The Fumblerooski Podcast - Going Through the North -Ep 304 The Fumblerooski Podcast

Episode Date: October 22, 2024

Buccaneers lose big on MNF, not only losing to the Ravens, but they lose Chris Godwin for assumably the season, and Mike Evans for a significant amount of time. Lamar Jackson continues his case for a 3rd MVP: is this a better MVP season than 2019 for Lamar? Lions and Vikings have a game of the week performance that showed the Lions come out on top. Can the Lions offense keep up on this hot streak? Also an in-depth look at a very competitive NFC North as a whole. How much longer until the Chiefs crumble? Adam Wright, CJ Medeiros, and Chris Costich talk all of this and more, including the Week 7 Top 3 Bottom 3.

Lamar Jackson makes a strong MVP case. The NFC North continues some early dominance, and the Chiefs win again, failing upward. I'm Adam Wright. You're listening to the Fumble Rooski Podcast. It may not have always showed it in the stat sheet, but you can see him making throws when he needs to make the throws. Back-to-back games where he has three touchdowns.

Someone's got to get that six or seven spot. He's an elite wide receiver as a rookie. Truly a lose-lose scenario for both sides. Welcome to the Fumble Rooski Podcast by Power 88 and Secret Weapon Consulting. I'm Adam Wright with CJ Medeiros and Chris Kostic. We have a great show planned for you guys tonight. Lots of stuff going on in week seven and a lot of stuff to anticipate for week eight coming up. But we're going to start off with a Monday night football matchup. Now, a couple takeaways here.

So the Ravens did beat, they destroyed the Buccaneers 41 to 31 don't do not be scored be do not be fooled by that score of 10 points it may have ended as a two possession game but most of that was in garbage time uh all of it was most of it was scored within the last three three minutes of the game uh this was a 41 to18 game as late as six minutes left in the ballgame. So, I mean, yeah, 10-point game, it finished, but that's kind of the concept of garbage time. Baker Mayfield threw a couple touchdown passes. Rather, he threw a touchdown pass,

and then there was a one one yard run from this kid, Bucky Irving. But a couple, again, a couple of takeaways here. The Buccaneers lost their top two wide receivers in gruesome fashion. Chris Godwin dislocated his ankle. It did not look pretty.

Mike Evans was lost to a re-aggravated hamstring injury um so they're all gone for at least at least mike evans uh todd bulls already said he will be gone for at least four weeks not until after their week 11 bye and uh they'll be most likely without Chris Godwin through the end of the season. Next takeaway, Lamar Jackson has kicked ass this year, and he's looked good in the past. This may even trump his 2019 campaign. In my humble opinion, I know that season was an electric year, but this one looks a little bit better in some ways.

I think he's shown a little bit better of a passing ability, and I think from him working with the best running back he's ever worked with in his entire career in Derrick Henry, who's having an amazing season himself, he's on pace to eclipse 2,000 yards for the second time in his career, and then some. This is about as dominant as I have seen the Ravens play in Lamar Jackson's entire career with Baltimore, which says a lot because he's had a couple of really dominant seasons.

He has thrust himself into the lead for league MVP. He's thrown for so far 15 touchdown passes this year to two interceptions, and he's on pace for over 4,000 yards. This guy is, he is as dominant as he has ever been. I think he is more dominant now than he was in 2019 because of his improved passing ability. And we'll see what happens in the playoffs. Narratives were confirmed last year, but every dog has his day. Maybe he is still young. Maybe he breaks out of it. Guys, what do we think about this with Lamar Jackson here? Truthfully, I think that it could even be a mvp race between derrick henry and lamar jackson because that's that's how good these two guys are playing right now and uh kind of to

bounce off your take about how uh this is pretty much a better season that he's having than 2019 he's projected more passing yards than he did in 2019 by over 1,000. He's projected only two less touchdown passes and one less interception. So in that case, yeah, I'd say that is a much better season than what he had in 2019. Might not have the same rushing numbers just because he had over 1,200 rushing yards in that 2019 season, seven touchdowns. This year, 455 rushing yards, only two touchdowns. He might get some more once the season goes along,

but obviously they're relying more on the ground game with Derrick Henry, so that would make sense. But this Ravens team is just unstoppable. And Derrick Henry is the catalyst for it right I mean Derrick Henry just seems to be the missing piece and now it opens up Lamar to do more which Derrick Henry Derrick Henry going to the Ravens was obviously the best thing that could have happened for the Ravens and honestly I don't see I don't see why that they wouldn't win a ring this year unless they end up panicking like they did last year.

It really goes to show you what difference a good running back makes with Lamar Jackson. Really think about it. From the time he was in the league, 2018 as a rookie, what running backs did he really have? A washed up Mark Ingram and J.K. Dobbins for like the two games a year he was healthy. But Derrick Henry, like you said, on pace, which you know things can happen, you get your highs and your lows. But on pace to once again hit 2,000 yards, that's insane.

And he already had 169 rushing yards in this game, averaging 11.3 yards a carry. And, like, unfortunately, I do have to disagree, you know, that it could be the race between Lamar and Henry just because, come on, it's the most valuable quarterback award. Let's be real. But I do agree with the sentiment. And I just want to point out, we have said on the show for a bit that Lamar is underrated as a passer. He has to scramble because the Ravens have never had any running game to speak of outside of him. And now that he can pass and he is free to do so, oh, my God, we're seeing like five touchdowns and five incompletions from, excuse me,

from the game on Monday night. So he is rightfully in the lead. You know, he and Derrick henry led the ravens to a five and two record so you know like i said there's not a whole lot to talk about we already knew what they were and this uh this confirms what we were saying all offseason with henry just a mere presence on the ravens as for the buaneers, I don't know what their issue is. I mean, they're good. It's just the NFC South as a whole is a very weird division.

