The Ringer NFL Show - Going Deep on Week 8 (Ep. 169)

Episode Date: October 27, 2017

The Ringer’s Kevin Clark and Robert Mays prepare you for Week 8, with discussions on Deshaun Watson and the Texans going to Seattle (05:30), a classic matchup in the NFC East (19:15), and if the NFL needs a universal bye week (27:30). Then, Danny Kelly joins the show to share why the Vikings' receivers are in for a big week in fantasy (37:00), and unveil the latest DK's Dark Knight (50:00). To wrap up, Joel Solomon chimes in to play another edition of Am I Crazy ... (56:00), as well another round of the Over/Under Rotten Tomatoes game (62:00). Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Hey, it's Bill Simmons. I want to tell you about the ringers gambling podcast. It is called Against All Odds with Cousin Sal, and you're not going to believe this, but it is hosted by Cousin Sal. The biggest degenerate gambler that I know. He's such a degenerate. He has three other degenerates that he calls the degenerate trifecta. And they break down every conceivable gambling thing you would ever want to gamble on. They even take it to Captain Morgan's Make Believe Casino, where Sal makes up props on all kinds of things, sports, pop culture, you name it. you are going to want to get your gambling advice from these guys.

Cousin Sal, he's been a staple on the BS podcast for the last 10 years. So good that we gave him his own podcast. Check it out against all odds with Cousin Sal. Subscribe wherever you get your podcasts. Welcome to the Ringer NFL show, part of the Ringer Podcast Network. I'm Kevin Clark, joined today by Robert Mays. Robert, there was a 40-0 game and a cat on the field last night. What are you going to remember from that game?

The cat was the best player on the dolphins. I mean, that's really all there is to take away. What a terrible football game. And the Ravens. The Ravens scored 40 points. I mean, I feel like they should get some credit for this. I don't know. I mean, two of them were pick sixes.

That's fair. I mean, the touchdown to Jeremy Maclin was so better than anything that the dolphins could muster the entire game. I'm just confused about how the dolphins got so bad on offense so quickly. What happened to Adam Gase here? That's my question. understand they got slacked by Baltimore last year. Baltimore is a good defense that's getting back healthy. Like Brandon Williams being back in there.

It's amazing how overmatched the Dolphins offensive line was. Those guys are just good. But still, I mean, even when Matt Moore was in there last year at the end of the year, they were getting stuff done. And they're just so far away from that group right now. And I believe in both the Matt, but the last two Matt Moore appearances, one against Stolingland and one against Pittsburgh. He completed 75% of his passes both times.

So I thought there'd be at least a baseline of competence. I didn't make a prediction for this game because I didn't want to think about this game until it existed. No need to. But. Did this game exist? I think that's the most important question. I think what if we all just agreed to forget?

Hey, that's fine with me. Let us never speak of it again. If we collectively come to that decision, I'm pretty sure that's how reality works. That's how it is. Make it so. Yeah.

The future is what we make it. So I think generally, I would have predicted a close game. I probably would have had Baltimore winning. But I just had no idea the dolphins had this ability to be this awful. Their offense has been bad all season, but I kind of was lumping that on having a 30-something-year-old quarterback who doesn't give a shit about anything coming in off the bench and making $10 million. It appears as if there's something more systemic going on because they were good at the end of last season. Even with Matt Moore, they're moving the ball.

They were dangerous. And there aren't that many substantial changes. I know the offensive line is a little banged up on the interior, but that shouldn't be the sole reason that they, take this sort of fall. Also, like, is it Jarvis Landry's whole thing just short passes? Yes. Like, how is that hard to execute? It's unclear.

I mean, like, it's not, you know, you're not throwing it, throwing the ball vertically 40 yards down field. That takes talent to execute. I mean, literally Jarvis Landry is a dink and dunk specialist and you can't figure it out. Yeah. It's very strange. I mean, the entire offense has felt to get much going in the end all year. They did some, some stuff in that second half of the Atlanta.

a game for the most part they've been awful and I was going to lump it on color and maybe Jay does not deserve the brunt of the blame here so here's my new take jay cutler is the best player in the NFL yeah I saw you tweet that which i'm not ready for that world that's also a reality we spent all this time like oh wow look how valuable ear old thomas is last year when the seahawks were without him and they they forgot to play football well the dolphins went from a team that can win football games to a team that loses 40 to nothing and throws pick sixes routinely. And yeah, he's

maybe the greatest quarterback. Maybe Dolphins era, J. Keller is the greatest quarterback in history of football. Let's move on. A lot of things to get through before we get to week eight of the NFL season. Again, week eight hasn't started because last night's game never happened.

Yes. It's a really weird week. It's a wonky schedule. We don't usually have these. We usually have a Thursday night. A game that didn't exist on Thursday night. Danny Kelly will join us with some fantasy football. Will they? won't they predictions later. And the ringers, Joel Solomon, will be here in studio hanging out.

Later, we'll do another edition of Am I Crazy. It's killing Joel. He's sitting in front of the microphone, but he desperately just, he wants to talk all the time. Joel, give us one thought off the top of your head. I just feel so bad. The dolphins, if any team needed a buy week, it's them, and they don't have one the rest of the season.

Well, good luck, Miami. That's a good point. like is it they don't even get like a midseason Bahamas trip I'm pretty sure we're going to be talking about that a little bit later Kevin something related to that oh yeah that's a good teaser a little teaser that's right right radio professional first off first off let's get to our favorite four these are our four top matchups of the weekend Robert let's start out with the Texans at the Seahawks now we have to set up this week with with kind of the same disclaimer that we have every week, which is there are no marquee matchups in the schedule because there are no real marquee

teams in the league unless the Eagles and the Chiefs play each other again. That's pretty much it right now. Everyone is so cobbled together. So there are no, I believe there are no games between teams with winning records this week. So we have to, we have to essentially get them where we can find them. And so we're going to start with Seattle and Houston. This was the first one we threw out there, though. I mean, I think that that's, that's, that's.

I think it's for, there's a couple reasons for that. Number one, we want to see, I think the biggest reason before we get into all the other ones is we want to see Deshaun Watson against a really good defense. But that's kind of where we are, right? We discussed this a little bit on Monday's show. I think that was kind of part of my lasting impression is the idea that we need to kind of glob onto these smaller elements of these games that are still really fun. And that's really fun. But Deshawn Watson is appointment television right now and he's playing against Seattle. I'm very excited to see this.

Dwayne Brown's going to be back for the Texans, maybe, which is an underrated part of this thing. The fact that it was underrated that he just skipped the first two months of the NFL season. I mean, it was incredible. And we didn't notice it as much with Watson in just because he's so good at escaping pressure. But now he won't have to do that. He won't have to be dodging cars in traffic on every single passplay, which is nice. I think that gives Deshawn a little help.

From a purely just news standpoint, point. I found it very strange how little, how little news there was on Dwayne Brown for like the past four months. We've been holding out since July and nobody can't. Like the NFL, everything is overcovered to like the 10th degree. And the idea that there was a really good NFL player who was just like, nah. And no one ever found out. Well, he's an offensive lineman. I mean, if he were Cam Chancellor, this would have been a constant topic on Sports Center every single day. Yeah, I guess. I mean, that's just as simple as that.

I mean, he's, I mean, like, we, we talk, we talked more about Lane Johnson's absence last year than Dwayne Brown's this year, a lot of them. I think if they had kept Tom Savage in, and they, Watson had been playing poorly, he was getting sacked a lot, everything else. He's getting pressured a lot, but again, he's so good at just kind of negating the impact of that, that we, it doesn't, we don't need to talk about it. It's just not a pressing issue because it hasn't torpedoed their offense. like it would have if he weren't playing quarterback.

