Richard Sherman Podcast - Week 9 Reaction

was a backbreaking decision on fourth and short. They come up short and then the Rams go down and inevitably score the game winning touchdown. Where's your head at Richard? With this decision to not take the points in overtime.

It's like, Hey, you're just gonna keep running your head into a wall and assume he's gonna pop. How about you either QB sneak it and trust your center and trust everybody to push Geno over the pile, or you roll them out, give him a run pass option another opportunity. But I'm with the go for it on that play. You got to go for the win in that situation your team needs and you're at home. You got the momentum, you go for the win, and they just did not

get it done. They did not execute well enough. The play call was not good enough. So that's just something they're gonna have to learn from. But Geno Smith had a rough day. He had a rough day, got beat up, you know, another seven sack day. He did throw for three hundred and sixty three yards three touchdowns, but two back to back. I mean one of them was a pick. Six interceptions in the red zone. They were one for

four in the red zone. That is tough to win ball games when you're one for four in the red zone, especially division games. You got to execute. You got stopped. You were two for two on fourth downs before that fourth and one stop. You gotta find a way to get that done. You gotta find a way to get a yard. The defense, they got the turnover Tarik wool and got the interception, but they dropped another interception and they never got to Matthew Stafford. They had no sacks

on the day. That's unacceptable. You cannot go into this game. This Rams offensive line is in world beaters. They're not the best offensive line in football. Arguably, You've gone against several offensive lines that would be considered better than the one that you just faced, and you've gotten much more pressure on the quarterback to not be able to get Matthew Stafford on the ground. And not that there weren't opportunities. There were times they came. Scott Freed, they got to him.

But Matthew Stafford is in the pocket, he's ducking under arms, he's slipping away, he's put throwing the ball away. He's not allowing the people get to him. But again, you got to give the special teams for the Seattle Seahawks credit. They had a block punt, but you have to again be able to capitalize on these things and get points.

They just weren't able to do it. And in overtime you got to play to Wooland where he had a chance to intercept the football on to DeMarcus Robinson coming across the Was it Tramarcus Robinson or was it I think it was just and coming across on an over route. But he just waits for the ball instead of just taking a step forward or two and and and running into the past. You know in this in this league, you can't wait for anything. You wait for anything, hungry

dogs will come take the football. And that's what happened. Uh, And then again Stafford pushes the ball down the field to win the game. No fear, no, no, that's why you don't kick the field goal, because what is the field goal gonna do for you? Right there? They're gonna go for the juggular. They didn't need a touchdown right there. They could have won with the field goal. But you're

playing against Matthew Stafford. If they get the look that they they want, if they get the covers they're looking for, they're gonna push the ball down the field. He's shown that time and time again, and he showed it this time. Great pass by him, great catch by DeMarcus Robinson, one hand catch. He pushed off on Tarik Wooland. But they never call that in the National Football League. I have yet to see them call a receiver pushing off uh And for the game, and that's the game. That's the

ball game. You know. The Seahawks gotta gotta buy this week to to sit and think about it and look at the film and see what they're gonna change and what they're gonna adjust. But the offensive line continues to be an issue, and it's going to continue to be an issue until something gets fixed. And it's really the interior offensive line. But what do you do? You don't there aren't any easy answers or quick solutions. So I don't know where you go from here.

are getting healthier. What is it gonna take for Seattle to gain ground and restake their claim of this division? Because really, Richard, it is up for grabs still, despite this loss.

finishing the job. And that's that's costing a lot of plays. They gotta protect the quarterback. I mean, I don't know how many more times we could say we can get on here every single week and be like, hey, protect quarterback, Protect quarterback. I don't know if anybody's getting hit or sack more than Geno Smith right now. And Gino you know, there are times he could have made better decisions with the football. He's trying to trying to make things happen, and at the end of the game he had some

incredible throws to JSN. He did used to count really well throughout this game. He made sure that you know, he capitalized on the free plays. A touchdown to Tyler Lockett JSN, I mean on a fourth and five, a dime of a pass to really get them into overtime, and a touchdown pass at the end to push the game to ot a big stop by the defense. But again, those those not executing in the red zone. That's what

they're doing them. In a game like this, you look back and those are the plays where you're like, man, that's points. Whether it's three or six or seven, you got to get.

