Mike Harmon & Greg Cosell on Bears Comeback, TNF Classic & Week 16 Preview!

On a new episode of FOX Football Sunday with Mike Harmon & Greg Cosell, Mike and Greg talk about the Bears miraculous comeback vs the Packers, a classic between the Seahawks and Rams on TNF, the Eagles repeating as NFC East Champs, and they go in depth previewing each game of Week 16 in the NFL! 

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Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:01):
You're listening to Fox Sports where you go.

Speaker 2 (00:03):
Greetings and welcome in another beautiful Fox Football Sunday, three
games of your week sixteen slate already in the books,
and a cavalcade of stars ready to roll out later
on today into Monday Night Football, where we all can
be little kids again as Philip Rivers will take to

(00:24):
the center stage against the San Francisco forty nine ers,
but lots to cover before we get there. Welcome in
another edition of Fox Football SUNDAYWN by Carmen alongside me
forty six years NFL films the NFL Matchup Show weekly
with Colin Cowherd one o'clock Eastern Time, breaking down some
of the biggest plays of the week and trends and tendencies.

Speaker 3 (00:46):
All of that.

Speaker 2 (00:47):
He's a genius and he makes me smarter each it.
Every week it's Greg co Sal. Find him in the
Twitter verse at Greg co Sal Greg. Happy holiday week.
We're finally there. Maybe a couple of minutes of downtime,
or at least should retreat with a glass of egg
nog while.

Speaker 3 (01:02):
Doing some film with you.

Speaker 2 (01:04):
Maybe someone slips an extra cookie under the door. I
don't know, how are you my friend?

Speaker 4 (01:09):
I'm doing great.

Speaker 5 (01:10):
You know.

Speaker 4 (01:11):
The thing is for me and Mike, it's football season,
so there's not really downtime. You know. I feel like
I've got a deadline every day. So it's just, Hey,
it's just another day in the life. But you must
be happy being a Chicago guy.

Speaker 3 (01:24):
Well, I'm a little bit giddy, right. It's one of
those games.

Speaker 2 (01:27):
Well, like many Bears games over the course of the year, Greg,
We've been talking about it all season long where there
are stretches where you're shaking your head and going why, how?

Speaker 3 (01:36):
What is going on? And that was a good three quarters.

Speaker 2 (01:40):
We watched the Packers and Bears go to a stalemate
after two long drives in the first quarter.

Speaker 3 (01:47):
Hey, how can I outdo you? On a fourth down call?

Speaker 2 (01:50):
The snap over monding guy's head seem to take all
the energy out of the building because the Bears that
got dominated thereafter Jordan Love goes out with the concussion,
Malik Willis comes in and gives them a bit of
a jolt with his legs and the run game getting going.
They did rush for nearly two hundred yards did the
Packers on the course of the day. But as we know,

(02:12):
you got to play a full sixty minutes, and that's
what it's all about. With the Bears. Just tune in.
It's like an NBA game. You want to see the
last five minutes of an NBA game, and with the
Bears check in just ahead or right after the two
minute warning.

Speaker 4 (02:26):
Yeah, no, that was I actually watched the tape of
that this morning, So it was pretty exciting to watch.
I because I didn't see the last part of it
live because you know, being on the East coach, I
was sleeping, so I think I went to bed at
the end of the third quarter. And then when I
saw what happened this morning before I came in the office,
I was, wow, that really happened, and so I came in.

(02:48):
I watched the Bears offense versus the Packers' defense this morning.
But with that game in the Thursday night game, Man,
we had some some awesome games and it just before
we even get to today.

Speaker 3 (02:58):
No, it's it story for days, but let's hear out
and ended for those just waking up. Maybe on the
East Coast.

Speaker 6 (03:04):
He did go to bed, snap Caleb play Fait looking
to throw going teep searching for DJ Moore over the
shoulder catch made touchdown, Bears HiT's over at Soldier Field.
The iceman cometh, the iceman take it a forty six
yard spiral to the end zone to DJ Moore twenty

(03:27):
two sixteen Bears four fifteen overtime and DJ Morris mobbed
in the north of a Soldier field.

Speaker 3 (03:35):
Jeff Joniac on the Bears radio network, it's notable that
DJ Moore comes down with that catch against Nixon.

Speaker 2 (03:45):
Why is that significant? Nixon was the guy that cheap
shot at him in the first quarter as he's got
nothing to do with the play and give him a
little bit of a drive by which in the Fox
telecast Greg they said, well, they know it's football.

Speaker 3 (03:57):
It's the Bears in the.

Speaker 2 (03:58):
Packers are like, yeah, that seems penalty worthy, but that's
just me. All's fair in love in football between these
two NFC North combatants. But Caleb Williams start slow, finish
with a flourish and Romeo Dobbs he gets the goat
goat horns for this one. Had a big day receiving,

(04:19):
but couldn't corral the onside kick, giving Caleb Williams.

Speaker 3 (04:22):
And the Bears bad opportunity.

Speaker 2 (04:24):
And I don't know if you saw the Replovic greg
As soon as he threw the ball, Caleb Williams put
his hands in the muff pockets. He was watching the
ball sail forty six yards down the field with his
hands in his pockets.

Speaker 4 (04:40):
Well that was I mean, obviously, that was about as
big time of throw as you could make. It traveled
close to sixty yards in the air, and you couldn't
have handed it to him any better. I thought, you know,
watching the tape, because they had run the ball on
the two previous plays, and that touchdown to More came
out of thirteen personnel with three tight ends, and I guarantee,

(05:01):
based on the flow of the game that Ben Johnson
knew exactly what he was going to get from the
defense because they played with three tight ends in this game,
I think more than in any other game, or close
to more than in any other game. It was their
highest percentage of playing of multiple tight ends, which they
did since I think early in the season, and it's

(05:25):
you know, we're seeing that around the league. We can
talk about that with the Rams as well. But they
had thirty seven snaps with either twelve or thirteen personnel
meeting two tight ends and three tight ends, and they
throw a lot out of that. It's not just in fact,
they ran the ball fourteen times out of those thirty
seven snaps, and Williams was thirteen for twenty three for

(05:46):
one ninety five out of that multiple tight end personnel.
And he's actually got the fourth most dropbacks in the
NFL out of twelve and thirteen personnel. So, you know,
I just thought when I saw that, because I didn't,
like I said, I didn't see it live, so and
I saw the two run plays before it, and they
were very patient, and then that play came. You know,

(06:06):
it just struck me as wow, that's a really good job.
But I thought, overall, to be honest, I thought in
the last I guess the last three drives counting the overtime,
I thought that Williams really played with tremendous poise, tremendous patients.
He didn't chase the big plays, particularly on that field
goal drive that made it sixteen to nine. He did

(06:27):
not chase the big plays. He took what was presented.
I thought he played like a veteran. He played really
really well down the stretch.

Speaker 2 (06:34):
Yeah, it was funny the field goal to make it
sixteen to nine. It's all about managing timeouts and the
two minute warning, and he just like, get the kickoff,
Get the kickoff. I was at a gathering that I'd
had the game on, and literally, as I'm walking from
my car to the house, one of our colleagues here

(06:57):
at Fox Sports Radio generously opened his doors to a
bunch of US Ruffians to come and glutton eyes, frad
and eyes and watch the Bears. But I'm walking up
right as the field goal goes in, I'm like, all right,
we gotta watch the end of this. And you know,
it got loud, and maybe I was a little bit
loud out of sorts, but yeah.

Speaker 4 (07:15):
Not you. You're the quiet type, aren't you.

Speaker 2 (07:17):
Oh absolutely, yeah, yeah, yeah, retiring, no question about it.

Speaker 4 (07:21):
But yeah, well no, it's I just thought, like I said,
I mean, because the Packers on that fourth quarter field
goal drive, they rushed for and played zone coverage on
every snap, So you know, like I said, I thought,
Williams understanding that instead of trying to chase that's the
term a lot of coaches use, don't chase big plays.
Instead of trying to force it, he just took what

(07:42):
was presented, just the poise and composure with which he played,
and obviously he can make big throws. I mean that
tying touchdown drive, the one that came after the field
goal drive. Obviously that twenty yard or more was just
classic Caleb Williams dry that dig route. And you know,
for people who don't think arm strength matters, that's where

(08:04):
arm strength matters.

Speaker 2 (08:06):
Yeah, you're talking about an eight play, fifty three yard
drive minute thirty five. Much was made about an earlier throw.
Obviously he left the game with in the concussion protocol.
But Jordan Love on a ball he tried to get
into the end zone. There was a wind was whipping
enough to where oh yeah, from fifteen yards out that I.

Speaker 4 (08:24):
Saw a lie. Yeah.

Speaker 2 (08:25):
Yeah, So you saw the wind doing its thing at
Soldier Field. But the Bears walk away with a massive
twenty two sixteen victory. Only two of eleven on third
downs time of possession got crushed.

Speaker 4 (08:39):
Man.

Speaker 2 (08:39):
The first half was the absolute inverse and reversal of
fortunate of what the Bears did the first meeting a
couple of weeks ago, where they controlled and ground things
down in the second half to kind of get back
into the game. So I was just curious to watch
as this one flowed and Caleb Williams coming up big

(08:59):
and earning some legendary status there in Chicago, all the
folks that were waiting, and you know, especially when they
were settling for field goals after that first drive, a
lot of anger amongst family and friends. I would do
a dramatic reading, but most words I would have to redact.

Speaker 4 (09:17):
Well, it was just one of those games. It was
a crazy game because, like I said, until I saw
the tape, I didn't realize exactly well, I saw that
when I got up, I looked and saw all the highlights,
but I didn't realize that that's what had happened. Just
one of those games. But he made great throws and
then crazy things have to happen, like who would think
that Dobbs would not be able to you know, to
catch the on side kick. Who would think that the

(09:40):
Packers would make an assignment mistake on that fourth and
four on the tying touchdown to Walker who probably most
people had no idea who he was until last night. Yeah,
so it's just tay. Those are the kinds of things
that happened when your things are going well and you're
you're winning, and obviously they're in first place, right now,
but that touchdown pass, I mean, that's that was not flukey.

(10:02):
Believe me. That was about as big time of throw
as you can.

Speaker 2 (10:05):
Make six to win for the Bears when trailing with
two minutes left in the fourth quarter, and then for
the Packers. We always talk about it, or at least
in field goals are for losers. You got to take
care of the red zone business. Yeah, obviously they're important.
I don't dismiss them.

