Speaker 1: It's a league fifteen to ten touchdown Chargers.
Speaker 2: What's up, guys?
Speaker 3: Welcome into another episode of Chargers Weekly, presented by Microsoft
Speaker 3: Surface as always, joined by Matt mndey Smith. Coming off
Speaker 3: another resounding victory, Chargers on Monday Night Football dominate the
Speaker 3: Jets twenty seven to six, second straight win back at
Speaker 3: five hundred in money. I imagine the ViBe's very good
Speaker 3: after that game at Jet Life Stadium.
Speaker 4: Yeah, I was interesting because it's the first time, you know,
Speaker 4: I've been doing this since twenty seventeen with the team.
Speaker 4: It's the first time we stayed the night. Like, yeah,
Speaker 4: it was kind of weird. So everyone's back in the
Speaker 4: hotel and in catering in one of the ballrooms where
Speaker 4: they had a bunch of food. Even though it was
Speaker 4: like twelve thirty one in the morning, you know, everyone's
Speaker 4: still pretty wired and kind of adrenaline still flowing from
Speaker 4: the game. So it was just fun to kind of
Speaker 4: see the guys sort of get together and celebrate as
Speaker 4: opposed to just kind of being on the bus getting
Speaker 4: on the plane, settling into your seat, probably falling asleep.
Speaker 4: They're all wrapped up in ice for the trip home,
Speaker 4: and this was kind of a cool little opportunity to
Speaker 4: peek as a fly on the wall into these guys
Speaker 4: being excited about a victory and bonding with one another
Speaker 4: and kind of hanging out and laughing around the tables.
Speaker 4: And I think because it was such I don't want
Speaker 4: to say complimentary football obviously, because the offense didn't do
Speaker 4: a whole lot, but they did enough.
Speaker 1: Right.
Speaker 4: You got big field goals, you got huge first downs
Speaker 4: when you needed them. You got a pair of touchdowns
Speaker 4: or at least you got a touchdown technically two right
Speaker 4: with the one play drive from Austin after a lowie
Speaker 4: Gilman stepped out of bounds right before scoring on the scoop,
Speaker 4: so technically two. But the defense played great. Special teams
Speaker 4: was exceptional. So you really kind of felt that in
Speaker 4: that room that hey, this will we really kind of
Speaker 4: all pitched in and knock this thing out. And you know,
Speaker 4: for people that were pointing out, oh, it's just the Jets,
Speaker 4: you know they stink twenty four punts the week before. Well,
Speaker 4: go around the go ahead and look at the the
Speaker 4: ESPN projections and what their experts thought was going to
Speaker 4: happen in that game. Look at the NFL network projections
Speaker 4: and who thought who they thought was going to win
Speaker 4: that game. So you want to say it was an
Speaker 4: easy win, Well, apparently a lot of the people that
Speaker 4: talk about football for a living and get pretty big
Speaker 4: checks to do so it didn't think it was going
Speaker 4: to be an easy win, and they thought it was
Speaker 4: going to be a loss. And the Chargers went out
Speaker 4: there and absolutely dominated.
Speaker 3: They did, And you're right, everybody. Everybody picked the Jets
Speaker 3: to win. And I really don't care who the opponent is.
Speaker 3: Money Sometimes in a locker room, you need to experience
Speaker 3: what it's like to win, and to win big, and
Speaker 3: to gain confidence and to come off back to back
Speaker 3: games on a national stage and dominate your opponent. I
Speaker 3: thought of you immediately when Darius Davis scored on the
Speaker 3: punt return touchdown, because I think as we closed the pot,
Speaker 3: we said play from in front, right, they played from
Speaker 3: in front the entire game. The first five minutes of
Speaker 3: the game. It felt like Zach Wilson in the offense
Speaker 3: was gonna have a hard time score in seven right,
Speaker 3: seven to nothing right from the beginning. The defense, I
Speaker 3: can't say enough about really the pass rush, but I
Speaker 3: want to start with the guy that I think we
Speaker 3: talked about last week too, just Alohi Gilman's presence. Man
Speaker 3: makes a world of difference on this team, and he
Speaker 3: showed it from the beginning.
Speaker 2: You mentioned the scoop up.
Speaker 3: At the end we'll get into tou Ley and Bosa
Speaker 3: and Mac and those guys pinning their ears back, but
Speaker 3: just the glue guy, Alohi Gilman. I really feel like
Speaker 3: we felt his presence last two weeks.
Speaker 1: No doubt.
Speaker 4: I think it's a great place to start, Chris, because
Speaker 4: you see how much better this defense has played since
Speaker 4: his return. He's such a smart player. He's regularly in
Speaker 4: the right spot. If there's anything maybe you want to
Speaker 4: ding them on, it's, you know, the athleticism that they're
Speaker 4: used to seeing that you're used to seeing the explosiveness
Speaker 4: at a free safety position. Typically that's a very high
Speaker 4: level athlete, a four sub four four guy that's tracking
Speaker 4: the football, and that's maybe the one thing that there
Speaker 4: were some concerns about him up there. Well, he makes
Speaker 4: up for it with intelligence, with knowing how to use angles, timing.
Speaker 4: When I worked for the Lakers and they were you know,
Speaker 4: and they went on that run where they went to
Speaker 4: three finals and won two titles. You know, this is
Speaker 4: going to sound terrible like I'm patting myself on the back,
Speaker 4: but this is what he reminds me of. I said,
Speaker 4: you know, you have the Stars and Pow and Kobe,
Speaker 4: and you have some shooters, and you have kind of
Speaker 4: your leader and Derek Fisher, I said, but just imagine
Speaker 4: a floor. It's a kitchen floor and it's all this tile,
Speaker 4: and what's going to happen to that tile if there's
Speaker 4: no grout, you know, you have to hold those tiles
Speaker 4: in place. And that's lamar Odom. Lamar Odom was the
Speaker 4: grout for the floor. And it's funny because DJ I'm
Speaker 4: sure probably never heard that he's not a Laker fan,
Speaker 4: but when we were doing the game, he said, you
Speaker 4: know what, Matt, if you're building a house and you've
Speaker 4: got all these bricks, you know, Joe's a brick, and
Speaker 4: Kenneth Murray's a brick, and Khalil Mack's a brick, but
Speaker 4: you know, Aloe's the mortar. He's the guy that gets
Speaker 4: all the bricks to connect. And just go back to
Speaker 4: the game against the Bears. The timing on that hit
Speaker 4: that led to the interception from Derwin James. He gets
Speaker 4: the Iont statistic, but Aloe's the one that creates that play.
Speaker 4: You know, he had a I mean he had a
Speaker 4: thumper of a hit on that first series that helped
Speaker 4: set the tone. You know, Joey gets the personal file penalty,
Speaker 4: just kind of letting Zach Wilson know, Hey, I'm gonna
Speaker 4: be here all day, so I'll take the fifteen yards,
Speaker 4: but just know you're gonna see ghosts, and I'm gonna
Speaker 4: remind you of what that ghost feels like when it
Speaker 4: hits you full speed. So I liked that he set
Speaker 4: the tone there, and I like that Aloe set the tone.