can they avoid the big mistakes. I mean throwing the one hundred and three yard interception return for a touchdown to Cameron Kitchens. I mean, that's that is a backbreaker for this team because Seattle had this game in hand. And when you give Matthew Stafford opportunities. I've seen it, Richard. I lived it here in Detroit. When you give this man opportunities, it's not going to work out for you, and it worked in his favor today. The LA Rams

they're getting healthy. They look very good. If they can get pooking, Nakula backing up and cooking, I mean, this is a team that could easily compete for this division. What do you think of the Rams going for Richard? Because I know you have a stake in the forty nine ers I know you want to see the forty nine ers get healthy, but it's got to cause some a little element of concern for you seeing the Rams also getting healthy.

and it's just laughable what this game has become. I mean, you saw it in your Detroit Lions game. They eject Brian Branch for a to helmet hit when he's trying to dislodge the football from the player. I mean, that's what this game was built on. It. I know, everybody's like, oh, well, you know, we're evolving, and we're all all evolution isn't a great thing, and that's a bad part of the game that should be reviewed. If you're gonna give the

fifteen yard penalty give the fifteen yard penalty. Cool, But to eject the guy from the game, thinking, oh man, he went too high. He has literally a millisecond to decide, to make his decision and strike, and when he does that, a receiver can move up and down and around and left and right, and you just have to aim for where you think he's gonna be. And that's what he did. I thought the hit was fine, maybe a little high. If it's high, you flag him. But to kick him

out of the game and really can affect. He's one of your big time playmakers amongst the league leaders and interceptions, and you kick him out of a ball game early in a divisional game, you know you could if the Lions lose that game, you could obviously point to that being a huge factor.

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terms and responsible gaming resources. Let's take it to Detroit. I mean, this is a huge game in Green Bay, right the elements have played Detroit has not left are artificial turf environment all season. Everyone's talking about the rain and Lambeau. Everyone's talking about the playing surface in Lambeau, the cleats being shifted up. I mean, Dan Campbell said it, what's the most important factor of this game? The shoes you wear? And Detroit came out and Richard, I'm a detroitter.

I'm fired up. You're gonna have to talk me off this pedestal that I'm on. When I look at the Detroit Lions, I see a super Bowl team and maybe I'm nuts. But when you go on the road in your division and we've talked about this the last couple of weeks. These divisional games are so crucial, right, They're so crucial that they they make or break teams. And Detroit just was womping on Green Bay twenty what was it,

twenty four to three at half. I know they didn't score after the first half, But Richard, I gotta know, like, where's your head at with the Detroit Lions team? Because I could talk and talk and talk and talk forever about how power I feel about this Lion's team. Where's your head at?

who could really help. Now you get one of those guys, you know, to help put some more pressure on these quarterbacks, then I'm all on board, which eventual because that's the thing when you get into the playoffs, you get into these type all games. Who can get to the quarterback, who can get to the quarterback successfully. You have a really talented secondary, but nobody can cover forever. So if guys get more time, you start to find holes and zones,

you start to find holes. But right now they're doing a phenomenal job. They held Jordan Love to two hundred and seventy three yards twenty three of thirty nine. He was he got some garbage time yards in there, so we're not going to count all that. Josh Jacobs was ever able to have some success on the ground thirteen carries for ninety five yards. But I thought Kirby Joseph's

interception was an incredible play. I mean, to just be in the right place at the right time, to to to take your time, to not overrush, to have an awareness of where you are. We just talked about what they did to Brian Branch, which was a ridiculous, ridiculous abuse of power in the National Football League to kick a player out in the game for nothing, egregious nothing. He didn't do it on purpose, he didn't do anything that you would you would say, oh man, that was

a dirty play. It was a football play, and if it's a football player, I don't I don't like football players getting ejected for it. And that's that's something that that has to be reviewed from New York or talked about because if you do that in a playoff game to an All Pro or Pro Bowl player, you know who can have a drastic effect on the game. It's

too much gambling going on. It's too many, too much at stake in these ball games where people would start to say, hey man, they're starting to really they're starting to cheat, they're starting to cheat. I mean defense, you always feel like you getting cheated, but I mean that kind of play, you make it possible. So you're saying, hey, just let the guys catch the ball, because if they start taking guy's legs out and they start landing on their heads and breaking their necks and things like that,

then it's going to be a whole different issue. So they're trying to hit guys in the chest, and you saw Kobe Bryant had a great play against the Rams where you hit the guy right in the chest, but his helmet hit the other guy's helmet a little bit. But if you find a way for a guy to lead his body without his head, then I'd be all ears. But I told when I sent the competition to meet

in mini meetings, and they had these conversations. I said, hey, I want all you guys who are making these rules, I want you to walk towards the wall, and I want you to walk towards it, and I want you to do it with your head back. And they couldn't do it, Mitchell. They were stumbling, they were falling. I said, okay, now lean your head forward and walk wherever you want, what direction you want to go in, And they realized, hey, you're led by your head. No matter to run full speed,

