The Ringer NFL Show - Lombardi's Week 3 Reactions | GM Street (Ep. 308)

Episode Date: September 25, 2018

The Ringer's Michael Lombardi and Tate Frazier discuss the Steelers' victory in Tampa Bay on 'Monday Night Football' and Week 3 standouts and then give out some weekly awards. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Hey, it's Liz Kelly. I want to tell you about our great football coverage on the Ringer podcast network. Every Monday, Bill Simmons and Cousin Salle recap the weekend and guest next week's NFL lines on the BS podcast. On Wednesday mornings, Ryan Rucillo hits the hardest angles in college and pro football on our new podcast, dual threat. And on Wednesday nights, Cousin Sall and the degenerate trifecta figure out the best gambling angles on against all odds. And five times per week, the Ringer NFL show reacts to the latest news with Kevin Clark, Robert Mays, Tate Frick. Mr. Frazier, Mike Lombardi and the Danesie football crew. Subscribe to the BS podcast, dual threat against all odds, and the Ring your NFL show on Apple, Spotify, or wherever you get your podcasts.

Welcome to GM Street, part of the Ringar Podcast Network. It is Tuesday. It is September 25th. And on the line, it is Mr. Michael Lombardi. Lombardi, how you doing? I'm good, Tate, Frazier. I'm not as good as you, man, but I'm good. Life is good.

Week 4, 3 of the NFL was awesome. So everything's good, you know, the book's doing good. people are you know i got to do some i did corolla last week that was fun i did pardon my take that was fun so life's good man i'm doing good a lot of people helping me out with the book and i greatly appreciate everybody who's bought it and uh said nice things about it uh it's really been great and the book again is gridiron genius and i will say last wednesday um bombardi you were nice enough to let me come down to the last bookstore in downtown los angeles got to see a lot of people out in the world and join your book uh i have not had a chance to listen to your pardon my take podcast but

but I had a couple of my buddies who were big fans of that program, text me and say you did a great job. So I'm very happy to hear that. I am in Maui at the moment. I am in Chris Berman territory, so I am here staring out at the moon at 6 a.m. in the morning. But Lombardi, we got to talk about Monday night football last night. We've got to talk about from Fitz Tragic to Fitzmagic.

The Steelers might be back, big bins out there throwing dimes again. What did you see last night on Monday night football? It reminded me when I was at the Raiders, you know, we would always on road trips particularly sometimes at night after a game, but I would get on the plane and all the coaches sat in first class and I did too. And so we'd get on the plane and I would always either be the first one on or he would be the last one on depending on how they got him onto the plane. But so anyway, when he would get on the plane, if we lost, he would just walk to his seat

and stand there and just stare at everybody like just do this evil, evil look, right? And all the coaches would just bury their heads down into their trays, you know, and just pretend that he actually wasn't looking at him. But he was always obsessed with figuring out why we won and why we lost. And the same thing with Belichick. I mean, Belichick, after every single game makes the offensive, defensive, and special teams coordinators fill out sheets. And basically it goes over things we did well, things we did poorly, things, you know,

it does an autopsy of the game. So you could really get to the root of why you won and why you lost. And last night, to me, was a game that Fitzpatrick came down to the, you. You know, we talked about his mean regression. He was going to have that all the way, right? We knew he was going to have a bad game eventually. It wasn't going to go this long. But at the end of the half, the bucks are sitting there.

They're down 23 to 10. They make a great play at the two-minute morning. Mike Evans makes an incredible catch. I mean, like unbelievable catch. It seems like he's playing with a Nerf ball the way the ball just sticks to his hands, you know. And then you get the ball first and go with the five with two minutes to go. And the Steelers have all their timeouts. Well, you know, the bucks do the smart thing.

They run it, right? Okay, it starts moving the clock. The Steelers don't call time out. They're just going to sit there and let it go. Well, the Steelers don't call time out. That tells you, you better run it again on second down. At least make them blur in a timeout because they're challenging you to throw it. Of course, naturally, the bucks throw it on second down, incomplete.

Throw it on third down, incomplete. Settle for the three points. Okay, great. Now they're down 23 to 13. We're then 10 points. They left the Steelers three timeouts. And naturally, what did the Steelers do? drive all the way down the field

and score 30, they score touchdown, which is their 30th point of the game and wins the game for him. And nobody on TV talks about it. I mean, nobody. I mean, McFarlane talks the whole game. I mean, I don't know why he's down there on the field. Do you have any idea why he's there? I'm not quite sure.

I think we mentioned this last week. Eventually, Booger is going to have to get in the booth with those guys you would think. But I did find it interesting. I mean, it ended up being 125 on the clock for Rathosberger and the Steelers. They go down. They get the points. And obviously that it ends up, you know, leading to the win 30 to 27 as the final score for the Steelers.

I thought it was interesting. I saw you tweet this is that we have all these referees that come in, you know, Mike Pereira types that come and explain the games, the rules of the game, in fact. And we don't have someone that comes and explains that, you know, maybe you do run that to get that clock down and keep it a 10 point game and don't give Big Ben the ball back. You know what I mean?

There was no one that brought that up. And when that happens, the Steelers get all the momentum going into halftime. And yes, Ryan Fitzpatrick threw the three picks in the second quarter. And yes, you know, when he got back from halftime, you know, he looked like he was back to being himself again, or at least the version of Ryan Fitzpatrick we've seen so far this season. But, you know, at the end of the day, the Steelers won that game in one half, right? They won it on that play. Look, if you're Dirk Cotter and you got the ball, it's you're down 23 to 10. You've got to be saying to yourself, look, we're not giving them

the ball back. And if we do, the worst thing we can do is give up a field goal. He's not watching the same game I'm watching. His defense really couldn't stop anybody, right? So like, why do you think all of a sudden you're just going to become macho man and give it up. Like, watch the game. Like, we got to run the clock. And look, look, the TV and I wrote about it in the book, you know, guys that played the game don't understand game management. Just because you're an ex-player doesn't mean you know game management. You've got to live it.

You got to watch it every single day. And those two guys, and, you know, Jason and Booger, I mean, they don't really understand game management. They've never had a call a game. I mean, you know, they're coming off as the experts of the game. And people are saying, well, Lombardi, you just want to get in the booth. No, I have no interest in doing Booth. I think that's really a hard job.

But I do have an interest in trying to educate people about the game and why teams win and why teams lose. And if it's not happening on the broadcast, how are people going to learn about it? Like, that was a perfect example. They never even mention it. I'll give you a better one, Tate Fraser. And people say, well, the coaches have to know. Coaches never know. Like, just take the Atlanta, New Orleans game.

Okay? I'm watching New Orleans play. And they're just like, New Orleans is the greatest machine of all time on offense. It's like I'm truly convinced New Orleans should never punt. Like Drew Breeze is so good, they should never punt. They should go foot on every fourth down. They'll make it. There's no way you can tell me the Saints aren't 10 yards on four plays.

There's just no way. They're so well designed. They have the perfect play called at the perfect time. I mean, their execution is outstanding. Their line comes off the ball. You take the Atlanta game, Tate Fraser. Okay, Atlanta's winning. Atlanta's up 14 to 13.

There's a minute 16 to go in the game. and the Atlanta's got third and five at their own 14-yard line. And New Orleans has two timeouts left, right? You've got to be thinking here, we're on a short field. You know, we're not going to score here. Like the opponent isn't the Saints scoring. Like, we're not going to score. We're not going to make a play here.

Like, let's just let them, let's run it and see if they'll use one of their timeouts. Right? And naturally, of course. Of course, Sark calls a pass. They don't get it, right? And what happens, New Orleans scores three points at the end of half, make it 16 to 14. You know, they do it. Go right down the field, do it.

