The Herd with Colin Cowherd - What's Wright - Jaguars STUN Chiefs, NFL Week 5 REACTION, LeBron’s “Second Decision” & Lakers future | Nick Wright

Episode Date: October 8, 2025

All lines provided by Hard Rock Bet. Nick Wright recaps week 5 of the NFL season starting with Monday Night Football between Patrick Mahomes and the Kansas City Chiefs and Trevor Lawrence and that Jacksonville Jaguars. The show takes a brief detour to react to LeBron James' "Second Decision" with speculation surrounding his future with the Los Angeles Lakers. Then, Nick breaks down some of the biggest upsets of the week, including the defending champion Philadelphia Eagles losing to the Denver Broncos, and the Buffalo Bills losing to the New England Patriots. After, Nick debates if the Tampa Bay Buccaneers are the favorites in the NFC, if Baker Mayfield should be the MVP frontrunner, and if Justin Herbert fans need to stop making excuses for the Los Angeles Chargers' QB. Later, Nick and Damonza dive into quick hitters on teams around the league and answer your questions. #VolumeSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

This is an I-Heart podcast. Guaranteed Human. Hey guys, it's us. The Jonas Brothers. I'm Joe. I'm Kevin. And I'm Nick. And guess what? We created our own podcast called, Hey Jonas.

We invented a podcast? Well, we didn't invent it. We just contributed to it. We're the first people to do podcasts. We get to ask other people questions because we're sick and tired of being asked questions. Well, sick and tired is a strong way to put it. But, you know, tired and sick. Tired and sick.

you get your podcast. Just listen. We don't care where you hear it. Another podcast from some SNL late night comedy guy, not quite. Unhumor me with Robert Smygel and friends. Me and hilarious guests from Bob Odenkirk to David Letterman help make you funnier. This week, my guest, SNL's Mikey Day and head writer Streeter Seidel help an a cappella band with their between songs banter. Where does your group perform? We do some retirement homes. Those people are starving for banter. Listen to humor me with Robert Smigel and Friends on the IHeart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. Winning on Clay is an art. The rallies are relentless. And at the French Open, only the toughest

survive. I'd know. I competed there for decades. Join me, Renee Stubbs, on the Renee Stubbs' tennis podcast for no-nonsense breakdowns of the biggest matches, the toughest players, and the moments that define Roland Garris. She's an outsider to win the French win. And she likes Clay. Listen, Lina Rubakina is arguably the best player in the world right now. And I, actually can win on any surface. Listen to the Renee Stubbs tennis podcast on the Iheart Radio app, Apple Podcasts or wherever you get your podcasts.

Presented by Capital One, founding partner of IHart Women's Sports. Last night, a blown call changed a game. This morning, the internet lost its mind, and nobody's telling you exactly what happened. That's where Sports Slice comes in. I'm Timbo, and every episode, we're cutting through the noise, breaking down the biggest moments in sports and giving you the real story behind the headline.

and we're going straight to the source, the athletes themselves, their locker room stories, their reactions in the moment, and the stuff nobody gets to hear. Listen to SportsSlice on the IHeart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcast. And for more, follow Timbo Sliced Life 12 in the TikTok podcast network on TikTok. Welcome in, What's Right, episode 375, this episode of What's Right, is brought to you by our friends at Boost Mobile.

We're a little delayed today because there have been a lot of forces that have been trying to tell me I maybe shouldn't do this show today, but it feels like it'd be a cop out. Force one, Demonsie. Today's actually the rare October day off from work because there's no TV show today. And Tuesdays, which is today, are the day of the really big big. card game in Philly that I sometimes in the summer like to go play in but can never during the football regular season. So that was reason one that I could have just been like not doing the show. Reason two. I got a phone call yesterday from Spectrum saying they're redoing the internet on this block and there's going to be like an eight hour period where the TV and internet

and everything doesn't work. And I put in a very pleading record. Granted this was before the chief's loss If they could somehow delay that start of work a bit. I don't know if they listen to me or not But we're on the internet right now. So it's fine reason three The reason we are late to the show is because for the last 20 minutes my camera was just showing an old still image Not from the pod and it was kind of creepy because it was showing an image of when I wasn't in the room when the lights weren't on, which one would make you think, how did the camera even capture that image if the computer was closed

and the camera's supposed to be off? We troubleshot that for 20 minutes. Poor Paul was about to drive over here. We were figuring out if we could do an audio only thing, and then the solution was unplug it and plug it back in. So despite all of that, I'm here. Your mom can attest to this. I've been, for the last 10 hours, a little restless.

That loss yesterday, for reasons I will explain, hit differently than any non-playoff Chiefs loss in recent memory. And it also feels a little, I'll be honest, I've lived a blessed life, so I can't really complain too much, but it felt a little unfair that I am not able to fully bask in the glory of the greatest day Trevor has had in three years. The greatest day he's had in the NFL since you were sitting next to me on the couch and he was down 27 points to Justin Herbert and the Chargers and came back. And certainly the best moment he's had since he got injured on Monday night football when his team was playing for the one seed. I couldn't even enjoy that.

And so we will explain that. We will get into all of that. I am for reasons. I don't again, when I agreed to do these things, I anticipated the Chiefs were going to win the game. But I am doing Collins show. my regular Tuesday spot from here. Now, I'll be honest. If Spectrum cuts out the internet

sometime between when this show ends and Colin shows begins, there's nothing I can do about that. That is not something that I will take issue with. But we must, we must forge on. And first, we gotta go straight to voicemail. Thanks brought to you by our friends at Boost Mobile. The Yankees are down 2-0 to the Jays.

They've been outscored 23 to 8, and I do not think it is an unfair statement to say the series has not been as close as 23 to 8. It has been an utter thorough, total domination by the Toronto Blue Jays. Hockey starts tonight. I didn't know that, so I'm finding it out right now. And LeBron teases the second decision, which is coming up in about.

an hour in 10 minutes and you should be able to use the context clues of whether or not i think that is going to be a major basketball career related decision or whether or not i think that is going to be an advertisement based on the fact that we did not delay this pod by 90 minutes to react to it however we must get to the news at hand reminder like rate subscribe review do this show for you guys, even on days like today. So please subscribe on iTunes and Spotify and all of it. Oh, I referenced DeMonze. I didn't really sleep last night. I didn't got up this morning, took your sister to school, picked your mom up from the gym. I don't know if I said 10 words to either one of them. I then just laid on the couch, which I never do in the mornings and tried to like,

take a nap. That didn't work. You know how I can tell your mom knows I'm in a teetering emotional place? I could probably guess what is it? Well, here's how I know that she knows and that she's empathetic. Because there were, she's doing like a whole giant house cleaning thing prior to her birthday. I knew it. Well, no, hold on. There, within the 90 seconds when I came downstairs, there were three things I saw her do that she had asked me to do previously.

And she wasn't even mad at me. I was like, oh, she legit feels bad for me right now. She's like, she, she is really showing a real amount of empathy because I was supposed to put those coffee cups away. I was supposed to throw that backpack away. And she's doing all of it. And she's doing with a smile on her face, which means she has correctly clocked that I'm not doing great. Hopefully this will be my catharsis.

Let's get to Monday night football. Shout out to Madre. So we saw what Trevor Lawrence did to the chiefs yesterday. It was also his 26th birthday. And he walked out of there with a dub. What do you want to talk about first, your prince's success or your chief's downfall in this game okay as much as i'd like to start with Trevor we have to start with the chiefs and here's the reason that game is so so much more

upsetting than the charger game or the eagle game and so much more upsetting than any recent memory regular season loss. One thing about the Chiefs being the Chiefs is they simply do not lose games like that. Now, they get outplayed sometimes. The offense we've seen over the last couple of years

get stuck in the mud. They, you know, there are ways that they can lose a game and other people panic. or, you know, talk about in what bad shape the team is in. And I do not because of the full confidence that by the end of the year, Patrick will have figured stuff out or the team will get healthier or whatever it is. Losing a game like that last night, they don't blow two touchdown leads. Every other team in the league might, they don't.

