The Ringer NFL Show - NFL Gods, Please Stop Injuring Our Stars! (Ep. 180)

Episode Date: November 10, 2017

The Ringer’s Robert Mays and Kevin Clark get you set for Week 10, including why Richard Sherman’s injury further muddies the unpredictable NFC (01:00), how the Saints built one of the best defenses in one offseason (07:00), and why the NFL needs to hold off on 'Thursday Night Football' until after Thanksgiving (29:30). Then, Danny Kelly joins the show with some wide receiver sleeper starts for your fantasy team (40:00) and to explain how Rod Smith could take over the Cowboys backfield (51:30). Finally, Robert and Kevin offer next week’s headlines, including how we are entering a stretch of the schedule when Super Bowl contenders will finally emerge (55:00). Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

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I'm Kevin Clark, joined today by Robert May. Robert, Thursday was regrettable in this sense. It was kind of a disjointed weird game, and then someone we enjoy watching got hurt. Yeah, it's pretty much if you have appeared in any way in a commercial or whatever product. The product doesn't matter. If you have hawked any product and used your status in the NFL as a way to do so,

you have to get hurt this year. It's a rule. It's like final destination. If you're the type of player who the nation tunes into why, something terrible is going to happen to you. That's sort of the rule. Yeah, it's like a horror movie. They all have this collective experience,

which is being a marketable NFL star. And because they've done it together, they're now linked to endure the same fate, which is just a miserable end that we all hate to see. Look, and one thing we want to be clear about on this in particular is there's not some huge, huge uptick and injuries in the NFL this year. it's just literal bad luck. Yeah, it's the wrong people getting hurt.

Right. But I don't want anybody to ever get hurt. I'm just saying for the marketability of the sports. It's not fun when the stars get hurt. Right, right. And so we're not saying this is like, although it might be a systemic issue, it's not like stars are being hurt for a reason. It's just, it's actual bad luck.

I mean, Aaron Rogers got his shoulder driven into the ground. Like, Sean Watson got eaten by a turf monster. You know, this is not a coming to a head of bigger, faster athletes and somehow how it's a problem. When your sport is just a bunch of car crashes over and over again, there's always sort of a reckoning coming, but that, you know, in recent years it was just guys we didn't care as much about.

So, I mean, it's like O'Dell Beckham landed on his foot. You know, JJ Watt got his toe caught on somebody. This isn't people just getting wrecked at all times. It's just kind of weird, fluky incidents that have piled up over the last eight weeks. It's not good. But not fun. And the good news. is that we are less clear on who's good in the NFC.

I mean, the Seahawks won. Great. What do you? I mean, what else do you want from them? Great. No, no, I mean, without Richard Sherman. Oh, yeah. That's fair.

I mean, yeah, it's kind of that thing, right? Like, we talk about the Eagles, the Seahawks, teams we assume will be around at the end. And even these teams are just hemorrhaging players. Jason Peters just won't play again this year. And the Eagles have been able to survive that so far. But after a certain amount. a time if you keep losing these guys

it doesn't help it reminds me the eagles remind me of a very very old bill simmons thing about adam sandler where it was like you think about any like well adam sandler this was you know 10 years ago adam sandler is not the biggest star in hollywood right

we know that because it's a very sanler sir well no and then you start looking at it and and like no one's even close to him as far as the ability to make money in a movie and like he makes every movie insanely popular and they go oh wait he is. And there are nobody else. Nobody's else even close. Yeah, Ben said in reference to Ryan Reynolds, like the first year of Greyland, Ryan Reynolds is not a movie star and how we have no real

movie stars. Okay. This is, that's still true. Let's not get into actor creep here. Okay. This is that we're talking specifically about Adam Sandler and the Eagles, which is an extremely good analogy that I'm putting together right now. You go for it, buddy. I'm here for it. And so, no, no. So, So what I'm trying to say is that essentially at some point, it's just the Eagles are really good. They're the NFC team. And we're looking around for other NFC candidates. And we're saying, oh, maybe the Seahawks point together. Meanwhile the Seahawks are just not healthy or maybe not good.

And it's the Eagles, man. It's something I've thought about writing, I think is kind of an interesting idea, is that which injuries matter less? You know, like obviously the quarterback is the most important. like Eric Rogers is getting hurt is huge, but would you rather lose Richard Sherman or Jason Peters? I think that there are actual answers to this just in terms of how much you can help certain guys at each individual position. Like, left tackle, you can make up for losing one left tackle because you can ship with a tight end. You can use your backs there. For a corner, it's a little less difficult, especially with how Seattle plays, playing a lot more man.

Making up for that is tough. Like losing Earl Thomas is more important than losing Richard Sherman. Well, we've seen that. Exactly. So it's just kind of, it's not a matter of if you're playing. are going to get hurt. It's which of your players get hurt and at which spots. I think that's kind of the story of the second half of the NFL season. I've mentioned this before. There was an academic paper on basically Vorp in the NFL and the way they calculated it was figuring out

when a team loses its starter, at each position, how many games do they lose? And quarterbacks, obviously, number one. The left tackle was by far number two. And I think about that a lot. defensive injuries don't matter in the grand scheme of things. Except if it's Earl Thomas. Well, I mean, Earl Thomas apparently tells them what to do. He's the quarterback. Not to go back to another Bill Simmons Rubik in five minutes of this podcast. But remember this old bit about maybe during the Peyton Manning neck surgery season,

he should have just been on the field telling everyone what to do. That is what Earl Thomas is. Like, apparently the way they play when he's, not on the field suggests that he just is in charge of the defense. Yeah, I mean, that's fair. That wouldn't surprise me. That's unbelievable. I don't know.

Okay, we have Danny Kelly coming later. I'm sure we're going to talk about the Seahawks and rank all of their misfortunes then. But his fantasy segment is coming up later. He's riding high from his DK Dark Knight hits last week. We're all excited to see what's next for him. Big time for Danny. But first, let's get to our favorite four. Again, we don't want to be negative on this.

but it's kind of another rough weekend. It is. Yeah, it's tough. I mean, what's the best matchup of the weekend? Is it probably Bill Saints, which is what we're kicking off with here? I think that's the answer. I guess. Yeah, I mean, that's two winning teams. One team is lost to the Jets.

