The Athletic Football Show: A show about the NFL - Week 8 Recap: Chiefs and Niners go down, the Bengals are back, and the league is wide open

Episode Date: October 30, 2023

We're through eight weeks of the 2023 NFL regular season, and we just might have our most wide open year in recent memory. The Chiefs and 49ers lost on Sunday. The Bills and Cowboys recently suffered soul-searching losses that now seem like they happened a lifetime ago. And the Bengals appear to be all the way back. Robert Mays and Nate Tice dig into all that, and a whole lot more, on this episode of The Athletic Football Show.Follow Robert on Twitter: @robertmaysFollow Nate on Twitter: @Nate_TiceSubscribe to The Athletic Football Show...AppleSpotifyYouTube Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

This is the athletic football show. To the athletic football show. I'm Robert Mays. Joining me tonight. It's my good friend Nate Tyson. Nate, how you doing, buddy? Doing very well. That was a nice, tasty week eight.

That felt proper. Oh, yeah. We're getting to the midpoint, you know, maybe the conclusion of the first act of the NFL season. It just felt right to maybe like turbocharged. And if you look at next week's schedule, it's like, okay, maybe we can keep the good times rolling. So week eight was nice. act doing that. We can't do that. Super card. Let's focus on what's happening right now before you get me thinking about what's

coming around here. I think we got a cage match in there. I mean, we got some great stuff. We got a lucha match in there somewhere. No, it's next week is going to be fantastic. No buys this week. And I get spoiled when we have three, four, five teams on by because that early slate has like that perfect, like six games. You can keep track everything that's going on. And today, which is back to the millhouse meme where everything is just fully just washing over you on that early slate. But we had some really interesting results, both in that slate and in the afternoon, that we wanted to dig into here. So we'll talk about a couple performances that really stood out a little bit later in the show. But the big picture takeaway that I have from week eight, and this is a discussion that was kind of happening on the internet after the afternoon games wrapped up, is that it doesn't feel like we have any juggernaut like teams in the NFL.

And I think the losses by both the chiefs and the Niners today are the best indications of that. But think about some of the other teams in the league that we've considered elite at one point or another. This season for so many fan bases is the it's so fucking over. We're so fucking back every single week. That's what it's been. Every team has felt like that. After the Bills lost to the Patriots last week, there was so much consternation among their fan base. they go out, I know they only won by a touchdown, one helm area away.

The bills looked really good on Thursday night. They looked very good. If you watch that bill's offense, you got to feel pretty good when you consider the rest of the NFL. Other teams, Dallas. Dallas gets torpedoed by the Niners a few weeks ago. Oh, man, this is it. Like Mike McCarthy, this is a disaster. What are the Cowboys going to do?

It's another lost season. We're good to go. More debt contract talk. It's like, whatever that happens, that's how you know, it's like, that's a checkpoint game right there. That happens. Dallas today destroys the Rams. The Eagles lose to the Jets. There's so much discussion about their offense, what's happening.

They let Washington move the ball on them today. But the Eagles are 7 and 1. So it just feels so wide open after these games today. But I think the biggest reason for that is two teams that really felt like they were at the top of their respective conferences when we did the hierarchy reset that we did a few weeks ago were San Francisco and the Chiefs. And both of those teams now I think look increasingly mortal for. different reasons and that was kind of on full display today. Yeah, I feel like if you've had any take about the top teams, like the top half of the league teams, you'd be correct at some point this season.

Or very wrong. There's some tape. There's some skeletons in the take closet this year that are not doing so good. It's, it's, they're all over the place. And it's, that's what's kind of been like, you know, we hit on the offense and the lack of offense. And I think a lot of people were kind of noticing and a lot of red zone frustrations, lack of touchdowns there. And I think that's, you know, defense has struck back. They struck back even harder this season. It's been a kind of a multi-year thing. And it kind of has felt that maybe that's why there's been so much frustration.

When there's no points, then it's kind of, it feels tight. Everything just doesn't feel right. You feel claustrophobic. And then there's turnovers in the red zone. It feels like every team has had them. And it feels like that's like, I feel like I'm a broken record sometimes on this show. And it's like, hey, what's this team's issue? It's like, they moved the ball well, turnover in the red zone.

I looked it up. I thought it was, I thought it was on to something like, well, this might be the most turnovers within the 30 yard. or something like that. Like 2007, it was obnoxious. There was like 80 more turnovers through that. So it's like we're in better time still. But I think that's what it is.

You're looking at some really, really good defensive units, a lot of improved units. And then you just have inconsistent offenses. Like the Eagles who are seven and one just feel incomplete in some ways, especially on offense. And that's with some of their players going bonkers week in, week out. And it feels okay or it looks okay in the end result. But then when you watch it, it doesn't feel okay. You feel kind of that, oh, some concert. I don't think Eagles fans feel seven and one.

Even after the way the last two weeks have gone, I don't think they feel seven and one because of how uneven the first month was and when they're undefeated. There's been a lot of worry and concern among the Eagles fan base. Maybe that's just that's specific to the Eagles fan base. But I do think that they are a good example of this. It's very Philly that I've been criticized after last year being too hard on them. And then like I came around in the end was now this time Eagles fans are yelling me and said, you're too easy on them.

Like they're no, they aren't. No, they're not doing well. like, oh, that's so philly. EC dub, like, that's exactly how they are. But every fan base has had that. Chiefs fans, who I still feel great about their team, they still have some frustrations. You have Patrick Mahomes, like, worst game. Like, one of his worst games of his career. If you just look at what we look at success rate and like EPA and stuff like that. So it's just like every team, even the ones that I think are very good are just not, they feel all incomplete or the inconsistent, which I actually think it's very fun because it's truly any given Sunday,

Monday or Thursday. Let's talk about those teams that had disappointing losses today and maybe have gotten knocked down a peg in people's minds. Let's start with the Chiefs. Yeah. Concern coming out of this game, like real concern about the offense against what was on track to be a historically bad defense for the Broncos through the first four, six weeks of the season? No, I mean, just a little concern that they're having some inconsistencies. You know, Sky Moore is kind of just not, it's showing that he can't really be relied on, even outside the drop. He had a route against Sertan that Mahomes should not have challenged. But I think this team so far this year, offense, defense, and special teams. Even special teams this year, the Chiefs kind of had a big bounce back year

after kind of struggling last year. I trust this team. It's got, it's got a good defense, good special teams. Like I said, the old line's still there. They're improving. The Mahomes is still Mahomes. Even if he had a bad day today, he was sick. I'm not going to blame that always on them. But he's, I didn't either. The interception that he threw was awful. The test and match the eye test. Like I agree with that. I agree with that. I felt like that. It was a pretty good day. And it was like, that's when bringing up the stats, a bottom five day, which is weird. The interception was bad.

That was just the type of decision you don't normally see from him. But they had a couple, again, third and short miscues in the in plus territory that just continue to happen. A shovel pass to a she rise. They had a third and two swing to McKinnon that creates a tackle for loss. They have a fumble in the red zone in the final minute of the first half again. And they're still in this game. If Nicole Hardman doesn't drop that. punt we're having an entirely different conversation. He came out after the game and

took credit or took blame for the loss. So I know it's a bad day, but again, three, four swing plays. I will say he had a 3.38 second time to throw it today. Mahomes did. They did not have anything within rhythm within the offense today. That was my biggest concern. And I wonder, you talk about Skymore, okay? Trade deadlines Tuesday. You think they should go try to see what's out there at non, let's call it complimentary receiver pieces. That's what I'm calling McCle Hartman. He's a complimentary receiver. More of a every down player.

Yes. An auxiliary pass catcher. Do you think it is worth them potentially looking into a real starting, I can play 60 snaps for you a game receiver to put within their offense? I think, yeah, they have to listen to calls or maybe get creative, but I think they're betting on rice. I think that's exactly right. I think that's it.

I think he's the number two. think they think that too, and it looks like it. And yeah, I think he had a drop today or one play that stood out, but he had so many positive plays as well. And he's done, he's stacking it up week after week. And he keeps ascending week after week. So I think he kind of represents that he's a rookie, a second round, a day two rookie and that they are betting on maybe some inconsistencies, but in the long run, like in the second half a year, it's going to really pay dividends. So I don't think they need to be aggressive, but they'd listen, I think would be a good way to put it. I agree with you. And I was having a conversation with somebody about that.

today. And I just think that you don't want to cut off development opportunities for young, highly drafted guys who've shown flashes. And I think they're comfortable with their timeline and the pace at which they're doing this stuff. And if you look at the way the last two years have gone, they should be. They have earned the benefit of the doubt with how they're looking at these sort of plans from a team building perspective. I do want to watch their, I do want to watch their run game, because the run game has been a little up and down this year. So, but I think in again, I'm betting them on the long run, especially after the biweek had, they have so. Also, like, go ball, go ball bad luck on defense.

So a couple penalties on some of those plays. They're good. I still think very high way of the chiefs. Okay. Yeah. I feel the same way that you do. But this is the conversation that's happening right now, right? When these teams lose, this is kind of, all right, everyone's going to pull down into the muck.

Do you feel like the Niners are actually getting pulled down into the muck in a way that the chiefs are not in your estimation? I'm the running on the Niners defense is a little worrisome that you. I think that is going to be a problem. I think how the play style. I think maybe that's some exchange with Hargrave and his play style. That's a little more upfield, more aggressive. But that's the tradeoff. Look at the Eagles run defense this year compared to last year.

