The Ringer NFL Show - Week 13 Recap: The Niners Dominate the Eagles, a Signature Win for Jordan Love, and the Rams Win Their Third in a Row | Dual Threat

Episode Date: December 4, 2023

Nora and Steven recap Week 13, starting with a battle atop the NFC between the Niners and Eagles. They talk about the Niners comfortably beating the Eagles on the road, and what that means for both teams moving forward. Then, they run through their winners and losers of the week, including the Colts, Broncos, Jets, and more (20:21). The Ringer is committed to responsible gaming, please checkout theringer.com/RG to find out more or listen to the end of the episode for additional details. Hosts: Nora Princiotti and Steven Ruiz Producer: Isaiah Blakely Social: Kiera Givens and Eduardo Ocampo Additional Production Supervision: Arjuna Ramgopal and Conor Nevins Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Hey, this is Danny Hyfitz from the Ringer Fantasy Football Show. For all your fantasy football needs, check out the Ringer Fantasy Football Show with me, Craig Horlebeck and Danny Kelly. That's the Ringer Fantasy Football Show on Spotify, wherever you get your podcasts. Oh, and welcome to Dool Brett. I'm Norviciati. And I'm Stephen Ruiz. And we are here to break down all of week 13s Sunday games. Can you believe it?

It's week 13 already. Starting with the headline. And that today is Niners Eagles. Big NFC. up rematch of last year's NFC championship game. And this one went the other way. 49ers won 42 to 19. Stephen, what did you learn from this game?

I mean, the way the game started out was nowhere near how the game ended. I really thought it was going to be a repeat of the NFC title game without, like, of course, the quarterback injury where the Eagles just come out with so much juice and just punched the 49ers in the mouth. And the 49ers, of course, never really got a chance to respond last January. but this time, I think they had negative six yards in the first quarter, the lowest ever for Kyle Shanahan. It seemed like they had nothing going over those first two drives.

But then they finally get their early down offense going. They were avoiding must-pass situations, which Greg Olson was pointing out a bunch on the telecast, I thought. And once they got that going, the Eagles couldn't stop them. That was it. They scored on basically every drive after that. I think they scored six straight times. and it was kind of concerning.

I thought the Eagles would at least put up some type of fight in the second half. It did never really happen on the defensive side of the ball. You did see the offense start to get something going in the second half. But on both sides of the ball, I would say the performance was very concerning for the Eagles. Yeah, I mean, this is this, to me, the big takeaway is that this is the game that you're afraid of when you think about the Eagles' roster building strategy for the middle of the field defensively, specifically at linebacker. It's not a position that they invest in. And broadly, that's worked out for them. But right now for this game, when you're dealing with the fact that, you know, you let a guy like

T.J. Edwards go. You say you're not in a position to pay at that position. You don't want to shell out. Let him walk out the door. Then you also start dealing with some injuries. And some of that is outside of the front office's control. But then all of a sudden, you've got Christian Ellis and Nick Morrow in there. And Kyle Shanahan, you know, maybe it's.

takes a driver to to warm up. But all of a sudden, it's Kyle Shanahan with those playmakers going against that talent in that area of the field. And he's just got like, you know, it feels like he's got like red laser beam eyes of like, I will find you. I will seek you out and I will make you pay. And I will just put you in absolute hell. And that's what he did to those guys.

And it wasn't actually just the middle of the field. they attacked that area with the passing game, but then they could stretch it out in the run game in ways that really burned those guys too. So that second level of the defense, which for Philly strategically is not a priority investment area, but also has just been hit with some bad injury luck. I think this is the game that you're worried about.

And the fact that it happened in such a pronounced way, it definitely scary for them. I think it's scary for them when it comes to the Cowboys, too. I mean, obviously that's gone in a different direction. But just with how Dallas is playing now, I think that's the type of thing where it's particularly bad against San Francisco, but it just makes you worry about having this weakness that good teams can exploit. There is one potential not fixed, but real help there,

which is that Shaq Leonard right now, as a recording, I guess, is reportedly deciding between the Eagles and the Cowboys. And maybe that news will come one way or another before some people are even listening to this episode. Maybe it won't, but we'll see. But if I'm Philly, I hope that works out because you can get healthier, but I don't think that it was like a defensive plate calling issue. I don't think that it's like a fundamental schematic weakness. It's just, that they don't have the guys there right now. And especially if you're going to view San Francisco as the key competition in the conference,

they're going to, you just can't win like that unless you knock out, you know, two quarterbacks and get one back in the game where he can't throw the ball. So I think that's, that's a, whether it's a valuable lesson in the sense that they can learn it in time to do something about it or not, we'll find out. But I do think that that's something that the Eagles have to be thinking about a lot right now. Yeah, it almost makes you kind of rethink what happened in January. Like the 49ers spent, well, some of the 49ers kind of spent the offseason talking about like what would have happened if they had a healthy quarterback. And they went out and backed it up.

And if I'm the Eagles, maybe like before the game, I wouldn't like lend that any credence that kind of talk. But like after the game, maybe I'm like, oh, shit, maybe they were a little bit of a little. bit right about that. And maybe this is a bad matchup for us. And I think that's like kind of a warning shot to the whole NFC because the Cowboys, we know that's a bad matchup for them, the 49ers. We've seen that up close and personal the last three years going back to the playoff game two years ago. And it was kind of like a feeling of, oh, the Eagles could take care of our dirty work and that we could take care of the Eagles because we match up with them a little bit better. And now I'm looking at the 49ers as a team, like, who can stop them? In the AFC, too, it's kind of hard to

find a team, there's the three-game losing streak, but that coincided with them losing Trent Williams and Debo's safe. Like, they didn't have all their guys. If they're healthy, I mean, they're in a class of their own compared to the league. We do get to see them against Baltimore in a couple of weeks. Yeah. If there's one defense, yes, if there's one defense that can stop them, like, we're going to get our answer to the question, can anyone stop this team against Baltimore? Because if they can't do it, Mike McDonald can't scheme that up with the players they have. Who can? No one. I'm not going to be covering the NFL anymore because Brock Party is going to win a Super Bowl.

Can we go back and edit that? Isaiah, can you go back and edit that episode? Let's do a little under revisionist history there. Well, you know what? I believe your Mike McDonald fandom would just have to rise to like a new level because he would be saving not only your pride but your career. Yeah. We should say for Philadelphia.

The 49ers had 10 days to get ready for this game. The Eagles were playing their third game in 13 days. One of those games was an overtime win against the Bills last Sunday. Defense played 97 snaps in that game. They're tired. I mean, that's a good point. They've been through a lot. Now, that said, this is the stretch that they had to survive if they are going to,

which they still are in possession of, but if they're going to hang on to the buy, this is where it gets tricky. Now, they've still got a game on San Francisco, but it's possible that they could lose out on that. I think because of this result, it just makes it a lot more possible to see San Francisco kind of overcoming that, the hole they dug with that three-game losing streak.

we'll obviously have to see both of them play some decent teams down the stretch. I think the Eagles still have the Giants twice, which should help them out there. But it's definitely more of a real rock fight in the NFC. Maybe it just feels that way because we just saw the head-to-head. But it really feels now like that could go either way, which is just a huge thing. anything about Philly offensively that interested you from us? I mean, if you're going to take one positive away from this game, it's that your past protection unit dominated a very good pass rush because Jalen Hertz had all day.

