The Fumblerooski Podcast - Gunslingers -Ep 383 The Fumblerooski Podcast

Episode Date: September 16, 2025

On today’s episode, Pretenders & Contenders: Which 2-0 teams are fooling us, and which 0-2 teams will get out of their rut? The Bucs get another comeback victory over the Texans, is this a Stroud and Demeco Ryans problem, or a front office problem? Should Bears GM Ryan Poles get fired? Are the Cowboys just the 2024 Bengals? Are the Colts just the 2024 Saints? QBs on the injury list, and Week 2 Top 3 Bottom 3, Chris Costich and CJ Medeiros talk all this and more!

On today's episode of the Fumble Ruski podcast, Baker in the Bucks, get another comeback victory. Back-to-back weeks of come from behind victories this time, down 19 to 14 against the Texans, getting the job done. Since the Super Bowl perennial team, once Chris Scottwin comes back, and says it's time to have a tough conversation about C.J. Stroud and D'Amico Ryans. QBs are hurt. Jaden Daniels, Brock Purdy, J.J. McCarthy, and Joe Burrow, all out. I'll pull up the brakes on that, but we'll get to that later, all dealing with injuries. Bengals also getting the job done against the Jaguars, 3127. What is going on in Jacksonville and what happened to Brian Thomas?

A couple other games as well that we'll touch on, including the lines and the bears. Contenders or Pretenders, which 2-0 teams are going to be contenders and which are just pretenders. along with that week to bottom top three bottom three all that and more this is the fulmbruski podcast it may not have always showed it in the staff 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 Fulmaruski podcast by Power 88 Dean Radio and Secret WebPin Consulting. I'm Chris Kostich, he's C.J. Medeiros, and we got a good one lined up for you today.

A lot to cover, to say the least, as well. And happy Tuesday. That's all I can say. Another great week of football is in the books. We're currently recording this Monday night, as we mentioned, in the last. So kind of the new process that we're doing. So right now we're currently recording during the second Monday night football game, the Vegas Raiders and the L.A. Chargers with the charges up 10 to 3 in the second quarter.

And the Raiders driving the ball right now and potentially looking to score. But we'll look at the first Monday night game that we had tonight. Baker and the Bucks get the win against the Texans, 20 to 19. Well, CJ, I think the question that I had on Friday was answered pretty soundly tonight. What is missing from the bucks that, or what's going on with the bucks that I'm missing? Well, remember when I was reading through the injury report and I mentioned the two bookends, the two tackles? Well, it seems I was correct. Now, Godkey did start, but then was later removed, so the tackles were hurt, backup tackles, and Houston just attacked him all night long.

And really the whole story from this game is that neither O-Line was able to stop a nosebleed. Like, Baker took a beating tonight. CJ Stroud took a beating tonight. Yeah, if I were called correctly, Baker took four sacks, Stroud took three. Yeah, like it was a very, very physical game, a very fun game, especially in the fourth quarter. I thought that the Texans were going to end up coming back or get the job done, but boy, Baker Mayfield, he is the man. That's all I can really say. That's probably the other conclusion that I came to after watching this game is that Baker Mayfield is the man.

first on the Bucks, and then we'll move over to Houston. I think it's pretty evident that once Chris Godwin comes back, it's like this team could potentially be a shoe-in for the Super Bowl, at least the NFC championship, I feel like. This is a dangerous, dangerous team that we're looking at right now. Yeah, absolutely. So they're getting the wins without their bookends, Gideki, Goddiki, whatever the Braddekyll's name is, Godke, you know, banged up, Tristan

Worf's not playing, no Chris Godwin, and they're still getting it done. The defense is also playing better than last season, but the offensive line, that's going to be a problem if they can't stay healthy, but they should. We know worse is coming back. We don't know what, with Godke, what's going on with him, but we know he's coming back. That, Bucky Irving, Rashad White tandem. Oh, that is looking dangerous. And here's the thing. You don't even eat

Chris Godwin. May I introduce you to rookie from the Ohio State University, Emeka and Bucca. Man just slots in and is just eaten right away. Mike Evans, we already know who Mike Evans is. Come on.

Mr. Thousand Yards every year. Mike actually. Looking to be a good ad. You know, you got Yaya Diabe up there, Vita Vaya. Dionne Jones is a linebacker, I like. Old veteran stalwart, Levanté David, Jemel Dean, who just took a pay cut, the underrated Zion McCollum, Antoine Winfield, Jr. And Chase Smith, McLaughlin, making a pretty damn good kicker as well.

I see no reason that the Bucks shouldn't be in the NFC championship game because the commanders are opening up kind of sluggish out of the gate. even that game they won, they didn't really pass the eye test. Sure, the Lions just won, more on that later. But, you know, that that first game was a little alarming and there's always going to be a bit of an adjustment when you especially lose both coordinators. Philly's, you know, two and oh, but still, you know, they have some things to clean up. So if you're Tampa, you have to take advantage. and with that division being as not great as it is,

the Saints, this is a rebuilding year for them. Who in the hell knows what the Panthers are? The Falcons could give you a little bit of trouble, but you are still here on paper the better team, and you beat them already. So you're already a step ahead. That's good.

