The Fumblerooski Podcast - Turning the Tide -Ep 227 The Fumblerooski Podcast

Episode Date: December 12, 2023

Was Mahomes' outburst yesterday about more than just Sunday's game? Are things different this year in Dallas? What is wrong with the Lions lately? Adam Wright, Chris Costich, and CJ Medeiros debate these topics and more!

the Bills beat the Chiefs causing some theatrics on Kansas City's sideline the Cowboys defeated the Eagles causing some speculation is this their year the Lions lose yet again and this one to the Bears this is the fumble ruski podcast here's edelman broken up and the pass is no sign yet edelman comes down with a football they're saying it's a catch. It's caught! It's a touchdown! Unbelievable! Swings it way down the field to Watkins!

Sammy Watkins for the touchdown! welcome back to the fumble ruski podcast i'm adam right with cj medeiros and chris kostich this is uh week we are recapping week 14 and this is about as eventful a week as I have seen in my recent memory with covering the league. So I teased some of the topics that we are going to do today, but there are some that we won't be able to touch on quite as much that are just unbelievable stories. First of all, the Jaguars, they lost to the Browns 27-31. Yet another win for the Browns with a backup quarterback. And Trevor Lawrence doesn't look like the same guy coming off that high ankle sprain.

The Texans got their crap beat in by the Jets. And don't look now, but the Texans are starting to get a little injury prone. They lost another wide receiver this week. And things might be starting to get a little injury prone. They lost another wide receiver this week, and things might be starting to fall apart on that end. The Ravens, 37-31. They win in a thriller over the Rams. I told you guys on Friday, this looks like a trap game, and it was this close to being that.

Unbelievable game by these two teams. We're also going to cover the Lions losing another game to the bears 28 to 13. It wasn't close, which makes it even more troubling for a team that we thought was going to be a Superbowl contender. Cowboys. This could be their year,

man. This could be it. On top of that, we are going to, we're going to go with what we're going to start with today, which is the Bills beating the Chiefs 20-17. So the way – it's not the fact that they lost, which is a story in itself. It's the way it happened.

So the Bills, first of all, they almost shut, they almost shut out the chiefs 14 to nothing until the very end of the fourth quarter, which is something that is very unheard of. The chiefs did pick it up and they did, they did take the, uh, they almost, uh, they did tie it in the fourth quarter. However, uh, the, the bills came out on top but again it's how it happened so it was the very last drive of the game and in an in a miraculous in a miraculous play so it was a it was a first down to to uh travis kelsey kelsey laterals it to cadareous tony and tony runs it in for the touchdown it was called back because upon further review you can on the replay you can clearly see this uh tony was off sides now the dispute has not been whether or not he was offsides. It has been that typically, over our league's history, the ref would give you a warning and say,

you're offsides, get onsides real quick. There was no warning. However, they have started to crack down on it. It's been called 12 times this year, meaning that there is some changes being made now. They're not giving you warnings. They're expecting you to line up on sides. So they did make the call. It was called back. The Bills ended up winning. And the way the Chiefs responded to it. So Patrick Mahomes went off on the sidelines immediately following this call. And that's not the issue. The issue came where during the immediate postgame when all the players were on the field, when all the players were on the field, he went up to Josh Allen, and he was still complaining to him.

Instead of congratulating him, he did hug him. He did dap him up. Instead of congratulating him, he continued to complain about it. And then during the post-game press conference he complained about it even more saying admitting that it was a penalty by the way but also saying that they shouldn't have called it which is i think we can all agree uh just because you want to call to a penalty to not be called doesn't mean that it shouldn't be called. On top of that, so Andy Reid did admit, he said, yeah, Kadarius Tony did not check with the referee

before that he was offsides. He did not ask. Kadarius Tony has not said anything either. He has not made a comment about this, which should speak volumes, by the way. But I just wanted to get you guys' thoughts on it. Chris, why don't you start us off? What the hell happened today on Sunday night? Just the Chiefs got a taste of their own medicine. They just forgot how to act, apparently. Look, and there was people in the comments section that was saying, oh, I played football.

The ref was supposed to. I played football too. And if you played football, you know that as a quarterback, every single time that we went up to the line, the receivers were going up and throwing a thumbs up saying, hey, am I good? And it's not the ref's job to tell you if you're good or not. You have to ask them if you're good.

They're not, they don't tell the D lineman if they're lined up offsides to take a step back or two, and they're not going to do the same thing for you if as a receiver, unless you ask him. So yeah, Andy Reed, the thing with Andy Reed is that he did that.

He was critical of the refs on Sunday, but yesterday he did say that Kadarius Toney needs to check with the official. And that's the main thing is that Kadarius Toney once again screwed up and seems to have Mahomes. As much as Mahomes has been very uncritical of his receivers this year, this was the game that he really should have been critical towards them, especially with Kadarius Tony screw up um i think it it's cj said this the other night too if this was any other quarterback they'd be getting put through the ringer like like no other and if we're supposed to be putting mah homes in Brady in the same

conversation, like there was a clip that I just saw from, uh, the 2019 season from when the Patriots and the chiefs played. That was when the, that was the Nikhil Harry stepping, stepping out of bounds game when he didn't step out of bounds. And Brady was asked about it.

And Brady said, yeah, you know, well, it's a tough call, but at the end of the day, you shouldn't be putting yourself into that situation where you're down by three and you need a drive to,

to score a touchdown or a field goal to tie slash win the game. You shouldn't be putting yourselves in that position to begin with where you end up getting screwed up, screwed over down the line. And at at that point you get screwed over how do you respond after that more times than not teams that are on the wrong end of it do lose but it's how you respond after that and the chiefs didn't respond well yeah listen they didn't respond well at all and i so i'll give mahomes and read this we have never seen anything like this from them in the time that these two have been have been paired together we have not seen this so i will i'll get i'm

gonna give mahomes the pass for this because he was obviously uh caught up in the heat of the moment and he said everything that he said. I hope he responds well to this, and I do hope that he comes out and owns up to all of this because, I mean, you have to – if you agree or disagree with the call, that's one thing. The way you react to it is another. So if he could just come out and say, listen, sorry I acted the way I did. I'm highly competitive.

