The Ringer NFL Show - Cowboys vs. Lions Takeaways, Plus Predicting the Week 14 Headlines

Episode Date: December 5, 2025

Sheil is joined by JP Acosta from CBS Sports to share their instant reactions to the Lions' big win over the Cowboys on ‘Thursday Night Football.’ They then use their expertise to predict what som...e of the big story lines will be after the final whistle has been blown on Week 14 in the NFL. (00:00) Predicting the Week 14 headlines(1:20) Lions defeat Cowboys on ‘Thursday Night Football’(10:06) Chicago Bears vs. Green Bay Packers(17:17) Houston Texans vs. Kansas City Chiefs(26:10) The Ringer 107 Shopping. Streaming. Celebrating. It’s on Prime. The Ringer is committed to responsible gaming. Please visit www.rg-help.com to learn more about the resources and helplines available. Host: Sheil KapadiaGuest: JP AcostaProducer: Chris SuttonSocial: Kiera Givens and Brian WatersProduction Supervision: Conor Nevins and Arjuna Ramgopowell Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Transcript
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Starting point is 00:00:00 Welcome to the Ringer NFL show. I'm Sheila Capadia. Today we are talking about that Cowboys Lions Thursday night game and then we take a look ahead at a couple matchups in week 14. You know the exercise we are predicting what headlines we're going to read after Bears Packers and Texans Chiefs, two of the biggest matchups this weekend. We have a return guest, J.P. Acosta, from CBS Sports and the Pushing the Pile podcast. Love talking. football with JP. Let's take a break and get to it. This episode of The Ringer NFL show is presented by State Farm. Having insurance isn't the same as having State Farm. It's like expecting the leadership of a team captain on the football field, but getting a C captain? Sure, they're both captains, but who is going to run your offense? You wouldn't settle for just anything for your team, so don't settle for just any insurance. When it comes to getting the help you need, State Farm is the real deal. Like a good neighbor, State Farm is there. All right, we are back here on the Ringer NFL show with J.P. Acosta, JP.
Starting point is 00:01:25 Let's start with Cowboys Lions. I thought from Detroit's perspective, this was a huge spot for Dan Campbell. They've had the up and down season. They're on the ropes here. He took over play calling a month ago. And their offense showed up in a huge way. I thought that was really the story of the game. I mean, if there was one possession there where they punted or had a turnover, I felt like the Cowboys could steal it. But last seven possessions, four touchdowns, two field goals, one missed field goal. Offense showed up. It's an exhale game.
Starting point is 00:01:55 It's a culture game, probably. You know, it feels like they're like, nope, we're not done yet. Our window is still open. How did you feel about that performance from the Lions perspective? This was the most Dan Campbell, Detroit Lions performance. I think the Lions have ever had. When it comes to the environment surrounding the game, you need a win.
Starting point is 00:02:16 This is a must-win game if you want to even make the playoffs. And coming off that Thanksgiving game where it just felt demoralizing, sort of watching them play, it felt like they couldn't really get anything going. You're coming in against one of the hottest teams in the NFL and the Cowboys, and they casually dropped their fourth highest, their fourth best game of the season by EPA per play, just hammering the Cowboys with.