Did Dwayne Brown get a new contract? Do you just show up? I think so. I think he just showed up. Well, this was all very productive. Every holdout is, man. It's how the league works. Well, no.

Some of those holdouts are fine. Dorel Rivas is like he and Dorel Rivas is the king. Jeff Bezos and Dorel Rivas are the two guys at the top of the Forbes list at this point. And Sam Bradford. Sam Bradford comes in at number three. Yeah. Okay. So looking at this matchup, just kind of a more granular level.

Seattle is not a full strength. They're going to get Jimmy Lane back probably, but Bennett is hurt. He hasn't practiced this week, which who knows? I assume he plays just because he's Michael Bennett and he always seems to. But if they have Averill and Bennett on the shelf, it feels like Houston could get some stuff going. I'd be curious to see how much that matters. Does Dwayne Brown coming back and them being without their defensive ends, does it put more pressure on the Seattle secondary, everything else?

I feel like we're not seeing the Seattle defense at full strength, so it's not that good of a measuring stick for Watson, but it's still going to be one, maybe the best defense he's face, probably. Yeah, I mean, it's better than playing the freaking, I mean, he did not start against the Jaguars. He played a little bit, but that's such a different beast,

because if you're not preparing as to starter, it's completely different. He's played the Patriots, who, spoiler alert, not the best defense that he's played. They've been better, but they were not. But they were not good when they were playing him. That was in their pretty terrible stretch. I mean, the Bengals are pretty good. The Bengals are solid.

The Bengals are solid. The Bengals are the team. The Texans didn't move the ball in that game. Right. It was one Deshawn Watson run was the difference in that game. 13 points. So yeah, this will be it. Then they have the Colts who will not be the best defense.

They should be okay there. So, yeah, this will be a really good test. Jack Griffin's coming on. I mean, they always seem to find guys, man. It's just the way it works there. Everybody's, I bet Byron Maxwell is going to come back next week and just be a reasonable corner for them. I feel like that's not going to.

I feel like that might happen. That was a joke. That might happen. No, no, no, but that, I mean,

they do that all the time. They brought Brandon Browner back for Christ's sake. I know. If Brandon Browner can make it happen, they can put anyone over there. They might bring, they might just,

just, just to, just to fuck with everybody. They may just bring Brandon Browner back again. I'd have them make a pro bowl. Um, yeah, Byron Maxwell being another Seahawks pro bowl or,

uh, off the scrap. He wouldn't surprise me at least. But no, I mean, Richard Sherman was talking about Shaq last week. I mean, if they can find, the people were saying

he's turning into the next Richard Sherman, if they can find another shutdown cornerback, just that's it. I'm calling the NFC. So Seattle, we kind of talked about this on Monday that we feel better about them than pretty much every other team

in the conference. I don't know. I mean, money on it. If Philadelphia and Seattle played an NFC championship game in Philadelphia, who you take him?

I mean, if I was betting my life, I would take the Seahawks. Yeah, me too. I mean, I think that's kind of where we are. So if that's where we are with Seattle, where are you at with Houston? Because it feels like in that bunched up AFC, and especially in that AFC South, where we kind of like Jacksonville, but who knows? I mean, the Texans kind of have a real shot at this. There's no reason they can't come out of that division.

Yeah, I mean, they're good, I guess. But, I mean, they're still, they, I sort of believe you are what your record says you are in that three and three at this point. So I just the entire I think so I know I know The entire AFC South is just one big question mark I have a real problem Are the Titans as bad as they've looked In certain stretches of this season

Or are they four and three Which is what they are? Are they the team that beat the pants off Jacksonville Are the team that can't score against the Browns? I mean that's the question about Tennessee Yeah I mean it's they at this point I mean they're four and three in the same way That the dolphins are four and three

Which is I have no idea how they're four and three Jesus The Tennessee Titans and the Miami Dolphins who at certain points of this year have looked as bad as an NFL team can look, are both four and three. What is this? Yeah, it's great.

This is Black Mirror. We're in Black Mirror, and this is what happens. Hey, again, I'm excited to watch Jean Watson against that defense. I mean, that's what we got right now. We've got to find the stuff that's fun, and we've got to really clamp onto it hard. Can I drop a nugget? Go for it, buddy. My father is a history professor at UCF.

Shaquille Griffin, his favorite student in 30 years of teaching. That's incredible. I can't, I don't want to get into all that stuff. I don't want to get into the nitty gritty of it, but I will say that he is as impressive a student as my father has ever had. 30 years is a long time. That's a lot of students. We're talking like big seminar type classes? Not like 500 people.

Okay. But, but, but, but, I mean, not not, not, not small groups either. Okay. Now like 10 people. Yeah. Like 40 people are probably in the class. So he's seen a lot of kids come through. He's seen a lot of kids. And that's UCF, man. They produced Blake Bortles. I assume Blake Bordles. I don't think my dad taught Blake Bordle.

He may have. We never talked about it. He didn't mention him as his favorite student ever. What was Blake Bortles's major at UCF? I gotta look this up. This is really important. Oh wow. Interpersonal organizational communication. Is this real? Is that like HR? Hold on. This can't be real. Okay, you know, no, no.

Yeah, interpersonal organizational communication. It's so that he can. What could that possibly mean? It's for him to lead a team without a quarterback. The class that he took was about how to win games with just your defense and just cheering them on. Interpersonal organizational communication. So I think that he's able to understand why none of the coaches talk. to him just because he has a background in that.

And then he explains it to the rest of the team why that's happening. Doug Morone hasn't learned my name. Here's why. All right. Broncos at Chiefs. Yeah, man. The Broncos just, we talk about this a lot over the first, you know, month of the season or so,

just the idea that it's taking a while for teams to become who they are. And it feels like the Broncos are kind of settling into the team that's closer to to what I thought they'd be. And we're seeing in a couple different ways. is the offense is not playing very well. And I didn't think the offense would be very good. They were doing a lot of really cool schematic stuff at the beginning of the season. Tons of play action, giving Simian easy throws, everything else.

That stuff tends to fade away over the course of the year if it's all you have. If you're relying completely, they're not tricks, but they're just advantages driven by scheme. And I think that as teams, it's like when you see a pitcher for the second time. As teams get used to it, there's more stuff on film, people catch up. But I think that's kind of what's starting to happen with their offense. And their defense, it's taken a slight step back. It's still very, very good. The run defense is incredible.

But that step back, we all thought might happen just by virtue of time and math is happening. And they can't afford it with how bad the offense is playing. I think that's the version of the Broncos that some people thought they were going to be. Yeah, I don't know what to expect in this game. Because I still am, has the last couple weeks of chiefs, chiefs, performance has gotten you somewhat off the chiefs train? Or do you think that their offense is still sustainable? And the defense has enough talent.

