on fourth and one to essentially swing the game. Chase Lucas played 35 snaps last night for the Niners defense. He had played 30 defensive snaps in his career before last night. That's where we're at with the

Niners defense and this Falcons offense has like real juice to it. And so such an incredible performance by so many guys like getting their first real run in the NFL as like starting level players. Well and that's the thing. It's like a number of the guys who played well are backups or rotational players.

And then some of the guys that are left in there as starters are like rookies or second year players. Like it's an incredibly young like none of these guys out there except for maybe a couple of the defensive tackles, like have serious experience. This is a very, very young unit. And they just, again, I think we can talk about, like, some of, like, the Falcons own issues. But, like, for a defense this young with this many backups to play as hard as they did,

as put together as they did. And then even I thought some of the schematic stuff that we got from the Niners, I thought was good. Like on one of the, I think it was in the middle of the second quarter, they run this, like, cover one pressure at the Falcons. but they fire both the linebacker and the defensive back at Bejohn Robinson. And they're like, we're going to make him pick. And if he goes out into a route, one of these guys is going to peel off.

But he didn't. He stays in pass prone. So it's a two on one. And they just get a free rush at Michael Pennix. Like just the scheme stuff is just good enough. And they're playing their asses off that like they, they're not going to do this against everybody, but against defense offenses that are more like middle of the pack, maybe prone to having ups and downs games.

They can have nights like this. So that's blitzed out to me. It was a third and seven about midway through the second quarter when that happened. Forces an errant throw. Winters comes unblocked on that play to force that errant throw. And then later in the game was about a minute left in the third quarter as a second down. They had another big six-man pressure with Lucas coming off the slot. He's untouched and that forces another incompletion.

So you look at the numbers on the day. Michael Pennix, one of five, for six yards against the blitz in this game. So when they heated him up, it was a problem. and then the amount of man that the Niners played, they really kind of took it to them. Like, this is a team in Atlanta that uses a lot of motion. They have a lot of bunches, stacks. Like, they're theoretically,

the structure of their offense should give them opportunities against man coverage. And I think that there were moments where the Niners' DBs kind of like roughed them up physically at the line of scrimmage. And they disrupted a lot of timing. There was a second down in the second quarter where there was like a stacker, a motion of some kind.

and Darrell Luter, another guy who just hasn't played very much and is now starting for this team because of all the injuries. And Lucas just beautifully pass off the little motion where they're trying to get a rub route on it. And at the same time, you're watching every other DB on the field, like change the timing of the play by roughing up guys coming off of the line of scrimmage. Overall, as a group, it was just such a great day.

And what they did in man coverage, they played 33% cover one yesterday. Pennix was 7 of 13 for 90. these six yards when throwing against man coverage. And so them leaning into it and just saying like, you know what? Like we're going to try to force the issue in this game. We're going to play some man. We're going to be physical.

We're going to bring some pressures. And we're just going to try to trust our guys to hold up. That trust was warranted. Like they really did play their asses off all the way across the board. Yeah, because that's what, six yards in attempt? You take that against any offense if you're holding into that. 15% completions. Right. Exactly. Like they made it a very, very volatile way for the Falcon

to play offense was actually, is like, to kind of harp on the falcons offense a little bit, that's kind of what I wanted to talk about and like where I'm struggling a little bit with this passing offense is it just feels like the conditions to get a good Michael Penick's throw are very, very specific. Like you need him to be in the pocket. You need him to be unpressured. And I think preferably you need it to be against his own because I think we've talked about like sometimes his ability to like layer throws over a man, man coverage defender. certain stuff like that like lead guys out. You just need all of these things to line up.

And when the offense is rolling and like when the run game is rolling and so they can get into some of their play action stuff, they're in healthy down in distances, all that stuff. You can get those conditions more reliably. But in a game like this where the Niners defense was flying into the box and hitting Bajon Robinson at the line every single play, you just weren't able to get as much of that. You feel the volatility in this offense when you can't just rely on the run game the entire game. Right.

So they had 20 carries for 60 yards. They had a 39% rushing success rate in this game. It landed it. So when you can't have that be the consistent engine of your offense, you just really feel how disjointed this thing can get. And last night was a perfect example. I have a weird theory for you. And I'm curious what you think about this.

I think right now the offense is better when Darno Muni is hurt. That has technically been true, but I would like to see you like, what do you think that is potentially rooted in? They force feed Drake London more than they would. in like ideal conditions. And I think that overall, you want a better collection of good players on the field, right? You want more of them. And I think Darno Mooney is objectively a good player.

Darno Mooney had a great season last year. But I think that them deciding, we're just going to throw the ball to Drake 1 and on like 50% of dropbacks and manufacture ways to get him the ball, it makes the offense more focused than whatever it is right now. And so that's kind of like my pet theory I had coming out of this game. I kind of like that because to me, like my other theory with this game is like the offense is only good when Bejohn Robinson had like one 50 yard play. And he just didn't have that in this game. Like he when he gets his pop play and when they throw the ball to Drake London 12 times, the offense works.

But I think that's a good point is that like when you throw Darnell Mooney into the mix. And again, not that it's his fault or that he's a bad player, but it does I think disrupt a little bit the little things that have worked for him. And I do think, too, like, one of the other conditions to me for Michael Pennings is that, like, the later in the down and the later in the progression, I think he can be a little bit less accurate and more erratic. Well, if you're just force-feeding the ball to Drake London immediately, that's not a problem. Like, it's going to be your first read and you're just going to pin it right on his chest. And those are some of his best throws even in this game, in a game that he was a little bit up and down. And so I think that's a funny pet theory that that one I hadn't thought about. For me, it was that does Bajon Robinson get his play or not?

