The Ringer NFL Show - Can the Chiefs Still Make the Playoffs, Which 1-Seed Do You Believe in More, and Fixing the Bears

Episode Date: October 26, 2021

Jason, James, and Ryan start by discussing some of Tom Brady’s comments with Peyton and Eli Manning about defensive players (0:50). Then they talk about the Chiefs and whether they can save their season after a slow start (13:01). They wrap up by discussing all the problems Matt Nagy and the Bears have had this season and how these problems can be fixed (37:55). Hosts: Jason Goff, James Jones, and Ryan Shazier Production Assistant: Isaiah Blakely Additional Production Supervision: Arjuna Ramgopal Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Hello, friends, and welcome to the Ringer Golf podcast, Fairway Rowland. I am your starter, Joe House. Throughout the golf season, our PGA tour correspondent on the ground, Nathan Hubbard and myself are bringing you all of the very best takes having to do with the world of golf. That is Fairway Rowland, which you can find on Spotify. Welcome to the Tuesday edition of the ring of NFL show, Jason Gawr, Ryan Shazier. James Jones, a man Ryan Shazir came in hot. He looked like he just did some road work. You know what I mean?

He looked like he's about to get in the ring for 10, 10 rounds at least. So let's go ahead and kick it off, man. Hey, man, this man, mad disrespectful, man. This man, Tom Brady, mad disrespectful. Man. He had the biggest take of the game, and he didn't even fucking play last night. What did he say? This man says,

playing defense is like a dog chasing a car. There it is. This man is mad disrespectful. He's talking about all winning their meetings. He's like, oh, I can typically tell why these dudes play defense. Like, bro, you just soft. You don't want to get nobody. That's what it really is.

That man's soft with it. Oh, come on, bro. There's too many great players out here to just say people out here just chasing tails, right? So you're saying the smartest side of the football isn't on the offensive side? I'm not saying that, but I'm saying it's definitely smart guys on both ends of the game. You know what I'm saying? You know, but like people try to make quarterbacks are just so superior when it comes to calling plays.

And it's not like that. Like, it's deep as a dudes that do the same thing. And when Luke Keekely had the defense running, they was one of the best defense. What did he say again, Ron? That man said playing defense is like a dog chasing a car. Man, just go just go tackle the man. with the ball. That's how they plays drew up. Like, come on, bro. Come on, bro. So, so what is a receiver job? Go just go run around and catch the ball?

Well, put the mic down for this one. Well, number one, I'm on your side, Ryan. And the reason I appreciate it, I just wanted to know, because you told me to repeat it, so I thought you was on his side. No, no, I'm on your side because I've had this conversation with plenty of my teammates. Defenders, you know what I'm saying, besides receivers, defenders. is the best athletes on the field, man. Yeah. You know what I? I threw the receivers in there just because I play receiver.

But no, like, for real, like, we always talked about just like, bro, y'all don't know to play. If y'all playing man-to-man coverage on somebody, y'all don't know what he doing. And y'all is strictly going off of instincts, what you see, what the person gives you, you know what I mean? It's just a natural ability. Like, the defensive position, playing defense is much harder than playing offense.

You know what I'm saying? Offense, they able, okay, tell you what to do. You know what I'm saying? You go out there and run your route. You know what I mean? Or you go out there, this is your first read, this is your second read,

this is what you're going to do. You know what I'm saying? Defense, man, it's truly off of instinct. It's truly off a really raw natural ability. So for him to just go out there and say, y'all chasing dogs and all that, that is, that is disrespectful. That's not disrespectful. That's not disrespectful.

Who is the context, though, right? Like, we put, like, we put much, we put a lot of time into this on the defense side of the ball. I got it right here. I got it right here. I know Isaiah going to play it in the, in the, I'm going to play it right here for y'all to hear it. Have you ever been to some of those defensive meeting rooms? I mean, you wonder why they play defense.

And after about two minutes, you go, yep, they can never be an offensive player. So, you know, defense is like, it's kind of like a, you know, a dog, a dog chasing a car. You know, just get the guy with the ball. Hey. Bro, bro. So, so that might be a little. Worst, Ryan. Basically, he said, y'all on the defensive side of the ball.

Y'all dumb, bro. That's what I said. As soon as Ryan said it, that's why I said what I said. Not basically. Hey, he said, and he said, hey, he said, Kalil, Mac, Aaron, Donald, Ray. Jayley Ramsey. Jayley, Ray.

They, y'all dumb, bro. Y'all just get to do with the ball, bro. That's what he just said. Bro, that's what he said. Right. That's crazy. You got a lot. Y'all had a few good defensive players on my team and this and this and

No, no, no, man. But then, like, think about it. Like, you say it's all of reaction. Like, I'm going backwards, trying to see what you're doing. It's still understanding that you're running a dead concept behind me or a mess around in front of me. You know, like, also, I know every move you about to make. You know what I'm saying? Like, well, I did.

I know it's a lot of dudes that ain't doing all the extra. Right. There's a lot of dudes that's out there doing the extra. There's a lot of dudes out there putting the work in, like Tom Brady putting the work in on the defense and side. You know what I'm saying? So I feel like that's mad disrespectful. Forget about all the ones. Forget about all the work put in.

Forget about all that. Forget about all that. That is mad, disrespectful. Like, these dudes is premier athletes, the greatest athletes in the world on the defensive side of the ball. Like, you got dudes over here coming down here, tackling Adrian Peterson,

who's running full speed at you on the offensive side of the ball, and he can put any moves on you. Dalvin Cook, Reggie Bush, Alvin, whatever these running backs you want to say, you got dudes like Randy Mark. who could jump, run, all this type stuff. Jerry Rice and you got to go out here and guard them. That's why the best athletes in the world, bro, is on the defensive side of the ball.

You talk Diyos Sanders. You talk Ed Reed. You talk Ray Loo. You talk all, like, these are great athletes, man. You're talking about people chasing dogs, man. These dudes is phenomenal athletes. He's crazy. And I'm an offensive player,

but the dudes on the defensive side of the ball, bro, they skill level, man, and talent level is better than the dudes on the all. offensive side of the ball, period. And yeah, it's great offensive player. It's probably some offensive players that could have played defense. But that right there, I'm telling you,

as a defender on your team, if I hear that, I'm like, Tom, hold on, explain this to me, but sit right here. He's going to, you go, you're going to point to your finger and be like, how you like that ring, family?

