Speaker 1: The Around the League Podcast is Allergic to Cats. Welcome
Speaker 1: back to another edition of the Round the League Podcast.
Speaker 1: My name is Dan Hansus, and I'm joined by a
Speaker 1: room full of heroes, Chris Westling and Greg Rosenthal. What
Speaker 1: a boys, heydn no Cessler Sessler couldn't make it, but
Speaker 1: we are. We're gonna get by. We've gotten by before.
Speaker 1: We can do this. We can do it. Okay, it's
Speaker 1: been a great day. I mean k Rich's team one, uh,
Speaker 1: the Around the League official team Carolina Panthers one. What
Speaker 1: could be better? The Browns are back in the mix.
Speaker 1: The only thing that bothers me is there's a giant
Speaker 1: lighting structure separating me and k Rich from the glass.
Speaker 1: It's really up now. Greig is getting up, He's moving it.
Speaker 1: This is very masculine by It's never been a productive
Speaker 1: thing for me to get up, but this is I'm
Speaker 1: trying here. Suddenly I could see you as a lumberjacker
Speaker 1: in another life. There it is wow. Single applause. West
Speaker 1: doesn't care alright with that? Taking care of yes. This
Speaker 1: is another big week Week ten, A lot of good games,
Speaker 1: and I guess let's get right to it. Because the
Speaker 1: game of the week. We talked about it on Friday.
Speaker 1: We were very excited about the game, and uh, Greg's
Speaker 1: already pumped up because he nailed it with a hero pick.
Speaker 1: The Carolina Panthers won their fifth straight game. Drayton Florence's
Speaker 1: interception in the final minute sealed to ten nine win
Speaker 1: for the Panthers, and they snapped the Niners five game
Speaker 1: winning streak and more importantly, made a big statement in
Speaker 1: the NFL. Greg, We've got a statement win. We said
Speaker 1: the Panthers were a top five NFL team going into
Speaker 1: the weekend, and they went out and proved it by
Speaker 1: beating the team that's their mirror image. But they're better
Speaker 1: at it. I mean, these two teams both want to
Speaker 1: play the same way on defense, getting after you, being
Speaker 1: a physical team, but the Panthers were better at it.
Speaker 1: Their linebacker duo that's so good, Luke Kickley and Thomas Davis.
Speaker 1: They were better than the forty Niners due today. Cam
Speaker 1: Newton made a few more plays than Colin Kaepernick when
Speaker 1: he needed to, and the past rush was just awesome.
Speaker 1: I thought that was the difference in the game. They
Speaker 1: had twenty eight dropbacks for the forty Niners and In
Speaker 1: those drop backs, there were six sacks by the Panthers
Speaker 1: and seven quarterback hits. Kaepernick just did not have any
Speaker 1: time and they only had forty five yards in the
Speaker 1: second half. Did forty Niners lose this game? Because Vernon
Speaker 1: Davis was concussed That was a big factor. He left
Speaker 1: in the first half. Mario'manninghan led led the team and
Speaker 1: receiving with thirty yards. And as we've said all year,
Speaker 1: they're struggling for receiving options. So when they lost Davis,
Speaker 1: it was a huge hit for them. And when you
Speaker 1: take that first read away from Kaepernick, he doesn't know
Speaker 1: what to do, so he's backing up. No one's getting
Speaker 1: open quickly. He kind of freaks out and then the
Speaker 1: pressure is on him and he got sacked a lot
Speaker 1: and was always running for his life. Speaking of pressure,
Speaker 1: how much pressure is on And I'm not gonna get
Speaker 1: too worried about the Niners. I think they'll be okay.
Speaker 1: You know, the division is gonna be very tough now
Speaker 1: with Seattle cruising the way they are. But um, how
Speaker 1: much pressure is on Michael Crabtree uh to lift this
Speaker 1: receiving team, receiving corps to a point where they don't
Speaker 1: have to be so dependent on Vernon Davis, because you're right,
Speaker 1: they didn't look close to able to sustain anything once
Speaker 1: Davis went out. You said it with corpse. I mean that.
Speaker 1: I mean they didn't have a throw over fourteen yards
Speaker 1: in the entire game. That's hard to do. I mean
Speaker 1: they dropped back twenty eight times that had yards. It
Speaker 1: was a disastrous, UH offensive performance. But I think you
Speaker 1: have to give credit to Charles Johnson who had a
Speaker 1: great game and the entire Panthers pass rush. And I
Speaker 1: wouldn't count on the forty niners doing anything necessarily. They
Speaker 1: have the Saints next week and that's a tough game,
Speaker 1: and if you don't win that game, you could be
Speaker 1: six and four and in a little bit of trouble.
Speaker 1: I think this game kind of gives UH just noticing
Speaker 1: the comments on Twitter after the game kind of gives
Speaker 1: an insight onto how UH Player of the Year awards
Speaker 1: are handed out. Luke Keickley wasn't mentioned by anybody all
Speaker 1: year until this game, and now everybody watches a nationally
Speaker 1: televised game and he's on top of the never mind
Speaker 1: the fact that Charles Don Johnson, Greg Hardy Thomas Davis,
Speaker 1: Starlettule have all played great this year. People just can't
Speaker 1: wrap their minds around all these names. So they just
Speaker 1: figured Keickly has to be playing out of his mind,
Speaker 1: and he had. He has played great, But this is
Speaker 1: a team effort. They have rushed a passion passer and
Speaker 1: waves this year and they can and those two linebackers,
Speaker 1: Keickly and Davis can cover. One of the key players
Speaker 1: of the game was Keicklely running down the field and
Speaker 1: and Uh breaking up a pass. Davis had a big
Speaker 1: force fumble. Riverboat Ron was out in full force going
Speaker 1: for a fourth and one. It calling a pass at
Speaker 1: the end of the game when it was third and
Speaker 1: eight instead of running the ball and just trying to
Speaker 1: burn a forty Niners out, he called the past. And
Speaker 1: then there was one time he didn't go for it.
Speaker 1: On fourth down, he called a punt in the forty
Speaker 1: niners territory under or five minutes to go, and he
Speaker 1: knocks him back at the one. Everything Riverboat Ron does
Speaker 1: is just spinning into gold. This is what happens when
Speaker 1: you coach football the right way. Well, what's funny is
Speaker 1: and I'm not one to point out our faults, but
Speaker 1: if you if you dial our podcast about a back
Speaker 1: a month, I think all of us basically said he
Speaker 1: was a dead man walking hold on. But as soon
Speaker 1: as we were figured out he had an epiphany, we
Speaker 1: gave him new life. All right, Well that's true. Now
Speaker 1: I feel like we were on board that before most
Speaker 1: of the country. Yeah, I want to point out I
Speaker 1: had the Panthers in the playoffs before the season, and
Speaker 1: I got I got some heat from this crew that
Speaker 1: I'm jumping on the on Wesleyans Panthers bandwagon. But let
Speaker 1: the record said, before the season, in the playoffs and
Speaker 1: when push games to shove in San Francisco statement game possibility,
Speaker 1: who picked the Panthers? Well, and I figured out this
Speaker 1: is why I'm a fan vagrant, because the Panthers have
Speaker 1: been my team And you guys can never pick against
Speaker 1: your team in a big game because it will kill
Speaker 1: you if they actually do win. And it doesn't really
Speaker 1: kill me to have the Panthers win. And I thought
Speaker 1: they would win. It wasn't a weird pick, and I
Speaker 1: was I was less inclined to hop aboard this Panther's
Speaker 1: bandwagon until I saw them beat a team and win
Speaker 1: a close game. Both those things happened today. During their
Speaker 1: four game winning streak. Before Sunday, the combined record of
Speaker 1: the teams they've beaten was eight and thirty three. This
Speaker 1: is a real win against the real team and a
Speaker 1: tough environment. The Panthers are really good. And one final thing,
Speaker 1: I would rather have the Panthers defense than the Chiefs defense.
