The Fumblerooski Podcast - Taking What's Yours -Ep 400 The Fumbelrooski Podcast

Episode Date: November 14, 2025

Who wins the Seahawks-Rams showdown in the NFC West? Can the Broncos hold off the Chiefs this Sunday? Are the Patriots elite despite their easy schedule? Adam Wright, CJ Medeiros, and Chris Costich give their week 11 game picks in their 400th episode!

a couple of divisions being hammered out and week 12 game picks this is the fumble rusky 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 88 and secret weapon consulting. I'm Adam Wright. Chris Costich, C.J. Medeiros. Yes, I am usually the producer of this show. I've moved myself behind the scenes to help sort of segment the show, pick out some topics for Chris and CJ and also talk to cover. But for this one, this one's a special episode. You know why? Chris, why? It's episode 400. Episode 400. And we'll have some words to say,

at the end of the show. I certainly will. But it's been a long for, it's not four years, five years, December 9th, 2020 when we started this show. And now here we are. It's 2025. And we have covered, I believe it's six different seasons. We covered 2020, 21, 22, 23, 24. Now we're on to 25. So we've, a lot of things have changed during the course of this show. But without further ado, let's get right into it. We're going to get into some game picks. But first, we're going to get, as usual, our Ruski game of the week. And this one, this is a big one, because the Rams and Seahawks have the exact same record.

They've been world beaters this year. And I have to give it to Sam Donald. For a second year in a row, this kid is bawling out. He's been a bit of a journeyman being on, what is it, four, three, four teams in the last three seasons, it's been crazy. And despite the amount of travel in different workplaces that Sam Donald has been to, he has been lighting it up. And with, I believe it's a 17, I don't have the numbers in front of me, 17 to 6 touchdown interception ratio. This guy has been awesome. And he has been somewhat of an MVP candidate. And I must also say, one of the best deep ball

throwers in the league, while also having one of the better completion percentages in football as well. And that's not to take away from Sam Darnold, who's also, excuse me, from Matthew Stafford, who's also had an incredible year. And he's currently, based on draft Kings, he is the betting odds favorite to win league MVP. He is having that kind of year. He's had, and he isn't a good situation. He has a really good offensive line this year. He has a good defense, a great defensive, uh, offensive minded head coach as well as Puka Nakua and Devante Adams, who's playing like his vintage self to throw to. Kyron Williams as is running back. So this is a complete situation for Matthew Stafford late

in his career. And it feels like we see this a lot with older quarterbacks who are, you know, they're, they may not be at the point where they can do. more with less anymore, but they are also guys who, if you surround them with weapons in a good situation, that they can still play like an elite quarterback. We saw that with Peyton Manning, we saw it with Tom Brady, we saw it with Drew Breeze. We're seeing it with Matthew Stafford now. But guys, what are your thoughts on this matchup? I'll start with you, Chris. This is a great matchup. Part of me kind of favors the Rams here at home to start out. And yeah, like you said, Adam, both Stafford and Donald having career years.

We were talking about how great Sam Darnel has been on one of the last episodes. And, you know, we were talking about, like, Drake May, obviously, like, he's our guy. But when you, and you look at all the advanced statistics, we talk about Drake May being in, like, the, like, the top right of all, of everything, of all these graphs, especially historical. Well, when you actually look at one of the graphs, Sam Darnold is right up there with him this season, this season. So obviously got to give him some props. Isn't Sam Darnold in top 10 as well in the MVP odds? He should be. I believe he is.

He used to be higher. He didn't have the best game. But yeah, he did not. Like 40, what, 44 to 22 or something like that? Yeah, like the game was over by halftime. Yeah, it was the last episode we were talking about it. But the both teams on a four-game winning streak. But I like the Rams at home in this case.

Both teams are riding hot, but in a big game like this, I want to see how, I don't know if Sam Darnel is going to be able to perform at a huge level on the road, especially in a big game like this. So I know Stafford can. We all know Stafford can. But in this case, I feel like in this scenario for this season, I see the Rams take, or both teams taking wins at home in this division rivalry. So in this case, give me the Rams.

CJ. This game of the week for a reason, this is, I mean, granted, it's early yet, but for the division lead right now, this is for all the marbles. This is you win this game. Not only do you take the driver's seat of the division, but depending on how things shake out, you could be number one in the entire NFC, your entire conference. Not just the division, but, you know,

obviously, like I said, depending on how things shake out, you could lead the conference. Breaking down both of these teams, it's insane. You already mentioned Darnold, but he's great. Obviously, we know that. Over 2,200 yards, 17 touchdown, six picks. That's cool. But for me, let's look at that ground game. Got Kenneth Walker with over 530 yards, Zach Charbonnet with over 300, nine touchdowns between the two of them.

a nice one-two punch. Jackson Smith and Jigba already over 1,000 yards. Steady Veteran Cooper Cup, emerging tight end, A.J. Barner, who already has four touchdowns on the year. And that defense, with five players having five sacks in Uchandawu, Leonard Williams, and second-year man, Byron Murphy, out of Texas. And, yeah.

And in the back end, he got some ball hawks. linebacker Ernest Jones having himself a year with three picks already. Deerion Kendrick and Kobe Bryant both chipping in with two picks as well. So obviously, these Seahawks, you know, we thought, okay, hey, maybe they'd be good. But I don't think any of them, myself included, expected them to be seven and two. However, if you ask a lot of people, they still have an air of, dare I say, illegitimacy around them. Because we've got a lot of rankings, be from amateur pages or the pros of the major networks, you'll notice that even though they lead the Rams, the division, you know, via strength of the division record or however it is that they are ahead of them in, people still tend to favor the Los Angeles Rams.

And obviously, Matt Stafford, 2,400 yards, 25 touchdowns, only two interceptions, that's probably why. Kairn Williams with over 650 yards on the ground, you know, Devante Adams turning about the clock. He's already got nine touchdowns, Pooka Nakuwa, over 700 yards, and a defense led by Byron Young with nine sacks. So when it comes to who I think is going to win this game, I like Seattle with the up say here. First, home field advantage, obviously that's huge. Lumenfield, you know, back then it was CenturyLink Field, has been a notoriously tough place to play. It's in L.A. Wait, it's in L.A.

