The Athletic Football Show: A show about the NFL - Week 9 Recap: Bengals knock off Bills, Eagles outlast Cowboys, Chiefs hold off Dolphins, Ravens crush Seahawks, C.J. Stroud dazzles, and more

Episode Date: November 6, 2023

We started the week talking about four big games. It's only appropriate that we end it recapping those four games. Robert Mays and Nate Tice dig into Bills-Bengals, Cowboys-Eagles, Chiefs-Dolphins and Seahawks-Ravens on this episode of The Athletic Football Show. They also discuss C.J. Stroud's big day, Josh Dobbs' heroics, and more.Follow Robert on Twitter: @robertmaysFollow Nate on Twitter: @Nate_TiceSubscribe to The Athletic Football Show...AppleSpotifyYouTubeThis episode is brought to you by BetterHelp. Give online therapy a try at betterhelp.com/MAYSand get on your way to being your best self. Find your bright spot this season, with BetterHelp. Visit BetterHelp dot com slash MAYS today to get 10% off your first month. That’s better HELP dot com slash MAYS.Sign up for a one-dollar-per-month trial period at SHOPIFY DOT COM SLASH mays. Go to SHOPIFY DOT COM SLASH mays now to grow your business–no matter what stage you’re in. SHOPIFY DOT COM SLASH mays.You’ll be amazed at what you can do with Grammarly. Go to grammarly.com/ATHLETICFOOTBALL to download for FREE today. That’s G-R-A-M-M-A-R-L-Y DOT COM SLASH ATHLETICFOOTBALL.New to Etsy? Use the code HOLIDAY10 for ten percent off your first purchase. That’s code HOLIDAY10. Maximum discount value of fifty dollars. Expires December 31st, 2023. See terms at Etsy dot com slash terms. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

This is the Athletic Football Show. It's the Athletic Football Show. I'm Robert Mays. Joining me tonight. It's my good friend Nate Tyson. How you doing, buddy? Doing very well. That was a delightful day of NFL action.

I think that's the word I'm going to go with. I really enjoyed today. I'm really excited to talk about some of these games on this show. I thought some interesting stuff happens, as always in the NFL. It's never boring as much as people want to say it is sometimes. It is fantastic. So I'm doing very well. How are you doing today, Robert?

I'm doing great. we knew that there were going to be a bunch of good games today. There was really a premium game in every single time slot, including the Europe time slot, which is not always the case. And then we knew we had Seahawks Ravens at noon, which we'll dig into. Cowboys Eagles was fantastic. And then the game that we just watched between two contenders in the AFC. So let's start with the game that just finished up.

Your immediate reaction to how Bill's Bengals unfolded tonight. I'm feeling much better about where the Bengals are at, of course, and I'm feeling a little bit worse or actually, I feel whelmed about the Bill's defense. Yeah. And I kind of was seeing this anyways, but this was kind of like confirmation. Like, yeah, they, yeah, they can't keep up with the big boys right now. They, that, you know, losing all those injuries that they've had, it just, you know, they've been decimated. It's just too tough. And, but on top of it, the Bengals offense operating like that, they've been on fire with their opening script.

the first 15 plays. And then just, I mean, you can tell the confidence they have in Burrow and just everything, the operation of this offense, that first played the four minute draft, I used the game. They threw the ball, straight drop back, no play action, just wind up, drop back and wing it. That's confidence. Only the confident offenses do that. So it's like that's how the Bengals feel right now. So that was my first takeaway.

I was like, yeah, they're looking really good right now. It's just so fun to watch him when he's playing at that level, the ball placement, just his ability to kind of be surgical in area. is the field where it should be really difficult to do that. We got that version of Joe Burrow tonight. And the play that you're talking about late in the game, he slides the protection and then pushes the ball down in the field in the four minute drive. And they hit another one very similar to that earlier in the game where he slides the

protection to the right. He has Tyler Boy kind of on that corner route. They get a huge chunk play out of it. So it was just every single aspect of the Joe Burrow that you want to see. Pre-snap operation, accuracy, ball placement, play extension. and guys making plays. I mean, T. Higgins bodied up, bodied dudes up like six different times tonight,

just posted up for a rebound in the way that we love to see from him. So I just thought that we're getting so close, if we're not all the way back there already, to the version of the Bengals offense that really does make them truly dangerous, even when we're comparing them to some of the best teams in the AFC. And on the bill's side of it, I'm with you. I just think that every single time the offense fell short tonight, It just felt so devastating because you knew they were going to struggle so much to get a stop on the other side of it.

Yeah, it was just, it felt like just the Bengals had the ball over and over. It felt like a ball control offense, even though, but this is the Bengals version of doing it, which is just burrow. Throw the ball 45 times. Throw the ball and control the ball. It's, it's wonderful. It's actually, it's just really fun. Like you say, watching him operate the, yeah, pre-snap operation, the protection stuff. And the bills threw some funky stuff at them, too.

So his post snap extension, not only just confirming coverages, but then just also, you know, extending plays with his legs. I mean, this is the true borough. This is two weeks in a row. We're seeing this. So this scrambles, the bouncing out of the pocket. And, you know, just those half dozen times he does it. It's so devastating. But on top of it, like, there was just a great example of about 12 minutes left in the game.

He hits a whole shot to Jemar Chase. Chris Collinsworth was like, oh, it's a cover two-ish coverage because it's palms again. Yeah, Paul, that was that play. And Palms always screws guys up, but it was a blitz. But they brought the Will linebacker in the corner from the weak side and then ran cover two with it. And Toron Johnson was the nickel. And he's running back to be the deep safety.

And that's tough. It's a nickel running back to be a deep safety. And I mean, Burrow confirms the coverage and just whips that hole shot in there. So he like anticipated the post snap disguise or undisguised, I should say. And it's like, oh, you are just seeing it really well right now. That's how he felt. He felt so in control this whole game. It's just so nice to see that version of him.

And we talked about that a little bit last week. But the sport is just more fun when he's playing at this level. Yeah. This offense is operating that way. Do we think that the bills can figure this out? You get Russell Douglas in the mix. You know, guys were in and out today. Von Miller maybe, you know, you continue to ramp up down the stretch.

Do you feel like this is something that can fall into place for them? Or do we think that this is going to be a continuing problem here as we go through the rest of the season. I feel I'm worried about them against, you know, the good offenses. Look, just at their schedule. Okay, Broncos and Jets, like, you know, they're going to be kind of, you know, bills for offense is going to be fine, even though those are tough matchups. But then Eagles, Chiefs, even Cowboys, and it's like, I don't know, those defenses,

like, that defense, it's like that worries me a little bit. As much as I still think the offense is fine, even with like the Josh Allen interception that was pretty brutal. That one was hilarious because you could, his feet were truly going, no, no, no, no, don't throw it. And he still throws it. And I was like, oh, I saw what you saw, but now that. But I am a little worried, but they feel more, I don't think, I don't see him as a true contender because it's just this defense how it looks like right now.

Really? Yeah, I just, I'm worried right now. I totally get it. It's just that's such a hard reality to cut or hard conclusion to come to because the flashes that we've seen from them are so high. But I don't blame you for feeling that way right now. They're bent up and they're not playing well. I feel like they're going to beat the bad. teams. Like they're a good team. Like, don't get me wrong. I almost feel similar to them.

This is mean because I don't feel the dolphins this way. But like the dolphins a little bit like this, how I feel so good about their offense. And then the defense kind of worries me week to week against maybe better opponents. But I still think of them as good teams that can, you know, play tough games against these really good opponents. So it's just really hard right now. I just, I've seen it now a few weeks and seen how this defense is. And it's like, it feels average at best, you know, like Von Miller's not all the way back, even though he's playing a lot of snaps. He's not all the way back. So you don't have like, you know, it's just, it's not overwhelming right now.

And that's why I like the- The Bengals edge rushers affected the game more today than the Bill's defensive line did consistently. Yeah. And so they, you know, they're not really getting help there. He is going to get better as the season goes along. That's what you hope for. I remember even before the season, I said that may be better because usually their guys get hurt and maybe get reinforcements as the season goes along.