And it's hard to say whether there were guys open or the coverage was kind of forcing him to hold onto the ball. We have to look at the tape. I will say this, the last couple of weeks, it's kind of been on him. Guys have been open and he's been missing them or he hasn't been seeing them. but I'll wait until I see the All-22 to make that judgment. But the fact that they could hold up in that protection against that line, I think it's a good sign if there is a rematch.

Because I don't think Jalen Hertz is going to play. Like, let's say the Eagles receivers weren't getting open or he wasn't seeing it. I don't think that's going to happen again. I think Jalen Hertz is going to play better or the receivers will get open this time around. So that's one positive I would take away from it. The run game, that's a big red flag. They were not able to run the ball. they had, I think they only had like two successful runs and they were both QB Sneaks and one of them was Marcus Marriota, who magically, apparently only Jalen Hertz can run the tush push, but Marcus Marriota comes in and they successfully do it.

Who's to say who's the most important part of that? But yeah, it's not looking good outside of that, that little thing that they were able to protect Hertz. So the top of the NFC right now incorporating how well Dallas is playing what DAC looks like these. days. What is it to you? What's the, what's the order of the top three teams? I think it's a clear order. I think it's 49ers, Cowboys and Eagles. And maybe I'm like putting the card ahead of the horse there by anointing the Cowboys ahead of the Eagles before they play next week. But like, think about that game, the first game they played. It came down to like Dax Pinky Toe basically being out of bounds on the two-point conversion. And that was on the road in Philadelphia. I think, like, clearly I would give Dallas the edge.

I think they're playing better football. I think they've been playing better football for a month. The wins have kind of covered that up for Philadelphia. I don't think, I don't think it's close. Like, I'm confidently picking Dallas in that game next week. And then 49ers, of course, are number one. It's going to be really interesting because I agree with that. And I don't think that I'm with you that I don't think that either one is particularly close.

I don't know. I still think that I don't think, I don't think this was a great game from Philly in a lot of ways, which maybe is a totally obvious thing to say. They lost by a bunch of scores. But what I mean by that is, I don't think that this is like so dire that, oh, my gosh, they gave them their best game and they lost 42 to 19. I think the Eagles can play a much better game than this and probably would if you played this game a number of times.

I think your point about like the time. off the 49ers have and like the opposite of that with the Eagles playing three games in 13 days or whatever it was like that was a point I overlooked but I think that's a very very good point especially with how the game went where the Eagles kind of like came out firing on all cylinders and then hit the wall and it was over after that I think that makes a lot of sense well yeah because they give up six straight touchdown drives the wind comes out of the sales it gets super chippy I mean Drake Greenlaw and Dom DeSandro,

the main character of the week, apparently. Senior advisor to the GM? Senior advisor to the general manager slash cheap security office. Word on the streets is that he's the one that did the A.J. Brown deal and he's the one that drafted J. Jalen Hertz and DeVante Smith. That's what I've heard. I don't know.

Oh my gosh. Well, he's overtaken Tommy DeVito as like the cartoonish Italian American in an NFL news of the moment. He also like, I'm very much team, I guess Kyle Shanahan on that point where he went like off about that situation after the game and was like, I can't believe that someone on their sideline, a non-player, like got involved and touched one of our players and interfered or blah, blah, blah, blah, blah.

And he was heated. And I kind of think that he was right. Like, there should be, it should be a bigger deal if somebody who's just standing there on the sideline, like, physically interacts with a player. I think Drey Greenlaw, like, has a pretty solid ejection history. And that was his third unnecessary roughness call of this season. And I think at a certain point, if you have a little bit of a reputation, like, you've got to figure that some borderline.

calls are going to go in a tough way. I don't think that like him wagging his finger in Dom DeSandro's nose is the biggest deal in the world. But I also just think that like if that's your history, there are going to be some moments where the refs are going to air on the side of flagging you. But man, I was kind of like, I normally don't care about this stuff. And I was just like, justice for Drake Greenlaw. What happened here?

I agree. Like, I don't know. And that was not a fair tradeoff for the 49ers. They lost a starting linebacker. The Eagles just lost like Nixirani's Italian bodyguard. A guy who were not terribly sure what he does. Right. He could be running the team.

He could just be a guy who wears Eagles pullover. Who's to say? But what did you think of Brock Bernie's performance? MVP? Is he your MVP now? Are we really going to do this? I knew this was going to happen. He was good.

I mean, he didn't really. It's a great team. He didn't have to do much. I thought this would be the game that kind of proves that it's a total team effort and that nobody should really win MVP from this team. Because, like, you saw at the beginning of the game when they couldn't do the runs and they couldn't do the early down schemy stuff. And he had to pass.

and like it was he would they couldn't do anything but right when they got the offense working like everyone was doing their part then all of a sudden he gets into his his rhythm and he looks like the rock party we've seen when he's putting up numbers over the last couple of weeks but you saw like when they had to run or when they needed a play they ran over trent william side you saw how much debo samuel did in this game like after the catch especially on that touchdown that was crazy play you saw Christian McCaffrey, everything he was doing. I mean, the fact that, like, the takeaway is like, oh, Brock Party's the MVP now, just kind of just, I don't know.

I think it just shines, takes the light away from all of the pieces on this team that are worth celebrating. Even like Brandon Ayuk, we didn't have, like, the monster plays, but played a big role on third down, catching a lot of outbreakers when the Eagles were trying to take away the middle of the field. I don't know. It was just a total team effort from my perspective,

but I really don't think outside of the throws to Ayuk, Really, I don't think Purdy had to do too much today. The discourse. I know. It's just that it's, it's just that it's both. Like, he is doing some essential quarterbacking things very consistently. And at a certain point, I do think that, like, one must just give in. No, no, we don't.

No, one must not. I'm not saying give in to saying that he is the MVP. I'm saying that like at a certain point when the results are historically good it deserves some acknowledgement as okay

but they were historically good with how many layers can I wrap this in Jimmy G had the same thing going for him he just didn't have this supporting this is the greatest supporting cast of all time it's not even a debate at this point this is the greatest supporting cast of all time Do you think that Jimmy, healthy Jimmy Garoppolo would do every bit as much with this group, you believe?

No, I think it would definitely look different because they're different quarterbacks. But I don't think Jimmy G is the player that he would. Like 2017 Jimmy G. Sure. 20, 23, Jimmy G. No, no, without a doubt. Purdy's a better player. I do think Purdy has gotten better over the course of the season.

But it's still very obvious, like, his place on this team. And, like, you have to really be naive to ignore it at this point. I don't know. When he throws a tunnel screen to Debo Samuels and he takes it for 20 yards, like, come on now. What are we doing? Yeah. Well, and at a certain point, it is to anoint Brock the MVP of the league and the driver of this offense is to discount what the skill position guys are doing.

I think it's really easy to screw up playing quarterback. MVP is not the way to. award not doing that. But he's doing something right. He is doing some things right. Also, did you see his outfit? No, I didn't. Good, bad.

