2020 Week 6 Preview Show

lot of lies. Dan was so threatened by your appearance he put on a collared shirt and then now makes us look you know, Colleen is it looks like a true network anchor, which he is for NFL Network, And uh, you know, of course you can see her on uh Thursday Night Football every week but apparently week six not the case, but every week going forward and Good Morning Football on the weekend. And I had a T shirt on, and it just felt like Connie's gonna show us up

in general, um when it comes to the visual. But with my T shirt on and Connie done up as the network anchor, it was looking a little bit absurd, like how did that guy get on camera? So I needed to clean it up just a little bit, right, I mean, we're just avoiding the look here of Colleen with three high school dropouts. So the column shirt helps and appreciate that. Well, this was a power play on

my part and it looks like it worked. Connie Wins again, we had we had um in high school, the kids that hung out on the side of Walgreens, and they were kind of like the dirt bags. Uh, they smoked cigarettes and and they were truant, and uh, that's kind of the vibe we give all and then colleens like the one. Oh yeah, I just got into Penn and Columbia and Harvard. It's gonna be a tough decision for me. Where the burnouts. Meanwhile, I went to Drexel next to Pen.

Nothing like Pen. But all right, Week six is here. How about that? And we have a full slate of NFL Action to dig into and preview and you know how the drill goes. Here, we have our Thursday preview. You could check us out on NFL Network on Saturday a version of this program and then on Sunday it is the flagship program where we recap every game that we just previewed here, so let's dig into it and we do it with a little flare, a little pizzaz

draft style. And Connie, this is your first Thursday show with us in sometime. I'm even gonna say maybe years years, because you're such a star for the network now and you're connected to the biggest entity we have, Thursday Night Football, so we're very happy to have you. You will be picking first as an expansion franchise in our draft set up, so let it rip Contie Fox, Bucky Me. Yeah, no t NF this week. But I was like, I must be on television or on a sub type of property

on Thursday. So here I am. Okay, uh right off the bat, number one overall pick. I'm going straight to the afternoon window, one of only two games being played, and that's Packers going down to Tampa Bay. This game I cannot wait for. I am planning my entire day around it. You have Aaron Rodgers who has just looked incredible. The Packers are four and o for the first time since they're averaging thirty eight points per game, zero turnovers,

and Aaron Rodgers four touchdowns. Last Monday only six in completions. He has half as many touchdowns uh this year as he had all of last season. He's on pace for a ridiculous amount of touchdowns to throw something like fifty two touchdowns to zero interception. And he's getting help back this week with Davante Adams, who hasn't played since Week two. That's when he heard himself as hamstring against the Vikings the week one he was fourteen for one six two touchdowns.

We know Alan Lazard's status is up in the air, but Robert Tonyan last week came out of nowhere three touchdowns. He has five touchdowns screw four weeks. He was the dude. And I am really interested though, to flip it over to the buck side of things here. I'm interested to see how Aaron Jones runs against this number one ranked run defense in Tampa Bay, especially after they lost Vita Vea in that Thursday night game against the Bears, the

huge loss. He's one of the best players at any position, I think early in the season Vita Villa and so you wonder how it changes. But they have a pretty good backup, a pretty good line. What is it Roaches who has been playing really well and It's also the toughest defensive backfield that Aaron Rodgers place. If you look at these cornerbacks like people don't know him, Murphy Button and Carlton Davis and Jamal Dean, but they're physical and the pack Ers have not really played a great secondary

all year. Not it's not taking anything away from what Aaron Rodgers has done. He's been amazing, but Todd Bowls will cookie up with some blitz is. He needs a little more help from the guys up front. Jason Pierre Paul and Mark Sessler's nemesis Shack Barrett haven't totally been getting it done this year. But the defensive backfield for this team, I love it. They're young, they fly around, and they hit, and I think they're gonna make it tough Ron Rodgers than any game this season. Mark Well,

I made peace with Shack Barrett. I was wrong in my in my calculations of him a year ago, vastly and so you know, take a take the l when you have to. But I would point to JayR Alexander in Green Bay's secondary, who when we last saw him in Week four, erased Calvin Ridley, eraised Julio Jones, I mean, this was one of the better cornerback performances of the year on the flip side of the ball. You're right, Colleen, they were missing all those guys on offense, and I

have to give Matt Lafleur a ton of credit. It was one of the more creative game plans we've seen all year. They came out in Week four with PFF's most official an offense with a ton of guys out there, have Davante Adams back, you know a year ago. And for many years I've been down on the Packers because I'm not always wedded to these teams that get predicted to go into the super Bowl for ten years in a row and never get there. And it's like, gonna do it. Dial that back up over again. I'm gonna

lock it up. I'm not building up to it up. I'm gonna doust the Packers with a little bit of respect. I see this team completely differently than I did I did a year ago. They're complete. Matt Lafleur has like a Super Bowl operation on his hand. They just gotta keep rolling. I think they're gonna take care of business here. They played a nearly perfect first quarter of the season, and you saw when you entered this year there were teams that showed up underprepared and they flamed out. The

Packers were the opposite. They hit the ground running. And this stat that I saw Bob McGinn, who obviously is the king of Packers beat coverage, had this. Green Bay's the first team in NFL history to score at least a hundred and fifty points without a turnover in their first four games. So not only are they lighting up teams well over thirty points a game, they're also playing mistake free football. It's been perfect. And you know, I do agree with you guys that the Bucks are going

to pose a bigger challenge. I think Tom Brady is gonna be super annoyed after what happened uh the last time we saw him, losing track of downs and all that. But I find it hard to pick against the Packers right now because they've been such a well balanced machine. And the Bucks are going to help them out too, because all they do is get flagged. They have to clean up the penalties. They had eleven penalties last week for a hundred and nine yards, so that's something that

needs to change. But I also, by the way, I thought Ronald Jones was one of the kind of loan bright spots in that game. Uh. In that tiannap game against the Bears, he ran for a hundred a little over a hundred yards. He has back hundred yard games. So Roe Joe, let's let's see if he can keep it going. He was moving well. Yeah. I was impressed by him on Thursday and it as well, and he's

playing the best defense for it. We haven't mentioned the Packers defense at all because it's not good there twenty nine in in d v O A right now in efficiency, like Mike Patton and Mark Sessler went through this like he seems to make his defense is just inviting you to run the ball against him. That's just what they do. And they'll they'll cook up some pressures and they're pretty good in coverage. But I'm with you, Colleen, this feels like a road Joe game Leonard for net game. I

like the Bucks to win this game. Get him off the schneide, said Cleil Mack. And he gave he gave Brady a lot of trouble. And you know, you can maybe get to Brady in this, but I'm with you. The Packers defense last year was applying consistent heat and they've got to do that to be productive. But their offense is kind of masking over all those issues. All right, looking forward to this one back as well. I'm sorry, what was that kind of Chris Godwin? Yes, one of them.