And all I've got to say about Baker is, this is going to sound corny, he's out of Cleveland, but he still has that dog in him. and to harker back to his Cleveland days this man just wakes up feeling dangerous yeah second straight comeback victory and when i was watching the game i saw the step baker mayfield has 22 might be 23 now uh fourth quarter and overtime touchdowns both through the ground and through the air with throughout the past like three years since you joined the box yeah which by the way is the most in NFL. He is, I mean, look, we all know about Mahomes. We all know about Josh Allen. But when it comes

to pure clutch factor, Baker is top two. And if the touchdowns are any indication, he might not be two. Just as far as pure clutchness goes. I mean, Schiff, for all we know he wins MVP this year. Could very well be. Yeah. That, that fourth down play where he got out of that sack and scampered for like for the first down was insane i i couldn't believe he got out of that but uh we are literally seeing uh oklahoma baker mayfield again act yes flashing that rocket arm the mobility the ability to command a huddle putting fear into the defenses that's what you could have had cleveland yep but i must mock you because you chose a predator nice um Bucky Irving ended up having

121 total yards all purpose to himself, 39 of which were on the last drive of the game. That was a sick play in itself too. Handing two people a freaking map. Houston, let's touch on them real quick. You mentioned on Friday that if they lose this game

or if they come out and play the way that they did last week against the Rams, then we might have to have a tough conversation about C.J. Stroud and DeNico Ryan. Yes, I said this. You may remember. We posted a reel about it, actually. Yes. Today, in fact. Or in this case, yesterday. Or yesterday, actually.

so okay um so is it that time to have this conversation i'm still going to argue no i am tilting no but the trends are still there yeah all i'm going to say well i don't think we should we should have the conversation like i said but the trends are alarming i don't know what it is. D'Amico Ryans and C.J. Stroud just haven't recaptured that magic of rookie year C.J. Stroud. Don't get me wrong. They didn't want a playoff game last year. They did grab an upset victory. But I don't know what it is. Or actually, this year I know what it is. They do not have an offensive line. You see, trading away Laramie Tunsell was a very, very very bad idea. You should not have done that. I don't understand why it needs to be said.

You absolutely, positively, should not have traded him away. And I know they say, oh, hindsight's 2020, but this was a bad idea even at the time, especially given they did not replace him adequately they you know they they they did not invest the money nor the draft capital into replacing him crime me if i'm wrong they did not go tackle in the first round no they did not land a high profile free agent on a long-term deal like yeah i guess they grabbed cam robinson or wait or no or the trent brown i think but no and that's not a long-term solution it just isn't. And I don't understand why. I don't understand why they created this need and then proceeded to not address it. That is very counterintuitive. And it's negatively

impacting C.J. Stroud. They gave up three sacks tonight. And the Bucks front seven is solid, but still a work in progress. I wouldn't call it top 10. But when they're getting to Stroud and putting him on his ass almost effortlessly, yeah, I think we have a problem. And if they're still struggling, let's just say they're below 500 around week nine, week 10, maybe we have the conversation. But right now, it's still too early, but I'm a little concerned. Yeah, I echo that as well. It's still not good.

I mean, this could just be another scenario where it's the front. I touched on this on Friday, too. Like maybe it's just a front office problem at that point. And, you know, it's kind of what the conversation is about right now with the Bears, for example. Like Ryan Poles getting dragged through the mud right now, which we'll talk about more later on. But anything else you want to touch on from this game? No, not really. Other than the fact that once again,

Baker's just that guy. That's all I can say. Yeah, he is. I'm going to take a quick break when we come back. We're going to get into the Bengals getting the win against the Jaguars 31 to 27. Burrow out for up to three months with Turf Toe. This is the Flamarooski 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 Fulmarisky podcast. He's C.J. I'm Chris. Bengals getting the win against the Jaguars, 31 to 27.

This was a game where Jake Browning threw three interceptions, and they still won. uh bro it got taken out uh what was in the first quarter something like that yeah and then it was jake browning from there this was a interesting game to say the least i think there was a lot of a lot of things going on i could potentially just be an understatement um i mean where do you want to start with this cj i mean this is because i have a couple things that i would love to touch on you know what's weird the bengal's defense granted the scores and show it has been tolerable yeah as of wait and i saw a bengals fan say something and i think now more than ever it rings true this fan said oh the oh the cincinnati bengals can have either a good line or a good defense

never both and I feel like now more than ever that is very true yeah and when we talk about QB's banged up I'll get to my Joe Burrow

take later but hey credit to Browning where it's due he's an absolute gunslinger but just what a cruel twist of fate

for the Bengals consider this if you would so we all know about the Bengals' first two weeks curse, right? We all know it. And they beat the curse. They won their first two games for the first time ever under head coach Zach Taylor. And Joe Burroughs her since he just can't have anything. And I wouldn't be worried about this

if their overall roster was better. And I've said this many, many a time. Their roster is four guys for Joe Burrow, Jamar Chase, T. Higgins, and T. Higgins, and T. Hendricksson. And you are now down one. So your roster is three people. And look, is Jake Browning a good backup? Yeah, you know, he's another gunslinger just like old Joe cool, as the kids call him. But is he going to take it to the playoffs? No. And I'm worried about the long-term ramifications of this. because another thing that I've said about the Bengals is that they needed to get rid of Zach Taylor yesterday. And frankly, I don't care that he's been to a Super Bowl. A lot of coaches have. A lot of coaches have even won. But that doesn't necessarily make them good. Right? Yeah. And I'm worried that if the Bengals crash and burn, which they could, maybe they beat, maybe they're middling, maybe they're not. Zach Taylor can go to ownership, you know, the cheap old man Mike Brown and say,

Irm, actually, it, we only sucked because Joe Burrow was hurt. You can't keep giving him the benefit of the doubt. This could delay progress. This is giving him a built-in excuse. So,

I still think his seat's a little warm, but the optics still aren't good, and they work, because they work in his favor. Yeah. Ooh, Gino just, like, slammed his hand on, His line is helmet. Geez.

