The Ringer NFL Show - Unanswered Questions: J.J. McCarthy, the Bears' Ceiling, and Who's the AFC Favorite?

Episode Date: November 18, 2025

Sheil and Nate Tice from the Football 301 podcast take a hard look around the NFL landscape after a wild Week 11 to determine whether their biggest suspicions about some of the teams and players around the league have been confirmed. (00:00) Unanswered questions around the NFL(1:54) Who should be the AFC favorite?(10:32) Can the Bears win the NFC North?(16:36) How should Vikings fans feel about J.J. McCarthy?(27:35) The Hurry Up: Falcons put Michael Penix Jr. on IR This episode is sponsored by State Farm®️. Don’t settle for just any insurance when there’s State Farm. https://www.statefarm.com/lp/trainer The Ringer is committed to responsible gaming. Please visit www.rg-help.com to learn more about the resources and helplines available. Host: Sheil KapadiaGuest: Nate TiceProducer: Chris SuttonSocial: Kiera Givens and Brian WatersProduction Supervision: Conor Nevins and Arjuna Ramgopowell Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Welcome to the Ringer NFL show. I'm your host, Shield Capadia. Today we are tackling some unanswered questions around the NFL. We're through 11 weeks. A lot has been settled in terms of division races and which teams are looking ahead to the offseason already. But there are some lingering questions that I wanted to get to. Like, who is the AFC favorite at this exact moment?

Can the Bears actually win the NFC North? Didn't have a chance to talk about that game during yesterday's show. and how should Vikings fans feel about J.J. McCarthy? It's only been five games, but it hasn't been pretty. So to talk about it all, we've got my friend from Yahoo Sports and host of the Football 301 podcast, Nate Tice. Our J.J. McCarthy conversation was a lot of fun. I think you might be surprised by some of the things we thought after discussing that one.

So really fun conversation, always with Nate. Let's take a break. We come back and address some unanswered questions. This is the Ringer NFL show presented by Fandul, the best place to bet the NFL all season long. Fan Duel's got it all. Same game parlies. Quick bets for jumping in live and your way so you can build the bet that fits your play. And Missouri, get excited because Fandual's coming your way December 1st.

Download theFandul.com slash ringer NFL to get started. Must be 21 plus and present in select states and 18 plus in D.C., Kentucky and Wyoming. Gambling problem, call 1-800 gambler or visit RG-dashelp.com. Call 1-888-78-9-77-7-7 or visit ccpg.org slash chat in Connecticut. All right, we are back on the Ringer NFL show doing unanswered questions with my friend Nate Tice from Yahoo Sports, the Football 301 podcast. All right, Nate, here's the first one I got for you. who should be the AFC favorite right now? Because when I go on to this standings page,

this is not what I envisioned coming into the season with the top four seeds being the Broncos, the Patriots, the Colts, the Steelers, the bills as the first wildcard, the chiefs and the Ravens out. So I think it's actually a hard question. You know, I'm looking at the betting markets. I'm looking at the analytics. And I'm trying to figure out who is the favorite right now.

So you, if you had, I just gave you a bag of cash and said, if you pick the right team right now, you get all this. Who is the AFC favorite in your mind? And this is just, I'm actually disgusted with my answer. So, but because I really wrote this out. I wrote out all strengths and weaknesses. I went on like team by team based on what their, what their odds are at the moment, you know, like a proper analyst would.

I'm still with the Chiefs. The team that is outside the playoffs. You are? Me too. Great. Okay. Okay, because, okay, this is just in ranking of odds currently. Let's talk it out. I just went before. All right, bills currently are the favorites, I believe, betting wise. Run game, believe in. I believe in Joey, or Josh Allen, of course, quarterback. I believe in the Joey Bosep pass rush. This defense is atrocious. This defense is bad.

I know they had moments against the Chiefs, but that is just so crippling to me that it's just one of these. And but I went through this on football 3-1, our review show or recap show yesterday was, but everybody in the AFC has such weaknesses that it's like, is that the one that's damning to them because you trust the offense and everything? I'm still working this out. So this is great to talk it all out. Colts, run game, explosive, awesome passing game, smart defense. I wouldn't say good.