I think the offense is still very good. I love just the way they've approached that entire group and the way they use their personnel, everything else. I think they're going to miss Conley over the course of the season in a way that we don't really think about just based on speed in the outside. I mean, Albert Wilson's fine. But when you don't have any receivers, losing one is not fun. And the other part of this is that the banged up players on the interior of the

offensive line, they're good. enough just as a unit to kind of overcome that. We saw that against Washington. They were able to sustain those losses and just still function. But I feel like over the course of the season, that's going to come out a little bit more. And we saw that last week a little bit. It just feels like they're not going to be able to roll the way they did early on, even though I do think they're still a very good offense. My question is more about the defense and how good they can be over the course of the year. And we're not going to see that exploited this week, I don't think, just because I don't know if Denver is the group to do it. But if I'm going to be,

pessimistic about the chiefs. It's definitely because I don't think they can stop really good teams. So per pro football focus, no running back in the last two years has finished with more than 60 forced mistackles. Kareem Hunt is on pace for 85. That's incredible. It's going to be a really cool matchup with that run defense and him this week. I mean, I think that that run defense, you look what they've done every single week,

week in week out. No one has got anything going. Yeah. And apparently if one guy is going to do it, it's going to be the guy that's on pace to force 85 mistackles. So my general thought on the chiefs is we don't talk enough about the fact they lost Eric freaking Barry. Like what they've been able to do is really impressive considering they lost legitimately one of the best players in the NFL. So I think there will be the sort of regression we're talking about him. They gave up 31 points to the Raiders last week in a game in which the Raiders got to run it every untimed down until they won the game.

but I mean, I just think that there are going to be some struggles just because you can't over 16 games replace Eric freaking Barry. And that's kind of the thing, right? Like all of these teams, you lose a star, you lose a couple, you know, lesser players, but serviceable players at certain positions. Like with the Eagles this week. Yeah. It's like, oh, well, they lost Jason Peters. They'll be fine. They're a good team.

And it just feels like so many of these high profile injuries, we may not see it instantly, but over the course of time, you're going to start to see the seams. And that's the concern with me in the Chief's defense. 100% agree. 100% agree. The Jason Peters thing is as big a wrench in the plans of the Eagles as anything. I mean, like, I just understand that Baitai is a capable backup and that he came in pretty seamlessly. But, I mean, over a full season, those things really matter.

Yeah, absolutely they do. I like that I'm going to write about this pretty soon here about just the offensive line play in the league. But the idea that they're keeping Lane Johnson on the right side, we're getting off topic here. But that's a good idea. I hate when teams change two positions and not just one. It just drives me crazy. It's like, why would you actively get worse at two different spots? And not actually get worse at two different spots, but three different spots because you're moving a guy who plays next to a garden and has forever.

Well, it's just dumb. Also, there's been a lot of research space that whole blindside stuff is a myth. Yeah, it's dumb. None of this makes sense. You can help out a tackle. Just put the tight end on the other freaking side. The blind side, you got to have a dominant left tackle thing has been disproven a lot. It's how you use your other players.

This is not a difficult thing. Although this Andrew Bullock movie still stands up. Yeah, it's great. Really great hair from her in that movie. That movie has outlasted the idea that you need a strong left tackle. Next, Cowboys Redskins. Intriguing game because it's another one of these. I feel like a broken record, but it's the case.

We just don't know what to expect. Josh Norman is good to go. I'm excited about that. That's a nice little test for not only Dak Prescott, but there was an interesting story about just how many turnovers and fumbles the Redskins defense forces and how they're sort of specialists. Now they're a they're not Charles Tillman, but they're getting there. No one is, man.

And so generally, I think that it will be an interesting test to see a, If there's some sort of full strength Redskins defense against the Cowboys' Offense, I'm at least intrigued by that little matchup. I think watching Dallas last week, we haven't talked about them in a little while. I think that's why I wanted to throw this game in there. Their offense looked really good. I mean, just very, very good. And the run game has kind of come back into place.

And I feel like that was part of their issue early in the season is that, I don't know if Zique was out of shape. He certainly looked like it. But that run game was not this yards eating. machine that it has been in the past. And you watched them last week. They look all the way back. They were playing. They were playing the Niners. That's fair. The Niners are a pretty solid front seven, though. I like the players in the Niners front seven. The Ruben Foster was back. I mean, the Cowboys offensive line really pushed the Niners around. And I feel like if that offense can

get back to a version that's close to what we saw last year in a water and down conference, they suddenly become very interesting. Absolutely. Not to change his subject entirely. What did you think of Kurt Cousins face-timing into a quarterback meeting while his wife was in labor. I don't know.

I don't have a problem with it. I don't really know a lot about labor. Like, how intensive is it? Does he need to be there the whole time?

It can go for a while, right? I think we should move on. He had a doula? I really don't know a lot about labor. I'm sorry. This is not an area

where I'm an expert. Did he do it at his house? Was this at a hospital? I think it was at a hospital. Okay. She could hear him on the phone with like Colt McCoy. This came out.

I read Greg Bishop. It's, I don't, I don't know how the terminology just kind of confuses me. Is it still a doula in a hospital? Or is that something that's a little more of a like cozy home thing? I don't know.

Robert, how much about this process needs to be explained to you? Because we only babies come from. Yeah, no, that's what I was getting at. I was getting at how long, how far back we needed to go.

Pretty far back. My public education was not very good. I went to public school too, but I learned. Your dad was a professor, though. I feel like you're two steps ahead of the year. Yeah, I know a lot about like the Civil War now. But not where babies come from.

We're both in the dark on that. Right. All right, Raiders at Bills. This is another one where it just feels like two really interesting AFC teams. If you haven't noticed, they're all like that. Every game is the same except Eagles and Niners. So this feels like a game where the Raiders defense needs to do something. And I think that we say that every week.

But the Bill's offense. has an intriguing collection of players. Like there's two or three guys on that team that can hurt you. And maybe it's just two. I mean, Tyrod and LaShawn McCoy, they need those guys to just make outstanding plays to have for that offensive stay aflo. We saw that last week.

Tyrod made a couple excellent throws. McCoy was really good. And they put up 30 points. And I think that that's what this team is going to need to be. Is one or two just shot plays from those guys, McCoy ripping off some yardage, and then the defense playing really well. So the Raiders really need to limit explosive plays from the bills because if they don't get those, they don't sustain offense very well.

Deonti Thompson made big place for the bills last week. He was on my team. I know what Deonti Thompson is. And without that sort of splash stuff, there is not very good. So let's see if the Raiders can actually slow that down for once. Here's why I'm intrigued about this game. Because the Raiders are three and four. if they win this game, they're four and four and everything is kosher and everything is back, okay?

They have the dolphins next week and then the Patriots after that and the Broncos after that. I don't know what to expect, but it's a pretty pivotal four-game stretch and they need to win this freaking game. And I still believe that the Raiders have what it takes to at least win a playoff game or two. Having seen what I've seen over the past seven weeks, I don't believe them to be a Super Bowl contender, but I at least think they can get in the hunt for a playoff spot, just because, again, there has to be six playoff teams and who the hell knows what's going to happen. But I've been intrigued enough with Derek Carr on offense.

I think the defense is at least manageable. I mean, even in the Chargers game, which they lost only up 17 points, which you would take with a competent Raiders offense. And Marty Cooper playing the way he did last week is encouraging. 210 yards is pretty good. I mean, and if that version of the offense can show up against this team, Buffalo still is a good defense.

I know that Tampa put up points on them last week, but the buck's offense is actually pretty good. So that's not something. That doesn't take away from Buffalo in my mind. I still think that group is really solid. Maybe the best coached defense in the league right now when you consider how good they are and how much individual talent they have. I've just been very impressed with how they're able to put their guys in spots.

I mean, they blitz the right way. The coverage just plays very well into what sort of personnel they have. Guys like Jordan Poyer playing really well. So I feel like that sort of unit against, that's why the Oakland had trouble against Washington. Washington just very good at getting to spots before the Raiders got there, just beating guys to the catch point, everything else. And I think Buffalo is that similar sort of team.