In the heat of the moment, I said all the things that I said. Um, I still disagree with the call, but the way I responded, there's no excuse for that. That would be great. We'll see if, or if he says nothing, that's fine too. I think actions speak louder than words too. But, um, the, what I think we're getting, we're, we're getting on Mahomes a little too much now to the point where he's a baby. He's always been this way. He's a sore loser. He's never done this before.

So I think we can take a little step back and pump the brakes because the way he acted, he never does this. In fact, most of the time he's a good sport about things so i will give him that and that's what i mean is that he like even with all the bad play from the receivers and whatnot he still kept his mouth shut about the receiver play and saying hey you, we just got to play better in general. He never really one day lash out like that until Sunday. So he's for all we know, for all we know it's probably the frustration of his receiver sucking this

entire season, all pets up and finally just came out on that Sunday evening. There's, there's a strong possibility of that because, I mean, he has been in a tough position. And I do think a lot of it has to do with his contract. His contract is so big that they can't invest in big-time wide receivers. That's the reason Tyreek Hill was out.

That's the reason they couldn't give him anything better than Juju Smith-Schuster. And, I mean, there's the issue. Like, I mean, you, you've got to be able to, to surround your, your superstar with some talent. Tom Brady was able to get around, get, uh, to get away with it for some time with not being surrounded, surrounded by talent, but eventually he was even out out he was even out the door so you got to surround your superstar with some talent i know travis kelsey is an elite tight end but you got to give him more than that that's not enough adam may i say something sure why thank you

honestly the reason people are going so hard in my home is because he's never done this before Sure. Why, thank you. Honestly, the reason people are going so hard on Mahomes is because he's never done this before. And it's not Mahomes himself that bothers me. It's just it was the way he was carrying himself. It was the way that he continued to pout. And if you listen to his reaction, the excuse that the ref should tell the receiver is a flimsy one because, I'm sorry, if you are a grown man playing this sport, which you are paid millions of dollars for, and you have to rely on a referee to tell you whether or not you're off sides, then you may as well hang up the cleats and retire right now. And let me tell you something. It's not just Mahomes' reaction. It's Andy Reid's reaction, who called that penalty, and I quote,

a bit embarrassing for the league and how Reid said in the postgame presser that, once again, the ref should have told Tony. Well, Andy, I have news for you. You love cheeseburgers. Maybe you should shove a cheeseburger in your mouth before you say another stupid thing and waste some of our brain cells. Because let me tell you something. You're a coach.

You're supposed to be the adult in the room. And the fact that you gave in to this is sad. Furthermore, I want to touch on what Chris Kostic mentioned because he's correct. The number of offensive offsides penalties have jumped this year because the refs aren't there to baby you. They're there to enforce the rules. And the worst part about all this is the fans, the Chiefs fans. They've reacted with three Ds, deflection, delusion, and denial. And look, you've seen it, and they're parroting the same excuse but here's where the deflection part comes in they're like well tom brady always got a pass for acting this way when

brady did it it was passionate it's like first of all the nfl media is so on mahomes's side because whenever brady did something like that he'd get called a cry baby he'd get called out and if anything mahomes i think just from a media standpoint has gotten off fairly easily. Then there's just the delusion. And here's something for you. Ready for this? NFL Hall of Famer Warren Sapp went viral for saying, oh, he actually wasn't offsides. There's a handful of Chiefs fans and a handful of sports folk that are saying, Oh, look at this angle. He was totally not off sides. Give me a break chiefs. Shut up, take the L and move on. What I hear most is actually the not whether or not he was off sides. It was number one, the ref didn't let him, let him go. The refs didn't let him let it go, or they didn't, they didn't, um, they didn't let it go or they didn't let Tony know.

It was also the other thing. The very next play, they claimed that Von Miller was offsides. Warren Sapp also debunked that because you can, first of all, you can make a case Von Miller doesn't even pass the blue line. Second of all, the blue line is actually very inaccurate. If you look at the angle of the play, the blue line is one spot, and then a half yard back, the ball is there. So you can't look at the blue line.

People keep on forgetting. That blue line is not official. It's from some kid from CBS who's working graphics that day. It's not official. Broadcasters literally have to remind people that those lines are not official. The first down marker is not official. The freaking target line isn't official. The line of scrimmage is not official.

Nothing's official. Everything's on the field. You hear it routinely. Remember, folks, this line is not official. Whatever is official is on the field you hear it you hear it routinely remember folks this line is not official whatever whatever is official is on the field but they keep they keep going with look at the line look at the line don't look at the line look at the ball and also i just um going on i lost my train of thought, but, uh, um, yeah, I think something that we should say though is props to the bills because it looks like they were dead in the water a couple of weeks ago. fire Ken Dorsey and it seems that it's worked out for them Josh Allen has granted he had an interception he still had a couple turnovers here and there but the way that this Bill's offense

has been moving the ball around has been a lot better than what we saw during that cold stretch that they were on yeah um and I I did I did uh I do remember what I was going to say. I do not think the media has been kind to Mahomes during these past few days. I just don't think so. And I don't think the fans have either. Have you seen that on our reel that we posted? No, no, no, I have. I didn't say the fans, but I said the media has. I mean, they've said a few things, but it's nothing to the level,

especially when the fans have mentioned how they're like, they would give brady a pass there is nothing in history to even justify saying that it's not true and on all mentioned what i said too about how if this was purdy or alan or hertz or lamar they they would get dragged through the ringer i actually think my home's getting a pretty light from a media standpoint fans not so much it's been all over espn they've been go they've been coming at my homes whether you think it's it would be worse better or worse than other players that's one thing but there's my homes is certainly getting getting his an earful for what he's what he has been doing and i hope he responds to it i hope he responds either by

uh by his actions or by his words and saying look sorry got it things got things got out of hand i i'll do better next time and then the actions of course as well all right i want to move on we have to get to this cowboys game because it does not get talked about enough. The Cowboys have now beaten the Eagles in three of their last four matchups. This one wasn't close. 33 to 13. We're going to get to that next. And if possibly, the Cowboys have grown a little bit into an actual contender this year. How are things different? We'll talk about that next. This is the Fumble Rooski Podcast. No sign yet. Hamilton comes down with a football. They're saying it's a catch. It's a catch.

