2021 Week 11 Recap

and we're gonna get to all the games. Uh. Week eleven played Sunday in just a bit, but we leave. At thirty t Austin Ekeler goes in from five yards out seven place, seventy five yards to seven possession. It was like, oh, Pittsburgh, They're just never gonna get a stop. As soon as we leave the building, we get Pittsburgh Steelers five yard touchdown pass thirty four um No. We get a Eric Ebron touchdown nine place, seventy five yards.

We get an interception by the Chargers Pat Friar Muth five yards, uh touchdown two yards to plays eleven yards thirty four Boswell forty five yard field goal after an interception that went off of a helmet four. There was a block punt earlier, we did see that. And then a classic ending for the Chargers and their fans. There weren't a lot of them in that building, but a classic ending. And we're gonna get to all of it. But Mark, you know we left before the classic part

of the game entered the equation. I know you were upset seal those Steelers fans. Uh sad at the end of the game and miss out on that. Did get to see Kim Hayward punch Justin Herbert on the ground. Um, that's when I decided to leave at one point. I mean it was I remember growing up. I used to get on this one kid because he had a story that he and his dad left Game six of Mets Red sox um when he was a youth. I was like,

you you don't. I would never myself do that. Well, I'm not saying it's the equal because the stakes weren't even remotely close, but uh, my car, and it's not our team and we were coming back to recorda show. That's true, But I would just say that it's the first time I've ever found myself in this situation where like theatrics and amazing moments happened after I was not in the bad, very very I came very close to going back into the building because we had the press pass,

but I couldn't get any internal support. Well, I don't know if you have, we could have gotten in this same day. The thing that was crazy about it though, is we left during the Steelers touchdown drive which made it thirty seven thirty four to twenty seven, so that that drive started with under nine minutes to go. We were watching on TV here and that drive wasn't over yet. That's how close we are to get it back. That we got back within a four minute drive from the

game from the press box two here. That was taken in a private helicopter from the press box to or the It's an amazing thing. The stadium was amazing, And yeah, like Chargers fans get a lot of grief because fans come in and take their stadium number one. A lot of Steelers fans were walking out with us when we

left when they were down by two touchdowns. So bad job by you guys, because your team went and took a lead later on and then second of all the atmosphere where there's two different fan bases cheering, like, Okay, that's not great if you're a Chargers fan, but it's pretty cool, Like it's the Chargers fans were still loud in there and the Steelers fans were loud, and like, as someone who's not a fan of either, it's just like it was a it's a cool atmosphere. All right.

Let's okay start going through the games, and we'll start with the game that we were at but missed out all the fun on. Let's head to Sofi Stadium with the great Matt Money spent on the call. Here comes the blitz throw outside the numbers, caught side Mike Williams, Cardinals into the end side Chargers fifty three yards. How

bong goes right out the gate. And I want Money to know because Money listens to the show and he is the voice of God for the Round the NFL podcast, and the voice of the Chargers is that we got back here late. And I said, hey, we gotta get the money call, not the Westwood one call, not the al Michaels called the money call. And Ricky and Grave Digger said it's gonna be an extra ten minutes or so, and I said, it's worth it. He's the voice of God.

And that's one of the big plays and recent Chargers history. Justin Herbert to Mike Williams from for fifty three yards. It is the game winning score. One of the craziest games of the season. Seven the Chargers beat the Steelers, a game that featured twenty seven points from the Steelers in the fourth quarter, many of them coming after we had left the building. Mark A game that looked like it was in the Steelers back pocket. They let it uh in the Charges back pocket. The Steelers storm back,

but somehow l A finds a way. Sissler, Well, I'm stunned by what we watched. Although I mean, I feel like if someone told me before the game, will this thing go down to the end because it is the Chargers, I would have said yes. But I mean to think that the Steelers are oh and two hundred and thirty this stunning stat when trailing by seventeen in the fourth quarter of games that they climbed back out of it.

I did that. That thing threw me right there. But it was a series of Chargers mistakes that opened the door. And then at the end, because I think their offense had been so hot all night long. At one point it was like four hundred and something yards too, about a hundred and seventy for the Steelers. They were moving the ball at will. Justin Herbert was running wild on them, and it was a very Chargers esque almost ending, and

they climbed their way out of it. I mean, the Chargers scored on their first five possessions, but in in weird Charges fashion, they actually had more possessions in the fourth quarter then they did in the first three combined, and that included the block punt. We did see that, Danny. I mean we didn't miss everything. We saw some dimes

from Justin Herbert. I mean the the throw that he had to alan in the first quarter, like the whole shot, and then the thirty yard baby down the field and the third quarter like those are amazing to see live. Then you got an interception of Flukey play off a helmet, you go for it on fourth down in your own end, and when they didn't get it, this is the moment where the Steelers have a chance to go win the game,

put a touchdown in. You know, this is the moment where you say, like if Herbert doesn't win this game. This is catastrophic. He's got to go down and make a drive. And he had a chance to make a drive because the Steelers went three and out right after they didn't get the fourth down, So that that's part of the reason why you go for the fourth down,

because your defense can pick you up. They did, and then instead of everything crumbling like you said it would have, and that this was a big moment in Chargers history, that Herbert was gonna become part of Chargers like like

lower in terms of being cursed, he didn't do it well. Yes, what I said before the mic wet to play was with the world falling down and forty five thousand Steelers fans waving towels in l A going nuts, if the Chargers blew this game in front of Al Chris Michelle in the world and Herbert was right in the middle of it, even if he had played a good game overall, a great game overall, to me, it's like he's part of this now. He's part of all of this Chargers pain,

and it's very real. And any Charger fan, no matter where you are in the country, uh knows that. And yet I thought that was like kind of like the big overarching story is that Justin Herbert uh and I know it was a busted coverage by Pittsburgh, and Collinsworth pointed it out correctly that there's no way you have a busted coverage in that spot on the Williams TV if Mickay Fitzpatrick was playing. And there's so many big time players with the Steelers that were out, including t J.

Watt and Joe Hayden uh and fits Patrick uh. So the fact that they were almost able to come back and win really is a testament. And Big Ben played well in this game. But to me, Justin Herbert's ability to say no, no, no, no, screw all that the ghosts of the past, screw the fact that there are forty five thousand people from Pennsylvania ready to party in our building. I Am going to make sure we leave

a winner. And if you're charges man, you just have to be pinching yourself that you have somebody who has that power. And I mean, Justin Herbert all night long was showing us who he was, and it was you know, it's his arm, it's the dimes he threw. I was just so impressed with how he kept fileting the Steelers on the ground ninety yards off nine carries, so many of those that move the chains, and the Steelers climbing

back in. I mean, it was it wasn't I want to call it flukey, because they made the plays they needed to play. But they had a touchdown drive that was eleven yards, a field goal drive that was seven and it's other touchdown drive with the net yards of three yards. I mean, it's like they were they were just setting. They were put in position to climb back into this thing in a flukey way, and the Chargers, their offense, which had been cooking all game long, answered

when they needed to. You're right, he would have been baked in justin Herbert into that scenari that the Charges were lost something like thirty four games in the in this scenario in the fourth quarter since two thousand and eleven, and that did there have been one of those this year, but you know under in past years there were multiple. He is not part of that story. He is not well. He was a little bit last year. They were cursed,

but they finished wrong. Both these teams need to evolve or they're not gonna go anywhere They're They're flawed teams right now, but we've seen that teams can change during the season. This was Ben's best game of the season,

so it once they get their defensive players back. That's something good to feel about this Chargers defense, though, is it's a problem Herbert though three two and ninety No one's ever put up that in the history of the NFL three that many yards throwing and that many yards rushing. There you go, I mean, I do it gets important. There's no there's no wat in this game. There's no make of Fitzpatrick. I think there were plays where it had make of Fitzpatrick been in the in the game,

it would have been very different for the Chargers. But every team's dealing with that. Uh. And we will see where the Steelers go from here. Again, they there are five four and one. They had the embarrassing tie last week. They really fought their butts off to get back into this game. But you know, at the end of the day, they're cooked into that the mediocre stew that has become the a f C North. So they still have a

chance to make a playoff runs. The Chargers due too, But you're right right, neither of these teams are perfect neither of these teams profile is a true Super Bowl contender. But look at the rest of the league right now. There you can look at any team really and say not a true Super Bowl team. Well, there's gonna be two teams playing in the Super Bowl. Um. Great game in Austin. Ekeler by the way, four touchdowns this night.

It's nice to be at a football game altogether. I know we were there in London, but it wasn't wasn't the whole group, and this was this was our first game together since since we were off. We saw last Super Bowl and with that the Chiefs one. When we saw David Justice, we saw Snoop Dogg, we saw Mike Tyson. I mean, I thought, think there was a lot of stuff happening outside of the tick tack of the game. I mean, there's a lot of visual there's a visual feast.

