The Ringer NFL Show - Week 11: A Few Great Matchups and a Bunch for the Gamblers (Ep. 185)

Episode Date: November 17, 2017

The Ringer’s Robert Mays and Kevin Clark recap Thursday night’s Titans vs. Steelers game, including how the SkyCam main angle could be the future of football viewing (01:00) and where Antonio Brown ranks on the all-time wide receiver list (07:45). Then the guys preview Week 11, including why we need to admit that Rams vs. Vikings is the best matchup of the season so far (13:15), how the Cowboys will lose badly to the Eagles on Sunday night (20:00), and why it’s time for Dallas to fire Jason Garrett (39:30). Then, Danny Kelly joins the show to tell you which players from this week’s less interesting matchups could lead your fantasy team to victory (48:30), and the guys predict next week’s biggest headlines (62:45). Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Hey, it's Bill Simmons. I want to tell you about the ringers gambling podcast. It is called Against All Odds with Cousin' Sal, and you're not going to believe this, but it is hosted by Cousin Sal. The biggest degenerate gambler that I know. He's such a degenerate. He has three other degenerates that he calls the degenerate trifecta. And they break down every conceivable gambling thing you would ever want to gamble on. They even take it to Captain Morgan's Make Believe Casino, where Sal makes up props on all kinds of things. Sports, pop culture, you name it.

you are going to want to get your gambling advice from these guys. Cousin Sal, he's been a staple on the BS podcast for the last 10 years. So good that we gave him his own podcast. Check it out against all odds with Cousin Sal. Subscribe wherever you get your podcasts. We're an NFL show, part of the Ringer Podcast Network. I'm Kevin Clark, joined today by Robert Mays. Robert, Week 11 is happening when we saw all sorts of sky cam action on Thursday night.

I don't understand any of the backlash. I mean, there was a little bit of backlash just because it was sort of a, a fear of new things. Yeah, people are like, it's, I mean, there's a couple of people I was talking to on Twitter, like Charles McDonald's, like it's not wide enough. I was like, I don't need to see both receivers come off the line. I'd rather see one receiver or two, the whole play. Because you can't see anything downfield in the broadcast cam.

So I'd rather just have it on Antonio Brown side at all times. Like, Antonio Brown cam plus being able to see the line, man. Like, this is my dream. This is all I've ever wanted in the world. So a couple things. Number one, I did. not know I could get that much anxiety watching a like a floating pass. The first pick was such a horror show.

It just goes up and you're just like, first of all, passes look worse. I would say, I would say the running plays look more impressive because you see sort of the symphony of it all. See, I disagree. I think the bad passes look worse, but to see the, like just the precision with which they can place the ball on some of these throws, that's incredible to me. see it in the all 22 when you look back at that. But to be able to see it all happen in a wide frame is amazing because the throws that I've always enjoyed watching when I go back and watch games are from the end zone view in the middle of the field.

But even that is you don't see the whole thing. So being able to see it all develop and then being able to just like place balls all over the field is just incredible. Yeah. It's it's something that so essentially an NFL executive a couple of years ago told that the future of football and football viewing is customization. So essentially you'll be able to choose what you want to see. And so I don't think that there will be a situation where we're going to have SkyCam 24-7

is the dominant view. I think you're going to see it as an option on. I mean, I think it's the few, you know, ESPN has done those sort of things where it's a national championship game and they have like, you know, T-Bocam or whatever, you know, coaches cam. whatever it is. And so I just think that the NFL will eventually have that in Skycam will be an option. Yeah, that sounds great to me.

I'm so excited for that day. I'm very into it. I'm just going to give you an educated guest having spent some time around the NFL. They're going to wait. They're going to develop the technology and they're going to wait like three years until someone gives them $100 million for their rights to sponsor it. Skycam brought to you by Subway or something like that. That's the life cycle.

I don't want to get too inside baseball here, but that's the life cycle of NFL technology as they develop it like three years before it comes out. And then they're just like, well, we're going to wait to sell it to FedEx or something. Great. That's what I'm really interested.

That was sort of the delay with the next gen stats thing, which was done years ago. But they didn't bring it out because nobody would pay them enough money. They still don't have enough next gen stats. It's not that useful. There's a couple of them that are like, okay, I guess that's interesting.

But it's not even close to like, what I'd actually want. I wrote a whole story about it a year and a half ago. Everyone should read it. It's called the Football's Brewing Information War on the ring. Before the season started. Hell yeah. Okay.

We occasionally do write things. This happens. I don't write new. I just do Slow News Day and the podcast. Yeah, I've noticed that now. Even though I write two stories a week, that's not, that's not me. Do you want to talk about this game at all? Outside of how it was broadcast?

I mean, what is there to say? Mike Warrety. The Steelers are like awesome. Well, no, no. I'm going to go from the other side of here. I'm going to bring up a point that I brought up last week, which is Mike Marlarkie was hired in large part to protect Marcus Marriota, and Marcus Marriota is taking really some vicious hits.

Yeah, I'll be curious to see what they do. It feels like Mike Malarkey might not be the coach for this team. Like the right coach. I would like to see someone else work with this collection of players because I enjoy the collection of players. I like John Robinson's work. Yeah, but John Robinson's one. decided to keep Mike Mularky.

Are we sure about that, though? Yeah, it was ownership and all that stuff. There's a lot of things that went into it. But I just think generally it's going to be interesting to what happens. Having said that, they're in the AFC South and they could easily make the playoffs. Yeah, but I think they're the second best team in that conference. I mean, I agree. But they're not going to do much.

Not this version of this team. I feel like I tweeted this last night. I certainly believe it. Pittsburgh, if they can get home field advantage, it becomes terrifying. Because they really do look like a different team on the road. I mean, it just is so different watching that offense when they can audible and they're just in such cruise control mode. And watching them last night is just like, man, they can, if this version of the Steelers offense shows up, who because the defense is still real good. Cam Hayward was a monster last night.

So do you think that the, we had the discussion at the beginning of the year. You picked the Steelers to make the Super Bowl. Is that correct? I did. Yes. How are you feeling about that? I feel pretty good about it. Best team, best team in the UFC right now? I think so.

Yeah, I just feel like they're the most complete team. Even though their offenses kind of sputtered at points, and we talked about how Rathusberger has held them back, I mean, it's still a top 10 offense by pretty much every single advanced metric you want to look at. And then the defense is better than that. The defense is, I believe, third in defensive DVA coming into last night, and they're not going away. And the Phillies right there, too.

I think Phillies a little further down on defense, but we've got a couple teams that are top five, top six, top seven in both categories, and they're the ones that I think are the most dangerous. I mean, obviously, that seems plain, but I'd rather have that than this team like New England that's such a dominant offense, and then we still have questions about the defense. There are a lot of well-rounded contenders this year, which is the opposite of what happened last season. So it's kind of interesting.

Someone tweeted us last night that they thought that the Steelers, at least a half time, may have had the conversation with Rathusberger about not going deep anymore. Like, the conversation that we had last week on the pod, where we were just like, Rathusberger, why don't you just take what the defense gives you for the first? first time in your career. I mean, there's some of that, but he also chucked it a few times. No, I know. I mean, it's Ben Rathesberger.

He's wired a certain way. Did you see the NFL Network tweeted this out? Do you know what Ben Rathesburg's completion percentage on passes over 20 yards is? I'm sure it's just abysmal. So last year was over 40%. This year, it's 26%.

