2023 Week 8 Preview

The Around the NFL podcast ran in two up bund saw this week.

From the Chris Wesley podcast studio. It's Around the NFL the Week eight preview. I'm Dan hansis Heroes here, Greg Rosenthal, Mark Sessler.

You know what the buzzsaw is this week?

It is the middle of the dang season and there ain't no byes sixteen.

Football games and we mean Thursday and Monday.

Yeah, and we you know, we were I was acknowledging.

I think you were agree that, like I don't track like buys obsessively until like the week is upon us. And I thought, we're in this nice little comfort zone where like six teams are having the little week.

It's like get one game off the But yeah, no, bro, I was a total buzzsaw buzzsaw bangjob.

You know what the buzzey is my lox record right now.

That's that's that's how you come into the show.

Oh wow. They they brought it up on that graphic at le say.

Greg Rise and Ghoul six and one, Damn Tansas four and three Westling Bros. Four and three Dark Sessler under the five hundred mark. That's like being under the Mendoza line in baseball mark getting under two hundred. I gotta I got to get that up a little.

I am going to shift into what's good for the show at this point. Oh, don't do that. I'm not gonna know. I'm going to try to win. Yeah, but I'm going to do it in a with some flare, Okay.

And also, I guess we could use this as a congratulate Greg on another title.

No, there's too much.

I don't know why. It's it's a buzz saw this week to write that.

So, I don't know if we can we have Eric behind the glass Madison, like, do we want to just end it right now?

Have you mathematically clinched yet? It's you're that far ahead.

Well, winning, as I said before the season, winning four out of five seasons would mean the end of the entire segment because well, people just decide there's no drama to it.

Well or danon Marker having literally no fun.

Yeah, I think I think you're mistaken about the power dynamic a little bit. But the same time, congratulations. I also not accepting this. It's the only way. See, it's the only thing that is what gets through Greg's armor. Prematurely congratulating him on Picks competition.

There was the year.

There was a year that I won this. It was like half a decade ago. We were all younger, but like, well you tied, you tied for the time. No, no, no, this was different.

There was I waited out. Yeah it was me versus West right down.

I think he won.

You might have won the first one.

Well this is I put the trophy on Wes's desk announcing was the winner around week and it got into his head big time. It's not easy to do that with Wes, but that did and I prevailed.

And really, maybe the darkest of the dark Sessler moments is when you and I had a lock off Super Bowl Bengals Rams and I needed the Rams to win and Mark needed the Bengals. And when Aaron Donald flashed around that edge and knocked that ball and forced the incompletion. Mark came back about three months later.

Yeah, we didn't. We didn't see him the rest of the night. There's all these pictures with us, with all the West bros. Leaving the stadium. Where's Mark.

I left early and came back to the office and just like it was like, oh, it's a Super Bowl, but I've got other priorities.

Yeah, okay, all right, so why would you want to take this element the intensity and the rivalries of the picks competition? But that this one's over, so we look ahead to twenty twenty four. All right, now, Week eight, we gave you the Island Games of the primetime games we broke down as part of the QB Index episode with Nick Shook.

Please check that out.

All right, Time for the first overall pick, presented by Draft Kings and I have the first overall picked, and this one is it couldn't be easier for me. We're gonna go to Santa Clara and we're going to talk about the Cincinnati Bengals, a team that.

We think, we.

Think figured it out a little bit before thereby obviously they took care of business. The offense came to life against Arizona in Week five, they kind of struggle and lean on their defense. Well, the offense struggles after a hot start against Seattle, and then they lean on their defense to close out the Seahawks just barely.

So it's like, maybe they're good, maybe they're not.

Then you have the Niners, who started out hot as a pistol five and zero killing everybody and then they dropped two very close games that went right down to the final plays nineteen seventeen to the Browns twenty two to seventeen to the Vikings.

Yes, seventeen points back to back weeks. So now they're back.

Home after two tough road losses, and they might have a new quarterback, Mark Sessler, because Brock Purdy went into the concussion protocol, and as we've seen this season, it seems more rock solid than ever. If you go in that protocol, you're probably out for the week. So it could be Sam Darnaldtown.

Yeah, there's very little.

I think there's been like one player in the last year that went into protocol at this period and played like that weekend.

It just doesn't happen.

Chefter tweeted that out and then everyone pointed out how many times that's not true that it took me like twenty percent of the time.

Well, thank you, Adam Chef.

But a great, great opening salvo by my for it to be a midweek one where they didn't catch it on Monday night, which again, this is happening a lot where they don't catch it at the time, just saying like that.

Wait, one in five players that go into the protocol or something like that.

I think there was like twenty something percent has been able to like Moley Kyle.

Okay, so I I do think though, you know, pretty to me, I feel like I always want to defend him and Dan, I think you're in the same camp and these people that just want to like, you're just the mid level guy. It's not because of you that you're succeeding. He's had a couple tough weeks. But isn't there this sort of sense that everyone's waiting to see Sam Darnald in this offense, largely because like Kyle Shanahan was like, you know, verbally unfurling Sea poems about Sam Donald.

Everyone obvious the Donald hive, and there's another it's huge.

It's the hive.

It's not going away, and there would be reasons for the hive to a dissembled, but like the hive is around, and I think there's like a little bit of juice around the concept of like can Shanahan do with Sam Darnald what no one else has been able to do?

And I kind of find it fascinating for that reason.

Interesting because there wasn't much of a Sam Donald hive when I've been pounding the table for him the last three or four years.

J T.

O'Sullivan, Mina Chimes, dan Orlowski. There are so many right that Daniel Jeremiah that puts so much stock into Donald pre draft and have stuck with him. And then he does tend to start the seasons with these teams, whether it was you know, the Panthers a year ago, when he first comes out, like first couple games of the season, Donald has been better. And look, he doesn't need to be incredible, he just needs to be Nick Mullins as a rookie. Nick Mullens as a rookie is averaging like

I'd even.

Take the three and a half points and think they're going to cover ultimately, because I think they're just a better team top to bottom.

They are banged up though, Deebo Samuel not doing well, Trent Williams not doing well.

You don't have your quarterback.

Like I I came away from the Vikings game kind of being like, look at the Niners are going to have a couple down weeks, but they couldn't run the ball last week. I thought they got flamed in the passing game a couple of times. And it's like the Vikings looked like the better team. And it's like the Niners the two week journey that they've been on, I don't know, three weeks ago. I'm like, just put them

What about the Cincinnati side of this, because Greg, what did you take away? You know, the team goes away for a week or two weeks, and that's actually great because as much as we wanted to say Burrow looked much better the last couple of weeks physically, and he did.

I mean, what's better than a bye week?

So now he gets more time to rest that calf and get the treatment and hopefully comes out and he's even more kind of moved away from that, hopefully. Were you concerned about the last essentially three quarters of that game against Seattle.

Yes, they had five first downs I think in the last three quarter. Their offensive line no bad. Has been poor all year. Burrow's injury made them look even worse or showed how poor they are. They haven't been able to run the ball. The defense has had some great games. Cam Taylor Brick is coming on as a true number one type of cornerback. I think they have all the players on both sides of the ball, so at some point they should be the team that we expected to see,

Yeah, I would not want to deal with the Niners come off two losses and the Bengals like they are walking talking about a buzzsaw.

