2024 Week 13 Recap

Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:08):
Welcome to NFL Daily, where we already got our Christmas
tree up. I'm Greg Rosenthal here in the Chris Westling
podcast studio with my friend Patrick Clayback my other friend
Nick Schuk, joining live from Cleveland where past Thanksgiving football
is officially started and Patrick's looking around for the Christmas

(00:30):
tree here. I know, I'm talking about.

Speaker 2 (00:31):
My house for the first time ever.

Speaker 1 (00:32):
I got it up like the day after Thanksgiving, and
I'm feeling proud. You You cook Thanksgiving dinner. You're a
real man before even coming into work.

Speaker 3 (00:40):
Pat Well, I mean, the objective, you know, is to
get it done, and we were able to get Thanksgiving done,
get into work, do some football, and also Greg, go
get a tree, although we didn't do it the next
day because yeah, but we did get out there on Saturday.
Trees up. It'll be dead before Christmas, but hey, we're here.

Speaker 1 (01:00):
Also went yeah, official a real tree for the first
time too.

Speaker 2 (01:03):
We've got fake forever.

Speaker 1 (01:04):
So we did. We did the whole thing, U Shookie.
We're waiting for him to get on the line here.
I have a suspicion he was watching the end of
the Calves Celtics game. But I'm not gonna hold that
against you, Nick for the rest of this show. We
got we got games to go to.

Speaker 4 (01:18):
Actually, I checked the score and I was like, oh,
Cavlin chappin.

Speaker 1 (01:21):
Okay, I thought you just wanted to stick it to me.
You got one win today. Let's see if Patrick's team
got their win. In one of the most important games
of the year, two of the best teams in the
NFL head to Baltimore.

Speaker 5 (01:35):
Purston Town Eagles. Paul Look the twenty five with the
revuls clock ticking Perch, but Barkley was left parts this
time to Barkley off the right side.

Speaker 6 (01:48):
Prince the tackle.

Speaker 2 (01:49):
He's at the first five touchdown, say.

Speaker 1 (01:53):
Barklay, he is special Mike Quick. That's also Merril Reese
on the call WIP. The Eagles win the game twenty
four to nineteen in Baltimore, helped by a drive that
was all Saquon Barkley. A couple runs for Saquon Barkley

(02:15):
passed the Saquon Barkley a jail it hurts run where
the faked giving the ball to Saquon Barkley, and then yes,
Saquon Barkley finishes it off. The Eagles have won eight
straight games they are ten and two.

Speaker 2 (02:29):
The Ravens are eight and five.

Speaker 1 (02:32):
Saquon Barkley in the fourth quarter of games this year,
seven point four yards per carry. That's pretty good, leads
the NFL and yards in the fourth quarter. Not a
surprise there, Patrick, when they got that ball back after
yet another Justin Tucker missed, it did feel like Saquon time.
It's been the most reliable really aspect to any offense

(02:53):
in the NFL last couple months.

Speaker 3 (02:54):
And the Baltimore Ravens had been able to hold them
to a couple three and outs in the second half
before that drive started. The Philadelphia Eagles had three three
yards in the second half. Wow against the Baltimore Ravens.
They actually get a third down they Brandon Stevens can't
quite get Dallas Goddard on a crosser, and from then
it was essentially over. The Eagles kept getting yards and chunks,

(03:16):
and the Eagles doing this with Johan dark Dotson out
in the pattern where Devontae Smith would generally be. The
Eagles able to use their talent to get past the
Baltimore on the road in this game without one of
their top five players in Devonte Smith. Quinya Mitchell leaves
this game, it's just a sign. As much as I
would love to make this about the Ravens and Justin
Tucker missing kicks, Philadelphia is a very very good team

(03:39):
that is very very high.

Speaker 1 (03:41):
Yeah, we'll get to the Ravens side and Tucker nick,
but I don't need to see anymore. This Eagles defense
is playing the best in the entire league. Their defense,
I mean, every week it's something, and today they just
made everything hard. It felt like the only played Baltimore
could make was Lamar just kind of improvising and some magic.

Speaker 4 (04:01):
Yeah, they did a good job of containing the run.
They did a good job of keeping Lamar contained in
the pocket for the most part. I mean, thirty nine
of his seventy nine rushing yards came in that garbage
time run late in the fourth quarter that didn't really matter.
I mean, it was an excellent job. But really, what
it has been is the Eagles defense doing a great
job Vic Fangio doing a great job of adjusting in game.
They've done this over the last three weeks. They did
against Washington where they stack up points offensively because they

(04:22):
keep getting stops defensively. Same thing happens today. They go
down nine to nothing, and just like that, they're back
up fourteen to nine because the Eagles defense was getting
the stops and affording the offense more opportunities. And in
the second half that was I mean, it was a
near perfect performance kuper Degen making that tackle on Derek
Henry in the open field and third down. That's the
clip you're going to see on the internet, but that
personifies this Eagles defense. Since Week six, they've allowed what

(04:47):
twenty nine point the offensive side stirt We'll go back
to the defensive side later, but they've allowed fifteen point
three points per game since Week six. That's the second
fewest in the NFL accord in the NFL research they
and before that they allowed twenty four points a game.
So if you want some hard number to demonstrate the
difference between then and now and the start of this
winning streak, it's right there. And they're playing the most
complimentary football of any team outside of maybe Detroit, and

(05:09):
they have a strong case that they're playing even better
than them. So this was a win that they need
to get tested road environment. Baltimore is a good team.
Now they've officially proven themselves. I'm taking them very seriously.

Speaker 1 (05:19):
Right, and we're doing the thing where you talk all
good about the winning team and kind of all bad
about the losing team. But I watched this game, and
these two teams seem very even to me for most
of the game.

Speaker 2 (05:29):
Three to three and a half quarters.

Speaker 1 (05:30):
Justin Tucker's three miss kicks proved massive, but that doesn't
change the fact that everything was hard for the Ravens.
Two of those field goals were from long distance, one
because they got a sack to push Lamar Jackson back.
The Ravens started fast in the first quarter, but after
that they you know, they had three straight three and outs,
and like I said, just everything was hard. Even one

(05:51):
of those missfield goal drives was a fourteen play forty
seven yard drive. And that's what the Eagles defense can do.
They played zone on eighty eight percent of their STAPs today.
That's the highest number that they've done all season. It's
because you don't want to play man against Baltimore and
Lamar Jackson in his running game, and they did it
good enough job making Baltimore really earn it. Their offense
was a little disjointed. It almost felt like they're waiting

(06:11):
for the fourth quarter to get there in Saquan to
do something, and then it happened like it's a formula
that's worked.

Speaker 3 (06:17):
Yeah, just provide Saquon with the opportunities. Eventually he's gonna
get there. But Baltimore, there were two drives in the
first half. It was nine to nothing. Lamar had Isaiah
likely wide open running a corner route. Isaiah likely kind
of chops his feet, changes the angle Lamar throws. It
was a bad throw regardless, but he misses him there.

(06:38):
And then after a great punt by the Eagles, the
Ravens are pinned deep. Lamar has safe Flowers on a
ball to the sideline any short arms. Those two possessions
wound up being huge for the Ravens there because you know,
the game script played out the way that it did,
and the opportunities really dwindled as the game went on,
where they realized that wide talent wise, even with Red

(07:02):
Blanket Ship leaving the game, the Ravens don't have the
talent necessary on the outside, and then they lose. They
lose a wide receiver in terms of so Zay Flowers
had seventy three yards. It's Rashan Bateman goes down with
a knee injury. We don't even see their trade deadline
acquisition for the remainder of the game he got on.
I'm not sure if they don't trust him they wanted

(07:24):
going on, but he's not even involved and there's just
not enough talent out there.

Speaker 1 (07:28):
I think we can add up the different Deontay Johnson
teams that have gotten frustrated with him in Pittsburgh and Carolina,
and then just look at what's happened when he's been
on the field so far for Baltimore, where he's been
a part of some ugly plays, and surmise they just
don't trust him right now because they're playing Tyland Wallace
ahead of him. Nelson Aguilar got targeted on two deep passes,
one of which was a dime and he couldn't pull

(07:50):
it in. I don't know if I want to call
it a drop. Maybe I'll call it a drop defense.
They needed to play perfect football and they didn't. You
mentioned that the Gene play where they probably were going
to get Henry down, but the fact that he piled
drove him that was special. Come on, give.

Speaker 3 (08:03):
Him it started down. There's another defender in the back.

Speaker 1 (08:07):
It's just the fact that you pick up Derek Henry,
you got to celebrate the wins.

Speaker 2 (08:10):
Patrick in life, Your.

Speaker 3 (08:12):
Jean's a very good He got Jamar Chase in the
open field. He doesn't. We don't need to celebrate. Like
when Lebron tries to take a charge and somebody dunks
and it's like, oh.

Speaker 6 (08:20):
My god, they dunked on Lebron.

Speaker 3 (08:22):
It's just like, Okay, Derek Henry got got it was.
It was a nice play by Cooper Dejan wasn't even
the best play he made in this game.

Speaker 1 (08:28):
So Saquon's MVP candidacy moves forward, and it's not about
just oh, this team won this game and Lamar lost it.
I I do think Lamar has not been as otherworldly
the last three or four games.

Speaker 2 (08:43):
He's been good, hasn't been as great.

Speaker 1 (08:44):
And Saquon is just the engine of the hottest team
in the league, the best team in the league. And
so we still got a ways to go in this thing.
But they're ten and two, and another big spot where
Saquan in this offensive line, it's all together. To me,
if you gave a running back an MVP award, it's
presentative of the offensive line and the whole team. And
I think that would be absolutely fair. Nick, I thought

(09:06):
Sirianni might lose them this game. I really regret not
taking the Eagles in it because they have been a
better team. I mean, I think it's just obvious on balance,
and I picked the Ravens to win. And I was
wrong thinking the coaching would make a decision. But the difference,
but the coaching has been fantastic for the Eagles this season,
especially on defense. And Justin Tucker's miss let's have the
conversation quickly. His misses prevented the audience from really enjoying

(09:30):
the fourth quarter of this game. We kind of got
robbed because Tucker's miskicks could be the difference right now
with Baltimore in big games.