He's a great player, but he does. He has specific strengths. Gap shooter guys kind of have that tradeoff. You're going to get, it's, yeah, you're going to strike out a lot, but then you're going to get some a lot of home runs. But I, man, I look at that offense. And even at a day today, again, with the turnovers for pretty, they're all happening at once. He's always had these kind of moments where he's getting near turnovers and it felt like,

again, two weeks in a row that he's kind of like all spurt out the worst moments. They're moving the ball again fine. They ever eight yards of play today. They were, oh my God, I, I know we'll talk about that game later. They were moving to ball so well and that that's why I'm not concerned about them too much, but I will say the rush defense is a little concerning because that has been kind of a thorn in some quality defenses and quality team sides over the longer, but I still think they're very good. Yeah. And the defensive general, I think, is worth keeping an eye on.

It took a while to get here where there was a little bit of concern about them. But coming into the season, this is why I wasn't ready to just throw them in as like, this is the best team in the NFC. They're going to be who they were last year. They lost the defensive coordinator. They have some turnover on that side of the ball. So I think it's just worth remembering that that even though they were great over the first four to six weeks, this is always something that could creep up.

So I'm kind of with you. And I also, it's so funny that he had the two terrible interceptions. It's one of the reasons they ultimately lose the game. I was more impressed with Brock Purdy today for 95% of the game than I have been with him in most of the games he has played in the NFL. Two weeks in a row for me watching him. Even the Vikings game, I watched him. I was like, dude, he made some real deal of throws here. Big boy throws.

And what he was doing with his legs, he was extending a bunch of plays in this game. I thought that he was a real positive influence on this game for all but like two or three snaps. So I know that those are really. important two or three snaps, but I think it's important to just kind of keep the big picture when we're looking at him and when we're looking at this offense specifically. They had, I believe, yeah, they had the best offensive success rate of any team in the NFL today. The San Francisco 49ers did. They averaged eight yards per play, which is the best mark in the league in week eight. So just something to keep an eye. As we're looking at the team, oh, I'm sorry, I look at like combined

success rate and explosive play rate. It's just a simple style of it. But they were, I think Show me where that is, by the way, in true. Okay, I call it OPS because I call it OPS, like on base plus slugging because I just couldn't think of another name for it. But they, I think this game was like the fourth best game of the season that any team has had. So it's like, they're okay out of offense. And they left stuff on the field. You take it off the dome on a random play that he typically is typically complete. So, all right, let's look at the teams now, maybe a slight step down from those teams because that's the most important conversation here is, are those teams really getting dragged down?

to the level of the Seahawks, the Lions, these NFC teams, the Cowboys that are all five and two. Do you feel like it is as bunched up as maybe some people were communicating it to be this afternoon after a couple of those teams lost, where we really have no teams that have separated themselves from the pack? I do. I feel like because of the units that where a lot of these teams have good defenses, like, so that's going to keep games tight just naturally. And so I think the one team that maybe is in this upper tier or the upper middle class, whatever you want to call it, like the dolphins. They have a fantastic offense. We know that. Very explosive, but they have a defensive blemishes. Yes, Jalen Ramsey's back, but you can get after that defense.

It's been kind of proven week and week out. Patriots move the ball a little bit today. Yeah. It's a bad turnovers, but they move the ball a little bit today. So it's like, yes, you bet on that offense. But a lot of these other teams are kind of balanced in both ways that it's not as easily you can just pick after them if that makes sense. So I think that bunches everybody to the middle, that it's like if you, everybody has good units, especially the teams at the top.

Sometimes we have these teams in the middle that are just about outstanding defense and terrible offense. I'm sure we'll talk about some on the show. But kind of this group in the middle has two good units or a quarterback in a good defense, some pairing of that, that I think that's why it feels, I think it does feel tight. And I think that's apt. Like, I really agree with that opinion that other people have. A couple of other teams you haven't even mentioned yet.

Think about what people were saying about the jags at points early in the season. The Jags now are tied for the best record in the AFC. They're six and two right now. And I think that they're playing really good ball. Trevor again had a really nice game. It had several great moments. I thought their offense did a very good job. It was nice to see them.

Remember we had the conversation about him as a mutter, him being able to play in the elements. Thank you. Thank you for bringing that out. Their offense having this sort of game in the rain is weirdly encouraging to me. It is. So you have the Jags. It's like, all right, we got some moments. The Ravens destroy the Lions last week.

A weird game today. against Arizona, admittedly, but they're six and two. So it just feels like everything is bunched up right now. And the NFC kind of feels like that as well. You know, you have this game from the Niners where it's like, all right, you know, maybe the defense isn't what we thought it was. And, you know, if the offense is going to have some worse turnover luck and Purdy's going to have some blemishes that maybe we haven't seen so far,

how close are they to a Seattle team that won a very hard fought game against a really good Brown's defense today? The Cowboys, again, look elite in some of these months. moment. So it all feels really bunched up. It all feels really tangled. And for my money, I love it. I absolutely love it because it just feels like this could go any direction. It's, that's what's awesome about it because I can see. It's, it's really cool because we've kind of hit on this, especially with defense, is that a lot of teams found some weaknesses that they had and they try to improve it. And I think that's awesome. I think that's really cool. It's kind of like a nice

continuation of last season. But I really think this Jags team is really. good. I love this defense. Again, the Steelers offense isn't much to write home about, but still, they, but they make their presence felt. Like, this Jaguars defense has that attitude right now. And I love that all three levels are impacting games now. Yes, we can talk about the sacrate stuff, but they're all doing stuff, which is really cool. That DB group is playing a really good ball, which I'm sure we might hit up on the halfway awards talk maybe in a couple weeks. But I love the defense. I love Trevor, of course. I think the offense is explosive in the run game. Can be inconsistent at times. But again, I think now football right now is a race to explosive place.

When that is the most scarce resource, it's play good defense and a race to explosive place, run game or pass game. That's kind of what ball is right now. And if you can do that, these are the teams I'm betting on and the teams that I think are going to have a chance at the end when the dance starts. With this tightly packed group, it makes the next few days for the trade deadline really comes. Yes. Oh, yes. So if you're the bills and you know your offense is capable of the sort of performance you had on Thursday and you feel a little uneasy about your defense you make a couple calls can you go get a corner somewhere can you find maybe a linebacker some solutions to these issues that you're facing you're the jacks you make that josh uche call

potentially and say can we get just a little more juice in our past rushing group i've talked about this today it's never going to happen in a million years because they just don't operate that way i just want the bangles to call about like logan thomas just like can just go get me like a a functional tight end. Just like a functional tight end. I'm done. That was it. I've been done.

So those sorts of moves that could potentially be on the horizon here, I think it's going to be a really, even if nothing happens, I think there's going to be a lot of intrigue around what happens over the next couple days. So good stuff, man. As we get toward the midway point, having all these teams with real life, I think is definitely something to keep an eye on. It's put it this way. Like when I do like a kind of quote unquote power rankings before we kind of were

prepping for this segment, I didn't, I couldn't really. tier them that easily or number them that easily at all. And I think that's awesome. Good quarterbacks, like offenses just have to be creative. They have to be creative, which means that means when we anoint people, like they earned it this year. That's what the, what the dolphins are doing is pretty cool. But also, but good defense, it's just good ball right now. Even if there is some sloppiness, it's just, it's fun right now. And I love that, that every Sunday is a challenge. All right. Let's talk about a couple of performances that really grabbed us today. It's time for you at my attention.

Gentlemen, you have my curiosity, but now you have my attention. Every week, there's just a wall of stuff coming at you in an NFL Sunday. So we like to talk about a couple of performances that really kind of grabbed us by the short collar. And let's start with the Cincinnati Bengals. The Bengals are back, baby. The Cincinnati Bengals, you have my attention. Biggest thing that jumped out to you about what the Bengals did to the Niners today, I guess specifically on offense.

Well, that's why all Bengals talk up until this point, I was like, just wait to the by week. Just wait to the by week. Just wait to the by week. You know, Burroughs calf and how this offense is. Well, first off is how Burrow looks. He has looked better into the biweek, but now he looks 100% or as near a tool. It was just so nice. Watching him over the first month of the season was such a fucking bummer. He's a statue. He's so good when he's good and he's so good when he's right. To see him at 65% or whatever he was and unable to function. within that offense. It was just depressing as someone who likes good ball. And to see that version of him out there today was so comforting and so much fun. Yeah. And again, they're trying to tweak. We talked about the under center stuff on Thursday.

And they were hitting that opening script. They hit it. Kind of maybe shot away from it as the game went along, which I'll be interested to check out. I'm not sure if you have any numbers on that. They ran 15 under center plays today. They had run 16 all season. Yeah.

Until this point. It's a lot of runs out of it. So the most they had done all season. Talking to people there, I was wondering it was a specific Niners game plan thing. And I think that they just wanted to introduce it for more variety period. It was the same kind of stuff that we talked about last year where they're very conscious of what their own tendencies are. So what can we introduce to start playing with those tendencies? And that was one of my biggest takeaways from this game.

This coaching staff deserves our respect. All these people in the first month of the year, when the quarterback wasn't operating and when they really couldn't do anything offensively because the playbook was so condensed, people were shitting all over them. I'm like, guys, how fast we forget how good they've been at these little tiny pivot moments over the last couple of years. And I think today is another example of that where they've done such a great job of trying to just slither for answers and just finding them in the cracks.

And that sort of game plan today where it's like, we're going to play under center more because we know we need a little bit of a change up. Just another example for me. Yeah, the run, like what you're saying, they know their tendencies. I mean, Chase's touchdown was a great example of it because, I mean, they run that before, a little fake bubble, the blocker goes runs a wheel route. Everybody kind of has a variation of it. But because it's more devastating because of how many bubbles and flats this offense throws so much,

or throws right now, and because they're putting Chase into this slot so much more, the number three spots so much more, it's making those more devastating. But then it's kind of funny that they faked him as a, blocker on that one and still got him to open up for a touchdown. But again, you're using tendencies and breaking them. There's another Jamar Chase catch, you know, 10 of them today. But it was near the red zone or in the red zone. It's like a little crossing route.