I mean, they should be fine, but they've inexplicably dropped some games that they probably should not have. Baker Mayfield looked pretty rough until the fourth quarter. Because you got to remember, Adam mentioned this, that 10-point defeat is deceiving considering the fact they were once down 34-10. So, yeah, once again, I got no idea what to say. And worse yet, wide receiver one and two, Evans and Godwin are gone. It's going to get a lot worse for Tampa before it gets better

but for the Ravens oh man they are gearing up for some postseason success unless they fold again which you know we were talking about narratives and were they confirmed last year yeah but now with Derrick Henry let's see what they can do yeah and uh just to just to support our point about lamar jackson uh fan duel draft kings betty spn bet mgm all of those um all of those sports books they all have uh lamar jackson as as the favorite by a noticeable margin to win league MVP. Unfortunately, it's not a blowout right now when it should be. The runner up in almost all of them is regrettably Patrick Mahomes. As great as Mahomes is as a quarterback,

he is not having a good enough statistical season. If that turns around, then great. And I think that supports his case even more since he's working with a significantly worse roster. And giving the eye test, he is doing what he needs to do to help win his team games. It's not showing the statistics at all, but I'm also not going to make the case to you that he should be anywhere close to league MVP. He has a six to eight touchdown interception ratio. That's one less than Drake May has, and he's only started in two games this year. That's extremely bad as far as

stats go. I'm not denying his greatness overall, but he has a very bad supporting cast and it's not helping his stats. We're going to get, we're going to get to, we're going to, we're going to get to the chiefs next, but the fact that it's even close is not ideal for the league who I believe. And CJ, you brought this up pre-show it should be josh allen who's

a runner-up right now and should be making a strong case eight what is it 10 touchdowns to zero interceptions yes it's definitely more than that now but still no turn i believe josh allen no turnovers this far into the season is wild. Which is weird because he's been a turnover machine, but he's doing his damnedest to fight that. You've got to like it. And the team's 5-2. And they just got a new toy who clearly can play. Keon Coleman had himself a nice game with four receptions for 125 yards.

Maybe he's coming into his own. Sometimes wide receivers take a little bit of time during their rookie year to find their form. Maybe Keon Coleman is the guy to be their number one, and Amari Cooper was just a supporting guy to kind of be that bridge, if that makes any sense. But yeah, Josh out 12 interceptions to zero, 12 touchdowns to zero interceptions. Yeah. He's on pace according to ESPN for 3,600 yards, 29 touchdowns to no interceptions. That's probably going to go higher because you know how ESPN works. I mean, it's, it's just doing the projections on what they're doing now. Doesn't mean they can't pick it up, pick up the pace. Um, but I think Josh Allen should be the runner up. Absolutely not Lamar. Absolutely not Patrick Mahomes.

You can make a better case for Derek Henry, his teammate right now, but my homes, that's all name recognition and record. And we're going to get to that next. In fact, we're going to do that right now. That's next. This is the Fumble Ruski podcast. It may not have always showed it in the stat sheet, but you can see him making throws when he needs to make the throws. Back-to-back games where he has three touchdowns. Someone's got to get that six or seven spot. He's an elite wide receiver as a rookie. Truly a lose-lose scenario for both sides. Welcome back to the Fumble Rooski podcast by Power 88 and Secret Weapon Consulting. Adam Wright, CJ Medeiros, Chris Kostich. If it's even possible to fat finger with a mouse, then there you go.

For those of you who may be watching on YouTube, what is that noise noise that's the garage sorry it's it's over now i don't have that anymore nice um it that was a split second glimpse of glimpse of our old intro so you've been blessed with some nostalgia uh so the Chiefs, they won yet again in a Super Bowl rematch in San Francisco. They beat the 49ers 28-18. Patrick Mahomes went 16-27, 154 yards, two interceptions. Purdy threw three picks himself, Brock Purdy. They lost their top two wide receivers in this matchup. That's Brandon Ayuk to a torn ACL that now we know.

And Debo Samuel, he clearly has pneumonia by reports and he'll be out for some time. So the 49ers were shorthanded. So who knows? It was a two-score game. It was only 10 points. So who knows if they actually win this game with the 49ers having a full crew. But let's get into some of these scores the the chiefs have been

involved in because as i mentioned when teasing the show this chief's team has been failing upward and patrick mahomes has been the embodiment of that i'm not saying it's his fault that he's working with a bad team but just look at some of these scores. They beat the Ravens by one score. We already talked about the Ravens dominance. That's a good game. It was a nice first game for them. 27 to 20, solid. You still barely beat them. If Isaiah likely keeps his feet in bounds on that play, you may not win this game. They beat the Bengals 26-25, a dicey PI call at a very, very crucial time in the game. Penalties are part of the game.

You can't leave it that close for the refs. The Bengals, despite their record, are a very competitive team this year. They've been playing strongly against most of the teams they have played this year. Against the Falcons, one score, 22-17. Another questionable call that went their way. It was a one-score game. The Chiefs, they went and faced the Chargers in la they won by one score they scored just 17 points they did give up 10 but we know their their defense is elite um they beat the saints

in kind of a blowout 26 to 13 but it's the saints, obviously this week, 49ers, shorthanded team. They beat them again. Did not look pretty doing it. Guys, your thoughts? I mean, the Chiefs, they kind of won based off the fact that the only weapons that the Niners really had in this game was Jordan Mason, George Kittle. It's nice to see Ricky Pierce all play. He got shot twice in the chest and came back earlier than Christian McCaffrey. That's great. That's probably the coolest story of the season, honestly.

I'd love to see that. Back to the Chiefs. I don't really know what to say. It's, you know, you're talking about Mahomes and being the underdog. And, you know, it's what happens, I guess. You bet against Mahomes and he ends up winning anyways. Andy Reid coming off of a bye only has three losses, by the way. Probably should have seen that sooner. I don't know.

