The Pat McAfee Show - PMS 2.0 1443 - FIRST 15: NFL Week 9 Recap

Episode Date: November 3, 2025

Pat and the boys break down the biggest storylines of week 9 of the NFL season in the FIRST 15. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

You know what a really good sagas that we have found? Huh? Well, it's nowhere near accurate to the timer, please, in the lower right corner of the screen. Now, it's nowhere near accurate with the time. You know, this says 15 minutes. It's called the first 15. But remember, first 15 means scripted plays.

That's right. Yeah, yeah. His first 15 plays. Nobody's saying, hey, first 15 plays that need to be, like, in the first minute and a half or two minutes of the game. No, because that drive might extend. First 15 plays driven by RAM,

which, whenever you hit the gas pedal in one of those ram trucks, the only sweet sound that you can hear is, We ride on clouds, obviously, and we're floating on clouds whenever we get a chance to talk about ball for the first 15 scripted plays of the program that has gone 42 minutes. But let's go ahead and hit that clock, start that clock right about now. Top five headlines from NFL Week 9 Sunday, Slate. Well, the NFL found its fastball, did they not? Nine out of the 12 games in yesterday's slate were one-score games.

Remember, this follows a historically ass weekend for the NFL. The NFL only had one outcome. last weekend that was within a one score game. It was the worst weekend of NFL football since 1970. That's 55 years. Then Thursday night goes the way that it goes and all of a sudden

you're kind of shit talking the NFL offices. Uh-oh. You guys might lost it. First time in 55 years and now you guys are going to go back to back? Oh, no. Are you guys turning to soccer? Oh, no. Oh, no. Is that what's happening to the NFL? And then all of a sudden the NFL

calls back and says, we up. baby what a week what a slate let's go to bangles bears now this one was absolute insanity let's head right to an onside kick here 41 35 the bangles had just scored to make this a one score game need an onside kick McPherson goes to bend one back it's not going to go 10 yards ah doesn't matter touches the foot of a bear's player bangles recover joey flack has a chance to bring them back because this guy gave a toe tap to the ball bangles Rock. Joey Flacks got it now. Hold on. Everybody understands

what's about to take place. Joey Flack walks him down the field. Maybe too fast. Maybe too fast. Delivers an absolute seed to Andre Yosevos. Incredibly cool, tatted man. T. Higgins had massive game. Jammar, massive. Chase Brown, massive. Massive. Massive. Massive game. No puns.

This team. Unstoppable. No, I don't think so. You can't give Caleb Williams 50 seconds in one time out. Caleb, marches down the field, third and ten, we pick up on his own 28, scrambling, doing some Caleb shit. This man walked in to the NFL with the ability

to electrify. People were calling it maybe the next Mahomes. Had we seen it yet? No. Harry picks up a huge first down, continues to drive. Now in zone 42, first and 10, 25 seconds left. No timeouts. We just spent it. What's he going to do with it? Oh, how about the first tight end drafted?

Coast and Lovlin over the middle. One tackler. Two tackler, no tacklers, gone. Costa Lovlin scores a game-winning touchdown after nobody decides to cover him or tackle him in the most important part of the game. The final minute of the fourth quarter and the Chicago Bears steal a dub in Cincinnati away from Joey Flack and the Bengals.

What a drive by Caleb Williams. Now, a lot of people are going to say that, Bengals defense is ass. Oh, man, certainly. A lot. A lot of guys on that defense saying, you're for a love of God, can you get me out here? Yeah, there are.

Four guys in the last six months are, trade me, trade me. Okay, not happening a lot. Normally it's like agents and teams, behind the scenes, having conversations. Now it's being made public. Boom, get me the hell out of town. Boom, get me the hell out of time. Boom, I'm not signing this contract.

That's kind of how it's been for the Bengals on the defense's side, let alone with Trey Hendrickson, whenever this whole thing started, draft Super Bowl Radio Row. I mean, here in the history, of the NFL allowing 160 on the ground and 260 through the sky yeah one of those or the other is going to be a glaring weakness people are going to attack it well the bangles defense says actually won't do both let them do both hey you have it your way around here yeah you can have it

you want to go on the ground be fucking best in the league you got it you want to go through the sky be the best in the league you got it and it's almost as if this was predictable was this predictable well i mean huh oh no interesting didn't we the whole conversation in the off season was pay two number ones, which they are. Yes, very good. If T. Higgins would have went to another team to be their number one, he would be by far the number one. And Jamar, same exact, for sure.

