The Fumblerooski Podcast - Rise From The Ashes -Ep 316 The Fumblerooski Podcast

Episode Date: December 4, 2024

Are the Eagles the new team to beat? Is it Travis Hunter or bust for the Patriots? Time for the Falcons to bench Kirk Cousins? Adam Wright, CJ Medeiros, and Chris Costich debate these topics and more!

Al Shayer gets suspended three games and the Eagles continue their surge and open the conversation which begs the question are they the team to beat 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 to the fumble ruski podcast by power 88 and secret weapon consulting i'm adam right with cj medeiros and chris kostich we have a great show planned for you guys today, as we'll discuss.

We're going to lead off with the latest news from this morning, which is that Texans linebacker Aziz Alshayer has been suspended three games for no reason at all. I mean, it was just completely ridiculous. He never should have been suspended. I mean, he basically just tapped Trevor Lawrence. Of course, I'm being satire right now. That was maybe the worst hit I've seen in a long time.

Holy crap. Yeah, it wasn't the issue that it was a hard hit. It was the fact that it was a bit of a late hit. I understand there's split seconds. And this was on Trevor Lawrence, by the way, as he was going into a slide. Maybe it was a little bit of a late slide. And I think the issue, I'm not saying, I'm not saying that it was too late. I'm not saying that, that I'm not saying that this isn't on Aziz Alshair, that this isn't on Aziz Alshayer.

All I am saying is that there are split seconds from the time that the slide occurs to where the linebacker actually has to deviate from his course of hitting the player. This was pretty much, this was not that scenario. You could clearly see there was enough time for him to at least dodge or at least hit him in a different part that wasn't his upper body or his head. Um, and there's the issue there. Um, I think it's, I mean, it's the issue. It's a tough situation because when you look at a lot of these slides, some of them do happen late, and there's also the fake slide that has become a thing where players, where quarterbacks... It's outlawed there. Yeah, no, it hasn't been a thing for a bit.

It hasn't been a thing since Kenny Pickett was at Pitt. Yeah, no, it hasn't been a thing for a bit. It hasn't been a thing since Kenny Pickett was at Pitt. Yeah, sure. But it's still... That's kind of hard to enforce, though. Because who knows how it's going to end up happening. There could be some hesitation. This isn't that scenario but uh that was a pretty bad hit um and i hope i hope the kid ends up being okay trevor lawrence i

i think he won't be out for too long i mean he's definitely concussed but uh the fact that he wasn't apologetic about it until he said it in a press conference. I mean that. And an Instagram post. And an Instagram post. But in the middle of the game, you couldn't be a little bit of like, he's fighting people.

He's getting angry about like, dude, you did what you did. Like, holy crap. What do you guys think? i'd have to agree i mean he it probably would have been a two game suspension maybe only one that's just being kind just for the hit alone and he probably got an extra one for the reaction afterwards he ended up inciting a brawl afterwards as well and fought fans.

That's easy enough. It's like he apologized on Instagram. He apologized in a press conference. He did all of that. But what were you doing during the game? Yeah. I mean, I guess my thing is he probably was like, well, you know, I fucked up. He probably realized that after the fact.

See, the moment you never know what the fuck's going to happen. He was probably like Mahomes and he just saw black or red or whatever in that quarterback docuseries. I just saw black, man. I don't know. I blacked out when he's talking shit to i think it was max crosby or something like that i don't even remember but um probably one of those things though and he realized after the fact and was like you know what fucked up hand up my fault but you're responsible for your own actions. Was this a dirty hit?

Yes. Yes, it was. And look, I went back and I watched. I originally thought he led with his head. He didn't. He led with his forearm and elbow. But that doesn't change the fact he was aiming for Trevor Lawrence's head. And I'm tired of all these Instagram referees and ex-referees and these basically social media refs like,

I don't know, it was a late slide. Okay, cool. A late slide doesn't negate the fact that you went for his head. You literally went out of your way to put your forearm into his head. Lawrence's knee was already on the ground he was already down giving himself up by the time al shayer launched himself now and anyone with eyes can see that and you have these people that are like 35 and up these old or i won't say old,

because, you know, they're 35, they're not old. But NFL fans have been around a bit. It's like, oh, it's a soft league. No, this was a, no, that's just a ball play. It's like, do you people have CTE too? This was not a late slide. Everyone's like, oh, it was. No, no, no, it's not.

And do you know how you can tell it's not a late slide. No, it's not. And do you know how you can tell it's not a late slide? See, we have this miraculous thing called eyes. And I recommend you use them. And here's the thing. We also have to address the pretentious prick named Nick Casario, who is their current GM, who literally swore at the media saying it's BS that, you know, that Alshayer has a reputation as a dirty player. To which I want to say, Nick, do you know why he is a rep as a dirty player? Because he is one.

This isn't objectively, this isn't even a dirty player. Ziz Alshayer is objectively a bad person. And that's the thing. He's like, oh, I see red. I see black. Cool. Awesome. Swell.

Like the scene from the whatever that Chris mentioned. That's all well and good, but you're on the football field. And I don't know, maybe play with a little bit of discipline. And get this. It says here on first take, Stephen A. Smith, you know, who usually sticks up for players whenever they've screwed up, has said Aziz Alshair probably doesn't belong in the NFL. And this isn't even the first time he's done something like that. I remember he first burst onto the scene back in 2022 against the Tampa Bay Buccaneers,

where he literally tried to choke Tom Brady, put his hand on Tom Brady's throat. We all remember that. And hell, what about earlier this season, where he literally punched Chicago Bears running back Roshon Johnson? So Nick Casario, on the off chance you hear this, shut up. Just shut up. He did it to himself. He is literally the second coming of Vontaze Perfect.

And who could forget that smarmy note that he posted that, you know, that his agent totally didn't write for him. Where he's like, anybody who knows me knows. Like, no, Az aziz the issue is we do know you we know not who you are but we know what you are you are an objectively bad person and you are playing this game strictly to hurt people and action and we're told from the time we're little actions speak louder than words. And his actions, you know, obviously say infinitely more than some cheap, probably chat GPT written apology. And one last thing. Notice that he was not apologetic until the backlash, meaning he was never going to apologize if he wasn't called out on it

yeah i think the i forget if it was the uh nflpa vice president or uh or the nfl vice president that said it or not but um when they're handing out the suspension he said and sorry for the delay because it kind of like just came to mind when we're talking about this but um oh nfl vp of football ops john runyon your lack of sportsmanship and respect for the game of football and all those who play coach and enjoy watching it is troubling and does not reflect the core values of the NFL. I, the Trump, the use of troubling is, I just found it a little funny, but I think that,

I think that quote kind of just says it best in wrapping this whole thing up when we're talking about this situation. Yeah. I mean the players association union, what is he? The president you said Runyon is? No, it was the NFL VP of football.

NFL VP of football, yeah. I mean, you got the league outright saying it. I mean, once again, this is, well, I guess what I really hate is how people are trying to make this a gray area issue. It's not. It's really simple. It was not a late slide he and even still even if it was it's still he still had time to move or to but no he did move if you see he literally lowers his arm

to initiate contact to put his forearm elbow area directly into Lawrence's head. And worse yet for Lawrence, we were talking about, oh, he might be hurt for a bit. If I'm the Jags, don't pull a Tua, shut Lawrence down for the year. I mean, did you see him afterward? His hands, he's like clutching at the air and stuff. His hands are closed up. Yeah, that's not good.

So absolutely, you gotta shut Lawrence down for the year. I know you wanna win so absolutely you gotta shut lawrence down for the year i know you want to win but you gotta shut him down and to the doug peterson's of the world they're like oh but we need to win to which i say doug doug you were pretty much have covered it like i mean he he gets what he gets and honestly i think a three game suspension is pretty fitting i think that's a good enough amount of games and like it's not two where it feels like that could be a little, like maybe not enough. Definitely not one. That's basically a slap on the wrist. But three, that's enough to get the entire organization's attention,

especially since they're trying to fight to stay in the playoffs because that team, the team itself as a whole is another story. Like, holy crap, are they starting to fall apart? The fact that I just can't believe that they've fallen off in the way that they have. And when you look at, I mean, the fact that you won by only three points, one possession, against Mack Jones, even after your player decided to get dirty and knock Trevor Lawrence out of the game, Mack Jones made it a one-score game, three points. Not your starting quarterback, who's also iffy, by the way.