What? It's a catch. Sideline. Touchdown. Unbelievable. Swings it way down the field to Watkins. Sammy Watkins for the touchdown. Welcome back to the Fumble Rooski podcast. Adam Wright, Chris Kostich, CJ Medeiros.

Okay, so the Cowboys on Sunday Night Football put an absolute beat down on the Eagles 33 to 13. This was an absolute beat down. So as I mentioned before this show, uh, or at least before the segment, um, the Cowboys have had the Eagles number, and that's something that doesn't get talked about enough out of their last four matchups. Actually out of their last five, three of their last four of their last five and the one that they lost Dak Prescott through still through for 374 yards, three touchdowns, and they very near nearly won that game as well.

So they have been cruising through these Eagles, through these Eagles teams over the past couple of years. So when you look at that and also the way that the, the Cowboys at home absolutely demolished them. And also by the way, took over the NFC East lead. Are things different now, Chris, I'll let you start off. They're definitely different. You kidding me? I mean, the,

the big thing with Dak Prescott obviously is his turnovers. That's one of his main criticisms, right? But you look at how he's played this year. He's only thrown three interceptions once. And now is in that, that, that disastrous game against San Francisco.

Other than that, he has not thrown a multiple interception game at all this year. He's now four games in a row where he hasn't thrown an interception. The last one that he threw was against the Giants, where they won 49-17, and it didn't even matter because he threw for over 400 yards and four touchdowns. It's he's got 11 touchdown passes in the last four games. He's got to be an MVP candidate at this point.

Defense has shown up and CD lamb is playing out of his mind. He's just unstoppable right now. It's kind of unreal last. So last five games for Dak 15 touchdowns one interception almost 1500 yards and a near 70 completion percentage like I'm not a big Dak guy but it's hard to say it's not a level stats man it's not I can't say that I I have to say he's an MVP candidate I can't say that he's not it to say he's an MVP candidate. I can't say that he's not. It's like, I'd like to see it be a non quarterback this year.

This would definitely be the year to do it. But if you're going to give it to a quarterback, it's gotta be Dak. But in general, I'm looking at the Eagle side real quick, man, you got back to back weeks now where you got embarrassed on national TV by now debatably the two best teams in the NFC.

And we're talking about how conservative they've been focusing more on the run game and whatnot. And that's why I heard the stats passing wiser down, but it finally caught up to him. That second and that secondary as well has been suspect. So suspect the last however many weeks and they've been exposed on back-to-back weeks. And this is supposed to also be one of the,

a really good defensive line and they're barely doing anything. Yeah. They got three sacks, but in general, they're not really doing a whole lot cj oh boy the cowboys ain't that something i honest to god i did not think they were legit but last night was a statement win it was and dac Prescott I saw as the leader of the MVP ladder. Although I, like Chris Kostic, think it should probably go to either Chris McCaffrey or Tyree Kill. But if it is going to be a quarterback, it should be Dak.

And anything else is probably just Cowboys hatred. And I'm not known to defend them. But I will admit that credit needs to be given where credit is due. That wide receiver duo of CeeD. Lamb and Brandon Cooks is great. Tony Pollard's a darn good running back. Dak is playing the best football ever. And that defense led by Micah Parsons, Trayvon Days, and Stephon Gilmore, oh man, it's putting the clamps on people. And they are the best team in the NFC East, and it's showing. And even though, just from a talent standpoint, Philly might have a bit of an edge, it's starting to look like that talent might solely be on paper.

I mean, it sucks to say, you know, because I don't think really anyone outside of Dallas likes the Cowboys, but it's true. And for Philly, real quick, I do want to address something that I said last episode. So remember what I said, and I've also said this to Adam and Chris and Tuck and so on off camera, about my streak snap theory well oh well it's two straight weeks philly and you've been punched in the mouth in prime time not once but twice so now what you were running your mouth you got like i said you got smacked by the niners and you just got smacked by your division rival in the Cowboys. Things are falling apart there. And like I said, when you get punched in the mouth,

and now when it happens again, this might be a mentality question. It really might be. They're starting to hemorrhage games a bit. You know what I mean? And if you lose and you can't stop the bleeding, like from a mentality standpoint, that is a worrisome place for your team and i want to ask this off the top of your head does anyone know billy's schedule uh i got it up right here oh thank you so who do they play next uh they play seattle next week which i want to, I want to bring up a stat.

I want to bring up a stat. Sure. Bring up a stat. Bring up a stat. I'm going to say Eagles are going to win next week. And this is based off of, I mentioned this to you guys before. Um, the teams, the week after playing the 49ers are 1-11 this year, and that includes the Eagles' loss last week.

Well, well, well. So, yeah, Philly is going to need a bounce-back game soon. But, so after the Seahawks, you got the Giants twice and the Cardinals. So, yeah, from a talent standpoint, if you're a Philly fan, there is no reason you should lose any of those games. Even if you lose one, I won't say it's panic time. I might have to raise an eyebrow at you. But Dallas, I think Dallas is heating up at the right time

because for the best bit of my time here, let's take a look at their schedule. Up next, they have the Bills who are coming off a statement win against the Chiefs. time because for the best bit of my time here let's take a look at their schedule up next they have the bills who are coming off a statement win against the chiefs then you've got the high fly miami dolphins who may or may not be frogs that's a story for another day you have the lions who need a reset of their own and then you have the commanders who are just the commanders so you've got two really tough games, potentially three really tough games coming up. Well, Dallas, now's your chance to put all the haters to bed once and for all. My other thing I want to point out with Dallas,

they've been incredible at home. There's no ifs, ands, buts about it. They're 7-0 at home right now, and they'll probably be 8-0 maybe. Their last home game is against the Lions, Week 17. and 0 at home right now and they'll probably be 8 and 0 maybe uh their lap they don't have their last home game is against the lions week 17 um primetime game as well uh seeing how the lions are playing that might be a cowboys win so we could see the cowboys going to 8 and 0 my problem potentially is going to be how they do on the road. Three of the next four are on the road, and they are putting up significantly less points than they do at home on the road.

