2019 Week 10 Recap

by the United States Marine Corps. My name is Dan hans As, I'm joined a room. It's just filled with heroes. Mark Sessler, Chris Westling, and Greg Rose the ball? What is up? Boys? Hey? Dan? That feels like a ripe intro that I could take to Human Resources and and file some sort of a complaint. I'm not sure what it would be or why it would be necessarily a home run complaints, but I think I could find a way. What was that, Mark? Oh? Yeah, what is that new SoundBite?

I don't like? Alright, Bye, you know we're we're celebrating. I never had heard a sound drop on our show that made me want to take a shower more than that. Yeah, Um, we're celebrating the veterans of this country. Uh we are. And um, so it's fitting that many many a battle today on Sunday Week ten. A great Sunday of action, wasn't it? Mark? Oh yeah, we really if you want to go home Mark with Actually this may be the

best thing that's ever happened to me. Uh No, A lot of great games today Sunday we had, um and we were able to really key in on them as a group because there were less games because of the six teams on by, so we uh a lot to get to and it was again one of those weeks where just when you think you have things figured out, there's some curveballs like what happened at the Superdome today. And also all the one in seven teams won, like every one of them. Uh So you know the NFL,

it's unpredictable. How about that for a catchphrase? I have to it's almost like any given Sunday, anything can happen. Did you come up with that? Just now? That's good? That is good. Anyway, on any given Sunday, anything could happen. And we saw that again. So we're gonna go through each of the Sunday games. Uh capping it with the showdown in Big D the Vikings and Cowboys. But let's start with what I believe was the high scoring game of Week ten so far, in a game that came

with a shocking ending of its own. Let's go to Nashville. Tannehill looking cloking, firing, a little bit of fun, hut Fries five pure cut him uns. Titans fans always upset. You never give us love. You're always, you know, keeping us down. Well, now you're leading the show, so you enjoy it. Mike Keith with the call, Titans Radio Network. Ryan Tannehill twenty three yards strike to Adam Humphreys with twenty three seconds to play, and then Joshua Kalou blocked

the last second field goal attempt. The Titans beat the Chiefs thirty thirty two in Patrick Mahomes's return to the lineup. Greg Mahomes was excellent as always in his return. But a Chief's defense, we were just singing Osanna's over a week ago. You know, they landed on the wrong side of the tann scale. They did. Tannehill has come in and he hasn't played that great, but he's had a knack for making big plays in the big moments. That's

three game winning drives in four starts. In the two most memorable plays I think the Titans had on offense was him trucking some Chief's defensive backs, one on a scramble on third and long, which which set up a score, and then another on the two point conversion. And yet I don't take too many negatives away from the this

Chief's performance. A lot of crazy things happen, but especially on special teams where Bucker missed an extra point which is the reason that they were trailing three late because they went for two. They were only up one late.

They had an ex field goal block of course, that ended the game, and they should have been up eight with a minute and a half to go, and they snapped the ball before their holder was ready, and they got the first ever intentional grounding on a holder, Dustin cole Quit with about a minute forty to go, that I've ever seen in my entire life, which set up the Titans game winning touchdown. So the Chief's offense, I don't know if it was it was flukey. Yes, I

think the Chief's offense is so good. I'm not concerned about the long term. But the Titans did a great job after halftime finding a way to win this. Be concerned about one thing, though, because you now have four losses. That's the Chiefs, and you're in a conference that looked a little whacky a couple weeks ago. But the Ravens are surging with two losses, Texans with three, you're you're falling out of that spot to get a buy if

you keep up these fluke people. And that's what when they managed with Matt Moore to beat the Vikings last week, it felt like such an important win to them because this is a team that does need to go eleven and five or twelve and four and get themselves set up for January football. Uh. And yet dropping this game and it's no sin to to lose on the road

against the capable team like the Titans are. Tetans aren't a great team, but they they've they've showed fight almost every week the season, especially since town Hall got in the lineup. But at a certain point you need to get out a run. And it's six and four. Their chances of getting a bye, uh, even the division you can't just handed to and they're only one game ahead of the Raiders now, yeah. And on the other side, the Titans. I mean, look what the Colts are doing

in that division the last two weeks. The Texans are in first place, but have the Ravens and Patriots and two of the next three weeks, so you can't rule out the Titans. Well, plus the wild card spot. You know, we'll get to the Bills later, but both of the wild card spots are gonna be wide open. The Titans. We shouldn't be too surprised. Find a way to get a win, to get to five and five, which is just what the Titans do, and you I do give him credit for in the second half. It's a trend.

Derrick Henry gets rolling. I mean, the Chiefs are a team I trust because they throw the ball so well. And Mahomes was awesome today. He missed one throw early where it would have gone to Tyreek Hill to make it seventeen nothing they had at one point I think, really halftime, it was forty one plays for the Chiefs to eight teen for the Titans, and this could have

been a walk early. Mahomes missed that throw, but didn't miss many and most of the times they were stopped where because of Tyreek Hill or Sammy Watkins drops are kind of unforced airs. But when the Titans got the ball late, like, they found a way to make big plays. Tannehill had a pretty throw to cleave Raymond and Henry, especially down the stretch, ran all over the Chiefs, and the Chiefs run defense is a problem. Their past defense is pretty good, but the run defense is a problem.

And they also lost Emmanuel Ogba in this game to a torn pick tour. He's been good. The two hundred and twenty five yards on the ground at eight point seven yards per carrying. I mean, you get these Derrick Henry games every once in a while where he had nearly two hundred on his own where he explodes and the Titans offense looks completely different, but they had some I feel like every time he looked up, Tannehill was connecting with targets on big plays, which has been totally

absent for chunks of Tennessee season. There that is becoming slightly annoying. Just agree with yourself, um, And so much for Patrick Mahomes being ease back into action, not that anybody speculated that would happen, but thirty six out of fifty for four six, so he was out there. It could have been more. It felt like it could have been more like the Titans had no answer. Uh, he looked awesome and yet he still didn't look a hundred percent. They rolled him out and he was on the move

a number of times. He was hesitant to run. I don't think he scrambled the entire game, and he was in Romo commented on it. He was he seemed like he was moving at about eight and yet he had so many crazy throws, including you know, I jumped past to mcole Hardman that ended up being a sixty three yeard touchdown, which was one of the most ridiculous places I've ever seen. I know Mitchell Schwartz smith some time with a knee injury and it was the first snaps

he's missed in seven and a half years. He has been a total rock in Cleveland first, but now with the Chiefs. One of the reads they lost this game is is there line the Chiefs that is was really banged up. At one point when schwartz was out, they were down four offensive linemen. They if they had one more injury, they wouldn't have had anyone left to put in. Uh and Mahomes was pressured quite a bit by Harold

Landry uh confirming what you said. There was no credited rushing rushing attempt by Mahomes and also Tyreek Hill targeted nineteen times in this game. He finished for eleven seven and a touchdown. So yes, a tough loss with the Chiefs there six and four. That was their first loss away from Arrowhead Stadium. I think we all feel like they're still gonna be okay, but they gotta get on a winning streak. Let us move on. Jackson will keep it on the readoption. He's got spins at the thirty,

He's got REALM twenty. Lamar Jackson ted five touchdown ravens. Lamar Jackson put the spin the sprint on the score. I mean, that's Michael Vicken two. This is unbelievable. Jerry Sandusky and Dennis Dennis Pitta of w B a L with the call. J R. Johnson's also on that team. I don't want to speculate that was pittat with the second voice that came in, so let's say Johnson could have been there as well done. Lamar Jackson rules the

world the dual threat QB. He threw three touchdowns and then that forty seven yard Madden like touchdown run vic Like if you want to hear it from Pitta and or Johnson, the Ravens roll up the Bengals. The Ravens are now seven and two. They have the looks of

an emerging emerging juggernaut. Mark my goodness. I mean, I think the play is Jackson like, it's not the Michael Vick is a fine comparison in terms of athletic ability, but he's his own guy and he's doing things that it reminds me when I was young and you saw Steve Young rumble against the Vikings on that one run that they've played four billion times since. They're gonna do that with this, and there are kids watching this that are gonna want to go out and play football after

school and do the same thing. And they showed they slowed that down and showed him escaping five would be Bengals tacklers in the course of like twenty something yards. I mean, and it's every game. He's doing this because he's m v P worthy. He's the most exciting player next to Patrick Mahomes in the entire league right now. And the Ravens are the team that found a way to form an offense around him that has opponents totally beguiled.

