The Ringer NFL Show - Get Serious! Bills' Struggles, Steelers as a Contender, Bears' Playoff Chances, and More.

Episode Date: October 16, 2025

Sheil and Mike Sando from The Athletic take a look at the results from the first six weeks of the season and talk about whether the trends they’re seeing are indicative of the actual state of particular NFL teams, or are simply anomalies within the course of a long NFL season. (00:00) Which do we take more seriously?(2:03) The Eagles or the Bills' two-game losing streaks?(9:19) The Steelers as AFC contenders, or the Colts?(16:47) The Bears as a playoff team, or the Panthers?(23:55) The Hurry Up: Troy Aikman vs. the Chicago Bears 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: Mike SandoProducer: Chris SuttonSocial: Kiera Givens and Brian WatersProduction Supervision: Conor Nevins and Arjuna Ramgopowell Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Welcome to the Ringer NFL show. I'm Shield Capadia. Today we're trying to figure out what we should actually take seriously six weeks into the NFL season. For example, should we take the Bills two game losing streak or the Eagles two game losing streak more seriously? Should we take the Steelers as an AFC contender or the Colts as an AFC contender more seriously? And finally, should we take the Bears as a playoff team or the Panthers as a basketball team? Or the Panthers as a team? playoff team more seriously. So a little spin around the league as we look ahead to week seven and the rest of the season. What's real? What's not? To help me out, we've got my friend Mike Sandow, who does a terrific job covering the entire NFL at the Athletic, one of the most plugged in reporters out there. And he and I disagreed throughout this discussion. So feel free to play along and decide which side you land on. All right, we'll take a break. We'll come back with Mike Sandow. This is the Ringer NFL show presented by Fandul. And if you're betting on the NFL,

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Call 1-888-789-777-7-7 or visit ccpg.org slash chat in Connecticut. All right, we're back here with Mike Sandow of the Athletic, talking about what should we take seriously here And Mike, let's start with this one. What are we taking more seriously? The Bills two-game losing streak or the Eagles two-game losing streak. So these are two teams. Super Bowl aspirations among the Super Bowl favorites all season long. Eagles lose two in a row here to the Broncos.

And then that embarrassing loss to the Giants last Thursday night, Bills lose to the Patriots a couple weeks ago. And then the Falcons on Monday night here, which are these two teams are you kind of more concerned? concerned about right now? I take the bills one a little more seriously for this reason. Wow. Well, there's a couple ways to look at it. To me, the Eagles have a Super Bowl win in their back pocket. Like, they've already been to the mountaintop. If they have a little bit of an off year or doesn't come together, there'll be consequences. But to me, like, what I don't like about the bills,

starting with even the Saints game that they won, like, I just don't see the juice. I'm not seeing the fire, the hunger, and I know they started three and two last year. I was looking at some of their stats, you know, through six games last year and this year. They actually have more explosive plays this year. You know, some of the vital signs are actually a little better than they were last year. But for me, to me, like the AFC, you know, all these teams have had their issues and the bills haven't been gutted like the Ravens have been, you know, and this has been a little bit disappointing to me for a team that should be super hungry, gas pedal down. And hey, here. we go. So long year, you know, I think they can write it, but his last couple games were just like

lacklester to me. Interesting. Okay. So I went in the other direction. Now maybe it's because I'm based in Philadelphia, Mike. And as you know, it is dark times. The sky is falling. But to me, the Eagles, it feels like the vibes are off with AJ Brown is frustrated. And it's kind of both sides of the ball. You know, they can't run the ball. Passing game looks ugly. Defense has injuries and they lost a lot of talent. So they've got a lot of things going on. Whereas the bills, to your point, I was looking at the statistics too. And it's like, their offense hasn't seemed the same, but the metrics would tell you, they're probably going to be okay there, you know, over the course of a 17 game season. I think the bigger concern has to be the bill's defense, right? It's their run defense has not

been good. And even just kind of giving up explosive plays in the passing game. Do you feel like there's a fix there? Like, what, you know, if I told you, hey, by the time we get to December, this defense is going to look a lot different. Would you buy that or are you like, I don't know if that's going to be the case? I'm going to say I don't know that that's going to be a case, be the case because I do feel like as kind of as an organization, you know, they had pushed pretty hard and then they've obviously kind of retooled some things and backed off a little bit, which by the way, the Eagles have too. I mean, the Eagles spending showed up this year. I think they put, they put the brakes on a little bit more than people would probably realize this year,

at least with some of that turnover. So, but I, look, I think, these are both good teams that will probably be in the playoffs and have good records. So I'm not saying that. I just feel like, to me, Buffalo still needs to get over the top. And they may because of the nature of the AFC, but I would just like to see a little bit more spark. I think the points you raise on the Eagles are true. And something definitely is off. But as I was thinking about it, it was like, can you imagine if the bills had those receivers?