They have not have Mike Evans and Chris Godwin together for a full game yet this season. It's Collie. I know you're used to being the host and uh, but when the host is trying to transition for you to step on it that we're in a lot of trouble. Now is the show. But we're gonna try to power

through it, all right. I'm gonna try to get the reins back of the show from Colleen after that power play, and I will go with let's see, oh yeah, hammer a little Monday afternoon uh football, Late afternoon football, the Kansas City Chiefs at the Buffalo Bills. I gotta be honest. I mean, name like a draft where you had someone in the first overall pick that was you know, can't turned out okay, and then a Hall of famer went number two overall. That's how I feel right now. I

love this game. The Chiefs humbled by the Raiders their first loss since November last week, and you know, they sprung some leaks. Let's be honest, Greg, you you've been on this a little bit. I'll give you credit that their offense, while they're still putting up points, something seems to be a little bit off there or they're just not clicking. They got shut out for most of the second half. I a very you know, suspect Vegas defense

and the Bills. I don't know what to make of the Bills, Mark and I spoke about it on our Recap Mini Recap show earlier this week. What do you make of like a Tuesday night game and a COVID nineteen world where the team shows up flat and uninspired. You you got to give them some heat for the getting a forty burger dropped on them, but also maybe a little bit of a pass, especially with how well

the Bills had been playing. But the big takeaway here, uh, Mark, is that one of these teams that Chiefs and Bills, two Super Bowl contenders in the a f C, are gonna be riding a two game losing streak after Monday night. Yeah. I think there's a consistent issue with Buffalo's defense, and we saw it against Tennessee where they were just taking them to town with passes right up the middle, funneling right up the middle, and I mean, this is just is not the Buffalo defense that we're used to under

Sean McDermott. But I will point to one thing about that Chiefs game. I know that it got away from them in the second half against the Raiders. They were up twenty one to ten midway through the second quarter with a deep, beautiful, one of the better touch down tosses we will see from a Homes to Tyreek Hill. They got wiped out by a flag, which would have made it a completely different game. I give the Raiders all the credit for what happened in the second half,

but I don't look at that. I'm not in panic mode over Kansas City's offense at this point. It's just been a notch below what we're what we would have expected, and probably what we expected coming out a week one where they were a knockout punch. Well, they were first in the league and in net yards per attempt in his for Mahomes his first year as I started, they were first in the league when he was in the lineup.

The non map more games in and they're twelve right now, so they're they're just not as efficient throwing the bob. But I'm with you. That throw to Tyreek Hill was the best throw of the NFL season so far. It was seventy yards down the field. This stuff is now happening on an almost weekly basis with Mahomes and we're just like, Oh, that's normal. That's that was. That was That was sixty six yards. Great, come on, let's be fair. Okay, I don't even care. I'm counting at seventy. I'm rounding up.

It's let me have me my fun. And he had a couple of throws, um that just let you know who he is. But it's almost like the balance of how much he's gonna improvise, how much he's gonna go a little crazy Mahomes and just make up some wild stuff is a little lot of whack right now. He's almost counting on that too much. I think Josh Allen is actually a little more in line of staying within the system there. They're similar quarterbacks in some ways and

that they have to sort of have that balance. Aaron Rodgers has struggled with that over the years, whether how much do you make up how much do you do in scheme? They need to do a little more in scheme. Let your boy, Colleen Andy Reid like, get his play calls then and just follow him. I know that's true. And watching the Chiefs, I saw a huge drop off when collect assembly went down in that game. Who was already filling in for Lauren du ren A Tardif who

opted out of the season because of COVID. Mike Ramers came in and the Raiders were able to pressure Mahomes over and over again. He couldn't get anything going in the second half. They only scored eight points in that half. And the Bills d line is super talented, so I think that could be a huge factor. Yeah, the Mahomes was pressured sixteen times. I mean that is the second most pressures he's had in a game in his NFL career.

And is that a What is going on there? Is that on Mahomes for holding the ball too long trying to make plays? Is that an offensive line that maybe we're overlooking as being overrated And now you have no Assemile was off to that hot start, as Colleen said, very interesting game. And Josh Allen, I am not like I said, Tuesday Night football, weird kind of dumb. But

that's which is weird and dumb. Uh. He did look a little bit like that Josh Allen of the first two years of his career, with some of the scattershot accuracy and the mistakes. I'm not saying I'm gonna put too much into it. He also had some big throws that very few quarterbacks can make. I want to see if he kind of now back on more of a normalized schedule, delivers the type of m VP level Josh Allen performance that we had seen in the early weeks

of the season. Alright up next in the draft. Alright, uh, next up, Let's take the Sunday night football game between the Los Angeles Rams and the San Francisco forty Niners. I think this is one of the biggest early games of the season because it's a it's a part where okay, it's not just two good teams, it's the NFC champion from a year ago possibly getting knocked to the ground and really in a position where they're not going to

be able to come back. In the NFC West. It reminds me so much of when the Rams and the forty Niners played in Weeks six a year ago, and that was the game, and we watched it from London. Remember those times you could get on airplanes. We watched it from London on on TV and we thought, oh my gosh, the forty Niners are just taking the Rams lunch money and this is gonna continue. Like I don't

think the Rams are going to recover from this. They never did, and now the Rams are the team that are bullying teams that are running the ball really well. It's the forty Niners who have the offensive line problems. It's the forty Niners who have the past. Rush is like a little out of whack and you sort of think that Sean McVeigh, and he said as much. They responded, I think to what the forty Niners did a year ago, and they say, we want to be a little more

like that. We want short passing their attempts, which is crazy for for a Rams team. We want Jimmy Jared Goff to be a little bit like two thousand nineteen Jimmy Garoppolo. Just stay out of the way and let our tough guys win it. And that's what they're doing, and they can deliver a knockout blow right now to the forty Niners. I'm excited for this one. You know, Greg, I would say the one difference though, I mean, there

are a lot of differences. But when we watched that game in London, and that was the game where Robert Sala started to pump is fist pumping on the sideline right right, so that wasn't the thing, but they did

not have he was going mad. This secondary is shredd and if you go back and watch that Dolphins incineration of San Francisco, I mean, over and over, I kept seeing this guy number forty eight in San Francisco secondary getting flamed by Fitzpatrick in the passing game and it was a practice squad cover man Brian Allen who brought up and at this point is probably working in a convenience store somewhere because it was he was victimized over and over. I feel bad for the guy because it

was a tough spot. In that same game, you have George Kittle two weeks ago going fife with a touchdown down to four catches forty four yards. They just were not on their game. I think where he mostarred is one of the better running backs in the league. He's another week out from his injury. He'll be healthier. I am not giving up on this Niners team yet, but this is a tough draw with Los Angeles. I'm very

worried about the Niners offensive line. Greg. You mentioned it, and we just saw Jimmy g He got pulled at halftime in the blowout loss to the Dolphins because of that ankle to protect him. Kyle Shannon said that he was going to continue to monitor the whole situation. But Aaron Donald is on the other side of this thing, and he's coming off another n SC Defensive Player of the Leak Award. He leads the league with seven and a half sacks, is tied for first with quarterback Hits,

Third and TfL. He's on pace for twenty four sacks Dan, So watch out, Michael Strahan. You have to see what he didn't know. Not locking it up. Sorry, not doing it. Not doing it. I have another one in store for you, guys. But Aaron Donald had four snacks last week against Washington and this offensive line for San Francisco, they give up the fourth most sacks in the NFL. They have just

not done a good job. Thank communication has been off and when you have Aaron Donald on the other side and Jimmy G potentially not one that could be an issue. The whole world is rooting for you, Aaron Donald, make the sack record great again. I'm with you, buddy. Get twenty four. Yeah, blow twenty one and a half out of the water, whatever it is. Two things adventures in

football punditry, uh dummy, dumb both from this game. Number one, the theory that it's okay, it's okay that Nick Mullen's bombed out a little bit because Jimmy G's back now and he's gonna be fine, and now there's no quarterback controversy. Well, what happens with Jimmy G stinks out the joint and his ankle still hurts, and now you've got Nick Mullins who's shell shocked and c J. Bethard, who's you know? C J. Bethord. So that was a dumb theory propagated

by this podcast and me as well. The other one, the idea of going into the season at the Rams were a franchise in transition. I don't don't take the Rams too seriously this year. They have cap problems, they don't have a lot of draft uh stock right now, they're they're kind of rebuilding a little bit while trying to stay. But no, the Rams are a real NFC contender right now. I love this ramp teams. I hate I hate where the Niners are right now. I think

they're catching them at the right time. I think the Niners are taking a dirt nap. And that's why you put it all together. I'm locking it up. Angela's football. Rams will wipe the floor with the Niners up there in the wine and cheese bar. All right, we have come now to the end of the first round. Mark you're up. You know. I think it that you all expect me to go a certain way with this. The Cleveland fan inside of me, I'm gonna go in a different direction. Okay, what I'm gonna do is I'm gonna

go Bears at Carolina Panthers. I watched this Panthers game against the Falcons last week and my Matt Rule fascination. I think we were well aware of it. It's growing. Everyone thought this is a team they're gonna be two and fourteen. It's a rebuilding job. It's going to take, you know, four or five years. Then we'll see what he's doing with this squad. Suddenly they're three and two and they're playing you know who they were four or five years you did ye. Most people were like they

had nothing to go one fifteen. Yeah, you know what, look at I don't get know what any of you said about it. Here's the point, Well, it was just let say it was not everyone. I don't think it was just you. I think I think there were columns written that Carolina had the built in excuse with COVID and coordinators that had never been at the NFL level blah u lah. And instead they're just beguiling opponents. They are three and two because they have one more intriguing

offenses in the league right now. I mean, Robby Anderson is working out, He's had nine plus yards in like eight games in a row. Teddy Bridgewater fits here well, d J Moore yards after the catch guy, and what do you do with Mike Davis when Christian McCaffrey comes back. Mike Davis is one of the more fascinating backs I've watched, like in the last three or four weeks. He's a tough runner. Their defense, which people thought would just be left out at Sea, is doing pretty well as well.