And kind of mentioned this, that they keep putting them at the number three spot, the tight end position area. And he chip helps. You have Jamar Chase chip helping. I saw that. Yeah. Which most people would be like, you know what? How can you use Jamar Chase as a chip helper? If that happened in Atlanta, oh my goodness.

So he does it. He chip helps. But what it does is because the 49ers are so like they use their own kind of tendencies and awareness of tendencies against them. Oh, a guy's chip helping. We can loosen up and get into coverage. And there's just how you respond to that. He chips helps.

He's blocking. I don't have to worry about him running a route. That's the last thing I have to worry about. But then you realize, oh, it's number one. And then he's running for an easy first down. So again, using tendencies, using this stuff off of it. And it's just, yeah. And the run game was good.

good, some good tendency breakers there and some good ways to influence Bosa and kind of keep him uneasy sometimes in a run game with jet sweep stuff. So really good game playing. Again, like you said, they've earned our respect, especially what happened last year. And again, coming out of the biweek. And so it's like, I wanted to see how they kind of did this after this by week. There was a stretch in the first quarter that I thought was very emblematic of just who they were today. Burroughs slips out of like three different sacks on a single play, finds T. Higgins on the sideline on third down, keeps the drive going. Next set of plays. A. Swing to Chase in the left flat, just an extension of the run game.

They're very good at kind of getting him those touches now within the rhythm of their offense. Very next play. Under center play action to Jamar Chase. How many under center play action plays do you think the Bengals had run before this game? This year? Oh, like two. One. One.

Okay. They were three of four today. So they ran four times as many today as they had the entire season coming into the game. Next play, after hitting that, they run a trap to Joe Mixon. Again, which against the Niners, that's the type of stuff that you can do well. They get guys up field, chunk gain out of like a little three by one set that I thought was a very good way to just get linebackers out of the muck. They finish off the drive with a little slot fade to Tyler Boyd for a touchdown. Motion to get him there.

Great play against Isaiah Oliver. Beautiful ball by Burrow. So all of that stuff combined. You have Burrow playmaking out of structure when necessary. You have smart designs that make sense as little tendency breakers, as game plan specific stuff. and then you have the quarterback being the quarterback on that final throw to Tyler Boyd, which he was all day today. I mean, this guy finished 28 of 32 for 283 against this offense.

And he felt that good. That whole shot that he hit to Jamar Chase in the second half, just in stride, beautiful, Chase drags his feet. I'm like, we're back. Like, we are so back. Well, the fact that he checked into a QB draw out of empty, that's why I was like, okay, he's feeling it. That was something they got to last year.

They were using more as just a straight design runner, especially with the QB draw stuff. When you get, it was funny. It was the 40-9ers got caught on that. Like they were trying to like, okay, we're going to show pre-snap and we're going to do some funky post-snap. And like, I think they were showing man and they got to something else. But they show it and they show a light box. So Burrow checks to the QB draw on third long. But then actually the final result was something he did not want to check into, but it ended up working out because it was just like.

So the 49ers played themselves and Burrow caught him. So that was actually pretty fun. But no one had eyes on bro on that one. So their whole run game was great. Like I love that you brought up the trap play. Again, using the jet motion, the influence both sounds on that, the toss place,

kind of getting some stuff outside, getting those guys going horizontal, the bubble stuff like I mentioned. And they can get to the bubble stuff. And that helps out the run game is against the 40, so when they wanted to go to the gun, if the 49ers want to be in too high, and you're putting the kind of the apex defender,

which is the slot defender, into a choice there. Does he play the bubble? Or does he help out with the run? run game. So now he has to pick. He has to pick is poison. Now you have Joe Mixing coming downhill or you have Jamar Chase running a bubble and Jamar Chase breaks the first tackle every single, first tackle every single time. So it's just simple football. But it's really, it really is, but it all makes sense. It's great. It was good stuff today. We,

we knew it was coming, but it's good. It's good to see it. It's nice to see it, though. To see him look that healthy and to see that game plan come together is very reassuring. On defense, I know that there's some people who are probably going to look at the final result. and look back at the conversation we had about the Bengals defense on Thursday and just be like, you didn't give them enough credit. Very similar results, though.

The Niners move the ball very consistently, but the Bengals got him a couple times. I mean, the pick that Purdy throws in the red zone, he just needs to put more loft on that ball. It's just a fluky play. The second interception, and I don't want to get too deep into the details because people obviously can't see this,

but it felt like the Niners ran the wrong route. So you had two guys, coming from left to right. And it feels like Jennings should run a shallow there, right, to yank the linebacker up and are you comes in behind it? I, it was like they had two in breakers. So they do dagger in a different way in that offense where it's like they kind of do an over with a dig behind it.

So I wasn't sure if that got bad spacing and the guy, I think I was supposed to have the inside. That also could make sense. That was my first instinct and that that was kind of kind of just what I went with. But you're, that's another thing too, is that you don't know who's tagged as what. that's always the common mistake that happens. Oh, this guy moves around. Oh, I'm the F.

And then he makes a mistake. He's actually the Z. And then they run it. It just feels like there should have been an underneath route in there because there was nothing to pull Wilson down. If they were trying to do like any sort of high low, there was nothing to pull them down. And yeah, the two guys were right next to each other too. And so that's no horizontal spacing and no vertical spacing. But that offense usually does such a great job of it.

So yeah, it did feel like a bust or someone got collisioned into something bad. Yeah. So again, that's just a offensive mistake that leads to a game swing. He was trusted. That'll happen sometimes, right? That's that offense. You have to pull a trigger on it, but it can bite you. No reason to get down this road now, but it's the conversation about whether it's actually

anticipation or you're just throwing to where they're telling to throw you the ball. Right. Those are two different things. But it's interpretation. Yeah. It's how it's choose your adventure. It's how you want to go with it. They did do some drop eight in this game, which we assume they would.

Mixed results. Some huge chunk plays, but also a key third downing completion early in the game. So again, there wasn't that many answers that they had that consistently slowed the Niners down. It was just a couple bounces of the ball. But what they did on offense, hugely encouraging. How about all four of the Bengals wins have been against the West so far this year? All I care is that the wins are coming because guess what, buddy, don't look now. I went 5 and 0 in the wins league this week.

This is why I haven't said a word about it. How the turntables. It's why I have just been trying to reverse jinx myself at every single turn. So now I think I'm only like a half game back. Yeah, it's right around there because someone had a buy. The swing games are huge. It's the first one I won. I have the Bengals.

You have the Niners. So for people who don't know, we have a, we pick five teams each season long wins league. I was in a big hole coming into this week and I have clawed my way back into the conversation. I was watching it. And I'm like, man, this game I really don't, you know, I'm just watching neutral to wager on it at all at all. And it's like the wins league actually, it hurts. It's like it makes it.

It's like, no, I don't want to feel this way. I want to just enjoy this game and everything. And now I have to feel something. That's why we did it. We need some actual stakes with this stuff. I know. I know. Very big moment.

Guess what? Tough break for me. I have one that I can't win next week. The Cincinnati Bengals played the Buffalo Bills on Sunday night football. It's a fun. which is very exciting. So just one of a fantastic slate of week nine games. We'll have a lot of time to talk about that.

before we get there. In case you want to see all the slate, just look at me or Ben Sellex timeline. We are hyping up next weekend. Week 9 is to be fantastic. Let's get to another standout performance today. The Dallas Cowboys, you have my attention. We both had the same process with this game today. Yeah.

Excited to watch it. Cute it up in my multi-view. You're trying to figure out the multi-view today. I was like, how do I do this? Weird national games. I didn't expect Steelers Jags to be available to me nationally in the Midwest, but it was. So I'm trying to figure out my multi-view. By the time I get there, it's like 33 to 3.

So that game's gone. And it's a game I really wanted to watch. I was excited to watch. And we only got like five or six plays. So going back to re-watch it in the same way that you did, what stood out to you about this version of the Cowboys team you got to watch today? CD on the outside. CD-Lam working from the outside.

Huge. It's something they've been sprinkling in and seeing it a little bit more. They used him like an elite receiver. How about that? He, yeah, he had six targets on the outside today, most of the season. These were the gains on those six targets. 17, 10, 21, 0, 26, 24. And it was, it felt alive.

It really did. And they were playing around with it. They were making them the true X. He scored his first touchdown as the true X, the isolated receiver. So nasty, too. So nasty. I mean, the crossover, I mean, the release is just absolutely disgusting. I got, ball.

I want him to get 15 targets a game. He is so good. I love C.D. His touchdown was just, I was trying to describe it. It's just, okay, four poach, the backside safety goes to the three by one. But it's like, that's easy enough. Like the guy, there's going to be a void there. But C.D puts his own stank on it and wins so easily that that's the double damage.

That's why it seems like an easy touchdown. It's a great schematic thing, creating a void there. Classic combo three by one that the cowboys did. but then CD's got to win. And, like, he did. And so that is just good old football. That's just good old one-on-one NFL matchups, stars win those matchups, and they make the plays. And I think Dax's playing some good ball.

Yeah. I was really really excited about watching him today. I thought that his legs and him extending plays in this game, that that combined with just how they use CD, that felt like the added dynamism to this offense that I want to see. him extending as a scrambler, whether it be outside the pocket, whatever, combined with the way they use CD. That was the difference to me and why the offense specifically in this game felt a little different than it has at times this year. Yep. I agree. It had some more, it just had some more spark to it.