your head's going to be at the forefront. So if you're talking about striking somebody, you put a foot in the ground, you put your shoulder out front. But I'm leaning my shoulder and my head's gonna look at this Mitchell. Yeah, yeah, you measure it. My head, my shoulder, it's gonna hit the jam there at the same time. All my head's gonna go first. So if you some of the things people say, like oh, he's leading with his head, like get the head out the game. You can't unless you

tell these guys to stop leading their body. And that's that's the part of the game I hate. But this Lion's team looks phenomenal. Uh. Their culture, their coaching looks good. Even when they when they face some adversity, they're overcoming it really quickly. They got a tough game against the Houston Texans next week. We trust just on TNF it's in Houston. I think they're a frustrated team. They're they're beat up at the receiver position. They're supposed to be

getting Nico Collins back off the hamstring injury. So I'm looking forward to that game. But right now, there are very few teams that can consider themselves better than the Detroit Lions.

that this guy, his completion percentage is off the charts. Richard, where do you put him? I mean, I know Lamar Jackson's been having a hell of a year, But is he a realistic MVP candidate right now? The way he's playing football for this Detroit Lion football team.

just aren't going to get it done. And you know, we talked about this last year when we were talking about Lamar Jackson, where his numbers stacked up in the National Football League, and you know, I wasn't I wasn't feeling it. But this year it's totally different. He looks

like his twenty nineteen MVP season. So if he's having a year like that, Josh Allen's also having a phenomenal year where he's throwing for two thousand yards and he's got seventeen touchdowns, only two interceptions, both coming in the last two weeks. They're winning ball games. They're seven and two right now. And so Lamar Jackson's number one in the league in passing yards. I think he's number one.

Are He's second in the league in passing yards, number one in QBR, second in touchdown passes with twenty only two interceptions. Those are MVP numbers. I mean, he almost has as many touchdown passes right now, nine games into the season as he did over sixteen games last year. And that's what when I was saying that last year, the oh, you're a hater, You're a hater. I'm not no hater. I just know what MVP numbers look like, and he has them. These are MVP numbers. He has

twenty touchdown passes nine games into the season. He had twenty four last year the whole season. And that's this. He's running away with MVP. And has Jared Golf played an amazing and winning football and done a phenomenal job, no question about it. But he's gonna have to throw for more touchdowns. He's gonna have to throw for more yards if he wants to get in this conversation now,

if he's holding a Trophy at the end. I don't think he cares, Mitchell, But if we're talking about the MVP conversation, you've got to get in some more numbers.

know everyone's kryptonite in the AFC is Patrick Mahomes. You know, Richard Baltimore looks down. I'm good. I mean, what's the ceiling for this team? Can they get past Patrick Mahomes in this Kansas City Chiefs team? Do you believe in this Baltimore Ravens team right now?

right now. I mean he's playing elite. He's pushing the ball down the field. We talked about his passing numbers. He's running the ball really well. I think he has five hundred and five rush yards as well to go along with his twenty three hundred or so passing yards. And he's really efficient. Mit, he's not turning the ball over at all. He's putting his team in phenomen no positions. They're scoring a ton of points every single week. They

look incredibly formidable. But then you look up and you're like, wait, they lost to the Browns and the Raiders, Like how why? Why? You can understand the Kansas City Chiefs loss this first game of the season, A lot of chaos is the Super Bowl champions. But then you look at at the Browns and the Raiders. You're like, hey, I don't know. You know, it leaves It leaves a lot for the imagination because now I need to see you against your division.

I don't you know, I need. I still need. There are still things I need to see from this team because of those losses. Are they a great team? Has a defense played incredibly yes, sir, yes, sir to hold the Denver Broncos to ten points to score forty one points on this defense that has been amongst the league leaders. Vans Joseph has had these boys hunting all season, playing really really high level defensive football. Bo Knicks has had really good games over the past three or four ball games.

And and in this game, I mean he was held to nineteen of thirty three to two hundred and twenty three yards. He had the reception touchdown on the Philly special play. But he's been feeding Courtland Sutton, who had another one hundred yard game, but they held him in check, forced them to throw an interception. They I mean, they had their way with that defense trying to play man coverage. They could not stop Zay Flowers five catches for one

twenty seven and two tous. This team looks to be a very formidable team, but those concerning head scratching losses are the reason I can't put them up, you know, above three in my power rankings, because you're losing the teams who just aren't playing great football right now. You know, you lost to Gardner Minshew and you lost to Jamis

who had a really good game. And you know, obviously we saw the chaos at the end, but they just got their butts kicked this week, and so you know, you think, oh man, they're about to turn it around, but then they did. So what they do this week and Thursday on Thursday night in front of us in Baltimore's really gonna give me what I need to see. Because the Cincinnati Bengals aren't a great team, but offensively,

Joe Burrow just threw for five touchdowns. This defense is coming along as they always do around this time in the season. They're three and one over their last four. So you look and you say, okay, Baltimore is your time blow out a division opponent and let us all know, put us all on notice. So if they were able to do that, then they get to say that now I still need them to do more.

