The Ringer NFL Show - 'GM Street’ — Week 8 Rapid Reactions (Ep. 171)

Episode Date: October 30, 2017

The Ringer's Mike Lombardi and Tate Frazier discuss Russell Wilson's and Deshaun Watson's performances in a classic in Seattle (03:00), Case Keenum and the Vikings leaving London with a win over Cleveland (10:30), the legitimacy of the Bills (13:00), and a hot seat in Tampa Bay (15:00). Then they turn their focus to trade rumors around the league (17:00), the Falcons squeaking by the Jets (32:45), and the lowly Los Angeles Chargers (34:00). They wrap up by previewing the 'Monday Night Football' matchup between the Chiefs and the Broncos (37:00). Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

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visit mybooky.ag today. You play, you win, you get paid. Welcome to GM3 part of the Ringer Podcast Network. It is Sunday night, and on the line. We have Mr. Mike Lombardi. Lombardi, how you doing? Good, Tate Frazier. I'm sorry I'm not over there. Flight got a little delayed, but I'm back in town, but I'm happy to be here. I miss seeing your whatever jersey would have been the one to wear today. I don't know. Maybe the Barry Sanders throwback would have been nice. You know, do you remember Barry Sanders? Do you remember him? He's familiar with his.

work. I'm not sure we need him in the booth talking about what's going on in the world. Yeah, that was a little awkward, wasn't it? Yeah, it's kind of strange. It feels like every Detroit game, like we had the M&M when he was in the booth with them. They always have weird people come in the booth when they do the Lions games. And Barry Sanders, you know, kept up that tradition. I mean, it was like, yeah, you know, Al was like thinking to himself, how do we get out of this gracefully as quickly as we can? you know, like you have to go somewhere, it was bad. But anyway, he's a great running back, though, right, Tate Fraser?

Absolutely. It was a really good game. We were just saying, just wrapped up. We had a fight to end this one, unfortunately. It ends 20 to 15. The Steelers steal a win pretty much. I mean, the Lions had a great opportunity. Seconding goal in the one-yard line. They don't score.

They come up with no points. Big stand from Shazir and that Steelers defense. And they pull one out. I mean, it seems like the Steelers every week. It's a roller coaster ride. They don't look great. Big Ben. You know, sometimes.

looks like a shell of his former self, but somehow they find a way to win. Remarkable. I mean, Ben, you can see Ben can't drive the ball. I mean, Ben's throws are so inconsistent. I wonder what Martavius Bryant's thinking today. You know, after watching Judeo Schuster go up and down the field, you know, he's lucky he has a job. He's thinking, I hope I get traded to the New England Patriots, right? Yeah, well, yeah, he would last six seconds in New England. Come on, stop. There's no chance. He couldn't play in New England to save his life. Are you kidding me? Yeah, that's be just perfect.

That's my favorite trade room that's going around right now. There's a lot of them. Heck, there's a lot of them. I mean, we'll talk about it with the narrative of the week. I mean, that Seattle, that Seattle Houston game was great,

but Russell Wilson was absolutely, you know, dynamic in that game. Hey, and Paul Richie, pocket, they were just amazing in that game. And let's talk about that. I mean, so Russell Wilson and Deshawn Watson, I mean, that was probably one of the best showdowns we've seen from two quarterbacks.

Deshawn Watson looked like a young version of Russell Wilson, escape in the pocket, making big throws. And then Wilson puts up 452 yards, four touchdowns, and an epic 4138 win. We had to talk about it. I mean, it's always been Doug Baldwin and Russell Wilson. That's the one-two combo that they have in Seattle. But Paul Richardson looks like a guy right now that's really breaking out.

I mean, he's got 105 yards, two touchdowns. He was everywhere. And Russell Wilson seems like that's his new guy, his new toy in the shop pretty much. Paul, you know, a couple times he was in jumpball situations and he came down with it. I mean, he's got a chance to, you know, they got a chance to intercept the ball. The one of the most overrated things about the Houston Texans last year when they were good on defense was this, oh, they're really good in the secondary. They've never been good in the secondary.

I don't care who they drafted in the first round. They have never been good back there. Kareem, their best corner, the kid from Wake Forest who they drafted in the third round, has been hurt this year, Kevin Johnson. But really, I mean, what you're seeing out the Houston Texans on defense is what they are without JJ Y, without Whitney Mercellis. I mean, they can't rush so that secondary, which has never been very good,

but it's been talked about like it was. It got exposed and Russell Wilson exposed it, and those guys made some incredible plays. Because look, let's face it, we tried to drop Eddie Lacey off last week at Green Bay on the way home from when they won the game against the Giants. Yep. Right?

