Welcome in What's Driving Nick Great Episode three seventy two, and as always, this episode is brought to you by our friends at boost Mobile. So much to do today, Demons, Sorry, pale your your team. It's not sometimes in sports you'll you know, lose the battle but win the war. I fear the Ravens might have lost the battle and the war on Sunday. I fear they could be in real
trouble moving forward. Now they have a division that's winnable, and I don't really believe in Aaron Rodgers, and so they have time to ready to steady the ship.
But the Chiefs have our number.
If the moment is this era of football, Yes, that is true, So we will get to that. We will also get to listen the Monday Night The Monday Night doubleheader was terrible. Those were not great games, and sadly the only real news from those games is a absolutely catastrophic injury to one of the greatest players of the era in Tyreek Kill. So we will get to that in a bit. Also, of course, a bizarre Cowboys Packers game where the offer did hit by the way, demand's
demand hold on. Before we get to Chiefs, Ravens can I tell demon's a occasionally. I don't know. Do you like dream about a bet you want to make late? Or do you have a couple couple cocktails on a Saturday night and you're like, I want to get this bet in? So is this do I have about? Right?
Just it just gets super late, and I don't know. I think it's what everybody's sleep. My brain is the most active. Mike, this all makes sense. I'm gonna lock it in. But obviously I'm in California.
So Demand's in California. So he can't put these teasers in on his own. And while he has been great, up did your teaser hit this week?
Yeah? Back to a cover by the Jets last night?
Okay, perfect, Well that's why listen, that's why you tease up those points. He has been great on following all teaser rules consistently for the show pick. However, he in the middle of the night Saturday night text me, can you put this in for me? My biggest wager of the season, and not only did he not follow any of the teaser rules, it's just an abomination of a bet.
It's the Eagles from minus three and a half to plus four and a half, the Chiefs up to plus ten and a half playing against his team, and then the Pace Day resistance because he loves eight point teasers. The Packers, who are were a perfect teaser candidate that actually wouldn't have won a six point teaser. Yeah, I told that wouldn't have won. Oddly, teasing through the zero is the only reason this one, because it was a tie the Packers the plus one and a half. He
put it in. By the way, I paid you this morning. I don't know if you saw it, but I paid you this morning. I wake up to that at seven am Sunday morning, that this guy wants the worst teaser ever, but it worked, So what he has he cash props to you. All right, let's get to straight. The voicemail brought to you by Boost Mobile. We are not on the show today, getting to NBA Media Day reactions. We are not going to do baseball playoffs today. We will
do some of that on Thursday. And JJ Reddick evidently has ninety minute conversations with his friend Cha which chat GPT. I'm not gonna judge it. I know a lot of people, you know, have a lot of you know, are very productive. We get a lot of things done through AI and through talking with AI and working with AI. I have not fully embraced that technology as of yet. I'm sure
at some point I will. Once upon a time, I used to be on the radio making fun of the concept of Twitter and how I would never be on Twitter, And you know now it's my only social media platform. So I recognize I'll get there one day. I'm just not there yet. Where I am, though, Demons is fully relaxed and comfortable and relieved about the Chiefs. Let's get right to the game of the weekend.
Yeah, so we all saw what happened on Sunday. Your Chiefs crushed my Ravens. We were obviously riddled with injuries. Our quarterback went down very early into the third quarter, she said, after starting two.
That is not hold on. Your quarterback did not go down early in the third. He went down at the end of the third quarter when when he tapped out when they were down seventeen.
But go ahead, all right, you said your Chiefs had the chance to rewrite history after starting oh and two, after this game, do you think they did so? Well?
Listen, they studied themselves and the ow and to start what they had to do was beat the Giants. That was an ugly game that obviously turned on the tackle that turned the tide. And then they had to go take care of business against the Ravens, and take care of business they did, and not shockingly, the moment the Chiefs had close to a competent receiving corps, the offense
looked good again. And we don't have to do this full history in depth, but it is worth mentioning that the Chiefs traded away Tyreek Hill Mahomes snap in an offseason, changed the way he played based on the receivers they had one league MVP. The very next year, dealt with more drops than any quarterback literally in modern NFL history, figured it out by the playoffs, won the Super Bowl. The next year, dealt with the most injured wide receiver and running back room in the NFL, got all the
way to the Super Bowl. And the next year, which was this year, walked into the season with his number one receiver suspended for six games and his number two receiver knocked out of Game one three plays in. And it looked shaky for a bit. And I told you guys that I knew real like I guess insight that that Chargers Week one game plan. Xavier Worthy was the EPI center of it, and him being knocked out three
plays in threw everything off. But this, the fatalism surrounding the Chiefs from almost everyone else in the media was And I don't want to be a scold, and I don't want to be more annoying than I naturally am, but it was embarrassing, and it was so fickle and so myopic, my opic, pardon me, as if they don't have a Hall of Fame head coach, a Hall of Fame caliber decordinator, and the most talented quarterback to ever live,
that they couldn't figure it out. And it was as if they were getting boat raced in these early games, or as if they were playing terrible teams and losing. Neither were true. Now I want to make this clear. I don't think the Chiefs are, you know, quote fully back. If back means being the highest scoring team in the league, I don't think that's who they're going to be. I
don't think the Chiefs have solved all their issues. I still think the running back room leaves a lot to be desired, and their ability to get pressure on the opposing quarterback without sending a blitz at the moment leaves
a lot to be desired. But you look, if you going into the Baltimore game, if you looked around the AFC, the only team that really you could say had no holes to poke at it was the Chargers going into Week four, but they already were dealing with some potentially mounting injuries that sadly, they dealt with more of during Week four in a game they had no business losing, but lost, And so the Bills were undefeated. But the Bills defense had looked shaky, and they they had and
have played three consecutive games against just bottom feeders. The Ravens were given this huge benefit of the doubt despite having the same record as the Chiefs, and then every other team that had a good record, like the Steelers or the Jags, you had real reason to be concerned about.
