2023 Week 11 Recap

The Around the NFL Podcast.

Will not be deemed a culture.

Miss fan from the Chris Westling Podcast Studio and beyond. It's Around the NFL, the Week eleven flagship program where we break down everything that went down on this football Sunday.

I am Dan Hansis, and I am joined.

By two heroes in the afore mentioned Chris Westling Podcast studio, Greg Rosenthal and Mark Sessler. I am in the guest bedroom of Keith and Deb's. So that's that's the setup as we begin today's show.

And yet it's not even the biggest story about the setup here. Very nice Mark to have you back in the crest with Chris Westling Podcast Studio.

Thank you.

You know it's have a recurring health issue that is bubbled up multiple times. And appreciate you guys, you know, holding it down to anyone that some people that reached out to me who have not had a chance to thank some of the listeners. We've got a great group listeners, So thank you, and I hope it doesn't occur ever again, or at least not again during the regular season our playoffs.

Yeah, I must say that we did miss you this week, Mark, and the shows were I thought solid and entertaining, but we need the cess dog in the mix, so getting them back for the flagship show is a big deal.

Yeah, just trying to be a culture fit at the same time, So working on all these issues at once.

Plus we got to have it back when the Browns are seven and three. There's something that's never happened in the history of our podcast, but I know we'll get to that later.

That's true.

That's true, Mark, don't be a culture misfit, culture fit.

I will say, Actually, the Browns were seven and three once when Mike Petton was coach. I believe now it's but they lost all the rest of their games, So hopefully a different path this time for that crew.

We're going to get to the Browns in just a little bit because they are a very nice story here.

But let's start with a game and a lot of good games for the second straight Sunday. We had a lot of games that went right down to the wire.

Not as many field goal kicks to end it, but there were a few of those as well. But let's start in Detroit where the Lions did battle with the Bears and it was a little tighter than we expected.

Fields back, Lions rush four, field four, getting get hit ball loose.

It's not the fun.

It's kicked out of the enzone. That's a safety, that's a safe thing.

The Lions are gonna win this game.

Meg hudred six knocked loose.

Itick went out of the back of the enzone and the Lions are gonna lock this one down.

What a game?

What a game? Whoa man?

We still got to get Dan Miller on the show, but that is on the to do list.

Yeah, put that on the potential top ten calls of the year.

Left.

Sure, I think Miller's all over that list once we get a look at the raw data.

Yes, Miller for w x YT with the call.

Jared Goff through a thirty two yard touchdown, tested Jamison Williams with three to zero six to play and set up David Montgomery. Gough had one yard touchdown run with twenty nine seconds left, and then the defense that you heard there closed things out in a thirty one to twenty six win over the Chicago Bears, a Bears team that got Justin Fields back on the field.

Greg Gyard.

Goff has been so good this year and yet this game he wasn't here's a quote, it was not my best ball for three and a half quarters. Where a resilient crew, we're tough, we don't back down. So even in a day when GoF was his old turnover bug had returned, they still find a way a sign of a good team.

I was shocked by the end of this game because for fifty five minutes it was one sided like it wasn't like I know, Goff had the three interceptions, one was tip, the other one like a receiver bumped off his route, but he also had two that weren't caught by the Bears that were terrible throws, and he was terrible. But even beyond that, they were just outmanned. The time of possession was thirty eight to sixteen going into those final five minutes three hundred and forty three yards to

And they scored so quickly.

Six plays seventy five yards including that Jamison will Jamison Williams touchdown, he gets free, they get a three and out where justin fields after run run pass, you know, Putt in a tough spot drops an absolute dime down the field.

Would have been the game winner. It was a it was a.

Gutsy throw to try, but it was a perfectly thrown ball down the field. Tyler Scott drops the ball about forty five yards down the field. Lions get the ball back, score quickly, and then make that defensive play. Just handled

In the last five year, Yeah, in a way, it's learning to win a different way. And then when they've been dominant, they've been so dominant and this was a typical and it was a typical Jared Goff from this

Fields' return was successful.

They didn't get the win out of it, but he finished sixteen to twenty three for one hundred and sixty nine yards and a touchdown. Had a very nice deep ball in this game. Including a touchdown throw to DJ More. But in the end, yes, they weren't able to win a game in which they turned the ball over on the other side four times.

That's a bitter pill to swallow.

And I think Shuk brought this up Greg on the preview show, and it's worth bringing up again because I don't want to take any air out of the balloon to the Lions. We're off to their best start in many years now at eight and two, steaming towards a Thanksgiving Day game where they were always kind of like the laughing stock of Thanksgiving, and now they're one of the top dogs in the league.

That's great, but you know, this schedule is not imposing.

So you take care of business against a team like the Bears, there's gonna be questions about Detroit all the way to the playoffs because this is kind of what their schedule is. I'm not not trying to be that guy, but I'm just saying, like you had to pull a rabbit out of your hat against the Bears, They're gonna have to be sharper than this when the real schedule arrives, which might not be till the middle of January.

Right, They've got the Vikings a couple of times. They have basically I think they have an at Cleveland in there.

I believe, well the Saints, Oh.

No, they have the Saints.

They're gonna end up losing one or two of these games because they're not perfect. Because we saw what could happen to golf today. They did run the ball very effectively, including on even on those game you know, winning drives. In the fourth quarter, they threw in a couple of runs and that was good. Jameson Williams is starting to make plays. But I was concerned about their defense now coming off some bad performances out of the bye, and then you play against Justin Fields.

He was the best player on the field.

I mean, he made good decisions, he made good throws.

It could have been more.

They scored, I believe, on five straight drives before that last five minute sweequence, where again I pointed out how Fields actually had a nice throw that was dropped on the last drive.

They really had a chance.

And you're right, Mark, it was these fourth down decisions, which if you look at each one, you can't kill Eberflus. But he kicked a couple field goals in fourth down situations one to go up two scores, but it was fourth and one and they really had the Lions on the rope, and he decides to kick a short biegal and then another fourth and five when they decide to

Any other thoughts on this one, Greg that you took out of.

It by the way six and twenty two. I want to be accurate when I'm getting after it. No, I think I hit the big ones. I will give the Lions some credit here that they ran the ball really well against a good Bears run defense. It's been good all year, and Gibbs Montgomery like that is a thing. It shows in this game they do not want to fall behind and like get into those sort of game scripts, because when they can get ahead and run the ball, they are toughest.

There was a play in this game where Jill and Johnson dropped what would have been another interception in oh yeah six. It's like goth Not all of those interceptions interceptions were on him, but he came close to us talking a very different way about him this evening.

He could have had five picks. He could have had that pick six that Jalen Johnson dropped. It would have ended the game. So the Lion's getting a little lucky too, but that never hurts, all.

Right, So the Lions get the Packers. On Thanksgiving Day, it was the Packers fighting for their playoff lives against the La Chargers, and it's another one that went down to the very end.

At the thirty five Keenan, Allen and Merchant left.

Herbert had the shotgun fourth and one for the Chargers twenty three seconds ago.

Snap to Herbert, looks, wait, fires it.

Come play down, Tenny Clark. The biggest play of that game.

Yeah, the Chargers, we are dismissed with nineteen seconds to go.

There is your dagger, delivered.

By the Green Bay defense in particular Tenny Clark.

Yes, Kenny Clark with a big paw. He got that big play.

You got that big meat hook up there, knocked it away the Herbert pass, ending another frustrating game for the LA Chargers under Brandon Staley. In the end, it was a twenty three to twenty victory for the Green Bay Packers. Jordan Love had perhaps the best game of his young career here, throwing for three hundred and twenty two yards, and he hit Romeo Dobbs for a twenty four yard touchdown with two thirty three to play that put Green Bay ahead, and then they get the stand on defense

Team this year that have struggled.

Down the stretch of games trying to find ways to close games out. And they found a Chargers team that this is their business, this is their bread and butter. They take games that they should win and they find ways to lose them. And that is absolutely what I saw here today. And we're getting to the point now with the Chargers mark where you start to ask questions

Yeah, on the hottest seat around maybe west of Ron Rivera. And it's because of the way these games dissolve for the Chargers. It's like you have bad dropped by Keenan Allen Quentin Johnson's like signature move at this point is like game defining bobbles and drops that like change everything.

And I don't need to hear that Justin Herbert can't like game winning drive he puts that pass out there for Johnston.