And you know what, not all four and one teams are created equal. And I'm looking at you Bears. I'm not buying it right now. And that's why I confidently confidently we'll be locking up. I'm not gonna go take one of these undefeated teams in the lock. I'm locking up the Carolina Panthers because their playoff journey is just beginning. Wow Wow, Mark. I'm a little worried though about the Panthers defense. They have a lot of key injuries right

now with the shoulder injury. Both edge rudgers were held out of practice this week early in the week. At least Brian Burns has a concussion e tour Gross Matos has the ankle injury. You have Dante Jackson who was limited in the back end in the secondary. There's there's a lot to maybe be actions about. But I love how confident you are in this, Mae. You're making me. You're talking me off the ledge, Mark. I'll say one thing like the Bears offense will leave you less worried.

I mean, they specialized in scoring twenty points are under and just waiting for their defense to capitalize with a big play or a defensive turnover that turns into a touchdown. I don't trust Chicago's offense at all. That's the point here. Yeah, how can you and the best play? The best thing I saw from the Chicago offense this year it was Nick Foles like yelling at Matt Naggy, like him just saying, no, let's do it this way. Stop calling these plays. I want to do a hurry of trust me. I won

the Super Bowl. I'm not even joking that that moment gave me some confidence. Like maybe Folds can lead them out of this, because when you watch them, it's a tough watch. I'm with you, Mark. I like the Panthers in this game. Uh, the Bears missed Tarik Cohen too much. When Tarik Cohen is out and like that really hamstrings your offense. That's a problem. And the Panthers, I think, can mitigate what the Bears do well, which is rushed the passer. They get rid of the ball so quickly,

like Teddy has not been touched. Sometimes the offensive line is about coaching, it's about the scheme. Uh. And I don't think you'll hear much. Robert Quinn has been quiet lately. If chem Hicks isn't quite the same as he was before the injury, so it's really just Khalil Mack. I think the Panthers can get a win here, and they can. They can prove the doubters like Dan wrong. It's been

a tough one for you. Dan. I'm really struggling with this because I understand that the Panthers are the greatest team in the history of professional football now because they've beaten a couple of teams. Uh, And I would have, actually, to be completely honest with you, I wanted to lock the Panthers up in this game because I like the way the Panthers are playing, and I don't like this Bears team very much. But I know it means so much to Mark and Greg that they have this corner

that I don't want to be on your corner. So I can and I wouldn't, Dan, Dan, because like dance to to make sure Dan that that's not just like a device on your part. I welcome you to come lock it up together. No, I don't want to do that. I want you to enjoy this this moment. I think the Panthers are playing great football. I you know, Okay, so maybe they're not going to go three and thirteen and and improve as the season goes along, would still

be a bad team. But I guess I'm not ready to say that the Panthers are some like supremely great team. I think they've caught some teams at the right time. I think when the schedule tightens up, like the Saints next week, we might see a very different result. Maybe I'll be wrong, but this seems like it's shaping up for another great set up for all the Panther supporters on this podcast. Because I don't think the Bears are

very good. M I don't think so we're not gonna win, Greg, We're not gonna win with Dan here, So just to lock it up and dance, basically doing the equivalent of hold me back, I'm not going to do it, So I don't. I just doesn't feel right, Okay, uh up next Mark on the Snake. Well, and you know the reason I didn't have to go Cleveland at Pittsburgh is because I knew I had two picks in a row.

So let's be real about that. This game has me a little scared, and I've I've been like not jumping on the Browns thing yet because you have to beat these teams in your own division. They were handled by Baltimore. I know that feels like a long time ago, going into Pittsburgh where they have not one since two thousand and three. I watched that game a billion years ago at my parents house on like a vacation from like a terrible job I was on in Los Angeles. So

it's been a long time. And I'll tell you something else. This is a study in contrast. This Browns team has scored thirty points four games in a row for the first time since like the FDR administration. All right, but the Steelers have not allowed thirty since the opener of last year when the Patriots waxed them. The Browns offense leads the NFL in big plays, but we've seen their defense, and they've also allowed an a f C high twelve

touchdown passes. The Browns have this great offense of line, but Baker Mayfield is a little banged up, and I'm worried about t J. Watt, Bud Duprie, Cam Hayward steph onto it. The whole cast and crew that has made a cottage industry out of beating up on the Cleveland Browns. There since two thousand. The Steelers lead this series thirty four,

six and one. I thought that the only series that might have a more lopsided scenario would be Jets Patriots, and that's thirty one eleven, just a little bit better than than Cleveland Pittsburgh. So Dan, that tells me that this is one of those games for psychology for the Browns fandom plays in. This would be a huge win for Cleveland to go five and one, take care of Pittsburgh and take care of a team that is psychologically destroyed. You since I was a youth, let's do this or

what do I do? I have to be measured again in my in my look at the Browns going into a week later, this is a huge hashtag statement game for the Browns if they can go to Pittsburgh. And we don't talk about this much on our on our show here, but the Desert people are giving the Browns respect. There's an idea here that the Browns can do this because, like you're saying, they make big players on offense, their

defense is opportunistic. They're turning the ball over. And to me, this is because I think he's one of the more interesting figures in the NFL, and not just because of his prolific advertising work. Baker Mayfield is just like kind of an interesting dude UH to track in his career. And I think this is a fascinating game for him because we talked about at their previous game, he was awesome in the first half, he was not good in the second half, and he got banged up with a

rib injury. So you wonder where he's at health wise, and you wonder if he is up for the challenge to win a game for the Browns, if he has to, uh, if the running games not clicking against the very good Steelers defense on the road. I can't wait for this one. This Steelers defense, though, lead the NFL in sacks they

have They average five sacks in game twenty total. That's having played one fewer game than of the league and Mark you talked about, T J. Watton, Bud Dupree, They've combined for seven than a half sacks, a forced fumble, and interception through four games. But this Brown's offensive line, these tackles Jack Conklin and Jedrick Wills Jr. They're probably the best that the Steelers have faced so far. Baker has only been sacked six times or seven times. That's

six fewest in the league. So I don't know what we know that the guard Wyatt Teller, who is kind of taking the league by storm. I feel like he's one of the trendiest guards in the NFL right now. He's week to week with a cap strain, so I am really interested to see how they hold up against this relentless Steelers defense. Right Their protection has been so good. It's one of the reasons why I don't think Baker Mayfield has been any better this year than than a

year ago. I think he's like a little worse. It really is a reminder of how much your surroundings matter. He's had some moments, but he's been a little erratic. It's really surprising. Both these teams are so good right now with their quarterbacks playing like against type, Like Big Ben is not hitting any throws down the field. Mark mentioned it last throw. He's more like big Breeze like that.