Last year, last year on passes over 20, 20 yards. You'll enjoy this. His touchdown interception ratio last year was 14 to 3. this year it's two to five. Yeah, that's not great. I'm gonna, I've got some notes for you, Ben.

So Antonio Brown is also ridiculous. Yeah, really good. I know we can say that every single week, but we're starting to get to a point where we should have some conversations. And I was, again, I was having this kind of, I was having that conversation in the digital world last night a little bit, just about where he kind of sits. So right now he's on pace from 16141 yards again.

And he's going to catch 100 passes easily. where does Antonio Brown start to fit here among like receivers in the post Jerry Rice world? Oh. First of all, it's a, it's a tough situation. It's really, really tough.

And there's a reason that wide receivers are underrepresented in the Hall of Fame. It's because everybody gets uncomfortable because it's a lot of its quarterback dependent and then everyone just gets very situational. Very lazy. There's a lot of lazy analysis around wide receivers. And I think that like,

I think I remember what I was going to be Scott Casimir or something. we were talking about it last night, he compared Antonio Brown to Marvin Harrison, which I think he's unfair. I think Antonio Brown is a much better player than Marvin Harrison was, even at his peak. You look at Marvin Harrison's numbers, and they're incredible.

But Marvin Harrison played with Peyton Manning when Peyton Manning was Peyton fucking Manning. That's just really hard for me. Antonio Brown, Ben Rossburg is a fine quarterback. Antonio Brown is the best receiver in the league and kind of comfortably is right now. And he has been that way for a couple of years. I still feel like if I was drafting a team,

I'd pick Julio first. but it's I don't know maybe that's just like small guy bias Antonio Brown's absolutely ridiculous I feel like you're underrated

I'm looking at list now you have Andre Johnson at seven I love Andrew Johnson Andre Johnson I think is the most underrated receiver in the past 25 years including by you

who else who do you should be out of I don't know on that list I mean I just I just here's a thing here's a thing it's exactly what we're saying

which is it's really hard to gate to separate the quarterback from wide receiver whatever But, I mean, Andre Johnson had back-to-back 1,500-yard seasons. He had 3,500-yard season in his career for 1,400-yard seasons. Listen, you don't have to sell me on Andre Johnson, but who would you put him ahead of on that list? I mean, with the exception of Larry Fitz, I mean, a lot of these guys played with really great quarterbacks.

T.L. played on, like, six teams. He was always good. T.L. played with better quarterbacks than Andre Johnson. That's fair, but I think I'd still rather have Terolans. I mean, it's really close. To me, like, I think my top four is where I feel really good. And then after that, I get a little queasy. So it's Randy Moss, and then I put an ellipsies, like in six spaces because who cares?

It's Randy Moss. Don't talk to me. And then Calvin Johnson, Julio, Antonio, I just feel like those four I feel really good about after that it just becomes kind of tight. And the reasons I did, the reason I did eight players is just because there was no reason to not throw those names out there just because people go, who what about this and the guy so it's tough like i did eight i probably could have done 10 i probably could have done five it's just a very naughty conversation which is why it's worth having i would

write about it but i already wrote about it last year who's your number nine i don't know i did i didn't go that far i ran out of space even with 280 characters really are you the first person is are you the first person who's done that i think so wow i don't know i don't think i did i think I just didn't know who would be nine and nine felt like a less round list than eight. If you're gonna be nine, you might as well do ten. That's my thought. Yeah, I'm looking at the list here.

It's not, I don't see anybody who just, who sticks out. Yeah, AJ Green. I mean, that it's probably the answer. Far below that would be Des Bryant. DeAndre Hopkins has a chance in a couple years. I love DeAndre Hopkins. Give him five years. Maybe he's, uh, maybe he's somehow jumping on Andre Johnson in your list.

I mean, the fact that Antonio Brown is now in his six straight season of he's going to get 1284 last year which he missed a game and Rothesberger wasn't that good last year so it's 1499, 1698, 1834,

1284 and we're going to be at 1600 again that's patently absurd like it's just it's the best run any receivers ever been on except like one guy we don't mention him in this conversation I'm looking at this list this sort of modern day receivers list and I just want to point out

and this is just a Jarvis Landry thing right now do you know that he's first first in reception right now or what's 16th and yards like 36th in yards yeah going into last week he was yeah it's that that doesn't count what's going on there that doesn't count

what's going on there cannot be involved in these conversations no no no he's not I'm just a completely separate no I know it's weird I'm just saying like Jarvis Landry's stats are fake they don't exist he is literally he is what we're talking about when we talk about what like how NFL

offenses got so insanely boring. Even though Jarvis Landry can be an incredibly interesting player on the field and he certainly makes plays, but like you can't just catch the ball and go six yards. Yeah, because that's not what Antonio Brown does. I think that is the important distinction here. That's a long run at that point. Yeah, that's pretty much what they're doing.

It's not fun. Nothing about what the dolphins are is fun. I'm not having a good time watching the dolphins. No one is. What else are we talking about today? Let's actually get to week 11, which is what this is. podcast. Week 11, Danny Kelly will be joining us to get you some fantasy football advice.

We'll be going through the games this week. And we're going to get first to our favorite four matchups of this weekend. Robert, we're going to start with the Jeff Fisher Bowl. Let's do this. Case Keenham hosts Jared Goff. These are two teams literally going for the buy in the playoffs. It's amazing. What do you see?

I mean, I'm excited for this. I'm legitimately excited for this game. Because one of the things we have to do as football observers is we have to realize a new reality, right? Okay? So, you know, Falcons Seahawks on Monday night, we will watch that game. It's an interesting group of players or whatever, but we just, we can't do the old world thing of like, okay, this is the matchup we want to say. We have to realize the

marquee matchups now, midway through the 2017 season, it's Vikings Rams. Let's be clear. I'm most excited to watch Vikings Rams. This is not an obligation. I'm just saying as America, as America, we need to start looking at this. Yeah, I'm weird. I understand that. I think that, you know, they didn't even, well,

they didn't flex Rams Saints into Sunday night. Which is infuriating. We need as a country to realize that these are the marquee matchups. Yeah, it's great. It's really exciting. So the Packers, Aaron Rogers, not walking through that door. I know, which just makes me sad.

But so Rams Vikings, obviously the Vikings offense is playing better than anyone expected. They're sticking with Keenham because I, like Harrison Griffin said last week, if it ain't broke, don't fix it, which is a really weird thing to say by an offense led by Case Keenum, but it is correct. So that, that side of the ball is, it's a clash between two really good units, but it doesn't interest me as much as the other one does. And I think that's just for the simple reason that,

the Rams offense is like the most fascinating part of this entire equation. And I've always loved the Vikings defense. And even though Pat Schumer has done a fine job this season, Sean McVeigh against Mike Zimmer is more interesting to me than Pat Schumer against Wade Phillips, which, you know, mostly because Pat Schumer's involved. Again, he's done fine. But what how the Rams are going to or how the Vikings are going to handle all that play action from the Rams, all that, you know, kind of wonky stuff that they do,

very curiously how much Minnesota blitz is in this game. because they do so at a pretty decent clip in most seasons, but what they're really good at is timing blitzes. It's like how we, we have to talk about this Lombardi a couple weeks ago. We celebrate and champion offensive play callers as these masterminds, but we never celebrate a defense coordinator for a good call. And that's what you see with Minnesota so often is that they blitz at the right times.

