2020 Week 12 Preview

best looking trio on the block. I don't know about that. I mean, you know, personally, I'm battling like a massive head cold right now. So the fact that anyone on if you're logged in the NFL dot com and watching this, I apologize personally, or if you're listening to yeah, no, absolutely, I mean it was tough. Thursday. Thursday Thanksgiving this year was you know, they're at the Handsas house. It was just the four of us, and for some reason it

was the hardest Thanksgiving ever. I don't know what it was. But my wife and I my wife, and you know, God bless her. She's great, she's cool, she's hot, and she does good stuff in the kitchen. She knows how to cook, but there's just so much to make for Thanksgiving, even though it's just four of us. And then you have to clean all that, and then the children sessler the children, Greg, they need to be entertained for seventeen

straight hours and cleaned up after. I I can't tell you I am less of a man now than I was yesterday morning. I can tell you that fighting through though, my goodness, what was you look great? You You wouldn't know it. Um, that's why you know, that's why I think the move on Thanksgiving. You got a call to the bullpen, pick up some of the food. Catering, make some so it's a little bit of a mix. Take a little bit of the load off because I'm not helping in the kitchen. So I hear you. It's it's

too much. Yeah, I did fry a turkey that was nice and that and that tasted well. But that tasted good, but that was like, you know, that's a lot of work too. I'm dying here, says Um. It's a lot of work. And you listen, I think you're you're for all that anyone's going through. I always look to you as sort of the heroic figure. Thank you that you're you're taking on more and uh, I really do appreciate your efforts. And we have so much to get to

here with week twelve on the horizon. But Mark, I I have to ask because it is the number one food day of the year on some level, and you are a food aryan famously you don't like to eat. What do you do on Thanksgiving? Take the audience through what your Thanksgiving was like? Well, it's rather bleak. It's not going to impress anyone. I mean actually, Uh, Simone's family has hosted Thanksgiving, huge thanksgivings for years, and I've often missed them because you know, of the NFL slate.

But um, Simone and the kids went and met with uh the grandparents in a remote locale near Yosemite. Um. So I was home, you know, watching the games, doing our little pod and UH doing this thing today. So I actually ate um a piece of pizza that I had ordered um uh from two days before and not I and I don't really I haven't had turkey since like nineteen seven, so I don't. I don't even know what it tastes like at this point, remember it being

very meally like you too. It would just stay in your mouth and you're like, get this over with please. But that probably wasn't the best version of Turkey's such a gross, gross description. Sorry, you shouldn't have come to me on that. No, I mean, I I shared on Good Morning Football the other day, hot takes of Thanksgiving. Turkey's bad. I mean, can we calm down everyone thinking they're special because they say turkey is not a tasty meat? All right, we get it, You've you've nailed it. You're

an outlier. Way to go, everybody. So you're saying what I just said is a very cliche trip. But I also have I also just sent I don't I don't have it. I'm not on a hill, you know, and some anti turkey hill. I think it's a tad ponderous that everyone's like, oh, I'm gonna have like turkey sandwhich is for the next six days. It's like, alright, fine, like whatever, I mean, that's fine. I hope everyone had a nice time. Mark Sassler one slah some pizza on Thanksgiving.

All right, let's get into it, and you know how we do it, draft style as we go through each of the games. Of course, as as you just heard Mark said. Greg and Mark handled the Thanksgiving the two games on the slate, so you knocked those off. No teams on by this week unless a team has to be our two teams have to be uh not playing this weekend. And we'll get to that later in the show. But let's focus on things that we know are happening, or we think we know are happening. And I have

the first overall pick. Big moment for the old Zeuser and with the first overall picked house, Kansas selects Kansas City Chiefs at Tampa Bay Buccaneers mott Own at the Big Pirate Ship. Uh, this is a Sunday late game, Joe Troy, I think so Aaron Andrews Jim nance him at that. Oh wow, this is gentle and up Tony. Okay, all right, that's good. So I'm really excited about this, I mean more excited. Uh. And for obvious reasons, you

have Patrick Mahomes. I still think despite the Steelers being undefeated, I think this this league goes through Kansas City. Still, I think this is the best team in football. I loved what we saw against the Raiders. Maybe you could pick up their defense a little bit. You let Derek Carr go off on you, but that is a good Raiders team that was feeling confident in playing loose and

free in primetime in their building. And you almost got picked up what you didn't because you have Patrick Mahomes and then you have the Bucks and this is greg. This is a fascinating game for Tampa Bay because a month ago we saw them as the team in the NFC and they have now lost two of three losses to the Saints, lost to the Rams, and now a big test against the defending champion. Yeah. I looked at this game, you know, a few weeks ago. I'm thinking this is the game of the year. Like, let's see

the Bucks against the best. Are the Bucks a true Super Bowl contender? Now we're thinking can the Bucks even hang on? We don't know who's gonna pop up in the NFC who could possibly take a spot from them, But they look so good or so bad to me, they are like the biggest value add the most fascinating team in the league, whether they're good or they're bad.

Like I love to watch them. I think after a while, we're almost taking for granted, uh that Tom Brady is on a team in with Antonio Brown, coached by Bruce Arians and Rob Gronkowski, and that this is all happening, and that not only that, but that they're like number one or two by every advanced metrics analytics along with the Chiefs. Let's say it's one of the top two teams like that. The defense is awesome, yet when they look bad, they look so bad, right then, Yes, that's

I absolutely. I was surprised to hear you say that because I feel like what we've seen in the last couple of weeks is this team be exposed as a non superpower in the league. But perhaps, Mark Sessler, this is just a slump that all teams tend to go through unless you're the Steelers are the Chiefs, I don't know. They have some of that classic DNA of the build a team, um that just doesn't quite work out. But they're not that entirely because outside of Brady, Antonio, Brown

and Gronk, this was the team last year. So I, you know, I don't want to slash them with that label, but I do think that there's an element to this offense that, um. I remember back in April, I was thinking, the one thing I want to know is how are you gonna set up Tom Brady with running backs who

can catch the ball out of the backfield. It was such a huge element to New England's offense last year in New England, you know, with Tom Brady not quite the play quite the pastor he's been in years of old, those running backs had eleven hundred yards and six touchdowns. Leonard four Nett and Ronald Jones are not doing that this year for the Bucks. That's just one little aspect

that kind of concerns me. They've got a great group of wide receivers, but I just not totally sold on this team, as I believe you, Dan that I think that you know, in the a f C you go through Kansas City, and I think the Saints showed us basically that you're gonna come through us, Tampa Bay and everyone else. I still think Tampa may get to eleven wins if you look at the rest of their schedule, even if they lost this game, their schedules pretty cupcake

from here to the end. They can get to eleven wins. But I don't trust them as an NFC superpower at this point, being too hard. Good matchup for them, This is a good matchup because the Chiefs have not been rushing the pastor that well Ali Marpet they're great guard the Bucks looks like he's gonna be returning. You can run against the Chiefs and that helps Brady to like They've been very matchup specific. When they play a great defense, then Brady is in trouble. This is not a great

Chiefs defense. So I think this should be fun. Maybe not too different than that Raiders Chiefs game where it's just back and forth in the thirties at the end. Yeah, I think it. I think it's a little bit off for anyone to say, well, maybe this isn't working as an experiment with the Bucks, because we already saw them locked in where it all had come together earlier this season, where the defense is playing out of its mind Tampa and Tom Brady was cooking and and everything was clicking.

So it's like this, Yes, it did work. The experiment worked in this team coming together, but now they have to find a way to fight through a little bit of a slob. But even on Monday Night, I don't think the Bucks played poorly. I think Tom Brady played poorly, and and that's something to watch out. I've been waiting for the Brady decline forever and now it's finally you know that year, and I think there's one there's one element.

When Logan Ryan intercepted Tom Brady in that playoff game in January, took it to the house, ended his Patriots career. That's when my animosity for Brady went out the window. Honestly, I don't have that same feeling about him in Tampa, but I do worry about him. I have to say in terms of when you have a pass rest for instance that Los Angeles had last week, He's gonna see these matchups that are not in his wheelhouse. Is a forty three year old man, and I think it's gonna

get the picked off eventually. Maybe you're right, Maybe the Chiefs Um aren't that team that's gonna give him trouble uh in terms of a pass rush and making him uncomfort bowl. But I've lost faith in Brady for sure. Well, I will tell you one thing real quick that I look at the coaching matchup and I've been a Bruce Arians file, if that's how you describe that um for a long time. I've always liked Bruce Arians, but I don't think that he gives you the advantage um that

a top three or four coach does. And I think Andy Reid is gonna have a lot to say in this game. And I, you know, arians, I thought, I love his honesty, but he's kind of like calling out Tom Brady a little bit last week for some of those um gaffs that he made. So I feel very confident in Kansas City and confident enough for the first time all year to lock up the Kansas City Chiefs. I've checked with our sources um in the desert, and

we are in fair territory. With that, I'm looking in the mirror proudly and I'm gonna ride with Kansas City. That's a That's a good one. There's a rule. There's a rule with our locks that, like, you know, how how shaky someone feels about it, depending on how much they defend themselves as they build up to it. So I put Market about a six and a half out of ten, like he's not makes no sense. I think this is a dangerous game for the Chiefs if they

can lose. If they lose this game, they're probably not getting that one seed, by the way, and this is the toughest defense they've played all year. I don't feel shaky about the lock. I feel good about it. I feel shaky about having to defend locking the Chiefs with this crowd because I would come at someone doing that. But it is a It's a much tighter matchup than nine out of ten Chiefs, I guess. I guess when it comes to our locks competition, whenever you can lock

up the Chiefs, you should. And Mark Sessler has all right, let's move on now to the second overall pick. Mark Sessler, Well like this pick. You know, I've been critiqued um in weeks of old for some of my draft picks being a little bit out there, but you have to have a vision this time. This is just a good meat and potatoes pick. Tennessee at Indianapolis, a f C South showdown. It's one of these weird deals where these

teams just met. It feels like years ago, but they just met recently on Thursday night, and that I thought was one of the best games we've seen from Philip Rivers in the call and we were waiting for that game. There was also a lot of weird Tennessee was annoyed, I would imagine with the way that thing went down there was a lot of weird special team stuff going on. They had Trevor Daniel like a third string punter, um, creating a lot of chaos. You've got the bad version

of Stephen Guskowski on a huge field goal. So I I kind of throw that game out to some degree. Um, But I don't throughout the fact that DeForrest Buckner is on the COVID list for the Cults. I think that's a huge loss. Um. I've said it before, this is my favorite defense to watch. But they're both very resilient teams. The Colts coming back from a fourteen point deficit to beat the Packers. That's the kind of game that made me think, you beat the Titans and you go and

pete the Packers. I start to believe in you a lot, a lot more than I did a month ago in this Indianapolis Cults team. But Tennessee, they were eleven down to Baltimore and fought their way back in one of the tougher showings and a game that left us just criddled with questions about the Ravens in general. Pre this week's chaos. So, guys, I don't know really what's gonna happen in this one. But I know I like it.

