The Ringer NFL Show - ‘GM Street’ — Week 4 Rapid Reactions (Ep. 151)

Episode Date: October 2, 2017

The Ringer's Michael Lombardi and Tate Frazier analyze the personnel problem in New England (02:30), the Deshaun Watson effect in Houston (06:00), a big win in Big D for Sean McVay and the Rams (13:00). Then they predict the media's response to Jay Cutler's performance (16:30) and give out some awards for this week (25:30). Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

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Just visit mybooky.orgi.m-B-O-O-K-E.org. And use the promo code Ringer NFL to activate the offer. You play, you win, you get paid. Welcome to GM Street, part of the Ringer Podcast Network. My name is Tate Fraser. I'm having a great day. Look at you. Just all dressed up in your panther career. You're loving it, huh? Bianca Petuka. It was a beautiful day. Adam Venturaia ripped my heart out when I was a kid, just like Justin Timberlake ripped Janet Jackson's nipple that night. I was at that game, too. It really ripped my heart out. And this was, this was amazing. Full circle. I was at that game,

and my wife and I was sitting there, and the lady's sitting next to me, like, her boot just came out. And I'm like, what are you talking about? I didn't even greatest national anthem ever in the history was at that game. What? Was it a kid rock? No. That's a joke. It was a joke. Beyonce or Bernice, however you want to say. Of course, Beyonce was a beautiful thing.

I remember we watched the halftime show and all of our parents were Sorrel Paul. They were upstairs drinking, have a good time of Super Bowl. They had to take everyone to take the kids home. I had to go home and watch the second half and I'm convinced that's why they lost. I'm superstitious. You never leave a good place with some good juju. Oh, because a boob came out? You had to go home? We had to go home. and my ad-a-talking to about what happened?

They didn't know you had Playboy underneath your bed? No. I was like, I've never heard of this. What is this? It was tough. We need to point this out. We just mentioned this before we started the show. It's the illegal formation, Tate.

We got a logo back here, and it's an illegal formation. It's unbalanced. What do we do? Do we take a flag for this? John Harbaal would complain about this formation right here. This is exactly the formation that became the play, and Michael Human became the play in there. There you go, right down the field.

Yeah, that's really tough. So Davis Shoemaker, who's ever designing this, we need someone to figure this out for us. So next week we'll have that handle. But let's talk about week four football. Wow. It was a wild week. The first set of games, the one o'clock games today. It was awesome.

I mean, there were just so many performances that really stood out. I mean, obviously the Patriots game that I mentioned before, the Panthers, the game winning field goal from Graham Ganoe. That was great. Deshawn Watson has this amazing day, 57 points. Let's start with the Pat's defense. We're going to do the five things that jumped out to you. First up, Pat's defense. Yeah, it's not getting better.

And it's not going to get better anytime soon. I mean, look, the Patriots have. always had a hard time playing against quarterbacks that move around. And today, you know, I thought the Patriots offense would control the ball 34 minutes in the game and keep the Panthers off the field as much as they could. And they couldn't control. Even though they won the time in possession, they didn't do it well enough. They punted twice in the game and it cost them. And they only had nine possessions, which is really bad. You know, typically you get 12 possessions in a game. And you can't go into a game and have everything lay at Tom Brady's feet. I mean,

30 points should win a game for you. And now they've lost two home. games because their defense can't stop anybody. They're not good in the red area. And the one thing you can't do in the National Football League is give free access touchdowns. Like they don't give you free houses in Beverly Hills. They shouldn't give you free accesses touchdowns, okay? And the Patriots are good at giving free access touchdowns. We've seen it every week. We saw the opening week against Kansas City. It didn't happen in New Orleans, but it happens every week. And there's a huge communication problem. There's a complete disconnect that I've never seen before in my career around Bill Belichick in terms of the back end. It happened

Once before in early, I think it was Eric Manini's last season as a defense coordinator there before he became the head coach. They gave up a chunk of big plays, but this is actually worse. When you look at that team and when you look at the list of stats on defense, it's 32nd the New England Patriots and points allowed. They're averaging, you know, letting team score 31.7 points per game. I mean, those are things that are unheard of. I mean, Tom Brady can't save you when you're giving up that many points. I mean, what's the answer? Is it something, it's obviously a personnel problem at some level.

But is it, you know, Matt Patricia, is it up for him to say something at this point to step in or even Belichick to come over and say what's going on? I think it's got to be Bill step in. I think what you saw today was, you know the Curly in the Boat theory? You know what the Curley in the Boat theory is? No. The Three Stooges is. Oh, of course, the three stooges. I can't keep doing this.

You can't keep these random references. People are going to kill me for this. So, you know, what happens is Curley's in a boat and he, they're in a rowboat, the three of them in a rowboat together. And Curley decides to hit, he sees a fish come in the boat. so he takes his axe and he hits the axe, but it misses the fish and it creates a hole in the boat, right? So Curley's idea is to make another hole in the boat to let the water from the first hole out of the other thing, okay? Great idea. That's what's happening in New England. They're trying to cover up the sins of not being able to pressure the quarterback with their four-man pressures, so they blitz, or they try to get in some complicated schemes, and now it opens up another hole in the boat, and that's just what's happened. They're going to have to go back to basics. It's going to be very difficult, but this is unlike any Patriot team I've ever seen.

