2020 Week 13 Preview w/ Special Guest

a corpse since we last spoke. We kind of like pull you out of some sort of storage chamber on Friday mornings to do this together. That's that's an enjoyable factor, and it should be noted just to provide clarity. Uh. The name that Paul Rodd knows is the old juser himself, Dan Hansas, big fan of my work, and you know, I just that is that's just for the audience. Don't want people to be out in the cold when it comes to the money. Drop eight seconds into the show

and already have a third person reference. So we are on brand and firing um with power today. Welcome. Yes, this is the week thirteen preview. I can't believe we've made it here. I legitimately can't believe that we've gotten this far. And it's uh, you know, a celebration to be had, and and it feels like week twelve just ended. Hey, week twelve just did just end. So we are in a very strange world of the NFL. Uh, something that

will probably never experience again. So I guess we just ride with a madness, right, Greg, No, I'm hoping to do this every year. Um, I hoping pandemics just in different flavors kind of pop up each and every season. Now, you did, this was something that you had asked for. This, It's funny with the pandemic did because Mark had asked for something that would whisk him away from the office for a long stretch and allow to see people again.

And he got it. And I would say he's thriving, even though he's pretending that it's not something that he likes now that it's actually happened. Whereas Greg, you many years said you want football every day and we're almost there. Now, is this what you really wanted? Is that everything you could have wished? Well? You You've brought this up a few times. I did back off that stance about two years ago. I think it was the second child. Um, that was where I decided, now enough, we have enough

days of football. I'm not into this. And but yeah, and by the way, my stance was not that I wanted like the entire globe to be gripped by a pandemic. I said, I wanted like a soft hospital stay that would you know, no real permanent damage, but a three or four months sojourn in a really nice bed with a with a window to look out. That would generate sympathy people saying that guy worked so hard. Um, you know, we there's a lot of a lot of concern around him.

And when he comes back and be held as a hero, this is not how this is unfolding dance. So both narratives incorrect. It would be kind of cool if we finally get back to the office and they just throw you a parade for your return to the office. That would be that would be appropriate. I feel like that's been a long time coming. But you know, that's a whole different issue. All right, here we go. Let's get enough of the funny business, okay, because we got a

lot of games to get to. In fact, we have fifteen games to get to, just two teams on by my notes say that Tampa Bay Buccaneers and Carolina Panthers pretty pretty late for it. Bye, what's the point. Let's let's move that up in the future Park Avenue. Uh. And we're now going to go through each of the Week thirteen games draft style to determine what games we cover come Sunday. Uh. And it just so happens that with the first overall pick in the two thousand twenty

Week thirteen draft, Mark Sessler as the podium. Well, I'm gonna I have to go here. I'm gonna go Cleveland at Tennessee. When's the last time the Browns were eight and three facing another eight and three team? This is an interesting matchup. I watched what the Titans did to the Colts last week, and it leaves me very concerned

about Cleveland's defense. The back half of their defense is missing Denzil Award, it's missing safety Ronnie Harrison, and that feels like an inviting mixture for Derrick Henry to go crazy. The counter is, you've got Nick Chubb, You've got Kareem Hunt. Nick Chubb is playing as well as any running back right next along with Derrick Henry in the league. So This is a classic old school rough and tumble matchup

between two teams that want to run the ball. I want to trust the Browns in this, but I'm a little concerned. Guys. The Titans just last week looks so powerful, am I am? I am? I being a little too pessimistic to think the Tennessee is simply gonna walk away in this one potentially. No, I think that's the conventional wisdom. I mean, I was thinking of locking up against your Browns this week because the Titans are coming off their best five quarters of the season. You know, the Titans

haven't been that great either. I know the Browns are getting a lot of grief about being eight and three and not a strong eight and three, and Titans have better wins for sure, But until the last two weeks, they've been a poor defense, and they've won a lot of close games, sometimes against mediocre teams, and they haven't been amazing either. I don't think you're too pessimistic, Mark, but I so don't want to lock up against your Browns because I just look at you, and you know

you've been through a lot. You've got such a nice, you know, sweet face. I want to be ruined for these Brownies. So I'm not gonna just look at that guy. You want to you want to root against that guy. I don't want to root against him. How about Baker Mayfield show up and play his best game of the year and keep them going out out. I'm with you, Greg, Mark. You know you look at Mark. He's a sweet man. He's a sensitive man. He's got the heart of a poet. So when I'm staring at the games and trying to

figure out what to lock up, I don't. I also don't want to get on Mark's bed side, because a sweet and as a poet like as he is, is another one wrong side also, So it's like I didn't want to go down that road. It was just far too volatile. So he intimidated me out of it. The pope, the intimidating poet is what I call Mark Sessler. But I will you know the research notes that NFL media

puts together which are always awesome. Great factoid here, the Browns negative twenty one point differential is the worst by any eight and three or better team in their first eleven games in NFL history. Now do I think that that means that the Browns are gonna go in the tank. No, because there's some weird stuff around this Brown season, including a trio of weather games that deflated their offense. Um. But at the same time, at some point, you think

Baker Matfield is gonna have to win one of these games? Uh? Is he up to the challenge? Mayfield is a guy that I still have questions about. At some point he's going to be called upon and and it's gonna be a non Bengals team. Will he deliver? I mean, you watch even just the Jaguars game, because it's every game for Baker Mayfield. He he had some puzzling throws in the end zone to leave you just seen is he seeing the field? He also had a couple of tight

window throws that sort of Baker Mayfield every week. I mean, he hasn't thrown in interception in a month, but they haven't really asked him to do as much. I mean, this is a team that runs through the ground. I'm I think it's a big factory of Myles Garrett back. I mean, he had missed the last two games. They worked around that they need him to come in and make a game changing play in most of their victories.

Many of them have been triggered by a Miles Garrett uh strip sack turnover of some nature or in huge takedown in a money scenario. So Ryan Tannehill will have to deal with that. But uh, this is this is this is the best game of the week in my book. Well, also there's the major issues of protection for the Titans. Uh, tan Hill is getting hit a lot this year, and they have injury issues. You have obviously Taylor Lauana after the year, Tis Ambralo, who was his replacement, he's hurt. Interior,

They've been banged up. So if Myles Garrett, he's pretty much unstoppable when healthy. That's a major factor in this game. Another major factor I think people it's a little bit under the radar. We had the great Mike Keith, the voice of the Titans, on the Power Ranking Show this week, and he pointed out that and he's right that Derrick Henry is not that far off from a two thousand yard pace. He's on pace from his nineteen hundred yards rushing this year. And Nick Chubb, I think is a

top three running back in the league. I think Derrick Henry in terms of his ability, especially this time of the year, it's Derrick Henry season, and I think he's just gonna continue to roll over teams, even though the team is good on on the front, as the Browns can be. Yeah, I think this is a game where the two thousand eight teen Bakers got to show up. And I thought last week against the Jaguars, he made more impressive throws in that game than maybe any game

all season. I know it was against the Jaguars, but they were difficult throws and that's what you're gonna need for them to kind of take the next step because in my mind, and I look at the Pro Football Focus rankings for instance, and it mirrors a little bit how I see Baker. I thought he was a top

ten quarterback his rookie season. I thought the last two seasons that he has been about and they're eight and three despite that, Like and so, if he can make big throws against a pretty bad defense, they should be able to keep up in a shootout. I mean, this Titans defense hasn't shown me much all season. I do think Kevin Stefanski is a is an next factor compared to last year when they were blown out by the Titans,

a totally different situation. He's a pretty good game day, coach, and I would expect a couple of trick plays on both sides here. Um My, I do. When I think about this game, it's a J. Brown over and over. I just feel like this guy is like a man amongst small children sometimes, and Cleveland Secondary has played like small children at various junctures. So there are some slight concern. Gentlemen. A J. Brown a little bit beat up as well heading into this game. Picked the game mark before we

move on. Oh um, look at I really want Cleveland to show up here, but I think it's gonna be about Tennessee Titans. Okay, alright, that's fair picking with his head not his heart. All right, let's move on in the draft now, Greg, you're up next, alright, with the second pick, I'm gonna surprise you and take a little Patriots Chargers in the late window. I don't think i've watched the Patriots, you know, live, other than in prime time since Week one. It's time the Patriots made me

feel something. In second you could have you could have traded back, got this game and picked up more assets on your chest. It's it's unbelievable. Care about all that when it comes to when it comes to the draft, you just take whatever you want. That's the beautiful thing. I want to watch this game. I want to watch Herbert versus Belichick. I think Belichick with his plan against Kyler Murray was about as good uh as they've been

coaching all season. I want to see what he does against Herbert, who now two out of the last three weeks, has gotten uh scrambled a little bit by the opposing game plan and by his own game plan, and that kind of points to the coaching mismatch in this game. Not only are they um relying on the run a little too much and they're blowing clock management in Los Angeles, but I just don't think they're taking advantage of all

the talent that they have. Whereas Belichick I thought last week it made me want this team, the Patriots, that is, to get through this game, get a win and at least get to Thursday night against the Rams, where where the Patriots will be a big underdog, but that they can get to a meaningful game in Week fourteen that will be more than I would have expected out of

this season. Well, I thought that Greg on Sunday Nights fled Ship Show because We're all fans of Anthony Lynn, but I think maybe you're a bigger fan because you could barely summon the courage to to bring up his his clock issues at the end of that game. And then I've been talking about it for three years and then we all and then we all watched the game, uh the next day, and it was stunning. It was stunning what Anthony Lynn did at the end of that game.