They did last night. countless, countless special teams mistakes. The multiple, the same player, Jack Cochran, who held on a big kick return earlier in the game, does the only thing he can't do on the final kickoff of the game, which is hold again, because in that moment, I thought, while I didn't like, what had happened 23 seconds three timeouts the chief's going to have the ball around the 25 30 yard line i fully trusted that we were at least going to get a kick to tie the game but that hold has the double whammy of they returned it so you burned six of the 23 seconds and you started on the

15 also with the special teams butker kicking it out of bounds when he has been shaky But we are now five for five in games this year where Buckker makes a mistake. Either misses an extra point, miss it, yes. Misses an extra point, misses a kick, or kicks it out of bounds. And then, and I'm not, this oddly is the part of the game that was least bothersome to me, but was the most damaging, was, you know, Patrick made a mistake. he simply doesn't make, which is the 99-yard pick six that flipped the entire game. Now, you can fairly say that cost them the game.

I mean, that was basically a true 14-point swing. But I know this might sound odd to the audience. That is the least of my concerns. The committing that many penalties, that consistently, And now what does make me feel like the chiefs are very close to being the chiefs again is there is a direct correlation to how scary the chiefs are to the rest of the world and how quickly and loudly we get the idiotic conspiracy theories once again when yes, they missed a DPI on an interception. but this game would have been, well, I don't know that it was worse than when the Jags are down 14-0, and it's third and 15, and there is a phantom DPI that kept them in the game. Like, calls get missed in both directions.

People got mad because Patrick correctly pointed out to the ref. We get one yard on the rub route on Kelsey's touchdown. And I don't know what the hell Russell Yerke was looking at. He says the play was snapped at the two. Juju is setting the pick at the one. That is the definition. You literally had the little hash mark showing you it was a yard. And so that I understand.

Listen, they missed. The refs missed a really bad call. There's no question about it. The chief's got a pick out of it. The chiefs were penalized, I think, 10 times more or nine times more than Jack that was not a oh the chiefs got all the calls but also those weren't bad except for the d p i on third and 15 those weren't bad calls against the chiefs they were making mistakes and here's the other piece of it and this is what is so uh and patrick kind of said it without saying it when he said we've already

lost too many games they they had a nightmare nightmare nightmare opening two weeks of the season. And they had the opportunity to make it all back by week five. Go from 0 and 2 to tied for first in the division. One game out of first place in the entire conference. And to, and you guys notice, I didn't have Kansas City minus three and a half in Knicks picks. I actually think Jacksonville is better than people gave them credit for.

And I was saying all week, Jacksonville was three and one despite Trevor. And that if Trevor played well, they're a very dangerous team. And we'll get to Trevor later because that was just a perfect Trevor Lawrence game. Some horrible mistakes, some great throws, used his legs, you know, better than he usually does, even though he's great with that.

So I didn't, it's not that I think losing to the Jags. It's just, that was a game that I feel like they, they needed. They really wanted that game and they didn't get it. And it was also, like, and it was the Jaguars at the same time. Like, that's not. They needed it, DeMonte, they wanted it, and they had it. Right. Like, they, the, the, the, while the chiefs don't blow teams out,

the way the other excellent teams in football do over the last few years, they just simply never beat themselves. And yesterday they beat themselves. Yesterday is the first game in four years. The Chiefs have won the turnover battle and lost the game. There have only been three games in the last four years where they have won or tied the turnover battle and lost the game. Week one against Detroit a couple years ago, the pick six.

Week one against the Chargers this year, and neither team turned it over. And then this week, with a pick six. And so all of that just, it's just a horrible loss. Let me add another thing before I get to the other side of it. my biggest concern with Kansas City after week one when every there have been let me rephrase it there have been two concerns that I have had about the Chiefs basically from week one on that while everyone else was focused on the Holmes in the passing game I was simply not worried one was the lack of any type of burst or explosion in the running game.

Now, I thought that was Pacheco and Hunt's, both of them, you know, one of their better, if not each of their best games of the year. My hair's a mess. I apologize. But it still feels like that to spot they need to upgrade. And Patrick leading the team in rushing is unacceptable. and makes me nervous. But the other thing that was greatly concerning to me about week one was

their total inability to generate a pass rush without sending a blitz. And I felt like you saw that again last night. So those, the running back position, I think can be, of all the weaknesses you can have, that to me is the simplest to attempt to remedy because they should be able to relatively cheaply trade for and upgrade at running back the pass rush just has to get better and chris obviously has a brutal film on the play when Trevor fell down now i don't actually think him standing there or if he would have been going 100 miles an hour, it would have changed

the impact of the play. But that is brutal, brutal tape. I think he could have absolutely made a play on it. He could have stopped him from scoring a touchdown. You think so? I think 100%. I feel like he's watching the action from there. If he starts running off to the right, might be able to intercept Trevor Lawrence. Oh, I agree. I agree right there he starts running off to the right. My point is by the, I think if he would have been going full bore, if he would have been going full bore, he wouldn't have, he wouldn't have be lying to the right. He would have gone upfield and then, but it doesn't matter. Yeah, I want to make this clear. It doesn't matter that he wouldn't have made the, I don't think he would have made the play. What matters is how the hell

are you doing that in that spot? Well, you know what I mean? Like, what is the, uh, he played it almost as if the chief's coaching point there was let them score so we get the ball back with a chance to tie it. But no one else on the defense was, you know, had that, was feeling that way. And so all of those things, de Monzae are truly, greatly real, like, issues and why this has been so such a, a troubling 12 hours. Now, the flip side, Patrick looks great. And she looks great.

And the offense is, I mean, would they have 500 yards of offense yesterday almost? Like, now again, that's not, Andy said it and he's right. The goal of the game is not to put up a ton of yards. Just put up points. And our red zone issues, you know,

he didn't say, this, I'll say this, Patrick's, bad mistake, the penalties, those things are how you lose football games. But Kansas City, particularly when Rishi gets back, I think is going to be back to being a very explosive offense again. So that part is great. But two and three is not. And you just, you had the opportunity had you taking care of going into last night's game you were like there were there's the four and one bills who you play later this year the four and one cults who you play later this year and the jags were sitting there with one loss and you were playing them that night and so it also puts a lot of pressure

on next week. And next week is the Detroit Lions, who post week one have looked like the best team in the league. Hey, it's us, the Jonas Brothers, and guess what? We have some big news. What's the news, huge news? We created our own podcast called,

Hey, Jonas. We invented a podcast? Well, we didn't invent it. We just contributed to it. First people to do podcasts. Pretty, yeah, pretty wide range of podcasts. We're starting a trend. But this one's extra special.

So how do we actually come up with a name, Hey Jonas, guys? I honestly don't remember. I think it was on a call about what we should call it. Well, we were thinking I'm originally calling it one of the early names of our band. Before Jonas Brothers was... This is how you guys remember it going down? Yes. I have a very different memory of this.

We were talking about a thing, a bit for the podcast. We could call in and say, hey Jonas. And then I wrote down on my little notepad, Hey Jonas, and offered it up as a potential title for the podcast. But thanks for remembering that, guys. Listen to Hey Jonas on the IHeart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcast. Just listen. We don't care where you hear it.

Another podcast from some SNL late night comedy guy, not quite. Unhumor me with Robert Smigel and friends. Me and hilarious guests from Bob Odenkirk to David Letterman help make you funnier. This week, my guest, NL's Mikey Day and head writer Streeter Seidel help an a cappella band with their between songs banter. Where does your group perform? We do some retirement homes.