They blitz the right guys. So when they do bring pressure, they usually get there. So I'll be really curious if they can bother Goff because he hasn't been pressured that much this year. I think it's maybe the fifth or six least. in the league, but his accuracy percentage drops precipitously. So if they can get to him, that's the most important thing. And I'm just curiously how they're going to try.

So it's interesting to me. I think defensive coordinators are judged more on the body of their work. Yes, that's true. It's never like, oh, look at this specific play call. Look at their bread and butter play. I think it's just... But there still are those. We just don't notice them.

No, right. Exactly. Exactly. And so, you know, I think that generally people look at it and they just say, okay, this guy built this defense. He's a good defensive coordinator. It's not about the specific calls. It's very statistical-based in that regard.

Whereas offensive coordinators, it's more about the intricacies of the design. And so, yeah, I totally agree with you. I think it's interesting how we view it. I think that generally offensive coordinators are gotted up more than defensive coordinators, even though I think it's unfair. I think it was either Bill Walsh, John Correale had that whole thing about how you should always hire a offensive coach to be the head coach because, they're always on offense.

And the defensive coordinators are never dictating anything. And I think that that has shaded and that thought process is shaded the way we think about football. Which is kind of, I totally agree with that, which is kind of funny watching the Vikings this year. Yeah. Because you have Mike Zimmer who is like the most crotchy defensive man in the world. Like Mike Zimmer is an NFL defensive coordinator. He is like what you would build in a lab. But the way he speaks, what he talks about everything.

thing. And he does coordinate that defense. Let's be clear. Oh, yeah. And then Pat Schumer is now like slinging it all over the yard with Case Keenum. Like they love pushing the ball down the field. And it's kind of like, this is a weird combination of stuff going on, but it makes for very entertaining products. Pat Schumer being an awesome offensive coordinator. And like Mike Zimmer being like, yeah, Pat, just let it go. Let us fly, baby. Especially, I mean, I don't know. I mean, Norv Turner quit because if everything is to be believed, Mike Zimmer was a little bit bossy there. So is, is, is, is, is, is, is, is, is,

Is Zimmer giving input into this offense? I don't think so. I think he's just letting it exist. That's what I'm saying is that he's not influencing his well at this point. He may be, but it's not obvious that he is. I don't know. That's the question to me. Because, I mean, it was only a year ago Turner was like, yeah, no.

I'm not going to do that. Can I drop a nugget on Pat Shermer? Sure. A couple of years ago, I was in a press box, and Pat Shermer made a joke. We'd known each other for a little bit. I'd interviewed him a bunch. He made a joke about how many donuts I was eating.

And I was, I was a heavy man. And so I went home and started running and I lost 60 pounds. Pat Schumer is the one that inspired you to get healthy. Yeah. Wow. That's great. That's not as good.

Like, that's much better than my story about the same thing. So good for you. I'm glad you could just throw that out there. He didn't mean it. I never, I have never talked to him. He was just joking.

Yeah, of course. I understand that. I just looked at myself. This isn't, this isn't, you know, you don't want to be the butt of a,

a joke as a human being. Yeah, I got a second down. He's like, you shouldn't, you shouldn't do that. And he may have not, it may have not even been, I wasn't even that. I wasn't like obese. No, I understand that. But I just needed to start running. And so I started running.

I just remind, that reminds me the 30 Rock episode where Liz is eating the cookie after giving blood. Jack's like, you eat a cookie in the middle of the day? I gave blood. He goes, does that burn calories? Middle of the day pastries are always a big thing for me. I'm a big fan. Yeah, they have been press box in Philadelphia.

That's great. Four years ago, three years ago. The one other football thing I want to mention before we move on is that Lamarcus Joyner's hurt. So he's missed a lot of two prexes with a hip. And I think that that could come into play just in terms of what we see from the Vikings offense. I mean, if they're wanting to push ball on the field, losing probably the best player in your secondary. And safety is maybe problematic. Just throwing out there.

Not good. Okay. Next game, Eagles and Cowboys. Who boy. Eagles have the highest pressure rate in the NFL. shocking. They have Who could have predicted

that the Eagles defensive line would be very good. I think the interesting thing is, and I wrote this on the ringer.com on Friday, which is this isn't, you know,

the Cowboys have kind of an easy stretch coming up after this game. They have the Giants. They have the Chargers. You know, this is not a must-win game for them.

And the NFC wildcard race is not such that, you know, a team's going to run away and hide and the Cowboys aren't going to catch them. I mean, if these,

I don't know, man. They better start piling up some wins. No, no, no, no. It seems to win every week against whoever they're playing. That's not. That's not, but what I'm saying is it's not such a concern that if they lose this week, I'm ready to bury them.

Here's the actual panic-inducing situation. The Cowboys need to learn how to exist when they don't. They need to learn how to make adjustments, simple adjustments. They don't have Zeke Elliott anymore. They currently don't have Tyron Smith. Like, learn how to coach Jason Garrett. So we'll get to the Tyrod Smith thing. The Zieg-I thing is a problem.

And I feel like that's going to be a problem for the rest of the season. What I'm more worried about, I mean, we talk about Zika and Tyrant Smith all the time, the guy they're going to miss the most in this game is Sean Lee. Like, Sean Lee just being plucked out of that line. I know they've been played without Sean Lee a lot in recent years, but he was healthy all season last year. Their defense is markedly better when he's in the game. And that Eagles offense is a pain in the ass.

That is a really tough thing to deal with. So the fact that they're going to have to go. go in there and not have not only their defensive play caller, but the guy who puts their guys in the correct situations, that is awful. I mean, it just seems like this is the type of game where Zach Ertz couldn't eat in the middle of the field. I mean, I feel like that's the way that they're going to try to attack this team is to just say, Anthony Hitchens is going to lose this game for you. It just feels like that's where Philly is as a game planning team and a staff. They're going to see what you do poorly and they're just going to go after it. And I think that's where Dallas is weakest right now.

So I have been less critical of Garrett than our colleague Michael Lombardi, who refers to him as the clapper. The clapper. Because he claps. It's not just that he claps. It's that Mike is of the opinion that Jason Garrett does not do anything else outside of the clapping. Is that, do we have any evidence that he does doing something? That's not what I'm saying. I'm saying that's Mike's stance.

I'm not disagreeing with him. I'm saying that he might be correct. because it appeared that Jason Garrett had no idea it was going on with his team if you just looked at the game plan on Sunday against the Falcons. That's all.

I just didn't, I did not enjoy that coaching performance by the Dallas Cowboys coaching staff. I did not either. It feels like this is going to be a week where they're going to do a lot of things differently. Again, we'll talk about that in a little bit. But the one thing I want to watch for in this game

is just a little bit nerdier is that DeMarcus Lawrence lines up on the left side, the defense. So he's going to go against Lane Johnson all day. So the Eagles are, excuse me, the Cowboys are less set up to take advantage of where the Eagles are weak on their offensive line, which is a problem. And again, it's going to be very fun to watch, but it's maybe going to be a stalemate. And that's an issue for Dallas. Like when DeMarcus Lawrence has been dominating games is when they've been a really solid defense. And if Lane Johnson's go there and blank him, that's going to be an issue. Yeah, I agree. I mean, do you think that this Eagles line,

even without Peters, is sort of, Super Bowl caliber. Absolutely, I do. I think they've been a really good job of helping Vaita out against the run. They still have ridiculous athletes. Did you see Jason Kelsey is having the best run blocking season in the last decade? He looks awesome this year. And it's the way they'd use them.