And you know, we have talked about it on the show the last few weeks about you know, whose jobs

are secure and head coach whose are not. And I just think, like when it comes down to it, when the Los Angeles charges brain trust has to decide who the head coach should be with this rookie that hit the ground running as a top ten quarterback after seeing how this year has played out, I mean, it's just to me, it makes it It's tough because Lynn is a good guy, but there's a lot of good guys that aren't good head coaches, and I think he qualifies.

I don't see how he could keep the faith of management. Short of a great run to close this season. I think he's in a lot of trouble and I think management will remember this game. Although you're right, he has been having these issues for years. As been there for years, He's gotten a long leash to figure this out. I'm with you, Dan, I mean, like, here's the thing. Once you have this prized first year quarterback in your house, I mean, you have to go find the best possible

solution for him. I've liked the offense with him in there and how they've organized it, but the time management stuff, it sneaks up. It's a weekly thing. It's the last second losses. It's sort of the Chargers aura of look at us and wait and wait to see what we'll do in the fourth quarter. We're gonna surprise you, not in a way that's gonna delight you if you live in California. UM. I also flip side think that Belichick loves the concept of like the challenge of going up

against Kyler Murray last week, Justin Herbert this week. He loves going on with his against rookie quarterbacks here against Justin Herbert, and I think you're gonna get a Patriots team the same way they did last week. I don't want to run the ball a ton um to keep Joey Bosa out of the mix. You know, this is a This is a big couple of weeks for Cam Newton and Cam Newton's future. Um. I don't think he looked good at all last week until that final driver

uses legs to save them against the Cardinals. Uh. Very fascinating matchup, Greg, I don't hate it at number two. I do agree with Dan though it's a slight reach. It's not a reach at all. Basically, you got to pick an afternoon game. That's the one I want to watch. Uh in the afternoon. We should point out Linn's been there three years. One of them he was almost Coach of the Year. Uh. So it's it's been an up

and down ride. But you've got to be able to fix your mistakes and they haven't been able to do that. And one of their their problems this year has been, uh, stopping the run, and Cam Newton has been struggling. Like it's amazing the Patriots are winning this much without a passing game. Uh. And so he's also playing for his future, whether it's in New England or somewhere else, like he is playing to try to be a starting quarterback. But they are three and one in their last four. If

they could if they could somehow win this game. They've won four out of five games. Belichick teams, especially defensively, tend to improve late in the season. Stephan Gilmour is

playing well once again, and you never know. I will say their defense has looked quite a bit better the last three or four weeks, and and they're they're back in the mix, Dan, I do I think yeah, I would say I'd be surprised if they're not playing relevant football in Week six team because I think they're gonna hang on because the coaching is so good and uh that typically you know, teams fall back to the pack, uh, you know in December, and the idea that oh, everyone's

gonna be ten and six that makes the playoffs doesn't always end up playing out that way. Newton's obviously got to be better. And Joey Bosa put on an absolute clinic, uh last week. And that's another thing. I mean, you have Justin Herbert who's having an all time rookie season. You you're wasting performances like what Joey Bosa gave you last week, where he just just destroyed the opponent in every way imaginable. The Chargers up too much talented to

have a record this bad. And also for me to think that a Patriots team with this lack of talent, this dearth of playmaking ability, is gonna go to l A and win. Who is what I think is gonna happen? So need to be corrected. Is he locking it up? Is he? I can't. We've we've passed the point where Cam Newton could ever be locked up. He's not a lockable quarterback. I think you got to lock up the Chargers staying away from this game. It's a weird game.

I'm staying away. Let's let's move on. I'm up now the old Zeuzer and yes, I am thrilled to have this at number three overall Rams at Cardinals. I didn't think it would get here, and here we are. Good. This is a great quarterback game. Now, they're all quarterback

games on some level, but this one especially. You have obviously Sean McVeigh after a disappointing loss UH for Los Angeles last week where they turned the ball over and Jared Goff was sloppy with the ball, and McVeigh made the pointed comment to say, my quarterback needs to be better with the football. He's the guy to protect the football. That is that was pointed criticism, and GoF has to hear that message. He's the big, many, big money quarterback.

I'm not sure they do that deal again that they did a year ago in September with a massive extension. But they're locked in with Jared Goff. Now. This marriage is something that's going to continue, whether things go poorly or well, for the balance of the season. But I want to see how golf uh handles that criticism from

his coach. On the other side, I don't know what to think about the Cardinals right now because Kyler Murray in a lot of ways is that team And if he's not going to be the dual threat guy, I don't think he's the they're a dangerous team at all. In fact, I think they're a very flat team. Uh. And and Mark, I'm not convinced he's even healthy. I know we're not hearing about the shoulder anymore, but that

doesn't mean the shoulder is not an issue. I would say that it's encouraging to watch what he did on the ground in the second half, especially the fourth quarter against the Patriots, negative two yards at they had halftime, and you know, I was thinking the same thing as you. It must be the shoulder. Um, he ran pretty well down the stretch there one eight and one when he

runs for under thirty yards. To your point about the dual threat, you need Kyler Murray on the grand I mean we all see that every game, and they've dropped three of their last four. This team is under significant pressure, but I think they're facing a team in the Rams that are under pressure too, because it feels like every three weeks or so, a defense rolls in with a good plan that completely unsettles, neutralizes Jared Goff, and causes

mistakes to the ire of Sean McVeigh. They've got to find a way for that not to be the case. I know that we always you know it's the Rams are the Rams, and they have a lot of talent. I trust them to get into the playoffs, But do I trust them to go on a Super Bowl run when you're watching a team like the Niners take them out twice. I mean, the Niners defense last week made the Rams offense look completely mystified, and especially Jared Goff, and that leads to turnovers, and that leads to losses.

That's not a formula to go to the Super Bowl. On paper, the Cardinals have a defense that's really overachieved and can do some of the things that give Jared Goff problems. Vance Joseph's I think has done a terrific job if you look how untalented they are, especially after losing Chandler Jones upfront have been really injured. They have a lot of new pieces, a lot of leftover parts from other teams. He has them playing cohesively, and he

has them blitzing like crazy. But most of their success has been against bad teams and bad coaches, and I think this is a good matchup for him. They've beat They beat the Cardinals two times last year, fairly convincing one of those times. And I don't think Murray's shoulders the problem. I think it's his defenses are making him hand the ball off. I mean, he had three throws last week that there's no chance it's bothering his arm strength that he made throws that almost no one in

the NFL could make last week. His legs are obviously find maybe being hesitant to run, but he keeps saying that defenses are forcing me to hand off on the on the you know, option plays where it's either keeps it or hands it off. They're just playing Kyler Murray because they're not that worried about the rest of the Cardinals running backs and and neither would I be. I mean, I would just want to stop Kyler Murray on the

ground because the passing game hasn't been that consistent. I would say, Aaron Donald is not gonna let him hand off. He's gonna want him to hand off the ball. And like Aaron Donald's like three times the size of Kyler Murray just gonna scoop him up. Well, when you factor in the size of Kyler Murray's helmet, they're about equal in size. You have you got to talk about the equipment as well. Yeah, that would be my guest, because I didn't see Kyler throwing ducks out there. It wasn't

Chad Pennington after his fourteenth shoulder surgery or anything. But you wonder if it maybe there is a little bit more hesitancy for uh, the Cliff Kingsbury to make those calls or for Kyler to make those decisions. We'll see. It's all gonna play out down the stretch here, but

they need them. The Seahawks, the Rams are interesting to me because they're almost like the reverse of what's going on in Seattle, the other team that they're battling for division supremacy, where Seattle just needs their defense to get to average and then it's like you let rust cook, you let the offense take it home. Weirdly, the Sean McVeigh team just needs the offense to get to average or a little bit better and then have the defense be what the defense is, and they weren't last week.

