Welcome to NFL Daily, where we already got our Christmas tree up. I'm Greg Rosenthal here in the Chris Westling podcast studio with my friend Patrick Clayback my other friend Nick Schuk, joining live from Cleveland where past Thanksgiving football is officially started and Patrick's looking around for the Christmas tree here. I know, I'm talking about.
My house for the first time ever.
I got it up like the day after Thanksgiving, and I'm feeling proud. You You cook Thanksgiving dinner. You're a real man before even coming into work.
Pat Well, I mean, the objective, you know, is to get it done, and we were able to get Thanksgiving done, get into work, do some football, and also Greg, go get a tree, although we didn't do it the next day because yeah, but we did get out there on Saturday. Trees up. It'll be dead before Christmas, but hey, we're here.
Also went yeah, official a real tree for the first time too.
We've got fake forever.
So we did. We did the whole thing, U Shookie. We're waiting for him to get on the line here. I have a suspicion he was watching the end of the Calves Celtics game. But I'm not gonna hold that against you, Nick for the rest of this show. We got we got games to go to.
Actually, I checked the score and I was like, oh, Cavlin chappin.
Okay, I thought you just wanted to stick it to me. You got one win today. Let's see if Patrick's team got their win. In one of the most important games of the year, two of the best teams in the NFL head to Baltimore.
Purston Town Eagles. Paul Look the twenty five with the revuls clock ticking Perch, but Barkley was left parts this time to Barkley off the right side.
Prince the tackle.
He's at the first five touchdown, say.
Barklay, he is special Mike Quick. That's also Merril Reese on the call WIP. The Eagles win the game twenty four to nineteen in Baltimore, helped by a drive that was all Saquon Barkley. A couple runs for Saquon Barkley passed the Saquon Barkley a jail it hurts run where the faked giving the ball to Saquon Barkley, and then yes, Saquon Barkley finishes it off. The Eagles have won eight straight games they are ten and two.
The Ravens are eight and five.
Saquon Barkley in the fourth quarter of games this year, seven point four yards per carry. That's pretty good, leads the NFL and yards in the fourth quarter. Not a surprise there, Patrick, when they got that ball back after yet another Justin Tucker missed, it did feel like Saquon time. It's been the most reliable really aspect to any offense in the NFL last couple months.
And the Baltimore Ravens had been able to hold them to a couple three and outs in the second half before that drive started. The Philadelphia Eagles had three three yards in the second half. Wow against the Baltimore Ravens. They actually get a third down they Brandon Stevens can't quite get Dallas Goddard on a crosser, and from then it was essentially over. The Eagles kept getting yards and chunks, and the Eagles doing this with Johan dark Dotson out
in the pattern where Devontae Smith would generally be. The Eagles able to use their talent to get past the Baltimore on the road in this game without one of their top five players in Devonte Smith. Quinya Mitchell leaves this game, it's just a sign. As much as I would love to make this about the Ravens and Justin Tucker missing kicks, Philadelphia is a very very good team that is very very high.
Yeah, we'll get to the Ravens side and Tucker nick, but I don't need to see anymore. This Eagles defense is playing the best in the entire league. Their defense, I mean, every week it's something, and today they just made everything hard. It felt like the only played Baltimore could make was Lamar just kind of improvising and some magic.
Yeah, they did a good job of containing the run. They did a good job of keeping Lamar contained in the pocket for the most part. I mean, thirty nine of his seventy nine rushing yards came in that garbage time run late in the fourth quarter that didn't really matter. I mean, it was an excellent job. But really, what it has been is the Eagles defense doing a great job Vic Fangio doing a great job of adjusting in game.
They've done this over the last three weeks. They did against Washington where they stack up points offensively because they keep getting stops defensively. Same thing happens today. They go down nine to nothing, and just like that, they're back up fourteen to nine because the Eagles defense was getting the stops and affording the offense more opportunities. And in the second half that was I mean, it was a near perfect performance kuper Degen making that tackle on Derek
Henry in the open field and third down. That's the clip you're going to see on the internet, but that personifies this Eagles defense. Since Week six, they've allowed what twenty nine point the offensive side stirt We'll go back to the defensive side later, but they've allowed fifteen point three points per game since Week six. That's the second fewest in the NFL accord in the NFL research they and before that they allowed twenty four points a game.
So if you want some hard number to demonstrate the difference between then and now and the start of this winning streak, it's right there. And they're playing the most complimentary football of any team outside of maybe Detroit, and they have a strong case that they're playing even better than them. So this was a win that they need to get tested road environment. Baltimore is a good team. Now they've officially proven themselves. I'm taking them very seriously.
Right, and we're doing the thing where you talk all good about the winning team and kind of all bad about the losing team. But I watched this game, and these two teams seem very even to me for most of the game.
Three to three and a half quarters.
Justin Tucker's three miss kicks proved massive, but that doesn't change the fact that everything was hard for the Ravens. Two of those field goals were from long distance, one because they got a sack to push Lamar Jackson back. The Ravens started fast in the first quarter, but after that they you know, they had three straight three and outs, and like I said, just everything was hard. Even one of those missfield goal drives was a fourteen play forty
seven yard drive. And that's what the Eagles defense can do. They played zone on eighty eight percent of their STAPs today. That's the highest number that they've done all season. It's because you don't want to play man against Baltimore and Lamar Jackson in his running game, and they did it good enough job making Baltimore really earn it. Their offense
was a little disjointed. It almost felt like they're waiting for the fourth quarter to get there in Saquan to do something, and then it happened like it's a formula that's worked.
Yeah, just provide Saquon with the opportunities. Eventually he's gonna get there. But Baltimore, there were two drives in the first half. It was nine to nothing. Lamar had Isaiah likely wide open running a corner route. Isaiah likely kind of chops his feet, changes the angle Lamar throws. It was a bad throw regardless, but he misses him there. And then after a great punt by the Eagles, the Ravens are pinned deep. Lamar has safe Flowers on a
ball to the sideline any short arms. Those two possessions wound up being huge for the Ravens there because you know, the game script played out the way that it did, and the opportunities really dwindled as the game went on, where they realized that wide talent wise, even with Red Blanket Ship leaving the game, the Ravens don't have the talent necessary on the outside, and then they lose. They lose a wide receiver in terms of so Zay Flowers
had seventy three yards. It's Rashan Bateman goes down with a knee injury. We don't even see their trade deadline acquisition for the remainder of the game he got on. I'm not sure if they don't trust him they wanted going on, but he's not even involved and there's just not enough talent out there.
I think we can add up the different Deontay Johnson teams that have gotten frustrated with him in Pittsburgh and Carolina, and then just look at what's happened when he's been on the field so far for Baltimore, where he's been a part of some ugly plays, and surmise they just don't trust him right now because they're playing Tyland Wallace ahead of him. Nelson Aguilar got targeted on two deep passes, one of which was a dime and he couldn't pull it in. I don't know if I want to call
it a drop. Maybe I'll call it a drop defense. They needed to play perfect football and they didn't. You mentioned that the Gene play where they probably were going to get Henry down, but the fact that he piled drove him that was special. Come on, give.
Him it started down. There's another defender in the back.
It's just the fact that you pick up Derek Henry, you got to celebrate the wins.
Patrick in life, Your.
Jean's a very good He got Jamar Chase in the open field. He doesn't. We don't need to celebrate. Like when Lebron tries to take a charge and somebody dunks and it's like, oh.
My god, they dunked on Lebron.
It's just like, Okay, Derek Henry got got it was. It was a nice play by Cooper Dejan wasn't even the best play he made in this game.
So Saquon's MVP candidacy moves forward, and it's not about just oh, this team won this game and Lamar lost it. I I do think Lamar has not been as otherworldly the last three or four games.
He's been good, hasn't been as great.
And Saquon is just the engine of the hottest team in the league, the best team in the league. And so we still got a ways to go in this thing. But they're ten and two, and another big spot where Saquan in this offensive line, it's all together. To me, if you gave a running back an MVP award, it's presentative of the offensive line and the whole team. And I think that would be absolutely fair. Nick, I thought
Sirianni might lose them this game. I really regret not taking the Eagles in it because they have been a better team. I mean, I think it's just obvious on balance, and I picked the Ravens to win. And I was wrong thinking the coaching would make a decision. But the difference, but the coaching has been fantastic for the Eagles this season, especially on defense. And Justin Tucker's miss let's have the conversation quickly. His misses prevented the audience from really enjoying
the fourth quarter of this game. We kind of got robbed because Tucker's miskicks could be the difference right now with Baltimore in big games.
Now they're at five losses.
We'll see how the Steelers did, but you know they're not doing as well in the AFC North here. Do you think about benching Justin Tucker? There's no way they're going to cut people, But do you think about bringing another kicker?
So I definitely think about working out another kicker, because we've talked about this the entire season. Now, I've written two separate posts about a month apart about Justin Tucker needing to work on his fundamentals and his technique and it's just something that he can clear up. And he's
obviously not cleaning up. And the worst part, in my opinion, I know Jay Feely, I'm not a kicking expert here, but he's hooking kicks left, he's missing him to the right, like there's no consistency in any even the kicks he makes, they're like, oh, it squeezes in there. And this was a Ravens team that played well enough to win. Otherwise, they cleaned up a lot of their issues. They cleaned
up the penalties. They only had four penalties accepted to him against him as opposed to usually landing the double digits in previous weeks. You know, they out gained Philly by one hundred and twenty yards, they won time in possession, but they didn't get the points that they were in position to get because their kicker is not there. And if this team ends up making a deep run into the AFC playoffs and it comes down to a kick, are you gonna regret not trying out another kicker beforehand?
And if Tucker misses that kick and you lose that game in a heartbreaker.
Yeah, One hundred and twenty yards feels misleading to me. You mentioned kind of the garbage time seventy yard drive, but that does point out to me it looked like a pretty even game.
It was.
I do think.
That that the Barkley Hurts combination it's not quite as difficult in terms of the RPOs to deal with as Henry and Lamar. And Henry did have eighty two yards in this game, but you know they were trailing there at the end. But it's it's pretty darn hard because when Hurtz decides to run up the middle, that's where he is at his best as a runner.
They had some really important.
Conflicts that they put the Ravens defense in throughout the day.
I thought the Ravens defense played well.
I think the Ravens defensive improvement is there, but I mean there, forget about the one seed for the Ravens.
They have a lot of work to do to win.
The AFC North Eagles, on the other hand, still got a shot at that one seed and they're closing in on an NFC East title. Let's go to the Ravens rival in the AFC North Pittsburgh Cincinnati.
Is this the final? They better win?
This week, or it's really really really over a game for the Bengals.
Yo Savashian motion to the left, Pearl gets a snap. Here comes to this pressure the strips act is picked that by Wilson.
Big Wilson's gonna go in for the score.
Peyton Wilson touchdown Pittsburgh Steelers on the strips.
Oh Nick Herbing, what a great job of jumping around the cord and getting the botz and being able to strip that ball, and you got the peg trade.
Peyton Wilson scooping that thing up, scoop and score, and right now we're seeing an exodus of Bengals fans.
Leaves Nate Erbrick, big time play ron King Craig wolf Ley w dv E. On a day where the Pittsburgh Steelers went over five hundred yards of offense, it was a couple defensive plays that felt like it might have been the difference in a game that's going back and forth and back and forth. Joe Burrow awesome day, but was a part of three turnovers and that score there seemed to put it away. The Bengals made another comeback.
In this game.
It ends up forty four to thirty eight. But Pittsburgh gets out of Cincinnati with a win. They're at nine to three, up a couple games in the lost column on those Ravens, and the Bengals officially buried here at four and eight.
