Bo Nix STRUGGLES, Broncos defense DOMINATES in TNF win vs. Raiders

Episode Transcript
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Speaker 1 (00:01):
The volume. What is going on everybody? How are we doing?
John middlecoff three and out podcast. If everyone's doing well,

(00:23):
better than the Raiders and probably better than the Broncos
offense which has some issues, so we will dive into
that tonight. Obviously, this show's presented by his own pouches.
But Thursday night game was rough, so well, it's Fugazi Friday.
That was a could argue a forgazzi performance by both

(00:43):
teams that was rough. Not The Broncos defense is good.
Max Crosby plays hard, but other than that, we if
you didn't watch, you didn't miss much. But the Broncos
are hating too with a quarterback then I'm just not
sure is that good? So we'll dive into that. Some
thoughts from a couple of things I saw with the
trade deadline, something on Veach and the Chiefs and a

(01:07):
trade that they didn't make, some thoughts on Daniel Jones,
who I think might be the big winner of the week,
and then hit on a couple of fugazis and as
well as a hot yoga update I conquered it. No
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(01:27):
on YouTube. You'll never miss a thing. We go live
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I have tried to stay optimistic. Young player on a
team that's really good, so sometimes they get judged a

(02:32):
little bit easier or more difficult than players that are
playing in meaningless games, guys on terrible teams. But bo
Nix the majority of the season has been atrocious, and
tonight it was like, oh, same thing, start and slow,
He's gonna have, you know, a big ending, and it
never really happened. He was mainly beside a couple passes,

(02:53):
not very good. And I think we have to acknowledge something.
The Broncos, for me, now officially have a in twenty
twenty five because they have a defense that is like
a Ferrari. I mean, the team speed. One thing about
the Broncos when they've been good on defense over the
last decade, when the Peyton era that'd be Peyton Manning

(03:16):
and now the Sean Payton era is their team speed
is elite. Like it doesn't get any better. My neighbor
just finalizes divorce. Actually very successful guy. He's in the
medical field. He works on let's just call him a
plastic surgeon. He does well for himself. He owns a Ferrari.
It's incredible and that's like the Denver Broncos. But the

(03:39):
problem is bo Nicks would be the engine and if
he wanted to be like Hey, John, you want to
take this Ferrari and the engine was missing, we'd have
a problem, and you have no chance to win a
super Bowl with bo Knicks as playing like he is
right now. I'd go further and say, I don't think
they have much of a chance in the playoffs with
a quarterback who functions like that, it's just not going

(03:59):
to work out. And Herbstreet pointed out something tonight. There
was a play in the red zone, and I think
his confidence is shot. I really do. And maybe it's
you know, perpetuated by the bad play and now it's
snowballed into this position. But you watched them, like listen,
he's never been the most accurate guy. When you do
a deep dive of him. At Auburn he was an

(04:22):
inaccurate player. Obviously at Oregon he was exceptional. But we've
broken down a lot of those are you know, quick
screen type plays and you know, behind the line of
scrimmage type throws. Sean Payton tried to do a couple
of those a night, and they were a disaster. One
a corner you know, shed a block, made a tackle.
Another they ran some trick play on third and one.

(04:44):
It was like a double pass another disaster. So it
feels like the quarterbacks lack of confidence make Sean Payton
look like a horrendous play caller. And listen, I don't,
you know, pretend to be Bill Walsh here, because I
think it would be easy to be, like, Well, Sean
Payton's calling a horrendous I think it's hard to call
plays when your quarterback is playing that badly. I mean,

(05:05):
there are basic throws to the end. This is crazy.
You're talking about an eight and two team, but all
they could think about watching them play is like, I
can't imagine being a guy on defense because their defense
is exceptional and they're missing the defensive player of the
year didn't even play Hufunga. I fucking love Tallanohu Funga.
That guy is such a badass. That guy is such

(05:26):
a winning player, as they say in that business. He's
a force multiplier. He brings people up. Green Law is
just a hard hitting, you know, stone cold killer. So
you add these two guys who are starters on a
Super Bowl defense to a defense which is already awesome,
and they're kicking ass and taking names. Now, the Raiders
actually started fast and probably should have been up fourteen points.

(05:48):
But over the course of the game, the Broncos are
gonna take over, and the problem is their quarterback. Whenever
he comes on. They didn't have a first down till
late in the second quarter when Bo hit a big
play scramble into his right. A couple of plays later
he had a touchdown. And then whenever something positive happens,
you think the momentum is gonna start, and then he
just resorts back to one thing with lack of confidence.

(06:12):
I think you know, I've just I've never played quarterback
at the NFL level, But having watched studied a lot
of these guys, you know, when you're going well, you're
very under control. Right. The best players in the league, Mahomes,
Josh Lamar, browyin healthy are very calm under duress. Like
when you watch Patrick when shit gets crazy and he scrambles,

(06:36):
he does it in an under control manner. He never
feels herky jerky, you're out of control. One thing that
has vaulted Lamar into it completely into another level over
the last two or three, maybe even more in that
four years, but definitely the last like two and a
half three years to just like unstoppable Force, when he's

(06:56):
on is his scrambles are like he knows exactly what
he's doing and he's not wasting any energy. But he's
his feet are actually in sync as he's moving around
to avoid the chaos. You watch Bo Nicks, his feet
not only are out of sync, but there are plays
when no one's even around him and he's getting the uh,

(07:20):
you know, just phrenetic energy, and it's like, what are
we doing. You're not a naturally accurate passer in the
first place, and if your feet are off, you have
no chance. And I think the Sean Payton. I know
he's always aspired to have an athletic, mobile, playmaking quarterback,
but let's face it, Sean Payton became a legend with

(07:42):
the guy that couldn't really move. I'd argue Steve Young is,
but hey, games change whatever. The most accurate quarterback in
the history of the league and Drew Brees. So when
a guy was in the just basic passes right, a
guy opened five yards away from you, a running back
in the flat or pass the line of scrimmage, not
only did Drew Brees hit him, he hit the guy

(08:04):
in a position where he could go and make On
second and eight completes it with four yards, can run
another four yards and get you a first down. Countless
times tonight Bo Knicks is throwing it at guy's feet,
so some of the balls are dropped. Even the one
play that Franklin dropped, did he drop it or was
Bo Nicks throwing it to the other guy who you

(08:26):
could argue bad route concept. If the two guys are
so close, maybe someone screwed up, But either way it's
hard to tell. I can't give you the benefit of
doubt you were throwing it to him, And I can't
even crush the player for dropping it because I think
he thought the guy ahead of him was going to
catch the ball. That they're are for as great as
their defense is, and I think it is awesome. If
you told me I get one defense to go in

(08:49):
the playoffs, I would probably lean them over the Houston Texans,
but I wouldn't be mad at taking either. But I
think they're and they're only going to get better. The
more Green Lawn who fund a play with this unit,
and obviously Sirtan comes back. It's got it all team speed, physicality,
pass rush. There are a bunch of badasses, but their
offense is a major liability, I mean a major liability,

(09:13):
and you will not. And one thing, if I wanted
to defend the bow Knicks haters, here's what I would say.
In all these games, that he is starting like one
of the worst quarterbacks in the NFL, the way he
started even in the obviously, I'm talking about the games
that he's won, that he flipped a switch in the
fourth quarter. If he was on a bad team, they'd

(09:36):
be down anywhere from fifteen to twenty four to nothing
in all these games and he would lose all the time.
This team actually reminds me a lot of when I
was a kid. You know, most teams in the NFL
had average to below quarterbacks, and back in the nineties,
this we weren't spreading it out and throwing it all

(09:57):
over the place. So if you look at box score
on a weekly basis in like nineteen ninety six, a
lot of dudes throwing in the hundreds, a lot of
dudes throwing in the low two hundreds. It wasn't just
you know, countless three seventy fives and three twenty fives
like that's been something during the Internet era, especially as
the rules have changed. But like when I was a kid.

(10:17):
A lot of good teams had awful quarterback play and
bad offenses, and some of the great I mean, historically,
one of the greatest teams of all time the eighty
five Bears, Like I don't think they're exactly known for
their passing offense. I didn't even that's not even the
best example because they had Walter Payton. If you go
to the two thousand Ravens, I mean, just trade Till
for their offense was horrendous. It didn't matter. Their defense

(10:40):
was dominant. That's what this team feels like. The problem
is you can never play defense quite like that. Like
we were talking right before I hit record, does this
team have the ceiling of like, what's the team in
the last ten fifteen years that parallels this? And you
go a little bit like Seattle. But I think that

(11:01):
young Russell Wilson, I know, you know Sherman and Earl,
and I don't think those guys thought Russell was that great,
but he was better than this, and Marshawn lynch Is
was just more of a force. I think JK. Dobbins's
pretty good, and I kind of like RJ. Harvey as
well too. But when your quarterback is playing like he's

(11:21):
playing against the Chiefs whoever they play in the playoffs.
Like I'm putting, I don't know, twelve guys in the
box bo Nicks beat me because I do not think
you can. And right now it's not debatable he cannot.
I know he's pulled some of these games out of
his ass in the fourth quarter, but like he ain't
gonna be able to do that against the Chiefs. If
he plays like he did night against Chiefs they lose
one hundred percent of the time, they will lose one

(11:43):
hundred percent of the time. And I'm saying this had
a passion because I have a ticket on them to
make the super Bowl, and I watched the night and
I go, John, you got no shot. This is They're
not making the super Bowl. And I think I don't
know if they'll win a playoff game. If this is
how he's gonna play. You don't just have the t
bow magic at the end of these games. That's not realistic,

(12:04):
you know, week in week out, and I think Sean
Payton has a serious problem on his hands. And listen,
you know in sports, right baseball, basketball, and football, when
you're the GM or you're a powerful head coach like
Sean and you put your stamp on a guy like
this is my guy. It happens a lot in football.
In baseball it's like, guys go the miners, He's let

(12:26):
the cream rise. In basketball, it's like, yeah, no shit,
you drafted the guy number three overall. In football, we
see guys all the time drafted in the second round,
and a coach will come out and be like, this
was my favorite player in the draft, and you're like,
and sometimes the guys is awesome, and that coach gets credit.
Sometimes the opposite, and we criticize the coach. But Sean Payton,

(12:47):
who listened, is no isn't hesitant to tell you how
he feels, and he's he's pretty confident in his ability
to coach quarterback. I mean saying from the high heavens
how much he loved this player and how this was
his guy. I'll never forget Boenix was the last guy
off the board in a historic draft that saw sick
five other quarterbacks ahead of him go right. So he

(13:08):
was like all these other teams had a chance to
draft him to him pass. Now, I'm not trying to
act like Monday morning quarterback, because I did go back
and watch Oregon, Like I got it. I saw the
physical traits, saw there was a lot there. I thought
he was more had some project to him. But I listen,
draft him in the teens, like, I understand that. But
when you are that inaccurate and then once you start

(13:31):
missing passes, I think it just bleeds into your confidence
and then your feaeke it all out of whack and
everything's out of whack. Your offense doesn't run. And that's
what happened to night. Their offense didn't run. I mean,
you're playing the Raiders on a short week at home,
Raiders are terrible, and you throw it for one hundred
and fifty yards. One hundred and fifty yards. I just

(13:54):
that's that's concerning. That's really concerning. And it's not even
just about the box score. The eye test was worse.
And they have this offensive guru calling the plays. But
when you pick the wrong player, right, it's just a
thing of concern, big picture. Now, Unlike some of these
other guys, you know it was Listen, Kyle Shanahan, Shane Steiken,

(14:18):
I think we all agree, good offensive coaches, they've selected
the wrong guy too. You make mistakes, now, Bo Nix
is getting a longer leash because the team's winning, So
I don't expect him. Those guys weren't starting by year three.
That's not gonna happen here. But they do have a
problem on their hands, and there's no way you fix
it overnight because now we have two months of evidence

(14:39):
like something is off and I don't know, I just
I think the Broncos. It's sad because if they had
If I'm a Bronco fan, I go got if we
just had solid quarterback play, we'd probably still be eight
and two or nine to one, but we'd be killing people.

(15:00):
We would be lighting them up like a Christmas tree.
We would be you know, remember Peyton Manning played of
the defense was unsoppable. They boat race people on a
weekly basis. Now, I'm not expecting you just find Peyton
Manning two point zero, but if you just had I
don't know, a guy like Dak Prescott or something, you know,
your average margin to victory would be double digits. Instead,

(15:21):
they were pulling these games out of the crevices of
cavities in their body that they have no business doing.
And today wasn't quite like that, but beating the Raiders
and I get a divisional opponent ten to seven, especially
for the final, I don't know, twenty minutes of game time,
their quarterback could barely walk action. Genty was like, doesn't

(15:43):
even look that good. It'd be one thing. It's like, hey,
you almost lost Ashton. Genty went for a buck eighty
Crosby had like three sacks was the case? Gent ran
for three yards of carry. Rock Bauers had one catch.
Was a cool catch, but it just that one's tough.
I feel like I'm being naked for a team that's
Satan two. But I think we have to sound the
alarm a little bit. Today's show is brought to you

(16:11):
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Speaker 2 (17:37):
Virginia.