And you see what happens when they're not. Uh. I like the Rams though this week, boy, And you know, for entertainment value, I picked the Cowboys last week and the locks challenge. What a bad move that was, and I got burned on it. So I'm back to being deadly serious in this locks competition. And for that reason alone, for the fact that the Cardinals seem flat, the fact that Kyler Murray doesn't have the juice right now, I'm

locking up the Rams. Take care of business, knocked the Cardinals out of the division race and maybe even the playoffs, and away we go. You're locking him up to Greggy. Oh yeah, and by the way, what do you mean I picked the Cowboys for entertainment value. The Rams are like the exact same amount of being a favorite as the Cowboys were last week. Not much. It's it's like there's a difference. You get teams. It would this Cardinals won one game in five weeks, one game in five weeks.

This Cardinals team. I love Jalen Ramsey to shut down the DeAndre Hopkins. They're not the same team when that happens, like Gilmore shut him down last this week. Just remember the Boys, enjoy it. Just remember viewers and listeners. I lucked up the Cowboys for you for entertainment. But now it's serious. They were favorite, They were favorite at home. Let's not accre that active courage. Alright, Alright, enough funny business snakes to the oh. I'm feeling good about this pick,

Saints at Falcons, and I can't believe it. I thought Greg would take this with a second overall pick, and if he didn't take that, he'd take the Rams Cardinals. I didn't think i'd ever get the NFC South showdown between the Saints and Falcons, your favorite rivalry and football, And yet here we are, Mr Rosenthal, And here's here's a crazy stat that I think goes under the radar a little bit, and I think it's time to credit

Sean Payton a little bit more. Uh, the Saints have one at least six straight games and each of the last four seasons. Like that's incredible. That is a great run of just every year in and year out being a big time team. And I believe one of the an eight game winning streak right now. Um, and now they get the Falcons, who obviously our frisky as heck

right now, we saw what they did. They embarrassed the Raiders last week, and and they got beat by the Saints a few weeks back, and now they get a rematch. And to me, two things to look for here. Number one on the Falcon side, Julio Jones, he's practicing at the time of his taping. He's got the hamstring issue. When you look at the numbers, it's it's obvious that Matt Matt Ryan without Julio Jones, his offense is mediocre at best. With Julio Jones, it is a very good offensive.

Julio plays, that's a big challenge for the Saints. If he doesn't, this feels uh lopsided. Then again, the other point here, Mark is Taysom Hill start three. Um. Obviously the game plan when totally out the window on some level because they played the Broncos without a quarterback last week. But at the same time, Taysom Hill didn't look like a quarterback even though that was his position. We get to see how he looks gets an opponent that's playing

well the youngery uh foul coins. Yeah, I mean it's Taysom Hill might be playing himself out of a future starting job. I think it's you know, the Saints and Sean Payton is excellent with backup quarterbacks over the past two years, undefeated with him, So there's that. Um, it's the Saints defense though they have allowed one touchdown in the past four games. I mean, their pressure rate has

doubled over the past four games. But this Falcons defense with Raheem Morris at head coach, have gone from eighteenth and Greg loves the d v o A s from eighteen to third in defensive d v o A. So I think this, you know, this is an interesting matchup. I have extreme confidence in what I'm about to do though right here and I've gone and checked with the little men in the desert and this checks out heartily. With no concern. I'm gonna be locking up the New

Orleans Saints and you can say whatever you want about it. Boys, I think that's great. I think they're kind of at the level of the Chiefs right now that any time you get a chance to lock them, you should um. But they're not favored by much because they don't have a quarterback. I mean they this game is expected to be as closer, closer than Ram's Cardinals. I don't think that's giving the Saints enough credit because of the match up here. I I didn't draft this game because it

was such a dud last time around. The Saints defensive line was so dominant against the Falcons offensive line. Cameron Jordan has the all time record of sacks against the quarterback because he just is in Maddie ICE's face every single snap. But it's not just Cameron Jordan's. It's Trey Hendrickson, It's Rankins when he's healthy, it's it's everybody. It's Marcus Davenport if he plays this week, it's David anya Mada getting pressure. They've had no chance. They sacked him like

crazy when they played the Thanksgiving a year ago. Weird things happen when teams played twice in three weeks, and weird things happen when these two teams play, So it wouldn't totally shock me if a frisky team, frisky Falcons team makes this close. But the Saints are the best team in the league right now. I really believe that they don't have a passing game, so I don't trust them like the Chiefs without their quarterback back. But other

than that, they're the best team in the league. They are according according to next Gen Stats, they're running the ball nearly seventy of the time right now. And Greg, you I think there was some validity to it. You called that, you called out my comments about Alvin Kamara essentially being a race from this offense and the fact that he's also my number nine overall pick in my League of Record and Fantasy. Yeah, of course, I'm a real person, So that's gonna shade I guess some of

my analysis throw me in jail. But at the same time, isn't it a little bit weird, a little bit weird that Alvin Kamara is your best player on the team and now you have an offense where you're not really using him anymore. It's two weeks two weeks and they won games by so much that I just I don't think it's meaningful yet. I just said he's been targeted on of his routes with Hill. It was at thirty seven with Breeze. Maybe it's small sample size, so let's see,

let's see what happens here. But I think Alvin Kamara needs to be a big part of the Now there's another part of this too. Alvin Kamara has a foot issue. Maybe they're protecting him right now. So there's too much to really draw conclusions on. But at the same time, like this offense needs to I think feature Alvin Kamara because this Taysom Hill thing. It just seems I don't know I would say this. I think Paon cares, Sean Payton cares very much about fantasy football and your fantasy team, Dan,

So I you know, I think you're gonna see. It's not just no, it's everyone. People are going nuts. I gotta say that again. Millions and millions of Alan Kamara fantasy owners are like, what is happening right now? This is that and you're representing them. Well, it's too bad Mark's not watching this game because this one, this is feels like a lot of pressure living on Taysom Hill playing this Falcons team. It's just the rest of you know, you got you got young Waiku leading his fantasy teams

to glory every week. You got Kian O'Neil, you got a Lua Khan on the Falcons diva. You never know, it's Mark putting him off on the line, putting his heart on the line with Taysom Hill in a big spine. I largely feel nothing inside at this point in the season, so like, let's you know, I'll be okay. I think there's some slight projecting going on there. Time now for a road to victory presented by the United States Marine Corps. Big Game here. I like this game, kind of a

sneaky good game. Bills Niners Mark a Bill's team eight and three, feeling good. Beat the Chargers team and not the most impressive way, but listen, they're they're really set up well to win their division. And then on the other side the Niners. Who man, we like the Niners around these parts, especially this team. Yeah, I don't think it's sneaky good. I you know, we've had enough of the Bears and the Eagles. Um at the nighttime let's

let's get some real games here. This is intriguing. Uh. You know the football gods, they riddled the Niners with injuries, Corona did its thing and instead now they're getting healthy. I mean watching Deebo Samuel back in the lineup last week and what that did for their offense against the Rams. He was all over the place. Now you got Brandon i youth back, Raheem Mustered is back. They I'm looking at this and saying this is the team that could

supersede the Arizona Cardinals and jump into the playoffs. It's not crazy. Uh. Nick Mullins would be the X factor there because he seems to do two things a game that totally shadow your chances of winning. UM. But they found, especially with this defense, is so well coached. It's so well coached, and they're they're they're they're so active and what they did against Jared Goff gave me so much faith. UM. I think this is an incredible matchup Greg. They are

so well coached. It's really amazing because they have gotten healthier. On the back end, you have Richard Sherman. Their linebackers are healthy now and that's great, but their defensive line are mostly guys that they had no interest in playing to start the year. Carrie Hyder has numbers that you would have expected out of Nick Bosa. Carry Hyder has been on four or five teams. He's a good player,

always underrated. But they are so cohesive, and that could be a problem for Josh Allen, who I keep banging the drum, makes a few decisions every game that makes you worried they're not gonna have John Brown in this game. There they ran the ball better, and I think that's the way to beat the Rams, I mean the forty niners rather ultimately, and so that's big for Buffalo if they can have some balance. I don't think they necessarily want to be throwing the ball forty times a game

with Josh Allen moving late into December. As explosive as they are, it's almost better to be balanced, to have a change up, And ultimately, I do think they have more talent than the San Francisco team. Yeah, I'm with you on that point You've been making about Alan because it seems like, like clockwork, there's gonna be one throw that's put up for grabs and one time he puts it on the carpet uh in the pocket, and it's like, can you take advantage of those opportunities? The Chargers last

week didn't. I think they had um three turnovers in the span of about seven plays in the fourth quarter against the Chargers. But the Charger is such a mess that they don't know how to, uh, you know, accept gifts from other people. So well, the Niners, uh, I feel like they're a better team, a better coach team, and I think they would take avantage of that. The other thing with San Francisco, yes, Nick Mullins is a grab bag. He sometimes will look like the worst quarterback

in the league. Other times he'll look totally competent. Brandon Ayu is gonna be back here and he's obviously a big time playmaker. And then Deebo Samuel is one of my favorite players to watch in the league because he's just one of those dudes where when the balls in his hand, I almost said, by the way, one of those cats. I don't but I don't like when people say cats. I don't know. I feel like it's a way, it's a cool one of those cats. He put the ball in his hand and he just looks different. I

mean he's just a special cat. No, I'm calling him a dude, and I feel like anyway, So when he has the ball and says he looks different, he's built different, He's thick, but he's fast, and he he runs through tackles. And because Kyle Shannon's a genius son at this thing, he finds the way to get the ball in his hands. So as long as Nick Mollins doesn't implode, I really like the Niners in this game. I think the Niners gonna be around in December. Market think prematurely forked them

on Thursday Night a few weeks we did. I wasn't a part of that Niners fans They're coming at me sometimes until I was like, look, I wasn't on that podcast. I wouldn't have forked. Kyle sant you deserve you deserve that. But Dan, that was premature on our part. We might that means we have to give money to a certain charity of our picking. Charity is a wide term. Yeah, So I think the Niners win this game. How about that?