It's his style right now. It's these little game manager really smart before the snap, like he's he's big Breeze. Let's give him twenty nine breeze. That's fine. Like it's working. They're they're efficient and you could spell You could spell it with like like breeze the wind, and then have a little graphic element to it. Big Breeze is a new nickname for Big Ben, and I think it could stick. Money Badgers. I want to ride this thing. I'm gonna make T shirts. We need some extra money here in

uh in the COVID times. It's hard times out there. Dealers fans to buy that shirt. I don't think Steelers fans. Mark, I'm gonna put you on the spot here. Pick the game and the score. Well, I had a chat with our good friend Dave Damna Check, and I picked that Cleveland would win an overtime thirty one. I had picked against them week after week. I just want to be optimistic and put good energy out there. And that's worked in the past, you know, five years from me, so

why would it not work again this time? All Right? You heard it here? First the Brownies five and on knocking the Steelers front of the ranks of the unbeaten. Time Now for Road to Victory, presented by the United States Marine Corps. The Draft rolls on with Greg Rosenthal. M I feel bad doing this with Colleen on the show, but I'm taking the Eagles game hosting, then, I mean, you're not even gonna be on our Sunday show. So this is the game I want to watch early because

it's gonna have reason Rosenthal. Yeah, I'm taking a lot of shots right now. Sorry, it's just how I was raised for several Lamar Jackson is like the most explosive player in the league, and he's making explosive plays every week. But the Ravens offense is not nearly the same as it was a year ago. They are below average right now on Football Outsiders d v o A in terms

of their offense efficiency. There's seventeen in the league. It's it's a little hard to imagine, but when you watch them struggle a week ago against the Bengal Is, you start to think, I don't know if there's a book out there for for Lamar Jackson, but they're doing a much better job slowing down his running in the Ravens running game, and it's it's no secret that that's kind

of the base of where they're often starts. They have a lot of really good things going on still with Mark Andrews and Hollywood Brown explosive plays in these great blitzes, but Jim Schwartz, your boy, Colleen's gonna take a look at this, and they have some pass rushers, and I think they're gonna look for waste to slow down the running game and maybe have some answers for the Ravens.

I think the anxiety meter should be through the roof with this game, with Lamar Jackson and the Eagles linebackers situation. This is a game where I mean, really, this is an entire season where the Eagles linebackers they've struggled. They failed to address that position in the off season and it showed for sure. But they haven't really faced any

mobile quarterbacks yet this season. Maybe Joe Burrow is probably the most has eight five rushing yards, but beyond that, they faced Dwayne Haskins, Jared Golf, Nick Mullins, and c. J. Beathard and then Ben Roethlisberger, so none of those guys are are truly mobile like Lamar Jackson is. And then of course, as you mentioned, they have Mark Andrews to who this is an Eagles team who was allowed the I Theiny've really struggled against tight ends. They've allowed the

fifth fifth most catches the six months receiving yards. The third most touchdowns, so that could be an issue. So maybe it get right game for this Ravens offense. But yeah, Greg, you said it that Lamar Jackson the most explosive player in the league from a skill set stand standpoint. Yes, from what we saw last year. Yes, but that's like week five jumped out to me how his athleticism had been compromised somehow by the game plan of his opponent.

He had three rushing yards in week five three. I mean that's speaking of like, that's Philip Rivers level rushing total, so they I mean it is for like a game. So it's it makes you wonder what what they need to do in that building in Baltimore to to unlock this. Because if there is a book out here on slowing down Lamar Jackson, you have plenty of time to figure out how to solve that. You have ten or eleven games here, But he is not nearly the same player

as he has been uh last year. So it's gonna be a challenge for a Ravens coaching staff that you have all the faith in the world, and but to get this going in the right direction again, I would also like to see things getting in the right direction for Carson Wentz. And I know that they faced the Steelers defense last week and we just talked about them

in their past rush. But and this is a thing with Carson Wentz sometimes, I just feel like there were a couple of plays last week where he was walking into danger, walking into sacks. I tweeted that it seemed kind of like in the horror film where like the girl goes back into the house where the killer is and walks up to stairs, like we we all know you shouldn't be doing this, but you're doing it, and we know how it's gonna end up, and you know when still makes his plays, But I know that you

know they've got everyone and injured all the time. But this offense to me, outside of like a big Miles Sanders running a little bit of our man fulham like, they just don't seem to have much going on. And I they're a tough watch right now. And that's been the case, Colleen. It feels like it's been the case for a long time for this Eagles of offense. I

excited though about Travis fold Hum. Yeah, he has such an interesting story and the Eagles, I feel like, are a team that plays so much better when they're essentially in a choke zone, when they're a backs are up against the wall. I'm gonna throw out the old cliche. It's true. They played better with their backups, and fold Um is a guy that came out of nowhere. I feel like last week it was the Chase clay Poll

Travis Fulghum showdown with the Eagles and the Steelers. But Carson Wentz he almost takes another hit at this point without even being the game because Lane Johnson, we just found out, is also playing through a painful ankle injury, so he probably shouldn't even be out there because they probably want that to heal and get right and not have anything any further setbacks with it. But with the way that they started the season and with the way that this offensive line is, they have to have Lane

Johnson out there. It's because the key he's the most important player I think on their team other than other than Wentz, is Lane Johnson. They are not the same Like the backup at left tackle, it's kind of working out. The right tack will forget about it. Uh. But they're kind of in a weird spot because they're in the NFC East. It doesn't even feel like their backs over against Wall. They can lose these games and then the real season starts when they play the NFC East starting

next week. And I would say I agree with Mark that Wentz continues to make killer mistakes. Is the second interception, I believe came on a desperation heat, but the third quarter interception, it's being compounded by he has these ill time second half turnovers. They're happening in the third quarter at lots and then the defense immediately lays down after that. It turns into like a completely game changing type situation.

But the silver lining I saw, in addition to Fulgham and the idea that Jalen Reagor comes back and maybe one of these veteran guys gets back in the mix, the Sean or al Sean uh and and and stabilizes his offense. There was a stretch there once Carson Wentz got going. It was a rough first half where he really looked like himself in the second half of that game. And what you what you want is for him to build off that and get on a hot streak, because he can do that, and this is gonna be a

really big test for him. But I know there's there is a lot of reason to be worried about whence he's now like blown past his career high in interceptions. But I thought I saw a glimmer in there. I don't know if we saw that, but I thought I saw it in there, and that that loss flash. Let's see if you can love zach Ertz. Though we don't. We're not seeing any glimmers, not Zachurts. To me, that's

the bigger problem. Throwing the ball to zach Ertz has been the worst playing football this year, like statistically, like I think the problem, and it's what Eagles fans are talking about. It really is kind of shocking how slower and not strong he looks. The glimmer was Chase Claypool absolutely taking jail and Mills to town like over and over and over like a wild horse running through Philly's secondary. It's a good thing they don't see him for at

least four more years. That was Road to Victory presented by the United States Marine Corps. Alright, let's move on the old Zeuser in the cat bird seat there wherever you want to sit where all right, here we go. Let's go with the Arizona Cardinals at Dallas Cowboys. That is my next selection in this draft Monday Night Football. Um, all right, so here's my theory and we talked about

it on Sunday's recap show. I love this is the ultimate I know unfortunately Greg has decided you're not invited, but that was not Please come, Colleen, add some more work to your schedule. This is the ultimate test of the Dalton scale. I can't wait to see how Andy Dalton plays for the Cowboys because if Dalton, as the great Chris Westling has propagated for years, is the prime meridian of NFL quarterbacks, a man who rises and falls at the level of the players around him, well, then