Those people are starving for banter. Listen to humor me with Robert Smigel and friends on the I-Heart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. Last night, a blown call changed a game. This morning, the internet lost its mind. Highlights are trending, opinions are flying, and nobody's telling you exactly what happened.

That's where Sports Slice comes in. I'm Timbo. Every episode, we're cutting through the noise. Breaking down the plays, the controversies, and the stories behind the headlines. We go straight to the source, the athlete themselves. Their locker room stories, their reactions, the stuff nobody gets to hear. The laughs, the drama, the triumphs, the moments that never make the highlight real. From viral moments to historic games, from buzzer beaters to controversial calls, we break it down,

give you context, and ask the questions everybody wants answered. Sports slice brings you closer to the action with stories told by the people who live there. them listen to Sports Slice on the iheart radio app apple podcast or wherever you get your podcast and for more follow timbo slice of life 12 in the tick tock podcast network on tick tock the french open is one of the toughest tests in tennis and i know firsthand because i competed there myself i'm rene stubbs and on the rene stubbs tennis podcast i'm breaking down everything happening at roland garris every match every upset and what it really takes to win on clay jen shen win i mean she went down to three to Rabakina, but I'm delighted.

She's an outsider to win the French for me. And she likes Clay. Listen, Lena Rubakina is arguably the best player in the world right now. And I actually can win on any surface. Because if she's serving, well, good luck. Consider this your court side seat to the French Open. Listen to the Renee Stubbs tennis podcast on the IHeart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts.

Presented by Capital One, founding partner of IHeart Women's Sports. the way LeBron just posted I guess did Hennessy front run him on this that's so funny real quick is that the announcement or hold on I'm just gonna let you guys hear it I hope it hold on let me see if I can do this hold on well here it is no I got I'm just gonna do it like this we'll do it old school well everyone's on pens and needles across the country you ready to go LeBron Where's the powder? Left it at home.

LeBron, fans want to know where you're taking your talents this year. What's your decision? In this fall, man, this is tough. In this fall, I'm going to be taking my talents to Tennessee VSOP. VSOP. And this was the conclusion you woke up with this morning? That was the conclusion I woke up with this morning. Why?

I feel like it's going to give me the best opportunity to win more at hosting. And not only that, win that signature. cocktails we're having a good time we're not making memories we're making it look easy we're not leaving people wanting more okay so real quick quick sidebar what a guy of course like now listen i would have been wrong i thought that had some do with amazon prime day because he he works with amazon but Danny um yesterday when LeBron sent that tweet he came he's like you saw LeBron's thing i'm like yeah and he asked he said do you think it's anything i was like i would bet anything it's an ad and he asked me why and he thought my answer was kind of ridiculous but it's why i knew it was an ad

I said because it's at noon. It's what he said it was going to be. And he's like, that's the reason. And I was like, yeah. It's like more of like a night thing. Yes, it's prime time. It's like if LeBron is going to announce his retirement. It's not going to be noon on a Tuesday.

I'm just telling you right now. It's just, so I, there was. real like questions. I got text from people or whatever about what we like this show or the TV show or whatever. What are what we want to do. And I don't want to say I ignored them, but I in my head I ignored them. I'm like guys, I promise this is not like Intel. I didn't talk to.

I didn't. I was so non plus by this. Like I obviously am real close with. some of LeBron's closest people. Maverick's a dear friend. I see Rich a few times a year. You know, Rich works with my agent. I didn't even send any of them a text, like with a question mark.

Like, it was so... To me, to me, it was just like, if he had sent the exact same tweet and it said Monday, 7 p.m., my heart would have skipped a beat. I'd have been like, oh man. I'd run down, changing it up a little bit.

Yeah, like, there might be a, there might be something here. But Tuesday at noon, the guy is not announcing his retirement Tuesday at noon. Now, he was, if you didn't get the, and I didn't show you the, he's wearing the same shirt he wore to the original decision. Miami, like kind of, going to Miami. Right. And the. The. the script is the questions he was asked, like the no powder,

that it's all the exact same beats of the original decision. But it was a good idea. Okay. Yes. Listen. Shut. I retire. Also, by the way, I don't know what Hennessy, you know, paid Braun.

But I do know that they are now going to get a lot of free media out of it by simply LeBron sending one tweet. Like, so I don't know what his. tweets are worth, but that, you know, I would consider that likely money well spent. All right. Back to the discussion we were having. What were we talking about? Oh, the Lions game now is massive.

Oh, that's why I saw it, because I was going to Hard Rock Bet to see going into last night. So here's a fun one, DeMonte. Wait, no. Going into last night, it was KC. minus a point in a half. Now typically, oddly, when a good team loses, if they don't suffer real injury, they become bigger favorites by a tiny bit the next week. I don't anticipate that's what will happen here.

So what do you think, do you think the line moved or stayed the same and if it moved in what direction? You said yesterday it was minus one and a half. Kansas City favored by a point in a half. Yeah I think it probably What is it minus two now Minus two and a

It's it stayed the same I thought there was a chance It would have gone the other way But I think the reason it didn't Was because The Chief's offense did look really good And that Jags defense is legit It's just so frustrating

And this is all I said going into it was If they don't turn the ball over They can't lose and they may listen it was the worst type of turnover you can make with that defense being how good it is like Jacksonville's defense is it's legit they even came in they got a pick six

against Patrick Holmes like with the Travis Hunter thing I think it's so unfortunate that he wants to play on both sides of the ball because I think he would make the defense that much more dominant or if he wanted to be 100% offense he would just give Trevor Lawrence even that better of a hand

but I think because it doesn't seem like he's being super effective on either side He's, I guess he's maxed out as long as catch in the last two games. No, right now it's kind of the worst of both worlds. Right. And listen, I know he made one really big play in this game. Yeah.

But the Jags aren't at a shortage of weapons. And right now, the, they, they trade, the only way you can justify trading what they traded for a non-quarterback is because you thought you we're getting two players. But right now he's having less of an impact than all the guys drafted around him who are just one way players. And so that's the really disappointing part if you're Jacksonville. Like, let me go to real quick. Because Mason Graham, who was the fifth pick, who was part of essentially the Travis Hunter trade,

has been great. Abdul Carter is making a real impact. Will Campbell's the everyday left tackle. Mason Graham has been excellent. Gentie. I know that there have been some questions about Genti. Genti's great.

He's just how often is he getting the ball and how often are they blocking for him? But you've seen more from him already and you've seen him Travis. Mimbo has been excellent at, tackle for the Jets, even though they've been terrible. And Tett McMillan has made a bigger impact. The wide receiver for Carolina.

For Carolina. No, Tampa Bay receivers are a Bucca, who's been unbelievable. But he was, you know, he was a mid-first-round pick. He was 19. And so, yeah, I do think that they haven't yet figured out how to use Travis. Now, listen. On the Prince, this is why he's such a tough player to quit. Because he can make that throw to Brian Thomas Jr. down the sideline.

And he is, at Clemson, he ran a lot. And he is big and strong and all those things. And fast. He also loves that leap over the goal line. QB sneak that's not the first time it's been knocked out of his hands he also will as Aikman pointed out um miss some layups and he it's fair is fair he should be better at this point than he is but he is now positioning himself where he is going to have a real opportunity to have, you know, another postseason. And the best moment of his career came in the postseason.

And so now, like, it's starting to take shape a little bit, right? It feels to me, DeMonse, like the playoff teams we can say with confidence are Buffalo, Indie Jacksonville, the four-and-one teams. we just got to give them credit. One team out of the AFC North. I can't write off Baltimore yet, but that's the only way Baltimore does it is if Pittsburgh, the reason I'm not saying two teams out of the north is,

if Pittsburgh just continues winning, Baltimore's cooked. Like Baltimore, Baltimore's path is going to be that nine wins can win you the division. So there's four. And then I, I obviously believe the chiefs are going to be in. It would be unfair for me to say to put the chiefs in pen to put the chiefs in pen because they're two and three.