Yeah, it's like I think it's like you'd have to be had not watched to blame it, to blame it on Justin Herbert. But I thought this was sort of like an acid test for this defense. It's been as struggling up and down Packers offense, and instead we come out of this with Love playing one of his finer performances, and guys like Jaden Red and Luke Musgrave and Dante Avian Wicks like showing up and making the offense look functional. It's like, what this is the opposite of what Brandon

Here's Brandon Staley asked about changes for the team that is struggling badly as we reach late November.

I have full confidence, like I've told you, and like I told you from the beginning, I have full confidence in our way of playing. Full confidence in myself is the play caller and the way that we teach and the way that we scheme. Full confidence in that we got to bring this group together and do it consistently. Okay, And that's where it's at. So you can stop asking that question. Okay, I'm going to be calling the defenses, okay, So we're clear, so you don't have to ask that again.

And this is you know, we've been doing this long enough.

When you hear that tone in a head coach, it's it's a little defiant, but it's also there's a defensiveness and a sensitivity that you're picking up on.

This is a coach who knows that he's in trouble.

Joey Bosa limped off the field in the first quarter with a foot injury, showed up in the second half in street clothes and in a walking boot. It had all the all the looks of a serious injury and maybe Greg, you and I were texting, maybe this is the last snap that Joey Bosa ends up playing for the Chargers. Day was not happy being prodded about Bosa's situation.

Either, I don't.

Man, there, he goes.

It's I mean, you've all been like in hot water with a like a significant other, and like when things get testy, it's like this is like that's it makes me feel that same way. It's like he he came in as such a likable guy by the media and not a tough group of media people in general in covering this team, and it's like it's dissolving before you ours And you're right, Dan, it reminds you of like other coaches in the eleventh hour, and not a good eleventh hour.

No, I mean, I feel like we could play Brandon's daily clips all night. I don't even want to. But it's the it's the defensiveness like that. At one point he talked, you know, talked about he's not here to talk about the fan base. They talk to the fan base, and it's not like we haven't made improvements. We have made improvements. It's not the true that truth that we

It's absolutely true.

Keenan Allen drops a touchdown, Quentin Johnson drops another, past they are zero and five in games decided by three points or less, and I just think, I just think of this team, and I think of sloppiness like that Jane Reid rushing touchdown, where like none of the guys on the second and third levels are in their run fits at all. It's just you know, Austin Eckler getting stuff at the goal, and it's just all these little things add up when you watch a Chargers game.

It was to kind of even underline the point you just made, Greg, five of the Chargers six losses have been for a combined fourteen points. So the difference between ten and seven and seven to ten is right there. That inability to kind of find a way. And you know, this is a team that has a lot of stars on it, a lot of big names, and it's never really happened. Khalil Mack went over double digit sacks in this game. You have Herbert, you have Keenan Allen Havn

They don't get the playoff.

They have a backup center in and you see Herbert spike the ball into the ground, scream at his line, and it's just like I actually liked seeing it, but it also I thought was a snapshot into the frustration around that has to be in that building right now, and you're just wondering, we're gonna get to the Jets a little bit later, how long before it starts leaking out and that could be the death knell for the coach.

Ultimately, I just I have a bit of.

A just a suspicion that Staley is in mortal danger this week and in the next twenty four hours.

I guess we'll see.

Yeah, we'd almost have to publish like a flashpoint focus probably right after the show to get ahead of that.

I think we're a little late. I'm like saying that the Chargement.

We're a little late, but I mean, I do think that Herbert has shown like insane toughness and like total competitives. I know what you mean, Dan, but it's like he's also finally got reasons every game to feel frustrated and.

That reaction just has to be natural.

And it's like these players are not children, they're not college players. It's not hard to lose a lot a month ago, and so I really wonder what's happening inside the building, because you're right, Dan, they don't do the little things right. They remind you of a team that doesn't close when they need to, and it goes beyond just the game to execution.

Well.

They also got their leading rusher out of Justin Herbert today eight carries for seventy three yards, which to me shows he knows how desperate the situation is.

He is not someone that is looking to run.

A lot of those were runs up the middle where he took some big hits and everything. I know Packers fans are geting on us. We spent all this time in the Chargers.

I said it.

If you go check out NFL Plus last week or no was it. It was on our podcast. Actually we talked about snaky stories. It's so hard about Yeah, we thought Jordan Love. I thought Jordan Love had his best two games of the season in a row, and here's another nice game. Doesn't even you know, Christian Watson is their seventh leading receiver on this gate and they still get it done. So three twenty two, you get to four and six, you're on Thanksgiving. You're not out of it.

I know the lines are eight and two, but that is not an impossible ask if they can find a way in that game, in that conference. The NFC is very, very soggy in the bottom half of the playoff picture the whole season. Even if all these struggles is right in front of you and I do have a bad feeling everything they do from here on out might be without Aaron Jones, who suffered an ugly looking knee injury.

But with mattla Floor did say that he didn't think it was long term that he's in good spirits. We'll see what that means, but we're not gonna probably see him four or five days from now.

Yeah, we shall see.

Yeah, probably asking a lot for Thanksgiving, and that would be great news if it's not a long term injury.

If it is something that costs some time.

AJ Dillon gets yet another chance to establish himself in that backfield. Let's move to Houston where, yes, like Justin Herbert and Joe Burrow, there's a young crop of quarterbacks that are the tomorrow of the league. No, nay, the today, the right now C J. Stroud looking to keep it going.

Here's the game.

Here comes the blitz.

Fourth and eight at the Houston twenty seven.

Murray and the gun.

Murray throwing downfield to his left hand. They cut play, knocked the way. Steven Nelson and the Texans takeover on.

Downs twenty one, sixteen day at the ball with thirty seconds to go.

Interesting, Okay, there was I don't know, man, it was a hard week.

It was.

It was here this one. I was thinking maybe the Rams game.

I don't know, Roberts, we're giving out bongos and beating the Cardinals.

I don't know, man, it was a fun game.

The text.

The Texans were almost team of atm man.

What are we doing?

I don't know's choice?

Like, I don't care. It was a fun game. Where would you have gone this week?

Oh he don't want to know.

Yeah, Bill's jets. I don't want. I didn't want to do Bill jets to you, Dan, give it to me.

No musical instruments in that event.

I mean, I think, I think if we're if you asked me so now I'll answer, I would have given.

Them to the Packers.

Really okay, getting back in the mix, Well you asked me.

Yeah, you win, semmy loosen. CJ.

Stroud threw for three hundred and thirty six yards with two touchdowns.

That was Mark Vandermire on the call. By the way, Kilt and the.

Texans on a day where they weren't overly sharp, still do what they need to do to beat the Cardinals twenty one to sixteen. And Mark, greg excuse me, that was the call that we heard. Was once again the defense getting the big stop when it came down to it in a sign of, you know, the emerging idea that the Texans have some depth here to win games on both sides of the ball. That's a huge step in becoming a team.

Right defense, Will Anderson Derek Stingley, their top five pick, their top three pick from a year ago makes a huge interception. Their offensive line is playing much better. And this game, while I get what you're saying with the bongos, it was about as crazy as humanly possible a game could be that had only seven points in the second half. It was just like turnover after turnover, fourth down stop after fourth down stop.

Three times in.

The fourth quarter, Kyler Murray had a chance to go maybe take the lead with the touchdown, and three times they came up short on fourth and short, so they had three straight turnovers on dons. One was just a total miss by Kyler. He had a couple throws today that were just off target, and so that sometimes happens when you returned from a torn acl You didn't really see it the first week. You saw it this week, just like fluttering balls. Maybe it was just weird. One

I just find him so watchable, like he's like a fringe MVP guy for me. I know that this game like this could you know, I get shadows some of that kind of voting, but I think it's incredible to see that a rookie quarterback because we're watching so many like second and third year quarterbacks still struggle and show inconsistency and a lack of growth, and then it's so frustrating to watch.

But CJ.

Stroud, like his relationship already with a fellow rookie in Tank Dell. I mean, there were some plays today where like their connection and their mind mild is already one of the best in the league. And it's like I forgive some of these turnovers because that I just would expect from a rookie, especially one that's throwing the ball as much as he is. And it's like the upside is just simply insane, and it's like send them right into the second round of the playoffs.

That's how I view the text, right, Yeah.

Yeah.

Stroud had three interceptions excuse me, two interceptions. Uh, he was throwing the ball into tight windows. Didn't it always work out? But you know what the guy believes. He finished with three Sunday excuse me, and he had two all season entering the game. After the game, he did not like sound like a young quarterback who's going to turn gun shy after making some mistakes.

And man, Steph Curry, don't ever stop shooting. I'm gonna keep I'm keep laying to ride, you know. And I got a shame of my game. I definitely gotta be smarter, but I don't like, I don't know confidence is taken away from me. I'm gonna keep laying to fly.

