The Athletic Football Show: A show about the NFL - Week 7 Recap: Ravens crush Lions, Eagles take care of Dolphins, worries in Buffalo, and more

Episode Date: October 23, 2023

The Ravens? Yeah, that was nice. The Bills? Yeesh. And how about the Eagles' performance in their big win over the Dolphins? Robert Mays and Nate Tice recap all the Week 7 highlights across the league on this episode of The Athletic Football Show.Follow Robert on Twitter: @robertmaysFollow Nate on Twitter: @Nate_TiceSubscribe to The Athletic Football Show...AppleSpotifyYouTubeThis episode is sponsored by BetterHelp. Give online therapy a try at betterhelp.com/MAYS and get on your way to being your best self.Show Burrow you’re listening to The Athletic Football Show by shopping at burrow.com/mays and get 10 percent off your first order. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

This is the athletic football show. Mike issues. Welcome to the athletic football show. I'm Robert Mays. Joining me tonight. It's my good friend, Nate Tyne. How you doing, buddy? I'm doing very well.

You're like a guy shooting free throws that, like, has the lean-in, exaggerated free-throw shot that, like, gets everyone to, like, have a lane violation. It's fine. I'm doing very well. The little mute light is underneath my microphone, so I can't see it sometimes. But there we go. We're ready to roll. you're in a way territory right now.

We're good. We're good. It felt like our patience was rewarded today. It really felt like a crescendo at least for maybe the first third of the season. And it just felt nice. It was like good games. A couple double witching hours. One game felt like it took four and a half hours.

It felt like that CAA game almost. That it actually affected my viewing experience, which we'll talk about later. But a fantastic Sunday. It felt lucky number seven for the NFL today on Sunday. Sometimes we get. to the end of these Sundays where we're talking when we have our call at like 630 central time. Like, how, what are we going to talk about today? You know, this is interesting and this was interesting.

And today it was like, what are we not going to talk about? And we could talk about every single game, it feels like. Every game had some nugget that's worth discussing. There was so much excitement. But let's start with the game that everyone just finished watching. The Eagles take care of business against the dolphins with pretty impressive win, even though, you know, I think that Jaywin Hertz was banged up. They had a couple of guys hurt.

The offense wasn't perfect, but overall, I think, a pretty good statement from Philadelphia in this game. Your biggest takeaway from what you just watched in Eagles Dolphins. AJ Brown's really good at football. Oh, my God. But it was another, first off, like Eagles defense actually had some moments, especially their defense aligned. But their offense, it's funny how it still feels inconsistent, but it's so hard to stop because these guys are so good. I mean, the AJ Brown's TD came on a classic. Oh, I also like kind of the Eagles were trying to get back to some of the stuff we've talked about recently.

Hey, so, hey, more some RPO's the tight end screens. Like, Dallas got a Goddard score. But A.J. Brown's touchdown was on one of their favorite concepts last year. They did this over and over again, which is A.J. Brown on an under route, five yards and in. And the Dallas got her on a short corner route, 10 to 15 yard corner route. And I know that concept as cram, but they run it all the time. And but they've kind of gone away from it. And there was a nice under, nice kind of.

give me throw and AJ Brown does the rest. But wow, it's funny how this offense can sputter at times, but still just be incredibly explosive and just hit you with haymakers and I'll send you down two scores. I thought it was pretty appropriate that both AJ Brown and Tyree Kill had 15 targets in this game and had massive games. They were absolutely the focal point of their respective offenses. Both of these guys were traded to quarterbacks on rookie deals with all that excess resources.

Those teams had excess first-round picks to make these trades. And I think they kind of represent what these two teams are and have been over the last couple years. Right. With Tyree Kill, it's all this speed and how your offense can express itself through all this speed. And with A.J. Brown, it's just pure power and physicality. And the pure power and physicality that the Eagles represent won out tonight. When you think about what they did up front, when you think about those moments that he had, just wrestling that ball away to kind of call game in that single moment.

in the fourth quarter. That's what the Eagles can be. And the defensive line today probably expressed that the best. What Hassan Redick did on those first couple drives where it's like, yeah, all that bullshit that you do where you try to get the ball on the edge and your pin pull and you're trying to kind of seal edge players the entire game, that's not happening tonight. We're not going to play that game tonight. And I think that combined with some of the interior pressure they consistently got against

some of those backups on the Miami offensive line. That was enough of a mismatch combined with the talent they have on a offense for them to kind of run away with this thing by the end. It's almost the D-end speed of getting upfield. It was the best counter to all that kind of pinning stuff that the dolphins like to do with their receivers. It's almost like the slower, more, you know, bruiser D-end or edge player is better, which is kind of counterintuitive with their small receivers against a bigger defense

alignment. But I think that actually kind of works. It works in my head anyways. Hopefully it makes sense for everybody else. But this eagle's offense, though, this just, it just keeps reminding me. I know we're talking about the defense real quick. quick, but they, you have to, it's a matchup league, the NFL. And the outside corner for the dolphins is something you can pepper. Yeah. You can just get after it. But it's easier said than done.

But what the Eagles do, even if it sometimes takes a long winding tour to get there, they just find that matchup that they want to pepper and they pepper it over and over until it pops. I mean, the double move to AJ Brown was just a players make plays. Like you said, it just called game. That was a double move against man coverage with the safety flying over the top of the guy that's running the double move, which is usually like, oh, that's not going to work out too well. As AJ Brown's falling down because he's getting fouled, still makes the catch. And that's just players make a place. But the fact that this defense kind of just, even they just took advantage of, hey, the

Dolphins' Offens' Offens' Lines banged up. They took advantage of it. And not every team can do that. And that's what this Eagles team can do. That's what they just keep churning out win after win after win. Also, we talk about the offense and Jaywin Hertz having to make plays off schedule. We're doing, we're improving this game on Thursday. and how they're leaning on that a lot this year.

They're not playing as on time as they were last year. But it's still a benefit when your quarterback can make those plays off schedule and outside of structure. Just because he has to extend a little bit, you don't necessarily throw that into just the negative bucket. And tonight was another example of that. He's extending. He's making plays late in the down. And consistently, those were some of the best moments and the best plays that the Eagles offense had today. So the fact that they can go to that when not ever.

everything is working on time and on schedule is just one more area where the players kind of win out when we're talking about the Eagles and specifically their offense. Those are one of our first kind of like sayings on this show. Go get a bucket. Yeah, that's right. They get, they go get a bucket. And that's what I mean, honestly, with points being so hard to come by right now, it's nice when you can just spam that in different ways to underneath or going long and different guys at

different times too. I got to say, Kelly Green jerseys. plus AJ Brown one of the coolest players of all time. Just like one of the coolest looking players of all time. Him in that uniform

with that visor. He's already unbelievably cool just in terms of player aesthetic overall. But that uniform tonight in a night game with some of the moments

that he had all time just guy on my TV sort of performance from him. Did you see Devante Smith's suit walking into the game? I just want to sit down and talk to him choices for like an hour. I would love some tips because that is an incredibly well-dressed man.

He has the frame for it and he knows it. He knows how to pull it off. So good for him. Are you saying I don't? Nor do I. Glass houses for myself. Oh, man. But it's a, no, it's a the Vante Smith. And also, G.1 Hertz is also a classy individual himself, very fashion forward. So just Eagles, Philadelphia, spectrum of sports fashion, apparently. How are we feeling about both of these teams moving forward after tonight? You feel better about the Eagles than you did coming into this game? A little, but kind of feel the same because it kind of felt that same kind of flow. But that's the thing that this is what we keep coming back to.

It's like it's incomplete on offense and a little bit on defense, but they still are very good. It's just that we maybe want a little more. They're kind of hitting a ceiling a little bit, but they find answers. They're going to figure it out. I mean, they're showing what they've shown tonight and a little bit against the Jets was like, okay, you're trying. You're trying to get back to some of the screens and some of the easy buttons that they've gone to before. So that's good. And it was nice performance from the defense, even if the, I, I, this Dolphins team is just getting banged up.

Yeah. And that's getting a little worrisome. But I would say that's, you know, something I'm keeping an eye on for the dolphins. Because, I mean, honestly, they only got 12 first down. 48 place. I mean, they weren't, it wasn't like a very consistent performance. for them. And that's what's tough when you don't, you're getting beat up front every single play. Two things I liked from Philadelphia. I liked again how much Goddard is being introduced into the flow of the offense.

The crossers to him early in the game, the screen touchdown that you mentioned. Him being another matchup creator for them is something I really like to see because early in the season when they were sputtering a little bit, he was completely non-existent. So him kind of being more reintroduced into who they are and creating some of those matchups. I like to see that. I really like seeing the front takeover. a game. If they're going to be banged up on the back end, you got backup safeties in the game. We talked about backup slot players kind of being in

and out of the lineup for them. Linebacker's been kind of a rotating door. Nacobi Dean was back tonight, but then he was out. The front being able to dictate games when there's a little bit of unsettled behind them. I want to see that. And tonight I think was an example of you seeing that. So I think those are the two things

where, okay, I feel maybe a little bit better about the Eagles of those two facets are going to be something you can rely on. On the other side, I'm worried about what Miami looks like a front on offense. That was always going to be the biggest question with this team is could that group hold up? And then now you have injuries starting to creep up.