I don't really know what to say about this Chiefs team. Mahomes, as you said, Adam, is doing enough to get his team wins. But, boy, the stats just are so, so ugly. And the only thing that they are really able to rely on is Kareem Hunt and Levinster legend Noah Gray. Like they can't even rely on Travis Kelsey half the time. I don't really know what else to say about this outlook for the Chiefs, honestly. It's like it's easy to say that they're going to that they could have gotten their ass kicked this week, but then they go out and the Chiefs defense performs like they should. This Chiefs team is

really just relying on the defense at this rate. That's all it really is. Defense, even at that, isn't the greatest defense in the world. I don't know i don't know i i guess this is just my home's magic and that's all we can really say about it it's the same thing with brady being on the paths i guess you just always found a way to win it's up there's really not i don't really know how else to explain it like that's all it is that's all it really is yeah uh so for those who don't know this was our game of the week and it was kind of it was ugly you know just chiefs win another ugly game the scoreboard's deceiving i just i'm sorry we could talk about stats all day but in reality

you know i believe in the eye test and i'm sorry mahomes is just not passing the eye test and i personally disagree with the argument that he is doing just enough to get them to win. This is a system thing. He's benefiting from the system. He's playing horribly. If he plays like this on any other team, they might not win a game. This is the Kareem Hunt show. Ever since they got him back, oh my God, it's been perfect. Meanwhile, the system and the defense is bailing out Mahomes.

I mean, we've got to be here. Look, Mahomes is a great quarterback. I have no idea what's going on. I really don't. I mean, for Mahomes' sake, you know, you hope he figures it out. But Mahomes is getting hard carried right now by the defense. And you can also make a case that there's a different head coach. They're probably not as successful. By the way, before the untutored eyes of the ignorant layman freak out here, and before

the rabid troglodytes that inhabit the internet jump down my throat, I just want to say I am not calling Mahomes a system quarterback. This season, there's a strong argument to that, granted, but I'm not saying that. I'm just saying he is fortunate that this system around him benefits. I'm not calling him system quarterback because obviously he can go off like that at any given moment i think he's probably just waiting for the right time to i might say waiting like he could you know like like he's doing it on purpose uh you know what i mean right i'm just saying and then look and i will give credit where it's due this chief's team is injured to hell and back.

I mean, you saw what happened to Rasheed Rice, although some may say it's karma for driving like an idiot, but, you know, that's, you know, to each their own. Hollywood Brown, their big wide receiver free agent signing, hasn't even seen the field. That other dude there, they got, ah, what's his name? The running back, Pacheco. Who knows when he's coming back? But, you know, they got Hunt ah, what's his name? The running back Pacheco. Who knows when he's coming back,

but you know, they got Hunt. That's solid. I just, I don't know. The Chiefs just aren't passing the eye test. As long as they're Mahomes, I'm not going to call them outright fraudulent, but I will tell you the fact that Mahomes is second at the MVP voting is ridiculous. And anyone who says, well, you know, it's their record. No, no, no, no, no. Record is a team stat. Record is a team thing. Record is a coach thing. Give me one reason why he should be, you know, even in the top three of the MVP conversation without relying on his past or record. Go. I'm not talking to you guys. I'm talking to the rabid morons that have infested the internet. It's almost like saying AJ McCarron should have won two or three Heismans

because he won however many national championships with Bama. You have to believe that it's going to eventually turn around as far as statistics go there's no way that he finishes with a negative touchdown to interception ratio there's just no way it does that that happens with patrick mahomes if it does then that's certainly going to be a story for us to cover but i mean look it's not his fault you have r Rasheed Rice who went down with an ACL tear. He was clearly their best pass catcher this season. Travis Kelsey looks old. He's not the same guy who he was a couple of years ago. Xavier Worthy doesn't look like the guy who they expected him to be. And they never even got Marquise Brown at all this season. Like he was hurt like this entire year.

They never, they signed him for to do a one-year deal, and they're not going to have him ever. He's not going to play a snap for the Chiefs. That's so unfortunate. So looking at that, they don't have much of a team to play with. And this is what it looks like for winners. Teams, even in down years, still win games. And listen, I've, I've stayed, I've made the statement reciting that what Aaron Rogers said a few years ago, down years, uh, down years for him or career years for most other quarterbacks by, by statistical standards, this is not a career year at all. Uh, the quarterback would probably be benched with these statistics, but again, it's Patrick Mahomes and giving it the eye test. He is helping them win games. He's doing the things that he needs to do. It doesn't look

pretty, but he's doing it. And you can clearly see that it's not his fault. Um, and they're eventually going to find their way back into contention in a few years. Um, because they're eventually going to find their way back into contention in a few years because they're going to find another weapon for Patrick Mahomes. Their defense is going to find some more personnel, and they're going to find their way back into a Super Bowl because that's just what Patrick Mahomes does, and that's what winning organizations do. This is what the Patriots did for years.

They didn't always win Super Bowls. Sometimes they had down years, and they just needed to regroup a couple of years and then make it back and that's going to be the same thing with these chiefs here i don't think they're winning a super bowl this year i'll put egg in my face myself if it happens if it ends up happening but i don't think it will this year but they're eventually going to find their way back in it. And again, like being six and oh with a bat with a team this bad is this is what winners do. How sustainable though? I mean, I guess they said it's not sustainable enough, but I mean, at this rate, I guess maybe it is. I don't know, but i don't know with the cooper cup sweepstakes going on i mean i don't they end up with him then they're oh yeah no no

if they end up with cooper cup then everything i just said just chuck it out the window however like you know and as patriots fans know this. When you are a good team, the teams that are having fire sales are going to try to bleed you dry. I mean, they're going to try to, like, take a PCO in return. So I could see, like, a second rounder being the going rate for Cooper Cup. And then they go to Kansas City and say, nah, first for you, bud. And it's happened before as Patriots fans it happened I mean I mean and sometimes teams just don't want to trade you like it happened in New England like the Vikings refused to engage with New England trade talks for Stefan Diggs you know that's just what happens so as fans who were you know part of

a former dynasty like we know this so I'm just saying so i don't see cup going to the chiefs that's just me but how desperate are the chiefs gonna be though i feel like that if you're the chiefs and you're trying to do it now they'll try but i don't know desperate they're gonna be because well they are six and oh you've said it's not sustainable actually they've said it's not sustainable they are not happy with themselves they are probably the unhappiest undefeated team i've ever seen and rightfully so and that's a good sign actually that shows that they're not getting complacent and that's good but competitive team they're winners there's a reason why they've won most of this roster's won three super bowls at least their their main core um we can get into the hypotheticals. What if they trade for who at any time, but looking at this