I mean, that's obviously what you want to hear from your quarterback unless he continues to have three interception games.

But you obviously giving him a pass.

Here Mark and that is also a famous Cesstag quote, ain't no shame to my game.

I've heard you say that, Yeah you can.

You can hear me saying that around the building. Uh, you know at any time of day. That's true.

His his like throw at the end of the half, and I'm sure people have seen it. The forty yard touchdown Tank Dell was just it showed everything from these two players. It was just an insane route. I don't you know it was a triple move. I don't think the third move was play on. That was freestyle. But Dell is snapping off these routes in a way that I still have a feeling like as high as you think, like the ceiling is for Tank Dell, Like, I don't think people realize it's not high enough.

He is as good as like.

As any rookie that's come into the league this year in terms of his wide recet, Like, his routes are insane. The way he wins is insane, the way he wins on the outside he ends up with eight for one, forty nine and one, And because he's one hundred and sixty five pounds, I think people think it's like some sort of weird creation of the system. But no, it's

Like he looked ready to go this sea two weeks in a row. Yep.

All right, let's take a break and then we will continue on. All right, we are back. Let's dive right back into the games. And it's time now for the Sunday Drive presented by the first ever Toyota Grand Highlander.

Oh.

Another game that went right down to the end, Rams Seahawks.

The rivalry goes on from.

The left hash fifty five yards, So decide Week eleven.

Here's his kick, very right. It is no God, no God? Why rights?

And the Rams celebrates a week eleven to three seventeen sixteen, and only three seconds left. The three game losing streak is over. The November losing streak. He's over.

The great JB Long for Rams Radio with the call, and yes, it was Jason Myers who could not connect from fifty five yards out with three seconds to play and have allowed the Rams to escape with a seventeen to sixteen win over the Seahawks. And yes, like JB said, that's ended the losing streak for the Rams and it also keeps them live four and six in the NFC playoff picture. Greg let's start with the quarterbacks because Matthew

So much drama.

Cooper Cupp also left this game early with an ankle injury, never returned. Ken Walker left with an oblique injury right off the bat, never returned, and that sounds like a multiple week injury the way Pete Carroll talked about it. But Gino missed two drives in the second half and

And he he just was at.

That point freestyling and making the calls and he called the running play there, so unfortunate timing for the headset to go out there, an unfortunate decision ultimately by Gino not to clock it there or throw a pass, because they could have gotten a lot closer than that fifty five yards.

Can I just say Mark or or Gino messed up and then he made up the headset thing and and Greg bought into it.

Hooklines, Well, that's him, that's him taking the blame. That's him taking the Because Pete Carroll, you know, the way he talked about it so obliquely, I'm like, what is he talking about here, Because he's like, well, that didn't go the way we wanted. He admitted it, but he he basically was trying to cover for what happened, and you know, just told them the truth. That was not covering himself. He's saying, I messed up. I should not have called a run there.

Well, yes, I think to Dan's point, we just don't tech a lot, have like a z Repruiter film on what exactly happened on that effect.

And that's fine.

But the Seattle starts four and four on third downs and then goes one and eleven the rest of the game.

They kind of, I think part of the story here.

They're the worst third down team in the NFL. They have been all year.

It's plagued them NonStop. And the Rams, who in two games have allowed three points to Seattle in the second half. I thought you kind of remind me of when we were in London and they came out against the Cardinals. The Rams, after very being able to do nothing on the ground, came out and kind of dominated and had a couple of drives where they just marched up and down the field running the ball. But they kind of let Seattle back into this by throwing that pass down.

With it the Rams did.

They let Seattle back in that choice to throw it and it gives Seattle to essentially the ball back with about a minute forty.

Yeah, there were a lot of fascinating game management decisions. I think Pete Carroll really blew it at the end of the first half by not taking a time out, could have given his team when the Rams were going into score, some time to possibly respond. And like, that's just that's just how Pee Carroll works defensively, not being aggressive.

It is a tough way to lose.

Now, I can't Royce Freeman still in the league. I love it.

Yeah, it's twelve penalties, Greg, Yeah, for one hundred and thirty yards, the most penalties for any team this season, the most for Seattle since twenty and eighteen. And you're right, like you say that this might ruin our season. This is just one game. There's still a team with a winning record. In fact, six and four is pretty nice spot to be. But then you look at the schedule up ahead. They got the Niners on Thanksgiving Night, then they get the Niners again in a couple of weeks,

I would tend to think we probably will not trust Seattle after that rugged three game stretch.

And I don't need a.

Score game and it's the next four too, so you got to win one of those scours.

Trust them.

Coming out of this game, I do have a question, like if you're Geno Smith, like in terms of medically clearing Gino Smith, like you're out. He's got a big rap on his arm and shoulder. Yeah, and then it's like you're in. You're playing again. What happened over the course of five or six minutes that suddenly greenlit Gino Smith. We don't even know if he'll be able to play on Thanksgiving.

I I I think he just can't heat.

What Pete Carroll said was Gino convinced them he could play, and I'm sure they're thinking twice because I think he was ready to go to the drive before and they decided to leave Locke in there. And Gino had a good game overall, two thirty three and a touchdown.

You know, avoided the interception.

He he made good decisions and throws it in the last drive, but the balls did kind of come out funny if you were looking at him. He had one weird sideline pass the metcalf and even the one over the middle, like they went in right direction. It got there, but they were a little wobbly, So I don't know if this elbow injury is going to be an issue. And one reason I don't I just don't believe in the Seahawks team right now because they just have too many

Both of them are running for their lives the whole game.

I'm bummed about Cooper Cup.

This is now back to back seasons where the injury bug is biting on him hard in that you know, we talked about the idea of getting Stafford back, and then you get the Big three with Nakua and Cup together and it just seems like it's starting to be one of those seasons for the Rams where you can't get your guys back together at the same time for any length of time. But otherwise, a very nice win for Sean McVay and company. It always, you know, it always means a little more in the NFC West.

To get swept him by the way he owns Pete Carroll. There's something about this matchup. He swept them, and he's kind of killed him since Pete Carroll, especially in the second hand there are Ye.

That was the Sunday Drive presented by Toyota. Let's go play. Learn more at toyota dot com slash Grand Highlander. All right, so it wasn't you know, I'm in New York this weekend and you know, spending getting a lot of family time in It's very nice. At the last moment, I decided to bring my two boys as well, so they they've been bonding with their cousins and.

Their uncles and aunts. It's been very nice.

And to kind of keep it all in that headspace of where I grew up, I did draft the Giants Mark on Thursday show, So Poppy's not next to me sitting in the big brown chair drinking roop here cursing off Phil Simms. But still there was something nice about watching the Giants the Autumn Leaves and the Crisp November air, and they delivered a performance set reminded you of the old Giants on Sunday.

Takes the snap back to throw, steps up under pressure, runs out of a sack, then loves it.

And it's intercepting by Isaiah Sevens running down the love sideline twenty fifteen ten to five touchdown. Giants Isaiah Simmons with the pick six to enter with sixteen seconds to go, third interception by Howell, and the Giants take out the groom.

They're sweeping Washington again.

Get gone.

Who I mean that's Bob Papa.

I mean.

Lost season for the Giants.

It's a nice I would maybe give the Giants of bongos for one night.

Yeah, yeah, I think you know, when Tommy DeVito gets thirty one on you, you get some bongos.

He got to veto throwing three touchdown passes.

He got Isaiah Simmons pick six taken to the house one of six. Count them six commander's turnovers in a thirty one nineteen home loss to the last place New York Giants. Great line here, you know the old writing on deadline. You'll have those one sentenced grafts that hit hard. The ugly game got even smellier afterward when there was no hot water in the stadium for players to shower.

You know, it's the.

Most annoying thing. We can't even blame Daniel Snyder. Well, we kind of can still blame him.

This is his old dilapidated building.

Yeah, but what a dark, dark game for the Commanders and I guess I'll just start with the Commanders, because they are a team that, at least entering Sunday, had some more relevance than the Giants.

I think it's not just us, it's everyone.

Every time we seem to get behind the idea of Sam Howell, he has an outrageously poor game, and this was an outrageously poor game. By how he didn't get a chance to watch this yet some of these interceptions he threw were just wretched, and he did not give his team a great opportunity to win this game. And I got a shout out mark Tommy DeVito because this guy who's become something of an internet meme at this point, and we talked about on an NFL Plus last week.