Andy Dalton's gonna ball out here in Dallas. I know the offensive line is nearly as good, and that is a concern, especially with Lyle Collins now out for the year. That just it's not the same group that it used to be. However, Um, you have an all Pro running back and you have the best trio of wide receivers in the league. And I believe that Dalton. And by the way, this just turned into a fantastic contract year

for Andy Dalton. Now he gets a chance to show that he could put up points and hit the open market. I believe it was a one year deal with the Cowboys. So here is the game to watch because the Cardinals defense is a defense that he should be able to thrive against. Especially with Chandler Jones now out for the year with a biceps injury. That's a killer loss for the Cardinals. So that's where I'm looking Andy Dalton lighten up the Cards and getting Cowboys fans excited that there

is hope to m hmm. Yeah, they're hoping they can get Devon Kennard back to With Chandler Jones being out for the season, that would that would be huge for them at least to get a little bit of help in that department. But you mentioned the Cowboys offensive line not being anywhere near what it used to be, especially now for Andy Dalton stepping in. They don't have Tyron

Smith or Lyle Collins. As you mentioned, they have two undrafted rookies in their spots there, Brandon Knight and Terrence Steele, and they also have a rookie starting at center and Tyler be a dish. So this is not the same type of protection that Dak Prescott. The Cowboys used to have before. Now Andy Dalton's going to have to figure it out, and that starts with Ezekiel Elliott. I mean he his his scrimmage yards, the percentage that they're really

using him for twenty two percent. He's only accounted for the Cowboys scrimmage yards that's in the NFL. That's way down from how they normally utilize him. Since his rookie year, he's averaged at least of the scrimmage yards, which is third most. So we should hopefully we see an uptick in his usage. Can I just throw one one caveat to that is that they've been playing from behind the locks, this terrible defense. I think they've gotten out of their

game script a whole bunch this year. It makes sense, Greg, you mentioned it that they're gonna get Zeke more involved now with dak out Well, I think that's how they turned the game around last week. They were down seventeen three, and instead of throwing the ball all over the yard, they went on a seven minute drive against that Giants defense that was almost all Zeke and that's what helped

turn that game around. I'm with you, Colleen, but I also think they'll take advantage of the matchups on the outside. To me, that's the biggest mismatch in this game that the Cardinals cornerbacks have struggled this year. Patrick Peterson came into the year, you know, really wanted to have a rejuvenated season. It isn't happening for him right now. They have Drake Kirkpatrick on the other side, who they signed pretty late in the game, the former Bengal he's struggling

right now. And then you take out Chandler Jones. As you mentioned, it's like that is a major mismatch. Amari Cooper can light them up, Gallup can light them up. Seedee Lamb is doing it in the slot every week. That's a little tougher matchup against Arizona. But I kind of like uh Andy Dalton to have a nice night

on Monday, can't You? Just like imagine the announcers saying that nobody thought they could do it without Duck, and their own was like, well, actually, plenty of people thought it's a nice water from last year, right It's a nice upgrade from when Brandon Weedon would step in for Tony Romo and you knew that the ship was gonna sink in about four and a half minutes. But I want to see more from Kyler Murray. I mean, are

a wonderful producer. Jason Klemon spoke in my ear to remind you guys that he has never lost at Jerry World, dating back to his high school exploits. But speeding information in your ear. I don't get that individual. They love those stats. We're gonna hear that all week long. I like anything Jason says. How I start right there, Greg, you can flame our producer on network television. That feels

like a idea for your career. How about Kyler Murray's career? Alright, I will see this offense become what it could be against the deepness the train back on the tracks. I love it, Kyler. Kyler Murray played the Jets last week and everyone wants to come and saying, oh y had a career high yards. That's fine. He and DeAndre Hopkins got hot at the end of the game. When I watched in that game was a Cardinals offense that just seems a little bit off to me. The ground game

is hot and cold. I don't think you rest assually have a one A or a true starting running back there. You've got two good ones, and outside of DeAndre Hopkins, I don't trust a lot of the other receivers here. So this is a game where it's let's get back on track, Cliff Kingsbury and company. All right, let's move on, Colleen, you are up next. Okay, So you know what this one was buying some time here and not a big deal. Uh. This game was postponed last week and I am ready

for it. I don't like that I had to wait. And it looks like both teams should be getting their starting quarterbacks back. I'm going with Broncos and Patriots here. Cam Newton removed off the COVID nineteen reserve list on Wednesday, so he's tracking to play. And in his three starts this season, look, we know how well he played. He was completing sixty percent of his passes, which is a career high for him, seven fourteen passing yards, rushing touchdowns,

and a team high four touchdowns. So you have this team in the Broncos that they haven't faced a mobile quarterback yet this season. So Pam, we know how he trans really transforms this entire Patriots offense. And then Drew Lock, he should be back at practice back in the game as well. He was back at practice. He was sidelined since week two. We saw how things went with Brett Rippon and Jeff Driscoll in the game and did not go well. So hopefully this will be a little bit

juicier with both starting quarterbacks back on the field. It should we get Stefan Gilmore back most likely to he was. He was back at the Patriots facility on Thursday. You figure he's gonna match up against Jerry Judy and if Gilmore can take away Judy, then lock Who's he looking for? Noah Fanse is uncertain at this point. To me, he is such a key engine to this offense, so you have to watch his status. But you hear Bill Belichick talk about Vic Fangio's defense the last two weeks, you know,

singing uh songs about it. I'm I'm with them. It's it's amazing how well coached this Broncos defenses, and they've gotten better each week. Bradley Chubb is starting to look healthier. I think they can slow the Patriots down. It's really a run first Patriots team and that kind of invites these close games at the end, and I wouldn't be surprised if that's the case. On Sunday, one little lex factor here, the Broncos had their bye week taken away. I know, it's like we get it. Their millionaires to

making a ton of money. They don't need to go on a big vacation during Corona time. That would agitate me if suddenly i had maybe my vacation taken away, I'm gonna be charged. Go teach New England a lesson the Patriots. The Patriots they are the those players said, how annoyed they were. I really think this is a factor, a little bit on my radar. Yeah, the Patriots game gets postponed so Cam Newton could get better and back in the lineup. I'm not reading you think Drew Locks

back for the Broncos. Let me lock this one up for Denver. A little bit of a difference between Drew lock and Cam Newton. Connie, it's snakes to you. I'm ready. I know exactly what game I'm taking. I'm going straight to Tennessee and I'm going Texans Titans in this one. Tennessee value to play and party, thank you very much. Last week, they held the Bills, which was a top five offense coming into the game. I think they were

ranked four coming into the game. They held them to a season low sixteen points and Derrick Henry was just out there snatching souls and I feel like that is something that can continue this week against the Tech and the Texans second to worst run defense in the entire league. All of these teams have ran all over them. They're allowing a hundred and sixty point for rushing yards per game. They allowed three individual one hundred yard rushers. We saw

Clyde Edwards, Hilaire do it. We saw James Conner, Derrick Henry, He's gonna be next. Alvin Cooke was in there as well. So I think that this is a game that the Titans could win. So handedly. Locking this one up, especially with a Jay Brown back in the mix, give me the Titans is the lock of the week. Look at you, Connie. You know it's funny. The the stiff heart, stiff arm

heard round the world. Derrick Henry on Josh Norman, you know it, it's it humanizes a little bit because we have worked with Josh Norman in a professional capacity with Sky Sports for Super Bowl coverage, and when you look into the man's eyes from up close and you have

conversations with the person. When you see his soul taken a national television, it doesn't feel it's not doesn't give you that same charge as if he was just the perfect stranger prevent me from family, because all those things you well know, but you see these you know, now it's becoming a thing where there's a picture of the Earth's glow, the Earth in space and like that that freeze frame picture of Josh Norman being tossed away from the Earth, and it's like, my thing was, You're right, Dan,

I like, this guy was a nice guy to us. Um he was a pro and uh, you know got paid a little bit more than us too, and I respect him. So I was like, I'm not retweeting that, like I. It's different when you meet these guys. It truly is Mark giving away Sky Sports Financial. I love this.