And that's the coolest part about watching this team in the run game is that it's not just that they have these mauling offensive linemen. I mean, I think that if you watch Dallas, right, the Cowboys offensive line when they're at their best, is just a zone blocking offensive line. They work extremely well together. They really rely on the individual talents because they'll just use Frederick and Smith as these kind of unique standalone pieces.

So most teams, this is going to get really nerdy for a second. So most teams, when you run inside zone or outside zone, you're going to combo block individual defensive linemen up to linebackers. So you're going to double team for a very short second or how long it takes and then move to the second level. Dallas at times doesn't even need to do that. because Frederick can block guys one gap over by himself. So that just lets Zach Martin go right up to the linebacker or Ronald Leary, whoever it was.

And that's just ridiculous. I mean, it puts you with such an advantage when you have to spend no time on one down lineman. So Philly doesn't do, that's not how Philly exists. Philly uses the mobility of their linemen, not the individual like technical strengths. So they'll use Kelsey to pull and it just creates angles that most offensive lines, can't build for themselves because their linemen don't move that well. So it's fascinating. It's such a perfect marriage between personnel and scheme.

And I think you can say that about the Eagles in like 10 different ways this year. Ted Peterson. Coach of the year? I don't know. I'm still riding the Sean McVeigh train pretty hard. I don't know, man. I mean, obviously it depends on the rest of the season. If the Eagles go like 15 and 1, yes, Peterson is going to win it.

But I still feel like Sean McVeigh has done the most impressive job. my standby this. God, what a fucking season. It's great, man. I've totally come around on it. I'm taking a total 180.

I'm loving this. I'm in? I'm in too. Here was the problem. I was not happy when everybody was like four and four. Yeah, but now we have good teams. No,

no, that's what I'm saying. I'm saying now we have identified like the seven and two, six and three teams. I'm just like, yes. Even though it's the Rams and the Vikings and the Saints,

yes. In. Yeah. I'm pumped about this one too. Watching this game, guys, I mean, seriously watch for that kind of stuff. Watch out what the Eagles do in the run game, because it's not like a lot of other teams.

Other teams pull, but the Eagles pull the center so much and Brandon Books moves really well. It's very cool to watch, and it's very unique. It's part of why they've been so good this year. And now that Ajai is going to be playing pretty much full-time, like he's their running back now, it becomes even more devastating. I mean, this team is really good.

Okay, moving on to the Falcons and Seahawks. I thought it was interesting. Ethan Young from NFL.com posted a really interesting stat that essentially the Seahawks use more press coverage than all but one team in the NFL. Richard Sherman is out. Julio Jones is one of the best, if not the best, wide receiver against press coverage in the entire NFL. So you get in a situation where the Seahawks are either going to have to change their scheme on the fly. or try to play press coverage with less talent against Julio Jones, try to figure out on the fly.

Eagles or the Falcons last year, the way they kind of combated Seattle, especially in the playoffs, was that they put Julio in the slot, essentially dared Richard Sherman to move in there with him because it's not what Richard Sherman does well. He wants to push you against the sideline and suffocate you, essentially. So now you just kind of take that off the table.

Now, Julio is no longer this piece you want to necessarily put in to special situations. You can just be Julio Jones, and Julio Jones is pretty good. Julio Jones is good. Do you have that exclusively? Yes, I heard it from someone. You got that?

You got to source on that one? Yeah, it was a little... That's my own nugget that I'm dropping this week. I think it's interesting because the Seahawks are a team where their situation is significantly worse than their record. Yeah, trending down.

When it seems like all these other teams are kind of getting healthy. You're damn right, they're trending down. I mean, they don't have Richard Sherman. Camp Chancellor, I have no idea what's going on there. There's also its rumors that he seriously hurt.

Basically, the players have ruled him out if you listen to Bob Condata at the Seattle Times. But the Seahawks have not ruled him out. I'm talking about this week specifically. Yeah. And so these are they still doing tests or whatever. Jesus, the Seahawks injury report is just a nightmare.

Earl Thomas, I guess, is back this week. But, I mean, it's, it's, I don't know how the Seahawks manages because their defense and Russell Wilson were the two things that were going to cover up all of their flaws. And right now they don't have their defense. Russell Wilson, do you know that Russell Wilson

is accounting for a higher percentage of his team's yards than any player in the Super Bowl era right now? When the Seahawks were looking like they were going to go 11 and 5 and be a very real playoff team, that's why I was like, yeah, Russell Wilson should be in the MVP conversation. Hell yeah, should. The team couldn't exist with. Russell Wilson.

The Eagles would not be as good without Carson Wentz, but it's just be like, eh, you know, we'll figure it out. The Seahawks could just stop the season if Russell Wilson got hurt. Oh, my God, yeah. I mean, how many things have they innovated in the last five years, right? The Seahawks. My guess is they would innovate just stopping the season if Russ Wilson got hurt. Pete Carroll would be like, that's just not, that's just not what we do here.

That's not, we've talked about it. We practice it on Wednesdays. It's called No Wilson Wednesdays. And when we'd all Russell Wilson, we filed petition and we quit the league. And he would say it was just with a straight face. Yeah, oh yeah, 100%. 100%. We met with the league office last week and we talked about it.

Just chewing the hell out of that gum all at the same time. The Seahawks injury report is terrifying. So on defense, guys, it did not practice on Thursday. Dwayne Brown, Camp Chancellor, Duran Reed. Michael Willoy, which, you know, and Michael Bennett. You're going to want him. Yeah, those guys are all pretty good. And even if they're playing at like 80%,

the Falcons offense hasn't been good this year, but they still got some players on there. Also, Dwayne Brown. He doesn't play defense, but he's important. Oh, yeah. Dwayne Brown, the guy they traded for it to mask all of the offensive line flaws, is also hurt. So what do we think?

What do we think they're watching Atlanta last week? Do you feel better about them? Do you feel like this is a situation where they can knock off Seattle with the way they're kind of? I'm struggling right now. And like, I mean, what do you think about the Falcons? I mean, you said you're not worried about the Cowboys necessarily in the wildcard race. No, I didn't say that.

Can Atlanta do this? So I want to, I want to refocus the Cowboys thing. It's not that I'm not worried about them. It's not that I think they're going to absolutely make the playoffs because I actually wouldn't. You just don't think this week is a deal breaker. I would just say that they have a pretty easy stretch after this week to where they might win three in a row after this. The Cowboys have the Chargers, Redskins, Giants, Raiders. I don't think any of those are automatic losses.

And I think that maybe the Eagles game, even though it's a home, I mean, that might be, you might want to maybe write that one off, okay? And so what I'm saying is that just when you look at the NFC wild card, you know, let's say we give one to the Panthers who are at 7 and 3. I mean, are the Seahawks in such a good position they're going to run away with this? No. are the lions or the Packers going to run away with this? No.

It would be so bizarre if the Seahawks with a team that fell out of the wildcard race. I understand. I mean, I don't... But I mean, we have to look at the situation as it currently is, and they're missing a lot of talent. Those things stack up. And so that's what I'm saying. I'm not saying the Cowboys are going to make the playoffs sematically.

I'm just saying no matter what happens this week, it's going to be a really messy conclusion on who gets that final wildcard spot. And hell, I'm, I guess the Panthers are definitely going to make the playoffs, right? I mean, it seems like we're trending that direction. I mean, literally, I feel like I'm in a coma fantasy. The only things I am sure of in the NFC are that the Saints running game is going to get them there. Number one in Russia, UVA.

