The Ringer NFL Show - The Saints Have Joined the NFC Elite, Plus Rams-Packers Takeaways | The Ringer NFL Show (Ep. 332)

Episode Date: October 29, 2018

The Ringer’s Robert Mays and Kevin Clark link up to discuss where the Saints rank in the NFC after Sunday night’s win over the Vikings, and what we learned about the Packers after their showdown w...ith the Rams (0:25). Then the guys offer their “Stock Ups” and “Stock Downs” of the week, throw challenge flags on the Giants and the 49ers, and predict tomorrow’s headlines (17:15). Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

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Starting point is 00:00:00 What's up, guys? It's Liz Kelly. The One Shining Podcast Tour with Titus and Tate officially kicks off next week on Friday, November 2nd. Chicago sold out, but there's still a handful of tickets left in Columbus, Ohio, Louisville, Kentucky, and Bloomington, Indiana. You can find links to buy tickets at the ringer.com slash 1-shining dash podcast podcast. This is the Ringer NFL show on The Ringer Podcast Network. I'm Robert Mays, joined as always by Kevin Clark. Kevin, how you doing, buddy? I'm doing okay. I'm feeling much better about who I feel. think is good in the NFL even after kind of a sleepy Sunday. Yeah, a lot of shock today. I feel like there weren't many surprising outcomes. I mean, it's not a ton of things that jump out to discuss, really.
Starting point is 00:00:51 I mean, the teams that we've been excited about, I think we're going to continue being excited about. The Chiefs won, the Rams won, the Saints won in kind of a weird fashion. But nothing that was at all surprising about what went down today, I guess I'd say. I would say that. I mean, I think that you have a game like the Saints in the United States. the Vikings and you sort of, you can see how that would play out in January. Sure.
Starting point is 00:01:14 Rams, Packers, kind of the same deal. So I'm actually, I feel like there's a lot to dig into just as far as those sort of matchups and what they could mean for later in the season. I'm with you. And let's actually do that. So we're going to kick off today talking about the NFC contenders, the teams at the top of that conference and what we may have learned about them, you know, from what they showed this afternoon.
Starting point is 00:01:33 So let's start with Viking Saints. That's the game we just watched. again, the Saints defense making some big plays in a way you didn't necessarily expect. And I mean, when their offense is playing against pretty much anybody, if they're going to get a defensive touchdown and take the ball away a couple times, then they're pretty much unbeatable. So this is the game I wanted to see them play. I mean, I think we had in our mind a sort of outline for what a Saints victory over a good team looks like. And this was not that at all. Not at all.
Starting point is 00:02:05 I expect them to slaughter them. in terms of putting up points. Yeah, you thought he was going to have like 390 yards, right? Absolutely. Yeah. So he has 120 yards. Obviously, you know, he completed 18 of his 23 passes. It was efficient like that.
Starting point is 00:02:21 But it was not the sort of Saints performance that we're used to, especially statistically. You know, I thought it was fascinating just what the defense did. They made enough plays. You know, early on in the game, it started to look like the game we thought was going to happen. PJ Williams got picked on on one of those long drives. They were going after him. They were going after Eli Apple. We thought that was the sort of way that the Vikings were going to get it.
Starting point is 00:02:44 But then PJ Williams gets the interception. He redeems himself. And so I kind of think that from, I'm not saying that it's going to be like. He forced a few and fumble too, didn't he? Yep. And I'm not going to say it's like 2017 where the Dennis Allen defense sort of does, has its head cut off for all of September and then becomes a really good unit in October, November, December, because I don't know if this defense can become that.
Starting point is 00:03:10 But what I will say is that this is a very encouraging night as far as the Saints and their elite status, I guess you could say. I don't know, I don't know what, how you can be elite, quote unquote, in October, but they are right on the cusp. If they somehow come away with, I know the Rams are undefeated, but, you know, just if the ball bounces a certain way, if they somehow come away with home field advantage in the NFC and they get to play in that dome. I know they didn't play home tonight,
Starting point is 00:03:36 but it was still in a dome. If they get to play in a dome all the way through the playoffs, they're going to be terrifying. I mean, I just would never, ever, ever want to have to go play this team inside.
Starting point is 00:03:46 Yeah, I mean, listen, they finished last year, 10th in the NFL in points allowed. They entered Sunday 26th in points allowed, and they proved themselves against a pretty damn good Vikings team. I'm limiting that Vikings team to 20 points.
Starting point is 00:04:02 Kirk Cousins is just, I mean, he got us, 359 yards, which is basically, that's what he does as far as just, I think, is he still on pace to break the completions record? I mean, they brand the ball a little bit more today, but I'm assuming that won't continue. He had 31 completions and 41 passes. Yeah, I mean, he was fine. But I mean, just generally, I just thought, I came away from that game, as I said, you know, Thielen and digs got there. There's not much you can do about that. Both got over 100 yards. But I think generally,
Starting point is 00:04:31 that's the game I wanted to see the Saints play. they just need high variance on defense because I don't think they have the talent to actually put up kind of steadfast defensive performances every week. No. I mean, when you're trading for Eli Apple in the middle of the season,
Starting point is 00:04:43 Patrick Robinson gets hurt. I mean, obviously, they just don't have the guys. So if they're going to be able to stop people, it's going to be in this way. They're going to need to take it away a couple of times and just create turnovers. I mean, it's like Saints teams
Starting point is 00:04:54 we've seen in the past, actually. I mean, that's their best hope on defense. You know what that was interesting? Just from the Vikings' perspective, I saw a stat Courtney and tweeted it out. The Vikings only drew, blitz, Drew Breeze on two dropbacks. And I think that's the way you play Drew Brie's.
Starting point is 00:05:09 But, I mean, I thought that was a, you know, if this is, if that defensive game plan, I guess you could call it, doesn't work on a, you know, they still scored 30 points. I mean, there was, it was the weird Thielen fumble, all that stuff. But if that didn't work, I don't know how January looks any different. Did you come away being a little bit discouraged about the Vikings? It's just who they are. I mean, obviously, I know Rose didn't play, Barr didn't play,
Starting point is 00:05:34 but it still feels like this team is just going to be incomplete and a little bit flawed for the whole season. I'm not sure if this gets any better by the end. The team I thought Minnesota was going to be tonight, that was New Orleans. You mean the team you thought Minnesota was going to be coming into the season? Just, yeah, if you were to give me the demographics of what this win looked like,
Starting point is 00:05:52 I would have said, oh, that sounds like Minnesota to me. Yeah, that's true. I mean, I feel like both of these teams are up near the top before the season for me. And what's happened with Minnesota just in terms of fall off from certain guys, injuries, everything else. I mean, we've talked about this last week, but it just feels like the Saints and the Rams are in their own tier in the NFC and everyone else is very far behind. Yeah. I mean, did Drew Brees didn't get sacked tonight.
Starting point is 00:06:17 I mean, and that's, I understand, again, that goes hand in hand with the blitzing thing. The pressure, the pressure led to the one interception. That's really the only time he was bothered. Yeah. But I mean, I just, the whole thing was kind of disjointed for me from, from the Vikings perspective. of, you know, Donny Quack, our resident Washington football fan chimed in with the Kirk Cousins against a good team take. And I'm not ready to, I haven't seen enough of Minnesota against a good team with Kirk Cousins, a quarterback to make any proclamation one way or the other on that one.