You don't know what's gonna happen. I thought like if I knew, I would, you know, there would be things I would do about that. But I can't. Well I I would. I'll tell you what's gonna happen. The cults are gonna beat the Titans again. Uh, They're gonna beat him twice in three games. They're gonna have beating the Packers. All the little Philip Rivers honkers like Dan out there, who is waiting for another old quarterback to hit the skids.

They're gonna have to admit this cult steam is a little dangerous because I think they're more complete this Titans defense. I know they survived against Baltimore. They lost their linebacker Jayon Brown for the season. I thought that was a big loss. He's one of the few good defensive players they have. Jeevan Clowney has been out, so I really think if Philip Rivers has time to throw the ball,

even though there's some tight windows there. Dan, he's been playing well and the running game has been there the last two weeks. You give Philip Rivers some protection, a running game and he is just five. You know, Greg, you're you're funny. Um. You know, I've been doing this podcast with you for a long time, and you know, if there's one thing I know, there's two things I know about this podcast, and it ties directly into the

two thousand four draft class. Greg hated Eli Manning for reasons that obvious and not obvious, and because he's overrated and he was never a top ten quarterback like one s. Philip Rivers was doing it every season. See how those Super Bowls still hurt Greg the Patriots spent. And the other one is Greg will always have faith in Philip Rivers and will go down with the ship every year no matter what. And you are right, Greg, he is

playing very well and mistake free. But I I have to I have to tell you, Greg, it's gonna happen again. He's gonna kill you again at some point, just when you believe in him, and it's gonna cost the Colts perhaps their season. That's that's my general feeling on it. I will say this, getting the running game going is huge because it does give them the balance that they need because they can't lean on Philip Rivers because that will expedite whatever happens. Whatever Greek tragedy befalls them at

quarterback at some point this season. But if you could balance his offense with that defense, I think they are a better all around team than Tennessee, and I think they're in a good spot at home. But I wouldn't say it's like a slam dunk win for the Colts. Mark was not a pretty dunk at all. I think they're fairly closely matched teams. Oh yeah, of course, and DeForest Buckner, has Mark mentioned, is a massive loss for

the Titans. But I just think the Titans each week now, because their offensive line isn't playing well, is really counting on Tannehill and A. J. Brown and Derrick Henry to do special things by themselves, which they can, like they're capable of it. But I'm a little worried about Tannehill. Man. He takes a ton of hits each and every week, and at some point that I'm not I would never

want to predict like something going wrong. This guy seems indestructible, but you can only take so many big hits, so he's gotta be worried about that. Today. They did not protect him well in this matchup a few weeks ago. I would say it's Oaks. Sometimes it's okay, though, if you're like, look at we have these three guys, Um, it's gonna it's November, we're into December. We have these three guys that we rely on, and yet every week they get it done. I mean, like the way it

happened against the Ravens last week. They broke ball to more and I think they can break other teams too. And I they've been through a lot this season. Some of it's on them, some of it's not. But the Titans are very resilient. And I am just simply am a little bit surprised at your confidence that the cults would walk in here and and make mincemeat of them. I didn't know if I buy that. What do we see about? What do we see last week? And out of respect for the Titans, what do we see last week?

I know you could say, look at the tape and all the Ravens outplayed them, blah blah blah, but they stole that game away, they won that game. That's your team, Greg, That's another one of your the Greg tropes. You love the Ravens and you will defend them to the end. You go down in Baltimore, you take care of business there, and that that's what this team is. They're a team that they got They got beat obviously in the first time we saw this matchup with a special team's total meltdown. Um,

so I don't I don't foresee that happening again. And with Philip Rivers, yeah, I think he's taken a lot of hits, but also you know, this has been a tough little run for them schedule wise against defenses Chica, I goo Indianapolis, Baltimore now Indianapolis again. I think tann Hill has been playing okay. I think he's been good overall. He's just his numbers aren't as great as they were about the month or six weeks prior to that. So

I feel good about Daniel. I like the Titans. I think the culture might pick here, but I think it's a field goal game. They're mentally tough, these Titans. They they are okay up next, Greg, I know it hurt you when I took a game that had Patrick Mahomes, Tom Brady and Tony Romo in the booth. That had a hurt. But you gotta recovery, you gotta regroup and pick third. I'm scrambling by the way, I know I'm like I'm I'm like the Giants right now after the

Chargers took Eli Manning. I'm just gonna give you whatever you want in a trade after the show. But for now, I'm gonna take the Chargers head into Buffalo. This is a really fun game because Justin Herbert is the most watchable young quarterback I've ever seen, having one of the best rookie seasons I've ever seen out of a quarterback, playing the Buffalo Bill's defense coming off of by and making me wonder, are they ever really gonna get it

together this season? Is Sean McDermott ever gonna come up with some solutions this season where they're not average? Or are they gonna have to rely on Josh Allen to win in shootouts week after week? It's a lot to ask. Maybe Josh Allen can keep doing it. He's not gonna have John Brown this week, and that has hurt them when they have not had Smokey out there, they have not quite been the same. And the Chargers and Herbert get some players back, we might see Austin Ekeler on

the field. I think we're gonna see Chris Harris, their great cornerback back After more than a month, their offensive line is getting a little healthier. So the Chargers are that berserk or team mark down the stretch to me that I don't think anyone would want to face. You're so right about John Brown, the like the metrics show that Josh Allen just doesn't have the same numbers without him. So that's a loss. And can anyone make life difficult

for Justin Herbert out of the gate? I mean he's absolutely on and I know, I know is the Jets last week? But the Jets are not. You know, they can do a few things well, and what they can't do is stop Justin Herbert. No one else can do it either. And you know a year in years past, i'd say Sean McDermott in the Bills or the team that can do that. Um, not this year, there's no there's no suggestion of it. And I Austin Nekeler coming back. Um, they've missed that running back that they can count on.

He can do everything, he can catch passes out of the backfield. I mean, he comes back to a Chargers offense that is so vastly different than the one that he had been in in years past. I mean, it's just completely it's completely remade. Um it's the most watchable attack I think in the around the leads top three for me. You said it about Justin Herbert, So this is a this is a rough game for the Bills. Anyone that can take out anyone that could slow down

Justin Herbert at this point wins me over. I'm not convinced it's Buffalo Dan. Well, we saw we saw the Dolphins slow down Justin Herbert two weeks ago, so there maybe that's the Bills. They can study that tape and see if there's something to take out of that. UM. I put it this way, Well, let me start here. I want to start and gives it the wide receivers, star widers hear was on this team, some love. Stefon Diggs has been everything the Bills could have asked for.

Uh and then some Uh. That was such a great trade in retrospect, and it wasn't it. Din It seemed like a slam dunk to me at the time. They gave up first round pick to get him from Minnesota and he has come in there and become the guy, a true number one receiver. And then on on the other team Keenan Allen coming off a six team catch day. I believe it was against the Jets. I think he's

the most underrated receiver of the past ten years. I think he's at that level the type of guy that does it week in and week out, year after year. And don't don't sleep on that as being a major reason why Justin Herbert has been so good. And now let me lead into my second part here, and I'll tee let me tee Mark up on this because I'm pretty sure I know Greg's answer. Um, Mark, who would you rather have for the next ten years, Josh Allen

or Justin Herbert? It's easy for me. It's it's Justin Herbert. I would take Justin Herbert over any quarterback in the league outside of maybe Patrick Mahomes right now, and I I mean maybe gave him a baby with my homes. I'm just saying my homes gets a definitely. But yeah, I heard, but I said outside of outside of my homes. But I mean, like I'm I've not seen any bad tape on Justin Herbert. And you know, maybe you wonder what will happen in year two when people have a

chance to you know, dissect him more. But it's not just about scheme. I just think this guy can do at all. And and like you know, every once in a while, a player comes along and you're just you're watching him and you're saying, bingo. The Chargers are never going to be the same because of this. Well, Alan still has some limitations. I I totally support the fact that he's made the leap and then some. He's been a top six quarterback. I would say this year six

or seven. I think the one thing he still needs to improve on in year three is decision making, and he gives the other team a chance a few times a game. He's had eight interceptions over the last six weeks, and I think he can keep getting better because this decision making has absolutely gotten better. His accuracy is through the roof compared to where it was. But I do think kind of when you play the Bills, that comes down to can you make Josh Allen make a few

bad decisions. He's gonna give you a chance. He's gonna make a ton of amazing plays too, but he's gonna give the defense a chance to make a couple of plays. I think that's the way the Chargers trying to win this game. I mean to Dan's point, though, like the touchdown, two digs would have been the incredible story for the Bills coming out of that game. You got bit by a Kyler Murray, Hail Mary, and when that happens, you forget everything happen a pick right before that, he threw

a couple of picks in that game. That's what I'm trying to I'm saying it's a little bit of both. I'm saying, like you you forgot the picky through right before that, and the Cardinals gonna get I just did not mention it. I didn't a note for the listening audience that Mark wagged his finger at Greg instead very negative. I feel like you were doing that verbally, and I just had to do it, you know, with my good stuff. All right, Greg, that's a good game. I like that one,

and anybody anybody got the charges winning. I do, uh No, I mean in a you know, just up in the sky. I didn't. I haven't logged it anywhere officially, but there you go. I do have them keeping it close on NFL game picks dot Com. There you go, that's the website. Okay, good, all right, Greg, you are up on the Snakes. All right, I'm gonna take Broncos Saints in the late afternoon window.