Do you think Bill Belichick will address that at some point or is it going to be something that's behind closed doors? Well, oh, that would be behind closed doors. Nobody will get thrown out to the, nobody get thrown to the wolves. Everything that happens in New England usually happens behind closed doors. And look, it's a short week. They got to play Tampa on Thursday night. They got James Winston coming in. They got to go down and play James Winston. They can't get any pass rush. They're going to have to really cut it back. I think what you'll see more from the Patriots is after the bio, after that three day off they have is they'll reevaluate where they are. They can't make any changes going into Tampa on Thursday night because, Tomorrow is really like a Thursday when you get ready to play a game. And so they're going to have to really cut this close.

But to me, the Patriots defense, that's not a playoff caliber defense right now. That's not a playoff caliber team. You can't outscore people. This isn't the old ABA. They're not the Carolina Cougars. Oh, I wish they were. I knew that would make you happy. Or the Virginia Squires, Kentucky Colonels.

It's great stuff. Let's move into someone that's actually changing our mind or changing the perception going in. It ended up being the 12th pick to Sean Watson. We watch this game, this 57, puts up 57 points today. It makes it easy on this Texas defense. He looks like a guy that is a surefire, should have been the number one pick. A lot of people thinks he should have been the Heism trophy winner. He obviously goes and dominates Alabama again in the national championship game.

And now we're full circle. We're all the way in this season. And he looks like a guy that's poised, ready to play. And Bill O'Brien now looks like a genius, even though Tom Savage started over him. Yeah. And he goes against Dick Leboe, who, you know, Dick Leboe is an experienced NFL coach with a lot of blitzes and a lot of different blitzes from a lot of different looks. That will make rookies look dumb.

That usually make rookies look dumb. And I think he had 30 points in the first half in this game. And he stood back there. He calmly threw the ball. I think Deshawn Watson has changed the culture in Houston in their entire organization. I think they have life. Their receivers are making plays. I mean, Bruce Ellington gets cut from the 49ers.

The Jets won't pass them on a physical. And he's now in Houston, and he's one of their three receivers, catches with the opening day touchdown pass. I mean, this Houston team, when their defense starts to come back, especially in the secondary, If Watson does this, they didn't need like a Pro Bowl level quarterback. They just needed a good quarterback. He's given him a much better level.

I mean, he's changed that whole organization. I'm really proud of the kid because he's exactly what Davo said he was. He was going to be a winner, and I think he's going to keep being a winner. Debbo, don't lie. I also say Will Fuller came back. Two great TDs today. I mean, with him and Hopkins, I mean, that's tough. And then he got Ellington in there.

I mean, then they've got all these other players around. I mean, they've always had good, and the offensive line, which gave up a lot of sacks when Savage was about. back there and they took a beating. And let's say this about Tennessee. Tennessee is supposed to be this really good team and everybody has them picked to go to the playoffs and all that. They manhandled Tennessee.

And we're probably not going to touch on this, but I've never heard of this in my entire life, a quarterback pool and a hamstring. Mariotta got hurt again. I mean, like Mariotta is like he gets hurt too much. Like at some point, stop. Like, how does a quarterback get a hamstring pool? Well, it's probably on that zone read when he took off for 36 yards

on a full sprint. He was running for his life. I mean, I would tear my hamstring if I had to run that quick. I just don't get it. To me, the Davey on Clowny could have blown him up if he had actually, like, if he read that right and actually was on the quarterback, like that's dangerous, right? This guy, you got to protect this guy.

This guy's the franchise. And now he pulls a hamstring. To me, just, I've never heard that before. Quarterbacks pulling hamstring. I mean, I get it when they were running a wishbone, but not now in pro football. That's strange. So I thought it was a really great win for Houston. And I thought Watson is keeps getting better and better.

It'll be a great test next week when Kansas City comes in and plays against them. Let's talk about another team that's, And that's shocking some people and some surprises of people. Not me. I like the bills. I've been a bills fan. I mean, I, you know, I, I think what Sean McDermen has done is he's created a culture in Buffalo. And they actually now have good coaching. I mean, they've always had some really good players, but they were disorganized. They weren't fundamentally sound. They tried, they were clearly curly in the boat there. Okay. They did too many things. They didn't know what they were doing. They made too many mistakes, too many penalties. They let the game slip away from them. They got a really good coach now. And they're running a good.

good system. They don't give up big plays. Going into the game, they were average, they get averaged over under 10 yards per pass completion against them. They're really good in the red zone. This is a really good red zone team, and they have good rushers, and they make you beat them. They don't give

you any free plays. They don't give you any chunk plays. They don't give a lot of big plays. And they played Atlanta, and they created a couple turnovers. They don't win pretty, but they won. I think Buffalo is a really good team. I don't think they're going away. I think Buffalo is the best team right now in the AFC. East. And they're built in a similar way as the Seattle Seahawks. I mean, with Tyrod Taylor,

he looks a lot like Russell Wilson back there. He can make plays with his feet and make things happen on his own. But he can make deep throws down the field. I think he doesn't get enough credit for that. I mean, we saw a lot of big plays. When Atlanta came back and it seemed like they were going to get this game under wraps. Tyrod Taylor was like, no, we're going to figure this out, and we're going to make this happen. And they did. And how do they win the game? They win the game on fourth and one, where in the red zone? They make the play in the red zone. I mean, this is what McDermott was really good in Carolina. They were really good in the red zone. and he's good in Buffalo in the Red Zone.