Starting point is 00:06:45 With Cousins is one of those things where I think that this is who he is. I think he's a good quarterback. I think he's a really good quarterback. I've been so impressed with his play this year. Hell yeah. He'll give it to you a couple times, though. And that's always who he's been. But we knew what he was. He's an above. average quarterback and everything them around him has to be right. And right now, especially on defense, that's not the case. And his offensive line is
Starting point is 00:07:07 non-existent. I mean, it's, you saw some of those plays that's just crumbling instantly. It's not as if, you know, the Saints have this incredible interior pass rush. Rankin's fine. Cameron Jordan's a star, but it's, they're not the Rams. You know, it's not a team that you'd expect guys to be playing instantly in the backfield.
Starting point is 00:07:24 No. And, you know, listen, these are the two, I don't know if you saw this. These guys, these two teams combined, combined, have how much cap space? Oh, I can't even imagine. It's probably like $17. Yeah. No, the Saints are under a million and the Vikings are under $2 million. They're going for it.
Starting point is 00:07:43 Right, right. And so the point I'm making here is that both of these teams are all in on this season and they're both all in on the 53 guys they have right now. And coming away from this, a game in Minnesota, you have to feel worlds better about New Orleans and they're all in strategy than Minnesota's. I mean, I think that the injuries have happened to both teams, but for the Vikings that happened in the wrong places,
Starting point is 00:08:09 I think for the Vikings, the injuries have happened in areas that sabotaged your quarterback. And if that were the case in New Orleans, I mean, with Breeze, it's less of an issue because he gets rid of the ball in like 0.2 seconds and he's never been pressured no matter who the offensive line is. But still, his offensive line for the most part, it's intact. You know, Tehran Arnardst said it's still playing.
Starting point is 00:08:27 They've had a couple scattered injuries, but they've been allowed to function. If you're going to lose a few guys, I'd rather lose a few cornerbacks than an entire offensive line. Yeah. I mean, it's, it's interesting. But, I mean, so where would you put right now, we're talking about NFC contenders, where would you put the Saints? Is there a Mount Rushmore right now?
Starting point is 00:08:48 Because there's the Chiefs, the Rams, the Patriots, and the Saints. Is that how you do it right now? Is there those four teams than the other 28? that's how I would do it right now. And I think the Chargers are on the tier below that. I think it's Rams won, Chiefs, Two, Patriots, Three, Saints, Four. Okay.
Starting point is 00:09:08 Okay. So let's talk about the Rams. Again, you know, not necessarily the most impressive win, but when you're beating Aaron Rogers and you're able to just keep rattling these off at a certain point, like, that counts.
Starting point is 00:09:21 It counts to win, even if it requires Ty Montgomery giving you the ball and probably losing that game if Aaron Rogers actually gets to drive down the field again. Sure. So, I mean, I view this as sort of a cousin of the Rams, excuse me, the Raven Saints game last week, which was those two teams were fairly even.
Starting point is 00:09:41 Something freakish and special teams happens at the end. And I say, you know what, this game really could have gone either way. The Thai Montgomery thing was so strange. Why he even brought the ball out? That's a discussion for another time. I just, it's baffling. Like, what could you possibly be thinking in that moment?
Starting point is 00:10:00 Yep. So a couple things. Number one, girly, 114 yards. That's girly for you. Passing game-wise, I thought this was interesting. Just when he lined up in the slot or wide, three receptions, 72 yards and a touchdown. When he caught the ball from the backfield, three yards,
Starting point is 00:10:18 excuse me, three receptions, nine yards. So, I mean, I guess the, general thing here, aside from the fact that he cost fantasy owners in Vegas, a lot of a lot of points or money or whatever and the over. I mean, this is, this is what Todd Gurley can do. And I think that there's, we sort of knew all this. I think we probably learn more about the Packers than we did the Rams day. Am I wrong? I totally agree with you. Okay. I think that, you know, the Rams are the Rams. You know, they have this offense that can get chunk plays, even if it's not necessarily the most efficient passing game today.
Starting point is 00:10:56 I mean, golf's not complete in 75% of his throws, but they were plays to be had. They were moving the ball. He threw three touchdown passes. Gurley is what we know Gurley is that those receivers make plays. I think Robert Woods is such a fun cog in that offense. And their defense, even if it's supremely flawed right now, they still have the best defensive player in the world.
Starting point is 00:11:15 And he's going to make two splash plays a game that swing it. Like those two sacks help decide that game today. Yeah. No, exactly. Hey, one thing I want to bring up here, and it's something I thought about after the game, because you see Sean McVeigh kind of almost then stopped himself
Starting point is 00:11:32 from suggesting there needs to be more Rams fans in the building. Did you see that? I'm surprised he would do that. So he basically said the official quote was, let me get this up here, it was that he was surprised, he was a little bit surprised, there were Packer fans.
Starting point is 00:11:54 And then he says, we got to and then Long Dash. There were a lot of cheers when the Packers scored. I've only been to one game there and it was a Vikings game. I went to an Eagles game.
Starting point is 00:12:05 And was it Packed with Eagles fans? Of course it was. And maybe I didn't notice that there were that many Vikings fans there because the colors aren't that dissimilar. It's like blue and purple. It wasn't like tonight. I just didn't notice.
Starting point is 00:12:16 It wasn't like today. So wait, so here's my point. Do you think that it could play a role however small? And I know that this is, this gets into intangibles and all those crap. And there's a lot of football to talk about. But do you think that it will play a role if they play a well-supported team in the
Starting point is 00:12:31 divisional round of the NFC championship like the Packers? If the Eagles make a run, you know, Washington has a ton of fans. The Saints, obviously, have a lot of fans. Do you think that's something that could matter in January? I think is a tiebreaker. If all other things are even, I mean, but they are the best team. so I guess all other things aren't even. I think it's a factor.
Starting point is 00:12:54 I mean, is it a big factor? I don't believe so. But I think that it could play a small role, yes. I mean, you think about a team like the Saints, tons of fans. I mean, damn, divisional round, it could be the damn bears. Get the Mays family out here. Let's not, let's take it easy on that. Get the mazes out here from Arizona.
Starting point is 00:13:11 Not quite, not quite there yet. We can book the flight, dude. Let's do this. Let's talk about the Packers very briefly, though, because I do want to discuss just kind of how good they look today against a very good team. I mean, again, if Montgomery does not fumble that ball, they probably win. I mean, you have Rogers coming out with one last drive to win the game.
Starting point is 00:13:31 And we were talking about this a little bit off air. I mean, if that's a playoff game and he has that chance, I mean, that's the scariest thing imaginable. I mean, in that team with like a puncher's chance in those moments, they're something to be feared going into the playoffs. If they somehow sneak in, nobody's, nobody's going to want to play them. Nobody. Yeah, I mean, this is the kind of thing.