Well, like, the town, there's still good talents in Philadelphia, in those spots. And they have shown, you know, they have shown an ability over the course of a season to kind of get things figured out. Now, I don't know, you know, there's not a track record with their O.C. So that concerns me a little bit. I do trust Fangio to do the best job he can with that. But offensively, I do, you know, I do wonder a little bit. Yeah, you look at the trade deadline coming up. in a little bit here. And it's like the Eagles could probably use pass rush help for sure, maybe corner help. The bills, do you feel like, you know, Brandon Bean had the interview in the off season? I don't know if you remember that where he, he was waiting on hold at a local Buffalo station. And they were talking about their wide receivers. And he kind of came on and was just like, what are you guys talking about? Our offense is good.

Stop talking about wide receivers. I kind of watched that Falcons game on Monday night. And I'm like, they kind of could use, you know, just an outside receiver. third and seven. I don't know if you think, like, they might be in the mix to make a move here. Yeah. Is Brandon being going to be a little stubborn there and say, nope, not a problem. It would be kind of admitting. I noticed Joe Biscaglia, who covers the bills for us, like, doubling down on his column today is all about, you know, the receiver thing. And he's like, pointing out that it was a major problem last year. There's like a link to it. You know,

I'm picturing Brandon Green reading this going, oh, you know, they're not going to let me rest on this, you know, but he's like, definitively, all of the indications are that the outside receivers are not getting it done. And Drake London had more yards than these four guys combined, you know. It's just like the empirical evidence is indisputable here. I would love to watch Brandon Bean read this, you know, at the proverbial breakfast table. You know, I'd like to see as, you know, maybe a kid reading it to him. Dad, is this true? You know, I'd love to see that because.

But I feel like for some of these teams, like a bill's team, if you're in a little bit of the doldrums and they got their buy, look, you can take the long range view. We're four and two. We got jazz shouts and it's going to be fine. But if you feel like your team needs a little bit of a jolt, sometimes making a move sends a signal to your team. And I don't know that the bills are really in a desperate situation to need that. They're four and two. But, you know, they're... I was looking at our projections, Austin Mock's projections, the Athletic, there are a 50% chance to win the division and the Patriots are 49. So do you perceive a little bit of a threat having lost to them, or do you just have this kind of institutional arrogance from, hey, we just, we're going to win this thing, and it's no problem. So I think that'll be an interesting trade deadline for them. Maybe we need to wait to see what happens coming out of the buy to see whether or not

Brandon Bean thinks they do need a kick a little bit here. Yeah, I think you framed it well at the top. It's like I think the bills have the higher floor. The bills are not going to fall apart. If Josh Allen's healthy and they have that offensive line, like they are going to be in the mix at the end. If you're a Bill's fan, you're saying every January hour defense lets us down

and this defense looks worse than our other defenses. So why should we be confident going into the playoffs? And then the Eagles, I think you're right from a talent perspective. It's like they have the talented players. Can they figure it out? At the same time, their floor might be a little bit lower where if we talked again in a month and it's like, man, the Eagles went into a tailspin, and A.J. Brown's demanding that, like, that is more possible

for the Eagles than the bill. So, yeah, I think they're in two different spots there for sure. I do. I agree. I just feel like, hey, at least the one team has been to the mountaintop. And you can expect a little bit of a hangover year sometimes, you know? No doubt. All right. Next one here. Take more seriously, Mike, the Steelers as an AFC contender or the Colts as an AFC contender. And let me put my cards on the table here. My guy, I'm wrong. about the Steelers pretty much every preseason. It's an annual tradition in the Capadia household, in whatever company I'm working for.

I say this will be the year. The Steelers take a step back. They're not going to get to 500. And then we get to this point in the season, and I look like a dummy. So the Steelers are four and one here. First place in the AFC North. The Colts have obviously been the surprise team

in the NFL, five and one with a league best, plus 78 point differential. Now, Steelers fans have memorized the, the thing about Mike Tomlin has not won a playoff game since 2016. So when I say contender here, I'm not expecting you to pick either of these teams to win the Super Bowl. But let's say make some noise in the playoffs. Who are you taking more seriously? The Steelers or the Colts?