Yeah. Then we try to drop them off somewhere, and the plane didn't land. He came back to have six carries for no yards this week. I mean, at some point, can we just stop giving them the ball? but Rawls had six carries for minus one yard. Yeah, and Lockett.

Locket, they tried to give him some carries. I mean, basically, their running back is also Russell Wilson at this point. Yeah, exactly, exactly, exactly. And that's not a good place to be if you're the Seattle Seahawks. I just want to touch on, I mean, obviously we mentioned how great Russell Wilson looked. I just want to tell you about how amazing Deshaun Watson looks. I mean, he becomes the first player in the Super Bowl era to end up with 400 yards passing, four TDs and 50 yards rushing in one game.

So that's, I mean, that's on a whole other level when you talk about impact on the game. And, I mean, we're going to get in this later, but, I mean, he looks like it's surefire. He should have been the number one pick. And now he's leading the league in touchdowns. And he looks like he probably could be one of the best quarterbacks in the NFL right now. I mean, that's Seahawks defense. I mean, they gave him nothing but praise after the game. Oh, look, he was unbelievable.

I mean, if there's any debate, he should have been the first pick in the draft. I mean, enough is enough. You know, we saw Carson Wins put the. debate about he wasn't a top 20 quarterback away. Now we're seeing Deshaunson prove what Davos-Sweeney said about them all the time. And here's the amazing thing about this game. He gets 500 yards in this game.

The Texans' offense is 500 yards, over 500 yards of offense against a really good Seattle defense. And yet, Deshawn Watson's just two for 10 on third down. He did all this without converting a bunch of third downs. It's really remarkable what he did. He's brought to life to a franchise,

which is going through some tough times between what their owners said and the meetings and all that. Team together, he's giving them a new culture, something that you would think they might need in Cleveland, but I guess they don't need it. But, you know, this Mitchell Trubisky talk. He's your boy. That's your boy. Mitchell Trubisky goes second pick overall, place 13, like the Sean Watson.

And I'm telling you something, Kate Fraser. The 49ers are going to live to regret this one. They get blown out again. They're 0 for 8. Okay, well, they're going to get Kirk Cousins next year. So what? You could have had the Sean Watson this year. They traded down to three.

All those teams are going to sit there and look at this stat sheet and say he went into Seattle and did what? Yeah, and that Seattle defense, I mean, that is the cream of the crop when you talk about a secondary and he picked him apart. I mean, from the start of the game, I mean, he was throwing the deep ball to Will Fuller who looks like a guy that, I mean, he's making huge catches and he's bounced back from that injury. And, you know, he's basically a touchdown machine at this point. And Deshaal Watson, I mean, they opened the playbook for him. Bill O'Brien, they're letting him throw the ball down the field. they're not afraid of him to make a mistake. I mean, he did have that big interception.

Earl Thomas runs it back for like a 75-yard touchdown. But regardless, they believe in him and the team seems to rally around him. And we should say Dwayne Brown comes back. He has an impact. He does the, you know, he takes a knee before the game to stand up for all the players and his first game back for the Texans. So that was a big moment. A lot of people obviously are going to cover that whole thing.

But I would just say this. So when you look at the Houston Texans, that is probably the most fun team to play offense right now in the NFL. And that's a crazy thing to say. about a rookie quarterback. I think it's 11 catches, seven of them are touchdowns. Yeah, it's crazy. And he's made, and really what DeShall wants it has done,

he's made Bill O'Brien a better, better offensive coach. Now, look, I'll say this for Bill O'Brien. I mean, I think Bill O'Brien learns something today. You know, the Patriot game, they didn't, they had a chance to win that. He's three and four right now, had chance to win that Patriot game, had chance to win today. If he would believe in his quarterback a little bit more and put the ball in his hand at the end of the game, he really, you know, he had that, they got that one first down. And Pete Carroll did a great job of managing the clock. He's got three timeouts. He doesn't

take his first time out after they get six yards on first down. He waits. They get the first down. The two-minute warning starts. And then something I've never seen in the history of my career in the NFL, Dave Fraser. They start the clock. They run a running play. Okay. And the timer in Seattle only takes four seconds off the clock. Nobody bitches in Seattle about this. I mean, nobody on Houston sidelines bitching. Bill O'Brien's not saying a word. They call timeout. There's 156 to go on the clock, okay? It's impossible

to have a run play go for just four seconds, okay? However, not to be outdone. The next running play they call goes for three seconds. So, when they call time out, there's 153 to go. Okay? They've run two

plays in seven seconds. That's unheard of. That's unheard of. Nobody's bitched about it. Nobody complained about it. Like that clearly the clock starter in Seattle is way wrong. It's at least six seconds on a run play by the time the ball gets the ball, by the time the back gets the ball,

gets through the hole, it doesn't take three seconds. And I think Bill O'Brien blew it because he should have put the ball in Deshawn Watson's hands on second and third down and got a first down and never let Russell Wilson have the ball back. Never. Yeah, there's no way you can give him a chance to go down the field and make a drive. I mean, that is