Speaker 2 (09:37):
Now they're at five losses.

Speaker 1 (09:39):
We'll see how the Steelers did, but you know they're
not doing as well in the AFC North here. Do
you think about benching Justin Tucker? There's no way they're
going to cut people, But do you think about bringing
another kicker?

Speaker 4 (09:49):
So I definitely think about working out another kicker, because
we've talked about this the entire season. Now, I've written
two separate posts about a month apart about Justin Tucker
needing to work on his fundamentals and his technique and
it's just something that he can clear up. And he's
obviously not cleaning up. And the worst part, in my opinion,
I know Jay Feely, I'm not a kicking expert here,
but he's hooking kicks left, he's missing him to the right,
like there's no consistency in any even the kicks he makes,

(10:10):
they're like, oh, it squeezes in there. And this was
a Ravens team that played well enough to win. Otherwise,
they cleaned up a lot of their issues. They cleaned
up the penalties. They only had four penalties accepted to
him against him as opposed to usually landing the double
digits in previous weeks. You know, they out gained Philly
by one hundred and twenty yards, they won time in possession,
but they didn't get the points that they were in
position to get because their kicker is not there. And
if this team ends up making a deep run into

(10:31):
the AFC playoffs and it comes down to a kick,
are you gonna regret not trying out another kicker beforehand?
And if Tucker misses that kick and you lose that
game in a heartbreaker.

Speaker 1 (10:41):
Yeah, One hundred and twenty yards feels misleading to me.
You mentioned kind of the garbage time seventy yard drive,
but that does point out to me it looked like
a pretty even game.

Speaker 4 (10:48):
It was.

Speaker 2 (10:49):
I do think.

Speaker 1 (10:50):
That that the Barkley Hurts combination it's not quite as
difficult in terms of the RPOs to deal with as
Henry and Lamar. And Henry did have eighty two yards
in this game, but you know they were trailing there
at the end. But it's it's pretty darn hard because
when Hurtz decides to run up the middle, that's where
he is at his best as a runner.

Speaker 2 (11:10):
They had some really important.

Speaker 1 (11:14):
Conflicts that they put the Ravens defense in throughout the day.

Speaker 2 (11:17):
I thought the Ravens defense played well.

Speaker 1 (11:18):
I think the Ravens defensive improvement is there, but I
mean there, forget about the one seed for the Ravens.

Speaker 2 (11:23):
They have a lot of work to do to win.

Speaker 1 (11:26):
The AFC North Eagles, on the other hand, still got
a shot at that one seed and they're closing in
on an NFC East title. Let's go to the Ravens
rival in the AFC North Pittsburgh Cincinnati.

Speaker 2 (11:40):
Is this the final? They better win?

Speaker 1 (11:42):
This week, or it's really really really over a game
for the Bengals.

Speaker 7 (11:46):
Yo Savashian motion to the left, Pearl gets a snap.
Here comes to this pressure the strips act is picked
that by Wilson.

Speaker 6 (11:53):
Big Wilson's gonna go in for the score.

Speaker 7 (11:56):
Peyton Wilson touchdown Pittsburgh Steelers on the strips.

Speaker 8 (12:00):
Oh Nick Herbing, what a great job of jumping around
the cord and getting the botz and being able to
strip that ball, and you got the peg trade.

Speaker 9 (12:08):
Peyton Wilson scooping that thing up, scoop and score, and
right now we're seeing an exodus of Bengals fans.

Speaker 1 (12:15):
Leaves Nate Erbrick, big time play ron King Craig wolf
Ley w dv E. On a day where the Pittsburgh
Steelers went over five hundred yards of offense, it was
a couple defensive plays that felt like it might have
been the difference in a game that's going back and

(12:35):
forth and back and forth. Joe Burrow awesome day, but
was a part of three turnovers and that score there
seemed to put it away. The Bengals made another comeback.

Speaker 2 (12:45):
In this game.

Speaker 1 (12:46):
It ends up forty four to thirty eight. But Pittsburgh
gets out of Cincinnati with a win. They're at nine
to three, up a couple games in the lost column
on those Ravens, and the Bengals officially buried here at
four and eight.

Speaker 3 (12:58):
Yeah, we can stop. We talked about it before the
show on Game Deview that it's been must win every
single week and the Cincinnati Bengals seemed to come up
short every single week, often in heartbreaking fashion. After that
Chris Boswell extra point after the Wilson returned touchdown, it's
a seventeen point game. The Bengals come back. The final

(13:20):
score forty four thirty eight. They had a late touchdown
from Andre Josavas after Jamar Chase got loose deep. But
this was a game that started with a Cam Taylor
brit picked six and that was essentially it in terms
of bad plays for Russell Wilson. And I'll even give
him that one because Cam Taylor brit got very physical
with George Pickens at the line of scrimmage, grabbed the

(13:41):
back of his helmet, ultimately beat him to the inside
on the saint on the slant because of that, and
took that interception all the way back to the house.
But Russell Wilson was simply unfazed in this game. Four
hundred and fourteen yards. The best stow I've seen him
make this year, kind of changing his arm angle and
hitting Pat Fryer move up the middle of the field,
which Russell Wilson can do everybody now, not just on

(14:03):
that play at Calvin Austin for a touchdown in the
middle of the field as well, but ducked under the
rush changes arm angle, Russ Cooking today, Greck.

Speaker 2 (14:11):
I love to hear it.

Speaker 1 (14:12):
I'd like to look in the Pittsburgh box score sometimes
just at the long reception for different receivers because they're
a big play offense. Seven different receivers had or eight
different receivers had a reception of over twenty yards.

Speaker 2 (14:26):
You never see that.

Speaker 1 (14:28):
George Pickens, Friarmuth, Jalen Warren, Naje Harris, Van Jefferson, Quarterill Patterson,
Calvin Austin and even Ben Scarronick got in there.

Speaker 3 (14:36):
When Van Jefferson's going off, then that's when you know.

Speaker 1 (14:38):
Okay, even what Skeronck is getting the plus twenty, I
mean even Michael Brewitt had a plus eighteen. So this
is an old school deep down the field type of
offense at Russell Wilson was born to run.

Speaker 2 (14:49):
Let's listen to the friarmth touchdown.

Speaker 7 (14:52):
Russell Wilson steps to the line of scrimmage, communicates to
his teeth as Harris who is writing the shotgun. Thirty
seconds remaining third quarters, Wilson gets a snap, looking now
under duress, we'll fling to us right, fine, friar moth
inside to five and a touchdown for Pat fryar Moof all.

Speaker 6 (15:09):
Who's better to get loof than the friar moon.

Speaker 1 (15:12):
Oh love that call there by Craig Wollefully, when you're
hearing the move in Cincinnati, you know the division is
over right, or at least the Bengals season is over.

Speaker 2 (15:23):
That's a rough one for the Bengals defense. Nick, Yeah, I.

Speaker 4 (15:26):
Gave a silent fist pump, just because, look, we're at
this point in the season now where these Bengals are
who they are, and as much as I love Joe
Burrow and think he's played out standing for the majority
of the season, they're never going to overcome that defense.
And it's time to move on from saying well, if
they mount a run late, you never know, because today
was the type of environment which they had to prove
themselves against the Steelers offense that just continues to ascend.

(15:47):
And by the way, a Steelers offense that if they
needed a day to prove themselves, they're gonna do it
against the Bengals defense, which can't stop in those bleeds
for most of this season. So yeah, we'll put them
to bed. Happy to see that. But I'll tell you
what I knew. I had to come to Jesus moment last,
not this past Thursday, but the Thursday before. Yeah, and
Huntington Bank Field in downtown Cleveland, where I realized that

(16:07):
Russell Wilson was going to be effective like this for
as long as he's in the Steelers uniform. And it
was when he threw that touchdown pass over the middle
of Calvin Austin as like snow just falling hard on everybody.
He just throws it with ease. He made the same
throw today in great conditions. He's good like he's good
in this offense. They're doing everything that they should to
surround him with the right scheme and the right players.

(16:28):
They're a balanced attack, and they're liable to do something
like this in a given week. So I'm telling you, man,
watch out for them. They're a very good another good
complimentary football team.

Speaker 1 (16:35):
Fourteen miss tackles for this Bengals defense giving up ninety
one yards. They just are hemorrhaging on that side of
the football. Let's listen to Jamar Chase after the game
answer them questions about that defense.

Speaker 10 (16:50):
Did you feel like, y'all offensively, y'll have to score
every drive because you kind of how the game was
going for early. You feel y'all pressing.

Speaker 4 (16:56):
They kind of get as many points as possible given
how the back and forth.

Speaker 3 (16:59):
Forward was kind of expectations.

Speaker 10 (17:00):
Now, how tough is that to play on a game
in a game out basis knowingly you as an offense
don't really have much of a marketpreneur.

Speaker 3 (17:09):
Got a find way, mar you surprised your defense has
struggled away a pass.

Speaker 5 (17:20):
I don't know.

Speaker 3 (17:21):
They need they need to find a way. We got
to find a way. That's tough. Yeah, he held it
through almost until the end. He almost got out of
there without being overly critical. And then at the at
the end that that's what they expect, which makes sense.
That's how it's been.

Speaker 2 (17:38):
They know it.

Speaker 1 (17:39):
I mean, I don't know what it means when a
locker room is divided in such a way that like
the offense is maybe blaming the defense for what's happening. Like,
how does that even manifest or affect them negatively? I
don't really know, because the defense can't play any worse
than they've played, and they all know it. The defense
all knows it. Lou Ana Roumo shows up for work,

(18:00):
they all know that that's what's cost him what could
be a magical season from Joe Burrow. He has some
of the best numbers in terms of like over thirty
touchdowns and five interceptions or less of any quarterback in
the last like handful of years, and they're freaking four
and eight. It's absolutely outrageous. Now his turnovers contributed. The

(18:22):
offensive line did not play well in this game.