Out anybody with me? I took the Bills by a point uh in this game, But I do think that there This is the first game with Ayuk, Moster and Devo since Week six, and it's a big test for the Bills defense, who I thought played their best game of the season. That's why I'm taking the Bills. I think their defense might be rounding into form and that makes that gives them a few more routes to win. I think this is the beginning of San Francisco's playoff run.

I would say, like, yummy, yummy, put this game in my tummy. I'm all about the Niners at night. I'm tired of bad primetime matchup. I love the San Francisco forty Niners. They're gonna win this game and went away. Lock it up. Then you can always change your locks. You can move off the team on the eight game winning streak for you know this game if you want. You know what the narratives whenever I pick a lock, the narratives are absurd, and the deep studies show that

my locks are are absolutely legit. I'm gonna stick with my lock. All right, there you go. That was Road to Victory presented by the United States Marine Corps. All right, next, let's let's knock out the other off schedule game. This is not this is not the Monday Night Football branded game, So do not dare connect that to the celebrated ESPN, ABC Disney property. Okay, this is Washington football team at Pittsburgh Steelers four and seven eleven and oh but guess what?

These are two teams battling for a division title. The Steelers obviously in great position right now, Mark Sessler, uh, and have a chance to make history. But we're coming off a game, uh against the Ravens on Wednesday that was by no means a piece of our it by the ray Steelers, especially on offense. Do you did you do you give him any pass for the way things played out on Wednesday? I kind of do. I mean, so much happened in the lead up to that. I'm not good at a lot of things on Wednesday, so

I I understand how that goes. Uh. You know it's I think this though a couple of weeks ago you would have said, Uh, Pittsburgh walks away with this thing. I'm watching Washington kind of grow into a bit of a dangerous operation here. And I you know, Greg, we covered that Thanksgiving about with Dallas where the Cowboys were embarrassed. I thought by young Turner Scott Turner coming up with a lot of trick plays. Our guy, I mean Logan Thomas, he you know, listen, he's he's he's a he's a

property on the rise. I love a lot watching Logan Thomas of late. He had you know, he's got wildcat carries. He had a twenty yard pass to Terry mclauren. I mean, he's doing all sorts of stuff, and they're coming up with creative ways to get people open. I think Antonio Gibson is becoming one of the more intriguing backs in

the league. So this is a challenge for Pittsburgh, you know, in another weird set up to a game, because these teams like to do the same thing every week, and it's like, now you practice from Wednesday to to Monday. That's that's odd. So I I think, you know, the Steelers, they can clinch a playoff birth with a win here, so they're gonna be focused. Um, I would expect a better showing. I think this is gonna be a big potential problem for Pittsburgh. I look at the matchup and

the way their offensive line is struggling. They had one of the worst days of the season on Wednesday. They not only lost Bud Dupree, their great pass wresher for the season. They lost their center Pouncey to the COVID list. He's probably not gonna be back for this game. They've they're coming off a short rest. The Washington football team, who's the most fun Washington team I've watched since Clinton Portis and Jim Zorn and Jason Campbell were running around.

Gets better every week, and they have some rest. I think you're feeling the weight of the season if you're the Pittsburgh Steelers. Not just the way of coronavirus that we're all feeling. And their team has also been hurt by stefan to it is out, but the injuries and the undefeated record. You know, they were so miserable after that win, after beating the Ravens, saying it wasn't good enough and it was j V and they're not happy. It's like you see this every time there's an undefeated

team in December. It's just like it's heavy, it's miserable, and meanwhile, you got a Washington team with Alex Smith. Give it to me, give me the upset. I'm picking Washington to win this game on my game picks. Check that out. NFL dot Com slash game picks. I need some joy in twenty. How about Alex Smith doing a postgame interview at like five pm Pacific on a Monday afternoon after he takes out the last undefeated team in the league. That's what I want. Give it to me.

There's no such thing. There's honestly no such thing as a joyful zoom call even. I mean, it doesn't matter post game. It'll be the post game on never network. This is even on UM. All you need to know is that is not ESPN and it is not their property. All right. No, Uh, here's the here's the counter to that. The pouncy things a big deal. And yes, Ben was under pressure on Wednesday. I think he threw the ball fifty one times, which is crazy. Uh, and he wasn't

sacked once. And it's all because this new Ben Roethlisberger where, according to Next Gen stats, fastest in the league, time to throw in terms of seconds, highest in the league, quick pass percentage third highest, yards under passes under ten yards. So he gets the ball out, So it's gonna negate. The real to me strength of the Washington defense more than anything else, which is their front seven. And then the ability of that front seven to wreak havoc on

the quarterback in the pass rush. So while I really do admire the onions, uh, Greg, of you picking the Washington football team, I don't want to sell the undefeated Steelers short here. I think it could just as easily go the other way and this game gets away from Washington and Steelers the Steelers romp. I could see that as an outcome as well. Is that something that you can't see as an outcome? It's possible. But I like fun. I mean, I guess you don't. You just like boring

old undefeated teams marching Ford. I like Alex Smiths, the Patriots, you know, I like Antonio Gibson, I like Terry McLaren. I mean, you're just like the boring old Steelers. I mean, if you're feeling no, I'm not locking this up please. Well, so it's so you put it in. You put something on NFL. I put a lot of things on NFL dot com that no one will ever have any concept that happened. So let's see how that works. All right, Let's move on, Greg, continuing in the draft. You're up next,

all right, I got the Colts and the Texans. This is how I expected the draft to go. I really plotted out. I said, they're gonna leave this one for me. I like that. In the morning, I get to watch a little Deshaun Watson. I get to watch my Colts against a compromise Texans team. Let's let's be real, not just without Will Fuller, but Bradley Roby was playing good at cornerback. So there's two suspensions I think really hurts them, and I think their weakness on defense stopping the run

in Houston really helps out Indianapolis. They are a totally different team the Colts when they can run the ball. Jonathan Taylor's off the COVID nineteen list. It just sets up everything for Philip Rivers, who miss practice this week. A teammate said, he's really struggling with this foot slash toe injury. Uh, that's a problem moving forward. I don't think it's gonna be a big enough problem again to a beleaguered Texans team right now, even though they're winning games.

I'm not giving them too much credit. One thought, is it possible that Phil Rivers has reached the stage in terms of lack of mobility and slowness that any injuries through his lower body won't make a difference because he's already at the lowest level of speed sla uh statue uh status. I mean classic stone age pony right there. That's the dictionary definition of when we when we use that term, um, it's how much slower is it gonna get? Because you've gotta be able to pivot and plant when

you throw the ball. If he's missing practice, that's a that's a problem. He's not a guy who wants to be missing practice. It is. I mean it helps. I mean getting to Forest Buckner back, getting to Nico Autry back off the COVID list. Look that that is a huge reason that they were destroyed last week by Derrick Henry. It's not the only reason, but it's a factor. Because this defensive line has been stout. It's been the heart of their team. And you get healthy, you're good. I

think the Cults basically are under some pressure here. You can't let the Texans clip you here. I know that they're down, but they're still frisky. And the Cults, to me, sometimes they seem to just go a little stagnant. I don't really trust them on offense at all. I do trust their defense that they're healthy and you gotta take care of business and stay in this a f C wild card picture here and not fade away. I I

almost give the Cults a pass for last week. I think the Forest Buckner is the Jenga piece of the entire team, let alone the defense, and the stats back it up. I mean, when he's not on the field, and he's usually been on the field this this UH season, they average two yards more per carry on the ground

their opponent does. And that comes despite the fact that when Buckler's out of the game, and this has all come from next Gen stacks stats in the st X, the box at roughly double the rate to try to So they're trying to make up for the fact that Buckner's gone, but he's such an important player that it doesn't matter with the run, and then that leaves them exposed in the passing game when they're stack in the box. So Buckner being out of there was a killer for them.