Starting point is 00:02:38 explosives. I thought that was the thing that stood out the most. Their success rate on down-to-down consistency, it was actually worse than the Packer game on Thanksgiving, but they were constantly hammering them with explosives, especially in the passing game, whether it be Jemir Gibbs out as a receiver, like legitimate receiver routes. You get Amman Rae St. Brown cooking man coverage. James had his best game of the year, and I think it's just all these elements combined. I think they actually touched on it during the game that with Dan Campbell, the officer coordinator calling the plays, they're throwing the ball a lot more
Starting point is 00:03:12 on early downs and neutral passing situations. And I think that just plays into the fact that they don't really have the offensive line to just kind of sit back and run the ball and then hammer teams over the top. So in this game, they use a lot of quick game, a lot of play action, just like, they use play action to take their shots
Starting point is 00:03:28 and then just hammered them with quick game and the Cowboys couldn't tackle them. This felt like the needed Dan Campbell offensive performance. Yeah, there was that huge play fourth quarter. I think it was second down. They run it on first down and you're going man, are they just going to go run, run
Starting point is 00:03:44 pass and try to make the cat use clock and make the Cowboys use timeout and they go, they call a pass play and they go to Amon-Ross St. Brown on kind of that crosser that goes for 30 plus yards and then they get the roughing the passer afterwards. That was like the Dan Campbell moment where it's like, all right, we didn't lose him
Starting point is 00:04:00 because, you know, there have been times this season where I thought, all right, he's the play caller now. Is he going to continue to always be as aggressive? Even that Packers game, I thought, like, you know, what you're saying now didn't apply. I thought they were running the football into, like, bad looks and just not, not able to run it on early downs. But, yeah, no, that Dan Campbell that we've come to know. And some of us have come to know and love over the years is still in there where it's like, let's put the foot on the throat.
Starting point is 00:04:25 Our defense might not hold up against this Cowboys offense and let's go for the win. So let's see. I mean, listen, their defense wasn't great in this game. They came up with some big stops. They came up with some big red zone stops. I think they're still vulnerable in the secondary. They're still vulnerable with their pass rush outside of Aden Hutchinson. But they're in the mix.
Starting point is 00:04:45 In a wide open NFC, they're still going to be in the mix, especially if their offense can play like that. And then on the Cowboys end of this, JP, like this was such a narrative game because, oh my goodness, man, if they would have won this game, oh, Jerry, Jerry was cooking. He knew. Look at this team. They got it.
Starting point is 00:05:04 They're back. What did he know that no one else knew? And instead, I can, came away from this thinking, if I'm a Cowboys fan on my rate, because their playoff chances should not have come down to a Thursday night game on December 4th. That's not where they lost their playoff chances. I understand. They're still in it if they win out. But, you know, their playoff chances were lost in the first nine weeks of the season when they played with a shorthanded defense. And I swear I'm watching that game going the tights, not only does it come back to the Parsons trade,
Starting point is 00:05:36 it comes back to the timing of it because if you made this move in the spring and got players, you would have had a chance to build a better defense. Or if you got draft picks, you would have had a chance to build a better defense. If you waited until the trade deadline, you would have had Parsons for the first eight weeks of the season. If you waited until after the season, by the way, which could have been an option, then you could have had Parsons for this season and you could have traded him after the season. Instead, those first nine weeks, your defense was the worst in the NFL. You lost games.
Starting point is 00:06:03 and now you're wasting an amazing Dack Prescott season with C.D. Lamb and George Pickett. Like, this team is not only playoff worthy, they could be making noise in the playoffs, and now they might not even get in. So I feel like the Jerry narrative that maybe he was hoping for coming out of this game and said, I'm going back the other way and back to ripping him. I think looking at this game from the long term sort of zooming out like you did with Jerry Jones and the trades and the deals that he made, the most important thing is the part of the defense that they didn't really address well enough in the offseason or even like they'd made
Starting point is 00:06:39 one trade to address it at the deadline with Logan Wilson, their linebackers were awful on Thursday night. It was horrendous. And all those passes over the middle of the field, the deep over routes, the dig routes, Jamir Gibbs running wide open in space, they just couldn't tackle. I think on the big David Montgomery run, if you watch it, if you watch it back again, Kenneth Murray takes himself out of the play. Like he sees the game. He sees the game. open and then goes the opposite way. And that's what they've been dealing with for the last not, the first nine weeks before they even
Starting point is 00:07:11 tried to trade for Logan Wilson. You have all these players and you tried to nickel and dime the linebacker spot because you thought, oh, we're going to pay Michael Parsons. And then you didn't pay Michael Parsons. The entire point of this defense was we were going to scheme around one dominant defensive player and everybody else would just get by. And now they're still trying to do that. But Quinn and Wool,
Starting point is 00:07:33 Williams, as great as he is, is not Micah Parsons, even though he had a very good game today. But it just felt like all of the inefficiencies, all of the inability to address their faults, their wrongs in the offseason came back to haunt them in this one game. Lack of foresight, I think, you know, is really what you're saying, what I'm saying, because if you felt like going into this year that, hey, we really have a chance with the pickings trade, with our passing game, I think Brian, you know, Brian Schottenheimer, the game in, stuff at the end of the game. We can, you know, that leaves something to be desired.
