MNF Recap & Stick a Fork in 'Em (2019 Reboot)

presented by the United States Marine Corps. You're supporting the troops money. My name is Dan Hanserson joined in the room filled with hero as Mark Sessler, Chris Westling, and Greg Rosen thought, what is up? Boys? Hey? Dan, I think that's a very healthy thing to just circle back to maybe every other week. What am I doing with my life? Every other week? Hourly every night before bid West?

How you doing, buddy? You're trooper. We got a text from you earlier this morning that you were had all sorts of medical issues, you were dealing with um and yet you're here grinding. Yeah. I went to uh, my cancer doctor yesterday. My scans are, to quote him, beautiful, just beautiful excellent party music. But I've come down with a bad quote, and it's made worse by a hiatol hernia that I've been dealing with as an after effect of the surgery. Is that in the butt. No, it's

a theosophagus stummach diaphragm region. Why did you need to go there with the diagnosis because I'm not a doctor, so I didn't know what that meant. But I just had a hunch, you know, like I was watching Jeopardy. Jeopardy James is back with the Tournament of Champions, and sometimes you just blurred out the first thing that comes to your mind, and it's right. I thought that was about the butt. It was wrong, because you're usually wrong and changely almost always. With Dan, the first thing that

comes out of his mind is the butt. Hernie's hernie is usually are not associated with the but um. So you're hanging in there, buddy, and you are. That's leadership. Yeah to dealing with my heine hernia. A lot happening right out of the game. Uh, you're a warrior. That's that's that's what I would call you. Thank you. Today's show good one. We are going to dig into the news and catch up on the uh big Colin Kaepernick news. Also,

a NFL owner speaks out. He's getting impatient and the goat Greg, as you refer to him as many others, Number twelve, he's an unhappy a little bit upset. We'll get into that. Um. Speaking of unhappy and upset, we're bringing it back, maybe for one show only. Stick a fork in him reboot and Greg, I know that why don't you use the floor here to share your rambling soliloquy the floor you were using downstairs delivered to Mark

and I, Um, you know that this was killed. Well yeah, you said though that the hook this time is if if we get any wrong, we're gonna kill it. And I said that was the hook. That was the huck. When we killed that, Greg, you heard like a drawer open up and he pulled out his notes and he was like reading almost like some type of like stenographers notes from seven years ago. In the newsroom. We didn't

remember that. Mark and I. We thought it was what the rules were were if we got any teams wrong, and if you're newer to the show, when you stick a fork in a team, if uh, we declare that team has no chance of making the playoffs, their season is effectively over if they if they come back to make the playoffs, we would then on Greg well, Greg would do it because he was the boss at the time. He would make a charitable donation to that's the team city we did in behalf of the We got it.

I think we did it three or four years and we were there's only one year that we actually got right. We were wrong in all the rest and you guys were annoyed that year. I remember too, because we played it to say, I know, I think it makes sense. Now, this is what our seventh season together. It's kind of like the seventh season of you know, Friends, or any long running sitcom. It's like, hey, what's that idea we had back in season two that people like, let's circle

back to that. You have their receipts for those charitable contributions. Yeah, i'd like to see. I remember tracking that effectively actually remembers always the Red Cross. It's always the Red Cross in converse to the Supreme Court. If we have to get these financials cracks for Greg Um. No, this is we've We've also talked about this before. Greg. We've don't

done too many of these shows. This is what like introducing the step child that's five years old and you know, precocious on a sitcom in that season seven about episode one D some of the kids originally in the show or in puberty at this point, and it's not as cute to be confused with young Sheldon, which was just that's a whole separate. That's a great idea, bringing the ginger.

That's what they do. There must be some perfect science behind all that, because you h are these kids when they're like four or five, how do you know they're not going to grow up to look hideously on It happens, So it's happened typically not though, I mean like some of these child actors grow up looking now then they leave acting and they get arrested, they have like face tattoos and stuff. But we're going to replace you with

Ted McGinley to save the show. Anyway, greg Um, just make one promise, that's all, Greg that you will you will play the stick of stick of work in the game. I'll play in good faith, absolutely. I always that was. I always played it, you know the way I wanted to play it. I don't I don't think you would submarine the game. But but now I have your word on it. Thursday night football preview Indie at Houston. Oh, that's a good one with huge ramifications in the a

f C South. But before we do that, let's close out week eleven with a little Monday night football. Yes, Espanola, let it again, Rivers of Quarto Lano, Phannip Rivers. Fourth interception by Philip Rivers. You're fluent, fluent. That was great. Do we know who called that? Riggy? People that know

Spanish with the call from Mexico City. Philip Rivers intercepted by a ball hawk Chiefs the events four times and the Chiefs hold on seventeen over the Chargers at a raucous Azteca Stadium, sight of some of the great soccer matches in the history of the sport. You've got the accent down. I'll give you that. Espanol Azteca Studio Studios, Stecca Steca. Um. Yeah. So this was a game where you expected, uh, you know, big scoring, potentially Patrick Mahomes

against Philip Rivers. It didn't work out that way because, first of all, the Chiefs barely had the ball it felt like, in the first half, and the Chargers went up and down the field and did what the Chargers do.

Charger is gonna charge. Are found ways to kick away multiple scoring opportunities, Gregg in the first half, um the Chiefs go on a roll, they get ahead, the Chargers battle back, but Rivers kept on making mistakes, and you wonder if this is a game you remembers kind of the beginning of the end of the Philip Rivers era in Chargers Land. It's been a tough year for Philip Rivers. You know, he's had terrible protection, which has been the case for most of his career, especially this week. You

know you're without both starting tackles. You have a third round pick, Tray Pipkins, and he tried to almost refuse to play early in the season. He's getting destroyed by Frank Clark. But ultimately Rivers has made too many of these is big time mistakes. Each week. There's been one or two plays each week for Rivers that has really put his team in a tough spot. And this was a game where his defense played lights out and really gave the Chargers often. So you can blame Rivers, you

can blame the play calling. Everything about the Chargers offense failed and it's so Chargers because for most of the year, the offense was carrying them and so whenever like one side of the ball plays well, the other doesn't. They had the ball within i think the thirty yard line four times in the first half and they had you know, six or nine points and they just could not make the big play what they needed to. Yeah, I thought

up until the Packers game. Through that Packers game, he was playing well despite having the two worst set of tackles in the league blocking for him, and then the last two weeks it's mostly on him. Last night was mostly on him. Frank Clark beat Trey Pipkins on that strip sack that might have been ruled in interception was um. But other than that, I thought it was on Philip Rivers. I saw a guy struggling to complete throws that coming from Philip Rivers. It was kind of stunning and shocking

to watch. And I mean, we all kind of have been through this journey with aging quarterbacks and it's not the beauties though he did at the end, did at the end, but there were still just certain plays where you can just see something shifting with Philip Rivers. And it's not the final season of Brett Favre, which was incredibly painful to watch over those final five or six games.