Honolulu Blue Brightling. I know you got ears on two, and trust me, I'm gonna be giving this to you to wear a sideline when you're in Detroit, the Honolulu Blue Brightling when in Detroit for the Thursday night game against the Pack. But this Lamar Jackson, if he keeps going the way he is, he's deserving of a repeat MVP. He is our players in Primetime, brought to you by our friends at Brightling. Make sure you guys go check them out. They've got one hundred watches each for each team.

You guys got to look at him. Even if you're not going to buy him, at least look at him. They're beautiful. They're beautiful pieces.

throwing all these touchdown passes. We talked about Jordan Love and Patrick Mahons, but they're throwing a lot of interceptions right now. They're one and two in the league in interceptions thrown. And even Baker Mayfield, who's leading the league in passing yards, are passing touchdowns and I want to say yards. It's just throwing a ton of interceptions. So you think you would think, oh man, they got a

high risk, high reward kind of deal. But Lamar Jackson's doing it, and so is Josh Allen very efficiently.

and I think he's he's enjoying himself. He's adopting the Atlanta culture and the Atlanta vibes and and everything that that that they stand for. And I think the city's embracing him, and he's embracing the city and he's having a lot of fun. Mitchell, he was nineteen or twenty four today. Three touchdown passes. He was able to hit Drake London on a on a fade route or a will route in the end zone. He was able to

hit Mooney on a broken coverage. It looked like they just busted cover two and you gotta you just gotta. I'm I'm I'm happy for Kirk. I'm happy for Kirk. He's always been one of the quarterbacks that that I thought was a way better, way better and closer to elite than anybody gave him credit. And he's on a team with a lot of talent. I think Kyle Pitts

is starting to benefit from it, obviously Darnelle Mooney. But John Robinson had seven catches for fifty nine yards, twelve rushes for seventy five yards, his best all purpose yards game of the season, and they're finally giving him more touches, giving him, you know, getting him the ball in space a lot more. But remember last year when the Dallas Cowboys, Jerry Jones was at the trade line, was Drey deadline,

was like, hey, we're not making any moves. We're I mean, unless somebody calls us and gives us an offer we can't refuse. We just got on to keep doing what we do well. Jerry, your team looks abysmal. You should have made decisions during all season when you were all in, all in, mint all out, I guess, Mitchell, because everybody about to be out in a second, they about to say you gotta go, you gotta go, you gotta go, you gotta go, because they made a terrible move picking

their defensive coordinator. Now, I've talked to players on that team, I've talked to guys on that staff. I've talked to ex players who played in this game. It's too predictable, Mike Zimmers game is too predictable. They don't they he doesn't adjust, he doesn't adapt to what's going on right now. Like you have to adapt to the league that it is right now. You can't say, hey, I've had success in the past and I've always done this, and I've always done that. You have to evolve. You have to

adapt to what's happening right now, and he's not. You know when they're gonna be in man, you know when they're gonna be in zone. You know what zone they're running. It's predictable and you can dictate their informations. If it's third and short, they're in man, if they're in the red zone inside the five, they're in man like. And it's really resulted in them being a terrible red zone

defense because of how predictable they are. And you look and you see a lot of the same talented pieces that were there when Dan Quinn was there, and they were amongst the league leaders at top ten defense, number one in turnovers over the past however many years, and now they can't seem to get any turnovers. They they're not getting to the quarterback at the high till now. DeMarcus Lawrence is hurt. Parsons is out. You got to give him credit for that, Yes, sir, I understand that.

But there are still really talented guys there. Carl Lawson was able to get to the quarterback. He was a free agent acquisition, was able to get to the quarterback a few times in this game. But what's happened to Cede Lamb? What's happened to the rapport between Dak Prescott and Ceedee Lamb. Dak Prescott eighteen to twenty four, but only one hundred and thirty three yards in a touchdown.

They said something about his running this week, that he was he had less rushing yards than than your boy Jared Goff and I think a rod and so now he ran for thirty yards. But again now he pulls his hamstring. Mitchell. They almost they almost talked to him into pulling his hamstring. So they tell you you're not running enough, you laugh it off and say, man, that's bad.