So I think that's going to show a lot about how much the Raiders offense has or has not grown over the past four or five weeks here. Is Derek Carr? I wrote about Derek Carr on Tuesday for the ringer.com. and I feel like we have to have a bigger discussion about Derek Carr because we had a discussion on Tuesday's show about basically what a great quarterback can do he can sort of mask deficiencies in roster building he can overcome a great deal excuse me overcome a bad defense all that stuff where would you put Derek Carr in sort of the

QB tiers at this point in his career right now definitively in like the second or third tier. I think the Derek Carr is the perfect example of a quarterback that is buoyed by his surroundings. And Derek Carr doesn't get hit. That's in part because Derek Carr throws the ball very fast, which I think is a problem in and of itself. But I also think that he has a very good pass blocking offensive line. Derek Carr has a really nice little setup there. It's very cushy. So I think that that's why he's an interesting case study here because he plays into my thought that it's as much about the surroundings as it is about the quarterback. Sure.

So obviously, Derek Carr is actually getting pressured less than he was last year. He was pressured 23% of the time last year. He's being pressured 22% of the time this year, which is just absurd when you look at some like Deshaun Watson, who I think is being pressured 46% of the time. But he's also holding the ball for like three seconds every play. I mean, there's obviously a lot of factors that go into that. Having said that, the other thing about Derek Carr is that he also against the chiefs

decided to start holding the ball longer. And we saw the effects of it. I think I saw the PFF number that he was, he held the ball almost half a second more than he had during the season against the chiefs. I've been saying it for two months. So all I want is for them to actually have an aggressive offense. Like take advantage of the players that you have, please.

So it's nice to see. I mean, they need that in order to hit their ceiling. Right. Exactly. And so I'm intrigued by it. I think that there are cars on the upper echelon of the second tier. So I'm a little more generous with him than you are.

And we don't have time. We don't have time to lay out the tears. I think that he can, I think, yeah, that's Mike Sando's job. But just read Sando. I think that there's, I think he can win a Super Bowl one day. Yes, absolutely.

I don't think he's a quarterback that would prohibit you from winning a Super Bowl. I just don't think he's that type of guy that can lift the players around him. He could have done it last year. I mean, if, if, absolutely. Yeah.

So, I mean, I don't know. Derek Carr's good. It's my take. Okay, let's move on to my hottest take that I actually kind of believe. That's, if you never heard it before, it's a informed take that we don't want to go pure hot take here because that's for the other shows. We do want to have some opinion here. And I'm going to echo something for this segment that I wrote on a ringer.com today. Football is more brutal than ever.

There was a Harvard study I was reading this week that essentially injuries have risen one, injury and a half per game since 2009. Now, the way the NFL injuries are reported has changed a little bit, which makes strict reporting and tabulating of those injuries a little hard, but just generally, the injuries are trending up, and reporting of injuries is trending up. And that's how you read the two leaves. So you have that. You have the fact that two or three prominent TV executives came out this week. First, a lady, Mark Lazarus and NBC telling the Sports Business journal that there's football fatigue because it's just too much football on TV. And then James Murdoch, the Fox CEO said that it's asking a lot of consumers to watch every football,

every NFL game that's put on. And everyone knows what he means by that. Thursday night, Sunday morning four times a year. And if you're on the West Coast, that means 6.30 in the morning. 1 p.m. 4 p.m. Sunday night, which goes till midnight. And then Monday. So, I mean, And that's, when we were growing up, Robert, which, and we're not old, it's not, that there's a lot more football than there was 10 years ago. In fact, there's 22% more game windows than there were in 2007. So what is your kind of half-bake solution to this? You give everybody a week off. This week.

You give everybody a week off this week. Because here's the thing. The NFL faces a decision. Either they agree with these network executives and they. give money back, which they're not going to do. Or they say, what about a different way to fight football fatigue? And how do you reinvigorate the appetite? How do you wet the appetite of the American public for week 9, 10, 11 NFL games?

At week eight, you just say, everybody go home. No football this week. And everyone, we get to take stock in the first half of the season. We get to get excited about people like Deshawn Watson. And it's not like football would go away. Have you turned on ESPN? It's just, it's like, it's one of the hasslebacks talking about football all the time. One of the 17 hasslebacks.

Yeah. So they would just spend their time. It would be, they would still dominate the new cycle, even with the World Series on and even with basketball on the NFL. You're still plenty to talk about. There's still plenty of talk about every team. So you just, you take a break. Everyone goes home.

Everyone go to the Bahamas or whatever. The Miami Dolphins could do whatever they needed to do. It would be a second. buy week for everybody, but it would be league-wide. It would deal, it would solve so many of football's problems. So football or the Super Bowl would just be the second week in February? Yeah, which is what they've always wanted, by the way. And who cares?

I mean, that doesn't do anything to the league. I mean, it doesn't change a single bit. Always wanted that. In 2009, they floated the 17-game season. They were like, why don't we just have the Super Bowl on President's Day Sunday? That'd be good. First of all, that'd be great because you would have the Monday off. Yeah.

And it doesn't really change the calendar at all. I mean, the only thing that would really do is that you bump up the Super Bowl and the combine. But you could bump the combine back a week. I've never understood why it had to be too much later. The draft back. Who cares? Yeah. I mean, it doesn't fill a wrench into the rest of the schedules.

You're pushing up on pitchers and catchers reporting. How dare they? All the pitchers and catchers we can name are reporting at that time of year. I think it's a great idea. And guess what? That means a week off first. us, which I'll take. It's not a week off for us.

I mean, from watching football on Sunday. No, but we'd be here recording content. No, of course, but I just mean on Sunday, you know,

it's, I love watching football today Sunday. It's my favorite part of my life, more or less, but it would be nice to have a Sunday to, like, go look at some fall foliage. I'm down with that.

Do you, have you not seen any fall foliage? No, I do, but I haven't made a conscious effort just to go sit in it. You know, I haven't like taken a drive up to the North Shore.

Are you sit and? fall foliage. It's a, you know what I mean? I would take a walk, take a stroll by some trees. I don't know. I don't know anything about the Midwest. Didn't you live here once? Yeah, for like a year and a half and I bailed because everybody was sitting in fall foliage. We enjoy it. It's, I like fall here. It's very fun. The North Shore is pretty. I would just like, you know, go up to Evanston or Will Met and just kind of walk around. Sounds great. The thing, the thing about Chicago that I hate is that nothing's ever open. Like the summer, like all the stuff around the lake is only open for like five weeks at a time.

Yeah, that's true because summer's five weeks long. Yeah. There's a reason for that. That's only, that's not a common thing around the world. That's understandable, but we, we have only short windows for that stuff to actually matter or be useful. When the draft was there in like May, it was like 40 degrees. Yeah, it's 40 degrees now. Right.

It was 70 a week ago. It's like 100 degrees in Los Angeles right now. Okay, Robert, we got that out of the way. We're all taking a bye week next year. but I have a feeling we're missing something. Tell us, Robert, this week, what are we missing when we're talking about these games? So one of the other games that find particularly interesting this week

is New England and the Chargers, just because the Chargers defense is playing so much better. And that's been kind of driven by what Joey Bosa and Melvin Ingram are doing. And I feel like that's a really cool matchup this week. Those two guys against this Patriots offensive line, a group that's playing much better. And when you're watching that game, if you are, not only should you watch Bosa and Ingram individually in just the way that they play,

and that is fascinating. They are such a cool interplay as two opposite edge rushers. Their styles are so different that they just play into each other very well. Bosa's technician, he has the best hands in the league maybe really good at just understanding leverage and timing. He's like a trickster, and he does that in a way that pretty much no other pass rusher in the league does, and it makes him super effective. Ingram is just on a tear every single play.