But you just when these quarterbacks hit the end, sometimes it happens fast, and it happens quick, and you know, we're here from Steve weish that the Chargers certainly are a team that you know, the mindset will soon become we need to think about this position, and they've thought

about it in years past. Two He also he got credited with four a little bit unfair on the strips act to hit him with the interception, but then he also threw up a balloon uh that was should have been intercepted but was lost in the lights by Honey Badger I leave. So it was just that type of game where that was that was actually that's a great example though. That was one where that's to me, that's

not on Rivers they got, they got. That was another play where Frank Clark beat Pipkins in two and a half seconds and even rivers when he got to the back of his drop, it looked like maybe Pipkins had a chance, and Clark beat him so fast that you you can't even like account for that. And he hits his art well and he gets picked off, but he's not playing. He's not playing. Did you not see throws

from Rivers that were problematic? And of course he has fourteen interceptions that just second only to Jamis Winston in the league. This year. His QBR is forty six, with ranks twenty three amongst quarterbacks. It is he's always been kind of a throwback guy, and maybe he is, like you know, he's not the type of guy that's gonna

be able to play until he's forty. He's more like what most NFL quarterbacks were for fifty years that once you get to thirty seven, thirty eight, like Eli Manning, like so many peyton and he's he's the quarterback especially that needs past protection. You gotta give the Chiefs defense credit though, even though they did give up three hundred yards in the first half, this is a top five past defense according to Football Outsiders. They've made a lot

of players on the ball all year. They've been a tough team to throw agains. That's why I'm surprised the Chargers didn't run more, uh throughout the game, because they were making hay when they wanted to run. And yet everything about you know, Rivers, that's the conversation after the game. To me, it's secondary. We can kind of stick a fork in them. I'm sure we will later. They're done for the year. To me, my biggest takeaway is what's

up with the Chiefs offense. That's the worst game I've ever seen out of Patrick Mahomes uh in terms of Patrick Mahomes Chief's offense, and every week when you think they're finally turning it around, then they lose Tyreek Hill right away, they lose Damien Williams right away, and they can't get anything going. They punted four times in the

fourth quarter. It was a disastrous fourth quarter where the only thing they could do was get Mahomes to scramble for a first down or else they had no answers, which was to me, it was shocking. It was shocking the sea I can keep a running back healthy and with a hot hand. I thought one of the great signs for the Chiefs was that Mahomes looked good scrambling. He looked like normal Patrick Mahomes and some of those

throws he made to Travis Kelsey were beautiful. But but Greg's right, that was not one of the better Patrick Mahomes games. It doesn't help. That's someone like Sammy Watkins essentially refuses to step up when a Tyreek Hill is off the field. I won't do it. Well, there were six, maybe it was Mexico. You know, they were just so conservative.

I'm just saying, this is one of the great offenses we've ever seen, and I'm not used to seeing long stretches, which is the first three or four drives of the game and then the last four drives of the game where they just do absolutely nothing and they're not playing the Bears here. Let me do the half glass full. They had every excuse there laid out to find a

way to lose that game. On the road to Mexico City, Mahomes throws for the fewest amount of yards a D and eighty two that he's ever had in a game that he finished. You had, as we said, Tyreek Hill went out, Damian Williams Lashawn McCoy leaves with a concussion. Field was a problem for both. You couldn't go side to side, and they found a way and they did it because their defense. Um, like you said, with Frank

Clark in the secondary making plays. So it's good to see that this team could win sometimes when they don't have everything clicking on offense, which they didn't. I think that's fair. They are, i think a more complete team defensively than they were a year ago. And that was certainly Clark's best game of the year. He's been coming on. He did not start the season well, but he's been coming on. He had a bad nerve issue in his

neck that was affecting the way he was playing. And to your point, Mark Sammy Watkins, Yeah, he's the greatest tease of the decade. I think in terms of the wide receiver he made. He made at least one play last but he was supposedn't a zero across the box score. But it's like you'd like to see when they have Tyreek Hill, when they have Kelsey, and when they have a one running back plugged in and making huge plays.

What you've seen a couple of times, they're unstoppable. But when when you're leaning on one of the three year in hot Water and Travis Kelsey, after a quiet first half, he had a monster second half, you kind of need your big guys to step up. Some of those were amazing and and part of it is listening to the players after the game. I mean they they're dying. I mean,

did the elevation just changes that game for everyone? And I don't know if it was because the Chargers you know, practiced in Colorado or not, but they did come out in the first half and they were running the Chiefs up and down the field west and I locked that game and I I thought they the Chiefs do not deserve to be in this game at halftime. They were given a lot of uh chances by a sloppy Chargers team,

and that's why you pick against the Chargers. But the chief Chiefs had a chance to get run out of the building in the first half and it just didn't happen. That's another sweep for the Heroes. In the picks we're starting to I would bet work around a seven percentage in the last month or so. So yeah, the way a team surges, you know, close to Thanksgiving and after that is what this team is to means Patriots esque

what we're doing right now with our picks. Any other thoughts on the game, Jone, I have a long, long and I'm just kidding. Great timing for the Chiefs. By the way, even if things don't seem like they're clicking for this team, and maybe this isn't the year. Maybe it is. Who knows, by perfect timing for this bye, and then when they come out of the bye, they get the Raiders, so then they get the Patriots, so they they have a really interesting schedule. And I think

tyreeks Tyreek Hill's health. I think they were cautious with him knowing they had the bye coming in these big games because he's not a jener piece, because they can still run their obins, but they are just not the same without him. What happened to the September version of

DeMarcus Robinson, right, he's disappeared. They were so considering. I mean, I've never I've never wanted to criticize Andy Reid for being conservative, but the play calling at the end of the game, they were just counting on their defense to win it. They were they were expecting Philip Rivers to give them the game, and ultimately they were right. You ever had altitude sickness, like flown into a mountain town, It's not fun. Maybe that's what was happening to some

of these players. Yeah, I just I just wanted to hear more about You thought that they were taking it easy with Tyreek Hill because of the injury going into the bye MM. So you're just I just wanted to know your thoughts about the injury. I should hand speculate eating I don't really know. I'm just saying he sits standing there on the sideline. The whole game a little different. I'm not saying what they should or shouldn't do. Trust the messical medical staff, right, so they guess they told

them sit on the sit on the sideline. Just wanted to clarify. Alright, let's move on to the news. And so the main character is does this new mind greater, greater mind and mind that yet is to be alright? So we mentioned Colin Kaepernick. His workout scheduled a week ago today for Saturday, on short notice. Kaepernick was given short notice. Everybody has given short notice. UH. Teams invited.