They get you to run the ball and you pull your hamstring in the game, and then they put Cooper Rush in, which is gonna start a whole different controversy because there's a small contingent of Dallas Cowboy fans who have been saying Cooper, Cooper Rush. Put Cooper Rush in the game. Cooper, Well, they're gonna have another few games of Cooper Rush. I would believe it, depending on the severity of Dak Prescott's hamstring injury and if he finds

the way to win games. Mitchell, this is the kind of ridiculousness that happens in Dallas that people would be saying they need to start him over the sixty million dollar quarterback. I'm not the one saying that, Mitchell, and I would never say it because that's ridiculous. But there are people that were Dallas Cowboys gear every single week that we'll be saying that we.

I mean, conceivably they're not out of the playoff picture, but for all intentsive purposes, they've been getting absolutely shelled by teams. I mean, I know this was a six point game, but they were down by multiple scores for the bulk of this game. They made it look close late. I just don't know what the end goal is with this Cowboys team. They made no moves this offseason. They're

stuck in no man's land. They're in cap hell. They've got to pay all their players that they're supposed to be the team players that are going to elevate this team. Where do we go from here? Is Dak Prescott gonna be part of the long term solution with this team?

gonna be gone before Dak Prescott's gone. Dak Prescott makes one point two five base salary this year, he makes forty seven million, next year, forty to the next year, forty five the following year, etcetera, etcetera, fifty five and twenty twenty eight. Let's see the one hundred and twenty nine million guaranteed at signing, which is his twenty twenty

four salary plus his twenty twenty five salary. His twenty twenty sixth salary is guaranteed Mark sixteenth of twenty twenty five injury guarantee that signing, and w fifth day of league year of twenty twenty six his twenty twenty seven salary is guaranteed. So Mitchell McCarthy's gonna be gone, and the rumors that he's picking up Prime and he's picking up Shador are gonna be as loud as they possibly can be. Now, don't let the Dallas Cowboys be in

the top ten of the National Football League's draft. Do not let the Dallas Cowboys be picking in the top five of the National Football League's draft because the amount of noise you're gonna hear about them picking up Shador Sanders. Mitchell, it's gonna sound like Century Link during the NFC championship game that we are about to win. Mitchell, It's deafening. It's ridiculously deafening, and it's rightfully so. Then they're gonna be sitting there saying, well, why doesn't it Dad coach

him again? He coached them at the high school level, he coached them at the college level, he coached them at Dallas. And you know one star that could be big enough to walk into Dallas and overshadow Jerry Jones just a little bit. It's Prime And Mitchell, that's just the conversation that it's gonna be am I stoking fires that probably aren't there. Is Deon likely gonna just stay at Colorado and have a good time and keep coaching his butt off. Sure, but I like the controversy, Mitchell,

and it's the Dallas Cowboys. You never freaking know. All you know is that in January they're not gonna be there at least at the end.

a little bit of life, you know. I mean, this game is closer than it probably should have been twenty eight to twenty three. But Saquon Barkley is flat out bawling. I mean, he jumped over a guy backwards today. I don't know if you saw that, but I mean I've never seen that before in my life. Saquon Barkley, it seems like is the perfect fit for this Philadelphia Eagles team. Let's talk about the Eagles. Where what's your head? Where's your head at with this team? How far do you

think they can realistically go? Because they look a lot better than they did last year right now, rich.

the defense, right up in the air. Defender Dove caught it. You can't really put that one on Trevor, but it's gonna be on Trevor, you know. I'm sorry. That's how it works. The good ones, the good touchdown passes that you're like, oh, that wasn't a great pass and a receiver makes a crazy catch. That's the quarterbacks touchdown too. And when it's a great pass and the receiver just drops it and bounces it up in the air, it's an interception that happens too. But you have to give

the Eagles a lot of credit. I mean, you saw the clip with Sirianni at home going back and forth with the fan, and everybody was like, oh, what is he doing? Even I was like what is he doing? Then the article comes out and a fan does a video talking about he was telling Sirianni, Hey, you ran it for it five yards on first down. On second down, you run for it again. You got a first down, but instead you passed it two times. And now it's fourth and five. So he's telling them run the ball,

run it down their throats. And then you look up and at the end of the game, I think Saquan had like one hundred and sixty or one hundred and seventy yards rushing, and he turns around and said, did I run it enough for you?

