The Fumblerooski Podcast - Crossroads -Ep 210 The Fumblerooski Podcast

Episode Date: October 4, 2023

Is Bill and the Pats done? CJ Stroud OROY? Broncos Comeback Win in the Toilet Bowl, Top 3 and Bottom 3 from Week 4, and of course the Fan Box for the week: Who is your MVP through the 1st 4 weeks?

Here's Edelman broken up and the pass is no sign yet. Edelman comes down with a football and they're saying it's a catch. It's in. Oh! It's a catch! Side-line! Touchdown! Unbelievable! Slings it way down the field to Watkins! Sammy Watkins for the touchdown! Good evening.

You are listening to the Fumble Rooski podcast by Power 88 Dean Radio and Secret Weapon Consulting. Hello, everybody. I'm Chris Kostich. Alongside me, Adam Wright and CJ Madero says we got a good lineup for you here. As we'll be talking about the Pats getting their butts kicked 38-3. Worst loss in Bill Belichick's career. Texans beating the Steelers. C.J. Stroud, potential offensive rookie of the year.

We'll also be talking about our week four top three, bottom three, as well as the toilet bowl. Broncos coming back to win 31- after being down 28 7 versus the bears and of course our fumble ruski fan box and i'm gonna be listing out you guys's suggestions of who was the mvp through the first four weeks of the 2023 season man i guess we'll just start. We'll just start right into it. Pats Cowboys. Not I'm, I'm sick right now. I don't know if anyone could tell I have the common cold. I'm going to blame this on the Patriots making me sick right now. But I also wanted to use this time to lead into the trivia for this week.

So seeing that this was the worst loss of Bill Belichick's head coaching career, the 35-point loss, Adam and CJ, I was going to have you guys try to guess the five previous times before that, basically. So. That they were blown out? Yeah, the five worst losses prior to that. Wait a minute. Wait,

is this loss with new England or just loss of his coaching career? Cause if you're throwing BS from Cleveland at us, that's not fair. I tell you what. Well, we're to be fair. Those were the Ravens. Oh,

well, you know, back in the day. Well, we're going with Belichick's coaching career, but the top five are all from the Patriots anyways. I'll allow it. It doesn't really matter.

So your hints, I'm going to give you the years. A couple of these should be pretty easy. 2003, 2022, 2020, 2020, and 2014. Just out of curiosity, was that 2003 one against the Bills? Yep. Oh, yeah. Wait, wasn't that like week one where they got pile-driven after letting Lawyer Malloy walk, and then they won the Super Bowl?

My dad always talked about that one. 31-0, Bills beat the Pats week one. Like you said, the Pats let Loyal Malloy go the Tuesday of that week, I think it was. Then the Bills came back to New England week 17 and the Pats gave them their medicine

right back 31-0 in that game too. There's that one. That was the top one. You guys still got four more? What was the other year? We got 2022, 2002 from 2020, and one from 2014. One from 2014. That was week four against the Kansas City Chiefs.

Yep. That was the infamous Trent Dilfer, the Patriots aren't good anymore game. Their week went on. Then we were on to Cincinnati and everything was fine. Was the infamous Trent Dilfer, the Patriots aren't good anymore game. They're weak. Went on to win. Then we were on to Cincinnati and everything was fine. What a season. Business as usual, man. All right, so there's two.

What was the score of that game, though? Do you remember? Because I'm completely blank. It was like 40-something to 17. 41 to 14. 41 to what now? 41 to 14? 41 to 14. 41 to what now? 41 to 14? Yep.

Jesus, that was bad. And one of those two touchdowns wasn't even Brady. That was Garoppolo. So they were thinking that Brady wouldn't even finish the season, that Garoppolo was going to take over. Oh, hold on. I think I remember one of the 2020 ones. Was that the one against the Niners?

Yep. That was, if I remember correctly. We got violated in that one. Peeved me. I think that was a Sunday night game, too. That was a 33-6 whomping. Yeah, I remember. We were pimp-smacked a few times.

I was like, oh, the Rams gave us the business. Dolphins at one point gave us. Oh, wait. I feel like that was the year we lost 38.9 to buffalo though it was or is that 2021 say that again there was one year where we lost to buffalo was that 2020 where there was like something like 39.8 38.9 yeah it was like 38 38.9 right on the button that was the day before my birthday, actually. December 28th, 2020. That was a great birthday present.

So you got one more. This one is honestly kind of an easy one. You said 2013, was it? 2022. Oh, 2020. Oh, I know. Well, we got the other one. Yeah, 2022.

Oh. Oh. Oh, was it the game against? Are we counting playoffs? Yes, we are. And yeah, the division, the wildcard game against the Bills. That was that was a real pork. Yeah, I was I was at that game with some of my buddies and that was just. I do remember you mentioned that you're like, I'm going to this game.

And that was I was so jealous until I wasn't you're like i'm going to this game that was i was so jealous until i wasn't i'm like yeah hold over there you're losing big must have been still a fun time but oh yeah i honestly didn't even care that it was negative 10 degrees it went with the wind chill it was negative 10 degrees and i was so bundled up like you the beer the beer was literally just slup beer slushies i remember we bought we bought a 12 pack or 24 pack of uh sam adams like a tailgating pack and it's like all the football flavors they're limited edition whatever and i actually broke the bottle trying to open it up because of how cold it was and how was was Bill's Mafia, the tailgate? Oh, that was fun.

Did it live up to the hype? Yeah. Oh, yeah. It lived up to the hype. We saw two, three people go through tables. Oh, that's awesome. I want to witness that. Yeah.

I don't know how it would go down as a visiting fan, but. Well, the guy next to me was kind of being a jerk. I was trying to be boys with him, even though he's a Bills fan. But there was a couple that was right in front of us that was really cool. They were talking about how they were there for the Bills comeback against the Oilers in 1992, I think it was. Oh, jeez. Whatever year that was, when they were down 35-3,

or whatever the score was, that historic game. Anyways, we digress. We'll move away from trivia. We'll just go right back to what we started with. Cowboys and Bears to the Pats, 38-3. Mack Jones, two picks, less than 200 yards. I think it was 150-something yards. Got pulled in the fourth quarter.

