Will Cain Country - Is the NFL Becoming “NBA-ified?” (ft. Pete Prisco)

Episode Date: November 21, 2025

In this Friday sports edition of ‘Will Cain Country,’ Will is joined by Senior NFL Columnist and Analyst for CBS Sports Pete Prisco to explain why the winning score of NFL games has continued to rise in recent years, before discussing the difficulty in comparing today’s players to past greats. Will and Pete also discuss who some of the most underappreciated quarterbacks are, and the Buffalo Bills’ identity crisis. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Josh Allen, Dan Fouts, Warren Moon, Philip Rivers. How do we rank these quarterbacks? How do we put them into historical context? Who's the greatest? And who's the greatest team in the NFL? Broncos, bills, chiefs, cults, eagles, rams, bears? How do you make sense of the NFL with NFL columnist at CBSSports.com, Pete Prisco. It is Will Kane Country, normally streaming live every Monday through Thursday at 12 o'clock Eastern Time at the Wilcane Country YouTube channel,

but you can always follow us at Spotify or on Apple. That's where you get the Friday edition. Cain on Sports. Tinfoil pat, two a days, Dan, even Ed, hanging out here today in the country on a flannel Friday. Yeah, butching it up, boys. Let's go.

No pink sweaters today. Just Buffalo Jackson. Looking good. Yeah, love it. They're super comfortable. I got so many compliments on them when I wear them. It's insane. I put it on when I first got it.

And my wife was, I was literally just giving a live read right there to my wife in the kitchen. I was just like, you know, I want to go out and purchase some for the family right now. Oh, she just started purring? You just put it on and walked in the kitchen and she just started purring, Patrick? That's right. Oh. That's much better than the pink sweater, which we were forced to wear a little bit earlier this week. I went to a Christmas party.

and yes, I went to a Christmas party before Thanksgiving. Yeah, what the hell? I went to a Christmas party last night, and, you know, it was a pretty big party. I'd say, I don't know, 50 people over under. And I was appalled, appalled how many people brought up the pink sweater. I am, I don't, this is why I don't do social media, but thankfully, I guess, unfortunately, I've got Ellie. I've got Dan, I've got Patrick, I've got Fox News social to make sure that if I put on a freaking pink sweater, the whole world gets to see it on their Instagram.

And that's exactly what happened, apparently, because everybody brought up the J-Crew men's pink sweater. I've been trying to get you to do social media for three years consistently, and we decided taking it to our own hands. I got a lot of messages about that, too, and me wearing one as well. well. It's very interesting. A lot of texts from people I haven't heard. What did they say?

A lot of texts from people I haven't heard from in years. They're like, oh my gosh, I can't believe. I saw you wearing a pink sweater. Women liked it, loved it, thought I thought I looked good in it, thought we kind of look good in it. Guys were like, hey man, you've changed. I still need a little better evidence of women like. you or me in that in that in that pink sweater we speaking of the text in the comments we did have a bit of a debate a little bit earlier this week on Wilking country on how you

pronounce the word C R a Y O in how do you spell how do you say that word I just spelled now obviously the right way to say that word is Crayon Dan very in a northeastern style says Cran and Patrick over in America's pawn shop, Jacksonville, says crown. Crown. So we went to the comments. We asked you, how do you say that word? And the people have chimed in.

Let's go through. There's a lot. Everybody had something to say about this. Little Red Penny said crayon. Diane L. Jones says crayon. Jim Dandy crayon. Yepie Anderson. Will has it.

right and then out of the blue coming in from deep left field what sugar lumps says crowns like patrick and patrick you had a few votes i'd venture to say i venture to say in the comment section there's more people like light warrior who says i've known kids pronounce it crowns and i will say not many came in on your side dan not many crans Crayon is far and away the winner. And I have to say, Crown probably came in second. Sarah Woods, it's definitely crowns. So a lot of people, a lot of people at the Pond Shop of Jacksonville.

How is it crowns? How is it crowns? Like Suzanne said, it is a southern thing. Texas is fake South. And so they say it differently maybe. It doesn't make any sense. At least Cran is just. Cran's just a faster way of saying Crayon.

It's Cran, Crayon, Crayon, Crayon, Crayon, Crayon, Crayon. We slur everything, everything. Like, my grandfather was Don, but like if you're a woman named D-A-W-N, I still say it Don. Don and Don and Don and Don. It's like an English accent saying, ma'am, it's mom. Right. I'm with Dan. I don't know where you get Crown out of C-R-A-Y-O-N.