No Connor Williams tonight. Isaiah Wynn gets hurt. So now we're dealing with Ikenberg at center, Lester Cotton at left guard, Kendall Lamett left tackle with no Taran Armstead. So this offense has done such a fantastic job of being able to mitigate that by how quickly they get rid of the ball,

by some of the run designs. But eventually when you get into 30, and eight, third and nine, like they were today because they couldn't run the ball consistently in early downs. You just have to play regular football. You have to be able to drop back and throw it. And I'm worried about how that group is going to be able to hold up as currently constructed. So that's just something to keep an eye on.

They'll have better days against worst defensive fronts. Waddle's still banged up. But just put a pin in that. I think revisit it as we look at Miami heading down the season. That's it. I think that's exactly fair. It's teams that have strong defensive lines like this. I think what's really good, I was saying on the Eagle side, is that flashes what this front has shown.

We said that it's been very good against the run, especially at a base. And they showed all night that they're good against the run. I mean, negative seven yards in the first half, but also just that this defense and it can just find different answers against an offense that should give it problems. And the fact that they can take over games, five different guys had a QB hit for the Eagles, which is good. But I just want to see, I know. I think this Dolphins old line is just that's a little scary. especially for a team that has to be timing-based. And if you just can't get off the ground and you have to stay in so many bad situations,

this is what undid it last year. So I'm curious to see what the answers and what the pivot points are. He's shown he can get there before, but let's see if you can do it right now in week eight upcoming. I will say that when the offense was sputtering last year, I was worried about Tua. That was one of the biggest concerns that I had about, okay, how sustainable is this when you kind of make him playoff schedule? I've been much more impressed with him this year than I was last year. Even the pick today, that's a timing issue and a spacing issue more than anything else. The interior of the pockets getting caved in.

It seemed like a busted route or something. Yeah, the spacing on that is terrible. Exactly. The only reason that Slays being able to hit. That ball should be incomplete at the very least. It's an advantage throw he's trying to take against the linebacker. So that's more of an offensive construction thing than a two-a-thing. I think that his ball placement in a lot of these moments has been very good.

I think his ability to play a little bit more off schedule. and create has been better this year. So I feel better about him as a foundational piece of the offense as they sort through this stuff than I did last year when they were struggling. I say that's exactly fair. I think that's why we both brought up the first problem has been the offense aligned and not Tua or what Tua's ceiling is or any of those types of questions. I think you're exactly right.

His accuracy has been a true advantage creator this year. And I saw a couple tight windows tonight, so that was pretty good. So I'm glad you mentioned that. All right, let's get to you have my attention. We got a lot to talk about tonight. Gentlemen, you had my curiosity. Now you have my attention. Baltimore Ravens.

You have my attention. Oh, my goodness. 38 to 6. They absolutely stump the Lions in a game that I was so excited about. I'm sitting there this afternoon right as the games are about to start. It's probably 10 minutes beforehand. And I'm like, oh, man, Mike McDonald's. was my assistant coach of the year coming into the year.

I'm so excited about this Ravens defense against this Lions offense. This is a fantastic noon game. The first driver or so, I'm at my in-laws house, and I'm just reacting to everything that's happening. It was just the type of game that I could not wait to enjoy and watch, and then it was a boat race the entire time. It just unfolded in a way I don't think anyone could have anticipated with the way the Lions were playing coming into this game

and with some of the inconsistencies that we've seen from the Ravens. but the problem was, the problem is for Detroit, this game was always coming for Baltimore. This game was always coming. If they could avoid shooting themselves in the foot, they had shown these sort of flashes on offense. This was the performance where it all came together at the same time. And I think it showed everyone how scary this team can be when they're firing on all cylinders. This is why you look at how a team is moving the ball and you hope that it just normalizes. is in the red zone.

Because when a team goes five for five to start in the red zone, five touchdowns, five trips, that this is what a team can look like. This was Lamar's best game in terms of EPA per dropback since 2019, since a game since 2019. And it was his best game, period, EPA per dropback of any game that he had 30 more dropbacks. So like this was, this was Lamar's at his best. Like him on third down today, this whole offense, they're downing, I mean, they didn't have that many third downs.

I thought that I was looking through true media during the afternoon. I was like, man, they haven't updated the Ravens game. And it was like, because they only had like five third downs going into like the fourth quarter or something or something like that. They were just churning out yards, explosives. Designs were great. The Mar ad living was great. It was just, yeah, they would sit on this type of game. It was everything coming together.

The designs on the first couple drives, we can go over some of them. It was beautiful. And so you talked about the first. downs on early downs, how they didn't get to third down. When I was watching some of the things that they put together early in the game, I was like, oh, man, they are getting in heavy personnel with Ricard and Andrews on the field, and they're just slinging it on early downs. So on first down against base personnel in the first half,

Lamar was 7 of 8 for 144 yards. 18 yards per attempt. They had 17 first downs on 37 plays in the first half. that's how much this offense was rolling. And it was a little bit of everything. So you had a lot of jet motion on the first drive. The moment that they had the triple option RPO to Beckham on like the second play of the game, I was like, okay, we're cooking now.

This is the type of stuff that you want to see from them. And they have the dig to Zay Flowers when Andrews is running a little shallow. That was out of heavy personnel. So you got three linebackers on the field. Just everything that they were doing in the passing game was clicking. I'm sure you saw some things that you thought were particularly interesting as well. Oh, boy. The first touchdown, like Lamar, Lamar's first touchdown was great.

The rushing touchdown, they just took advantage of Hutchison over, you know, screaming downhill. He plays with his ears pin back. And I love them going for it there. Them going forward on that fort down. I wanted to mention that too. They asked for the ball after winning the toss. And I think that is such an indication of how they felt coming into this game. So they wanted the ball on the first drive.

If they go down, it's fourth and one, they go for and score a touchdown. They were ready. Like, they knew that they were going to be able to press the right buttons in this game. It was just, I mean, the first third down was RPO and how calm. It was like, Lamar's new this next stage that he's playing at. You can see, because I would say he's about 85, 80% of his speed that maybe he was like when he first entered the league. That just happens.

You know, he's getting older. He's had some injuries. But it's not this kind of crafty scrambling and crafty right. running and just dropping it in. And what he's doing from the pockets, just amazing. Like, against the, they were great against the blitzed the blitzed them a couple times. And they had a play action where they were backed up.

Gus Bus goes the wrong way. He doesn't pick up the blitzer. And Lamar, because he's operating so perfectly on time, he just beats the free runner, beats the blitzer, hits the over route to OBJ. And it just goes for a big gain. The third down, like he had an RPO that he had lips on, then Bateman on over on third and three in the red zone. More chemistry of Nelson Aguiloh.

on a play that took like 10 seconds in time to throw. Like it's just everything. All the third downs were kind of just him identifying different weapons and then also just hit the ball from the pocket and then just that little bit of creation. The third and 11, he hits a deep out route to Zay Flowers, who went on like a great route. And it was just and then Red Zone plays to Mark Andrews. It was just like everybody got featured at different parts.

This is what we wanted to see from the Ravens offense. It was all came together at the same time. It was every single aspect of it. Because it was every play. Even Ricard, got like a fake chip play that like where he just releases down the field because I was trying to figure out if that was designed to be a chip and release. I absolutely think that. I absolutely think that was a real design.

It was great. He's eating a lot of shit on this show. He had a really nice game today. He did a few different aspects. He was fantastic in past protection today. Yeah. When they were bringing extra bodies at the quarterback, he was really good in protection. That play that you're talking about, the third, I was a third and seven.

that they hit to Bateman on the second drive. They brought a pretty big blitz. I think they brought six. And I want to say Ricard was into block on that. And Simpson and Lindervaum did a fantastic job passing it off. And they hit Bateman coming over on the crosser. Ricard, they had two runs today out of 20 personnel. So it was three receivers.

Ricard in the game is a tight end. They averaged, I want to say, like, 25 yards per carry on those two runs. They did on the same drive. They had back-to-back chunk plays. to Justice Hill and to Edwards. They were both out of 20 personnel, so they got light bodies on the field as a result of that. And Ricard just washed Hutchinson out on the huge Edwards touchdown. And he had that chunk play as a receiver.

So when he's having the game of his season, you combine that with everything else. That's when you know a team is rolling. And that's before we even get to what they did on defense today. Right. Oh, man. I was just going to say, too, is that this, Lamar had a perfect QB rating through three quarters until like the last third down. And also Todd Monkin is a notorious overaggressive high fiver. Like that is like, he has a rep of being a very hard high fiver and it got caught on camera today.

So until we moved to the defense, I wanted to bring that up. But man, they were playing all the lines kind of staples. They love getting crossers, especially on third down. Crossers and a mesh, which is two crossers or a crosser and then the running back releasing and running a burst route, which is you're creating like a mesh kind of crossing play. How the Ravens played this out on defense in their quarters coverage and watching their linebackers and safeties that everybody communicate. And then the pass rush just getting home, it was just a cohesive defense. And this is what they have shown so far, but we weren't sure maybe against a good offense. And the lines are a good offense.