And so who's first, I mean, I don't know if this matters whose first slay to games. Who do you think has had the tougher schedule through the first four weeks between the Ravens and the Chiefs.
I think it's been almost identical. Okay, so like they played each other. So if we want to call that like I so call the Chiefs Ravens game, you know, a war so to speak. The Ravens played the Browns. The Chiefs played the Giants, which is, I think the Giants are better than the Browns, but the Browns have a better defense than you know what I mean. Call that a wash. And then the Ravens played the Bills.
The Chiefs played the Eagles. The Ravens player, I guess we could do Bills, Chargers, Eagles, Lions, you know what I mean, Like, I think the Bills are a little better than the Chargers, but I think the Eagles are a little better than the Lions. So to me, it's very very similar. Like as far as what the opening slate was, now you could argue the Chief Ravens game being in Kansas City, like the Ravens having to go
on the road for that tilts it. But the other piece of it that was maddening to me and has been even more maddening in the after There have been two things that have happened in the aftermath of this game that really drive me crazy. And I had kind of a rough moment near the end of yesterday's show on TV with why yesterday I'll apologize to him when I see him today. It's not really the tone of our show. But I got I got angry when I shouldn't have the And I mean, I don't think he
took it like terribly. Like I think he might be surprised when I apologize to him, but maybe not. But it Two things have happened that to me are so frustrating. The first one is I understand the Ravens during the game lost Rokwan Smith and late in the game lost Humphrey and once the game was over over over lost Nate Wiggins. But they went into the game missing four starters. Everyone and the defense already had been bad all year. Everyone knew that and picked them. That's fine, by the way,
Like you can pick whoever you want. And I'm not acting like that game was a lot for the the way it played out. The Chiefs at full control, but you know, something goes differently. Maybe not, but to know the team has those injuries going in and then afterwards be like, well, of course Kansas City did that. Look at all the injuries on defense. It's just bullshit. It's that if your handicap going into the game was I think the Ravens at full strength are better, but they're
not full strength. Therefore, I think the Chiefs will win. And then you see that game be like, yeah, that's what I thought, so be it. But that wasn't anyone's handicap. The handicap was even with the Ravens defensive injuries, the Chiefs offense, with Patrick freaking Mahomes on it and Andy Reid calling the plays, is so broken that they're not gonna be able to move the ball.
I mean Vegas had them as underdogs as well, correct money, Yeah.
Like, which it's so again, two and a half one underdogs at home to a one and two team that the two competent offenses that they had played moved the ball at will and so to then Monday morning quarterback be like, oh, well, obviously this was gonna happen. That's not what you believed. That wasn't people's picks. That wasn't people's opinion. The conversation going into the game was who needed it more? Kansas City? Who do you trust more? Baltimore Good I watched Orlowski do the Ravens are built
to beat the Chiefs? What it's like, No, they're built to beat the Chiefs In the Bengals. They're just they they're not built to beat the I think he said the Chargers in the line something I don't know. I it was consent, and the other piece of it was And this is my other level of frustrating, because while Ronnie Stanley did go out during this game, the Ravens offense is healthy, and it was that, well, the Chiefs aren't gonna be able to slow down a Ravens offense
that no one's been able to slow down. They score thirty plus in every game, and that, of course is
not what happened. And so that frustrated me. And the other thing that frustrated me had nothing to do with Brewer Wilds, but it had to do with me listening to Simmons Pod as I do every Monday morning, listening to Greg Rosenthal's NFL Daily Pod, as I do every day, listening to you know a lot of them, and watching the Monday morning shows and all of it, and I was like, I could not believe that I was going going to once again have to be I guess, the
bad guy in pointing out the obvious fact that this game turned on a totally predictable, yet inexplicable horrific Lamar pick and the Ravens were up seven to three with the ball on first down around midfield, and Lamar re pedaled backwards and then threw up a prayer for no reason whatsoever, a guy who has he and and again people can be mad at me, but here are the facts of it. And every year people get mad at me, And then every year we get another piece of evidence
that I'm stone right about this. And then every year I have to listen to folks stick their fingers in the ears and be like, Nope, actually wrong. Lamar is the greatest passer of the football we've ever seen. His hires passer rating ever, never turns the ball over, and all the big game, playoffs, games against the chief stuff
is just dumb random luck. In the last thirty games Lamar is played, he has multiple turnovers in three of them, the AFC Championship game against Kansas City, the Divisional round against Buffalo, and Sunday against Kansas City. I guess that's a coincidence. In the last thirty games Lamar is played, he has thrown seven interceptions, which is remarkable that he's only thrown seven. He had like a fifty to four touchdown interception ratio. You know, in this stretch you moved
the playoffs. It was crazy. The interceptions are as follows four regular season interceptions prior to Sunday, three of which we played the video hit his receiver in the hands and then either got like bobbled or stolen, one of
which Bateman just stopped running his route. But four passes that did not need to be picked, the only three in the last thirty games, the only three interceptions Lamar has thrown where it's like, what the hell was that AFC Championship game into triple coverage in the fourth quarter against Kansas City Divisional round game, early against both against Buffalo and the one Sunday. He also in those three
games had inexplicable fumbles out of nowhere. To pretend like that is coincidental when we once again saw Lamark throwing his helmet out of sorts, it's just dishonest. And I know Bill Pollion was mean in his commentary towards the guy eight years ago, and I know some of the worst actors in media, sports or otherwise tried to pigeonhole him as a wide receiver in a pretty nakedly at
times racist way. I get that, and I understand because of that there has been a almost protectionism and a want for folks to see him succeed at the highest level. I don't disagree with that, But why do we have to pretend what is obviously true is not? Why do we have to pretend that this is a unique thing we haven't seen across sports? Our whole lives the all time great, legendary player who sadly gets tight in his biggest spots and plays his worst in his biggest moments.