Speaker 1: The rest of the way, I think the Panthers have
Speaker 1: the best defense in the NFL. I agree, I think
Speaker 1: it's between them and the Seahawks, but I would take
Speaker 1: the Panthers as the best defense. Alright, moving on, we'll
Speaker 1: stay with the NFC West. Russell Wilson through two touchdown passes,
Speaker 1: Marshawn Lynch ran for d forty five yards, and the
Speaker 1: Seahawks routed the Falcons the Dead and the water Falcons
Speaker 1: thirty three ten on Sunday. Um, you know, this was
Speaker 1: of course a rematch of last year's very entertaining NFC
Speaker 1: Divisional playoff game and back in August, and I wrote
Speaker 1: about this in the recap today. Back in August, you
Speaker 1: look at this, you circled this game is potentially one
Speaker 1: of the games of the regular season. As it turns out,
Speaker 1: it was a game with no juice and the Falcons
Speaker 1: really they came to play, they did not come to play,
Speaker 1: and it was just a blowout. I mean, this was
Speaker 1: not an entertaining game to watch. The thing that really
Speaker 1: jumped out to me was this was Seattle's most balanced
Speaker 1: game and an important game for them because even though
Speaker 1: they had won the previous two weeks, they had not
Speaker 1: played very well. They played great today. Their offense was awesome.
Speaker 1: They scored on seven seven of eight possessions to start
Speaker 1: the game, and the defense was humming. You know, port
Speaker 1: Tony Gonzalez, you know, the Falcon stink, and he might
Speaker 1: miss some time. He got injured in this game and
Speaker 1: said he wasn't sure how he was feeling afterwards. Can
Speaker 1: we re fork the Falcons just for him again and
Speaker 1: just feel like you've led him off the hook? I
Speaker 1: think I feel like I've been begging the news room
Speaker 1: to uh actually go over forking the Falcons on the
Speaker 1: podcast since we only did it in print. Well, you
Speaker 1: know how they say when they when they find like
Speaker 1: a murder scene in the and the wife has been
Speaker 1: stabbed like forty times, it's like, oh, this is a
Speaker 1: sign a crime of passion, a double forking would be
Speaker 1: a forking of passion. Remember we're we're going into this game.
Speaker 1: We wondered which could be worse, the Falcons pass rush
Speaker 1: or the Seahawks offensive line. We got our answer, Falcons
Speaker 1: pass rush. Then one last point um that moves the
Speaker 1: Seahawks to nine and one, and with the Niners lost,
Speaker 1: they're now six and three, so basically puts the Niners
Speaker 1: it's must win. It really was before that must win
Speaker 1: when they UH face the Seahawks again and there's almost
Speaker 1: no margin for victory. Uh or they're heading towards that
Speaker 1: wild card and and the Seahawks are headed towards that
Speaker 1: number one seed. I mean, they're now a couple of
Speaker 1: games clearer that, and they're five and one on the road.
Speaker 1: They only have two more road games the rest of
Speaker 1: the time, So we talked about how they struggle on
Speaker 1: the road. They're not gonna end up losing more than
Speaker 1: two road games this year, and they're only gonna get stronger.
Speaker 1: Both offensive tackles are respected. Back to practice for the
Speaker 1: first time and over a month. Percy Harvan's supposed to
Speaker 1: practice next week. This is the team to beat in
Speaker 1: the NFC. Clearly, boy, he has been practicing supposed to
Speaker 1: play right, he didn't practice last week. I don't think. Yeah,
Speaker 1: some sort of setback, but I think I think he'll
Speaker 1: be out there in Max Hunger might be back. Seahawks
Speaker 1: Justin Tucker kicked a forty six yard field goal of
Speaker 1: five seven to play in overtime and the Ravens beat
Speaker 1: the Bengals a game they needed a seen win. Uh.
Speaker 1: The Ravens were up seventeen nothing in this game and
Speaker 1: blew the lead on a hail mary on the final
Speaker 1: play of regulation, one of the crazier plays of the season,
Speaker 1: but they got it done in overtime. West are the
Speaker 1: Ravens alive and well in the a f C playoff race?
Speaker 1: They're alive, They're not well. They haven't been well all season.
Speaker 1: They don't have a team identity right now. They have
Speaker 1: a good but not great defense in their offense has
Speaker 1: its two highest paid players, is two biggest named players,
Speaker 1: Joe Flacco average less than four yards pert tempt and
Speaker 1: Ray Rice average less than two yards per carry. This
Speaker 1: was a battle of quarterbacks utility between two guys that
Speaker 1: did not play well. We did get a new nickname
Speaker 1: for Ray Rice, so didn't we? Yes, we did right?
Speaker 1: What was that? Please? Yes, please, Well, we're watching the
Speaker 1: game and we've made the point that we haven't seen
Speaker 1: him make a defender defender missing space all year. And
Speaker 1: one of the Ravens beat writers said, here goes ray
Speaker 1: Rice out in space and he moves like a little
Speaker 1: kid in a snowsuit. That's it's a mean such a
Speaker 1: mean nickname. I don't know if it can stick, but
Speaker 1: I like it's perfect description of of what you see
Speaker 1: when you watch him play, though, And it is kind
Speaker 1: of like the still a sore spot on an important
Speaker 1: win for them, the fact that he's still not close
Speaker 1: to what he was. So it's you you start to
Speaker 1: think when the weather turns cold and you need him
Speaker 1: to be Ray Rice, and he's just unless something changes
Speaker 1: from now to then, he's just you're not gonna get
Speaker 1: that guy this year. And should we be patting ourselves
Speaker 1: on the back for not jumping on the Andy Dalton
Speaker 1: has turned the corner storyline a couple of weeks ago
Speaker 1: or what Andy Dalton is who we thought he was
Speaker 1: right the Well, the funny thing is that West you
Speaker 1: had said he had played three great games, four good
Speaker 1: to great games in a row, and the question was
Speaker 1: the A D scale, which I still don't really know
Speaker 1: what it is or how it works. But the point
Speaker 1: of the matter was what we needed to see was, yes,
Speaker 1: we've seen him play three or four good games a row.
Speaker 1: Was he gonna then crater again for three or four weeks?
Speaker 1: And now we're in week two of another crater fest.
Speaker 1: So he is who he thought he was the This
Speaker 1: is why the A D scale works so well. He's
Speaker 1: back to We don't know if he's the answer for
Speaker 1: their franchise, but does it move up when he gets better?