And nobody talks about it. Like, we don't even talk about it. Like, those three points cost Atlanta the game, but we don't talk about it. It is very strange that we get into those situations with the game management. And you brought up that Atlanta game. And it is a total back and forth affair. And obviously that Saints offense is really impressive. But Atlanta has been, you know, decimated on defense with some of these injuries.

We saw a little bit of that come out. But I just want to point out. I didn't do this last week. But Michael talked about Mike Evans and what he was able to do in that game for the bucks. But Michael Thomas, what he's been able to do in these first three games so far this season, he's got 38 catches, 398 yards, and three scores so far. I mean, that is otherworldly at this point. And it just seems like, like you said, I mean, Drew Breeze in the Saints offense,

they're completely rolling. They win this game in overtime. And yet again, I mean, we see Breeze being able to handle a shootout like, you know, it's 2008, 2009 at this point. and there's no signs of him going away. But just on the other side of things with Atlanta, I mean, they're going to have to be in all these shootouts, right? We talked about the Mahomes and the chiefs.

They have to outscore people, sort of similar with the Falcons, right, with all these injuries on defense? Well, they do, but I think you have to control the pace of the game. I think the key for the Saints to win and to really compete with the Rams for the NFC title. Because, I mean, look, let's face it, the Rams are good on paper.

They're good on the field. And now I know they've lost to leave for a while, and maybe they might lose Peters for a little bit. Some people say he's coming back to play. It's just a calf stream. But whatever. It doesn't matter. I mean, their defense is good. They can rush the pass. So the Rams, I mean, with Jimmy Garoppolo getting injured in the West,

and we'll talk about that more later, I mean, the Rams, you might as well just give them the West right now. Seattle's not beating them. Arizona ain't beating them for sure. So give them the West now and perhaps give them home field. But the Saints could beat them because the Saints, if the Saints are smart how they play, the Saints have to limit their defense

to 27 minutes. That's all they can play of defense. That's it. Like they got to go in the game saying, look, we're not playing more than 27 minutes of defense. You know, we can't do it. We have to control the clock more. We have to extend drives longer. We've got to make it play. If you can play complementary football, you have a chance.

Atlanta has to do the same thing. They're down five starters on defense this week as they face the Bengals, right? So they lose two more guys last week. And, you know, you don't have enough guys to come back from. So they're going to have to rely on playing less defense. The answer isn't always playing better defense. The answer is playing less defense. And especially the way the rules are now, less defense means to win.

And I learned this from watching the Eagles last year. How the Eagles gave up 613 yards in 26 minutes in the Super Bowl and won the game. I had a coach from the Patriots calling after the Super Bowl and say, what just happened? Like it was so, you know, it's like, what just happened? Like, how did that happen? Like, I have no idea. They just, you move the ball up and down the field on them and they won. And so that's to me the approach you got to take.

And New Orleans can do it so well. New Orleans is like their execution is beyond. When I look at execution, I look at rushing attempts plus completions. That tells me how a team's playing. And when you're over 52, you're doing well. The Saints were at 66 last week. That is very impressive. And we should say the Saints do have marking room coming back in a couple of weeks.

And that will help them with some time of possession and obviously have an ability to rely more on that running game. This is what we always do each week. We do the five performances that jumped out. these will be the five performances that jumped out to Lombardi from week three. First up is a guy that he's getting comparisons to 1984 Dan Marino. And as soon as you hear that, we can already say that that is high praise. And that is Pat Mahomes and the Chiefs. The Chiefs go in and they take on Jimmy G and the 49ers.

Unfortunately, we did not get the shootout that we all hope from these two quarterbacks as Jimmy G goes down with the torn ACL. We'll get into that in a minute. But first off, let's talk about Mahomes, Lombardi. Again, he comes out and continues. to deliver the goods for all the Chiefs fans. And he just continues to show that he's not afraid to throw the ball down the field. And throwing 50 touchdowns does not seem like it's out of this world at this point.

What did you see from the Chiefs and obviously from Mahomes himself? I think Mahomes has been sensational. And I think he deserves all the praise. And so does Andy Reid. But they've played three of the worst defenses I've seen on tape so far this season. I mean, the 49ers, I have no idea what they're trying to accomplish on defense. You know, they play truly battleship defense. they're calling stuff, they're hoping.

Between them and Green Bay, I have no idea what they're trying to accomplish on defense. And then the week before Pittsburgh, we know how bad they are on defense. And they opened up against the chargers, really, they weren't. I mean, this week against Denver, we'll get a good idea about my homes. Not because I think Denver's very good. I think their secondary is nowhere near where it was two years ago. But at least they can rush. And I think for a team playing Kansas City, you're going to have to make them play left-handed.

You've got to figure out how to do that. Right now, they have answers to everything you try to do on them. and Mahomes has been able to make loose plays. He's been able to make pocket plays. And, you know, Randy Reid calls such a good game. He keeps you off balance. And so it's hard to make him play left-handed. Mahomes, I thought, you know, Deshawn Watson was great in the beginning of the season last year.

But Mahomes, with a year to watch and learn, he's been unbelievable. His accuracy is remarkable. I mean, not only does he throw the ball with great philosophy, his accuracy is unbelievable. And so with that, you know, I mean, the chiefs, look, the chiefs are horrible on defense. but, you know, they get off the field, you know, they play good third down defense. So that's really all that matters. They're off the field of 27% of the time you can't convert. So every time you punt back to the chiefs, you've got to think you're giving up points.

You're playing a big 12 game. And if you don't change your thinking when you play the chiefs on how you approach it, like you're just out of your mind. I mean, like the other night when Matt Patricia, he's driving the ball down the field, the entire first drive of the game, right? He has no problem gaining five yards. He gets fourth and inches and he settles for a field. goal. Like, are you watching the same game? I'm watching? Like, you know, if you're playing Brady,

three points typically in the past never matter, go for it. You know, you got to do it. You got to watch the game. You're playing the Chiefs. Every third down call you make against the Chiefs defense, you better be really good because if you punt it back to Mahomes, you're in trouble. Yeah, and Mahomes goes 24 for 38. He gets 314 yards, three TDs again, continues to impress. I thought it was interesting what you just brought up, though. He's going to go, you know, play this Denver Broncos front line, go against Von Miller, go against Chub. Those guys are going in his face. He'll be the first. time we'll see Mahomes deal with a little bit of pressure.

I also saw one little tidbit Lombardi, just speaking about that Chief's defense and trying to ramp it up. There's a bit of a rumor out there. There's a chance that the Chiefs would be interested in trading for Earl Thomas. Of course, Earl Thomas had another great game against the Cowboys getting two picks. One of the picks was very fortunate, but again, at the end of the stat sheet, it is two interceptions. And if Earl Thomas was a guy they tried to bring in to Kansas City, do you think that can do something to make them a true contender and help them on defense, or is that just an added piece that may be a nice tool in the shed?

Well, it gives him a playmaker. I mean, this guy's around the ball every play. I mean, you know, what he did against Dallas. I mean, he's around the ball. He made plays. He's instinctive. You know, he controls the third level of the defense, which is so important, especially when you're playing against some teams that make big plays.

I mean, Miami lived off big plays last week against the Raiders. But so, you know, I think that's really important. I can't see Seattle. I mean, he's the best player on their defense. They're rebuilding. I mean, I think at some point, you know, and I've always been in Seattle's corner on this one in terms of letting him play it out. But I think to me, Seattle needs to stop it.

I mean, Seattle's not going to be any good on defense if they trade them. And they're going to have to build around a guy. And I think if they could extend them, I think that's what Seattle needs to do. To me, enough is enough. We need to have a meeting of the minds and kind of come to some resolution. Because this is all about the green stuff, right? I mean, he'll get happy. Levy on Bell will get happy.

