2020 Week 5 Recap

our strategy to usurped the belt the Balkans. I don't know if that's if we can We can't even find our way to you know, across town. We go to a Super Bowl week, that's that's when we need our general Kevin patra Um. No Chris Westling today. Um as everyone knows, west is in another fight right now against the Big Sea, and uh, you know, before we get going today, it's it's it's incredible for us to be able to see it, but you the listeners don't always.

I'm sure you could hear it, because you could hear in West's voice the fight that he's putting in on this, But how much of his heart he's putting into doing these shows and doing the work writing on the website the Great Hube Index and Um doing the tape study and still delivering top West analysis, and we're so lucky that we've had West to this point this season. But today is kind of a reminder Um of the fight that he's up against and how it takes so much

out of him. And I know all the listeners obviously boys are and ten percent behind Chris Um and we don't want to, you know, put undue focus on on his fight, but at the same time, like when he's not here on today's show, it's more like an appreciation of what he's been able to do while going through this situation all over again. Yeah, I think the last

week's been a tough one. If people knew Um and in West have been public about at the back pain that he said, what what he's going through like waiting for like a four hour window where he's not feeling as much back pain so he can pound out like one of the best like three thousand word QB and Tecks columns like on the internet. It's really it's kind of amazing how he's been pushing through. So I echo all your thoughts to all, and I would say that the handoff from Greg to West on QB Index is

sort of a Brett Farv Aaron Rodgers type scenario. I mean, I really it's two people that couldn't work harder on those pieces. But you're getting West right now. Those are the vibrant hours of his week and he's putting it into watching Game Pass and those things have been like so juicy to read. I mean, there's just not, as people have said, not a wasted word. So anything West offers you almost have the analogy mark what because it

wasn't with you know, Farving Rogers direct handoff. This is more like the cults, where it was of course Peyton Manning then the cur of this paint painter year and now Andrew. I didn't want to dig into deep on the brief interlude between the two UH giants, so I you know, I kind of left that off off there. But you flamed our edity editing death so that that they can handle that on their own. So I would never do anything like that. They do great work as well.

Um So anyway, keep the fight West, We love you. Uh. This is the flagship program. Nick Shook's gonna join us in just a little bit. Usually he joined us later in the show, but one of the games he covered happened to have, uh, you know, the biggest injury story of the season. So we're gonna get to that also. UM, I guess we should just knock it out. In terms of Little League news up top before we get to the first game. The NFL, in the middle of the

early games today dropped a bomb press release. Um that's not like slang like oh the releases the bomb. Yeah, Basically how they've juggled their regulars regular season schedule because of Corona virus outbreaks. The Titans and Patriots um, of course affected directly by that, but nine teams are affected by the schedule um reconfiguration, some over a period of

weeks through November twenty two. New England, Tennessee, Denver, Buffalo, Kansas City, Miami, LH Chargers, New York Jets, and Jacksonville Jaguars. Denver's game at New England originally scheduled for Sunday, then moved to Monday night when the Patriots had more COVID night teen tests now will be played next Sunday afternoon. Then that move came after the Patriots had another new positive test for COVID nineteen on Sunday morning, according to

a report, So unbelievable. No TNF this week. That was kind of my biggest takeaway from all the shuffling. Assuming Bills Titans happens on Tuesday, Yeah, that they were scheduled on Thursday, and so there's no TNF game this week. I mean, it's still technically TNF. If you wanted just to go acronym for Tuesday Night, that's gonna be very weird. It's not not really ever. You know something, it's never happened during our show at Tuesday Night. Usually you're in

the clear to do other human things. Not this time. Didn't We learn though through last Monday Night Mark that they're very serious about the property infringement of different games that are connected to days, you know, the Monday Night football snaphoo of Monday. But you know, the less said the better. No, No, you're right, I mean I'll probably be found in a in a van by the side of the highway at some point for you know, going down that road. All right, let's get to the game.

Starting with to me, the most surprising outcome. It happened at Arrowhead. They have got to go there down two scores. Andy Reid knows it. They need seven yards here for a first down, fourth down, end seven. Here's my homes back into the pocket. It holds fires deep down the middle. Intercept there it is picked up by the Raiders. Jeff ten five. Yeah, yeah, baby, first down and call at the two yard line. Brent Musburger so crazy. It's Brent

Musburger every Time's like three years old. But you know what,

that was a good call. Who was doing all the Raiders games now for the past couple of years in Vegas where he is running also an empire of some kind, I believe Musburger Anyway, Patrick Mahomes was shut out for most of the second half through that late interception that was really a dagger, uh, and the Raiders offense piled up nearly five hundred yards of offense on Kansas City and a forty to thirty two win over the defending champions. Like I said at Arrowhead and Boys, this was a

perfect day for the Raiders. You had Henry Ruggs, who's a big difference maker when he's in the lineup for this team because they desperately need that. Other guy, Josh Jacobs is a very nice running back. Darren Waller is a playmaking tight end. But you need that guy that that could spread the off spread the defense and make big plays. And that's what Rugs did with two long catches including a touchdown. And Derek Carr, when you guys fire up the old game pass with this, you will

be impressed. Uh. He you know a man that's often criticized for conservative play we talked about in this podcast. I told him just that it's okay to be Derek. Derek Derek uh and what he did today, the the guy that gets killed for being a checkdown machine through two bombs for touchdowns, had played with poison precision, outplayed Patrick Mahomes. Uh. This one was for the haters of Derek Carr. And if you're the Chiefs, yeah, Is it a bad game or a sign or bigger issues? I

don't know yet, but it's quite a loss. Well, their offense hasn't been the same this year, and they looked. They put up a lot of points against the Raiders today, but to have a long stretch in the second half where they don't do anything that's out of character. Almost all their numbers are out of character. Offensively. But I think it's a reminder. Yeah, it's like players matter, and sometimes we're like, well, this team is banged up, but

then we go on and kill them. Um, but you get Trent brown Back, who's an All Pro caliber tackle, and you get your first round pick, Rugs Back, who when he's been on the field this year, has absolutely made a big difference. And suddenly a very good offense turns maybe into a great offense, and and you get some plays and you coach around your defense, and what what a win. They've had a brutal schedule to be three and two despite this schedule, uh, And it doesn't

really get much easier after the buy. I think they have the Bucks uh and then another really tough game

that I'm forgetting off the top of my head. But they've done amazing to be three and two at this point of I mean, if you're if you're a Raiders supporter, or if you're Derek Carr, or if you're everyone that's flamed Derek Carr left and right, including me, I mean I I've just never really loved his style of game, and a lot of it had to do with the fact that, like, while the league becomes a deep ball league.

He doesn't seem to be part of that party. And today is the kind of win that you just can save her because you knocked out a team that is not just beating you, but destroyed you. UM in the Mahomes era times, I mean your defense especially, and you've you've beaten a arch rival. Um, You've made it a rivalry again, at least for now. It hasn't made it as it's a division race, and Derek Carr did it UM in a way that shuts everyone up. So it's

a pretty sweet. It's about as sweet as Sunday as you could script for the Las Vegas Raiders, right, Like I said, it was a perfect day for them, and it does show their ceiling, like when they are humming, which I didn't think they could play at this level. And I'll point specifically at the defense. You know, they finished with over twenty pressures, the second most I believe that Mahomes has ever faced in a game. They forced.

As you heard his first interception of the season that nearly went back for a pick six that came on a throw made from a crumbling pocket and uh Colletcheosemile who had been a big pick up for Kansas City. He went out of this game with an injury, so they also got dinged up on their offensive line the Chiefs. But to me, it's a great game, and it's a fascinating game because I think there's big stories on both

sides of this. That the Raiders ceiling might be a little higher than we realized, that Derek Carr might be a little bit more dina. I mean, we talk about and we'll get to the Dalton scale in a little bit. We talked about where he fits in the landscape and how players like him go up and down depending who they're with. Well, if Henry Ruggs is a superstar deep threat, uh, you know we're gonna see Derek Carr start hitting on more of those big plays if everyone stays healthy. So

nice job of the Raiders, Jeeves. We'll see is this closer to the Chiefs team from a couple years ago where the defense was an issue and they had to score forty points every week because usually that doesn't win the whole damn thing. All right, that's r in Nick Shook. Now Shook he gets called up to the early portion of the show. Um, we wish it was under better circumstances, Nick, how are you, by the way, I'm fantastic. I'm doing

better than some people in the league. All right now, exactly, all right, Let's hit the highlights of what went down in jaral world. Snap back for man rush deep all out of the right side forget Up, cut up at the fifty yard line and then out of bound. The call from Brad Sham the Sham God and Babel Affenberg

O k r L d Yes. Michael Calip Galup had two incredible catches on the final Cowboys drive on passes thrown by Andy Dalton and Greg the Leg closed the game out with a field goal Cowboys thirty four thirty one over the windless Giants. An important win for Dallas puts in the first place in the Wolf of NFC East. But that was not the big story after the game. Not even close. Hittery and here's a quarterback draw up the middle. Prescott bouncing out to the left across the twenty.