Speaker 4: MTh Murray had a huge hit and then Derwin James,
Speaker 4: I mean, damn near broke bresee Hall in half with
Speaker 4: a hit early on, and I think that set the
Speaker 4: tone for the defense. It wasn't just the sacks, it
Speaker 4: wasn't just the turnovers. It was the physicality. It was
Speaker 4: you guys, better pull up your bootstraps because this thing's
Speaker 4: gonna be nasty today and we're gonna be bringing some
Speaker 4: serious thump to this game and you better be ready
Speaker 4: for it. And I think that certainly affected them.
Speaker 3: I think there's something to be said about having fun too.
Speaker 3: Hear that a lot the last two weeks. Is like, hey,
Speaker 3: we're getting back to having fun. And when Chargers fans
Speaker 3: watch this game and they see Tully doing Joey's celebration
Speaker 3: and Joey doing toully celebration and those guys just getting
Speaker 3: after that offensive lot of the Jets, that unit had
Speaker 3: no shot against this pass rush from the beginning. But money, again,
Speaker 3: a seventeen game season is so long to see these
Speaker 3: guys having fun and to feel the momentum building. I
Speaker 3: realize it's a short week in Detroit's coming off of bye,
Speaker 3: but that momentum is there for the Charges right now,
Speaker 3: and you saw it, and you're seeing it in the
Speaker 3: celebrations and just these guys playing for one another right now.
Speaker 4: Well, here's I'm gonna go back two and a half games,
Speaker 4: right and I'm gonna go go back to the post
Speaker 4: game from the Chiefs game. This has now been ten
Speaker 4: quarters that this defense has been dominant. You know, they
Speaker 4: allowed just seven points to the Chiefs in the second
Speaker 4: half after getting absolutely destroyed and cut to ribbons in
Speaker 4: that first half for twenty four points. Travis Kelcey and
Speaker 4: Patrick Mahomes, essentially humiliating them, you know, very similar to
Speaker 4: the Miami game where they were the object of derision
Speaker 4: for the national media, even for the local media, you know,
Speaker 4: and Brandon Staley was a big part of that. This
Speaker 4: guy's supposed to be a defensive genius. Why do they
Speaker 4: have one of the worst units in the league. And
Speaker 4: I think, look, there's pride if you're gonna go out
Speaker 4: there and you're gonna put your body in, you know,
Speaker 4: in the path of peril like these players do. I
Speaker 4: can't imagine, you know, how upset you're going to get
Speaker 4: when people are essentially calling you out for not being
Speaker 4: a good player. When you when your elbows and your
Speaker 4: knees are wrapped in ice and you feel like you've
Speaker 4: been in a car crash, you know, for the next
Speaker 4: forty eight hours. You know that that can't be pleasant.
Speaker 4: So I still believe, and I don't know this, it's
Speaker 4: just my speculation. I believe something happened at halftime at
Speaker 4: that Kansas City game. I really do, just by the
Speaker 4: way the players talked after the game, Michael Davis saying,
Speaker 4: you know what you're supposed to do against the Chief
Speaker 4: You've got to get after their ass and we didn't
Speaker 4: do that, and you know, we weren't playing zone and
Speaker 4: we need to play man and that there was just
Speaker 4: a lot of pushback from that defense in that postgame
Speaker 4: locker room because I think you saw something in that
Speaker 4: second half, and I think it was something that was
Speaker 4: brought up, you know, in a communal fashion of hey,
Speaker 4: let's shift, let let's let's shift, let's change things, and
Speaker 4: let's see if we can find something here, because there's
Speaker 4: too much talent on this team for us to be
Speaker 4: given up one hundred and fifty yards to Justin Jefferson,
Speaker 4: two hundred and fifteen yards to Tyreek Hill, you know,
Speaker 4: one hundred and whatever yards to Seed Lamb.
Speaker 1: This is stupid.
Speaker 4: Let's figure this out, you know, in one hundred and
Speaker 4: twenty yards Travis Kelcey in the first half. Let's figure
Speaker 4: this out. And I think you've seen it. I think
Speaker 4: you've seen them cut loose. They're rushing with four, they're
Speaker 4: letting guys play press. Derwin's on the line of scrimmage.
Speaker 4: There's a lot more aggression from the linebackers, you know,
Speaker 4: and I think you're seeing that, and like you said,
Speaker 4: we'll see it against Detroit one of the top five
Speaker 4: offense in the league. But to me, and look, that's
Speaker 4: all a big setup to echo what you just said, right,
Speaker 4: it's now fun. It's now fun for these guys. They
Speaker 4: believe they're invested. Hey, look what we're doing. Seven sacks
Speaker 4: against the Raiders, eight sacks against the Jets, two interceptions
Speaker 4: against the Bears, two strip sacks against the Jets. This
Speaker 4: is what we're capable of. And this is fun because
Speaker 4: now we're now we believe, we believe in what we're doing.
Speaker 4: We're being celebrated accordingly, and I think coach is right
Speaker 4: when he says it. And you know, like you just said,
Speaker 4: it's a good week of practice and these guys.
Speaker 1: Are having fun.
Speaker 2: Again.
Speaker 3: The fact that it did happen on a national stage
Speaker 3: back to back weeks, the whole nation got to see
Speaker 3: what this Chargers defense is capable of. Nineteen points total
Speaker 3: allowed over the last two weeks. But it's going to
Speaker 3: be a different animal with Jared Golf coming in and
Speaker 3: Laporta and Saint Brown and that Montgomery gives duo in
Speaker 3: the backfield that lines offensive line. So it's gonna be
Speaker 3: a heck of a test for this Chargers team, which
Speaker 3: we'll get into in a bit, but Holden Brees Hall,
Speaker 3: what fifty yards making Zach Wilson throw the ball forty
Speaker 3: nine times, that's a recipe to win offensively.
Speaker 2: You mentioned it. The numbers weren't quite there, but you
Speaker 2: know the Jets.
Speaker 3: Have done this to a lot of teams, a lot
Speaker 3: of offenses, a lot of elite quarterbacks.
Speaker 2: And they knew what the game plan was.
Speaker 3: Get out in front of early, which they did, run
Speaker 3: the ball and have kind of Austin Eckler pace your
Speaker 3: offense to whatever extent he could, which he did, and
Speaker 3: rely on Keenan Allen when you have to. And the
Speaker 3: catch he made to go over ten thousand yards. I
Speaker 3: wanted to get to this later, but maybe I'll just
Speaker 3: mention it now. I don't want to see Keenan Allen
Speaker 3: ever in another NFL uniform. I think what he's done
Speaker 3: this year money, he's putting up all pro numbers at
Speaker 3: his age. I want to see him in a Chargers
Speaker 3: uniform for life. And I know it's very hard in
Speaker 3: this day and age in the NFL for that to happen,
Speaker 3: because guys want to continue to play, and you get
Speaker 3: up there and cap number and it's a business, but
Speaker 3: there's no reason this guy should not be in powdered
Speaker 3: blue for the rest of his career.
Speaker 2: Break the records, break all the charge of records.
Speaker 3: He's a route to a Hall of Fame type career,
Speaker 3: and it's just been awesome to see, especially against the
Speaker 3: Jets defense, where you know, he he came alive when
Speaker 3: he had to. You mentioned the third down conversions, but
Speaker 3: I feel like this year, more than ever, really shows
Speaker 3: to me just what an amazing charger Keenan Allen has been.
Speaker 1: No doubt.