So him being back and off the COVID list, I think they they'll they'll sense the urgency. Here are our friend Patrick clay Band. Sometimes him and I butt heads about things like momentum and trap games and things like that. I believe in urgency as well, and teams knowing they need to win a game. Although Patrick might counter, well, they always want to win the games in your head, he's not even really and he's in your head. They really really really need to win this game, and they will.

And I would lock it up if I didn't feel so good about my other walk m like that, and I you know, one positive with the Philip Rivers injury is the Jacoby prest Uh short yardage package, which is one of my favorite, most ridiculous, delightful parts of this entire season, where you replace the thirty second slowest quarterback in the link with like the nine and it's like working.

I love Jacobe percent like I've always rooted for it, but it's really funny that you're bringing in one like a guy who has got about the mobility of Jared goff to to run the short yardage places. It's just it's fun. Dan Gregg is a weird guy. He is a weird guy. He's a strange guy. And Greg, don't be so cynical. Yes, Patrick clay Ban's in my head, but in a good way, in the greatest way. Everyone

wants Patrick clay Ban in their head. All right, before we move on to the next draft, pick two things, two orders of business, okay, And I want to start by welcoming in a little surprise, a little early birthday present here from the Around the NFL podcast his first preview show appearance of the great Chris Westling will join us for the back half of the show. What's up? West? Hey? Now happy to be here? Look at that and I'm I'm glad that west is with us for the back

end of the show. And we're all happy for obvious reasons, but also we need to to say thank you to all the listeners that reached out to us West over the last week. Spotify has their year end data and we were just really an avalanche of information was sent our away from all of the listeners who, you know, just what listen to the show relentlessly on a level that we could never imagine. And the growth of the show,

both here in America and abroad has been stunning. And West, I know you've were getting a ton of that as well. That was pretty cool this week. What's that lead from an eighties song called a delusion a paper cup, That's what it felt like halfway through the week, there's a del us of of Spotify content coming through. It was nice to see and uh, thankful to everyone has spent eight thousand minutes with us. I hope West, you know,

I know you're not feeling a dred percent. But as as the great John bon Jovi said, good pod is like bad medicine, bad medicines. Wes you act really quoted? That was perhaps on my short list of favorite eighties songs. Ever, don't dream It's over by crowded House. There we go. That is a beautiful song. Please check it out youngsters listening to the show right now, and again, thank you to all the listeners who have reached out to us and supported us, not just this year, but since the

beginning way back in July two thirteen. West. This is awesome that you're on the back end of the show and you know we're just gonna throw you right in the fire here, buddy, We're gonna pump you into the draft and we're gonna reboot this thing. It's like an expansion draft and you will be picking next. You have the list of games remaining in front of you. Where

you're going. I'm going to Eagles at Packers all right, and why that's because it has the Packers, so they for you, for you that the Packers are appointment television, which is notable because we had gotten to a point west where they weren't the last couple of years. But things have changed in a very good way for football fans. Things have changed, and they are shallow at wide receiver

and tight end. But when they're all healthy, it's just enough, and I think they click when Alan Lazard is there for them. He shouldn't. He's not a big name guy in households around the country, but he really helps Aaron Rodgers, and Aaron Rodgers trusts him more than he trusts a guy like mbs um. I like the way they're rolling.

Robert Tonyan has become a go to receiver for them. Um. And as much as you look at the Chiefs and they've got wide receivers running wide open throughout the game, Aaron Rodgers keeps having to put the ball on the on the money for these guys, and he keeps doing it over and over again. They are appointment viewing. Aaron Jones still making it happen at running back. This offense right there at the top of the league with the Chiefs. The offensive line is so good that it does make

you a little concerned. Corey Lindsley's out for three to six weeks, you know, one of the best centers in the entire league. Um, they've been kind of the key to me. I mean, the holes they're opening up in the past and game, the protection they give Rogers, it almost doesn't matter who's there at receiver. But it sounds like they will have Lazard for this game. He left Sunday night? Was it this week? Is really confusing me with an injury, So I thought, oh my gosh, they're

right back to where they were. But he's been at practice and you only need so many points when you're playing like the dead ass. Uh, Eagles, can we say that? I guess sure. I mean you just did so. I think that's okay. I mean, I always wonder what is happening to someone like Darius Slay who was massacred on national television. Uh, and you know, Twitter's going wild and

now he's going to deal with Davante Adams. It feels like, um, he and Carson Wentz would probably just like to vanish and go take like a boat trip to a distant island and get away from this season that cannot end fast enough for the Eagles. When I also think like whenever you got your head coach, answering constant questions about play calling and who's calling the plays and the methodology of calling the plays, it's kind of the indicator that chaos has become is brimming over. And I do wonder

about the feu sure of Doug Peterson. I really looked at the schedule. I mean, look where they're at now. So they kicked away their opportunity to to right the ship when they lost to the Giants out of there By, and then they lose to Cleveland, they get beat by Seattle, so they're in a three game skin. And now you look at the schedule at green Bay, that's probably a lost home to New Orleans, Taysom Hill and all that is a little interesting with the Saints, but you don't

feel good there. Uh. And at that point you're three and nine, and I don't care how bad the NFC East is, I'm pretty sure you're cooked at that point. So the Eagles are not compelling to me anymore, because it used to be a month ago I was compelled by this Carson Wentz uh soap opera slash tragedy that was unfolding West. But now he just seems like a broken quarterback, and the team seems like it doesn't know what to do, and the head coach seems like he's

out of answers. So there's not a lot of interest to this Eagles team. When you say broken quarterback, it reminds me of something Trent Hilfer once said about every quarterback needs to be broken like a stallion when they enter the league until they accept coaching. And I a guy like Carson Wentz who over and over again and said, I'm not going to change the style in which I play. I'm not gonna do it. I'm gonna hold the ball.

I'm gonna wait for the play to happen. And he does that every game like it's the super Bowl, and you can't play quarterback that way, just holding the ball. I wonder the way Doug Peterson's coaching him now, where they don't call much play action to help him out. They really don't call much at all to help him. I wonder if Doug Peterson wants to wait until the Carson Wentz hits rock bottom and accepts coaching. I don't know. I think he knows he's going down with the ship

if it continues, and that they're in this together. I think they have. He has played differently the last three weeks in the sense that they seem just determined to prevent turnovers, like that's all they care about. They're not even trying to roll them out or do anything creative. And they're like that's not working either, because he's not accurate, he's not making good decisions. It's a tough watch. This

Packer's defense isn't great. They've gotten a little juice maybe up front since they ever Shawn gary Plaine more with Darius Smith inside, they've been disappointing too, but everyone every defense looks good against this Eagles team. All right, let's let's move on. Mark, You're up next. Well, I mean I have to you know, we we had. The way these drafts work, You've got to schedule your day out. I've got to grab a four pm r here. I'm gonna go Giants at Seattle. I have no problem watching

the Giants, the team I grew up watching. Um Colt McCoy will be well, well, you know they have not confirmed this but we we certainly assumed Cult McCoy will be starting. Can I ask you a question, mark, and we've touched on the shore where you named uh your second son after the Cleveland Browns quarterback at the time, Colt McCoy. Yes, Does it cause you to root for Colt McCoy or is there much enough disconnect where it doesn't even like your mind doesn't even process that your

son was literally named after this player that's playing on Sunday. No, of course it would make me rude for him. I mean, it's not that far disconnected of an of an event that it has no meaning to me. I mean, he's also just simply not been on He's not appeared in our lives for so long that it's kind of interesting to me on its own. Um, I really like Cult McCoy the person. Um, Cult McCoy the quarterback leaves you asking some questions. I thought he missed a couple of

throws last week that suggested he could use some practice time. Um, you're dealing with Seattle's defense that I thought has gotten a little bit better with Carlos Dunlap and Jamal Adams. But you know, I know you guys mentioned on are in the speed round of our network show that you thought this would just be a wild blowout. Giants defense has been bettered. Leonard Williams has been better. They are the fifth, you know, fifth in the in the NFL and QB hits they can. They've been getting to the

quarterback a little bit more. I think they're coached well. Um, I don't think it's gonna be a close game, especially with cult McCoy undersetter. I think it's sort of a mess that we've well that Daniel Jones was playing some of his best football. He melts out of the lineup, and the Giants are still alive for the division. The timing is awful. Seattle can't slip up here. I wouldn't expect an upset, um, you know, so where do you

come down? We call blowout. You said you don't see a blow out, but you see one side of game. I know. I don't think it's gonna be like a forty to ten type thing. When I think blow out, I think like melt the stadium down. I mean that Eagles see how I see him almost felt like a like if it's twenty four to ten, that can sometimes feel like a blow out. That's kind of what I expect here because they've been the Giants have been frisky.