I would say a smart and well-coached defense, but the defense is still getable. Louana Rumo, though, kind of gets that spags bump for me. Like, once they get to the playoffs, you might be, you know, throwing some junk, and just really, you know, manipulating quarterbacks and everything. So they might be just average right now in the regular season. I like the sauce gardener edition. A little pricey, though. But I like that addition.

And it helps out a lot. But I still think this is more like the 14th best defense, you know, not like a true, true, real, real contender I can bet on. I like the offense. And also, you've got the pumpkin factor with Daniel Jones. You just do. I know he's been playing well, but you got the pumpkin factor. So that's what I have thrown in there.

Broncos. I mean, the chiefs are next and odds. So we're not totally crazy. They're the third favorites right now to win the AFC. Broncos, amazing defense, good offense line, weaknesses, Bo Nix. And a run game that's fine but not good. And that's how I'd put it. It's especially with now J.K. Dobbins is out.

Ravens, another team keeping an eye on. I'm feeling much better about their defense now. Still don't think it's great, but much better. I know a lot of people are noticing Callah Hamilton what they're doing. Lamar is Lamar. You can bet on him. But the run game's taking a step back. And Derek Henry's slower this year.

Father time starting to, you know, knock on his door a little bit. I had some miles per hour tracking numbers. It's dropped down. This is all career lows and 50 mile an hour rate, all that stuff. And then the Patriots for the next team. I don't trust the run game. I don't trust the defense completely.

And now Milton Williams has hurt. Do you trust Drake May. But if we're looking at true contenders as opposed to a playoff team, as opposed to playoff team and win one game, a team that can go on the run. I'm still going on the chiefs. And I'm curious what your thoughts. are, but it's just more of a, they're fine enough on defense. They're fine enough on offense.

I like the offensive line, actually. They got my homes. And I know the past catchers and the run game isn't perfect, but it's fine enough, you know? And so that's how I just came to this conclusion. I did not think you were going to pick the Chiefs. I was all ready to come in and explain to you and try to convince you why it's the Chiefs. But like since that game yesterday, you know, we're recording this on Monday and all the narratives that are coming out. And as I was just looking at stuff this morning and thinking about it, I'm like, I'm in on the Chiefs. I think they're going to be fine.

I think people are going to feel so stupid that they thought this team was actually going to miss the playoffs. And if you just told me, I had to bet my life on one AFC team to make the Super Bowl, I would still pick them. All the narratives that are out there, they are second in EPA per drive. They are third in DVOA.

If you want the boomer stats, they're seventh in points per game. Mahomes is sixth in EPA per pass play. Every offensive metric you look at, and I know it doesn't always look, perfect. That's every team in the NFL has games, quarters, possessions where you're like, oh, you know, it's not always going to be great. They're 0 and five and one score games. They're losing these high leverage moments. They're getting bad breaks. They're getting unlucky.

I know that's boring. That's dumb analysis with all the time we spend doing this, but that's my analysis with the 2025 Chiefs. It's nothing more. And I know you don't hang a banner like second in EPA per drive. I know someone's going to say that to me. So I'm getting ahead of it right now. But the point is down to down, they to me are a top five team in the NFL. And then, Nate, let's add in some of the intangible stuff that we see in sports, a team that has that championship DNA with their backs against the wall in a position they've never been in before. I've seen Andy Reed dig out of holes like this before.

I'm curious to see Patrick Mahomes what he looks like over the next six weeks. So I will be shouting from the rooftops until they are mathematically eliminated that They are still the favorites in the ASA. I really have gone into it. It's sometimes trying to simplify my own kind of handicapping. And because I've kind of said this about myself, it's like my dad horse betting. I'm a better handicapper than I am a gambler.

As far as like I don't listen to my own advice too much. And I think with the Chiefs is that it's really just getting down to, and maybe this is some NBA analysis with this. Are you a top 10 offense? Are you top 10 defense? Can you run the ball? Can you be an explosive passing game? And can you stop that on defense?