So this line's defense was just taking it to them. I mean, they couldn't get anything through the ground or the air during this whole, I mean, when the game mattered, I should say. It was a great combination. It was what we talked about on Thursday. You don't know what they're going to do. There's so many different ways that they can attack you. They don't blitz a lot, but they blitz selectively and effectively.

So you're sitting there on first down and Millette comes clean on a sim pressure coming off the edge. they have Humphrey comes clean on a slot pressure at one point. There are other plays where they're mugged up and they're dropping up. And they had no feel for what was going to happen. And I thought that the front played really well when they were asked to rush for. Matabike gets home on that sack on the first drive. It's just a simple stunt.

So you don't have the blitz to get pressure because the way the defensive line was playing. I thought the secondary did a great job communicating. And I thought the Roquan Smith was, again, just phenomenal in this game. Yeah. There was that drive early in the second half. I tweeted out a series of plays from it. There's a, I want to say it was a third down where he just gets perfect depth underneath Laporta and queen drops right into kind of that curl area.

Golf has to eat it. That's one play. They ran a little swing screen to Amon Ross St. Brown on the left side. Roquan tracks it down all the way on the sideline working through traffic for like a two-yard game. the lions go for on fourth down, they get it. They get down into the red zone. They try to get Roquan on a little like, I don't know what you would call it.

They take the crosser and then take it vertical, like against the middle linebacker essentially. Yeah, yeah. So it's a lot of teams do that. It's just a good way to isolate the linebacker and coverage against the receiver in zone coverage. And Roquan just eats it up on Fortdown. And almost intercepted it in the back of the end up.

Pop route or a pop route or something like that. I can't remember what Olson called it. He called it something, he had a specific word for when he was describing it's Kevin Burkart. But you see a lot of teams do that. Just a way to isolate a linebacker in coverage, take it vertical with the receiver. And against most linebackers, it works. And against that guy and the way that he's playing right now, it did not work. So we've talked a lot about Ben Johnson and a lot about this lion's offense.

He is going to be a head coach next year. I think he's going to be very sought after as a head coach next year. His counterpart on the defensive side of the ball is the guy who was calling defense. for the Ravens today. Mike McDonnell has done a fantastic job over the last two years in his tenure as the Ravens defensive coordinator. He's my age, 35. I mean, he's in his mid-30s.

He is somebody who I think has a lot of fans around the league. He has garnered a lot of respect from offensive coaches around the league. And he is going to be somebody whose name starts coming up more and more often as we get deeper into the season because of the way that this unit is playing. it's the variations, the varying up what they run, especially on passing downs is what's so cool, because they run it so well. And, you know, Roquan is a big part of that, their whole spine. But just using them in smart ways has been so like that. Sometimes it's just, it sounds so simple, but just use guys how their roles should be, like how their roles, what their gifts should be.

And one instance was late in the game, later in the game is, you know, it's about four scores at this point. And seven years ago. But it was third down. It was man coverage. And they had Queen Hug Rush, which is what the Bucks like to do or did like, they used to like to do with Devin White. And which was instead of having like, you know, him running the coverage and trying to sort out something in zone, which is have him kind of half ass rush the passer. But he's kind of in man coverage because then the runback commits. And but what this does is this is great.

Jemir Gibbs, who's already probably pretty worried to be in pass protection, he comes up. So now you don't have Jameer Gibbs running. a route. So now that's great. Now you have Patrick Queen rushing the quarterback. He creates a pressure on golf. And there's Rokron Smith as the whole player, which is just that he's sitting in the middle there. He reads the play and the play's busted. And that was just kind of like the dagger third down right there. But that was just, it's just man. It's just cover one. Everybody runs it. But they just used just a couple tweaks. Nice little front change. Just using their guys in the right spots. And it works. And they just do that over and over on defense. And their guys are playing really

well and a lot of guys up front on defense have leveled up. Their front has all leveled up like across the board. Everybody's playing well. Clowny is everything you could have asked for, signing him when you did. Getting him in August for the contract that they did, he's been a,

he's perfect for their defense. They're not asking him just to be a pure edge rusher, push, push, push, stunts, just being kind of a slasher against the run. O Wade came back today. He had some nice moments. And then Madabique really has taken that stuff. forward. So it's just a bunch of guys where there's no superstars outside of Smith and then

when Humphrey is right. But you have very few holes. I thought, again, Malette played well today. He's another guy that they just signed off the street this off season. I thought Brandon Stevens had some really nice moments today at Corner. And then we know what Hamilton is. And even Gino Smith, Gino Stone, who's had to come in and play for them now with Marcus Williams-Hurt, every time he's had to play this season when Williams has been out, he has more than answered the bell. Like, he is an upper echelon sort of defensive player in the hierarchy on most NFL teams with the way that he's played right now. And he's just another guy on the Ravens defense.

And I think that really says a lot about what they've gotten out of that entire unit over the course of the season. Probably, okay, one last shout out to the Ravens offense. Ronnie Stanley was playing like a maniac. That's also huge. The line period played so well. Yeah, it played so well. So it's, and we, we were noticing that they were playing okay, even as they were coming back from injuries and everything.

And it was like, of course, it wasn't cohesive, but it wasn't like they were playing awful. And so now that they're getting healthy, you got Ronnie Stanley, you're actually playing consecutive games. It's like now you're seeing some cohesion up there. And that's why you're going to be able to see better pockets for Lamar to work out of. Lamar's even a better scramble where those pockets are better. He can pick and choose which lanes to go into. not get forced and funneled. So that's why he's picking and choosing his spots and extending plays.

It's all just working just perfectly. Like it really is both sides of all. So often today where he just had a half extra half second with a lot of space in the middle of the pocket. Linderbaum held up really well today. So I was so impressed. And I thought that the help that they gave them was so there were chips in the right moments.

They kept record in in the right moments. Again, just pressing all the right buttons. They did a fake, the big play to Andrews in the red zone. It was like a fake sweep with Amar. It was like using Lamar, like the Ladanian Tomlinson. Like that's what it looks like, oh, I'm going to run it.

Again, out of like 13 personnel. Yeah, heavy personnel on the field. They look at that run. And then again, the last design thing, the little handoff back the other way to Keith Mitchell, who has a ton of juice. I mean, you can name off 15 plays that the Ravens ran today and the designs associated with them and be impressed with it. I didn't say it when you mentioned it.

first time. One last thing. That completion is A. Flowers. Him being able, that, it was just simple football. That is, you are terrified of me vertical. I'm just going to run like a comeback on third and 11. The fact that they have those guys on the outside that can now create those one-on-one matchup advantages combined with everything else we're talking about. It's really exciting stuff. So spinning this forward a little bit, I think the Lions are a very good football team. I think they ran into a buzzsaw today. Again, just everything felt. into place. Still think the lions are going to be a pretty good team moving forward.

This game doesn't make me that worried about them. This game does make me think that we were right to believe that the Ravens were kind of sleeping giant, maybe overstating it, but they were kind of hanging in wait as one of the teams that's going to be very relevant in the AFC playoff picture. Like the version of the Ravens that we saw today is going to be right there till the end. and if a guy in Kansas City didn't put on the show he did today, I would come away from this game feeling very good about Lamar Jackson's MVP candidacy over the course of the rest of the season.

You want me to transition to what Mahomes was doing? Let's do it. Patrick Mahomes and the Kansas City Chiefs, you also have our attention. What great transition by me, really, really sold that. Oh, my goodness. That was that first half, that was just up and down the field. Like, honestly, I know people just retire. I can't remember it looking at.

easier. It's, it really didn't feel, it couldn't be much easier, like clean pockets, just like even busted plays, turning into touchdowns. Like the NVS touchdown was a truly busted play. Two guys ran the same route. And then another two routes were near each other. It was weird. And so, NVS, credit to him, he continues on his route.

He takes it high. The Holmes finds him, extends a play, touchdown. He's this, he, his hair, like, signifies the erasing ability that he does. Like, he just erase his neck. negative place. Like, that should be a throwaway at the very least. Like, but it's, I was going to tweet that, but it just didn't sound right. And it doesn't sound right even coming out on my mouth either.

But it really, he just erases negative place. And then you saw the, uh, 13 personnel stuff from the chiefs. And that was just wonderful. The same formation over and over. They five dropbacks. Were the chargers matching that with base personnel? I don't think they were. I don't think they were.

But it didn't matter. And it still didn't matter. That when I was watching it, I was like, I think they are they're playing nickel to 13 personnel and they still can't stop them. I didn't. That's the thing is because when they're in base, you're going to have a different front. Like you can see you like just and that's what I look for. And I noticed the same thing.