Yeah, we can stop. We talked about it before the show on Game Deview that it's been must win every single week and the Cincinnati Bengals seemed to come up short every single week, often in heartbreaking fashion. After that Chris Boswell extra point after the Wilson returned touchdown, it's a seventeen point game. The Bengals come back. The final score forty four thirty eight. They had a late touchdown
from Andre Josavas after Jamar Chase got loose deep. But this was a game that started with a Cam Taylor brit picked six and that was essentially it in terms of bad plays for Russell Wilson. And I'll even give him that one because Cam Taylor brit got very physical with George Pickens at the line of scrimmage, grabbed the back of his helmet, ultimately beat him to the inside on the saint on the slant because of that, and took that interception all the way back to the house.
But Russell Wilson was simply unfazed in this game. Four hundred and fourteen yards. The best stow I've seen him make this year, kind of changing his arm angle and hitting Pat Fryer move up the middle of the field, which Russell Wilson can do everybody now, not just on that play at Calvin Austin for a touchdown in the middle of the field as well, but ducked under the rush changes arm angle, Russ Cooking today, Greck.
I love to hear it.
I'd like to look in the Pittsburgh box score sometimes just at the long reception for different receivers because they're a big play offense. Seven different receivers had or eight different receivers had a reception of over twenty yards.
You never see that.
George Pickens, Friarmuth, Jalen Warren, Naje Harris, Van Jefferson, Quarterill Patterson, Calvin Austin and even Ben Scarronick got in there.
When Van Jefferson's going off, then that's when you know.
Okay, even what Skeronck is getting the plus twenty, I mean even Michael Brewitt had a plus eighteen. So this is an old school deep down the field type of offense at Russell Wilson was born to run.
Let's listen to the friarmth touchdown.
Russell Wilson steps to the line of scrimmage, communicates to his teeth as Harris who is writing the shotgun. Thirty seconds remaining third quarters, Wilson gets a snap, looking now under duress, we'll fling to us right, fine, friar moth inside to five and a touchdown for Pat fryar Moof all.
Who's better to get loof than the friar moon.
Oh love that call there by Craig Wollefully, when you're hearing the move in Cincinnati, you know the division is over right, or at least the Bengals season is over.
That's a rough one for the Bengals defense. Nick, Yeah, I.
Gave a silent fist pump, just because, look, we're at this point in the season now where these Bengals are who they are, and as much as I love Joe Burrow and think he's played out standing for the majority of the season, they're never going to overcome that defense. And it's time to move on from saying well, if they mount a run late, you never know, because today was the type of environment which they had to prove themselves against the Steelers offense that just continues to ascend.
And by the way, a Steelers offense that if they needed a day to prove themselves, they're gonna do it against the Bengals defense, which can't stop in those bleeds for most of this season. So yeah, we'll put them to bed. Happy to see that. But I'll tell you what I knew. I had to come to Jesus moment last, not this past Thursday, but the Thursday before. Yeah, and Huntington Bank Field in downtown Cleveland, where I realized that Russell Wilson was going to be effective like this for
as long as he's in the Steelers uniform. And it was when he threw that touchdown pass over the middle of Calvin Austin as like snow just falling hard on everybody. He just throws it with ease. He made the same throw today in great conditions. He's good like he's good in this offense. They're doing everything that they should to surround him with the right scheme and the right players. They're a balanced attack, and they're liable to do something
like this in a given week. So I'm telling you, man, watch out for them. They're a very good another good complimentary football team.
Fourteen miss tackles for this Bengals defense giving up ninety one yards. They just are hemorrhaging on that side of the football. Let's listen to Jamar Chase after the game answer them questions about that defense.
Did you feel like, y'all offensively, y'll have to score every drive because you kind of how the game was going for early. You feel y'all pressing.
They kind of get as many points as possible given how the back and forth.
Forward was kind of expectations.
Now, how tough is that to play on a game in a game out basis knowingly you as an offense don't really have much of a marketpreneur.
Got a find way, mar you surprised your defense has struggled away a pass.
I don't know.
They need they need to find a way. We got to find a way. That's tough. Yeah, he held it through almost until the end. He almost got out of there without being overly critical. And then at the at the end that that's what they expect, which makes sense. That's how it's been.
They know it.
I mean, I don't know what it means when a locker room is divided in such a way that like the offense is maybe blaming the defense for what's happening. Like, how does that even manifest or affect them negatively? I don't really know, because the defense can't play any worse than they've played, and they all know it. The defense all knows it. Lou Ana Roumo shows up for work, they all know that that's what's cost him what could
be a magical season from Joe Burrow. He has some of the best numbers in terms of like over thirty touchdowns and five interceptions or less of any quarterback in the last like handful of years, and they're freaking four and eight. It's absolutely outrageous. Now his turnovers contributed. The offensive line did not play well in this game.
TJ.
Watt had a monster game two sacks, five quarterback hits, a tackle for loss, eleven quarterback hits total, and four sacks. So the Steelers defense made a bunch of big plays. The crazy thing, Patrick, can you watch this game closer to me? Is that, Okay, George Pickens is like always a main character. He was taunting, He's making plays down the field, he was part of that pick six actually
as the tender receiver. But I saw pretty early in this game, like for a while that Russ's averaged up the target was only two point eight yards, so were they kind of hitting them with body shots early and then went over the top late. Because it's crazy to me that the Steelers offense can be this good. I know it's again the Bengals, but I still think that's impressive that they can be this good against a bad defense.
Well, the initial George Pickens touchdown after they came back to answer the pick six was on a swing out where George Pickens made a guy miss or around the line of scrimmage. It wasn't necessarily dinking and dunking earlier. It was just a balanced offense. And Najee Harris left the game of leeve with a hamstring. He would ultimately come back. But there was a good Corderole drive where Cordel Patterson was operating pretty well in the ring game
as well. But you know, Russ finding pat Fryer move, he targeted him seven times, he called six of those. It was just a balanced offensive attack against a defense. Well, you know, as Jamar Chase expects, that gives up a whole lot.
It's funny because everyone was saying, well, wait till the Steelers get to the back end of their schedule, it gets a lot harder, and that's probably when they're going to lose this division leader or not be as much of a factor. And all they've done in the back half since their bye week is beat the Commanders, beat the Ravens, winning Cincinnati. Their only loss was attended by Nick Schuck, but against the Browns. So you just can't
predict this stuff. But up to losses on the Ravens, they do go to Philadelphia next week and then they go to Baltimore the week after. So as much as I'm just giving them some credit for playing well at this part of the schedule, two of the toughest games you could ask for coming up. If they can just split those one of those two games, they're going to be in great shape to win the division. If they
lose them both, we will see. And yes, Cincinnati, even if you went out, you only get to nine and eight. That probably will not get you into the playoffs. And there's no reason to think this defense can help you win five straight games.
On the pickings Bananas Index, though, this game was about a three all right, considering the no call that led to the pick six. He gets hit for a taunting call, which I'm still looking for the first good taunting call NFL history, and then he got finger guns. He got finger guns on another one, so it's not you know, he didn't come off the top Ropen hit anybody. A relatively calm Pickens game.
I mean, the fact that he's by far their best wide receiver. You can forgive a lot and it adds a lot of enjoyment for me just as a viewer. So keep bringing it, George Pickens. You're making me look good for having you number two in that draft class coming out of the draft, although I still don't know if you go number two. Let's go to Minnesota, where the Cardinals and the Vikings played a fun one.
Here. It is the game's on the line against the Arizona Cardinals.
Fourth and ten for Kyler.
Murray facing a five man rush. Kyler back to pass, throws right, Hanner's shop dead.
Shotfin the game.
Hen it's a high five for the Minnesota Vikings. They won five consecutive games. The final score twenty three twenty two Minnesota.
Oh great call there, from Paul Allen on k A and how does he roll that G there?
I can't do that.
Big time defensive play by the Minnesota Vikings on a day where their defense just bended and bended and bended, but they didn't break in the end. And the more I watch this team shook, the more it's starting to remind me of the twenty twenty two Vikings where they they win all those games at the end. Today it hasn't been as lucky as that season. Or maybe it's the twenty seventeen Vikings where with case keenum and a
magical ride you're making faces. Either way, this team is ten and two and they're finding ways to win games they're supposed to. And then in this case, nick I would say they found a way to win a game that they shouldn't have won.
Most of the day was dominated by Arizona.
Yeah.
Well, first off, the twenty twenty two reference, let's hope it's not necessarily that because they don't want them upset at home in the playoffs. But sure we can get on board with this because they are finding ways to win these close games and they're stringing together, which is a very positive outcome. Of course, you want to stack wins, Sam Darnold, you know solid, you know, leveling out, not doing a little bit of a rise and fall that he was doing it a couple o' clockers along the way.
Not today, not today. But I got to ask Claybond this, what happened to the search bar man?
How do you hire you?
Up? Nineteen to six in the third quarter, the search bar defense goes messing, oh, how dare you?
Yeah? Well, the search bar eventually, it eventually gave out. Justin Jefferson slow throughout the game, it kind of funnel coverage his way and Sam Donald being streaky nick like, really, there was a point there in this game where I'm thinking about what we're gonna say afterwards, and it felt like the difference was in terms of the quarterback play. But then Sam Donald hits a plus. He has a great ball to Jordan Addison down the sideline with rushers
in his face, hits Jefferson on multiple targets. I think that Justin Jefferson finished with ninety nine yards and he beat the search bar. You gotta make plays to beat the search bar, and Sam Donald made those plays today.
Well, it's funny, say, how for a while it felt like the difference was going to be the quarterbacks, and then in the end you might say the difference, yeah, was the quarterbacks. Darnold faced pressure on fifty three point eight percent of his dropbacks today, which is an exceptionally
high number. So the search bar was getting after it, and like he's done all season, very against type to what he was previously, he did well ten to fifteen against pressure for one hundred nineteen yards and two touchdowns. And Kyler Murray, who we noted in the previews show has struggled against the blitz all year. Well, he ends up facing blitzes on fifty two percent of his dropbacks.
He only has five yards per attempt on those dropbacks with two interceptions, and that kind of was a difference because on the plays that they weren't blitzing, his numbers are great, and they forced him into a couple mistakes and they really bogged down in the red zone.
I think they got down there.
What was it.
They settled for five Chad Ryland field goals, and they were a lot of them were just chip shots. A twenty three yarder, a twenty four yarder, a thirty one yarder, a thirty two yarder and a forty yarder, so they were moving the ball. Kyler had some plays on the ground, and yet they couldn't finish it off this game. At nineteen sixteen, with four to seventeen to go, Nick, the Cardinals had a first and goal from the five yard line, up three, and that was like it was all day.
They end up moving backwards with a penalty, a bad run, and the Vikings end up forcing the field goal. At that point they had a ninety one percent chance to win according to next Gen Stats. Later on the Vikings drive to go take the lead. They have a fourth and seven. The Cardinals send the blitz. So it's one of those stats that I just referred to Sam Darnold against the blitz. They didn't blitz much in this game.
I think it was like five to seven, but against pressure, and he hits a perfect pass on fourth and seven to keep the drive going. Then he eventually gets a go ahead touchdown. Let's listen to.
That second and two from the Cardinals. Five takes the snap, four man rush, Sam to the right.
Cut touch.
Showtime and Aaron Jones say, just best for last. We're tied at twenty two.
Oh Is Aaron Jones showtime. Is that his name name show on social media? I should I should know this, I should have that memorize. Yeah, Aaron Jones had a couple fumbles in this game. He got benched for a portion of it. He lost one of those fumbles and only ends up with twenty eight uh total yards or yards from scrimmage on eight touches. But he gets that important interception. This thing's this division's wide open in the NFC North. We get we get the Packers win to
stay afloat in the division. Obviously they're going to the playoffs. And the Vikings here at ten and two like they have a chance to be the one seed.