Starting point is 00:13:51 Riley McAteer, our resident Rams fan, was talking about how scared he is of playing a Packers team in the playoffs. And I think that that's pretty much the thing every year, especially when it's a mediocre Packers team and everybody's talking about what Rogers could possibly do. But, I mean, like at 2016, they were pretty crappy through, what, 10 weeks that year? And then Rogers just got hot in November.
Starting point is 00:14:13 And then they got to the NFD championship game. They kind of, you know, couldn't get to the level of offensive firepower the Falcons had. But they ended up toppling the Cowboys at that point. They ended up beating the... They beat the Redskins at the first round? Or was that in 2015? Who did they beat in the first non-2016?
Starting point is 00:14:29 The Giants. The Giants. The Giants. Random NFC. East foe that they beat every single year. Petzel and the team that's not very good from the NFC East that somehow stuck into the playoffs. And so, yeah, I mean, that kind of talent that we saw today, it's, you know, he's building trust with the guys.
Starting point is 00:14:49 guys, you know, MSV. Is that, or is that what we're settling on with the acronym? It's MVS, isn't it? It's like the Juju Smith-Schuster thing for me. Yeah, I don't. Their names are too long. All the guys in the Packers names are too long. I don't know any of them.
Starting point is 00:15:04 I couldn't name me St. Brown, Marquez Valde-Scanling. There we go. We're just going to all acronym and I'm going to confuse the last two letters of that acronym. Yeah, it's, they're too long. There are too many rookie receivers with long names. I'm not going to be able to keep you straight. I came away from this extremely incur. me too. And I think that those two guys, I mean, I'm joking about it,
Starting point is 00:15:23 but I think those two guys do add a little bit of explosiveness, a little bit of athleticism to a receiving cord that probably could use it. You do know this. You have Adams. Just to be clear, you do know the Chicago Bears are first in the NFC North. Yeah, I'm not, I'm not doing that. They look fine today against the Jets. They're four and three, a 571 winning percentage that is slightly above the Vikings,
Starting point is 00:15:47 four, three, and one. We're just not discussing it. When they beat a team that's not the Jets or the Bills, we can start talking about the Bears again. You don't have to wait for these two more weeks. You don't have to beat good teams to make the playoffs. I've seen plenty of Bears teams make the playoffs without being good teams. They still play. I mean, the Lions didn't look good today,
Starting point is 00:16:01 but they still play the Lions twice. They still play the Vikings twice. They still play the Packers. I'm not doing this quite yet. All right, before you move on, let's take a quick break. Did you get the Yahoo Sports mobile app yet? Are you ready for live football on your phone? With the Yahoo Sports mobile app,
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Starting point is 00:17:10 With Unlimited on Verizon, everybody in the family gets what they want without having to pay for the things they don't. Visit your local Verizon store. or learn more at p.0.st slash the ringer. Now back to the show. Let's get to stock up and stock down this week. You wanted to kick off with this one. The Carolina Panthers are five and two
Starting point is 00:17:34 after another pretty impressive win. They beat the Eagles last week. They beat the Ravens today. They made the still best statistical defense in the NFL look pretty bad. Where are we on the Panthers in that sort of hierarchy in the NFC? and then beyond that in the NFL.
Starting point is 00:17:52 I mean, I think that in the NFC, you can absolutely put them in the conversation right below that tier with the Saints and the Rams. I mean, is there anybody else in the NFC you feel significantly better about right now than the Panthers? No, I mean, in about 10 minutes,
Starting point is 00:18:06 we're about to hype up Russell Wilson and the Seahawks. Like, that's where we're at, dude. I'm not sure we're getting quite there, but I'm there. So with the Panthers, I feel like this is a team that in so many ways is so familiar to us. you know, Ron Rivera's been there for a long time.
Starting point is 00:18:22 It seems that kind of their culture, their identity has been pretty much the same for a while now, Luke Keeckley, the same faces. It's the elements of that team that are different that have made me a little bit excited about that. It's the efficiency with which Cam Newton is throwing the ball in this offense. It's the offense itself and how it looks under Norve Turner. DJ Moore gave them a spark today.
Starting point is 00:18:44 There are just pieces on this team that are different this year, that gave them a little bit something new. And I did not account strongly enough for those pieces coming into the season. Yeah, I mean, we've talked about how underrated we think Cam Newton is in most seasons. I think in 2015,
Starting point is 00:19:03 he was properly rated, obviously. But I think a lot of times we don't really understand how good and how talented and how athletic he is. It's funny to me that Cam Newton was overlooked this season, and here's why. We talked so much about the spread stuff, about the college stuff, about merging, the great merging of the pro and college schemes.
Starting point is 00:19:24 And Cam Newton's been doing that for basically his entire career. I mean, they were just taking some of that Gus Melon stuff and bringing it in. So it does make sense that in the sort of the great spread awakening here in the NFL in 2018, that there's going to be some Cam Newton. Beyond that, it's exactly what you said. I think that we have a mental block in our head for the Panthers because we saw how complete and efficient they were in 2015, and it still wasn't good enough to win the Super Bowl.
Starting point is 00:19:53 And I feel like because these teams since then haven't been as good, we think, well, that's just not going to. I mean, it's an unfair judgment. But I do feel like the Super Bowl loss kind of clouded everyone's judgment. Have you ever, do you ever feel like that? Yeah, I do. Like, I kind of was just like, after the Super Bowl, I kind of feel like America was just like,
Starting point is 00:20:11 okay, we're just done with the Panthers. Well, how are they ever going to win one if, because it's never going to be that good. I mean, they're 15 in one team, it just seemed like it was their year. Well, I mean, you know, the great irony of it is that the Broncos team that beat them was sort of in the same position. They laid against the Seahawks and then everybody was like, well, that's like, yeah, that's right. That's actually pretty funny.
Starting point is 00:20:34 Yes. But I mean, obviously the 2015 Broncos are vastly different team than the 2013 Broncos. Yeah, they had a dead quarterback. Well, they had the best evens in the NFL. I mean, their quarterback was non-funful. functioning human. Yes, but I mean, their defense was very good.
Starting point is 00:20:52 No, obviously, I'm not comparing the two teams. I'm just talking about the perception, just of the post-super Bowl perception of the Panthers has been very, I think America is extremely in the media and it's unfair. I think they're extremely slow to buy in.
Starting point is 00:21:06 So here's my, here's the point I was trying to make. It's that with those Broncos teams, their identity drastically shifted from those two seasons. Right. The Panthers have not shifted that drastically. I think that's why
Starting point is 00:21:20 I'm a little bit slower to kind of buy in because it's like, I don't know, we know this team. And I don't think we do. I think that they're a little, they're a different enough for me to start saying, all right, let's see what happens here. Like, can they knock somebody off in the playoffs? Yeah, I totally
Starting point is 00:21:36 agree with you. And you know, you had Luke Keekely playing, I think that PFF has Luke Keekeley's 2015 season as the best for a linebacker like ever, or at least among them. And he's really good. in 2018, but he's just not that. And so I think we just, we have a,
Starting point is 00:21:52 we all have a mental block about the Panthers. Having said that, I totally agree with you. They're right below the Saints right now. I definitely, they are, in my opinion, clear cut as the third best team in the NFC. Yeah. I think that I'm willing, I'm ready to say that just because I'm not excited about any of these other teams.