Yeah, because de Veto looked completely utterly lost at sea when we first saw him. And this is a short amount of time to get someone who's not a high draft picked on any level ready, and that's kind of what dables special sauce was meant to be.

So I think it's a win for him.

If you're Ron Rivera, you were kind of hitching your wagon to the fact that you stood by Sam how and no one really believed or necessarily thought that was the smartest thing to do.

Howell has been I thought, really watchable.

He had been keeping the turnovers down prior to this week, and even the like six nine sack games had disappeared.

But this kind of sounds like that Buffalo wipeout.

And if you get that version of him, that's wild because like you have to go back to nineteen eighty four when a Washington team that sacked a quarterback nine or any team sacked a quarterback nine plus times and still lost by double digits.

It's like, if you're on Rivera, your.

Calling card is no matter what, our defense is gonna cause a problem for the opposing quarterback and it's like you didn't do any of that today.

Well no, I mean, and it has an all season, which is why we don't need to belabor it. Rivera is the one coach out there that, like, we know he's not making it. He's ann next season. I guess, I guess you could create a scenario where they win out like then maybe he would have a chance. But borring that, it's a tough spot. And it's because his defense has been so bad. And how about DeVito dimes out there? He now has six touchdowns. I mean, that's

Has this year.

It is, It's definitely more than Kenny Pickett has this year. Uh, de Vito, it's happening in Sequon we talked about Saquon has been running his ass of one hundred and forty yards from scrimmage in two touchdowns.

Nice job by Saquon.

Hey, Eric Roberts, you know it's not too late. We can give Tommy de Vido some bongos on a Sunday night.

It might be his last chance, all right, I mean I'm down if you guys are like an unshowered deviat.

I didn't know that we could do it in the middle of the game.

Hey, you know, hey, you know what really?

You know, when he after he threw his first touchdown through two touchdowns to Barkley, he went sprinting down the field doing that, you know, like the Italian dude thing.

We're like holding the fingers up like he is.

There's there's a level of self awareness Greg that I was not expecting from a guy that said his all time dinner features Elon Musk, who else was it?

Floyd Mayweather and Jeff Bezos.

Like, yeah, there was a little more depth of character or a sense of humor than I was expecting.

Yeah, a couple of creeps and maybe another creep. Okay, selling your own plank.

No, But honestly, he played very well. He really did.

And and I'm not saying he's the future of the position, but he's really helping out Dable here because this could have this could have really degenerated into an all time humiliation season that would put Dable in trouble. But now I'm starting to think they're going to be able to kind of get to the finish line with Dignity Attack because I think he's good enough.

Like with the old trope Gregory, we talked about it last week.

You know what, with this game, he's going to be around for ten years as a backup.

You know, he bought a whole career.

It's like, yeah, sure, but I bet but right now, but for one for one day, he really did play well and good for him. And uh and and I'll give a shout out Mark.

I didn't get a check. Chance to check his final line.

But every time I do a Giants game on Sundays, Cavon Thibodau's making plays and he really is having a nice year or two with the Giants. He's absolutely made the leap, and I think they have a guy going forward that can anchor that that line.

Yeah, two sacks, two tackles for loss, Like he seems to be the guy that shows up regularly. And this defense, I mean, I know, like they've had a couple of sneaky good games. I look back on the Bills when I'm like, all right, I'm not sure what to make of that one because of what's happened in Buffalo. But no, this isn't great anything you can cling to if you're Brian's able.

This is great. They now passed the Patriots in Tankathon.

The tank the Patriots are into that top three here, and we got a big Patriots Giants Tankathon matchup next week. Well you should pick We need that quarterback to Vito. Yeah, save your job, get out of they watch.

Look, we haven't heard that a lot either.

And I was watching the games with Keith Hansas for the first time, like on a football Sunday in fourteen years. Wo And you know, he's a little rusty on like you know, who to be rooting for and against. It's good that I was there to help him because he likes Herbert a lot.

So he's rooting for the Chargers.

And I'm like, Dad, because I have these two games on as like, Dad, actually the Chargers have the tiebreaker on the Jets and they have a similar record, so we've got to be against the Chargers.

And then he's like, oh, those Giants, those dogs.

My dad hates the Giants more than anyone hates anything in the world. And I was like that the Giants win this game, it actually gives them a worst draft pick and they fall out of contention for one of these big college prospects. He's like, all right, Danny, So it was good to have, like have that dynamic back and forth.

I've missed it.

You're a man of reason.

Oh you're right, Danny. All right, let's move on and uh yeah.

Check in with the other team that plays in the Meadowlands, who traveled up to Orchard Park to face a Bills team that needed a win in the worst way, and they got it.

Bobby, Bobby Alan making a check Bobby Wagner back to the shotgun.

He goes, here's the snap, pre man Rush Jets drop an eight and the passes complete to Shakir gets away for the tag un to the.

Corty thirty five thirty.

Doubles back to the twin still loose piece, going all the way for the touchdown.

Eighty one yards to paydirt Khalil ship here.

Wow, Chris Brown with the call, WGR.

I think that's a fitting call for this game, which was a very one sided affair thirty two to six in favor of the Bills over the fading Jets. And it was Sauce Gardner that got beat in coverage by Shakiir on that beautiful throw by Josh Allen and then a Gardener sprints down the field, uses his ketchup speed and then is unable to bring it down. Shakira in

Josh Allen led the way.

A very strong effort from Allen with his new offensive coordinator, and a Buffalo team that scored points on six of its first eight possessions gets back above five hundred. And also, I think importantly Mark has a win that they can kind of feel good about. And you could kind of sense that with some of the it was an endless game, the game would not end it Maybe.

I have to check.

It might be the longest four quarter game of the season, and considering it was so one sided, it felt terminal at least for interminable for this Jets fan. But there was some swagger in this game and some chess pump pumping, and this idea that the Bills, who have been struggling to really find their swagger. This is the type of game against the Jet team that's fading but still where you can find yourself a little bit and build off it.

Yeah, there was a legitimate stink on Buffalo all week leading up to this game, so it take I mean, I don't recall at any moment Sean McDermott being widely criticized by so many different people for so many different reasons, and you just felt like the bow could break down, will come baby and cradle and all and all that business.

But this kind of stops all that. And yet I'm.

Not sure totally what to take from it, because you're watching a non functional offense and it's like, I kind of felt like a game when they took away the opening kick return, the Bills and the Jets were suddenly a sitting duck. And out comes the offense in twenty minutes into this affair, they have zero yards. Obviously, zero

They're cooked. I mean I would stick a fork in them. But I'm emotional right now because they're my team.

And it's a tough game Friday Field.

Yeah, they got their on Black Friday, and but they're getting They're going there.

They're playing the Dolphins. It's at the metal ends.

But their confidence is at an all time low as a team. I could tell you that for sure just by watching them. And they finally benched Zach Wilson in the third quarter. I mean, this is a game that it's all there again, and it's so frustrating that we're back here where the Jets are the butt of jokes. But this is just what seems to happen when you tie your wagon to a team like this. Like Wilson at one point, coming off the sideline coming back from

But you know exactly why he has a free.

He's the one guy.

Oh that's the change. He's the guy changes.

Changed it, but it didn't make any difference.

Here are the big changes that I noticed in this game. You put the overmatched offensive coordinator in a booth. You cut the third string running back in this game. I didn't see much else. And they're trying to pull the wool over the eyes of the fan base and acting like they're trying to really make changes, but the truth is they're not doing anything.

And this is what happens. And if I'm Aaron.

Rodgers, who supposedly reportedly was targeting a Christmas Eve return, no, bro, You've got a terrible offensive line that got further weekend by Makai Becton's ankle injury today. And I think it's just a matter of time now before this whole locker room breaks because they already had a players meeting players only meeting heading into this game, and now they're going to face a Miami team in prime in a game at an Island game, it is gonna be potentially a

Yeah, they're third loan touchdown was their first and forty one drives, I believe, and I think you're you're hamstrung because you have a super empowered quarterback and you knew what came along with that, but he's tied at the hip to an offensive coordinator and at Daniel Hackett that is arguably and maybe overtly having an even worse campaign than a year ago. And that was one of the

Well, Zach Wilson, And you know, the thing that is similar between this year and last year is not the play card.

It's Zach Wilson.

And like Mike, I have a feeling Mike Lafleur could coach some offense had a quarterback.

So to me, it's the quarterback, it's the offensive line.

Rodgers, ultimately the choice is gonna be made for him, like if they have eight once they have eight or nine losses, he's.

Not coming back anyway.