Are you sure? Yeah, it's in L.A. Yeah. Yeah, L.A. is hosting. Huh. Oh, oh, I must have to look at the other one. Never mind. But either way, I'm still going with the Seahawks.

At the end, it doesn't matter, you know, when you look at the stadium at the Charters of Rams hosts, it's like, I mean, granted, it's a little better for the Rams, but both teams have to play essentially an away game. And for the Rams, what it comes down to me is defense they have a buried up a little bit okay yeah now i'm just saying a lot of it's defense that's the problem a lot of it is defense the rams have a very very you see

there's a difference i think between a good defense right and an explosive defense the rams defense is good they are not explosive i would argue you that the Seahawks personally, I feel like their defense is more explosive. I mean, like I said, one guy of the Rams, Byron Young is nine sacks, but he's pretty much the only one getting home. The Seahawks have multiple guys who would take the ball away. They have multiple guys getting to the sack. The Rams just have one or two guys, but for me, it's defense.

Defense wins championships, and I trust the Seahawks defense, a little more than I trust the Rams, so give me Seahawks. Yeah. Rams obviously have home field advantage here, and that's a big one for them, because I feel like this would be a slam dunk for the Seahawks if this was being played in Seattle. The thing is, I just think that Seahawks Front Seven has been so good this year. And that's a big reason why I'm actually picking the Seahawks for this one. Games are won and lost in the trenches. is you could have the most electric passing game in the history of the league.

If you're not able to stay on your feet, then you can't pick a part of defense. It's just that simple. And for that reason, I'm picking the Seahawks to win this one. Defense matters a lot. As CJ mentioned, yeah, give me them. Remember the, what was it, Super Bowl 54? It was 55. Chief's offensive line was completely outmatched from that Buccaneers front seven.

And I think that's something to keep in mind when we're talking about games that are won and loss in the trenches with these elite vertical offenses. I feel like Matthew Stafford is going to be overmatched. But this is going to be a very close game. All right. We're going to move on, and we're going to get to the early afternoon slate of games, as well as hitting on our early game. It's in, it's going to be next. This is the Fumbaruski 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. truly a lose-lose scenario for both sides. Welcome to the Fulburwski podcast, Adam Wright. Chris Kostis, C.J. Medeiros.

We head to our early afternoon slate, but first, we have a match-up and looking for... Dolphins commanders. Yeah, Dolphins command. Yes, Dolphins commanders. All right. In Madrid. Quickly, round the table, who wins? CJ, you can go first.

Okay. Dolphins, no, sorry, Commander's fans, no Jane Daniels, no winning. And that offense, at least has found its rhythm. So I'm going dolphins. I'm also going to reluctantly go dolphins on this one. It's like, Washington was, like, at first with Marietta was fine, like at the beginning during Daniels' first injury. but Washington's just so depleted that in Miami like loki kind of hot right now I don't see

them winning I don't see them winning another game uh give me the commanders I think they have some pieces around there they've been injury riddled but I think Mario da has one win in him yeah give me the commanders all right we move on to our early afternoon slate and what we're going to lead off with we've got Bengals visiting the Steelers Chris Unk Bowl 2 baby

Unk Bowl 2 I love it I absolutely love it and the last and the first one the first rendition was so electric that God willing gave us a part 2 how nice is he

how nice to see um Well, obviously, the last time that these two teams played, there wasn't really any defense, of course. And the Bengals won 33 to 31. The Steelers, I believe, are in this, now in that Mike Tomlin cycle where you're looking for everyone, including Mike Tomlin himself, to get fired. They're getting back into that. It's hard to say that the Steelers won't get round two. But I like the Bengals to get it done again.

I like Joe Flacco in this offense. Obviously, the defense sucks, but Steelers pass defense is also pretty terrible. Let's give me the Bengals. Okay. CJ. I'm also going with Sincy here. I like Joe Flacco sweeping the Unc Bowl, as Chris called it. For once again, I know Bengals don't have any defense, but the Steelers do not have any defense either.

And I trust T. Higgins and Jamar Chase and the crew more than I trust D.K. Metcalf and Calvin Austin. Yeah. I'm going to go to the Steelers. I find it hard to believe that this Steelers team is going to lose two in a row. Aaron Rogers still, the way I like to describe Aaron Rogers, his lower half is aged. It's clear he has not been the same with that Achilles tear. He's not quite as mobile.

and he's not as good at throwing off, making off platform plays as he used to. But his upper half is still there. He still has the armed talent. And he has, this Steelers team is a playoff team. I don't see them losing to the Bengals twice. And they,

I think him and D.K. Metcalf are going to feast off this terrible Bengals team. Yeah, give me the Steelers. All right. Our next matchup, we have the Chargers who are traveling to Jacksonville. Seven and three Chargers, five and four, Jaguars, fighting for playoff seating. Chris, what are you thinking? I just can't have faith in the Jaguars anymore. Like this offense, we were talking about this on Tuesday's show.

Like, there's nothing, there's no life. Like, you would have thought that maybe Jacoby Myers would be a good, villain but like I mean Parker Washington still your freaking leading receiver at the other day do you guys know Brian Thomas Jr. is also like top five and drop passes this year? He's not

having a good year now. No. Thanks, Shane Walter. Yep. Fire Shane Waldron. Yeah. So give me the chargers. I know they're beat up and when they don't have guys like Joe Walt because he's out for the year, right? Yes. Yes.

Like that old line has been known to kind of falter a little bit throughout the season. But you just can't have faith in the Jaguars. Give me the Chargers. Chris, C.J. Well, you're technically right. Yeah, you are technically right about that. So for the Jack, so yeah, this is, you think the Jags should win this game, right?