Who would have thought Taysom Hill would come into the lineup and would be almost under the radar because no one's gonna be watching this game in the late afternoon. I don't feel like his first start got a little pop, and I feel like he's making everyone a little crazy. I mean, he's made this shower, He's made everyone crazy. But there's so many people that came into the game with the agenda that they weren't really buying it. And I would say, I want needed to see something first

before I believed anything. But I don't get watching that first game and coming away thinking it was a fluke or thinking that this isn't gonna last, or that the Saints are in trouble. We it's only one game, but that game was encouraging. If any other quarterback had that game, you would say, Okay, let's fly with this, because Taysom Hill's not taking over uh, some garbage team at three

and seven. He's taken over a team that's in the top five in d v O A and defense is in the top five in d v O A and special teams and has an incredible running game, of which he's only going to add to So he doesn't need to be a top ten quarterback. He needs to make a few throws. He did that a few times under pressure in the pocket. That's all I needed to see.

They look like a very good team, maybe one of the best teams in the league, whether Taysom Hill is a quarterback or whether Drew Brees that quarterback that they actually and they improved on offense. D v o A wise, Greg, I know that you would appreciate that. Um, they went up a spot after the Hill starts, So I'm not you know, well, I'm just gonna say that, how dare

you use d v o A on me? Markt as well? Listen, I know I know how to speak your language, but I vo I'm with you that it's Taysom Hill and like they kind of they kind of had him do things they think he can do. So where's the aberration? Why couldn't he do those same things? Uh? You know this week and against the Broncos defense that played really well against Miami though, and I that was kind of

the Broncos performance. I was waiting for. Um, they destroyed the Dolphins on the ground, not being able to do that against the Saints, a Saints team that sacked Matt Ryan eight times, a Saints defense that is Super bowlworthy right now. So I'm not expecting that Broncos offense to show up. But I don't see what changes for the Saints too too much in this from an offensive angle, Like we're gonna find out, and we saw what what they did to two last week. Stand for defense plays

hard for vig Fagio. They've overcome injuries and the thing with Taysom Hill, and I get it, that's part of this job on on some level, and you want to be ahead of the curve when it comes to judging young quarterbacks. You don't want to be behind it. But I need to see more from Taysom Hill to see if this is gonna work. And I thought he did nice things um against the Falcons, but it was against the Falcons and it wasn't a kind of a perfect setup,

uh for him to get his feet wet. Now, now this is a nice test here, you go on the road, you go to Denver against the defense has just made a young quarterback look silly. And even though Taysom Hill. I believes in your thirty years old as a quarterback, he's a baby because this is his second start. He's barely thrown passes in the league before last week, So this is an interesting game for me. I I guess you could say I'll be a believer if he delivers

a similar similar performance. Uh, this would do it. But I just can't. I can't go off one game and be like Saints are all set. And I also saw some things like how Alvin Kamara was at part of the passing game, how he can't throw a deep ball, how they played from ahead, what happens if they're from behind? Is he the same type of guy using his legs to get it back in the game. I feel like

that presents some limitations for their offense. Potentially we need more time to really figure out if this is gonna work. Here's the thing, I don't know if this game is gonna tell you much because I think, like most weeks, Taysom Hill is going to be part of a great team. And that's more what I'm buying into that, like he can be part of a super Bowl contending team while he's the starter. I don't think he's gonna have to

do much. The Denver defense can't stop the run. The Saints have a dynamic running game, especially with him, and I don't know if Drew lock is going to be able to survive with no running game behind him. So it's like Taysom Hill might not even need to do much and they could win this game by three scores, and it could be another week where we're just like, Okay,

Taysom Hill was fine. That's all they need for him to be, like his own version of Teddy Bridgewater from Well, I mean, Sean Payton being undefeated with backups over the last two seasons has a lot to do with Sean Payton's great coach. He's a great coach. One last thing to note, Alvin Kamara has some type of foot issue. Uh. They cut down on his snaps last week. I think it's just something to watch because we could talk about the quarterback all day, but Alvin Kamara is the offense

runs through him. We'll see what kind of workload he has on Sunday time. Now for a Road to Victory presented by the United States Marine Corps. All right, let's get into it. We're gonna do a primetime game here, Chicago Bears at Green Bay Packers. Mark, I know you're very excited at the prospect of another Bears primetime game, as is the rest of America. But look at the look at the plus side, I think everyone's a little bit bummed out having to watch Nick Foles, and it

is trending toward a new quarterback behind center in Chicago. Unfortunately. It's yeah, let's you know, play the hits when you can, and let's bring Mitch back into the offense to um revive some of the heroics that he unspooled in years of old. Um. I don't know. I you know, it becomes a bit um, it becomes just sort of a tired exercise to take down of old reference today. I think you said weeks of old earlier in the same Now it's just surviving today. That's when I'm in survival mode.

Look at the Bears are thirty second and rushing their thirty second on third down, their thirty first in the red zone. Everything that Nick Foles was supposed to come in and do, Um, he didn't do. He didn't stabilize that offense at all. So you know, why not get

another look at mitched Busky. I don't know what it means for the future because if he has I mean the most ever, right, I mean, what if he had like four or five games and then he looked good and then they resigned him to a forget all that business. None of that's happening. So it's not none of that's happened. So he's essentially a lame duck first round pick. Right. If someone had declined, you know, an option on me,

I would not be feeling too great about anything. So I I think that you know, Mitch probably knows the future Green Bay. You know, you come you're coming off a really rough, a really rough defeat. You've got to find a way to just come in and take care of business. And I think they can. You've got Jalen Johnson on Davante Adams probably in a big part of this game, rookie cornerback for the Bears. He's played all right,

but Davante Adams is playing at a different level. Um, I'd like to see a little bit more from Aaron Jones, who hasn't crossed seventy five yards on the grounds and tweak two. I mean he was injured for a bit, but the help well, right, A little nice little X fact would be a strong run game down the stretch here. You know, this is a tough matchup for them, though, even though I fully expect the Packers to win, and it'll take Mitchell Trabsky playing a lot better for it

to be close. I do think it's a good test for the Packers offense, which is one of the best in the league. But they're going up against a Bears team which I would say has a better defense this year than they did a year ago. I would put them in the top four. I would say defenses this year, and they shut down Aaron Rodgers two different times a year ago. And I know the Packers offense is better too, but Roquan Smith is making that leap as a middle linebacker.

He's kind of been a running back killer, and so he's a guy who can go around with Aaron Jones, whether in the passing game or on the ground, give them problems. The Bears defense is very sound, doesn't give up a lot of big play, so it's a nice test for the Packers when they have the ball. I don't necessarily think Rogers, you know, goes up and down the field. We just don't see it in this matchup. It often. Yeah, it sets up well for the Packers

for sure. Uh, They're playing at home, you have Mitch Drabinski in the lineup. And at the same time, I was really you know that loss against the Colts in week eleven. It does instill a little bit of doubt around the Packers. For me, I had a little bit going into the game that they were a good team, but just a tier below. And then when you blow a two touchdown lead at halftime and you score three points in the second half and overtime, uh, total, it's like,

what's going on? But I guess you could write it off as a blip on the radar. They were great in the first half against the Colts. And it comes down to this with Mike Petton's defense is very up and down, as we know, uh, and he has been a polarizing figure. Um maybe more of a lightning rod. He seems to be not particularly well liked as a d C by Green Bay fans. Well, don't don't let

Mitch Robissi get hot here. Don't don't let this turn into some type of like kind of situation where this time next week everyone's talking about how the Packers defense is a mess and it's gonna kill their chances. Take care of business here. This should be a Packers win and if it's not, yes, major issues in Green Bay. Avoid the ponderous narrative. That's always a way to go for any football team. So I'm with you Dan these

Bears that this Bears offense is a slump buster. You've got a bad defense, you show up and play the Bears, Suddenly you're ranking like skyrockets the next week. It's beautiful. I mean you did get me thinking now, Mark, Well, just like as a fun thought exercise, what if Mitch Drabinsky returns and he's Patrick mahomes You know what what would it take for the Bears to bring back Mitch Drabinsky? Would it? Would it be mahomesy in play for the six weeks? I mean, then then you have Matt Niggy

telling you all off season we believe in Mr Robinsky. Um, you know we're gonna build an offense round him. It's just like the wheel just keeps going. I want the wheel to come off, the vehicle roll off into a field and we build a new car. It's just him. Please excuse me. Sorry, I think it would take him saving their jobs. I think they're all together, Naggy, Uh, Ryan, Pace, the GM and Trabisky. They're all in the same car right now. It's up the Mitch to drive him to safety.