Totally. Totally. The bi-week stuff. But, yeah, I think these are two things that are hidden up on it. It's that CD and creating those explosives there, this offense that they have to try and create explosives. So rather than a traditional offense, traditional NFL offense that this offense is, because it has still some of that Kellanmore, Scott Linnehan to it. You know, it's what they call it the Gulf West Coast, the Gulf Coast or something like that.

They, they call it the Gulf Coast offense, something like that, the Pirate Bay offense. They, they, they, it still has a lot of that three by one. Like the Chargers and the Cowboys are more and the Broncos and the Saints are cousins of each other offensively. But that creates a lot of opportunities for the X. This is why Mike Williams gets a lot of touches. Gallup isn't what he used to be. He's like 70% of what he used to be. So why create a lot of one-on-ones for him?

Let's give him the CD. And then now look at how this office. It's a great call. Brandon Cooks goes into slot. And now Michael Galap goes to the Z spot. It all just kind of is working out. And you're seeing it kind of coming to fruition. They're creating explosives, which they need.

And I'm really liking it. Jake Ferguson, too. Great design of his touchdown. The seam ball to Jake Ferguson was a beautiful throw. Beautiful throw. And Dak had a bunch of those today. One of the big CD completions, again, this is post-bi-week stuff like what can we steal they just straight stole the dolphins out motion it's great they used the

tight end to think it was ferguson shot him out so you have the cut split for cd against leverage a little glance to him it's an explosive play it's like oh hey like we also have good players if we put them in these situations maybe the results will follow and we got a lot of that today so exciting performance from the offense i was so encouraged by how the defense played overall but also a couple specific guys on defense. I thought DeRond Bland was insane in this game. It was great. Insane. Oh, I know.

I couldn't believe it. It just kept being him. A lot of, a lot of Cowboys' D.Bs played well today. Like, it was definitely their day. George Lewis, that's some really nice moments too. That's who was standing out to me as well.

The pick six was good. They messed with Stafford a little bit on it. They go into a stack of line with a certain ways you can play it. I think he was expecting what they call top hat. But all it is is that, Jordan Lewis on it would cover Cup who is behind, but instead he stays the locked.

And so he covers the point man. And I think that messed with Stafford. He thought the leverage was going to be different. And that creates a pick for Duran Blant. And that's why he was aggressive on it. But good stuff. The Michael Parsons sack, really cool. Look from them.

It was sorry, back-to-back scheme stuff here. But they, they, they, uh, so they, it was a kind of a nice double whammy. They run a ton of man coverage. And I thought they did a great job man coverage today, but they varied up the looks. rather than just have an inside linebacker, a safety run down, be that whole player in the middle, they, like, loosened up Michael Parsons. They had him running over the offense guard in the center on it. But what they did is they dropped Armstrong as the whole play. Yeah.

And so it's a double whammy. We get into one hole. We vary up the look. So Stafford sees kind of just presence there as Cups coming on his crossing route. So he doesn't want to throw it. Parsons gets home. It's a sack. So just nice little design tweet, creates a sack, loosens up Parsons, just loved with the defense

did today. Good game from the Cowboys. It was a great play. It was a simulated pressure. They only brought four, but you dropped Doran's Armstrong back. But even on that play, Durand is on the crosser. Durand, it follows that step for step. It's nice to have Armstrong there, but it wasn't necessary. So the pick six is the standout play from Bland. To me, it was all the work that he did in man coverage on Crossing Rats, like working all the way across the field on Tutu Atwell specifically. Yeah, that 221 was great. And I thought the other guy who really stood out just in coverage was Marquis Bell. So now they're playing without, I believe Lady Anderash is still heard. I should know that. But they're so they're playing without him. So now it's like, all right, we need off ball players.

Like this is a concern, even if we're going to play a ton of dime. And Marquis Bell, who wears number 14 for them, which is hilarious watching a linebacker wear 14. He was really good in coverage on the second level of that defense today. So when you get those performances from Jordan Lewis, Marquis Bell, Donovan Wilson had a couple nice moments. That's when it all really starts to come to because you're going to get that production from the pass rush. So I just loved with the complimentary kind of auxiliary word we've used a couple times pieces on that defense looked like today against a good, a Rams offense that's capable of playing very well. It was, and I actually thought there would be an interesting matchup because all the man coverage. I was like, ooh, Cooper Cup and man coverage.

Oh, boy, it's going to be a long day. They did a great job. Like we said, they varied up the looks, even if it's all their fastballs. But I thought all these role players stepping up is huge. and that's how you overcome when Diggs is out and Vanderuresh is out. And again, they have such a strength with that pass rush, even if they didn't go home a lot, that just creates so many advantages. And we had a Bones Fossil revenge game, John Wick game with a little pump block.

The return after safety was sick. Yeah, special teams swung or swinging a lot of games right now. It's three phases right now, four phases if you're the Bears or the Bears fans. I should look at where they are and like special teams DVOA and like how much it's affecting games. I assume it's pretty high because Turpin, he's, I typically am. I am anti-drop the juice into the offense, like the returner as part of your offensive game plan. The gadget guy thing can go very wrong. Just ask everything about the Chief's short yardage game plan every single week.

I am pro Kvante Turpin getting more touches. He's great. He is an exception to me. I think if you, I want to see him sprinkled in even a little bit more to what they're doing on offense. Maybe it was the old world where we're not using CD-Rae. There's a lot of gallop targets and things like that. But even if we're transitioning to a better reality, I still think a little bit more turpin as part of the plan is not a bad idea. Well, it's CD's the X and on the outside than easier to get turpin in there.

That's right. That slot, given to move around guy. See it? Another little trickle down. But, oh, that Ferguson touchdown, by the way, the red zone designs from the Cowboys were very improved from what we've seen previously. Well, thank God. They were just, I know. And they were just classics.

It was cool. It was big time 2009, Big Ten football vibes. A lot of two high coverages, a lot of three by one pass. sets on passing downs. It was like no motion. I was like, yeah, this is, this is, this is nice. I feel, I feel at home with this football right now. I will say, huge bummer to potentially have a Matthew Stafford injury that could affect both his season and the Ram season. So he'd hurt his thumb in this game. He did not play in the second half. And the Rams are a weird team. They dealt up a Philly special for him with a bandage on his hand. That was unbelievable.

The Rams are a strange team. You know, they've had some fantastic moments. It's been very uneven. They're sitting at three and five right now. They're semi-relevant in the NFC playoff picture, but purely from a football watching enjoyment standpoint, not having Matthew Stafford for any stretch over the course of the rest of the season would not be fun. So just something to keep

an eye on, something else to keep an eye on. Cowboys Eagles next week. Another week nine game to think about. So that is very exciting. I'm not mad. I'm just disappointed. Some of the games,

games that would typically fit here, we talked about earlier in the show. The Chiefs would typically land here, but their loss was so notable that you kick it up a notch. There was still something that we had to talk about today. And that is the Jets Giants game and how far it's set back modern football. That was terrible. I'm so sorry for making you rewatch it. I'm so sorry. I feel bad. I like genuinely feel bad for making you do that. I had notes already ready before we were kind of going like, okay, we might talk about this game. I was like, don't you worry. I knew it was so bad. I had to go rewatcher. It had to at least look into how bad it was. It was so bad. Like there's a difference between like the Cardinals and their losing games because they're so entertaining and they do cool stuff on offensive defense.

And then like some of the stuff makes sense and how they have a plan for the young guys. And don't get me wrong. Like Jets, the injury to Aaron Rogers derails a lot of stuff. But the Giants. And it's just that it's just it's a different type of losing. Like the, the, the, the, Cardinals are a jobber to the stars. Like they, they lose like with fireworks and doing flips and then all this stuff. And then this is just sad. This is just bad.

What happened in New Jersey today. It was rough. I have, oh, man. Just unwatchable offense. I mean, just offenses that can't even. And he almost function way too many times in these situations,

but offense that can't even function. And the Jets won. The Jets won. And the Giants should have won the game. They should have won. That is the craziest part about this is if they're not some like fluky plays at the end, the Giants absolutely could have won this game. I have, I have some very, very great stats for you coming out of this football game. I hope I hope you're ready for some of these, okay?

I am. I am. Yeah, I can't wait to hear yours. I have one good ones. I'm sure I knew you were ready to rock with this. I'm going to crack my knuckles. Okay. Okay.

Giants had a 4% passing success rate in this game. 4%. Going back to 2000, which is when we get the start of true media stats, that is the worst passing success rate in a single game. The single worst. Ever? Ever.

There were nine games since 2000 that have fallen under 10% success rate. Are you ready for them? How many are bears? Zero bears performances. One involves the bears. But zero performances from a Bears quarterback. Number one. Spurgeon win.

Okay, now I want to hear this. There absolutely is. Spurgeon win is the oldest one. A five for 16 Spurgeon win performance from the 2000 Cleveland Browns. Oh, with the Browns. Oh, I remember his days with the Vikings. That was, yeah, some really fun performances there too. There was a 2005 Bears performance, and I was a little worried because the 2005 Bears'

offense was often very bad with Kyle Orton in his second season. Fortunately, for me, it was on the. other side of a Bears Niners game in 2005, somebody named Cody Pickett went one of 13 against the Bears in a game in 2005. That was also under 10%. There was a 7 of 14 David Carr performance against the Raiders in 2006 when he was with the Texans. Eli Manning went 9 of 25 in a game against the Saints in 2006 to fall under 10%. This one, I remember that one.