You know he was going to score? Absolutely. Of course. That's what he does. And it's one of those things too where I hope the timer in Seattle gets a raise because, you know, that's the stuff that you pay for. He's the unsung hero of the day. Nobody's going to talk about it. Nobody will say, nobody, I have yet to read any commentary about it from anywhere. Anywhere on the internet, the only place you're going to get is DM Street. I'm telling you, the timer there, at 156, if I were Bill O'Brien, I would have been going crazy on the sideline. Then it went to 153. Three seconds? Are you kidding me, it took seven seconds to run two plays, and they never said a word about it. And, you know, look,

as Bella checked off and says, they got what they deserved. They got, you know, they gave the ball back to Russell Wilson, and the next thing you know, he scores a touchdown, the game's over. Well, let's talk about a guy that got what he deserved, and that was redemption. Case Keenum goes back to London. For people that don't remember last year, Case Keenum, when he was the quarterback for the Los Angeles Rams, he had a pretty miserable day at London through four interceptions. he goes back today, leads the Vikings, 33 to 16 over the Browns. Case Keenum looks like he's a legitimate quarterback. I know a lot of people are talking about Teddy Bridgewater.

It looks like he'd come back around week 10 is what they're saying now. But at this point, Case Keenom looks like a guy that can fill in and get wins for that team. Yeah, like I don't know. It's coming back after the by week. Why? Like Teddy Bridgewater hasn't played it over a year. Is he going to play better? Is he going to be able to make these throws that Case Keenham's making?

I mean, it's really, look, they came in there and they did their business. I mean, the Browns were typical. the Browns. They don't need a quarterback like the Sean Watson. They have the Sean Kaiser. You know, the two things we learn, Brian Kelly was right and Davos-Sweeney was right. Kaiser needs another year of school, and Sweeney was right about the, about the Sean Watson. I mean, look, I think Casey Keenoms are starting quarterback in Minnesota. If Teddy comes back, to me, it's a backup, get him in the game, because I thought Keenom played really well in the game. They got behind in the game. They turned the ball over. A ball got tipped in the air in this game. They turned it over. They didn't

panic. They came back. McKinnon has done a nice job of filling in for Dalvin Cook. He looks like he's running well. Murray's not running great, but at least they can pound them a little bit. But they finally caught a touchdown pass. So, but they went in there. They dominated the Browns. I know we talk about how they should beat the Browns.

But look, we talked about it on GM Street on Saturday. I thought they would go in there and dominate the Browns. The score indicates they did. The game was closer than the score, but they came out to Victor. And I think Case Keenham shows he's the starting quarterback for the bike. And I want to say, I like that you made the case. for case, which was beautiful, really well done. But I want to give the Browns credit.

They got their first lead. They had a lead at halftime. Their first lead of the season at the midway point. So, congrats to them. The Cleveland Browns are making progress. Yeah, the other thing I would congratulate them is they didn't dress peppers today. And, you know, so they didn't give up any passes. Oh, I love it.

All right. And Kenny Britt did not play today. He was a no, he was dressed but didn't play. He went to London but didn't play. I just got a nice little vacation across the pond. Yeah, party gifts at the door. Next up, we got the Buffalo Bills. They show that they're a legitimate team and a legitimate contender in the AFC East.

They dominate the Raiders. The Raiders obviously did not have Marshawn Lynch serving the suspension from when he ran out on the field last week. But the Buffalo Bills look like a legitimate team. And LaShaul McCoy looked like the superstar. Everyone expected him to be at the start of the season. You know, we talked about it on GM Street on Saturday. This is a game where the bill's offense, which usually struggles. When they play a bad defense, they're going to come out.

I mean, McCoy had six catches. He ran the ball 27 times, averaged over five yards. I mean, look, the bills are doing what they have to do. They intercept the ball. They make plays. They turn the ball over. They create fumbles. They don't give up very many big plays.

They got behind in this game seven and nothing. They came right back. And they did exactly what they had to do. They're the better team. The Raiders, to me, all they do is read their press go because, I mean, now they're going to fly down to Sarasota. They're going to spend a week in Sarasota before they play the Miami Dolphins. Good luck.

What the Raiders need, what Reggie McKenzie needs to do is shake up the locker room because they think they're great. They're three and five. Well, the highest paid quarterbacks in football hasn't averaged over seven yards per pass attempt. Really, when you break them down, hasn't made the plays he needs to make. And oh, by the way, you know, Amari Cooper's back to under 10 yards of catch. Because, of course, they played a good team like Buffalo that could take away the big plays, and they really only gave up one big play, a 40-yard pass to Crabtree today.