and two. If you went back to that moment in time where Philadelphia fans are booing him and we're saying he's on the hot seat, they're about to fire him, And now they're six and two, tied for the leading division. He'd call me crazy, but that's that's games in Philly. We gotta go to Philly in a couple of weeks and they're playing the Washington Commanders, Mitchell. That's why I'm saying, like Lee Corso would not so fast, my friend, because

those Washington Commanders look really good, look really good. They another tough divisional game against the Giants. The Giants made the game closer than it had to be. But Jaden Daniel, I mean he looked like looked like the guy steal you know, and steel guy is elite. He's efficient, he's using his legs when he's supposed to. He's keeping himself out of harm's way, even with the sore ribs. You know, he's dropping domes to Terry mcclu Mitchell. They had eleven

seconds to go in a half, no timeouts. You got a rookie quarterback and I think they were about eighteen or nineteen yards away from the end zone. You know, he does Mintell, He drops back rows a dime on a slugo a slant and go route to Terry McClain corner of the end zone, back shoulder tug. I said, Ssh, this boy makes you want to It makes you it feels like it stinks in the room Mitchell my face, Yeah, Like, who is this guy a rook out out here controlling

the game pinpoint passes under pressure. In those situations, you expect a rookie to make a mistake, to hold the ball too long, maybe take a sack, randomly throw.

coming when they hired him this offseason? Because he's always been looking for his opportunity. It just seems like this was the perfect fit for him. And this, I guess you have Jaden Daniels fall into your lap at two, Richard, How does this all happen in one offseason? Because Washington was not thought of as a city that many players wanted to go to.

culture would be good. I knew them bringing in really championship caliber all pro leaders like Zach Ertz and Bobby Wagner would have a positive effect. But no, I cannot imagine them being seven and two at this point in the season and this young quarterback playing at not only

an offensive Rookie of the Year type level. But you know, if it wasn't for Lamar Jackson just playing outside of his mind, you'd be talking about potentially MVP if this team can find a way to keep winning ball games or him keep pushing the ball down the field like he has. And outside of Terry McLaurin, it's not a ton of receivers you would say are elite in the National Football League. But you got to give Cliff Kingsbury he's a lot of credit for what he's been doing schematically.

I mean, he's been really creative. You see some plays out of the Washington Commanders that you have never seen in the National Football League ever, some creativity in terms of the concept, the drop backs, the rollouts, the reverses. I mean, again, we talked about the Fleet flicker screen pass to Austin Eckler that was just crazy. And Austin Eckler, you know, a guy who has played really well, you know, a fantasy dream of Sourts International Football League, continues to

play well, continues to elevate. This team had a really good game this week, and I think he's one of the underrated parts of this offense that continues to keep this engine going, and that defense is coming along. They're getting more pressure on the quarterback. You're seeing the DBS make more plays. Sure, you're seeing you're seeing busts in the coverage and things that are kind of head scratching. But overall, I mean to get to be seven and two in this league. I mean, there are a couple

games away from clinching a playoff spot. And that's something that you couldn't have talked about in Washington for a long time. I can't imagine how cool the city feels. But I got another team I want to talk about because the Jacksonville jack what's happening in Duvall. You talk about hot seats, Mitchell, that's fish grease.

a great pass. That was you know, there were better places to put that football and they could have won that game with that pass. But instead he turns the ball over. They lose. But they not understanding last year to Kansas City Chiefs. I think let the league drops won the Super Bowl somehow and they'd say, well, the defense played better. Defense played pretty good today. I mean Trevon Walker thirty five yard touchdow, I mean fumble return

for a touchdown. So the defense gave you a touchdown today, they gave you a turnover. They had multiple sacks, they put pressure on the quarterback. They're facing a really high powered offense with a lot of playmakers, but your offense didn't do their part, and the quarterback is a part of that. You had a chance to win the game. You could make a better decision, better placement with the football, and we wouldn't be this critical of him if he

wasn't getting top five quarterback money. When you're getting top five quarterback money, then you get top five quarterback criticism. I'm sorry, That's just how the world works. If you're the number one paid quarterback in the National Football League, Dak Prescott, he gets highly criticized and comes with the territory.

He understands that if you're getting top quarterback money, then even if you're not playing to that level and never have, you get that criticism because you're getting paid like it. And if I'm getting paid like an elite even if I'm not playing elite, maybe it's bad on the team and the guys who paid him. Trent Balke like, why why, I mean you better off going bridge quarterback and drafting but who am I. They're gonna make me a GM someday.