I mean, you think that because I saw a stat that's like four out of the five current starting charge offensive linemen are bottom three in their positions. But I just, I don't think Jacksonville could take advantage of that. If you lost to goddamn General Mills, as he's known, no, no, I'm sorry, blowing that three, that three score lead to Davis, longneck Mills, absolutely not. And I, you know, even if the line sucks, Herbert just could get it out faster. Give me the chargers, don't really have to think too hard. I'll go further with that take and the fact that that that's a loss that, could derail a season. That's a loss that could completely derail a season. True.

Yeah, it's, uh, no Travis Hunter. Brian Thomas has been out and also struggling. You do have Jacobi Myers, but what's he going to do while he's still trying to figure out the playbook. Yeah, it's hard to, it's hard not to pick the Chargers. And I'm not a big believer in the Chargers this year just because of their offensive line troubles. Uh, yeah it's hard not to pick the chargers here um and i will have issues with the charges later on in the season uh just because i it's not just the offensive line injuries and the injuries in general but i just don't believe in justin herbert later in the season i just don't he is he's unbelievable in the regular season he's clearly fallen victim to bad coaching but now that the

coaching's good it's all on him and i still can't get I cannot unsee that loss during wildcard weekend, but that's a it's a conversation we'll have in a couple of months when it probably happens again. All right. Moving on to our next game. This is a good one. Buccaneers coming off a loss,

both the Bills and the Buccaneers coming off losses. What the bills have going for them is they are hosting the Bucs here. Buccaneers are a warmer weather team. um i haven't seen the forecast for this one um tampa's obviously 41 and sunny 41 and sunny okay so i i don't think that's the type of game where where weather really plays any sort of a factor um that's football weather yeah it's a good november football weather especially for buffalo yeah Tampa bay has been known to be kind of grittier and uh still even in the cold colder weather games too like even though they're so to speak a warm weather team like i feel like like james

years the brady years even like the baker years i mean grand not a lot of cold weather but when they are in the cold weather they perform i mean baker really doesn't count from cleveland and egbuka comes from ohio state so a little chilly over there yeah so you're at a point they've been hampered by injuries guys what are our picks chris um i'm i do like buffalo at home here uh they need to win badly uh loss like that last week you need to come out firing and they got the bet at a benefit of being at home for a tough contest uh and Vegas is giving him the line at five and a half as well uh which i was a little surprised about but at first but like you in the fact, Buffalo is at home.

As you mentioned, Tampa's a little injury riddled here. And the Tampa is secondary. Isn't all that. I think that the Bill's O line can hold up a serious pass rush, in my opinion. But I think the bills are going to get this one. I don't think that. I do not trust the Bill's offensive line. I do not trust the Bill's defense to keep Egbuka under wraps.

I do not trust them. stop KDOT, nor do I trust them to stop Tess Johnson. Furthermore, it has been well established for many years that I think Sean McDermott is an unsirious coach. And though I also have my reservations about Todd Bowles, I definitely think Sean McDermott's seat might be a smidgen warmer than what a lot of people are expecting. I mean, I know Bill's Mafia isn't happy. And what it comes down to is if they're going to win, it's going to have to be Josh Allen, because James Cook has been solid he's very hit or miss he's either going to give you 150 yards on the ground or like 30 and i'm sorry i know you pay him the big bucks i just don't think cleo shakir is a wide receiver

one and it's basically going to be josh allen versus the buccaneers their strength in numbers give me tampa yeah the more that i look at buffalo even in their wins they they had that one blowout against the Panthers. Other than that, they've really been reeling. And I just, I can't unsee that loss to the dolphins. I can't unsee it. That was as bad as it gets. And regarding Tampa, yeah, maybe they're not world beaters without Mike Evans and Chris Godwin and Bucky Irving. By the way, Chris Godwin and Bucky Irving are supposed to be back this week. They're back on the practice fields. but it's I think it's this is a gripe of mine when it comes to injuries I think it's a logical

fallacy to look at a team that's injury riddled and say because because that they're still winning it means they're doing more with less yes they are they technically have less than what they had but that doesn't mean the guys who replace them aren't playing well and Tampa's offensive line has been riddled with injuries this year but their line has been one of the best in football still. So even when they had their replacement in, that doesn't mean Baker's doing more with less. It's not a lesser offensive line.

They just have different guys who are there. And those other guys were more qualified, but these guys who are replacing them are still pretty good. It's the same thing with the wide receiver thing. Oh my God, Baker Mayfield's playing without his wide receiver one, his wide receiver two, his right receiver four, without mentioning the fact that the one is Mike Evans, yes. That's good. The two is Chris Godwin.

The three is a wide receiver one, and it's Egmeca, Ibuka. And Tess Johnson has been pretty nice as a wide receiver, too. And Kate Aughton is a solid tight end. He's a great tight end. Also, Sterling Shepard showing flashes of his prime as well. Yep. Exactly. So it doesn't mean that you're doing more with less.

It just means you're playing without your starters. And I get that. I do. And they probably would be better with, if they had all these guys, back but it doesn't mean that they're they're supposed to play terribly because they still the guys who are there are producing in a long-winded answer give me the buccaneers quick question though adam would you say though that the that herbert with his lines doing more with less considering the fact his lines hurt but it's the opposite of tampo is where it's terrible just wondering i think

it's more that herbert doesn't need much time to throw fair and he he has a bunch of good targets for them and also if you look at the it's if you look at the there's there it's gone viral the the the you know how on pff rankings yes the pf rankings and it's they're all like bottom of the league yeah like four out of the five are like bottom three some are that the worst which is why i was asking it's not gosh i just wonder what your take was that's been a lot of stocks that that is enough that is one where they're their injury riddled and the guys who were replacing them have been bad. Fair.

I've been seeing a lot of NFL players like JJ Watt, Chris Long, we're talking shit about PFF and like, especially Sunday night football using like the PFF rankings, right? And they're just like, those rankings are just so inaccurate. And like, I'm not saying that the Chargers O line isn't bad, right? But it's maybe undervaluing the player that's actually on the field most of the time. Maybe.