So if they get to that point and the Bills have I think they're at Philly next week before a late bye, but it's now they could even if they lose that game. I look at this AFC and I know the point differential. Thing's crazy. They're now like plus one hundred for the year, which is just nuts. You know all their offensive statsic. I actually think Josh Allen is having a good season. I know it's wrapped around a couple like clunky, turnover prone games, I really do.

Quarterback, if not better.

And you could say that basically about any quarterback this year, if you could pick out one or two bags. My point is they're running the ball well. You get a big day out of Leonard Floyd and Ed Oliver. I know it's against the Jets, but ed Oliver's playing with his hair on fire lately, and you've been running it better, and you have Alan. I think they are still a playoff team even if they go six and six, and I know that the schedule's tough.

I think there's a lot to like though. I'm not giving up on the Bills. Is my point.

Well, you shouldn't give up on the Bills, but let's not go around the knack like Josh Allen is a couple of bad throws away from having a good year. You look, I mean, you had the first Jet game, you have the Giant game, you have the Denver game. I'm looking at multiple weeks where they scored less than twenty points.

Yes, on a down to down like play to play basis, I think he's not been much different than he always is. He is a quarterback that matters that is playing reasonably well.

I think they have a chances off I.

Would say globally though, like what they are is an offense like today is not a measuring stick of that like they seem.

I think it is. People love to say like and I get it.

The defense caved in eventually, but it's also the same defense that's totally stopped the Bills in games before when their offense wasn't doing anything. So you can't have it both ways. You got to give them some credit for being able to move the ball today.

It's a nice day for.

Them lost cause, but there's definitely issues with the Bills in general, and I think three weeks from now we'll see. But it's like date, go out and show us that you're a good team against a different team against the Jets. Like Josh Allen has a ton of touchdowns and I'm not saying he's like a major issue, but this isn't the same version I think of Josh Allen that we got it's certain heights in the last two seasons.

I think the point is great because I nobody would argue that Allen hasn't had moments of this season and stretches where he looked as good as ever. I think he has the ability, he has the natural ability and the players around him to be the best quarterback in the league for the rest of the season. But this

I guess I just need to see a real.

Extended stretch here where he's not shooting himself in the foot and they're not putting the ball on the ground. And maybe the scheme alteration with the new OC makes a big difference. And maybe Allen who kind of got his offensive coordinator fired, Greg, like maybe that was the way you call he needs in some level, I don't know. I just don't want to like paint like a rosy picture of a guy that I think he got Lombardi.

I just I just think people go so far in one direction or the other.

Now.

I don't think these stats like paint the total picture, but I also kind of get it that, like his EPA per play is a career high, he's second in the league to a Purty, He's top five in QBR. He usually doesn't rank that high. Completion percentage over expected, these are down to down things. They're actually at or above his career high. Now, no one's saying he's having his best season, but I think he's having a better

I just don't think anyone's walking around saying that he is some sort of a disaster either.

People aren't saying that, no one.

I feel like all of last week was spent on like what a problem.

Yeah.

I think part of it is, like to what Dan just said that, like, did are you the reason your OC just got canned? When all those stats are true about what the OC produced as well, A lot of those are from their highs.

I think the OC got caned because Don mcdermom didn't like him.

That's my that's my room.

They can't be best pals, well you mean like personally, Yeah, I mean just that they didn't like working together.

I mean when you got there, Greg, not a little stupid.

Nothing other than like no one with that sort of track record and production. Ever it gets fired in the middle of season. I mean he clearly didn't want to work with him anymore.

He got rid of him. You gown, well, you.

Keep firing people until you're next in line, exactly.

I think.

I think that's a team under an extreme amount of pressure to get this thing figured out, and I think that hurt Dorsey as well, like the amount of pressure on them to not let this season go down in infinity infinity for Buffalo fans.

Uh.

By the way, safety Tailer Rafts.

To stained a neck injury, came off the field in an ambulance, a scary scene, but it looked like he had feeling like in his extremities, so that that's good.

But they also lost.

Dan Jackson and Toron Johnson to head injuries, so they they've been they've been a bit hard. It's not just the offense with the turnovers. They've had a ton of injuries this year and they and now they get the Eagles coming up, and that's gonna be potentially a fun little shootout all right, good, good, good.

All right.

So a little like I said at the top of the show, a little bit of a different week. I'm back east, so with my family on the other side of the store, I am going to We're gonna take a break here, and then when we get back, it will be Nick Shook tagging.

I'm tagging in. Man. Imagine Nick Shook as your tag team partner.

Oh my god, you play different roles.

That would be you'd be the guy with like the dust and the little thing that you scored in someone's face.

Well, wait, that's the valet. Let's give me a little more credit than that. But he's definitely the guy that, like, I just gotta like not get pinned. And if I could just get to that corner where Shook is at the turnbuckle and slap his hand, He's gonna hulk up and just clean house.

So that's what I'm gonna do at this break.

And I will see you guys tomorrow night for the Super Bowl rematch recap of Monday night football. Let's take a break and then Shook will join us.

All right, welcome back.

Let's head where we always head when Nick Schuck is coming on the show.

Let's go to Cleveland.

Twenty four yard line is where they spotted thirty four yard field Goala tap, five seconds to go. Here we go. She look ready to put the ball, back step to it, back ball down.

Hopkins in with flag down, kick us up and the kick is good. We're two seconds left. There's a flag down. It looks like the Snailers were offside. Two seconds left and Dustin the Hopkins puts the Brown toad.

Thirteen to ten offside.

You bet indeed, Jim Donovan back in the house. That's great to hear. Longtime Browns play by playban is healthy again for w k r K. Dustin Hopkins. He's been a difference maker all season. Fitting he gets the field goal in a thirteen to ten Brown's victory over the Steelers. If you're watching on YouTube, you can see Dorian Thompson Robinson overcome by emotion. He says he's a winning starter

Oh I mean, it was.

It was an ugly game, but you know, you take the wins, Harvey can if you're the Browns, the slap walk through the third quarter and then most of the fourth quarter, and then found it when they needed it most, and they turned the rookie who was able to complete a few passes, get them in range and pull off a drive that you desperately needed to kick a field goal that I was certain was not going to happen in this game. And sometimes the spice of life is surprises, and it was today.

I mean, for the first time ever, the Browns have beaten the Ravens and Steelers and back to back contests. If you go back through time, so many of these games would end so differently because you have issues at the field goal pick kicking position, You've lost your starting quarterback, you've lost the center of your offense, your star running back, and countless you've got issues at the tackle position, and you're facing the Steelers defense that is even with your

And it was ugly.

But it's ugly, I thought, because You've got something truly special, and it is a beautiful defense, and it is really rewarding to see Miles Garrett, who's been surrounded by very little his entire career, making game changing place. I gotta ask you, Nick, like that, I thought that was a safety out of the gate when Miles Garrett comes to tearing up the belly and blows up picket and it's it like the camera says, we'll see it to Pennstreet where the rep solid.

But Jean Sarahtor said, you should have challenged that.

You gotta challenge a potential scoring place.

Absolutely, it was a really bad day of challenges for the Browns because they didn't challenge that, and on that sideline angle, you could see the balls clearly over the goal line. The entire football has to be out of the goal line for it to not be a safety. We're not gonna split hairs with the rules here, but it should have been challenged. Then they go challenge the Jerome Ford touchdown, which they somehow get overturned and turned into a touchdown because it wasn't initially ruled as a

That is something we can investigate. I think you're right Mark to bring up Garrett right away, because it's hard not to think about TJ. Watt, Miles Garrett, and you know TJ. Watt had a couple quarterback hits in a sack in this game. But when it comes down to it in the fourth quarter in a huge spot where Steelers I think they had the ball in great field position, they got over the fifty yard line, I believe before Miles Garrett puts them back with a big time sack

No, I mean, they're winning games in ways they would have lost them in the past, and I think that there is a difference here. If you watch Kevin Stefanski's postgame locker room speech, to the team I think is even kealed nature through all sorts of stuff that's happened affects them. I think there's a Browns team that leaves in each other in a way that you typically would look at the Steelers and say, that's how they feel

Fifteen targets for Dadoku today.

Really, I mean, I think in other years he says inconsistent, He's still gonna give you the drops. But it's like you made out you made a pinpoint passes coming at you in some of these situations this season, but certain guys have stepped up, and I just think it's kind of a season altering win back to back to beat the Ravens and Steelers. I think it means a lot to a Browns franchise that like has not been able to do that consistently in twenty years.

There's something weird around this team right now, and it's built.