Starting point is 00:22:10 Minnesota is just one of those things where you try to talk yourself into them every week and they just don't have it this year, it seems. And I don't know what the other answer would be. I really don't. No. It's not Washington. Your Chicago Bears.
Starting point is 00:22:24 NFC North leading. Again, not doing it. Just really not doing it. This is great. Let's stick with stock up. Let's go with Adrian Peterson, who looked like Adrian Peterson today for the Washington professional football team.
Starting point is 00:22:38 And it was vintage, man. It was fun to watch. So I'm not really well. I think it's kind of, it's very baseball to do this like, so-and-so is the first quarterback since Fran Tarkington to do blank. I don't really, I think the game changes so much
Starting point is 00:22:55 that those sort of things are only valuable within eras. Having said that, Adrian Peterson is the second running back at his age to have a touchdown over 60 yards. Do you know who the other one is, Robert Mays? I have no idea. It's Jim Thorpe. Wow.
Starting point is 00:23:15 That's incredible. I love that. That's a really good one. That's a really good pull. So, yeah, that was treated up. So he has 4.3 yards per carry this season. He basically wins a game against the Giants. I'm of the opinion that running backs don't really matter.
Starting point is 00:23:34 Yet the Redskins are looking like they might. He's a 4.6 now after today. Oh, hey now. The Redskins look like they might win the division. And the only thing they're good at is stopping the run. It's your only top 10 trade at this point. I don't know if they've, they snuck in on another unit ranking. But coming into the game, they were only top 10 in stopping the run.
Starting point is 00:23:57 And with Adrian Peterson. In 2018, I feel like this shouldn't happen. Robert explained this to me. It's such ugly football. It's such ugly football. Like, their entire strategy at this point is let's muddy these games up and win 20 to 17. I mean, that's who the Redskins are. I just didn't.
Starting point is 00:24:13 I just didn't think that was possible. Like everybody, everybody, everybody, I don't think it's sustainable. I really don't think it's sustainable. Damn, like Mike Smith kept talking about how he's going to stop the run and he just got fired instead. And every game they, every game the Bucks played was 45 to 40. Like, I just don't, obviously that's a personnel thing,
Starting point is 00:24:30 but I just, I feel like philosophically saying, we're going to stop the run and we're going to run. It just, it shouldn't be happening. It shouldn't even be sustainable for half a season. No. And I don't think it will be. I mean, I think that this is a team that, again, maybe they win the NFC East
Starting point is 00:24:48 and maybe they sneak into the playoffs and every single person picks against them in the wild card round. And they lose. Yes. So they have... I'm not impressed by this team, even though they keep winning like this.
Starting point is 00:24:59 They have the Falcons. The Falcons, the Bucks, the Texans, and the Cowboys. I mean, those are all in all of those games. They could win all of those games. They absolutely. They had the Texans at home. God, that is going to be good luck. Texas offensive line.
Starting point is 00:25:14 This seems like a a bad 10 and 16 from a mile away. Yeah. I mean, it's, again, they don't do anything particularly well except the things that you laid out. I mean,
Starting point is 00:25:25 they have defensive players. They have so many solid guys over there. Like, Jonathan Allen's been good this year. Daron Payne's been really nice as a rookie. Ryan Kerrigan's still a good player. But, I mean,
Starting point is 00:25:35 Josh Norman's been fine there. I guess DJ Swearringer's had a pretty decent season. Did you see what, did you see DJ Sweringer's comments after the game? No. So they played them on Sunday. football. I don't seek out DJ Sweringer's comments after the game. No, I, I, I, I'm not, he's not my go-to.
Starting point is 00:25:52 But he was talking about how easy it is to play football because he's just so prepared that he says it's like turning on a stove. That's actually pretty badass. I kind of love that. He's just like, no, this is fine. It's like, he's like turning on a stove. I just turned on a stove. I've, I've never turned on a stove. I just made myself some tea in order to get over the nine-inch nails here. I use tea. I use microwave for, Wow. That is disappointing. I don't have that much time. I guess that's fair.
Starting point is 00:26:26 All right, one more here. Let's talk about Russell Wilson. We mentioned very briefly earlier. Hell yeah. I just wanted to chat about it because sometimes we forget because that offense was non-functioning for a little while that Russell Wilson's like one of the best quarterbacks of the NFL. Perfect quarterback rating today.
Starting point is 00:26:43 So beyond Russell Wilson playing extremely well, which he did in a convincing win over. the Lions. Are we wrong about the Seahawks offense being terrible? Like, are they maybe not terrible? Well, their offensive line is surprisingly not bad. It is much, much better than it has been in years past. Russell Wilson said he can make stakes back there. A lot of cooking.
Starting point is 00:27:07 A lot of cooking. Yeah, it's getting to be around Thanksgiving. We're all thinking about it. David Moore looks like a real player on this team now. I just cue up like the wheel of random Seahawks receivers because when David Moore is making plays, you know that Russell Wilson's probably feeling it. Dude, dude,
Starting point is 00:27:25 do you know what Russell Wilson's touchdown percentage is? So, I was from Bob Condata. Do you know what it is this season? I mean, I'm sure it's ticked up as of today considering you through 17 passes and three of them went for touchdowns. It's 8.8.
Starting point is 00:27:37 That's crazy. Of everyone who's currently active, only one player has had a better season. That's Aaron Rogers at 9.0. So not even that much better. He is throwing touchdowns at a historic, near historic rate. I'm in. I mean, what do we think about the Seahawks?
Starting point is 00:27:56 Is this a team that can actually kind of make a run here? Well, what about this discussion we've been having? Who's good in the NFC right now? That's kind of my thought. Now, I don't know the answer. Are the Packers going to win 10 games somehow? I honestly don't know. It is.
Starting point is 00:28:13 So if we establish very quickly, that the Saints, the Panthers, and the Rams are good, then we could look at that second sort of tier, I guess third tier, because the Panthers are on their own tier. You have the Redskins, the Eagles, where are we on the Eagles? I don't know, man. I mean, that Jacksonville season looks over. Okay.
Starting point is 00:28:38 So I'm not sure. It's hard to kind of gauge teams against them right now. And the Vikings and Packers. And we're only putting the Packers in there. they're three, three and one. They're the only three-win team in this discussion because they have Aaron Rogers and they almost beat the Rams today.
Starting point is 00:28:52 So it's a muddled picture. I mean, I think that we'll have a much clear understanding here as these teams get away from four and three as they kind of round and perform. But I'm just saying, I'm surprised by how well the Seahawks has played. I agree. How well the Cs office has played is all I say.
Starting point is 00:29:04 I really, really, I think the world of Russell Wilson, I've said it a million times. And if he's got a supporting cast, it can at least be decent, keep him upright and keep him alive. I'm in. They've only got up 131 points. I'm really glad that the running back that the Seahawks drafted in the first round
Starting point is 00:29:21 is getting carries behind the really good running back they have, whose name is Chris Carson. He was already on the team, if you're curious. The pro football focus, they did a game recap, and they just sort of slyly referred to Chris Carson as a generational talent. That's really funny. We've now just, just, obviously this is a joke to poke fun of the the fact that every running back is now just a generational talent.