I was at a restaurant with my girlfriend in Boston for this one, and I didn't watch a single second of the second half. Watch, like, the first time that Mack Jones threw that ball across the middle of the field, I kind of just knew it was going to be a long day. The one before the pick. You know, that's just rookie mistakes. But I'll leave it to you two.

CJ, you want to start? Yeah, sure. If you're the Patriots, where do you even go? Because Mac Jones at this point is kind of an anomaly. When he's playing lights out, you don't win. When he's playing horrifically, you don't win. I don't get it. Also, if I recall correctly,

I remember seeing something that of Mac Jones' three statistical best games, we're one and two in those games. And I want to say we're either like two and three or one and four in like his top five best games. So even when he's playing well, we're not winning. When he's playing poorly, we're not winning. And it's just – I just – I was was shocked there is just no life and once again we're looking at this is the same thing that happened last season these stupid slip-ups silly mistakes continually

shooting yourself in the foot teams aren't even beating new england new england's beating themselves and that's how it was. I mean, I remember watching that game against the Jets and you could only eat 15 points out of that. I mean, granted the Jets have a good defense, but good God, that's painful. And this comes on the heels of an off season where you went out and you got Juju, you went out and you got Gasicki. And I mean, I'll grant you Juju's not a number one, but still it was something. I mean, granted it was reported that Bill Belichick had to be dragged kicking and screaming to make those moves because Kraft threatened him to make it to at least show some signs of life in the off season. Otherwise he'd be fired. But I don't know

as somebody who's a Mac apologist, I just don't know. And I'll grant you the Cowboys were good, but good enough to beat you by 35. That's just. And of course, I just want to point out all the Zappy fans need to sit down because Zappy was terrible as well. Didn't even have a completion percentage above 50%. He went four for nine. Let that sink in. And when I look at it, the question that I open with, where do we go from here? Judon, he's hurt, tore his bicep. I hurt out for a minimum six weeks. You're not going to be competitive. It's just, you're mediocre. Shut him down.

And I hate to say it, but we just need to shut Judon down for the rest of the year because why would you bring him back? The Patriots are just this frustrating amalgamation of not having the roster to compete but not being poor enough to outright tank. And honestly, I wouldn't be against tanking because if you really think Mack is a bust and you don't like your ROI, tank, get Caleb Williams, get Drake May, get somebody. Or if you like him, Mack, you know, tank and grab that Penn State offensive tackle for Sean or hopefully Marvin Harrison Jr.

But this isn't sustainable. And I know I've been going on, but I just want to say one thing, one thing more. You're running out of things for me to say. Believe me, you're forgiven. But here's my big takeaway. Some blame has to be laid at belichick's feet and i know the old head patriots are you know they're just they're repulsed by this comment but it's true they'll say oh but bill can only coach him so far it's the players it's the players fault well here's the thing about the players. Let me tell you. Who put this team together? Who's the GM? If Bill does not like the state of the roster, he has himself to blame. You did not do enough to address receiver. You did not do enough to address the offensive line. So yeah, this is your fault. And don't say that trading for Vadarian Lowe and Tyrone Wheatley count as moves.

Signing Riley Reif, who so far has been injured, that's not a move yet. And Juju, that is not working out well. Gasicki's been okay. But I just, I can't. And then even still you could say, well, the other coaches aren't good. Once again, who puts these other coaches on the roster? And look, you had me excited that we got Bill O'Brien back. And now I don't know if you've heard,

but there is already whispers Bill O'Brien's on his way out at the end of this year. He might go take a head coaching job at like Michigan or Michigan state. Or did you, did any of you hear that? I actually have not. Have not heard that. Are any of you hear that? I actually have not. I have not heard that. Are you typing it right now? Yeah, I am.

I want to see. It's funny. He's one of the big candidates for the Michigan State head coaching vacancy. So he could already be on his way out. And I wouldn't blame him at this point. Yeah, no, I wouldn't either. You either go out, as Adam likes to say, spend through your face in free agency

because you're going to have the first or second most cap space. You could have well over $85 million. Go out, get some players, make a blockbuster trade for a star receiver, or have a fire sale and tank. No more mediocrity. And if that means just stripping everything down, bringing in a new regime, probably led by Gerard Mayo, then so be it. But things can't continue. The fans know it, Kraft knows it, and he never tipped his hand at it, but I think Bill knows it

too. Okay, finally my turn. All right, here we go. Listen um i would like to look at this in a different angle um not just on not just on the patriots but where we what will happen what will become of bill belichick if they were to revoke him of his gm rights cj makes this point all the time he's probably going to quit as a a as a head coach out of spite too and he's gonna and there's gonna be no shortage of teams that will want him on their team and that's another thing to look at right they could improve their team all they want they could they could switch their regime but belichick is to find a new home and you better hope it's not close to yours. Because if he is, if he goes, if he gets his hands on Justin Herbert and that whole operation going

down over in LA, holy crap, is that going to be a problem? And like there's other spots he could go to. I mean, what if, what if the, what if the Miami decides they want to move on from McDaniel and they go to Bill Belichick? With that defense over there, with that offensive operation, I'm just saying, Bill's time may be up here, but if you give him a clean slate and some better talent, then he's going to do pretty well. We saw how he was with Brady.

Give him Justin Herbert. Give him Tua. Give him, name the team that is, that has the quarterback, but no coaching. He'll turn that operation around in a second. So that's just one, that's just one way I wanted to look at it. Cause I've been thinking about it. I'm like, you know, when things are really good in New England with Belichick, it was great. So he loses his star quarterback.

