2020 Week 9 Preview Show

I want to hear what you would do. We've heard it, I mean, I you know that's true that you forgot about my smash hit from what feels like seventeen years ago but really only a couple of months ago about a foreign kingdom. Yes, that that was stellar. Please look it up. If you haven't heard it yet, go dig through our archive until you find Mark rapping. This is the Week nine preview edition of the Around the NFL Podcast.

It happens, um, you know, the ring a very interesting time in our country, uh, during the election process, as is that it continues to unfold, and we're you know, we're here to to put your focus somewhere else. Of course, now there's a global pandemic also going on that has caused wreaking havoc in the NFL. So even that even this bastion that we are supposed to have is somehow affected by these serious real world problems. But listen, Greg, we don't need to dwell on the negative side of life.

Let's let's skew positive. No taping this show, I could use ninety minutes or whatever it's gonna be of not refreshing the internet, so hopefully the listeners can do the same. I don't know what you guys are talking about. Things feel light and airy. Um. I think that there's a you know, the burgeoning sense of freedom and optimism, so

you know, and I know my party line. There are some you know, conspiracies out there floating around, which I know you love conspiracies, Mark, I don't know if you love the ones that are prominent right now in our culture. But my conspiracy is like, when's the last time I had e NN on my TV for nineteen hours a day for three straight days. This is being dragged out in a way that is really helping certain networks, and uh, you know that's the thing I'm keeping my eye on.

Who's really involved. Still has Greg still has NFL network lockdown in his house. I mean, who who can be Andrew Siciliano. He's not touching. I like that Dan is going the the Aisha Curry route, throwing, throwing the conspiracy that you know, lengthening the things for the ratings. Come on? Is that a Curry is out there dropping those? Yeah? She had a famously terrible tweet when the Warriors weren't getting some calls in the finals. Oh oh yeah, now

I do remember that. Yes, good call, Greg. All right, let's get into Week nine action and start with the game of the week Sunday Night Football. Oh my goodness, Saints and Bucks. What a showdown between the Bucks team that everyone is loving, uh, even though they even look so hot against the jihnts of Monday Night. But you give him a little bit of a pay us uh and the Saints, who are on a winning streak and they look like a team that's ready to take control

of the division potentially. What are you thinking about in this game, Greg, I'm looking at when the Bucks have the ball, when they go on one of their long drives and that's what they do inside the ten yard line. Is there any chance the Saints stopped them? The Stints Saints have the very worst red zone defense in the entire league, and Tom Brady and these Bucks are twenty two for twenty two when they get inside the ten, which is just an absolutely outrageous stature. And to me,

that tells you you have an amazing offensive line. I just I know I've mentioned it on the show, but I just don't think people appreciate how it's the key to this entire Bucks team. It's why they can survive with Chris Godwin out of the lineup. Maybe they get him back this week, probably not, but they do get Antonio Brown. I trust their running game and if Tom Brady has time, he's gonna carve you up. When he's pressured, he hit. The numbers say he's literally a below average

starting quarter back. So right now, I don't necessarily trust the Saints to get pressure on him. I know my guy Marcus Davenport to first. I don't see here Saints Twitter honking about him anymore now that he's playing outstanding, But I don't think he's quite enough. You need more. You need Cameron Jordan, you need the other guys to step up, and I think it's a mismatch. When Tampa has the ball near the end zone. Mark. Yeah. I mean we saw the Giants get to Tom Brady a

little bit. I mean they had to work themselves out a little bit of of a funk against New York. But I just start to trust this team more and more. And you know, Greg, you mentioned like the metrics, love the bucks. What's not to love. I feel like they are morphing into something bizarre and wonderful week after week. And they are they are. This is a this is an interesting battle. I mean because Rob Gronkowski back in Week one, this team was not ready for not ready

to go against the Saints the same way. This is not the Rob Gronkowski that fought in the Andre the Giant Memorial battle Royale. Okay, this is this is the Rob Gronkowski We've seen a bold to some degree. And you talk about the red zone. He was a threat against New York. He's becoming a threat week after week. I think it's three games in a row with touchdown passes. Scottie Miller is starting to become juicy. Mike Evans I could see a little bit more of him, But you know,

and I don't like this. I don't like that this is happening. But Antonio Brown is getting dished into the mix. I mean, these guys, they're all starting to contribute. It's the Tom Brady aura. And they've talked about it that the offensive line, the way that they win games that they a year ago would have lost, that's the Tom Brady factor. And I think that if you're Bruce Arians, you're thinking right now these Saints, you can unferl an error arrow into New Orleans and you can separate in

the NFC South. And I'm telling you this is this is something that the Bucks have not done, Greg since I think you were in that experimental phase back at two lane. You had an experimental phase in two lane, Greg guess or no, I mean at two lane. After that, I'm still still experimenting. Uh. I want to see Drew Brees with his actual compliment of wide receivers. I don't know if if it's ever gonna happen, but he's happened

this week. Okay, let's let's see. I mean, I feel like I'm conditioned at this point just to always assume Michael Thompson is going to be ruled out at some point, uh, several minutes before the game. But Michael Thomas no Marcus Callaway last week. No Emmanuel Sanders last week, and yes, and we talked about this last week. I understand he

again did not attack the attack Chicago downfield. It was his first outdoors game, So that's gonna feed into this narrative that Drew Brees can no longer play the guitar at a high level when it really counts. But also it's like, maybe not enough as made of the fact that Drew Brees beat a good Bears team without any of his wide receivers essentially, and it's basically just leaning on Alvin Kamara, who is absolutely I think in the running. I know you hate this award, Greg Offensive Player of

the Year. I mean, it's a silly award. Why Why what's the difference between m v P and offensive player here? I don't know, but I guess it's just like to give a running back some love because we know they're not as valuable as quarterbacks, except for on the Saints. It's like all, uh, like, running backs don't matter except

Alvin Camara. He has nine eight seven yards. No one else on the Saints has more than four hundred yards receiving a rushing I mean, he's more than Duffle, it's outrageous and I actually think it's a tricky matchup when the Saints and Bucks play, because I know you beat the Bucks by going over the top. That's not Drew Brees thing. But you can see them going on a lot of long drives against this team. Because like you said, I think Sanders is back, and I think Thomas and

maybe Callaway are back to this week. Then I mean in Bruce Arians, he looked at Alvin Kamara and said, I see someone more fierce than Marshall Falk. Now that's that's saying something. I know these coaches like to pump up like the main player on the opposite on the opposing team after week after week. Who's fallen for that? But it's not it's legit with Alvin Kamara, he has played beautifully. He is a Hall of Fame level level player,

just like Marshall fuck is a Hall of Famer. So I don't think he's one of those guys where you're you're building a guy up so you can chop him down with a game plan that's key to beat him. I think when Kamara is right, and I know he's had a little bit of a foot issue, this week, But it seems like everything is all systems go. When he's right, he's just he's gonna make plays. And he's basically a lock now for for a hundred yards from scrimmage, and he's gonna beat you in the passing game a

couple of times. Uh. He's just really fun to watch and it reminds you how tough it was to watch him last year when all those injuries had slowed him to the point where he wasn't making guys miss. Let's pick this game. Yeah, and the offensive line deserves a lot of credit too. And and that's why I do wonder if this I think the Saints are going to keep this game close. I know the Bucks are heavy favorites. Um, it's the biggest game in the NFC South all year.