They do and and because of late efforts, and Aaron Jones had the fumble at the start of the game. That's why he's you know, doing prayers in the end after that touchdown, because you know, the Vikings had a good start ended with an Aaron Jones fumble, but a good finish and the defense made plays. I think the biggest play in this game there was a third and ten in the in the start of the fourth quarter where the blitz comes on Kyler Michael Wilson's running towards
the sideline. He sees Kyler in trouble and he starts to work back towards him. Well, Kyler's dealing with people, so he could throws the sideline route Byron Murphy sees that gets to the ball before he does interception. That's really the best opportunity that the Cardinals had late. This Vikings defense just makes plays, the offense picking them up when they need to.
Yeah, the Cardinals, this is a tough one because it's a road game against a playoff team and you really felt like you outplayed him for much of the game. That they they haven't had many close losses, like their losses have tended to be decisive, but they fall to the six and six, and after being in first place for a couple of weeks, they are no longer because the team in Seattle. They got it done in a Gino revenge game. Oh he said it was a revenge game.
Third down and seven from the Seattle nine. Blitch is coming, throw inside, It's picked off. Leo Williams coming near sign. He's running like a race horse. He's a midfield turns up fields blockers. Holy smokes, are you kidding?
Leo Williams, it's gonna take it in for a touchdown, Seahawks. The Seahawks mess up a kick return, they dump it on the defense, and Leo Williams says, I got you covered, picks it off as he drops back into coverage, comes up the near sidelines in front of the bench, picks up blockers, and takes it all the way in for a touchdown.
Are you kidding me?
Ka I r oh Steve Rabel I think he was about as tired halfway through that call as Leonard Williams was. It made his voice crack, that's how good of a play it was. That was part of a twenty six to twenty one victory by the Seahawks, which was absolutely keyed by that defense and yes, a little bit of luck.
That was the key sequence of the entire game, even though it came in the second quarter, because just one play before that, Aaron Rodgers had what should have been a gimmey walking touchdown to Garrett Wilson, where I don't know if it was just inaccurate or he was confused on the route, but Aaron Rodgers sails it out of bounds after Wilson absolutely toasts the defender.
On that play, very next play, pick six.
Leonard Williams, give this man a defensive player of the Week award. You didn't give it to him last week. I gave him the Captain Morgan's Captain.
Of the Week.
I couldn't believe he didn't get it. Pick and he got two sacks in this game. This defense to finish the game shook in eight straight drives, did not give up a point. They forced two turnovers and two turnovers on downs. And this is really a month I would say where Seattle's offense has been good enough, but I would say up and down. But their defense has kept them in games for long enough for Gino Smith to finally get the fourth quarter touchdown drive at the end.
Yeah, that's where the Seahawks season has shifted toward the positive, at least in our collective opinion. Is that Gino has not had to carry them in time at times, he's put them in bad spots. And the defense has consistently over the last few weeks been good, been better, kept them in games. Now it's getting them back into games and affording them more opportunities to take advantage of it.
And Leonard Williams he is going to get that defensive play of the week, hopefully after not getting it last week. But Greg, good call on you for spotting him last week and that he was overlooked, because nobody's going to overlook in this week, and nobody's gonna overlook these Seahawks. I know they just beat the Jets, but the fashion in which they went to beat the Jets is what's going to resonate with a lot of people in a
tightly packed, kind of messy NFC West. It seems like they're the team that's building steam late as we go into December, kind of figuring it all out and putting it together and playing balanced football well enough to go win on the road, to go overcome a twenty one to seven deficit when you just gave up a ninety nine yard kick return, to be able to bounce back and still fight and fight and fight, and then end up dominating defensively to the point where the other team
has no chance to erase even a five point deficit and you come away with yet another victory in a big one. Considering what happened with the Cardinals.
Yeah, having to fight in two phases because the third phase completely went out of the window. A kickoff return they fumbled. They had two separate kick returns, two separate kick returners fumble on kick returns. They had the Jets have that kick return for the touchdown. Then Michael Dixon goes down. They have to go for it on fourth and one because Jason Myers was getting ready to punt. Yeah, coach Mack didn't know who was going to be able to punt the ball. So they go for it deep
in their own territory. Fortunately a penalty bails them out. They had a fourth and goal to go where Gino took a sack. So much went wrong for the Seahawks in this one. I do agree that they're a good team, but they don't escape if they're not playing a miserable institution like the New York Jo.
Yeah, they were lucky today. This game was so crazy. You mentioned so the kick return fumbles that they lost. They lost two of them, and they fumbled another one for good measure, and they gave up the kick return touchdown, and so people got like, wow, that is a absolutely brutal special team's day. That ignores the other kick returns that they gave up. Xavier Gibson went two for eighty
one on his kick returns. Nwongwu, who had the touchdown, added another fifty seven yards in terms of kick returns. It is insane the field position that they were giving up play after play, and yes, you mentioned the Dixon injury.
So it does remind you like when teams go for crazy fourth downs, like sometimes it really would help you, because, yeah, the exact scenarios that they went for it on the game winning drive, they went for a fourth and six on their own third in which the Jets committed a penalty, so that set up a fourth and one which they converted on the field goal drive. Before that, they also went for a fourth and six on their own forty four and again got bailed out. That was a play
you're talking about by penalty. It felt like there were a lot of moments in this game where they were bailed out by penalty. Gino was solid in this game and certainly made some nice throws down the field to dk Metcalf who was in and out and banged up Dackson Smith in Jigba had some really important catches. They do seem to play their best when it matters the most, but it was more like that their offense was competent, whereas Aaron Rodgers and this Jets offense, which came out
of the gates looking really good. They played a good couple first drives. I was like, this is the best I've seen DeVante Adams and Rogers. Look, Rogers looked a little faster today. And then after that first quarter it was brutal. Twelve targets for Adams, he has a terrible drop and a key penalty. Garrett Wilson had ten targets and Rogers just kept missing him. Rogers averaged under five
yards per attempt. It's just dank and dunk and missing everything deep, not accurate, and it's just rough out here if you're Aaron Rodgers. After the game, Jeff Albrick, the Jets coach, was asked if he'd consider benching Rogers.
This was the week.
I mean, Aaron was.
Looking forward to it.
He was off the inter board, he was healthy.
You said he was a healthy and in quite some time and you know, statistically didn't do well at all, had some trouble with his accuracy to pick six. Would you ever consider making a change at that position now? Not as if today good thing? We got the preface end for that question.
Yeah, I don't know he was.
He was a little more certain about it nick in the past. So that makes you wonder if he knows that there's at least a chance he could get pressure from above. According to you know, Diana rassinat the Athletic, the owner wanted Rogers bench at some point.
Yeah.
And that's the thing with this Jets team is it's not that year three to nine, just that you're, you know, trudging toward a dark winter in a hopeless season and you lose games like this. It's the fact that the Rogers cloud is now hanging over you and you have no idea what the future looks like. In fact, many Jets fans probably don't even want him involved. It sounds like the organization so them might not want him involved.
He will not be you go from here. There's no way.
And I thought he played better for time stay, but there's just no there's no way, you know, you bring him back, And what do you mean you think there is.
He's been calling the shots the whole time, and so like you give him that much leeway.
It's funny because now they've lost so many games that I do have to point out, like This is one of the better three and nine football teams I've seen in a long while. Like they are in all these games and I can see them convincing themselves as like we're so, we're so. They had a good defensive game plan for most of this, and they just they just lose. They have loser vibes where they find ways to lose. That is the opposite of what you know Smith does every time he faces a team that let him go.
Now five and one, my faceavorite research note from Dante uh in our Next Gen Stats research department points out Gino Smith has that best record of all time against teams that have gotten rid of him five and one for quarterbacks that have played over five times. Let's see the tweet that that Gino had of If you're watching on YouTube, you know it's one of its.
It's the meme of the the guy doing the fit check at his biggest haters funeral. Yes, and so that's all.
That's how Eugenie, That's why I assigned myself this game and I will forevermore. If Gino Smith is playing in the Metowlands against the Jets, that's the ultimate revenge game. And he got the revenge for a first place Seahawks.
Williams by the way, Yes, yeah Williams. Let's not forget him team revenge.
I mean yeah, I don't know if the Jets and Leonard Williams had a bad thing and then he played pretty well for the Giants. Really underrated career Leonard Williams Stadium. Yes, Gina Smith getting it done. Let's take a quick break.
And let's head to.
Uh what annually is one of my favorite guilty pleasures. I would say the NFC South.
Robinson to his left looking middle of the field, no pressure throws.
Editor spt in Derwin James. Hence the game to it Derwin.
And due to their defense, the Bolts are gonna get on a plane back to Los Angeles.
With a victory.
KYSR Matt Money Smith our guy with a great call for the great Derwin James. Kind of nice to see Derwin James playing meaningful football in December and making big plays. Finally he's got a better defense and a better team around him. The Chargers are eight and four. They win at seventeen to thirteen, and that is Kirk Cousins fourth interception of the game, third nick of the second half,
second in the fourth quarter back to back drives. Kirko Chains tell me it was better than the box score shows.
No, it wasn't. In fact, it might have been worse than the box scorer. I mean they moved the football well between the twenties. They got into the red zone a number of times, and Kirk he had had a few really ugly interceptions, including that Derwin James one, but the one that he threw in the red zone prior when they had their best opportunity to score a touchdown to take the lead was the worst, just most ill advised throw I've seen in a long time. He never
had a shot of making it happen. That defined his day. They wasted so many opportunities. And I don't want to talk about the losers first, but their defense played its best game of the season. They got five sacks when they entered the game with ten combined as a team on the whole year. They got five today.
Wow.
And they did nothing with it offensively, and a lot of it had to do with Kirk Cousins not taking advantage of the opportunity. Bijon goes for one hundred and two yards to scores a rushing touchdown, they're up seven to nothing, they'd already missed a field goal earlier, could have been ten nothing, and then they can do nothing with it from there.
It was.
It's a frustrating game for them, but another good win for the Chargers, whose defense I think made, you know, a statement. After giving up thirty points and that lost to the Ravens. They come back, They hold the Falcons to thirteen. They stiffen up in the red zone a few times. You know, it's a bend but not break group that really did a great job of confusing Kirk
Cousins in the second half. Jesse Miners coaching really well right now, and they did just enough offensively and Cameron Dicker made just enough field goals for them to win this game on the road and get to eight and four and just prove that, hey, we're not going anywhere, like, yeah, we lost to the Ravens, but we're not going anywhere.
Yeah, Nick, you had eyes on this closer to you explain to me how the Chargers had one hundred and eighty seven yards on the game. That's outrageous. That's one of the most surprising things I've seen all day. And the fact that they could lose that game. It must be driving them absolutely crazy because it's the opposite of how they've played the rest of the year, the Falcons that is.
Yeah, yeah, that's why I said wasted opportunities because they had a million in front of them. I mean, they were shutting down this Chargers offense. Justin Herbert had like no time to really operate all day. It looked just joined the entire day. The running game wasn't there. Lad McCaughey was the only guy making plays. Then he left the game with a knee injury. I mean they barely had the ball. They lost time possession by nearly twelve minutes.
It was eleven minutes and fifty five seconds. It's just that the Falcons never finished off any of their drives. A lot of it was the Kirk picks, but it was also just not finishing the drives. So that's how it happens right there. But you know what, if you come away with a win like that, you gotta be feeling good because you kind of have to feel like you stole one, with a lot of that being credit to your defense.
Yeah, you saw David Anyamata got a sack. Arrobakatie got a couple of sex in this game of Falcons defense that hasn't been able to sack the quarterback at all this season, and Hassan Askins had a fumble to start the game, which got the Falcons that touchdown. But it's this game. It's one of those games where you can look at the box score and see exactly what went wrong.
