Welcome to NFL Daily, where the game is slowing down for us.
We're halfway through the season. It's week nine. We're getting used to these recap shows.
I'm Greg Rosenthal in the Chris Westling podcast studio with my friend Patrick Claybonn and joining us live from Cleveland Nick Shook.
Nick done a little self scouting.
I noticed sometimes when I'm starting this show, I didn't even get to Nick Shook because I'm so excited to get to the first highlight.
So I'm gonna get to you.
Nick, give me one word to describe Week nine madness.
Okay, I'll take that.
You know, because I didn't know what game to start with again, and then I thought, I know, ram Seahawks and Eagles Jaguars were not the biggest games of Week nine, and yet they were so freaking stupid and so freaking weird and dumb. I think we need to start with those two games. Let's go to Seattle.
Ipher takes a snap second and six pot leg left side. He flips his ships, he fires, He's going deep. DeMarcus brought it in with one hand in the end zone for a walk off touchdown thirty nine yards.
DeMarcus calls game.
He sticks a right hand up, brings it in and pins it to his shoulder pad and LA gets out of the Pacific Northwest with a twenty six twenty overtime win.
That was our friend JB.
Long getting the NFL Daily Bump on his next game is KSPN. DeMarcus Robinson, Yeah, he only catches impossible, hugely influential passes from Matthew Stafford twenty six to twenty. The Rams win it in overtime, and Patrick, Yeah, this was this game was like some of those parties that Stefan would talk about on SNL back in the day. Maybe that's not a reference for everyone. That's an old refor It had every It had everything. It had interceptions, it
had picked sixes, It had my numbing coaching decisions. It had moments where you thought both of these teams were out of it, but the quarterbacks just kept slinging and that's how it ended.
It ed just like that in a game where if you're just watching and folks, I understand, there's only so many games you could take in. That was the late game, the last yes of the late game on Sunday before we got into Sunday Night Football. So a million eyes tuning in to see the fantastic finish. But this was a game greg that the Seattle Seahawks had won five times and then they went and lost it six times. There was like just to recap they had the woes
in the red zone. Continued the struggle against the Buffalo Bills. They had two turnovers in the second half in the red zone. One camera Kitchens takes back one hundred and three yard pick six where Gino is trying to make a late throw to Jackson Smith and jigb But who had a great game by the way, on the back
of the so gets hit as he throws. The rookie takes it for the longest play in the NFL this season, all the way back and then later Cody White blocks a punt and the Seahawks are right back in position. Geno's trying to throw a tight end late release play kind of throws it blind winds up going as as the tight end gets held up in the line.
Was absolutely held on that play. He was held on the play. He was help got to defend my guy, Gina.
And that's one of those things where, along with all the other stuff that you talked about, that happened in this game. There was officiating that perhaps some people feel a type of way about the way things were officiating in those moments. But so that pass gets picked off by Cameron Kitchens again. But then the clock takes down to Geno time and we're inside of a minute at the end of a quarter, and once again Gino Smith delivers to Jackson Smith and Jigba who had over one
hundred and sixty yards receiving in this game. But in overtime at fourth and one, Greg the Seahawks with an opportunity. I thought it was a go decision. Mike McDonald thought it was a go decison. The Rams got to stop there leads to that Matthew Stafford touchdown. Just a great game in a division where everybody's only separated by one game.
Right, And that's that's why I don't think it's crazy to start with it, because these are these aren't teams that are probably going to the super Bowl, but they are two teams with good quarterbacks, two quarterbacks and quarterback on that are in the mix for the playoffs, and they would be a dangerous opponent. And just everything that happened in this game is crazy let's actually start at that decision. I don't mind that decision at all. And one of the reasons I don't mind that decision, Nick,
is because three points doesn't necessarily win the game for you. Anyways, this game was crazy enough. I do think it's okay to look at the Seattle offensive line and say third and one walker, no gain, fourth and one Walker, no gain, and say like, we're just not good enough. Like, yeah, maybe you would like a different play call where you throw the ball or it's a snake or something like that,
or you want a fiel go. But if you can't pick up a yard on the Los Angeles Rams, and they're their defense is getting better, but it's in twenty twenty four, they're okay to run against. If you can't pick up a yard, maybe you don't deserve to win.
Yeah.
That's the beauty of football, is that in those clutch moments, when it's just a short yarage situation, it's man on man, it's strength versus strength or relative strength. Who is the better team that's going to be able to deliver it? And if you can't earn it, you don't deserve it. And the Seahawks didn't deserve it. But Greg, you don't have to defend Gino. He defended himself despite the three
interceptions that he threw in this game. With that last drive, he threw two downs to Jack and Smith and Jigba. I was so happy to see JSN finally break out and make a couple of huge catches and they end up getting to overtime because of him. What a back and forth game in a division that is completely wide open.
The game ends, the.
Rams go to four and four, the Seahawks four and fives records listed below the score on the screen, and I'm just sitting there thinking, one of these wins feels triumphant. And that's for Sean McVay, who's spread across the field to hug Matthew Stafford and say great job, because he's all fired up because they've dug themselves out of the hole they were in. And the Seahawks they got to feel crushed by the fact that they lost this game
for the same reason that Patrick just said. They wanted a number of times lost at a number of times.
Okay, one of those times was actually, I believe either the very next play or two plays after the fourth down stop in overtime where Wolan Reke Wollan has a chance to intercept it if he just steps into the pass, and instead I believe it was Tyler Johnson who made the nice play stepping in front of him, but that could have been an interception, and then Wolan is the guy who gets beat. Another thing that happened in this
game an injection Puka and Akua getting injected. Did not expect that a young man named Kobe White, Cody White. Kobe White is the player around the Bulls who mina times.
My friend was as.
Big as Seahawks fan, as as anyone out There's like, I was not familiar with this Cody White fella who ends up playing a big role in the game, having two catches and a big blocked punt. I mean that the end of the first half was absolutely nuts, where yeah, Gino had those ugly interceptions but also made some incredible throws. The end of the first half sequence where the Seahawks somehow scored a couple touchdowns in that sequence and Stafford had a mind numbing in there was.
Like, I don't know, this game was everything.
Just it took me back to the end of the first half against the Falcons where there's a limited amount of time on the clock for Gino, and it's kind of Gino with nothing to lose, throwing the ball in the middle of the field is the most dangerous. It's like a it's like a cornered animal protecting its young and Gino like, I'm designating that Geno time towards the end of a half where he can just fire away free from concern about the consequences, which apparently he's doing
in the red zone anyway. And so he goes down scores a touchdown. The Rams, perhaps not necessarily thinking about the clock or opportunity to give, they get the ball right back to Gino and with five seconds on the clock. It makes me think it was eleven seconds against the Falcons. Five seconds on the clock. He hits Jackson Smith and jig but down the.
Middle right and that was a total dime.
It this game, like you look at it, you think the defenses didn't play that well, and yet the Rams had the ball six times in the first half and they scored three points on offense. The Seahawks had it if you can out the neil down, which you shouldn't, so taken that away. They had fourteen possessions in this game. So actually I saw a lot of Jared. You know, Jared Versus just been fantastic. Fiscus turned into a real player.
Kobe Turner has a nice game. Byron Young is very active, and this offensive line for the Seahawks, we keep coming back to. It is just like the one thing they can't quite get over. So that these teams are improving in ways that are surprising, Like the Seahawks, I think had a good defensive day, but you can't feel that good when you ultimately give up that play at the end in Pukina Ku is not even on the field, no, And.
It sucks because you know, we got the full thrills of the Gino coaster throughout this game, and the fact that they even got to overtime felt like an accomplishment. But once they got stopped on fourth down, he felt the tide shift. It felt like we had. It's like one of those games where possessions and leads change over and over like a basketball game, except it was a football game. And at the end Stafford delivers. And again we could point to this last week. We pointed this
again tonight. The beauty of this Rams team even though they only finished, you know, with twenty six points with an overtime touchdown to send him to victory. They are so much better offensively with guys like Cooper Cup and though Pooka got ejected in that lineup, it just opens up the offense so much more. And Stafford has taken such a jump from where he was a couple of weeks ago just trying hard to will them to victory. Now he's got weapons and now he's gonna sling it.
He gets one on one DeMarcus Robinson gets a free release over Tariq Woollen, and next thing you know, they're scoring a touchdown with a spectacular catch. It was then fitting end for a game like that and a great way to start the show.
It reminded me a little bit of the Super Bowl Greg where you see it early on and with the compliment at that point it was Odell and Cooper Cup that the Rams were a real problem. But then Odell goes down in the Super Bowl, they have trouble moving the ball. Pooka gets ejected from this game, and it stops, stop stop. This Seattle defense that could not get off the field in previous weeks, was able to chain together those stops, but it happens to come where their offense
is self destructing in the red zone. Yet it's in Mike McDonald saying they do have the pieces after the game, I agree with him. They just got to put it together. He said of the fourth day, you have to get a half yard in two plays, was his reaction, which which is a common sense thing. It makes sense to go for that there. Kenneth Walker was running well on that drive. Just the the Rams stepped up, made plays and over times the Seahawks.
Yeah, JSN gets seven for one and two touchdowns. The two teams combined for two for seven in the red zone. Rams struggle a little bit too.
JSN also had seventy three I believe receiving yards called back due to penalties in this game, a game where where Gino Smith got the Rams to jump all sides, five tomes. It had everything. If you did not watch this game, I.
Think there was four and one win.
One drive that was at the end of the first half where he just kept happening over. Yeah, Gino go ends up going three to sixty three and three on a day that he has three interceptions. The difference, though, I do think it's this young Rams defensive line. Eleven quarterback hits seven sacks of Gino Smith on the day. This NFC Way West race is going to be wild all season. I'm looking forward to also going to be a good race in the NFC East this year.
That's just two teams. Let's go to Philadelphia.
It is first to ten o the thirteen. Jacksonville trails by five thirds. Living and the good Lawrence Lawrence Beck. Lawrence looks firing for the end zone.
Intercepting, intercepting the game. He picks it off of the end zone.
Don't fudge, he go to cover skit.
The Kobe Dean is back, like the one from college.
I mean, he's been playing great the last three weeks. The Kobe Deanon coverage one on one. Hey, hey, game on the line. You want to run some clock? Why not throw up a jump ball to de Ernest Johnson?
What like?
This game was.
Lost by the Eagles fifteen different times. There's gonna be one of the worst losses of the season. And yet Nakobe Dean saves his coach, Nick Sirianni. They get to win twenty eight to twenty three. Nick Chook, start wherever you want in this game because there's a lot of directions to go.
Oh, I would love to take Nick Sirianny to task.
But they talked a lot on the broadcast about how Sirianni offered up his parking spot to anybody who can get a takeaway that changed the game. Well, guess what, your parking spot now belongs to Nakobe Dean because he just bailed you out, my friend. They made a number of decisions in this game that not only made me scratch my head, it made me want to just explode with rage because Sirianni, he's cruising, his team is cooking. They're up twenty two to nothing, and that's after they
scored to go up sixteen to nothing. They try for two because he's getting aggressive. They try to get him a jump, They don't jump. He calls a timeout. They go for two. Tush push denied. They do it again, denied again on the next touchdown, leaving two points out there on the field.
It doesn't matter.
It was a touch push again. It was a touch push again. To point it out, it's what push.
Two touch pushes denied. It was denied so firmly that when they meet a fourth in inches in the second half, when the Jaguars have finally woken up and they're mounting a comeback.
It's fourth inches and he calls a play action roll.