Unbelievable. Pay Joey Burrow. Now he's hurt, got Joe Flacco, good news. Yeah, yeah. He'd come here and kind of do the same thing. He's absolutely crushing it. Pay him. Okay, can you win like that?

Everybody was saying going into the year? Everybody was saying your defense wasn't good. What did you do on that side? He said, we got a new DC. Has a guy really ever done? We got a new D. See, I got another time's defense. last year.

Does he ever? We got in the D.C. Don't worry about it. And they've just been asked. And everybody that saw the way they built their team going into the season says, yeah, it's almost as if every football person told you that's not how you can actually win football games in football, especially in 2025, when the Eagles just proved that what you need to do is run the ball, stop to run.

And the Bengals said, we'll be able to throw it, though. A lot. And we might not be able to stop the run or the pass, which is what stats are saying. But that defense aside was glaring weakness going into season. and now it's turning into kind of biting him in the ass. And on that note, Caleb Williams, okay. Yeah, yeah. Can't leave Caleb that much time.

No, at it. Can't leave Caleb that much time. Because he adds the number, the first tight end drafted, right there down the middle. Good for Colston Loveling. Oh, yeah. Big day. Big day for Colson Loved. Especially videos coming out of training camp, you know, where he's singing and boys going crazy.

Then in the locker room as soon as he gets a game ball. I don't know if you saw the defense. Everybody went crazy for him. It's like, wow, they love this guy in there. It is very cool. That's a good culture. building win for the Chicago Barrier. Yeah, not to mention Ben Johnson's

finding the five in his pocket. That was incredible. I mean, you talk about coaches that have a sense of humor after a victory, Ben Johnson, one of one, knocked that out of the park. Yeah, we like, and I appreciate the fact that he's super intense. Yes. And the boys know that. So in a couple moments in the postgame speech,

Ben Johnson, his delivery pretty intense, boys know it's a lighting, lightful mode. So you go, yeah, yeah, yeah, a lot of those from the boys there, you know, kind of keeping it light. It feels like they have built their culture. beginning this was what appeared to be a train wreck wasn't going to work his mindset Caleb's mindset the building's mindset this isn't going to work and all anybody wondered is how was this guy the bell of the ball for coaching and why would he go to Chicago it feels like a

complete opposite what he would want how's this ever going to work and here they are it's working yeah congratulations Chicago Bears making a great play now huge win over the bangles that was just one of the incredible finishes around the NFL let's go to the Panthers upset and the Packers. Seven, six, third quarter, ass game to walk. Rico Dowdell, the Rico Act says, hold on, only two, only two. One, two. All right, that's good.

No worries, right? Turn us down on, please. The ref said actually personal foul, super unsportsman. Yeah, 15 yards. They backed that extra point up, 15. they missed that extra point. Yeah. Okay, so all of a sudden, the double pump actually starts affected.

Oh, no, I thought that was okay. Well, Kean Peel said it was okay. I don't know if this said NFL refs said it was okay. We all believe that two is good, three way too much. These refs said one, two, we want none. Come on. Okay, we want none of the hip thrust. Nonetheless, 13, 13, Packers are able to make it a tie ball game.

Let's go to Bryce Young, second and 10, 11, left in the fourth quarter. When Bryce was coming out into the NFL draft, they said this dude is a Steph Curry of this draft, an absolute steel. Well, he finds the Irish U.S. Tedro-McMillan, wide-ass open, good first down. Let's go to second and ten now. Later, give it the Rico Dowdell. This dude is unstoppable. Ty might be the best player to ever play football.

Yeah, certainly the best player in the NFL this year by far. But yes, I think you could argue he's the best football player of all time. So they find themselves into field goal territory. Ryan, Fitzgerald from 49, give me that. 48 was the extra point that he missed earlier. 49 was the game winner. And the Carolina Panthers beat the Green Bay Packers in a walkoff in Lambo. What a moment, what a time.

And, Ty, the Panthers are good football team. Yeah, I mean, they dominated this game. or controlled it. Dominated, I guess, is one way of saying it because it was a one-score game and it took a field goal to beat him. But I think the Packers only had three possessions in the first half. They just knew exactly what they needed to do to win. They knew it was potentially going to come down to a field goal.