And I think that's also a huge factor in this. And again, like, what is the rushing game? look like down to down for this team, I think is hugely important and correlated to them winning or losing. And this isn't a, if you run for 150 yards you win the game sort of thing, it's can you lean on the run game for consistency with your offense? And if Atlanta can, I think they really struggle. And just overall, like, I understand how they're trying to get Bejan involved and involved in as many ways as possible. They're throwing screens to him. He's lined up in all these funky ways. They're using him as a slot receiver or offset in some way.

while they're using Charlie Warner in the backfield, and they do that a lot. And this is like a meatballish take. And every once in a while, I just feel myself turning into my dad. And when I was watching the Falcons last night, there were some moments when on their second drive, when they have all of these screens that they're getting blown up left and right,

everything looks so horizontal. And I'm like, stop the shit. Like, this is just too cute. And I do think maybe it's because of how well it went last Monday night when every single wrinkle within the offense worked. But I think yesterday was an example about how all of those kind of funky elements where you're drifting further and further away from just running a normal NFL offense with normal NFL personnel. There is downside to it. And I think we realized a decent amount of that last night.

They're definitely against these defenses that are not up to like, you know, dealing with your bullshit and are just going to run at you. Like, yeah, like you're going to struggle with that a little bit. I also do think, too, in some of these games, like, because the rushing offense by design is so horizontal, they're still a very heavy. like outside zone team more than almost any in the league. And also the passing offense is very horizontal because even when they go vertical, they throw it outside the numbers. Like they are a we're going to throw stop routes like these deep outs and all that stuff. You kind of just don't do a whole lot between the numbers as a rushing or a passing offense.

And I think defenses that have like a good game plan for that. Like that's how you kind of end up with games like this. Yeah. So I mentioned Okwano, who I thought was excellent. I mean, he had multiple plays against the run. He had multiple pressures in this game. He had a sack in this game. The sack was,

they fooled penics on a third down where it looked like a mugged up man look. They actually dropped back into zone. And then the twist through the two inside guys is what created the pressure. And Okwano actually cleaned it up at the end. But he deserved a sack in this game based on how he played 95% of the time. And then the guy who definitely earned his sack in the game and had the game swinging play. We talked about this last night as it happened. The Bryce Huff sack, I mean, that is like a teleportation crazy bend and burst sort of play around.

the right edge. And I actually think that Elijah Wilkinson as a third tackle, which is what he is. Right. So they lose Caleb McGarry coming into the season. Storm Norton was supposed to be their backup right tackle. Both of those guys get hurt. Elijah Wilkinson has to play. I think he's actually acquitted himself quite well over the course of the season as a number

three right tackle. And then in that moment, it's like, oh yeah, that's their third right tackle going against the guy who has the juice that Bryce Huff does. Yeah, against a guy who the entire reason that he's on the roster is that on passing down situations like that he can do exactly that. And I think, you know, again, Bryce Huff, like, I know he had the weird year last year where he just wasn't a fit for what that team was doing. But then he comes here and like, yeah, it's a four down front where we just need a guy

who has juice on passing downs. And he's been, I think every bit as good as they wanted him to. And like, they, he did a lot in this game. Like, obviously he has that sack. But he also had five total pressures in this game. And you felt him when they really needed to generate pass rush, which without Nick Bosa, I think the first couple of weeks without him were like, are they going to be able to generate pass rush?

but I think today between some of the blitzes they brought between Huff having a good game, like they just, they found enough against some of these offensive lines. Let's talk about the other side of the ball. I mean, we talked about this coming into the game. We did a deep dive on the Falcons offense in our week seven preview. And we talked about how Atlanta on passing downs, if you get them into those third and seven, third nates, they are terrifying. Again, the way that they have been able to bring heat and send extra bodies, they've really bothered the passing offense they've played against. But if you can sit there and you can run the ball with them, you can control.

the game. That is something they struggle with just because of how they're built. Divine Diablo gets hurt in this game. So that's just one more area where it's like, all right, if we want to really go after them, we can. And that was fun to watch from this Niners team. This is a Niners team that historically, it's a lot of zone runs, a lot of horizontal runs. You don't think of them as like a downhill physical run game. And then there were several moments in this game where they put their hard hats on and they were like, we know that that's kind of what my biggest takeaway from both sides of the ball is. this is a moment from Kyle Shanahan, from Robert Sala, from that entire staff, which we know what we need to do to win this game.

We know what we need to accomplish to win this game. And what they did on the ground is exactly that. There was a play with about 11 minutes left in the third quarter where it's just two back power from 22 personnel, where they got use check leading up, they got a guard pulling around, and they are just running the ball down your throat for 15 yards. And there was a lot of that in this game from the Niners. I think there have been moments where this group and just the way they're built up front gets out physicaled by some teams. They were the aggressor and they were the enforcer on that side of the ball last night. And it's not really complicated. That's why they won the game.

And having George Kittleback to do some of that was massive in this game. Like they have, again, the offensive line, I think by themselves can be a little bit up and down. But when you get juice check on the field and you get Kittle on the field, like to me, one of their coolest runs that they had was using those too. like they had juice check to the right side, Kittle to the left side, and they start to motion, juice check over to the left, and immediately shoot them back out right to kick out the end.

They did this a couple different times. And I think that's because the ends played so wide that they think that they can get a lot of displacement there and create some of that space right off tackle. They did it twice. And that's what they did. So like they, you open up the right side of that crease

by kicking out that wide end. And then they actually like, it starts to look like split zone with Kittle coming from the left and the whole, or yeah, coming from the left and then the off. offensive line moves to the left, so it looks like you're splitting. And so normally the back would step left with the offensive line, but he doesn't.