Out to the right because he's been scared off of the toush push by the Jacksonville defense. That one also fails a number of decisions in this game Sirianni made that gave the They cracked the door open for the Jaguars to come back, and they almost sprint it right through it, except Doug Peterson, in a battle of which Nakochi replaced him in Philadelphia, decides to surrender on fourth and three from the Philadelphia forty nine. That gives the
Eagles a chance to tack on points. DeVante Smith makes a fantastic one handed catch to score a touchdown. They go up by twelve. The Jaguars mount to come back again, and then it ends in heartbreak by targeting a running back who is not a pass catcher. I understand the situation there, and you think you have a mismatch with Nakobe Dean, Will Trevor Lawrence just learned Nacobe Dean is no mismatch against the running back, especially in a key situation.
Yeah, and Doug Peterson, to me, the thing that was missedify not just that Trevor looked like he predetermined, like, hey, I got one on one on the outside, I'm just gonna go to it no matter what I see in terms of the leverage, no matter the matchup either because I know, no, Kobe Dean's not great in coverage on the outside, but it's also Deerness Johnson.
But the weird thing is that they're even throwing that ball.
Anyways, They asked Doug Peterson after the game, like, did you think about trying to run clock a little more because that's one forty three left in the game and you don't want to leave Philadelphia all the time in the world necessarily so even going and he just said, well, it is something that we discussed, but we decided we had to get points and points were the most important thing. Well, you didn't get the points. You didn't you didn't get
the wins. He didn't run the clock. It didn't make any sense.
Yeah, it's a questionable thing to consider because I know that Travis Etn and Tank Bakesby didn't have a great game on the ground, But twenty four and twenty two yards respectively. But you know, Dearness Johnson's in the game, I guess you could give the ball to Darnis Johnson. Trevor had a rushing touchdown as well. It's it's so easy to find these moments with the Jacksonville Jaguars in twenty twenty four. Yeah, just categorically, and we could have
the converse say about the Eagles. They they tried the Jags here, but you can't out Jags the twenty twenty.
Two ooh yeah.
And that's that's what was on my mind as this game ended, was what's sports talk radio gonna be like in these cities tomorrow?
Because I know what it's gonna be like.
In Philly, they're gonna be taking Siriannie to task and saying that he almost lost in the game and he should be fired and everything else. Understandably so in some respects, and then in Jacksonville it's gonna be why are you targeting Dearness Johnson when you have Evan Ingram on the field who made a big difference in the second half. You have Brian Thomas, you have Parker Washington. This guy
should be like seventh on your list. Both of these coaches deserve criticism for the way this game played out for.
Sure, right and you know Trevor had another interception in this game. I think it was It was the perfect the Eagles game because of what you just said, Nick Sirianni.
I mentioned it on NFL Daily last week.
He's been the main character of every single week and he finally had a week where he wasn't. Everyone was just like kind of cool of him. And it's always after win like it's almost always after wins too, and he's just like, I gotta geg back in on this. And there was one moment that to me really defined it. Takuan, who ends up going twenty seven for one point fifty nine and a touchdown on the ground, also had a forty yard day through the air and another touchdown.
There just a ridiculous player.
We might need to start talking about him as an MVP candidate if we if we're allowed to go non quarterbacks. He doesn't get the ball in any of those two point situations or the fourth an inches situation either, which is absolutely crazy to me. But after they called the draw and I think it was third and goal from the seventeen something like that, and Saquon hit it for a touchdown.
It's a nineteen yard touchdown.
Sirianni starts celebrating and running down the sideline like they just won the Super Bowl. He is completely losing his heads. Him and Kellen Moore is going absolutely crazy. And to be like to make a real point about it, there maybe is something too like taking on the personality of your coach, like he is too up and now he he almost he just seems like he totally lost his mind there for twenty seconds and then he's like two two,
I gotta go for two. That's before one of those twos in this team scene, like as up.
And down as Nick. Sirianni Knick sub you're not You're very even keel.
No, No, I'm very even keeling.
When I watched that coach, he coaches like he's worried about what people are thinking about him all the time. He coaches like I'm always trying to prove a point, whether it's that I'm good enough to coach or that we're good enough as a football team.
And for a half, they were the better team by far. They should have cruised to victory in this game, and they left the door open because of what their coach did. Now, let's not overlook the fact. Greg.
By the way, you mentioned that Trevor threw another pick, Let's talk about the bonfire because it was Zach Bond making the pick. Zach Bond in coverage, having a great season, made a great play. This is a good football team if their coach can just get the hell out of the way.
Okay, So I'm glad you pointed that out because I made some snarky tweets about this just how fun. This was the perfect Eagles game. And someone responded like, is this the most dead in the water, you know, team with this kind of record in NFL history? And I say, like, no way, They've got way too many good players. That's the thing is, they're like they had a couple of the best plays in the entire season because because their players are just better than other players.
Let's listen to I don't even know which one to pick.
How about the Saquon spin move and backwards hurdle.
Hurts in the gun, he back pedals, he's looking, still looking. He fires it out in the flat to Barkley, who beats one man, spins past another, leaps.
Up a third who was knocked down.
At thirty What was that?
I've never seen that move and I've been watching football all my life.
Well he did this, he did to show off the shady McCord.
He's never done this, No one's ever done this.
He he knows the guy backwards took over a guy backwards.
He did that. Like the ovation in the crowd.
You could hear it when they finally saw the replay, like that is that's a sight to be whold beside.
They lost their mind, guys, and understandably, so you're right, you'll you never see that in football. Like everybody was like, all right, what do you compare that? It immediately blows
up on social media. Right in my head, I'm thinking, he looks like you're playing Super Mario on Nintendo and you're trying to take down one of the people that are trying to come out as Super or Koopa, true but whatever it is, and you gotta jump backward because you're headed in the wrong direction just to knock him out.
It was like that.
It was incredible. It defied the laws of physics.
Now and this is the play. Folks are like, hey, what was Saquon Barkley? Like you pull up this play and say, nobody ever saw that. We probably will never see that again. Because he just completed a spin move, he feels like he has the leverage to do another spin move. Mid spin, he realizes the defender is going low and he jumps without seeing him. Like nobody is doing that. Nobody has the physical capacity to make that decision, as well as the awareness to do all of it
and then the flexibility to complete it. It's just I mean and four whatever.
Right in every so he's he's running better than he's ever run before. Jalen Hurts, I swear the last couple of weeks is running better than he's run in a while. He gets sixty seven yards in this game on the ground and just looks.
Fast as hell.
And as great as that Saquon play is, I don't know for sure that it was the best football play in this game. Let's go back to Merril Reese.
Hurts and that's the backfield kakaa emotional kaka terra boost was right here Goes Hurts.
Going for the end zone.
Davonte Smith, he caught it.
I don't know, he's.
One hell.
I don't know how he did it.
I don't know how we didn't. I don't know how he did it.
That stay of.
Smittyest unbelievable, the slim Reaper with one of the best plays of the year by any receiver.
That's my quick and Meryl Reese, by the way, they almost undersold that that.
First of all, I was getting annoyed at.
Jalen Hurts on that throat because like Jalen Hurts on a third and twenty two, God love him, He'll never take that fifteen yards to try to make the field goal closer. He's just throwing that thing and I didn't think that had any chance. And DeVonta Smith, who leads the league in like like, just how impressed I am over expected because compared to his numbers, he's just such an amazing football player to pull that off one hand
and get his shin down at full speed. It was just like, these guys are too good, nick for me to discount them. Jalen Hurts had four throws over twenty yards in this game too. Han Dotson at a thirty six yard play.
Like another great catch, Like.
I'm just not I'm giving this team a chance despite their head coach.
Yeah, you know, to use a commonly used phrase on social media again usually in regards to Justin Jefferson fit DeVante Smith down there somewhere, because that's why Jalen threw that ball the way he did. He knew that one guy down there is gonna be able to make that play. Mind you, this is after they lost aj Brown, who exist the game, and he's gonna.
Screw it third and long.
I'm gonna throw it down there anyway, And at that moment I went, wow, he just build Sirianni out and then again he needed to Kobe Dean at the end. It was a full team effort to win this game when many of the odds were stacked against them, sometimes by their own head coach. It was a spectacular catch, but I am gonna throw some cold water on it, okay, because we saw one of the best catches I've seen in my life on Monday Night football last week with the Jets.
Right, Oh no, it was Thursday night football.
Excuse me? With the Jets.
That Garrett Wilson catch was still better than Devantie. Let's not put them in the same category. They're both great, but one's better than the.
Ill put them in the same category. But I'll give the edge to Garrett.
In terms of the margins for error, I feel like DeVante had a smaller margin of error. Yes, just what the direction he was going in the speed right a little bit there, But the spectacularness of the particular grab. It's one of those things. Why put bad beeps against each other?
Yeah, we're kind of thing. We're comparing brands here. These things are works of art. But that was a classics sort of Devanta catch because even then, I feel like like you don't even know how how hard that catch was. And yes, AJ Brown out with a knee injury.
That's huge.
They won this game without a j Brown, without their left tackle, without Dallas Goddard. They need to they need to get healthy that that'll be a big thing for them moving forward. Jaguars stuck at two and seven. Let's go to game that would have been more likely to start the show before the craziness late.
How about a great game up in Orchard Park.
It's gonna be a sixty one yarder from the left hash with ten seconds remain.
Slap by Ferguson, hold by Martin, kick by Bass is long enough.
And it is good bombs away for Tyler Bass, who bombs it from sixty one.
It's a career best for the Bills kicker. Unbelievable.
Tyler Bass missed the kick earlier in the game, doinked one on an extra point which went in.
Ended up being a big play. Hits it from sixty one to cap a great.
Offensive, back and forth shootout in the second half, and maybe a game that all but puts the AFC East away. Yes, the Bills are seven and two, they're up four games on the Jets, went three and a half, four and a half on the Dolphins who are at two and six. And we could talk about the kick, but I want to talk about Josh Allen. This is the best version of Josh Allen that we've ever seen. Maybe playoff Josh Allen a couple of years ago when they lost to
the Chiefs is close. But this is the best version of Josh Allen we've ever seen because it's repeatable. Here's what he was going against today, did not have Amari Cooper going into the day. He threw an interception on the goal line that was a perfect throw right into Keon Coleman's bread basket. A great audible that showed he made a really good decision. It pops up from Keon Coleman and goes in the air, intercepted by Jalen Ramsey. He fought against two bogus holding calls that took away
a Bill's drive. One of them was a beautiful rushing touchdown by Josh Allen. It was a total phantom call, one of the worst holding calls of the year. He beats a free rusher on that play to score. The defense basically only got two stops all day, the first possession of the game and a fumble to start the second half when they were down. That one possession was all he needed to win this game. They finished the
game touchdown, touchdown, touchdown. Then gets the ball back with one thirty eight to go, get some in field goal range for Tyler Bass to hit that kick. And it's because it's mostly his decision making in this game. There were some spectacular plays, but it was mostly the Dolphins dropping back in zone and saying, can you be patient? Can you just keep taking what's there for you? Josh Allen, and he did it to this whole gang receivers. He
ignored the pass rush when he was there. He's just playing football at a different level and on a day where he didn't get much help at least from his defense and from the officials.
He gets it done and gets them to win.
Get some help from the receiving group, including the running backs their Ray Davis had seventy yards after the catch. Khalil Sekuir, who the Dolphins could not tackle today, had fifty nine yards after the catch, including several broken tackles on just swing out screens. James Cook goes twenty five after the catch. And this like that fumble that you mentioned that Ron Johnson punched the ball away from Raheem Mostert that that feels like you look at the defense
on the defense made have played to win. Yeah, that was really it. That was really it. Tua and dvon Chan and the Dolphins going up and down the field. Tyreek Hill back after getting nothing, no targets until late in the fourth quarter, Jalen Waddle catches his first and then he catches the touchdown. It was good to see this Dolphins offense back, but even at their maximum potential, they couldn't contend with Josh Allen maybe getting into that MVP.