Speaker 4: Look, I'd love to I'd echo that obviously. You know,
Speaker 4: we all want you know, the fans always want their
Speaker 4: heroes to wear nothing but their uniform, and I hope
Speaker 4: that's the case. And I think justin Herbert, you know,
Speaker 4: probably will go a long way in figuring that out,
Speaker 4: you know, whether or not the team really believes. Okay,
Speaker 4: well we've invested, you know, a quarter of a billion
Speaker 4: dollars in this guy here. If he says I need Keenan,
Speaker 4: you know, then you got to figure out a way
Speaker 4: to keep him. Problem is, you know, Jerry Rice was
Speaker 4: a raider, Jerry Rice was a Bronco. Randy Moss should
Speaker 4: have been a Viking his whole career. It just it's
Speaker 4: so rarely happens, you know, it was just you know exactly,
Speaker 4: It's like, it's just it's it's so hard in the
Speaker 4: NFL because of the hard salary cap. It's it's a
Speaker 4: hard cap. You can't go over it. You're can't go
Speaker 4: over it and pay at tax. You have to figure
Speaker 4: out how to construct the team. And now you have
Speaker 4: to construct the team with a quarterback that's going to
Speaker 4: be making fifty million bucks a year. The good news
Speaker 4: is the CAP's going up. You know, it keeps going
Speaker 4: up because these TV deals keep getting richer and richer.
Speaker 4: So perhaps that's the case. The thing I'll say about
Speaker 4: the offense that I think is so important for people
Speaker 4: that want to pile on and say running game stinks,
Speaker 4: it was justin Herbert's worst you know stat totals of
Speaker 4: his career, the one hundred and thirty six yards, the
Speaker 4: sub sixty percent passing. You know, outside of Keenan, you
Speaker 4: really had nothing in the passing game. What I would
Speaker 4: say is I tip my cap to Herbert, you know,
Speaker 4: because when you have that kind of talent, you probably
Speaker 4: want to force some things. You want to impact the game.
Speaker 4: You want to be you want to put your imprint
Speaker 4: on it because you're a superstar and it's what's expected
Speaker 4: of you when you're on Monday Night football. And for
Speaker 4: him to take the beating that he took and to
Speaker 4: just swallow the ball or to throw it away time
Speaker 4: and time again and not try to force it. He
Speaker 4: had one throw, one throw that he forced and it
Speaker 4: should have been an interception and it wasn't. And I
Speaker 4: think that was a quick reminder because it had been
Speaker 4: two and a half quarters of very little offense, and
Speaker 4: I think he was just getting a little frustrated and
Speaker 4: he cut that one loose and he realized, Okay, that's
Speaker 4: not the plan. The only way we lose this game
Speaker 4: is if we turn the ball over and we give
Speaker 4: them a short field. And he has history as a
Speaker 4: guide because that's what happened to Patrick Mahomes and it
Speaker 4: almost cost the Chiefs the game against the Jets. So
Speaker 4: what happened to Josh Allen. The Bills had no business
Speaker 4: losing that opener, except for Josh Allen just got loose
Speaker 4: with the football and threw a couple picks and fumbled.
Speaker 4: The Eagles have one loss on their record, it's to
Speaker 4: the Jets because Jalen hurts through three interceptions, Like so
Speaker 4: he had that. I guarantee That's the Kellen Moore pregame conversation.
Speaker 4: Our defense is good, our special teams is good. Let's
Speaker 4: not try to do too much. And you know what,
Speaker 4: when they needed to, when they got the short field
Speaker 4: after Joey's stripsack, they cashed it in when they got
Speaker 4: the when they you know, when they got inexplicably, when
Speaker 4: Nate Hackett is throwing the ball with under a minute
Speaker 4: left and the Chargers have all three of their timeouts
Speaker 4: at the end of the half, I'm like, what are
Speaker 4: you doing? Just run the ball. The Chargers will be
Speaker 4: happy to go into the half at fourteen to three.
Speaker 4: So now Justin's like, all right, well, we know, you
Speaker 4: know they're not going to get the ball back and score,
Speaker 4: so this is just free time and a potential free points.
Speaker 4: And he gets, you know, that huge run for a
Speaker 4: first time. He gets the huge passes to Keenan Allen
Speaker 4: to set up a fifty five yarder. And now you've
Speaker 4: empowered your kicker, who is the most accurate kicker through
Speaker 4: the first two seasons of a career ahead of Justin
Speaker 4: Tucker at ninety four percent, and he's banging home fifty
Speaker 4: five yarders with ten yards to spare. So like they did,
Speaker 4: did exactly what they had to do to win the game.
Speaker 4: And I think to ding them for that. I understand.
Speaker 4: I wish they could run the ball better, and they've
Speaker 4: got to figure that out, but in this particular game,
Speaker 4: they did exactly, They did exactly what they needed to do.
Speaker 3: Yeah, this wasn't the game to judge the running game
Speaker 3: after you know, and they only had two active guys
Speaker 3: who I was actually surprised by that, making Spiller inactive
Speaker 3: and just going with two running backs entering the game,
Speaker 3: because I thought that maybe you could run the football
Speaker 3: on this team and you would want to kind of
Speaker 3: spread the wealth a little bit. But they didn't need to.
Speaker 3: And I remember the conversation that we had going into
Speaker 3: the Dallas game.
Speaker 2: Money.
Speaker 3: We knew that it was gonna be a tough stretch
Speaker 3: going Dallas Kansas City back to back, and you know,
Speaker 3: a short week going to Kansas City, and if they
Speaker 3: were two and four, you said, well, hold on a second,
Speaker 3: you still got Chicago and New York an opportunity to
Speaker 3: climb back to four four, and that's exactly where we
Speaker 3: are today, in a completely muddled up AFC right now,
Speaker 3: where it's really anybody's playoff wildcard spot from five to seven.
Speaker 3: So let's take a quick break and we'll get into
Speaker 3: the Detroit lines on Sunday. All right, guys, A big
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Speaker 2: So money.
Speaker 3: The Detroit Lions playing really good football. They got destroyed
Speaker 3: in Baltimore a few weeks ago, but other than that,
Speaker 3: they've dominated their opponents. I think their other loss was
Speaker 3: an overtime loss to Seattle. Coming off of by Amen Ross,
Speaker 3: Saint Brown coming back to Los Angeles, Jared Goff coming
Speaker 3: back to Los Angeles, and this will be the test
Speaker 3: offensive in defense wise, the Lions very stout. We mentioned
Speaker 3: all the weapons earlier at the top of this podcast.
Speaker 3: What do you need to see from the Chargers just
Speaker 3: as a leaping off point.
Speaker 4: Well, you know, you look at you look at the
Speaker 4: Baltimore game and one thing certainly jumps out, and that's
Speaker 4: five sacks and that they were in the backfield regularly.
Speaker 4: This is one of the best offensive lines in football.
Speaker 4: You look at the pressure rates. It all starts with
Speaker 4: Pinney Sewell, who's established himself as one of the better,
Speaker 4: if not you know, one of the best left tackles
Speaker 4: in football. You've got Decker, You've got Ragnaman, You've got
Speaker 4: a pretty well stacked offensive line that's playing very well.
Speaker 4: And it's important for them to do that because you know,
Speaker 4: this goes back to his time with the Rams and
Speaker 4: fair or not, it was always sort of I don't
Speaker 4: want to call it a knock, but very similar to
Speaker 4: the conversation around Derek Carr.
Speaker 1: Jarck Goff doesn't like to get hit.