Speaker 1 (17:45):
On the flip side, I think it's truly time if
you're the Raiders. Florio wrote about this the other day.
He said, there's two type contracts, and Florida's pretty good
at like breaking down the contracts on Pro Football Talk,
and he's like, I don't think I did a good
job about this because he gets into the nitty gritty
Sauce Gardner, because I was guilty of this when they
signed Sauce Gardner. I'm like, why would you sign a

(18:05):
guy that you hadn't coached, that you didn't have to
sign yet if you wanted to let things play out
and potentially trade them. Well, it turned out they signed
him to a tradable contract. They only only paid him
like fifteen million dollars total. They didn't give him some
fifty million dollars signing bonus, so it was a tradable contract.

(18:26):
And then he used an example of Miles Garrett this offseason.
Miles Garrett was not a tradable contract. Miles Garrett is
a type contract you sign that you're stuck with him
for a couple of years because it would annihilate your cap. Now,
who knows. Paul de Podesta burned down the Browns like
I'm out of here. I'm gonna head to the worst
Major League Baseball team. Thanks for your work, Paul, we

(18:48):
appreciate it. But when I'm looking at the Raiders, I
think we gotta be realistic. I'm a huge John spy
Tech fan. I respect Pete Carroll. Listen, I understand people
make fun of him. He's old. Pete Carroll has been
winning at the sport of football up until this year.
For literally twenty three straight years from the start of

(19:09):
this century till twenty twenty three. He did not lose. Now,
he didn't always win big, but even in Seattle, like
I had bad seasons nine wins, he wasn't having two
win seasons. That was not happening in Seattle. Obviously dominated
sc transition to Seattle and never look back, and he
comes to the Raiders and they're probably headed toward I

(19:29):
don't know, a three win season. It's really ugly, and
I think, if I'm John Spytech, I sit down with Pete,
with Mark Davis, with Tom Brady, we gotta be realistic
about this. Right, we have three players that are we
were not going to touch right, I guess two for sure.
Brock Bowers, He's our baby, ashing Gent. We just drafted

(19:53):
him six. I'm not trying to be a hater. I
literally root hard for guys that play at Boise State
and Prisnel State. Like I like Ashton Genty everything he
stands for, his background, being an army brat, the way
that he ended up at Boise, his loyalty to Boise.
My only issue wasn't like I just don't think I

(20:15):
could take him in the top ten. I just couldn't
do it. But listen, I'm not trying to act like
I know more about scouting players than John Spytech. He
came on this podcast, they loved him, but he's there,
and he's there six. Overall, he can't be dropping passes.
He's got to be a dual threat. He's not just
a running back. He's got to be a playmaker for them.
But he's there guy. Obviously, Max Crosby is an elite player,

(20:40):
but I don't think he has much value on a
team that's doing nothing. And because of the way the
Raiders structure contracts, you can trade him this offseason and
you can only go so long. The thing in football,
more than some of these other sports, injuries, attrition, wear
and tear. Your talents can go from like a nine

(21:03):
point five to a six really quick, right, Like Let's
use baseball for example. I remember Lynsim he was throwing
ninety nine, then all of a sudden, it's like ninety four.
Then all of a sudden, it's like ninety one. But
it's like a gradual progression. I watched his interview Clayton Kershaw.
I did with Dan Patrick. Same thing. So I used

(21:23):
to throw away harder I can't throw, but it's a
gradual progression. In football, you can go from like all
pro to like an offseason and get old fast. To
go from like I'm just a solid starter, you can
go from all pro to below average player within I
would say twenty games. It can happen fast. And it's

(21:44):
why listen these guys and their agents, they get very
aggressive to get themselves money when they can. I said,
it's yesterday that Brandon ay say Brandon Ayuke never plays
another snap. The reason he held out right was because
if something catastrophic happens, I need some security. And it
was when guys get injured all the time, you gotta
be ready. So I'm watching Max Crosby night and he

(22:05):
just plays his ass off. You could trade him for
a couple if you can trade Sas Gardner for a
couple months, if you can, say Quinn Williams for a
two and a one, you can trade Max for a
lot in February at the combine. And I think the
Raiders for too long have tried, you know, to kind
of have their cake and eat it too. They've never
truly done a huge, huge blow up. They kind of

(22:27):
did the one year with Khalil and Amari Cooper, but
like that wasn't really planned. It was like they didn't
have the money to give Khalil and then Amaro was
actuingly weird and their team wasn't good. I mean, go
into it with a renuke in this thing and try
to pivot on the fly, and you still got some
pieces that if you do it right, you know, you
can figure it out. Now. I think big picture, like

(22:47):
is Pete Carroll want to do any of that? Like
does it make sense with a seventy three year old guy.
You know, their offensive coordinator is the highest paid offensive
coordinator in the league. That's not a head coach, and
he's a trouch. She's at his job like people like
middle Cuff you just hate Chip Kelly. No, he just
hasn't been that good of an offensive coordinator in a long,
long time. He had a four game stretch where he

(23:08):
got hot in the playoffs with a team full of
NFL stars, But if you look at UCLA's last several years,
they were a defensive team when they were good. This
year has been an abomination with the Raiders. Just I
just don't think he's good anymore. He's living off a
reputation from a decade ago, and I think Pete still
his message and everything kind of works, but they just

(23:29):
don't have the talent. And I think they thought they
were better than they were, and I think Max is
their quickest path towards just kind of resetting this thing,
because I think they tried to plug some holes and
thought they could be more competitive. Hell I thought that.
I didn't think they were a playoff team, but I
could have been, like I could see seven and ten
or something eight to nine and just a frisky team.
They're really bad. They are not good, and they just

(23:51):
acknowledge it by you know, trading Jacoby, their best wide receiver.
But I just think they got they got to pull
the plug. They just do not have enough talent, and
I think big picture, you know, when spy Tech and
Brady sit down, you know it's tough. Like you hired
Pete Carroll to try to which I thought made sense,

(24:12):
just to get the train going in the right direction
and just get some positive momentum for a couple of years.
I think you start asking yourself, like give him a
couple of years. But it was almost like you know,
putting a band aid on a bullet hole. And maybe
he wasn't the right guy for the job because they
just weren't good enough, and especially if some of the
type guys that like if you're trading Max Crosby, like,

(24:33):
why's Pete gonna want to be there? And I think
people say, I want to be here because I love
coaching football. And I saw him when he got interviewed
leave it at halftime. I admire his burning passion for
the sport of football. He does not need to be
doing this. He has made an astronomical amount of money.
I mean, I think people thought he was making like
twenty million dollars like the last six or seven years,

(24:55):
Like he's made a ton and he was making millions
at usc AT two decades ago, like he's doing this
because football football is his addiction and he's passionate about
it and he likes it. But I don't know how
you could like get excited going to practice with this
group that has no chance. It's not all your fault.
I mean, you inherit a team with not that much talent.
You've had some injuries, and I do think one thing

(25:19):
they probably regret, and I don't know if it would
have made a huge difference, but I think if they
could do it over again, they would not have traded
for Geno and just been in the mix for Sam Donald. Now,
obviously the Seattle Seahawks have a much better roster and
are more equipped to win with Sam Donald. But I
just think Gino, I mean, it's not played that well

(25:41):
at all, and now he's limping around. I mean, he's
gonna just not be very good. So my move this
offseason would be to pull the plug, throw some dynamite
on it, and let it rip. A couple other things
I want to dive into. I saw some people on
the interweb talking about people I guess are mad like GMS.

(26:05):
It's not a lot of people like forty nine er
fans are mad at John Lynch, It's like, guys, their
entire team is hurt. You think they're gonna trade a
first round pick for Trey Hendrickson? Are you on crack cocaine?
What are you guys talking about? How is this? Is
this a real conversation or this internet only? Because if
this is a real conversation, maybe I'm out of the loop.
On like the way fans think? Do people really think this?

(26:26):
You sing the team they're rolling out, they're gonna trade
a first round pick? Well, theach, I guess, was getting
some similar heat on the interweb about not trading you know,
is reported today that he didn't trade a They were
talking to the Jets about Breisee Hall, and the Jets

(26:46):
were adamant, we want a third round pick and the
highest Beach would go as the fourth rounder, and he
wouldn't budge, And so Chiefs fans like, what are we doing?
Why aren't we living in the now? And I was like,
is this serious? Have you guys watched any ree coach?
He's gonna give brist Hall? Who won to me? Talented guy?
Little overrated the hype given what he's brought to the NFL. Again,

(27:08):
a little hard to judge because of the Jets. But like,
this isn't trading for Christian McCaffrey or b John Robinson here,
and who knows, maybe he will end up that way
next year when he's on a better team. But what
he's a free agent. She traded a fourth round pick
on a team that's very expensive that's gonna need picks
that I'd even argue that's like kind of bold for
a team that historically isn't exactly handing the ball off

(27:30):
to one individual fifteen to twenty times a game, not
really how he calls plays. But to me, most importantly,
why you can't give up a third round pick one?
Patrick Mahomes is gonna need a quote unquote restructure of
his contract. I promise you that one's coming. Chris Jones
makes a ton of money. Carloff just just got a
big contract. Trent McDuffie's gonna need a contract obviously, Travis

(27:51):
even if he retires, I bet if we look some
of that signing bonus got pro rated is gonna hit
the cap. They are going to need to be careful
about their top picks because over the last couple of years,
like why don't the Chiefs just get aggressive and trade
a first rounder for so and so. Well, who did
they use a first rounder on this last year? They're
starting left tackle. So when you have a high priced team,

(28:15):
the first two days of draft picks are really valuable.
So if you are going to use those, it would
be on someone that wouldn't be a rental. It would
be a guy you want to resign. Like Howie Roseman
goes in uh trades for Jalen Phillips a third round pick. Well,
they're basically giving this Jalen Phillips a two if they

(28:36):
go along in the playoffs, a three month trial run
to give you a contract extension. But even if they
let Jalen Phillips walk, let's just say it blows up
in their face and he's not good, It doesn't work out,
and it's underwhelming. Do you know what Howie Roseman has
in his back pocket this offseason? He can trade AJ Brown?
So it's like, oh, yeah, he lost a third round pick.

(28:57):
What do you think he'd get for AJ Brown this offseason?
At minimum a second and a third because he makes
a lot of money and you know, who knows, maybe
he can dictate where he wants to go. I don't
know if you know at his length time in the
NFL if they get a one, but he would get
I would say minimum a second potentially if you told
me a second and a fourth probably, so he has

(29:19):
that in his back pocket, and I would say, stop
talking about trade d A. J. Brown. I watched how
he's press conference two days ago after the trade deadline,
and when he was asked about it, he didn't just
come out and say like, yeah, we're never thinking about it.
We would never do that. He kind of gave it,
We're just we're gonna keeping our good players. But it
wasn't like if you would ask him, hey, why didn't

(29:41):
he trade Jalen Carter or why did he trade Jalen Hurts,
he would have gone he would have lost it. He like,
what are you guys idiots? That's not the way he
took it. Problems she does. A. J. Brown's getting traded
this offseason. That's gonna happen, and that's how they're gonna
recoup picks. Well, who are the Chiefs trading? They need
that third round pick. So if you want to say, hey,

(30:02):
why weren't the Chiefs involved in trading for some defensive guys? Okay,
I can hear that, but drawing a hard line on
a price point for a running back that's a free
agent that I don't know hasn't exactly taken the league
by storm. I don't have a big deal with Let's
talk about Daniel Jones, because I actually think his agents

(30:26):
are about to get in the zone. If you remember,
in twenty twenty three, Daniel Jones was coming off a
career year where I think he accounted for like twenty touchdowns,
not exactly like he threw forty five. The Giants went
nine to eight, They beat Kirk Cousins in the Minnesota Vikings,
and it was like, we're in love with Daniel Jones again.

(30:49):
How about like a two years fifty million. His agents
laughed in their face and they proceeded to dominate the
Giants in negotiation. Joe shan't even said, He's like, this
negotiation was crazy, and they got eighty million dollars the
moment he signed that contract. A year and a half later,
he was released in the middle of the season. Well,

(31:12):
you can't argue that he has been a big part
of resurrecting the Colts, right, they had a quarterback situation
that was a debacle. He immediately comes in and now
they're probably headed toward what twelve and five like, They're
not only headed for a good record, they're going to
the playoffs, and for the first time in Chris Ballard's tenure,

(31:32):
they're more than likely going to win the division. I
think his agents have to be licking their chops after
this week because that Sauce Gardner trade basically said out
a signal we are ready to win now this year,
next year, our time is now. Well, when do you
think that when you have a quarterback? Why did Jerry

(31:53):
Jones trade for Quinn Williams. Why I see pumping people
calling he's got Dak Prescott, He's paying him sixty million dollars.
He's like, you get Quinn william We've got two ones.
Next year, we'll add to our defense and we'll make
the playoffs. That's what he's thinking. If he would have
traded for Quinn Williams with no quarterback, it would have
been the craziest trade in the history of the league.
But I said, like, I don't even think it's that nuts.