He steps to the right and follows up with Kittle. And it's just like them finding these little ways to like, okay, where's the, where's the air, where's the space in this run fit and just attacking it? And also like, I think the schematic stuff was good. CMC has been quietly like phenomenal this year, dude. He was fucking crazy in this game. Like the vision and the feel, like any little crease, he was making the most. of it. And credit to the line, too, because I think that they feel that there was a play in the

third quarter where it was like a third and four. And they did this multiple different times in this game where the Falcons are in like a pressure look on third down. And the Niners are like, okay. And we're going to run the ball straight down your throat on third and four. They did it in the third quarter. And Colby did the, who's playing left guard for them right now. Again, he's a backup left guard for them. He hangs on his block on Ellis just enough after Ellis was mugged up to give CMC like the tiniest sliver of space. And that happened four, five, six times in this game where you watch it, there's not some massive hole.

But because everyone is accounted for in some way, there's a hat on a hat, even though there's not a lot of daylight, he is finding the daylight every single time they are giving him the ball. Christian McCaffrey is playing at an absurd level right now. Well, and even to tie back together of like guys just like doing what they can for Christian McCaffrey, his second touchdown, they drag him into the end zone from like three yards up. Oh. That's right. The line and everybody else deserves the credit for that one.

Yeah, they were just like, Christian McCaffrey, like, you know, he kind of got hit like one yard after the line. He's like, I'm just going to get what I can here. We're inside the five word goal line. And they just, everybody just yanked him in there. And so that was really good. I also thought CMC made, he almost scored a touchdown on, I think one of their earlier drives. And they ended up scoring like two plays later. He ran it in. But they had, I want to say it was a passing play, maybe a play action like in the middle of the red zone. And Christian McCaffrey is initially pass protecting. But the play gets a little bit laid in the down. Nobody's open. Mac Jones starts to scramble out to his left. Mac Jones creator. Like, yeah, Mac Jones is a creator. That's exactly what they brought him in here to do. And he moves out a little bit to his left.

And CMC's like, all right, I'm not blocking anybody. And he just slips out and Mac finds him. Like, just there, when they have enough of their guys with CMC and Kittle and a quarterback who generally can do the right thing, this offense can find answers and move the ball. And I know they only scored 20 points. But again, they're still so banged up. And for them to have this game and control it the way.

they did. Like, they weren't explosive, but they ran the piss out of the ball in their passing game outside of like a one weird tipped interception was like pretty efficient for the most part. They moved the ball down to down pretty well in this game. And so, again, yeah, they're not that. They weren't that explosive, but that's not what they needed to be. And that's kind of what it gets back to it. The core of it, what did you need to do to win this game? And I think they've really done a good job of kind of zeroing in on that. This game and the Rams game, both with the current state of this team, they deserve a lot of credit for their ability to just kind of keep kicking away at it. week after week. And so they're sitting there at five and two now. Like this team is very likely going to make the playoffs despite everything they've endured. And I think it speaks to the gap between these two teams right now is that the Falcons, I just in little tiny ways, you just feel like there's something missing, right? Like they aren't finding little tiny edges and little ways to win the game on offense the way that the Niners are right now. And I think the Niners deserve a lot of credit for just the ingenuity and the resourcefulness they've been able to tap into with this version of the

but I'm 100% with you. I think kiddo coming back is huge. He is so good when he is coming across the formation as a polar at keeping track of guys in space. His ability to redirect and recover as maybe a guy will dart inside or just like it's a little bit of a different picture than it was supposed to be with how you would draw it up on the chalkboard. And his ability to find guys in space and maintain contact in those moments, he's really, really good at it. He's always been a special blocker, but that always sticks out to me. He will give the runner a chance no matter what. It might not be the best block he's ever thrown, but he will give them a chance.

And when you give a runner like Christian McCaffrey a chance, that's a pretty sweet combo. Falcons are three and three now. Like, it's, they put themselves in a tough spot. Like, I think they were always going to be in a tough position, especially in the NFC South, but in the NFC overall, which is absolutely loaded. And so to lose a game like this, I mean, your wild card chances, this is a big hit. This is one of those games where you'll look back on at the end of the year. be nine and eight and on the outside looking in the playoff picture and this will be one of the

games that you're thinking about. All right. Let's get to the next one here. The Chiefs blank the Raiders 31 to nothing. Again, we mostly, I think we're going to focus on the Chiefs offense in this game because we talked about just the absolute putrid nature of the Raiders offense last night. Anything notable about the Chiefs and how they approach their offense in this game with Rishi Rice back that you wanted to start with? I mean, a lot of it, like the Rish Ryself I don't think they did anything like particularly interesting. I would say one. I totally agree.

I think Breschard Smith was the most interesting piece of the Chief's offense in this game. Yeah, like to me it wasn't really about Rishi Rice. Like I think it was cool that they had. I think the second touchdown for him where they throw it to him where they just go like four by one and just like throw a back shoulder pin route on him. It's like, okay, I guess it's cool that they didn't really have someone they trusted in the offense before and now they have Riceback so they can do that. But that's not like that cool schematically really.

I think that's notable for one reason. And my next gen was not working this morning because there's been some internet issues all across the world today. But I wanted to look this up and we'll look it up later. I'm curious how many routes he ran as like an isolated receiver, as like an ex-isolated receiver in this game. Because anecdotally, it did feel like they were using him in some more of those situations than they had before. Like you think about it. There's a moment he has early in this game where it's a second and 11, he runs a little option route from the left side in the slot against the linebacker and just dust, I think it was Devin White.

That's what we're used to seeing for Mershey Rice in this offense. For the most part, those are the situations he's been put in since he got to Kansas City. It's a lot of inside snaps where he's running routes over the middle of the field and we're getting him the ball in space with yak opportunities. And he's been very good at that, right? Like they missed having him when he got hurt last year, not having a guy who could do that and kind of create instant offense.

