Speaker 1: The Around the NFL podcast doesn't care if you have
Speaker 1: one ash cheek and three toes. We do now. In fact,
Speaker 1: we prefer that you're a grotesque being. Here from the
Speaker 1: Chris west Link podcast studio, it's Around the NFL Week
Speaker 1: fourteen recap. Dan Hands is here, Heroes, Greg Rosenthal, Mark Sessler.
Speaker 1: Mm hmmmmm, Yes, that's Dan camp That's one of the
Speaker 1: many great Dan Campbell quotes from Hard Knocks over the summer.
Speaker 1: And Um, we are making history here on today's show
Speaker 1: for the first time, and this is our tenth season.
Speaker 1: So somebody do the math. How many Sunday shows have
Speaker 1: we done to be you know one? You know, all right,
Speaker 1: let's say one, seventy, let's let's split the difference, three
Speaker 1: and twelve. Okay, we've done three, twelve and and we
Speaker 1: have never led with the Detroit lines. What never? I mean,
Speaker 1: why would we? They've always been bad? Um for the
Speaker 1: most part. There was one playoff season in the mix.
Speaker 1: Uh was it? What game they got screwed? Was des caught? It?
Speaker 1: Game was the next week with the Lions got screwed
Speaker 1: in the Cowboys win a long time ago. Point being,
Speaker 1: and yet today's show we have a bunch of interesting
Speaker 1: subplots and leagues storylines in the playoff race heating up,
Speaker 1: and because the lines are right in the middle of that,
Speaker 1: that's where we're gonna start today. Well it's about time.
Speaker 1: I'm I'm enthused by the by the decision that you
Speaker 1: finally get on board first in this show. Even last
Speaker 1: week I was singing their song. And I think they're
Speaker 1: one of the most interesting developments in the entire conference
Speaker 1: so far, becoming like one of the stories of the league.
Speaker 1: We're gonna have to be welcoming and interest to the
Speaker 1: rest of the football world as they catch up to
Speaker 1: our love that we've had for their Lions. I think that, yes,
Speaker 1: and I think we're ahead of the story. And now
Speaker 1: we're bathing in that. And why do we Before we
Speaker 1: get to the first game, which of course will feature
Speaker 1: the apa mentioned Detroit Lions, let's go back to hard
Speaker 1: knocks and and here from Dan Campbell, there is nothing
Speaker 1: like winning. And I'm telling you right now, it doesn't
Speaker 1: matter if it's freaking dominoes, it's pages, it's bouret, it's
Speaker 1: Croquet's chest, it's preseason kicking. It does not matter. Man.
Speaker 1: Winning is winning, and it feels good. Man, winning is
Speaker 1: winning and it feels good. And the Lions, the two
Speaker 1: thousand two Detroit Lions, cannot stop winning. They're addicted. Emotion
Speaker 1: is soon got to pro what's the pro to? Stro
Speaker 1: yes said got Dot the thirty one yard line. That
Speaker 1: is sutiful first down Detroit Lion mis Johnson, you are
Speaker 1: my heir road. Yes, getting the big feller involved and
Speaker 1: I love you women motion. Did you see that speed
Speaker 1: bit Johnson? I love you. Whoop beautiful golf. Dan Miller,
Speaker 1: who was brown w x y T say, soul team
Speaker 1: just one of many great wide receivers, although not technically
Speaker 1: a wide receiver. Screw it team right down time time lyon,
Speaker 1: come on, Mark, go baby team te hell, this is
Speaker 1: a fire is special on. Oh it's ragged. I'm not
Speaker 1: getting better at that though. You had you had me
Speaker 1: do the same part of this song last week. And
Speaker 1: I'm not approving, really, none of us are. But we're
Speaker 1: gonna get it because we're gonna get more chances to
Speaker 1: do so. Anyway, So there you go. The Detroit Lines.
Speaker 1: They welcome the Minnesota Vikings into their building, the ten
Speaker 1: and two Minnesota Vikings, and they just kind of dominate
Speaker 1: them in a thirty four twenty three win. Jared Goff
Speaker 1: once again has a big game, including an opening scoring
Speaker 1: touchdown past the rookie Jamison Williams add him to mix
Speaker 1: very fun. Uh. Greg will start here, though, give us
Speaker 1: background on that play to school that had the Detroit
Speaker 1: announcers all fired up. It's the perfect place to start
Speaker 1: because it just outlines how aggressive this team is even
Speaker 1: with the lead. That is a third in seven play
Speaker 1: from the Vikings forty one yard line with two minutes
Speaker 1: to go in the game. The Vikings uh still have
Speaker 1: two time outs at that point, so time and time
Speaker 1: outs are a huge factor. And I came out of
Speaker 1: that time thinking they've been running the ball poorly, but
Speaker 1: they probably run the ball there. See if they can
Speaker 1: get close enough to maybe go forward and fourth down,
Speaker 1: or if not, you punt it back instead, you break
Speaker 1: out Panay Seul not just catching that pass where it's
Speaker 1: like a tackle eligible. No, he's in motion, running like
Speaker 1: a freight train. I want to give him the ball
Speaker 1: in the goal line, in the end zone, sometimes at
Speaker 1: at backfield because he had a lot of speed there.
Speaker 1: Dan Campbell said after the game he thought he could
Speaker 1: be a Hall of Fame titing to show that aggressiveness
Speaker 1: was typical of a day end. You know, he's like
Speaker 1: if you lost a little weight, he's that athletic. He
Speaker 1: could be a Hall of Fame tight end. I don't
Speaker 1: know about that, but it wasn't nice catch it. The
Speaker 1: ball wasn't exactly on him. He knew what to do,
Speaker 1: but it was typical. They went for a fake punt
Speaker 1: Dan on fourth and seven. With the lead, they kept
Speaker 1: sending pressure on defense and then more than anything with
Speaker 1: the lead in the second half of this game, they
Speaker 1: kept throwing because the running game wasn't working and they
Speaker 1: kept stacking points. They would have scored on six straight
Speaker 1: possessions to end this game if not for a misfield goal,
Speaker 1: and that was by throwing. I think there's just complete,
Speaker 1: full DNA buy in by the Lions to be this aggressive.
Speaker 1: They've been doing it all year, and you know, like
Speaker 1: when they were losing, it really wasn't the reason they
Speaker 1: were losing either. It's like, I just love their sort
Speaker 1: of go for it nature. It requires everyone from Dan
Speaker 1: Campbell to Ben Johnson. Ben Johnson who you knew who
Speaker 1: Ben Johnson was a year ago. This time, he's completely
Speaker 1: He's completely become more of a household name at this point.
Speaker 1: And I just so impressed with some of these better
Speaker 1: performances for getting from Jared Goff because it reminds me
Speaker 1: to some degree how he looked when he was very
Speaker 1: well surrounded environmentally with the Rams and good coaching and
Speaker 1: fit in so well. And it's like, you know, we
Speaker 1: came into this season thinking like Jared Goff is just
Speaker 1: a placeholder of fill in. They're gonna go draft someone.
Speaker 1: I think he's proven himself to be a legit NFL
Speaker 1: starter all over again. Are you echoing my comments on
Speaker 1: the Friday Fun Show? What happened on that show? But
Speaker 1: if I am literally like seven straight minutes about this
Speaker 1: very topic, Jared Goff is having a big year and
Speaker 1: the Lions have a big decision to make, uh come
Speaker 1: in the offseason, there's no decision. He's there next year.
Speaker 1: Three thirty yards, three touchdowns. This might have been his
Speaker 1: best game. We gotta report our insiders before the game
Speaker 1: like they're looking to him as their future quarterback. Yes,
Speaker 1: and we'll see, because once upon a time, the same
Speaker 1: insiders reported Jammeis Winston was the future of the Bucks
Speaker 1: quarterback rooms as late as weeks six team before that
Speaker 1: Saturday game, these things change. But in the here and now,
Speaker 1: golf is doing everything right. And yeah that I'm looking
Speaker 1: at it now. You know obviously the Seul play, but
Speaker 1: the a fourth and seven from their own twenty six
Speaker 1: yard line with eleven minutes ago in the third quarter,
Speaker 1: the seven point lead, they pull off a fake punt.
Speaker 1: They're just feeling it. And let's hear from Campbell now
Speaker 1: in the here and now. You heard from him in
Speaker 1: August when he was pumping up his team, and now
Speaker 1: he's got this team rolling. Here was Campbell after the
Speaker 1: game about the team's chances of maybe going to the postseason,
Speaker 1: which are now real. Look, it was one of the
Speaker 1: reasons why I wanted to be here. I said that
Speaker 1: in my opening press conference. Anybody that read that or
Speaker 1: saw that, it was one of the reasons I want
Speaker 1: to be here because I knew this could be a
Speaker 1: special place. Man, this is one of those areas where
Speaker 1: you get a winner here in Detroit and uh and
Speaker 1: it'll be something special. And it's not like that everywhere
Speaker 1: it's not. And so to get this place back on
Speaker 1: its feet, man, play winning football, something that hadn't been
Speaker 1: done here and whatever that is twenty something years um
Speaker 1: or over, and you know it is, but we're not
Speaker 1: there yet. We're not there. You know, we're playing pretty
Speaker 1: good football and we just one another one and and now, man,
Speaker 1: yeah it feels good. Let's go get the next one.
Speaker 1: That's all we can worry about. And uh yeah, you
Speaker 1: did a great job obviously. On offense. They scored at
Speaker 1: least twenty five points every week um. And their defense,
Speaker 1: I know, the past defense left a lot to be
Speaker 1: desired and Kirk Cousins had his best game of the
Speaker 1: year through and two touchdowns, but you also held Dalvin
Speaker 1: Cook to twenty three yards on fifteen carries. So they
Speaker 1: are that team now. We talked about this, this type
Speaker 1: of team all the time, the teams that are really
Speaker 1: prolific offensively and could score. And when you're when you
Speaker 1: are very good offensively, you don't need to have great defense,
Speaker 1: just have to have a passable defense. And they're there
Speaker 1: now and that's why they keep winning. They keep making
Speaker 1: big plays defensively. Rodrigo is not just a hard knocks story.
Speaker 1: He's a genuinely difference making linebacker. As a rookie, a
Speaker 1: couple of huge run stops. In this game, they got
Speaker 1: pressure on Cousins, and it was why I was so
Speaker 1: impressed with Cousins. I thought it was easily cousins best
Speaker 1: game of the year. He was under darressed so many
Speaker 1: times he had There was nine quarterback hits. Aidan Hutchinson
Speaker 1: I thought had hit one of his best games of
Speaker 1: the year. They were all over him in terms of
Speaker 1: their past defense, and Cousins kept making tough plays. But
Speaker 1: you're seeing different parts of the team step up. Dj
Speaker 1: Arc being healthy and kind of being the guy that
Speaker 1: they paid him to be, which was maybe their number
Speaker 1: one receiver. That's been a quietly big development. Josh Reynolds
Speaker 1: is back. Jamison Williams is in this game and gets
Speaker 1: a forty one yeard touchdown on a bust. That play
Speaker 1: didn't play that many snaps again, but even just adding
Speaker 1: that to the offense, it's like they could be in
Speaker 1: different types of ways, and they're winning games convincingly. They
Speaker 1: beat the Giants convincingly, they beat the Jaguars convincing, They
Speaker 1: beat the Vikings convincingly. I mean they I mean, I
Speaker 1: know that they needed to make a play late, but
Speaker 1: this is a two score win and the Vikings are
Speaker 1: Vikings fans are gonna be very quiet today and this
Speaker 1: week because this game kind of was what all the
Speaker 1: people that were doubting the Vikings were kind of expecting
Speaker 1: in this game. So you have now you have obviously
Speaker 1: the embarrassment of the Cowboys lost. They kind of escaped
Speaker 1: that Jets game with a win. They could easily lost that,
Speaker 1: And now this game happens Mark and it's like, yes,
Speaker 1: they're tenant three once again. They can't clinch their division,
Speaker 1: but they will clinch the division. But they're just a
Speaker 1: lot of questions with that team in terms of the
Speaker 1: goal of getting to the super Bowl. I don't even
Speaker 1: think that most Vikings fans would even have a problem
Speaker 1: with us raising the questions we always raised about the Vikings,
Speaker 1: but they were until this game now. But I think
Speaker 1: like your level headed Vikings fan talked about the fact
Speaker 1: that you know they were winning these close ones. Um,
Speaker 1: you're not getting the best season of the ever from
Speaker 1: Kirk Cousins on any level. They're like the only ten
Speaker 1: and three team to have ever had a negative point
Speaker 1: diferential at this point. I mean, so they kind of
Speaker 1: just are who they are. Could they win a playoff game,
Speaker 1: but they're a bad defense, and so that's what I
Speaker 1: think is really worrisome. They're extly safe, like they try
Speaker 1: to play it safe and bad, which is like a
Speaker 1: bad combo. If you're gonna be bad on defense, at
Speaker 1: least be like the Giants and be aggressive and make
Speaker 1: some place. But they're sitting back there. They really missed
Speaker 1: Harrison Smith today. If if you want to have a
Speaker 1: positive I know I mentioned you know, Kirk playing well.
Speaker 1: Jefferson had two hundred and twenty three yards. Kirk had
Speaker 1: the fifth highest two I mean to twenty three and
Speaker 1: it should have been it should have been to sixty.
Speaker 1: He would have had another touchdown in this game that
Speaker 1: was on a bad call late in the game. They
Speaker 1: ended up scoring, but it cost him a minute a time,
Speaker 1: which was his foot did not go out of bound.
Speaker 1: So his fantasy owners, I should be Matt and Kirk
Speaker 1: played out of his mind. He had the fifth highest
Speaker 1: completion percentage overexpected of any quarterback in any game this year.
Speaker 1: And so that's a positive sign that like if you
Speaker 1: could get Kirk to play like that. The only reason
Speaker 1: they lost this game was, you know, Hockenson drops a
Speaker 1: dime on third down that kills one drive and then
Speaker 1: they call a pop pass in the red zone for
Speaker 1: Dalvin Cook and he didn't admit it was a pop
Speaker 1: pass afterwards, but it's sure it was a pop pass
Speaker 1: and he fumbled what like you know where you get
Speaker 1: and then you run up and then you jump the
Speaker 1: tebow play except he like started looking up before he
Speaker 1: ever saw it and then just started bobbling it around.