The Bengals played this team not that long ago. They appear to have learned literally nothing from that game, and I almost can't aimed them because they just have no way to stop what Lamar Jackson's doing. And it was through the air too, And we mentioned this on our sky hit that they used their tight ends Mark Andrews, Nick Boyle, and Hayden Hurst from wire to wire and it was a gronk like stat line between all three of them twelve catches, a hundred and fifty one yards

and two touchdowns. But they made it so clear to Cincinnati right out of the gate, we are going to attack you with these three guys. Figure out a way to stop it. Cincinnati. We get that their punch list could do literally nothing, and Cincinnati's rolling out. Ryan Finley first start, to me, looked a little bit like an Andy Dalton esque type passer. He he wasn't bad or good necessarily. I don't think it has any It makes me well, It makes no statement that Andy Dalton should

honestly be benched. I think Dalton could have done more in this game, but he couldn't the Bengals just have so many issues. They were so overwhelmed out of the gate, and it was just I honestly, it's one of the first times I watched the Bengals and just literally felt bad for the entire franchise. When when we were talking about Lamar Jackson entering this season, obviously the talk was, we know he's an most of athlete, but can he

become an effective passer? This is another performance where it's like he is doing it all. Fifteen of seventeen for two twenty three. He's averaging thirteen yards attempt in this game, an attempt in this game, three touchdowns, no picks, a perfect passer rating. Uh, he is to me right now, you know now he's the m v P as. This is such a great race this year because what he's doing is just no one could stop him. He's unstoppable.

I totally agree, and and the reason he's in the m v P races because I think he does more than other quarterbacks, like as far as carrying the team. The identity runs through him. Uh, nobody is like him. He's just that special kind of guy. On the other hand, I'm not gonna judge Lamar Jackson's passing against the team like the Cincinnati Bengals, I just don't think it means anything. That's sorry, real quickly, there is one pass in this game where he throws a side arm Mahomes like throw.

He is developing as a passer absolutely, and I think having Hollywood Brown healthy is huge. I don't think Jackson's close to being where Russell Wilson is in the m v P in terms of being consistent every week dominating, but he's getting there if he keeps this up. In the difference between him and VIC and We we said on this show, we I thought he was the best running quarterback to enter the league. Since VIC, I think he's one of the best runners in the NFL. That's

pretty obvious, even including the running back differences. VIC had Greg Knapp and Dan Reeves trying to run offense for for him. Well, they never built it around him, and they've built this around Lamar Jackson, and he is bowling is a joy. Points by the way, in three quarters shut it down. They brought in r G three. They could have put up a sixty burger if they wanted to. Yep, and they had. They they're more their trade for Marcus Peters is working very very well. He had a pick

six today that essentially set the game on fire. Early. Good teams stay good. Bad teams stay bad. When you see what's happening with Marcus Peters and the Ravens and their selection and development of their quarterback, and with the Steelers have done with makea Fitzpatrick, which will get to you later when people doubted them at first. Good organizations usually make good decisions in it, and you see it

bear out. When I left the Bengals in the nine nineties, it was for reasons like a stubbornness, a stubbornness to haul your franchise into modern times and accept the reality that this is how the NFL works, And their behavior at the tread trade deadline reminded me of that, Just a staunch refusal to admit that you need to unload guys like Carlos Dunlap and A. J. Green and Andy Dalton and get what you can for them because the rest of your roster is not gonna be ready to

win anytime soon. All right, let's move on. In fact, now it's time for the Road to Victory, presented by the United States Marine Corp. Factors he throws with all drawn the field. Mctor Hazard fritz Patrick for this trip cost Year of the Year tip tip tip by Joe Hayden, Bill Hill, Grove tounch Ilkin of the Steelers Radio Network. This Steelers d is ferocious. Mike Tomlins d for spoard turnovers,

including MIKEE. Fitzpatrick's game icing interception late in the fourth lifting Pittsburgh to a seventeen twelve win over the Rams in Hines Field. Total team effort here on the defensive side of the ball, huge games t J. Watt, Joe Hayden, but West let the takes touting. Mica Fitzpatrick is the defensive player of the Year begin because he has been a monster for them. This was a total team effort on the decent defensive side of the ball. T J. Watt and Bud Dupree bringing heat off the edge like

they have all year. Cameron Haywards shoving people into the passers, taking double teams to allow those linebackers to make plays. And then Joe Hayden and Micka Fitzpatrick in the secondary. Hayden had five passes defense, at least three diving and it was a joy to watch a player selling out to that degree on every play make offense Patrick, you see his instincts, and it's not often that you can

see a player's instincts on the field. You watch the film, you know their tendencies, and then as the play starts, you see that player starting to drift where it should be and you eliminate more and more options. With every split section second that comes, he eliminates those options and is where he's supposed to be. As much as any safety in the game, He's just always where the ball

is gonna be. And you see it. And in a year without a defensive Player of the Year, when you're getting a takeaway every week, I think you have to be in the conversation sociuld t J. Watt, who had a big, you know, force fumble late in this game. It's funny. Every year of the tom An era, I think it's the year that the defense is finally gonna kind of step up and play to the level of their talent and help them, you know, get to a

super Bowl. They were my super Bowl pick going into this season, which you know, if they if they had more of an offense. Who knows the fact that they've turned this the ball over this many times on one level, you can't expect it to continue forever, but it could the whole season. It's a little like the Bears a year ago, but they have so many playmakers. Here's how many times they've turned the ball over since week three five two, three, three, four, three and today was another four.

That's how many they forced every week. That is outraged and waited d v o A, which factors in recent play more than September play. They are right behind Patriots and forty nine in defense. And speaking of awards of awards crazy right now, but Mike Tomlin deserves to be in this conversation now for Coach of the Year because this is an O and three team left for dead.

They've now won five of six and West on Thursday, you said that you were going to to look at Mason Rudolph a little bit differently, not at least give him a chance to develop. And while he is, and you look at the stat line and and they obviously didn't light it up with seventeen points, but maybe it's okay where he is right now in the sense that he's protected the ball today, he made enough plays and

then let the defense win the game that could work. Well, let's change that seven team points to eight points because he gave two back on a safety and the defense scored seven. So the offense really wasn't good in the Today was a day where the rest of the offense was as bad as the quarterback. The receiver's dropped too many passes, the running backs don't make anyone miss um because James Conner is injured, of course, and Benny Snelly,

even the number two is injured. Rudolph also is like one play away from disaster all the time, which is why you see some of the play calling they do. Um, he's gonna cost him that they can't continue to get this lucky, the best, the best um stick in his bag. His number one play is back pedal away from pressure. Throw as you're getting hit and pray that somehow it's a defensive passl interference or your receiver catches. You're looking

for some Rudolf love. You didn't well, I've always said, because I thought you said you were gonna try to see the good at him, but you still don't see anything. Apparently, what I'm saying is he wasn't so bad that he had his defense over a Barrel, like the whole offense did, not just a quarterback. This I think was the most discouraging game of the season for the Rams. I obviously

want to watch it closer. But if you're a fan of the Rams and you're hoping that the bye week could somehow help them figure out some things offensively, to come back out and go one for fourteen on third down, to get the ball so many times in this game and Goff to throw two interceptions four turnovers total and you score twelve points. Now you're looking at a Rams team with the schedule that they have, and yeah, they've

got a pretty uphill climb to make the playoffs. I struggled to believe in their fate this season, and it's you know, you can't ask teams just to continue to be the same thing. They've got a totally different situation with Gurley and it running back, and I know he wasn't a disaster today, but Jared Goff two picks, no touchdowns, and you watched it. They ran into a buzz on defense. But the Rams of of old would have found a way to put up points and get around Pittsburgh today.