But wouldn't you said you wouldn't want to face them coming off one loss and then they played their worst game of the year.

I'm just saying, no, you're right, but that game was like ultra surprising to me.

Sorry, I just mean to try harder. And then they show up and they did even worse.

I don't know if any of that matters, but like the Bengals have after this game. They have the Bills, the Texans, who are suddenly frisky that's not an omadic win anymore, the Ravens, and the Steelers. So it's like you're kind of in this like need to show up situation. And I do think, like, because we talked with Nick about Joe Burrow and his QB index yesterday, and like, how do you deal with Burrow in that kind of ranking, because what we've seen him them healthy is completely different

Burrow and t Higgins he's had the rib Jamar Chase, it's time. It's time, no more excuses, ball out against the Niners defense that was vulnerable.

I thought you were gonna lock up your boy Sam Donald in a big spot.

Greg. Ever, the showman MS Sam Donald came into the league as.

As the hero that would save my New York Jets, and what happened over the three years was nothing short of misery for the USC star. And I always thought that that was unfair, Like Greg, very unfair. You would I would get into these arguments and you would look to like hit me when I was down and say, oh, he's the biggest bust in.

The history of the NFL, like one of them hitting me.

Yeah, this guy was, but in one of the worst situations in recent NFL history, and he flamed out as any almost any young quarterback would do. And I always wondered, what if he just got into a better chance and he went to Carolina and that didn't exactly work out, but again, a very dysfunctional situation once more. And even when he got a chance last year in Carolina, he played pretty well and you look at the stats, the

Just get him in the lineup. Give this guy a chance.

He's still stunningly only twenty six years old, came to the league very young, which is another aspect of his development. Now is the time to put Sam in, because if you put Sam Donald in, he ain't coming out.

I'm locking up the Niners.

He's not gonna get.

I think time's so well with the music that was beautiful done at this point.

I like Rockberdy.

I'm and I think I think the Niners are on buy next week. I might be mistaken on that take a look, which would hurt Sam because I have every confidence that he's gonna ball out in this game, and there are people on Twitter that support Donald and also think that he'll be in a good spot. But I've always felt that he has a chance to do something in this league and this is his stage.

I hope he gets more than.

One game, but I also don't think party's the problem in San Francisco. I wish he got maybe more than one start, but it's probably gonna be just one start, and I think he's gonna play well.

I'm I'm so easy that just because I met Sam Darnold at LAX before the scouting.

Wish we had that photo.

It's around here somewhere.

I actually don't love that photo because it's like, oh, Mark is like a foot and a half shorter than the average and of hill quarterback, but like he couldn't have been a more delightful guy. And so it's like I kind of want to root for him.

I don't know.

So, so what you were you gonna lock him up to?

Oh no, I told you what I do is for the show. At this point, I've got a surprise. Oh it's the Turnpike. By the way, that game is Niner is favored by three and a half. The over under is forty three and a half, and that is a Nance Romo Wolfson joint. All right, come on, Sam, Sam Richard, that's Samuel Samn Richard, Doniel Darneld, all right, let's.

Get to it.

That was the Game of the Week presented by Draft King Sports Book. New customers can bet us five dollars and get two hundred in bonus bets. Instantly download the Draft King Sports app and use code ATN. That's code ATN only at Draft King sports Book Draft King sports Book, an official sports betting partner of the NFL.

Mark, you were up with the second pick.

All right, I'm gonna take my late game right out of the gate.

Here, let's go Sam.

Yeah, well, he's not playing in this game. All right, he's playing in your game. I'm taking the Browns at Seattle.

I keep it.

I'm a little mystified by that Colts game because you got look at their calls at the end, like probably you know in Jim Mercy of all people's coming out strong saying the Colts got robbed there in that I think there's a fair argument there, no doubt about it, that happened. But Cleveland also did a lot of good things in that game, but did a lot of bad things.

You got like pretty much terrible quarterback play.

You couldn't really run the ball that well outside of Jerome Ford's like monster touchdown run. Miles Garrett played out of his mind. The defense also arguably had its worst game of the year and gave up monster yardage in the passing game two. Gardner Minshew of all people. So it's like you put it all together and they still scored like thirty nine points in one in the end, I don't. I guess like I want to be hopeful in say, Cleveland amidst all these ups and downs is

Greg They're very thin though the Seahawks on the offensive line. Abe Lucas not expected to return this week. I think Phil Haynes their guard. They've been down three offensive linemen all year, so that is worrisome for my guy Gino, who is putting on a show the last few weeks. Just like it's almost been a little Geno coaster within games. I would argue no one's made more high quality throws than Gino Smith in the NFL the last two weeks.

Yes, you would have.

Honestly, I don't even think it's argue about it. If you look, if you're on film, Twitter, they would all agree too, Like he is throwing some outrageous passes and then making huge mistakes in the red zone too. The on balance, like he's looked a lot better once you to watch the film and everything, but he when he's under pressure, and he will be under pressure against Cleveland, you definitely worry about him making that.

I don't.

I'm not saying that he's not making great throws in these games, I guess.

But I just like I think it would be the anti It's kind of cute.

It doesn't matter last two weeks. I'm just saying, it really.

Doesn't matter what Gino does.

You will find the spin to present him in the most positive light. But that's because he's your favorite player now, like he's your favorite player in the league, Isn't.

He he is?

But I'm talking about the way his season has evolved.

I'm certainly not alone on this island.

He's sort of had a blah like not bad, not good first four or five weeks of the season, and then the last few seasons he is trying throws. Almost no one else in the world other than Matthew Stafford's a good comp I think, would try and he's hitting them. But he's also making some big time mistakes. So suddenly the variance has gone with.

The throw when we were in London and we were sleep deprived, but in the bucket to DK Metcalf, it's like there's and you mentioned this too, that like when we were there, is like he's playing with a kind of confidence where it's like he's there's gonna be mistakes. But I kind of like this version of him more than any other previous.

Against the Browns. He threw well quadruple coverage the fan that he hit last week.

It was just like, yeah, but look how the Brown Browns like had a ton of busted coverage last week made Josh Downs look like.

Because I said this two weeks ago too, Greg like, I don't think he's not playing well. I just think I said that. I feel like the Gino Coaster was starting to ramp up. Now it's a more fun it's a better roller coaster now. Yeah. But qb Index right, right, he's been a solid deed either. I mean, he's so much more fun than the Gino Coaster back in the Meadowlands six years ago or whatever.

But he is.

There's almost a little bit of farving nature to the game too, where he's like I can do anything and sometimes you can't. And it's gotten him in trouble in a couple of spots with a couple of bad throws the last couple of weeks that have come back to on him. But he's certainly not a problem by any stretch.

You shouldn't.

Oh sorry, I was gonna say that we should mention like the Deshaun Watson situation where it's like he said he knew his shoulder was not right after the brief, disastrous stint he had against the Cults, I kind of wonder like if and when we're gonna see him again, because like apparently like the shoulder injury he has. Right if it were a pitcher, they say, you'd be out like easily four to six weeks.

But you're not getting his agent through Adam Chef.

Okay, well that's fine. I'm just saying that is a comp of what's going But I are Pitchers aren't getting slammed to the turf typically in a baseball game.