Great stadium. Um, that was a lot of fun, even if we blew it anyway, there are more games to get to. So Ricky, let us roll up nine yard field goal to win the game against the eight and jew Packers, right ash or Joseph snappy jump. He woke up on the green day Packers kid him Joseph Paul Allen with a call k f A and Justin Jefferson went off again eight for one, sixty nine and two touches, and Greg Joseph Booda that twenty nine yard field goals time expired to give the Vikings a thirty four thirty

one win over the Packers. Just the classic back and forth game, two division rivals that hate each other. Who loved it, loved this game? You're a Vikings fan at this point. I think we that's made clear to the listeners. The team of Zeus Steel and I said on Thursday, I thought the Vikings are gonna win this game because they are a real deal team. They are a team that can let you down. They could go lay an egg in the next game. That would not surprise me either.

But when they are playing well, they can beat anybody in the league. And a lot of that goes back to their offense and when Justin Jefferson is being used in the right way as he's been used these last two weeks and Kirk, when Kirk Cousins is playing at a level, Greg, do you know the stat I believe it is d y a R Yeah, yards over replacement basically about he is second in the NFL. Now, Kirk Cousins, and that's that. I mean, he is having an incredible scene.

I mean the stat that he has literally the highest completion percentage since next Gen Stats has kept track of it on throws over ten yards is out rageous in the last five years Kirk Cousins seasons right now, that's down the field throws. It's not those things and done. So what's happening here is that Cousins is playing better than ever. Jefferson is arguably, I think the best wide receiver in football. You have the best second Banana and Adam Feeling and then Dalvin Cook and it was just

a great game. And Aaron Rodgers played brilliantly as well on the other side of the football. Um and it just came down to Minnesota got the ball last, and they made the kick and went home. And afterwards Mike Zimmer uh he you know, he's sick of this. The Vikings have held a lead of at least seven or more points in every game this year, and all of their games have been decided by one score. It's taking years off the man's life. And you can hear it

in his press conferences Sundays are not fun. You know, they say Sunday's Funday and it's not. It's not at all. I mean, like, I'm sorry, but Mike Zimmer has never participated in what we would call is Sunday Fundays. Sunday is Funday. Doesn't even if they say then though, who

says that? Did they say Sundays fun day? I don't know, but you know, I think Zimmers our spirit animal animal a little bit, and Ricky, we should trim that, take that drop for the future because that was fun anyway, great game, Like I said, Rogers Cousins going at it back and forth before the game winning kicked Greg for the Vikings. It was Rogers with a beautiful rainbow strike to m VS for seventy five yards. It was just that type of game. You know, you scored too quick.

You don't want to give Cure Cousins that much time. It's for real when he gets a chance to put them in position to win. This year, almost every time he's done it. One thing that struck me just statistically is the Packers pressured Cousins on over of his throws, which is a really high number. So for Cousins who after the game said that maybe he was even a little too aggressive, and he got away with something was like,

don't think that, Kirk. This this Kirk that we've seen the last two especially where you've been so aggressive, is why you've won these games. Well, it's two weeks in a row where you know, again we all have Vikings friends that are fans and there they've been out of their minds. They've closed games two weeks throw. This is a as big as it gets for them, and I like the Packers come out of it banged up. Elton Jenkins. They think he might have torn his a c L.

That's a huge loss for them. Aaron Rodgers has this toe injury that he said it is worse than turn do we have Rogers. Let's see Rodgers at XU. This is notable. Yeah, I mean it's very, very painful. We got stepped on in the first half and that kind

of activated all the symptoms I was having. So just give me another painful week next week, and then hopefully started to feel a little better than by do you man, you ever like walk in the middle of the night through your house, like bang your big toe on like the edge of a door. I want to punch someone in the head when that happens, like this is three

times ten times worse than that day. We'll see he was moving well in this game, and he actually threw four touchdown passes, all on green Bay's final form possessions. So this might got to watch it, but it's up there as the best game the Packers offense has had all year. They were great, and they didn't even you know, it's funny because you a J. Dill and all the talk around him, he didn't really they never really gave him a chance to get things going. He but he

was active. He was active in the passing game, so he he had a role with it. But it was really you know, Davante Adams, Aaron Rodgers being unstoppable, mvs. Making a big play down the field. So I'm not worried about their offense, but it does remind you again because we and we all talked up Green Bay's defense

over the past three weeks or so. It's like even the defenses that we decided a quote unquote good, then the game comes like this, like, oh, well, you know, any week, they're good for like six days while we talked them up, and then they get wax It's good for this division though, because it brings it, it makes it ten times more interesting. All right, let us uh move on. So the Vikings they get a big win, and now we head to Arrowhead where the Cowboys were

looking to make a statement. Four man rush Chiefs pushed the pocket again. They hit Prescott, sack Prescott five sack performance by the Chiefs. Chris Jones that is his fourth sack of this game. Mitch hold us what they called w d a f They gave him credible half sack there, which come on, when you have a game like Chris Jones had on Sunday, you give him the full sack. The other guy will understand. Chris Jones finished with three

and a half. He forced the fumble, also recovered another tre various white Lagarius Snead both intercepted Dak Prescott and big points of the game and the a f C West leading Chief's role nineteen nine over the Cowboys. Greg we all expected, all right, let's admit it. We hoped for an epic shootout. Instead, Casey's fast improving defense did

the heavy lifting. It was a shocking game, shocking final nineteen to nine in chief Cowboys deck was out of it, miss throws, discombobulated, Steve Spagnola blitz them uh into Smith reens. They didn't have Tyrann Smith in this game. Their left tackle Amari Cooper of course got covid then Ceedee Lamb left at halftime. But it was ugly in the first half two So you can't just you can't just put it on the injuries. It was the Chiefs defense. And

again you give them so much praise. I'm not saying it's gonna happen week after week, but they were just aggressive. They were open field tackling. Like I said, they were blitzing. He got blitzed, I think on fourteen different throws, and he ended up with fifty four yards in an interception on those throws. And usually Dak Prescott's kind of known as the guy who kills the blitz. So it was

an unconventional strategy. And on a day where Patrick mahomes basically at the same stat line as all those games where everyone were killing the Chief's offense, he ends up with two d and sixty yards in a pick on thirty seven attempts to pick. Was flukey. Uh. The Chiefs win going away, and you never really felt that it was that close because the Chiefs defense and especially Chris Jones just gave it to him over and over. I

don't know what to think. I mean, it must have been frustrating as a Cowboys fan when you're trying to get back in this game and the offense, Dallas offense, because the d played well uh for the Cowboys, so they kept on giving the ball back to Doak and sending them back on the fields, like, all right, come on, get going, get us back in this game, take a lead, go win the game. But then when you lose seed ceedee Lamb when you have a Mark Coover, by the way,

was not vaccinated. So not only is he out this game, he's missing Thanksgiving, he's killing his team. Um. You find the Cowboys having to targets Cedric Wilson over and over again, trying to mount to come back. Michael Galb, who was on I R is now your number one wide receiver, and it just felt like they were a little shorthanded when they really needed to be explosive. It's just like this is now to two out of three weeks where the Cowboys are looking very human. Um, and if you're

a Cowboy van, you're a little bit nervous. You never want to peak too early. Did the Cowboys peak? I'm not there yet, but it's just it's on the radar. Radar after the last three or they're like eight of the league, which is going to give you an inconsistent product. That's just fine with that. I did not know what. I was not ready to believe in Kansas City's defense. They gave up seventeen to the Giants, seven to a Jordan's Love led Packers team. Throw that out out the

window and that wipe out against the Raiders. This this, I buy into this. I realized Dallas was down guys, but they just seemed to have their active That's a full month of games right there where they aren't the mess they were early on in the season. To me, I buy that. And for Dallas, like I, I don't care about the Broncos game, but it's two of three

weeks with shaky results. But they played three games in twelve games in twelve days, and to not have a Mari Cooper for two of them as a killer Tyrone Smith I think is the most important of all of them. But we will see. If it looked like Lamb was getting his head checked out. Maybe it was a concussion. It sounded like, uh, that's a problem. They have the Raiders on Thanksgiving. We'll get into that during the week.