You know what. The crazy thing is that the next run that Derrick Henry had not that I needed anymore proof that he's one of the biggest badasses to ever play in the NFL, but it almost proved it more than that stiff farm because his next carry, you saw Tremaine Edmonds of the Bills that their middle linebacker kind of want to get revenge, like you just clowned us,

I'm gonna come after you. And he came with the biggest running start possible to try to just like deliver one on Henry, and he just sort of bounced off him, and Henry gained about three more yards and got the first down after that, Like there is I've never seen a running back quite like Therrick Henry. Maybe Brandon Jacobs, but but Henry is just like so much more than right now because it's weird to averaging. He's not even playing that well this year, right He's not He's not

even playing that well. Their running team hasn't gotten going. The last week actually reminded me, or at least made me think this year, if I could shoot, if I was a Titans fan and I could choose a J. Brown on the field or Derrick Henry, I think a J. Brown is more important because they're a past first team. That's how they're winning these games, and a J. Brown is so impressive. They're just a different passing game when

he's out there. I love that you said that, Greg, because I think Arthur Smith and I know Dan that we we talked about these sounds like he's the front you know, the frontman for like a painting company somewhere. But he is a he is a needs he needs a nickname. But they came out, they came out leaning heavily on their play action and like they Tannehill has been really really good in this offense. I mean, I just think he is one of the tougher, grittier dudes

out there. He's fine taking a gigantic shot and throwing it and completing at forty yards downfield. And their passing game is very important, you know, as it was down the stretch last year too. But they're able to move the ball without Derrick Henry running for four hundred and six yards and three touchdowns Legarrett Blunt style game after game. Yeah, the the idea of Arthur Smith as a head coaching candidate, that Arthur Smith, the name itself is holding him back.

And yes, he is the son of the FedEx founder, I believe, or I mean, it's it's major, it's major his background. What if we just dropped Arthur Smith entirely and just like started calling him Special Delivery or something, Matt money Smith, that Matt money Smith went with something more simple alteration, go by Artie Artie Smith. Now it looks like a guy would hire for the Jets to reboot the offense. Maybe I don't know, just thrown it up there, that's a nice ring to it, Like, um,

all right, good stuff. You locked that up, Connie. Huh. I like that. I locked it up. That's what I did. Ye, thank you. I'm glad I have all of your approval. You're having a good show. I mean, there was that instant early on when you stepped on me when I was trying to transition, But ever since that, I feel like you've really slid into the analyst role. Good thing is Dan will remember that stepping over him seventy five years from now, so it's you're in the clear. Well,

I listen. I had to push the boundaries to see where they were, and Dan let me know. And I'm very adaptable. So whatever you need me to do, I am here for you. What a team player she is, all right? So the Zeuser is up. Kind of a tough pick because I wanted to check in with Minnesota because I'm not to give up the Ghosts there after that killer loss on Sunday night. But I can't watch the Falcons. I won't do it. So let's go with

Cincinnati at Indianapolis. That is my next pick. And Uh Joe Burrow made to look like a rookie by the

Baltimore Ravens defense in Week five. By the way, that the Ravens defensive coordinator what's his name again, Wink Martindale, Yeah, wink wink getting upset apparently that the Cincinnati head coach UH sent out the field goal unit to get points on the board at the end of that game because the Bengals didn't want to get shut It's got these guys all week and our little three points, the Spangels and every other NFL team prepares their hardest all week,

and when you get you're getting shut out, just put some points on the board to get mad about that. I don't know, maybe some karma retribution coming towards the race, Wink Martindale have a problem when the Ravens in into l A and beat the Rams like forty five to six on Monday Night football, did the issue the same concerning statements about running. Probably not anyway, that's beside the point.

So Cincinnati, yeah, a really bad UH Week five, and now they travel to Indianapolis to face the Colts, and the Colts I know the head coach, Frank Reich. He he's saying that the quarterback Philip Rivers is not on his list of problems. Well, I don't know about that, and they have some issues, um that go beyond the quarterback, including who's playing around Philip Rivers. But I need to see Philip Rivers deliver a nice game here and light up a Cincinnati defense that is there for the taking

in your own building. Go go blow out the Bengals. It's not it's not going to alleviate my my concerns and my doubts of the Colts, which I've had really since Philip Rivers signed there. But it's gonna at least like steady the ship and have people not asking hard questions about what's going on at the top of that depth chart at quarterback. So this on paper looks like

an easy Colts win. It's just still maybe a Colts defense that got inflated a little bit in a steam based on their early schedule, but still a defense that I imagine at home should be able to do similar to what the Ravens did to Burrow and company. But if this ends up a close game. If they lose this game and Joe Burrow gets hot and Rivers throws picks, it's going to be a very tricky situation in Indianapolis.

Think it could be easier for right well, I think I think it could be a little bit easier this week for Rivers because last week Anthony Costanzo when he went down their left tackle, the Browns really took advantage Miles Garrett specifically, and the Bengals they don't have that same type of pass rush, and Costanzo should be back in this game, so that should really help up front for Rivers. This would be a tough matchup. I think

for the Colts. The Bengals defense has improved way more than the Bengals offense with Joe Burrow, which is crazy. Burrows playing well overall until last week, but the Bengals defense has been respectable after being terrible all of last year. But all of a sudden, right when they they start to feel good about themselves, they lose Sam Harvard, who's been playing well, one of their pass wrestlers, he's on i R. And you lose your biggest free agent signing,

DJ Reader for the season. So this Bengals team Uh, it's been a lot of tough luck. But they should feel like they can keep this game close because the Colts offense is just so on inspiring. It's not just Rivers. This is such a run heavy team in Indianapolis, and they're they're terrible at running the ball, like they really miss Marlon Mack their thirty feet in yards per carry and Jonathan Taylor everyone thinks you can just throw in it and running back. He's not seeing the field. Well,

he's not like seeing holes. Well, I think he's been struggling a little bit. Been part of their problem. There's one thing about the Colts that that is not overrated about their defense. They would have lost I think by another four team points to Cleveland if they weren't the best and if in the entire NFL and open field tackling, I mean, they make bobbiokariki. Some of these guys are making a couple of plays on one on one matchups

in space, but I'm just not seeing anywhere else. So I do trust their defense, but I do not trust them to win game, to win blowouts and lets unless it's like twenty one to three. Al right, up next, Oh yeah, let's go um, let's go to an ugly one, shall we. Let's go to the Lions and the Jaguars. I don't know why I'm going down with this Jaguars ship. I I still believe in this offense, I really do, And I think this is the week everyone's gonna pick the Lions to come off of their by and kind

of get right. And things have been going well, and I can just see a scenario where Matt Patricia's is facing more heat than he ever has because the Jaguars offense is the best group in this game. And I want to see what Patricia did with the bye week, Like how does he solve what his problems are on defense because there's so many of them and he seems to just kind of roll out the same plan each and every week and and it doesn't really work that well.

And their offense really isn't isn't hitting big plays either. I know, I know Stafford will get some yards and points against this Jaguars team, but I sort of trust the Jaguars still. Maybe I'm wrong a little more in a shootout that than I do the Lions. Is you gonna lock it up? No? No, I thought we were going that way now that it's the Jaguars. Last time we saw the Lions, well go. Some might saw that they have five straight touchdown drives and four of those

were for seventy five plus yards. This is not a good defense. And when I was high on the Detroit Lions, I thought their defense would grow and that their offense would be beat you up run game. They're none of those things. They're just none of them. And I'm with you Greg watching Jacksonville. Minshew played another good game last week. They've just got some young I mean, for all the flaming that the front office gets, for all the mistakes they made, they do have a knack for finding productive

guys later in rounds. Like James Robinson had one terrible looked like a halfback option pass that turned into a umble that was a disaster, but over and over he is getting yardage in Minshew. I mean, I know that after this year they're gonna find another quarterback if they're high up in the draft. But he played well. He played well, and he does that most weeks. He has a couple of stinkers, but you can rely on him to be productive and not make too many mistakes. They're

they're problem I think that Minshew. I think they're oh in five now when Minshew throws with three yards and I think They're big problem is that their margin of errors so slim that when they make the mistakes that they make, uh, it just kills them. Like Stephen Haushka who was high and by uh there, And how how is kai Forbeth not the kicker in that game in

week five? He misses two in close field goals um factor in this game that bizarre fourth in one call where they gave it to James Robinson and it led to a fumble in the red zone. And then Minshew gets the sack fumble turnover, which was a big play that essentially turned the lights out on the game. Was a pretty big turnover by Minshew. So I think that those things can't happen because they they're just not good enough to survive mistakes like that. And that's why they've

lost four or five. Yeah, and and their defense certainly can't hold up when they're missing c. J. Henderson, Miles Jack and Josh Allen, which they were all out against the Texans, and they're all they've all been limited this week in practice. But those are three essential parts of the defense, and it really showed when those guys are banged up. It shows how this defense kind of falls off. I'm with you, Greg, Matt Patricia loses to the Jaguars here.