All, everybody will get happy once they get green stuff. As soon as you get paid, a lot of people start to put smiles in their faces. And we should say as far as a hat tip to maybe what's in the future, Camp Chancellor came out in that game against the Cowboys. The fans in Seattle were very excited to see him. They played a little bit reminiscent to that 2012 version of the Legion of Boom. And, you know, all signs point to maybe Earl Thomas and the Seahawks can figure out a way to keep this thing going. Just speaking about, we brought up my homes in that Chiefs game.

Jimmy G. does go down. Obviously, this is an performance that stood out. but just seeing Jimmy G go down after throwing those two touchdowns of torn ACL. This obviously changes the entire trajectory of the season for that 49ers team. Obviously hurts to see Jimmy G go down, but just implications and all that. I mean, obviously a little bit of a slow start for him. But after what we saw with the five wins last year and then coming out to a slow start this year, just an overall assessment of where we are in the Jimmy G. Calshanahan marriage.

I think it's disappointing. I mean, you know, look, this roster for San Francisco, they lose two high-price-free agents. You know, they signed Jimmy to an extension. They lose the running back McKinnon. You know, he's out for it. I mean, they've had two really bad injuries. And when you have that, this team might be competing for the first pick on the draft. I mean, C.J. Bethard, okay, say he's gotten better.

Good luck. You know, we talked about it this summer on GM Street about which team's going to lose the quarterback and then have the first or second pick in the draft because there's no backup. And we specifically talked about San Francisco about that. And they could. I mean, their defense is horrendous. I know they've got Solomon Thomas in the first round. I know they've got Buckner first round.

They've got Armstead first round. They can't do anything. I mean, Ruben Foster missed more tackles last week than he made in the game. I mean, they were not very good. Richard Sherman's now out one to two weeks with a calf injury. Now, that's really a surprise. An older player that gets hurt, really, that's a shocker. You know, so, you know, I just think the 49ers are not a very talented roster.

And they're playing in a division. Maybe they'll beat the Cardinals. and maybe they can beat split with Seattle, but I think it's going to be a hard sledding for them to win some games. And it was going to be hard with Jimmy because their defense, really. I mean, they didn't slow the Lions down. They never slowed Kansas City down. And in the first game, Kirk Cousins looked sensational against him,

and he hasn't looked the same since, except for the fourth quarter against Green Bay. Let's stay in the NFC West, and let's talk about the showdown in Los Angeles. And that Philip Rivers Chargers team and the L.A. Rams, they go on and try to figure out who was going to be the king of the city of Angels. and it looks like right now the Los Angeles Rams are basically the cream of the crop in the NFL at this point. They continue to show off. Jared Goff, 29 for 36,

3 154 yards, 3 touchdowns, one pick. Todd Gurley continues to be unstoppable at this point. 23 carries 105 yards and a touchdown. Just looking at that Rams team, Lombardi, and seeing what they did against that Chargers team. The Chargers have, but you know, they've played the class in the AFC and the class in the NFC. They're a team that looks like, you know,

they have a chance to make the playoffs this season. but to see the Rams continue to dominate these games and dictate really the terms of how the game is going to be played across the board is pretty impressive, right? Yeah, it really is. Everybody talks about defense, you know, defense wins the game. But to me, when you're so good on offense, I learned this with the 49ers and then when we were good in Oakland and certainly in New England, the offense can control the pace. And the offense, when you're good on offense, you can go on the road and win. When you're good on defense, it's harder to win on the road. I think we saw that with Chicago struggling to win in Arizona.

You know, when you're good on offense, the road's your friend because you can score points and points against the team that's not great, whether they play home or away, really affects them. And so this is why the Rams are so good. I mean, they never take their foot off the gas. I mean, to me, the lock of the week was them winning by more than seven and a half last week. We talked about it on Friday, GM Street. I mean, they were just always going to try to beat them down. And I thought golf played really well. Look, I think the Chargers, anytime they're in a game against higher level of competition, I would say stay away.

from them. If you're a better, I would invent the Charger Rule. You know, you want to call it the Anthony Lynn Rule, the Charger Rule, whatever it is, but when they play against a good level of comp, stay away. The Chargers have yet to prove they can beat good teams. Until they do it, why would you bet on them? I do want to point out one guy on the Chargers that I think

that's sort of gone under the radar, and that's Mike Williams, a guy who obviously was a top ten pick last year. I guess four receptions, 81 yards, two touchdowns in that game yesterday, showed some real signs. And I don't know, you can correct me if I'm wrong. It did sort of feel as you watched this Chargers offense versus Rams offense.

It felt like the Rams were just the better version of the chargers and the way they were setting up Gordon. Gurley's, you know, the better sort of like the better version of Gordon. And I don't know, as you watch those two teams, you just kind of saw a different class, you know, like a first class offense. And then, you know, Phil Rivers and those guys can get there. But, you know, they kind of shoot themselves in the foot a little bit. Well, I think what you saw, Tate Fraser, you saw one coordinator that kind of attacks coverages in the chargers. And then you saw another coordinator, Sean McVey, attack the adjustments in the coverage. And that's what their lies the difference.

And I think his adjustments, his ability to do it. I mean, it's the same thing with the Saints. I mean, they just do such a great job of attacking coverages. They call the game really well. They don't care about third down. They've got good third down plan. They don't have a, you know, they don't have a small third down playlist. They've got a large one and they can execute.

Their execution is really good. And I think their offensive line, Aaron Cromer, the line coach for the Rams has done a really good job. That line's gotten better from year one to year two. It was the weak link I thought last year. this year it's not been that case. I think they're playing much better. And, you know, look, I think the Chargers are a good team, but I think defensively, they're a little bit of a myth because they've played the Chiefs, couldn't slow them down. They played the Rams, couldn't slow them down. And if you're a good team on defense, you can slow an opponent down. They haven't

been able to. One thing I know for sure, McBay knows how to attack Seattle's coverages. And I say Seattle, because that's what the Chargers run. Chargers run Seattle's coverages. And so McVeigh really knows how to attack them. And if you're the same, if you're the, if you're, if you're, Anthony Lynn, you've got to think to yourself, look, they kind of know us, we're going to have to play it differently. Like you take the game against Atlanta, played New Orleans. New Orleans kind of altered what they did. And late in the game, when Atlanta got the ball back, when the score was tied before overtime, they kind of changed a little bit of what they do. Caught Atlanta completely off guard. And if you can do that, you can do that. You can create some wins for you on self-phone defense. But in reality, they never did. They never do that at the Chargers. And that's why it will be their downfall.

And let's talk about the downfall of a few teams and sort of like to just some shocking developments as far as what happened in week three. And I think the first one that really jumps out to a lot of people. And I think a lot of people had this as their lock of the week. You know, something to keep an eye on talking about that Bill's team. We talked about the struggles of Josh Allen, even though in this game, he ends up, you know, running for, you're scoring two rushing touchdowns, throwing for a touchdown as well. The Viking come out completely behind the eight ball cousins is having to throw the ball 55 times. But in general, that Bill's defense comes out early. we had fumble problems with the Vikings.

This is probably, I mean, you know, how much you can take away from this, you know, who knows at this point it is week three. But the bills come out and get a very surprising win, 27 to 6 over the Vikings. And I don't know, Lombardi, is this calls for concern if you're a Vikings fan? Or is this one of those things where you kind of wash it away and move on? No, I think it's a concern. They look slow on defense. They did not look explosive.

Everson Griffin didn't play in the game. They didn't really rush the passer. I thought this, I thought Buffalo did a really good job. of giving Josh Allen a little bit of offense that he could execute. And we've talked about this on GM Street. They got to start building the Josh Allen offense. And for the first time all season, they did. And there was not a lot of hard throws, bubble screens, screens, you know, some flares.