Yeah, to win a playoff game. So let's sit that as our bar, you know. And I think I would probably go with the Colts. And my reasoning for that is just because I still need to see Rogers over the course of a whole season, outdoors in those elements. with the hits that he takes at that age, and is he really going to be hitting stride late in the year? Whereas I feel like the Colts were an 8-9 team last year with a 47% passer. And I do feel like, I do like their offense.

I like their group of skill guys. They're playing indoors, a little bit more controlled type of a situation. And I just feel like they have been unleashed a little bit, just I think by some, belief in the quarterback. I mean, I know it's Daniel Jones and he's not an amazing star, but just somebody who can actually operate the offense, I think they've been unleashed a little bit. And I love the move they made a defensive coordinator to get Lou Anna Ruma. And I think that

could bear some fruit for them too in sort of matchup situations, you know, any one game, a playoff game. I felt like when they had Gus Bradley, he could do some solid things, but you sort of know what you're going to get every week. I think the Colts going into a playoff game was Stichen scheming on one side, Anirumo on the other, pretty good run game. I think I might go with them. Yeah, I like the point you made about Anirumo

because we look at all the stats in the regular season, and I don't think the Colts' defensive stats are going to wow us at any point probably this regular season. However, this is what it has been about in the NFL, especially in recent years it feels like, who is your coordinator and can he cook something up? He's got a week against probably a very good quarterback, maybe a great quarterback.

Is there something he can do to give you an edge? And I think that's Banana Rumo's calling card. You know, the Bengals defenses were not great in the regular season with him, but during some of those playoff runs, he was able to come up with a one-off game plan that really helped them. So, yeah, this Colts team is just like, like,

we talked, it was after week two. I think we spoke. And I was like, yeah, I kind of think they're this version of the Saints. Yeah, yeah. Yeah, yeah. I just think, you know, I was really down on what Richardson was

bringing them. And I just felt like I didn't know if Daniel Jones was going to play this efficiently. I would have said no. But I do think they've gotten a rebound through their whole team. I think there's a, you know, the belief in that position and whether it can work affects the whole locker room. So I think they've been lifted by that. And they may get that elusive playoff win, you know? Yeah. They really do look like one of the best coach teams in the NFL. Now, I was looking at their schedule earlier, and if you just look at kind of, there's this site impredictable that looks at the betting markets and kind of does strength the schedule that way. Colts have had the second easiest schedule in the NFL so far, and they have the fifth hardest

remaining schedule. And they're also in a division where the Jaguars are four and two. The Texans are two and three. So they've got some teams they need to compete with. I mean, if you're a Steelers fan right now, you're looking at it going, the rest of this division is terrible. You know, we don't need to be perfect. We don't need to be one of these darlings with the analytics or people saying our EPA.

And we're four and one. We kind of just need to be mediocre the rest of the way. And we're probably going to win the division. I mean, is there a scenario where like the Ravens bounce back and make this a race in December? Do you feel like that thing's a wrap in the AFC North right now? Well, I can tell you, our projection models is the 73% the Steelers win the division. and the next highest odds in the division in the conference are the Colts at 63%. But I think it all just comes down to Lamar's health.

I think if Lamar Jackson comes back and is near 100%, which I'm a little skeptical of because of the nature of the hamstring, the nature of his game, and just he's a, you know, he's really can be a Ferrari, you know, that worries me a little bit. I think, though, they have to make a decision during the spy kind of like, what are they? because if he comes back strong, I do think that they can still have a chance to contend for that division. They still get Pittsburgh twice, I believe. But I'm just worry about the hamstring with a player like that who's so dynamic. Yeah, especially with the margin fair with the way that defense is playing.

Like I know you've written about it in the past that, you know, defense and special teams. He's gotten help from those areas most of these years. This is sort of a different animal with this Ravens team where you kind of need. the offense to lead the way if they are going to come back. Well, here's the thing. Last year they did that. The first half of last year, defense special teams were terrible, and Lamar showed he can win those games.

It was really amazing. But we're not feeling that this year. And obviously with him being injured and the other injuries they've had, you know, I've been sort of dusting off every week or two a table showing, you know, their five or six highest paid players and they're like all missing the games. You know, the 49ers are in that position right now, too. That just makes it hard. So it just may not be their year on the injury front.

right. Yeah, no doubt about it. So Steelers are in a good spot, you know, they're doing this offense where Aaron Rogers is throwing it five yards and the ball's coming out quickly and D.K. Metcalf is picking up yards after the catch. Their run game has looked better for sure in recent weeks specifically. They've got the pass rush and then they're kind of just playing Tomlin ball with the turnovers, you know, their second and turnover EPA in the entire NFL. So I've been slow to adopt them. I'm probably still a little bit slow here, but there's no doubt that they're in a good spot there. Are you taking them?