If you are, if you are Cleveland, you rightfully should see yourself as a team that could be playing for the playoffs in late December and early January. And nothing happens without Watson being healthy in terms of the big picture and what everyone really wants, which is the big trophy, So like put him down, now, what are we doing? Like and very clear what you're saying about the agent

I uh do it right.

I pointed out some of the inconsistencies on Twitter today and it wasn't that I have some like conspiracy that he doesn't want to play, because he called his own press conference essentially today that to say, it's ridiculous to say I wouldn't want to play. Of course I want to play. I believe that that's not That's not what

Greg is such a Seahawks fan, and that Cleveland's getting four points, I'll see if it stays there.

Lackoff, lockoff, No, I'm going I have another no.

I don't like.

I'm not doing Browns on.

The road the last three weeks with a bye week ind there for Seattle's defense pants.

The Giants gave up three points.

Shut down Joe Burrow in Cincinnati after two big drives early only last seventeen and then Cardinals they just allowed ten took care of business. I kind of like it's annoying because Greg's hot out of the gates with the locks this year.

Yeah, it's a good pick, though.

I think it's a good picky.

I think Cleveland. I think this could be the PJ Walker? Is it a courageous underground.

You could There could be schools of thought that suggest it's not incredible to lock up PJA against PJ Walker.

Lamb so high on them.

They're they're literally four and two there, they've been good.

I said, schools have thought. I didn't say my all right, Greg, you're up.

I couldn't do it, Sam Darnold and I like now that we're spreading it out, we have a strange schedule which shook and I'm going to take the Ravens Cardinals late because i want to because that's what I who I want to watch live in the late window. I'm not really feeling the other choice.

Did you, by the way, Mark, did you think that Cleveland and Seattle wasn't going to make it to the fifth pick?

I guess with Greg's fandom.

Oh yeah, I could of did I actually looking at the landscape, I didn't think it would come back to me.

Yeah, I probably would have taken it. That's good, good Mark, good scouting. There's been a lot of reaches early on for you this season. But yeah, I pick what I prefer though.

There's a lot of happening in real life too, and I'll just do what I need to do.

So not an incredible week of games, which is why I'm taking Ravens Cardinals through. I just want to take my late game now. It's fine, get do.

We keep saying that, by the way, every week, that is not a great slate of games, because everyone in the league is three and four. Maybe said it consistently. It's been two teams are three and four. I know the math doesn't seem to add up, but that's what's happening right now.

Kyler Murray is fully practicing this week fully.

That's interesting.

The Ravens are favored by eight in this game in Arizona.

That says it's not a formidable stadium venue.

No, I'm sure there'll be a decent amount of Ravens fans there as well. And uh yeah, they've been showing the practice footage we got on our YouTube show, and like he's looked good out there, and if he doesn't start this week, it really feels like he will start a week from now.

Now you could say, what's he returning to.

This team is a bit of a mess, and their passing game with Dobbs has definitely taken a step back. I definitely don't think they'll be able to move the ball well against Baltimore, but the offense has been fine. I actually am intrigued to see him in this Drew Petsig offense. It's really the defense that that is gonna

And there's a lot of holes in this Cardinals defense.

There are, and you get the sense that the Ravens are heating up. And Greg, you were on top of the speat a while ago, you know, it's fair to say that it would have taken a month plus in a new offense, a completely new offense, for everyone on the team to get into this fashion.

But they're getting healthier.

And I kind of just the one thing about Baltimore because if you look at the scope of like the last two or three seasons, it's like they've been among the most injured teams in the league. And I think they found a way to kind of gut their way through some of that, still make playoffs, still win games they should have no business winning. And so if you get a healthier version, and you get a Lamar Jackson who's playing the way he is right now, he's the

I can't really pushed back on the Ravens because it's the wrong time to do it, because they just played better than anyone in the league in Week seven and now they have a layup against the Cardinals.

But you know, they're a little weird now you're I'm.

Just saying like they we're now now we're gonna view the Ravens as this unstoppable juggernaut, but they're kind of proven a couple times ready this year.

Sometimes you don't know what's gonna happen with the Baltimore Ravens.

But clean games are an argument, like they last week, So let's make.

Up two in a row.

Sure, And because it wasn't that clean in London when we watched it.

By the way, Gregy, you know what they got next week? Ravens Seahawks. Baby Greg torn from what day?

I don't know what you're gonna do, Greg, That's a fun game.

I mean, I just like I like football. It's not like I'm gonna either way my team wins.

Oh what a what a life for Greg? I have fourteen favorite teams, so I can't lose.

I'm just I'm just kidding.

Who would you? Who do you like better? Who do you like? The Ravens of the Sea.

I mean, just in terms of like my emotions walkating the game, I don't.

I'm not really living in dying either.

We would you rather win next week? We'll save it for interesting, not even close?

All right, Let's keep moving.

You're a Lamar like you like if you see that Lamarmi coming out, you like, You're right.

I'm rooting for him him as a player, but I'd rather than the Seahawks win.

It snakes too, all right.

I am going to take Kevin Burkhard's early game. It's the Rams, It's the Cowboys. The Cowboys are six point favorites in this game. Uh, and it's a lot.

But I get it.

The Rams are coming off of a disappointing game, and this is to me the ultimate test of this Rams offensive line, which I think is really improved. I was impressed how they played against Pittsburgh last week. I thought they protected Matthew Stafford pretty well and they were able to run the ball against Pittsburgh. And I know they didn't win the game, but I just think if their offensive line is good, then they're going to be around to stay. But it's the ultimate test when you go

How about for the Cowboys who are on by couldn't have gone better for him? So you get the buy, get to get healthy, get some shots off against the league about you know, people give us a harder time than the rest of the league. And then you see the lines get humiliated the way they were, and then you see the Eagles.

No who else went down? There was another San Francisco.

San Francisco goes down, and all of a sudden, it's like, okay, like I know we're not perfect, but you know they're not perfect either, and they had a chance to reset. Now very interested to see I've been kind of banging the drum a little bit, like, how does how we nearly at the midpoint of the season and Dak Prescott and Ceedee Lamb have hooked up for one touchdown this year?

That needs to be like very much.

You're a fantasy team Matt Ryan season CD.

Yes, and Ceedee Lamb is on my fantasy team, but like, I mean, come on now, like Ceedee Lamb, I think we all kind of feel, or at least I feel like he's a top ten receiver. Dak doesn't have a ton of options on the field. How are they not funneling targets and letting that guy make plays? Because when Ceede Lamb is making catches and he's still Ceedee Lamb and he's electric to the ball in his hands, I feel like that's an obvious missing part of their offense.

Yet, Yeah, I think they just haven't really been the sum of their parts on offense, because there's nothing not to like about the roster in general. But I don't I think back in the summer, if I were to tell you that the Rams would be eighth in passing EPA and the Cowboys.

Will be twelfth.

The Rams will be fourth and rushing EPA and the Cowboys will be sixteenth, I'd be like, well, wait, flip those Like I don't even expect the Rams to be much of anything, and they've been a surprise. But I do think this is a time, it's an important, important week for Dallas to like just simply shred the Rams and look like the team that we want them to look like. Their third against the pass, fourth against the rush, first and pressure rate, the best man coverage team in

I feel like it's kind of you're talking out of two sides of them out there, because it's like, oh, the Rams are actually much better than the we thought, and here's some data backing that up, and now the Cowboys have no business not taking care of business.