Speaker 1: It does move behind him. That's where I get confused,
Speaker 1: because then, according to the A D scale, no longer
Speaker 1: can those guys do it once they fall behind. But
Speaker 1: it's about his play that makes them fall No, it's
Speaker 1: about their own it's all it's all moving as one
Speaker 1: cohesive unit. It's it's like poetry. So we give the
Speaker 1: Ravens defense some credit. The other day we were saying
Speaker 1: they needed to have a signature game and just carry
Speaker 1: this team and get a key in and I think, yeah,
Speaker 1: I think the Ravens defense played great. And you have
Speaker 1: to chalk the Hail Mary pass up to luck. That
Speaker 1: thing was hit off, hit off somebody's shoulder pad or
Speaker 1: helmet and then ahead of bow tipped it and then
Speaker 1: it landed in A. J. Green's hands. It would have
Speaker 1: been seventeen to ten to end the game. And the
Speaker 1: Ravens defense did play great the Bengal. The Bengals had
Speaker 1: about fifteen chances to win this game in the second half.
Speaker 1: It was amazing how many mistakes and turnovers and just
Speaker 1: poor offensive play there was. I vote for West to
Speaker 1: ride a sixty thousand word post breaking down the e
Speaker 1: d scale and all its intricacy. Yeah, I'm up for
Speaker 1: I'm up for that. In February. I believe what you're
Speaker 1: referring to as a manifestoes. Yes, I love manifestos all right.
Speaker 1: Moving on, Nick falls through through three long touchdown passes
Speaker 1: and the Eagles pulled away for over the injury ravaged
Speaker 1: Green Bay Packers, who lost another quarterback today, this time
Speaker 1: Seneca Wallace to a groin injury. Greg Are we ready
Speaker 1: to be really nervous about the Packers? No, because we
Speaker 1: talked about can they go to into while Rogers is gone?
Speaker 1: And this was one of the tougher games. Actually, now
Speaker 1: they have the Giants and the Vikings. The next two weeks.
Speaker 1: Scott Tolzien is already announced as the starter for next week.
Speaker 1: I thought he looked better than cleaning my gutters last month.
Speaker 1: It's a it's a little surprising that he is a
Speaker 1: big factor in the NFC playoff race. But he was okay.
Speaker 1: I thought he was better than Seneca Wallace was for
Speaker 1: five quarters or four quarters in the drive. He did
Speaker 1: some good things. He moved the ball. They had over
Speaker 1: two d and fifty yards offense in the first half,
Speaker 1: but they missed two field goals and tolls. They had
Speaker 1: one really big bad mistake. Give the Eagles some credit, though,
Speaker 1: you know you said injury ravage Packers. They lost. The
Speaker 1: Eagles lost three starters in this game, early Earl Wolf,
Speaker 1: Michael Kendricks, Jason Peters, and they still won. They got
Speaker 1: a little lucky here with the injuries and some players
Speaker 1: down the field, but but they won. They're they're a
Speaker 1: great road team. Sneak attack, sneak attack with the Carridge music.
Speaker 1: But I guess she wants to make a statement and
Speaker 1: give the woman the floor. So you guys know, I
Speaker 1: have to jump in and say something about my Eagles,
Speaker 1: who everyone was against, totally against after they you know,
Speaker 1: had a couple of mishaps early in this season. But
Speaker 1: look at Nick Foles. Not too shabby, might I say,
Speaker 1: especially him and his connections with Riley Cooper. That's true.
Speaker 1: We buried Riley Cooper as a terrible starter, and he
Speaker 1: has been a big factor in them getting back to
Speaker 1: only a terrible person, not a terrible starters. That turns
Speaker 1: out I can't disagree with. By the way, it's sixteen
Speaker 1: touchdowns and no I n t s now for Nick Foles.
Speaker 1: Only three quarterbacks in NFL history have done that. Peyton Manning,
Speaker 1: Milt Plum, Nick Foles, hashtag ca in Ohio. That's that
Speaker 1: might not even be the most impressive full stat from
Speaker 1: this game. Okay, let's hear it, Hi passer rating of
Speaker 1: any opposing quarterback in the history of lambeau Field. See,
Speaker 1: that's just it just shows you why you have to
Speaker 1: watch the games, because Nick Foles did not play that
Speaker 1: wellness game. He was wildly lucky. He had three plays
Speaker 1: that should have been intercepted that turned into long plays
Speaker 1: that were bad throws. Two of those were touchdowns. You know,
Speaker 1: maybe the second play to Cooper was okay, but he
Speaker 1: really didn't play I'm saying the second touchdown looks like
Speaker 1: a punt. The second threw it up in the air,
Speaker 1: was underthrown. Cooper somehow sidesteps the two defenders and gets it.
Speaker 1: Was a great play by Cooper. And I've seen Mark
Speaker 1: Sanchez make the first pass that he made and ended
Speaker 1: up being a touchdown. So yeah, that that stat, although
Speaker 1: very interesting, definitely doesn't check out with how he played.
Speaker 1: But ultimately, at the end of the day, he's he's winning,
Speaker 1: their winning, and again Michael Vick recedes further into the background.
Speaker 1: I would have to agree with you, guys. I don't
Speaker 1: think watching the games, I don't think that he looks
Speaker 1: great the whole time. But then again, every now and
Speaker 1: then he makes these plays that puts us over the top.
Speaker 1: And the defense is growing despite a couple of injuries
Speaker 1: today Michael Kendricks, but our team is getting there slowly
Speaker 1: and shut and Wesleyan said, you know, the Ravens don't
Speaker 1: have any identity. The Eagles have an identity. They're a
Speaker 1: big play team and that's why they won this game. Again,
Speaker 1: it was a little lucky, but they lead the league
Speaker 1: in big place. They're a great road team. They're five
Speaker 1: and one on the road. They are the first team
Speaker 1: in NFL history to be five and five or five
Speaker 1: or better after Week ten without a home win, which
Speaker 1: isn't which isn't that surprising because that's it's almost impossible
Speaker 1: to do. And the other thing they are is a
Speaker 1: defense that gives up a lot of yards but seems
Speaker 1: to not give up many points, and they've they've been
Speaker 1: able to beat bad offenses. I'm where if I'm the Packers,
Speaker 1: I'm worried about thinks snowballing here. It kind of reminds
Speaker 1: me of, uh, you know those years where or maybe
Speaker 1: just one year and thinking Jay Cutler got hurt with
Speaker 1: the Bears, and it's like, I think we could be okay,
Speaker 1: and then then one loss, then another loss, and then
Speaker 1: all of a sudden, you're on a three game losing streak.
Speaker 1: This could slip away quickly. They're only five and four now, right,
Speaker 1: and they have more injuries from this game. Two of
Speaker 1: their starting offensive lineman, Casey Hayward, uh starting cornerback also
Speaker 1: got hurt in this game, so it just keeps piling up.
Speaker 1: Clay Matthews coming back from his injury was not a
Speaker 1: factor at all. Alright, let's move on Tavon Austin. Tavon
Speaker 1: Austin's alive and well, folks. He had a ninety eight
Speaker 1: yard punt return for a touchdown. He caught two other
Speaker 1: touchdown passes hundred and thirty eight yards receiving on those
Speaker 1: two catches, and he basically single handedly ended the Rams
Speaker 1: this three game losing streak and completely stunned everyone at
Speaker 1: Lucas Eil Stadium thirty eight eight victory over the Colts. Wes,
Speaker 1: How did this happen? The Coults aren't a very good
Speaker 1: team right now. That's one of the first things. They're
Speaker 1: not a good team. They've lost too much. We've seen
Speaker 1: them now against two teams with a combined six and
Speaker 1: thirteen record. They've been outscored three in the first half
Speaker 1: of the past two weeks. Uh. I think they've just
Speaker 1: lost too many players. They're asking Luck to be a
Speaker 1: miracle worker, and as much as we like him, opposing
Speaker 1: defenses are going to take away t Y Hilton. They
Speaker 1: don't run the ball. The rest of the guys on offense, Fleaner, Heyward,
Speaker 1: big Griff Whalen, these aren't guys that can beat man coverage.