That's part of sports man. And nobody was going back and taking away Peyton Manning's MVPs and his records because
he struggled massively in the biggest spots. But we weren't pretending it was coincidental either, talking about the Peyton Manning face, talked about how he got anxious, talked about how his brother was like the bizarro version of him, a holy meeting, theocre player for giant expanses of his career, who somehow, in the biggest spots played his absolute best, and for some reason with Lamar, we gotta pretend it's not happening. I gotta and listen, I don't know this guy but
I think he does good work. I think he's a smart commentator. But I Deontay Lee at the ringer. I before the Lamar fumble, I tweeted, Lamar's basically gone two years without making that this was on the pick, without making that exact type of mistake except for in the twenty three AFC Championship game, of the twenty four Divisional round and just now against Kansas City probably a coincidence,
and Deontay Lee quote tweets it right. Nobody can identify the intrinsic traits of a winner and loser like Nick Wright. He is the seer. It's like, no, bro, I'm not trying to tell you, I'm not trying to act like I look in at guy's eyes and can determine whether he has the IT factor. I'm just trying to act like I've watched this guy's whole fucking career, and from day one, he has been a guy who, in the postseason or in these instances now when he sees Patrick
across the field, plays his worst football. And we can act like it's a small sample, but he's played the Chiefs seven times. He's played I think ten playoff games, like it's not a small sample. And I my frustration is and again, so this is the other thing, demand say, And this is what I'll say before we keep it moving, and maybe demands you'll tell me this is unfair. I don't think if I'm a Ravens fan, I don't think. The thing that I came out of that game most
disheartened about was the defense. And the reason for that is obviously, if the defense is this bad, they are drawing dead, you know what I mean. They can't have
the worst defense in football. But what to me was so disheartening about it if you're a Ravens fan, is you're now gonna have in the back of your head, even if we get the defense fixed by when we get to these moments against Josh or Patrick, are we getting MVP Lamar Or are we getting throwing his head back, slamming the helmet, taking terrible sacks, throwing off his back foot lamar I That to me is the concern defense.
Defense definitely has to get better. Think that will help a lot, obviously, but it's it's every single time you are realizing more and more that I think it's a mental thing. It's not like a physical he's pretty I don't want to say he I don't want to put it all on themar but seems pretty checked out from
the start. I don't want to say checked out, like disinterested, but I mean there was a nice third and eleven that he picked up one when they were still up, and he still just kind of walked back to the huddle looked a little sad. He's, yeah, he's his emotions. He's just not up in spry like I see him in other games, and it's just it is a little disfunte.
He tried to take it back, but he said a few years ago that Mahomes had been as kryptonite and he was asked like member, and it was like the how you know, excited do you get to play the Chiefs And he's like, I'm not excited at all, like and it was kind of charming almost, but then he tried to pull it back later He's like, no, I don't feel that way. It it's in his head and I don't think his team And this is what I
want your take on. I don't think the play calling in these spots does him any favors by trying to put the whole game on him, you have Derrick Henry.
Derrick, Yeah, exactly. We weren't using him as much as we should have in the game.
And it was the same story in the AFC Championship game. They didn't have Derrick Henry then, but they had a great running game. They wouldn't run the ball like it's it's like they it sometimes feels like they go into these games like trying to prove a point that Lamar can just do it Patrick, like just go get the get the win.
And then even in a couple instances where he would have normally evaded, he just kind of I don't know, he just seemed like he almost took the sac. I see Lamar getting out of some of those situations that he got trapped in.
But well, it's been two weeks in a row, where like they yeah, and so listen, and I'm not going to kill him too much on some of those sacks because some of the greatest Lamar plays ever are plays it looks like he should have been sacked, somehow gets away and then makes a crazy throw. So to keep those available, sometimes you're just not gonna get away. But yeah, I mean, he wasn't good and I just don't think it's coincidental. Let's get to some of these follow ups here.
Pal, So with Baltimore, do you think that Kansas City isn't a good spot right now, because obviously Baltimore is super down, So like, is Kansas City humming or is Baltimore, you know, just at a heavy disadvantage right now.
So listen, I think that I don't think everything is you know, the sky is falling in Baltimore, because I do think that Lamar is going to instantly be back to being regular season Lamar. Like I expect Lamar against a great Texans defense to be excellent. I expect Lamar against the Rams to be excellent. Like I don't. I'm not too worried about the hamstring. That was a weird one because he got no treatment and he's like the trainers. Yeah, it was like he wrapped a that was a weird one.
