The Ringer NFL Show - Week 5 in the NFL: Drake Maye's Moment, No More Unbeatens, and Bummed-Out Bottom Dwellers

Episode Date: October 6, 2025

The Ringer’s own Diante Lee joins Sheil to analyze a few of the most newsworthy results of Sunday’s NFL action and discuss how they’ve defined the state of some of the most talked-about franchis...es and their fan bases. (00:00) Intro/cold open (2:31) Question #1: Which fan base should be most excited after Week 5?(15:39) Question  #2: Which previously unbeaten team should be most concerned?(22:49) Question #3: Which fan base should be the most bummed by the way that their team played in Week 5?(26:36) The Hurry Up: Sean Payton and the Denver Broncos The Ringer is committed to responsible gaming. Please visit⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠www.rg-help.com⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ to learn more about the resources and helplines available. Host: Sheil KapadiaGuest: Diante LeeProducer: Chris SuttonSocial: Kiera Givens and Brian WatersProduction Supervision: Conor Nevins and Arjuna Ramgopowell Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

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Starting point is 00:00:00 Welcome to the Ringer NFL show. I'm your host, Shield Capadio, week five Sunday in the books. We just got finished watching the Patriots upset the bills. I've got Deontay Lee from the Ringer here with me. We've got three big questions from Sunday. We're going to talk about which fan base should be the most excited about how its quarterback played.
Starting point is 00:00:20 We're going to talk about which previously unbeaten team should be more concerned with its first loss, the Eagles or the Bills, and which fan base should be most. by the way its team played on Sunday. Because Deonti, I got to think there are going to be some fan bases who are going to maybe be checking out Saturdays a little bit more and looking at those draft prospects and thinking about, all right, where are we picking again?
Starting point is 00:00:43 Because today was a bad day for a lot of teams in the NFL. 100%. I feel like when I was doing the power rankings last year, it got really easy, probably around Halloween, because you could kind of really see where the tiers are separating. It feels like we're getting there a lot earlier. in NFL seasons than we ever have before for teams letting you know
Starting point is 00:01:03 within three to four weeks like, hey, not a contender over here. Don't got to worry about us anymore. Focus your attention elsewhere. And like you said, this was a week where I think a lot of teams are starting to trend in that direction. Yeah, hang the banner.
Starting point is 00:01:13 Don't pay attention to us anymore. It's all good. You don't need to talk about us anymore. So we'll talk about some of those teams. We'll talk about the three big questions from week five when we come back on the ringer NFL show. This is the ringer NFL show
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Starting point is 00:01:54 to learn more about the resources and help lines available and listen to the end of the episode for additional details. Must be 21 plus and present in select states and 18 plus in D.C., Kentucky, and Wyoming. Gambling problem, call 1-800 gambler or visit RG-Help.com. Call 1-888-787-9-77 or visit ccpg.org slash chat in Connecticut. All right, three big questions from week five with Deontay. Question number one, Deontay, which fan base should be most excited
Starting point is 00:02:40 about how its quarterback played on Sunday. The Patriots, the Bucks, or the Seahawks. So I probably could have expanded this to more, but I mean, we had Drake May big time performance on Sunday night. Patriots go to Buffalo as big underdogs and beat the bills. Baker Mayfield was terrific once again in Tampa's win over Seattle. And then Sam Darn, a losing effort. We can talk about that.
Starting point is 00:03:03 throws the interception at the end. But I thought he was fantastic once again. So which fan base right now, the group chats are just like, oh my gosh, it's so nice to have this guy. We love this guy. Let's order this jersey for our kids. Who's feeling it right now?