That that is highly frightening and we talked about on the podcast. This week we went through the our Hot Butt rankings of head coaches facing danger entering the last six weeks. I put Naggie at at fifty chance of survival here, Well, we're getting a big win at Lambeau. That would help his case. I would imagine mighty fine. That was Road to Victory presented by the United States Marine Corps. All right, Mark, it is onto you in the draft. Alright, well, I'm gonna go San Francisco at

the Los Angeles Rams. You know, I know on our our entrevious podcast, Stan, we forked San Francisco and so weeks ago, weeks ago, I mean a long time ago, weeks gone by, what was it, wait, weeks of old that's when we forked them. Um, but they're getting healthier, and so you know, forget what you did to them. What can they do to a RAMS team that they beat about a month ago? Deebo Samuel back at practice, Raheem Mustard is practicing. I think that is a huge

difference maker right there. I am a way into Raheem Mustard as a starting running back who can pummel teams, and they've missed that element. They seem to have like eighty two running backs on that roster. There's always someone that they plug in. But that helps a lot. Richard Sherman is practicing. So this team that has been as banged up UM and you know, Corona adults as any team in the league up until a couple of weeks ago, UM is getting healthier. I always trust Kyle Shanahan to

scheme up well against division opponents. But I really love that the way that the Rams in general, outside of a couple of games, have protected goth only thirteen sacks allowed all year, while they are punishing quarterbacks with thirty four. So you don't have Garoppolo and there you've got Nick Mullins. And there's still a lot of issues with San Francisco. So the Rams, after surging the way they have and they've won me over to some degree over the last

couple of weeks. UM. This is kind of remind Green Bay Chicago go in and take care of business against a team that's not entirely you can't get swept by the forty Niners. Not this year. I mean, it's a big game, and but I do think this is one where the old cliche throw out the records when Sean

McVeigh and Kyle Shanahan face off. It's true if you look at these two teams when they've played with these two head coaches, whichever team is much better, which has been the Rams most of the time, Uh, it hasn't mattered. The games have come down to the last possession and the result. Earlier this year, as you mentioned, Mark kind of points to that the forty Niners dominated that game.

They're getting much healthier. I think these two coaches understand each other so well that they know what they can do to stop one another. And the forty Niners are competitive. I've really been impressed with their defense. Robert Sala, who got a lot of love last year, maybe you should get even more this year because they're so banged up and yet they're highly competitive. I just don't expect this is gonna be easy for the Rams. The big challenge

for Robert Sala. Sala is Cooper Cup and Robert Woods. I mean, that was an unbelievable show they put on on Monday Night. I believe they combined for twenty five catches a thousand catches. It was something in that range. Uh. So you have that element of the offense. That's the one thing I'm waiting to see with see with with the Los Angeles. Now we know the defense is elite. I think it's in the top three. I think it's

it's certainly there with Pittsburgh and New Orleans. For me, can the offense take that next leap uh and become uh okay, too good? Because if you got a good offense and an outstanding defense, now we're cooking so um. I want to see how they bounce back. Jared Goff, I think we have a similar viewpoints on him, that

he's an up and down passer. But if, if, if Sean McVeigh has a chance to improve this offense down the stretch, that's gonna make them to me to take that step and actually be a true NFC Super Bowl contender. I'm not sure if I'm there yet, but I think there's room for growth. Just because I believe in the coaching that much. I share your view. I don't like the idea of Andrew Whitworth uh not being on the line at left tackle right now. That's a big loss.

They've done a pretty good job with the same cast of characters they had mostly a year ago. But that's a that's a huge loss in a in a veteran presence. When you lose those veteran guys off the offensive line, I think it diminishes communication, um and other in other you know, things that keep the things running smoothly. So if you're golf like that, consistency factor is going to be challenged by that. But I'm with you, Dan. If they can do what they did last week, um, they

essentially be unstoppable. It's just not you can't count on that week to week in the passing game. Gotta have a running game. Both of these teams are kind of old school, even though they're you know, led by coaches who are thought to be as cutting edge as anyone. They are the most run dependent teams I can think of in terms of great offenses, and the forty nine is getting most there. And possibly Deebo Samuel who's huge in the running game too as a blocker and as

a runner like makes all the difference. I don't trust either of these teams when they're not running, and so that that's something to watch. This is a good staff from Next Gen staff about Andrew Whitworth, their veteran left tackle who's out potentially for the year. Uh. Time to throw with Whitworth on the field two point seven five seconds for golf without him, two point five five air yards per attempts seven point one with Whitworth five point

eight without his completion percentage. Uh, expect the completion percentage slightly up. But yeah, he's He's a huge piece of this and they survived without him last week. But let's see what happens against as Greg said, a bit of a frisky Niners defense. All right, let's move on. The old suitor is up in the draft, and I'm gonna go and get him. I'm gonna go and get the Jets.

I'm gonna get the Jets against the Dolphins. Uh. And obviously I I started by saying the Jets, but really, this game is about the Dolphins and about what happens at quarterback. After two, Tongua Volo was benched. Uh. Really in a surprise benching. One of those one of those moves that if you have your Twitter open, your tweet deck open on a Sunday, all of a sudden you just see wow, oh wow, whoa and you're like, what is this? And you click in and sure enough, there

it is. Ryan Fitzpatrick had replaced to Uh early in the fourth quarter against Denver, and he damned near saved him UH if not for an interception in the end zone by Justin Simmons. So I I think we you know, we discussed this len last Sunday show. We don't have to relitigate whether or not Brian Flores UH did his quarterback dirty um by benching him and what it means

for the future. I will say this, though, there may be a method to the madness here that Flores caught in between a little bit last week in Denver, on a five game winning streak, he said, wait, maybe I could try to steal this game and still developed my rookie quarterback and that opened Pandora's box a little bit. But at the same time he had to know I

have the Jets UH. In week twelve, even if Fitzpatrick saves the day and everyone's talking about fitz magic, I put the kid back in against a rific Jets secondary, and we should be able to get things back on track. I think that's where this ultimately ends up. Greg. I think this ends up with Ta plays well against the Jets, and by Sunday night, no one's talking about what happened in Denver anymore. Yeah. I mean to quote you know the great Jets coach her Med Whords you play to

win the game. I mean, that's what Brian Flores is trying to do. He's trying to make the playoffs. He's trying to develop to a wasn't happening in that game. This is a team that needs to play with the lead. The Jets are a team that is pretty used to playing from behind the Dolphins. They want to get ahead of the down and distance, and you can usually do that against the Jets, and that keeps to a in comfortable situations. He was lost last week to UH and

he his deep ball. I do worry about his health right now. He's been on the injury report with a foot injury. He's taken some hits and that's why you gotta keep an eye on Ryan fits Pagrick. But he's not the only young quarterback in this game. We're getting Sammy d back Sam Donald in a tough match up for him. That is that have we done that? I don't know if the Dolphins get ahead. Uh, this is the team that shut out Joe Flacco. So we don't need to see Joe Flacco against the Dolphins anymore. Let's

see what donalin. I don't need to see Flacco ever. Again. I'm all set on that front, even though he's done a little bit this year. Yeah, I've had my fill of Joe Flacco to not not. I'm sure he's a nice person to speak with, Um, you know, in a coffee shop. Maybe not a great coffee shop guy. Actually, maybe a nice guy. That's totally possible too. I'm just on siding with the benefit of the doubt. But I

mean to his first passes accounting for fifty yards. So this is not what we're talking about when we talk about like justin Herbert where like the production is out of control and so you know, I do give media in general some credit. Um, I don't think the place set on fire and like created a big firestorm controversy. I think we kind of get what the Dolphins were

trying to do there. Um, I'm as fascinated though, with what Sam Donald does um from now to the end of the year, because he if he were to play lights out, he could essentially wipe out what seems to be the plan everyone's accepted in New York. And you know, I just wonder what's going through his head because people have already moved on to some degree, and you know that's what happens to bad teams, you know, surging toward

the first overall pick. But you know, Sam Dortald, they say, hold on a minute, I want to change the narrative here and I want to stay here and be your quarterback. Or maybe he'll be thinking I could be, you know, the Bears quarterback a year from now with a whole new coach and snap I'd like I'd love to Q and a him. Uh yeah, I would listen. I as a Jets fan, I can tell you that Jets fans have moved on and they're looking ahead and they want

to just reboot the whole machine. Keep Joe Douglas and a couple of these pieces they have on the roster right now, but and start over. But there is no animosity, uh, toward Donald, and it's just a kind of a weird situation. I would love to see him go somewhere man, go to San Francisco and push Jimmy g next year or something. I would love to see him in a in a healthy, uh functional set up. I don't know, if anything. I think the best way this is how it would work

out for the Jets. In the best case scenario, they would they lose a bunch of games, thirty eight, thirty five, they go one in fifteen or oh and sixteen, get the first overall pick, uh, draft the kid out of college, and then you, because Donald plays great down the stretch, you can move him for a late first round pick or you know, an early second You like that is that is that is the best case scenario for the Jets.

So it's you're in this weird kind of world where this guy that was your great hope, uh Sam, Donald is a guy that you're already disconnecting from. But you're right, Mark, there is also this world where he lights it up and they win three games, and maybe the organization says we're gonna keep him and use all these other pieces to build around him the right way. I look forward to watching these last six games for that reason. Go

in a ball game. I mean, Frank Gore said, the entire team is thinking about going oh in sixteen every day. These are these are humans here who do not want to go down in infamy. They do not want to be part of Greg Williams's second oh and sixteen in the last four years. This is a potentially win a ball game, and it's miserable to be winless. So go win a ballgame, same game. Yeah, all right, let's keep moving here, Snakes to the old Zeuser, the old Snake

always a big, big decisions to be made. All right. Let me go with Carolina at Minnesota as my third game on the schedule. I mean, it's the two of the team. Was zeus til easy for me to say the Vikings coming off a really disappointing loss obviously against the Cowboys that actually looks worse now after what we saw from the Cowboys on Thursday UM against Washington. However, I knew there would be a speed bump at some point for the Vikings. I didn't think they were gonna

win out and there us. So now, if you still are a team that's going to be relevant come weeks sixteen, in weeks seventeen, which I think the Vikings are You're going to take care of business here at home against the Panthers and UM, So that's where I stand on the Vikings. I don't want to. I'm not deflating all the era out of there balloom after what happened last week. The Panthers, of course, represent a um difficult challenge because they're well coached and they hang around in almost every

game they play. Where are we at with injuries? Uh? Christian McCaffrey, I know, has been in the mix this week at practice. I believe we're Teddy Bridgewater. I think we're getting him back to right Greg, Yeah, we are. He's not even on the injury or port Teddy that is. So he's starting Russell Kung, their left tackle who's been out for a while. Uh is question one has the chances And McCaffrey has been limited in practice this week throughout the week, and I think there's some optimism here.