I don't know where you get crown. crowns from that. It is appropriately pronounced crayon. And the comments do back me up on that. I'm giving a lot of due to a handful of crowns out there. But overwhelmingly, everyone understands is properly pronounced crayon. So, and by the way, I've seen that you're very aggressive in the comment section, Patrick. I've seen this. It has not escaped my attention. You know, every time we turn the broadcasting mic over to you, it is a complete off-road adventure. I have no idea if I have the shocks or suspension to deal with the potholes that will come up in the road. But when you're in the comment section, it's a whole new man.

You're over here calling Texas the fake South. You're over here, you know, posting me in a pink sweater. You're very, very aggressive in the comment section. Tenfoil. Yeah. He's a man of the people. Yeah, exactly. Somebody has to be one with the Wilicia.

But he, maybe he feels like he doesn't have a voice on air, so he has to have a voice in the chat. Maybe that's what it is, you know. That I don't give him? I don't give him ample opportunity to take the mic on air. Maybe. Like, even that, when I just brought it up, like, you know. There's so many people on our morning calls.

Oh. Oh. Wow. See, you don't know what. you're going to get. Like, I throw this whole thing to him about how aggressive he is in the comments section, and I'm prepared for, like, you know, a steep uphill climb in my Jeep, and all I got was a little rock in the road. Yeah. Yeah. That's all I got. I got, yeah. And then, did anybody prepare for the swerve in the road? I'm getting boxed out of our morning

meetings, too. I just don't know what I'm going to get. I don't know what I'm going to get. I don't know what I'm going to get. I'm just not sure this Jeep has outfitted for this, Why don't we even try? Why don't even do this? I don't try. I got to give it up. Just like I'm giving up on, you know, seeing in shape. It's right.

He keeps the people in line in the chat, though. He does. It's a good, it's necessary. Well, if you listen to Will Cain Country, jump into the Willisha. Jump into the YouTube and Facebook comment section. You might just run into Tinfoil Pat. there virtually in his very butch, Buffalo Jackson flannel. Like all of us are going to be on Fridays, we love Buffalo Jackson.

Ed wishes he had one. He saw mine today and said, I want one of those. And you two. By the way, Buffalo Jackson is the company that makes the infamous, the famous, leather jacket I wore to Army Navy game to meet the President of the United States. Got a lot of questions, a lot of where do I get that jacket. And the answer is the same place that we all get our flannels on Friday. The answer is Buffalo Jackson.

Where do you place Josh Allen? Like, how great is he? Is Josh Allen better than, say, Dan Fouts, another great quarterback that people have forgotten about that didn't win the Super Bowl? What about Philip Rivers? What about Tony Romo? How do you compare receivers of today against, say, Steve Largent of yesterday? And how come we give quarterbacks and receivers today

such benefit of the doubt compared to the past, but we do the opposite with running back? We think nobody can compare to Barry Sanders, Eric Dickerson. Why don't we give appropriate credit to Derek Henry historically in the rankings all time? That and who's the real, real leader in the clubhouse for the Super Bowl? We discuss that today with CBSSports.com, Pete Prisco. Hey, it's Will Cain, host of Will Cain Country. I want to tell you about one of my absolute favorite brands for fall.

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You've seen me wear the puffy leather jacket at the Army Navy game last year with the President of the United States. And you see me wearing their flannels on Friday. Everywhere I go without fail, people say, hey, where did you get that? And the answer is, every time, Buffalo Jackson. And right now, their biggest sale of the entire year is happening right now. Their Black Friday sale is live, and everything on the site is 20% off. Jackets, flannels, bags, all of it. Just head to Buffalojaxon.com and use the code Will20.

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Conditions apply, details online. This is Ainsley Earhart. Thank you for joining me for the 52 episode podcast series, The Life of Jesus. A listening experience that will provide hope, comfort, and understanding of the greatest story ever told. Listen and follow starting November 30th on Fox Newspodcasts.com. joined now by senior NFL columnist at cbsports.com it's pete priscoe what's up pete how are you will you good i'm good i'm better than the bills i think i'm better than the bills they got their ups their downs they're hard to make sense of

they lose to the texans in thursday night football and they just sort of join this this league that's hard to make sense of now pete who's good who's bad can we say the bills no i don't think you could say they're either to be honest with you and look i picked them to go to the super bowl this year i thought this was going to be their year now they've had a ton of injuries and i get it but there's something off about this team right now and and it starts i think with the play calling and i'm going to be very critical of that and the reason i say that is i just don't know what their identity is yeah cook's a good runner and you want to run the football but when you play defense the way they play you're going to have to score a lot of points and i don't think the way they

they play offense right now gives them a chance to score points. I get it. They don't have Kincaid. They don't have the burner down the field. But you have Josh Allen. And I think so many times they come to the line of scrimmage run Cook, maybe he gets three, maybe he gets four, then you're in second and six, then you run your little mesh concept through your bubble screen, and you don't take any chances. I think they become predictable on offense, and I think they need to get out of that. Let's talk about offense and the necessity, as you point out, to score a lot of points. You make that argument when it comes to the bills because of their defense. But it's really become, at least through the first half of this season, Pete, something

that's necessary of every team. The average scoring victory and average scoring total has just gone up. It's like people are calling it the NBAification of the NFL. Like you and I, right now, all of us watching and listening, we're living through the moment where the game has changed significantly towards offense. Part of that is because we've got these kickers who are kicking 50-yarders and 60-yarders with regularity. Their offenses only need to move 15 yards before they're in scoring position. The kick-offs have moved us, I believe on average,