So I'm tremendously concerned with this texans team top to bottom um yeah cj stroud doesn't look like himself either almost blew a 16 point lead on the fourth yeah all right we're gonna move on we're going to go to the eagles and debate. Is this team, is this the number one team in the league? That's next. This is the FumbleRisky 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 Fulmer Ruski podcast by Power 88 and Secret Weapon Consulting. I'm Adam Wright with CJ Medeiros. Can you believe this was once a baseball? Adam, you're with me and who else? What's that?

You didn't mention me, man. With CJ Medeiros and Chris Kostich. That's what I said, didn't I? I didn't hear it. Chris, did you? I wasn't really paying attention, to be honest. I have a dog who destroyed my baseball. All right.

So, listen. The Philadelphia Eagles have now won their eighth straight game, and they beat a team that was arguably the best offense in the AFC, looking at the Baltimore Ravens, and the score was kind of close. 24 to 19 is close, but I mean, that last touchdown was garbage. It was literally garbage time. It was scored with three minutes left in the three minutes left in with three, three seconds left in the game. And it wasn't particular. This was a game where the Eagles pretty much had it. It was comfortable from the get-go. I mean, the Ravens started off with the lead.

They were up 9-0, but it never... The Eagles came up with it pretty quickly. And you look at Saquon Barkley, who has become the centerpiece to that entire team. You also look at Jalen Hurts, who looks like he's settled into a groove. They have a decent passing offense, good receiving core. But overall, I want to look at the way this team is as far as the rest of the league is concerned. Um, in particular, is this team, um, is this team, the team to beat? And we've been talking up the Detroit lions all season long as the team beat, They were my Super Bowl pick. And I wanted to compare them to the Lions here. And it's extremely close. As far as their defenses go, I actually give a slight edge,

slight edge to the Eagles. I think they're more well-rounded. They have a better pass rush. Their secondary is a little better as well. In fact, it's much better. The youth that they have over there is unbelievable, and they still have Darius Slay, who's still a decent corner in his own right. As far as passing offense goes, I still give the edge to Detroit.

The Eagles have good pass catchers. Jalen Hurts can throw the football. But the Lions, their offense, they can lean on their passing game a lot better. As far as rushing goes, the Lions are really good. They have Sonic and knuckles over there our guys jameer gibbs and david montgomery but the eagles oh boy saquon barkley and jalen hurts on the rpos um with that offensive line that they have that is notorious for their rushing ability. Overall, I'm still going to give the edge to the Lions just because I think that passing ability

makes them more versatile in games. Game script is going to favor them in a playoff game because the question comes down to this, which team do you trust more to come from behind in games? The team that is run first or the team that is pass heavy. I always favor the pass heavy team because if you're playing from behind, you have to throw the ball. You're never going to come back from down two to three scores if you're just running the ball all the time. It drains the clock out too much, and it takes too long to get to where you need to go.

And it's not as efficient. Saquon Barkley averages, what, about five and a half carries a game? Five and a half yards per attempt. Jesus Christ. What are you going to trust, that or a 15-yard pass down the middle? The passing game is a lot more efficient there. So as far as game script goes in the postseason, there's a reason why we never see run first offenses win Super Bowls. Because they're less efficient when it comes to coming from behind and playing in shootouts.

So I think the lines are still more well-rounded. It's not to say that the Eagles are a bad passing offense. It's just if you're playing from behind, I trust Jalen Hurts with his legs in a game that's close or in a game that they're ahead in. I don't trust him in games where you're down a couple scores because I don't think his passing ability is good enough for them to come from behind. And that's the way, that's just, that's, it's not his fault.

It's just the way the Eagles are built. They're not built to pass the ball. They're built to run it. And building a team to run the ball is not going to win you a Super Bowl. And they made the Super Bowl a couple of years ago because their path was so easy last time. You had to get through the 49ers whose quarterback at this point, their third string

quarterback, mind you, was out. Injury to his elbow halfway through the game. So they didn't have much of a challenge until they faced the chiefs who would ultimately beat them in the super bowl so that's something to look at when it comes to looking forward to this postseason when this these two teams are ultimately most likely going to face each other so that's something to that's something to consider but what do you guys think i mean what where in the comeback are we talking about here are we talking about in the fourth quarter are we talking about on the first half because first half let's keep on running the ball but i could obviously your point stands if we're

in the fourth quarter you need to get some points on the board anyways um we've we've been battling we've been battling over that take for quite a while now. But in terms of these two teams, I feel like the Lions are still going to be the team to beat. I feel like the Lions have been more consistently good compared to what the Eagles are. I think, Adam, I don't disagree with you at all that Jalen Hurts has found his footing but I think that that kind of proves the point though in the sense of the Eagles

have not been as consistent as the Lions have been all season long like it feels like that they just started to figure it out this half of of the season, despite all the wins. I mean, the wins are great, but we're talking about ugly-ass wins to the Browns as one of them, to give you an example. It just hasn't been as consistent as what the Lions have been. Now, I think I will agree with you in terms of where you're giving the edge. I would definitely certainly agree to give the edge to the Eagles

in terms of defense. Lions are very beat up in the defense. Under Vic Fangio has done fantastic. A lot of very good young core. Still a very good pass rush. They figured it out, and they shut down probably the best op statistically the best offense in the league to 19 points and the eagles are now one of two teams to hold the ravens to under 20 and the other team is the steelers and the steelers have done it the

last three four times i'm pretty sure, including this year. So I'd have to give the Eagles the edge on defense, but I still have to give the Lions offense more of the edge in terms of who they have as their play caller. Honestly, just leave it at that. Ben Johnson being your play caller is that much of an edge for your team to be honest and the lions offense has been almost unstoppable this entire season i would say like the only time i feel like that they looked weak was the second half of the bears game

last thursday helps that they have targets coming out of the ears too yeah yeah no of course i mean the eagles also have targets but that's just that's just not the game that they run and i would also agree that i would take saquon over both gibbs and montgomery but it also helps the fact that you have two backs that you can use like Montgomery and Gibbs at the same time so I feel like at at that point it could be a toss-up um I'd love the Lions to use Jameer Gibbs more than nine carries that'd be nice but I would have to agree with the all-around assessment that you just gave though um on that yeah and looking at like it you bring up that they do the the eagles do have targets up until they got aj brown back that was the that was a stretch of time where they were struggling a lot

yeah then they eventually figured it out i mean that's we say that they're that they are a run first offense which they are but it helps to open things up kind of stretch the field a little bit more which opens things up for their run game because you're not going to be able to run the ball effectively if if the teams know what you're going to do all the time, right? Like you can't just stack the box because then AJ Brown's going to kill you and it doesn't run first offense or not. AJ Brown is going to destroy your defense if you don't, if you don't respect their, their secondary. So I will say about the Eagles though, is that since you bring up the AJ Brown part is that they're not at very deep in the wide receiver room. Cause so you have AJ Brown, Devonta Smith,

Dallas Goddard, and Saquon as your four. I'm going to, we're going to call those your four primary, uh, past targets. Big four. Yep.

Those are your big four. After that, Jahan Dotson, Paris Campbell, and Britton Covey. You can kind of say the same thing about the lions though right i mean if they don't have a almond raw saint brown then they're they're kind of screwed yeah they're number one let me jameson williams is is pretty good but he hasn't established himself yet as a one and if you lost jameson williams good

tim patrick's also been pretty good as well um and yeah you could you could theoretically say the same thing about the lions but i feel like i would trust the lions pass catchers more if like if we're if we were to take away uh saint brown and a saint brown and aj brown um Then what do you have after that? For the Eagles, you have Devonta Smith and the other three that I just named, Covey, Campbell, and Dotson. Dotson, we all

know, is a freaking bum. And then for the Lions, Sam Laporta, too. For the Lions, if we want to add in Montgomery and Gibbs as your pass catchers as well yeah you have uh jameson williams tim patrick alan robinson alan robinson's well we'll leave them out but uh khalif raymond and then antoine green who are both on ir. So the Lions, in a way, are shorthanded.