Starting point is 00:08:06 But overall, he's done a great job this season. I mean, when you look at that offense and you look at how they performed and you look at the team plays hard, you know, they're not a dumb team for or anything like that for the most part. And still, they're in this spot where now, even if they win out, I was just looking at the athletics playoff simulator. I think it's like a 40% chance they have of making the playoffs. I just feel like, you know, you don't get these seasons all the time where the quarter
Starting point is 00:08:33 stays healthy where you paid the quarterback. He's got the weapons on the outside. He's got a great, great grasp of the offense. You're not like, ah, it's a new coordinator or something like that. Like this type of season where he's comfortable, the offense looks unstoppable most weeks, and you're probably just going to end up wasting it. I mean, it's really not that dissimilar to the Bengals last year. I know others have made that comparison. Danny Heifitz was making that comparison even before the season. And I think it's spot on. So we'll see what happens the rest of the way with that Cowboys team. They're not easy to play. They're really hard to play, specifically their offense, but it just might be that they wasted too many games in the first half of the season. All right,
Starting point is 00:09:13 let's take a break. We come back. Let's talk about Bears, Packers, and then Chiefs, Texans. This episode is brought to you by Amazon Prime. The holidays move quickly like a blitz to save the game. That's where Prime comes in with fast, fast, free delivery. You know, my kids put together, these presentations for what they want for Christmas, and they put the Amazon Prime link right in there. I just have to click, click. They know I'm not paying for shipping. I'm going to that Prime link. Can order it.
Starting point is 00:09:44 It shows up at the door. It's in a box, so it doesn't give anything away. I sneak it upstairs, and there you go. They will see it on Christmas morning. Prime's fast shipping is always there for you during the holidays, especially when it's last minute and just can't wait. Need some holiday magic. It's on Prime.
Starting point is 00:10:02 Head to Amazon.com slash Prime. to shop now. All right. We are back here on the Ringer NFL. All right, JP did this exercise with us last time
Starting point is 00:10:13 and did a tremendous job where we are just predicting headlines. What are we going to be talking about with these games next week? And JP,
Starting point is 00:10:20 your game is Bears, Packers, a big one in the NFC North. What do you got for us? Mine is the Bears get close but not close enough. I think the Packers
Starting point is 00:10:34 are going to win this game. I think going to be a close one because of how good the Bears run game is. Because of how sustainable the run game is and how many problems they can cause for opposing defenses on the ground, I think they're able to keep it close.
Starting point is 00:10:47 But Chicago's defense this season is 31st in the NFL and pressure rate, according to true media. When they blitz, their pressure rate is also 31st in the NFL. So you can't win with four, you can't win when you add blitzers,
Starting point is 00:11:03 and you just so happen to be going up against a quarterback in Jordan Love, who is really good against the Blitz, and if you can't get pressure on him, I just feel like there's so many more opportunities for Love to attack downfield. Now that you have Jaden Reed back, now that you get Christian Watson fully healthy, I think Jalen Johnson and Kyler Gordon being back is going to mean a lot for the Bears' defense, but if they can't get pass rush, I feel like this Packers team can throw the ball up and down the field on them, and if the Bears have to play from behind, if they have to be in obvious
Starting point is 00:11:33 passing scenarios. I think Caleb Williams has played fairly well this season, but there have just been inaccuracies. There have been drops. There have been wrong routes run at the wrong depth for the Bears' receivers. And I just feel like going up against this Packers team that is built to
Starting point is 00:11:49 play with a lead and built to win with their pass rush, especially when you might not have Theo Benedet, who also wasn't really a good pass protector in the first place. He might be starting Ozzie Tripilo in his place. That doesn't bode well going up against Michael Parsons.