It was so boring. Like, that's what was. It was just really dull. He had like, it was, it was Daniel Jones core. Like, Jan Sport backpack vibes. He knows his limits. Did you see the Colin Coward, the, the backwards hat thing? By the way, anyone getting mad at that take?

Why are you getting mad? It's a ridiculous take, obviously, but it was very funny. Wait, I don't know what it is. Oh, he has this running take where he doesn't like quarterbacks who wear backwards hats in press conferences.

And like he does this voice that's like a, it's kind of like a Boston voice. I don't know. He's like, you guys want to go hit some golf balls? Like, and he does that. It's a really goofy voice and it comes out of, it was a very funny clip, though look it up. But who cares about that stuff?

I sort of do. I make a lot of sweeping judgments about quarterbacking based on pregame outfit choices. But I don't know that the I don't know that I don't know that the sweeping judgments that I would make about Brock Purdy based on

his walking in to like a massive nationally televised NFC championship game rematch wearing like a North Face fleece and a backpack are good. But they are sort of

endearing. You wouldn't want to dress like Joe Burrow? No. Okay. I think it's fine. I think it's right. I think it represents what's going, what's actually true about Brock Party.

Okay. Are we missing anything? Should we take a break in the move on to winners and losers? Yeah, let's move on. All right. We will be right back after these messages. Score early this NFL season with Fandul, America's number one sports book.

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We are back on dual threat and it's time for winners and losers. Brought to you by Uber Eats. Get almost almost anything delivered with Uber Eats. Cornerback? No. Babyback Rids? Yes. An O-line? No. A carton of OJ. Yes. Uber Eats is an easy win. So let's talk about the other winners and losers this week. Starting with you, Stephen. My first winner is the Colts who beat the Titans 31 to 28 in overtime. And what I would say is a wild game. You know how last week how we celebrated Jags and Texans being like a really competitive top of the AFC South? No, this was old school AFC South. This was just crappy football. team's exchanging mistakes. Whoever loses the game last loses the game. But I'm going to give the win to Shane Steichen, really,

because he had to overcome Gardner Menchu being his quarterback. Gardner Manchu continues to try to lose the Colts games, but somehow they have a winning record after beating the Titans. I thought, I just thought Shane Steichen called the great game, including the game winning touchdown, where he kind of set it up. He kind of played on the rules of the Titans coverage, where he had Michael Pittman kind of motion from the slot,

and he went outside and then broke it back inside. he's wide open in the end zone for the overtime touchdown. That won the game. I think the Colts are going to make the playoffs. I think the courts are going to make the playoffs. That's what it looks like. They have one of the final spots now. I think they have an easy schedule.

And I think they're just a good football team outside of the quarterback position. That's my one worry. But I think Stuyken is the type of coach who can coach around that type of liability. Yeah, and this was a bad game for the run game for them, which is something that I think they can have. I mean, this was one of their worst rushing performances of the season. It was only 55 yards on the ground. John and Taylor has a thumb injury. Zach Moss had had a really good game against the Titans the first time they played,

but just couldn't get it going. In this one, Taylor's prognosis is a little unclear. It could be a few games, but it doesn't, it seems like if they do make the playoffs, he would be back. I do think that this is a below average Zach Moss performance. They typically would have a little bit more balance there, which I do think that offsets a little bit of the need to rely on Menshu making you justifiably nervous. I'm excited to see them in the playoffs. I think there's the bottom of the AFC playoff picture, this is high stakes coming down to the end of the season because some of these teams are not good.

And so many teams that might not make it would be a lot better. But the colds to me are a team that, like, I hope they're in it because I think they're more interesting and just play a more entertaining brand of football than say, like, I don't really want to watch the Steelers in the playoffs. I can't watch Gardner Vince you in the playoffs. Oh, come on. It's not that bad. They scored 31 points. You know how rare that is in 2023 NFL? They block two punts.

That's how they scored the two touchdown. We got to talk about the pot of Punts, by the way. We got to talk about Zaire Franklin's, frankly, insane comments about the punts, by the way. Which let me just say he's not beating the Greg Williams allegations. He said he was telling the guys. He said, you know, you knock out the, you knock the punter out of the game. They can't kick the extra point. That's how this game gets to overtime.

I told all the young guys, I said, look, that's how. you know your special teams is really making plays. When the opposing punter gets hurt, that's how you know? That's how you know. I don't know. Questionable comments after the game. That's all I'm going to say. Not a literal red flag, but I think that's a red flag.

But how the game got into overtime, this was the second black punt for Indy. So they blocked the punt, and then they go for two. It gets picked. And then Tennessee returns the pick, the two-point conversion to interception for two points of their own to get within three. That is like, that's the NFC South. I know. And guess what? It gets weirder. Okay, so the Colts get another field goal and they stretch it to six. The Titans score.

And then they missed the extra point because they knocked out because the Colts knocked the the Colts knocked the punter out. So that's why it went to overtime. And the Colts, they, Minchu hits on a long pass to the X factor, Alex Pierce. The X factor. And they scored the winning touchdown. A good AFC South battle. What's going on with this punter? He's heard. So Nick Folk had a punt.

Oh, man. Two punts. I think he averts like 39 yards per punt. It was a pretty good punning. All right. Ryan Stonehouse. Yeah, Derek Henry, unfortunately, left with a concussion, though. So there is bad news.

He ran for 100 yards, scored two touchdowns. He tied Marshawn Lynch with his first touchdown. So that's good news. the bad news has got a question. Don't love to hear it. But Indianapolis, I don't know. I don't really. Who would you, like, you want to see,

you want to see the Joe Flacco Browns in the playoffs over the Colts? Joe Flacco was slinging it today. No, he was slinging it. He was slinging it. That was the best quarterback in Cleveland's title in a year, which is its own issue, but that's absolutely true. I'm genuinely asking. You'd rather Cleveland feels more fun?

No, I want to see the church. chargers, I want to see the bills. Well, the chargers is happening. Like a normal first. I want to see, hey, hey, the door is open. No, no. The door is open. Open your heart.

Yes, we are. We're going to get fooled again. I will not open my heart. I will not open my heart. I will not open my mind. Producer Eduardo, he's feeling it. He's feeling it right now. Pain?

No, that comes late. That comes later. The pain comes later. And Rarner says they're bringing us back in. I told you. We'll get to that later. We'll get to that barn burner. But yeah, good, good, good win for Indy.

Anything else there before we move on? No, not really. That's all we need to say about this game. All right. Then let me do the next one because I really want to talk about my first winner. The Green Bay Packers defeating the Kansas. City Chiefs, 27 to 19. Game that came down to

kind of what amounted to a couple last minute Hail Mary tries by Patrick Mahomes. But the Packers are the winner here for obvious reasons. I do think that we should talk about their genuine playoff chances that look really real right now. But the thing that stuck out to me the most, and it

it wasn't even necessarily like his best game. But to me, this is the first signature Jordan Love win. And if we've been talking lately about the decision point that Green Bay is going to have and how, you know, love's been, it seems like he gets better and better and better every game, basically. And this is one of the youngest teams in the NFL.