And I don't know, Dan. This is the team of Zoostil versus the team of Sestl. It's really a battle for the hearts and minds of YouTube gentleman. And what a coaching job Matt Rule has done. I think they're very even teams. I don't think this team of well, I've got a number of them. You or die with one because you got the Browns. Also, I mean, how many teams do you have market I mean witness Suddenly there are no rules here. We know that everyone does

that does as they plead. I've always said the Panthers to me, it's not a this year team, but I'm really impressed with the way they're coached. And the only thing, the one thing that changed for me a little bit against the Lions, and they were playing the Lions, but they shut them out. Um, they tackled well for the first time the Panthers really all they've not been a good tackling team on defense. They got five sacks, so

I think they present some threat to the Vikings. The Vikings probably would not have lost that Cowboys game without those two killer fumbles. It was the strip sack of Kirk Cousins and the Dalvin Cook fumble. Cousins played really well in that game, and I thought he was in pretty good control, so uh, you know that was a rug loss. Um. You know, they can't make mistakes. Neither one of these teams can make a bunch of mistakes and hope to win. So I I think it's a

fascinating game. Um, I think it's pretty interesting how the Carolina coached up p J. Walker last week. Other teams struggled to even get their starters to play well, so that that was notable to me. They they're very similar teams. They both struggled to close. If you look at all their you know, metrics, in terms of offense defense, they're they're pretty similar. The Vikings offense has more juice. I mean Kyle Kirk Cousins, remember when we were saying he

was on pace to have Jamis Winson season. Since that moment, uh, he is leading the league in yards per attempt and I think he has like nine or ten touchdowns in one interception since that moment too, So he's he's playing great. But these teams are both like they find ways to blow games. And the Vikings to me, are too run heavy. Dalvin Cook has more than twenty five more carries than anyone else in the league over the last four weeks.

It's like thirty a week, and they always set up Kirk to be thrown in third and seven and he's been coming through lately. I don't like that approach. I like the path first approached by the Panthers against the bad Vikings defense. All right, I mean, I guess I could see your point. You want a little bit more balances are still in terms of total offense, a top ten offense the Vikings this year, and Dalvin Cook is

their best players. So I understand their temptation to just get the ball in his hands as many times as possible. And you have to say, Greg, even if it feels like he's they're giving them too much work. Kirk cousins revival is directly tied to the fact that this these teams, these defenses fear Dalvin Cook so much. It's all connected, sure, but he's like, if it's only a month, but if you gave him the workload he had the last month

for the whole season, he'd have five hundred carries. And there's been a lot of studies when you keep giving, when you keep giving guys thirty twenty seven thirty touches, that they break down. So give it. Give the ball to Alexander Madison and hey, give the ball to Justin Jefferson a couple of times on first and second down

till it's third and eight. They were trying to save their season though, too, and it was like do whatever works, and Dalvin Cook was working times tense, so you know, it's probably not what they game planned back in August necessarily worked them. Now, if they lose this game, the Vikings, I think you'd dine if they lose this game, I would. I would certainly, you know that I would be off the band wagon for sure if they if they would

lose two straight games. And one thing to keep in mind with the Panthers who listen there four and seven, we shouldn't act like they're totally out of the hunt. If we're saying the Vikings aren't at four and six, uh, they they have to win out though as well. It does make you wonder what happens inside that coaching room with Matt Rule Christian McCaffrey. Like we said, he's inching

toward a return. They have a bye week next week, though, so it almost it would make sense to give him this this Sunday and then you get two weeks and then he's back full bore. But maybe you can't. You need your best player on the field. It's a tough decision, but uh, I think Rule has shown us. Uh, he's capable of making the right ones so far in his rookie season. All right, Mark, you are up next. All right, well I'm gonna go. Uh. You know, Cleveland, cha Exonville

shouldn't be a stunner to anyone that follows the show. Um. I don't know how many every time there's always that because I know this is what you expect. We get it, buddy, you don't need the audience gets it. It's cool. I think it's a fair comment because normally I would steer my eyes away from Mike Lennon, um, who will be starting for Jacksonville. Um, And I know this is this is kind of what I'm what I feel a little bit.

It was some of the Corona stuff, like certain teams, Um, things catch on fire, and then there's other teams were like there are problems, but it's a little bit overlooked. And I'm not like, I get it's the Jacksonville Jaguars. They almost beat the Packers a couple of weeks ago. They're not totally defunct. Um. I they Cleveland should come in and take care of business, but they have no

Miles Garrett Den because of Corona alright. Porter Gustin, who has been a really like interesting developmental player who's gotten to the quarterback a bunch and was essentially going to replace Myles Garrett in this game to some degree, is out with Corona Siona Siona Taki Taki, who had the fifty yards. He had to pick six and I don't know what when he called Corona, but he caught it to jefreck Wills, the left tackle is Home was homesick

this week. Denzel ward Is out with a pretty severe injury that they're that they considered putting them on I R. For this team is has is a three win team without Denzel Warden, Miles Garrett. So I'm just saying that if you want to look at potential trap game world and I love this, I'm not hearing it because the Jaguars, first of all, they're much worse than the Browns if they were healthy, and their situation is so much worse. No team has been devastated more by injuries in the

last week alone than the Jaguars. They've lost their best pass rusher, Josh Allen. They've lost their best two cornerbacks d J. Hayden Um and who's the other one Sidney Jones. That's just in the last two weeks. I'm gonna add some more. DJ Chark by far their best wide receiver out for this game. Andrew Norwell the best guard out

for this game. Uh. And they showed me a lot when they announced on Wednesday before they even practice that Mike Glennon starting this game, even though Gardner Minshew has been practicing and throwing the ball. And you never want to say a team is showing their cards here, but you're starting Glennon over a chance that Minshew could be ready. He's been practicing for two weeks now, and you're not playing Gardener's clear. You know, it's a difficult different type

of It's not a fish tank. It's I don't know if you would. You don't really put Jaguars into a tank. But well, it's not your ja play at the big chlorine tank. Well, I think, I don't know with Minshew, he's more popular on this podcast than in other places, and I think maybe that that locker room as well.

I don't know. I don't know if the Jaguars love Gardner Minshew as I mean, if anything, your boy Jake Lewton made him look good though, because Jake Luton was not it, and I just don't think Mike Glennon would be it. What are you suggesting that, like like other players are not fans of Minshew. I've not read anything. There are some whispers about his ability to throw the ball downfield and and there were some frustrations I think come emanating out of that locker room. But Minshew, I

mean just statistically and all that is superior. I understand where you're coming from and the angle that this could feel like a tank move, but we'll see. I mean, this is a big game for the Browns, though. You gotta win, no excuses, doesn't matter who's heard. It's Jacksonville. They've lost nine games in a row. They're they're starting

a third or fourth string quarterback. Uh. And then you have after this game, if the Browns take care of business and get to eight and three and then hypothetically get Myles Garrett back, you have at Tennessee home Baltimore, you get both New York teams and then Pittsburgh. So it's not a treacherous back half of the schedule, but you want to give yourself a little bit of a cushion there by getting to eight and three. If you get to eight and three and take care of business here,

you have no business miss in the playoffs. So just win on Sunday. They've been able, they've done that so far this year. They haven't had that like massive trip up loss yet and maybe at this point they've earned the benefits and offensive explosion. Let's see put up thirty five in a good weather game. I think I'm just say looking forward, looking forward though, like you can't lose to the Titans, Ravens and Steelers and be taken that seriously. You gotta win one of those games and show that

you made progress. That's for another week. But um, you know, beating the Jets, Giants, and Jaguars to get into the playoffs, that's the kind of team I would critique in in in other scenarios. Um, but they've taken care of business

against bad opponents. That's a good trade. Here's the And yes there's weather involved in this and everything, but just looking at their schedule they had they put up thirty seven against Cincinnati in Week seven, but starting with weeks weeks six, outside of that game, seven points in the lost six points in the lost ten points in a win, and they scored fifteen point or was the thirteen points

on offense last week? Right? Yeah, but that's like saying, why didn't they get like a tan on a snowstorm. I mean they were dealing. That was like some of the worst weather games I've ever seen, and it impacted Look at the teams they played weren't throwing up thirty points either. So all right, so let's see thirty points on Sunday. Cleveland Browns up next. Greg Rosenthal, Oh boy, it's time. It's time for me to pick the Bengals and the Giants. Get ready. The Giants have been um

on a on a by um. They've been had a very eventful by and we haven't talked about it much on this podcast just because the timing. UM. But you know, they fired their offensive line coach after he got into some sort of problem with the head coach didn't like that they were bringing in Uh yeah, I mean use the word uh Ian. Kim Jones didn't say the word, but said it was one of the worst words you could think of, and then I guessed it to uh our guy ian rap war. He said that guess was right.

So I mean there's only I mean, there's only like one word that's preferred to that way, So I don't think I don't think it was like necessarily Sherlock Holmes. No, No, I'm not saying that. I'm just trying to let the ultimately of Colombo and the coaching staff was the run to the litter. You gotta get rid of them. It's fair. It's a fair point, and they've done that and that that's a big run to the litter. Six ft eight guy he played in the NFL. So good for Joe

Judge for sticking up for himself there. I think one overlook thing about this Giants team and and they've been playing better all year, is they are a power running team and Daniel Jones is now a bigger part of that running attack each and every week, and I think that's important, Like they need to focus on their strength. They can block for running pretty well. They and they

Wayne Gallman's running hard. They're like reviving Alf Morris and once you add Daniel Jones the mix, they're a little bit dangerous running on the ground and that's kind of all they should need this week against the Bengals team that is now starting Brandon Allen. I think that gives the Bengals a little better chance in this game. Ryan Finley was such a dud and we've seen Brandon Allen play a few times and look like like an NFL backup that helps him. But either way, it's a call.