Starting point is 00:03:17 You know, like, I don't want to be a coward and answer this from like a bunch of different perspectives, right? So I will say like my overall answer is actually Sam Darnold because when you consider free agency spending and what they spent on Darnold and what they decided not to spend on with Gino Smith, right? And I think that I'm going with that answer because it is multifold, right? You have to think about the quarterback you've got and how they're playing. and then what you ultimately allow to leave the door
Starting point is 00:03:42 and how that guy is at his next stop. But if we're talking strictly within fan bases, right? Like if I were a Seahawks, a Buccaneers, or a Patriots fan, I think the answer then would probably be Drake May, right? Because I think that these first five weeks have kind of been a culmination of some of the things we were talking about on the last iteration of the show
Starting point is 00:04:00 in the 2024 season, right? And Drake May showing a lot of strong potential, even though the Patriots weren't winning. And then you finally get in this prime time opportunity and he looked like the best quarterback on the field. And that's just not something you typically say about, you know, a game that involves Josh Allen is that he's not the best quarterback on the field. And the fact that he did this, I don't want to be over the top.
Starting point is 00:04:22 But, I mean, as far as MVP outside odds, like, you have to be thinking through the first five games of the year. Like, this guy's playing a quarterback as well, if not better than anybody else in the league. Yeah, I thought the biggest thing on Sunday night was like, we talked to Nate Tice about this last week, where I watched last week and I was like, Josh McDaniels is like, this is my show,
Starting point is 00:04:42 you know, just operate my offense. And that's kind of how May was playing. Not every snap I understand. There's always going to be times when he creates. But in this game against the bills, it was like, all right, that balance between point guard and playmaker, I need to dial up the playmaker in this game.
Starting point is 00:04:57 Because I'm going up against Josh Allen and not all the play calls are working. And I thought he was incredible doing that. How many times did he roll to it, you know, skate pressure up the middle, rolled to his right, and made a play. It felt like he completed every pass when he was doing that.
Starting point is 00:05:11 The play on that last series, I mean, Patriots fans are going to be losing their minds about that play where he's getting dragged down and somehow his knee does not touch the ground. And he completes a pass to Stefan Diggs. And then he has another great pass in the turkey hole against cover two on the right side there, drives them into field goal range. So yeah, I think we're saying like,
Starting point is 00:05:31 who's losing their minds the most about their quarterback right now after week five? I'm with you. It's Drake May. But man, that Darnold Mayfield game was no joke either. 100%. And you know, it's funny for all the conversations that we've had on and off the microphone, right, about who Baker Mayfield is as a quarterback and what he might not be. I think specifically was like Sam Darnold, right? What he was over the first end of his career, what he was and wasn't in Carolina and now what we've seen in Minnesota and now here in Seattle. like we're talking about guys that have been written off at different points in their career as being fringe starter types and now look like quality guys that when you start looking at the playoff picture in the NFC, these are two teams because of their offenses that you have to really consider if you're at the top of your division right now thinking I don't want to have to see this team and I definitely don't want to have to travel, you know, to Seattle or to Tampa Bay to have to see either of these guys in a playoff environment because they've been playing so strong. And Sunday was another example of that. those were the two best offensive performances by by oh i think actually behind the colts maybe the second and third best offensive performances by a team this season the bucks and the
Starting point is 00:06:45 seahawks going up i mean it felt like the ball didn't hit the ground for either guy and it was just what seven touchdowns in a row at one point in that game i want to talk about both of them but i have to say you know like sam darnold for like you said people have listened to the show no that i'm like all right everybody settled down a little bit on Sam Darnold. I thought that in the offseason. I thought this isn't going to work. I've already said that was wrong.
Starting point is 00:07:08 I thought this might have been the best game of his career. I mean, he was 28 for 34, 34, 341 yards, four touchdowns. Again, had the interception at the end. It bounces off of Bucks players. Helmet, bad spot for that, but he had like no margin for error. And what I like Deontes, this wasn't just like, all right, you know, we're going to run, run, run, and then do a play action and chuck it down. It's like, yeah.
Starting point is 00:07:30 Yeah. Yeah, this was like, no, you need to create. You're being pressured. He had the touchdown pass where he's being pressured. He escapes, throws it to the left side. I thought he was making high degree of difficulty throws. He was creating this entire game. Again, the ball's not hitting the ground.
Starting point is 00:07:46 Do you know what quarterback leads the NFL success rate EPA per pass play through the first five weeks of the season? You can probably guess. I mean, it's got to be Sam, Donald. And I know this because I've been looking, right? I've been looking week over week. If you try to, you know, extrapolate various particular weeks, they're like, okay, against this defense, how'd you look against, you know, the entire breadth of the season. And they've been top five, top eight, top three, no matter what week or what week range you're working with.
