The Fumblerooski Podcast - Who Wants It Less? -Ep 310 The Fumblerooski Podcast

Episode Date: November 13, 2024

What is the reason behind poor quality of play in 2024? Bears organization to blame for Caleb Williams' regression? Are the Patriots on the right track in their rebuild? Adam Wright and CJ Medeiros debate these topics and more!

we are going to investigate the league quality of play being down and what is behind it, as well as checking in on the rookies yet again at quarterbacks for 2024. The Lions beating the Texans in about as ugly a game as it can possibly get, where we thought it would be one of the best ones. And that is all next. This is the Fumble Rooski Podcast. It may not have always showed it in the stat sheet, but you can see him making throws when he needs to make the throws.

Back-to-back games where he has three touchdowns. Someone's got to get that six or seven spot. He's an elite wide receiver as a rookie. Truly a lose-lose scenario for both sides welcome to the fumble ruski podcast by power 88 and secret weapon consulting i'm adam right with cj medeiros we have a great show planned for you guys today and what was an ugly week of football. This was just, I mean, this has been trending throughout social media and just throughout NFL fandom football this week was not good. And we can look at, we can look at overall some of these games, especially the Sunday slate, or rather the 4 p.m. slate.

It was not a good week of football, even in the 1 p.m. games. We had Giants-Panthers that was what you would expect. The Broncos and the Chiefs was an ugly one, where, of course, the Chiefs just came out on top with Taylor Swift's black magic or something happening i don't know what they're doing out there but if they don't if anybody within that organization suggests they stop doing it fire them because whatever they're doing is working uh you have the steelers and commanders which was I mean kind of ugly uh this was a big one it was all right but um I just knew the Commanders were going to get punched in the mouth at some

point I just it's it's no it's no shade towards the Commanders it's just that they haven't faced much competition um they're a good playoff team with a bright future ahead of them and the organization is good and young and it seems like they have sort of a new beginning that is going on but at some point they were going to have some team that was good on defense and could score some points on offense that would just punch him in the mouth, which is what the Steelers exactly did. I pointed it out before the show, before this week. I said, this Steelers team matches up very well against the Commanders. Commanders don't have a good defense, and they have a rookie quarterback.

Very good recipe for success for the Steelers. Doesn't mean the Command commanders aren't having a bad season it just means they were bound to hit a speed bump at some point and this just happened to be that week uh yeah overall really bad play there was another one the Vikings and the Jaguars this was a brutal one and I've been pointing out pointing out that Sam Darnold has been slowly but surely looking like his old self in the worst way possible, but here it is. 24 for 38, 241 yards.

Here's the kicker. Three interceptions. Three picks. Mack Jones was the starter instead of Trevor Lawrence lawrence who is now we've found out out for the season and i gotta say the patriots made the right choice they're making they're looking better and better as an organization for moving on from it but they're also looking worse and worse for even thinking of taking him with the 15th overall pick in 2021 too three turnovers two of those were interceptions and all of them were in the last quarter of the game absolutely brutal i mean

i've been i've been rooting for mac jones to play better football and to show that he can be a functional quarterback in this league but the long the more he plays the worse it gets i mean it's it's not looking good for him no um but a a one a one score a one score game in the worst way possible 12 to 7 and the vikings won off of four field goals what the hell is that just shameful man that's just terrible and for sam donald with the weapons that he's working with we know what sam donald's been over the course of his career even if he is just what he has been before this season you should not get what you're getting here because you have justin jeff Jefferson, TJ Hawkinson is back. You have Jordan Addison. You have an offensive line that is the best that Darnold has ever

worked with. And you have a good defense for him to work with as well. This, there is no excuse for not being able to score over an entire game facing the Jaguars defense, which is one of the worst defenses in the league. Absolutely pitiful. Pitiful. True. Yeah. It's just insane how bad that game was. But I wanted to get into a couple of statistics here.

Also, I pointed out before we started the show, for the Lions and the Texans, this was also another bad game that we'll get into soon, but combined between Jared Goff and C.J. Stroud, two quarterbacks who we thought could have been MVP candidates before the season started, combined seven interceptions in this game. This is about as bad as it gets don't mind doug in the background doing whatever he's doing my mirror's audience he's a lab retriever mix who's who loves to play and i'm home alone right now um i'm dog sitting right now. But yeah, listen.

Hang on, Doug. All right. But I wanted to get into a couple of these statistics. So a big issue is a lack of balance on most of these teams. First of all, the only teams, there's only four teams in the league that are balanced, that are top 10 in the league in scoring offense and scoring defense. That is the Detroit Lions, the Buffalo Bills, the Philadelphia Eagles, and the Minnesota Vikings.

Those four teams are the only teams that have any sort of balance that you can see on a statistical chart. And if you think about it, so looking at the top 10 teams in just defense, the LA Chargers, the Pittsburgh Steelers, the Denver Broncos, the Kansas City Chiefs, the Chicago Bears, and the New York Jets. Those are all teams that are top 10 in defense, but not top 10 in offense.