I think they're not the Cowboys at all like that. So it's like, I I do think that the Rams.

I'm just saying, I think this is a pretty good, evenly matched game. Maybe the Cowboys are the favorite and they're at home, but they've they've lost some guys on their defense, and I think this should be closer than perhaps the spread tells us.

By the way, Ceedee Lamb is on pace for like one hundred catches and thirteen hundred yeards, just telling. So the touchdowns are random.

But all right, throw the stats out the window. It's not the same. It's not like what you expect. You know, what I expect from cdee Lamb and Dak Prescott what Jalen Hurts and aj Brown are doing on something.

Okay, that's fair.

Yeah, it was the Chargers game, you know, a sign of things to come for Dak. That was his best game by far the season, certainly since that playoff game. He used his legs, which you know, just us believers in Dak have been just begging, like what happened? Like he never he uses legs in multiple times to make throws and to run. That was huge, and so you want to see that continue. And they did get rid

This team's crazy.

They bringing Darryl Henderson off the street and he's suddenly like their number one guy and he's actually running the ball.

Well, they get rid of their kicker, I thought.

Jordan rod Rieg our friend mentioned a great point the Great Thursday that Sean McVay is among the league leaders in losing you know, points added in terms of there's a way to like look at it. In terms of his fourth down decision. He is extremely conservative punting and kicking field goals on fourth down, and yet they won't pay for a kicker, and they're going the cheap route and the kicker and those two things don't match up. It's like you're losing points because you've got this great offense.

He pays for kickers for the most part.

Right, No, but they went out of their way to get rid of the best kicker in the league, and they're going on the cheap and they're not going for it ever on fourth down. They're trusting their punter, who's also not really playing well.

They're trusting their kicker instead.

Who's the kicker? Now?

It's a man I was not familiar.

Where the hell is Robbie Gould. Someone tell me where Robbie Gould is?

They have signed Lucas Haverson, and did Robbie Gould ever to CLA.

Something's something else going on with that story.

I mean, I talked about it on last Sunday after the Maher meltdown. It's like, it's crazy to me that they hope that the level of mental breakdown in that playoff run with the Cowboys would never pop up again. It was a huge roll of the dice, but also it made me think after they made the right decision sadly for Maher to move on here. Rather than get into that sad dance, the Cowboys chose to stick with Maher last year in the same situation in the playoffs.

And I'll never get over that, not really, let him never get over that.

But it's like, hey, let's let's maybe not trust Maher to hit a fifty yarder and let's trust Matthew freaking Stafford and Cooper Cupp And that's.

Fair, right.

The other coach is a little conservative, like Sean McVay is Kyle Shanahan.

All Right, let's take a break and then we will continue with the draft.

All right, welcome back, Mark, it comes back to you.

All right, I'm gonna take Jacksonville at Pittsburgh. Pittsburgh's getting two and a half points in this. I guess I just want to see what happens with the Steelers team, Like just basically on offense, I feel like the defense is sort of the same thing.

It's like it's TJ.

Watt doing something game changing, scenery changing on a weekly basis, and the rest of them I rely on for the most part. I think the offense, it's like this, this is the story of this team, and I want to see more Jaleen Warren, George Pickens coming off too straight one hundred yard games.

That's very promising.

And it's like I I with Pickett, I don't know, Like with Kenny Pickett, it's like I think he's just sort of a middle of the pack Dalton Line type of guy, but he does have a knack to like keep these teams in games. And I think if you get the best version of Pickens and Jaleen Warren away

So I think a lot of challenge for Pittsburgh, right.

I've been as surprised by their defense as any in the NFL. Now it goes back to what I say with like, look at the opponents that they faced, but Kansas City, you know, is one of them.

It was early. Buffalo is one of them.

Houston's a decent offense, so it's not just beating up on bad offenses, and the Steelers should be a bad offense. Like the Jaguars are really good stopping the run, then you make them one dimensional?

Can you pick it?

Coming out of that, Buy had his best game of the year by far, Like he looked like an NFL quarterback again. And so if they somehow found something, and then maybe it's just Deontay Johnson, like this is a fun little game here.

Well, Jacksonville Pittsburgh used to be a rivalry.

I feel like, yeah, I think these are.

North way back, way back in the day AFC Central. There's six teams in there.

These two teams have failed to capture my imagination, which who cares? Who cares if they capture my imagination. But I'm just saying, like, when you guys are pumping it up, and that makes that's cool, that's good.

That's what we do on the show. But when I watch at Jaguars.

I'm kind of like waiting for it to be a little bit more exciting than it actually is. And and they've been successful for the most part this season. But and Pittsburgh, I just find them to be a slog I know they've they've come to life. And adding Pickens back to the mix is such a big deal for them because he is an actual playmaker and he helps a quarterback who I do believe is you know, like you're saying, very middle of the pack at best. But this is a hard game for me to pick. I

I like Jacksonville. They're favored by two and a half. I just think they've been better. But you know, they changed their strategy last week with Trevor Lawrence playing with an injured knee, Like he got rid of the ball so quickly, they weren't trying anything downfield. I think that was to protect him. So we'll see if he's feeling

I think Jacksonville, Yeah, I think.

They will bring in a guy like Daniel Hunter or Chase Young or Brian Burns. To me, they would be my number one pick of like a team that is gonna make a move. It's partly because Trayvon Walker is not getting it done, but it's also because they have the room. They need a pass rusher, and I think they will be aggressive in doing It's.

A good check in time on Trayvon Walker. Oh, we're in that place where Sachs don't represent havoc Trayvon Walker causes We're in that stage of the narrative.

Okay, wait, what do you even when you go number one?

That's what Mike Tomlin said this week, So I guess he was pumping him up, pulling the Belchie.

I don't think he's like a good run defender and a minus pass rusher at this point.

Number one overall pick.

All right, Uh back to me, I will grab Oh the Snoopy Bowl, it's back the New York Jets favored by three first time.

Gang Green has been favored all season.

A little fun fact for you traveling or not traveling, staying home at the Meadowlands.

But they are the road team against the g men. Uh.

Let's see if there's a lower over and under this week. I don't think it's even close. Yeah, thirty six and a half Andrew Catalan and.

Falcons Titans with with our backups in Tennessee even a little lower Nicks.

Wow, uh oh, he got Tiki in the booth on this that home run.

Back to back Giants games for Tiki, I know, I see you. He's got to be professional.

En not need in the booth for this game. Let's Matt, Matt and Andrew can handle this one. Need is strong, Okay.

Shall see either way.

It's going to be interesting to see the Jets offensive, which lost some key guys before the buye to injury up against the Giants. Pass rush Mark that finally woke up against Washington with six sacks after having five the first six weeks. So if you get a pass rush against Wilson, you could create turnovers and the Giants can hang around. I think this will be a low scoring game and it will come down to Wilson can continue to build on his modest gains in recent week.

Yeah.

Feels like a seventeen to fourteen type situation. I mean, two offensive lines, the Jets working around their limitations, the Giants a disastrous offensive line. Andrew Thomas did return to limited practice. We'll see what happens there. I love this for the Jets. DJ Reid coming off with a concussion.

About one thousand years. They're gonna win this night.

They're doing it.

They're gonna win it.

Are well. I don't know why not.

What's not to like? Their three point favorites here, what's not to like? What's not to like?

