The Ringer NFL Show - Week 3 Recap: Breaking Down the 3-0 Teams and Winners and Losers | The Ringer NFL Show

Episode Date: September 28, 2020

Kevin Clark and Nora Princiotti break down each 3-0 team (3:25). Then they go through their Week 3 winners and losers (47:42), answer some listener questions (01:13:14), and finish up with the Clickbait Headline of the Week (01:19:03). Hosts: Kevin Clark and Nora Princiotti Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

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I'm Kevin Fulare joined by Burner's an offensive. Yon. How are you? Good, Kevin. What a crazy day of football we just had. It was wild. Are you ready to give Jordan Love a review of your vote? Um, no.

Just pissing off Aaron Rogers so much. I don't think he needs this. He's back. He's back. He's doing tons of interviews. It's, I love this Aaron Rogers. And it's, I don't know, I don't know how much you can give to Jordan Love, but you at least got to put him in the outside the box conversation right now.

I'm not doing it because here's the thing. Here's the thing. You do that. You risk pissing off Aaron Rogers by attributing his success to Jordan Love's presence. I am galaxy braining this take right now. You can't do that. I don't want Aaron Rogers, Matt of me. Matt LaFleur probably wants that.

Could you imagine how much they win the Super Bowl by if Jordan Love got some buzz for rookie of the year? Oh, my. That's all the thing. He should. He probably has good friends in media. He could start sort of plant that, stir it up. Matt with the floor? Sure, sure.

Okay. So we are doing our normal Sunday night show here. Just want to remind you before we start about the NFL feed we have at the ringer here. It's been amazing so far. It's going to continue to be amazing. Ryan Shazir and Cole Wright will join us on Tuesday. Chris Vernon and Warren Sharp on Wednesday. We're back on Thursday.

And then Joe House and Warren Sharp on Friday for the gambling show that I've enjoyed a lot. So stay here on the ringer NFL show feed. We got content. We got content, Nora. I say the phrase my co-worker Ryan Shazier. Like, I work it in whenever possible. Those shows are super cool. And it's really cool to be on the same feed with those guys.

They're doing an awesome job. That's how I feel about my coworker, Nora Princiotti. I'm just like, man, my co-worker, Michelle Obama, because I pull that one out sometimes. There's a lot of that. There's a lot that going around at the ringer is just my coworker Michelle Obama. All right. My coworker, Kevin Clark. We're going to break down the three and O teams.

And one of those three and O teams, what we're going to start with is the Greenwood Packers, who just won a pretty impressive game in New Orleans. We'll get to that and what it means and all that stuff. I do want to take a step back. So historically since 1980, around 75% of the three and O teams make the playoffs. So that seems about right when we're talking about the three and O teams right now. Some of them are three and O for the reason that they're good. Some of them are three and O because they have.

happen to have a schedule quirk and some of their three no because they're good right now so i don't we'll get into the individual categories of that but i'd say 75% making the playoffs seems about right so let's go through this it's the buffalo bills okay the pittsburgh steers the tennessee titans the seahawks the greenbate backers those are the three and no teams and obviously the the shadow hovering over all of this is at the baltimore ravens and can city chiefs play on monday night one of those teams will be 3-0. One of those teams is probably the best team in the NFL, but we're going to separate that out.

We'll react to actually to it live on Monday night, but we're going to separate that out and just talk about the teams that got to 3-0 on Sunday. We will start with the Green Bay Packers. Nora, surprise, impressed. What comes to mind we think about what we just saw? So a little bit of those things, but we knew they had this potential, right?

So it's kind of like, it's a little bit similar to what we're seeing with the Seahawks, right? where you look at Russell Wilson and he's been capable of this for years, but to see it realized in a way that is more explosive, just statistically more impressive than we've seen in the past is a little bit eye-popping. I mean, so they had a, the Packers were seen as a regression candidate for a lot of reasons this year, one of which being that they didn't have that impressive of a point differential,

despite going 13 and 3. Their point differential last year was plus 63. It's plus 40 right now. And the fact that they just were able to go score 37 points without Devante Adams. I mean, they're certainly among that three and oh because they're legit crowd. I mean, you know, I don't know if we want to get into. I loved that Chris Collinsworth sort of like backhanded, this is a defense that's built to play in shootouts comment. but you can nitpick there,

but I see them absolutely as a contender. So here's what I liked about it. There were a lot of things I liked about it. Number one is that when Devante Adams was out, the big thing was that Aaron Jones was going to go off because Aaron Jones in the receiving game had always stepped in for Devante Adams as who was out. Well, they don't actually get that huge game from Aaron Jones,

and they still managed to hang 37 points on this team, Mercedes-Louis, who I definitely knew was on the Packers still. Absolutely. No questions. He's been on his team since 2018. So I just feel like you get guys like that, even though it might have been a push-off, that those sort of contributions impress me.

And that's what I like to see in week three. I feel like, and again, I don't want to take anything with him back. This is a very impressive performance. I loved seeing Aaron Rogers, the master of the hard count in an empty stadium. That was amazing to me. And not only that, getting the free play

and then getting a pass interference call to Alan Lazzard, That was just, that was awesome. I love seeing it. That's going to continue to happen. The empty stadium thing is interesting to me. The broadcast made the point essentially that New Orleans would have had a crowd there that would have impacted the game. And Minnesota, a couple weeks ago, kind of the same deal, right? And Minnesota obviously stinks, but the crowd may have been a little bit loud, okay?

I've been to New Orleans for a big game. It is stunningly loud. Like, however loud you think it is, listener, if you haven't been to a big game at the Superdome, it's loud. it's louder. Like it is like your like Mike Trico I think said he has to take headache medicine. That is not hyperbole at all. You don't have that. So that's a huge element of the game missing.

But again, I was impressed from the saint side. Don't like what I see out of Drew Brees right now. Certainly don't like what I see about Tassum Hill, who by the way is making four times the cap money that Cam Newton is in New England. His fumble, Penn Baldwin had this. His fumble in the fourth quarter, led to a 25% dip in win probability for the Saints.

The Saints were going to win that game by win probability, and then they became total underdogs after that fumble. So Taysam Hill, $16 million cap hit. I don't love everything right there. I think that generally I feel a lot better over the past three weeks about the Packers and I did at the start of the season. And the reason is because this NFC is very different, very, very different from what it was at the start of this season.

okay the 49ers stuffed them in a locker in January and I thought that that gap was always going to be there because I thought the 49ers are going to be there the 49ers are not there 49ers we'll talk about them later I'm glad they're 2 and oh all that stuff admirable performance but they're not the bully they were in January at all and if they're even in the playoffs this year I'd be I'd be a little bit surprised just the way things have gone okay so the NFC is flat essentially to me and you had the C-Ox but I think that the C-Ox are a little bit more in line with the backers. You have, the Washington football team is tied for first place in the NFC East right now.

Their eagles are just completely off the rails. I don't even want to hear about the Eagles anymore. I can't believe we have to talk about the Eagles on this podcast later. But right now, I'm feeling as good about this 3-0 team in the NFC as any of them. Yeah, I mean, the Seahawks have defensive issues too, right? And those are the two to me that seem the most legit at this point. point. So I'm with you. I'd certainly put them up there. I feel very stupid for the week before the season when I really looked myself in the mirror and thought, hmm, yes, that Vikings trade for a

single defensive player. That's a reason to pick against Darren Rogers. That totally makes sense. We love to do that. Really sound logic. That was single defenders often push teams over the top. The team couldn't get any value for. Yeah, that was. good, that was good thinking by us. Real quick. Super cool. Aaron Rogers told Mike Tariko he read the holographic universe. Have you looked into this?

No. Did you miss this part? Yeah, I absolutely did. He told Collinsworth and Tariko that he's reading this book or had read a book called The Holographic Universe and they looked it up and it was about the theory that a hologram created the earth. Could a hologram create a first round receiver? There.

No, no. So basically the whole thing, was that nothing is real. And that... Oh. Yeah. Wow. Alan Lazard, very real.