I would love to go back and watch this game. combined in 2009 playing against the Patriots while they were on the Titans. Carrie Collins and Vince Young went two of 14 combined in a game against the Patriots. I would love to go back and watch that. 2010, Bengals Jets. Carson Palmer starts the game 1 of 11 comes out of the game. Okay. J.T. O. Sullivan comes in for Carson Palmer.

they end up finishing below 10%. A combined Trace McSorley RG3 joint for the Ravens against the Steelers late in the 2020 season. And very famously, not surprising, the Kendall Hinton game against the New Orleans Saints. But this game from the Jets or from the Giants was worse than any of those, including the Kendall Hinton game against the Saints. Magical. I knew it was historical.

That's why I, that's why I was enjoyable to watch. this was the room. Tommy DeVito had a negative 2.2a dot today, air dev, average air dev. I had a phone with that. He had the highest QBR of the day in the highest EPA per play of all the quarterbacks. In that game?

Because of the scrambles. Yes. And it is higher. Negative 2.2a dot. It's like this game is magical. Okay. Well, their stats are their average air yards to the sticks in this game. Yeah.

Negative 9.1. Negative 9.1. The lowest mark in a game. since they started tracking the stat in 2006, negative 9.1. And my other favorite one on this, my other favorite one by far, the Giants had 12 running plays today. Okay. On third down and at least three yards to go.

They ran the ball 12 times with third and at least three yards to go. Too much ice cream. I love a good third and longer on like a third and six run that catches the defense. 12 times they did it. Too much ice cream. That is the record since 2000. The previous record was 11. it has happened twice.

Okay. If you thought about it, you could pick the games. Oh, I was going to say a Jets Mark Sanchez performance maybe? No. They're both weather based. Vintage 2009, no. They're both weather based. And I'm talking extreme weather.

Mac Jones, the wind game? Correct. Yeah. Max Jones win game? Okay. Shady McCoy's snow game. Snow game. Bill's Colts in 2017.

And there was some weather today. There was some weather in this game. Yeah. Those were like cataclysmic biblical weather events we're talking about in the games where those teams were doing that. Today, you could throw the ball. The Jets could actually throw the ball. The Giants just elected not to. Sequin Barkley had 36 carries today and three catches for zero yards.

But there have been 13 runoffbacks since 2013 to have 35 or more rushes. He had the lowest amount of rushing yards, total yards, yards per carry. one explosive run on the whole day and he ranked 11th out 13th and success rate there was a Frank Gore game with the Colts that is like

that's what I want to rewatch 30 something rushes like a one like teen success rate and he had zero explosive runs on the day so it's just it wasn't even three yards in a cloud of dust

it's hard to do in the cloud of dust I also learned something new today which was I was getting after the ref the last play before the Jets spiked it which was a little a little long, if you ask me. And a couple guys were off sides maybe.

But the ref, I mean, the center for the Jets spotted the ball. And all the ref did, the umpire did was run up and touch it, tapped it. And they were able to snap it. I didn't know they changed that rule. I thought there had to be a movement like it up and down. So change the rule. I learned something new today. Called out the refs, but I learned something new.

And I think I brought about 200 people's attention, at least to it. The Giants absolutely could have won this game. They elect to kick two fourth and one field goals, one of them. which was a 30, I understand the 35 yard at the end. Like you kick the field goal. Oh yeah. Put it away. I get it.

You miss it. It's terrible luck. Them kicking, them electing to kick a 47 yard field goal in the rain on the opening drive of the game when they had one yard to gain while Tyler Taylor was still playing. This is before the Tommy DeVito experience began. I just don't get it. I just don't understand what is happening with this team. I know the offensive line is unworkable, right?

That's the word I would use. It is unworkable to play an NFL game with the state of their offensive line, especially against this Jets defensive line. But that shouldn't impact some of the choices, decision making, just operation that is happening in other areas for this team right now. I just don't get it. It's just they're not watchable. I mean, you're used to this. This is like a 20-21 bears, 2020. Calm down.

Call him. This is, yeah, maybe, no, O2 Vikings is better than this. It's, no, but this is like, there's no, the weapons are just, we always say it was like, oh, they're built out slot receivers. And you can feel that a little bit now where there's not that just kind of like big play merchant that you can kind of just rely. And Walters out. And why Waller left for the hamstring injury. He's out. And it's exactly what you want.

You want a tight end with, you know, it's just a quarterback play. That's your big play merchant through the passing game. So Jalen Hyatt was supposed to be that. But how he has to work, he has to be off ball, he has to move around. That requires some, you know, different formation stuff. So you're already having a trickle down effect there. And on top of that, you just have the O-line woes. And it's just not watchable.

It really isn't. Tommy DeVito. I can't believe Tommy DeVito played an NFL game, like a lot of snaps too. That was just remarkable in 2023. We're not even in a Halloween. We're not even December. The Jets weren't much better. The Jets were over.

They were over on third down for the majority of this. game. One of the single most dominant past rushing performances I truly have ever seen by Dexter Lawrence. Dexter Lawrence. It's ridiculous. I'm going back and rewatching it, I'm watching the game and I'm like, he's in the backfield every play. Like every single play, he's creating pressure on the quarterback. So I went and looked it up. 14 pressures. I always Zach Wilson does great with pressure, especially in his lap. Four 14 pressures. So the fact that the Jets, I understand. that they won this game, I know that they were down to their third center and the guys

playing against the best past rushing nose tackle I've seen in, I don't know, it's a conversation. It's a good long while. The way that they deploy. Like a true nose. True nose. Just teeing off on the center every single play. I can't remember watching. And we had this conversation last year.

But today was another example of this. I can't remember watching a guy affect the game this way. And 14 pressures. The Jets offense can't even play because of what he's doing. their interior and they end up winning the game. I think they have almost 99.9 something right. Win probability too. Giants did.

Yeah. Yeah. They usually call that falconing. Yeah, or a Chargers game. The New York Jets are four and three. Unbelievable. Four and three, the New York Jets. Still very much in it in the AFC playoff. I still like watching the defense at least.

I'll just say that. So I, part of me hates myself for going back and rewatching every single play of that. It was good. Part of me really enjoyed it. So it was good. I'm glad. I'm glad. The historical numbers was well worth it for this segment.

So thank you for doing that. One of the biggest headlines. Oh, look at you. A small human-sized water bottle you're drinking out of right now compared to the barrel I've seen you lift to your mouth. Out of back. Maybe some of the biggest news of the entire day and a real just blow to their season and to a team that was really enjoyable to watch recently. and that is Kirk Cousins tearing his Achilles reportedly, and he is going to miss the rest of the year.

This has implications on several different levels. The Vikings now are left with this strange decision that they're going to have to make about what they want out of their year. A couple weeks ago, seemed like they were going to be sellers. It seemed like Deale Hunter was likely going to be on the move for the right price. Vikings knew they could potentially take a step back this year. All the breaks that they got last season, they weren't going to happen again.

the luck had swung all the way back, the pendulum. But string a couple wins together. Offense starts playing really well. Maybe we won't sell off. And we'll just kind of see this through. Yeah. Now Cousins goes down and I have no idea what they're thinking about themselves. Because you have Nick Mullins who's hurt right now as your backup.

And then you have Jaron Hall, who's a fifth round rookie, also on the roster. So now what do you do with the quarterback position? Do you still feel like without Kirk Cousins, you could be competitive enough in the NFC that it's worth trying to go find an answer outside of the building? Or was the way that Kirk Cousins was playing so central to why you were competitive that now it probably just makes more sense to say, this is supposed to be the reset year anyway, we'll play it out with what we've got. If we have to lose a bunch of games this year, there's an understandable reason why.

Let's stay on our timeline. Let's not be deterred. If I had a guess, I think it's the way. Yes. I feel like they had the tough, tough decision made for them. And that is because of the severity of their injury with cousins, that kind of helps bring some clarity that's an Achilles, or reported, as opposed to maybe a dislocated thumb or a, you know, something of that sort of it's a four-week injury, a high ankle sprain, something where it's like, hey, we can weather the ship for maybe a month and get back right. and go with that. So I think because of the severity of the injury and what your other options are,

it's not, you know, Jared Hall is, you know, he's a 25 year old rookie, you know, he's, he does some,

he has some, does solid things, but it's not like he's a second round guy of the future that you drafted to sit behind cousins. You make that pick as a dice role. It's a, we don't have a quarterback in the future. We might as well get a lottery ticket and see how it works.

Yeah. A cheap backup's not bad either, but it's not a guy to always be developing someone, I think is why you draft a guy like that. So you don't have. have Tommy DeVito and that that is like I mean honestly that's why you do that but I think that they again because of the severity of the injury that again that they this decision that would have been so tough can now they can have some clarity that they can be a seller be even if this

team that I thought was really doing some nice things especially on offense cousins was doing so much but he was doing he was playing a really good ball the run game he was operating at the line scrimmage everything that they had put on him again central to their success was his experience and his time in this system. Now that gets completely erased. Even if you go out, let's say they say, ah, we want to win. Can we go trade for Ryan Tannahill right now? That's not going to happen.

But even if that was a hypothetical, so much of what they were was based on Kirk being in this offense for a year and a half. So I just don't think there's any way that you can really replicate that. The only move that is potentially interesting just as an idea is trading for Trey Lans. And the only reason I throw that out there is because they were considering doing it in the spring. That has been reported.

They were looking at him. They couldn't get everybody on board because I think it was about, ah, let's see this through with Kirk, right? Let's see this through with Kirk. Let's see how this year goes. So if you go get a Trey Lance, he's a better option potentially in the short term than any of the other players that you could acquire. And if it works out, you are potentially giving yourself a shot at the next quarter of

back without having to worry about how this draft unfolds. That's the only reason it's even arguable to me. I definitely do not think it happens. No, I don't think so either, especially just Cowboys too. And I think the real reason or a big reason of why the Cowboys won't for Tray Lance was Dac and Cherts in case he goes down for a game or two or playoff stretch. So it gives you a fight chance, which you want, especially how the Cowboys play. I totally get that.