Those Kirk Cussins four interceptions right were brutal. He has eight touchdowns and one interception against the Tampa Bay Buccaneers. This season, he has twelve interceptions. Wow, non Buccaneers games where you've really gone to a standpoint of we're talking about Rogers getting benched. Perhaps the Falcons should go to the rookie quarterback at this point.
Yeah, let's talk about it, because I think it's very much something that needs to happen right now.
Let's listen to Raheem Morris who was asked about it.
But you'll stick with kirket quarterback.
You don't have any questions, Yeah, we got no.
Isses with that man.
Like, I don't think that's going to be the issue around here. You know, that guy's carried us. That guys got us to the point where six and six first place in division, still got everything in front of us.
Noo.
But despite what happens today, is up to us to bounce back and find a way to point football games. And there's no better man in eighteen than go do that for.
Us strong, I have a response, please for you, raheem okay. According to NFL research, since Week ten, kirk Cousins has posted three straight games with the negative expected points added his negative twenty four point six EPA and that's span
Riak's third lowest among quarterbacks. And I'm not done. Kirk Cousins is the first player with one hundred plus passing attempts, zero passing touchdowns, six or more inner and at least one pick six in a three game span since Brett Farv in weeks fourteen through sixteen of the two thousand and five season with the Packers. Now, Brett Farve's in the Hall of Fame, Kirk Cousins isn't going to be
in the Hall of fame. But if the Falcons want to get to the playoffs, they may need to take a closer look at the situation right now because he's just not helping them, he's hurting them.
I get all that, but I get why Raheem Morris is going to stick with him for as long as he can. He's moved the he's moved the ball well this year. He's been a turnover machine lately. That's what nine picks in the last six games. But he's also fumbled quite a bit. You fumbled today as well that that would have ended the game, but the Falcons fell
on the fumble, so they got some luck there. So I don't know what to think, because if the Falcons went into the bye week and came out with a much more competent defense and pass fresh, they might just win this division. Despite everything, they're not a great team.
These two teams.
Define to me like borderline playoff team. But the Chargers, as we talked about going into it, Patrick, We're just going to be kind of like the team less likely to shoot themselves in the foot, And that's exactly what happened.
Yeah, No, JK. Dobbins is a real issue. And then you take, as as Shook mentioned, Lad McConkie off the field, and it gets to a point where it's it's hopeless for this Chargers team looking to make plays, even with their generationally gifted quarterback. They need the pieces there, but to see because I was so pleased right with the the boost that this Ravens pass rush had at SOFI
Stadium against the Chargers. But now I'm seeing the Falcons get off against the offsive line, and it's like, wait a second, Perhaps what we saw was not necessarily improvement from Baltimore. Maybe there's problems on this Chargers offense.
There absolutely are.
It's on the interior especially, but even the tackles maybe not quite as strong as you would expect it. It's just caving in. And yeah, McConkie went nine for one to seventeen. The next closest receiver had twelve yards Quentin Johnson on four targets. And yet this this Chargers team's got a little bit of magic. When I have an excuse to listen to Matt Muney Smith for a second time in a game, I'm gonna do it. It was the defense scoring the points for the Chargers.
Kyle Pitts left Bijon in the backfield. They take the snap, looking right, throwing.
Right in accepted left sideline, thirty twenty tar head still touchdown.
Chargers. Oh fear the turtle.
We looked it up and tyre Heap still did go to the University of Maryland, a great win there by the Chargers to get to eight and four. It's gonna be tough to keep them out of the playoffs. If you look at their schedule, it's a fun one next week against Kansas City. We'll put a pin in that one. I think there's only one team making the playoffs from the NFC South. Is it going to be the Falcons or is it gonna be the bus It's time for the Sunday Drive, presented by the all new hybrid toy Camra.
Let's head to Carolina lead.
A good snap, the spot a little old. The kicker is airborne, in his airborne.
It's airborne, and it is God Box Win Box Win Box bit the Carolina Panthers.
In overtime.
Geene decker Hoff w f us Chase McLoughlin.
On a day where some kickers struggled in big spots, he was massive, hitting a kick to force overtime after a late drive and then yes, that short field goal to win it twenty six to twenty three.
In a game.
Frankly, I didn't think the Bucks quite deserved. I thought that Panthers out played him for most of the day, but the kickers were a huge difference. Eddie Pinero, who at one point in the day was the number one overall kicker of all time of all time according to field goal percentage, misses two short ones in the first half. The Panther is bogged down in the red zone over and over again. Included a drop by Adam Thielen on a potential touchdown. There are a couple drops on nice
Bryce Young throws. Bryce Young leads what could have been a game winning touchdown drive, maybe the best moment of his young career, and I don't care that they lost the game. That to me was the story, very calm and composed. He gets the ball back with three minutes to go, down four kneeding a touchdown, gets it all the way down to the twenty five yard line. But today you know, play it safe and go slow. No, they get the game go ahead touchdown to Adam Thelm.
Let's listen Bucks Rush four. Bryce in the pocket steps up elutes.
The rush thros episode cut had a Thylan touchdown Carolina.
The Panthers take the lead. What thirty seconds.
Awesome performance by Bryce Young.
I was watching him in Baker Mayfield and thinking of all the similarities that they have and seeing Rice Young outplay Baker Mayfield, and this would have been a great win for them. But I gotta think Panthers fans and eating Bryce Young fans like yourself, as disappointed as you must be. Patrick Man, it's just cool to watch him play in this well. He's stacking better weeks on top of better weeks every week.
Yeah, and maybe the only issue with these past two weeks with the Carolina Panthers, both at home, is scoring too fast in those closing moments. I mean, you can't blame him. That would happen with thirty seconds, just a brutal letdown to let Baker Mayfield to Mike Evans connect eventually leading to that big McLaughlin field goal to send
the game into overtime. But Bryce nails again. I think he's had highlight reels on his incompletions these past few weeks where he's baking throws, putting the ball in the right spot, making the right decision. I know people are gonna credit him sitting down for it. I think, just like if we want to look at Kirk Cousins in these past few games, so Kirk Cousins was on a
touchdown streak. He had seven touchdowns and one interception after beating the Dallas Cowboys and so like, are we saying that the Dallas Cowboys deep?
Oh, it is what led.
I just think Bryce has talent. We're seeing it play out. The Carolina Panthers are playing better. Jonathan Brooks had his best game and his young career, and his limited opportunities, of course are brutal fumbled by Chewbah Hubbard. But overall, the team is better and I think people have a better idea of what Bryce can do.
Yeah, they were in position to win this game a couple times in overtime, or rather a couple times in the game right at the end of regulation, as I mentioned that, they played from ahead for a good chunk of the game before the Bucks made a fourth quarter comeback. And then yes, he has one of his best throws of the year, Bryce Young. That is on third down and it really points out what he's been doing well.
The Bucks send basically a zero blitz at him. He stands in there and knows he's going to take a hit, throws a pass to Adam thelen Way before theln makes his break and then Theelan who who ends up with eight for ninety nine. This guy is ageless and the touchdown that dropped, you know, just a one salty reminder of the day. But otherwise he was absolutely fantastic. Makes a ridiculous one handed catch, and that's what Bryce has
been doing. It's been next level anticipation throws. They're in position to win the game in Tuba, Harbard fumbles on the very next play. Unfortunately, Bucks go down and get the win. I do want to give a lot of credit to the Bucks for hanging in there and winning a game that maybe in the past they wouldn't have. Bucky Irving Nick ends up twenty five for one point fifty two. Also thirty three yards on the ground. What if I told you that Bucky Irving has four hundred
and twenty four yards over the last three games. That's absolutely ridiculous. Three touchdowns and he looks good doing it, like he makes so many people miss. He's now better in the receiving game. He to me, was the difference when they came back in this game. It wasn't because of Baker Mayfield, who eventually made a few good plays but otherwise had one of his worst games of the season. It was because they're running game and the red zone defense kept them in it.
Yeah, it seemed like every time you looked up you saw Bucky Irving ripping off a long run. And it's nice to see him taking the lead back role in this offense because for the first half of the season, Todd Bowles was like, I want to play both of them. Hey man bershad White, I'm not sure will he gets twenty five carries Vershod gets eleven. To day, I think we know who the number one back in that room is. But you know what, Greg, you are a true pro.
You know how I know you're a truth pro because you totally sidestepped on perfect opportunity as king of all Baker Mayfield haters to hate on Baker Mayfield and the game of which he threw two interceptions that were both kind of predetermined anticipatory throws. He basically gave the Panthers opportunities to build this lead and then came back and was able to lead them on that field goal drive. Chase McLaughlin misses the first field goal in overtime, gives
the Panthers an opportunity. Then they come down and Baker leads them down again. I can't believe you didn't swing for the fences on.
That I would have gotten there eventually. Thank you Nick for setting me up. I did say it was one of his worst games of the season, and the interesting part of that is I would have said that before the interception, he was in Baker Create mode, and it
was like Baker Create mode gone wrong. And that's where I saw the comparisons between him and Bryce Young, because Bryce Young throw it with so much anticipation, and when he went create mode today and stepped up them in the pocket, he had such a good feel for things, whereas Baker was kind of doing the thing where he would spin around but then spin right into a sack and create more problems than was initially even there. He
got hurt at one point and looked serious. He was in the medical tent for an entire Panthers drive and then missed a couple plays, and then he comes out on third down.
It's like Baker Mayfield the hero.
And that's when he throws his second interception, which didn't have anything to do with his health. It was just he didn't see the underneath the fender and zone coverage, which happens a lot with Baker, so it wasn't a good game for him, and you're really seeing that their offense is all about ten yards. In under he was six for thirteen on throws over ten yards and that's been the case for much of the season. But the reason I didn't hit Hardnick is those last couple drives.
Actually he was He did the right He did well like so it's like his defense in his running game gave him a chance. But he did make some good plays at the end to win it. And they do have a Knaka doing that, including.
A big run on that final drive in regulation to give Chase McLoughlin a chance to do it. I think the leg might have had a little impact on his performance late, especially he comes back in immediately throws that interception.
He might have been better late, though he was. He was awful in the first half of this game.
I'm telling you, yeah, I feel like he got stepped on. I'm not sure that they showed the replay, didn't It looked like anything happened on the play. But then at the end of the play he got stepped on. His ankle went in a weird direction. I was kind of gimpy on that big run, but enough enough to get a win.
Huge win.
I was thinking, what a brutal loss it's going to be for them because they don't have the tiebreaker against Atlanta. This would be another division loss for the Buccaneers, but instead you get this victory. You're six and six, You're now tied with the Falcons. The schedule is more forgiving for them, and right now you'd have to say the Buccaneers are the slight favorite to win that division, but we got five weeks of sloppy NFC South football to go.
Disappointing for the Panthers because they legitimately could have felt like, are we in.
This division race? You never know.
They are definitely playing better and I think they're a tough out. Sometimes it's not about your strength is schedule, it's when you play a team. And if you're playing the Panthers, now you're you're playing a reborn Bryce Young.
Maybe we'll talk about him for QB Island this week.
Oh maybe I'm just saying he's playing that kind of football over the last month, just saying that. That was a Sunday Drive presented by the all new hybrid Toyota Camra whatever your vibe, it's a camera vibe. Learn more at Toyota dot com slash camray. So the Bucks, the Falcons, they're keeping an eye on the Commanders because if there's gonna be another wild card spot available, maybe it would
be because of a Commander's slide. We'll see if that continued in landover third goal, Tennessee's got six across the line, a quick throw to carry the court, caught it, touch down, touchdown log again his second and a half.
Death Texas and terrible torf win it on the slast look it and that's exactly what he did too, get into his own for the second top in this game against the Tipessee types.
Oh London Fletcher one of the great Washington football team players. You know what I you know what I'm getting at. Yeah, Commanders get the win forty two to nineteen. Bram Einstein and wb IG also involved there. Yes, Terry McLaurin. That was his second touchdown of the day. And look, Jaden Daniels came out. He was accurate and he they got to win with a twenty seven to nothing lead. Here shook and never looked back.