You're going with that? Yeah, I'm the reason you got this goddamn ring. You're tripping. I don't care nothing about no ring, Tom. 1500 yards in the game. Hey. Hey, if I'm Jason Pierre, Paul, Domican, Sue, Levanté, hey, bro, hey, we have the training table.

Hey, sit right here, bro. Come on, man. Hey, so, wait. Hey, so, hey, I sit in here watching hours of film and you said, I'm out of here just chasing chasing cars. But not only that, it's just the disrespect of my athletic ability, too, bro. Like, are you kidding me? Like, I'm diagnosing all this stuff, and I don't even know y'all plays.

You know what I'm saying? Like, brus, you crazy. Like Tom, really sit here, bro. I know some people go out there and go on new shows and they say stuff that they don't really mean. Talk to me, bro. Say, is that what you really mean? You know, because if it is, bro, if it is,

I'd have lost a little respect for you, too, if that's how you feel about defenders, man. This man went to Florida and lost all respect for everybody, bro. I love the fact that he blaming it on the state, by the way. I love that, brother. I love Florida, dog. But look, like, he really got Florida in him now, bro. Like, hey.

Hey, that man, hey, look, after he playing people, he, after he played y'all, what do he do, Jason after he played y'all? Oh, man. So this is what he did. He, his social media team is outstanding, right? But he has some saying this. He thanks everybody after a win. He never, he never puts it on himself. Sometimes Gronk is in a video with him.

But for this video, a 38 to 3 drubbing of my Chicago Bears, this man, you hear him talk, and then you hear it. the background and it's like a, it's the, it's the national anthem here in the city of Chicago. And I'm like, wait a minute, is he? No, he didn't. And then all of a sudden, Chief Keeve lovesosa drop. And you're like, oh. I'm like, oh, my God. Why don't you just come into my career and, you know, smack my dog and eat my food while

you're at it? Like, Tom said I left New England. Anybody could get it, bro. I'm still stuck on this, but he really just disrespecting defensive players like that, man. That's the nature of being in Florida, bro. I was mad. This was respectful before I went to Ohio State, bro.

Listen to us. It calmed down, bro. It calmed down, bro. This man even finessed the fan, bro. He finessed the fan. Can we talk about that before we get into the game games, by the way? Let's talk about this. No, the fan allowed himself to get finessed.

And if you don't know what we're talking about the 600. Then he said something about that on the telecast, too. The 600 touchdown in his NFL career, Michael Evans called it. Mike went into the state. fans, they, you know, they do, they give balls to the fans in Tampa a lot, right? So he goes into the, because Leonard Fournette gave his jersey and a ball to a fan after the game, like they, they, they help out the fans. They do what they're supposed to do.

Michael Evans, not knowing that it was his 600th, walks up to a fan who had this wild Tampa Bay Buccaneers, like Sun hat on, he had the jersey, obviously a big fan. He gives the ball to him. And then Michael Evans finds out when he gets on to son back to the bench that he just gave away a historic touchdown ball. So now they got to go talk to the fan. And apparently, now correct me if I'm wrong, A.R. Isaiah, whatever the case may be.

This man got a $1,000 gift card to the store, the stadium store, and I believe signed jersey or two signed jerseys, if I'm not mistaken now. You got two signed jerseys, a helmet. Mike Evans, Mike Evan and helmet, I mean signed jersey, a thousand dollars from the team, story and two season tickets. Right?

Last night, last night, Tom Brady is like, oh, I'm going to give him a Bitcoin also. Bitcoin right now is at like $63,000. That's a lot of bread. But then he also said, yeah, the fan lost all his leverage when he gave back the ball. Dude. Like, like, bro, first of all, you're not about to finesse me. I'm putting that ball. At all.

They're like, oh, we need his ball back, sir. Like, why you need his ball back? Oh, because that's a 600 ball. Has anybody ever thrown for 600 touchdowns before? No, okay. I'm keeping this motherfucker. And if you don't want to keep it, right, if you don't want to keep it, it's stick up time without the ski mask.

Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. Super Bowl tickets, everything. Super Bowl tickets. I need my mortgage pay. You're stupid. Right when they said this is the 600 ball. I'm going to say, all right, look, I'm going to go home, regroup. We'll talk about it later.

Hey, Jay, you got to meet with your team. Hey, me with my team. Let's regroup. Hey, what we're coming in with, hey, 500,000 of a meal when we coming in with. This man and his wife together is a B. I need my mortgage paid. My mortgage is a meal right now. I need my mortgage pay.

But it's crazy, though, that they don't like, they don't say nothing to you like before the game. Because the same thing happened to me. We play in the Falcons and I'm frustrated. I had a couple frustrated weeks. And Aaron throw me a ball and I go seven. And as I'm running, I'm like, man, I'm going to cock back and throw this thing in the stance as hard as I can, man.

Get your frustration out, right? I scored, I cocked back, I fire that thing to the upper deck in Atlanta, man, the old state, the old, the old, the old Mercedes Benz Dome, that's what it was called. I fired it up there. The Georgia Dome. Yeah, the Georgia, I come back in the, on the sideline, and Aaron looking at me, he's like, bruh, what you doing? And I'm like, what you mean?

what I'm doing. I just went 70, bro. We brought him. He was like, no, bro, that was my 100 touchdown, man. And I said, well, who was going to tell us before the game that the next one? The next touchdown you throw was 100. Now, whose job is that? The equipment manager

or, like, I don't know whose job it is, man. Coach, equipment manager, whoever. It's Aaron job. It's Aaron job before. Hey, I don't know. I know we're going to score this game. And I know everybody going to throw a touchdown. Any one of these touchdowns, Get his motherfucker away.

That's all you got to say, that's all you got to say. The fan going to tell me, oh, Tom Brady earned the ball, not me. Unlike Tom, like I said, I fired that thing up there, so we wasn't able to see who caught it. So we weren't able to get Aaron's 100 packs.