And they're also giving up more points on average than they are getting points on the road compared to at home. So that is probably going to be my one concern. So they better hope to God that they can strength that the 49ers lose a game or two. Or maybe a game and the Cowboys went out so they can get that one seed so they don't have to worry about playing on the road. But that's that's just me. I think the biggest difference with the Cowboys this year is that they have an actual shutdown corner,

not just a corner who's a ball hawk, right? They have Darren Bland, which is great. He's kind of their new Trevon Diggs who's out with an ACL tear. Well, Darren Bland, sure, he's got all these interceptions and pick sixes, but he gets fucking beat. That's my point. That happened to Trayvon Diggs before. You've got Stephon Gilmore who can erase wide receivers,

and you have Darren Bland who can create the turnovers. They're a great pairing. And when you have those two, and then on top of that, past the secondary, you also have a front seven that's among the best in the league at getting to the quarterback. That's a very good combination that is going to serve you well during the playoffs. Because in the past, they've had good secondaries. They've had solid secondaries. had a corner who could shut guys down where if the quarterback isn't getting sacked or being rushed then they're going to have a field day uh getting to all these corners because the corners aren't

good at actually covering you they just create turnovers and it's harder to create turnovers if the quarterback isn't rushed so i think that's a big difference and also on the offensive side they have a better passing game than they have in a long time. CeeDee Lamb is coming into his own. And also, Brandon Cooks, who has postseason experience, is showing that he's not what he used to be, but he's still a productive wide receiver too. And they're leaning on that passing game. Biggest point of them all.

They're leaning on the passing game rather than trying to get the running game going with Ezekiel Elliott, who's now gone. And Tony Pollard isn't a bell cow back. He's a good back. He's a solid back, but not good enough so that they can center their whole offense around him. That's a good thing, actually, because now they have turned into a pass first offense. They actually lean on CD lamb and Brandon cooks and Jalen Ferguson, which is a huge, huge plus. That's something that they have not done. They should not have been run first for all these years. They should have been a passing, a passing offense. They are finally doing that. And that is that and that is why that is why i said all off season things could be different on this show i have said it all off season things could be different they have really

restructured this team i got laughed off set every single time who's laughing now who is laughing now 10 and 3 baby how about them Cowboys? Yeah, whatever. I will say this. Well, I guess a broken clock is right twice. Yeah. Never mind. I thought I had something, and then I couldn't find where it was. All right.

No, you should run for Senate. Okay. no you should run for senate uh okay i was gonna say something about how uh looking at past teams with a top five offense and top five defense because that's what the cowboys are right now in terms of yard or uh in terms of points scored or actually oh i did just have it one i'm such an idiot uh the last team having a top five offense and top ten defense or top five offense and top five defense in terms of points scored,

I will say this, hasn't been the greatest thing in the world. There's only been two teams with a top five offense and top five defense in the last ten years that have won the Super Bowl, and that was the 2016 Patriots and the 2017 Eagles. So it's,

so if you're thinking of a Cowboys Superbowl win, maybe pump the brakes a little bit, but it's not, it's not like it's out of the realm of pop. And I'm not going to say that anymore because I keep screwing it up. It's not like it's out of the realm of pop. And I'm not going to say that anymore because I keep screwing it up. It's, it's not entirely impossible for the Cowboys to win the Superbowl, but history says otherwise.

All right. We'll see how it goes. This is, this is going to be an interesting post season. A lot of new teams in the, in the, in the race, a lot of teams that are better than they have in the, in the post season in the past than in the past. Um, but we're going to move on,

going to go onto the lions who are facing a little bit of a cold streak and may not be as great as we thought they were thought they are this year, but could that give them some repercussions down the road? This is the Fumble Rooski Podcast. And the pass is no sign yet. Hamilton comes down with a football. They're saying it's a catch. It's a pass. To Gates.

Sideline. Touchdown. Unbelievable. Swings it way down the field. The one catch. Sammy Watt gets for the touchdown! Welcome back to the Fumble Rooski Podcast. Adam Wright, Chris Kostich, CJ Medeiros. Okay, we go from one upset to another.

And this one was also a division rival game, kind of like the NFC East, but at least the Cowboys are a really good team. The Lions here lost 13-28 to the Chicago Bears, and they were, they up until yesterday, or the other day day were in contention for a top five pick. They still are because of the Panthers pick, but we're not counting that right now because this one, they actually have control over the one that they actually have. They're now five and eight. So they kind of hurt themselves there, but they did beat their division rival Detroit lions who are now nine and four. And they, this is a team that now they've lost two of their last three. And the, the past two

games that they've actually won, we're not against good teams and they were all one score games. They had to claw their way out of it. So we are, we were really, really mistaken about this lions team. It looks like maybe they prove us wrong again. Maybe they turn, they, they flip the switch and post come post season time. They blow doors with every team right now. It does. It looks horrible. And we were, we were very much mistaken about how good this team really is, but I wanted to get you guys' thoughts on it. CJ, I'll let you go first. All right.

I don't want to say it, but from a roster standpoint, nothing looks terribly wrong. I mean, their injury report isn't loaded i mean they haven't really their roster has been roughly the same for a bit i mean i know they lost cj gardner johnson earlier in the year but unless i'm forgetting something it's like so i don't know i feel like this might be coaching not gonna lie to you because they they're doing an opposite. Remember how last year they started out abysmally, then they really started heating up? This year, they started out hot, and now they're just fizzling out. And part of me wonders if the Lions peaked too early.

Because here's the thing. Once you reach that level of dynamic excellence, it is incredibly hard to maintain. And once you reach the top, there's nowhere else to go but down. And I keep mentioning how if you get punched in the mouth, you gotta pick yourself up by the bootstraps and keep going. But if you ask me, this team hasn't been right since Baltimore, where they rolled up to Baltimore and the Ravens blew their doors off by 32 points. You bounce back with a nice, albeit unconvincing, win against the Raiders. You had a nice, albeit once again unconvincing, win in a shootout

against the chargers you had a one once again another one score game against the bears where you snatch victory from the jaws of defeat you lost to the packers what was that on thanksgiving yeah the thanksgiving curse is real then you beat the lowly New Orleans Saints. By one score. By one score. And the Bears just got revenge. So here's the thing. How many times have I said this on this show this season?