They're not as deep as you would think. And if you look at their rushing game, they have two guys, but I look at the Eagles as having two guys in that backfield too because I count Jalen Hurts too. That run pass offense, that's still – because you can still run with Jalen Hurts, in That's that run, that run pass offense. That's, that's still, I mean, that's because you, you can still run with Jalen Hurts. In fact, do it very well. Yeah. So it's, it's kind of the same depth chart there because, uh, what's his name? Uh, Jared Goff isn't throwing, uh, he's not running. Yeah. I think it's just not, not like Jalen Hurts.

Yeah. I think there's very different ways that you can look at these two teams and also come away with potentially the same conclusions as to what we're saying right now. I guess like I just said that I don't think the Eagles are that deep in the wide receiver room. And then you look at the Lions and they have two guys that are on IR. So and after that, like they basically only have four, maybe five guys ready to go. After that, forget about it. CJ? First and foremost, when you look at these teams,

sure, looking at the roster is imperative, but you got to look at the injury report. So last game, I'm sure you saw quinn yam mitchell one of the front runners with alongside jared verse for defensive rookie of the year is banged up he got hurt he played the rest of the game but he was noticeably different right and on top of that your tight end Dallas Goddard is now considered week to week with a knee injury and there are some sources that are suggesting that he might end up having to go on IR. N'Kobi Dean is also banged up at linebacker as well, and Reed Blankenship has a concussion.

But for the Lions, I didn't realize this. I won't say the wheels are coming off, but the check engine light is on for them. I didn't realize how horribly banged up Detroit is. Right off the bat, wide receiver Khalif Raymond on IR, eligible to return week 17, but that's a big if. Or defensive rotational piece John Kaminsky, he's one of their glue guys. Injured reserve, it says he could return to the playoffs, not guaranteed.

Alex Anzalone, I think, can only return if the Lions go to the Super Bowl. Linebacker, Jalen Reeves-Maben, his four weeks has passed, but he's still on IR. Promising rookie, Ennis Raikstra, straw is still hurt and then you also have a million questionables there as well yeah and oh yeah it's true but it's the questionables that are scaring me because last week alone so your left tackle taylor decker is hurt and he missed week 13 and it's a knee injury too and you as the lions you better pray decker's not hurt because when was the last time a team won a super bowl without their starting left tackle i you know i couldn't really think of any because no one would think that indefinitely, I guess.

Or maybe. Rams. But they had note boom. Yeah. The thing is, another thing, too, is just how their defense continues to be ravaged. Last game alone, they lost Josh Paschal, Levi Anzarike, and DJ Reeder. They were all hurt in week 13. Actually, I think Reeder just has a new injury.

But, yeah, their entire defense has just gotten chewed up and spit out. And not through any fault of their own. It's just the injury bug is hitting them harder than I think a lot of people have mentioned. But the thing for Philly is just, I don't know why. I mean, I'm buying them, but they strike me as one of those teams where I always say where if a loss hits you, they strike me as one of those teams where instead of rebounding, they're going to get down on themselves and start finger pointing and collapse. Because like you mentioned, a lot of it does come down to coaching.

And honestly, I don't think Nick Sirianni is or can be the adult in the room. I think he's like that saying, everybody acts tough when they're up. Because when the Eagles were skidding earlier in the year, we saw what happened. For me, that's not a momentary thing. We saw his true colors. That is not, once again, I couldn't say who, but that is what Nick Sirianni is. And so the thing is, if the Lions lose a game, I think they're going to huddle up in the locker room, work out their issues, and come back stronger. If Philly loses a game, I think they're going to huddle up in the locker room, work out their issues, and come back stronger. If Philly loses a game, I think it's going to be ugly. There's going to be yelling, finger pointing, and Sirianni doing his best petulant toddler impression.

And even though Philly's winning, like for example, they just beat the Ravens, and you can call me a box score watcher, but oh my God, they got out gained. They got dominated in time of possession. It's just that when you just look at the numbers alone, and even when you were put to the eye test, it's kind of interesting. I think that Philly won this game. Then again, you know, we know that the Ravens aren't all they're cracked up to be, but still. But even beyond that, you beat the Rams.

Oh, boy. You beat the Commanders in a one-score game. You wailed on the injury-riddled Cowboys. You beat the Jacksonville Jaguars by one score. You beat the Bengals. All right, they're one of those plucky teams, so I'll give you that. You wailed on the Giants. You narrowly defeated Cleveland.

So, yeah, those are their last eight wins a lot of them are one score games or they're absolutely bullying uh you know bottom feeders and i'll give them credit for beating the ravens but and you know when you every week we do top three bottom three they do deserve just for that to be on top three because as long as they have saquon they're're going to be fine. But the thing is not everybody has a perfect game. And my big fear for the Eagles is what, how do you adjust if you get punched in the mouth? Now, Detroit is a team that can take a punt, you know, the old proverbial punch in the mouth. I don't think Philly can. So what happens if Saquon Barkley is having a bad game? What happens if he can't get off, he keeps getting stuffed at the line,

the other team's crowding the box, and they sit back and say, all right, beat me with your arm. Can Jalen Hurts do that? I mean, I think there's an argument both ways, but to be brutally honest, I'm not impressed with his throwing ability. I'm really, really not. I mean, think about it this way, right? 2,494 yards, 14 touchdowns, five picks, 68% completion percentage. That's good, but I'm also noticing he's doing a lot of short passes and he's just, he's not allowed to air it out. And this lends a lot of credit to Adam's point. You can't run on a game winning drive. It's going to have to come

through the air. And can he do that? I can't say yes. I can't say no. All I can tell you is that the jury's still out. And as far as his passing ability goes, he's only broken 300 yards once this entire season. And I think he's even got four games where he hasn't even cracked 200 yards. No, five games where he hasn't cracked 200 yards. Everybody's saying, oh, but his rushing ability makes up for that. And I've heard that argument before, and it's a very simple-minded point of view, because what difference does it make? Once again, you be scrambling in on a game-winning drive it's going to take too much time and i i think a lot about the ravens in 2019 um and i think the titans were able to sort of uh they were sort of able to expose a lot of their weaknesses that

weren't showing during the regular season when they beat them which is that like yeah the titans had a run first offense themselves but my point is that they got ahead very early which is something that no team was able to do on the ravens that year and it had lamar jackson throwing it and he was able to throw for over 400 yards but he also turned it over four times because his passing ability, it's a good path. He's, he's a good passer and he's gotten much better since 2019. But back then when he, when it was merely a compliment to his game, he wasn't able to do it effectively enough and they lost. And I think it's a similar thing with most run first offenses where if you force them to throw, if you force them to throw the ball, I'm not saying rushing

is, isn't important. It's still good to keep defenses guessing, but that's my point. You want to keep them guessing. You want to be able to do a lot of different things, not just run because running only helps when you're ahead or even you can even say even when they're in a shootout. But if you're behind and it gets later in the game, are you winning by running with Saquon Barkley? And listen, I understand your point, CJ saying, yes, if saquon has a bad game i don't think saquon will ever have a bad game behind that offensive line he has one of the best he has this is the best offensive line he's ever worked with and we are seeing his full potential where if he had this in his entire career he might already be a hall of famer like he'd be a shoe-in by now but i don't think he's

having a bad game i just think even if he does have a good but I don't think he's having a bad game. I just think even if he does have a good game, I don't think you're coming from behind with sake one. You're not. If you're running the ball all the time, when you're down two to three scores, that's going to be hard to overcome. You have to throw it in those situations. And the Ravens had to throw every time they've been in the post season. and it's the reason why they only have a couple of postseason wins over that span because they can't throw it well enough and again I still think the Eagles were lucky back in 2021 rather 2022 yeah and there is one more thing about Philly.