It's one of the biggest games that we have for the rest of the year because whichever team wins has a significant advantage. Either the Bucks open up some distance or the Saints just swept the Bucks. And that's a huge advantage for them too. And if there's one little fly in the appointment for the Bucks, it's actually their past rush like JPP and Shack Barrett. They got the big names. They're not quite getting it done this year, and so if you give Drew Brees a little time,

you could have those long drives. I would expect a very close game. Seems like each week Devin White makes up for a little bit of the pass rush with some sort a phenomenal play that blows up quarterback, running back or somebody. And you'll do it again to you. Dan the Desert says they're high on the Bucks, which surprised me. Let's pick the game here, Greg, I'm I'm going Bucks, but just by three points. All right, Mark, I'm gonna go. I'm gonna go Bucks. I think they'll

win it by a touchdown. There's no way to come out of is swept by New Orleans. I'm with you. I like the Bucks in this a lot. I think they're gonna take care of business at home, with all due respect to the Saints, who are gonna be around in the end. All right, Sunday night football in the can. Now we start our draft for Sunday, the late and early games. Mark, you get us going the precious first overall pick. And I like a little bit of NFL history with my top overall picks, so I'm gonna go

Baltimore Indianapolis. Anyone who isn't five years old should know that the Indianapolis Cults were once the Baltimore Cults and the Baltimore Ravens. Well, they came from somewhere else, Cleveland, and they came to Baltimore, So this is there's there's a lot of that going on. I like that this game has another special appeal that if you know me, I am tracking this as what should be the quickest game of the week. Uh. Baltimore ranks in the bottom

ten of plays per game. They like to run the ball. Obviously, they are air challenged right now. The Cults ranked twentieth in that category. They can't run very well, but they like to eat up the clock as well. So I see a methodical game between two teams that really it's strength on strength. Because the Cults, I know, I think their defense was a little inflated early in the year against some weaker opponents. I'm not ready to call them like a top five defense. But with Darius Leonard back,

they are completely different. Last week against Detroit he had he had a game changing strip sack. I think he's a big factor against the Ravens. Team that has offensive line issues right now. They are missing their left tackle, Ronnie Stanley. Tyree Phillips is on I are the right guards, so they've got issues there. They've got a bunch of linebackers dealing with Corona stuff and having them hopefully, you know, get in maybe a Saturday practice before the game. That's

a little messy. But if there's a team I trust to come out ready to go, it's the Ravens and and probably furious after that Steelers game. They did run the ball in the second half against Pittsburgh really well, two hundred plus yards. That's who they are. I trust them to go and challenge Indian every way on that front. Darius Leonard might be the secret sauce for the Colts to slow that down. Am I crazy to think that the Ravens are a team that I'm gonna lock up

right now? I'm going to the producer for a little bit of a loop because something else. But I just got that feeling Ravens They're not gonna lose two weeks in a row here. And the reason that that happens because I could feel I could sense you getting more and more animated and excited, and then when you do end you're a point was saying, Am I crazy? That means you're really strongly So it was all there. All the bread crumbs are there. I kind of all the lock.

I like it. I I thought about it myself because the Ravens, obviously they're coming off a game where they're really upset. They blow a ten point lead to their rival. Lamar plays poorly with the four turnovers, and you and Marcis Brown is upset, and you know you lose your left tackle and now your your star corner Marlon Humphrey obviously he tests positive for the coronavirus. There's a really bad week, but good teams, uh that are well coached

tend to bounce back well for really bad weeks. And can I say Greg that I am totally on board with the Indianapolis Colts. I'm starting to get there, mostly because Phil Rivers is playing a lot better than the last couple of weeks in my opinion. But at the same time, that game against the Lions, that's a team game with the lines driving for the go ahead score late in the third quarter before Darius Leonard makes that big time play. But so this team hasn't been dominant

really all season. No, I'm not all the way there. I picked them to win the Super Bowl just has a bit of wish casting, and I don't really feel that confident in them. This is a show me something game though, for both teams. I mean the Ravens they lost last week, but they have to feel good that they played their best half of football by far of the entire season against Pittsburgh in the first half, and uh made some mental errors. They've had some injuries go

against them. It's to show me something game from Philip Rivers though, more than anyone. Like we know now after the last two games against some pretty bad teams who can't rush the passer, who plays zone defense, the Bengals and the lines. Okay, uh, Philip Rivers can still carve up bad defenses and we didn't know that like that. That is important Canny carve up the Ravens because the Ravens defense is better on balance this season than they

were a year ago. They have not fallen back defensively, and they're not gonna let Philip Rivers just sit back there and pick them apart like he did the last couple of weeks. So it's a big time test for their offensive line, their protection issues, because it worries me as a Philip Rivers backer that they've got no running game. Their fourth in the league UH in net yards per tempt passing, they're dead last in yards per carry rushing.

So Philip Rivers is really carrying this team in a way offensively I did not expect and I don't necessarily think it's very sustainable. So I'm with you on this lock. I'm not making it my lock, but like Dan I I it was kind of my backup lock. So there's a little info. And know they lost Marlon Mack obviously early in the season to that achilles injury, and that's terrible. But you know, when you have an offensive line that the Colts have. We we talked about this offensive line

in hushed tones. You would think the running game would be able to get going. May have Jonathan Taylor, who a lot of people like as a prospect. There should be guys that are able to make plays, but it just hasn't happened. And I'm I kind of on the same page in the sense that like, all right, Philip Rivers playing better and he's been a lot more efficient and it's cutting down on the mistakes the last couple

of weeks. But do you want uh, nearly thirty nine year old Philip Rivers, like anchoring your offense at the stage that doesn't seem like a Super Bowl recipe. Wasn't that supposed to be the whole thing? They weren't gonna do to Philip Rivers. You know, we we're gonna, We're

gonna put you in this great environment. I would ask from the other side, because there's just as much pressure on Lamar Jackson, and I think he was pretty down on himself after that game, you know, with what happened through the air, and you've got Markue's Hollywood Brown tweeting, and then you know the coach is going out to Mark's Hollywood Brown saying please delete that tweet. Not helpful, you know, talking about I need to be a soldier and be involved in the in the whole process. Like

do we see some forced passes? Maybe two Brown out of the gate? Um. I just can see that that's the way the NFL works sometimes, unhappy player, squeaky wheel, We address it, we get that out of the way. We move into what we are, which is a run heavy team. That's what they are. Very well to go deep against. Right it's a tough team to go deep against too, this Colts team, and in Lamar right now, the you know the book on him coming into this season.

Can you get better outside the numbers? Right now he is second to last and completion percentage outside the numbers only better than Mitchell Trobinski. So that's partly skewed because they go deep so often, it's not going to be a high percentage. But he needs to be more consistent. This is one of the toughest matchups he has had against this cold step So we all like the Ravens, but yes, show me something game and Lamar, what does

Lamar Jackson have after what happened against Pittsburgh? This is a good one. You know. I'm thinking about it a little bit more because I get it right. The offensive Player of the Year things annoying. What about if you made it playmaker of the Year and then it's wide receivers, tight ends, running backs all in the grouping thing. I don't like it. Sometimes the quarterbacks win both and it's the same quarterback, and then some years it's not. It

doesn't really have any rhyme or reason. I just see it as like Best Picture, Best Director, and it's like, okay, we kind of like to so we're gonna give one to one of you and one to the other, and it's quarterbacks probably getting MVP. Um all right, I am up next in the draft. There's a no brain for me. I was hoping I would get the chance to take Seattle at Buffalo. Uh. Seahawks obviously coming off a win where you saw some progress on both sides of the ball,

which they kind of needed. And the Bills, listen, they beat the Patriots, and uh, that's important for that franchise. It was the first time they beat New England in their building in Orchard Park in nine years, which is insane. But that just tells you the dominance of the Patriots over the past two decades and how that's changing. However, however, are the Bills okay right now? That's a very honest question to ask. So I will set this game up for you, gentlemen, with an old game that we like

called who do you Trust? And here you go, who do you trust? Josh Allen and the Bill's offense right now against what's been a historically bad Seattle defense for most of the year or a Seattle defense that now is getting back Jamal Adams most likely UH to string together a second straight solid performance after doing the thing against the Niners in Week eight. Mm hmmm. It's a

tough one. Who do you trust. I'm gonna go with I'm gonna go with Josh Allen and the Bills, But I don't I don't feel great about it last week. I think you can kind of throw away UH in terms of their deep passing because the winds were so crazy. I actually think that was the s offensive game against the Patriots for a while. This matchup UH sets up very differently. I think you attack Seattle through the air.