Yeah, I think Tua has to feel better and Dolphins fans have to feel better about their offense, not their defense. But just while we're still on Buffalo, I'm glad you mentioned all those yards after the catch. That's one of the reasons why I give Alan so much credit because we know he can win the other kind of way, and he did. His touchdown throw at Quinton Morris was classic Josh Allen where he's throwing blind while getting totally tackled. It seemed like the play was over and he somehow
finds Quinton Morris. I don't know if he's a thrown in a spot, if he's thrown in the air like that's Josh Allen. But all those yards after the catch Dick was because the ball was in a perfect spot. Like I can think of a third down clearly early in the game where if he throws it to where Shakira is going, he's going to get tackled, and he turns Shakira around with the ball perfect location. He's so accurate now, and then he gets the yak after the throw.
So I just just next level quarterbacking from a dude that it's going to be very tough to beat this year.
Yeah, and you know, and hearing this it makes me think about another team that we talk about and it really makes me think about it. An elite group of quarterbacks and the other team and the other quarterback it's Kansas City and Patrick Mahomes. They don't win pretty, but he's really good at extending plays, finding guys open. None of it looks really in structure. Most of it's out
of structures improvisation. That is Josh Allen's game. And that's why when you speak about that throw to Quentin Morris, it's exactly that he's one of very few who can make that happen consistently in what elevates this team. Because the Bills have looked like four different teams and they've
won games of year. They look like an explosive offense, they can throw the ball over the yard, they look like a great ground team, they look like a team that's won close, and they've looked like the team like they were today, and it really makes them difficult to project but also really frustrating to play, especially for a team like the Dolphins who look I don't usually feel bad about Miami fans because you're in Miami glitz and glamour.
Everything else, well, it's.
Nice, but the Dolphins have lost two legitimate heartbreakers in the last two weeks, and this week they played well enough to win. For the most part, they played well enough offensively that Buffalo couldn't get stops. I mean Tuego's twenty five to twenty eight for two thirty one moster are in eight chan combined for one hundred and nineteen yards on the ground, Like that.
Should be good enough to win.
And yet they're two and six because they get beat by teams with quarterbacks who find ways to win or find ways to put them in position to win with kickers hitting game winning field goals. So a rough stretch in what's been a rough season for the Dolphins. That, yeah, two and six, You're like, well, I mean, there goes the AFC East. We're now opposite records essentially with the Bills who just beat us in their place.
Now we got to scrap for a wildcard spot.
But again the Bills showing why they're one of the teams that you have to take seriously in the AFC because they can win in a number of different ways.
Yeah, the Dolphins, I'm not totally ruling them out from making a run because offense travels, their schedule isn't easy to try to rip off that sort of run and get into the wildcard race. But you could see it because yeah, two was awesome in this game, and like it just looked like the two that you expect to see.
The running game has been good now for three straight weeks.
But they have zero pass rush, and like that's you know, that's a huge mismatch. In some of these games, including this one, they just don't have a pass rush. They're trying to get Chop Robinson going. They're also four and ten in their last fourteen games as an organization, so and they're a team that's spending a lot of money. They're one of the most expensive teams. This is year three of the program. So on one hand, you give them a little bit of a pass because Tua got hurt.
On the other hand, it's a disappointment that's going to be tough to get out of. Their best defensive player is Kalayis Campbell, like a thirty nine year old on a one year deal, So they have issues.
But Tua was legitimately great.
He had a third and seven throw with two thirty left in this game where just the smallest of windows that he has to hit wattle and he hits Wattle. There's a fourth and two play where they had to score to keep the game alive, and he's diving head first and making everyone have their heart and their throats, but he gets it done. They had to keep scoring touchdown after touchdown to keep up with the Bills in this game, and then they did it, and they just
left Josh Allen too much time. Let's listen to what happened after the too much time Josh Allen given his kick or some love.
One of his longtime teammates.
Got emotional on my little postgame speech out there, just the child and tribulations that he's been throughout this year, obviously missing one early in the day, hitting the poll on another. You know, he could easually put it in the tank and sixty one yard field go to win a game against the division rival. That's what stories are made of. And I love him. I respect him so much. Everybody in that locker rooms so happy for him, and he's our guy.
Yeah, big time kick by Tyler Bass on a day, Like I said, that started in a way you just thought it was going against him. They got it turned around. They're one of the best teams in the NFL. My Super Bowl pick from the AFC. Let's go to Green Bay where my pick from the NFC was playing on the road.
Second down into Green Bay from their own thirty eight, Love takes the shotgun Snap Lions print of late Glicks.
Love back looking being Chase Love.
Rob look up the line, Krooby Josaph puts up, He's gonna go baby, cut it down five and.
So touch down and Troy Lions bow?
How big is that?
How pigg is that Packer's trying for some late magic here, But it's the Lions that come in with a folt of lightning.
Pick six.
Love, Dan Miller and Lomas Brown w x I T Yeah, that felt like the dagger. Even though it was before halftime on a rainy, ugly day at Lambeau, it was tough to get the passing game going that made it seventeen to three. The Lions ended up winning twenty four to fourteen. They got a couple mutters David Montgomery and Jamir Gibbs, and yes, Jared Goff playing well in the rain, dispelling the small hands narrative.
What do you think about this Lions team?
Shook after a thorough impressive win over another good NFC North team. We've been saying this is gonna be a great race, but maybe just the Lions are just the team.
Well, I mean, they're the team that's built a winning game like this, which is crazy. I know Goff talked about this after, but they're an indoor team and they just went and won the game on the road in the rain at Lambeau against a team that is supposed
to be a great outdoor team. But yet they're built for this because of their mutters, like you just spoke of David Montgomery, Jamir Gibbs and Jared Goff, who, even though he finishes one hundred and forty five passing yards in a touchdown hill has four in completion on the day in an environment that was so bad. They showed a shot of Aaron Glenn on the sidelines and he's wearing glasses and they're completely drenched in rain. I don't
know how he saw anything. He's not wiping them off, guys, he's keeping them on.
So he's in front of him.
Yeah, he's just completely went.
That's a former nfler right there, who's played in the elements in his time in the league, and he was not about to wipe him and show any sense of weakness. And that's the Lions. They embodied the personality of their coach, Dan Campbell, Aaron Glenn, tough guys, guys who are gonna come in there with the receiver wearing a hoodie that says green Bay sucks, which, by the way, spelling air green Bay is two words.
I'm and ross ain't brown. Not one did that fixed? And they back it up.
They back it up by winning a game with the elements against them pretty handily, to the point where green Bay gets a red zone possession in the fourth quarter and they turn it over on downs because they can't find a way into the end zone. They fumbled the ball a couple times before they decided to punt. They
were having a tough time. Lions the superior team. What a resounding win for them in a game between two teams that were very close in the standings and are still going to be there at the end of the year. A major statement win for Detroit.
And they did it without one of the best defensive players in the secondary in the NFL for the majority of the game is Brian Branch gets run, has a hit on Melton on the sideline goes helmet to helmet. They run him for that. Also, you know, it has a double bird that leads to, you know, a flag being thrown. We're still trying to figure out what the enforcement was.
I think it just means a fine and they just threw a flag on the field. And yes, see, the best NFL double bird since Pud Adams was famous for just doing the overt all the time.
Yeah, in owner, you know he celebrates with a double bird. No celebration for Brian Branch there. But they're able to get stops. Early this week, I noted the fact that the Lions had in their five game win streak, they had scored more touchdowns than Jared Goff had incompletions. And then you know, a Packers fan hopped in and said, that's a Dome team stat. We'll see what they do
in the weather. Well, the Green Bay Packers defense able to, as Shuk said, hold Jared golf to having four incompletions.
But the stat still stands. They wasn't today.
They got three touchdowns and four incompletions. But it's one of the most insane stats that I've ever heard of covering this sport, that that is now a six week span, and it I'm of two minds. Usually, Okay, you get the pick six, you get out gained in this game by one hundred and fifty yards. The Packers did it
kind of reminds me of the Titans game last week. Yeah, the Packers did move the ball pretty well in this game, and you think, like, Okay, are they are they getting a little lucky here where they're getting out gained in a couple of different weeks, And I guess I have a hard time with that. I don't think they're getting lucky.
They just have outstanding coaching, outstanding players. It reminds me a little bit of the Patriots back in the day, where like, yeah, they'll they'll slap you around offensively and outgain you plenty sometimes, but then they can win this sort of way because every unit is so complimentary and they know how to play with a lead like that game against What does it matter that they got out game with this game? Like, what does it matter that
they got out gained? They got into a certain position of the game and they know how to hold on to it. They're they're just so well coached, and part of that is their fourth down decisions early in the game, it's fourth and one, it's rainy.
Tom Brady's on the call.
He doesn't love the fact that they're going for it on fourth and one inside the ten yard line. Instead of taking your going for three points, instead they throw it. Let's listen to it happened on that play early in the second quarter. At this point it's a three to nothing Packers lead.
So here we go.
Fourth and goal for the Lions from just inside the green bay.
Three Goffs got it back looking throwing left, sidewalks Mikes to grab touchdown.
Detroit Lions. Whoa bendy want to throw?
That time by Jared goff arm and Ross spinning and making the.
Catch, getting two feet down, and the Lions take the lead.
The Dan Campbell gamble pays off.
It's just less of a when you have players that good. What a freaking route, what a throw? I'd give credit to the play call, but it's just like those are guys excelling. And then later in the game, Jamiir Gibbs gets a touchdown on another fourth and one where they pop it for fifteen yards. So it's just excellence, Like you don't have to single out one thing It's just they're just excellent.
Yeah, excellent. And I believe it was Corey Valentine that was given the unamviable task of not just staying with am On Ross Saint Brown before that play while he was in motion, but then during the play where the Lions offensive line shows just how they're able to keep Jared Golf so clean, because that's that's an eternity to cover a'm On Ross Saint Brown who does two moves on the route and then it's a back shoulder, so I guess that you throw it in that as another throw.
It's just the Lions are doing this again. Brian Branch out of the game, they lose their best at rusher for the entire season. They just keep coming.
Yeah.
And Mike Florio put on Twitter during the Brown that the Browns are expected to trade Zadarias Smith to the Lions, and the expectation is that you know by Sunday night or Monday that that trade is coming. I really wanted to just respond to him, be like, so are you reporting the trade is happening, like or not?
And like what do you mean?
The expectation is that the trade is happening, And I tried to think about it, and I was like, oh, well, Zadaria Smith is playing right now and so he basically knows it. I'm going to just trust that thing's happening and they're just making sure Zadias Smith does it doesn't break his leg or something in that game. But I've never heard of a report quite like that, or a report happened in that point of the week.
That's that's that's the hedge master. Okay, there's there's some hedges that occasionally get sprinkled into some reports about things that maybe could happen in the event that another thing might possibly could right theoretically happen, then the other thing could happen.
Maybe you would think though you would think that like in baseball or basketball, when a trade is imminent, the guy gets pulled from the game.
Played the whole game.
I'm sitting there watching as I see the report, and I'm thinking, are they gonna talk about the game, Like, don't you have to pretend?
I said, if you're gonna trade him, so we'll see what happens.
But you know, guys, I want to say this about the the Amen Rod touchdown pass. Right, This is a perfect example of continuity. This is a team that trusted their coach, their GM and what they had building years ago, and now they've seen some success last year. They go into a situation on Sunday where the elements are against them, fourth and goal, it's raining, and you're gonna throw a back shoulder fade to a guy at the hands on. Chances are not that's not gonna happen. But they've been
together so long that they trust each other. They know exact where they're gonna be and Jared Goff puts it on him perfectly, and he's playing the best football of his career.