So I think he's gonna play and I think he'll be good. But I think the defense, you know, they're gonna just have to outscore people and hope the defense gets healthy by the end of the year. And I don't think Kansas City is fully fixed, but I think Kansas City has now fully steadied themselves, and the Chargers did them a huge favorite by blowing that game to the Giants. And now it's like, you know, in short order, the Chargers could theoretically be or the Chiefs could be back in for plays.
What else do we have, so chat Andy asks Nick. Nick worried that the chief success is seemingly tied to a skinny wire receiver's health Worthy. Yeah, I mean big focal point.
It was huge. Now listen, Xavier was healthy all last year and took some big shots. Yes, but I am worried about that. I also think though, that once they get Rashie back, it's less tied just to Worthy. And in theory, once they get Rashie back, the Chiefs should have the best receiving core mahomes has had in four years. Rashi Worthy. Thornton's been Knight a nice addition, like it kind of pushes Hollywood Brown.
Yeah, I got like, I'm obviously a Ravens fan, but you guys weren't. You guys did look good in the game, and.
It was fun and and the Chiefs are more fun when they play like that and Mahomes Listen, those Mahomes red zone touchdowns to Thornton and to Juju were sick. Those were starts that yes, he had to fire those in and I thought, I thought those were those were excellent. All right, Let's do one more Baltimore followup for him.
Let's go on home with Derrick Henry. Like obviously he's had the track were going of fumbling this season, but his usage.
I wouldn't worry about the fumbles. I just don't know why they didn't give him the ball more. It's just so weird to me that they wouldn't give him the ball more. He had I think four carries for thirty one yards on the opening drive. Yeah, and so listen, I'm not ready to do Harball hot seat, especially because here's the other thing. I still think they're gonna win the AFC North demanse. The Bengals are a mess. The Browns have the worst offense in the league outside of
maybe Tennessee. And I don't I don't trust pitch yet now I thought they were gonna lose like I was wrong about Pittsburgh Sunday morning. If so, let me put it like this, I think right now ten wins still wins Baltimore the AFC North, and I obviously think they can get to ten wins, they would have to go nine and four the rest of the way, and I expect them to definitely be able to do that. Now, if Pittsburgh really gets rolling, maybe A'll adjust. But I
wouldn't panic about missing the playoffs on Baltimore. I just panic about what have I seen this year that makes me feel like I'm a real contender. And my answer to that question is nothing. Today's show brought to you by our presenting sponsor, hard Rock Bet. New customers can place a five dollar bet and if it hits, you not only get your winnings, but also one hundred and fifty dollars in bonus bets. The leaves are falling, but the stakes are rising. Postseason baseball is here and every
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eight hundred and nine with it. Gambling problem called one eight hundred gambler in Arizona, Colorado, Illinois, New Jersey, Ohio, Tennessee, or Virginia. Let's go to Packers Cowboys pout.
So you said on Thursday show that there was no way that Dallas is going to be green Bay, and I guess you were correct to a certain extent. That game ended forty forty in a tie and overtime. Mike had eight quarterback pressures and probably got to deck when it mattered the most. But you said the bigger story of the game here was green Bay's offense late. What did you see there?
All right, So let me do with Micah first quickly, and then we'll do the Packers. Listen, I'm the Packers' defense had been a plus through three weeks, and then they were really bad on Sunday night. There's no you know, there's no getting around that. That's obvious. They were really bad Sunday night. I did think Micah's shoestring tackle on Dakh saved the Packers because Dak was gonna score a touchdown, held him to a field goal because of it. But
that was a disappointing performance for the Packers. And on the mic afront, I I can't watch the I can't watch the Cowboys offense look the way it has looked through a month and not feel like, man, had they just gotten it worked out with Micah, they they'd be
like a fringe contender. Dak is playing out of his mind, bro, like he's playing great and doing that against that defense without Ceedee Lamb Pickens having the game of his life was so impressive, and so it just feels so bitter sweet if you're a Cowboys fan, where it's like, man, if we had just gotten this worked out with Micah and our defense was just average, like we'd be a real team. I think right now they'd be three and one instead of one two and one, and they'd be
a problem for teams and Joe valid game. I think it's so that the thing is, I think it's the opposite. I I know that, Yeah, I know, but a lot of people had that take because the Packers defense was bad, but the Cowboys defense was just as bad.
Yeah, And so like I I know, this feels maybe a little unfair, but the better the Cowboys offense plays, the more I hate the trade because it's like, man, you had a real chance to contend.
Now the end of the game is the concerning part. So I I want to give Matt Lafleur grace in this regard, he was terrified of Brandon Aubrey. What Matt Lafleur was trying to avoid was the Packers kicking a field goal with thirty seconds left and then having to kick off to this mutant kicker, Brandon Aubrey, indoors where they could would potentially get to God, if they get to their own forty five yard line and it's a seventy two yard field goal, you'd feel like got a chance.
And with the new kickoff rule, if you you know, kick a touch back, they started the thirty five like the Cowboys probably fought thought man, they could start fifteen yards from field goal range. So they were trying to make sure if they kicked a field goal, that if they kicked a field goal, that Green Bay was not going to have any time. I understand that, and you.
Know that to get the kickoff to you to get start.
To ignore that, ignore that, and so the the I understand Dan Matt Lafleur being cautious, I don't understand or I didn't understand it. First his total lack of trust in Jordan Love, who's playing a good game, to take any chances to just win the game with a touchdown. The way you remove Brandon Aubrey from the equation is you score a touchdown. Okay, you score a touchdown, the game's over. But it was kind of validated by the fact that Jordan Love almost butchered the end of that game.