His Red Zone package is very effective. And everybody, remember this when they traded away, Sammy Watkins, who I think had one catch today? They said they were tanking in Buffalo. They were never tanking in Buffalo. They were just changing the culture. People don't understand that. They were changing the culture. I think they have.

Now, look, every week's going to be a struggle for them. And they're not going to go in and blow anybody out because they're not going to score 30 all rapidly. But McCoy hasn't really gotten going with the running game yet. I mean, LaShole McCoy is supposed to be the face of his offense. They haven't really gotten going. And he hasn't complained about it. I mean, he's been a true team leader. He's been an inspiration for them, and they followed him.

I think Buffalo is really good on defense. They're hard to play. And you're going to have to beat Buffalo Sally in all three phases to win a game against him. And let's talk about a guy that bounced back after a devastating week three, Cameron Newton. I call him Cameron. When he struggles and he's immature, I call him Cam. I was disappointed in his wardrobe today. I thought he was, I mean, I like that.

That's Cam Newton. I like the hat, though. When he's dressed up, that's Cam Newton. Yeah, like I like to happen. It was a little bit undertone. Look, I thought he played really well. I thought this was a really hard game for the Patriots going in. Because everybody had this notion about Carolina's offense.

They were the number one team in the league in time of possession going into this game. They averaged 34. They were sixth in the National Football League in third downs. Those are two areas that really present problems when the Patriots play against a team like that. Why? Because it limits possessions. They only had nine possessions, but New England only had nine possessions. Brady put 30 points up in nine possessions.

That's hard to do. And yet Cam made some great throws. He got a break from an official on a call. He made some incredible, he got away from some pressure. He did some really good things. I thought he's back. I thought he looked like he was back into the game. He was moving well.

I think his shoulder feels better. I think pre-season's over with for Cameron. I think he's back. I think all those people that said, well, it was a one-year fluke, the MVP. No, I think this guy is a lot like Alan Iverson. It's not going to look pretty in the stat sheet, but I think he can produce wins. And their defense is good enough that they can do that. And one of the things that they've been doing a lot is we're running 15 to 20 plays for Christian McCaffrey.

You know, that's just going to happen. But in this game, they used them a lot as a decoy. And you saw the Patriots defense. What they saw on tape was, hey, we got to watch this guy. And that Whitaker touchdown on the double screen, they all had their eyes on McCaffrey. And they came back to Fosier Whitaker. And it worked out perfectly. The Patriots are really slow on defense.

I mean, the Patriots are like a, you know, they're just like a slow, slow defense. And they can't ever take that four-yard gain and turn it into a four-yard gain. they take that four-yard gain and it becomes 12 and it becomes 16. They have no ability to close it down. Their linebackers are really like playing defensive linemen. I mean, they're almost in a short yardage defense. Yeah, Hightower came back this week, but that wasn't really what they did. And look, all that's being said, it was a bad call.

They're sitting there right in the game. They could have won the game. But until they fix these problems, they're not going to go away. And Carolina has fixed the problems. That was a big win. I thought Carolina, just in pre-game warm-up, looked really confident. I thought Cam thought he was going to go in there and play well. They talked about him having a great week of practice, and they did.

I'm happy for you, Cameron. Let's wrap this up. The Los Angeles Rams, they are for real. They are for real. Sean McVeigh. They've got it figured out somehow. Jared Goff is doing well. Todd Gurley might be the best running back in football right now.

It's great for the Los Angeles Rams. Well, I think they've done a great job. I thought this was a good matchup for them going into the game. I talked about it before. I think that whenever they play a team, that's a zone-based team. And Jalen Smith, we can say what we want about Dallas, and they don't have Sean Lee. Jaylon Smith's knee coming off of Notre Dame.

He still can't run like he needs to run. And the Rams kind of took advantage of this a little bit. I have a little bit of point on that. Every single game that the Cowboys have been in this season, they do the whole Jalen Smith, you know, he battled back from this bowl injury and all this stuff. He doesn't, he hasn't quite looked right and no one has said that. No, he doesn't look good at all.

When he's coming downhill, like, you know, a Thomas Davis or David Harris, even two years ago with the Jets, when he's back and he's coming downhill, he looks great. But when he's having to cover someone out of the backfield, I mean, he just can't do it. And the Cowboys without Sean Lee. And then, you know, McVeigh has always done a good job as the coordinator of the Redskins against the Rod Marinelli defense. And this was another example, and this is why I pick on Jason Garrett all the time,

because this was a game that Jason Garrett had to control the ball, that they had to be able to control the pace of the game because the Rams were going to move the ball on them. I think they did a really good job. Gurley is way better this year than he ever was. I think golf is much improved. I think golf is playing better. I'm not sure Goff can play fast.