The weather is gonna be fine in Buffalo. I I see the Bills as kind of finding their level that they were never a top five offense. People we got, we got a little over excited. They are also aren't like the twenty eight ranked scoring offense, which if you do the numbers over the last month, that's what they are. I think against Seattle, even with Jamal Adams and Carlos dunlop back, I think they're a solid passing team. I trust them a little more, and I need more than

one game out of Seattle. Being good against three quarters of a hobbled up Jimmy Garoppolo to go, uh, you know, give them any lollipops? What about you, Mark Well? I mean, I think the Bills offense has just kind of changed. They started as a top ten, you know, pass heavy attack, you know, through the first month of September four games or so, and they're now, you know, top ten in running. And I know last week was you know, weather impacted, but I think that's a positive to the Devin singletary.

And you've got Zeke Moss back. He played really well last week. And Josh Allen, I mean they piled up two hundred yards against a Patriots defense that we used to like. I don't think that is the same defense right now. So I trust Seattle's defense with Jamal Adams back because it's environmental to Seattle is gonna go score a ton of points on a Buffalo defense that isn't the same either. I mean, basically, at this point, we've

said it week after week. You know, there are like twenty five defenses in the NFL that I don't trust, and there's those teams are still winning games. So do I trust Josh Allen to suddenly turn it back and catch on fire and hang with Seattle. No, I do not. So you trust the Seattle defense here. I trust Seattle's defense to do enough to keep Buffalo at bay. Buffalo is not gonna explode here and be the story of

the game offensively. So for the reasons Greg said the Seahawks, they deserve credit because I've been waiting all year for them to have a game where the defense plays an active role in a win. So you get it against the Nineties. But it's also like, you know, we saw there was a an apocalyptic situation for San Francisco where Garoppolo reinders his ankle, George Kittle goes out, uh and you had him on the road and they just basically

folded up ten. So I'm not there yet where I could trust them, even with Jamal Adams there, because Adams is a gifted playmaker, but he also was playing defense for the Seahawks the first three weeks when they were getting torched at that stretch of the season as well, So I'll go with the I trust the Bills and Josh Allen maybe not so much, but I trust the offense.

The running game was a real problem for the Bills and UH in the first few weeks maybe not a problem because they were just leaning so heavily on the past with Josh Allen, but they were entered. They were twenty nine in football and rushing entering week eight. But they put together back to back season best performances now with that running back tandem. So I'm expecting them to continue to run the ball well and maybe that sets Josh Allen up to bounce back and have a nice

statistical game. I kind of like the Bills here. M hmmm, I do, okay, I disagree. I'd say like there's a little fact are called Carlos Dunlap. I know that people think maybe he's not the same guy. I think he's a good fit for Seattle. Brings a little pass rush you throw that the pass frus comes through Jamal Adams on that team. So it's just it's two players that they didn't have a week ago, and who is who

is stopping Seattle's offense. I know that's not either or here, but it's just that Seattle can withstand all sorts of influx inflictions to its defense, right, That's the thing. I trust Russell Wilson and DK Metcalf and Tyler Lockett. It's like an experiment right now, how far can three players carry the other fifty that are on the active roster. It's Russ, it's Locket, it's DK Metcalf against Bill's defense that hasn't showed me much of anything. I know, you've

got Matt Milano back. You guys think that he's just gonna save everything, but it's just one player that's not gonna change everything. And that's why I'm locking up the Seahawks on the road. I like it. That's where I almost went. And this is notable because Greg has started the season with eight consecutive locks, which is ah It's history for our podcast. So when he bets, it doesn't bet when he picks a team right now, you better listen.

And now I'm not feeling so good. But remember, people of Western New York, that the old Zeuser has got your back. I picked the Bills all right. Up next in the Old Zeus with the Jets fan, He's got your back, Buffalo. But no, it even shows more than I'm all about picking what I like, uh in a game, and I think the Bill's got it all right? Greg, you're up all right? I'm so glad to be watching a little Cardinals versus Dolphins in the late afternoon window.

Was hoping this would be available for me because too much of the season and it's one of the most surprising things about in the NFL has been predictable. If you go look at the preseason predictions, all the teams that were supposed to be good are good. All the teams that are supposed to be bad pretty much are bad. It's been kind of a chalk year, you know, except these two teams. These two teams are very different than they were in twenty nineteen, and there are a lot better.

The Dolphins, I'm I'm fascinated by even before they went to t a tongue of viola, because Brian Flores is a rare defensive coach now who gets wins with his scheme. I mean, he cooked up Jared Goff. He was so aggressive in that game. It reminded me also of the forty Niners game, where at their very best, the Dolphins can look unbeatable. It's kind of like a Kyle Shanahan type of edge on offense, where there's some weeks where he just brings the heat and there's nothing you can

do about it, at least if you're Jared Goff. Now, is that approach gonna work against Kyler Murray. Probably not. But if you if you watch one game a year ago against the Cardinals where Kyler Murray really struggled with the blitz, he's also a guy who wants to have get rid of the ball quickly, wants to know what he's looking at, and you're gonna have to run the ball if you're Kyler Murray and the Cardinals. So to me, it's a fascinating matchup, especially when Arizona has the ball.

I think it's it's like they gave up four hundred and fifty yards to the Rams, but they also like caused complete and total havoc. To your point, Greg, I think that if you're facing the Rams for the rest of the season, you look at what Brian Flores and that defense did and you copy it because you gave basically instructions on how to neutralize the Los Angeles quarterback. In Miami is a mentally tough team. They won that

game with Jachem Grant on special teams. It was their defense, it was their past rush, and it kind of overshadowed the fact that to uh, you know, and we want to see more. It's not you don't You don't judge. After one game their offense was flat. Their offense didn't cross a hundred yards till midway through the fourth quarter. They have issues at running back right now, I just don't trust this offense at all, But I'm not sure it matters if they continue to play the way they can.

The thing is what you can do to Jared Goff. You can't do to Kyler Murray. Kyler Murray invites the blitz because then it takes off into open spaces and tortures you. But the Dolphins have this sort of no name defense of guys that most people have never heard of who are making plays week after week. Emmanuel Agba has been basically a top ten player when it comes to pressuring and call seen nuisances and havoc for quarterbacks. This Dolphins team is growing more dangerous by the week.

I love what's how this week is shaping up, because well, maybe I won't after the games are played, but I am on the opposite side of the fence of the Sizzler and the old Boss with a lot of things this week. I love the Cardinals in this game, and all due respect to the Dolphins, and they're on a

winning streak, and and they played really well well. They played well, getting a pick six and putting some pressure on Golf, and they got a punt return for a touch and the first punt return for a touchdown that we've seen all season. How weird is that. I feel like that used to happen once a week, but it hasn't happened until last Sunday. Anyway, like the Cardinals a lot here, I think they're at home to a did

not do anything in his debut. We have no we have no reason to suspect he's gonna now hit the ground running and light up the Cardinals on defense, which is not a very good defense, and they don't have a great pass rush, and there's no Chandler Jones. But they did get after Russell Wilson in their last game before the I at the end of that game to help force the win. So maybe get a little bit of that. Whoda Baker makes a play and then Kyler

Murray goes nuts against the Dolphins defense. That is fine, but we're not talking about the five Bears here. I'm locking up the Cardinals and I'm doing it confidence. I feel good about very good. I actually picked the Cardinals to win this game. To be clear, I'm with you. Like the run game that that well, I was. I'm excited to watch it because I don't know what's gonna happen in. These two teams are so different, but the

running game, that's the way to beat the Dolphins. They're dead last in in rushing defense and uh Kyler on the ground, Kenyan Drake on the ground. I'm just saying it should be fun. I expect more out of to it, though I don't. I think they played to the score a little bit. And and we'll see what he does in his second start. Time now for Road to Victory,

presented by the United States Marine Corps. For this game, we're gonna go back to the prime time Slate Monday Night football Jets Patriots, who these usually don't turn out very well From my Jets, Uh, it's a it's a different set up than past years because the Patriots are no longer the Patriots, but the Jets are no longer the Jets either. The Jets went from being, you know, a bad team to a middling team. Pretty Jets to me, but yeah, potentially historically bad team. You shush, Greg, your

team is no good anymore either. So that's why the game is different. The Patriots went from good to the mediocre the bad. The Jets went from bad to historically awful. Uh, still seems like advantage in New England that say, you're not buying Dan the Belichick quote that they're significantly better the Jets are they they were a year ago, which was like a sneaky shot and Belichick, but I kind

of get what he's saying on some level. First, maybe he was talking about that first meeting where the where the Jets were totally a mess and it was the scene ghost game. Um, a lot of the Jets last year felt like a mirage. And I think even when they were winning game games, you didn't see Sam Donald really correct some of the mistakes that the Patriots exposed on this Monday night football game in terms of seeing ghosts.