Starting point is 00:29:47 Chris Carson's a really good running back. I understand injury concerns, but it's one of those things where I had some frustrating team building, man. You're trying to have to running back in the first round. He doesn't even play. You probably use some other players. I kind of find it comforting that a team like the Sios could do that because I thought they were a really smart team.
Starting point is 00:30:05 And it's just a very good piece of evidence. Another one, including the Patriots do it. The Rams have made mistakes. The Packers have made a lot of mistakes. that just nobody knows anything. Yeah, I mean, I probably wouldn't draft a running back in the first round, but at least the Patriots used the one they drafted in the first round. This is a team.
Starting point is 00:30:24 The Seahawks basically solved the modern game in 2011 and 2012 and drafted a handful of all pros in the middle rounds, 2010. And then like three years later, four years later, they just lost their touch. And then seven years later, they're just drafting Rashad Penny in the first round. I'm very surprised at how, the fact that this has turned around a little bit. And I think that for the most part, we can tack that up to Russell Wilson
Starting point is 00:30:47 being pretty damn good when he's right. All right, let's get to some stock downs. Let us start with possibly the end of the James Winston era in Tampa Bay. Let us. Let us. Okay.
Starting point is 00:30:59 Can I give you maybe my favorite start of the season? You absolutely can. So five straight games, James Winston has thrown multiple interceptions in those five straight games, extending back to 2017. his 13 total interceptions in that span are tied for the most in a five-game stretch
Starting point is 00:31:20 over the last five seasons. Robert, who's James Winston tied with? Ryan Fitzpatrick. Ryan Fitzpatrick. Boom. Got it. Well, why would I be setting it up if it wasn't Ryan Fitzpatrick
Starting point is 00:31:33 unless it was also James Winston? Somehow. Yeah, it doesn't seem like there's any way to come back from this because in my mind, it's not a borderal situation where it's just one game and they're like, okay, you know, maybe we scare him a little bit. He comes back in next week, everything else. With the way that Fitzpatrick has played compared to James Winston, it's hard to justify putting him back in the game. We've talked about this a little bit.
Starting point is 00:31:59 I've written about this. That $21 million 50-year option is guaranteed only for injury. And there is no evidence whatsoever that James Winston has. progressed as a quarterback in any way. He is this guy. He has been this guy for years. You cannot throw two interceptions a game and be a viable NFL quarterback. It's just not possible.
Starting point is 00:32:22 And now here comes the other guy throws two interceptions. But at least, I mean, that guy, you're not paying $20 million. I mean, that guy. Not yet. You're still young, buddy. That's good point. But, I mean, that guy is a career backup. That guy was not the first overall pick in the draft that you have to decide whether you
Starting point is 00:32:39 want to commit long term to. Now, here's the question. Here's the question. Do you do a sort of modified Blake Bordell type deal if you wanted to where you try to bring down that cap number, maybe give them a, you know, non-guaranteed second year? I don't know. Just to keep them around because you're not going to have, they're not so bad, just big picture.
Starting point is 00:33:01 They're not so bad they're going to have a top five, top 10 pick. They're probably going to go eight. I don't know about that, man. They're probably going to go eight and eight. They won the three and four right now. They almost beat the damn bangles today. Two minds about that. The best they're picking is like ninth or tenth.
Starting point is 00:33:19 And that's a weird zone for a quarterback. I mean, but if you want to, I guess so. But at a certain point, you need to get one, right? Yep. I mean, if you think that he's not the guy, which he clearly is not, you need to get one. So do you move up for one? I mean, I understand that's not always fun,
Starting point is 00:33:36 but we've seen teams do it. And if you need one, then sometimes you just have to do whatever you need to to get, to make it happen, to get it done. And it just feels like if I were the Bucks ownership and I were the Bucks kind of just decision makers at this point, why wouldn't you, after you probably fired Dirk Cutter this off season, bring in a new coach with a new quarterback? Why would you saddle him with Winston for a year or two? So that's a great point. I guess what I'm saying is, who do you go after? I don't know. I mean, it's, I'm not ready to play that game yet.
Starting point is 00:34:08 I mean, it's, it's so long from now. No, of course, of course. I, I'm just saying that we, we go through this every year, and then it becomes you're giving Kirk Cousins an $84 million guaranteed deal. Oh, I thought you meant to coach. No, I try to draft a rookie quarterback. I mean, I just try to go on the first round. That's obviously, that would be the ideal.
Starting point is 00:34:28 That, that's absolutely the ideal. But I'm just saying, would you, if you're 2019, okay, first of all, is Jason Light coming back? I would have to assume not. I think if I had to bet on it, I would say they completely clean house. I would agree. And if they do that,
Starting point is 00:34:45 then again, why would you want the quarterback from the previous regime and like on a $20 million like... But then do you bring back... Enville? Do you bring back fits on a one year $6 million deal? Sure.
Starting point is 00:34:58 And then by week three will be clamoring for the rookie to start. Like it happens in every other situation. Or... Fitz just does his normal fits thing and just wins the job back three times over the course of the season. I'd rather almost remove the Ryan Fitzpatrick kind of variable from the equation in order to keep that from happening. That's like just bring in an actively bad quarterback to be the guy that sits in the first two games. Have you seen The Haunting of Hill House? I have not yet actually, but I would like to. I might watch that this week in a typical Halloween flavor.
Starting point is 00:35:29 It's just about this family that was in a house and then they can't get really rid of the demons in the house. even if they leave the house. It's called the Chargers. No, that's Ryan Fitzpatrick in a quarterback competition. You're just not going to get rid of them. Let's talk about a team that probably should have made the decision we just mentioned where you clean house and start over when you have a very highly drafted rookie quarterback. And that is the Cleveland Browns who it just seems like as much of a mess as we thought
Starting point is 00:35:58 that situation could possibly be. That's how much of a mess it is. I mean, it's the worst case scenario that you could have envisioned coming into the year for the Browns. Their talent is viable. It's obvious. And they are just an absolute mess with the coaching staff. So we had literal documentary evidence that this was going to happen. And then it happened.
Starting point is 00:36:21 It's amazing how that works. Brian Spoon, PFF analyst, tweeted out that the Browns are almost doubling up the league. in illegal blocks above the waste, which I just found so funny to me. I just found so funny that they're just, they've cornered the markets on illegal blocks above the waste. Just new waste for incompetence, man. But you just see that stuff.
Starting point is 00:36:50 And I just saw it when I was scrolling like two hours ago, and I just made a note of it because it made me laugh out loud, but it's like that's a very Browns thing. I mean, I think generally the problem is that when you saw hard knocks, it looked like Greg Williams and Todd Haley sort of looked at each other kind of like, even though Greg Williams had been there before, they looked at each other and they were kind of like,
Starting point is 00:37:12 man, we seem to have some idea of what's going on and Hugh Jackson seems to be on Mars. And the Hugh Jackson's solution to this whole situation seems to be to get rid of the people who know that he's on Mars. It just feels like we didn't need to do this. Like, this just didn't need to happen. Like there was nobody that was in a cleverer in for heaven.