I totally agree with you. I mean they're one and done in the playoffs. That they even get there, it's it's incredib Well, Cooper Cup was shut out in this game on four targets. We know Brandon Cooks is out with a concussion. Like you said, we know what's going on with the running backs. Uh, and also don't sleep on again. Their offensive line is just not doing the job anymore and got an injury during the game. They lost their center during the game. So it just keeps

on getting worse for them on offense. And you just wonder if this is something that doesn't get fixed until the off season. They got fifth. They had fifteen drives today. That's an outrageous number, which also shows how poor the Steelers offense was. They basically got ten points fifteen drives and almost none of them. You know, did they get more multiple first downs? I mean, credit the Steelers defense for sure, It's not like they'd get stopped that badly

unless they were playing a great defense. But that's outrageous that. You know, Sam Farmer had a great line on Twitter. You know, the Steelers brought back one of their old Super Bowl teams and the Rams brought out their Super Bowl offense today, Like the fifteen drives and a couple of points to to put a point on how the Steelers offense has played this year. They rank between the Bengals and the Bears and dry success rate this year. That's where they're at. The Mitch Robiskie Bears and the

windless Bengals is where their offense is. And there was a two play sequence late in the game Mason Rudolph made probably his best throw of the day, tight window throw in the red zone to Juju, look like they're gonna set up a field goal. The next play, he keeps backpedaling and backpedaling and tries to hold himself from throwing. At the last minute, is squeezes out of his hand. He's lucky it's rolled in incomplete pass. Could have been a fumble um and it might have lost the game

for him. So it's just you never know what you're gonna get from down. I'll just say and I do not. I am not gonna be on Mason Rudolph corner. But on that same possession you're referring to, I believe he won six of seven. He took them into field goal range. They cook the field goal, which is a big deal because it made it a six point game or a five point game. Uh So he is obviously not the answer or the solution for them, but he's not throwing the game away. He's got them in a sixth seed

right now. Now he doesn't know, but they are in the sixth seed. Is is what I should say. I'm glad you brought that up. Dan. To be fair to him, it was his best, maybe his best excessive drive of the day. As far as passing, he was passed as he was hitting. But my point is he came within a split second throwing the game away. So like he's lucky he didn't throw the work. He's like a solid C minus bordering towards C. Are we do we need him to be something? That's what you're giving him for

the year, Mason Rudolph C minus No. I think that's that is way too I don't know. I mean, we look back the Thursday tape of West opening his mind to Mason Rudolf. His mind is closed. No, he can improve, he has that ability. I would not point to today's game as some like three yards of offense West, So you're right, they're they're not doing it on offense. They're doing it on d um and we'll talk about the more as the week goes on. That was the road

to victory presented by the United States Marine four. Let's move on. Here's the snap kid to McCaffrey. He's he drives forward and is he in? That's the question. The officials are marquing No, they are saying no, he's not in time? Is well town the Packers? A nice call there by Wayne Larav turn this up in my headphones. Yeah, I just always think of the Natives taking the girl and tiring up for calm as a sacrifice. Yeah, I'll say what I said last week. It just reminds me

of like low budget cop dramas. That ray that's going back to the It's highly evocative. Why are we not I only hear this for a minute each week? Why am I not playing this on loop in my house? Forget highly evocative, it's highly erotic. Okay, alright, Greg takes it to a different direction. All right, let's get into a Christian McCaffrey stuffed at the goal line, a crushing into a marathon Panthers march that produced nothing in the Packers four to sixteen win at snowy Lambeau Field. What

a vibe at Lambeau What a mood? As the kids say, Uh, Kyle Allen, let turn this up in my saxophone. Now, Greg's right, alright, anyway you can turn this down for now, Kyle Allen lead the Panthers. Listen to this guy's eighteen plays eighty eight yards on that final drive, but McCaffrey stopped in his tracks. A replay review confirms that he did not make it to the goal line. So in a game in which the Panthers out gained the Packers and Aaron Rodgers was held without a touchdown pass, green

Bay still found a way good teams often do. I was impressed by the secondary figures of the Packers offense, even though the numbers don't show it, Like Alan Lazard made a great play, Jake Kumro made a great play. I thought it was very telling that Rogers told Joe Buck and Troy Aikman, those guys are gonna be playing more down the stretch. And to me, that is at the going to be at the expense of val This Scantling and Geronimo Allison, because it has to be at

the expense of someone. And it was also echoed by Matt Lafleur. They're on the same page. It wasn't an amazing performance by you know, the Packers offense, but they got the job done and they did run the ball really well when they needed to in the second half, which is big when it's snowy and you've got to lead and you want to finish that game. App I thought that they ate up they ate up Carolina on the ground in that second half. To say they were

powerful the way they ran the ball. I wanted Carolina on that final immense drive that you mentioned, Dan to target Christian McCaffrey Moore, And I know that it's not the easiest thing because Kyle Allen was under duress and green Bay's green Bay. You know they've been quiet on defense.

They made it real tough on Kyle Allen, but they were just there were too many lobs into the end zone and flings downfield, where getting Christian McCaffrey open in space at some point on that drive I think would have been effective. Came so close, so close, they got to the one, and McCaffrey does what McCaffrey's does, which he goes off for about a hundred and forty total

yards and a touchdown. And I thought with Kyle Allen, that was an interesting performance, and it was a it was a Joe and and Troy game for Fox and Aikman. At one point Greg said, and I think we both kind of chalked out chuckle down because it was kind of a strange thing to say, but it also made sense that about midway through the fourth quarters, like, yeah, other than those two turnovers, Kyle Allen's played a really

good game. Well you can't really kind of take out the turnovers and say he's had a good game, but he really kind of did. He threw a bad interception in the red zone that really killed him, as as you could tell by the final score. He lost the fumble, But otherwise he did a nice job in tough conditions against the good team, especially when he last we mentioned he wasn't getting protected. Well, I don't I don't quite get the Allen. I don't knowough hates the right word.

But criticism and lack of belief that I hear, you know, especially even from Panthers fan Josh Norris. So I like a lot of Road World like they think it's first read or nothing for him and I see a lot of good throws for a guy who's only started six or seven games. He's kept the offense very functional, even in a game where they were down two scores. We thought this game was over, and he gets them to within a yard of going for the two and trying

to get into overtime. And it comes on a day when Ian Rappaport noted this morning that it is highly unlikely that the Panthers will keep Cam Newton and noted the trade a trade is a most likely route to eject or seat him out of the building. I'd say fascinating offseason subplot. I mean, the newsroom is going to go off when Cam Newton is traded. Here See, here's the thing. I guess. I don't who is trading him, because it was trading for him. Who is trading him

that works for the Panthers. Maybe it's the owner and I and I'm not gonna you know guest sources. But here's the thing. We don't know who the GM or the coach is going to be next year. So unless ownership has decided, which is very possible. I mean, these things happen, but unless ownerships decided that they don't want Cam, How can we know unless well, or it's the more it's the current people in power and that could change there.

And maybe maybe the expectation is, since they're playing so well under Rivera and and Marty Herney has done a pretty good job in his second time around, that this group will be the team next year. Well, I think it would be the owner, right, because yeah, I agree that this is not the man who drafted Cam Newton. There's not those type of deep ties. I think temper this guy your own making court. The owner, he's the boss.

And if he's a guy that wants to put his stamp on the team and he's ready to make a change, and he feels like he won't be killed for it because owners they go with a wind on that as well. I could see him doing it. But let's slow down, inspiring Ron Rivera. Right, Maybe that's the thing is that

they fully anticipate this will be the same group. Are you going to say was considering the market in which he plays and his status as a superstar and a marquee attraction, a trade like that the owner, it would start with the owner. Yep. Well, they have to get approval on it. I mean you ideally don't want then making decisions. We're ahead of the game here. He would be eminently tradeable and I get it. Uh, I don't know if they have. It's a great storyline in the

off season. We need these storylines. We we crave them. Aaron Jones, by the way, is on pace for what the sneakiest twenty touchdown season we've ever seen. He's so explosive that that's what I took away watching this game. Even when they're not firing on all cylinders, you get a forty eight yard you know, play to Jimmy Graham, which was great coaching you you you out there. No, I just it was a good It was a good

play called good execution. You get the thirty eight yard played a Davante Adams when they were backed up against their boal line and they're in the end zone three plays later. Aaron Jones is obviously very exploded of this offense. Even when they're not always getting first downs, they feel like they're always an explosive play away like a great Aaron Rodgers throw. It happens three or four times a game.

When they talked about the fact that Aaron Jones had a pot belly at some stage last year, and there were questions about Aaron Rodgers to used him. And I mean the running back position is the one where if you go and spend four months changing your body, your year is going to be completely different. And that's hounds looked. And I will say one thing, we all love these

snow games. That Packers crowd was one of the best crowds all year, and they kept they kept noting how loud they were, how immense, how braucous they made it, and how tough they made it on the Panthers. That was one of the more impressive touchdown drives we'll see all year. They were backed up second and twenty one with Rogers taking the snap and backing into the end zone and the legitimately less than like five minutes of

real time they were in the opposite end zone. And the other point I want to make is Aaron Jones, as um West eludes too, he's on a tremendous touchdown pace. He had three today, which I can guarantee you means he ain't touching, he ain't going near the goal line. Because Aaron's gonna get his TV next week and the week after that. Up cooked up narrative. Fantasy owners, beware Aaron Jones. He ain't getting the ball near the goal line, play action for the win any other points? Why go

l anywhere else? All right, then let's uh move to the NFC South or the We got one of the biggest upsets of the season. In fact, I think the Desert said this was the biggest upset of the season. Riding back up in the pocket, Crows back side Hill, open diving and storing in the pylon, and the Atlanta touchdown for playing Hill the last guy in the package.