They are in the season. They're all in for a team that's more, I also want to bring up too is that. You know, Dan and I did a show on this last week on Prospects pros was, you know, the QB3, there is a lot of names up there. But how high it is, in my mind, is not a first rounder right now. There is not a guy that I feel comfortable that is that, oh, we pick him at 12 after Caleb and Drake go 1, 2 or 1, 2, 3 or someone like that. Caleb Williams and Drake may, Caleb Williams from USC, Drake made from North Carolina, both very good prospects. So the QB3 thing is that if it's a two horse race, what is the answer for the new quarterback, the new guys? you build around, then you might go into purgatory.

But again, Kirk Cousins is an Achilles. It's not a something you come back from six weeks or six months. It's an Achilles. It's very major. So I just think it's a very interesting situation, but are they bad enough to get all the way to the bottom there that you would need to? Or can they get creative enough to find this next quarterback to bridge them to the future? That's why I'm really curious what they do.

Yeah. It's going to be a situation worth watching. I don't know how bad they're going to be without Kirk Cres. I think they have a chance to be pretty bad without him. again, because of how central he was. And if they become sellers and they have another kind of purge of talent here over the next couple of days because they understand where they are. On the Kirk Cousins front, this is brutal.

It's going to be fun. Oh, contract here. Because there are teams. We're going to talk about a team in a second here. The fit for him that I kept kind of coming back to if the Ritter thing doesn't work out. Like Atlanta, just drop them in. And the way that he was playing, this. season, there was going to be a real Kirk Cousins market.

I mean, think about what Derek Carr got paid this offseason by the Saints. Kirk Cousins is playing in a much higher level than Derek Carr was last year for the Raiders, and Derek Carr made $40 million a year. Kirk Cousins is going to cash in this offseason from somebody. Somebody was going to pay him. Now that becomes much more complicated, which, yes, it just sucks. I mean, he's playing so well. He deserves to be rewarded for the way that he was.

playing. This team was awesome to watch this last month and the wind started happening. But like every underlying metric, I was looking. I was like, man, they're moving the ball. When I watch them, they look okay. They're explosive. The Addison stuff's working out. They're sprinkling in Hockinson. The run game looks great. I would say great, but much improved. It looks good. Much better. Much better. And again, Cousins was being a great trigger man. And he wasn't having, you know, he had a couple, you know, the fuky turnover against the Chargers at the end of the game. But it wasn't as much of that kind of bonehead Kirk that we see sometimes pop up at the worst moments. He had a couple, but it's not as much.

And I think that's why it makes him seem just even more explosive, a little better weapons. But even the game against the 49ers, without Justin Jefferson, you saw Kirk Cousins. Like, you saw him controlling a game. Play some of the best ball of his career. Like, I'm not negotiable. And every coach loves him because he's going to operate the system perfectly. So if you design good stuff, yeah, it's going to look really good. And he's going to have a market, but it is interesting because of this entry.

And, oh, we're going to be talking about so much Achilles stuff in the next like nine months between him or Rogers. I mean, it's going to be ridiculous. Brandon Thorne, who covers the offensive line better than anybody. It's his corner. He does a great job with it. He was on with you and Dan a couple weeks ago on Prospects of Prospects to Peros. He was mentioning that Kirk is just so good for offensive linemen. He gets to the same point in his drop every single time.

It gets rid of the ball quickly. So that's the type of stuff we're talking about here is that other. elements of who you are offensively just start to erode a little bit even if you drop someone else in there who is a workable quarterback. So it's a tough blow. I mean, there's really just no coming back from it this year and it will be influential potentially on what their future plans look like. Talk some more quarterbacks here. Let's get to the Titans, the quarterback situations, let's say, in the Titans Falcons game today. Let's start with Will Levis. Four touchdown passes for Will Levis. 8.2 yards per attempt for Will Levis today. What a weird game.

Weird. The conversation around it, I think, is understandable. You know, Will Levis throws four touchdowns in his debut. It's like, oh, here we go. We were all so wrong about Will Levis. You know, he should have got an opportunity earlier. Will Levis. There were some really nice elements of the way that he played. I also think it's very, very important to add some context to what Will Levis. this is stat line looked like in Y. Yeah. There was a lot of, I watched,

that was one of the screens on my multi-screen when I was working around trying to get the Cowboys game and then went off and I was fine with it. But then down-to-down basis, it didn't feel like they moved the ball. And then even after the game, I was like, yeah,

I'll live as a, you know, I got to watch that game on All-22 because I want to see how he kind of was looking at everything. Finish just with four touchdowns. Really didn't feel like it. But, I mean, obviously you saw the scores, but I'm just saying that didn't feel like

one of those kind of performances. But again, kind of I have to watch it all. 1222 on this one because I want to see how he processed how he looked at stuff especially over the middle he had a couple flashes like one touchdown throw it was nice he had one throw to the sidelines that was nice nice awkward angle I think this game was fun that it was a rare four quarterback game which is a there's a there's an ancient Rome four emperor joke there somewhere you know that's you know really appealing to everybody with that humor right there but I think that you're crushing

a buddy I know this is just good 930 on a Sunday this is what we do but it's but I think the Malik wills had that bot snap here comes the last It's really just that this, again, this game felt so stoppy, starty. I think the best player, the whole game of Stonehouse, the, the, the Titans incredible. He was absolutely incredible. Oh, my God. He boomed them.

And honestly, it was a field position game. Like, this felt like a field position game. Again, another race to explosive plays because some decent defense, even if the score didn't indicate that. The only team with a worst passing success rate in week eight so far than the Tennessee Titans was the New York Giants. That's it. Okay?

So they had the second. Where's passing success rate. It was like in the 30s? 31.3. Okay. So down to down, it's not like the Titans were moving the ball back consistently.

These are huge plays that we're talking about. And the huge plays were often them moving the pocket on play action and getting him into launch mode. The guy is a cannon. We know that. So there are going to be some beautiful moments when they're allowing him to do that.

And you saw that. Double moves, moving the pocket, just throwing the ball down field. He had two other deep shots that the placement on them was gorgeous. He had one to trail on Berks down the right side line and another one down the left side line that could have been huge plays.

But that's what it was. It was him just kind of getting back there and getting in bombs away mode. The last touchdown off his, kind of off his back foot, but just moving drifting a little bit. That placement was incredible. He kind of throws like that.

He does a little fade away when he throws. That's how he throws. So we know that. We know the guy has a ton of talent, but that's what this game was like. I thought the most telling number, he had 25% of his attempts that came behind the line of scrimmage, and 28% of his attempts were 20 or more yards downfield.

So 50% of his throws were either screens or chucks. Only four games like that all season so far. And one of them was today with Will Lovus. Pure layups and threes. Not but threes, though. It was like from 30 feet out, just logo threes only. But he hit all of them. And they're beautiful.

Guess what? Yeah, they're beautiful. Good gameplay. That's how you should use him. Yes. And I'm going to slow down. And help all. Yeah, there's residual effects for it.

No, it was a good game plan. I thought it was a very good game plan. I thought it was a very good game plan, but just let's take a breath. Let's get some more Will Levis reps under our belt. Especially when you see just the highlights, you know how they do it when they're like, oh, this is a score of the game. They show like two highlights for the package. And it's like, oh, my God, if you saw those, you're like, holy crap, the highest

of highlights. So I can see how it made any impact if you didn't watch every down. He had a third and four completion to Chiggs on the right side to the right side that was in rhythm. And it was really nice. Like in rhythm throw, huge moment in the game, third and four in the second half. That's the type of stuff. It's like, okay. That's like real quarterback play.

But a lot of the highlights today are just him showing off his arm, which we know is very good. So to be determined. Fine. Yes. To be determined. Take a good initial returns to be determined. On the other side of the ball, we have some. potential intrigue here in what's happening with the Falcons quarterback situation.

They come out in the second half, Desmond Ritter is not out there. A lot of people, hat on. A lot of people take this as a benching, that this is it. We finally have reached the end, the turnovers, the negative plays. That's it for Desmond Ritter. It's Taylor Hineke time in Atlanta. After the game, Arthur Smith comes out, says that while Ritter was cleared, they didn't want to push it. Taylor Heineke, when asked about this, this is Desmond Ritter's team. This is

Desmond's team. I'm not the starter. So it does feel like this was a temporary thing based on the game, based on health, more than it was about performance. It doesn't surprise me. What would have surprised me is if they had benched him, based on everything that Arthur Smith had said and based on some of the moments where they didn't do it earlier in the game. So I think this is much truer to the process that they've shown. And I believe them when they say that this was not a performance-based thing. If he's killing it, maybe they put him back in the game. But I don't think this is a we're pulling the rip court on the Desmond Ritter experience

kind of conclusion that comes from this. Yeah. And he was again, he saw, I'll another game on what kid all 22, just this game period, both sides of the ball. Unbelievable. But it's, uh, I think he took five sacks on the day. And a couple of them felt O line or protection based, but I felt like one day maybe we pull the trigger or maybe a second early.

And sometimes that's when he can become his own worst enemy. And I think maybe sometimes it's too, it's like, okay, you have a concussion. We might have a concussion. Okay, maybe this is a good excuse to not what you spiral to not what you could just have makes him bad because he's had some nice moments. He moved the ball a couple nice, mostly he Drake wanted today. But Jeffrey Simmons just, you know, he's light. If he gets his arm hit and he's getting his arm grazed and he's fumbling, it's like,

again, you can't have these turnovers. And again, it's after they're moving the ball. And again, he has another turnover. It's like that can't happen. We have to start having it. We're going to have to have a conversation about this at some point. And I do think that down to down, it's been good enough to warrant some faith and to warrant sticking with him. Yes.