He's been struggling since then. If he goes to a new team with another star quarterback, things are going to be just as good as they were in New England. Jesus, let me scrap that for a second. Not just as good because you're not going to win six super bowls with anybody but it'll be still really good you get justin herbert you you may just win a super bowl or two that's the point i just wanted to make because i don't think anybody cj you're also muted that's just a point i wanted to make because

everyone's talking about well bill needs to be out okay well what then and then everyone talks about new england what about belichick do you think he's just going to retire no he wants the coaching record and he also might want to take some super bowls with him just saying yeah especially since you since back in 07, Don Shula ripped the Patriots after Spygate happened. And you know that Bill Belichick has that grudge against Don Shula because of it, and he wants that coaching record more than anything now. But you're at the point where you're looking at Belichick, and his record prior to get into New England and especially that first year in New England uh losing record and his record without Brady hasn't really been great

to say the least and now you come into this year you think it you know I I didn't think that it was going to be a Super Bowl year by any means, but this was definitely supposed to be at the very least an improvement year. And we thought, and through the first three weeks, at least the first two weeks, we thought that we were going to get the old Mac back. Mac had a pretty solid week one. Granted, the problem is he's kind of regressed since then. And we thought that since Bill O'Brien's in town,

it's going to be a lot different. Going to see a more explosive offense, going to actually take some chances with how good of an offensive mind Bill O'Brien is or used to be at this point. But we're now at the point where we kind of seem to be in the same problem as last year where the coaching has yeah play calling coaching has once again kind of just throw up been thrown out the window not a lot of great play calls we're not being aggressive enough on offense and now on top of that too you got the defensive injuries to judan. Judon's probably going to be out for the year. Gonzalez is probably going to be out for the year. You got bums like Miles Bryant having to cover CeeDee Lamb.

Jonathan Jones is still out. It's starting to be that dumpster fire. Like you guys said, we're not going to see this team tank. Now, here's a question I want to pose to you guys. Depending on where this team is come the trade deadline, could we possibly see a move at the trade deadline, potentially depending on how the team's doing? If the team's still in a playoff spot,

do we see the Pats make a move at the trade deadline? Or if it's just clear we're not going to get anywhere, we start unloading. The problem is this isn't the MLB trade deadline where you trade away your star players or even just average-level starters, and you can get a king's ransom. In the NFL, it's honestly quite the opposite, where you trade your star player, you might just get a third

or fourth-round pick. Unless you're the Bears who got two first round picks for khalil mac that was cool or that's what i mean though you got the cowboys are traded so you want to give away like judon no not necessarily but what i'm saying is you got a lot of these teams that have great picks. Maybe we see something at the depth. Jeez, maybe we do trade dude on. I'd rather us not trade dude on, but that might be the only guy who fetches a first round pick. That's my only problem.

Exactly. That's the only problem. And we're already wasting first round picks on defensive players when we could be using it potentially on, say, Marvin Harrison Jr., a name that we just brought up, or another great receiver. Adam, you brought this up plenty of times. We could have used that pick on Smith Njigba. I can't say his name. Of course, if you drafted him, he would have gotten hurt,

or he probably would have shut him down for the whole season but you know it's whatever he already did get hurt by the way and also he'll he's he's looking more and more like the worst wide receiver in that draft um but he has time he has time i'm i still believe in him but jordan addison zay flowers those are two wide receivers who've been doing really well they could have gotten them and there's some second and third round picks who they could have gotten too who are doing pretty well. Puka Nakua as well.

Where was he drafted? He was drafted, but like, yeah, I was about to say fourth or fifth. He didn't play at all last year at BYU because he had an injury. He's on pace to have an unbelievable year. 500 yards a quarter of the way through the season. You're halfway to 1,000 yards. More than halfway. He's 501. Holy crap. He's broken all of that. Notice how some of the best

and some of the biggest. I'm sorry, Chris. Notice how some of the craziest seasons you have seen from a wide receiver have come from the same guy throwing to him. Starting to see a trend here. Just saying. Cooper Kopp, Calvin Johnson, now Puka Nakua. And it's crazy, too, because we're seeing Stafford as, like, a guy that's on the downslope right now if we're considering, like, stat-wise.

But he's still getting it to playmakers that's the thing and that's sometimes all you got to do as a quarterback if you can still get it to your guys then you don't need to get rid of your 35 year old quarterback or or however old matt stafford is right now yeah i think his yards are still there but the touchdown to interception ratio is a joke. Three to five. Yeah. That's the only issue, really. Yeah.

We are getting off topic. Yeah. So we'll move on. We'll take a quick break. When we come back, we'll talk about Texans and the pass is no sign yet. Edelman comes down with a football and they're saying it's a catch. It's a pass! It's a catch! Sid's a catch. It's a catch.

Sideline. Touchdown. Unbelievable. Swings it way down the field to Watkins. Sammy Watkins for the touchdown. Touchdown. Welcome back to the Fumble Rooski Podcast. Chris Kostic, Adam Wright, CJ Medeiros.

As Texans, another upset this week, if we want to call it that. Granted, how bad the Steelers have been playing, but definitely not what anyone was expecting to say the least. Texans just routing the Steelers 30-6. Kenny Pickett went down with an injury in the third quarter. See how long he's out, maybe a week or so. But really the story here is C.J. Stroud. Man, he is something else right now.

So here's a stat real quick before we really get into it. C.J. Stroud is now only the sixth player in NFL history to average 300 passing yards and have zero interceptions through the first four games of the season. The other five, Peyton Manning, Tom Brady, Drew Brees, Patrick Mahomes, and Aaron Rodgers. Some good company. Very, very good company. So I think it's safe to say that C.J. Stroud is definitely the top candidate for Offensive Rookie of the Year. Yeah, I mean, listen, he may very well be the favorite just based off the publicity that he is getting for turning around this Texans team.

And honestly, they're looking a little bit like a competitive team right now. I don't know if we can. It's too early to tell. But what I can tell you is I don't think Stroud should be the offensive rookie of the year. And I'll tell you why. Bijan Robinson is low-key having a better season. Bijan Robinson's having an incredible season. And yes, for a rookie quarterback, C.J. Stroud, he's shattering records right now.

But for just a quarterback in the league, not quite as good as you might think. So yeah, I think C.J. Stroud is going to be an incredible quarterback. But B. John Robinson, relative to the rest of the league, is one of the best running backs right now. But I do really like Stroud. I love me some C.J. Stroud right now. He'd make a great Patriot, I'll tell you that much, he'd make a great Patriot. I'll tell you that much. He'd make a great Patriot. I would agree with that. CJ, want to talk about your cap, your other CJ? Now, as you know, back during the draft, I was a CJ Stroud enthusiast. This is why.