And on the flip side, you know, the Packers, once again, special teams kind of kills them, whereas special teams could have killed the Panthers, but what a kick by rookie Ryan Fitzgerald. It was massive. And when he was lining up for it, every Packers fan knew there was a zero percent chance that he was going to miss that. Let's go to the next game in the NFC North. Vikings, Detroit Lions, fourth quarter, 141.

Lions only have one time out. First down wins it. J.J. McCarthy in a bucket to nail her. JJ scored a touchdown on a ground. He threw a couple. JJ had some inaccurate passes where he missed like by 10 yards. And then whenever the moment's the biggest, JJ locks in and makes a play. His teammates love him, okay?

All the way back from high school, IMG, they loved him. College at Michigan, they loved him. And in Minnesota, they love him. He comes into the locker room, boys go crazy. I think his leadership is one of the aspects of him that makes everybody say he is the guy in Minnesota. I think he acts like a guy. They treat him like a guy.

And on the field, he's able to win these games. And he has so much, so much up into the right. I mean, if he takes the trajectory, Josh Allen took in the offseason. And I know we're comparing a lot of people to Josh Allen, and we saw Josh Allen. Yeah, that's what you want. That is what you're looking for. But if he takes the trajectory of Josh Allen

in these off seasons, it gets more accurate. If he's able to get a little bit more accurate, especially with his leadership and his work ethic that everybody says, if he's able to stay healthy, it's like, JJ, hey, all of a sudden you start looking at that draft class. And it's like, that might be the best draft class of all time. Go ahead, comment. Yeah, and he's a sicko.

Like when Kevin O'Connell's giving him the game ball after in the locker room, like after they walk in and everything, like him losing his mind before getting the game ball awesome the team reacting to him doing that was really cool and just him living up to the moment like how many times in the last two years have teams gone into into Detroit and beating them like we talked about the lions being 13 and three in prime time games since the mcdc era started like typically the lions rise to the occasion the fact that they did it especially since we were kind of at least i was kind of talking a bit of junk about him not playing last week when Carl Wenz had a baby on the way

and one arm, like for him to show up like that, was incredible. 27, 24, 27 points against the Detroit Lions team. Now, I know it wasn't, you know, it wasn't the prettiest. There was some blocked kick. There was a block kick. There was a block kick. There was a good field position. But J.J. McCorthia, Minnesota, get a win over the Detroit Lions,

which is crazy to think about, especially, to your point, Connor, about the convo by JJ. Here's a little stat from Hembo here. Nine plus point underdogs this season. Weeks one through eight, they were 0 and 10. Week 9, they were 2. and two. Carolina and Minnesota, and that are the two largest upsets of the season just yesterday.

Congrats their Panthers. Damn good football team. Damn good football team. J.J. McCarthy might be a for real NFL dude. Seems like every moment he needs to step in. He does. Congrats to the Vikings for them. And then the Jags and the Raiders go to overtime.

Trevor Lawrence scores a touchdown on their first drive. So that's a big deal. Congratulations. You see a Jacksonville Jaguars. They kick an extra point. They scored on her first drive. They're up seven. Now the Raiders get a chance to answer.

They go down. Are they going to be able to score? 19 seconds left in overtime. They score a touchdown. Down one. Could opt to kick the extra point. They say for the good of football, we're going for two. We love that move.

Ultimately, it gives them a loss, though. Instead of having a one at the end, Raiders decide to go for two. Pete Carroll says, he was open. For the good of ball, they went for two. And to that, we say thank you, Raiders. Thank you. No more time. And congrats to the Jacksonville. Jaguars, not only a huge win, but also Cam Little, this kicker out of Arkansas, drafted last year in the sixth round, has hit a 68-yard field goal in a regulation football game.

He hit from 70 in preseason, and this dude Little hits big-ass balls. I mean, he is so incredibly impressive. Obviously, he had to drive it a little bit, they say, for the side angle, didn't get blocked, wasn't even close getting blocked. A lot of guys had their arms up, obviously, from 68. That thing would have been good from 71, 72 yards, unbelievable kick. And obviously, we talk about Aubrey a lot. Cam Little hits massive balls. I mean, this dude just murders balls.