Or like calling them shit when they're not actually shit. It's difficult to real. There's no stats out there for offensive linemen. So PFF is useful when grading linemen. But if you're going to look at, if you're going to look me in the eyes and try to grade, let's say, a quarterback or a wide receiver when we can just see, you know, their yards, the receptions, relative to how many targets they get. It's like, all right, let's, let's chill out. out here. It's, it's, it's, it's an analytics driven argument. I don't, it's useful when it comes to lineman, but that's pretty much it. That, yeah, that's it. I wouldn't even say it's that

useful for lineman. Yeah. It's horrible for DB, so I don't know if you like look at their yeah. Yeah, yeah. It's like actually wrong. I feel like half of it's just rage bait anyway. So what's our next game? Okay. We have the bears who are visiting the Vikings, uh, JJ McCarthy, making another start. This is a divisional game. And if I'm not, if I'm not, if I'm not mistaken,

this is, this matchup happened earlier in the year. Yep. And J.J. McCarthy in his first start, that a nice little comeback there, against the Bears.

Now, things are different. Teams take some more time to jail. The Bears look a lot better right now. But I do think that this is going to be a much closer game than you guys than what the records would make it make it out to be.

Chris. I like the Bears in this one, and here's my reasoning why I see the Vikings as you know, they're a great defense, but JJ McCarthy, unfortunately, hasn't he's shown some flashes. He's had some

good games, a couple, but not many to start out. I haven't been the big, fan of J.J. McCarthy recently, but I've kind of been a fan of Caleb Williams a little bit. Kind of have, or just more so, the Bears in general. I mean, you look at this, at the teams that they played, and yeah, a lot of them were some tight ones, like some random tight ones, like the Raiders, obviously commanders before Jay and Daniels got hurt, lost by 14 against the Ravens. But, and of course, I haven't come back last week, but they're coming away.

with victories in games that they wouldn't have otherwise gotten without Ben Johnson. Ben Johnson has been a huge part in where they are right now. There's six and three. They're six and three, which is huge. I like the bears in this game. C.J. I respectfully disagree. I got to go with the Vikings here.

So, yeah, I'm not a huge fan of James. J. McCarthy, but for me, this is the Bears' first, like, real test. You know, you're going to, probably if I'm wrong, but you're going to have to go to Minneapolis here, going into the longboat, and you are going to be going against a ferocious Vikings defense in front of their fans, and even though J.J. McCarthy's line might not be great. Their running game is coming back now. They have Aaron Jones, and he's looked pretty decent in his return. Of course, Justin Jefferson, Jordan Addison, T.J. Hawkins, and he has a lot of mouths to feed.

He might not be the best, but oh, he's got weapons galore. And as for the Bears, I like Caleb Williams. I like Ben Johnson, but their run games are very streaky. You know, one day it's the Andre Swift. One day it's Kyle Monongai. One day it's neither. Like, I just, the bears are a little too one-dimensional, and I think that plays exactly into what a Brian Flores defense wants you to do.

So I think it's going to be close. I think it's going to be good, but I think it's going to be the Vikings. Give me the Bears. As far as this team has, it's really come on in the past few weeks. And I think Caleb Williams has shown a lot of improvement. I want J.J. McCarthy to be good so bad. Look, everything that he's been doing, he's a little over the top with calling himself nine. Yeah, that's a little over the top of calling himself.

a third person and I think sometimes his reactions can be over the top like he's trying to or a farm or something but I think what he's trying to I respect the effort and if you can just be a little more subtle with it and also like be an elite quarterback I think what he's doing what he's trying to be is good for the game I think there's way too many quarterbacks who are just too like straight faced dare I say robotic too nice and respectful Like, you can be, you can have some respect, but I think, I want to see what I like what we see in Jackson Dart. I like what we get in him. And I think J.J. McCarthy is trying to be something like that.

I want McCarthy to be good, but I don't think he's there yet, if he, if he will get there at all. So yeah, give me the Bears. It doesn't matter what kind of supporting cast you have for the Vikings on any team. If the quarterback isn't there, then you're not winning your games. It's just that simple. The quarterback can do more with less. He can make a roster do better than it actually is. But if you don't have a good quarterback or at least one that's underdeveloped,

you're not doing anything. Give me the Bears. I also look back at week one in like how J.J. McCarthy only had one good quarter like the Bears were dominating that game or the Bears defense was dominating J.J. McCarthy for three quarters that game. Yeah, but he may. the throws when he absolutely needed he did he did you don't always see in the stat sheet though you don't always see it in the stat sheet you kind of saw it in that one that was he he put up a nice stat line

it's in the end of the game but that's why we play four quarters so again i want him to be good i think he he has some potential there let's see how he can do um all right texins visiting the titans this should be an easy one um but don't forget c j stroud has just just been ruled out for this game. Davis Mills. What are we thinking? CJ, you want to guess the over under on this sucker? Oh, you took down the ticker. Damn, you were out. I was wondering why I did that. Yes. Oh, sneaky Pete, you. So over under, so I imagine the Texans are favorite, wait, points just in general. Points. Points. Over under on points. Oh, I'll watch it be like 39 in points.

five or something like that oh 37 and a half right idea oh gross oh god that is terrible yeah it's going to be a disgusting game it is uh i i don't know if we're if i'm going to expect davis mills to have the same type of performance in the fourth quarter of the game against the jags but i mean the texans defense is just going to mow down the off the titans offense right i mean that should be what happens and then whatever happens on the other side of the football who cares uh so give me the give me the texas uh c j be quick texins well i'm sorry after that three score comeback against jacksonville with davis mills on that defense going up against the titans who where you know mccoy somehow looks worse than callahan texans and it's not

that close give me general mills general mills i like that one uh yeah give me i didn't come up give me the texans that i know i still like it okay i was saying i don't make credit texans give me the texans the i don't know if cam ward can play uh i'd lean no i didn't like him as a prospect um they're just there's nothing to like about tennessee and it's not even that i'd like houston Houston has a really good defense, and they have some good targets for Davis Mills to throw to you. Obviously, you're without C.J. Stroud, but I, it's more so, again, it's one of those not in a good way type of things. Tennessee's not good. Tennessee should have one of the top picks in this year's

draft. So yeah, give me Houston. Tennessee doesn't mean like Tennessee. Tickets are as low as $12. Yeah, I didn't see that. I'm convinced their owner doesn't either, but you have something that's good, and then you just get rid of it and you say, you know what, Mike Vrable, go ahead. Go over to New England. We don't need you. We don't need to be good. And trade away A.J. Brown. Literally, it all fell apart once you got rid of A.J. Brown, because it made you one dimensional. But we're not talking about the 2021 Titans. We're talking about the 25 ones. But you would think there's not that big of a difference since there's not that much time between then and then. But good Lord.