But I think some of the Chiefs defensive resurgence is sustainable because a bags does this year after year where they start slow and they finish strongk and then be Melvin Ingram was a nice pickup. He's made plays in these games. They've put Chris Jones at defensive tackle again instead of having him on the end, and he was dominant in this game. And Frank Clark has been good

for three straight weeks. So suddenly your two best players are playing like the guys you're paying the twenty million dollars a year for, and like that sustainable those guys can keep winning and that even though I I pointed out the box score look the same and the final score was the same, the Chiefs did start this game with you know, seventeen points in their first three drives and made big plays when they needed to. I don't

think it was a terrible offensive performance either. Maybe what ultimately like right now in the NFL, what it means to have a good defense is to have a defense that can carry you for a stretch of time like two or three weeks or even a month when your offense isn't quite right, and they can get you some wins that you would lose typically because as there are just a lot of dominant defenses in the league right now, and and a dominant player for the Cowboys is Micah Parsons,

who has that defensive Brookie of the Year locked up. He was unstoppable in this game. Two sacks, forced to fumble, um. He was a big time player in this I love that theory because we keep propping up defense A, B and C during the week, and if we if the expectation is we really are only saying they'll be good for about a fortnite, then we're off that. Like we look up at it, Well, it's like a matchup thing too. Yeah, like they're capable of carrying you, but they're not gonna

do it a you. Parsons had more pressures, by the way, in this game. I think that then it was a PF stat than any player ever or something like that, or a certain amount of years. It was over twelve. He was at twelve and he got the thirteen or fourteen pressures in one game. I believe the Chiefs are held to two seventy six yards. Uh? Wait was that

and the only scored the Chiefs had the ball. To your point about keep getting the ball back after they scored sixteen points because of a missed extra point in the first three drives, they go punt, punt, fumble, interception, punt, field goal, miss field goal, punt. So the Cowboys defense did what they could to keep this assistant Coach of the Year candidates. The Cowboys were held to two seventy six yards. This is the high scoring offense in the league,

held to five or fifteen on third down. They need to get healthy. Uh, and Dak has to play a little bit better. So uh they're they're slept. They gotta get it together. Fissures in the locker room. Now let's take a break. He's gonna turn give off the Jonathan Taylor showed up at the one forward. There's five number five. Jonathan Taylor has held the inch sold five times in the game and the Colts have six more on the board. It is thirty seven to seven. Who Joey Lawrence and Blossom?

Whoam Matt Taylor? Rick vent Terry? The call for w f N I Jonathan Taylor said, a franchise record with five touchdowns, and he took over the NFL lead in both yards rushing and TVs. And the Colts route the spiraling Buffalo Bills in Orchard Park. It doesn't matter anymore, but it was in Buffalo. You should know that, Shookie. We welcome him aboard. Now the pipe joins us. The Colts looked like the better team from the kickoff in this game, and Jonathan Taylor has just entered into the

m v P chat. Don't you agree? Yeah? I would absolutely agree. I mean, you're the rushing leader and you're doing it with emphasis, and I think no more emphatic than this game today. And you know the Colts, they got off the bus ready to play. It was clear in their first drive. They went eleven place for sixty five yards Captain with a Taylor touchdown. They get a turnover and they turn that into another touchdown via pass. They punched the Bills in the mouth. They proved to

them that going to Orchard Park not scare them. Playing an inclement weather did not scare them because they have right now the NFL's best running back in terms of overall rushing yards in Jonathan Taylor, who was the engine that powered them offensively with his five touchdowns, and really the Bills had no answer. I mean for the entire game, they had no answer. It's not even that their offense

couldn't keep up. Defensively, they could not stop Jonathan Taylor, who has been this type of running back for a lot of this year. But we are going to look at his season and think of a game quicker than this one because of how he did it. He ripped off long runs, he scored in goal to ghost situations, he caught passes, he did everything that was asked of him. It's the next step in what I think is um

a progression in his career. It's still very early, of course, but it started in the second half of last year where he started to build this positive momentum. He's carried it over into this year and he's developed himself more as a back. He's not just a downhill runner who who's capable of ripping off a long run. He's a guy you have to account for on every down, and the Bills simply did not do that defensively today. Josh

Allen also had a rough day. A couple interst options that were ugly and they had no answer for them when they had the ball, and that's how you get a blowout. I mean to Dan's question, and this is more about the Bills and they're up and down struggles on offense. But wouldn't you say that Jonathan Taylor hop

scotched Josh Allen in the m v P race. Yeah, it's funny because they opened the broadcast and CBS talking waxing poetic almost about how Josh Allen is a legitimate m VP candidate and he's the reason that the Bills are where they are right now. And frankly, I think the Bills have relied on him too much to this point and they couldn't rely on him. Not that he's been bad, but he has not been a top five quarterback.

He's been a good quarterback who had a bad game, but at no point as he an m v P candidate. Carson Wentz by the way throws for a hundred and six yards in this game. Uh, And that's all right, because when you have Taylor going off the way that he did and the defense playing as well as they did, it doesn't matter. I thought a turning point in the game shook or maybe just kind of a well where

are we at right now? Because remember the Bills were slumping on offense leading into Week ten and then beat up the Jets, who are a joke, and now they go up against good competition again, and we see what

happens here. And there was a moment in the third quarter they're down multiple scores, they're facing a fourth and about about around six if I recall, and they opt for a long I think fifty five in that range yard field goal attempt overgoing for it, which predictably goes horribly awry, and then the Colts go right down the field and score and end the game. I mean that

to me really spoke a lot about both teams. Yeah, first off, not a confidence in the Bills offense to be able to convert that fourth down, but also uh, Tyler Bass's second missfield goal the day, you know, like I said, inclinent weather. So it wasn't the best situation for them, but you know how a game can go your way in a lot of in a number of different ways. Carson Wentz had a nice play, Whey scrambled. He looked like Vintine Carson Wentz before everything that he's

dealt with in the last few years. It can also go awry for another team, and it was like that for the Bills with even in their kicking situation, where they just had no confidence in what they were doing and knew they were getting bullied on the field and just capt a terrible day for them. That's got to make their fans think because the two weeks ago they lose that game to Jacksonville, and it's like, what is going on with the Bills? And then they come back,

like you said, dominate the Jets. I think they're back to where they were against Jacksonville. What is wrong with our team? Why can't we put up the points that we were capable of putting up and why can't we get a stop? So kind of a soul searching week I think ahead for the Bill. Plus inclement weather is something that's gonna be happening in Buffalo, So it's like, if you're not exactly they should be constructed, and I

think they'll be fine. But them beating Kansas City so badly to get to four and one and now we're sitting here with them at six and four is one of the most surprising things to happen in this entire nflc I know there's a lot of like up as down, down as up in the NFL, but them hitting the skids this hard, uh, is shocking to me. I don't

think it's quite as shocking that Marx Colts. You know, he spun the wheel and it decided which fan he was going to be for the rest of them, and he says he said he wasn't interested in him, that he they were boring, that he has to be convinced. And yet here they are. Whether they are a big time playoff team or not, they're gonna be in the center of the rest of this season. Not only are they six and five, but they got the Bucks next week, they got the Cult, the Patriots at home coming up,

They're at Arizona. So there's just gonna be like a lot of big time games involving the Colts. Can I respond, Yes, my response, I funked up because, first of all, I already said on our network show a couple of weeks ago that I was wrong about this. The Colt the Cults are good. Okay, they're good. They've not They've scored under twenty five point points once since Week three, and it's it's what we thought about Indianapolis in the off season was not even this. This is superseding what we

hoped maybe you could accomplish with Carson Wentz. We knew Jonathan Taylor was good, we knew the defense was good. They're rounding into something completely different. And for everyone tweeting me about like some quote I made about the cults, like you know thirty five days ago, I've already told you I was wrong. It's when I a what if they you know they don't know that well in general, I'm telling you right now because this podcast is cannon. So if you say it on the TV show, that's good,

but you have to come back. That's an extended universe. Good vibes too. I watched like the very long like hype speech and the celebrations afterwards, and I loved the moment when t Y Hilton gave his coach some love. He got us ready, he got us prepared to kick that. I gotta defend you. I got I gotta defend Mark real quick. They haven't beat a team that was of legitimate quality until today, as the team bigger until today, that's fine. They blew big leads against the Titans and

they're good. But they're they're they're good, all right. So the Cults are surging, you know, getting into that division race. Not completely out of the picture either, but they still have a long hill of climb there. But they're certainly in the playoff. Makes on a dangerous team because Taylor is magnificent. Let's move on. They're gonna direct snap the ball to Jarvis Landry. Landry is gonna roll to the lap. He's looking, he's coming, and he's gonna run ten hard.