But it's just, yeah, I'm just not overwhelmed. And I just feel more just, they feel average-ish. and I feel like the offense is good, but they can't overcome the turnovers. They lost negative two turnover differential, and that's that. That's hard. That's really hard when you're playing at this level against this elite competition. Yeah, the Bengals have the second best passing success rate of the week. Only the Texans were better.

It felt like that when you watch the game. You look at the AFC standings right now. The bills are not in the playoffs if it were to start right now, only because the Jets are four and three. So it's just that they're both won one more game than they've lost, but just by virtue of winning percentage. I do think that even as this looks very crowded, AFC North, you have three teams that are five and three. I still feel the best, I think, about the Bengals and the Bills in that kind of wildcard race. Like, if I had to put money on it right now, I do think both of them still make the playoffs.

But what they can do after making the playoffs, I think then becomes the biggest question. That's what I mean. I think they're going to win double-digit games. Like, I think they're a good team still because, again, they have Josh Allen, who I just named MVP last week in my article and I still feel that way. Yeah, he's playing tremendous. And I do think the offense is doing some really sustainable stuff, even if they have a couple of blemishes. They're doing good stuff.

I just feel a little like this Bengals are a contender type team, the chiefs, like these top end teams. They're going to face in the playoffs, maybe multiple times if they want to win games. So that's why I just, ah, it's hard to like see them winning several playoff games, maybe make the playoffs and then win a game like that. But that's just how I feel about them right now. The teams with winning records in the AFC that are not currently winning their division right now are the Jets, the Bills, the Steelers, the Browns, the Bengals, the Bengals. Those are the five. I still feel the best about the Bengals and the Bills coming out of that five. Yeah, I still do.

Even though the Brown's defense is obviously playing great, but I have more faith in the Bills' offense combined with their defense than I do with the Browns currently. The Steelers, whatever black magic they can continue to pull off, congratulations to them. I have no idea what to make of them. And the Jets, I still just, I don't think you can rely on what that offense is going to do in the long run. With flawed teams, you're betting on units and I'm betting on the bill's offense with Josh Allen. And so I agree. And I think the Bengals are looking like this two weeks in a row. It's like, yeah, I mean, this is what we expect.

We're back, baby. Yeah, we're back. So like, we're definitely back. I'm not talking about it right now because I'm assuming with them. I agree. Just with the, yeah, just with the bill stuff. I mean, they had four losses this year by combined 21 points. So, you know, some of the stuff's just not bouncing their way right now.

But I do feel good about them, just not that top, top end. level that I thought. Especially when you contrast them to the way the Ravens look today or the way we know the Chiefs are probably going to look in the long run. I know there's a lot of consternation about the Chiefs offense. We'll talk a little bit about that later today. There's still been a top five unit this year and the defense is playing the way the defense is playing.

So you look at a team like the Chiefs. You look at a team like the Ravens. It's so complete right now. And then you contrast that with where the bills feel like they are. And then, you know, the Bengals to a lesser extent. I think the Bengals defense is still going to have those flashes. They're one of those teams that you don't want to see in the playoffs because of what they could do to you.

in a one game setting. But it's going to be interesting to watch. I mean, I did not expect to be here nine games into the season, nine weeks into the season with a five and four Bills team wondering what their ceiling was going to look like. But that's very much where we are. This Bangle's defense performance tonight was one of those where it's like, yeah, they don't have a ton of stars, but they have like just a lot of solid players. Because if you do have weakness, we know, man. Yeah. If you do have weaknesses, they're going to pick at it.

They're smart enough to find it. Like tonight, it was like a little bit on the right side of the offensive line. You can see a lot of games happening there. So it's like, they're going to find it. They're just pretty good at doing that stuff. So let's get to the other great game from today. And that is what happened between the Cowboys and the Eagles today. I don't know where to start with this.

We can start with maybe some of the game swinging one inch away plays for Dallas late in the game. I mean, if you have, if Dallas, if DAC doesn't step out of bounds on that two point conversion, if Lou Schoonmaker is one inch closer to the end zone, this game, feels a lot different. But, you know, the Eagles again and made their stars made plays when it mattered. Their pass rush came alive when it mattered. Jaywin Hertz had some fantastic moments in this game playing hobbled. I was incredibly impressed with just his overall toughness and some of the plays he made. The touchdown to Devante Smith was one of the best throws you'll see this year. So good. It's just an absolutely incredible throw. And again, he had three or four of those moments

again in this game. But I mean, this was back and forth the whole time. I mean, I think my biggest takeaway from this game is I can't wait to watch it again. Yeah, I agree. I hope there's a third. I really, yeah, I thought this was two good teams going at it. And again, this is when you watch, you know, the Cowboys kind of defense got scored on a little bit. They tightened down a little bit in the second half as well. It's like, you know, these teams feel more complete. And, you know, the Eagles had moments in their spine. We'll talk about that in a moment. But, I mean, this offense, it felt like the moments of last year were because I feel like that they leaned into some of the stuff from last year. It felt like more go balls, the ISO ball stuff. It felt more the RPO's

touchdown. A.J. Brown's touchdown than Dallas Goddard's big play that he got hurt. The flyed RPO to Dallas Goddard is the play. It felt like a throwback jam. Oh my goodness. They ran out last year. And I think the like, I don't know, some one game like they stopped doing it. They like spooked them out of doing it this year. And then now finally, it's get back to it. They had so many good plays off of it. Those are just easy buttons. They can, when you have awesome players, easy buttons look really good. You score touchdowns on them. You get 20-yard games. out of. They're awesome. But it's watching also just the launch.

I'm glad you brought the Devante Smith touchdown because it was awesome. Oh, and then also the corner route to Dallas Goddard on Fort Down. That was another play that they used to spam last year. It's a corner and an under route. I call it cram. But it's, yeah, but it's just a little corner route. But they beat man coverage with that. And it's like, again, that's what they used to do over and over last year.

So they played the hits and it sounded really good. I'm so glad that you brought up the corner route. because I thought that that entire sequence on that drive reminds me of what the Eagles are. They go forward on fourth and one from their own 31-yard line on that drive. They obviously get it. They have a third and 15 that they get because of a sack. Slant to A.J. Brown, 12 yards. They get to fourth and three.

They go for it again on fourth and three, and they hit that corner route to Dallas Goddard, and they cash it in with a Kennegan well touchdown. So that combination of, You got to stop us for four downs because that's who we are. And that corner route to Dallas got it. I was like, ooh, this feels like the Eagles. Like this feels like the Eagles team that you want to see. That drive alone, that first drive, I look this up, a touchdown worth of EPA from those two fourth down decisions.

Oh. Their willingness to do that and their willingness to push it into the red, it's just such a consistent advantage. And Dallas was very good with those decisions as well today. They were really aggressive. They were keeping pace. They did a lot of things that you want to see. Dallas did a lot of things you want to see, period. I know that the throw to Jalen Tolbert instead of the one to Jake Ferguson at the end is frustrating.

I know that he takes a sack in that situation near the end of the game where it's really difficult to take a sack when you have no timeouts. The idea that Dak Prescott was not really good today is mind boggling to me. He had six to eight ridiculous plays out of structure, third down, making something happen with his legs. again, him playing at this level makes me feel so good about what this Dallas team is going to look like in the long run, even if they showed up. They came up a little bit short today. Just don't play the 49ers. That's it. That's all they have to do.

That's all they have to do. I know. But he was on fire. And using his legs, scrambling and extending, felt very much Mississippi State deck or early career deck. They tried the double move on James Bradbury. But he got flushed out of the pocket. I almost nailed it. First drive or second drive.

It was like, oh, almost calling my shot there, hit off the wall. They were hitting double moves. It's just not against James Bradbearers. It's against Eli Rex. Yeah. Oh, my good. They had a couple plays. Oh, yeah.

I'm going to tweet him tomorrow. There's a couple plays where there's some lost guys in coverage. I was like, oof. Yeah, CD on an island, which was what we thought. They had a ton of empty snaps today the Cowboys did. And they were just putting in Dax's hands. And he was just making play after play after play. I mean, even the flat route to Schoonmaker that came up like an inch short,

was a great thrill. The schoonmaker was laid on the, yeah. And that was another one. It was man coverage. They brought, uh, Eagles brought a pressure on it. And that was a,

he chose a matchup over a scheme moment. And that's what kind of stinks sometimes is when even the last one on the, the fourth down that you, that you brought up to Tolbert was that he's going to CED there. And then the Eagles went one double on CEDAM. And so his brain, and this is how you're taught, his brain automatically went,

okay, take my, my automatic one-on-one, which is the X. So he just defaulted to scheme there. And that's just, that's like, it's fine quarterbacking. I understand why he did it. His brain is not thinking Ferguson on that. He just went, CD, oh, shoot, he's double covered. X.