I think they showed it on the broadcast. The average age is like 25.6 years. Super young team that's coming together. Jelling as the season goes on. You can see it happening. You can see it with the receivers, especially. Those connections are just getting so much better. You need, you know, it's just, it's made us hope that they will give him some more time and not be hasty in the decision making.

And I think a win like this. where you go beat Patrick Mahomes and the Chiefs on Sunday night football, it's not necessarily, you know, you hope that teams don't always make decisions that way, but a lot of them do. And if this win isn't what it takes to make the Packers go, all right, let's give this a real shot and see what this guy can do with more time

and continuing to build around him and more than entertaining the possibility that this is another franchise quarterback, I don't know what would. So I just think it's really encouraging for this year's team, but also just for the Jordan Love prospects in Green Bay. He kind of needed a moment like this to get everybody super excited.

And I just think this is exactly that. Yeah, and they're almost certainly going to make the playoffs based on how the rest of their schedule looks. Like they don't face another team with a winning. record. So in the bottom of the NFC playoff race is not strong at all. So they're going to play in the playoffs. And they do make the playoffs. He's going to be the starter next year. I think like that question's already been answered. The question is like how much money do you give them in the offseason? If you are going to resign them and not let them go into the final year of that contract,

which they almost have to do. I think at this point they have to. I have a question. And I don't know the answer to it personally. And I want to hear what you have to say. Who is the best quarterback in the NFC North right now? Because I know who it's been for the last. month. Yeah. And it hasn't been close. Yeah, I don't I think you kind of have to say that it's Jordan love especially because it's so it makes it doesn't feel random. It feels like this is a guy who's young who has young teammates. They haven't worked together that much. I do we've talked about this before, if I'm to believe what I'm about to say, which I do, there's an intrinsic question of like, was sitting behind Aaron Rogers all those years really that helpful for

Jordan Love's development? Not to say that it wasn't worth it for having Aaron Rogers play some of those seasons, but he is developing right now. And so it's not just, it feels at least, and it looks like not just a quarterback getting hot for a month, but someone who has developed chemistry with Watson, with Dobbs, where there were just mistakes early in the year. And they've gone away. And there's a little bit, there's more chemistry on those deep passes. There's more ability to do some of the scramble drill stuff

and with the more precise timing stuff. It's just all more in sync. So that makes, I'm more likely to buy into this isn't fluky and this is, this is a trend. This isn't just like an event. So I would say that it's hard in love. He had some high level throws today. It wasn't just like him getting like schemed up and like having open receivers. The one, the like little floater that was like 40 yards down field when he was fading away,

that was a little bit lucky. I think the chief safety kind of misplayed it. But the one after that, directly after that, the Christian Watson touchdown, like, that was a laser and, like, perfectly placed on the back shoulder. He made some real throws. And we've been talking just about the Packers, which is insane to me because, like, usually when the Chiefs lose, that's the headline. Like, that's the lead. And I think that's just a sign of how well Green Bay played. They won this game.

Yeah, they won. I'm not even, I'm not necessarily worried about the Chiefs after this one because the Chiefs scored, like, basically on every possession they had, except for that last one where you're, they're kind of in desperation mode, so it's easier for the defense to play. But the Chiefs moved the ball. I thought this was a well-played game. The Packers were just the better team for 60 minutes. They had a smart plan, too. They just shortened the game.

Like you were saying, it was a smart plan. It was like a five-possession game. And when Jordan Love doesn't make a mistake in the offense, basically scores every time, it takes one drive to win the game. And so I thought it was smart all around. And they neutralized Kansas City's defense pretty well, too. I mean, you know, there's some of those plays where Chris Jones can just do stuff that, like, no one other than Prime Aaron Donald is, is really capable of. But for the most part, you know, they ran a lot of bootlegs, a lot of play action.

And I thought it was really effective in taking the teeth out of what's been kind of the strength of the Chiefs this year. And the 24 points, I think that was tied for the most. They'd given up all year. So, you know, credit to the offensive game plan there as well as Jordan Love and the rest of the offense's execution of it. I thought they had a really smart plan going in. I do have some concerns about the chiefs, not new ones. But I just do think that this is a, I think this is a lesser unit. than Chief's offenses passed.

I think when they have, you know, I think their three offensively has got to be Travis Kelsey, Rice, and Pacheco. And if all three of those guys are healthy and clicking, everything's probably going to be fine. And there's no world in which this is not an elite Super Bowl contending team. but to stack them up with the products that they've put on the field in years past, which is not the name of the game.

The name of the game is to get to the Super Bowl and try to win it. It's not, are you better than you were a year ago? But by that metric, I do think that they are more vulnerable. Some of the situational stuff, I think, contributed to, there's a world in which they score a lot more points in this game. Mahomes got sacked three times in the red zone in the first half. Just the fact that that Green Bay shortened the game, there were very few possessions,

keeps the scoring totals low too. And then, you know, you have the two-point conversion, get stopped. And then the way that the final drive played out, some of the scoring opportunities just went away. sort of not because of Kansas City error, but just because of how the game was flowing. But still, we see a lot of these opportunities where it's like, oh, there's, there's a minute left, there's 30 seconds left.

Here's Mahomes. He's got the ball. And it looks great until he lets go of it. And then sometimes, you know, it's MBS down there and the result is not great. And I do think that matters. I don't think that it makes the Chiefs not a Super Bowl contender. but I do think that it's the type of thing where if they have to win three playoff games in a row

and I have to sit here and tell you that I'm not worried about that popping up in at least one of them, I don't think that I can do that. Yeah, I guess that's a better way to put it. There's no new concerns. I don't think this was like anywhere close to their worst performance.

Even in wins, I thought this might have been a better offensive performance. I think the one worry is the defense kind of buckling under the weight that this offense has put on it because the offense has been so inconsistent. And the defense has had to win so many games. And we know with defensive performance,

there's always, like there's always an expiration date to it. It's so hard to keep a defense playing well for that long, for 16 games plus the playoffs. And I think you're starting to see the defense starting to slip a little bit. You saw it at the end of the Eagles game too. Right. All right.

You want to give us loser? Yeah. My next loser is the Sean Payton Coach of the Year campaign. It's also the Russell Wilson Redemption Arc campaign. He throws three interceptions, including the last one on, I think it was third down, third and ten at the end of the game. The Broncos down by five have a chance to take the lead a lately that would have won the game against the Texans.

But Russell Wilson throws his third interception to Jimmy Ward. A rough game all around. Like, even for Stroud, I think this was one of Stroud's worst games. Not that he was bad and he still flashed. There was a couple of plays where he just made some unreal throws that I think are really good signs for him. But he had a 17 QBR. He looks skittish in the red zone specifically.