(32:14):
We could argue the price, but like he plans on
filling up that defense next year and winning ten plus
games next year with Dak Prescott. Whether it comes true
or not, but like he could make that argument it's
possible because he has a quarterback. Well, when you trade
for Sas Gardner for two first round picks, what teams

(32:35):
trade two first round picks? Teams that think they can win,
Teams that believe in their quarterback. And I think Daniel
Jones now is looking at if he got eighty million
dollars at signing three years ago, depending on how I mean,
if he has some good games and they win a
playoff game, are we talking one hundred and fifty million dollars?
And this is where I think the Colts are gonna

(32:57):
sign one of the more controversial quarterback contracts in recent memory,
because his agents have already proved they don't take discounts.
His price point was basically Cousins three years ago. You know,
Cousins just made ninety million dollars in two years. That's
what Daniel Jones did, right, So you factor in inflation,
you factor in these new deals. I can imagine Chris

(33:18):
Ballard will send his agent Sam Darnold's contract three years,
one hundred million dollars fifty five million, and they'll laugh,
They'll like wipe their ass with the facts or paper.
I guess no one facts anymore. But well, they used
to win the NFL contracts, and I just think that
the Colts now have backed themselves up into a corner

(33:38):
that this is their guy. No one franchises a quarterback
or very rarely because the price. I haven't even looked
at the number, but my guess is I don't know
minimum low forties, and all that money goes on your cap,
so you try to avoid that at all costs, and
you want to sign him to extension, and the extension
is going to be really expensive. So the Colts and

(33:59):
Daniel Owns, I would say, haven't officially gotten married yet.
That will come when the big contract is signed in February.
But they got engaged the moment that Sauce Gardner trade
went down. Okay, Fugazi Friday, I gotta give myself a
little bit of a round of applause. I made it
through sixty minutes of hot yoga. Now, I took a

(34:21):
different tactic. Last time I went. I went at six
in the morning, so I definitely didn't hydrate enough. I
didn't quite know what I was getting into, and I
quit after forty minutes today. They had a class at
eight thirty, and my days on Thursday because the games
at night and I don't record Bill Stucky till eleven o'clock,
I got a little more time in the morning. So
instead of going to the six am class, I went
at eight thirty. You know, I got up like six thirty.

(34:42):
I slammed a big Stanley, I felt hydrated, felt healthy,
and I went in there and this class was packed today.
But the thing that because again it crossed my mind,
it probably about I made a mistake. I went to
the center of the class that's where the heater is,
and the heat was just coming right at me. I
was like, I don't know, this is because it crossed
my mind again, but there was probably triple the amount

(35:04):
of people. But what motivated me the whole time was
right next to me was like this sixty five year
old like laired Hamilton. This guy was just jacked, gray
hair and he was dominating. I'm like, there is no
way I'm like one. When I'm this guy's age, my

(35:25):
kid will be like twenty. I'm like, this guy's in
ten times better shape than me, and he's got me
by multiple decades. I cannot be a puss and leave
and I just kept looking at it him like I
can't go, and then finally you just looked up, and
I tried not to. Every time you look at the clock,
you're like, God, this clock feels like it's going backwards.
But it finally got there, and even the yoga yoga

(35:46):
teacher said, great job. I'm like, yeah, thank you, but god, damn,
that's really really hard. But I did want to end
on this fugazi is there have been a lot of
reports kind of sweat and it's hot in here is
the golfing with the college coaches, Hugh Freeze Brian Kelly
that they were like addicted to golf. And one thing

(36:07):
with Hugh Freeze is a report came out that in college, right,
you play on Saturday, so unlike the NFL, their work
week starts like a normal human's work week on Monday.
College football coaches and just college football operations, Sunday is
a big work day, right, because you have six days
till your next opponent. You try to grade that game.

(36:30):
Some teams practice or at minimum do some sort of
workout to get the lactic acid. You meet as a team,
you go over the film and then I would say
the majority of teams probably let the players go and
then they start diving into the game plan on the
next opponent. But it's a very long day, right, especially
if you have traveled, if you're on the road playing

(36:52):
Florida or something, you get back late, Like you're in
the office relatively early in the morning and you're there
till very very late. And reports came out that Hugh
Freeze these SEC golf programs are like they travel on
private jets when they play in tournaments. If you're into that,
probably a lot of people watching this or not. If

(37:12):
you go to YouTube and you just go to Alabama Golf,
Auburn Golf, Georgia Golf, Vanderbilt Golf. Their facilities are at
country clubs that are really nice. Yet their facility. When
I got married in Nashville, we played the Vanderbilt course
because my brother is a member at a club in
the Sacramento area and it's owned by the same management company,

(37:35):
so you can get a tea time there. So we
went and played it, and Vanderbilt it's their home course.
Their clubhouse is just for the players on a golf team.
There's less than twelve guys. Is bigger than the actual
clubhouse at the country club that has two eighteen holes.
When we were leaving Peyton, Manning was in the Vanderbilt area,
I think with his young son Marshall just chipping and putting.

(37:57):
It's incredible. All these people in the SEC have setups
like it's the fucking PGA Tour. It doesn't get any better.
So Auburn's home course, who I actually think. I have
a good buddy that went to watch a Cal Auburn
game years ago and they played it and said, is
really nice. So all these teams have you know, the
nice country club is ran by the golf team. Well,

(38:21):
if Sean McVeigh or let's use Kenny Dillingham in Arizona,
if he wanted to sneak out of the office early
on a Sunday, We're like, I'm just kind of over it.
Need a break. I'm gonna go play some golf. There
are seven million golf courses here. He could play anywhere,
and honestly, he get away with no one noticing him.
When you're Brian Kelly and you're playing Baton Rouge country Club,
or you're Hugh Freeze and you're playing Auburn's country Club

(38:44):
it's the only nice golf course in town. And where
do you think the rich people that are funding your program,
that live in the general facility hangout? And a country
club is like a high school. Everyone knows each other
and everyone talks. Well, who's the most famous guy besides
like the billionaire rich guy funding the football program in
the town, it's the football coach. So if it is

(39:06):
true that Hugh Freeze was going and playing golf on
a weekly basis or oftentimes after losses at one thirty
in the afternoon on Sunday, that's insane. And I started thinking,
like Brian Kelly, Hugh Freeze, I do wonder if you
get to the point, especially these older guys like I
get lane he's still trying to prove himself. He wants
to win a national championship. And like he's he's kind

(39:30):
of you know, been drugged through the mud throughout his career,
so he's still like trying to prove it. But a
guy like Brian Kelly, now, granted he's still trying to
win a national championship, but he's been making so much
money for so long. I don't care who you are
unless you're wired like Nick Saban's a one of one.
He is not normal. And even him you saw once
he retired that video that went viral and miss Terry

(39:51):
bringing him the cake, dudes on the lazy boy with
with the with the with the blanket over him like
he's r buss Saban, leave me alone. I want to
watch this game. I could appreciate that. I want to
watch this game by myself in a room. Don't leave me.
I want to watch the Chiefs and the Bills. Do
not talk to me. He ain't coming back. I saw

(40:12):
the new Lsuad said, who's good friends with him, said,
we talked to Nick. He's not coming back, not that
we talked to him about the job, because he laughed
at he just was never coming back. My point is
that these guys were playing golf thinking that like, that's
not going to get back, and I kind of got
to the point where maybe they didn't care. And I
do wonder if some of these older coaches that are

(40:32):
taking these astronomical amounts of money, do they still have
the same fire, Do they even give a shit? Because
any human being that was trying to prove anything would
never put themselves in a position where you're playing golf
during the season after losses on a Sunday afternoon. That

(40:55):
is fucking insanity. But that's what these guys were doing.
And I really think it gets back to when you
start handing out this type money, if they if something's
a little off, if they don't quite have the same fire,
what do they care because what do they have to
prove to that, Like, you have to pay me to leave,
so you want to fire me, fire me, send me
those checks because I got a lot come And even

(41:16):
Hugh Freeze like, send me that eighteen million dollars. Brian
Kelly's like send me that fifty million. I don't care.
I'll do whatever I want. I'm actually untouchable. And it's
human nature, right. I think most people look the whole
point of like striving. Obviously you want to win championship,
but these guys want to make money like that's and

(41:37):
for a lot of these guys early in the career,
you didn't make that much. So I'm Matt Ruhle telling
a story. They're playing UCLA. He's like, when I coached
at UCLA in two thousand and one, I was making
no money. So you're just kind of driven to be
a headman and also comes with the head man with
a lot of cash. Well, once you've been doing it
for so long, like Brian Kelly, I do wonder if
you just lose your fastball to care and I think

(41:57):
we look at Nick Sabe and even Urban Meyer would
have to tap. I I just can't keep up this
competitive stamina. And you have to wonder how many guys
in college football are probably not working as hard, you know,
if they're If they were making a million dollars, maybe
they'd work a little harder, but they're making ten. I
don't I have no problem with how much money anyone's making.
But if you pay enough people ten million dollars, you're

(42:19):
gonna get some people tapping out early on a Sunday afternoon,
headed to the golf course. Okay, really quick, before we
dive into a couple more things. You know, I gotta
tell you about my friends. Game Time best ticketing app
in America. Do you guys want to go to a

(42:40):
professional football game this year? Do you want to go
to a game? Do you want to go to Vegas?
You want to go to Denver, you want to go
to La You can go anywhere you want. You type
in the team you type in the ticket. And here's
a great part about game Time. They do not add
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you check out and it's like one hundred bucks, and
then all of a sudden, it's like one hundred and
seventy five. It's like, that's not one hundred dollars. That's
not the case of game Time. Any of the numbers

(43:01):
you see, the fees are already baked in there. That
is the number you pay at checkout. And you can
find professional football tickets for as cheap as one hundred dollars.
So take the guest work out of buying professional football
tickets with game time down at the game Time app,
created an account usic go John Jogen for twenty dollars
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redeem the code John for twenty dollars off. Swipe tap ticket,

(43:23):
go download the Game Time app today, back at it again.
We're kind of like getting over the halfway mark, headed down,
not quite. The home stretches probably be the dog days
of football. Obviously, all of our content is presented by

(43:44):
our friends at its own pouches. Stucky, you should be
all over these things, they're fantastic. If they sell them
in Kentucky, I throw one in as we as we
do this. But here with my Maine man, Stucky action
network this you know, looking at the board, Stucky not
gonna lie. It's starting to get a little hard some teams.
Who's checking in, who's checking out? I think it's a
little like college football too, once you realize you're out

(44:06):
of the playoffs, Like, who's even gonna try? You have
some of these teams that made these big trades, like
do we get but like Aaron glenns still trying to
prove himself. You know, the Cardinals situation, there's just a
lot the forty nine ers are a mass unit. We
just have a lot of good teams like Tampa Bay
with a lot of injuries. I don't even know where
to start, but how's your overall vibe check of the

(44:28):
season going into November.

Speaker 2 (44:31):
It's been good, NFL's been good so far. Yeah, It's
just it's it's insane. This happens every year. My vibe
check is I'm my brain is fried, like I have
trying to keep up with all that in the NFL,
in college football, like everything that you alluded to all
of the injuries and now and then I also bet
college basketball is trying to keep up.

Speaker 1 (44:51):
With didn't that just start a couple of days ago.

Speaker 2 (44:54):
Yeah, with all the college basketball new teams, it's insane.
I wish I could go back to like ten year
years ago. I didn't realize how good I had it
when like all these teams didn't completely turn over their
rosters every year. It was so much easier to prepare
for and stay on top of. But it's a labor
of love. I love being in like the grind of it.

(45:19):
You know. I kind of have like a teacher's schedule,
so like I once it hits like April May, and
you know, the first couple months of the summer, it's
very nice. I travel, relax, read, But for eight months
out of the year, I'm just in in the hive.
But I absolutely love it. But I if I didn't

(45:42):
have those couple of months to completely check out, I
would be in an insane asylum within two years. With
all of the all of the changes in college sports
of late, which makes it so much tougher. But I
love it. I love trying to figure it out. And
the best thing about sports better that I love the most.
Like I used like I came from a finance background

(46:03):
and bet and sports all my life for twenty plus years.
Like finance, you'll never it's in the same vein. You'll
never fully master it, right, Like even if you're talking
about the stock market sports better, you will never ever
fully master it. You just try to get incrementally better.
You have to. Also, I love dealing with like the
highs and lows. But a lot of people hate that,

(46:24):
but I actually like doing that. You know, Oh you're cold,
you got to find a way out of it. Oh
you're a hot? How can I maintain it? Like it's
I love all of that, but yeah, it's a craft
that you just cannot master. The market's always getting tougher,
it's always going to get more efficient, and you have
to try to work your way through. And every season

(46:46):
is different, every week is different. So I love it,
but it's definitely a grind and a mental.