And I know, I just kind of stinks. I understand how that happens. I just know that if we didn't bring that up, 20 million Eagles fans were going to just be shitty to us on the internet over the next 12 hours. So I, I'm with you. I thought that he played great, that third and 14 that he had to CD on the right sideline where he escapes out of it. I mean, he has so many of those plays out of structure today. I feel, how do you feel coming out of this game? How do you feel about the secondary past

catchers for the Dallas Cowboys? I think Ferguson's great. So that's, I'm offsetting the Ferguson shine today and him kind of rising to this moment with what's happening with everyone else. And the fact that you can't really rely on Gallup, there's a lot of Jalen Tolbert being introduced here. I don't know where Brandon Cook is at all times. So the emergence of Jake Ferguson today combine with the way that they were using CD Lam. I'm like, I guess I feel better about it now than I did this morning, but I don't think I feel great about it overall. Them and the lines.

Power slots and tight ends and pass catching running backs. Let's make an offense out of it. It's great. No, it's, I've been trying to, Ferguson's got some juice. He got the little seam the other day, so I don't know if that's, you want to as your field stretcher, but it works. I want to see more Tolbert. I think good things, I mean, I think he's not bad as like your third.

auxiliary pass catcher. The Cook's thing I'm trying to figure out, I think it's just that he's not getting just targeted a bunch. I don't feel like he's losing. I also feel like this offense isn't great for him. He's best on the move. You know, that he's a,

he's a, you know, I would say more like the Jags would be a better fit for him. But then this offense is, you know, stationary around the outside. That's why you saw the Tolbert route that,

uh, on fourth down that got broken up because that's a stationary route. That's a static route. So I, I think that I feel okay with it. I'm more worried about maybe just the poppy run game. They got to figure out kind of more at you run game would be my biggest worry with this

offense, but I think they move the ball just fine. Yeah, I again, I feel better about them now than I did this morning because of Ferguson, but I still just wish they had one more. I totally get it. One more receiver that you could rely on. I thought we get a little more out of cooks. I agree. I agree.

They just haven't. And that's a little bit frustrating to watch. And again, Terrence Steele had some rough moments today against the son Redick and Josh sweat. Well, the last the last drive, right? Like, Jalen Carter kind of gets him on the last drive after the way. It's unfortunate how visible that play was compared to how well he had played over the rest of the game. But still, there's a couple rough moments.

So it's, again, though, this game is frustrating that the, if you're a Dallas fan, if you're the Cowboys, period. But I think you have to feel pretty good about what this says about what the rest of the season is going to look like. And with the Eagles, we know that already, right? I mean, just like those stars and the way that they can shine. And I still, what J.1. Hertz did banged up today and just kind of his just willing himself to like three or four plays to help them win this game is truly impressive. Also, love to his shoes. Oh, yeah. Jordan 11th.

He was wearing just a fantastic look from Jalen Hertz today. And the outfit he wore to the game. If you guys have not seen that, highly encourage you to check that out. The Eagles are it takes some pointers. High standard. High championship styles standard from the Eagles. right now. I will say that. But no, he gets hurt end of the half and then comes out in the second half.

And it was like he, I think he took off on a scramble. And it was kind of like he was like, yeah, screw you guys. I think it was a designed run that they called for him. That's right. That's right. It might have been the slide play again where he just kept it. And he was a design run and he kept it. That guy is tough as shit. And he deserves a lot of credit for that.

So it's just one more win for the Eagles. And they're sitting there at 8 and 1 going to the buy. I'll say this, even though they didn't score like the most points it is season, this is the best I felt about the Eagles offense. I think that's totally fair, which is good because you're going against the Cowboys defense, and I'm saying that. And I feel good about where the Cowboys are at. So it's kind of funny how that kind of came away with that.

And again, it's stuff you don't really notice, but the pass protection consistently, I think throughout this game for Philadelphia was pretty darn good. Again, our offensive line just consistently shows up. And the last kind of bit of, oh, that's the Eagles I want to see that I did not mention from that first touchdown drive. When Gainwell finishes that play off, Jason Kelsey is just folding. those plays and playing out in space, that's just, again, something that only they do. So you get the corner route to Goddard, you get going forward on Fort Down twice and getting it, and then you have Kelsey and Space finishing that off.

And it just is such a little boiled down version of that's what this team is at its best, and man, is it fun to watch? And a Devante Smith touchdown, AJ Brown touchdown. It's like, yeah, play the hits. It was perfect. Gentlemen, you had my curiosity, but now you have my attention. Every Sunday, there's just a wall of stuff coming at you. especially in the first two slates of games.

So we like to pick out a couple of performances that really made us take notice. And let's start with the Baltimore Ravens. I felt kind of dumb, right? I'm watching that game. We had such a long conversation about the Seahawks offense earlier this week and about how so much of the worry and the panic from Seahawks fans is probably overstated. They're actually really good. They do a lot of good stuff.

And I'm watching this game. I was like, man, I feel like, idiot. And then I went back and I rewatched it and I'm like, it's not that bad, right? It's not that bad. It's not. But this, the Ravens are so good that it can get away from you so fast. And this was one of those games where the defense gets one, two, three, four stops. The Seahawks average distance to go on third down today was nine point seven five yards. I mean, how hard they were consistently making it on their offense. Pocket just condensing, collapsing, consistently, nowhere to go, no one open, and then you flip it to the offense.

And Lamar is playing at an MVP level. He has been all season. Today they ran for 300 yards. They ran for 298 yards. They had a 50% rushing success rate. And that's what makes them so scary is that your two or three short-circuited drives or the defense that's playing at a historic level away from this game getting completely out of hand because their offense can hurt you in so many different ways.

I just thought this was another despise. play of everything they have to offer. And right now, they have as much to offer on both sides of the ball as any team in football. Yeah, I think they're the best team in football. I mean, they just are everything. Like you just said, they do everything on offense. I was trying to kind of like have like a little narrow down note like, oh, they do this. They do everything.

Play action, quick game. Like they, I mean, run the ball. They run every type of run play. They got QB run game. They got different running backs in there. They got a speed guy now. It's like tight ends can. targeted. It's like everything. Anything you can think of, they run. But I would say on

offense, they really the zone read stuff, or not Zohrida, but the QB read stuff, the QB run game with Omar, they really targeted Maffei from the Seahawks. Oh my God. They was, they ran it at him every single time. So that's why all those runs were at his side. He had a nice play. I think he got the strip sack later. He did. But there was always, yeah, they were. So he was crashing so hard, but they weren't scrape exchanging, which is the linebacker comes over the top. So then, like, Ricard was just climb it up to pin like Bobby Wagner. And so, like, Lamar was just, you know, skirting out the side. It was just like it felt like the Collar and Capardet game against the Packers and the playoffs.

That's where it felt like a couple of those plays. But I want to talk about the defense and some of the fun stuff they did on third down. They went, they held them to one for 12 on third down, which is saying something because I actually like some to like some of the Seahawks stuff. And it's actually when I ran 47 plays. But they're, this is kind of like some teams are really leaning into this. The Vikings are doing this a lot too. a lot of guys at the line of scrimmage, a lot of cover zero looks or really quarters-ish cover zero looks and then bailing out of it or pressuring or simulated pressuring and doing everything out of it. And it's messing with some quarterbacks and the receiver timing because it's changing like angles that everyone's coming at.

But they're also doing, they did some three safety looks today, which was awesome. Like they had Darrell Worley in the middle, Kyle Hamilton and Geno Stone on either side. Anyone to watch a soccer, it's like a three centerback look. And I want to talk about one play. And I'll wrap it up. I'm sorry, I'm talking about the whole thing here. But the third and 11 play call in the first quarter that Gino was sacked on by Maddibke was awesome. Three safety looks.