That's all I mean, I just you know, it's it would be a fun game if Daniel Jones was playing, if he was gonna skip one week, though, don't put him on this plane across the country with that hamstring. You probably gotta lose this game anyways. Try to get him healthy for next week. He was doing a couple of things that practice and move forward because you're you're you're still going to be right in there in the NFC's you'd probably still be in first place after this

week in the NFC. E's Let me check in here on the progress of Dunlop because he sounds like he's out. Sounds like that is that's notable. I mean, because he had four sacks and four games and it wasn't just the sacks. He was essentially bringing West that pressure that they needed up front. And now you don't know what his status is, Uh, will that lead to their pass rush going back off the rails, Because it's been that's been kind of a surprise. It's been legitimately good in

the last few weeks, which is something I desperately needed. Yeah, they're a funny team that sees themselves as contenders. But we're willing to go into the season without a pass rusher. Then, you know, they let Jenevan Clowney go. They drafted LJ. Colli or who's more to me an inside guy than a pass rusher. So they they went into the season without a Carlos dun Lap type. They really need him

to complete that defense. They and they Jamal Adams essentially was their acquisition to have a pass rusher, which is obviously weird and a little quirky as well. They yes, they have twenty two sacks since Week eight. How about that? And they sack Carson went six times on Monday Night? All right up next in the draft, Greg the Hammer Rosenthal. Boy, these are the sounds that I make when I don't have my pick ready. Let's go uh, let's go Mike Lennon,

let's go Vikings. Let's get this uh knocked out out of the way. Don't need to see this on game pass, you know, Mike Lennon, I would argue, might have played the best game by a quarterback at Jacksonville Jaguars quarterback, it's not over, It's not over. West, let's bring back the two thousand and thirteen podcasts arguments. I think that was our first season doing a podcast, and uh, West was firmly on the Mike Lennon's abom he doesn't move this Bucks team. I was on the leg Glendon's fun

to watch. You know what, West, you probably won that one. But now I'm back in the ring. At least I've known you for how many years now, and it never fails to estold me how poor your memory is. Yeah, your memory is atrocious. Like after after one starts at Timber, you were like, Gardner Minshew is really good, Like he had an awesome game, And now I thought, I went back in love Glennon has a C plus game and you're like, oh yeah, better than any game. And yet

I went back and looked at this game. I went back and looked at PFF just to like see if I thought it was crazy, I would say he was about the same as like a good Gardener Minship game. And for what it's worth, they did have him graded as slightly the highest rated game by a Jaguars quarterback. So it's like, it's kind of crazy talk. It's not both crazy, you am PF five or six big time throws in that game. I mean that is play circles

around Mike Glennon. Give me a break, I would rather Isn't it interesting though, because we all know who Mike Glennon is at this point, and while he did make some throws, I don't think anybody could say that he was playing at a high level last week. I mean, he played as well as Baker Mayfield for sure, if I just I guess My point is this, he's Mike Lennon one week for one week. Yeah, and if Gardner Minshew is healthy, I guess who cares ultimately, because Jack

that was blown it up at quarterback anyway. But I am surprised that min She's not back in the lineup this this week. He's too risky right there, telling you that they don't want to win, and they're they're doing it as coyly as possible. No one buys. They have a funny way to show it. They've had leads against quality teams now like almost three weeks in a row. I don't risky because the Jaguars are frisky. They're actually a decent team that will surprise a lot of people

next year. But men she's too good. He's gonna win games the rest of this year. I'd say they're lucky to have their terrible record. I mean, if they're gaming to get a first round pick, they're lucky to be to not have won three or four games. I'm with you, But I also think Jay Gruden liked having Glennon back there, and their offense played well, like I don't expect it to continue this week, even against the Vikings defense that's not great rush in the pastor although they've been much

better lately, but he played well. The offense made a lot more sense. It made you think, like if he was in there instead of looting, you know, they would have had a better chance to win. But your teens, the team is still right there. Six and six staring at them, not just a six and six staring at him, but a schedule that's favorable down the stretch. Week fifteen, they get the Bears, Week seventeen, they get the Lions.

You have the Bucks also in there, and who knows what to how to make sense of the Bucks right now, and then they have a tough one at New Orleans in week sixteen. I think nine and seven is not out of the Roman possibility. We'll see if that gets them in. Kirk Cousins uh twelve touchdowns and one pick in his last five games. He had ten picks weeks

one through seven. Uh, so that's pretty interesting. And here is here's why this is gonna be a blowout because you have a quarterback and Cousins playing extremely well right now, Dalvin cooks a little beat up, but you imagine, uh, they'll be able to run the ball either way. Because this is the Jaguars defensive ranks, and this is why they've lost ten straight. They are they are allowing thirty points a game. They are allowing uh four d and

sixteen yards per game. That's thirty one league. They are allowing um hundred and thirty six yards on the ground per game. That's twenty ninth in the league. They are allowing two yards through the air, that's twenty ninth in the league. And they only have seven eleven sacks the entire seasons. And they lost like four or five of their starters in the last two or three weeks alone. So it doesn't help. What a mess, all right? Moving on, I got the old zousa and I need I need

a late game. I really do Denver, Kansas City. That's Sunday night. That is late, but it's too late. Cincinnati at Miami. No, Cincinnati at Miami late. You are out of luck on four oclim but we can make we can do some shuffling. All right, Let's go Raiders at Jets. Then, UM, here's my thing. I want to hear Wester's thoughts on this. So this is this is great? Um, obviously a disaster for the Raiders. Uh in it Lanta and the thing,

everything I could go wrong did go wrong. And then the quarterback car had such a poor game that I think it had an effect of erasing any positive things that Car has done this season. So they're almost back to zero in terms of respect amongst the football gay. So what happens now? Are they going to go in the tank like they did last year, which would be good news for the Cleveland Browns, mark Sesso's favorite team

and other a f C playoff hopefuls. Or are they going to bounce back here against obviously historically terrible Jets team, get their feedback under them, and then finish out this season and get to the ten wins they need. Um, I'm not ready to bail on the Raiders. It was a bad week. It was a terrible week. It was an embarrassing week. But I'm not willing to say, based on what we've seen the season that it was a La Ravio magnifico, that this was actually a bad team

all along. I don't think they are. I don't think they're elite. I don't think they're bad. I think are pretty good. And that's where I think they kill the Jets and they will be playing for the playoffs in week seventeen. West agree or disagree if you're if you're contention as they are an average football team, I agree. I believe them to be above average. It's maybe slightly above average. I see them, I've seen them all year as a team that has a chance to get a

wild card um sneak in. But I don't see them as like a legitimate threat to anyone who's who's a contender. I see them as a kind of an also ran who might sneak into the playoffs and play one game and lose. But um, I sent you guys that outlet outrageous stat from Mike Sando of the Athletic there have been about eleven thousand offensive games which means games because there's two offenses in each game since the year two thousand and the Raiders performance against the Falcons ranked ten

thousand nine. That's how bad they were. That was it was very flukey. I'm just saying that's that astounded me. Um. But I don't think they're that bad. No, I think they just have one bad game and they should have an easy time against the Jets. I mean, we all were going to have like our worst day are legit worst day of our life, and that might have been theirs. That might have been collectively, there's as a group to statistically based on what you're saying, is just like the

Raiders offense like there. I but I'm I'm kind of with you West that I I think there's a a group of teams in the a f C that, no matter who wins the wild card grouping like you're just essentially Kansas City Chiefs fodder. And I don't really buy a number of them to go on after what they've done in two games, because why do I have to be that impressed with the Raiders like they're I think they're just sort of there the two games against the Chiefs.

I like what I think they're built to beat the Chiefs, specifically built to be the chief called cannon fodder. After the performances they put up in those spots, I guess I just don't trust them to go on What are you saying that they're going to go on a playoff run? Uh? No,

I didn't go that far. I said that I don't think they're gonna I think there's a lot of it's easy right now to connect the dots to last year at this time where they have a similar or same record and then completely folded uh and off of performances historically, as West pointed out, awful was against the Falcons. There's there's a temptation to say, oh, the Raiders are done now.

I'm just not there yet. And I think part of the reason is the Jets coming up on their schedule allows them to kind of get their feedback under them. I think it's perfect schedule timing for them. Well, they play the Colts and the Dolphins in their final four games, they should beat the Jets get to seven and five.

I get, so, are you saying you you like them better than let's say, the Colts and the Dolphins, Because if you don't like them better than those teams, and they're not going to make the playoffs, but if they win those games, they will go to the playoffs. It's and like those are clear games for them. Assume you like them better than the Brown stand Uh yeah, I

do like them better than Bros. So they so you have them as the outside of the Titans, like the six that's the six Bills, the Titans, the Chiefs are all teams I think are all division winners. So they are your number one wild card team, the Raiders. But they need they obviously have to get off the mat here. That's all I'm saying. I guess my point is I'm

not bailing off the Uss Gruden right now. Maybe you will be when Quentin Williams Rex shop cow about Quinnin Williams mar qb hits and sacks in the last two weeks. Uh than Chase Young has all season people trying to get at least Young a rookie of the year and give me a break. That that's a that's another matter. Chase Young is a nice is a good player, but let's get some production. Quentin Williams is on absolute fire, which is nice to see for you. The next Jets coach.