Speaker 1: Luck just can't do it on his own. Well, let's
Speaker 1: talk about the a f C South though they were
Speaker 1: you know, everyone lost in that division today except for
Speaker 1: the Jaggers. Is there any way they could blow this division?
Speaker 1: I mean, are the Titans possibly gonna come back with
Speaker 1: Ryan Fitzpatrick? Are the Texans gonna come back? No? I
Speaker 1: think I think the Colts have built up enough uh
Speaker 1: leeway there to the point that we can't wait to
Speaker 1: bet against them in the playoffs. We're not allowed to
Speaker 1: do that. We can pick against pick against them in
Speaker 1: the playoffs. So what about the Rams? Though not bad,
Speaker 1: Tavon Austin joined Steve Smith as the only two players
Speaker 1: in history with at least a hundred and forty yards
Speaker 1: from scrimmage in a hundred forty punt return yards in
Speaker 1: the same game, which is a little odd. Tavon Austin
Speaker 1: possibly the least physical wide receiver in the game, Steve
Speaker 1: Smith arguably the most physical wide receiver in the game.
Speaker 1: And they're probably the same night and we that would
Speaker 1: be a good sitcom. And we got to give Austin
Speaker 1: a lot of credit because we have been hyper critical
Speaker 1: of him with good reason. I mean, he did nothing
Speaker 1: as a number eight overall pick for the first nine
Speaker 1: weeks of the season, but this was this was the
Speaker 1: game that justified maybe not the pick, but just the
Speaker 1: the hype around him that he could He has the
Speaker 1: ability if he gets going to single handedly wreck a
Speaker 1: game for another team. And that's why they won. Tavon
Speaker 1: Austin just was brilliant and the other team didn't know
Speaker 1: how to stop that. They were going to win. Regardless
Speaker 1: of whether Tavon Austin was in this game or not.
Speaker 1: The Rams were the better team today and it wasn't
Speaker 1: by a little bit. They're not gonna be an easy
Speaker 1: out down the stretch. I mean, they're not gonna make
Speaker 1: the playoffs, but they have not looked any worse with
Speaker 1: Kellen Clements at quarterback. I don't see them as a
Speaker 1: different team with Kellen Clemens. Were actually better because they've
Speaker 1: adopted the Jeff's Fisher defense, running game style now and
Speaker 1: they have a personality. Zach Stacy has touched the ball
Speaker 1: on over fifty plays the past two weeks. That offense.
Speaker 1: He is the offense right now, and congrats to Kellen Clemens.
Speaker 1: I mean, the last time he was a starter was
Speaker 1: two thousand Seven's bit a while since Victory's with kell
Speaker 1: remember that, Yeah he um, yeah, he's He's been better
Speaker 1: than you would expect. And I would think that the
Speaker 1: Rams are you know, they got forked. And when you
Speaker 1: get foked, and we saw it last year with the
Speaker 1: Redskins and the Vikings, when you get fork sometimes that
Speaker 1: kicks something into a team. And it looks like they're
Speaker 1: gonna give us a little scare potentially, let's see four
Speaker 1: and six. I'm not worried about that. Come on, right,
Speaker 1: They're not going anywhere near the playoffs, all right, then
Speaker 1: let's move on Terrell Thomas. Uh, you have the three A. C. L.
Speaker 1: Tears had an interstick interception that he returns sixty five
Speaker 1: yards set up a go ahead touchdown by Andre Brown,
Speaker 1: making his Giant's debut, and New York won its third
Speaker 1: straight game over the fading Oakland Raiders. The Giants were
Speaker 1: owing six. Now they're three and six. They got a
Speaker 1: matchup next week against the guy that cleans my gutters,
Speaker 1: Scott Tolzien and the Packers, and then they have match
Speaker 1: up against the Cowboys, then the Redskins. Am I crazy
Speaker 1: for thinking that the Giants can exit November right in
Speaker 1: the middle of the NFC East Race floor's open. I
Speaker 1: don't think it's crazy. I don't think they've played well
Speaker 1: in their three game winning streaks, so I think that's
Speaker 1: a mirage. But anything can happened next week. And if
Speaker 1: they reel off four in a rows start to play well,
Speaker 1: then you have to consider that they're in it. They
Speaker 1: have a quarterback. You're a big rule for four King
Speaker 1: teams is you don't they have a quarterback. Has been
Speaker 1: one of the worst in the NFL this year, and
Speaker 1: he was bad again today. He threw a terrible pick
Speaker 1: six to Tracy Porter, who you know loves demanding brothers
Speaker 1: more than anyone. He missed a wide open Victor Cruz
Speaker 1: that would have been another touchdown and cruise. Um. Not
Speaker 1: that he he showed up Manning, but twice after that
Speaker 1: interception in the misstrow, he kind of threw his hands
Speaker 1: up um as if to say, like, wait, what is
Speaker 1: going on here? What? Why? Why is Eli not connecting
Speaker 1: with me? He's not playing well at all. Unluckily for
Speaker 1: the Giants, you know, Andre Brown had thirty carries. That
Speaker 1: was a career high by nine carries. He went over
Speaker 1: a hundred yards hundred fifteen yards and a touchdown. If
Speaker 1: he can stay healthy, he he'll be a big part
Speaker 1: of their offense and we might have seen the last
Speaker 1: of Peyton hillis in a John's uniform. Andre Brown has
Speaker 1: played one game for the Giants and it is within
Speaker 1: forty yards of the team rushing league for the team.
Speaker 1: That's great. I'm not buying your Giants getting back into
Speaker 1: I know the NFC's is bad and maybe eight wins
Speaker 1: is going to do it, but I just think this
Speaker 1: is a bad team. That's a six win team and
Speaker 1: you're not gonna get into place. Well, let's revisit the
Speaker 1: quarterback theory. You have to me, I don't like to
Speaker 1: stick a fork in any team with a good quarterback.
Speaker 1: Let's fork. And if I don't think Manning a good quarterback,
Speaker 1: he has the capability to go on a run. Okay,
Speaker 1: I'll give you that. That's well said. He does have that.
Speaker 1: All right, let's move on. Ben Roethlisberger passed for two
Speaker 1: and four yards and a touchdown. Levy on Bell have
Speaker 1: fifty two yards and a score of his own, and
Speaker 1: the Steelers snapped a two game losing streak with the
Speaker 1: three ten win over the Bills on Sunday, West we
Speaker 1: build this game as the fork off. The team that
Speaker 1: lost this game would uh, we would bury them their
Speaker 1: hopes of the playoffs. So it's over for the Bills,
Speaker 1: isn't it. Let's go right back to the point we
Speaker 1: were just making. Well. Four teams did have a quarterback problem.
Speaker 1: The Bills have one of the biggest quarterback problems in
Speaker 1: the NFL. E J Manuel has not played as well
Speaker 1: as Thad Lewis. I mean, the first game back, it's
Speaker 1: hard to really get pile on the guy. But he
Speaker 1: didn't show anything, did he Today? He showed nothing and
Speaker 1: he was a little bit People gave him a little
Speaker 1: bit too much credit for the Bills playing close games
Speaker 1: earlier in the year before his injury. I just haven't
Speaker 1: seen anything to make me think that e J. Manuel
Speaker 1: is a guy that you can be even a five
Speaker 1: D team with right now. It's it was early in
Speaker 1: the game, but he had one of those plays that
Speaker 1: he throws up some freeman's and by that I mean
Speaker 1: he'll miss a guy for no reason by ten yards.