There is a difference between a win and a convincing win. And I keep saying it because it's true. Yeah, you got one in the win column, but there's some strings attached. There's questions. And right now, you're looking mighty vulnerable. And here's the thing. Now, there's going to be a Saturday football game on the 16th because that's where Saturday football creeps in for some reason.

It always does late in the year. I don't know. I don't hate it. I was going on a side tangent, but I don't hate it. Tweets their own. But the way I see it, you're going to be hosting the Denver Broncos, who themselves are eyeing a playoff spot. You're going to have the Vikings at home, who the Vikings are going to be starting Nick Mullins this week. It's a game you should win, but hey, Adam's mentioned trap games before, and he's correct. Then you will venture to

Jerry Land to face the Dallas Cowboys, which that is going to be scary. And then you're going to be hosting the Vikings. So these games are technically winnable. It's going to be a tall order. But if you go two and two, you might have just run out of steam. My big problem here is the defense for the Lions. I mean, obviously, there's problems on the offensive side of the ball. I feel like Jared Goff. There's turnovers. Jared Goff also just seems like he's holding on on the offensive side of the ball. I feel like Jared Goff, there's turnovers.

Jared Goff also just seems like he's holding on to the ball a little too long at times. But defensively, you look at the last five, four of the last five, the Lions have given up 28 points or more against some pretty bad offenses. Chargers, yeah, they have weapons. But the only reason why the Lions even won that game is because the Chargers defense sucks. The Bears, they led 26 points to Justin Fields.

Packers, they led 29 points. The Saints, I don't know how you led up 28 points to the Saints in general to Derek freaking Carr. And the Bears last week, they gave up 28 points. And so that's my big concern with the lions. And if they, I think they had the Broncos next week. I feel like that's going to be more of a slug it out type of game.

It's not going to be as high scoring because the Broncos offense still is like, they haven't completely figured it out. They're still finding their way. So I think that's still going to be more of a slug it out type of game with how good the Broncos defense has been. Yeah. But if they lose that game, they're in trouble.

They're already a little bit in trouble, but I said this last week, if they lose one or two games in this stretch, and this is probably to the Bears game, they lose one or two games, then we will have to probably say that this Lions team is in trouble. I mean, I think they're in trouble already. And I honestly think it goes down, it comes down to the quarterback. I mean,

it feels like every other, it feels like every other game now he's throwing multiple interceptions and that's not, that's not offensive play calling. That's just bad quarterback play. And I did like Pat. I did like Jared Goff going into this year. I thought, yes, he needs a lot of help, but he has that help. And he's already proven that he can get to a Super Bowl with all of these elements around him, the coaching, the offense, the running game, the offensive line. He's had all of those things and he's still not doing well. That's not on anything else but the quarterback. So I think we were just mistaken, or maybe I was just mistaken, on Jared Goff. I thought he could be better than he actually has been with weapons around him, and he just hasn't been. He's not even a Pro Bowl-level

quarterback, let alone an All-Pro quarterback or any just Super Bowl-winning quarterback in general. He's made it to one, but it looks like that was just a flash in the pan. Yeah, I mean, Jared Goff was, everyone was saying MVP candidate for Jared Goff halfway through the season, and now we're in the second half of the season, and he hasn't lived up to those claims. It's probably the best way you can really look at it right there. Yeah.

Looking at – let's look at his stats from the last five because, yeah, stats from the last five games. What the hell? Okay. 1,275 yards, nine touchdowns, five interceptions. It doesn't say I can't see anything about fumbles, but sixty four and a half completion percentage. Where's it? Oh, now it's giving me career stats. That's great. That's not what I want. But yeah.

But that goes to the point that you're saying, Adam, that it feels like that he's just throwing multiple picks time and time again and yes the quarterback play has not been there at all he has 10 on the year on top of other things of course which is with still four games left in the season not good yeah i mean 10 that's that's just pushing it also i'm pretty sure you can find the fumble statistics in uh in rushing stats just a heads up if that's what you were looking for no i i know it's i i know he's i know there was one game where he lost three fumbles so we know he's had an issue with those kinds of turnovers too this year. So the guy's just turning the ball over like it's nobody's business, and he shouldn't be doing that because he's supposed to be

a game-managing quarterback who has decent arm talent and can manage the ball well, who can take care of it. He's done anything but that lately, which is a huge problem and it's killing this team. All right. I want to move on. We're going to get to Chris's top three, bottom three for week 14 and also the fan box. Who is your offensive player of the year? That's next. This is the Fumble Rooski podcast. Welcome back to the Fumble Rooski Podcast. Adam Wright, Chris Kostich, CJ Medeiros. We have reached our Week 14 Top 3, Bottom 3 by Chris Kostich.

Chris, take it away. Start with the Top 3. Sorry to do something similar to last week with putting two teams on here, but I'm just going to do a whole game in general. Ravens versus Rams. Both offenses just performing at a high level despite the bad weather. And obviously you mentioned this before, Adam. It just poor, poor weather.

Ground was awful. rain basically the whole game and somehow both teams were able to put up 30 plus points uh on top of that Puka Nakua probably the catch of the year candidate right there uh moving on Browns uh Here's a stat. Joe Flacco is now 12-1 in Cleveland. Even past his prime and playing as a backup, that guy is still owning him. Joe Flacco is elite. He's elite. Probably not elite right

now, but man. They wanted your argument, buddy. Oh, geez. A former president said he was elite. Said he has a ring, he has the arm to back it up. And that's the thing, is that Joe Flacco shows up when it matters most, and that's what you need from a guy like Joe Flacco. And I think that, I don't know if we should expect more like that

from what we saw last week, but it could be enough to get him to a playoff push he's on there he's on their practice squad now they should the Patriots should look at signing him to there with the way their quarterback position is played yeah um well Joe Flacco's starting the rest of the season so wasn't he just put on the practice squad? No, I saw reports. The fans, he's having him start the rest of the season. Huh?

Maybe something changed. Yeah. Just continue. Well, he got raised from the practice squad prior to last week, or I'm going to have to, yeah. Adam fact check me for that.