10 to 15 yards further down the field to start a drive. And you're scoring, you're looking up, and you're seeing team score easily 30 and often 40 points a game. But I just want to offer this counterargument and see what you think. that happens earlier in a season. Now, I know we're over the halfway mark, but defenses start to figure it out. I don't know.

What do you think? Are we in this NBAification of the NFL? No. And in fact, look, you mentioned a couple reasons why scoring's up a little bit. But if you look at the numbers and take a close examination of the way teams are playing on offense, they're not going down the field. And defenses have kind of dictated to offenses.

You know, the points are up, but there's reasons, the kicking, the return. turn game, turnovers, short field, that kind of thing. But the reality is, if you look at the completion percentages all time for single season, I think eight or nine of them have happened in the last two years, which tells you that teams are being cautious. They'll take the checkdown. They'll take the easy throw.

But you're not seeing the big hitters down the field because teams play off coverage now. So what's the counter to that? Everybody's going to three tight ends and two tight ends and running and, and play action off of that, but they're not getting the big shots, aside from a few teams. Up until last week, Seattle had gotten a few big chunks down the field. The Rams got big chunks down the field.

But the reality is, I think defenses have done a better job dictating what's happening. And we saw that last night. I think if Buffalo had gone into that game with the idea that they were going to dictate to that defense, they would have caught them and got them a little flat-footed. Instead, they played right into the advantage of the Texans and those past rushers got turned loose, and when they got turned loose, it was a problem.

Throw on early downs, throw on first down, you throw to score, you run the win, and I think that's the way to play. Let's stay with the bills for a moment, and I like you bringing up where in the last years we've seen the highest completion percentages among quarterbacks. I was thinking about this, Pete, when it comes to Josh Allen. I think I was watching not last night, but last weekend, and I was thinking, who is Josh Allen? And stay with me here because I think this makes sense once I'm done unspooling this. But the debate that everybody wants to have is, is Josh Allen better than Patrick Mahomes? Where does Josh Allen rank when it comes to NFL quarterbacks today? That's not what I want to talk about.

I was watching a game and I was starting to think, probably because Tony Romo was covering the game, how good is Josh Allen historically? Where does he rank? And I think in order to answer that question, Pete, you have to, adjust for the moment in which you live. You know, I do believe, and it's most obvious in the NBA and the NFL, that modern athletes are just bigger, stronger, faster. So you can't really say, you know, Michael Irvin would dominate today's NFL.

He may or he may not. No shade to Mike. But, you know, I try to think of a, not the best receiver in the league, but a really good receiver in the league, like say, Amon Ross St. Brown. And I think, okay, which one would have a better opportunity to switch places and times and dominate their new home? And the truth is, you could probably take Amon Ross St. Brown, plug him into the late 80s and early 90s, and he would dominate. That doesn't necessarily make him a better receiver than Michael Irvin, because you have to adjust for the error in which you live. And so I was thinking about Josh Allen, and is he better than, say, Dan Fouts?

Is he Dan Fouts? Is he Warren Moon? Like, who is he? If we're trying to put him into historical context, how do I think about Josh Allen? Well, based on where he's gotten and the fact he hasn't won a Super Bowl, I think you could compare him to guys like Dan Fouts. Now, their play styles are totally different, obviously. I mean, he's one of those guys that can run and move around. And Dan Fouts was, you know, pocket passer Eric Correel. He was ahead of his time, you know, reeds and progressions with Don Corrielle. And so I think they're different, but in terms of where they are, great players who

haven't won it yet. And, you know, Dan Fouts never won it. And there were reasons. I mean, they go to Cincinnati and they had the better team. And I thought, even though the Bengals had a home build advantage, and it was, you know, 20 below. And that really impacted the way they played the game. So I think when you use historical context for guys like that, I think Fouts is one of those

guys, you know, he comes to mind. Warren Moon didn't win it. He comes to mind big numbers, great player, couldn't get over the hump. And I think that's where Josh Allen is right now. And, you know, in terms of play style, I would compare him like Elway. And Elway didn't run like Josh Allen, but he had the big

cannon for an arm. He was big. He could move. He could get outside the pocket. And I think once, there were always questions about John Elway. Was he ever going to get there? And finally, he broke through. And I think that's where Josh Allen is right now. Is he going to get there, can he break through?