We need to talk about their defense, specifically their defensive backfield. It is one of the youngest backfields that we've seen in a decent bit. They're really good, but when I see Leon Mitchell, Cooper DeGene, Reed Blankenship philly so we got dogs let's be real they're not dogs they're pups you know they could be but i can't be the only one who's concerned with just how young that defense is cool you know they're like the young scrappy kids but what's gonna happen when you're going up against Amon Ross, St. Brown or Sam Laporta, or,

you know, got, like you said, Sonic and Knuckles out of the backfield there. I just, I'm worried that when, if God forbid something happens to one of these kids where they get, or I say kids like they're our age,

but I mean, they're basically our age, but whatever. But what happens if they get gashed for a big play? Like, are they still going to be able to buckle down? No, most young guys can't. And we've seen that before. It's all part of the growing pains.

If they were a few years along further, I'd say that wouldn't really be a thing. But now, I don't know. And on top of that, but their defense, defense at least on paper is still better than detroit solely because not solely i mean just name value alone it's better but let's be real detroit i have already said they're injured to hell and back however uh i also do think like a lot of it comes down to coaching and that's why I got to go with Detroit. I still think they are the team to be. Let me give you one scenario that favors the Eagles. We've talked about, well, what if they're down two scores? What if they're down a score? What if it's the opposite? What if they're up? Who has the advantage in that situation?

Because they're going to be able to bleed that clock out this is where the run first offense actually helps them because at that point i trust the lions a lot to come from behind but the eagles also have a better defense than the lions do and they have a better set they have a better secondary it's a young young one. They're fast. They're energetic. And if the Lions have to come back, as much as you trust them as a passing offense, as a unit, how much do you trust Jared Goff in particular to bring you back? More than I trust Jalen Hurts. Sure.

Well, neither of them have won a Super Bowl yet. But do you trust him to beat that Eagles defense? And whenever the Eagles get that ball back, they're going to be able to bleed the clock a lot. So I'm trying to look at this in an unbiased manner. None of us are lions fans, but I also still favor the lions. I also think that doesn't mean that this, this NFC championship game or divisional round, whatever it ends up being will be a blow out. I think this will be a very close game and arguably one of the better playoff matchups that we'll see in a while.

That is if they both make it, by the way. What if one of them gets knocked out by Green Bay? Very much a possibility. But I look at this matchup, and I still think the Eagles have a really good chance because Jalen Hurts has still been to a Superbowl. Let's not act like they're not getting past the lions because they can do it. Jalen hurts has been to a Superbowl.

He can do it again. They have a good, they have a good defense and running the ball scheme. And if that works in their favor towards the lions, if they get up a lot quick early, good luck keeping up with them. Because they're going to bleed the clock out on offense, and they're going to give you a hard time on defense. So as high-powered as this Lions team is.

I mean, I get it. But what happens, like I said, even if they're up, then all Detroit's going to do is just crowd the line and say, beat me with your arm. I mean, when they're up, then you know Detroit's just going to sell out to stop the run. And I do not accept the argument of, well, it's Saquon, because, okay, cool. I think it is Saquon. okay cool I think it is that's okay and he's getting that first down uh-huh and if you try if you try to uh what's what will we call it um stack the box then AJ Brown beats you which is which is why I think this Eagles team has really

improved. They've gotten healthy on offense. A.J. Brown is back, and if you dare to stack that box, Jalen Hurts will just throw it to A.J. Brown and he'll get the first down that way. Then run a few times with Saquon, first down to A brown but aj brown's having a down year though he's still having a really good year down year by his standards but he's still good i'd take aj brown in on a down year over a lot of wide receivers and well yeah i mean i just but the thing is sure you could say aj Brown's gonna beat him and that's true but I feel

like you're you're leaving out maybe intentionally probably not one key point Jalen Hurts has to get him the ball and I don't think he can do that I think he can do it well enough. I'm not saying what I don't trust him to do is play from behind. I like his arm as a compliment. I'm not saying he can't throw the ball. I think, I think that's more of an egregious argument to say that he can't throw it at all. I didn't say he can't throw it.

I don't know if he's playing. If he's playing ahead, then I trust his arm a lot because then you can actually open things up for Saquon to run. Maybe Saquon doesn't become a three down back, but you can use him early on to drain the clock and then just get the first down and run it a few more times on the next set. And then if he's just getting the first down and you're just looking to drain the clock,

then I do trust Jalen Hurts' arm. And if they find a way to block A.J. Brown, guess what? You have another kind of wide receiver one there too in Devontae Smith, and you also have a decent tight end in Dallas Goddard. I'm not saying I trust Jalen Hurts to play from behind because they're not a pass-first offense, but it's a very nice compliment to that running scheme that they have true and even if they're not playing from behind

do you trust his arm in a shootout no i'd say no advantage advantage lions but I still give them a shot. No, no, no. They do. And I'll cede that to you on if they're playing from up. But my point is there are three scenarios for them, right? I give them a shot. I'll sell. No, no, no. They get a shot. It's like a 60-40 kind of deal, we'll say.

It was like the Super Bowl against the Chiefs in 2022. Yeah. It was a shootout. No, no, no. One team won, but I give them a won but yeah my point is so there are three possibilities you're either playing from ahead you're playing from behind or you're in a shootout two of the three favors or two-thirds or i mean two-thirds of the scenarios just don't favor philly that's i agree so their path to victory is overall narrower in a hypothetical matchup but either way like i'm not trying to take away from them it's just like i don't know i'm also

like i said i cannot stress this part enough if they drop a game i don't trust sirianni to be the adult in the room i think he's going to immediately like an addict going back on like like it's like an addict relapsing he's just going to be petulant and angry and do that cheap thing where he uses kids as shields but i don't know like that that's what concerns me is that i feel like it's like i said like they say when everybody acts tough when they're up and i don't think it's a Philly personnel thing outside of my skepticism with Hurts. I don't trust their coaching. Yeah. Well, I also don't really trust A.J. Brown.

Rather, Dan Campbell's ability to not be too aggressive in times when he should just take more he did that way too many times last year and i don't even there's no evidence that he learned from it there's no evidence they've never they haven't had a close enough game where we can say oh well he he really learned here from last year we we haven't had that because they've blown every team out like 40 to 20. And Nick Sirianni has also shown us he will do the same thing, but just say fuck you to somebody. Yeah.

AKA the Saints game from this year. He said fuck you to somebody, but when has he ever been like Dan Campbell where he's just you're going for it just for the sake of going for it because for the sake of going for it because you want to bite someone's kneecap off i'm just saying that sirianni sometimes does the

same exact thing so it's really just a matter of who wants to shoot themselves in the balls first well everyone's going to be aggressive sometimes it's just you need to have some sort of restraint to it like sometimes you just got to take the points. With the amount of field goals that they could have gone for in the AFC championship, if they had just settled for some points, they would be in the Super Bowl, not the 49ers. But Campbell could not get out of his own way. And he also did the same thing earlier on in that season against the Cowboys. They could have easily won that game, tie the game up, play for overtime. I trust the Lions a little bit more in that scenario, but he couldn't get out of his own way. He went for two multiple times. Just

take the points, dude. Play the tie. I don't trust the Cowboys under pressure that year. He just wouldn't do it. He was too aggressive. It's engraved into his personality. And that's what I don't trust about him. Hmm. Fair. Yeah, I mean, kind of just to expand on that. I mean, the Lions are also in a spot now where, like in the past, it would be the right move because they weren't the team that they are now.

Whereas now they are the team that everyone wants to get at. So should probably chill out a little bit. Yeah. All right. We're going to move on and we're going to get to our top five draft picks. We're going to go over a little update on the NFL draft. That'll be quick. 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 gotta 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 ruski podcast by Power 88 and Seeker Weapon Consulting. I'm Adam Wright with CJ Medeiros and Chris Kostic. So we haven't really done this yet this year, but going over the top five draft picks, if the draft were to be held today, in a little tank-a-thon kind of update here,

as of right now, how it stands, the Jacksonville Jaguars have the number one overall pick. Then it is the Vegas Raiders, then the New York Giants. We have the New England Patriots, and then it goes into the Carolina Panthers. So the reason that I felt it's intriguing to go over it now is that two out of the top three picks are quarterback needy teams. You have the Vegas Raiders, and you've got the New York Giants. As of right now, the top two prospects that would likely go 1-2 are Shedder Sanders and Cameron Ward. And the Jaguars are interesting because they're at number one, and they don't need a quarterback. Right now, Tankathon has them going Travis Hunter.