regular, this team right now, I think we can all agree. This six and O record is just not sustainable. They're not going to finish this way. If they finish, they're going to finish probably as a playoff team because they're going to win more games, but how many more games they're not finishing 12 and five. They'll probably go, let's say 11 and six at best 10 and seven. Let's say at the worst nine and eight, they're not finishing with a sub 500 record. That's just not happening. You're not going to go on that kind of a losing spree with Patrick Mahomes and Andy Reed as your quarterback coach combo. But like, again, this is not sustainable but this is an example of when you have a down year and you see a winning organization this is exactly what you get um you're winning games that you

probably shouldn't be winning but you just find a way to do it and you may not win the super bowl you may not come close but this is what it looks like on down years for championship caliber teams. And, uh, we'll see if the chief, the chiefs have a lot of personnel. They have a lot of building to do on this team because they've lost a lot on their offense, especially with their pass catchers. Travis Kelsey doesn't look the same. Uh, their wide receiving court just looks completely off and they have a veteran out there playing running back right now they have a lot of building to do that it's probably going to be a couple years before they win another super bowl um so it it'll all come down to how they do

that um but guys let's move on here i I think we've, we've done this. We've definitely done this topic to death, but let's continue and we'll go into the NFC North. This division continues to be dominant after this week. And we're going to talk about the ceiling for the teams in this division, how it's going to stack up because it's, it's going to talk about the ceiling for the teams in this division, how it's going to stack up because it's going to turn into a log jam on who's going to make the playoffs. That's next. This is the Fumble Rooski Podcast.

It may not have always showed it in the stat sheet, but you can see him making throws when he needs to make the throws. Back-to-back games where he has three touchdowns. Someone's got to get that six or seven spot. He's an elite wide receiver as a rookie. Truly a lose-lose scenario for both sides. Welcome back to the Fumble Rooski podcast by Power 88 and Secret Weapon Consulting, Adam Wright,

CJ Medeiros, Chris Kostic. So the NFC North had yet another good week um so we'll start off with a game that honestly a lot of us believe probably should have been the game of the week but we just cj can take credit on that one he's the one who suggested it and we ended up going with um we ended up going with chiefs 49ers we went with the shiny object with the Super Bowl matchup rematch and then didn't end up being as good of a game. But we'll start off with, we'll just start off with the Lions visiting the Vikings. This was a game with four lead changes and the Lions ended up winning with a last secondsecond field goal, winning 31-29.

Jared Goff, two touchdowns, 280 yards, 22 for 25. Sam Darnold was okay, 22 for 27. 259 yards, a touchdown, and a pick. Honestly, I take more away from it. What we got from the Lions, I'm not surprised from. What we got from the Vikings, I was most surprised from. I didn't think it would be quite as close. I didn't think it wouldings i was most surprised from i didn't think it would be quite as close i didn't think it would be a blowout but i didn't think it would be that close the vikings with sam donald are very sketchy they were five and oh and sam donald looks has looked like a franchise quarterback and he's played very good. I'm giving him his flowers for that. And they came back and scored 17 points to take the lead and very nearly won. But you're facing a Super Bowl contending team. This was a positive game for the Vikings,

I thought. Now let's go over to Green Bay. Green Bay hosted another Super Bowl contender in the Houston Texans and actually came out on top. A game where they hit a last second field goal to win it. Jordan Love, 24 for 33, 220 yards, three touchdowns. He did throw two picks. This guy, if there's one takeaway we can take out of Jordan Love, it's that this kid is certainly not Aaron Rodgers. He does not have that play style, but he has Brett Farbs, which is not a bad thing. He throws a lot of picks, but he throws so many more touchdowns that it ends up being worth it.

And Jaden Reed has really come into his own to become their wide receiver. One, Romeo Dobbs looks good. Christian Watson's pretty good as well. That kid Kraft looks good at tight end. They have a pretty good team over there. And they have a defense that has a lot more potential than it has shown. And we haven't even talked about the Chicago Bears with their rookie quarterback who gets better and better and better by the week.

We'll be able to talk about them a lot more next week since they had a bye. We don't want to get into them too much. But Caleb Williams is hot on Jaden Daniels' heels in the race for Offensive Rookie of the Year. It shows it on DraftKings and FanDuel and BetMGM. All three of them have Caleb Williams right behind Jaden Daniels. And if Daniels misses this game, we'll get into this more next week. If Daniels misses this game and Caleb Williams eats up that commander's defense,

he's going to take the lead for that award. But so far, this has been an electric division. How do you guys see this stacking up? So many really good teams. Which one comes out on top? I mean, I feel like I have to stick with the Lions coming out on top because you look at their last few games, only 16 incompletions from Jared Goff, a plethora of points from this Lion squad.

Jared Goff, I mean, if it wasn't for all these other quarterbacks, could even be considered for MVP this year as well, just based off of the numbers he's putting up right now. So far, 1,600 passing yards, 10 touchdowns, four interceptions, 73.6% completion percentage. I mean, how many other quarterbacks are putting up a 70% completion percentage? Just right off the top of your head, if you can think of. Is it Daniels? I know Jaden Daniels has been been there now he's up there i probably should have had the stats ready to go for that but why did you ask

that if you didn't have the stats now you guys honestly you don't know the answer to all right jayden daniels is the only other player that has a higher completion percentage than Jared Goff, though. Baker Mayfield, Joe Burrow, and Derek Carr are the others that have a 70% completion percentage. And you could even make the case that Burrow is having a bit of an MVP year as well, almost 1,800 yards, 14 touchdowns, two interceptions. But point being, this lions offense is incredible now they're losing james

and williams to two game suspension because he couldn't stay off the roids unfortunately but i can't get out of his own way it's getting ridiculous yeah also we gotta ignore the fact that he sucked on steroids he had like one catch for negative four yards while on roids. Bro doesn't even know how to cheat, right? Yeah. Well, I mean, he only got one target, unfortunately. That's a little spooky. But anyways, they lost Hutchinson, though, for the year.