Top 10 in just offense are the Baltimore Ravens, the Tampa Bay Buccaneers, although that probably won't last very long since they're top two targets, and Baker Mayfield is working overtime over there. The Washington Commanders, the Cincinnati Bengals, the San Francisco 49ers. So this is a major balance issue, and there are so many teams that are deeply flawed, that are competitive, that it becomes a problem in when

you look at this in the rest of the league league quality play is down and you can clearly see by the way that these teams are built that it just doesn't it it's just not looking good for this for the league right now uh give me a second dog um and checking back in on the top 10 teams on both sides the most balanced teams in the league the detroit lions the buffalo bills the philadelphia e, and the Minnesota Vikings. They are also top 10 in total turnovers committed on offense. So, CJ, you can clearly see that. It is clearly shown in the stat sheet that quality play in the league is way down this year.

Yeah, you're right. And like you mentioned, only four of these teams are in the top 10 in offense and defense. That's just shameful, man, I tell you. And that shows a very dangerous trend. How a bunch of these teams that are really great on offense or defense are objectively awful on the other side of the ball. And that's just not conducive to good football. It's really not. And I will do you one better. We could look at offensive and defensive rankings, but I like to look at something a bit more easy for the average Joe to grasp. Not saying it's tough for me to grasp, I'm just saying how this might resonate with a lot more people. I am, of course, referring to records.

Abbott and I were crunching the numbers before the show started, and get this, as of right now, as we are recording on November 12th of 2024, 11 out of the 32 teams have three or less wins. That is god awful. And for those of you crunching the numbers at home, there's fewer wins. Good Lord, that is terrible. And I'm going to break it down for you real quick. The Miami Dolphins are 3-6. The New York Jets and New England Patriots are 3-7. The Las Vegas Raiders are 2 and seven. The Cleveland Browns are also two and seven. The Jaguars are two and eight. The Titans are two and seven. The Cowboys are three and six. The Giants are two and eight. And the Saints and the Panthers are both three and seven. Oh my God. The floor of the league has dipped so far down into the earth that the devil himself has said, nah, buddy, this is too far. And guess what? My fellow football

fans, it gets so much worse than that because are you ready for this, kids? Are you sitting down? Over half of the league has a record below 500. 17 out of the 32 teams, for those who keep track at home, half of the league would be 16. So 17 out of the 32 teams have a record below 500. When half the league is statistically worse than average, we have a record below 500. When half the league is statistically worse than average,

we have a problem. And that quality of play has directly translated to the overall record. Oh, good God. It's just not pretty. This has just been terrible. Just by all metrics, this has just been an awful season. And even still, a lot of these other teams are just middling. And I'm just trying to put this into words.

For example, the NFC South, the best team is the 6-4 Falcons. And do we fancy Atlanta a Super Bowl contender? Unless you're our good friend Robert Shelley, the answer is no. And look at the rest of that division. The Bucs are 4-6, and the Saints and the Panthers, as mentioned earlier, are 3-7. Garbage. Or look at the AFC, for example. garbage or look at the AFC for example so look at the AFC East you got the Bills super they're eight and two then the Dolphins are three

and six and the Pats and the Jets are both three and seven just god awful and the AFC South the Texans are six and four I mean it's I mean that's solid but we're all a little disappointed in them aren't we adam we're a little not enthused by houston right i don't even houston managed to force detroit to he they their quarterback was through five interceptions and somehow they still lost so exactly so houston which forced five interceptions is and lost you know they're now six and four and the rest of their division isn't even above 500 so how many like legitimate teams are there and i mean really legitimate because there are some teams, looking at you, Kansas City, and especially Pittsburgh, where your record is very, very, very deceiving.

I mean, at barest of minimum, the Chiefs have Patrick Mahomes. The Steelers will probably once again be another one-and-done team in the playoffs. Like I said, so we can look at teams that are ranked top 10 offense and defense, but when you look at the records, it's getting that much worse. Yeah. And you can see that it's just, it all comes down to the way that these teams were built. And it seems that there's also been a culture that has been established of if your team isn't currently one of the league favorites to be in contention, then you're a bottom-dwelling team. Every team is fishing for that number one quarterback who's going to just bring them to the promised land, which I understand to an extent. But if everyone's doing it, then everyone's going to be

bad. So at what point do you, do you sit there and think the future is now let's go and win now, instead of going out there and trying to, um, trying to tank for a draft pick and basically playing for April rather than February. I mean, that becomes a huge problem. And the teams that are in contention are not really built that well, right? Like we said, only four teams in the entire league are top 10 in both offense and defense. Yeah, one of those teams might not even be there for that much longer, right? Yeah, I mean, the Vikings looked terrible this past this past week i mean their defense still looks good but how much do you trust sam darnold to be the quarterback to take you to the playoffs at this at this rate

you don't you don't and my point, if you are on a team that – or if you are a fan of a team that has playoff aspirations, and even if you make the playoffs but your starting quarterback is Sam Darnold, I would say stock the liquor cabinet now because only pain awaits you in the future. Yeah. Yeah. All right. I think we've touched on this quite enough um yep since my dog basically ruined the segment oh it'll be fine just take a salt pad it'll be good all right next we're going

to check in on the rookies for this draft class. Six quarterbacks taken with the first 12 picks. Kind of see how that is going because for a couple, it's looking good. For others, things are going south real fast. That's next. This is the Fumble Rooski Podcast. It may not have always showed it in the stat sheet, but you can see him making throws when he needs to make the throws back-to-back games where he has three touchdowns someone's got to

get that six or seven spot he's an elite wide receiver as a rookie truly a lose-lose scenario for both sides welcome back to the fumble ruski podcast by Power 88 and Secret Weapon Consulting. I'm Adam Wright with CJ Medeiros. So rookie quarterback play has been interesting this year. Right out of the gates, it was looking awesome. And for some of these quarterbacks, it still is looking good. But let's look at Caleb Williams in the past few games because it has not been pretty overall. I mean, this kid, there was, I cited a stretch of time.