Speaker 1: And that was ten points right there. And this was
Speaker 1: like an arena league game where that that was the
Speaker 1: difference and you gave up the defense things. Now play
Speaker 1: the Jets, and I've already you as you guys, I
Speaker 1: know you guys will understand. And I hope everyone connected
Speaker 1: with this amazing experience the team of around the NFL
Speaker 1: has been I need to take a one week sabbatical
Speaker 1: and step away from the lines. And I hope you
Speaker 1: guys can understand that. And if you can't, that's an issue.
Speaker 1: But you guys, being the two, I certainly think the
Speaker 1: two of us can understand where you're coming from. Right
Speaker 1: as when most like level headed thinking human beings forget
Speaker 1: who this is not a happy thing for me. That's
Speaker 1: something I struggle with. You will get through it. Too.
Speaker 1: I believe who came over our desk today and said like, Oh,
Speaker 1: that's gonna be tough, tough for Dan next week. I
Speaker 1: was like, is it? I mean that Kay who came
Speaker 1: over to our desk. I was thinking it wasn't you,
Speaker 1: because it's like, there's no one else in our news
Speaker 1: from the only people that I speak to on Sunday
Speaker 1: or Greg until Dan shows up. Drew came over can
Speaker 1: all right, So the lines are a big storyline right now.
Speaker 1: The other big story on Sunday, uh to me is
Speaker 1: what happened at the Big Bell bottom and sent the
Speaker 1: cloud pretty back time. I'm not gonna throll for the
Speaker 1: year soon wide open? Greg, did I you touch down?
Speaker 1: Sen Fran just go hire you? Are? You? Hire you? Kids?
Speaker 1: We have a submission for the Dad Call of the
Speaker 1: Year and I liked it. I'm a dad, Greg, Papa
Speaker 1: and Tim, Ryan, Kay and b R Brandon. I you know,
Speaker 1: he scores a touchdown every week. That's that. And he's
Speaker 1: not the only one that could do that. The forty
Speaker 1: Niners have great pieces on offense. We know this, but
Speaker 1: if you don't have a quarterback, you don't have hope
Speaker 1: in the NFL. And yet Mark Sessler. Maybe the Niners,
Speaker 1: having already lost Trey Lance, having already lost Jimmy Garoppolo,
Speaker 1: still have an answer quarterback because Brock Purty, Mr. Relevant
Speaker 1: steps up, plays lights out ball in a thirty five
Speaker 1: seven blowout of Tom Brady and the Bucks. M I
Speaker 1: really am trying to remember a quarterback debut like this.
Speaker 1: Um again, someone not unlike Ben Johnson. We just talked
Speaker 1: about that Brock Purdy was in an essentially invisible human
Speaker 1: being ten days ago. And the way he played today
Speaker 1: and you know they have all literally Mr Irrelevant, right,
Speaker 1: I mean, and it's it's incredible how he played today.
Speaker 1: And I watched this Niners offense and the first one
Speaker 1: was like, is it are all the pieces around him
Speaker 1: canna diminish? Because he's going to be playing inside a
Speaker 1: very safe scheme and doing safe things that you'd expect
Speaker 1: from someone that's never done this in the NFL before.
Speaker 1: The total opposite. They couldn't have been more aggressive. They
Speaker 1: gave they had. They showed so much faith in Brock
Speaker 1: Purty to throw the ball in key situations and the
Speaker 1: result was I thought, you got the best version of
Speaker 1: Christian McCaffrey, who was unstoppable, Like literally, they they had
Speaker 1: no answers for Christian McCaffrey, Brandon you doing his things
Speaker 1: before Deebo Samuel left with an ankle injury and we're
Speaker 1: ring that that's potentially not season ending. He could come
Speaker 1: back at some point or it could be a high ankle.
Speaker 1: We'll see. But all of these pieces were operating in
Speaker 1: total unison with total power. Uh. They were running the
Speaker 1: ball all over the place too, and Bratt Purty just
Speaker 1: kept making throw after throw at the end of the
Speaker 1: first half because the second half was just the thing
Speaker 1: was over. Uh. He finished fourteen for eighteen for a
Speaker 1: eighty five yards and two touchdowns and no one, no turnovers.
Speaker 1: I just was like completely impressed with Like it is
Speaker 1: an argument for the Shanahan quarterback friendly, quarterback proof attack
Speaker 1: where I think you know that comes and goes and
Speaker 1: it's not as some time as you feel like he's
Speaker 1: a little over inflated on that front. Not today. I
Speaker 1: mean the way that he came into this with total preparation,
Speaker 1: brock Party, it tells me a lot about the coaching staff.
Speaker 1: And I know that we didn't maybe love Brian Greasy
Speaker 1: the analyst, but there's something going on with him as
Speaker 1: quarterback coach too. I think he's done a good job.
Speaker 1: And it was like, you know, there's a lot of
Speaker 1: they they talked about how he had really gotten him
Speaker 1: prepared for this moment. Well they if nothing, you have
Speaker 1: to give them credit for being able to choose these
Speaker 1: Shanahan quarterbacks and be able to self scout to once
Speaker 1: they had him. They really seemed to know what they
Speaker 1: had in him, and that they picked these guys late
Speaker 1: in in the draft that can keep your season afloat.
Speaker 1: Now it looks like he could do even more. It
Speaker 1: told me a lot when on that touchdown throw to
Speaker 1: Iu that they were being that aggressive in that spot
Speaker 1: because they got the ball there with under a minute
Speaker 1: and a half to go and they went for a
Speaker 1: touchdown to kind of pour it on with with the
Speaker 1: seventh round rookie. I think they pushed him to do
Speaker 1: everything he could and and it does change like the
Speaker 1: the the nature of the Niners. We were like, oh,
Speaker 1: every year this seems to happen to them. And if
Speaker 1: brock pretty can't play, they're cooked. And they were one
Speaker 1: of the more interesting possibilities in the NFC. I came
Speaker 1: out of today's game it's one game, but like he
Speaker 1: if you had showed me without seeing like the human
Speaker 1: face or the uniform and told me he would have
Speaker 1: had tom Brady's performance, So that would have a bit
Speaker 1: more fitting because tom Brady didn't he tom Brady at
Speaker 1: one point had his hand hit a helmet and you
Speaker 1: could tell he was in pain. He threw an interception
Speaker 1: on the next play, he overthrew people from there and
Speaker 1: the Bucks, you know, when we've seen them fall flat
Speaker 1: four quarters and halves at a time. This was the
Speaker 1: worst version of that, where you leave with literally no
Speaker 1: faith in their offense on any level. And I don't
Speaker 1: know what is going on with Tom Brady and Mike Evans,
Speaker 1: but the tone was set in this game when he
Speaker 1: hit Mike Evans on a sixty eight yard touchdown early
Speaker 1: on and then it was taken back by penalty. There
Speaker 1: were three or four Bucks penalties in this that completely
Speaker 1: shut them down, opened the door for San Francisco, and
Speaker 1: it was just an example when San Francisco hits the
Speaker 1: gas like this. If this is the version you're gonna get,
Speaker 1: they could beat anyone in the NFC. I think the
Speaker 1: Eagles obviously are the the one team that stands out there,
Speaker 1: that could be the biggest challenge for them. Yeah, the
Speaker 1: Evans thing, you know, if that touchdown stands and it
Speaker 1: was called back on what was the call? It was
Speaker 1: a whole on a weekly basis, getting touchdowns wiped off
Speaker 1: back to back weeks, he's he's been an issue for them.
Speaker 1: But uh yeah, if that touchdown stands, we're probably not
Speaker 1: having the conversation. But it didn't stand. And then you
Speaker 1: see one point on the sideline. Who knows, but Brady
Speaker 1: and Evans kind of animated talking back and forth to
Speaker 1: each other. Um and Brady. Who much was made obviously
Speaker 1: in the press. He had that amazing comeback on Monday
Speaker 1: Night football, and then uh, this was his homecoming. He
Speaker 1: grew up in nearby, and he asked for a hundred
Speaker 1: and fifty tickets or something like that. And the game's
Speaker 1: third five nothing in the second half. So it's just
Speaker 1: it's been a very very frustrating season for Tampa Bay.
Speaker 1: They're not a good team. They're just not good that
Speaker 1: Their defense is you know, average, it's spikes at times,
Speaker 1: but it's definitely not a difference maker like it's been
Speaker 1: in past years. The offense is definitely limited, Brady average
Speaker 1: four and a half yards an attempt in this game,
Speaker 1: and so they are that what they are. And on
Speaker 1: the San Francisco side of things, Jimmy Garoppolo um was
Speaker 1: saying very well, but at the end of the day,
Speaker 1: Garoppolo is what he is, which is a facilitator. He
Speaker 1: is a the dreaded game manager, which doesn't have to
Speaker 1: be a bad thing, especially in offense like that. Seeing
Speaker 1: now brock Party do it the way he did today
Speaker 1: doesn't mean like he's going to be a stud nowt
Speaker 1: of them, But that would be a crazy story if
Speaker 1: you if he did turn into a stud. But if
Speaker 1: he can just do this, be the facilitator, get the
Speaker 1: ball into the hands of the players, Yes, they're gonna
Speaker 1: survive this and be a tough out in the end
Speaker 1: of sy And if he can do this, he's like
Speaker 1: the thirteenth best quarterback in football right now. So I mean,
Speaker 1: I I would imagine there's gonna be some comdown effect.
Speaker 1: This was to a bit, but to many it wasn't
Speaker 1: like I watched it like a great Herbert game for example,
Speaker 1: or is like you're seeing these like an amazing Wow.
Speaker 1: He physically looks different than those guys to begin with.
Speaker 1: To me, it just doesn't seem to be that guy physically,
Speaker 1: but the way that they had him dolling up aggressive
Speaker 1: throws and he was making them, but he didn't last
Speaker 1: week too, so it's not just one week. He hit
Speaker 1: a number of third down throws into tight windows last
Speaker 1: week and they threw the ball thirty seven times because
Speaker 1: they needed him to a week could go. The Bucks
Speaker 1: defense has been a little better than solid. You're right there,
Speaker 1: out of difference maker. They lost Vita Via today to
Speaker 1: an injury. They lost Jamal Dean, their best cornerback, to
Speaker 1: an injury, so they already were banged up on defense
Speaker 1: and those are two of their best players, but they
Speaker 1: haven't been pushed around like this, So I mean that,
Speaker 1: and that's a that's a great sign for San Francisco
Speaker 1: with a manageable stretch ron coming up, including a big
Speaker 1: Thursday night game this week against And we know we're
Speaker 1: not even like talking about San Francisco's defense, which is
Speaker 1: just like they had one point, they had one touchdown
Speaker 1: in nineteen drives and Mica Ryan's is gonna be a
Speaker 1: head coach soon. And you got guys like Dre green
Speaker 1: Law every week doing amazing things. It's like they are,
Speaker 1: they are a little banged up. They keep losing guys,
Speaker 1: But when I watched what they did today, it's like,
Speaker 1: that's why I think they can win any playoff game.
Speaker 1: Let's hear from Kyle Shanahan before we move on on
Speaker 1: brock Purty who again two and whatever overall pick seventh round. Um,
Speaker 1: parents crying in the stands watching the game. Really nice moment. Uh.
Speaker 1: There here's Shanahan on his QB. We always have the
Speaker 1: full game plant, full game plans, the game plan whatever,
Speaker 1: it was, everything available to him. Yes, I mean definitely.
Speaker 1: I mean it was a week before two and Um
Speaker 1: with brox skill set and what he does, I don't
Speaker 1: have a ton of design quarterback runs and stuff, but um,
Speaker 1: maybe we need to. He moved pretty well today. And
Speaker 1: you know what, Shanahan falls in love with these quarterbacks.
Speaker 1: He just falls so hard for these guys. Yeah and
Speaker 1: he and this is all this all comes off remarkably
Speaker 1: good for Shanahan, who's obviously has a great reputation. But
Speaker 1: to be able to keep this season a float, and
Speaker 1: not just a float, but the offense thriving on his
Speaker 1: third quarterback speaks to what he's built with of course
Speaker 1: John Lynch and the rest of the organization. All right,
Speaker 1: so there you go. Those are two big games to
Speaker 1: get things go. And let's take a break and then
Speaker 1: we will continue on week fourteen. All right, we are
Speaker 1: back the Buffalo Bills. Last week they sat and watched
Speaker 1: from home as they went from the five seed to
Speaker 1: the one seed in the a f C. They have
Speaker 1: destiny in their hands now they just gotta take care
Speaker 1: of business, and they did that today in Western New
Speaker 1: York against my Jets. They're still in shotgun. Josh's takes
Speaker 1: the snap and John and he gives it to Josh
Speaker 1: keeping himself and he drives forward and he's in touchdown.
Speaker 1: Buffalo Josh Hall and take the handoff and ran forward
Speaker 1: for the five yard touchdown run. Where do we stand
Speaker 1: on announcers calling players by their first name? Oh Josh, Hey,
Speaker 1: oh Josh has it. It's probably a little like homer Ish,
Speaker 1: But for some of these announcing crews, like I'm not
Speaker 1: taking shots, I don't love it. Some names just asked
Speaker 1: for it, Like Tiki Barber was always just Tikifer. If
Speaker 1: I had the choice that for multiple reasons, I think
Speaker 1: I'm skeptical like you or else you would have asked
Speaker 1: the question it's overly friendly, um, John Murphy and Eric
Speaker 1: Wood with the called w g R slick cold rain,
Speaker 1: snow conditions UM in Buffalo and the New York and
Speaker 1: the Buffalo Bills took care of business by leaning on
Speaker 1: a defense that was without, as we know, von Miller
Speaker 1: for the rest of the season. Now after that exploratory
Speaker 1: surgery led to an a c L repair, but they
Speaker 1: didn't look like a team that was missing von Miller
Speaker 1: against the Jets, uh, getting after Mike White beating up
Speaker 1: Mike White, sending Mike White to the hospital in an
Speaker 1: ambulance after the game as a precaution. Uh. And it
Speaker 1: was that Bill's pass rush that allowed them to take
Speaker 1: a twenty to twelve win. And uh so not a
Speaker 1: dominant effort by Buffalo's offense. In fact, I believe they
Speaker 1: finished under three hundred yards, which I don't know if
Speaker 1: that has happened uh this season. So that Jet defense,
Speaker 1: which has been good all year, although they lost Quinnin
Speaker 1: Williams to a calf injury today and we're gonna see
Speaker 1: if he's gonna miss extended time. That would be a
Speaker 1: alert for them. They've had their fair share of injuries
Speaker 1: this year. Um, but Buffalo uh, despite not having the offense,
Speaker 1: this proved again to me boys that yes, they are
Speaker 1: a complete team and their ability to get after the
Speaker 1: quarterback led by ed Oliver Matt Milano, that front seven
Speaker 1: did their job and that's why they won this game.