He took some sacks. He missed some throws. Not a great game. But I thought the performance, the fact that the Texans were able to win just speaks to their well-roundedness, which is something I don't think we've given a lot of attention this year because CJ Stroud has been such a story. But they had other guys step up. The sad news is they lose Taintell for the season, fractured leg. That's a big loss. And I think that does lower the ceiling on what this team.

can be the season keeps chugging along like win after win like they're just stacking good feelings but that does kind of you know throw some salt on the moon yeah that's a real bummer i do think the person you can can take a bow after this one is actually nick casario um particularly for the young players on this defense because that's what won them the game at least to my eye i mean will anderson had multiple sacks stingly had two of the picks off russ they just they have players and we know enough to know that the draft is often somewhat random but those are stars. Those are budding young stars and it's not just Stroud to your point that's turned this roster around so quickly and it doesn't usually show up just because he's putting on a historical performance

as a rookie quarterback and also just the nature of quarterback is that it overwhelms everything else. but when he has a little bit of an off day and they're going up against an offense where the quarterback, you know, maybe wants to throw a couple up there, it really comes through all the different ways in which they've just, they've got better players in the field than they used to.

And ones that could be legitimate long-term stars in this league. So I thought this was a win for the personnel department. Yeah, and they had like other, like established stars even like Shelton Rankins is a veteran who has played really well for them. Lambert Tunsell is one of the best left tackles in the NFL. Like they have a lot of talent on this team. Robert Woods is like a wide receiver three. Now he's the two after Tank Dell goes down, but he's still a solid player.

This is a well-built team. And they're going to be dangerous in the playoffs. I do think like C.J. Stroud, I just don't want to try. I don't want to annoy him too early where we're expecting him to perform like a top 10 quarterback. Like I know he's looked like it. but top 10 quarterbacks perform like that every week. That's why they're top 10 quarterbacks.

I think Stroud is still outside of that until he finds consistency, which, like, it's irrational to expect him to find that at this point in his career. So it's not a criticism by any means. But until then, you're going to have these games that are close calls that where maybe, like in an alternate universe where Straub plays well, they hang 40 on Denver. Yeah. And how many young quarterbacks were capable of doing that and might hang 40 on Denver on a different day. And even if they don't have so many of those types of performances, not that Stroud

has had very many, but you know, you get through the regular season unscathed, sometimes first playoff game, I mean, how many times have we seen a young quarterback in that situation just like fall flat? And it doesn't really mean all that much. Sometimes it's just a big moment. And sometimes it's just the first growing pain. So we'll see. But I'm with you that we shouldn't let the highs of C.J. Stroud, um, bar. him from being permitted to make some rookie mistakes. Right. Because they've shown, first of all, that they can still find ways to win those games.

It's not actually that harmful. And he's got to have them, right? Like, because everybody's got to have them at some point. Mm-hmm. This was a bad Russ game. I will say that. I don't think Sean Payton, like, called a bad game. Unless they had shot plays on first down, the offense just was unbiased.

It just wasn't viable. And it was a lot of Russ, like, trying to scramble. and getting caught from behind. It was a lot of Russ looking like a slow, old scrambler. Like he had a zone read where he got like 10 yards. He had some scrambles that did go for first downs. But on third down, it was rough. At one point, he scrambled on two third downs.

It wasn't really sacks, but he got tackled short of the line again. And then I think it was the third drive. Sean Payton on third and five was just like, screw it. I'm not letting him take a sack. I'm calling a run play on third and five to avoid this. I'm putting my foot down. Yeah, enough. I won't let you do this to me.

All right. I have a loser. The Pittsburgh Steelers who really struggled to move a ball in a 24-10 lost to Arizona. The high of the first 400-yard game

immediately post-Mack Canada. It did not last a second week. And beyond that, Kenny Pickett got hurt. The Pittsburgh Post-Gazette is reporting that he is going to have surgery on Monday on his ankle and be out between two weeks and a month. Right now, depending what playoff modeler you use, the Steelers are hanging out around a little bit more than 50% chance to make the playoffs. And I think that seems

shaky. I don't know what I'm going to do this Thursday night, but watching the Mitch Trubesky Steelers against the New England Patriots on Thursday night football, I'm not sure that I can justify that. I'm not sure that anyone can justify that. So open to suggestions there. But, look, Pittsburgh's had some issues offensively all season, obviously the coordinator got fired.

It was a big story. that said for a lot of the year, for a lot of the middle part of the season, that team getting a playoff spot felt pretty secure. And they're still in the picture and they've still got a better than 50% chance to do it. But with Trubisky starting, with what this game against the Cardinals looked like, I start to get a little worried about that. Yeah, people always forget the other half of Tomlin ball is like he wins a bunch of games that he shouldn't win, but they also finish like 8 and 8 or finish 8 or whatever you can finish now with the new schedule. Water finds its own level.

I guess that's not what that means at all, but whatever. The worst sign for next Thursday's matchup was when they were teasing it during the Thursday game, they used, I forget whose picture they used for the Steelers. It might have been Kenny Pickett, but they had to use Bill Belichick for the Patriots. And that's a bad sign. You don't even have a player you can get hyped up about. But Kyler Murray, two and two since his return. He's really ruining the tanking plans if there was a tank. He really, yeah, he has ruined the tank.

The tank is off. The cringe lord, hey. He really showed us. I misjudged you, Jonathan Gannon. I'm telling you, he's cringed his way to the other side. Yeah. He's so cringed. He's like, he's almost like Dan Campbell.

I kind of envy it. He's living in a world. without like irony or artifice. He's just saying what he feels. He's better than us all. He's the best of us. I mean, Cliff Kingsbury was like lived every day overcome by

angst and existential dread, it seemed, at least by the end. And now Jonathan Gannon's in there, just being like, who's on the bus? Are you on the bus? No one knows what it means. But you know he's saying it from his soul. And the results speak for themselves.

Hey, Sean Payton's coach of the year campaign ends. Jonathan Gannon's begins. Another one begin. Yeah, I don't. Can we never talk about the Steelers again? Is that enough? Yeah, that's all. Never again.

I can be done, though. Okay. No, I mean for the rest of the year. Never again. I feel like we're probably not going to be able to pull that off. But I do think that that I can promise that we will not be talking about Mitchell Trubisky versus Bailey's death be and or Mac Jones and or Will Greer and or Malik Cunningham or whatever is going to happen on Thursday.

What I encourage everyone who listens to this show, go out to a nice dinner, spend some time with your family, take a walk, like just it's not worth it. You don't want to see that. Well, guess what? We're about to talk about Bailey's happy. because the Chargers Patriots game is our next. I guess I got to give the Chargers the win here. I'm naming them our winners because they are low-key back in the playoff race.

Like everyone that had to lose lost today. Poor Eduardo. I can't believe you're doing this to Eduardo. It's not fair. I'm going to leave it there. This was a dreadful game. This was a terrible, terrible game. It was rainy.

It was gray. The Chargers couldn't run the ball, but Kellyn Moore for some reason insisted on running the ball. The Patriots couldn't really do anything outside of like playouts. action shot plays on first down. They couldn't really run the ball on third down. Bailey Zappy just took it took a sack like every time he dropped back on third down. It was insane. And the Chargers dropped a bunch of passes on third down.

It looked like it looked like your typical Chargers end. They had a drop pass on third down. Donald Parham drops a wide open pass that would basically end the game. The Chargers punt the ball away. The Patriots get it back. They extend the drive with a pass interference call that, It was reviewed and it looked like the ball was tip. It looked very clearly like the ball was tip,

but the refs didn't overturn the call. So the Patriots get a first down. Bailey's happy ends up throwing an interception anyway. The Chargers avoid like a cursed loss. And I would say they're back in the playoff race, but that's really the only good news. There's nothing good out of this game outside of, I guess, Brandon Salele's defense getting a shutout.