Yeah, the Titans did just about everything they could to put themselves in a very hole. I mean, the essentially their first four possessions were not great. Let's go punt, punt, fumble, We're down twenty one points. Let's fumble the ensuing kickoff return. Now we're down twenty eight points. Oh god, we're down four touchdowns. What are we gonna do?
You know?
I felt like Will Levis never really had much of a chance to get going. By the time they were down twenty one to nothing, they'd run ten plays. Okay, they'd run ten total plays by the time they were down by three scores. You know what happens the game script when that happens. And they did do a good job of fighting back eventually, but the Commanders man back in stride. They take advantage of turnovers, they produce points. Jane Daniels looks good again. He's ripping the ball over
the field. He's fining Terry McLaurin for two touchdowns in the first half. Everything's flown. Brian Robinson slices through that defense like it's you know, hot knife through butter for the first touchdown. Everything's rolling for them. The rumors of a Cliff Kingsbury late season slide Oh, they're way over blown because they're playing the Titans. It was a good day for them. It was good for them to get back on the right track and play, you know, solid
team football. They did let the Titans kind of back into it in the second half, but it was never really in doubt and finish strong and good for them to get to eight and five.
Yeah, that's a big win for them.
But Cliff got the run game going, or at least the players got the run game going. I don't know, we have to put it all on the offensive coordinator, but Nick for them to go for two hundred and sixty seven yards on the ground, and right off the bat when Robinson ripped that forty yard touchdown and that's on their first drive of the game. That was before any mistakes by Tennessee offensively. To me, that that showed something a little different because this has been a tough
Titans team to run against. And Chris Rodriguez goes for ninety four, Robinson ends up with one hundred and three. Jeremy McNichols when he's out there five point three yards per carry.
They're not throwing the ball down the field almost at all.
All of jayde Daniels's yards almost were on ten yards and underthrow, So it's kind of back to their formula at the beginning of the season.
But that's a skin.
If they're running the ball like that, and they did it against a good team like they have a chance to remain scary down the stretch.
Yeah, and this is a necessary reset for them because I think they felt a little bit too in love with throwing the ball down fieldally trying to during that stretch of losses. So shortening the passing game was good. But you can only do that if you're running the ball well. And we can give Cliff some credit because the Titans were one of the toughest teams to run against. Like you said, they were allowing less than a yard per carry before contact on design runs. Today they came
up a ton. I mean, obviously we saw the two hundred and forty six yards and three touchdowns on design runs, including seventy eight yards over expected. And get this, two point eight yards before contact per carry. That's two hole yards per carry more than the Titans were allowing coming in here. So credit to the offensive line in the
scheme at least. I don't know if it's necessarily Cliff to get that going, which really balanced out their offense, allowed them to operate in the short passing game and run away with the thing so much that they kind of rested on their loyals in the third quarter before they woke up and finish the thing off.
Future Chicago Bears head coach Cliff Thingsberry, well, who knows, We'll hold that top cars for a minute. Later, They're eight and five. They finally got to their bye week. I thought this was a big game for them because they have a couple games where they will be favored significantly against the Saints and the Cowboys down the stretch. They probably just need to get to ten wins. This was a big one to get.
Yeah, and they keep their quarterback clean in doing so, where I know we had kind of put the rib concerns away for Jayden a couple of weeks ago, but this clearly like this rushing performance and passing performance. I think you only had five incompletions in this game. And I will give Cliff credit because it wasn't like a late game Hail Mary type situation. We saw Terry McLaurin on the right side of the field, ano they're touchdown today in the middle of the game, like, not in
a weird scenario. I don't think it's a situation like in the Bengals game where Terry called to play. I think this was Cliff and so the adjustment in the late season Cliff, Yes, meter goes back down and yeah, a plus performance by Cliff Kingsbury against the Titans team that was fun and dan Quinn's defense as well as Cliff Kingsbury's offense drained all the fun away from the late season Titan.
Yeah, Levius through seven passes in terms of his attempts of over twenty yards on the day. Jayden only attempted six throws over ten yards on the day. So that's the types of different types of offense. And the score certainly was part of that. They didn't need to do more. Terry ends up with two touchdowns eight for seventy three through the air. He was fired up after the game. This is courtesy of the commanders on Twitter. Hey, that's a good.
Team win, man, that's a play team win. Hey, we put the standard out there today, bro he while we don't come out every single week like that.
From practice, the energy, the practice, the preparation, all of it, man, That's what it.
Takes to do what we do.
Let's go.
I'm ready to play.
There's something about Terry McLaurin when he speaks, just to look at his eyes, it's like, oh yeah, I would follow that man anywhere.
That dude is the dude.
And kind of like I mentioned with Derwin James earlier with the Chargers, even more so with Terry McLaurin. It is cool to see him playing meaningful December football. So the commander is trying to get a wild card spot in the NF. The same is true for the Colts in the AFC. Let's go to Foxborough and let's start at the end fourth and three seventeen seconds left, Anthony Richardson with the game on the line.
Shotgun snap for Richardson backs to throw lookie left fires into the end zone is a touchdown.
Gun got him touchdown.
Colts. He's going for two and it's Alec Pearce and he's going for two.
What great poise and precision on the pass Anthony Richardson to pierce in the left side of the end zone and it's now twenty four to twenty three.
Anthony Richardson out of the gun, Jonathan Taylor is his back left, go to Pittman shotgun, snap for Richardson and he's trying to crash up field.
He got it.
He is.
Chief points for the Colts in eight point possession.
Give it to your best player on offense and he delivers bock on top.
Twenty five, twenty four, twelve ticks to go, No, never.
A doubt Matt Taylor and Rick VN Turrey w F and I an ending so good we had to play two plays. Anthony Richardson, Yes, gets the touchdown when he needs it to Alec Pearce, mister clutch this year. Alec Pierce spice Rack was right all those years ago on the Around the NFL podcast coming into the draft, Saint Alec Pearce was gonna be a guy and he's turned
into a guy. And yes, the the Huevos and the trust of Shane Steichen in that moment to know that two yards out Anthony Richardson running the ball, you're not gonna get a better chance to go ahead and win the game. You don't want to go to overtime with Drake May anyways, Let's let Anthony Richardson run it in Pat Patriots actually got in position to potentially steal one, but the Colts get it done in the ena, and.
They get it done mainly with a lot of the supporting cast for Indianapolis coming up short. Late in the fourth quarter. Ad Mitchell on Anthony Richardson's best throw of the day down the sideline, had a drop. Kylon Granson on the final drive had another huge drop, and you wonder what was going to be the ultimate storyline another game where the Colts coming into it. You look at
the box score, say, Anthony Richardson can't make these completions. Late, Alec Pierce comes up with that catch, and then we heard the result of Anthony Richardson going in in an up and down game that started with the Patriots having an incredible drive. I'm thinking, in the back of my head, I'm hearing Greg Rosenthal's voice talking about Alex van Pelt
a couple of weeks, so he's dolling it up. Riman J. Stevenson has a thirty two yard run, Drake May goes Drake May, and then they get into the red zone and things clog up. They had a third goal on that first drive of the game. Ultimately run mesh. You're playing against the Colts, So Gus Bradley's got everybody sitting in the zone against all the crossers. Drake May has
nothing going there, get sacked, and that's the theme. The Patriots have a ton of red zone possessions, a lot of them resulting in field goals when they do make the plays. Anthony Richardson and the Colts came back and ultimately got this win on a great call by Shane Stecken and great play about the second year quarterback out of Florida.
Yeah, the Patriots go two for six in the red zone. They have one of their best offensive games of the season. Not just twenty four points, which for them is a big number, but four hundred and twenty two yards. They outgained the Colts by over one hundred and fifty yards, and that includes a final drive. And they almost left too much time for Drake May. They give him twelve seconds.
They do the gutlass totally idiotic touchback thing coaches. This is just such an obvious mistake that coaches keep making. This is the exact scenario where you kick it short of the end zone, you might end up tackling them before the thirty anyways, and you burn some clock. But instead they give the ball to the Patriots at the thirty. That gives them time to actually have an incompletion where
it goes off Hunter Henry's hands. But then Mate sets up a bomb of a field goal attempt Joey Sly from sixty eight yards out after a couple throws to Hunter Henry that the kick comes up short from Joey Sly. You know, we did check to see if that was a fun call from Zolac. He was subdued actually in that moment. But I am happy to tell you that the two point conversion try that Anthony Richardson hit was a good one. So let's listen to that.
The Colt we're we're going to go for it here.
Look at this, so scratch those remarks about an extra point at overtime. Shane Stike, and the head coach of the Colts, is playing for the win.
White bare right now.
Twelve seconds ago in twenty four to twenty three New England, Richardson on the gun, Taylor to his left, a two point try for the win.
Two receivers left to right, fake to Taylor, thrown out the middle.
Richardson po his way forward, he breaks the plane he's in for the two point one and the coach man from the nearest sideline and they've taken the lead twenty five twenty four with twelve seconds to go.
Credit to them. That takes pauls. That takes big ones.
Normally we use euphemism Scott, but.
Yeah, I like it.
I like it, And he was giving them credit in a big spot like game recognizes game, you know, Zolak six and seven, Chookie, they get to there by both these teams, they both just felt like they needed a buye And what a big victory for Indianapolis because it really would have felt like this thing's over if you lose in Foxborough to so it would have just been
a much different feel going into the bye. But now you get a win, and who knows, I've seen teams reset, especially with this late bye where the last four games they're a little bit of a different team and they try to figure some things out, and they're at six and seven, they're in the.
Mix, yeah, minding the score and just like, man, this would be such a face plant they lost this game today considering where they are, but it does set up for them really well. You come out of that buy, you go on the road to Denver. That's a challenging game, of course, But then you get Tennessee at home. You're at the Giants at MetLife where we know they're notoriously bad, and then they come home and they played Jacksonville Jaguars
in week eighteen. You can win those last three games, Like, I'm picking you in those last three games right now. So if you can get past Denver and you go four and oh we know what we're talking about, baby, that's nine and ten and sevens some along those lines. I can't even do math in my head right now because I'm so surprised by the outcome. Yes, ten and seven, eleven and seven math, whatever it is. Games nine and eight.
Might get it done.
If you if you can win the division games, we will see we keep get winning games.
Here.
On NFL Daily people said, people said, Greg, you're really gonna go survivor pick against Drake May. Isn't that tempting fate? You're really gonna be that bold? They are the Colts really that good? We had faith, Patrick, we did it.
Yeah, there was so much doubt, right, there was significant amounts of doubt.
I thought it was over and the other one we were debating was Seattle, which they were in trouble all game two, and you know what, we were picking between two winners. But sometimes in life and in NFL seasons, you need a.
Little bit of luck.
It's Colts got some today. It just it works out. I remember the two point conversion for the Baltimore Ravens late where they pull guards, the guards trip over themselves and then Lamar has nowhere to go. Here you get to see the other side where Quentin Nelson is the puller. He comes across to Christian Barmo on the two point conversion and absolutely flattens m. Anthony Richardson goes in the end zone. Just a great call, great execution by the Colts, helping us servar.
I'm looking forward to watching this closer on the old NFL plus maybe a little NFL prony.
And how I'm gonna both dual screen.
Give me your give me your very short Drake Bay just I can't wait to find out like your your may review for the day, because a good day offensively for them, I'm still like thinking like anytime they're out gaining opponents by one hundred and fifty yards and they're two leading receivers by far or Hunter Henry and Austin Hooper. You must have something pretty good at quarterback.
Yeah. And with the Austin Hooper touchdown, the streak continues of Drake May's touchdown passes going to different receivers.
What is the streak?
I didn't know this streak almost.