And it's interesting because I don't know if they're going to stay there. Not by choice, but simply because I believe looking at their schedule and the Patriots schedule, who are at number four, it's very different. So looking at the Jaguars, they have the Titans, the Jets, the Raiders, the Titans again, and the Colts. Those are all winnable games for the Jaguars. And I find it hard to believe that they're not going to win at least one game by the end of the season. Looking at the Patriots schedule, it is also equally interesting. They are just outside the top three. They're also not a quarterback needy team, but they need, they need a wide receiver or a tackle. And if they're at that,

if they're in a top three spot and let's say, so looking at what they have left, they have the Cardinals, they have the Bills, Chargers, and then the Bills again. Looking at that, it is very hard to see them winning another game this year. Maybe they get another upset, but we're not going to bank on it. We're going to look at how it is, just assuming that they end up losing out. If they lose out and the Jaguars win just one game, Jaguars fall to fourth, Patriots go up to three, and they actually have the chance to go and get Travis Hunter,

who they actually need. They do need a tackle, but the tackles are supposed to go a little later in the draft. I'm thinking that the Patriots should just focus on offensive tackle in free agency. There's a couple of good names out there. Jedrick Wills Jr. is also available. Cam Robinson is out there. Lots of good names that they could go for.

And I'm not loving the tackles class the more I see them. And I think Travis Hunter is the only blue chip prospect as far as wide receivers go. I know there's a lot of hype around Ted Aroua and McMillan. I don't love him. The speed, the lack of speed scares me and kind of reminds me of Nikhil Harry. I hope I am wrong, but he scares me a little bit. And I think Travis Hunter is the safer pick. I think if the Patriots really want the sure thing, wide receiver, they should hope that they can go up a spot so that they can go and get the

guy who they want in Travis Hunter. What do you guys think? I will defer my time to CJ since this is the draft we're talking about here. I was going to be nice, but I appreciate it. Oh, oh yeah. That's how already boys. No, I'm kidding. So the way I look at it is this.

Not only looking from a Patriots perspective, just a league wide thing as far as the prospects go. I'm not thrilled with this quarterback class and if you know i'm the giants i i feel like either giants the raiders are going to get the first overall pick because yes i know the jaguars don't have trevor lawrence and they're relying on Mac Jones, but Mac Jones has won games before. He is a former first rounder. He's unclutch, but if he can just not screw up for a game, they might be fine. Hopefully just hold the line, be a game manager, right? I know that whoever ends up first, like I said, unless it's the Giants,

be it the Giants, be it the Raiders, whoever ends up at first, they're going to be tantalized by the dangly, you know, the shiny object and take Jadot Sanders. I think that's just kind of how it's going to go. Then, however, I feel like whoever doesn't get Sanders, whoever winds up at two, they need to trade back. Because, look, I like Cam Ward. Do I think he's top five in the draft good? No.

Maybe like a little after top ten. But this QB class isn't great. I mean, Milrow is a huge question mark. Quinn Ewers has got to be the most unathletic, athletic person I've ever seen. Just so much wasted motion there. And Stetson Bennett should probably – wait, no, no. Carson Beck. I got my Georgia quarterback confused.

Please forgive me. I've still got to get into draft mode but carson beck is super over carson beck took a massive step back i mean he's regressing harder than the houston texans have and honestly i think he should stay another year so that being said i know they won't because these i mean these teams are down here for a reason. They're going to throw any semblance of logic into the wind. So yeah, I could see Ward going to as a consolation to whoever doesn't get Sanders. But then there's New England. New England is interesting because they grabbed their quarterback last year. And for all intents and purposes, it does look like Drake May can be the guy.

The fact that he has looked as solid as he does without the fact, I mean, despite the fact that New England is on paper, just on paper, the worst team in the league by a country mile. I mean, like I said no i say this every week no blue chip talent no like elite players outside of christian gonzalez so yeah the fact that he's looked as good as he did with that roster kind of like he did north carolina that shows you got your guy so if you're New England, if you get third and the Giants and Raiders get first and second, 100% grab Travis Hunter. I do have some reservations about him. I think he's going to want to play both positions in the pro level and simple analytics will tell you that's just not happening. It's just not happening. Maybe it's like a gadget guy for a player too, but no. Also, if you do need a receiver, you're going to, and I mean this,

you're going to need to get a commitment from him. If he does end up picking one side of the ball, you need him to say, I'm going gonna be a receiver because you don't want to draft him and then he turns out oh just kidding i'm gonna be a corner then no offense to hunter you've wasted your third overall pick i mean he'd be good to pair up with gonzalez but you need a wide receiver you haven't had a legitimate wide receiver one since julian edelman in 2018 you He got hurt in 2019. That's why I don't count that. Which is why I think the Patriots really need to gauge as quickly as possible

where Travis Hunter is going to play. Because if he ends up being a corner, it would be the dumbest thing of all time. You deserve to be a poverty franchise if you use your third overall pick for a CB2. He's an incredible corner, and I don't doubt that he's going to be impactful in the league as a corner, but they don't need that at number three overall. There's other ways you can address that. You need to either, with your first round pick, you either take a tackle or a wide receiver one. And if Travis Hunter decides to play wide receiver, you don't use a tackle or a wide receiver one and if travis hunter decides to play wide receiver you don't use that pick on a wide receiver at all all right if he if travis

hunter decides to play corner you avoid him like a plague and you i'd say don't go wide receiver at all because again with mcmillan two red flags number one they keep saying jump ball guy uh because of his lack of speed how often is that for us though you know what i mean i see this every year yeah i hate that jump ball guy lack of speed i hate that i see those things linked number two lack of explosiveness he may be a good route runner but have you seen him? He does not have much of explosiveness at all. Looks like he's just this big lumbering giant who, yeah, he has good route running abilities, but how is, is he going to be able to create separation in the NFL? I am very, very skeptical.

I hope I'm wrong, but I don't love him as a prospect. I know a lot of people do, and I respect that if you do, but I don't like him that much. I really don't feel like it also depends on where new england ends up going with this offseason as well and there's one thing that i gotta say a small part of me i know wide receivers like the sexy option but i wouldn't hate tackle even though you know you know banks and campbell or whatever we've you know we've talked about this off camera i just i will maintain this everybody disagrees with me but everyone's wrong no i'm playing around but i don't think new england when it comes to receivers i don't think they have a drafting problem i think they have a development problem because nobody outside of maybe taekwon thornton

has said like mikhail harry aaron dobson javon baker all these guys no one said they were bad picks right nobody said oh these are terrible right i mean i hated jalen polk i hated the pick when it first happened yeah i mean i love, I love him, but I like him. Well, McConkie was already gone because New England did a classic trade back that they tend to do, but whatever. But my point is, these guys have so much hype in college. Like, they're loved as prospects. Like I said, we like Baker, we like Dobson, we like Harry,

but they come to the league and they just disappear. That to me reeks of a development problem. So find a guy who more develops. If you can't get Travis Hunter, who I think is the only blue-trip prospect in this draft, then don't go wide receiver at all. I think either trade back and take a tackle. Okay, trade back and take a tackle. Okay, trade back.