So, Chris and I are watching the game live, actually. Yeah, I've had that happen a couple times. That is, I've, like, jammed my finger on, like, a teammate's helmet in, like, the worst weeks to do it. Twice on the week of homecoming. Like, the game that you're expected to win. Yeah. Yeah, terrible timing for the Bengals, but, I mean, at least. At least he got Jake Browning, and I think the funniest thing about Jake Browning is what he does best is getting Jamar chased the goddamn ball.

And if you have Chase Fantasy like I do, then 14 catches 165 yards and a touchdown 16 targets. Jesus. Jaguars. Where to we get on this? Brian Thomas. He's like just. The effort's gone. There's no effort. I know the player talking about, too.

There's no, no, no, no, DJ. There's more plays. Oh, no, no, no, no. I know. I know. I hear you, Chris. And I think you're right. But I want everyone to realize there is one play above all else that I think signifies this. There is. It was late in the game. Lawrence threw him the ball in the end zone. Granted, it was a contested catch, but he checked out. Alligator armed it. He made a business decision. That's the only way to describe it.

And I was stunned. This was a dude who worked his ass off last year, a guy who was looking like the best receiver in his class. And to see the outright, just lackadaisical route running, a lack of effort, I just, maybe it's a scheme. team fit thing maybe he's just not on the same page yet but i'm just shocked in fact there was a graphic and i'm going to find it right now about trevor lawrence's passerating when targeting certain players and it was actually yeah like chris my my good buddy uh chris costich this man right here uh his lowest passer rating is when targeting brian thomas junior His pass a rating when targeting him is an 18.3.

No. Definitely, Travis Hunter, the player you traded up in the draft for and no longer have a first round pick next year for, right? Yeah, did they not trade up? Yeah, it's a 32.4. Meanwhile, tight end, Brenton Strange, wide receivers, Diami Brown and Parker, Washington, and running backs Travis E.T.N. and Bay Shalt-Tooten,

Barnes' passering with targeting them is all over 100. is this a Hunter and Thomas thing? Is it a Liam Cohen thing? Is it a Trevor Lawrence thing? Jacksonville is just such a bizarre team. And maybe it smooths out. But Liam Cohen, why? This is like legitimately puzzling.

That's my take. I'll do you one better. The play before, so right before the Travis Hunter, or Travis Hunter, Thomas like drop he there was a one play right before that or two plays if you want to go that far where Trevor Lawrence missed a throw and like and Liam Cohn is freaking out on the sideline essentially is like basically telling Trevor Lawrence like hit him in the chest and Trevor Lawrence just like waves him off and then the next play throws it to Brian Thomas

hit him in the numbers and he dropped it it's like the vibes are like I thought the vibes were going to be up a little bit especially after that win against Carolina and you know this is going to be a competitive game but like you know a loss like this it's like you know yeah it's a oh what was me like you know we lost by four against a competitive team we're competitive yeah it's going to be one of those losses but like I just don't get any of that after what I just saw this week. Absolutely not. No. Since we were talking about Joe Burrow, let's get into the next topic as well. Just the injuries to quarterbacks. So Jaden Daniels dealing with a sprained knee could be out this week.

Brock Prairie was out this past week with a bunch of different injuries going on. So Mack Jones ended up starting for him. They got the win against the Saints. Joe Burrow, as we mentioned, turpto, out for potentially. three months. J.J. McCarthy, also a sprained knee. And they already rolled him out for this week. I've heard a conspiracy theory about J.J. McCarthy

and that Kevin O'Connell is really just saving him from such a shit O'Line because the Vikings O'Line has not been very good in the first two weeks. And that offense in general has had only one good quarter. So in the case of Jaden Daniels, you got Marys, Marcus Marriota is your backup. Mariotta is a very experienced veteran. He's played at least one game with this offense last season, and he did fairly well.

Obviously, the Niners are doing all right with Mack Jones in place at the moment. In terms of Joe Burrow, we already talked about Jake Browning, and now he's been in a situation before. So you can You can potentially expect Jake Browning to keep the Bengals competitive. But with Jake, who's the backup for the Vikings?

That's the question here. I think it's Carson Wentz. Hmm. Because they're playing the Bengals next week, right? Yes. Because I saw a graphic that says it's week three and we're already getting Jake Browning and Carson Wends.

Yeah. And that's the other thing too is like, if you're the bangles you played your starters to prevent this slow start from happening again and like obviously you've done that but i mean i'm not going to say that this that joe burrow being injured as a result of him playing in the preseason games and and getting overworked or whatever turf toe is a very very random injury must much like others like and I've explained turf toe because I had gotten a very extremely minor compared to what Joe Burrow has obviously but it's literally just jamming the fuck out of your toe part of my French but

it's jamming your thumb but it's your toe and that's it that's it um but yeah the the Vikings in the Niners I think I'm going to be most worried about but that's mainly because both of those teams are dealing with a lot of other injuries. Obviously, the commies are dealing with Austin Echler, tearing his Achilles, but they got a, what's his face, the rookie? Help me. Which team again?

Commies. Oh, Jacori, Crosky Merritt or Bill? Yeah, Crossi Mary, yes, yes. Bill, we'll just call it. I think everyone refers to him as Bill, I'm pretty sure. I'm sorry, Mr. Krosky Merritt. Please don't hate me. But commies I'm not incredibly worried about.