Speaker 1: And he he had a throw like that on the
Speaker 1: goal line early in the game where I mean it
Speaker 1: wasn't it wasn't with an ten yards of him and
Speaker 1: the guy was open, and that happens too much, and
Speaker 1: I thought the Bills would have a much better effort. Obviously,
Speaker 1: I picked them to win. This was a disastrous and
Speaker 1: I think you could see the Steelers clamped down on
Speaker 1: their running game because they didn't respect Manual. This was
Speaker 1: a running game that put up what two fifty yards
Speaker 1: on the Chiefs last week, I got shut down today.
Speaker 1: I think it's kind of interesting. We have a colleague
Speaker 1: in the office, Patrick Crawley, who's a big Bills fan,
Speaker 1: and he was all up and excited about Manual's return.
Speaker 1: Kind of reminds me of the Jets fans once upon
Speaker 1: a time trying to talk ourselves into Mark Sanchez. It's
Speaker 1: like Bill sent fans are trying to will Manual to
Speaker 1: be the future of the team. But have we We
Speaker 1: haven't seen a lot of evidence that he's that guy.
Speaker 1: So you know, he was a first round pick, so
Speaker 1: he's gonna get another year after this, but so far
Speaker 1: it's been highly in conclusion. I don't think we can
Speaker 1: blame Bills fans for that one. The last time they
Speaker 1: had a franchise quarterback, I mean there to of course,
Speaker 1: they're going to hope he's the answer, and I think
Speaker 1: he was built as a guy coming into the league
Speaker 1: who had to develop more than most first round quarterbacks.
Speaker 1: I'm not willing to write him off. I'm just saying
Speaker 1: so from what we've seen so far, he's not a
Speaker 1: guy you can win with right now. But he started
Speaker 1: six games right who knows what he'll do in the future.
Speaker 1: I just don't think he's the guy for right now
Speaker 1: that can win games for you, And and Steelers fans
Speaker 1: have to feel like they still have a chance here
Speaker 1: in the a f C North, because the Bengals lost
Speaker 1: another game and they're only two losses back in the
Speaker 1: a f C North. We're saying the Giants are alive.
Speaker 1: The Steelers are certainly live, and as we pointed out,
Speaker 1: if it wasn't for Sean sweet Um missing chip shots
Speaker 1: in Oakland, they'd be one back of the Bengals. Yeah,
Speaker 1: that's true. And there Yeah it's Actually it's a good
Speaker 1: comparison because the Bengals and you know, the Cowboys are
Speaker 1: Eagles or whoever's gonna be the Giants main competition at
Speaker 1: the top of that division. You could make a case
Speaker 1: for all those teams to fall back. So very interesting.
Speaker 1: Both those divisions to watch all right. Moving forward, the
Speaker 1: Jacksonville Jaguars are on the board. Ladies and gentlemen, uh
Speaker 1: Maurice Jones, Drew and Jordan Todman. Jordan Todman each ran
Speaker 1: for a touchdown. Jaguars get their first one of the
Speaker 1: season and beat the Tennessee Titans seven. It was the
Speaker 1: jags first one of the year, but the biggest story
Speaker 1: to come out of this, of course, was the foot
Speaker 1: injury suffered by Titans quarterback Jake Locker. Reports are or
Speaker 1: our own Albert Brier is reporting that the team fears
Speaker 1: that this is a season ending list Frank injury. Liz
Speaker 1: Frank is the worst man. She is a terrible woman.
Speaker 1: I'm sick of her. I mean, Locker only played eleven
Speaker 1: games last year, Uh this, He's only played seven this
Speaker 1: year and it looks like he's out for the season.
Speaker 1: And they're stuck in a tough spot where I think
Speaker 1: he showed enough this year to make them believe in him.
Speaker 1: But you're coming back with a quarterback that just hasn't
Speaker 1: been on the field that much, and who knows if
Speaker 1: the coaching staff is gonna be there there four and
Speaker 1: five and It's a crushing, crushing loss because they could
Speaker 1: have maybe gotten back into the a f C South
Speaker 1: Race if they won this game. There only one back
Speaker 1: and they're playing the Colts on Thursday night. Unforgivable loss.
Speaker 1: If I'm the Titans general manager, this is the game
Speaker 1: that makes me say, I can't bank on Jake Locker
Speaker 1: is my franchise quarterback. I can't bank on him to
Speaker 1: ever play sixteen games in a season. Couldn't it just
Speaker 1: be flukey like Matthew Stafford was injured his first couple
Speaker 1: of years. It could be, But I think with Stafford,
Speaker 1: you you had the utmost confidence that he was going
Speaker 1: to be if healthy, he's going to be your guy.
Speaker 1: He he had proven that he can move the offense.
Speaker 1: He could probably throw for four thousand, five thousand yards
Speaker 1: in a season. Locker hasn't proven that yet. Not to
Speaker 1: sound like a bad Jerry Seinfeld bit on sports injuries,
Speaker 1: but what's to deal with Liz Frank's uh injuries? I've
Speaker 1: never heard about them ever my whole life, for like
Speaker 1: thirty straight years. It's like in baseball where all of
Speaker 1: a sudden, out of nowhere, like seven guys a week,
Speaker 1: we're getting oblique strains, because like, I've never heard of
Speaker 1: an oblique injury, and now, Liz Frank you it's taking
Speaker 1: down big names every year. What's the deal with, Liz
Speaker 1: Frank Well, do you think that maybe, like a decade ago,
Speaker 1: it was just called a foot and then now that
Speaker 1: they have to really specific about the name of it,
Speaker 1: I guess, But I think for me this was the
Speaker 1: The Titans make me feel like a fool. I point
Speaker 1: out on Friday that they have the tiebreaker edge over
Speaker 1: the Jets and Chargers, like they were the team in
Speaker 1: control their destiny for the wild card, and then they
Speaker 1: go loose to their Jaguars. Locker gets hurt, Chris Johnson,
Speaker 1: who looked like a different guy last week, Russia's for
Speaker 1: thirty yards with a long of six and fumbles twice,
Speaker 1: Austin ball too, and and they lose on a day
Speaker 1: where Chad Henny throws no touchdowns in two interceptions. You
Speaker 1: would have not I could have not have guessed that
Speaker 1: Jaggers would win on a day like that. Nightmare Alright,
Speaker 1: Moving on, Carson Palmer threw two touchdown passes and the
Speaker 1: Cardinals held on to send the Houston Texans to the
Speaker 1: franchise record seventh consecutive loss loss to the Cards in Phoenix. Um,
Speaker 1: you know, I the biggest thing I take from this
Speaker 1: game is I guess the Cardinals are going to be
Speaker 1: a team potential that is in the mix here in
Speaker 1: the NFC ex there five and four, they get the
Speaker 1: Jaguars win or not. The Jaguars are still a bad team.
Speaker 1: They get the Jaguars next week, so they have a
Speaker 1: very good chance of being six and four going to
Speaker 1: week eleven. And as for the Texans, you know, it
Speaker 1: is what it is that it's not a very good team.
Speaker 1: They don't know how to close out games. They have
Speaker 1: breakdowns all over the field, and that's how you lose
Speaker 1: seven or row two and seven after a two and
Speaker 1: oh start. And they're unlucky. I mean they're really unlucky.