Bears going to round out the top three with the Bears. The defense has been very underrated this recent stretch. You'll look at the game against the Lions per se. The D-line in general, especially the running game, granted they did give up 140 yards on the ground, but they got four sacks on Jared Go goff it's a very underrated defense and with those potential top two top five picks they could end up being pretty good next year depending on how they play around with the draft leave it to you too i don't know what you go first you can make a case for either of the two top teams uh

for for the rams and the ravens because especially like you didn't bring you brought up this point and i didn't think about it it was in bad weather and it was played like it was a good weather game like it was a dome like we like it was a domed like we were playing in a dome or something uh matthews the the both of the quarterbacks combined through for six touchdown passes and over 600 passing yards like they actually killed it kyron williams 114 yards cooper cup flashing his 2021 self, 115 yards and one touchdown. He can clearly coexist with Puka Nakua, who came into his own with 84 yards himself. I mean, this was an unbelievable game. Now, this had some playoff implications for both sides, so you can't really call it a

moral victory for the Rams Rams and the Ravens definitely still needed to win this game because they need to keep pace uh with that number one seed in the AFC that remains competitive but that was I mean this this game I have no complaints I was watching this game and I was I don't think I've been so entertained in a football game this all season. Yeah, and to kind of piggyback off that, just the fact that the Rams offense was able to just perform to the level that they performed against the Ravens defense, which is a top five defense in the league this year, and for how much the Rams offense has struggled,

especially in the last five games. So this is definitely a, I would say a Sean McVay masterclass game from him, despite the loss and in a very entertaining way to end the game as well with the punt return for a touchdown to end it. Yep. Chris. Yeah. CJ,

you know, something we were talking about the draft earlier, and I do want to expand on that because you mentioned how they have a pick and stuff. This is going to be the first time since Jared Goff's selection that the Los Angeles Rams are going to have a first-round pick. Imagine what they can do with it. They've got a few needs to fill up, and if they hit on this,

they could very well land the next start because I have all the confidence in their gm let's need i do i mean considering that he picked up puka nakua and kyron williams in the late rounds like geez what can you do with this loaded draft class man it's possible i mean it seems like they're making a playoff push, so this isn't going to be an early first-round pick, but just the fact that they have a first-round pick for the first time since the year 2016, almost eight years ago, that's just insane to me.

Yeah, that's all the thoughts I have for top three, though. How funny would it be if we all end up eating crow because they traded again? Oof. Damn. Unironically, that'll be funny. Unironically, that would be very, very funny.

They really hate first round picks. CJ, you got anything else you want to add before we go to the bottom? Nope. Bottom three. Keeping the same vibes uh vikings versus raiders somehow was worse than the chargers versus patriots game granted both teams actually did move the ball compared to the chargers patriots game a little bit but in terms of what the final score was being three, it's a baseball score, a hockey score. It's not, it's a high scoring hockey score is what that is. Yeah.

On one side, by the way. Yeah. Uh, but Josh Dobbs run is officially over Nick Mullins is going to be the start of the rest of the way. Now he's back off of IR and Josh Dobbs' run is officially over. Nick Mullins is going to be the starter the rest of the way. Now he's back off of IR. And Josh Dobbs, in general, just had such a poor game to end as well. And it started with that Bears-Money Knight game as well. And Josh Dobbs, this past week, granted, he did get sacked five times, but he went 10 for 23, 63 yards. Jefferson's gone again too with a qbr of 17.7 and as you mentioned adam jettis is gone uh we'll get away from that catastrophe uh dolphins they had a 14 point lead with four minutes left in the game. And they blew it. To the Titans.

They blew it. I think it was less too. Less than four. Less than four. Two minutes. Regardless. And the Dolphins got held to 13 points through three quarters. Against an abysmal Titans defense. Let's not get that.

Let's not forget about that. And Tyree Kill also being hurt for most of that game I don't care because now your whole offense should be good enough where Tyree Kill shouldn't matter but that also just shows you how much Tyree Kill means to that offense because their play calling in general just it is so much different when Tyree Kill isn't on the field. And you even saw on their last possession too, every time that Tyree Kill was not on the field, they're basically running the ball and the Titans on the Dolphins,

well, it was the Dolphins' second-to-last drive when they were trying to kill Clock. The Dolphins were just running it out and the titans were just selling out and the dolphins just continued to not have tyree kill on the field have them out there as uh as a decoy for all i care you got to do something to help yourself out help yourself out on the run game for all i care yeah yeah um Last but not least, the Eagles. You got embarrassed. Back-to-back weeks now on national TV. Last week to the best team in the NFL, debatably.

And this week to your biggest rival. That's all I got. Oh, man. Thoughts from you fellas thoughts on the on the list that you put out uh the dolphins the biggest winner of this game was not the titans it was tyreek hill in his mvp case as soon as that guy left the field the dolphins were a completely different football team and just imagine if the chiefs had a wide receiver like that i think the chiefs with tyreek hill would be legendary pairing him up with tyreek

hill too bad it never happened yeah and the titans themselves could have been a top three candidate as well in this game in general was definitely a game of the week candidate in terms of the titans making their big comeback and will levis 327 yards he only got sacked once and adam you let you were pointing this out earlier too this streak of the dolphins losing they give up three or more sacks dolphins gave up five sacks last night yep the only losses that the dolphins have this year are games where they they have allowed three or more sacks tua cannot win when he's on his ass that is just no he can't no that's just canon i also want to say that uh this game also kind of kicked me in the nuts because I was well on my way to winning in fantasy. Raheem Mostert had just gone in his second touchdown

in my flex spot on my roster. Two touchdowns, 96 yards from him. He now has 18 touchdowns this year total, which is insane to think about for Raheem Mostert. But I was up 10 going into that last drive and my buddy had Derek Henry and D-Hop and D-Hop makes a 40-50 yard play and Derek Henry caps it off with the touchdown, and I lose. Yeah. Can I give you a couple other – In one nut.

Yeah. Can I give you a couple – I want to give you a couple other candidates who could have made the bottom three because – Yeah, no, that's the other thing I wanted to say was that there was a lot of teams that probably could have been put on the bottom three, and the bottom three is very much top three too, is both top and bottom three. There was a lot of candidates for this.