Speaker 3 (10:20):
Right right, right, you go zero for five in the
red zone.

Speaker 4 (10:23):
Well, when you lose, for losers? Yeah, yeah, when you lose,
a lot of things are for losers.

Speaker 3 (10:28):
Well, that's that's true.

Speaker 2 (10:30):
But you set yourself up right, right, how many games
have you watched? Or I was like, here's three drives,
you walk away and you're done. No, you're right, time
of possession, twelve play drives will settle for a field
goal because we got a holding penalty or something because
the Bears gave up one hundred yards a field position
on penalties as well.

Speaker 4 (10:46):
Yeah, no, no, it I mean when I was watching
the tape, and obviously I knew what happened, but I'm
watching the tape and I'm seeing the time, and I'm
just thinking to myself, did that outcome really happen? Or
was I like living in a fantasy world and that
didn't really because as I'm watching the plays and the time,
I'm like, wait, they can't do this. How did this happen?

Speaker 3 (11:05):
A bit of a fever dream?

Speaker 5 (11:06):
All right?

Speaker 2 (11:06):
Hit the rewind button to earlier in that day, we
saw the Philadelphia Eagles win the NFC's for the second
straight year, something that does not happen in that division.
Twenty twenty nine to eighteen is your final.

Speaker 3 (11:21):
Gotta get my glasses on. You know I'm getting old.

Speaker 4 (11:23):
Blame me, I'm lady on that.

Speaker 3 (11:24):
Twenty nine eighteen Jalen Hurts.

Speaker 2 (11:26):
They got the big run from Saquon Barkley, a little
extra from Tank Bigsby, who's been a relative bystander over
the course of the year after his acquisition from Jacksonville.
But Jalen Hurts made some plays with his legs early
greg that helped set up.

Speaker 3 (11:39):
Some things later on.

Speaker 2 (11:40):
As he finishes buck eighty five and two, but had
his way brown nearly one hundred yards nine receptions. Devonte
Smith and godd Are both found the end zone and
for the Eagles offense, kind of playing on a string
a little bit.

Speaker 4 (11:54):
You know, it's funny. Obviously, these games happened yesterday, and
I didn't get to see the tape of that one. Yeah,
but I watched that whole game on TV, and I
just felt watching it that that had the feel for
one of the first times this year, Mike have sort
of Eagles football because they're not really a truly explosive
pass offense. But this game felt like Hurts was very efficient,

(12:16):
which is what he normally is, doesn't turn the ball over.
They got into more manageable down and distant situations, and
then the run game became a factor in the second half.
That's sort of the way they play. So it felt
to me like the Eagles template from a year ago.

(12:37):
And obviously, if you're an Eagles fan, you hope that
going forward that's what they are. And you made a
good point there with Hertz's legs. Were seemed to be
more of a factor in the game yesterday than they
have been through much of this season. And of course
their defense, that's the other thing. Their defense is really good.
Now it seems like they probably might have lost to
Kobe Dean. We don't know that. Anytime I hear hamstring.

(12:59):
I think a guy's not gonna play the next week,
but I guess we don't know, but uh, we'll see.
But their defenses, of course playing really well. Now again
they got the backup yesterday and then the third string
and they go to Buffalo in the next you know,
next week. We'll see how that plays out. But uh,
it just looked like in the Eagles from a year
ago to me, more so than than pretty much every

(13:19):
game this season.

Speaker 2 (13:20):
Decided step up in class with Josh Allen awaiting. Obviously,
I'm not trying to put anything into the universe. Somebody's
gonna leave that alone. But Mariota left the game, he
went to the blue tent. We saw Josh Johnson draft
class in two thousand and eight. Yeah, dad, right there
with Kalayis Campbell and Joe Flacco.

Speaker 4 (13:38):
My god, now has he has? He now played for
every team in the league.

Speaker 3 (13:42):
It does seem that way.

Speaker 5 (13:43):
Yeah.

Speaker 2 (13:44):
I just ordered one of those T shirt quilts from
my daughter with all the concerts she's gone to and that,
uh that I've gone to with my my daughters over time, right,
and it's it's a cavalcade of stars.

Speaker 3 (13:56):
I think Josh Johnson could do that with all of
his jerseys at this.

Speaker 4 (13:58):
Point, I think he probably can. I mean, he's what
I think, he's played for what fifteen teams. Maybe it's
got to be about that.

Speaker 3 (14:07):
I feel like this is a did he play there
or not? Kind of trigger?

Speaker 4 (14:10):
Right right, right, right, all right.

Speaker 2 (14:12):
Let's see we go back Tampa, Cleveland, Cincinnati, washed in
the Jets, Baltimore, San Francisco, Baltimore, Washington.

Speaker 3 (14:23):
Is that it seems like there's more than that.

Speaker 2 (14:25):
And that I don't know on two thirty four or
five six that would only give me nine.

Speaker 3 (14:31):
That's that seems that seems light based on U.

Speaker 4 (14:34):
Yeah, that I don't know all the animal Yeah, that
I don't know.

Speaker 5 (14:37):
Either way, it's.

Speaker 3 (14:38):
It's a well traveled man who got another opportunity.

Speaker 4 (14:41):
No, hey, this guy's gonna end up paying fifteen years
in the NFL. I mean it's about that already, isn't it.
You said with the draft class two eight? Yeah, oh god,
I was a young man. I was a young man.

Speaker 3 (14:52):
Then you and me both.

Speaker 2 (14:54):
My daughter, born in the middle of two thousand and
eight will head off to college in the fall.

Speaker 4 (15:01):
So there you go.

Speaker 2 (15:02):
Waive it there, all right, we got one more game
that has already been played in the books, one of
the wildest games you'll ever see. We'll talk about that
one from what we saw on tape there and start
getting into the rest of Week sixteen. He's Greg co
Sale at Greg Cosale where you find and find me
over at Swollen Dome. And remember, feeding off of our

(15:22):
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for the college football Playoff. That's right now that there's
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Speaker 3 (15:42):
That's right, one thousand dollars. Who couldn't use that?

Speaker 2 (15:45):
Visit Fox Sports Radio dot iHeart dot com to register,
get your rules, and to fill out your bracket. Entries
open until just before kickoff at seven thirty Eastern on
New Year's Eve seven thirty pm Eastern time on New
Year's Eve again bracket at Foxsports Radio dot iHeart dot
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Speaker 7 (16:05):
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Speaker 3 (16:17):
Hey, is Covino and Rich from Fox Sports Radio. Now.

Speaker 8 (16:20):
In addition to hearing us live weekdays from five to
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Speaker 3 (16:30):
Yup, that's right.

Speaker 8 (16:31):
You can now watch Covino and Rich live on YouTube
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Speaker 3 (16:34):
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Speaker 3 (16:46):
Coming away, Hey, welcome back.

Speaker 5 (16:48):
Here.

Speaker 2 (16:48):
It's Fox Football Sunday, Fox Sports and Radio Mike Carbon
alongside great co sal Mark and Lee making us sound
so oh so pretty this morning as we get ready
for Week sixteen, the next fights in Week sixteen here
of your National Football League season. We'll get to a
quick rewind of the Thursday night edition of Things, but

(17:09):
Greg wanted to clean it up because we were looking
at a game log in history for old Josh Johnson
and I know i'd seen a commercial where he bragged
and talked about it.

Speaker 4 (17:17):
Oh yeah, all yeah, yeah.

Speaker 2 (17:20):
So while we only have stats regular season for nine teams,
lead to lap our executive producer, still licking his wounds
from the Packers lost yesterday to the Bears while he
sat next to Mark all night here at Fox Sports Radio,
Bears Fan.

Speaker 3 (17:36):
He's got an.

Speaker 2 (17:37):
Update and a log of all the good, the bad,
and the ugly of the Josh Johnson experience.

Speaker 3 (17:42):
Yes, that loss has made this hard to sift through.

Speaker 9 (17:45):
We did say nine earlier, but Greg, you were correct
to say that it was fourteen NFL teams.

Speaker 3 (17:51):
Wow, not to leave out the AAF and the XFL.

Speaker 9 (17:56):
We also have the you know, the San Diego Fleets
and we're excuse me, the Sacramento Mountain Lions as well.

Speaker 3 (18:02):
The Mountain Lions. Don't forget the Mountain Lions that the
Mountain Lions out.

Speaker 2 (18:07):
So yeah, so we talk about a lot of practice,
squad and signings. So to add to that, Jersey.

Speaker 4 (18:13):
Good for Josh Johnson, you know you got you gotta
love that about the guy.

Speaker 3 (18:16):
He the record. I think it says he holds the
record most does sound right? That's great. Good for him,
Joe Blackforn.

Speaker 2 (18:22):
Trying to chase him down, his draft class classmate all
those years ago. So there you go. There there's our
note of the day. Now it's not for the play
of the day. We talked about the game. Let's hear
a little bit of sound.

Speaker 10 (18:34):
Hurts londs them up again. He's got Thigspinner in the
game behind him. Type for my hurts from second down
rolls looks fires, good pints.

Speaker 2 (18:49):
There it was Hurts to them out to Smith. Brought
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(19:11):
the voice of Merril Reese. I mean, we got all
the legends popping.

Speaker 4 (19:15):
In Meryl rece Yeah.

Speaker 3 (19:17):
How about that.

Speaker 2 (19:18):
That's got I was here the first couple of words
out of his mouth that I just go to wrap
attention like a mere cat coming out of the hole
at the Serengetti, fearful that something's ready to eat me.

Speaker 3 (19:29):
He's great.

Speaker 2 (19:30):
Co salau by Carbon It's Fox Football Sunday, Fox Sports Radio.
One last game already in the books. I don't know
that we can do it justice in just a couple
of minutes later. But we're not going to take the
rest of these two hours. We got other games to
cover because we've traversed the two point conversion, We've gone
through the chaos. But phukn Nakua a massive game, two

(19:50):
hundred and twenty five receiving yards. Matthew Stafford with a
huge game four hundred and fifty seven yards, but they
go down and defeat to the Seattle Seahawks. There's a
punt return for a touchdown, three two point conversion, Sam
Darnold coming a big late after a couple of early blunders,
and the Seahawks take take the reins on Thursday night

(20:12):
and what was one of the most wildly entertaining games
of the year.