So that's, ah. So they had five dropbacks from 13 from 13 personnel. 53 yarder to Kelsey, 16 yarder to Kelsey, 15 yarder to Kelsey, 12 yards of Pacheco on a checkdown. And it's 70 yards to Bell that he fumbled on. But it was all the same exact formation. It was what's dot or ace, which is a titan on either side. formation of the office of line and then slot they would motion Noah Gray into the to slot so you

had the two tight ends and two receivers and they just did it over and over same look and it was Kelsey freestyle routes and then the checkdown becheco then they did a drop back that's where Blake Bell got his place it was just spacing and it's just like it's not it's the most simple football as football can be and they're just shredding them with it I need you to explain to me what the spine of the Chargers defense was doing for this entire game oh boy spinning circles that's exactly what they were doing. Eric Kendricks was literally spinning in circles over the course of the game. I would love to watch the All-22 and start to decipher what semblance of a plan the Chargers had coming into this game and what they were trying to do because if you asked me right now,

I would have absolutely no idea how to articulate it. No, it was so rough. It was like they didn't even have to run the ball, but to keep them honest. They could just keep chucking it. They could chuck it out 13 personnel against Nickel, which is supposed to. stop it. Like they couldn't, no one was near them. They were just coming up. Like all their interior,

like you said, the spine of the defense, they had guys biting and then just getting hit over the top or guys just looping down on the play action stuff. And it's just like, there's the sail route.

There's Kelsey over the middle. But they did have one fricking knuckle ball that was sweet. But that's the thing. The game wasn't close enough for this to matter, which was a like a cover zero where they doubled Kelsey

and then had a robber in the middle. And it worked great. That was the sack. I would have loved to have seen more of that in the first half. thing rather than playing soft zone and letting them chew you up for the entire game shred them they also like the chiefs on third long is like the fakesest thing ever like not not because they can't sustain it because they can they're converting 40% of their third and seven pluses which is just insane and the

league average is 24% they've converted 36% of those third and seven plus since 2018 since my homes took over no one else is hired than 30%. The gap between the chiefs and the chargers and seconds is 2018 as the same as the Chargers in second and the team that's in 29th. They are the fakesest team and they're just so much fun to watch. And that's probably why they're, I mean, honestly, I think they're the best team right now. They are just fantastic team, what the Chiefs are doing on both sides of the ball. That's the conversation is that the offense can do this. We know the offense can do this.

You have the best player in the world. You have Kelsey still playing at this level where he can just completely take over a game as the focal point. You have one of the best offensive lines in the league, full stop. I mean, what Mahomes could do. today just in terms of comfort in the pocket and how much time he had to create and work back there was insane. And then you have a defense that is capable of doing what they did in the second half. Anything stand out to you about the plan in the second half for Kansas City on defense compared to what they were trying to do in the first half? Like a third down, they dropped

eight a little bit. I don't know if that was once or twice. And that was Willie Gay, like, knocked the ball down on that one third down. It was like a third and five dropped eight. I don't know if the quick game on third down is a Herbert thing or an offense thing because that was more quick game. But I also thought that they just have good pass rushers. You know, Chris Jones on the outside has just become a super weapon. And now they got a Menehu back. So I think really the second half was just them dropping more bodies into coverage and also some well-time blitzes. I actually want to watch it because usually the charters do a decent job blitz-wise.

But again, their center's out. Remember they're on their backup center right now. going to have some advantages there. And now they're on their backup running back. Acker is good in protection. When he's banged up, that's the trickle-down effect. So I'm curious what happened on that because Spag is definitely going to test that. I want to just got to see it from the old 22.

We're six games into the season. I don't want to make any grand proclamations yet. Chargers are two and four. It feels like we're nearing the end of this. I don't think they're probably going to be a playoff team. Again, they were left for dead like six different times last year and they still made the playoff. So I'm not going to do this yet.

but at two and four with some of the ways that these other AFC teams look. I mean, they're two games behind the Browns right now. They're two games behind the Steelers right now. The bills, I think, are a much better team than them. If you're trying to figure out where that wild card spot is going to come from, I think you're going to have kind of a hard time figuring it out with the way that their defense has played for long stretches of this year. And I think that's it. Even if the offense can play well against teams that have worse defenses than the Chiefs,

even if the offense has been good for a lot of this season so far, This is a team that spent more money and more resources on defense than anyone else in the league over the last couple years. It's a defensive-minded head coach. And I think that there were certain expectations put in place coming into this year. I think those were making the playoffs. And that's at the very least. I think winning a playoff game and making noise when you got there was probably a necessity for this regime. And I don't see that happening unless something changes in a very big hurry.

And if it doesn't, I think we're going to see some change. changes. I just, I think what's, maybe not during the season, but. Yeah, I mean, they're going to run out a little bit. The most frustrating thing is that it's been the same issues every year. Yeah. It feels like for the last few years. Uh, and it like just hasn't changed. What we're talking about the spine of the defense? What has been the issue of the charges defense, especially how they want to play on first and second down the spine of the defense, uh, lack of depth, uh, kind of star hunting, you know, with the J.C. Jackson signing and doing it in a kind of scheme different kind of, all these choices add up. One choice that you can navigate and, you know, a quarterback can only do so much,

an old line health can only do so much when you do it does go the right way or if it goes the wrong way and then everything else falls apart. It's just that all these things have added up, all these swings they've taken, like they can't run many coverages because they have limitations on who they have on the outside and then they can't do too much on first and second down who they have on the inside. So it's just a mess on defense and then offense you have, of course, Mike Williams is already out. Eckler has been banged up. So your weapons that are paying a lot of money to or giving a lot of touches to like

Eckler, it's just not working out. It's just so tough. It's just, but this has just been the issue for the last twoish years. We said coming into the season that for them to hit the heights that they wanted to hit, the stars had to play like stars. That was the most important thing based on their roster construction. When Dean Marlow is getting a ton of snaps for you, you need the guys you're paying at the top of the market at several different positions to fulfill

every ounce of that value. When is the last time you watched a Chargers game and watched Derwin James and thought that guy's a star? I know, right. It's been a calendar year. How about Joey Bosa? Oh, been forever. He had a flash last season when he finally came back, but it was like, that's it.

It's not that hard to explain. And you combine that, again, with plans that just, I don't know, don't seem to make a ton of sense. And they're just going nowhere in a hurry. It's been really frustrating to watch. And it just doesn't seem like the trajectory of where it's headed is changing anytime soon. And if that's the case, then I think we're going to have to have some pretty unfortunate conversations. Yep. But if it's just the same issues, it's just definition of insanity.

You know, that's just what it feels like so far. And same old story with the chiefs in the ASE West, where it's them and just everybody else. and it's not even like in the same zip code. Oh my goodness. And how they look right now, especially on defense, just being a bit like now they're adjusting. They're throwing, I mean, Spags is doing the playoff stuff in the regular season already. Like it's like, oh, God, this team is scary.

And now it looks like their offense is just like, oh, all right, let's do stuff. Oh, it's terrifying. Chiefs are so good. It's annoying. It's awesome, but it's annoying at the same time how good they are. I'm not mad. I'm not mad. I'm just disappointed.

Buffalo Bills. Lose to the Patriots today, a Patriots offense that could barely function for large stretches of this season and came into today and had the best success rate of any NFL team, including the Chiefs and Ravens who we just talked about. Obviously, the Ravens took their foot off the gas. But again, the Patriots had the best success rate of any offense in football today. They did not look like an NFL offense for most of the first six games. So Buffalo Bills, I'm not mad. I'm just disappointed. And I am pretty disappointed.

Where do you want to start with this? I don't know, man. It's like the offense again. I still feel okay about the offense. I still feel great about what Josh Allen can do. But this defense, it's, I mean, it's just getting battered at all for us out today. And you could just feel it today. Just even look at the Kisicki touchdown that won the game.

That was because the Bernard didn't feel like. he helped out. Yeah. And so just like, again, we're talking about the spine of a defense. That is supposed to be the strength. Like one of the strongest things. It's not anymore, buddy. It is not anymore.

At a certain point. It is a negative negative. At a certain point, it's no longer the bill's defense that we, that we talk about. Like the bill's defense, your idea of what it is no longer exists because so many of the component parts are not out there. No Dequan Jones, no Ed Oliver, no Matt Moana. And no Dane Jackson as well. I know it's a different area or no, Trey,

white as well. And I know that's a different area, but when you watch the biggest plays that the Patriots had today, you can pinpoint exactly where Matt Milano is supposed to be, where at Oliver's supposed to be, and where Dane Jackson is supposed to be. I'm not trying to oversimplify it. It's literally true. I mean, so many of these plays on the first drive, you have the huge gain to Ramadre Stevenson. There is motion on that play. And the lineback The linebackers are out of sorts, and Williams runs the wrong way. The completion of Farrow Brown, you have motion again, you have the linebackers going the wrong way. Multiple different times in this game, they isolated Dane Jackson as a run defender.

They had a little jet handoff to Pop Douglas, Dane Jackson misses the tackle in space. They had the huge gain to Remodry Stevenson on the last drive. Dane Jackson takes another terrible angle on that play, and it's a huge gain. The linebackers were all over the place, and they were trying to figure it out at linebacker. Dodson came in at one point for Williams. Late in the game, they put all three safeties on the field because they were trying to get the linebackers off the field and coverage. So those areas where those guys were out, all game, that's exactly where the Patriots kept picking and picking and picking. And that's all they needed to do to consistently move the ball in the way that they did.