Speaker 2 (18:24):
TJ.

Speaker 1 (18:25):
Watt had a monster game two sacks, five quarterback hits,
a tackle for loss, eleven quarterback hits total, and four sacks.
So the Steelers defense made a bunch of big plays.
The crazy thing, Patrick, can you watch this game closer
to me? Is that, Okay, George Pickens is like always
a main character. He was taunting, He's making plays down
the field, he was part of that pick six actually

(18:45):
as the tender receiver. But I saw pretty early in
this game, like for a while that Russ's averaged up
the target was only two point eight yards, so were
they kind of hitting them with body shots early and
then went over the top late. Because it's crazy to
me that the Steelers offense can be this good. I
know it's again the Bengals, but I still think that's
impressive that they can be this good against a bad defense.

Speaker 3 (19:03):
Well, the initial George Pickens touchdown after they came back
to answer the pick six was on a swing out
where George Pickens made a guy miss or around the
line of scrimmage. It wasn't necessarily dinking and dunking earlier.
It was just a balanced offense. And Najee Harris left
the game of leeve with a hamstring. He would ultimately
come back. But there was a good Corderole drive where

(19:24):
Cordel Patterson was operating pretty well in the ring game
as well. But you know, Russ finding pat Fryer move,
he targeted him seven times, he called six of those.
It was just a balanced offensive attack against a defense. Well,
you know, as Jamar Chase expects, that gives up a
whole lot.

Speaker 1 (19:41):
It's funny because everyone was saying, well, wait till the
Steelers get to the back end of their schedule, it
gets a lot harder, and that's probably when they're going
to lose this division leader or not be as much
of a factor. And all they've done in the back
half since their bye week is beat the Commanders, beat
the Ravens, winning Cincinnati. Their only loss was attended by
Nick Schuck, but against the Browns. So you just can't

(20:03):
predict this stuff. But up to losses on the Ravens,
they do go to Philadelphia next week and then they
go to Baltimore the week after. So as much as
I'm just giving them some credit for playing well at
this part of the schedule, two of the toughest games
you could ask for coming up. If they can just
split those one of those two games, they're going to
be in great shape to win the division. If they

(20:25):
lose them both, we will see. And yes, Cincinnati, even
if you went out, you only get to nine and eight.
That probably will not get you into the playoffs. And
there's no reason to think this defense can help you
win five straight games.

Speaker 3 (20:39):
On the pickings Bananas Index, though, this game was about
a three all right, considering the no call that led
to the pick six. He gets hit for a taunting call,
which I'm still looking for the first good taunting call
NFL history, and then he got finger guns. He got
finger guns on another one, so it's not you know,
he didn't come off the top Ropen hit anybody. A

(21:01):
relatively calm Pickens game.

Speaker 1 (21:03):
I mean, the fact that he's by far their best
wide receiver. You can forgive a lot and it adds
a lot of enjoyment for me just as a viewer.
So keep bringing it, George Pickens. You're making me look
good for having you number two in that draft class
coming out of the draft, although I still don't know
if you go number two. Let's go to Minnesota, where
the Cardinals and the Vikings played a fun one.

Speaker 9 (21:24):
Here. It is the game's on the line against the
Arizona Cardinals.

Speaker 6 (21:29):
Fourth and ten for Kyler.

Speaker 9 (21:31):
Murray facing a five man rush. Kyler back to pass,
throws right, Hanner's shop dead.

Speaker 6 (21:37):
Shotfin the game.

Speaker 9 (21:42):
Hen it's a high five for the Minnesota Vikings. They
won five consecutive games. The final score twenty three twenty
two Minnesota.

Speaker 1 (21:55):
Oh great call there, from Paul Allen on k A
and how does he roll that G there?

Speaker 2 (22:02):
I can't do that.

Speaker 1 (22:04):
Big time defensive play by the Minnesota Vikings on a
day where their defense just bended and bended and bended,
but they didn't break in the end. And the more
I watch this team shook, the more it's starting to
remind me of the twenty twenty two Vikings where they
they win all those games at the end. Today it
hasn't been as lucky as that season. Or maybe it's

(22:26):
the twenty seventeen Vikings where with case keenum and a
magical ride you're making faces. Either way, this team is
ten and two and they're finding ways to win games
they're supposed to. And then in this case, nick I
would say they found a way to win a game
that they shouldn't have won.

Speaker 2 (22:41):
Most of the day was dominated by Arizona.

Speaker 6 (22:45):
Yeah.

Speaker 4 (22:45):
Well, first off, the twenty twenty two reference, let's hope
it's not necessarily that because they don't want them upset
at home in the playoffs. But sure we can get
on board with this because they are finding ways to
win these close games and they're stringing together, which is
a very positive outcome. Of course, you want to stack wins,
Sam Darnold, you know solid, you know, leveling out, not
doing a little bit of a rise and fall that
he was doing it a couple o' clockers along the way.
Not today, not today. But I got to ask Claybond this,

(23:08):
what happened to the search bar man?

Speaker 6 (23:09):
How do you hire you?

Speaker 4 (23:10):
Up? Nineteen to six in the third quarter, the search
bar defense goes messing, oh, how dare you?

Speaker 3 (23:15):
Yeah? Well, the search bar eventually, it eventually gave out.
Justin Jefferson slow throughout the game, it kind of funnel
coverage his way and Sam Donald being streaky nick like, really,
there was a point there in this game where I'm
thinking about what we're gonna say afterwards, and it felt
like the difference was in terms of the quarterback play.
But then Sam Donald hits a plus. He has a

(23:36):
great ball to Jordan Addison down the sideline with rushers
in his face, hits Jefferson on multiple targets. I think
that Justin Jefferson finished with ninety nine yards and he
beat the search bar. You gotta make plays to beat
the search bar, and Sam Donald made those plays today.

Speaker 1 (23:52):
Well, it's funny, say, how for a while it felt
like the difference was going to be the quarterbacks, and
then in the end you might say the difference, yeah,
was the quarterbacks. Darnold faced pressure on fifty three point
eight percent of his dropbacks today, which is an exceptionally
high number. So the search bar was getting after it,
and like he's done all season, very against type to

(24:13):
what he was previously, he did well ten to fifteen
against pressure for one hundred nineteen yards and two touchdowns.
And Kyler Murray, who we noted in the previews show
has struggled against the blitz all year. Well, he ends
up facing blitzes on fifty two percent of his dropbacks.
He only has five yards per attempt on those dropbacks

(24:34):
with two interceptions, and that kind of was a difference
because on the plays that they weren't blitzing, his numbers
are great, and they forced him into a couple mistakes
and they really bogged down in the red zone.

Speaker 2 (24:48):
I think they got down there.

Speaker 4 (24:49):
What was it.

Speaker 1 (24:50):
They settled for five Chad Ryland field goals, and they
were a lot of them were just chip shots. A
twenty three yarder, a twenty four yarder, a thirty one yarder,
a thirty two yarder and a forty yarder, so they
were moving the ball. Kyler had some plays on the ground,
and yet they couldn't finish it off this game. At
nineteen sixteen, with four to seventeen to go, Nick, the

(25:15):
Cardinals had a first and goal from the five yard line,
up three, and that was like it was all day.
They end up moving backwards with a penalty, a bad run,
and the Vikings end up forcing the field goal. At
that point they had a ninety one percent chance to
win according to next Gen Stats. Later on the Vikings
drive to go take the lead. They have a fourth

(25:38):
and seven. The Cardinals send the blitz. So it's one
of those stats that I just referred to Sam Darnold
against the blitz. They didn't blitz much in this game.
I think it was like five to seven, but against pressure,
and he hits a perfect pass on fourth and seven
to keep the drive going. Then he eventually gets a
go ahead touchdown. Let's listen to.

Speaker 6 (25:58):
That second and two from the Cardinals. Five takes the snap,
four man rush, Sam to the right.

Speaker 11 (26:03):
Cut touch.

Speaker 6 (26:09):
Showtime and Aaron Jones say, just best for last. We're
tied at twenty two.

Speaker 1 (26:16):
Oh Is Aaron Jones showtime. Is that his name name
show on social media? I should I should know this,
I should have that memorize. Yeah, Aaron Jones had a
couple fumbles in this game. He got benched for a
portion of it. He lost one of those fumbles and
only ends up with twenty eight uh total yards or
yards from scrimmage on eight touches. But he gets that

(26:38):
important interception. This thing's this division's wide open in the
NFC North. We get we get the Packers win to
stay afloat in the division. Obviously they're going to the playoffs.
And the Vikings here at ten and two like they
have a chance to be the one seed.

Speaker 3 (26:52):
They do and and because of late efforts, and Aaron
Jones had the fumble at the start of the game.
That's why he's you know, doing prayers in the end
after that touchdown, because you know, the Vikings had a
good start ended with an Aaron Jones fumble, but a
good finish and the defense made plays. I think the
biggest play in this game there was a third and

(27:12):
ten in the in the start of the fourth quarter
where the blitz comes on Kyler Michael Wilson's running towards
the sideline. He sees Kyler in trouble and he starts
to work back towards him. Well, Kyler's dealing with people,
so he could throws the sideline route Byron Murphy sees
that gets to the ball before he does interception. That's
really the best opportunity that the Cardinals had late. This

(27:33):
Vikings defense just makes plays, the offense picking them up
when they need to.

Speaker 1 (27:37):
Yeah, the Cardinals, this is a tough one because it's
a road game against a playoff team and you really
felt like you outplayed him for much of the game.
That they they haven't had many close losses, like their
losses have tended to be decisive, but they fall to
the six and six, and after being in first place

(27:57):
for a couple of weeks, they are no longer because
the team in Seattle. They got it done in a
Gino revenge game. Oh he said it was a revenge game.

Speaker 12 (28:07):
Third down and seven from the Seattle nine. Blitch is coming,
throw inside, It's picked off. Leo Williams coming near sign.
He's running like a race horse. He's a midfield turns
up fields blockers. Holy smokes, are you kidding?