You know, it's centered on their defense, because you know when you have a good defense, it's gonna give you a chance in every game. But there's like a sense of belief and it's like cautious optimism within the fan base, whereas this team's just going out there and trying to

And yet every time the defense bailed them out.

And just like you said, that sack, that Miles Garrett sack that took them out of field goal range late, that's the defense coming through.

Yet again, that's what gave them the opportunity here.

And I want to be like sitting back and think, oh, eventually it's gonna falter. And it's broken down a couple times in the past, but it is more reliable and consistently. I fully believe that they'll have a shot in every game from here on out.

Yet I think some of the passive coaching came on Pittsburgh's offensive side. Where can you Pickett said afterwards that you know they were expecting Cleveland out to come out and play man from wire to wire and they switched that up.

They confused them.

This is a division opponent, and he said, we've got to adjust better. And then Naji Harris, we know that he's been upset with a few things. You got Jayleen Warren going off for a big touchdown. But Naji Harris, I think was another crack in the armor about what's going on with this offensive coaching staff.

Let's listen to it.

There's just a lot of stuff that just goes around.

It's just.

It's just that you guys don't see as I say.

It's just true.

I'm miss at a point where it.

Was just like, I'm just tired of it.

Let's let's hear some more, because that, especially from Najia Harris, was pretty telling, knowing that they're six and four or but that they've once again been out gained.

Wait where are they outgain?

We kept it going, Yes, two fifty nine to two forty nine. They they kept the streak going. Let's hear him talk about that this record might be fools gold Meeks.

The two things. You can look at the record and say, Okay, well we're still.

Good right now.

We can look at the record and.

We like, you know, if we keep playing this type of football, how long is that last?

Right?

I look at it, like, how long does it last?

Mandalkamhad like I said, good record players, I missed the NFL.

You know it's winning, Like, how we did it?

Chiphold, It's not gonna get us nowhere? Wow, that's selling to me because that Naja Harris is kind of known for being a leader. I think it's one of the reasons why he was drafted so early. Like he is that dude that has a sense of the locker room and wants to lead by example. So for him to be saying that, he's probably not too happy either. He had, you know, thirty five yards on twelve carries. Jalen Warren was basically their entire offense, and Kenny Picket has one

Well, you could feel a switch potentially coming at some point. I'd say Picket if he has had one thing to offer in close games like this Nick in the fourth quarter, he's had sort of a little bit of a flare to him where suddenly he awakens and they're winning types. That's why their record is what it is. They're not blowing people out. They're winning very close games, one score games, and you need great play and you came out against a nasty defense, So no luck today.

Yeah, that defense is in his head. It was very obvious in the way that he was carrying himself. And I think that these players have gotten to the point of frustration, and now he has multiple reasons to be frustrated, by the way, because he's also losing his job. Yeah, as we speak, but this scheme just doesn't empower any

Right.

Dalen Warren goes for one in this game, the rest of the team went for one hundred in four yards. Steelers fall to six and four, or it is messy in the AFC.

Let's go to the AFC south.

First down at the twenty yard line of Tennessee under center as Trevor.

Play fake again. Trevor's avoids trouble close to the corner of the end of the Paul is gonna be caught.

That is a touchdown to Calvin Redley.

Twenty yard touchdown pass from Trevor Lawrence to Calvin Ridley as extended the lad.

It's one of those weeks, one of those weeks where Calvin Ridley goes off. It's been a while. Seven for one oh three and two touchdowns. What's his third one hundred yard game of the season. Somehow they win, they being the Jacksonville Jaguars thirty four to fourteen.

This was not close.

That was our friend Frank Frangie from w ok D.

We are friends.

Jaguars needed to bounce back after one of the worst games. He was maybe the worst game of the Doug Peterson era, and they did it in style. Nick, How'd they get it done?

Trevor Lawrence, Baby, I would even want to say he's back, because I don't think he ever really left.

But man, he looks so good today. He looked so confident.

You know.

This is a few days after we talked about I wrote a post about Doug Peterson and Trevor Lawrence talked about how his bum knee has been limiting him and he can't move in the pocket. Well, he's sure moved on that touchdown pass. He moved on another big throw to Dearnest Johnson down the sideline escape in the pocket, doing everything on the run. He's got the mobility back. He looks exactly like he did at his peak last year. And yeah, it's the Titans, but you still got a

But that was in the blowout portion of the game.

And it was a blowout because Trevor Lawrence was on fire today and Calvin Ridley ended up being the main beneficiary of it.

I think when you get this version of Calvin Ridley, they're a different offense. And I mean he was six for eight Trevor Lawrence on fifteen plus air yard passes, and that kind of explosive action through the air changes

Right, because the final stats nick for Levis look good, the thirteen for seventeen one to fifty eight. You know that that's great per attempt, But what was happening in the early portion of the game, basically the first three quarters when it got to twenty seven nothing before They kind of made it look better at the end.

Yeah, those numbers are fulls gold, like the passer ratings through the roof, And that's wasn't what the game was. It's not really his fault. It's a lot of like what we saw last week and they played Tampa. It's will Levis knows that well, the defense knows that Will Levis has no running game to support him.

The offensive line is subpar.

They're not going to protect him well he's going to stand there and take his lumps, and they're gonna blitz the crap out of him and see what he does and be willing to take the risks. Like that touchdown pass to DeAndre Hopkins was on a trick play where Lewis motioned back after the snap into the pocket and caught the pitch and then turned and found Hopkins wide

Their offensive line is just not good enough. The Texans next week, ooh, that's good.

Jaguars are at seven and three. We mentioned the Texans at six and four. There is absolutely a route for both of these teams to get into the playoffs, but the Jaguars need to win that game where they give up first place in the division because Texans already won earlier, Titans totally out of it at three and seven.

It's strange.

I just kept way because there are the Titans that that like they're gonna ugly into some of these wins and like they'll end up sneakily playing in a game that matters with playoff implications in week sixteen or seventeen, and it just is not looking like it's gonna happen.

They are three and seven.

Their defense just has a lot of resources put into it, and it is not good enough. Our friend Justin Graver pointed out to me, I believe now that they lost this game, they'll have gone a full calendar year without winning a road game.

So that's they're looking fourteen in their last in that stretch. And so the plan they came into the season with already there was evidence that it wasn't gonna work.

Yeah, that is that is not a good sign. Hopefully they I don't know, they got to stick with Levis, but for now, we're gonna stick with Nick Schuok. He doesn't know this, but he's staying on for a third game because I know you watched forty nine ers bucks and we didn't tell you, but we're gonna ask you what you think about forty nine ers bucks.

Let's go to San Francisco.

Heard he goe a can to play?

Here is three receivers, right I you came to you check left, going deep down the sideline for are you?

He's got it and he's gone twenty ten five touchdown, Sarin.

Frid Cisco, are you? Are you a yuk is on fire?

High call?

Baby?

What a throw from brock Perty.

It's all great throws from brock Perty twenty seven to fourteen. The forty nine ers get it done on a day heck, they could have won by even more potentially. That was Greg Papa and Tim Ryan on k NBR. We should always call uh for ayuk touchdown because that means we get the little single on brock party Mark. He came out of the bye week and he did it again. He's basically been perfect for two weeks. He finishes with three hundred and thirty.

Three yards in three touchdowns.

I'm only twenty five, twenty one of twenty five total pristine operation, the first Niners quarterback to have a perfect rating.

I know everyone's like.

Don't care about QB rating, but but it has not happened.

I am everyone, wouldn't you say everyone?

Well, no, because I mean I get it, like it's it's an imperfect stat. But the last time it's happened to a Niners quarterback, and it's been a lot of good Niners teams was Joe Montana and Steve Young back in nineteen eighty nine tot it.

So it's like it was that kind of a game.

And I thought Nick that there were there was a stretch of play here. We've seen it before from the Niners, but it feels like that good old four o'clock Eastern Niners game when they're really rolling, where Brandon Ayuk, who has developed into an absolute star wide receiver, was utterly unstoppable at one point, went back Jamal bats and Jamal Deane, who like got injured on the play because Ayuka just is like insane with his speeding what he's doing.

George Kittle is back in the mix.

They didn't even really need a lot of from Deebo Samuel until late Christian McCaffrey an incredibly powerful first drive, then they kind of rested him. It's like they seem to me like they were gonna win this game forty five to ten. And I would say this the only thing I came him a little concerned with the Steve Wilkes defense, where it's like they could not put the bucks away the way you would have thought down the stretch.