No, you're right, there's a lot of things pointing to the Jets should take care of business.

But you know, Snoopy Bold nuclear bomb blast occurs on Sunday.

I'll give you one thing not to like, and that's that Tyrod is playing at a higher level than Daniel Jones was.

If Tyrod plays, but.

Where is he playing relative the rest to the rest of the quarterbacks? In the league that like twenty fifth twenty six.

I would say he'd.

Be right around the Dalton scale for the two games that he's played.

I mean, he's played. I'm not scared of tyrod tail guys.

I have.

If you want to direct this criticism to two groups of people, we have a certain fellow who wants to wait, yes, oh, wait.

A minute to the zoo.

Hello, heroes. I know you're probably surprised to see me.

Since Phil said he was going to try to take this over, all the brothers said, yeah, we got the lock this week, Nick, We're gonna just do.

It for a while.

Send the video in take care of business. Well guess what they didn't follow through shocking development. I get a text for Americ this morning saying, hey, Nick, no one sent me a video.

We don't have a pick.

I swear I must be hanging out in the ape house because I'm working with a bunch of orangutangs here.

I mean, are you kill me? Guess what?

Phil?

You suck, Tim, you suck, Mike, you stink. Eddie Larry. You're all right because at least you didn't try.

To take it over and do something you knew you weren't going to follow through on anyway. I'm gonna do the exact opposite of what they would want. I'm walking up the Jets. The Giants stink, they're terrible. Fork them, get them out of here. The Jets will make the playoffs.

I don't know, Like whenever in the past, whenever Chris Wrestling would agree with anything I said about football, I just sit in my chair, you mean, and like I feel the same right here, friends, I do think who's going to get their act together?

All right? It's just like what is happening?

And I want everyone to understand with these Westling brothers, none of this is made up for the show. Like they fight like cats and dogs or ranguetangs and monkeys, whatever you want to say. And they are. They are settling scores on a on a widely heard podcast. I mean one of the quotes there from Nick, Phil you suck like that? I mean that's within the context of

Because they did record the videos, so.

Nick wasn't supposed to totally blow the pick last week either, which he did.

Oh, Greg win in that direction.

By the way, Sam, Sam Donald Zach Wilson one interception his last one hundred and thirty four attempts.

His misses are better.

I actually think that's like the number one thing his miss it he misses in the right spot.

Also, yes, and and it's related.

He is hitting the layups now, which he couldn't do last year, like it, checked downs, things like that, like he he is. He's definitely shown improvement the last few weeks. Let's see if it continues. I'm worried about the Jets in this game. I think the Giants have played much better than the last two weeks. I think wing Martin Dill is a particular kind of test for a young quarterback and a bad offensive line. I think Tyrod's been good. I think Saquon helps them. So I just Darren Waller

I agree, but I still expected more.

You know, the Vikings are the better team, and yet this does feel like a spot where it's a division game is just Minnesota's coming off of high A lot of times it evens out.

But I think Matt.

Lafleur is stuck in a weird spot with his offense because the Packers just can't run the ball. They were supposed to have a really good offensive line. They are twenty ninth in run block win rate, and yet they're really good protecting Jordan Love. I mean, you watch these games and Jordan Love is just chilling back there, and I was like, does the eye test matchup with the numbers. They're very high in the PFF bringings, their second in

I don't like it for Jordan Love in this situation.

I think you're right about the run game, like they've not Aaron Jones has essentially played less than Nick Chubb this season.

He has ninety four yards rushing this year.

I think that was so key to them because AJ Dillon has not been helpful at all. You don't have him, Brian Flores defense number one and blitz rate and Harrison Smith. Guys like Harris Smith's using them creatively. And I just wonder about Jordan Love. The offense to me is looked discombobulated in general. There's a lot of just young players around him. And is this a situation with if you're the Vikings where I think there's just a lot of energy on that defense. It showed up last week. You

I mean, listen, the league is filled with parody and they can hanging out and win all of those games. Yeah, I think it's a little like Jordan Love. I don't think it's playing well at all. And then the numbers are backing that up. He has the lowest completion percentage in the NFL. They they're averaging I believe, about seventeen points a game right now. And so the ball they're not moving the ball and and they're not scoring points, and.

The defense is bad. That's the disappointing part for me. I guess it's not surprising, but they have a lot of good players on their defense.

And you know, you haven't been bailed out by the running game at all, because you've had Aaron Jones has been banged up, like AJ Dillon is a leading rusher for this team.

So you know, it's it's a tough situation. For Green Bay. But at the same time, like.

You don't just always Mark just something that is given certain fan bases a lot of aggravation. It's like you don't always just to keep roll into one dynasty to the next, one era to the next. Like this is a transition here, Vikings. Let's see you take care of business with Kenny, Albert and Vilma on the call.

All right, Mark, it is back to you. All right.

I could see you saying, I'm not taking the greatest game here, but it fascinates me on my own level. I'm taking the Texans at the Panthers. You've got This is a weird note, but this kind of got me into it because of course it's Bryce Young versus c J.

Stroud. Do you know that they met at a middle school summer camp?

Wow? I was there too?

Actually were you? I don't think you were unless you were a council.

You're roughly twenty years older than them, but known each other for a long time. And it's a bit of a study and like two rebuilding teams that each went out and got their quarterback. And we know that the Panthers are a disaster right now in a lot of levels and it's not going well, and you know it's too early to really even its hardy even scout Bryce Young in the situation he's in. So it's like I kind of just see what happens. But Jason, well what it's for it, I mean, you know.

A little bit better. Yet he's coming off his best game. CJ.

Stroud coming off his worst, and that in that particular game, I thought Bryce Young played excellent in the first half of that game and was fine in the second.

He's made a couple of passes in every one of these games, but also some like massive blunders, and I think it's he's in a bad ecosystem.

The c J.

Stroud, like Bobby Slowick offense and what they're doing in general, Like they've won three of their last four games by by seven or more points. They're like turning into a real thing. And I know they've been sort of a team of ATM like possibility. I think this feels like a little bit of a trap game to me, just because like Caroline, at some points gonna do it. But I just think the Texans to me under Stroud, like they have I thought, I think they're well coached, that.

They're pretty you know, fortunate to get out of New Orleans there on Thursday night with a tight end dropping the ball there, not saying that that that means that they didn't deserve to win that game, because they did. But I'm I'm also not This one kind of was on my radart of it because I was like, oh, this would be a game to lock up lock up

I think this game they think this could be it.

They could be it. I know they it doesn't They shouldn't be this bad. I think it's a great test of you know, first year head coaches coming off of bye. In general, I think coming off the bye is a great test of coaches, and that they're both doing it is interesting. And I mentioned I liked what I saw at Bryce Young in a Miami game, especially in the first half.

They had some answers. I am a little worried about their pass.

Protection versus Will Anderson and Jonathan Garnard, who have really been a nice tandem. Anderson is one you mentioned. You know, we're using the whole trayvon Walker Saxtony how he's playing with Will Anderson. It's absolutely true. He is really playing outstanding. His hurries, his hits are there with the leaders in the league. It hasn't translated to sacks. It has a little more for Gernard on the other side. So that's a worry, worrisome factor. And I'm gonna go fantasy here.

Ever, this is it.