Either trade back and take a tackle, which it looks like Kelvin Banks and Will Campbell are falling. Trade back and take one of those guys and go out and get T. Higgins. But you have to gauge that early on what Travis Hunter is going to do. You have to make sure that you end up with a third overall pick because I think there's no chance in hell that the jaguars aren't taking travis hunter if he's right there for him um do you really trust bulky though if they keep him if trent bulky stays there then like i'm not even i'm not even cracking a joke i like legitimately don't think it's a done deal because bulky is my question is who else are they taking like who they don't need a tackle because they just re-signed walker little they traded away cam robinson but re-signed walker

little they still have anton harrison under contract they have their tackles set they have two starting level tackles so what they're going to get is either they're either going to to stay there and draft travis hunter or they're going to trade back and take that kid carter um which at that point whoever they trade back with they're going to take travis hunter so that's still a lose-lose for you new england so do your best to gauge end up with that number three over pack England. So do your best to gauge, end up with that number three overall pick, but do your best to gauge whether or not Hunter is even going to play wide receiver. I would think he would because there's more money in the wide receiver position than there is corner. And I think there's more, you're more well-liked if you're a corner than you are uh if uh as a wide receiver

than you are a corner uh there's more money in it there's more fame um but that's just me uh chris do you have any other thoughts or do you want to move on to your top three bottom three i'm not gonna be able to stick around for top three bottom three i gotta get out of here but um no i like i said I'm not a big draft guy. So whatever they do. I mean, like I kind of inferred a couple minutes ago, though, like the way that the Patriots are going to draft is going to be wholly dependent on what they end up doing in the offseason, even if that means Travis Hunter moves the corner and we get T.

Higgins or we have Travis Hunter as the number three and we get T Higgins or a receiver like T Higgins or something like that it all really just stems from who they end up getting for uh or who they end up picking up in the offseason even if it's a lineman um that's still just gonna end up uh just deciphering what they end up doing with the first couple rounds of this draft yeah which which is again they need to gauge what's going to happen in the draft who where travis hunter plays and who's going to who's going to draft who where um and based on that they should figure out whether or not to go all in on T Higgins or Chris Godwin. Um, all right.

Well, have fun with top three, bottom three. I got to bounce boys. All right. Enjoy. All right. Well, since Chris is gone, um, and there's no rush on this segment anymore. Let's keep getting into it. All right.

Now you're speaking my language. But yeah, the thing is with McMillan, Adam, I can't say anything you haven't said. If you've watched the show for a bit, chances are you already know how I feel about those Paul, not as explosive not as fast jump ball guys i do not like them maybe it's because i have nikhil harry ptsd it could very well be that but i just i i haven't seen them pan out at a high rate. McMillan, I want to like him.

Every instinct of mine says, oh, maybe it won't be that bad. But I don't know. I just, I don't like it. Not to mention, isn't Arizona like in the big 12 for like colleges. Yeah. I got news for you. Big 12 is literally like basically the ACC with Colorado. That's pretty much it.

Yeah. Also, uh, Nikhil Harry went to Arizona state. So, well, this is Arizona. It's technically different. Well, same state, but, state but uh i i'm very the amount that he reminds me of nikhil harry and quentin johnson scares me it scares me too much to draft him at number three overall definitely not number four either if they're up if they're at four by draft day then i I'm not. You might want to trade back.

I'm trading back and taking a tackle. And even then, I'm still very, what if they just go? I'm just thinking, because I don't like the tackles in this draft either. I mean, I like Banks more than I like Johnson. Johnson reminds me too much of Peter Skowronski, who's got the traditional everything you'd want in a tackle, just that his arms are too short he's got to move to guard but what about abdul carter you still need an edge rusher if you go all out on free agency on uh on offense you go and get cam rob Robinson to be your left tackle. You get, uh, you get Jedrick

Wilson to be your left tackle. Um, you find yourself some more in, uh, interior line help, and then you go and get T Higgins. If you just go all in on the free agency class and you don't go and take uh and take anything on offense uh in this draft in uh in the draft what about that because you do need an edge rusher that that's pretty high up there on It's true. I wouldn't hate it. I still, as far as edge rushers go, I'm not crazy about this class. I mean, I'm just going to say it just as a whole. I'm not crazy about this class in general. Me neither. class in general me neither i'm not going to go as far as to mention it in the same breath as the 2022 class which you you you remember the 2022 class you tuck and i saw it at buffalo wild wings we saw what happened we know the lore but i i would not mention it in that breath because I think the top players are still better. But, oh, I'm not loving this class.

Abdul Carter, I think, is good enough. He's got a really good edge rusher. He's a freak athlete. But I just, after him, it's kind of a crapshoot. And I feel like it's, I mean, I'll be real. It's way too early. We definitely have to, uh, yeah,

no, we got to wait, you know, see how some of these things shake out. But overall I do, I like Carter, but we would own only if you get like T Higgins and Cam Robinson and all them in free agency.

I mean, if you do talk about, if you do talk about 2022, and Cam Robinson and all them in free agency. I mean, if you do talk about 2022, that draft class was a really good wide receiver class. Drake London went eighth overall. Garrett Wilson went 10th. Chris Olave, 11th. That's a pretty good i mean that's a pretty good class um so i mean it worked out pretty well but i'm still and george pickens did go in the second round i mean we could talk about him uh but if it turns out to be like 2022 then i wouldn't mind i would not mind in the slightest

going out and getting a wide receiver but i just don't think it's going to be that way i don't like any of the wide receiver prospects in this class besides travis hunter yeah honestly i mean there are some guys that intrigue me especially egg micka egg buka and luther burden but i'm concerned they're going to be more slot guys than anything yeah but again like if it's not travis hunter i don't want him and it might that may be the same case with every single prospect in this draft. I want, if I'm the Patriots, I want Travis Hunter and nobody else. Yeah, and like you and I mentioned,

you absolutely need a verbal commitment that he's going to play wide receiver. Because if he flakes out and goes corner you have egg on your face and it just doesn't look good really at all but yeah looking at from like just first standpoint new england's in tricky waters and even still that's if not if they go out in all out in free agency because even though they've got a lot of cap space, like well over $130 million, and they don't have like... And last year, look, we know the song and dance about New England, right? Last year, they had all these holes.

And once again, it was weird. Even though they fired Bill Belichick, they repeated all of his mistakes. They were very quiet in free agency. Because, look, I know as a team they don't value high-end, like what we call splash players. But you got over $130 million. And like I said before, I think at least I've said this on the show, I will give them benefit of the doubt because everybody who is even worth

a fraction of a damn needed a contract. Adam, we were talking about this before the show i will give them benefit of the doubt because everybody who is even worth a fraction of a damn needed a contract adam we were talking about this before the show like stevenson farmore duggar born henry on winter like they all needed an extension or a new deal outright and i get building a base but whether or not they even go all out in a free agency, which they should, but the fact that we don't know that's concerning. And even beyond New England and Jacksonville, Adam, who's pick number five?

Cause it says top five picks. So we already know which way the Jags are going. And we certainly know about the Raiders. Wide receiver. Panthers wide receiver. Oh, Panthers are going wide receiver yeah they're gonna grab mcmillan whether we like it or not they're going to take

mcmillan well whether we like it or not i mean yeah whether we root for the patriots so we have our biases we want we want travis hunter yeah i absolutely do if you're a Patriots fan and you want McMillan, I understand. I respect that. Personally, he's not my speed. Literally not. He's literally not my speed. He just reminds me too much of prospects who haven't panned out, who never did pan out.

And that scares me. And for a team that's already not that good at drafting, you're certainly terrible at drafting after day one. I don't love that. So you need, you need every edge that you can get. And I think that means you need the most Paulist prospect out there, which is Travis Hunter. And you have to make sure that he's going wide receiver and he's not going to be a corner. Because if they draft Travis Hunter and he turns out to be a corner, that is the dumbest thing of all time. You're not using your number three overall pick for a top corner when you already have Christian Gonzalez. And cornerback two is not even close to your

highest need. You need a wide receiver one. You need a left tackle. You need an edge rusher. And then you need a second corner. And you need a center. You don't even Andrew. Yeah. Andrews is probably going to retire.