Very real tonight. Alan Lazard. So... I have a very... I was watching a Packard's per season game last year, and they said that Alan Lazzard had three pick sixes

when he was in high school in one quarter when he was playing defensive back. That's always impressed me about Alan Lazzard. Yeah. I mean, that's super impressive.

Where is he from? He has accomplishments that, I believe, Iowa. Okay. Yeah. But that's that he now has accomplishments and outstrip that. But still, yeah, he's from Des Moines, Iowa. I wish someone had asked him about that.

Alan, how does this, how does this night you just had compare to? I think there's something to be said, truly, for the way that Rogers has cultivated these weapons. I mean, Alan Lazard was not a first round pick. Alan Lazard was not drafted. Alan Lazard was an offseason member of the Jacksonville Jaguars in 2018, okay? and I kind of feel like the great, you want to get Rogers as much as much help as possible. And I understand all that. And I don't really love picks like AJ Dylan or whatever.

But I do think that if you're Aaron Rogers right now, you feel good about the circumstances that you've carved out for yourself. The only things that you can control, he is controlled well. And that's what I like about the roommate Packers right now. Yeah, both things can be true. It would be great if he had more help, but you're watching these games and going, they've got plenty of receivers if that's the level of quarterback play. that they're going to get. Yep. All right. I think we are in agreement here that we like the Packers. So holographic universe, Josh Allen. Oh, yeah. So I got a lot here. I think Rotow World summed it up most succinctly with his headline, Allen starts hot, comma, melts down, comma, wins, comma,

totals five touchdowns. This is the experience. Nora, what did you think? The Josh Allen experience. It is an emotional rollercoaster. I, so I went through a journey today watching this game. As I think we all did, as Josh Allen certainly did. We all do. We all do.

I realized that I've emotionally bought in on Josh Allen. Never before have I been in a place where I really cared one way or another about his success beyond just, you know, preferring positive outcomes for people over negative outcomes. Living and dying,

by Josh Allen is it's a lot for anyone to process as I'm sure we all felt today. The thing is the insanity plays are becoming fewer and further between, which is great. Oh, they're still there. There's still a little kernel there. You could still, you could still, he's got great efficiency numbers. He's accurate. you know, anything you look up, like Josh Allen's playing

an incredibly high level right now. You could also compile a, I don't know if you want to call it a highlight reel, but sure, let's go with that. Of just like Josh 15 yards deep behind the line of scrimmage like running around backwards with his head cut. He had a face mask penalty in this game.

Like, there's still... He had a face mask penalty and a lateral that failed. in the middle of the field on the same drive. Oh, he's, he's so wonderful. Yeah, bless his heart, right? Yeah. No, I think I was really impressed by this game.

And I thought, obviously, there was a huge flaw at the beginning, sorry, excuse me, in the middle of the game, when they essentially just completely forgot how to play football for a little bit. Vincent Verheye from Football Outsiders made the point that It took the Patriots 20 minutes of game to erase a 28 to 3 deficit. And it took the Rams less than that to take the lead in regulation this year, this week. And I just sort of think that I'm not sure what that was. I think the Rams are a pretty good team.

By the way, the Rams should. What's preface all of this by saying the Rams should have won that game, if not for a very, very, very fishy pass interference call. But that's part of the Josh. experience. Absolute chaos. I don't know what I watched. Josh Allen wins. I almost feel, I mean, the touchdown numbers are unbelievable. And it almost reminds me a little bit. I'm not making a one to one comparison, but it reminds me a little bit of the Tim Tebow Gators where you just look up and all of a sudden the quarterback's got five touchdowns. Like, how hell did this happen? I mean,

this is just a quarterback who's getting better. I mean, I'm looking at his next gen passing stats right now, and they're pretty good all over the place. He was seven of nine for 112 yards on intermediate throws. That's 10 yards, 19 yards. Good against no blitz. Good against the blitz. He was on the quote, quote unquote, on rhythm throws. He was 13 of 16. I mean,

he was just good at everything. And the 75-yard scoring drive to seal the game was really impressed. He did it against Jalen Ramsey, who once called him trash. Which, by the way, Jalen Ramsey's not alone in that. Everybody doubted him. I doubted him. You probably doubted them. I didn't even know you back then. But did I know you back then? Yeah, I knew.

But we didn't talk about Josh. Alan. I didn't check in. We weren't on a Josh Allen level. I didn't check in with you about Josh Allen. But I just think that what impresses me with the bills right now is this is what they built. This is not a fluke. And this is

what I want to tell me with the 3-0 stuff, is that they were building a culture when I was there. Even before they drafted Josh Allen, I talked to some of those guys down there, being a McDermott or whatever. And I felt like they knew that they needed to build a culture

immediately be up to build a good roster there. And I think some teams build a good culture without a good roster. It's certainly good teams build a good roster without a good culture. Some franchises do neither of those things. But I feel like, you know, Ship Kelly once said when he was getting rid of all this good players in Philadelphia, he said, you know, culture beats talent every time. The answer is to have both. And the reason Josh Allen's taking such to step forward is he's been surrounded by guys like Stefan Diggs, an offensive line. They built an offensive line around him that was basically perfect for him.

This is a coach that knows how to build a culture and a GM that knows how to build a roster. And that is just impressive to me. He's now accounted for 11 touchdowns. That is the most through three weeks in history breaking Jim Kelly's record. This is, this is it. I mean, this is what they were building towards. And I'm not surprised, quite frankly, to see it. I think one of the things that gets sort of swept under the rug with the components of culture in an organization is do players trust the coaching?

That's a huge, huge, huge thing that influences just sort of like the vibes around any team. And Brian Daibel, I think, I mean, I've got to imagine that Josh Allen has so much trust in him, just building an offense that their increased use of 10 and, you know, they still use a lot of 11. they use a lot of play action. They space things out. It makes it so much easier for him to use his additional skills as a runner and use how good of an athlete he is. And just that offense, the marriage of play caller and quarterback, I think there looks really, really strong.

And I think we'll talk about this later. I don't quite know that I've seen it or seen enough at this point to feel like, yeah, Josh Allen is going to go totally. to toe with Lamar Jackson or Patrick Mahomes. That's tough because those guys don't have those insanity plays where he's running around like a chicken of his head cut off. But I do think that he must feel a pretty high degree of trust that the coaching staff is going to put him in good positions.

And when we talk about culture, you know, it's not this sort of esoteric or hard to define thing all the time. It can be. It can be having, yeah. You put with the Patriots. You probably saw it every day. Well, and it's, it comes in different forms, right? Because there can be, there can be good cultures. Like, I think the Seahawks have a really good culture and it's completely different from the Patriots.

But you know what you're getting and there is, there's a lot of players, there's a lot of football players who play for the Patriots who don't like Bill Belichick. But they know that he's, he's, he's, he's. never going to do anything that he doesn't think is going to help them succeed. And at the end of the day, that's what people care about. And I really, I mean, for a quarterback who I think we're all, you know, there's a thing going around Twitter where there's a form you can fill out of I, insert name here was wrong about Josh Allen and this tweet on whatever. It's because we haven't seen it with him. Right. It's all new and we're sort of venturing into this great unknown with Josh Allen together.

and one of the things that makes me feel like this is sustainable, and again, maybe not against the very top teams in the AFC, but they're right up there. I think they're certainly up there with the Steelers. It's the coaching staff, and it's the combination of the team feeling like they can trust the coaching staff with just being smart schematically and all of that stuff. I think they're in a really good position.

So one final piece on just sort of the team-building aspect of it is Brandon B knows where the game is, is going and has known for a while. And that's something that he and I have talked about a couple of times. And the way he's built this team, again, the offensive line I thought was well built. I think that he built the defense an interesting way. And when he puts resources to something, he solves the problem, right? And that's my frustration with really bad GMs of Bill O'Brien is they throw resources

at something where that's money or draft picks. Right. And the problem still persist. And when Brandon Bean tries to solve a problem, he solves it. I remember him talking about how such as he thinks that the league is now a seven-on-seven League, almost kind of what we're talking about with with high schools now and middle schools. That level of plays, that style of plays trickled up right from there. And you've got to be athletic.