I don't know that's a patient organization for whatever reason in Detroit, but patients has got to hit a limit at certain at a certain point. Up next, Mark Sessler, all right, well let's see here. I'm gonna go with I want to see I don't want to see any of these games, actually, now that I'm looking at what's left. But every game is beautiful. Every game is a beautif full flower. Mark Dan, I don't want to pull the Jets away from you. If you want to watch that game?

Are you being serious right now? Well, they are playing. I do not watch Jet games that feature Adam Gates and Joe Flacco prominently, so I have no interest. Okay, I just wanted to check in with you there. I'm gonna go with um. I'm gonna go with the Chargers hosting the Jets, and that's like inviting someone into your the Dolphins hosting the Jets. Let's go with the Dolphins hosting the Jets. Where am I? I'm all over the place.

Wait this actually, wait this is I I wrote my notes incorrectly here and so I don't want this game, but I'll take it anyways. Ryan Fitzpatrick, why not, started eleven of thirteen last week, absolutely flamed the Niners. I wrote in my notes, best court QB performance of the year in that division. I mean, that's not hard to achieve right now. But Ryan Fitzpatrick is playing out of

his division. That's kind of hard. I I understand at but I mean watching what he did against that Niners defense, and I noted that their secondary was a hot mess. But I give Chan Gailey, who you know, we've we've not. I'm with you, Grey. I was not sold on the idea of hiring Shan Gailey five years after he was hanging out in Florida on the beach. But he came in and he was aggressive and they just went for it. And I thought that the pass rush was a little

more active last game. They made lifetop on Jimmy g. Mike Asecki is a legit playmaker at a seventy yard catch last week. So this Dolphins team and I don't I don't want to like I. I you know, I get people on Twitter saying you project every team into the playoffs. I understand that. I get a little excited earlier in the year about some of these teams. I'm

not saying that about Miami, but they are. They were not frisky early on, and I thought, are they just going to be the team that takes a step back after we spent all offseason I did thinking that Brian Flores could be one of the next great coaches and coached them up in a way last year that made them so fun and so frisky. I think we saw some of that against against the Niners, sort of like play loose, go for it for at tour. Right now,

you can't even think about two at the moment. And I and you know the Jets, I think we all get it. Um They've they've parted ways with Levan bell Uh. It's it's a tough time to be a Jets fan. I've been there as a Browns fan Den where you it's it's it's October and you'd rather someone else watch the game. It's not fun, and being a fan, part of the deal is it should be fun. Sometimes it's not.

Just a year after year of turmoil and chaos, and so I I legit understand why Jets fans at this point would as they say, you know, go rake leaves if you have leaves. We don't, we don't have leaves in our yard. But you go do that. If you do onto the day, douse the fire, you know in the hills behind, you know, like that put out a forest fire. Kids. Yeah, you can't judge us against past

generations because media is different. But judging by social media, now the Jets fans are out on this team right now. They're out on the organization right now. And you go look at the TV ratings, like, Jets fans aren't watching their team because you did the one thing. The one thing you can't do is a cope away from a fan base. And if they don't have any hope that you're gonna play entertaining football, you're just not gonna watch. And especially with Joe Flacco playing Sam Donald, this is

another game with that shoulder injury. I don't know, Ricky. I want to bring in Erica tamp Post, who, Yeah, the Jets are on pace for an infamous season, perhaps windless season. Well Erica can relate to that because she is yet to lock up a single team correctly but Ricky, I don't know exactly what she's about to say, but she just did say she wanted to connect with me on something. Erica, what do you got? Well, well, listen here. Okay,

let's just look at the facts quickly. The Jets are oh and five, their last in the league get points scored. Sam Donald's out with the shoulder injury, injury, and everyone's questioning, Adam Gazes, I'm gonna destroy you. Okay, So so Adam Gaze, you know everyone wants him gone. Right. So the Dolphins, like Mark just said, came off on a easing when they against the forty niners. This should beat the single

handedly easiest game for the Dolphins all season. I will be at the salon because I sense a blowout, and that's why I'm locking up the Dolphins. Let's go for the Jets. Okay, your confidence is so shattered that you're locking up the team that's the Jets are on the road. You're taking that home team that Okay, I don't want to look. I see nothing. Get the w In fairness to Erika, her pick last week the forty nine is we're actually even bigger favorites somehow than the Dolphins. Are

in this game, and she got that wrong. So anything anything can happen, although probably not with Joe Flacco. Nothing can happen with Well. I feel good about that exactly. You look in the mirror when you're at this stage, when you're owing five, when you look in the mirror that don't worry about not seeing your reflection looking back is a beautiful woman. It's a very sad woman, though, and you need this. So I do family frying like in like mirage behind me like it's it's disgusting, honestly,

and I have no remorse. Go to office team. Let's give them a little love quickly because they are the relevant team they I think they could be a playoff contender, two teams that can blow to the NFL teams out Like the way that they have. I'm starting to get convinced. Their defense totally different when Byron Jones is in the game. He was back last week and totally different. When they get a lead in Florist can start cooking up those blitzes because that's kind of give the Dolphins some respect.

Erica is on the show right now picking them as the lock of the We're saying, we just talked about the Jets for three minutes. I just want to. I was like, I don't, that's unnecessary. The Dolphins are getting plenty of love with Ricky Hollywood right now. I believe in the Dolphins more, you know, so wholeheartedly, more than I believe in Greg to pick a shirt that doesn't pla with his background, Yeah, I think we should move on now, because alright, alright, up next, Mark, I believe

it's snakes for you, buddy. It does. And I'm gonna go Washington at the Giants, Washington. Look the bottom of the barrel operations here and you know the way this you pull up behind the curtain a little bit. For our audio listeners if they listen to the Sunday Night Show, suddenly you know Nick Shook has some of these. They're wondering the backroom dealings. I I kind of line up a few that might get handed off to someone else, and this might be one of them. I uh, look

at it's it's a tough situation. These two teams, you know, are in in rough shape. For all the good tidings of Alex Smith's returning the reality is that with Kyle Allen in there, they threw for seventy four yards. Alex Smith came in and through for thirty seven. So Kyle Allen will be back and they're gonna go through this song and dance. We're gonna see all these quarterbacks over and over. UM. Dwayne Haskins has been mentioned as trade bait.

Dwayne Haskins is the rare NFL. NFL player that has been sick and away from the building for five days. UM is taking COVID tests and it's not testing positive apparently, but illness has been the report a gastro illness. Well those can I guess those can linger? I mean, I'm not gonna They had a hundred and eight total yards on offense and and and suffered eight sacks last week

against the Rams. And I understand that mother nature was part of that game too, but there was a negative three hundred and twenty one yardage differential between Washington and l A. And there aren't many other games where you point to outside of a couple of minutes hope for this offense. And so it just creates such a long year. And I look at the Giants and I think this is a winnable game for them because guys like James Bradberry. He has been really good as a cover man for them.