Speaker 1 (46:54):
Challenge, you know. I've anyone that I think that likes
to gamble at a young age kind of gets naturally
into the stock market, right It's just a kind of
an easy transition. And obviously I bet I guess you
can consider it on the stock market, but I put
a lot more money in the stock market. But you
can just let it sit there. And like you said,
like if I've played a huge bet, let's say, on Uber,

(47:17):
it would take something pretty catastrophic to just knock it off.
Where you can have a great team like the Packers
and then all of a sudden one week someone DM
me the other day they're like, why do you think
the reaction on a weekly basis in football is so
much different than these other sports. It's just like it's
just a numbers game. There's just less games. So if
you're bad, you know, you wait all week and you

(47:38):
kind of know what's coming, but then it comes and
you're just like and people are just mad. But when
you're good, and I use the Packers as an example,
you can stomach losing a tight game to the Lions
and everyone gets their opinions why you lose it, or
the Eagles, But when everyone goes into that game as
a Packer fan against the Panthers and definitely against the Browns,
like we're winning. So when you lose, it'd be like

(47:59):
all of a sudden. If Uber was just down twenty
five percent today, I'd be like, what is going on.
So when the Packers lose to the Panthers in Lambeau,
every single Packer fan and their fan base is enormous.
Is just it's just at a loss. I mean, it's
it's kind of stunning. And that's I think the power
of football more than like the Warriors lost last night

(48:19):
to the Kinks. It does not matter, you know, one
they sat there, guys, but like the individual game just
does not matter. Ye, you know in the grand scheme
of things. Now, it may if it's the difference of
a game when they you know, they're six seed instead
of the four seed obviously, but like the Indian you're
kind yeah, you're kind of faking it. Where the Packer game,
that Carolina loss is just enormous in the grand scheme

(48:41):
of things, right, It's just so people's reaction on Sunday
night or on Monday in football, I don't think you
can really overreact, and maybe you can week one, but
like where we're at now, some of these losses to
good teams have like there's a lot on the line
for Green Bay and Philadelphia on Monday night, right, That's
say same thing with Minnesota baltim Like there's just a lot,
there's these games matter a lot.

Speaker 2 (49:04):
Yeah, I uh, I'm not as panicked about the Packers.
I mean you have to you also have to remember,
like it is in football, you're just gonna have weird results.
Like we could go back to late in the year
when two years ago when the Chiefs before they win
the Super Bowl, the Chiefs lost to the Raiders on Christmas.
Remember that game. Last year, the Ravens lost to.

Speaker 1 (49:26):
The Raids, but they had been playing bad that year,
right then they go eleven and six, they ended up
making the Super Bowl. Yeah, they years ago. Yeah, they
were not playing that well. Mahomes went through a rough stretch.

Speaker 2 (49:37):
Yeah, I mean, but the Ravens last year.

Speaker 1 (49:38):
I know what you're saying. But it just.

Speaker 2 (49:40):
Happens, like the Packers didn't punt in the game.

Speaker 1 (49:44):
Oh, Cobble didn't complete a pass for three quarters in
that game. Like it's the Chiefs never lose a game
if your quarterback doesn't complete a pass for three quarters.

Speaker 2 (49:51):
Yeah, But like the Packer it was just kind of
a flukey game in whether Crafts got hurt. He was
gonna be a big part of their game plan and
they but they didn't punt the entire game. It was
just like weird turnover I mean red zone stuff and
missed field goals that they got to figure out their
special teams. I still think that they're the At the
end of the day, I think the Packers are the

(50:11):
best team. They're the most well rounded team in the NFC.
They they do tend to get a little too conservative
when they play when they play down, because like the
Packers when they when they play up, they will be
super aggressive. You know, they'll hit a ton of explosive plays.
They'll throw it down field a time. Yeah, they kind
of clam up a bit when they play these inferior teams,

(50:33):
which I think can be a bit problematic. But I
actually like them this week against Philly, I mean just
that home under a field goal. I don't think I
think they win that game. That spread might have been
a field goal.

Speaker 1 (50:47):
Well, let's let's just start with that game. All lines
are presented by hard Rock Bet. Uh. That game will
just jump right to Monday night. It's enormous. The underrated
part about this franchise right now is Carmen Policy's son
Ed Policy got the job this offseason to be their president,
which when that organization is a really big deal because

(51:07):
they don't have an owner. He has a lot of
juice and he said, we're not extending these guys. Now.
I think Gudakins after the Parsons deal and clearly their
roster probably safe. Right. He's and they have they're typically
they've had three GMS in what thirty years? Ron Wolf,
Ted Thompson. Now this guy he's and he was trained
by Ted Thompson. I don't think Gudikins is going anywhere.
I would out fire Gutikins. I think Gudakins is pretty good.

(51:30):
But Lafleur, like when you say, you know clam up,
I think people it's not like the teams, it's him.
It starts with the head coach, who's the play caller.
And he's had some big moments when he had Rogers,
they were in the NFC Championship game multiple times. He's
clearly solid. But I think this year, once you trade
for Parsons, a ton of pressure in a weird way.
The Eagles, who are always this polarizing organization, and because

(51:54):
of the way Howie and the pressure is just always
pressure in every game they play, it feels like they
get to fly a little under the this game Lambeau.
Just losing this Carolina game, It's like all eyes are
on the floor, and like after d Policy said that,
can they if they don't win the division? If they
got bounced again in the first round, I don't think
he'd be a lock to just keep his job. Now.

(52:15):
You could also say who are they replacing him with?
Like they're not just We talked about this yesterday when
we were just meeting as a staff, like could they
go to half Lee? It's like, you're not gonna fire
the floor for Halflee? That seems pretty crazy, But like
I do think there's just some growing. You feel the
tightness in the floor last week. Well it's funny when
he's like I don't give a shit about Halloween. You
can't say that and then lose the Panthers, you know.

(52:37):
So it's like, you know he and I'll never forget.
I was at the Titans practice his one year as
the offensive coordinator. He's kind of tightly wound, you know,
he's he's he's much more like Kyle than he is
loose like Sean or Kevin. So, but he's not like
he not as good as Kyle. I don't think so.
If you're gonna be the tightly wound offensive guy. He's

(53:01):
got a little Gruden to him too, like he's pretty conservative,
he's pretty tight, but he's young. He's this good lookie guy,
so you don't think that when you look at him,
but when you watch his team play. But like you said,
it wouldn't shock me at all if he beats the
Eagles by like eight points, you know, and just kind
of they're in control of the game. I just think
he's a fascinating case study because we're talking about all
these shitty jobs and these guys getting fired. Jonathan Gannon

(53:22):
probably fighting for his job going with Jacobe. I do
think Laflor feels this pressure of wanting to get like
a five year contract extension. Now it's not college football,
they easily could bring him back on a quote unquote
lame duck. Right, you're not recruiting. He could coach next year.
You don't have to fire him this year. But I
do think there's like the elephant in the room. Is
laflora factor for this team?

Speaker 2 (53:43):
Yeah? No, He's definitely an interesting case. I'm a be
I like him. I think he's I think it would
be coo.

Speaker 1 (53:48):
I'm not anti Lafloor at all.

Speaker 2 (53:50):
I think it would be crazy to move on from him.
I also like Hathlee the hire there. I'm just not
fully sold on the Eagles yet. Like you know, you
go back to that Vite. The offense people will say
has look better the past two games. That Vikings game,
they just hit a couple of bombs on misstime, blitz

(54:11):
and coverages. Other than that, they really didn't do much.
They've still have been running the ball well. And yeah,
they tore apart the Giants. The Giants are the worst
run defense in the NFL and we're playing with all
backup secondary, all backup defensive backs. Like their defenses was
a mess for that game. So I'm still not sold
that under this new offensive coordinator that their offense is

(54:32):
fixed like they're they are top three or bottom three,
depending on you look at it in the league in
three and outright, they've just been historically good in the
red zone on fourth downs. The Green Bay offense is
still much more efficient. I mean, Jordan Love is still
top two in the league, and epavor play versus man
en verse zone hurts still in this offense still have

(54:52):
struggles when they're under pressure. En Verse zone. They're going
to see a lot of both against the Packers and
this Eagles def it's definitely not the same caliber as
last year. So I think the Packers are the better team.
I know the Eagles are coming off of a bye,
but you get them at home, I think they're more
well rounded. I think you'll get their best effort here,
so under a field goal, I like the mayor. But

(55:14):
you're right, it's a huge game. It's a huge especially
because it's it's it's bigger for the Packers because the Eagles.
I mean, it could end up determining the one seed.
Division is over, so the Packers like, yeah, so this
game could end up like determining the one seed, which
is big for both. But if the Packers lose all

(55:35):
of a sudden, like you're in You're now much more
in that mesh of are you even going to win
your division? And if you don't do that, you know
you're on the road in your first playoff game in
the NFC is deep this year, so I think it's
definitely much more important for the Packers. But the Eagles
could definitely position themselves well for the one seed because
the other players for that are mainly coming. You know,

(55:58):
you look at them. I don't think the forty nine
ers there with the Seahawks, but I think the Cardinals
are really feisty. Still. It's like that division, you're probably
gonna have some more losses in that, whereas the Eagles
their division very much easier path. So yeah, huge game
for both. I'm really looking forward to. I think it'll

(56:19):
be a really big game, playoff rematch from last year,
and a game where green Bay was right there in
Philly even though they were dealing with some injuries and
their defense definitely was not as good as it is
this year. I think you get their best st effort here.
So I do like green Bay under a field goal.

Speaker 1 (56:33):
And the good thing for the Packers is now they
still have to play Chicago twice, but like Chicago's good
enough where they could they could win any divisional game.
It's like that crazy you know, it's more variable there,
so like all four teams can beat each other in
a given matchup, and there's still a lot of I
think the Packers still have to play multiple games against
the Bears. They still have to go to Detroit, they go.

(56:56):
I think they get Minnesota. They get Minnesota at home.

Speaker 2 (57:01):
I think so, yeah, yeah, and the Eagles have they
still play the Commanders twice, who are a mass unit.
With Daniels probably out for the year, They have the Raiders,
they host the Bears, they get the Cowboys again.

Speaker 1 (57:15):
So these next the Eagles are getting to twelve minimum,
it's like, can they get to fourteen? Right?

Speaker 2 (57:20):
Yeah? Now, I think they'll drop They'll probably drop a
couple more, but it probably won't matter. I mean, if
you get the twelve there's a good shot I think
at the one seat that they get the one seed
in the NFC just because the divisions are so loaded
this year ye that it's hard to see many teams
get into thirteen with how competitive like the one team

(57:42):
that would be your candidate is probably the Eagles because
of their division. But they they go and this this
next two weeks will determine that they go to Green Bay,
they host Detroit, and then later in the year they're
at the Bills.

Speaker 1 (57:54):
So they go two and three in those games. They're
in great shape.

Speaker 2 (57:57):
Yep, yep.

Speaker 1 (57:59):
And the thing is in the the NFC West, what
could throw it off is that that line is you know,
I just don't think they know what to do with
the forty nine ers right now, but they do obviously,
they play the Rams this week at home, and their
first game when they beat Seattle was in Seattle, so
they still get Seattle at home and they get some
home games. It's not like you know, Levi stadiums exactly, Arrowhead,
but it is a pretty big advantage to get a

(58:19):
home game don't have to travel.

Speaker 2 (58:21):
So yeah, so that's a tough game, Like, let's just start.

Speaker 1 (58:25):
With that game, because I do think the forty nine ers,
you know, I mean this pretty thing clearly. I mean,
he might play one more game this season, and then
it gets worse, like he's the mac Jones is their quarterback,
but they've been competing in winning games with mac Jones.
It's more of the other things, like they lose Brice
Huff and immediately he was by far their best pass
rusher once Bosa goes out. But the problem is he's
a part time player and he had to play a

(58:45):
bunch and what happens, he gets hurt on the last
play of the game. So it's like they last week,
or you know, a couple of weeks ago against Texans,
they were rolling out me and you and the defensive
lines is not good enough, and they're just rolling with
a bunch of random guys on defense, guy.

Speaker 2 (58:58):
Like Williams Gross Matos and those guys are on ir.

Speaker 1 (59:01):
Like yeah, and Pearson's knees clearly messed up. He's not
able to play. So their most explosive pass catcher beside
Kittle is out and Kendrick Barn's been really good. But
you know, the Rams have a lot of momentum coming
into this game. Now, Kyle's always played Sean McVay really well,
but just from a strength standpoint that you're playing a
healthy team versus team that's just on fumes. And look

(59:22):
what it took for the forty nine ers to win
that game in La a crazy fumble late in the game.
Mac Jones played the game of his life and Stafford
had what three hundred and fifty yards and three touchdowns.
So it's like, if you tell me that Stafford throws
for three hundred fifty yards and three touchdowns, again, I
do think you're gonna get to the point where it's
just gonna be hard for the forty nine ers to win.
Now if it's a ten point game and maybe they

(59:44):
get a late touchdown, I just think that four and
a half is kind of tasty, But that's I'm leaning
the forty nine Ers there, you know, at home, big dog.
But at the end of the day, this doesn't make
or break their season. Losing this game, right splitting with
the Rams, I think they would have taking that at
the beginning of the season right for sure.

Speaker 2 (01:00:03):
Yeah, the tough game because I don't mind the over
I know, and when divisional foes meet for the second time,
those games tend to trend under a bit just because
of familiarity historically, But I think those There's two things.
The forty nine Ers offense is clearly in a better
spot than it was from the first game, because Kittle
does add so much, not only right way to catch,

(01:00:27):
but in the running game with his blocking. It's is
the best all around tight end in the NFL. So
their offense is in a better spot, but the defense
is not. And I just I don't even know if
anybody knows how bad this forty nine Ers defense might be,
because after all the injuries, they played Houston, who didn't

(01:00:50):
have any receivers, and then they played the Giants, who
also have were injury ravaged. But the Giants still put
up twenty four, the Texans had the ball the entire game,
Like one of the Texans ever had the ball for
forty minutes in the game.

Speaker 1 (01:01:04):
So they are the best game in like two years, right.