You've got to be fast. And you've seen that with draft picks. You've seen that with the players they've signed. He understands that a bit of football team. I've been hugely impressed by it. One thing I do want to kind of go back to is the difference right now between Josh Allen and the two best quarterbacks in the AFC, Patrick Holmes and Lamar Jackson. Two best quarterbacks, by the way, in the NFL, I think.

Russell Wilson will let that shake out. But after two weeks and last season, I'm going to go with those two who are playing on Monday night. They just don't make mistakes at the same clip as Josh Allen. And I think Patrick Mahomes

in the playoffs last year made mistakes on something like 4% of his throws, which during the regular season. I think Drew Brees will have the NFL with 8% of mistakes, and that was the best mark in the NFL. So that was via PFF.

And I think about that a lot where Mahomes just, he plays a, he plays a style that most people would consider reckless for any other human. And he doesn't make mistakes. So it's not reckless. I mean, that's the perfect style of play, aggression with perfection. I don't know how else to describe it. And so if Josh Allen is competing with that and the rosters are the same and everything else is the same and the coaching is the same, Mahomes is going to win that,

but there's a whole hell of a lot of things that are different. Andy Reed is probably the best coach in the UFC, by the way. That talent in Kansas City is really freaking good. So I just don't think that I just, I don't see the bills cracking the AFCs elite, and that's only a take about how good the AFCs elite is. It's two teams that I think are head and shoulders above the rest. I'm ready to be convinced the bills can get there.

I'd love that from just a football fan standpoint to see this team take a leap and go knock somebody off. But I'm not seeing it right now. If they're, so their defense and they got Matt Villano back this week, which I thought made a huge difference, especially going, you know, against the Rams where, you know, sort of that middle of the field and not getting fooled by what direction their offense is going in is so significant. And I thought they did look better there. But, you know, they've got guys like Trey Edmonds who are struggling a little bit. and if their defense looked as dominant as it did last season, then maybe that would be a little bit more of a conversation. Probably not quite.

And again, exactly like you said, that's a comment on how good the top of the AFC is. But, you know, there was a Josh Allen quote after the game where he said, I wasn't trying to do too much. I wasn't going for the end zone on every single play, whereas maybe in past years I would have, especially on that third and long. He's talking about the third and 22 that they converted to Cole Beasley.

And that's great, right? It's so fun as football fans to watch a young quarterback sort of go through that process and be able to succeed. But it's kind of hard to imagine Patrick Mahomes or Lamar Jackson saying that, right? Because they're in the stratosphere. And not a lot of players in a lot of years combined are going to be there. So, you know, it's not an indictment of Josh Allen that he's. He's not there. And it's a little bit funny to think about perception a couple of years ago.

And then to go, we're having this conversation where we're qualifying why we're not grouping Josh Allen with Patrick Mahomes. 100%. Yeah. There's just a distance there. And it's nothing against Josh Allen and his development. But I just don't. I think it is really, it is a bad year for a quarterback or a team in the AFC to try to make

the leap in the same way that we made the case for the NFC, that it's a great year to try to get better because right now the bully's been knocked off their perch. The AFC, I don't think those teams are going anywhere. I mean, listen, a lot of injuries between here and then, a lot of weird stuff. I met the damn chiefslaw, Patrick Mahomes, for a big chunk of last year. And that, that seemed to change things. They still played a home. AFC change-up game, all that stuff, because obviously the Ravens got knocked off.

But I'm just saying there's a distance there. And as good as Josh Allen looks right now, A, he's got to do it for longer, but B, that gap, don't love it. Okay, so the NFC, as we talked about, good time to get better. The Seattle Seahawks improved a three and O in a typically chaotic Seahawks game. The Seahawks are the Josh Allen of teams. Never know where you're going to get. Russell Wilson, 14 touchdown passes through three games most ever. I like this.

This is from Kevin Pelton. The most passing yards ever given up through three weeks of a season, the Seattle Seahawks, beating 2011, New England Patriots, a very good team. how much that matters, we'll find out. But right now, this is a team that has some real flaws and Russell Wilson is masking them. Surprise. Surprise. Only took us nine years to figure it out. Yeah, I guess, I don't know. When they were without Adams, I don't know that I noticed all that big of a difference. They were just sort of getting gashed the whole time. But I kind of feel like I'm causing here because I'm about to write it off. I'm about to say that it doesn't matter.

As long as Russ is cooking, then who cares? Yeah. But of course, that's, I don't know, that's, that's sort of, it's a little bit silly and it's a sillier argument to make as, as the year goes on. But at a certain point, you know, we know that, we know that quarterback play is the most important, most consistent part of winning. And if you, you know, on the game winner to Metcalf, that had a 23% expected completion percentage. And if he's going to make throws like that, it's kind of like, I'm just not, I'm not worried about it. I feel like not analytical about it that I just don't care.

But I don't know. Tell me why I'm wrong. I don't know. And it was interesting because I think Chris Collinsworth made this point, and it's something defensive coordinators have a point they've made to me in the past couple years, which is defense is changing. And it's becoming a little bit more. of I think Collinsworth said the knockout play and that no one is going to be the 85 bears anymore.

And defense is such a weak link system anyway, where if you just have one bad cornerback or one bad safety, defenses can exploit that, all that, all that. So you're going with more cover zero or you're just trying to get turnovers. And we've seen over the past two or three years defenses were good enough not because they limit the yardage, but because they create enough havoc that quarterback makes mistakes, turn the ball over a couple times, and your quarterback's going to above 40 points. So what remains to be seen is what the identity of the Seahawks defense is.

I'm with you in the sense that Russell Wilson and cooking can keep this team in contention. I just don't know. It's too early for me to make any proclamation to the NFC. I officially, as we did last week, revoke my pick of the 49ers to win the NFC. That is done when it's over. Danny Kelly and I have both retired that. I don't know if either of us have made. I certainly haven't made another selection.

I'm going to wait just to play all the different sides here because I'm a huge coward. But I think that there's, I think the NFC is intriguing right now. And I don't, there's no reason the Seahawks can't make the Super Bowl except. Right. Except at some point, Russell is going to have to have 55 points. I think one thing that's funny here. And again, I don't want to get bogged down in this, this MVP thing every single week. but this defense is playing so poorly.

And Russell Wilson is basically, Danny Kelly said the throwler today, he's going to throw 80 touchdown passes because he has to. And he might win the MVP because his defense just makes him have to throw amazing passes late in games and that we're going to be watching. And this is yawks are on primetime bunch. Like I just feel like this might be a narrative season for him because they don't have the defense that they used to have.

I think that there's, again, I've said this a million times, the comparison I always come up with with Russell, with Dave Grohl where he's just playing a totally different position. He's just a different guy. And that's not because

he, that's not because he decided to change whatever. He just progressed naturally, but it's like, he was just put into a different role in the beginning. He was incredibly efficient passer in 2012. It was a different deal. They were a defensive team. They certainly weren't letting Russ cook back then, but

he was a damn good quarterback. And they just happened to have the Legion of Boom that overshadowed him. But now we're seeing he is the frontman. He's the guy and the identity is different. But again, I think this team certainly can make the Super Bowl. I just need to see what the NFC how that shakes out. What do you think would be better for the Seahawks? They finish bottom third defensive DVOA and they're forced to let Russ Cook all year or they're a top half defense and they start just like running on early downs all the time.

Letting Russ Cook is always the answer. Right. It's always the answer. It's also the better long-term play. I need to just announce this really quickly. Do you know what Drew Breezes, air yards per attempt was today? It's from next-gen stats.

1.5. It was 4.6. Could have been really bad. It was, there's a place where I pick up lunch sometimes where they, you know, you have to be spaced out when you go in to get your stuff. And they have measured out the distance of six feet in the number of chickpeas that if you lined it up. And like that's how we have to start doing Drew Brie's air yards is like 50 chickpeas. He's throwing it six feet, but not not that far beyond it.