It was a three game stretch where he threw seven touchdowns to just one pick and he was getting better and better and better by the week. And we're thinking, holy crap, the bears finally found their guy. But overall in the last three games, since then he's thrown zero touchdown passes he hasn't turned the ball over but his completion percentage has been barely at 50 barely and it's not like he hasn't been throwing the ball much they've been trusting him to huck it all over the place. And this past game against New England, he threw it 30 times, 41 attempts against Arizona

and 24 against Washington. You lost all three games and one can argue that Caleb Williams was a big reason why they lost. On top of that, during that stretch of time, Caleb Williams has been sacked a total of 18 times during that stretch, nine in this past game, six in the game before that against the Cardinals, three against Washington. And it's not like these are some elite front sevens they're facing. These are just like the Cardinals are okay. They're fine.

Washington is not a good defense at all. He was supposed to destroy that defense, and the Patriots have been nothing to write home about. So what the hell is going on? Another sub point to put out. There was a stat put out that over this past game against new england 34 snaps caleb williams took six seconds or more to get the ball out most there's a lot of players who don't even do that during

the entirety of their careers he did that in one game how did that in one game. How did that even happen? And this is the second year in a row where a Bears quarterback has had that issue where they're holding onto the ball too long. Last year, Justin Fields, according to NextGenStats, held the ball for, on average, 3.3 seconds. That's the most of any quarterback in the entire league last year. And on top of that, their total pocket time was 2.7 seconds, which was the most

time that a team has, has allowed the quarterback, um, to have a clean pocket on average. So how could you possibly blame this on the offensive line if two different quarterbacks have had trouble holding onto the ball for way too long? What I look at is the organization that hasn't developed a 4,000 yard passer in their entire existence. This is the one of the most historic franchises in all of league history. And somehow, somehow you haven't developed a competent quarterback in that time. And you've drafted three different quarterbacks in the first round, every single one of them has had the same issue. So I look at coaching, and not just in a scheming way,

but in a developmental way. How have you been this bad that you haven't been able to develop a single quarterback who has been competent while basically fishing for draft picks in the first round i mean this is getting absolutely dreadful i look at the bears and i mean it's early i still think caleb williams has promised he showed some tremendous abilities earlier on in the season but there's no doubt he is getting worse as the season goes on. And I put that on the organization.

You know, it's true. And you could blame the offensive line. I mean, it has been pretty substandard. But I just, that excuse can only carry you so far. Because he's holding, like Adam said, he's holding onto the ball for way too long. And there is a stat, Adam would know it better than I would. What are you doing? You just ate the rubber ducky.

Well, you know, it'll be fine. You know, put a Band-Aid on it. It'll be fine. But, oh, my God. it'll be fine you know put a band-aid on it it'll be fine but oh my god there was a stat that i think adam told me about how caleb williams was at least in this most recent game when she played against the new england patriots holding onto the ball like on multiple occasions for about six seconds add up to uh regurgitate that for the crowd por favor i'm sorry about that stat you told me about caleb williams against new england about all like the multiple occasions which he held on to the ball for six or more seconds 34 different

snaps where he held the ball for six or more seconds i figured it was 34 i didn't want to misquote you but yeah yeah and we on this podcast have said on numerous occasions that one of the biggest sins of old justin fields was that he held on to the ball for too long and it's true he does and he continued to do it in pitts Pittsburgh for what it's worth. But now we get to see Caleb Williams do it. So this is not a Caleb Williams thing. This is not a Justin Fields thing. This is a Bears thing. And if you did watch the past Bears game, if you listened closely with the right set of ears, you could hear the Bears fans chanting fire floos, which is a shortened version of Matt Eberflus, for those of you who possibly don't get it. So yeah. And we have also said on this podcast that the Bears need to fire Matt Eberflus even more than Adam needs to take out his dog right now,

which he's currently doing. He didn't hear me say that. Oh, yeah, I think he heard me. Probably through the headphones, but that's okay. But, oh my God, Matt Eberflus needs to be fired. But the Bears will proceed to do literally everything but that because this broke this morning that the Bears just fired their offensive coordinator, Shane Waldron. Too little, too late. I mean, everyone who's a Seahawks fan would tell you that Shane Waldron is the offensive equivalent of stage four cancer. So the Bears, if you even love Calebs half as much as you claim to this offseason matt eberflus has got to go because he can't develop may bring in an offensive-minded