There's too many negative runs in this Houston offense. There's supposed to be a forty nine ers like offense. So many and this is the worst run defense in the entire NFL. It's one of the very worst defenses in general. That's a big reason why they're owing six nice said Bryce Young doesn't get you know, it's not his fault that they're the worst run defense in the NFL.

And what a nice uh, what a nice pickup for fantasy owners and feeling turning into like garbage stats monster. I wonder it would be with the trade deadline coming up, it would be really nice to see the Panthers maybe pull something off and get another playmaker there.

And it sounds like they want to. They've they've been talked about for a couple of weeks. Is wanting a wide receiver. That's gonna change.

Let us see And by the way, to your point, Will Anderson, he's just got one sack, but eight QB hits. That's tied for most on the team, second most QB hits in NFL among rookies. I don't know if you know who would have the most hits amongst rookies QB hit Yalen Carter Byron Young of the La Rams.

Well, nice nic agent zero. I think they call him. By the way, Texans three point favorites. All right, let's move to Greg Okay, I'm gonna take I got a certain strategy this Sunday. It's a weird sunny Falcons Titans. Falcons are two and a half point favorites on the road against the Titans. Let's review the Titans quarterback situation. Our guy Ian Rabbitport reported Will Levis is being prepared to start multiple times all week, and this was on

Some like Halloween harror music under that, because I have to say, like, does this ever work? Like, Oh, Team X planning to use multiple quarterbacks on Sunday, It's like good luck. It's like we don't have a quarterback we like enough to actually play. So we're gonna we're gonna kitchen sink it and hope something happens. But you also you get it because Malik Willis, you know, God love him, has been a disaster and what we've seen of him

So maybe if we will little this little of that.

Wait, there's got no evidence that Mike Rabel is in support of Malik Willis as his quarterback on any level. It dates back to last season when they got Josh Dobb zero.

Zero chance Derek Henry doesn't get out of this game without throwing a pass, Well.

That may be their best option.

I mean coming out of the London game, Like, the most striking visuals we saw were Ryan tannilent tandle getting destroyed by the Ravens.

So it's like not a.

Good all offensive line Malik Willis has shown us nothing. Well, Levis, like you didn't beat out Malik Willis in camp. That's a bit concerning. I mean I like the idea. I'm a little bit better. I think if you're in reverse. If the Falcons are ever going to run the ball well, like in the last couple of weeks, the Colts ran over for one hundred and ninety three yards. Last week the Ravens crushed the Titans for one hundred and thirty nine.

How's our friend, how's our front beijon this week? Is he physically is he practicing?

Is he?

I think he's expected to play. But they're not a good running team. I mean he's a great running back, but they're not a good running team. They've been more effective throwing the ball, except for the plays where Desmond Rider gives it away like Ritter is coming off, you know, the best two game stretch of his career. But it's just crazy that, like, oh wow, Desmond Ridder making nice throws.

The timing of the mistakes.

Yeah, three red zone turnovers last week, and they're averaging thirteen points the game.

But they also could be five and three after this week. They are favored.

You know, I think Colleen was on to something. All Right, Greg snakes to you.

All right, I am going to take the Saints and.

The Colts alright, a rematch of one of my favorite Super Bowls of all time a long time ago.

Now it was Saints are one point favorites on the road.

Don't like that. I like the underdog in this game. I think the Colts are a better team overall, and I think the Saints. There's just a lot going on with this Saints team. Defensively, they can lock you up. But I really liked what I saw out of Indianapolis in terms of their ground game and what they got going with Jonathan Taylor and the way Shanstiken can change his game plan from week to week. And I think's health really gives them a lot of options.

Minshew.

He's not going to be Anthony Richardson, but he can at least provide a little bit of run threat on some of those fakes that work well enough, and I just think they've been a tough minded team for the most part, and the Saints are not a tough minded team in my mind.

Minshew ran the ball really well against Cleveland and it was like design run territories, and I think he gives them that. I mean, it's been a couple sort of somewhat atypical weeks for Minshe because of the giveaways coming into this season, like his touchdown to interception ratio was pretty spectacular, and the mistakes have cropped up and they've

Minshew has thrown four innerse options targeting Michael Pittman for next gen stacks, and then Michael Pittman came out after the loss last week and said, maybe I'm not like an important guy in this offense, erase the dryboard. Because the wide receiver has spoken about being unhappy. So you know what happens, because you saw what happened last week with Tomtay Adams. They will funnel targets to Pittman to try to keep him happy.

Let's give him some credit.

Though, on Wednesday, unprompted, he all the reporters over and said, like, man, I was in my head Sunday, I was kind of being an ass and apologize.

Well, he didn't say he was being an ass.

He said, I'm a sore loser, Like I don't, I hate losing, and like I get that.

Is a culpa though unprompted, So I give it to Derek Carr.

He had a heart to heart with Chris Alave and so they've had very productive conversations this week and they had a great week of practice.

So we'll see what happens with that.

I felt real bad for that wide receiver on Thursday night the drop, and I like seeing Alvin Kamara take him off the field because he was just sitting alone on the bench at the game long over.

Good leadership from Kamara. And then my last.

Thought, because we don't get to talk about Thursday night football when we're not on the games. Greg Kamara is fascinating in this offense because he just gets the ball constantly, and Derek Carr, who's never been afraid of a checkdown, now has one of the great checkdown running backs of his era in Kamara. It was tough to watch Kamara unable to crack that end zone. I know he's hyper productive, but the old Kamara in that game finds the goal

I agree with you, he's not forcing as many mistackles, but five or six of those throws were Carr coming to the checkdown too quickly.

Right, I'm kind of referring to that one red zone driver. They said, I'm going to give you the ball four times aka get in, and he didn't.

But he's a PPR most so I'll tell you that, all right.

Uh and oh, one last note, Ersay, owner of the Cults, came out and said that the NFL now this is what the owner of the coult said. Yeah, that the NFL said both those calls were wrong late against Cleveland, both against the same defensive back. His name is escaping me as anybody recall it, both the defensive holding against Cooper and then the PI when the ball was almost thrown into the front row. It was it Dallas Baker

Well, but they're also going to find j Mersey based on past precedent.

Yeah, publicly, which he doesn't care.

That's fine, But I like Anders says things you don't want him to say.

We all get that.

He says things, Oh you would care, you would care, Roberts if it was the bills, right.

I liked it. It came out and said this. I liked it.

He did that.

You want your owner to hold the NFL's feet to the fire if they if they boof it.

Yeah, of course that was more. I don't care that I'm getting fined as Jim. He's printing money. He doesn't care about you know, it's always good for them. To like speak up about a mistake. But yeah, that was more of a first not caring about it.

I like you when Eric, when you wear this uh buttons up Bill's bills, buttoned up Polo, it really pops.

You know, I don't I want to dress up for game day, but I just don't like wearing a jersey around the office.

Take down that one lapel Breasa hart side, Yeah, down a little bit. There we go. There you go, and look how clean that mustache is cleaned up? You know, it looks good. This is why you watch the YouTube.

Show do you put wax on it? Product? It's curious Thursday.

I know there might be some camera time on Thursday, so you get it, you know, yeah, any of the guys are.

At all the time.

He'll be down there and makeup, and.

There's a Tyson Pagent thing going on right now because look how clean cut Roberts looks. And then you know, you start, you know, pulling up the sleeve or you see him in a pair of shorts, and all of a sudden, it's like, am I at the Bikers Association of America.