And you're still seeing that. And I know he's a little banged up right now, but Sam Donald is expected to start, and it's a game that in theory matches up well for the Patriots defense, who are good in the back end and are just the worst Patriots run defense. Ever. I mean it's it's supposed to be a defense that stops to run, and they just have no one up

front right now, no one in their front seven. And is Frank Gore and le Michael p Ryan gonna expose that maybe because it's just like bad on bad and the Patriots run defense. Is that bad right now that I'm not assuming anything with this Patriots team in terms of having a comfortable win. I mean hold on the I mean Belichick week after week and he's done this every week this season. He goes and glows over one

player that they're facing. We just talked about this on a previous game, and this time he just pointed to the entire Jets team because there isn't really one player to pick at this point. Let's be honest. I mean, you got Adam Gaze, whose main skill, in my opinion, is basically lighting the house on fire and walking out the back door. I'm not sure what is going on with this team, but I I look, you know, the Patriots.

If we want to say that they lack this and that they do, I mean they had four undrafted free agent wide receivers starting the game last week, with Julian Edelen out. They still took the Bills to the final minute and that Cam fumble. Had that not happened, I think they would have won that game or taken it into overtime. So they find a way. I don't trust the Jets to find a way. And Dan, I hate this because I went through this as a Browns fan two.

But you almost need to just go into the darkest farthest reaches and not have them go on some lame winning streak and have them beat the pay I'm telling that happened last year was because the schedule was extremely soft, and that is simply just not the case of the Jets. I'm just concerned about one thing, and this is this is a conspiracy theory, separate of all the other ones

that our country is offering at the moment. This scenario that if Belichick found a way to allow you know, Gaze and Donald to sneak a little win here, and then they played them again in a week seventeen, you look at the rest of New England schedule. This is weird scenario. It's way that I'm saying, this is my scenario. This the New England could mind its way and mastermind Bill Belichick fashion to outbid the Jets for that number one pick, and then meanwhile you've got Adam Gays telling

his grandchildren, I'd beat Bill Belichick twice in one season. Yeah, but you totally took the organization out of out of the offering for the great quarterback in this is I don't know, because the Jets, that would be the most Jets thing you could do is to beat New England when you've got to essentially go oh for for the rest of the season. Come on, Jets, not necessarily over. I'd like them to get one win, honestly, so if they because I still think that will get them the

number the rest of the year. If you're looking at on paper, this is it. This is the best chance. That's what I want. I want the Patriots to go down in flames in primetime against the Jets, and then the Jets can lose out or Sam Donald could play well the rest of the year, and then you have a different decision to make. I do have a concern, Okay. My concern here is that the Sam Donald era is on the ropes right now. Uh, and he's banged up.

It's a it's a shoulder issue. I think it's a little bit more than a minor issue, but it's something he's trying to play through and he's showing some toughness, but I think it's not gonna help his play this season, and I'm concerned that Bill Belichick is gonna have the right scheme here and it's gonna be another very embarrassing performance, not just for Adam Gates and the Jets as a whole, but Sam Donald. And then it's officially game over for

the Donald arre. Either he plays terribly and then gets hurt and he's out for another six weeks or something, or he's just so bad that it's becoming it becomes increasingly clear it's Trevor Lawrence time or whomever. So that's as a Jets man, that's what I'm assuming is gonna happen here, and then anything that doesn't happen in that realm will be a pleasant surprise. I I think he's been there, and there's there's been some reasons to at

least he's gonna be with Adam Gates. We're never gonna see him with the Jets um without Adam Gates until after the season, and I think it's gonna be too late. Because I don't think he's regressed that much. I think he was playing as one of the worst quarterbacks in league late last year and and that he's still there. And and this is a game where I'm also curious um to watch to see if what the Patriots found in the second half was anything, you know, permanent, because

Damien Harris is running really well. Uh that they did pick up. You know, Cam Newton I thought played pretty well in that game. And so can they get anything together against the Jets. This is the week to do it. Look at Damien Harris breaking tackles. Cam Newton fought hard in that game. Yeah, he's not gonna give up. I've loved his attitude. It's kind of funny how you know, he's gotten some criticism over the years about his attitude. And that's the one thing I think everyone in Boston

kind of loves about Kim Newton. But it's his play that that has been erratic, to say the least. Maybe you're thinking of the last couple of games last year, Greg, but Darnald was making progress for stretches of last year. They were throwing, they were going on touchdown drives to start games, none all that stuff. On. I think he's undeniably regressed with the rest of the Jets this year, um, and I just hope it doesn't lead to more embarrassment in prime time. We'll see that was the road to

victory presented by the United States Marine Corps. All right, back to the draft now, and it's snakes to you, Rosie. Alright, I'm gonna go with Bears tight ends in the early games on Sunday. I think this is a sneaky fun game because it's strength on strength and weakness on weakness. When when the Bears have the ball, like this is their week to get off and I know they have offensive line issues and maybe that's just gonna be fatal

for this team, whether it's injuries or COVID. They're not right up front, they haven't been great, But they're playing a Titans defense where Nick Foles can finally, hopefully for him, get a little bit of time in the pocket. For all the criticism false has taken, he has played a brutal slate of good defenses. And I actually thought he made a lot more good throws against the Saints than

people gave him credit for. Escaped a couple of fourth down situations is ate the third and fifteen, a third and nineteen, and Mitchell Drabinski now has a shoulder injury, which sounds serious. So it's gonna be full as the rest of the way. And this is a chance against one of the worst third down, red zone defenses of all time. They cut Vic Beasley, which is wild. They had given him nine million dollars. That's the bigger disaster

of a signing that that was. And then when you flip it around the Titans when they have the ball, uh, the best red zone offense, third down offense in the league against one of the best red zone defenses that we've seen in a long time. So it's like strength

on strength no matter who has the ball. I mean, these strength on strength games though they look awesome to us when we're previewing the games, and then something goes wrong and one of the strengths don't show up when they actually play them, and I and I have to say which team which overall? You know, operation do I trust right here? You know I know what happens. Well, well, I'm just telling you that will be clear to you. I trust the Titans more here. You're not dealing with

you know, Joe Burrow. This time you're dealing with Nick Foles and he's been growing, you know, under seven yards per attempt for like six games in a row. And so I do think they fought hard against New Orleans and it becomes a board or just pile on Chicago's attack week after week. We can all see that they're wanting. Uh, you know, I feel bad for guys like Allen Robinson in the middle of that whole thing, who you know, you put them somewhere else in the whole situation is

different for him to me, the Titans. He if you're Tannehill, you can deal with pressure. He can deal with it. He's one of the better in the league at unfurling a beautiful pass with someone right in his face. So that's a little bit of a different edge against Chicago's defense that keeps teams in these games. I trust Derrick Henry in this game. I just to me, Tennessee is not gonna want to lose two in a row here, and that factors in. They're just gonna come in here.

There is bully. There is bully centric as the Bears could ever wish to be. The Bears don't want to lose three in a row. But if you all right, so put it, they may not be in control of that. If we're boy, if we're bored of piling on the Bears offense, and let's start piling on the Titans defense more, because like, what a mess. It's a it's a mess right now. And I think it's been covered up because the Titans offense has been fun and they've been winning.

But now when you you throw a lass in there, you start to really get concerned because how do you how does this happen? You're playing a Cincinnati offensive line that is missing four of their five starters to injury from the prior week, and you do not get a single sack of Joe Burrow. You you hit him twice the entire game, and that obviously that's the impetus. That's why Vick Beasley, they finally said, get out of here.