That's what makes this team so scary.
You know, last week they win because they get a bunch of short fields and they rack up a bunch of points even though Jared Goff's yard is total super low. This time they do it in a completely different way and it's the same result. Everybody's got to watch out for this team in the NFC.
Oh yeah, they're the favorites and and look Packers. They're at what six and three? Yeah, a couple losses back, so they got some ground to make up. Jayden Reid pulls off some incredible plays. Jordan Love did not look one hundred percent in this game. He was not moving well a couple You know, he's not always the most accurate thrower, so you don't know if it's it's the rain, it's the injury, but he was certainly affected in this game. And they're able to run the ball, whether it's Jacobs
or Wilson. They have six point six yards per play. I still feel very good about this Packers team, but they got out classed in a game where everything had to be right, and yet it has to sting to have the game end. Let's listen to just the chance that are happening at the end of this game.
This is a road game and lambele Field Jared Goff chunks breaking out.
How about that?
That's pretty great.
This great feeling if you're on that.
Lion's sideline they're all celebrating.
Over there is freaking amazing.
Sometimes I just think about the fact that the Detroit Lions are like the best run team in the NFL outside of Kansas City.
It is an amazing thing. I love it. There so fun to watch.
Let's take a quick break and we will beat back with another team that's very fun to watch and put up a lot.
Of points on Sunday.
Only about eighteen yards away from field goal range. Lamar fakes to the late handoff, nog fires down the middle. He's got a man wide open. That's say Flowers at the thirty yard line, breaks a tackle. He's on the twenty Flowers.
Of the tad fire touch down.
Say Flowers, Oh what a catch and run, and the Ravens have delighted the crowd.
Forget the field goal, they got the.
Enzil Rod is funny.
Yeah, I'm never really sure what Rod is saying or doing in the booth Hall of Famer. I mean, you go to the mall in Torrents on Saturday, like me. You'll see some rod woods and jerseys up at the store. People still by in rod Woodson ed Greaters jerseys and Ravens jersey.
But I don't know what he's doing in the booths.
Sometimes wbal Terry Sandusky, Rod Winson.
Sorry now, Lamar jack look he look, Lamar.
Jackson is the headline here, big time play before halftime. The Ravens go on to roll forty one to ten. These were two five and three teams Patrick, but they were.
Not the same.
They were not the same. But early it's felt like they were. It was a ten to seventeen game. Will Lutz hits a field goal and it's the cut to a touchdown, and that's it for the Denver Broncos Offensively. They're stuck on ten for the remainder of the game. The Ravens go touchdown, touchdown, touchdown, field goal, and wind up winning forty one to ten. In a game where Derrick Henry has one hundred yards on the ground, he adds his one hundredth career rushing touchdown, the fifth fastest
ever to get to one hundred rushing touchdowns. Two on the day. Lamar has three completions and the defense kind of figure things out. I know the scoreboard got lopsided, but early on they had two four down stops, one of Javonte Williams another is incompletion. They forced a turnover on the first possession of the game. Other than at very frustrating Philly Philly where somehow Marcus Williams gets lost by Bo Nicks, it was a bounce back performance for
this Ravens defense. And Greg Rosenthal called it because he said that the Broncos were gonna get run out of the stadium, and they did they got rid in the t bank as if they had put a note on the teller's window. That's true.
I made it thirty three to thirteen on Game Devu and Broncos fans are honking.
Look.
Defense sometimes is a function of who you've played. And I know they did well early in the season against like a Baker Mayfield Bucks team, but that was early. The last month of the season, it's been against the worst quarterbacks in the league except for the week that they played Justin Herbert, and they just looked, Okay, now you're playing an MVP and you can't have your defense carry you. This is a Ravens team which didn't even add Deontay Johnson to the mix. And by the end
of the game, they're doing the ultimate victory cigar. They're throwing a pass to Patrick Riccard. Let's listen to that.
Derek Lamar takes a snap, rolls out, throws pat Rickcard touchdown Ravens. What a creative play call by offensive coordinator Todd Munkin. He brought Derrick Henry back in seventy thousand. Fans and every member of the Broncos have their eyes on Derrick Henry off the playfake, Lamar Jackson throws it to Patrick Carr.
Love that look. Yeah, Todd Munkin deserves a few flowers here. Lamar Jackson only had to throw nineteen passes. He went on deark goff three incompletions with three touchdowns.
Nick Schoock, that's not that creative of a play call, by the way, flat Like, look, fullbacks are people too, but it's just fullback flat al right, guys, But no, I mean this is exactly a classic case of a really good team that enters a week pissed off because they got beat by a team that was inferior to them the week before, and then next team waiting in their path is gonna pay for it. And the Broncos paid for today. And if you look at one number,
it's all about efficiency. You talk about Lamar Jackson only having three incompletions, they average seven point three yards per play, like they're just picking up yards at will all game. And then they put the cherry on top and really send a message to John Payton, who got in hot water last week for sending the message to the Carolina Panthers and said we're gonna throw it to the fullback who also used to play a little bit of defensive tackle. How you like them apples.
The difference was that was the third quarter they were just were they were just were rolling them up. What did what did you see out of Bonnicks in this Broncos offense? Because I gotta say, it's become a running joke that like every white quarterback is called sneaky athletic.
It's like it doesn't have to be that way.
Like C. J.
Stroud is sneaky athletic too.
Yeah, but I actually do think Bonex is sneaky because like he I knew he could run, but I didn't know he could run this well, that he could be this efficient scrambler. And I knew he's athletic, but I didn't think it could be moss in people on a contested catch for a touchdown Courtland Sutton, by the way, he took a quarterback hit.
On that throw.
I mean that that was a really well executed play by the two of them, not a fourth down.
Courtland Sutton featured one of those pressures that the Ravens really didn't get a lot of on the day. But it's not just the Baltimore Ravens defense. It's having trouble keeping bon Nicks for getting yards with Yeah, this is an athletic dude, which is why I think the notion that it's sneaky is like, Okay.
I just didn't see all that at you know, the college table. Maybe I missed it. Maybe I missed it.
That's what it is.
The people who think it's sneaky athletic and are surprised by I didn't watch him inn Orgon and maybe they didn't watch Justin Herbert at Oregon because that's the basis of their offense and where quarterbacks thrive.
Dylan Gabriel's doing it right now.
But but Bonix does best is when he gets out on the perimeter, So it behooves the Broncos to get him out running, whether it's throwing or running with the football.
That's his greatest strength.
Right now, He's not really a guy you want to operate in the pocket all day, especially behind this offensive line which has kind of been up and down.
So that didn't surprise me at all.
It's just the fact that you know their limitations, you know that he's still a rookie quarterback, and you know you're playing a Ravens defense going to be capable of causing problems for him. So that's kind of just the result you get. But I still think highly of him.
I think he's got a bright future. It's a different kind of bright future than like a drake may for different reasons, but I think that it serves him best to get him outside and on the run and take advantage of those athletic talents.
That's when he's most dangerous.
You saw the problem that this Ravens defense has in terms of generating a pass rush. But to your point, Nick, when bow Knicks had over four seconds, he was two of five, and there were a lot of times where the Ravens got nothing and bo Nicks is just back there. One of those completions, one of the two was a ball to Courtland Sutton, where the problems covering the other teams wide receiver ones have been consistent for Baltimore all
season long. They had issues dealing with Courtland Sutton, but bo Knicks just didn't generate the type of offense that other quarterbacks would really pick you a part on that. But on throws of under two and a half seconds and then he was four of six over he was fifteen to twenty seven. He had that interception, but he
played well when he was out on the edges. And I still think Baltimore has to figure something out, if not personnel wise, play calling wise, in terms of getting some pressure on me.
Look, they still have to play the Chiefs twice, including next week in Arrowhead.
They have the Falcons after the Chiefs.
This was always going to be a tricky part of the schedule, but they're five and four and they have plenty of winnable games down the stretch. They are going to be in this AFC Wildcard race, I believe until the end. Whether they get over the line, I don't know, but there only one went away from topping their over underwin totals for the year, so they're beating expectations they're
going to be in the mix. But I think this was kind of a humbling game for Broncos and their fans, thinking like there's a pretty big difference between them and the real deal contenders. We're going to find out a lot on Thursday night about real deal contenders because that's Bengals Ravens the rematch. Let's go to Cincinnati. Hopefully they set us up for a good one.
Burrol ready for the shotgun snap, three receivers left, one right, Joe has the ball looking left, goes taught by a second. He's at the twenty middle of the field. Ten five touchdown. Wow, forty seven yards touchdown pass number five for Joe Burrow to tie his career hide.
Sometimes all you can say is wow, Wow, you're just watching greatness.
Dave Lapham knows it. That was him. Dan hord on.
W c K, Why yeah, Joe Burrow got five touchdowns.
It's almost got a six late in the game.
They wanted six, They wanted it. Life is short. Get the six touchdown. I mean it, like, why not?
The Raiders they're just.
Speed bumps right now at this point of the season. They're just falling harder and faster. They actually Ben s Gardner Minshew for Desmond Ritter in this game. Finally the Bengals get a game they can just kind of relax and enjoy a victory.
Forty one to twenty four. Nick.
When this offense is cooking, it looks like one of the league's best, even without t Higgins on Sunday, Yeah, you.
Know, Joe Burrow had a He put together a masterclass of improvisation in this game. You know, you've seen him thrive from the pocket throwing downfield, and they've had to because their defense has just been, you know, subpar for the early portion of the season. At least they had
to throw their way to just stay in games. That wasn't the case on Sunday because they got after Gardner Minshew so much that Antonio Pierce benched in, like you said, for Desmond Ritter, because he's just throwing spaghetti at the wall and seeing what sticks at this point. But Burrow was fantastic and it reminded me again not to make another Mahomes comparison, but I'm going to because the improvisation was just exquisite. He according next to gen stats, you know,
he goes twenty two for thirty one. When he's not on the run, he's under eight miles an hour, right, but over eight miles an hour he's five for eight for thirty two yards and three touchdowns. Just the way to create and make plays out on the run, finding guys.
This offense was humming.
Chase Brown goes over one hundred yards for the first time in his career. They finished with three seventy three, and it felt like it could have been five to seven with the way that they looked.
They just looked like.
A really good unit even without t Higgins Today, these types of games, I know that they don't play the Raiders every week, and I know they're going to be challenged defensively continuously. But this game, man, it had to feel good. They were finally back home and they could send their fans home winners comfortably.
So for the first time this season, you.
Don't have to apologize for easy wins over teams that are struggling. The Raiders that chances to be the Chiefs last last week, and this Bengals team. I think it's important for them to get a consistent ground game. They also didn't have Zach Moss. They're getting a lot of production out of Mike Sicky, who goes for one hundred yards and two touchdowns. Their tight ends have been quite good all year. Eric All's been a really good rookie for them. They play Tanner Hudson like they've got all
the components offensively. I think we know that, and it does set up a delicious TNF. I got Nick Wesling on the recap with me. I've been looking forward to this one for months. I wanted the Bengals to get there five and four. Instead they're four and five, and it just makes it an even bigger game for them. But at least they're going into it feeling good.