Really didn't have to make a lot of hard throws, which was great. Had a couple deep throws he made, the guys didn't make the catch on them. But I thought it was perfect. And then Buffalo did exactly what they've done in the past, why they were a playoff team. They turned them all over. Jerry Hughes was sensational and if you're a Viking fan you have to be concerned

you couldn't block these guys at home now this week you got to go out to Los Angeles and you've got to block a really good front with a bad offensive line and you know my rule bad lines don't travel well so I think it's going to be a challenge for the Vikings especially defensively they didn't look themselves

they looked slow Anthony Barr wasn't the same player had a hard time tackling in space got a ton of penalties I mean every time you turned around it was a penalty on the Vikings and they really weren't crisp they took that team for granted. I mean, take Brazier, I'm sitting there at Tony P's. I missed you, but you weren't there. But halftime scores, it's 27 and nothing Buffalo's up, right? It's 35 to 7, the Chiefs are up. It's 20 to 6, the Giants are up. It's 28 to 10. I forget who was up in 28 to 10. And then

30 to 10 last night at halftime. I mean, it was like, oh, 28 to 10 was Washington over Green Bay. 20, I mean, there's five, there were five games that at halftime. there was over 20 points scored in every one of them, 20 or more points scored in everyone. It's remarkable. I mean, so look, I think if you're a Viking fan, you've got to be concerned, but more than anything, if you're a Bill fan,

you've got to be happy that Josh, they finally, now this week they'll add more to what Josh Allen can do. Is there anything to point to that? I mean, is that just all preparation to come out and just completely flat-footed? I mean, obviously I understand that the Vikings, I mean, you see this Bill's team and what they've done earlier in the season. Maybe they, you know, glossed over this game, especially with a Thursday night game coming up against the L.A. Rams, you know, trying to see if

who's going to be the class in the NFC. I mean, could be one of those situations. Obviously, Davin Cook did not play in that game at all for the Vikings and they're trying to save him for Thursday night. But just all the, you mentioned all those like early deficits. I mean, is that a, is that a trend across the league or is that just something that just randomly happened this week? I don't know, I don't know. I think it was the Thursday night game. I think they were looking ahead. I don't think they stayed in the moment. And I think they got too focused on, hey, we got Thursday night. We'll beat these bills team, you know, and then we'll move on. They didn't give the bills enough respect. And every team, I mean, look, it's pretty clear of any given Sunday rule. We could

see it. I mean, you know, Arizona should have beaten the right, should have beaten the bears the other night. They had every chance to beat them. They couldn't do it. I mean, you can see it every week in the NFL. There's games that, I mean, look, the Titans went into Jacksonville and won the game. Every week I do notes. And when you research that game, the Titans versus the Jacks, everything in the notes told you it was going to be a close game. Absolutely. Everything that you looked at in prior games said it was close. The lime was seven.

It went up to, I think it went up to almost 10 by the time the game kicked. And I kept saying, and I wrote my lead note was, everything tells me this game's close except my eyes. Like there's no way I thought that Tennessee could come close in that game. There's just no way, right? And Bortles did what Bortles typically does, says he made no plays. he got hit early in the game, and his accuracy went off. He couldn't run with the ball like he did against New England because New England's slow on defense,

so he couldn't make any plays with his feet. His longest play of the game was a 19-yard pass that was a hook and lateral play. They couldn't get the ball down the field. And the Titans just basically did nothing on offense and won the game. And we've seen that Jaguar's team struggle with that Tennessee team. I mean, it happened last year a couple of times. Obviously, they can't depend on the running game right now with Fort Net out, and it went back to Bortles being a guy that had to sling the ball around.

And I think it was 4.6 yards per attempt yesterday for Blake Bortles. And, you know, you compare that to some of these. Keep telling me, he's the great equalizer. He's the only thing keeping Jacksonville close to the pack in the AFC. He's the only thing. He's the only thing. And if it's Jacksonville and the Rams and the Super Bowl, if that comes to fruition, if that's what happens,

you think that Blake's going to be able to move the ball consistently on a Ram's front. I don't think so. I just don't. Especially if you have speed on defense where he can't beat you with your feet. Everybody said, well, he played great against the Patriots. The Patriots make every quarterback look great. I mean, if Colt McCoy went into the game, he would look great against the Patriots. You know, it's not hard to look great against the Patriots. They're too slow on defense. They've got to fix it. It could have turn around, maybe. It is interesting that Blake Portals is probably faster around the edge than most the guys the Patriots have on defense. You mentioned the parody in the league, and I think that was Tagliaboo, right?

I mean, that's his thing. Any given Sunday he wanted to have parity in the NFL. It goes back to Pete Roselle before you were born. I don't even know who made that line, but it was true. And I think I'm trying to answer your question about the Vikings. I think the Vikings looked ahead. I think they got so caught up in how bad Buffalo was. And I'm sure Mike Zimmer had a hard time showing the Viking players good Buffalo plays.

Like, you've got to get your team. Like, for example, New England this week, there's no doubt Belichick will have their full attention because they're, you know, they're so bad and they played so bad that he's got their full attention. Miami, on the other hand, I mean, when you look at their situation, you've got to sit there and say, okay, they've played so well, they're playing New England. Okay, that's a step up game. So you don't have to worry about getting your team motivated for that. But when you have to play a team that's not very good and you know you have a play another game that's good, it's hard to get your team up for it. especially when you have a short week with those things. You mentioned the Patriots and you mentioned that Lions game.

I saw your piece that you put up on the athletic, and I thought this was an interesting quote. You said the foundation of the Patriots success on offense relies on trust. It's as vital as any play they execute. And right now it's obvious that Tom Brady does not trust his teammates. And you mentioned about overlooking a team. I didn't know if there was any chance that maybe that was something that had happened with the Patriots. Obviously knowing Patricia really well.

but it does seem like the Patriots offense as much as every single year it feels like for the past five to six years. We freak out early in the season about the Patriots and we ask that the dynasty is over. And again, I'm going to ask those same questions because this is the NFL and this is what we do. But it does seem like that Patriots offense is not clicking right now. And Brady and Belichick are really trying to put the pieces together to get that offense going. Right. I mean, when you look at it, Tafras, so they lose Amadola, there's 61 catches, they lose Brandon Cooks, there's 65 catches.

They lose Dionne Lewis. There's 900 yards of offense. So those three players, really, they touch the ball 33% of the time for the Patriots offense. And they haven't been replaced. When Edelman comes back, I'm sure he can replace Amadola. Can Josh Gordon replace Brandon Cooks? That's what the hope for, because Kenny Britt couldn't and Jordan Matthews couldn't. I don't see Sonny Michelle right now replacing Dionne Lewis.

They need them to. They need a loose play back back there. They need somebody they can swing the ball to, can make somebody miss in the flat. and get 15 yards. Deion did it against Jacksonville. You know, he's got quickness, he's got lateral burst. He can turn a one-yard play into an eight. They don't have that. James White is a catcher. James White goes down too easily. He's not a runner. He's a catcher. And if he's got space to run, he's affected. But if he can't, you know, if he doesn't have space, he's not getting any extra yards. And I think that's the problem. And the other issue is Gronk doesn't have the same

quickness that he once had. I mean, the great combination of Grunk and Aaron Hernandez, Aaron Hernandez, Aaron Hernandez was quick. Gronk was quick and explosive. Gromk's more of a builder of speed now. And people are playing for that. So none of those underneath routes really apply to Gromk. It's got to be throws up the field. And so that limits what you do offensively.

And I think that's the challenge for New England. And then defensively, they can't get off the field. They can't get off the field. They can't even get the third down. I mean, in the Detroit game, they had a hard time just getting the third down. I think what New England needs to do is stop playing High Tower at linebacker and just make them a defensive end.

because when he's at linebacker, they're really slow. And so they need to play him down as a defense event. Just make him a nickel rusher. Put his hand in the dirt, make him a nickel rusher. Because that's the only thing they're going to be able to get out of them. They're not going to be able to get space plays. And they've got to get more, they've got to get faster guys on the field on defense. This week they're playing Tannahill.