Speaker 4 (20:16):
There's so much in this game, Mike, you know, I
don't know where to the start or where to end
because there's so much great football stuff in this game.
I know the Rams lost, but I'm just fascinated by
what Sean mcvigay has done with these three tight ends.
I mean they played fifty four snaps and thirteen personnel
against the Seahawks. Listen to these numbers in the last

(20:37):
three games. Just this, this blows me away. In the
last three games, the Rams have played one hundred and
thirty seven snaps with three tight ends on the field.
They've accounted for one thoy thirteen yards, fifty three first downs,
and twelve touchdowns. This is just out of three tight ends.

Speaker 3 (20:58):
That is operational efficient.

Speaker 2 (21:00):
See at as fine as because you brought this up
long ago when they started to transition to this and
as you mentioned in our recap of the Bears, packers
starting to see a little bit of the copycat because
we've seen that across the league throughout the years. If
something starts to work, it's like, hey, if we have
the personnel or sometimes look for the Bears, they didn't
have a lot of wide receivers to deploy, and it

(21:22):
also became a way to find some extra time for
Caleb Williams get the ground game restarted. But for the Rams,
it's been the excellence of execution. They play this game
without one of the best red zone options and go
to guys in the game and DeVante Adams and still
put up ridiculous pinball like numbers.

Speaker 4 (21:43):
Yeah, and I'm just you know, look, I don't know
Sean McVay, and I wish I had the batphone and
could just give him a call and ask him why. Now,
obviously they didn't have DeVante Adams Thursday night, so maybe
they played a few more snaps than they might have.
But the point is they've been doing it even with
DeVante Adams. In fact, for the most part, he's been
the single wide receiver when they play with three tight ends.

(22:05):
Obviously with him out, Nikoua got many more snaps as
the single wide receiver in the three tight end package.
But there's obviously, I mean a method to his madness.
I mean, he's brilliant, and you know, I'm going to
try to find this out, you know, whether it happens
during the season or after the season. But somewhere along
the line, given that weeks one through six, Mike, they

(22:26):
played no snaps with three tight ends, and then all
of a sudden he decided to do this, something clicked.
I mean, you know, these guys don't do things on
a whim, you know that. I mean, I know sometimes
fans think that they might just, you know, just do stuff.
But they these guys think all this stuff through, and
I just be fascinated to know what the process was

(22:47):
that got to this point.

Speaker 2 (22:49):
I'll send you the stationary in the stamps. You do
the Andy duframe part. Start with a letter a week,
and then if he doesn't respond, we'll up at the
two and three, and that eventual it will be like
the flood of letters coming out right Potter's house.

Speaker 4 (23:05):
And then on the other side of the ball, I mean,
you know, you know that I'm a quarterback guy, and
when I see just great quarterback play like we saw
with Caleb Williams on that touchdown that we spoke about
that won the game yesterday. But when Darnold hit hit
cup for twenty one yards on overtime in overtime, and
I'm sure you remember the play, I mean, he got

(23:26):
just drilled by Verse. I mean it was a te
stun and Verse was clean on the loop and he
just got drilled and he made a big time corner throw.
You know, those are big time quarterback plays. Somewhere along
the line. In this league, your quarterback has to be
able to make those kinds of throws. Now, it might
not happen every week, you know, But somewhere along the line,

(23:47):
you've got to be able to stand there, show pocket
toughness and deliver the football.

Speaker 2 (23:52):
Because he stood in and he took a licking. I
mean he took some We have some wicked smashes over
the course of the day. Obviously a lot was made
of the Turner interception, great disengagement in stepping back a
couple of steps, and hey, look what I got when
he was into JSN.

Speaker 4 (24:11):
I'm glad you mention that, because you know, I always
look at interceptions individually, because it's always easy to say.
And I'm sure when they were down thirty fourteen in
the fourth quarter, people were saying, oh, Donald, Darnold, you know,
here's a Donald. You know how that comes.

Speaker 2 (24:24):
Never mind the Cooper cup dropped getting the ball stripped
from him as they were going in right, right possession
or right.

Speaker 4 (24:30):
But that interception, to me was just a great defensive
call by Shula because they showed a six man front
with what we call a zero presentation, and he had
Smith and Jig but basically white. I don't want to
say wide open, but there was a passing window and
there's no way as a quarterback. You could speak to
Tom Brady, you could speak to any quarterback. There's no

(24:51):
way you expect Turner who started to rush the quarterback. Now,
it's not as if he dropped out right away. Who
started to rush the quarterback and then dropped and happened
to be right in the passing lane. There's no way
that Donald anticipated that or accounted for it. So it
looks really bad, and we all get that. It looks like,
oh my god, what a horrible play, But that's just

(25:13):
a great defensive play in that moment. It was obviously
the low red zone. But you know, I've always thought
one of Donald's best traits Mike is that he stays
aggressive as a thrower. No matter what the situation is.
He's always willing to turn it loose and make the
kind of tight window throws that you have to make
in the NFL.

Speaker 2 (25:32):
That's one of my favorite characteristics to him going back,
even when things were spiraling with the Jets.

Speaker 3 (25:37):
Yeah, he's still a guy that's going to give you everything.

Speaker 2 (25:40):
And you know, not to belabor the Chicago point, but
a lot so made about Caleb Williams, Yeah, and his
completion percentage, and look, he missed his throws.

Speaker 3 (25:49):
They all do.

Speaker 2 (25:50):
But when it gets down to it, and I heard it.
It was Ryan Leaf was on the radio broadcast and
and he just pointed out, he goes, look, he's throwing
like they did.

Speaker 3 (26:00):
When I was playing and before. Where the ball's not
two yards you know, Hey, the guy's five feet for
me and accounts as a completion.

Speaker 4 (26:09):
It's like this, no, and it's you know, it's funny.
Much depends on game situation. Obviously. You know you're not
just going to say to your quarterback just start start right.
It's what we spoke about earlier in the first section
about Williams, that he wasn't chasing the big play and
the game dictates how you play, you know. And I

(26:29):
think that's that's why when I hear terms like game manager,
which in most people's minds, Mike, is a pejorative negative term.
It's not every quarterback is a game manager. Game management
doesn't mean it's not a negative. You have to be
in control of how that specific game is being played.
And by the way, uh and well, you know, we
mentioned Philadelphiam We've talked about them already, but I always

(26:52):
thought that was one of Jalen Hurts greatest traits is
Jalen Hurts plays the game as the game is being played,
the way it needs needs to be played. So therefore
there are a lot of games where he doesn't put
up numbers and and you know, his limitations so to
speak as a passer have been documented for years. But
he plays the game the way the game needs to

(27:12):
be played on that given Sunday, and you know there's
something to be said for that. You know, that's what
That's part of playing quarterback.

Speaker 3 (27:19):
No question about it. As we look at it.

Speaker 2 (27:21):
Kenneth Walker, with a couple of big explosive plays in
that game, finished with one hundred and sixty four total
yards on his fourteen touches. JSN shut out early, but
not for long. Eight for ninety six at a score
before it's all said and done. DJ Barner coming up huge. Yeah,
I mean a lot of debates about referees and whatever else.

(27:42):
We were treated to seventy five points on a Thursday
night game.

Speaker 4 (27:45):
I don't get into that.

Speaker 3 (27:46):
He can, yeah, yeah, it was just don't do that.
Yeah we did that for four hours people. Yeah yeah,
yeahdcast Smith, that I do. I don't do that living color, But.

Speaker 4 (27:54):
I mean that game and the Bears game. I mean,
that's that's just pro football. I mean, those are unbelieve games.
They're just they're just so compelling in so many ways,
Like you don't. I mean, obviously, I'm an ex and
O guy, and that's what I love when I watch
the tape. I love seeing all that. But that's one
of the greatest things about the NFL is you can
enjoy these games on so many different levels.

Speaker 3 (28:14):
That's it.

Speaker 2 (28:15):
We'll try to enjoy one a little bit later in Dallas.
Now eliminated officially from the playoffs, but they'll host the Chargers,
still very much in the thick of it. Justin Herbert
gets all the kudos and rightly deserved, and like so
many others battling week after week with all the injuries
and hits that have piled up throughout the year, they
got the two headed running back situation back in full

(28:36):
effect for him. His two hundred and ten passing yards
last week Greg was his highest total since Week ten.

Speaker 4 (28:44):
So wow, wow, that I didn't realize.

Speaker 2 (28:46):
So we got shut out of the end zone once
this year. So consistency, at least continuing to move the ball.
They're trying to get McConkey reactivated. The last couple of weeks,
he's been virtually invisible. Keenan Allen had a welcome home
for a couple of weeks, he's been kind of quiet.
So trying to see if they can get this jump
started against a Dallas defense. Bland goes to the IRR.

(29:07):
Diggs is going to be activated and ready to play today.

Speaker 4 (29:11):
Yeah, I mean, obviously Herbert's had the injury, and you know,
their past game hasn't been what it was earlier in
the season. We'll see how they choose to play. You know,
that'll be a big question. Do they do they attempt
to get their past game back or do they feel, hey,
we can run the ball. Hampton's back. Our defense is
playing well. Of course they're playing a good offense.

Speaker 3 (29:30):
But that's it, right.

Speaker 2 (29:31):
The Jesse Minter side of it to me, and how
it tries to deploy against these wide outs and what
Dak Prescott's done is really going to be the fascinating
part of the tape for me.

Speaker 4 (29:40):
Yeah, no, I would agree with that, And so we'll
see how offensively that Jim Harbough and Grig Roman choose
to play it. Like I said, the idea is to
win these games. You know, the yardage is wonderful, and
that's what people look at, you know when they decide
to evaluate quarterbacks or think about MVPs or things of
that nature. But you know, the idea is to play

(30:01):
each game as it is and to win that game.
And and they you know, they've been doing that. And you know,
I'm glad you mentioned Jesse Minner because I think their
defense is a lot better than it's talked about. Let's
put it that way.

Speaker 2 (30:12):
Yeah, we look at that and he's one of those
guys that as jobs become available. Yeah, I mean he's
he's trying to put some stuff up on tape as well. Right,
last week some big some big moments for them, and
this week another test against one of the the game's
great offenses to this point in the seasons. So another
opportunity to put a feather in the gap. I mean,

(30:33):
they eliminated the Chiefs, he'd be remiss. You know, we'll
get to them in short order for that minute that case.

Speaker 3 (30:42):
Yeah, yeah, that's that's about all it'll get.