He's drying. I get touchdown Jarvis Landry his first touchdown of the air. There you gown Jim down with the call w K r K, you gotta you gotta win there, Jarvis Landry scored from sixteen yards out. Nick Chubb loudly announced his return with a hundred and thirty ground yards on a receiving score. The Browns edged past the windless lines third team ten at the Dog Pound Shookie. This

by the final score and highlights. This didn't seem pretty, but the Browns stopped the bleeding after last week's unsightly setback in Foxbow. Yeah, I think that touchdown that we just played kind of captured exactly where the Brown's offense is right now, and they have to resort to putting Jarvis Landry in the shotgun and then just let him freelance and and find an open field in the middle to rush for a touchdown. I mean, they don't have

any rhythm offensively. But and I think today, frankly, uh, they probably lose to nine of the thirty two teams in the NFL with the way they played. There's two teams they've beat in this in this type of game. It's Detroit and it's Jacksonville. Um, they got a lot of work to do. I don't I don't really know where the answers are their Their offense is a mess. Baker Mayfield does not look good because of his injuries and whatever else. But they were lucky to have Nick

Chubb backed. Why don't you carry a hundred thirty yards? He was able to pace the offense and then close the game out in a tight one. But you can't feel too confident other than the fact that you added another tay to the wind column and they all count the same. So you're six and five and you move forward from here. So you've got if you're the Cleveland Browns, you've got at this stage the most critical juncture in

your season. You've got the Ravens, a much needed by week to get some people healthy, and then the Ravens again. So three weeks from now, we're gonna know basically what this team is all about out I think they are impossible to figure out the fact that I sit on the fact that they are an average team, uh that has cannot get out of their own way. And yes, it's injuries for Baker Mayfield, but I see a lot

of other things going on with him. I was watching this out of the corner of my eye, and honestly it was one of my more enjoyable sundays, not to fully ride the journey. It was well, I I will wait until they are vaguely enjoyable again. But Shook, I would this is I'm not trying to be talk radio person, but if this is the Baker we get from now till the end of the season, injuries are not, does it maybe operate as a blessing in disguise for the

front office. They have this incredibly tough decision coming up where this extension talk makes no sense. At this point, It's not heard an extension right but to me, the decision they have no decision to make. They're not going to give him anything. Yeah, I'm just saying it is a question in Cleveland. No one's saying that they don't have no decision to make. That's not true. Absolutely. I get to x from you know, friends who are Browns fans at Chuck Whitlock, who was one of our former

researchers of the network. He's moved on since then. He's an avid Browns fan. He texts me every Sunday and he told me the same thing, which is basically, we gotta move on, Like this is this guy is not the guy. But the decision you mean, get rid of him this offseason because he's under contract for a very cheap number next year. No, but it's not that no one's talked about what to do with Baker Mayfield long

term because they have the fifth year. I'm with you, but like, it's not a great situation for Baker Mayfield either. It's not a great look optics wise to just he didn't talk to the media. Mary Kay Cabot said nothing in particular happened to cause that he was booed aggressively, So maybe he was in his feelings. Who knows. You don't want to guess why he didn't talk to the media, but he kind of story apparently, like kind of walked

off the field, didn't celebrate, didn't shake any hands. It sounds like if you kind of remissing the lines, if you're tracking the team, he's you know, dreadfully beat up. He has all different sorts of injuries to his knee, his left shoulder, his foot, and he's getting booed in his own building, and he's there's probably a lot of frustration. Now we'll see if it was simply out of frustration

that even talk us. That's not the right way to play it either, because you just invite the firestorm of uh, you know, everyone to talk about your talking heads, debating your future. It just adds more fuel to the fire. That said, I think it's notable what I'm hearing from both Shook and Mark for the first time, like Browns fans starting to grapple with the idea that maybe Mayfield isn't the guy going forward, because I haven't really heard that from Browns fans until this point. So it feels

like things are starting to shift a little. That's maybe more what I mean to just that, like, yeah, they can figure this out, but like there's a polar shift for me in terms of the Mayfield experience over the last couple of weeks and just one offseason with a bunch of like glowing reports about hey, they're back in sinks, not gonna do it, They've got they've got questions. My thing with like talking about the future is now is the team that they're trying to win a Super Bowl

with right now? That's they gotta be good luck with this team. Right there's there's six and five, I know, but there's six games left of the season. There's a lot to go right and and even even when you're thinking about next year, like are what they really there's no way he's getting extension this offseason. Is there any chance that they would move off of him this year? Maybe because they have a piece that you could get involved in of Russell Wilson, Yeah, because they do get

to buy There's still a lot of football. The a FC is wide open. We've seen the Browns in their top gear, even when they're not consistent, they were really impressive when they're playing well. But right now there's a lot of doubt around the organization, and I see how it's starting to you know, the quarterback situation is back under the microscope again. Also, my Tim Boyle could win

a game on Thanksgiving, prediction is not looking good. With seventy seven yards and two to two interceptions, you only win by three. When Tim Boyle at seventy seven yards and two interceptions, the Chicago's plane goes the direction of like Amelia Earhart's plane. That's that's your Tim Boil victory. Greg, Like, I mean, does anyone start I know it's a very

unpopular take. Is anyone gonna start coming to my side and take Thanksgiving away from the lines for just a little bit, Maybe them like a teenager will give you the keys back to the civic But you just got a chill better. You're not getting the keys back either. Alright, one more game before we say goodbye to Shook. Let's head to the desert. Third down and goal from the sick shotgun, snap burrow from the pockets to the left corner of the end zone, chase touchdown. Oh, it was

the crossroads games on the NFL schedule. The Cincinnati Bengals they were heading down, the Raiders, they were heading down. Somebody there was a fork in the road. The cross roads were there, and only one team could take the correct path, and it was Cincinnati Bengs. The killer combination of Joe Burrow and Jim R. Chase strike again. The pair connected for the clinching touchdown in the fourth quarter. It was win over the fading Raiders at Allegian Stadium.

Allegiant Legion. I don't even know what that word needs. Joe Mixon added two touchdowns as well, and what's been an excellent season for the half back shook. Uh. This is a much needed win for Cincinnati that that puts them on the right path. And like I said, crossroads, the Raiders just turned down a dark road. Yeah, huge cross roads for the Bengals coming off that blowout loss to the Browns, going to the bye week, and they spent that bye week very productively, evidently based on how

they played on Sunday. I mean, their defense was stellar for the majority of the game. They significant yeah, one of them, and then we give up one significant touchdown drive early in the fourth quarter, and then they answered. They responded with a long drive to put the game away, cap by a touchdown by Joe Mixon. It was actually it was touched on passenger mar Chase. It was a it was a complete performance. I think, Um, you know, this is the Bengals team that was at the top

the a f C in October. This is this is how they played today. And and then on the Raiders side, it's hey, offense, wake up before the fourth quarter. Your defense is playing its tails off to keep you in the game, and you're not holding up your end of the bargain. And and we've seen this too often from the Raiders, I think, which is, you know, one game they can come out and light it up. They lit it up very early in the season, but they haven't

played complimentary football for the entire season. And that's ultimately what sank them today. And you have to wonder, you know, the whole the bisaccia, the boost from from going to interim head coach that's long gone now, and you just got the bump. That's what. I don't know if bump was positive or negative connotation, but I'll show you a bump. Bump. They took a few bumps and not the good time.

On Sunday, Yeah, they watch this game too, shook and uh Vegas was just so flat offensively in this like a nice st smack once in a while, I know, but we don't talk about that careful with that, uh. And I know they got if you look at the box car they got Darren Waller back involved the loss of Henry Ruggs. From a pure perspective, it was a real tough blow. It just feels like this offense needs

to be opened up more. Derek Carr if you look, and I'm sure he'll his ranking of the QB Index has started to go south with this slump as well. They're just not as dynamic as they need to be. And they weren't able to hang with a Bengals team that had its own offensive problems early in this game. But Las Vegas just never was able to turn it on. That's three straight losses. By the way, how about Joe Burrow now, please, I mean Joe Burrows hundred fifty yards?

They typically lose this game, right in a regular setting, they typically and they end up winning by what was it, nineteen points too, Not like that's a ton, but that's that's wild. And yet the key play of the game to me was that six yard throw to Chase with about five minutes left to you know, put them up nine and that's a pretty throw on third down. There is something to Joe Burrow like in big moments. I know he's had some fourth quarter interceptions, but that was

a big moment and he got it done. And how about the Eli Appsle Apple Redemption Tour right now? Big time interception in a key spot it was part of There was a sequence here where the Raiders haven't straight uh third down fails. That's hard to do. Fourteen straight third down failures. Uh. And the Bengals are now one

win away from topping their over under. If if they won next week they had the Steelers, if you go sweep the Steelers, they are in fantastic position the Bengals, and you've you've maybe wiped away some of the questions about who are they at the basic level after a very wayward couple of weeks. Yeah, because at that point you're let's see two thirds of the way through your divisional schedule with a date with the Ravens a date with the Browns left. I mean, you're in You're in

a great spot in a division that's very winnable. A team that many of us expected to finish last in the division is positioned right now to be in it until the end. If they keep and if they play like this, they gotta be a little bit better offensively. But if they can get this type of play from their defense, I mean, they're gonna be a tough out no matter who they played for the remainder of the season. And very interesting to watch they went. At one point

they lost remember fifteen straight road games. They are four and two on the road. Five of their last seven games are at home. Such a such an important win for Cincinnati because it did feel like the storm clouds were gathering. That was an example of a perfect time for a bye and they were able to reset things. They got this win and now they have a big match up against Pittsburgh next week. But now you can

go into that with confidence. And if you're the Raiders, everyone's like, oh, they're doing the same thing they did last year and the year before now they didn't. That's different. This year is different. They collapsed in November this year last year, and the year before it was December, so there, it's not the same season. Well, they're overachieving on a weird in a weird way, this right there ahead of the curve in a lot of ways. That's organizationally what

you want to be Shookie. Uh, you look great, Uh you talk great, and we appreciate having me on the show every week. I'm I'm overwhelmed. I don't I don't know what to say. Thanks. There he goes the heart of Cleveland. They shook. All right, let's take a break and then move on. All right, goodbye to Nick Shook and let us now head to Chicago and give us the Freeman lops to don Alright, Freeman and the raven have taken the lead. What two seconds left in Chicago? Wow? Great?