Tana Hill's foot quickness will give him trouble. Tanahill moves around. Tana Hill makes plays with his feet. And when a quarterback can do that, that's a problem. They're going to have to rush Tana Hill perfectly like they did to Sean Watson in week one and then they could win the game. I want to ask you about the Sony Michelle era. There's a lot of people, one of the biggest things I saw during that game was there were so many people that were very upset. A lot of Boston people follow me on Twitter due to the

Bill Simmons connection and people were just tweeting at me some of the worst things about how they feel about the Sony Michelle era and Belichick's dependence on him and his belief in him. And I just wanted to ask you, is there anything, are there good signs that you see for Michelle? I mean, obviously there's some hesitation in hitting the hole. There's been a lot of feedback in a lot of conversations. But is Belichick going to believe in the rookie and keep this thing going and try to build him up? Or is it one of those things where maybe they look elsewhere to try to find it back like you were saying, a possession back like Dion?

You know, I mean, they got too much invested in them. They drafted him in the first round and I think they're going to have to, he missed so much of camp. You know, that's the trust factor. You know, Brady has to trust the back. He's got to feel like the back can do where he's supposed to be, the receivers. I mean, Cordell Patterson runs the wrong route. You know, Cordell Patterson's always going to run the wrong route. He's never going to, Brady is never going to trust Cordell.

Pat. There's just no chance. There's no chance. You know, and so now they went in the game with three receivers. I mean, it's hard to win a game with three receivers, especially against the team that you need to throw the ball away from Slay. So, you know, you need to work on their other corners. This week against Miami, they've got to throw the ball away from Howard dominated them down in Miami last year. You know, he took cooks out of the game. He jammed the hell out of them and really made the ball go somewhere else. So that's the challenge. And I think Michelle's got to be a guy that learns more what to do, and come on and be the back that he was at Georgia.

So far we haven't seen that. But I think it's a little early, especially since he's missed so much of camp. Can I say this? I mean, we made a lot of jokes, or at least I did on this past Friday episode. I thought that the Patriots were going to put in Josh Gordon, and I thought they were going to run up the score on their former coordinator,

Matt Patricia. You told me to not quite take it that far and to watch out and see what happens with Gordon. And also to watch out and see what happens with Patricia, because that Lions team would be a team to reckon with the Patriots. And Michael Lombardi, you were right again. And, I mean, can we give Patricia credit? Or is this, again, back on the Patriots more so than what the Lions did? I think you got to give him credit.

I mean, look, he doubled Gronk. He took Gronk out of the game, forced Brady not throw the ball to Gronk, didn't let him run the ball, which was important, right? They had to be, for the Patriots, they went in there with a mindset to run the ball. They couldn't run it. And because they couldn't run the ball, they couldn't really make any plays. And, you know, and so you got to give them credit. And look, Matthew Stafford was always going to be a problem for the Patriots.

They don't have anybody that can't rush to pass her. I mean, Blake Bortles look good against them. If Blake Bortles looks good against you, then somebody else is going to look way better against you. And Matt Stather, if you put Matthew Stafford on Jacksonville, then they're going to probably win, they're going to win the AFC easily, right? So that when you put a good quarterback against the Patriots and he can make throws, it's going to be an issue until they can cover. They missed a lot of guys. Roe didn't play. They had some guys hurt.

Patrick Chung didn't play. That hurts them. hurt some versatility-wise, hurts their communication. So look, it's not all doom and gloom. It's not the end of the Roman Empire in New England yet, but I do think this Miami game and the indie game will be a tell-tale sign on where they're going with their season.

Yes, absolutely. We're going to take a break right here. Those are the five performances that jumped out to Lombardi in week three. And we're going to come back. We're going to talk about some of the biggest narratives of the week. And then, of course, give out some awards. Quick break to get a word from our sponsor, GameTime. Game Time is the top.

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One of our favorite segments that we do is guess the narratives. Now we're going to talk the narratives. There's a lot of stuff coming out of a lot of camps this week, but one of the biggest storylines that we had going into the season. And Lombardi and I've always talked about this. One of our guys, Deshaun Watson and the Houston Texans, we did believe that they would be a team to reckon with in the AFC South. But Lombardi, the Texans go down 0 and 3.

And you said you were going to be done with them. Are you done with them officially? Oh, I'm so dumb with them. It's unbelievable. I mean, I've never seen the team shoot itself in a foot more. I mean, the first four drives of the game, they had penalties. Julian Davenport, I mean, the guy was a penalty machine for them. I mean, they got the ball first and goal with the five.

Next thing you know, you look up, it's first and goal at the 25. I mean, it's unbelievable how they just shoot themselves in the foot. They have so many negative plays. I mean, people say, what's wrong with Watson-Lombardi? You thought he was going to be great. You play behind that line, see how great you are. You play when you're in third and 15 half the time. I mean, their offense is horrendous.

I mean, Will Fuller is a legitimate big-time player. Hopkins is a legitimate big-time player. They got two receivers. They can't run the ball. The Giants just dominated them up front. They can't run the ball. They shoot themselves in the foot. They get behind a long distance.

And then when their defense has to make plays, they can't make a play. They can't get a stop. And I think, you know, and I've been hard on Eli all year. And I'm not, I'm just one game's not going to make me change my mind on Eli. But I think Pat Shermer did a great job with Eli this week. He moved the pocket. He changed the launch points. He moved them around.

And he attacked a really bad secondary. Houston secondary is atrocious. I mean, they don't have a corner that can cover. Jonathan Joseph's still their best corner. They can't make a play on the ball. And so they're playing at home. I haven't seen Clowny make a play yet. I don't think Clowny's healthy.

I know Clowny's a great player. I haven't seen him make a play yet. Watts playing better. Marcellus, I haven't seen him do anything. And I know he's a good player. They're not anywhere near they are. I'm done with him. If I ever bring him up again, Tate Frazier,

take the gun out and shoot me. I won't do all that. but I will say that Texans defense obviously misses a guy like Kevin Johnson on that back end. It just seems like they haven't quite been able to put it together in this game. I do want to talk about Eli quickly, though. 25 for 29, 297 yards, two touchdowns. Sequin had a nice game as a rookie 17 carries 82 yards in a touchdown. Odell, nine catches, 109 yards.

This sort of looked like, right, the Giants offense that we expected to see from the get-go this year? Yeah, they did, and they moved him around. I mean, Sterling Sheper was really good. I mean, they got him, you know, they found matchups and they utilized him. I mean, they went after them. And so, you know, they did a really good job with their game plan. Like, when you take, like, Oakland's game plan last week, I mean, Oakland really dominated Miami in the game. Miami had 13 first downs, right?

Oakland was just kicking their buck up. Now, Miami made huge plays down the field. They deserve to win. I'm not taking that away from them. But Oakland's throwing the ball at Xavier Howard. The critical play of the game, they're trying to get the ball on Martavius Brian against Xavier Howard. Like, that's not smart. Like, that's not smart football.

Like, you're going to lose when you do that, right? You give the ball to Keith Smith on the fourth and one when you got Marshawn Lynch, that's not smart football. Like you deserve to lose, right? Those two plays, you deserve to lose the game when you're doing that. And so, you know, whereas New York did the smart thing. They took advantage. They understood the matchups and they went after them. The Raiders, they didn't.

You know, the Raiders are two for five in the red zone. You know, they'd have horrible interceptions. They moved the ball up and down the field on. They were the better team that day, except they couldn't win the game. couldn't make plays in a red zone and they did dumb things. They kept going after Howard. Like Howard's going to be their best cover guy. Go after everybody else on their team and they didn't do it.