He's inside the Sherwin Williams red zone. Nine. Prescott's hurt. I didn't like the way he fell. When you run your quarterback, you're always taking a chance. He's holding his right leg and he's gonna get McCarthy off the side. Well, and they immediately the official there in front of immediately waved for medical personnel to come over and attend attack. Yes, it was a serious right ankle injury for Dak Prescott. In fact, that was a compound fracture of the right ankle.

He has surgery scheduled for Sunday night. It will end his season and in the eyes of many, will end the Cowboys season. Uh. Shook. That was a really sad moment as the gravity of the situation revealed itself. Yeah, no doubt. I mean the replays that when they were showing them immediately after it happened. We're gruesome enough, but you know, see be Dak tearing up and wiping the

tears from his face with a towel. Uh, As he's on the cart and getting driven away, you just realized all the ramifications of the injury that he had just sustained, both of the Cowboys season and also with his future with him playing on the Tag. The risk associated with that all of a sudden becomes reality. Um, of course, it tanks a season that was already a struggle and

in a game that was already a struggle. I mean, Dallas is down seventeen three at one point before they charged back, it looked like they were gonna be able to to kind of pull away before this happened, and the air kind of got sucked out of the stadium

at the same time that he got hurt. And you know, you worry as a fan of a team about the future of your team, but really more importantly, you worry about the future of Dak Prescott, who has done more than enough to try to lift the Cowboys the victories early in the season as their defense has not done its part, and he has thrown for an incredible amount of yards, He's made plays with his legs, and he unfortunately gets hurt making a play with his legs, and

it really just makes you wonder, you know, is this the last time we've seen Dak Prescott in Dallas. It is possibility. Well, I'm not sure if they're done this season in terms of that that NFC East. But when you think about what Prescott's been through, man, I mean you feel for him. Um. He spoke so eloquently about, you know, struggling with mental health this year with like

like a lot of people have. I mean, he lost his brother to suicide this year, he lost his mom um, you know, as a lot of people know before the draft, and uh, he seems like about as good a leader as there is in the NFL. UM. I I don't know where the Cowboys team goes like next. We could have that discussion in a second, but I don't know. I I guess I have a hard time believing he's gonna be anywhere else um but Dallas in the future. I'm not saying this injury raises that or lowers it.

I had a hard time really buying that that would happen before this, and I think that's still true, just because because he's played too well and it's just too crazy, Um, too crazy to let a guy that that that good go. I think you're right, And I mean, there aren't that on the juxtaposition on the same day that we'll get into it that we saw Alex Smith return um to the field from his injury, that the day began with

that and it ended with this UM. But the parallel also is that the outpouring of genuine care from enemy lines and beyond and within the own locker room UM that was pro Alex Smith. DAC has that too. I mean, I really, you know, players get injured every week, but the outpouring of people just saying how much Doc has meant to them, and these stories that are bubbling up about things that we never knew about, things that he

went out of his way to help people. Mike McCarthy saying that how how much Dak Prescott has impacted him during their short time together. You know, now, Mike McCarthy, you couldn't script a sort of a more rough and tumble um beginning to your career as a Cowboys coach than he has. And then what he's been through over

the first five weeks of the seasons. It was a little surreal because Jason Garrett, now the offensive coordinator of the Giants, is one of the first people that gets the Garrett on the far sideline, Uh, when he gets to dock on the far sideline, when he's on the ground. You had Tony Romo in the booth for CBS, of course, who handed the baton as Cowboys quarterback to Dac And yeah, it was a like I said, compound fracture, which is the gnarly one. It's the one where the bone breaks

through the skin. Uh. The good news is as nasty as that injury is. Um, it's we've seen it a lot where that's something that gets repaired and players return at full strength. And I'm I'm with you, Greg, I think barring some type of unforeseen complication in his rehab, I would imagine that Jerry Jones is going to still richly richly reward doc and he'll enter next season, hopefully week one, as their starter and as one of the

highest play paid quarterbacks in the league. None of that would surprise me, but none of that helps him right now. That speculation or the Cowboys Andy Dalton, I thought that was an awesome signing by them. I mean, not that Andy Dalton's awesome, but I thought that was like when they signed on Andy Dalton quietly this offseason. It struck me as one of the better moves for depth that

we saw at the quarterback position. And you saw what he was able to do, which is come into that game and um put points on the board, beautiful past the gallop to set up the game winning kick. And the great Chris Wessling, who coined the Dalton scale where we try to figure out where quarterbacks exist and who is the prime meridian and Andy Dalton famously is the prim Ridian. Now what Sometimes the definition of that will

get lost, and I'll even I lose it sometimes. But what West always said was he's the prim Ridian because he he rises and falls based entirely on what the team is around him. So if the Cincinnati Bengals had nobody on offense and the coaching stunk, he would stink. If if they if they were loaded, you would see

what happened in two thousand fifteen. This is the ultimate test of the Dalton scale because he now joins an offense with the three best you know wide receiver, the best wide receiver triplets in the league, and an all Pro running back and it's still solid offensive line. I'm excited to see Dalton's second act of his career. Obviously not the expense of deck, but I'm excited to see

how he does here. Yeah, and you know he did find success today nine of eleven for a hundred and eleven yards, and of course that past has set up that game winning field goal, which was a beauty and a great grab by by Michael Gallup. But it will change their offense a little bit because it's just that you don't have the same guy running the system, I mean, and that is going to be an adjustment they're gonna

have to make on the flag. But it still comes down to the same thing for them, which is their defense. You can't give up thirt or four points to the Giants. I don't care if one of those courts was a defensive touchdown. That's not gonna win you games against almost anybody. And it almost cost him today. Well, it's also like, what's the goal here? If the goals to to possibly go win this division, you know that that seems attainable. But for the Cowboys, you know they've done They've they've

had first round losses. Like that'll be a good story and maybe it's something you can build on going into next year. But they're not winning the title without Tyrone Smith, Lyle Collins and Dak Prescott. They're not going to the NFC Championship Game without both of those tackles for the year in Dak Prescott and this defense by the way, I mean, it's just not gonna happen. So they know, but I would I would say that if you're if you're Mike McCarthy, if you're the coaching staff, like you've

got to salvage something here. Sure, I mean, it's it's been a pretty disappointing head coaching job in general. I mean, I just you know, part of it is Mike Nolan has his plan feels shotgun from decades ago, and it doesn't function in according to you know, the players seem

you know, peaked with it too. But I mean, you can't, like if you can't win this NFC East with the talent they have defense though well they I mean it's one sided, but their offensive like they're collection offens on paper, they mean they they're gonna have, They're gonna get Vanderish back. They have Jalen Smith. The secondary on paper doesn't look terrible, and they have Everson Griffin and Lawrence and Alvin Smith. It's it doesn't add up. But they are two and three.

That's good for first place. What about the ewing theory, All right, let's move about not here's the snap A little god a man first half cooks left side ten five, he's in touchdown Houston on fourth down twenty eight yards. Mark Vandermere of k I l T. No Bill O'Brien, no problem, I mean, like no problems anymore. Maybe the Shawn Watson and Brandon Cooks found their rhythm, and the Texans finally got off the Schneide fourteen win over the