So longest run of the day was 14 yards. this is what Buffalo does. They play well in the red area. They play good on third down, and they make you beat them, and you can't. And the Raiders aren't going to beat very many people playing like this. Absolutely. And then when you look at just the way the bills have been able to shape the whole season, I mean, LaShawn McCoy after the game,

maybe it was just like this team is all about heart. No one's believing in us. We all have to believe in ourselves. And at this point, we think we can be a legitimate team. So that's exciting stuff for LaShaul McCoy and the Buffalo Bills. Next up, we have the New Orleans Saints. They get a win. The Buccaneers get a pretty bad loss to the Carolina Panthers today. James Winston looked like, you know, not the James that you'd hope to see when you started Hard Knocks this season. But it's big for the Saints in the NFC South. They look like they may be in control of that division right now. On defense, I know Mitchell Tribisky, you know, they gave up 100 yards rushing, but they played really good on defense. They made plays down the stretch when they had to. They contained Trubisky from running around, making plays, loose plays. And offensively, they played. They did what they had to do to move the football.

As for Tampa, I think we can officially put Dirk Cotter on the hot seat. I think Dirk Cotter's got all this talent. They spent all this money. And I think Dirk Cotter is going to be on the hot seat. I don't think Dirk Cotter. I think could he make it through the end of the year? Perhaps a lot of people in the NFL are telling me that the name that they're here and back to the Bucks job, that he's made up with the glazers,

the glazers could easily bring them back because they need somebody to help their franchise out. Because right now they have all this offensive talent and they can't score any points. And we've already seen Gruden. I mean, he obviously has a rapport and a relationship with James Winston. He did his QB camp with them. He always talks about James when you do the Monday night games. He does the full spectrum of why he could be a great quarterback. So I feel like he's intrigued by that job and obviously he's comfortable in Tampa.

So that is something to watch. That'll be the rumor. I mean, that's one of those jobs that's going to, like that's everybody and nobody is talking about the buck's job and they think it's over with for, they think it's going to end up being over with for Dirk Cotter. If he doesn't get this thing turned around fairly quick. Yeah, that's very true. Let's guess some narratives for this week.

Obviously, Dirk Cudder being on the hot seat is one that will probably come up at some point. Another thing that will... You know, and Chuck Fagano is going to be on the hot. You know, we got all our typical hot seat guys. So that's going to be big. But I think the narrative this week is going to be trade talk, right? I mean, you know, the trading deadlines on Tuesday. Everybody's going to talk about, look, I, I, I, I, I,

tweeted this out earlier today, the Colts, will trade you anybody other than they'll put them on IR. I think the Andrew Luck thing will get resolved this week. They'll put them on IR. He's not going to come back and play. And I think they'll trade you anybody on their roster that they didn't sign their draft this year as they start their regime. If you want Harry Anderson, for example, if you want T.Y. Hilton, but they're not going to give any of these guys away. You're going to have to pay for them and pay well, but they would be willing to make deals. I think they're going to make deals. I think San Francisco will make deals. And it's funny this week, people didn't pick up on this, but at Doug Peterson's press conference during the week,

he started talking about Joe Staley, trying to trade for Joe Staley of the 49ers. Could the 49ers trade Joe Staley? Yeah, he's got two years left on his contract. Could the Eagles be interested in a left tackle? I think more than ever, after watching the Eagles play today against the 49ers, I think the Eagles will be one of those desperate teams, and they will try to make a trade for left tackle this week. And can I talk about another desperation move that the Eagles are reportedly convinced? considering at this point, and that is trying to go after Megatron, Calvin Johnson, the retired

receiver, the pro baller, the superstar, everyone's saying that he could be back on the market and the Eagles are aggressively trying to try to give him a call and try to get him back on the field. I mean, is that something that could possibly happen, or is that just my own faith in Megatron? I don't understand. I mean, I know it's a big story people called, but like, how is that possible? Like, guys haven't played in two years. You think he's going to come back and play and be able to handle the punishment? We've got, we're halfway to. the season. To me, it just sounds great if we were playing trading cards, but it doesn't make any sense at all for him to come on the field. I just don't get that one. I really don't. I don't see

that one happening at all. I don't. I know the Patriots will try to make a trade, but I think it's becoming more difficult to make a trade. I don't think there's a lot of guys out there that they can trade for because unless something happens in the deadline, it doesn't seem like there's a lot activity from people, you know, that want to just get rid of a guy or just ship a guy. I mean, if you want to pay a king's ransom, if you want to pay a high of the Colts, go ahead. I don't think very many teams are going to want to do it, so that's why I'll think he'll get traded. And can I throw out another name that I've wondered what his value is?