Here's the thing, though, and that's the problem. So we're going to start with Bill Saints. And the issue here for these teams is that one's going up and one's going down. I think if this had been four weeks ago, we'd be talking about the Bills as a surprise team and the Saints still trying to figure it out, when in reality, the Saints are on this huge upswing and the bills are definitely trending in the wrong direction. And I think that this matchup is kind of fascinating just with the individual kind of smaller games that are going on because these two teams match up in a weird way.

So Buffalo has been good on defense. Again, they're slipping a little bit. They'll be their 15th in DVOA now, which is not what they were at the beginning of the year. And their best players have been in the secondary. Trudevius White's played great. Mike Hyde's been awesome. Jordan Poirers played well.

And the Saints have kind of drifted away. from high volume receivers in their passing game. The two guys, there's second and third on the team in targets right now are Alvin Kamara and Mark Ingram. They've accounted for like 31% of Drew Breed's attempts. And that's the one area you really want to attack Buffalo. So I feel like what the bills have done really well on defense

is not what they need to do to stop the Saints. Yeah, I mean, I'm intrigued with the entire idea of the Saints. as a contender because I don't know I for the last two weeks I've been watching a high volume of daytime NFL TV and how's that been going for you it's gone great and so

no I just have noticed an uptick in like mainstream predictions the saints are either going to make the Super Bowl or the NFC championship I'm talking about why not well I think it's I really it's starting to come together in a very cool way I can totally understand why

you would say that. Pro football focus has Marshawn Lattimore as the highest graded rookie in the entire NFL. He's been awesome. Above Kareem Hunt, above Tadavius White. I mean, he is legitimately awesome. And this is what we talked about at the beginning of the year when I said, if you get Latimore

and or Rankins to make a leap and be a contributor this year, they can win the Super Bowl. And that's sort of what's happening now. And I'm really, really, I mean, isn't Marsha and Latton Latton actually the highest graded cornerback in the entire NFL?

Yeah, they have him as that. I mean, he's a really good player. Meanwhile, I'm actually looking at this. I'm looking at the whole secondary. Von, Von Bell isn't the second highest graded safety. I mean, they've got a legitimately, I mean, it's not an elite defense,

but they have some elite pieces. They have some elite pieces. Their past defense has been excellent. And I think that, you know, we're going to talk a lot about Latimore, and that makes total sense. But this is what I wrote for, the ringer.com this week, just the idea that in a single offseason, you can really

remake your status within the league just based on how many teams are bunched up and how many rookies are playing. So the Saints had five picks in the top 76. Four of them started week one. And Alvin Comara is the other one. And Alex Anzolone has since gotten hurt, so he's been replaced and everything else. But a lot of those guys have come on defense. And we talk about Loudamor all the time. But the fact that they've just dropped Marcus Williams, who's a second round pick into the back of their defense and he's playing really well, has also made a huge difference. Hitting on a guy like Alex Okifor who is having the best season of his career on a very

modest contract for them is a huge deal. So it's all come together. Like literally every single piece that needed to fall right for them defensively has. And I mean, AJ Klein hasn't been that great. They signed him. But I mean, the important ones, the ones they needed to hit have all in succession worked out for them. And that's what we're seeing.

here's what's interesting about the Saints to me because they are sort of symbolic of the rest of the league in this regard. We talk about the lack of practice time around the NFL. We talk about just how teams, it's hard for them to come together so early in the season.

They figure it out as the season goes on with the top of that with Seahawks and the Patriots all the time. The Saints are a great example of that and it's sort of a sneaky example of it when we're really thinking about it. The Saints, if you talk to people inside the league, had no clue what they were doing on defense the first two or three weeks of the season. Like none.

Like they weren't able to you know, I remember talking to a guy saying they weren't able to even basically identify coverages and figure out what they needed to do. Stuff that you or I could do with like a week's worth of study, right? And the Saints were not doing that.

Maybe it was practiced. Maybe it was a bunch of young players. But guess what? It took them a month and now they're awesome. And so that is that's the NFL in 2017 is figuring it on the fly. When you can figure out on the fly what you're doing wrong and fix it, you have a massive advantage. So, hats off to Dennis Allen. And I think that we're going to see this week just the ways they're good and the ways they're bad.

So their past defense has been incredible. Like I know Calvin Benjamin's playing this week. You put Calvin Benjamin in belt bubble wrap. You ain't doing anything against Marshall Ladamore. If you're the bills, I think that your approach here is you run the ball 35 times. Because the same is run defense has still been pretty suspect. There are guys in the middle are definitely built more for speed and quickness and pass. rushing than they are to slow down the run. I mean, so this is going to be LaShawn McCoy all the time.

I think that that's 100% the game plan you have to stick with if you're Buffalo because anything else you're outmaned right now, which is a crazy thing to think about when we're talking about the Saints defense. I said hats off to Dennis Allen. Is that the phrase? Yeah, yeah, hats off. Well, you're tipping your cap. His bysers off for Dennis Allen. Fisers off for DeSalle. I noticed that the other day, or a couple weeks ago, Doug Peterson wore the hat. He looks 10 times. I take him 10 times more seriously when he wears a hat instead of a visor. Like, let's scrap the visor. It's totally unnecessary.

There is a theory around the ringer office that that is, it's, the visor is one of those like kind of fake hair visors. Oh my God. Yeah. Doug Peterson does look like that. It's coming out like a palm tree. It comes out. It comes out.

And so like the whole, the hair and the visor are connected and he bought it like on Bourbon Street. I do like that theory. I think what I said at the time was he looks like you're stepping. dead on a cruise. I mean, that's exactly his look with that advisor. It's terrible. Somebody's just tapping on the shoulder. Whatever it is. Whatever it is, he looks like a lot of things before you get to coach of the best team in the conference. It may be the league. That's very true. Vikings are Redskins. The Redskins offensive line exists again,

which is nice. They will be playing this week, which against the Vikings is a very important thing. So I think this is sort of a broader question. not specific to this game. When do you start thinking about Teddy Bridgewater and do you think about him this year? As far as I starting quarterback. It's the most important question the Vikings have to answer down the stretch

because it might be the most important question in the league. Yeah, I don't know if even with him their ceiling is high enough for me to go that far. I think that the version of Teddy Bridgewater we used to watch with this team is intriguing. just because when I look at Minnesota's roster, top to bottom, it's pretty damn good, man. I mean, I really am sad that we can't see Dalman Cook on this team. It sucks.