Hell, they have fallen. All right. And I believe, yes, this is our last early afternoon game. We got the Packers who are visiting the Giants. So important housekeeping note here. No Jackson Dart in this one. He's on his what, his fourth concussion at this point? like that. But we got James

Winston, baby. Come on now. Come on now. Kid needs to Yeah. Side note, though. Kid needs to, he needs to learn how to take hits. Yeah. Good God. It's the same thing with Greg Ney. We're going to have full-fledged like Antonio Brown CTE by year three.

Yeah. It's getting bad. It's getting bad. I do like Jackson Dart though. James Winston. Oh, the guy who had to get LASIC surgery, because his vision was so bad um i love this comment 30 touchdowns without it 30 touchdown and 30 30 yeah mr 30 30 30 30 got that future on the 30 they missed the playoffs by one game and they

missed the playoffs by one game he and 5 000 yards too yep yeah such a random season and i saw this one ins i saw this one instagram post saying like i i can't wait for this guy to be in the media And I saw someone respond saying, I mean, technically is if you can, if you can, if you include him interviewing that fish. Um, I remember that, yeah. And he had a CBS mic too, so he was, yeah, bro, he's there. He's there. Just, just bring him on. Bring him on the pregame shows. All right. Guys, I still feel like this should be an easy pick. What are we thinking? Yeah, it's the Packers. But, uh, people are starting. trying to call for LaFleur's job all of a sudden or at least like giving up his play calling duties, which I mean, I mean, yeah, after that Eagles game, it, yeah, you can definitely say he's a head scratcher, but much like you, ongoing with the Packers, but this small part of me still thinks the Packers are going to win, but it's going to be uglier than it should be. They might have to sweat this one out, but I still think they're going to win.

Yeah, like, look, this game is going to be infinitely more fun just because James Winston is playing. But this could easily be, like the Packers have scored only 14 points in the last two games. All right. We do need to be quick because we were already at 37 minutes and we haven't left the early afternoons. I got, yeah, I'm taking the Packers.

It's pretty easy. One thing to notice, though, and this is something, not just Matt LaFleure, um no tucker craft as we know but also no jaden reed anymore your best past catchers are romeo dobbs and christian watson um and i they did they did take a kid matthew golden in the first round but he's hardly been used which i mean you could also put on mat lafleur so pay attention to that the injury bug on that side and they're running back they can only lean on Josh Jacobs for so long before his age starts to catch up with him. They can only run inside zone so many times.

Yeah. So, all right. That does it for early afternoon. We're going to move to our late afternoon slate as long, well as Sunday night football and Monday night football. That's next. This is the Fumbaruski podcast. It may not have always showed it in the stat sheet, but you can see him making

throws when he needs to make the throws. Back-to-back games where he has three touchdowns. Someone's got to get that six or seven spot. He's an elite wide receiver as a rookie. Truly a lose-lose scenario for both sides. Welcome back to the Fumble Ruski podcast by Power 88 and Secret Weapon Consulting, Adam Wright, Chris Costage, C.J. Medeiros. We already covered a game of the week, the Seahawks, visiting the Rams,

but this one should be a fairly easy. one. We have the 49ers taking on the Cardinals. Chris. Niners, I see them getting honestly, get right game. I'll consider this a get right game. Even though it's a divisional game, Cardinals,

I don't see much out of them. The Niners have been a team, even with all the injuries, still up to par. Even with the 16th, they were still fighting to the very end last week against the Rams. All right, CJ. Sorry. Do you have any... No.

I was going to say hot take. I'm going with Arizona. This is my big upset of the week. Because I like the Kobe Berset. I do. The fact that the offense looks better with Berset, and he's putting up better, cleaner numbers than Murray did. I'm sorry.

I got to go there because Mac Jones' backup bump is wavering. And on top of that, he's barely even... takes any deep shots. I think it's going to be an ugly game, but I'm tilting in Arizona, huh? I said it's because he can't, but yeah, that's another time. I know it's because he can. It's a pat fan. We know their Niners are very Christian McCaffrey reliant, very injury prone.

And hey, I like Chikori Brisset to grind out a slugfest win in the desert. Yeah. Give me the Niners. Give me the Niners. Mac Jones has still been playing very well. He threw for over 300 yards and three touchdowns against the Rams. I mean, most of it's garbage time, but touchdowns are touchdowns. And they are currently in the playoffs if they started today.

They're doing all right. You want to hear what Mac Jones is projected? What's he projected? Sure. 3,600 yards, 22 touchdowns, 10 interceptions. That sounds like his rookie year. year. Yeah, pretty much, yeah.

Yeah. Essentially. Amazing what happens when you have a competent coaching staff, huh? And a coach is not out to get you. Yep. Yeah, yeah, yeah. But that coach also wanted Davis Mills instead of Mac Jones. So, yeah, I think, yeah, wrought away in UNC, Bill Belichick, wrought away.

And you're probably not going to last long. there either. Thank you for six rings though. Thank you for six rings. Also friendly advice. Dump your girlfriend. She's evil. Thank you for six rings, Tom Brady. Oh. Hey, that's a debate for another

day. Come on now. I'll give them 30%. Um, listen. We have, we have another one that I was, I made a push. I tried for our game of the week, but it's hard to, it's hard not to pick again. Bram Seahawks.