Yeah, where it really turned was when they the Baker Mayfield let at five play seventy five yard touchdown drive that happened really really quickly, like two and a half minutes worth of time in the fourth quarter, and it's like, oh, we do kind of have a game. Then they get right back down there, they're on the doorstep of the end zone and they fail to convert. Then they get down there again and Baker throws a pick because Chris Godwin didn't really sell out for the ball, and so

It was like three weeks ago. But it feels like twice as long.

Games like this will instantly make you forget about that he's super efficient. The splash players were there. He was incredible on passes of ten to fifteen plus are yards. He was perfect on passes of twenty plus are yards. Everything worked for them, And when this offense is humming like it is like it did today, they're gonna be a tough team to be well.

Kittle's having his best year in three or four years. He goes eight for eighty nine in a touchdown. He's getting chunk plays out of twenty four years, I'd open all day A Yukas is a true one. Deebo's healthy at least again did get it like a forty yard er.

Later.

I think McCaffrey's punching his tablet because they aren't a great running team right now, even though they have Christian McCaffrey. They're just not and they haven't really been for two months. So that is a little jarring that you're a forty nine ers team that when you absolutely need a yard you can't just hand it to Christian McCaffrey and be

I think it says a little bit about Baker Mayfield too, and the fact that, like, yes, he's imperfect and they're gonna be frustrating moments, but.

He kind of just refused to give up.

And he did have good chemistry with his wide receivers, so it wasn't just the Niners having their own issues.

And that's sort of I'm not trying to nitpick.

It's just that, I don't know, kind of reminds me of a couple of weeks ago in primetime when the Bill should have won by fourteen more points than they did. It's like the Niners kind of just let them back in and that that doesn't matter today, but will it matter in the NFC title game for the fourth time in five years or whatever.

Yeah, that's that's a valid concern if they do get to that point. You know, you bring up Baker just real quick. This is the first time ever gonna admit this in my life because the first time I've ever experienced this feeling. I felt bad for Baker today, Like I seriously felt bad for him. Like he's out there giving it his all, and his teammates just aren't footing their end of the bill. Like it just he's he tries hard, man, he's having a good year. He makes

All right, let's not feel too bad for him.

He's yeah, he's playing out there, Sharon and Trey Palmer and yeah all these days.

No, I'm with you. I think you know.

We Dan pointed out a cleice, like when a backup quarterback plays a couple of good games. We said, like, well, he's he's earned like ten years in the league. I think Dave Canalis, the play caller offensive coordinator for the Bucks, has earned himself like eight years now. In the NFL as a play caller, because he was the guy who was there when Gino Smith's career turned around in Seattle, and he's turned Baker Mayfield and the guy that I

So I think they have a chance. But Canalis has done a nice job.

It's gonna be tougher though, because they lost Jamel Dean, Carlton Davis, and Levonte David the injuries in this game, and so that is disappointing for that defense. You know, it's never disappointing. He's having old Nick Shookhan. No, it's not Nick. Go go celebrate in the streets. Seems like people are celebrating a little too much in Cleveland. Actually stay inside and stay safe.

Away from the windows. Yeah, I'll do that, guys, take care, appreciate it.

A little inside joke that things are going a little whild there in the Cleveland streets.

Thanks Chookie, We'll talk to you next week.

All right, that's it for Nick, But Mark, we got a couple games left before we get to Sunday Night football.

Let's go to Miami.

Thirty two seconds remains Aiden O'Connell, the rookie maman the thirty nine yard line back to throw, looking, looking, lots of time, goes seep.

To the end, tensed by Jalen Ramsey perfects.

A tremendous diving interception, his second of the ball game is third of the year. And there is your MVP right there.

Joe, Jimmy, Sephalo and Joe rose on wb D G Ramsey with his second big time interception.

Of the game.

That was an incredible read and play just all around awesome by Jalen Ramsey. Clinch is a closer game than a lot of people expected twenty to thirteen, with the Raiders having a chance there at the very end. Mark, there is not a game today I know less about than Dolphins Raiders.

Why was it that close at the end.

You know they've been They're seventeen and two at home in their last nineteen home games, the Dolphins, and they've been blowing people's doors off in super sweltering hot Miami today. It took a couple, it took a different type of win, and it took it different heroes like Jalen Ramsey to step up, who had that game ceiling interception, which was one of the most athletic picks we'll see all year. Had another one that was really high quality and tough.

I think we all do.

And it came very close because Miami just lacked what slacked in other games. But I'll say one last thing. Tyreek Hill did some incredible things in this game. He did some incredible things, so it was kind of like we need two heroes to step up. It was Jalen Ramsey and Tyreek Hill with a catch and run touchdown unlike anything else you'll see from anyone but Tyreek Hill, and he did it again. So they did just they got just enough from their offense.

So ten for one and one touchdown, and that's why you give up all those picks for Tyreek Hill. Sure, a day like today where he just carries you. On a day where, yeah, you mentioned two, I had a couple of mistakes. You know, he's already at his interception total for a year ago.

I just find that, you know, interesting.

He obviously only played ten games and he's had like nine fumbles. Now, some of those were bad snaps, so I'd have to go back and through and and see some of those weren't really on him. But that's a ton of fumbles. But you get him, you trade the pick for Jalen Ramsey. It was more about just like, we're gonna take on his contract and we're not gonna worry about it.

And that's what it's for.

On days where like everything else is relatively even and you're playing a five and six Raiders team that's playing above their heads, it's like, yeah, we have dudes that are better than your top dudes other than DeVante Adams, who is dude who got a nice long one.

Hunter renfro Is back in this offense and made an incredible catch.

Wow, five for forty two.

Yeah, they're using him again.

So it's another thing i'd point to that's a positive for the Raiders who are still very much alive in this thing. But I like to see Miami closing the game with two interceptions.

Of course that.

Took you know, the acabatomy from Jalen Ramsey. But they won this one a little bit differently, And I really think for this team, depending on what happens, like if they get a situation where they can play a couple home games in the playoffs versus having to go on the road, they're just a different team at home.

It's a long way though.

I know they're seven and three and that sounds like a big lead over the Bills, which are six and five, But I am concerned. They came into this week ranking twenty first in EPA for the three weeks preceding the bye. This is another game that you know, might not raise that by much. So that offense, I don't think from the first month is coming back fully because just because that's not how it works to me. The question is

To Earth it is, Or can the schedule help you because you've got the Jets, the Commanders, the Titans, and then the Jets again over your next four games.

That's it's a fair point.

If you don't come out of there ten and four at the worst, you're you're deeply disappointed. And there, Yeah, there's absolutely a chance you win all of those games. Sure, I mean they'll be favored significantly. That's a fair point. They were excited to get Devon Aheen back in this game, and he got hurt almost right away.

It sounds like they're not because they kept him like they didn't rule him out or anything, because they thought he might be able to play. But was a knee injury and it was the same knee as before, so I think they were just being very cautious.

So a short week, Yeah, Tyreek Hill.

Hurt his hand and like continue to play awesome with what looks like a bandaged kind of glove situation. So you know, he's tough as nails. He's back in there. But I think with a chan it's like I want to wait and see what happens with that. But they played soon. They played the Jets on.

That button Friday, a very rare four day week for them. I guess that literally never happened if we ever have Friday games.

I not that we did.

A year ago, I believe. Am I incorrect about that?

I don't know who can remember all this stuff. They're just changing things around. During the COVID year, there was game.

It was a Wednesday game.

Any any day of the week that was wild. That was the Pittsburgh game. Aiden O'Connell. Look, he's he's moving the ball a little bit. He could be a lot worse. In fact, I would say he's been better than the twenty twenty three version of Jimmy Garoppolo.

You know what else is better?

Wrapping up our early games, Cowboys at Panthers, let's get to it.

From the twenty five play action, Young Froze the bcept it that's a thirty yard line coming.

Down the left side is touch it to five?

He did it again.

He did it again.

Unbelievable what he has doored.

Undercut the first down pass and Deran Bland said, I don't think I've scored in about two weeks.

Oh man, just like, make a list of all the great players in the NFL this season who have not caught three touchdown or four touchdown passes. They've all scored less than Deron Bland. Somehow, this Digs injuries like worked out pretty well for the Cowboys. Not for Diggs. I feel bad for him, but four pick six is this season and Deron ban gets his hands on a lot of other passes too that he doesn't even return for a pick six, like he's a legitimately good cornerback. Thirty

Well, there is the pick six right there, and be fright before that, Tony Pollard with a really powerful touchdown run. I thought he ran really well, maybe one of his best games of the year. It's not the most impressive box score, but he looked a little different to me, and I think that within that couple of minutes in the game, the explosiveness from two different parts of your team that put the Panthers away because this is a frustrating one for the Panthers.