Jaguars and the debut interim coach Romeo Crannell Shook. The Texans that look different to you today. Yeah, I mean they played a little more life. But I think they got a gift by playing the Jaguars. I mean, the Texans had an extremely difficult first three years. Shook when you look at their schedule, I mean, I mean look like they went from Kansas City to Baltimore, to Pittsburgh to to Minnesota, which you know, you can say what you want about Minnesota, but it's Jacksonville who has not

played well since Week two. That Thursday night game that lost against Miami was essentially the start of their downfall. They haven't been able to pick up the pieces there. So it wasn't exactly the greatest challenge still an NFL team, of course, but it wasn't like the competitions they've played before, So I think they did look out a little bit there. But for the first time this season, I saw Texans

offense that actually moved the football with rhythm. Uh Deshaun Watson despite his two interceptions, he was pretty sharp for the most part. For the first time this season, he established a connection with Brandon Cooks, who had eight catches for a hundred and sixty one yards in a touchdown um they had, They had pretty solid pace. David Johnson flurred with a hundred yards rushing for the first time

in two years. He didn't get there, so we can't say that, you know, he officially rushed for hundred yards after two years, but he finished with nineties six and they did a good job of putting the game away. But again, it was as much you give credit to their defense to a to an extent, but it was as much as the Jaguars kind of making those mistakes and making it just you know, grease and the skids

little bit for him becau their first win. But hey, good on Romeo Cornell, who's proven in the pass that he has a good interim head coach now and he's a regular head coach. It's a different story, but he's want to know, is the interim head coach this year. The Jags are the slump busters of the NFL and ye and to be fair, they were the worst defense

in the league. Before they lost their best player by far, Miles Jack, their second best player UH Josh Allen, and their third best player d J. Hayden before this game even started, so they were already coming into this game as a tire fire UH and Houston took care of business, at least their defense shook. I guess played a little

bit better at the Texans. I'm always like, I'm surprised that when Minshew doesn't put up more points in this Yeah, especially when he throws for three hundred plus yards right, which he's done, and the record UH in in games in which Minshew has thrown for three hundred plus yards is not a good sign, so you don't want to rely too much on him. But they didn't get anything out of James Robinson today, who often met brick walls when he was running the ball. Lewis Kaschenalt still contributed

as he has for the majority of this year. But this is just a team that lacks weapons at lack cohesiveness. It doesn't outlook anything like the unit on both sides of the ball, the team that we saw in the first two weeks, and it is it does have a lot to do with the losses, like you said of guys like Miles Jack, I still find this to be this Houston team to be somehow more depressing than the Cowboys at this point. And I'm gonna need to go watch this tape closely, um if I choose to do so,

to see if that opinion holds true. Well, they were certainly more depressing I thought when Billy was there, because a real ugliness had settled over there. I think they love Romeo. I think I saw after the game they were saying that all the meetings, like Romeo just says funny stuff all the time, that how can you not love Roman kind of like a love of old Bear. But just watch out here, guys, because their schedule is going to soften up, and they now they can rally.

It's like in Major League we all shook you. You know, you're Cleveland usually, like sometimes it's good to rise up against the father figure or the owner or the general manager slash coach that you didn't like. What better way to stick it to Billy O'Brien out the door than to, you know, reel off five of the six wins after his departure. You're back in. It's Jack Easter be with the Texans. You want to come coach to Texans. Texans? All hold on, I got a guy on the line,

asked about white walls. Romeo has been a players coach. There's a famous clipping in Brown circles, which there aren't many of those in the last twenties plus years. Maybe there will be some this year, but there aren't many. Where he was in the locker room after a victory in two thousand seven, he's one great year with them when he said, when you guys do well, it makes me look good. And I'm looking pretty good right now and today, and the Texans looked pretty good. I guess,

so not bad for your first win. Alright, Speaking of those Brown's, nick hang around here as we dig into the latest Cleveland conquest. Rivers on third down and four from US on forty six yards line, motioned by Taylor back into the backfield, shotgun for Rivers. Third down, the Browns showing off the left side. Then they drop off. Rivers back to pass pressure coming stepped up product pickock. They got a don a sideline picked up by Ronny Harrison.

It's a pick six touchdown, Jim Donovan. Was it called w K R K Philip Rivers pick six was the one of was one of several killer mistakes by the veteran quarterback. Who has to have Frank Wright in mc cults brain Trust thinking after a thirty three loss to the Browns. For Cleveland, it's four straight wins and the team's first four and one starts since the British Old days with Billy Belichick in the nine nineties, Mark, would

you take out of this one? I would note that the last time that happened, when they made an interesting nugget at the end of the telecast that it was prior to the first season of Friends. Like culturally, that's a really long time ago. I mean, beside all the little football you know items, this game is to me another study in what this Browns team is this season. You know, the talk was, Okay, this is a run

heavy team. Their systematically running for two d three hundred yards a game and that's how they that's how they've basically squeezed the life out of their opponents to get to three and one. What would happen in this affair against a really good Cults defense. They came out throwing the ball. I mean it was it was they couldn't run, they were unable to move the ball on the ground. But it really was the focus was putting it on Baker Mayfield's back early on, and he I thought he

had the best half that I've seen him play arguably. Ever, that's just I'm talking about just like the defense you were playing, you weren't playing the Bengals. He had two yards over the first thirty minutes. Um. They were aggressively attacking Indies secondary right up the middle of the field, and it was working. And you know, this Browns team is learning to get up quickly as they did against Dallas. But then you've got to deal with the other thirty minutes.

And they were lucky that Philip rivers Um is a quarterback right now, who I think number one. They're playing around the best they can, and that's not easy to do because they're not littered with stars the Cults, but I don't think that they necessarily trust Philip rivers And I also think that he just doesn't fit into what

the Cults probably should be on offense. So there were like that that was coming into view as this game was melting down the stretch for the Cults, but the Cleveland secondary allow is inviting and allow sort of anyone back in and I think one of the stories of the game for Cleveland And Nick, I know you watched this too, but the you know, there are days away from playing the Steelers and they came out of here with Baker Mayfield, Wyatt Teller, they're badass right guard Ryan

Harrison who had the pick six, who they brought into place, safety Harrison, Bryant, Jacob Phillips, Jordan Elliott, Sheldon Richardson, Olivier Vernon, and Kareem Hunt, all with injury questions heading into Monday. So you know it's this is this team is not extremely healthy, but instead of classic sort of Cleveland melt job, they made just enough plays down the stretch to get

to form one. And it's something that I mean, Nick, I don't know where you were in I know where I was, and it feels like a long time ago. I was to Um Jacobs Field had opened and my dad took me to the exhibition game the day before it opened and we sat in the front row in the upper deck, which he still sits back and wonders why he ever did that with a two year old son. Um. But yeah, I mean, you think about. Belichick was the

head coach. Um Nick Saban was the defensive coordinator. Addy Newson was a front office executive who had yet to become the first black GM in the NFL in NFL history. Um, this is an extremely long time ago. Of course, it would be the year that we're in a pandemic that Browns fans can't enjoy this, but that's neither here nor there. You're right about the how they've had this, this identity of a run first team, and I just didn't work today.

Kareem Hunt was under eight yards rushing today. Dennis Johnson ripped off a run to kind of put things away at the end, but for the most part, they couldn't run the ball well. The Holts tackle really well individually. That's one thing that really jumped out. They were not great. The Kareem Hunt and Nick Chubb are guys who do not go down on first contact. Usually they usually break

through an arm tackle. The Colts were very, very good at tackling, and it forced the Browns and Kevin Stefanski to just try to figure out a different way to move the football. And I do give him credit, especially in that first half. I thought these were two coaches who had pretty solid game plans and it was just a matter of execution. In the first half, the Browns offense executed very well, moved to move the ball down the field pretty easily. I think they outgained the amount

of the Colts allowed last week. I think they outgained him almost entirely through maybe two and a half three quarters. So the offense was moving, they were getting past this defense, but they also ran into those troubles that you mentioned and um and it really came down to basically Philip Rivers story and pick six and also getting hit with a safety because of a grounding penalty in the end zone.

That was the difference in the game. Frank Reich said he thought Philip Rivers is playing very good, and he's the least of my worries after the game when they don't don't know what he's gonna say. But i' just see someone that you know, I'm with you. I thought going into this game, that's why I thought the Browns would win, because offense beats defense. In everyone talking about like, oh, the Chief's defense, they're pretty frisky. Okay, you give up

forty points. The Colts defense number one in the league. They didn't get a single stop in the first half of this game. I know they made some plays and they didn't have Darius Leonard, but ultimately good offense beats him. And I know you got you guys are picking on the running game a little bit. But the test of the the ultimate test of a great running team is can you run it at the end of the game when the other team knows it's coming to win the game?

And they ran for two first downs? Not just that the dearness Johnson won to win the game at the end against this defense. That's I know, that's getting like Mark Sessler's He's getting him sizzling to have such a run heavy Brown's team, I I usually don't like. I can't really even look at these games until we get out of this show and after Sunday Night Football. Then

it starts to become reality. Sitting at a desk um like doing this and like typing out data points and looking at like a hideous Dolphins Niners game at the same time at all is very surreal until later in the night. The Colts defense, I mean the Colts brutal because Baker, as good as his first half was, was terrible in the second half. He threw two picks, could

have been a third. He had a fumble that they recovered, and after he got driven to the turf by Justin Houston, and he's in a lot of pain, as Mark said, uh he is. You know, he was getting X rays. After the game. They reported, Um, I don't think he could have completed a big pass on that last possession. So and with Nick Chubb not playing, and with Baker Mayfield maybe not even able to make a throw, you let the Ernest Johnson beat you with the twenty eight

yard run on top of everything else. Frank Roig probably, if I had a guess, because he's smart, he is trying to head this off at the past because he doesn't want to add anything else. Ron Rivera style into a potential quarterback controversy. You do have a solid backup and Jake Briskett a limited but solid backup. But Rivers did not play well. He is one of the biggest

problems that the Colts have right now. I don't care what he told the media, that picks six is one of the easier ones you'll ever see in the NFL, no doubt. I mean he left that out down the sideline. He just has no juice behind his passes these days, which is understandable with his age. But for the most part,

you're absolutely right. I mean, it's it's a Colts team that this is a game that when we came in, we saw the Browns and the Colts each at three and one, and we said, okay, well, are either these teams for real? Because the Browns had a nice little easy patch against a couple of lesser teams than the same thing with the Colts. I guess we had an answer, but we really won't know for a month or two, if not longer. But today the Browns are a better team.