Many teams showed up to Flowery Branch, where the Falcons practice facility is UH shortly before it was set to begin on Saturday, Kaepernick's team announces, no, we're not gonna do it here. We're uncomfortable with the waiver we were being asked to sign. UH. Some of the legalities of it were not kosher to us. So we're going sixty miles south, uh to a high school field and and hosting our practice uh and UH hosting the workout. They wanted it to be more visible to the to the public,

which the NFL had it closed to the media. They're they're planned event at the Falcons facility. Uh. The workout as we're told. Uh. Most people that were there said that he looked good, streamed on YouTube, streamed on YouTube. His arm strength is still there. He looked big. Um. Some others saw a guy that was more average, not a not a standout guy, but somebody that could probably

play in the NFL. And then Kaepernick, who in all of this, over three years since this whole process that began, of course, when he kneeled during the national anthem as a member of the forty nine to protest social injustices and police brutality, to now, you've almost never heard from him outside of Nike commercials or or whatever. Well, he's here and there, but he's been very much out of the spotlight in terms of as a speaker. He spoke to the assembled media at the high school. Here's a

little bit of it. I appreciate you all coming out. That means a lot to me. Our biggest thing with everything today was making sure we had transparency and what went on. We weren't getting that elsewhere, so we came out here. It's important that y'all here. Y'all bad attack for the last three years. Y'all continue to be attacked. We appreciate what y'all do. We appreciate you being here today.

We appreciate the work you do for the people and tell him the truth, and that's what we wanted everything. I've been ready for three years. I've been denied for three years. We all know why I came out here, showed it today in front of everybody. We have nothing to hide. So we're waiting for the thirty two owners, the thirty two teams, Roger Goodell, all of them to stop running, stop running from the truth, stop running from the people. We're out here. We're ready to play, ready

to go anywhere. My agent, Jeff Nally, is ready to talk to any team, interview with a team at any time. I've been ready, I'm staying ready, and I continue to be ready. It's all the people that came out here today to support. I appreciate y'all. I love y'all to the people that are here I'm thinking of you. Appreciate you supporting from where you are. We'll continue to give you updates as we hear. We'll be waiting to hear from Roger Goodell, the NFL, the thirty two teams. Will

let you know if we're hear from them. Balls in their court. We're ready to go alright, So a lot to unpack here, and as you imagine, even when right when it was announced, you knew this is gonna be fireworks over the weekend. What's gonna happen and will but it felt like a very slim chance, Gregg that it would go exactly to plan or what the NFL's version of the plan was, and it certainly did not. What was your kind of takeaway from from the whole thing.

I'm an optimist, and I despite all the confusion of everything that happened and the understandable skepticism on both you know, Kaepernick's side about the NFL and really the public side about like what what is going on with this? I thought, well,

maybe this, maybe this has a happy ending. Like I'm an optimist that's thinking maybe he is back in the league at some point, which I think would be a great thing for him and for everybody, And I come away from this weekend feeling like there's less of a chance than that than when I then going into the weekend. So that, to me, that's that's disappointing, because you know, you you thought, okay, maybe there there's a chance here,

And I actually was mildly impressed or surprised. The eight teams went to the separate work so so that so some scouts went and and watched them. I thought. David Tepper, the owner of the Panthers, had an interesting comment. Um you know, he of course signed Eric Ready. The Panthers were not one of the teams that even sent the team to Atlanta, and he said, look, we if if we wanted to sign him, we would sign him. And if we id wanta sign we just have them to

a private workout. We felt no need to go to that. So that's like another perspective of it. But after everything that happened, it shouldn't be too surprising. But I feel like there's a less of a chance than ever that

a Kaepern expecting. To me, the thing that sticks out is the timing and the planning, and they created the controversy with the whole the way the whole thing was staged in the sense that you have Steve Weise reporting that there were high ranking people within the league office that had no idea this workout was happening until it was announced on Tuesday. That obviously teams did not until

the email landed. And to me, it's counter to how the NFL plans essentially everything, which is extremely lead up heavy, with a lot of notice, and even something like a workout,

you're asking people. We already talked about the fact that it didn't happen on the off Tuesday, had happened on a Saturday, which is an awkward time to have teams ship people out to a second location, and that there's a lot of other with the waiver that Kaepernick was asked to sign going on with that, right, Like, there's takes about the waiver and I feel like you need

a low degree to break it down. And I read a couple of articles Brian uh McCann on Sports Illustrated and Mike Florio wrote about it, and they explained it better, Like I don't I don't even feel like having an opinion, you know, like being informed enough to talk about that. But I guess I understood why he decided to do it as he did it, and it doesn't seem like it would, you know, totally. I mean that no owner could just make a decision down the line. It just

felt doomed from the very start. It felt from the time of the announcement, and then when Saturday when you heard that there was there was a catch here. That was all expected because my one thought about the whole thing and I you see it from both sides, and you see there's this trust from Kaepernick's camp towards the NFL, and perhaps likewise based on the way this was all

planned out. Um My, my general thought is that I came out of this thinking because of the way it was set up that Kaepernick's mindset it was almost more I'm not gonna let the NFL dictate the terms of what this is. I'm gonna show them that I'm in control of this situation. This is my story, and I'm gonna tell it the way I want to tell it.

And perhaps, and I'm not even saying this is the wrong thing for him his mindset, because he's been through a lot over the last three years, perhaps he put that a war, if you will, with the NFL ahead

of actually trying to get hired to play football. Because there are people out there that took out of this, uh, ESPN Stephen A. Smith was a very vocal person and on this front that this all felt like just a total pr move by Kaepernick in a show that he put on to to be in the be in the media and and stay as a figure, you know, wearing the Kunta Kinte shirt and uh, you know, the big statement to the press. All that stuff felt like a show more than actual guy trying to get hired. Um.

But that's my feeling is it's just so doomed. There's too much mistrust on both sides for this ever to end with him getting work again. I don't think he plays again. I don't think anything changed. In fact, I think it's worse off than it was a week ago. I thought all along the number one hurdle as you cannot force a team to believe a free agent is

worth signing. No team thinks he's worth signing. Uh. And along with Greg, I've had some level of optimism before the change of venue that some leader among the coaches, among the GM, some leader out there says, I'll take the disruption to my routine, these people being strong creatures of habit during the football season, I'll take it on me to change my routine to have that disruption during the week. I'll go on a limb and do it. And then he changed the venue, made it a headache

for everyone. And I don't see any point where someone's gonna say this guy is worth signing. He to me, he's even less worth signing now after what happened with that. Well, I think what should inform all of this is something you know, people are like, well, what changed. You know he's been out of lake for three years. Well, here's what changed. The NFL and Colin Kaepernick agreed to a settlement that in a case where the NFL was being

alleged to collude against providing him employment. That's what happened this year. So I don't know why happened this weekend versus some other time during this year, but that to me informs everything between these two sides. Like that, I mean, there's there is no other player like people like well could other veterans like, there is no other player like Colin Kaepernick in the history the NFL. You're not just signing another backup quarterback. You know he's gonna He's gonna

be Colin Kaepernick. That's who you would be signing up for. What's not changed, though, is that you have thirty two owners and I this is just my personal belief, there isn't one among them right now that wants the distraction and the sponsorship hit and other things to come along with bringing Colin Kaepernick in at this point, who's not a starting quarterback necessarily, there are a lot of coaches that are not gonna want to go fight that battle

with their own owner. If it was gonna happen, it would happen when to me in the off season when the ross there's are ninety men and things are just a little different than right now. Who even needs a backup quarterback right now? Where they're gonna make this burning the host headline Houston Texans, Well, I mean they You saw a J McCarron in a game last week. Um,

all right, let's move on. We mentioned David Tepper, he's the Panther's owner, and he spoke on Monday after the team's loss to the Falcons and ugly loss to three UM that dropped the Panthers to five and five, their second straight loss. There's also um, you know, really bad loss to the Niners that's really kind of put into focus h that this is kind of a team that

might be mediocre. And David Tepper, the owner who bought the team a couple of years ago, UH told reporters that his mood is to use his word every time they lose, and he added that he does not want to have a mediocre team. Mediocrity is not what he wants the Panthers to be associated with. It's been that way for too much of the team's history. Um, Mark, what did you take out of these comments? He also left the door open for um Cam Newton remaining with

the team. But this does sound like a guy now that he's got his you know, his feet on the ground with this job, that might be ready to make some noise. I think David Tepper is one of the new wave of owners who is UH can have come from a different place than some others. And this is the moment where in a season with a team that's been swirling in questions about what will happen with Ron Rivera. Oh and now everyone just assumes Cam Newton's out the door.