It drives me crazy. Like that's one of the things. You have some coaches in this league are scheme coaches. And then you have some coaches that understand matchups. And they set their game plan over the matchups. And when you watch a team like Oakland who has some decent skill players going after Xavier Howard, even if Howard's trailing Cooper, then Nelson, who had a huge first quarter, give him the ball. right like and it's fourth and one and the one and you got marshawn lynch like don't be don't try to dick somebody

don't don't try to fool them like just get the big guy and give him the ball or or throw a pass don't give it to a guy can't score a touchdown learn from super bowl always give it to marshawn lynch uh especially in goal line and fourth and one situations geordy nelson had a vintage performance six receptions 173 yards one touchdown um i want to ask you just about i mean the grudanara the the 10 year hundred million dollar deal obviously it's going to get a lot of eyeballs a lot of conversations and a lot of people up in arms about things. But he starts out 0 and 3. You could tell that he was a little frustrated in his press conference.

He brought up penalties and the like. But you talked about execution and being able to go against the scheme. I mean, does that come back to Gruden? Is Gruden just running things how he wants to run them and not necessarily going after scheme specifically? Because it does seem that way a little bit, right? They're just sort of rolling the ball out there and seeing what's happening with who they have.

The difference between John and Sean, Sean McBay is going after the players. John's running his scheme. I mean, John's scheme is, you know, he can run his stuff and it's good. I mean, I'm not disputing that with you. But to me, when you're throwing the ball to Martavius Brian against Xavier Howard, you deserve to lose. The guy ran out of balance.

I mean, it was a horrible route. Then the one route to Amari Cooper, Mari Cooper gave up on the route. Like, they just, he gave up on the route. Like, it just stopped. And Howard got the interception and took it back. I mean, the Raiders lacked talent, but they also lack some intelligence in terms of managing the game. And to me, that's a core problem right there. Look, I think Gruden's got his work cut out for him.

The quarterback's really inconsistent. I think he's a lot. People think he's a lot better than he actually is. I think that's a problem. I think their offensive line, struggles at times. But there was no reason. I mean, they've led at halftime in every game, and they've not been able to finish games out.

And I think that's a concern. Will that come back on Groot? Like, when does it get to the point where we see some of these Raiders fans or even we see Mark Davis or someone have, you know, push back on the Gruden situation? Or is it one of those deals where, We understand where we got ourselves into. We understand we're playing the long game.

We understand that John is still trying to build his version of the Raiders at this point. And there are going to be growing pains. I think all that is what's going to happen. But I think if you're John, you've got to be a little bit more systematic in your approach setting up the game plan. Like, you've got to be able to identify who the weaklings are on their defense and go after them and wear them out. Just wear them out. And if you don't have any tendencies on offense, you can't be any good. You're fourth and one at the one.

Don't give it to Keith Smith. Give it to Marshall. You got a chance to go up 14-0-0. game, give it to him. You know, make him beat, make them beat you with your best stuff. Don't make them beat you because you're going to dick them. You're not dicking anybody when you get down there. We've got to be, it's, you got all these high-priced linemen and you got this back that's hard to, that's hard to tackle. Go after, let him score, you know. And so I think John's on, you know, John's on a honeymoon, but John's got to prove that he's adaptable. And so far, what we've seen

from his offense hasn't been adaptability. It's still the same offense he's run before when he was at Tampa. And it could be one of those things where the more familiar Gruden it's with the current iteration of the NFL. I'm sure we can see some of those old, you know, impressive habits come back out, and, you know, Raiders fans will be pretty happy with that. I want to talk about another big storyline, and that is obviously Clay Matthews has become the poster boy

for taking down quarterbacks and improper, yet, you know, proper fashion based on the old days. You know, Roger Goodell puts out this statement. So we strongly encourage all defensive players who not hit the quarterback ever. Instead, buy them a drink. we're in a situation right now where you know Clay Matthews takes down Alex Smith and it becomes a penalty and obviously we had the same thing happen with Mitch Trubiskey a couple weeks ago with with Clay Matthews. I mean, what's sort of the best approach on Marty?

If you are defensive coach, if you are Mike Zimmer or one of these guys, you know, Wade Phillips, whoever it may be, I mean, what is the message that you send and what is the message that the NFL is sending at this point? I mean, obviously don't take your body and your weight all the way down with the quarterback, try to keep them healthy, try to keep them upright. But would that have a ripple effect in how we see, you know, these offenses play out? And obviously the defenders are going to react in a certain way to all these penalties getting flagged.

Well, I think this, Dave Fraser, I think the league has to stop talking and start showing. I think it's time now. We're all confused, right? We're all confused. Nobody thinks these hits are rough in the past, or it's football, right? So I think what the league needs to do, I think Al Riveron needs to go.

out there and he needs to show Clay Matthews on a video what he should have done. And let Riveron do it. Like you contort your body since you've made these rules and you think these rules are applicable really are. I mean, there are rules that apply on paper. They don't apply in there. There are theory rules. They're not reality rules. And that's the problem. And so make Riveron or make someone in the league office demonstrate on video. Like just show me what you expected this player to do. If you can do that, I'll buy into the rule. But if you can't do that, how do you expect players to execute? How do you expect players to execute?

Like usually when you rough the passer, you get fined. There's an unnecessary hit. Usually there's been no fines. So I haven't read where they've been fined for a late hit on a quarterback or something like that on some of these. They're calling so many of them, right? And some of them are justifiable, but some when you land on the quarterback, I don't know what they want the player to do. So just show me. Show me exactly what you want the player to do.

You demonstrate it and I'll teach it. And if you can't demonstrate it, I can't teach it. And it's really hard too. I mean, I watched the football life, Lawrence Taylor, the NFL Network just put that out. And then you see what he was doing as far as terrorizing quarterbacks. And obviously, you know, he is a totally different thing with LT and what he was able to do as a sack, as a guy that would get all these sacks. But, I mean, it's just a totally different time in football.

obviously, you know, the pass rush is a totally different thing. I mean, I brought it up last week what Von Miller said, where, you know, he's not playing to hit guys. He's playing for the football. And, you know, that's sort of the way he approaches it. But it is interesting. We'll see what happens with all this. It's almost becoming the new catch rule as far as, you know, a point of discussion.

I want to talk about two guys, two new starters that are rookie quarterbacks that have just been announced. The first one is who we brought up on Friday when we talked about the Brown's getting their first win. And that, of course, is Baker Mayfield. it is official. Hugh has watched the tape and he has decided that Baker Mayfield is now the starting quarterback for the Cleveland Browns. Lombardi, obviously this is good news for Baker Mayfield, but

in total, in tow, this is good news for the Cleveland Browns faithful, right? Yeah, it is. I think it'll be exciting. I think this is going to be a different week. I think last week against the Jets, I think the Jets kind of got caught off by surprise. And when you watch the tape of the game, the Jets played really vanilla in the

second half. They played cover three vanilla. And they really never got after them. They didn't really do anything on Baker. And it was a preseason game in the second half. I'm not taking anything away from Baker. He did great. But I think the Jets were caught off guard. I think on the short week, the Jets were not thinking

that Baker would ever come in the game. And this is where Al Davis was so good. Al Davis, she demanded that every defensive coordinator study the backup quarterbacks in the draft, study them, write reports on them because if that happens in an instant, you've got to be ready to go. And they weren't. The Jets

weren't. And so this week against Paul Gunther and the Raiders, there's going to be a lot of different things that are going to happen on the road, crowd noise. It'll be a different element, but it's the right move. Now they can start developing the Baker-Mayfield offense in Cleveland. The sooner they can do that, the more productive they're going to be as the year goes forward. So that's going to be great. And then I think when you see, you know, Josh Rosen, look, Sam Bradford's the king of making money. He's also the king of checkdowns. The offense is horrible. I'm not sure it's Mike McCoy's fought or Sam Bradford's fault. But look, they drafted this guy for a reason. You might as well play on. I mean,

what do you have to lose, right? Your 0 and 3, what do you have to lose? Especially after that Bears loss in a game that, you know, was completely there for the taking at a certain point. I mean, you see that. And if you're Steve Wilkes, your first year head coach, I mean, you might as well turn to the rookie and see what happens there. Just some more narratives, bigger storylines that are going on.