Every Drake I think there's only one common recipient of Drake May touchdown passes, which has kind of been the story. He's spreading the ball around. Just a fun player to watch on a team that is lacking talent wise, where you get a lot of consternation from a fan base that expects excellence and some of those excellent players or elsewhere.
Right now, Yeah they are and they're three and ten. And I was trying to explain to my dad, Tom Rosenthal, who was probably watching this game at my house. Great Thanksgiving visit, came in for a little NFL Daily, and I was just telling him, don't worry about all this this week to weeks at the only thing that matters this season is Drake May.
And I'm already you know, I'm already calling the victory that is that this is a.
Ten out of ten draft pick, you might as well get a higher pick for next year. As long as he keeps building and looking better each and every week, that's all that really matters for this team.
Let's take a quick break.
We will see if the Colts Division rival Texans came through in Jacksonville.
On the other side, cj will get up to the line of scrimmage. I formation, third down and five across the Houston forty nine yard line. Mixon the tailback, here's the toss to Joe running.
Left, has room, He's got it across the forty forty one.
That's gonna do it.
The Texans will kill the clock and they will beat Jacksonville.
Today they did it. Yes, Joe Mixon sealed the victor. Thought that was an important moment for this team. Late as the walls are caving in, you're blowing big lead to Mac Jones and the Jaguars. More on that in a second. It was the running game, a revived running game in the second half of this game that got them over the finish line. Yes, Joe Mixon goes one
hundred in one yards on twenty carries. Their success rate was pretty high forty five percent, and throughout the second half of this game, their offense did move the ball. No team in the NFL I believe needs a bye week more than this Houston Texans team to just reset, get healthy, figure things out. They get into the buy at eight and five, and it was a little up and down shook, but Nico Collins goes eight for one
to nineteen and Stroud didn't look great to me. He wasn't pressured that much in this game, and yet he looked a little skittish. And yet I was really encouraged that even against the Jaguars, at least you were able to run the ball in the second half of this game, which you just were not able to in the first half, or really the first half of this whole season.
Yeah, that's probably what prevented them from blowing this game, if you think about it. I mean, it's beyond that last play that we just played, which, by the way, shout out to Robert Woods, who's not much of a factor in the passing game, but made a big block on that play to get the edge. So the first down it's a veteran move right there. Good job out of Bobby Trees. Yeah, you're right. I think they definitely need this by a week. We've seen how up and
down they are this season. We've seen how they've struggled with the pass protection, and even on a day in which they really protected better than usual, they still struggled offensively. I don't know if a week is going to fix them, but it would have been much worse if you left Jacksonville with a loss, because then you're soul searching. Then you're looking at it and saying, how do we lose to a Jaguars team that lost Trevor Lawrence to injury in a game and Mac Jones Camp comes in and
throws two touchdowns on us. They have this frantic comeback That would have been terrible. So it's good that you get out of there with that win. It's good that Nico Collins is still doing Nico Collins things, which God, he's I mean, even the most stimistic projectors for him coming out of Michigan never would have seen him be
this good in the NFL. He's awesome. But still, yeah, there's still a couple steps away from being the Texans team that I think we want them to be because of pass projection, but really because of offensive rhythm and flow in general. So good time to going to the buyo with a win, and that's pretty much it.
This reminded me of so many Texans games while Nego Collins was hurt and I just was watching it thinking, oh, they'd lose this game without Nego Collins. It is that big of a difference because on offense they have six points at halftime, a couple short field field goal drives, but otherwise struggling. But like I said, in the second half, for the most part, they moved the ball and they moved it well, and so did Mac Jones. Let's get to the reason why he was in this game though.
Trevor Lawrence takes a really rough late hit from Aziz al Shaier, who was immediately ejected from the game. Jerry and Jones, the Jaguars cornerback, comes in and tries to protect her stick up for his quarterback. He ends up getting ejected too, So there was offsetting penalties that the injury, and the penalty didn't even really hurt the Texans, it helped them because it took Trevor Lawrence out of the game.
I am curious what the NFL will do with this one.
Feels like he might get suspended beyond this week because it basically is everything you don't want to see, a super late hit and you you saw Lawrence there in the fencing position. Uh, and it was a concussion. After the game, Doug Peterson talked about it. Let's us let's listen.
Well, I was excited for Trevor to get back out there, you know, and and start for our team and lead our football team. You know, this week that was always the the goal, you know, was to shoot for you know, the Houston game and getting back out there. And you know, it's just again, it's unfortunate. It's a it's a play that that really has no you know, business being in our in our league.
Yeah, I'll show here at this point has this is not as first time right in an involvement where people are questioning, right, his commitment to the type of atmosphere that we would like to see in an NFL game.
A clip of him taking Tom Brady out in the neck when Brady was on the bucks that was flowing out there yet.
And so I can understand people saying it's a difficult spot for a defender when the quarterback is in this sliding motion there. But there's no reason to launch and to bring your arm up, which is protected by a giant brace directly at the head and neck area the quarterback as Treford Lawrence's head gets bounced off the ground. There issues with because the fight, which is understandablely Evan Ingram grabbed a hold of al Shire, did not let
go for at least fourteen seconds after that. Of course, Jones and al Shire get run after that, but it just took a whole lot of time to get al
Shire off the field. Yeah, where they came back from the break and he was still in the game, And I was just wondering, aside from breaking up the fight, why is it's such a difficult thing to remove the player from the stadium at that point because things still went on Brandon Shriff for him and him or drawing, and a lot of this is going while Trevor's lying motionless on the ground. It's just a real tough way
to go about watching this football game. But yeah, you could, you could make all the excuses for Elshaw, you're there. It was just it was a very very unnecessary play and a dangerous one that we don't.
Want, especially when you have a history of doing it. And yeah, when he left the field. Some of the Jaguars fans were let him know about it. We're throwing some things at him and it was ugly.
Which is a circumstance. Do you make worse by having him stay on the field for that amount of time?
Yeah, and who knows what the game would have been like if Laurence stayed in there. It's worth noting they were struggling offensively, Both offenses were struggling when Trevor was out there. He was a little off in terms of his timing. I would say with his receivers. Had had one really nice throw that you were like, oh, that's a Trevor Lawrence type of throw, but also had some big misses in an interception on the drives he was
out there. Doug Peterson said after the game that it's too early to determine whether he will be out for the rest of the season, But the fact that that question is even being asked, he's playing through this shoulder injury. It'd be surprising to see him in the upcoming week. Certainly so. A big win for the Texans, but definitely marred on a day where, yeah, like I mentioned, CJ. Stroud only had there was only one quick pressure for the Jaguars on the entire game, and I went back
to make sure I was right about this. It was their very first play because I was like, man, that first play he got absolutely you know, smashed by Devin Lloyd and that was the one quick pressure and it was such a big hit. I almost felt like it affected Stroud for the rest of the day. He's not as comfortable right now in the pocket. He made a lot of really nice throws, and he made a lot of just rushed throws where he kind of sacked himself and it's just not the CJ. Stroud we are used
to seeing. So, like I said, I hope a bye week can help him reset. Let's go to the NFC where the Rams and the Saints were playing in a game I dubbed kind of the give us one more week Bowl, Give us one more week where we feel relevant, whether it's the Rams or the Saints, who comes out on top.
Dafford in the shotgun, eighth player of the drive in a fourteen all tie angle from the seven.
They shoot it down the line right side. Pooka's got it. He finds his way in behind his blocks.
Cooper Cup, Colby Parkinson, paving the way the paydirts touchdown, Puka Nakua touchdown, la oh jb.
Long popping those peas. A little bit of a literation, a little.
Bit of showing the listener a picture of the blocking that goes on. That's what makes the Rams special, what they have left that is special. On offense, they've been a little up and down. It is that blocking from the edge receivers and the tight ends they get out of New Orleans Rizzy Ball's dangerous.
With a twenty one to fourteen victory.
Saints had a six to nothing lead early in this game, and the Rams come out of halftime and like kind of theyve been doing a lot shook, have a big stretch of the game where it's just taken a while to crank it up, but then.
They do, and usually it's Puka Nakua right in the middle of it.
And that was a very Puka Akua heavy drive which eventually gave them the lead.
That was with a little under nine minutes to go.
Yeah, it's funny because of their scoring drives. They had an eleven play drive and they play drive. Then in between there there was a four play drive and ended with the DeMarcus Robinson touchdown catch. But otherwise, yeah, that's who this offense is. They're not like this overly explosive, big play passing game that you maybe would expect from
a team with Cooper Cup and Pookinakua involved. But it's still better than the alternative, which is what we saw when they played Miami and what we've seen, you know, when they played the Eagles, which is like struggling to hit the throws that you expect Matt Stafford to throw. At this point, we can't pin him down. We really can't pin the Rams down unless Kyram Williams breaks one hundred yards on the ground, which is what he did
today on fifteen attempt scores a touchdown. And you know it's funny because you say give us one more week, it's they give us one more week.
Bowl.
Well, Greg, they're six and six, they're right there.
That's true.
Nobody wants to win.
But my logic with that was that is true.
But my logic with that one was if they lose in New Orleans and likely fall two games back in the division, they're just not a team that we're taking seriously.
Now.
I thought they would win this game ultimately, because we kind of call them the best bad team maybe, or like they're a good bad team.
They're at six and six.
I do feel like I can peg them and they might change who they are, But to me, they are six and six team.
They are who their record says they are.
They have enough talent on both sides of the ball, then they can get it done against bad teams. And ultimately New Orleans is that.
Yeah, they can do that. In a weird game script where it starts off and first of all, the Saints have lengthy possessions late in the second quarter and Matt Stafford has less than thirty passing yards. Wow, And Blake Corham is out carrying Karen Williams. And then you fast forward to the end of the game and they're electric in the second half and Kyra Williams goes fifteen carries over one hundred yards. I think averages nine yards to carry in this game, including the one that Ice is
the game. Well, just I don't want to say that Ice the game because the rookie all everything edge rusher winds up Ice in the game. On defense, the Saints have a fourth and goal situation. Derek Carr holds onto the ball way too long, Jared Versus is able to get to him, knock the ball away Rams win.
Yeah, I heard from Jordan who was there at the game, you know, say he wanted to Jared Verse wanted to hold himself accountable. He told Jordan in the press there that after the game he ends up with seven pressures on this game and that was a big one. And apparently McVeigh said he was really impressed with versus attitude throughout the week, that he humbled himself after maybe feeling himself a little too much after you know, really getting it going. This is a young team, They've had ups
and downs. Apparently players and coaches were very vocal in the locker room at halftime to just start running the damn ball, and they did and ultimately, you know, Stafford gets it going enough. They get to six and six and I'll miss Rizzy Ball. We still got the rest of the season shook. But if they had won this game, it's like they would have been kind of back in the NFC South race and they were not given one
more week. One thing that'll stand out to me in this game is Taysom Hill left on the cart and the reaction of the fans. They're chanting Taysom Hill's name as he was helped off car. Derek Carr spoke afterwards and it was a little emotional just about that reaction that Taysom Hill got. So you feel for him and hopefully Taysom Hill, who we've seen is kind of the key to this offense. Weirdly, we hope he'll be better down the stretch.
Decidedly before and after moments in this game, before the taste of injury and after the taste of injury because he's heavily involved in so many things that the Saints do, and really an emotional hit to the crowd and the team as well to see Taysom go down like that, and NFL Network and sider Ian Rappaport saying that still got the MRI coming up. But they fear that that's going to be it for number seven for the Saints this year.
That would be a big letdown and a big subtraction just in terms of what a value add Taysom Hill has been for these Saints games. Kind of a lost season for the Saints now almost officially feels like they're out of it, although there's not a lot that's official, even after thirteen straight weeks. But there is one team, just one that's officially eliminated from playoff contention. And there is one team that officially punched their ticket to the playoffs.