If you don't want to be here and you can't make a play, we don't want you in the buildings, So take our money and get out of our life forever, the old Truemayin Johnson treatment. But now, how about your David Clowney steps up? Make a play. Clowney, you are I don't know, if you're aware of this, Jadave and you're in a contract here again, and if you go through this season not making any impact, uh, you're not

gonna get paid. And I don't want to pile on him either because it seems like I do, but he's he's a part of the issue. So hopefully you know, you get secondary help from Desmond King. I don't know what an immediate impact he can make, but that side of the defense needs to improve to This is a unit that is not going anywhere unless they get fixed.

And that's Unbrable, who's technically the de coordinator, and and they're counting on their offense to be one of the best in the league, and it is, but we haven't seen a long stretch here without their tackles. It's a totally different tackle starting group right now after Taylor Lawan got hurt. So you have the first round pick Isaiah Wilson, who was on the COVID list forever. He's back, and

you have Tysonbrella. Like the early returns last week against Cincinnati were not impressive, and I think if you're looking for a bit of a weakness on Tennessee's offense, it's definitely upfront and here come the Bears. Acheam Hicks, Khalil mac Robert Quinn's up and down, but like these guys can keep it close. The Bears have maybe as many

impressive wins this year as the Titans were. Almost I've almost slept on the Bears too much because if you just look at the results, they're they're pretty solid results, and the Titans haven't really put together a complete game all year other than that one builds game. They let everyone in these games. They never blow teams out, whether they're good or they're bad teams. If if the Bears won this game, I'd have to I'd have to personally

look at them a little differently. I think part of it is that we all see them as a team that's trying to get through an NFL season with a completely different makeup than thirty one other teams. For the most part, they're trying to play like it's nineteen seventy two, and it's not just that's not fun to watch. I'm fine with that if it works, except I think that

the offense leaves this defense a very good defense. It holds them hostage week after week, and you're like, at some point someone's going to break through and score twenty points against you, and it's a fatal blow. You're done. All right, let's move on to the next game. Way to put a punctuation on that, Sessler. I loved it, classic Sissler. There, I'll go with the let's see the Raiders at the Chargers. Pretty good, pretty good value by with the with the UH six pick here. I like um.

I like the Raiders how they went about their business against the Browns. That they in terrible conditions, thirty five mile per hour wind, rain, sleep, you're on the road, it's just nasty. And they said, Okay, we're just going to run the football. We're gonna control time and possession. We're gonna whack you when you catch the ball. It was just like a nice physical effort from the Raiders that showed me a little side of their personality that

I wasn't quite aware of entering Week eight. So, yes, the Browns, as we've talked about, Mark, they're very up and down. They're good, they're bad. So maybe they caught the Browns in a bad week, so it shouldn't be too impressed, but I was. I like the way they played that game. And now you get the Chargers, who I don't know. I don't know what to say about the Chargers after they blow a twenty four to three

second half lead. I would say, if it happened to another team, maybe you show up angry here and you just whip up on the Raiders. That's certainly possible, because justin Herbert has been a revelation, But it's also equally possible. They're up twenty eight to seventeen with three minutes to play and they lose, so I can't trust them. The trust is becoming a major theme of today's episode. Well,

I like what you said about the Raiders. I think the grout and I know that I know that you know they've been more aggressive through the air, and that's because you know they've had to win games where they are being scored on, and so that's going to force you to be more aggressive. They're almost the flip of the Bears in a way where it's like, I found it offensive that they that they allowed Denver back into

that game. The defense you cannot count on, while the offense is one of the most watchable, enjoyable passing attacks I can remember of the past five ten years. I mean they simply are gonna will their way two points. And Justin Herbert has been absolutely unbelievable to the eyes, and he's making throws and doing things that I mean, I I don't you know, I can't really even find

a comparison for him at this point. He's his own guy, and so I like the idea that the Charger is gonna be in every single game the Raiders, though, That's what Gruden wanted to be against Cleveland, I think, and Josh Jacobs woke up. It was his best game of the year. They were the tougher team in bad weather. It's said a lot about the Raiders. It made me think about them very differently. And they're coming off a

few weeks of beating the Chiefs as well. This team is this team is a real threat for a wild card spot and they you never know what can happen at that point. They are a weird, tough team. It's so impressive what Herbert's done. I think he's he's having the best rookie quarterback season of the last decade so far, and and one of the reasons is because of the

matchups that he's had. He's played really tough opponents. He's played some of the best defenses in the league and then find now he finally gets a matchup where he should be protected much better. I mean, it's a cupcake matchup against the Raiders usually most weeks, and there's no reason to think he won't bomb them out and like that they have the edge. But there's something more going on with the Charges. It's cosmic. I mean, this is where I'm sounding more like Sessler. You can't you can't

measure whatever the Chargers have. It's a crazy disease, it's a variance, it's an up and a down thing that's you can't do it. And the Raiders are sort of the opposite to me. They're kind of this steady, mature team that's built up over the last week. Like I just trust them more as a tougher mental team, whereas the Chargers, I don't know, whatever they have going on they need to get rid of. It's yeah, the Charger

it's been happening for years. But sometimes you could also argue that when otherwise level headed analysts like a Greg Rosenthal blames it on the Cosmos, he's covering for the fact that he likes the head coach but the head coach actually isn't that good and he plays a role

in these collapses as well. Fair or no, that's that's fair. Defensively, sure, Anthony Lynne, I give him credit because Anthony Lynn probably wanted to win games sixteen fourteen and run the ball, you know, forty times a game you lose Austin Nichola, and he's been flexible to allow the team to be what they are with their great quarterbacks. So that's that's

points earned with me. But the defense has been a wild hot mess on fire in all the wrong ways, and so you know, there's a lot of work to make up for that, and it leads to these It is coaching, you don't. It isn't. It can't believe. It's not all mysticism. Uh, it can't be. It has to be the fact that some teams learn and get into the groove and know how to close games. That's what the Bucks said about Brady. We would lose these games if we didn't have him, his presence, the whole aura.

So it's mysticism, player coach, the whole thing mixed together. Dan a wild hot mess on fire, all right, We keep going. Mark Sasler up next in the draft. Well, I'm gonna go Carolina at Kansas City, and you know, I you gotta be real with with these teams. And I love my Matt Rule. But my thing with the Panthers they have they have struggled to close games of late.

They're they're pretty good, they don't What I like about them is they don't get blown out, They hang around, they do a lot of things pretty well, and they're there in the fourth quarter. But they've lost three in a row by what would be one score if you had a touchdown, a two point conversion. So I feel like at that point they're just one of these teams

that might be, you know, a year away from really threatening. Um. To me, I look at I know that I know what happened last week against the Falcons, but I point to the Saints game two weeks ago, which is a really interesting contest for the Panthers, where I thought Teddy Bridgewater battled in that game. There was one play where he escaped a blitz and hit Curtis Samuel on this beautiful throwdown field. There was a beautiful shot to d J. Moore.

Robby Anderson is there every week. Their offense is watchable and interesting, and again it's like you're gonna get Christian McCaffrey back in this game, it sounds like, And that's a nice X factor. I think that that this is an offense to can compete and hang around, but and their defense is down. You can't really rush the passer right now and income the Chiefs. And if you can't really get to Patrick Mahomes and make life uncomfortable, which we've seen week after week, what how do you hang

around in a game like this? I think this might be the one where the bow breaks um for Carolina unless something really strange happens with turnovers or whatever. I don't love the set up, but I think it's an interesting test for a very young team still figuring out who they are. And it's always good to go up again against a team like Kansas City and find out you know no offense in are you last week's Jets or are you the Raiders? Are you? Can you hang around?