I don't know if you heard the background audio there, it was like great work by the guy with the guy seemed like a crowd from like the mid nineteen thirties. They Jerry Sandusky with the called w b a L subbing for an ill Lamar Jackson. Tyler Huntley led a winning drive cap I had Davanta Freeman three yard run with twenty two seconds to play. It allowed the Ravens

to escape with a six win over DA Bears. Mark The Ravens danced with the devil in this one to tell the tale means they almost lost to a crappy team, but then they didn't. Yeah, and like a sliver of reality would have made this the game where we're talking about Andy Dalton coming in and replacing a Justin Fields who has left the game with banged up ribs, and you know, with under two minutes to go, it's fourth

and six for the Bears. Okay, Jason Peters had a false start, making it fourth and eleven, and this was Chicago's final shot against Baltimore and Andy Dalton zips a rope to Marcus for a touchdown. They're up thirteen nine and then it's Tyler Huntley and one forty one minute left for the Ravens and they were sitting um at the Chicago and Tyler Huntley played. They they had a good plan for him. Mark Andrews was an all star

in this game. He was a security blanket for Huntley, who ran a couple of times, made a couple of passes. But what happened here was they did we can't stick to our plan. We have to let Huntley throw the ball, and he showed that he could a twenty one yard dart to Devon Duvernet and then on third and twelve a thirty yard or to Sammy Watkins to the Chicago three yard line. I mean Chicago slept after the Sandy Dalton touchdown. They went to sleep on defense, totally allowed

Baltimore to march down the field. Then bang that DeVonta Freeman touchdown. They're up sixteen thirteen, lights out. And I want to point out one other thing real quick. In this game, there was an absolute meltdown for Matt Nagy. Okay, this was early in the game where it was fourth and one and it was like seven to six, and they appeared to be going actually going out and punting the ball when everyone else in the league is going for it, and the crowd in Chicago we heard them

on that replay, was going absolutely nuts. I am convinced that Matt Nagy was essentially At one point he seemed to be shouting and screaming and hollering at a sound man who was controlling his headset or something. I don't know what was going on there. But then two minutes later, there's suddenly going for it and there's fire Nagy chance in the stands. I mean, he was convinced by the

booing crowd to change his decision. I think is this when we I was doing a sky yes, exactly, and yeah, it was Live with Neo Reynolds and I was trying to, you know, talk about I think the Eagles Saints game, and Mark is five feet away from me just going Naggy. What's Naggy doing? He's going crazy over here? And I had I had to like call it out because I didn't know if they could hear. I was like, well, what what is happening? Like New York? Like I suddenly

was from New York. I mean it wiped away. I think what's lost is, like we talked about the way it didn't work. They ran a wildcat. They put David Montgomery in the backfield and a wildcat. And what Montgomery could have he if you watched the replay, he kind of ran in the wrong direction. He could have gone left and got in the yardage. But they just had a bad plan for it. They just seemed so discombobulated

at times. The thing that this game did is it wiped out a three and a half sack performance by Robert Quinn. Rog Kuwan Smith was all over the place. Just we came so close to having a very different narrative to this story. Talking about this right now, Well, because it was a wild one the Ravens. The Ravens stole it away. At the Ravens winning these games, well, it shows who the Ravens are. And I thought that on the flip side, John Harball was nothing but utter

calm through the entire performance. And you're going in there with non Lamar Jackson and you have no business winning this thing. And sorry, but it was Greg Roman showing you I can take any quarterback and build an offense around him. The Bears were in total chaos scoring. I mean, what am I supposed to do with that pal excite? I mean Andy Dalton brought them life when he came in justin fields and thrown for seventy nine yards and a half plus. It was not a good performance by him.

Dalton brought life. Then they went to sleep. The last thing happens and they let the Ravens right back in the only touchdown drive of the day, which is for the Ravens, which is crazy. So I'll remember a couple of things from this game, One like, why is wing Martindale blitzing there? All of Baltimore is really getting sick of Don Martindale this year for doing that, because you've given of all these big time and he blitzes Andy Dalton on four you know, four than game. Essentially they

get the touch on. But I will remember, I really will, I think forever this moment, which was the second that Goodwin catches it and goes into the end zone for the Bears to take a lead. And at this point the Ravens have not scored a touchdown all game. Um Our coworker Danny Ryder in the newsroom within a half a second said, oh, they're gonna lose. He's a Bears fan. He didn't even for one second. He didn't enjoy it. He just said, they're definitely they're gonna lose. And he

was right. So you wanted Bears and lines on Thanksgiving, you got it. Bears have lost five straight and uh, they don't believe at this time the time we're taping this anyway, that Justin Fields broke his ribs. But it's a short turnaround to play on Turkey Day, so we'll see what happens. And by the way, Marky, those Baltimore Ravens who may or may not have Lamar Jackson, uh, we'll see how he's feeling. Uh Hardbos said that the

illness is not COVID nineteen or the flu. They hoped he was gonna feel better on Sunday morning, and Study felt worse. So we'll see what's going on with Lamar and we hope he's okay. But the Ravens and Brown's clash on Sunday Night football in Week twelve could be mad cow disease were It's just an option. We're not saying that's what it is if you look at if you look at this raven season, though, they could be

like three and ten. They stole that Chiefs game, they stole that Lions game, they stole that Vikings game, and they stole this game like those are I think they're stealing. What's there? So though, no, I know, I'm just saying it's a great quarterback, a great coach, and a great kicker.

But they didn't even the quarterback was Tyler Huntley and there's no it's But by the way, hey, Tony Romo, it's pretty clear that like Bears general manager Ryan Pace took you out like a five hundred dollar dinner, mentioning like with flowery language, like three hundred times how well built the team is thanks to Ryan Pace. I mean, name dropped in twenty times. You know what we gotta do any Sunday night football every week. That annoyed energy

is good. Good for you. Let's moved to Philly. Hurts gives it offense side, I know, and he's running forward out a fight. He's at the ten, he's at the five for the touch down. Wan a fight, wanna fight fight? Jalen Hurts to see all the singles win, Oh, Meryl Reese, the call? W I p Jalen Hurts. I think he's sticking around. He ran for three touchdowns. Darius slay at a pick six. Eagles roll over Greggy Saints forty to nine.

That's two wins in a row for the first time for the Eagles and also Nick SIRIANTI, that's what the w looks like at the link. First win at home in five tries, Greggy, I know you're feeling this Eagles team. They're suddenly quite frisky. They are, and this is one where it was like best on best. I know there was a lot of Saints injuries and they lost that that's a factor. But the Saints came into this with the number one rush defense dv o A in the league.

The Eagles came in just having rolled a bunch of these Patsy's in terms of run defenses, and I thought the Saints were gonna stand up and and be counted for. And Jalen Hurts just makes this team go. Miles Sanders return and had a nice day ninety four yards to Jordan Howard, kept getting it done ten for sixty three. But Hurts on the ground is what opened it up. They ended up with two forty two. And it wasn't one of those where you got a big lead and then you just rack up yards. They had one fifty

two in the first half. The Saints Actually, yeah, it kind of made a fourth quarter come back to make this thing interesting. It was all about that running game and those big uglies up front, and they showed their just like the baddest team going right now. Into this game, the Saints were averaging less than seventy three yards allowed on the ground. So to put to forty two on a very good Saints defense or run defense, I should

say at the very least. And the Eagles of now sur passed one seventy five rushing and four straight games, including two plus and three wins over that spin. This is have an identity they're nasty upfront, and yeah, remember when, like the Ravens they could because it shows like if you're gonna if you want to be a good coaching staff, you have to be willing to completely recreate yourself midstream

at times. And it reminds me of when the Ravens went from Flacco to Lamar Jackson and they embraced the concept of just saying we were that will never be that ever again because we have Lamar Jackson, We're gonna zig when the entire league zags and the Eagles. You know, Nick Sirianni was a pretty easy target for a lot of us who just watch his press conferences left and right, and then you just started to hear that the players were like, actually, we dig this guy. And I don't

know what that meant. Maybe it's just like you're in public, that's what you're saying. But he does seem to have shown us he has a plan for Jalen Hurts, he has a plan for this offense, the way they're running the ball. I thought, you're right, Greig, this was the acid test today. Maybe it all floats away and instead they dropped a massive hammer. But there in the mix, they're they're five and six, they're they're in the mix now. It should be said the Saints were without their three

best offense four if you want to count Jamis. There two tackles who have both been to multiple Pro Bowls were out, which was a little bit of a surprise. UH. And that helped Philly's defense show a transformation where they were really aggressive. They again, they're you're listening to the talk radio collars and it's working. Just why don't they run the ball? Why don't they be more aggressive on defense?