Got to see me on the weekend for SHO I would say that this show is a history of producers for increasing and increasing camera time as the months go on, and I'm not when you got Eric in that tornado, I.

Think you've you've really maneuvered yourself very well, Eric, and you're doing a great job as our producer.

Mark back to you, all right.

I'll take Patriots at Dolphins.

Patriots getting nine and a half in this huge, like season saving or salvaging victory against the Bills, I don't know if they can, if they could do it, if they could ever pull it off in Miami, that would be wild. I feel like the dating back to like the middle of the eighteen hundreds, weird things happen to the Patriots in Miami.

Usually not good.

Yeah, weird things be like a typical.

Trying to make a tackle on a return. Yeah, that those sort of things.

I feel like those things don't matter, but then they kind of just seems to happen every year. I I do look back at the first game though, where I think Miami against Philadelphia, and like the two winning teams they've faced, they lost both of them. I don't know what that tells me about the Dolphins. It's a little concerning.

Board with that.

Tyreekho did return on Thursday, which great news because the vibes didn't sound great with him right on Wednesday. But it sounds like he'll be back for this game. It's a big time test, I think for both coaches. I think playing Belichick the second time is a unique test in general in the afcast, but it goes the other way too, So McDaniel and him having to go against

And they did an okay job at that.

But I think they'll look at what Philadelphia did and was really effective and I think really interesting, which is Philadelphia really sold out to stop the run. They also played almost entirely in zone coverage and they were in cover too, just totally backed up trying to prevent the big play. I mean, mostly everyone does that, but they really made a point to have a lot of guys on the line of scrimmage and prevent the run from

Massive, Massive, and I buy into this trap game implications for the Dolphins coming off Philadelphia in primetime, you get the Pats at home, and then you go to Kansas City next week in primetime to Germany.

Oh.

Shoot, that's right. Nine thirty am, Lower Prime. They're in Germany for christ Sake, So the idea they're they're trying to find their passports on Saturday on Saturday night when maybe they should be studying what's going on with the Patriots team. That this is gonna sound silly, but it is a fact as a fact they had when things were in They are the little rock bottom moment there, that two week stretch, Greggie, which is very tough for

Well, so they destroyed, no doubt, But I I just I refuse to accept that the Patriots, like especially on offense, have been reborn. I mean, prior to the Bills game, their point totals last four weeks for fifteen points three they got shut out by the Saints, give me a break, and seventeen against the Well.

I didn't say that the offense the Patriots offen. I just think like, you got you gotta find it. Dolphins can run though.

If the Dolphins can do it with Moster, like, you've got to find a way to hang around with Miami, And I just like, how is well they're in New England's way.

Out there, They're a different offense.

They've already done it.

They they've gotten their offensive line healthier so and when they were playing right tackle really shores up what I was saying was the weakest position in football. And then Cole Stranger attorney at I think they have a good starting good enough starting five now in the offensive line, and that was a problem.

And then uh we got Pop Douglas.

Mark We're a different team here with Pop Douglas.

Doug It's crazy.

That a late round rookie like you know, gadget looking type of player is obviously the best and most explosive offensive player on the Patriots.

It's not even like a question.

He's literally the only one on the team that can make anyone miss.

Uh.

They also don't have Christian Gonzales, who played really well in that first game, helping out against Tyreek Hill, and instead you got J. C. Jackson, who's thinking, I already got roasted by Tyreek Hill in Week one with the Chargers. Now I get traded to another team, then I gotta go deal with Tyreek Hill.

That's not fun.

All right, Let's take a break and we'll close out the draft. All right, we're back. Let's close this thing.

Out back to back. Pick those got five games.

I only got two eyes, folks. We'll have to work that out. Let's start interesting, all right, So there are the two teams in the Super Bowl? Are from last year are available? Is that right? That's how this this ended up?

Well, I think it's the opponents.

Let's start with uh. And let's start with the Chiefs at the Broncos. Chiefs getting seven points here as they should, in fact a little generous for the Broncos. So now the Denver Broncos have played better. I think, like the Patriots, we've probably seen probably seen the worst of them this year, and now they're gonna start kind of figuring things out, hanging in games and not being a laughing stock.

But you know, I think it was interesting to.

See certain things with the Chiefs offense. You saw vintage Travis Kelcey last week for the kind of first time where it's like, Okay, that's that's the dude. You saw vintage Mahomes who you know, his ability is peerless, ability to just manipulate and full defenses. With his ability outside the pocket, I mean, he's at his peak form and just creating big plays just with his eyes and his legs and his hanny ability to know exactly where the line of scrimmage is.

Uh.

And then you have Rashid Rice, who they've been waiting. Who is the guy that's gonna step up? It's Rice, And you look at all the data points behind it his ability. He's their slot guy now, and he is their yards after catch guy over the middle, and he's filling He's filling a very important role if this stays where it is. So everybody talked about Cadarius Tony before the season.

He's just a guy. He will always be just a guy.

And they maybe even can use someone else Greg with the trade deadline coming up. Nicole Hardman is is just a guy himself. But you're starting to see the chief.

Guys though, they get rid of something bringing anyone in.

You you gotta, you gotta, you gotta say the Chiefs might be starting to figure it out on offense again, and with that defense that they're paired with, they're scary.

They you know, are the Super Bowl favorites. I am, oh, hey, all right, we got we got all the youth culture. Now cut that for social media. You don't need to know more than Patrick Mahomes and with one of the better defensive league, that's all you need to know. And the fact that the offense is coming off a good game. I'm not going to say the offense is back though, because just two weeks ago against this very same Broncos team, who at the time had a historically bad defense, the Chiefs.

Offense didn't really maybe figured out.

Yes, I tend to agree, because again it's Patrick Mahomes and in a really good offensive line. So that's the mismatch to me and That's ultimately the problem for the rest of the NFL is the Chiefs pass protection has been incredible this year, and you have a matchup this week where it's like, okay, you want to throw Nick Benito and Zach Allen and Jonathan Cooper at us, Like, okay, good luck with that. I have a feeling we're scoring more than nineteen points this time around.

I don't like the two matchups in three weeks.

I know the NFL scheduled makers are in a tough spot, and it happens once or twice a year spots.

Now I think, remember it used to be like they put them in a conference room with cigarettes and you know, sendence takeout for three months and lock the door and figure out the schedule your ghouls.

And now it's just like a I figured out matchups.

It is primarily done by a We were not a human.

We were just in London doing this recap like a week ago.

It feels like it is silly.

It maybe the Denver defense, though now Mark is is normal. I don't know, well, two weeks they played normal.

They did, you know, nineteen points against the Chiefs, seventeen against a pretty shaky Packers offense. I'm not taking too much from any of that, but I think that you look at like what heck occurred in that game when they played them just days ago. It feels like Travis Kelcey had a huge, monster performance. I mean, I think that can happen again, no problem. And it's like, in what area does Denver outshine Kansas City on any level?

It's like they haven't beat him in how many years? Sixteen straight losses? Patrick, there is not at all.

They didn't have Justin No, they did have Justin Simmons back for that, they go, Yeah, the interception.

Over Mahomes is twenty nine and three versus the AFC West and sixteen straight wins over the Broncos.

They don't match up well.

And this is one of the messier versions of the Broncos defense we've seen.

