The Ringer NFL Show - Main Character Energy and the Year of Josh Allen

Episode Date: December 4, 2024

Sheil Kapadia and Nora Princiotti begin the show by telling each other the three “main character” players and coaches they’re watching for the rest of the season. Then, in QB Corner, Steven Ruiz talks about Bryce Young’s feel-good bounce back and what Will Levis’s future looks like. Check out Sheil’s Week 13 review article on The Ringer’s new website. Hosts: Sheil Kapadia, Nora Princiotti, and Steven Ruiz Producer: Troy Farkas Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

What's happening? It's Todd McShay, and I'm back with a new home and a new show at the Ringer and Spotify. The McShay Show. It's a video and audio podcast coming to you year round with all my NFL draft information, big boards, mock drafts, and player movement. Plus, I'll be chatting with some of my best friends in football, including some of your favorite football analysts. During the week, we'll have episodes on Tuesdays and Thursdays that will include discussions about my player rankings, who's rising, who's falling, and who your NFL team should be keeping an eye on. Plus, we'll be reacting each week to the college football playoff polls and giving you previews and picks for each Saturday slate. In addition, I'll have episodes on Saturday nights

with my immediate reaction to the full day in college football every week. So if you love the college game, the NFL, the draft, or all of it like me, make sure to like, follow, subscribe, and get ready for the McShay show on the ringer, Spotify, and wherever you watch or listen to podcasts. to the Ringer NFL show. Shield Capadia here with Nora Princeati. We have how many weeks? What was that? 14, 1565,

five weeks left in the regular season. And so we're going to do a little... The counting is still hard with the 18. It's hard. I had to do it. You just heard me on the intro. I couldn't have prepped for that. I didn't prep for that.

You know what? It's late in the season. And sometimes that's what happens. But we're going to talk about the main characters. Who are the main characters in the NFL between now and the end of the season. I'm excited to talk about this because you could go in a number of different directions. It could be people, players, coaches, whatever in the mix to win a Super Bowl.

It could be the other end of the spectrum. What is going to happen with this person based on what's happening in the final five weeks? So we're going to go through that. We each pick three main characters that we have our eyes on between now and the end of the season. And then Stephen Ruiz in the second segment for a little QB corner. He wanted to do sophomore QB. So we will look at those quarterbacks in their sophomore seasons, Anthony Richardson, Bryce Young, C.J. Stroud and Will Levis.

And what are they showing at this point in the year? All right, Nora Prince, yeah, I said we just get right into it. You lead us off. Who is one main character you've got your eyes on between now and the end of the season. All right, let's do it. So my first one, I'm here taking the end of the season. season, as in the start of the playoffs, kind of literally here, because I think this is, this is where we're really going to be watching this super closely, although in the playoffs

as well, I think, qualifies. And my number one main character for the rest of the NFL season is Eagles running back Sequin Berkeley, who currently, as we sit here and record this on December 3rd, he is 501 yards away from hitting 2,000 rushing yards with five games left, which means that he's, he is well on pace to get over the 2000 hump, but he's actually also on pace to beat it before week 18, which they have against the Giants, which may matter if the Eagles don't end up having anything to play for. So a 2000 rushing yard season is just, you know, it is a rare thing. It is not something we typically get to witness. So I think counting down the games and tracking

that progress is going to be really exciting. I think watching Sequin this season has just been electrifying and has been one of the most exciting things to watch around the league. So getting to still do that. But what makes Sequin Barclay a main character? One, it's that he has a possibility, I think it's an outside chance, but he has a possibility of taking home MVP. And a non-quarterback has not earned that award since Adrian Peterson in 2012, also at a 2000 rushing yard season that year.

So following Sequin's progress towards hitting that milestone, thereby making an argument to the MVP voters that he is deserving, is one, kind of akin to witnessing history, right? Like, this is a thing that we just almost never see as a non-quarterback potentially winning this award. So I think people will be locked in on that storyline. I think it'll be a fun one to follow just because he's so much fun to watch on the field. And I also think he's a mirror for how hot this Eagles team can get going into the playoffs. I think that starts with their defense. But Sequin, to me, represents what's come together for this team on the other side of the ball. And so some of how good they look down the stretch, I think, is going to factor into,

do we see them as being on equal footing or maybe even better than Detroit in the NFC playoffs once they start? So those games are going to be Panthers, Steelers, commanders, Cowboys, Giants. You know, some mixed bags in there. Obviously, the Steelers defense is really tough. But there are some opponents that I think Sequin's going to be able to put up some numbers against. So I think he's just going to be really fun to watch through the last month, basically, of the season. Yeah, it's a great one because I feel like there are going to be so many narratives slash arguments based on what Seekoine Barkley. is doing this year. I mean, you just mentioned one of them, obviously MVP. Right now, he's second in

MVP odds to Josh Allen at plus 500. He has passed Lamar Jackson in terms of the MVP odds on Fandall. So that's one of them that I'm sure you and I might even be arguing or in future weeks or Ruiz or Deonté or whatever. That's going to be an argument that's going to be had throughout the football content space for better or worse, can a running back win an MVP? I'm frankly, I don't want to get into it right now. I feel like I need more time to marinate. on it? What do I actually think before we get into it? But that's going to be one. Two is like, our team's just going to start paying running backs. Is it, no, this was just, hey, if you're a great team already and you plug in Sequin Barclay and Derek Henry, that's smart. But if your team stinks,

like if the Giants would have kept Sequin Barclay, he wouldn't be putting up the same numbers he is now. So that's going to be another conversation that'll lead into the draft where you've got Ashton Genty, the Boise State, Boise State, right? Yeah, the running back who everybody loves, where's he going to go in the draft? So that's another one. And then you mentioned the milestone stuff, which is fun because I feel like we don't get a lot of these in the NFL where it's like player may break this record that's been in place for a long time. So you mentioned 2,000 yards, which is one of them, which is a big one. And then the other one is just the leading rushing yards in a single season, which Eric Dickerson has right now, 1984, had 2,105 yards.

Now, that was in 16 games. So, you know, for the old heads, I understand that was in 16 games. Sequin Barclay gets 17 games, but I was doing the math on this. He needs to average about 122 rushing yards per game the rest of the way to beat that. So like, not easy, but also not that crazy. You know, you mentioned the schedule is the easiest schedule in the NFL according to the betting market. So that's also a really interesting one. And then you get to week 18 where I was thinking about this.

you mentioned like will they have to how what's the likelihood that game's going to be meaningful for them and right now it's them and the lions sort of vying for that number one seat so it really could be if those two teams stay close both of them might have to play all their starters in week 18 but i could also see like a little thing where maybe the lions already have it locked up the eagles have it locked up whatever week 18 doesn't matter for them and saiquan has a chance to break the record do they go for do they not go for it? So yes, there are like 400 different narratives around Sequin Barclay the rest of the season. Yeah, you just you just programmed like six hours of sports talk content right there.