I'm telling you their best three players are all their top picks from the last two drafts, just about I mean with Beckton Mims and Quinnin Williams. That's nice, that's good. You don't have to squint to get excited about where the Jets could be next June. Say, but but first they need to go through the rest of this horrific,

horrific season pretty hard. It's still gonna take a lot, But I do like that they're they're top drafted players in the last two drafts are showing you a lot, which is but I guess what I mean by that is like, look at the Browns after their own sixteen and then they had all the draft picks and they brought in the quarterback and all of a sudden was like, okay, there's actually optimism, and you had some of the players in the building, it was like, Okay, there's something here

to maybe build on. I think getting to that point can happen quickly. Now, whether they actually become a non embarrassment once the game's really you know, begin in next September. Will that's another conversation. Well, Joe Burrow can do for the Bengals. What he did, you know, even energy wise that quickly. I think if you get Trevor Lawrence, you've got something you're cooking. Because they have a ton of

draft picks. Everyone loves the general manager, and you'd hope you'd make a lot of good decisions in free agency to it may you may not be that far away, all right, So let's move on. Uh, it's snakes to the zuister here. That's right, all right? What I'm gonna can I default to West? Give West another picker, you could take one of the prime times. You can do anything you want. Go ahead, West, I will go. Bengals

at Dolphins, Okay, against my better judgment. If you're seeing Brandon Allen leading offense, I don't know how they almost beat the Giants last week because that game was an indictment of Ryan Finley, a guy the Bengals drafted in the middle rounds can't even beat out Brandon Allen. Who

How did the Bengal score? They got a kickoff return for a touchdown, and then their second touchdown was a phantom defensive passive interference penalty in the end zone, which gave them the ball on the one yard line and they went in, they got the ball back on a punt return at midfield with enough time to to come back and win that game, and Brandon Allen gets a strip sacked on his first drop back. There they have They have no offense. He can't throw beyond fifteen twenty

yards with any authority whatsoever. They can't stretch anybody, they can't threaten anybody, and they are horrible to watch. The Dolphins are so lucky that after their worst game of the entire season, which was in Denver, not just that they lost, but they were absolutely manhandled. Right at the point of the season where a young team that's overachieved a little bit, you do wonder, okay, is this are they gonna teeter? Are they gonna collapse? Um? Are they

going to kind of show us who they are? Then they get the Jets and the Bengals back to back weeks, the two worst teams I think in the entire NFL now, and they can get right and they have a very similar defensive scheme to the Giants, who are run by Patrick Graham, the defensive coordinator who had Brandon Allen just totally mind melded, I mean mind left they he he was done, and the Dolphins defense will do it again, and they should romp with Fitzpatrick most likely. It suddenly

sound like two is back. Yeah, Fitzpatrick and two are an interesting though. I feel like that offense runs better with Fits. There's one thing too, it does that I think a lot of people will notice that he He might even be more accurate on intermediate throws than people expect to coming out of Alabama. He's been really impressive with that. But before last week's game, they both had taken ten sacks this year on about what Fitzpatrick had about two and a half more times drop back than

than two. It did, so Fits makes that offensive line looks so much better. I wouldn't mind seeing Zach Taylor even though you don't have your quarterback out coach someone. I mean, it's you know, Tennessee. I pointed the Tennessee game as an example where that's a good They did a good job there. But I'm I'm still waiting to find out who this person is. Um highly anonymous to me, still just disturbing. I'm gonna pull a Sessler here and

I'm not gonna wait or care. I'm sending the Bengals off into the corn Fields and yeah, i'll see, I'll see in one. They hold no interest to me, especially with Borrow gone. I don't really care about Zach Taylor, whether he could coach this team up. I don't think he will. Um, it's just another a bummer end of the season, uh for Cincinnati for obvious reasons. Uh. Looking at the dolphins remaining schedule, Okay, they how to get to ten, right, most likely you never know, but probably.

Uh So let's give him a win eight and four, then they host the Chiefs. Not feeling good about that, let's say eight and five. Then a big one, greggy, big one in Week fifteen home against the Patriots, big for both teams. Could be a loser goes home match. Yeah, the Dolphins have been a better team all year. I know they lost to the Patriots in Week one that it's a litmus test for them, but they they have been the better team compared to the Patriots all year.

And then they close against Raiders at Raiders, I should say, at Bills. So okay, it's gonna be interesting and you want that's what you want if you're the Dolphins. Is that schedule? I know? And like in theory, you could try to line up cupcakes. There's not enough cupcakes to go around. So what you want is to play the teams you're exactly competing with. If you can't beat the Raiders and the Patriots like you're you're clearly not a playoff team. Shouldn't be in the dance. I agree, All right,

let's move on. Knock this one out. This could be going to poor old Nick Shook Detroit lines at Chicago Bears. Matt Patricia obviously no longer the man there. It is who Daryl Bevil. Yeah, Daryl Bevil will be calling the plays. I've read. I read a notebook item on the lines that with Daryl Bevil on offense you might seem more up tempo and a change and a little bit how they do things on the offensive side of the ball. But I don't know what it means. The Bears lose

every week two more teams. Mark Sessler that we could really safely sent to the corn fields. Yeah, a little bit off topic, but I thought Darryl bevill Um had an interesting um introductory meeting with the press where he has two daughters Um and right around the time that he was named interim head coach to the two daughters are are dating or two men, and the two men

asked Daryl Bevil's um permission to marry the daughters. Now normally when that happens, um, he said yes, and then they go off and asked the girls to marry them like in due time, but not like not to be you know, that's that happens on its own sign. Daryl Bevill told all the reporters that that had happened before, the before the two men had asked his daughters. So he outed them as, uh, you know, want to be

engaged men. I find that to be a weird thing to do, is your opening um statement as a coach. But maybe maybe I'm wrong? Am I overreact? Wasn't intentional? He was not. He didn't really realize what he had done. And I guess it's not intentional, but you've got to figure out, you know, just keep that out of your mouth. In general, there's plenty of stuff to talk about in your introductory zoom call. Let's let's just stay away from the whole topic. He was anyone. He said, it was

like a crazy weekend. I mean, who knows, maybe Bevil would be like this crazy interim coach, you know, he'll just like reignite the Lions. Uh get ready. I don't know that's what he's a new Dan Campbell, I don't know me Mina. I did Mina Kimes this podcast and she was like legitimate excited for the bevil Era. Check that out. I I couldn't. I couldn't get there. And by the way, the Bears might not be done yet. Dan.

The Bears play the Lions this week, and so if they win this terrible game, there's six and six, which not as not only is just in it, but might be tied for the last playoff spot. And then they play another dog team, the Texans, next week. They might lose the game. They have the Jaggers coming up. The Bears are going to annoy us. I feel I can stick around longer than we want. Okay, maybe I think with a Mina thing. Mina was with Sessler on the

Lions bandwagon back in September. Maybe that was She's probably just you know, staying on the bandwag, which is noble in its own right. And she actually just helped um David Chang win a million dollars on who wants to be a millionaires? Like she's got that going on. So I I don't know. I don't know about the Bears though, you really do you really think they'll be hanging around?

Here's what I think is that they I would pick them to win this game because of their defense, and so that's just like another week they're going to be in our lives where they could legitimately be tied for the final playoffs. And then you have the Texans. I don't know, could they? You know? They everyone remembers the Bears last year is like the worst team in human history, and they won eight or nine games last year too,

Like they'll probably do it. And then this NFC race, they might still be playing meaningful games in week sixteen and we'll have to talk about them. Isn't that annoying? Chris? This Greg? That's an unnecessary way to go with this conversation. All right, let's let's move on here. All right, let's stig in the rest of these games that are being played, uh in prime time? Will start with Sunday Night football, Denver Broncos at Kansas City Chiefs West. Do you think

like people slept on a little bit? Maybe they didn't. Maybe it's just my my life is crazy, just like everybody else's life is crazy right now. But Tyree Kill had two hundred yards in one quarter on Sunday, and that's one of the most amazing things that we've ever seen in football. It's easy to those track of things in this year, and that's one of the things that maybe we've already lost track of. By the time the second quarter started, people were already moving on to something else.