That actually happened on Friday. Let's go to Arrowhead. This has got to be either on the sideline or quick till they.
Still the tonal wasn't ready, the balls on the.
Turf, and the jaw fuckball black. Now please be a full start. Otherwise this game is over.
I think it's ball. Yeah, Chris Chounson song breaker. A little shift on the offense, put it his decline.
It seems good to put the backers pass and take over face down.
How is a heartbreaker?
In a season full of prep punch losses, this is the most heartbreaker. Oh my goodness, you feel for the Raiders.
Macon Crosby and Aidan O'Connell and even Jason Horowitz and Lincoln Kennedy there in the booth for a k R l V. The Raiders fumble a chance on a bad snap in field goal range in Arrowhead as time was ticking down. Thought they played well enough to win. Nayden in O'Connell throws for three hundred and forty yards. The Raiders defense gets them the ball back a couple times late, as the Raiders can't finish off those offensive drives. But the Chiefs are the first team into the playoffs in
twenty twenty four, get the win nineteen to seventeen. It feels like every week, Nick, the Chiefs win and they look worse doing it, and the vibes and like the conversation afterwards are almost probably more frustrating for Chiefs fans and Chiefs players. It really is starting to give you twenty twenty three Eagles vibes. I don't think it's like that, but the way these wins keep getting worse and worse,
they really were outplayed. The Raiders put up over four hundred yards of them and easily outgain them on the day, but ultimately the Chiefs get the win.
I pushed back on that a little bit. The Raiders on the scoreboard were non existed until the third quarter when Brock Bauers made that phenomenal catch for a touchdown pass a reception to make it sixteen to ten, and then you had Trey Tucker in motion around the end for a fifty eight yard touchdown. Pass and suddenly they're
in the lead. Because before that, this is one of those rare moments since I've been remote over the last five years, where I felt like I was sitting in the newsroom with Patrick again watching the games like it's twenty seventeen again, because he and I are both, you know, sending each other messages on social media about how aid and O'Connell refuses to scramble, and I'm just sitting there, going, he's got room to run, he's throwing the ball really well,
and yet they're getting nothing out of it. They get a turnover on downs in Chiefs territory. They just a bunch of missed opportunities, really, and then suddenly they explode and they have the lead. But it felt that whole time like, well, that's not going to last. And then the Chiefs get an opportunity and they have to settle for a field goal, which goes back to what they've
been all year. Their red zone offense, by the way, guys really really concerning, like it seems to get worse every week just with the rest of their performances, and yet they're eleven and one cause they still get the job done. DeAndre Hopkins dropped the pass on third down that Patrick Mahomes made a heroic play. He gets out of a Max Crosby sack, he escapes, he's falling forward and throws into a wide open Hopkins. He drops it
over the middle. They missed Xavier Worthy on a third down call where they tried to throw it over a defense that was very much prepared for the run. They did a lot of things to lose this game, but I didn't feel like the Raiders necessarily were in a position that they could say, hey, we outplayed you. We outplayed you for about twelve minutes in the second half,
and we were in position to win. But then again, we are the Raiders, And that last play really drove me up a wall because they break the huddle with like six seconds on the play clock. Of course there's going to be operational confusion. Of course, that snap's going to happen early, and it points to the lack of experience for Aidan O'Connell and a rookie and center Jackson Powers Johnson just a tough scene for them.
With the turner contingency up upstairs getting the play in perhaps a touch second late for the Raiders, but my Chiefs quest. It's not twenty twenty three Eagles in the sense that you know there's blown coverages and weird stuff going on in the secondary. They give it up a ton of points in December Sincere McCormick, who I literally just had to google again just now to remember his first name, had five point three yards per carry. Yeah, eight,
and O'Connell throws for three forty. We saw the Bills score thirty Bryce and the Panthers almost did it. And then until he took the lid off the rim there shook because we're tracking eight to O'Connell's scramble yards, which he has none in his career. He had a scramble that got called back for a hold in this game, so he still hasn't done it. But after that he was unlocked and he was unconscious the rest of the game because he hits the touchdown there, hits the touchdown
to Bowers. He finishes with those two touchdowns twenty three to thirty five. The Chiefs defense has a problem right.
Now, Greg, Yeah, they do the secondary. I think got worse by putting McDuffie on the outside. He's a good outside corner, but he's not a special outside corner. He was special on the inside. That made the inside position worse where they're really struggling. The other out side position is getting torched. Some of it in this game was brock Bauers just being special, but he's beating their cornerbacks. He goes for ten for one forty. Jacobe Myers had
a strong game. Started out really well in this game, especially in the first half. Tucker had that fifty eight yard catch and so, okay, that's one thing that's a problem. I saw the line of scrimmage, as you mentioned, getting pushed back against the worst running team in the league. Although they have been better offensively overall since the Turnie took over, they really have turned this thing around.
Job.
And then the only reason I said they deserve to win is because in the key part of the game, after those two quick touchdowns, it's fourth quarter, you know, you bow up in the red zone to force a field goal by the Chiefs, who keep struggling in the red zone. You're down by a couple points and the Raiders do get back in field goal range. Carlson misses one. It's one of three misses on the date. They were
all really long in cold weather. So it's not the field goals that you want, and so you give the Chiefs defense some credit there, but the Chiefs all to go two and out, I mean three and out twice in that sequence where a couple first downs win the game, and they just can't do it. And I'm glad you mentioned that d Hop drop because I just haven't seen Mahomes so frustrated. He was so frustrated about Awanya Morris penalty.
That's another problem that's happening. A lot of pressure, four sacks against the Raiders, a lot of pressure a week ago. And that sequence was crazy to me because Mahomes made two magical plays. One is under extreme pressure that he dumps off to Kareem Hunt and they end up losing five yards because his offensive line stinks, but he's magical. And then the next play, same thing, the offensive lion stinks, he's magical, and it's a drop and you could just
really see the frustration setting in a little bit. They did get some good news, nick back that Hollywood Brown is trending towards a week sixteen or week seventeen return, according to Ian Rappaport, So that's awesome and they can absolutely, you know, play better, but they're not playing well and they're lucky to have the number one seed right now.
So last year, everybody's talked about this ad nauseam. Andy Reid mentioned it after they won the Super Bowl. The loss to the Chiefs or to the Raiders, excuse me on Christmas was the moment they needed to wake up. It was the moment where they realized, Okay, we got to be better, We're gonna be tougher, and they went on the run they win the Super Bowl. I kind of got that same feeling in this game, but not for the same reasons, mainly because suddenly they were like
the Raiders were applying pressure. It's almost as if they were shocked that the Raiders were suddenly in the lead, and they were. At one point they showed somebody in the siland I don't know if it was Wanny Morris or somebody else that just said wake the f up, like shouting in his teammates on the sideline, like, hey, yeah, we're the Chiefs. We've won back to back Super Bowls, but just because we put these uniforms on doesn't mean
we're just gonna go win. Wake up now. So I wonder if this is gonna be the wake up call for them over the next five weeks going into the playoffs or not, because there are so many other problems that you guys just described and explained that I don't think it fixed quickly. But then again, it's the Chiefs, and all I've been taught over the last two years and really over the last four or five years is that they're gonna be there. So until they're not, I
won't believe otherwise. I just I need to see more a greater sense of urgency from them than.
I right, But I kind of thought like the being a two point conversion away against a really banged that Bucks team was the wake up call. And then the Broncos game where they're trailing and need a block kick that's Is that a wake up call?
How about when you lose by nine to the Bills? Is that a wake up call?
You go, you get at the end of the Panthers and it's like, this is a stream games where they're not playing their best, but we know that they can turn around. I just think right now it's absolutely fair to say that they're not playing at a super Bowl winning level.
That's all I just get concerned with the idea of turning it around when the players that you need to turn it around are are Wanya Morris right like yeah, and Joshua Williams like I'm my concerns aren't Patrick Mahomes and Chris JOm or guys and Travis Kelsey that have won all these Super Bowls and do the things that we count on them to do. It's it's the guys that we haven't necessarily seen executed at a high level, and with so much turnover, especially at the tackle position
throughout Patrick Mahomes's career. I just wonder why so hard to be cheap at this position with this quarterback. It just it seems counterproductive and it's a thing that has been going for way too long.
Because they've gotten away with it.
That's why, well, you know, it's a high It's one of the highest paid offensive lines in the league, including Juwan Taylor who's at right tackle and is almost as big a problem as Morris Morrison, Sue Matteo where Day two picks, it's not I mean, those are real investments.
It just they haven't worked.
My issue is more that they're trying to plug a lot of different holes the defensive backfield. Now the run defenses is struggling the tackles and I think team speed that said Pacheco gets back in this game gives them a little bit of juice. I think they'll trust them to have more and more work. Hollywood. Brown's coming back. We don't need to panic either. They have they have
some interesting games down the stretch. No, they're not playing any other superpowers, but they do have the Chargers and the Broncos and the Steelers down the stretch in their final five games, so they will be tested. Now, since we last talked, there's been a coaching change, and I guess we could have guessed done this if you listen to my recap with Will Gavin late on Thanksgiving night.
We wondered if Matt Iberflus would make it, and he went and had a press conference the next day, so we thought he made it, and then he didn't make it. Thomas Brown will be the interim head coach of the Bears. Not often we talk about a coach being fired on the Sunday Night recap. That happened a day before Nick, a couple days before Nick, but the timing of it was a first in Chicago Bears history, it's one of the most interesting jobs that's going to be open because
of Caleb Williams. And it just felt like from all the reporting there in Detroit that the situation between the players and Ibra Flus and their frustration probably made it untenable where Ryan Poles or whoever really made this decision had no other choice but to make a change for the last five weeks.
And it was the fashion which they lost that game on Thanksgiving that really I think was the final straw for them to essentially make him walk the plank before getting rid of him, which is what they did on Friday. And now, you know, my friend at Fox Sports, Car Vitally, I thought, summarized it very well, which is that, you know, the Bears broke trend by you know, they broke the standard by firing coach in season for the first time in their one hundred and five year history as a franchise.
And they're gonna have to continue to break trends in order to get to where they want to go. They have to continue to operating in a fashion that they haven't over the last I don't know, ten, fifteen, twenty, twenty five years. And maybe this is the first step.
You know.
Caleb talked about this last week about how you know, if he had Thomas Brown as a zo set the whole year, where could they have been Because you know, the familiarity, the reps and everything that you get in training camp and early in the season and just the time spent together. You can't get that back when you make a change in season, and you've seen them take that jump. So I think we knew this was going to happen eventually. The fact that it happened in the
season doesn't really make a big difference for me. If anything, it buys you extra time to start searching the coaching market. You try out Thomas Brown in this job, you figure out where you want to go from here and make the best of this season. It could have been worse. You could have waited, I guess, until the end of the season and not gotten that head start. But we knew this was inevitable based on how they were playing.
Yeah, shout out to the Flues. The season of Flu's glow up. It was fun while it lasted. Yeah, Ultimately, the fashion of it, all, the hair, the beard of all of it.
It didn't necessarily mean anything, but it gave us something to be excited about and the idea that hey, this is going to be something different. But No. Five and nineteen during his run as the Chicago Bears head coach in one score games, and really it wasn't just the
way that it happened. It was the timeout and the not calling the timeout, the fact that he finishes his career without that final timeout going out there, and it seemed like between the quarterback, the coach, the play caller, the players standing next to him during that process, nobody knew what was going on, like the facilitation of how things are supposed to operate from everything from the offseason and being able to evaluate Shane Waldron as a play caller.
Decisions were always made too late, and Matt Eberflues finally just ran.
I don't think he ever really had an idea of how to make the offense and coach up offense. And you feel bad because like, yeah, I listened to Chris Long talk about this too, and I thought he was even handed talking about the Caleb Williams part of it too.