Starting point is 00:12:04 So it just feels like there are a lot of compounding factors for the Packers where their aces can overwhelm sort of the best players or the aces for the Bears. It's one of those things where the matchup, you just kind of break it down on paper and you're like, man, the Packers really have the edge in a lot of these areas. And I know if you just look at the numbers for the season, it's like, all right, there's stuff about this Bears team that might not be totally real. I want to see, if I'm a Packers fan, I want to see Matt LaFleur and, you know, Jordan Love put on a clinic in this game. I mean, to your point, that bear's defense is just so
Starting point is 00:12:39 feaster famine. It's like if they create a turnover, great. If they don't create a turnover, they're probably not getting a stop. Like they're literally one of the worst defenses in the NFL if they're not creating a turnover. So if I'm a Packers fan, I'm like, all right, this is the whole point of Matt LaFleur and Jordan Love is a game like this where you're saying, we should be able to cook these guys. We should be able to have an efficient offensive day. As long as we don't turn the football over, We should be able to run it. We should be able to create explosives. Like you said, we should be able to avoid negative plays and sacks because the bears don't
Starting point is 00:13:10 have a great pass rush. And I just want to see it. Now, there have been times this year, whether it's full games or halves or quarters or possessions where you go, what is happening with this Packers offense? Recently, it hasn't looked like that. It's looked really good the last couple of weeks. Love has been heating up there. So, yeah, I think that's kind of the matchup on that side of the ball that I'm interested
Starting point is 00:13:30 in. And that Bears run game, you talked about, man, that was beautiful last week. That was just like teaching tape, clinic, whatever you want. If you have your favorite film nerd, maybe it's JP on social media. I mean, that segment of the internet is just going crazy with what the Bears did. And rightfully so last week. And JP, that's where I look at the matchup because I feel like the Bears' offense is built on two things. Running the football and explosive pass plays.
Starting point is 00:13:59 and that happens to be where the Packers are the strongest. I mean, you look at it statistically. They are fourth in an explosive play rate and fifth in rushing success rate. So I'm interesting. You said you feel like you're probably more bullish than the general public on Caleb Williams and how he's played this season.
Starting point is 00:14:19 Could this be like a big spot for the Caleb Williams fans to be like, hey, you know, if he leads them to a victory here and plays clean football and is efficient and accurate, It really could be a moment for him on Sunday, I feel like. I definitely think so, and I think it's because when you look at this Packers' defense, they are so good at turning off the water in the middle of the field. They play a lot of inverted cover two, where they have Xavier McKinney or Evan Williams as your middle of the field defender
Starting point is 00:14:46 instead of a guy like Quay Walker or Edgren Cooper, Isaiah McDuffie, that allows those guys to be a lot more blitzers, be a little bit more effective closer to the line of scrimmage. And that's where I actually think that Caleb Williams has done a lot better, as a season has gone on. He has been ripping a lot of passes over the middle of the field, but there have just been inconsistencies outside the numbers. That's where the inaccuracies really pop up. A lot of the drops have popped up in those areas, but that also is the area where the Packers' defense is the most vulnerable. Because you want to attack those outside corners
Starting point is 00:15:18 who haven't played that well this season, I just wonder, like, if this is going to be a game where the Bears' passing offense wins them the game, can Caleb Williams, can Romo Dunez-A, can DJ Moore create enough explosives on the outside edges of the field to really force the Packers' defense to respect their passing game? Yeah, I think that's
Starting point is 00:15:41 probably what it'll come down to because like we said, the other match-up, now you don't know, obviously turnovers and special teams, who knows, but I got to say, you know, Ben Johnson, if he is very close to me to being like, don't bet against him as an underdog category. I know it's only his first year, but from what I saw last week
Starting point is 00:15:58 and just some of these game plans you've seen this season, he has been very, very impressive. So I'm with you. I think the objective, you know, analytical factors, say Packers, I will not be surprised if the Bears keep it close or even if the Bears win this game in the fourth quarter. That's going to be a fun one. Bears, Packers, Sunday afternoon.