What are the Panthers? We'll see you mentioned turnovers. That's like the cherry on top of the Sunday for Kansas City. Right now they lead the NFL and turnover margin so on, on top of everything they take the ball away. Steve Spagnola's defense is especially good against the past, which is the way you want to stop Carolina. Christian McCaffrey is going to be back for this game. That's big, but it doesn't matter. I think this is like the start of the Patrick Mahomes like, oh yeah, maybe he can

win the m v P Award this year too. By the end of it, it feels like like that had been ruled out. I'm just saying, yeah, that was four or five weeks. I still think it's a little early. But what I would say is, like, you know, they're talking about it in the you know, in the desert. I feel like no one's paying attention to Mahomes. Now might be the time to get in. He's thrown twenty one touchdowns in one interception this year, you know, on a team that right, on a team that has a

very easy schedule. Uh, and it's gonna continue being easy moving forward for the most part, especially against opposing defensive So I think he's just gonna have more games like the Jets game a week ago, and this would be the week to do it. Yes, the Panthers get back gross Matos upfront, which is good. I liked how he looked early in the year. But there's no reason to think the Panthers defense, who hasn't forced to punt since Week six, is gonna do anything against this team. It

smells like a forty burger. Yeah they didn't. I mean the Panthers didn't close in the sense that they weren't able to go down the field on that last drive on Thursday night against the Falcons. But they got outplayed straight up by the Atlanta team that played so poorly earlier this season that they got their coach fired. And listen, I was I was mocked on the show three weeks ago for saying, Oh, the Panthers aren't the greatest gift to football. Uh, this is gonna be This is an

up and down. This is gonna be an up and down team just like I thought. And they were gonna hanging games and maybe be ready next year. I'm glad you guys came around to the old zooser on this one. Wait a minute, and ay you were not mocked. Is like absurdly strong, and you know that you you like now you set up you have to like, oh you like you're like you guys think that I don't love Matt Rule, like blah blah blah. It's like we we we we are correct. Lombardi that no, Matt Rule is

a great coach. You have to say that the Panthers, No one's saying that they playoff team. They have overachieved, they have over than like Matt rule, because the Jets said, no, we won't let you guy or your own coaching staff. We're gonna control your coaching staff. And if Matt Rule was in New York right now, Sam Donald would not be one of the worst league. I really had a chance. My team had a chance to hire Vince Lombardi at age thirty eight, and I let him out, get out

the door. So I'm dealing with that. You're right, What am I gonna do without Matt Rule around for the next twenty years? See you are you're the one mocking. We're not mocking. You're the most all right, Teddy. I want to see how Teddy plays in this game. That was a nasty hit. Also also against the Falcons to the head and neck area was an illegal hit. Um, it sounds like he's okay. I'd like to see him

have a nice week here. And and maybe I know but you're not gonna hang with Mahomes, right, You're just not gonna hang out with Mahomes and a shootout. And I'm with you, Greg, like he is going to continue to have monster weeks because he was held down by some things that were out of his control earlier in the season. And I think its just take off time. I think this game is gonna get ugly. I think

we're on the same page. I'm with you, all right, Mark, It's snakes to you, my friend, Well it snakes to me. And I'm not claiming that this is where like a like a bona fide GM would go next with his selection. But we have to look at our Sundays and how we organize them. There's one more four o'clock our game. If you live on the East coast, it's a one

o'clock to us. I'm going Pittsburgh at Dallas. This has all Sometimes I like to just see, you know, ugliness on furl and great measure, and Pittsburgh is a team that is set up to absolutely roping atomic bomb on Dallas. It's not fair to Cowboys fans because I think about a month ago, they thought we have issues on defense, but we have one of the most electrifying offenses in

all of those everything. They were totally fun. In fact, I mean, I think, if you want to look at the fantasy angle, if you haven't been dumping Cowboys players off your roster the past couple of weeks, what are you doing. I have a bunch of them and you gotta move them. You gotta move them off that roster. And now you're looking at Cooper Rush or Garrett Gilbert at quarterback, and I would imagine, you know, they talked about it being a decision they'll make as late as possible.

Cooper Rush has been part of the organization in the past. You know, Kellen Moore knows him well, not so much Mike McCarthy, but they signed him for a reason. They seem to like him in the past. Garrett Gilbert was pulled off of Cleveland's practice squad. So I'm thinking, unless you want to do something really weird, like play both of them series after series, that's what I would do.

Throw everyone off, get really funky, maybe run the single wing, and you know, just do something that no one's expecting. Other Wise this sets up as total destruction. Pittsburgh's pass Rush versus this offensive line. This could be like a fifty two seven type of breathe easy game for the Steelers. I mean, in in Dan's old words, it doesn't matter. I mean, you can't they can't protect. It doesn't matter it is that quarterback. It'll probably rush, And what does

it matter? They chose Ben de Nucci over rushed to start this year, though, So I mean that kind of shows you where Cooper Rush was at. He was on the game in my building forward Denucci. I mean, hey, hey, maybe it's not his fault that your offensive line they can't block three, they can't block four. When the Steelers want a blitz, you're definitely not gonna block five. It really doesn't matter. The Steelers defense will be able to

do whatever they want. I am curious. I guess if the Cowboys defense is gonna build on what they did a week ago where they had by far their best game of the year. I mean, vander esh did look a little spicy. Uh. DeMarcus Lawrence has definitely come on

in a couple of the last couple of weeks. So you know, can the Cowboys defense get respectable because otherwise, you're right, it's gonna be a thirty forty point margin in this I was gonna you know, every year, there's always gonna be obviously one game that's the biggest blowout of the year. Everyone kind of circled Jets at Kansas City last week, which was ugly, but didn't get to that, um,

you know, apocalyptic level. This could be it because of everything that's going against the Cowboys right now, the amount of bad vibes in that building. Uh, the quarterback situation where this is depending how you look look at it, it's gonna be their fourth or fifth string quarterback starting

against arguably the best defense in the league. You put all that together, uh, and the fact that the Steelers can score points of their own on offense, we could be staring at a fifty burger game that you know, maybe takes Mike McCarthy one step closer to the coaching graveyard.

I don't know, We'll see. But the only thing I guess I would say from the Steelers end of things is that Ben Roethlisberg in the passing game can go to sleep for stretches and maybe maybe us maybe the only thing that keeps us from a blowout is that the offense, the passing offense is a little out of sink, and it keeps the Steelers from just going absolutely mad here. Well, if I'm the Steelers, I'm resting my players that are

a little banged up. Tyson a la lalla. That's one of the reasons they didn't you know, protect uh, you know, stop the run last week is hurt. There's a couple other players that are heard. It's like, sit them down this week. They should have gotten Romo out of here though, hashtag save Romo. I mean, I tend to draft a Romo game. I think I've had it five or six times. It's like, I can't even take it this week. Why why do they have Romo in this game? Give me

a break? Fair? I guess it's like the one rating matchup possible, but forget it. Well, before we move on to Mark's original point, the fantasy point, all the Cowboys, all the people that had Cowboys. You had one week. It was after DA's leg broke and before Dalton started, when there was a sense that maybe they could continue to be a functional offense with Dalton. But then one Stalton went down in flames in that primetime game. It was basically lights out. So now you're going down with

the ship. You're it's the band from the orchestra from the Titanic. At this point, if you still have Cowboys skill players and your roster, all right, that brings us to the old zeus Er. Oh God, I loving the old Zusters up in the draft. Uh. He does such a great job with his picks. What is going on all right? Detroit at Minnesota is my pick? I like this game, like it Minnesota, little feisty. They made me look bad earlier this season because I liked them a lot.

I said they had a very high floor. I thought they were close to a lock to ten and six as any team in the NFC. Obviously ignored what were major issues on their team, which was first and foremost the defense. What I didn't see was Kirk Cousins turning into uh. As Gregg pointed out last week Jameis Winston Part two, he still don't really know how that happened. I guess the loss of Stefan Diggs played a role, But just justin Jefferson has been awesome as a rookie.