Speaker 2 (01:01:06):
Yeah, they cannot generate pressure like it's to their defense,
and now they're going up against one of the best
offenses in the NFL. So I think it's going to
be very, very difficult for them to get stops. And
the Rams play fast, They're probably gonna throw a lot
and have a lot of success. Nikou is back he's
huge against zone heavy defenses. But on the flip side,

(01:01:27):
I also think the Rams have at the moment the
most overrated defense in the league.

Speaker 1 (01:01:33):
Now.

Speaker 2 (01:01:33):
I don't think there are a bad defense by any stretch,
but like if you look at statistically like EPA per play,
like they're number one, Like statistically they're the number one
defense in the league right now in a lot of metrics,
like the Texans are the best pass defense. I think
the Texans are the best defense overall, but by a
lot of metrics, the Rams are up there at the
top of the leader board. Well, that's what happens when
you play Cooper Rush and the Ravens, Tyler Schuck and

(01:01:58):
the Saints, the Jaguars in London like that. That's their
last three games, so they've definitely benefited from who they played.
And when I do think that that back end, that
secondary is still vulnerable.

Speaker 1 (01:02:12):
Jones lit them up. Yeah, Kendrick Bourd.

Speaker 2 (01:02:14):
Through of three fifty and Kittle didn't even play in
that game. Now the fort nine ers are playing faster
than they usually do with Mac Jones and they're throwing more.
Jones lit them up underneath last game, so I would
imagine the Rams don't let that happen. So I think
there's gonna be more opportunities for some more explosive plays

(01:02:35):
for the forty nine ers down the field, which are
always helpful to an over So yeah, I don't mind
the forty nine ers. Look, I'm just.

Speaker 1 (01:02:45):
Who on the forty nine ers can starch the field though.

Speaker 2 (01:02:48):
Yeah, that's true. That's where Pearsall would be big back.
And you just got to hope that Jennings continues to
like kidle down the scene. But Jennings continues to like
just get more in tune with this offense. But it
is a good point. I will say this has been
a dog dominated series. This is getting to the point
where it's like Steelers Ravens. These teams have met fourteen

(01:03:09):
times since twenty nineteen, including the playoffs underdog thirteen and
one against the spread. Ten of the fourteen outright have
been won by the underdog, so this is usually a
lot of familiarity divisional opponents like these games are usually
tight and the dog is usually a good bet. I
just I don't know. I fear that I don't I'm

(01:03:33):
not even accounting for these forty nine ers defensive injuries
enough and they're just gonna get carved because they just
haven't seen a Culton offense like the Rams since they've
been this decimated. So that's my main fear there. Ram's
also dealing with like some kicker issues, so you could
see mcvaye more aggressive here on fourth downs. They signed

(01:03:55):
the thicker kicker Harris and Metis, but we'll see. I'm
looking forward to that one though. But it has been
a dog dominated series.

Speaker 1 (01:04:04):
And one issue is if the Niners are down, pass
blocking is a struggle, and one thing the Rams can
do is their defense. Wine can get that's the stress.
It's like I can envision Mac Jones getting hit so hard.
He's just laying there on the grounds, like, oh, this
guy better get up, or Adrian Martinez is coming in,
because that that basically happened in that first game. He
just toughed it out. But as you know, he's just

(01:04:26):
he's tough. I've come around. I have a lot of
respect for mac Jones. There's no disputing his toughness, right,
I mean, he's been getting fucking pepper this season and
keeping the forty nine ers alive.

Speaker 2 (01:04:35):
So now it's a good point. That could be the downfall. Like,
if you're the Rams, that's what I would do. I
would take away everything underneath, make the forty nine ers
hit more downfield shots, more long developing routes, while letting
your pass rush get home. Because if you're letting them
kill you underneath, you're also newtering your pass rush, which
is the strength of your defense. So yeah, that that

(01:04:58):
is a very valid point. But yeah, I'm really looking
forward to I do think both the forty nine of
defense is a mess, and I do think the Rams
defense is a bit overrated at the moment. But we'll
see if the forty nine ers can take advantage.

Speaker 1 (01:05:08):
Yeah, their downfall why they might not win the Super
Bowl is going to be the secondary like playing Seattle,
even Philly can hit big plays on them. Obviously Green Bay,
it's just either're not going to be able to cover.

Speaker 2 (01:05:18):
Yeah, I would have liked them to just add one
more piece, like prior to the season or at the
track trade deadline on the back end like that, they
are like one really good piece in the secondary way
from I think just being the most well rounded team
in the NSA.

Speaker 1 (01:05:34):
I haven't seen a story come out, but I'd be
shocked if they weren't also talking about the Sauce situation.
But having been in that world, Jalen Ramsey was a
much better player when they traded for him, and a
much more versatile player, much more physical tackler. I mean,
he's just a better player. I mean, if you could
take either guy in his prime, I'm taking Jalen Ramsey
not even hesitating. And they did that same exact trade
for a better player. So it's like we're not going

(01:05:55):
to get in a biding war for a guy that
wasn't as good as we've already made this trade. So
that's probably where like, yeah, we're just we're not gonna
quote unquote overpaid. Even Sauce is like you know, I
get it. They gave up a lot to get me
say that. Today. I was like, this guy's a I
like sauce the person, probably more than the player, and
he's a big golf guy. Bills I typically, you know,

(01:06:28):
if you've taught me this over the years, when everyone
hates a team and you get these huge lines, especially
divisional games, I just wonder Miami at this point, if
it could just really start to unravel. And this is
a spot like if the Bills are truly you know,
a Super Bowl contender or a team that's gonna win
the AFC, you come in and you just put your
foot on their throat. Now, this line's big nine and

(01:06:50):
a half. But you watch the Bills defensive lines, like
if they played like they do against the Chiefs against
other random opponents, they would have way more blowouts. I mean,
the asionally do right. You'll just look up and they'll
be playing like the Saints of the Panthers. They forget
him and they were up like four. Yeah, but it's
like they'll also be in that game and it was
like is it seventeen to seventeen right now? So it's

(01:07:11):
like they get up for the Chiefs and they play
Super Bowl winning football and then they play this week.
But I would imagine this is a spot where it's like, hey, guys,
and luckily they still got a lot to play for
because New England is right there with them and already
beat them. So I expect a spirited effort. And I
just wonder when Miami does the one two three bahamas.

(01:07:31):
You know, I mean the GM firing a GM doesn't
really impact the players, but the McDaniel situation. You know,
it's like these guys listening to them, they know like
more than likely I'm gonna be on another team next year.
I just think this thing could get really weird, really fast.
The to A thing is getting weirder by the week.
If the Bills are real, they win this game by

(01:07:53):
like twenty points, So I'm taking I'm hammering the Bills
here minus nine and a half.

Speaker 2 (01:07:57):
Yeah, I don't bee. I mean, I'm principal. I can't join. Yeah,
Like this is just Bilo sell high principles. Like the
Dolphins got blown out on Thursday night, get extra rest.
The Bills just had Max Effort win as an underdog
against the Chiefs. Now they go on the road to
a divisional opponent, who played them pretty well in the
first meeting. Like, so it's kind of like a sleek

(01:08:18):
you know down in Miami. That's not good. It's just
so I could see them coming out so flat.

Speaker 1 (01:08:24):
It is a sleepy environment there. Yeah, and they suck
so and.

Speaker 2 (01:08:28):
The Dolphins might be able to run the ball a
bit like that's the that's buffaloes. But I mean, I
can't I can't talk you out of it. I will
say the Bills, Like, the Bills have been able to
get pressure all year. What has held them back in
the playoffs has always been their defense. Their offense has
always been fine. You look back at any playoff loss,
it's never on the offense. It's always been the defense
letting them down. And a lot of that in recent

(01:08:50):
seasons has been the secondary. And that was my biggest
question for them coming into the year. I thought they
might add peace at the trade deadline. But last week
there was two really eye opening performances that might get
them over the hump. Bishop Bishops play Utah kid and

(01:09:12):
then Harriston, a Kentucky kid in my backyard, their first
round draft pick who was hurt for most of the
year until the past two games. He looked outstanding that
his speed at corner, like especially against Worthy, really jumped
off the page.

Speaker 1 (01:09:27):
How did he last the end of the first round.

Speaker 2 (01:09:30):
Injury, A lot of injuries. He was hurt all last year,
hurt start this year, So that was there's a lot
of injury. He has all the tools, the speed, he's.

Speaker 1 (01:09:41):
A he's a top fifteen talent.

Speaker 2 (01:09:43):
Yeah, but there was just a ton of injury questioned
marks with him and again this year. I mean, he
hasn't played until the past two games, so but if
he can continue his play of late, that's a huge boost.
The same with Bishop because safety is an enormous question
for the Bills this season, so that really could unlock

(01:10:05):
their entire defense and help them finally get over the hump.
But yeah, if the Bills are like locked in fully here,
then if this is trouble for Miami, I just fear
the spot and then coming out a bit flat and
Miami might be able to run the ball and Buffalo
might just like go through the motions running it. So yeah,

(01:10:29):
I can't get there, but I can't blame you.

Speaker 1 (01:10:31):
Baltimore. At Minnesota, JJ McCarthy quieted everyone down a little bit.
Those you know, first two touchdowns. Then the game kind
of got weird, but he did make a game winning throw.
The Ravens long rest you know, ten days obviously played
last Thursday. Some momentum coming into this game Brian Flores

(01:10:52):
was he was, as the kids would say in his
bag in that game, obviously he was super fired up.
I mean that was a kitchen sink game from Flores.
I just do you trust JJ McCarthy in this spot.
That's where I get back to.

Speaker 2 (01:11:07):
No, not yet. I mean last week, anybody threw one
hundred and forty yards and the lines had a bunch
of backup defense secondary defensive backs in there. And then
I think the Vikings started like in Detroit Territory and
four other five scoring drives. So that was all about
the defense. And before I circle back on this game,
the Lions are broken right now. Like I last week

(01:11:32):
was a spot they never lose right at home off
the by first, just at home, they first, they're not
even covered. But to lose that game their offense since
October first, the Lions offense twenty fourth and success rate
seventeenth ePaper play twenty ninth in rushed success rate. By
the way, over that stretch, the Bears are number one,
so the Bears run game is cooking. The Lions are

(01:11:54):
not part of that. Ben Johns's departure and like everyone
was like, oh, it's fine, and the first half of
the year, but like they beat the Bravens defense that
was decimated at the time, and then like the Bucks
and then everyone was like, oh it's fine. This offensive
line is also not fine. They're gonna move a guard
to sent their center to guard, now their guard to
the Mahogani's out their backup. It's a mess in the interier.

(01:12:17):
Both their tackles might miss this game. Their offensive line
can't block. Flores took full advantage. They were blitzing up
the middle and you have Goth with pressure.

Speaker 1 (01:12:26):
We can't move.

Speaker 2 (01:12:27):
Yeah, it's gonna be a disaster. We'll see if the
Commanders can take advantage. I did bet the Commanders plus
eight and a half. I think it's way too eye
like it would have been three three and a half
with Daniels. Daniels right now over Mario is not worth
like five or six points. I mean, Mario over the
past two seasons been statistically the same as Daniels. If
you look at their offense, they can run the ball.

(01:12:47):
He's just not worth six points a moment. Their offense
hasn't been clicking the lines. Of all these offensive line injuries,
they're still not fully healthy in the secondary ultimate by
low spot. You could say the same about the lines.
They are twelve to zero against the spread after the
past twelve losses. But I took I took over a
touchdown there. But getting back to the Ravens, I played

(01:13:08):
them first half, first half minus two and a half.
I have some gaudy numbers on the Ravens and Lamar
in the first half. It is like one of the
best sport, one of the best spots to bet in
the NFL since Lamar has entered the league in the
first half overall in its career, he's sixty one to
thirty six and two against the spread sixty three percent,
covering by about a field goal per game, which is insane.

(01:13:31):
Average cover margin in the first half is by a
field goal per game. How about as a favorite in
the first half fifty three thirty and two against the
spread sixty four percent, covering by three and a half
points per game. How about as a road favorite twenty
eight ten and one against the spread seventy four percent,
covering by five points per game. Usually the Ravens are

(01:13:52):
very well prepared early in games. Usually it's a shock
to the system when you see Lamar in his speed
and teams that don't see him often usually takes them
time to adjust, and you see the Ravens jump out
to Leeds early on. I think all of that's in play.
The Ravens having extra time to prepare Lamar is extra
time to heal up. I think you'll see him be

(01:14:12):
more mobile this week. The offense is also now one
hundred percent healthy, like not only was Lamar out, like
you had recard, likely all the guys that enable them
to play the packages that they need to play to
give them the advantages that other offenses don't have. Right,
you don't see the same looks as you do when

(01:14:33):
you play the Ravens against other teams, and that's one
of the reasons that have such an advantage. And it's
so much more difficult for defenses to play them as
opposed to play And you know these spread offenses, the
eleven personnel, their offense is not fully healthy, their defense
is also now fully healthy, and you look at their
injury report. No One on there this week. The defensive
line is still an issue. That's the only place to

(01:14:55):
have injuries, but they're out for the year like Mada Bouquet.
Huge loss that added Draymond Jones from helps a bit,
but their run dye will still be an issue. But
the Vikings are not an efficient rushing attack bottom ten
in the NFL, so I don't think they can fully
take advantage. So I expect the Ravens to come out
here jump out to a lead. They're also number one
and explosive run rate. Vikings really struggle in that department,

(01:15:18):
so I like the Ravens first half. They've also been
blitzing a lot lately, blitzing more because their defensive line
can't generate pressure. McCarthy's really struggled against the Blitz so far.
I am very fascinated by the matchup of Lamar versus Flores.
I think in their first meeting, which was like seventy
eight years ago when Flores was in Miami, Lamar beat

(01:15:42):
him fifty nine to ten. And by the way, Lamar
is the best quarterback in the league against the Blitz
right now, which is another scary thing for the Vikings.
I mean, Lamar versus the blitz. This year, he's completing
seventy nine percent of his passes. The next best is
seventy two. He has seven touchdowns, one interception, and he's
completing seventy nine percent of his passes. He has the

(01:16:02):
second highest yards per attempt and the high and the
fourth highest a die. So he's also throwing down the
field completing like eighty percent of his passes. You just
can't blitz Lamar. However, there was a game. You might
remember this game. I think it was in like twenty
twenty one where it was on a short week Thursday
night game in Miami. Baltimore went down there and Flores

(01:16:23):
had Lamar lost. He had he ran the same blitz
thirty three times in this game, the same middle fire blitz.
It was insane and the Ravens couldn't figure out what
to do, and Lamar was under pressure the entire game.
So I am fascinating to see how that plays out.