Kyler fact Roll has been making plays week after week, you know. And I know that Daniel Jones hasn't thrown a touchdown against week one, and he's gonna face a lot of pressure in this game. But to me, if the Giants, if they this is another fan base along with the Jets fan base, it's a tough It's a tough autumn in New York. If the Giants lose this one, you're gonna have to start asking a lot of questions about the front office. I mean, they have a new coach,

so you've got to give him some rope. But there are problems here. There just isn't a lot of consistency with New York week after week. This is a number thirty against number thirty one on the NFL dot Com Power Rankings matchup. And yeah, the gastro illness does not sound great for Haskins. I hope he gets well soon and I think he should be back in the lineup.

I understand that we we litigated this, or disgusted or however you want to put it, that Ron Overa doesn't see Dwayne Haskins as part of the future most likely. Uh and and it's Ron Show in Washington. But god, I mean Kyle Allen and Alex Smith, and we love Alex Smith as a comeback story, but he had two point two yards per attempt, which makes Blaine Gabbert look like Joe Namath. And then it was pouring out there, Dan, I know, but come on now, I mean, there's Alex Smith.

What are you proving as an organization when you have a prospect in Dwayne Haskins. It's it doesn't matter right now he's ill, But I think that Haskins should be playing, not these other two guys. He's out of the NFC East yet it's like the participation trophy division of the entire NFL. So listen, maybe Ron Rivera is like so holding out hope that they can get somewhere in this division.

It's wide open, right to be fair, I guess the Kyle Allen, although you know, the injury he took was kind of like on a hit that he shouldn't have taken. You know, they had a touchdown drive when he was in there, and there there was too short a sample size to drop much of anything. He's a second year player. They have a chance to win this game because they have the best unit in this game, which is their defense.

I think they're a top ten defense right now. Like Chase Young who was drafted two picks ahead of Andrew Thomas. I mean that's a mismatch. Uh Manta Sweats been playing well. Kevin Pierre Lewis their linebacker. Their their secondary has been pretty good. Like they're a topton defense. They're the only group in this game that's good. That's like a bonus.

Like the most memorable thing I think that's happened with the Giants this year was Joe Judge pulling down his mask just to yell bs, I'm not gonna say the word out. He had it up the whole game that he pulls it down and he just like yells it out. And that was like the defining moment of the Judge Judge, you know what. That was a great Joe Judge moment.

I'm still a fan of. When the loose ball fumble recovery drill at the end of training camp, when he dove on the loose ball and everyone gathered around him. In the New York media, with one viral video clip all decided that Joe Judge was cool now, uh, but that none of this is actually translating to any wins, so he seems to be in a very difficult spot. All right, take it away, Greg, one a game, okay, last one up. I guess no one wants to watch the Falcons out of mind. I mean I do mind,

but I don't have a choice. Falkons Vikings. It's it's Raheem Morris. It's uh, it's young Grey. You guys. You guys remember when Morris the coach of the Buccaneers, and he had this slogan Colleen called young Grey. He made up T shirts that was his big thing. Younger. They were coming off, yeah, kind of kind of a fun season when he was first the coach and then he came back out. I think they went three and thirteen

and it all, uh, it all unraveled. But they improved their defense when he took over the play calling last year. Uh late in the year, so I don't know. Maybe he gives them a little bit of juice, but they're overmatched. They're a little healthier right now, but they're playing against the Vikings offense, which I think is pretty good. I think this Vikings offense has gotten it going like they got their Gary Kubiak zone running scheme, they got the

deep shots with Adam Thilan and Justin Jefferson. That's not gonna get you very far in the NFC East if you keep I mean the NFC wild Card rate said, you know you're losing these close games, but I think they'll be fine. I think they'll win games like this. The Minnesota Vikings have a little faith in these guys. The Dalvin Cook injury, he strained the groin. We'll see what kind of Cook they get. Alexander Madison is a

nice backup though. So yeah, like I was saying, I don't want to give up the ghost on the Vikings um and their schedule. If they can get a win here and get to two and four, they got a really hard game the next week at Lambeau, but then you get Lions, Bears, Cowboys, Panthers, Jaguars. So as long as you don't totally bury yourself, I think they can get back into this wild card race. However, and we you know, hit it hard on Sunday night for obvious reasons.

That was an unbelievably gut wrenching loss for them against the Seahawks. Because they outplayed Seattle for so much of that game and it had a chance to turn around the whole season. And then when you can't close, you've now put your off in a very difficult position. So

you're gonna get one of two Vikings teams. You're gonna get the mad as hell angry we are going to take out all our frustration on a crappy Falcons team, which I think is the path we're gonna go here, or you're gonna get the Vikings team that's in the tank because they had all their um love and joy and energy pumped into that Sunday night football game, and when they get their soul sucked out by Russell Wilson, it's now, you know, bye bye time for them. So

I am actually kind of interested in this game. It's just the Falcons depressed me so much right now that I couldn't pull the trigger on drafting them. M Yeah, it'll be interesting to see if Julio Jones plays what his status is. But I mean, this is a Vikings team who got after Russell Wilson pretty pretty good, uh in that game. But they have nine turnovers on offense and only four takeaways on defense, So they got to

start right there and clean up the turnover differential for sure. Yeah, I think like the Falcons are uniquely broken now, and so I'm with you the Vikings. That's a tough loss to come off of. But I think that I mentioned that I thought that the Seahawks were the most more resilient team in that matchup for the way that they've closed it out. But I don't think the Vikings are a we're gonna give up on the season type of operation. Now.

My one note from that game, um, well, it was one of my notes that Adam feeling when he gets into these little touchdown dances where they walk up and I'll stare at each other on that television. He likes to get real wiggly with his body. I noticed him, if you go back and track that it was a very interesting touched Yeah, it was just like it wasn't like a white guy dancing. Was like he was really getting into his dancing. We can I will find it and forward it to you and the listeners they can

do the same. And my second note was that am I wrong in thinking I feel like every um every note, Well, no, this is just another general Vikings observation but I feel like everyone had a high school friend who looked exactly like Kirk Cousins. Like I have like two or three friends that look exactly like Kirk Cousins when you go back to like like the early nineties, and it just he just has like that nineties type of guy look

or something. No, you're You're totally right, you're a little bit What was that, Connie I said, I would love to see the rest of his notes on that game. No, yeah, he has such a because you're a little bit older than his market and you were right in the middle of that early nineties UM nine o two one oh era of life. I could picture him wearing like the circle glasses and the turtleneck with the swear a lot older than Colleen. To be clear, you know, yes, to

be clear. Thank you for clarifying that you could be Colleen his dad you could. Thank you that the listener can already to douce that. Thank you for pointing that out that I am. I am much older than calling. Yes, am, alright, I did. I. I like that the Vikings are embracing that they're an offense first team. They're like going for it on fourth down. That was part of the thing. They're doing that a lot. They're they're bombs and eight team.

They remind me a little bit of the Bills, who are also embracing uh, you know, their offense first team, and it helps me with that transition. Clean up a big mistake I made here earlier in the Bills game. I totally forgot to lock up the Kansas City Chiefs on the road. Oh I blew it. But you know, I want to get this in the podcast. It's tricky. We're on video now, so like the flow, sometimes it doesn't come back to you. You don't want to ensure

just for the podcast listeners. When you have the chance to take Patrick Mahomes coming off a loss, you do that. You lock them up. What a moment in show history here, Greg, that was good. We needed that for posterity. Okay, good stuff, Connie. I don't know what else to say. You stepped in and you killed it and we miss having you around. So it's great whenever you stop by, you bring sunshine

to be around the NFL podcast. Well, I miss you, guys, and anytime anytime you guys need me, just no Thursdays any other And it is funny like last time, you're on our show. A couple of weeks ago you talked about inviting us over your house, but that hasn't happened yet. But you know, no big deal. Next weekend, market down, we're social distancing. It's gonna be fine. All right, Great. This is the Around the NFL Podcast, presented by the United United States Marine Corps. My name is Dan Hanson.

Signing a Whore, the Quiet Storm, the Old Boss, the Tiny Box, and the Great Ricky Hollywood behind the virtual glass until Sunday Night. S