So they're all back there, which messes up Gino a little bit. It's a blitz. They bring Patrick Queen who's off the ball. He crosses the center's face, which is always annoying. Then Rochon Smith from the line of scrimmage from the right guard drops all the way to the first down marker, covers JSN's route. And then they run like kind of a cover three look off of it. Gino has to hold the ball because he's like, oh, shoot, they covered it. They perfectly matched all the routes.

And then on top of it, because the Blitzhook was kind of funky, the tight end and the runnerback both stay in. So no one gets out on a checkdown. So he has to eat the ball. And then that's how a sack gets created. But that's coverage tying in with pass rush, creating with some funkiness and sound as. Every single time he had to look beyond his first read, every single time was like, all right, I got to move off this.

It was over. It was over. Every single time. And that marriage of Russian coverage was on display throughout this entire game. And I know that the Seahawks offense looked terrible today. But even that two for 11 or whatever that number was on third down, JSN drops a ball on their first drive. Right. They had three passes deflected at the line of scrimmage.

It was just a rough day overall combined with how great the Ravens defense was playing. So I wanted to look up the numbers just about how good this Ravens team has been, you know, compared to not only the defenses we're looking at this season, but historically. So they are a lot of. allowing 1.1 yards per drive, or 1.1 points per drive. That is what the Ravens are allowing this season, okay? Okay. 13 defenses since 2000 have allowed that number or less. And those defenses that we're talking about, 2,000 Ravens, 2008 Ravens, 2008 Steelers, 2005 bears, 2002 bucks. These are the types of teams we're talking about when we're discussing the production that the Ravens defense has had this season.

And they're not this star-laden unit, but they have guys contributing at every single level. I don't think it's weird to say that Gino Stone is playing at like an all-pro level at safety right now. He has been unbelievable. And the fact that you're getting those sorts of contributions with dudes like that who didn't even begin the season as starters, that's all you need to know about what this group feels like right now.

No, they have a lot of good and unique players. Yeah. Like even Mada Beke's unique, Hamilton. and they're used so well. And it's a great play calling, a great play design. Like even that example I just brought up, Patrick Queen is going forward, which is always better, and Rokon Smith is the one in coverage. And Rokon Smith is the keystone player of this whole scheme.

He is amazing. And they can do so much stuff because he's so smart and versatile. And just that example is one of them. But he's truly a keystone player. And I mean, he is as valuable as any defender in the league right now. So watching him and then watching all these plus plays, players and unique players, you know, different tools can use at different times and just seeing it get all unlocked, running a little bit of everything as well on defense. It's, it's good stuff.

It's really good stuff. And then the offense is just awesome too and varied with an MVP quality quarterback right now. The fact, they averaged 0.31 EPA per rush today. For context, that's like, again, MVP level quarterbacking. That's how efficient their run game was today. And Keaton Mitchell was the best player that they had on the ground. And they're running all sorts of runs. I mean, they're multiple pullers and they're running out of 11 personnel and just getting them in light bodies. The Seahawks had the fifth best run defense success rate in the NFL coming into this

game. And the Ravens ran all over them. And then that's beyond what some of the stuff they were doing in the passing game. And it's stuff within structure where it's a boot to Mark Andrews on the first drive or it's Lamar replacing a blitz here or replacing a blitz there. But then it's also him scrambling, doing a little. something a little bit out of structure. So it's just the combination of everything.

The run game, the past game, the stuff that's within the structure of the play and the stuff that he's just creating on his own, it just leads to this feeling where their offense feels so in control because there are so many different ways that they can hurt you. And that was on full display today. Lamar had a throw near the end of the half on third and six to Mark Andrews. That was stupendous. I cannot wait to watch that in all 22. you. I can't wait to watch the defense on the All-22.

That is what I'm very much looking forward. It might be a wind of clock if they have anything. I think that 3-11 might be a juicy one. But watching this throw, and it's exactly, it's always what I kind of rave about, usually with quarterback play, it's taking the high and the high-low. He could easily had the underneath throughout the crosser. But again, he's getting the extra bases. He just turned a single into a double, and he created another first down out of thin air.

And that's awesome quarterback play. And the confidence that he played with, it was just like when we watched of angles offense, talking about that for a minute, just to be able to do that in a third and six and not feel rushed and actually be in attack mode. Yeah, it's some good stuff from Lamar and from his team.

Yeah, just looking through my notes right now. Like he, 730 left in a second quarter. Seahs did some interesting stuff too on offense. They just didn't click. But I did some fun of motion stuff with the runnerback. I feel like their offense is going to be okay.

They got their teeth kicked in by the best defense in the league today. And that can happen. We saw what they did to the lions at home. This can absolutely happen. But there's a stretch in the second quarter. Lamar finds space outside of the pocket on first and ten. Comes all the way back across the middle of the field to Odell. There's a 10-yard gain on the next play to Keaton Mitchell.

There's a crosser in structure that he hits to Zay Flowers. Great pass protection again, where the polar is picking up the blitzer and then Edwards finishes it off for a touchdown. So it's just this combination of out-of-structure, in-structure, run game. game, past game. And I think one of the things that we have not mentioned that brings that all together that I thought they played fantastic today, their offensive line is really good. Yeah. Like the difference in how much time Lamar had to extend plays and work in the pocket today compared to how much time Gino had to extend plays and work in the pocket today,

Gino had the, Gino's pressure on 54.5% of his dropbacks today, according to true media, which was the highest rate in the NFL on Sunday. And it absolutely felt like that. And so that contrast was on full display. And I think the Ravens' offensive line deserves a lot of credit for the past protection side of it and all the work that they did in the run game today. Yeah. Great. I love when you see like three or four different type of run concepts work.

And it's just like, boom, okay, do this. Okay, now they have a poloer on it. Okay, there goes Lamar. It's like, that's when you know you're on to some stuff. It's the, I was going to say, the play that keeps coming to my mind when I picture this offense, though, is Lamar's throw last week when he's on one leg. I still think that should be the new NFL logo. You just like sweep the leg.

But that's just the, I think this offense, that's what's going to picture because it's fun and control. And he only can hit those plays. Like I talked about the high option if the offensive line's playing well. So good shout out there. I think I'm trying to remember them all right now. I think the Ravens have two of the most three, two of the three most impressive wins in the NFL so far this year. If I had to list them off. Maybe two of the four.

Niners over the Cowboys. bills over the dolphins the way that they dismantled them, and then the two Ravens wins, the ones that they had, the one they had over the Lions, the one they had over the Seahawks. I mean, they have easily the highest point differential in the NFL,

especially after this game. I mean, their ability to dismantle these good teams. I think they're pretty undeniably the best team in the NFL right now, even with the Eagles sitting there at seven and one, right? Yeah, I absolutely think they are. It's, yeah, I think definitively,

I feel so good. Like, it just love, it's really fun to watch this team because they, they're well coached. And they have awesome players. What's better than that? That is the Ravens right now. So I totally agree with you.

I think they're number one with a bullet right now. Let's get to our next one here. Kansas City Chiefs, you have my attention. We talked about the Chiefs a lot over the last couple of weeks. Their defense specifically on our preview shows. And what they did to the Dolphins today. I mean, this is the best performance that they've had this season. And I think a real announcement that we are dealing with something different on defense for Kansas.

city this year. You know, I think a lot of people were noticing it. The numbers are there. But this was to a national audience with nothing else going on, them really showing everybody what we're dealing with when we're talking about the chief's offense this season. Yeah, the fun more return for touchdown was like a nice little symbolism for this defense with just three different defensive backs getting involved and more blocking.

Like it was just, it was, it was honestly, that was like a celebration of how they've been playing. And just so much changing the picture after the snap. They were running man coverage. They're being physical, it's high we kill. But they're also doing the stuff to what I think can help hinder this offense and sometimes changing a picture on Tua. But just watching like Justin Reed and Brian Cook communicate on the back end, it's like, yeah. How well they handled all the motions. I mean, just completely locked in.

And I loved watching them affect the game in all these different ways where you have the blitzes that we know are coming, right? like the first Watson sack where they bring him off the edge, they bring a linebacker, they drop Carl off this into coverage, and it's free rush or sack. The sack that McDuffie had a little bit later in the game, they don't bring a linebacker, but they still drop Carlophthus,

and McDuffie gets a sack coming off the edge. So you have like the blitzing ninja bullshit that we have with Spags all the time. The physicality that they consistently had with those receivers at the line of scrimmage, the entire game and disrupting timing. Sometimes it's a little overzealous. need got dinged for a hold on one of them. But that aspect of it where we're going to disrupt timing this entire game, we don't care. That's what we're doing.