So if we have Buffalo, Indie, Jacksonville, and an AFC North team in, then it would be DeMonseh three. spots for Chiefs, Broncos, Chargers, Patriots. Three spots for those four teams. And right now, the team that probably, of those four teams, this moment, which team do you think is most anxious? Because to me, I think it's pretty clear. Out of, yeah.

Of Chiefs, Chargers, Broncos, Patriots. If one of them is going to miss. Chargers probably. Yeah. The most anxious. It's the Chargers. I mean, both of those losses they've taken. Jay and Daniels is more respectable, but coming off an injury.

Yeah, yeah. And only scoring 10 points, and we'll get to that game later. Wow. The producers don't always nail it on this show. They always try with their humor, but sometimes they miss. The catchy. this one's pretty good. Yeah.

Because, you know, I obviously coined the tackle that turned the tide. And by the way, given how Patrick has played since that moment, I think it's still, even though they lost me through the pick six, I think it still applies. I thought Patrick was for 75 out of 76 plays. Excellent yesterday. Now the one mistake he made like fair is fair it flipped the game and so I'm not I'm not giving him a pass but if I were If I were saying today was that encouraging. Yeah. Yeah

They said was that the pick that made Nick sick and you know who suggested that Vic? All right All right. Well done. Well done guys. But they said is Trevor's TD the stumble that starts the succession. That's pretty good. I think that's pretty good. I think it's pretty good. I like it, guys. All right, you guys made me feel a little bit better.

God, I was upset. Dang, I'm going to have to deal with. It's one thing that I'm going to have to deal with Colin in a couple hours. But you know who is privately, I'm sure. Take DeMonte off camera. reveling in this in my pain jemak oh man and i'll end the chiefs and the chiefs loss oh boy that's not going to be fun all right today's show is brought to you by our presenting sponsor hard rock bet new customers can place a five dollar bet and if it hits you not only get your winnings but also

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Hey, it's us to Jonas Brothers. and guess what? We have some big news. What's the news? Huge news. We created our own podcast called Hey Jonas. We invented a podcast? Well, we didn't invent it. We just contributed to it.

We're the first people to do podcasts. Pretty, yeah, pretty wide range of podcasts. We're starting a trend. But this one's extra special. So how do we actually come up with a name Hey Jonas, guys? I honestly don't remember. I think it was on a call about what we should call it. Well, we were thinking I'm originally calling it one of the early

names of our band before Jonas Brothers was... This is how you guys remember it going down? Yes. I have a very different memory of this. We were talking about a thing, a bit for the podcast, where people could call in and say, hey, Jonas. And then I wrote down on my little notepad,

Hey Jonas, and offered it up as a potential title for the podcast. But thanks for remembering that, guys. Listen to Hey Jonas on the IHeart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcast. Just listen. We don't care where you hear it. Another podcast from some essence. You're an L, late-night comedy guy, not quite. Unhumor me with Robert Smygel and Friends.

Me and hilarious guests from Bob Odenkirk to David Letterman help make you funnier. This week, my guest, S&L's Mikey Day and head writer, Streeter Seidel, help an a cappella band with their between songs banter. Where does your group perform? We do some retirement homes. Those people are starving for banter. Listen to humor me with Robert Smigel and Friends on the I-Heart Radio app,

Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. Last night, a blown call changed a game. This morning, the internet lost its mind. Highlights are trending, opinions are flying, and nobody's telling you exactly what happened. That's where Sports Slice comes in. I'm Timbo. Every episode, we're cutting through the noise, breaking down the plays, the controversies, and the stories behind the headlines.

We go straight to the source, the athlete themselves. Their locker room stories, their reactions, the stuff nobody gets to hear. The laughs, the drama, the triumphs, the moments that never make the highlight real. From viral moments to his story. historic games, from buzzer beaters to controversial calls, we break it down, give you context and ask the questions everybody wants answered. SportsSlice brings you closer to the action with stories told by the people who live them. Listen to SportsSlice on the IHeart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcast.

And for more, follow Timbo Slicelife 12 in the TikTok podcast network on TikTok. The French Open is one of the toughest tests in tennis. And I know firsthand because I competed there myself. I'm Renee Stubbs, and on the Renee Stubbs tennis podcast, I'm breaking down everything happening at Roland Garris. Every match, every upset, and what it really takes to win on Clay. Jenchian went. I mean, she went down in three to Rabakina, but I'm delighted. She's an outsider to win the French for me.

And she likes Clay. Listen, Lina Rabakina is arguably the best player in the world right now, and I actually can win on any surface. Because if she's serving, well, good luck. Consider this your court side scene. to the French Open. Listen to the Renee Stubbs tennis podcast on the IHeart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. Presented by Capital One, founding partner of IHeart Women's Sports.

All right, let's get to the rest of week five in the NFL, pal. So the Eagles were up two touchdowns going into the fourth of the Broncos, and ended up blowing that game. So the Broncos ended up winning, and they haven't won an important game in over a year. How differently are you thinking about these two teams after that? one. Yeah, your point about the Broncos is because I know Broncos fans will be like, what do you mean that won an important game, made the playoffs? They haven't beaten a quality opponent since week three of last season or whenever they played Tampa. It might have been

week two. That was the first great win of the Sean Payton era and of Bo Nix's career. Now, I know, you know, my pal Schrager, I think overstated it a bit. when he said that was a career defining and regime defining moment for Sean Peyton. That's a bit much. But Schrager is, you know, Schrager's my guy, and he's very open and honest about the fact that he loves Sean Peyton, and he's rooting for Sean Payton. So that's fine.

I think that was, you know, a touch, a touch more, or touch too much. I want to do the Broncos, then I'll do the East. Eagles because I think it'll be we'll spend more time on the Eagles. Yeah, so the last time they beat a playoff team was September 22nd of last year, so more than a year before they had what I would call a high quality win. That defense is spectacular. Okay. There is no getting around that. And we knew coming into the year that the defense could be really, really good. And Nick Benito has a legit case for defensive player of the year. He's been that caliber of player.

And in that fourth quarter, Bo Nix was excellent. After starting the game off terribly and kind of getting lucky that they let it, I thought it was a pretty clear strip sack that somehow they called an incomplete pass. He then was 12 of 14, some big conversions, touchdown. down like he was really good in the fourth quarter of that game. So here is what is true for the Broncos. If they get anywhere close to the Bow Nicks they got late in that game, then they are a legit, dangerous team.

The defense is excellent. Sean Payton, while I might think he's a touch overrated by some of his friends in the media, is obviously a good coach, very good coach. and they just need to have an above-average offense to be a really good team. I am still skeptical of that they will get an above-average offense from Bo Nix. We'll see, and we'll see how much Sean Payton can coach him up. Now, DeMonte, they have back-to-back absolute must-win games to get to 5 and 2. they get the best thing you can ask for in the NFL this century,

which is back-to-back New York games, the Jets and the Giants. Now, by the way, neither is in New York. One's in London and then one's in Denver. But that's what they have. And if you remember... Really suck. Oh, yeah.

Broncos Giants. It's like a back game. Broncos Giants is better than Broncos Jets. Yeah. Broncos Jets is through. Those defenses probably just going to. Oh. So I, but Broncos Jets Demonsay is going to be on, is a London game.

So that's a 6 a.m. That'll be a zero watch from you. This, but after, if you remember, with my Broncos preseason skepticism, I said, I think they'll get off to an early start. People will start chirping at me. and then we'll see what they're really made of late. And after that Broncos, after that Jets giant stretch, it's not that it's an impossible stretch of football,

but it's not easy. Aside from the Raiders games, because again, when I was talking about it being a brutal stretch, I didn't think the Raiders were going to be as bad as they are. But they go, Cowboys, Texans, Raiders, Chiefs, Commanders, Raiders, Hackers, Jags, Chiefs, Chargers. That's how they end the year. So they need to be 5 and 2 and then hope that they can go,

what would 5 and 5 in their final 10, and that gets you in the playoffs. 10 wins will get you in. And so this was a great win for them in a game. They had no signs of life for the first three quarters, which then takes us to Philadelphia, DeMonse. And I don't know if you saw the report yesterday that A.J. Siriani and Jalen talked for a couple.