But everything else, the fact that Diggs and Thielen are two of, I mean, if you're ranking, like, wide receiver tandums in the league, they'd probably be in the top five. Right? Yeah, definitely. I mean, the Broncos, I think, are up there. The Steelers are up there, even if they don't throw Martavis Bryant at the ball. anymore. But outside of like those two teams and then I don't know, man, they're up there for me. I think those two are fantastic. And then you have Rudolph as a tertiary option. It just feels like they have so many weapons. The offensive line has gone from a nightmare to a really strong

unit again in a single year with the signings that they've made and the draft picks that they've had. So I just think that dropping him into that with a defense you can consistently rely on, it makes them really interesting. But I just don't know if it's one response. And two, if he's going to be ready to play, not only from a physical standpoint, but just getting back on the field if you're going to be any better with him. That's my question. Yeah, I mean, I just, yeah, I guess, I mean, obviously we don't see him in practice. We don't know what that's like. But I mean, Case Kingdoms has been okay. And they're winning that sort of upgrade. They're winning that sort of quarterbackless football that has come to define a lot of

the games in 2017. So I don't, it is a really, really tough question. That's why I'm sort of intrigued as to what they do. The version of Teddy Bridgewater we've seen before. I think that player, he's a better quarterback than Casey Keenham. Their offense could be better with him. But I don't, will we necessarily get that guy? And I think there's no way to know that. I remember talking to Ronnie Brown about this once.

What was the last time Ronnie Brown was mentioned on this podcast? This might be the first time, but I'm not really sure. I don't remember much Ronnie Brown chatter. We kind of forgot about him. But he blew out his knee. remember talking to him. I think several times. Well,

he, one time when he was like really good. He was amazing for the 07 dolphins. I remember, man. And Bill Belichick called him, basically said he was the best player in the league at one point, 2007.

I mean, the wildcat flummoxed a lot of people. Oh, no, this is the year before. Yeah, that's right. 08 was a wildcat.

I only remember that because I was watching football games at Applebee's during the Wildcat season because Columbia, Missouri tore down my favorite sports bar. this is how I remember things I remember watching the wildcat at Applebeast that's how I know it was 08 my brain is a weird place do you have a response

I'm just gonna see how long I just wanted you to delve into the Applebeast thing it wasn't bad it actually had a very good television situation and that's why we went there because it had the most available TV How is the food? I mean it was not good I just remember eating like the same burger every single week it was cheap

I was 21 so So I didn't have a lot of money to work with. Let's pull ourselves out of this tailspin and get back to Ronnie Brown. Let's go back to the actual relevant thing. Let's get back to the not tailspin. The mediocre running back wasn't played in six years. So he told me once that you will never, the physical part of the knee rehabilitation takes not nearly as much time as you think.

It's the mental side. You can't trust yourself. for months because the injury hurts so freaking bad that any time you even approach what you did to injure it, you get scared. Yeah, absolutely. And Bridgewater, I mean, it was a non-contact running injury. I mean, that's not with certain cuts or whatever,

you know, running backs get nervous if they blown out their knee or whatever. With Bridgewater, I just don't know how long it's going to take him to get adjusted to it because it is only natural for him to have a lot of hesitation all over the field after such a gruesome injury. Yeah, absolutely. And again, the Vikings are 11th in offensive DVOA, which is kind of crazy, by the way. I mean, there are a lot of teams that are pretty solid on both sides of the ball this season. It's different than last year. The Vikings are 9th on defense, the 11th on offense.

It's a nice balance. So it's not as if they're this terrible unit that really needs a jumpstart. I feel like they're about as good as they're going to be this year with Keenham. And it just feels like the risk of putting Bridges. water out there. I don't know if it's worth it. Yeah. I mean, it's I don't know. All right. Redskins. I don't know.

I don't want to overreact to the Redskins right now. I'm excited to see them with their team back. I mean, I think the fact that they survived last week was really nice. So you get Scherf back, you get LaValle back, you get Spencer Long back in the middle. I mean, that's huge steps forward. No, Tread Williams, but, and that's going to be a problem against Iverson Griffin, but it's a lot of guys. They went Seahawks last week.

Yes, I watched. Vikings this week. Saints next week. That's a pretty nice, you couldn't ask for much more as far as testing them to see if they're a wildcard contender. Do you think they are? That's what I'm asking.

I don't know, man. That's what I'm asking. I put them a notch below, like the Cowboys and the Panthers. Maybe I shouldn't. I don't know. I don't know. I'm just, I'm asking the question.

outwardly. I don't think they are, but if they beat the Vikings and beat the Saints, then they are. That's, that's, I mean, at that point, they would be six and, they would have to get to do. That's what I'm asking for? So what do you think you need to get the wild card? 10 and 6? I don't know. I mean, there are one game behind the Cowboys. It's not, it's not insane. But the Panthers are six and three. No, I understand that. The Panthers have to go six and two the rest of the way if you're Washington. And I think that's a very tall order. I think some Somebody is going to go 10 and 6 and get that second wild card. I agree with that.

Because it feels like, I mean, both teams in the NFC Western on pace to win 11 games, at least. So you'll use pencil those in. Seattle or the Rams are going to get one of those two. I feel like that's just a certainty at this point. And you assume that, you know, Carolina has to really fall off. I don't know if that's a certainty, man. I don't know if any of these are a certainty.

I do. I think that the Rams and the Seahawks are significantly better than the Seahawks just lost Richard Truman for the season. At some point, they stopped having the most roster talent in the NFL. It takes a lot of losses for them to get there compared to these other teams in the NFC. No, I know. I mean, I picked them in the Super Bowl, all that, but like Dwayne Browns, her Cam Chanso left on a cart last night. At some point, at some point, you get worried about

him a little bit. I think the Seahawks are a lot of guys away from falling into the same category as teams like Carolina. I do think that there's still a notch above, even with the guys they've lost. I have learned nothing except I have no idea what's going to happen in the NFL. Yeah, that's pretty much. A long, a long similar we're doing right now where we predict what's going to happen is going to be great when like the three best players remaining get hurt on Sunday. And that's fine. Again, this is all, the caveat here is injuries. I mean, if you lose five more guys, you're not going to be good anymore.

I feel like that's the one thing you can't predict. What a league. Fun times. I'm generally intrigued by this game. I think it might be a good game. He's got a chance. The Redskins can play some really exciting football. Yeah.

I agree. I think that Washington's defenses would look better last week. They get Josh Norman back, which can't really be overstated. I think that Minnesota, those receivers against Washington secondary is a very fun matchup. I'm excited to watch that. I wrote a story about Josh Norman this week. I did. Excuse me, you did.