So who's your choice of these two for sure? Yeah, good question. Because you were kind of, you kind of almost got out with that. That's a good job. Sometimes you have to call out the host, Mike. Call it the host and say, hey, I want this on the record. Yeah, you know what? I think I would probably lean Steelers just because I feel better about them

winning their division. And so they're going to have a home playoff game. And one game can they play Tomlin ball, you know? I believe in this, too. If it's a 50-50 in your mind and you're sort of the guy who's perceived to be a them. You've got to lean towards them just to show that fan base. Hey, look, it's not a personal thing here. I mean, you know, that's a veteran in the content game. He's looking out for his buddy to not just get crushed on Steelers Reddit all week long year. And that's why I appreciate

you can now come back later and say, hey, back in the week, going to the week seven, I had these guys. They've disappointed. They've let me down. That's right. All right. Let's even need any prodding. I didn't need any prodding. I was all over it. Yeah. Yeah, I had it the whole way. All right. Let's take a break. We come back. One more to get to here. All right, we're back on the Ringer NFL show. Take more seriously, Mike, the Bears as a playoff team or the Panthers as a playoff team. Two fan bases that are feeling pretty good this week. You know, Panthers are three and three here, beat the Cowboys, ran all over them last week.

And then the Bears, you know, historically, you just, I said it on Tuesday, Mike. I was like, no one in their right minds thought that he was going to make that field goal. If you think, if you say you thought he was going to make that, you're lying with the three of the Bears. But you know what? They get the field goal at the end there. They got the blocked field goal the week before against the Raiders. And they're feeling pretty good too. So which one of these teams are you taking more seriously as a potential playoff team? Yeah. For me, it's going to be the Bears. But I'll tell you something funny about the Panthers. So last week against the Cowboys, they had like 400 and some total yards, 200 plus rushing. They had like over 25

first downs. I was like, oh my gosh, this is like his Cam Newton days here, you know? So I go into my, you know, advanced data search. You know, I'm like, when is the last time the Panthers had 400 plus yards total, 200 rushing, and 25 more first downs? I'm expecting it to be like, you know, 2010. It was last week. There was the week before against Miami. They did it two weeks in a row.

It's only been done three weeks in a row once in the history of the league by the 83 Steelers. Wow. Hats off to the Panthers. And they're playing the Jets this week. The Jets this weekend, yeah. They're playing the Jets. So maybe if they do it again, if they hit those. parameters again, I'm coming back and asking you to redo this shot, then I'll be all over the

Panthers. But I do think that, you know, I do think that ultimately Bryce Young will limit what they can do at his size. I just believe and feel that from a consistency standpoint. Whereas I feel like the bears are maybe onto something here and that, you know, maybe we're going to see a continuing growth of the quarterback there. Very interesting year for Caleb Williams, you know, in the quarterback tiers, people were really critical of him and his processing. And then remember that big piece came out, you know, before the season from Go Long. Tyler Dunn, yeah. Taderman made it sound like this is the worst human being in the history of quarterbacking.

Like, they don't have a chance. And it's been quiet this year. And even Ben Johnson was kind of like on these players in the offseason, like calling them out for body language and all this stuff. But I have felt a better vibe. I don't know about you. I just feel like there's been some progress by K. I think he's more talented of the two quarterbacks between these two teams, Carolina and Chicago, and I kind of want to see what we're going to see from them.

So it's interesting. The Fanduil agrees with you. I was shocked by the difference in these two, though, Mike. The bears are plus 225 to make the playoffs. The Panthers are plus 710 to make the playoffs. I mean, I thought this was a hard decision when I asked you the question, but the betting markets disagree. I'm surprised by this too. So I told you the Austin Mock model that we use at the athletic has the bears as a third.

33% chance playoffs and the Panthers at 6%. 6%. Is that built in? Is it take a long time to come off the preseason priors of what we thought of these teams? I don't know how that works with these models, but I would have thought it would be a little bit closer. But Pittsburgh does, Carolina does scare me with their ability to just lay an egg too. And they've beaten a couple teams that, you know, are,

really bad defensively. And so I guess I just want to see more from them before I lean that way. Yeah, some of the nerd stats are pretty favorable in some ways to Carol. Like I think these are two opposite teams in some ways. You know, Carolina is top five in both offensive and defensive success rate. The only team in the NFL to be top five is the Carolina Panthers. Now, it's a small sample. It's six games. But they do have trouble creating explosive plays. You know, like you were mentioning with the passing game. I think maybe the last couple of weeks they found a little something with, hey, let's run the ball and play action