Hey, the boys coming in hot today. I appreciate it. See, people need to piss Ryan off more often out here. This is the Tuesday edition of the Ring of NFL show, Jason Garf, Ryan, Shazier, and James Jones.

We're joining you every Tuesday. for the entire NFL season. Let's get right to it, outside of Ryan's frustrations that got us off to a great start here. The Chief's done? Oh, man, no, no. Yes. For this year, the Chiefs done?

Hey, to be honest with you, man, like, I'm a believer in Pat. No, no, I'm a believer in Pat. But I watch this defense. And Ryan, I ain't saying they chasing dogs, Ryan, but they do something else. They're chasing dogs and cats and cats, too. He's trivils. Oh, they chase it.

They ain't chasing cars. They're chasing cats. I don't know what the hell they're doing over there. But they ain't playing no goddamn defense. Hey, so Tom Brady right about the Chiefs defense. About the Chiefs defense. What the hell they're doing over there? It's bad.

The only person playing football over there is Ty and Matthew. Hey, bro. I watched that. And to be honest, it's crazy because as I was watching the game, I'm like, man, these boys here is sorry. And then I go to Twitter. I go to Twitter. And I'm like, dang.

Why they can't stop? And some dude put on Twitter that this is the highest paid defensive line in the national football league. And I'm like, who and where? Frank Clark, Chris Jones. Like, I'm not trying, like, hey, Frank Clark might not be playing for much longer, bro. That boy just got in trouble again, bro.

Yeah, he's staying in it. It's tough out here, man. That D-Line will be a lot cheaper. And the other thing, Patrick Mahomes, like, there's some, the stuff that was cool and cute, that stuff that he got away with, like the margin for error is so slim because of that defense now that it's weird to watch it, right?

It's kind of like with Steph Curry, you know, a couple years ago or last year when everybody was hurt and Steph was still doing his thing. Like, Steph is still Steph, but he got to be super Steph for the Golden State Warriors to win while Clay and everybody was down. Patrick Mahomes don't look the same either out there. All I'm trying to tell y'all, right now, bro,

the Chiefs, look, the total opposite of the Steelers. The Steelers defense is like that. And our offense is, ah, it's the total same thing for the Chiefs. But the thing is, with the Chiefs... It's bad when your defense's bad, though. It's bad with your defense, bad, dog. You don't matter what you do out there. And then the thing is, like you said, bro,

like, when you have a good team, man, you can run around the pocket, throw the ball, all type of ways. Everybody got all the confidence. All the confidence. When you line up and you know these other dudes is bunns against you, but don't try that versus me. I'm about to pick this off. Don't play that.

That's how they're feeling right now. Like, we're talking about the defense. The offense ain't scored a touchdown. Yeah. Yeah. That's what I'm saying. You can't try all that stuff. And we're talking about a Tennessee defense who was in the middle of the pack.

You know what I'm saying? It ain't like they are top-tier defense. This Tennessee defense is the middle of the pack. The problem is is Patrick Mahomes is trying. to score a touchdown every play. Yes, sir. You know what I'm saying? Like, that's not going to happen.

People go to whole offseason studying your film on how to stop you. You know what I mean? Kansas, the Tampa Bay Buccaneers gave everybody the blueprint on how to stop you. And that's Rush Fo, get some pressure, drop seven, take away that explosive play, force Patrick Mahomes to drop this thing down

and check this thing down to the back or throw these short passes. And Pat Mahomes, he'll throw the short passes two times and they'll get a good game and then he'll come back looking for that bomb, looking for that shot. And not only that, he's pressing. He knows that he has to make a play

because his defense ain't going to stop nobody. And he's pressing. He's trying to throw this football into places that the football ain't supposed to be thrown into and now he's turning the football over. They got to get this stuff fixed, man. He got to understand that it's okay to check this thing down to the running backs.

it's okay to get a little hot pass out here to Tyreek Hill and Travis Kelsey and let them do something. I don't have to take the shot play every time. But their offense look terrible. And they, they're there look worse than their defense on Sunday. Let me ask you all this. Is that why, because being here in Chicago for years, watch Lovey Smith, right?

Lovie Smith ran his cover two defense that obviously, you know, you're not going to have the exotic blitz schemes and all this other stuff, but you're going to wait for a quarterback to get greedy. And is that what, what's happening with Patrick Mahomes. Like he can't take the cheese every single time. His ego and his talent forces him to say,

I got a shot here. Is that what's happening with him? You have to be patient, man. Like, bro, what they say, patience is a virtue. And some people, bro, it's hard to be patient at quarterback. Like, Tom Brady, he cool with throwing fire yard, fire yard, fire yard. Bro, Pat Mahomes' whole career is being like, I'm going over top of your head.

Like, his whole career. And everybody like, nah, bro, you ain't doing that, no more. Like, no more. And now it's like, he has to figure out how to make a play because his O-line not better. Nah. And his defense is giving up points. So now he feel like, man, it's on me.

And when somebody out there playing, like, it's all on them, bro, that's a recipe for disaster, man. I'm not, this might be, this might be a bold statement. But did Mahomes Vanessa in these first few years? No, I don't do that. Don't do that, Ryan. Rock coming out hot, James. The opening.

I ain't on the sign on that one. The upland of the sign. That man, I called him a good D. Don't know. Unanimous MVP. He like, hey, man, did we get hoodwicked? Hey, I truly just feel exactly what we're saying, man. He's trying to force stuff.

He's not taking, like, what the defense gives. Like, the short passing game is really just an extension of the run game. You know what I'm saying? They don't have a run game. So it's crucial that you get these short passes out because if you start going down the field with all these short passes and letting your dudes break tackles and make plays, if they want to keep playing that cover two

and they want to keep an extra guy back, then we're going to keep dumping this thing down, man, until y'all give us one high. Once y'all give us one high covered, then we're going to go back to the chiefs that we were and we're going to take our shots. But they take it shots with cover two safeties in the back. Man, you're not going to get too many explosive games with two safeties back there.

You know what I'm saying? So they got to figure it out. They ain't got no run game. Hopefully Clyde Edwards, and Laird come back and help him soon. I'm not ready to write them off yet, Jay, strictly because of the unanimous MVP of Patrick Mahomes. I just feel like eventually.