He's throwing it. All right. So can we talk about the Cowboys for one second? Heck yeah What the hell was that Poor DAC I will say He did a good job

Dak did a great job He obviously had the two interceptions The three touchdowns I think that he had the one Fumble by the way I don't know if he did a great job He did an okay job He was the bright spot

He cooked This Cowboys team Still very strange The one thing they have going for them is the NFC East is just a disaster. They contribute a little bit to that. But right now, I pick them to win the division. I'm still feeling pretty good about that.

Is there anything that you saw, or you say, uh-oh. I mean, I just think that nine wins wins that division. And I think that when you look at the Eagles, there's an awful team right now. And the Washington football team is not going to be there. So I think the Cowboys are going to back in this division, no matter what happens.

This team is good enough to get to nine wins. Yeah, I mean, they might not need nine, but nobody else has taken it. I need three. I just, I might need seven. What is the mathematical lowest point that lowest win total team could have to win the division? Six? Because you know, I'm going to tell you to playing each other.

Right. You have to play each other. I don't know. I love the answer. I would love the answer for somebody there. There's not much to say with the Cowboys here except to say that they're starting to win the NFC East. I don't get anything else.

I do. Someone who's good with math. Can you get us? answer because I want to, I do want to know that, but my brain would not be capable of figuring it out. So this is the interesting one. So it's Pittsburgh Steelers who are three and no. Yeah. When we were talking about the different categories, right? They're three and no because they're good. They're three and no because of the schedule. They're three and no, whatever, right?

The three and oh because it's a mixture of the two. The Pittsburgh Steelers are three and oh with wins over the Joe Judge Giants, the Vic Fangio Broncos and now the Bill of Brian Texans. Obviously, the Texans are, that's more of a quality win for going for the college terminology, but every team that they've beaten is still winless. 0 and 9 is their opponent's record, okay? If I were to ask you where you put the Steelers in the pecking order of 3-0 teams, not as far as rank, but as far as a category, are they 3-0 because they're good? Are they 3-0 because they've played a bunch of 0-9 teams? And again, that becomes self-filling prophecy, right?

They've all played the Steelers who might be good and then they're whatever. I think they're three and no because they're good though. I agree. I agree. I agree. Because they're good. They've won in a lot of different ways. They got, they really had James Connor going.

I had a hundred yard game today. And I think there'd been a lot of stuff in Pittsburgh about getting Eric Ebron involved more and they were able to do that. Yes. Great catch today. Great catch. Great catch. Defense, we knew that was going to be, be a strength. I mean, I think Ben looks good.

they made some really impressive adjustments. They were not, you know, Watson was, I think he was 14 of 18, had a couple touchdowns, no picks in the first half. And it seemed like they really figured out how to get to him in the second half. And they were just running like a total ball control. I think they had the ball for like the entire last quarter, basically. So they seem really balanced. they seem like they can win in a lot of different ways. And so, yeah, it'll be cool to see them play better opponents. But I think it's still Deshawn Watson. There are so many flaws with that Texans team.

They could have lost that game because Deshawn Watson, full stop. They weren't playing the Jets. No, they were not playing the Jets. But what I will say is they have the Titans next week, which is... That'll be cool. development. Then they have the Eagles and then the Browns and then they have the Ravens. So I'm looking, I'm penciling in that that October 25th game against the Ravens, which will tell me a lot about the Steelers right now. But Ben Rothsberger, I thought it was amazing.

There was a guy, I think his name was Daniel Valenti. I did Daniel Valenti's right here. I had a video about Rathesberger a decade ago versus Rathesberger now and just the two clips of him in the pocket and kind of scrambling and making those Ralthusberger throws. And it's the same guy. It's the same guy. He's just doing Rathusberger things. And Rathsberger is a damn good quarterback. Like, you know, he's never going to be, uh, most in shape guy. He's, he still makes weird read sometimes, all that stuff. But like, you know, and he's, he's certainly not going to be on that top top tier of the AFC like we're talking about. But he's still good enough to get you there. And, you know, I, I talked to Kevin Colbert, the GM and Stewart's a couple weeks ago for a story.

Basically said that, you know, Rathusberger takes so much damage of it. And, you know, I talk to of the course of a year that being out for 2019 may have helped him a little bit. It may have made him a little more fresh. And I think that's an intriguing point. I'm ready to believe on that stuff. The numbers have been good. But, yeah, it's, you know, to limit to Sean Watson, Sean Watson was banged up in the second half a little bit,

but, you know, he only had 62 passing yards in the second half after having 202 in the first half, some really good first half numbers, like historically good. I saw some Texans records he was breaking. But they made adjustments. I think Mike Tomlin Perruby, he's a pretty good coach last year. So we're talking about three and O teams. I'm putting the Steelers more towards the good category

than just kind of a schedule record. Speaking of the Titans who they play this week, the Tennessee Titans 3 and 0. They improved to 3 and O after beating an awful Vikings team. I mean, this is, I don't know what's going on here. I don't want to do, I didn't want to do the Vikings right now. but they're a bit in the stewards category

and in so much that they've beaten the Broncos, the Jaguars, and the Vikings right now and so it's up to us to figure out it through any good, Nora,

take it away. I was going to ask if you were okay. Seems like talking about the Vikings was really upsetting. When I have expectations for a team and they play like this,

I just get them out of my face. We're going to talk about the Eagles later. I didn't even pick the Eagles to be that good, man. Get the Eagles off my television. Do you know the Eagles

are playing the 49ers and Saturday football next week? Yeah. Do you know the Broncos are playing the Jets? Yep. It's a yes. You know what? We're going to make do with what we have.

We're grateful to have football in our lives, and we're just going to repeat that mantra. Let TV cook. Let football TV cook. Okay. Tennessee Titans. All right. The Tennessee Titans.

It's funny because that game against the Steelers is going to be the ultimate, like, which of the three and O categories are they good or is it just scheduled? Do they follow? to bowl. That's not a very pithy name for a bowl, but, you know, we do, again, we make do with what we can. We'll workshop it. We're going to workshop it this week. Exactly. Why don't we just call it the three and a bowl? That works. Okay. For now. It's a point when the Thursday show, we'll have something. Yeah, we'll settle on something. We'll, we'll let you guys know. Uh,

so their defense has given up at least 450 yards two weeks in a row. I have that down in a note and then next to it, it just says, not great. I'm, I, I picked the Titans to win that division. I think their offense has not quite looked like last year's juggernaut, but that was expected. And I'm still, I would still pick them to win that division, even though the Colts look pretty good, but, um, the defense is concerning. That's, it's, it's, it's, it's, it's, it's, it's, it's, it's, it's, it's, it's, it's, it's, it's, it's,

It's not great. It's not what you want. It is not what you want. So from my perspective, I thought this team is going to be a little bit better. There's two consecutive weeks now where a team has gained more than 4 and 50 yards against the Titans. Dalvin Cook had a career high 181 yards, which stopped in the run. Super overrated. Some really elite teams have gotten far in the playoffs without the ability to stop the run. But then Jefferson.

Yeah, that was my next point. You don't get to eliteness by just letting everything happen. And that seems to be with the Titans have done. They let Justin Jefferson have 100 and 75 receiving yards. I will say they're 3 and 0 for the first time since Jeff Fisher was the coach. Slow Newsday is Jeff Fisher. And so at some point, you know, I'm putting them sort of in the middle here. They've been 9 and 7 for four straight years, something like that.

Even though we think that they were more successful last year because maybe a few champs game, it's not like they were 11. five or anything. Arthur Smith still got off from the coordinator. I just expect a little more of this defense. And listen, this is one of the things that, and I've told the story before and I'll just tell it again quickly, but a couple years ago

I called a defense horrible in September, and this is a very short version of the story. A GM called me and it's basically I listened with no padded practices like there were, you know, 10 years ago, this is after the 2011 CBA. You know, the defenses just can't get better in training camp.

And they get better during the season. And the defense is you see in September and off the defense. You'll see in October, November, or December, and they get better over the course of the season. That can only be heightened. This is with 2016 and 2017 that's happened. That can only be heightened when there's literally no OTAs, no training camp, whatever.