Speaker 2 (30:46):
Yeah, congratulations on a job, but it's Gardner, Minshew. It
gives us another starter and on my big board of starts.
I think that makes for fifty three for minshew. No, no, no, no,
for the for the year fifty three stars.

Speaker 4 (31:01):
Oh oh, got it, got it.

Speaker 3 (31:02):
Yeah we list no no Quen yours. We already had Cook.
We'll get him again minshew. Yeah. So it just keeps going.

Speaker 4 (31:13):
Yeah, I'm actually fascinating to see quin yours because you know,
I'll be the first to admit, and I've discussed this.
I watched Quinn yours for three years in great detail
at Texas and uh, because I kept thinking he would
come out because obviously, as you probably remember, he was
viewed as the number one quarterback coming out of high school. Uh,
in a big high school in Texas, one of the

(31:33):
big ones, and started Ohio State, then left went to Texas,
and you know, I thought his tape was was very uneven.
I thought he had a lot of issues that would
cause problems transitioning to the league.

Speaker 11 (31:46):
Uh.

Speaker 4 (31:47):
But he's been in the league. He's been with Mike McDaniel,
who's comes from the Kyle Shanahan school. Maybe a lot
of the mechanical issues have been cleaned up. I guess we'll,
you know, I'll have to see him play, but uh,
uh we'll see how it goes. But I'm very anxious
to see that.

Speaker 2 (32:01):
Yeah, certainly a game with a lot of intrigue and
even though both teams are sputtering towards the finish line
here and you know, we don't do a lot of
that on this particular show. When you start looking at
at taping, kind of going eh, what like because the
Joe Burrow effort last week against Baltimore and what Cincinnati
put on tape there, Greg, that was not good for anybody.

Speaker 4 (32:23):
No, no, that that just had a bad feel to it.
But look, Baltimore's we'll get to that game, I know
for sure. Patriots at Ravens, I mean that is a big,
big game, Marquise stuff. Yeah, it's one of the biggest
on the slate today.

Speaker 2 (32:37):
Yeah, we'll get to that as we continue here at
Fox Sports Radios, Fox Football Sunday. There it was our
glancing blow at Cincinnati, Miami and case Tennessee. We have
seen a little bit better from mister Ward the last
couple of weeks. We'll see if he can continue his
upward trend. Thirty eight is the total for that one,
So don't expect massive fireworks there. And maybe you play

(32:59):
both deep is in your fantasy playoffs. If you're looking
for a little bit of a jolt there at Great
Go Salas where you find him in the Twitter verse,
find me over at Swollen Dome. As always, you can
get the podcast after we're done here today, Lee lell
get that up and all that we do here at
Fox Sports Radio, including the Eye Watcher Flex podcast where
Dan bayer Ian, Roddy and I break down in earnest

(33:21):
about seventy to seventy five players by time it's all
said and done in their fantasy potential for this week.
So go back in there and take a look. Hey,
you can judge three of the games and tell me
how smart or well how I'm not based on some
early returns. But we'll continue as we go. We'll get
to that New England Baltimore game next, Lamar Jackson, Drake May.

(33:42):
It's primetime viewing for everyone. As you get to your
holiday holiday holiday table set, we'll set it for you
here on Fox Sports Radio.

Speaker 1 (33:50):
Next you're listening to Fox Sports Radio Radio.

Speaker 2 (33:56):
Hey, welcome back in It's Fox Football Sunday, Fox Sports
k A Radio, Mike Carbon, Greg Coast Seal, thanks for
being with us.

Speaker 3 (34:03):
Give it us a few minutes of.

Speaker 2 (34:04):
Your time wherever you are on a beautiful Sunday morning
in the car, two crumb services, walking the dog, having
a cup of coffee.

Speaker 3 (34:12):
Maybe you hit snooze. He just wanted to listen to
us a little bit longer.

Speaker 2 (34:15):
Wherever you're listening on the four hundred plus affiliates nationwide,
the iHeartRadio app where you can take us globally.

Speaker 3 (34:22):
We are a global entity, no question about it. We
get notes from all over the every continent almost almost,
but yeah, wherever you are, give us a note.

Speaker 2 (34:32):
At Swollen Dome at Greg coach sal Greg, we mentioned
it this Baltimore, New England game, one of the more
fascinating on the board, forty eight and a half the
total Sunday Night Football Baltimore A field goal favorite Lamar Jackson.
We saw him moving his legs a little bit more
last week, something we've been clamoring for for a while.

(34:52):
New England they drop a huge game, big comeback twenty
one nothing.

Speaker 3 (34:58):
Buffalo had it right where they want it. And then
Josh Help put on his cape and away we go. Baltimore.
Here we were looking, you know, go ahead, Greg, No.

Speaker 4 (35:08):
I was going to say it's Buffalo. I did a
lot of research. You know, Buffalo is a team I
look at really closely every week. A couple of things
struck me in that game and then throughout their season.
I bet a lot of people would be surprised, Mike
that the Buffalo Bills run the ball more than any
team in the NFL in the second half, and that
James Cook has the most second half carries of any

(35:30):
back in the league. Think about that for a minute.
This is a team that when they're down at halftime,
and they have been in a number of games this year,
they always come out and they run the football. That's
how they stabilize their offense and generate sustainability. They don't
just say, Josh, you go out and make plays. They
run the football. I mean, like I said, James Cook

(35:53):
the most second half carries of any back in the league.
And this has not been a team that's been up
thirty to ten in the second half. Assume, okay, you know,
give James Cook the ball, so it's not Josh Allen.
This is no knock on Josh Allen, by the way,
but the point is this is the way they play.
And I also thought that Sean McDermott and their staff

(36:14):
last week. They made a couple of adjustments clearly at
halftime to come out in the second half. And you know,
you don't know if the adjustments of the reason Drake
May did not have a great second half, But all
I can tell you is what the tape showed. They
chose in their nickel package to play with three linebackers,
So they went with three three five nickel meaning three
d lineman, three linebackers, five dbs as opposed to two linebackers.

(36:39):
And then they played a lot of what we call
two man coverage and they spied on May, so those
things that's what they did and it worked. So you
know a lot of people say things like wal it's
a blueprint. I'm not a blueprint print believer, but it
worked in that specific game.

Speaker 2 (36:57):
James Cook fourteen and fifteen yards coming in today, one
carry behind Jonathan Taylor.

Speaker 4 (37:02):
That's amazing, isn't it.

Speaker 3 (37:04):
Would you believe this if I were to tell who
do you think is the third.

Speaker 4 (37:09):
You means third most carries, the third most carries in
the league in the league. All right, let me can
I get a moment here?

Speaker 7 (37:17):
Yeah?

Speaker 2 (37:18):
Take take a moment, as I fill a buster and
lay it out well, win over.

Speaker 3 (37:23):
I don't forget the guy throw the ball twelve times.

Speaker 4 (37:25):
Some guys have played an extra game, so sure you know, right,
so we were counting that the extra game. Yeah, I
would bet it's this.

Speaker 2 (37:34):
It is, But based on what the output has been
over the course of the year, the discombobulated nature of
that Philly offense for much of the year, Greg, I
think that would surprise a lot of people.

Speaker 4 (37:46):
Yeah, I would agree, but they still I mean off yesterday.
You know, they still give them the ball. I mean,
it's not a case where they don't give them the ball,
it's just that they haven't rushed for many yards.

Speaker 2 (37:55):
Yeah, I want to carry versus five point eight a
year ago. Fourth on the list, our old friend Christian McCaffrey.
We'll get to him in earnest coming up, averaging just
three point six yards per carry on the season as
we go. But if you're Baltimore, how do you attack
the New England defense with what you've got? Zay Flowers,
your tight ends, Derrick Henry, who runs the ball well

(38:17):
in spurts but hasn't been the same back and certainly
doesn't give you a whole lot out of the backfield,
maybe more Ali and others to spell him and get
some juice in the game to the outside.

Speaker 4 (38:28):
I have found Baltimore's offense this year to be a
very difficult offense to kind of evaluate and get a
sense of identity. I mean, obviously, Derrick Henry, I mean
he still has you know, his two hundred plus carries,
whatever that number is.

Speaker 3 (38:41):
You know, I'm sure to thirty three.

Speaker 4 (38:43):
There you go, two thirty three.

Speaker 2 (38:44):
He was actually averaging four point eight per carry. Yeah,
it was number watching watching.

Speaker 4 (38:49):
No, no, right, it doesn't feel like that Derrick Henry,
even with the two thirty three and the four point eight,
as you just said, it doesn't feel like they're a
running team the way they have been the last couple
of years with Derrick Henry and their past game feels
very uneven and sporadic. I mean, don't you feel that
even when I watch tape just I don't get a
sense that here's their identity, here's what they're doing, well,

(39:11):
here's what I know they can do well. Week to week.
I almost feel like each week I'm uncertain as to
what they're going to look like. So I don't really
know the answer to your question, I'm just being honest
based on the tape. You know, they don't seem to
have a true identity, one has not really developed this season.

Speaker 2 (39:27):
By way of contrast, Drake May and company, we're looking
at Trevon Henderson became the leader in the clubhouse for
offensive Rookie of the Year after his big explosive runs
that gave him the most since Chris Johnson was doing
that back in the day for the Tennessee Titans.

Speaker 4 (39:43):
Wow. Now I know they would love to be able
to run the ball with consistency. You know, May obviously
did not have a great second half last week, but
he's had a terrific season. The Baltimore defense has played
extremely well over what the last five or six weeks.
So this is a really interesting matchup and it's in Baltimore.
This is a fascinating game. I'm really curious to see

(40:03):
how Drake May responds.

Speaker 2 (40:05):
Huge win, huge game for the AFC and certainly Baltimore
in their playoff chase at Great CoA cell where you
find and find me over at Swollen don't remember the
iHeartRadio app streamers wherever you happen to be catch all
the Fox Sports Radio shows Live twenty four to seven.
The new and improved app search Fox Sports Radio in
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Speaker 1 (40:26):
You're listening to Fox Sports Radio Radio, still riding high.

Speaker 2 (40:30):
Hour two of the program, dancing around, strutting like a peacock. Yeah,
the Bears one and it is holiday holiday, holiday week.
Welcome in another hour, Fox Football Sunday, Mike Harvin, Greg
Coat sell with you. Sorry, I gotta run this because
I got I got a couple of Lions guys.

Speaker 3 (40:47):
I got a Packers guy right here, Mark laugh.

Speaker 2 (40:50):
So then my only protection as a fellow Bears fan
has left the building.