Oh, no, no, no. You know what? You're right. I don't think it was Siriani. I think it was AJ, Jalen, and Seekwan. Yeah. That's right. Yeah. That they talked for, quote, a few hours. End quote.

This is going to be one of those things I say that I know I'm right. But if it gets captioned or aggregated, I'm going to get killed for it. And it's going to seem unfair. But I know I'm right. And all the listeners know I'm right. That's too long to talk. You can't be talking for a quote, a couple hours. Couples therapy is 55 minutes.

like that's too long. That is too long to have a conversation about the first five weeks of your season. It's just too long. And if it couldn't, whatever you couldn't come to a resolution on after 45 minutes to an hour, you weren't going to have this massive breakthrough in the, in hour, in minute 98. I know I'm right. You know I'm right. everyone knows I'm right. That's too long.

All right. To the more serious piece of it, why can Demons say they not just have a normal game? They're a weird football team. Their team is super strange. I give them credit for, listen, I know they lost this week, but they obviously know how to win games and they have a bunch of different ways to beat you. They've blocked a punt to flip a game. They've blocked a kick to win a game. Jalen's run to win.

Jaylen's throne to win. Like they've, I give them credit for that. But in the last three weeks, they played a half of football with negative passing yards. They then played a half of football with zero completions. They then played a half of football de Monzae that they led for almost the entirety of, and they called two running plays. They called two running plays.

I, I, it feels to me like the offensive coordinator is, is on a little bit of tilt here. Because I don't. Do you think that he gets like flustered with like how his right receivers are complaining and just doesn't know how to, how to go about it?

Like, it seems like they, I don't know. Like we all were saying, try to work. on the passing game some. But it didn't mean that in a game you're winning, Seque wanted you to have six carries.

Like, it just doesn't make sense. They are, it's these vast, drastic overcorrections. And here is the other, the under-discussed, but maybe more important story for the Eagles, De Manzay, is this. And I think it's a fair question. But out of respect to the player on what he's, accomplished, I want to ask it quietly.

What's going on with Saquan? Like, Saquan has last year, so let me just give a little context for this, okay? Last year in, he played 20 games for Philly last year. He had one, two, three, four, five, six. where he did not have 100 yards, and he had four, where he did not have at least 80 yards.

His real quiet games were a win against the Browns in week 5, 18 for 47. The Steelers game, which was right after AJ Brown said, we need to, you know, work on the passing game and Jalen had a big game. They won by two touchdowns. He had 19 for 65. The Cowboys game, one of them, where he was 14 for 66, but they won by 28. And the Super Bowl, where he was 25 for 57. So here's what's noteworthy.

His four quietest games last year, one of them was a nip and tuck game with the Browns. The other ones were a blowout against the Cowboys, a blowout against the Steelers, and a blowout against the Chiefs. But he had six games where he didn't have 100 and only four games where he didn't have 80. This year, he has had 100, zero times. He has had 80 one time, and he is averaging 3.2 yards per carry. he was 18 for 60 in the opener 22 for 88 against the chiefs 18 for 46 against the Rams 19 for 43 against Tampa and 6 for 30 against Denver

and one of the things that comes to mind on that is for a guy who has been banged up throughout his career when so his rookie year he had 350 regular season touches and then the next year his production dipped a bit and the following year he suffered a serious injury in 2022 he had 350 regular season touches and the next year his production dipped a bit and he missed a little bit of time last year he had 350 regular i'm sorry 385 regular season touches plus another 70 he had like 450 touches last year and now his production is dipped massively if sayquan is just

not going to have it this year, then they do need to work on the offense significantly. And I think that's a fair concern. And so I think the Eagles are an excellent team. And I was most worried about the past defense after week one. But Dallas has now thrown the ball on everybody. And the young players in their secondary have gotten better. But the angst, and here's the other concern. and by the way, reminder to everybody watching, like, rate, subscribe, review.

And if you're just tuning in when the show ends, you can go back and listen to my, you know, crisis about the Chief's loss yesterday. But subscribe on YouTube, like, rate review, do all that, subscribe on iTunes, Spotify. Two years ago, DeMase, they were winning games, but they were angstie like this. was always like, yeah, we're winning, but we're not playing the way we want to play. They started 10 and 1 that season. And then they had a historic collapse. They were winning a lot of ugly games, nip and tuck, and there was a lot of chatter.

And then it all unraveled on them. They lost five of their final six and then basically flat quit in the playoff game against Tampa. And so that to me is because there is a little bit of history as to this team having a good record, but not trusting it fully and then falling apart, it's noteworthy. And so that, I'm not, it's no reason to panic about Philadelphia, but things are not totally co-cocting. apathetic there. And now they also get a nice little gift before their buy week where their next three games are Giants, Vikings, giants. So that's nice.

And the fact that they have played, they've played a brutal schedule. I think they're the only team in the league that has played nothing but good teams. Cowboys Chiefs, Rams, Bucks, Denver. And so you give them a lot of credit, but it does feel a little off. Does the Broncos win there make you nervous at all, though, for your Chiefs? I'm not worried about the Broncos. I do, listen, the Chiefs losing yesterday, they had become briefly the favorites to win the AFC West again. Now I would imagine, in fact, I'm going to look at that too with our friends at a hard rock bet.

I'm pulling it up right now. The futures division winner. The... Says they're currently locked. I think Vegas might be thinking about it. I'll find it. It's basically a three-way tie. 175 for the Chargers, 175 for the...

Broncos 190 for the Chiefs. So, you know, they're calling it a three-way coin flip right now. And honestly, like, fair is fair. That Chiefs lost yesterday is real damaging in a lot of different ways. All right, let's go to the next game. The comeback story continues for Bake Show. He was down seven with three minutes left, led a game tying touchdown drive, and his defense came over and forced a turnover.

You said that this team is the best team in the NFC, but they just lost to Philly. How are you feeling about the baker in the box? Yeah, no, no, listen, I think that their ability to, they have dealt with a ton of injuries. And they're four and one. And I know they lost to Philly. However, they, even with the head to head lost to Philly, doesn't their four and one vibes-wise feel so much better than Philly's four-and-one? Yes.

Like, they feel they're going to get some of their offensive line. back. They're going to get Mike Evans back. Chris Godwin is only going to get better coming off the injury. They didn't have Bucky Irving. Abuka's awesome. The Seahawks are legit. And Baker walked

their asses down too. Like, and this is, I know sometimes I can do this too much, but where I talk schedule and stuff, and it might be a better visual thing. But one of the reasons I believe,

in Tampa was I said I thought they could start de Monzaa six and five and potentially still get the one seat at 12 and 5 they're now four and one here's the reason I'm pointing this out their final six games six games more than a third of the season are Cardinals Saints on a Thursday at home Panthers, dolphins, Panthers, bro. So if they are

like they're four and one right now so if you just look at the bucks put their season in little buckets. This first bucket's done with. They're four and one. Now the lead up to that stretch of football is very tough.

Niners, lions, Saints, Patriots, Bills, Rams. If they can just... Niners, Lions, Saints, Patriots, Bills, Ramps. Honest to God, if they go 2 and 4 in that stretch, that would put them at 6 and 5

and still, I think, be on pace for 11 or 12 wins. If they can go, but right now, two and four right they're home for the Niners they're the better team the Saints are not good they're home for the Patriots and while the Patriots are good they're the better team and then you have very tough road games at the Lions at the Bills at the Rams I really think this team can win 13 games and they're only going to get healthier so yeah I mean I think that right now Baker Mayfield's the league MVP. He's doing all this with all these injuries.