So watching him in this game play a little bit more outside and a little bit more in like isolated spots. I'm curious if that maybe is like the next little bit of evolution in what they see from him as a player and what they see from him in this offense because we never saw him and Hollywood Brown play at the same time. And so this is the first time we've seen these three guys on the field together. And so that's just like one little detail that I think might be a tiny bit different than what we had been getting the last time we saw Rice on the field. Which I'm excited about because I think what's funny about Rishi Rice is when he was coming out of college, I did envision him as more of like an outside. supposed to be. Yeah, exactly.

Like he was like, okay, he's outside. He's not necessarily a burner, but like he's pretty explosive short area. He can go up and catch the ball contested. And then they just make him like this power slot yak guy. And it was like, all right, that's not what I thought. But he's an extremely productive player. So this is fine. He's very good at it.

Yeah. Right. But now they have enough kind of like you're saying, enough pieces in the offense that they can move him out of the slot. Because obviously I think Worthy can do it. Hollywood can do it. Travis Kelsey can line up in the slot. And now he probably is their best bet to just like, can you stand outside and just,

just like bully someone for a little bit. And so if that can be more of their offense, I would be excited about that. I also just think like you can feel how much, at least this Raiders defense was stressed by having three receivers who like can actually run. Like Rishi Rice, Hollywood Brown, Xavier worthy, like those are guys who are if you give them a little bit of space, it's going to be a problem.

You could feel how well the chiefs were using that and how like effectively Patrick Mahomes was throwing into zones, which you've talked about that all year. He's been fantastic at that. And I think it. really is to me like underrated how quickly Mahomes can get the ball out against zone like how well he sees it how well he throws it it is like as good as Drew Breezer Tom Brady ever was like I really mean that and he just he just does that and also the cool stuff it's I love watching when you're going to play a ton of zone against him so the Raiders came into this game playing

80% 87% zone coverage they played 91% zone coverage on early downs coming into this game so what do the chiefs do they got every zone beater in the book is up for this week against the Raiders and you saw all of them. And what I think the Chiefs do such a good job of when teams are going to play that amount of zone against them, they do a ton of, they do a great job of just creating space, right?

Like the spacing in their zone heavy passing game is phenomenal. There's always a flat control. They're always doing a great job of creating tension within those zones and giving him space to throw the ball. But this is an area where they do such a great job of weaponizing the space

within the offense horizontally. Right? because the space that they can create in stretching those zones horizontally, they have more speed on the field than just about any team in the league. But where their speed is most dangerous is not vertically. It's in stretching teams this way across. And so it's just a different way to think about weaponizing speed within the offense. But when you're going to play them this way, that's where you feel how dangerous that speed is.

He was 19 of 23 for 258 against zone coverages in this game. That's silly, man. It's a non-starter. Like, if you're going to play them this way, you have no shot. And so, and I get it. Like, the Raiders are probably looking at their personnel and saying, well, we can't play man. Like, we have no corners.

Okay, fine. Then you just have no chance. Like, that's what this game is going to look like when you play against this version of the Chiefs. Yeah. And, like, this is what I've talked about before with maybe my at this stage favorite trait in Patrick Con Holmes is like his shot selection is just, it's special.

Like, it's phenomenal. Like when they give him this space like this in the underneath area And again, now to your point like where your flat controller can be some of these more speedy guys Instead of having to be like Noah Gray all the time or Juj-Smiths Schuster all the time Like the fact that there's a little bit more linebackers are getting into oh shit mode When they start to see somebody fly out to the flat like giving just that half like a half a foot of space to a guy like Patrick Mahomes Who already buys you like a quarter of a second on some of these plays with just how quickly he can get the ball out and like shortcut his footwork and like just generate velocity from like basically no throwing angle.

Like he just, it's very special how like just how effectively they can win in that one to 10 yard area. And then now that you have a guy like Rashid Rice who, you know, I think I think players like Xavier Worthy and Hollywood Brown are useful. And every now and then they can just outrace somebody, Rishie Rice can just make somebody miss or run through them and really turn like six into 13 type of deal.

My favorite play from a homes in this, well, there are two, two plays from Holmes in this game that are just like, now he's just fucking with you. The fourth and one, where they fake like he's frustrated because they weren't getting them to jump off sides and then they snap the ball anyway. That's just cruel. You don't need to do that against this version of the Raiders.

I will say, the Raiders have given them a hard time over the last couple years. And so there's probably a little bit of built in frustration about what those games against the Raiders have looked like the last couple seasons. So maybe they did feel like this was the right time to bust it out. But for those who didn't see it, they literally came to the line of scrimmage on a fourth and one. they were in like a full house backfield both of the offset backs motion one after the other and mohams literally looks at the sideline and like raises his hands in frustration as if well this isn't going to work anyway like no one ever jumps when we do this and then they snapped the ball and got three yards for the first down and then there was a play in the third quarter or excuse me in the second quarter where they were in like a spread out look rishy rice was at the number one spot on the left side he runs a little hitch there's a lot of space and mahomes no looks the hitch to rishy rice And so he holds the flat defender in the middle of the field as he does that. And so when you're going to play, I think it was 70% zone in this game, but a lot of that,

they've had a lot of red zone snaps. And so I think that's pumped up by how much man they played close to the end zone. It's mostly a zone-based game. When you're going to do that, you see those moments where he's going to put a little bit of sauce on it because that's when he's just extremely comfortable. The broadcast did a great job on the no look where they like zoom in on the defender just being like, oh, that is not where I thought the ball was going to go. Like, he's trying to get his hands up and realize it's like he's not going to be in the way of this throw.

I thought that was really funny. The last thing I do want to mention that was actually pretty cool from the Chiefs was the full house stuff. Like on a lot of their down and short situations, they went to this full house stuff. Like I think on the first drive, it was a third and one. They ran like a trap play out of it. And then they went back to it later and had Kelsey leading up and both of those converted. Like they just, just another little wrinkle that, you know, this is something that Andy Reid has had in the playbook in the past. But dusting it off a little bit when I think the run game could use a little bit of help was nice.