Starting point is 00:08:12 It's been it's been blowing me away, honestly, to see how he's operated. And like you said, I mean, we know what Sam Darnold is for the most part, right? This is a guy that is an ambitious passer. So you usually expect if you turn on the Sam Darnold game and his team has 30 points, hey, maybe, you know, he's ripped a couple deep balls and then there were a lot of bad incompletions that maybe didn't get picked off maybe he took a couple sacks but he never changed his approach. I looked at the box score at one point and I'm like this guy's like 23 of 27. That's crazy. That's not the same darned I know. And you're looking at him on third down. I mean, and he's just drilling these
Starting point is 00:08:46 throws to Jackson Smith and Jigba to Torrey Horton. You pointed out that touchdown that was on a fourth and two when he was under pressure and not on a clean platform to make that throw. You think about the throws to Cooper Cup today as well. I mean, really outside of of that tipped off the helmet interception. And I thought a really poor decision by Quint Kubiak and Mike McDonald to take him off the field and put Jalen Milrow on to try to get tricky with that option play that ends up turning into a fumble and turnover. Like Sam Ronald did exactly what you asked, what you would ever ask him to do in a perfect offensive environment. And he delivered on that. To your point, the N. Ciyahawks fans get the whole, like I told you so, all right, where are all the people like Shield Capadis?
Starting point is 00:09:24 who said we're making a mistake going to Gino Smith and Clint Kubiak. And you should laugh at me right now. I mean, I couldn't have been more wrong about that. He looked incredible. And I would love to tell you like, all right, settle down. It's five games. But my eyes are telling me this is a legit improved quarterback who's playing in the scheme he likes. And it's not a great supporting cast.
Starting point is 00:09:46 I mean, Clint Kubiak, this offensive line, Jackson Smith and Jigba is great. It's not like everybody, you know, it's not like the system is working for Sam Darnold. he is making things better in that system and really doing an incredible job. And then Baker Mayfield, man, he just, you know, no Mike Evans in this game again, because you'll hear if there's so much, a quarterback analysis, all it is is who do you want to make excuses for
Starting point is 00:10:08 and who do you not want to make excuses for? Yes. He's got the new O.C. He's got no Mike Evans. He's got a banged up Chris Godwin. He's got offensive linemen who are down. 29 for 33, 3759 yards, two touchdowns, no interceptions.
Starting point is 00:10:23 Again, I know the season. Hawks had injuries on defense, but so did the Bucks and Mayfield delivered once. And those two are like so fun to watch. I mean, I have not been like in the corner of either these guys before being like, man, he doesn't get enough respect. What was what, you know, that was one of the most fun game, maybe the most fun game of the day to watch was those two quarterbacks. By far, and I would say like Baker Mayfield's doing it in a way that he hasn't basically
Starting point is 00:10:46 since he's been in Tampa Bay, right? Like you think about the Dave Canalish year, you think about the year last year with William Cohen. A lot of that was explosive run game or downhill run game to set up play action pass. Because they don't have the offensive line that they typically want to run behind, you're not seeing them do a lot of play action. And you're also putting more on Baker's plate in terms of managing messy pockets, right? Like having to create outside of structure. Him as a scrambler has just been blowing my mind, right? Every week he is caught dead to rights on some second and third along. You're like, okay, surely, this is going to be the sack.
Starting point is 00:11:19 Or this is where he's going to have to throw the ball away. This is where he makes some mistake because he's under this pressure. And a guy squirts out. And it's not just a scramble for three or four yards. He goes and finds eight, nine yards to move the chains. And you're just like, you can't keep getting away with this. And he continues to do so. You don't think of him as being as creative a passer as what we've seen this year.
Starting point is 00:11:38 I think that he has been helped immensely by a meca, and for me personally, I can't imagine a prospect that I've been like further off on. Maybe Isaiah Simmons coming out of Clemson. But for me, when I looked at Emeka, Luke, I was like, this is not, I see a very productive guy, I see a very dependable guy. I don't see a guy that you can use as an engine of your passing game at the NFL level. And shame on me. Because, I mean, this dude has made acrobatic catches inside and outside the numbers, deep down the field and creating after the catch.