I haven't heard much from West Durham this year over at the Falcon's radio network because Atlanta stinks, but not On Sunday, Matt Ryan throws two touchdown passes and that Falcons six game losing streak gets over win over the Saints at the Superdome that ended the Saints is six game winning streak. This is a bitter rivalry, and you just assumed that a Saints team that has you know, Super Bowl written all over it potentially would just stop on a downtrodden Falcons team. It just didn't work out

that way. West. It was the Falcons defense too, that whipped up on a team Saints team that had Alvin Kamara had drew brees. That didn't matter. How it was interesting to see a big rivalry game like this, both teams coming out of their bye week, and you would have thought that the Falcons were the seven and one team in the Saints were the one in seven team for the first time all year. The Falcons. He had a ball control keep away offense. I don't know where

they got it. I don't know where it came from. I don't know where they got a DeVonta Freeman wasn't really making people miss, but he was moving the chains until he got injured. And then they went to Brian Hill who moved the chains. Matt Ryan, playing on a gimpy angle ankle a couple of times, moved the chains on third down. Uh Marshawn Lattimore had a thigh injury. Julio Jones didn't have a catch before that injury. He went out, he went out, and then Julio kind of

went off for a while. Some for some big catches, but this was a checklist of things that had to happen for the Saints to lose. And roughing the punter penalty, four illegal hands to the face penalties, which I've never seen before. In one game four they were all legit. Drew brees Is accuracy was off on easy throws. You don't see that often. Alvin Camara a non factor behind Latavious Murray um a much bigger advantage for Falcons on

third and fourth downs. Uh. They signed young Wake Coup given Michael Vick's uniform number, and he drills four field goals. Of course, here's the biggest story of the game though to me. The Falcons entered this game with seven in sacks on the season from their defense. The Saints had given up twelve sacks on the season, and the Falcons got Brees for six sacks, which tied his career high for most sex taken in a game. And Gregg pointed out with our Sky Sports hit that Jeff Olbrick is

calling the plays now. I didn't put much stock into it because every third game Dan Quinn gives up play calling, it seems to me, so I don't even know when he's calling Apparently, Yeah, Albrek's done it before a little, but now it's Yeah, it worked. What I mean, I didn't watch closely enough to see if they were running stunts or why the Saints couldn't all of a sudden block. But Drew Brees isn't nearly as nimble in the pocket

as he used to be. He couldn't get out a way of some pressure that he used to get out of the way of. And the Saints just couldn't get anything going, even even late in the fourth quarter when you know they were just turning it over on downs a couple of times in a row. So it is a bad week or did you see some legitimate flaws

here that there's something other teams can pick up. I've been on this since late Thanksgiving of last year that the Saints offense is just limited in and how for where they can go down the field, how much of the field they can use because of Breeze's arm. But you also have a situation where if Alvid Camara isn't uh and Trey Kwon Smith and Tech ginn are dropping passes, who's who else is out there for your offense outside of Michael Thomas, which is why he has another great game,

becomes the quickest in history to four hundred receptions. But you know Jared Cook had a few nice catches. There were also a few borderline balls he might have caught late in the fourth quarter that he didn't um. So I think they're still looking for that, like third guy to step up. Outside of Camara and Michael Thomas, there

were light chance for Teddy. That's wild were the idiots that are changing because I think it probably you know, you know what, I just came up with a theory, This is probably totally wrong, and then someone could prove it is. Maybe it was the Falcons fans they're doing a little mocking at because there were there were there was a little section of Falcons fans there. I noticed

at one point that they got quickly boot booted. And it's such a cliche, like you throw the records out when these two teams play, and I'm thinking, no, not really, Like the Saints have been better to the last couple of years and they've beaten the Falcons like a drum, especially in New Orleans. But I don't know there's something to it. I you're kind of happy for dan Quinn.

Falcons their team website, you know, not the most unbiased, you know, group in the world that they said, they said it's one of the great defining wins of the Tan that dan Quinn era. And you know, in a season where everything is this terrible, it does have to feel great for the Falcons to be sending out these little trolling tweets and they go and they put one on the seven and one. Expectations have been recalibrated. In Atlanta, they used to be there trying to win a Super Bowl.

Now they'll they'll settle for this right because it's defining. Also because if the score were flip flopped in Atlanta, we're going home down to nine. Dan Quinn may not be working there a few days from now. I'd be a little worried. You're absolutely right, and this should keep it, you know, going for the rest of the year. What's the point of firing the mid season? Six sacks and a team that doesn't throw the ball down the field

is a troubling combo. He he was only sex seventeen times all of last season, and in the game against the Cardinals, their offense was great with Drew Brees back, but he only threw I think two passes that traveled more than ten yards in that game to West his point and it was working. At some point they will have to open it up a little bit. I don't

want to make this all on the Saints. Grady Jared, who was legitimately in the run for an All Pro in a year with Aaron Donald and clay As Campbell, had another two and a half sacks and has been phenomenal all year. Just to point out, and this is my favorite example of pointing out the rivalry and the the intense dislike between Falcons fans and Saints fans. After

three happened, uh Super Bowl one. Uh, A couple of weeks later was Marty Gras and the people of New Orleans created a twenty eight to three float to celebrate the loss of the rival, a game that had nothing to do with the Saints, that that took place far are away. Uh, they just they love reveling each other's misfortune.

Back they they flashed the big thing at the stadium today in the fourth quarter when the when the Saints were down a couple of touchdowns about twenty three, like a video montage or something about it, And uh, you know that's not gonna work with the Falcon's got young Waiku wearing Michael Vick's number seven. COO put that seven on and he said, I'm the baddest seven that's ever played for the Falcons. He had three field goals. This is the comeback player of the year. West put it

in your column. I like you. I'm happy you can't ice the kicker when he's already got ice in his veins. You know, let's shoot over to the fifty three to tie waiting. Come to shap It's back, he's into it. The kickers on the way. It doesn't look like it has enough d No good, shove it che seconds look to go. The Ploach sideline explodes, the stadium explodes. Doon the color for the Browns have money on the other team or something. He's like, oh no, not that I

know of. Are you breaking more news? Jim Donovan and Doug Deacon with a cough of the Browns radio network. Baker Mayfield he threw a seven yard touchdown past the Richard Higgins with one to play, and then Bill's kicker, Stephen Hashka, as you just heard, went wide left on

a long field goal attempt in the final seconds. The Browns escaped nineteen sixteen, the win at the Dog Pound mark that ends as Cleveland's four game losing streak, and thanks to that final Mayfield touchdown quiets the talk of Cleveland's issues in the red zone. Well, I don't know if it quiets that talk, because they were an absolute disaster and it would have been louder if it did

get It would be a lot louder. A win does a lot, but they essentially at one point in the game, in terms of their red zone issues, it was absolutely maddening. They were nine They had nine goal to go plays that resulted in zero yards. But getting down into the red zone, they looked better than they have in a while. I thought Odell Beckham got going. Jarvis Landry, who is a physical, tough receiver when he's on, played with a

absolute fire inside of him. Today, I thought he really, he really really wanted this game as much as I've seen from anyone on the Browns all year. Nick Chubb is an absolute bad man. I mean he the way he runs he I I said it before and I'm not trying to overstate it. There are moments where he has Jim Brown a look to him. He just runs with that kind of emergency. But they got bottled up inside the ten and I thought I woke up thinking

this thing was gonna be a Brown's win. Because they confirmed this morning they changed the end zone stripes from these energy stopping horizontal stripes to ones that are vertical, and there was I've been on this case since the beginning of the year, tweeting about it, annoying people relentlessly. You might be the reason they changed it. Well, I

do think, I do think that there's there is. I do have it confirmed that people in side the building are very aware and listening as a lot of teams are and struggling teams to various things that are out there. And I think that they maybe did make a shift here based on a lot of people asking agreeing that the horizontal stripes just looked weird and shrunk the end zone. The vertical stripes are kinetic. They just look right. Don't allow they allow a laying into the ends. It's it's

an energy thing. And I think, you know, the way that they opened up the Browns today, I thought, this is going to be the game where we're finally going to see what we've been waiting to see. And you've played. They played a great defense Buffalo and Buffalo and and they got bottled up. And I don't think it quiet's really any concerns about what Cleveland overall, the way that they approached game after game. Uh one uptick to have

cream Hunt in there. I was thinking, there's a world where Cream Hunt has five touches for negative eight yards and it's a complete mess. He made a big difference, and they decided not to start Antonio Callaway today. Part of that is because for Shard Higgins, who had the game winning touchdown, was active and someone that they wanted