Speaking of stuff that Andy Reid has had in the playbook, watching a back that's actually dangerous with the ball in his hands after you throw it to him, that is something we have not experienced in quite a while with the Kansas City Chiefs offense. Think about the types of running backs we've had in this offense for the last like three or four years. I think back to like way, way, way long ago, like early 2000s Andy Reid and like what those offenses felt like with like Brian Westbrook, right, where you just have a back where it's a guy who can catch a hundred balls over the course of the year. Your screen game is really dynamic. And that was part of why the idea of Clyde Edwards-Hillera was so intriguing, right? It was like intoxicating. It's like,

oh, shit, they're going to have that type of skill set back in the offense. That never actually ends up happening. And so over the last couple years, they got just bruisers and mallers back there in the backfield. And so to have Breschard Smith in the mix here and be able to just flip a screen out to somebody on third and 13 and get 17 yards. We have not had that sort of back for the Kansas City Chiefs in a while. And so it's fun to have that wrinkle within all of this as well. And this game was great too, just like confidence wise getting the rookie going. Like they had had, I think for the first month or so of the season, they were trying to get

him in, but it was just some fits and starts with trying to make this work with him. And so to him to have a game where it was like, okay, this is clearly the vision for a guy like this who like literally was a receiver for a lot of his time in college and they've just converted him to back and he's just going to be their past catching guy and so to get a little bit of juice there you add that that juice like him coming along on top of now rice is back Kelsey looks fairly athletic at this stage in his career like worthy is healthy brown is healthy like they just it's a much quicker offense than it was even three weeks ago did you like the deep curl from Xavier worthy in this game having to like body up and post up a defensive back and

Bobblewood before catching it. Okay. I watched that play and was like, oh man, Derek's going to hate that play. So he had that. And then what was actually shocking to me was the Mahomes where he like rolled to his right and threw back to the middle of the field. That was just a stupid play. We're the dumb play.

That was Texas Tech Patrick Mahomes. But he's he's allowed one of those a game. He's earned it. But Worthy went up like kind of contested and caught it. And I was like, really interesting. Could we do that a couple more times? That deep curl that he cast. And so it's a deep curl off of play action.

And so it's down in the red zone, fields a little bit compressed, and they have worthy do what Worthy does, right, or should do. He's threatening that safety vertically and then throttles it down and runs a curl. And it's a little high, low, where Kelsey is pinning down the linebacker. And so there's an ocean of space to throw that curl.

Mahomes throws it, puts it on him, and Worthy bobbles it before catching it. But if we can get him to a place where you can stretch defenses vertically and then settle back down in that space if you're Xavier Worthy, there's a physicality to plays like that.

So that's why you don't normally see smaller receivers deployed that way. But if he can start doing a little bit of that, that is like one more little wrinkle within the offense. I don't think I've ever seen him do that before they tried to do that in this game. I really can't picture many other areas, at least like not yet as a pro. Like maybe a couple times in college he did that, but not as a pro him doing something like that. All right.

We're going to take our first quick break and then come back and chat about the Titans Patriots game. Which strike may throw do you want to start with? Man, that's a great question. He had some delightful ones and they were damn near all complete, which is the crazy thing. I really did think just like design-wise and like just how fun it looked coming off his hand.

The post-out he throws to Kashan booty for a touchdown was just like incredible. So just a little bit of context. May completes 91.3% of his passes in this game. That is the single highest game completion percentage in any Patriots game of all time, including all of the games that Tom Brady had. And so that's the type of performance we're talking about from Drake May yesterday. Hats up to our producer, Katie, for throwing that in there. But so that, that throw, the only reason that's not my favorite is that watching

Legerius Sneed in this game was sad. Yeah, we're kind of past any good play from him, probably. So he goes out in this game with a quad injury. It's a quad injury that he's been dealing with. The quad injury is what kept him out for like a good majority of last season. don't think he's ever been healthy. And so you're watching him just kind of drag it around yesterday. And they just picked on him over and over and over again.

That post route that you're talking about is just quarters and booty just runs right by him. Right. I mean, that is his responsibility in quarters when you're in that sort of set with an isolated receiver on the backside and booty just runs right by him. And so the throw is beautiful and the catch was beautiful. It was like he had to full extension catch with his fingertips the booty makes. And he's made plenty of really nice plays down the field this year. So there's a lot to love about that.

that play, but there was a little bit of sadness, and that's why it's just holding me back a tiny bit. I honestly get that. Like, that's a fair. Like, when you're like, especially, yeah, knowing how good Sneed had been before. Like, it's, it's a little bit tough to watch. I will say, I wanted to go back. So the stat that Katie had dropped in of, you know, May that was the highest a Patriots quarterback has ever completed.

That got my gears turning a little bit. I was like, how many games like this in general have we gotten from quarterbacks? And so I, the parameters I set were through the ball at least 20 times. Like, you know, there have been some games where quarterback throws 12 times and complete some all. Who cares? That's fake. So I said it at 20 times, 90% completion and at least eight air yards per attempt. So this went back to about like 07 when we were like. It's pretty good.

Like eight is not a small number. Right. That's why I wanted to put it at eight. I was like, you're at least like trying to play quarterback, which like may even said in the, in his post game conference, he's like, I wasn't trying to be a checkdown Charlie, which the air yards would tell you. He certainly was not. And so we've only had four games like this since 2007.

Rivers did it against the Chiefs in 2012. My guy. He did it. Of course, Rivers had one of these where he's completing a million passes. Purdy did it against the Cardinals in 23. Jaden Daniels against the Bengals last year. And then this game that May had on Sunday. That's what he's been doing all year.

Like you combine the efficiency with the aggressiveness and the explosiveness. I mean, that's what makes him so dangerous. It's made him one of the best quarterbacks in the league so far this season. And so you see all of that in this game. My favorite throw, the poster route was great. There are two that I would probably pick out. The whole shot he hits to Matt Collins down the right sideline against cover two. It happened.