Now they're about to lose Montgomery for a couple other games. So it's going to be interesting to see how, how this offense ends up going without Montgomery. Obviously Gibbs is still playing really well. You look at this past week, 15 carries, 116 yards, two touchdowns. But other than that, you got Jalen Reeves Maben as your second back behind them. So it kind of wonder how the run game is going to look after that.

On the Vikings side, I mean, for this game alone, me and CJ thought that this was going to be a real grind, like not a grinded out game. It was going to be more of a shootout, and it was going to be close. CJ actually hit the nail on the head pretty perfectly for the most part, I would say. But I think the Vikings are still in a good spot. I consider this Vikings team like that 2017 Vikings team with Case Keenum.

And I think Sam Darnold's playing extremely well. And I think he will continue to do that because he's got some a good coaching staff good support system around him right now so i would say the vikings are going to come in third to the packers though because as you said packers are playing extremely well jordan love though i'd love to see him bring down the interceptions, but the interceptions aren't hurting them as much because love is still producing points on top of it or more points than he is producing turnovers, which is good. And they also have a great running game with Josh Jacobs.

Vikings have a great running game with Aaron Jones, the bears. I mean, it's unfortunate to say this. I feel like the bears are going to end up being in last. But it's not to say that they're a bad football team. Like we were talking about this prior to the show. You know, obviously most of their wins are coming off of against bad teams. But sometimes you have to beat the bad teams to consider yourself somewhat good in the long run and to end up building up that confidence which is what Williams is doing right now so yeah in that order

Lions like Lions Packers Vikings Bears but it's going to be decided by a game and it's probably going to be the Vikings the Lions and the Packers that are going to be decided by a game. CJ? I'm still going with the Lions. Of course it was going to be the Lions. They handed the Vikings their first L, as the three of us predicted. And the only thing that could stop them is, you guessed it, boys and girls, injuries.

Because Montgomery's hurt. I mean, they still have Gibbs. Gibbs is solid. You know, I mean, more than solid. He's pretty darn good. And, you know, Goff's there just, oh, my. But Jamison Williams, what an absolute knucklehead move that was. They still have Khalif Raymond, Tim Patrick.

Maybe they get Sam Laporta moremond tim patrick maybe they get sam laporta more involved maybe maybe not but as long as you have aman rai you should be golden pass rush looked pretty good without hutchinson rodriguez had a sack campbell at a sack josh paschal had a sack trevor nowaske i i don't i if i book or had a sack too so they have options at least it's going to be a hodgepodge of who's who but you know you take what you can get but the vikings i don't know maybe i'm getting too hung up on the name but something about sam darnold doesn't scream long term success especially when they have a rookie waiting in the wings and the injured jj mccarthy the aaron jones is good you know you got justin jefferson jordan addison like all those guys that's super like that that's great but sam darnold though i don't know

and we knew that even when the vikings started five and oh we knew it was only a matter of time before the lions caught up to them like they have now. But don't look now. Here come the Green Bay Packers. Now, and Adam mentioned this, and for what it's worth, I think he's correct. You didn't get Packers, you didn't get the next Aaron Rodgers, but you did get the next Brett Favre. I mean, granted, Love needs to cut down on the turnovers, but he's throwing enough touchdowns to you know mitigate that and i will say that come on green bay did benefit from a very rare cj stroud off game but you know but it was in green bay you gotta you beat the texans who are contenders in the afc and you're able to mitigate a really dominant day on the ground by Joe Mixon.

So if I were a betting man, I would say that they would eventually eclipse the Vikings because Green Bay is 5-2. Detroit and Minnesota are both 5-1. Then there's the Bears, who if my memory serves me right are, what, 4-2? 4-2. two yeah we mentioned how they're not beating the best of competition they beat the titans the rams the panthers and the jags who i want to say have like a combined five wins but still beating up on like the really bad teams that's how you get your start you know

it's like you know why you don't give a baby solid food out the womb you know what i mean it's that same mindset weird analogy but same mindset or punishing a team for beating for beating opponents that they should be yeah yeah you're right you're right you you know it's you can't do that so i can see a scenario where they all make the playoffs but at the end of the day i still think that it's going to be the lions then the packers and then the vikings and bears for third i might think that's a bit of a toss-up because this is something we've talked about off-camera and something I've said before. When you have a rookie – or not a rookie, but a journeyman quarterback that starts playing out of his mind, sometimes when you get your first loss, they come in bunches.

Looking at you, Sam Bradford Vikings. Yeah. And to look to, to go forward with Jordan Love being kind of Brett Favre, 15 to eight, 15 to eight touchdown interception ratio. That is a, well, that's a lot of touchdowns. That's also a lot of picks and it shows in the projections. You tell me if this doesn't look like the most Brett Favre looking season, 3,200 yards, 36 touchdowns to 19 picks. That's what he's projected to do this year. Is that not the most Brett Favre type season of all time? Yeah.

Which isn't a terrible thing. I mean, he's a Hall of Fame quarterback, and this would obviously continue their long line of franchise quarterbacks that they just seem to pull out of their asses. But it's clear they found their next guy, which is great for them. I'm going to go with the Vikings finishing last here. I think the Vikings are that one team that just looks like they outdid themselves, which is great, but they haven't

looked strong the last two weeks they yes that was this was a good week this was a good week for the vikings but you weren't blown away by sam donalds he was able to dance with a super bowl contender in the detroit lions um and they may finish 500, but I don't think they're as good as the five and oh record indicated. I think let's say they're 10 and seven, nine and eight, 11 and six at best. I think that's the better scenario. And the more realistic one, as far as the Chicago bears, I, I think that's a team that, uh, they continue to play better as the season has gone on. And I've done this to death with you guys in the group chat. Caleb Williams has gotten better as the season has gone on. A 7-1 touchdown-interception ratio in the last three games.