They blitzed. Uh, they were very creative and Trevor Simeon UH was terrible in this first half of this game. He's terrible, Mike. He was rough. The final box scorers misleading, They kept trying. They I get it. It was it was it was six or eight teen for sixty yards in a in a brutal pick six. Slay got his third touchdown in four games. Uh. And he just didn't

give them a chance in the first half. But they're starting guys i've never heard of on the offensive line landing young and I don't know good prospect know I know about it's not good. I mean, you take Alvin Kamara out of the lineup. You know, the lineman obviously a huge deal. The quarterback, even though you know Winston is who Winston is still an upgrade over Trevor Simmons. But you take Kamara out. This is a very ordinary

team at that point. And they get healthier, I don't I think they're still gonna be in this They gotta get health in. This version of the Saints is just not dynamic. And now they've lost three straight games since the Winston a c L injury. They got a tough schedule ahead we talked about on Thursday, and I just want to say one thing on the Eagles. Half a game out by the way of the last spot right there, Nick Sirianni on his quarterback Jalen is a special player

who forces defenses to play different. You look at their stats, but you also want to do what you do well. They I think they're starting to feel in that building that they have found a guy here that they could build an offense around. Here. Here's what's so huge about that, because assuming Wentz plays like another game, which you will, it's like they have three first round picks and instead of having to go do the thing where we don't like our quarterback. We have to go shop for someone else.

You now have three first round picks to make the Eagles about so much by so many derivations better than they are right now and surround. Jalen hurts if he continues to be the guy. All right, let us head to Seattle next, where the Seahawks desperately needed to win a game. But he didn't realize that Colt McCoy would be playing second and goal on the two shotguns. Snap to McCoy, balls loose on the ground, he picks it up, throws over the middle. Hey, it's caught for a touchdown

by Urds. Oh my, Colt McCoy picking up a loose ball on the turf and throwing a pass over the middle for a big touchdown. Here late in the first half, Culton Lacoy to God, Calton Sessler's namesake delivered another trenchant performance. The second of three weeks is Kyler Murray's injury replacement and the Cardinals over the I know everybody's been waiting for it. I've been getting a tweets. I've been waiting to break it out. But it's that time of year.

Over the moribund Seattle Seahawks at loumin Field McCoy three for two touchdowns. Mark, I know you're proud of you. Boy. This lifted my spirits because, like, here's the thing, this would have been a great opportunity for the Cardinals to have an excuse over the last three weeks to go into the tank to some degree and say we'll get ourselves out of it. But we didn't have Kyler Murray, we don't have DeAndre Hopkins. And call McCoy, you asked

him to come in and play three starts. One of them was a mess, but two of them have been nothing short of heroic. And today he just showed you that when you have that backup quarterback, not the most athletic guy on the planet, not you know, they used to call him nood alarm. Well, you know what, it was a little bit better than that. Today he just

showed command of the offense. And there is what I thought the tone senter right out of the gate, a six team play, sixty eight yard nine minut a touchdown drive, the longest drive of their season in terms of plays and time off the clock. And then he answers down the road with another thirteen play ninety two yards six

minute touchdown drive. Zach Ertz was all over the place for him, and it's it really became Cult McCoy battling Cardinals kicker Matt Prator, who I don't know what Matt Prator did pregame, but man, he was all over the place. He's a good kicker in general. Miss, I don't I'm just saying he did not seem to be um in the right headspace. He had a he had a missed p a t he had this is on the road. He had a killer miss field goal. He did hit one a fifty plus at one point, but then missed

another field goal. So he cost them seven points in a game where the Seahawks were climbing back into this thing, and it forced Colt McCoy up sixteen to thirteen to take them on another drive. He hits zach Ertz on a twenty yard or and then at one point he rumbled Cult McCoy for an eleven yard chain moving first down that I thought it was a bigger scramble than Kyler Murray's had all year. I mean, Colin are is,

you know, infinitely more of the athlete. It's not a shot fired more than just Colt McCoy did everything you could have asked it forty minutes of time of possession, and it it revealed basically the fact that Seattle at this point, not only do I feel good about having forked them a month ago, they are a low wattage board. They look totally out of ideas, and I think Pete Carroll was quite annoyed after it. Let's hear from Pete, who at one point left his presser only to return.

He can't make sense of, Wow, I'm just not any good at this. You know, I'm not prepared for this. This is not this. I'm I'm struggling to do a good job of you know, coaching when you when when you're getting your butt kicked in the weekend and weekend, I you know, it's just it's new territory. So um, and I'm competing is in every way I can think of,

But um, I'm just unfamiliar with that. Sounds like to me like a coach who now is starting to see his mortality, at least in Seattle, like he knows now, not only is my team on the ropes at three and seven, with a very strong chance of missing the playoffs for just the second time in a decade. He also knows he's in trouble now because the wheels are coming off and there's uncertainty with the superstar quarterback and the relationship between the team and the quarterback is not right.

I think Carl senses he's in danger at the same time, just the general frustration of a season where he can't get this team motivated to play well. You've lost the Colt McCoy two straight years. Remember he was with the Giants last year, went in there, uh dk Metcalf gets thirty one yards on eight targets. Russell Wilson's led them to thirteen points total in two weeks, ends up with

two d and seven yards no touchdowns. It's crazy, and I think it's just realizing how outclassed you are right now in this division to to to get bodied by Cliff Kingsbury and Colt McCoy and there's no new Copkins. Look, a lot of teams have gotten bodied by the Cardinals. But the Seahawks team, who's in primetime two weeks in a row. By the way, after this, let's flex him out a Sunday night in a couple of weeks. But they're against Washington, Monday night at a week like everyone's

gonna be watching this. Uh, and it's a it's a long way to climb out of. But you gotta give the Cardinals a lot of the credit. Yeah, I think they're going to number one in the Power right they are. They bailed me out with this one. I'll tell you what fans. Joseph, who you know flamed out as head coach, has been awesome as defensive coordinator. I cannot remember a game in the Pete Carroll Russell Wilson era where that home Seattle stadium was so lustrous with booze. I mean

it was as rough as it gets. And uh, that was not with Seattle expect the Cardinals. Just to point out how impressive they've been. They are plus one oh weight in terms of point differential on the road alone. And I did a little scribbling right here during the show. The combined record of the teams they've played eighteen when they're not playing the card So they've destroyed, destroyed good teams,

not just the Seahawks. Uh. And after the game, Russell Wilson, and if you're wondering how he's feeling, how the finger is the ball's coming out of my hand. Just fine. I'm not gonna make any excuses. I'm not an excuse kind of guy. Well, well we'll see. The Seattle Seahawks are in a lot of trouble. The Cardinals now get a bye week. On top of this, the fact that they come out of these three games with two WS

against the Vision rivals. Now they get a week off, and hopefully for Arizona when they return uh in week their team they will have Kyler and new Coopkins, and there they'll be that much more dangerous. But Colt McCoy, there was magic work, magic in the air. I don't know what else you can ask a backup quarterback to do. Then what he's done there is matt to it. I was theorizing downstairs that he added two years to his career in week nine, and then he lost a year

to his career in week ten. But now he added two more here. So he's up three years now of making money through just through you know, three games to play. You know, if you're gonna say, like, hey, I'm gonna go to work three days this year, I'll be good on two of them and suck on one. I like that. We gotta get Colt McCoy on the show. We gotta tell him about Colt Sassler. We gotta and maybe it's an offseason show. I don't know if it's there. Seems

like we could probably get That's what I'm saying. Then it puts me back to the fanboy scenario where like I'm frozen. I don't know what the question. That's like Jimmy found like I think we could get Rob Schneider. Not sure I think we can. Anyway, let's take a break in. We'll be right back. Shotgun one back bunch formation. Right, here's the snap Texans sending people. Tammi Hill hit us, he throws, It's picked up by King and out of

bounce inside that's one a yard line. The huge takeaway for the Texaeds just stop Tennessee with three on the fourth. You may not recognize that. That the sound of that voice, but that was Mark Vandermere with K I L T with the call go home, minute bell you're drug Entering Sunday.