While I don't think this Chief's defense is what it was a couple of years ago when they won the Super Bowl and Spags was having the time of his life with all those DBs and everything, it's still a good defense. It's, you know, 12thish, 10thish like that. And I think it's going to be on the upswing as they kind of have figured out their DBs. I think we see more dime out of them. I think we see some more. I want to rewatch this game because it's only been TV copy for me on rewatch. I haven't done all 22 on it yet.

But I want to see kind of like if they did anything outside to buy. that was interesting to me because that's always just the thing is this cheap the chiefs it's you always look at it after their by week they start rising and they were already rising before the biwink and so that's why i'm still staying optimistic on it the run game is not explosive but it they get they're so efficient they get on base it's the it's the money ball running game it's like they get on base that's what they do so okay yes the deep balls aren't all the way there but i think they like that'll even out i think the defense will keep them games it's just one of these things where it's like they don't have that true weakness they're fine to good in a lot of areas that I think are true contender numbers. So that's why I'm just kind of not out on them yet. I'm with it. If you look at, you know, I like this site, unpredictable. It looks at just, it ranks every team based on the betting markets. The chiefs would be favored over every other team in the NFL right now on a neutral field.

They are still number one. Every single one. The Rams, too. Wow. Yeah, the Rams are two. I believe here I have it. Let me see, I have it pulled up. Yeah, Rams are two, lions are three, eagles are four.

and bills are five. So it's like, it's not as crazy as it sounds. I understand they're five and five and they're not blowing teams out and the margin for error is slim. It could go wrong, but until I actually like see it with my own eyes, I'm still going to, I'm sorry, I'm not going to pick against them against the culture of the Broncos in a playoff game. I kind of don't care what happens, you know, the rest of the way. I wish I had better analysis, but it's not like it has, the bottom hasn't fallen out. Like this, they've been fine to good and everything. So that's where I'm like, I know it sounds lazy, you and I right now, just go, yeah, it's the chiefs and everything. But it's like, I test and stats.

I don't know. It's how I feel. And it's how when I watch it, I'm like, it's always a rewatch. Them and the Packers, when I rewatch them, I'm always like, oh, this is much better than I realized. Like, in the moment, they're frustrating. All this happens. Then I rewatch them, like, oh, this is a good team. Like, this is actually a good team.

But, yeah, the Chiefs and Packers, I kind of feel the same about in that way. All right. All right. So we're on the same page with the first one. Surprisingly, I did not think that was going to. be the case. Very surprised. There you go.

All right. Next one here. Unanswered question, mate. Can the Bears actually win the NFC North? You have been a Caleb Williams guy, right? That's fair to say. You like a Caleb Williams?

Right now, the Bears are 7 and 3 and in first place. Beat the Vikings in week 11. The Packers are 6, 3 and 1. The Lions are 6 and 4. This is really like the only division where no team has minus odds. It's kind of wide open with the Packers' lines. and the Bears. Bears fans do not like when you point out some of the, oh, you know, this probably isn't going to last type. I understand it, Bears fans. If I were you, I'd be like,

I love my team this year. It's a great team. I love this team. It's a lot of fun. But can they actually win the NFC North? What do you think? Yes, but I'm also going to say no. I do, I think they're a playoff team because I, but the NFC is freaking gotlet and it's tough. But they, I mean, if you look at, I know, and I looked at DVOA too and just future schedule. They have the hardest schedule remaining. So that is something that's going to be a part of this. They have two games against the Packers. They have the Steelers, the Eagles, the 49ers, and Lions.

It's actually the hardest, according to the betting markets. Okay. I mean, what you just read it out, I mean, that is not easy to finish the games. There's no, like, backup quarterback there. There's no, oh, you might get Mason Rudolph. But there's no, like, just real, like, actual gimmies there. And you look at the other teams and what they face, the Lions face the Packers, Cowboys, Rams, Steelers, Bears.

and the pack in the packers face the lions the bears twice um broncos ravens and then the viking twice so a mixed bag there for for the for the packers there but this gets back into my kind of four units kind of theory angle on this i think this offense is a top 10 offense there's no caveat there there is no start point there it's one of the most explosive it was the most explosive offense going in a couple weeks ago it's now the second most explosive offense in the NFL third and rushing seventh and passing it's just the defense um even And they've had a lot of DB injuries. They've been stinky against the past throughout this entire year.