You need two tackles actually, before you need a second corner. I mean, possibly, but I like, I like on when you enough. No, but are they going to play him there? Are they going to play him a like i like on when you enough no but are they gonna play him there they're gonna play him at guard if on when you if they sign on when you and they if so if this

team signs on when you uh if they keep on keep on when you at guard and they sign let's say cam robinson that's a two for one and I like it. But at the bare minimum, if they just keep on Wenu at right tackle, then that's fine too. Yeah, then I can live with that. But yeah, so overall, it's just obviously we're going to have to wait to see how it shakes out. But at the end of the day, you can – I mean, it literally literally if you really stop and think right the patriots are

going to go wide receiver the panthers are going to go wide receiver the brown the not browns that the giants and the raiders are both going quarterback jacksonville holds the key to all of this. And once more, and we can't stress this enough, if they are at one, they're going to take Sanders. The only way they don't, if they stay at one, is if they trade down with another QB needy team, say a Cleveland type. But overall, like I say, Jacksonville holds the key to all of this. And if New England loses out, which I believe they have one of, if not the hardest remaining schedule, which they probably will, and Jacksonville, who's got an actually

manageable schedule without their starting quarterback, we'll see. Because if Jacksonville even has one, if New England loses out and Jacksonville even wins one game, then boom, you're out of the running for Shadur Sanders and you'll probably have to settle for Tedaroa McMillan. Right. I wish this draft class was a little better, but I don't think McMillan is the guy. And I think it's,

I think Travis Hunter, they need, they need to find a way to get to the third overall pick. And I don't think that's in there. I also, this is another thing I wanted to bring up. I don't think that's on their priorities list either, because i think maybe they were focused on tanking last year but you don't want to tank twice in a row you're we're treading we're trudging on thin ice now because you don't

want it to be you don't want it to be um a cultural thing where you're just fishing for draft picks, but we are in the position that we're in. At the same time, you can't tank twice in a row. You have to try to win. So they could end up pulling an upset on one of these games, and even if the Jaguars end up winning one game, we still end up at the fourth overall pick because it's a tough situation. You can't just keep losing games every single year. So it's a tough situation because you want to end up with the best player to further your rebuild, but you also don't want to sacrifice your culture.

You want to try and establish a winning culture. It's a tough spot to be in here. to sacrifice your culture or you want, you want to try and establish a winning culture. It's a tough spot to be in here. All right, let's go on to our top three, bottom three real quick. So this is our best and worst performances from this is the best and worst performances from week 13. In top three, we have the Steelers. The Steelers, they win in a big one. I mean, they out-dueled the Cincinnati Bengals, which may not seem like much because they're 4-8, but this is not your typical 4-8 team.

No, Burrow has a case to be statistically the best quarterback in the league, and the defense is dismal. Our next top three is the Philadelphia Eagles. They just beat one of the better teams as far as offenses go in the league in the Baltimore Ravens. That's a team that we've been talking about quite a bit in the last couple of weeks. We talked about them earlier this week, but they're one of the better teams in the league now.

They started off as being a really really shaky team we were talking about nick seriani being on borrowed time there were a couple games that we've talked about with them being involved in where we literally said and i quote who wants it less because they were that bad boy have they come a long way since then we go on to the uh the washington commanders they win big in what is definitionally a get right game and they drop 42 on the tennessee titans and jayden daniels had one of the best games statistically that he's had um in his young career four total touchdowns to just one interception he passed 25 for 30 um three of those touchdowns were passing one of them was rushing nine carries 34 yards um he had himself a pretty good game and maybe drew back into the lead for uh

uh offensive rookie of the year i mean with bow nicks having a bad game oh yeah i mean the broncos won but they got bailed out by famous jamis and his turnover machine i think this week overall created some space between um nixon daniels and and bow nicks for offensive rookie of the year for that race all right we move on to our bottom three we've got the atlanta falcons oh my god this could have been a segment because just because of kirk cousins because this guy he's been playing like awfully like the last three games four picks this week four and if you threw if you throw four interceptions and it ends up being a one score game it's on you this loss it's on you that means everything else was going fine and you were the one who lost that

game and listen we all we've talked plenty about players coming off Achilles tears, athletes in general. It's obviously a death sentence for running backs, but it's still devastating for any player. And it's hard to come back from. And they should have thought first about the Achilles injury for a 35-year-old quarterback before they gave him a four-year, $180 million deal. And they're strangely fortunate because they have a good young kid waiting on the bench to be started to turn this team around, and they still haven't even considered it. And listen, if they believed in Kirk Cousins, then fine. They ended up being wrong, but that's fine.

Then why are you using a top 10 pick on Michael Penix Jr. and not starting him when Cousins, when he struggles. You're at a point where, why don't you give him a chance? You're in playoff. I heard, I don't know who said it in our group chat, but they said, one of you said, it's because they're still in the playoff hunt. To which I say, that's more reason to start Michael Penix right now.

Oh yeah, Hold on. I said that. I said that if the Falcons were bottoming out, they would probably start Penix. Which I disagree with, respectively. Because this... You're going to disagree with them, because that's the only reason why they're not.

I didn't even say I disagree with your point. So you agree that they should be starting him at this point? Yes. No, I do. I do. He is killing their playoff hopes. Yeah. He is actively holding them back.

And look, we've said this about Kirk Cousins many and many a time. You're always going to have a floor with Kirk Cousins. You're never going to be bad outright. But you're going to have a ceiling. And it's not a high one i mean at least with penix like air him out give give the kid a shot and if he sucks then you know you'll put kirk back in i mean they've lost three in a row here and we're not looking at like six picks in the last three games four of of them coming, and like literally one of them?

Well, yeah, I mean, he threw four interceptions in this last game. And, yeah, he threw an interception against the Broncos, and he threw one interception against, I mean, the only one that really stands out is this past game against the Chargers that you probably should have won. If it's a one-score game and you threw four picks in the loss, that means it's on you. So why haven't they even considered starting Michael Penix at this point? I told you, it's literally because they're in the playoffs and they don't want to rock the boat, as it were. And for the record, I wasn't saying that to discredit your point i'm just that's literally just me trying

to make sense of it you know what i mean that's like the only reason why i think they are although it has become obvious to even a blind person thatousins is not the reason that they've won any games. See, I'm going to say about Kirk Cousins what I said about Tua Tagovailoa. You're not winning because of Kirk. You're winning with him. And that's a big difference between winning with Kirk and winning because of him. Will you win because of Michael Penix? Real talk, I don't know.

Do I think the odds are better? Probably. I think it's different than Tua because winning, I think to your point, there's a difference. Yes, there's a difference between winning with and winning because, but there's also a difference between winning with and winning in spite. Because with means that you're not hurting them you're you're contributing a little bit oh yeah no they're definitely they're definitely winning in spite of kirk at least tua is he's not hurting you he's a solid player without without tyreek hill and jaylen wattle he's probably an average to below average quarterback but uh kirk cousins has a lot of weapons.

He has one of the best offensive lines in the league. The Falcons have built that lineup over years, and they've done a very good job on it. And yes, you have some questionable coaching there. But look at how Kirk Cousins is playing with the talent around him. Any game that they've been winning, they've won in spite of him, not with him. And it's been this way since week one. Literally since week one, the warning signs were there.

Which it seems like a money thing at that point, not even a playoffs thing. Because if they really cared about the playoffs, think about this for a second. I'm going to relate it to another situation that is very similar. You're going to be like, holy shit. The 2018 Baltimore Ravens. They started the season with Joe Flacco. They ended the season with Lamar Jackson. And the reason they ended the season with, the whole reason they ended up with Lamar Jackson and the reason they ended the season with the whole reason they ended

up with Lamar Jackson is the whole reason that they ended up making the playoffs just barely squeaking in. Now they had the dumb, they had to dumb the playoff book, the playbook down a lot in order to keep them in there. But that's the reason they were able to make the playoffs. They won a bunch of games with Lamar Jackson literally being a running back. And maybe he made a few throws. He didn't develop his arm strength until the following season when he won unanimous MVP. But you want,

you made the playoffs that year because you, you benched your veteran quarterback before you planned to, they did not plan on starting Lamar Jackson that year because you benched your veteran quarterback before you planned to. They did not plan on starting Lamar Jackson that year, but by starting him a little early and just dumbing the playbook down a little bit for the rookie, it saved their season and they were able to squeak into the playoffs. They weren't going anywhere, but they got to the playoffs and they held on to their winning culture. And I think that was important for them because that's a huge contributor to the following season where Lamar Jackson just went off. And maybe that could happen here. You get a little bit of confidence built up in Michael Penix. There's no way that he could be psychologically damaged from the

situation that they have around him you have a good offensive line you have good targets if the kid can play just a little bit just don't open the playbook too much just have him play a little bit build up some confidence next year you make the playoffs probably not going anywhere but next year you could end up lighting it up but by by keeping kurt cousins in here when you know you have a better quarterback on the bench you're only hurting the team yeah it it's true and the only difference i can find between your ravens example and this is that they did not have well over $100 million wrapped up in Flacco at the time. Which is, again, we all agree that that's stupid that they did that. I didn't even like the Kirk Cousins deal before they got Michael Penix

because I just don't, even when Kirk Cousins was healthy, I didn't love him. Even if they got the Kirk Cousins that we know and love, we don't love Kirk Cousins as a Super Bowl winner. I'm sorry, I don't. No, we don't. I never did. He's a good quarterback. He'll help your Justin Jeffersons and Drake Londons of the world when he's healthy.