Don't you think Dan Fouts is one of the greatest quarterbacks of all time that is one of the most forgotten quarterbacks in the modern mind? Absolutely, absolutely. You know, people always talk about, and Philip Rivers is a great quarterback, too. Don't get me wrong. Another guy that never broke through. But Dan Fouts is one of the most underappreciated quarterbacks because he kind of has

forgotten a little bit because he's so long ago. But they were innovators. They were creative. They were great to watch. I love watching them back in the day. And so, yeah, to answer your question, I think Dan Fouts is one of the most underappreciated pastors this league has ever seen. Who do you think if we were making a list, Pete, of underappreciated guys, mostly because they never won it all. And in some cases, because I would offer, because his name, I brought up his name, I would offer, and I'm a homer, but I do think you have to consider Tony Romo. As his career unfolded, I thought Romo was an incredible quarterback. But I mean, Romo never even

made it to the NFC championship game. And at some point, you do hold that against the quarterback, fairly or unfairly. But there is some to shoulder there, the team success. It's the most important position on the field. Like, when you think about guys like Fouts, who's in that category for you of, man, if he had ever got a ring, we would talk about that guy much, much differently. We would put him in the greatest quarterback of all time. Conversation. Marino, number one, number one, and it's not even close. But I think, but Pete, the thing is, Marino is the guy that does get in the conversation, even if he didn't win it all.

He's got, he's the guy that has the get out of jail free card. He's got the pass in a way that others don't. Like, Warren Moon doesn't get that in the way that it's been handed to Marino, or that it was earned, excuse me, earned by Marino. Yeah, and Marino, to me, is the greatest pure passer we've ever seen. I don't think it's any question about that. And if he had played in this era, God only knows what kind of numbers he would have put up. So, yeah, I get it.

He's considered one of the all-time grades. Yeah, Warren Moon is a great one, too. I mean, people say he played in the gimmicky offense, you know, the old run-and-shoot. But that offense was ahead of its time, too. You know, people don't realize a lot of the principles of the run-and-shoot, wide receivers reading on the run, reading coverages. That's still in play now. They kind of were innovators, and he was great at it. So Moon and Fouts are two of them, for sure.

Romo, yeah. I don't know if Romo was in the class with those guys, though. He's probably in the little grouping right below him, but those are two. I think Moon and Fouts are the two. If you ask all the historians, those are the two definitely right there. Let's take a quick break, but we'll be right back on Will Cain Country. And you're a football historian, and you and I are older guys that remember, well, if I'm being honest, I actually don't remember watching Fouts. I watched Moon, but the Romo represents maybe that tier underneath those guys, but he also represents a different era. And so that era, that's an era that did benefit from the inflated passing stats, and yet

didn't win it. So you've got categories of guys with Romo like Philip Rivers, and it's hard to contextualize those guys because their stats are incredible. Now, again, I'm a big Dallas Cowboy Homer. I loved watching Robo, but it's not just the stats with me for Roma. Like, I watched that guy read defenses. And then also, by the way, make totally off-script plays. So how do you make sense of that, what would it be?

Would it be like 2005 to 2015-ish, you know, quarterback who has big stats like Philip Rivers? And Rivers is actually very similar to Romo, if you think about it. Did Rivers even ever make the AFC championship game? I'm not sure he ever got that far, did he? Yeah, he did. remember he lost to the Patriots on a broken leg that one time. Remember he played on a broken leg? And, yeah, I mean, Rivers is another one of those guys that's right there with Romo.

I mean, I think they're all, in fact, I'd put Rivers a little ahead of Romo, not by much, but right there, a little bit ahead of them. And, you know, we could be throwing Eli Manning into that same conversation, but he won to. I mean, you look at Eli Manning's numbers, they're horrible, but he won two. So it kind of, it kind of gives them out of that, gets him out of that. Otherwise, he'd be right in the mix with those guys. And the receiver conversation is just as hard, right, Pete? I mean, because, yeah, these guys today are faster. They're faster than Jerry Rice.