The NFL is weird like that, but the Browns four or five to start season not bad at all. Shook, come back and join us on Sunday night football. Okay, sounds good. All right, let's move on, Ricky. He throws it down the field. Oh that is Chase play pool for our Pittsburgh stealer's touchdown. Why open from thirty five and Ben kind of new it. Yeah, Oh yeah, I've been saying it all day. That's our four times saying it.

But that's top shelf Canadian bacon and said long, Oh, yeah, there's the Dave damage that football program being attached to another Steeler's win. I do love when the color guy all you here is like a guttural noise, like where did it come from? Was it from the booth, the bedroom, the bathroom. Bill Hill Grow with tonch Jilkin for w DV The Steelers. Yes, I've done it again. Chase Claypool is the latest wide receiver star to be drafted outside

the first round for the Steelers. His four touchdown day the difference for Pittsburgh in a win over the Eagles at pines Field. This is the craziest stat of the day for New Bols. I don't know how it's possible because this span, this exactly spans my lifespan and basically as long as I can remember following football, the Steelers have been a good team and sometimes great and several times super Bowl winning. The Steelers are four and o for the first time in forty years. Okay, what I

not a great season? Some of those fourty years, I I that threw me. That threw me comprehensively. And you know when, with a few tweets, most people were like what, because look, I understand they struggled before their dynasties rose up in the fifties and sixties and all that business. But like there, there you have your patriots. If you're a Jets fan dealing with the Steelers since like the eighties, you're telling me they never started four No, I like

completely didn't buy that when I first saw it. Um, But back to the game. Yeah, So just an awesome performance by Claypool, who is a beast. And this came in the same game that the anti Deante Johnson, another highly touted wide receiver, was unable to finish the game. Uh,

he had another injury. So uh it helps to have the depth that they have in Claypool will continue to play big snaps here, second round pick out of Notre Dame, and I mean think about it, got Mike Wallace, Antonio Brown, Martevis, Brian Juju Smith Schuster, James Washington, Deante Washington, all the James. Uh what I said, Deante Johnson, Uh, they just have

an uncanny neck. So that's what I take away from this game on the Steeler side, just how they continue to populate that roster and that offensive side of the football with playmakers and and Ben Roethlisberger. For all the doubts around him in the off season, he is just as good, if not better, right now than he was

before the elbow injury. He's just playing. There's none of those reckless and I know the schedule has been a little bit soft and it's been a weird year, but he's just been so smart with the football and on target and just running the whole scheme with ease and

the defense. It was not very good today for the Steelers, and especially when you think about what the Eagles have going on their issues that they make Travis Falgum look like Jerry rice In in this game ten for one, fifty two and a touchdown UM, So that tells you kind of that they had some breakdowns themselves and they struggled um to get stops and put this game away.

They were up thirty one ten Pittsburgh was and the Eagles had a fifty nine yard field goal attempt late in the fourth quarter with the chance to take the lead before a miss and then a final Claypool touchdown

for the final score. So yeah, the Steelers four and oh defense a little bump in the road, but the offense humming at a high power right now, and I just think that they are absolutely in the conversation is the best team in the a f C. It's funny because every game they've had has been so similar where their fans and you know, their coaches will probably say we didn't play a complete game, that it was close like about midway through the fourth quarter, but then you

score the decisive important touchdown to win it, and to me, I think, like, well, that's that's that's a good way. Yeah, you want to blow teams out, but they are getting in the habit of making game winning plays in the fourth quarter. On both sides of the ball. The secondary has not been great this year, but I think he made a great point. Then on Roethlisberger. I've heard some like people picking him a little bit this year, but I think the decision making has been the difference. I'm

with you. He has not been making those dumb throws. He's been just going for what's there, and uh, he's played really well, just kind of keeping them on schedule. He's looked great in the games I saw before this week. But the one little area, and I wonder if today, you know, just proved that to be a small sample size. Some of his deep shots. His deeper passes were seemed to be kind of like overthrows, just more off off target than I'm used to with Big Ben. But it

wasn't a ton of throws. I don't know, was he td did he solve that? That didn't register to me that he was struggling with his deep ball, but maybe on a closer watch I would see that. I thought, you know, he led the offense. It was also another

weird stat. It was the first time the Steelers had scored thirty points and something like eighteen games or so they I mean last year was last year obviously plays a big part of that, but that also, of course carried back to the end of the review season with Big Ben. So I thought, you're gonna say since nineteen seventy nine, and it's like, what what have I been watching for the past? Heads explode Carson Wentz. By the way,

I'll just make this last comment. Uh, he threw two more interceptions now and and I believe he has nine, which is now well passed his total from sixteen games last year. But if you watch this game after a very slow start, um, you could start to see the old Carson Wentz starting to come out, and he started getting comfortable and he developed that rapport. Like I said with Fulgum, who might be a guy. He might be a guy. And when Jalen Rager comes back, maybe they

have one too. And then you got zach Ertz and Sean Jackson's maybe a week await. They need the old zach Ertz to show up. And Lane Johnson gets hurt. Even like every Eagles game, someone else great gets hurt. So even when you have some good things happen, it's like, uh, yeah, and it would be good to get the other type tight end back to. I guess I'm out out on waiting for DeShawn Jackson to come back and make an impact.

That just kind of been in two games over the last two two or three games over the last two seasons. Every year it's the same thing on the injury report. He might be practicing, please exactly. It's exhausting, and uh, for the Eagles, obviously this was a big day for them. Uh, you don't want to look at it that way, but this is a results human business. And Dak Prescott's out for the year, so you are in good position potentially still a win your division. But guess what they got

the Ravens next week. So they gotta figure in a way to win some of these games. Right now, they are not. Let's move on. Brow throws to his left. It is complete to Mike Thomas. Thomas fumbles the ball. The Ravens happening scooped up at midfield. It's Patrick Queen down a sideline. He's still at twenty. That's Ted fine touch the raven Patrick Queen eight twenty one lefts gonna play the heyes of the bar. Nice job, Sandusky w b a L. It's called Patrick Queen stepped in front

of a Joe Burrow pass. Speaking of a C North teams that just know what they're doing. Uh. Queen stepped in front of the past took it to the house. Another impact defensive play for the Ravens and three win over the Bengals. Queen also forced the fumble by Borrow, his old l s U teammate. Just another direct hit in the first round by the Ravens. Greg This one

didn't look competitive from the outside. No, it wasn't at all at the Ravens defense, and that was Marlon Humphrey, who made one of the best players I've seen all year holding a guy up and then punching it out for Queen to to return at Humphrey has done that in three straight games. He just got a huge contract. He's one of the best cornerbacks in the league. He did that, forces fumbles on the REGs since three in a row now, and their defense played as good a

defensive game as any team all year. Maybe the Rams today were in that mix to fifteen quarterback hits, seven sacks, nine tackles for loss. They gave up seven points or no three points. They scored seven points. They set up another seven points with a turnover in the red zone.

Joe Burrow was hit every single time he dropped back, and early on it was on the communication and it was on the offensive line, but probably about midway through the second quarter, some of it was just on Joe Burrow having a rookie day and holding the ball forever when they're sending pressure, and even when they blocked it up sometimes he was just holding it and taking hits and no one's open and it was just a blood bath. You felt. I felt bad watching the Bengals offense in

this game. They could have they could have had like twenty drives. They wouldn't have scored. It's a reminder away from those in Cincinnati. But I guess it could happen when you got a rookie quarterback. These things could happen against great teams. Yeah, because I mean last week was so we you know, the Bengals protected Burrow a little bit better, maybe the offensive line can figure out their act to some degree. Um, not the case. And it's

it's a really rough division. Um. Every division is rough to be a rookie quarterback. But when you're dealing with Pittsburgh's front and Baltimore's, I mean, they're gonna teach you lessons that are to be hard to forget. And you just worry about anyone in Joe Burrow's position, where you say where you're starting to make rookie mistakes, Like, I mean, this is a heady quarterback. You can do it all.