The owner is saying, I don't speak much, but when I do, I'm gonna remind you that everyone here serves, as they say, in the White House, at the pleasure of the owner of this company. And he was a very active business owner. And you know, you have these guys that buy teams as a plaything to invite their friends to and sit up in the box, and they want nothing to do with the football side. David Tepper

has never struck me as that at all. He is hands on now, not in a necessarily met us some way, but in a way where he knows has his own strong opinions about what he's observed with Ron Rivera where the team's at right now, and certainly on the Cam Newton front, saying no one's gonna tell me what happens with Cam Newton. I'm gonna tell you. Yeah. He might have been sending a message there of how these reports

get out. Reading between the lines. He did, you know, clean house immediately with the Panthers on the business side of things, and you know it's not something that we cover, but he changed out a lot of people, brought in his own people, and the continued mediocrity line is the one that apparently he hit multiple times during the interview, and it reminded me that the Panthers have never had winning consecutive winning seasons in the history of their franchise,

which includes the nine years Ron Rivera has been there. He's gone win, you know, winning season, losing season basically every year since two thousand twelve, after starting with two straight losing seasons, and that spells trouble, you know, because it's not like Rivera's defense is is playing sensationally. These comments alone make me just believe that Hernie and Rivera are gonna be gone unless they, you know, win six straight games. Here also makes me thinks Kyle Allen will

not be the quarterback because what is he if not mediocrity? Well, yeah, at no point have I yeah, I have liked I liked watching Kyle Island, but I thought his best case scenario is competing with someone that probably has a better chance to be the start right here. Uh. In other news, the New England Patriots beat the Eagles seventeen ten, a game where their defense stepped up and shut down Carson

Wentz and company. We you know, things move very quick for us on Sunday, uh into Sunday night when we tape our show, So I didn't. I didn't see. I don't know if you guys that I didn't even see the Brady comments. But it became a story on Monday about how dejected he was after the game, upset about the play of the offense. Uh, so far this season, Ricky, we have a little bit of that up and down. That's what it looks like to me. So, yeah, we

probably do everything better. Yeah, well, we just played for three hours, so I think everyone's a little tired. And then they also asked him, Uh, what does he think will get the offense on track? I don't think it matters what I think. That's what we do. And then he's on the radio the next day doing one of his spots on the Greg Hill Show that I didn't know that's the thing he does. Uh. He said the strength of our team is our defense and special teams,

which I don't know. Mark, Does it feel like we're this is a ropadope situation or do you think he really is? Is this maybe a late period Peyton Manning thing where I'm I'm passing the torch on what makes this team special? What what's going on? Break it down from me, Mark, as only you can please mark, how is yours? A few times? You got Tom Brady to get this agitated. I don't like the next team coming in to play the Patriots typically, I I this is

but is it's? Is this still? Is this different than all the other years? Because different at all? Well, to me, it's factually different that their efficiency in their offensive production is average for the first time in sixteen seventeen years. So when he spoke on Monday, I did listen to that too, and his tone was much different on the Greg I was not aware of it, but I do know he's been on w E I and I guess they've changed their programming. I wasn't. I had never heard

of it either. Uh. And he had a different tone, which was talking about complementary football, saying we want a super Bowl thirteen three and that was good. We lost the Super Bowl three. Uh, that wasn't good. So I don't know how many points I'm gonna need. It's a complementary game. And I do think he's, you know, distraught and disappointed. You come out of a bye week in the Eagles defense handed it to them, and he wants this offense to be great because he's not used to

coaching a mediocre offense. Then again, I do think what he's saying about complimentary football informs what they do. He doesn't throw interceptions, He gives up on plays amazingly quickly. I mean, he does not risk anything. They are fourth in the league and fewest turnovers, uh, and that's largely because of Tom Brady. He doesn't take sacks because he doesn't really take hits. He doesn't take interceptions. Aaron Rodgers plays a very similar style. He's much more athletic, but

he plays a similar style. You know, he's not trying to put the defense in a bad situation. I believe that that he is kind of playing to the defense where he's not being as aggressive because he knows they're good. But that's gotta be humbling, and he doesn't want it to stay that way. When you're used to rolling up points with Rob Gronkowski every year, they usually pick up steam in December, and last year was they found their running game with Sony Michelle, and they were putting over

a hundred on everybody to complement that defense. And I think that's what you're talking about with complementary football. The running games the worst I've seen Isaiah went back who was the most talked about two games played in his life left tackle. I've ever heard Shack Mason played way

better what you got, Marshall Newhouse. Every week out there, you're just like, okay, Hopefully a first round pick can help you get improvement out of Shack Mason, and you get Isaiah win back, and maybe Sony Michelle starts making people miss again. Maybe you get a running back, maybe you get a running game. Who knows? Can you can you give me one? Now? Can you give me the floors yours? Dan? The floor is now yours? He gone? How many times have we done this? This is the year.

There are whispers and then we've talked about our show that he is And I wanted to retire at Angeles. They've they've won enough. I don't want to see any uh any bad fine years. Just leave that is fine. That is the high water mark of like descending Patriots fandom just want Tom Brady to retire any other team, and I just don't want an ugly end. I don't think they could win without you know, they could certainly win when he's gone to why off the Super Bowl

win where he he looked fine in the playoff. For the most part, he's not the same guy physically. Would you want him gone? I mean that just seems a little bit like you've been given too much as at Yes, of course they've won too much. They've achieved it all. Let's move on to the next era, moving on to the next Patriots story. Gronk will not be there to

help out Tom Brady this season. He had a you know, a painfully transparent announcement scheduled for nine am uh this morning, and as pretty much everyone expected, it wasn't an announcement that he'd be coming back to the NFL, but rather that he is in the business of partying. Let's listen to a little bit of that. This is a bad game plan, bro, you're still in the pro party career. Listen, this isn't just some club event. This is a possible center around from you. You can turn it down a

little bit, Ricky, but keep it up. I just I get it, Gronk. I get it, Like you're you're a businessman. Now, can we stop hammering this? So it's like Kyle Shanahan with the flat brind cat. So we're talking about it. It's no, but it's like does anyone want you to talk about more that he's not just a football player, he's a businessman. We get it. Enjoy your party. That's what this is. It's a Gronk party at Miami for

the Super Bowl. Kevin Patra tweeted at me, said, are you going to resurrect the super Bowl party beat, which I once once covered for this website. I will not be. I will not be at the Gronk beach getting some firefest vibes from Oh that would be so gronk fest. Just people people stranded looking for food. Are you dang? You've given up on the idea that he's coming back. Yeah,