Niners, Vikings, I'm a little worried about. That's, what do you think? Daniels isn't even guaranteed in this next week, so they're probably the team I'm worried the least about. I'm also not too concerned about the Niners, because we can say all the Mac Jones memes we want, but as a Pat's fan, the media will never make me hate Mac Jones.

Also, Kyle Shanahan wanted Mac Jones as well. Yeah, that's true. And I believe I said this last episode, if not, then you can correct me. But it is something that I thought, and I'll say it now. Matt Jones fits the Shanahan system like a glove. We've seen it with Rob Perry,

you've seen it with Jimmy G. Give someone talent, keep the play calling, simple-ish and be a game manager that these are all things mac jones can do you know came out slung three touchdowns against the saints granted it's the saints but it's a great warm-up game i am worried about the bangles i have said this and can i be honest with you chris i'm a big joe Burrow thing. Yeah. Perhaps not as big as many Bengals fans, but I love Joe Burrow.

I'm a big burrow guy. Great quarterback. But do we maybe kind of sort of need to have a conversation about him? Yeah. No. He's a little injury prone, I know. He's not a little injury prone. Exactly.

It's every other year now. It literally is. And as fans, whether you love it. Joe Burrow, or whether you don't, we need to have a great noticing. The noticing starts now. The first game of his career, or the first season of his career, only played 10 games, then played a full 16, 2021, 2022. 2023, he only played 10. The season after that, he played a full 17. That's good. however he was banged up and we knew he was playing through injury this year he will miss games so he's now the NFL's six seasons oh geez for three sorry Quinn johnston deepall tutty

hey and as a Justin Herbert fantasy owner thanks no but seriously so he's been leaving six seasons and he's missed games in three of them and it's not like missing one game here or there, miss six his rookie year, missed seven his fourth year, and is going to miss three months this year, his sixth. So, this man is not durable. And I feel so bad. But Bengals, would you kindly invest in your O-line, please and thanks? And McCarthy, I don't understand why the Vikings line is so bad. You signed Ryan Kelly and Free Agency. Christian Derrisaw is a damn good tackle, and they have another really good

offensive lineman whose name escapes me. On paper, it's good. So what's going on? I don't know. But I'm not too worried about McCarthy. The only team that I'm genuinely actively worried about is the Bengals. Yeah, McCarthy's going to miss the next game, but he also has enough talent around him when he comes back, even with that line

to the point where you can get the ball out quick. That's what he did at Michigan. Niners, like I said, not worried. Jones fits the Shanhan system. And Daniels isn't even certain to miss next game. Once again, the only team I'm worried about, unfortunately, is the Bengals. And I will say that here again.

You don't think Browning can keep this team competitive like he did the last time? No, I think he can. I think he can, yes. do I think he's taking them to the playoffs? No, I don't. And with Burrow, you always have a fighting shot no matter how terrible your line or defense is.

Browning, I don't know. And Chris, you yourself even mentioned, Browning tossed, not one, not two, but three interceptions. You can get away with that against the Jacksonville Jaguars, but look at the division you're in. Can you get away with that against the Baltimore Ravens? No.

Hell, how do you think you can get away with it with Pittsburgh? And the Cleveland Browns, though they are not good, have a ferocious defense and they always play you close because it's a division game. You might not even be able to get away with that against them. But yeah, because you got away with that against the Jaguars, doesn't mean you're going to get away with that with any other team in your division. No, you're right. You're right. Fair enough. You're definitely right about that.

Got anything else for this or you're going to move on? No, I'm going to move on. All right, cool. It's about to say. I think we, I was a good way to wrap that up. But we're going to take a quick break when we come back. We're going to get into a couple more games. Cowboys beating the Giants in overtime 40 to 37.

Is Russell Wilson back? Is he back? Lions, bounce back win over the Bears, 52 to 21. All right. Let's have a conversation about Ryan Poles. All that more. This is the Pulmariski podcast. may not have always showed it in the staff 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 Fulmuriski podcast. DC, I'm Chris. Powered by Power 8018 Radio and Secret Weapon Consulting.

Baby. Come more big. games to really get into here uh cowboy we'll start with cowboys giants um because we got a little bit of a taste of jackson dart in this game more designish plays and stuff like that but it was russell wilson that i don't know what happens but russell wilson was what kept the giants in this game. I can't believe I'm saying this, but I'll just read off some of the stats for you, but this was wild. 30 for 41, 450 yards, three touchdowns and interception. Mleek Namers, nine catches, 167 yards, two touchdowns. Wondale Robinson, eight catches, 142 yards

and a touchdown. This was a wild game back and forth. I couldn't believe that the Giants came back to score so many times. I want to say this says more about what we're going to see out of the Cowboys than it is the Giants in terms of like this is going to be a very interesting defense to watch, but this offense is going to be able to keep pace with whatever their defense gives up. I have a feeling that's going to be very much like last year. bangles type of situation with the Cowboys because I've had I've said it before like we've

seen what Dak can do when he has essentially two number one targets on his team if we want to consider George Pickens the number one target and so far he's doing pretty damn good at 38 for 52 this yes on Sunday 361 yards two touchdowns and interception this defense is just bad I mean And there's no reason you should be giving up 37 points to Russell Wilson. No, there's really not. Yeah. And this was a weird game, too, in the sense of, like, nobody wanted. It seemed like nobody wanted to win in overtime.