But when you're getting knocked around playoff to play game after game, I mean, you could be a shell of yourself by late December. It could be a really long season. And to be clear, his mistakes were really just kind of holding it and in decision, not knowing what he was seeing, and then taking some hits sometimes trying to make a play and then taking a hit at the end of the game. And it's a brutal game for the Bengals because they ended up losing DJ Reader, their

big free agent signing. It sounds like for the season. A J. Green left with a hamstring at this point. Um, that's I don't think that really hurts the way their offense was going. Sam Hubbard also, who's played really well on their defensive line, got hurt, and that one looked a little dicey. Their defense played amazing. I know, I know, it's hard to imagine that this was one of the worst games of Lamar Jackson's career. I think he I think he would admit that. That's two in a couple

of weeks. He had three yards rushing. He could have had about four or five interceptions. They struggled to move the ball. I think they scored I counted it up. They had ten drives you know that started not you know, not in the red zone. They had one that you know, they kind of got a layup, and they scored thirteen points in those drives. The in the in the one touchdown they had they had to really work hard for

on like a fifteen play drive. So the Bagels defense actually played great in this game and has played better this year, but then they lose three starters and there's not much good to feel it. But there's a number of games you could point to with Baltimore now where it's huh, they just don't look themselves. They don't look as explosive, and then their stars aren't on offense operating

to that degree. I mean, we asked a couple of weeks ago, you know, and they Lamar Jackson was asked like, as your offense been diagnosed, and he said, yeah, it's sort of the Titans thing like this other you know, another team came in and did the same thing. Is there any of that that seems like it's carrying over? Was it just a bad game? Yeah? I think they shut them down. The fact that they shut down their

running games so easily. The only runs they had was like a Devin duverne Um kind of trick play early. It's putting a lot of pressure on the passing game and that's been a little erratic. Let's move. Here's a play Fax sets up to throw. He's going vertical deep down the left side, and it's Robert Woods to catch it to twenty, he goes in touchdown, l A, you wanted more top shell serving there. It was from Sean McVeigh, Jared Goff and the Rams. That's a pro. That's a bro,

who's a pro. JB long with a call where KSPN Jared Goff through two touchdowns, including that long strike to Robert Woods, and Aaron Donald's matched a career high with four sacks as the room, I mean, can we appreciate Aaron Donald Donald's greatness as the Rams coasted to a thirty to ten win over the Washington football team. L A needed just five games this season to complete a sweep of the NFC East Mark. I'm guessing the Rams are a little more and to watch this week compared

to last Sunday slog in the Swamps of Jersey. Yeah, I mean it was there were three teams in this game. It was it was Washington the Rams and like the hideous rainstorm that you know, basically changed this into one of those games where it's hard to kind of evaluate what was happening to I like, I like weird weather as much as the next person, but it didn't help um. The second quarterback that came in the game for Washington,

it was the story of the day. For me. It was Kyle Allen got a helmet to helmet hit with Jalen Ramsey and was removed from the game, and Alex Smith came in. I don't know if we have the sound of that, but if we don't, I can just tell you that it was. You can find it all

over the place. It was a pretty amazing emotional moment and one of those things that I, you know, I can be pretty cynical about the NFL and football in general, but it kind of cut through a lot of that because there were the scenes of Elizabeth um Smith and their young children up in the stands. You know, they

had a few fans in there, and just uh. I think Erica Ricky tweeted that it was as gripping and kind of anxiety um written to watch Elizabeth Smith responding to every play, and one of the reasons was that you're dealing with Aaron Donald on the other side, and it's like, you want Alex Smith to have a nice game where he doesn't get please, no one hurt him and just let him operate, and instead Aaron Donald, you know,

is becoming an absolute nightmare. They had eight sacks, as you mentioned, I mean, it was a really rough game for the Redskin. For the Washington offense, they just they they've got a long way to go. And at one point Kyle Allen was healthy enough to come back, and Ron Rivera refused to do that. But Alex Smith, you know, for he had about thirty seven yards passing in this game. I mean, their offense has many issues. Weather was a factor.

Um it was a nice return. But this is another one of these NFC East teams that's you know, telling themselves we're gonna win the division and we'll have probably two wins by the end of October, but we still have a chance to win one of the worst divisions we've ever witnessed with our eyes. Everyone is was the same way really since the injury to Smith, which was

almost two years ago. Alex Smith, and you know how gruesome it was, and then the ESPN Special Project eleven I believe it was called, where you just saw the how um insane the recovery process was, how he almost lost his life, and then when he gets activated and moved up to backup quarterback this week, there is that feeling of kind of nerves around it because now everyone's invested in this idea of this guy completing this comeback.

But also like, now that we've seen the documentary, we've been following the story, we know that he has a wife, we know he has kids, we know he's a nice guy, and it's like, oh, my goodness. So you know, on Twitter, I had no no viewpoint on this game other than

what was going on in my tweet deck. It was like all of football Twitter was like, um, Apollo Creed's wife in Rocky four when we see her in the crowd one he's fighting Apollo create fighting Vrago, and you just see her getting more and more nervous, and then I could I'm only imagine that's how like random football

fans feel. And then this woman, Elizabeth Smith, I believe she's actually on camera reacting to this moment in real time, and apparently, according again to Twitter, one of the first snaps, he takes Aaron Donald, who's you know, six ft three pounds of pure muscle, jumps on his back and puts all that pressure on the on the rod in his leg. My goodness. Well, and and he hadn't been experiencing contact and practice. So that's the first hit he took in

six hundred ninety three days. So welcome back to the NFL. And I mean, if you want an NFC East champion, how about the Rams. They've just swept the NFC East, right, I mean, the the numbers for this game are outrageous. Washington had fifty two plays, they gained a hundred and eight yards. So that's that's that's in the that's in the clubhouse. That has a chance to be the worst off into performance in NFL team has all season to average one point eight yards per pass play um. That's insane.

So we couldn't have been a tougher spot for Alex Smith to come into mark. Did we get a Ron rivera white flag moment for the fourth straight week. Did he do something that clearly and you know, telegraph that he wasn't trying to win on any level. I mean, the whole game looks like they weren't trying to win on any level. But it's you know, I do think that you know you're onto your third quarterback. What happens

to these teams? It doesn't go well, And it looked like a team that's disorganized on that side of the ball is to two incredible heights in If Aaron Donald was a quarterback and did similar things, he'd be the biggest star in America. He plays on the defensive line, so it's different. But four sacks today, like I said,

three tackles for loss, three quarterback hits. He leads the NFL seven and a half sacks this season, He's on pace for twenty four sacks and longtime listeners in the show, No, there's one thing that I want more than even the Jets being respectable again, and that is the NFL all time sack record to get its dignity back after the evil Brett Farve slid at the feet of Michael Strahan and in the most heinous act of two thousand one.

I like to call it takes take I said what I said, take back the dignity of the sack record, because that's I think that's the last thing Aaron Donald needs to maybe get more love, is get the sexiest stat record that a defender can have. I know nobody thinks sacks are important sometimes, but that comes with some glory. I hope it happens because it would just be another notch on the belt of an all time great. Let's move on, let's come and gets it off to the

last minute. Take to touch that Preston William cry hit right in the chest and puts the right on the money. It's what a beautiful prowl. What a day for Ryan Fitzpatrick, Jimmy Cephalo w q A M with Jason Taylor. Jayson Taylor, how about that fitz magic refuses to be contained. Three days after the old zuser predictive, Ryan Fitzpatrick would making

his final start before two a time. The Harvard grad through for three fifty yards and three touchdowns with a nearly perfect passer rating and a forty three to seventeen destruction of the forty Niners, who apparently aren't as close to take off as this podcast thought. Greg. The big story after this game was Jimmy g benched at halftime after an ugly two quarters. Here's what Kyle Shanna and had to say after the game. I mean, just the

way the whole game was going. I mean just kind of watching how we were playing as a whole, how he was playing. You can tell he was affected by his ankle. I mean, you can ask him more when he gets in, but I know he doesn't normally throw the ball that way, and I think he was struggling a little bit because of it and the way the game was going that I was gonna keep putting them in those positions and no one, We're gonna have to

throw it a lot to come back. Did you sense that, Greg in the first two quarters, that he was not being able to play at a level that would be conducive to success. Yes, his throws were off target. You know, It's not like he was limping around there, but the ball was fluttering. He ended up seven for seventeen for seventies seven yards in two picks. I I found the

ended sequence of that first half incredible, fascinating. They got the ball back with about thirty seconds left right after uh you know, the Dolphins had scored to go up seven after Jimmy Garoppolo through one of the worst interceptions anyone's throw it all year. That was awful. Uh So, then Jimmy Garoppolo gets the ball, throws it for no gain on first down, got seventy five yards to go. He couldn't be playing worset. Kyle so Inahan takes a