Case Keenom's good enough. Jared and Jared Goff is going to be in the top five of the MVP race and that the Eagles are a juggernaut. and that we just floated Doug Peterson versus Sean McVeigh Coach of the Year battle. Let's do this, man. I'm ready. Seattle's 20th and passing DVA against number one receivers. And I feel like that is already a bad situation

and now Richard Sherman doesn't exist. So it might not be too fun. You're going to want Richard Sherman. I was looking at the tape earlier this week. You're going to the next nugget. You're going to want them on the field. You're going to want him on the field. So you know who's number two in rushing DVA which I found fascinating?

It's like the second, probably the last team you ever think of. Hold on. Green Bay. Oh, I was going to guess. I wasn't going to guess Green Bay. So weird. And like, they're usually better than you think just because teams with good quarterbacks typically have efficient running games.

I mean, that's always been the case. And you think about some of those Broncos and Patriots teams, they were always up there. But the fact that the Packers have gotten better on the ground, even though Aaron Rogers isn't playing, is very weird. Again, the bizarro NFC, welcome. The water is warm. did you see that Alvin Camara is

only going against eight-man boxes 20% of the time That's how it works When Drew Rees is your courtroom No I know I know And that's what I think everyone talks about Oh Drew Breeze

You know Is playing complimentary role or whatever It's like no man Drew Breeze is still The thing defense is scared of It's not a complimentary role It's throwing the ball last That's it

No no I know I know Drew Breeze is still the best thing about that offense Of course he will be until he dies. Which is going to be never. That's true. He's going to be throwing for 4,500 yards in 2062. All right.

Patriots at Raiders. It's in Mexico City. Yeah, which is fun. Is it? Yeah. I love the year. I wish I was there. I actually had a dream last night that I was in Mexico City.

It was very weird. I was probably related to this because I was just talking to somebody who works to the Raiders about the fact that he was going down there. So synapsis, always fired in weird ways. So I love Mexico City and I love Mexico City more than this game. What do you think about Oakland at this point? Do we know? I mean, like, it just, they're kind of in a similar boat to Tennessee for me.

It was just like, okay. I have no faith that the Patriots are not going to score 45 points in this game and win for like 45 to 21. No, that's my thought. That's my thought. And it's so crazy how fast we got from the Raiders being like, The trendy contender pick against New England in this conference to like, do we think the Raiders have a chance against the Patriots? I just have a general question. And I'm hoping you can answer it because I can't figure it out.

What do the Raiders do well? There is no, there's no answer to that. And that's the strangest part. You assumed coming into this season, well, I guess they keep Derrick Carr clean. Like, that's the one thing they do well because he throws the ball like half a second after receiving it every single play. That's the one thing they do well. They don't get their quarterback stacked. That's pretty much the end of the list.

I don't know where else you would go. I mean, the offense has been good. It's been more efficient as of late. I think that that's probably what you can say. I mean, they do move the ball pretty well, but not good enough when your defense is that poor. It's just, I don't know. When I say what do they do well,

obviously their offensive line is famously good, but that's just a vessel to do something else good. And they're not doing that good. And their offense is good. I mean, their offensive efficiency is much better than it has seen at times this year. Like the overall product, you know, it has kind of just come out in the wash. It's like, all right, they're fine. They have too much talent not to be.

But it still just doesn't feel like they're able to make up for how bad that defense is. They're an uneven team. And a year full teams that aren't very uneven. They and the Patriots are, but the Patriots offense is good enough to make up for its defense. Did you see that PFF tweeted this out? Amari Cooper is historically good in the slot this season? That's interesting. I don't you put them in there more.

Let's do that. I think it just a little interesting thought there. Maybe the Todd Downing, we have some notes for Todd Downing. You know, we talk, I mean, the Raiders have gotten better on offense. You definitely. And it seems like, you know, we talked about this with teams after the first, like, four to six weeks of the season, how it takes a while to get used to things. Todd Downing never been off its quartered before. I mean, there's a chance this kind of just settles in down the stretch.

Just to be clear, they knew that and they still jettisoned their, offensive coordinator was, of course. I know Bill Musgrave, he's not Chip Kelly, but he did have experience and he was an office coordinator and they fired him just to promote downing. F.I. Correct. So, go ahead.

They made that choice. I made the choice, yeah. I mean, like, those two things can both be true. They could have known that he was going to be a first time of his coordinator and they could still have wanted him to be their offensive coordinator.

I mean, like, that's not surprising to me. that's okay they wanted a different version of their offense and they got that different version apparently but it took a while for him to settle in I think that was always going to happen I think the biggest issue first told you know the Raiders are the first team

in history to not have received interception through nine weeks yeah their defense is awful like how do you do that how much they how do you feel there

did they not have 11 players in the field all the time maybe That's it. Maybe we just haven't noticed that they're playing with 10. How do you have 11 people out there for hundreds and hundreds and hundreds of snaps over the first nine weeks of the season? And at no point does a ball come to you. I played flag football when I was in middle school. I played tagging football.

I was high school. But I played linebacker in flag football. And I was terrible. I was awful. But like twice that season, a ball just came to me because I was standing in the middle of the field. And that's football. And sometimes someone. The quality of the players in that middle school flag football league, the quarterbacks,

is probably pretty similar to the guys we've watched on Sunday this year. Don't they play Tom Savage? Doesn't that happen? I guess not. I mean, they're playing the Giants in two weeks. Talk about middle school flag football. There we go. That's their shot.

Oh, man. I mean, if they played the dolphins. They could have done that. Played the Broncos. They play the Jets. They get Brock Oswald or two weeks, which that's probably. The Brock Osweiler, Eli Manning, kind of back-to-back double-heder there. I think that's their shot.

If they can't pick off either one of those guys, it's probably time to just cancel the Raiders season. To shut it down? Yeah. Just like the Seahawks and the Raiders, just like, nah, we're done. All right, the Patriots are good. Yeah. I mean, what else we want to say? I mean, they're the number one offense in the league.

I mean, they're going against the worst defense in the league. The Patriots are going to score a bunch of points and win this game. Belichick. Belich had them practice at Air Force, and he just spent the whole time talking about the military. Again, in things that are not shocking. Like, how much funny do you think Bill Balchax have to get Mexico? None.

Yeah, I think that's the answer. All right, time for my hottest take. I actually kind of believe. This is a Lombardi take, and I'm just going to take it. The Cowboys just have to move on from Jason Garrett. Right? Robert. It's fine with me.

Are you there? Are you there for my take? Are you there for my take? Yeah. I don't have a problem with that. You know, I think a lot of times when you have a lot of talent, Dallas had a lot of talent throughout Jason Garrett's tenure, you have to be able to judge a coach on what he does when he has less talent. Because, you know, the reason we know college football coaches would be successful or soccer coaches would be successful is because they take a lesser talented team and they bring them up into the forefront of the sport. Look at Urban Meyer at Utah.

You know, all of a sudden he's playing in the Fiesta Bowl. Look at, you know, literally hundreds of soccer managers. In the NFL, it's hard to do that because there's always a baseline of talent. And so you have to judge a coach when they don't have that. In the rare moments where, okay, they have to improvise. They have to take to make something out of nothing. And they took something in Jason Garrett and they're turning into nothing. I mean, I thought that that Falcons game was as bad at coaching job as I've seen.