And then again, the physicality and willingness to tackle on the perimeter from everybody on the second and third level of the defense showing up again. Tramari Connor on the first drive has like a TFL slash tackle for like a one yard gain. And it's just like this is it. Like every single one of those guys back there is going to bring that sort of mentality mindset presence on the back end. against this team that all they want to do is gash you on the perimeter. It showed up more than it typically would, but this has been a consistent thing for them all season. Yeah, I mean, again, like the phone war return was just being physical, just taking it to them on a bubble look and not playing off and scared and backing up.

No, they went forward when most teams go backwards against this offense. But the, what was you saying, the physicalness? Like how we both kind of like have noticed, especially last year in the second half last year, is how much a better tackling team? they are like Justin Reed was an upgrade in that way. And he kind of sets the tone for that. And there was a play that just sticks out in my mind. And it was actually a completion for a first down for the dolphins. But it was to Tyriek Hill.

It was like on a slant, I think it was. It was an inbreaker of some sort. But then he, the corner tackles them right away. So it goes for like an eight yard gain. But I've seen that go for a touchdown, like easily, like with this team with Tyree Kill. But it's just like that. It's like only one explosive pass, I believe, the whole day. It's like if you can limit that.

And like that is usually the Thorn and Chiefs defense are spagged side. And now they're taking away that. Yes, you can get them after him in the run game a little bit. The dolphins did in the second half. But it's like they still make it tough. And they still, again, their physical. And this was out their top linebackers or top linebacker. So it's, yeah, it's a really good unit.

And I thought this was a really fun performance. This is another defense that's going to be definitely on the all 22 watch because going against this offense, this is a real test. And it's a funky offense. And performing this way. Yeah, that's. Tip of the cap. It was a third and nine early in the game.

I think, I believe it was in the first quarter where they had a completion, but it was an illegal shift. It was like a beautiful throw in a corner route that two ahead. And it was legal shift. It was third and 14. And you're talking about like a play in space that actually seems not that important, but really kind of exemplifies the game.

On a third and 14, they had a little shovel pass to, I can't remember. No, it was 26. It was back. It was back. Oh, yeah. No, Wilson. I know it is.

Whatever. It doesn't matter. Whatever. Run it back. It's shovel pass and tranquil makes a play in space. Salvin Ahmed. Jesus. We're getting later and we're getting too late in the day.

So it's a shovel pass and tranquil makes that play in space. If he doesn't make that tackle, that's going for a first down. That absolutely is going for a first down. And there were so many of those today. And then the other one I wanted to point out, I tweeted this out earlier, It's just such a stupid play. But to me, it's like, that's why this team is good right now. In the second half, the first drive that the dolphins had,

there was second and eight, and they had a chunk run to Mostert. And McDuffie was holding down on the edge, and he just refused to get reached on the edge by one, the receiver, and then two, Connor Williams looping around, and he draws a holding penalty on that play. And a corner just refusing to give up the edge on that play and drawing a hole. That to me is what this Chief's defense feels like right now.

He's scrappy. That's what they are. And he's a first round pick. He's a first round pick. I know. He's fun. How they use them in a slot is just good stuff. No, they're all scrappy.

That's what they are. It's a scrappy unit, but also just up front, like Carl Loft is playing well. Like they get pushing, they push in the pocket. But then real quick, too, it's like, it's funny watching this Dolphins offense. And it's like they, it's as much as how exciting their past game can be. it's like they need that run game to live and breathe. Like it was just, it feels so. And by credit to the chiefs for making it tough on them the first half, but in the second half,

it was like, oh, here it comes. It felt so much more alive. And so like that's when you're seeing that unit, seeing that dolphins team, it's like, that is so key. And it becomes even more apparent when they're kind of struggling or kind of, you know, struggling lack of air in their offense a little bit. They had 12 yards to go was the average on third down for the dolphins today. Yeah.

And it felt like that. And against spec, it's just hard to. live that way. Yeah. A couple other things kind of tangentially related to the conversation about the Chief's defense, okay? The Dolphins have a pretty drastic split this year between teams that are awful that they're destroying and really good teams that they're struggling against.

Do we feel like there's some validity to this? Do you think this is something that we're going to continue to see moving forward? I think so. I think the better units, especially the better defenses that have offenses that can at least keep up, you know, aka the best teams, are the ones that are going to give them issues. So like I said, I kind of feel similar to like the bills. I feel like this is a valid playoff team because their offenses are good and they're, you know, I feel like they can find answers.

But I do think that when they can't score 30 points, like, are they going to lose every game? Like, you know, that's, that's kind of an issue. That's a real issue if you want to be a real, real team. Good defenses have given them trouble over the last couple years. And they look like a different team. when they're playing against top five, top seven sort of defenses. And you look at what the AFC playoff picture is going to be this year,

the Ravens and the Chiefs are going to be involved in this conversation. These are the types of teams that you're going to have to beat to get there. So I definitely think that's worth keeping an eye on. On the flip side, the Chiefs did not score in the second half. Right. That's fun. And there obviously a drop by Sky Moore to blame on. It wasn't.

There was not a drop by Skymore to blame it on. A lot of the discourse around why the Chiefs' offenses struggled this year is twofold. One, they've struggled to run the ball. They've consistently struggled to run the ball. That continued again today. Two, secondary pass catchers, creating separation, all of that. I feel like there was probably some of that today. Again, you'd want to go back and watch it, but it did feel like the dolphins were doubling

Travis Kelsey a lot or just sending extra bodies his way. But to me, the biggest issue for Kansas State today was they just couldn't hold up up front. I mean, they just really struggled to consistently. give him time against some of those stunts. And I don't know if that's more of a comment on what the Dolphins front is going to be able to do over the rest of the season. That's a very talented group when all of those guys are healthy. Or if that's just one more thing to file away as we're having some issues and some concerns

about what the Chief's offenses. Yeah, I think passing game wise, I think they're figuring out. It's just that they're having some growing pains as they're trying to sort through all this. And again, I think I said this last week. It must be really nice to have guys like my homes and have this type of team where you can kind of just work through things in a regular season. You don't even need a buy week to do it. So that's why I feel pretty good that they're still winning games against the Dolphins team that, yes, is still like has a good record. I mean, they're six and three.

So, and like they've given teams issues. So it's, yeah, I feel still okay about it. Like, because I just, it is a little worrisome to me. Maybe some of get off the opening script kind of stuff too. You know, I think maybe sometimes the some of the ad-lib stuff. And I think even sometimes the run game is frustrating. I'm still trying to figure out why. Bless you.

Excuse me. Yeah, but then, but then I watch, I watch Mahomes make some freaking awesome throws. And then I see the Jerich McKinnon touchdown. And I'm like, oh, there's some nice design stuff because that was a tendency breaker. They usually don't release the running back that way. They release across the formation or they release them on swings. And so they release, it's a burst release. You burst to the field.

So if you ever, that's what a burst. a burst route, I should say, a burst to release is actually a receiver thing, burst route by the running back, he burst to the field. But he is going through that, and that was a tendency breaker, like I said. So it's like, oh, okay, they can still do that kind of stuff. Like, that's why the Dolphins linebackers dropped them. That's why Mahomes was hold on the ball because he knew that was going to pop open. So it's like, they can still do that. They still have Travis Kelsey. They still have my homes. They still have this offensive line. I still trust, even if they do have, like, had some moments today. So I still think they're just like a awesome, like a pretty damn good team. Like I still think they're up there. Like you mentioned the Eagles. or Ravens, I still think the chiefs are still in that kind of tier as well. I also think so. I think their offense is absolutely going to figure it out.

I believe they're going to figure it out. I think when you have that guy, an offensive line that's going to play much better than it did today and the defense playing the way that they are, they are complete enough that I think they're a very scary proposition. It's frustrating to see different issues cropping up where today was that today was past protection. Some games, it's a drop here or there. Some get days, it's just separation among your secondary pass catchers.