We brought this up a little bit earlier. But when you look at that Rams defense and you look at a keep to leave, he goes down with that high ankle sprain. And then obviously Peters is another guy that that's in trouble. I mean, is there any calls for concern when you look at that secondary for the Rams or are they able to kind of weather the storm for now and save those guys for the real run in the playoffs? Well, I think the concern, yeah, I mean, they're not going to be able to cover people like they used to.

And so Troy Hill's not going to be the same guy. Roby's not going to be able to cover guys. It's going to be a challenge for them. Sam Shields, can he stay healthy and who's had the concussion problems? Can he last for the next remainder of the games? But look, the Rams are going to win because their offense is going to get in front and their defense can rush the passer. And Wade's going to be able to make adjustments during the game,

which is going to cause some problems. So I think the Rams are so good offensively that they control the pace and the tempo with it, and that's what's going to make their defense. And he'll take the pressure off the defense. Absolutely. And we'll obviously keep an eye on that Rams team as we get rolling and we're going to see what happens in that Vikings showdown

to see who really is at the top of the NFC at this point. another interesting thing that came out that is a big talking point. We obviously saw the Steelers last night, finally get back on track a little bit with that win on Monday night football. But there is some rumors and some rumblings that at this point, the Steelers are thinking about the idea or at least listening to offers about the potential of trading and unloading Levyon Bell. Who knows how true that may be. But Lombardi, when you hear something like that, I mean, is there a team that sticks out to you or is there a situation that sticks out to you for Bell? and if you are the Steelers, I mean, is this sort of the right time to do this? Because if he's not going to be 100% in, is it time to move on and be done with the Bell era? Well, it's just a hard one, Take Frazier, because look, if Bell gets traded, he has to, you can't trade a player who's not out of contract.

So that can't, so he has to sign his tender. So if he signs his tender and he gets traded to the Jets, why would he sign his tender and go to the Jets when he can't get an extended deal until the offseason from the Jets? There's got to be a wink, wink here, right? There's got to be, look, we're going to pay you X amount, sign the deal, right? And as soon as the season's over, we're going to pay you. There has to be that kind of wink-wink or else, why would he sign the tender? He's trying to make a statement by not signing the tender. So why would he sign and then get traded?

So there has to be some implication that he's going to get a huge deal. And then if you're the Jets or you pick any team, right? If you're a team, why would you give up more than your third round pick to the Steelers? Because that's all they're going to get in the compensatory pool anyway. So why would you overpay for a player that you really don't know? It's the Teddy Bridgewater situation. The Saints paid a third. You know, if they lose them to free agency, they'll get a third back in compensatory.

It may not be the same third. It may take a year. But eventually they're going to get their pickback. So to me, this becomes a little bit more complex, more difficult to handle. So I think it's important that, you know, people understand that this has got to be, you know, to trade a player. He's got to be under contract. And I think that's hard. Look, I think the Steelers should go to Bell.

say, look, we are going to trade you. Tell us what teams you want to go to, and we will trade you to those teams. You work out the contract when you get there. We promise to trade you. When you come in, I'll tell you when the trade's official, then you can sign the tender and you go and work it out with the agent. That's the only chance you have. Because technically, Tate Fraser, no team is, technically no team is allowed to call the agent about Levi-on-Bel. His rights are reserved to the Steelers. So the conversation has to be to Bell's agent. Look, tell us what team. you want to go to, we'll trade them to one of those teams. When I tell you we have the trade, have the kid come in, sign the tender, we'll send the tender there, and you guys work it out

from there. And what kind of full faith is that take from Levion's perspective? Because what happens if he goes in, signs that tender, and then the Steelers decide the next day that they're not going to trade him. I guess he just doesn't show up and doesn't play. But, I mean, there has to be a little bit of trust there too, right? Yeah, you got to have some kind of trust. You've got to have some kind of trust. You know, you can't just go into a blindly. You've got to have a trust say, look, you know, I trust you to do it. And then look, here's the deal. You can then say, I give you permission to call the Jets to confirm that we've made an agreement with them. And then once you do that, you know, you've got it. All right, before we move on, let's take one more quick break.

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Are we ready for awards for the week for week three? Yeah, let's do it, Tafrasier. Who's going on the lamb? Who you got on the lamb? Who needs to bring their toothbrushes? For right now, a guy that needs to go on the lamb is Jason Garrett, the clapper himself, right? I mean, we got to talk about the fact.

that this offense is the worst offense in the NFL. Dak Prescott has not thrown over 185 yards. It's coaching malpractice, Dave Fraser. I mean, what did they do this offseason? Tell me what they did in their offices at that beautiful facility down in Plano, Texas, to say, okay, what are we going to change? How can we create different schemes to help our players? Like, tell me what they did.

Like, where is it? Like, I don't see it. Patted themselves on the back, clapped. I don't know. A lot of those things, maybe. I don't know. Jason Garrett did come out. and say Scott Linahan,

he's not thinking about taking the play calling away from him. Well, why would he? Why would he? It would get, like all these people that say Garrett should start calling plays, it will only get worse. It's not going to get better if he takes over the play call.

What a joke that is. Like at some point, like at some point, Lennaham was there because Garrett couldn't do it. Like, you know, like, that's why I call him the clapper because what does he actually do?

Like, what does he do? He continues. You know, does he just yell at the team? I mean, like, so like,

to me, they're horrible. I mean, to not be able to get Zeke Elliott involved in some form of the past game, you know, they had no idea really how to attack the coverages down there. You know, their offensive line doesn't play nearly as good. Look, I think their defense is good enough to win with. They play hard. They play fast.

They're well-coed. Offensively, it's a whole other story. And Zika Elliott, we should say 16 rushes, 127 yards in that game against Seattle. Jerry Jones came out and said that there was no significant changes that would be made at this point. Dak Prescott is continuing to struggle. Again, cannot throw over 185 yards in his past five games that he's played with the Cowboys. And just in general, that offense looks lethargic and looks anemic. And the best that they looked was against the Giants for a little bit.

But since then, they've been pretty empty. And it doesn't seem like any massive or major scheme changes are on the way for Cowboys fans. For people that were hoping that was going to happen, Jerry Jones, Jason Garrett, and the whole brass there in Dallas seems said on. what they have for you, Lombardi, is that right? Is the clapper the one who's going to have to go on the lambs or is there anyone else that stood out to you? No, I mean, look, Jerry likes the clapper.

He's there for a reason because he does what Jerry wants them to do. I mean, he's there for a reason because Jerry ultimately, he's the GM. I mean, that's what they want. That's what their organization wants. That's what Bill Walsh said to me in 1980. It's in the book in 84. They're only competing against eight because the cultures and buildings can't win. The culture in Dallas has proven it can't sustain winning.

It just can't. They bring parcels in, he got him a new stadium, but they couldn't do it. That's not with the culture they wanted. The owner wants to be involved. And because he's involved, you're not going to be able to do all that. He's involved day to day without real football knowledge. And when he sees the product on the field, he really doesn't know. It's like we started this podcast talking about, why'd you win, why'd you lose?

Well, they lost that game in Seattle in the off season. They lost that game in Seattle back in March and April. They didn't lose that game on Sunday. They lost it back in March and April. And they've lost the games that they've lost. year back in Martin because they've done nothing in their offseason to modify or change or develop a new way to get the ball. Tavon Austin, anybody who tells you Tavon Austin was going to be their playmaker is smoking is smoking some really good shit because he couldn't do it anyway. He's never done it.