I mean, how do you, did they not know this was going to happen? How long did you have to plan? I know that there's so many variables as far as, okay, when is he going to get suspended? What is the team going to look like at that point? But they've known since training camp that at some point, just by virtue of how the NFL disciplinary process works, that when a six-game suspension is handed down that it's eventually going to be served. That's the way NFL discipline works. You can delay it with stays. You can even delay it a year in Tom Brady situation, but at some point it's going to happen. Can we get a

better plan? This actually goes into my what are we missing this week point. So part of this issue, and the biggest part of this issue was what they did with Tyrol Smith last week. Yeah. The fact that you have your left tackle on an island because when Tyron Smith is your left tackle, that's what you do. Jeff Schwartz, who is a very good Twitter follower if you do not, he played in the league for a long time's offensive lineman, made a very interesting point. So the game plans are in by Friday. They ruled out Tyrant Smith on Saturday.

So they didn't want to change things because by helping your left tackle with whatever sort of chips and tight ends and everything else, it affects the route combination timing, all that stuff makes total sense. We know Tyron Smith is not playing. Bauer and Bell is going to be the left tackle for the Cowboys. Are they going to do the same crap or are they going to actually help him? And I feel like there's a lot of ways they can help him in this game. that have more than one implication.

So if they do use more tight ends and more base formations, it's going to have a double kind of two-pronged effect. One, it helps Byron Bell out on that side. And that's what they need to do, because Byron Bell is probably better than Chess Green, but I don't know by how much. So just by virtue of having more bodies over there, you're going to help your left tackle.

Two, the Eagles are most dangerous, and that legally leading pressure rate that you talked about is derived in part by what they do with the nickel rush packages they get on the field. Vinny Curry has not been a pass rusher this year. And this is not something they've really done from him on the edge. They bring Derek Barnett in in those situations. So if you're lining up with two to three tight ends, if it's 12 personnel, 13 personnel all game for Dallas, in order to help their left tackle, you're also keeping the Eagles' best pass rush packages off the field.

So I think that's probably what has to happen because you want Vinny Curry on the field and not Derek I mean, that's just what the Eagles are right now. So if you can manipulate them formationally while also giving Bell some help, you give yourself a better chance. The Eagles have 53 more pressures than any other team in the NFL this year. And Fletcher Cox missed like three games, by the way. I mean, when you can line up from left to right, Barnett, Fletcher Cox, Timmy Jernigan, Chris Long, you doing all right.

I've never said this in my life, typed it, said it out loud, but the Eagles are going to eat. I mean, I think that they probably will. They're going to eat. That's what's going to happen. Excuse me. I forgot Brandon Graham. That's where the Eagles are right now.

That is where the Eagles are as a past rushing unit. I forgot Brandon Graham, who's one of like the three or four best edge players in the league. Oh, that's great. Again, this is kind of similar to the point I was making about DeMarcus Lawrence and Lane Johnson earlier. and that Brandon Graham does not usually line up on the right side outside. So he's not going to be the one to take advantage of Byron Bell if they do leave him out on an island. So weird like past rush situation.

We have so many good guys playing on the right side that what we normally think about on the offense's right side, what we normally think about past rush masters has kind of changed in recent years. That's not new, but it's just every week it seems like it comes up again. All I remember about Byron Bell in his story, non-descript panthers tenure. A couple years ago I wrote a story about how the Nike jerseys when they switched to Nike, they were just way too tight and all the players hated them. Like, so the fat players hated them. Yeah.

And the art was just Byron Bell just overflowing in his jersey. And I always felt bad about that. Maybe you're the one that helped Brian, Byron Bell lose weight. You were, you were Byron Bell's Pat Shermer. I was his Pat Shermer. Okay. I can't believe I forgot Brandon Graham. That's incredible.

Like, that really is the state of the Eagles defense. They're good. I mean, Timmy Jernigan getting paid. I loved the move when they did it. I mean, this is like something I saw from 100 miles away. When they gave him the extension or him being good. When they traded for him. Yeah.

I mean, just like, this dude is going to be awesome in this defense. He too gapped his entire time in Baltimore. That's what they do with those guys. And to go into Jim Schwartz's defense, just be like, okay, go ahead. He hadn't done that since high school. He and I talked about in Philly. I'm just glad there's just so much talent in Baltimore roster talent that I'm just glad they got rid of Dernigan. That's, that is a defensible move.

I'm kidding. I mean, like the Michael Pierce-Brand and Williams situation in Baltimore is tenable. No, I know. I'm just saying, whenever I go to Baltimore, I have a conversation with some of the guys there and to say, who are the best players in this team? And it's always tough to name more than four or five guys. It's always like a defensive tackle that's going to be one sack. If you're the Ravens, couldn't you've done better than just a pick swap?

Yeah, there was equivalent of like a sixth round pick. Again, I love the trade when it happened. I made my feelings very known about this. For the Eagles. Yes, for the Eagles. Yes. This is an awesome idea. They gave up 25 picks of draft position.

In the third round. Yeah. What was the draft chart say about that? It says Timmy Jernigan's really good. And it says he was worth the extension. He just got, he was probably worth a sixth round pick. Again, I forgot Brandon Graham. That's how good the Eagles defensive line is.

Okay. Coming up, Danny Kelly is going to give fantasy fans a reason to watch some of the other less sexy games this week. Plus, we'll predict next week's headlines, but first, a quick break. Kevin, what's the biggest thing you worry about when buying tools? I think it's going to be who's going to use these tools to build something for me. Yeah, that's what I also think. Okay, that's fair. What's the second thing, though? How long will these tools last is probably the second thing. Exactly, but not if you buy Husky brand tools from Home Depot.

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Time to welcome in Danny Kelly, our fan is football genius. it's been three days since we discussed openly that your nickname is Danor was Danner how is your life changed in those three days Danny If people just come off to you on the street And it's called you Danor It has not caught on as much as

As you think you guys wanted it to You're gonna have to work a little bit harder But are we trying to actually I'm not totally sure I thought it was gonna catch on Because it's a bad nickname It's a terrible nickname You want it to be Daner's Dark Nights I think is what's happening here

That was now I Ruben I do. Danters, Dark Nights. I mean, I'm for it. I like it. I don't think you do. Okay. Your fantasy sleeper pick.

I mean, you're taking over this fantasy segment. It's unbelievable how popular these have become. Today we're going to do it a little different. He's such a good lead there. I'm sorry. That was just really funny. When I first met Kevin,

he says everything in the exact same tone. So there were times where I didn't, know if he was like giving me shit about something or just trying to be like a very earnest, nice person. But now I can tell you. I understand how to read it. It's really fun. I can tell you which one it is.

It's not, it's not the former. Oh, man. It's, the first time Mays and I ever met, Mays had to send me an apology note because, uh, he offended the 2009 magic.

That's a hundred percent. That is a hundred percent of true story. To be fair, the first time, Maze and I met, he had to send me an apology. note is pretty much 96% true. It just depends on what it is.

I've developed a form letter by now. It's like, dear participants, I apologize. He said something about the 09 magic, and I just was just like, okay, this conversation is over. And then he sent me an email next day. I was like, listen, I loved the 09 magic. I really did. I'm sorry if I offended you, Kevin. I'm glad we were able to work through it.