Jimmy Graham. I mean, I know the last year people talked about him possibly being on the trade block. I know Pete Carroll's been asked about, and he's denied the reports, but, I mean, is he a guy that you could see? I mean, there's still some value there with Jimmy Graham. We've obviously, he doesn't look like the old Jimmy Graham that we saw with the Saints, of course. But I don't know. I feel like there are some teams that need a tight-in.

And Eric Ebron's another name that's out there that's apparently on the trading block. But Ebron's not a tight end. Abram's a big receiver. Ancon Bolton and Ebron are the same kind of guys. They're both inside slot receivers. Now, whether Ancon Bolton can get traded this week, I don't know. To me, Jimmy Graham's a little bit like Marcel Darias. I mean, that was more of a salary dumped by Buffalo than it was anything.

And Jacksonville has tons of cap room. So they took him on. But I don't know who could take Jimmy Graham on based on the way he's playing right now, based on the way he's not catching the football, consisting trade if they try to do it. But, you know, look, at some point these teams get desperate and they'll do anything. I mean, the Raiders, like I said earlier in the podcast, they should make a trade. They should really go after, try to get rid of somebody, shake up their locker room a little bit. I think the Falcons should make a trade too because the Falcons, we haven't talked about them.

The Falcons won today because the Jets are really just about a 55-minute team. Basically, the Jets played really well, and then in the fourth quarter, they just kind of fall apart a little bit. But the Falcons aren't even close to being back to where they were last year. Yeah, they were really bad. For people that didn't see that game, there was a lot of rain that Matt Ryan was dealing with. And, I mean, he fumbled the snap. I mean, I think he fumbled four or five snaps at least. Two of them he lost.

And then at the end of the game, they just had to put him in shotgun because they couldn't trust him under center with Alex Mac. I mean, he could not hold onto the football. I've never seen anything quite like it from a, you know, a veteran guy like that. it was insane. It looks like they never practiced with wet balls, didn't it? Yeah, yeah. It was very stranger because, you know, I mean, Matt Ryan is obviously, you know, he's played up in Boston college, you know, that's not the best weather all the time. He's had to deal with, you know, tough conditions, but for whatever reason today, he looked like he just could not hold the football. Yeah, I know. He looked like he struggled. He struggled with, you know, he played Leo Jones,

which ended up being really the game winners for him. It was a game that the Jets moved the ball fairly well. Josh McCallum played another really good game, but the Jets just can't seem they gave up the one long run in the day. They just can't seem to make a play when they need to make a play. They got horrible pass interference call on Austin, Sifron Jenkins. I mean, it was really bad offensive pass interference. But, you know, I mean, that's what happens to a team. I mean, the Jets are sitting there three and five and easily could make the case to be five and three.

I mean, this week against Buffalo will be a great test because Buffalo is playing well. Buffalo is five and two, but the Jets are no easy punch. I mean, the Jets will be a tough out. Yep, they bounce back. it's been fun for gang green this year. I have one more narrative, and it's about the Zach Miller play for people that didn't see this.

Zach Miller, he went down with the dislocated knee, Zach Miller did on a touchdown play that could have really changed the game in the Saints Bears game, especially for Mitchell Tribeschi, that was a big touchdown play for him. It goes and it gets reviewed.

They decide that it's not a touchdown because he rolls over and loses possession of the ball. There's been a lot of backlash on this about what is, you know, what is actually maintaining control of the ball after the initial contact to the ground. And basically my whole thing was, you know,

we saw Blandino leave and now it's in the hands of a new regime. And at this point, the replays are going to become a big narrative and people are going to keep, you know, harping on how technical and these little, minute decisions are making big impacts on games. And I feel like at some point people are going to turn against this whole replay thing, right? Do you see the Ohio State, Penn State game? Yes, I did. I mean, the interception that they call on the field, they overturned it.

To me, I don't know how they overturned it. Did I think the kid, I think if it would have been called an intercept, a touchdown on the field, I would have stuck with it. You're right. I mean, I saw that play. When I saw that play in the Bears Sink game, I didn't think it was a touchdown because the ball hit the ground before he possessed it. So I could see that why they overturned it. And then, of course, Zach Miller dislocates his knee and he's out for the season, which even makes that even worse. So, I mean, that's what it's better.

They said it could be career threatening, unfortunately. Oh, that's horrible. That's horrible. That's just horrible. Yep. So we're pulling for Zach Miller. Hopefully that will be good news coming out of that camp. But, yeah, it was a really tough play.

And it's even worse that he went down with such a, you know, severe injury. And then it gets overturned after the whole thing. It just was, I hate to see it. Honestly, it just wasn't good for anyone involved at all, obviously. Yeah, no, it keeps up your knee and grabs a hold of it. You know, I mean, you just hope it's not career. and hopefully he can come back and through a year and hopefully real. Yep.