Maybe I'm definitely not gonna run it like this. But when you keep going into situations, and you do see situations where you're throwing really good passes and guys are dropping him. I saw several in his game, a first down past Evan Ingram drop. I saw multiple touchdown passes in one game. I think he threw two or three in one drive. Guys just drop, drop, drop, and I was like, ah, that sucks. But I also watch other teams and guys drop the touchdowns, and you know what

the quarterback does, Mitchell, he keeps throwing them. He keep josh Avan, they drop a couple of touchdown fast. Guess what he gonna throw a couple more. And Lamar Jackson, I watch Bateman drop a wide open touchdown, the lights in his eyes, Mitchell, and he's gonna throw a couple mouth And that's why they're getting paid the big bucks because no matter what, they will overcome. That's why they get paid like they do. They overcome the circumstances. And

you know what, they get paid to do it. And if you getting paid to do it and you're not doing it, expect to be criticized. That's all I'm saying. Mitchell, one one hundred and sixty nine yards, two interceptions just isn't getting it done. But two touchdown rushes on quarterback sneaks. I guess, good job, Trevor.

to the finish line. Do you expect the Arizona Cardinals at the end of the year to be firmly in the mix to take this division crown?

Dallas Cowboys last year. They beat a couple other teams, and they were finding ways to win games because James Connor is a bully and they got an offensive line that feels the same way, and they run the ball really well, and they keep running it and keep running and they stay consistent with it. Amari de Mercado, I don't even know where he came from Metell, but he had a fifty three yard rushing touchdown and he ran away from the entire defense and I was like, wait,

who is this? Who is this? And where is James Connor? And but you again, they are staying committed to the run game. And Jonathan Gannon, it sounds like he has some old school coach in his ear telling him, you know what wins games, defense, run game, controlling the clock like good special teams. And that's what they're doing, Mitchell. They're playing really good defense. Sound they're not allowing Kyler to push the ball down the field owe that all

that much. I mean he threw the ball twenty times this game. He was thirteen to twenty for one point fifty four, no touchdowns, no interception. He did lose that fumble. But they're they're not gonna put the ball in Harm's way. They're gonna be efficient. Don't turn the ball over, Kyler running when you can and give it to James Connor, let him wear the defense down. And it's winning football. They're five and four, they've been they this Bears defense

that I have a lot of respect for. Jalen Johnson and the boys have been playing really good football all year long, and this is this is one of those games where I think they just had an off game. They just had an off day. And so did Caleb Williams. I mean, he just did not look good. You saw, you know, the one pass where he tried to side on you know, short stop to first base, throw it down the field and it almost got picked off. But it just seemed like they didn't they didn't want to

catch that football. It was too hot. But Caleb Williams twenty two or forty two hundred and seventeen yards, no touchdowns, no interceptions, but sacked six times a beat up in this game. Arizona was bringing pressure from all over the place and you look up and Xavian Collins or Xavon Collins two sacks, Xavier Thomas sack and a half guys getting pressure. But this is a relatively a team with

relatively unknown players outside of Buddha Baker. You don't know a ton of these guys on this defense that are making plays. You know, Zavon Collins was drafted pretty high. Outside of James Connor and Kyler Murray, Marvin Harrison junior, you don't know a ton about this offense and what they've been doing. But Mitchell, they're getting the job done. And if you don't, they're leading the NFC West right now, Minchell.

And if you don't, if the San Francisco forty nine or Seattle Seahawks and the Rams don't get their stuff together, they will walk away with it. Cardinals are playing the Jets, who just got to win on Thursday against the Houston Texans and maybe getting their mojo back. But with this wild card Cardinals team, you just never know. You never know what they're gonna do. You don't.

the Patriots. I gotta see more from the Chicago Bears. This was an opportunity on the road against a team needing to win in Arizona for them to show themselves, and I think they dropped it. I don't know rich. I mean, this NFC North is a highly contested battle going on right now. I think Chicago might fade a little bit. But let's talk about a team that needs

to rise, and that's the Cincinnati Bengals. They were in much need of a win this week hosting the Raiders, and they they did what they did and they absolutely obliterated the Las Vegas Raiders. Joe Burrow had a field day, throwing for five touchdowns. Is it safe to say that the Cincinnati Bengals are back to what we thought they would be. Are they in competition area? Where where's your head at with this team?