Starting point is 00:16:19 All right, next game is Chiefs Texans. And I got to remind you that Fandul is now live in Missouri. We're talking about the Chiefs Playoff. here in a second, but Fandau is celebrating with a ton of great promotions and rewards for everyone. So sign up today, take advantage all week long. You do not want to miss out. And just JP, let's go through the numbers here with the Chiefs' playoff chances before I give you my headline. They have a 37% chance to make the playoffs. Again, this is from the Athletics Playoff Simulator. If they lose, it goes down to 12% unheard of.
Starting point is 00:16:58 the Patrick Mahomes Andy Reid era. So big, big game for them. If they win out, 97% chance to make it here. So this is a monster. This is really an unprecedented situation for Mahomes and Reed. So what's actually
Starting point is 00:17:14 going to happen here? My headline, JP, Mahomes, Reed, stay alive with brilliant performance against Houston. Okay, so here's the deal. You break this game down and you go, the Texans have like a great shot here. I mean, the Chiefs are likely playing
Starting point is 00:17:34 without three starting offensive linemen, including three of their tackles. And I think if you chose a defense to not have to want, you don't want to play when you're down three offensive linemen, honestly, it's this Texans defense with Will Anderson and DeNeal Hunter and Temeco Ryan's who has built his reputation on stifling great quarterbacks. On paper, this is kind of a disastrous matchup for Kansas City. But sometimes what I have to do is ignore the evidence in front of my eyes and rely on the pedigree. And again, I said the whole point of Matt LaFleur and Jordan Love is a game like this.
Starting point is 00:18:08 The whole point of Patrick Mahomes and Andy Reid is a game like this, where your backs are against the wall and you're short-handed and you have a tough opponent and you just come up with something, whether it's Reed scheming or game plan or Mahomes just digging deep and extending plays and finding away. This might look stupid on Monday, JP, but I'm going to say the Chiefs find a way. Where are you with this? Is this just me wishcasting like a sports movie or something like that?
Starting point is 00:18:36 What's actually going to happen in this game? I actually think I'm going the other way on this one. Okay. I think given all of the injuries up front for the Chiefs, Josh Simmons is going to be out, he's on IR, Juan Taylor's hurt. You're potentially going to be without, you're going to be without Trace. Smith.
Starting point is 00:18:51 So that's three of your starting five. You're having to move Juan Amors to left tackle, Jalen Moore to right tackle. And like you said, this is not a team that you want to go against a, go against without three or your starting five offensive linemen. I just think the Texans do such a good job of dragging teams into the muck with them.
Starting point is 00:19:10 And even within that, I think the Texans offense has started to find some sustainability on offense. The duo of Ed Ingram and Trent Brown on the right side of the line gives them a little bit more oomph, a little more pop as a run blocking unit. And I think even without CJ Stroud in the lineup, they started to use a lot more boot, a lot more play action, sort of get the quarterback out of the pocket to avoid obvious passing scenarios where the offensive line might be a little deficient. You get a lot more growth from Jaden Higgins, Jalen The Well, Woody Marks has run the ball really well.
Starting point is 00:19:40 I'm not saying the Texan's offense has turned a corner by any means. But I think they have the ability to just get to 17 points. and if you get to 17 points with this defense, you're probably going to win the game. This is unheard of, JP. Seven of your 17 points is all you need to beat the chiefs. Oh my God, what is happening?
Starting point is 00:20:00 If you were to tell me that someone was going to utter that sentence to me before this season about the Kansas City cheese, I'd be like, oh, what my homes is out, when did he land on the eye bite? You're probably not wrong, I don't think. See, I think of it less as the problems with the chiefs and just how good this Texan's defense is. From top to bottom, at every level,
Starting point is 00:20:23 they have speed, they have impact players. I think what's really been understated this season is a couple things for the defense. One, Kaelin Bullock's growth at safety. He has become a true cover safety where anything in his range, he's going to go get it. He's going to go make a play on the ball. He's causing problems at the point of attack.