But then you kind of, there's nice bones there, though. Like Dennis Allen, I think has proven it to be a good coach and they're really good on third down. I thought Tom Brady did a nice job to kind of point that out. Like, hey, they actually have some cool stuff that they're doing. Just I don't think they're great against the run. They've gotten better. And I also just think against the past.

Like, I think at best, this is like the 20th best defense, 18th best defense. And that's just a little worrisome to me that going against that schedule, Packers twice, 49ers, lines, the Enron offensive eagles, and then the Steelers, it's just not a lot of breasts that they can take. They're not going to face JJ McCarthy every week. Yeah, the bears are sort of like,

you know, when like a new friend gets introduced to the group and initially like, man, this person's kind of annoying, but then after a while you're like, hey, let's call him Joe. Hey, call, hey, we need a fourth, you know, for call him. He's kind of cool. That's kind of what my experience has been with the bears this season. And I'm kind of like, I'm not buying this.

Their defense stinks. It's all turnovers. You know, their offense is just so hit or miss. I'm watching them. One possession. Caleb Williams looks like the best quarterback in the NFL. The next one he doesn't. I think the run game thing is such a feather in Ben Johnson's cap.

You know, it's like that looked so bad early in the season. And it's, I don't know how many coaches can just sort of fix that in season where, hey, we're going to make a change here on the offensive line. Hey, we still have the same running back, but we're going to mix this other guy in. but we're going to teach it better. You're going to, and all of a sudden, it's going to click. And it's like, that's actually what's happened. That is good coaching.

You know, a lot of coaches making excuses. This guy's, well, this guy's injured. It's like, he had issues to work through, and he improved the football team. He improved the offense. He put Caleb Williams. I mean, Caleb Williams has like three plays a game where I'm looking up going, it's already a sack in my head. And then half a second later, he's spinning out of it.

I can't believe, I mean, he is, that has been to me, like the biggest revelation with Caleb Williams this year is that he's getting sacked. I think it's under 5%. It was 11% last year. And some of these you watch them and you go, man, that is like a sack with most quarterbacks in the NFL. So I don't know if it's his athleticism or what that didn't quite pop off to me like last year. But now when you watch him, you're like he looks like one of the best athletes of quarterback in the NFL. His balance is where his athleticism shines in his core strength and everything.

He's bigger than people realize. He's not very tall, you know, 6'1 and change. But he's like 2.30. But he's like a stout dude. And his balance is rare. I'm glad he brought up the sack rate because that's where the time to throw a thing with Caleb has gone blown so out proportion. He's gotten so much better from the pocket.

He was always better from the pocket than people realized. It was just that he had some, especially throwing over the middle, he'd get a little spooked. And when it wasn't perfectly clean and now you can see him get so much more comfortable working from the pocket. They did so much undercentered this week. And they've done a lot of undercentered this whole year. And Caleb Williams in college is true air raid dink and dunk every which way, never under center.

And now he's under center more than like, is under center more than like golf? Caleb Williams could go on a heater just, you know, the next six weeks. And all of a sudden, and they could win more one score games or they could continue to create turnovers on defense. These things do happen. It's a small sample sport. I wouldn't pick them. I think I would probably pick the lion still if I had to pick one team in the NFC North. but as the weeks go on and they keep winning,

I think you should just be kind of ecstatic if you're a Bears fan. It's kind of a season where you probably had measured expectations. You were hoping you had something with the coach and the quarterback. And it looks like you do have something with the coach and the quarterback. All right, let's take a break. We come back. I got one more for Nate, unanswered questions. This episode is brought to you by State Farm.