I mean, the Bengals on defense have given up an a f C high thirty nine completions of t plus yards. So if there was a game where you could get a little bit going through the air. For Daniel Jones two straight appearances without a turnover, I think that's a fair thing to credit him for after that being the

number one knock on him. Uh, the defense, you know, last time we saw them, they when they played the Eagles, they held them to oh for nine on third downs, which is the first time that happened in Philadelphia since two thousand four. Now, that is not a juggernaut you faced, I get it, But this is a pretty well coached Giants team. And I think that Wayne Gallman is someone you could point to that was sort of just floating

in the abyss under previous staffs. Um and you had se Kwan to but se Kwan has been in and out of the lineup, and they get these guys to play pretty well. So I look at the Bengals as a pretty spiritually broken team right now. You've lost the one glowing light Um that gave fans and everyone I think on the roster um hope. He was your rookie quarterback who was annoying to captain with no preseason, no no essentially no off season. So I don't know if

Brandon Allen is going to necessarily um inspire the group. Uh, they just hope to hang on. But Zach Zach Taylor is fighting for his job. I mean, the Bengals, even before Joe Burrow went out, had forty six big plays, which I think is I think that status plays of twenty yards are over, which was thirty in the NFL. So even with Joe Burrow, this team was not you know, the type of offense that was gonna gas you and that.

And now you take Burrow out of the mix and you put in Brandon Graham bigger, much bigger, at bigger arm than Joe Burrow. Yeah. Well, so I don't know. I don't have a very good feeling about this, and I think the Giants defense has made strides. This sets up very well for the Giants, who are yes, absolutely in the middle of this NFC's race, especially with the

Cowboys loss. Here, the Cowboys recede into the background again and Washington Philly and the Giants battling it battling it out, and it sets up so well, Dan, what sets up so well this Giants? And I know you're you're saying, you're thinking, oh, he's getting a little excited. No, you wouldn't lock up the Giants, who are oh and seven out of the division. They haven't even won a game out of the division all season. But hey, I think this is a tough looking team. I think they're gonna

get their first win out of the division. Oh yeah, I'm locking up. Let's see, I was wondering while you're talking up Brandon Allan so much, and it was just to justify this lock No, No, that wasn't that wasn't it. I don't need to justify anything. I'm I'm I'm annoyed that I didn't lock up the Texans. I was debating between Giants and Texans, and uh, I made the wrong choice because I could just be sitting here, like just laid back on Sunday and feeling fa You've had a

lot of proud moments Craig on this show. Um personally throughout life. Um, this has to be right up there. I mean, locking up the Giants over a woe begone um quarterback free Bengals team stuff, you know, I know, I know they're owing seven UM out of the division and seven out of the division. Business Like, it's like they can only be the team, you know, So that's like you're trying to break new ground. There's a lot of turmoil, but I think they can overcome it. I

think they can overcome it. On two more comments on the quarterbacks, Daniel Jones. Ever since A Kwon went out, that's when they decided to let him run more, which seems like it didn't have to be that way, considering he's one of the fastest quarterbacks in the league. But good for I mean, let's hey, Jason Garrett. He at least was able to adapt and add a layer to that offense. And we didn't talk about it, but the Joe Burrow injury, of course, because it's you know, connected

to the Bengals. It was it was not just a simple A C L. Tare. It was the M C L though went and other we're told structural damage. So it's gonna his surgery, then rehab is gonna push him right up against Uh, we're hearing the start of the two thousand twenty one sees and if you recall, Carson Wentz suffered a similar injury a couple of years back and they held him out until week three, I believe of the nineteen season season. So uh, really tough break

for the kid. Hopefully comes back and he's the same guy he was. All right up next, Greg, it's snakes to you, buddy, Well, that's lame, a lot of snaking when you've got three people on the show. Yeah, I'm gonna take the Las Vegas Raiders against who John Gruden calls the best three and seven team ever. The Atlanta Falcons not even share the three and seven team this year because the Panthers were three and seven, and I

it's a toss up. I only think the Falcons are dangerous when Julio Jones is in the lineup, which seems like an obvious point to make um, but he's been so important this season to them. And if you watch that that say game Julio played, but it wasn't in the box score too much because he was on the sideline. So much. He had a hamstring injury early, they say he's a game time decision. And when you take Julio

Jones out there, they're not dangerous. All they are is Calvin Ridley and Matt Ryan and a lousy running game that they won't give up on because that's just sort of them m O and I guess Todd Earley is the new Levy on Bell this year. Just run into the line for three yards and it's very hard to watch and snaps to Brian Hill right. And your defense is a little frisky and if you scheme up some things against bad teams, but it's really not that frisky. It's just better than it was in the first month

of the season. So this is a game where I think the Raiders should win. And uh, it's a test for them. They were six and four a year ago at this time. This is a ten am Pacific time game in a dead dome. Derek Carr talked this week about how he thinks they're so much better than they were when they were six and four a year ago and when they went ended up going seven and nine, losing five out of six at the end. I totally

agree with their car. I think this team is much better than they were a year ago, and this is the type of game than that you win. Oh, they're They're a completely improved team. And I, you know, hats off to Mike Mayock because I think there was fair speculation how that would go UM a GM in general, pairing with Gruden, um a media you know member becoming a GM. We've seen that happen multiple times. Now I think it just was because it wasn't because of of

Mike Mayock. It was just more like I wanted to see how it worked. But he has built he is in the process of building a really interesting corps. I think one area that concerns me is just still like their bottom two in sacks, their bottom six and QB hits and last week well completely unseated Atlanta. It was Matt Ryan being destroyed by the Saints defense. So I don't really trust the Raiders defense to be able to

impact a game that way. But if you're the one difference between last year six and four and this year six and four, they faced like the third toughest schedule to y and they now have let me. The chart here says it is the thirtiest easiest UM down the stretch. Now, I don't care about schedules in April and May, but by now we know who these teams are, so so that matters. And I think that they're set up for

a run because we just mentioned like Cleveland. We just mentioned this group of a f C teams that you're gonna see a tenant six team not make the playoffs. The Raiders have to find a way for that not to be them. They've got the tiebreaker over Cleveland that's huge, and if they can coast and start to pile up wins, they're the team that's deserving of an a f C playoff birth compared to you know, some of these a f C wild card teams from old I think the

Raiders could could take the Chiefs in the playoffs. I think that the one team that somehow seems to match up really well with the Chiefs. So I'm not I'm kind of rooting for them not to fall off the grid. Here Derek Carr faces of Falcons defense that allows three yards passing a game thirty one in the league. Um, only Seattle allows more. Somehow Seattle has been allowing and I know they've been getting better, but so this number is better than it was almost three yards a game

through the air. Unbelievable anyway. But Atlanta's defense over four hundred yards a game they're allowing, uh, that is on pace to be the most allowed in a single season franchise history. Derek Carr especially, he's got to be playing with more confidence that he's ever played within his career. Coming off that Chiefs game where I just thought, you know, and we talked about on last Sunday Night show, I thought it was the best quarterback game of the year

with Mahomes and Car. So I think Car, for all the fun we have with him, is really having a great season. And one aspect of the offense that I thought was important to see take off a little bit against the chief was the Darren Waller uh Derek car connection, which has been like sneaky under the radar, not great this year. It's been very low in terms of yards per catch, and it wasn't an explosive element of their offense. He was more a chain mover, almost like a Jason

Witten type producer. Uh. And maybe not this current Jason Whitten, but like four years ago Jason Witten. So then you finally got to see him going up to see him and ripping off big plays and be looking like an athletic freak on Sunday. That's that's such a Sunday at that's such a big part of their offense being next level good. So let's see if Waller can continue to stack up. And by the way, the Falcons are like one of the worst teams in the league against tight ends.

So I think that's that's dead on that you could see him having a big game. Mark you are up, Well, we're running out of options here. I'm gonna go Arizona, New England. A little surprise, this is still hanging around minorly spicy um A little bit of news here that Larry Fitzgerald tested positive for Corona and will be out of this game. I just you know, we can get into that another time. But it just feels like some of the names being impacted by this. That's that's big.

I mean, that's not He's not the centerpiece of their offense right now. But Kyler Murray. I think one of the reasons Seattle uh best in Arizona on Thursday night was that the shoulder injury to Kyler Murray was one that you know, I think moved him away from running the ball the way he would have something they could not have defended. So that's um, you know, he's practicing. But I think that there, you know, there will we get the full version of Kyler Murray. I'm not sure.

And if you can take that away. New England, Uh, you know, their defense has been pretty bad. But the Patriots just are freaky to me. They hang around in games you wouldn't expect. So this is a concerning, concerning one for the Cardinals. I think I know that you're very down on New England's deal. I'm not, you know, I'm not that down on them. I just they're a competitive team. Their defense is terrible. I mean, the front seven of their defense, I would say is the most

talent poor front seven in the entire NFL. And I would say their wide receiver position with the mere Bird the definition of a journeyman and Jacoby Myers as their top two guys by far, are the most talent poor wide receiver corps. So they have major problems. They have good coaching, they have a good running game, their secondary should be better. They're just good enough to have the

ball late in games and lose. It's happened four times this year where Cam Newton's had the ball, and uh, I think they're getting what they could have gotten out of their offense, and they're about they're close to average efficiency on offense, but they needed their defense to be close to where it was last year and instead it totally fell off a cliff. And they've played all these young dynamic quarterbacks. Uh, Belichick's been on like the tour

of the quarterback Revolution. Here's who they play, Lamar DeShawn, Josh Allen, Patrick Mahomes. You want to throw Russell Wilson in there earlier in the even Derek Carr, who's playing well, like they've played great quarterbacks and ultimately they haven't been up to the test defensively, and there's no reason to think they'll be up to the test against Kyler Murray. So yeah, I am uh all good points. I'm very interested to see what version of the Cardinals offense shows up.