I mean, but that doesn't make them better than Jerry Rice. So it's hard. The receiver thing is really hard because, you know, I think Calvin Johnson probably is one of the greatest receivers of all times. He's also one of the modern guys or more modern. He's in that same era. We're talking about that 5 to 15 type era where you were beginning to, benefit from the inflated passing stats, but I don't know where to put him. And I don't know, you know, Antonio Brown are more modern guys that are really racking up

numbers. How do we compare those guys to Michael Irvin, to Chris Carter, to Jerry Rice? You know who's the Dan Fouts of this conversation? Steve Largent. Like, what do I do with Steve Largent? Yeah, and here's the other. He's a Hall of Famer, too, but here's the other thing. Jerry Rice, to me, is the greatest football player who ever played. And the reason I say that, you look, you could talk about quarterbacks, and I know they're more valuable, and Tom Brady's won rings and everything. But I don't think there's any argument to be made who the best receiver ever was,

at least in my mind. I think most people would agree with me. Look, Randy Moss was right up there, and he was fantastic. But he won Jerry Rice. And you mentioned Jerry Rice not being fast. Guys were faster than him. Jerry Rice ran four, six, I think, when he came out of college. And I said to him once, I said, you know, you didn't run very fast, but you played fast.

And he goes, did you ever see anybody catch me from behind? I said, no. And I said, that's because he played fast. And Jerry Rice, to me, is the best football player who ever played. And then you go to the pecking order. But you mentioned Calvin Johnson. I think that's a good comparison. St. Brown puts up great numbers.

He really does. But if you ask anybody in Detroit, if they could have him or Calvin Johnson, there's not a conversation. That's not a slight to St. Brown. he's a great player, but Calvin Johnson was truly one of the special players. And so, you're right. The numbers are bloated now in terms of the receivers. I always say this. If you penalize the receivers of today because their numbers are bloated because of the way teams play,

do we have to go back and poach the runners of yesterday because they got more carries back in the day? I mean, take them out of the hall then. You know, it's a different game. You got to adjust it. That's exactly. I don't want to do every position group. That's not what I want to do, but that's exactly where I wanted to go. because running back is the opposite.

You know, we look at today's receivers and quarterbacks, and I think we overvalue them as compared to the guys who played in the past, but we do the opposite with running back. We look back at Walter Payton, Barry Sanders, Emmett Smith, even Jerome Bettis, and I only say even because he's more recent vintage than the guys I just mentioned, and we look back and say there's so much better than the running backs today. And they're not.

I mean, look, Jerome Bettis didn't even average four yards of carry in his career, if you really go look at it. I mean, so no, look, the difference is running backs are devalued today. They don't get the carries that those guys used to do. They were bell cow guys. I mean, they carried the ball a ton more. And so they've kind of gone down in the pecking order of what they mean to the team. But if you had taken Saquan Barclay and thrown him back into that era, he'd have been fantastic.

He'd had a ton of carries. He had a ton of carries last year, but he would have a ton of carries in his career and been a great player. And to sit here and say that these backs aren't as good, because they don't get the numbers, that's not true. Well, there's one great exception in my mind. I wasn't thinking of Sequin, but, I mean, Derek Henry at this point, I do believe, belongs in any greatest running back of all-time conversation.

The career could end now. Nothing else needs to be done. Size, speed, yards, in other words, accomplishments, what he is on paper, longevity, avoidance of injury. I mean, which is incredible. that in and of itself is, I think, an accomplishment for a running back. And, I mean, if we were ranking running backs, I don't know. I mean, everybody's always going to talk about Walter Payton and Barry Sanders.

But, man, I think Derek Henry belongs in that conversation. He's moving his way into that conversation. I don't know if he's quite there yet, but he's in the top 10, 15, no question about that. But there's been some great, I mean, like, Eric Dickerson might be one of the most underappreciated backs of all time. and doesn't get to do he deserves for what he did. But, you know, you mentioned Peyton and Sanders. Now, if you took the two of them and you said, okay, well, which one was the better runner, I would take Sanders.

I think he's the greatest pure runner we've seen. And he, you know, granted, he would go three, four, but you had to hold your breath and there was 64 coming, you know, so he was one of those kind of runners, and I loved watching them play. But you're right. I mean, Henry's in that conversation, no doubt about it. He's a fantastic back. You also, you mentioned availability, and, you know, you look at the compilers,

and we got an interesting one with Frank Gore. Was Frank Gore one of the best players of all time? Is he just a guy who had a long career, and do you reward him for his long career? You know what I mean? When you look at his numbers, he was never, he was good, really good in some years, but was he ever one of the greats, or did he just play a long time, and he compiled a bunch of numbers? But he's an aberration.

We have way more Jamal Charles. We have way more priest homes. I'm not just picking on Longhorn running backs. We have way more guys who, in fantasy football, and even in the league, in real football, have this like three-year span where they're rushing for 1,700 yards or 1,800 yards, but they only do it for a blink. I don't know. You have to give Frank Gore credit for doing it for 15 years,

even if it was only 1,200 yards. Yeah, like Terrell Davis is another one you mentioned. Priest Holmes, those guys, they put up big numbers and then kind of went away. And, you know, Jamal Lewis, I mean, they're a bunch of them. So, yeah, you're right. You have to give him credit for what he did running the football as long as he did it. Chris Johnson. Now, you brought up something that's going to bring us actually back to the beginning of this conversation at some point.