to get involved. I also think it's because of the way that Kareem Hunt was used out at wide receiver multiple times, a factor in the passing game, someone that's tough to cover if you're not going to put a cornerback on him. And he made a difference. He had a couple of big blocks and some tough runs too. He looked well, he looked ready to play. You know that they absolutely did. He's the one whole thing, one extra they have. They have Pittsburgh on Thursday. Here's where

they're at every week. Is you lose, you're out. You're basically you're done. You're cooked three right, So you're cooked if you lose. So they went and they saved the day today their season against Buffalo and West and I got our locks, as you knew we would. We were not sure about point about the vertical stripes in the end zone. Why do you think I chose number eleven in basketball and fifth grade makes you look taller? There

you go? Uh, there you go? So yes, not a not a high powered offensive showing on either side in terms of yardage or anything. But the Bills um sixteen points again, markt at looks like the same old issues on their end that their defense does a nice job, and they got the goal line stands, and they they almost won the game outright at the end on a near a turnover on a underhanded flip to Kareem Hunt that went sideways and that got brought back, which then

led to the go ahead Brown's touch on. So they were close. But did you see the same issues that have kind of led people to be not so bullish on the Bills in general. Yes, yes, because I like Devin Singletary a lot, but he's kind of gonna give you what he gave you today, which is forty two yards on the ground attempts. Right, They never really got into their flow either. It was it was low scoring for a reason and looked that way, and you know John Brown every week he does something every week. He

produces every week Cold Beasley produces. But you don't have a superstar weapon here. They can take over the game. Josh Allen a couple scampers, very scary and like he's he's going to do the same thing too. He is going to kill you if you don't put someone on him in coverage. And he has got an incredibly strong arm.

But the accuracy is there too, to the point where I mean, I like Josh Allen in terms of his athleticism, but they have a lot to think about in the off season because it would be tough for them to shift gears. But I don't know what the ceiling is for Josh Allen. When we're this many games in and the same issues exist. Well, they're putting it on him almost like they want to see what his ceiling is. They are extremely pass heavy, and they have been throughout

the year. You would not think that the Bills, who have had a lot of leads are been in a lot of close games, would be a team that's really relying on Josh Allen's arm. But I think a lot of teams did what the Browns did today. They try to stop the run. They're worried about Josh Allen running and they dare Allan to beat him. And you have a lot of games like this week where Allan through passes and for the most part that's you know, amounted

to mediocre off of them. That that tells me that at this stage anyway, they still believe in him completely. In fact, they're waiting for him to make the leap. This isn't as him was trying to hide their quarterbook. I feel like that's when you're getting to the point where the organization might be ready to look in a different direction. I don't think they're there yet, but they're still It's like when you're bringing Blake Bordles on third day.

They have seven games to play if he if he regresses over the rest of the season, perhaps right now, I still think they think he's not yet. It's not it's not there yet. I would say that you cannot they They are doomed if if they are gonna have kicker issues down the stretch, they're gonna have to win games by one to three points. And Steven how she

missed a thirty four yarder along with that game winner. Well, the Bills are six and three, and I think the Browns at three and six should have some playoff you know, just dreams. They gotta win Thursday night, partly because right now the Steelers are in that six spot and if the Bills are capable of collapsing entirely, you know, this is you know, one of those years you certainly could see a nine win team make the playoffs. There Who knows, the Raiders win on Thursday, and the Titans win, and

the Browns beating the Bills, the Colts keep losing. It's fun to the a f C wildcard picture is wide open, but I think we're all in agreement that the Browns want to be taken seriously. They gotta win at home Thursdays, absolutely, or it's over. We shall see. Let's move up pork and seven. Trisco stepping up. Trisco steps out of a tackle, running left, fires into the end zone, passes incomplete, time expires, but there is a flag pass hole. They snapped their

four game losing street clearly. Jeff, Johnny Back and Tom There weren't watching the telecast because Jeff driscoll marched about three and a half to four yards beyond the line of scrimmage before throwing that final incompletion is very clear what that flag was gonna be. Anyway, Club dub is back in business. Mr Robinsky tie to season high three touchdown passes, all three of those scores coming in a span of five passes UH late in the second quarter.

In early in the third quarter, the Bears with with standy Lake charge by the Lions. They win twenty thirteen. The Bears do UH four game losing streak is over for Chicago. Mattnege can sleep better knowing as offense showed a bit of a spark in this one, at least in that period that I'm referring to three possessions UH three touchdowns Before that, the four previous possessions were just as bad as it was last week when they had what wasn't seven yards in the first half of that loss.

This this time it was twenty one yards in the first four possessions UH, and Soldier field again restless and believing that it was time to get Chase Daniel on the field. Think about that in terms of darkness, UH. And then the game shifted on that last possession of the first half, a a d R drive UH. Ten plays and it ends with a really nice Travisky touchdown

pass to the tight end. Uh, So that got them going and they were able to sustain that in the third quarter, they kind of disappear again down the stretch and the Lions UH with Jeff Driscoll starting in place of Matt Stafford, who we learned this morning was scratched with reportedly fractures in his back and injury that's been lingering for a while for him, and we'll see if that's something that's gonna keep him out multiple weeks. But

driscoll uh didn't do much. He made a really nice touchdown pass, a forty seven yard touchdown pass in the fourth quarter to Kenny Golladay that got him back in the game. And then after a three and out by the Bears, the Lions had a chance and they were marching down the field. They just ran out of time, as you heard on that highlight. So the Bears. I kind of wanted to see the Bears defense just step up and just make that game a laugher, and the

opposite happened. The Lions had a chance to force overtime. So it wasn't the great Chicago defensive effort you were expecting certain against Jeff Driscoll of course as well, you're expecting the Bears to clean up. But I I locked up the Bears, uh. And it's five right for the old Zeuser after five losses to start the season. Because I don't think this is gonna be a nightmare season for them. I just think they kind of are what they are, which might be about seven wins, and they

got one of them today. This is the worst possible win you can have. It's a pathetic offensive performance. No bad wins. Greg twenty six yards against one of the worst defenses in the league. And then you think maybe you turn the corner and you go three and out and four your last five positions, and you're playing Jeff Driscoll and you're playing an offensive line that lost two of its starters. There's an article on m live dot com that is just a list of the sixteen different

Lions that were hurt uh in this game. So there's no to me, this is not yeah, you move on and maybe you get better a week from now. But this they didn't show up. And if you have to believe, if Matthew Stafford is on the field and you're not running Paul Perkins and mckissic as your two running backs. At the end of the game, the Lions are a better team, right, That's what I'm saying there. There's nothing

about this game that's screw teams. Oh they fix their problems or they're ready to make a rise um And if you want to the optimistic viewpoint is they kind of They got a little bit better last week in the second half of two touchdown drives. They did have three touchdown Uh well they had one was a short field, I believe, but they had one was twenty yards. They

had three scores. Uh that I know it doesn't sound great, but to understand how bad this offense has been for large swaths of the season, there is a tiny bit of progress. If you want to see that because you're playing defense in the league, who's but But if you're just people staring at box scores made it looks a lot better for Mitchell Robinski than the reverse, which would

be three picks. And I I if I'm a Lions fan, you had a quarterback in Matthew Stafford this year that's played as well as he's ever played in his career, and he's been a fascinating guy. Who get much more attention if he weren't stuck in Detroit in the middle of nowhere in terms of football coverage, and well it is, I mean it's not. It's not one of the it's not on the coast, the geographical hit piece for a second. There's people would have been mad, but they're so banged up.

But like you think of Tony Romo, right, who had a back injury at various times. You think of of Derek Carr when he did. It's just I, I don't know what what we have in Matthew Steff will fire it out if it's serious at all. I mean, season over. This Bears offense isn't gonna be fixed until Rabinsky's a running threat again. Last year he was fifth in rushing yards amongst quarterbacks. This year he's twenty two and until Tariko and is a big play threat again, which he

hasn't been all year. All right, let's move on. Here's the foul. Maybe the final player of the game, dropping back Murray under pressure, Murray, Murray throws them all up for grabs down field. It is knocked away. No time left. Bock swim box, swim bowin Jeez Decker off Fox Radio Network. Kyler Murray's desperation heave was a prayer unanswered and to pass interference uncalled in my opinion, But that's beside the point. The Cardinals washed away by the ice water in the

veins of Jamis Winston. Sunday at the large Pirate Ship, Winston lad the Bucks on a six play, nine two yard drive in the closing minutes, the decisive score in a thirty seven win. Greg ice Water, No, I mean he's good in the two minute drill. I'll give the Bucks that. I think they're one of the better two minute drill teams this week after week. They did it before half time. They did it at the end of the game. Maybe that's when Jamis Winston's not thinking and

they're just playing. They should try to do that the whole game because the rest of it he seemed very much in his own head. Had a couple of interceptions, could have had a couple more, some bad decisions, But the Bucks are who they are. They're so consistent, they're so bad in the secondary, they're amazing stopping opposing running backs.