He plays with this ferocity that really sets him apart. Physicality among edge rushers, I think, has become this weird market inefficiency just because everyone's so fast. So when you can find a guy that can run over people, it goes further, and he's one of those guys. So not only do they play well individually and play well off each other,

but the way that the chargers use them is very, very cool, and it makes them even more effective. So if you're watching this game, just take a look at where those guys line up on any given play. And I think that even if they're not attacking individual pass rushers on certain teams, by virtue of lining them up all over the place,

eventually they always find a weakness. They'll line them up next to each other on the same side and twist. They'll line them up on the opposite side and twist. They'll line them up both inside on certain plays. And just the variety of attacks always allows them to make. make one or two plays a game. And as a pass rusher, that's all you need. If you make you sack,

if you're one sack a game, if one force fumble every two games, you're a Hall of Famer. And I think that the Chargers have done a very good job of realizing what makes their defense good. And they're going to have to find three or four of those plays against a winglet to have a chance. Interesting that you wrote last year about Bill Belichick's crush list, which is essentially the guys that he's just absolutely in love with. That's been noted throughout Belichick's reign. He loves Larry Fitzgerald. He loves Edward. Reed. I mean, thank you. I think he wants to marry at Reed. Joey Bosa and Melvin Ingram will have to go in together into that Hall of Fame because Belichick is in love

with them too. He said, uh, he's just talking about their third and longs. He said third and long is basically a sack and a turnover reel when those guys are on the field. Yeah. And that's true. And also I just, I think Belichick likes the challenge of game planning against these types of guys. I think, I don't, I think that Brady is probably nervous because he's 40, years old and Ingram had that hit on, who did he, who did Ingram hit last week? It was simian. I have no idea. He got flagged for no reason. Yeah, it was, he hit him too hard, 15 years. What is? I hate that. I hate real time. It's tough. I, I hate that we, when there's just a big hit, they just reflectively throw the flag. I know. It's annoying. And especially when the guy,

it's totally clean. And it's such a good football play. It's frustrating. And that, that play is an interesting kind of microcosm of what they do. That was a twist inside where Ingram lined up just over the guard and then went inside over the center. They do that stuff a lot. And that works against teams that don't have great communication. And Denver is still kind of coalescing as a line. They have some new pieces. The Patriots will not be that way. That is what Dante Skarnacki and that is what a line that's been together for years does for you is that those games don't work as well. But trust me, they're going to try plenty of them. All right. Time to welcome in Danny Kelly, our fantasy football genius, Danny. How are you?

I'm doing great. How are you guys doing? I'm doing great, buddy. I'm happy you're here. Danny, how is your life changed since D.K.'s Dark Night became the biggest sensation and entertainment. Well, it was a real rough week for the D.K.'s Dark Night Night last week, guys. Yeah, we'll get to that. But even the sensations hit a snack sometimes, Danny. I mean, Friday Night Lights is beloved. Everyone hates the second season. You're going to have some low points.

I can't even go out on the street anymore. without just people running up to me and asking about the dark night. So it's hard. I won't lie, but I appreciate the fanhood. Danny, can I ask you a question? Why do a critical mass of Seahawks fans hate Derrick Carr? I wrote a story about Derek Carr on Tuesday, and there was like pushback from like, I don't know, 10 people,

and they were all like, Derek Carr sucks, and they were all Seahawks fans. The inferiority already complex about Seahawks and quarterbacks is very strong. They hate Derek Carr, but they hate. hate Andrew Luck even more. Yeah, I was going to say that it's moved on from the Andrew Luck hate because he's out this year. Yeah, yeah. They needed somebody, I guess, and Derek Carr, you know, they don't like when people are excited about other quarterbacks because Russell Wilson just still underrated, I guess.

Your team scores nine points a game, Danny. I know. I don't understand why we're so angry. I general isn't really good, but like everyone, I like, I like Seahawks Twitter for the record. I just, I was, I was interested. in why that was happening. I never encountered the Andrew Luck thing. Is Seahawks Twitter the most organized

and vocal, like, Twitter fan base? That's not a major market. They have to be, right? See, the problem is, is that some of the other one, like the Cowboys Twitter is just too big and unwieldy. Yeah, exactly. There's no voice.

The Seahawks Twitter, like, has one collective voice. They march in STEM. It's very impressive. They all know each other. Yeah, exactly. Cowboys Twitter is the biggest force, but there's no, like, they just spend most of their time retweeting,

four-year-old tweets, Cowboys Twitter. Bad takes? Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. And, like, that's her thing. It's like they, like, I remember I made an eight-and-eight joke a couple years ago and they were going eight-and-eight all the time. And the year they went like 12 and four. I had all these cowboy fans who'd be tweeting it and being like, idiot.

It's like, oh, wow, I mean, eight-and-eight joke about the Cowboys. Cowboys Twitter was really going on a limb. Seahawks Twitter does, though, have its own collective consciousness, which is pretty impressive. I know, I think there was Tim Kawakami who said once, and I tend to agree with this, that NFL Twitter, all they do is claim to know everything about their own team, whereas NBA Twitter, they claim to know everything about the league.

NBA Twitter is just full of the best people in America, so that's why they're better than us. I don't know if you ever realize that. Just tweeting best league over and over again. Yep, yep. It's such a great league. What a league. The NFL Twitter, I think, just in general,

is really bad and angry and bitter. And that's just the ringer people. Folks. If your league was basically all Denver Nuggets teams, you'd be upset too. Exactly. I don't think NFL Twitter is any more bitter than any other type of Twitter. I just think that we monitor it more. Should do a study on this.

Twitter's a bitter place, period. All right, Danny, let's take it to some fantasy football chatter here. All right, let's do it. So speaking of Derek Carr, actually, we're talking about some of the best and worst matchups for this weekend. And I wanted to talk about Derek Carr at the bills because I think generally speaking, the bill's defense has been pretty good this year.

It's been sort of a revelation. But this week, it's going to be interesting. Number one, does Derek Carr have Amari Cooper back? Like, is he back? He had 19 targets last week. 210 yards. Ridiculous. So I guess he's back.

I'm hoping he's back. He's on my fantasy team, so I definitely hope he's back. But the bills are going to be without E.J. Gaines. It looks like Jordan Poyer is going to be. out too. They've looked a little bit more mortal in the last couple of weeks in terms of their defense. So I'm actually kind of thinking

Carr could have a big game even though it's in Buffalo. Really? I guess that's a good point. I mean, we were talking about Poirer earlier. He's been playing really well, just the guy off the scrap heap, but they've gotten a lot out of. And Gaines is kind of the same way. He was a throw in that Sammy Wackens trade. And they found a useful starter. I mean, losing those two guys, that is a big deal. That's kind of a counterintuitive have thought, Danny. I wouldn't have thought that you would have thrown

car in there, but I guess it makes sense. Well, yeah, I mean, I'm kind of looking at, you know, things that go against the narrative a little bit in that one. And I think, you know, it's still a risk because, number one, you're on the road. That's always worse. And two, it's Buffalo, which I think it's going to be in the 50s. It's going to be kind of cold,

so we'll see. But I just, he looked really good last week. I mean, he gets good protection, and the bills are really banged up. So that's something to watch. You're going to get kicked out of Seahawks Twitter for this. I already got kicked out. I'm already on the outs.

I join in every once in a while, though. It's fun. How'd you get kicked out? I joined the national media. I get called a traitor, a T-R-A-D-E-R, about 15 to 20 times a week. Trader Danny. Yeah. So this next one, the next quarterback, this one's a little more obvious.