Starting point is 00:37:33 Why is Todd Haley more likely to go than Hugh Jackson? Is that something that Hugh Jackson is saying? Most likely. I don't, who else would be saying that? I don't think it matters because at the end of the year, everyone's gone anyway. I mean, it's just, this is when John Dorsey kind of gets to go to ownership and say, okay, could you actually like let me do this now? I mean, the whole thing is just so bizarre.
Starting point is 00:37:54 And I mean, watch this team. It's like, God, Dents Award, you know, it wasn't a great day against Brown, but he did fine and he's so fun. I think he's going to be great. Miles Garrett flashes. You know, Baker did not look awesome today, but they really struggled to keep him protected. Yeah.
Starting point is 00:38:08 And he was kind of scattered around back there. I still am very bullish on him. It's just one of those things where it's, my fear coming into the season as someone who was very impressed with the way the Browns built this team is that I would watch this team and just be frustrated the entire year because they should be better. And that's exactly what happened. Yeah.
Starting point is 00:38:26 Before Baker threw his two touchdowns in the game, he had as many interceptions this year as he did touchdown, six to six. And that's just, you know, you look at rookie quarterbacks historically. Don't look at Patrick Mahomes who's in his second year. Look at actual rookie quarterbacks. Look at damn Jared Goff, who was just better. The only rookie who was worse was Andrew Walter in his rookie year,
Starting point is 00:38:50 and now he's an MVP candidate. This is what we expected out of Baker. And now what you have to do is you have to go to the McVeigh route, as the Rams did. just find the guy that's going to build Baker up. It's okay that you wasted this year. That's fine. You cannot waste year two and year three.
Starting point is 00:39:08 You have to find the guy to cultivate your quarterback. Right now. It's just that simple. And what's interesting about that is you started to think. You have to do it. It's just so necessary on the trajectory of your team with the way that the cap currently works and the way the team building currently works. So here's my question.
Starting point is 00:39:26 So John Dorsey was the GM in Kansas City. and before that he came from the Green Bay, the Green Bay tree, obviously spent years there. If you think he's going to sort of hire from that circle, either circle, because they are kind of two different circles, who jumps out to you for a guy, or do you go totally college and just throw money at Lincoln Riley? No one jumps out to me from that the Peterson breed circle.
Starting point is 00:39:52 Only because Dave Tobe is a special teams coach. Dave Tope is a special teams coach, you know, B. enemies in his first year there as the offensive coordinator. Yeah, that's tough. Yeah, I mean, he's also a former, this is a weird thing, but he's a former running back coach. Yeah, I was about to say that. I just, that's not the route I would go.
Starting point is 00:40:06 I mean, Nagy was the quarterback's coach beforehand. I feel like that's just a smarter way to go after those hires. But, yeah, man, I don't know what the answer is. Again, that's tough for me at this time of the year. I don't really think about that, really that kind of conversation, that sphere of the coaching world until we get to that point. When guys started getting fired, that's when I'll start having names for you. Well, spoiler alert.
Starting point is 00:40:29 That's probably going to happen. There you go. Well, you know what? If that happens this week, then I'll just say Lincoln Riley as a default. You know what I'm kind of into? I'm looking at a list of offensive coordinators. I'm kind of into the Todd Munkin sweepstakes. Oh, man.
Starting point is 00:40:42 That's going to be awesome. I love Todd Munkin so much. He would be really fun with Baker Mayfield. I mean, obviously he's not going to be the head coach. It's going to be tough. Yeah. I think that he should. There's a lot of things he could do.
Starting point is 00:40:54 Yeah. Todd Munkin is an interesting man. I'm not sure he's a head coach in the NFL, but he's a very good offensive coordinator. There's some interesting head coaches. All right, before we move on, let's take one more quick break. G Suite is a suite of cloud-based productivity tools
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Starting point is 00:41:36 let you make real-time updates to the same document without having to keep track version after version of a project. And since all the tools are cloud-based, your whole team can access the same document and work on the same page at the same time. To find out more about G-sweet's productivity tools, visit g-sweet.com. That's g-sweet.com. Make it with G Suite by Google Cloud. Now back to the show. All right. Let's throw some challenge flags before we get out of here.
Starting point is 00:42:08 Yeah. I want to start with the New York football giants who I'm not sure who they're trying to fool with this Eli Manning farce that's continuing. Like, why in the world wouldn't you put Lilletta in? Why? What is the argument against putting him in? Your season is over. You might as well find out what you have in the rookie quarterback.
Starting point is 00:42:30 The Eli Manning era is done. It was fun. Congratulations to the Giants and their two Super Bowls. I do not want to watch this team play football ever again with Eli Manning as their quarterback. And that's hard to do because Odell Beckham and Sequin Barclay played for that team. So I would really like to watch them in a perfect world. So I have a question.
Starting point is 00:42:50 Why does Eli Manning have a no trade clause? Such a good question. Why was that necessary? I saw the headlines today. I saw the headlines today. Eli Manning will not waive his no trade clause with the Giants. excuse me, can we back up about 50 steps and find out why something that's only given to like Albert Pooholz because he signed a 10-year, $250 million deal and they have
Starting point is 00:43:14 the strongest union in sports? Like, why Eli Manning has that? How many other NFL players, period, have a no trade clause? I mean, I bet you can count them on one hand. If you even get to five, maybe I'm wrong. Maybe we just don't talk about it because any player with a no trade clause, any player of that caliber would never, ever be traded. Well, I mean, I certainly Tom Brady doesn't have a no trade clause.
Starting point is 00:43:39 So, yeah, Rogers does not have a no trade clause. If I'm looking at this correctly, Brady obviously doesn't. So why in the hell would the precedent be there for Eli Manning to get a no trade clause? So apparently Drew Breeze had one on his 2016, on his 2016, 2017 deal. But that was a weird deal. Well, also, that was, it was short term. Yes. It wasn't like this Manning deal.
Starting point is 00:44:00 This is, and I don't think he has one now. No, I don't believe. Breeze might have one in his current deal, but that's such a specific case because it's not as if this was the mega contract. I mean, Eli Manning is in the midst of his mega contract. Yeah, it makes zero sense. That's unbelievable. Like, it's a great job by Tom Condon.
Starting point is 00:44:20 Good for you, buddy. Alex Mack had a no trade clause. I just don't understand how this works. This isn't real. This is it, is it because of the restricted free agency or the, the, the, the, the, Maybe. I mean, it's... So basically the only two people on the planet who play football and have no trade clause
Starting point is 00:44:38 are Alex Mac, who had a weird scam deal with the Jaguar's. Yeah, because you're trying... Yeah, that's a good point. Because you're trying to throw a wrench in it. Yeah. And then Eli Manning, who the Giants just willingly will give a no trade clause to. All right. What's yours? Yeah, just very
Starting point is 00:44:53 quickly, Deidre Curtinbach, who does a great job, wrote a column. Actually, after you and I talked Robert and I told you what I was going to bring up, but then I saw his column afterwards and it was really good. It was basically just the 49ers. You know, we're looking ahead to the draft. Can we win some games?