Speaker 13 (28:20):
Leo Williams, it's gonna take it in for a touchdown, Seahawks.
The Seahawks mess up a kick return, they dump it
on the defense, and Leo Williams says, I got you covered,
picks it off as he drops back into coverage, comes
up the near sidelines in front of the bench, picks

(28:42):
up blockers, and takes it all the way in for
a touchdown.

Speaker 6 (28:47):
Are you kidding me?

Speaker 1 (28:49):
Ka I r oh Steve Rabel I think he was
about as tired halfway through that call as Leonard Williams was.
It made his voice crack, that's how good of a
play it was. That was part of a twenty six
to twenty one victory by the Seahawks, which was absolutely
keyed by that defense and yes, a little bit of luck.

(29:11):
That was the key sequence of the entire game, even
though it came in the second quarter, because just one
play before that, Aaron Rodgers had what should have been
a gimmey walking touchdown to Garrett Wilson, where I don't
know if it was just inaccurate or he was confused

(29:32):
on the route, but Aaron Rodgers sails it out of
bounds after Wilson absolutely toasts the defender.

Speaker 2 (29:38):
On that play, very next play, pick six.

Speaker 1 (29:42):
Leonard Williams, give this man a defensive player of the
Week award. You didn't give it to him last week.
I gave him the Captain Morgan's Captain.

Speaker 2 (29:50):
Of the Week.

Speaker 1 (29:51):
I couldn't believe he didn't get it. Pick and he
got two sacks in this game. This defense to finish
the game shook in eight straight drives, did not give
up a point. They forced two turnovers and two turnovers
on downs. And this is really a month I would
say where Seattle's offense has been good enough, but I

(30:12):
would say up and down. But their defense has kept
them in games for long enough for Gino Smith to
finally get the fourth quarter touchdown drive at the end.

Speaker 4 (30:22):
Yeah, that's where the Seahawks season has shifted toward the positive,
at least in our collective opinion. Is that Gino has
not had to carry them in time at times, he's
put them in bad spots. And the defense has consistently
over the last few weeks been good, been better, kept
them in games. Now it's getting them back into games
and affording them more opportunities to take advantage of it.
And Leonard Williams he is going to get that defensive
play of the week, hopefully after not getting it last week.

(30:43):
But Greg, good call on you for spotting him last
week and that he was overlooked, because nobody's going to
overlook in this week, and nobody's gonna overlook these Seahawks.
I know they just beat the Jets, but the fashion
in which they went to beat the Jets is what's
going to resonate with a lot of people in a
tightly packed, kind of messy NFC West. It seems like
they're the team that's building steam late as we go
into December, kind of figuring it all out and putting
it together and playing balanced football well enough to go

(31:06):
win on the road, to go overcome a twenty one
to seven deficit when you just gave up a ninety
nine yard kick return, to be able to bounce back
and still fight and fight and fight, and then end
up dominating defensively to the point where the other team
has no chance to erase even a five point deficit
and you come away with yet another victory in a
big one. Considering what happened with the Cardinals.

Speaker 3 (31:24):
Yeah, having to fight in two phases because the third
phase completely went out of the window. A kickoff return
they fumbled. They had two separate kick returns, two separate
kick returners fumble on kick returns. They had the Jets
have that kick return for the touchdown. Then Michael Dixon
goes down. They have to go for it on fourth
and one because Jason Myers was getting ready to punt. Yeah,

(31:46):
coach Mack didn't know who was going to be able
to punt the ball. So they go for it deep
in their own territory. Fortunately a penalty bails them out.
They had a fourth and goal to go where Gino
took a sack. So much went wrong for the Seahawks
in this one. I do agree that they're a good team,
but they don't escape if they're not playing a miserable
institution like the New York Jo.

Speaker 1 (32:06):
Yeah, they were lucky today. This game was so crazy.
You mentioned so the kick return fumbles that they lost.
They lost two of them, and they fumbled another one
for good measure, and they gave up the kick return touchdown,
and so people got like, wow, that is a absolutely
brutal special team's day. That ignores the other kick returns

(32:28):
that they gave up. Xavier Gibson went two for eighty
one on his kick returns. Nwongwu, who had the touchdown,
added another fifty seven yards in terms of kick returns.
It is insane the field position that they were giving
up play after play, and yes, you mentioned the Dixon injury.
So it does remind you like when teams go for

(32:48):
crazy fourth downs, like sometimes it really would help you, because, yeah,
the exact scenarios that they went for it on the
game winning drive, they went for a fourth and six
on their own third in which the Jets committed a penalty,
so that set up a fourth and one which they
converted on the field goal drive. Before that, they also

(33:09):
went for a fourth and six on their own forty
four and again got bailed out. That was a play
you're talking about by penalty. It felt like there were
a lot of moments in this game where they were
bailed out by penalty. Gino was solid in this game
and certainly made some nice throws down the field to
dk Metcalf who was in and out and banged up
Dackson Smith in Jigba had some really important catches. They

(33:32):
do seem to play their best when it matters the most,
but it was more like that their offense was competent,
whereas Aaron Rodgers and this Jets offense, which came out
of the gates looking really good. They played a good
couple first drives. I was like, this is the best
I've seen DeVante Adams and Rogers. Look, Rogers looked a
little faster today. And then after that first quarter it

(33:53):
was brutal. Twelve targets for Adams, he has a terrible
drop and a key penalty. Garrett Wilson had ten targets
and Rogers just kept missing him. Rogers averaged under five
yards per attempt. It's just dank and dunk and missing
everything deep, not accurate, and it's just rough out here
if you're Aaron Rodgers. After the game, Jeff Albrick, the

(34:15):
Jets coach, was asked if he'd consider benching Rogers.

Speaker 6 (34:17):
This was the week.

Speaker 5 (34:18):
I mean, Aaron was.

Speaker 1 (34:19):
Looking forward to it.

Speaker 6 (34:20):
He was off the inter board, he was healthy.

Speaker 3 (34:22):
You said he was a healthy and in quite some
time and you know, statistically didn't do well at all,
had some trouble with his accuracy to pick six. Would
you ever consider making a change at that position now?
Not as if today good thing? We got the preface
end for that question.

Speaker 2 (34:38):
Yeah, I don't know he was.

Speaker 1 (34:41):
He was a little more certain about it nick in
the past. So that makes you wonder if he knows
that there's at least a chance he could get pressure
from above. According to you know, Diana rassinat the Athletic,
the owner wanted Rogers bench at some point.

Speaker 7 (34:56):
Yeah.

Speaker 4 (34:57):
And that's the thing with this Jets team is it's
not that year three to nine, just that you're, you know,
trudging toward a dark winter in a hopeless season and
you lose games like this. It's the fact that the
Rogers cloud is now hanging over you and you have
no idea what the future looks like. In fact, many
Jets fans probably don't even want him involved. It sounds
like the organization so them might not want him involved.

Speaker 2 (35:15):
He will not be you go from here. There's no way.

Speaker 1 (35:18):
And I thought he played better for time stay, but
there's just no there's no way, you know, you bring
him back, And what do you mean you think there is.

Speaker 3 (35:26):
He's been calling the shots the whole time, and so
like you give him that much leeway.

Speaker 1 (35:31):
It's funny because now they've lost so many games that
I do have to point out, like This is one
of the better three and nine football teams I've seen
in a long while. Like they are in all these
games and I can see them convincing themselves as like
we're so, we're so. They had a good defensive game
plan for most of this, and they just they just lose.
They have loser vibes where they find ways to lose.

(35:53):
That is the opposite of what you know Smith does
every time he faces a team that let him go.
Now five and one, my faceavorite research note from Dante
uh in our Next Gen Stats research department points out
Gino Smith has that best record of all time against
teams that have gotten rid of him five and one
for quarterbacks that have played over five times. Let's see

(36:14):
the tweet that that Gino had of If you're watching
on YouTube, you know it's one of its.

Speaker 3 (36:19):
It's the meme of the the guy doing the fit
check at his biggest haters funeral. Yes, and so that's all.

Speaker 1 (36:26):
That's how Eugenie, That's why I assigned myself this game
and I will forevermore. If Gino Smith is playing in
the Metowlands against the Jets, that's the ultimate revenge game.
And he got the revenge for a first place Seahawks.

Speaker 3 (36:39):
Williams by the way, Yes, yeah Williams. Let's not forget
him team revenge.

Speaker 1 (36:43):
I mean yeah, I don't know if the Jets and
Leonard Williams had a bad thing and then he played
pretty well for the Giants. Really underrated career Leonard Williams Stadium. Yes,
Gina Smith getting it done. Let's take a quick break.

Speaker 2 (36:58):
And let's head to.

Speaker 1 (36:59):
Uh what annually is one of my favorite guilty pleasures.
I would say the NFC South.

Speaker 11 (37:14):
Robinson to his left looking middle of the field, no
pressure throws.

Speaker 6 (37:20):
Editor spt in Derwin James. Hence the game to it Derwin.

Speaker 11 (37:29):
And due to their defense, the Bolts are gonna get
on a plane back to Los Angeles.

Speaker 3 (37:34):
With a victory.

Speaker 1 (37:35):
KYSR Matt Money Smith our guy with a great call
for the great Derwin James. Kind of nice to see
Derwin James playing meaningful football in December and making big plays.
Finally he's got a better defense and a better team
around him. The Chargers are eight and four. They win

(37:55):
at seventeen to thirteen, and that is Kirk Cousins fourth
interception of the game, third nick of the second half,
second in the fourth quarter back to back drives. Kirko
Chains tell me it was better than the box score shows.

Speaker 4 (38:15):
No, it wasn't. In fact, it might have been worse
than the box scorer. I mean they moved the football
well between the twenties. They got into the red zone
a number of times, and Kirk he had had a
few really ugly interceptions, including that Derwin James one, but
the one that he threw in the red zone prior
when they had their best opportunity to score a touchdown
to take the lead was the worst, just most ill
advised throw I've seen in a long time. He never
had a shot of making it happen. That defined his day.