Yeah, because the chance to take on the Ravens at home. We are going to see more Mike Gasicki. It's a torn acl for Eric All. So the good two way tight end blocking and receiving going to be done. So that's going to change things a little bit for the Bengals. But just to see, as Shook mentioned, Joe Burrow throwing on the run that touchdown pass to Chase Brown. He gives Chase Brown time to uncover and that's what speed
at that position does because there's nobody open. But Burrow's able to roll to his right enough time for Chase Brown to clear and he hits him there. They really didn't even get a lot from Jamar Chase, but he commanded so much attention they're able to just go up and down the field. This is the Bengals team that was promised. And you know what do we take from Coach Lou's squad holding the Raiders to twenty four points?
I don't know it's the Raiders, but despite the fact that they give up Zamir White's first rushing touchdown of the season. I think they had a solid game. Considering that the Raiders started with a seventeen play drive, it takes up almost the entire first quore. The first quarter had three drives in it just between the Bengals and the Raiders consuming clock. But after that, I really think they got it together.
On the other side, Hendrickson had Trey Hendrickson had ten quarterback pressures seven quick pressures, which is up there with the most by anyone in any game all season. The Raiders have the worst EPA per rush of any team, not in this game, but in the entire first nine weeks of the season of any team this century. They are the worst, the worst running game maybe ever. At least right now they are in the mix. And this
is one of the games where the coach lost. And I don't think anything would happen mid season with Antonio Pierce. But it's one of the games today that got me thinking about h.
I wonder what the softseason.
Could look like like.
The story of this game was like one great opening drive and Gardner Minsh makes a couple of nice throws and some mere white gets in the end zone and then they just disappeared offensively. And I understand and why he's tired of Minshew and he's just grasping its straws at this point because he's looking for, as the coaches say, a spark. Well, desn Ritard is not going to provide you a spark. Aidan O'Connell lost that spark when he got hurt. You have nowhere else to turn and you
have no answers. DeVante Adams is no longer on this team. Jacoby Myers. His return has helped this offense and helped them early in this game, but that's not something that's going to fix everything. Like this dam has a lot of cracks in it, and you just don't have enough piece of the chewing gum to keep, you know, everything from leaking out. So I hate to say it because his first year is the permanent head coach, but they're
just going nowhere fast. So I would not be surprised if at some point they did make it.
Change well, especially just because of the history there with Mark Davis. But but big Win, I want the Bengals to be relevant to the very end of the season. I think they will be no matter what happens on Thursday night, but does set up a fun one.
Let's go, God.
I do want to give out some hope they're winning the MRI on Eric All Okay, I don't want to go Twitter doctor there. So perhaps there's a chance it's not a terrorist. So we're gonna have to figure that out.
All right, let's hope. Let's also go to the Giant, go to the Washington Commanders and see if the Commandos could get a season sweep.
At the eighteen to three wide receivers of the left empty backfield, Jade loads it up towards the edge, towards mcclardy, catches.
That touch y'all own, touch you out Washington.
Perfect throw from Daniels.
To the blauren.
If we've learned anything, you.
Do not doubt Jaden Diels going to Terry mccaudy.
You never doubt him.
Although like Bram Einstein sounded almost surprised by how good of a throw that was. Yes time running down in the first half, Jade and Daniels gets a seventeen yard touchdown to Terry McLaurin. Washington stays ahead the rest of the game. They win twenty seven to twenty two against a game Giants offense. It was the Washington offense that had to win this game for them, and week after week, the different tests that they face, they just keep passing.
And I was really impressed by the Commanders in this game because the Giants did what they wanted to for much of the game offensively, ran the ball down their throats in the first half. Yeah, I know, there was that famous now famous that that Daniel Jones had zero passing yards in the first half and a touchdown, which I think he was the first person ever to do that.
But they were moving the ball great.
He barely threw the ball in the first half, and they kept scoring in the second half. But what do the Commanders do? Their offensive line dominated. They're eleven for eleven this season. Now, on fourth downs, when Jaden Daniels had to deliver, he did a play really stands out to me that won't be in any highlight package. Third and eight up twenty four to sixteen, It's still a one score game at that point, Giants get early pressure up the middle, Dexter Lawrence doing what he's done all year.
Almost any other quarterback would not have completed a pass on that play, and Daniel's just so calm, just keeps drifting back, drifting back, drifting back.
The games just seemed so slow for him.
He finds his open checkdown for the first down and they end up scoring a field goal on that drive that essentially ends it. And there was just a lot of moments in this game took where he just needed to make a play like that touchdown to McLaurin, and he just makes the play and then you just take it for granted. But they weren't necessarily easy plays like these were a pretty high degree of difficulty plays that this rookie just keeps putting on tape every single week.
Yeah, and that's why he's committed the attention that he has.
That's why last week's win was so big when he's playing through a rib injuries, because this is a kid who has exceeded all expectations because of his ability to deliver in the clutch, and even in a game against the Giants, a game that on paper you're supposed to win. You are a team that is ascending, The Giants are a wayward ship at best, and yet you still have to come through in the NFL because any given Sunday, you still have to come through in the key moments
and again, time and time again. He's able to do that on a day where the offense is fairly balanced but still kind of leans on him, where the Giants are giving you everything they've gotten, making an interesting game for four four quarters. That's why he's gonna win Offensive
Rookie of the Year. That's why everybody has hope in the Nation's cap now because they know, for the first time in years, if not decades, maybe since Robert Griffin the third when he was a rookie, they have a quarterback they can get the job done.
And he continues to prove it evening games like this.
He does it with not a full contingent in the backfield, Brian Robinson Junior out with the hamstring injury. Austin Eckler exceeded his season high of eight carries in the first half and he finishes with eleven. They had Rodriguez come
in he had eleven carries as well. But this the Giants scored their first that's Daniel Jones's first passing touchdown at MetLife this season, and considering that this was a relative offensive explosion and they beat this team earlier this year in a field goal festival from both teams right where the one team couldn't kick field goals and that was the Giants, and the Commander is able to bring
in a kicker and have success in the kicking game. Here, they just make every single necessary play, right, it was not this continued Look, every single high leverage play. The Washington Commanders came out on top here and the Giants. Where we're doing Game Day Live and Mark Ross looks up and he sees Deontay Banks on Terry McLaurin. He calls a touchdown before it happens. It's like, this is
banks on mclauren. That's not going to work out. Terry has a quarterback now and you could just see how gifted a receiver he is.
Yeah, they've only turned the ball over three times this season, which I believe ties for the fewest ever for through nine games in NFL.
History, which is crazy.
So they've been very careful with the ball and like the Giants, only had seven real possessions in this game. That's why I'm giving the offense for the Commanded. This was very similar to the first game, where it was a bunch of long drives between the two teams. It was the classic Daniel Jones game because it has that crazy stat at halftime, everyone's laughing. He had a fumble that should have been returned for a touchdo down by the Commander's defense.
They blew it dead.
It was a mistake by the officials, but they did award the ball to the Commanders, and so he has a big groaner of a play. He has that funny stat, but he also, you know, has a truck stick on the goal line where he runs over two dudes. I forget who he runs over on the goal end. I
believe it was Dante Fowler and Sandra Still. Sandra Still was the one who really got it, but Fowler's involved in Jones runs him over and then they're trying to catch up in this game, and it was a one score game and he leads him to two touchdown drives in the fourth quarter when it's still a game. So he actually played pretty well and it still wasn't enough. So that's sort of the classic Daniel Jones game. But the touchdowns to me that the Commander scored are so instructive.
Eckler had an absolutely nasty, angry run on the goal line where he just runs over Okerriky. That was what was on my mind. Then you have the first touchdown throw to McLaurin, which is a second in inches and the last thing you think they're gonna do is throw the ball there because they've been running so well and it was not an easy play, but he throws it into a tight window to McLaurin get the touchdown. Then there's the dart that you heard already to McLaurin that
we listened to as the highlight. But another play that really stands out to me is second and nine, And this is why the coaches deserve a ton of credit. They've really timed their play call sequencing so well. It's second and nine late in this game. They're trying to run clock and win the game here, and they drop Jayden Daniels back to pass with two zho five to go. Instead of you know, running again there, which is going
to be predict predictable. Instead of running on first down or on third down, you pass it on seventh, second down. You give Jade and Daniels a chance to close out the game. Let's listen to that call.
Daniels is in.
No rush, lifts his foot takes the snat play action, rolling White throwing back left as a wide open A lot of these the kids at the forty fine racing at the.
Twenty seven yard line want to play by.
Dariels I love that because it's just a perfect play call in the moment, and they were aware enough situationally, because the clock is running there and you're about to hit the two minute warning that they're on their p's and q's that they snap the ball. When they snap it, they know they're going to get a play where they can throw the ball and they don't mind stopping the clock.
You'd be surprised not that many coaches are going to be that confident in their rookie quarterback to make that play call and they're not going to be aware enough to call that and that ends the game.
It's awesome just preparation, execution and being able to rely on your players to make plays. Sol lamindes a kias giving big hugs to Cliff Kingsbury and Dan Quinn as they're able to kneel that nail the playout towards the end of the game where they could have scored again right right, they're able to just shut it down and that's save snaps.
Yet not of the Sean Payton variety. They could have put it thirty four to twenty two. I just decided not to on a day. Noah Brown and Zakias and Ekeeler and Diami Brown are their four leading receivers. Terry McLaurin a very efficient two for nineteen two touchdowns. They are seven and two. What a great NFC East race. It's gonna be between Washington and Philadelphia. Let's go out west and see how the Bears responded from that Hail Mary fiasco.
Third and five at the forty seven of Arizona, Harrison wide left and Murray runs it far side and breaking free is Steamer Coatta at the forty dear side, thirty twenty ten to five touchdown.
With four seconds left in the half. The Bears never expected that Steamercata on a handoff runs fifty three yards for a touchdown. The Bears give up another big score at the end of.
A half, Dave Pash hitting him where it hurts on KMVP and yes, it's time for the Sunday Drive presented by the new hybrid Toyota Camry oh Man I. Hail Mary as a fifty three yard run. That drive was totally preposterous. They got the ball back with twenty six seconds left and they ran for a touchdown and left four seconds on the clock. The Bears defense not impressive
all day. Twenty nine to nine. The Cardinals put it on the Bears every which way on a day that Kyler Murray had like a C game, maybe even C minus for how he's played this season, Like, didn't do anything great, didn't take anything off the table.
The Cardinals win easy.
That's a sign to me that this team is really growing, is really becoming complete. They can run the ball. James Connor ends up with eighteen for one oh seven. You heard the Amari de Marcato run. Trey Benson has little cameo a in a big spot in the game and gets a touchdown, had a seventeen yard run as well. And their defense, like just very very impressed by their defense. Having sixteen different players get a pressure on Caleb Williams. Yes, that is the most next Gen Stats has recorded in
a game all season. That seems insane that sixteen different Cardinals got pressure. Another game where Caleb is pressured almost half the time, and they it was just like hunting season for this Cardinals defense, sending blitzes and sometimes even with the four man.
Rush's And that's what it is for this Arizona Cardinals team, where it's pressure by committee. Right, this is the typical because you mentioned sixteen players. According to next Gen Stats, Scalab Williams was under pressure on fifteen on fifteen attempts, and so fifteen times scale Williams is throwing the ball.
The Cardinals have sixteen guys getting pressure. It's I know there's more total pressures right than that, but still to see him all those pressured attempts, he's nine to fifteen for seventy eight yards, which doesn't seem that bad, but they could not sustain drives against this Cardinals defense that there's pressure. They were able to hold DeAndre Swift to keep him away from a couple of game breaking plays.
And when you get positive like like the fifty four yard I'm Mario de Mercado touchdown where he didn't even have that many carries, James Connor goes over one hundred yards on the ground, it just seems like the Cardinals just a better team here playing at home against the Bears team that's kind of reeling right now.