Is he enough to cover up for that Dito, James? So he's Steph Curry out there. That's what you're saying. Yeah, I'm saying. I feel like he is it enough. I feel like he is the Steph Curry of football. But was Steph Curry enough for the war? Warriors?

When Clay and them boys was down. What I'm saying is he got, he got stats, but did they get to where they was trying to go? No. They got to the playoffs. They got to the playoffs. You know what I'm saying? Well, they got to the play-in and, yeah,

they got to the play-in game. You know what I'm saying? But I feel like Pat is good enough to get them to the playoffs. But once they get to the playoffs, I feel like they're going to be an early exit strictly because of that defense. But yes, I do think they will get to the playoffs of Pat. I think they're going to find their self-fire ways.

to get in there. They're still a solid football team, man. They're going to get in the playoffs. Now, when they get in there, they got to play, you know, Buffalo because they're going to be a low seed or something, you know, maybe see the Titans again, you know, and then that's when you're going to run into some problems.

These men out here allowing 30 points a game, bro. There's no way. But offenses aren't even pitting up 30 points a game. Like, there's no way they're going to go to the playoffs, bro. You give me, you giving up 30 points. wants the game to everybody? Well, how do you remedy this in the middle of the season, Ryan, when you can't make any kind of transaction?

Well, obviously the trade deadlines coming up, but how do you remedy this in mid-season when your new defense is this bad? Do you scheme it up? Like, what execution? Like, obviously, you have to go back and look at it in the film. All right, what's been, what have we been getting beat on recently

and then figure out ways to stop just that? You know, like, sometimes people get beat on big plays or their D.Bs get beat or whatever. All right, If our DB is getting beat, sit in cover two. You know, if we're running too much, man, let's go in zone. If we bliss it too much, let's go in zone. You know what I'm saying?

Like, you have to change up what you're doing. I don't think they have the skill set on the defensive side of the ball, Ryan, because. No, I understand that too. But the thing is, but also you might not have a skill set, but this is where coaching come in, too. Because sometimes coach, coaching can keep a game close. 100%. A coach can keep a game close.

Lovy Smith was able to play cover two. And the only reason why I know is because he beat us up with that cover two plenty of time. You know what I'm saying? The reason why he was able to play cover two because he had dogs up front. Yeah, I was right to say. He had dogs like Tommy Harris and then boys that people don't know. But Frank Clark nice. He had Lance Briggs.

He had Erlacker. He had dogs up there that could stop the run with the front seven and you're able to play coverage. Bro, they had 27 people in the box. and Derek Henry still get 10 yards apart. But Derek Henry do that on everybody. I know, but I'm just saying like, man, like, y'all, they can't stop the run with their front seven right now, which means that they're going to have to bring that extra dude in the box,

and that's why you see Josh Allen, that's why you see Ryan Tannerhill having a field day on their DB. Now, this is another thing that they can do. They can also show. Like, they got to, like, show bliss or show a different coverage, like hold their coverage a little bit, better, it then it's going to trick their quarterbacks. You know what I'm saying?

You know what I'm saying? I hear what you're saying. Ryan, and I seen you play a lot too, bro. You know what I'm saying? And when you was in there at that middle linebacker, Pittsburgh was able to disguise and all that because of your speed to get sideline to sideline and get to the middle of the field and play that cover two and be able to get under these zones,

be able to match dudes and play man to man. They don't have none of that. You got Swanson. Willie Gay? They got who? Willie Gay. No, no, no. What's the other name that you said?

Sorensen. Sorensen is out here. That man is... Tyraud Matthew is the only one that could do it. I was about to be more than one person on defense I could do it, man. Sorensen is steady in the trail technique. They got... Chris Jones is good player.

They need help. They need help. It's a talent thing, Ryan. The only way that this defense is going to be. better is this offense does its job. And that's jumping out. James, this is all I'm saying, how is every offense you play against better than your defense?

Every offense? Brough. There's some offenses in the lead that ain't not good right now, man. If your offense is not putting up points to make these other offenses one-dimensional, then the Kansas City Chief's defense ain't going to stop nobody if they got to play the run in the past. Like if Patrick Rahuls and them come out here and they jump up on Team 17-0 and they just allow Chris Jones and Frank Clark to pin their ears back and go rush.

the quarterback and allow those DBs to drop back in zone coverage, cover three, whatever, and play, then the defense will be all right. But if you got to, if it's 7, 7, 7, 10, 10, 17, 17 in the fourth quarter, it's going to be tough on that defense, man. You know what I mean? Because they're going to have to cover everything and they're not built like that. They built to play with a league. And right now they ain't been playing with leads.

All right, let's move on to a team that, my man, Ryan Shazier, is very, actually a couple the teams around Shazir is very familiar with. That Bengals Ravens game. It's a big win. Don't get me wrong. It's a huge win for the Cincinnati Bengals. We're going to talk about that game and then get to the bigger picture for the Bengals. But it's funny to me, every time we talk about Lamar Jackson, it's like the heroic effort of Lamar Jackson, and they ain't got no running backs, and this, that, and the other.

You know, he's doing it pretty much on his own, on the offensive side of football, even though Hollywood Brown and Mark Andrews are good players, guys and stepping up. Devante Freeman has actually found the fountain of youth, even though he ain't that old. Like running backs obviously get put through the mill. But that kind of loss isn't as alarming for me for the Ravens as it is a stepping stone for the Bengals.

Like can it be just another game for the Ravens and a big game for the Bengals or how you guys digesting that 41 to 17 that the Bengals put on the Ravens? Because, I mean, Jamar Chase right now is unguarable. Joe Burrow playing with a lot of confidence. and they got a couple of backs who could ponds you out, and that defense is sneaky underrated. So I think this is a step for the Bengals.

I'm not as worried about the ratings because the Ravens, this is why Lamar Jackson has to throw for 300 and run for 80 because that team, they're deficient in a lot of areas because of injury and, you know, some other things. So what do y'all think of the Bengals and Ravens game and the big picture for the Bengals going forward? I literally just said this last week about the Ravens. Basically, if somebody jump up on them,

it get fishy, you know, so basically the Ravens are exactly what I said. They are like, they're a great team. They got a great defense. They got a great quarterback run game. But if somebody jump on them, it's a lot harder for them to really navigate the waters, especially versus a good team. You know, to me, I think this is really a stepping stone for the Bengals because they've been a stepping stone for everybody else, literally.