guy because uh you know i'm pretty sure eberflus was a defensive coordinator for the colts so yeah maybe bring in someone who's offensive- manager just a thought just a thought yeah so here's the exact here's the exact stat this was a tweet from mike reese who cited it brendan schuler said the patriots looked at 34 snaps in which caleb williams had the ball for six seconds or longer. And he cited, Shuler said, that alone is a crazy stat that some quarterbacks don't even hit in a career. He said, noting his role was to ensure Williams didn't get out of the pocket. So essentially, you have two different quarterbacks, two different styles of play caleb was regarded as a pocket

passer who can scan the field much better than fields could and now somehow he has the exact same problems fields did why is this happening i mean obviously it's the organization like you have to point to the organization at this point Mitch Trubisky was never he was considered a deep ball player he was regarded as a prospect in the same way that Josh Allen was regarded a gunslinger quarterback who could also scramble who was able to to be able to scan the fields in a very effective way. And somehow they messed him up. You messed up Justin Fields. And now here we are,

we're looking at Caleb Williams and it's happening again. I mean, we just can't, we can't continue with this. Something has to change. And it's looking like history is repeating itself yet again um i won't let's but let's just move on to another quarterback perhaps because this topic is only going to give us an aneurysm the longer we think about it i mean it really is

like it's it takes skill to you almost have to try to be this bad at developing quarterbacks. I didn't understand it before. I didn't understand it before. CJ, to your credit, you always point out Patrick Mahomes, if he was drafted to the Bears, like everyone suggested, the Bears should have drafted him too. You pointed out if Patrick Mahomes was drafted to the Bears, he would have a lot of the same issues.

And I thought you were crazy for the longest time. I'm at the point where I kind of agree with you. Like even a, even a historically great quarterback like Patrick Mahomes, anyone who's a young kid, who's trying to develop in this organization, they're going to be met with failure. Would now would patrick

mahomes look like mitch trubisky or justin fields probably he'd probably be okay he would be that one quarterback who would be like he has great raw abilities he looks good but he has a bad organization or and maybe he gets hurt at some point, and we're just thinking of it as one of the great what-ifs. What if he was drafted to a better organization? You have to think at this point, most of the great quarterbacks today, if they were drafted to the Bears, I can't even see them being good for this Bears team. It looks that bad. You probably not know.

And it's just the real damning part is that he has weapons. He has DJ Moore. He has Keenan Allen. They drafted Roma Dunze for him. And their running back, DeAndre Swift, has been great this season. The line, at least on paper, looks more solid, and the defense has been beefed up. So when it comes to the Bears organization,

I'm only going to say this once. There is a cultural rot, and something's got to change. Maybe the McCaskey should sell the team. That's probably what it should be. But other than that, I just, I don't know. Like the Bears just seem cursed. And like I mentioned, never had a 4,000-yard passer. Just ridiculous.

Yeah. Looking at the rest of these rookies, one other point from this week I wanted to bring up is, and I kind of alluded to this when we were talking, when we introduced the last segment, talking about the Jaguars, what a great decision the Patriots made by drafting Drake May and moving on from Mac Jones. I mean, it was kind of a no brainer at the,

at eventually, but I mean it's night and day looking at drake may on a team with nothing to work with versus the jaguars who actually have a few weapons for joe mac jones to throw to i mean mac jones like i said he turned the ball over three times and all three of them happened in crunch time in the fourth quarter when they were down a possession and trying to come back. The whole thing was just ridiculous. On the other end, Drake May, while he hasn't wowed you with the statistics entirely, he's working well with the position that he has. And I've always preached a quarterback who's been able to do more with

less. And that's exactly what Drake May has done. It's what he did in UNC, you point out to your credit. Yeah. Yeah. I mean, his offensive line at UNC was terrible. His senior year, his wide receiver one was Devontae Walker. And only one player on that entire UNC defense linebacker, Cedric Gray was drafted. I mean, including Drake may only three people from UNC got drafted last year. And they also had no running game to speak of. So he literally had to put the whole program on his shoulders and it's

looking like he can do the same to some extent in the league. Obviously, it's a different animal, but it's a good sign. And May has at least made plays, right, with the Patriots. And he is showing flashes, obviously, once they beef up the roster more. Because I've said this before new england on paper solely on paper has got to be the worst roster in the league like really no blue chip talent to speak of no star power like just a bunch of guys they found together but the fact they have three wins is nuts to me thus far and there's a chance they could snag one or two more

at the end of the year but or by the end of the year. But, yeah, so my question is, if you put Caleb Williams in this situation, does he perform like May? Obviously, honestly, probably not. I don't know. Because we just got done talking about a Bears organization that has been so bad at developing quarterbacks that it almost looks like they're trying to screw it up for them.

If you put Caleb Williams on this Patriots team, if you have Alex Van Pelt instead of Shane Waldron... That's not really a step. That's probably a lateral step, if anything, if I'm being real. Well, I see it more of a step forward, but just not in a good way. The way I look at it, yes, Alex Van Pelt was probably – I don't like Alex Van Pelt. I don't think he's right for this team.