I've always been critical of that. I truly haven't bought the Rams until today. I thought they did a great job. And I just think that Cowboys don't understand that when they play against an opponent that can score with them, there's a style and a pace they have to play. Garrett never plays it. And, of course, they have the ball with two minutes coming down the field. And the Rams play good defense to win the game at the end. I don't know quite how they did it defensively, but they did.

Cowboys playmakers. Yeah, where are the skill guys? Where are they, right? I mean, like, Des, average is 13 yards of catch. Like, he has a few catches, but they have, like, no speed. Like, Witten can't really make a play anymore. You know, and I think now that we're done the quarter of the season, I think it's time to take some whole, some reality checks here and say, wait a minute, we're not really making production here. Even Elliot's not running the ball nearly to the level that he right. He's averaging like three, six a carry. That's not really what he is. But take nothing away from that. I think the Rams, they play Seattle this week here in Los Angeles. It's a great story. I think this will be a great test for how good the Rams are. But the Rams proved winning in Dallas that they're for real. Another win for Wade Phillips. Very happy for you, Wade. Yeah, I'm happy for him too because, I mean, look, the guy, you know, again, these are the people don't understand at home is the head coach has to set up the, if the head coach isn't calling offense or defensive plays, he's got to set up the way the game needs to go.

Like I talked about the Patriots, they needed to hold the ball 34 minutes. They couldn't do it. That's why they lost. Same thing with Dallas. Dallas, but Dallas never attempted to play a style. What's killing Dallas this year, which helped them last year, is Dallas is really bad on third down. They're below 40 percent. Last year, they were above it.

And last year, they could control third downs and their defense played 28, 27 minutes. Now their defense is playing 31 minutes. They're not good enough to play 31 minutes. And they're not ahead of the change. I mean, the whole thing was every single time Zeeke got the ball, he's getting four yards. So we're starting at second and six pretty much every single time

and that's not the case anymore. And look, the Rams hung in there. And, you know, they get the punt. Switzer drops the punt and they get the ball perfectly placed for them. I mean, so they lost the game. And I think the Cowboys now, as they have Green Bay coming to town, we talked about it before. I think the Cowboys will end up two and three before they go on the buy.

You called it, Lombardy. We're going to do a segment that we did last week, actually the past couple of weeks, guess the narratives where we try to dissect what the popular opinions will be this week, heading into week five. I'm going to start up with Jay Cutler, and one of my favorites. throws up another donut. He's probably had a few too many donuts at this point. Jay Culler isn't cutting it.

That's going to be the headline of the Miami Herald this week. Yeah, they got to get a quarterback. Everybody blames Jay Cudler for everybody. And I love Jay Culler. I mean, if the trains don't run on time in Miami, Jay Cutler's going to get blamed for. I'm so he's getting blamed in Chicago. The poor guy. I mean, he didn't even, I mean, he's getting blamed for the Laguna Beach reunion, anything that could possibly be in the realm.

I mean, it's like the poor guy. Look, they're not playing very good defense, right? I mean, he threw the interception in the end zone. I don't think, I don't think Julius Thomas really made a great effort to try to break up the ball. I could have given a little bit of help there. But I think Miami's problems are deeper than just just Jay Cutler. I think there are defense isn't very good. I think they haven't made any explosive plays.

He's not throwing interceptions where he's forcing the ball down the field. But Jay skip blames for everything. But I can see where you say that. Like Miami right now, Miami's not a very good team. And they play next week they go and they are, where is Miami next week? Oh, they play Tennessee. That'll be a great game. Yeah, that's what we call the Tullet Bowl.

No. Come on tennis. Well, if Matt Castle wants to play quarterback because my man has a hamlet because Marriota has a hamstring pool, that won't be a very good game. Castle versus Cutler is very 2008. I may watch that game. That could be. Yeah, that would be. We could do that.

We could watch that. Let's throw a narrative out there for you, Lombardy. You know, I think the narrative this week should be, and I know it's early in the season, we've only played four games, but I think there's some teams that are going to regret not picking Deshawn Watson. I mean, let's start off with the Cleveland Browns. Like, they passed up Wence, okay, who looks very good.

They passed up golf, who I'm not sold on golf, but a lot of other people are. He's winning games. And he's winning games, and he's playing well. Is he a championship-level quarterback that remains to be seen? However, that being said, they passed on him. They picked Cody Kessler over Dak Prescott. Okay?

So every quarterback decision they've made. Then this year they passed to Sean Watson numerous times. They traded away from them. And yet they didn't pick any quarterback. And so now they have the Sean Kaiser and their 0.4. I think the Chargers who are 0.4 are going to regret not picking. And I think the teams that are 0 and 4 that need a quarterback or the teams that look like they need a quarterback, the Chargers need a quarterback for the future. okay, the Browns need a quarterback for the present.