Carson Wentz versus the 49ers, I think he could go off in this game. I mean, he's playing with incredible confidence right now. And the 49ers defense is just bad. I mean, they're 29th and past DVOA. They've given up 7.9 yards per attempt, 98 pass rating. You know, they're just not very good other than the one guy to look out for is Ertz, because the 49ers actually been really good at defending tight ends this year. I think actually coming into last week, they'd given up the fewest fantasy points to tight ends of any team.

So, you know, if you're starting Ertz, that's something to keep in mind. but I think Wence could go off in this game. And that's not a really hot take in that one. Interesting kind of nugget from the Niners this week. I mean, we were kind of tweeting about this earlier this week, Danny. That moving Eric Reed to linebacker as more of a full time thing. And I feel like we're seeing that more and more. I mean, just an extension of a lot of the moves that have happened throughout the league

over the last couple years. The Packers are doing a little bit of that this year just to help out their past coverage. I mean, that really is something that's not going to go away as long as we're living in this sub package world. And I think that that's a good team to do it. And they have two useful safeties. Why not put your best guys on the field, especially with Bowman out of town now? Absolutely.

It was really interesting what Robert Sayla said. He was saying that defenses in a particular linebackers are way behind in the evolution of like, you know how offenses are just spreading out. I thought that was fascinating. He told me that last year because I was writing a story about that, about this evolution of the linebacker. And I was asking him about, about, Miles Jack and Telvin Smith because they wanted those undersized guys that could really move and he made

the exact same point. If we're going to have a league full of Danny Woodheads, we have to have guys that can cover them. Yeah. And if you look at Telvin Smith's physical profile, I was actually looking at this on Mark Draftable this week. It was fascinating. The number one player that he resembles physically on that like the spider charts is, uh, Geordie Nelson. He's a lionbacker. So it's just that's where the league is going. And I think that the fact that he coached those two guys in Jacksonville last year in the year before that. And now he's trying to do something similar with Reed, who is 6-1-213. He's no smaller than Telvin Smith in terms of bulk. So they're very similar in terms of just their overall size and the way that they move. So why not try something similar? It makes a lot of sense.

You were complaining earlier about not seeing the fall foliage. And then you said you were on the mock draftable page for Telvin Smith. Yeah, that's how I said those two things might be linked. All right, Danny, let's get to running backs. Or, excuse me, wide receivers. I kind of grouped Stefan Diggs and Adam Thielen together because they're sort of 1A, 1B for the Vikings. And we're not sure yet if Diggs is going to play. He's questionable right now.

But I think both of these guys have a pretty good chance to go off because they're facing the Brown's defense, which has been bad to begin with. And Miles Garrett is out. Jason McCordy looks like he might not play. He's been sort of the bright spot on that defense. Looks like Japril Peppers is going to be out. This Brown's past even.

is kind of a mess. And, you know, obviously the Vikings haven't been like a prolific pass offense necessarily under Keenham. But I think that both of these guys, I feel like you should start them with confidence because, I mean, you have to watch out for digs. So whether he's going to play or not. But I think you got to definitely start dealing with confidence just based on the matchup here. They've played teams with Keenham that have bad past defenses and are especially defenses that are on discipline. They've taken huge advantage of them. Remember that Tampa Bay game?

Even with Keenum in there, they were to. slinging it around the yard. And I think that if Thielen, if Diggs doesn't play, I think Thielings can have a huge game because they're going to go to him a lot. And he's a guy that absolutely can eat against teams that just aren't in the right spots. And that's exactly what the Browns are. The Browns are a horribly coached defense. I mean, last week they actually had, they actually looked pretty good.

Was it last week when they played the Titans? It was just. They did the good end of the Titans. Yes, last week they looked okay. But that to me feels like an outlier. I think they're going to probably fall back to what they were before. And so, yeah, I think the Vikings offense. in general, you know, if you have Keenom on your team, I think that's another one.

You could definitely start with confidence. The next matchup that I'm looking at is actually pretty interesting. And normally, I mean, you're going to start Antonio Brown regardless. I think, you know, there's no other way around it. But this is an interesting match with Darius Slay. Darius Slay has been kind of one of the top guys and top cornerbacks in the NFL this year. That's kind of been shadowing opposing receivers. He's done a pretty good job.

and so I think that is a really interesting matchup to watch just like see those two go out of each other during this game are they going to try and go away from Brown? Probably not so we'll see you I still think that Brown is probably going to get the best of them I think Brown could go off but that that is a matchup I think to watch because Darius Slay has been really really good shadowing coverage this year Danny was that phone call Seahawks Twitter calling you to kick you off that was my bad

that's all here and Danny the other thing about Brown I think could be interesting is that you would assume with Martavis Brian out that Brown gets more targets, but that's a bad way to think about it because Antonio Brown's getting 18 targets no matter what. So now we're looking at a situation where you lose Brian on the other side, which just completely changes how the lines are going to be able to use their safeties. So if you can use a guy over the top on Brown, you can bracket him the entire game because you don't have to worry about playing too high against Martavis Bryant, then it really can

change the way that the Steelers can use him. So I feel like that plays into it in a way that might seem different than people think at first glance just because you'd assume he'd get more work. That's a great point. And do you think that makes Juju Smith-Schuster kind of an interesting fantasy player this week? Yes. I just because I feel like that he can do some work in the slot that kind of changes the complexion of that. I mean, when you have to, if you can move, worry about the safeties on Brown side. I think that the work you can do underneath a little bit on the other side changes.

So I feel like he might be a guy that gets more work now than he wouldn't in a time. typical game. Okay, D.K. Running back. Sit us. Let's do this. So, Cream Hunt this week, going up against Denver, Denver's run defense is absurd, you guys. Number one in the run by DVOA. They've given up just 431 yards all year. That's

71.8 per game. Zero touchdowns on the ground this year, 3.0 yards for carry. I think we could actually see Hunt kind of take a step back. I mean, he's going to probably still factor into the passing game, so if you're in a PPR league, he's still going to be, you know, obviously a valuable guy to start, but

Denver's run defense has been incredible. I mean, that, you know, I don't know if plugging in Pico in the middle there has been like the difference because they were kind of bad last year against the run. But man, they have been stout up front. He's been really good. And I think that that's kind of crazy when you consider how poorly he'd been playing in Cincinnati the last couple of years. And it really speaks to how good they are at establishing how good, how well they're coached on that side of the ball. I think that's the impressive part. Absolutely.

So I think Hunt is, I mean, you're not going to stop. You're not going to not start Hunt, but maybe don't expect the world. And Danny, your next running back. Zeke Elliott. This is a huge test for the Redskins defense. Right now, they're pretty good. They're 10th and DVOA, 9th and yards per game against the run. But they're still giving up 4.0 yards per carry, which is 17th.

So they're just kind of in the middle of the range there. I'm actually high on Elliott this week. I think that, I think that offensive line is really starting to come together. I mean, like, they weren't quite as dominant as you're sort of expected early in the year, but I think they've come around. I mean, obviously last week, he went off, L.A. went off. I think he's going to, I think he's up for a big week again this week, this week. So I think he's one of those guys that if you're doubting that one, don't because I think he's going to go off. I think they've really found it. We were talking about that

a little bit earlier in the show, just them hitting their stride as a running game. It makes them very potent offense, and it just feels like, this is not going to change. As soon as they got back to this, there's no reason for it to fall apart. I mean, that line is only going to get better as the year goes on. I agree with you, Danny. I think that for the rest of the season as long as he's on the field, he's going to be very effective. Hell yeah. Danny, it's time. Let's do it.

It's time. My favorite stretch of the week. It's time for the thing everybody wants. I mean, I would assume we probably have to fill everybody in on what happened the previous 40 minutes of this podcast because most people are just skipping to DK's Dark Nights. All anybody cares about. So we have DK's Dark Night. Last week. Rough.