And it's like, it does suck if.
Your career if your Matt eberfluse ends that way, and It's going to be remembered forever. And Caleb Williams needs to know not to be changing plays with sixteen seconds left. It's like an out, like he will never do that again in his career. But you could also point to that being like partly on the coaching that but no one was ready for that moment, most most importantly, Matty Refluse was never ready for those moments, no matter who was the quarterback.
The quarterbacks head just got bounced off the ground. He's getting a play call in his ear. He's trying to get guys with ten seconds to go. Players besides Matt Eberflus or jumping up and down screaming. Four seconds elapse after that before the ball gets snapped. During any one of those four seconds, he could have called time out. He chills not to.
It's such a brutal way for a coaching career to And I'm curious if Ryan Poles will be making the next head coach hiring. The idea is he probably will. I asked around about this. People don't think he has any chance that he would be gone. It's murky of how much was Eberflus his decision to hire or not. You know he was hired before him, but in the same you know, round of cycles, and maybe he got a chance to kind of okay, rubber stamp that hiring,
but maybe it wasn't really his guy. There was pretty reliable reporting that he stood on the table and said he believed Matt Eberflus was the man to do it coming back this year. And I think there is a there is a case to be made that's a fireable offense and that you're we're redoing this whole cycle where the coach and the GM and the quarterback are not aligned. That just keeps happening over and over and over in Chicago. And so if you're gonna let Ryan Poles stay, let
him truly choose the coach. Don't don't be getting yourself involved that much on an ownership level. Let Ryan Poles do it, because if it ends up being the ownership coach, then you're gonna be firing Ryan Poles in a year or two and we're just gonna like and the coach will still be there, and we're just gonna keep doing this thing over and over and over again. It's happened
for fifteen years. It's an organizational thing. You can see certain organizations make the same mistakes over and over, and that's what worries me, even though Poles has had a solid track record and obviously had had the trade that got him Caleb Williams, I don't know. I just just just let let the GM do his job. That's gonna be it for the Patrick Claybond portion of the program, always one of my favorite portions of the program, the biggest portion of the program.
In terms of size. Yes, I guess they'll wait here on the Chris.
Was it importance in importance?
Frankly, if we're only talking two segments and I had to lose either the whole thing before Sunday Night Football or Sunday, I will lose Sunday Night Football. But I can't wait to talk a little Sunday Night Football with Nick Showca you guys enjoy that.
We will all right to Sunday Night.
First and goal from the.
Seven, Alan under center takes a snab quick hitter thrown.
Behind, but somehow caught and now lateral to Alan and reaching for the pylon.
Are you kidding me?
It's a touchdown? Unbelievable.
A catch by Amari Cooper, a lateral to Josh Allen and he rubs the remaining five.
Yards for the score. Have you ever seen that one before?
I have not. Chris Brown of w GR in Buffalo Josh Allen with a receiving touchdown and a passing touchdown on the very same play he had in a rushing touchdown later in the second half. To complete the trifecta. He goes over one hundred yards on the ground. No one is playing better football right now at quarterback than Josh Allen. Thirty five to ten, the Bills pulverize the forty nine ers in the snow.
They are built for it. Shookye.
I mean a guy who can pass, a guy who can catch, although it was a lateral, A guy who can get engaged to a Hollywood starlet during his bye week and then show up and be the hero on Sunday Night football.
I mean, what can't this man do?
My guy's just winning in every facet, in every single way. Passing touchdown, rushing touchdown, receiving touchdown, it all. He's just winning. And the Bills are just winning. They're ten and two.
Now they take down the forty nine ers with the ultimate home field advantage of incredible amounts of snow in western New York and just how that's like kind of a neutralizer on the field, except for people like Josh Allen, who are he is essentially a legitimate like buck, like he's a deer running out there, so he's built for the snow and to make plays like that. A lopsided victory for them kind of could have anticipated before the
snow got involved. Now you just see the difference between these two teams, one team heading up, the other one heading down, and that play, I'll tell you what you said, you've never seen it before. I think Marcus Mariota once did that off a deflective pass one time.
That's a little different, though a little different, you know, that's the deflection. I just didn't know the ruling that you get credit for receiving touchdown after getting the lateral. And the still shot of Alan flying through the air with the snow, it is just beautiful. And I know the people who say, I just want football to be played at its highest level, and ultimately the snow is kind of a distraction and it prevents to, you know,
people from playing their best. I kind of get that in the biggest of spots, but I like variety shook in life, So go in these games. It's not gonna be every single game, but sprinkle it in. Occasionally you find a team like the forty nine ers who just are not ready for it. They came out of the gates looking ready for it, but they were slipping inside and all over the place. Three huge fumbles in this in the game, brock Purty, not a snow guy game.
Josh Allen and this Bill's running attack definitely snow guys.
Yeah, which is crazy because party definitely played some nasty weather games at Ames, you know, Iowa when he was there in state back then, god knows he was there forever, he had to have played at least one bad weather game. But it is That's that's essentially what this is is. You know, this is why I think that football, you know, you talk about being played at the highest level. I think that it's not just for variety. This is football
in its purest form. That shot of Josh Allen diving with the snow all around him, and there's a guy in an NFL beanie looks like he's part of the like the ball Boys or something, just staring intently watching magic happen before his eyes. That is football. How can you not fall in love with that? That's fantastic. That's gonna be framed in Canton. I'm gonna go to Canton this summer. It's gonna be on a frame somewhere. He's gonna be on and it should be because that's football at its core.
You know what's crazy is the forty nine ers actually ran the ball quite well in this game. Christian McCaffrey leaves with a knee injury. Kyle Shanahan announces after the game that it's a potentially season ending knee injury. Really disappointing for McCaffrey and really disappointing obviously for the forty nine ers, who get Perty back but did not have Bosa back or missing five starters on defense, we're missing Trent Williams, and yet they actually ran seven point six
yards per carry when they gave it to McCaffrey. Jordan Mason had a number of positive runs early in this game, ends up thirteen for seventy eight. Their success rate is really high, and they're setting up for a field goal to make it seven to six about midway through the second quarter, and they're moving the ball and it seems like a normal football game. They missed the kick and the very next play Cook takes it. What it was sixty five yards for a touchdown. And after that it
was just as one sided as it gets. And you just think, if Josh Allen and the Bills are hosting games in the snow or in tough weather, he really is built for it.
Now, they didn't try to throw the ball too much.
He only threw it seventeen times, but he ripped a couple passes right through the air, whereas Purdy like guys were slipping. He had a couple decent throws, but you know, Deebo's falling over all over the place and fumbles it. Purty fumbles it because he can't hold on to it. He throws the ball eighteen times for ninety four yards. Any penetration by defense happened by Buffalo in this game. Their offensive line was much better, and they're just they're
just a tough team. And it's one reason why I think they have a real chance to win the Super Bowl this year and make my prediction look good. It's because every aspect of the game they can excel in, whether that's running, passing, run, defense, or pass defense, and depending on the week, they can do different things. And they've just been through so many wars that games like this it's like no problem for them. They are the AFC East champions here with five weeks left of the season. It's crazy.
Yeah, Week thirteen clinchers. It's been a long time since that's happened that quickly. But that's also goes to show what the AFCAS East is. The Bills are the superior team, way more superior than any of us. He anticipated them being this year. Yeah, that's who they are. But it makes me think about two things. I think back to when the Bengals beat the Bills in the playoffs a few years ago in a snowy game, and Bills fans complained about the snow neutralizing their pass rush, and that's
why the Bengals were able to beat them. That's the beauty of a snow game is that it neutralized the pass rush. You look at the pressure right here. Five pressures for the nine Ers, seven pressures for the Bills.
There's a clip of Josh Allen, i think in the third and fourth quarter dropping back and he's got all day to throw and just rips one right down the middle of the field for a completion inside the red zone, and I was like blown away by the fact that he just could stand there and just pat and bounce and patent bounce until he found somebody. Just because of the snow. It's also because of this offensive line, which
is getting better and is coming around. But it also speaks to their evolution as an offense since Joe Brady took over last year, which is that they figured out how to run the ball traditionally. Instead of just relying on Josh Allen as the only runner on the field, they can now lean on James Cook fourteen for one oh seven, Ray Davis eleven for sixty three. Each of them had a touchdown. Josh Allen Chipson three for eighteen.
He has a touchdown. This is a team that you just said can beat you in a number of different ways. This is the way that they can win in a snow game at home of the playoffs, and they get it. And right now they're in one of the prime positions to get the AFC's top seed, or at least be in contention for it. So everything's coming up bills right now.
It is a team that I look forward to watching I don't know if they technically deserve to be AFC East champions. I'm just gonna have like a little point of order. How can they be deemed AFC East champions if they've never even played against Drake May I mean, oh, just well, I feel like they got two more games down the stretch. Everyone's saying the Bills have an easy schedule down in the stretch. They actually haven't played the Patriots.
How can you be the division champ if you haven't even played the Patriots.
Well, we're gonna get that twice here on the stretch, and I expect them to win both games.
It can't go any worse than it did at the end of the Belichick era, even when they were making the playoffs. They literally didn't get a stop back then. This team is absolutely awesome. I can't believe. A thing that actually happened in Buffalo tonight was Josh Allen and Sean McDermot doing snow angels on the field after the game together. That's that's what you know things are going well for the Bills. Fun week, fun game, Yes, over,
I believe twenty inches of snow around the stadium. It was up to three feet in some areas of Buffalo, and yeah, a couple inches were happening. A lot of the fans at the game were just standing the whole time because they couldn't sit down. Very cool, and at this point it's not you can't even say long tortured Bills fans.
We got Eric Roberts back here. Who's you know, a fan of a Dodgers.
Winning the Super Bowl and he's been rooting for one of the best teams in the NFL.
I don't want to hear about tortured. You guys have been good.
I was a seven or years tortured. You thought you gotta be talking about like my niece and they only know Josh Allen. I was out the Nathan Peterman five or seven. Come, I've been around for the next generation of Bills fans. You can say, because all I'm.
Saying is this is an extended, beautiful run of success and then should only continue. But I do know that until you make the Super Bowl, win a Super Bowl, it feels like something is missing. But these are the good old days, is what I'm trying to say.
So enjoy it. Oh, I am, trust me, I am, and I am as well. This was a beautiful show. Choky.
I want to get you back to everything that's going on in Cincinnati. Celebrate your calves victory. Get ready for Monday night football, because we're talking about your Brownie is in a big spot once again. I mean, I'm fine with the Browns being in primetime compared to these forty nine Ers games. Are there any coming up that we need to get out? Week seventeen, they're playing the Lions. They're not going to flex them out of that. We
got Week fifteen against the Rams. It's crazy how done this forty nine Ers team feels because of the injuries. It's the first time since two thousand and fifteen that they've lost twenty five by twenty five points and back to back weeks, only the fourth time in the history of this proud franchise that's ever happened. And they do not feel like they are coming back from this down two games and the injuries are are just too much.
Yeah, they're mounting. Just the hits keep coming. Soon as you get one guy back, you lose another, you lose another, you lose another. I mean, it's it's too steep of a hill to climb. And ill An NFC West is still very much for the taking, but they don't feel like a team that's on the rise. And it's unfortunate for a team that made the Super Bowl and lost in heartbreaking fashion overtime last year, but that's just the fact of the matter with them.
No.
I saw the Bears on the schedule next week and I'm thinking, well, that's a good spot. But it's a good SIoT for both teams. So that's it for our recap show Week thirteen in the books. As I said, shooky and I will be back on Monday night. Talk a little Browns talk, a little Broncos talk, a little news of the day. I want to thank everyone that helped out the Thanksgiving week, a lot of extra hours. Eric behind the glass, Chris doing a bang up job.
When when Josh Allen is going snow Beast, snow Angels, you know football is back.