Speaker 1 (01:16:40):
But if Flaco come into that game and get killed
or is that a different game? I think that was
a didn't Flack go get killed one night on a
Thursday night game?

Speaker 2 (01:16:49):
Yeah, I think that was in a different spot, But
I do remember that too, But this game was was
was wild like Flora's had Lamar fluster. Now, I that
was a short week going down the man any like
extra time of Perrier fully healthy on offense. I like
the Ravens or I like the Ravens in the first
half for sure.

Speaker 1 (01:17:08):
Uh, Jacksonville at the Texans. Obviously CJ's out Texans home dog.
I don't really know what to make of Davis Mills.
Obviously they got a ton of injuries as well. Jacksonville's
wide receivers are just in shambles. They have to trade
for Jacobe Myers. I honestly kind of like the Texans
in this spot. I just think they're gonna get after

(01:17:31):
Trevor Lawrence.

Speaker 2 (01:17:32):
Yeah, that's that's probably what the sides this now that
they're a dog, I would look at Texans or nothing.
If you're a teaser better, I don't mind like teasing
the Texans now up over a touchdown with like the Jets.
I know that's ugly, but like that total both games
are have total like thirty eight the Jets. There's a
ton of weather. I know Sauce is no only there,
but it's the Browns offense, Like does that really matter.

(01:17:57):
So yeah, I mean, the one thing I worry about
with the Texans who I mean, they should have beat
the Broncos last week if Stroud doesn't go down. Was unfortunate,
but they have the best defense in the league in
my opinion, that should win them the game here. The
Jags offense is a mess right now, especially at receiver.
I'm not sure that they can block Houston. One of

(01:18:18):
my fears though, and look, Houston's their weapons are healthy
now like you have Collins, you have Kirk. My fear
is that they lost Titus Howard in that game last
week to an injury. And that's the Titus Howard's on
an elite tackle, but he's better than the backup Fisher
is really bad. And the Jags do have pass rushers.

(01:18:38):
But the Texans, they have made a pretty smart change
over the past couple of weeks and it's solved some
of their pass protection issues because the Broncos last week
had their second lowest pressure rate of the season. The
forty nine ers couldn't get any pressure, but that was
a lot to do with the forty nine ers, but
they started using a lot more six offensive lineman packages.

(01:18:59):
They've been going jump to help out with protection and
help Stroud out and it's paid dividends. But if Howard's
out like you're, can they do that as often? And
then when they don't, your right tackle is much weaker.
So that is a bit of a concern. But now
that this line is flipped to Houston as an underdog,
I think that's the play. The same with the Jets,

(01:19:20):
like it's ugly. Who wants to bet the Jets now?
But now that that line has flipped to the Jets,
and I don't know, I just don't think that Dylan
Gabriel should be a road favorite. And the Browns defense,
we've seen it for three years. It is not the
same unit for whatever reason on the road. They just
do not play up to the same level when they're
outside of the land. And like I said, Sauce not

(01:19:46):
going to be there. Who cares? It's I mean, Gabriel's
success rates like thirty six percent, lowest in the league
by a wide margin. He's that offense is not going
to take full advantage. Quinn Williams loss will hurt as
a run stopper, but he's a deep tackle. He's not
worth three four points to the spread. So I like
the Jets the dog. God forbid. If you bet that game,

(01:20:08):
you and you have to watch it, there's gonna be
rain and it's gonna be ugly. But yeah, I would
look at both both the Texans and Jets' home dogs.

Speaker 1 (01:20:17):
Colts, what was your initial reaction when he saw the trade?

Speaker 2 (01:20:21):
I thought it was way too expensive because I'm just
not a believer in Daniel Jones. Now if if they
are a believer in Daniel Jones, like then they think
they can win a super Bowl, then that's that's how
we we'll got we will grade this trade. Like remember
that the Rams some of their moves that they made,

(01:20:43):
and everyone was like, what are they doing? They trade
all their draftics. Way they got a super Bowl, so
you can't it was the right move? Was it was right? Now?
I know, like if it's playing Monday morning quarterback, But
that's what you're in this to do is win a super.

Speaker 1 (01:20:55):
Bowl, and they went to another one like they were
winning big games.

Speaker 2 (01:20:58):
Yes, so I do like I think I like that
that Ballot is now being aggressive in the secondary might
because he's his seat was getting a little warm. It's
something that he's neglected for years. But Ward getting Ward
Gardner and you have Kenny Moore in the slot. Now
you know that's arguably the best corner trio in the NFL.

(01:21:20):
Your safeties are solid because you went out and you
added safeties in the off season. You also got rid
of your horrendous defensive coordinator. You brought in a pretty
good one. Like now, the defense once especially once Ward
comes back, it's the passer still isn't great, but it's
championship caliber. The offense, you have the offensive line, you

(01:21:40):
have the best running back in the NFL. You have
great weapons, great versatile weapons everywhere. It just comes out
of the quarterback. Now you believe in Daniel Jones and
you will go after and you think you can win
a Super Bowl, then I think it's the right move,
even if I think it was too much to give up. However,

(01:22:00):
I don't believe in Daniel Jones, Like I don't think
Daniel Jones can win a Super Bowl, so therefore I
would not have done it. Like even when Ward comes back.
Your your secondary is good enough if you want to
like make a but they must believe in Jones, because
that's what this signals. This signals that they believe in Jones.
They don't need to get another quarterback, they don't need
draft capital, and they're going to be in on him

(01:22:22):
for this year, next and so on. So but I
think at the end of the day, we have a
large sample size that says who Jones is. And I
know that the situation wasn't great, but I mean, look
at last week against the Steelers defense that couldn't stop

(01:22:43):
a nosebleed all year, and they end up turning the
ball over every other possession. He looks flustered, and I
just can't see at the end of the day, to
get through the AFC, you're gonna need to have an
elite quarterback who can go toe to toe with Alan,
with Mahomes, with potentially Lamar. I don't see it. But

(01:23:06):
I like that they're finally being aggressive and it's exciting
for Colts fans. In terms of this week, I do
think the line is too hot, just like last time.

Speaker 1 (01:23:14):
Couldn't they just put Aren't they just gonna put sauce
on Drake London? Probably?

Speaker 2 (01:23:17):
Yeah, that's so. I've played the Falcons my worst bet
of the week. I still show value in it, but
I bet it before I bet him plus six because
I showed value, I think it should be like four
four and a halfl Like I think the Colts are
just overvalued right now, just like last week. But now
there's a couple of things that worked against me. They
traded for Gardner, a lot of them certainty there that

(01:23:38):
I think it's gonna start. And one of the reasons
I bet the Falcons is like, well, London without war,
it's gonna have a huge advantage here. But now can
Gardner neutrals him? I mean Gardner all he does is
line up against ones and that forces the tightest throw
rate in the entire league. I don't know. I mean,
in a short week with international travel, is he like

(01:23:59):
fully up to speed, He's gonna play every snap? Are
they gonna is he just gonna play one side of
the field and keep it simple. Are they're gonna have
just packages for I don't. I really don't know. But
that's obviously a huge upgrade for who they are on
the outside, and it takes away the potential advantage for London. Additionally,
I haven't seen the injury report yet today, but the
Falcons could be without both of their guards and that

(01:24:21):
could be devastating. They're already without their right tackle. Both
their guards are excellent and their backups they have no depth,
so they could be shorthanded along the offensive line. It's
also not a great matchup for the Falcons because the
Falcon should be out there on defense at least the
Carrison should be back. Bowman should be back. Has been
really good as a rookie, and the Falcons passed he's
been excellent. They don't They don't allow any explosive passes,

(01:24:43):
one of the reasons why I bet him last week
against the Patriots. They also can get pressure that could
end up being the difference, like if they just forced
Daniel Jones into being a pumpkin again. But the Falcons
can't stop the run, and especially without Devon Diablo's on
ir and their backup linebackers are really poor in that department.
And Stiking came out after last week and said, look,

(01:25:05):
I didn't give the ball to Jonathan Taylor enough last week,
So what does that lead you to believe? Well, this
is going to be a big Jonathan Taylor game. And
like the Patriots can't run the ball, so that was
good for the Falcons last week. The Colts can. So
if the Colts then are just gashing them with Taylor,
that means you're safety's got to start coming up, and

(01:25:26):
then that means your play action and then you're gonna
have all the throws that Jones can make and has
made you know, you're easy throws to all of their
weapons when with the defense just fully committing to Taylor,
who they might not be able to stop. So yeah,
with Gardner in the mix, the offensive line injuries for
the Falcons, I do not like them as much as

(01:25:47):
I did. My numbers still do, but match up and
other factors now with Gardner being added and that uncertainty
around that probably wouldn't play it now. If it does
get to a seven, I would still play the Falcons,
but not the best matchup for them. Very inconsistent team too,
Like what are you getting from the Falcons on a
weekend week out basis? You never know.

Speaker 1 (01:26:07):
We talked about this last week that the Tomlin spot
and it was kind of at a fork in the
road for a season for his career potentially with Pittsburgh,
and they answered the bell. But there was a moment
in that game They're down seven to nothing and the
Colts had had like a fourteen play drive and they'd
only gone like forty yards, but it was like, is
this how you're Jay is just going to go out
just getting just slowly bludgeoned to death. And then TJ

(01:26:30):
came through with that fumble sack and then it turned
and then they rattled off seventeen points and then the
floodgates opened with their pass rush. Well the Chargers, you know,
Alt is out now that offensive line man is just
I If that Steelers defensive line plays like they just did,
I don't see how the Chargers can win the game. Especially,

(01:26:51):
let's face it, they become pretty past happy. Greg Romans
kind of changed his tune this year, rightfully, so he
is one of the best quarterbacks in the league. But
how are they going to protect them? But I've bet
on this before, and all of a sudden, TJ's just
nowhere to be found. But when they play like they
did last week and he starts playing well, it opens
up for everyone else. And then you just got guys
coming from all different angles and I can just envision

(01:27:12):
if they have the same defensive line effort. I just
don't see how I like the Steelers here plus three
plus you know this home field for the Chargers, there
are going to do it is going to be eighty percent.
I mean I remember going to Raider games at the
Coliseum when they would play the Steelers, and I swore
to God it was like basically a Steelers home game.

(01:27:32):
They have a lot of fans and they have a
ton that live on the West Coast. This place is
gonna be loud. They're gonna have to go silent count
I'm sure. And to me, it just all comes down
to do I get this similar effort from the front,
Because if I do, then it's on like Donkey Kong.
If not, then yeah, I mean he wouldn't shock me
at off. The Chargers win, But I'm just betting on
this pass rush. Maybe I'm an idiot, but I'm taking

(01:27:54):
the Steelers here plus three.

Speaker 2 (01:27:55):
Yeah, I don't mind taking the points here. One other
note on the Colts just there will be a game
soon when they get fourth down out of the game.
So there were Stichens very aggressive. They're fifteen of seventeen
on fourth down this year. Their opponents are nine of eighteen.
So they've been very fortunate. But they're gonna have a
game Like last week. I think they were three or

(01:28:16):
three or four or four. Again, They're gonna have a
game where they go like, oh, three on fourth downs
to kill three scoring drives and then get upset. So
they have some pending fourth down variants that it's coming.
Just start throw that out there.

Speaker 1 (01:28:29):
But that's a big reason too. Like when you you know,
historically when you see didn't punt, it was always like ah,
they probably scored forty points. Now that happens a lot.
It's like, well, these teams are going four and fourth down. Yeah,
like it. It's a little bit of a different The
game is played a little differently than it was ten, fifteen,
twenty years ago, right yep.