It's not about, oh, we can only have 14 padded practice during the year. It's we can only have padded practice for two weeks in August. I mean, this is unbelievable. And so the fact that GM was explaining that to me two years ago, three years ago and now that's cut in half. I can only imagine there will be defenses to get better over the course of the season. I don't know if Tennessee is going to be that, but I'm just saying there might be teams where if you had expectations for a defense, wait two months, see how it goes.

I think that I trust Mike were able to make that happen to an extent. Just make something happen. Just basic confidence. Well, also, and here's the thing is that one, they do, you know, this is one of those sort of not quantifiable things that can be a little overrated, but they can come back from a deficit. There's poise there. There's smart play calling.

Also, after narrowly avoiding disaster in week one, Stephen Giskeowski is like... Eight straight? Eighths of like 54, 55. He can kick from anywhere. He's, you know, all of a sudden it's like in the ring with Justin Tucker and... Off to Cannon, right? Right.

Off to Canton? All right. So the Titans have Steelers this week as we talked about. Then the bills in two weeks. Those are fun. So they've got two currently undefeated teams on the horizon. It's an interesting test. And also, by the way, you have a bad defense.

Those are two guys that go up a lot of numbers on you in a hurry. All right. Let's go to the Bears. Do we have to? So the Bears, oh boy. So the Bears go two and O. they benched their quarterback in the third game and now they're three now.

Nick Foles throws three touchdowns in the fourth quarter, Bears win by four. Matt Nagy says the offensive coaches will get together and make a decision on the long-term starting quarterback. I think that decision is pretty obvious. I will say it is,

some of you will say this, but it's very true biscuit to come in and somehow lose his job despite winning games because he just doesn't pass the action. test here and just wasn't wasn't getting anything done it was a gut feeling corner of maddenade gets what he told mike florio uh i i doubt this has happened uh or i mean i guess it you know it'll happen a little tiny bit it's a completely different circumstances with

kyle or rex grossman um what 12 years ago 14 years ago um where kyle orton was winning games and they just said all right rex is in a little bit of bear's history for you but yeah i this is uh if there's an argument against the bears right now it's a pretty big one it's it they've been playing teams who are just melting down to various degrees. Lions in week one, the Giants in week two, and just the Falcons who, I mean, this is what they do now. The Falcons blow huge leads. That's their business and business is booming.

And I just, I kind of feel like there's probably some schedule here. I think they've been solid. They're not an awful team. They have, I like this from Kevin Fishpane. the bears are now three and one 44 when trailing by 16 points entering the fourth quarter. Two of those have come in the last 14 days. Yeah, so do we call that it's like schedule plus everything is sane. It takes a little bit of talent to capitalize on the incompetence of others.

Yeah. Yeah. So, I mean, that's her accomplishment so far. That's their, yes, that's their colleges so far. And that's a good one. And if they were a legitimately bad team, they wouldn't be able to do this. Right. I'm saying if you're just putting this team in a vacuum, it is, it is the jury is very much out.

They have the Colts this week and then the Bucks the following week. I'll know much more about this team on Friday because they play the Bucks on Thursday, October night. So on October 9th, the day before my birthday, the first thing I'm going to do is say, are the bears good? October 10th. I'm going to put that on my calendar. Got it. That's a good Thursday night game. You just got to get through this one.

Do you think that the Bucks have any chance of competing in the NFC North? The Bears? I don't think that the Bucks. The Bucks used to be in the same division as those teams when it was the NFC Central. If the Bucs compete in the NFC North, it's really, that Tom Brady signing worked. I say wrong things all the time. I don't know why I'm making fun of you about this. To answer your question, it would take.

some real foals magic, right? Oh, we've seen it. We've seen it. I just think the Packers are a little too good. Yeah. I would not, I would not count out at all the Bears snagging the seventh playoff spot, the last wildcard spot. That wouldn't surprise me just because, again, it's a math problem. Three and O, 75% of those teams make the playoffs for a reason. Half of it is because those teams are just good and they won three games off the bat. But some of it is that, again,

you win a couple games, all you have to do is go, what, six and six and ten the rest of the way, and you're fine. That's totally doable. Yeah, six and ten, they do not actually play 19 games. I'm not sure where my math was on that one, but they just have to be mediocre the rest of the way. They can go below 500 the rest of the way. Yeah, they're fine. And then one of Baltimore and Kansas City will be three and oh.

We'll talk about that midweek and their prospects and what we learned and all that stuff. We'll also have a special slow news day coming out on Monday night for Tuesday morning. So look out for that. All right, we got some Niners. Eagles talk coming up. Some, of course, Falcons talk. But first, let's take a quick break. Today's episode is brought you by Heineken.

Heineken would like to remind you that it's time for seasonal beers again. That's right. If you thought a cold, crisp summer Heineken with something, just wait until you taste the Heineken fall lineup. Is it a new product? No. Just the same great tasting logger that's perfect for any season. The weather is changing all around us.

Sports are changing. It's pretty much just going to be football here in a couple weeks, and there is no need for me or you to change your beer. Heineken original logger is made with pure malt and their famous A-East, which makes Heineken an all-season all-the-time kind of beer. So pick up a pack or get it delivered, whatever your style, and drink responsible. Hey, guys, footlong season is at Subway. They make it easy to make a good call on food.

So here's a little segment called Bad Call Good Call, where we'll look at some of the good and bad plays from last week. Here it is. This week's bad call, how about Doug Peterson and the Philadelphia Eagles punting for a tie against Cincinnati Bengals with just a few seconds on the clock?

This was pretty much as conservative as you can get, and trust me, they deserved to tie. This week's good call. How about Aaron Rogers, drawing the New Orleans Saints offsides, getting a free play with the hard count, and then letting Alan Lazard draw a pass interference call, led to a score.

It was perfectly executed. Another bad call from last week, how about me eating a whole bag of chips? Not exactly my greatest decision. So this week, why not make a good call instead like a sweet onion chicken terriacchi from Subway? Another good call, getting a free foot long when you buy two of participating Subway restaurants.

All right, guys, let's make some good calls this week. Order contact free in the app for quick and easy pickup on game day or any day. Or get contact-free delivery. It's a footlong season at Subway. Eat fresh, freshly prepared in front of it. All right, well, let's quickly get to winners and losers. And by the way, by the way, before we start all of this,

we have to preface it by saying that the vast majority of our winners we already talked about. So these are the secondary winners. This is the second tier of winners. The not undefeated winners. You don't have to be undefeated to be a winner. Not on this year podcast. So speaking of, the Colts. Takes all kinds.

The Colts. The Colts are my winner. So the Jets are terrible. So, like, that's acknowledged. We get it. But they won 36 to 7. That's how a good NFL team is supposed to beat a terrible NFL team. And their defense is just playing incredible football.

Xavier Rhodes, who, you know, looking for a bounce back season, he had two picks. And if they can get that number of turnovers, I mean, they've had six interceptions. and two safeties. So far this season. First time they've had back-to-back games with three picks since 1992. Right. Like, I wasn't born then. Anytime you're doing that, you're in a pretty good situation.

They outscored the Vikings and the Jets, 63 to 18. So they're just playing really well right now. And that's without even getting to the offense. And, you know, I don't think it's been perfect. but totally like Rivers looks good, looks competent. He's getting people. One thing that was very cool for me to see

was I love whenever Moali Cox plays well because I covered him when he played college basketball. Oh, that's very nice. And it was so funny because he caught that touchdown pass and he just has these like enormous hands and the football looks like an almond. And I remember going to a game at VCU and just like seeing him walk around like holding a basketball.

And I was like, that's not what it looks like when I hold a basketball. And now I feel like I'm sort of reliving that experience at a different stage of my life. And it's very cool. So I just wanted to share that. But I think the Colts are good.

So winner. So I'm going to push back gently against the Colts. So I thought the Colts were going to be really good. And I picked Philip Rivers as a potential Dark Horse MVP candidate. We're doing that show a couple months ago. And I like Frank Reich and Chris Ballard and all those things. If the Colts were undefeated, I'd put them in the weight and C zone.