See, Adam's already looking at me. But was I not a big CJ Stroud enthusiast? I've just had it up to here with you and your draft day BS. I was right. Golf clap. Golf clap. Is this what you wanted, CJ? A little bit, yeah.

Thank you. Thank you. You're very generous now now here's the thing with cj stroud you know you you just you gotta look at who the texans have played thus far and i gotta admit i mean it's it's been good as far as C.J. Stroud goes. I mean, let's really take a look at this. So you go out, you get smacked by the Ravens. Well, that was to be expected. Colts beat you. You know, everyone knows the Colts have a better roster. But then you turn it around with a statement win over your division rival, Jaguars.

And then you turn around, you put the hurt on Pittsburgh. Pittsburgh with an elite defense, and it was getting a lot of hype this offseason because, oh, come hell or high water, Mike Tomlin will drag this team to above 500. Well, I don't see it that way. And it's that C.J. Stroud, what's truly impressive, doesn't have a wide receiver one. You know that? I mean, really think about it. Nico Collins, I guess. I think he's probably been their best receiver. But when I say,

you know, Nico Collins, I mean, what are you just gonna say? Oh yes. Truly a wide receiver one. No, but he's their leading receiver at 428 receiving yards and three touchdowns. And it's the, and then there's also the rookie tank dough is 267 yards and two touchdowns tight end Dalton Schultz only as 89 yards, but a touchdown and wide receiver Robert Woods with 191 yards. These guys like he's just doing it with a bunch of, like,

guys who aren't even, like, some would say, especially with Nico Collins, he's like a low-end number two, and yet he's on pace to have his best season ever. Can you imagine how dangerous C.J. Stroud would be with a true number one? We've said this numerous times on the Fumble Rooski podcast, that when you've got a young quarterback who's struggling, you give him a crutch and a wide receiver one.

You know, Josh Allen sucked, but you know why he doesn't suck anymore? He has a crutch, Stephon Diggs. You know, Tua has Tyreek Hill and Jalen Waddle. Jalen Hurts has A.J. Brown and Devontae Smith. But here's the thing. C.J. Stroud out of the gate is playing well. So what happens if you give him a true wide receiver one? His game's just going to extend that much farther. Let me ask you this, C.J. I'm sorry sorry were you still finishing with your point or i don't know i was about to at that point was basically over yeah okay um let me ask you this are you familiar with tank dell no oh yeah i'm familiar with tank dell yeah he was he's a second rounder

so i mentioned him i believe yeah like i tanked out 267 yards, two touchdowns. 16 receptions, 267 yards, two touchdowns. He's on pace for over 1,100 yards, almost 1,200 yards, and nine touchdowns. So, yes, if they have a wide receiver one. Maybe he could develop into a wide receiver one. Unless you develop him, then yeah. Yeah, so like what I'm saying,, what if this guy is their wide receiver one and they also just found a diamond in the rough wide receiver who is now their clutch for C.J. Stroud already?

Well, then it's a happy accident. Put it that way. Yeah, no, no, that's fine. Now, the Houston Texans are good. That's all, that's great. We've mentioned this, but I think we need to turn the cannons now on the Steelers. Yeah, that's what I was about to say.

Kenny Pickett is not that guy. This is just the undisputable fact. I was never, you know, very big on the Kenny Pickett hype, but he's been passable at best. The 60% completion percentage, 803 yards, four touchdowns, four picks, overall pass rating of 76.3. And the Steelers offense isn't that bad. I mean, you've got Najee Harrison running back. You've got plenty of weapons to throw to. Deontay Johnson, yeah, I know've got plenty of weapons to throw to.

Deontay Johnson, yeah, I know he got hurt. Give me a break. And you've also got George Pickens and Pat Friermuth. Especially since George Pickens could very well be, you know, a budding wide receiver one. Of course, maybe not with Kenny Pickett, but I don't know. Pittsburgh just might be a quarterback away. And I just, I don't know. I'm not a Kenny Pickett, but I don't know. Pittsburgh just might be a quarterback away. And I just, I don't know.

I'm not a Kenny Pickett fan. And I just want to point out this off season, I mentioned when everyone was hyping up the Steelers, I said on paper, it looks fine, but in real life, they have a hindrance. And that hindrance name is offensive coordinator Matt Canada. Pittsburgh Steelers fans, you already know this, but I'm going to say it anyway. You will not do anything, and Pickett will not progress. Maybe he could be the guy, could be wrong, but Kenny Pickett will not progress until you get rid of Matt Canada and the worst part is I don't think Mike Tomlin really wants to in fact he talks about the sorry CJ you can finish that I was just saying what's worse is that he knows the fans want Canada gone and he's not doing anything about it in fact have you seen him be asked about if anything he's kind of thumbing his nose at the fans saying, oh, well, too bad. And genuinely, no matter how bad the Pittsburgh offense is,

I wouldn't be shocked if Matt Canada was back next year. But that's just me. That's the thing that sucks about the Steelers. You know, it's, you know, Steelers hate change, especially when you look at the Steelers historically even like their head coaches they've only been through three head coaches in the last 50 years Chuck Knoll Bill Cower Mike Tomlin they they're not a fan of change and that's probably what's gonna end up being the downfall is and maybe in a

godsend for Steelers fans Matt Canada gets fired uh halfway through the season but it probably won't happen which sucks for them because since Matt Canada has taken over as the offensive coordinator back in 2020 or whenever he took over, they have yet to put up a 400-yard game as total as an offense. Oof. I didn't realize that. And every other team in the league has done it at least three times. Jesus. That makes Patricia look good literally like i i just can't believe that he's still around

you have three four straight seasons where you don't put up over 400 yards as a total offense and you still have them around what is this what are we doing what are you doing pittsburgh it's it's basically the same thing as new england at this point swallow your pride and get rid of the man who cares if it if you're changing stuff up just do it just do it your offense will if mike tomlin mike tomlin was calling the plays they would have a 400 yard game or at least come close to it, I swear. If Mike Tomlin was to take over, play calling duties, and they kick Matt Cannon out tomorrow, they will – who are even they playing next week?