Is there any more narratives you have for this week? Based on the way Washington played today without, but basically their JVT and they had nobody in there. Of course, I'm sure it'll still be cousins to spot while they lost because of the interception at the end of the game. Of course. But to me, I think the narrative is going to be coming out of Philly that Philly's got the East already won.

Even though they haven't played Dallas yet, I think people are going to think Philly's got the East one. But if you watch the Philly, left tackle is really going to bother Philly. I think Philly is going to be one of these major – they can get home field advantage. They've got seven wins already. I think they feel like they can have a tough game this week against Denver. So it'll be interested to see how they – I mean, defensively, not offensively. But it'll be interesting to see.

But I think the narrative – the other narrative of the week is Philly has the East – because Washington's done. I mean, Washington's lost twice to Philly, and now they've lost once to Dallas. I mean, it's over with – you know, Jay Gruden's like six games under 500 and just got to – an extension. I mean, life has got to be good if you're a Gruden, right? You got to be a grinder, you know? That's how it works. Just grind it out. There we go. Yeah, you start getting more and more contracts.

Yeah, it was good. I mean, Zieg bounced back, had 150 yards, two touchdowns. I mean, that Dallas team looks pretty scary at this point. I mean, it's hard to put a shoe in for the Eagles, but with the Cowboys looming, but I don't know, that'll be the race in the East, the Cowboys and the Eagles, obviously. Yeah, well, they're going to have to beat them twice. I mean, that's the problem. They've got to beat the Eagles twice because they've got a two-game lead on them already. And, you know, I'm sure they'll, look, they're going to stub their toe eventually because they're going to have to put the Eagles play the third easiest schedule in the NFL.

The Steelers and them have the easiest schedules going down the stretch here. But I think they're going to have to find a way to play with the left tackle not being there. And I think that's going to be difficult. Yep. Let's take a quick break to get a word from our sponsor, LinkedIn. Have you tried to hire someone lately? it's hard. I'm unfortunately not in a position to hire anyone, but if I did, I would post to LinkedIn. You post to job boards and hope you'll find the right person for your job,

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but dedicated wish lovers, don't worry about being left out. All listeners can get 20% off your purchase by using the code Ringer NFL. Just download and open your wish app. Find things you didn't even know you needed and enter code Ringer NFL for 20% off your purchase. All right, Lombardi, we are back and we're going to give out some awards for the week. First up, as always, time to go in the lamb. Let's go. Who do you have this week?

I think my man, Derek Cotter, needs to go on the lamb. that whole Tampa Bay front off, everybody down there needs to go on the land because they spent so much money, they've got so many players, they talked about how explosive they were going to be, who can cover this guy? You got Mike Evans, you've got the Sean Jackson, and they get another week where they can't really score

any points, and they're not making any progress. I think it might be time for them to go on the lamb. Lose it home to the Carolina Panthers are two and five. I think it's lamb time. I think they ought to take a little trip to Boka. And how does James, I mean, does James Winston finally get some backlash eventually?

it's amazing to me how unscathed he seems on all this stuff. I mean, everyone's sort of like the Andrew Luck thing. It's no matter what he's doing, we're still going to, you know, we're on his side at this point. But I just wonder if that will flip because he looked really bad today. Julius Pepper's looked amazing. James Winston did not look great. You know what's fine got his job because basically James Winston wanted him to be the head coach. So they fired, they fired Lovie Smith. They kept the general manager. They fired Lovie Smith. They hired Dirk Cotter because that's what that's what, that's what James wanted. Eli wanted Ben McAdoo. And nobody seems to learn that when you give the players the position coach that they want to be the head coach, that the job changes. So maybe Dirk Conner was really a good offensive coordinator for Winston when he was just doing that job. But when he becomes the head coach, same thing with Ben McAdoo. We see that happen all the time. So I find it interesting. Now maybe one time these owners won't listen to what they're talking about. And speaking of owners, you know who else you really go on a lamb? Well, Hugh Jackson's going to go on the lamb.

But I love Hugh Jackson after every game when he says the Hazleway through, even though the quote never comes from the Haslums. It's unbelievable. And people buy it. It's genius PR move. You just put it out there that they have your back. I like it. They have my back. I talk to them all the week.

They have my back. You're 4 and 41 as a franchise the last 45 games. You're 1 and 23, the last 24 games. There's nobody has your back. I don't care who you are. There's nobody has your back. Yeah. It's impossible.

It's impossible. Poor Browns fans. I don't want to add until the injury. Just remember, they had a lead at halftime today, everyone. Just don't forget that. Next up, we have the Fred Palermo Award, and that's going to go to the Buffalo Bills. You got to love my Buffalo Bills. I think Sean McDermott's changed the culture there.