I read it. Josh Norman is a big FIFA guy. And if he got really mad because an undrafted free agent tried to play. And so he doubled his quote unquote entry fee for that game to $500. hours. What a dick move. He also kept up the euphemism entry fee over and over again. Like that was somehow better than saying we play for money.

Yeah, I enjoy that. Yeah. That's really, it's great. Yeah. By the way, Stefan Diggs is 23. He's been in the league for three years. Jeez. Some of these guys are real young.

We just don't remember which guys are super young with some of them are. Okay. Pat's at Broncos has been a marquee matchup in the past. Yeah, not now. Nope. I was kind of confused as to why you wanted to talk about this game. What else are we going to talk about? That's fair.

Jags, Chargers is interesting. All I want to talk about is that Belichick did it again with Marty Bennett. He's hurt, though. He's a torn laborer, a torn rotator cuff apparently. Is he out for the season? No, but he's very injured. He's going to catch 10 touchdowns. It doesn't matter if he's a one arm.

Yeah, he's fine. Yeah, it's probably true. The one thing I'm watching for in this game outside of the fact that the Broncos are just bad on offense and the Patriots are probably going to win. It's actually a couple different things. One, the Pats and the Broncos, their matchups have always been fascinating because New England against this team, that kind of extreme game planning that they do, it's always most stark against Denver. There are those years where they just throw the ball 60 times and don't even try to run it. And then last year, they ran it 35 times because the Broncos run defense was bad. bad, I feel like this is going to be one of those games where it swings all the way back

around. Because Denver's past defense has not been very good this year and the run defense has been ridiculous, even with that Philly game last week. So this just feels like one of those games or like Rex Burkhead and James White takes every running back snap for New England and Mike Gillisley just doesn't see the field. Okay, so the Broncos, I saw some stats. They're basically the worst team in the NFL since the beginning of week six. Yeah, I feel kind of bad that I didn't stick by my Broncos prediction before the season saying they were going to be bad. Did you move off that? Yeah, I thought that the way they were using Simian was impressive.

I really liked Mike McCoy's game planning. The run defense was, the past defense was better than it has been recently. And I feel like with the way they were stopping the run, you know, the defense was good in a way I didn't anticipate. So I felt like they might be able to kind of, you know, piecemeal this together into a reasonable season. But they've definitely become the team. I figured they would be, which, you know, is a team where the off defense has regressed

considerably. offense just isn't very good period. Just from an entertainment standpoint, it's really hard to stick with your preseason predictions for an entire season if you're doing two podcasts a week. Correct. Because otherwise, you could just say, well, refer to the August podcast. And then that's the end of the podcast. 20 minute podcast.

Yeah. Well, we actually should annotate it, though. Refer to the August podcast at this point in time. So it would be a little bit longer. Yeah. It's tough to not move off your August stances all the time. So I don't play me at all. The other thing for this game is the fact that,

Marcus Cannon is not playing. Yeah. So when Von Miller, you know, feasted on Denver recently as, you know, a couple years ago in that conference championship game, that's when Shaq Mason was a rookie. Cannon really wasn't a player he is now. The offensive line was a concern, New England. That's not the case any longer. But summing out La Adrian Waddle, which I also can never say for Marcus Cannon, that could

be a problem against Von Miller. Hey, did you see the Belichick has started the brand things fake news? Oh, Jesus. Why is everything terrible? would you like to expand on that? I just like why. Why must Bill Belichick's like start throwing out Trumpisms at press conferences? Is this where we are now?

I guess it is. Oh, God. It's not the, it's not the Applebee's glory days anymore, man. No, seriously isn't, man. We've moved up. We're a long way from Applebees. Dolphins of Panthers. Another horse ship primetime game for the dolphins.

The dolphins have been outscored. I've been outscored by, I think, 150 points. in nationally televised games since 2015 this is not good I just want I I'm we're talking about this only to A the fact that the dolphins are not somehow not out of playoff contention and the Panthers are six and three so

allegedly this is a good game at what point do we starts like really believe in the Panthers I know we've talked about this a little bit I feel like we're starting to slowly get there I'm slowly getting I mean I picked them didn't I pick them to make the playoffs you did and I don't want to do the I don't want to do the refer to the August pod thing here but I did pick them and I haven't really moved off of it. It's just

I just haven't seen anything. They're not the Eagles where you're saying this team's going to win the Super Bowl. I mean it's just kind of like they are who we thought they were if that makes sense. Yeah, the offense hasn't been very good and I figured that they might struggle just with kind of figuring out who they wanted to be McCaffrey's been better of late

but they've really had troubles running the ball. The thing that I like just about this team is the way the defense has played and the defense is pretty much we assumed it would be. Just really good front seven. It's gotten more out of peppers than I think that anyone would have predicted. So the fact that they can control games like that.

And I just really like some of the games they've played this year. I think that they've done a really good job of manipulating quarterbacks with their linebackers. They blitzed a little bit more often. You don't really know who's coming and when. And I think that this is one of those games where color could throw like four picks. Oh, yeah. Just based on.

Do you mean a football game? I think this is the type of defense against which. she is more prone to do that. You just have so many like double mug looks. NFL defense. The way that the Panthers use their linebackers and the way they use Keekely and the A gap and the same

thing with Thomas Davis and just how much dropping and moving they do. You don't know who is going to stay. Who's going to go? I just feel like there's going to be a lot of like how did he not see him picks in this game or near picks? And I'm really going to enjoy watching it. Do you know how I know Jay Cutler is equipped

to throw four picks? He's alive. Because he's Jay Cutler. breathing? He's fair. That's reasonable analysis. Yeah, I mean, this is, I just can't do the dolphins anymore and the person When could you? I mean, at what point this season

when you're like, yeah, the dolphins, this is a team I like. I wanted to see them week one to see what was up with color. Yeah, that's about it. I mean, I watched them with a perverse kind of sense about it all, but I don't enjoy it. You didn't even play week one? I remember the Chargers game. That was good. That's no. Nobody played week one. The dolphins did not play in week one.

So his first game. Yeah, yeah, yeah. It was against the Chargers. It was okay. I felt good about that. That was a horrible football game. That was when they kept missing the kicks. Yeah, I mean, everybody.