Some days, the running game isn't working. But being able to lean on your defense as you work through some of that stuff, very comforting. And that's where they are right now. And that's why I feel good about them long term. It's like, they're going to have good unit on both sides. As long as they stop, Michael Hardman starts fielding punts with his heels touching the end zone, that is an epidemic right now. There is some bad punt returning happening right now.

That is happening. And I, I'm done with the wide receiver handoffs. jet sweeps and touch passes on third and two. I'm done. Yeah, the short yard stuff, man. I ultimately deleted the tweet because the stat was actually wrong because that was a pass. The tip pass to Hardman was a pass. But before that play, before the McColl Hardman negative seven-yard completion in a short-yard situation, they had 11 carries for 18 yards this year on handoffs to receivers. Okay. 11 carries for 18 yards. And then it was a negative of seven yard completion to McCle Hardman.

So if we're lumping that in, just for the sake of this conversation, we're talking about 12 receiver touches in the backfield for 11 yards. And they've lost like 10 points of EPA on those plays. Just stop doing it. Just stop doing it. I know they get like praised. They're always like, oh, you know, we're always in the chiefs building. We're trying to one up each other with our ideas and like all these crazy designs.

It's like maybe just like design a good zone run play. like maybe just have like a nice like stick route from Patrick Mahomes to Travis Kelsey. Like, you know, like just like a quick little out route. Like the play action rollout that he had to the flat. Yeah. Where he threw. I can't know who it was completion to, but just more of that stuff. And they ran the ball on third and one and got, I think got a little shit for it today and

didn't when they ultimately didn't get it. That's fine. Like you don't have to run it, but just put the ball in his hands in some of those moments if you're going to do anything. So they continue to be very frustrated. but they also continue to win as they do it. I know. Usually teams do to Wildcat quarterback because they're like, oh, we got a gum and toothpicks

this offense, you know, not because usually don't do it when you have the best player of the world at the position. Though I will say, the contrast of watching what the Eagles can do in short yardage compared to what the chiefs can do in short yardage because they refuse to sneak the quarterback, that matters. Like that over the course of the season, that little advantage in high leverage moments is going to matter. And I think that we were consistently seeing it crop up with the chiefs in a way that's

kind of maddening. That's a great point. Every Eagles game, it's not first in 10. It's like first and seven. Yeah. You know, like, because it's a race to get once again. It's a huge advantage. It's huge.

It's huge. Especially right now in this league, how hard defense, how good defenses are playing right now. It's a huge advantage. Last one here. C.J. Stroud. You have my attention. Holy shit.

Gatling gun. That guy is, I cannot wait to keep watching him play football. I mean, the ball placement, some of the stuff that he's doing out of structure, the deep throw he had to tank Del for the touchdown. I mean, just he's got a handful of throw. Even last week when they struggled against Carolina, there was still a handful of throws. It's like, this guy is must-see television right now.

470 yards, record for a rookie quarterback, 0.71 EPA per attempt. in this game today. 0.71. Again, for context, you lead the league typically at like 0.25. That's what MVP's do. So that is how good he was today.

Five for five, 75 yards and a touchdown on the game winning drive that began with 46 seconds left on the clock. It was wonderful. He was his target chart was art.

This guy plays the quarterback position exactly how you want it. He's so accurate. He has such a quick throwing motion. He can push the ball when he needs to. His mechanics, timing, footwork. Like, it's teach tape. I've always said Dak is kind of my teach tape guy. Like, Dak, Kirk Cousins and like C.J. Stroud. They're like, they're the guys that would teach like a high school quarterback and be like, just watch this,

watch this guy. Watch this guy. Yeah, you see that. Zero fat in any of his footwork, any of his motion. Ball comes out so quick and he just puts on the money every time. And he throws guys open. He can layer throws in. He's awesome. I love him. He has become one of my favorite quarterbacks already is half a season into his career. He is so much fun to watch. I'm trying to find the way to describe this because it's not that he changes arm angles in the way that we see with a guy like Stafford, a guy with like Lamar, where he's getting the ball off in crowded pockets just by changing his arm slot. He almost changes arm trajectories in ways that are really conducive where he'll float the ball over someone or he has to like get a little bit like, on his tippy toes and like release it from like a somewhat higher point.

Like the ways that he's getting some of these throws off in muddy situations, I don't really know how to describe it. Like I've never really seen someone do this in the way that he is because it's not as flashy as some of those Lamar Stafford things, but it's just as important when things get a little bit crowded. The touchdown to Tank Dell. I mean, it wasn't a crowd pocket,

but it was that, that one is just a perfect example of that. just like how how he's able to like reset without making it a whole operation. Yes. And I think that's what it's just, his like movement to throw is very quick if that makes sense. I'm not going to, I don't want to compare him to this guy, but I'm saying like this is like what I always think of like Marino was always like, you know, just the ball was out, but there's

just that quick throwing motion. Someone, one of my favorite reply people on Twitter, follows on Twitter. And I can never, I can't, I never remember his name, but he had a great comparison with Stroud. It's almost like Kurt Warner. Interesting. He's fearless. And he just stands in there and he's going to, he's always an attack mode.

But he's so accurate and how he just like, those feet aren't moving, but he's getting the ball out so quickly and it's always perfectly on time. He'll push the ball when he needs to. He'll throw the ball over the middle over and over. And he just over, it does it over and over. But like I said, that first touchdown on the tank dell, it was a double move. And he, the shoulder fake into the throw was just so quick. and he throws it.

He, the timing on, or not the timing, the anticipation on it, throws into the back corner of the end zone. When he's releasing the ball, tank del's out like the 12-yard line. Yeah. It's just, that's, that's unguarable. And the whole shot was ridiculous on that final drive. I mean, just an unbelievable throw. His ability to layer throws like that.

And it was my favorite thing about him coming out of college. There was a throw he made against Michigan that was a corner throw, I think probably a little shallower than the one. want to Tank Dell today. But it was my favorite throw I saw him make in like the five games that I watched. He just drops it down the left sideline on a corner route. And the touch he puts on that ball and the placement on those second and third level throws is my favorite thing about him as a quarterback.

And that's exactly what we're seeing him do in the NFL. Like so many things about his game, stuff that was very much on display over all of the tape, ball placement, accuracy, things like that. But then seeing those little nuggets of off schedule playmaking and creation that we saw in those last couple games. It's everything you wanted from his evaluation, where the stuff that's consistent, we know we're going to get, the stuff that he showed in flashes when things get dirtier, muddier, harder in the NFL, can that just be who he is?

The answer so far has been yes. Like those little flashes that we got were enough to make you feel good about him in these sort of situations, and he's consistently shown it. And today was just another example of that. How do people always try to tier quarterbacks to say this is a guy you can win with and this is a guy you win because of? Stroud is you win because of. Already. He already is making his teammates better as a freaking rookie when defenses are.

It's harder to play quarterback than ever. And he's doing it. He's the real deal. I mean, he is just he is just a real deal NFL quarterback in like a top 10 one right now. It's fantastic watching them. The AFC South could be freaking loaded with QBs when Anthony Richardson gets back. Holy crap. That's awesome.

I mean, legit three guys. Hopefully Levis works out. And then we can just get four. Just like, let's go for it. Like that would be fantastic. I mean, Levis had some really nice moments on Thursday. I know they lost. I was a Levis apologist.

So I'm okay with him if he does okay. Like I, I, he does some, he's fun. I have no issues with him doing okay. He got, I just, he got the staff for comparisons because he's all trick shots. And it could be a really fun. It could be really fun to watch. But he can have some dummy moments as well. I don't know.

My lukewarm opinion of the first game that he has is that we just didn't get, we didn't get to seem to do that much. No. He wasn't asked to do that much. I thought I was asked to do way more in the first half of that game against the Steelers. And so even though they lost that game and the second half was a disaster, I feel better about him coming out of that game than I did about the four touchdown game. Because I actually had to watch him play quarterback in the NFL, and he did a pretty darn good job.

It's a good defense. And also, yes, totally agree. Everything you just said, that's exactly it. It was because the first game just felt fake. It was just designer shot plays. And you don't know how sustainable that is. That's why. That's why we mentioned that.