Speaker 1: We never talked about luck, but you don't lose all
Speaker 1: these games by three points, one point three points without
Speaker 1: just a whole lot of bad luck. Well they did
Speaker 1: the case. Keenum is now started three games and in
Speaker 1: those three games, he's uh. The team is lost by
Speaker 1: combined seven points the last two games. Overweight Randy his
Speaker 1: miss four kicks. He had a miss today on a block,
Speaker 1: but it wasn't his fault. Actually the line broke down
Speaker 1: on the play, but uh yeah, I mean they very
Speaker 1: easily could have been in the mix. But yeah, it's
Speaker 1: bad luck and bad play on it. Unable to seal
Speaker 1: the seal the deal one it counts, and that's the
Speaker 1: way it is. Keen Um now has I think seven
Speaker 1: touchdowns without an interception as a passer, rating over one
Speaker 1: hundred and his three starts, and yet he's been a
Speaker 1: tale of two halves. In the first half he comes
Speaker 1: out screaming they put up twenty points or whatever, and
Speaker 1: then a second half they just create her and he
Speaker 1: can't move the offense it seems for a quarter and
Speaker 1: a half. And they moved it a little bit at
Speaker 1: the end of the game for the second straight week,
Speaker 1: but they fell flat. And as much as I like Keenum,
Speaker 1: you have to wonder what's happening for them to fall
Speaker 1: to face play in the second half of games. In
Speaker 1: his defense, the offensive line had a really bad day
Speaker 1: for Houston. He very rarely had a clean pocket to
Speaker 1: work with. He's getting hit a lot. Um. You know this,
Speaker 1: this is a perfect example. It's it's Murphy's law down there.
Speaker 1: Everything's going wrong. Not a good last drive though, I
Speaker 1: mean through two passes that were ten yards out of bounds.
Speaker 1: You know that that's that's almost unforgivable that you don't
Speaker 1: worry about the interception that much. If you're gonna call
Speaker 1: what Manuel was join Freeman's, we're gonna call those Dalton's.
Speaker 1: He had a couple of Daltons, a couple of You
Speaker 1: got me thinking about the Cardinals, by the way, so
Speaker 1: let's look at this schedule here. Five and four arguably
Speaker 1: one of the you know, one of the better defense
Speaker 1: in the league. They go to Jacksonville next week. Let's
Speaker 1: just count that as a win. Six and four. That
Speaker 1: means they're in the playoff mix. Versus Indianapolis in Arizona,
Speaker 1: they played really well in Arizona. They've played great in Arizona.
Speaker 1: I think they can win that game at Philly. Versus St.
Speaker 1: Louis at Tennessee, these are a lot of winnable games.
Speaker 1: I mean, I could see them winning three or four
Speaker 1: of these and being right there until week fifteen. Week sixteen,
Speaker 1: and Sam Fran plays New Orleans next week. That's we
Speaker 1: could have the Cardinals with a better record than the
Speaker 1: forty Honors. Pretty soon. Well that's where it comes crashing
Speaker 1: down Week sixteen and seventeen. Then they have the Seahawks
Speaker 1: to close out out the year. But I think they're
Speaker 1: going to be in a position. This is in those
Speaker 1: games matter, and I wrote about this last week. But
Speaker 1: there are there are a lot of pretty good teams
Speaker 1: in the NFC and not enough spots. So you have Seahawks, Niners, Saints, Bears, Lions, Packers, Panthers.
Speaker 1: You know, three of those teams would have to fall
Speaker 1: out of it for the Cardinals to jump into an
Speaker 1: actual playoff spot. You know, you can make a case
Speaker 1: for the Packers if you want to get crazy about
Speaker 1: a Bear's uh going down to the Lions coming down
Speaker 1: to Earth a little bit. But you know, I don't
Speaker 1: see it happening. I almost went through this whole thing
Speaker 1: without a gratuitous shot at Carson Palmer do it. But
Speaker 1: of all those teams, I can't see the team with
Speaker 1: Carson Palmer making it through. I'm with you, I agree,
Speaker 1: I was just playing Devil's advocate. Carson Palmer is the
Speaker 1: devil or Devil's damage. All right, We'll move on Peyton
Speaker 1: Manning through for three and thirty yards and four touchdowns
Speaker 1: three did da Marius Thomas and the Broncos over the
Speaker 1: Chargers on Sunday UM in Denver's first game since John
Speaker 1: Fox had his heart surgery. I guess the biggest story
Speaker 1: that came out of the game, out of the postgame
Speaker 1: UM portion of the day was Peyton Manning is gonna
Speaker 1: gonna get an m R I is an? He was
Speaker 1: will be fine. I mean I would be surprised if
Speaker 1: if this turns up anything. He finished the game. What
Speaker 1: was the injury? He got hit in the lower leg
Speaker 1: very late in the game. It was arguing with the
Speaker 1: refs for a few minutes afterwards, trying to figure out
Speaker 1: why there wasn't a fly or why they got charged
Speaker 1: with the time out or something like that. But uh,
Speaker 1: he was fine. I finished the rest of the game.
Speaker 1: I don't think this is serious. I guess we'll see
Speaker 1: if the m R I turns up anything, but I
Speaker 1: would be surprised. This is like in this week, the
Speaker 1: Jets on a bye. You know, big losses UM for
Speaker 1: the Chargers, a big loss for the Titans, the Bengals
Speaker 1: coming going down. Yes, it was a great week for
Speaker 1: the Patriots too. For thinking about I'm just saying, if
Speaker 1: you're thinking about the number two seed in the a
Speaker 1: f C, it doesn't look like the Bengals are cult
Speaker 1: or Coults are the types of teams that are gonna
Speaker 1: put up a really good record and get it by
Speaker 1: If you want to know anything about this game, yeah,
Speaker 1: give us good Philip Rivers Manning. Uh, the game wasn't
Speaker 1: as close as the final score. Then goes coasted out
Speaker 1: to like six lead. Peyton Manning checked into a bunch
Speaker 1: of runs after that. Because they had the lead, they
Speaker 1: have favorable fronts to run, so he checked into a
Speaker 1: lot of runs and then kind of took the foot
Speaker 1: off the gas pedal. He and Damarius Thomas were kind
Speaker 1: of unstoppable. Thomas now has the most yards after catching
Speaker 1: the league. Nobody runs that bubble screen better than they do.
Speaker 1: And uh, the Chargers actually ran the ball well. Ryan
Speaker 1: Matthews numbers are a little misleading. He had a thirty
Speaker 1: nine yard run called back on a holding penalty and
Speaker 1: uh what head looks good in the passing game again,
Speaker 1: but they didn't have enough firepower today. How did my
Speaker 1: boy Philip Rivers look? I feel like his unreal season
Speaker 1: is slowing down a little bit. I would say he
Speaker 1: got pressured a little bit more than normal today. King
Speaker 1: Dunlap had another concussion, which is an issue. I know
Speaker 1: he missed quite a bit of time earlier in the
Speaker 1: season with the concussion. I think um one of their
Speaker 1: guards left too, maybe Clary right tackle. Clary left, so
Speaker 1: they had some injury issues. Couldn't protect Rivers as much.
Speaker 1: He still looks like he's running the offense, showing touch
Speaker 1: and and basically reading defense as well as any quarterback
Speaker 1: not named Peyton Manning. What was your stat that was insane?