It sounds like it's a case of one team that I think prepared better than the other. And I could understand that with the way that Chicago lost that game, and you know, Matt Ebfus had to spend two days answering questions about Tyreek Stevenson. I mean that you talk about distractions, that's a distraction. And everybody was surprised by that touchdown round by a Mario dear Mircado, Dave Pash was surprised when he called it.
He goes Murray carries.
Was that surprising play called the run in that in that of course it was yeah, yeah.
Right, And Ebfus admitted we went for a pass pressure because we didn't think they were gonna run. I understand, but I'm worried about the Bears because I think that this might snowball. If it gets like this, like this might be the turning point. This might be the moment that we look back and think that was the beginning of the end of the Matt Eavenfus era. Whereas on the Cardinals, look at them, they're five and four. The Cardinals, who we said would be a fun team, and we'll
see how many games they win. Just take it to a team that had a good defense that did not bring that defense to the desert. And on a day in which Kyler Murray plays, okay, they still dominate with the rushing attack. That again, we know this to be true about the Cardinals. James Connor breaks a hundred yards, they'd probably got to have a good chance to win the game, and they certainly did today.
The Bears were not gonna win this game no matter how many times he played it because of their run defense right off the bat, and there were a couple
early drives where the Cardinals didn't get anything going. The teams are just trading punts early in the fourth quarter, But after that they got whatever they wanted to on the ground, and it was that creative, just perfectly time run blocking and play calls that they had last year, where it was outside, it was inside, it was zone, it was power like, it was a little bit of everything. They end up with two thirteen, but they had like one hundred and sixty at halftime and just kind of
coasted the rest of the way. And yeah, I think nationally like the big takeaway from this game will be Bears. But to me, it's the Cardinals. They're in first place and they have a lot going on. They have a like I think they have great vibes right now, like they they haven't been in important games like this since about the same part of the season in twenty twenty one when they I think they got to ten and two that year before it really caved in on them.
So just a lot of credit. This coaching staff is really showing what you can do with with strong coaching and buying from the players, and they're really playing hard
on the bear side. You mentioned distracting week, Nick, Yeah, there were some like conversations with the media and the coaches of Courtney Cronin of ESPN even said like, this is a really important game for Eberflus, almost hinting at like they knew something more when I was surprised by that because look, they're a four and three team, but they benched Tyreek Stevenson. He has his helmet off the first couple of drives and then suddenly he has to come into the game.
He actually made some good plays in this game.
He has to come into the game because they have a couple of injuries, and I know those injuries are why Patrick Claibun joined me on the Cardinals side and flipped his pick right before the game.
Yeah, I've felt for a couple of weeks now Kyler Gordon and Jakwan Brisker kind of the deciding factor is the Bears defense is notably different without both of those guys in the secondary. And this is something that now we're two weeks that we saw it happened with the Baltimore Ravens and Marcus Williams and now with Stevenson of
the Bears. I think it's very difficult, especially in the secondary, to do this kind of ViBe's punishment thing for players when they make mistakes if they are the best player in that particular situation, which is why they were on the field in the first place. And so then you do that and more bad things happen and you put yourself in a position where you can execute because you're
punishing a guy for not executing. When let's be honest, Stevenson wasn't the only Bear to make a mistake on that particular play, and he definitely wasn't the one to make a mistake in that particular game in the loss to them.
No, I mean the coach the coach not taking a time out, the coach in the way that he called it, the coach, the coach setting up that thing, made mistakes, and eber Flus, he's just holding that play sheet real tight right now. When they had that holding call that called back one of their big runs on the thing, he just had a look on his face like like I would imagine Bears fans had at home of just like just total fury that he's just trying to hold inside.
And you just feel like it's piling up a little bit. And it's true about Caleb Williams too, Like multiple things can be true. The offensive line is not playing well. I think whatever they're calling on offense isn't working. He's not on the same page with Keenan Allen too and DJ Moore too many times, just a lot of incompletion.
But also when he has been protected, he hasn't looked comfortable and he's missed a lot of throws by a lot, Like there were just a lot of uncatchable passes in this game before the roof really caved in in the second half and they couldn't protect him. So it's just a lot going wrong for the Bears and Yes, mattiberflus will really be tested. That was the Sunday Drive presented by the all new hybrid Toyota Camri. Whatever your vibe, it's a camera vibe. Learn more at Toyota dot com
slash camriy. Let's go to Cleveland. Jamis Winston's got the Browns as a feel good story, right.
So a third and six the Chargers two a five. On third down, they go empty. Herbert, rolling to his right, sets his feet takes a.
Shut down field two wide open thirty twenty five twenty turn on the Jets quintin touch.
Down, Chargers sixty six yards.
That was our friend, Matt money Smith KYSR. Thank you to whoever cut that highlight for making sure Daniel Jeremiah didn't get into it at all. I already have regrets about leading into this game and taking a shot at at Jamis. Yeah, he didn't have a good day of three interceptions, but frowns. They've been through enough, their fans have been through enough. Let's talk about the brightness of this game.
At least to open the Chargers are five and three.
Justin Herbert, on the backing of his placement on quarterback Island, had another really clean game Nick against a good defense.
Yeah, Greg, I know you like to tout when you're right about, you know, making prescient kicks like the Bills being a Super Bowl p me me, Justin Hurbert, meet you.
Of all people, you Justin.
Herbert playing like one of the best quarterbacks in the league over the last month and a half or so. Well, guess what, he had his best game of the season today, and it was because of the circumstances around him. Now, that highlight we played, that's a blown coverage. Brown's Blue two coverages for two touchdown passes. But it was still on Justin Herbert to find Josh Palmer for the first touchdown pass on a third and incredibly long I think
it was third and twenty one. It was shocking to everybody, including everybody at the stadium in Cleveland. They were like, I can't believe they just gave up this play. But that's the illustration of who Herbert is because they got pressured a lot by this Browns defense, which played really well except for those blown coverages. In this game, he faced a pressure percentage over fifty percent, and yet he
delivered debt all day, all afternoon. He was fantastic, and we had some interesting insight from next Gen stats that kind of captures the picture here because.
The deep ball is working for him.
In this last month, he was the most productive on passes over ten air yards. On Sunday, he completed seven to twelve downfield attempts for one hundred ninety six yards and two touchdowns. He's reached one hundred plus passing yards on downfield attempts in three straight games, and that was after he totaled a grand total of one hundred and forty five passing yards on such attempts in the first four weeks combined. He's balling right now and they're all
benefiting from it. And they were clearly the better team on both sides of the ball in this game today. And for the first time this season, I saw the Chargers, who have good defense. We've talked about how they' physical and everything else. I saw them impose their will on an opposing offense and really shut down anything the Browns
brought to the table. It was a resounding victory for them, and the first time where I look at them and think, you know what, if they can play like this every Sunday, they're going to be in the discussion before.
I thought a little bit of fraud.
Watch playing like this and the defense playing this well like they did on Sunday, Watch out for them.
Yeah, it would be very easy for somebody to pull up the fact that Josh Palmer right got ten point four yards of separation on his touchdown, it was seven yards of separation for Quentin Johnston on his and say, well, you know, Herbert was the beneficiary of these blown coverages. But Joe Alt gave up more pressures to Miles Garrett today than he has in his previous three games combined. Miles had three sacks early in this game, a lot
of pressure for Herbo. In the run game, JK. Dobbins has most of the carries, goes for eighty five yards
and two touchdowns. There was a great cutback that he had where the Chargers were just making these Again, a team in position that the tad wins, and you can see the reason that they won these games because when they get in position to make the play, if the play is out there to be made, the Chargers made it today and the Browns didn't a week after they made those plays to get a win against Baltimore.
Yeah, JK.
Dobbins goes for eighty five yards and two touchdowns on the ground, his first good running game in a while. Mconkey's turned into a very steady weekly option. Getting Quinton Johnston back is big for a team that needs as many weapons as they can. Explain to me, Shook, how this defense which has been really solid, I mean part of it has been opponent based, I admit, but they do a little extra and the Browns offense is coming off of a good performance instead today. Yeah, Jamis Winston.
You mentioned the throws over ten yards for Herbert. Winston was nine for twenty on his throws, not much yardage, three interceptions and his touchdown on the day.
How did they get it done? Well?
First off, the Chargers did a great job up front with limiting the run. The Browns could not get anything going on the groun. Nick Chubb went fifteen for thirty nine yards. Okay, for the mental math experts at home, that's two point six yards per unity. I have the assistance of the box score in front of me right now. So they were one dimensional. And when you're one dimensional against Jameis Winston, what do you do? You mess up the picture? You make it difficult for him to find
guys open. And they did it all day. I mean, he threw the classic Jameis Winston turnover worthy passes in bunches in this game. Now, one of them first two picks were actually kind of bad luck. One was tipped and caught in the end zone and another one he expected Cedric Tillman to win the leverage inside on a post and he just gave up on the route because he never won the leverage inside. And Jamis threw it as an anticipatory throw. But this offense just had nothing.
They couldn't go anywhere because the couldn't run the ball, and Jamis kept turning the ball over. Even when they got close, they turned the ball over. They were beat at like a human level. We know that we are the inferior team here. The coaching staff of the Chargers was miles ahead of the Browns staff on both sides. Jesse Minner put together a great defensive game plan, and Greg Roman was running circles around this Brown's defense on those blown plays and on some of the bigger plays
they did. I thought the most impressive play of the entire day was the cutback that Patrick just mentioned on the Jake Dobbin's touchdown run. It was blocked perfectly, like one of the best block plays I've seen all year, to where it was an easy run into the end zone. That's just the sign of a team that's better coached and better prepared and executes better.
And are getting great production out of those two rookie corners. I was talking about. It's Cam hart Ta Heep still season. Jim Harbaugh was honking about it after the game, just saying he thanks God that he has these two guys, and they're getting Tully Pilot with two and a half sacks in this game, Morgan Fox with a couple of sacks,
So getting a lot of production. And yeah, the Browns are at two and seven, and this was a comeback to Earth game kind of of like you thought, maybe jam is gonna lead us to have some fun, and I think they'll have more fun down the stretch than they would have without him. But they are going to be sellers at the trade deadline that's coming up on Tuesday. We have Mike Garatfolo in the studio for a post trade deadline spectacular, so that'll be a lot of fun.
Zadarias Smith could be leaving the Browns. We'll see if anyone else is. Let's take a quick break, our last break, I hope, so we'll be back talk a little.
Falcons Cowboys on the other.
Side, Atlanta one for five on third down.
They're going four on fourth to two?
All up here?
Yeah, empty set for Cousins. Cowboys showing pressure. Snap the kirk here they come. Gotta get rid of it.
Line for Mooning twenty fifteen ten five touchdown Atlanta fourth and one is the home run ball for Darnel Mooning.
A fourth down decision that resulted in a touchdown for Darnell Mooney, their leading receiver five for eighty eight and a touchdown. He might have to be their leading receiver for a minute here. Drake London left this game with a hip injury. But no more bad news for the Atlanta Falcons. They're on a streak twenty seven to twenty one. They beat the Dallas Cowboys to get to six and three atop the NFC South. The Cowboys becoming irrelevant and Kirk o Chain just keeps finding a way.
To get it.
I guess you just don't have to move to play quarterback at the NFL.