I don't even know who they're playing next week. They're playing – hold up. I'll find it for you. You can keep talking. They're playing – okay, but – Next week keep talking. They're playing. Okay. But. Next week. Okay.

They're playing the Ravens. Ravens. Yeah. That's. They probably won't put up 400 yards, but damn, the offense will look so much better without Canada against the Ravens, especially with how beat up they are.

It's unreal. It's unreal. And, you know, we can get into if Kenny Pickett's the guy. I'm with CJ. I've never really been a Pickett guy. But, damn, man, it's like the same thing with Mack. You got to give him a chance with somebody, and Kenny Pickett's not going to get a fair chance unless they get rid of this guy. You know, were you finished's my, were you finished?

Yeah. I also wonder if like, like two things can also be true at once, right? This is something that I, that I used to say about Mac Jones and Matt Patricia. Like, yes, Mac, like Matt Patricia was a terrible, terrible offensive coordinator, had no business doing it. But I also think we had a right to be skeptical about Mac Jones. And look at what C.J. Stroud right now is doing over on the Texans. Not a very desirable situation.

Their coaching might be a little better, but he's still making the most of the situation he's in. We know that it really does look like he's still making the most of the situation he's in we know that we it really does look like he's the guy with mac jones and kenny pickett in not favorable situations they still look a little iffy like yes they show some flashes in the same way that the kirk cousins and dac prescott's in the world show flashes but does is that is that the end goal do we want those guys who are kind of middling who are oh they're really really good with when they have good talent but in the not so desirable situations i mean we've seen we saw what joe burrow did in 2021 one of the worst offensive lines in all of

football and they still went to the super bowl so he's the guy the The very next year, Patrick Mahomes, one of the worst wide receiving cores in all of football, won the Super Bowl, one league MVP, one Super Bowl MVP. We can clearly tell that he's the guy. So this is the thing about quarterbacks. They are guys who make the most of unfavorable situations. Because there's so many moving parts on an NFL roster. It's not always going to be perfect. There's going to be some weaknesses that you have to overcome. Not everything is going to be perfect. So I think that's something we need to look at with Pickett and Mac Jones. I do.

CJ, anything else to add? All right, we'll move on. We'll take a quick break. When we come back, we will have our top three, bottom three for this past week, week four. You're on the Fumble Rooski Podcast. Fumble Rooski Podcast. Here's Edelman broken up and the pass is no sign yet. Edelman comes down with a football and they're saying it's a catch. It's a catch.

It's caught. It's a catch. Side-line. Touchdown. Unbelievable. Swings it way down the field to Watkins! Sammy Watkins for the touchdown! Welcome back to the Fumble Rooski Podcast.

Chris Kostich, Adam Wright, CJ Medeiros. Top three, bottom three for week four. We did top five, bottom five last week. I decided to shrink it down to just three, but we will have two honorable mentions, Adam and CJ. I'm just going to list these off. You guys say if you disagree, agree, add, keep, yada, yada. So we'll start with the top.

Texans, Commanders, Ravens, Honorable Mentions, the Jets, and the Titans. What do you guys think? Okay. CJ, you go first. I really like the addition of the Titans. I really do. And a lot of people sometimes, you know, they tend to forget about the Titans. And I'm with that. I I am I'm not going to pretend that I don't understand why but let's really look at this look who they just beat the Bengals who were they not supposed to be our Super Bowl champs this season was Joe Burrow not supposed to be our MVP this season yeah now I

don't know if that says more about how much of a train wreck the bangles have been but the titans they have some fight in them and not just some fight they pants the bangles and made them walk across the field on national television so yeah i just want to say great job batting the titans very underrated performance and uh derrick henry's fantasy performance will prove it the jets should be number one zach wilson put the league on notice and i think you know this guy made a deal with the devil talk about a guy who just you expected one thing and you got another unbelievable the way he played and i and a lot of people argue that they would have beaten, like they would have straight up beaten the chiefs if it weren't for a couple of calls that went another

way. Right. So I gotta, I gotta put the, I gotta put the jets number one. Um, I don't, I like the Ravens. I'm never going to, I'm never going to bash a team for beating a team that they should beat, but I'm also not going to credit you for it. If that makes sense. So I think they should, they should slide it. The jet should slide in number one, Texans to commanders three. That's my,

that's my top three. I will say when I made the list, when I make these lists, I kind of just do it at random. There's no specific order to them. Obviously it does seem that there's a specific order, but there really isn't. So, yeah, Houston, I thought that considering the win that they had last week, it was a good follow-up, beat the crap out of the Steelers.

Washington, great bounce. Even though they lost no tee, great bounce back week. Sam Howell had a really good week after a really bad performance against Buffalo. Baltimore, great bounce back week after losing overtime to the Colts. And to counterpoint what you said for the Ravens, I think that, sure, we probably could have expected them to beat the Browns. But they also beat the Browns handily for a team that has shown a pretty solid defense to say the least, in my opinion. Um, but I digress jets. I agree with everything you guys just said, uh, the Titans agree with everything that CJ just said. Um, with that being said for the bottom three i got bears uh for blowing that that 28 to 7 lead patriots you're

just talking about them uh the steelers for yeah it's just the steelers uh the bangles for losing to the titans so badly and the dolphins i Dolphins in here because Dolphins, that should have been a game and they got their ass handed to them. But that's just me. Bengals should be 100% on this list. I don't think they should be an honorable mention. You talk about a team that was supposed to win the Super Bowl, win your quarterback, win league MVP, your top wide receiver, win offensive player of the year, all of that. I mean, this team was supposed to light it up and you got pants by the Titans

and Ryan Tannehill. Holy crap. That deserves to be number one. And I'm sorry. Listen, I know the Bears blew the lead. They blew a lead. But the fact that they had a big lead in that Justin Fields finally showed us a glimpse of what he was supposed to be this year. I think that does have some value for the Bears. I probably would have put them as an honorable mention. Yeah, I think I did that as a typo by accident. So let me let me fix it up.