And the new K-ball institution that we're in right now, guys are hitting these long balls at a more accurate clip than they ever have. Guys are also attempting it more than they ever have before. And for those that are sleeping under a rock and maybe don't know this, the kickers are allowed to bring the balls to the game now. You used to come out of a box, have a 30-minute like session on when you were allowed to break it down so it was a little beat up but it wasn't too beat up now just like quarterbacks kickers are allowed to bring their own balls have to pass an inspection

for how hard it is obviously the amount of pressure in there and then what it looks like and then guys now have gone seven for 11 from 60 push crazy and a 68 yard field goal has been hit and everybody's just assuming that a 70 yarder is on the way so right now cam little has the record but i think for the first time in the history of ball it's not safe oh yeah i do not think it's safe especially if you get a situation at the end of half. Okay, let's go to the number four headline is we got 132 left and we're through the first headline here. Injuries, we don't like them.

No, we don't. At all. Hate them, actually. We despise them. Trying to get rid of them. Yeah. Multiple times. A lot.

Yeah. Multiple times. Joe Alt, obviously, legend for that Chargers team. The way they play with him and without him a little bit different, he leaves the game with an ankle. Travis Hunter last Friday was listed. on the IR after getting hurt in Thursday's practice with a knee. Obviously, T's and P's to all these dudes.

We're pulling for him, but these are electrifying, very important players on that note. Jaden Daniels last night up 38-7. It dislocates his elbow, it appears, and who knows what else, whenever it comes out of testing. But that was nasty, especially for a guy that is as important to the game of football in the NFL right now as he is. Jaden is a big deal for football. We all like the way he plays.

We all love. watching them. They obviously didn't play their best game. They're down by a lot. He's on the field. Why is you on the field? If he's not on the field, though, people say he's not going down with the ship. He ends up getting hurt. Don't love to see that. Tucker Kraft, we were just singing his praises literally last week for taking over a game. He exits with a knee. And then obviously, C.J. Stroud got a concussion as well. Marshawn Latimore and Luke McAfrey, both from the commanders also get hurt. Broken collarbone for Luke. Latimore has a knee. Michael Hoyt, Bill's linebacker out,

Michael Williams for the 49, I mean, just, this was a week that was a lot, a lot of big names, a lot of injuries, and we don't, we hate them. Hate them. All right, now we have three more headlines

go to go. Let's go to number three headline. The NFC West is a problem. Listen, now, obviously tonight the Cardinals will play against the Cowboys. They have a losing record. Let's leave them out of this particular conversation, even though, hey, a lot of football left.

That's right. A lot of football. left, who knows what they're going to have to do. Matthew Stafford's number four right now in the MVP conversation. Okay, Matthew Stafford currently, odds are fourth to win the MVP. He's been put, Pooka Nakuwa's back. Okay, Pooka Nakua, scoring touchdowns. Pooka Nakua actually commented in our Instagram to one of his numerous highlights that were posted. And he said, just trying to be good enough to get back on the program, Moose. And we'd like to let you know, Puka, you're welcome anytime. What a perfect superstar for Los Angeles, Pooka Nakua is. He's a dog. He's tough. And he's got a

quarterback thrown to him that isn't scared to break NFL records. If you look at the wide receivers with the best seasons throughout the history of the NFL, you're going to see the quarterback Matthew Stafford next to the guys that are doing that. He's a special talent. He and I were drafted in the same year. He was number one overall got like $175 million guaranteed.

I was drafted number 222. I got $47,000, which wasn't enough to pay off the Cadillac Escal. Okay, so it's a little different life. But what he has been able to accomplish, especially with Kershaw, his high school teammate or best bread, whatever it is. baseball team just wins his last world

series. The fact that Stafford looks the way he looks and is still doing what he's doing, insane. And then Devante Adams, the amount of touchdowns that he has that are in close distance. So, you know, the Eagles are doing the push whenever they're down there. You know what the Rams do? They do Devonte, get open. Matthew Staffordage is just

delivering him. Distance of each touchdown in last year, three yards, four yards, two yards, one yard, one yard. Unguardable. Remember, all anybody talks about is get off. He doesn't even have to use his hands. He's able to shake everybody. They used to do this Grunk, the Patriots. Anytime they're down the Red Zone, let's just go and get Gronk one-on-one, and then you've got a two-way go, three-way go, whatever the hell you want to do. Grunk,

we're just going to wait on it. Right now, they got Devante one-on-one down here, and they have to do that because they got Puka and other weapons. Devante, always the number one, normally going to have two people on him, especially in the red zone area. Now with where he is on that roster, Devante's getting one-on-ones down there, and all you've got to do is just let DeVonte cook, basically, and Stafford's just waiting on them. Offensive line has to be able to block for half a second, not even. as soon as DeVante's loose, we get it. And it's an easy go.