He seems like a very good candidate. Yeah, he started the year at 35 to 1. He's now, I think, 12 to 1. I think that, I think people are, the reason he's not higher is people haven't caught on to the fact that Tampa has a very decent shot of being the one seed. And Baker, with these comebacks, plus if they're the one of the two seed,

I just think he absolutely could win league MVP. And also right now, Abuka is even money to win offensive rookie of the year. And so, yeah, I really believe in Tampa. A Chief's Buck Super Bowl was my pick before. It would be very painful for me to Monzae because I've gotten, I've never quite hit the Super Bowl exacta since we've been doing this show. I came very close one year, one game away. Chiefs Niners.

I then had Chiefs Cowboys. The Cowboys won 12 games but lost to Jordan Love. I then had Chiefs Bears and it was a disaster. If I hit the long shot piece of it in the Bucks, but the Chiefs are the side that lets me down, it'd be devastating. That would be hard. Just devastating. All right, before we get to some of the other games,

Now it's time for our new segment, College Football's Walk-on Mount Rushmore, presented by Chad Powers, now streaming on Hulu and Hulu on Disney Plus for bundle subscribers. For the next few weeks, I'll be revealing my Mount Rushmore at College Football Walk-ons, paying tribute to the legends who started with no scholarship, no spotlight, and still carved out unforgettable careers.

Last week, we started off with a no-douder. Baker Mayfield, perfect, segue. Now we're talking on him winning league MVP, had to be on there. This next guy is just as much of a no-douder, and that is a guy who has an argument that he has the greatest four-year stretch of defensive football in NFL history, and I was able to cover that in person, and that is one J.J. Watt.

J.J. Watt was a scholarship player at Central Michigan as a tight end. They then wanted to move him to tackle. He gave up his scholarship to go to Wisconsin and walk on as a defensive end. He switched to D-end and after a year redshirting, his first first. year playing, he had 16 tackles for loss and four and a half sacks. And the next year was an All-American with seven sacks, a pick, and 21 tackles for loss and turning himself into a no doubt first round pick.

He followed that up with again what I think is, and we talk about Aaron Donald, and I understand Aaron Donald, his career is absolutely unbelievable. what JJ Watt did from 2012 to 2015 in the NFL, hard to find a higher peak on bad Texans teams, one of them was good, that didn't have the lead that often. In 2012, he forced four fumbles, had 20 and a half sacks, and had 39 tackles for loss, again, playing three, four defenses, end. The next year, 10 and a half sacks and 22 tackles for loss. The next year, 20 and a half sacks,

29 tackles for loss, and then 17 and a half sacks and 29 tackles for loss. In that four-year stretch, JJ won three defensive player of the year awards, had played 64 games in those games, forced 15 fumbles, recovered 10, had 69 sacks, and 119 TFLs. So he averaged over a four-year stretch, three tackles for a loss or sack per game. And one of those years, he added, I think, I'm going to try to find it, Yeah, one of those years, he also had three touchdown catches, 2014. He was a walk-on at Wisconsin. He and Baker are no doubters on the college football walk-on Mount Rushmore.

Make sure you check out Chad Powers, a new episode streaming every Tuesday on Hulu and Hulu on Disney Plus for bundle subscribers. Hey, it's us, the Jonas brothers, and guess what? We have some big news. What's the news, news? huge news. We created our own podcast called Hey Jonas. We invented a podcast?

Well, we didn't invent it. We just contributed to it. We're the first people to do podcasts. Pretty, yeah, pretty wide range of podcasts. We're starting a trend. But this one's extra special. So how do we actually come up with a name Hey Jonas, guys? I honestly don't remember.

I think it was on a call about what we should call it. Oh, we were thinking I'm originally calling it one of the early names of our band before Jonas Brothers. This is how you guys remember it going down? Yes. I have a very different memory of this. We were talking about a thing, a bit for the podcast, where people could call in and say, hey, Jonas.

And then I wrote down on my little notepad, Hey Jonas, and offered it up as a potential title for the podcast. But thanks for remembering that, guys. Listen to Hey Jonas on the IHeart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcast. Just listen. We don't care where you hear it. Another podcast from some SNL, late-night comedy guy, Not quite. Unhumor me with Robert Smygel and Friends.

Me and hilarious guests from Bob Odenkirk to David Letterman help make you funnier. This week, my guest, S&L's Mikey Day and head writer, Streeter Seidel, help an a cappella band with their between songs banter. Where does your group perform? We do some retirement homes. Those people are starving for banter. Listen to humor me with Robert Smigel and Friends on the IHeart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. Last night, a blown call changed a game. The morning, the internet lost its mind.

Highlights are trending, opinions are flying, and nobody's telling you exactly what happened. That's where SportsSlice comes in. I'm Timbo. Every episode, we're cutting through the noise, breaking down the plays, the controversies, and the stories behind the headlines. We go straight to the source, the athlete themselves, their locker room stories, their reactions, the stuff nobody gets to hear. The laughs, the drama, the triumphs, the moments that never make the highlight real.

From viral moments to historic games, from buzzer beaters to controversial calls, We break it down, give you context, and ask the questions everybody wants answered. SportsSlice brings you closer to the action with stories told by the people who live them. Listen to SportsSlice on the IHeart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcast. And for more, follow Timbo Slicelife 12 and the TikTok podcast network on TikTok. The French Open is one of the toughest tests in tennis. And I know firsthand because I competed there myself. I'm Renee Stubbs.

And on the Renee Stubbs tennis podcast, I'm breaking down. everything happening at Roland Garris. Every match, every upset, and what it really takes to win on Clay. Genshin win. I mean, she went down to three to Rabakina, but I'm delighted. She's an outsider to win the French for me. And she likes Clay.

Listen, Lena Rubakina is arguably the best player in the world right now, and I actually can win on any surface. Because if she's serving, well, good luck. Consider this your court side seat to the French Open. Listen to the Renee Stubbs Tennis Podcast on the Eyeheart radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. Presented by Capital One, founding partner of IHeart Women's Sports. All right, Damante, let's get to your sad team.

Yeah, so Martin Ravens got abused this weekend. We obviously had a backup quarterback in. We couldn't get anything going. Our defense had C.J. Stroud out there thinking he was young again, man. But you're saying that we can still win the division. I don't see it, I got to say. I don't know how much the Steelers are going to slug. it.

I got hoping they're making the playoffs, but. Well, I think the only way they can make the playoffs is winning the division. Yeah, because I think that the, so they're one and four and they're bad. They're just a bad team right now. And Lamar is going to, and listen, I thought they could win that game. Yeah. With Cooper Ross. I remember that. I certainly didn't think they were just going to quit and get annihilated.

I wonder what the time of possession was for that game. I mean, I can check. That was a really disheartening performance. And that's probably, you know, overstating it. It was 36 to 20, 37 to 23. Right. Derek, well, Derek Henry is another guy I'm worried about this year. Derek Henry was unbelievable in week one.

It's not done much since then. So you guys would need, obviously, the Steelers to slip up. What you have going for you, DeMonsei, is you, let's just assume you lose to the Rams. You then have a by week, Lamar will be back. You then face an absolute bunch of must wins in a row, but they're very winnable must wins.

Home for the Bears off a buy, at Miami on a Thursday, at the Vikings with extra rest, at the Browns, home for the Jets, home for the Bengals. Before you face the Steelers at home, then at the Bengals, and then a very tough final three games of the year,

home for the Patriots, at the Packers, at the Steelers. The defense is awful, just awful. And listen, it's going to take a Herculian Lamar performance once he comes back. But I can't, because I don't yet fully believe in Pittsburgh, I can't write off Baltimore entirely, but they look terrible.