(38:37):
They wasted so many opportunities. And I don't want to
talk about the losers first, but their defense played its
best game of the season. They got five sacks when
they entered the game with ten combined as a team
on the whole year. They got five today.

Speaker 1 (38:49):
Wow.

Speaker 4 (38:49):
And they did nothing with it offensively, and a lot
of it had to do with Kirk Cousins not taking
advantage of the opportunity. Bijon goes for one hundred and
two yards to scores a rushing touchdown, they're up seven
to nothing, they'd already missed a field goal earlier, could
have been ten nothing, and then they can do nothing
with it from there.

Speaker 5 (39:03):
It was.

Speaker 4 (39:03):
It's a frustrating game for them, but another good win
for the Chargers, whose defense I think made, you know,
a statement. After giving up thirty points and that lost
to the Ravens. They come back, They hold the Falcons
to thirteen. They stiffen up in the red zone a
few times. You know, it's a bend but not break
group that really did a great job of confusing Kirk
Cousins in the second half. Jesse Miners coaching really well
right now, and they did just enough offensively and Cameron

(39:23):
Dicker made just enough field goals for them to win
this game on the road and get to eight and
four and just prove that, hey, we're not going anywhere, like, yeah,
we lost to the Ravens, but we're not going anywhere.

Speaker 1 (39:31):
Yeah, Nick, you had eyes on this closer to you
explain to me how the Chargers had one hundred and
eighty seven yards on the game. That's outrageous. That's one
of the most surprising things I've seen all day. And
the fact that they could lose that game. It must
be driving them absolutely crazy because it's the opposite of
how they've played the rest of the year, the Falcons
that is.

Speaker 4 (39:52):
Yeah, yeah, that's why I said wasted opportunities because they
had a million in front of them. I mean, they
were shutting down this Chargers offense. Justin Herbert had like
no time to really operate all day. It looked just
joined the entire day. The running game wasn't there. Lad
McCaughey was the only guy making plays. Then he left
the game with a knee injury. I mean they barely
had the ball. They lost time possession by nearly twelve minutes.
It was eleven minutes and fifty five seconds. It's just

(40:13):
that the Falcons never finished off any of their drives.
A lot of it was the Kirk picks, but it
was also just not finishing the drives. So that's how
it happens right there. But you know what, if you
come away with a win like that, you gotta be
feeling good because you kind of have to feel like
you stole one, with a lot of that being credit
to your defense.

Speaker 3 (40:27):
Yeah, you saw David Anyamata got a sack. Arrobakatie got
a couple of sex in this game of Falcons defense
that hasn't been able to sack the quarterback at all
this season, and Hassan Askins had a fumble to start
the game, which got the Falcons that touchdown. But it's
this game. It's one of those games where you can
look at the box score and see exactly what went wrong.

(40:48):
Those Kirk Cussins four interceptions right were brutal. He has
eight touchdowns and one interception against the Tampa Bay Buccaneers.
This season, he has twelve interceptions. Wow, non Buccaneers games
where you've really gone to a standpoint of we're talking
about Rogers getting benched. Perhaps the Falcons should go to
the rookie quarterback at this point.

Speaker 4 (41:09):
Yeah, let's talk about it, because I think it's very
much something that needs to happen right now.

Speaker 1 (41:13):
Let's listen to Raheem Morris who was asked about it.

Speaker 4 (41:16):
But you'll stick with kirket quarterback.

Speaker 1 (41:17):
You don't have any questions, Yeah, we got no.

Speaker 3 (41:19):
Isses with that man.

Speaker 14 (41:20):
Like, I don't think that's going to be the issue
around here. You know, that guy's carried us. That guys
got us to the point where six and six first
place in division, still got everything in front of us.

Speaker 4 (41:28):
Noo.

Speaker 14 (41:28):
But despite what happens today, is up to us to
bounce back and find a way to point football games.
And there's no better man in eighteen than go do
that for.

Speaker 4 (41:34):
Us strong, I have a response, please for you, raheem okay.
According to NFL research, since Week ten, kirk Cousins has
posted three straight games with the negative expected points added
his negative twenty four point six EPA and that's span
Riak's third lowest among quarterbacks. And I'm not done. Kirk
Cousins is the first player with one hundred plus passing attempts,

(41:57):
zero passing touchdowns, six or more inner and at least
one pick six in a three game span since Brett
Farv in weeks fourteen through sixteen of the two thousand
and five season with the Packers. Now, Brett Farve's in
the Hall of Fame, Kirk Cousins isn't going to be
in the Hall of fame. But if the Falcons want
to get to the playoffs, they may need to take
a closer look at the situation right now because he's
just not helping them, he's hurting them.

Speaker 1 (42:17):
I get all that, but I get why Raheem Morris
is going to stick with him for as long as
he can. He's moved the he's moved the ball well
this year. He's been a turnover machine lately. That's what
nine picks in the last six games. But he's also
fumbled quite a bit. You fumbled today as well that
that would have ended the game, but the Falcons fell

(42:38):
on the fumble, so they got some luck there. So
I don't know what to think, because if the Falcons
went into the bye week and came out with a
much more competent defense and pass fresh, they might just
win this division. Despite everything, they're not a great team.

Speaker 2 (42:54):
These two teams.

Speaker 1 (42:55):
Define to me like borderline playoff team. But the Chargers,
as we talked about going into it, Patrick, We're just
going to be kind of like the team less likely
to shoot themselves in the foot, And that's exactly what happened.

Speaker 3 (43:09):
Yeah, No, JK. Dobbins is a real issue. And then
you take, as as Shook mentioned, Lad McConkie off the field,
and it gets to a point where it's it's hopeless
for this Chargers team looking to make plays, even with
their generationally gifted quarterback. They need the pieces there, but
to see because I was so pleased right with the

(43:32):
the boost that this Ravens pass rush had at SOFI
Stadium against the Chargers. But now I'm seeing the Falcons
get off against the offsive line, and it's like, wait
a second, Perhaps what we saw was not necessarily improvement
from Baltimore. Maybe there's problems on this Chargers offense.

Speaker 2 (43:47):
There absolutely are.

Speaker 1 (43:49):
It's on the interior especially, but even the tackles maybe
not quite as strong as you would expect it. It's
just caving in. And yeah, McConkie went nine for one
to seventeen. The next closest receiver had twelve yards Quentin
Johnson on four targets. And yet this this Chargers team's
got a little bit of magic. When I have an
excuse to listen to Matt Muney Smith for a second
time in a game, I'm gonna do it. It was

(44:09):
the defense scoring the points for the Chargers.

Speaker 11 (44:11):
Kyle Pitts left Bijon in the backfield. They take the snap,
looking right, throwing.

Speaker 9 (44:16):
Right in accepted left sideline, thirty twenty tar head still touchdown.

Speaker 6 (44:26):
Chargers. Oh fear the turtle.

Speaker 1 (44:32):
We looked it up and tyre Heap still did go
to the University of Maryland, a great win there by
the Chargers to get to eight and four. It's gonna
be tough to keep them out of the playoffs. If
you look at their schedule, it's a fun one next
week against Kansas City. We'll put a pin in that one.
I think there's only one team making the playoffs from
the NFC South. Is it going to be the Falcons

(44:54):
or is it gonna be the bus It's time for
the Sunday Drive, presented by the all new hybrid toy Camra.
Let's head to Carolina lead.

Speaker 6 (45:01):
A good snap, the spot a little old. The kicker
is airborne, in his airborne.

Speaker 9 (45:06):
It's airborne, and it is God Box Win Box Win
Box bit the Carolina Panthers.

Speaker 6 (45:12):
In overtime.

Speaker 2 (45:15):
Geene decker Hoff w f us Chase McLoughlin.

Speaker 1 (45:20):
On a day where some kickers struggled in big spots,
he was massive, hitting a kick to force overtime after
a late drive and then yes, that short field goal
to win it twenty six to twenty three.

Speaker 2 (45:38):
In a game.

Speaker 1 (45:38):
Frankly, I didn't think the Bucks quite deserved. I thought
that Panthers out played him for most of the day,
but the kickers were a huge difference. Eddie Pinero, who
at one point in the day was the number one
overall kicker of all time of all time according to
field goal percentage, misses two short ones in the first half.

(45:59):
The Panther is bogged down in the red zone over
and over again. Included a drop by Adam Thielen on
a potential touchdown. There are a couple drops on nice
Bryce Young throws. Bryce Young leads what could have been
a game winning touchdown drive, maybe the best moment of
his young career, and I don't care that they lost

(46:20):
the game. That to me was the story, very calm
and composed. He gets the ball back with three minutes
to go, down four kneeding a touchdown, gets it all
the way down to the twenty five yard line. But
today you know, play it safe and go slow. No,
they get the game go ahead touchdown to Adam Thelm.

Speaker 6 (46:40):
Let's listen Bucks Rush four. Bryce in the pocket steps
up elutes.

Speaker 8 (46:44):
The rush thros episode cut had a Thylan touchdown Carolina.

Speaker 6 (46:50):
The Panthers take the lead. What thirty seconds.

Speaker 2 (46:54):
Awesome performance by Bryce Young.

Speaker 1 (46:55):
I was watching him in Baker Mayfield and thinking of
all the similarities that they have and seeing Rice Young
outplay Baker Mayfield, and this would have been a great
win for them. But I gotta think Panthers fans and
eating Bryce Young fans like yourself, as disappointed as you
must be. Patrick Man, it's just cool to watch him
play in this well. He's stacking better weeks on top
of better weeks every week.

Speaker 3 (47:15):
Yeah, and maybe the only issue with these past two
weeks with the Carolina Panthers, both at home, is scoring
too fast in those closing moments. I mean, you can't
blame him. That would happen with thirty seconds, just a
brutal letdown to let Baker Mayfield to Mike Evans connect
eventually leading to that big McLaughlin field goal to send
the game into overtime. But Bryce nails again. I think

(47:36):
he's had highlight reels on his incompletions these past few
weeks where he's baking throws, putting the ball in the
right spot, making the right decision. I know people are
gonna credit him sitting down for it. I think, just
like if we want to look at Kirk Cousins in
these past few games, so Kirk Cousins was on a
touchdown streak. He had seven touchdowns and one interception after

(48:00):
beating the Dallas Cowboys and so like, are we saying
that the Dallas Cowboys deep?