So all this stuff going on in my head swimming in my head about the Vikings, I can't totally put them to bed I. I don't want to give up the dream that this is the team that is gonna be in the mix. Maybe they're not going to get to the floor that I thought, which was ten and six, but they'll be playing relevant football in December. It starts right here, though. Go beat the Lions in your building. I don't have any faith in the Lions, and they're

dealing with COVID related issues this week. The top things off, So the Vikings have a chance now to build off what was a really nice win against the Packers at lambeau Field where Davin Cook went absolutely mad. I don't think they're gonna have trouble moving the ball again this week, and I like them a lot in this game. What do you boys think that you think that you're gonna

lock it up? There? You sounded passionate. I mean, I think that the win over Green Bay was the kind of win to shut someone like me up because I've been the opposite of you, Dan, obviously, I've been down on the Vikings for a long time. Um and it looked good, but I have to I have I'm with you. I think that there's some fight here and in any team that can run the ball the way they are right now. You know, let Cook cook. How about let Dalvin Cook just keep doing this down the stretch. Forget

about this Kirk Cousins business. The two games they've won with Kirk Cousins, he has passed the ball twenty two times, and last week and going against Green Bay fourteen times. I think that's what they want to do. And why not because that's paired with really really great performances on the ground, and there's no reason you can't do that with Detroit and with the Stafford thing. You know, it adds to the layer of mess that so many teams

are dealing with right now. And I would I like a better answer from certain players and coaches on you know, if you don't practice all week and you're you know, you're just attending meetings over zoom, I don't know how much of an impact does that have in Week nine if you're a quarterback or a skilled position player, I

still think it matters a lot. I mean, we don't have these practices from nineteen eighty five where it's full contact, but it's chemistry, it's it's scout team, it's the whole situation. So to me, that's an impact and that's a big advantage for the Vikings, right. I think that like the for instance, the Broncos last week, it's like they never practiced their red zone and third down plays. And you know, the NFL is kind of dancing through the rain drops

right now trying to get these games happening. Ten teams this week have COVID related issues. Stafford's starting quarterback, that's that's out um of practice. But to be clear, you know, the timeline that we've seen in terms of being out five days because he was a close contact, means he could start in this game, and at this point, I think it's cautiously expected to start. But I'm with you, Dan, I had the Vikings winning regardless. Uh. I think these

two teams have two Jenga pieces. One of them is Kenny Golladay and he's out with a hip injury. This Lion's offense is just mediocre without Galada stretching the field. He is such a great receiver. They just don't have enough juice otherwise. And then Dalvin Cook's the other one. He's the other running back that matters. I mean, they're just a different offense. You guys have spelled it out, but I think that Gary Kubiak like zone running scheme

has kind of taken hold quietly. They just need to be in game situations, game scripts where they're not trailer by twenty, which has happened to them a few times. Because the Cousins, this should not be one of those weeks. We like Mike Zimmer here at the A T N podcast. He's good coach. I give him credit because when you trade Yannick and Gokway, that's sending a message to the locker room that your organization is quit on the season.

Team didn't quit on the coach against the Packers, and the stat of there gonna go seven and nine, don't you think they're gonna go seven nine? I'm not giving up the ghost. I think seven and nine is good for him right now. But I think we probably because I think Kirk Cousins, the way he's playing that ye will probably kill them one or two more times and that could be the difference between seven and nine and

the nine and seven. Uh come back. But Dave Cook a hundred and eleven of his a hundred sixty three rushing yards were after contact last week against the Packers. He is a superstar alright, Greg, you're up alright, I'm gonna surprise you here. I'm going with Jake Lewton's first start. Who really knows he's playing for the Jaguars and he's playing against the Texts, and my strategy is to get the game. I don't really want to watch that much in my backup window early. That's how I do it,

and that is a strategy. It's like, I don't I don't need to watch Luton on game pass. Proved me wrong. Maybe they will. Maybe he will because they really liked him in camp. They talked about him in the same way they kind of talked about Minshew last year, and they were right about Minshew being better than you'd ever expect a late round rookie to be. I believe in my soul more than anything that Luton was starting this game,

whether Minshew got hurt or not. If you saw that Ian Rapp report report a couple of weeks ago, how they were thinking of benching Minshew, it only makes sense to do it for another young guy. Uh. And then Morone said early in the bye in their bye week, that we're gonna shake some things up. I mean that to me, telegraph that you're making a change at quarterback, and so they were curious enough to see Luton play.

Despite Minshew playing Okay, I don't think anyone saying that he was a disaster, so I think they're thinking this is a great matchup here. They're playing the Texans. Texans have more COVID issues than anyone. They're gonna be without Jacob Martin, their linebacker. They're gonna be without Whitney Merciless, who on Thursday was deemed a close contact. He's out. So this game of all the games, is one I think you have to watch to make sure it even happens. But if it does, there should be a lot of

points defensive. I'm really rooting hard here for the Jags for Jets purposes. I need the Jags to get that second w Houston has Deshaun Watson, so they're gonna stumble into three or four wins, so I'm not worried about them, So go Jags. I'm also gonna get all in Sessler on Lutanity because you know the Gardner Minshew thing. I missed that train and that seemed like it was a fun ride. Walt lasted. Well, I'm gonna be the first

one on the Jake the Snake Lutanity train. I'm all in on his abilities to be like the second coming of Minshew Mania. Uh, it's like when Johnny Doe replaced Dirk Diggler and Boogie Nights. It's like that. Feeling like this, he's the same guy. He's a late round pick that had a spunky college career and uh, you know what, why not get on the train and see where it takes me? Well, you know, so I'll play your role in this relationship and you know, throw little jabs at

Lutonity and Luton every chance I get. I think that Greg number one, you're absolutely right when when Ian is putting out a report that you know they want to see what they have in Minshew's you know, heading towards the bench for another six rounder. To me, I don't think it's hey, maybe we have a future starter. It's hey, we have a chance to go get Trevor Lawrence, So let's get Minshew out of here. Who is you know they're losing with him, but he's a little too frisky

and for all this heat has a great arm. Jake Luton business. I went and looked at some stuff scouting reports coming out of Oregon's six foot six is one of these. Well no, because because I wanted to find all this's going on here, it struck me as suspicious. He was basically labeled as a non depasser game manager, good ball security, not a guy who can scramble or lays with the run. No, but Minshew can at least give you Like on the ground, Minshew is has escapability,

he can move a little bit. He's probably created stuff when nothing's there more than people would expect. I don't think that's the case here. I think that they're going with a lower wattage quarterback, and I think the Jet that Dan, they are looking at your Jets team and saying we want the Jets to sneak a few wins here, because you this is two teams saying we can change our franchisees if we get Trevor Lawrence. And they're right in that zone, So you go with the lower watted

You think they're trying to I definitely do. I definitely do. But I think maybe the way they operate. They even told Marone it's you're not on the hot seat, you're part of this, or maybe they just said it with their eyes. Maybe it's not done for not maybe it's done, you know, done with if it's maybe it's not you know something that there's no words, there's no it's not been overheard by anyone bugging the building. Greg. I'm not

trying to be a go down conspiracy avenue again. I just think that Minshew was a little too dangerous for them not to get at this case. Maybe I'm maybe I think they want to see this guy. I think they liked him. They want to see him. Jay Gruden whenever there's wherever Jay Gruden goes, little whispers to the media follow you kind of notice these things. I think he likes Jake Luton for whatever reason. Uh, you know, the Texans are the worst run defense in the league.

James Robinson might go off. I know the Texans are heavy favorites here, but I'm not trusting the Texans uh as heavy favorites until I feel like this is a coin flip. Yeah, all right, we've done a lot of talking to one in six teams. Let's move on Snare Oh baby, um, not totally ready for that. But I'll pick a game that I truly love that I love it so much I almost wanted in my number one slot.