And at 2 and 1, I'm putting in the wait and C zone as well. They've lost to the Jaguars. They've beaten it just to, I don't want to do the Vikings again, but my God, do the Vikings suck. They beat the Vikings by 17 points, and then they beat the Jets today. Adam Gase has now lost 30 career games by double digit points, and he has 30 career wins total. A lot of people had the stat today. I saw it from Gary Phillips. So that's where we are with Adam Gase right now.

He's more likely or as likely to win a game as he is to get blown out. Congratulations, Adam Gase on your milestone. But I still need to see a little bit more from the Colts. I love that roster. I think that they're a great example of a team that's going to get better as the year goes along because they're getting a new quarterback and all this stuff. And a guy like Xavier Rhodes, obviously having a nice day is something that I certainly didn't count on. I thought they'd be pretty good this year.

So I'm optimistic about them. I'm just kind of a little bit more in wait and see mode. I did like Frank Reich's face shield, though. He looked great. He did look great. Also, one Adam Gase note, I forget who tweeted this, but I just, I saw a screenshot of the post game press conference transcript. And somebody from the, I think from the New York Post asked Gase a question that was just,

are you embarrassed? What do you say? I think something to the effect of yes. And right, the Jets are really bad. But I do think, so you can tell, I think that you can tell when a team is good when they play really bad teams if they beat up on them.

I agree. But I think the Jets are separate. I mean, they beat the Vikings by 17 points, which is fine. And then they lost the Jags. So I don't know. I mean, are the Jaggs good? Well, so maybe this is, maybe this is part of the discrepancy here is that I still,

I'm not willing to like let go of my Jags enthusiasm that I didn't have and then suddenly had and now I won't let go. So I guess maybe I take that loss as a little bit less horrible because I've bought into Gardner Minchun and Jay Gruden. But I also look at them at the Colts against Minnesota and against the jazz. And so they've given up in all three games, they've given up 246 passing yards total. And I do start to buy in, even when it's against really bad competition, if a team is just beating up on people. And I think they're kind of in that territory.

So I'm calling them a winner. And you can't stop me. I get it. I get it. But one of the things I'm trying to guard against is just overreaction to a season that is going to change in reverse itself so often. And eventual wisdom is going to change. so much. And we're going to get to that in a second with some of the other folks. But I just, I think kind of diving head first into some of these takes when when there's not

a lot of data is how you're going to get yourself in trouble this season, except the 49ers, which I've revoked their Super Bowl bit. Having said that, the 49ers are a winner for their performance today. So I think that if you had just written down in front of Kyle Shanahan and John Lynch, exactly what would happen over the next couple of weeks, if they'd done this a month to go. And they said, by the way, you get to be two and one after the first three weeks. I think that they would have taken that to not have your starting quarterback, to not have Richard Sherman, to have Joey Bosa out for the season when we had him as a defense player, the year, Canada a couple weeks ago. I mean, we made the comparison. It had so many injuries that

essentially we'd made the comparison to the Eagles. And the point I made in the midweek show was that if the Eagles, if 49ers had all of their injuries in training camp, like the Eagles did, I wouldn't have picked them to make the Super Bowl. I just wouldn't have had, I didn't pick the Eagles, made the playoffs because the Brandon Brooks thing, and the Andre Dillard thing and a couple others, Joe Rager, and I said, this is not good. And I would have made that,

done that with the 49ers, because at some point you just stop having that talent, okay? But the difference between those two teams is that the Eagles decided to become a tire fire, and the 49ers decided to fight through it, and they're two and one. And I understand it's to the Jets and the Giants, and I understand that I'm sort of guarding

against easy wins as a barometer. And I understand sort of the illogical nature to what I'm arguing or the inconsistent nature. But what I'm saying is that the 49ers should not be winning these games, or at least they shouldn't be winning these games like they have. The Giants should be good enough. In the second year of Daniel Jones,

I understand there's a new head coach. The Giants should be good enough to beat the 49ers and certainly hang with the 49ers. They couldn't hang with the 49ers. that's embarrassing for the Giants. And it tells me a lot about how good of a coach Kyle Shanahan is. And that this 49ers team, even if they don't have the expectations they once did,

are not going to be an easy out and are going to win some games this year. None of this stuff is easy, right? But it's not always necessarily super complicated. Like the 49ers have their rosters decimated. They don't have their starting quarterback. They go into a game and it's just really obvious that Kyle Shanhan was basically like, okay, we're going to run to the outside, we're going to work the edges, and we have a plan. And again, it doesn't mean it's easy to execute.

But sometimes you look at a game and you just think one of these teams has a plan and knows what it is and knows what it's good at and the other one doesn't. And that is still the 49ers, no matter how many of their starters you take away. And I think that's what we're seeing. Yep. I don't want to say it. But there's a culture there. we're just turning into like crusty like

uh got a team building dude culture is real culture is so real culture is so real culture is so real culture is so real culture exists it exists in our lives it exists like you we react to people we react to situations like there's no it's like denying culture is denying human nature and rant by the way by the way the giant I just want to say for a quote the giants are example of building a culture without the roster when we go back to what we were talking about earlier. That's a culture that's running laps, whatever the hell they're trying to do, no roster. And I haven't sure if they're building a culture correctly.

All right. Last winner. The Patriots, who I was interested in because I just think that they've shown through three games, they can win in a lot of different ways. Week one, Cam Newton was a huge part of their rushing offense. Week two, they were throwing it. And he was incredible. And just passing to all parts of the field. This week, those things weren't clicking in the same way, but they just had a really great game from their running backs. I think Rexberg had had three touchdowns. Sony Michelle, which, I mean, I know not everybody is as deep in the weeds in New England as I am,

but the Sony Michelle roller coaster is just something that promotes a lot of angst on Twitter.com. And he had a great game. They were without David Andrews, who's their starting center, who's going to be out for a few weeks, but they moved Joe Tuny to send. and still seemed like they were able to be fine there. And, you know, they're, it's funny. They're a little bit like the bills to me where I'm not sure they can hang with the chiefs and the Ravens.

But the thing is, is that if you have options and you have good players who can make things happen, I trust Bill Belichick. And the question about this team, right, was how good's the roster? Do they have enough for him to work with? And I think it's yes. I mean, we've seen them win, not win games, but compete in three games in really different ways. And they're still, they were so, they clearly wanted to take away Darren Waller was like

their big key on defense and they put like seven different guys on him at different times. And so you just see that the smarts of the coaching staff there come through and they've got enough guys to make it work. So winner. Yeah, the Darren Waller thing was fascinating. I love seeing just from a football door perspective when Belichick wants to take somebody away. The best I've ever seen is when Jimmy Graham was coming in and he had done something like

had seven straight hundred yard games, something like that. He just obliterated tight end records. And Belichick was like, yeah, I'm just going to hold Jimmy Graham catchless. That's just what I'm going to go ahead and do. And it was that game where they won in the last second. That was one of the best games ever seen, just from a coaches standpoint, from a Brady standpoint, in a regular season. And just it was awesome.

When Belichick wants to take a guy away, not only can he do it, but it's impressive to see how he does it. I will say, are you worried a little bit? So Mike Reese said this. The Patriots have now allowed six passing touchdowns this season. They gave up a total four in the first 11 games last season. We knew that this defense was not going to be like it was last year. Defense is tend to regress. But obviously, J.C. Jackson is still there.

Stefan Gilmore is still there. McCordy's still there. this defense, again, is it going to be good enough to keep them in 16 games this season? Good enough to keep them in 16 games this season, yes. They're not as good. They also played historically bad teams at the beginning of last year for the first half of last year. So that contributed to some of that. Just the stats last year were insane for them.

And they had so many, you know, they were scoring defensive touchdowns like every week. they don't have as much ability to manufacture pass rush. And so I think the coverage has to do even more. But I also think they're a better offense. And it's funny because it's like Tom Brady is a better fit in Tampa. And Cam Newton just seems better suited for what they want to do. So I'm not super concerned about it except for when they're playing the chiefs or the Ravens. you know, so.

Which, by the way, drum roll, please. They are. They play the Kansas Chiefs in the next game. What are you expecting? I think the Chiefs will win. I agree. I think it might be close. I love seeing, and this is one of those things.