Speaker 6 (48:03):
Oh, it is what led.

Speaker 3 (48:06):
I just think Bryce has talent. We're seeing it play out.
The Carolina Panthers are playing better. Jonathan Brooks had his
best game and his young career, and his limited opportunities,
of course are brutal fumbled by Chewbah Hubbard. But overall,
the team is better and I think people have a
better idea of what Bryce can do.

Speaker 1 (48:21):
Yeah, they were in position to win this game a
couple times in overtime, or rather a couple times in
the game right at the end of regulation, as I
mentioned that, they played from ahead for a good chunk
of the game before the Bucks made a fourth quarter comeback.
And then yes, he has one of his best throws

(48:43):
of the year, Bryce Young. That is on third down
and it really points out what he's been doing well.
The Bucks send basically a zero blitz at him. He
stands in there and knows he's going to take a hit,
throws a pass to Adam thelen Way before theln makes
his break and then Theelan who who ends up with
eight for ninety nine. This guy is ageless and the
touchdown that dropped, you know, just a one salty reminder

(49:06):
of the day. But otherwise he was absolutely fantastic. Makes
a ridiculous one handed catch, and that's what Bryce has
been doing. It's been next level anticipation throws. They're in
position to win the game in Tuba, Harbard fumbles on
the very next play. Unfortunately, Bucks go down and get
the win. I do want to give a lot of
credit to the Bucks for hanging in there and winning
a game that maybe in the past they wouldn't have.

(49:28):
Bucky Irving Nick ends up twenty five for one point
fifty two. Also thirty three yards on the ground. What
if I told you that Bucky Irving has four hundred
and twenty four yards over the last three games. That's
absolutely ridiculous. Three touchdowns and he looks good doing it,
like he makes so many people miss. He's now better
in the receiving game. He to me, was the difference

(49:50):
when they came back in this game. It wasn't because
of Baker Mayfield, who eventually made a few good plays
but otherwise had one of his worst games of the season.
It was because they're running game and the red zone
defense kept them in it.

Speaker 4 (50:03):
Yeah, it seemed like every time you looked up you
saw Bucky Irving ripping off a long run. And it's
nice to see him taking the lead back role in
this offense because for the first half of the season,
Todd Bowles was like, I want to play both of them.
Hey man bershad White, I'm not sure will he gets
twenty five carries Vershod gets eleven. To day, I think
we know who the number one back in that room is.
But you know what, Greg, you are a true pro.
You know how I know you're a truth pro because
you totally sidestepped on perfect opportunity as king of all

(50:27):
Baker Mayfield haters to hate on Baker Mayfield and the
game of which he threw two interceptions that were both
kind of predetermined anticipatory throws. He basically gave the Panthers
opportunities to build this lead and then came back and
was able to lead them on that field goal drive.
Chase McLaughlin misses the first field goal in overtime, gives
the Panthers an opportunity. Then they come down and Baker
leads them down again. I can't believe you didn't swing

(50:47):
for the fences on.

Speaker 1 (50:48):
That I would have gotten there eventually. Thank you Nick
for setting me up. I did say it was one
of his worst games of the season, and the interesting
part of that is I would have said that before
the interception, he was in Baker Create mode, and it
was like Baker Create mode gone wrong. And that's where
I saw the comparisons between him and Bryce Young, because
Bryce Young throw it with so much anticipation, and when

(51:09):
he went create mode today and stepped up them in
the pocket, he had such a good feel for things,
whereas Baker was kind of doing the thing where he
would spin around but then spin right into a sack
and create more problems than was initially even there. He
got hurt at one point and looked serious. He was
in the medical tent for an entire Panthers drive and
then missed a couple plays, and then he comes out
on third down.

Speaker 2 (51:29):
It's like Baker Mayfield the hero.

Speaker 1 (51:31):
And that's when he throws his second interception, which didn't
have anything to do with his health. It was just
he didn't see the underneath the fender and zone coverage,
which happens a lot with Baker, so it wasn't a
good game for him, and you're really seeing that their
offense is all about ten yards. In under he was
six for thirteen on throws over ten yards and that's

(51:53):
been the case for much of the season. But the
reason I didn't hit Hardnick is those last couple drives.
Actually he was He did the right He did well
like so it's like his defense in his running game
gave him a chance. But he did make some good
plays at the end to win it. And they do
have a Knaka doing that, including.

Speaker 3 (52:11):
A big run on that final drive in regulation to
give Chase McLoughlin a chance to do it. I think
the leg might have had a little impact on his
performance late, especially he comes back in immediately throws that interception.

Speaker 2 (52:25):
He might have been better late, though he was. He
was awful in the first half of this game.

Speaker 3 (52:28):
I'm telling you, yeah, I feel like he got stepped on.
I'm not sure that they showed the replay, didn't It
looked like anything happened on the play. But then at
the end of the play he got stepped on. His
ankle went in a weird direction. I was kind of
gimpy on that big run, but enough enough to get
a win.

Speaker 2 (52:45):
Huge win.

Speaker 1 (52:45):
I was thinking, what a brutal loss it's going to
be for them because they don't have the tiebreaker against Atlanta.
This would be another division loss for the Buccaneers, but
instead you get this victory. You're six and six, You're
now tied with the Falcons. The schedule is more forgiving
for them, and right now you'd have to say the
Buccaneers are the slight favorite to win that division, but

(53:08):
we got five weeks of sloppy NFC South football to go.
Disappointing for the Panthers because they legitimately could have felt like,
are we in.

Speaker 2 (53:16):
This division race? You never know.

Speaker 1 (53:18):
They are definitely playing better and I think they're a
tough out. Sometimes it's not about your strength is schedule,
it's when you play a team. And if you're playing
the Panthers, now you're you're playing a reborn Bryce Young.

Speaker 2 (53:30):
Maybe we'll talk about him for QB Island this week.

Speaker 1 (53:32):
Oh maybe I'm just saying he's playing that kind of
football over the last month, just saying that. That was
a Sunday Drive presented by the all new hybrid Toyota
Camra whatever your vibe, it's a camera vibe. Learn more
at Toyota dot com slash camray. So the Bucks, the Falcons,
they're keeping an eye on the Commanders because if there's
gonna be another wild card spot available, maybe it would

(53:56):
be because of a Commander's slide. We'll see if that
continued in landover third goal, Tennessee's got six across the line,
a quick throw to carry the court, caught it, touch down,
touchdown log again his second and a half.

Speaker 8 (54:13):
Death Texas and terrible torf win it on the slast
look it and that's exactly what he did too, get
into his own for the second top in this game
against the Tipessee types.

Speaker 1 (54:25):
Oh London Fletcher one of the great Washington football team players.
You know what I you know what I'm getting at. Yeah,
Commanders get the win forty two to nineteen. Bram Einstein
and wb IG also involved there. Yes, Terry McLaurin. That
was his second touchdown of the day. And look, Jaden

(54:47):
Daniels came out. He was accurate and he they got
to win with a twenty seven to nothing lead. Here
shook and never looked back.

Speaker 4 (54:56):
Yeah, the Titans did just about everything they could to
put themselves in a very hole. I mean, the essentially
their first four possessions were not great. Let's go punt, punt, fumble,
We're down twenty one points. Let's fumble the ensuing kickoff return.
Now we're down twenty eight points. Oh god, we're down
four touchdowns. What are we gonna do?

Speaker 15 (55:13):
You know?

Speaker 4 (55:14):
I felt like Will Levis never really had much of
a chance to get going. By the time they were
down twenty one to nothing, they'd run ten plays. Okay,
they'd run ten total plays by the time they were
down by three scores. You know what happens the game
script when that happens. And they did do a good
job of fighting back eventually, but the Commanders man back
in stride. They take advantage of turnovers, they produce points.
Jane Daniels looks good again. He's ripping the ball over

(55:35):
the field. He's fining Terry McLaurin for two touchdowns in
the first half. Everything's flown. Brian Robinson slices through that
defense like it's you know, hot knife through butter for
the first touchdown. Everything's rolling for them. The rumors of
a Cliff Kingsbury late season slide Oh, they're way over
blown because they're playing the Titans. It was a good
day for them. It was good for them to get
back on the right track and play, you know, solid

(55:55):
team football. They did let the Titans kind of back
into it in the second half, but it was never
really in doubt and finish strong and good for them
to get to eight and five.

Speaker 2 (56:03):
Yeah, that's a big win for them.

Speaker 1 (56:04):
But Cliff got the run game going, or at least
the players got the run game going. I don't know,
we have to put it all on the offensive coordinator,
but Nick for them to go for two hundred and
sixty seven yards on the ground, and right off the
bat when Robinson ripped that forty yard touchdown and that's
on their first drive of the game. That was before
any mistakes by Tennessee offensively. To me, that that showed

(56:27):
something a little different because this has been a tough
Titans team to run against. And Chris Rodriguez goes for
ninety four, Robinson ends up with one hundred and three.
Jeremy McNichols when he's out there five point three yards
per carry.

Speaker 2 (56:38):
They're not throwing the ball down the field almost at all.

Speaker 1 (56:41):
All of jayde Daniels's yards almost were on ten yards
and underthrow, So it's kind of back to their formula
at the beginning of the season.

Speaker 2 (56:48):
But that's a skin.

Speaker 1 (56:49):
If they're running the ball like that, and they did
it against a good team like they have a chance
to remain scary down the stretch.