It's the Falcons and the Broncos. There's just sometimes sometimes teams are just like my team, like teams I'm like surprisingly enjoyed watching The Dolphins would be one of those teams this year. The Broncos and the Falcons qualify. The Falcons drive you crazy. They have really turned their season around since firing Dan Quinn and getting Julio Jones back. They've won two out of three. If Todd really had just fallen down, we'd be talking about a three game

winning streak. The Browncos have won two out of three. A little bit lucky last week since Drew Lock returned, but I do think they're frisky and this is a big game for them. They can get back to five hundred. They can get back to relevant. Uh. Drew Lock had seven absolutely miserable quarters and I think he fell into that win. Uh. And I think the Charges collapsed a little more than he made consistent plays. Um, But this

is a beatable matchup against Atlanta. Go on the road, get a win with your solid defense, get these playmakers involved on turf against a bad defense, and go get to five hundred. I mean, Albert KOI buonum, I think I got it right. There. He looks like one of the best young Titans we've seen come out in a while. He's a fourth or fifth round pick, and him next to Fan who's who looks a little banged up to me, doesn't have the same explosiveness. But that's that they got

a fun little team. If they can just get locked not blowing it. That's my big with Albert. I go with Albert Oh because I know that that is infallible, and I know that that is correct to some degree as well. I mean that to me, you know, Greg, I like what I like what your lock did at the end of last week. But they have had some slow starts. They are thirty and d v o A on offense. That has to do with, you know, the junk that was going on when Locke was hurt as well.

But if this is your game, the Falcons are twenty nine against the past in d v o A, So it's like, come out firing for once. Be the sum of your parts. Because the thing about Denver that interests you is they have all this young talent, They have this speed. A guy like Albert Oh, who we weren't even talking about in August, is a huge factor. So let's put it all together against a team that you should be able to beat. Here if we should take

you seriously. I struggled to take Denver seriously, but I'm with you. They're fun to watch, and so I'd like to have them hang around for the sake of not another team that goes into the trash compactor as we head into mid November. I don't need that. Falcons could easily a foray are we. Falcons are this team that should be easily dispatch They're playing hard. We just saw them beat the Panthers. Pulled a poll on Thursday night, and I'm with where I'm out of the Broncos. Show

me yeah, show me it again. That's all you're You're in the third quarter and then the charger is gonna charger. And I don't want to take away from the Broncos because that was a great fourth quarter for Lock in the offense. Lock went fourteen of eighteen for a hundred and fifty five yards and three touchdowns in the fourth quarter. That's awesome. That's exactly the type of like quarter you want to see from a young quarterback you believe in

because he's showing you something. He's flashing but if he goes to Atlanta and follows it up with another, you know, performance that is a man or worse performance, then you lose that juice. But yeah, so what you're gonna saying, build off that win? Uh, and then maybe we could start getting a little excited Greg's earlier there. I get it, Greg, Greg and West and other people in the football gagnets anthy that's a bit said a bit differently that time.

Have been excited about the Broncos for weeks, and you've got your little cookie against the Chargers. Well, now, let's see if this is going to go next level. Let's get a whole cake, a whole bunch of desserts. All right, one game, right, one one remaining game on Sunday night. I'm just gonna, hey, Nick, gonna need you to grab giants at at Washington. But and he's gonna shrug his shoulders, and it's like, all right, man, I love Nick Shook. He assaulted the earth. He'll he'll say, yes, but I

wonder if inside he's slightly annoyed. Man, what a year, What a what an ad Shook has been unfortunately without West for long stretches of the season, as he continues his cancer fight and we love you wes Uh and we hope to get him back soon. But Shook has been a huge value add He's done great job. Every Sunday night read his weekly top ten columns. He goes through a variety of you know, positional rankings, and this week it was like the most disruptive players on defense,

not like in the locker room, not personality wise. I mean he did. He does a great job with these, So you know and go find Allen of this season. You know, just brings the media energy, might fumble the ball a couple of times, but you know, it brings some fun to it there about. I just wanted to I just want to get a text from Shook that's like, why are you calling me? Kind Shooks like one, remember like every every once in a while you see some viral thing of like a seven year old that has

as a bodybuilder. I'm convinced that there's photos of Shook when from like nine and he's completely jacked. I think that's a thing. I think you're right because his dad is a jacked gentleman as well, so I think it's been in the family like for a while. I don't think joke just started lifting weights like two months before he showed up in Los Angeles. Jack bros. All right, let's get into Giants at Washington. Greg, what do you

think about this game? I like Washington watching the Washington football team more than I anticipated because I think Scott Turner's offense is pretty creative. They've been better with Kyle and he's definitely gonna give you a chance to you know, turn the ball over a couple of times, but at least the ball moves, and Antonio Gibson is just a powerful runner. They have guys who can make plays. Terry McLaurin I think is a future star if he's not

there already. They have Chase Young, they have Montes Sweat, you know, their secondary. Their defense is it's a pretty good defense, and so I kind of trust them in this game. I know they lost the Giants a few weeks ago. Uh it was really based on the turnovers that Alan had it that was his first start. But they at least have some players that can win one on one. The Giants, to me, just don't have the juice.

They're well coached, but they don't have the players. You know, one thing on Antonio Gibson and Scott Turner, and we always, you know, I always talking about Kyle Shanahan, son of a coach, but Scott Turner obviously the son of Norv Turner, and he's been around for a really long time. And he was the one, if from what I read, that really pushed for Antonio Gibson, and it was someone with not a large sample size as a running back in college. It wasn't the same way with Bryce Love, who you know,

had massive carries and tempts and touches. They projected him as sort of a Christian McCaffrey type, and I'm not sure that's the case, but he has been impactful. And you're right, Washington has pieces that you can look into the future and if they right get that they find the right quarterback, there's something going on there. I I don't think the Giants, though, are a gigantic mess there to the sense of their defense, to me, is playing

above water better than what I thought. And I know Greg, I know that, you know, I know that Daniel Jones at some point burned down like your childhood home. And they might need to find a new quarterback at some point here. But they have other things going on that. I was a fan. I'm frustrated, and I just thought that that performance, granted it's an island game, the whole country's watching. I just thought people were kind of under playing. How is one of the worst games any quarterbacks played

all year, maybe the worst. And it's coming off the It was coming off the game where he did the trip and it's like your problem for him is like you start to play yourself out of the beholder business on national TV right right? The trip game was an island game as well, and that's just I think, now it's over and he did I know you didn't like that last drive against a very good defense. Was it

was lock? Whatever? I mean? Well, I mean I don't want to pull the you never played card, But he he made the throws and he made the plays and scored. But he say they had they called the perfect play on the two point conversion. I think all thirty one other quarterbacks it was his first read. Just throw the ball and that and that was emblematic to me of the whole night. I get it. And if you have doubts about Daniel Jones, it is totally fair. But yeah,

the Giants defense has been okay. It's been pretty good this year and the Washington These are two teams, like who's going to potentially catch the Eagles in the NFC East. It's one of these two teams. Most likely, I think it's neither of them. I think it's the Eagles that are gonna limp to a division win. But I guess you, if you squint, you can make a case for one

of these teams. I would to pay if I had to pick between two of them, would be Washington because the defense is a little higher ceiling and if Kyle Allen could be okay, maybe they can get on a little run there. But I don't know. This is a hard game to get excited about. At the end of the day, it is there's one little nugget from this Washington team. But I don't think we mentioned in our show that Ron Rivera last week appeared to have his

last treatment for his cancer. Suits he's awesome. I mean for him to go through what he's gone through, and for our show, we all know that that means a lot more. But um, I mean, this is a guy that never once complained about it, and being a head coach already shuts you out from your family from regular life, from everything. I mean, these guys already do these hours

that are insane. So to put to tack that on and get through it and have us talk about Washington as a team that is still maybe has a chance in this division is impressive. Well. Rivera brings good vibes, you know, and I think that's important for Washington. This has been one of the most depressing franchises for a while. Uh you know, not a team that seemed like they were to other happy Like this team seems to be like pulling for each other. They like playing for Rivera

all of his teams do. I think that matters. I think it's gonna help him this year. Good call, well said, gentlemen. There you go. That is the preview of week nine. Make sure you tune in on Sunday night where we recap each of the games we just laid out here and um, that's what we call the flagship show mark. That's that's how we branded it. I mean, that's you

you tweeted about the other day. I put out a tweet with an actual flagship um that A bunch of people came at me saying listen, that's some Some video taken from a video game. I'm forty seven. I don't care where it came. I don't know what video game it came from, but I do know what a flagship is historically. Please all right, good and check out our

mini pod recapping Thursday night football Packers Niners. Until then, this is Dan Hanson signing up for a quiet storm the Old Boss or Ricky Hollywood in the Whole Gang until Sunday s