So I totally agree with what you said. Thursday night was much better. We'll talk about this a little bit later. I don't want to spend too much time on it now. I want to have a conversation about the Titans quarterback strategy and what they have done over the last couple years because I had some doubts about it and I was like how what do they do it like they really needed to come away from this draft with the quarterback but I think that there's some merit to what they've done and I actually think it's put them in a pretty decent spot so we'll save that

for a show a little bit later this week I'm not mad I'm just disappointed we're not going to talk about any games today or any performances today well any team's performances today I'm going to let you use this space today to just talk about how you feel about the officials and what today the day in refing and what it was like for you. I mean, Josh Allen pointed at a player today and got a flag for it, which was pretty funny. But there was a moment in the Cowboys Eagles game, even though it ended up not mattering because the Cowboys ended up scoring a touchdown on the next play that has me just infuriated because on the play, the Cowboys, the Cowboys, boys have a six offense alignment.

And he declares, when you have a six offense alignment, they have an ineligible number. And a number between 50 and 79 is ineligible. And he declares. And Dak even, I don't think they announce it. So you could see Dak looking at the umpire and going like, hey, did he declare? And then he goes, oh, okay, he did. All right. And then snap the ball.

And then they throw a flag for illegal formation saying he was not covered up because he has an illegal number, an eligible number. And even though he confirmed, even though he, said he was eligible and they didn't announce it. And it was just one of those moments where it was like, what the hell was that? And this just continues throughout the NFL, simple operation stuff. I'm watching, I'm not even like, that games on mute for me. And I'm just like, it's a, it's a multi-box screen. And I'm just glancing at it. How can I tell that? And you guys can't tell that that guy, this 320-pound guy, walked up to you and said, hey, I am eligible. I, we do six offense alignment often. I probably have

already done this in this game. I should have looked up that they have. But, oh, my God. The emphasis on the full weight on the QBs for the roughing the passers, I get it. Like they emphasize that. Okay, quarterbacks are dropping like flies. It's usually when they're scrambling, guys. It's not really those type of hits. But even Dean Blandino is kind of like, like exhausted of explaining it. Like they cut to him on one.

He's like, he's already rolling his eyes. He's like, guys, this is just what the NFL is emphasizing. I mean, yeah, I know. But he's just like, he's just shrugging his shoulders. Like, what do you want him to do? So, oh, I, there's just. There's some stuff in the Bear Saints game that you were also getting disgusted by? It was a crew that was not doing a great job last week.

And they were back in this Bear Saints game. They had a spot on the ball moment. Thank you. That was, I did have a moment. Yeah, same crew, who is a Torbert. Yeah, but it's, yeah, their crew. I've learned that they're working through some new members on their crew. I had some people reply to me about that.

But they had a fourth and one situation with the Bears where the ball got, moved up and down like three times and the bears tried to challenge the spot, I believe. And it was like a whole situation. And they like wouldn't announce it. And they switched like they're announcing. It took like seven minutes, like eight minutes to figure out this one yard spot. But yeah, that was just a fantastic moment. But they had a whole bunch of those in that game because that was one of the boxes.

I had the bottom right box of my multi-view. They're not even a sponsor right now. Are they? It just keeps using it. But seriously, that was just another one where I was just watching it. I was like, what are you guys doing? Like they're supposed to have the over the air stuff to like really like clean up stuff, which is how it's happened. I've seen some nice moments where they actually do a good job of it.

But there's a lack of communication, lack of transparency, a lack of accountability that's happening right now. And that's what I mean. It's not a guy missing a PI call or a passenger interference call or a holding. It's operation, which is the number one thing that there should be responsible for. And it's the number one thing they can control. So just want a little bit more out of your refs. So I'm already, I'm already always disappointed in you. It's just like even more disappointed.

Also disappointed in part returning, but I already used that kind of rant earlier. I was so worried after the taunting call. And then there was, I think a couple other if he calls early in the Bill's Bengals game, I was like, if you guys ruin this fucking game, I don't know what I'm going to do.

Because it felt like that at the end of the Eagles game. I mean, even like there was the PI against the Cowboys. It was like, what the hell was going on here? It just passed on the last Cowboys drive was, yes. It's, and I mean,

the Washington, one of the Washington Patriots game, which we're not going to talk about otherwise. We're actually going to chat with Ben Standick for Kiefer of the Beats tomorrow. But that one from Washington was like, that's one of the worst calls I've ever seen in my entire life. It was just a sack. It was just a sack. And it's a per if it's a roughing the pastor. That's my least favorite type of call.

The body weight ruffing the pastor stuff is that is my least favorite type of call. They're saying so many of them is just, they're like, telling them to round up on it. And it's like, I get, but you have to use some human logic here. Like there has to be some. It should be the opposite of that. Exactly. And I mean, the intentional grounding on Josh Allen tonight. I get it. They're saying, oh, well, we can't tell the route so we can't just say, we'll use your freaking eyes. Like, what do you think happened? And honestly, this is, that's a sore subject for me. The Colts Raiders, 2016, New Year, or Christmas Eve, Derrick Carr gets hurt. Yeah. The play before he gets hurt, we're winning, I think we're two scores and we're a fourth quarter, I think is when he gets hurt. We're about to ice the game. And then, uh, I think we're about to kick a field goal. That's what it was. We're not. We're not. near the high red zone. Derek gets an intentional grounding because Seth Roberts runs the wrong route.

And so we get intentional grounding. We have to throw the ball. He gets hurt. And if not, we would have been in red zone, no big deal. We would just kick the field goal. And it would have been no. So that's like a sore subject. That call specifically, that type of penalty.

So clean it up, refs. Sorry. Sorry. I just came back to me. I, you had a lot of grievances that you wanted to air. and I completely respect that because it was frustrating. All I want them to do is not, all I want to do is watch a game and not feel like some influence, whether it's a call, whether it's the operation, whatever, is encroaching on the flow of the game and what it feels like to watch the game.

That's it. All I want is to realize and all I want to think is, I don't notice that they're there. That's the only thing I want to feel. And it's becoming harder and harder to do that. Absolutely. Also, real quick, last thing is special teams hidden yards are huge this year. With offense being so hard, like, I was just watching Turpin with the Cowboys and what he was doing. And like, just create those extra hidden first downs and making the other team get those first downs. It's like when the offense is really hard to come by, when points are really hard to come by, those are huge.

And it's becoming kind of like a sneaky thing. I'm kind of keeping an eye on because some of the bad ones are once they are standing out more than some of the good ones. But really, that's it. All right. Let's get to a few more things from that today. It's time for the Sunday notebook. I'd like to chat about just a couple observations, a couple moments from Sunday.

And let's start with what Josh Dobbs did in that game against the Falcons. I want you to just try to describe and explain how impressive it is for a guy who didn't practice, who has never had any reps when they were running the no huddle stuff. And he was running tempo. And he's doing it at the line of scrimmage. I was like, how is he even doing this? I don't know how you would understand what that operation looks like at the line of scrimmage when you've never even practiced with the team that you're playing on right now.

What you're saying? Do you even know half his teammates' names, which I understand. That's very hard. I'm terrible names myself. But this is one cool thing, but that a lot of guys from the Shanahan offense are in this terminology are spreading throughout the league, is that when guys switch teams, they can translate it a little better. Sure. So I do think that's probably what helped a lot.

But it's so freaking hard. I mean, I've heard stories about signing guys. Brooks Bollinger told the story he got signed by the Lions to start a fourth preseason game. And they signed him like three days, four days before the game. And they said, okay, Scott Lanahan was calling the play. And he was just tell him, hey, this is just our version of stick. Like, you know, like, just read it inside out. You know, like he was just like tell him like, hey, that's how you're going to have to read this play.

And I think that's probably what some of it happened. It seemed like that last touchdown was they had a red zone plays or designer play. So they practiced all week probably. He probably has just kind of seen it. They probably told him, like, look at the slot. And because the whole way he's looking at Powell that entire time. He was going there, hell or high water. But, I mean, they scrapped together this wind.

Like, good for them. And Dobbs' scrambles were fantastic. He took the ball in his hand. Like, some of his scrambles were some of the best plays in the league today. So, like, good on them. He's a smart guy. He's a fun player to watch. He did some nice things for the Cardinals this year.