There's so few things to defend me with slander on the 2009 magic. All right, Danny, we give you a matchup. You give us a dark night from that matchup. That's what we're doing this week. These are dark matchups, so we really need you to find a hero in them. It's a bad week down the bottom of the slate. Bucks at Dolphins. All right, so my guy in this game is Jay Cutler.

Hey, I'm not kidding. I was going to offer him as an alternative. Have you seen his numbers the last three games? No. Here, Cutler in his last three games. Let me double check this, but. he has seven touchdowns, two interceptions,

106 rating, and 71% completion rate. Jay Cutler. My favorite thing about Jay Keller related this week is that I'm not trying to pick on Joe Shad here, but Joe Shad wrote about how Coler needs to start setting his feet and work on his mechanics in the pocket. It's like, guys.

That's never happening. It's 2017. If you're having this conversation a decade ago, Jay Culler's making $10 million. He's never playing football again after December 31st. You think Jay Culler gives a shit about what his mechanics look like right now?

It's just an incredible thing that we've been doing this for a decade. I love it so much. I think it would be funny if Jay Culler asked for like a four-year extension. And then guess what would happen? In 2021, it'd be week eight. Collar would throw a really bad interception

the week before and someone would say, you know, Jay's really got to work on setting his feet. Wow. Who is your actual dark night in this game, Danny? I'm going with Kenyon Drake in this one And this is I mean it's tough because Miami's got a running back by committee And he and Drake hasn't gotten a ton of volume

But he does seem to me like he's the big play guy in that In that group Last week he broke off a big touchdown run And he's actually been a factor in the passing game I think he's got eight targets and 45 yards for last two games So he's I think he's a guy that could go off And I've been basically just been all over anyone who faces the Buccaneers defense this year.

I know they're getting a little bit healthier, but I mean, you're still just, that to me is a meaty matchup, and I think if you're going to go with anyone in that group, it's Kenyon Drake. I was, I think I endorsed Devante Parker earlier in there, so I don't want to double up,

but he is another guy that could potentially be an option, but I'm going with Kenyon Drake for my dark night on this one. I was doing that, I wrote about Jalen Ramsey this week for the ringer.com, and part of just Jailen Ramsey's history is how good of an athlete he's always been. So at the 2012 Nike Football Spark Combine in Atlanta, he got fifth, even though he was a year younger than everyone there.

Kenyon Drake won. Some of these guys are really good athletes from the time they're like 17, if you can imagine it. Well, that makes me feel even better about that. I didn't know that. Kenyon Drake, always good at football. Exposive. Yeah.

So that's, I mean, these are wasteland. These are fantasy wasteland games, but that's my pick for that one. I mean, he's, that big playability is necessary. I think especially at this point in the season where so many these fantasy rosters are just depleted. I mean, you should have seen the waiver wire in my league this week

in my keep related. People are dropping, like, people are picking up Blake Bordles. Like, it's just like, it's gotten really ugly this season. So Kenyon Drake being able to score 70 yard touchdown is the kind of stuff you're

looking for right now. I mean, it's, I can't remember. Our league is, I have four quarterbacks. Like, just to be clear.

Just to be clear. It's pretty bleak. You're harding. Burrbacks. That's why you do it. So guys have to pick up Blake Bortles. Right before we came on the air, one of Danny's friends we were informed has has tried to correct our grammar on something. And now one of Maze's friends has picked up

Blake Bortles. What kind of lives are you guys living? I mean, I'm living a terrible one. I never said anything to the contrary. Okay. I just wanted to check in with you guys. I wanted to check in and make sure everything was okay. It's not, but again, I can't believe you expected it to be. Danny Jaguars or Browns? Yeah, so this is another great two great offenses here. Obviously, it's supposed to be, it's going to be even worse probably than normal because I think it's supposed to be like really windy and snowy. It's going to be worse than normal.

It's supposed to snow too, right? Like, I mean, it's going to be bad. Snowy. I saw like 35 mile an hour winds. So, you know, obviously I think Deshaun Kaiser's, you know, step forward last week was encouraging and all that, but now you're going against the best past defense in the NFL. and it's going to be snowy and windy.

So for those two reasons, I'm going with Isaiah Crowell. I think he's looked pretty good the last couple of weeks. He's got 27 carries, 154 yards, 5.7 yards per carry and two touchdowns in the last two games. And these are against Minnesota and Detroit,

pretty good defenses. So I think the Browns are going to have basically no choice but just to run the ball as much as possible. I don't see Kaiser doing much against that Jags pass defense, especially. You should do. I mean,

there's, you shouldn't throw the, they shouldn't attempt a single pass against the Jaguars, which is not necessary. It's a really futile thing. This Brown's passing game against this Jaguars past defense ends poorly. I know, I can't see a way that they can do anything versus that.

So even if they're losing, I think they have really basically no choice but to run. We'll see it if, you know, the Jags's run defense has picked up a lot since they got Marcel Darius. But I still. think that's the only way that they can probably win this game. So that's why I'm

making it on Corwell. Did you guys see what Tashon Gibson said this week? That the Browns are going to go over 16. I mean, just really great. I'm a big fan of the Jaguars secondary. It's kind of a cottage industry to say that the Browns are going to go 1116. Everybody says it. All the time.

People say their next chance to win a football game is probably against the Jaguars, which probably ain't going to happen. That's definitely. They're probably going to finish 116. So you look at things like that, man. It's just a definitely. To be able to get out of that situation and come to a situation like this where you know where a winning feels like,

which is Jacksonville in this situation. Okay. The Browns have the Bengals. They have the Bears. They have the Ravens. They can beat the Bears. They have the Chargers. No, I know.

I mean, I'm actually seeing a couple. I'm actually ready to, I'm the schedule. I'm ready to put the Browns in the Wild Card Hunt. The AFC, they're still in it. They're just still in the wild card hunt. All right, Danny, what's your next game? All right, we got Ravens at Packers.

And again, the first thing that came to my mind in this, in Mays you maybe appreciate this, is who do you have faith in more here, Hunley or Flacco? I don't know what that says about what. Oh, my God. Oh, my God. That's all we have time for in the ring around our fellow show.

I mean, it's a guy, honestly don't have an answer for you. That's amazing. Thank you for doing that, Danny. We've already had a lot of fun today, but I needed that little extra boost. I think it's actually worse for Hunley And I mean that should be obvious

Because the Ravens defense is really pretty good still And I don't know I just can't see Hunley doing much in the air So I'm going over with I'm going with a Ravens guy I'm going with Macklin That's my that's my dark night for this game He's kind of back he's healthy And the Packers past events hasn't been that great lately

He's gonna be lining up in the slot versus Demaris Randall I think a lot Randall struggled. And I think he's just, let's see here, Macklin's seen at least five targets in the last six games. So he's kind of been their number one guy

or one of their top guys. He's, I still think he's a really, really good player. Even though Flacco, I have basically less than no faith in at this point. I just think Macklin's going to see enough targets to make a difference.

And so again, this is, God, this is like a fantasy wasteland game, but these all are, buddy. Yeah. It's not great.

All right, Dan. Danor. Yeah. Bills of Chargers. Bill's and Chargers. Okay, so Philip Rivers, he's, I don't know, he's probably going to play, he might not play. Even Keenan Allen is, I don't think he's even a sure thing at this point.

Calvin Benjamin. I'm not ready. I've been ready for everything this season. I'm ready for the fucking Jaguars to be good. I'm ready for this Jared Goff shit. I'm not ready for Philip Rivers missing a start. Yep. That's how you know that we've just gone into an entirely different dimension.