Speaker 4: You know, I know, no quarterback likes to get hit,
Speaker 4: But when they start getting hit, the clock really starts
Speaker 4: speeding up and things start changing a little bit. So
Speaker 4: to me, that's where it all starts. And I think
Speaker 4: that's what Baltimore was able to do. They were able
Speaker 4: to get pressures, they were able to get quarterback hits,
Speaker 4: they were able to get sacks, and I think that
Speaker 4: helped change the tone of the game.
Speaker 1: It's not going to be easy.
Speaker 4: Like I said, they've got an exceptional running game, and
Speaker 4: you know what, I'm happy David Montgomery's back because you
Speaker 4: know what, give him all the carries you want, don't
Speaker 4: give it to Jamier Gibbs. My goodness, that dude has
Speaker 4: looked every bit worth the twelfth pick for all the
Speaker 4: incoming they took. He is electric with the ball in
Speaker 4: his hands, in the passing game, in the running game.
Speaker 4: So yes, welcome back David Montgomery. He's been a great runner.
Speaker 4: Don't get me wrong. Guy's got six touchdowns. He's a
Speaker 4: physical runner. But I will take that every day and
Speaker 4: twice on Sunday over Jamire Gibbs. So that's certainly something
Speaker 4: that and that's what makes them such a good offense,
Speaker 4: right is they have the running game. So now the
Speaker 4: play act working. Jared Goff has established that very similar
Speaker 4: connection he had with Tyler Higbee in Los Angeles. He
Speaker 4: really liked using his tight ends and you're seeing that
Speaker 4: with Sam Laporta. So look, if you're asking me, I'm
Speaker 4: doing a very similar thing that I did against the Jets,
Speaker 4: and that is Derwin James is in the box a lot.
Speaker 4: He is playing right up on the line of scrimmage
Speaker 4: a lot. I don't even mind sticking him on Laporta
Speaker 4: for a little while, and just take him away and
Speaker 4: don't give Goff that safety valve that he's been looking
Speaker 4: for in a lot of these games, especially on third down.
Speaker 4: Almost every third down, I'd be like, hey, Derwin, just
Speaker 4: go find Laporta and stick there and just take him
Speaker 4: out of the play. And you saw, you know, they
Speaker 4: they mixed up who was covering Garrett Wilson, but it
Speaker 4: was mostly Mikey. You know, it was mostly Michael Davis,
Speaker 4: and he was playing press and Garrett Wilson's not the
Speaker 4: most physical. Now, aman Ross Saint Brown is a much
Speaker 4: more physical receiver than Garrett Is. If there's one knock
Speaker 4: on Garrett is, he's a bit slight and he can
Speaker 4: get pushed around. That's not the case a mon Ro's thick.
Speaker 4: He's he's a very strong receiver, so that may not
Speaker 4: work as well, but he's not as athletic. So now
Speaker 4: you've got that's what makes Michael Davis such a great weapon.
Speaker 4: Is not only you know, is he physical at the
Speaker 4: point of attack, but he's also got four to four speed.
Speaker 4: Oh and by the way, he's six foot one and
Speaker 4: he's got these giant freaking levers that he can use.
Speaker 4: So I think that's probably how I'd approach it is
Speaker 4: a lot of Michael Davis on a Monross Saint Brown,
Speaker 4: a lot of Derwin James on the line of scrimmage,
Speaker 4: and I'd like to see him on Laporta on third downs.
Speaker 4: And you know, this is a sort of an old
Speaker 4: fashioned SEC game. Hey, we know what you're gonna do.
Speaker 4: You know what we're gonna do, And let's see which
Speaker 4: line wins. You know, does your O line beat our
Speaker 4: D line? Does our O line beat your D line?
Speaker 4: Whichever whichever team comes out ahead. I think in those Catsgies,
Speaker 4: you know, the pass rush and the pass protack is
Speaker 4: probably gonna get out with a win. But it ain't
Speaker 4: gonna be easy. This had top six I think, top
Speaker 4: six defense, top five offense, so it's not going to.
Speaker 2: Be easy money.
Speaker 3: This is the the ultimate measuring stick now for this defense,
Speaker 3: because the Lions offense couldn't be more different than what
Speaker 3: they saw on Monday night. You know, golf is playing.
Speaker 3: Golf is playing among the best in the NFC at
Speaker 3: the quarterback position. You mentioned Amenros Saint Brown. The laporte
Speaker 3: of the rookie has been fantastic. I remember DJ was
Speaker 3: so high on Laporta coming out of the draft, and
Speaker 3: and the Lions echoed that when they selected him in
Speaker 3: the second round.
Speaker 2: Before before Mayor. I believe.
Speaker 3: Yeah, the two headed attack with with Gibbs in Montgomery,
Speaker 3: they got speed and Jamison Williams, Josh Reynolds, a guy
Speaker 3: that that golf had with the Rams. So the offensive
Speaker 3: line compared to the Jets, maybe the best unit in
Speaker 3: the league versus.
Speaker 2: The worst unit in the league.
Speaker 1: Just pulled it up.
Speaker 4: Chris, let me go through it real quick. Here's here's
Speaker 4: what you're talking about with this offensive line. Pinnay sewel
Speaker 4: Right three hundred and twenty three pass block snaps, three
Speaker 4: hundred and twenty three, has allowed seven pressures.
Speaker 2: Justin Heiber benefited from that.
Speaker 1: Organ exactly exactly.
Speaker 4: Frank Ragnow two hundred and eighty four pass snaps, three
Speaker 4: point two percent pressure rate, He's allowed nine pressures. Uh,
Speaker 4: Glasgow has allowed fifteen on two sixty two. Decker has
Speaker 4: allowed fourteen on two forty seven. This a really good offense.
Speaker 4: I mean, their pressure rates are minuscule. It's two point
Speaker 4: two three point twenty five point seven, five point seven,
Speaker 4: seven point four across the board. It's an exceptional offensive line.
Speaker 4: But I think the Chargers have three players that are
Speaker 4: gonna end up at double digit sacks. I fully believe
Speaker 4: that Tuley is going to end up at ten, and
Speaker 4: obviously with nine already, it feels like Khalil Mack very
Speaker 4: well could get there this week. And Joey at six
Speaker 4: and a half. I'm just how much better he's looked
Speaker 4: these last two weeks. So when you're talking about three
Speaker 4: guys on the line of scrimmage and we've seen him
Speaker 4: on the line of scrimmage at the same time now
Speaker 4: quite a bit, that to me can overcome that. And
Speaker 4: that's what I'm talking about, Like, that's the strength versus
Speaker 4: strength and which one of those two units gets out ahead,
Speaker 4: because I think that's going to go a long way
Speaker 4: dictating how this thing turns out.
Speaker 2: It's a Romo nance game, too, right.
Speaker 4: Yeah, they made it the NAT So it's another national
Speaker 4: game basically, if if you know, unless you have a
Speaker 4: unless you have a game in your home market, this
Speaker 4: is going to be the one that's shown to the nation.
Speaker 4: So for the fourth time in five weeks technically six
Speaker 4: because of the bye, but for the fourth time in
Speaker 4: five games, the Chargers are the national game. You know,
Speaker 4: whether it's in primetime or in this case, the Nance
Speaker 4: Romo game that gets broadcast to the entire nation, unless
Speaker 4: your home market team is playing at the same time,
Speaker 4: which there aren't many.