Yeah, I could see. You know what else I could see? It's like he has a chance to break it. But, you know, Sequan went into Nick Siriani's office and said, I came here to win a Super Bowl, not to break the rushing record. Not about individual awards. It's not about team awards. Then he becomes this hero, already Eagles fans, you know, love him, but that just takes it to another level there.

So that is a great one to lead off with. Or you can see, you know, God forbid, right? I'm knocking on my wooden desk right now. But you can see a scenario where they decide to go for it. And maybe he doesn't get actually hurt, but maybe he goes down and gets nicked up on a play, has to go into the tent. All of a sudden, the hubris, how dare they?

It's disrespectful to the game. You're tempting fate. Like there's just, you know, there's, it's, it's juicy. It's got a lot of angles to it. No doubt about it takes to be a main character. There you go. That's a good one. All right.

My first main character, I am going to Western New York. You're welcome, Bill's fans. I said Western New York, not upstate New York. Josh Allen, I was just, you know, all I did for this exercise, you know, in full disclosure, a little peep behind the curtains, went to the standings page. went team by team. Who do I find interesting here? And there were the Buffalo Bills locked up the AFC East and Josh Allen. I remember us talking before the season that he's one of the most fascinating characters going into the season because they get rid of a bunch of veterans on that

team. This looked like a reset year. But we were like, hey, if they have a really good season, Josh Allen's sort of legend grows a little bit. It's like, man, this guy, you can put anyone around him and the team's going to be really good. Well, here we are. They're 10 and 2. They're one game back of the Chiefs for the one seed. They have a great case as the best team in the NFL right now. I think you can easily make that case. Alan is the MVP favorite, according to Fandul, heavy favorite kind of. Mine is 280 to win MVP.

And so I'm curious to see how this season ends for him. Do they have a chance? Like, they're playing better than the Chiefs. There's no doubt about it. Regardless of what the records say, you look at any type of meaningful metric that matters other than just wins and losses. And they have played better than. the Chiefs. They beat the Chiefs. And so if that's tied, they're going to win the tiebreaker.

Does this turn into the year of Josh Allen all of a sudden? Where the bills go into the playoffs as the one seed, the road to the Super Bowl goes through Buffalo. He wins the MVP. And he's been so good for several years now. He's been a top five MVP. I think three of the last five seasons, obviously hasn't gotten over the hump, hasn't played in a Super Bowl, hasn't won a Super Bowl. but like depending on what happens in the next six to eight weeks, we could look back 20 years from now at 2024 as like the year of Josh Allen depending on how this end. So that's why I think he's one of the main characters.

Totally. Recently engaged. Yeah. Asking in that glow. He's in the tabloids a little bit too with that stuff. Everything's coming up, Josh. I do think like you got the stretch run because they'll be seeing if they can get past the chiefs and actually.

flip for who has the number one seed. I do think that that narrative of is this great quarterback going to kind of spend his career in Patrick Mahomes's shadow? Like, to me, that is one of the biggest, not just sort of season-long storylines, but like this sort of micro era of the NFL, that's one of the biggest stories we've got. And I don't think we're going to look at that through the lens of the MVP award so much. because Mahomes is not a top candidate for that this year. But again, the push to the playoffs and then what happens in the playoffs,

you know, that everyone loves to give the caveats that the quarterbacks don't play each other. But I think we all know that that's in some ways in terms of how people think about these people and their careers. That's kind of a load of BS. And that's Josh Allen is like the number one person for whom that's true. You're right. It's like kind of turning into it could be a legacy year for him. And you have to think if you're any of these other quarterbacks, aside from Mahomes,

like when a year like this comes around, it's like, oh, you know, the chiefs are, I know their record is 11 and 1, but like they know the chiefs are getable this year and the bills are relatively healthy and they're in a good spot. They could get home field. Like, you can't waste those types of years. So I feel like it sort of started as a season where it was like, oh, the pressure's off the bills, but things change. And now going into December, the pressure ratchets up a little bit because. because they can probably taste it that way.

We have a great opportunity here that maybe we didn't think we thought we'd be good, but we didn't know we'd be this good. And we have to capitalize on it right now. So Josh Allen on my list. All right. Who's number two for you? Who do you got? Okay.

I got Sean Peyton. Hmm. Yeah. Funny. Who to thunk? But so here's the deal. There's really one spot up for grabs in the AFC playoffs. and it is down to Denver and Indianapolis, essentially.

There are only two teams in that conference that have a chance of making the playoffs that is less than 90%, so it's not locked up, but it's greater than 10%. So it's not almost out of the question. Everyone else is either basically locked in or locked out. And so right now that seven seed is Denver, but they go on by this week. Obviously, they played... yesterday, but then they finish with Indianapolis, then the Chargers, the Bengals, and the Chiefs.

That Chiefs game very well might matter for both teams. And so you're looking at the end of the season that is basically, look, I know we've said goodbye to the the Bengals, excuse me, but basically a final month that is like working their way through a playoff bubble, Kansas City, not bubble, but group in the AFC. And it's going to give us a lot to watch because all of those are going to be interesting games. Some of them are going to determine playoff seating. Some of them are going to determine who makes the playoffs.

But they're also going to sort of help us just sort through that kind of like middle playoff bubble tier just in terms of who those teams really are. And if you think about how Sean Payton came into this year as kind of a punchline and, you know, which the drafting of Bonix definitely added to, the storyline for him, I think, is huge. And then what will actually be watching that'll determine which way that narrative goes is going to be really interesting football. It's going to be really interesting stuff that's going to help us answer questions about those teams. And, you know, we know that Sean Payton, he is tapped into the national media. He's got some, he's got some numbers in his phone. So I just feel like we always end up hearing about Sean Payton.

And he's set up to be in the spotlight. Yeah, it's one of those things where he's arrogant, he's smug. I've said this before. He thinks he's God's gift of football. And then you add with that what you just said, that he's got, uh, close relationships, shall we say, just some friends in the national media. So then they're telling you how great he is and how he's God's gift to football. But you know what? I can't zag the other way because he's been one of the best coaches in the last 25 years. Like, all right. So he's earned some

of that. Everyone has people like that in their lives. You know, you're like, oh, this guy thinks he's like, but then you're like, all right, he's got stuff going for him too. You know, I can't say like this guy's a complete loser. He's not. But he knows like how great he didn't. could just be at this like one specific thing or whatever, right? There's there's people like that in all of our lives. Totally. Totally. And I would say a heavy concentration of them in football. Yes.

It's got like a free requisite to be in the National Football League. But it's a great one because they're playing really well. You can't deny that. They've overachieved already. I think they're over under for wins was like five and a half going into the season. And they're eight and five. He's developed a young quarterback. their defense has played well.

They've just got a lot of things going for them. And yeah, you look at that AFC playoff picture. It's pretty interesting. You know, the wild card teams right now would be the Chargers 8 and 4, the Ravens 8 and 5, and the Broncos 8 and 5. And then you have the Colts who are 6 and 7. But to your point, the Broncos play the Colts, which I didn't realize until you said that.