I'm taking the l on that. But you know what, I still even when when I made the sandwich prop that Gronk will play by December, I knew it was a win win situation. Either I lose a sandwich or Grounk doesn't play, and I don't. Never you never actually exchange sandwiches, you does anything. Um And one more note, he does set at the say at the end of that infernal video that he uh, he's done playing this year, so he'll be back with the Patriots next year. I'll

put another sandwich on that I'll double down. Maybe he's taking a look at that New England offense and saying I don't want to be a part of that, and it would take me on a sandwich. Why not this year? What a goober um a chooche he is? Uh, you take me up on that? Doesn't have to be with the Patriots. And he's playing in the NFL next year. He said, he's a business man. That's what that comment was. Maybe next year or whatever. I'll take you on that. Okay,

I mean, why not playing next year? I'll take you on it. That's a win win too for me. You know, he comes back, that'd be great. Finally, in the news, this also popped up Sunday that the Redskins had a disheartening loss to the Jets at home. Greg, you mentioned it. Uh there was even a THOMASO wrote a column calling it the low point in the team's history. Nobody at

the game that they've lost us the city. Uh. Well, it got worse because there was a sideline video that kind of went viral by the local NBC affiliate down there that showed Dwayne Haskins, who's obviously had a tough go of it so far in his rookie season, he doesn't have a lot of help um imploring his teammates as he's taking a beating against the Jets. I think he was sacked five times. What can I do to help you? What can I do to help you? And the lineman for the most part, and just kind of

sitting there. And that led to a lot of speculation greg both ways that this was a bad look for Haskins, This is a bad look for the Redskins. Well, we are the offensive line. We don't really know the whole story between the interaction and everything around what's going on behind the scenes there. But in general, it's just yet another kind of this is uh, not a great time in the history of the Washington Redskins. I don't know.

I thought it was faster. You're gonna say it's a great time in the history of the No, no, no, I just mean the video. The video I didn't put any higher, wasn't wasn't great. I felt like I needed to know more about the context. I didn't have any like hot takes, good or bad. I just found it interesting to watch. I think that like great great podcast s fodder, But like, I don't know, I feel like I need to know more like of their relationship, and

that's maybe that's a pretty happened. I put this on par with what Greg has said about telling teams what they should do with injured players. The disconnect between what you're seeing thousands of miles away on a video out of context, versus what's going on on a sideline during the game. You can't make heads or tails of it. I think I don't think you can sit there and

and translate what's going on on. It was one where I wanted to hear what ex players said, and interestingly, there were I feel like equal people on both sides who thought it was great and or thought it was terrible that you have to earn that and a whole damn it. I maybe this maybe someone it's a veteran teammate right now with Morgan Moses said that it was him just trying to figure out because we're a veteran

group what we've got. You're looking at me, you want me to come up with a different take that He's also I don't need anybody on my side on this. I saw it. I don't think it's I. I don't think it's I think that that Redskins have been an absolute train wreck. They are running the most bland offense. That dude that does nothing to help with rookie quarterback, and he was probably out of his shell trying literally trying to plead with these guys, let's wake up and

and get some advice. So what did you see, Dan? An offensive line that wants nothing to do with that quarterback. I don't want to say that. I don't want to say that. I just thought in general, there was there seemed to be. There wasn't a lot of passion, there wasn't a team working together thirty four to three at the time it was, And there was a telling moment to watch the video at the very end, Haskins pleading for any type of feedback. He gets very little of it.

There's even a linement that Greg you even said yourself looked like he kind of rolled his eyes almost there's one guy who was really just kind of but that's not a good look. And then at the very end of the video, Haskins essentially just turns and almost in a dejected uh way bodyline, who drives walks away. It's like, I went to these guys, how can we fix this? How can can I help you in terms of the protection,

get the ball quick, or make better decisions. There was no back and forth about how do we fix this, and he just walked away. Nothing solved, although they did score ports right, and they'd score the next couple of times they have. If having a co worker like disinterested in what you say was a like a killer flaw, like I would have been out of this company about

fifties thousand different times. Right. I think in that situation, thirty four to three, after a long season in a long decade, any rookie quarterback, no matter is personality or whatever, in that situation is going to get the same treatment. I usually have interesting things unless you start talking about tennis. That's the only time I kind of start to you know, dude, I guess maybe you're on a thread. Were like the Jets are quarterback records and they you know, they go

from city to city destroying offenses. I'm not sure I'm I'm with you on that either. Uh, I don't. I don't know what that means, but uh, it is a bad sign when the Jets are wrecking you in the backfield because they can't get any a great sign. All right, it's back Maybe for the last time ever. So make sure you enjoy this everyone. Um. Greg had detailed copious notes of that he he had he had ended it.

He tried to get us to sign a contract, and we weren't comfortable with I don't know what you're talking about. So we moved. We moved the conversation, UH to another room. It's this studio. It's stick a fork in a reboot. I'm just happy to remember something better than someone else's. I first, so what is As I said at the top of the show, this is when we go through UH, we go through the league and we make a strong, strong, strong declaration that a finite decision. Does that make sense

that their season is over? When we bring up and and we had to when we did it. We would occasionally bring up, you know, just one or two teams a week and have a long discussion. We're pretty deep into this podcast. The key though, was it had to be unanimous, because it's got to be in it. That was to what There was a lot of a lot of hurt feelings over the year. You know, it's tough to get that unanimous agreement. I can already tell you how this can go. Mark and I any team that

is borderline boring to watch. We want them forked, and Greg's can all right, let's see how let's see how it plays out. And I'll use uh the Power rankings as a guide here, So, uh, we'll start twenty to thirty two. Bengals, Redskins, Giants, Dolphins, Bucks, everybody in favor of the fork. Yeah, Bengals officially eliminated Cynthia Freeland three and seven. They're done. Cynthia's coming on Thursday, right, He's joining us on our recap, so you know, we can

break that news. She said that she had to put that the Bengals had a one percent chance and all the teams at the bottom had a one percent chance going into last week, even though they had zero percent chance. That the NFL was making her say that there was zero, you know, even though the maths said, if you round it down, you're rounded down to zero. To ask her about that, to me, is so they had no chance.

A while back they asked her to compromise her model. Wait, so it wasn't zero, it was yeah, it was like point. It was like point you know, one or point oh one. And so she had to put because I was like one percent for the Bengals, that seems high like go they were, Oh night, how could it even be one? If there's a chance, there's a chance. All right, So all in favor of the fork for those teams, says I, What a what a time it's been as a gamus. A lot more debate over the Bengals than I expected.