Kenyan Drake and and David Johnson had I think twenty six touches in this game for fifty one yards twenty two touches for fifty one yards in David Johnson fumbled the ball on a key catch late in the game that really helped Tampa put It was our first fumble all year, right, and it's first since nineteen. Team went nine games without a pun and and Kyler Murray had his first interception in a long time. So the you know, the the Bucks. You would have thought, oh, maybe they

win the turnover battle. Nope, they still lose it. They turned it over three times. They are the same team each and every week. They just sort of found a way to win this one. Remember when the Patriots had that long like streak of really extraordinary low fumbles and everybody thought it was some kind of weird combination of Belichick cheating and black magic. That was that was true,

though this is different difference. It's most luck. The Bucks are the most like the perfectly situated three and six team ever they should end their season because they're the ultimate three and well they're fun. Ye we know who you are, that's we do. If they had a good defense, like a legit good defense, they'd be winning some games. Because as much as Winston gives it away and is is a huge problem with the turnovers. They put up points and they put up yards. O. J. Howard has

been playing better lately. He had a big game which helped turn it around. Ronald Jones as a starting running back I thought made a difference last week. Didn't get it too much done on the ground today, but had seventy seven yards receiving and eight catches. They were killing him with screens. It's like this is it's a Bruce Arians team through and through, Kyler Murray filling up the box score again. How did he play? I thought he missed a number of throws early, but overall you gotta

be excited. You hit Christen Kirk deep, couldn't get rid of the ball and that last draw right. I would say, a very up and down game, but at least he made a lot of plays, uh to go along with with the mistakes, although he did have the turnover. Yeah, yeah, he's They're fun to watch. There are three six and one team too. They to me do not smell like a team that that should have been four or five and one. So I like it when teams just kind

of reached their appropriate level. Vernon hargrains benched for lack of hustle. Never a good son. Never a good son. It takes a lot to unless you don't want to conte there. It's a very good sign for him. You ever touched Jameis Winston s Hanny ever shake his hand? I've never met him Like pure ice. The man fears nothing but gunways. Coo COO's feet or two. Let's move on. That's Patrick back to throw, get the pressure again, rolls

to his right. Fix is the Royal kicks the fun hold right, Ryan said, Patrick fake pumped in and took off you I'm going to the corner a touchdown. The last thing that defense was worried about was thirty six year old quarterback running the football. You know, when you get older than thirty six and announced to say it's up, you start to feel bad about yourself because it's like, it's not that crazy that he ran eleven yards. He's

a thirty six year old professional athlete. It's like the the idea that you Jimmy Sepalo, Bob Greasy and Joe Rose with the cough of the Dolphins radio network. Yeah, if it's magic eleven yard touchdown run in the first half and then the Dolphins make a late stop with the help of a costly mental error from Eric Ebron that preserves a win over the Colts. That's two straight wins for the Dolphins, who have put that historically in apt first two months in the rear view draft positioning

be damned, Mark how they win an Indy today. I think they're really well coached. I mean, for the lack of assets on both sides, for both lines being what they are, I think they're the least penalized team in the entire NFL right now. And that has a lot to do with Brian Flores and he you know what, forget the whole organic tank business. They were fired up

on the sideline. And this is a Colts team that rode through the first seven games of the year with seven turnovers, and that's how they want, I think, partly because they were a mistake free operation. They've had six in the last two weeks. And you got the every other Brian Hoyer game where he played really well last week. Today he was a turnover machine. They just don't have

enough around him to make up for the mistakes. And in Miami watching them today, I I understand that the the whole point here is to try to get the first overall pick. They're gonna win three or four games, they've already got to and they've got the Bengals on their schedule later in the year, they've got the Jets and Giants. They could win one of those two four and twelve. That's the thing that people that aren't really you know, watching the Dolphins, they've been conflating this whole

time that the Dolphins aren't trying to win. The team's trying to win. It's the management that set them up. Now, it was more a major league type thing, uh the movie than an actual situation where the whole team was in the tank. And you've seen it week after week that they were getting better. And yeah, I think it is a credit to Floors because if you think about it, that was the worst start of any team in NFL history.

Now you can also say that's kind of on Brian Floors too if you want, if you want to be that guy, but the fact that he was able to get them out of that bleak place where they were the joke and the laughing stock of the league, and everyone with their very somber takes about how the Dolphins were. You know, a disgrace for what they were doing and all that stuff. He just kept on trying to get

this team competitive and now they're winning. Isn't this near the top of the reasons why your front office should not tank because you're coaching players are not going to be on board with your plan. Well, why, yeah, why would they? I mean, they didn't look like a team tanking when they stuffed the Cults twenty seven yards rushing for Indianapolis in the first half. One of the best offensive lines in football in Miami completely bottled them up

and it was an impressive last week. As a Jets fan, I'm reading all the post mortems and there is talk is this the worst Jets loss of all times? Like, no, because the Dolphins have been competitive for weeks now, they were gonna get a win, and now they got two wins and his mark saying they're probably gonna get three and four and potentially be out of the top five.

And perhaps there are Dolphins fans that are upset about that, And I get that too, because, um, when you're trying to get a young franchise quarterback something times, you just want things to work out your way. And maybe Greg, they still have enough assets even if they go for and twelve or three and thirteen that they could make them trade up the board. So it's not the end.

Even if they don't end. It's even right now they're only in the fourth spot with two wins, then too far down they can not get the number one pick and still get the guy they want potentially. Can we just point out that this Colts team is not like the five and three Colts team that the record said they was. They were playing without their starting quarterback, uh two, three of their top four wide receivers, right, I mean, that's the thing. The expectations have changed so much in Indianapolis.

They're saying the same things about how embarrassing this losses and what a travesty. It kind of shows how high the expectations are that Reich has made so quickly that a team led by Brian Hoyer or the number one wide receiver Zach Pascal is fully expected to win. And it is a bad loss, but it they've been playing with very slim margins and their offensive line is overrated. Based on how they've played the last three or four weeks, they just haven't made a big difference. I watched I

try to watch that game closely. We go they're not putting, they weren't pushing the other team around on the offensive line, and the Dolphins are playing much tougher defensively, because if you're getting any pressure on Hoyer and you're stopping the run fairly well, then this is not a team the Colts that is where they're dominating on the offensive line anymore. I do wish we could have gotten a full season

from Darius Leonard. He was awesome today, thirteen tackles, had a massive sack of Ryan Fitzpatrick on third down, had an interception, And the cults though, also they you know that you're right the which Brissette had three interceptions through his entire run teams change. Oh, and coaching matters, like if Brian Floor is a good coach, I'd rather see that as a Dolphins fan, uh than see a bunch

of losses. I think I feel like this is one of the defining moments of Fitzpatrick's career, like a thing that you'll remember. It's awesome. I think his his leadership and spirit for lack of a better word, not that he played like lights out today, but that's a tough spot and I don't think there's many quarterbacks that could have come in and kind of had the intensity and way to build this team out. His beard, by the way, is now at an insane level. Like I get it.

It was big and bushy for a long time, but it is. It looks like that lives in the Harvard Library and like no one ever went and got absolutely he just lives his entire life there. Um. And I should add a little context before we move on. Eric Ebron on a fourth and ten with a game on the line, ran a nine yard route, was stopped like eight and a half yard route. It wasn't even close.

They didn't even have to take out the sticks, and everybody just kind of was like Brian Flores ran down the sideline and he was pumped up, but everybody else just like, oh, I guess we just won the game because this dude didn't run a ten yard route with the game on the line needing ten yards. Okay, we'll take it just a little more context. They wouldn't have been in that situation if Adam Vinitary hadn't missed a killer point P A T. I mean, just every week

you're getting something new. I talked about this last week. You gotta make the move. I gotta make the move. You already been Coop be a playoff team if you had Coup. Can't pick up the phone call Kai. What I gotta do. The book on Kai must not be a good read at this point. To be honest. Let's move on to the most important game of week ten. Jones back to throw under some pressure. He'll be hit. Jamal Adams takes the ball away. He's gonna run right in store. Jamal Adams in the five, He's gonna be

the end zone for a touchdown. Jamal Adams on Uplitz simply sees the ball away from Daniel Jones and runs it back for a Jet defensive touchdown. Haven't heard much from Bob was shusan over on the Jets radio network on this program, but we hear it there. The Jets twitter feed called it a gimme six. Jamal Adams muscle

pass se Kwan Barkley. Then the rip ripped the ball out of the hands of Daniel Jones took it to the house for the Jets, who leaned on their star safety and seven win over the Giants in a big, dumb, stupid fun football game between two bad teams. How's this for a stat line? Uh from the Presidents as he calls himself. Eight tackles uh, two sacks, two force fumbles, one fumble recovery, a touchdown, and a crucial fourth down stop on a Daniel Jones QB speak in the fourth quarter.