I might have known it at some point, but it went in one ear and out the other year. So I'm glad you reminded me week 15. That's a huge game where if the Colts can be, the Broncos in week 15, you pick up a game on them there and then you go into the final three weeks with a real chance to make the playoffs. So yeah, Sean Payton and the Broncos are in a good spot. Like you said, the odds would say they're going to get in. They're certainly in the driver seat ahead of the Colts, but there's still five weeks here to play out. And I think if the

Chargers were a little bit less, you know, with eight wins now, it seems like, you know, the seating might end up changing, but they'll, they're likely to get in. Yeah. If they were a little bit more tenuous, we'd actually probably spend more time talking about them. And we'd spend more time going like, you know, man, Harbaugh got in there and really changed the culture, reinvigorated that team, figured some stuff out. But I think because it's a little bit more settled, we're going to spend less time doing that. And I, and therefore, I really think that Denver ends up being.

the surprise team that everybody finds kind of like fascinating and interesting in the stretch run. Yeah, I'm looking at this site, Im predictable, which just looks at past schedules and future schedules based on the betting markets. The Colts have the third easiest remaining schedule. The Broncos have the 11th hardest remaining schedule. So Colts, fans, you still have an opportunity there, even though like you mentioned, Sean Payton and the Broncos are in a good spot. All right. Let's take a break. We come back. I will get to my second main character to watch.

All right. We are back on the Ringer NFL show. My second one to watch, and I don't know if he belongs in this conversation or not, but again, I had a very scientific process here, arduous process, going through the standings page and saying who stands out to me. And I settled on Kyle Shanahan, Nora, because I'm looking at this Niners team and they're five and seven. no Christian McCaffrey, no Jordan Mason, the odds of them making the playoffs, if you look at whatever metric or odds you want to look at, are very low. At the same time, they've got the Bears and the Rams the next two weeks.

I don't think anyone would be like shocked if they won those two games and were 7 and 7 and maybe in the mix in the NFC West. So that's one aspect of it. That's probably not the most interesting aspect of it, though. I think there's going to be some overreaction to this Niners season about like, the death of this era and they blew it in all.

Like, I could easily make a very analytical case that if their special teams didn't suck and if they got some better luck laden games, they would be in first place in the NFC West. They hadn't had an awful injury season. Right. And they didn't have bad injury luck. Yeah. But.

Right. To the key guy. I mean, this many, they really piled up to a lot of their key players. Like, if you look at DVOA, they have the Niners like profile as an 80s.

win team right now. So there's really no denying that they've been one of the more unlucky teams in the NFL. So that's another aspect of this that's interesting to me. But maybe the most interesting aspect of this is you're seeing some buzz. I don't know, was it pro football talk or whatever? I don't know. It was on my timeline. Should the Chicago Bears call the 49ers and say we want to trade for Kyle Shanahan? And I love coach trades. We need more coach trades. You and I might have to do a show in like two weeks from now, like let's throw out some coach trades. Actually, I'm putting that down. Yeah, let's put that down on the calendar right now. But I was thinking about Shanahan and I remember we covered that Super Bowl last year. And I remember I wrote a column on Shanahan and then Andy Reid was in the other locker

room. And I like grew up watching, you know, Andy Reid. I'm in high school watching Andy Reid. And I thought, are the Niners to Kyle Shanahan what the Eagles were to Andy Reed? Like, is that what his career is going to look like because he's still a relatively young guy, even though he's aged. I can say that as someone who is also aged. Kyle Shanahan has aged. He looks, you know, the before and after of Obama kind of looks like Shanahan between now and when he took that job, but he's been there eight years. Yes, equal stress levels. He's been there eight years. You know, they've been a very good team. I think anyone would agree Kyle Shanahan is a great coach. They've had a lot of success. They've been to two Super Bowls. He hasn't gotten that

ring, but most teams in the NFL would love to hire Kyle Shanahan as their coach. At the same time, like the old Bill Walsh thing was like five years is the, is kind of the timeline for a coach to be in one place in the NFL. And then things start to get dicey. And it's like people just need a change of scenery. Is he a change of scenery guy? You know, whether it's on the team end, whether it's on his end, whether someone calls it makes a wild offer. Like, are we sure that Kyle Shanahan is going to be the nineers head coach in 2025 and beyond. So I just feel like one way or another, whether they make a surprise run, whether they don't make a surprise run, those conversations about Kyle Shanahan's future are very much

going to be a part of the football conversation here over the next four or five weeks. It's a really, really fun thing to think about because if you, like, what else has he tried to get a quarterback? You know, they've done the shell out a bunch of top draft picks. to move up and get the top draft guy. They've done the rags to riches, Brock Purdy thing. They tried Jimmy Garoppelow, whatever that was.

Like, he's tried all of these different things. He's tried, you know, the guy doesn't have to be that good. He just has to know if I tell him to point and shoot, he's got to be able to execute that. They've tried, no, actually, we do need plus skills and tools and we need a guy who can create. and none of it has gotten him over the hump. And I wonder if, you know, the last thing left is like,

could I just go somewhere that already has the quarterback, that already has someone who you feel like isn't going to bust out, represents the type of difference maker who is meaningfully better than a Purdy or a Garoppolo. And normally the reason why we don't do coach trade talk as fun as it, is is because it just doesn't happen. And I guess I, you know, I think it's probably a little far-fetched. But if I were the bears, I mean, I'm going to try to make the call, right? Like, what do you, why would you not? What's the downside? Yeah. I was trying to think of what the, what you would offer to the 49ers. Like, it's got to start with what a, you know, I'm looking at, all right,

so what did the saints get back? in the Sean Payton trade. And it looks like the Saints got back here in this one. They got a first round pick, a 2023 first round pick, and a 2024 second round pick. And the Broncos got back a third round pick in the deal. So a first and a second. So like that's the minimum. Sean Payton, I think was, you know, sort of a veteran coach out of football at that point.

would you give up two first round picks for Kyle Shanahan if you're the Chicago Bears? And then the thing is, if you're the Niners, like who's making the call? I guess it's John Lynch and ownership makes the call. Is this just a situation where, hey, we've tried it. We've had a great run, but it's time for everyone to move on. I sort of feel like they're a year away from that. Like if you told me this happened next off season, if they have another bad year, that would make more sense to me because like I said earlier, I think the struggles of

this year are easily explainable. And then there's the Shanahan piece of it. Is he like, I kind of feel underappreciated here? You know, we had a great run, but these Trent Williams is getting older. Debo Samuel is not what he was in his prime. Christian McCaffrey, who knows what his future looks like. I just think it's best for everyone if I move on here. So there's like a lot of moving pieces.

There's what do the Bears want to do? What does Kyle Shanahan want? What makes the 49ers ownership say, all right, let's go ahead and take offers on So it is an interesting thing to think about and give us some, it's good for content. I want to discuss it more in the weeks ahead for sure. Team content. Team content. There you go.