Again, I don't want to miss a Belichick podcast. This is one of those things where I wish the patrons were full strength because Bill Belichick game planning for Patrick Mahomes is football heaven. Yep. All right. All right. Time for losers. Time for huge losers.

Oh, boy. I want to just collect myself before I start this. I almost wish that I'd pick the Eagles so I'd win the Super Bowl. I picked them to make the Super Bowl last year. And I almost wish I had something more at stake so I could be even angrier than I am right now. I'm pretty angry. I got no affinity one way or another for the Eagles.

I'm not from Philadelphia. But punting to tie, I just don't want this on my television anymore. I just don't want to see this. I think Doug Peterson, after the game, Zach Bromann wrote a pretty good story about this, very good story about this, where he quoted Doug Peterson saying,

he'll look back on the decision and say we could have done something else, which is coach speak for I screwed up. He also says it is what it is, which is more coach speak for we screwed up. But this is a bad football team. And one of the things I did not know about the Eagles until today was I thought they were playing badly for a good team. And I was wrong.

They're a bad football team. There's no goodness in this team right now. Maybe that will change in October, November, or December. But they are zero, two, and one. And if we were doing the winless teams, like we were doing with the undefeated teams in the headline block, I'd say they're winless because they deserve to be winless, not because of some schedule quirk or whatever.

I mean, they lost to the wall. Washington football team and they tied the damn bangles today and they basically built a strategy in overtime around tying the damn bangles today. They have the 49ers next week, which toss up that great culture in San Francisco, who the hell knows. Then they had the Steelers and they have the Eagles. Excuse me. The Steelers and they have the Ravens. Too many bird teams. Steers and the Ravens. So they better hope that they can beat the 49ers next week. I don't know if they can. Sunday night football. And then they've got two really good teams.

They're not beating the Baltimore Ravens. They're not beating in Baltimore Ravens. I don't know what they're going to play against the Steelers or whatever. But this is looking like a lost season. I don't know what it says about Carson Wentz right now. Again, I don't want to be the guy who's overreacting to this stuff because this is the weirdest season in the history of football and everything had to be taken with a grain of salt.

Every single thing. Philly Sports Radio will take care of that for you. Don't worry about it. This is the worst start for them since Doug Peterson was their quarterback. The 49ers are losing a player per drive, basically. Every time I turn

on the 49ers, they've lost a player for the season, and I have no confidence in the Eagles' ability to win next week. Wentz's just making just crazy mistakes. For them, we joke about, like, Cam Newton and how he could have, every

team was like, oh, this guy's going to, this young quarterback student is confidence wrecked if they bring him in and say, shut up. but Jalen Hart's getting drafted. I mean, that changes the narrative every time Wence goes out there and makes us a huge mistake.

And what happens here? And Carson Wendz is a franchise quarterback. Warren Sharp was on this podcast a couple months ago and basically put, I asked him a couple weeks ago, and I asked him for his Mount Rushmore of young quarterbacks, and he said Carson Wence is there.

And I think a lot of smart people believe in Carson Wence, but right now I'm not seeing it. Again, I don't want to overrate everything. in the weirdest year of all time. But I just have to repeat this. I thought they were a bad team. Excuse me.

I thought they were a good team playing badly. And instead, they're a bad team playing badly. They're a bad team being who they are. Right now when I look at this team. I don't want to see this team anymore. It's like I'm not mad. I'm just disappointing except like you're also mad. I'm also mad.

Speaking of disappointing teams. The Atlanta Falcons. The great falconing of 2020 has continued. and it ruined Arthur Blank's birthday. A week after blowing a 20-point lead to the Cowboys, they lost a 16-point fourth-quarter lead to the Bears and Nick Fools, who we've discussed and who there are positive qualities that can be ascribed to. But this is getting absurd.

Something's got to give. Something must be done because this is absurd performance art, perhaps, but it's not good football and it's ripping the hearts out of Atlanta Falcons fans. And I just, I find it fascinating and I can't look away, but we can't go on like this. So obviously it goes without saying they've made history, first team to ever blow two 15 point leads in the same season, let alone back-to-back weeks. 16.19 point leads in consecutive weeks. I would say that the onside kick week against Cowboys last week was a little bit worse just because of that particular fiasco with that kick. But to do it two straight weeks means something has to change.

Dan Quinn, good guy, respecting the community, respecting the locker and all that stuff. It's time, buddy. When you consistently get to 99% win probability and lose, when you consistently get to 99% win probability and lose, when you literally just start breaking math, they're going to have to change the damn probability machine because of the Falcons. They're going to have to change math around because the Falcons can't perform in the fourth quarter,

don't know how to fall on onside kicks if it doesn't go 10 yards. Matt Ryan just got, the whole team gets the yips. I can't diagnose it because I looked at this and I just said, well, the wheels are falling off. Here it comes. And you just look at it happens. So in the fourth quarter, Matt Ryan was three of 11 for 31 yards, one interception. By the way, an awful interception.

Awful interception. Terrible. Pass a rating of one point seven. By the way, everyone knew the interception was happening. Everybody knew that that interception was happening. Matt Ryan included. Matt Ryan looked like he wanted to get it over. Marriles just said, deal me out of this.

That was awful. I don't know what's happening. That was awful. I mean, Dan Quinn, I, again, I'm sure. will be a good defensive coordinator somewhere next year, but it is, it is time. It's just to an extent where you figure they almost, they can't possibly be trying to do this, but they would almost have to try. It's a bit.

It's their gimmick. It's their thing. We tend to like bits, but I don't like this bit, so they're a loser. I mean, it is, let's just, it is deeply funny. Yeah. But it's also sad. It's deeply funny that it is in the Super Bowl, and now they just keep, reliving. It's like Edge of Tomorrow

starring Dan Quinn. I don't like it. All right. Let's blow through these. Kyla Murray is a loser for me. And this is, I would say this is a compliment to Kyler Murray. Okay. So I recalibur my expectations for the Cardinals midweek after seeing what Kyler had done in the first

two weeks. I essentially say I'm going to be disappointed if they're not 5 and 0 with their easy schedule. and I'm going to be really surprised if they're not four and one. And then they go out and they kind of lay an egg against Matt Patricia. Matt Patricia, congratulations. You're on the board this year. You're not going to end up a win list there, buddy.

But Kyler Murray has three interceptions. He basically broke Jeff Oak at his ankles at one point. It was a very nice run. But I expect Kyler Murray to play like a top 10 quarterback all season long. Took a step back this week. and he's a loser only because I expect him to be a consistent winner this year. I thought they were going to be an FC West Hunt. They still might be all of those things,

but we're going to go ahead and not lose the Lions at home. That's my suggestion. We would prefer if it didn't, you know. Yeah. We all got together and talked about it and we decided we're going to pass on losing to the Lions and home. We all made a collective decision. Yeah. So I wouldn't have had him.

I'm not quite in the place with Kyler and the Cardinal. that you are. So I guess I'm, I react a little bit less strongly to just see. I'm not even sure where I am right now. I went all in on them. And then they love, and I went all in on them.

Now they've lost to Matt Patricia. So where am I? I'm in football. I'm in Cardinals purgatory. You go in and take. Cardinals purgatory. You go in and take and you get caught halfway. It's Cardinals purgatory like Hotel California?

A little bit. Yeah. Okay. Yeah. So we'll see. I mean, I, I'm more, I think, have built-in expectations that Kyler's going to make some mistakes and throw some bad picks and look inexperienced than maybe you'd gotten to that place. So I'm not joining you in Cardinals purgatory, but not losing the lines is not what you want to do.

And I think we can all agree on that. Last thing on that. It's borderline, but the Cardinals punted from the 50-yard line with five minutes to go. It was a fourth and nine. I'm going to need more aggression there, Cliff. Kylo and Murray can get nine yards. Let him cook. Just let him cook.

Just always be cooking. The lions, the lions never relinquished the ball and obviously won on the last kick of the game. It would be very funny if Cliff Kingsbury, like Mr. passing game, we just started to let Kyler cook narrative. Just never run the ball ever again. All right. Any other winners? Well, we did winners already.