Because this was such a crazy week. I mean, just like even the things that we haven't even talked about yet. And I wanted to get to another one, the Texans for reasons that you really can't control, look like they're falling apart. They lost 30-6 to the Jets. C.J. Stroud, for once, actually looked like a rookie quarterback. And you can see the reason why. Tank Dell's out for the year. You just lost Nico Collins in that game. Dalton Schultz wasn't active. So you were literally leaning on Noah Brown, a career wide receiver

three, if that. And I mean, no one can succeed with that. Like we said with Mahomes, there's doing more with less, and then there's being asked to do more, to do something with absolutely nothing. And what he, what Stroud has right now is nothing. And they may not make the playoffs anymore because of this. I don't think I'm exaggerating when I say that. Also, the Jaguars losing to a backup. The Browns, now they had a great performance. They deserve their spot in the top three, but the Jaguars might make a case for us to a spot in the bottom three. I mean, Trevor Lawrence did not look the same. He threw for three interceptions. He threw for three touchdowns, but three picks is three picks. He doesn't look like the same guy. And this was supposed to be the Jaguars coming out year. It doesn't look like that because now their franchise quarterback is playing hurt and they also don't look like that because now their franchise quarterback is playing hurt and they also don't look like the offense they should be yeah yeah i would say oh sorry cj you

can go i was gonna say i have one little suggestion for bottom three and honestly i like yours i'm just saying it's someone that we could have given a look to. The Steelers. Wait, just hear me out. A supposedly elite defense. You got three touchdowns put on your head by Bailey Zappi. Really? My only counterpoint. Hold on, hold on.

I'm not saying you better put them there. It's just saying just some food for thought. I'm not saying put them there it's just saying just some food for thought I'm not debating it's all it's all good in the metaphorical hood but it's not that you lost it's all you lost to Bailey Zappi it's that we were told Matt Canada is the problem and And outside of one fluke game where he left, I got some news for you. You haven't been doing much winning. And you could say, oh, but we only lost because we didn't have Kenny Pickett. Okay. Your offense wasn't even doing things with Kenny Pickett. And I will stand on business to tell you that kenny pickett was not going to

save you in that game what are you cj stroud my that's just a phrase that the kids are saying but i mean i'm just saying like for the steelers you're still in the same rut without matt canada and now the question is well what, what's really the issue? And I'll say it's the quarterback. I've always hated the idea that there's always an issue. I heard somebody said, somebody told me, because I said that Matt Jones wasn't the problem, wasn't the only problem, and that Matt Patricia deserves a lot of the blame from 2022.

And now that the Patriots are still playing bad, they said, oh, well, now I'm right, Adam, because they still suck, and so it wasn't Patricia. I said, well, no. There can be multiple issues. And I still don't think it's all Mac Jones. Right? So even if they do discover another problem with the Steelers, this Steelers

team, that doesn't mean it's the only one. Maybe George Pickens has a really bad attitude. Maybe Najee Harris sucks at running the ball. And he was, he's one of the great running back busts in recent memory. Maybe Kenny Pickett is like not a very good quarterback and those tiny hands are actually getting to him uh maybe this defense isn't as good as we thought and also maybe they're not uh maybe they're still not playing joey porter jr as much as they should be there's a million things that could that could be the issue well i this is the issue what's the issue what's the issue maybe there's more than one

yes chris my counterpoint to this so i have two counterpoints one for the steelers and one for the jaguars um actually never mind on the jaguars because what i was going to say is that the browns defense is a really good defense and so there's a reason to not have the Jaguars on here, but they were also missing Myles Garrett, I think, for all of, if not most, of that game, but you're probably going to have to fact-check me on that. But my counterpoint for the Steelers, though, is that they were also beat up on the defensive end,

and they had Mitchell Trubisky as their quarterback you're not going to get a lot done with Trubisky as your quarterback in general and yeah you shouldn't in general that Steelers defense shouldn't have let up 21 points the past to begin with considering that they had only scored what like nine ten points in four games prior that but i think that's that's also something to think about as well yeah and that's exactly my point like there could be a million different problems and there could be only one problem we just don't know and i always hate the argument like what is the issue as if there be only one problem. We just don't know. And I always hate the argument, like, what is the issue, as if there's only one and you can just fix a team just based off the issue.

Like Patrick Mahone, excuse me, like Matt Patricia was the issue. There could be multiple issues. How about the offensive line that was terrible? How about the offensive line that I second time I've mentioned that. How about the wide receiver core? That was terrible. How about the fact that they got nothing out of Johnnie Smith? How about their drafting?

Their drafting is pretty bad. You can't always name just one issue. That's such a simplistic way of thinking that, like, what's the issue? Like, there's only one. Like, it's a puzzle we have to find you have to you know there's not always just one issue there's there could be a there could be a multitude of things that's that are going on but there's my tech talk for the day i do want to move on um because we are up against the clock fan box uh Uh, this year, uh, this week it was, who is your offensive player of the year? So every Monday we post a question on our, uh, on our Instagram story every week.

And you guys can respond with hot takes questions and more, and give you a shout out on our podcast, respond to next week's fan box question to be featured on our show. So as, as I mentioned, question of the week was who is your offensive player of the year so far? Um, and we got heavy, heavy Tyreek Hill responses, but we got some others and we'll start with, uh, Tim, uh, Timmy Kong, who said Brock Purdy for Offensive Player of the Year. You can make a case for that. And he's in the MVP talks. So when you're in the MVP conversation as a quarterback, you're automatically in the Offensive Player of the Year conversation as well.