But it was an amazing performance I talked about I talked about it on the Sunday night recap. Reminded me of the time I got emasculated in coverage a little bit. It's still in your mind. Brought back some bad memories watching Carlton Davis get toasted there. But yeah, I think that the Chiefs something. Come on everyone. I it seems like everyone else. Even even if the Chiefs, even if Steelers go undefeated and meet the Chiefs in the playoffs, the Chiefs are gonna be favored in that game. They're

just that good that, you know what. That's a good way to put it, West because for instance, I have the Chiefs, I had the Steelers in the power rankings, and that is the most basic way you could kind of boil it down to that. It's like one team finishes fifteen and one the other one sixteen and if they meet the line, Greg, let's go to the desert. Let's hypothetically set one. Both teams are pretty much healthy. Uh, what would in Pittsburgh? The game will be in Pittsburgh,

three and a bubble site in Orlando. What do you got three and a half for the Chiefs for the Chiefs? Yeah, that's I would I was going to say closer to three. And you know, I would feel great taking the Chiefs because I would just feel great taking the Chiefs against uh, anyone, especially the Broncos, who they've outscored ninety to twenty five, by the way, the last three times he played. Right now, I mean, if we point to the sorry, if we point to the Raiders as a team, I think it's

being built to compete with Kansas City. They're not totally there, but there's a lot of promises. We talked about the Broncos. I thought might be that team this year, and none of it's come together on any level. On offense, like all the excitement about all the pieces. I love Jerry Judy to some degree, but like all the chaos, like I don't know if Vic Fongio is the guy to take you into the Golden hands, um, if you're Denver at this point, like he feels gonna coach the quarterback again.

The quarterback positions such a mess there, Jerry Judy remember that game. I think it was. It might have been Week one, one of those Monday night games where he did some of his footwork with the ball in his hands and we were all just like blown away by it. That guy doesn't even exist in the NFL right now. It's just like everything has gone down this vortex in Denver. They're a very frustrating team this season. Ye aren't you let down? I mean I was, I haven't. I was

more wrong about the Broncos than any any team. And it's part of like the reason Kendall Hinton was had no chance last week. I mean he wasn't gonna have a chance properly anyways, but they were. They were dead last in d v o A offensively entering that game, and Drew Locks started most of these games, and they weren't any like better or worse Withdrew Lock in or out of the lineup. And so that's where I think Broncos fans who were like so upset, like just need

to have a re ality check. And you know what you usually get when when you play this Chief's team who have just absolutely owned them in the Foio era. And I think Fonio has gone. To me, the question is more as John Elway the guy, because how many how many coaching whiffs is he gonna get? Yeah, I think Fonio has gone. I think locks gone. I think you'll see always might go chase a Matthew Stafford type.

I mean the ownership might be gone. The ownership is having all this problems where Bowlands are fighting against each other and there's all this it's it's a problem. All right, Let's move on to uh. And by the way, the Desert has that at fourteen points, so uh, that is al Michaels is you know, gonna be furious again. You get al Mad to get him surly in the second half when he al the one thing Al cares about his ratings more than anything else. Surprised they didn't flex

out of this game. But I know it's the Chiefs. I think it's just the Mahomes factors. Mahomes the MVP, by the way, right now, right now, he would. I have him Rogers neck and neck. I have him and Rodgers neck and neck. Person to the p f W A west Where would uh? I know the QB indexes on hiatus, but who would be number one on the index right now? I might have to go with the unprecedented. Put them both with the number one beside their name and just move on to number three pulling a Sessler

get on that fence. I get the edge to Rodgers, just because Mahomes has so much more to work with this. This fence thing is also ancient. Like I don't do fence stuff anymore. I mean, i'll, i'll, I will ask the listeners to go find another deep do a done their deep dive on fence work. I don't work on fences anymore. Utterly absurd from like cut thousand and fourteen, Like utterly absurd because I picked games to go in overtime. Please you got those last fifteen seconds, trickey, that's all

we need. We don't need two minutes of that. That's what I want as our our podcast. Pret you promo very still, very still, he's off the fence, on the fence. Finally, Tuesday Football, how about that? The Dallas Cowboys at the Baltimore Rains. You know, I can't even keep this stuff straight. How come the Ravens get the extra day, not the Steelers when it was the Ravens that caused all the scheduling. Uh snaff foos around Steelers Ravens. Greg you are you're

always plugged in to the schedule and park avenue. How come that worked out this way? You sound like uh, every Steelers fan right now. I'm just defeated by this. It's just get if if um. If you're asking why are the Ravens Tuesday and the Steelers Monday? I have no idea. I have no clue, but both of the NFC East teams, Washington and Dallas, has a little extra rest.

This is a huge game for Baltimore. You know, though it's we don't know who's going to be back from their COVID list, which to me feels like the most important part of this game. If Lamar Jackson is back, and you know, we know some of the other Ravens players like Matthew Judon are back, you know, I think there's a spine to this team. They showed defensively that's not going away with all the people that they're missing.

You gotta win this game and get some more people back for the Monday Night Brown's Ravens game, because when I looked at the rest of the season schedule, that Brown's Ravens Monday Night with everything that's happened um with both of these teams and their franchises, like, that's one of the games I'm most excited for the rest of the year because that is your brand. I know the Browns have the Titans this week, but you can lose

that game even if they win that game. This Brown's Ravens game, with the Browns having a chance to maybe knock the Ravens out of the playoffs one year after they had home field advantage, that is spicy. So you gotta take care. You gotta find a way to beat Dallas, which is not necessarily gonna be that easy the way

everything's going. The dark mirror version of that is the Cleveland gets um ransacked by Tennessee with all eyes and then they lose on national television to the Ravens, which I think they've done like nine or ten times in twenty years, like they consistently put against that's who they are. Want to find out I need to tap into some

of your optimism on that front. I think this, like to your point about how tough they played Pittsburgh, um Cowboys line, Zack Martin when he came back in, that's when we got a little bit of Cowboys hope and they talked about how much better the communication was on that line. That it just you know, there were a lot of there were so many changes in lineup changes there that Zack Martin came in and was just sort of the dude he's gone. Um, cam Irvan has gone.

I'm not a big cam Irvan guy, as West knows, but he was. He was a guy for them. And they're back in that place where they're line is a total mess. And if the Ravens get a bunch of these guys back, um, look out, I think they're gonna handle Dallas. Dallas feels like a lost ship to me. This feels like a Ravens are obviously a proud team with you know, veterans, and it's well coached team, and I just think they are going to rally here in a big spot knowing they need to win, and I

think they win. It doesn't matter who's the quarterback. And I know that r G three. It's said because everyone remembers r G three coming into the league, what an incredible athlete he was. To see him, uh try to be that guy on Wednesday and his body was just like, na, man, we can't do this anymore. That was a bit of a bummer. And then Trace McSorley came in and he

got that late touchdown that did some desert damage. But other than that that, they have major problems on offense um with with without Lamar, but you imagine their backfield will get some reinforcements for this game, and as long as they don't completely implode on offense. I think that defense, which I totally agree with you on that, Greg Uh, they played that was a proud defense that was really really stepped up against the Steelers and nearly um I want to say, win the game, but kept them in

that game with all those big stops. I think they're gonna throttle the Cowboys, who are beat up and I think broken. At this point of the year, we might be able to overacting a little till last week though. I mean you you you were so excited about the Cowboys last week. They you know you locked them up. Dan, I'm just saying I don't think. I don't think any game is a gimme right now for this Baltimore team. As many struggles as you mentioned they're having on offense,

Dallas had been trending in the right direction. They had just a terrible game. But man, this I don't know, this zombie Ravens team. You gotta show you something. Three

and a round losses. I just want to thank r G three because the only reason I tuned into that game was to see how his sliding has evolved, and he he is so adverse to sliding at this point that the one time he slid in this game was that long run up the middle, and he didn't know how to stop himself, so instead of sliding, he turned around and backwards dove onto his back on the ground. Remember writing articles on Around the Around the League for NFL Com about r G three sliding and what he

needs to do to improve as a slider. Uh, Mark, I think you probably wrote fifteen or seventeen posts about his sliding as well. That was a major subplot coming out of his rookie season and even during it. I think, yeah back then, like you wouldn't cover a story once it would be like this, this this person's name is

taking off in terms of clicks. We're going to cover this angle, the sliding, the RG three um being asked out by Kim Kardashian at one point, I believe I wrote an article on I mean, it was just like everything r G three is getting on that website and he was married at the time. It was like he said yes to Kim and he was married. Now that's I don't remember if that's true or not. All right, there you go, Week thirteen, how about that week twelve teen? Who knows what it is. We'll be back on Friday.

Excuse me, see everything's everything is tough now, everything's difficult to discern. We'll be back on Sunday with the flagship program where we recap every game we just previewed. Uh, Chris, A real treat here to have you in the back end of the preview program. My pleasure, guys. Thanks for having me absolutely second, sir, and thank you everybody. Make sure you check out our NFL Network program that airs

Saturday repeatedly, including right and you know pre dawn. That's you know we They asked us, when do you want your show to air? We said, Saturday morning, six am. And they they, So that's that's the first airing. Check it out. This is Dan hands a signing off for Quiet Storm, the Mailman, the Old Boss, Ricky Hollywood Pine, the Virtual Glass until Sunday