That's exactly it. And they hit him with quick hitters over and over. So it doesn't matter what your patch rush does. It doesn't matter if you get home on the outside because Mac Jones was only sacked once. He only took four hits today. And against that, even with those guys out up front with the bill, they still have other pieces then get after, especially with this Patriots

offensive line. That's been banged up too. But Mac Jones's time to throw today was almost a second faster in Josh Allen. So he was just getting that ball out quick. And if you look at his target map, so this is exactly. it. If you look at this heat map today, it's all over the middle, between the numbers, almost basically in between the hashes. It's just up and down that spine. And they had some fun designs. Like the Kendrick Bourne touchdown was spicy. There's a bunch.

They had the outside player release inside. They had Hunter Henry Lee released outside too with Bourne. So they created like a double rub. That was pretty sweet. So they had some good, good stuff today. But they took advantage of exactly what the Bill's defense has woes at right now, which again, I always talk about going from bad to below average, bad to average. What if you go from very good or excellent to below average? That's devastating, especially for a team that thrives on it. So it's tough. The AFC is tough.

It's so, so tough. Teams are going to discover this, and they have more firepower than this Patriots offense does. And I'm not trying to make injury excuses. Every team has injuries, but that's exactly what you're saying. When you're going from Matt Milano to linebackers that have never played before, that drop off, we've seen it pop up multiple different times in the games that Milano has missed. And again, they're trying to sort through who's even going to be that other linebacker. And Bernard had great moments in the first month of the season.

But when he's able to play next to Matt Milano as your number two linebacker and he is the new piece. He's the green guy. He's the one that, oh, well, he'll come along. Now it's everybody. And I think you're really starting to see what sort of impact that has. The offense, I sort of agree with you and I sort of don't. I do think they'll be fine. Today was another example to me of when things can go sideways for them,

when he's just consistently in kind of frantic creation mode because of what's happening up front. He was under pressure so often today. And sometimes it was big blitzes. Sometimes it was simulated pressures. They were getting a lot of free runners, whether it was with pure numbers coming at the quarterback or by design, or sometimes neither. And there was a play where Sirens Torrance was laid out of his snap,

Barmore beats him, Alan instantly goes into creation mode. So that franticness that can creep in when the bill's offense just doesn't look like itself, I think that happened a lot today. And I think it's because of the plan the Patriots had getting after the quarterback. Yeah.

And I also, division game, Patriots. Totally. This matchup before, all that stuff. And I was looking at the future schedule and it's kind of, I feel so much better. They need a buy a week so bad, but they don't get it for a while. But they have a Thursday game against the Bucks. And I was going to say, like, they go Bucks, Bengals, Broncos.

And it's like, after those matchups, how do I feel about the line there? Because it was the interior. The guys that I like, the rookie, Assyrus Torrance got beat a couple times. And again, that's what the Patriot strength is. They got bruisers all across. They have a good defense. And they're making Allen play patient while at the same time heating them up as far as not just pressure, but just getting after them.

And they're making them check down over and over, which we have talked about that is what has led to some of Josh Allen's growth over the years is making, it was these Patriots games. And they made it do it, it made him do it again today. But he wasn't doing it today. That was the thing that was the weirdest thing is that I would love to watch the all 22. It did not feel like he was taking outwards when they were where, when they were there against pressure. And I don't know if that's just because.

Oh, well, pressure. Well, that's, well, I mean, some of their answers were, it was a lot of designer plays that they're getting caught on. So maybe that's it because it didn't feel like he was getting to outlets as quickly as he has for a lot of this season. And I think that's part of the reason that they were getting in trouble. And I don't know if that was by design, if that's because his eyes weren't going to the right place. But his, the best version we've seen from him this year, when he's at his best, he makes people pay when they blitz. Think about the Dolphins game.

Every single time they brought extra bodies at the quarterback, the ball was out. He was able to see it so well. And it just didn't feel like he was seeing it as well today. And I don't know what the source of that is. I thought he saw, I think he saw it great. I really did. I thought he was tremendous. I really did.

So I, I, I disagree with you. I mean, honestly, even his interception was him faking the wrong guy, but he was still trying to do the right thing. He faked inside and it was just, Gibral peppers fell underneath. He didn't fake Gibral peppers with the shoulder shimmy. But I thought even all those blitzes that they came through, I thought it was more guards getting beat than them getting outskirts. schematically, like, challenged.

And I thought he overcame a lot of that. I thought he was very good today. It's probably just two or three plays that I'm thinking of. And again, I don't know exactly where the blame lies on those plays, but it's just him keeping his eyes downfield when there's some sort of outwood either in the flatter underneath. And it just was not getting to that as quickly as he has at other points this season. I don't know where the blame lies for that.

But it just did not feel like they were as on it against pressure as they have been against other teams this year. And you combine that with the way that their defense played. that's enough. So I think that their offense will be fine in the long run. I don't think that's where the concern lies with me. If I'm talking about where I'm most worried about the bills moving forward, it's not how their offense is going to play. I know a lot of people are going to call for Ken Dorsey's head after this game and there's been some of that at times this season. I'm much more worried about what their defense looks like with all those injuries, even in a low scoring game

like this. Oh, absolutely. No, I don't think 25 points against the Patriots is anything to sneeze at. So I really don't. But I think the offense is totally fine. I really do. I just think that, yeah, the defense is that's supposed to be a strength. And now they're going to be averageish, I think. That's what it looks like, especially if Ed Oliver, like he has to come back because he's been playing very well. But he can't miss time. He has to take over games for them to like really be a plus unit or at least a time stretches one.

So that's really where the like you just said, just the issues lie or question marks. All right. Let's get to the Sunday notebook. A couple quick hitters that we liked today. Look at that. I had my little, because I have a little whiteboard on my desk, mine might got really squeaky at one point. And I was so embarrassed.

I felt so bad. It was like, I was hopefully didn't pick up on the mic. So that was just really funny. You know, I'll hear that scratching. We get a little scribble here for the Sunday notebook. For people who haven't watched the show, listen to the show for the last couple of weeks, we're doing this at the end, just kind of a little grab bag of some of the things we watched today, some of the things we enjoyed, some of the things we didn't.

Let's talk about Brown's Colts, which was one of the most enjoyable games. of the entire year. I think there were like eight lead changes, 39, 38. I mean, I don't even know where you would start to list off like everything that went down in this game. I guess Miles Garrett is the place to start.

Like without Miles. It's funny that two things can be true at the same time. The Browns defense had by far the worst performance of their season so far. Yeah. And a defensive player is probably the reason that they won this game. Yeah. He took over. He carried the team and they still gave up like X amount of points. But I mean, a block, it was just, it wasn't just like a sack or, you know, just a sack or just one big play. Like, it was like these huge like point change. He scored points or took off points from the opposing team. A blocked field goal that sack in the end zone through chip help, like batted ball on third down. But I'm going to say, though, again, that my only big complaint was that this game took freaking forever. And I know access to early charge.

Rogers Chiefs locally. So that was my only complaint of this game. But it still was a great game. And Gardner Minshew putting together performance after they just got like just kind of their teeth kicked in by the Jags a week before. So sure, NFL, got to love it. Gotta love the NFL. I loved a lot of the stuff the Colts did on offense.

I thought the plan for a man heavy team like the Browns was very good. A lot of bunches, a lot of stacks, just really making them communicate defensively. they had a hard time. Clearly, they saw something in the red zone where they could lean on the quarterback run game. I mean, Minchu had two touchdowns where he just made safeties look silly in space. So fantastic game plan and just fantastic design overall from what the Colts were doing on offense. I continue to feel very good about the long-term trajectory of a Shane Steichen led Colts team. I mean, today was another entry into that.

I still feel like the Brown's defense is going to be pretty damn good in the long run. I just think that they have so much talent on that side of the ball. They just got caught today by, again, a team that I thought had a very good plan against them. Miles Garrett has a very real defensive player of the year, candidacy. And today was probably the best game he's had just in terms of overall impact. So just a phenomenal game.

On the flip side, less fun. This Deshaun Watson situation is getting strange. I don't really know how to, what to make of it. So he throws almost two picks in the first quarter. The second one falls incomplete. It doesn't end up being an interception, but it's still an awful play. He gets dinged up on that play, and then they yank him from the game.

And it was a coach's decision. I think the defense came out after the game and said he's our franchise quarterback. I'm not going to put him in harm's way. But he was healthy enough to play. If PJ Walker had gotten hurt, Deshaun Watson would have come back in the game. So I don't really know what to make of how they're treating him with this injury and why they're approaching it this way. I think that at a certain point, injury or not, it's time to get pretty concerned about how much he might be holding back what is otherwise a competitive roster. Because that is starting to feel like we're definitely getting into that territory definitively.

I mean, last year he was bad, but he's missed all this time, you know, maybe with another with a full offseeing. season it's going to look better and it has not looked better. And I know that he's a little bit dinged up, but this is something that we can no longer just kind of hand wave because it's getting to be a pretty significant problem. Yeah, and he's not really itching to go back in there, it seems like even when he had a shoulder bruise, which I'm not going to like, especially on your throwing shoulder, I get it. Like, that that could be weird. So I'm not going to like judge that.