Like, it ended, like, right as it went down to the final fucking second. Or maybe the moon ball is back. Have you ever considered that? But, uh, look, if I'm a Cowboys fan, I'm not even happy about this. I'm just not. I mean, look, a win is a win, and you can take that, and you can wear it on your head and walk around with it.

That's cool. But why are you letting Russell Wilson dot you up? And look, Malik Neighbors is a hell of a player, and I've always said, Wondale Robinson is underrated. But really, Dallas. Also, you struggled to get pressure. Do you know who would have helped? Can you take a while guess who would have helped, Michael Parsons?

And I know I'm treating it like they lost, and it was a damn good game. But you cannot let the New York Giants take it over time. And if you're the Giants, I can't even throw any shade their way. I can't. You've played your hearts out against a team that is just better, let's be honest. So, hey, hey, tip of the cap. to you. But the Cowboys, I can't help but feel like, even without Michael Parsons, if they were a

better coach team, they would have run away with this. And yes, that is squarely a shot at Brian Schottenheimer, because you never should have let it get to that point. The fact that you folded and almost lost on a 48-yard bomb to Malik neighbors is nothing short of shameful. Yeah. It is pretty shameful. And look, I know it was a shootout, but

you almost lost the Giants and you lost to Philly. Keep mind. This was in AT&T Stadium. It's not like they played you close in MetLife. They played you close in Jerry World. This is a win that granted you put up a lot of points. Granted was a shootout, but it gives me more questions than answers.

Yeah. No, for sure. It was a great game, though. I will say that. It was a fantastic game. Might even make a top three mention. I don't know. Maybe.

We may never know for sure. Yeah. Lions, massive bounce back victory over the Bears 52 to 21. The Lions are back. Nothing happened to them. They just had a bad week against the Packers. It was week one. Yeah.

The Packers might be legit, honestly. Oh, no. the Packers are legit. Packers are legit, easily. But, I mean, this was, I mean, you talk about a revenge game. If you're, if you're Detroit with Ben Johnson coming back to town. And, well, I'd say Dan Campbell is pretty good at getting the boys riled up. I think that is, we saw that last year when they played Dallas, and we're seeing it right. Or we saw it on Sunday.

Jared Goff, 23 for 28, 334 yards, five touchdowns. Monra had three touchdowns. Jameson Williams, two catches, 108 yards, one touchdown. And that was from the 64-yard bomb. Brock Wright, one touchdown. Jamir Gibbs and David Montgomery, like, they threw for 334. They rushed for 177. And they got to the quarterback four times.

at four sacks, I should say, along with four QB hits. So it's Ben Johnson, Aaron Glenn merchants. I think we can put that to a bed for now. But CJ, quick on the lines, they're back. Yeah. Or they never left, I should say. Yeah, it took a quick adjustment. But there's one thing I'll say about any Dan Campbell coach team.

they are one of those teams i notice where when they get punched in the mouth they bite your kneecap off like you mentioned we saw last year against dallas that was an absolute gut punch total ref ball at its finest and they came out swinging the next game and ended the season strong you got punched in the mouth against green bay and you came back so yeah Shout out the Detroit Lions. Should I give my Bears take? Because that's really all there is, too, with the Lions. Yeah, I, I, I, yeah, so with the Bears, I mean.

You were talking about Ryan Poles. We need to talk. Yeah, no, Ryan Poles needs to go. Well, well, well, hold on. This is an extremely tricky situation because he makes some great moves. He did, but like, that's the thing. Between those moves and more or less is, but hold, but hear me. The drafts are great, but it's just not translating.

I don't understand it. They're doing everything right in the offseason. They're making good picks. They're signing good contracts. Their roster construction has been great. And they're still falling short. This is the third season in a row where the media has crowned them offseason champs. That's what they've been saying.

Right, Chris? Like, oh, offseason champs again. How about division champs? Does that sound good? How about, forget champs, a 500 record? You know how I like to poke fun at Justin Herbert and call him if-man? Well, we have an if-man GM and his name is Ryan Poles. Forget Herbert, as I like to call him, if-man.

Poles is the new if-man. If-if-man was a GM. Everything with Poles is, oh, if Williams can work out. the offensive line gels. If, if, if, if, if, if, if, if, I'm done. Ryan Poles, I think you're a good football mind. And I think you've made a great heaping helping of amazing moves. Like I said, every move gets an A plus, but it's just not translating.

This, it's like you're doing the right formula, but getting the wrong result. It's mind-boggling. Maybe it's coaching, but you hire the coaches. I'll go a step further. I think it's just ignorance at this point that has gone to Ryan Poles. I mean, did you read the article about Ryan Poles and Drake May or hear about it? I did, yes. Like it's like laughing his own scouts out of the room about Drake May.

And like, obviously, we're looking at Drake Me right now. By the way, I learned to point out. Either way, like, and we're looking at Jaden Daniels and Drake May as like the best quarterbacks come out of that draft. And Caleb Williams, we still don't know what the hell is going on with Caleb Williams. Yeah, Daniels has proven himself fast. Drake May has shown flashes, but he's already looking better than last season. And, well, Caleb Williams isn't bad.