Right there, I didn't catch an eye. What's the state of you, you know in your fandom for Jamis? Oh it's over? Whoa, that's big news. Are you in favor of the fork? Yeah? Yeah, good, good? All right? Is your daughter is still a fan? Seven is never a fan of Jamis? She just like uniforms the name to twenty three? We got the Jets. I like that they got out of this last group that was cute. Cardinals, Lions, Roncoes, Uh, Broncos So Broncos, Lions, Cardinals, Jets. I'm in favor of

forking them all. It would have been interesting if the Broncos had finished off that Vikings game had been four and six, but they didn't. Gonners everyone they gone they go all right, so far, so good, Greg, I thought you were going to make your push for the Jets there. That's why they got out of the bottom tier. They're not. I mean, they're twenty seven out of thirty two. They're only one game behind the Browns, who are going to talk about I suspect Browns have a tiebreaker on the Jets.

All right, here we go. Next group, although the Browns are going Yeah, the Jets are three and seven. It's pretty tough, all right, Next group, Bears, Falcons, Greg's Falcons. Great, this will be a real test. Browns, Jaguars, Chargers. Okay, well, I'm just gonna jump in and say I would fork the Bears and the Falcons and the Chargers who all have uh Actually, the Bears only have six losses, the Falcons have seven, the Chargers have seven. I would fork

all of them. Despite you know, the Falcons I think could make it interesting down the stretch, but they're in the wrong conference at three and seven in the a f C. The way they're looking, I would maybe give them a chance. But right now, the Vikings are eight and three and the Seahawks are eight and two. Worst case scenario, you need ten wins. I think it might. It's probably gonna take eleven wins. I think the odds would say you're gonna need eleven in the NFC, so

even nine wouldn't get it done. Even if they did, you know, run the table. They banged themselves with that one. That's seventh loss before they've gotten hot. Even if they get super hot, it's probably doomed. So I'm surprised, though, So you're gonna fork the Falcons in a big spot? I will just because I I legit think if they win eight straight they're out, which is you know, there's still they would need the Saints to collapse. There's still a way if you do the ESPN playoffs. Yeah, there's

certainly it can get a second seed. Still, now that is not happening. I am happily. I'm fine to fork the Falcons at this point. Too much self inflicted wounds, all right. I am not comfortable forking your Browns yet, Mark, I will wait until Sunday night. I noticed Greg did not have them on his list of approved teams for forky right. I I'm with Dan. I would not want

to fork them because their schedule schedules Cake. You know, if Garrett hadn't been suspended, I think there'd be a real feel that they're gonna that they can beat mine Miami this week, and that the Pittsburgh game is the toughest game they have until they play the Ravens I think in week sixteen, so that Pittsburgh game would have been the key one for them. I still don't think they're out of it, and I also talking about this

with Mark this morning and looking at the standings. Maybe eleven wins is what you need to get a wild card in the NFC, but we always seem to shoot a little high with that. I think attend when team will probably get in the NFC. That means the vikings which could happen, don't vikings in the Seahawks would have to go to They'd have to go under the rest of them. Don't will out of nine and seven team making it in the a f C. I think everyone

just assumes, oh, you gotta get to ten. But the Browns will get to nine and like at four and six with a soft schedule. Now, they could also lose three in a row right now. I I they're a hard team to figure out, but they will have uh markets, you pointed out to me they played the Bills, so they have the tiebreaker on the Bills if they win

it must win against the Steelers. Basically, if they win that game, they sweep the Steelers and they'll have the tiebreaker there and then you have a real shot of things. But I would add that you've got teams that two weeks ago looked like they were heading in the right direction, like the Chargers, that suddenly are four and seven and heading in the wrong direction. Some of the trash is heading downward. In AFC, you need the Raiders and or

the Bills, one of those teams to to stumble. But I think that's very We'll get to the Bills, but their schedule is not pleasant. Would you fork the Browns was I would not fork the Browns unanimous. A f C is two weak and the schedule is two weak. Where are we at on the Jaguars, Yeah, I don't trust. I think they're playing the wrong quarterback, and I know I went back on that and said, I understand why they're playing fools, but especially with this offensive line, I

just like took a lot of hits. Stardner Minsho's playing style with this team better. I'm gonna keep them alive. I don't feel great about it. This is definitely a dirt knap game in Tennessee, where I think on Sunday the loser loser goes home, because if the Titans lose, they'll have gotten swept by the Jaguars. Jacksonville won that game with I'm I'm with you guys in the sense that and I'm on record on the spot not being

as big a fan as you guys are. But if they if Foles doesn't move the needle in offense two weeks in a row, I mean, it might be too too late. If they are for I mean their defense has to play a lot better, they need a lot to do better. But they do not have an imposing schedule. They the best team they play the rest of the season record wise are the Colts and the Raiders, So they really don't play any elite teams. Becauld they get on a little run here, I think they could. Their

season is on the line. Thursday night, you might see Minshoe at halftime if things were really really going south. Sunday Sunday, Sunday Night, Sunday Day, Sunday Sunday. They actually they're flexing nugets about broken Down Jack. They're like, you're liked one Prime Time Jack's Titans game. Let's give you a two we're forking the four and seven Chargers. Yeah, everybody, I mean Rivers. They're going to kill them. I don't

care who they played. They're going to find a way to let's to see them seven and seven next month. I don't even know. I have to look at the schedule. It's just kind of the Chargers way at Denver at Jacksonville Home versus the Vikings home versus the Raiders at Kansas City. That is not what you would call an easy schedule. Seven and seven and then lose out. I mean, they'll find a way to get your heart back. I think they are more I think they're more likely to

go five and eleven than they are. All Right, you got me convinced. I'll fork them, you guys, all right, Mark, I didn't know Dan was gonna I'm happy to fork as many teams as we can get consensed. The son he's just he's just like permanent four. Well, it's like we can mathematically get everyone back and vault if we want. You still have to pay attention to these games for the podcast, though, I have paid attention to every single game from the beginning of the year until now. Okay,

there are no questions about that all right? Well now eight, now it gets interesting. This is where the challenge. A surprising result to me, that that we decided the Charger season is over. Well, I mean I would end it. Last said it last. I said before that game they needed to win one of those games. They needed to either beat the Raiders on the road or the Charges of Mexico or the Chiefs of Mexico City. They didn't

do it too much to quote check. Just remember we didn't do this to you do all right, Now it gets tough. Titans, they're going eighteen to fourteen here um Titans five and five, Panthers five and five, Steelers five and five, Cults six and four, Bills seven and three. Well, there's one obvious team here to me that is easy to fork. I don't know. I'm gonna see if can you guys guess which one. I think it's obvious. It's

the Panthers. They in the NFC. That team, I think what there's just what they got eight and eight would be a good outcome for them. And if I'm sticking with my theory that a nine and seven team gets into the n f C, well then I cannot eliminate the Titans. Who will go nine and seven as they always do. The Panthers played the Saints twice. The rest of the way they play at Indy, they play Seattle

and they played Greg's jug or not the Folcon. We're just we're sticking a knife in two for anybody want to fork the Tytoons, the vision, the good all right, I'm with you. Uh, Steelers bad Thursday night. Uh, Rudolph could not have played worse. And that's in that stage. But I'm not ready to fork him. Won't do it now. This is one where I I would I would fork him. I would Uh what is it like an emotional fork?