I can't remember at what point in the game. I think it was when it was tied at 10. And he throws this ball to Matt Collins down the right side line. The corner is underneath that throw. Like if you pause it, when he decides to throw the ball, that's one of those like just Herbert, Josh Allen, just like, my arm is better than you can imagine type throws. And he puts it right on Matt Collins on the right sideline for like a 22-yard gain. So that one was definitely up there.

The other one, he makes a throw down the left side at one point in this game on a fake screen. Right. And so they fake the screen to the left side. They release a receiver down the left side of the field. And I think it was Draymont Jones puts Will Campbell back into Drake's lap as. he's trying to make this throw outside the numbers down the field. He can barely step into it. He has a guy in his face and he still somehow gets the ball out there,

25, 30 yards in the air for like an 18, what is an 18 yard completion. And so just multiple different moments in this game, you're just reminded of how the ball explodes out of his hand. And he just, the physicality that he brings to the position and like what that arm strength and size does, those are the moments where it shows up. Like he's just able to access certain throws, even as things get dirty around him that guys with lesser arms can't make. Yeah. And like on that throw, he kind of has to like raise up a little bit to make sure he's getting the ball up and over the top.

Like he's just his ability to adjust in those scenarios and still ball explodes out of his hand is phenomenal. And like on that throw and then obviously the Mac Collins throw, he in my mind like a go ball and like a back shoulder and like a stop route. They're like all kind of in the same bucket of like if you can make one of those like to me they're all kind of bucketed because sometimes they're just adjustments off the same route. I don't think anyone in the league is throwing them better than Drake May right now. Like he that like 15 to 20 yard where he's just throwing it on this on the numbers outside a guy. Like it's he's just putting it on them like every single time. It's incredible to watch. And so he had a number of those in this game.

And then what I think to me has been really striking about the way that he plays is I think every. every now and then when he's pressured, he goes into silly mode. But for the most part, like within the construct of a play, he is as calm as anybody in the league right now. He is so decisive. Like, he's the way that he'll go one to two to three

and his progression is good. And then even in this game, there were two or three times where he is just gets to the top of his drop, maybe takes one hitch to see if it's there, and then he just runs as a scrambler. Like, just goes, doesn't think about it, gone for 10 yards. And it's just like, that's efficient quarterbacking. when I watch him as a scrambler, and this was in my notes,

it's such a reminder that scrambling is a natural skill that you have a feel for. Like there are guys who are just scramblers because they understand when that space is there because they feel that the space is there. The first time that he takes off in this game, it's an 11-yard scramble on their first drive. And he never even sees the space. Like his eyes are downfield, but it's an internal mechanism and an internal clock where it's like, all right, that's not there, but I can feel this space opening up. I'm instantly going to take off.

There are a couple of plays in this game where he actually turns down, like, some open receivers. He has Matt Collins deep on, like one of the first scrambles he has in the game, but it's such an efficient play. You can't knock him for taking it. And because he has such a good feel for when to take off and when those opportunities are there, it just we talk about it a lot where we think of scrambling as a manifestation of athletic ability, when in reality it actually is just based on a, feel for the position. It's why guys who aren't like height, weight speed guys like Mahomes can still

be great scramblers because it's not necessarily about how big and fast you are. It's about your feel and timing for what that space in the pocket is. And Drake Mae undeniably has it. Yeah, he's when you have the combination is when you become special, right? Like there are, like Justin Fields, if he gets out into the open field can be a very good scrambling, but he doesn't have that innate, like just, you know, where you can really feel it. On the opposite end, you have guys like Spencer Rattler and Baker Mayfield, who are maybe not the best athletes, but they have developed a pretty good feel for like pull the rip ford and go. And then at the very top end, you have the Josh Allen's. And now I think Drake May, where it's just like they have the feel.

And when they start moving, they're faster than you. They're explosive. They're agile. Drake may like finished a couple of runs like at the sticks, like ran through a guy to make sure he could get the two yards to convert. Like he's just, he kind of is the total package in, in that way. Yeah, he absolutely is. The last thing I wanted to mention about Patriots in this game. I like watching Ramadre Stevenson run. Like, I just, there are plays where there when he holds onto the ball, he's pretty good. When he holds out of the ball, he's pretty good. There were a lot of just like downhill kind of base block runs in this game where he's a big man. And watching him just kind of like dance and shuffle as he feels space opening to the outside on some of

these runs. Like there just aren't a lot of guys in the league who move the way he does on those sorts of plays. And they had, I don't know, probably five or six runs of 10 plus yards in this game. Like, they were ripping off some consistent, decent chunks. And a lot of that is him just feeling where that space is going to open up. And when he's on like that and when he, again, is hanging out of the ball, like the amount of just like gracefulness in that sort of package is just a rare combination. Like, he is still a really good runner when you put him in those spots. He really isn't. I think that's part of why, you know, I think, especially like the fantasy people have been frustrated about like, where's more Trayvion Henderson?

It's like when Stevenson is holding onto the ball and not fumbling, he's a very good running back. And I think that they want to have him out there. Like, he's even good as like a checkdown guy for the most part. Like he's, he's a very good player when he's not fumbling. Where are we out with the Titans offense right now? And you're in game one without Brian Callahan. Like, so what I will say is the game was competitive and they kind of had their moments until Cam Ward fumbled backwards.