Speaker 2 (01:28:46):
In regards to the Chargers. Yet this Vielers also, I
will note I talked about this last week. I said, hey,
with all these injuries, with the Shawn Elliott out, and like,
this is the time where let's I want to see
what they change. They should change their compets. They should
go or too high against Daniel Jones, who's not as
good against too high important and will make mistakes. Well
that's what they did. They went more too high as
much as they did all year, and they put Ramsey

(01:29:08):
back at safety. So they made some changes that paid
off on the back end and then their pass rushers
came to play because that's a good Colts offensive line,
and they made plays. And that's usually what happens when
the Steelers win games, and when they win as underdogs,
it's a huge It's almost like a replay of what

(01:29:28):
beating the tackle and then stripping the quarterback and recovering it.
I mean, how many times have we seen that. It's
thirty two times over the past eight years, and it's
a game changing play. So yeah, the all loss is
just devastating. I mean, there's not many teams. There's just

(01:29:49):
an epidemic in the NFL with lack of offensive line
depth and caliber play. When you have two bookend you know,
Pro Bowl cal tackles, that is such an advantage over
the rest of the league. Not many teams can say that,
But losing both is not. I don't think any team

(01:30:10):
can really overcome that. And they've also had other injuries
in the interior and the center has been a mess.
But that's if you look now, it's probably not this drastic,
but this is what the numbers say. If you just
look at the on off splits with with all and
without all, and the numbers said this, and to be
honest with you. The eye test as it, I mean,

(01:30:32):
it's crazy. There they go. They're a top five offense
over the past two years with all and a bottom
five offense without him. Now, I don't think he's worth
that much, but it's it's drastic, especially when you don't
have Slatter if you want to go other tackle like,
the trickle down effect is massive, and the Steelers are

(01:30:53):
specifically built to take full advantage.

Speaker 1 (01:30:58):
So everyone in the AFC has good pass us and
specifically in their division, right, you can put guys over
the tackle once you have a week link from Max
Crosby obviously Denver and the Chiefs that it can expose
you in the blink of an eye. And that's where
the Steelers fall, right.

Speaker 2 (01:31:12):
Yeah. The one team that doesn't is the Ravens. If
you're a Chargers fan, you wouldn't mind seeing the matchups
from that aspect because they don't have they don't have
the elite head rushers. They're like defensive line. Chargers could
handle that, so that would just be a shootout with
the Chargers. The Chargers and Ravens play in the playoffs,

(01:31:33):
that's probably a good over anyway. I'm geting ahead of myself.
So yeah, that could just wreck the game. And this
offense is not the same without all because they'd already
don't have Slater and it's will in all likelihood cap
the Chargers ceiling. Now, they went out and they traded
for Trevor Penning. I mean, that's not going to move

(01:31:54):
the needle. But there was nothing they really can do
because tackles are defensive, they're also very rare. There's the
very scarce resource, so you can't go out and like
break the bank for a tackle at the trade deadline
when you already have two Pro Bowls there to come
back next year, so that you're just stuck and you

(01:32:15):
got to get Penning and play them a technically even
though he's more of a guard, and fail to tackle
in New Orleans. I think that's that's their solution. It's
like it's like Bobby Hart and Trevor Penning. Beckton might
not even play. Bozman's been one of the worst centers
in the league. It's it's a mess, and it's probably

(01:32:36):
gonna cap their ceiling and will probably prevent them from
having a chance of making a run at winning Super Bowl.
So I imagine that this is next year is a
huge year for the Chargers and for Herbert, like you
get they'll be interesting in the futures market, Like Hardball's
continuing to kind of build that roster how he wants

(01:32:59):
it and kind of forming it and like, now you
give them one more offseason, kind of plug some of
the holes that they have. There's still some holes on
that defense that they could fix, and then you get
the tackles healthy. I think maybe another intier offensive line
they got to fix. The center.

Speaker 1 (01:33:14):
Slayer's injury was really bad though, Like it was like
a devastating knee injury. I think, yeah, that's fair and stuff.
You just never know. That's I mean, I'm rooting for them,
but it was like it wasn't just your typical It's
like Brandon Ayuk. It wasn't just an Aco. It was
all these ligaments and like Brandon I he's probably not
even gonna play this year. It's like, it's that's true,
that's just the one red flag. Obviously, if Alt's there,
you can figure out another tackle. If Slater's career, let's say,

(01:33:36):
is in question in the off season, it's easier to
handle that than yeah right now.

Speaker 2 (01:33:40):
But now I think next season is the the more
intriguing season for the Chargers now. And yeah, I don't
mind taking the three on Sunday night because it might
just be that simple that the and the Steelers have
moved the ball officially with Rogers. Yeah, and they're they're
unique to play against it. They're kind of like a
This is another thing I liked about the Steelers last

(01:34:02):
week is against the Colts. The Colts can't cover tight
ends to say their lives, which might be an issue
in the AFC playoffs. And another reason why I don't
love the Falcons is because the Falcons have to just
like one tight end. They don't. But the Steelers play
very unique. They play with all these tight ends and
it's not like your normal offense that you're gonna see.

Speaker 1 (01:34:19):
Why wouldn't they give up their third rounder for Brisol? Yeah?

Speaker 2 (01:34:23):
I could have seen. I thought the chief I really
did think the Chiefs were gonna The Chiefs just refused
to like I mean, I guess they're they like Preshot Smith.

Speaker 1 (01:34:31):
But well, they offered a four. They just wouldn't go
to three.

Speaker 2 (01:34:34):
Yeah today, but I mean they draft they used the
first on a running back recently. I guess they saw
how that worked out.

Speaker 1 (01:34:43):
So yeah, I think it's harder for them. They got
some high priced guys. They aren't going anywhere. You know,
you kind of need those picks.

Speaker 2 (01:34:48):
That's fair, Yeah, I mean because they do have to
worry about continuing to build that roster up with the youth.
So yeah, I was surprised he didn't get moved though,
for sure it was at the end of the day. Yeah.

Speaker 1 (01:35:00):
So if I would have told you that Indiana, what
six months ago, was favored by fourteen and a half
points going into this game against Penn State, what do

(01:35:23):
you think the circumstances would have been plane.

Speaker 2 (01:35:26):
Crash or some nuclear bomb.

Speaker 1 (01:35:28):
That's pretty crazy how that played out.

Speaker 2 (01:35:30):
Yeah, I took Penn State. Doesn't feel good, I'll tell
you that, but if there is. India has kind of
banged up. They have an NFL receiver sarat he's dealing
with the hamstring injury. Their guard who's a stud, Drew Evans,
is gonna miss their study linebacker Aidan Fisher, he's banged up.
I think we'll go, but we'll see Penn State. I mean,

(01:35:54):
this kid, Grunka Meyer, who hasn't looked good the backup quarterback.
But have you ever seen anyone walk into a worst situation.
He had a start at Iowa was a top five
d and then at Ohio State, who was the best
defense in the country on the road. That was your
first two starts as a freshman. So I would imagine
he looked a little better last week, Like just when
I say thatt are like more poised and confident in

(01:36:16):
the pocket, and he's going to improve with more reps.
I imagine he has to look even better this week,
especially at home, right, just not having to go on
the road against top five defenses. Now, Indiana is also
an excellent defense for probably a top five defense as well.
I just think it's too high. I mean the market,
this is what the market told us last week. Penn
State got that hard. It ended up being wrong. They

(01:36:37):
had a chance at the end of getting the back door,
but they got that hard right before kick it closed.
That line closed sixteen and a half seventeen at Ohio State.
Now we're saying Indiana is a fifteen point favorite at
Penn State. Now you upgrade Indiana after the last week
for crushing Maryland. You downgrade Penn State for losing at
Ohio State, but not drastically either. Way. So let's just

(01:37:02):
rewind and say, okay, Ohio State seventeen point home favor
over Penn State. Home field for both is around three
and a half points, so that implies that Ohio State
would have been minus ten at Penn State last week. Well,
and now Indiana is minus fifteen. The look aheadline for
the potential Big Ten championship of Ohio State Indiana just opened.

(01:37:24):
It's Ohio State minus three and a half. It's the market.
It's not the most efficient market to look at the market,
but that's what I also have have Ohio State. I
think they're like a little field goal plus better than Indiana.
But now in one week we're saying Indiana based on
just these two markets. I know it's not that simple,
but is five points better than Ohio State based on

(01:37:47):
those two lines. So I had to take over two touchdowns.
I make it like thirteen and I'm gonna hold my nose.
Signetti runs it up. Maybe he does it, maybe he
wants to get Mendoz to the Heisman. But Penn State
can at least run the ball a bit their past.
He's still pretty good. They can't stop the run for

(01:38:07):
whatever reasons. Maybe that just makes Indiana run it more,
which is helpful for a bigger dog. I took the points.
It's scary.

Speaker 1 (01:38:15):
Well, Ohio State, Indiana would be the only power for
conference championship assuming Ohio State, you know, finally beats Michigan,
where two undefeated teams are playing each other, right.

Speaker 2 (01:38:28):
And yeah, now the Michigan again, then they're out of
They would lose all the tiebreakers like well, obviously if Michigans, So,
Michigan's probably gonna went out until that game, so Michigan
would go. But also if USC wins out and Michigan
beats Ohio State, then Michigan would go. If if Iowa

(01:38:48):
wins out, and because Iowa and USC play each.

Speaker 1 (01:38:53):
Other, how does Oregon not control their own destiny if
they went out, They've only had the one loss, right.

Speaker 2 (01:38:58):
Uh, Oregon, I'll tell you right now, they might. Yeah,
they should, assuming loses to Michigan.

Speaker 1 (01:39:06):
We're saying, and again, I mean, we college football, especially
in this era, you can never assume anything. That's one
thing we've learned. Because the Oregon plays Iowa and their
six and a half point favorite on the road, which
let's face I mean, that's gonna be that's a tough
place to play. That's that's a pretty good game. And
I told you this right before we press record. I
missed the Pac twelve. I've moved on. But like matches

(01:39:27):
like this are cool. You know, this is Iowa playing
games in the middle of November against random opponents in
the Big ten sometimes can be pretty boring. This this
gets me to watch Iowa.

Speaker 2 (01:39:36):
Yeah, I played Iowa here Farrence's their France is five
and one again straight up against top ten teams in November.
This is a November team. They usually start peaking this
time of the year. I'm still just not sold on
Oregon yet. I think Oregon's a year away and they're
gonna be super dangerous next year. I mean, they bring

(01:39:58):
everybody back. This is super young team, just full of
young town. I mean, look you can look at their
just look at their receiving core and Sadiq the tight end,
and they are so young. They're so young across the board.
Next year they might be the favorite. Although Ohio State's
bringing everyone.

Speaker 1 (01:40:13):
Back to they know Oregon will be right there with
Ohio State in like Texas to land the sweet transfer portal.

Speaker 2 (01:40:18):
Guys, yes, attack right, Yeah, it's scary that Ohio State.
Also it's like bringing everyone back next year, which.

Speaker 1 (01:40:24):
Is well, they're just they're now a sab and retired.
They're they're going nowhere. They're just the power I feel like, I.

Speaker 2 (01:40:30):
Mean, it's crazy think Jeremiah Smith can't go to the
NFL Draft this year. But so I did play Iowa,
Like I'm just not a believer yet when Oregon. So
everyone said Oregon they're here when they won at Penn State.
But we've seen that there was more to do with
Penn State. You could even argue Oregon only scoring seventeen
points in regulation and almost losing that game. I mean,

(01:40:53):
there's a Penn State team that's lost six in a row.
They lost at home the Northwestern, they lost to UCLA,
they got you know, just trucked by Ohio State. At
this is the Penn State is not a very good
football team this year. Took Oregon to overtime. What is
Oregon done other than that? Like they blew out Rutgers
was the worst power for defense.

Speaker 1 (01:41:12):
But besides they were they were up seventeen to three
late in the game.

Speaker 2 (01:41:15):
Yeah, but it would still they weren't like carving them up.
It was very like tough.

Speaker 1 (01:41:20):
Time it was. That place was rocking. I mean that
was that was.

Speaker 2 (01:41:22):
I still get him credit for it, but it's nowhere
close to what it was. De Penn State defense is
it's been bad this year. It's it's pretty shocked. I
mean the game was it was three three at the half.
I think so Oregon hasn't really played anyone else. Both
these teams played Indiana at home. I had the ball

(01:41:42):
with a chance to win late. Oregon did not, and
they even got to pick six in that game. I was,
defense is legit. This is a top five defense. They
don't give up any explosive place. That's every year under
Phil Parker, they're always top two. They make you work
the ball down the field. I need to see this.
Oregon offense proved to me instant the league defense. So
I took the points here. The I offense is improving.