Like, everybody else in the division worked their way through to the Bengals, you know. and I feel like this is a stepping stone for them. But the thing that really surprises me and not surprising me, but like it's really crazy for me to say this as a stiller fan, but it's exciting to watch them. Because the thing about the Bengals, unlike most teams in the NFL,

they can line up and look at your defense and be like, all right, y'all got a bad rush defense. We're about to run the hell out of the ball. Then they'll come back, oh, y'all got a bad pass defense. We're about to pass the hell out of the ball. Because, like, they really have one of the teams that's truly balanced

do whatever they want on the field, and I think that's going to make it, it's a really dangerous combination for them. I mean, I think it's going to be a good, like, if they keep playing like this, they got some high hopes this season. The Cincinnati Bengals is problems. Yeah.

They are problems. And the reason why I say that is because it's not even about Jojo Burrow, Jamar Chase. This young defense is balling. You know what I mean? And I picked the Ravens, and I picked the Ravens B. because I'm sitting over here, like when I say Cincinnati Bengals,

I'm still thinking the same old Cincinnati bank, where you patch your stats again and it's not. This Bengals team is for real, man, this defense's problems. Like, if you really want to keep it a buck, they could possibly be undefeated. Like, if they don't miss the kicks against the Packers, that's another win. You know what I'm saying?

These are good football teams that they have chances to win these games, or they dominate. Like, we've seen the Chiefs come off of smacking the Chargers who everybody said the Chargers could be the best team in the National Football League. The Baltimore Ravens beat them up. Then they come in here and the Cincinnati Bengals come in in their stadium and give them everything they want.

Man, Cincinnati is probably, they could play defense, they get in takeaways, they stopping people, and Joe Burrough, Jemar Chase. JoJo Mixing is toting the rock. Like, Joe, like, told the rock, though. He been told the rock, though. No doubt about it. I'm not saying this is his first year told the rock.

He might be one of the most undervalued. I'm just saying, like, he's one of those backs that could do it all. Like, he's a Dalvin Cook type back. Could run it, could catch it all that. You know what I'm saying? Like, this team, when you really look at them and look how they play in and how they play in defense, you don't want to see Cincinnati in the playoffs. No.

You know, you don't, you don't want to see Cincinnati in the playoffs. They got it going right now. Like that was, that was, that was, that was in dominant fashion. And it looked like that's what they were supposed to do. Right. You know what I'm saying? Yeah. Like, it ain't even no like, rah, rah or none of that coming out of there.

Like, they like, hey, what, hey, they don't need to be surprised. This is what we do want. And Joe was talking crazy in the post game. Yeah. Yeah. When Jamar got up, he's like, I thought I thought all he did was drop balls. Like, when you start to, when you start to get that in your system, right? It's like that, that substance, that substantive style, right?

It's not just style over substance. It's like we know why we style. It's because Jamar Chase, y'all. Like, I got them on my fantasy team. I'm very happy about that. But we all remember what the preseason was. Like Cincinnati fans are like, hey, did we just draft a bus?

Because wide receivers is hitting miss in terms of like top, you know, upper echelon, first round wide receivers. Like you go back, like, I'm not even going to mention it for the bears because it's, you know, shout out to Kevin White and David Terrell and all them boys. Like you go from one game to another game. And James, you can speak to this, but Jamar Chase is, that dude is running past people.

He is high point in the ball. It seems like he's got, you know, most of the routes and the route tree down. It's a beautiful thing to watch. And that's why Joe Burrow was adamant about, hey, I know Penae Sewell is a dude that looks good on the left tackle, be my guy for 10 years. But go get me somebody. You can go get it. By the way, I played football with this guy. I trust him.

They went out and trusted their quarterback. and they drafted what presumably is going to be the rookie of the year on the offensive side and the surefire pro bowler. No, you're absolutely right, man. And I know everybody was on him because he liked, hey, man, this pro football ain't got no white lines on it. It's hard to see everybody like the boy can't catch and this and that. You know what I'm saying?

And a lot of people like me were sitting over here like, man, they're talking about preseason. Really, they're talking about practice. You're talking about practice? You're talking about practice. The games ain't even here yet, man. Y'all already said the boy can't catch. And then the boy come out here.

He catching him one hand, two hand, on the ground, scooping them up. I mean, breaking three, four tackle. But we all knew that he could run routes. We all knew he was explosive off the line of scrimmage. We all knew he could release off the line of scrimmage. He's strong. But for me, it's just the chemistry with him and Jojo Burroughs

so early in the National Football League. And college is one thing. When you're a better athlete in college, it really don't matter who you play. like you ain't got to have like the chemistry chemistry. But these dudes, man, they out here, I mean, and they got chemistry chemistry. You know what I mean?

Like they, I thought him and Marlon Humphers was going to be a great match. This boy had a hundred and sixty-three yards on Marlon Humphrey. He wanted a talk corners in the league. He wanted the best quarterbacks in the league. You know what I'm saying? And not only that, for me, it shows the confidence from Joe Joe Burrow to Jamar Chase because a lot of, a lot of quarterbacks would be like,

way, I'm going to go over here. Like, Humphrey following you, Ramsey, like we talked about last week, Ramsey following you, Revis following, I'm going to go on this side. He said, no, my dude is like that. Humphreys, you better come off, you know what I'm saying? And he went to work over there. But the Cincinnati Bengals his problems, obviously Jamar, Tracy, just getting started. He easily the rookie of the year, if he stopped playing today, he's rookie of the year.

I don't care what any of these quarterbacks do anybody. This boy is an offensive rookie of the year. Cincinnati Bengals is proud of. And Jamar Chase and Jojo, man, both JoJo. JoJo, Mixing and JoJo Burrow got it going over there. Ryan, let me ask you this. Let me ask you this, because we've talked a lot about these two teams, and both of them actually are sitting at the one seeds in the AFC and the NFC.