Speaker 1: You said that you came up with all by yourself Broncos.
Speaker 1: There are only five received five players with at least
Speaker 1: nine receiving TVs in the NFL. Calvin Johnson, Jimmy Graham
Speaker 1: and three Denver Broncos. It's crazy Wes Welker, Da, Marius
Speaker 1: Thomas and Julius Thomas. What's Decker? Decker has gotta be pissed.
Speaker 1: He has seven, He's got a reality show, He's got something.
Speaker 1: He's got that wife too. That sounds like a guy
Speaker 1: in Bowling Night or something. He's got dad wife too.
Speaker 1: She's something else. All right, Up next, we will dial
Speaker 1: up our Chicago corresponded for Around the League, the great
Speaker 1: Kevin Patrak riches Patra on the line, Patra, Are you there, Kevin?
Speaker 1: Big day for you and Detroit? You got your hero pick?
Speaker 1: What's up? Yeah? I gotta train coming wrong on? Wait
Speaker 1: are you on the tracks? No? No, no, no. I
Speaker 1: was gonna say, this is not the time for that
Speaker 1: type of business. There's never a time for that business,
Speaker 1: but certainly not in this case. What's going on? You
Speaker 1: gotta you gotta be feeling pretty good? Yep. The big
Speaker 1: day for the Lions. They took a step towards you know,
Speaker 1: sole possession in the division and uh first sweep of
Speaker 1: the Bears since two thousand and seven. So you gotta
Speaker 1: like that. They were usually choked like I thought they
Speaker 1: might have way through the fourth quarter in folder field.
Speaker 1: So yeah, so you had basically you had two touchdown
Speaker 1: receptions for Calvin Johnson, Reggie Bush went over a hundred
Speaker 1: yards and it was a twenty one nineteen win over
Speaker 1: the Bears. Now, Cutler started the game, and we know
Speaker 1: he came out of the game. Can you tell me
Speaker 1: what he looked like during the game and then ultimately
Speaker 1: until he exited, You know, he had a his first
Speaker 1: fast it looked like things are gonna go bad and
Speaker 1: hit the ground after four yards, and then he completed
Speaker 1: his next three boom boom boom to Brandon Artial. They
Speaker 1: were in the end zone. It looked like, you know,
Speaker 1: I guess I understand why he's playing. And most of
Speaker 1: the first half he really moved pretty well. He got
Speaker 1: hit a bunch, he had a swollen left hand, his
Speaker 1: non throwing hands looked like a golf ball size swelling,
Speaker 1: but he actually moved pretty well. And then he came
Speaker 1: out at halftime, and you know the break, it looked
Speaker 1: like he must have got tightened and growing or something,
Speaker 1: because he just didn't look the same. I couldn't move
Speaker 1: in the pocket. Drews just getting blasted, and you could
Speaker 1: tell any time he had to dodge, his throws were
Speaker 1: just off a couple of yards short. And I'm not
Speaker 1: talking just at the guy's feet, I'm talking a couple
Speaker 1: of yards short. So the second half he was not
Speaker 1: the same quarterback and it really showed. Hey, Patrick, as
Speaker 1: a lines fan, can you tell me do you have
Speaker 1: any theories on why some weeks their defensive line looks
Speaker 1: like the best in the NFL and other weeks they
Speaker 1: get run on. I think if anybody had a theory,
Speaker 1: I think I don't. I couldn't tell you I I
Speaker 1: honestly don't. I think the same thing every time they
Speaker 1: shut down Math forte thirty three yards on seventeen carries,
Speaker 1: and this week I couldn't tell you why I couldn't.
Speaker 1: I feel like they they're not a consistent defense there.
Speaker 1: There will be very good for three quarters, but then
Speaker 1: they'll give up a couple of big plays. It seems
Speaker 1: like they give up a lot of big plays. Well,
Speaker 1: if they don't get a password, they can't stop the quarterback.
Speaker 1: That's just the fact. That's how they've been all year.
Speaker 1: That's how they will be the rest of the year
Speaker 1: and for the foreseeable future. But as far as as
Speaker 1: far as the run defense, it really it really there.
Speaker 1: They've been up and down all all seasons. So the
Speaker 1: thing that jumped out to me, you had you know,
Speaker 1: the Bears got it within two points and then they
Speaker 1: have to go for two and this decide of the game.
Speaker 1: What it was with a play calling there, I mean
Speaker 1: you they run, they go out of shotgun and run
Speaker 1: a draw that never has a chance. You have Marshall
Speaker 1: what looked to be one on one on the outside. Um,
Speaker 1: I'll I'll send it to both you guys. I mean,
Speaker 1: what happened there? That's that's terrible play calling. Well, they
Speaker 1: got two tries at it right with there. There was
Speaker 1: a penalty on the first one, and they when they
Speaker 1: got a second chance. I mean, I can't kill it
Speaker 1: and to the one yard line right yeah, I wonder
Speaker 1: why they're going out. I just wonder why they're going
Speaker 1: out of the shotgun with a play at the one
Speaker 1: yard line. It reminded me of the Chargers Redskins game
Speaker 1: last week. Why not power that in with Michael Bush
Speaker 1: or Porte? I don't know. I think they tried to
Speaker 1: surprise him. Michael Bush already got stopped on the fourth
Speaker 1: and one earlier in the game, so I don't think
Speaker 1: they were going to bring him. And I do think
Speaker 1: that that played when they when they got pushed back
Speaker 1: on the fourth and one early game, did a play
Speaker 1: effect to play call and has the goal one? And Patrick?
Speaker 1: Before I let you go, do you feel confident about
Speaker 1: the Lions taking this division? Now I has a Lins fan.
Speaker 1: You're never confident about anything. I've learned that much. I
Speaker 1: feel like like it sets up. It sets up. I mean,
Speaker 1: if there was ever a season for it, with Rogers
Speaker 1: injury and the the easiest day of the lines of
Speaker 1: the easiest division, if there was ever a year, all
Speaker 1: the bad luck they had last year, and they had
Speaker 1: a ton of it because they were in almost every
Speaker 1: one of those games has turned around and they're just
Speaker 1: get and good luck this year because not like they're
Speaker 1: blowing these teams out, they're winning at the very end
Speaker 1: of each one of these games. Before we let you go, Kevin,
Speaker 1: I want to ask the group everyone, do we have
Speaker 1: a quarterback controversy in Chicago? Is that a thought? Dash
Speaker 1: My account comes in, he leaves a touchdown drive right
Speaker 1: at the end of the game. I think, depending on
Speaker 1: Cutler's health, there's a controversy. I think if Cutler's fully healthy,
Speaker 1: Tressman will kind of nip it in the bud. But
Speaker 1: I think if the media wanted to run with this,
Speaker 1: and if fans wanted to run with this, you could
Speaker 1: certainly say that account has outplayed him for three games.
Speaker 1: I think that the Bears locker room would revolt if
Speaker 1: something like that happened. They seem to really like him.
Speaker 1: Brandon Marshall after the game spoke very highly of Cutler
Speaker 1: and made it very clear that he personally was all
Speaker 1: behind Cutler is the number one, and he likes McCown.
Speaker 1: He thinks he's the best backup there is. But this
Speaker 1: is Color's team might be shocked if he actually lost
Speaker 1: his job, or even if it was seriously speculated. Alright,
Speaker 1: I'm gonna I'm point out one thing. I agree with
Speaker 1: everything you said. I think the team is with Cutler.