Speaker 1: Shock Lawson too, I mean that was that was my
Speaker 1: takeaway as well as that the von Miller injury to me,
Speaker 1: kind of separated what I thought they could achieve and
Speaker 1: now it's like, if you can do this, because when
Speaker 1: I was watching this, it seems like they just dominated
Speaker 1: New York's offensive line and made life so tough on
Speaker 1: Mike White, who is one of the tougher dudes. He
Speaker 1: he did not want to go out and I can
Speaker 1: see why they why the Jets players love Mike White,
Speaker 1: and I do wonder what will happen with him going forward.
Speaker 1: I mean, is he gonna be healthy enough to play
Speaker 1: next week? You think yeah? I mean the fact that
Speaker 1: he was knocked out of the game twice by just
Speaker 1: wicked shots, including the second by Milano where Tony Romo
Speaker 1: called the game for CBS. Was just as a guy
Speaker 1: who was a quarterback, who's this happened to him? He's like, oh, yeah,
Speaker 1: he's he's not coming back, he's got broken rings. And
Speaker 1: and yet he does go back to the locker room
Speaker 1: and he does come back. And I've said this with
Speaker 1: other in other situations, the charges with Herbert earlier in
Speaker 1: the season when he had his own rib issue. I
Speaker 1: didn't think Mike White should have been back in that
Speaker 1: game because he couldn't protect himself. And you could see
Speaker 1: that for the rest of the game, even when they
Speaker 1: weren't big shots. Every time he went down you could hear.
Speaker 1: You couldn't necessarily hear him, but you could see in
Speaker 1: the replays that he would like scream out in pain
Speaker 1: or just the win sing, and it was just it
Speaker 1: was a tough watch, um, but also easy to respect
Speaker 1: the guy that was hanging in the pocket. But uh, yeah,
Speaker 1: the Jets are a team now. They've lost four of
Speaker 1: six quietly, and we could keep saying that they hang
Speaker 1: tough against these teams, but you gotta what happened with
Speaker 1: the Jets is once you blow those two Patriots games,
Speaker 1: they gotta go find a win now to make up
Speaker 1: for that. And they should have beat the Vikings last
Speaker 1: week and then let Minnesota off the hook. This game
Speaker 1: was more like there were opportunities, But I just credit
Speaker 1: the Bills. Their Bills are a better team further along
Speaker 1: in the development, and I think that's what you saw here.
Speaker 1: The Flacco fumble, Uh the Michael Carr can't see Flacco
Speaker 1: on the field again now and what someone's gotta explained
Speaker 1: to me. I understand the Zach Wilson drama of it all,
Speaker 1: but why is Zach Wilson inactive? Is there more to
Speaker 1: the story. But I don't need to go watch Joe
Speaker 1: Flacco every time the past rushes on him and he
Speaker 1: every time he gets hit, and he gets hit almost
Speaker 1: every time he drops back to past, it's a fumble.
Speaker 1: I literally they're protecting. I think Zach Wilson's like fragile
Speaker 1: psychology right now. That's a damning indictment. If he's not
Speaker 1: the backup quarterback next week, I don't know. We'll see
Speaker 1: about White and it's all gonna depend on how he
Speaker 1: feels in the morning and what comes back from this.
Speaker 1: But uh, yeah, the Jets, to their credit, they did
Speaker 1: hang in this game. They got block punt uh to
Speaker 1: get it within one score. They marched down into Bill's
Speaker 1: territory with a chance to really make things interesting before
Speaker 1: Michael Carter fumble. But again credit to the Bills and
Speaker 1: their defense. The offense is a little up and down
Speaker 1: for the Bills right now, and that's just something that's
Speaker 1: been the case for a while. I mean, Josh Allen
Speaker 1: has been like essentially sort of average for about four
Speaker 1: weeks in an other the weather is crazy in this game,
Speaker 1: right so so you keep that in mind. But two
Speaker 1: thirty two yards, you know, getting out gained by the
Speaker 1: Jets by seventy yards is surprising in but also I
Speaker 1: think if you're Sean mc dermott, rather probably very satisfying
Speaker 1: because he's a defensive coach. He los Von Miller, you
Speaker 1: lose Micah Hide two of their three I would say
Speaker 1: most valuable players on their defense, along with Milano, who's
Speaker 1: playing out of his mind. And you still get all
Speaker 1: this pressure with Rousseau is having a great season, Trevious
Speaker 1: Whites now back, and in the mixed players having a
Speaker 1: nice season. You're getting pastors with Ed Oliver. I was
Speaker 1: gonna ask you, Dan, which defense you think it is
Speaker 1: better here? Jets are Bills. I think it's pretty close.
Speaker 1: I think that. I mean, they both played really well.
Speaker 1: That the jetson now scored only two touchdowns in the
Speaker 1: last two weeks. So they're having some issues right now
Speaker 1: with White. But if he's healthy, there's no controversy. I
Speaker 1: think he's still going to be the guy for them.
Speaker 1: Here's here's a stat by the way, um, the Mike
Speaker 1: White was pressured on forty six point seven percent of
Speaker 1: dropbacks with just four rushers. So the Bills did their
Speaker 1: job and the Jets have to figure out some things
Speaker 1: on offense here that because they were not competitive on
Speaker 1: offense for stretches of this game, because they could not
Speaker 1: protect the quarterback, they couldnot pass protect, and the running
Speaker 1: game has not been the same. I know Bam Knight
Speaker 1: has been very good for them in the last few weeks,
Speaker 1: but it's never really recovered from Breeze Hall. So they
Speaker 1: gotta they just gotta find some ways to get out
Speaker 1: of this. They gotta beat the lines next week. Just
Speaker 1: like we said, the lines had to win today and
Speaker 1: they did. I think they Jets have to beat the
Speaker 1: lines at the Metal ends next you and I'd say
Speaker 1: after that, the Jaguars are becoming spice here by the hour.
Speaker 1: And then you've got seat. You're at Seattle and at Miami.
Speaker 1: If you're the Jets to close the season, that is
Speaker 1: a rugged little slate. I gotta win three or four
Speaker 1: and uh, that's just the way it is. I think,
Speaker 1: you know, with the Chargers and the Patriots behind them,
Speaker 1: that's not a fearsome duo there. But you gotta start
Speaker 1: winning again. So the Bills get it done up. Next,
Speaker 1: let's move on. Gotta move on, and I will move
Speaker 1: on to the other New York Times New York team
Speaker 1: from the metal Lands area northern New Jersey. Technically they
Speaker 1: welcomed in the best team in football, and it went
Speaker 1: as you might expect. Sanders stays in this time he
Speaker 1: breaks away at the thirty five thirty five fish ten
Speaker 1: five s Wow, hold are you kidding me? Jack dryst
Speaker 1: who gets a great block mouse Sanders getty outside. It's
Speaker 1: just a foot race and he out runs the entire
Speaker 1: Giants definch to the pylon and into the end zone.
Speaker 1: Listen to that crowd at the metal Lands. Oh they
Speaker 1: were they were doing from start to finish. Reality has
Speaker 1: set in. Meryl Reese and Mike Quick from w I
Speaker 1: P Yes, my, it was another big game on the
Speaker 1: ground for the Eagles, who just blow teams away. Miles
Speaker 1: Sanders ran for one four and touchdowns of three and
Speaker 1: that forty yard score. He's over a thousand yards rushing.
Speaker 1: And then Jalen Hurts, who has been the best football
Speaker 1: quarterback in football this year. He threw two more touchdowns
Speaker 1: ran for another, and the Eagles romp mark two over
Speaker 1: those fading Men who have one win in six weeks. Yeah,
Speaker 1: the g Men at one point, or a pet team
Speaker 1: of mine. I found it enjoyable just to watch good
Speaker 1: giants football. Well coached. Pet teams aren't doing too well.
Speaker 1: They are not. It's like they are not cemetary over there.
Speaker 1: It is very close to that. Well, I don't I also,
Speaker 1: when I adopt a pet team in this season, particularly,
Speaker 1: I don't have to stick with them forever. So I'm
Speaker 1: with you. For those team's sake, it's better that you
Speaker 1: get off as quickly as possible. I do seem to
Speaker 1: have an ill effect on them. Uh, I would agree
Speaker 1: with you, But this was an enjoyable game to watch.
Speaker 1: Um just for the nature of Philadelphia is utterly explosive,
Speaker 1: unstoppable offense. I mean they do. We've talked about they
Speaker 1: do it differently every week, and today they came out
Speaker 1: and I think made it so clear the difference between
Speaker 1: the Eagles and the Giants. And I don't care about
Speaker 1: the records or anything. It's just like they Jalen Hurts
Speaker 1: is playing beautiful football right now, and their offense is
Speaker 1: so well coordinated. Opening touchdown drive of twelve plays ninety
Speaker 1: one yards, five plus minutes, the second drive fourteen eighty
Speaker 1: four yards eight plus minutes, and they were unstoppable, running
Speaker 1: for huge chunks of yardage at a time, deep passes
Speaker 1: unfurled beautifully. Then the Giants down fourteen nothing. I thought,
Speaker 1: you know, sometimes I'll say like game over, and it's
Speaker 1: not always in the fourth quarter that that happens. They
Speaker 1: botched a punt and the Eagles picked it up at
Speaker 1: the Giants thirty three and essentially, next play laser to
Speaker 1: A J. Brown. It's twenty one nothing. And there is
Speaker 1: no there is no shred of evidence that the Giants,
Speaker 1: who are not yeah they're not the Giant, do not
Speaker 1: come from behind tony one nothing against anyone in this league.
Speaker 1: And sae Quon Barkley has not been sae Quon Barkley
Speaker 1: for weeks on end now, Daniel Jones is in a
Speaker 1: tough spot in the situation. They are kind of an
Speaker 1: empty cupboard when it comes to weapons, and that's how
Speaker 1: you get absolutely your doors blown off at home and
Speaker 1: you're right, that crowd was dismayed and agitated. Well, this
Speaker 1: game is over. The second you heard, you know, the
Speaker 1: se Juon Barkley neck injury that popped up late in
Speaker 1: the week, and then the report before the game that
Speaker 1: you proved to be true that he was only going
Speaker 1: to be limited in the game plan. It's like, oh
Speaker 1: if he, if sae Quon Barkley is limited in this
Speaker 1: game plan, why even why even show up to play?
Speaker 1: And you know what, the Giants didn't really show up,
Speaker 1: Dadaly So well, that fourth and seven where the Eagles
Speaker 1: decide to go for and DeVonta Smith makes a terrific
Speaker 1: touchdown catch that's the beginning of the second quarter to
Speaker 1: go up fourteen nothing. It's just the type of decisions
Speaker 1: that like, no matter what Nick Sirianni does, whatever they
Speaker 1: call on offense or on defense, it's like we're because
Speaker 1: it's a great scheme that's versatile, but their players are
Speaker 1: just awesome. That was just DeVante Smith, who you think
Speaker 1: of as this. You know, slim guy, is he the
Speaker 1: slim Reaper. There's a lot of slim reapers out there,
Speaker 1: but he's physical too and he can be tough at
Speaker 1: the catchpoint. And that was a great example. I mean
Speaker 1: also like what would be concerning from New York in general.
Speaker 1: There's a lot of concerning things for New York. It's
Speaker 1: like they were just their offensive line at both tackle
Speaker 1: spots Andrew Thomas Evan Neil dominated by the Eagles, Like
Speaker 1: they can do everything well and they can put a
Speaker 1: lot of pressure on the quarterback and made life tough
Speaker 1: for Daniel Jones. Yeah. There, it's the Giants and the
Speaker 1: Vikings are the two NFC teams that there were a
Speaker 1: lot of outside doubters and and the Giants, you know,
Speaker 1: I wonder how many wins they have left in them,
Speaker 1: to be honest with you, and and well, I think
Speaker 1: we'll know a lot about that team by next week.
Speaker 1: They have Washington. I think the winner of that game
Speaker 1: probably gets that final seat in the NFC. But I
Speaker 1: think the Commanders are a better team at this stage,
Speaker 1: especially if Barkley is going to be limited. There loving
Speaker 1: the Giants of what happened to the Seattle Seahawks today
Speaker 1: as well the Giant that's Taylor. The Giants at last
Speaker 1: beat a team that was not the Houston Texans on October.
Speaker 1: I mean I was like and that that was the Jaguars, basically,
Speaker 1: I mean I was a different man back then. I
Speaker 1: was just like, I don't even I was young. I
Speaker 1: was remember free and just a totally different mindset. It
Speaker 1: was agent feel way down by the world. Now it's
Speaker 1: like the winter has come and yes, many more responsibilities. Uh,
Speaker 1: and there is you know, the early portion of the
Speaker 1: Giant season, all those great shots of head coach Bryan
Speaker 1: Dable heading towards midfield, waving two people in the stands
Speaker 1: and hugging players. It feels fitting that on the third
Speaker 1: possession for the Giants that the Jamie Gillen punt were
Speaker 1: slipped out of a bounce, that he kicked it, and
Speaker 1: that the next player is a touchdown to a J
Speaker 1: Brown who was wide open. Brown, by the way, over
Speaker 1: a thousand yards and ten touchdowns. The Eagles are the
Speaker 1: best team in football. Yeah, I wasn't sure how I
Speaker 1: felt about you making the Eagles number one in the
Speaker 1: Power Against You know, that's just the responsibility that you
Speaker 1: have in such a high position, um to you know,
Speaker 1: faced doubts like myself, just because I think, like I
Speaker 1: was thinking that maybe the Chiefs are still just a
Speaker 1: better team. But you have a bigger problem, Greggy, I
Speaker 1: know you like you love more than most. I think
Speaker 1: this made you look good, That's what I'm saying. Thank
Speaker 1: you very much more than most people in this industry.
Speaker 1: You put a lot into your preseason predictions and wailing
Speaker 1: to get them right after Mahomes had some turnover issues
Speaker 1: today and Hurts did it again. I think Hurts is
Speaker 1: in the driver's seat for m v P. Right fair,
Speaker 1: But that's a month left of the season, and people
Speaker 1: get carried away making bold statements a month. A month
Speaker 1: is a lot. But I'm glad you bought brought up
Speaker 1: preseason predictions because I did have the Philadelphia Eagles winning
Speaker 1: the Super Bowl. I'm seeing good. I have them losing
Speaker 1: the Super Bowl. Okay, that you should feel good about
Speaker 1: that too, Alright, pinch yourselves. All right, Let's move on
Speaker 1: to Big D where I don't even know what I picked.