all the talent in the world. They have the ability to turn up on defense, they have the corners to play at a high level, they have the pass rushers to get to the quarterback and Hendrickson and Hubbard. But but you just don't see it consistently. And Joe Burrows throws five touchdown passes for the second time this season. But then you look up and you're like, oh, he must be he must have thirty touchdowns this year, and he doesn't. He's not. He's not leading the league right

now in touchdown passes. I think he has well, he's third, he started third in the league. So a quarter of his touchdown passes came today. Uh So without t Higgins in the lineup, you you wonder can they beat a team like the like the Baltimore Ravens. Hopefully he's gonna get back. I thought he had a chance to get back this week. He'll be back next week. But this is the team we expected to see. Trey Hendrickson four sacks in the game. Really incredible game for him. Uh

in that defense. Just Secie. I don't know why I'd like to say his name, just it just sounds cool. But he had five catches for over a hundred yards, two touchdown passes, and he could have had another one. He looks like he can emerge as one of Joe Burrow's top top targets because outside of him, Jamar Chase had I think forty seven yards and nobody really really woke up outside of Chiasecke. He seemed like he had the matchup that they wanted to exploit, and they exploited it.

Trace Brown ran the ball really well, caught the ball out of the backfield really well. Twenty seven carries for one hundred and twenty yards. He also had five catches for thirty seven yards. In a touchdown pass. So we're

gonna find out what they are this week, Mitchell. They play the Baltimore Ravens on Thursday Night football only on Prime Video, and I'm gonna be there, Mitchell, and I'm gonna keep a very very close eye on this offense and how they execute if T. Higgins isn't in the lineup, because that's just I think their second win over since twenty twenty three with T. Higgins out of the lineup. So now they're two and six when he's not in

the lineup, And this offense looked really good. Give Joe Burrow a lot of credit to hundred five ffty one yards five touchdown passes. He got the job done, found other guys to really be able to push the ball down the field. But is it sustainable?

as a really talented unit. You got Justin Herbert playing really good football, and it's flipped back and forth because earlier in the season they were leaning on the run game and JK. Dobbins was winning Player of the Week and you know, had all that acclaim, making all those big plays, and I think he's still playing solid football. He had fourteen carries for eighty five yards and two touchdowns today. But they're starting to lean on Justin Herbert

a little bit more. Eighteen to twenty seven for two hundred and eighty two yards, two touchdown passes. But the guy who's been the greatest surprise this season has been Quinton Johnson. A lot of people were calling him a bus last season that you know, he was dropping a lot of passes easy passes, wide open passes, and this year it just seems like he's turned everything around. It's been a beautiful, wonderful story of redemption for this young

man and it's really helped to power this offense. During this run. They've been on their defense, holding the Browns to ten points. They picked off Jamis three times. That's why the Chargers are this week's Uber Eats Almost Almost Perfect Defense. This segment is brought to you by Uber Eats. It highlights the defense that put on the week's most dominating performance. And again, there are three interceptions of Jamis. They sacked them six times. It was just so much

chaos going on. They were in his face, made him uncomfortable the entire game. Coming off a huge win where they beat the Baltimore Ravens, everybody was looking forward to seeing what Jamis would do in this game. But the Chargers never allowed him to get going, never allowed him to feel comfortable. They I mean, they dropped one. Durwin James dropped a really easy interception too, so it could have been four. But that's this week's Uber Eats Almost

Almost Perfect Defense of the Week. And remember, you can order almost almost anything you want with Uber eats, the official on demand delivery partner of the NFL Order Now no question.

a lot closer than I think a lot expected. Another Division game against the Dolphins comes down to the wire. The Bills escape with a game winning field goal. What's the strategy going forward? Let's start with the Dolphins because it seems like they're the season is at a loss. Do you just sit to it at this point or what do you do if you are the coach and general manager of this Dolphins team?

teams that punt seasons. I know you have teams that don't have good enough teams to compete, Like right now, the Carolina Panthers are dealing with that offensively, the Browns are dealing with a little bit of that. The Patriots. The Patriots are dealing with issues the Jacksonville Jaguars. You know teams where you're just like, hey, can't figure it out. You can't figure out what's not working for your team. But no, I don't think you pumped the season. I

think you got to keep competing. Buffalo obviously having a great season. We talked about all the great things Josh Allen's doing, had another great game this game, and the Dolphins had opportunities to win this game, to walk away with the W and just things just aren't the boys and bouncing their way this season on either side of the ball. But all you can do is keep competing.

rest of the way? I mean, because we've got my Detroit Lions, who I believe. I know the Kansas City Chiefs are playing on Monday Night Football, but I believe they've shown enough to show you, Richard Sherman, that they are deserving of your number one spot and your power ranks. What else do they have to do to prove you that they are worthy?

They are seven and zero have not lost the game, and I'm waiting for somebody to figure them out and give them an al.

beautiful rest of your night and enjoy your football. Whether your team one or lost, they get to play again next week unless they're on the by. So we appreciate you joining us. As always, hit that SUP button if you know the volume