And four of his five interceptions that he has thrown were during a two game span where he didn't look good. I'll concede, but that was early in the season where he was. I'll also concede he was struggling. He's continued to play better and better. And I believe at the pace that he is playing at the pace that he's progressing, I think he's going to throw for 30 plus touchdowns. I think he's going to throw for 4,000 plus yards. I think he's going to throw for 30 plus touchdowns i think he's going to throw for 4 000 plus yards i think he's going to i think the bears have finally found their next guy well the guy their only guy not the next one um and i think this is where they finally break their curse of not finding quarterbacks who can sling the ball i just feel like you guys are undermining the Vikings just a little bit, just a little bit.

And it's obviously because of Sam Darnold, which is very understandable. But I think we're also forgetting the fact that the Vikings defense is actually pretty good. Brian Flores is doing a pretty damn good job over there in Minnesota. Obviously, they gave up 31 to Detroit, but Detroit's offense is unreal right now. So understandable as well. But I mean, you look at some of the other games too. It's like they only let up six points to the Giants.

They only let up 17 to the Niners. They only let up seven to the Texans. They let up 29 to the Packers. Packers offense doing pretty well right now. They let up 17 to the Jets. Like they're not letting up more than 20 points per game right now. And yardage wise, I mean, they're cutting it down on the yards. This, this is a team that is brutalizing offenses by just boring them out of

their mind by forcing them to just keep it short all the time. So, yeah, obviously, if Sam Darnold doesn't hold up, you can at least rely on the defense to do their job. And maybe some of these games that are going to be coming up are going to be more grinded out, more maybe low scoring games and on top of that sam donald still has jordan addison aaron jones and uh uh what's his face uh jefferson so maybe you guys are undermining them a little bit just a little only problem i have is that in sam donald's two games, he's thrown two picks, and he's only thrown one interception. So he hasn't been really world-beating here. I mean, he's been fine. I wouldn't say he's been bad, but it seems like he's come down to earth here.

Case Keenum was good all the way through that season. We could chalk it up to a fluky season, but he was good all the way through. Sam Darnold, he started off red hot through the first three games of the season. These last two, he has been just okay, which is fine. If he's just okay, then with the pass catchers he has, the offensive line that has been kicking ass, the defense that they have, they might just slide into the playoffs at nine and eight ten and seven um i just think it's going to be good for last and by the way that's not that bad of a thing because you can finish last nowadays and make

the playoffs so mathematically you can make it in it's very unlikely but if there's any division that's going to do it with how competitive this it has this nfc north has been this year maybe they do make the playoffs but i don't think they i don't i i don't think they finish any any better than last all right so third is their ceiling but it all it quite i do think that the Lions are better. I think the Packers are going to overtake them. I think it literally all depends on Chicago if they can keep it up, maybe play better against some better teams, especially in the division or not. Because if the Bears start dropping division games,

then the Vikings are obviously going to get third. So you guys want to bring up – so we're bringing up Case Keenum, of course, and we're going to compare the 2017 Vikings to this team. Case Keenum's season, 3,500 yards, 22 interceptions, or 22 touchdowns, seven interceptions. Sam Darnold right now has projected more yards, more touchdowns, granted more interceptions. So you say that Case Keenum has played great all the way through,

which I'm not going to argue that at all. He did. But Sam Darnold is also playing pretty well all the way through, in my opinion. I'd like to see how the NFC North looks. It's off the top of my head. Off the top of my head, I couldn't tell you. I'll have to look at that.

But again, I'm not saying that this Vikings team is bad. I'm not saying they are going to collapse. I'm simply saying they're not as good as 5-0 showed. I don't think they're winning 12 games this year. Many people didn't think that of the 2017 Vikings either, and they made it to the NFC Championship. I mean, yeah, we can argue that they're not going to be 13-4, or 14-3, 15-2.

We can make the assumption that they're going to be 12-5 potentially. Like, obviously, we're not thinking that this is going to be a team that makes it – that was going to be 17-0. But I'm just – it's just trying to make the point. Chris, I'd also like to point out about the vikings they did go 13-3 with keenum that's and company that's true but the next best team their division was literally the nine and seven lions and i think you also forgot to mention that they're just playing in a tougher division the packers were seven at nine and the bears were five and eleven like i don't

see any of these teams barring a massive injury and by extension collapse that suck like that okay that's that's a good point too that's a good point too the packers had a pretty bad year in 2017 they finished seven and nine pretty bad by a Rogers standards. Actually he was, he was injured that year as well. Also Detroit lions were the only other team that finished above 500 in that division nine and seven. That's just an okay record. The bears were horrible at five and 11. So for the line, for the Vikings to finish 13 and three, I mean, look, this is just a different division.

Everyone is competitive this year, which again, last is not that bad in this division. They can still make the playoffs in today's league in 2024. Mathematically, it's unlikely, but if they finish nine and eight, 10 and seven, they can sneak in and be that last playoff team that makes it in. Maybe they win a, maybe they win a playoff game, but I'm just saying he's not good enough to finish any better than, than, than last or third place in this division. It's this division. This division is just place in this division. This division is just too tough this year. That's all I'm saying.

I get that. I get that. All right. I think we're good with this topic. Yeah. Let's move on to our week seven, recapping with our top three, bottom with chris that's next this is the fumble ruski podcast it may not have always showed it in the stat sheet but you can see him making throws when he needs to make the throws back-to-back games where he has three touchdowns

someone's got to get that six or seven spot he's an elite wide receiver as a rookie truly a lose-lose scenario for both sides. Welcome back to the Fumble Rooski podcast by Power88 and Secret Weapon Consulting. Adam Wright with CJ Medeiros and Chris Kostic. And Chris is here with our Week 7 Top 3 Bottom 3. Chris, the floor is yours. Thank you, Adam. First team on the top three, bottom three. We're going to go with one game in particular.

For the top three, it's going to be the Seahawks. Bottom three, the Falcons. So Seahawks were coming in very cold coming into this one three-game losing streak. So obviously, it's good to break that three-game losing streak. But just the manner that they did it winning by uh winning by 20 to a pretty good falcons team obviously on the falcons side they just look terrible in this game um kirk i mean he did all right but two interceptions wasn't great i mean they got beaten up bad enough where they had to put Michael Penix in at the end all around. And also another thing that we were hammering the Seahawks about was the lack of the run game or lack of running the ball in general. And in this game, 26 carries for 103 yards. Would still like to see Kenneth Walker and Zach Charbonnet get some more looks.