Speaker 4 (40:55):
So oh oh, I gotta tell you, Mike, I'm extremely disappointed.
Why is that you didn't ask me about my celebration
cupcake yesterday?

Speaker 3 (41:02):
Oh?

Speaker 4 (41:02):
I failed, you failed miserably.

Speaker 3 (41:05):
I did. Did you get any extras based on us
talking about it?

Speaker 4 (41:09):
No? No, I you know, I just went. I went
with my routine, you know. But it was good. It
was really good.

Speaker 3 (41:15):
I blew it.

Speaker 7 (41:16):
Yeah.

Speaker 2 (41:16):
This celebration cupcake is for those unaware. Right, you might
go get your nine dollars drink. You might go and
a coffee cake no, no, no, it's a celebration cupcake.
And I appreciate that about you because you know what
the goal is to go one and oh every day.

Speaker 4 (41:31):
There you go. So there you go, just another Saturday
at Barnes and Noble with a celebration cupcake.

Speaker 3 (41:36):
There you go. Do you go? Peru's the magazine section
a little bit, oh some cars.

Speaker 4 (41:42):
Or no, no no. I usually read about music. I
love to read about music, okay, because I love music.
I just have zero I've never had any musical talent,
but I love to read about it.

Speaker 2 (41:50):
No, that's it. I go down that rabbit hole as well.
You know the here's the Collector's edition of nine hundred
pages of Queen.

Speaker 4 (41:57):
There you go.

Speaker 2 (41:57):
All of a sudden, you're going down the Brian may. I.
I want to be an astrophysicist.

Speaker 5 (42:02):
Uh well, you know, well.

Speaker 4 (42:04):
You know, as as they say, fat bottom girls, they
make the rock and world go around.

Speaker 2 (42:08):
That is true. That is that is categorically true. And
outside of Sweet Caroline and that new huge action movie,
I don't know that there's any song that really unites
people at a karaoke bar greater.

Speaker 4 (42:20):
Than Sweet Caroline.

Speaker 2 (42:22):
Well, Sweet Caroline wins because everybody can do dot they
don't need Yeah. Sure, no matter how drunk you are,
you can still.

Speaker 3 (42:29):
Blurt that out. Yeah, and then fatt Girls gets people
fired up.

Speaker 4 (42:33):
That that's for sure.

Speaker 3 (42:34):
That's a good one, no question about it.

Speaker 2 (42:36):
Yeah, I mean, yeah, you got karaoke suggestion. Look, it's
the holidays. Karaoke machines have come down tremendously in price.

Speaker 3 (42:44):
You might find one under your tree. So if you
have song requests, I'll built out a few bars.

Speaker 4 (42:49):
I guess as long as you I guess, as long
as you have the egg, the karaoke can can follow
pretty seamlessly.

Speaker 2 (42:55):
No, that's just it. I mean, you don't need the amplifiers.
I mean to get one of us radio types in the.

Speaker 3 (43:01):
Room and it will help lead the way.

Speaker 4 (43:03):
There you go, as we go through Hey.

Speaker 2 (43:05):
For the best pregame show every weekend, be sure to
tune in Fox Sports Radio is Countdown to Kickoff presented
by BETMGM. Every Saturday Sunday morning. We couch you down
all the biggest games three hours right up until kickoff.
For all the best players up to the second injury news.
Tune into Countdown to Kickoff presented by BETMGM every Saturday
and Sunday morning right here on Fox Sports Radio and

(43:25):
the iHeart app All right, so I mentioned the team name, Well,
they need some help. They need to take care of
their own business. And later on they'll have the veteran
Aaron Rodgers coming to visit. Can we hear a little
Aaron Rodgers?

Speaker 1 (43:41):
Rogers under center gets a snap play action pass looking
steps up, throws to the right, to the left.

Speaker 4 (43:47):
I beg your pardon.

Speaker 5 (43:48):
Touchdown, Pittsburgh student.

Speaker 2 (43:50):
How about that Marquez Beldez scan playing with his first
reception as a member of the Steelers, and it is
a Pittsburgh Steelers touchdown.

Speaker 3 (44:00):
I like that little blast from the past. As MVS
joins the Frey there in Pittsburgh, as the Pittsburgh Steelers
take a twenty eight to fifteen win over Miami that
makes them winners of three of their last four Cincinnati,
Baltimore and Miami. Those wins and then.

Speaker 2 (44:18):
The crushing loss to the Buffalo Bills going back to
the end of November. But for Rogers in company, I mean,
the most impressive thing or encouraging thing I guess the
last couple of weeks, Greg is we started to see
DK Metcalf.

Speaker 4 (44:31):
Yeah, I was just gonna say that, I was thinking
as you played, that is MVS starting to approach Josh
johnson territory.

Speaker 3 (44:37):
Als he might be bouncing around a little bit.

Speaker 4 (44:40):
Yeah, but no, the key, one of the keys clearly
is that DK Metcalf is now becoming a bigger factor.
In the past game, Rogers is throwing some vertical shots
to him. Obviously he can run, he's big, he's physical.
And then I think their past game, which has been
kind of pedestrian, if I could use that where they

(45:00):
you know, Rogers has been very efficient but not a
lot of yards, and I think that if you're a
Steelers fan, hopefully they're working toward that where the ball
gets pushed a little more down the field. And obviously
they're playing a Lions defense that the secondary is there's
a lot of injuries there. We just saw that Kirby
Joseph went on ir so he's essentially done for the year.

(45:22):
I guess, so their safety position is now guys that
are backups and guys they had to bringing off the street.
So we'll see. I mean, maybe this is a week,
you know, the game obviously where the won't be an issue.
They're playing in Detroit, so it's a fast surface. This
is a very big game for Pittsburgh because the Lions
can score.

Speaker 2 (45:40):
Yeah, if you want to go, tickets are at least
two hundred and sixty dollars for this one to see
a couple of any whites get after it. Lions at
home and a nice short jaunt for the folks in
Pittsburgh to pack up the caravan and get over that way,
as we know how well they travel. For Jared Goff
eight touchdowns against one pick the last four games. I
guess the Jamiir Gibbs factor, and this is certainly something

(46:03):
fantasy owners.

Speaker 3 (46:04):
Are well aware of.

Speaker 2 (46:05):
Greg over the last couple of games, like the last six.
To say it, it reads like binary code, except instead
of a one, it's a three.

Speaker 3 (46:15):
Three zero three zero three zero.

Speaker 2 (46:17):
That's how many touchdowns he's had three of those games
and then three without three points since yards or worse,
four of his last six.

Speaker 4 (46:25):
It'll be interesting because they get their left guard back,
Christian Mahogany, he was out for I guess he was
on IR and they really struggled at the left guard position,
which is why they went after Frank Ragno, who obviously
you know couldn't play fail the physical and that's been
when you watch the tape, you really see issues over
this last month at the left guard position in one

(46:47):
on one matchups, whether it's in the run game or
in pass pro. So now that they get Mahogany back
and he was their starter, obviously, second year player out
of Boston College, a pretty good player, so we'll see
how that impacts their off.

Speaker 2 (47:00):
We've also seen over the last couple of weeks the
reemergence of Jameson Williams. Three weeks of seven receptions, ninety
six or more receiving yards in all of those games,
two touchdowns, and the target counts up at twenty nine
over that time, So pushing the ball downfield with him
as well.

Speaker 4 (47:18):
You know what's your thought on this is Jared Goff.
I feel like he's for all these years a very
overlooked player. I mean, he's one of those guys that
just has seemingly has a really good year every year.
He's a little he's old school. Obviously, he's not a playmaker.
He doesn't make those plays that you see on highlight
shows obviously, other than he just throws the ball really well.

(47:41):
But again, another outstanding season over sixty nine percent completion,
twenty nine touchdowns, only five picks, probably throws the ball
between the numbers in sort of the fourteen to twenty
two yard air yards range as well as any quarterback.
Caleb Williams is now getting into that category as well,
and it's the Ben Johnson effect, but it's he's just

(48:04):
been a really, really good player.

Speaker 2 (48:05):
Yeah, we've been talking about it a lot, the working
out of play action and what it's got. Twenty nine touchdowns,
five interceptions on the year, thirty six hundred seventy two
yards thus far.

Speaker 3 (48:16):
You know what to do.

Speaker 2 (48:17):
We got a guy Chris Purfett, our technical producer. He's
covered the Lions for many a year, So I give
you the floor of your response as a guy who's
followed this team and gets the positive and negative text
like I do about bear stuff.

Speaker 11 (48:33):
Yeah, Jared Gof's just fascinating in that way because, as
you say, like everything should you know, have you appreciate him?
But like there are those games where it just it
looks like the pressure gets to him and it just
really starts to like throw him off. So I wonder
how much that kind of caps the perception of him
at times, especially like something like the Thanksgiving game where
they you know, they get rattled a little couple times

(48:56):
up front by the Packers and suddenly the whole game
plan just kind of starts. It's just it's just been
a little uneven this year for the Lions with implementing
this new system, with John Morton, not having Ben Johnson
running the plays, and you know, as always not having
Frank Ragnow and some of their you know, more short
handed guys like alman Ra Saint Brown kind of finally
had some drops this year. It's kind of led us

(49:17):
to plus the defensive injuries to all of this.

Speaker 4 (49:21):
But yeah, well you know, he's and the pressure thing
is always going to be an issue to some degree
because he's a pocket player. He's a pure pocket quarterback. Yeah,
can he roll out once in a while or can
every once in a while, can he make a play
where he moves, But for the most part, he's a
pocket player, needs to be protected. But he's very efficient

(49:43):
and he throws those intermediate balls as well as anybody.
It's just in this new era of quarterbacks, so to speak,
where we were used to the Mahomes, the Allens, the Jackson's,
the guys that move. Caleb is now, you know, certainly
in that category. The way he can move. He has
great spatial awareness when he moves. So GOP's not that
guy in many respects. He's a dinosaur, but he's very,

(50:05):
very good at what he is.

Speaker 2 (50:07):
Yeah, I will throw this last one out. Rag now
mentioned a couple of times here. I don't know that
I've cheered for a potential return of a player and
even though it was gonna hurt potentially the bears of
his returning just one of my favorite guys to watch.
So I don't know an appreciation for Lineman and what
they mean to uh making the machine run. I guess

(50:28):
maybe I've been pressed down a lot by the guys
that have walked through these or Sports Radio Greg. Maybe
maybe that's what affects me or Rev Sorry, once upon
a time.