Not great. It was Eric Decker. previously on DK's Dark Night it was Eric Decker two target zero catches zero yards what the hell having you guys I mean hey I feel good because I think it was a little bit of a conspiracy

I mean even Jesse James Decker is on my side on this I mean what are they doing why didn't they use them more did she get after the Titans oh yeah she was going on going after him on Twitter it was pretty funny is that a club you want to be a part of Danny anyone that Jesse James is a part of

Eric Decker hive Oh, man. It was rough. Okay, redeem yourself. All right, so this week, my guy is Hunter Henry. I'm really excited about this player. I think he's just really, really fun. I mean, great athlete in a good system because obviously Phil Rivers has relied on tight end

in the passing game for years. I mean, he and Antonio Gates, you know, Hall of Fame connection there. And Gates is basically sort of being phased out of that offense. It sucks to see on one. hand, but it's also exciting for Hunter Henry just because I think he's, you know, obviously healthy, faster and all that. And going up against Patriots defense, it could be tough on, I mean, they just lost

Dante High Tower, which is real rough for them. You know, they still don't have a huge pass rush. Hunter's, Hunter Henry's gotten 20 targets in the past three weeks for Red Zone looks. I mean, I just think he's primed to keep, you know, producing at really high levels. He, he's a bit of a, you know, boom or bust kind of guy. A lot of tight ends are, frankly, but I'm pretty high on him this week. I think against that Patriots defense, he could go off.

Which one of his family members is going to be attacking the offensive coordinator after he gets zero catches on Sunday? An't of some kind. I feel like it's going to be a little bit further removed. I'm going to find that out. I'll have to look for that. Yeah, so that was good. I don't think we're going to have to worry about that this week, though.

Look at you. Danny, just taking a shot. We've got to get back on track. Come on. That one makes a lot of sense. That's, buddy. I think that they are going to look to him. I mean, Gates' snaps just continue to decrease every single week. The tight end's going to be a part of that offense, and they don't really have anybody that can cover them. I assume they'll play a lot of three safeties. Maybe it's Chung all day, but I still feel like he's going to get a lot of work.

Absolutely. Danny, thank you. Thanks, bud. Talk to you soon. All right. Sounds good. Coming up, Joel Solomon wants to know if he's crazy. And we play another round of, can they score more than rotten tomatoes? Robert didn't get to do that last week. I know. I'm very happy. We're running it back so that you can do it. Plus, we'll let you know what we think next week's headlines will be, but first, let's take a quick break. Robert, so the over under on last night's game was 38.

The dolphins didn't score, but the Ravens hit the over by themselves. That's exactly what we all expected. It was the high-scoring affair from Baltimore that everyone predicted. But if you somehow knew that was happening, I hope you got your overbed in on my bookie. My bookie has been around for a long time, and we always talk. about the best part fast payouts. They pay out fast in the ringer. That is true.

Anyway, where you bet is just important as what you're betting on. People have to start using MyBooky, and they have a cool mobile site so you can bet from anywhere. They even have an online casino for craps and blackjack. All right. Also check this out. Last week, we told you that the 100% bonus for MyBooky was only available through this past Sunday, but they've extended it one more week.

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Use promo code Ringer NFL to activate offer. Visit mybooky.orgie.orgia today. You play, you win, you get paid. We're also brought to you by Wish, the mobile mail app that connects you to thousands of merchants. Yeah, Wish is a big deal. Over 300

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But if you're already using Wish, you're not left out. All listeners can get 20% off your purchase by using my code, Ringer NFL. Just download and open the Wish app, find things you didn't even know you needed, and enter code Ringer NFL for 20% off your purchase. All right, we've got Joel Solomon here. We've had him here for the entire show. He's been shaking his head at various points. He's been writing words on Google Docs and then showing me.

And I don't know what they're saying because they're not, there's no context to them. It's amazing that a majority of my time spent here at the ringer is just looking at you and not being able to talk. Between this and Slow Newsday, I just, this is my job here. It's a good role for you. Yeah. Okay, Joel. Sounds awesome. I'm sad I'm not there.

We've got Joel Solomon here. He's ready for his latest. edition of Am I Crazy. It's almost approaching D.K.'s dark night levels of phenomenon. We already know the answer to that, so let's get to the football. So give us two AmI Craisies, Joel. Martavis Bryant. Guys had a

busy year coming back after a year-long suspension. You know, he's very busy demanding trade, saying on Instagram, he's better than Juju Smith-Schuster. Now, he's been declared inactive this week, big game against Detroit, regulated to the scout team. But Brian said that he's

fine. He's not tripping. That's quote, I'm not tripping. Not doing much of anything. So this is in the same week. I'll be at a different league that Eric Bledso of the Phoenix Suns tweeted, I don't want to be here. So the Steelers are a franchise and Mike Tomlin's a coach that hate distractions. So am I crazy or would most other teams just let Martavius Bryant play on Sunday? Just throwing it out there.

It's not like he's punched anyone. There was no drug suspension here. just kind of being a schmuck. So here's the question. They were easing in Bryant into the offense. Right. They wanted to get him up to full speed. I don't know, maybe around this time, maybe a couple weeks from now.

Do you think that this acting out is going to hurt his ability to be worked into the offense in a way that maybe they planned on? I feel like he's going to come back next week and score like three touchdowns. Okay, that was my question. My question is like, next week is Todd Haley going to be like, Nah.

Nah. But this is a team that already has so many weapons. They still want to get Jesse James, all the tight ends involved. It is hard to get his, as he said, on this team. Now that said, as far as distractions, San Antonio Holmes, the year he was declared inactive in 2008 after a marijuana possession, went on to win the Super Bowl MVP, just putting that out there. Right.

But am I crazy or would the Dallas Cowboys, Cincinnati Bengals, be starting Bryant on Sunday. That's all I'm saying, sir. I think that most teams would take the approach like, oh, we're not going to be distracted by anything and just let him play. Especially a guy that's had his history.

If this were Antonio Brown, he would play. Yeah, yeah, yeah. Right. I feel like the rules are different for Antonio Brown, but as an organization, I think that for the most part, this is kind of what would happen in League What? All right. We'll see if he makes a big return. I'm not

so sure. All right, Colts, at Bengals, can't believe you guys didn't want to talk about this one. Chuck Pagano, Marvin Lewis, will they survive? Will either of them survive? I just also want to point out, Chuck Pagano spent one year, one year as a defensive coordinator with the Ravens

and then was hired to be the Colts head coach. I get it, he's a lifer, but I think we need to institute the Cuba Gooding Junior rule where you're a fun actor, you're a good solid supporting actor, but you can't carry a movie. And that's Chuck Pagano. That's Adam Gase as head coaches. So with Jeff Fisher fired last year with 165 losses,

tied for the most all-time with Dan Reeves. Marvin Lewis still has 107. He still has a long way to go. Am I crazy? Or does Jeff Fisher get a coaching job again so he can have the all-time losses record to himself? In this league, nothing would ever surprise me. He's only 59. So Jeff Fisher is 59 years old. Yeah. He looks 79. Jeff Fisher is coaching the league for 58 years. Well, I mean, those Rams years will do it to you.

Pete Carroll. I can't believe he's 59 years old. Jeff Fisher is seven years younger than Pete Carroll. A lot of seven and nine BS that's going to. That keeps you young. Yeah. Seven and nine. Oh, my God.

That's amazing. Isn't it appropriate? He retired. heard, we didn't retire, possibly be done, tied with Dan Reeves, most losses of all time. You can't even get, I can't even win that record, folks. There you go. So here's a couple things here. Number one, I kind of think this Rams run, he's going to be able to spin that.