Speaker 1: I'll have to check. I'm gonna check while I listened
Speaker 1: to this high Green Bay Cabals. Right if your pick
Speaker 1: was as good as the Eagles winning the Super Bowl.
Speaker 1: You remember, find such a thing on our website for
Speaker 1: like the ten years of work we did on the website,
Speaker 1: and then they redesigned it and wiped out our byelines
Speaker 1: and our entire career was wiped away, literally like a
Speaker 1: fourth of our lives. And nobody even gave a second
Speaker 1: thought in the building about it. No, not, it doesn't bother.
Speaker 1: They gave it a thought that they would do it. Oh,
Speaker 1: we're doing the podcast though. All right, let's go to
Speaker 1: throw pressures coming, they flush him out, I mean, that's
Speaker 1: any thing, and looking Terence chases, he throws it into
Speaker 1: the end zone and the ball is in a second
Speaker 1: guy digs in the end zone. And my apologies to
Speaker 1: Davis Mills. He just caught that thing about sixty seven
Speaker 1: yards in the air and he gave this guys a chance.
Speaker 1: But the only players around that football we're Dallas Cowboys.
Speaker 1: What It was a crazy game. It was the craziest
Speaker 1: game of the of the day. In this game, he's
Speaker 1: enjoyable mark of bongos here, please, I'm shutting it down.
Speaker 1: You get bongos when you have a big moment where
Speaker 1: you step up as a team and deliver a big
Speaker 1: time victory. Well, I just I would say that we
Speaker 1: A'm looking at the rest of the games we're about
Speaker 1: to cover. There's maybe this thing. Maybe that's where that's
Speaker 1: where we're at right now. I'm sorry. I hate to
Speaker 1: be this guy right now, I gotta say that I
Speaker 1: can't gi him. The bongo over in the corner of
Speaker 1: the newsroom this morning was acting like a kid listening
Speaker 1: to Bongos. He was just like, oh wow, this game
Speaker 1: was crazy. He was loving it. He was on our
Speaker 1: Friday function. Different sure, but I can see where Gregg
Speaker 1: is coming from because there was enthusiasm. But I had
Speaker 1: predicted something along the line of the Texans beating the Cowboys.
Speaker 1: So is that always becoming a distinct possibility? That was
Speaker 1: raising my blood pressure, just to tach. Upon further review,
Speaker 1: the ruling on the podcast stands Bongos denied fair enough
Speaker 1: and also Dak Prescott leading the ninety yard drive. That's
Speaker 1: a better highlight. Let's just start the show over because
Speaker 1: the Zeke Elliott short touchdown run with forty one seconds
Speaker 1: to play, that's what this game will be remembered for,
Speaker 1: not the hall Mary at the end. And that's why
Speaker 1: the Cowboys one s to twenty three mark. Not a
Speaker 1: great showing by the Cowboys, but they got it done.
Speaker 1: They did, and I think that that. You know, Jerry
Speaker 1: Jones came out of the game saying like, look, I
Speaker 1: don't really care about the rest of this. It's a
Speaker 1: long season. That drive at the end is all I
Speaker 1: care about. Dak Prescott's all I care about, and that's fine.
Speaker 1: I think you can just maybe say that kind of
Speaker 1: does work because their offense was off kilter most of
Speaker 1: the day. The reason I think this happened and they
Speaker 1: didn't get out I thought they I thought that the
Speaker 1: Texans coming out spicy, would soon be vanquished and taken over.
Speaker 1: But it's never really It never really happened. And I
Speaker 1: think they threw Dallas off with a couple of different things.
Speaker 1: Number One, Gavanti Turpin lost the punt return early that
Speaker 1: gave the Texans the ball at the Dallas twenty four.
Speaker 1: They punched in a touchdown Dak Prescott through an interception.
Speaker 1: This that led to other points and so suddenly the Texans,
Speaker 1: who was struggled to score seven or ten points in
Speaker 1: a game, had this early advantage and they were running
Speaker 1: this offense with Davis Mills, who was, you know, named
Speaker 1: the starter again this week after that whole Kyle Allen
Speaker 1: business um. But they were using Jeff Driscoll and Davis Mills,
Speaker 1: and they were It's like this whole platoon thing happens
Speaker 1: like once or twice a year. And I was trying
Speaker 1: to watch this and watch another game at the same time,
Speaker 1: and like, wait a minute, did someone get hurt. I'm
Speaker 1: spending half the time switching on Twitter to see what
Speaker 1: happened to Davis Mills. But then you start to realize
Speaker 1: what they're doing is just drift. Jeff Driscoll he can
Speaker 1: run the ball, and they were using him like every
Speaker 1: single time he was in there. Initially, over the first
Speaker 1: couple of drives, it's like, oh, we're running it. We're
Speaker 1: gonna tell you we're running it. We don't really care
Speaker 1: if you think that's fun or not. And like finally
Speaker 1: he'd start to spray the ball. I mean, he's kind
Speaker 1: of he's like a better well, he's slightly more athletic
Speaker 1: tastom Hill, maybe not a better player, but yeah, but
Speaker 1: Jeff Jeff Jess goes like kind of an incredible right well,
Speaker 1: and he literally played guys of the Yeah, but it
Speaker 1: was this was one of the strict third on the
Speaker 1: depth chart. Say that, but he's not a great quarterback.
Speaker 1: Jerry Jones after this game said, both of the quarterbacks
Speaker 1: for the Texans looked like Brett five out there, that's
Speaker 1: played it out a little thick that they both looked
Speaker 1: like little like I don't think. But Davis Mills, I'd
Speaker 1: say one was one of his better games. Like he
Speaker 1: he made some throws good. But so you just a
Speaker 1: good team escapes out of this. And that's all I
Speaker 1: take from it for the most part. And that's and
Speaker 1: that's that drive was important. And I don't know about
Speaker 1: the play calling at the end, and Damian Pierce, I
Speaker 1: guess went out with an injury. You have Rex burkehead
Speaker 1: taking snaps at the goal line. They have a chance
Speaker 1: to win this game, Houston inside their five yard line
Speaker 1: with three minutes to play, up three points, and uh
Speaker 1: they go for it on fourth down. Lovey Smith, I
Speaker 1: like it. I like the call, but you cannot and
Speaker 1: I don't even know who the quarterback was on this
Speaker 1: at this point. Mark, you could tell me drisk can't
Speaker 1: have a bust and play in that spot. That's where
Speaker 1: I think, like, whatever they planned to do this week,
Speaker 1: that's where it started to create faults because right he
Speaker 1: looked disorganized. But that that came after DA through an
Speaker 1: interception from his own end zone, and it was that
Speaker 1: Dallas defense stopping Houston at the goal line. Stand That's
Speaker 1: set up that final drive and it's like the better
Speaker 1: parts of this team stood up and just in the
Speaker 1: nick of time. Look, it keeps Dallas in the NFC
Speaker 1: South race, I mean the NFC East race, which is important.
Speaker 1: And why don't we just put Dallas in the NFC
Speaker 1: South so we could have a real team division. That
Speaker 1: would be nice, and they were in the South. They
Speaker 1: should be in the South anyways, Like the fair point,
Speaker 1: let's let out on that. That's a great way to
Speaker 1: end the show. NBC would be not would be very
Speaker 1: unhappy to get the Cowboys out of that division East
Speaker 1: Dallas Cowboys and they got that drive at the end.
Speaker 1: Like that feels good. But now I'm a little concerned
Speaker 1: that Dak Prescott hasn't looked good for two straight weeks.
Speaker 1: I would say he did not play well in that
Speaker 1: Colts game. On balance, overall, that was a game where
Speaker 1: I think Dak in the secondary receivers were struggling, and
Speaker 1: then in this game to have yeah struggle and for
Speaker 1: the defense to struggle against an offense who's number two,
Speaker 1: number one receiver was Chris Moore. Their number two receiver
Speaker 1: was a Mari Rodgers who just got cut by the
Speaker 1: Packers number three. Philip Or said, like, what's going on?
Speaker 1: I feel like Dak Prescott is forcing throws a couple
Speaker 1: of times in games, and you know then he'll go
Speaker 1: have that final drive where he made three or four
Speaker 1: unbelievable connections with his target. So I don't know, I
Speaker 1: mean the decks. I think Dad can be fine, but
Speaker 1: it's always gonna be the talking point if he makes
Speaker 1: any mistake at all. Um, Before we take a break,
Speaker 1: the rules of bongo, just so we're clear, going for
Speaker 1: it because you know, justin I everything you do, I
Speaker 1: love and applaud you. So when there's a when there's
Speaker 1: a miscommunication, that's on me as much as it is
Speaker 1: on you. Um. The rule of bongo going further, going forward,
Speaker 1: and this is gonna be written in stone tablet has
Speaker 1: to be like a season saving win or season defining win.
Speaker 1: It has to be a win against a quality opponent
Speaker 1: or maybe a bad team just getting a win in general.
Speaker 1: But when you have an NFC powerhouse beating a one
Speaker 1: win team that doesn't pass the rule of when you
Speaker 1: when you break it down that way, it starts to me,
Speaker 1: I start to see where you're coming from. The kind
Speaker 1: of thought. It was just like the craziest game of
Speaker 1: the day that the tat who writes on these tablets.
Speaker 1: You know, this is as the full time producer. So
Speaker 1: I'm still like getting takes December, so please accept my apologies.
Speaker 1: It's it's no need to apologize, but I do like
Speaker 1: maybe another nickname coming into the focus right here, the
Speaker 1: god of Bongo. Let's take a break and we'll be
Speaker 1: right back. All right, welcome back. Before we get to
Speaker 1: the a f C North Showdown Battle of Ohio, let's
Speaker 1: just again Grave, they're you're bringing in um the rules
Speaker 1: of bongo engagement, so we haven't used our bongo yet.
Speaker 1: It As the producer, it's on you to decide now
Speaker 1: whether there is a game worthy of the bongos. But
Speaker 1: we can't. We can't make the same mistake twice in
Speaker 1: the same show. So you've got to make sure you
Speaker 1: get this one right or just keep in your back pocket.
Speaker 1: And I know the fans are going to be disappointed
Speaker 1: because they've come to expect bongos. But that's you know, heavy,
Speaker 1: he who wears the crown back there behind the glass.
Speaker 1: All right. Not every show needs a bongo, but most
Speaker 1: of them probably do. Just play this the right way.
Speaker 1: This is a big test for you. This is this
Speaker 1: is the next big test for you. I'll just say,
Speaker 1: if he dials one up um prior to Sunday Night Football,
Speaker 1: I would suggest that Justin's made a tremendous error. But
Speaker 1: let's see if he defies my Well, I'm not saying you.
Speaker 1: I'm saying if you do that, not that you what
Speaker 1: to do, so that you know, right, you now know
Speaker 1: your your opinion. You gotta trust your own on this.
Speaker 1: There is one game that matches all the criteria you
Speaker 1: laid out, but it would hurt my soul. So we'll
Speaker 1: see what happens. I know where he's going with that,
Speaker 1: and he's coming closer than any of the others. It
Speaker 1: wasn't not behind much of a veil. Yeah, all right,
Speaker 1: let's go Sherlock Holmes over here. He's got a man
Speaker 1: open over the shoulder, casting from safeties half the sex
Speaker 1: goals to fleet clicker executed to perfection. Joey Franchise launched
Speaker 1: it perfectly down the middle of the field for the
Speaker 1: touchdown strike to Trenton Irwin. Craig A, I love Trenton Irwin.
Speaker 1: You see the joy in his face there, the four
Speaker 1: little cheesy smile, former child actor who gave up acting
Speaker 1: for football. You could see that. Yeah, that's a theatrical
Speaker 1: in a good way. Good nuck bark. Not a great
Speaker 1: day offensively for the Bengals, but it was not gonna
Speaker 1: be easy because they continue to have issues injury wise
Speaker 1: with their wide receivers. Tay Boyd dislocated his finger on
Speaker 1: the first series of the game. Out Tee Higgins aggravates
Speaker 1: a hamstring. Uh, he leaves the game, but Joe Burrow
Speaker 1: finds a way as he always does, and that touchdown
Speaker 1: was a big one for the Bengals and a ten
Speaker 1: win over the Browns, ending a five game losing streak
Speaker 1: for Cincinnati against Cleveland. Four of those with Burrow involved.
Speaker 1: Burrow said it was a team win, team ugly win,
Speaker 1: but we got it done. We could. Yeah, and the
Speaker 1: Cincinnati defense did their job as well. They shut up,
Speaker 1: shut down, Nick Chubb, picked off the Shawn Deshaun Watson,
Speaker 1: stopped the Browns and fourth down three separate times, and
Speaker 1: just kept the train rolling. Here. They remain tied with
Speaker 1: the Ravens atop the a f C North. But there
Speaker 1: is no question to me who the best team in
Speaker 1: this division is. There isn't And this is another example
Speaker 1: I think of what Joe Burrow said three weeks ago
Speaker 1: where he said, this is the type of game that
Speaker 1: great teams win when they won in Tennessee in that
Speaker 1: tough game, to lose their two of their top three
Speaker 1: receivers in the first drive, and now your number two
Speaker 1: and three receivers are the fighting Trent's Trent Irwin and
Speaker 1: Trent Taylor, and to find a way out of here
Speaker 1: in a win where it seemed like the two teams
Speaker 1: were moving the ball in a similar way, and yet
Speaker 1: the Bengals were the ones that ended up finding the
Speaker 1: big players and making the big stops and just kind
Speaker 1: of survive in advance in a matchup where they had
Speaker 1: lost five in a row. It was a big step
Speaker 1: for Zach Taylor to get a win over Kevin Stefanski.
Speaker 1: For whatever reason, this matchup doesn't seem to favor them,
Speaker 1: especially their defense, and that was not the case today,
Speaker 1: only given up ten Divisional football. Strange because like they're
Speaker 1: only lost after October nine. The Bengals was that aberration
Speaker 1: destruction by Cleveland on Monday Night football, which just stands
Speaker 1: out as one of the weirder games of the year.