Brilliant by Sean McVeigh. And if you cover them, Devante's all right. We got Puka over here on the other side, and we'll see how it all goes. So, I mean, the NFC West, not only am, Niners get a huge. San Francisco 49ers of Mack Jones. Mack Jones playing really good. Yeah. Now, their defense, obviously, very dinged up.

We have no idea what the defense is going to be able to be long term. And also trade deadline tomorrow. The San Francisco 49ers are always a pretty active squad whenever it comes to make. it moves to try to better their team. And this Matt Jones, Christian McCaffrey, obviously, otherworldly, otherworldly, okay? I saw Jackson Dart run one in. I saw a couple touchdowns for this Giants team. And obviously, his Giants team looks different now than he did just a few weeks ago with the loss of Scadaboo. And obviously, the Niners looked different now than they did a few weeks ago with the loss of Fred Warner and everybody else. But Mac Jones playing

quarterback looks more than capable to be leading the San Francisco 49ers team. And they get a huge win against the New York Giants, Tone Diggs. Yeah, Mac has looked incredible, stepping in for Brock Purdy and like to have him as their backup in this situation to get them to six and three like no like if you would have looked at all their injuries so like if you put that hey not is you're going to lose all these people max going to be the quarterback what's their record we never would have him six and three at all and here's the giant's defense to that point last two games uh week eighteenth one he had 18 touches 174 yards and two touchdowns week nine christian mccaffrey 33 touches he's the guy 173 yards and two touchdowns

giant's defense need to figure out how the hell they're going to cover he'll run him back yeah We need a linebacker that can run, it sounds like, is what we're looking for in New York. Trade deadline day. Oh, no. Maybe some buyers at the trade deadline. Yeah, I don't think we're going to be buyers, but it was like we didn't know Chris McCaffrey was on the 49ers. It's just a complete embarrassment. That's a life of a Giants fan.

We're living alongside Bruce. And then obviously last night was just a show of the NFC West. The Seahawks team is a problem. Cross the board. Leonard Williams is, what, six foot dines? You see him running so big. He chased down Jaden Daniels last night. And I was just like, there's no way that's Leonard.

Leonard Williams has been around a long time. And he looks phenomenal. Had no idea he's spear fishing, okay? They're saying he's going down for five minutes at a time. This guy can hold his breath for five minutes as he's free water fishing out there. Held a tuna the size of him up on his screen. This is how they're filling time late. Leonard Williams is a fisherman, a free diving fisherman.

I think they said 80 feet, five minutes holding his breath. That is crazy. I think they said on Leonard Williams. Pressure. Absolutely. Yeah. Well, I think Collinsworth said, I scuba dive down there. You know, and he said that is obviously a little scary. Couldn't imagine going down there without a tank. But on that note, they got talent everywhere. They got dogs everywhere. Them talking about how Jackson Smith and Jigua, this offseason said, I want to be the best wide receiver in football. And McDonald said, well, you got to, this is how we work. And then him just buying in and doing it. Sam Darnold, this guy was let out of the building, obviously, in Minnesota. I think it's because J.J. McCarthy's leadership abilities.

I genuinely believe that. I think there's two alphas in the building. Everybody's like, well, why don't you let JJ kind of watch somebody? I think JJ's pretty big alpha. I think JJ is a alpha personality at least and leader and kind of everybody gravitates towards him. So I think it would be tough to kind of have a starter in there with him. So Sam Darnold heading to Seattle, what a move for them.

And they're special, always winning on the road. Yeah, always winning on the road. and I like the cut of their jib out there a lot. And we all know Seattle, especially if their fans are all in, which it feels like they are and should be, is impossible to play out. This Seahawks team is very special. Well, I'm very cool for Mike McDaniel and the Seahawks.