Speaker 1: The fans here, um, I just a thought of the
Speaker 1: bar everyone's done with Color. I think there's the kind
Speaker 1: of realization that he is what he is. That's that's
Speaker 1: the sense I got that if they decided to go
Speaker 1: with mccount, everyone would be behind it, and they don't
Speaker 1: see Color as the future here the fan that's you know,
Speaker 1: the fans. I think the team has a completely different
Speaker 1: view of it from what Mike Silver has been speculating
Speaker 1: and reporting on the past a few weeks. It sounds
Speaker 1: like Trustman. Trustman isn't sure Cutler is the future either,
Speaker 1: And it's an interesting spot Trustman's in this week because
Speaker 1: you know, Cutler told our Stacy Dale's that he's fine
Speaker 1: and the ankle wasn't a huge problem after the game,
Speaker 1: and that's that's what he got pulled out with. So
Speaker 1: it might be something where they have an excuse to
Speaker 1: take him out. Thank you, Kevin, He'll go on. I
Speaker 1: like the patri just stepped out of the bar. It
Speaker 1: means he was in there for like eight hours. Correspondence
Speaker 1: with Patrick, but he sounded sober. Maybe he's one of
Speaker 1: those guys that, even with a bunch of drinks, is
Speaker 1: still completely incon role. I imagine I'm just sitting at
Speaker 1: the train tracks drinking beers and throwing the empty is
Speaker 1: like at the train the starring Dennis Hopper exactly. He
Speaker 1: actually has some Hopper like and that takes us to
Speaker 1: the Sunday night game. Uh, this was a game that
Speaker 1: you know, you could get excited about his potential shootout
Speaker 1: in the Dome in New Orleans, but it didn't work
Speaker 1: out that way. After a pretty tightly contested first quarter,
Speaker 1: things kind of spun away and the Saints pulled away
Speaker 1: from the Cowboys. Rob Bryan's gotta be feeling good. Um,
Speaker 1: But the biggest problem for me, I have the biggest
Speaker 1: problem I think the Cowboys have coming out of this
Speaker 1: game is they lost Shawn Lee to a hamstring injury,
Speaker 1: couldn't put any weight on it. And if you take
Speaker 1: him out of the mix, and let's say it's a
Speaker 1: month injury, you know it could be who knows if
Speaker 1: it's something like that. Is this defense gonna spiral the
Speaker 1: way it did without him last year? They had already
Speaker 1: given up the second most passing yards in the NFL,
Speaker 1: and I believe are the only team in NFL history
Speaker 1: to give up four passing games in the Sea. So yeah,
Speaker 1: this team definitely has potential to spiral out of control
Speaker 1: with without Sean Lee, who was we like Jason Hatcher
Speaker 1: for Defensive Player of the Year, But I don't think
Speaker 1: we would argue if anybody said Sean Lee is is
Speaker 1: the heartbeat of that defense? And Jason Hatcher missed this game.
Speaker 1: De Marcus ware was shaken up in this game, and
Speaker 1: they they've just reached a point on the defensive line
Speaker 1: in their entire defense, And you have to wonder, is
Speaker 1: Tony Romo and this offense good enough to carry them?
Speaker 1: Started well for them too, and they were moving that
Speaker 1: they didn't run the ball at all last week. Obviously,
Speaker 1: early on in the game, de Marco Murray was getting
Speaker 1: the ball out. They were moving the ball, but the
Speaker 1: game just kind of got away from him because the
Speaker 1: defense couldn't make a stop um and Dez Bryant was
Speaker 1: completely invisible, especially when the game was in contention, you know,
Speaker 1: And I just worry how much is that backplay a
Speaker 1: factor and what's going on with him? Did we hear
Speaker 1: that he had an epidural in his back before the game?
Speaker 1: I heard that That is not a good sign, right,
Speaker 1: You never want to have something that you know, women
Speaker 1: in labor are getting to reduce the most pain you
Speaker 1: could possibly feel, Right, that's by analysis, hashtag analysis. That
Speaker 1: was good. Why we don't even need like one of
Speaker 1: those doctors you call in to give insight on this.
Speaker 1: Bryant was not the only disappearing act. Midway through the
Speaker 1: third quarter, Tony Tony Roman at thirty nine yards passing. Yeah,
Speaker 1: you're right, I mean this this was just not a
Speaker 1: good night for the team. And it just goes to
Speaker 1: show you again too. We were talking about the Giants earlier,
Speaker 1: and you know the Eagles. This NFC East is a mess,
Speaker 1: and it's really hard to tell. We're getting close to
Speaker 1: Thanksgiving now and there's no more clarity about where this
Speaker 1: division is headed By the end of the year, I
Speaker 1: assume it's gonna as it seems to do every year,
Speaker 1: it's gonna come down to the last game of the year.
Speaker 1: Alan cris will probably be calling it on NBC for
Speaker 1: the team to go eight and eight and win the NFC.
Speaker 1: But the the idea that maybe this would be the
Speaker 1: year the Cowboys would take advantage of the town and
Speaker 1: the weak division and maybe cruise to a division title
Speaker 1: just doesn't look like it's gonna happen. They've been the
Speaker 1: strongest team overall, but now they're moving in one way
Speaker 1: with all the defensive injuries, and the Eagles are playing well.
Speaker 1: To me, I think the Eagles are becoming the favorite
Speaker 1: in this division. I disagree because I think the Cowboys
Speaker 1: have a bye week at the right time, and their
Speaker 1: schedule is pretty favorable. They have the Giant, well I
Speaker 1: guess the Giants, who knows. I don't know if that's
Speaker 1: an easy game or not. They have the Giants and
Speaker 1: the Raiders, and I still think the Cowboys are better.
Speaker 1: But let's give some love to Bad Santa Coordinator of
Speaker 1: the Year, and he's gonna have some bad weeks where
Speaker 1: all those blitz as he calls up or whatever he does.
Speaker 1: You know, it doesn't work out so well, but he's
Speaker 1: gonna have some weeks like this where he shoves it up.
Speaker 1: Jerry Jones is you know what I mean, He's gotta
Speaker 1: be loving this moment. Monty Kiffin looks, you know, as
Speaker 1: old as he is, and what do you think? What
Speaker 1: do you think? Rob Ryan is saying that he's walking
Speaker 1: off the field and Monte Kiffin's defense had given up
Speaker 1: twenty eight points in the first half. I mean he
Speaker 1: if he looked up at Jerry Jones's box and you know,
Speaker 1: gave him an eyebrow arch, I don't think he would
Speaker 1: have been out of line. Yeah, he's probably telling Kivin
Speaker 1: now you know how it feels to coach without Shawn exactly. Alright.
Speaker 1: That is Sunday schedule. We went through all the games.
Speaker 1: There's one more game, the Depression Bowl on Monday, between
Speaker 1: the Miami Incognitos and Tampa Bay. Siano's Uh. Luckily we
Speaker 1: don't have to talk about that tonight, but we'll be
Speaker 1: back on Wednesday. We've got a big show on Wednesday.
Speaker 1: Looking forward to that. Until then, this is Dan Hansons
Speaker 1: signing off for the mailman, the Boss, cameras behind the glass,
Speaker 1: and of course Lyle, the a t L enter until Wednesday.
Speaker 1: What a man, what a man? What a man? Would
Speaker 1: I might have? Fine man and Patra. There you go,
Speaker 1: salt and pepper.