They're very lucky that the Cowboys timekeeper is ethical and what didn't just delay by a half second and let the clock run out. You would that was a very nice thing for a road timekeeper to do. But Jordan lucky.
But that was what happened though, Like that was the amount of time that was I mean maybe I mean, like this seconds.
When it hit the ground, Like it feels like if there were tenths of a second de Mon's that that thing would have been like point two. And if it's point two, like you could probably just be like, oh it's you know, but regardless, the the fact of the matter is it's second down. The Packers have no timeouts, and Jordan Love, instead of throwing it away or like scrambling and throwing it away, checks it down. And now
the clock inbounds, and now the clock's running. He has to know if I cannot get this snap off at with ten seconds left, I need to just spike the ball and will take the field goal. They almost got a procedural penalty, which would have been a ten second runoff game over. They everything happened late and they almost ran out of time. That for a guy who's not even close to a rookie, he's been in the league a long time at this point, that was a brutal and almost just killed like in the game, end of
game sequence. That made me more concerned about the Packers' Super Bowl hopes than anything else was the fact that I still don't have full trust in Jordan Love. I just don't. And so that was I thought that was really shaky, and I thought Lafleur showed he didn't fully trust Jordan Love by not letting Love just try to
go for the touchdown with the play calls. It seemed like it was very conservative out on the edges don't make a mistake and seemed And the other thing is I was surprised Green and they seemingly was okay with the tie when they're going to be in a dog fight for that division and for seeding and the win is going to be way more valuable for them. But so that's it, all right, what's follow up here?
Would you would you change the ot rules overtime rules? And if you would, how would you change them?
Yeah, people are like, oh, you shouldn't have ties or it make the period longer. I totally disagree with that. Football is a brutal, dangerous, violent sport. They do not need to be playing longer when it's the regular season. I would be totally fine with moving over, no removing overtime. The goal is to win in regulation, and if you don't win in regulation, it's a tie. Deal with them.
I would be fine with that. And if you're not going to do that, I like sudden death, and I know people are you know, the first score wins, have it be over. People are like, oh, that's unfair. Then it comes down to a coin flip again. If you frame the conversation as I always have, which is the goal of the game is to win in sixty minutes. Once you fail at that goal, randomness and variance and bad luck comes into play. And so this idea that, oh, no, they should have kept that game going is absurd.
Yeah.
No, and so or bring back the fifteen minute overtime. I don't like any of that. The goals to win in regulation, and if you don't win in regulation, it could be you know, it's subject to what people consider unfair. But I would be fine with getting rid of OT
in the regular season entirely personally. And I think that also would lead to some very interesting late game decisions, Like if a team is down three late in the game, do they go for a field goal knowing, all right, the best we can do now is tire, or do they go for the touchdown? If the team is down seven and scores a touchdown super late, do they automatically go for two? I think that I think those things could be interesting. All right, let's go on to some other games.
So the Eagles are still undefeated, but it has not looked very good. Hert said, zero second half passing yards. Sakwan can't get it going. AJ Brown is distraught. Even with all those injuries. We talked about how much of a disadvantage Tampa Bay was last week. They still came down. They were a Baker goal line interception away from making the game. What's going on over there?
Yeah?
What's going on over there in Philly?
So they just can't play a normal game. I give him a listen. They have an excellent team. And you know they last two weeks ago, they block a field goal to win a game. This week they get the game going with a blocked punt. You know what I mean, Like I in a block punt touchdown. It's really impressive. But two weeks ago, they had negative passing yards in the first half and then we're excellent in the second half. This week, they were excellent in the first half and
then zero completions in the second half. And they just can't. And AJ Brown is tweeting, you know, passive aggressive scripture. He's not happy. It's it's now. They've had a brutal schedule and they're four and up. They've played the Cowboys, the Chiefs, the Rams, the Bucks. So I'm not nagging the Eagles here. I do think that they could. I called them the Chiefs of last year last week, where
I'm like, you're undefeated, but everybody's nitpicking you. I now would recommend the Eagles take a page out of the Chiefs of two years ago book. When if you remember when the Chiefs were the defending champs and they were having some struggles during the year, and I brushed it off with their practicing. I was like, they are working on things, so they are during the games, so they are malleable late in the year and can beat you a bunch of different ways. And then I was proven
exactly correct. I think that might be worthwhile for Philadelphia. It might be worthwhile to use some of these games to be like, hey, let's have the purpose of this game for aj Brown to leave it happy. Let's draw some inbreaking over the middle routes where he never gets thrown the ball, and see if see what it looks like, see if Jalen can be more reliable as a pure drop back passer, Just so we have that club in
our bag. It is because right now they are just playing weird games with weird vibes afterwards, because one of the very best players on their team is clearly unhappy and.
Uh.
And the other piece of it is Saquan is not nearly as effect this year as he was last year. Now maybe that changes, but we're a quarter of the way through and he's three point one yards per carry. He's gone for sixty eighty eight, forty six and forty three in these games. He is seventy total receiving yards. And this is coming off one of the greatest years. Last year he averaged Himan's five point eight yards per carry. This year he's averaging barely half that at three point one.