But he's at least – what I give him credit for is at least developing Drake May. Because I don't think we ever saw coach. We never saw, we never saw Drake may being as good as he is this early on. We thought he was a project. We thought that he had some footwork to work on. And it turns out that he's gotten, he got better over training camp over preseason during the weeks that he was

sitting from weeks one through five. And he actually kind of looks like a quarterback where if he had more weapons around him, they could be a playoff contender right now. He actually looks that far along. And I give Van Pelt a little credit on that. But that doesn't mean Van Pelt is a good coordinator by any stretch of the imagination

what i'm saying is it goes from negative points with waldron to like maybe plus one or just back to zero with van pelt it's just it's that bad over in chicago that if williams was there i think things are a lot better because i think kale, I still think Caleb Williams is a really good prospect. I'm not, I'm not moving. I'm not, I'm not budging on that, but I just think the bears are that bad at developing quarterbacks that they

almost, they, they screw up. Can't miss prospects. And I, again, I still believe that Caleb is a can't miss prospect. It's just that the bears somehow missed him.

And I look at, I look at it like that. Um, other quarterbacks to note, Bo Nix continues to play very stable football and it sucks because there has been so many storylines among amongst all the other rookie quarterbacks this year that Bo Nix has become an afterthought but this kid has actually played very very good football so far he's thrown 10 touchdowns to six picks um in his last game I mean he threw no touchdowns to one interceptions. But that one game against Carolina, 284, three touchdowns. I know it's Carolina, but that's still pretty good. And overall, he's going to be – I was going to say, one of the things about being a quarterback,

when it comes to especially the principle of walking before you can run, is that you've got to beat teams you're supposed to before you can run is that you gotta beat teams. You're supposed to be at the barest minimum, right? Yep. So that's, that's a good sign. Yeah.

Overall. He's been a good, he's been pretty decent. I'm not saying he can play. I'm just saying that so far he looks so much better than we thought he would. And he's much further along than we thought he would in, in year one. And it's not like the, it's not like the Broncos have a good organization

that they're working with. Overall, this team is not all that good. They've had their own issues with developing quarterbacks outside of John Elway. And they had a – I mean, they brought in – they had Patrick – they had Peyton Manning fall on their laps for that, for that three year, uh, for that, what, for that, what four year window at the end of his career, but that's it. They, they did. Other than that, they really haven't had much or yeah, four years. Other than

that, they really haven't been had much to work with as far as quarterback play, which, again, I put on the organization. They haven't developed much. Also, looking at Jaden Daniels, you pointed this out. This has kind of been the theme throughout this segment, rather. Organizational success. have been the theme throughout this uh throughout this segment rather organizational success the commanders up until five minutes ago were a terrible organization and they looked like a dumpster fire until dan snyder left suddenly the storm clouds part part, you get Jaden Daniels. You have a well-coached system. Dan Quinn is having a nice

little redemption arc. Overall, I like Jaden Daniels, and I think he's a slam dunk right now for Offensive Rookie of the Year. How good he will be will be another question. He's shown very good abilities as far as his passing, as far as his arm talent goes. What I question is how good at this point. It's not a matter of whether or not this kid will pan out. It's a matter of how good he'll be. Because remember, there's been a lot of quarterbacks their rookie years who have looked fantastic, who didn't end up becoming all that much. They were still good quarterbacks, like Dak Prescott. If you look at Dak Prescott's rookie year back in 2016 versus Josh Allen's rookie year in 2018,

you would think, based on their careers, if you project that over their careers, you would know who's better. Clearly you don't, because Josh Allen's a better quarterback than Dak Prescott. So, there are quarterbacks in this draft who may end up being better than Jaden Daniels, but that doesn't mean Jaden Daniels can't play. I just think Daniels was the most NFL-ready prospect besides Caleb Williams, who the Bears managed to mess up. And I think we're going to find out in a few years, who's the real best quarterback

in this draft. Maybe it's still Daniels, but what if Drake may gets a good team around him? What if it turns out Michael Pennix can actually light it up? What if JJ McCarthy comes back and gets the most possible production that he can out of Justin Jefferson and Jordan Addison, TJ Hawkinson? What if he can actually play, right? What if Caleb Williams finally gets his head screwed on straight or let's call it like it is that bears organization finds a way to develop him and coach him up the way he's supposed to be not holding the ball for six seconds or more 34 different times in one game all i'm saying is give it time because this entire quarterback draft class looks really

good so far and i think there's a great chance that it becomes historic i still like it at least the top three plus bo nicks have looked really solid. So, hey, it's already looking better than the last big QB class in 2021. It looks much better so far. All right. We're going to move on. Well, I'm sure we'll check in on this rookie class later on this season because, again, it's a very storied class. There's a lot of ups and downs.

It's a roller coaster, lots of drama with all of these quarterbacks. I'm very happy as a Patriots fan looking at Drake May. So far, he's looked really good. Right now, it just turns out, as it turns out, we want to see how they can surround him with a team and how well coached they are. It's all on the organization on how they can manage this because they have the right guy, but they need to be able to build a team around them,

protect them with a good offensive line, give them some weapons, work on that defense. Coaching scheme needs to get better. We'll see where it goes. All right. Our hopes are not high, especially for the weapons part, but we'll see. What's that? I said our hopes are not high, especially with the weapons part, but we'll see what's that i said our hopes are not high especially with the weapons part but we'll see we'll see what happens all right we're going to

get to our game of the week pick we'll recap the lions and the texans that's next this is the fumble ruski podcast it may not have always showed it in the stat sheet but you can see him making throws when he needs to make the throws. Back-to-back games where he has three touchdowns. Someone's got to get that six or seven spot. He's an elite wide receiver as a rookie. Truly a lose-lose scenario for both sides. Welcome back to the Fumble Rooski podcast by Power 88 and Secret Weapon Consulting.