We just mentioned the Bengals. You've been talking a lot about the Arizona Cardinals and Kyle Murray this entire season. So which team do you believe in more? The Bengals or the Arizona Cardinals? That's a tough question. Yeah, yeah. Two young quarterbacks, right? Three years ago, both these teams were in the cellar.

That's why they were able to draft Joe Burrow and Kyle and Murray, both number one overall. Both got really good defenses. Arizona's got some veterans on that defense. And, of course, you got DeAndre Hopkins and Jamar Chase to compliment both receivers, both quarterbacks, I should say. So right now, if you were a betting man, who you say is more real? The Cincinnati Bengals are the Arizona Cardinals. Oh, man.

It's going to be tough for me to say this, but I'm going to have to go with Cincinnati. Is that right? And the reason I'm going to have to go with Cincinnati is because at the beginning of the season, everybody thought Cincinnati was going to be all right. Everybody was like, Cincinnati was going to be a good team, but they still try to figure things out,

but nobody thought Cincinnati was going to be bad. You know, everybody's like, Cincinnati going to be decent. But their defense is playing way better than everybody expected. And with their defense playing at the level that they're playing at right now, and to me, I feel Cincinnati's offense has more weapons than the Cardinals' offense. And with them having more weapons, and I feel like they can control how they want the pace of the game to be a lot better than Arizona can. Is that strictly with the running game?

You mean? Because if they want to run it, I feel like they can run it. And then when it comes to, they have a, both of them have a trifectar receivers, you know what I'm saying? Like, and I'm not, I'm not going against that. And they both got, you know, good tight ends, you know. But I just, right now I would have to, I would have to rock with the Bengals because I just,

I just feel like, man, they battle tested. They've been playing some good teams and they've been winning with fashion. But Arizona is good. That'll be a great game. Cardinals, Bengals, which one you believe in more? James. Man, listen, listen. Number one, the Cardinals is going to lose Thursday. You know what I mean? So it's going to be a little different talk. To who? Come on, man. Come on, man. To the Green

Bay Packers, man. To the Green Bay Packers, bro. Those six and one Packers coming in the town, man, they're about to get their boys their first L. You know what I'm saying? But no, hey, the Cardinals, I believe more than the Carliners. I believe more in the Carlin. And the reason why I say that is because Kyler Murray and the defense. Like JJ Watt, you get Chandler Jones coming back. We've seen what Chandler Jones does. He just wrecked the party every single game when he's in there.

So you got JJ Y, you got Chandler Jones coming back. But just the element of Kyler Murray. Kyler Murray is special, man, special, special. You know what I'm saying? Like he is like a. faster Aaron Rogers and Pat Mahomes. And what I mean by that is he's not Lamar Jackson. When he gets out the pocket, it's not like I'm out of here.

I'm running. Everybody come up and tackle. When this boy gets outside the pocket, he could throw the ball just like Aaron Rogers and Pat Mahomes. You know what I'm saying? And he's extending plays. And that's where the Cardinals is getting a lot of their explosive plays. Like whether he gets outside the pocket and he picks up 20 with his legs or

he gets outside the pocket and he's throwing this thing 50 yards down the field to AJ Green, D' Andre Hopkins, Christian Kurt. Now they got Zach Hurst. You see him getting the mix. But this Cardinals team, the reason why I like them is because they could win 10-7 or they could win 50 to 51. You know what I mean? Like if you need them to put up 50, they could put up 50.

If you need their defense to buckle down and hold the team and hold them to 10, they could do that. You know what I mean? So they could win in all fashions, man. And I just like them. And I feel like they pass rushing them able to get after the quarterback is a little better right now than the Cincinnati Bengals. And I just like them.

But Kyla Murray, for me, is I think he's the equalizer, man. And that's why they're 7 and 0 right now, man. So in the pre-production meeting yesterday, Ryan, and Ryan was coming in hot yesterday, too, a lot of think about it, right? He mentioned something that he wanted to get to. and it's about a team that I've grown up with and have watched and have suffered with for decades now. It's about that time.

Yeah. Ryan feels the way that I feel, but Ryan actually played NFL football, so I'm going to let him go ahead and say it. But what's happening with Justin Fields and Matt Nagy from your perspective, Ryan? Hey, James, I'm paying a public service announcement out right now. Matt Nagy needs to be fired.

He needs to be out of there. Man, he doesn't do anything protect that quarterback. I feel like he wanted to see this man suffer. They don't do any good play calls when it comes to just trying to help the offense evolve. He just want to do what he want to do. And you can't win like that.

You have to win with the players you got. And I don't feel like he was happy with the player he got and he wanted to run the way he wanted to run it. And that's not a way to have a good coaching staff. I feel like he needs to be out of there. He hasn't improved anything in the last three years. to be there, you know, so and then you can't have

dudes walking off the street blocking 101 versus all pro talent. Like, come on, bro. Then you have a rookie quarterback out there. So to me, I feel like this man should have been fired last year, but I was going to look at it and see how he was going to rock with Justin.

And it's like he's destroying his man career. So I feel like I'm calling it. And if I need a pill, a petition out in Chicago. I'll drive up there, pit one. This dude need to be fine. Is that what you saw, Ryan, from the, from, from defenders' point of view? Like, you know, Lecavius, Lecavius Simmons was out there on an island.

That's the seventh, I believe, a seventh round pick. Your fourth right tackle, he's out there on an island against endomaconsu, Jason Pierre Paul, and Shaq Barrett. And by the way, we hope for the best for Matt Nagy, who tested positive for COVID yesterday. Yeah, yeah, I hope the best for us help. Yeah, no doubt. But it's a dereliction of duty what's going on job-wise, yeah.

But for your job, you need to be a part of there. Hey, no, but the thing is, like, on defense, when you see somebody, I'm not, and I'm not trying to call this dude the duck because everybody in the NFL is good. You know, I feel like only guys that play in the NFL can call dudes in NFL sorry. I feel like random people can't call players sorry because you can't even do half the stuff some of these guys can do. You know, so I'm not about to call nobody. sorry, but if you see somebody that you know that you're significantly better than,

you just tell everybody like, hey, yo, we can expose this dude and go after them. Obviously, if we can see that on the defensive side, you can see it on the offensive side. And the coaches aren't doing nothing on the offensive side for the bears to consistently have protection around these young quarterback, around this O line to help them succeed. He wants to run the style of offense. He wants to run. A lot of empty sets. It worked for you.