The Texans were the coldest team in the league. They were the hottest, So of course, the Texans snapped the NFL's longest active losing streak by beating the Titans and the longest the league's longest winning streak on a miserable day in Houston, Mark How, and we're gonna get to a great digger. He's gotta answer to this, Well, Daddy did not have primary eyes on this game. But if you asked me how, I'd say that they were depleted a wide receiver. They're out of weapons. And we've watched

this often, Speed challenged the scenario. You want to be your daddy? I am that is I am. I gotta stop calling ourselves daddy. I think generally makes uncomfortable. No, I did it. I forget what scenario I did. And I did it as well at some point. And it's just like it's it's a virus that's spreading. It is a virus that's spreading Delta. It's like the Delta. It's maybe not the worst virus amongst anyway. All right, and then wait, I don't need to hear from hear from

Grave Digger, Grave Digger, what the hell happened? I know you're you're missing Derrick Henry. I know you're a j Brown. He gets hurt. Is it just an issue where we we've reached the level for Ryan Tittle who had four picks where he just doesn't have anybody to throw too and make plays with. And and now it's starting to show for real. Honestly, I would love to say that that is the reason the Titans offense was so bad, but it really wasn't. I mean, Nick west fr kinan

had over a hundred receiving yards. Whoever the heck he I mean, he's a second year guy, I'm drafted out of Indiana. But um, the Titans outgained the Texans four hundred twenty yards two hundred nine, but they turned the ball over five times, twice inside the opposing teams six yard line. Once once was a pick that was actually the Titans were in the red zone and Houston returned it all the way to the six yard line. So that's a huge swing. And then in the second half,

the Titans had like three chances. The defense got six straight three announced to close the game. One of them was like four and out technically, so not technically, but the offense Tannehill like every time the offense started driving Tannehill through an interception, that was like, what was that throw? And maybe it was young receivers like des fitz Patrick who was a rookie who was cut after training camp, who has like been on the practice squad all season

and finally got elevated last week. He was like yelling at Tannehill, was yelling at Des fitz Patrick before plays like Dees, you got it, you got it, you got it, like you can hear it through the broadcast, and then like he threw a pick on that place. So maybe Doz did not get whatever change it was, or I don't know. I mean, it's just it was a fluke.

I mean you they honestly, they've been luck. They've won a couple of games like this, they didn't look like the better team, so it's almost like they were overdue to get some bad luck. But Marcus Johnson, who was so good last week, got hurt, barely played, who knows if he'll be available for next week. And then A. J. Brown was in and out and I don't think he finished the game either. He's probably gonna miss a couple of weeks, Like they'll probably old amount through the by

which is two weeks away. There's like Twitter doctors who are trying to diagnose the injury, but obviously you can't want to trust them. What about the Twinkle Toes line or monsters. You know, there's a lot of dissent on Twitter about the name. And I think we went from a unified front too, not unified in it, the team

felt the effects of it. I like that theory. And how about if you would have told me the Texans would have played the Titans the Titans today and Tyrod like, oh oh the Texans one oh, Tyrod was had a big game and you know he know, he had average four and a half yards per tempt So it's not like they were you know, run Ranford did run for two turnovers. Just gonna blow up any plans who failed fourth down conversions deep in Houston territory. So that's like

seven turnovers. How about this, though, the Texans have forced ten turnovers in the last two games. That's that's outrageous. That's gotta be more than some teams have forced all year. That is more than the Steelers, the forty niners. See how Jets ravens Jaguars at Forest all year. That's insane. The Cully carry over the Culli They were talking about

it on the broadcast. How Romeo Cornell got this defense locked in over the bye week or something like years old, and they get the Patriots next with like like two players. That's that's on my radar. By the way, I don't have as much rage towards the Patriots as I used to. Tom Brady leaving really did change some things, I think. But you seem to be catching these teams at a good time, Greg, You gotta admit it, right, Yeah, I've noticed this pattern they keep like right before teams playing

the Patriots. It's like, you know, they get hacked on by machetees or there's viruses through a wood chip or now deal with New England. You know that every time we count out the Titans, they deliver a big beforeance. This would be classic Titans to bounce back in a huge way. Everyone. They bought themselves a lot of rope, I mean they I mean, you're still essentially three games up on the Cults, but you're allowing the other teams to get into this. Number one is your best, that's

for sure. Are you worried about the Cults a little bit? I'll say this, I wouldn't want to. I wouldn't want to see them in the playoffs also swept them. Yeah, I don't think they're gonna take. They have to take three games. They have to do three games better than the Titans over the last six. So that would be all it takes is the Patriots beating the Titans next week. And you and the Titans have already let go of

that number one seed. Yeah, the number one seed. That thing happened, That would happen quickly, so that that game is a big a. You have a member Dan's point about road teams thriving. You almost don't want to have home field advantage, according to where can you do? Can you do some calculating and see how home teams did this week? Uh, let's move on. Or a grave digger somebody behind the glass? Uh, you comported yourself. Well they're justin. Let's move on to Charlotte. Stop steps up his left,

get through the tackle. That's on running now it's to stop at the forty goes out to talk those bagger rock his body. That is hot. Unbelievable, boy, shot to the thirty six. To sit your game in the first down. Oh, double bongos? What are we doing? Taylor does hears those bongos?

He does Bram Weinstein with the call w T Bram Weinstein always Michael Stein, but I who knows Taylor Heineke the upstage Cam Newton even for two d six yards and three touchdowns against the defense that was ranked the best in football entering the game, and uh Washington spoils Camp's return to Bank of American Stadium for the w f T over c A R. Greg. I don't know what Washington's long term plans are at QB, but Taylor

Heineke is making a case with games like these. The last two weeks he's been awesome and this was the best game of his career. He led the league today an average depth of target and yet he only had six in completions. We don't normally play like a fourth and three six yard game, but if you haven't seen that highlight, that play was ridiculous. It was such a FARV type play and it typified this game because right before that, there was a third and twenty one where

Heineke throws a dart for eight team. They rush up. No indecisiveness from riverboat Ron at all. I'm gonna let Taylor make a play, and for the second time on a big fourth down he makes a crazy play. He's been great on third and fourth down, And I contrast that to Matt Rule, who just earlier a little bit later, I think in the fourth quarter, Um hems and haws and and the crowd starts booing because he's gonna punt

on fourth down. And then he wastes all this time and then he takes the time out, wasting time out he needed after wasting the thirty seconds, and then they don't get the fourth down either, and it was like riverboat Ron decisive. Taylor Heineke amazing. Kim Newton played great in this game, a great maybe an overset. Kim Newton played well, He played plenty well enough to win, and yet Heiniki was easily the best quarterback. I yeah that,

I mean, I locked up the Panthers. I felt really good about it, even better early on in the game. I mean, if you're the Panthers, it's like, geez, you you had all this momentum and you have this opportunity against Washington and just to get beat in a game

where your defense can't get stops, that's disappointing. I mean, they kind of Again, the NFC is so wide open, just like the a f C, that the fact that they're five and six doesn't take him out of contention, but it makes you again wonder, all right, you know it's time to pump the brakes a little bit because this team might not be ready to make that row. It's got a thrill Ron Rivera to on the final two drives of the of the game for for Carolina to shut him down on fourth down both times. I mean,

it's just like this is un played well. But then again, he did have they did have a chance to last at the end of the game, and he couldn't get it done. The Ron Rivera experience, if you go back through multiple seasons in Carolina, we've seen we saw it last year in Washington. It's like, let's start too and seven and then we'll start. Then we'll kick into high

gear and make the playoffs. But in Carolina, I feel like there were like multiple campaigns or like they'd get off to a terrible start and then rally and it's like Ron Rivera is obviously the coach of the future. You stick with everyone else and I do the same thing the next year. But this I think part of the problem with Washington wasn't just the defense that was so off. Critiqued the offense was so out of sync.

They haven't had Curtis Samuel all year long. They just haven't had the dudes and heinek The one thing about him, I think if there's something about watching him that is exciting, there's an element of daring due to his game. I I hate the gun slinger terminology for quarterbacks, but he kind of has that energy to him and he hits throws and he's and when he makes a mistake, he'll just keep doing it and I keep throwing it. And

he was fun to watch. He was getting love after the game from some of the Panthers too, who were you know, ex teammates of his. His first start as a quarterback was with with Carolina revenge for him, not just Ron Rovert, and they were just kind of they were just saying, that guy's a dog. Yeah. Scott Turner had a great day. The offensive coordinate. For watching that, that was very surprising to me to see their offense control of the game. I expected more out of the

Carolina defense. They had a masterful end to the first half, started the second half sequence where they have a six minute touchdown drive that took all the time off to end the first half. Then another six minute touchdown drive to start the second half, and you're kind of like, oh,

what just happened here? And Cam came back and everything, but scary Terry had one of his best games of his career, and Antonio Gibson, I think looks a little more spry than he did when he was fighting injury earlier. And we talked a little bit that came up I think on the Thursday show with p J Walker play at all in this game and he I don't think he did, and he didn't at all, and they said the plan was too but they thought Cam was playing well.