Speaker 4 (56:55):
Yeah, and this is a necessary reset for them because
I think they felt a little bit too in love
with throwing the ball down fieldally trying to during that
stretch of losses. So shortening the passing game was good.
But you can only do that if you're running the
ball well. And we can give Cliff some credit because
the Titans were one of the toughest teams to run against.
Like you said, they were allowing less than a yard
per carry before contact on design runs. Today they came

(57:15):
up a ton. I mean, obviously we saw the two
hundred and forty six yards and three touchdowns on design runs,
including seventy eight yards over expected. And get this, two
point eight yards before contact per carry. That's two hole
yards per carry more than the Titans were allowing coming
in here. So credit to the offensive line in the
scheme at least. I don't know if it's necessarily Cliff
to get that going, which really balanced out their offense,

(57:36):
allowed them to operate in the short passing game and
run away with the thing so much that they kind
of rested on their loyals in the third quarter before
they woke up and finish the thing off.

Speaker 1 (57:43):
Future Chicago Bears head coach Cliff Thingsberry, well, who knows,
We'll hold that top cars for a minute. Later, They're
eight and five. They finally got to their bye week.
I thought this was a big game for them because
they have a couple games where they will be favored
significantly against the Saints and the Cowboys down the stretch.
They probably just need to get to ten wins. This
was a big one to get.

Speaker 3 (58:01):
Yeah, and they keep their quarterback clean in doing so,
where I know we had kind of put the rib
concerns away for Jayden a couple of weeks ago, but
this clearly like this rushing performance and passing performance. I
think you only had five incompletions in this game. And
I will give Cliff credit because it wasn't like a
late game Hail Mary type situation. We saw Terry McLaurin

(58:25):
on the right side of the field, ano they're touchdown
today in the middle of the game, like, not in
a weird scenario. I don't think it's a situation like
in the Bengals game where Terry called to play. I
think this was Cliff and so the adjustment in the
late season Cliff, Yes, meter goes back down and yeah,
a plus performance by Cliff Kingsbury against the Titans team

(58:46):
that was fun and dan Quinn's defense as well as
Cliff Kingsbury's offense drained all the fun away from the
late season Titan.

Speaker 1 (58:53):
Yeah, Levius through seven passes in terms of his attempts
of over twenty yards on the day. Jayden only attempted
six throws over ten yards on the day. So that's
the types of different types of offense. And the score
certainly was part of that. They didn't need to do more.
Terry ends up with two touchdowns eight for seventy three

(59:14):
through the air. He was fired up after the game.
This is courtesy of the commanders on Twitter. Hey, that's
a good.

Speaker 6 (59:24):
Team win, man, that's a play team win. Hey, we
put the standard out there today, bro he while we
don't come out every single week like that.

Speaker 13 (59:31):
From practice, the energy, the practice, the preparation, all of it, man,
That's what it.

Speaker 6 (59:36):
Takes to do what we do.

Speaker 2 (59:37):
Let's go.

Speaker 3 (59:38):
I'm ready to play.

Speaker 1 (59:39):
There's something about Terry McLaurin when he speaks, just to
look at his eyes, it's like, oh yeah, I would
follow that man anywhere.

Speaker 2 (59:47):
That dude is the dude.

Speaker 1 (59:48):
And kind of like I mentioned with Derwin James earlier
with the Chargers, even more so with Terry McLaurin. It
is cool to see him playing meaningful December football. So
the commander is trying to get a wild card spot
in the NF. The same is true for the Colts
in the AFC. Let's go to Foxborough and let's start
at the end fourth and three seventeen seconds left, Anthony

(01:00:10):
Richardson with the game on the line.

Speaker 15 (01:00:13):
Shotgun snap for Richardson backs to throw lookie left fires
into the end zone is a touchdown.

Speaker 6 (01:00:19):
Gun got him touchdown.

Speaker 2 (01:00:22):
Colts. He's going for two and it's Alec Pearce and
he's going for two.

Speaker 16 (01:00:27):
What great poise and precision on the pass Anthony Richardson
to pierce in the left side of the end zone
and it's now twenty four to twenty three.

Speaker 17 (01:00:37):
Anthony Richardson out of the gun, Jonathan Taylor is his
back left, go to Pittman shotgun, snap for Richardson and
he's trying to crash up field.

Speaker 2 (01:00:46):
He got it.

Speaker 1 (01:00:47):
He is.

Speaker 17 (01:00:53):
Chief points for the Colts in eight point possession.

Speaker 8 (01:00:56):
Give it to your best player on offense and he
delivers bock on top.

Speaker 16 (01:01:01):
Twenty five, twenty four, twelve ticks to go, No, never.

Speaker 1 (01:01:07):
A doubt Matt Taylor and Rick VN Turrey w F
and I an ending so good we had to play
two plays. Anthony Richardson, Yes, gets the touchdown when he
needs it to Alec Pearce, mister clutch this year. Alec
Pierce spice Rack was right all those years ago on

(01:01:28):
the Around the NFL podcast coming into the draft, Saint
Alec Pearce was gonna be a guy and he's turned
into a guy. And yes, the the Huevos and the
trust of Shane Steichen in that moment to know that
two yards out Anthony Richardson running the ball, you're not
gonna get a better chance to go ahead and win
the game. You don't want to go to overtime with

(01:01:50):
Drake May anyways, Let's let Anthony Richardson run it in
Pat Patriots actually got in position to potentially steal one,
but the Colts get it done in the ena, and.

Speaker 3 (01:02:01):
They get it done mainly with a lot of the
supporting cast for Indianapolis coming up short. Late in the
fourth quarter. Ad Mitchell on Anthony Richardson's best throw of
the day down the sideline, had a drop. Kylon Granson
on the final drive had another huge drop, and you
wonder what was going to be the ultimate storyline another
game where the Colts coming into it. You look at

(01:02:23):
the box score, say, Anthony Richardson can't make these completions. Late,
Alec Pierce comes up with that catch, and then we
heard the result of Anthony Richardson going in in an
up and down game that started with the Patriots having
an incredible drive. I'm thinking, in the back of my head,
I'm hearing Greg Rosenthal's voice talking about Alex van Pelt
a couple of weeks, so he's dolling it up. Riman J.
Stevenson has a thirty two yard run, Drake May goes

(01:02:44):
Drake May, and then they get into the red zone
and things clog up. They had a third goal on
that first drive of the game. Ultimately run mesh. You're
playing against the Colts, So Gus Bradley's got everybody sitting
in the zone against all the crossers. Drake May has
nothing going there, get sacked, and that's the theme. The
Patriots have a ton of red zone possessions, a lot

(01:03:05):
of them resulting in field goals when they do make
the plays. Anthony Richardson and the Colts came back and
ultimately got this win on a great call by Shane
Stecken and great play about the second year quarterback out
of Florida.

Speaker 1 (01:03:17):
Yeah, the Patriots go two for six in the red zone.
They have one of their best offensive games of the season.
Not just twenty four points, which for them is a
big number, but four hundred and twenty two yards. They
outgained the Colts by over one hundred and fifty yards,
and that includes a final drive. And they almost left

(01:03:37):
too much time for Drake May. They give him twelve seconds.
They do the gutlass totally idiotic touchback thing coaches. This
is just such an obvious mistake that coaches keep making.
This is the exact scenario where you kick it short
of the end zone, you might end up tackling them
before the thirty anyways, and you burn some clock. But

(01:03:58):
instead they give the ball to the Patriots at the thirty.
That gives them time to actually have an incompletion where
it goes off Hunter Henry's hands. But then Mate sets
up a bomb of a field goal attempt Joey Sly
from sixty eight yards out after a couple throws to
Hunter Henry that the kick comes up short from Joey Sly.

(01:04:19):
You know, we did check to see if that was
a fun call from Zolac. He was subdued actually in
that moment. But I am happy to tell you that
the two point conversion try that Anthony Richardson hit was
a good one. So let's listen to that.

Speaker 6 (01:04:33):
The Colt we're we're going to go for it here.

Speaker 16 (01:04:35):
Look at this, so scratch those remarks about an extra
point at overtime. Shane Stike, and the head coach of
the Colts, is playing for the win.

Speaker 6 (01:04:46):
White bare right now.

Speaker 16 (01:04:47):
Twelve seconds ago in twenty four to twenty three New England,
Richardson on the gun, Taylor to his left, a two
point try for the win.

Speaker 2 (01:04:55):
Two receivers left to right, fake to Taylor, thrown out
the middle.

Speaker 16 (01:04:59):
Richardson po his way forward, he breaks the plane he's
in for the two point one and the coach man
from the nearest sideline and they've taken the lead twenty
five twenty four with twelve seconds to go.

Speaker 6 (01:05:17):
Credit to them. That takes pauls. That takes big ones.

Speaker 3 (01:05:22):
Normally we use euphemism Scott, but.

Speaker 6 (01:05:24):
Yeah, I like it.

Speaker 1 (01:05:25):
I like it, And he was giving them credit in
a big spot like game recognizes game, you know, Zolak
six and seven, Chookie, they get to there by both
these teams, they both just felt like they needed a
buye And what a big victory for Indianapolis because it
really would have felt like this thing's over if you
lose in Foxborough to so it would have just been

(01:05:45):
a much different feel going into the bye. But now
you get a win, and who knows, I've seen teams reset,
especially with this late bye where the last four games
they're a little bit of a different team and they
try to figure some things out, and they're at six
and seven, they're in the.

Speaker 4 (01:05:58):
Mix, yeah, minding the score and just like, man, this
would be such a face plant they lost this game
today considering where they are, but it does set up
for them really well. You come out of that buy,
you go on the road to Denver. That's a challenging game,
of course, But then you get Tennessee at home. You're
at the Giants at MetLife where we know they're notoriously bad,
and then they come home and they played Jacksonville Jaguars
in week eighteen. You can win those last three games, Like,
I'm picking you in those last three games right now.

(01:06:20):
So if you can get past Denver and you go
four and oh we know what we're talking about, baby,
that's nine and ten and sevens some along those lines.
I can't even do math in my head right now
because I'm so surprised by the outcome. Yes, ten and seven,
eleven and seven math, whatever it is. Games nine and eight.

Speaker 2 (01:06:36):
Might get it done.