Having insurance isn't the same as having State Farm. It's like needing the protection of an offensive. guard on the football field, but getting an elementary school crossing guard. Sure, they're both guards, but you can only trust one to keep your quarterback safe when the game is on the line. So don't settle for just any insurance when they're State Farm. Like a good neighbor, State Farm is there. All right, we are back on the Ringer NFL show. It's a sensitive one, Nate. All right, tread lightly, okay? Because in my experience, you know, the fan base that has the young quarterback who they're invested in who they're not sure about, that is kind of the peak of sensitivity among NFL

fan basis. So just, all right. So on the answered questions, Nate, how should Vikings fans feel about how things are going with J.J. McCarthy? I'm giving the caveat for you. It's only been five games. We understand he's young. The NFL is hard. No one's writing the book on J.J. McCarthy. But from what we've seen now, Vikings fans, how should they feel? feel about how this thing is going? Not great. Probably, probably. And I try to be such a silver linings guy with quarterbacks.

Even when like Justin Fields was struggling. I'm like, hey, he can run though. He can run. You know, I try to find these angles. And with McCarthy, it's just, it hasn't been good. It's been all. It's, it's not just in a physical sense or just in, it is in a physical sense, but it's also just in a mental sense.

the game looks really fast for him right now. And that's why you see when they get off those opening script plays that all of some, the sprays start happening, that it just feels like everything's tight. It feels like the ball's going into harm's way. And that's because I just think mentally, he's the guy that we all knew needed reps. And it's just very apparent when you watch him.

It's not just like he needed reps. It's like, oh, man, but he needs reps in practice, not just game reps. Like, that's what it's appearing to me because it just seems like there's a lot of struggles with even operating the offense on time. He, like, if you notice in that game, any game that watching the Vikings right now, a lot of batted passes at the line of scrimmage and then just a lot of PbU, so the defenders making plays on the ball. And this kind of leads into everything and all the issues right now is that he's kind

of a step slow. There's always, you got to watch what the young quarterbacks is listening to their feet. If there's that extra hitch and then the ball gets batted or something weird happens, that means the quarterback's late. and that sometimes some quarterbacks have an extra hitch as just part of their flow, but they can overcome it because they have an awesome arm or because they're so quick in that drop, they can get away with that extra hitch, yada, yada, yeah. There's different ways that you can get away with it.

Watch Drake May. This is what some people knock Drake May for. It was like, no, that's his rhythm, is that he'll take that extra little kind of crow hop, but the ball's out early, so who cares? And on time, so who cares? Trust me, I can't wait. I'm just going to talk crap about Drake May for the rest of my life because I'm going to going crazy during that whole experience.

You were all in, yeah. Yeah, but with McCarthy, it's he'll take the extra hitch, extra hitch, and then you see the ball just flying out and it's a 110 mile an hour fastball because he feels late. He's taking the extra hitch and then his whole body, he's listening to his feet, his feet are going, you're late. So what do you do when you feel like you're late? What you should do is check it down. But what he does is, well, that's where I'm going with the ball.

Here we go. I got to throw it as hard as I can. And then when you do that, naturally, and when you do that, naturally, unless you kind of have more reps and learn how to learn your body, learn your mind, is you overstride. And it's just, you know, human physics. You're clenching a ball hard. You're striding real hard.

You're trying to throw real hard like a pitcher. And that's why you see the ball spraying up. He misses high. And that usually means overstriding, shoulder comes up. And I'm bringing all this up because it just to me that he's a step slow mentally. And because he's a step slow mentally, then all everything else physically ends up slow, ends up just being sped up and ends up just being sprays and misthrows and batted balls and just not a lot of balls in play that they even have a chance on.

And really just numbers wise, throwing outside of numbers, he's really struggling with this. And really he struggled since college throwing to his left. And that, again, is a mechanical thing. That is something, again, overstriding can lead to this. And in college, I wrote this up and you can go look at on Yahoo. His completion percentage when he was throwing to his left, I looked at 10 yards or more. so that's like really driving a throw. It went from 56% completion percentage to his right to 42% throwing to his left in college.

So if you're just like completion percentage, we can get in the drop back success rate, went from 56% to also 42%. And then first downs went from 53% to 39%. And then I looked it up, and this is just eye testing like, yeah, he's worse throwing left. But just looking at numbers this year, he has a 51.6% completion throwing outside the numbers to the left. So when he has the push the ball left, there's no air yards there, just thrown to the left. The league average is 65%. So he throws at 51%, which ranks 36th. League average, 65%.