This is my favorite thing. This is one of my favorite things about sports. be because I'm not a great athlete. I am never blown away by incredible physical advantage. It's easier to illustrate in basketball. Like, I'm just not, I don't love watching, say, Shea Gilges Alexander, you know, with an incredible first two steps make his way to the hole, as much as I like seeing Luca Donchich manipulate other players on the field or on the court with his mind and his eyes. It's just not as interesting to me because I guess I like the constant adjustment and chess game and thinking. And the league is thinking.

And it's really interesting right now because just a few years ago we were talking about all the passing and running backs are devalued and running backs are commodities. And it's like this year, this is the year that we're seeing the adjustment where running is now much more important. Running the ball has you can see it becoming more prioritized, Pete, in the league. I don't know if carries are up, but it sure seems to me that the league has said maybe running backs aren't so unimportant. Maybe we need to start thinking about who we're handing the ball off to and how often we're handing the ball off to the running back. Well, I don't necessarily think it's the running back himself because you see a lot of teams using two and three. You know, the guys are getting carries. So I think it, but I think it's, it goes back to the philosophy.

When everybody started throwing it around, what did defenses do? smaller. They got lighter. They got more athletic to rush the quarterback. They got linebackers who weren't big who could cover. They added a nickel back. You played a lot of nickel. In fact, teams are playing 65, 70 percent of nickel. And so what do you do to counter that? You put big people on the field and you run it right at them. And I think that's where we're at now. And so teams are going to two and three tight ends and they're telling the defense, how are you going to match up with me now? Are you going to put big people back on the field? Are you going to stay in your nickel? What do you do? If you stay in your nickel,

You know, how do you handle my run game? If you get out of the nickel, we'll be able to throw on you. So I think there's a lot of, you know, you do this, I'll do that, you do this, and it's all reactionary. But I think right now the defenses have kind of reacted in the way that they've given the offenses a lot of problems in large part because the offensive alignment in this league are awful. I mean, you're hard pressed to find two or three really good units. and once you have an injury, take the chargers, they have two, your unit is out the window. You can't overcome that because there just aren't enough good offensive linemen in this league. They don't hit, they don't work together, they don't rep, it's hard to become a good offensive line,

and yet the defensive lineman have become so much more athletic, so fast, so willing to go after the quarterback, that it becomes a real problem for offenses to just fade back and throw the football, which is why you're counteracting that with guys that are big, tight ends who can block. You're chipping, you're keeping guys in, and I think that's the way they're throwing the football and running the football now. What would you do if you were a GMP with that knowledge? I'm a Cowboys fan. The conversation is the Cowboys have two first-round picks,

virtue of the Michael Parsons trade, and, oh, got to use it on defense, got to use it on defense. Well, the Cowboys have continuously drafted high, and so you could call that an overinvestment in offensive line. Not that it has necessarily worked out, but you're talking about Tyler Smith, Tyler Geith, Tyler Geith, Tyler Booker, all first round picks, and it's like, still they need a right tackle, still they need more, still the offensive line is not great. So it's like, do you use another first round pick on an offensive? line, with you saying offensive line play is so bad, would you keep investing in

offensive line? I'm not asking you to be the GM of the Cowboys, but for any team, like, can you overinvest an offensive line? There are only so many big people on the planet who can play the game on both lines, by the way. And so to answer your question, no, and they made an investment in Terrence Steel and it hadn't paid off. There's your problem right there.

They paid them, and it hasn't worked out. So don't sit there and not admit your mistake. Go in and fix it. If you see a right tackle in this draft, draft them. I mean, the Cowboys teams with, you know, Michael Irvin and Troy Aikman, those offensive lines were big, strong, physical, and nasty. Get back to that. And if you can get a right tackle, I think they're going to be on their way to getting back to that.

So to answer your question, if I was the GM of the Cowboys, I would draft an offensive lineman, and I'd probably draft somebody on the defensive line. You can never have that many guys up front. And by the way, there's now all that, you know, as good as the Texans were attacking the quarterback off the edges, there's only so many teams that can do that. You might be more valuable to have a couple guys on the interior who can push the pocket. And those guys create problems and it's right in the face of the quarterback. So Quinn and Williams is a nice pickup by the Cowboys to get some interior pressure on that defense. Let's take a quick break, but we'll be right back on Williams.