So, you know, anyway, we better move on here. The Fed Player Award, I'm going to give it to the Miami Dolphins because I think Miami has won three games this year. I don't think they're any good as a team. I really don't. I mean, I thought that, you know, I, but I give them credit. They make unbelievable. They made big plays down the field. They don't lose the game. They keep the game. They do smart things in the game. I think Adam Gase has done a good job of helping Tannahill. And they've come up with this little offense that they have. And Grant's been a big explosive player. Kenny Stills getting down the field. So they made four explosive plays in that game. They didn't lose it. They played good in the red zone. I think that's why they're undefeated. I think the Miami Dolphins are living proof that you have to avoid losing before you can win. And that's what they've done. And they've done it basically seemingly with no running game. I mean, with Drake and Gore, I mean, those guys are, I mean, Tanna Hills would probably their best runner at this point, especially in that Raiders game. He was the number one option. So it's been really interesting to see that Dolphins team put it all together.

That is all kudos to Adam Gase and those guys for getting Tanyl Hill back. Next up, we got the KGB Award. Lombardi, what team was taking aback this week in shocked at what they saw? I mean, I'm thinking Minnesota, but who stood out to you? I think it was Chicago too. Look, I mean, all these bear fans that are just hoping that. Trubisky's going to turn around. What I did part of my take, they wouldn't let me say a bad word about Trubisky, which I understand

they love them. And they have to, I mean, I know Big Cat does because he's a bad fan. And, you know, but I mean, look, the guy is going to have to take some time. And I said then on that podcast, look, you got to hope that he's Steve Young. You got to hope he's such a good athlete that eventually it'll click for him for Trubisky. That's what it has to be because when they go on the road, no matter who they play, that offense is going to struggle a little bit. And the more people watch the tape of the offense, the less effective.

it's going to become. And you've got to give credit to Buffalo. They duped Minnesota bad, right? They duped them big time. So you've got to give them credit. Absolutely. Next up, we can't tell my courage from my desperation. Who was it this week, Lemberty? I think the Packers' defense is terrible. I think the Packers defense is so

hit or miss. It's Rolodex defense. It's just spin the wheel, call the play, see if they can't stop the run, can't stop the pass. They never make a team play left-handed. They've got some decent players, but they play so many schemes. They have no technique are fundamentals. They do so many different things. They're never really good at anything, you know, so they can't get it nailed down. I mean, this Packer defense to give up, to give up

28 points in the first half to Alex Smith to get the ball thrown over your head because you're really playing a coverage that should take it away, but you can't execute the coverage. You know, I'm sure on Monday morning in Green Bay, they said, well, we had it right. You know, we had the right coverage call. We just didn't make the play. Well, you know, that's because the fundamentals are so bad. I think Green Bay's defense has really hasn't gotten any better. I think it's, I think it's disappointing. And, you know, I think it's got some players, but I mean, Matthews keeps getting called for the penalties, which we talked about. But for the most part, I mean, they can't really stop anybody. Yeah. And you can't rely on Aaron Rogers to do everything for you. And that's sort of the

situation that they've been in for the past couple of years. The final one of the week, final award of the week. If you don't know, now you know, Lombardi, what do we know after week three? Well, we know Wence is back, right? Wince is back. And the most classic example of Wence being back was the game is on the line. It's third and eight. The Colts call the perfect blitz at the perfect time. Perfect. They got two guys going to tackle Wince in the pocket for a loss.

It's going to be fourth and 15. They're going to have to punt. And what does Wince do? He breaks the tackle, converts the first down. That's Wince. That's why he's great. That's why he's so unbelievable. Perfect defense against the perfect play,

and he still makes you pay for it. And you just lose your mind. I thought the Colts were great. I thought the Colts did everything they could. I think the Colts, if they had to do it again, they had the third down play in the goal line. They should have probably run the ball there. They try to throw the classic fade in the end zone.

They should abolish that play from football. Just get rid of it, right? But I mean, Wentz being back, the Eagles are not a great team right now. They go to Tennessee this week. Their defense played great in the red area again, which helped them win the game. Wentz being back, he took a beating. I mean, he took a beating, Tay Fraser in that game. You know, he came up smiling, but his body was hurting.

And if he keeps doing that, I worry for him. I really do. He took some hits. And he's going to have to bounce back. But I thought, you know, he's back and the Eagles third and eight. No problem. We'll convert it. And it seemed like as soon as Carson Wentz kind of stepped back in that lineup,

that the championship Eagles team, it seemed like that confidence in the moxie behind them, was back with Wins Under Center. I just have a few more notes before we get out of here. Carry on Johnson, 16 rushes 100 yards, first 100 yard of Russia for Detroit since 2013. I thought that was pretty interesting tidbit. But Calvin Ridley, a guy we talked about early in the year, rookie. We were trying to see if he was going to step up. He had seven receptions, 146 yards, three touchdowns this week.

Yeah, that was a good game because they were trying to take Julio out, and PJ Williams couldn't cover Ridley. They had to make the change. They went back to Crowley. That was a hard one. You know, Ridley's done a good job, especially considering people were down on Ridley this summer that maybe he wasn't going to be the guy, and now all of a sudden he's turned it on. That really helps Atlanta tremendously because it takes the pressure off Julio. Absolutely.

And then the final one, my guy, Christian McKee. McCaffrey, 28 rushes, 184 yards in a win for the Panthers, 31, 21, 21 over the Bengals. I have to say this. I mean, I was very unsure that Christian McCaffrey could be a number one option, number one back, but he has run and looked more physical and more dominant this year than I would have ever expected after his rookie season. So Christian McCaffrey, kudos to you, 28 rushes, 184 yards, as I said. You know, Tate Fraser, I like the comment on that. I think if you're any young player listening to this podcast or if you're any young coach or anybody,

I think McCaffrey's a great story. He went into the offseason understanding what he needed to do to become a better player. And he tailored his work habits to do that. And just watching him on tape, the way he's breaking tackles, the way people can't get him on the ground,

that he's not a light back, that he's adjusted himself to me is a tribute to the kid. I think it's impressive. I think it's awesome because he knew what he needed to do and he did it. He set a course for him.

He was the guy that planned it and went ahead. and I thought he was really good at it. And I appreciate it. I think that's the thing. Identify what you must do and then work on it. We opened this podcast up with that whole theme. Figure out why you won, figure out why you lost and attack it. Most people can't.

Well, we attacked this podcast. We attacked week three. I enjoyed discussing all this stuff with you, Lombardi. I know it was a very interesting week. I don't know how much we can really take away long term from what we saw, but obviously some major storylines and some interesting guys. scores came up this week for a lot of people. Is there anything else we want to hit before we get out of here?

No, Tate Frasier, but the young player this week that I like, that kid at Carolina, the defensive lineman, I think is Obaday. He never played college football before. I don't know how to say his name. He was outstanding in the game. He was impressive on tape. And then I love this Taysome Hill, the quarterback from BYU, the Saints have. I think this guy's really fun to watch.

I think he's amazing. He's great kickoff for Turner. He's a good red zone quarterback. I think he's a fun player to watch. So those are my two young players of the week. Yeah, the ultimate utility guys, the guys that step up in the final hour and make things happen. I will say, I'm very excited to be back Friday. I will be back in studio with you and we'll be able to knock this thing out.

I'm sad that I wasn't able to be at Tony P's to watch these games. I'm staring out right now into the ocean and it is hard to beat Lombardi. I miss you, but I'm not too sad right now, but I'll be excited to be back on Friday and see your face. Enjoy it, Tate, Frasier. fun. Thanks, buddy. All right. We'll see you. This has been another edition of GM Street. We will be back on Friday to give our picks for week four. Thanks for listening. Thanks again to Fandul. Football season is underway and that's why I'm so excited to be playing on Fandil. Fandle has never been more fun or easy. It's the place to play if you're not a fantasy expert. Fandil has something for everyone

and there are more ways to win than ever before like their gridiron pickum contest every single week. New users get a $20 bonus when they make their first deposit on Fandil. Come play. with me at fanduil.com slash the ringer. Again, that's fanduil.com slash the ringer. Thanks for listening to GM Street. We will be back on Friday.