I think if you're Sean McVay and note Sean Payton, you're just like, how do I get out of here without being humiliated again? And it is the scary thing I think Greg is we say things like the Chiefs you know recently is two weeks ago. They're still funky. They are still second in total yards, they are first and third down percentage, they are six tied for six and points per game like, and that's after a kind

That is going to be maybe the narrative around the AFC.

Well, they're gonna have to show me more offensively, but certainly the best defense. And know, by the way, they added Charles a Menaheue who's been a very productive player off of his suspension for domestic violence last week and he had, you know, an immediate impact for their for their team this run. By the way, the Broncos, they're running offense very good. Yeah, they did a nice job showcasing Judy and Sutton last week. They both had nice games.

Please can we just And I hated it when it happened in seven I hated in the moment had happened when a Raiders future Hall of Famer got traded and was all of a sudden playing with one of the greatest quarterbacks of all.

Time, and Randy Moss and Tom Brady made beautiful magic. Maybe it's not for the Raiders. Can you imagine DeVante Adams?

Well, why would they do that? They're not gonna help out Risper about that on this show.

But I'm just saying, for fun thinking about them together.

That would be true.

Davis is not. I actually think he is rightful enough. He would never allow that to happen, is he.

Though we don't know Mark like we knew Al I hang out.

I didn't meet Mark Davis at the Super Bowl.

You hang out with them in the bars a lot. Yeah.

AFC West is not helping out the Chiefs as they clinched their seventeen.

You know what.

Another thing, if you want to talk about traits of the Raiders historically unpredictable, you're right. I'm just saying I would like well, I would love actually my favorite teams in the AFC, So I don't want to see this, but it would be fun as hell.

It's they do need another Wide receive the.

Juiciest landing spot for DeVante Adams by.

Far, which is why we did not even bring it up in the year. The GM segment, well done by all involved. All Right, finally Eagles at Commanders, your fifth game.

Oh yeah, I am not looking forward to the post show rejiggering.

This is confusing.

That's blame the AI bots.

Yeah, yeah, they stuck it to us.

He did it. Uh yeah.

Sam Howell is uh, he's he's gonna be the He's gonna be the decider here whether this game is a blowout or not. If he's throwing the ball for grabs and he's running for his life. Terrible job by the offensive line against the Giants, then uh, there's gonna be some turnovers and then the Eagles are going to just start humming and this is going to be grim. But GREGI are we still on the point where we're a little bit noivous about the Philly offense. We're just talking about KC.

Okay, No, I mean there there are a little meat and potatoes. It's not a lot of variation. I think it was interesting that Vic Fangio was in that building and knows that team. You know, he made a very similar approach to what the Eagles did. Defensively, and he really played it. They played in base defense the whole game, and they said, we're gonna stop your running game if at all possible, and we think we have a better chance of winning if Hurtz is throwing the ball down

There was a fun game.

This matchup over the last few years, including the Commanders you know win over them last year, has been you know, very close down to the wires. Just one of those division matchups. So I think six and a half points a little too much for washing for.

They It might be, I mean, like Howell, they may not have gotten to him in the way that he's been gotten to another games, but he was pressured twenty seven times by the Eagles, which.

Is twenty seven, tied for the most how many quarters did they play?

Man right, it was tied for the most in a game by any player in twenty twenty three, other than the fact that he was tied with himself against in that terrible Buffalo game for a Howell.

So they didn't finish those plays and not enough that they didn't.

But I also think it's like all every week after week, it's like, is the offense rounding into shape? I just look at the defense they allowed under two hundre yards passing to the Dolphins forty five on the ground.

We talked about how they did that.

Hurts.

The giveaways have been the issue.

But Hurts is playing awesome otherwise, Like I'm not really it's not like, oh, last year, maybe not be exactly what we're gonna consistently. Like Hurts is doing incredible things. It's been a couple of flurry of giveaways that have caused problems.

That you in that game though, so that that is something to watch. He's definitely playing this week, but just something to watch whether he's as mobile, whether he can run the ball as much, because that would change their offense quite a bit.

And let's let's give.

Him some love because he deserves it and Greg loves it. He has major fantasy implications. Greg was like a schoolboy when we were in the theater room watching aj Brown do it again in primetime.

This man seven hundred and one.

Yards since Week three, receiving five consecutive games with at least one hundred and twenty five yards Wow through the air. That ties them with Calvin Johnson and Mark somebody that played when you were in elementary school. Pat stud still the nineteen sixty six Lions for the longest streak I was.

Not even on the earth, but continue in with.

One hundred and twenty five plus receiving yards in edfall history. And like what I was saying with Ceedee Lamb, he is like like his counterpart rest in peace the twenty twenty three Phillies Bryce Harper, like he's the showman. Like when they need a big play, they just He's just got. He's just a killer. He is a killer for this Philly offense and is definitely in the running for Offensive Player of the Year.

Ooh, how can he not be?

Yeah, no, of course I would say, like you, you just can't drop this. If you're the Eagles, your schedule is oh, they'll take care of it.

Well, they will, I agree.

Obi this one's coming up though, Cowboys, Chiefs, Bills, Niners, Cowboys Seahawks.

Six and a half. We said, yeah, that was a spread.

Okay, it's a dangerous one. I'm not I'm not like racking it up.

It's an interesting one for Washington too though, just because again trade deadline. It's fairly on my raidar they need to push back the trade deadline two weeks, but Washington.

Going to that.

There's this whole idea that Chase Young could get traded or maybe someone else from this team, and it makes sense. But it's like, is Ron Rivera making the decisions? Because Ron Rivera knows he's out at the end of this year, so who would be making him make any trades? Because if I'm Ron Rivera, I'm not trading a thing. What does a second round pick next year do any good for me? But if they're three and five, maybe there's pressure from above saying you got it, you gotta make a move.

I don't know.

Well, it's new ownership, so I don't know what the relationship is there in terms of telling Ron Rivera what he has to do. But Martin Mayhew doesn't strike me as like a super empowered general manner.

No, it's Rivera. It's Rivera making the calls.

Buyer up your Philadelphia defenses in fantasy because they're getting after Sam Howell and they're gonna be playing from behind why Washington, and he's going to start throwing it up for grabs and it could be grizzly.

I love that for the Eagles, all.

Right, Greg, another fan, another team on the list? All right, Eagles, Seahawks, Ravens on an island. Only one team can continue to exist.

It's really not about one team. It's about one man. So it's the Seahawks right now.

Geno trumps all Oh, I just want it. It's been an amazing journey.

Why is it so personal though the love?

It's been a fun journey, and it's like, for you, how fun can this get?

Because this team is kind of frisky?

Can he can he be in a big spot in a divisional round game?

That would be fun like that.

Let's first, we want to see how far the Geno coaster goes.

I wish we had an AI service that could tell us like who's been mentioned the most over the last like eighteen months, because it's got to be Geno Smith number one and then the number two half as many times.

Rogers got a lot of play this summer, but this podcast, Jordan takes up there. Jordan is up there, all right, good stuff, good stuff. We will be back Thursday night, Mark and I with recap of Thursday Night football, a matchup between.

Mark, the Bills and the Bucks.

Thank you very much, and uh so make sure you check out that and our NFL plus Dreamatorium content rolling out and everything else.

You've sent your way this week. We appreciate your patronage. Until next time, Heed the call.