It was the best game of his career and a stark reminder that one of the chiefs of the Jets chief priorities going forward, and they have a lot of work to do to build this organization into um a contender again. But to see if you can repair this relationship. And I know they're in the news this past week that he finally met with the GM and the coach and you know they smooth things over. But who knows if that's actually true. It might be just something to

make the story go away. They what they should do is in the offseason, make them the highest paid safety in the league, because, as we saw in this game, his ceiling is higher than anybody. There are starting safeties who will go the full sixteen game schedule and not have that many game changing plays the entire season. That's outrageous. It was an important win for the Jets, who also got Sam Donald back on track a little bit. Uh for the third straight week. He went right down the

field on the first possession scored a touchdown. The difference this time he scored another touchdown the next possession. They go ice cold again for most of the uh second quarter into the third quarter, and that's when Adams had his big touchdown which kind of studied the ship for New York. Uh. So the Jets overcome actually a second half deficit. Uh it was progress and no turnovers for

Donald and on. So Adam Gaze, whose QB whisper reputation is in tatters, he needs to he needs to uh stack some performances like this from his quarterback to have a chance to stick around. And on the other sideline, I would think that Pat Shermer is getting close to needing a Hail Mary because, um, the Giants. You know this again, this is an organization that's a proud organization that's had a lot of success and they've been bad for a while now and they were just dreadful in

this game. I mean they're now two and eight, they've lost six in a row. And when Daniel Jones, who again is a very promising young quarterback, when he throws with three hundred yards and four touchdowns um and passed a post A passer rating north of one twenty. And you still can't beat the Jets. Uh. It just shows the glaring deficiencies around you on your roster. I found an answer to a question that I didn't know I had,

but now I have. How many rushes do you need to have an average of zero point one yards per carro What is the answer? Thirteen carreys per sit Kwon Barkley zero point one yards per carry because he managed one yard right, yeah, Tom Rock from News they broke it down well. He averaged two point seven five inches per carry. Yeah, and that is you know, that's obviously credit to the Jets run defense, which just been good all year. But also I don't know if se Kwan

Barkley is all the way back from that high ankle sprain. Uh. He has. He's had a couple of flashes since he's been back, but he certainly hasn't been the same guy. So they couldn't run the ball and their defense had too many lapses, and uh, yeah, I just wonder if Shermer is gonna make it well. Then they mentioned that John Mara was Giants owner was absolutely steamed after the game, making eye contact with no one while answering a few questions.

I do wonder about what's going on. I know levy on Bell is not fully healthy either, but his box score is troubling as well, and I feel like it's just sort of week after week waiting for that one. Levy on Bell gates under an eighty yards and he's never getting it. The average less than two yards to carry. They have a terrible offensive line, but I don't think

he's moving as well. And I know he was very banged up going into this week, if that played a role, but there were a couple of times it doesn't happen often with his offense, but where he got the ball with a little bit of space and he didn't seem to have uh the juice. Um. So yeah, that is something worth tracking for the Jets. But very strange game that neither team top first of all jones through for three d and four yards and the Giants didn't. In

the Giants gained less than three hundred yards. They also don't that too. He was sax six times for fifty yards and then and then the Jets didn't Game three hundred yards either in a game they scored um thirty four points, four points and scored four touchdowns. And someone had a great stat of the Giants record since O'Dell and and everyone on the boat took the picture. Remember

that the boat pure ten and thirty two. Since that that picture was, that's better than I would have expect that in thirty Teams don't do well on these boat trips. We know that from the Vikings and others. Yeah, some trips go worse than others. Um um. And finally before we move on, um, you know, we haven't had many opportunities to have my dad on to share his thoughts about figure, you know, coming off a dub wearing club dub in the Mettlelands. So it's here from Keith Hansas.

His name was Keith, you don't doubt about it. He's a big fan. Well he games. Great comeback win by the Jets today. Jamal Adams was the start of the game. That strip was simply outrageous. Uh that he that he got put a touchdown. The Jets uh kept the penalties down. As a matter of fact, second and a half they only had one penalty which was huge for them. Uh. They stopped to run. Barkley is not an easy guy to stop, and they stuffed him all day. Donald was

clean this week, which was big. The p I with Anderson was huge, down to stretch and uh, like I said, no turnovers, team win, total team win by the Jets onto next week. There you go. It's good to hear Dad happy. I appreciate that you have haven't forced him to come on during all these losses. That's it's nice of you. Did you catch that in the background? What was it the William Tell overture? That's the Lone Ranger your dad. Listen. Maybe they're a big w Keith and

dev They just settle into their recliners. They're retired now and they check out. What's that channel that has all the old shows? Me TV? That's that's a big baby boomer boomer channel. So maybe maybe they're checking out some me TV in a big spot. Yeah. When Heath loves a little Leave It to Beaver, he loves Perry Mason, he likes some of those older shows. Maybe Lone Ranger is not one that I've noticed on his menu in

the past, but I'll check in. Could just be watching something else with that song plan or you could have been listening to the Loan Render soundtrack. Do you have a record everything? I mean, they're probably they're probably having fun time. I will do the reporting on this and get back to you on Tuesday. Let's go to Sunday Night Football four and five from the Vikings fourteen Prescott

out of the Shotguns Blay. We all know that Eric Kendricks, who's top three in the league for pass break up for a linebacker, So they thought that they had that mismatch with Zeke on Eric Kendricks and Rick Kendricks. Paul, what a beautiful play, Paul Allen and Pete Versus of the Vikings radio network with the call good insight there. Cowboys thought they had the mismatch. Eric Kendricks says, no, he swats it away, and essentially that was it for

the Dallas Cowboys. The Vikings were able to essentially run out the clock after that and get a twenty eight to win in Gerald world, a huge win for the Vikings, who moved to seven and three with the win, and the Cowboys four fall to five and four. Keeping the NFC is very interesting, Greg, you weren't a fan of how Jason Garrett and the Cowboys and Kellen Moore ran that final sequence. Yeah, we'll we'll get to giving the

Vikings credit because it's it's a great road win. I think they they dominated up front in the running game on both sides. But Jason Garrett is very often to me the difference in close Cowboys games and in this game the time that they took in terms of managing the game, especially after they got under the two minute warning. They were acting like they were ahead by four. You want to maximize your chances and you want to try to get the ball back if you don't score, which

ended up happening with as much time as possible. More importantly, they just kept running Zekiel Elliott on first downs and in key situations when it wasn't working. Bob Stern, who does an awesome job the athletic would be right near the top of my Athletic writer power ranking, just he is amazing. He noticed that fifteen of their twenty three first downs. This was late in the fourth so it could have been updated. Uh, they ran on first down

and they basically got no yardage on those plays. Zeke was just stuffed, including five carries for three yards on that last field goal drive. You added that, plus how Garrett never goes for it on fourth down. Four different fourth downs in the game where they're on the Vikings side of the field and it's five or six yards or less, they didn't go for it one time. In fairness to Jason Garrett, Kellen Moore is calling those runs

on the first downs correct. Well, we don't know if Jason Garrett's telling him, hey, here's whatever it is that cowboy's offense. That's fair that the game management stuff in terms of, you know, decide to go for it on fourth downs, that's all certainly Garrett, but yes, paint the broader brush. You gotta do better when you have a game like this out of Dak Prescott, which was sensational, and you don't only put up twenty four points. I said earlier in the year, I thought they had one

of the best coaching staffs in the league. And Kellen Moore has the number one ranked d v o A offense going into this game. John kitt of the Quarterbacks coach, I believe has Dak Prescott playing better than he did even in his rookie year. He's been exceptional this year. Rob Mary Nelly, one of the best position coaches in the league. On the defensive line, Christopher Shard showed last year he can call the plays really well. I don't

trust the head coach. I'm with Greg on that. That's been the case for years, and it's it's a night like this wipes out what was an incredible performance from Amari Cooper, who would have been the talk of the town had they won this thing. I just sometimes feel like Garrett's a punching bag and he's an easy target. They did, didn't execute. What does he if he's not calling the plays and he's an offensive mind, what does he bring to them if his games management is suspect?