Speaker 1: But they do match up well with Cincinnati and they
Speaker 1: the game a fight today. But the Browns also, I think,
Speaker 1: are dealing with a level of disorganization post to Kobe
Speaker 1: Brissette trying to shift to Deshaun Watson, who still just
Speaker 1: does not look comfortable to me out there. I think
Speaker 1: it's affecting the ground game to some degree. I don't
Speaker 1: love their their cast of wide outs to begin with,
Speaker 1: but Watson did not look as disjointed as a week ago.
Speaker 1: But he does not seem comfortable to me, and I don't.
Speaker 1: I think it's like there's you need more time to
Speaker 1: get used to him if you're the rest of the
Speaker 1: team too. Yeah, he was better than he was last week,
Speaker 1: but that's not saying much. And I think Cooper has
Speaker 1: proven himself to be a very good wide receiver in
Speaker 1: this offense, so they do have Cooper, I think in
Speaker 1: Joku and Watson. Once Watson, you know, assuming he does
Speaker 1: get back to the level of play before his suspension
Speaker 1: and everything that happened, I think they can have, you know,
Speaker 1: a Pro Bowl type pairing the two of them. So
Speaker 1: I don't think they're too far away. On offense. They
Speaker 1: gotta fortify the line and maybe added another wide receiver
Speaker 1: um But in this tame they've scored like one touchdown
Speaker 1: in two weeks. It's I know there's obviously an inclination
Speaker 1: to root against Watson, and I understand that, but I'm
Speaker 1: just talking from a pure football side of things. This
Speaker 1: is gonna take time. I mean, his touchdown passing through
Speaker 1: to an Joco was his first touchdown passing seven and
Speaker 1: seven days. So I think Cleveland, which is now out
Speaker 1: of the mix here with their eighth loss from a
Speaker 1: playoff standpoint, most likely. I mean, I guess if we're
Speaker 1: talking about a nine and eight team, can get in.
Speaker 1: Perhaps they could reel off the but this is just
Speaker 1: this does give them. I know you had said it, Mark,
Speaker 1: maybe he was in a conversation with Chris Rose last week.
Speaker 1: You're like, maybe it would have been better just Watson
Speaker 1: didn't play it all this year and then have a
Speaker 1: fresh start next year. Well, maybe this is the best
Speaker 1: thing for the Browns now now you have this like
Speaker 1: runway to the end of the season to try to
Speaker 1: get some comfort back to this offense, because right now
Speaker 1: it's very wonky, and Cincinnati's defense took advantage of that. Yeah,
Speaker 1: because I think that last week. What I said too
Speaker 1: was it's probably better that they aren't really on the
Speaker 1: fringe of the playoff race and having to try to
Speaker 1: work this thing out too. You've given everything up for
Speaker 1: this quarterback. I don't have to like the decision, no
Speaker 1: one does, but but why not treat him like a
Speaker 1: young quarterback that's learning to basically play again and just
Speaker 1: ride him out for the rest of the year. There's
Speaker 1: no reason to starting one. They would have been on
Speaker 1: the fringes of the playoff race if they won this game,
Speaker 1: but they didn't, and they had a chance there where
Speaker 1: that driving down like in the fourth quarter and that's
Speaker 1: where he throws his interception. I just love that the
Speaker 1: Bengals can win games in different types of ways, and
Speaker 1: they've shown us that their defense. They are an awesome
Speaker 1: team right now. Nine out of their last eleven That's
Speaker 1: why I'm happy me and the Westboro is locked up
Speaker 1: the boys. It's a good listen. You got you have
Speaker 1: the lock title in your back pocket. I should just
Speaker 1: give you the trophy. Now, I should tell you're not
Speaker 1: susceptible to reverse psychology. I think Dan, you're just acknowledging
Speaker 1: that you've conceded defeating getting my butt kicked. So it's like,
Speaker 1: I'm happy if it means that we just stopped the
Speaker 1: segment and you stop picking games. I'll take that, you know,
Speaker 1: if you just give me when I am no longer
Speaker 1: on this earth. Um. One other thing that Jake Briskett
Speaker 1: did come show up in this game and a pivotal
Speaker 1: moment fourth and one down deep in Cincinnati territory, and
Speaker 1: everyone said, oh, he's gonna sneak it the big body.
Speaker 1: He draws back to pass and the airmails one into
Speaker 1: the corner of the end zone. Uh, turnover on downs.
Speaker 1: That was a big play in the game. And also
Speaker 1: what are we doing with that? I don't know them
Speaker 1: p Ryan touchdown where he bounced out and Clowney and
Speaker 1: then some other Cleveland players kind of quit on the
Speaker 1: play and they weren't aggressive enough. Added nine penalties for
Speaker 1: nine yards and Browns are kind of a mess. All right,
Speaker 1: let's move on, Let's keep moving. The rules Engagement the
Speaker 1: ten edited intersep. This is a cross roads, Marcus Williams
Speaker 1: docking the line up after coming off of injured reserve
Speaker 1: with a broken wrist. And there kidding Rabel did say it? No,
Speaker 1: now we've got a bogo said it. I think you're
Speaker 1: at the crossroads. This could have been a bongoes game here.
Speaker 1: I like this choice. This one's good Brown vers Mitch Robinsky,
Speaker 1: it's the bongos? Greg? What do we do? Where? W
Speaker 1: B A L. The Ravens are beat up by the
Speaker 1: end of the game on Sunday. They were on their
Speaker 1: third quarterback, but they find a way in Pittsburgh sixteen
Speaker 1: to fourteen, and it was their running game, led by J. K.
Speaker 1: Dobbins a hundred twenty yards and a touchdown in his
Speaker 1: first game since undergoing a second knee surgery in two years. Greggy,
Speaker 1: the Ravens aren't a fun team really to watch. They
Speaker 1: haven't really been fun since September to watch. But I
Speaker 1: gotta give him some credit for finding a way. Pittsburgh
Speaker 1: was feeling good about itself and they brought him down
Speaker 1: to earth. This is a classic Ravens win. I think
Speaker 1: John Harbaugh is gonna love this win. I think it
Speaker 1: shows that this team is different than they were a
Speaker 1: year ago. It's like an organization. I mean, he has
Speaker 1: been there a long time, so you gotta win fast.
Speaker 1: They're on their third strink quarterback early in the second half.
Speaker 1: That's when Tyler Huntley took a massive hit from Minca
Speaker 1: Fitzpatrick up at around his chest, but that's not where
Speaker 1: he got injured. And then he got kind of caught underneath,
Speaker 1: and uh, I think that was the injury that actually
Speaker 1: put him out. Was it a concussion protocol or was
Speaker 1: it an ankle? I think it was his ankle injury
Speaker 1: that actually knocked him out. But it was about the
Speaker 1: seventh or eighth time Huntley took a massive hit in
Speaker 1: that game, and throughout it I was just thinking, he
Speaker 1: is not gonna last. He was taking hits as a runner,
Speaker 1: he got thirty one yards on the ground, he was
Speaker 1: taking hits as a passer only through the ball twelve times,
Speaker 1: and it almost felt like it was a matter of time.
Speaker 1: And that's exactly what happened. So for them to win
Speaker 1: because of their defense because Klais Campbell is having a
Speaker 1: monster season, because Patrick Queen and Roke once with both
Speaker 1: that interception Queens was incredible and they were both making
Speaker 1: plays behind the line of scrimmage in the run game
Speaker 1: and then in the secondary Marcus Williams with that interception
Speaker 1: two of Rabinsky. You know, to get a win running
Speaker 1: the ball two and fifteen yards and in defense like that,
Speaker 1: I think it's gonna be very satisfying and crucial for them.
Speaker 1: I think making the playoffs clearly, they're gonna make it
Speaker 1: now and staying in the a f C North Hunt
Speaker 1: and Ian rap report announced that it was a concussion
Speaker 1: that he will be out in a short weeks next
Speaker 1: game as well. So the Ravens man two years in
Speaker 1: a row, have been dealt rough cards. The quarterback there
Speaker 1: some Saturday, right, there are three Saturday games next week.
Speaker 1: We all on NFL Network. They have the Browns on
Speaker 1: Saturday afternoons. That's that's a tricky game with your third
Speaker 1: string quarterback. That's what it's gonna be. Because we heard
Speaker 1: a report that Lamar Jackson was trending towards having two
Speaker 1: weeks off with this injury. I guess some reported that
Speaker 1: Christmas Eve is the targeted date for his return, which
Speaker 1: would be the week after next. That makes this game
Speaker 1: even bigger that they wanted. And I was surprised because
Speaker 1: the Steelers, who have been running the ball so well lately,
Speaker 1: could not run it against Baltimore, who is a really
Speaker 1: good run defense because of class Campbell, uh and others,
Speaker 1: and that the Ravens were able to run all over
Speaker 1: them in key spots. You cannot just put this on
Speaker 1: Mitch Biscuit. Well well, but Trabisky threw a couple of
Speaker 1: bad interceptions in this as well, and it's it is
Speaker 1: what it is. But that you know Kenny Pickett, that's
Speaker 1: his second concussion of the year too. You know some
Speaker 1: of these guys at some point it's like you get
Speaker 1: a third is gonna get shut down. He had a
Speaker 1: weird thing where he passed the concussion test, came back
Speaker 1: into the game for a series, didn't get hit again.
Speaker 1: I went back and checked that I made a mistake
Speaker 1: thinking he got hit. He didn't get touched again, but
Speaker 1: then he left the game for good afterwards, which is worrisome.
Speaker 1: Two concussions in less than two months before the rookie
Speaker 1: from Pittsburgh. Alright, Trobisky threw the ball really well today.
Speaker 1: I know that sounds weird because he had three interceptions,
Speaker 1: but there were a lot of throws in this game
Speaker 1: that you were like, oh, where have these throws been
Speaker 1: in this offense? Like five or six total dimes. But
Speaker 1: he got confused on the first interception, the second one similar.
Speaker 1: But Queen made a great play and then he just
Speaker 1: sometimes he just decides before the place starts, I'm just
Speaker 1: gonna take a shot on this play no matter what
Speaker 1: I see, and he took a shot in Marcus Williams
Speaker 1: made him play pay. But like I said, in the
Speaker 1: fourth quarter, two different drives where the Ravens with their
Speaker 1: third string quarterback eight minute drive to get a field goal,
Speaker 1: and then at the end of the game that Steelers
Speaker 1: could have gotten the ball back if they had stopped them,
Speaker 1: and they just run three straight times right through pathetic
Speaker 1: and Justin Tucker, by the way, he's having another incredible season.
Speaker 1: He finished with ten points. He's up to one thousand,
Speaker 1: four seventy three points in his career, breaking the franchise
Speaker 1: scoring record held held by former kicker. Former Cleveland Browns
Speaker 1: kicker turned into a Raven Phill Dalson's he was on
Speaker 1: the Browns and they went to the ras. No, it's
Speaker 1: not Matt bar it's Stover. Matt Stover. Come on, Marky,
Speaker 1: I need you on that. I need you on that
Speaker 1: wall there. I was literally like staring through the window
Speaker 1: here in our studio. I don't I hate to say this,
Speaker 1: but this is now for the rest of this episode.
Speaker 1: Across roads moment for you as well. Well, what's going
Speaker 1: to happen if I don't pass your test? I don't know.
Speaker 1: That's why it's a cross room. This is how it works.
Speaker 1: I'm going to be facing a crossroads coming along, all right,
Speaker 1: let's guess I should feel more urgency on that front. Then, Yeah,
Speaker 1: that's a good drop. All right, go ahead, shotgun for
Speaker 1: Trevor Lawrence. It's a play. I mean, it isn't all
Speaker 1: out blitts. Trevor fires left side that Paul is going
Speaker 1: to be the touchdown by Evan Ingram in the left?
Speaker 1: Are you kidding me? Kind of want this bond goes
Speaker 1: given to me? Just nothing, he's down trodden. I don't know, guys,
Speaker 1: you wanted them there? I think he should that should
Speaker 1: have think I think he knows it because and then
Speaker 1: he's banking on the Sunday night game that we don't
Speaker 1: know how it's gonna but you've already told him that
Speaker 1: it's maybe the most wise move to not use them
Speaker 1: at all if it doesn't actually match I think the Jaguars.
Speaker 1: You also don't want someone that's, you know, too afraid
Speaker 1: to go for it. That's how you end up being
Speaker 1: inactive while Joe Flacco is fumbling in the pocket. You
Speaker 1: don't want to be Mitch your whisky, but you don't
Speaker 1: want to be Davis Mills, you know what I mean.
Speaker 1: Frank Frangie with the call w O k V. Trevor
Speaker 1: Lawrence for the second time in three weeks, is waving
Speaker 1: his arms frantically screaming, I am the future. Three d
Speaker 1: sixty eight yards, career high three touchdowns. He also ran
Speaker 1: for a score and the Jaguars rand that tightens out
Speaker 1: of the building thirty six two, their first win in
Speaker 1: Nashville in a decade. And uh man, I'll bring in
Speaker 1: great dig around this one. Um. You know, the Jacks,
Speaker 1: like we've been saying on this podcast, are coming along,
Speaker 1: and the quarterback is coming along and becoming a real
Speaker 1: difference maker, but the fact that this game gets away
Speaker 1: from Tennessee justin um with Derrick Henry going off for
Speaker 1: ninety yards in the first quarter in a hundred and
Speaker 1: twenty by the half. This was a sign of major
Speaker 1: distress for this team that I feel way worse about
Speaker 1: what happened this game than even the last two weeks.
Speaker 1: This feels like a real team in desperate trouble. Now
Speaker 1: it's a weird spot because this is now, well, it's
Speaker 1: two Titans games in a row that we're over in
Speaker 1: early in the fourth quarter. Basically no chance for the
Speaker 1: Titans to make a comeback. Derrick Henry three yards in
Speaker 1: the second half, that's not gonna cut it, basically, ever,
Speaker 1: and you wonder how much three total rushing yards in
Speaker 1: the second half. You wonder how much firing your general
Speaker 1: manager in the middle of the season. Like, I don't
Speaker 1: want to say that the Titans lost because of that,
Speaker 1: but there's gotta be some weird vibes going around the building.