Starting point is 00:20:42 And then on the interior, they just put Tim Settle on IR, which I think is low-key a big move for them. But Tommy Toggiye has played really well defending the run. That has always been their issue. Because they play a really wide four-down front, you're susceptible to a lot of gap scheme stuff, a lot of trap, a lot of crunch.
Starting point is 00:21:00 We all remember the game last year against the Ravens, where Derek Henry ran for almost 200 yards, using just trap and wham and just getting downhill quickly on this defense. Tommy Toggiye has stepped up in a big way, and that just shores up this defense so much to the point where if you're in an obvious passing situation, I really, really struggle to figure out how anybody can beat this defense,
Starting point is 00:21:23 especially against a team like the Chiefs where offensively, I know how well Andy Reed can scheme up and draw against man coverage. That just has not worked this season. The Chiefs receivers, I believe, are 25th in the NFL in yards per route run against man coverage. There are a tough 10 unit in zone coverage this season. you can tell that they have a bunch of guys
Starting point is 00:21:46 that are able to run into voids. Rishi Rice is good at finding voids. He's sort of similar to Travis Kelsey and their ability and their rapport with Mahomes in finding those voids and zones. But when you play man coverage against them, they don't have a receiver
Starting point is 00:22:03 outside of Rice, and even Rice is more of a slot. You're going to get him against safety, linebackers. They have nobody on the outside who can win against physicality. And that's the one thing the Texans bring on the outside of man coverage. They're going to beat you up. So I just feel like they're, again, like we were talking about with Bears and Packers,
Starting point is 00:22:21 there are a lot of compounding factors on this side of the ball where if you're the Texans, if you just get the 17, if you can control this game, given the way that the Chiefs have played in close games this season, I just think the lack of pass rush has really started to come back and bite them this season. If they can't get pressure on the Texans, then I just feel like they're putting themselves in a hole that they really can't dig them. themselves out of. I'm so curious how many points, as you mentioned that, I'm like, how many points is it going to take
Starting point is 00:22:50 to win this game? Because I hear what you're saying with the Texans offense and they've figure some stuff out and their offensive line has played better. I don't trust them yet. You know, like I kind of like if they just came out and all of a sudden spags cooked something up and all of a sudden C.J. Stroud is getting sacked
Starting point is 00:23:06 six times. That would not shock me at all in this game, even though the Chief's defense hasn't quite been able to get to that level this season. So I don't fully trust them there. And I just, I mean, maybe it's just kind of yet a narrative. You know, I'm like, man, are Mahomes and Reid really going to go down like this? Like, I would feel a lot better about them if the offensive line was healthy.
Starting point is 00:23:27 Let's just finish with this. What do you think? What is the Chief's best chance for a game plan? Is this a game where everyone's yell, run the ball, Andy? What do you? Is it one of those games? Do you want to run the ball? I feel like it's going to lean on a lot of get the ball out of Mahomes's hands quickly, you know,
Starting point is 00:23:43 in this game. and you might need to string together methodical drives, but you're avoiding those negative plays. What do you think the Chief's game plan or their best chance with the offensive line injuries against this Texan's defenses? I think their best shot is Mahomes' explosiveness as a scrambler. I think his threat as a runner is going to help open up lanes
Starting point is 00:24:04 in the passing game. When you think about games where Mahomes really dominates this season, it is when he's a runner. And the fact that you can sort of, if the defense has to worry about, him as a scrambler, you're devoting another body that you could use in pass rush or in past coverage to just spying Patrick Mahomes. And now that they've seen it a lot, I think that if you play zone coverage against this team, I do think Rishie Rice and Travis Kelsey are going to find void.