with Bryce Young. And remember, this defense led up 3,000 rushing yards last year. And this year, their third in success rate against the run. So it's not just Derek Brown coming back, but obviously some of the guys they added, the run defense has been a lot better. Now, you're not

wrong about sometimes they lay an egg. You know, they get blown out by the Jaguars. They get blown out by the Patriots. So they've been a tough team to kind of figure out. And then the Bears are kind of different. Like, you look at some of the success rate stuff with them, and it's like they're not a great team, but they're feasting on explosive plays on offense,

and then they're turning the football over on defense. So it's one of those hard things where it's like, well, which one of those do you trust? Which team do you feel like can make progress in the areas that they're not as strong right now? And a lot of people feel like it's probably the bears more than the – I'm going to go with the Panthers. You know, I feel like maybe they can just –

that run game has a chance, I think, to be really good. I'm with you. their ceiling might be more limited, but I kind of feel a little bit better about them right now. You know, it's so amazing. I didn't, they have a 60% success rate on defense while being 23rd in defensive EPA per play. Right. That's, I look at that gap. Like, how many times do you have that big of a gap between your play-to-play consistency

and then just giving up some huge ones, you know? Right, which would usually, right, Mike speak to lack of or giving up explosive plays and not creating turnovers, right? Would probably be the, you know, the reasons for that. Yeah, and their offensive turnover EPA is not very good, and their defense is actually okay, but I think it must have come along recently because they got the two-a-pick late, right? I think turnovers have been an issue for them, and slow starts have been an issue for them. They kind of are this team that rallies in the fourth quarter after being down a fair amount,

but I think they've salvaged something here these last couple weeks after a lot of people, I think we're really wondering if they were going to ever get it right. Yeah, no, no doubt. I think last week, this is always hard in the NFL because it's a small sample. You have one great game and all of a sudden numbers are flying all over the place and a team looks different. So especially early, you got to be like, well, what do I actually trust? What do I actually see here? You know, the Bears have won their last two games.

Same score, 25, 24. Did they find something in the run game last week or is that a one-off? Because they hadn't been able to run the ball earlier in the season. I'm with you on Caleb Williams. I see the highs. see the inconsistencies that Troy Aikman was pointing out during the game. But it's like if he can get a little more consistent and avoid, you know, reduce the number of negative plays, obviously there's something there.

I think everyone would agree with that. Yeah. And I just, to me, he hasn't been a wreck this year. And that's sort of what was implied we might expect. So yeah, I'll lean a little bit with them and we'll check back at a certain point here and see who was right. There you go. Sandow's got the bears.

I've got the Panthers. That's what we're talking about today. What do you take more seriously with those? three topics. You can check out Mike Sandow in the athletic all week long. Of course, his Monday column is a must read. Mike, thank you so much for joining us. I will be right back with the hurry up. All right, the hurry up is our closing segment where I give you a take on news in the NFL, and we have a new nominee for Dumbus Story of the 2025 season. And it's the feud, all right, maybe too strong of a word, but whatever, between Troy Aikman and the Chicago Bears.

So let me get you caught up here. Aikman called the Monday Night game against the commanders, and he was critical at times of Caleb Williams. I am a neutral observer who was watching with the sound up. I am not a Bears fan. I don't know Aikman. And I thought Aikman sounded like he usually sounds. He is a better announcer now than he was years ago

because he is willing to be critical. So when he saw a misses from Caleb Williams, he pointed them out, just like he always does. I guess he also called D'Andre Swift's touchdown Lucky. Not a big deal, to me at least. Ben Johnson, however, referenced Aikman's criticisms during a radio interview this week. Then during his press conference, William said he didn't have time to meet with Akeman during production meetings before the game because his day was going long.

He tried to call Akeman later, but they couldn't get in touch. So now people are connecting the dots that Aikman felt slighted. And that's why he was critical. Listen, I understand that NFL teams live off of this nonsense. the perceived slights, but this really feels like much ado about nothing. And I hope Aikman isn't more guarded going forward because of this little incident. The millions of us watching on TV want you to be critical, Troy. Call it like you see it.

It's something we don't get for most broadcasts. We don't have to agree, but we want you to be honest. So again, dumbest story of the 2025 season so far, Chicago Bears for Troy Aikman. Let's see if anything can beat it the rest of the year. All right, appreciate everyone listening. Thanks to Christopher Sutton for producing Kiera Givens on social and additional production supervision by Connor and Evans and Arjuna Ramgopal. I'm Shil Kapadia. We'll be back tomorrow on the Ringer NFL show.

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