Wasn't always perfect. But this is really, really impressive. And something you don't really see ever. Like, I've just brought up a preseason example. This is ridiculous to see in the regular season and a kind of a, you know, pretty kind of a swingy game in the NFC. Yeah. And it reminds me a little bit of what happened with Baker Mayfield last year when he got to

LA and he played on like one day's notice. He was learning the plays in the essentially on the plane. But again, doing the no huddle stuff without knowing the offense was wild to me. And some of the stats, Kevin C. Ferdo, who writes for ESPN said that Dobbs in the huddle was like, all right, what do I have on this side of the play? and guys are just telling him what it was. And our Alec Lewis, so he said that Josh Dobbs said KOC was essentially translating calls and mapping out plays mid-huddle

as the play clock was ticking down. He called Dobbs's ability to handle it one of the most impressive things that he has seen in his career. This idea of, oh, he's a rocket scientist. That shit is so overplayed all the time. In this moment in particular, this guy being like the smartest player on the field was hugely important. That's what's insane.

me because every offense, I just said that they used the same terminology, but every offense has their own translation of it. Like, it's like they, I interpret it this way. So what's a common formation for me with the Vikings might be totally different than what I just ran with the Cardinals. And so he might know the words, but it's probably like it sounded like how Yoda talks, where it's like, okay, this, that, those words are right, but they're in different spots than I'm expecting or that's like a different flavor of that.

So I think that's what he probably had to like translate in his head. So I know, but I'm sure that's what it was. every play. They probably had to get the play call in so quick. So KOC before 15 seconds hits, they should probably just like, all right, you got to read this. This is pure progression read. Or you got like, hey, if it's too high, you do this, you kill it to see if it's single high, like just real quick trying to give them play. So good on them. I mean, it was fun to watch. Those scrambles, the falcons started trying to bait it and like with some of the pressures and get them kind of going to the left. And then it just kind of like blew up with their face a couple

times. It was always to the right. So it was a, it was a scrappy win. We talked about scrappy with the Chiefs defense. This was a scrappy one. It's pretty interesting. It's an awful loss for the Falcons. It is potentially like a season-changing loss for the Falcons today. Yeah. Oh, yeah. They need a buy and I need to buy from them. They didn't need to go back to Ritter. I see enough of Hineke. Everyone always made apology. I know. They got to go back to Ritter. I've seen enough. That's the exact same guy. He should have like six picks today. Yeah. It's the conversation we had on Thursday. We're like, all right, you want to limit the downside and the potential turnovers that you're going to have and that I watched him.

throw, I would love to see what PFF's going to say, like, turnover worthy plays, like how many he had today. I bet it's at least four or five. And that's, if that's your concern, tick routes over and over. Yeah. So it's, it was certainly frustrating. Just another entry into a Falcons team that I truly struggle to understand. The two teams that need the buy week the most are the bills and the Falcons.

They need to take a deep breath as a team right now. I need a buy from them. One more thing you wanted to mention or chat about here really. quickly. Penny Moore, two pick sixes today and some nice moments from the Indianapolis Colts defense, which is not something we've been able to say all year. No, they've had some rough ones the last couple of weeks, but they're feisty. I know the Panthers offense kind of helps you. It's a little mouthwash, but he had two pick sixes, 115 yards on returns. Gardner missed you through for 127 yards today. So yeah, that's, that's, that's, creating some, talk about creating some first downs.

There it is right there. Creating some points, but they're winning up front. I mean, DeForest was a monster today. Even some of the rookies had some nice moments. I have been interested in watching this defense. And this might be giving me an excuse to study them. It might be a good game to study them because they look shiny. But I just feel like that they're doing some nice things. Like I like some of the players.

I can see some paths here to, you know, like put something together down the road, which is, God, I want Richardson. That's all that matters, right? This Colts team could be so fun next year. We get some glimpses from the defense. We got some glimpses from Josh Downs, even though he got hurt today. It's like, oh, Bernard Raymond's been really solid at left tackle. He's a guy you drafted in the third round last year. Like, that is all you need from a team at this stage.

Like, what sort of little coins can we pick up along the road here? And we're like, all right, these are our building blocks that we're going to have moving forward. So any sort of flashes you can get from them on both sides of the ball, you're going to take it at this point. And their second round pick this year, the corner, uh, Juju Brants, he, he looks like a keeper. So I'm, that's, that's a hit too for a team that desperately needed talent at that position. That's like that's pretty cool that when he's been banged up. But one of these kind of long guys that can be project. He actually is kind of making big strides.

He was a trades guy. I mean, he's another guy. Highweight speed. That's all of their draft class this year. So encouraging to see that kind of stuff. Last thing here. What a day for the Raiders. What a day for the Raiders.

The report over the last 24 hours. I mean, it's become up in a bunch of different places. I think Ian Rappport had it first, and then Jay Glazer talked about it on TV today. The team meeting where Josh McDaniels kind of cedes the floor to Antonio Pierce, who brings up the 07 giants beating the Patriots. And reportedly, Josh McDaniels is like, don't you ever do that again? And all you need to know, beyond the performance today, which we've seen this a million times, right? Coach gets fired, team played great. They're in a great mood.

the scenes from the locker room, both this week and today, the Devante Adams playing basketball, the fact that they had a basketball hoop in the locker room, and then them just smoking cigars and just having the time of their lives today in that locker room after the game. I cannot even comprehend how much all of those guys collectively disliked Josh McDaniels. It sounded miserable, man. But that it was the energy that they played with today, I saw Devante Adams blocking his. ass off. And so that's how you know. Because they, this offense, to watch Jacoby Myers just be a heat seeking missile dig it out some of those safeties. And so it was, it was just nice like like just a little modernness to the offense. You know, they also fired the offense coordinator as well. And like the

quarterback I thought O'Connell played fine. I can't call him AOC. It's just like it's just like, it's just a lot. It's just yeah. But it's, but he's a nice operation from there. But they just like, they just like were in the gun a little bit more. They had like jet sweeps. Like it's like, oh, you're just using your guys, just using your players well. Like, thank you. But yeah, you could just feel that, yeah, saw some RPAs as well. But it just really did feel like, uh, I talked about mouthwash game.

This was just mouthwash for an entire franchise. It must have been miserable, man. Like this, especially as the league has gone more fun, like, I would say like, respecting players. Yes. I think the dynamic between players and coaches has certainly shifted. over the last several years. I think that there is a collective and two-way respect.

And just a, all right, we're going to hear each other. We're going to be on a more equal plane. And that's how we're going to interact. That I think has become the norm. And so when you hear about a situation that's so far outside of that, it becomes even more notable. And I think that's what was going out with the Raiders. Clearly.

Absolutely. That's exactly. It's an old way of thinking. That's how it used to be, especially with a quarterback play. It used to be the worst. It was like, that ball's out right there. And you have no input. It's like, I don't like throwing that route.

Like, that's how the old coaches used to be. I'm so glad he brought up the Patriots giant story. I had a note on it, but I wasn't going to bring it off. So I'm so glad you told that because that's insane. I mean, that's absolutely insane. I mean, it killed me. And when the whole point of the meeting, get over yourself. It is for you to hear out the guys that are struggling and we're trying to figure out what's going wrong here.

It's, oh my God. Tone deaf. Well, that's, don't have to worry about it anymore. So, see what happens with them moving forward. We'll see what happens with him moving forward. But a nice moment for what has, during what has been a very frustrating, very tough season, I think, for the Raiders. Also from this game, obviously, Daniel Jones suffered what we believe is supposed to be a torn ACL. We are going to talk to Dan Duggan tomorrow on Kiefer in the Beats.

Kiefer in the Beats. Because Zach Kiefer is in Germany. So I am going to step in tomorrow, take over. We are also going to have Ben Standig coming on to talk about the Washington football team. They had a very, obviously, eventful week last week trading away multiple guys. Some of the reports, I think, around Sam Howell and his future. I want to ask Ben about and whether, how central he is to their plans, what the Josh Harris era looks like in the early stages. Actually, obviously talked to Dan about not only the Daniel Jones injury and what it means.

for this season, but where the Giants go moving forward here, because they're just in such a different spot than we anticipated them being coming into the season. And Alec Lewis, our Vikings writer, is going to come on to talk all things, Josh Dobbs and what the last 48 to 72 hours were like up there in Minnesota. So please come check that out. Happy to be standing in for Zach. For now, though, that is all we got. Sincerely appreciate you guys listening. We'll talk to you soon. Thank you.