Starting point is 00:45:13 They've now lost to the Cardinals twice. I understand the season is lost when you lose a guy like McKinnon and then a guy like Garoppolo. You're not going to make the playoffs anymore. But I was just expecting a little more of a well-rounded team. And I didn't expect, even though I think that it's probably smart in the long-term, to go 2 and 14, 3 and 13 to get that top pick. I think generally I'd like to just see a little better performances
Starting point is 00:45:40 every Sunday from the damn Niners. So I can go either way on this. I don't think they should be trying to win games. I mean, I think losing is good. I think if you can get the number one pick in the draft. We'd love to see them beat the Cardinals at some point this season. That is a reasonable point. Don't have high expectations about anybody else,
Starting point is 00:46:00 about beating the Rams or anything. I've seen the Cardinals play. Would love to see them beat him. I don't need to see them win games. I do need to see a little bit more progress from the young guys that they see as pillars of what they want this franchise to be. And there has been some of that.
Starting point is 00:46:16 Like, McGlinchy has been good. I mean, that is a nice piece and he's going to be their right tackle for a long time. The other guys that you're excited about are hurt. You know, Goodwin just came back. You lose McKinney before the season starts. But the defense is what worries me. I mean, this is a group that you really hoped that you were going to see something from McKell Weatherisput this week or this year.
Starting point is 00:46:35 He has not been good. Players like that. They got blown out by the Rams, understandable. They had that weird, weird collapse in Green Bay. They lost to the Cardinals before that, then the Chargers, then the Chargers. I mean, it's, it's, they might go one and 15, and that's hugely disappointing from a guy like Kyle Shanahan, who I just expected a little more, you know, come on. C.J. Bethard isn't. isn't isn't Nathan
Starting point is 00:47:02 Peterman here? I don't know, man. I'm not sure how good C.J. Bethard is. And that offenses look pretty damn good in stretches. Like, it's a disappointing outcome overall. It's a disappointing tenor to a year that started with so much excitement. But for me, it's not about what C.J.
Starting point is 00:47:20 Bethard's doing. It's more the guys that are highly drafted on that defense or the guys, they really thought we're going to be the foundation of that team moving forward, have not made any progress. you know, the offense is going to be what it's going to be. I thought the defense could take a step forward with some of those guys and it just hasn't. Let me ask you a question. C.J. Bethard, it's got an 81 rating this season.
Starting point is 00:47:40 If you were on the bills, would he start? Again, I don't know how good C.J. Betherd is. That's my concern. Do you know how good the Bills guys are? I do know how good those guys are. He probably could. C.J. Betherd is a fun player, man. If you're going to have a backup quarterback, you want C.J.
Starting point is 00:47:57 Betherd because it's essentially just, Fuck it. Like, he gets hit all the time. He's just chucking it deep left and right. He's a very entertaining backup quarterback. It wasn't fun to watch today. But in stretches, it has been much better than it has to be with the backup.
Starting point is 00:48:10 I'll say that much. He is quickly climbing towards having as many touchdowns as interceptions. He's got 12 to he's getting there. He's got 12 to 13 right now in his career. It wasn't a good game. 14 to 28 against the Cardinals. But there have been, you know,
Starting point is 00:48:25 he was, it was a fun game against the Packers last week. I checked in on that. damn game and it was five to three. And I said, whatever happens here, whatever happens here for the rest of the game, something's going to become a challenge flag. I, again, we mentioned this with, uh, with the rookie quarterbacks. Rosen 23 of 40 today, through a pick.
Starting point is 00:48:47 Josh Rosen's going to be really good, man. Like, I think Josh Rosen's going to be really, really good. And with, with these rookie quarterbacks, it's about moments. It's not about sustained greatness. It is about moments where you sit there and say, I can work with that. And every time I watch Rosen play, it's like, shit, man, that guy's going to be good. And I feel good about a lot of these guys. But I think at this point, he might be the one I'm most excited about.
Starting point is 00:49:11 I would love to finish that point on Rosen, but I need to sidetrack you for one second. C.J. Bethard went to a high school called Battleground Academy. That's why he's such a tough nose guy, man. It explains a lot. It's on a, it was built on a Civil War battle. and they just sort of named it after that. Says a lot about him. I've learned that.
Starting point is 00:49:32 That makes sense. Real quick, on that, on that note and on that game, Rosen and the rookie quarterbacks, you rank them how right now. I mean, there's only three, right? Mm-hmm.
Starting point is 00:49:46 Like if we're just discounting Josh Allen from the conversation? Well, because he's been heard or because he's Josh Allen? Because he's Josh Allen. Oh, I think we can include him
Starting point is 00:49:54 if we're just going to throw him out based on it. He is four. I'm not going to put Jackson in there. Just that's making it. known. Yes, but the guys I'm most excited about moving forward, I would still say, I would put Rosen 1. Oh, I would Baker 2.
Starting point is 00:50:09 I think he's been so good. Oh, I think he's been so much fun to watch. And he does not have much to work with their, I mean, whatever you think of Christian Kirk, fine, but that offensive line is not good. They fired their offensive coordinator. I mean, he has been much better than he has any right to be. Okay.
Starting point is 00:50:24 So I'm going to go Baker 1. It's 1A1B. You know how much I love. see like the double spin move Baker had today? I just feel like as far as exciting moments, Baker showing me a lot. So I would go Baker one, Rosen,
Starting point is 00:50:38 two, Donald three, Josh Allen. I mean, for God's saying, well, I'm going to put Lamar Jackson ahead of Josh Allen. I am excited about the first three,
Starting point is 00:50:46 though. That's what I will say. I mean, no matter what their rankings are, I think all of them have a chance to be very good. I mean, I think that, you know,
Starting point is 00:50:53 compared to other quarterback classes, this has been a pretty damn good showing for this group of rookies. If we're talking about moments, there have been plenty that you can get excited about. I'm excited about, but speaking, quarterback's this Saints three quarterbacks thing. I've said this a couple times. The Taysom Hill stuff is fun. I'm not sure why it's so necessary.
Starting point is 00:51:14 It's not necessary at all. It happens a lot. Actually, can I tell you something? I kind of remember my theory a couple of years ago, and this was not just exclusively my theory, the Belichick loved the Garapolo Bresset games. Yeah. Yeah. It was always like a weird challenge for him.
Starting point is 00:51:30 I kind of feel like Sean Payton wishes he had a terrible quarterback. Because because that is, that is, if you're playing three quarterbacks, that's the type of offense you have if you just suck. Yes, that's like what Florida would do. Right. You have Drew Breeze. Like I know you have Drew Breeze. Like you should not be playing games with two other quarterbacks in the backfield. I know it's one playing all that.