Well, they looked good, Pete, really looks good. Now, it is the Raiders last week. They did destroy the Raiders, but it looked exactly like what it's supposed to look like in terms of what they've invested in. They invested in that interior defensive line, and Quinnin Williams and Kenny Clark and Oso-Degazoo were putting a ton of pressure on the Raiders. Now, I think, I don't even know who the center is for the Raiders. Is this still Jackson Powers or what's his name because he's a first round pick um yeah um but he was getting destroyed i mean look the bottom line is for their offensive line that's not a good gauge for the cowboy's defense because it's so bad this will be right banged up a little bit but i get i'm with you look you get hooker back you get

overshun back you get reval in the rookie who's going to be a good player at corner and all of a sudden you have bodies in there. And it looked different. But you have to put that a little asterisk next to it because they were playing the Raiders. So we'll know more about them this week. Right. No doubt. And the only point I'm making is, okay, they've invested in defensive line and they've invested in receiver, by the way. And those are the two things that looked unstoppable against granted the Las Vegas Raiders. Okay. But full back to the running thing. Because I'm going to get to the league and this weekend and all that real quick. But I just, I think that what this ties the entire conversation to get in some way, by the end of this year, Pete, and we do this every year in football, we do this every year in the NFL, we look at who won the Super Bowl, we look at whatever their formula was, and at least, at least a third, half of the league, just kind of chases it and copies the formula of whoever it is that won. And the, the absurdity of that is that there's kind of a different formula that wins every year. So you're chasing, it's like what we criticize our military generals of fighting yesterday's war, not tomorrow.

So I don't know what's going to win next year in the Super Bowl, but my suspicion is at the end of this year, it's going to have something to do with running the football. The team that wins the Super Bowl this year is going to be the team that can't be stopped on third and four, that can't be stopped running the football. And you look at history, you've got to be able to run the football in the postseason, and there's no, and play good defense. I mean, that's, as much is I love the passing game. You have to be able to play good defense and run the football. And here's why. Because, yes, throwers and knock the guy down on the defensive side of the ball pass rushers are so important. But if you're running the football, that kind of neutralizes

those guys a little bit. And so it takes the pressure off the quarterback. And now he can make plays down the field comfortably off a play action. And it kind of neutralizes the past rushers. They don't know you're in third and long all the time. So I would agree. with you. You have to run the football, but you have to run the football when you need to run the football. And you get a lead, you run the football. You need third and two, you run the football. And if you looked around this league, third and two has become a passing down. But teams that can run the football consistently on third and two, they're going to win. And I think that's what you're right. You go to the Rams. The Rams run the ball, but they scheme up offensive plays off

of that run game. They've been using a lot of two and three tight end sets this year. It's different. It's evolved. And that's where a smart coach like McVeigh knows what he's doing because he evolves as the game evolves. And I think that's, you do have to be able to run the football, but you still have to be able to get some plays down the field of the passing game, and he can do that off his run game. And to be honest, what we just described is also the defending Super Bowl champions. I mean, that is the Eagles. I mean, that is what they did. So now let's do that and look real quick at the standings, Pete. Again, I think that the backyard barbecue conversation is always who's got the best

quarterback. But you and I, through this entirety of the conversation, is defined, that is not necessarily going to be what we look at come February, who had the best quarterback. Also, I think it's really hard this year to define who has the best quarterback. It's really hard to define who's the best team in the league right now. And if I look, let's start at the AFC. And I'm just going to go through, I'm going to go through the top three because, well, we'll go a little deeper because there's some seven and four teams that belong in this conversation. But you go to the AFC, and you and I've defined the formula.

Denver Broncos at 9 and 2. New England Patriots 9 and 2. Indianapolis Colts 8 and 2. Then you've got the chargers and bills at 7 and 4. You look at those teams. Who goes to the Super Bowl and the FC? who has the formula and the players that we've just talked about right there that stands out to you in the AFC? I don't think I could sit here and pick any of them right now, to be honest with you.

And the reason I say that is Denver doesn't run it as well as we think they do, and the quarterback is so up and down. The Patriots, they've started to run the ball with Henderson, but they're scheduled. It's hard to get an evaluation of them with the schedule being what it's been. And then defensively, they're good, but they're not great. Broncos are great on defense. The Colts, they can run the ball with Taylor. We know that. But is Daniel Jones who started to turn the ball over turning into Daniel Jones? That's the

question there. The bills can't stop the run. So that kind of makes it hard on them. And the Chargers are a mess right. I will be, I'll be honest with you. I'll be shocked if the Chargers make the playoffs looking at their schedule going forward. I really will. And I think ultimately it might come down to the Chiefs and Chargers for the final playoff game. And whoever wins that game when they play, probably the one that's going to be the wildcard team. So I think it's every one of them, look, they're the top teams and every one of them has flaws, every single one of them, major flaws. It's such, I feel like that's the story for the Chargers every year. It's like every year, no matter who the quarterback is, Breeze, Rivers, Herbert, it's like, we're 7 and 4.