Starting point is 00:12:06 He's checked every box. And Baker Mayfield, I think, has been excellent at, and we give Matthew Stafford a lot of credit for this. When he knows he has a guy and that guy can't be guarded, he is funneling targets to that player. Spam it. Yeah. 100%. make defense has been, you know, and call for mercy. And we've seen that this year.
Starting point is 00:12:24 And that has done so much to lift this offense, who like you said has just been absolutely bombarded with injuries. Yeah, you don't get extra credit for varying the passing game. If they can't guard the guy, throw it to the guy. All right, let's do it. So you drop the spicy May, hey, maybe MVP. All right, so I'm doing this spontaneously here. Rank in order for me in likelihood.
Starting point is 00:12:46 Drake May is a top three MVP. boat getter at the end of the season. Sam Darnold is quarterbacking the Seahawks in the Super Bowl. Baker Mayfield is quarterbacking the Bucks in the Super Bowl. Those three most likely
Starting point is 00:13:03 to least likely. Feel free to play along at home again. May top three MVP candidate. Baker Mayfield is the quarterback in Santa Clara representing the NFC for the Bucks. Sam Darnold is the quarterback in Santa Clara representing the Seahawks in the NFC.
Starting point is 00:13:19 I think if you would have said that May had to be MVP runner-up or winner, I might have backed off of it. Top three is just enough wiggle room where if there's like a unanimous guy or there's a guy who gets like 98% of the first place votes, then maybe you know you might throw a second place to this guy and he just kind of gets lifted. His aggregate score gets lifted in that way. So I'll go with Drake may being a top three MVP guy for as much as I've liked Sam Donald for as much as I've liked Baker Mayfield over the last two years. I'm not ready to make that leap quite yet with those guys. And you know from last year, like, I was probably the one guy on the podcast. I was like, hey, man, I think I see it with Donald.
Starting point is 00:13:58 I think I see it with Mayfield. You know, and I've been that way throughout this regular season, but still, like, it's a long road to hope from here. I don't necessarily know if the Bucks or Seahawks are likely enough to win the NFC for me to pick them to make the Super Bowl. But Drake made by the numbers right now certainly looks like a top three MVP level guy. If you had to pick. So what would be two?
Starting point is 00:14:18 So Mays 1, what's second in your order? If yeah, it's a big Bucks or C-Hawks. Second of my order would probably be Seahawks in the Super Bowl. And then third would be the Bucks. I'm going to go Bucks most likely. All right. They keep winning games. They're in a weak division.
Starting point is 00:14:30 I'm going to go Seahawks number two because you've made the case. Once their defense gets healthy, they might win a lot of games. And if Donald's playing like this, what's stopping them? And then I'll go May number three just because I don't know that the Patriots are going to get to the record. It's the win total. the wind total. So we'll see if they get there or not. All right, there you go. What'd you say at home? Agree with us, disagree with us. All right, let's take a break. We come back. We get to our next two questions. This episode is brought to you by American Eagle. Listen up. And you heard this from me first.
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Starting point is 00:15:42 Question number two, which previously unbeaten team should be more concerned with the its first loss, the Eagles or the Bill. So the Eagles blow a 17-3 lead to the Broncos. The bills we mentioned lose Sunday night against the Patriots, which team should be more concerned with its first loss? Oh, man. Every week I get blocked by more and more Eagles fans, and I feel like this is going to be another one where I'm going to find out
Starting point is 00:16:08 that I have less and less access to some of my favorite Eagles fans accounts. But it's got to be Philadelphia, man. We're getting to a can't hide from it. We can't talk around it. We can't, you know, we can't lie about this anymore. But I want to, and I want to kind of make this case statistically, right? Because so much of this, I think, gets hung up just as in the offseason with how you feel about J. Helens Heert specifically.