I think those teams, even the Jets, their two and two great win. Congratulations, Mick. Great win over 500 yards. But, you know, there's a lot of teams that could have used to Sean Watson, and I think that that's going to be a narrative this week. And a quick tangent on the Cleveland Browns.

I mean, a lot of people were like, what's up with the Browns? What's going on with these guys? They weren't even in that game today. Yeah, Kaiser just seems like he is as young as he's a young guy. So when things aren't going well, you know, he's going to sits on the shoulders. He wasn't even in that game. You know, I just, to me,

they're not ready for prime time. Now this week they play the Jets. That'll be another good game. I mean, because the Jets aren't going to blow anybody out. But I think it'll be interesting to see, you know, what Cleveland does because of all the tank talk that we've had, are they trying to tank again? I mean, really. And there's no guarantee that the great Sam Darnold is actually going to come out. And there's no guarantee that Sam Darnold is going to be the first pick in the draft. My instincts would tell me Sam Darnold won't even come out. But what is Sam, like you have Kaiser who has all the talent of us. Sam Darnold, like, that's not going to, there's no transcendent. Yeah, I don't understand that.

I don't know what they're doing analytically in Cleveland in terms of how they evaluate the quarterback, but they're passed a lot of good ones. And I think that's going to be a narrative. If you needed a quarterback and you pass this kid who just put 57 points on the board and through four touchdowns, people are going to start asking questions. That's what I think. Well, they picked the wrong Deshaun. I think so when it comes down to it.

What else you got? I have, well, I'm going to save mine because it's going to lead into the GM. What's the move? You want me to go? Yeah, so go ahead. All right. all the talk this week. Let me see.

What else did I have? Oh, I think it'll be, I think the talk this week will be about the Ben McAdoo and the Giants and is, you know, is the pressure. Why is you not wearing his sunglasses anymore? Well, no, I think it's going to be, now that they're 0 and 4 and there's really no chance for him to come back, is McAdoo coming back. I think that's going to be the talk of, at least the talk's going to heat up on the New York

media. And the other talk is going to be what happened with the Giants' defense, because the Giants defense was really good. last year, but it's not this year. I know OBJ is a little bit untouchable. And he's a greatest player. We make him the highest pay player right now in the national football league. He's 0 and 4, but we have to make him the highest pay player.

Why can't? Stop. You have to make up the highest pay. You're right. Sign the contract. Give them the money. I'm not going to bring it up. Greatest player.

Let's go to the next narrative. What's up with the Patriots? I feel like that's going to be the week. They're two and two. They're a 500 team. They're technically third in the AFC East right now as it stands behind the New York Jets, which is so great. When you look up with the Patriots, I know we already talked about their defense. It was a mixed birthday today, too.

What a win. He gets a win, and he's ahead of the Patriots. They have more win than the Giants. They're winning his team in New York. Can you imagine that? You know, they had the house divided flags, you know, with like the split robberies. We need to get one of those for the Lombardi household. Well, but what do they do?

I mean, obviously, we talked about the defense. There's struggles there. They've had guys out. Ninkovich didn't come back this season, so that's really shown. I mean, like Jabal Shear played really good tonight on TV against Seattle. I mean, they got beat by Seattle wore the game down, but Shear was playing really good. Look, they have a lot of good players on other teams. Chandler Jones is on Arizona.

I mean, Chandler Jones is on other teams. Akeem Hicks is on other. They've lost some good players. That being said, they chose to lose some of those players. They could assign them. They chose to. I think what they have to do is go back to basics. I think they have to go back to fundamentals.

They have to put faster players on the field, especially at linebacker. They can't be as slow as they are at lineback. I don't know where Alannon Roberts is in terms of health. He got hurt. Eric Rowe got hurt. That turf in New England is causing some injuries. There's no doubt about it. I mean, people are coming off the field hurt all the time.

But for me is when you're bad on defense and you're giving up free touchdowns, it's a little bit like baseball. Baseball's theory is when you're not playing great baseball, put your best defensive players on the field. Don't give up any runs. And I think what the Patriots need to do is condense the game, put the fastest players they can on the field, and try to play sound. And if people earn the touchdowns, they earn them, but just don't give them away. But does that change the way that Brady runs a game? So right now Brady's doing, you know, it's by the numbers. what we're always doing.

Is there a time where he slows the game down? He's going to have to. They're going to have to change what they do on offense. They're going to have to be in a little bit, which they were today. They were in some two back sets. They're going to have to control the football longer. Dionne Lewis looks great.

Milk the clock a little bit longer because their defense can't play 25 minutes. And when they play 30 minutes, oh my. Mud on, it's bad. I want to segue into what's the move. So as a GM, you sit back. You're a two and two football team. A lot of people, you know, even on this network, a lot of people thought that they could go, you know, sick.

That was a shot. That was a shot. That was a shot. That was a shot. An undefeated season. It's not like it's going to be that. What, I mean, what do you do with the GM? Are you worried?

Do you talk to Belichick? Do you see what's going on with this team? Or is it, hey, we're the Super Bowl champions. We are. That's over with you're not the Super Bowl. I mean, the Super Bowl's, you're competing for it now. That's past. That's then is then, now is now.