All right, that was my second guy, Kyle Shanhan. All right, who is your third main character to watch for the rest of the season? So my third is Bryce Young, who, you know, got the job back in Carolina five weeks ago and has just looked confident. You know, you guys have talked about this in a way that I think previously seemed. like impossible, which is not to say that he's lighting the world on fire, but he is managing the pocket way better than I've ever seen him do in an NFL context. Sack rates way down, his completion percent is over 60. His completion rate is over 60 percent. In those five games, six touchdowns, three interceptions. He's getting the ball downfield,

too. He's got 15 completions of 20 yards or more. He only had two of those in his first two starts before he ended up getting benched. So there's just sort of like professional quarterbacking going on when there wasn't. And to me, that makes his next five games worth watching super closely. And I think people will do that and we'll talk about it a lot for two reasons. One, being that the better he plays, the more possible it will seem that Carolina could plan around him being their starter next season. You've already seen guys like Ian Rappaport come out and say that people within the Panthers organization have told him that they're planning on young being their starting quarterback next year, as long as he keeps playing as he has since week eight, and that they're not expecting to draft a quarterback early.

I have to wonder, you know, people like to say nice things when things are going well. I wonder if that's a little bit overstated just because I personally, wouldn't want to determine the entire future of my organization based off of, you know, five games for a guy who'd previously looked pretty non-viable. And I think whose ceiling is still pretty debatable, whether it's, it's anything higher than kind of a mid-tier, you know, middle of the pack, 20th to 14th kind of starter. But the second reason why I think it's interesting, is because even with what I just said, if we by the end of this season feel like,

okay, there's a sample size that makes you feel like Bryce Young, you know, maybe he's never going to live up to number one draft pick billing, but he's got a real chance to have that type of career that I just outlined. That's a development curve that we just like don't really see. The number one pick that gets best, benched for performance, two games into a coaching regime that's different from the one that

drafted him. Like, that guy doesn't come back from that. It's just not a thing that you see. And it's not so much that what Young used to look like was, you know, the early Trevor Lawrence games where there's a handful of plays that are really encouraging and where you see what it's supposed to look like, but he can't. It's not ready to put it all together. The infrastructure isn't there.

Blah, blah, blah, blah. That's not what it was. Yeah. There was nothing that you would see and go, this is what you build on. If you can just get him to do this five times a game instead of once a game, like, you're starting to get somewhere. And so, like, I'm just, I want to know what happened. I mean, I want to know how did the, if they slowed down his processing, if they got him, like, what they did that makes him look more comfortable. facing pressure and just managing a pocket.

Like, I want to know. It's really interesting. We don't really ever see this. And, you know, the remaining schedule is Eagles. That's obviously a tough game. Cowboys, Cardinals, Bucks, and Falcons. There are no gimmies if you're the Carolina Panthers. And, you know, I don't know, maybe we could talk about the Cowboys, but I have a feeling they will be the underdogs in all of those games.

but it does feel like for a team that has been has played this badly this season has you know is completely out of the playoff picture all of that like I'm really interested in watching them and it's just a rare story and if if Bryce Young really makes the case that he's not actually the bust that he was completely written off as like by myself included it's going to be one of the stories of this season and one of the most unexpected ones Yeah, you're right. It is just highly unusual to the point where I can't think of another situation where a team is, it doesn't happen. It doesn't happen because usually the team doesn't give up on a guy that early. Usually you're going to get, if you're the first overall pick, you're going to get at least like two full seasons. Sometimes they stick with you way beyond when they should and everyone makes excuses for you. That's what happens when you're the number one overall pick. So the fact that not us, but that the people who are actually evaluating the team, after, you know, a couple games this season were like, this isn't viable.

This is ruining our entire season. The locker room is upset. I mean, remember those early games? Like, people where Adam Thielen was annoyed. Like, he couldn't, to your point, this was like Zach Wilson level quarterback play where when he got benched and I liked Bryce Young as a prospect. As someone who liked him as a prospect, when he got benched, I'm like, his career is probably over. Like, maybe he'll bounce around a little bit.

Maybe he'll get a backup. up spot at some point, but this is just, it was so bad. It was so ugly. He looked so uncomfortable. There was nothing to hold on to to say, well, if they just had X and Y, he would look a little better. No, I mean, the supporting cast wasn't good, but still, he was making everything worse. And so for now, for him to come back and play like this, and to your point, he's not lighting the NFL on fire, but he looks like a competent NFL quarterback. Like, no, I would wonder if there was anybody at that time when he got benched, it was going out on a limb saying, like, I still believe in him. He's still going to be this type of quarterback. I can't remember anybody, even the biggest

Bryce Young fans at that time. And so to your point, he looks more decisive. He looks more comfortable. The supporting cast is not good. I mean, that game, they should have won that game on Sunday. Like, they left plays on the field. They, you know, they left points on the board, all those things. And so I think you're right. You know, right now they have the fifth overall pick in the draft. And if they stick with him next year, it doesn't mean they're saying he's the guy who's ultimately going to lead us to a Super Bowl down the road. But there's something to be said for just somebody who can buy you time because that roster needs a lot of work. They can use resources. Hey, get a wide receiver, improve the offensive line, get some freaking players on defense. Like they have a lot of areas of

the roster that need work. So you can kind of buy a year, maybe buy two years. You can let him play more, see where you're at by the end of his rookie contract. Hey, is this someone who we want to continue to have as our quarterback? If we don't, well, we built the rest of our roster up while he was the quarterback and now we can think about what our plan is. And it doesn't prevent you from like, if there's somebody you like on day two, where you're just like, we have a really high grade on this quarterback. And I can't believe he's available. You can draft that guy. Like, he's not at the point where you're building everything around him, like maybe a Caleb Williams. He's sort of in that middle ground. But that's valuable.

Because, you know, having the 20th best quarterback already in your building and you don't have to go out and sign someone, that that is something that that does have value for a team like Carolina that's not ready to win big right now. When you hired your coach, right, based on the work that he did reviving Baker Mayfield. So does that mean that you want to go about it where if he is able to be consistently around the 20th best guy, maybe you feel like with the scheme, with the right. infrastructure, you can actually get what you need out of that. Or you also feel like if quarterback is just sort of a little bit of a question mark, you know the formula of building it around, building it up around outside of the quarterback, and then being able to find that guy in ways that aren't the top of the draft or shelling out in free agency and still making it work. and to your point,

this is just a roster that needs a lot of time. It's not going to happen next season. They're on probably at minimum a two-year time frame to really make something happen if they get lucky and they do all of the things right.

So just having options and having some... The problem with Bryce Young at the beginning of the season is he was on one of the worst teams in the NFL, he was clearly the thing holding them back. Like that takes something.

And the fact that that seems to not be the case anymore, you know, it's not going to make them a Super Bowl contender, but it does mean a lot for the overall trajectory. Yeah, I'm happy for the guy, you know? I know. It's fun. Yeah, it's fun. He looked so like just when he was struggling, you just kind of really felt for him because by all accounts, he's like a good guy, good teammate, whenever, even when he was doing interviews during that time, it's like, man, this guy's got a great, great attitude. He knows how to handle himself. He seems really mature.