But even that isn't that impressive. He told us. I got to say, the play of the game is J.K. Scott, the punter for the Chargers. He pinned the Patriots. within the 20-yard line seven times in this game. It's amazing. You know Belichick loved it, too.

He had one punt that went out at like the two-yard line, like a coffin corner, perfect kick. He was the best player. I bet you this is rock bottom for Belichick because he let another team beat him by six points on the back of like a superstar punter performance. He's probably so jealous. Here's the problem.

You know what? You know what? Having a great performance as a ponder on a team that's playing against. Bill Belichick is a good, is a way to accomplish. Like, that's a way to get yourself on the Patriots. You're saying he's going to get a contract. I just, I just would, 970 phone number.

I might be a little wary. I might screen that call. Call back to the midweek pod. I did predict Belichick to the Chargers. So maybe he doesn't even have to make a transaction. Wow. He'll just inherit him next year. Wow.

That's why he's going to go. Not Herbert. I'm not joking. That feels real to me. Over Herbert. Herbert had a bad game in this one. I will say that. I was going to ask,

anything in particular that seemed like it was going on with him or he was just infected by the suckage? He just missed throws in the first half. It was really the first half. He missed a couple throws. I think he left some points on the board where they could have scored touchdowns instead of field goals. He under threw some passes.

They were difficult passes. They weren't easy passes by any means, but he did miss them and were used to seeing him make those. I thought in the second half, it was all about like the receiver's dropping passes. Like, Quentin Johnson had a terrible drop on third down. As I mentioned, Parham had a terrible drop on third down. There were some other drops. Echler had another one.

I think Keenan Allen had one too. So I think in the second half, it was his teammates. In the first half, I would put it on Herbert more than anyone else outside of Kelemore. The two things I can't get over from this game. One is just the fact that the line was Chargers minus five and a half. And they covered by scoring six points. I went on the ringers wise guy show. Shout out to those guys today.

And that was my bet. That's the pick. I did charges minus five and a half. So I was just sweating that out. I'm like, I'm going to look like an idiot to the wise guys if they don't pull this out. And they did.

And they did it for you. So thank you, J.K. Scott. The other piece is of the Patriots. And I guess you can spend this credit to their defense. They've lost three straight while allowing 10 or fewer points in those games, which is the first time that's happened in the league since 1938. And the last team that it happened to, the Chicago Cardinals, who I feel like we've discussed a number of times because of their gambling connections

and relationship to the Bidwell family. So good to know what else was going on back then with the good old Chicago Cardinals. Belichick's probably taking that as a win, personally. said a little of history. I feel like the sure sign that the Patriots are done is that they got flexed out of the Monday night game. It's the first time that's ever happened that a Monday night game's been flex.

And let me say this, it's definitely not Patrick Mahomes's fault. Like sometimes there's a game where you get flexed out where it could be either team's fault where it's like the Bears and the Vikings and you're like, it's not it could be either of us. No, it's your fault this time. It's not Patrick Mahomes. Definitely Bailey's happy.

I think we can definitely, we can, feel we can feel confident in that. I still think it's getting outpunted. I think that's a lower low. Belichick doesn't care about being on Monday night football. He cares about getting embarrassed by an opposing punter. All right. That was a W, right?

That was a winner for the Chargers. I guess so. I guess there's a reason it doesn't quite feel like it. So then I'll give you another winner. Also from the Fair City of Los Angeles, California. The Rams are making the playoffs. And I don't know that I'm going to go so far as to say that he should take the reins over from former coach of the year candidate Sean Payton. But my takeaway from the Rams who beat the Browns 36 to 19 is just Sean McPhase still got it.

Like that dude can coach. And this Rams team being the seven seed, depending on the model you use. you know, hovering around 50% shot postseason. They're not tied at 6 and 6 with the Seahawks and the Vikings in the NFC. And playing really well, you know, this offense when Matt Stafford Cup and Pukua are all playing is a good offense. Is a team that can hang with maybe not that, you know, that top three, but absolutely can play a good game against other NFC playoff team. And the fact that this has happened with this roster is a testament to McVeigh's coaching. I thought this game was a real testament to his coaching just because, you know, look, it's,

it is the Joe Flacco Browns, and I agree with you. He went out there, Flacco did, and was slinging it a little bit. Wasn't afraid to hold on to the ball, let some routes develop, had some downfield passing going in a way that Cleveland really hasn't had for me. their quarterback play this season. He looked ready to go. There was definitely something there. But the real strength, obviously, of this Brown's team and what you're worried about

when you're game planning against them is Jim Schwartz's defense. And I just thought McVeigh seemed like he was a step ahead of him the entire time. Got some big plays off cover two beaters, really smart ways of keeping the past rush at bay. Um, Stafford has been, you know, when he's in there, he's played well.

Pirate Williams turning into such a get for them, such a find and a contributor is, is another thing that I think, again, we're talking about a young player who is super talented, has been given an opportunity, has done a lot with that opportunity, but it's clearly getting some good coaching.

So from a play calling in-game perspective, and just from a, where this roster is relative to where it seemed like they would be at the beginning of the year. The number one thing that I thought of was not even, oh man, the Rams are going to make the playoffs. I just kept watching this game and going, Sean McBase still got it. Yeah, that's my takeaway for the whole season, honestly. And he's kind of figured out how to hide their weaknesses as the season has gone along. Like their offensive line isn't the issue it once was.

If there was a game where it was going to be an issue with this one and they did basically everything. After the game, Matthew Stafford was basically talking about how how balanced the offense was, where they were doing everything well, like play action, runs, drop back passes, screen passes, all that. And it's really exciting to see against a really good talented defense. Like, it's not just scheme. Like, some of these players are stepping up. Like, Matthew Stafford is playing really good football right now. That first touchdown past the Nakuwa was perfectly placed. It reminded me of that Patrick Mahomes passed from a week could go against the Raiders.

And then Nakuwa comes back. It looked like he got hurt at one point. He comes back and he's making plays all over the field. I think Cooper Cup got his first touchdown in a while. Maybe that was Naku. I forget. One of them ended a touchdown drought. Just a good performance all around.

But yeah, I think Flacco is, I think Flacco is the way to go for the rest of the year. Like he makes that offense look a little more professional. I don't know. It's kind of funny because Flacco, I wouldn't say he's washed, but he's definitely like an old quarterback. but he's been this way for like a decade. It was like he's pre-washed. He came already washed. He's like a mineral washed or like those those t-shirts where it's like a poly cotton blend

and then they wash it with the stuff that gets rid of all the natural cotton. So it's like, Kaji, that's Joe Flago. Yeah, I mean, he's not, no, he looked. He did not look like a guy who's just been sitting on the camera. couch. He did, like, he threw 44 passes in this game. It's so funny. I mean, it's not funny because some parts of the Brown's quarterback situation are decidedly not funny. But this most parts aren't funny. Most parts, after all that it has been through and self-inflicted when it comes to the quarterback position and how they have, you know, somewhat secretly had to kind of minimize

the impact of that position, despite the financial and draft capital resources they have allocated to that. Then they pulled Joe Flacco out of his living room and say, hey, you, why don't you go throw 44 passes in this game? And it kind of worked out until when it was still a one-point game in the fourth quarter, he threw an absolutely horrid interception. A classic, an iconic Joe Flacko. Just like just a classic Joe Flacko, like, oh,

I threw it to the guy on the other team. I don't know what you want for me. Sometimes he gets like the defensive pass interference where he underthrows it so bad, like the receiver comes back, but that didn't happen. He was hoping for it, though. But you know what?