Speaker 4 (50:37):
Very wow, there's a name from the past.

Speaker 3 (50:40):
Well, I mean autograph seeking as a kid going.

Speaker 4 (50:43):
Out to you gotta be you gotta be an Ollen
Cruitz guy. A lot of people he should be in
the Hall of Fame all Fame. Yeah, a lot of
people believe that.

Speaker 2 (50:49):
I'm gonna stick, you know, just like celebration cupcakes and
letter writing campaigns. That's one I'm gonna take up. How
do we get old?

Speaker 4 (50:58):
No, there's You're not the only one who believes that,
by the way, And I'm not going to sit here
and say I studied every play of all and crude,
so I'm not going to you know, I can't speak
to that with any real intelligence, but I know there's
a lot of people a lot smarter than I am
about offensive line play who believe that he should be
in the Hall of Fame.

Speaker 2 (51:13):
There you go, So that that comes up, But it's
just you know, guys like rag Now and players that grind.
To make your offense look pretty, someone's got to do
the dirty work. So we move on from that game
and look at another big an NFC South battle as
we look at Tampa Bay and Carolinea. Tampa Bay a

(51:34):
field goal favorite Mike Evans came back last week, had
a big week. Unfortunately he was the only one. Bucky
Irving's been okay eighty one total yards per game the
last three since he's come back greg but he's not
really been as big a factor in the passing game
as he was pre injury. And and we really have
seen the best of Amika Buca was the first six

(51:58):
weeks of the season. He's fallen off tremendously, had been
affected by some drops, and we've watched things get a
little bit disintegrated there for their offense. Meanwhile, for Carolina,
the Chuba Hubber Rika Dudel Duel, their tandem's been fantastic.
Mcmillon's on the injury report today. He's got foot and
ankle things that are slowing him down. He's over unders

(52:19):
at fifty six for the day. Jalen Cocher are going
to be called on a little bit. But for Baker
Mayfield over the last several names here, five point seven
yards per attempt. He's down in in Aaron Rodgers territory
these last few games.

Speaker 4 (52:33):
It's been a struggle. You know, the way I think
about this game, we know what Todd balls is. We
know he's an aggressive guy, and they have not been
able to rush the quarterback particularly well with their down four,
and of course they signed JPP. I don't know if
he might.

Speaker 3 (52:50):
Be he's going to be active today, yep.

Speaker 4 (52:52):
Yeah, So I mean you got guys back. Yeah, that
tells you that they know they've not been able to
rush with their down four. But Todd bow has always
been a big blitzer. That's something he's always believed in.
The Bucks are always among the highest percentage blitz teams
in the NFL. They use defensive backs, particularly Winfield and
the rookie slot corner Parish As they're kind of their

(53:14):
known blitzers from the back end. But he's not going
to go down today playing soft. He's going to attack.
That's just his mentality. So I think you can expect
that defense to be very aggressive. And Bryce Young has
made plays with his legs this year, and he's converted
some third downs in recent weeks using his legs. So
I'm looking forward to see how that plays out.

Speaker 2 (53:36):
A little bit of a Dave can Allis appreciation moment
here as we sit here to Bryce Young, a guy
many were ready to throw on the scrap heap of history.
Instead you're looking at a guy who's already eclipsed last
year's yardage total. He's at nineteen to nine in terms
of touchdown to interception ratio and completing nearly three percent

(53:57):
more of.

Speaker 3 (53:57):
His pass attempts. Yeah, get those young receivers involved.

Speaker 4 (54:01):
No, And you know what, because he's not just in
terms of physical traits as far as the NFL quarterback position,
he's certainly in the more towards the bottom of the
half than the upper half. But he's very intelligent, great
work ethic, and obviously you need team with him. He's
not the guy that's going to do it by himself,
but he sort of settled into being, you know, a

(54:22):
nice complimentary piece of a team that's playing pretty well.
Their O line, though, is a little bit of an
issue in pass pro, and that's why I think you're
going to see a pretty high percentage blitztay for Todd
Bowles and that Bucks defense.

Speaker 2 (54:34):
Can't wait to watch that one. We'll see that a
little bit later again. Three point favorites are the Buccaneers
on the road, still trying to rest that NFC South
title as we continue a couple more big games, including
one in the AFC that, Oh, you might not have
seen him coming when this seasons started. You didn't circle
that for Week sixteen saying that's much must watch TV.

(54:55):
I would say, oh, contreermar Montfrere will do that. As
we continue. It's Fox Football Sunday, Fox Sports Radio. He's
Greg Cosell at Greg Cosell NFL Films. The NFL Matchup Show,
and of course he joins Colin Cowhardt one o'clock Eastern
Time every Thursday to break down what Colin calls the
best fifteen minutes he does every week.

Speaker 3 (55:15):
There you go.

Speaker 2 (55:15):
I put that above the above the fold for you,
Greg Cosell. I'm Mike Carmen at Swallendome. You hear me
weeknights seven to eleven Pacific alongside Jason Smith and the
iwatcher Flex Podcast with Dan bayer Ian Roddy, our executive producer.
We go you through seventy five eighty players each week,
telling you the good, the bad, the ugly of your
fantasy team. And then after the week's over, I'll come

(55:36):
back and tell you exactly how poorly I fared, because
then you can blame me. That's how it works. It's
Fox Football Sunday, Fox Sports Radio. Yes, Jaguars football. We're
talking about it next year on Fox.

Speaker 7 (55:49):
Fox Sports Radio has the best sports talk lineup in
the nation. Catch all of our shows at foxsports Radio
dot com and within the iHeartRadio app search FSR to
listen live.

Speaker 2 (56:01):
We welcome back in It's Fox Football Sunday, Fox Sports Radio,
Week sixteen edition. Mike Arnan greg co seal with you
having a blast. A couple of minutes, we'll hear from
Martin Wise. He's over at the news desk with some
early ins and outs and game time decisions, scoring recap.
Maybe I'll replay a lot of that Bears glory from
last night.

Speaker 4 (56:19):
Maybe you won't.

Speaker 7 (56:20):
I don't know.

Speaker 3 (56:20):
We'll see.

Speaker 2 (56:21):
But as we continue here on the show, we have
a huge matchup in the AFC.

Speaker 4 (56:27):
Greg.

Speaker 2 (56:28):
When we look at the Jacksonville Jaguars resplendent, Yes, coming
off of an absolute beatdown of the New York Football
Jets going up against the Denver Broncos later on today,
folks expected better if Denver couldn't have expected the way
this season has rolled along, Denver a three and a
half point favorite at home. As we get ready for

(56:48):
this one, Lawrence. Over the last four weeks, averaging nearly
eight point nine yards per attempt, we've seen ETN become
a bigger, more explosive part of the passing game. Jacoby
Myers has been so good for them. They already gave
him a concert an outstansion concerts and I got concert
on my brain.

Speaker 4 (57:06):
Yeah, they've been great in the red zone. By the
way really good in the red zone. But uh, you know,
I really looked at Lawrence hard this week just because
you know, who would have expected this where they are
right now in this season. And you know, this is
where coaching is such a big deal in this league, Mike,
And you know, I know a lot of people might
not think that way, but you know, they do such

(57:27):
a great job with pre snap movement, with formations, with
route concepts, and they present it so cleanly for Lawrence
because with a quarterback, what you really want to have
happened is for him to hit that back foot and
feel like he knows exactly where to go with the football,
which is hard to do obviously, you know, defenses and

(57:47):
there was a great thing with Kirk Cousins this week.
You probably saw it. I'm sure a lot of people
did as well, talking about progression, pure progression versus sort
of the old way of doing it with coverage. But
you know, with a quarterback, you're trying to get him
to know exactly where to go with the football when
he hits that back foot, you know. But their use
of motion has been phenomenal. They've got the fourth highest

(58:09):
percentage deployment of pre snap movement of any team in
the NFL. They deploy it strategically. They dictated impact defensive reactions.
And Lawrence just looks so poised and calm now, and
he hasn't always looked like that. Quite frankly, I always
thought he struggled a bit with what he saw. You know,
he works outside the number as well. This past week

(58:31):
he worked between the numbers really well. It's almost as
if you see a quarterback kind of growing with each
week under a really good offensive coach.

Speaker 2 (58:40):
Liam Cohen getting some run. Obviously, he was mocked early
on for the duval thing in his press conference, and
it seems like a lot of these guys that have
gone on to great success give us some really odd
ball kind of things. I mean, we had a good
run with Mike McDaniel. We talked about him a lot.
We go back to Dan Campbell and wanting to buy kneecaps,

(59:01):
and now you got Liam dohin with the surging Jaguars.

Speaker 3 (59:05):
So the pre.

Speaker 2 (59:06):
Snat motion, I'm just trying to figure out how we
solve the Denver defense of what that?

Speaker 4 (59:13):
Yeah, yeah, that's you're dealing with the best third down
defense in the league. The team with the most sacks
in the league. They are really really good. There's obviously
questions on the O line for for the Jaguars. The
left tackle he's played well. The backup left tackle, I
think Van Lennon has played well. But you know, obviously

(59:34):
you're going to get a great test today. He'll be
working mostly against Benito. This is a really really good defense.
So in advance, Joseph I think does such a great
job with kind of muddying the waters as to whether
it's man or zone. I think he does such a
good job with that. So look, this is a tough matchup.

(59:54):
You know, they could continue to play well or it
could be one of those days where the defense is
better than the Jaguars. You just don't know. That's why
we play him. But obviously the offense for the Broncos
has played well. Bo Nix is you know, he just
looks very, very comfortable right now, and he makes a
lot of good throws. He's got he's got a much

(01:00:15):
bigger arm, and I think people think that he has
because he makes armstrength throws.

Speaker 2 (01:00:19):
Yeah, it's funny, and I remember that being part of
the analysis as we started doing the draft process of
questioning the armshedd thing. I watched a lot of him play.
I think it was there and certainly, I mean you
talk about down distance in game circumstance. A lot of
games where he didn't have to exactly start ringing it
all over the field, right, So.

Speaker 4 (01:00:40):
Yeah, every game is different.

Speaker 3 (01:00:41):
You know.