So like be good last year and then make McDonald, excuse me, be good last year and then make a change. Like, Gino Smith and the Seattle Seahawks with D.K., they were good. And then instead of kind of just riding that out to see what happens, they say, hey, look, Sam Donald's better. Jackson Smith and Jigba, he needs to get the, the ball more. I mean, Sam Donald threw two touchdowns to a guy named

Torrey Horton. I get it. I probably should have known who that guy was. I didn't going into the game. That's a good touchdown parlay builder there. Oh, man. Not to mention the third string tight end. He threw a touchdown to number 82 Wilson. No idea who that is either. Oh, what a touchdown parlay builder. It would have been, it would have been dynamic. But, I mean, Arroyo here, A.J. Barner, Jackson Smith and Jigba. Jackson Smith and but to even score, and they still put up 38 points. The Seattle Seahawks are awesome to watch.

Yeah, the commanders fans said they're being an elementary team. Yeah, they're being an elementary team. And here's a guy that Connor was talking about. White, excuse me, not Wilson. I'm sorry. Mr. White had a W. Wilson, White. Steelers actually cut him this year. What's that? Steelers actually cut him this year.

Mr. White? Yeah. Okay. So he looks like he's found a good home out there in Seattle then. Congrats to Seahawks and the NFC West. We'll see the Cardinals tonight as they take on, obviously, Dallas Cowboys. Let's go to the number two headline from the weekend. The bill's beat the chiefs. Okay. And everybody's going to say, well, Bill's, they beat the Chiefs again in

regular seasons. You can't be it in both seasons. Well, it's like, well, what are the bills supposed to lose in a regular season? It's much better to win than it is to lose in these games. And if you watch the way this game went, boy, that Bill's didn't beat the hell out of the Patrick Holmes. I mean, there was a string there of three, four straight plays where Patrick was just taking huge shots, huge shots, huge shots. It's like this Bill's team has a little bit of a different attitude maybe they seem to be the ones that want to be the aggressors they're the ones that want to be tougher they beat don the buff or the kansas city chiefs i think that is a little bit alarmed if you're a kansas chiefs fan and also if you're a buffalo bills fan it's like

hey hold on now we got a little bit of an edge feels like this team has you got josh allen obviously on the offensive side so you're going to be great on the offensive side of the ball you would assume defense thumping this kansas chiefs team as much as they did and obviously making plays all over the place and get a huge win great for the buffalo bills yeah Great for the Buffalo Bills, but like you're saying, if you're a Chiefs fan, you're just holding your breath every single time. You're watching Mahomes play now. We've talked about it the last couple weeks about him running the ball and kind of get smacked around more.

It's like, you know, obviously this game doesn't the end-all, be-all for them because there is a good chance they see each other in the playoffs. But boy, Patrick Mahomes needs to take care of himself. We can't have that guy getting hurt and missing a good chunk of time over the next couple weeks. Here's some Hempbo stats out of the Bill's Chiefs game. Patrick Mahomes versus this Bill's defense, 44% completion percentage, which, which is a career low. I think he had to go back to college since he had a completion percentage below 50%. 13.1 average depth of target is his career high. Nobody was getting open. He just kind of throwing him out. He threw for 444 air yards and 69 yak.

Nothing easy underneath, says Hembo, a little anecdote, he says. And they hit him career high 15 times. Flawless plan and execution from the Buffalo Bill's defense, says Hembo, they literally beat him down. Yeah, and they had at all over out, you know, their best defensive line. the highest paid defense line wasn't even playing and they had that all that pressure is awesome good for the bills maybe this is the year could be maybe this is the year for the buffalo bill is good to see a bosa cooking out there and then number one headline from the weekend is turn back the clocks an hour yeah right about 11 years yeah look at the aFC leaders Colts Patriots Broncos Steelers that's 2025 let's go back 2014 shall we boom who's up there old school tradition 11 years ago now

Did I choose to take this angle for the number one headline so that I can show? Go back 2025, please. Boom. The Colts still number one. Let's make sure we understand that. Okay, let's make sure we understand that. Toffel Austin at Pittsburgh Steelers. Great.

Good team. But Pittsburgh Steelers currently leading the AFC North, which is why they're seeded in fourth, although others might have a couple more wins than them, including the Buffalo Bills, who are six and two who have already had thereby. New England Patriots lead the AFC East, the Denver Broncos lead, the AFC West, and Pittsburgh Steelers and Indianapolis Colts. got the north and the south respectively it's like this is old school football all of a sudden and this broncos team hey dude denver broncos are a real deal going into the season the broncos

were some super bowl favorites some super bowl um uh what's it called whenever you're like um people love you so darling super bowl darlings by a lot of fans and the denver broncos get a huge win over the houston texans down in houston with a walk off from will lutz and there was a moment before this kick between Sean Payton, head coach of the Broncos and Will Lutz? Hey, right through. Man, a little smile. That's awesome. I love everything about it because you have to think to yourself, hey, the head coach has got to really get along with the kicker,

if this is what he's saying to him right before. A little bit of a violent motion. Don't know exactly what he said. You say, hey, Will. Hey, look at me. Fucking, yeah. We need to make this one. We need to make this one.