And we said going into the year, every year, there's a team that everyone expects to be excellent as the year from hell. Last year it was the Niners. The year before that, it was the bank. the year before that, it was the Rams. The Rams were coming off a Super Bowl, they missed the playoffs. The Bengals were coming off back-to-back AFC championship game appearances. They missed the playoffs.

The Niners were coming off a Super Bowl appearance. They missed the playoffs. This year, the five teams that would have qualified for everyone thinks they're going to be good. Eagles, Lions, Chiefs, Bill, Ravens. I understand the Chiefs have been shaky. But it's the Ravens right now. Yeah. And it is...

You've been shaky or you guys are putting up a fight. You guys have just been a bad team. Yeah. You've just been bad. And everyone moves a ball. We get people who are injured right now. Yeah, but... We'll turn it around.

But the defense was pretty bad even before the injury started piling up, which is what concerns me. All right, let's go to Pat's bills. Oh, yeah. So, man. Maybe roller coaster Josh Allen is back. They had a few turnovers in that game. Drake May looked amazing. But looking back on things, Buffalo came close to Baltimore,

my Ravens in that one game and won by a point. Like if you look at the teams, these guys have played, they haven't really beaten the best teams. What's going on with the bills? Well, listen, I do think the bills were a little overinflated, right? They played Baltimore and had that stirring comeback, and people looked at that as a huge badge of honor. I think you now look at it and you're like, man, why did you like,

everybody's scoring on Baltimore. And so that's a little different. They then blew out the jets and that was, you know, you play a bad team. You're supposed to blow them out. They did blow them out. They get a ton of credit for that. Not a ton, but credit for that.

Then the Dolphins game, they're tied midway through the fourth. The Saints game, it's a two-point game midway through the fourth. And then they just get stoned. beat by the pads. I have two slight concerns for the bills. One is more than slight, actually. I don't think the defense is very good. And I think the defense is slightly below average,

and I think that's concerning. The other thing isn't so much a concern as it is an observation. They have changed what they're asking Josh to do the last couple of years. they have asked him not to put the cape on as often, just take care of the ball. And he's done a great job of doing that until the last couple weeks.

It is, if you are going to remove the explosives, then it's a prerequisite you don't turn the ball over. Like the bills have become kind of a ball control methodical offense, And it's worked great for them. Back when Josh used to turn the ball over a lot, they also had two play 80-yard touchdown drives. And so you could offset it a bit. With this style of offense, DeMonsei, you just can't turn the ball over. And that's what got them in this game.

And so, again, I think the bills are going to be fine. and the bills. One of them was, I feel like, I don't want to say dumb luck. Keon Coleman one. Can't really blame on Josh. That's, I mean, obviously the pick is on him. But the fumble.

What was the Keon Coleman one? You passed Keon Coleman. They ended up getting a fumble. Oh, no, that one's not on Josh at all. Yeah. No, no. I'm just talking about the mistakes and stuff. No, they had three turnovers.

Keon Coleman fumbles on Keon Coleman. The interception was bad, and then they had a missed. pitch. I'm really just talking about the interception. And so listen, at the Falcons is their game Monday night

and then they have a buy and then they play, they're at the Panthers before their big Chiefs game. So I think they're fine, but I did not view them before this game as a juggernaut, and I don't view them currently as a juggernaut. You want to talk about the Patriots real

before we move on. So the Patriots are minus 200 to make the playoffs. Can you name seven better AFC teams? No. I don't. And that was the best win they've had since Bill Belichick was coaching the team. And so, and Drake May played great.

Amazing. And so, like, I said this on the show yesterday, and I think it's fair. If you're a Patriot fan, I think a realistic ceiling of your season now is you get, you're the highest seeded wild card team. So you're the five seed. And you go on the road to Pittsburgh in round one and beat them.

Like that would be that Pittsburgh's the lowest ranked, the lowest seated division of winner. Patriots are the highest seated, you know, wild card team, and you go get a playoff win. That would be awesome. And I think they could do that. Like, I think that's in play for them. I picked them to make the playoffs before the year, partly was because the schedule is so soft. And they now, and again, sorry to do so much schedule stuff today, that it is now

absolutely incumbent upon them. They are three and two. they must get to six and two. Their next three, DeMonsay, at Saints, at Titans, home for Browns. Like, if you are a real team, which you're supposed to be right now, you've got to go take care of business like that,

flatly. And I think they can do it. I think they can get to six and two and be, you know, a pain in Buffalo side all year. Hey, are you thinking about upgrading to the all new iPhone 17, Pro designed to be the most powerful iPhone ever, but you're also thinking about the traffic on your way to the store and the headache of transferring all your data.

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Let's get to the last game. We're to spend real time on before we get to the quick hitters. So the charters have dropped two straight now. First of the Giants, now is to the commanders. Those MVP chance for Herbert have gotten a little quiet. He's now seventh place. They've obviously got injuries, but, you know, as Justin Herbert, you've got to throw for at least 200 yards while being down big.

Is any other quarterback had more excuses? Listen, I don't. Excuse is made for them. Yeah, Herbert's not making the excuses, but his defenders are. And again, he's obviously a good player. He's obviously a good player. And he's obviously more than good when it comes how talented he is.

And I know that he's had some bad luck. But he's in year six, man. He's in year six. And this is the third straight game. And this is what is really concerning to me. The Broncos game, okay, they're up 10-0 moments into the second quarter. They then, they are sitting on 13 with three minutes left in the game. Now, he made that unbelievable play to that touchdown pass, one of the best plays of the year,

to tie that game, then they end up winning at the gun. But the Broncos game, they score 10 immediately, then the offense goes quiet until the very end of the game. The Giants game, they just, you know, they have 10 at halftime. They finish the game with 18 points. They have multiple possessions in the fourth quarter, down three, chance to tie or win. They can't take advantage.

and the commander's game they have 10 points with three minutes left in the first and they finish with 10 points like they have really quieted down and that like if they were in such a great position being 3 and 0 in the division and now all of a sudden they're in a real dog fight with and we've known this all year about them that they have arguably the toughest December of any team in the league December they go

Eagles, Chiefs, Cowboys, Texans, Broncos with Chiefs Cowboys and Broncos being on the road. So they need a margin of error built in and losing to the Giants and losing to the commanders at home, the first game, Jaden's back when you're up 10-0, is not great.

And so, listen, they looked awesome against the Chiefs. And I give them a ton of credit for that. And they, but now all of a sudden you look back and you're like, the Raiders have been terrible. So, you know, that's what it is. And, you know, that was just a whiff by me up to this point. And the Broncos game, that's a real, you know, That's a really good win.

But the Giants' loss is awful, and the commander's loss was ugly, and Herbert, after starting the year with those amazing numbers, has fallen right back down to Earth. And the injuries are piling up. Alt is injured. Mac is still injured. Their rookie running back, Hampton, he just got put on the IR. And Najee Harris, obviously, done for the year.

Like, the injuries are really mounting, and so I. I think that there is real concern with the Chargers. And I think that you're not going to be able to blame the coach on this one. Like Harbaugh, everybody thinks he's great. And again, I don't think Herbert's played terribly or anything. I just, you just want a little more. You just want a little bit more. All right, what's the follow up here?

So Jane Daniels, obviously, just came back, beat the charges coming off that injury. We were just talking about Drake May. Do you think that Jane Daniels has some competition and best quarterback in the class? Yeah, listen, I still think it's a three-way race. And by the way, Jaden against Caleb, Monday night. Who's the third guy? And Jaden, Caleb, Drake. Oh, Caleb, okay.

Yeah, yeah, that's what the third guy was. No, I think Caleb's still in it. He hasn't, again, Caleb's had, at this point, as good of, if not a better career than Drake, man. like the but Drake May just got a signature win you know what I mean we just saw Drake May with a signature win in a standalone game Caleb might get that this weekend I mean it's Monday night against Jane like I just think I the it wasn't too early to say CJ was better than Bryce because Bryce was so bad and CJ was so good but with and Jaden was so good no doubt about it but Drake and

weren't terrible. They just weren't elite like Jayden was immediately. Yeah, Jaden was, Jaden had an amazing start to his career. But the injuries with, I think he's going to be more of an injury risk than the other two as well, which is a real concern. All right, let's do the real quick, all the other games.