He's not flashing the upside. Yeah. And Pennix is also showing flashes. McCarthy had a comeback win against your. Bears, I might add, and Bo Nix was runner up for offensive rookie of the year last year. And granted, he's

having a bit of a sluggish start this season, but there's still one in one. I don't know. Once again, if man, the GM. And you're making the right moves, granted, but what's it going to take, I guess? How

many offseason champ titles do you need before rubber meets the road before you actually get results because I think I can speak for most Bears fans here while they appreciate being off-season champs every year, they'd also appreciate a record above 500. And this might be a bit of a hot take,

but polls the ice underneath him might be getting a little thin. Yeah. Because you can only be off- season champ so many times. You can only make flashy moves so many times with no results before people start saying, okay. And by the way, for the other 31 fan bases, the memes have already happened. Every offseason post for three years now, especially this year, when the bears make these dazzling moves, every other fan base says, okay, just like last year. And the year before that,

there was literally a post by Bleacher Report, at least I think it was Bleach Report. If it's not, I'm sorry that literally said oh bears offseason champs again and every fan base outside of the Chicago and the Chicago metro area just collectively rolled its eyes and let out a sigh that single-handedly put a hole in the ozone I'm going to go a little step further to on you here Ryan Poles his record in the NFC North since taking over his GM 3 and 16 3 and 16 against NFC North teams. You may have a point, Chris, but- No, no, no.

You're the off-season chance. Let me continue. Okay. Colston Loveland, your first round tight end. Now, I get that Colquette is technically tight end one. Colson Lovelin, one target, no catches. Luther Burden, receiver picked up in the first round of the draft last year, second round, whatever.

should be a highly touted guy you think one catch five yards two targets you also had two linemen who you picked up in the second round in the last couple of years healthy scratches like we talk about belichick in that 24 class and like and how bad like the drafting had been this side of the decade but golly like poles has been flying under the radar on this right now. He really is. And not even to say Colson Loveland is a bad tight end. This is game number two for him. I'm giving him the same treatment that I've been given J.J. McCarthy. It's also left the record show. I didn't even like

the picks that much either. Yeah. The Lovelin pick that much. Especially when you look at Tyler Warren right now. He's a dog. Indeed, he is. But then again, I still said they shouldn't have gone tight end 10th overall. I had I had said that. time and they didn't need to yeah they didn't i just you could say are best player available but he just wasn't so ryan pulls like i said the seat might be getting a little bit warm yeah because like i said you can only be off-season champ so many times before people see through it

and demand results and bears fans if any of you see this you have every right to demand results facts big facts especially at this point of the rebuild like this is when the bears are like yeah obviously the nmc north is extremely good right now there's no denying that ben johnson kind of dug himself into a grave with this one but when you're in year four of a rebuild you need to be competitive yeah all right we're going to take a quick break when we come back we're going to get into our contenders and pretenders segment which two and no team our pretenders in which are contenders. And then after that, we're going to get into our week two, top three, bottom three.

This is the Falmaruski 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 Falmerusky podcast by Party 18 Radio

and Secret Webpig. in consulting, Chris Costich, C.J. Mderos. Let's get into our pretenders and contenders, contenders and pretenders, two and no teams, and we're just going to judge them. That's basically all it is. It's all it is. Honestly, I mean, we could look at the box right now. We mentioned it earlier.

100% contenders. 100% contenders. They just need to stay healthy. No doubt. No doubt. No doubt contenders. Bills. Contenders.

Another one that's pretty easy and don't need to spend too much time with that one. With Josh Allen still doing his thing, they are contenders. All right. Our first, this could be the first pretender on the list. The Cincinnati Bengals. Joe Burrow out. There's a case to be made. about it being pretender, but I still have the same take in the fact of, you know, Jake Browning,

but he did not look great today with the three interceptions. And as you mentioned, CJ, can't expect that to help you out when you face teams like the Steelers and the Ravens and even the Browns. Yeah. Yeah. For me, I am tilting, tilt pretenders. I would say contenders with Joe Burrow. but you do not have Joe Burrow, obviously.

So once again, I am tilting towards pretenders. Because let's say he does fill out, go like the full three months. You're in the middle of December. Like you have three weeks, three, four games left. Maybe three games, depending on when your biweek is. But you got three or four games left. And at that point, where are you going to be in the playoff race? And if it's anything like the last time with Jake Browning,

I don't know if they'll really, or even last year, they'll have to be climbing a big hill to do that. Colts. Pretenders. For the Colts. Yeah. Don't get me wrong. They've played well, but Daniel Jones.

Yeah. And this is a mirage, if I've ever seen one. I mean, I know I should believe my eyes, but there's something inside that's just eating at me. And don't get me wrong. An upset win over Miami is cool. an upset win against Denver, perhaps even cooler. But Miami's a bit of a bum team, and you barely eeked out a win over Denver,

which only happened on a funny penalty. So, yeah, maybe we pump the brakes on Miami, our indie once a year, I am tilting, no, leaning more towards pretenders. what did you think of that call at the end of the game it is legit i mean a leverage penalties leverage penalty might if you disagree not you chris like the yeah no i agree your issue would be with the rule itself not the call you cannot touch the snapping center for you know on kickoffs that that is a rule and you did it if you disagree then you disagree with the rule not the call that because that was the right call call call it soft all you want

but it was correct. Yeah. It's like every other, like, call that's in the NFL rulebook, like, or any flag, really. I just saw roughing the passer. The thing my home's got hit in the head, and it's like, well, that's roughing the passer. You got, yeah, you got open-slapped, open-hand slapped across the face. That's roughing the passer. That's by the rulebook.

Yeah, it's a little soft, but it's by the rule book. All right. Next team. I lost where I was. Next team, Eagles, contenders. Hmm. Interesting. The Eagles. Really? Really. Well, I'm surprised that wasn't a quick one for you.