Now I think he needs to put fast guys on the field. They've got to be sound. They've got to play sound on the back end. They've got to reduce what they're doing. They've got to cut down on their mental mistakes. And they've got to practice with some intensity. and they've got to get faster on defense. And how you do that, it's hard to do,

but you're just got to get faster on defense. They're slow, slow, slow. They look like they're running in cement out there. And every team looks fast against them. And I thought Watson, I was hesitant last week when Watson was doing all those things against them because they're so slow and he's quick. But this week, I mean, it was the same thing.

The field, they have a hard time, and the chiefs exploited it, they have a hard time defending the width of the field because they lack lateral speed. They're big. And the problem is they're big, but they're playing with no power. It's one thing to be big and play with power. You know, you can stand in the middle of a ring and punch somebody and you can knock them out.

And they were big last year, but they had power. I mean, Branch was tough. They could really knock you back. They have no power this year. Now they get pushed back for four or five yards. They're playing soft. So for me, they got to go back to basics. And I think that's going to be the, I agree.

I think that'll be the narrative all week. Can Belichick turn it around? It's four days. I think the bucks will go in there. They'll be licking their chops seeing against the Patriot team. and I think this will be a make or break point for the Patriots is if they go down there and they can find a way to play well and they can build off that for their season because everybody will discount them. I mean, I've already heard Tony Dunsey say that the bucks are going to win because they'll score 50 points on them. I would be careful because I think they'll close ranks, but they got a lot of work to do. Yeah, when James throws four picks and the Patriots blow them out on Thursday night, I think a lot of people. I don't think the pages can blow anybody out. You know, that's the thing. You have to be like we've played four games for everybody except for two teams. Like there's no blowing anybody out. There's no team. that looks just completely dominant.

Now, the Chiefs look really good, but there's no team that looks completely dominant. It's all matchups. I thought the Rams matchup against the Cowboys was really good in the Rams favor. And I thought Carolina's matchup against New England was really good in their favor, but every week's a different matchup.

And I think the one thing that'll prove out is if you can't win with your offense, if you can't win with your defense like New England can't, they've got to find a way to win with their offense by controlling the game and making the opponent play less offense. All right, Lombardi. Let's give out some awards. All right.

First up, we did this last week, the Fred Palermo Award. Uncle Fred, throw that out there. Let's get into who deserves this award this week. Yeah, well, the Patriots do because they try to do too much. I mean, Patriots gave things away. They couldn't cook anything good. So, you know, and that's what they get the Fred Palermo Award for trying to do too much. I mean, they did, and it cost them.

I mean, there was just really no reason for them not to give. It's like the first rule is don't give away anything, and they did. And let's go to the KGB Award, which is the game plan. It's all about game plans, all about getting prepared for a team. I thought two teams are really good. I thought the Eagles did a really good job, Doug Peterson. I thought he did a really good job of running the football against the Chargers and neutralizing what they did. That being said, they won a close game against the Chargers.

Everybody does, right? That's Chargers football. We lose by two or three. They deserve some of it. And I also think the Rams did a really good job game planning against the Cowboys. I think they knew exactly what they were getting into. They had a perfect game plan against them, and they executed. So to me, they were the KGB winners, those two teams.

The Eagles did a really good job. When you go on the road, I think they'd learn from Kansas City. You can't make it a 50-game pass. I thought Blunt ran really hard. He slowed down this defensive line for the charges, which is the best part of them. And when you can run the ball, and they're like body punches and boxing. So you wear down the defensive line by being able to run the ball. And the Eagles ran it over 40 times in this game.

I think it was a really good game plan, and I give them credit for what they did. 109 yards after contact. That's pretty brutal. That is brutal. I mean, he ran hard. And I mean, the chargers just, the chargers just don't have any idea how to win. They know how to lose. They just don't have any idea how to win.

And was that a Lagarete-Blunt punching joke that you just made right there? Because that's pretty good. The whole boxing thing, that was good. That was full circle, Lombardy. I like it. You're working hard. Can't tell courage from Desperation Award for this week. Bruce Springsteen Lions.

You get an award. Can't tell my courage from my desperation. I think that's the Lions. I love the Lions, mental toughness. They don't look pretty when they won. They're one inch away from being undefeated. I mean, think about that, Dave. And they celebrated like they were undefeated.

Golden tape. I'm telling you, everybody says, well, Tate didn't get it. I mean, I've watched that play 100 times. I still think Tate scored. When I watched it live, I thought it was 100%. I didn't know what they were looking at it. When I watched it on tape, I thought he scored. But that being said, I mean, they give up six sacks to the Vikings.

The Vikings basically, you know, move things around. But they score, they do enough to win the game. They won another road game. They win in New York, a playoff team last year. They win in Minnesota. I mean, that's pretty impressive. I mean, I think they are courageous. I think they aren't desperate.

they are courageous, and they deserve to win the game. They hung tough. They created plays. And they have this mental toughness that's hard to beat. They know how to win. They are the opposite of the Chargers. They can win these close games. And Stafford didn't play great.