We're doing losers now. Oh, sorry. I'm in a win. I'm in win now mode. You love winners. You love a winner. I totally get that. My last loser is the Texans.

We don't need to get too into this because we already talked about that game. But they were shut out in the second half. Watson took five sacks. It's just everything. So the story of the Texans, right, is that they have an incredible quarterback and they just decide to make things awful for him.

And it makes me really upset. And all of the resources that they pour into the offensive line, they've helped a bit. They stabilized from disaster to mediocre, but it's still not creating ideal situations for Watson to do everything that he's capable of. David Johnson, I don't know if we thought that we were shifting that narrative, but David Johnson had 23 yards on 13 carries today.

And NextGen Sat says he didn't face a single, eight man box. So I know the Steelers have a good run defense, but don't try me with that. And they've been kind of pass heavy, which is good, right? But then today, they go super run heavy on early downs.

They end up asking Deshaun Watson to complete, he averaged 11.3 yards to go on third downs. You can't do that to him. It's not fair. It's not nice. He's an incredible quarterback. And I don't like seeing this happen. happen. So they're a loser.

So I just have very quickly two points to make. Number one, what was that with David Johnson week one where people were like, don't hear the doubters now. It's David Johnson. Number two, I don't think we're making enough. It's not his fault, but it's not his fault. It's no, it's, God bless him for making that money. And by the way, having played to a level where he deserved it at a lot point, that that's not, no one's impugent. David Johnson here. I'm just saying that I did not expect that much from him. Now, the dolphins

have the Texans pick. First round. The Texans are winless. And obviously it comes down to he select and all that stuff, but man, if the dolphins get like a top five pick

as the second first rounder for Laramie Tunsell, that's a pretty good business. And it's not good business for old trader bill. Let's move on. When they let DeAndre Hopkins make the Texan schedule, he did call Chris Greer and take a little bit of input. He ran it past him. All right, we're going to do a quick reader questions.

Love some of these. All right. Number one. How many games in a row could it deplet from Greg Gottfried? How many games in a row could have depleted 49ers team win against the Chets and Giants and MetLife? So they've won two in a row. So I guess the question supposes they would just keep going through both teams. teams each week for a while.

I don't know. I guess there's no, there's no guidelines here as far as do they, the 49 is keep getting injured on the turf and stuff, and do they keep losing players? But supposing it's the roster they have now, I said they could win six more times. Like,

yeah, I was going to say five. Three times, three times against each team. And then I think the Giants win one X knowing. Yeah, I was going to say, I just think it's more of a randomness thing. I think you could, Mix them in any order.

I think they're winning like five to seven. And then they'll, you know, everyone has an off day. All right. I mean, maybe, but they were required the giants and the chats to have an on day. It's a pretty off day. All right. This is from Brian. Which franchise that remains winless seems to be on track to be a

playoff contender the fastest. So obviously, unless one of us wanted to bake a take that one of the winless teams are going to win and make the playoffs this year, this is a future. So the winless teams are, and let's just do the O-N-3 teams. Let's take, let's take Philadelphia and Cincinnati out of this. Atlanta, the Giants, Denver, Minnesota, the Jets, and Houston. Nora, who's making the playoffs the fastest out of that group?

I mean, if the, if, I'm like, so I want to say, I kind of want to say the Falcons. Yeah, I kind of do too. They have a good passing offense. If you have a good passing offense in the NFL, you can figure it out, except the problem is they're cursed. Well, they robbed a mummy's tomb in the offseason. Right. They shouldn't have done that.

Just do trust falls. Just do trust falls who go to play laser tag or something. Do not rob them on these tomb. I will also say this. Houston is not going to move on from Bill O'Brien. That is done. Okay. That's my guess.

Just from all the moves they've made, I haven't talked to anybody down there, but he's consolidating his power. He might be the owner by the end of the season. If the Jets move on from Adam Gase, I don't think they've got the pieces there to have an immediate turnaround. Who knows what they do with Donald and all that stuff. Minnesota is intriguing to me, but I still feel like there's kind of a soft rebuild. That was the word that was going around from some media there. So that they might need another year.

Denver is Denver, the Giants of the Giants, whatever. with Atlanta, if Dan Quinn gets replaced by like a legitimate quarterback guru, not a fake quarterback guru like Adam Gase, like a legitimately good Eric B. enemy, Arthur Smith, somebody like that. I could see the Julio and Matt Ryan connection happening pretty quickly, or accelerating pretty quickly up again, and then all of a sudden they went 10 games. So I'm going to agree with you just in the sense that if you're looking for 2021, the pieces seem to be there.

Houston, obviously, the shortest path to being contender is having a great quarterback. They've got that, so I wouldn't count that out either. All right. By the way, I would say Cincinnati if they were winless and match for it like Joe Burrow. They are winless. They are winless. But I just kind of feel like, like, it might take a little bit for that team to get built up to speed. All right.

Last question. It's from Brock Biedelman. if Josh Allen and Sam Donald's swap draft spots will be more successful today. This could be a 40-minute podcast. I know. It's a rich text. I think I answer first.

I agree. I agree. I think it's a culture, man. I think it's a culture, but just I do also think that Adam Gase, you know, there's a, not to quote, mid-90s episodes anymore, but there's a joke about how anybody who sits near Bart in class just gets an F and the closer you are to Bart in class

the worst your grade is and they had a chart there. I'm kind of viewing that right now with Adam Gase, okay? I just don't, I think that's, you talk about curses, how about the Falcons mummy curse or whatever? Talk about being coached by Adam Gase. Talk about being a young quarterback, Sam Darnold, who's younger than a lot of the guys

who were drafted in years after him because he came into league so young. and getting Adam Gase is your coach. Ryan Tannanhill, like, moved his seat to the backer class and turned into Patrick Mahomes for a year. Ryan Tannahill is amazing now. He's amazing. And all it took was getting away from Adam Gase.

Like, I just don't understand. I just don't understand any of this, man. Like, this is crazy to me how bad of a coach Adam Gase is. And I don't even know, like, if I'm Adam, first, it's not just. just the bad coaching, the bad plays, the bad development. He's constantly feuding with good players under contract. Like, I just, if I'm Adam Gase, if I'm an owner, anyone Adam Gase is like a quarterback's coach.

What would you want him to do? I would want him to not be in my organization. Right? Like, it seems to me that he just, is just constantly feuding with everybody. I guess he made, he made friends with Peyton Manning that one time. With Peyton Manning, yeah.

Do you know who coaches, Peyton Manning? Peyton Manning. That's who coach is Peyton Manning. That's who coach is Peyton Manning. That's who coach is T.M.A. All right. Anyway, this is a pro-Josh-Hallon podcast.

All right. Tomorrow's quickbait. Trevor Lawrence is going to refuse to play for the Jets. Ooh. I kind of like that. I didn't think about it. I think there's going to be legitimate calls this week from media, not from people inside the NFL.

there will be legitimate calls for Carson Winston-Wenst to be benched. Kairon, is it time for Dylan Hertz? Yeah, I like it. It's happening. Yeah. I don't, I don't, I have no, actually no take on that.

As down as I am on the Eagles, I have some optimism for Carson Wentz. It's not his fault. And there, who cares? It's, it is a little bit his fault. It's not completely his fault is what I mean. It's not, it's not completely anybody's fault. But it's, there's, there's,

There's plenty of blame to go around. It's a large blame pie. This has been the Ringer NFL show on the Ringer Podcast Network. We ended with large blame pie. What a depressing outro. We'll see you Thursday. We have Lian Shazer and Colerite coming up on Tuesday. See you guys.

All right, guys. We made some bad calls and good calls this week. But remember, it's footlong season at Subway. So let's try to keep them mainly good, okay? You can start by grabbing a delicious footlong with all your favorite top. order contact free in the Subway app for quick and easy pickup or get contact-free delivery. So forget about that fried, greasy food and grab a tasty footlong on game day or any day. Because it's footlong season at Subway.

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