Will Lutz makes the kick. Will Lutz now under Sean Payton because he is with him at the New Orleans Saints. Payton brings them up to Denver. Sean Payton and Will love 14 to 16 and clutch field goals under Sean Payne. It's all the way back to the Saints. Pretty good. Game tying or go-head field goals in the final two minutes of regulation plus OT. Yeah, I think Sean Payton has a lot of faith and he's just reminding Will, hey, you're

going out there to make this thing. Let's remember that. Smile. Will says you got it. Broncos back in a position where it's like, wait, is this the Broncos team that we all thought it was going to be? Is this the Broncos team that can go win a Super Bowl? Sean Payton has been able to do it in the past.

Can he do it again? rebuilding it in his own image. Crazy to think about in Denver. And the top four is incredible. But if you were to go back to 2014 and look at those top four teams, the wildcard teams are nowhere near how good the wildcard teams are now. You know, you're looking at that. And you're damn near worried if you're the two seed or the three seed or the four seed just because,

hey, chiefs are there, bills are there. Yeah. Chargers are there. Like there are a lot of really, let alone the Ravens, if they continue to play well, like the buy this year might be the most important buy the AFC has had. in a long time. Yeah, I, and then who's already out of it? Yeah, who's out of it that we think might be in it?

You know, there's some teams that might not be able to catch some of these teams. I'll be fascinated to see how the AFC falls. And also, congratulations to the Steelers and the Patriots. And the Colts. And the Colts. Tough one for me to be able to celebrate the Colts, but still number one, the AFC out here. Don't you worry about it? Joining us now in the best truck down the line, nothing solves a ram truck.

No, it does. Yeah, right. Ride comfortable, ride style, ride with grit, ride with ram. Hell, yeah. That's a tagline. Sure could be. Yeah, so I'm bad. Joining us now, ladies and gentlemen, a man who might be able to fill in some gaps that we might have missed,

especially on the injury conversation in which there was a lot of superstars injured yesterday. Insider for the NFL at ESPN, also a Michigan man, ladies a gentleman, Adam Schifter. Yeah, Chefty. How you doing, brother? Going on there, Matt, how you doing? I'm great. Thank you for joining us. Obviously, a huge one between the Cardinals and the Cowboys tonight.

We'll chat about that a little bit later. Through the first 15, one of our headlines was the injuries. Feels like this was the worst weekend around the NFL. And today's the day where we're waiting on scans. Is that kind of how this normally works out, Shephti? There have been some bad weeks in the NFL. This is another one of them. Obviously, you have Jaden Dangas last night.

That was really troubling to see and watch and see him be escorted off the field with his left arm and a break. Look, here's the deal. He's having the MRI today. It's dislocated his elbow. I mean, it's not going to be any different in the result there. And he's going to be out indefinitely. So Washington would have to keep alive its season and turned it around at 3 and 6 for him to have a chance to come back. And I would think it's safe to assume that Washington is going to be moving forward, extraordinarily careful about when it puts back in Jaden Daniels. And so if they're not winning here in the weeks to come, then I think there's a real chance that we've seen the last of Jaden Daniels this season. I think that's in the realm of possibility. He's definitely, it's possible.

His season is over. The whole thing was troubling. You never want to see a player like that go down. You never want to see a player like that go down midway through the four. quarter, down 31 points. That franchise has been through that before, and it just, it's unfortunate the way the whole thing unfolded. Yeah, I agree.

And watching a long live at the time, because I couldn't fall asleep because I guess I'm just a sicko. And listen to Tariko and Collinsworth try to fill time with certainly something I was enjoying while I was watching it. And then you see that injury happening. It's like, oh, that's nasty, nasty. And then this morning I saw it. They were blurring it out on Sports Center.

was. So obviously, the future of the franchise, they're going to be careful with. We respect that. Let's talk about some of the other injuries that took place. Obviously, Tucker Kraft had a knee. Joe Olt had a knee, or an ankle. Travis Hunter had a knee in practice. Do we know anything on or any

updates on any of those particular guys? Tucker Kraft, the test came back today. Torn ACL confirmed. Out for the just brutal. Do you just talk over the NFL last week? Fuck, man. By the way, I do think this is Tucker Kraft's 25th birthday today.