And then there was the scoop and score that like that, like, that's, end of the game. At that point it was 24 to 13 and they had had some moments on offense, still some fits and stars, but like, I thought the offensive line kind of played better today. And then I thought there were a couple moments where the play calling was interesting. Like, they hit the big throwback. Like, it looks like it's going to be a sail route. And then he bends it back and it's like a deep over route, which funny enough, the Patriots ran against the Saints and hit, I think, for a touchdown to Pop Douglas. And so doing it against them was funny. And then there was even a later sequence in this game where I think the Titans had hit a big play

and then immediately went back to like this weird fake end around throw a screen to Van Jefferson just like that to me was like a good okay the defense is off kilter now let's go hit another weird play to get them so the offense is still not good but I actually thought Cam Ward played fine until you know the biggest oopsie of all

are we worried about the oopsies like the fact that this seems to be happening consistently where he's like struggling to hold onto the ball and we have like one mind-numbing turnover a game. Down to down, I don't think there's anything about his play that's like overly concerning. Like there are some sprays. The details about the offense are just off, right? Like every once in a while, you're just going to have bad timing with him in a receiver

where it looks like a bad miss, but I think that's more about details than it is about accuracy in this offense. And I actually think there were some really nice moments from him today. I mean, he rips a crosser to DK against Cover 2 on their second drive that's like, oh, shit. Like you can absolutely get on board with that. And it was right before that 38-year-or touchdown. And so I do think there was a decent amount to like about the way that he played down-to-down in this game.

But it seems like we're having one of those like catastrophic mistakes every single week. And I just don't really know how to square those two things right now. I think, I mean, you can, they're pretty unacceptable. Like a lot of them are just like stupidly, stupidly bad. I will say, I think he is already a player who I think is prone to. some volatility with the way that he plays. And because the team is so bad and he's constantly having to try to dig them out of holes, I think that he can get a little bit just like antsy and some of that stuff happens.

What I will say is like if this doesn't excuse it, but like early Lamar Jackson was kind of this way. And obviously the down to down was way better because he had that MVP season. But like early Lamar Jackson fumbled the ball a lot and just did weird stuff like this. And so obviously I don't think that Cam Ward is that good and probably will never be because that's just an incredibly high bar. But I think the down-to-down stuff is more worth hanging on to for now. Like if he's still doing this in year three and year four, then I'm going to be like,

all right, man, we've got to grow up at some point. But seven weeks into like a disaster mode season, I'm like, this sucks, but so does everything else about this team. It's fine. That's kind of where I fall as well. And maybe we're giving him a little bit too much leniency by framing it that way. But that's kind of where I fall as well. I have a feeling that we might be having.

another Titans or Cam War conversation here in a second when we get to our calls from Monday morning. So let's take one more quick break and then get to a couple of your voicemails from week seven. All right, Bellar, lay the first one on us. What do we got? Harry from Chicago, depleted Titans fan really would be ecstatic if the team would just go bankrupt and fold and no longer be a team so I can find happiness somewhere else, give my fun days back, farmer's market. I don't know. know what else there is. Today was tough.

I feel like they might not have a quarterback yet again. And instead of being able to trade the number one pick next year, they might have to use it to draft another quarterback. I only have so much money to spend on jerseys and getting pretty tired of having to buy a new quarterback one every year. Yeah. Thanks. So I think I'm properly positioned to give somebody advice in a moment like this,

because this feels very similar to what my team had been dealing with for a long time. And I think there are a lot of similarities about where the Bears were at last year. And so the Bears fired their head coach in the middle of last season. And there once again is misalignment between the coaching staff, the front office, and the quarterback timeline. I know it feels hopeless when you keep cycling through these things. And we're there yet again. You have a first year GM who had been with the second year coach. And now that first year GM is going to walk into another arranged marriage next year with

whoever the next head coach is. It's hard to find success when you keep doing that. And the Titans continue to do that. If you find the right coach, it can all look so much better so quickly. And I'm not even saying I'm there yet with like the Ben Johnson Bears, but I do think that there's at least reason for hope. And so as you're getting to this point where there is very little light at the end of the tunnel, when you've had this sort of organizational dysfunction over and over and over again,

you've cycled through people at the most important positions in the franchise from top to bottom, owner, GM, head coach, quarterback. I know that it can feel like there's nothing good waiting for you on the other side. It takes one guy to change it. And it takes one guy to make that quarterback feel and look like a very different player than he did when things felt a little bit more disorganized and a little bit messier. And so maybe next year, if the next head coach, we get to the middle of next season and it doesn't look any better, I think that's when you can get your Sundays back. But for now, I think I would hold on for one more cycle. Yeah, I would do the same.

Like, I just, I'm not going to sit here and say Cam Ward is for sure the answer. We don't know. I like him, but I think there's a lot left out on the table. But I just like, you know, if I were to list off, why are the Titans the way that they are and why is their record what it is? I don't think Cam Ward is number one on that list. I think it's the bad defense, the offensive line that's been banged up. He's throwing to like two rookie receivers.

who were like third and fourth rounders in this game and still making some pretty damn good throws if I might add. So like I again, I don't know if he's the answer, but I think we've at least seen enough there that it's like, let's hold on. Let's give him one more shot with a new head coach and see if some of this stuff can look a little bit better next year. And I'm sure that that's the same story that you've heard for way too long as a Titans fan. It's the same story that I've heard for that I used to hear for way too long as a Bears fan.

Like at some point, it can be fixed if you get the right people in the building. and that's really all you can hope for if you're a fan of this team and you want to see Cam Ward succeed. All right, Bell, we got one more. What do we got? Hey guys, we're supposed to lose and that's fine.

You know, give me a good draft pick. I don't care. But let me just list some numbers for you. 9.19. 48. The draft positions under the starting audience of the line

of the New Orleans Saints, left or right. They honestly still just, I do not understand how we invested this much draft capital over the years. And they're still

every single season. So this is really more just a human this rant. Just get them out of the building. I'm going to let you take this because you are the man that believes in the New Orleans Saints offensive line and their personnel.

Where are you out with this group and can you give this man any faith? Not a whole lot. Like I still think Kelvin Banks is like fine as a rookie left tackle. The guards, it's not good. The guard situation has been bad, which I think we knew right guard was probably going to be an issue for them.