He's going to get one of those. Before the season is over, we're going to see it work out. So I'm not even Matt. Like, it's Joe Flacco. What do you want from him to not throw a bad interception? Did he attempt the most passes this week? Probably. Jalen Hertz, 45, Joe Flacco, 44. 44. Wow.

Two similar talented quarterbacks, Joe Flacco and Jalen Hertz. Gardner Minchie was third at 42. That's who you want to rely on. Hey, Joe Flacco is a Super Bowl ring. It's really good stuff. Rams won three straight. It's the first time since the Super Bowl that that's happened. All right. Last losers? My last loser, the Jets and Aaron Rock. Rogers. And they're in Rogers Dream. They leased the Falcons 13 to 8 in a game that honestly

was more unwatchable than the 6-0 Patriots game. Like this was worse. Desmond Ritter was bad in this game, but I swear he had two of the best throws of the week, maybe the two best throws on back-to-back plays on his touchdown drive. But outside of that, he was bad. The running game didn't really work. The Jets were bad. Tim Boyle got benched eventually. Trevor Simeon gets strips act on what could have been a game winning drive. Honestly, I thought Trevor Simeon looked okay. I'm a Trevor Simeon Stan. I'm a Trevor Simeon.

One of the only ones that exist, frankly, outside of his family. But I did think he played well. And I think, like, they have a viable quarterback going forward if they continue to play him. Because Tim Boyle is not that. He got bench after an interception where he missed, like, a deep crosser. It was Garrett Williams. He missed them by at least 10 yards.

It was clear that they weren't going to score with him. running the offense. So I think it was a change they had to make. I give credit to Robert Sala for not wasting his time like he did with Zach Wilson. It's a little too late for the season, but I do think Trevor Simeon at least gives them a chance. But the playoffs, it's out of reach now. According to the New York Times, they have a 1% chance of making the playoffs. They lose either their next two games against the Texans or the Dolphins. Two games, they're not going to be favored in. They go down to 0%. They're out of the playoffs. So they're mathematically eliminated. I think. I mean, I'm calling Aaron Rogers a loser, but he's really.

a winner because let's be let's face it he really doesn't want to play this year he just wants to say he would have came back he might want to play this year but there's there's yet to be any real evidence that he could um and it it might that might be a conveniently never tested i i think one thing that we can take away from the tim boyle experience is that Aaron rogers has many talents um gming has just never been one of them. He's got a lot of enthusiasm. He's got a lot of interest in the role from a results standpoint. Things have not tended to go great when you let Aaron Rogers pick players. No, you end up with Randall Cobb, Jake Kumero, Alan Lazard, and Tim Boyle, and Nate Hackett's your offensive coordinator. Good luck. I mean, the Chaps would be good if they could just combine

all of their quarterbacks, like all the parts, do like a Frankenstein quarterback. Like Trevor Simmons can run a normal offense, but he can't create anything. Like, this guy is too slow. Anytime he starts to move, it's going to end with a fumble. But Zach Wilson, if you had his athleticism with like Trevor Simeon's know-how, I think you could have something and then throw on top of it like Tim Boyle's willingness to tolerate Aaron Rogers. Like, you can really have someone in the locker room.

I was going to ask what part of Tim Boyle you were taking, but now I understand. That's the one, the one who will listen to his jokes and laugh at him. there's nothing else to say about this game. It was an ugly, ugly game. It was also affected by the rain, but outside of like two amazing passes by Desmond Ritter, one where it's like, he's got a pass rusher right in his face

and he makes a throw on an outbreaker. And then the other one's just like a perfectly placed seam ball to a tight end. Michael Pruitt, I think, is the tight end that caught it. But outside of that, like, and that's the problem with Ritter is he shows this talent. He flashes this talent. But like down to down,

he just can't hit the throws. And he misses too many throws. And the Falcons are going to make this, the playoffs. They're going to win the NFC South because all the rest of the teams are kind of declining while they're ascending. But I mean, I can't see them winning a game. But they have now, and this will bring us to my last loser, they've climbed, they've gotten two games a distance in that division. And it seems like they're, I don't want to say run away with it. That feels a little strong. But they are, they've got it in their talents. They've got the NFC South in their

talents and it seems like they're tightening the grip. My last loser, I was tempted to make the Lions and the Saints, the Lions beat the Saints 33 to 28. I was really tempted to make them both losers here. The Saints for kind of what you just mentioned vis-a-vis the Falcons, if they thought that they had that there was a world in which they would make a run at the NFC South title feels like that's not happening at this point. and Derek Carr had another bad turnover in this game.

Also left the game with injury. Jamis struggled as well, turned the ball over. It just seems like that's been a week-to-week thing with New Orleans, where Carr's in and out of the lineup, not playing super well, but they don't want to turn to anybody else, at least permanently, and it just seems like they're sort of stuck in that cycle. With Detroit, which is probably the more relevant piece of this,

I just, I think this game is a little concerning if you're the Lions, just because they got up to a 21 point lead and then they let New Orleans back in and ended up winning it closely. But I just think that the defense in Detroit is seeming like it is going to put a cap on what they can accomplish. This is still a good team. good offense, but I think that they are ultimately going to struggle against the real contenders because they have a defense that struggles in the red zone. They don't get a lot of turnovers. And they're just too easy to move the ball against. And if the Saints, whether it's Carr, whether it's Winston, if they're able to just move up and down the field on you,

I don't think that that's a good sign. and you know Detroit has has big aspirations it's still technically possible that they could end up the number one seed in the NFC I don't really think that's happening but um we obviously just just saw a week in which the top team got another game in the the L column but I find it hard even though they won and it's not like the saints are are one of the absolute worst teams in the or anything like that. Even though they won this game, I find it hard to come out of this

being encouraged by Detroit. No, and like their trademark win on the season kind of looks worse and worse by the week. Like the Chiefs look beatable so that opening game win against the Chiefs without Kelsey and it's a one point win. Now you look at them against like their other

playoff competition. They lost to the Seahawks at home. They lose to the Packers a couple weeks ago. they barely beat the charges who are not a playoff team. They get killed by the Ravens. Like this team still has a lot to prove. We haven't seen them win a big game. And like Jared Gough, frankly, hasn't been impressive over the last month.