I'm Adam Wright with CJ Medeiros. So our game of the week from last Friday was the Lions at the Texans. And we did have the Lions unanimously winning this game. And overall, I mean, it was a a competitive game it was a one score game it was a game it was it happened the the game occurred it was one of the games of all time some would say that's one way you could put it the texans were up 23-7 at one point. Two-possession game. And as I mentioned, Jared Goff threw five interceptions in this game. Five.

CJ Stroud threw two. I mean, this was, as far as competitiveness, yeah, it was a competitive game. It was a one-score game, but it was so ugly. And this is my gripe with the entire league, which is that league play is sloppy. It is really bad. You can point to overall quality of play, which is amount of turnovers. You can look at penalties, which get called quite a bit. You can look at the way the teams are made. As I mentioned, only four teams in the entire league this year are actually balanced.

These are two teams that were actually supposed to be fairly balanced. They had talent on both sides of the ball. And it was so ugly and i don't know how you can fix it i really don't because these two teams were both bad it's about who wanted it less oh yeah it's true i mean it was who wanted it less and i am so afraid for for the Houston Texans. I really don't want them to become like their AFC South counterpart, the Jacksonville Jaguars, you know, a team that peaks too soon and you're hyping up as a contender, then they completely fall off. The only thing I'll say on that front is at bare minimum, Houston has the injury excuse because Diggs is out for the year. We don't know when Nico Collins is going to be back. So, whenever he does come back, I'm going to expect him to maybe pick it up.

We'll see, hopefully. But the Lions. This is why nobody sold on Detroit. Because, yeah, they won. Yeah, they beat the Texans. That's super. But five interceptions from Jared Goff. Correct me if I'm wrong, but didn't he only throw like five up until that point

the entire season? Or some weirdly low number like that? Four. He threw four interceptions to start the year that's even worse that is even worse he more than doubled it in one game ah it's just this game it's like you need to take a shower afterwards because it's just god it's so unclean just oh my god it's like oh for me and adam it's like watching the average game of our alma mater where we went to college at dean that's what it was it hearkened us back to that and look i mean i will give the lions i won't say their flowers will give them a flower i mean mean, you know, you won.

Give them a dandelion. It's like. It's a weed. Give them a dandelion. It looks like a flower, but it's actually a weed. Yeah. And not even the one that you can exhale on and, you know, can send all the little puffs flying. No, you get the yellow one.

Not even the fun one. You get the yellow one. That's what you get, Detroit, because you won. And then there's just the Texans. I mean, I know CJ started through two picks, but your defense got Goff to throw five. Not one, not two, but five high-end tees. And you lost?

Yeah, they are not contenders. I don't even care when Nico Collins gets back. You're not contenders. Yeah. I'm about to give up on this Texans team. I mean, I had them as one of my Super Bowl teams before the season started. I actually had this as my Super Bowl, by the way. I had the Lions coming out of the NFC and the Texans coming out of the AFC.

I really thought the Texans were going to be a good team this year, and they will be probably fine. I think they're going to make the playoffs, but are they a Super Bowl team? No. No. Probably not, yeah. The Lions, I think they still are, but five interceptions is really something to look at for your quarterback.

I've never seen a quarterback take himself out of the MVP conversation in such a shift like Jared Goff just did on Sunday Night Football. I mean, five picks in one game. That is a ridiculous way to play yeah in this yeah this this was bad there's really nothing to say other than just oh god what a bad game. All right, let's move on. And we're going to get into our week 10 top three, bottom three. That's next.

This is the Fumble Rooski podcast. It may not have always showed it in the stat sheet, but you can see him making throws when he needs to make the throws. Back-to-back games where he has three touchdowns. Someone's got to get that six or seven spot he's an elite wide receiver as a rookie truly a lose-lose scenario for both sides welcome back to the fumble rus bottom three, the best and worst performances from week 10 slate of games. We're going to start off and we're going to follow suit with our title, which is who wants it less. The Kansas City Chiefs, yes, they played a severely ugly game.

And in any other week, they might actually crack our bottom three. We've had a winning team be in our bottom three before. But you know what we're going to do? We're going to put them in the top three. Because when you win nine games in a row. That is impressive. At that point, it's there.