But, you know, it just seemed iffy on the timeline with that even. And it just seemed like that hit and everything that happened. And it was just, he's not seeing the game well. And it's like, you know, this is week over week. And he's at time, maybe to settle in. I almost thought maybe that time off was, might have been good for their offense. So like, okay, we resettle, almost like a mini buy for him as their team kind of scrapped together, these competitive games. But it's just like those interceptions came on broken plays where it's like he's in creation mode.

It's all on him. And he's making those decisions and those choices, those throws. And this is just a consistent thing. He's thrown a ball late consistently. He's not making the right decision. The game just seems very fast for him. So it's like, yeah, it's, it's a tough. Can you imagine this offense with like Joshua Dobbs?

Like, you know, anyone. Anyone, anyone that's above average. Anyone. Anyone that's above average. Yeah, it just, it just blows my mind. Can I just say real, real quick because I do want to get on the fun stuff. The Colts, the Colts design though. Awesome Colts design stuff.

The little Minchew's touchdown, the first one, snag RPO, which is like, it's so simple, but how do you help out a quarterback that's frantic? Just make a nice little point shoot decisions for him. And he went rogue a little bit, but he kept it and scored. But it was just like, that's like, that's the difference. Like they're scoring these points and it's fun when their quarterbacks are in there, make these plays. And everything with the Browns, it's like, okay, PJ Walker launching it up and hopefully

we get some fouls, hopefully we get some penalties late in the game because that or just hit a big play once in a while. It's just like the feel between the difference between these teams. It's like it shouldn't feel like this way, especially with their offenses and what they've invested in them. Yeah. It's the Brown's defense is going to continue to be very good, despite what they show today, but the offense is a concern.

And what's going on with the quarterback is a concern because I think this team has enough talent on it to be a real playoff team. And they're going to be held back by what's happening on offense based on the way that he's playing. And obviously, based on the way their offense plays when he's not out there. Like when they're playing with a backup quarterback, their offense struggles, but that's not surprising. They're paying their quarterback a fully guaranteed $250 million contract.

Like, he's one of the biggest deals in the league. I get a certain point when you don't play that. way. There's no way you can achieve what you want to as a team. And not only just a backup quarterback, a backup quarterback they signed how long ago, a week ago, elevate him October 14th. It wasn't even a quarterback they had in camp. You know, that they're, you know, okay, hey, just in case something happens, you know, they had, you know, the rookie and everything, but it's just like a terrible situation. Of course that. That's what sucks. It's because this defense is so awesome or should be so often in most weeks.

And right now it's just like this offense without Nick Chubb, it just feels like. list list in between the kind of like shot plays or gadget plays that they get to everyone's one. It just stinks. Let's keep going here. The Atlanta Falcons win again today, but their pension for self-sabotage is starting to become a serious concern. One of my favorite competitions so far this year is which team is going to be better at

consistently shooting themselves in the foot between the Jags and the Falcons. And it is a neck and neck race. The Falcons lost 14.3-39-eat. EPA on fumbles today. They lost two touchdowns worth of expected points on fumbles deep in the red zone today. And it's not surprising based on other things that have happened to them on offense. Not just deep in the red zone. The one yard line.

The one yard line. Twice. Twice. One on a snap going left. Was that ever an issue for you? Because I knew you're a center. Did you guys have any reach place to the left and like the quarterback going left and everything?

That's like a common thing under center is like stretch place to the left. Oh, yeah. Yeah, like going to the left. But it's NFL. So you kind of hope those things iron out in the preseason. Hope you get that done. Yeah. So yeah.

Yeah. So that one is, it's this. I'm telling you guys, they're so close to like just popping off and going for 30. We're going for 40. And if they just get, at least they had the turnovers. They went from the seven yard line to the one yard line. They're getting closer with their own turnovers. Progress.

But I mean, they just, they move the ball up and down the field. Their defense is playing super well. And they just can't get over the top and just can't stop shooting themselves. of foot. I mean, it's unbelievable what they're doing. But they're really close to pulling the doors off somebody. I'm sure it's going to happen someday. Yeah, the Falcons average 6.3 yards per play today, which was the fifth best mark of any team in week seven. And they scored 16 points and almost lost the game. So they are the definition of a frustrating team. Again, between them and the Jags, now that the Ravens have kind of gotten out of their fuck, between that, it's between the Falcons and the Jags for who's

going to do the best job of sabotaging themselves consistently. But that's the thing with turnover stuff or stuff in the red zone. It's like you hope it evens out, but is it this season? Is it next season that it evens out? You don't know. It playoffs? Is it week 12? You don't know. But when the Ravens it evens out today, all in one spurt or for the Falcons, they've lost 60 points in EPA from turnovers this year. But they're 12th on offense, the success rate and explosive play rate combined and seventh on defense. Like they're like so close, but they just are, oh, the Bejon-Rompson thing? very weird. It was sick.

Very weird. Wasn't feeling well. Had a headache. Just didn't sleep well last night. I can't remember anything like that with a guy barely playing in an NFL game because he just like wasn't feeling great. And maybe they're just trying to do everything they can to keep him right and to take precaution with the guy that they spent so much on.

And they have alternatives. Like they can absolutely function offensively without him, which probably says something. But I can't remember anything like that where he. He just, there's not an injury report. We hear nothing about it. And then after the game, it's like, guy, he just wasn't feeling very well. Yeah. Hey, they still move the ball.

I do think, like, some people were asking, like, they're like, so much of the Tyler allergy or stuff, even when Bejohn is healthy, it doesn't have the migraine or whatever is that it's, it's because they're keeping Bejohn fresh for a long season. Sure. And that's what, yeah, that's the algae or stuff. But this was just, this was just very strange. And at first I was like, oh, I get it. They're keeping them fresh because they don't want Vita Vea, you know, taking them out and

wearing them down. And then a couple drives went by and I was like, okay, this is kind of, kind of anxious. This is weird. And then I think it was near two minute drive or near the drive when he was barely in. He was in like the first play. That's why I was like, oh, okay, okay. Something's got to be up. And sure enough it was.

Also, the rest were freaking awful in this game. Awful. Horrid. Horrid. They had to play. Sorry. I didn't mean it spent as much time, but a couple of funny things happened. But there was a third and one.

They ran a cubie sneak. The Falcons did. They get the first down, but it was close. and no ref signals it. Like they wait, they wait, clock's ticking, clock's ticking. And then the guy, the umpire kind of gives the wave. And then the, you know, the ref kind of gives the little first down kind of like, yeah, it's a first down. But it's like 20 seconds left on the play clock and they don't wind it.

So no team knows if it's first and 10 or if it's fourth and one or whatever it is. And so they, the Falcons had to burn a time out. There was so much bad ball just from the refs today that just like just really ruined, but could have been kind of a flowy game. but he was so destroyed it. I mean, go back to the Colts Browns game. I mean, that past interference on Donovan People's Jones, it has a huge swing in the game. That ball sales five yards out of bounds.

Yeah. Oh, my goodness. There's so much bad stuff. There's so many bad calls right now. And it's so inconsistent. That's what it is. It's from staff to staff. Like, just the logistical errors.

Like, that's what I'm talking about. Like, just that. Like, I get the PI. Oh, my God. They missed that and all that. But just get like the game operation right. Because, I mean, that's, should be at least your job. They had another one. Falcons go tempo. I'm sorry, guys, but this

just pissed me off all day. The Falcons went tempo, did not sub. So the defense does not get a chance to sob. And then the ref wasn't sure if they subs. So he's like the falcons snapped the ball. And he's kind of in the way of Ritter. So he blows it dead. And then the fog, I have on mute. So it's on multi-screen. Fox did a great job of just showing the Empire just zoomed in on him. Like just shame, shame, shame. That's all I saw. I was saying in my head. But sorry, guys. that refs. Riffs are just been horrid so far this year. You're a very reasonable measured man, and I appreciate that about you.

But it's really fun seeing when the flashes of I used to work for an NFL team show up. And it's your occasional disdain for NFL referees. I hate refs, man. All my competitive anger comes out on them. It's just because they're a party we all can get behind. It's like, everyone can just go, yeah, we can point their anger there. I know it's got broad appeal. Let's keep going here.

I want to talk about the Las Vegas Raiders and what they did today against the Chicago Bears. The Bears had the fifth best success rate of any offense in the league today. They were just ahead of the Eagles. The Bears with Tyson Baygent as their starting quarterback.

Division 2, Shepard University, Tyson Bayesian. A lot of credit to Mr. Tyson Begant for the way that he played today. Bears running game was very good today. It's embarrassing. What the Raiders did is today against a backup quarterback making his first start after playing division two last year. And the performance that they put together on both sides of the ball is flat out embarrassing.