But, you know, there was some hope coming this year. Like, hey, maybe Trevor Penning could help them out. And I just think when he's played, that has not really been the case. Eric McCoy, I think now is out for the season. Torn biceps. Yeah, which is going to be a huge problem for them. Because I do think that he had been playing well and generally does play well. And so, but they were just in a spot where you had rookie left tackle who was,

okay, not dominant by any means for a rookie left tackle. left tackle and then your center was good, but your guards weren't playing well. And I think Fuauga on the right side has not been playing well for a lot of this season. Like I just, the personnel I think has not been generally playing up to their level, which has been really, really frustrating. And then, yeah, you add that on top of the fact that like, I like Spencer Rattler, but like when you have, when that is the offensive line that he's having to play behind, you're going to get some of these games where he just can't quite do enough.

And I think, you know, we kind of joked about it on the Sunday show. this was the first game where it felt like he actually got frustrated. Like the, all the first six weeks, he was doing a lot of like, I'm going to keep taking the right play. I'm going to keep taking the right play. I'm going to keep taking the right play.

But for the first like quarter and a half of this game, none of that was there. Like the bears were just killing everything in the flats. Their tight coverage was really good and he had nothing. And at a certain point, he was like, ah, it man.

Like, I'm just going to start throwing down the field the way I did at South Carolina. And it led to a couple of good throws, but a couple of interceptions. And they even had a dropped interception that he got away. within this game. So like I it's gotten to the point where it's very frustrating, but I just, yeah, I don't know. Left tackle, you can maybe hold out some hope. Everything else, especially with McCoy out now is pretty, pretty tough to look at. How do you feel about this long term, though, like the

multi-year outlook for the Saints with Kellynne Moore? I understand that maybe the offensive line hasn't played up to the level you want considering the investments. And this isn't a good offense by any stretch. But the fact that this is a group that has had some flashes, looks competent. Like, do you think that in the next two years as this team digs itself out of the financial hole that it's in, right? 62 million a dead cap this year. They're $15 million over the 2026 cap. They have like $130 million in cap space in 2027.

Like that will be the year when this team can actually have like a real shot at resetting itself as a franchise. Do you have faith that we can get to that point with this group and this coaching staff based on what you have seen so far? or does this all seem like kind of a lame duck group as this team enters like another period of transition? I know that's like a loaded question seven weeks into the season, but I feel like they've been competent enough where we shouldn't put too much weight on a disappointing day yesterday. There's enough where I'm willing to, unless this just falls apart for the next two months, I'm willing to like give them next year. Like I think they have done some interesting things on offense.

The quarterback looks better than I think that we thought he would. And like with the offensive line, I know it's not playing well, but to me like, if McCoy comes back at 85% next year, Banks takes any sort of a step as a young player and you fix the right guard situation, I don't know if they're going to be like a kick ass offensive line, but that should be much better than the product that you're looking at now. And so like I don't know why I'm weirdly optimistic with this team, like, but I just, it feels like there's enough there that I'm like willing to kind of run the string out here. Yeah, I think that there's a difference between being the worst team in the league. record-wise and being an out-and-out embarrassment every single week. And I know they're not the Titans. No, that's exactly what you're thinking about, right?

Where it's like you want to see some signs of life, even if you don't have a ton of talent. And I think so far, like the Saints have actually done that. And this, we've, we didn't have this discussion on the preview show last week, but I kind of wish we would have. And I think it's just this idea of the conversation you have to have with yourself before the season when you're a fan of this sort of team and then what it looks like in real time, right? You logically can sit there and be like, okay, I know this team is going to be bad, and they probably should be bad. Right? Like, this is the worst team in the league, and you set yourself up with real draft capital for the first time in a while. And you either trade down

because you love Spencer Rattler or you take a quarterback and kind of reset things, whatever you do with it, it probably is the best outcome for this team. It's hard to maintain that focus and, believe in that when you're losing all the time. But that doesn't change the fact that it's still true. And so when you're a fan of this sort of team, like, you don't get bogged down and how shitty you feel week to week. Like, keep your eyes on the prize. As long as your team is not embarrassing, it's all about what the multi-year outlook of this thing is. And so far, I think that the Saints have been able to thread that needle well enough. And that's kind of the thing. Going in, you can say that, oh, this is going to be fine that we only win four games.

And then I think even by like early March, once it's all done. And you can be like, you know what, it's fine that we only won four games because X, Y, Z, I'm still hopeful about this. And this looked okay. But when you're in it on, you know, what is this, October 20th, it's a little bit trickier sometimes. It's really hard. Like I've been through this many, many, many times. And you want to be able to sit there and tell yourself that's like, I can have perspective.

Like, I understand what is important here. And it's really difficult to maintain that perspective. as you're having to watch your team lose every week. But do everything you can to hold the line because ultimately the wins and losses for the 2025 New Orleans Saints are not the most important thing, even if I'm sure you're living and dying

with every single game. All right, that is all we've got for today. Please be on the lookout in the YouTube feed for our dual recap show from the Monday night games. We're going to be, obviously, we're recording this on Monday afternoon, but that will be available to you in the YouTube channel feed

by the time you're looking. listening to this show on Tuesday morning. We're doing a ton of new stuff on YouTube this year. I'm doing a weekly video series called Did You Notice? I did a video about the Colts pass catchers being what I think might be the best position group in the league so far this year. Derek did an excellent video about the Seattle Seahawks Pass Rush Plan against the Jags a couple weeks ago.

So along with the shows, there's just a ton of standalone, like bespoke video content coming your guys way this year. We've really enjoyed doing it. So encourage you to check that out. If you're watching this on YouTube, please like and subscribe. really excited about all the stuff we're doing over here. So hope you guys are enjoying it as well. For now, that's all we got.

Appreciate you guys listening. We'll talk to you very soon.