Starting point is 00:16:29 And then you throw in all this A.J. Brown stuff. And it turns into a big mess that I don't even really want to interface with for the sake of this show. But I want, what I want to lay out is that Philadelphia is telling us who they are as an offense. And we continue to show up week after week trying to troubleshoot. something that it does not seem like they want to fix. So if you look at the data, they don't want to throw on early downs. They have the second fewest first down pass rate in the NFL, only ahead of Buffalo.
Starting point is 00:16:57 They don't really believe in play action, fifth lowest rate on early downs in the NFL. They don't ask their quarterback to get the ball out of his hands quickly. They have the third fewest throws within two and a half seconds in the NFL, only ahead of Buffalo, guy who can't be sacked in Josh Allen and another deep play action team. And Justin Fields, we do not view as a proficient. pocket, you know, processing type of guy. So that's not a compliment to be holding the ball that long. And then with them not, with them not getting the ball out quickly, they don't throw it deep.
Starting point is 00:17:26 They have the second fewest rate of throws past the sticks in the league only ahead of Pittsburgh. So if I'm telling you that a team doesn't want to use play action or RPOs, don't want to push the ball downfield, don't get the ball out of its quarterback's hands. And right now they are running the ball worse than at any other time in the Nick Siriani era as head coach. What does that sound like to you but a bad offense? And if we did a blind taste test and took the logo off the side of the helmet and I just laid out these statistics to you, nobody in their right mind would say that that offense is about to compete for another Super Bowl. I can't, like, we just can't talk around that anymore. Maybe something changes, right?
Starting point is 00:18:05 Like by week, they might have a come to Jesus moment. Everybody has it out in the locker room and you're able to kind of grow from there. Maybe Kevin Petulow figure something out midway through the season and they do land on an identity. right now, everything they're doing is not working and not contributing to winning. And that's the reason why they lost this game on Sunday. Well, what was most interesting about this game is that, like, I think they had the same data you had. And they're like, all right, we're going to do things differently today.
Starting point is 00:18:32 We're going to come out passing and we're going to throw it downfield. And that ends up in a game where Sequin Barkley has six carries. And they're throwing the football, you know, a very high pass rate on early downs. and they come out in the first half and it's looking good. And then they come out in the second half. And it looks terrible. They have five drives. They punt on four of them.
Starting point is 00:18:51 Then the last possession to end the game against the Broncos. They have three first downs on five possessions. So it is this idea. There's that identity that you laid out. And then there's kind of like, all right, well, we are only five. Like it's almost an identity crisis, I feel like. Right. They see those things and are like, all right.
Starting point is 00:19:07 You know, last year we ran the ball a lot and we have really good running the ball. Let's start doing that. then that's not working out great. Then they're like, all right, AJ Brown's unhappy. Maybe he's on to something. We've had a couple halves here where we throw the ball and it looks good. And then they come out and they throw the football. And then the team adjusted halftime.
Starting point is 00:19:24 And it's like, no, we're not going to play band coverage against you guys anymore. That didn't work in the first half. They play more zone, more simulated pressures. All right, let's not blitz, Jill and Hearst. Let's just rush for, but let's throw defensive backs his way. And they can't adjust to that. So it's just like they've had trouble finding answers throughout the course of a game. last two weeks, the offense has looked good in the first half and it's looked terrible
Starting point is 00:19:46 in the second half. And I know you said, you gave a very analytical thing. But you can't help but watch this team and be like, the vibes are terrible on offense. It's just as bad as 2023. I'm sorry, guys. Yeah. We can't talk around that anymore. Yeah.
Starting point is 00:20:01 That's not being dramatic or instigate. I mean, they're telling you, you know, they had a double move to AJ Brown in this game from the slot. And whether he's, you know, slowed up, he said he looked back. and he didn't see the ball, so he thought the play was over, whatever. But it's like, J.L. Hurt's through the football, and it's overthrown. And then they show the replay. And it's like, AJ Brown was not, did not think the ball was coming his way or gave up on the
Starting point is 00:20:23 player. So it's all these little things that just manifest themselves throughout the course of a game. And it's only one loss. They don't, you know, they had won, what, 20 of their previous 21. But I'm with you. I think they're just, you could tell me anything, like you said. Maybe they figure things out. And we're laughing about this in December saying, man, remember an October.