I mean, it was like a horrible football game by both themes. Yeah. That's why the dolphins won. I'm okay with that. As long as both teams are horrible, that's fine. I don't like the current dolphin situation, which is that, you know, they get outscored by 150 points of three,

over three years in prime time. That's not ideal for me. I would like to say the Panthers. go out and kick ass in this game. I feel like this is the type of game they need to do that. With Dallas and Elliott and all the kind of uncertainty there, that second wild card spot, they could just clamp it down here

if they really make statement in this one and then just kind of string a couple together. All right, let's get going here. Time for the take, I believe. Let's do it, man. Doug Baldwin last night after the Thursday night game said Thursday, football should be illegal. Pete Carroll was asked

about it and he said, I don't want to lose any money, so we didn't comment on that, you know, the implication is being, we got to, we got to roll back Thursday night football until after Thanksgiving. We got to do it. I mean, it's just, I understand,

I know that the data doesn't necessarily say there's a huge uptick in Thursday night injuries, but there's a couple things. Number one is just watching the product we understand now that Thursday night is kind of grim. But then the second part of it is just like, these guys need rest and recovery. Like, it takes a toll on them.

if they get the 10 days off afterwards, or even if, you know, they may have a buy in certain situations. It doesn't matter. You just cannot get your body ready to play. Remember when they made the freaking Ravens play Sunday night and then Thursday night to give them even less time to rest? I mean, it's ridiculous how hard it is in 2017 to play an NFL game. And the fact that we have full-season NFL Thursday night football is insane to me. I think it's dumb. I've always thought it was dumb. I just, even if we don't necessarily, the data doesn't say it the product is ugly or there's more injuries, whatever, I just feel like we're at a point now where the anecdotal evidence is so strong. And it's something that the league can cede in negotiations, the new CPA, everything else,

just feels like there's a middle ground here. I don't want to watch it anymore. And also, it fuels into another problem we've talked about, which is just football saturation. Yep. Like, wouldn't you care more about Sunday football if there wasn't a game on Thursday night? Probably. I just never prepared for Thursday night. It always sneaks up on you. It's very true. Like yesterday I was watching the cab. I was at a bar just because I wanted to watch both games. Applebees?

Uh, no, it's not Applebees. I was watching the, um, the Cavs Rockets game and I was watching the Thursday football game. It's just like, God, this Thursday football game feels like it's shore.

And this Cavs Rockets game is so fun. I'd rather just not have to deal with it on Thursday night anymore. It's not, it is so rarely enjoyable. I mean, that Rams 49ers game is such an exception. And I agree with you. I feel like we could do away with it and lose nothing.

It gets into the, the day, point of it gets into this thing where, you know, I think a lot of times there's an argument that's, oh, well, scoring isn't down. You know, Goodell says, scoring's not down. Injuries aren't up, whatever. But is there anything where data matters less than whether or not people, everyone's having a good time?

No. That's exactly right. That's what I hate about this. It's just like, and this is sort of the argument with the level of play thing, too. It's like, oh, well, look at the data that says the quarterbacks are so much better. It's like, well, no. If we all agree we're having a bad time, then we're all having a bad time. that's that's sort of how bad times work.

Wouldn't that be amazing if you're like out with friends and it's like, well, you know, the numbers say. Yeah. Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. We're not actually having a worse time. Yeah, like, you're having like a horseshit night. At the end of it, you're like, guys, the efficiency of this night has just been incredible. So this is the best night I can never remember. Meanwhile, like, you lost your credit card and like, you know, your buddy went to jail.

Like that's, and then you're just like, wow, what a night. Well, the numbers don't, the numbers don't say it's hot actually. went to jail. So I don't know how to reconcile this. Right, exactly. I mean, it's, it's, I hate, I mean, one of the big problems with the NFL in 2017 is we're arguing about things that

I don't think we should argue about. And one of those is like, if everyone is like the NFL sucks, not as a permanent state, but like if everyone is like the NFL is bad right now, that means it's bad. Yeah, I agree with you. Totally unrelated to any of that. This is something that I thought a lot about

watching games recently. And when you mentioned Doug Ballwin it came up again. Doug Baldwin is a very handsome man. That's salute to service commercial. I'm just like, wow, Doug Baldwin's really good looking. It just hit me every single time. It's been a weird couple weeks. You don't have a response to that? We've covered all the big stuff, Robert, but I have a feeling we're missing something. Tell us, Robert, what are we missing when we look at week 10 in the NFL? I wanted to get into the Chargers Jacksonville game a little bit. And I think that the thing that I'm watching for in this game the most is just that those two corners in Jacksonville are very good and very good in different

ways. I think that, you know, Ramsey is such just a physical marvel. And the way he can play at his length is really what makes him so great. And then you go over the other side and Boyer is just a technician to the utmost. And I mean, such a smart player. There's the difference in their draft pedigree is all you need to know. Boy, it was a fifth round pick. Ramsey is a generational talent at cornerback. So the ways that they kind of attack receivers is always going to have its own little spin. And I think that a guy like Keenan Allen is a perfect kind of specimen to see what those different styles look like. So if you can, I mean, obviously the camera angle isn't necessarily the best for this. But off the line of scrimmage, just watch how Boye and Ramsey attack Alan.

He's a type of guy that loves when corners play up on him. So I feel like you're going to see them play a little bit more off, especially Ramsey, just because when he plays that trail coverage, he's able to really react and recover in ways other corners typically can't. So it's just something to watch for. I feel like Allen's the best route runner in the league, not named Antonio Brown. And the way he's going to go after these guys is going to be all about scouting and game planning and what works best in this situation. I think that those tiny little individual battles are going to be a huge part of this game

and maybe the most interesting happening on the field. Totally agree. Great point. Anything else? That's all I got. I just think that that's, you know, they really are, I think especially Boyer and Allen, it's just two guys who have such an incredible grasp

on the subtleties of their positions. And I think that those matchups are always really fun. It's like watching a very smart pass rusher going against a technically savvy, but not necessarily Uber athletic left tackle. It's a similar kind of deal. Guys that have traded in nuance and both of those guys have,

and I feel like it's just a really fun back and forth. It's intriguing to me. They always say good pitching beats good hitting in baseball, and I guess you would say a good corner always beats a good wide receiver. I don't. I would say the opposite of that. Okay. I'd say the opposite of that because the receiver knows where he's going.