I'm thinking of trying to look at the bro and trying to look at the spiteful for just because, yeah, just because, like Mason Rudolph, you know, the story about him is obviously what happened last week, But that did, you know, over shadow us having to watch him play football for three hours before that, which was one of the worst performances we've seen. It was really what you know, it kind of ruined West's moment to crow about how right he was about Rudolf. But I will say that

my doctor vaulty narrative by the way. My doctor is a huge Steelers fan, and and he I could tell he was just waiting for me to tell him that everything's gonna be all right. He said, what do you think of our quarterback? And I was like, well, let me unpack this one now. Their schedule is definitely a plus for them, and that's what Steelers fans have been holding on to all year, along with their defense. They

do not play. They play. The Bills and the Ravens are the only two teams with winning records on their schedule. Uh so they they look at that Browns game and they see a winnable game, just like the Browns. Do you know that Bills as a tiebreaker game? I mean, if they were. The Steelers have damaged me so many times over the years, and it's with they haven't had seasons like this, But you want to count them out in their ultra resilient Yeah, I find a way to

to eke back in. So I struggle to fork them. There's still a chance that Duck Hodges will make his way onto the field and save this season. Their defense is the best thing about any of these teams in this in this tiers that they do have a real strength um alright. Moving to the Colts, I think we all agree the Colts at six and four, I think we're done there. First place, the Bills at seven and three.

How about the Eagles at five and five, because I'm ready to fork them a little bit of an emotional fork, that's all right. For five and five. They can't they can't score, and I don't see reinforcements on the way in Philly, and they're not gonna win. They're not gonna win the division. The Dallas is going to take the East, and then we're right back to the same conversation. At least ten wins is gonna get you a playoff spot, and they're five and five right now. They're gonna go

five win five of six to close this thing. I think the Cowboys, who you know who have to play in New England. They both have tough games this Sunday. It's a big NFC East game that the Cowboys are in Foxborough and the Eagles have to host the Seahawks, so that you know, that could go either way for for those teams. But I still think the Eagles are going to be right in it. In Week sixteen, they they have a pretty easy schedule. The rest of it

is Dolphins, Giants twice in Redskins. Sandwiched around those are four wins. I think. I think so too. And they had nine and they played the Cowboys like if they ever won that because definitely lose to the Giants once. And and I think Sunday's game against Seattle's huge to me. That's close to a coin flip in Philadelphia, I think they certainly have a chance to win that. I would like to do the emotional fork, but this schedule is

too easy. So the Eagles survived, so we cut so so that wasn't the only one game behind the cow Boys, right, yeah, all right, let me read the list of teams that are forked. The Cincinnati Bengals, the Washington Redskins, the New York Giants, the g Man, the Miami Dolphins, top of the Bucaneers, the York Jots, Arizona Cardinals, the Try Lions, Broncos, and eyes rolled back into the back of his head

when he pin you. Chicago Bears, stop Bears, the Atlanta Falcons, sorry, Craig, the Jacksonville's Yaguars, No we didn't kill apologies, the Los Angeles Superchary Years. They go the Carolina Panthers say, can you say the New York Jets one more time? In that person's get some guying green and get hit damn Josh Seph. So there you go. We forked and and Greg has he's taking notes. Hey, Mark, the Browns they

gonna make the playoffs. Give us a heart that is accurate? Maybe, uh, if we get any of these wrong, this segment goes away forever. Who does a little jack? Who's most likely to come back to buy us? I don't think we took enough chances? Well we couldn't. We could have forked the Eagles. The Eagles would be the team most likely. You guys, don't want to change your minds on that. Come on, guys, taken interesting in forked the Eagles? No, I don't want to that. That would be the last team.

Who there was maybe one team out there that we were a little bold, but not Oh yeah you got now you saved the Steelers. Yeah, I'm not forking. Get on, I've forked to see. Let's do it. Let's get bold fork call of Pennsylvania. Can't do it, won't do it. I could be talked into it too, Bills talked into it. Seven and three just to get the people of Western New York the rams. I mean, this is saying their seas you want to get bold. This is this is uh,

this is saying the season's over. That's six and four. I'm not working. I would have done it. I would have done it all right before we get out of here. Thursday Night football preview a huge matchup in the a f C South Colts at Texans. UH Colts coming off a win but also a lost. They lost Marlon Mack, who has a fractured hand, and it's the hand that he carries the football with no bueno. Uh so one

of their best players. In fact, some people might be I know, not the people in this studio, because you guys like I've never met people more plugged into the sport. But some people might be surprised to know that Marlon Mack is the number five rusher in the NFL. He's had that type of impact on this offense. So he goes out. Now. There is good news, though, Wes in his place a man that ran for a hundred and sixteen yards on nine yards per tote. Jonathan Williams, the

old spice rack. Spice Rack pounded the table for williams Uh come draft time a few years back. It's the only name we can extract from him. In a half an hour, six round pick of the Bills, a six round performance by spice Rack that day. But uh, yes, he actually he got himself into some trouble as I recall, and then how to try out? Was it with the Jets? And then he bounced spoke to the media. But has

been in a lot of trouble. I asked, I did a contact spice Rack about the Donathan williams Uh contact, and he said it gave him some pepper and his step on Sunday he was decided a long sunday of results coming in. Did he need a pep in his step? I think Saturday was probably more the problem. It seems more like a Saturday guy. I feel like if if your wife ever checked your phone bill and saw the same number coming up over and over again, she would be a little bit worried. And they're like, no, no,

that's spice Rack. I mean we've definitely never spoken on the phone. Uh, it's like you guys are in contact a lot. I like this phone bill scenario, you know this still existing? I mean, then it happened to me. But can you imagine I don't know. I can't speak for you guys, but that was like a number one way to get busted if you were being h you know,