Starting point is 00:51:54 But I'm just saying like that's like the bills, if they had maybe. more athleticism among their quarterbacks, it would just change the game if they threw three quarterbacks out there once. Could you imagine if they played Anderson, Peterman, and Allen though at the same time? The league would break. It would be all we need. They would have solved football at that point. Oh, my God. Wait, maybe that's the way to do it. That's the only way to do it. And that's how you know you have no quarterbacks. How many, I'm looking right now, the playtime percentage is enough. I'm very curious how many snaps Taston Hill play today because it was a lot. Well, he had one, one pass for 44 yards. One pass.
Starting point is 00:52:28 and then he carried the ball three times, and then he was also just out there a bunch. I mean, Tason Hill is like a real player in this offense now. It's not just a gimmick anymore. But just his passing stats, he's going to end up like one of these punters who just throws nine passes in his career. And has seven touchdowns.
Starting point is 00:52:45 Mohammed's Anu, the greatest quarterback of all time. Yeah, exactly. I don't know enough about Sean Payton's psyche, but when you throw three quarterbacks out there, it says to me that you want to do things that are so outside the box that having one of the best quarterbacks of all time
Starting point is 00:53:01 doesn't let you be great. That's all. I could see Sean Payton's ego being there. I have no problem seeing it at all, actually. I think a lot of coaches feel that way. Yeah, I think so too, but I think that Sean Payton especially, I mean, his legacy is inexplicably
Starting point is 00:53:14 or inextricably tied to breeze. I mean, it's hard to kind of, it's kind of hard to legislate their greatness individually because we've never had to see them apart. When these coaches feel that way, like maybe I should have a worst team, you know, they should call Kyle Shanahan. He can talk them out of it.
Starting point is 00:53:32 All right. Let's get to a couple of tomorrow's headlines before we get out of here. One that jumps out to me, we started talking about it a little bit, and I know you have some issues with it, but the Rams are 8-0. They just keep winning.
Starting point is 00:53:44 And even they're winning in games that aren't necessarily too pretty. And I think that's a good thing. I mean, when you could just kind of come away with these wins each time. And I mean, obviously there's a scary moment when Rogers is coming back onto the field,
Starting point is 00:53:56 but they're not coming back from like three touchdowns down to win these games. Like they're in control for the most part in the, in each one of them. And I just feel like we have to start having a conversation, even with the schedule they're about to face about whether they could do this. And in a way outside of that, you know, kind of brutal stretch with the Saints and the Chiefs and everything else,
Starting point is 00:54:16 I feel like Mike Vey arresting these guys at the end of the year might be like the biggest deterrent. Well, I feel like the biggest deterrent is they have the same. next week, then the rejuvenated Seahawks. Yeah. Then the chiefs, then the lions, then the bears, then the Eagles. Seahawks played them well last week, too, or the last time they played. Sure. So where are these easy games?
Starting point is 00:54:39 Maybe the Lions, but every couple, I mean, the Lions beat the damn Patriots. Every couple weeks, the Lions looks like a competent NFL team. Matthew Stafford is fine. Okay. So, in my opinion, they've got a six-game stretch. They've got the buy, I guess Thanksgiving weekend. but they've got a six-game stretch where there's no let up. And I think that a lot of times in these sort of marches towards 16 and 0,
Starting point is 00:55:05 it's the teams you don't think about. Remember the Panthers lost to a pretty mediocre Falcons team in 2015? Yeah. The Broncos, you know, 20 years ago, lost that, you know, decent Giants team. But it's not the same. I mean, it's, it rarely is it the heavyweights to knock off the heavyweight. It's only really the 85 bears were the best example of, of a heavyweight knocking off another undefeated heavyweight.
Starting point is 00:55:33 I feel like they are going to have a really hard time with the Saints passing game next week, most likely, just because, I mean, they're so banged up in the secondary. You can see it. And the team, I mean, the way that they've been able to kind of get over it is Donald just wrecking games, and that's just not going to happen against the Saints, most likely. I mean, that team is a very good offensive line. Breeze gets the ball extremely quick. it's going to be tough for him to have the same impact.
Starting point is 00:55:54 So I think that they're going to give up a lot of points next week. But they can also score a lot of points in the States, man. That's what I'm saying. I'm so impressed at how many different versions of this team can exist and how they can win in different ways. And that's why I feel like against anybody they're well equipped. Yeah, I mean, look, I think they're really good. I think they're obviously one of the two best teams in the NFL.
Starting point is 00:56:14 I just don't see 16 and 0 with that sort of schedule. That's, I can understand that. Sure. So here's my, here's my. headline for tomorrow. So Goff has his big game after a three-week stretch in which he wasn't really in the MVP conversation.
Starting point is 00:56:29 Maybe Todd Gurley is still there, but again, I think narrative-wise, the Rams didn't have the game that they should have against the Packers, you know, the Packers really were in that game for longer than probably most of America thought. It was a mad game by like Ram's
Starting point is 00:56:45 standards. Yeah. So Drew Breeze has 120 yards. He turns into a weird type of, you know, 2017 Mitch Trubisky, where he's just sort of, you know, getting by on 100 yards a game. And now I'm thinking, well, wait a second here. We're talking MVP. And this is halfway point of the season. We're going to start these who's the MVP?
Starting point is 00:57:08 Columns. I'm not going to write it. You going to write one? Oh, yeah, absolutely. I love that conversation. I'm a big awards guy. We've established this. I'm not, but I love having one more topic to fill time.
Starting point is 00:57:20 So that was a joke. Patrick Mahomes, he just quietly had, I think, 125 rating on Sunday. At one point for the first three quarters, he was at 144, and then he threw an interception. But we just ignored it.
Starting point is 00:57:40 Like, it was normal. His 26 past touchdowns, according to the NFL, are the most in the first nine career games since 1950. he's one of three quarterbacks with 25 past touchdowns in the first eight weeks of his season. The other two guys are Peyton Manning and Tom Brady and he's on pace for 52 touchdowns, second most NFL history.
Starting point is 00:58:04 Patrick Mahomes currently has as many passing touchdowns Alex Smith had last season. For an offense, that was actually pretty damn good. For an offense that at this point in the season, we thought, might make the Super Bowl. This week was one of those games from Mahomes where there are some games where he's just, it's amazing to watch.
Starting point is 00:58:26 I mean, I think it, I've described the passing charts as it looks like a light show at like a particularly wild rave. Yeah. It's just insane. This game was not that.
Starting point is 00:58:35 This game was just one of those things where when he's just driving this car, it's ridiculous. I mean, they run autopilot today. He's just dumping balls off the guys left and right in the rumbling into the end zone because every single playmaker on this team
Starting point is 00:58:48 is like, would be the best receiver on another team. It's just, unbelievable watching them at full speed and when they're clicking. And he doesn't necessarily need to be great. But in the end, no one's going to remember that they were four dump-off touchdowns. Everyone's going to remember that he's on his way to 52. That's exactly right.
Starting point is 00:59:07 And so I think that we're going to start to give the drumbeat that Mahomes is separating himself. Yeah, I think that's totally fair. I mean, it's hard to argue with the production, even if it wasn't necessarily as, you know, visually spectacular as it has been weeks past. All right. Anything else? Nope, that's all I got, man. We will be back Thursday as we are every week.
Starting point is 00:59:25 Thank you so much for listening to the Ringer NFL show on the Ringer Podcast Network.

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