So it's kind of he's the pitcher in this case. So you're always the reactor when you're the cornerback, similar to all you're always reacting as a hitter. So even if you can. kind of get a pitcher every once in a while, for the most part, the pitcher is always going to have the slightest bit of an upper hand. Like, if you are Antonio Brown, he had a big game against Jacksonville. He was doing against guys that weren't necessarily these two. He plays in a lot against Colvin. But you're going to get yours to a degree. Yeah. If you're, if it's a five catch 60 yard

day for Antonio Brown, you won. So that's kind of what I'm saying. They're always going to get you once or twice. Wouldn't the cornerback be the pitcher in the sense that you can give them, you can play a play so good that you have no option but you're out of the play? Do you know what I'm saying? That's where the analogy That's where I see the analogy is like if you play the play perfectly, the receiver has no chance

Which is very similar. I disagree with that. I think a receiver does have a chance even if you play it perfectly. There are times where just like I put my hands up Jam him at the line. I mean, I just I don't know. I don't know. We'll find out even though this isn't. We'll find out who's the picture. We'll find out who's the pitcher when we watch Keenan Allen against AJ Boyer. It's a fun matchup, man. I'm excited about it. I like that game.

You don't as much. I just, I don't know. Dang, it's all right, buddy. Is the game here? Is it in L.A.? Here? It's snowing in Chicago. I don't know where here is.

What are you talking about? We're recording this from Santa Monica. We all have tanked tops on. You guys have pulled out that joke twice right this morning. It wasn't on. That's fair, but I've heard it twice. We're in the middle of Hollywood wearing polo shirts. It makes me feel no better.

That game is in Jacksonville, Florida. Oh. Where it is not snowing. The L.A. of Florida. Coming up, Danny Kelly joins us riding a wave of success with his fantasy sleeper picks, and we'll see if we can keep that going. Plus, we'll give you next week's headlines, but first a quick break. Robert, there are no guarantees in life, including our star NFL players making it through the season

or good teams, even beating bad teams. There might be one exception, though, because in 1924, Husky started making things for people who make things, and they did it with common sense. That meant adding function over frills and making tools that stand the test of time. 93 years later, Husky is still making quality crafted durable tools. And Husky stands by their hand tools for life, so they give a lifetime warranty. Like Kevin's favorite, the Husky Ratchet with a 100-positioned rationing design and a 10% longer handle than standard ratchets to do other ratchets can't.

I also love the virtually unbreakable Husky flashlight with the ability to to withstand a 30-foot drop and work in up to one meter of water submersion. That one, I really do connect to that because getting a good flashlight is important. I can't tell you how many times in my life I've used a crappy flashlight and I've really hated it. Both of those tools are guaranteed for a lifetime, but built so you won't even need it. Learn more at www.huskytools.com. Husky common sense tools since 1924 with hand tools guaranteed for a lifetime, found only at Home Depot. Robert, the holidays are just around the corner. What gift are you getting me?

I'm still thinking about it. I don't like you that much. Okay. But most people do have tons of gifts to buy, though, and they are willing to show out some cash. And what better way to get some extra money than betting games on my bookie? You could just go to work and get the money. That's fair. But why not lay some of that harder money down and double it on your sports predictions. Well, they do have super fast payouts when you win, and you can play like pros with money lines, side or totals. Whatever you choose,

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ringer NFL to activate the offer. Visit mybooky.orgie.orgie today. You play, you win, you get paid. Okay, it's time to welcome and Danny Kelly, our fantasy football. We're back. You're a genius. I get my title back, guys? Yeah, you're back.

You got your tie. Are you wearing a title belt around Seattle? It was a good week. It was a good week, guys. It helped to have five guys, but all five of them hit, so I'm really happy about it. Are you wearing your all black today for Richard Sherman? Oh, God.

That's just brutal. I mean, he's been such a, he's been a mainstay for that defense for so long. I mean, I don't think he's missed a game in like seven years or something. It's crazy. The fact that he was able to one walk off the field and two just walk around the sideline, like nothing have happened. Because, you know, everything I've heard about tearing your Achilles, it's like snapping a rubber band that happens to be like as thick as a rope. Oh, God.

So you feel it. Like you feel like roll up your leg. So the fact that you can do that and just like chill for a couple hours is kind of ridiculous. He said he heard it pop. Yeah, that's what I'm saying. Like everyone, every explanation of I've ever heard is that like it's a disgusting injury that you know right away. So it was pretty cool to see him, you know, rallying around his teammates, his teammates rallying around him. I mean, obviously the last year it's been kind of, you know, weird for him.

There was some talk that he didn't want to be in Seattle. There was the trade rumors. And last year, obviously he was getting in kind of like arguments with his teammates and his coaches. And it's just been kind of a crazy year for him. But, you know, obviously it was really sad. But it was also really cool to see just those. sideline interactions. It kind of put the human,

the human factor back into the sport, right? Like, it was like, wow, he is devastated, his teammates are devastated. They put their heart and souls into this. And,

you know, he knew his season was over. It was kind of, it was devastating. I can, I can hear you getting broken up over there, buddy. I don't play you,

but. Pete Carroll was, like, getting super emotional in the, in the post-game presser. Like, you could see it. It really affected the team.

The Seahawks have this thing, though, right? Like, it's how people are with their families. Like, I can say whatever I want about my brother. punching you in the face. Like, that's definitely the feel that Seattle has.

Like, we can do whatever we want. Don't say a bad word about anybody in this room. I think that's right on. I mean, I think that they've said that several times. It's like a family. There's a, you know, love our brothers is kind of like replaced the Legion of Boom as the L-O-B. So yeah, I think it's like a, like a, you know, it's a fraternal relationship with a lot of those guys. So it was devastating for them.

There was some speculation that the reason there was so much emotion was that maybe there's some thought that Richard Sherman's time with the Seahawks is over. What do you think about that? Well, I believe he's still under contract next year, although they, you know, I think there's a low dead money hit, so they could potentially release him or trade him or whatever. The dead money next year is 2.2.

Yeah, I was supposed to look that up. It's basically nothing. It's going to be interesting because, obviously, one, I don't know how quickly he's going to be able to get back to this. I heard 11 months. That was just someone talking on Twitter, but, you know, low injury to recover from.

Twitter is legally binding medically. Right, right. I mean, they've got all kinds of cool new, you know, treatments and everything like that, but it's going to be a long trip back for him. He could be not back until like midway of next year. Plus he's getting older, you know, so I don't know, it's going to be really, it's going to suck if that was the last we've seen him.

I mean, I was thinking about it last night. It's like, man, I didn't appreciate, it's like one of those things where you didn't really appreciate watching him play enough because he was just so steady and always there. Yeah, it was a bummer. I don't want to call this the end of the Seahawks Dynasty. I picked them one in the Super Bowl this year. Right.