Starting point is 00:20:42 when we were worried about this offense, they still have so much talent. But it certainly could go the other way. And just statistically, this is the worst the offense has been in any season with Jill and Hertz. And when you look at the talent on the roster and you look at some of the other teams we have talked about so far today, Patriots, Bucks, Seahawks,
Starting point is 00:21:00 would any, you know, do any of those teams have more talent than the Eagles on offense? The answer would be no, I think, overwhelmingly. Overwhelming. Yeah. And we can sign off on this point. To me, maybe as a fan, right? If you're a fan of this team, to me, there should be nothing more frustrating than them having performances like this.
Starting point is 00:21:22 And then regularly coming to the podiums during the week and saying things like, we're just waiting for it to come to us. Wait, you're not the only team in the league that has a lot of offensive talent. Detroit has tons of offensive talent. I don't hear John Morton and Dan Campbell talking about, we're going to wait for the game to come to Jared Gough. they let you know from the jump, we are going to push your face mask in up front with the run game. And when we go play action,
Starting point is 00:21:49 we are taking every yard that we can get aggressively. And we're going to be creative about it. We're going to be intentional about it. Everything is going to be tied and married together. Through five weeks, we have not seen a single instance where it looked like what Philadelphia is doing is married one concept to the next, one sequence of plays,
Starting point is 00:22:07 setting up a later sequence of plays. You do not have to wait. for a defense to give you something to take it. You have all pros all over the football field. When I watch Philadelphia's defense, that doesn't look like a defense that saying, hey, we're just going to let the game come to us. I see a defensive coordinator that says,
Starting point is 00:22:23 if we can't get pressure with four, then Zach Bond, you're my blitzer. Cooper de Gene, you're my blitzer. Andrew McCuwell, you'll be my blitzer. That to me is a hallmark of a team that knows, or a side of the ball that knows how it wants to establish its identity. This team very much looks like there five weeks into, it's offensive coordinator's first time really calling plays at an NFL level.
Starting point is 00:22:43 And that's really what's holding this team back right now. Yeah, there's no doubt about it. All right. Three, Deante, we'll finish with this. Which fan base should be the most bummed by the way its team played on Sunday? And there are a lot of candidates if you were watching the early window specifically. But, man, Raiders lose to the Colts, 40 to 6. Jets get crushed by the Cowboys.
Starting point is 00:23:03 Banged up Ravens lose 4410 to the Texans. Cardinals? I don't know how many people. watch that Cardinals' Titans game. Cardinals had maybe the dumbness loss. Yeah, by any team this year, the Bengals look like maybe the worst team in the NFL. So you have a lot of candidates here, Deonté, but which fan base should be most bummed by the way its team played on Sunday? It's a tough one.
Starting point is 00:23:26 I'll go first. Sorry, let me go first. Yeah, yeah. I'll let you. I have the Raiders. Deontay, because this Donald Gino thing, this is a rat, man. It's over. I couldn't have been any more wrong.
Starting point is 00:23:38 I said it earlier. Gino Smith is playing terrible football, and I know it's not a great situation. He's making the situation worse. Two interceptions, four sacks today. He's got a league high nine interceptions. I thought this Raiders team had a chance to be a frisky team. I don't know how Chip Kelly is some, where has he received any criticism this year? Because that offense, and I know their offensive line is injured, but my goodness, they're not
Starting point is 00:24:01 good at anything. I'm waving the white flag, Deonté. They stink. They're one and four. They've been outscored by 56 points, only the Titans and Bengals. have been outscored by more. And the problem is with the rate, for some of these other teams,
Starting point is 00:24:13 you could say, okay, but light at the end of the tunnel, young player. The Raiders told us they wanted to be competitive this year. They have a 35-year-old quarterback right now.
Starting point is 00:24:23 They hired Pete Carroll. And right now it looks like they're a complete disaster. And maybe there's a path to dig out of it. I don't see it. I think they got to be the most bummed fan base in the NFL right now. So that's my pick.