We're so often now, we're coming away from these games, they lost 12 EPA on sacks today. So each week, it feels like it's either, oh, they lost 14 EPA on turnovers. They lost 12 EPA on sacks. So they have all these negative plays that are just an anvil around their ankle every single week. So it's just, it's frustrating to watch because every single week it seems like it's something else, whether it's sacks or turnovers, whatever. So I agree that the down-to-down performance has warranted them sticking with him. And I think it would be weird if they yanked him after this game when we've seen some worse performances down-to-down than he played today. But I still think it's just worth keeping an eye on.

Like at a certain point, like the season gets lost if you're giving away two touchdowns a game for one reason or another. Yeah, well, hold on. Are we talking about the offensive line? or we talk about Ritter's turnovers here? I think it's just some element of the offense torpedoing them every single week. It's not necessarily Desmond Ritter. Today it was just protection issues. Some on him, some on the offensive line.

But the fact that there's like something that's just destroying them every single game, today was Sacks. Last week it was turnovers. It's not all him, but it's just a frustrating offense to watch for that reason specifically. Yeah. No, I get it. Trust me. As someone that enjoys a lot of stuff they do and then seeing the end result, it's very frustrating.

I don't know. Again, I thought he has these moments, but again, I can't make excuses for turning the ball over. And I hope it normalizes. But then there's also moments where I'm like, hey, you're skinny. So that's going to happen to. So you might just be one of those guys. Dante Culpever was a guy that had a lot of fumbles too because he had small hands. And that was just a thing with him. And he was aggressive and he was aggressive and all that. It's like sometimes you're placed down. Sometimes your frame just create those things. So just curious if that's a thing with him. But again, when I look at him, even just not even turns of success rate, look at him on third down, look at him when he's not pressured, making the right decision. most of the time of like good decisions too he's good against the blitz even some pressure doesn't really affect him he'll take a shot it's just like i'm willing to bet on that because i know what heinicky is it felt like the was the commentary came was live for me for about five minutes they're like you know heineke gave a spark to this offense the run game gave a spark to the offense in the second half and then heineke did some nice things we know what he is i like heineke i love he i know what he is though so i'd rather bet on ritter and some of the stuff and sustainability to have seen but again it's just hard with turnover.

So it's going to be the same thing until he changes that tune. We talked about this after the Jags game. You cut off the development plan if you drop Taylor and Heineke in there. It is a known quantity in ways both good and bad. And I just don't think it's worth making that sort of bet. But again, if we're leaving every single one of these games and having a very similar conversation, we're like, man, the offense had some really nice moments, but they gave up six sacks and lost two touchdowns with the VPA.

Man, the offense had some really nice moments, but they turned over the ball three times in the red zone and lost 14 points of VPA. you lose the season. And I don't think that's necessarily on Desmond Ritter, but it feels like that could be the direction this is headed if they played in any other division except the NFC. Yeah, they have an easy schedule. And I think the process has been good. Like I do. I watch this every time.

And I'm ready to get mad and say like, oh, my God, all my takes have been wrong. And I'm like, I don't know. I love the stuff they do. And that's why I think it'll write itself over the terms of the season. And they're still four and four and in this week division. And yeah, and with a weak schedule. So that's why I think they'll write themselves. And the defense is playing well.

The defense is playing good ball. Like, Falcon's defense is fun to watch. Again, down to down today, fine. Just some really bad splash plays. I mean, AJ Terrell gets caught up with DeAndre Hopkins on that long touchdown. It's just a weird game, but it was a weird game. It was a Titans game. It was a Titans game.

That's what it was. Yeah, it absolutely was. I will say, Hankeke's touchdown throw to Scotty Miller is sick. I will say that was a sweet ball. I'll give him that one. I like Heike. I do. But again, we know what he is.

And I think that's worth mentioning. I'll stick with weird games. The Seahawks win a wild one, 24 to 20 over the Browns. We have to talk about this game just because it is very important in the playoff race. The Browns are right there on the edge of the AFC wildcard. The Seahawks are now lead the NFC West. I don't know what grand conclusions I have coming out of this game. My number one feeling coming out of this is that the Browns with a backup quarterback in there

have to live in such slim margin. They could have easily lost the last two that they just won, the winning streak that they were on. They easily could have won this game. You have some PJ Walker moments that are solid, and then you have him just botching pretty simple, third and short decisions multiple different times in this game. You have a third and three moment at the end where they decided to throw it. It bounces off at Jamal Adams' helmet, and they probably win that game if that doesn't happen. So I just don't know what to make of them because the defense, again, outside of the first quarter, was fantastic against. today, gave them every chance to win.

They did such a great job, I think, just creating easy buttons within the offense. Screens again, great designs in the run game, just manufacturing offense with the backup quarterback, but you still have to make three, four, five plays within the game. And today, those didn't happen. So it just feels like they're going to be a team that is in every single one of these games, but every single one of them could go either way because the margins are so small for Cleveland. It's a lot of stuff that he can read simply. And I mean that in four by one sets where it is truly, if it's zone or you think it's zone,

read the zone side, which is the four man side. If you like your one-on-one, you have a Mario Cooper one-on-one, throw them a slant. And that is as easy as it comes. Manor Zone tells. But again, like you said, it's screens, it's a quick game. There is a cap to this. You can artificially, you know, create some offense with it. Maybe your opening script is really good, but there's a cap to it all unless some bonkers

plays happen. And when you're playing a good team, like I think the CX are, you only get so many chances. Like they finally, they gave them some chances. They gave them a turnover. And, you know, it's just like that was after they're moving the ball again. And you only get that so many times. And I think the CX had a good day. Like, I think that was my biggest turnaround or takeaway was the Cioxx run game, kind of really, really kind of like have not only an efficient day, but an explosive day.

This was their most, their best day the season in terms of both. That's a sharp. That's a share in the fourth quarter. helps swing the game. I mean, they probably don't win the game without that. He's a zone running machine, man, Charbonnet. Oh, man, he's, he's good on those zone runs. So it's fun. I love him and Kenneth Walker. I know Kenneth Walker got banged up. You know, but having DK McCaff, even if he had kind of a battle with Emerson today, feeling his, you know, having him back is a good thing, though. And you got like even just the Tennessee breakers they do. Like the Jake Bobo touchdown was sweet because they use him so much. Jake Bobo was great guys. He's so much fun. But they use him as a blocker. He's a dirty work guy. And they use him on Joe. motion over and over and over, especially in the red zone. And then they just handed him the ball. And it's a touchdown. It's sometimes football is like that, but you build up a tendency and they break it. So you're kind of showing off some good kind of awareness from the staff, of course. So and Gino, again, he had the turnover, but man, like that two minute drive, he had some

moments of creation, the Tyler Lockett touchdown. It's like, oh, man, Seahawks, man, like just, they're good, good team. I love watching them. Gino, this is the perfect Gino Rochette game. Perfect. Yeah. People who don't like Gino are going to look at this game. He had two picks, almost had a game sealing one to Cam Mitchell at the end that probably should have sealed this thing away. So if you are not a Gino guy, you're looking at this and saying, he threw two, almost three interceptions. I mean, he cost them in the game.

But he also had some really nice moments again. So I, again, tend to think that what he is down to down for them and what this offense can look like is worth betting on in the long run. But some troubling decisions again in this game. And it stretches where there's been some, right? He has been loose with the football over the last few weeks. Like that's just, there's no other way to put it. I think sometimes that's why I think that's why I'm really excited to see this run game improve. Because now when it's like you're not feeling it or you're trying a little too much, okay, this could settle us.

We can create yards and explosives not through just our receivers and designs and everything when you have some sustainability. Again, they have the ability to pivot. But I love the high end stuff that Gino can do is like, it's like, it's worth it. It's worth some of the risks he takes because just the stuff he creates. and when you have the weapons they have and the designs they do, it's like, yeah. Again, it's about creating explosive plays right now. It's good defense and explosive plays on offense. It's old school football in its weird way with modern offenses.

But they can do it and Gino can do it. That's why I love this team. Yeah, they're five and two. I mean, I think that there are reasons to be very excited about what they can be. The Brown's defense is still really good. They had a decent amount of success against them. You know, it wasn't a gangbusters type game, but they were middle of the pack and success rate. the way they move the ball today.

So I think, again, reasons to be encouraged about where Seattle is. Another impressive win today was what the Jags did to the Pittsburgh Steelers, including another huge game from Travis Eton. 149 all-purpose yards of scrimmage. A huge touchdown catch in this game. He has been a real weapon for them as they've kind of sought out explosive plays within that offense. And we talked about at the beginning a little bit, but just another entry in this Jags team kind of showing off the different pitches they have as they try to assert themselves in the hierarchy

in the AFC. Again, even when it's tough sledding on the ground, you're going against a good defense and a Steelers defense. It's, again, creating explosives. And he's a walking, talking explosive play machine running the ball and catching the ball. Like, he can be inconsistent. He's just so wild. Like, he's just crazy legs.

It's just everywhere. But he also just bounds forward, gallops forward. Like, he's just five yards, it feels like each bound. But the touchdown was perfect, the receiving touchdown, I should say. And that was, I loved Trevor's aggressiveness. This is Travis Eton's speed and what he brings, even as a receiver. His hands are iffy, you know, his ball skills. He's, you know, he's not the most reliable pass catcher, even though he has good receiving stats.