But then at the same time, you're like, well, even with all that, it just might never happen for him. And how to see him out there playing, smiling, dancing, his teammates seem genuinely happy for him. I'm with you. It's been a cool, unexpected story for a team that's not really relevant. It's given, you know, your reason to, hey, what's going on with the Panthers today for the final five weeks of the season?

Well, there's also, like, there's so many bogus adversity stories or, like, things we call adversity that are just like, you know, like sometimes it's like you did something really bad and people said that that was bad and that's, oh my gosh, yes. And obviously, but like outside of, you know, illness, catastrophic injury, like, being basically told that your career, when you're this guy who's had immense success at every other level, that your career is actually just like non-viable. It's not happening. And it's not just that it's not working

in kind of like the usual ways where some things don't work out. And you got a couple years, but then teams eventually move on. Like, no, this is a disaster in a way that this is almost never a disaster. And the team that drafted you is so sure of it that they're moving on this early.

Like, that's a whammy, man. Like, if I were, you know, for as annoyed as guys like Thielen and like we saw all of the body language and all the stories out of there were early in the season, if I were one of his teammates to watch him just like be calm, take all of the criticism, take the benching, actually get better and come back and not make a huge deal out of it, like I would, I would be impressed by that. I would be bought into that. I would think that that person was someone that I was interested in working with because of that. Yeah, you're right. Like you said, I do want to learn more about it. What does he say?

What does he think is different now than earlier in the season? And let's get a bigger sample. What does it look? Maybe he's on an upward trajectory. Like maybe by the end of the year, we're saying, man, there was, there was few games, but now look at him. He's playing even better right now. Who knows? Who knows what the ceiling is for Bryce Young? All right. My last guy is Mr. Unlin. All right. I'm not going to do it. Russell Wilson. Russell Wilson is my last one here. It's just wild how well this has worked out for the Steelers. They are paying Russell Wilson $1.2 million. The Atlanta Falcons are paying Kirk Cousins $45 million per year. That's so mean.

I'm just saying. You know, I got to make it about Kirk. I'm just saying I was looking at sort of the discrepancy there. They just take this flyer on the guy. And it's like, all right, the nicest thing anyone could have said. And I think I said this was it's only $1.2 million. Like, who cares? It's a smart, throw some darts.

That was the nicest thing anyone had to say about this edition. Then Justin Fields is playing. They bench fields for Wilson. Everybody's ripping them. Oh, my gosh, please. You really think Russell Wilson's going to play better? It's not on fields. And here the guy is leading the first place in the AFC North Pittsburgh Steelers,

nine and three. He's eighth in EPA per pass play. Now, that's only one metric and let's get a bigger sample. But still, I didn't think at any point this year, he would be performing as a top 10 quarterback in any statistical category you could imagine. The Steelers are plus 72 on the season. That is second in the entire AFC, Nora, to the Buffalo Bills. That's the only team that's outscored their opponents by more than the Pittsburgh Steelers. And so I want to see what this looks like with Russell Wilson. Maybe, you know, it'll just be ups and downs and they'll lose in the first round of the playoffs. That might be the most likely scenario, but he's 36 years old. He's had a great career, but a weird career. And I thought that when he was playing so poorly last year with the

Broncos, I was kind of like his great seasons in Seattle are going to be forgotten. Like this guy was awesome for many of those years with the Seahawks. But now everyone's going to remember this version of him. and because he's kind of a weird, cringy guy, like everybody's going to be quick to just jump on him and point out how poorly he's playing. But no, this is a good reminder that there was a good quarterback in there for like a decade in Seattle. And he played awesome against the Bengals. You know, there were some checkdowns in there, but then there was downfield throws. He's avoiding negative plays.

He still got the arm. He's always been a very accurate quarterback. And I just want to see what this looks like. Like the Steelers, they've had too many years. where they're kind of like boring but not quite irrelevant because they have Tomlin, but it's like this team's not going anywhere. And maybe that's what the result's going to be for this team. But Wilson makes it a little more interesting to me.

So I want to see what it looks like with Wilson the rest of the way. You know what just occurred to me? They could win the Super Bowl. Maybe. I can't get there. I don't think they will. Yeah. They could.

Because as you're talking, it was sort of crystallizing for me that like over the last, how many years. They've been in this place where, you know, they never have a losing season and they're always like at minimum cuspy playoffs. But we don't expect that much from them. And so it's sort of like, okay, yeah, you know, the bottom hasn't fallen out.

Tomlin, Tomlin, Tomlin. But these quarterbacks are terrible. They're not going to make any noise. We sort of look at them as a spoiler, pesky. We're not really looking at them as, as a real contender over the last few years. And I'm not looking at them right now as like a contender on the level of, you know, a Buffalo or a Kansas City or even a Baltimore,

despite how they've faltered in a couple of ways. But if you're like asking me in this year where pretty much every team is either flawed or just has a real capacity of having a bozo game. Yeah. is there a weird universe in which the Steelers and Tomlin and Russell Wilson put this together? It's totally possible. It's like not. And I just hadn't thought about that.

Like that I had not pictured Russell Wilson with a Lombardi trophy as like a thing that was within the range of outcomes of the season. And now I'm thinking about it. And it's really funny. That would be incredible. if he won a Super Bowl at age 36 with the Steelers. I think the bills feels like this, you know, because of the sort of always the bridesmaid thing with the chiefs. Like, I think there's something that a lot of people would find very satisfying about that. Obviously, I think the Ravens, like, there's been so much desire for that project and that team to kind of coalesce.

But, like, what would be a more fascinating outcome? Yeah. Then Russell Wilson and the Steelers. That would be a legacy to find, like for him and for Tomlin, if it was like they won a Super Bowl together in 2024 when he was 36 years old. Yeah, that would be, you really couldn't question either guy. Yeah, I'm not that anyone's like question Mike Tomlin. That was just fun for me to think about for two minutes.

I like it. Good, good thought exercise. There. All right. Those were our main characters for the rest of the NFL. season. That was fun. We might, you know, who knows? Maybe we'll look at the final two weeks and be like, who are main characters for the final two weeks of this season. It's a good exercise to revisit every now and then. Thank you to Nora Prince, Iadi. We will take a break. We will come back and we will have on

Stephen Ruiz for QB Corner. All right, we are back on the Ringer NFL show. We welcome in. Stephen Ruiz, Ruiz. You wanted to do a little, what spurred this? You wanted to do a little sophomore QB check-in this week? What do you think spurred it? I saw people. getting too excited about Bryce Young, and I saw people getting a little too low for, in my opinion, on C.J. Stroud, who I went back and watched the game. I saw people kind of posting his stats and posting the fact that he's been like the 33rd ranked quarterback in fantasy over the last month or so. And I expected to see... Who cares about that?

Yeah, yeah, I mean, who cares about that. But I expected to see like a quarterback who was struggling, because I know we've talked about this for the last month, like the Texans' offense has put this tremendous strain on him. But when I went back and watched the film, I saw the quarterback that we were all excited about, like, in the first month. You do see a little more strain and you see the cracks that that is creating in his game. Like, right now what I'm seeing is defenses knowing what Houston wants to do and being able to take that away and kind of funneling the targets, the open targets to receivers that I would say Straub doesn't want to target. Like a good example, there's a third and ten early in the first quarter against Jacksonville.