I don't know what they're doing with that organization. I don't know how they're doing it, but they better not stop because they are nine to know. And there is no way you can win nine games in a row on accident. Maybe you're not as good as the undefeated record says, but you're still at least a competitive team that's worthy of being in the playoffs. If you're winning nine games, 15 in a row, if you count, if you go back all the way to last year. So unbelievable stuff. I,

I don't know how it's happening. A blocked field goal, which was supposed to be a chip shot. I don't know how they do it, but just the fact that they're nine to know that they want another game and somehow did it with the weirdest luck. I'm sorry. I'm putting them in the top three. Next, we're going to go with the Detroit lions, your quarterback through five interceptions. Your team went down 23-7, and you somehow came back and won. We bring up who wants it less all the time. The Chiefs and the Lions didn't want it less. In other words, they were somehow on the winning end of a game where they just they they had no

business when this was a bad week for football so you can see we're getting creative with our top three here um here's a more here is a much more creative uh much more normal answer which is the arizona cardinals and i think they have played their way into being relevant this year they're six and four now um kyler murray looks like a good quarterback overall this year 12 touchdowns to three interceptions over 2 000 yards uh overall he has willed this team into being a playoff team. I mean, I'm going to give their flowers there. I'm going to give them their flowers.

They deserve it because they've played their way into being a playoff team. They're 6-4. There's not many teams that are even above.500 this year. And the Arizona Cardinals, a team that we didn't think would even be in the playoffs are somehow six and four right now they are one of those few teams in the league that's that thin list who is actually in playoff contention i'll give it to them they you did it good job all right going on to our bottom three. There's a lot to pick from. Oh, yeah. There are a lot of contenders. Believe you me, gang. We're going to start with the New York Jets, who the Cardinals beat 31-6.

What a disappointment they are, I tell you. I don't know which of you pointed it out. Either you, CJ, or Chris, our other co-host, saying that Aaron Rodgers is everything everybody thought Tom Brady was going to be with the Buccaneers. And I couldn't agree more. I mean, a team with the Jets that is loaded with talent, an organization with a losing culture, and somehow Tom Brady took that exact situation and turned it into a Super Bowl contender twice in a row.

And still in his last year when he was age 45, snuck into the playoffs the next year and flirted with 5,000 yards in that last season he played. Yep. And for what it's worth, there are rumors swirling that if the Jets keep cratering like this, they might blow it up. And honestly, you kind of have to, because I don't know what Jets fan out there needs to hear this, but let's speak the truth. Aaron Rodgers is not going to get

any better than he is right now. Honestly honestly i wouldn't be shocked if he retired really wouldn't so i said you gotta blow it up i mean other than i would say like breese hall garrett wilson olu fashionu uh the williams brothers and gardner I think you should listen to trade offers, but probably everyone else. I've already told you if the, if the jets went to the, went in call, took calls for Garrett Wilson. I think the Patriots should call up and I think they should offer a day first rounder for Garrett Wilson, man. I'm not doing it. Not this year's first rounder, because I think it's too early for doing it not this year's first rounder because i think

it's too early for it's too early of a pick for them to trade to him for garrett wilson but he's a wide receiver one he's a low-end wide receiver one who probably wouldn't be that much money to resign that is yes you would because wider the wide receiver market is nuts man yeah but there's a couple different ways. Like Jalen Waddell isn't being paid that much. Devontae Smith. True. Give him like a Tee Higgins thing and we're probably –

or a Tee Higgins like Jalen Waddell thing and we're good, yeah? That's what I'm saying. Like he is part of that middle tier of wide receiver ones where if he's your top target, you're a Super Bowl contender, but you also don't have to pay them that much. Meaning you can focus on other, on other areas. If you gave up a first rounder for that, I'm okay with that. Let's say you use this year's first rounder on a tackle and then you go in and you, then you go in and you trade away next year's for Garrett Wilson,

then who cares where that first round pick goes? That means, I mean, with a left tackle and Garrett Wilson, that means you're a competitive team and that first round pick is probably closer to the back end of the draft. So I'll take it. I'll do that yesterday. In fact, Robert in the same group chat he said i'll go as far as to give up a third as well which i thought was a little crazy but like i mean if you have garrett wilson in a starting left tackle then you're pro again you're probably a competitive

team if you get those two things for next year, which means that first-round pick doesn't amount to much. So I don't hate it. I really don't. I don't even think the Jets, if they were going to trade them for a first, they wouldn't trade them to us, unfortunately, or them. I say I'm still going to trade them to the team, but you know what I mean. Next team up is the dallas cowboys um i'm not quite sure what i expected from cooper rush setting stepping in for cd lamb maybe just you mean for dak

yeah for dak prescott all the names for stepping in for dak prescott i don't know what i expected but it certainly wasn't this and i I know Cooper Rush is just a backup. And you're saying, well, why are you expecting more from a backup? It's Cooper Rush. He's one of the better backups in the league. And if you guys recall a few years ago, Cooper Rush had to step in at the start of the season for the Cowboys. And he actually led them to a solid record.