Speaker 1: And then this was also just a weird game. The
Speaker 1: Titans out gained the Jaguars a hundred and forty six
Speaker 1: yards to thirty seven in the first quarter and then
Speaker 1: completely just fell apart. They had four turnovers, three lost fumbles,
Speaker 1: which sometimes can be flukey. They had a chance to
Speaker 1: lose a fourth fumble on a muffed punt that got
Speaker 1: batted out of bounds that was close, and they just
Speaker 1: looked completely discombobulated on both sides of the ball. They
Speaker 1: got stops early on. Then they had Ryan Tannehill was
Speaker 1: strip sacked by Travan Walker, his first like good play
Speaker 1: in in a few weeks. You know you don't need
Speaker 1: to take shots at travon watch, Well, it's more of
Speaker 1: a shot. It's more of a shot at Titans backup
Speaker 1: left tackle turned starter by Taylor Lawe's injury, Dennis Daley,
Speaker 1: who I jokingly called Dennis Snappy earlier this year because
Speaker 1: that's how often he gets beat, and that is a
Speaker 1: wonderful joke. I think that, um, the Titans are really
Speaker 1: struggling with injuries, the offensive line is really bad, and
Speaker 1: the Jaguars are a good team that are coming along,
Speaker 1: and they had a bad week. The Jaguars, I mean,
Speaker 1: they did lose last week. Last week, feeling themselves dance
Speaker 1: it a little nigh on their own supply on the
Speaker 1: preview show, and I think that was probably the case
Speaker 1: but the Titans offense is so poor. And it was
Speaker 1: funny because they got the ball back after the Jags
Speaker 1: went for it on a fourth down just across midfield.
Speaker 1: Down still by three touchdowns the Titans and the Andrew
Speaker 1: Catalan goes, could that be the spark the Titans need
Speaker 1: to get back in this game? And the very next
Speaker 1: play was this weird trick play where the idea was
Speaker 1: Tannehill was supposed to fake like those snap went over
Speaker 1: his head and it was going to be a direct
Speaker 1: snap to Henry class. Henry dropped the snap and the
Speaker 1: Jags dove on it, and it was like, is this
Speaker 1: the spark the Titans need? Not at all? So everything
Speaker 1: you're saying, and Rabel pointedly after as Sunday's game, we
Speaker 1: played it twice on this show in fact well, and
Speaker 1: and everyone's at a crossroads on the show except for Greg,
Speaker 1: but I feel like I could be coming soon. Um, Like,
Speaker 1: he purposely says, we're at a crossroads. We're gonna find
Speaker 1: out some about our team because he feels confident that
Speaker 1: he will coach the team up and they will be
Speaker 1: ready to kick ass against the Jaguars at home. And
Speaker 1: the fact that they couldn't do that, and the fact
Speaker 1: that they gave up twenty nine straight points in this
Speaker 1: game makes me think that Rabel, as good as a
Speaker 1: coach as he is, is kind of lost at this
Speaker 1: point too. And the team. I also think Rabel calling
Speaker 1: into crossroads. Who knows his team better than Rabel. I mean,
Speaker 1: he's seen that there are faults, there are issues. There
Speaker 1: is an absolutely dearth of talent at the skill position
Speaker 1: player in the passing game, and it's left Tannehill in
Speaker 1: a tough spot. They've been a real problem team on
Speaker 1: third down. I just look at the last three games
Speaker 1: and say you're the reverse Eagles because they find a
Speaker 1: way to win differently every week. The Titans were out
Speaker 1: physical by the Bengals. That was a bad sign. They
Speaker 1: got waxed by Philadelphia, and then you just let the
Speaker 1: youngsters in Jacksonville come up with their new quarterback and
Speaker 1: take you out. You're meant to be the team that
Speaker 1: like runs away with this poor division. There was a
Speaker 1: key play where who was a McCreary could have picked
Speaker 1: off Lawrence and instead, you know, it turns into a
Speaker 1: touchdown for z Jones getting his feet in that that's
Speaker 1: like a seven point swing right there. But you let
Speaker 1: Evan Ingram get a hundred and sixty two yard, you
Speaker 1: let Z Jones get seventy seven and a touch. The
Speaker 1: Titans at one point I looked at the list. I
Speaker 1: think they're missing seven defensive starters or potentially seven. Right,
Speaker 1: Well you should he's like the player on the team him.
Speaker 1: But yeah, I'm just saying that's that's a lot of starters.
Speaker 1: And then and to have that and a really bad
Speaker 1: offensive line, that's they're a team in crisis. And you're right.
Speaker 1: I think Rebel kind of knew it, and he said,
Speaker 1: you're gonna find out a lot we did. He challenged
Speaker 1: his team and that's how they responded. It's crazy because
Speaker 1: second week in a row, they've completely shut down the
Speaker 1: opponent running game and it hasn't mattered at all. They're
Speaker 1: just sting whoever they play throw all over the yard,
Speaker 1: and it's like the damn that's breaking and you stick
Speaker 1: your thumb in one hole, then another one opens up.
Speaker 1: Where are what's going on with the Mark and the
Speaker 1: Titans and what's going on right now? Because yeah, so
Speaker 1: I put out a tweet sometime during the third quarter
Speaker 1: when it was it was fourteen Jacksonville, and I said,
Speaker 1: ever since Mark Sessler joined the Titans bandwagon. I went
Speaker 1: through the list that we talked about on this show.
Speaker 1: Todd Downing got the d U. I they had an
Speaker 1: ugly loss of the Bengals. It's something that happened since Mark.
Speaker 1: The ugly loss of the Bengals, including those horrible penalties
Speaker 1: at the end of the game that ended any chance
Speaker 1: of a comeback, the blowout loss of the Eagles. Their
Speaker 1: general manager was fired, and then they got blown out
Speaker 1: by the division rival Jacksonville, who they've owned for years.
Speaker 1: Jacksonville's first win in Tennesseeason's Twitter? What's the problems? So
Speaker 1: I put out a poll on Twitter? Should we boot
Speaker 1: Cessy off this train? This was not my call, this
Speaker 1: is Titans Twitter. Well, it's a little little grill. And
Speaker 1: you're have spoken of poll results. Say good riddance to
Speaker 1: Mark Sessler. You got to find another team. I'm sorry,
Speaker 1: it's not my coss. I don't make these rules. But
Speaker 1: I do feel though, is that whatever team I pick,
Speaker 1: that fan base is going to be feeling a lot
Speaker 1: of heat because it's like this will be the fourth
Speaker 1: team in a row that I've jumped onto that has
Speaker 1: absolutely fallen off the side of the cliff, a kiss
Speaker 1: of death. The Jets were preemptively we have to say thanks,
Speaker 1: but no thanks, Well it's my choice. I think the
Speaker 1: Lions are lucky that Mark was so hesitant to jump
Speaker 1: on that bandwagon. We've now uh it's fair. Yeah, we've
Speaker 1: reached the point where we can no longer confidently say like,
Speaker 1: the Titans are definitely winning this division. Every we gotten there,
Speaker 1: they're up by two. They got to play the Jaguars again. Obviously,
Speaker 1: the Jaguars would have to win that second matchup for
Speaker 1: it to happen, but then the Jaggars are only down
Speaker 1: one if they win that matchup with three extra games.
Speaker 1: The schedules are not It's not an easy schedule for
Speaker 1: the Jaguars. They would you know, they got the Jets
Speaker 1: and the Cowboy. Yes, so that maybe is the team
Speaker 1: right now. That is the most worry the Jacksonville Jaguars.
Speaker 1: Oh and by the way, the Jacksonville offense, which has
Speaker 1: been pretty good this season two very good at times,
Speaker 1: too great at times. Did they unlock Evan Ingram, the
Speaker 1: guy that tantalized and tease Giants fans for years and
Speaker 1: it's helps It's helps that he's healthy too. But one
Speaker 1: of these season where suddenly I'm like, yes, he's the
Speaker 1: number seven tight end in the NFL, and then start
Speaker 1: flash a little bit more. I feel like a fifteen
Speaker 1: talk kits for a hundred and sixty two yards and
Speaker 1: eleven eleven catches with two touchdowns in this no answer
Speaker 1: for him, but I did start him on my fantasy team,
Speaker 1: so at least one good thinking. Well, that's groundbreaking, all right,
Speaker 1: do we have to take a break. We keep going,
Speaker 1: Let's take a break. Alright, alright, we got two more
Speaker 1: games before Sunday Night football. Let's keep the train rolling
Speaker 1: to Seattle. Snap the gift to Blackett touchdown. Look ship, well,
Speaker 1: I'll bet Macadou said, all right, we're gonna go back
Speaker 1: to what we do best. They ran it down the
Speaker 1: throats of the Seahawks. My goodness, did they ever? Jordan
Speaker 1: Gross and Jim Zoki with the call for w BT.
Speaker 1: There was a moment in this game where the Seahawks
Speaker 1: seemed to get things under control. They're falling behind seventeen zip.
Speaker 1: They got it, and then Carolina just said, oh wait,
Speaker 1: they literally can't stop our running game and we don't
Speaker 1: even have Christian McCaffrey anymore. But it doesn't matter because
Speaker 1: guys like Cuba Hubbard and Raheem Black she Hear ran
Speaker 1: right over the Seahawks in route to a thirty to win,
Speaker 1: a damaging loss for the Seahawks, and the Panthers after
Speaker 1: another Tampa Bay meltdown, are in the mix in the
Speaker 1: NFC South. In fact, if not for that miracle by
Speaker 1: the Bucks on Monday night, Greg, you did your tabulations
Speaker 1: and it's that time of year. By the way, um,
Speaker 1: I don't this is not a crossroads thing because we
Speaker 1: fire the Greggy bott three thousand up with our playoff simulations.
Speaker 1: Playoffs calculator now online. I like that we are now online.
Speaker 1: And what would have happened, Greggy if the Saints standing
Speaker 1: gagged their face off on Monday night, we'd have a
Speaker 1: four away tie right now in South, which we did.
Speaker 1: They would have been the one way to make this
Speaker 1: dreaded division fun. Just listen to them tabulate the playoff
Speaker 1: teams and finally that the Eagles have officially clinched for
Speaker 1: the playoffs. By the way, and I think a bit more,
Speaker 1: this is just the start. I think the Panthers have
Speaker 1: a legit chance to make the playoffs here at five
Speaker 1: and eight, because I think they're the best team in
Speaker 1: the NFC South there four and three since Wilkes took over.
Speaker 1: They have an identity on both sides of the ball.
Speaker 1: They would be five and two if not for that
Speaker 1: crazy missed extra point game against Man. See how this works.
Speaker 1: Seattle is so soft. I couldn't believe when they punted
Speaker 1: mid fourth quarter, just because you gotta know your team
Speaker 1: and you gotta see what's in front of you, and
Speaker 1: at that point in the game, it was obvious Seattle
Speaker 1: just could not stop the running game of Carolina, and
Speaker 1: so they punted it away at fourth and seven, and
Speaker 1: they marched right down the field on that black Shear
Speaker 1: touchdown drive finished with the Black Shirt touchdown ten for
Speaker 1: seventy four in over five minutes. They had a similar
Speaker 1: drive to kick a field goal later that just burned clock,
Speaker 1: and Sam Donald had thirty six yards after halftime passing,
Speaker 1: and they held onto a lead in Seattle like they
Speaker 1: didn't need to do it just because they had a
Speaker 1: big bushy beard. Now, as he begins phase two of
Speaker 1: his career as a man, making a run toward being
Speaker 1: the starting quarterback for a team hosting a playoff game,
Speaker 1: a division champion, no less, in about a month or so. Um,
Speaker 1: and he saw what the rest of us saw, which
Speaker 1: was I could it could be my glory day. I'm
Speaker 1: not gonna do it. I'm gonna give it to the
Speaker 1: running back because that's what's gonna He's taken some more
Speaker 1: glory because the only reason Seattle was even in this
Speaker 1: game that late was because they had four straight cracks
Speaker 1: at it from the three yard line of Seattle late
Speaker 1: third quarter, and they bizarrely through four straight passes and
Speaker 1: Donald had a chance to run a couple of those in,
Speaker 1: and his instincts were up and down. I would say
Speaker 1: in this game it wasn't about the quarterbacks, but it
Speaker 1: kind of was because Gino Smith, I think needs to
Speaker 1: play at such a high level right now, like an
Speaker 1: m v P level, for the Seattle Seahawks to win games.
Speaker 1: And he didn't today, and then the rest of the
Speaker 1: team shows up, bad defense, bad ronning. It's concerning because
Speaker 1: like their defense was showing up, but they gave the
Speaker 1: Cardinals their best day on the ground, one of their
Speaker 1: best days. They're the one team that allowed Tampa basically
Speaker 1: the could run the ball for a hundred and sixty one.
Speaker 1: In Germany, they gave two eight three to the Raiders.
Speaker 1: That was a disaster, A hundred and seventy one to
Speaker 1: the Rams, who haven't been able to run the ball
Speaker 1: all year long. I mean, that's this is a mess.
Speaker 1: The air started to come out of the balloon slowly
Speaker 1: in Munich and it's just continued for the most part
Speaker 1: for the Seahawks. So yeah, I think, and we've talked
Speaker 1: about it all the year that Gino has been very
Speaker 1: good this season, but even in in what's the season
Speaker 1: of his career, he's not an m v P level good.
Speaker 1: So if you're asking him to carry the team on
Speaker 1: his back, that's just asking too much for from from
Speaker 1: Gino and that that I think that's what's gonna cost
Speaker 1: Seattle a chance to go to the playoffs potentially. Here
Speaker 1: is their defense just can't get a big stop and
Speaker 1: that's putting the offense in band situation. So yeah, good
Speaker 1: job by Carolina though It's it's interesting. J. C. Horne
Speaker 1: is a legit star. So he had an interception early
Speaker 1: and it was one of those throws you're like, wow, Gino,
Speaker 1: like why did he force it? It It was one of
Speaker 1: the worst decisions and then you rewatch the play and
Speaker 1: they did a good job explaining it. That was not J. C.
Speaker 1: Horne's man. He like reads the play halfway through, peels
Speaker 1: off his man and ends up making an unbelievable play
Speaker 1: on the ball. Broke up another play late that he
Speaker 1: couldn't quite get his feet in or else he would
Speaker 1: have had a second interception. He is a star and
Speaker 1: they have a nice pass rush. They're they're like, they're
Speaker 1: a good team. I hope they give genuine consideration to
Speaker 1: keeping Steve Wilkes around. Oh. I think they will. I
Speaker 1: think if they win two of their last four here,
Speaker 1: if they like continue on this track, I think Steve
Speaker 1: Wilks is their coach next year. And uh, we've been
Speaker 1: talking about how bad the NFC South is this year.