Like that is that's a real I don't want to say concern, but it's something to look at if you need to figure out, Okay, if he's not dominant, what are other ways we can beat you? And so listen, Philly, they're the defending champs. They've won twenty out of twenty one games, or nineteen out of twenty games. They've won
in a bunch of different ways. I have a ton of respect for it, and I gotta give Sirianni credit, begrudgingly, but they're trying to get through twenty games here and right, and you can't have in two weeks like the two of the entire league, thirty two teams have played four games, so that's one hundred and twenty eight you know games, two halves a game, So there's been two hundred and fifty six halves of football played in the NFL this year.
The two worst passing halves of the two hundred and fifty six where the first first half by Philadelphia two weeks ago and the second half by Philadelphia two days ago. That's weird. And I'm not even like banging on jail in here or anything. It's just weird. And I don't know, I don't think they can ignore it just because they've been winning. All right, What else do we got?
Baker was talking trash with down three touchdowns? Yeah, how many other quarterbacks in the league do you think you're doing it?
Maybe just Baker? And I do understand some of the Eagle fans being frustrated, like do the taunting rules not apply to this guy? But that's just Baker. There's a little bit of like the Draymond effect of oh, he does this the entire game in all ways, so the refs get a little, you know, numb to it. But speaking of Baker to perfect segue to our brand new sponsored segment, College Football's Walk On Mount Rushmore, presented by Chad Powers, now streaming on Hulu and Hulu on Disney
Plus for Bundle subscribers. Each of the next four weeks, I'll be revealing my Mount Rushmore of college football walk ons, paying tribute to the legends who started with no scholarship, no spotlight, and still carved out unforgettable careers like you are going to see Chad Powers hopefully do on the new show on Hulu and Hulu on Disney Plus again. I've gotten a sneak preview of the show. It's really
fun and we'll talk more about that later. But the first person on the Mount Rushmore of walk Ons is, of course Baker Mayfield, who took being a walk on twice two two times, being the Big twelve Offensive Player of the year, was an All American, won the Heisman. He walked on at Texas Tech and you know, found fought his way and got a starting job, but that wasn't enough for him. He then walked on at Oklahoma
and had truly a record setting college career. He left college at the time with the highest passer rating ever.
His first year at Oklahoma thirty six touchdown seven picks in fourth in the Heisman voting, his second year at Oklahoma forty touchdowns eight picks, completed seventy one percent of his passes, third in the Heisman voting, and his final year at Oklahoma forty three touchdown six picks, again over seventy percent completions, first in the Heisman voting, won the Maxwell Award, won the Walter Camp Award, the whole nine and he had to walk on everywhere, and now he's
kind of been a walk on in the NFL, had to walk on with the Bucks, kind of fight with Kyle Trash for his job, and has just been, you know, turned himself into a great, great player. So uh. The first up in the Walk on Mount Rushmore, brought to you by Chad Powers, now streaming on Hulu and Hulu on Disney Plus is Baker Mayfield. Make sure to check out Chad Powers new episode streaming every Tuesday on Hulu
and Hulu on Disney Plus for Bundle subscribers. All right, demanse, let's get to one more game before we get to Tyreek and some of the quick hitters.
So you're Jackson proved a three to one all while making Party look awful. Could things have gone any better for you in this game? You hater?
Well, I'm not a hater, but I mean Party came back from injury and had three turnovers. The Jacks are the Jacks. Aer is something to deal with and you know what the you know, that's the Monday night game.
Oh yeah, it's it's the right ball, is what you want? Probably want to call that?
Huh oh, yeah, oh nice, nice. I like that. I should have thought of that myself.
What if wins, you'd be that'll.
Be a bummer. If Jacksonville wins, you gotta take them real serious, because here's the deal. The Jags offense has not been that good. Like I can't be like, oh, I told you so about Trevor. Trevor's not been that good. He has five touchdowns, four picks, less than six yards per attempt to seventy five rating. That's not their story. Their story is last year. This is such a crazy stat that I want to make sure it's correct. I know it's correct, but I just want to double checks.
It's their takeaways compared to last year. So I'm double checking this last year year the Jaguars. Yeah, it is correct. How many takeaways do you think the Jacksonville Jaguars had last season?
I'll go three.
Well, that's crazy, but it's played the game poorly. You played the game like you went so low. You went so low that it's no longer crazy what I'm saying. I should have said this the second the second worst team in takeaways last year, where the Browns and the Patriots with twelve. The Jags had nine they had nine takeaways all season. This year they have thirteen. They have they have thirteen takeaways through four games. They had nine
takeaways through seventeen last year. So that's been the story. The defense has been excellent. Liam Cohen's fired up, wanting to fight Bob Salah, Bob Slas threatening to end his effing life. Whole thing. The But the Jags, because the Texans have been such a mess. The Colts came back down to earth a bit. The Jags are legitimate.
I mean came down to earth a little bit bit. That team is serious though.