I agree with you they did next I get I agree he takes maybe too much of it, but man, I've just watched these close Cowboys losses. It feels like that for a long time. And and the whole idea this is an offense first team. It's a pass first team. That's what they're great at, and you're not leaning into it. There was four, like I said, four different fourth downs where it was five for six yards. There was a fourth and goal at the end of the game on

the five and you kicked the field goal. Meanwhile, Dac at one point was five for five on third down in ten yards plus. I mean, he's hitting all these impossible throws that he has to make because you keep running on first and second death down the other side of the ball, you know. West We talked about it on this podcast a lot, how whether it's something that

should be done or should be done. Kirk Cousins is the center of the narrative around the vikings of whether they sink or swim, and in this case, Cousins was neither the total hero and he certainly wasn't the goat, but he did his job. All that talk about that he's a guy that struggles in these type of spots while he was he was perfectly fine today and he

kept the team moving with some long touchdown drives. He did not turn the ball over, and that's been a major issue with Cousins and games like this in the past. But the star of the game on offense was actually Dalvin Cook, who, again, uh, is a guy that and he's right behind Christian McCaffrey in terms of total yardage for all NFL players, and he saw it again. He ran for close to a hundred yards. He adds seven

for eighty six through the air. He was on a day where they did not have Adam feeling, and when you don't have feeling, Stefon Diggs is not the same player. Davil Cook was there again to keep the offense moving, made a nice athletic jump pass on that touchdown which Rudolph made an awesome catch on in the back of the end. Zinne, And you're right, the the m v P of this offense, the most important player is Dalvin Cook,

not Kirk Cousins. But kirk Cousins has still had you know, he's had some ups and downs, but overall a good year and once again is a top half of the NFL quarterback It's a it's a perception thing too, because had kirk cousins season started with the last four games at the beginning of the year, we would be going absolutely nuts about him. It was the it was a wicked slump he had and it was a team wide issue. And they are going to continue on with Cook. I

love Alexander Madison being used more and more each week. Two. I can trust this offense with the two of them. Right. For all the criticism you know I just had with Garrett the defense of the Cowboys let them down again like they have for much of the season. They give up to two touchdowns on the first two drives of the game. That's a you know, rible way obviously to set the tone. And then the first two drives of the second half, Vikings go twelve plays for a field goal,

thirteen plays for a touchdown. They could not get off the field. And that last touchdown drive, you know, they ran a ten straight times. That's just Mike Zimmer love him life right there like mono, Oh what is it's mono imano? Those those linebackers last year at the end of the year. Ever, they boxed everyone into that ten

yards between you know, before the first down sticks. And I'd like to read an article or talk to someone and tell me are the linebackers not playing as well or the defensive lineman not clogging up the scene and taking on as many blockers and not allowing the linebackers to do what they do. So the Cowboys pile up four d and forty three yards of offense, scored twenty four points and lose. Uh And yeah, you look, you take a look at what's going on in the NFC

East as a result. I mean This is supposed to be their division, but when you look at the standings, it's gonna be a dog fight down the stretch unless they find a way to start stringing together some wins. Because at five and four and West and I were talking about this while we watch this game, that d V O A and all. A lot of the advanced analytics point to the Cowboys as being a top team in the league. But right now they're tied at five

and four, a middling record, a top the NFC. So they got to figure out a way to translate all that great production and those type of numbers into w's or they're just not gonna go very far this season. Yeah, they're already in a dog fight. They have the same record as the Eagles, right and they are four. No, the Cowboys are in the division. But this game I

think could be really big in the playoff picture. Vikings Cowboys, you figure are gonna be two teams that are gonna be in the mix to the end, whether that's for a home game as a division winner or whether they're fighting for the fifth or six playoff spot, and the Vikings getting the win on the road almost counts a little double. I think these are both playoff teams still as as frustrating as the Cowboys have been at times this year. I I think so, Mark, you don't think so, No,

I I have no problem at that. I think the end, the bottom half of the NFC playoff grid is figuring itself out, and the Cowboys this is these games are coming down to snippets, plays, little moments, and we'd be talking about the Cowboys completely differently on a night where they had four hundred and fifty plus. It's the last couple of moments that Kendricks, you know, doesn't make what really was a great play. It's the yard behind where

he was made. Uh. The All Pro team with West did a great job on and you know balled out again tonight. There are a lot of positive signs for these Cowboys, including Prescott had no pressure on him for most of the night. Not only does Cooper go for one seven, but Cob goes for goes for over a hundred, Gallop goes for seventies six. There's a lot to deal with on this offense. That's why, you know, maybe I get a little more frustrated when and the end doesn't

get come together. I would like to see Ezekiel Elliott move into a period of this season where he's playing dominant uh the stically the last week. I just don't see a second level defenders fifty yards a game the last month. It's pretty good. The big plays aren't there in previous years. He's getting thirty sixty yard plays that aren't there this year. All right, So what do we learned today? We learned that the Browns and Jets both won. That hasn't happened a lot playoff push for both of

those franchises. I liked. I liked um Baker's press conference outfit. That was a nice bounces. To be real about it, you were thinking was slinging with with arrows downstairs in the newsroom. I thought that he I'm sorry, he doesn't have the charisma of Sam Donald in front of the but he is who he is. That's like taking shots on him. But I missed the zinger that apparently was so devastating. I what I was saying was that he

clearly put a out of effort into today's outfit. Now that's not a sling in an arrow and I do believe it was an improvement he was last week. He was dressed like a guy should be on a list. This week it was kind of like a DJ, like a hot DJ, and that's an improvement. All I if he's gonna win, I don't care what he's wearing. Half the league has quarterbacks wearing insane stuff after they win or lose. Mark, Mark, did you like the way Baker looked? Oh? Yeah,

we Uh we did learn something else though. Yeah, it's been seven seasons. I don't know how many shows that's been. You know, this is our seventh NFL season. It's been a great ride. But what we learned is we're gonna have to come up with something else to do Sunday because we said, if we if we don't go over ten thousand followers on Instagram, the show is over and we're at six. A nice performance. I mean, we appreciate

everyone jumping on board from six. Essentially from now. You made a great effort in Erica's you know, doing a great job, you know, running this account. But ultimately we're men of our word, and uh, the road ends here tonight. Yeah. Ye, and it's not you know, you look at the video preview show for Week ten. I looked at it. Over nine thousand people viewed that and saw the threat in the message that the show would end. A huge chunk of them did not follow the Instagram, but those nine

thousand people want to check it out. It's at the A t M Podcast on Instagram. It's well, it's over, so don't even bother following now it's our last show. Well we could maybe we'll transition into something radio or or not a different sport. Maybe hear the YouTube is kids like that? Is that like? Is that the same sort of thing? What if we started XFL podcast affected tomorrow, then we have to watch XFL games. Well, we gotta start something new. We made a promise more time for

Courts of Thunder. So that's that's the hit our off season infamous tennis blog. All right, we probably won't be back Tuesday, but if we were contractually forced to be here, uh, we will be here on Tuesday, and you can um continue to follow the NFL with us. We do enjoy it in all seriousness. That's awesome. We got a ton of new follows on that page and Ricky is doing great work building it up, which we appreciate. Thank you,

thanks so much, dan Um. Wait, how did you say thank you the way you just said it that was a very like modern California. I don't know, I missed it, that's not it, but like it was, it wasn't as sexy as like, oh yeah, but it wasn't equal to that. But I'm more saying it was like a valley girlish type way. But I will listen to it again on the recording. All right, good, all right, So that's it. Let's go home, good show, good week, great week of football,

great Sunday, all the way through Sunday night. Dan had to sign it out for a quiet storm, the Mailman, the Old Boss, Ricky Hollywood and Ryan Bartlett and friends until Tuesday. He's born February. Does that mean that he's really like twelve or eight or whatever? How that works? Birthday people, That's what I mean. I think they just would move into They just go the day before it the day after. You just think he's not he's not.

What did you say? No, I think he's like nine you've been You think there's been twelve leap years since And I don't track this bull. That's a different ways. That's what you think. How often is Sleepier happening every four years? If I only could be as sharp as you Erica, you know, a dagger with an edge that could serrate and filet at all times. If talking it's really tender. You know, you don't have to be super super sharp to cut, but you are. She's like, Oh,

I'm gonna use this on Instagram. It's a good way to promote my brand. It's your brand. You gotta stay in February. If you're a leap even baby, you can't just be switching months