Starting point is 00:24:34 My thought was to go with Baltimore, but I think that that might have been the answer last week, right, injuries that were happening all at all at the same time for me i think that it actually might be off the beaten path i'm kind of looking at the chargers right now and i think if you're looking at them and thinking about how often justin herbert has been getting hit in these games against defenses that should not be getting after them the way that they have been a lot of this comes back to
Starting point is 00:24:58 offensive line health they regularly are setting themselves back on early downs if justin herbert is not perfect as a first or second down passer they don't really have many options right and it's not for lack of trying. I will say Greg Roman this year trying to get the ball out on the perimeter, trying to get away from this leaky offensive line, trying to avoid these third and obvious situations. There's just not much you can do when you
Starting point is 00:25:21 can't run the ball between the tackles because your interior offensive line has problems and you can't really set up a deep dropback passing game because both of your tackles are out. You're down to your third right tackle I think in this game or third left tackle in this game. He had about as bad a performance as you'll see on Sunday and you just see
Starting point is 00:25:38 how these injuries are totally breaking down what looked like one of the NFL's best teams over the first month of the year. I think if you're a Chargers fan, you are probably waving the biggest red flag right now because you thought maybe you could be a sneaky contender and you're looking at the flaws on this team and you have to wonder if it's even fair to expect Justin Herbert to try to get you over that hump. Yeah, I mean, when you lose, when you're down two tackles and then you lose a tackle in the game, he's getting crushed. There were wild swings in that game where it looked like the Chargers actually had a chain. And then there were like three of those that just went completely against them.
Starting point is 00:26:13 Ladd McConkey had the return for a touchdown that got called back. There were a couple more as well there. So you're right. I mean, a couple of weeks ago we're talking about the Chargers is maybe a frisky Super Bowl contender. And the injuries just keep piling up for the Chargers. So yes, they should be pretty bummed as well. All right. Thank you to Deonté Lee for joining me.
Starting point is 00:26:33 I will be right back with the hurry. The hurry up is where I give you a take on something happening in the NFL. And we talked about the Eagles earlier, but I just wanted to give the Broncos a shout-out because they won that game. And I spent a lot of time making fun of Sean Payton for spreading what felt like propaganda about the Broncos all summer, you know, telling anyone who would listen how great his team was. I think part of that was Peyton likes the attention. He likes to shape the narrative.
Starting point is 00:26:59 But I also think part of it might have been that he wanted his team to believe that it could play with anyone. And I think you saw that belief in the win over the Eagles. I mean, Denver's down 17-3 against an Eagles team that had won 20 of its last 21 games, defending Super Bowl champs, hadn't lost a home game since week two of last year. And they made a bunch of plays. And they outscored the Eagles 18-0 in the fourth quarter to leave Philadelphia with a 21-17 win. So there was a point in that game where the Broncos were down 17-10.
Starting point is 00:27:31 They scored a touchdown. And Peyton went for two. I love that decision so much. It was like he was saying, if we're going to beat the reigning champs, we have to take it. We're not here to just hang around. We're not here for a moral victory. And I do feel that them getting that two-point conversion put some additional pressure on the Eagles.
Starting point is 00:27:50 Broncos defense response. Broncos escape with a victory there. So Bo Nix, 14 for 18, 163 yards in the second half. Cortland Sutton was terrific. Peyton has been scheming up explosive opportunities every single week as well as anyone in the NFL. And so if the goal was to get the Broncos to believe that they could beat any team in the league in any environment, I think you saw that in this game.
Starting point is 00:28:14 So they're not a perfect team, but they're in a good spot. Three and two tied for first place in the AFC West. They get the Jets in London next week. Then they get the Giants. They mostly got blown out by elite teams last year. So I think this was a big win for the Denver Broncos. All right. Plenty more to come this week.
Starting point is 00:28:31 Thanks to everyone for listening. Thanks to Christopher Sutton for producing and Kira Givens on social. Additional production supervision by Connor Nevins and Arjuna Ramgapal. We'll be back tomorrow on the Ringer NFL show. Must be 21 plus and present in select states for Kansas in affiliation with Kansas Star Casino or 18 plus and present in D.C., Kentucky or Wyoming. Gambling problem, call 1-800 gambler or visit RG-HELP.com. Call 1-888-78-9-77-7-7 or visit cCPG.org.
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