So we'll, we'll do Bengals, Patriots, Steelers, and then the honorable mention Bears Dolphins. Yeah. You know something? The Dolphins are the only team that I feel really any shred of confidence going forward because their offense did show signs of life, but plain and simple, they just got outclassed by your big brother in Buffalo. Then the Patriots, we all knew, I mean, no one expected them to win, but ugh.

Then there's Cincy. Like, what's your excuse for winning? I mean, for losing? You don't have one. And then Pittsburgh, you all went to Houston, and you were favored to win. That's just embarrassing. Overall, I would definitely call Cincy this week's biggest loser, and they're definitely bottom, especially of, like, play style last week.

Another mention I probably could throw in there would maybe be the Giants from last night's Monday night game um serving I mean the only reason why I didn't put the Giants on was it was kind of inevitable they were going to lose to the Seahawks because hey you got Daniel Jones's 0-4 record on Monday night he only has one win prime time. I think it's like one and 12 down primetime games. And on top of that, the Seahawks sack Daniel Jones 10 times, but you know,

they, they didn't have Saquon. And the other problem was too, they only had one extra lineman on the depth chart. Basically it's so they're, they're lying. It's been the story since their Super Bowl win the last Super Bowl win against the Pats was their own line so that's that would be another I guess honorable mention

if we want to throw it in there but that's my three and two for bottom. I like it. There you go. It's a good list. Besides, you know, but I like it. Well, it's a good list. I'm sorry. No, that sounded very, very passive. It's okay. It's okay.

It's okay. We're all going to agree and disagree on some things. I think Cincinnati is a good one at the top of the list. Chicago is a good honorable mention. It's a good one. We'll take a quick break. When we come back, we'll talk about the Broncos and the Bears game, the toilet bowl, after this break. Here we go. We'll be right back. Cossacks for the touchdown! Welcome back to the Fumble Ruski Podcast. Chris Kostic, Adam Wright, CJ Medeiros.

Move on to Broncos and their comeback win over the Bears, 31-28. Bears were down 28-7 in the third, and then were able to come back and win in overtime, 31-28. Russell Wilson. Man, our guy Brett Shaws would be loving this right now. I think it's time for the Russell Wilson eight to kind of simmer down a little bit. The stats, 21 for 28, 223 yards, three touchdowns and no interceptions. He had a 133.5 rating for the day as well. 75% completion percentage.

We want to look at him in the entirety of the season, by all means. 67% completion percentage. He's cracked 1,000 yards, nine touchdowns, two interceptions. And it kind of just seems like going to the Bears for a hot sec, it's just tank mode. I mean, Justin Fields still had a pretty solid day but he the bears really just had themselves a first half type of game and then just fell apart in the second half yeah there there's definitely a lot of ways to look at this season for the broncos

but for the bears i mean this was re this really really was demoralizing because you, you had arguably your best half of football that you have had in almost a year. And you didn't even win the game. You were up 28 to seven and you blew it. Now that being said, I think there is a very, very, very straight forward path for this bears team.

They're projected to have the numbers one and two picks, and your quarterback just balled out. So yeah, maybe Justin Fields isn't the guy, but if he can string some more starts like this together, you could fool another team into believing that this guy could do well somewhere else. Next thing you know, maybe you don't get a first out of it, maybe a second or a third, maybe both second and third. Then next thing you know, you have two seconds, two firsts, which happened to be the first and second picks in the draft. And you're in prime position for next off season. And you can start over at the quarterback position with Caleb Williams.

CJ, before you go, I do want to throw these stat lines out, especially for Justin Fields. I've been up Justin Fields' ass the last two weeks. 28 for 35, 335 yards, four touchdowns, an interception. DJ Moore, eight catches, 131 yards, and one touchdown. So the thing with Justin Fields, I'm not buying it. This was a flash in the pan, a fluke, if you will. And you have to remember, the Broncos statistically have one of the worst defenses in the league.

So I guess the real question is, am I supposed to be impressed by the fact you carved up the worst defense in the league? I mean, granted, that was a good game for Fields, but until you're doing it consistently, I'm not convinced and I certainly don't care. I definitely agree with that. And the thing is with the Broncos, once again, wow, you got a win. Unfortunately, it was against the Bears and the Bears are terrible. So once again, like keep it up both sides. I just want to say Bears, you had the lead, you choked. I'm not convinced about you, but if Fields can keep it up, then maybe I'll be convinced. And you dropped something, I think.

Yeah, I accidentally just kind of just flipped my Beats podcast off my desk. Oh, believe me, I forgive you. Anyway, I just, I don't know. I'm not a big fan of fields. And for the Broncos, once again, if you beat somebody who's not the Bears, then yeah. And I don't mean like a squeaker. I don't mean an ugly win. I mean a convincing win.

Then yeah. Then sure, then you can have a seat at the grown-ups table. But until then, what did Kostic call it? He called it a toilet bowl, and rightfully so. I mean, you can't overreact to this. You really can't. Yeah, it's kind of like two toddlers getting into a tickle fight. Like, they may look good against each other,

but when you sit at the at the adults table then the things are going to get real between them but i do think i do think there's i think this i think the situation is more interesting with the broncos because they keep losing these games then what what what where is the issue here their their defense on paper is really good. So where's the problem there? There's your issue, the defense. It's Vance Joseph. Vance Joseph, sorry for cutting you off,

but Vance Joseph is basically Matt Canada, but on the defensive side. You want to know why Todd Bowles? You know what? I'm not even going to finish that question. I was going to ask, you want to know why Todd Bowles still has a job? I couldn't tell you. I couldn't tell you why Todd Bowles still has a job. It's the same thing as Vance Joseph. They're not good coaches. Todd Bowles, granted, he's doing fine with Baker right now.

And Baker's doing a great job with Tampa Bay. But holy Christ, he screwed up Tom Brady's last year. Vance Joseph is best remembered for the Spanish Monday Night Football reporter screwing up his introduction on his first game as an NFL head coach. Jeez, call me uncoached, but is that the same guy? That is the same guy. No, yeah, no, that's the same guy. That's true.