Like Kenneth Walker, I feel like should be getting near 20 carries per game, 15 to 20. He got 14 for 69 and a touchdown though. So I'll take it. Falcons though, I mean, you lose by 20 and now you're two and three at home. Two and three at home. That's just not not good not good uh next team on the list the Steelers beating up on a very bad Jets team of course but it's not the fact that they beat up on a bad Jets team it's the facts of how good they looked all around russell wilson first game

first start since his little injury that he had and not many people really thought of how this team was going to look with russell wilson and obviously it didn't look great with justin fields but with how russell wilson played with denver there was a lot of questions and i feel like there still is a lot of questions but with the the way Russ played, 264 yards, two touchdowns, no interceptions, George Pickens actually played well, five catches under 11 yards and one touchdown. Najee went off with over 100 yards. This was just a total team domination,

and the defense still obviously looks fantastic. Last team on the bottom, excuse me top three uh the lions you wanted a big shootout against the vikings and you ended their undefeated streak and i mean you ended up having to hold off a big comeback but a big this is just a big divisional win and they were able to capitalize and keep the momentum going off of a very emotional win against Dallas. And, I mean, this – obviously we hammered it to death in the last segment, but this Lions offense is insane. It's just so insane.

Still a little worried about the defense, but the Lions offense is just unreal. Once in the last two on our bottom three, the Giants. Only putting up three points to the Eagles. They lose 28-3 at home. Have not won a game at home. Their own four. And to make matters worse, your former star running back was the star of the show. So basically the Maras can take that and shove it up their ass.

Last team on the bottom three, the Chargers, losing last night against the Cardinals. The defense showed up. The offense, not so much. And I mean, Justin Herbert, 27 for 39, no touchdowns, 349 yards. I'm surprised they didn't run the ball as much because of the way Jim Harbaugh loves to run the ball. Of course, like I said, defense showed up only allowing 17 points or at least 14 prior to the Cardinals kicking that game-winning field goal. But if you're going to compete in the AFC West and try to take the top spot from the Chiefs, you have to be able to beat a team like the Cardinals. And I feel like the Chargers, with the way that they've been playing this year,

should have been able to do that or at least put up more than 15 on the Cardinals in that case. Never mind beat them, but at least put up more than what they put up. The Eagles, I'll give them credit. They beat a team that they were supposed to beat but i mean they really dunked on this giants team that gave up that just allowed their best player to walk and they made them pay for it adam's trying to cut you off but uh your mic disconnected again could you hear me at all i we can hear you it's just through your computer jeez i don't know what's going on with my laptop um must be connection issues um i'll let cj continue

yeah uh thing so when i think about this top three bottom three right i have no, I have no idea what to make of the Seahawks. You know, three-game win streak, three-game lose streak, and now they walloped the Cardinals, a team that was favored pretty, you know, by pretty much most everyone. I think all of us picked the Cardinals against the Seahawks. And, you know, so once again, I don't know what to make of them. Their running game is weird that's been

ineffective which was like i said odd because they have the two-headed monster there but you know i'll give them that the steelers you know we know the jets haven't been good but that was supposed to turn around right you know they finally got robert sala you know they got davante adams they're literally getting rogers everything he wants but all i'm gonna say is aaron buddy you're running out of excuses and then there's uh the lions we saw what they did that was a great game for golf then there's the giants good lord you know you let saquon walk and then he literally runs all over you. Shameful. That in and of itself, even for a closer game, just that alone gets you in the bottom three.

The Chargers. Yeah, I don't want to hear about the controversial unnecessary roughness penalty considering the fact that there was blatant helmet-to-helmet contact. And if you don't see that, then I would highly recommend getting your eyes checked. But come on, also that Jalen Rieger fumble out of the end zone didn't exactly help matters. And then there's the Falcons. I said this earlier about the Bucs. I don't know what to even make of the NFC South. Just a weird division there. Falcons, once again, got worked by the Seahawks. I believe my mic works effectively now. Cool. I don't know why it keeps disconnecting.

Again, the Giants made a big mistake getting rid of Saquon. I mean, the mistake was made a couple of years ago, a couple off seasons ago when they decided to pay Daniel Jones instead of Saquon Barkley. Massive mistake. And this is one of the downsides to surrounding your quarterback with talent is that it makes them look better than they are. I think the fact that Daniel Jones with the team that he had around him, the fact that he had just an okay year in spite of that should have been a red flag. Um, I, I won't advocate for pay for paying through the teeth for your franchise teeth for your franchise running back because you know how I feel about running backs.

Not a fan of it. They age like milk. And even when they are in their prime, they don't win you Super Bowls. That being said, I'd rather you pay an elite running back than pay a below average quarterback. And if it were my choice, I would have paid neither of them and went to the draft to find a new quarterback, but you still had to, like you did what you did. And now not only is not only do you have your division rival with

your best player destroying you, but you're also stuck with a quarterback who definitely does not deserve to be a franchise guy. Not worth the $160 million that they paid him. It's just an absolute and utter travesty. And I don't know how they're going to get out of this. Because they have to find a way to sort of get rid of him without any sort of financial repercussions, which you're going to have some. So I don't know how you're getting out of this.