And once Dak Prescott took over, he was able to lead them to the playoffs and they went 12 and five. So I expected a little more than just 13 for 23 and 45 passing yards and getting blown out, destroyed by your rival Philadelphia Eagles who dropped 34 on you, 34 to six. And by the way, this Eagles team is looking better and better and better as the year goes on. I got to say, they may end up squeaking their way into that Superbowl conversation. Just saying they're looking better and better. They're a very well-rounded team. Their defense is getting better. It's tightening up. Their offense is well-roundedrounded they have a better running game this year they have good targets a.j

brown is starting to look like his normal self you have davante smith dallas goddard saquon barkley looks like his vintage self i'm just saying yeah i mean it could very well be, but oh my God, just the Cowboys. Real quick, should they lower the curtains when they play games? Because granted, even if CeeDee Lamb caught that touchdown, nothing was going to change, but oh my God. And another thing about CeeDee Lamb is when Cooper Rush is playing, CeeDee Lamb is one of the biggest benefactors of that. And that's very rare for a wide receiver one to get better with a backup coming in. But it usually does happen, and it didn't this week. And yeah, sure, you can make another argument.

The curtains could come down, but is that the reason they haven't No, no. I just thought it was funny. championship in a quarter century? No, I just think it was funny. Oh, I think it's funny too. But I think we're coming up on 30 years. We're getting close. Wasn't it 1996? I think it was, yeah.

Or maybe that was the last time they won the super bowl or something like that so that's like 28 years ago this is just get it's getting it's getting to historic levels of bad out there and at least at least for the past few years they've been winning 12 games perennially now they're just bad one thing i will disagree with many cowboys fan camp uh many cowboys haters out there on is that they have a losing culture they don't have a losing culture that's that's an idiotic statement they don't have a losing culture because they make the playoffs fairly often what they do have is a choking culture um a culture of unintelligent head coaches a culture of bad organizational decisions

outside of drafting which has saved their organization and overall that is that has sunk the ship so they do have a choking culture that they need to figure out and i think that comes down to coaching i think that comes down to uh organizational decisions and free agency but just something to look at because derrick henry was available and you decided to be an idiot and not get him at least not at least not be in on him right if derrick henry didn't want to be there at least you tried but there were so many running backs in free agency who ended up being pretty good this year by the way aaron jones josh jacobs derrick henry all three of those guys have actually been pretty good this year and you decided not to go in on any of them right now you have rico dowdle

and the skeleton the ghost of ezekiel elliott more like the bloated corpse of ezekiel elliott yeah okay here's our last one the chicago bears again so we've already touched on this at pretty much in depth but i'll just recap it in the most, uh, the most simplified way possible. They are in the top three. They are in the bottom three, not because they lost to the Patriots and an embarrassing fashion of my dad. It's because it's an organizational issue that runs deeper than just the roster around them this is an organization that cannot develop quarterbacks and it is killing this franchise it will it could already be dead i mean it's just i don't know how to fix it this is an organizational issue it runs deep and it's not

just the fact that they lost to the patriots it's the fact that they are yet again ruining a quarterback yep and however they are this week's bottom three so focusing on this week's game it is also worth noting that when they lost to the patriots they gave up nine sacks did not get into the end zone even once and didn't even get 200 total yards of offense. Shame. Yeah. Yeah. Lots of bad football this week.

Lots of bad football. Shout out to the Atlanta Falcons who lost to the Saints somehow. Oh, and the Giants, don't forget them. They lost to the Panthers. I already pointed that out, but I was kind of happy with that because, again, the Patriots, the silver lining to them not having a good team this year is that they are in the hunt for a top five pick.

So the Panthers, I thought, were the biggest threat to the Patriots to finishing ahead of them in the tank race for the number one pick. But now that the Patriots won, I think they're at a point where they're just not bad enough to have a top 10 pick they may not rest their schedule is pretty tough but we'll see we'll see i if they end up finishing 3 and 14 i think that gets some top five that would be nice i will it's never nice when they lose and end up with a top three pick for the third year in a row. But you can't be selfish. You got to think of the future.

Wait, silver lining is they would get Will Campbell. All right. That concludes our top three, bottom three. Painful week to recap. Geez, man. Really bad football. I mean, this has just been, it's been a shit show. Overall, one really bad football i mean this has just been it's been a shit show um overall a really bad year and if you remember back to last year 2023 wasn't much to write home

about either so league play is just going down more and more by the year and i wish that we could fix it i what even causes it like i don't know well i think there's a couple of things i think teams get either too impatient when it comes to trying to get in contention they start quarterbacks too early and i also also think that teams look themselves in the mirror too soon and decide to tank. You very rarely see teams that are middle class but still play like they're trying to win a Super Bowl. It's either they're trying to win it all or they're not. It's too all or nothing. And I think that's become the problem.

You're starting quarterbacks too early. And once you realize that you're not in contention anymore or at least that you're on the edge of not being in contention you give up they roll over and they say let's just fish for another draft pick which is a stupid way to go yeah and by the way for all the fans out there for what it's worth don't tank for a quarterback this year i'm not sold on this class so yeah enjoy ward or sanders surely they'll lead you to something maybe possibly all right anything else before we end the show tonight nah all right that'll do it for us tonight thank you for listening to us we have new episodes out on ts at 7.30 p.m. Eastern Standard Time

and Fridays at 5. Be sure to subscribe to our YouTube channel. We also have all our episodes on Spotify, Spreaker, Apple Podcasts, iHeartRadio, Google Podcasts, and so much more. Also, be sure to follow our Instagram at Fomalruski underscore podcast to keep up with our podcast and the latest coverage on the NFL. Otherwise we'll see you next week over and out.