Same Vance Joseph. And that Broncos team was awful. Awful. And they let him be defensive coordinator, just saying. And here we are in 2023, Vance Joseph, the D coordinator, the same Vance Joseph that gave up 70 points last week to the Dolphins, the same Vance Joseph that allowed the Chicago Bears to get 28 points on your defense. The Chicago Bears should not be getting 28 points on your defense.

That should not be happening. The Chicago Bears are terrible. That's all I agree. I agree it shouldn't happen, but points on patrick sartan and company it's the dc here man it's you had said it's the coaching you still have simmons you still you have a d i mean this this defense i mean it's not elite but it shouldn't be this bad no and once again the vance joseph effect and all and also sorry adam you can finish all right thank you um and like all like also on offense yes statistically it has looked good but if you give this the eye test if you look at what's going on russell wilson

kind of disappears late in games this This pass performance is an exception, but he's been building up some leads and losing them. Like, they were 0-3 going into this game and very well on their way to going 0-4. So I don't want to give their offense a complete pass just yet. So, like, I just want to know, why like you can blame vance joseph for be for them being two and two right or you know just you know just around 500 but to be one and three for you to be the for a defensive coordinator to be the sole reason especially

when you have the personnel that you do i mean you have one of the best young corners in the game and he got you got that kid lit up i mean i just feel like there's like there's something seriously wrong with this team that goes deeper than the personnel and maybe even deeper than the coaching like what is what the hell is going on and you're you're about to have another top pick in this draft. They're top five right now. So where do you go from here? You're supposed to be competitive, and you're not.

Sorry, I thought I was muted. No, and here's the thing. I don't want to say it's the offense, though. That's the thing. Russ is still putting up the numbers. It's not like he's throwing for under 50%. He's throwing for almost 70%. He threw for 75% this past week, and the offense is putting up 25 points per game

for the Broncos team in general. It's, you know, you still put up 20 points to the Miami Dolphins. You put up 31 against Chicago when you probably could have put up 50. You put up 35 against the Commanders. I don't even know what their week one was, but, you know, it's not like they're putting up – it's not like they're giving up 30, 50 points and they're only scoring 10. They're still putting up the numbers offensively,

but defensively they're not holding up. Defense wins championships, and where's the defense? Week one was against Vegas. Yeah, and they put up 15 or 14, I think. Yeah, so that's another game where they were up 10-13 and even 10-16 at one point, and then they didn't come through. So they had the lead until the last six minutes of the game against Jacoby Myers.

It just amazes me how this Broncos team is in a worse spot four weeks in than they were last year. Two and two last year at this point, one and three this year. Like they're still bad, and they worked on the issues that they had issues with last year. So like where is the problem? You can blame it on Vance Joseph, but I feel like a defensive coordinator isn't going to be the reason it's this bad,

especially when you're working with the personnel that you have. I'm not going to say that they're world beaters on that defense, but they're still pretty good. They should be solid. They were a good defense last year. They were all right. They weren't bad. Defense was the reason why they were in a lot of those games last year.

Yeah. You weren't bad. Defense was the reason why they were in a lot of those games last year. Yeah. You could say that. It was a good enough defense. It's not going to be the reason why they're 1-3. No. We'll put it that way. Sure. But last year, a lot of those games,

even though the offense wasn't doing much, a lot of those low-scoring games, the defense was still putting up their end. Now this year, it's a different story. That's just my take, but you guys got anything else to add? All right,

we will move on. Then when we come back, we'll have the fan box question for this week was who is your mvp through the first four weeks we'll get to that after the break here gentlemen broken up And the pass is No sign yet Edelman comes down with a football They're saying it's a catch

It's a catch It's a catch To Gates Side line Touchdown Unbelievable Swings it way down the field The walk-in to Watkins!

Sammy Watkins for the touchdown! Welcome back to the Fumble Rooski podcast. As Chris Gostich, CJ Medeiros, Adam Wright was with us. He just lost connection. But anyhow, anywho, we're going to move into our fan box for this week, which was who is your MVP through the first four weeks of the season? BlueRisky fan box. We post a question filter

on our Instagram every Monday, and you can respond with hot takes, questions, and more, and we will discuss it and give you a shout out on our podcast. We'll start out. Ian Mulhern. Also want to apologize if I don't pronounce any last names right. I think it's just Mulhern, but

it's all good. We live and learn. We live and learn. But Ian says Brock Purdy. I'm not sure I agree. I mean, I'm a huge Brock Purdy fan. He'll never be. Had been since he came onto the scene, but I don't see him being MVP, especially not now.

Yeah, it's – That's just how it is. That's just not a kid that's going to be MVP. Moving on. Owen Van Slack, Christian McCaffrey. It's that's just not, that's just not a kid. That's going to be MVP. Uh, moving on. Owen Van Slack, Christian McCaffrey. This one I could see.

I like it. Non-quarterback stone MVP anymore. It's literally just the most valuable quarterback now. Yeah, it really is. And the last real MVP candidate, non-quarterback wise that I can think of is J.J. Watt during that incredible run he went on

where he was second in MVP voting. Or wasn't Aaron Donald in MVP voting recently too? Yeah, probably. I believe so, yeah. Moving on. Isaac Zanona. Zonana.

Zonana. Isaac Zonana. Zonana. Zonana. Isaac Zonana. He says Tua is his MVP through the first four weeks. He's a Dolphins fan, but I can't disagree. I just don't really see it. I'm not against it, but I just don't see it. Nate Sloat. Josh Allen.

Yeah, especially with that performance against Miami, how Miami was finally put back in their place. So, yeah, you know, I could see it. Who knows? Will this finally be the year Allen gets over the hump and gets MVP? Maybe. I'm pulling up his stats right now. I kind of just wanted to look at his split stats ever since,

um, that week one loss to the jets. So we're talking. So since week one, so he had three interceptions, 236 yards, 70% completion percentage. Since then he has eight touchdowns, only one interception.