But we have the chiefs who are visiting the Broncos. And the reason that I push for this one is because the Broncos have a chance to do the entire AFC playoff picture of service. They have a chance to crush the chief's odds at winning the division, knocking them down to five and five. The Broncos would be nine and two. Broncos have a reasonably tough schedule down the stretch, but so do the chiefs. chiefs. And going five and five, I don't see the chiefs winning out after this. But this is a,

this is one where the Broncos, they have one of the better home field advantages in all of football. It's a very tough place to play. The, the previous dynasty, the New England Patriots, used to have fits whenever they had to go and travel over there, even when they won. It just seems like they barely squeaked it out. Or just never would. Or they didn't, or they didn't, 2013, 2015. Those games were nightmares. Chris.

Weiss in 2015, actually. Yes, that's true. Yeah, they always had issues. 05 playoffs. Yeah, anyways. And they won the next year. Yeah. In this game, I just don't, I don't have any

faith in the Broncos anymore. I don't have faith. They're as fraudulent as fraudulent gets. And of course, as I say this, there's a chance I'm going to watch the Patriots only put up 10 points against the Jets for all I know tonight. God forbid that happens.

I hope not. But in a game like this, Chiefs, backs against the wall, they know it's at stake. I don't think that they're completely out of the division race, if they lose because they'll just be three games back, especially with the Chargers being hampered.

But you still need a win here. You need a win on the road. Get some momentum. I like the Chiefs this week. Give me Kansas City. I'm also going to have to go Kansas City. And I'm just not sold on Denver. Denver seems to be medically incapable of playing an entire game.

Look, if you're lucky you get a half. Usually you get a quarter. They win, but, oh, I will say one thing. It's in mile high, and they've got that ferocious front seven. So I think it's going to be an ugly game, but Mahomes is still very clutch. I have my questions this season about the chiefs themselves, but I wouldn't be shot for Kansas City grinds out like a 17 to 13 win. What are you shaking your head over there for, huh?

What are you shaking your head over there? I'll tell you why. I'll tell you why. There are two losses this year were against the Colts by one point in Indianapolis, by the way, and the Chargers by a field goal. Listen, I'm not saying that they're winning pretty. They're certainly not. And they're barely eking them out.

And it doesn't look great. And I don't think Bo Nix is an elite quarterback. I don't even think he's that good of a quarterback. I think he's okay. I think he's a good quarterback at best. What I would tell you about Bo Nix is that kid competing. he doesn't quit and there's I think there's there's correlation to causation when you look at how they play their best football at the end of the game when it matters most he may not be

the best quarterback even in this he may not even be the third best quarterback in this division probably second best but he brings out his best when he when he absolutely needs to. And that's why when I look at the Broncos, I think they win this game. They have home field advantage. It's extremely tough to play over there. And also, this is another part that we haven't talked about yet in this portion of the segment. The Broncos are the best front seven in football. The Kansas City Chiefs have one of the worst offensive lines in football. We have seen before that Patrick Mahomes cannot survive battle. offensive line play.

And the Chief's defensive line has not been all that much to write home about this year. They've been a really good defense in recent years. They're still solid this year, but I don't, I think that's a matchup that Bo Nex wins. And I think Sean Payton is going to come out with a good game plan. I think Broncos win this game. They go nine and two. And again, I think they crush the Chief's chances of winning out and getting that AFC West title.

And even if they make it to the playoffs, which I think they will, they're going to be at a lower seed, which means the entire road for them to the Super Bowl goes on the road. I think they'll be doing the entire AFC playoff picture of service. And I don't think, if that happens, I don't think they make it to the AFC championship again. It's going to be the first time in almost a decade. It'll be glory.

all right and i believe that was our last game that was our last of the slate no nope we have one more yeah we have the ravens hosting the browns guys guess the over under why why do you do this to me why Why four do you put me to these trials and tribulations? You tasked me so. Seven and a half. Well, that's the spread. Oh, over under. 40 and a half.

Ooh. Oh, so close. 39 and a half. Suckage. That's what I guess last time. You know, oh, man, the Vegas probably taking their marching orders from, I don't know, some other foreign country probably.

I don't know. All right. Let's try to get through this game, because we still have two more. Baltimore, uh, Dylan Gabriel shits his pants. Ravens, that's for you, Todd, Ravens. Ravens, they're going to be, by the time it's December, they're going to be above 500.

Agreed. All right. That was it for that. And you have Sunday night football. Lions at Eagles. Chris? It's going to be a damn good game. I can tell you that much.

A lot of questions for the Eagles, especially offensively. Defensively, they took care of business, but offensively, boy, nothing good on that side of the football. A.J. Brown basically telling fantasy owners to drop him in that this year has been a complete shit show. His words, not mine, but may as well be my words because I agree. This year for A.J. Brown has been a shit show. Uh, Detroit, you mentioned it, Adam? Yeah, like there's some games where Detroit is a little weird, but when their offense is humming, oh boy, it's humming.

Uh, I like the lines in this game. Even on the road, prime time in Philly, give me Detroit. Not, not like a sneaky upset, but, you know, we'll call it an ups, technically it's an upset, so give me Detroit an upset. See, yeah. This is the Fluke Bowl, folks. Philly's offense with the offensively challenged Kevin Petrullo is a joke. The Lions, every time it looks like they're about to, you know, legitimize themselves,

they fail the test. It's basically who's going to be less fluky? And honestly, you could flip a coin. I'm expecting a good game. I'm expecting fireworks. I'm expecting some nonsense as well. But honestly, I just feel like the Lions are a tougher team with a better locker room. And that's why I'm going with the Lions.

Because how do you think those AJ Brown comments are being received by the rest of his team? Probably not well. And I think, and also I do question Philly's mental toughness. I don't question Detroit. I question their execution, but I never question their intention. So at the end of the day, I, I'm thinking Detroit squeaks out of way. I'm probably like 24.20. This is probably a better one that I give it, then I give it credit for, at least in hindsight.