Speaker 4 (01:00:42):
Arm strength is one of those things that you know,
a lot of people say that, oh it doesn't matter,
and by the way, there could be games where it
doesn't matter, and then there are games where it does matter.
You know, it's it's just in the games that it
does matter if you don't have. What I always talk about,
and I showed this to my guys on the Matchup
Show because you know I'm sitting here tape all day long,
is it's what quarterbacks see as viable throws. Mike, you

(01:01:06):
know I can show you plays if you were sitting
with me, I could say, hey, that throw needs to
be made, and then it's not made. And again, I
don't know what's in the quarterback's head. I never presume
to know that, but it's what quarterbacks view as viable throws.
And like a Sam Darnold, for instance, he has a
very big arm and he's going to make those difficult throws.

(01:01:27):
He sees them as viable throws to make. Now, once
in a while I might have get intercepted, sure, But
the point is is there's a lot of quarterbacks that
don't see throws that need to be made. This is
the NFL now, that need to be made, and they're
not going to turn it loose. They just don't process
it as viable throws.

Speaker 2 (01:01:44):
To drive it in. As we talked about Caleb Williams
a little bit earlier. Go back to that oh last
last week, right, I mean, yeah, that's the problem with
that well where he did the role to the right
and people started putting this graphic with Joe Montana and
the catch of Dwight Clark going, look, it's almost the
same except it was from thirty yards.

Speaker 5 (01:02:05):
Yeah.

Speaker 4 (01:02:05):
Well, this is an offense in Denver where they throw
it a lot, but it's very ball control ish at times.
Because Nicks has the fourth most first down dropbacks of
any quarterback in the NFL, but yet he's only fourteenth
in the league in first down passing yards, So they
use the pass game on first down more as a

(01:02:26):
sustaining element than a big play element. Now, having said that,
I don't want people to think, well, they never get
a big play on first down, but over the course
of now we have a large sample size. That's how
they use it for the most part, as more of
a sustaining element.

Speaker 6 (01:02:39):
R J.

Speaker 2 (01:02:40):
Harvey also riding a three game scoring streak as we
get into this one. Etn five touchdowns the last two games,
all three of his receptions last week for touchdowns. To
help you advance in your fantasy leagues as we roll
forward here Fox Football Sunday, Fox Sports Radio. I also
heard an invite to come watch tape with you. I'll
bring a book in acceleration, cupcake or five.

Speaker 4 (01:03:01):
But maybe you could bring two or three, you know, Yeah, no,
you got as it's a long it's a long day.
You know, you got to make sure you're you're up
for the test.

Speaker 3 (01:03:08):
Yeah, there's no question about it.

Speaker 2 (01:03:10):
Yeah, big notebook, clean notebook, and celebration cupcakes. Also looking
for a celebration cupcake. Our guy Martin Wise, he's over
at the news desk. He's got everything going on here
as we get ready for week sixteen in Arnest.

Speaker 3 (01:03:21):
What's going on.

Speaker 12 (01:03:22):
Martin quinn Ewers mom and dad opening celebration cupcakes themselves
is their son ready to make his first NFL start
today against the Cincinnati Bengals. Viewers has played this season,
but this will be his first start. Tua Tongue Bioa
expected to be the third string quarterback today. The emergency
guy Why receiver t Higgins for Cincinnati expected to play
today he's dealing with concussion.

Speaker 5 (01:03:44):
Safety Kyle Hamilton for the Baltimore.

Speaker 12 (01:03:46):
Ravens will work out against will work out ahead of
the game against the Patriots. In the NFL Network reporting
Hamilton more likely to play than not. Why was he
Everrmarin Harrison Junior for the Arizona Cardinals expected to play
today Sunday against the Alkins. Nick Chubb expected to play
against the Raiders. Tyrod Taylor active but scheduled to back

(01:04:06):
up rookie Brady Cook today against the Saints. Last night,
the Paars beat the Packers in overtime twenty two to
sixteen goal bears. The Packers quarterback Jordan Love in concussion protocol.
He missed the end of the game after Montoie Monttes
Sweat sacked him on a rough in the passer penalty.
The Eagles will be back to back NFC champs, beating

(01:04:27):
the Commanders twenty nine to eighteen. They trailed late in
the third quarter ten to seven before Marcus Mariota got
knocked out of the game. He was evaluated for concussion
and injured his right hand.

Speaker 5 (01:04:37):
The Rams fired special.

Speaker 12 (01:04:39):
Team coordinator Chased Blackburn after Rashid Shaheed impacted the.

Speaker 5 (01:04:43):
Way they lost that game. Pretty big on special teams.

Speaker 12 (01:04:46):
On Thursday night, in college football, the quarterfinal except for
the playoffs the New Year's Eve, you'll see number two
Ohio State in tenth rank, that Miami play in the
Cotton Bowl at seven thirty. And on January first, she
it's a Texas Tech at fifth, Oregon playing the Orange
Bowl at noon they once seed Indiana, and I see Alabama.

Speaker 5 (01:05:06):
Playing in the Rolls Bull four o'clock.

Speaker 12 (01:05:07):
Through rank Georgia and sixth old mess playing in the
Sugar Bowl at eight pm, and an upset.

Speaker 5 (01:05:13):
In college basketball last.

Speaker 12 (01:05:14):
Night is nineteenth right Texas Tech be third ranked Duke
eighty two to eighty one.

Speaker 2 (01:05:18):
Back to you, guys, fantastic stuff full date ahead for
us here as we get things rolling at Martin Weiss
where you find him. Check out all his latest videos
and what he's got popping you hear him every week.
Saturday is on Fox Sports Radio in the evenings as well.
Welcome back in It's Fox Football Sunday. Greg Co selling
me Mike Harmon as we come to you live here

(01:05:40):
from the Fox Sports Radio studios. Subscribe to the Fox
Sports Radio YouTube channel. Search Fox Sports Radio on YouTube,
see the best videos for all the shows and don't
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Let us know whose take you like, and even if
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color there as well. Search Fox Sports Radio on YouTube
and subscribe to your friends and family.

Speaker 3 (01:06:00):
It's gift giving season.

Speaker 2 (01:06:02):
Just takes a couple of clicks, maybe a nice card,
maybe by a marker or two, give it a little
bit of color and again it's the gift that keeps
on given at Greg co Selary find Greg buy me
over at Swollen Dome.

Speaker 3 (01:06:14):
Let's get another game in here. A couple of young quarterbacks.

Speaker 2 (01:06:17):
Getting after and a guy on the come that I'm
curious of your reaction to his last performance.

Speaker 7 (01:06:22):
McCarthy play action to Jordan Mason, rolls up to the left,
proach to the m zone and touchdown.

Speaker 4 (01:06:31):
J J. McCarthy found single coverage and he made the
Dallas Cowboys pay.

Speaker 2 (01:06:39):
Here you go the Minnesota call. The last two games
sixty five points, five touchdowns, one pick for JJ McCarthy.
Are we seeing the improvement we were hoping to with
a couple more starts.

Speaker 4 (01:06:52):
Yeah, And again, all I have now is what he
did against the Cowboys. I'm not going to sit here
and say this is going to happen this week or
next week. We hope it does. But I watched that
tape and I would say he looked more comfortable with
his reads and his throws versus the Cowboys. It looked
like in that game that things slowed down for him
and he was playing a little more decisively from the pocket.
I would say that one area he must improve is

(01:07:16):
a more consistent precision with his ball placement. At times
it's placed perfectly, other times he misses routine throws. But
I thought that this past week against the Cowboys, he
just seemed so much more decisive. And he does make
some big time throws. And don't forget that he's a
good athlete. His legs are a factor in the Vikings

(01:07:37):
pass game, both with designed boot action and his scrambling ability.

Speaker 2 (01:07:41):
Yeah, it's starting to make some big plays again. Fantasy
owners still saying where's JJ, Yes, Justin Jefferson. Still he
was seventy third last week amongst fantasy receivers. Not that
you care, but it didn't help my fantasy team. There,
Greg my prognostication because I thought against the Dallas defense
might be getting him right. Everybody else got fed Naylor

(01:08:01):
a couple of times. Now, let's go to the other
side of the equation. When we talk about Jackson Dart.
We've talked about his ability to escape the pocket. What
he's got four hundred rushing yards on the year, seven
touchdowns and seven trips to the blue tent. Yeah, sixty
three percent completion rate, thirteen touchdowns against four picks. So
it's been efficient when he's on the field.

Speaker 4 (01:08:23):
Yeah. And he's another guy that's shown flashes where you
look at him and you go, wow, I think this
guy could be a really good player. And other times
he drops back and I can tell immediately that he
just doesn't have a sense of exactly what he's seeing,
and that takes time. I mean, we've talked over these
this whole season, really about how defenses have really changed
and what's become now so foundational for so many defenses

(01:08:46):
is changing the picture pre snap to post snap. And
that's not something that you see very much in college football,
so that can take time. Some guys innately can see it.
I mean, it's just one of those things. You know,
we've probably talked about this where you think about guys
in other sports, like playing point guard. Some guys can
see the court. Other guys just can't. You know, hockey,

(01:09:06):
not everybody would see the ice the way Wayne Gretzky did.
You could talk about it till you're blue in the face.
They're not going to see it that way. So Jackson Dart,
you know, we don't know where he's going to end
up in that regard Mike, but I think right now
there are times it looks right and there's other times
I can tell immediately he's just not seeing it the
right way, and I think that's one reason he runs
so much.

Speaker 2 (01:09:26):
A couple more games to get you on the slate.
We'll save Monday night in my celebration of Philip Rivers
for last as well as the other veteran you've already mentioned,
and Kirk Cousins will save those two games. But let's
go to a couple of rookies real quick, because we've
got Brady Cook going for the Jets and on the
other side, Tyler Shuck. It's the weekly Tyler Shuck moment
of appreciation of a guy that I'm curious to see

(01:09:50):
whether he actually gets the opportunity to be their guy
longer term or if this is a one year with
an ip towards the draft.

Speaker 4 (01:10:02):
You know, I like Tyler Shuck. And again, he's obviously
they're not a great team, and he's done a nice job.
There's been ups and downs, uneven play, just like there
is with any rookie quarterback. Sure, but he's a big kid.
He throws it well, he moves well. It would not
surprise me if they go another year. Again, there's three

(01:10:24):
games to go, so we don't know what's going to happen.
But let's assume there's a kind of normal trajectory. You know,
there'll be some uneven play, there'll be some positive play.
If he continues the way he's played the last couple
of weeks. It would not surprise me if they give
him a full year as the starting quarterback and then
see where they stand.