time out right there. It says like in a kind of in a kind of like we we want to go score, and it almost felt like he was testing Garoppolo, like what do I have right now with Jimmy g in this game, and that the announcers were like apoplectic. Throws on second down, bad throw throws again on third down. Again, all you gotta do is run the ball and go to half time if you want. And he throws maybe an even worse interception than he did the first time. Now,

these were terrible throws. They were also they were even worse decisions. Garoppolo just seemed scrambled. But I thought that was a really interesting coaching moment because I really do think he was kind of putting Garoppolo on the spot deciding what he was gonna do for the rest of

the game. And uh, I think he was smart to take him out because their offensive line, now that's two straight weeks where their communication isn't there, and that's been a big part of the problem, along with the quarterback play. They're only touchdown with Garoppolo came on a drive where they literally didn't throw the ball. It's crazy. I was like, I want to get to the Dolphins, but I was I was thinking they were going to manage this part of the schedule well enough and then get all their

players back. I think the last two weeks other than Dallas, has been worse for the forty Niners than than any team in the league because they just lost to the Eagles and the Dolphins in this fashion, and now their schedule gets absolutely brutal. Rams, Patriots, Seahawks, Um Bucks, the Packers are in there, the Bucks in a row, and we and we glbally kind of set up going into this game like, oh, it actually kind of worked out for the forty Niners because Nick Molans stunk out the

joint in Week four. But now it clears the path through Jimmy G and it clears any potential controversy. Now Jimmy G will go back to being an efficient passer and the Niners offense will go back to being one

of the top um attacks with the great Kyle Shanahan. Well, none of that works if Jimmy G is either ineffective or injured or both, because then it all implodes on itself because then you have a compromise Jimmy G. You have Nick Mullins throwing the ball all over the place, and then you have beat Hard going in there for the second consecutive week. Who is not gonna win any titles either. Yeah, but I mean like that, it doesn't

change what I think about Kyle Shanahan for instance. I mean, this is another team onto their third quarterback, and like you, they they gave Jimmy G a monster contract based on a small but completely fascinating sample size. That was a calculated risk, and Jimmy G had some really good games last year. He takes them to the super Bowl. But I think there's this sense that we've never really gotten that Jimmy G since well he he wasn't healthy enough. I don't think to play today. So I think that

was a bad decision or whatever it was. Um, that's a problem for them, I do. I know Dolphins fans are out there thinking, like talk about us, I really want to because this Sometimes blowouts are fun. I I I stand by that take. This was a fun blowout to watch. They blew the doors off him. I it was as good a performance as any team I think has had on both sides of the ball. I know,

I know the competition. San Francisco is banged up in the secondary, but Fitzpatrick saw that every time Robert Salah tried to cook something up and he left his cornerbacks out there one on one. Fitzpatrick said, Okay, I'm gonna bomb it on you, and every time it was right on the money. And Henry Hotson's boy Preston Williams is making plays, Davante Parker's played like a number one receiver. Uh.

Fitzpatrick's throws in this game, we're just like amazing. And Flores is throwing once they get ahead in terms of the down and in terms of the game. He's so good with those blitzes and people don't know where it's coming from. And it was just kind of wild to just see them stomping out the even deep into the second half, like they're doing fake punts up like to score. I mean, I don't know, it was It was a lot of fun in this Dolphins team there well coached that.

I mean, they know how to do in this they know how to put people away. Mean, what will Dolphins fans do when Miami in the off season decides to trade to UH and sign a d aging Ryan Fitzpatrick to a seven year contract. He seems to be getting younger and more ferocious and more lovable by the week. Well, that with the whole schedule change, they have the Jets next week, so they got a pretty good chance um

to go to three. And oh and I apologize to Chan Gaily for everything I said about you know, I think at one point you said that he hadn't been an offensive coordinator since Byron Jones being back for the Dolphins changes their defense by the way, He's kind of their Gilmore and it sets up everything else and and there. I think they could be a problem. Maybe I'm overreacting, but I really do. Here's the stat that a lot of good stats today. Here's one that is another stunny one.

It speaks to the times and how you know, passing is much more hyper driven than it used to be, but still according to uh Pro Football Reference, which is peerless. Please visit Pro Football Reference, and they're not paying me for it. Today is Ryan Fitzpatrick's twelfth game with three plus yards passing and three plus tds passing John Elway's

career total. That is outrageous. I have one more crazy staff for there are people who believe John always the best quarterback ever, just you know, heads up, so insane. I have one more crazy stat. I just I have to bring up that. Yeah, Tim Posty looked in the mirror, locked up the nine point favorite forty Niners here and

extended her winless straight. And I just want to I'm not trying to bury, but I'm just trying to imagine a situation where the situation was reversed, and I'm I'm going to be much kinder than Erica would be to me in that situation. What's happening a lot from for words, like when I flipped over to the game and saw what was happening, I literally, I think on the network, I was like, if the if the watch the Dolphins win this, like I'm gonna have to drive my car

off a cliff. And I was like I said that on TV, like nothing within like thirty five seconds. Oh my god, it is. It is. I I don't even know what to say. It's getting special now I think you should lean into it. And it's getting getting important. How about this way? I'll go from this angle, Greg, we don't condone this, although I know the restrictions of loosened up in our country, Um, but we don't condone this. And you know sometimes you know, suspensions could come out

of nowhere. So I just want to be careful of the wording here. But if you're not watching our Thursday program or either listening to our Thursday podcast or watching our NFL Network preview show on Saturday mornings where Ricky makes her Lock of the week, if you're someone that's looking to make some money, you're like, eric is telling you who's gonna win. She's not picking the winner, but she's telling you what's going to happen. She's like a

reverse Biff from Back to the Future. Too, is unbelievable, Like I got I got s h I T from people online being like you locked up the forty niners, Like how cool? Like so I thought, like people are getting mad at me saying that, like, oh, you really stooped low to get a win. But Erica, I mean I have to ask you. Your dad was ready to unplug cable and not have that extra expense. He's kept NFL Networks simply to hear you make these picks and

you know you are. Is he disappointed? A little embarrassed? I haven't talked to him today. Your dad had to sell off one of his helicopters to have that direct TVs. Okay, yeah, let's get onto the jets. Game, Dan, all right, let's move on. Dot Dom snapped to Kyler Murk from the pockets date pass side going for Hopkins touch. DeAndre Hopkins

was blanketed by a Jet, but it don't matter. Hopkins makes the catch and the Cardinals may have just put the Jets to slay Go Dave pass with a call kat a r. Kyler Murray's at a career high an eighty yards passing, and the Cardinals coasting to a thirty to ten win over Joe Flacco and the New York Jets. Another blowout for New York Mark. There's been cause for concern and about this Arizona attack in recent weeks. Are the Jets is the perfect remedy for any team in

need of a fix. They're a perfect remedy because here's a team, uh you know, we know their Jets are not good, but they're specializing and it almost just not showing up early on in a game like this. Two straight, three and ounce. Their third drive is a five play, fifteen yard march that ends nowhere three straight punts. The next march they get down to the Arizona thirteen thirteen

yard line. It is a third down call, third and short they hand the ball off to a third string tight end named Trevin westco for no game, so in fashion, they go for it on fourth and one. Levan Bell stuffed turnover on downs. And here's the thing. I don't think Arizona looked very very good in this game until the offense opened up down the stretch. I know that Kyler Murray through for more yards than he has in any other game. You can watch this and tell me

if it looked that way. I still see an offer is trying to figure out how they can be what they want to be. And Kyler Murray, um, he's gonna do Kyler Murray things. And I mean they are giving the ball to DeAndre Hopkins at an incredible rate at this point in Hopkins had a Hopkins game down the stretch. And you know that you didn't have to do much against this Jets team. But I would look at the Cardinals to me, are not that fun to watch, um just from a if you're just sitting there casually checking

them out. Compared to what I thought they would be. I think they've got a ways to go. Um Kenyan Drake to me is a hot and cold act. I mean, they're just you know it's it's October, and they do not look like a finished product. And they might have lost Chandler Jones for the season. That's probably the biggest thing that came out of it for them. WHOA, So that's another big one. So you get you get Kirk and Edmonds and more involved, which I think people wanted

to see. You get twenty eight first downs, but losing Jones. Look, this is a team that's only won eight games um in the last two seasons combined. So being three and two, you don't sneeze at that. But yeah, I think the ceiling feels a little lower than than we thought with this Cardinals. And if you listen to our preview show, for the first time in my ten years in NFL media, I did not draft the Jets in the preview. I didn't watch them really on Sunday. Wasn't it better I