We got a two-game lead on the Chiefs. Good luck. This is like the story every year for the Chargers. Okay, go over to the NFC. Eagles are 8 and 2, Rams are 8 and 2. Get ready, folks. This is real news. The Bears are 7 and 3.

The Seahawks are 7 and 3. And I think you have to talk about the Buccaneers who are 6 and 4. The Niners are 7 and 4. Same thing, who's real? Because, okay, the answer that you jump to is the Eagles. Defending Super Bowl champ, they're 8 and 2. Gosh, I don't know. No, every other day there's a story about how much that offense hates each other and nobody believes in Jalen Hertz.

Yeah, and that's the question with them. The defense is playing really well, and I think adding Phillips gives them another pass rusher, which they needed. So the defense is fine, but you're right. The offense now is major questions. And look at those wide receivers. They gripe every week, particularly Brown, every single week. Da-da-da-da-da. And if you're Jailen Hertz, you have to get tired of that.

Now you have Lane Johnson out of the lineup, and that's enormous. If you look at the numbers when he's in and when he's out, totally different offense. So they have problems. You know, you talk about the Bears leading that division. They played one team with a winning record and got blown out by them. And it was Detroit. Their schedule gets tougher. We'll know more about them.

I think the Rams right now are probably the most complete team. But having said that, Seattle went in there last week. Sam Darnold turned the ball over four times. He was picked off four times. And they had the ball late in the game to go win it. And so that's a little bit of a red flag for the Rams who don't run that well. I think they're a slowish team, which could be a problem for you. Look, we've seen this game with the Rams before.

Sean McVeigh is fantastic. He can scheme up stuff all over the place. But remember back in the day when he had golf in that Super Bowl, they were scoring a ton of points and running the ball and everything, and the Patriots came up and schemed them up in the playoffs and scheme didn't win. You've got to have some speedy guys on the outside. I'm not sure they do. So every one of them, again, has flaws.

And so that's what makes this year so weird. It's so wide open and it's hard. Really weird. And the one that comes back, I said it, there's something about this team that I like. It's the Tampa Bay Buccaneers. I don't know. I think Baker has turned a corner. And they're doing it with Godwin out, Evans out,

Bucking, out. And I don't know when we get those guys back. I don't know why I used a we word there with the Bucks, but maybe it's because I'm overloaded on Bucks in fantasy football. I keep waiting on Bucky Irvin to come back. And they should get at least one of those receivers back, Evans or Godwin. I don't know. I like the Bucks.

And they've navigated through it. I mean, for the first four games, they didn't have their offensive line at all. Not a one of them was playing in a spot they were supposed to play in. Now you get Gettoe back at right tackle. That's enormous for them. But you're right. The receivers are limited. now without those guys on the field. They keep saying Godwin's close, but Wednesday coming back.

They need him back. When does Evans come back? You know, late in the season, playoffs. It's big ifs. And they've had a ton of injuries. I love that team. I think that team is talented. I still think they'll win the division. They have to start preparing for the postseason because now, you know, at one point it looked at least talk, maybe they'll end up with the one seed. That's gone. So now you just got to get this team ready for the playoffs. You know how teams do it in hockey all the time? They get ready for the post season. Like the Florida Panthers did it last year. They had injuries all year and all the matter was get in and go win it in the playoffs. Well, that's what the bucks have to do, kind of get ready for the postseason because I do think they're going to get

in. The team that I picked to go to the Super Bowl, and I still think has a chance if they ever start waking up, is the Packers. I mean, the Packers have so much talent. And I think they've been a little bit victimized by their play call and two. You know, I think a times when Jacobs in there, he's a nice player. But they run the ball. And you go back to the Eagles game a couple weeks ago. What were you doing? I mean, you needed to throw on first down more than you did. And I think they need to do that. Jacobs isn't in the lineup for this week. So I think it's time to let love did a great job last week of bringing that team back. And I know it was the Giants, but you're on the road. You know how this league goes. Let him go. Let him play

faster and looser and see what you have there. Check them out at CBSSports.com. I appreciate the long conversation, as always, NFL analyst, CBS Sports HQ. Pete Prisco. Thank you so much, Pete. Good to talk to you again. There you go. I hope you enjoyed that conversation with Pete Prisco.

Check them out at CBSSports.com. Make sure you join us on flannel Fridays. Maybe you too, like tinfoil pack, can make your wife purr in the kitchen. Get you a flannel from Buffalo Jackson. That's going to do it for us today. We will see you again next time. Thank you.