They had a nice game plan against the Raiders. I mean, the Raiders, to me, like, they walked in there thinking that, hey, we're going to show up in our uniforms, and everything's going to be fine. we're the Raiders. We're just going to show it. Man, I'm telling you what, they got punched in the mouth, and the Raiders, to me, are going to be one of the most disappointing stories of the 10. You wait and see.

Do you think Del Rio, at any point, it'll fall back on him, or will he be able to, you know, after last year, just kind of writing that? He just got, I mean, it might have been one of the most overreacting extensions in the history of football. Even more than Jay Gruden's extension? Well, Jay Gruden was. They were just buying a silence. I mean, but that's a great point.

Thank you for correct to me all that, Dave Fraser. That was, that was like, to me, that was the best point ever. I mean, like, they just, they just overreached. Where was he going to go? Like, if Al Davis would have been alive, there's no chance Jack Del Rio would have gotten an extension. Hell, we went to the Super Bowl with Bill Callahan as our head coach.

He had two years plus two years on a deal, pick up the option of the second year on the third year. And he was so pissed off we lost the Super Bowl. He refused to do it, which made Callahan a lame done. and hurt the program. And yet now they give an extension to Del Rio. And Del Rio is going to be the problem at the end of the day. I mean, his challenges, the way he manages the game.

I mean, he cost them at the end of the half. It's really not good. They're going down to Sarasota because they play Miami. Like, are you kidding me? An undisciplined team hanging out in South Florida. Good luck. That's going to be fun. They'll probably hang out with DJ Call at your boy.

That's my guy. That's your guy. DJ. Next up, we have the KGB Award. that's going to go. We used to give this to a team that loses, but the Falcons won. It was just so ugly that we have to give them this award this week. They were just unprepared for the New York Jets. I mean, look, the Jets did a great job against them.

The Jets moved the ball. I mean, Josh McCowan had like 119 quarterback rating. I mean, they moved the ball. They were consistent. I really think when you break them down, the Falcons, I mean, obviously they missed the Sarkesian badly. But, you know, today they caught and they were able to, you know, come away with the win. That was a tough game to Josh McAllen and the Jets in a rainstorm.

You've got to really wonder about that one. Yeah, that's really tough. Next up, we have Can't Tell My Courage from my desperation, Phillip Rivers, and unfortunately, another loss for the Los Angeles Chargers. I thought the Chargers would at least cover. I wasn't sure they could win, but I thought they would cover. I thought it would be a three-point game. It ended up not being, but I don't know where Travis Benjamin was going on the punt return.

Like, Travis, it's wrong way. You know, like you're going the wrong way. He got the safety, which killed them. And then, you know, they game run to Melvin Gordon, an 87-yard touchdown run, and Rivers. As long as past play the day was 24 yards. I mean, they did a good job of keeping them in front of them, but I didn't think they were courageous enough. They didn't make the plays that either to make, and they did a dumb thing.

I mean, you can't try a 51-yard field goal again on Tom Brady in a rainstorm. You know, and you're going to give the Patriots to ball back. The reason this game was even close, Patriots went into the game. They were four for 18 on third downs in the reds. zone. And they went 0 for 5 today on third downs in the red zone. So now they're four for for 23 on third downs in the red zone. That's the one thing that's keeping these games close against Patriots. Patriots haven't been able to put touchdowns. All they do is kick field goals and then they missed one today. Yeah, Giskovsky, I couldn't believe you missed that one. That was

very out of character. Well, the weather was horrible. I mean, if you've ever been there with the wind swirl and all, and the weather's horrible. Yeah, that's what I was saying. You would think Matt Ryan, who's played up in that Boston weather would have something in the bag playing in the conditions, but it just does it. you know why because they want to make sure they can run their plays right meanwhile the Patriots no matter what the weather is they go outside Don teams Dome teams are tough

Final one if you don't know now you know What's this one Lombardi? It's got to be Deshawn Watson man the guy's for real Okay like you know I told this to Robert Bays today It's the wrong one too Let's be honest I mean that what he's done and what he's been able to do so far I can't even begin to tell you and the Houston Texans are a legitimate fun team to watch.

Yeah, Deshaun Watson, 19 passing touchdowns, most by a rookie ever in his first seven games of a season. It just seems like every single week, we just add more and more to accolades to his resume. I know this is crazy, but when Keishon Johnson came out at the start of the season, when he said Deshaun Watson, he was like, that is Michael Jordan of football.