I'm pure relationship. Yeah, you have a well or I would even say going back to when like you'd have a long distance girlfriend in the early high school period and suddenly the parents like, why are there a hundred and two charges to Glastonbury, Connecticut? Because I love her? That didn't That didn't hold much water. Um Anyway, thoughts on this game. It's hard to preview this game because there's so many names up in the air, starting with wide receivers. T Y Hilton, I believe is not practicing

on Tuesday. Will Fuller is not practicing for the Texans on Tuesday to keep components. I mean, t Y Hilton is, I mean, along with Quentin Nelson the most important player on this offense. I think i'd give him a week. I know I'm not allowed to say that around these parts, but rushing a guy back for Thursday night when he's not right is almost a almost always a recipe for exits the game early in the second quarter. I bet he wants to play because he always destroys these believable

numbers against Jackson all lifetime. And you know, this is a game that Indianapolis. At an earlier point in the season, we thought this division was going to kind of start going towards the Texans. They came into Indianapolis with the head fullest team and they got beat, which happens a lot with the Colts have surprised us. The Texans are coming off a very concerning performance. I mean, Deshaun Watson that terrible game against Baltimore. I think it's okay, like

great players can play poorly. He was inaccurate. It happens, you know, he was inaccurate, and more importantly, I think like the communication on the offensive line of recognizing where pressure is coming from. They were pretty scrambled up front of of knowing where the pressure and a lot of those sacks were on Watson. Maybe it's just a one game blip. I just worried that this Texans defense does not have enough juice, which is why I don't feel

confident in picking them. Even you give him a little edge at home, but if you take out J. J. Watt. There's a stat on ESPN called pass rush win rate when he's not on the field. They are thirty feet in the league in terms of past the rush win rate, and I think Bengals are the only team that's worst. Yeah, the Texans also, they were battered in that loss to the Ravens. Justin Reid concussion, Mike Adams concussion, Lonnie Johnson

a bad ankle injury. I when I go back and look at what happened the first time, along with some of the offensive numbers, was Darius Leonard doing what Darius Lennard does. Ten tackles and a game clinching interception and being a total difference maker. And he's healthy right now, and he's the kind of guy that I could imagine on TNF blowing up. Yeah. He he spoke about it that he's come on really strong. He had a tough start to the year, made a lot of mistakes, was

getting beaten coverage with struggling. He admitted it. And he has been on fire the last couple of weeks. So as Justin Houston, they do have some players coming along on the Colts defense. Justin Houston was a home run signing. He's been fantastic that She's had a sack every week for the past five weeks, though presented four touchdowns the last time that wasn't a long fifteen to four touchdown interception ratio. You know he's crafty in the red zone.

Give to Gubby brissets him left. I thought we don't count those stats around these parts, touchdown versus interception. Since when I thought those were stats that we don't look at to judge whether quarterback's playing well, I count them, said, I was told that last Thursday. When the film tells you drastically different than with the numbers, trust your no and none of us remember it that, So you gotta give us a Mason Rudolph. I think he was eleven

and two going into that. Yeah, well that was that was clearly not matching what the film was showing. Um alright, so one quick quote, which coach? Which coach do you trust that this game is type Frank Reich, Bill O'Brien. I bill O'Brien got out coach last week. I like Bill O'Brien is a coach a lot got out Lamar Jackson in my mind, I don't know Bill O'Brien not liked around these parts. I understand that. I just said, I like Bill O'Brien a lot. It's that's why it's

leg it's a legit question. I'm not just setting that that was just happened to be a one two punch. I didn't feel like getting into another Bill O'Brien argument. But no, I love the Texans in this game. Like Frank rich a lot, great coach, but I I don't trust the Texans as much as I would have liked, would have thought about a month ago. But also J J. Wattexon in the line of really is shaking my confidence with them. But I still think at home in a

game they really need. I think Watson coming off a game where he played poorly, he loves it in prime time. I think we get a big Watson game. I was I was leaning towards maybe locking this up. I'm not going to, but because they are a little up and down right now in terms of the season. But I love the Texans this game. Anybody else, anybody else agreed with me or I'm gonna have to pick this game because I have to do it for game picks, and I will take the Texans. I don't feel great or

just outright now. I think it'll be closer. I think whatever it is the Texans or decent favorites, I'll make it a one or two point. Yeah, that's the way I even be on the show at this point. Split the I'm going Houston because they are gonna split with the Cults. There's no way they're getting swept by Indianapolis. It's gonna feel too lopsided if all four of us go with the Texans, because it feels like a coin

flip game. But I don't trust the Coults firepower. If t Y Hilton doesn't play and Marlon Mack doesn't play, right, I like looked up as how do they score thirty three points in this game? Thirty five points in this game? The Calts. It's always it's always a mystery. I guess it's the offensive line, it's the coaching. The defense is a little better than the sum of its part. Make here's what I like for the Texans. Seemed to break

down every third game. Yeah, how how about let's see some deep Let's see some deep shots that DeAndre Hopkins. This has been a team that does not have a vertical element, which is shocking to me because Deshaun Watson throws such a great, great deep ball but it just hasn't been there for them. Will Fuller is always so much more important to that offense than you think he would be. All right, let's got some plugs in Greg the debrief debrief, I mean, it depends how you want

to say it. I would go debrief, Yeah, NFL that What was the hook of the debrief this week? It wasn't really a hook, just kind of some some take place good uh Week twelve takeaways? Who's number one? I do? I have? You know, Russell Wilson Lamar. I think there's a nice gap there after those two. But I have Dack number three, Aaron Rodgers four, and let's throw in wide. We're seever Michael Thomas of the New Orleans Saints defenses. No,

he's coming. They can't stop him. CMC out of the top five entirely now that hurts, But I guess Michael Thomas. I was like, why did Michael Thomas like my article? And I was like, oh, someone someone let him know he's mentioned there. Mark Sessler on my radar, what a column? And you are what? I like what you're doing lately? Mark um More high concept ideas of late and what

is it this week? I mean we are. We're deep into the year, so I have to come up with reinvent the wheel every week, it seems like for something. But I came up with something called the joy Meter, which goes from zero to one, and it's things that are making me extremely in case in some cases me

extremely happy. And I did a mia culpa in the sense that with Lamar Jackson, you know, inside of me, I wanted to push against the Ravens and push against the whole idea of them going to the Super Bowl a game, and he is too fun to watch, so he got the highest grade. And then I put one out there for the Bears fans who get a four out of one D because it's been about as bad

of a season as you can imagine. Good stuff. I'm gonna give like an eight on the joy meter to the press release that the Ravens released today where Marty Morning Wag, who no longer works for the team, had to go against a Michael Lombardi podcast for you know, making him look like a bad guy for not believing in Lamar Jackson. That's why I get joy out of ridiculous things like this. Okay, West, you got any coming up this week? I talked to my editor. That's my

favorite part of the show. What's going on with you? And I'll leave the relationship. Where are we at? I think we're okay. Yeah, yeah, I don't in terms of strength of the relationship right now or joy meter. Wow, that's pretty, that's positively joyful. Yeah, Ally and I are friends. I like him. Uh, it might be a comeback Player of the Year candidates this week. Oh, I like that a lot. And um, of course I have the power

rankings and Ricky, what about you? Yeah? League one Fantasy League one that's on tonight at Eastern Pacific stream at live more than dot Com, NFL dot com Slash Fantasy League one. You can watch it on YouTube. You can watch it on the NFL YouTube. There's tons of tons of ways to watch it. Very nice. And check out our instagram, you guys. The likes keep coming in. And actually I will post links to all of the guys articles with swipe ups on stories, So check that out.

Erica's gunning for that Commissioner's Award, I feel it. Yeah, well, we've got a dominator and we will after hearing that. We're getting some swipe up action. Yeah, as soon as you guys are like my articles. Move alright, excited, all right, let's go. Is Dan hands is signing off for a quiet storm. That mail man, the old Boss, Hollywood Rick, Hollywood Subcolor til Thursday,