Starting point is 00:24:31 I don't think this team is going to be explosive against the Texans. But like you said, if you can just get those six to eight yard completions, if you can just be successful on the ground. I wonder how much they actually go to their under center run game in this one because they're effective running the ball under center. They just don't do it. But now without three of their starting five officers of the linemen, I just kind of feel like they're going to say, you know what, forget running the football. We're going to let Holmes be the run game. And they might try and RPO this game into, they're going to try and like throw the jab at the Texans until they think they're throwing a jab. And then that's when they do like the screen and go.
Starting point is 00:25:13 I think that's right. I think if I know anything about Andy Reid, back against the wall, got to have a situation. Three O linemen out against this front. I don't think he's going to be saying, let's hand the ball off 30 times in this game. I think if I'm going to go down, I'm going to put the ball in Patrick Mahomes' hands.
Starting point is 00:25:32 It might not work, but let's see what happens there. So it's going to be tense, man. We haven't seen the Chiefs like in a regular season spot like this so early. We're not even in like week 17 or 18 in week. 14 in a game like this against just a ferocious, violent Texans defense. So that one is going to be a lot of fun. Remember, Fandul is now live in Missouri. All right, JP Acosta of CBS Sports, pushing the pile podcast.
Starting point is 00:26:02 Thank you so much for joining us, my friend. Always fun talking ball with you. Of course. Thank for having me. All right. I'll be right back with the hurry out. All right. Today's Ringer 107 is brought to you by
Starting point is 00:26:13 Fan duel. Did you see who is suddenly tied for first? That's right. It's your boy. Now, is the record good? No, it's really not. But that's okay. The next step is to get to 500 and then we get above 500 baby steps here. So let's see if we can make it happen. All right, here are the picks for the Ringer 107. First pick, Ravens minus five and a half hosting the Steelers. We talked about these teams earlier this week. This is more of a Pittsburgh fade than anything. I don't like their offense. I don't trust their defense. So even though the Ravens haven't looked great and Lamar Jackson is dealing with an injury, I still think they are significantly better than that Steelers team.
Starting point is 00:26:51 I like the Ravens to cover in that spot. All right. Second pick, Browns minus three and a half at home against the Titans. Very simple. I think this Cleveland defense is going to put Cam Ward and that Titans offense in a blender. I mean, it's possible the Browns don't score either. I get that. But if they can get to like 14 or 17 points, I think they can.
Starting point is 00:27:11 cover in this game. All right, pick three. Give me the Broncos minus seven and a half at the Raiders. The Raiders are just a lifeless team, man. They played Denver close earlier this season last time. I don't think that's happening again. I don't think the Broncos have to play great to cover that number seven and a half. I just see nothing from that Raiders offense specifically.
Starting point is 00:27:33 Fourth pick, commanders plus one and a half at Minnesota. J.J. McCarthy as a favorite, I'm just, I'm obligating. to take the other side at a principle when J.J. McCarthy is a favorite. Sorry, Vikings fans. I'm not trying to be mean, but fading the Vikings has worked out well for me this season. So sounds like Jaden Daniels could return for Washington, but even if it's Marcus Marietta, I still like the commanders. And finally, Jets plus three at home versus Miami. You know what this is. This is just a fade-tua outside in the cold pick. That's all. No further analysis necessary. It might not be smart, but that's what I'm going with.
Starting point is 00:28:13 All right, today's Ringer 107 was brought to you by Fandul odds subject to change. Thanks to everyone for listening. Thank you to Christopher Sutton for producing Kira Givens on social, additional production supervision by Connor and Arjuna Ram Gopal.
Starting point is 00:28:29 I'm Sheila Kapadi. We'll be back Monday morning, breaking down the biggest week 14 storylines. Have a great weekend. Talk to you next time on the Ringer NFL show. Must be 21 plus and present in select states for Kansas in affiliation with Kansas Star Casino or 18 plus and present in D.C., Kentucky, or Wyoming. Gambling problem, call 1-800 gambler or visit RG-Hallp.com.
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