This is, yes. Packers, contenders. Yeah, easy. I was going to do a, hmm. No, no, they're contenders. What if Jordan Love stops playing good during Toyotathon? Why? Maybe that's, because he's playing so good right now,

maybe he stops playing good during Toyotathon. Lies again. What do you know about tootathon Jordan Love? He's the goat. That's what it is. Three two and O teams from the NFC West, by the way. So we'll start with the Niners. tilting towards pretenders

If they can stay healthy contenders Yeah if they can stay healthy Yeah they can Like I said Strength conditioning coach has Had to go for years now Since like 2020 But that's a big

If things keep going the way they're going Where they're going to be banged up Then pretenders Still leaning pretenders right now Because I don't even think they're going to win their division Yeah, Cardinals. Pretenders. Yeah, I wasn't a fan of their win against the Saints,

and they almost blew their game against the Panthers. Exactly. You have the Panthers dead to rights, and they store them back. So much for a supposed defensive head coach and Jonathan Gannon. And what the hell is going on with Kyler Murray's chemistry with Marvin Harrison, Jr.? it's not there we may never know it's just not there

i mean murray i think's a solid quarterback and harrison sky's the limit for him but jeez the chemistry is just non-existent yeah

and for that reason likely pretenders yeah uh ramps contenders i think they're going to win the division but i think that's my prediction as well yeah that that Offense is going to start clicking at some point if it, especially this past week against Tennessee.

Devante Adams had a good game. Phook at us all a game too. Defense play has been playing pretty well as well. Granted, he had two pretty suspect offenses in terms of Houston, Tennessee, no disrespect, Blaine. But it's kind of what we're looking at. But, yeah, Rams are contenders. Absolutely. All right.

that was our pretenders and contenders segment that we do every single year and we will see you guys next year for this very segment this time next year all right week two top three bottom three wait do we oh sorry no we're also going to talk about the oh and two teams or now oh yeah we do do that yeah I was going to say hold up buddy let's uh no time down all right Jets nah no no no oh and two we can usually speed run yeah uh dolphins no no a bigger no safe no yeah Cleveland nah uh Houston leaning yeah yeah they still got a good defense they still got a good defense yeah uh Tennessee no no

Kansas City Yeah And look Don't get me wrong Granted teams That's all a graphic Where it's like Teams that go

Oh and 2 Only have like a 10% chance To make the playoffs But It's only a matter of time Before they wake up And don't get me wrong They look old

Maybe they're not Super Bowl favorites anymore But they can make the playoffs Let's be real Yeah It's just the last two weeks Well, Holmes is just overthrowing wide open receivers,

just missing some bare-ass receivers. That's the way to put it? Yeah. Giants. No. No. Bears. No.

But they are off-season chance. Here's, oh, here's another stat I meant to bring up that I forgot to mention when we were talking about this game. Actually, I'll save it for top three, bottom three. Okay. Saints. No. No. The biggest no. Yeah. And Panthers. They're definitely no.

No. But I feel like they get to a point where they're teetering. Yeah, they could be better, but no. I still think they're going to miss the playoffs. They'd have to get past not just Tampa, but now Atlanta. Yeah. All right. Now that was our Pretenders and Condender segment. We'll see you guys next year this time. Week two, top three. Bottom three.

All right. Starting with the top three as usual and let us know who you guys think should have made the top three bottom three. For the second week in a row we're going to have a game on the top three. Dallas and New York. I mean, this is a wild overtime game

with Brandon Aubrey nailing a freaking 60 plus yard bomb. And this is kind of just encapsulates just the great football we've seen first two weeks of the season are just like the really good games that we've seen the first two weeks of the season um lions yeah talk about it's uh that's a bounce back win if i've ever seen one that's

that's for sure yep one so bad there were f ben jonson chance in the crowd although gergov did say hey that's not nice i do tend to agree yeah like ben jonson has done a lot for um for that team like being a part of bringing that team to where it is and and i do get being upset that he left for division rival but you got to love him a little bit still come on guys come on it's not 511 yards total offense and they 52 points on 58 plays they almost were on a point per play basis on sunday looks like you can have shit in detroit after all Last thing on the top three, the Patriots. In terms of this game, yeah, Drake Mae, I love Drake Mae.

I love Drake May. So much, so much, so much, so much. He went 19 for 23, 230 yards, and two touchdowns. And this was a game. And a rushing touchdown, too. And a rushing touchdown, yes. So three total. This was a game that I was just waiting for the Dolphins.

to that last drive. I was just waiting for them to score. And then they did score all game. Yeah, only for his foot to be out of bounds. Milton Williams comes in and cleans up the job. I think the vibes are really high for this team. And even the freaking kicker, whatever the hell his name is, what?

Andres Boragallis. Yeah, Boragallis. Miss two extra points, comes back, hits the field goal, and makes it a six-point game. and effectively effectively getting the job done because that made a six-point game and Miami ended up being in field goal range

but couldn't get the field goal. So shout out to that. All right. And one more thing about the Miami game. That, I said this, I didn't say this on the show, but I said this to a buddy of mine off camera. I said, you know, New England and Miami,

we all know the jokes about the Miami or the two occurs, two has never lost. New England is one of Miami, 2019. And I said if the Patriots ruin the Dolphins practically won guaranteed win a year, then I don't think Mike McDaniel makes it to the halfway mark of the season. His seat is scorching right now. Yeah. Yeah, Mike. Honorable mention for bottom three of the Miami Dolphins because that team is. Yeah. Talk about vibes being low. That is some low, low vibes. And I think

the media is starting to turn on to a little bit as well. Yeah. And Mike McDaniel, for that matter. And their GM Chris Greer, go to the Miami Dolphins' Instagram page and the fans are calling for all their heads and rightfully so. And Miami fans are learning what I've said from the beginning. Your head coach being quippy will not win you football games. I don't care. I don't care about his zingers. I don't care that he vapes. He's not going to do Jack. Nobody on that team respects him. That's no. He's not an alpha.