Speaker 2 (01:10:42):
Another thing you wouldn't have on the Bengo Card the
Saints nearly a touchdown favorite over any team in week
sixteen of the Action foot telling you where they are,
although recent reports have Aaron Glenn returning for a second year.
Forty and a half is the total in this one.
You can get into that one for about twelve bucks

(01:11:03):
if you're in the area.

Speaker 3 (01:11:04):
He's great co sell on Mike Carbon It's Fox Football
Sunday at Fox Sports Radio. A couple of games left,
including Well Martin gave you the update, Marvin Harrison Junior
is going to try to go. What does it mean
for Michael Wilson and your fantasy team.

Speaker 2 (01:11:17):
We'll tell you next Here on Fox Sports Radio.

Speaker 1 (01:11:20):
You're listening to Fox Sports Radio Radio.

Speaker 3 (01:11:23):
Welcome back in Fox Football Sunday, Fox Sports Radio. Coming
up in about fifteen minutes from now, You've.

Speaker 2 (01:11:29):
Got Brian, Jeff and Bill with the Countdown to Kickoff
show presented by Bett MGM, getting you set for all
the different angles and recapping what was a very busy
day in college football as well. But if you have
missed any of today's show, catch the podcast search Fox
Sports Radio wherever you get your podcast. Right after the show,
I got lead, We'll get that together and post it.

(01:11:52):
Be sure to follow it rated five stars. Provide a review,
tell me how pretty I am all those things? Search
Fox Sports Radio wherever you get your podcast, you'll find
today's full show posted right after we get off the air.
And if you have a review of celebration cupcakes or
do you just want to talk about them, I'm there
for you as well.

Speaker 3 (01:12:11):
As we get ready to get into a big week.

Speaker 2 (01:12:14):
Sixteen National Football League season really has passed so quickly.

Speaker 3 (01:12:19):
Greg the blink.

Speaker 4 (01:12:21):
And here we are crazy.

Speaker 2 (01:12:23):
Yeah, it's just the ebb and blow of this season
has been insane. I mentioned it in the first hour
of the fact that we're already at fifty three different
starters over the course of the year. That number will
surely be augmented before we're done with all of this.
Obviously hoping the best for Jordan Love that he can
get back out on the field.

Speaker 3 (01:12:43):
Next week after that hit he took yesterday.

Speaker 2 (01:12:46):
Got chippy there in Chicago, and a lot of a
lot of hand ringing is like, all right, that's they
played through the reverberation of the whistle. And then sometimes
guys put their head down instead of getting down, and
you know they don't play the blame blame game with it.

Speaker 3 (01:13:03):
But it's just say, hey, it's football.

Speaker 2 (01:13:05):
There's big bodies flying around and guys get hurt. But
certainly that was a huge, huge knock, and Malik Willis
acquitted himself pretty well in relief for a guy that
hadn't seen the field much at all. But later on
today we have a guy that started on the bench.
And while he's back on the field for the Atlanta

(01:13:26):
Falcons the last couple of weeks, Captain Kirk Cousins, remember
he was deposed the end of last year, comes back
slinging around. He and Kyle Pitts found each other three
times big games.

Speaker 3 (01:13:37):
And you look at Pitts.

Speaker 2 (01:13:38):
Over the last three weeks, Greg, he's become a much
bigger part of this offense for the Atlanta Falcons.

Speaker 3 (01:13:44):
What is it?

Speaker 2 (01:13:47):
And sixty six for twenty four receptions over the last
three weeks. And we've talked a lot about John Robinson.
Will actually get Drake London back against Arizona and their
offense comes to play. But there's there's defense certainly leaves
much to be desired.

Speaker 4 (01:14:03):
Yeah, it's another team even when London's healthy, that plays
a lot out of twelve personnel, one back, two tight ends.
Because Pitt's essentially is a wide receiver. He can line
up in line, but they use him in a split
way more often than not. He's very gifted guy.

Speaker 5 (01:14:19):
You know.

Speaker 4 (01:14:19):
Again, he hasn't had a great career, and I guess
he's in a contract year or so that he is,
so he's playing inspired football. Maybe that's the right word.

Speaker 2 (01:14:27):
He's photoshopped into a Chiefs uniform yet, No, I haven't
if you.

Speaker 4 (01:14:32):
Want, but you know, Kirk Cousins and you know, we
mentioned this earlier, and just to mention it again because
it's so worth people's time to see him talk about
playing the quarterback position as it's evolved, because he's lived
through it, talking about pure progression reads versus versus the
way it once was, where you basically picked a side
based on whether we're single high or too high. He's

(01:14:54):
so good talking about it. But in this last game,
he was phenomenal on third down versus a difficult defense
to play on third down, the Bucks because of their pressures.
But he was very, very good, you know. And then
you have v Jean Robinson, who you know, I researched
him a bit this week, as I was very curious
because he's detached from the formation quite a bit, so

(01:15:16):
I was curious how often that is. Do you know
that twenty percent of his of his snaps this year
he's been detached from the formation. That's that's pretty remarkable.
I mean that's he's almost a wide receiver basically, you know,
And and of course as a back as a runner,
no team runs a higher percentage of outside zone than

(01:15:37):
the Falcons, that's what they do. And he runs out
of the pistol formation predominantly, So they're a team that
does certain things really really well. And Cousins, he's just
a professional quarterback, Mike O and a guy that.

Speaker 2 (01:15:51):
Is probably playing himself either into staying that guy as
Pennix has his rehab because there's still a lot of
money on the books that would have to be figured
out otherwise, still two years left on that deal that
he signed, or he'll he'll be quarterbacking for someone else,
showing the live arm and maybe just a little bit
of extra time was needed recovering from the injury.

Speaker 4 (01:16:12):
Yeah, he sustained, right, especially that it's especially it's given
that it's not going to be a great quarterback class
in the draft from everything we've seen up to this point.
So someone like Cousins, you can certainly sign him. They
have to know what he is. You got to protect him.

Speaker 3 (01:16:26):
Sure.

Speaker 4 (01:16:26):
I mean, obviously you can't sign him and then figure out, well,
the offensive line is not very good, because obviously that
would be a problem. But he's he's a very professional
quarterback and you can line up and play with Kirk Cousins.

Speaker 2 (01:16:39):
One heck of a run for a guy that drafted
as the second guy all the way back into yes
twelve when Washington doubled down, well, just like Atlanta did
when they signed him and then drafted Michael Pennix.

Speaker 3 (01:16:52):
It's funny.

Speaker 4 (01:16:52):
That's exactly right. That's exactly right. So he and I'm
sure that you probably had David Sills on your fantasy team.

Speaker 3 (01:16:59):
Didn't, Oh, no question about it.

Speaker 4 (01:17:01):
Yeah, you knew that when I cursed to.

Speaker 2 (01:17:04):
The until I was blue in the face when he dropped,
that would be forty six yard touchdown.

Speaker 4 (01:17:08):
Pa. Oh, I know, that would have been a walking touchdown.
I know.

Speaker 3 (01:17:11):
Yeah, that's one.

Speaker 2 (01:17:12):
As the announcers like to say, Greg, he'd like to
have that one back.

Speaker 4 (01:17:17):
Uh, Yeah, I loved I love that. Yeah, I love
that you like that.

Speaker 3 (01:17:21):
What else we got? We got our generational.

Speaker 4 (01:17:24):
Yes, yes, that's another one of my favorite.

Speaker 2 (01:17:26):
The code words of how do we get the red
siren around Greg Kosell.

Speaker 4 (01:17:33):
He's got he's got it.

Speaker 2 (01:17:35):
He's a winner. Yeah, he is a winner. Speak of winners.
Jacoby Brissett is a curious case for me as well. Right,
so it's presumed Kyler Murray has played his last snap
as a member of the Air Cardinals. For Jacoby Brissett
multiple touchdowns eight of his last nine games. He gets
Marvin Harrison junior back. I mentioned Michael Wilson, who's been great,
Michael Carter the next man up in what has been

(01:17:57):
a never ending revolving door of running backs on the
course of the season. But just a curiosity of what
you've seen from Brissette, of whether he's a guy that
you look at and again and owing to what the
quarterback class may be, not saying you don't take one,
but that right, he becomes a placeholder perhaps for a year.

Speaker 4 (01:18:15):
Yeah, and he's played enough that people know that you're
not necessarily signing him to be your seventeen game starter,
because he's been in the league long enough. But you
can line up and play with him. He knows how
to play. He's got some flaws in his game that
always crop up the more he plays. But he's an
interesting guy. I mean, and from everything I gather, he's
supposed to be just a great human being, someone you

(01:18:37):
want on your team. And he's played well. Look, this
is not a great team. They've missed a lot of players. Obviously,
they lost James Connor, Marvin Harrison's missed games. You mentioned
Michael Wilson. He's always been a favorite of mine ever
since he came out of Stanford. He's big, he's physical,
he knows how to run routes. The kind of guy
that I always thought if he was on a really

(01:18:59):
good PA team. You know that he catched eighty balls,
you know, for eleven hundred yards, and we never say
he's like a big time number one, but he would
just be a really good receiver.

Speaker 2 (01:19:09):
Good receiver. He's been great for fantasy owners. All right,
let's get the last game. San Francisco Indianapolis. San Francisco
is six point favorite on the road. Philip Rivers start
number two is over under for passing yards all the
way up to one hundred and fifty seven point five yards.

Speaker 4 (01:19:24):
Philip Rivers is exactly what we were talking about. He
steps right in and you can tell he still sees
it the right way and he's willing to make tough throws. Now,
obviously he doesn't have a big arm, and the final
interception he threw at the end of the game was
the furthest ball. He threw air yards. He's not going
to drive it down the field, but he knows how
to play. And the Niners their offense. They'll be without

(01:19:44):
Ricky Piersol, which is a shame because he came on
last week, but their offense has been very good since
Bertie's come back, and they do so much with motion.
I love watching what they do with motion.

Speaker 2 (01:19:55):
CMC four games scoring streak, only two hundred yard games.
What we talk about his total yortage well over sixteen
hours for the year. But Philip almost had that win.
We'll see if you can give it the old try
at home on a Monday night. Greg, it's a fantastic
two hours, so fast celebration cupcake for you. I'll go

(01:20:16):
have one myself and we'll raise a glass. Happy hot
final day of Honika to those who celebrate for the
holiday week and enjoy your friends and family, take care
of each other. Count Down to Kickoff presented by bat MGM.
Coming up next year on Fox Sports Radio