There was actually a very lengthy play in the pocket where Kirk Cousins kind of evaded pressure. Okay for a while. Kirk hung in there and made a throw to Bjeon Robinson who got some yards after the catch. Who Bijon goes nineteen carries for eighty six yards. The defense does enough. Dak Prescott actually leaves this game with a hamstring injury. Cooper Rush comes in late. Falcons play it safe, allow
some short completions. Ceedee Lamb, playing with the shoulder injury in this game, eventually left with that shoulder injury, which was kind of emblematic of the situation for the Dallas Cowboys. It's all on Ceede Lamb showal to really provide the production for this passing offense. We've said it week to week. Dak goes eighteen of twenty four for one thirty three. He has a touchdown. The Cowboys are in this game,
but on plays like that on the defensive side. On the highlight for you guys watching on the podcast, Darnell Mooney runs a wheel route. Cowboys are in man. Three Cowboys defenders run into each other, leaving Darnell Mooney wide open for that touchdown. On fourth down where Rahem Morris is making these fourth down calls. The Falcons, if I'm not mistaken, got every fourth down that they went for in this game where Dallas just could not make the place.
Yeah, when you're giving up a lot of pressures to the Falcons pass rush, it means it's broken. And for Dak to leave this game with an injury, CD eventually leaves, Zeke didn't even make the trip our. Jane Slater reports that he's been quote distracted for much of this season and has been late to team meetings just for I
don't know. This is supposed to be the foundation. Not that Zeke is that important of a player, but he just everything for this team and their schedule makes you feel like they should be sellers and that they could end up with a pretty high draft pick forget about contending for the playoffs.
Nick, Yeah, well, first off, that's strangely ambiguous, and I think that points to a larger issue at hand with these Cowboys. But really, if you look at them just like just simply they are they have a bare cupboard right now. All the injuries that have impacted them on both sides of the ball, Dak getting hurt in this game, CD playing through injury, and he still hasn't quite been on the same page with Dak over the last month. They've had a lot of miscommunications that have result in
turnovers and everything else. I mean, Jerry Jones spoke this week about how if we just cut down on the turnovers, you know, the opportunity is still there. We know how Dak can play in between the turnovers, and we have a great coach at Mike McCarthy. You're patching things up with the stuff that's not going to hold. The foundation
itself is cracked and there's really nowhere to turn. So as much as the Cowboys want to be contenders, a loss like this that drops you to three and five with the trade deadline approaching, I think I agree with you, Greg, I think they become sellers. I think they admit that, look, we don't have a good enough roster to compete. We're two banged up, We're not going to catch the other
teams in our division. We might as well sell Because games like this where you lose by six points, granted with a touchdown in the final two minutes, that should be informative to you that you're just not good enough. This year, and maybe you need to reset now. On the Falcon side, Kirk keeps slinging it baby. Three touchdowns, and that touchdown pass to Darnel Mooney that we just played looked a lot like that first Kyle Pitts touchdown pass against the Buccaneers, which also came on fourth down.
I love the aggression of the Falcons right now. They're playing with no regard for what could possibly go wrong.
They don't care. They're flying high and they win another one.
Yeah, no way that they were going to lose on outcast sweatshirt Day. I don't know if it was officially that, but they started selling them. They started selling them over the weekend. And yeah, the Cowboys go to Philadelphia or they have Philadelphia in Dallas next week, then Texans at Commanders. It's feeling grim.
For this team.
We'll see if Dak can play next week. They'll need that to happen. And I give the Falcons credit for stacking up these wins against teams that they should be because I didn't know that they were going to be in a position really to do that all season.
Hey, Greg, real quick before we jump games. Okay, we have a little surprise for you. A few weeks back, maybe a month back. Now we exchange in our group chat a picture of a giveaway a two lane and of course there's some two lane flavor to this recap with Darnell Mooney and you yourself.
We've got Randy Shavis.
I mean, if you're not watching on YouTube, yeah, just seeing Randy's back is Randy worth it.
Randy spearheaded this idea, so we tracked down a two lane throwback football.
This is amazing, not only the most beautiful helmet in the world, but also has a nice children's hospital New Orleans support them, two lane Green Wave helmet.
Thank you.
I mean, Darnell Mooney representing the Green Wave proudly, but hell, the Green Wave are representing the Green Wave proudly.
Are we in the top twenty five?
Now?
I need to check because they.
Were twenty eight also receiving votes before they won on Halloween Night.
The preposterous CFB poll coming out on Tuesday, where it's just it's all vibes.
Wait, we gotta wait till Tuesday, Yeah, we gotta wait till Tuesday.
I was wondering how to be a show who cares.
About actual principles and figuring it out and what the votes mean. Just make it a big TV show and slap everybody in the face.
Well you know Election Tuesday where you honor the team that just splattered Charlotte on national television.
Well, you know what, Tulane, they could be in that top twenty five and they should be.
They should be after beating Temple this weekend.
Well I shouldn't.
I shouldn't get them.
To assume it's gonna happen, and I'm going to enjoy it. They're seven to two, they've won six straight because the other team I root for doesn't have as many wins in their future.
Hasty in the backfield with bank Waite, Fake May looking deep, throwing deep. Booty is there, but.
Hook came over again it Hooker.
Came over to get it. Check it, knee head, it's over.
It's ober him, Buddy Hooker, his third pick up the year, his second of the day, and he saves the day.
Yes, Amani Hooker gets it done. That was Mike Keith Dave McGinnis wg FX. The Titans hang on to win
twenty to seventeen. At first, I had this one way, I'll higher up in the show because it deserves to be included in the drunk games, but not as relevant and so it would have maybe been showing my Patriots by Drake May does a little bit of everything, has a crazy game, tying touchdown to force it to overtime, and then an underthrown ball thrown into the win by Drake May's estimation said he should have put more on it and he thought he would have had the arm
to do it, but comes up short, as do the Patriots. Twenty to seventeen, Nick the Patriots sat Kyle Duggar, kJ Osborne and Taekwon Thornton, perhaps in a pre trade talk idea, or they're gonna they're gonna trade them, like because they sat josh Ucha weekuld Go before trading him.
The Titans get a win.
Hey, everyone deserves to win every once in a while, and the Titans needed this one.
They're two and six.
This game felt on just visual, just eye test alone.
I was like, this game matches their records like these are both teams with one or two wins and they're battling all the way to overtime to try to scratch out another win. I gotta give a lot of credit to drink Man. I know the Patriots lost, but he played well and he also engineered a drive that included a last second, no time left in the clock, desperate throw into the end zone under pressure to Ramandre Stevenson
to send this game to overtime. He also ran eight times for ninety five yards and led them and rushing. I felt like they kind of deserve to win, but they are the Patriots. Whereas on the Titans side, you got Mason Rudolph again filling in for Will Levis, does a good enough job, throws a pick that was you know, it was a high ball and a tight end, you.
Know, like a tunnel screen along the goal.
I don't know why you're quite running that on that situation, but it ends up in the hands of the Patriots. Ugly game that matches their records, but still in an entertaining game. And Tony Pollard twenty eight for one, twenty eight nice little performance for him.
I love that you mentioned Pollard, who I keep mentioning is is would help this Cowboys team so much and has been one of the better running backs in the league, like a top ten running back this year. He's leading the NFL in yards after contact and he's stuck on this team that just can't help him out. So a great job by the Thames. Let's listen to that play. I have not listened to this yet, but I am curious. I want, I want a little Zolac of May's game tie and touchdown.
The snap to May back two steps, looks to the end zone. He pumps, he backs up, He slides left. He looks in the left corner. Now he rolls to his right. He pulls up in the middle of the field. Drake May alludes a defender running to his left, looking into the end zone, trying to keep the play alive.
Falling down, he throws.
To the end zone.
It's clean touchdown on Stevenson.
Oh my god, man.
Left dude right bobbing and weaving, singing it.
He's shagging.
He tosses the bone Romadrie Stevenson and the Patriots are an extra pot away.
Absolute stun silence from Zolac during the first because Drake May had that ball for eleven seconds before he threw it. Uh, by the way, stun silence, but you can hear Zolac building in the silence and then finally erupting as Drake May makes it. Makes what could have been the play of the day of Saquon to jump over somebody backwards, Yes, for no reason, just in an incredible moment from Saquon.
We talked about that already, but that the number two play of the day from Drake May with was zero's on the clock.
I know if he didn't look so tired, I know that wasn't that wasn't part of Drod Mayo's thinking him not going for two there, But May looked a little gassed right, Well, yeah it was. It was the second longest touchdown completion in terms of holding the ball in the Next Gen stats era behind Can you guess Daniel's Hill? Mary, Yeah,
last week. There you go, just a proposters play. And it's crazy because May did a lot of crazy things in this game, and yet when they got the ball back at the end, I was like, and they only scored one touchdown all a game. I was like, I wouldn't be surprised at all if they just scored a touchdown here.
In fact, I kind of think they will. And somehow he made it happen.
It was a very composed drive before that play, which was crazy, and he let you know like he was not worried about you know, getting a concussion last week. Literally the second play of the game, he runs up the middle for twenty six yards and doesn't slide and like takes a pretty big hit to the mid section on that plate earlier in that tying touchdown drive. You missed to Mario Davis, like it is up and down, but he needed a TD.
He got it. He's their best player. They're a mess. It was.
It was just a lot going on in this game. But I don't know if the Patriots deserved to win because they were outgained by like one hundred. They lost the turnover battle, the time of possession, they lost. Their offensive line is absolutely terrible, especially in run blocking. Ramandre who's a really good player, had sixteen yards on ten carries, So it's like that's all blocking. They could not pick up a yard to save their life at one point. And so that's why I don't kill them for not
going for two. And yet I wanted them to go for two.
Yeah, because you have an opportunity to win the game and you're not a good football team. And it was a flog of a game in itself. By the way, that completion probability on that throw fifteen point eight percent. I don't know where that ranks, but it's pretty good for a rookie. They have a quarterback, They have the guy. They just need to make sure they don't break him and start adding to the around him.
But they don't have anything else though. I think they're now.
I think they're the worst team in the NFL other than Drake may Like, if you just took out the quarterback position, Oh for sure, I really think they are.
Who knows, I mean, you can't really measure that.
Also that the Titans got a little bit of luck. They drive down the Patriots' throats after Mayo decides to go to overtime, but they have a fumbled snap on third down inside the ten yard line and that ball is up for grabs and Mason Rudolph gets it back. So that's the best play of Mason Rudolphs Titans.
Gray got the ball back on the fumble.
But and again i''ll triple down on the play of Tony Poller. Tony Hollar had thirty plus yards on that drive in overtime, making something out of nothing. Every single all they had. All they had to do was so facilitate the exchange between the quarterback and the center and hand the ball off to Tony Pollard, and they almost they almost messed it up entirely basic. Rudolf able to get back on top of that ball. But that's the
reason they got that field goal. That the Drake may interception ends the game, because otherwise it could have been absolute calamity for the Titans.
But they I was kind of hoping for a tie here. I thought, maybe we get Yeah.
We were very much in the ties. What I tweeted about on the next.
Players because Mayo used all of his time outs just to stop his defense from being tired, which I guess I get.
I don't know.
Let's listen to Brian Callahan after the game. You're saying, really, we're going to listen to a quote from a losing a winning coach on a two and sixteen. But yeah, it's like, this is for the Titans fans out there, This is for Mike Keith, this is for Grave Digger, this is for Brian Callahan.
Just how bad? Like, did you guys need this today? I look at me, I needed a bad man. It was, yeah, we needed him.
Callahan was pretty emotional a couple times during that press conference it wears on you this losing. So good for the Titans getting their second win of the year. Let's go to another sogfest. That was kind of fun in Carolina.
Panthers trying to stop a five game losing streak. Saints have lost six.
In a row.
Crowd at Bank of America Stadium to its feet. Fourth and four comes down to this car out of the shotgun.
Here's the snap in the pocket.
Car floats at deep devil upside for Wilson and has juggled.
Then complete Carolina takes over.
It has been a long time since we have lined up in victory formation on this field.