You have the 7 and 2 number one seed Philadelphia Eagles hosting the Detroit Tiger. Jesus Christ. The Tigers. Wow. I had the name in the, I had the name in my head and then I just went for it. the Detroit Lions, another cat. Six and three, they're the three seed. It does have playoff implications.

I just feel like it's going to be a letdown as far as the game goes. And I also, listen, I'm going to, I'm going to strongly disagree as far as the Eagles go. And I understand that they have these issues in the locker room. But when they have, when have they not? They have had a really bizarre ability to overcome, especially from from A.J. Brown.

Always. Always. And it's, what's even stranger is it's right after the comments when they play better. And this is why earlier on in the year, he made some strange, really bizarre comments about

his playing time, about him getting the ball. And then it turns out, you know, the offense played better after that. It's almost like he gives Petulow a kick in the ass to get moving and he goes oh yeah I have AJ Brown on this team

and then they start playing well as an offense and let's be clear AJ Brown is not wrong when he's talking about the offense right now we're just pissed about the way that he's bringing it up rightfully so but it

almost always results in better offense and for that reason I'm taking the Eagles and I strongly believe that this team this Eagles team is very battle-tested. They've won the games against the above 500 teams, and every time that they face adversity, they overcome it. There's a reason that this Eagles team has been to the Super Bowl twice already, has

one-double-digit games in three straight seasons, has made the playoffs four straight years, is on their way to yet another playoff berth and probably a high playoff seed. I still believe in this Eagles team Give me the Eagles in this one Fair enough Yeah okay Let's move on a Monday night football Yep

I also think that they just A lot of times after this Like something like this happens They just try to force feed them The ball a little too much Yes But they also need to get them the ball They need to get them the ball

Yeah anyways he's not wrong he's not wrong we're just like why the hell are you talking like this like yeah go behind closed doors but it freaking works man it works every time it happened last year too

and they won the Super Bowl bro was reading a book during a playoff game on the sideline they still went they still blew doors it was awesome listen they're the most miserable Super Bowl winning team I've ever seen that's that's what I

say. But they do win. So I'm not going to question their methods until it bites them in the ass. All right, Cowboys, Raiders, this is our last game, and let's make this a quick one because this matchup also sucks. Cowboys

buy a million, unfortunately. Raiders' defense is going to be able to hold Cede and Pickens and Giovante. CJ? Cowboys, pretty easy. that's all just just cowboys what do you want the raiders are dead in the water yep yeah cowboys

at least have some offense to them their defense still sucks i don't care if they just got uh that that kid from the the jets on their interior they're focused so bad there's focus so much on run defense that they forget that rushing the passers a little more important which i don't know what to say at this point about Jerry Jones what a freaking what a freaking joke all right um

we usually talk about this off air but we usually we record this in two parts do we want to go over the are we going over the Patriots we go over all the games why not why can't we go over Thursday night just because our Pats fans doesn't mean we have to do this we're going to break down the game

after it happens as is usual you can't rot the boat here. I would be really upset because, like, Pat's on prime time. That's all. Yeah, we can save it for later, dude. All right, all right, all right.

Even though they're playing the Jets and it's probably, they're probably going to blow doors. If it's an upset, then it'll be worth talking about it. And I'm, if it's an upset, I'm going to just nuke my house from orbit, like live on air. So that's just the way things are. Yeah. If the Jets somehow, some way, win.

No, Garrett, Wilson that too yeah no and they they traded away their only good corner so um and their corner two's out as well their corner two is out yeah all right guys we'll talk about that next this is this is the fumble rusky podcast i've 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 Fumble Ruski podcast by Power 88

and Secret Weapon Consulting. I'm Adam Wright with Chris Costich, C.J. Medeiros, fellas, New England Patriots for Thursday night football. They have won 27 to 14. Nice one. Ooh. Yeah. In the most unbiased way possible, we're going to cover this segment, even though we have our biases.

But listen, so the Patriots allowed a touchdown on their opening drive. Yet again, this has been a theme for them. Their defenses start out slow, and then they tighten up as the game goes on. The Patriots, they responded right back. and they scored two touchdowns in the second quarter. They scored another one in the third to make a 21 to 7. Jets got another touchdown, but Patriots answered with a field goal of their own. Final score, 27 to 14.

Yeah, Drake May, 73% of his passes he completed tonight. He had another nice game. 281 passing yards he had a touchdown as well did not turn the ball over um he moves back into first in the MVP race that race is skin tight to those who uh to those who follow it um he's right right barely ahead by about 10 points uh in the betting odds according to draft kings uh Chris, your thoughts. Can't be mad about Pat's win, if you're a Pat's fan. Definitely would have like to,

obviously there was some drives where, you know, you would have to have seen some points on the board, aka the end of the first half, and then, of course, going to three now to start the second half. Other than that, I thought it was a good win. I mean, playing the Jets. Wasn't too worried about it, to be honest. What'll also like to have seen us put up 30?

But Lord, man, like Drake may. Drake May Drake May okay but yeah that's that's all I got CJ you know

I know it wasn't the sexiest when all this fans wanted but when you take consideration that it was a divisional game on Thursday night football Pats were banged up from that Tampa game you know Rayble even said you know you burn the right to be tired

so yeah obviously it wasn't going to be a sees we all wanted but at the end of the day you know drake may's out there making plays you would like see it capitalized more but like i said you certain facts a divisional matchup on thursday night you can't really ask for a whole lot more Drake may keep showing flashes you know some really good uh passes there you know he had a beautiful deep ball to hollins the defense got a lucky hand on but you know it's neither here nor there he had he did remember the thing remember that play made against the bill and Yeah, whatever, you said.