Speaker 2: So money.
Speaker 3: Offensively, this is where I think the Joshua Palmer injury
Speaker 3: and you know, we don't even talk about this last
Speaker 3: week because it happened late. He was placed on IR
Speaker 3: so he's gonna be going for I think the next
Speaker 3: three games not having him. You know, Quintin and Sauce
Speaker 3: were matched up a bunch last Monday night and he
Speaker 3: only had I think three targets maybe yeah, three to
Speaker 3: fourteen yards, right.
Speaker 1: But he had his best catch of the year.
Speaker 2: Yeah.
Speaker 3: Offensively, it's gonna be have to be different. They're gonna
Speaker 3: have to score some points. Austin Eckler and Joshua Kelly
Speaker 3: are gonna have to run the football effectively, and Justin
Speaker 3: is going to have to put up some points because
Speaker 3: you know the lines will.
Speaker 1: I don't.
Speaker 4: I don't expect coach Day to say this in a
Speaker 4: press conference because why would you give away a game
Speaker 4: plan to an opponent. But man, I just I have
Speaker 4: to believe. I just don't know how you don't watch
Speaker 4: the film the last two weeks. And even though it's
Speaker 4: a total I think it's a total of nine carries,
Speaker 4: how you don't come away with we got to get
Speaker 4: Joshua Kelly the ball more, and we got to we
Speaker 4: got to just get a North South running game going,
Speaker 4: and we have got to get him with the edges,
Speaker 4: the edge, you know, it's the stretch runs. They're just
Speaker 4: not working. But when Joshua gets the ball and he's
Speaker 4: running in the air the b gap, it works. It
Speaker 4: works for four to six yards every time. And I
Speaker 4: just feel like, with how unsuccessful the running game has been,
Speaker 4: why not give that a go. Why not give that
Speaker 4: the fifteen carries and give Austin the six because Austin's
Speaker 4: going to get the ten targets and make that part
Speaker 4: do the do the Tony Pollard, Zeke Elliott approach. Have
Speaker 4: them both out there, have them, you know, on each
Speaker 4: side of Herbert. And then next thing you know, Austin's
Speaker 4: in motion out to the slot to one of these sides,
Speaker 4: and let a linebacker try to match up with him,
Speaker 4: you know, and then the defense has got to figure out,
Speaker 4: all right, just have ass is it a run? What
Speaker 4: are they doing?
Speaker 1: You know?
Speaker 4: Or keep them both back there. And now Austin's just
Speaker 4: kind of floating into the flat on a smoke route
Speaker 4: and maybe it's a delayed handoff. I like, I just
Speaker 4: feel like there's more they can do with Joshua Kelly
Speaker 4: because he's been rushing for six six and a half
Speaker 4: yards per carry these last couple games, and Austin's rushing
Speaker 4: and it's nothing against Austin, Like it's the whole operation.
Speaker 4: They're getting no push. The old line is getting almost
Speaker 4: no push in the run game right now. So to me, it's,
Speaker 4: you know, it's the old music business thing that we
Speaker 4: used to say when you know, our bands would play
Speaker 4: these these radio shows.
Speaker 1: It's like, hey, you know what, just play the hits.
Speaker 4: I know, I know you want to let them know
Speaker 4: how dynamic and creative you are, and you've got this
Speaker 4: really good song.
Speaker 1: That you love, But just play the hits. That's that's
Speaker 1: what the people want to hear.
Speaker 4: If that's how you'll be successful, go in there, play
Speaker 4: your three hits, high five everyone, get out, and let's
Speaker 4: sell a couple hundred thousand records. And like that to
Speaker 4: me is right now in the running game. Those are
Speaker 4: the hits between the tackles. Don't be looking for fifteen
Speaker 4: and twenty. Let's look for five. Let's look for five yards,
Speaker 4: not zero, not second and nine, not third, you know,
Speaker 4: not a first down run. And now it's second and twelve.
Speaker 4: Like to me, that's the one thing I wouldn't mind
Speaker 4: seeing more of against the Lions because you got to
Speaker 4: get these guys on their heels. Aiden Hutchinson's two good.
Speaker 4: I mean, his pressure rates at seventeen percent, his win
Speaker 4: percentages at twenty. The guy's got fifty two pressures.
Speaker 1: Fifty two.
Speaker 4: Like, let me just try to put that in context
Speaker 4: at how dominant the Chargers pass rush has been this season.
Speaker 4: So let's go total pressures. Aiden's got fifty two. Next
Speaker 4: best between these two teams Khalil Mack at forty, Okay
Speaker 4: Twu Lee at thirty, Joey Bosa at twenty five. Now,
Speaker 4: Joey's missed a couple games. I mean, Aiden's had three
Speaker 4: hundred and six pass rushes compared to just two thirteen
Speaker 4: for Twu Lee. So take that with a grain of salt.
Speaker 4: But I'm talking about let's just go by win percentage, right,
Speaker 4: so you're not talking about totals win percentage Joey Bosa
Speaker 4: sixteen point two percent, Tully twelve point two percent, Khalil
Speaker 4: Mack seventeen percent, Aiden Hutchinson twenty percent. So to put, yeah,
Speaker 4: that's how dominant of a pass rusher. They're facing someone
Speaker 4: that's had a better season than Khalil, Joey or Tuley,
Speaker 4: and that's what they'll have to contend with.
Speaker 3: I agree with you in terms of getting Kelly the handoffs. Yeah,
Speaker 3: I don't look at Austin. You look at in touches
Speaker 3: right in a couple of weeks ago, effective seven for
Speaker 3: ninety four through the air. Uh, Joshua, get him the ball,
Speaker 3: make it the one a one to two punch, and
Speaker 3: let Austin be an effective pass catcher. Now.
Speaker 2: I think he had a couple of drops on Monday night,
Speaker 2: but you never see that.
Speaker 1: It was weird.
Speaker 2: Yeah, yeah, right, it was uncharacteristic of number thirty.
Speaker 3: But I'm with you. Get Joshua Kelly the ball. He
Speaker 3: had that big forty nine yard touchdown against the Chiefs.
Speaker 3: You only gave it to him three times on Monday night.
Speaker 2: So I think that.
Speaker 3: That's as they try to continue to figure out this
Speaker 3: offense with guys going down man like all right, Mike
Speaker 3: goes down, So Joshua Palmer, let's elevate him, get him
Speaker 3: more involved.
Speaker 2: Josh goes down.
Speaker 3: It was hard to kind of distinck what was going
Speaker 3: on Monday night because the Jets defense has been so dominant.
Speaker 2: But now you kind of have to pivot again.
Speaker 3: And I'm with you, play the hits, but maybe you
Speaker 3: find a new release in one of the tight ends
Speaker 3: or somebody that can match the firepower that the Lions have.
Speaker 3: And I think to your point, money having a one
Speaker 3: to two punch in the running game, similar to a
Speaker 3: Montgomery Gibbs, could be something that the Chargers look to
Speaker 3: as we get into games against the Lions, the Packers,
Speaker 3: and then of course that huge Sunny night game against
Speaker 3: the Ravens.
Speaker 4: They're gonna have to score points, that's the thing. This
Speaker 4: isn't the Jets, you know, So they're gonna have to
Speaker 4: score points. And remember, you know they did it against
Speaker 4: the Bears. They did it with ease against the Bears.
Speaker 4: The Bears defense is not the Lions defense, that's for sure.