I mean, his numbers were not very good, but they found a way to win, and they hung tough. I give them a lot of credit. I think Terrell Austin has done a good job defensively, and their team believes in themselves, which is important. You can see the confidence they have in their team. It's kind of fitting that a lion would find courage. Yeah, exactly. It's pretty good. There you go.

I love the Wizard of Oz. I know, it's good. I told you, I got references. I love it. I love that. Yeah, that's awesome. Yeah, I love the Wizard of Oz. Can we just say the Vikings, too?

I mean, that might be the best defense of football. They're just not... Linval Joseph is amazing. Xavier Roads is amazing. For all you Viking fans, I take full responsibility for endorsing case Keenum last week on the podcast. That's my fault. I take full... He came back to be in case, the Case Keenum that we know.

I mean, it's just unfortunate. And then Dalvin Cook chairs his ACL which is horrible, you know, and I just think to me it's, you know, that's a horrible thing. But look, the Lions have done something I didn't think they could do. They've won four games already. I didn't think they could win eight. And they've won four already. And they've kind of gritted them out.

I think they deserve a lot of credit. Congrats to Jim Caldwell. All right, time to go in the lamb. Who's got to get out of town this week, Lombardi? Well, I think the Chargers, I mean, look, the Chargers have, you know, they play in a small stadium. Most of the fans are out there or the opponent fans, and they're 0 and 4, you know, And their quarterback's older. He doesn't move very well at all.

He doesn't make a lot of plays. Although he really runs the team. I mean, they just should make him the head coach too. But to me, I think the whole charger should go on the lamb. And you know what? There'll be nobody. They will go on the lamb because there'll be nobody out there. When they play the – who do they play next week?

Giants. They're back in New York. Yeah, it's the tulip. That's the real tulip. It's the perfect game to go on the lamb with. Maybe they can find Jimmy Hoffa out over there in the stadium or something like that. It's the perfect game. But one of them is going to win.

win a game. Yeah, I know that's unbelievable. It's going to be so fun. Rivers, Eli. That'll be, and I think that's, Anthony Lynch, you go on the lamb. I mean, when you can't win a close game as a new coach, we made so much fun of Mike McCoy being able not to win a, well, he was not closing his eyes. He couldn't win a close game. And they did this whole change of their organization, and they still can't win. There's something in their DNA. They can't win it. I think they need to go on the lamb. Yeah, the Rivers. He's still there. And unfortunately for Phil, it just won't I mean, he was at a loss for words today. They asked my question about what it's like to have these losses,

and he just fumbled his words. He just fumbled over his words. It's really a shame. You know, I mean, they just, you know, they just really don't have a way. I don't think that the back is 100% healthy. He doesn't look like he's running very hard. Yeah, Melvin Gordon's not running very hard.

I mean, and they have, they just, they have too many things that you think they're good on defense, but they give up too many plays. You know, Gus Bradley's now. He's 0.4. He's the defense coordinator. Like, I just, to me, there's something wrong about their football team. And I think that Dolphins lost, which at the time looked like it could be, we're like, hey, maybe the dolphins are kind of good this year.

And it's going to be, as we see them against the Jets and obviously putting up another going to this week. I mean, look, the dolphins have one win and it's fortunately by the field go kicker or the Chargers missing it. Exactly. You know, Koo missing it. But look, I think the Chargers, I keep predicting them are going to win this week. I thought they could eke out of win against Philadelphia. But for some reason, why would you ever think that?

I'm an idiot because they can't win a close game. And it takes confidence to win. They have no confidence. I blame the commute in the traffic because Phil Rivers is going all the way from San Diego, all the way up to L.A. I drive two miles in Los Angeles, I want to go crazy. I can only imagine what that drives like. I think more than that. I just think to me the Chargers is just that everything about winning in the NFL is and lies in the details.

And there's too many details that don't get caught. They don't get handled. All right, Lombardi. Last one. If you don't know, now you know, this week. What do we know? I think we know the Bills and Rams after the first quarter of the season are a legitimate teams. I think the Rams defensively have a problem, but I think the Rams offensively have done a good job of masking their defensive problems. They've outscored people. And I think the bills play a different style. Two first time head coaches, both have done a really good job with their teams. I think we know that when you go play them, they're not going to be like a pushover. You know, the bills weren't tanking when they made the trade and the Rams are much improved.

Which is pretty impressive because when you would look at, if you're a coach and you're looking at the start of the season, you would see the bills or the Rams, you'd mark those as probable wins, you know, put a W down for those games. And they're doing a completely different way. The Rams are outscoring people. I mean, look, the Rams are three and one and they get a great call against the 49ers who haven't won a game. You know, lose another close game this week in Arizona. You know, right there. They just can't find a way to win a game. And, you know, they go into Dallas and they beat Dallas. So look, give the Rams credit. They're three and one. All right, Lombardi. Let's wrap this thing up. Who got whacked this week? We're going to do this as a season roll zone because a lot of teams are going to lose. And lose a lot of games, lose a lot of chances. And when we say got whacked, they have no chance to make the playoffs. That's what we're going to do the.