Throwing right, 62% league average is 66%. So league average is about the same both sides, throwing outside a number. So it's slightly worse left. His is drastically worse. And that is, to me, mechanical. And even when I wrote him in college was that maybe he's athletic enough to overcome that, He gets good coach to overcome that. He needs time.

But to me, it's like, oh, wow, that hasn't improved at all. And I know that he hasn't played a lot of games. So this is a long-winded way to say he is way, way behind mentally, I think. And also, if you get a project quarterback, a guy you're trying to grow, the traits aren't great. Like, the traits are fine, you know, but he's also not very big. And that's why he keeps getting hurt. He gets knocked down very easily.

So it's just, yeah, it's, I hate to be so negative, but there hasn't been a ton of positives to really pick at. And that's why I just kind of break down. It's a lot of mechanical. stuff. And I also just think mentally he's just way, way behind what we see from young quarterbacks these days. Yeah, again, it's five games, but statistically he's been the worst quarterback in the NFL EPA per pass play. You just changed how I'm going to watch Vikings games now. I'm just going to be looking for those throws to the left. That's fascinating. I did not know that.

That's really interesting. And I think the reason this is such an interesting situation is because this isn't Cam Ward. This isn't a team that it's like we've got a three-year rebuild. I mean, they won 14 games last year. Like in many ways, they've got a win now roster. They didn't draft McCarthy for 2028. You know, they drafted him because they needed kind of a solution at quarterback.

And I'm sure somewhere in there, they thought, hey, get him some reps and he's going to be able to come in and operate the offense. And then you have the backdrop of like the Kevin O'Connell quote that was, hey, you know,

quarterbacks don't feel organizations. Organizations feel quarterbacks. And everyone loves it. And oh, my God, we got to repeat this. People are just obsessed with it. Oh, he finally, someone said it. Like, that's easy to say.

Now, when you have a quarterback who is operating like the worst quarterback in the NFL right now, and you're trying to win games, you have veterans on your roster who are like, man, you know, I'm sure if you get Justin Jefferson up to a lot, he doesn't really hide it if you're watching these games. I know. You can tell he's trying to be good, but he's also like, oh, God, you know, this isn't working for me. So you add all those things up. You're four and six. You're not making the playoffs.

And now you're just sort of trying to figure it out. You know, like, what are we, what is your percentage chance? We'll finish with this. J.J. McCarthy is the starter in week one of the 2026 season for the Vikings. Like, like how high is that percentage for you? Less than 20%. Wait, you think they're going to move on. So you think they're going to move on.

I think they're going to hunt some this off season. Whoa. Or he's on the roster with a vet in front of them. Okay. So the old bring in some competition. J.J. need some wraps. We rushed him in there.

He wasn't healthy. Same timeline as Anthony Richardson, but with like 5% of the traits. Wow. I thought you were going to say like 70% or something, but that's still 30% chance that. Yeah. And like you laid it all out. This is a vet-lating team. I know there's a lot of stuff bringing back Caleb.

Like remember last year and everyone was gone, this is the best situation or rookie quarterback's ever been dropped in. This year's Vikings is the best situation of first year starting quarterback. why, I should say, because I saw Dante Colpiper's first year starting. I knew with that Vikings team was loaded with. So one of the best, I should say. And that's what, even for me, I thought they would be a sneaky playoff team because I was like, hey, man, they invested on defense. They got a couple big bodies there. I like what they do on defense. Offensively, they've juiced up this offensive line. All five of starters, offensive line starters were playing on Sunday. You know, like it's a good. He had a lot of time. Yeah, that wasn't the issue.