Speaker 4: But I'm saying it's I think because of our recency bias,
Speaker 4: is the Jets game, Like, let's not forget this team
Speaker 4: put up seventeen in the first half.
Speaker 1: Against the Chiefs.
Speaker 4: Whatever unraveled in the second half, don't know, but we
Speaker 4: know they can do it because they did it with
Speaker 4: explosives in that first half against the Chiefs. They did
Speaker 4: it against the Bears. It was an Austin Eckler game, right,
Speaker 4: and in the passing attack they you know, and they
Speaker 4: did it enough against the Jets. But they put up
Speaker 4: you know, they put up over thirty against the Dolphins,
Speaker 4: like that's I think what people. They put up twenty
Speaker 4: four and a half against the Raiders. The offense is
Speaker 4: still good. The offense still has Justin Herbert, it still
Speaker 4: has Austin Eckler.
Speaker 1: You know, I wish I could.
Speaker 4: I wish I had some you know, the old I'm
Speaker 4: gonna give a dated reference. I wish, you know, inner space,
Speaker 4: I could go inside the brain of Rashaan Slater to
Speaker 4: figure out how hurt is he. Because he's such a warrior,
Speaker 4: he'll never let you know, you know, every time we
Speaker 4: see him, he's like, oh, dude, I'm good. He's never
Speaker 4: going to make an excuse, but clearly he's not right.
Speaker 4: I just would love to know what percentage not right
Speaker 4: he is because it is not. It just hasn't looked
Speaker 4: the same since the Raider game. So you know they're
Speaker 4: going to have to figure it out. And you know
Speaker 4: you brought up to that catch he made is the
Speaker 4: best catch I've seen him make all season. The catch
Speaker 4: he made for the first down when he went up,
Speaker 4: it's the first time that I've just seen him get
Speaker 4: his hands in front of him and snatch the ball
Speaker 4: and use that big body of his to block off
Speaker 4: his defender, got perfect position, snatched the ball and then
Speaker 4: pushed his body forward for the first down because he
Speaker 4: was catching it right at the sticks. It was just
Speaker 4: such a great rep for him. It was where the sticks. Okay,
Speaker 4: now I'm going to get my break ball is already
Speaker 4: been released. Locate the ball, get my hands out there,
Speaker 4: snatch it, secure it to my body, and now let
Speaker 4: me use my physicality to push forward to make sure
Speaker 4: we get the first down. I thought it was a
Speaker 4: to me, like there was the back shoulder throw for
Speaker 4: the first down two games to go against the Bears.
Speaker 1: That was this was it?
Speaker 4: Like, go back and watch that that catch people, because
Speaker 4: it was impressive, and I think when you just get
Speaker 4: a little flash like that it's all you need to see.
Speaker 4: That's how you build trust. Like oh, okay, that was
Speaker 4: a third down that was critical catch. I zipped it
Speaker 4: in there and he snat, didn't bobble it, he didn't gather.
Speaker 4: He ran the exact art he was supposed to do.
Speaker 4: The timing was perfect, and he used his physicality to
Speaker 4: get that that first down. I think that goes a
Speaker 4: long way. I really do with this relationship. And look,
Speaker 4: it has to. They're gonna need it. They're gonna need Quinton,
Speaker 4: They're gonna need Gerald Everett, They're gonna need Donald Parhum
Speaker 4: because there is there's no Mike Williams and now there's
Speaker 4: no Josh Palmer for the next four weeks, you know,
Speaker 4: and no Mike Williams for the rest of the year.
Speaker 4: So I know Jalen Guiden was out there, you know,
Speaker 4: maybe just had to shake off the rust in that
Speaker 4: Jet game and now out Yeah, it was great to
Speaker 4: see him out there. But you know, those guys are
Speaker 4: gonna have to do something, and more than something, they're
Speaker 4: gonna have to do a.
Speaker 3: Lot, specifically money in the second half of games, because
Speaker 3: we've seen them kind of sputter out in the second
Speaker 3: half and It was similar on Monday night. They only
Speaker 3: scored that touchdown at the end of the fourth quarter,
Speaker 3: I think because of a turnover courtesy of the defense.
Speaker 3: So if you're gonna score with the Lions, you're gonna
Speaker 3: have to do it for all four quarters. And I
Speaker 3: think that's one of the I think the keys to
Speaker 3: the game is to have a consistent four quarters of offense,
Speaker 3: not you know, seventeen points in the first half and
Speaker 3: then uh oh uh, we didn't figure it out again
Speaker 3: in the second half. Like the second half offense in
Speaker 3: whatever combination that they need to use and whoever they
Speaker 3: need to feature, they're gonna have to score points in
Speaker 3: the fourth quarter to beat the Lions.
Speaker 1: No doubt.
Speaker 4: And that's something that's plagued them. You know, the second
Speaker 4: half scoring. You've got to make it. And to me, Chris,
Speaker 4: that's such a big part of just the running game, right,
Speaker 4: Like they're trying, they have these leads and they're trying,
Speaker 4: they're you know, they're trying to run the ball, and
Speaker 4: that's what's leading to the to the failures on offense
Speaker 4: in the second half. You know, first half, it's all gas,
Speaker 4: let's let's gass it up. Man let's get some points
Speaker 4: on the board, Let's see if we can get a lead.
Speaker 4: Let's allow our defense to pin their ears back and
Speaker 4: get after an offense in known passing situations. And then
Speaker 4: the second half, you know, against the Bears, against the Raiders,
Speaker 4: they're trying to run a four minute offense, to which
Speaker 4: I would say, run your four minute offense when there's
Speaker 4: four minutes on the clock. Until then, you know, just
Speaker 4: keep playing, just keep doing, keep doing what you're doing
Speaker 4: instead of trying to make it happen. I just wanted
Speaker 4: to pull up the catch again too, to remind myself
Speaker 4: to make sure I had it right, because it might
Speaker 4: not have been the third and nine for Quintin. It
Speaker 4: very well could have been the Maybe it was this one,
Speaker 4: that's it. It was a second and six, So it's
Speaker 4: a second and six and they're up seven nothing, and Quentin,
Speaker 4: it's just I would love if you people can find it.
Speaker 4: It's uh three point fifty two left in the first quarter,
Speaker 4: so it's early. They're already up seven nothing, right, and
Speaker 4: and Quinton just he's in pressed there. You know, it's
Speaker 4: press coverage. He breaks his guy off with a double move,
Speaker 4: comes back to the ball, snatches it and it's it's
Speaker 4: I want to just address it because it's a nothing play,
Speaker 4: like there was nothing special about it. But man, when
Speaker 4: you watch it, you can just kind of see like, Okay,
Speaker 4: that's that's what we're looking for. He's not he's not
Speaker 4: a guy that you want running the nine routes and
Speaker 4: the goes like this is what he does, Like get
Speaker 4: him in the phone booth and allow him to use
Speaker 4: that physicality. I'm watching it again. He comes back, jumps
Speaker 4: snatches and just go back, you know, check it out.
Speaker 4: Like to me, there's something there and I just feel
Speaker 4: like maybe I'm trying to manifest something I don't know,
Speaker 4: but it like, hey, maybe you saw it. This is
Speaker 4: the step, this is where it goes. So we'll see
Speaker 4: because like I said, it's it has to happen. There's
Speaker 4: there's no choice.