Also the run, their offensive line blows. Yeah. And honestly, Saquon is probably one of the few running backs that I would throw a bag at, which obviously the Eagles did. Saquon's currently the fourth highest paid, uh, running back in the league. Um, there's very few of, of course that I would throw a bag at McCaffrey, Camara, Saquon,

Derek Henry. Those are probably, uh, four right off the bat that I would be willing to throw a bag at. And it's just those four, just those four. So, I mean, yeah, obviously to your point, Adam, like there's a lot of running backs, most running backs in the league age like milk in general. But when you have a talent like saquon or for that matter derrick henry i feel like that you have to take the chance on that and looking at a guy like derrick henry who's 30 or whatever and got a rush for 2k i feel like there are players that you have to take a chance on but it's not like your point doesn't stand, but there has to be some

exceptions. I get that these guys are elite. You mentioned Derrick Henry. You mentioned Saquon Barkley. We can even bring in Christian McCaffrey from last year. I still have a strict standard here. Running backs, you just don't pay the running backs. It never works out. It may be working out for the Eagles now, but out. It may be working out for the Eagles now, but is it going to be working out a year or two from now? Probably not. And if it does, great, but will it win them a Super Bowl either if they are still putting up stats? History says no, at least our recent history. Running backs used to win Super Bowls. Now they don't. It's been a long time since Emmitt Smith was taking them to three Super Bowl victories, the Cowboys. It doesn't happen anymore. And there's a reason why there's

teams with more pass-heavy offenses that are winning the Super Bowls and the Lamar Jackson-led Baltimore Ravens and the Derrick Henry- led Tennessee Titans were always falling up short, coming up short, right? Tom Brady and Patrick Mahomes were winning the Superbowls. The running guys were never doing it. So I, I still,

I don't, I don't make exceptions there. Fair enough. Fair enough. Um, I guess if we're going to do a quick little honorable mention segment for this, I mean, I would probably put the Saints maybe, but they're all beaten up. Pats, most definitely.

Jets. Jets. Definitely the Jets. That's probably it. Unless we want to throw in the Bucs pre-fourth quarter. No, that's the whole game, man. You can't. The Bucs pre-fourth quarter. The Bucs the whole game, because not only did they lose the game in a blowout, they decided to go for extra points to make it closer,

and you lost, not only did you lose Mike Evans earlier in the game in a blowout they decided to go for extra points to make it closer and you lost not only not only did you lose mike evans earlier in the game but you lost chris godwin later on and now until at least week 11 you you're you lost both of them and also chris godwin's a free agent so you may not see godwin in a in a bucks uniform ever again. I will say, Chris. They took the fattest. Maybe we should have put more to consideration of the Bucs in our bottom three. I mean, they took the fattest L of any team. Yeah, they really did. If you count the injuries.

You knew right from the back Chris Godwin was going to be out for the year when espn isn't showing the replay you could barely see it from afar on their on their game cam but oh no from afar you could see that that angle was turned 90 degrees and you're like oh no i'm glad to see it's not broken i'm glad to see it's dislocated i know it still sucks god that was a tough watch he's still out for the year though he's done for the year but that i feel like that's the best possible news you can get a dislocated ankle rather than like a snapped one yeah well the best possible news you could get is it's like an ankle sprain and it just looked weird on the TV screen.

That would have been the best. I had a buddy during middle school football who ended up dislocating his ankle. It looked pretty much the same exact way that Godwin, like when he was, it almost looked very similar what Godwin was doing as what my buddy was doing. And his ankle was in a very similar angle as well. I was like, yeah, this looks familiar. He's done.

Yeah. Yeah. Jeez. Well, that's it for top three, bottom three though. Yeah. Uh,

this was an interesting week and we had a lot of different topics we wanted to cover and to fit in the show. We just couldn't get it all. And some of it were, This was an interesting week, and we had a lot of different topics we wanted to cover. And to fit in the show, we just couldn't get it all. And some of it we're just punting on and going into next week on. For example, Jaden Daniels, we were thinking about talking about that. But I think the fact that him and Caleb Williams are supposed to face off next week, if Jaden Daniels misses next week and Caleb Williams goes off, then I think that's a, that makes for a bigger story. And if you connect the Steelers to it, since the Steelers are facing, uh, the Russell will, the Steelers are facing the giants, which should be

a victory. That's two straight victories for Russell Wilson, possibly, after Justin Fields got benched. Caleb Williams moves into the lead for Offensive Rookie of the Year, and suddenly those Justin Fields fans do not seem as confident in their take over the offseason to just build around Fields. Because it turns out the kid just can't play as well as we thought he could. I thought he was going to be pretty good too. Yeah. This is going to be an interesting Friday conversation.

How about that? It's going to be a nice Friday conversation and a juicy talking point for next Tuesday when we recap it. Because if it goes the way I believe it's going to go, then this is going to be very interesting. Boy. Very interesting. Since we're already looking at week eight,

we could do a quick little Thursday night preview. Vikings-Rams, I could tell you right off the bat, Vikings get right game. Not worth the breath. Vikings get right game. Book it. There's already reports of the Rams selling off the players that they have. If they give away Matthew Stafford,

holy crap. To the Vikings. Yeah. Then I also, if it's to the Vikings, throw away everything I said about the Vikings. Because at that point, I trust, Matthew Stafford throwing to Justin Jefferson, Jordan Addison, and TJ Hawkinson. Aaron Jones as their running back.

And now suddenly you're in business. And maybe we have a diff. I don't know how that's going to stack up, but that makes that division even scarier. I think the only problem you come across at that point is, you know, Stafford's going in with a whole new playbook. What's the chemistry going to look like at that point? Maybe the idea is very cool to think about, but logistically. Also, you have to think about McCarthy, who's supposed to come in next year. I don't know.

Off the top of my head, I don't know how long Stafford's under contract. If it's only one year remaining, it's a no-brainer. But if it's anything more than one year, then it gets weird because McCarthy needs to step in and play at some point. You got this rookie. I agree with sitting him for a year to sort of develop, but not too long. I don't agree with anything more than one year. Stafford is currently signed through the 2026 season.

So that's more than one year for you yeah all right so these are all fun talking points that if if it all happens then it'll be interesting but um until then that'll do it for us tonight thank you for listening to us we have new episodes out on tuesdays at 7 30 p.m eastern standard time and and Fridays at 5. Be sure to subscribe to our YouTube channel. We have all our episodes on Spotify, Spreaker, Apple Podcasts, iHeartRadio, Google Podcasts, and so much more. Also, be sure to follow our Instagram at FumbleRooski underscore podcast

to keep up with our podcasts and the latest coverage on the NFL. Otherwise, we'll see you on Friday for our game picks and preview of Week 8. Over and out.