Though Mark mentioned the shoulder injury to Kyler, and that's you can't I mean shoulder injuries and quarterbacks and December or close through December, don't X And I'd be very very concerned and on edge and on pins and needles from the Cardinals fan until we get into game action on Sunday and see how he looks. They're gonna play him because if there's one knock on the Cardinals, it's that it's Kyler's world. And it's like, if they're gonna go on like a beautiful run in January, it's gonna

be because of Kyler. If they're gonna flame out and miss the playoffs, it's it's because of Kyler. And now you have an injured shoulder. The Fitzgerald absence to COVID nineteen, I know he's not Larry Fitzgerald anymore, but he was still the second most targeted player on this team after DeAndre Hopkins. So that's asking Christian Kirk, who I think should be the guy getting more targets to step up

in his absence, and maybe even Andy Isabella. And then my my third point on this game, and I'm gonna tee up, Greg, Greg. I've been thinking about this for a few days. I'm really looking forward to asking you this question. We are where the Patriots right now? What's the record again? There four and six, so they got six games remaining. Cam new Newton has been a really interesting quarterback this year. We've seen almost different Cam Newton's

throughout the year. He certainly has not been bad, he hasn't been great. He's in that not bog gray area in between. Is the quarterback of the New England Patriots currently on their roster, the starting quarterback in I I guess no um if I had to go, but I think it's pretty close to fifty fifty. I think it makes a lot of sense to bring Cam Newton back on affordable deal and drafts one because to me, he's probably around the Dalton line this year, although the Dalton

lines now moved so far down that ultimately that's a disadvantage. Like, I think Cam Newton has been okay for a replacement start. He's been amazing for a million dollars. That's why I put it on the defense. Their defense is so expensive and they're terrible. What do you expect out of a million dollar quarterback? He's a he's a replacement level starter, but that means he's like probably the league that's not that's not ideal right now? Uh, if you can get

that low, I in my heart, I don't. But then when I actually stack up who's playing, like there's a lot of quarterbacks even like the average ones are having like okay years, So he's probably between twenty and twenty five. If I wrote him down, I think if you can get him back on a relatively affordable deal, he makes a lot of sense to bring back because I just

don't know if you're going to do better. Also, they have like the fourth most cap space projected right now for next offseason, So like if you tell me they get creative and get someone with like a huge ceiling, but I don't know who that is, like other than developing a rookie, you know, not, why not Sam Donald?

That's not gonna mean trade Sam Donald to the Patriots in I mean, unless there was some type of trickery where the Jets Jets trade him somewhere and then Belichick got frisky and somehow, you know, double cross the Jets that way, which I wouldn't put it past him. But he ain't going straight to New England. Maybe they believe can get Fsky enough to trade Drew Bledsoe to the Bills. Maybe they believe Cam can get better with the second

year in the offense and better weapons around him. That's why I'd leaned towards just keep them, because what are you gonna do that's any better that Jarret's did him? Like eighty five snaps that he has has soured me on Jarrett's did him because he's looked so overwhelmed and a neped. Maybe that's too small a sample size, but I don't know. He's an interception every other throw. They're probably gonna lose nine or ten games, right if you

really had to, let's say seven and nine. Let's say they go seven and nine, that would be a victory. Going three and three down the stretch with this schedule for real, I think six and ten about the six and ten that will give them probably what like the thirteenth pick in the draft, maybe maybe ten to thirteen, let's put it in that range. I find it hard to believe that Belichick won't take this as the offseason to go get his his guy. That has not happened.

Uh really, and obviously it hasn't. Tom Brady was there that this might be the year where they really go all in, even if it means trading up or something of that nature, to go get a quarterback. I think that their rookie quarterback next year is a high first round pick I hope. So I think impairing that person with Cam, I think is great because Cam's not gonna do any better than this opportunity either. I think they kind of need each other. It's just figuring out the money.

I think Cam can succeed in this offense, and he has to a point. Um, but if you, if you help him out a little more, I don't know, they're not They're not going to roll into next year with just Cam like this was. This was like, if anything, that what I think people are sleeping on with the money and the resources and what the offseasons could be. Like, this is a one year press pause and rebuild thing.

This is not a five year rebuilding plan. Old right now right He was a bridge guy and that's really how it's played out. All right, let's move on. My wife hinted by the way um that she wants a custom charcuterie board for Christmas. What does that know? What that is? It's I think it's cheese related and I'm going to be doing research and if anyone wait, the

actual food or the board. I mean charcuterie is like when you order the meats and the cheeses, the board if anyone out there is in the custom charcuterie board sector, like with her name on it or something. I don't know. I don't like you know what I saw, Yes, a lot of people, um taking pictures of what you're describing a charcuterie board to be like, look at my spread and look at this amazing table of food. So maybe there's some nothing could discuss Mark more than we could

barely get that out of his mouth. But how about this, I do have one, and I'm not I'm not like trying to be down on Thanksgiving. It's a wonderful time for lots of it. But I would say that one thing that people a piece of frozen pizza by yourself on Thanksgiving, that was just situational. That's not what I would do if, like I was around my family. But game script went awry, don't you understame? But hear me,

hear me on this for a second. On Twitter, all these people taking pictures of like just their plate of food, and it's just it's typically like grayish, a lot of grays and browns with like a little green. I would just I'm just saying they look it looks better in person. The photos of Thanksgiving food are really typically kind of gross and because people aren't good photographer food photographers, not because the food is gross. It's not a food comment.

They just understand your perspective marks someone that doesn't like food and doesn't like meat and things of that. That's just going to from your eye. You're gonna see that and it's gonna look gray and no, no, no no, because it's just simply like there are other for instance, like I I love like food blogs about food. I don't even um eat on Instagram. I'll look at a

lot of that stuff and it's got to be photographed. Well, but I think it's got You've got someone who likes snapped like they're like in weird light, like their plate on their iPhone like half blurry like brown products and then put it out and being like our meal for the day. Like you know what, maybe I'm the only person that thinks everyone else I think cancel atoms just taking the rest of these photos and I think something here.

I think, if you're gonna send it out, um a lot of colors and it doesn't look too good on Thanksgiving, like it's fair just I mean, these are people that are celebrating a holiday and then have a communal experience. Why do we need to get on people first. This is not a social justice commentary. I'm just saying I'm happy to see your food take It takes some time, could take some time with the food photos. A moot point at this to wait till next year. All right, um,

this here's my next pick. It's going today. It's going to be you know, like in a in a draft in real life where it's a someone with a high ceiling, but there's some character issues, off the field concerns, so they drop way down the board and then you grab this player and it's like this could pay off or it could blow up in my face. That's why I'm gonna take Pittsburgh at Baltimore right at the bottom of the draft here, and the reasons should be apparent why

this is a game. Uh that picking in a draft might not work out because it might not exist. Because the Ravens have a genuine h COVID nineteen outbreak and it led to the Thanksgiving game, Thanksgiving primetime game being wiped away, pushed a Sunday late afternoon, and then just when you thought I couldn't get any more complicated, there you go. Lamar Jackson. On Thanksgiving we learned that he

has tested positive for COVID nineteen. And it gets even more messy because in addition to all these continuing positive tests for the Ravens. Uh, this is not a situation where you can move it again to the old mun double Monday Night or Tuesday window unless you than impact week thirteen, because Week thirteen kicks off with, yes, the Baltimore Ravens on Thursday Night football, so an absolute mess.

The NFL, as we've talked about on the show, is danced through the rain drops all season long on this but as the numbers for COVID night teed uptick and rocket skyrocket across the country, Uh, we were kind of overdue for the next uh schedule based crisis for the NFL,

and here we are Steelers Ravens Week eleven. Yeah. And I think the timing of Lamar Jackson getting COVID one thing you know, I didn't really think about when we first saw the news was he's probably out two weeks if if they play both these games on time, and

so everything's up in the air. We're taping this Friday morning, and by Friday afternoon they might have an announcement one way or another, and so we'll find out they're not going to be competitive with Robert Griffin the third against the Steelers, and uh, if they have Robert Griffin the third against the Cowboys, anything's up in the air. Because they're not just missing r G three, they're missing there too,

starting defensive tackles to injury, not to COVID. There two of their best running backs and and other players throughout the week and their coaching staff, and they got to play a Steelers team that I think is more dangerous lately because I think Ben's there on the ball better lately. Well, I mean, and you know, even if you had Lamar Jackson, there's no one he's played worse against than the Steelers over two starts. I mean, they've they've totally figured him

out and taking him to town. So every time I've watched r G three come into that lineup, and I know he was sort of trumpeted to someone that maybe you can, I guess you could be like a scout team Lamar Jackson in practice if you're RG three, that kind of a player. But their offense has fallen off a cliff every time Lamar Jackson had not been in there. I mean, especially last year when you come in for a quarter here and there they were a mess. So

it's I mean, it's total competitive imbalance. And I guess at some point to me, the whole season has this um every team as an asterix. But you lose Lamar Jackson to Corona for two weeks and they have well what I mean, I guess that just but everyone's lost. Not everyone is lost the same amount of stuff at all. No, no, not at all, Like but I mean, yeah, but it's it's part of like the basically it's like injuries this year,

and some teams have been hurt harder than others. It's I'm more interesting what this means for the league kind of like Dan said, like, what are they They're not gonna do a forfeit, but they have suspended that coach, so they're sort of admitting some fault here that Steelers players are upset, and I get that, but I don't, you know, I think it's this year you just got to kind of accept anything. It's a one fifteen game.