Speaker 1: If the Seahawks don't make the playoffs, they will rue
Speaker 1: their performance against the worst division football. They went oh
Speaker 1: and four against the South. Can't do that. Can't happen,
Speaker 1: I mean, but it did, Greg. It can't happen, and
Speaker 1: you know what it is? Sick here listen as a
Speaker 1: shot respect, I locked up the Seattle Seahawks, as did
Speaker 1: my luck brother. In all the smoke system. And I
Speaker 1: asked you, Greg Wilsons, will to come to me, enjoin
Speaker 1: us and bring all the families together, and yet you
Speaker 1: chose to say no and betray us, and betray that
Speaker 1: trust and that olive branch. I will not forget this.
Speaker 1: I will not forget this injustice, a lack of loyalty.
Speaker 1: I mean, sometimes I think you've learned in this the
Speaker 1: you gotta not listen to the boss. You gotta listen
Speaker 1: to the black father. You gotta try to win this thing.
Speaker 1: It's like, uh, you know Salvator. I won't say his
Speaker 1: nickname in the Sopranos. You could say it was when
Speaker 1: out on the boat, you know, don't say yes, get
Speaker 1: out of there. I can't say his name. Oh my
Speaker 1: what grabbing his pearls? Yes, Salhou didn't have gotten on
Speaker 1: the boat, That's what I'm saying. You gotta sometimes you
Speaker 1: gotta make decisions with your head. So why don't you
Speaker 1: tell me? Why didn't you tell me? Wait again? So
Speaker 1: you were aware, you aware that the boat I was
Speaker 1: getting on was gonna take me and my brother Mark
Speaker 1: Seila to Hourly Denice. And yet you let that boat
Speaker 1: go out to sea. This I cannot respect this. I
Speaker 1: will not forget it. I could have told you from
Speaker 1: weeks ago that you were walking into a dangerous path
Speaker 1: forging this like lock Zaddy or lock Daddy thing with
Speaker 1: greg Um, how is this fault? He's gonna leave you
Speaker 1: by the side of the room at some point. You
Speaker 1: out a cross roads. You guys are always talking about,
Speaker 1: Oh yeah, we're the real Lis were like the real
Speaker 1: lock Bros. Right, me and the West Bros hanging out.
Speaker 1: When you betrayed the lock Father, you out a cross roads,
Speaker 1: my friend, and you will learn the hard way. Yeah,
Speaker 1: you'll have chosen the wrong path. I mean, but where
Speaker 1: you and I are the ones I did here? Yeah,
Speaker 1: that's what I didn't choose. We have not essentially out
Speaker 1: of the office on Thursday. You weren't feeling well. I
Speaker 1: don't count that as a miss for because when we're
Speaker 1: when we lock up together, there's a synergy where we
Speaker 1: we feel at the energy. And in this case, I
Speaker 1: didn't even learn that you had locked until after the
Speaker 1: lock Father had already come in. Normally do things, I
Speaker 1: hear you, and that that explains that. I mean, the
Speaker 1: minute I filed that lock, I was thinking to myself
Speaker 1: that might have been an odd move, probably something you know. Yeah,
Speaker 1: a real a real father like takes responsibility, like the
Speaker 1: lock zad. He's over here. They're just making excuses and
Speaker 1: we forge on. Don't you worry about us? Was gonna
Speaker 1: Is he gonna come back? Does he have to say
Speaker 1: something else? No, we have to move on. He he
Speaker 1: did say you're at a crossroads. Whenever the guy, the
Speaker 1: head of the family says you're you're at a crossroads,
Speaker 1: that's probably gonna end with a bolt through the glasses. Survive.
Speaker 1: I'm just gonna play this one more time for me,
Speaker 1: not going in the woods with anyone. Oh, poor Adrian.
Speaker 1: Let's go to a mile high to close things up
Speaker 1: before we get to snf me. Mahomes, being pressured, moves
Speaker 1: to his right. There coming from behind him, flames it
Speaker 1: flames it to MCNA discerned touchdown. Batman loves this stadium.
Speaker 1: It was an underhanded shovel at the right pedaltry for
Speaker 1: fifty man touchdown. They were all over him. Patrick Mahomes
Speaker 1: the magic man outstand imagine this is playground stuff. We
Speaker 1: love it. That man, I believe. I don't think he
Speaker 1: literally just called him Batman. I mean if he did maybe,
Speaker 1: I don't know why that would make a lot of sense,
Speaker 1: justin can you do some research while we talked this
Speaker 1: game to see if indeed Mitch Holtus and Dan and
Speaker 1: Hughes of w d a f call Patrick Mahomes batman.
Speaker 1: Sure there it is again, I tweeted about it, like
Speaker 1: Patrick Mahomes makes decisions that would land lesser quarterbacks on
Speaker 1: you know, folly elms for the rest of their careers.
Speaker 1: But when he does it, you know, like just throwing
Speaker 1: a pass underhanded, casually scrambling as a defender rolls in
Speaker 1: and then turning into a long touch on That's what
Speaker 1: he does. And the Chiefs they wint in this game.
Speaker 1: And it's a very weird game, a very strange game,
Speaker 1: and not just because Russell Wilson started playing really well
Speaker 1: at one point and you know, taking his team up
Speaker 1: and down the field before unfortunately it looked like he
Speaker 1: got knocked out near the goal line and suffered a
Speaker 1: head injury of his own. But this game was late
Speaker 1: in the second quarter. Uh my Homes throws an interception,
Speaker 1: turns into seven points, all right, whatever, and then they
Speaker 1: get the ball back the Broncos before they half and
Speaker 1: score again, and then all of a sudden at the
Speaker 1: half and you're like, oh, that was stupid, but obviously
Speaker 1: the Chiefs are just gonna turn it on and this
Speaker 1: game will end up to you know, seventeen or something. No,
Speaker 1: because then the Broncos get the ball after a punt
Speaker 1: to begin the third quarter and Patrick and uh, Russell
Speaker 1: Wilson connects with who wasn't somebody had a crazy the
Speaker 1: running no no, Judy had three touch rumbling and bumbling
Speaker 1: and stumbling sixty yards for a touchdown, and it's seven
Speaker 1: to twenty one, and the Chiefs obviously get away and
Speaker 1: get the win. Smith Shustar has a touchdown late. But
Speaker 1: not only the Broncos get back in this game. They
Speaker 1: had multiple chances in the second have to take the
Speaker 1: lead where they had the ball down six points, but
Speaker 1: the offense either stalled and then the unfortunate injury to
Speaker 1: Russell Wilson, which is such a microcosmo of his entire
Speaker 1: lost season when he finally gets things going, when Jerry
Speaker 1: Judy finally is locked in, Uh, he gets knocked out
Speaker 1: near the goal line and uh it's ripping who finishes
Speaker 1: at Brett rip You don't get a lot of games
Speaker 1: like this if you're a division opponent of the Chiefs,
Speaker 1: where Mahomes throws three picks that's only happened, hasn't happened
Speaker 1: like two plus years, and I mean some of them
Speaker 1: were just not good throws, but he always makes up
Speaker 1: for it with this circus magic or batman artist. I'm
Speaker 1: not sure what's going on there, but the Chiefs like
Speaker 1: it's okay to have a game like this once in
Speaker 1: a while where a division opponent almost nips you. But
Speaker 1: I never really felt at any moment that they were
Speaker 1: gonna lose this game. Then again, it's just bizarre not
Speaker 1: lose it. But it wasn't like it was like the
Speaker 1: Broncos made it close, but it was never really They
Speaker 1: had again multiple up four four twice in the third quarter,
Speaker 1: and it was this was like a story of like
Speaker 1: the Broncos fandom season two. It was like they started
Speaker 1: out booing, you know, Russell Wilson quite a bit with nothing,
Speaker 1: and then they make all the these touchdowns and they're
Speaker 1: playing good defense for a minute and they're going the
Speaker 1: place was kind of rocking there at the beginning of
Speaker 1: the third quarter, and then they go three and out
Speaker 1: two more times with Russell Wilson and they start struggling
Speaker 1: and the booze come right back for him. It was
Speaker 1: like a journey through in this one game. But even
Speaker 1: with Prett Rippon, they could have gone down the field
Speaker 1: at the end and tried to take a lead. They
Speaker 1: did not. Yeah and yeah, according to my cursory research,
Speaker 1: it appears that Mitch Holtis does called Patrick Mahomes Batman.
Speaker 1: Am I gonna get a bunch of tweets now from
Speaker 1: people being like you should know that nobody nobody thinks
Speaker 1: that isn't that you should know that nobody knows he's
Speaker 1: been nobody super people in Kansas City. I mean he
Speaker 1: made like the tuchow a Juju Smith Schuster where he
Speaker 1: does the three sixty would be like the greatest play
Speaker 1: at any quarterbacks made people. But these interceptions were a
Speaker 1: little worrisome. One was I think he just thought his
Speaker 1: arm was going to get it past Josie Jewel faster
Speaker 1: than than and Jewel made a great play. The other
Speaker 1: one he didn't see him. The other he threw while
Speaker 1: getting hit like they're not good. Here's the thing about
Speaker 1: the the batman thing, it doesn't really work because what
Speaker 1: makes Mahomes so great is the magic of Mahomes, the
Speaker 1: superpowers he possesses, and famously what makes Batman, you know,
Speaker 1: so compelling and has for decades. He doesn't have superpowers.
Speaker 1: He's actually the world's greatest detective Batman, and he combines
Speaker 1: his his knowledge and his street smarts and that need
Speaker 1: for revenge with all those you know, toys he has
Speaker 1: in the bat Cave, and it makes him this fierce
Speaker 1: fighter of crime. Yeah, you take off Batman's like utility belt,
Speaker 1: and he's a lot much lesser of a problem to
Speaker 1: deal with on some level, your handsome, handsome billionaire bachelor,
Speaker 1: I would. I mean, it's more just Superman Mahomes because
Speaker 1: he's doing things physically that we don't expect someone that
Speaker 1: looks like well exactly, so it seems like it's a stretch,
Speaker 1: which is why I believe that wasn't his nickname. But
Speaker 1: I was wrong. Also, Graham Williams of the Celtics goes
Speaker 1: by Batman. So but then who's someone's got to be
Speaker 1: your Robin in that case? Right, Great Williams took Batman.
Speaker 1: He is trying he's trying to take and the Jerry
Speaker 1: Judy drama of The game was interesting because when things
Speaker 1: are going hideous, when they fall behind twenty seven nothing,
Speaker 1: there's a play um after a fourth down failure. Russell
Speaker 1: wills and also threw a pick six in this game,
Speaker 1: by the way, um there was a fourth down failure.
Speaker 1: Judy comes off the field, takes his helmet off, a
Speaker 1: teammate tries to put his arm around him and consolve.
Speaker 1: He throw his teammate's arm away. A referee kind of
Speaker 1: gets in his area, cut bumps the referee, and he
Speaker 1: wasn't even penalized for it, let alone. He should have
Speaker 1: been thrown out of the game, in line with I'm
Speaker 1: glad they didn't, but like that's how that's what usually
Speaker 1: happens when you make contact with the ref goes back
Speaker 1: to the island. Just furious with the state of the
Speaker 1: offense in the season. Uh so if Denver fans are
Speaker 1: looking for any positives here. He then went off with
Speaker 1: three touchdowns in the game and was targeted um with
Speaker 1: regularity by Wilson and then later ripping so season. The
Speaker 1: last Broncos quarterback to beat the Chiefs is Peyton Manning
Speaker 1: m a long time ago. It's uh, it's kind of
Speaker 1: just like I hit your six foot put uh Sunday
Speaker 1: here for all the A f C top seeds. I mean,
Speaker 1: they were tricky games, but they all Buffalo, Kansas City, Baltimore, Cincinnati.
Speaker 1: All I was driving advance, I don't know. Alright, one
Speaker 1: more game to hit grave digger. Jump in here a second,
Speaker 1: as we have now traveled back to our respective home,
Speaker 1: meet the trafficker after the Chargers Dolphins showdown at so
Speaker 1: FI Stadium. Huge a f C implications, but not just
Speaker 1: implications for those teams, but also our producer, Justin Graver.
Speaker 1: He's producing career at a crossroads, as he had the
Speaker 1: great Bongo fiasco um of a couple of hours earlier,
Speaker 1: and now we find out what will happen after this
Speaker 1: next highlight? How you feeling very nervous, heart pounding through
Speaker 1: my chest. All I could promise you is that the
Speaker 1: reaction will be fair one way or the other. Good?
Speaker 1: All right, That's all I can ask for. Alright, hit it, wait,
Speaker 1: switched by Herbert out of the pocket. Two receivers this
Speaker 1: side down, touchdown, my volumes. What a difference having I'm
Speaker 1: back in the line up. No, what if the Dolphins
Speaker 1: completed that comeback? Then it makes sense. Of course, this
Speaker 1: was a Bongo's game, This was the game of the week.
Speaker 1: This was, of course where they saved their season. It's
Speaker 1: the outlownments. Now we got shorthanded and you're in a
Speaker 1: no win scenario. Justin, No matter what you had done,
Speaker 1: there would have been that this was We're gonna give it.
Speaker 1: We are going to give Justin a chance to save
Speaker 1: his broadcasting career right now. Let's re rack it, highlight
Speaker 1: and do it the right way, and we'll pretend this
Speaker 1: whole ugly affair never happened. That's how much I care
Speaker 1: about you, Justin. How much will we pretend like edited
Speaker 1: out or no, it's gonna be in here. No, there
Speaker 1: is a there is a penance that you're paying right now,
Speaker 1: but we're also giving you a shot at redemption here.
Speaker 1: It's like, how is this redemption? He's just doing what
Speaker 1: we're telling him to do, following our orders at every turn.
Speaker 1: Are you just are you just realizing now how stupid
Speaker 1: this show is. Mark Justin understands how I feel about
Speaker 1: nineteen two out of twenty pranks that unfold on the show,
Speaker 1: just getting tugged around on a leash. There's no prank
Speaker 1: I think it good. Producing is doing exactly what you
Speaker 1: guys want. So sorry, Mark, but I wanted the bond, guys. Okay,
Speaker 1: here it is wait switched by Herbert out of the pocket.
Speaker 1: Two receivers this side down, touchdown my folio. What a
Speaker 1: difference having him back in the light. Oh yeah, doesn't
Speaker 1: it feel right? Did you do? Did you do? Do? Justin? Herbert?