It is. Yeah, Jordan Love had an awful 27th birthday yesterday. Tucker Kraft had an awful 25th birthday today. There are a lot of bad birthday celebrations here with the Packers. And Tucker Kraft had developed into, you could argue, maybe the best tight end in the game right now. Coming off a huge game against the Pittsburgh Steelers have been unbelievable. He's not only is he a great receiver, but he's a great blocker. He's a vital part of that offense.

You see the numbers right there. Jordan Love targeting Tucker Kraft is off the charts. That target is now taken away. So, I mean, it's a tough one. I guess you're going to have Musgrave try to step up. I wouldn't think that they'll try to do anything at the trade deadline, but just a bad, bad injury. Yeah, it sucks.

Jayden Daniels, all these suck, by the way, because they're all superstars, which is something to think about. Joe Alt, Ankle, and Travis Hunter would be the two from that particular. Travis Hunter came out of practice. He's on IR. They said his ACL was intact.

That means they were scared. It was an ACL, it sounds like. Putting him on IR is just to make sure he's 100% or what are you hearing out of there are the news that dropped on Friday from Thursday's practice? Well, first of all, Travis Hunter is somebody that doesn't miss time. So when he goes down and he's out for four weeks, at minimum, that tells you it's not great.

And I think it's going to be, my sense is it's going to be beyond that. It's going to be, as I was told, it's going to be quote-unquote a while before Travis Hunter comes back. Jeez. Yeah. And Jacksonville has been winning. And as long as they stay alive, I think we could see Travis Hunter again later this season. but I put this a little bit in the Jading Daniels category. You're going to be careful with this guy.

And if, I mean, they're in the playoff race right now, and they're doing a great job. But if they're not, you're not going to rush this guy back. You're going to be careful. And so I think it will be a little while before we see Travis Hunter again this season. I don't know exactly when, but as I was told over the weekend, it's going to be a while. Travis Hunter, we will miss you, brother.

Yeah. Especially in this time where, you know, a lot of growth. can still happen for Travis Hunter on both sides of the ball. We'll miss him. Joe Alt with an ankle. We know what the Chargers are with Joe Alt. Obviously, the stats were a little bit polar whenever it was with Joe Alt without Joe Walt. What should we be thinking here with Joe Walt as you look ahead? Well, I go back and look. He hurt his ankle in week two, I believe it was, or when was it against the Giants? When the Chargers played the Giants? What week was that? Is that week two, three, whatever it was, because neighbors tore his ACL in that game.

and before neighbors went down, Joe Alt basically was carted off in that game with a high ankle spring to the same ankle. He rested it, rehabbed it, and was able to come back weeks later. This time, my understanding is he's going to have to have a surgical procedure done to help stabilize the ankle. So whatever he missed last time, and I'd have to go look it up, I would think he's going to miss more time. Now, I'm going to guess he missed about four or five weeks.

weeks. So again, probably, hopefully, maybe later this season, maybe. Tough game, dude. Tough game. Football's a tough game. It's so hard to win. That's why like the Patriots winning for 20 plus years is so crazy to think about because you lose a couple of your pillar guys, which is happening here around the league. We're literally just talking about you lose a couple of these pillar guys. All of a sudden, your team looks vastly different. And it's like, are we even built to win without this person? And it's like, no, it changes everything. some of these injuries. I mean,

they're got like McKell Williams for 49ers. Their first-round drip. They lose Fred Warner to season-ending

injuries. Now you're counting on your first-round pick. He tears his ACL yesterday. Like, I mean,

it is, it's, you know, where do the charges go get an offensive tackle now? It's not, these guys,

you can't find them. You can't find them. Where are the Niners? I mean, the Niners, maybe, maybe they can go trade for some kind of edge, maybe,

but, it's brutal. It's so hard to try to replace that. Yeah, it's impossible. Yeah, the injury thing is just crazy. It is, it's a guarantee that it's going to happen. Who is it going to decide whether or not it kind of sends your entire season off course?