How do they decide on that? By the way, every other game is at one, but the NBC raven Steelers. Is that one fifteen. It's like, oh, we're special, but we're only fifteen minutes apart. That is that. Uh, this is the Alan Chris games still, by the way, So Alan Chris is are either going to have the week off or they're gonna be on a one fifteen game. That's weird. Tony Dungee and Mike Tariko are announcing Packers

Bears Sunday night. The whole thing is whack. Well it's with the on the Steeler side too, Like there's a couple of ways look at it. They are annoyed, they're upset. We saw a bunch of angry tweets from Eric Ebrown and others. They had their by wiped out. Uh during the Titans outbreak, which was on the Titans and not the Steelers, and now the Ravens have an outbreak and because of that they lose what they were viewing as

a mini buy on Thursday. They would play on Thanksgiving and then have three or four or five days off. That's not happening. And then if there by any chance there was a forfeit, uh, they wouldn't be paid the players, so that they really want to see us now that these the other The other side of this is this is a huge break for the Steelers from a competition standpoint because if you play end up playing this game,

the Ravens are so compromised. I think if these teams were at full strength, and I'm I'm more down on the the Ravens than others, but I think a Raven team it's six and four, healthy and desperate would have been a really tough challenge for the Steelers. And quite simply, it's just if they play this game, it's not gonna be that way. The Steelers, barring some type of really crazy happenstance, are gonna be eleven or Oh that's where

I'm coming from. Like I get that everyone has to deal with it in quotes, but come on, I mean, like like this, this to me is like dancing through the rain drops. That's one thing they were doing for a while. That's not what they're able to do now in in Baltimore season. I guess what's the other option? Because to me, it's like it's a miracle they've gotten through all these and it's it's no perfect solution. But like, but like week eighteen that they talked about like if

things became serious enough, Like what is serious enough? Because it's not it's clearly you know not it doesn't you lose your quarterback, doesn't matter. But if there's if it's spreading through the building, that's what would cancel games. Right, So it's more safety impacted than you were saying before,

greg On like the particular player. But to me, like if you're looking at the course of your season as the Baltimore Ravens and the Steelers have a right to be annoyed to I mean, I don't know you're gonna You're gonna lose part of the locker room with this situation because it's like you're you're you're not You're not able to compete against Pittsburgh in the biggest game of your year that is being asked to save your season. It's not you have no mark Ingram, you have no Dobbins,

I mean your offensive line attest there. The team's resolved. If they quit because of this and they go out like lambs, that's an indictment on the whole roster. But I I like am I but am I like screaming into the wind here. I just find it to be absurd, Like what what do you do. I guess that's why I'm saying the season to me has an asterix on it. I don't say canceled the season, but it's not legitimate to me the same way now it's legitimate for like,

I think, twenty three to twenty four teams. Here's my question, what is the trigger where the NFL would open up the playoffs much. We've heard that they would have an expanded playoffs out. I think it's gonna take multiple games

being pushed to a theoretical Week eight team. Listen, Mark there, I agree with you, but they are in some in some ways just a victim of circumstance, and I don't I wouldn't put it on an entire asterix on the season because it could have happened to anyone, but it it is just it's a different year and it's not ideal luck as part of it. But they also are

at fault. I mean they're they're they literally suspended their coach because he isn't you know, because he didn't follow the that's the that's their organization, and we don't know everything else, but he didn't He reportedly didn't have the wrist band on, and he didn't know it wasn't wear anything, and that's a strength coach who's around every single player. It's one of the only people that's around every player, and so you know that that's part of it. They're

at fault. So we'll see what happens. As of right now, the game is still on, but that could change by the time you hear this show. Finally, let's wrap things up with the primetime game Monday Night Football. It is the Seattle Seahawks seven and three at the Philadelphia Eagles three six and one. Now the Eagles, you know, they've lost two straight games out of there by and Washington with that win over Dallas, moves ahead of them in the wind column. So now there's some pressure on here.

You've kind of run out of your room. Even in the NFC East, there's a limit to how much rope you have. You can't just keep losing. You gotta win at some point. The problem is here, Greg, that you got the Seattle Seahawks that are maybe, just maybe over the last two weeks showing signs that they are figuring it out on defense and getting where they need to be, which is average because average will take care of the rest.

I totally agree, and they're gonna get Chack Griffin back, their starting cornerback, would say, their best cornerback for this game. They're probably getting Chris Carson, who makes a huge difference for that offense. They're probably getting Postic, their center, who's been one of their best, if not their best offensive alignment other than Dwayne Brown. So you're getting healthier and the Eagles just found out they lost Lane John's and

for the season. You would think this would be a mismatch. Anyways, you know, like Carson Wentz that they're doing the opposite of letting Wentz cook. They're just trying to like limit him making mistakes, and he's still making them, at least against the Brown. So it's it's like they're going into a shell and even that's not working, and they're talking about simplifying the offense even more. I just it's hard to see a much later at the end of the

tunnel for them. A little bit of a weakness on weakness here because the Eagles are allowing a league high forty sacks so far, total chaos for Carson Wentz. He walks into a few himself. Um, but Seattle, you know, they still can't rush the pastor. But Carlos Dunlop, who I think some people when when Seattle traded for him, like, you know, he's passed his prime, he's not the same guy. Fair enough, he made a play when they needed someone

to make a play against the Cardinals. I don't really you know, it's like, throw out all the metrics and stuff. They needed someone to come in and make a difference. And Bobby Wagner and I know this means nothing to media, people typically said that there were like there was it was a matter of pride to show up in that game and they weren't perfect and they're not going to be perfect, but that there are a lot of veterans on that defense, and you know that was Seattle's bread

and butter in the old days. Um that they had been hearing it, you know, for a week after week. That there's an embarrassment. So I think it matters more than just you know, and then we would realize sometimes with these players, and I look at the Eagles team and I see a coaching staff that is asked about the same issues every week. It's Carson Wentz's play, it's Jason Peters not being the Jason Peters we used to know. It's would Jalen Hurts get more of a chance to

operate in this environment? And each time Doug Peterson basically says, well, that's on me, that's on me. That's on me, and nothing changes. They have no answers for any of this and one more loss. Um, I don't know. Projecting Philadelphia into the the Crown makes no sense anymore. Though the team I'd least like to see of any team in the NFC East in the playoffs. All three other teams are more intriguing. Look at their schedule. If they can't find a way to win this week, they are absolutely

uh done for I think, um kind of thing. Where to have this schedule? I just it's brutal. You're right, they finished with two division games. When I look at the out of division games in this division remaining. The Giants have the Bengals this week. That's nice for them, But I don't see a lot of potential wins for any of these teams out of the division, So it still seems like it's gonna come down to those division games.

The Eagles would have to sweep their their but read Phillies because it's here is the schedule, so you have obviously Seattle at home, at Green Bay Home, New Orleans, at Anza at Dallas, Washington. So I think you could. I mean, we were talking about the NFC East here, so I I find it hard to fork them even if they lose on Sunday, but they are in deep deep due to if they don't find a way to step up, and um, if you it's let Russ cook, like what is it like? Let whence watch? I don't know.

I don't want him in the kitchen right now. There's nothing that that he can do. And I know you're very downmark on Doug Peterson, but maybe this is on Doug Peterson, but it's the same way. Sometimes I think you're a little overly hard on Naggie. It's like at some point, like the quarterback is going to submarine teams sometimes. And I think that's what's happened here a little bit with their offense, that they could try all these different ways to get Carson Wentz going, but if he doesn't

get going, everyone's gonna look bad as a result. And so I think that that's that's just a big part of this. Is he ever gonna turn it on? I don't I don't think the light goes on at this point. Maybe he's a tear down project here. And Carlos Dunlop, to your point about Dunlop three and a half sacks in three games in Seattle, he's also getting to the quarterback seven quarterback hits five tackles for lost when he's not getting sacks. Jendavion Clowning, I know he won the

you know, the wind raid on the edge. You know one's better than Jendaveon clown We all have our guys that were pretty hard on. Yes, he had three sacks in you know, thirteen games last year for Seattle. So Dunlop has made the difference and filled that Clowney whole. That's the last thing I would do, though, is coming out of an Eagles conversation suggesting that maybe Doug Peterson is this is a big part of the exciting solutions ahead. I mean, I just I think part of his quarterback

coach relationship, that relationship is broken right now. And I don't feel like in like I need to have a lot of patients with with coaching staffs that like can't figure out any creative solutions when we're seeing such creative creativity around the league. I think to Mark's point, and this is partly a victim of Doug Peterson's success. Could I imagine Shanahan, McVeigh, Reich, even McDaniels, considering the situation they're looking at read having anywhere close to this level

of failure with Carson Wentz. I don't think I could. I think I mean that is conjecture because entering the season Wentz doing this like, that's what what's made this such a baffling subplot that season that he was never this was never supposed to happen. He doesn't get it. It's just like and we say, we look at other coaches in the league and offenses taking off, well, those are offenses with dynamic, young quarterbacks that are going off

and playing well and playing with confidence. Here's the thing. The Eagles don't have that. I get it. But okay, let's use the Patriots example. You know, and they have an offensive line, which which matters. But you look at a team that's been close to average in terms of efficiency with Cam Newton and with those receivers, and or you look at San Francisco and what they do with Nick Mullins, like the coaches don't feel like they're helping

Carson Wentz. That's that's for sure. Whatever it is, it's a failure on both of them. But the coaches are failing too. Yeah, I think listen, there's definitely a case to be made for both sides. Have you invested in that Doug Peterson Prudential Company or whatever that we mentioned on it? He sounds like suddenly it's just all in on this guy now. It's one of the things that sometimes I get on my radar analysis that buryes a head coach because the quarterbacks thinks. It's like sometimes it's

it feels unfair on the coach. That's part of It's like the quarterback was playing at m v P level with a certain coaching staff. Um the coaching staff has changed. The quarterback is failing. The offense is the most boring offense in the entire league, and was boring last year too. So at some point, like the stink is going to be on the people that are being paid millions of dollars to run the show, right that is that is the nature of the game. I just sometimes feel it

to be unfair. That's all, Well, this is a very unfair business. Men are fired weekly. I mean, what do we sue? So well, let's give Adam Geza another couple of years to figure his plan out. I mean when when who gets picked on and who is allowed to just continue on in mediocrity? I don't know at less, So it's un air. You've made it amazing, Adam Gates based point mark, You've done it again. Congratulations. All right, we are done. That's it. That's the full preview of

week twelve. We'll be back on Sunday night as we always are, hopefully with Chris Westling in to If not, we will um four John without the great Mr Westling. But fingers crossed on that. Everyone enjoy You're the beginning of the holidays. How about that? It is nice. It feels good to get over this hump for real. I like, I like seeing the end of the I like a little change to the routine, and I like seeing the end of the season a little bit of change. We've

only got like five what weeks left? But only three of them are normal? Then we get into Christmas, we get into the week seventeen, it's like we only got three kind of routine weeks left. Let's do I just hope. I just hope things don't get worse on that other with the other thing. I'm nervous about that. All right, good stuff. Dan has a signing out four Quiet Storm and the Old Boss kill Sunday, then turn to attendent down to