Rank the most important people in the Seahawks mini-N-FC dynasty. Russell Wilson, Earl Thomas. Wilson number one. Yeah, I don't think they can win without a quarterback. He's a good enough quarterback where the quarterback probably gets the number one spot. Where's Pete Carroll Falls? Pete Carroll more or less important. And John Schneider.

And then the most important of all, which is the 12s. it is the 12s because it's not the 12th man anymore 12s is number one um so i would probably put carol so i'd probably say realistically wilson earl carroll schneider and then there's like it flattens out and there's like a bunch of guys avril sherman bennett bobby wagner is underrated too bobby wagner man he might be the best player on that defense not named broil thomas seriously seriously he's playing crazy he's he's out of his mind this year uh he's he's he's He's one of those guys that doesn't get enough credit. So that's a great point.

I once heard, I once heard, I don't want to drop this nugget at minute 40 of a podcast, but an NFL player I respect told me he thinks that Wagner overrated KJ Wright underrated. I think that is usually true, but this year that is not true. No, no, this was in the off season. Yeah, I think that KJ. Wright is like a fantastic player. I think Bobby Wagner's having his best season. And I think KJ.

Right has not been as good this year as he typically has been in the past. No, I know. Do you think that's fair? Yeah, I agree with you on that one. Exactly. I think maybe last year it would have been reversed, though. I think that probably was relatively accurate. I don't know.

I could quibble with it. I think two years ago was Wagner's second best season. This is his best season. Last year might have been KJ.R. Right. Exactly. Yeah. Totally agree with that.

They did different things, too. Wagner is just... I mean, he's just playing... Like, you see him show up like four or five times a game. Coverage, blitzing, run defense. I mean, he's really put it all together. And they're using him in ways they'd, again, the Seahawks are different than they have been in years past. And they're playing so much more man.

They're blitzing more often. And I feel like just his role in all of that is more pronounced now than it would have been three years ago. Yeah, I agree. I think he's kind of become more of like a fulcrum for their defense. Like it flows through him more than I think it used to. Totally. Yeah, he's just, I mean, God, he's one of the more underrated players in the NFL right now. You still hear his name, but he's legit, like, defensive player that you're candidate.

He's not going to get it, but I think that he's up there. It's tougher linebackers to get it when your name isn't Luke Keekeley. Right. Tackle totals are people who have debunked them. Because they've been made up for the last decade. Because they don't matter. They've never been an official statistic. Okay, Danny, you're on fire from last week, so we're rewracking it.

We're doing a bunch of DK's dark nights. We're going all wide receivers this week. Who's first? My first guy, Sterling Shepard of the Giants. He's playing the 49ers this week. Saw nine targets last week and 70 yards coming off of an injury. And it's not necessarily that I have a lot of faith in the Giants' offense, but they just funneled their offense through Sterling Shepard and Evan Ingram.

So I could see the volume there. I think that's the key again. And he's also, I really think he's a really good player, too. I mean, he had eight touchdowns kind of quietly. Last year, I think we could kind of see him start to catch some touchdowns and bunches going forward. and I think he's a solid low-floor guy who is going to get a lot of targets.

Yeah, and he's, the targets need to go somewhere. I mean, that's the thing. They're running out of receivers. And as a man who owns Evan Ingram in a Dynasty League, I'm very pleased. He's now the focal point of their offense. Right, right. They're going to throw the ball enough

that there's more than enough to go around. I mean, they're, sharp is going to get a lot of work. I like, too, because he can kind of play outside on the inside. He's a really versatile guy. He can move around. and I think that obviously Eli sort of trusts him and has some chemistry with him. So when you got so many different young guys

kind of coming into the offense to fill in for the guys that are injured, it's nice to have that reliable. I mean, he's like a second year guy, but he's reliable relative to the rest of those guys. So he could have a big game. My second guy is, I feel like I keep going back to the Jets,

which is kind of shocking, but Robbie Anderson has been really on fire lately in the Jets offense. And it's been fun to watch basically the most I think one of the most surprising units in the NFL in terms of like you just did not expect anything from them this year

and they've been pretty decent. I'm not going to say they're great but they've been pretty decent so Anderson leads the Jets and targets he's got 57 targets on the year. He scored a touchdown in three straight games. He's kind of, he's turned into a good deep threat for them. He's one of those guys who's

I think he's a high ceiling guy because not only does he get a lot of targets but he seems to be one of their top touchdowns. down scores. So I think you can go into this week and feel pretty confident about him. He's especially since they're playing at Tampa Bay, which man, the Bucks defense has been terrible.

If you're playing the Bucks defense, like, you start everybody, basically. He's made the most out of the targets, too. I mean, last three weeks, five, six, five, and two weeks ago against the Falcons catches all six targets for a 104 and a score. Last week, four targets and a touchdown. So it's not going to be a guy that's going to get double digits

ever, probably, just the way they use him. But he can burn you down in one play. And I think that how aggressive the Jets passing offense has been, shockingly, he's actually kind of the perfect guy to unlock that a little bit. Absolutely. So, I'm liking him this week.

My third guy is Robert Woods for the Rams. He's kind of developed into Jared Goff's go-to guy. Obviously, you know, Cooper Cup is the Red Zone guy for the Rams. He's actually leading the NFL in Red Zone targets at once. Which is hilarious.

Which is crazy. But Woods is. Woods is kind of like their their main go-to everywhere else. And so to me he's sort of a low ceiling but high floor guy. Like he's going to get his targets. He's going to have

I think he's averaging four catches for 65 yards over the last six weeks or whatever. And so he's pretty consistent. And we saw last week he scored two touchdowns. I don't know if I'm going to predict that's going to happen again, but against the Texan's defense hasn't been great. 50 yards, free passes aren't going to be a regular thing.

You can't really depend on that. But I just think he's sort of one of those, he's a reliable, you know, target guy. And he's the number one look in that offense. He's gotten at least six targets five times this season in eight games, which I think is pretty damn consistent. I mean, you don't have that many guys. Those sort of looks every single week.

And with the way that Rams offense is clicking, I think he's probably the guy you'd want to bet on, which coming into the season, if I told you that they also had Sammy Walkins, probably wouldn't be wouldn't have been my answer. I mean, Watkins caught that big

touchdown bomb last week or whatever, but yeah, he's been really inconsistent, unfortunately. So, yeah, I would actually bet more on Woods. My fourth guy is

Juju Smith-Schuster. And this obviously isn't like, you know, he's not like a sleep or anything at this point, but he's turned into the number two in that, in that offense behind Antonio Brown.