Empty sets ain't going to work. Obviously, we understand the worst part of Tampa Bay is their DBs. So when it comes to their DBs, block up front, and then let your receivers expose their DBs. Don't go out there and try to have your line hold up. And then you out here got your quarterback running for his life. Like, he got sacked in one second yesterday. Yep. James, one second.

That's like, come on. on, bro. 1.3 seconds, 1.3 seconds to be exact. That's nobody blocking, but. Yeah. So how do you remedy that as an offensive player, James? Do you extend the line of screen? Because, by the way, this is the thing that really pissed off a lot of people here locally.

You know, the fact that they didn't know that Alex, they benched Lachavia Simmons in midway through the first quarter. The fact, because Elijah Wilkinson tested positive for COVID, there's an outbreak with the Bears right now. Elijah Wilkinson tested positive for COVID. That was your backup, backup. Now he goes down. You put in LaCavia Simmons,

and this is a kid who is, you know, he's swimming in his head. He got, you know, maybe the game plan ain't for him. Whatever the case may be, they put in Alex Barr's a tackle that people have been clamoring for here in the city after the first, the starting right tackle went down. So you find out halfway through a game

that we should have done this. It's like, you don't expect. extend the line, you don't put a, you know, you're not chipping, you're not helping a whole lot. It seems to me from a casual perspective and an observant, this dude wants his system to be the star. And since Justin feels is the person that everybody wanted, then here, Justin, here's, here's the entire playbook, here's the system, I'm going to show you guys that this was the wrong call. Andy Dalton should have been in here or Nick Foote should have been in here. That's what it feels like to me, I could be wrong, but how do you help a line that is having trouble, especially

with one-on-ones against all pro and pro-bow talent? Well, number one, I'm going to start off by saying he should be fired and touch on what Ryan said, because the reason he should be fired is because this football team has a lot of talent. We're not talking about the Jacksonville Jaguars. We're not talking about them. I mean, you look around this roster, man. That is talent on this roster. You know what I'm saying?

Yes, I know Montgomery been out, but you got a good back at Montgomery when he was healthy. You got an excellent receiver in Allen Robinson. You got a very good young promising receiver in Mooney. You know what I mean? You got Jimmy Graham who can still do a little something. Then you go on the defense side of the ball. Then you go on the defensive side of the ball.

And it's pro bowlers and all pros everywhere. You got big Hicks in there. You got Khalil Mack. You got Robert Quinn. You got my man in the back end playing safety. you know, really both of them, you know what I mean, Gibson and Jackson. So, I mean, it's a lot of talent on this roster,

and you guys are getting blown out like that. You know what I'm saying? Like, they got blown out. You know what I'm saying? And you have a solid football team and a good roster to where you should not be getting blown out like that. And then when you start looking at the coaching, when you say, okay, you got a young, phenomenal quarterback,

you know what I mean, who could really do everything. Justin Fields could get out of the pocket, make the throws. He could stand in the pocket and make the throws. You know what I'm saying? And you still have not found ways to protect him. That is coaching. You know what I'm saying?

I don't care how explosive you want to be on the offense. I don't care if you've got to send two wide receivers in route concepts. Make sure the boy is protected. I don't care if you got to go two tight ends, Ryan, Jason. I don't care what you got to do. I don't care if you got to keep the backs in, chip, protect. but make sure the boy is protected to get the throw out, throw the ball away, get out of the pocket, make some plays.

Do what you got to do. If when you have your quarterback getting sacked in 1.3 seconds, that ain't no like him messing the play up and saying and putting the protection over there. That's people ain't blocking. That's you in the wrong schemes, man. Hey, that's part of the narrative that's getting ready to happen here too, by the way, is that Justin Fields is picking up. You know what I mean?

Bumerer Sison had said that on the broadcast that he doesn't read defense as well. I'm like, wait a minute, Doug. Like, that ain't it. And he probably don't read him like Tom Brady. You know what I'm saying? But he'll Ricky. That's on the coach.

That's on the coaching staff too. And you don't have rickies in front of him. Like, Olin Crutes has talked about this here locally. Olin Cruz played for 10, 12 years as the Bear Center. If I had a quarterback that was around me that didn't know what was going on, then you have to be responsible for the checks on the line. And you got to pick up for him.

So, yeah, this has been a sore spot this entire season for me and then watching it and how it's unfolding. Justin is tough, too. So, you know, the shots that he's taking, I don't think a lot of guys could take. And he's just popping up. And he, and this is why I like the kid, James and Ryan. That man, the quickest I have ever seen,

and I've been covering stuff in this city since I was 20 years old. So it's 20 years now. The quickest I have ever seen a Bears player. 40? Yeah, I'm 40 years old. All right, man, you look good, man. All right. I hate you so much.

The quickest I've ever seen a dude go to the podium. He still had his pads on. Like, he's eye black still on. No shower probably. Like, it was a sign of leadership to me that he was like, yeah, in a 38 to three blowout, let's go talk to them now, right? And I fear that this season, is going to damage this kid beyond repair.

I do, though, James. This dude is taking some massive shots, James. It ain't. My thing, it ain't going to damage him because his next coach that come in here is going to be one of them hires to where he's our quarterback and you're building around him and you're making sure he's successful, period.

You know what I'm saying? Obviously, Matt Nagy ain't taking that that serious right now. You know what I mean? Because Matt Nagy, like you, said could be saying, I've been telling everybody I want Andy Dahl. And the organization could be saying, we're going with the young fellow. We don't know what's going on in there. But the next coach that gets this job is going to get this job saying,

you're going to get Justin Fields right. Whatever scheme you coming in here with, it better fit Justin Fields. You know what I'm saying? Because this is our quarterback. So I think when he gets that and he gets that fresh start and he's that dude. Offense is built around him and they get some more playmakers around him, yes, this bear's offense, this bear's offense will take off. But the next coach is coming in, taking this job.