Speaker 1: He hears you, Manuel Ajo and all the other haters
Speaker 1: out there, and he just goes on national television against
Speaker 1: to Ah and just wipes the floor with it. Justin
Speaker 1: Herbert through for three hundred and sixty seven yards and
Speaker 1: that score to his old buddy Mike Williams, who was
Speaker 1: back in a big way in this game. And never
Speaker 1: mind the final score. The Chargers took it to the
Speaker 1: Dolphins twenty three to seventeen at Sophie Stadium, And yeah,
Speaker 1: you get the bongos because Greg Rosenthal. These Chargers, as
Speaker 1: we've talked about in recent weeks, sometimes it feels like
Speaker 1: in recent years, there's always this idea of what they
Speaker 1: could be if only this went right this way, if
Speaker 1: this play went differently, if this guy stayed health healthy,
Speaker 1: if this entire side of the ball stayed health but
Speaker 1: in a game where they were missing many key players,
Speaker 1: Herbert kind of lifted everyone else up with a brilliant game.
Speaker 1: I enjoyed watching this so much because I was so
Speaker 1: wrong about it. I felt as surprised almost about this
Speaker 1: game is almost any game all year. The fact that
Speaker 1: they dominated in that way and that Herbert did it
Speaker 1: as this like Bravara performance. That as Chris collins Worth
Speaker 1: going insane saying it's one of those, you know, best
Speaker 1: quarterback performances of the year. I agree with them, though,
Speaker 1: and I think those two drives, the one to end
Speaker 1: the first half and then the long field goal drive
Speaker 1: in the fourth quarter, showed everything that Herbert can do.
Speaker 1: He was under pressure so much. He made more throws
Speaker 1: under pressure and on the run today completions, accordion next
Speaker 1: gens A's than any quarterback since they've started keeping track.
Speaker 1: He had the deep passes. He had that third down
Speaker 1: to Keenan Allen where there was absolutely nowhere to fit
Speaker 1: it to start that fourth quarter drive. It was clutch
Speaker 1: as all hell. It was talent, it was mental, it
Speaker 1: was everything where with a little help, and Mike Williams
Speaker 1: was that help, you got to see the full Herbert yeah.
Speaker 1: I mean, I think one of the lowlier aspects to
Speaker 1: this season for me was that I came into the
Speaker 1: year with so much excitement about the Chargers, what they
Speaker 1: could be, who Justin Herbert was to me, and it's
Speaker 1: been months of not feeling that way and a lot
Speaker 1: of it has to do with missing figures on both
Speaker 1: sides of the ball. But they were missing six defensive
Speaker 1: starters to night totally dominated Miami. That's a Brandon Staley
Speaker 1: win as well. It's not just Justin Herbert. And I
Speaker 1: thought that Greg, you nailed it on that that drive
Speaker 1: before halftime, thirteen plays ninety yards. What an incredible drive
Speaker 1: by Herbert and just the throws that he made and
Speaker 1: how he deals with pressure, and then on that field
Speaker 1: goal drive. Part of it is not just the arm power.
Speaker 1: It's like he had that incredible ten yard run where
Speaker 1: he shows you he can do it all. And I
Speaker 1: know even when he makes um the rare mistake when
Speaker 1: there was the botched snap, it for him to dive
Speaker 1: under essentially around his center and get the ball to
Speaker 1: make sure that they don't lose the chance to kick
Speaker 1: that field goal, which changed everything for them. This is
Speaker 1: a quarter a playing at the top of his game,
Speaker 1: and I just think it's hilarious to watch this online
Speaker 1: nonsense about justin Herbert not being as good as people think,
Speaker 1: Like it's just that this team has been through so much.
Speaker 1: He's finally healthy. You have Alan back, you have Mike
Speaker 1: Williams back, you got Corey Lindsley back, which mattered a lot,
Speaker 1: and you've got this version of the Chargers. It changes
Speaker 1: how I feel about this Los Angeles team going forward.
Speaker 1: I that for me that remains to be seen, just
Speaker 1: because they're so up and down as a unit. Um.
Speaker 1: But at the same time, the thing about the discourse
Speaker 1: of Ta and Herbert, you know, pick back to back
Speaker 1: in the same draft class. What annoyed me and I
Speaker 1: think annoyed a lot of football fans that are actually
Speaker 1: watching the games, is that you have to kind of
Speaker 1: sometimes look beyond the box score. And Ta has filled
Speaker 1: up the box score beautifully this season for long stretches.
Speaker 1: And I'm not saying this is an indictment of two
Speaker 1: as a player, although that's two rough games in a
Speaker 1: row for him, But just watching the abilities of Herbert
Speaker 1: and the things makes him special. Like my favorite play
Speaker 1: in football is the Herbert play. Where he drops back
Speaker 1: to the opposite hash and then throws across the field
Speaker 1: sixty yards on the line to a wide receiver. There's
Speaker 1: very few guys I can do I can even imagine
Speaker 1: two are trying to do that. But of course two
Speaker 1: wins in a different way. Um, but I think it
Speaker 1: is notable that two did start this game three for
Speaker 1: seventeen while Herbert was doing all this, and when he
Speaker 1: connects with Tyreek Hill for that touchdown in the third
Speaker 1: quarter and makes it a game again, this is again
Speaker 1: where you credit the Los Angeles defense, the shorthanded defense,
Speaker 1: Brandon Staley, a defensive minded head coach. Uh. They tightened
Speaker 1: things up after that. They didn't let the game spiral
Speaker 1: when I kind of felt that that was a direction
Speaker 1: that this game could go. And my other thought was,
Speaker 1: good job Chargers by not charging, because yes, Herbert better
Speaker 1: get down. Don't pull Cam Newton when you botch that snap,
Speaker 1: and that was on him. It appeared to be get
Speaker 1: that ball because if you if you lose after that
Speaker 1: brilliant drive, lose a fumble inside the tent and then
Speaker 1: lose by a point, oh my god, and then the
Speaker 1: onside kicks bouncing around and that almost gets botched as well.
Speaker 1: But in both cases, the Chargers kind of just got
Speaker 1: the job done. And you just don't see that enough
Speaker 1: with this franchise in general. You know, I know, I know,
Speaker 1: like Tyreek Hill obviously was dealing with the injury that
Speaker 1: and the way they were talking about the end was
Speaker 1: more of a shin injury and they're not wanting it
Speaker 1: to swell up and stuff. But he he still made plays.
Speaker 1: But do you feel like Brandon Staley learned or took
Speaker 1: something from the way that the Niners pressed Waddle pressed
Speaker 1: Hill a week ago, because it's two weeks in a
Speaker 1: row and this has not been They had a few
Speaker 1: up and down moments in their offense, but Waddle and
Speaker 1: Hill have been unstoppable essentially, no matter what's going on
Speaker 1: with a run game and stuff. And that's two games
Speaker 1: in a row where I thought they did an effective
Speaker 1: job and for in this case, it's with a lot
Speaker 1: of people missing on that defense tonight. Oh yeah, let's
Speaker 1: be real. The only reason that the chart the Tophins
Speaker 1: were even in this game is because Tyreek Hill gets
Speaker 1: a fifty seven yard fumble recovery or else that This
Speaker 1: feels more like a blowout. They still he ended up
Speaker 1: with two nineteen yards. They got doubled up by the
Speaker 1: Chargers in total yards. And other teams are gonna look
Speaker 1: at this. And these are two teams, Miami and San
Speaker 1: Francisco that sort of have the genes of a press
Speaker 1: man coverage team. We've seen the league really just go
Speaker 1: into a total zone league. I mean, even teams that
Speaker 1: play a lot of man coverage, like you know the Forts,
Speaker 1: they still don't play it that much. But these two
Speaker 1: teams are able to do it because they have the personnel,
Speaker 1: they have the coaching and absolutely think the Patriots are
Speaker 1: watching this. They did a good job with a similar
Speaker 1: game plan in Week one. The fact that the Dolphins
Speaker 1: came back to the pack a little bit now in
Speaker 1: the a f C playoff picture, by losing these two games,
Speaker 1: it makes you worry. It has to be into his
Speaker 1: head a little bit. Everyone knows what was going into
Speaker 1: this game. There were some throws in this game that
Speaker 1: just sort of crazy, terrible throws where he seemed spooked
Speaker 1: a little afraid to make the throw and was just
Speaker 1: like way off target where he thought it was in
Speaker 1: his head. He he recovered a little bit, but those
Speaker 1: this is the guy we were talking about as an
Speaker 1: m v P king, and I wasn't exactly two weeks ago,
Speaker 1: and these are two weeks where I would say it
Speaker 1: was his two worst games of the season by far
Speaker 1: in a row in December, at the time of the
Speaker 1: year that Mike McDaniel says, we're also lucky to get
Speaker 1: to that. The Dolphins don't feel like they're embracing December
Speaker 1: right now. They gotta go to Buffalo now on Saturday
Speaker 1: night and on NFL Network, and it's like, Man, you're
Speaker 1: gonna have that's a big time show me something game.
Speaker 1: Because I'm like, based on what we've seen for Miami
Speaker 1: in the last couple of weeks, based on you know
Speaker 1: who they really did a lot of their damage against
Speaker 1: this season, I don't have high expectations for their offense
Speaker 1: to thrive in that environment, especially like we saw it
Speaker 1: with the Jets and Bills today. If the elements play
Speaker 1: a factor, I think they're supposed to be snow in
Speaker 1: the forecast in the upcoming weekend. So there's a that's
Speaker 1: a there's a fork in the road now for the Dolphins,
Speaker 1: who still are in position for the playoffs, but things
Speaker 1: get very interesting very quick. Really, if they lose again
Speaker 1: on Saturday night, and last week they their defense played
Speaker 1: almost eighty snaps they did again tonight, you gotta quickly
Speaker 1: go to Buffalo, where it is meant to snow. The
Speaker 1: weather is gonna be a huge factor. You got to
Speaker 1: play it down in simmering hot Miami the first time,
Speaker 1: and that affected the Bills. But in reverse, I don't
Speaker 1: like that situation for Miami at all. Just how much,
Speaker 1: how many snaps they've had to play on defense. This
Speaker 1: is the time of year where that kind of stuff
Speaker 1: matters have a big impact. I'd like to think that
Speaker 1: this game is when we're gonna look back at as
Speaker 1: a fork in the road game. I'm not sure about
Speaker 1: the Dolphins like falling apart, but especially in the positive
Speaker 1: sense for the Chargers, they have the Titans, Colts, Rams,
Speaker 1: and Broncos. So after that Titans game, that's a big
Speaker 1: Week fifteen game. You know that that's a that's a
Speaker 1: good looking schedule. As a Jets fan, Dan, I know
Speaker 1: you were weirdly rooting for the Dolphins in this game,
Speaker 1: and I think that made sense to me. And now
Speaker 1: that the Chargers want it and if they can somehow
Speaker 1: get their defense playing well. With Herbert, the whole seven
Speaker 1: seed seems much more common. Poacadd to me, Now, yeah,
Speaker 1: you know what, as I'm watching the game in the
Speaker 1: second half and I'm starting to examine the possibilities, I
Speaker 1: realized that kind of either way, there was a way
Speaker 1: to look at it in a positive standpoint, because obviously,
Speaker 1: now the Dolphins dropped this game, if like many people think,
Speaker 1: and the Desert will feel this way, and that's how
Speaker 1: I feel. Let's say they don't beat Buffalo on the road,
Speaker 1: all of a sudden, they're eight and six, and if
Speaker 1: the Jets beat the Lines, they're tied and they have
Speaker 1: a head to head matchup in week eighteen. So this
Speaker 1: it's gonna be great. This wild card race in the
Speaker 1: a f C is excellent. And oh, by the way, uh,
Speaker 1: the first tiebreaker for the Dolphins and Chargers is head
Speaker 1: to head, and now the Chargers have that so big game,
Speaker 1: fun game. The I'm gonna avoid I'm gonna be busy
Speaker 1: anyway with power rankings, but I'm gonna have no issue
Speaker 1: avoiding the online discourse around to it. And Herbert, Uh,
Speaker 1: that's gonna be a lot of people taking victory lapse
Speaker 1: or being on the defensive. I'm just gonna sit all
Speaker 1: that that, sit all that out and just say that
Speaker 1: was cool seeing Herbert do that thing today and and
Speaker 1: the Chargers in general, just a nice win for them.
Speaker 1: Also an L for Brandon Stanley, Who's I mean for
Speaker 1: Sean Payton, who's made it clear he wants to coach
Speaker 1: either the Chargers of the Dolphins. I feel like now
Speaker 1: that not now neither is going to happen. Well, let's
Speaker 1: let's let's see the cher with the Chargers. You know what,
Speaker 1: you know, they traffic in a certain type of football,
Speaker 1: the Chargers, and that's we get your hopes up and
Speaker 1: then we bring you Now they've done it to me
Speaker 1: again already. H but O great digger before we say goodbye?
Speaker 1: Whoa speaking of forks in the road and you know
Speaker 1: everything on the line? Titans Chargers Week fifteen, somebody's in
Speaker 1: trouble after that one. Is now a good time for
Speaker 1: me to tell you, guys, I'm going to that game.
Speaker 1: You're gonna lock it up? Oh I am done locking
Speaker 1: the Titans and might just be done locking. Honestly, I'm
Speaker 1: on a five game losing stream. All right, Hey, listen, listen,
Speaker 1: not everything went your way today, justin but I thought
Speaker 1: you really did uh comport yourself as a professional and
Speaker 1: in the end you did get the bongos when they
Speaker 1: were needed. So thank you, thank you, No, of course,
Speaker 1: anything for you guys. One more game on the schedule.
Speaker 1: He's like two of one more game, New England at Arizona.
Speaker 1: Greg Rosenthal with special guest Nate Tys. Oh yeah, that's right, Tice.
Speaker 1: That's great. I love I love Nates. The Cardinals are
Speaker 1: in primetime again and the Patriots. Then the Cardinals are
Speaker 1: back on on Christmas. To what in the hell is
Speaker 1: going on? I am invading that little cube in Park
Speaker 1: Avenue next next spring and making sure this never happens
Speaker 1: again this this prime time schedule. There will be flex
Speaker 1: games on Monday Night Football next year, which I think
Speaker 1: is great news for everyone. Mm hmm, especially Joe Buck.
Speaker 1: All right, thank you everybody for listening. We have another
Speaker 1: big week of show is coming up, so thank you
Speaker 1: for following us all season long. Let's get out of here.
Speaker 1: Dan Hands is signing off for Quiet Storm, the old Boss,
Speaker 1: the grave digger, and everyone behind the glass that does
Speaker 1: the job until Monday. He the call m s