He's going to be like, I've built this team. I got it. Player development. And then they let the young Pope Sean McVeigh come in. and and maybe he's like his destiny is to be like the Buck Shoalter where he just gets him

he gets him into shape and then you bring in Joe Tori or Sean McVeigh yeah two very similar people right because Todd Gurley had such a great year last year he was on the cusp Jeff Fisher taught him life lessons

all right if somebody was playing Sean McVeigh in a movie it would probably be Jew law right the casting makes sense I don't know about that. I don't know if Jeff Fisher is getting another job and almost because of the Rams being so good.

Who plays Jeff Fisher in the movie? Sam Elliott? Oh. Yeah. That's so perfect. And that speaks to why I am just baffled that he's only 59 years old. Sam Elliott with the die job? I mean, no.

Just let him go, great. Who cares? I'm not going seven and nine. Who is the coach on Friday night lights? Kyle Chandler. Kyle Chandler could be Jeff Fisher. No way. No way.

Yeah. I need someone far more weathered and broken, and that's exactly what Sam Elliott gives you. Sam Elliott is seven years older than Pete Carroll. Sam Elliott looks seven years older than Pete Carroll. I don't know. Pete Carroll and me looks 32 years old. Oh, no, that's, I'm saying. That's fine.

But Sam Elliott looks 73 years old. Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. Guys, it doesn't matter because Andy Reid is going to coach until he's 105 or until he just passes out on the sideline. He'll get the all-time loss record. I'm convinced. All right, Kev. to play. Will they beat Rotten Tomatoes? Do you have the theme music? No. What is it? Is it the theme music just when they open the gates at Jurassic Park? That's the best theme music. All right. So last

week. That music should be applied to a lot more situations than. It should be wedding songs. I'm tying the knot in a couple months here. There's still time. I don't know if we can clear it. So I'm not going to hum it. So. Rights wise. And also this is an NFL, a serious NFL podcast. Very serious. Don't comment. Congratulations. You last week were 2-0. Geostorm were going as of Friday was a 27 Rotten Tomatoes. You picked it to beat the Bengals, who scored 14. You were correct. Thank you. The snowman as of Friday was an 11. By the way, it since dropped to like a three on Rotten Tomatoes. Kevin, you picked the dolphins who exploded for 31 points.

So you were two for two. Dolphins wouldn't have beaten anyone last night. So this week, we have the Browns going up. They're actually at home against the Vikings. Against I was going to do Jigsaw, but Jigsaw took a huge jump. Suburbanon. So let's go Amityville, the Awakening, which is at 20. 20% right now.

Okay. So... This is a revival of the popular franchise and the modern twist on the classic horror film coming in at 20% right now. Jennifer Jason Lee is in this movie, Bella Thorne. The Browns are starting God Only Knows this week at quarterback. I'm going to say they're playing the Colts. They're playing the Vikings at home. Oh.

The Bengals are playing the Colts. they are going to score less points than the Amityville you're going with Amityville in the upset yeah I am Robert I am also going with Amityville okay there's I don't know if the Bratskin gets 20 points against the Vikings all right how are we still making these movies also big month for Bella Thorne and horror movies she's in the babysitter on Netflix

too in the span of two weeks big October for her I like that that's your takeaway how are the Brown still playing football was what we were looking for. All right, so you guys are both taking the movie. Now we've got 49ers at Eagles. The 49ers are going up against Suburicon, 29% according to the critics' consensus. A disappointing misfire for director George Clooney. Suburicon attempts to juggle social satire, racial commentary, and a murder mystery.

Oh, and it ends up making a mess of all three. none of the threads turn out good just like the 49ers on offense defense and special teams wow 29% for Suburicon can the 49ers beat it no it's a pretty simple one the Eagle DeVis is actually good we need worse movies well I mean last week we got them I know that's what I mean

can I say something last weekend we were getting real time updates from D.K. and J.S. about the Rotten Tomato scores of the movies, and both of them, I believe, fell. Is that correct? Into the single digits. So, Robert, it's not,

this is, it's like a betting line. Like, we, the Rodden. You got to get it early. No, no, no. The Rodden Tomatoes score changes. So you have to sort of anticipate, you have to anticipate whether or not Suburbanon is going to fall or Amniville is going to fall. It could go up.

It could go up. The critics could love it. This is a multi- layered question. This is the jigsaw of football pod questions. I'm still going with Suburban. I don't care how far.

Guys, can I talk real quick the rare misfire for George Clooney? Last four movies, Suburicon, the Monuments Man, which was bad. The aides of March and leatherheads. Yeah, maybe George Clooney shouldn't direct. I mean, maybe that's where we're at right now. The fact that the Cohen brothers had their names on this movie

is not great. I mean, I expected a little bit more. It's a great movie poster though. The trailer was fine. I don't know. I really like Oscar Isaac. This entire thing is very disappointing. Matt Damon got to bring out his good shepherd glasses. People also said

He's got like 10 of them. Oh yeah, absolutely. The snowman, everyone also said had a good trailer. Keep in mind. That's very true. I was trying to decide what I wanted to see today. Just the utter awfulness of the snowman interests me but I'm going to go with the killing of a sacred deer instead. I think I only have so much time.

Suburicon is a good example of the Bill Simmons, Adam Corolla rule. The Bill discusses a lot in which the name came before the story. Suburicon, like George Coen brothers were just like Suburicon. Got it. Let's start. We'll meet it. We'll meet it in Venice Coffee Shop tomorrow. Write this up.

So it sounds like you're still taking Suburicon, though, over 49. Oh, heavens, yes. Okay. I absolutely. Although I think Suburicon will go down, but I think the Dinus and is going to like seven points. Exactly. That's the problem here. It can't get that much worse. This is good news for George Clooney. He'll win something then. All right, fellas. Before we get out of here, let's put our visionary hats on and predict what comes next as far as the

biggest headlines in the week. Robert starts off. I feel like the Cowboys have kind of been a little quiet recently. I mean, they've been out of the news longer than you'd expect them to. And after that really impressive showing against the 49ers and what I assume will be another nice offensive day against Washington. I feel like we could start to get the are the Cowboys contenders conversation if they have a really nice game on Sunday. And I think they might. And it's just, again, we've talked about this a lot.

The water down NFC, there aren't that many really good teams. That second wild card feels very up for grabs if we assume the 40 or the Cocks are getting one of them. So it just feels like that Dallas team could be in the hunt with everybody else. And if they have another big week, I feel like the volume on that is going to start to get turned up. For me, it's going to be what we, talking about for a month and a half now, which is the protest stuff. That's been

rekindled by an ESPN story by Don Vanana and Seth Wicker Sham on Friday that essentially pointed out that the owners have no idea what they're talking about as far as the anthem stuff. They met. Terry Pagula referred to Anquan Bolden as Antoine. Bob McNair called them inmates running the prison. Dan Snyder said that 98% of fans supported Stain. We live in a post-fax world. It was all very good. And, no, and so I think that there's going to be a reaction to that from players. I think that, you know, what if you're a Texans player?

Do you speak out about that? If you're Redskins player, do you speak out about that? If you're Anquan Bolden, do you say, hey, that's... I mean, the Pugula thing was sort of minor because Pagula was talking about how great Bolden was, but I thought that was a very funny detail that they had. So I think there's going to be a little bit of fall at that from that specifically on Sunday. And we'll be talking about that on Monday. Tuesday. That's it for today. We'll be back on Tuesday to recap NFL's week 8. As always, thanks for

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