He might not be lying. I mean, the guy looks like he's just something special. It's so fun to watch. And after we saw him cut up Alabama last year and then come back when they had the tape on him and do it again and win the national championship, we all should have known that he was the best quarterback coming out in that draft. And I'm the biggest Mitchell-Tribisky fan you will find, but there's no way that he's a better quarterback than Deshaun Watson at this point. And if you watch them both play in the ACC, you should have known that. And Deshawn's better than Lamar Jackson, too. I mean, the guy got slided across the board, and I hope we continue to give him his due because he deserves it.

he does the next week he gets to play the Indianapolis Colts so the rookie rookie touchdown record that he has you could I would agree with that that is a very good point it'll be a good AFC South battle for sure Lombardi we got Monday night football coming up anything to look forward to tomorrow anything to watch if you're the Broncos you've got to go to Philly next week I mean if you don't win this game but you're looking at a 7 and 9 6 and 10

8 and 8 season you've got to find a way to steal this win I don't know if they can do it. You know, Kansas City's got Kansas City is a good team to play. They've lost one home game already this year. They're not going to lose that many. It's tough to play there. Denver's offense to me, when you're a bad offensive line, you don't travel well. Denver's defense can create some turnovers.

It's going to be a heck of a game. I think Kansas City is the better team. I think Kansas City will win it, especially Andy Reid coming off a bye week. I think he's always more dangerous, and I think they can attack, especially this team that wants to play so much man-to-man against Kansas. the city. I don't think that's a good matchup. What happens if the Denver defense does something miraculous and just dominates this game and the Chiefs go on a three-game slide?

I mean, do people start pivoting back on them and start questioning whether they are for real or not? Because obviously they lose two in a row and now, you know, we're in this weird limbo where they're considered one of the top teams still, but you know, sometimes they get knocked down a little bit if they take a loss of Denver. Well, look, they've got to go play Dallas next week in Dallas. They got the clapper. It's hard to clap today. It was a lot of...

And so that was hard. We had a lot of wet claps today. It was hard to really get a good clapping. We got to persevere. Keep clapping. He's got to, I bet he's clapped in the rain before. Before he went there, I bet he practiced clapping in the rain. But look, you know, you got the Chiefs.

The Chiefs played in Dallas after this game. And then, so just say the Chiefs lose Monday night, that's five and three. They've got to go to Dallas. You know, that five of those start could easily turn around and be five and four. That's why this is like a must win. And Denver, Denver's going to go to Philadelphia. They go in the Philly at three and four. to play the 7-1 Eagles, that's a tough game.

You know, and look, I think they'll put pressure on them. I think Bond Miller will be able to rush. They're going to have to have a hard time blocking them. This is like a must-win for both teams. It'll be fascinating to see how it plays out. I like the Chiefs, but I think Denver's back is to the wall. Yep, definitely at this point. One final note for me before we get out of here,

I just want to say Julius Pepper's fourth all-time sack leader, 151.5 sacks, 200 is obviously the most. he's getting up in rare territory. You got the mic after the game today. It's a lot of fun to watch Jewish Peppers. Michael Strahan made a great joke. He said Joyce Peppers is still getting sacks, and he's 49 years old. And that's not too much of an exaggeration.

He's been playing football for quite some time. And I don't know. The guy's failed to film of years. I mean, he's getting better. I mean, look, I give Carolina a lot of credit. I mean, they admitted they were a good player for him. So hats off to him. I agree with you take first of him.

Yep, that was my final Homer statement of the day. Lombardi, we'll be back Tuesday, or we'll be back Wednesday, actually. We'll talk about the Monday night game and preview. And we'll react to all the trades. Of course, there's going to be a lot of trades that are going to be happening. If there was one big name that's a little under the radar that you expect that could be moved. I know we mentioned Joe Staley. Is that the biggest one?

Bailey could be the biggest name moved. If they do that, I'm not saying they're going to do it. I'm just saying, you know, only because I'm reading between the T leaves at the press conference, I think if somebody wants to pay a bunch for T.Y. Hilton, they could probably have them, but it's going to cost them a lot. I would say those two would be the two biggest names. I don't want to call Martavius Brian a big name, so I wouldn't call that one. But to me, I think it'll be, look, one thing Belichick likes to do this time of year is try to take a guy you're trying to get rid of, and it'll trade you a fifth round pick for your six. Basically, it doesn't cost them anything to do it. My sense of it is, I don't think there'll be that much going on, but we'll see. I know that the Patriots don't necessarily need Ty Wighthilton,

but he would be perfect, the new Dion Branch, if he went there. If they were to work some magic and get in there. They're having a hard time getting the ball to cook. Yeah, Brandon Cokes. The one problem they had today is Chris, I don't know how bad it is, and they've got the buy coming up. But look, they play better on defense. They gave up the one big run today,

so their defense is actually playing better. Yep, that'll be fun. We will be back Wednesday. This has been another edition of GM Street, part of the Ringer Podcast Network. I'm Tate Frazier. That's Mike Lombardi. We'll see you soon. Thanks, guys. Bye-bye. Thanks again to LinkedIn, the best place to find great talent for your hiring needs.

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