He's got a lot of time. He's got everyone agrees. People are giving KOC credit for Sam Darno and Daniel Jones this year. They're saying, oh, because he went to college with KOC. Now all of a sudden, like, you know, Vikings prep school. All of a sudden now, it's like, whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa, they're doing good this year too. Like, you know, and so that's what's, yeah, I know. And so that's what's very funny is that like, yeah, it's easy to say that when you, I love KOC. I think he's, I think he's a great coach. I don't want to know. Yeah, me too. But it's a lot easier to say that when you have nothing but vet quarterbacks that have like ironed out the kinks. And then now you, and now you have a guy from, you know, day one, ground zero and truly a project. And I know,

you went to Michigan with Harbaugh. K went to IMG Academy. That's what's worrisome to me as well. I know Josh Allen's always the project quarterback that's like getting brought up, but you've got to look narratively sometimes with these guys. Have they been the dude quarterback since seventh grade going to these camps every summer and like this? Or did they play basketball, play baseball, never went to camps. They're a two-star recruit, three-star recruit.

Those guys have more to tap into because they just haven't been over-groomed. This is why I knocked Bryce Young sometimes. is because it's like, this kid's been since 70 years old, has been like considered the guy and has been going to these camps and taking tests and everything. Some of these guys are like, oh, I guess I'm quarterback now. All right. And you can see them be more of an athlete and everything. McCarthy is so rigid and so robotic. And it's like, well, he's already kind of overcoach, but also needs coaching.

It's kind of, it's, that's why I'm so pessimistic right now. It's just like there's not a lot to latch on to. And it's not like it's Richardson, who I would say was the last kind of failed project, recently is that, well, watch Richardson's highs. Like, I get making, like, working out those kinks to see what he can become. With McCarthy, I'm like, what are we going to get? Kirk Cousins Plus, like Jonathan Gannon? You know, like, what are we getting out of this?

Like, that's what, that's why I'm kind of just like a little bit, I don't know, less than optimistic about what it becomes, you know, and how aggressive this team is. Yeah, no, they are, especially for franchises, they will be very interesting to watch because they do some stuff against the norm, and we're always trying to win and be competitive. So let's see how the rest of the season goes. Maybe he improves. Maybe we have this conversation in January,

and it's a lot different. If it's not, then I do think they are just sort of a team to watch with a curveball potentially this offseason. All right, his name is Nate Tice. Always fun talking football with him. You can check him out. Yahoo Sports, the Football 301 podcast. Nate, thank you so much for joining me today.

Thank you for having me, show. Always fun. All right, I'll be right back with the hurry up. The hurry up is our closing segment where I give you a take on news in the NFL. And on Monday, ESPN reported that Falcons quarterback Michael Pennix Jr. is likely out for the season with a knee injury. I hope Pennings gets healthy. I hope he comes back next year and has a long and successful career.

Has only started 12 games. I thought there's been some ups and downs. But if you look at kind of statistically, he ranks middle of the pack. So I think he's established at least kind of a baseline of competency. and it's all about, hey, what is the actual ceiling with this guy going forward? But more than Pennix, I thought this injury shines a light on just how badly this Falcons organization has been mismanaged. I mean, if you look at it now, from 2021 to 2025, they used four top eight picks on offense. They also signed Kirk Cousins to a deal that paid him $90 million guaranteed.

And now what do they have to show for it? They're three and seven. they ranked 23rd in EPA per drive on offense. And oh, by the way, they don't have their first round pick next year because they traded it to the Rams to move up for James Pierce Jr. That would be the eighth pick in the draft if the season ended today. I mean, it was such a dumb trade at the time. And who knows now, it could end up being a top five pick.

So you add all those things together and just look at the state of the Falcons. And it's easy to understand how some of these bad, teams stay bad. All right, thanks to Nate Tice. Thanks to Christopher Sutton for producing Kira Givens on social and additional production supervision by Connor Nevins and Arjuna Ramgopal. We'll talk to you tomorrow on the Ringar NFL show. Must be 21 plus and present in select states for Kansas in affiliation with Kansas Star Casino or 18 plus and present in D.C., Kentucky, or Wyoming. Gambling problem. Call 1-800-gambler or visit RG-Helph.com. Call 1-888-7-9-7-7-7. or visit ccpg.org slash chat in Connecticut or visit mdgamblinghelp.org in Maryland.

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