That was an impressive game, even in the loss. Yeah, but like if we were right now, you it's hard to make an AFC Top five and not really consider including the Jags. Uh and the Niners on the other hand, I just Perty's trying to do a little too much. And now they play Thursday night. Pierce all got added to the injury report, party went back on the injury report. I think the Niners could be in real, real trouble. All right, So I want to about Tyreek for a
second here. First I want to say this, I think the Internet can be real shitty at times and the whole like, oh, Tyreek was so sick of playing with Tua. He's clapping and smiling, guys, because if you guys, because when he was carted off the field, he seemed like before it almost yep, guys, I do not think you should take anything away from how a person is reacting moments after they suffer a truly even by NFL standards,
catastrophic injury. As far as what that the shock and the adrenaline and the emotion, what how what that does to your brain like that is I would imagine as close to being not sober, like the way being hammered can impact your brain. I would imagine that's similar. So I'm not I thought that was crummy, even by modern Internet standards. And listen, I'm not trying to defend across the board. You know, Tyreek the guy, But I thought
that was unfair. Here's the other thing, man, That is the type of injury to Monse that he could be out for all of next year. That's as bad as it gets. The knee dislocation is not a knee cap dislocation. It is a true full knee dislocation with all the ligament terrors that go along with it. And I I don't know if he comes back then and the speed that's right, That's the thing, Like, I don't know what that will do to his ability to be an impactful player.
And so it does feel at least kind of appropriate to at least look at if this is it for Tyreek Kill, which it might be. Tyreek Kill the football player is quite simply one of the greatest receivers any of us have ever seen. And that is not an overstatement. The only the only receivers. I'm going to try to do this off the top of my head, but I want to just pull up like all time receiving touchdowns, just uh uh, make sure I'm not forgetting anybody, uh
you know obvious. I'm trying to think the only receivers that, without a shadow of a doubt, you know, I feel I'd rather have than Tyreek Moss, Jerry Rice. Are you know what that's the list for me. I'm not saying he's the third greatest receiver ever, and in fact, he definitionally isn't you know, because it you know, didn't play
long enough in all you know, all of that. But as far as guys that, hands down were better than him, the only guys that I can say were hands down better than Tyreek for me are Moss and Jerry Rice, now Megatron t O. Uh, those guys you can obviously make a very strong case were better than him. I
don't know if I agree with that case. I Tyreek was such a dynamic, indefensible weapon that I just if you want, if you believe he's one of the five greatest receivers of all time, I think that's a legitimate opinion. Didn't have one. If it is over for him, and again it's crazy we're talking about this, but you have it's on the board, it's over. Obviously, didn't have one of the five greatest careers of all time. Like my old co host, my pal Chris Carter had a better
career than Tyrek. Marvin Harrison and Larry Fitzgerald had better careers than Tyreek. But as far as guys who I would rather have, I think it's Moss, Rice, Tio's tough te TiO was as great as TiO was, his peak
was not Tyreek's peak. This guy is a five time first team All Pro and his receiving yards after his rookie year ago twelve hundred, fifteen hundred, eight hundred he was injured twelve hundred and twelve hundred and then leaves Kansas City and goes seventeen hundred eighteen hundred and in the playoffs, he was I mean, he averaged averaged eighty yards per game in the postseason with seven postseason touchdowns. Eight postseason touchdowns. I Jones no seven postseason touchdowns? What's up?
The Jones and the Chet says it's Tyreek a Hall of Famer if he never comes.
Back, Oh, first ballot. It's not even that's that's like, that's not debatable, uh. I mean, being a five time first team All Pro is bananas. Being a guy who is only one, two, three, four, eight time Pro bowler in what five times? This is his tenth year and so this year gets if it gets wiped out, he will have played nine years and was a first team All Pro five of them, and his average for his career, his average season was thirteen hundred yards and ten touchdowns.
I mean, he's just one of the greatest players I've ever seen. So that's my I hope it's not over for him, but man, it is. It's certainly on the board that it's over for him. Crazy, So thinking about upgrading to the all new iPhone seventeen Pro, design to be the most powerful iPhone ever. But you're also are you also thinking about the traffic on your way to the store or that headache of transferring all your data? Well,
good news. When you order a new phone online with boost Mobile, they'll send an expert to your home or work to deliver your brand new iPhone seventeen Pro and get you all set up on boost Mobile within minutes, no hassled. Visit boostmobile dot com to get started. Delivery available for select devices. Purchase at boost mobile dot com. Terms do apply, all right, deman s Let's get to these the other games quickly.
Here h Seahawks defeat the Cardinals twenty three to twenty.
Yeah, those Thursday night listen, the Seahawks gotta be taken seriously. The defense playing really well. Mike McDonald's got that team going in the right direction, and Donald's been way better than I expected. Like I gotta be hand up and be like I might have been wrong about this. I killed the Seahawks for what I thought was getting worse at quarterback going from Geno to Donald. That has not been a downgrade at this point. It's been an upgrade
right now, So credit words due Seahawks. Seahawks have to be taken seriously.
Next Dublin games, Steelers defeat the Vikings twenty four to twenty one.
Hand up on that one too. I did not think the Steelers be able to keep Rogers upright. Instead, he threw every pass within us well, and he just threw got rid of it so fast and he was super efficient. He was like eighteen of twenty two for two hundred yards, and Carson Wentz was just awful. That was They almost found a way to blow it at the end, or at least have me closer than they should have. The Steelers, that's a great win for them.
Next the Giants to feed the Charges twenty one to eighteen. Upset of the week.
Huh, upset of the week. And Amarian Hampton had twelve carries for one hundred and thirty yards in a game that was close against a rookie quarterback when you couldn't block well for them to not let Hampton. They called forty five dropbacks and twelve runs. It was the Chargers did. It was crazy and Joe Alt got hurt in that game, which is really concerning for them. That was a brutal, brutal game for the Chargers.
What do you want to say, would do you think they would have won that game with Russell Wilson.
The Giants? No, Yeah, I think Dart. I think Dart was an upgrade for them, even though he didn't like play great, he was an upgrade for them and gave him an energy boost. And the obviously other stories. Sadly, is Malik Neighbors done for the year with an acl beck Odell Beckham said it was the Giants turf.