That's the only turnover also add on two rushing touchdowns and throw in an extra, we'll say over 700 yards as well. And, you know, he's looking a lot better i i love to bash him for his turnovers but he really has done a much better job taking care of the football these last few weeks ever since that bad jets loss i would say yeah yeah he's definitely bounced back and i can definitely see why you're saying uh, Nate. But I will say one thing. This year, I don't even know if there's like a clear-cut frontrunner. No, there really isn't. There usually is.

There usually is every other year. But this year, it's – I don't know. Something's missing. Because when you look at – you look at Josh Allen's stats, I mean 75% completion percentage if you want to round it up. up, 1048 yards, nine touchdowns, four interceptions. It's still, it's still solid numbers, but you know, you also got Russell Wilson who's got the same amount of touchdown passes, few less yards, two less interceptions,

and he's on a worse team. That's true. And that's the sad thing about a lot of these cases is that, in all sports really, is that you're not going to be considered an MVP frontrunner if your team isn't a contending team. Honestly, that is something I do agree with, though. I won't lie. Yeah, and the only other time that

I can think of that a player won MVP in their team wasn't a contender, wasn't even in football. It was in basketball and it was Steve Nash back in 05. Anyways, Aaron Wise, Kirko, Kirk Cousins. anyways aaron wise kirko kirk cousins uh what did we literally just yeah we i know your numbers are elite but you're not winning

you're not mvp how are you the most valuable player if you can't be the catalyst as to why your team wins i don't think that's slander. I think it's a genuine question. It's crazy because I think either – I think coming into this week or last week, he was on pace for 6,000 passing yards, and Justin Jefferson was on pace for way over 2,000 receiving yards. So that could – Justin Jefferson, I'm surprised he hasn't – he wasn't set at all in these fan boxes. I'm not that shocked, if I'm being honest.

I mean, I'm not too shocked either. Wide receivers never win, man. They never win MVP. And especially this day and age, they probably never will. No, which is sad to see, especially considering how good a receiver Jefferson is, but that's the thing is if you don't have a good quarterback throwing you the ball, you're not going to put up the same stats. And Kirk Cousins, for all intents and purposes, isn't Tom Brady,

but he's still a good enough quarterback to get Jefferson the ball. Yeah. And there's, I think I've said this before on the podcast, but we have a lot of new listeners now. So I'm going to say it. There is only one way in my eyes that a wide receiver wins MVP. And Chris, tell me if you agree. The only way a wide receiver can win MVP is A, in the same season, they need to break the single season record for receiving yards and receiving

touchdowns while doing it with multiple quarterbacks. They can have a quarterback throwing the ball, but that quarterback would have to go down and they'd have to do it with a backup. They would need to do it in multiple quarterbacks and break both those records if you can't check all those boxes you don't have the snowball's chance in hell of getting MVP and even if you do do all that the odds are at best 45 55 yeah and even I would say that and I would agree with that. Another way I would probably say is if the receiver in question were to get the majority of those passing touchdowns, say you got a quarterback that doesn't have a high passing touchdown total in general, but we'll say like 80% of those passing touchdowns are to a specific guy. So we'll say like – we'll just throw out a hypothetical number.

Say Kirk Cousins throws 29 passing touchdowns. That's a lot though. You literally said that a lot. Well, it's – for what the receiving record is – It's like 20. 23. It's 23. So say we have Kirk Cousins throwing 29, maybe 30 touchdown passes.

This is hypothetical, honestly. And Jefferson would have to get 23, 24 on top of the receiving guard's record. And we've also – I mean, obviously we've seen receivers get the receiving record, but they've done it with just their one quarterback. Randy Moss broke the receiving record with Tom Brady. The only problem was Tom Brady broke his own passing record or had his own records to break. Calvin Johnson broke it with Stafford.

But he was kind of on the line. Exactly. Exactly. That too. Yeah. So the last one that we have here, John Warren says, Jared Goff. No. No.

That's all I got to say. Once again, I think Jared Goff's been doing well. Well, not as well as I'd hoped. He has over 1,000 yards, but we'll round up, call it a 70% completion percentage, but six touchdowns and three picks, I don't know. You're not really wowing me there, Jared. And looking at, like, yards per game, too, we just looked at Kirk Cousins, who's averaging over 300 yards per game,

and Jared Goff has 257 yards per game as well. I've never thought of Jared Goff as an MVP, guys, more or less Kirk Cousins or to Brock Purck purdy but i mean hey who knows they could go on a freaking tear for all i know but i mean but if you look at jared goff compared to some of the other guys that we were just talking about though it's yards wise it's basically the same as josh allen mahomes russell wilson um problem is he's got almost just as many turnovers as both mahomes josh allen and russell wilson with less passing touchdowns that would probably be my main argument, but who knows? It's Jared Goff.

Yeah. I don't view him as an MVP personally, but that's just me. Oh, well. But that being said, that pretty much wraps up everything that we got here. CJ, got anything else left to add? It's good to be back. That's all. I had to take some time off because I'm in college, not like you free people.

Yeah, right. And if there's any people, any dean alumnus or dean students listening, what's been keeping me from doing this? Capstone. If you know, you know. Yeah, I wouldn't know because I'm not Dean, but you know what? Maybe I'll explain it after. Maybe.

I think I actually saw it in the archives when we were first getting this. Oh, you probably did. Yeah, I actually did see it in the archives. But yeah, that'll do it for us here from Fumperuski. Chris Kostic, CJ Medeiros. We thank you for listening. Of course, Adam Wright, obviously with us earlier, but losing his connection. New episode, obviously out, going to be out right now. And we'll have a new one up next Tuesday

730 hopefully we get some more great content obviously I mean looking at the schedule coming up should be some pretty solid games I would assume you know you got well Thursday night you got Chicago Washington

great matchup wow Jacksonville Buffalo and London got Well, Thursday night you got Chicago, Washington. Great matchup. Wow. Jacksonville, Buffalo, and London. You got New York and Miami. Lovely. New England, New Orleans. Yeah. The good ones, though, Dallas and San Fran, Kansas City, Minnesota. So hopefully we get some good content from those games.

You'd think so. Yeah. You'd think so. Yeah. You'd think so, but it's the NFL. It's the NFL. It's any given Sunday, but for that, we say so long,

have a great rest of your week. We'll see you next week.