And after the game, one thing I guess the last thing that will come to somebody that's absorbing a new playbook is the two minute offense and that it kind of set up games scriptwise poorly for Carolina where they needed that last UH drive and Camp didn't have the full playbook at his disposal. They did not move the ball late in that game. So tough loss for the Panthers. UH and Washington's battling UH the only one game came out of the wild. Yeah, it is, it is crazy,

It is stupid, but ultimately fun. Let's move to Duval here's a gun run to Deebo Samuel coming left right at ward breaks a tackle down the sideline. Deebo Samuel will take it all the way in textown San fran Cisco. On that a lot of sauce. Greg Papa with the call k n BR. Jimmy Garoppolo threw two touchdown passes in the third straight game. Debo had another touchdown on the ground. What a year he's having. Four doowners dominate the Jaguars thirty to ten, their third win in four weeks.

Mark's felt like a possible letdown game for the Niners, but San Francisco took care of its business and impressive fashion. Yeah. I picked this game second in our draft, and you know, I had a lot of people telling me that I was nuts to do so, but I knew what I wanted to see. I wanted to see if they could. Haters were out for you. You know what, we look at it. Listen, when you when you know what you want, you just go after it. You don't, you don't risk anything.

Incredibly gutsy locks. So congratulations on that as well. We'll look at they did me wrong last week, but now our relationship is totally repaired, because this is one of the teams that I went into the year wanting to love, and my love is starting to return and grow a bit. But I wanted just to see would anything translate from that RAMS game or was that just a you know, one of these fluke scenarios. Opening drive once again. Forty niners,

twenty plays, eight seven yards, thirteen plus minutes. The first quarter was over and like maybe twenty one minutes, and I was like, it was just fascinating to watch deep Samuel. It wasn't just that one touchdown. He led the team with seventy nine yards on eight carries on the ground. They basically used them out of the backfield as a running back, and they're banged up in the backfield, so they they absolutely slaughter Jacksonville inside the numbers, that's what

they've been doing. But they had touchdown drives of eighty, seventy seven and seventy seven yards. And the Jaguars offense and Urban Meyer, you know, basically called it out after the game himself. It they there's there's no growth in this offense. And and and Trevor Lawrence at the end of the game is interesting to see a shot of him with his arm around urban Meyer and not you know, they in a friendly way. I think they both know.

They're just they're in for it. It's along. It's it's gonna be as long as possible for the rent the rest of the season, because the hope was maybe Jacksonville's defense is rounding into something special. Not today, I mean that that narrative is over for a week. With Devo and watching his great season, It's been an all pro

level season for Deebo Samuel. That's when like Kyle Shanahan and he's had his ups and downs, obviously, but where having a really like smart um creative play caller, when you have a and you have a very unique talented player like Deebo, when those things come together and you see what you're seeing there because he the way he's used, you get the feeling Deebo Samuel's special abilities are being used to their maximum efficiency in this offense. It's nice

to see it that way. Um like Brandon Auk, like who was in the doghouse and there's a lot of weird stuff going on with him. He's changed and he had seventy eight yards in a touchdown any so he's added to the offense like he just wasn't part of pretty good over the last month or so. When they play like this and they run the ball like this, they had place to four at one point. Well this I feel like this probably happens to the Jaguars a lot. But they had fourteen first downs while the Jacks had

twelve total yards midway through the second quarter. It was just like game over, go eat a sandwich. Alright, So San Francisco, they stay in the picture in the NFC West as the Seattle Seahawks fall further out, Let's close things up with a trip to the darkest recesses of the a f C East to a pressure gets away to throw keep for all. He's got fifteen ten and he's out the five yard Oh, he's stayed in down.

He tiptoed down the end. They say he's inbound. The look at this, of course, but a sixty five yard touchdown. Jimmy Cefalo, Jason Taylor, Joe Rose all on the call there for w q A m uh to a toungo by Loa connected on a long touchdown to mccollins, and he threw the go ahead five yard touch up past the miles gascon early in the fourth quarter final score seventeen Jets ball to the Dolphins at the meadow Lands. That's three straight wins for the Miami football team. They got,

you know, even they have a pulse. How paulse however faint it may be, in the a f C playoff race, hmm, two was good by the way, seven thirty three to seventy three touchdown passes. He had an interception that wasn't pretty, but that's part of the two experience. Uh. In general, I think his audition I'm giving him so far through like sophomore season. I'm giving him like you got a factor in the injuries because their ability that is a skill.

I'm giving him a B minus so far. I don't know what it needs to get to for them to get out of the deshaunt. You give out a lot of B minus. I do remember on our show you would give us a post so great, a lot of it's definitely I think it's above C plus and I don't think it's a solid B yet. It's a B minus. I think he needs to get and now we're getting scientific. I think he needs to get to A minus to keep them out of the Deshaun Watson sweep steaks, so

he's gonna have to go on a tear here. They have an intense wandering eye and so like B minus or let's see if it's out of a hundred, he gets like an eighty six to finish the SEC. No, he's got quarterbacks somewhere else they think is a ninety six. And you mentioned they have a pulse. But it's interesting how the top of the NFC is much better. But if you if you look at the wild card race in the a f C versus the NFC, it's actually

more open. In the NFC. The Dolphins are still three games in the lost column behind Chargers, Bengals, Buffalo, which right now is five six seven, And so it's kind of a it's a big amount. That's why you and I differentiate because I think every team the AFC stinks, right, I mean, I get it, but they have more teams to climb over, and they're like, oh what about the Patriots? What about them? And now they all stink different. There's no way to judge what's gonna happen. They can somehow

get in. Uh yeah, they got the Panthers, Giants and Jets. There is a way in if they can. Okay, I'm talking about Thursday. How about that Elijah More if you want to on the Jet side, and Joe Flacco is now the fourth quarterback to play for the team this year. What a joke season? If um, Zack Wilson sits out another week. Um, but Elijah Moore. Elijah Moore is the truth that guys, as long as he stays out of the Jets, grinder is going to be a big time player.

That draft class in general has a chance to be really good if Zach Wilson can play. But the only way we can know of Zach Wilson could play is if he actually plays. And let's hope that he is back in the lineup soon because otherwise there's really no reason to watch the Jets. Yeah, I can't. I can't. I'm legitimately angry. I'm not I'm actually not right, you know that part of the season. Jets right now have the number two overall pick in the draft with their

own pick and the number five via Seattle. Is not feeling good right now. Alright, I don't want to see Zach Wilson get Josh Rosen. No, that's not happening. I don't believe, but you know, we'll see, all right, Hey, Ricky, By the way, that was pretty crazy. The halftime. They did this great salute to service halftime show and they brought out the veterans and it was the six major military branches in the flag eggs were out. And then

this dude. They throw it up to this dude in the concourse and he's an artist who's also a singer, and he does a like an America, the beautiful rendition of the song while painting, and Me and Ricky are like trying to figure out what he's doing. It looks like a mess. It looks like he's not gonna pull it off. All he's singing and painting, and then something special happened. Oh my god, this was so we're You and I are talking to each other like, oh my god,

the song is finishing up. He'd better finished, like he's got a lot of time. Looks like like we're like, what the heck, what the heck? And then when he flipped the painted flipping You and I were screaming it was it was an American eagle, and Dan and I you would have thought it was the coolest thing. And then Mark thought we were joking, Like you thought we were being just jerks, but we legitimately like in that moment, it was the most impressive feat I had seen in

the filming. Yeah, why no one else can? It has nothing to make it? Did you know it was an eagle ahead when he was painting it? Let me answer for Greg. I wasn't even watching. I don't know. I mean I was eating. I was eating lunch or dinner with Tyler Dragon, our old friend, But I was not aware of the entertainment. Mark Mark knew exactly what it was.

So that's why he thought we were being jerk because he was like we they thought he thought we were making fun of not not in a not in a way where I was like, look at me versus youtuo. But I thought you guys were being kind of like snarky about the fact that because the action was unbelievable.

I think he was hold, yeah, look I lacked lots of skills, but like that that thing like I saw when he was making I said to you guys, why like that, there's an upside down eagle And it was ll But you would have thought they just told us like we had one a million dollars like, I don't know what made us to react like that, but we went. The dude was singing, I'm going to hitting every note painting with his hands and it was upside down. I couldn't see what spends the canvas around in a big spot.

One thing that helped me, it's a big win for the Chargers, Like there's a there's a rivalry between the Rams and the Chargers game day presentation. That's a that's a incredible thing I've seen. I've been to a number of places where they basically like an artist did the same thing, where it's like they go through the senior like everyone's like, what is it? Then they turned the painting around, So maybe my eyes are they singing and

I'm looking. His name is Joe Everson UM and he only has um a thousand subscribers on YouTube and only gets up Joe Everson on YouTube like everybody. Let's everybody, the listeners. If you want to see this guy's work, please go to his YouTube page, comment and say a t N sent you and give the man love. Oh my god, it just ricky. See, I was right there with you. We had a moment. Yeah, we were exactly all right, let's go. Um, good show. We'll be back

on Wednesday. A little different week. Obviously, it's Thanksgiving, so we will have our next show on Wednesday, will preview all of week twelve. Thank you for everybody, Thank you to everybody. Until then, he the call