It could be iffy. But it's a great play there is that the Steelers love being in Palms coverage, which is it plays out like cover four until it plays out like cover two. And when it plays out like cover two is the number two receiver, the slot receiver, runs an out route. And the Jags runs are in empty. They run stick. They have Travis Etienne all the way outside. Steerer's corner goes running back. Okay. Eyes inside. I'm jumping this stick route if they come right at me. I got this. Etienne having speed beats the safety's angle because that turns into cover too. They're trying to trap that stick route instead Eitian's on the go ball. So it's his speed. Trevor's just aggressiveness. He's willing to throw this and make these throws. But that's just

awesome. So but again, It's ETN's explosiveness. Trevor's willingness to throw it and just having that, everyone runs stick. But now you're hitting the top item, the top option on this play. And that's what this Jaguar's offense can do. I think this team's really, really good because of the stuff they can do like this. It's funny. You go back, they hit a very, very similar play for a touchdown against the Ravens last year,

where it was Jamichael Hastie as the number one receiver out of empty. And they try, they got Marcus Peters on it, where they tried to get him in the flat with the cheese. And then they had Jamichie going down the right side. So it's a slightly different design, but very similar idea and very similar overall structure. It's the best. I know what you know what I know what you know what I know. It was one of those. It was a good one.

I think that play is more of a Marcus Peters play. I think this play is more of a structure play if I was betting on why they would run those in those specific situations. Structure and making sure they smell it. They're like, hey, see ETN all the way out here? Yeah, make sure you got, you could see the play unfolding. So it was good. there was a play that that throw was great from Trevor the my favorite throw of his today he had a ball to Calvin Ridley on like a big over route and the placement on it he puts it low and away away from the safety while stepping up in the pocket just gorgeous perfect touch on that ball again this is they're in the rain and he had some really nice moments so just stacking them up just just stacking these things together if you're the jacks

Six and two. Yeah. Listen, someone. At Pittsburgh. Big, big win. Someone was smart enough to pick them in our wins league. Someone was smart enough to grab them near the end of the draft. So stock rise and benefits coming for that guy.

To the moon. I can remember the QB draft, so I'm okay. I can enjoy this as much. I got plenty of jack stock. Speaking of our drafts that we do positionally, the first one that we did is 2021. Okay. the non-quarterback draft. I took A.J. Brown fifth.

This was very early in the A.J. Brown experience. I took him fifth. People thought I was insane. Okay. For taking A.J. Brown fifth among all non-quarterbacks at that stage. I'd say it would have worked out. Okay. For my hypothetical team. He is insane. And what he was for the Titans, just talking through the whole process as to why, I did that two years ago. I went back and I watched the game he played against the Ravens in the playoffs that

year and some of the stuff that he was doing against Marlon Humphrey. And I was like, this guy isn't just a yak merchant. Like, he is a real full-blown, like, star-level receiver in all these different facets. And I believe that he will be like one of the best players in the league over the next few years. What he is right now, at the catch point, last year there were a lot of go balls and stuff like that, the vertical element to his game is what was standing out. Today, he's been, I think, the best contested catch receiver in the entire NFL so far this season. So you know you have the yak stuff.

Last year, he's a goal ball monster. And this year, every time you throw the ball up to him in 50-50 situations, it seems like he's coming down with it. He now has six straight games with at least 125 yards receiving, which is an NFL record. I mean, the guy has been, I think, arguably the best non-quarterback in all of football this year. and that leads me to what is going to be an incredible conversation, argument, race for offensive player of the year this year. Think about what AJ Brown is doing, what Tyree Kill is doing for the Dolphins, and what Christian McCaffrey is doing for the Niners. I can't remember a collection of like singular offensive seasons happening at the same time that feels like this one does. Yeah, it's especially, again, when defenses are very tough right now, seeing these kind of,

guys really just dominate games and morph their whole offense. I mean, the Eagles with without A.J. Brown, they've, I mean, they've had some lack of sustainability through the air right now that isn't, hey, AJ Brown, get the ball, like some way, shape, or form, either designed or off script, deep, short, whatever it is. And he's having a fantastic season. Like, you feel his impact all the time. Every drive, every ball near him in the red zone, it's like, oh, he's catching that. It's the moss feeling. You know how Randy used to be where it was just like, oh, the ball's, he's coming down with the ball, 90% of the time unless it gets against peanut Tillman in like 2003. But he's great.

Yeah, but it's having said all that, like he is one of three players right now if the season ended. I'm sorry, he would be the fourth player to have a yards per route run over three yards. He's at 3.13. Cooper Cup is at was at 3.12 in 2021. He is at 14.3% first downs per route, which would be the fifth highest through that 2013. The problem is Tyreek Hill is at 18.9%. which would be the highest ever, 3.2% over anyone ever. And then on top of it, he's averaging what?

Oh, 4.26 yards per route run. He's over 1,000 yards already on pace for 2000, which shatter all efficiency records, every record. So A.J. Brown is so dominant. And then it just happens to be in the same year that Tyrick Hill is doing this weekend, week out. All three of these guys, teams traded for them. Yeah.

All three of these guys were required. And the moves to go get Tyree Kill and A.J. Brown, not an exaggeration to say they were franchise changing moves. Like, it has changed the trajectory of who the dolphins and the Eagles are going out and making those moves. And for the Eagles, it's just so fascinating that it almost didn't happen. If they had signed Alan Robinson, if so many different things had gone down, A.J. Brown would not be an eagle right now. And him landing on the Eagles changed who they are, changed who J.1 Hertz is. I mean, you just think about the butterfly. It changed the Titans.

I mean, just so many different things kind of attached to that trade. And watching that offense player of the year race is going to be fantastic. I, not even just offense this year, I just feel like we've gotten such incredible individual performances from non-quarterbacks. I believe this in my bones. It is ridiculous to me that the NFL does not have a most outstanding player award. Earlier this season, people were talking about the season that J. Jay Watt had in 2014. And JJ Watt had two years, 2012 and 2014, that are the most dominant statistical years

you can imagine from a defensive player. I mean, Aaron Donald has been unbelievable over the last five, six seasons, but what JJ Watt did in those specific years was insane. And J.J. Watt came out when someone was saying he should have won the MVP that year and was like, no. The MVP has to be a quarterback. The MVP has to be a quarterback in the modern era.

It is impossible to be more valuable than a quarterback. quarterback is based on the way the game is being played. And I agree with that, which means it's stupid. It is stupid that the most prestigious award in the NFL has to go to a quarterback. Like, there should be some way as we get to the end of the year to look at every performance that a player put up that season and say, that was the best guy. That was the best player compared to his peers of the position, just the most outstanding player.

That should exist. Right? And they have two teams. You're one of an all pro team. But there should be a way to go back to 2012, and we have a way to mark in history that J.J. Watt was the best player in the NFL in 2012. Not just the best defensive player, the best player. And I think this season to me is just another reminder that that should exist.

The conversations we should have around it, the arguments that we could have around it, every single layer to if that thing was a thing would be good for the sport. And I just truly believe that it should be. thing. As someone that loves all the arbitrary, it's not arbitrary, but all the Big Ten position awards that are named after two people. So it's just like every award has two names with it. So a running back award is this, you know, Grange, George, I think is the running back year award and all the college football awards. I've always wanted that for the NFL. I think the all pro team does a nice job of doing it, but I do like the argument of, or I like

having an award where it is both, you know, all players considered, if that makes sense. non-quarterbacks, I guess. So I do like having that element to it. I do want to make offensive player of the year just truly the non-quarterback award, just make it official. Get the other quarterbacks out of there. Okay. You know, I just think I want to make that more of official. Also want to make some slot voting. I also want to make three all-pro teams. I also think that, you know, we're 32 teams. NBA's got three teams. We can do this. Yeah. I think three-all-pro teams is a good one. And I agree. If you make, if you make offensive player of the year and a defensive player of the year that's not quarterback, but I still think the moments that you would

have like a JJ Watt type season that he had those couple years, some of the Aaron Donald's seasons that we've had, that standing of if you could be the best player in the league, if you beat out the MVP of the quarterback who won MVP, if you beat out the offensive player of the year, if you did it as a defensive player, those instances where it happened, it would be worth having the award because it would be so cool. Right. I, I, I, I, I like that because of this, because it's both sides of the ball. I love the Outwin trophy in college because it's defense and an offensive line. So just like that, I would love that for sports or for the NFL as well.

Like all this. Kusel just drop a little CMC stat real quick. He's like the, okay, he's second in success rate in rushing. So we already know he's just fantastic running back. 14 explosive plays, but also extremely good as a route runner, as we know. But he's like basically Chrysola-A or Mark Andrews this year as a receiver as far as efficiency-wise. So you have a top 20-ish, no matter how you dice it, pass catcher with the second best runner as far as efficiency, not behind the Eagles offensive line, the best one. I would say that.

And I wouldn't say, I know Nick Chub gets this designation a lot, like the best pure runner thing. Watch CMC tote the rock. This dude is awesome. Oh, my God. I've got flashbacks because they do so much gap and so much polar stuff from his Stanford days. And it's so much fun watching him operate on that stuff because he does it to a T. We just talked about Kirk Cousins like Teach State. Everything's perfect.

That's Christian McCaffrey running the football. So I wanted to give him a shout out as well. I know we just gave AJ Brown and Tiger Hill a bunch of love, but CMC is phenomenal as well. He is the non-quarterback MVP. He is on the short list, definitely. It's going to be a fun conversation as we get towards the back half of the season. A lot of stuff worth following as we get to Week 9, great slate of games. Fun day today.

That is all we got. Please come back and check out Kiefer and the Beats in the Athletic Football Show feed tomorrow. Michael Sean Dugar, who covers the Seahawks for us on to chat about them. John Moshota, who covers the Cowboys, talking about their big win. And Nate Taylor, our Chiefs writer at The Athletic coming on to talk about a bad day for the Chiefs and where they stand as we get toward the halfway point. For now, that is all we've got. Sincerely appreciate you guys listening. We'll talk to you soon.

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