had in the corner of my eye. It was a much better experience, But obviously not I'm not gonna, you know, fill out a dossier like West did and quit on the Jets, but I'm not gonna watch them if it's an Adam Gays coached team with Joe Flacco at quarterback, there's nothing there for me to learn. There's no entertainment to be had, and I much rather watch the Steelers and Eagles and the Raiders and Chiefs in the early

slot at just the way it's gonna be. The Jets have failed, and I've I've said this too many times over the past five or six years on this podcast. Now, the Jets are failing and their only real job is to provide entertainment to the fans that pump millions and millions of dollars into their enterprise. They can't even put a competitive team on the field. UM, So why should any Jets fans support them? Um? And I choose to

support them from a distance. I support Sam Donald and I want to see him back on the field and hopefully he'll be back on the field next week, although that's no given. But here's before we throw it in the next game, just some stats to tell you how bad this team is, because this is the worst Jets team I've ever seen, and then includes co tight Jets. Uh. They've been outscored one six to seventy five. They've lost

every game by two or more possessions. Their offenses scored more than seventeen points once their defense is allowed at least twenty seven points every game. That from Connor Hughes of the Athletic Dark Dark Days and Bill Parcels ain't walking through that door. Let's move on on. Starting four, Atlanta blitz is Joe Brady bridge Water goes left wing, con hit the yard line, down the sideline more forty

to the thirty. D J. Moore's got a convoy and he'll social distance into the end zone for a touchdown because of course gone right down the tunnel. He continue to find right on the site. What a great value, what a great I needed. It's bringing me, bring me back to light, bringing me, bring me back to light. Please come, come, Come, Come come. Mcmixing with the called

w BT. Denny Bridgewater delivered another solid performance and d J. Moore and Robby Anderson could find for more than two yards receiving including that long more TV and a twenty three to sixteen win for the Panthers over the house cleaning Atlanta Falcons. That's three wins in a row for Matt Rules Panthers without Christian McCaffrey. And we're gonna get to the Panthers and give them they're just Dukes. They're

playing very well right now. But let's start with the big news that came down Sunday night the Atlanta Falcons, something that a lot of people were expecting to happen, maybe even sooner than this, but it happens now. After Week five, Dan Quinn out as head coach. The team has also fired long time g M Thomas Demetrough. That leaves CEO Rich McKay in charge of the football operations. Welcome back Nick Shook as well. Uh start here, Shook.

The Falcons, they just they needed to win. They couldn't get it with They couldn't get it going this season, and uh, Quinn saved his job with a strong finished last year, but there was no saving at this time around. Yeah. I mean it's a situation where things were kind of about to go off. The rails are pretty close, and um this this appeared to be the final blow, uh

in that pursuit. It's kind of sad because the Falcons last year, you know, they finished the season pretty strong and looked like they were promising and maybe they be able to turn a corner going into this year and they just haven't been able to do it. I mean, whether it's been blowing leads, which they've done twice, or just just not putting together strong performances. Um, it just hasn't reflected well on it. Well, they do that every year.

Finished strong. It's the story of that dan Quinn era. Start bad, finished strong, not overcome you're in juries, and it's tough. You feel for him. He's obviously a good dude. Dan Quinn and Thomas Dimitroff took over in two thousand and eight. First draft pick was Matt Ryan. You do wonder about his future. Um Dimitrof, you know, led them to easily the best twelve years in the franchise history. It's not even close. But Arthur Blank, who's at the game,

of course, he comes down at the sideline. How can he not help but compare his sideline to the Panthers who have a brand new head coaching staff, and they're much more efficient and well run on offense. And then I think about the Panthers defense, who lost four starters during this game, Uh gross, Matos, Brian Burns, Dante Jackson, Kwan Short And you know what they did. They held They hold the Falcons the sixteen points. They're resourceful, they

can overcome injuries. It's not like, Okay, that's the excuse for their team. And you feel for Quinn because I mean at some point that he just had terrible luck. I mean, he had terrible luck in the Super Bowl. It was luck and design. He had terrible luck this this year too, with the some of the onset kick in the way those comebacks came. But that luck is part of the game. And ultimately they just were pretty mediocre for the last three years. And it gives Arthur

Blanka a head start. Pretty interesting, Rich McKay is they're picking the next coach man talk about a survivor. He he got fired for Dimotroft to come in. He's like, you know, he's like Easterby before easter By. Well, I mean he he got nailed for fake crowd noise before fake crowd noise was a league mandated essential heading into this season. But I would say this about Dan Quinn because you know, I know that he was um a

fascination of mine when he became their head coach. Chris Wesley fell into that spell too, And but I don't think it's a spell. I think he's a good He's like, it's the kind of thing like these guys. Dan Quinn knows more about football than like like nine percent of America and it and and Thomas de mitch Roff. It tracks back to prehistoric days with Bill Belichick's Browns, who we talked about. These guys are not lacking for knowledge or skill, but the marriage of GM head coach and

head coach. The path of a head coach is um very unpredictable, no matter how good you are at it. And I don't think dan Quinn is someone that players disliked. It was the opposite, and like he was someone that owners all around the league wanted to interview. And there's people this year that will pop up in the same way, and they'll they'll be, you know, high, they'll be highly regarded going into year one, year two, and year three. But you don't want to run into Matt Rule, because

Cliff Kingsbury told you last week. You know, Matt Rule got him fired back in the college days, and now he's now You've run into dan Quinn and he mows down these guys. But on a serious note, I just think that dan Quinn is a good coach who couldn't deliver on But here's the thing we always pull you know, we always pull these courts. We've always pull these head coaches from mostly successful programs. This is the defensive coordinator

of the super Bowl winning Seahawks. But then translating that and taking that to the next place tells us more about Pete Carroll than it does about Dan Quinn. I mean, it's not easy to duplicate. He did well, he made it. He almost he should have won a super Bowl, and he won a couple. You know, you want to playoff game the next year. But he's a defensive coaches. Defenses were why are you why are you like giving me this? Like he was the defense and he's a defensive coach.

It shows the cyclical nature of the NFL. Like just like Bill O'Brien fired this week. Once upon a time, you know, he was the guy that you know, saved programs and was the face of a very difficult situation, was championed in Houston as this guy that's brought life to the organization. And Dan Quinn was the head coach.

And I know Kyle Shannon got a lot of credit for the Super Bowl run, but you know he was a scene as a great hire at the time, and everybody loved him, and it just you know, these firings remind you that you're you're you're hot, and then from nine out of ten guys, you're eventually not and everyone thinks you're nothing. Uh So it's you know, it's a tough situation for Quinn and Dimitrov who had plenty of time there, but also tough for him obviously, uh that

it's ending this way. And yeah, you have to wonder with Matt Ryan. They're getting a little older and obviously this seems like a franchise ready to hit the reset button. What comes next there? They they're very interesting and beyond they could trade a lot of people. I don't know if they would trade Matt Ryan before the trading deadline, which is in a few weeks, but Tach McKinley's a free agent. I don't think they would. But I'm just saying, what do you think? What do you think about it? Um?

But they have a lot of veterans too that they could trade, and they they are the you know, ultimate candidate to trade some veterans away at this point. And we should give some credit, uh to the Panthers who are absolutely thriving right now and they're like I said three and oh without Christian McCaffrey, and right now, Matt Rule has this team on a very good path. Yeah,

I I was so impressed. You know, they lose these defenders, Matt Ryan makes some mental errors and miss throws and an interception, uh in the red zone with you know, about eleven minutes left, and the Panthers then just go on a six or seven minute drive where it's Mike Davis on fourth down. Mike Davis has three sixty one

yards from scrimmage. The last three weeks, Teddy Bridgewater and this team are so fast offensively, you know, Robby Anderson and more and Teddy and they play fast with a tempo, but they can slow it down to they're they're pretty and they're an interesting team. They can speed it up, they can slow it down, and they slowed it down right at the end, and they just killed the clock on these third and shorts in Atlanta. Was was not

tough enough for them, it was. It was a fairly decisive victory despite you know, only a touchdown final score. It's been a very exciting couple of weeks for the supporters of Joe Brady and anybody who had doubted that higher of a young guy who you know, coordinated the passing game at L s U and how could he

make the transition the NFL. He has shown in the last two weeks that he is very well suited for this and and there's a big reason why the Panthers have been able to rip off two wins in a row. But I'll tell you what, a Uh, I got some credit. You know, we we bury him here as the last game before Sunday Night Football each and every week, and now they're they're even buried in this game recap because a coach got fired. The Panther some credit. Hey, but

first time, long time, I got a theory here. Uh. You know, not a lot of people talking about this, but uh, that that McCaffrey guy, I think you might have been the problem. The problem could be you theory. All right, let's go to Sunday Night Football. You know there are people that think that too leg Sunday Night touchdown that is an unbelievable druve. You gotta be kidding me. You've got to be kidding me. Al Michaels with the call after a stuff on fourth and inches that kept

the Vikings from running out the clock. In the final two minutes. The Seattle Seahawks takeover at their own six yard line with one time out and a little under two minutes to play, and they go thirteen plays ninety four yards in a minute forty two tap by that DK met cart bk metcaft touchdown the go ahead touched on the game winning touchdown in a win for the

Seahawks over the Vikings. Mark That is obviously a great win for Seahawks and Seahawks fans and Russell will some m VP candidacy, But what a killer loss for the Vikings. Oh my goodness. Well, I think these are two like movie characters playing the script. We've seen this film multiple times. I mean, my my takeaway from more like a global level is that the Seahawks are a team that can play the worst half they've played all season and overcome it.