I just don't understand what the Raiders are supposed to be. We talked about serious, unsurious on Thursday. This is a deeply, deeply unsurious football team, in my opinion. And now we're getting to a place where what is, can you just lay out the argument for why this regime should state? in place after this season ends if it keeps going in this direction. Two years, it shouldn't because these are GM moves. These are moved like the Devante Adams trade, like the quarterback situation and like this being their answer.

Like this is just everything. This is like they had their time. They had resources to splash. Chandler Jones, of course, has had issues. But their first round pick this year has not been doing anything of note. Then their second round pick this year. Like they're guys that there should be game changers. They're not even using them.

It's just like, I don't know. I don't know what they're trying to be. I don't even know what they try to be on offense, even when I watch them. Like, they are just a zombie team. And so it just doesn't feel like they're just, any of this is working. It's like spare parts of different quality zombie team, like just when we're Frankenstein's monster, just like some's premium, but some's terrible and some's ify and some's okay pretty good. But it's just different quality of kind of Frankenstein's monster this team is. You have a guy you drafted in the fourth round who I know had a terrible game against the Chargers.

But why is it more important for Brian Hoyer to get these snaps at this stage of who you are as a franchise than getting some work for the guy that you drafted in the fourth round who couldn't possibly do a worse job over the course of this game than Brian Hoyer did for you? I just don't understand anything about who they are, who they want to be. They are just one of the most confounding, confusing rudderless teams in the NFL, in my opinion. And I think today was the best example we've gotten yet of that being the case. If you wanted one first instance, we should have seen that this regime might have a lack of vision was last year in the Hall of Fame game. You know, their first time we see them in action. Josh Jacobs is in there in the Hall of Fame game. Josh Jacobs ended up being a first team hall proclamation.

We know it. We said like proclamations about DTR being a Hall of Famer after after his Hall of Fame performance. Josh Jacobs was the first team. I'm all pro and they're like, no, we're trotting you out there for some touches. It's like, that should, ah, should have been a warning sign that maybe this was, maybe some bad things were to come with this team. I did like some flashes from the Bears defense today. I thought the Tyreek Stevenson had some really promising moments.

It was a mixed bag. He's a second round rookie with a very aggressive play style. He's a corner for the Bears for people who don't know. I shouldn't take that for granted. He had another bad penalty in this game. Devante Adams roasted him on a goal line fade that should have been a touchdown. But as one happens. Yes.

As it happens. Devon de Adams is one of the best players in the league as an all pro receiver. But I thought he had some really nice moments. He had multiple PbUs in this game. A couple one-on-one matches against Adams that actually went his way. And this is what you want to see from the Bears. The offense is obviously such a we've pressed pause incomplete. We'll see what happens when Fields gets back.

But the defense, they're healthy again. They had their starting secondary all out there for the first time in a while. Jaylon Johnson, Stevenson, the safeties, Caler Gordon. And the progress that you want to see from a young defense that has a lot of young pieces, starting to see that from the Bears. Helps to play this Raiders offense, but still some nice flashes from a unit that really seemed like it was just stuck in reverse for the first month of the season. But now they've gotten a little bit healthier and you're starting to see some progress

from those younger guys. That's encouraging to see. I don't know what the end game is for this team, this regime, all of that. But when you take guys in the second round, you want to see something from them. And I think we're starting to see some of that. Absolutely. You want the young guys to be playing, not only playing, but doing stuff. Also, like, speaking of doing stuff, I do want to see what this Bears team is like,

can we just get Khalil Herbert, Rochon Johnson healthy so we can like see this wrong game kind of keep going. Because there's just flashes of good happening right now and some tweaks and some designs. It's like, okay, just get healthy. And let's get Fields back in there. Can we just see a little bit more? But some nice flashes today. I also think that the running game and the interior of the offensive line has shown some flashes, right? Like, Tevin Jenkins played right guard today.

They've got some pieces up there. Like, I think the offense can be okay and be at least intriguing. And I think that some of the moves that they've made up front and some of those guys that they have can do some stuff. So we'll see what happens. They were fun to watch against Washington. Yeah. It was fun watching that all the line. They were going to work.

So, yeah, no, they're flashing, which is good. It's better than September was. So after the Raiders, speaking of just shitty vibes, what's going on in Washington right now? Again, just kind of feels like we're heading in the wrong direction. What Jonathan Allen said after that game, where I think it was J.P. Finley, it was a reporter in Washington, just asking how frustrating he is. I'm fucking tired of this. It's been the same shit for seven years. And that's kind of what it feels like.

The Sam Howell experience feels like it's kind of running its course. You know, I know that he's a very young. fifth round pick. It's not going to be great, but the sack taking and what that looks like and how historic it is, you can't really function on offense that way. And so if that thing is going to kind of turn back into a pumpkin and you have really no direction offensively and this regime feels like this lame duck regime, this again just kind of feels like it's trending in the wrong direction. And I thought that today was the worst entry we've seen on that path. Halel against a

Sam Howell against a Blitz happy team was a recipe for disaster. Like it's six sacks for negative 52 yards. That's, and that's with some throwaways, which was actually progress and some scrambles. That's more, he lost more yards on sacks than Jahan Dotson or Curtis Samuel had receiving.

That, yeah, and that's kind of what keeps happening game after game. You can't take that many sacks. It's just not sustainable. It's just too many yards to make up time and time again. So are getting first downs in the first place. But how,

but Tyra Taylor ripping some go balls. That was where is going on here? How frustrating doesn't have to be if you're a Giants fan. They paid Daniel Jones $40 million a year. And I know that the offensive line has been banged up. I know this. But for the offense to have some of the best moments it's had all year with a quarterback that was already on the roster making $5.5 million that you could have just

played with this year. If they didn't make the playoffs last year and Daniel Jones had a mediocre season. Even if they had, let's say they win two fewer games. They win seven games. They miss out in the playoffs. They're picking 12th. And they're not in a position to draft a quarterback, but they didn't do as well as they did last year. They absolutely just could have rolled with Tyrod for the year and said, this is our interstitial year. We're going to figure this out. We're going to retool. That's why we signed him to a two-year deal. I don't think anyone would have had a serious issue with that. And think

about where this team would be if that's how everything had unfolded. It just feels more alive. Like it feels open. Like, I don't know. Of course, having Sequin, Barkley back healthy or healthyish is does help too.

But yeah, it's fine. Like the victims of their own success. It's kind of like you have to put it on somebody. It feels like somebody had to be rewarded for it. Like that's what it felt like they had to do. They're like, here,

Daniel, like you did good enough. Like, I mean, it's hard to come away from. Like, we've talked about this. Like that, they kind of hit that like, yeah, it's good that they're a year ahead.

But almost, you almost wish it got reversed. Like this was the year that they struggled and had the up and down year and get into the quarterback stuff. But how about also just funny things that have in this game? Graham Gano's first field goal, like, because of the wind. I've had some, I've had some first T shots that look just like it. Just a slice. Just, I mean, that thing is hooked so hard to the right.

Oh, yeah. But then also the Giants blocked a field goal. Speaking of Washington, and they were in field goals safe, meaning that they didn't, you know, like half the guys aren't rushing. They just like kind of just drop off into coverage.

So it's like that happened today in this game. This game is so ugly. I actually am mad at you for making me go rewatch it. I'm like, I actually despise you for making me go rewatch this game. Because I did. And I watched all of it. Like this is,

this was like, just like Friday of 13th part four. Like this was just not like this was, I mean, you didn't have to go rewatch the whole game. You could have sped through some highlights. It's a got in the gist of it. I couldn't look away.

I was waiting for it to whisper seven days to me. Like it just I couldn't look away at it. All right. A couple more we want to hit. Steelers, big win over the Rams. I regret not saying the Steelers were serious on Thursday. I should just fucking know better.

I should just, I should just fucking know better by now. I'm proud of you. I should just know better. Every time I look at this team and I'm sitting there. That's it. And I, you know what?

I should just submit. I should just submit to the idea of what the Steelers are and just be fine with it. And the offense was not an NFL offense for like large stretches of the first six weeks of the season. They were dead last in success rate. They could not put together like a serious NFL game as an offense. And that's why I can't do it. Even if the defensive front is going to be the defensive front, I cannot do it with this offense. And then today they come out and they do just enough to get by.

and win this game against the Rams. It's back shoulder balls to George Pickens. There were some decent designs, though. Like they had a fake slide route off play action for a chunk gain. It's like, oh, man, they ran a play action pass. Congratulations to the Pittsburgh Steelers. They ran 27 of them all season up until that point. I looked it up.

It was dead last in the league. That's unbelievable. They actually, like, greatly increased their percentage of using them. Do you see the J-1-Warrant TD? Yes. They legit, stole it from the 49ers. Using Alan Robinson as a lead blocker, which was inspired, I would say. I'll give it inspired.

But it's, but it was just the toss outside zone play with the like kind of, you know, double block and everything. But they straight ripped that from 49ers. But I was like, hey, that's something. Some life. That's movement. Some life. It's movement to the play. Yes, I know.

And you know, the defense just does enough. Oh, can I talk about the T.J. Watt. Oh, you certainly can. Okay. Okay, okay, because there's like a little backstory on this one, which I thought was interesting. It was already interesting enough that the Steelers were in base personnel. We talked about this all the time, four DBs. So that's why T.J. Watt was walked out.