So was the tip that you also said was a lucky play. No, yeah. You got a hand on it. Hoover could just put their hand up there. But that's not why we're here. What I was going to say, though, remember that play against the bills? There was a guy, like, right on his neck,

and he just flipped it out to Diggs. Yeah. For a first time, he did it again. He just, like, did that again. Yeah, it was a nice play. Like, he kind of flipped it. It almost was, like, like, two-handed. He just, like, pushed it over.

basketball almost like two defenders who are swatting at the ball that also i want to point out uh travion henderson rookie out of the ohio state university with a hat trick two rushing touchdowns and a receiving that's that's just good cook and all in all good road win you know milton williams got banged up hopefully his pats and he's okay but uh you know you've got a good long time to rest. All right. I promise I'd be as unbiased as possible, and I'm going to keep that promise. So they did have, they do have probably the easiest schedule in all of football.

That's just a fact. However, there's a difference between what you were asked to do and what you were capable of doing. They've been, they've been blowing out these teams, all of these bad teams, they've been beating him in the way that you're supposed to beat them if you're a good team. He's, look, look, you can only play who's on your schedule. That being said, the Patriots are also three and one this season against teams 500 or better. So they are kind of battle tested. They're beating the teams that you would want the good teams that you would want them to beat

in order for us to sort of put them to the test and have them pass those. Now, I've had a, and I'm going to segue this into our 400 episode, a little talk here, and which is that the Patriots have, there have always been, I have said, three factors, three very important factors to lasting success in the NFL. You have the elite quarterback, you have the coach, and you have a functional offensive line. Not elite, not a great offensive line, not even a good offensive line, functional. You're in, you're out, just invest in that offensive line to make sure that you keep the quarterback on his feet. The Patriots have all three of those. And your head coach, he's currently calling the shots in the front office and prioritizes those trenches. So you can pretty much bet on it that is,

long as Drake May makes the right decisions with the football, that he's going to be safe for years to come. You have a defensive-minded head coach who also gets out of the way on the offensive side of the ball and a very good offensive coordinator in Josh McDaniels. This is the recipe for lasting success. And that brings me into our 400 episodes. So as you guys know, as I mentioned in our, when we, uh, introduced our up, this episode today. Um, this is 400 for us, December 9th, 2020. So that's coming up very soon, our five year anniversary. 400 episodes ago. The Patriots were just completing what was a seven and nine season with washed up Cam Newton and Bill Belichick into his first full season in over, in 20 years without

Tom Brady. 400 episodes ago, you had Tom Brady leaving the New England Patriots going to the Tampa Bay Buccaneers to put up a pro-bow caliber season. 40 touchdowns in back-to-back years and won a Super Bowl in his first year without you. 400 episodes that we had to cover where the Patriots were no longer on top and in fact even became the laughing stock of the NFL. 400 episodes ago, we had to watch the Patriots fall down to the cellars, pretty much.

And you watched Bill Belichick tank this entire team, get fired, go to UNC, where he also sucks. You had to tank for a quarterback where you got lucky that you just, you struck gold on. 400 episodes where we had, where us as devoted Patriots fans running a blanket podcast, had to put on a face and be passionate towards other teams besides our own. 400 episodes that we have endured that. And now we are sitting here 400 episodes later.

The Patriots are 9 and 2. They currently sit right now. as the number one seat in football, the New England Patriots are back. And for us to be sitting here, having endured, I understand it's only five years. I get it. I know a lot of other fan bases have gone through more.

But us, us personally, we love football so much that we are willing to talk about other teams in a very passionate way, while also suffering through the losses of our favorite team. We have endured that. Most people just turn the TV off and they never watch football again until they're good again.

We had to keep talking about it. And that was a very difficult thing for us to do. So here we are. We sat through all of these episodes. I think that's something for us to be proud of. We continued talking about football, even as our favorite football team, was one of the worst teams in the entire league. for years

and karma has rewarded us couldn't have done it without you guys and thank you all for sticking around for those of you who have been listening throughout the years for those who have been following our podcast watching our reels

looking at our funny memes that we put up keeping up with our news posts um again the bounces have not been going the patriots way for all of these years and it feels just poetic that on our final segment of our 400th episode that the patriots move to nine and two they move into the number one seed your quarterback is a leading MVP candidate your coach is the leading coach of the year candidate and i mean right now the AFC's wide open. They have a really strong chance. I'm not going to sit here and be biased and try to say they're going to win it all.

They're going to win the Super Bowl. Drake May is going to win MVP. Mike Vrable, coach of the year. But they have a strong chance at it. And as we have sat here, I think we deserve to be able to say, as we have sat here, have been unbiased towards other teams, have been covering this entire blanket NFL podcast in an unbiased manner. We deserve to sit here in an unbiased manner, say,

Drake May is the leading MVP candidate right now. Vrable is the leading coach of the year candidate and the New England Patriots are leading the pack in the AFC and have a very strong chance to win the Super Bowl this year. That feels great after all of these years of covering it. So, thank you guys. um now uh chris cj you guys have anything else to say before we end the show today i love drake may that's all i love drake may all right that'll be it oh come on i was just going to say you were going to start talking no no i i was deferring to

chris but uh for me i also i i love drink may uh it's been great doing with you guys i mean And, hell, I remember, you know, we've come a long way from saying, oh, the QB controversy with Matt Jones and Bailey Zapi. Oh, when you have two quarterbacks, you have none. Well, guess what? We got one now. I can't go another 400 strong. Let's keep it up, gang. Yeah.

I mean, I completely forgot about the zappy situation. Good Lord. Yeah, that was gross. Oh, and one more thing for real this time. remember when they said there was a QB controversy in New England between Joe Milton and Drake May? No one said that.

Anyone who said that wasn't any fake headlines they do? It's like, oh yeah, you go comments saying, oh, Joe Milton might be him. Yeah. Well, I got two words for you. Drake May. Yeah. All right.

We're going to end the show here. That'll do it for us tonight. Thank you for listening to us. We have new episodes. out on Tuesdays at 7.30 p.m. Eastern Standard Time and Fridays at 5. We also have all our episodes available on Spotify, Sprecker, Apple Podcasts, IHeartRadio, Google Podcasts, and so much more. Also, be sure to follow our Instagram at Fumble Ruski underscore podcast to keep up with our podcast with the latest coverage of the NFL. Otherwise, we'll see you next week. Over and out.