Speaker 1: Now.
Speaker 4: It's one thing when Mike goes down and you got
Speaker 4: Josh Palmer, who's a legit number two receiver to Keenan Allen.
Speaker 4: When Josh Palmer comes down, okay, well now you're the
Speaker 4: number two. You have got to go out there. You're
Speaker 4: gonna get ten targets or you know you're gonna get
Speaker 4: at least eight targets. You got to catch six of them,
Speaker 4: and four of them are gonna be on third down
Speaker 4: to extend drives money.
Speaker 2: I've used this as example before.
Speaker 3: I just go back to twenty eighteen, that rookie class,
Speaker 3: and sometimes you just you don't know when you're gonna
Speaker 3: have to rely upon a rookie to contribute help you
Speaker 3: win games. And that twenty eighteen season, you know, Derwin
Speaker 3: James was an All Pro his his rookie year. So
Speaker 3: that's that's your first round pick. Uh Chenna what he
Speaker 3: did in that Baltimore Wildcard game. I remember Justin Jackson
Speaker 3: in Pittsburgh. Justin Jones started that that Baltimore game. So
Speaker 3: you've got contributions from your rookies at different parts of
Speaker 3: the season. And to see what Darius Davis did to
Speaker 3: help you win that game. To see what Tooley's done
Speaker 3: for a large part of this season. Now, if we
Speaker 3: can get Quinton Roland at some point, this would be
Speaker 3: a nice start on Sunday with Palmer down against the
Speaker 3: Lions team you're gonna have to score against, and then
Speaker 3: let's get let's get Henley some more snaps because I
Speaker 3: tell you what once dayon gets rolling.
Speaker 2: I guarantee it'd be tough to take him out of
Speaker 2: the lineup.
Speaker 4: You can see it. It's now been two games where
Speaker 4: he's played. You want to know why they didn't score
Speaker 4: a touchdown at the end of that game. That's a
Speaker 4: big part of it right there. Dyon Henley is a
Speaker 4: big part of it right there, you know. And there's
Speaker 4: a reason why they ended up with eight sacks and
Speaker 4: not seven because Dayon was chasing down Zach Wilson and
Speaker 4: essentially said you want some of this, old man, and
Speaker 4: Zack Wilson said nope and stepped out of bounds and
Speaker 4: took the sack. And that's it's just a different level
Speaker 4: of athleticism that he provides. And I think against an
Speaker 4: explosive offense like the Lions, I'll be interested to see,
Speaker 4: you know how, especially on third down, you know, with
Speaker 4: with all the options they have, all the weapons they have,
Speaker 4: how Coach Staley wants to play it. And if you
Speaker 4: could see Dayon maybe coming on for e K and
Speaker 4: in those third down obvious passing situations, you know, I could,
Speaker 4: I could. I think you could make a case for it,
Speaker 4: you know, based on what he's what he's shown so far,
Speaker 4: just how much faster he looks and how physical he
Speaker 4: is when he's on the field. So and I think
Speaker 4: a lot of that just comes down to trust. Trust
Speaker 4: that he's going to be in the right place, that
Speaker 4: he knows the calls, that he knows his assignments. You know,
Speaker 4: it's a complicated defense, and hopefully that trust is there
Speaker 4: because certainly the ability is there.
Speaker 2: Money.
Speaker 3: Let's close on this. I'm looking at the AFC standings.
Speaker 3: Thirteen teams. Thirteen teams have four wins, the three that
Speaker 3: don't Tennessee who the Charges lost to Denver who has
Speaker 3: come on as of late in New England, who the
Speaker 3: Chargers will.
Speaker 2: Face next month to and seven.
Speaker 3: I'm looking at the teams that they have to play.
Speaker 3: So Baltimore in a couple of weeks, they're seven and two.
Speaker 3: They're looking good right now. In the North Buffalo later
Speaker 3: in December, that's going to be a huge game, they're
Speaker 3: five and four the time getting the tie breaker against
Speaker 3: the Jets. Now, somebody mentioned to us that, hey, you
Speaker 3: remember in twenty seventeen where they beat the Bills fifty
Speaker 3: four to twenty four and they didn't get.
Speaker 2: The head to head. There was some weird like three
Speaker 2: way tie stuff going on there.
Speaker 1: So in large it was conference games.
Speaker 3: Yeah, it was conference games. So in large part, the
Speaker 3: head to head is all you need. But sometimes times
Speaker 3: when there are like three way ties and four way
Speaker 3: ties conference games. So you know, Vegas is smoking cigars
Speaker 3: after beating the New York Giants and Tommy DeVito, do
Speaker 3: they have a.
Speaker 2: Run in them.
Speaker 3: I'm just saying, like, it's gonna be a fun second
Speaker 3: half of the year when you look at the AFC
Speaker 3: and see that there are thirteen teams right now kind
Speaker 3: of vying for those those three wild card spots and
Speaker 3: obviously the four division winners.
Speaker 4: You know they have two tough games in the next
Speaker 4: three weeks, right so, and look, you have to go
Speaker 4: on the road to Green Bay. By no means is
Speaker 4: that an easy trip or an easy win. There are
Speaker 4: no easy wins. But you know, this is a team
Speaker 4: that was zero and two, two and two, two and four,
Speaker 4: four and four. I'm not saying they're going to alternate
Speaker 4: two game win streaks and losing streaks and finish nine
Speaker 4: and eight or eight and nine, but you know, this
Speaker 4: is a team that believes in itself right now and
Speaker 4: in order to carry you know to carry that, you
Speaker 4: know what the national narrative is, and it's.
Speaker 1: Fair because it's true.
Speaker 4: You know, the team was, you know, prior to last week,
Speaker 4: you know, and now the Jets are four and four,
Speaker 4: So I don't know if that counts as a team
Speaker 4: within winning record anymore, but you played them when they
Speaker 4: had it, So let's just say they were a team
Speaker 4: with a winning record. Going back to the start of
Speaker 4: twenty twenty two, the Chargers are now two and nine
Speaker 4: against teams with winning records in the regular season, two
Speaker 4: and nine. So just bust that narrative, you know, bust
Speaker 4: that conversation and get it to stop by beating the Lions,
Speaker 4: beating the Packers and getting ready for a Baltimore team
Speaker 4: that a lot of people think is the best in
Speaker 4: football right now. So they still have tough games Lions, Baltimore, Chiefs, Bills,
Speaker 4: you know, and they also have some games that you
Speaker 4: feel like should lean in their favor Patriots, Packers two
Speaker 4: against Denver.
Speaker 2: Raiders always split against Denver. Two, They always split against Denver.
Speaker 4: That's yeah, this is the year they can't split against Denver.
Speaker 4: This is the year they got to sweep Denver. So
Speaker 4: and it's not easy. It's tough to play. You know,
Speaker 4: Sean Payton's as much as I don't like saying it,
Speaker 4: he's a good coach. And you know, maybe they figured
Speaker 4: some stuff out. They weather the storm early. We'll see,
Speaker 4: you know's what's the schedule this week? What do we
Speaker 4: got as a as we look around? Because look the AFC.