Houston's running Hank, which is like two stop routes on the outside. You have like an inside receiver running a stop route over the ball and then two guys in the flat. And the Jaguars are on five of the routes. They're just flankinged in them. But there is a guy open in the flat. It's a checkdown on third and ten. Straub doesn't want it. He's looking at it.

He doesn't take it. And then he ends up taking a sack. You could see why he doesn't want to take it. There's a guy there that can rally for the tackle. But it's a bad sack on tape. And you're like, oh, this isn't the player we saw last year. But I just think he wanted more from that play. That's like where you see his mistakes coming from.

You're not seeing him, you know, misreading the play. It's him trying to make plays that aren't there. And they're like commendable situations where you want him to do that. It's like third and ten. Yeah, try to make a play. You can take a sack on third and ten. Don't do it on second and ten. So I haven't lost any of my optimism about C.J. Stroud.

I think we did or we didn't index just how much that scheme was helping him last year, the Shanahan scheme. We've seen like throughout the league that Shanahan scheme. has kind of been figured out by defenses. It's like not as easy on quarterbacks as it has been. And we're seeing those effects, but like the bones of who he was last year and who he was over September, I think are still there, despite the little nagging issues that might pop up over, that might have popped up over the last couple weeks.

So was he your, in terms of the categories, was this, hey, the film was better than how it's being talked about for last? Are you doing categories or are we just talking about the subject? No, he's the best quarterback of the four. We're talking about the sophomore quarterbacks. I'm going to apply these categories. So we're going to do the best. You got too excited.

You know, you just went right. I saw the passion for, see, I could tell you've been reading some tweets about C.J. Stroud, you don't like. You got me heated. You got me heated. And we predicted this early in the year when we saw his stats weren't as good as we thought they would be. We were like, uh, people are going to blame Stroud and he's not the guy to blame.

And I mean, maybe we're like clinging to our priors about this guy that we all wanted to be this like next guy who was going to be a top five quarterback. this year and it hasn't happened. Kind of reminds me of Trevor Lawrence, where we kind of apply the flaws that pop up in his game as a result of the weaknesses in his offense. We apply that to him and his skill set.

I think we're seeing a similar phenomenon here with Stroud. But now, his game is just as clean as ever. And I think if you compare him to any of the other sophomore quarterbacks, and I think we're starting to hear some more comparisons to those guys after his recent struggles, like he's the best in every category. Like he makes the wow throws

that Anthony Richardson makes. He does the timing and like the decision-making stuff that Bryce Young makes when he's going good. He does the shot plays like out of like in structure, off-play action that Will Levis does. He's the best of the bunch. And I still think he's a top 10 quarterback in this league no matter what his stat line says. Yeah, I've still got Stroud as the best guy in this class. Like you said, it hasn't gone maybe as we expected. I thought there's a chance this guy's going to be competing for an MVP in his second season.

I think you outlined the reasons for that offensive line. scheme injuries at wide receiver. I probably would say, all right, there are aspects of his game that aren't as good as last year, or at least there's been certain games this season where he's say, all right, the accuracy is a little bit off for, all right, the way he's dealing with pressure is maybe not as good. But I don't have big questions about him. I mean, we say it all the time that improvement, especially a quarterback, is not linear

for these guys where, hey, you were good as a rookie. And now your second season is definitely going to be better than that. and your third season is going to be better than the second. There are ebbs and flows to this thing. A lot of it has to do with your supporting cast, the environment you're in, that kind of thing. But yes, I still, I even, what was the game? Who did they play two weeks ago?

I forget the Houston Texans, but I know he was getting ripped for that game. It was a- I can look it up here in a second. But I remember watching that game during the weeks. I don't think I watched it live, where I didn't have a close eye on it live. And I'm like, man, the high-level throws here.

That was the weird Titans game that they play. And I'm like, man, the high level throws here are still there. Like, there are a lot of wow throws from CJ Stroud. So, yes, I also am still a believer. And they're wow throws in structure. They're not like wow throws that if he was asked to do it again and consistently do it, that he wouldn't be able to make. He's doing the throws that got us excited last year.

We're just seeing the smaller plays aren't working out nearly as much. So at the end of the day, we look at the box score and we're like, oh, instead of going 25 for 35 for 300 yards, he's going 20 for 35 for 230. And like, it's not worse. What's happening around him is worse. But like, I feel like that was the most obvious of the categories. I wanted to get that one out of the way. Okay. All right. Who's next? The first category we're going to do is the tape looks better than what the box score says. And that's Will Levis to me, man. Every time I watch him, I get it. Like, I get why you can talk yourself into him. And I, I'm not ready to sell all my stock in him. Not that I had a bunch of stock before the draft. He was my

QB4 behind Richardson, Stroud, and Young. But like, I get it. And I think, like, I don't know if the Titans should necessarily build around him, but if the Titans do move on from him, I think he's one of those, like, Baker Mayfield options that team should definitely be interested in, especially if the price is low. And that's my comparison to him. I think he's a Baker Mayfield. Like, I think when it goes, when it's looking good, the throws look good. The tape looks like top 10 tape. He's making those strong throws over the middle of the field. He's throwing into tight windows. He's avoiding defenders. He's bouncing off guys, making side-on throws on the run. And then you also see, like, within the scheme, like within, when they give him some play action

plays, he can make those throws downfield into tight windows. It doesn't have to be perfect for him to get a throw off. But then he makes the bozo throws. And he tries to do too much. And he gets a little too excited after breaking a sack and it tries to turn it into a 40-yard play instead of just taking a five-yard play. And that's the problem. But I do think you can coach that out of them. And we've seen that get coached out of Baker Mayfield. And we've seen the best of Baker Mayfield kind of emerge over the last couple of years. And I don't think it would be too hard to build a similar scheme for Will Levis. So I know the interceptions are usually those are the interceptions we see from like a Brandon Whedon type prospect. But there's enough high-level

plays on his film if you're watching every week that you can overlook some of them. If you are a team who goes into next year saying we're going to just take a flyer on one of these guys, Daniel Jones or Will Levis, who is more attractive to you as a sort of, I don't, you know, like let's say you're giving up something for Will Levis. I guess that would have to be a trade, but it's like a day three pick. You're not giving up anything of value or you can sign Daniel Jones to kind of a lower. level one year. I'm trying to think of who the right team is here. Like, let's say you're the, let's say the Las Vegas. All right, I'm going to give you two scenarios. Okay. One is the Las Vegas