So Brock Purdy's a good one and i believe he's one of one of if not the leading uh uh wide uh quarterbacks and touchdown passes correct i think i actually think it's dak prescott but jack prescott is the leader um yeah but purdy is like i want to say he's like top three top five let me let me fact check to you guys on that all right in the meantime adam yeah um dj rajan he's number three oh he's number three so he's all tied for second but it'll be fine dj rajan said tyreek hill i feel this is going to be a theme and again like like i said during chris's top three bottom three the biggest winner from that dolphins game was not the titans it was tyreek hill improving his importance to any team he leaves the chiefs they automatically

fall out as one of the best offenses in all of football. Not automatically because they had a pretty good year the next year with Juju Smith-Schuster, but we won't get into that rabbit hole. On top of that, now you can see what Tua is like with and without Tyreek Hill. It's unbelievable. If there is a year where is a year where a non quarterback wins MVP, it's Tyree kill. And if he doesn't at least win offensive player of the year, then there's something wrong with the voting because this guy is killing it right now. Um, all right. Gabe Compton said Dak Prescott, a guy who might actually end up winning MVP and he'll be okay with not winning offensive player of the year. Because I mean, we can honestly make a case that these, these two

categories go hand in hand and they just don't give it to the same player. They don't give it to the same player because they don't want to give the same player two awards that's basically it yeah um and i believe i'd have to i don't have the stats or the information in front of me maybe it's happened before where a player has won both but i'm sure the league doesn't want to do that because they want to spread it out a little more um all right Our next one is Christian McCaffrey. What's up? I want to fact check you on the Offense Player of the Year and MVP. Yes.

Just looking on stat use. One of the last players to do it was Peyton Manning in 2013 for that record breaking season that he had, which is deserve, which is deservedly. So that was an unbelievable season. But why didn't Patrick Mahomes get it in 2018? Who threw 50 touchdowns? Adrian Peterson also did both. Brady did it twice. lt uh sean alexander but those those years were more spread out right and those were also very historic years for those players right so like adrian peterson was he he broke 2 000 yards so so he won MVP. But when you break 2,000 yards, you have to get offensive player of the year too.

Same with LT. I mean, didn't he have 28 touchdowns? 28 touchdowns, 2,300 rushing yards, or excuse me, 2,300 yards total. And even like most of these guys too, you look at sean alexander he had 1800 rushing yards uh marshall falk was another one that did it and uh craziest thing for him is that most like yeah most of his yards were on the ground but uh he also had 830 receiving yards too which got him to 2200 in general ter. Terrell Davis, another one, Barry Sanders, but TD and Barry both had 2K rushing yards.

So if, yeah, Tyree Kill would have to still be on his 2,000-yard pace for him to win both if we were to make that case. Same thing with Dak. Right. Dak would have to have a historic season for him to win both. Right. And Tom Brady got – he broke the touchdown record with 50 touchdown passes.

So he gets it. That's the other thing about – so like 2007, yeah, he broke the record for touchdown passes. But 2010 is kind of this weird, like outlier year, right? So he. Yeah, that's true. Why is Jesus Christ? So Brady in 2010 had 4,300 yards, 28 touch, 36 touchdowns and four interceptions.

Or excuse me, 3,900 yards, 36 touchdowns and four interceptions or actually excuse me 3,900 yards 36 touchdowns and four interceptions not necessarily a historic year but it was a fantastic year in terms of obviously the touchdown interception ratio but he wasn't breaking any records so that's kind of the one little weird outlier of it all yeah um so, our next response was Ian Mulhern, who said Christian McCaffrey and McCaffrey, this, and you can make a case with a lot of the, the toys that Brock Purdy has in that San Francisco offense. I mean, it has been electric the way all of them have played. Brandon, Iuke, uh, George K kittle debo samuel they are and when you see that they are off the field any of them are off of the field brock purdy doesn't play the same way

so you're seeing i mean you're you are seeing a play these each one of these players are pretty valuable to this team which is is kind of the original, you know, the original purpose of MVP was never meant to be for the best player, the best performing guy, the guy who's most valuable to your team, which would be what Christian McCaffrey is. I mean, without McCaffrey, you don't have that safety blanket to pass underneath or to just hand the ball off to.

Yes, Chris? Another thing to point out for McCaffrey, he scored a touchdown in 10 of 12 games played this year. How do you like that? And there is a historic statistic which could be cause to say, well, MVP and Off player of the year. Besides the 2010 season for Tom Brady.

17 touchdowns total this year for him as well. Yeah. And I'll also say, you could have made a case for Tom Brady for MVP in 11 and 12 too. Because he just had inflated statistics in the early 2010s, um, late two thousands, but we won't, we won't, again, we won't go down that rabbit hole. Um, yeah, I mean, this guy, yeah, he's on pace for 1500 yards and he plays a big, he has a, he plays a big he has a he plays a big role in the uh in the passing game as well so he's this guy's a swiss army knife um yeah but if i were gonna if i were to name my offensive player of the year i definitely think it has to be tyree kill like there's no re there's no reason you should he

shouldn't win it if he gets 2 000 yards that's something that we've never seen before from a wide receiver even if we have 15 17 games which is i understand i understand it's going to be a little bit a little bit uh inflated but didn't calvin johnson who is the previous owner of the record didn't he win offensive player of the year didn't cooper cop also do it yeah well yeah that's true so if he he should he should win this award yep um even if he doesn't get 2k yards all right any other thoughts before we end the show tonight uh nope no i i had there was a couple other things. Dolphins just signed Melvin Ingram. Free agent Melvin Ingram.

That would be great. That was like, you know, six years ago. Some Steelers news, NFL and NFLPA have been jointly reviewing the situation surrounding the Steelers star TJ Watt and how and when he entered the NFL's concussion protocol watt reported symptoms friday morning now and now is in uh protocol um so we'll see how that plays out um but that's basically the only other story uh oh devin duvernay uh on IR as well for the Ravens. That's basically it for news for today.

This was just a big, crazy, unbelievable week. Just so many things. And I'm sure there's stuff when we get off air where we're just going to be like, damn, we didn't even talk about that. For example, Jake Browning actually might be a pretty good quarterback, and the Bengals are still in contention. All right, do it for us and herbert and herbert officially on ir that too jesus so much stuff thank you for listening to us we have new episodes out on tuesdays at 7 30 p.m eastern standard time and 5 p.m eastern standard time on Fridays. Be sure to subscribe to our YouTube channel.

Check out our, our tick talk at fumble Ruski pod. We have all our episodes on Spotify, Spreaker, Apple podcasts, I heart radio, Google podcasts, and so much more.

Also be sure to follow our Instagram at fumble Ruski underscore podcast to keep up with our podcasts and latest coverage on the NFL. Otherwise we'll see you next week over and out.