It makes me super uncomfortable. Is he second behind Eli right now? Philip Rivers has never missed a start since he started. Since he became the starting quarterback for the Chargers, he's never missed his start. That includes the playoffs where he played in a torn ACL. Also, did Eli Manning really start some of those games? Yeah, that's a really good point.

I mean, like, there's some of those games where it was just like, nah, he's not here. So true. So for the Chargers, we kind of got like a running back by committee now with Austin Ecculler. He's kind of broken out. And you looked really good. I know.

It was a Melvin Gordon fantasy owner. I know. Yeah. So my advice for this game, and this is kind of me going out on this ledge, but I'm sticking with Melvin Gordon. I still think he's going to have more volume. That sounds nice.

I think he's still going to be their number one guy. I think they're probably going to try to make Eckler a third down pass catching guy. He's very explosive. He's another, I think, Spark guy. That's what used to happen with the Chargers is that when Woodhead was there, Gordon just did not catch passes. And then last year after Woodhead got hurt,

they just kept Melvin Gordon on the field. entire all the time. Right. So Wisen Hunt is back there. I mean, this is, we've seen this before with usage and charges running backs. I know it's a departure from what we've seen over the last year, but traditionally they have wanted to do it that way. Yeah.

And so here, and so he may not get as much, he's not, he may not be as valuable in the PPR style stuff, but the bills have given up like 492 yards rushing in the last two games, like almost 500 yards rushing. Their, their run defense has been atrocious. And so that to me is something that you can take advantage of. That makes him an attractive starting option, even though I think Echler is going to have a bigger role. So, yeah, I mean, again, it's a risk,

but I'm sticking with Gordon on this one. Last one. Last one. Very exciting game, Bengals Broncos. So I guess we're assuming that Brock Osweiler is going to be the starter in this one for the Broncos. Hell yeah. I don't trust anybody other than A.J. Green on the Bengals offense.

I think even Mixen has struggled in terms of their run game. It's just been bad. And I don't know what's going on with the Broncos defense, but I kind of got a little bit of faith that they'll start to try and figure it out. There's just too much talent on that defense. So I'm going with the Broncos guy. I'm going with Manuel Sanders on this one. He's another guy.

He's back to being like full health. Like he had six catches, 137 yards. Seems like he's got a pretty good chemistry going with Osweiler. I don't trust anyone in that running back group. CJ and Jamal Charles. and Devante Book are all split in carries. And so it's like that is hard to bank on anything there. So for me,

the Dark Night for this one, Sanders. And I mean, again, it's just you either go with, you either go with A.J. Green or Emmanuel Sanders in this one. Obviously,

Demarius Thomas is another option, but those are two, I think they're a little bit too obvious for this. So we'll go with Sanders. This is, I know that this was like kind of a joke that we picked like the worst games and had Danny find a fantasy option in all of them. This really is,

it does speak to what the NFL in 2017 is because people will be watching these games because they will have to start these guys. I know it's kind of a joke, but like it really is a serious thing where when there are so many just crappy teams, this is what drives interest, which is fascinating to me.

Gambling and fantasy. Yeah, it's great. I mean, like it really does. That's why people have impact. That's why people who say, and we all like all sports here, but people are like, oh, the NBA is going to pass football and XYZ year.

It's real hard to drop below a certain floor and football just because of the fantasy and gambling aspect of it. Yeah, trust me, I will be watching Melvin Gordon on Sunday. I need him to play well. Totally great. All right, thanks, buddy. Appreciate you. Thanks, guys.

All right, before we get out of here, we're going to predict our next week's biggest headline, Robert, go ahead. I don't know if, I mean, they could absolutely lose because they're playing a very good Minnesota team. but I just have this feeling that we could be sitting here on Monday and there could be conversations going on about are the Rams the best team in football. Yep. Which is just super bizarre.

And we've talked about it all show, but that is a world that I don't know if I'm ready for. I mean, they're number one in DVOA overall. And I think that that's helped in part by the fact that their special teams are number one. Like, they just do everything well. But they're number one in defense. They're number one in special teams.

They're offense 11th, I believe. I mean, what this team is right now is. just incredible and what they've done in a single year and if they can go in and beat Minnesota, they can hang 28 on the Vikings. This is a real conversation. I mean, I know the Eagles have played excellent, but the fact that

the Rams would even be close to that status is mind-boggling, but I think that we're getting there. This week definitely put it over the edge. I actually don't think they're that well positioned for that sort of momentum as far as the narrative goes this week because the Eagles

play on primetime. I think the Eagles might beat the crap out of the Cowboys Yeah, that's a good point But if they beat New Orleans next week Right That's where it gets into it So I have two I do think that the Gadell Jones

War Which was further Exposed on Friday by the ESPN story Which was really good I haven't read it yet I haven't ready yet No not yet The too long didn't read is that Jerry Jones is just

I like Seth is a friend of mine I like his work I will read it. Yeah, I was talking to stuff earlier today. Jerry Jones is reaching peak Jerry Jones. That's the too long didn't read. Good stuff. Okay, so I think that's going to be a big thing.

But listen, so I think generally, I think the team most positioned to get a huge narrative push this week. And it won't be as best team in the NFL, but it'll just be like, hey, this team is for real, for real. I think a lot of us in the football media, people watch a lot of football have bought into the Saints, but I feel like nationally everyone's a little slow. I think if they go out and beat the crap out of the Redskins, then you set up next week, and that's exactly what we're talking about, Saints versus Rams.

I think that's what people are saying this is a matchup to determine, but not only a buy, but I mean, just maybe the best team of football. I think that's awesome. I think the New Orleans Saints are a really freaking good team. We talked about it earlier, just how complimentary their backs are, because Ingram and Kamara do different things. The fact, they're never going to be running into eight-man boxes because they have Drew Breeze, who's still going to throw.

You know, the analogy I made in my column on Friday with Breeze, people are talking about, you know, quarterbacks who took a reduced role or whatever. He's not Peyton Manning 2015. He's not exactly the point I made on New Orleans radio yesterday. He's not dead. and John Elway, mid-90s, went through a span of four seasons in which the Broncos never won more than nine games. Who does that sound like?

Sounds like the seven and nine Drew Breeze era. Yeah, it really does. And that's what's so interesting about this is that Elway got in a situation where he just had to do less because they built a good team around him. And I'm not saying Breeze is going to win two straight Super Bowls like Elway did, but he's at least nine. not going to go out on a seven and nine season. I think that's really important. And I'm fascinated. You can usually find a pretty,

you can usually find a pretty close model if you look back in NFL history to some of these teams. And I'm kind of looking at those Broncos teams. But the fact that the defense got like this so fast is just so. Yeah. It's amazing. I mean, the turnaround is amazing that you could do it in a year. And they remade it on the fly.

I mean, it's not as if this is some random element where we ping pong in defensive efficiency most seasons, that they really remade the entire unit personnel-wise in a single season, and it's unbelievable work. Yeah. That's the point of when defenses are so mediocre across the board, it only takes two or three guys. And that's what I wrote a couple weeks ago.

We were in the facelift contender era of the NFL, and it's a fun place to be because it puts everybody in the hunt. I said that about the Saints in July. Anyway, that's it for today. We'll be back on Tuesday to read. Recap, NFL's week 11. As always, thanks for listening to the Ringer NFL show and the Ringer podcast network. In 1924, Husky started making things for people who make things, and they did it with common sense.

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