Next Bill's to feed. The Saints thirty one to nineteen.
Not an impressive game from Buffalo. The Saints, down five in the fourth quarter, throw a touchdown pass to take a fourth quarter lead. The pass gets overturned on review and they were the catch does and they were right. They end up kicking a field goal. Josh has a great scramble on third and five to basically ice the game. But that was a two point game in the fourth quarter and it could have been Saints' lead in the fourth quarter. The Bills oddly have not looked great the
last couple of weeks. The Dolphins game was not that impressive, The Saints game was not impressive. Now, Luckily for them, they've gone Ravens and then Jets, Dolphins, Saints and so the schedules allowed for But that defense has to get better. Flatly, they score thirty every week. The defense has to get better.
Next, Falcons to feed the Commanders thirty four to twenty seven.
Listen, not let's take away on the Commander's side, because no Jaden Daniels. But for the Falcons, it's a nice bounce back game by Penis and he needed it after that horrible, horrible loss thirty to nothing to the Panthers. That was a really nice bounce back game by Penix.
Next, Texas defeed the Titans twenty six to zero. I took the Titans plus the points.
We can't yeah, we can no longer Brian Callahan's can't bet under any circumstances. Now, it should be said, if you didn't watch this game, good for you. But also it was six nothing in the fourth quarter. The Texans offense was struggling mightily, and then in the fourth quarter finally got clicking. Now, maybe that's a sign of things to come. Maybe it's the Titans were you know, kind of gave up. But that was an ugly game, and
I gotta think Brian Callahan's days are numbered. At this point, that Titans team looks like far and away the worst team in the league again.
Next, Patriots defeat the Panthers forty two to thirteen.
Drake May's playing ball, you know they they The Patriots played well against Pittsburgh moving the ball, but they turned it over five times. They cleaned that up in this game and they annihilate the Panthers. And speaking of days being numbered, Bryce is in trouble, buddy. He had that nice little stretch at the end of last year, but
Bryce has been brutal Patriots. Huge game for the Patriots, Patriots Bills, and by the way, for the Patriots if they can somehow upset the Bills and get to three and two their next three games, demonsay Saints Titans, Browns, Saints Titan's Browns in a row. It's unbelievable. The Patriots have games left, Saints Titan's Browns, two games against the Jets, another game against the Dolphins, the Bengals, and the Giants. What a schedule for the New England It's unbelievable.
Next, watch out Lines defeat the Browns. Thirty four to ten.
Flaco's gotta be done. I mean that the defense can only do so much. Uh, they got it. This is going just according to plan for sure, actually, because Flacco's been awful. If you the idea being Flacco gets benched early enough that there's time for Gabriel to go in, and then he gets benched and then Shardor gets the end of the season. I think that's how this plays out.
Next, Rams defeat the Colts twenty seven to twenty.
Listen, the story of this game is ad Mitchell. Yeah, ad Mitchell making an unbelievable catch and run after and then just the ball slipping out of his hands when he wasn't setting it down but he was trying to extend it slips out of his hands, and then he also had a hold on a Jonathan Taylor touchdown or else. This is different. A great Matt Stafford game. Great Matt Stafford game, and two to two at well with the game winner. That's a great win for the Rams.
Next Bears defeat the Raiders twenty four.
Listen. Gino's been brutal. Ashton genty, though, looked like Ashton genty for the first time since Boise State got back to his little upright pre snap style and looked like his old self. The Bears feel like, all right, we got to two and two, we have the buye, everything's settled. Yeah, great win. And then last night, the one game we didn't talk about, Broncos to beat the Bengals twenty eight to three. Ugly. The Bengals are in real, real trouble.
Chase is frustrated and credit where's due. After a very shaky open to the game, Bo Nicks made a great throw right before halftime that essentially ended the game. Aikman and Buck had no interest in that game at all. And the Broncos get to two and two and steady themselves. And the question with the Bengals is are they gonna call about Kirk Cousins or Russell Wilson or are they gonna ride with Browning? And so we'll see. In the other Monday night game we talked about it, I guess
a little bit of Tyrek injury. The Dolphins beat the Jets justin Fields had won sick play, but the Jets don't.
Know how to hit it. Go razy bet on that game last night. I can't believe I'm bringing it up. But I had. I had the over three and a half on the punts and under on tous yardage, and then I had justin fields for a touchdown pass which he did not throw until the end of the game. And then the Dolphins couldn't pick up like fifteen yards ended up having a punt at the end to give it to the Jets there.
Oh, so you it's a crazy bet that you would have won but didn't.
No, I won it because the Miami couldn't pick up ten yards after they got the ball back on the last possession, and it was the last stat was over three and a half punts. Oh yeah, I had all around three and a half.
It was on this This is a great example as to why NFL ratings are so high, because we got dufuses like my son betting over three and a half punts, so he's locked into one of the worst football games of the year. I mean, it's just it's just unbelievable. All right, save our listener questions for Tuesday. Apologies, but if you put them in the show listen on Tuesday,
we'll get to some of then. Thank you. Oh, by the way, shout out to our great sponsors, hard Rock bet Boost Mobile, Chad Powers, and Hulu are friends at Zen Like rate, subscribe review, Thank you to Volume, Thank you to Blue Dock. I gotta go do Colin Coward and make fun of his chargers. See you guys later. What's right,