And that's always the concern is like eventually he's going to turn into a pumpkin like he did with the Rams. He definitely hasn't taken a step from last year. And that's what they needed to happen for them to have playoff aspirations, for them to have Super Bowl aspirations, which I think is how we were talking about them when they were five and one at the beginning of the season. And I think that ship has kind of sailed. And the conversation has kind of changed with them. Now it's kind of, are you going to win the NFC North? And I think even that, obviously, time is on their side. But the Packers are playing just such better ball right now.

It's like not even close. We saw that, of course, when they played on Thanksgiving. But they're trending down. The Packers are turning up. I agree with you. This was a red flag game for me. And if the game is a little bit longer, I think the Saints probably end up winning it. I just, I don't trust the Saints to do.

anything without turning it over or screwing it up. But that certainly is what it, the direction it felt like it was going in. I mean, the lines will be okay. They're nine and three. The Packers are six and six. I think that's a good enough cushion.

But if they both get there, then it becomes, who are you more afraid of seeing what would happen if they ended up getting a rematch? And that right now, I would find it hard to be on the Detroit side of that. All right. Anything else before we dual take purge and get out of here?

Now I'm ready for the take perch. All right, this has been winners and losers. Thanks again to our sponsor, Uber Eids. With Uber Eats, you can get groceries, alcohol, and everyday essentials in addition to food from your favorite restaurants. In other words, get almost almost anything with Uber Eats. Official on-demand delivery partner of the NFL,

order now. Alcohol in select markets and 21 plus to order. Product availability made vary by region, C app for details. All right, we are back on dual threat. we're going to close that with the take purge. Steven, what do you have this week? I kind of spoiled my original one.

It was going to be that Jordan loves the best quarterback in the NFC North, but since we had that conversation, I'll change mine. This is more of a prediction. I'm calling it right now, DAC is winning MVP. And the reason why I'm saying that is because there's this perception that they have like this murderer's row of a schedule coming up. And like on paper they do. Like they play the Eagles, the Bills, the Dolphins.

They just played the Seahawks. They play the Lions. They play all these teams with winning. records. But when you look at those defenses and those past defenses, it's kind of a cupcake schedule for Dak where I think he can pat his stats while also getting these high profile games against like legit competition, which he hasn't had. But like the Eagles are like 20th and past defense. The bills are like 14. The dolphins are like mediocre. The lions are mediocre. We just talked about how that could be the thing that holds them back. So I wouldn't be surprised if Dak continues

this run for another month. And like we have the perception that it's against the, like this really tough schedule when in reality he's really facing a handful of, I would say, mediocre defenses. I wouldn't be surprised if they end up winning that FC East. That's another, another prediction. Ooh, two for one. DAC is the only MVP candidate who's like felt like an MVP this year. Right.

It's just been such a weird year because it's been, it's been Mahomes just being Patrick Mahomes. just being Patrick Mahomes on an offense that feels like it's underachieving, but he's still playing great, but that's complicated. It's been hurdy, which is bogged down in a whole bunch of the supporting cast stuff, the Shanahan stuff, the stuff that we've talked about over and over and over again. It just hasn't felt like here is a quarterback who you know and love on a good team, on a good offense, where we know that a lot of this is on his play. and he's playing really well.

And that's what Dak is doing. Again, a lot of that is bullshit narrative stuff, but like it does matter. And he seems like the guy who is checking all those boxes right now. So I like that. I like that prediction. Mine is a little different. But I think I just want to run this by you.

I think that I have come up with a way for Robert Kraft to help, like, sort of grease the gears, sweeten the deal, smooth things over as he potentially moves on from Bill Belichick coaching. Okay, I'm interesting. Which is just that, you know, we've talked for the last few weeks. Officiating has come up a lot on recent shows. And yet again this week, there were a couple calls, especially at the end of the Packers' Chiefs game, that were just ridiculously bad.

particularly the hit on Mahomes out of bounds when he was inbound. And the thing that I always come back to is that the only good suggestion that I feel like that's, actually, no, there are two good suggestions when it comes to officiating. And one is yours to put names on the back of the jerseys. But the second good suggestion in terms of officiating and rules in terms of officiating and rules enforcement is an idea that Bill Belichick cares a lot about to make every play and every call reviewable. Keep the same number of coaches challenges. No, like you're not going to get more replays, not more reviews, but there is nothing that you can't challenge. There's nothing that you can't

use it on if something has gone the wrong way. And I think that Robert Kraft, an influential owner, connections to the competition committee, if he were to, you know, kind of make it clear to build that he could make part of his legacy as his coaching career winds down, that he got that rule implemented. I wonder if it might sort of soften the blow

of being let go or being traded or being moved to another team. I wonder if that might make him a little bit more flexible. So if I were Robert Kraft, I would start thinking about how to get the wheels in motion for that because I think it might just be a win-win for everybody. I like the suggestion for sure. Like I don't understand why we don't just have like some rules czar who's just sitting there watching the TV and he just rules instantly.

I don't even know why we need like the formality of like the ref going to the screen and looking and like we have we stopped the game. Why isn't there just a guy who's just like two seconds like, oh yeah, he definitely passed interfered. Like it's a penalty. Just throw the flag. I don't know why we need all this. Like I think we're just doing it. We still have high lawns. So we're not exactly operating.

Right. And chain gangs and stuff like that. Yeah, it just makes no sense. But that the end of that game, the defensive pass interference, the miscall, the ref is standing right there. Yeah, that one was really bad too. That guy, I tweeted this out, but that guy should never ref a Super Bowl game. Because if he froze in that moment,

what is it, week 13, a week 13 regular season game, he's going to make the correct call in crunch time of a Super Bowl? No way. I wonder if it was sort of like a makeup, makeup call situation, but either way, it's not good. He jumped on his back like a book bag, like a Jansport. No, he really, he really. That was a good call back.

I appreciated that. No, he really got mugged on that. It just feels like a weekly thing. and it is always so blatant. And it's just like, when is this going to get better? I don't know. But maybe like everything. I like how was every member of the staff that got to screw up too of that game.

Did you notice that? Like the Mahomes thing happened on the one sideline, the MVS where he was clearly going backwards and did not get out of bounds and stop the clock happened on the other sideline. Then you have like the field judge like down the field. So just a masterclass by the whole crew. By the way, we don't know any of their names now, do we? I have no idea.

We need to learn their names. Is Cleet Blakman still around? That's the only one I know. And that's because his name is Cleet. He's always the one who you want to know if he's still around. That's his name. Cleet.

Cleet Blakman. All right. This has been dual threat. We will be back on Thursday. Next up on the feed, Sheila and Ben will have extra point taken. Their deep dive of all week 13th games. Thank you to Kira Givens and Eduardo Ocampo for their work on socials

and Isaiah Blakely for producing this episode. with additional production supervision by Arjuna Rangipal and it's honor of it. Must be 21 plus and present in select states. Fandual is offering online sports wagering in Kansas under an agreement with Kansas Star Casino LLC. Gambling problem, call 1-800 gambler or visit Fandul slash RG in Colorado, Iowa, Michigan, New Jersey, Ohio, Pennsylvania, Illinois, Tennessee, and Virginia. Call 1-800-Nextstep or text next step to 533342 in Arizona, 1888-78-78-7-7-7-7. or visit CCPG.org slash chat in Connecticut. 1-8009 with it in Indiana.

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