And I thought that was interesting. I was like, okay, because the Rams have been using some two tight ends. So maybe that's why, but that Rams were in 11 personnel. And I was, okay, huh. It's interesting. First play of the third quarter, you know, first play the second half. Like, why? Like, what, that's weird to me.

Yeah, yeah. Makes sense. There's no good reason for it. No. start picking at it. Start as the game's going on, start rewatching the whole entire first half to figure out what's going on.

Our guy, Scarsguard, is a main character of this story. So when the Rams are in 11 personnel with Scars guard in the game, the Steelers matched with base. They were in 11 personnel when he wasn't in the game was 2-2-at-well on the field.

They matched with nickel. You know what? That's actually correct because he's actually a fullback. Yeah, fullback slash second tight end slash, yeah. So they treat him like. a tight end. That's what they did. So they, so in the first half, that happened. I would say like three

times. It was on first and ten a couple times and then like one second down. First play the second half. This was like McVeigh got punished and the Ramstaff got punished for noticing this. Like it was a Steelers noticed the tendency. Rams noticed that tendency midgame. So they're like, first play, second half. We got them first and ten. Empty. Scars guards on the field in the slot. Cooper Cups at the three spot. We got Cooper Cup on a on the linebacker, Holcomb. We're good. I mean, this is, Cooper Cup is like half of his catches have been in this situation. A little double move on him. T.G. Watt, knowing, hey, this might happen where they're an empty, sees Cooper Cup at a three

spots. So he's like, oh, I'm just going to squeeze inside. He doesn't want to go to the flat. So it was just like, because of their awareness and because of Scars Guard, I had to bring this up. Because this is what led to them being a base, which led to them being an empty, which led to them running that play, which led to T.J. Wock get in that pick. Just, it was awesome. It was just like a great storyline that I couldn't wait to share for this show.

The Steelers showed just enough life on offense for me to think, okay, like maybe they will be annoying over the course of the season because they didn't need to show much. I still think the defense is going to be good enough and their front is going to be good enough to keep them in games. And all I needed to see from the offense was not the worst offense in the league down to doubt. And that's what they were today. I mean, they had plenty of moments. The picking stuff, the back shoulder stuff, that's even when they were playing poorly, they could rely on that every once in a while. But some flash. a half.

So it's nice. And he's very good at that. Like that skill set and what he can do is very nice. If you don't have a good quarter, just pepper that. Yes. Okay, that's a first. That's two or three first down. Anything else.

And they were today. They actually could like run offense today and consistently move the ball and seeing them be able to do that. It's like, okay, if you're going to be that, like if you're going to be an average or just below average NFL offense, which by the way, they were last year. Right. In the second half of last season, they were fine. It's not like they were great, but they weren't terrible.

So if you're going to be that sort of offense, combined with the way that they play defense, there's no reason why this team can't be competitive. But we had not seen that at all over the first five, six weeks of the year. This is absolutely by far the best performance their offense has had this season. And I don't think that's just Deonti Johnson coming back. I think it's a lot of things kind of falling into place. So if that's the Steelers team that we're going to get down the back half of the

year, they are going to be a competitive team. Yeah. I mean, their defense took it to a very good offense for stretches. I mean, the Rams were doing plenty of stuff, but the Steelers did well on defense. So like you said, they have a good front that's going to give a lot of people issues. They have great game playing stuff. Like I just talked about with that Scars Guard example. But this is what I pictured when I had them as a playoff team. And it's just that the offense can do enough. They can have a game where they get hot on the ground, where they can move the ball through the air, a couple of explosive plays. Get that race to a six. six or seven explosive plays.

The offense had not done enough. If you say the offense can't do enough, they had not to this point. I know better. That's the thing. And then when I watch them, I had seen, it's like,

okay, maybe that. What don't you, like me trying to sell it on Thursday. I was just like, I don't know, man, but just don't bet against it.

It's just, you just don't. Like, it's just this voodoo magic. I should know better. I know. And the defense is legit. Like,

don't get me wrong. And like T.G. Watt's up there with another guy that's up there for defense player of the year right now. We're going to have a conversation about this soon where the defensive player of the year conversation and what that race looks like because we have to do it at some point. It's ridiculous. It's great. I don't even know what you're going to do.

Right now, I don't want to have it now because it's actually something that deserves a lot of time. It's a juicy topic. Garrett, the way that T.J. Watt is playing, the way that Roquant Smith is playing, the way that Michael Parsons has played for stretches this year, it is going to be one of the more fun, competitive defensive player of the year races that we have seen in a long, long time. And there's like five or six guys that definitely deserve mentioned in that conversation. And then the story where, you know, I wrote about on Yahoo last week was that, you know, with offense scoring so far down, that's the story of the season. It's fitting that there's eight guys that we could talk about as defensive player of the year, realistically a half a dozen.

I mean, it's pretty crazy. Also, do you want to, you know, the Rams are still decent. Like, I do want to say that. It's like they're often, I mean, Stafford scrambled more already this year than he has in 2016. He looks still great. They still have Pooka Nakua has some nice plays. So it's like I'm not, I haven't wavered on the ramps at all. I just think the Steelers got it to this jiu-jitsu game that they always do,

where they just take to the ground and ugly it up. Last thing before we get out of here, worried about the Packers, just in terms of like what Jordan loves future looks like and how bad they've been on offense over the last few weeks. I am a little bit because that just the offense line just being so in tatters. It's just they can't function. Like the Aaron Jones being out,

But that's the thing is I thought love would have created enough plays. They're just so young and so inconsistent. They have guys botching just normal routes. Justice Muscatah couldn't get over the fact that they botched stick and it cost them on a third down, I believe it was. So it's, yeah. And I mean, and then also just their defense as well. It's just the same old shit. I mean, they gave up 10 explosive plays today.

The run game, they're just giving up chunks. It's just, again, young on offense. I do like a lot of the pieces. They have flashes like they did in the first. fourth quarter. They always improve in the second half, but the defense just doesn't do enough to kind of like supplement them, even if the point scoring isn't that high today. Yeah, I just, it's going to be interesting to see what happens. They're picking in the top 10 right now. I mean, if this keeps going in this direction, what their quarterback conversation is going

to look like this off season, what the direction of the franchise is going to look like this off season. We knew there'd be some growing pains. Let's be real. I mean, they're so young. It's one of the youngest offenses I can remember. You combine that with the offensive line. injuries. It's much worse than I anticipated it being. And I think it's going to lead to some discourse that I probably didn't think would happen. If I figured he'd be fine enough, they'd roll with him for another year. But it feels like we're moving further and further away from that. It's just wildly inconsistent. He epitomizes that whole offense, really, that whole team, just a flash every once in a while and then just a lot of stretches of just inconsistent play.

Also, my number one advice to him would be for today, stop targeting Patrick Certan, just stop just like this your life would be a lot better if you just stop targeting him i get it you like your receivers you like christian watson just don't don't try him he's he's really really tough to go against and the bronco's defense hasn't been atrocious as of late they've been mildly better that wasn't hard that that wasn't hard to do for them to be at least a little bit better not atrocious yeah the steward it's fitting the steward's offense in the bronco's defense both had both had some improved performances today that this is october all right tomorrow on the podcast feed, please make sure you are checking out Kiefer and the Beats, if you have not.

Zach Kiefer talking to some of our wonderful beatwriters, some really worthwhile check-ins. Jeff Rebeck talking about the Ravens and where they're at right now after this huge game. Joe Biscalia discussing what is going to be a decent amount of Bill's panic coming out of week seven. I'm curious about that conversation with Joe and how things are feeling over there right now because it's been a pretty wild swing from that Dolphins game to what things are feeling like right now in Buffalo. And this was beyond what's happened over the last couple games. You think back to last year and how exhausting it was for that entire team down the stretch. You think back to the game against the Bills or excuse me, the game against the Chiefs in the 13 seconds.

And was that our best chance? I mean, there is just so much kind of emotional weight that has kind of come down on the Bills. over the last couple seasons. So checking in with Joe about how that's all feeling, I think is definitely going to be great. And Joe Persson, our Panthers writer, discussing where things are with the Carolina Panthers, who, by the way, Bears won today.

Also a big winner in the race for the number one pick. All the other one-win teams won today. So now the Panthers are two games in the hole for the number one pick. So not a bad day for me. I'm going to take that one. But it'll be good to check in with Joe and just discuss what's going on in Carolina right now. Oh, man. What a day.

I'm exhausted. I'm absolutely exhausted. We should do that Saints Jags game was indicator. I'm on the East Coast. It's like 1 a.m. right now. I'm just absolutely exhausted. So I'll be excited. I think I said thus is October.

I couldn't even finish my sentence at the end. I was like that. I don't even know what I'm saying right now. I'm just, just hit a wall. It was great. It was awesome. I mean, the good way. It's a good kind of tired.

It was like I just had a play date. All right. We will be back, as always, with a lot of more stuff this week. Excited to talk to you guys. Really appreciate you listening. We'll talk to you soon. This was the Athletic Football Show.