(01:42:05):
They still don't have real weapons on the outside, but
they can run the ball. They have an excellent offensive line.
That's Oregon's weakness on defense. They're run defense. You can
push them around a bit, so I think I will
be able to control the This is gonna look like
this is the only way I will win. IOA can't
win this game, you know, twenty seven to twenty four.
But look at the conditions of this game. Can be windy, rainy, cold,

(01:42:27):
rocking stadium. They're gonna control the ball. Gronowski they're running,
They're gonna run him a lot. They're just gonna run
the ball, lean on their offensive line. Weather conditions favor them,
slow down the Oregon in their athletes, they're gonna take
away explosive plays. And then the biggest advantage of all
and it probably if if this is close, it will

(01:42:48):
probably decide the game. Iowa special teams. They have the
best special teams in the country once again every year,
and they'll they'll they're excellent in every single phase, talking,
the punting, the field goal kicking, the returning is excellent.
And Oregon has some deficiencies on special teams and that's
how Iowa wins these games. And they're the totals now

(01:43:08):
down to forty because of the weather. So if this
game is like thirteen ten, seventeen, thirteen in the fourth quarter,
how does Io usually win these games. They'll they'll, you'll,
they'll you'll want to pull your healt because it'll be
at the forty eight on fourth and two, and Kirk
will punt one hundred one if it's if they're down

(01:43:30):
seventeen thirteen with eight to go, fourth and two. Mark
my words at the forty eight about Oregon's forty eight.
Kirk will punt, and more times than not they'll pin.
It'll be pinned at the one and then they're either
going to get better field position or they'll get like
a punt return touchdown on the return punt or force
a safety. Their field goal kicking is really good. They're

(01:43:53):
that's how and all those hidden yards. So Oregon huge
athletic advantage, like just talent. Uh Parker taught Phil Parker
that depends cortnever I would talk about this. He's like,
they're fully funded. They have much more funding than us
this week, so Landing while his guy's ready to look
like he's he did a bunch of cocaine before the game,
will be on the sidelines going crazy. But I took

(01:44:13):
the points. I think it'll be low scoring points at
a premium special teams could be the difference. I think
I will be able to run the ball enough to
stay in this and I think this is like a
twenty to seventeen type game.

Speaker 1 (01:44:24):
Kyle Shanahan. Kyle Shanahan and me Matt lafleuror just fell
out of their chair when you said that you can
win games because of special teams. Yes, it's amazing what
happens when you when you focus on those units. And
obviously Farens has learned that a long time ago from
Belichick the way back in the day. And it's a
point of difference, you know, Yeah, especially.

Speaker 2 (01:44:40):
For a team that doesn't have as much. They don't
have the raw talent, so like you have to find other.

Speaker 1 (01:44:46):
Defense, special teams. They got to dominate on that because
they're never gonna be great on offense beside maybe a
running back right or tight ends.

Speaker 2 (01:44:51):
And having the elite special teams plays into all that
other stuff like elite defense, rushing attack, conservative offense like
field goals, field position, all that ties into each other,
and that's how they're able to kind of overperform and
why they've been so good as an underdog but really
fascinating game because Oregon it's like theirs. If they lose,

(01:45:12):
this game resumes starts to get dicey because your best
win is Penn State. All of a sudden and you
have two losses I mean at Penn State's I'm gonna
go to a bowl. You have two losses and you
still have Washington and USC on the schedule. So Oregon,

(01:45:37):
I think is very high risk for missing the playoff.

Speaker 1 (01:45:41):
Was pretty I was pretty dialed into USC Nebraska, like
because USC goes to Oregon, right, I just once he
broke his leg, I mean I gave that kid a
lot of credit. I mean he was walking around on
the sideline with a broken leg. I just assume like
it was a bad like ankle roll or something. So
he's but just USC was fourteen to six. Yeah, they

(01:46:03):
probably off field goal and then they drive and score
and then they get the two and then it's tied.
They were in trouble.

Speaker 2 (01:46:09):
Yeah, they they can't travel. I mean it's insane under Riley.

Speaker 1 (01:46:13):
Well tough in the Big Ten to travel and this
is you know, Iowa Nebraska, Like you do have to
have a tough, physical person. That's what were Oregons fit
right in. Like we're top for physical right, so it's
we're not. It doesn't quite look the same with USC.
I can't imagine some of the former like Pete Carroll's
guys watching their squad, like what is why aren't we
more physical? How is this We're just a kind of

(01:46:34):
a running gun offense. It's just and this is the
Lincoln Riley thing. I mean, this goes back to Oklahoma.
I do believe philosophically, like why does Dan Lanning have
physical teams? Well? Who the fuck did he learn under?
You know, it's like how you're taught and how you recruit.
Like I just think Lincoln in a perfect world would
have like seven Mikhayle Lemons and a cool and obviously
he would like a better quarterback and a good running back,

(01:46:56):
but he cares about offense, like his defense. You go
back to Oklahoma, They're off were incredible.

Speaker 2 (01:47:01):
I mean it literally he has a heis and winner
every year.

Speaker 1 (01:47:04):
It wasn't that much different. I mean some of those
Peak Baker teams, like offensively weren't that much different like
man for man than like Joe Burrow's team. I mean,
they had NFL studs at every position. You could argue
they were obviously Burrow had better wide receivers, but they
had tight ends the running backs. I mean it was
like it was crazy. So I think the Lincoln thing,
he is kind of what he is. I think he'd

(01:47:26):
be much better suited for like the Big twelve, the
way he wants to play.

Speaker 2 (01:47:29):
It's funny you say that. And in regards to Oregon,
I do think they're much more likely to get picked
off at Washington in the finale than lose it home
to USC. USC needs to get their backs back too, like,
so they can run the ball. That's how Lincoln Riley
offense always starts, and that's how they would have been
able to run all over Nebraska if they were healthy
in the backfield.

Speaker 1 (01:47:47):
But this offseason, whoever Texas Tech wants in the transfer
portal the defensive line, USC should just offer more money
and get those guys.

Speaker 2 (01:47:55):
Well, it's funny you mentioned Texas Tech because there's now
there's been like some rumors out there that Riley might
go to Texas Tech in the future.

Speaker 1 (01:48:01):
What would happened, Joey McGuire, I don't be out.

Speaker 2 (01:48:05):
I don't know. I will say for Riley he would
fit there. I just could have just been message board nonsense.

Speaker 1 (01:48:10):
I was just reading no. But is Joey McGuire is
that like, is Joey McGuire not as good as Lincoln
Riley in twenty twenty five? Because there are a big
difference between the two. I don't know enough about Joey McGuire.

Speaker 2 (01:48:19):
I don't think he's I think he is a better coach,
like now mg McGuire's had, like I mean, he has
the roster that just like can't lose this year, there's
been some questions in Lovelock about him. Now he made
two Outstanding Coordinator highers, so he's got good coordinators this
year too.

Speaker 1 (01:48:35):
Was my formerly is that kind of like Hugh Freezy, right,
like a high school guy worked his way up.

Speaker 2 (01:48:40):
But I will say Riley, but yeah, he would fit there.
And then also in the Big twelve, you don't have
to travel two time zones. Now, further you travel from
Lubbock would be the Utah and then West Virginia. So
you're just going from central to eastern. And obviously his
teams just can't travel two time zones.

Speaker 1 (01:48:58):
A lot of a lot of Kansas, Kansas States, Iowa.

Speaker 2 (01:49:01):
It's a little way easier and it's more finesse. It's
more of a finesse conference. Although with Texas Tech if
you want to, if you haven't watched Texas Tech this year,
I do think that they're a legit They're a legit
big twelve team that can make a run.

Speaker 1 (01:49:15):
So you like them this weekends, bou I do.

Speaker 2 (01:49:18):
The number is kind of rich, but at ten or better,
that's the that's the side of it. I mean this
BYU team has been super fortunate. I think the difference
in this game will be Texas Tech defensive line. Like
the Texas Tech defensive line is like I'm taking the
Texas Tech defensive line over Georgia's by far, Alabama's by
far this year. Those teams they don't have your typical

(01:49:41):
Georgia and Alabama defensive lines. Texas Tech has your typical
top five team defensive line and they can dominate a game.
And BYU has been very, very fortunate. I mean against
Utah Utah, they out gained them one hundred and fift yards.
They kept going down to the red zone and turning
it over on downs. Against Arizona they were down ten
late one double overtime, got unfortunate fumble against Iowa State

(01:50:04):
was fired nothing turnover vanas They're about to get blown
out of that game. Little smokeing meres with BA team
tough place to play. Barren Morton's back at quarterback for
Tech so yeah, I think Tech gets it done, but
it's not a discount. The last one I'll mention quickly,
Cardinals in the NFL. I do have to get a
word in for the Carlos. I think they're the most
underrated team in the NFL right now. I had them

(01:50:25):
against the Cowboys. I'm gonna keep betting them. Their defense
is legit, and they went into Dallas completely shut them down.
They're now healthy with Garret Williams, will Johnson at corner.
Walter Nolan, their first round draft pick, made his debut.
He looked fantastic. They're perfectly designed to shut down the
Seattle offense, which is excellent, which is arguably the best
in the NFL. Right now. Darnald is shredding the blitz.

(01:50:47):
The Cardinals don't blitz. He's shredding off play action. They
go heavy play action. JSN has been incredible. The Cardinals
are built to stop it. They'll go through three high
safety looks. They don't allow any explosive place. Think about
the first meeting. The Cardinals held them the twenty points.
No one didn't play. Johnson didn't play, Williams did. Their
whole secondary was out. They did the best job of
any team this year on Seattle. I think they can

(01:51:09):
keep that offense in check enough, and the Cardinals offense,
you can't argue this is better with Persett, and Murray
has been dreadful against Seattle. McDonald owns him. I mean,
in three meetings he has fourteen sacks and six interceptions
over the past two years, six yards per attempt. He's
been dreadful. Persett lowest turnover worthy throw rate of any

(01:51:32):
quarterback this year. He's not taking sacks, he's not taking
the killer negative places, and the whole offense looks better
Harrison's involved, They're using Plache Moore and like their run
games even better. Even though the don't want to be backs,
so I think the Cardinals will be fisy. This is
still a team that could easily be six and two.
They haven't lost to anybody by more than four all year.
I like them six and a half. Wait to see

(01:51:53):
if the seven pops, if it's a seven comes, which
I think it probably will at some point. Even better,
I think that game's close. I think it's a good
man for the Cardinals. I think it'll be a really
competitive game.

Speaker 1 (01:52:03):
You know, jumped off the screen that Monday night game
with Josh Schweat, It's like, God, no wonder how he's
been trying to search him for pass freshman, that guy
will looked like TJ. Watter or something coming off the edge.

Speaker 2 (01:52:11):
Yeah, they can, especially now Nolan gives them juice, like
they can get pressure that off the blitz and they
make teams work down the field. And you saw it
in Dallas, Like that's a Dallas offense that was shredding
everyone at home for years and they didn't have an
offensive touchdown until the fourth quarter?

Speaker 1 (01:52:30):
Was it? Walter Nolan one of the guys when Jimbo Fisher,
when Nil first started, they gave like all that money
to a bunch of guys and he was one of
the big money guys at A and M.

Speaker 2 (01:52:39):
And then he went to Ole Miss and dominated. I
mean he was dominated. I'm dominating every week for that defense.
No one could block him. And last week he had
what a sack, three tackles, two battered passes, two tackles
for loss in his first start again in Dallas.

Speaker 1 (01:53:00):
Well, a defensive line is unstoppable. If you have good
edge pressure and then a dominant interior guy, there's no
way to you know, a lot of teams have one
or the other. And this is where Philly, like last year,
they had both. They had good edge pressure and they
had the dominant inside pass rusher. So when you are
dropping back on third and eight, and it's like I
got a defensive tackle that can smoke a guard or
a center, and then I got edge guys that can

(01:53:20):
get off the edge, and I don't have to blitz.
I'm in trouble, right And.

Speaker 2 (01:53:24):
That's where he that's I mean, I really think it
does look like Ernest Jones is back in practice for Seattle,
which is big because they don't have linebacker depth. But
that's why Seattle is a legit I think Seattle's a
legitimate Super Bowl contender. I know you've been on board
as long as.

Speaker 1 (01:53:44):
Any of five to five to one to win the division.

Speaker 2 (01:53:46):
And like they donald playing like this and like Kubiak
and this offense, they they're they're unique too, Like they
go heavy. They can't really run the ball efficiently, but
it doesn't matter. They use that to set up play
action and teams are taking the bay and they're like
and then there it's JSN is unguardable. Now you're adding
Shaheed is another deep shot he saw Horton. You know,

(01:54:07):
these tight ends are all good and donald is just
has full command of this offense. But it's a lot
of it is easy button stuff like off the play
action there are guys running wide open. But the other
like you're marrying that with the defense, which is one
of the best in the NFL at getting pressure without blitzing.

(01:54:27):
And if you can do that, it gives you so
much more flexibility. And like you got guys like Leonard Williams,
Iron Murphy, DeMarcus Lawrence that can get after the passer
without blitzing. And then this secondary and then you're gonna
have McDonald call in the defense confusing opposing quarterbacks. But
they they have it all. And I do think that

(01:54:49):
like if I had to take one team right now,
would still be the Packers. But the gap, there's no
truly like this team is gonna run through the NFC.
And this is another reason and why every game in
the NFC is so important. We talk about that Eagles
Packers game. If the Packers don't win the division, depending

(01:55:10):
on how things shake out, like you could be on
the road against Seattle or the Rams in the first
week in the first in wild card weekend.

Speaker 1 (01:55:22):
You're a dog Week one in the playoffs.

Speaker 2 (01:55:24):
Like that's miserable anybody if you get a one CD
a buy and then a home game and in Lambeau.
But like this is a different NFC than years past,
like on the road at Seattle or or the Rams
this year. I mean, those are two teams that could
easily when the commons the NFC is it's gonna be
a heavyweight fight till the end.

Speaker 1 (01:55:44):
Totally okay, Stucky, Let's uh, let's enjoy the week, appreciate
your time and talk to you soonbody absolutely going

Speaker 2 (01:55:55):
The volume.

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John Middlekauff

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