No one is officially whacked if the FBI is looking around. That never happened. Well, we know this. The Browns are whacked. I mean, they were easy. I mean, they were. That was low-hanging fruit, Lombardi. Come on.

Yeah. I mean, we know they're like Mikey Palmeese. They've been whacked. They're done. Okay. That's their season one. I mean, you know, let me see. Who got shot in season one of the surprise?

Well, little puss. Remember they wanted to kill it? Yeah. Maybe that's one. All right. Chargers are whacked. My 49ers, who I thought were a sleeper team, I thought they could be better. You know, and they haven't been able to win a close game. I mean, they had a chance to win this game at overtime. They get the ball in the eight-yard line first and goal in the eight.

If they score a touchdown, they win the game. They have to kick the field goal. They come back, and then they make this incredible drive. And Fitzgerald catches a pass. They have no pass rush. So I'm whacking them. and I'm going to whack the New York Giants. Are you kidding me?

I'm shocked. I really thought that... I don't see how there's any chance in hell that they're going. I know they have the greatest player in the history of football. I know they have the greatest player in the history of football. God knows they have the greatest player. He should be the highest paid player, Tate. I'm going to demand that you pay them.

I don't know. We've got to get a contract drawn up. But I will say this. Every single year, the number one narrative is the Giants just haven't quite figured it out. But you know, once November hits that D-Line starts ramping out. And Eli gets better in November. Yeah.

I heard that all last year, too. I heard that all last year, too. Everybody said, Lombardi, you're crazy. They're not going to, no, no, they're out. They're done. And what the big Ben, what my man McAdoo said, he wore a hat today. He's losing his identity. He's in a witness protection program.

He's really trying to hide from me. He's going to shave that mustache person. I think he's going to wear fake nose and glasses next week because I can't find him on the sideline. I couldn't find him. I think he's hiding from me. I really do. But there's no way they're going to win. I mean, that's the thing that don't even look at the schedule.

Like, they're not playing good enough to beat anybody. And the one thing about all these teams, They're all 0 and 4. Like, what 0 and 4 team's going to come back? There's only been one ever to make the playoffs. Who? Do you know it? No.

19992 Chargers. So any Phil Rivers fan, these are long odds, I don't know. 92 Chargers? Oh my God, I was in Cleveland in 92. God, darn, that's a long time ago. It's a long time ago. I don't see it. It's in franchise history.

It can happen. I don't see it. I mean, they're going to have to, that means you can only lose two of the next 10. I'm pandering to the L.A. Chargers fans. They're all. sitting in the corner is like three or four of them. That's all. All right, Lombardi. We got Monday night football coming up. I'm excited yet. That's a great day today. Today was fun.

It's been a lot of fun. Is there anything tomorrow night that you're looking forward to that Redskins chiefs? I mean, it's probably the best game of the weekend. I think the Redskins, based on four games, the Redskins defense has played really well. They shut out, they handled the Oakland Raiders impressively, only held them the 10 points. And, you know, they beat the Rams out here. And they really shut down the Rams' offense. I mean, they did a nice job against the Rams' offense. So to me, maybe this Redskins defense is a little bit better, and I give him credit for it. It'll be interesting to see how they handle Kansas City.

That's the game we didn't talk about Denver. We didn't mention Denver or Oakland with Derek Carr's injury. They say he's going to come back. Oakland had a chance with E.J. Manuel coming down the field. Oakland, for some reason, you know, just had a hard time making plays in the game. And Denver, you know, Denver, they find a way to win those close games at home. Simi and he took a beating today. He got hit a few times.

I don't think he was going to get up. It's going to be interested to see how this goes the next 12 games for Denver. Can Simeon stay healthy? And can Derek Carr stay healthy? I mean, I think... Well, he didn't pull a hamstring at least. Well, it's back spasms, but it's one of those things where he's been coordinated as this top-level quarterback. Well, his pay block it. Of course. You know the thing I found interesting this week in doing research is Derek Carr's never averaged over seven yards a pass attempt. And everybody thinks the Raiders are this explosive high-powered offense, and you would think he would be, like, unbelievable.

And now he's not. I mean, he's, like, he's averaged seven. yards per attempt. And I think that when they play Denver, they can't make enough big plays against Denver. They can't block Denver's front. They can't block Von Miller. And they had a chance to win this game. I mean, EJ's bringing them down the field and he throws an interception. But it's there for some reason. They just can't seem to close it out. It's going to be interesting to see how Oakland's defense comes back because they're a little bit like the 49. They're a little bit like the Patriots. They're not good enough on defense is how their offense sets up to help their defense. When you have Carr and Crabtree, that offense looks totally different.

And they didn't have Crabtree today, which hurt. All right. Any final thoughts before we head out of here? No, I'm good. I'm excited. I'm looking forward to. That was a great week, though. I enjoyed it. Thanks to everyone for listening. This has been GM Street on the Ringer podcast network. We will be back on Wednesday. Hey, it's Bill Simmons. I want to tell you about the Ringer's gambling podcast. It is called Against All Odds with Cousin Sal.

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