Rack up their statistics. You might win some regular season games. You might make the playoffs. But when it comes to winning championships kirk cousins isn't doing it and certainly he isn't doing it now where it's clearly he doesn't have it anymore they should be giving they should be giving michael pennix j. this opportunity. You drafted the kid. You're lucky that you are in the stupidest situation of all time. Because now you

at least have a kid to turn to. Imagine if they didn't have Michael Penix. Then they'd be... Oh, then they're just screwed all around. But who else is in the bottom three? You're strangely fortunate in your stupidity. That's all I'm saying. What were you what are you gonna ask who else was on the bottom three we've kind of belabored the point i think we have we i mean we did we did this to death but i that was a point i wanted to

put out because i i still cannot believe this kid this guy is starting still um also on the bottom three is the San Francisco 49ers. The Super Bowl curse is real, not in the sense that you're hung over after winning it, but teams who lose it are never the same. A lot of the times they still make the playoffs, but they don't look the same. And this one isn't even going to the playoffs. This 49ers team, they are cooked, man. They are so done. They lost Christian McCaffrey for the year. And I got to say, I saw it coming. I'm not saying I'm wishing upon injury upon a player,

but you can see when a player is about to get worn out. And it's because they get such a massive workload the season prior. You think, oh man, there's no way he's not going to repeat it next year. Wrong. They almost, there's all, they almost always fall apart because it is very hard to take that kind of workload for multiple seasons and not break down in that league, in the NFL. It doesn't happen. You see it all the time. And everyone says there's a curse for the fantasy football number one overall pick. It's not a curse. It's just logic. You take a player who had a massive workload the year prior, his usage rate was really high. They had this unbelievable season that he'll never repeat. And then you're surprised when he doesn't repeat it and he gets hurt because no player can

take on that kind of workload for multiple seasons. It's not a curse. It's just logic. It's common sense. So there's your fantasy football advice for the day. Never take the number one overall pick. Never. It never works out. All right. But the 49ers are screwed. And they just lost again. They lost to a really good team in the Buffalo Bills. There's a team.

They're overachieving by their expectations. And a team that could possibly, maybe they they're in the in the conversation for the super bowl and josh allen right now is the the leader for league mvp so we'll see um the next team is the chicago bears and yes they did lose by only one score they only lost by three they came all the way back and very nearly won it's a way that they came up short and everybody already knows it by now but matt eber floos he was fired the next early afternoon and i feel like that wasn't even i feel like that was too long keeping it was it should have been after the game like leave him in detroit bad you know that was and the fact that they let him talk to the media on two separate occasions you let him It should have been after the game. Leave him in Detroit bad. And the fact that they let him talk to the media on two separate occasions.

You let him talk to him in a post-game press conference. That's fine. Okay, cool. Let's see what he has to say. Let's see if he owns up to what he did, which he didn't, by the way. He doubled down on it. That's the worst part, arguably. But then they let him talk again the next day.

And then they fired him. Can't even fire someone right, arguably. But then they let him talk again the next day. And then they fired him. Can't even fire someone right, Chicago. Shame. They can't. Listen, I really like Caleb Williams. I think he's going to pan out. But I can't shake the feeling that they are trying their absolute best to ruin him. Because he's doing his absolute best. You can see the kid has some really good games.

He shows some flashes of brilliance. He could be playing his best football in two to three years. Maybe he'll be an MVP candidate. I really do believe in him. But his development, there's no question that his development is being stunted by the Chicago Bears organization. And you can kind of see now why they have been so bad at developing quarterbacks over their history.

Because holy crap, even when you get the kid, even when you have the guy who could be your franchise's savior, you try to mess him up. It's just getting ridiculous. Eber Flus shouldn't't even been coaching this season you direct you took shane waldron who's uh for offensive coordinator who's a pretty bad pick himself i mean he wasn't good in in seattle jack you were jackson smith and jim oh yeah yeah he tried to warn us about it. Look at what he's doing over there now in Seattle. I always knew that kid can play and it's clear that it was just a coaching issue. And now he's

arguably their wide receiver one over DK Metcalf. Arguably we can have that conversation later, but he looks good. Um, now we're seeing it with Romaoma dunze by the way um so it's like you're trying to mess him up and i feel so bad for the key i a lot of people don't like him because of his ego he's a little weird off the field i don't care and i might agree with you as far as ego goes i'm just talking about performance on the field the kid can play and he's not in the wrong in this situation. It's the bears organization who is messing him up and they are, it's almost like they're trying to screw him up. And I don't feel for the bears organization anymore. I just don't. They've been, Ryan Poles has done a lot of, a very good job with putting weapons around him.

They've tried to put around him a good offensive line, but the coaching is so bad, and Ryan Poles deserves a little bit of blame for that because their coaching situation has been abysmal. Oh, yeah. I did hear, this was from Bleacher Report, that the Bears are going to keep Ryan Poles around. And apparently I've been hearing like this is just some other stuff that I've seen and I've like had to go out and look. Some of the local beat reporters have suggested that Poles never wanted Iberflues back.

And that it's Virginia McCaskey, Virginia McCaskey-Hallis, her owner, or the owner who said outright, like, who stopped it. And apparently, it's ownership that kept Ibraflux around as long as they did, because polls wanted to move on. And I think I said this last episode, when you're a GM and you literally have to bend to whatever the owner wants, and you have a meddlesome owner like McCaskey, I feel for him just because there's no winning. There's literally not. I've said this before. There's literally no winning. And the fact that it took McCaskey this long to wise up

to give Poles the okay to get rid of Ibraflux, hopefully she lets him cook in the future, because I do think Pol polls is a great GM. I think polls is a really good GM too. I think he's done a very good job overall. There are some things that he, I mean, he hasn't been perfect.

There've been, I think he was too nonchalant on getting Justin Fields weapons. But at the same time, I mean, the kid didn't do himself any favors either. He was also having issues with holding onto the ball too long. Even when you got targets, you had DJ Moore, Cole Komet, Darnell Mooney. Darnell Mooney, who's also doing a great job over there in Atlanta.

You have that pass-catching core. You improved your offensive line, and you still took three and a half seconds to throw the ball. That's your fault. So there's our top three, bottom three. That's all our scheduled content for today. Now that we are now at a minute, an hour and 36 seconds, an hour and 36 minutes into this episode.

But I mean, lots of talk about stuff that didn't even become segments that we wanted to. And that ended up talking about anyways, like the Falcons, because we haven't talked about them enough and I'm sorry. I don't like her cousins. I didn't like him before he was hurt. I like him even less now.

And I think they should bench him for Michael Penix Jr. Yep. no doubt. All right. Well, do we have any other thoughts before we end the show today? No, I'm good. All right. Well, that'll do it for us tonight. Thank you for listening to us. We have all our episodes out on Tuesdays at 7.30 p.m. Eastern Standard Time and Fridays at 5. Be sure to subscribe to our YouTube channel. We have all our episodes available on Spotify, Spreaker, Apple Podcasts, iHeartRadio, Google Podcasts, and so much more.

Also, be sure to follow our Instagram at Fumbarouski Podcast to keep up with our podcasts and latest coverage on the NFL. Otherwise, we'll see you next week. Over and out.