And the Vikings are a team that can be against Seattle and have Seattle's worst half and not overcome it. And yeah, you know, we've like you just take it for granted that Seattle is going to find a way to get down there at the end, And there was definitely and I know that there you know, are my friend Patrick Claiband does not like the momentum thing, but I felt I do believe in a little bit, and I felt a momentum shift when Dalvin Cook went out

of this game. And what happened. You have them up thirteen nothing and Seattle just climbed the way back in and they used Will disliked Greg Olsen early on, and they recover the Cousin fumble they scored two plays later. Cousins is then picked off by kJ Wright, who had a pretty crazy games tonight, and bang, suddenly it's like you're like you're if you're a Vikings fan, you're thinking,

I've seen this a thousand times. If you're a Seahawks fan, you're thinking, I'm nervous as always, but I've seen this a thousand times. Suddenly you're about to cough up two straight long touchdown drive to Kirk Cousins. That was what was crazy. After that moment, when you think it's like Cousins,

you know, gets himself together. You think they're just gonna totally choke, and he has two awesome long drives to put himself in position to put themselves on the third drive then into that fourth in one situation and I like that they went for It's not just because of the numbers, it was because of the situation that that

night they were they were they were winning. Those those fourth thounds in the first half that they got are the reason that they were ahead, and they were so good running the ball, and if Dalvin Cook was in the game, he would have just bounced it outside. I mean, the whole is right there for Madison. But of course they didn't make it. They didn't stop a fourth and tenor and they didn't they You're right, the Vikings like didn't completely the tent, didn't just get swept away by

a tornado, like they were still around. But did you trust that Kirk Cousins and the Vikings were gonna win this game? Because when we were heading into the that's all I'm saying that I'm agreeing with me there, of course, And in the minute, even though I thought it was a good idea to go for it unfourth and short, I just we're like, oh, they'll probably wind up losing this game. Now, I'm not going to defend a ship that appears to be taking on water. But I mean,

the Vikings showed some serious resilience in this game. I mean the finish at the end of the first half, and then and then the way that you know, losing Dalvin Cook and the way that the Seahawks rebounded, you know, early in the second half. I mean, that would have

wiped out a lot of teams. And even though you're not dealing with the crowd in Seattle and everything else, you lose your best running back, the momentum shift like you had mentioned Mark, and yet they still found a way to take the lead, and they were in position to win this game. And now some people might debate the whole kick the field goal go off by eight, even if they go down score touchdown, they gotta go

for two or going for it on fourth down. And you're right, they did miss Dalvin Cook there, but I mean they do deserve some credit. It's just a bomber that it one in four. I mean there, it's going to take a hurculean effort to get back into I mean, it took up perfect play by the two best players in football maybe to beat him in that fourth. And

that's kind of been their season. Like they've had some ugly performances, but they've also been in some situations where you're like, I just wish they could get over the hump, and and there were one in four. I mean, it's a terrible position to be in at this point. You think they would have more wins at this point, uh, considering their team, but it's just not there. This was an awesome performance for like fifteen minutes of game time. They were up thirteen nothing at the half in Seattle

with Russell Wilson at the peak of his powers. They put it was a brilliant first half defensively, and they moved the ball and up on offense put up points. And then it goes from thirteen nothing from ten minutes of the third quarter untill eight minutes in the third quarter. It went from up nothing to down including the Chris Carson run, were just runs over the defense and you just think, oh, it's over. This is going to turn

into a blowout for the Seahawks. But for them then to mount in eleven play seventy seven yard drive, a fifth for a touchdown, a fifteen play nineties seven yard drive for a touchdown, and the interception of Wilson in there, get the ball back and run it all the way down to the goal line, not be able to get the foot and then give up the nineties seven yard ninety four yard touchdown drive like that is to me, like it's unreal, and fourth and longs and on the

game winning play ahead of bow has Russell Wilson dead two rights that he pulled up because he was afraid of getting a roughing the passer call, and he just he just had a free shot. Literally no one dropped blocked him on the play, and Wilson delivers just a perfect pass and an even better catch by Metcalf. I mean, you gotta kind of just give them credit for just being better. Oh my god, four a minute time of

possession for the Vikings up. We spent every preview show we're saying Seattle can't rush the passer, they're deficient on defense, they don't have Jamal Adams, they can't do anything. They're they're a half big defense. And then it's like it doesn't matter. They still everyone thought that, you know, expected

them to win this game. But you're right, Mark, because I think this was Mike Zimmer's like dream game if you if you can't win, like he loves being so run heavy, And I was a little worried at half time, thinking, wow, they see your point Mark, they played absolutely perfect, but you're only up thirteen, Like you should be up more if you play perfect, and in terms of the long drives and the play count and the time. But like that's what Mike Zimmer wants and you still lose that

game and fifty yards of offense for the Vikings. Dalvin Cook was eating before you got that, and then Madison goes twenty for one twelve. I mean, if you play that game ten times, I don't know how many times Seattle wins it, but it does speak to the times of Russell. But I think what I think what you're missing, Mark, was like this, this was not a typical Vikings effort from two thousand twenty. Like this, I'm not saying it's typical effort, but it's not. I'm not talking about the Vikings.

I'm talking about the Seahawks. Yeah, I'm talking about the Seahawks that we want to we want to we want to credit the Vikings as resilient. The Seahawks are the most resilient team around. They whatever happened to them, they that's fine, you can worry about them. But like we're not gonna We're not labeling the Vikings. It's more resilient than the Seahawks. They're completely different in that territory based on end results and and to pay you back off

that too. There's a defining trade with teams that that end up with, you know, as a losing team. And this Vikings team, at least twice, if not three times, has built itself early leads. Has gotten stops in Week one, they did against Green Bay twice and they can't close. And even in this situation, they couldn't close. So you know, going against a team like Seattle with Russell Wilson at quarterback, if you can't close against other teams, you're definitely not

gonna win that game. Even if they have to go ninety four yards, even if they have to convert a long or a fourth and long, even if they have to score the touchdown pass on fourth and goal with a guy bearing down in your quarterback, it becomes indicative of a team you are, and that's who the Vikings are. One yard. Just get the one yard and you have the biggest win of your season. You're two and three.

But they couldn't do it, and I think everyone kind of had a vibe what was going to happen once they got stuff there because you give Wilson the ball back. The funny thing about him was he knew it and they got to two fourth and longs. That was the thing. Is everything possible? So amazing the thing that they got the ball back and then they like, oh, they only have one time out. They don't even need the time out. They got off to the goal the time out and

they didn't get any long penalty or anything. It was just like, it's that easy for this offense right now. That was not cooking for most of the game because they didn't really have the ball just then. Incredible win for the Seahawks and a crushing loss for the Vikings. All right, wow, big Sunday. Two coaches fired in six days. Maybe the Jets will get around firing their guy at some point. That'd be cool. Um, it's like week five. This is like everyone's in a in a big hurry.

So everyone's like, oh, it's Corona year. We're gonna be really at least coaches are going through a lot. We're gonna be real gentle with them, you know, kid gloves bang, Like two were gone and it's not even like Halloween. Um, all right, we'll be back on Tuesday with our next episode, of course, and that will also be a recap of the the Monday Night for I don't even know what

the Monday night game is anymore. I don't even know what's happening with the schedule saying we're back to our normal Monday night no Broncos, so it's just back to just a Tuesday night game or Tuesday evening game Bill now, yeah, Bill's Titans, which you know by the time people listen to this, who knows. I can't keep track of this, but we'll just keep covering the sport until it's either not here or continues to stay here. Shook, thank you

again for pitching in. We appreciate you as always always. All right, Uh, this is Dan hands a signing off for Nick Show, The Quiet Storm, The Old Boss, and Ricky Hollywood sitting on that oh and five. My goodness, she needs to win in a big way. Check out the Thursday show for that. Maybe she'll lock it up until Tuesday. S