Like, he's not a leader. That's just how it is. Yeah. I'm just a messenger. Yeah. The Jets. They got brought back down to Earth after that game against Pittsburgh and Bill's beat him soundly. And Justin Fields is still a bomb.

And hurt. Now they've got Tarad Taylor. Yes. Taylor's back. Tarad Taylor in the Big 25. Oh, man. Tyrod Taylor. What a guy. Vikings, they gained total yards for them on Sunday night, less than 200. Starring quarterback's hurt. You played only one good quarter of football.

And what was that? This entire season, essentially. Yeah, yeah. Outside of that fourth quarter where they came back against the Bears, what have they really shown? Nothing. They've looked, I mean, besides the defense, yeah. The defense is fine because Brian Flores, he's still back out. Yeah, defense is fine. The offense is looking horrendous. Mm-hmm.

The Bears, it's pretty obvious. I lost 52 to 21 to Detroit. And this kind of is a carryover from last week because, well, they were pretty much an honorable mention for the last week that was unmentioned. And kind of what we were just. saying with the Vikings, the bears blew that lead against the Vikings. The last five quarters of football, the bears have given up over 600 yards and 70 points. 600 yards and 70 points. Let that set a second, CJ.

I want you to think about that. Think about how. You know that again for all the viewers at home. 600 yards and 70 points. Give it up. I, that doesn't even sound real. That shouldn't be real.

That should not be. A six-year-old playing mad and bad. That should not be a real number. A number that I threw out there with the Lions a couple seconds ago. 52 points in 58 plays also absolutely almost unheard of holy moly you can't say anything other than that that's that is bad and for a team that to be fair does get better every year they put a lot of money into their defense you did a lot fix the offensive line

and nothing's working I don't care if you're off-season champs, heads have to roll sooner rather than later. And Ben Johnson, give them time, but Ryan Poles, why is it not working? At some point, I have to look at you because you don't have Matt Eber flusus as a scapego anymore. Yeah. Goodness gracious. That Bears team. You know, so that was the stat I was referring to when we were finishing up contender.

and pretenders and I'm still trying to like that like I heard it earlier listening a part of my take that's where I got that staff from because Big Cat's a Bears fan and like I heard like I heard that earlier today and I'm still trying to fathom that still after I said that here to you and our listeners it's really tough to wrap your head around yeah like that's is where is that rank historically like in terms of most that's got to be some historical levels of suckage that's a good question let me let me look that up uh do you want to calculate the uh pickum real quick uh yeah yeah i i have the pickum it's actually something i was thinking about already good um we

no matter what happens in this game, I want to let you know we tied. Regardless of what happens in this game. Yeah, regardless of what happens in this game, we tied because I, just going off with me, I got two games wrong. I picked the Vikings and the dolphins who both lost. Chris, you also only got two games wrong.

You picked the Jags and the Saints. So that all bounces out. You and I will tie. Yeah, the... And up next, coming in second is Justin Tucker. He picked the Steelers. He also picked the Denver Broncos. And he picked the Vikings.

So, hey, Tuck only got three wrong. You and I only got two wrong. That's good. Then there's Adam. Adam picked the Steelers, the Jets, the Saints, the Bears, the Broncos. and the Cheaps. So, Chris, we have the same picks for this current game. It's playing Chargers Raiders.

So, hey, man, up top. That is on this pickum, 13 for 15. We're good. We're really good. We've been cooking. That's all I can say. Yeah. This is, I can't really find anything that would help our case here.

or what we're looking for exactly, but actually, I was going to say I could give you most points by one team in the NFL over two games, but that one isn't worded right. But, yeah, nice. Wait, so what did Tuck and Adam end up with? Tuck got 12 for 15. We got 13 for 15. and Adam, I think, got like 10 or 15, which is still good. That's still two-thirds because, hold up.

Once more, Adam picked Pittsburgh, the Jets, New Orleans, Chicago. He picked Denver. Oh, and Kansas City. So that's six. That is six, right? Yep. Yeah, so he ended up going 9 of 15. Tuck went 12 of 15, you and I went 13 and 15.

Hey, shout out, Tuck. I called him out on last Tuesday, and he showed out. He really did. Yeah. All right. Well, that is all the scheduled content that we have for you today. TJ, ain't on your mind before we wrap up the show? No, not really.

Just week two. Week two, man. That was a week. I love football. That's all I like to do. Thank you for tuning into another episode. of Fulrushki podcast, another Tuesday episode. A new episode coming out on Friday at 8 a.m.

Be sure to subscribe to our YouTube channel. Also have all our episodes available on Spotify, Spreaker, Apple Podcasts, IHeartRadio, Google Podcast, and so much more. Be sure to follow our Instagram, Fulmaruski underscore podcast to keep up with the pod and the latest coverage on the NFL. Otherwise, C.C.J. Medeiros, I'm Chris Kostitch. We'll see you on Friday. Over and out.

Thank you.