Raiders. So you're a team like you need someone to play for you next year and maybe you're keeping any No Connell or whatever, but you're saying, all right, we're going to take a flyer on one of these guys. Who is more attractive to you if you're a team like the Las Vegas Raiders? Wait, wait. How about we do this? We don't have to use a realistic scenario. Let's go back to last year. like we're the Vikings and we have to choose between our Daniel Jones. Ah, that's a tough one. I think I'm taking Will Levis. I think I'm taking Will Levis for the same reason

why I said in August that the Vikings' offense might be better off with Sam Darnold compared to a rookie like JJ McCarthy. There is a little bit of that bozo. He's going to throw some interceptions, going to take some bad sacks, but I think he raises the ceiling of your offense, like the high-end ceiling of your offense. And while the other guy might raise

your floor, I think they kind of pull down your ceiling. There's only so much you can do with the Daniel Jones, whereas I think Will Levis has a more varied skill set, even at this point in his career. I think he could do the play action stuff. He can go under center. He could do like the zone read stuff that you get out of Jones. He could do the quick game stuff just as well as Jones. I don't think that's a strength for either guy. Both are too inaccurate, both are too prone to mistakes in situations where the risk isn't very high because you're throwing like a short pass and the reward isn't very high, but the risk is very high. So yeah, I'm going to go with Levis, because I think you could build an explosive offense around him,

whereas these other guys, these quarterbacks who I rank around the same area, I think you can put together an offense that will keep you on track, will keep you ahead of the chains, but I don't think you're going to win very many games with them. Now, you might lose some games with levels that you might not have lost with Daniel Jones, but I think the wins you add offset that. So much depends on the coach. Like as you were describing that, I'm like,

I could see O'Connell coaching some of the, not all the bozo out of him, but some of the bozo out of him to get. more of the good parts. But other teams, you're like, no, it would probably look exactly like like it looks like in Tennessee. How much of the O'Connell thing is just like the clips of him after the game, like hugging on the players that are struggling? How about how about that? Yeah, every opposing quarterback, he goes in whisper sweet, nothing's in their ear. Is that, is that a branding exercise? Is that, no, he see, I don't know. He seems like an authentic guy, but he also seems like a very polished guy. Do you think the other coaches resented?

Like, if I'm Shane Steichen and he goes up to Anthony Richardson, he's like, look, man, I still believe you. I'd be like, come on, man, back off. I can tell you, I would, yes, that would annoy me if I was the other coach. I'd like, stop talking to my player, okay? You're not guy's gift to football. You don't know what's happening behind the scenes here with my guy. Justin Jefferson. I'm glad you noticed, yeah, I'm glad you noticed that too. I think I meant to bring that up on a recent show. I'm like, does he do this after every game? He's just whispering something to the opposing quarterback here. So, all right, last thing on Levis. So that was if the team, like a team you mentioned, like the Vikings, what if you're like a team that already has a quarterback and you're like,

like a chiefs or a bills and you're just like, hey, we're going to bring in, uh, you know, sort of a backup type guy. Does that change your mind at all? Or would you still rather have a Levis? No, because the way I like to think about the backup is not like, if this guy has to start one game, what are we going to do? It's more like if this guy has to start for a month, are we going to be able to survive? And I think, I still think Levis just gives you more options as an offensive coordinator. I think you could do more stuff with him. You could do stuff with him in the run game stuff with him in the short passing game and the deep passing game that you're not going to get from these like I would say less than average quarterbacks when it comes to talent

throwing talent especially like Levis is a 90th percentile thrower I mean you even against Washington when they get blown out he makes a sideline throw third and 10 it's like a throw that only you've only seen Justin Herbert make this year he makes another throw third and 21 he makes a throw on the run a crossing route in between two zone defenders. Like 10 other quarterbacks can make that throw. He makes another throw in the red zone for the touchdown, his second touchdown, another tight window throw, anticipatory throw in front of the safety, behind the linebacker, the throws that we used, that we last year we were drooling over with Brock Purdy in that

49er system. So yeah, he has all those throws in his bag. And then I also think he is like a smart quarterback. You talk to coaches who have been around him. They're like, yeah, this guy understands football and he studies the game. So I think there is a chance that he knocks that, that recklessly. out of his game in the next couple of years. All right. Ruiz has not given up on Will Levis.

All right. Who's next? Who do you got? All right. I'm going with the guy whose film doesn't look as good as everyone's saying. It doesn't. That's Bryce Young, man. I watched the film. I came in expecting to see a great game. I even gave him props in my winners and losers column. But I think the results are getting much better. And I think he looks like the quarterback I expected him to be before the draft. like that playmaker who may not ever be a top five quarterback, but can certainly develop into like a top 15 fringe top 10 quarterback. I think we saw that against Tampa Bay.

We saw the playmaking. We saw some of those impressive perimeter throws. But the thing that we can't discount is all the outtakes. Like, yeah, we have those perfect takes where he nails the tight window throw on the outbreaker. But there are a lot of throws, even against the bucks, where it just seems like he's aimlessly throwing it towards the sideline to nobody in particular. And you look at the end zone angle.

And I know we shouldn't like over-index this, but even some of those impressive throws look like ducks. Look like ducks in the wind, wobbling a little bit. And that makes you question the sustainability. Like, yes, you could pull off those throws, but can you do it again and again and again and again, like the best quarterbacks in the NFL can make those high-level throws? And the problem with Bryce is he almost has to play in those environments that we see the top-level quarterbacks thrive in because he is like an out-of-structured playmaker. He's not a guy that's going to, you know, hit the.

in breaking dig in structure. He's the guy that's going to maybe anticipate it and get a throw off while he's about to take a hit. And, you know, it's not the strongest throw, but it gets to the receiver and he catches it. It doesn't look like when Josh Allen throws. It doesn't look like what Patrick Mahomes throws it. And I know, like, you can't compare every prospect to those guys. But it does put a tremendous ceiling on you. And that's why I'm still like, okay, Bryce could be an answer for the next couple of years,

but he still doesn't look like a quarterback. I'd give a second contract to even at his best over the last three weeks. Yeah, we talked about him in the first segment with Nora. We were doing main characters for the rest of the season and she had him as one. And I think that last point you made is a good one. I made that point when we were talking about it as well that if he can buy you some time, like if he can be the 20th best quarterback in the NFL next year while you build up other parts of the roster because it's easy to say, no, you got to go get someone else.

But we all know it's hard to go get someone else. So until you're in that position. Yeah. Yeah. I mean, they have the fifth overall pick. So it's like even if there is someone you like, are you going to trade up that type of thing? And with this draft class not being what last year's draft class was, it becomes more challenging. So I want to see what it looks like the rest of the season.

I just said I'm happy that he looked so sad earlier in the season. It was kind of like a very depressing story just watching him play because he didn't have it. He was overwhelmed. The teammates were getting frustrated. You saw all of that. And so he's cleared that bar. Like I don't think Zach Wilson ever even had a stretch like this. Right?

Zach Wilson never had a stretch where he played at like games where he looked this competent, in my opinion. So that's clearing that first bar of not complete disaster. And now we see, are you, can you be mediocre over a long stretch of time? Can you be better than that with a bigger sample? And Wilson's college state wasn't nearly as impressive as Bryce Young's, especially when you consider the competition they were going up against us. Right.