Speaker 4: So you got the Bengals and Texans, right, So yeah,
Speaker 4: so Bengals Texans. Yeah, I'm just saying, like, look at
Speaker 4: the lost column. You know, one of those teams is
Speaker 4: gonna you know, the Bengals are either going to be
Speaker 4: five and four and so are the Texans, or the
Speaker 4: Texans are going to be four and five. You know,
Speaker 4: the Jags have to play the forty nine ers. The
Speaker 4: Browns and Ravens are playing each other, so now the
Speaker 4: Ravens are either seven and three or the Browns are
Speaker 4: five and four. You know, the the Jets and Raiders
Speaker 4: are playing each other. So one of those teams is
Speaker 4: going to be incredibly disappointed. The Jets after winning three
Speaker 4: in a row, maybe on a two game losing streak,
Speaker 4: or the Raiders, you know, get their pop from the
Speaker 4: interim head coach. You know that's got all the juice
Speaker 4: and energy and everybody's feeling good, and you know how
Speaker 4: that works. It always happens where they get that first win.
Speaker 4: It seems like with the interim head coach, well can
Speaker 4: he do what rich Pasaca did, and that's carry this
Speaker 4: and stack some wins there in Las Vegas. And then
Speaker 4: you have the Broncos and Bills on Monday Night and
Speaker 4: there's so many people pointing to the Bills and saying, hey,
Speaker 4: that's Pi. I'm Darren Waller. That should have been a loss.
Speaker 4: You know, that's in the end zone, assuming the Giants
Speaker 4: score from the one, and who knows if they do,
Speaker 4: but you know what I'm saying. And then hey, Chris Godwin,
Speaker 4: locate the ball, You're wide open. You win that game
Speaker 4: on a hail Mary. So it's like the Bills. There's
Speaker 4: a lot of detractors there as well. So every team
Speaker 4: has flaws. To me, there are no dominant teams this
Speaker 4: year in the NFL, in the AFC, like, everybody's got issues.
Speaker 4: You know, as good as the Ravens are, as good
Speaker 4: as the Chiefs are, I think you feel like, okay,
Speaker 4: they're beatable. I think they're beatable. So see if we
Speaker 4: can finally get some help. Has it really come? You know,
Speaker 4: the AFC has played the NFC like entirely, and the
Speaker 4: AFC has swept the NFC on what seems like multiple
Speaker 4: occasions this season. So let's see if the Packers can
Speaker 4: knock off this Steelers, you know, if the forty nine
Speaker 4: ers can knock off the Jaguars and get some of
Speaker 4: these NFC teams to get some action against against the AFC.
Speaker 2: Yeah, you know, the.
Speaker 3: Jets game was big, not only for the head to
Speaker 3: head but just the conference. You know, you don't want
Speaker 3: to go one in four in your conference because you're
Speaker 3: not winning any tiebreaker when it comes down to week eighteen,
Speaker 3: two and three in the conference. Now, an NFC team
Speaker 3: comes into town, You play two NFC teams in consecutive weeks,
Speaker 3: and then that Baltimore game.
Speaker 2: Money.
Speaker 3: I think Baltimore is probably playing better than anybody in
Speaker 3: football right now, but I think.
Speaker 2: AFC North is so tight.
Speaker 3: I look at Cincinnati right now, I feel like they're
Speaker 3: about to go on a run and they could still
Speaker 3: snag the North, which means a head to head against
Speaker 3: the Ravens would go a long way too, if it
Speaker 3: ever came down to that so.
Speaker 4: Like, here's the thing. So the Bengals still have Baltimore, Pittsburgh,
Speaker 4: and Cleveland one more time, right, so they've got three
Speaker 4: conference three division games left. The Browns still have Steelers once,
Speaker 4: Bengals once, and I think that's it. Yeah, so that's it.
Speaker 4: So they only have two more division games. Uh, and
Speaker 4: then the Ravens if I if I riot, I think
Speaker 4: they have four. The Ravens have yeah, Cleveland, Cincinnati, Uh, Pittsburgh,
Speaker 4: so they have they have three as well, So those
Speaker 4: and then Pittsburgh. Yeah, so they've got they've got yeah,
Speaker 4: they got three. So those teams that that's gonna that,
Speaker 4: that's gonna they're gonna knock each other out, like you know,
Speaker 4: they're one of those teams, if not two are going
Speaker 4: to are are gonna have issues because of all these
Speaker 4: head to heads. So you know, I can't see Baltimore
Speaker 4: sweeping Cleveland, Cincinnati, Pittsburgh, and you feel the same way,
Speaker 4: you know about the others. So it'll be interesting to
Speaker 4: see how how that all shakes out. But I'm with you.
Speaker 4: Joe Burrow and the Bengals went one in three in
Speaker 4: the first four weeks of the season because he was
Speaker 4: on one leg you know, and now he's not. And
Speaker 4: look what they're doing. I mean they hammered the forty
Speaker 4: nine ers and when they needed it, they got it,
Speaker 4: you know, against the Bills.
Speaker 3: So that's the AFC north of it ended today all
Speaker 3: four teams would be in but you just mentioned it.
Speaker 3: They're gonna start beating each other up right now. Buffalo
Speaker 3: is on the outside looking in Houston and then the Chargers,
Speaker 3: so you know those three teams, you know it is
Speaker 3: Buffalo gonna take a step back this year.
Speaker 2: They still have. They have some tough games coming up too.
Speaker 2: By the way, if they do schedule now the.
Speaker 3: Then Houston, very young team, I think I've already exceeded expectations.
Speaker 2: We'll see if they can sustain it. A. CJ. Stroud
Speaker 2: Rancho Cucamonga's finest.
Speaker 3: Is having an unbelievable great unbelievable and then the Chargers
Speaker 3: four and four right above the Jets who they beat.
Speaker 3: So Charges right in the middle of this thing and
Speaker 3: it'll start Sunday. In terms of getting over five hundred
Speaker 3: money anything else from this Lins game, you want to
Speaker 3: hit them before we get out here.
Speaker 1: No, I think we hit it all.
Speaker 4: I really do you know? It's gonna be a tough game. Well,
Speaker 4: I'll add this, if you're going to the game, you're
Speaker 4: probably going to be in for a treat. I was
Speaker 4: talking to someone from the Chargers and they said that
Speaker 4: demand for this game is higher than the Cowboys Monday
Speaker 4: night football game. That that's how hot this ticket is.
Speaker 4: Because hey, if you're in Detroit, why wouldn't you want
Speaker 4: to come to Los Angeles? Your team hasn't been good
Speaker 4: in two decades and you get to get out of Detroit,
Speaker 4: Michigan and go to LA. So demand's going to be there,
Speaker 4: Charger fans, you've got you know, you're back to that
Speaker 4: Sunday late window, which everybody likes, you know, not that
Speaker 4: they don't like primetime, but it makes it a little
Speaker 4: bit more challenging because of work and things like that,
Speaker 4: you know in school. But I it's gonna be packed,
Speaker 4: it's gonna be high energy, it's gonna be electric, and
Speaker 4: it's gonna feel like a playoff game, which is essentially
Speaker 4: what they have the remainder of the way. You know,
Speaker 4: a bunch of playoff games.
Speaker 2: That's right.
Speaker 3: Romo Nance on the call on television if you want
Speaker 3: to turn them down and put on money and DJ
Speaker 3: though wouldn't be mad at all.
Speaker 1: You know, we appreciate that.
Speaker 2: All right, guys, that's gonna do it for us.
Speaker 3: We'll be back next week as the charges geting ready
Speaker 3: for the packers.
Speaker 2: But it's Detroit on Sunday for money. I'm Chris