Yeah, good for the Carolina Panthers twenty three to twenty two. That was a niche Strafs from wr ch f X in Carolina. We haven't had to call that name too often this season. Yeah, Derek Carr and the Saints had a chance to set up for a game winning field goal.
They don't really get that close, and Bryce.
Young kneels it out and that must have put a smile on Patrick Claybonn's face.
Yeah it did, because the conversation about Bryce Young just being completely unviable as the season began, where the offense wasn't good. He gets bench for Andy Dalton. Andy Dalton comes in and it's like, oh, the Carolina Panthers exist now because Andy Dalton's there, and he gets back in, albeit due to when Andy Dalton injury. Gets this win over a team that they got run out of the stadium by in the first week of the season, and now it seems like they are not just seems these
two teams moving in completely different directions. The Panthers are not a good football team by any stretch, but they come through beat up the Saints, This beat up Saints team towards the end where Chris o'lave has to leave this game with another concussion. He's taken to the hospital, got updates from his brother letting us know that he was texting him. Fine, they eventually make it back into
the locker room after the game. But even in that final fourth down decision where they need four yards and it's a shot played down the sideline, where you're wondering the decision making, the play calling, the execution just all bad right now for the Saints, culminating in a loss to a team again that they humiliated in the first week.
Yeah, that's a great call, like the difference between how it started and how it and they're throwing it to Cedric Wilson. I know they're banged up, but they they get two hundred and fifteen yards from scrimmage from Alvin Kamara. In this game, they out gained the Panthers four twenty seven to two forty six.
They find a way to lose it.
Bill Barnell pointed out teams that had outgained their opponent by one hundred and fifty yards, run for one hundred and fifty yards and won the turnover battle had been two hundred and seventy five and zero and now it's two hundred and seventy five and one.
That is That is your New Orleans Saints.
And we are definitely on on Dennis Allen possibly getting fired. You know this week watch he has the third worst winning percentage of all time by by any coach. And after the game, I read this article by Nick Underhill on New Orleans football and he just wrote that some guys in the locker room aren't really that that he's kind of lost the locker room. And he didn't he put it a little vaguely, but he did have a quote from Alvin Kamara, who said, look, guys want to
win in this locker room for each other. And he very clearly saying we want to win for each other. Maybe maybe not the guy running running the plays, and and it was a little vague how he said that they lost the locker room, but it's in there in the article.
And uh, how do you feel about it? To me, how do you feel about it?
It's rough cake.
Kaylen Saunders after the game was tweeting some of my favorite tweets by an NFL player this year. He said, if that was a college bowl game, that MF would have been called the Cottonell Doodoo Bowl.
We just lost the Cottonell Doodoo Bowl. Shaking my head.
Yeah.
And then like even before they said mf's his cheek bones, like New Orleans, y'all does have bet? I mean, is he calling his own team cheek bones? Just the whole game he was called the Panthers. Oh okay, he's calling the Panthers cheek bones. You lost, Yeah, they lost two bunch of cheek bones.
Which I don't know if it makes me think about silence of the lamps. So that's neither here nor there. I think that that We are one hundred percent, firmly, very much on Dennis Allen watch rightfully. So it makes you a question why he retained the job after last year and after breaking the two hundred and twenty five game win streak that you just spoke of. I can't imagine a scenario in which he preserves his job. They
started to and oh, they've lost seven straight. And even after they got Derek carrback and put up over four hundred yards of offense, they looked like a pretty good offense. They couldn't finish the job to go five for fifteen on third down. They lose to the Panthers in Carolina in a game that was very winnable, and on the fourth and four they throw the ball up when Alvin Kamara's got one hundred and fifty five yards to his name.
What are we doing? What are we doing? We are marching toward the end of the Dennis Allen era, slowly and painfully, with half of us season left to go.
Yeah and yeah, shout out to Jendevian Sanders, a rookie who gets eighty seven yards sixty two yards yac Like Bryce Young, His only interception on the day was on a total dime that was was stolen by the defender Jalen Coker. Xavier like get gets in the end zone. I want to give a little bit of credit to the Panthers. Enjoy this win. But some of these quotes are just crazy. The one from Kamara says I can keep going when he's talking about all the things that
aren't going. Well, we got guys, I'm naming names. I think there's confidence there, but there might not be confidence in something else.
Well it's like, what's the something else, Alvin?
Yeah, and number three.
I there was another Kaylin Saunders tweet where he said, fans say, keep losing so we can get number one pick hell, throw me in at quarterback and let's have something fun to watch.
Okay, that would that would be that would be fun, and uh yeah, it's it's at At one point, Cam Jordan he only played ten snaps in this game, like punched like the bench, and he was seen kind of having to be brought to the locker room by Derek Carr as he was like very frustrated after the game.
It's just it's a tough scene. And you do wonder that ownership hasn't always been maybe as hands on Mickey Loomis, I think has as much power as any executive in the league, And just got me wonder, like, how bad does it have to get for maybe some attention to be on Mickey Loomis, maybe not being the one who was making all these decisions because da, that's one thing. We know how that's gonna end up. But that's one thing I'm watching for the rest of the year. Gonna
be watching this Sunday Night football game as well. I'm gonna be watching Patrick Claybahn say goodbye to from the Chris Westling Pote guest Dudy, thank.
You, sir, Thank you guys.
All right to Sunday Night.
Second and eleven from the Colts fourteen Jones the single set Addison in motion to the right, play action from under center.
Donald to the zone.
Touchdown.
Josh Oliver put a touchdown just stretchfully did twenty ten.
Kfan Paul Allen.
Bikings hit the extra point, They give up a meeaningless late field goal and Justin Jefferson of course gets the onside kick attempt, nice one by Matt Gabe. Bikings win this Sunday Night Football twenty one to thirteen here with Nick Shook, and that was a fitting highlight. Sam Darnold, after making some mistakes in a game as he does, hits a nice touchdown on the move on a nice play call, as Sam Darnold does, as Kevin O'Connell does, Vikings back in the win column.
Yeah, it was funny because in the lead up to that snap, Chris collins Worth just talking about how I wouldn't based on how the mistakes they've made tonight, I wouldn't trust the passing game, and then they immediately run a bootleg away from his throwing arm and he hits Josh Oliver wide open for a touchdown. It illustrates the confidence that Kevin O'Connell has and Sam Darnold leaving on a night where he threw two picks, including a pick that followed a Joe Flacco.
Pick, it seemed like it was gonna make the game interesting.
And yet this is where the Vikings are a big win for them after losing two straight, they get back on the winning track. They beat a Colts team that decided to pull the plug on Anthony Richardson at least for now, by shutting them down defensively. Brian Flores puts together a great game plan messes up the picture for Joe Flacco. You could see him hesit been in the pocket for most of the night. He finishes with under
two hundred passing yards. It's not the same explosive offense we saw from him the last time he started this season, and the Vikings get back in the win column and back on track.
Yeah, Flacco was four for ten for fifty yards in an interception under pressure.
It wasn't just.
Like the interception for instance, which was a bad throw. It was the decision making on a drive where they're still in the game, late down a score, he passes on an easy open checkdown for a first down instead pushing the ball down the field.
It gets deflected.
The next play on fourth down also gets deflected when he's under pressure. Harrison Smith with a couple nice plays there. There was an early play in the game where he just gets panicked before the pressure even gets there and kind of sails a checkdown throw early, a deflection on third and five. Another one where he's on the move and there is a receiver open I think it was Pittman, and he kind of throws it at his feet because he's not used to throwing the ball on the move.
I was thinking, well, I don't know if Anthony Richard hits that throw, but Anthony Richardson would have a better chance on that throw. So the Colts only gets six points on offense on a night where they do get a defensive score on a turnover on a Sam Darnold fumble that was returned for a touchdown. The Colts did
not hit the red zone all night. So if nothing else, we're back to Brian Flores's defense can make a substandard offense who was starting a few backups on the offensive line looked just absolutely terrible, and that could take you a long way. He might not take you to the top of the NFC or even this division in the end, but it gets them to six in two. If you can beat up on the bad teams, that's going to be huge for them.
Yeah, especially in offense, it's pretty one dimensional when Anthony Richardson is not involved. Jonathan Taylor's numbers with Joe Flack on the field of not been good. They were not good tonight and late when they had to throw the football, you could tell they could just pin their ears back and get after them. They sacked him multiple times. He looked uncomfortable. He looked uncomfortable for most of the night.
And I don't know if it leads to this, because Shane Stikeen was pretty definitive when he made the switch to Joe Flacco, but a lot of people have reason to criticize his decision.
Now.
I know it's only one game, and I know that the sample size before, while small, was very productive. But at this point, at four and five, now the questions are justified. What do you do from here? You made the switch to Jill Flacco because you need to win games. You put up thirteen points, you put up six offensive points. That obviously is not good enough to win a game. So it's gonna be an interesting time for the Colts where.
They're not going back.
They're not going back this week, at least they got the Bills. I think they looked at this schedule and thought it was going to be ugly and thought Flacco gave them a better chance to win. Maybe that turned out not to be true tonight. Richardson probably would have struggled in this game too. But they have the Bills next week that that's a home game. Then they're at the Jets, you know, playing better defense. I suppose at least for a week, and then the Lions. We'll see
if Flacco gets through all those games. If he plays this poorly each week, yeah, he might not get through all of those games.
But they're at four and five. The Texans, who are a.
Little bit of a mess right now, are feeling like, Okay, thank thank you, Minnesota Vikings, thank you Justin Jefferson. Yes, I should mentionine Justin Jefferson one hundred and thirty seven yards on seven catches. The NBC showed the stat that he was just eating up off coverage because the one time they played him in press, at least the one target, they hit him down the field for a big gainer.
And look, Donald made three growners.
I mean, the fumble was typical Donald taking a bad sack where he's backing up and it was quick pressure. But he tends to make bad protection worse. And he took four sacks in this game. Both quarterbacks did. But even though he had a couple interceptions, even though he had the turnover on the fubble, the throws he had were quite excellent, So I give him credit. I give Gino Smith, for instance, credit for always continuing to keep firing after making mistakes, and Sam Donald has a good
tendency to do that too. They had no points at halftime. They put up three touchdowns in the second half. The play to Addison was an awesome throw and an awesome catch where Addison one hands it, and ultimately they did more than enough on a night where Aaron Jones was a little up and down.
Sam Donald really had to get it done.
I will say they have nice little ones who punched that backfield.
Cam Akers, who you know, we liked him in the preseason with the Texans, Yeah, made the team. They acquire him on October fifteenth, and he serves a nice little spellback role tonight, especially when they're putting the game away late.
So I like the way that they're built. You're gonna take to go with the battle.
Dam Darnold.
I'm starting to get like case keenum vibes from that year that he was their quarterback. Okay, a little bit higher ceiling his better game. His best games have been much better than the Kingdom's best games were at that time.
But you are going to get some mistakes from time to time.
But if they can weather that storm, and they usually do with that defense, and they're still going to be right in the race.
Right only six incompletions on eight on a thirty four attempts, now two of them were caught by the other team and there was a fumble, But that's the experience. They are a good team. The Colts right now are feel lucky to be four and five. And yeah, shout out to the listeners that have been with NFL Daily since the preseason. When Shookie and I were doing Sunday Night preseason and talking about k makers, that was like our lead story back then. We're just getting rolling through nine weeks.
Appreciate everyone who helped out on this show. Randy Chavez, what a sweet guy bringing me this two lane helmet.
Thank you, Randy, Yes.
Thank you to Eric behind the glass Shook in Cleveland, Patrick Clayban of course doing a great job. And yeah, when Sam Darnold's making big mistakes but making big plays, you know football is back.
See you Monday night.