Of course, no one's thinking they're going to win.

But they kept this thing really close, and they shot themselves in the foot at key times.

There was a drive where essentially the.

Cowboys as a one score game entering in.

The fourth course, and it looked like it, and it was seventeen to nothing after a drive where the Panthers had no business giving up a touchdown, but they had they I have not seen this before. Xavier Woods was flagged for simultaneously the unusual combination of a face mask and a horse collar on the same play.

It doesn't happen too often.

That puts him in a situation where Dallas could have had a field goal, right, But then there's two more personal fouls against this team as well on third down. It's like the Panthers just kept letting the Dallas back into a game where like it wasn't the Dallas didn't look effective or good.

Dak Proscott, he looks.

He's throwing the ball as went as well as anyone in the NFC or the NFL. But it was like you could have gotten Dallas caught into one of those situations and Bryce Young they put together the longest drive of the year seventeen plays, seventy yards, nine plus minutes and made it that made it seventeen to ten in the third quarter. But then the Cowboys exploded with the Tony Pollard touchdown Deron Plan pick six, and it's like they just Dallas against Obviously these these like lesser teams,

Right, the Cowboys are now seven and three. They had that one slip up to the Cardinals in Week three, but otherwise they got a forty to nothing against the Giants, a thirty to ten against the Jets, a thirty eight to three against the Patriots, a forty three to twenty against the Rams, and a forty nine to seventeen against the Giants.

I'm not gonna pick on them.

That is a sign of a great team, teams that beat up on bad teams. And yeah, they got to prove it against the better team. Fine, but in the meantime, like we'd be killing them if they lose any of these games, or even if it came down to the last few plays. So they're getting it done only five yards per attempt for Dak today, but you know, no turnovers or anything. Maybe playing it a little safer, like

It team.

Yeah, their road like splits are very differently. I would say Micah Parsons three sacks today. They absolutely dominated Bryce Young, especially on third and long. Frank Reich has taken over play calling and the one thing I'd say they used a lot more tempo. They tried to go a little new no huddle, and I think it helped Bryce Young

I mean, they haven't scored more than thirteen points in a four games, and then the last time they scored more was fifteen.

I mean, it's it's tough.

He had two point one yards per play on passing plays because he was sacked seven times. He was hit eleven times. And you mentioned Parsons having a monster game. If it wasn't for Garrett, I swear Parsons is just on another planet. He's over ten sacks for the third straight season to start his career. I mean that seems like that's a low bar for him. But only nine people since they started keeping track I've ever done that

That is the Cowboys.

That is not how you would describe our two teams playing Sunday night football, but they are fun. Let's finish up with the Vikings and the Broncos.

Snap Plucket two at one all out, puts them away.

Give it up. Pruss Rust throws the ball.

To the end zone.

It is touchdown.

That is Clatland seven his a three zone touchdown of.

The year, sixteen yard touchdown Wilson's to seven.

He went up all from McKay Brockman.

And the Broncos with sixty three seconds left are in front of the Vikings twenty one twenty.

Oh Yeah, those two men did it again. Courtland signed Russell Wilson. Dave Logan's back on the show. Week after week koa Denver Wow, still stunned by this one. Courtland Sutton's fifteen yard touchdown catch from Russell Wilson put the Vikings.

Behind twenty one to twenty.

Broncos take this one after shutting down a Josh Dobbs would be game winning field goal drive with a bunch of pressure in his face. Mark, the Denver Broncos are five and five. And you mentioned, as we're walking in here, the unlikely source of great primetime drama in the last two weeks.

Yeah, a couple weeks ago.

When you scan this, you know the future schedule, and they're sitting out there in these island games.

It's like, I don't want to be taken to that island. But they've been.

They've been a different team, and I think, like tonight, you know, it continued a theme for them. They've got twelve takeaways in the last three games, and you.

Know thats sustainable. You wouldn't think, no, it's not.

And they talked about a streak like that not occurring for that team in almost a quarter century. But those little moments in a game like this made a big difference, because I thought the Brian Flores Vikings defense did a great job of shutting down what would be touchdown drives for much of the game, stopping them at the Minnesota's thirteen, twelve, thirty four, nineteen, and ten. Those were all field goal drives, but two of those field goal drives came off of Vikings fumbles.

That was their problem earlier in the year. It crept up again tonight.

Then Dobbs had that one interception that led to a fifth field goal. And I would point to one other thing right before the half, Kevin O'Connell, and I love what he did tonight with a fake punt. I thought he did a nice job in the second half trying to give his offense a chance. But they had a fourth and one opportunity from the Denver forty eight with

It was a sad end. And yes, the first loss by the Vikings as the team of the Around the NFL podcast, that's a great point mark that you made about the end of that first half. And that's unlike O'Connell to be passive, but.

That's a great point mark.

I don't know if Tony Grossi ever listens to the show or is aware that this is happening.

No, I don't think so. I know he's enjoying this Brown season. I'm sure he's a little surprised to see Josh Dobbs, the former Browns quarterback, in such big spots. Maybe we shouldn't be surprised, but I am surprised. Russell Wilson at the end of these games two minute drill, that is where he's at his best. So he did it at the end of the first half to get those three points, and then he did it to end

To be and like he's quietly having, you know, a great year, and Russell Wilson looks like a different player obviously from a year ago. There was another throw with total heat on Russell Wilson and he threw that dart to Jerry Judy in the end zone that should have been caught. But it's another example of him looking more organized and you know, less outside of his head than he was a year ago when he was lost at Sea.

Yeah, it's I don't know what to make of this Bronco seem I don't think you have to make anything of it. I think they were much better than their one in five record indicated. They had the one seventy point game they gave up, but the other a lot of their other losses were like these tight losses, and now they're winning tight games. And these two teams are pretty emblematic of the NFL this season. I mean, the

Yeah, it's like I can take them seriously with the way that they're taking the ball away. And you know, I thought I thought they made Josh Dobbs uncomfortable in that final drive and on previous drives too, but their pressure made a big difference. I mean, Dobbs is playing out of his mind and he's it's still hard to comprehend now you know how little he knows about even the team around him.

Still a couple of weeks can really help with that.

But he had that incredible first touchdown pass to Josh Oliver where he you know, escapes he's nearly yang to the ground and then destroyed by two people as he gets the pass off right, and he had he ran for He's been a great running quarterback all year and so he's leaning on his athleticism and I think he

Yeah.

I wonder if teams will look at the way this game ended in thought and think, like, Okay, Josh Stobbs smart, playing well, but it's asking a lot for him to know all the protections and communicate that to the offensive line, and the offensive line to be cohesive enough. And because guys were getting free and they just did not have answers. They have the Bears next week, and then which is on Monday Night football. Wow, Josh Stabbs is living in

He had three of them in this game too, had a.

Few other plays that could have been intercepted, So this game could have gone a few different ways. I think the Vikings will be really happy that they ran the ball for one hundred and seventy five yards. Madison looked as good as he looked all season. The Broncos haven't been able to stop the run all They only end up with thirteen first downs in this game, but they just keep finding a way. And look, there's not that much that separates the good teams from the bad teams

Yeah, Like the Vikings can't come into these games and lose the turnover battle the way they deny. The Broncos were two for twelve on thirteen. At one point, I think they were like zero for seven. They had like five yards rushing in the first half, so there wasn't a lot of balance around Russell Wilson and they just made the plays down the stretch and it's like, I don't know, like this is a weird team in a weird outside of the Chiefs, the rest of the AFC

Well, they got the Browns next, they're at Texans. I like the good thing of having all these little two games in the mix is these games between all these teams in the middle.

This tonight as a perfect example.

We kind of know these two teams aren't going to super Bowl, but it makes these types of games more fun. There's going to be more meeting. We're getting into the meat of the season. It's Thanksgiving week, it's week twelve coming up. We will be back Monday night. Believe it'll be all three of us well on that show. Okay, we'll be back Monday night. Dan's gone.

I'm just like I'm scrambled.

Let's try to get let's try to get some consistency here.

Let's get up.

Let's get a Sessler winning streak going. It is great to have you back. And then we will tape a preview of all the games, including Thanksgiving games on Wednesday morning. We'll be taping a little earlier than normal. We'll try to get that out as soon as we can on Wednesday, but that's going to include the Thanksgiving Day game previews and all the games, and then we'll wrap the Thanksgiving games on Friday. Until then, for Dan Hansis, Nick Shook, Mark Sessler, Tony Grove, Grossy, and

Dorian Thompson Robinson the call