With Zach Wilson and that BYU team playing that COVID schedule where they didn't have any conference affiliation and didn't have to test. So they had like a tremendous advantage. that year. But I'm going to throw out a comp for Bryce Young that I don't think I've heard in public yet. I've been soft launching it. All right. Brock Purdy. Okay. He's like the inverse of Brock Purdy. He was the first overall pick. Brock Purdy was Mr. Irrelevant. But like when you look at their skill sets, I think there's a lot of overlap there. Like they make the anticipatory throws because they know the game. They're passionate about the game.

I think like that's something that's going to keep their careers going for a long time, their desire to get better and to understand the sport. I think both are limited in terms of throwing ability and physical ability, but they are quick and they are crafty and they can run around and they can avoid guys and they can make those high-level plays. Like Brock Purdy does put high-level plays on tape. The thing with him and the thing also with Bryce is, can you do it over and over and over and over again?

Do you have the talent to do that? And I don't think either guy necessarily does, but the fact that they're able to do it as much as they are is commendable. think kind of raises their ceiling compared to guys who have similar physical statured as them. I can kind of see it stylistically when you're talking about the version of a of quarterback we see with those two guys. All right. Give me your last one. What do you got? Okay, Anthony Richardson is getting my, my honor badge. Another guy that I just can't quit. And another guy when you watch the film, like you expect to see, for lack of a better term, like a dumb quarterback, like a guy making

dumb mistakes. When he throws the interception, it's to a guy where he should have known that defender was there and not to throw that ball. But you don't really see that with Anthony Richardson. I think he's a guy that gets the position but doesn't have enough experience actually executing the plays. Like against the Patriots, his first interception, Tivai, the linebacker from the Patriots, he starts out in like a man coverage turn.

Like he turns his back to the pocket and is following the receiver, which usually is a tell to the quarterback that he's getting some type of man coverage and that guy's going to be out of the way for another route. But then to Vi kind of breaks off his route and then drops him to the zone of the throw that Richardson ends up making it tips the ball to get picked off. I think that's one of those plays where like on paper it was the right decision. But when you watch the film, you're like, that's a terrible. How do you not see that guy dropping into the window? And then the second interception, he has a crossing route. It's against, I believe it's against man coverage, cover one. Like, that's what you want against that play. It's not a terribly inaccurate.

at throw, he kind of puts it behind the receiver, but the receiver kind of drifts up field and Christian Gonzalez is able to undercut it and he gets picked off. And like when you look back at all of his interceptions, except for maybe like one or two, I think you can make like the argument that that was the right decision. He just couldn't execute the throw. And if that's your question mark with him, like can he execute these throws consistently? I think he's put enough like wow throws on film where the answer is probably yes. And this is such an easy comparison to make and maybe it's a lazy comparison because of how they look and how they started out. But he looks like 2019 Josh Allen to me, or 2018, Josh Allen, whichever was the first year,

the rookie year. He's not quite 2019 Josh Allen where he was still kind of bad. The stats weren't good, but you could see it and they made the playoffs. But it's not even me, like, arguing that he should get an extended chance with the Colts. I think it would just be downright dumb to move on from him after this year. And it seems like that is kind of on the table after his benching. I agree. I was, you know, when he was coming,

out, I was like, I see the high level plays. Like, there's a boomer bust to this pick for sure. He's barely played in college. But I've definitely seen enough where I want to see more. The guy has barely played. Like, can we, can we let him play? Can we let him make some of these mistakes and see what it looks like with a bigger sample? It might never get there, like, the point of accuracy or, you know, whatever other flaws you want to look at. He might never get there. But, like, if he does get there, it's going to be really, really exciting. I don't know what percent chance, you know, either of those things are. But he hasn't been in a great situation. They've dropped more passes than more of his passes than any quarterback in the NFL.

12% of his on-target passes have been dropped this year. Again, no quarterback has had a higher percentage. He does have a superpower, which is good luck trying to sack this guy. Fifth, lowest pressure to sack percentage in the NFL. And then his other superpowers, he can make the 1% throws. I mean, we've seen those. He can make throws that very few quarterback. in the NFL can make. So who knows? Is it ever going to happen? But yeah, I don't get like, I key, again,

we said it at the time when he got benched that it, which it just felt weird. Is there something we don't know from this situation? And maybe that still is the case. But I just don't understand drafting a guy like that, knowing what the risks are, knowing what it's going to take to develop him, and then giving up on him.

Like he hasn't, he hasn't been close to his bad enough where you would say you should give up on this guy after what you invested in him. And you didn't list one of his. other superpowers, maybe his greatest super power, his contribution in the run game. And we saw it play out late in this game against the Patriots where anytime they needed a clutch play and fourth and short, they put the ball in Anthony Richardson's hand. That's not going to happen with Bryce Young. It's probably not going to happen with Will Levis. It might not even happen with

CJ Stroud, where they're going to be like, you're going to be the guy with the ball in your hands, go get us four yards. Like, that's such a superpower that like we've seen the Eagles build a juggernaut offense over the past couple. Even when the offense, even when the offense isn't going good. It still moves the ball because of that one short yardage answer. They could build the the offense around. So yeah, I'm with you there. He made a number of throws on that on that last drive that got dropped to your point. Like three just beautiful downfield passes and different types of passes. Like one was a lofted throw to A.D. Mitchell down the sideline. The other one was like a deep shot off play action

to Alex Pierce. He had like a wheel route to Granson on earlier in the game. He had like five or six high-level throws that if those passes are caught or there isn't a penalty negating them, like they're all over Twitter this week. And everyone's like, oh, my God, Anthony Richardson, how did we ever give up on him? The touch on the touchdown throw to Taylor just made me laugh because you could just see him trying so hard to like, I need to exhibit touch on these types of throws and give the guy a chance. It didn't look perfect, but it got to him and Taylor scored the touchdown there. Like, again, that's something we saw when he first came back. I remember with the first series, he had like a similar play, and he just, you know, threw it at the guy's

feet or whatever, and you're like, ooh, you know, that doesn't look good. But then there's like an 18-yarder downfield, tight window, middle of the field, and he just rifles it in there. And I think there's enough there to certainly want to see more. This is what it would have looked like if Jordan Love had a play right away. That's my take. Ooh, that's interesting. All right. I'm thinking about it. Seems like there is, yeah, that you might not be wrong there. I could say. certainly see some of that because you saw some of that with Jordan Love, especially when he, even when he did play. And he had sat for a while, just kind of the first half of last season a

little bit. I think that's not a bad comp in terms of their skill sets. All right, that was the check-in. That was the QB corner with the sophomore quarterbacks. You can, of course, check out Stephen Ruiz's quarterback rankings on the brand new ringer.com. I mean, check them out. Look at it. Look at them there. Just a beautiful. It was already a beautiful website. Now it's an even more beautiful website. We got footnotes. We got footnotes. It's got all kinds of stuff on there.

So check that out. Thank you to Ruiz. I'll be back with him and Deontay later this week as we preview week 14. Man, it feels good to say that. Week 14. We will do that later this week. Thanks to Nora Princiotti. Thank you to Troy Farkas for producing additional production supervision by

Conorne Evans and Arjuna Ramgopal. I'm Sheila. We'll talk to you next time on the Ringer NFL show.