And the main reason he's taking the job anyways is because he said, I believe in Justin Feat. Right. You know what I'm saying? Because you're not just the coach saying, oh, man, honestly, Justin Fields, he's terrible. I'm not going to be the next Matt Nagy fire. You know what I'm saying? So you're taking this job believing in Justin Fields and you're going to make sure that Justin Fields

succeed. So that's going to be the different. I don't know what Matt Nagy's doing right now. You know what I'm saying? Like to be honest with you, I know quarterbacks and head coaches sit down and meetings every single week and they go over things they like, things they don't like, things they could get better. Is he listening to Justin Fields? Because obviously he ain't. This is what we're doing. Obviously, exactly. Obviously he ain't listening to the young fellow and saying, hey, man, I want to run a little bit more boots or something. Or, you know, hey, put Alan Robinson on the outside, man, drop back pass. Can we go a little too tight ends?

You know, I can get Jimmy Graham involved, you know, slow the pass. I don't know. But he ain't even listening to him. But the next coach that gets this job is strictly going to be the project of making sure Justin Fields succeeds. I ain't going to lie. I ain't going to lie. Justin probably came into this season already thinking Matt Nett, you're going to get fired. I'm not going to lie.

And the reason I say that is because when you, Justin, is very common, collected. But, like, your rookie year, and then just playing in the NFL is all about building confidence. When you got all the confidence in the world, you feel like you can do anything. Every football player feel like they're superman.

But when you build that confidence, you feel like you're Superman a bunch of superheroes that ain't you. You ain't a man. You know what I'm saying? And basically, Justin was supposed to build his confidence up. Right now, his confidence is getting torn down. You know what I'm saying?

To me, I feel like he basically going to be like, F this season. I'm going to just thug it out, do what I got to do to finish the season out, and then let's scrap it up for next year. Because then when you see somebody obviously not trying to protect you, you're not about it. Justin's going to do his best for his job. But you're not about trying to protect him either. You know, I'm not going to vouch for you.

One thing I do like about this Bears team, though, and I think that it's really going to help Justin Fields, is he has a lot of leaders on you, like guys that have special. played a lot of football. I was, me and Khalil Mack was on the same football team when we was Owent team in the Raiders. You know what I'm saying? And that was Khalil's rookie year.

And he looking like a deer in the head, like, what is, like, bro? And he had myself there. He had Buffalo. He had myself there. He had Charles Woodson there, but he had leaders. You know what I'm saying? That could be like, bro, hey, don't trip. Like, it's going to be better days.

You know what I'm saying? Hey, Ray. Hey, Ray. Hey, he showed out his. show-out game, Buffalo, that last season. That's the Hall State. You know what happened, though? You know what happened, though?

They lost about 30 points, too. I know they did. It don't matter. But he got busy. He got busy. I think that's all about winning, right? That's the good thing, though. You know what I say?

I think that's the good thing. I appreciate you. You have the, you have the big Hicks is in there. You got, you got Robert Quinn, you got a lot of leaders in there that could be like, young fella, you're going to be a high. I appreciate you making me feel better

about a dreadful situation. I have a question for both of you all, though. So after this season, Matt Nagy, fired. I don't even know about that, to be honest with you. No, Matt Nagy fired.

Matt Nagy gone. Matt Nagy gone. Matt Nagy is, Alan Robertson of free agent. If they bring Matt Nagy back of how they're looking right now and he's supposed to be an offensive mind,

that's the thing. He's not a defense of mind. He's an offensive mind head coach. He called Blaze with two, games for the Kansas City Chiefs. You got a job. You know what I'm saying? So this is it for.

The McCaskies, you know, they, they zig when they zag sometimes, man. I, listen. I've seen it. If it keep going like, if it keeps going like this, man. He's gone, man. Is he married to their family member or something? No. Because he got to be out of there.

He got to be out of there. Yeah, I mean, I agree, but we'll see. I don't think the odds are as stacked as I think they should be. He have another loss like that. He might not finish the season. They ain't firing him in season. They've never done that. Lose 38 to 2 again.

No, but Jason, Jason, if you, Alan Robinson, Matt Nagy fired, you coming back or are you leaving? I'm if I'm Alan Robinson, I got to figure out, like, you know. It's all about the money. It's all about the Benjamin. Yeah.

Hey, right now your Benjamin's ain't looking good. And the relationship between Darnell Mooney and Justin Fields is obviously better. than it is between he and Alan Robinson. He and Alan Robinson, if you look at the quarterback rating from that quarterback to that receiver, like there's been a bunch of picks. There's been a, you know,

there's been a couple of scramble drills that they weren't on the same pace. So whatever's happening, Justin Fields has linked up with Colquemette and Darnell Mooney in a different way than he has Alan Robinson, even though Alan Robinson is the veteran and the better receiver. That's because Alan Robinson is in the slot,

getting double team, and he's the most dominant when he's on the outside. That's what I'm saying. This offensive-minded coach, you got one of the best receivers in the league in the slot, getting banged by linebacker, safety help over the top when he was on the outside last year. And what's my man named?

Nick Foals was throwing on the ball. He throwing it up on the outside and Alan Robinson going up making all these plays, man. Like, you got this boy in the slot. Put the boy outside. I don't understand it, man. These people, I ain't saying he's stupid, but he's stupid. He's stupid.

He's stupid. He's stupid. And there's no better way to end the pod than right there. Man, see this boy, I don't know what happened to y'all this morning, but I like it. Tom Brady. Tom Brady said y'all chasing dogs, bro. Hey, man, that's tough out here. Ryan Shazir, James Jones.

Good times, as always, man. Next up on the Ringer NFL show is Kevin Clark talking about the undefeated Cardinals, the same way we did. Next week, we'll be back on Wednesday. Kevin, Norrin, Stephen Ruiz will be with you next Tuesday reacting to the trade deadline. You could also check out the full go with me, Jason Gough, every Sunday, Tuesday, and Thursday night

on Spotify, wherever you get your podcast. I want to say thank you to our production assistant, Isaiah Blakely for productions on this episode with additional production supervision from Arjuna Ram Gapal. For my man James Jones and Ryan Shazir, I'm Jason Gauph. Thank you so much.

And always remember, take care of each other and be safe out there.