Thursday night football, we had Niners defeating the Rams, 26, 23, going to overtime. Unbelievable job by Kyle Shanahan and by Mack Jones and a brutal loss for the Rams. Just a painful, you can't lose that game. Yeah, I mean, listen. They're paying him too much, but. They're paying him.

Had they not paid him, there would be a real quarterback controversy, but they've paid. And I think Purdy's better than Mac, by the way. But this is one of those things. You know, the fans, they probably beg to disagree right now. But also, I think people expect me to take, like, I told you so victory last. on Purdy and the Shanahan system and all this stuff. I don't really need to because it was so clear all along for anyone without an agenda that I was right.

And it's not that Purdy's not good. It's that Kyle Shanahan system, particularly once you had Christian McCaffrey, particularly once you had Christian McCaffrey and all these other weapons, is a great inflation system for whatever quarterback's in it. it as long as they have just baseline starting ability. And he can make Jimmy Garoppolo look really good, can make Mac Jones look really good, and can make Purdy, who's better than both of those guys, look great. Even though Garoppolo is flatly bad, Mac Jones, prior to his time with the Niners,

had been flatly bad, and Purdy, we don't, you know, I think is fine. But he can, like that, it's a Shanahan thing. And credit to the Niners, they've dealt with all these injuries, and they're fine. And they're four and one and now play a huge game this weekend against Tampa. Next. We are a London game this week. Vikings defeating the Browns, 21 and 17. Yeah, I watched this whole game.

I also made just as square of a bet as one can make. I I I I the Browns were getting four before kickoff at half time I bet the Browns laying two and a half because I thought Carson Wince was out for the game and then he wasn't and then the Vikings won and so that was a painful one we don't need to Dylan listen Dylan Gabriel was fine Dylan Gabriel was not great he was fine and he'll be the starter there for the first foreseeable future. Next. We got the Cowboys defeating the Jets 37 to 22. Yeah, we said before the year that DAC was going to, and the Cowboys were going to have to do their best Joe Burrow and the Bengals impersonation from last year. And it's exactly what they're doing.

Right around 500. They are actually exactly 500, two, two, and one. Defense, and, and they, and, and, And DAC is putting up an MVP caliber season if we don't care about the team's record, just like Joe did last year. Next. We got the Saints to feed the Giants 26 to 14. I have no interest in discussing this game.

I guess Rattler's been fine. Good for him for avoiding going 0 and 11 as a starter. That's a horrible loss for the Giants. And if you remember, we said that that line was fishy, that who in the world was betting the Saints laying points against the giant team coming off that win and the Saints control the whole game. Colts defeat the Raiders 40 to 6. All right. I might have been wrong about the Raiders.

I just have to accept it. Gino's been brutal. The team's been awful. And here's, here is something else that I was saying, DeMonze, that the cults, after two weeks, they reminded me. of last year's saints. I want to amend that because I found a way better comp. They are last year's Vikings.

The team out of nowhere with the retread quarterback. Rejuvenated quarterback, yeah. That puts up these crazy numbers, gets off to a gaudy record in the regular season, and then gets clocked in their first playoff game. Why are you putting that something?

Are you saying that you smoked in his first playoff game? Well, listen, it won't be a first of his career because he's played and he's won a playoff game. But yeah, yeah, yes. Yeah, I think the AFC wild card, I think whatever the AFC wildcard teams are, DeMaze, are going to have a real good chance of beating the AFC South and AFC North division winners on the road in the playoffs. So, but the cults look great. I mean, listen, the cults, the cults have played two legitimate teams and played them both to the wire, the Broncos who they won and the Rams who they lost, and they played three bad teams and just smoked them all. So credit to them.

Next. Panthers defeat the dolphins 27 to 24. Man, Mike McDaniel seems so sad. Yeah, I saw a presser that he did. It seemed like he said nothing for like 30 seconds. I don't know, man. He's on till. He's trying to get fired.

I don't think he's trying to get fired, but he's, he's, he's on till. And it's not great. A little sad to see. And by the way, like Bryce has some of the worst plays you've ever seen in your life. Yeah. And then late in these games rallies a bit. But like that fumble is just unbelievable. All right, let's go to the next thing.

Same thing with it. It's like the Jackson Dart fumble. Titans defeat the Cardinals 22 to 20. I turned this game off and went full screen Baker Seahawks and I couldn't believe what when I saw That was the wildest touchdown I've ever seen in my life I don't think I've ever seen a touchdown scored in that type of fashion Well I literally had the fumble and then that and then all of it

Also Jonathan Gannon getting a bit of a pass for seemingly punching his player a couple times That was crazy that was crazy also let me say one other things I think he scored. I thought that one was really close to. I thought it was way too close to overturn. It felt like they were that they overturned it like on principle. Like you shouldn't have been screwing around. Right, making an example.

I thought that was, listen, obviously the guy made a big mistake, but I think he, I thought he scored. All right, last. Lions defeat the Bengals, 37 to 24. Yeah, Lions look excellent. are cooked. The bang, I mean, the bangles are just flat cooked.

All right, let's get to a few listener questions. Um, if, uh, Waffle says Nick, Nick's hair will never be as nice as Trevor's. Um,

and we're going to throw away one of that. Well, no, that's obviously true. That, I mean, that's, listen, the guys got,

the guys got glorious hair. There's no, there's no question my hair won't be as nice as Trevor's. I'm not going for it. Um, all right, uh, the producers are trying to do,

a bit here. I was trying to say, where's it at? Graphically, they figured out how to do it. They're trying to put, they need me to like, I think rotate in my chair.

Guys, we're going to have to save this for another time. Let's go on to the next question. Curtis asked if the Lions beat the Chiefs next week. Are they the Super Bowl favorites? I feel like it's the lion's here

due to the lack of any serious threats in the NFC. Um, they might be the Super Bowl favorites already. But here's the thing. No, the bills are. are still the favorites.

I don't think right now the NFC looks harder than the AFC. Right now it looks like, so here's the part if you're, let me real quick. Josh and Patrick are going to make the playoffs and look around at the other quarterbacks and they are going to see old man Aaron Rogers, Daniel Jones, Drake, May, Maybe Bow Nicks. My guy, Trevor, right? That's what they're going to be looking at.

In the NFC, it's going to be Super Bowl champion Jalen Hertz, playoff stud Baker Mayfield, Matt Stafford, Jared Goff, who's been to a Super Bowl, Jaden Daniels, who's been to NFC champion. You know what I mean? This has not been how it's been the last decade, but the projected quarterback field in the NFC, is way deeper than the projected quarterback field in the AFC.

It's like new school in the AFC younger guys. Or new, yeah, new school AFC, older guys and FC. Right, which is not how it's been. It's very interesting. All right, next. Danny asks, is Chris Jones having a save my best effort for the playoff season, or is he washed? He's definitely not washed, but he's got to play better. Listen, Chris has to play better.

And I'm not. you know, last week was special when he went to that funeral, flew back day of, and, you know, played in that Ravens game. But, and he's getting double-teamed or triple-teamed every play. I get that. But he's got to play better, and he's got to, you know, give better effort on the final plays. Like, that's all fair. But I believe it.

Chris Jones' future First Ballad Hallfamer, I believe in him. All right. All right. Subscribe, review to the pod. Shout out to our great. Great sponsors, Hard Rock Bet, Boost Mobile, Chad Powers on Hulu, and of course, our friends at Zen. Thank you to Blue Duck, and thank you to the volume. I will be on with Colin in about 45 minutes.

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