They keep talking about how they want to get Martavis Brian involved. But I just think Smith-Schuster is probably just more reliable at this point. Well, definitely more reliable at this point. He's another guy that can kind of play outside. He can go inside. He's big physical, you know, yards after the catch kind of player.

So against a really bad Colts defense who just lost Fonté Davis, they've lost Hooker. You know, it could be one of those games where a couple big plays get you get you the points you want. Colts are. Yeah, tire fire. Yeah, they really are. I like all these bets, Danny.

These are all dice rolls that I would make if I had these guys. I do have juju, and I think I will probably roll him out there again. Yeah, it's a good juju on this week. Dan, before we get out of here with you, so now that Elliott, we know he's suspended for six games, whatever the legal terminology involved in that has been upheld, which Cowboys running back would you kind of bet on over the second half of the season with him done?

So, I mean, clearly this is one of those things that I don't think anyone really knows the answer to at this point, so you just got to go with your gut. For me, I'm betting on Rod Smith because for a few reasons. First of all, and we've talked about this many times this year, like, just the explosiveness factor, I think is going to be big. Like, he's young, very explosive, great athlete. He's good in the passing game. He actually, you know, the Seahawks picked him up coming out of college.

The Seahawks had every running back in the league at some point in time. People here were really bummed when he got cut. So he was just a numbers game thing. He got cut and the Cowboys picked him up and everyone was super. because he looked really interesting in the preseason. Just to my devil's advocate here. Every player looks interesting on the Seahawks, and then Seahawks Twitter is bummed that every player got cut.

That's absolutely true. But like Alex Collins looks really good at Baltimore. No, every time, every time like anyone does anything in the NFL, turns out they've already played for the Seahawks. So I see like eight Seahawks fans tweeting like, I knew he was going to do something. It's absolutely true. But that's not the reason I'm going with him.

I mean, he's looked good with the Cowboys as well. And we've seen him rip off some really big, you know, explosive runs. He's, I don't know, he's just a big, explosive, athletic, dynamic guy. And especially compared to Alfred Morris, who, you know, he's a reliable veteran, but he's not going to do that kind of stuff for you. And the Darren McFadden, who is kind of the wild card on all this. You know, he's been, I think, inactive most of the time. But they kept him on the roster for a reason.

So I did see that Jane Slater for the NFL network, talked to the running backs coach Gary Brown, and he said, excuse me, that he wouldn't be surprised if Smith is the guy that kind of took over the leadback duties and really ended up getting the most carry. I just added him. Thanks, Danny. Wow. Just did it. It's insider trading.

I like it. Thanks, buddy. The pot isn't even out yet. Boom, there we go. By fire by Pierre Garsoe and I loved you. I remember, so there's a rule of the NFL essentially that if you're going to play fantasy football that you have to operate on publicly traded information. So what that means basically is like if you, if you have to. of a friend in the waiver department, you can't.

It's highly illegal and inappropriate for you to find out who's getting cut or whatever. That's funny. And what Mays is doing is to find, to know Danny's fantasy advice early is as big of an advantage as you can have in football. Listen, I'm not apologizing. I'm five and four. I need some help. I was talking to our producer, Sean Kagan earlier about this too. He was like, he just dropped Smith to pick up CJ Pro Seitz.

and he was lamenting it hard. He was like, man, this is bad because I was telling him that Rod Smith was my guy. Yeah. We'll see. I think it's going to be frustrating, probably. You know, I don't think it's going to be like a Zique thing where he's getting, you know,

110-10-year-in-day- This is a slow game. I mean, hopefully he emerges two weeks from now. It's playing the long game. That's right. I mean, I got the time, man. All right. But yeah, so that's my guy.

Danny, thanks for joining us and get him aligning us. Sorry about Richard Sherman. I hope you have a nice weekend. We can forget about it all. See you. See you. Before we get out of here, it's time to predict next week's

biggest headlines. Robert hit us. I think that, you know, we've talked about the Eagles kind of emerging and in the NFC and we figured that

with Brady off last week that it might be whence's time to kind of step into the void. And that's what happened. You know, the Eagles had that monster win against Denver

and really kind of separated themselves. And I feel like the Steelers have a chance to do that a little bit this week. With that Colts team in front of them, even if New England probably knocks off the Broncos, that's something that the Patriots are understood. I feel like if Pittsburgh can kind of blow out the cults, which they've done in recent years,

even when the cults were a little bit better, it seems like the Steelers might start getting that momentum of we're really a team to be reckoned with in the AFC. I think that the chief stumbling a little bit, everything else, there seems to be an opening to kind of assert your dominance right now. And I think that we may be talking about Pittsburgh on Monday in a way that wouldn't seem shocking after watching them get crushed by Jacksonville. That's interesting to me. So I think that it's going to be sort of the NFC shakeup in the way things are going to happen there. Because I think Redskins Vikings is a very interesting check on whether or not the Vikings can be a dominant team in the NFC and get up there with the Eagles.

I think you start looking ahead to next week. You have Eagles at Cowboys, which I think is going to be fascinating. That's fun. I mean, I think that we're entering a stretch of a couple of weeks. You have Falcons at Seahawks, which I know the Falcons are kind of getting out of the NFC playoff hunt at this point, but they can get back in and really throw a wrench in everyone's plans that they'd be a sea arch. And then you have Redskins Saints, which we talked about a little bit earlier. So we're entering sort of a two-week stretch where the NFC playoff picture is going to get,

not going to be determined, but we're going to learn a lot more about these teams. I feel like the one guy who really is going to determine in a lot of ways how this all falls is is Dak Prescott. I think this is a stretch of the season. We're going to learn a lot about Jack Prescott. Danny wrote about that on the ringer today. Please go read it. It's very well done. And I think his point is very well taken. It's that Prescott may be the most intriguing figure in the entire playoff race right now. So go check that out. And I think that's all we got, buddy, right? That's it. Yeah. That's it for today. We'll back on Tuesday to recap NFL's Week 10. And as always, thanks for listening to The Ringer NFL show on The Ringer Podcast Network.

Thanks, guys. In 1924, Husky started making things for people who make things, and they did it with common sense. That meant adding function never frills. And making tools that stand the test of time. 93 years later, Husky is still making quality crafted durable tools, including hand tools that are guaranteed for life. Learn more at www.husky Tools.com. Husky Tools found only at the Home Depot.