Speaker 1 (01:06:36):
If you if you can win the division games, we
will see we keep get winning games.

Speaker 9 (01:06:41):
Here.

Speaker 1 (01:06:42):
On NFL Daily people said, people said, Greg, you're really
gonna go survivor pick against Drake May. Isn't that tempting fate?
You're really gonna be that bold? They are the Colts
really that good? We had faith, Patrick, we did it.

Speaker 3 (01:06:59):
Yeah, there was so much doubt, right, there was significant
amounts of doubt.

Speaker 1 (01:07:03):
I thought it was over and the other one we
were debating was Seattle, which they were in trouble all
game two, and you know what, we were picking between
two winners. But sometimes in life and in NFL seasons,
you need a.

Speaker 15 (01:07:15):
Little bit of luck.

Speaker 3 (01:07:16):
It's Colts got some today. It just it works out.
I remember the two point conversion for the Baltimore Ravens
late where they pull guards, the guards trip over themselves
and then Lamar has nowhere to go. Here you get
to see the other side where Quentin Nelson is the puller.
He comes across to Christian Barmo on the two point
conversion and absolutely flattens m. Anthony Richardson goes in the

(01:07:37):
end zone. Just a great call, great execution by the Colts,
helping us servar.

Speaker 1 (01:07:41):
I'm looking forward to watching this closer on the old
NFL plus maybe a little NFL prony.

Speaker 3 (01:07:48):
And how I'm gonna both dual screen.

Speaker 1 (01:07:51):
Give me your give me your very short Drake Bay
just I can't wait to find out like your your
may review for the day, because a good day offensively
for them, I'm still like thinking like anytime they're out
gaining opponents by one hundred and fifty yards and they're
two leading receivers by far or Hunter Henry and Austin Hooper.
You must have something pretty good at quarterback.

Speaker 3 (01:08:08):
Yeah. And with the Austin Hooper touchdown, the streak continues
of Drake May's touchdown passes going to different receivers.

Speaker 1 (01:08:17):
What is the streak?

Speaker 2 (01:08:18):
I didn't know this streak almost.

Speaker 3 (01:08:20):
Every Drake I think there's only one common recipient of
Drake May touchdown passes, which has kind of been the story.
He's spreading the ball around. Just a fun player to
watch on a team that is lacking talent wise, where
you get a lot of consternation from a fan base
that expects excellence and some of those excellent players or elsewhere.

Speaker 1 (01:08:42):
Right now, Yeah they are and they're three and ten.
And I was trying to explain to my dad, Tom Rosenthal,
who was probably watching this game at my house. Great
Thanksgiving visit, came in for a little NFL Daily, and
I was just telling him, don't worry about all this
this week to weeks at the only thing that matters
this season is Drake May.

Speaker 2 (01:09:02):
And I'm already you know, I'm already calling the victory
that is that this is a.

Speaker 1 (01:09:06):
Ten out of ten draft pick, you might as well
get a higher pick for next year. As long as
he keeps building and looking better each and every week,
that's all that really matters for this team.

Speaker 2 (01:09:15):
Let's take a quick break.

Speaker 1 (01:09:16):
We will see if the Colts Division rival Texans came
through in Jacksonville.

Speaker 15 (01:09:23):
On the other side, cj will get up to the
line of scrimmage. I formation, third down and five across
the Houston forty nine yard line. Mixon the tailback, here's
the toss to Joe running.

Speaker 1 (01:09:44):
Left, has room, He's got it across the forty forty one.

Speaker 6 (01:09:49):
That's gonna do it.

Speaker 15 (01:09:50):
The Texans will kill the clock and they will beat Jacksonville.

Speaker 1 (01:09:54):
Today they did it. Yes, Joe Mixon sealed the victor.
Thought that was an important moment for this team. Late
as the walls are caving in, you're blowing big lead
to Mac Jones and the Jaguars. More on that in
a second. It was the running game, a revived running

(01:10:15):
game in the second half of this game that got
them over the finish line. Yes, Joe Mixon goes one
hundred in one yards on twenty carries. Their success rate
was pretty high forty five percent, and throughout the second
half of this game, their offense did move the ball.
No team in the NFL I believe needs a bye

(01:10:35):
week more than this Houston Texans team to just reset,
get healthy, figure things out. They get into the buy
at eight and five, and it was a little up
and down shook, but Nico Collins goes eight for one
to nineteen and Stroud didn't look great to me. He
wasn't pressured that much in this game, and yet he

(01:10:57):
looked a little skittish. And yet I was really encouraged
that even against the Jaguars, at least you were able
to run the ball in the second half of this game,
which you just were not able to in the first half,
or really the first half of this whole season.

Speaker 4 (01:11:11):
Yeah, that's probably what prevented them from blowing this game,
if you think about it. I mean, it's beyond that
last play that we just played, which, by the way,
shout out to Robert Woods, who's not much of a
factor in the passing game, but made a big block
on that play to get the edge. So the first
down it's a veteran move right there. Good job out
of Bobby Trees. Yeah, you're right. I think they definitely
need this by a week. We've seen how up and
down they are this season. We've seen how they've struggled

(01:11:32):
with the pass protection, and even on a day in
which they really protected better than usual, they still struggled offensively.
I don't know if a week is going to fix them,
but it would have been much worse if you left
Jacksonville with a loss, because then you're soul searching. Then
you're looking at it and saying, how do we lose
to a Jaguars team that lost Trevor Lawrence to injury
in a game and Mac Jones Camp comes in and
throws two touchdowns on us. They have this frantic comeback

(01:11:52):
That would have been terrible. So it's good that you
get out of there with that win. It's good that
Nico Collins is still doing Nico Collins things, which God,
he's I mean, even the most stimistic projectors for him
coming out of Michigan never would have seen him be
this good in the NFL. He's awesome. But still, yeah,
there's still a couple steps away from being the Texans
team that I think we want them to be because
of pass projection, but really because of offensive rhythm and

(01:12:12):
flow in general. So good time to going to the
buyo with a win, and that's pretty much it.

Speaker 1 (01:12:16):
This reminded me of so many Texans games while Nego
Collins was hurt and I just was watching it thinking, oh,
they'd lose this game without Nego Collins. It is that
big of a difference because on offense they have six
points at halftime, a couple short field field goal drives,
but otherwise struggling. But like I said, in the second half,
for the most part, they moved the ball and they
moved it well, and so did Mac Jones. Let's get

(01:12:39):
to the reason why he was in this game though.
Trevor Lawrence takes a really rough late hit from Aziz
al Shaier, who was immediately ejected from the game. Jerry
and Jones, the Jaguars cornerback, comes in and tries to
protect her stick up for his quarterback. He ends up

(01:12:59):
getting ejected too, So there was offsetting penalties that the injury,
and the penalty didn't even really hurt the Texans, it
helped them because it took Trevor Lawrence out of the game.

Speaker 2 (01:13:10):
I am curious what the NFL will do with this one.

Speaker 1 (01:13:14):
Feels like he might get suspended beyond this week because
it basically is everything you don't want to see, a
super late hit and you you saw Lawrence there in
the fencing position. Uh, and it was a concussion. After
the game, Doug Peterson talked about it. Let's us let's listen.

Speaker 10 (01:13:30):
Well, I was excited for Trevor to get back out there,
you know, and and start for our team and lead
our football team. You know, this week that was always
the the goal, you know, was to shoot for you know,
the Houston game and getting back out there. And you know,
it's just again, it's unfortunate. It's a it's a play
that that really has no you know, business being in

(01:13:53):
our in our league.

Speaker 3 (01:13:55):
Yeah, I'll show here at this point has this is
not as first time right in an involvement where people
are questioning, right, his commitment to the type of atmosphere
that we would like to see in an NFL game.

Speaker 1 (01:14:10):
A clip of him taking Tom Brady out in the
neck when Brady was on the bucks that was flowing
out there yet.

Speaker 3 (01:14:15):
And so I can understand people saying it's a difficult
spot for a defender when the quarterback is in this
sliding motion there. But there's no reason to launch and
to bring your arm up, which is protected by a
giant brace directly at the head and neck area the
quarterback as Treford Lawrence's head gets bounced off the ground.
There issues with because the fight, which is understandablely Evan

(01:14:39):
Ingram grabbed a hold of al Shire, did not let
go for at least fourteen seconds after that. Of course,
Jones and al Shire get run after that, but it
just took a whole lot of time to get al
Shire off the field. Yeah, where they came back from
the break and he was still in the game, And
I was just wondering, aside from breaking up the fight,
why is it's such a difficult thing to remove the

(01:15:02):
player from the stadium at that point because things still
went on Brandon Shriff for him and him or drawing,
and a lot of this is going while Trevor's lying
motionless on the ground. It's just a real tough way
to go about watching this football game. But yeah, you could,
you could make all the excuses for Elshaw, you're there.
It was just it was a very very unnecessary play

(01:15:22):
and a dangerous one that we don't.

Speaker 1 (01:15:24):
Want, especially when you have a history of doing it.
And yeah, when he left the field. Some of the
Jaguars fans were let him know about it. We're throwing
some things at him and it was ugly.

Speaker 3 (01:15:33):
Which is a circumstance. Do you make worse by having
him stay on the field for that amount of time?

Speaker 1 (01:15:39):
Yeah, and who knows what the game would have been
like if Laurence stayed in there. It's worth noting they
were struggling offensively, Both offenses were struggling when Trevor was
out there. He was a little off in terms of
his timing. I would say with his receivers. Had had
one really nice throw that you were like, oh, that's
a Trevor Lawrence type of throw, but also had some
big misses in an interception on the drives he was

(01:16:00):
out there. Doug Peterson said after the game that it's
too early to determine whether he will be out for
the rest of the season, But the fact that that
question is even being asked, he's playing through this shoulder injury.
It'd be surprising to see him in the upcoming week.
Certainly so. A big win for the Texans, but definitely

(01:16:20):
marred on a day where, yeah, like I mentioned, CJ.
Stroud only had there was only one quick pressure for
the Jaguars on the entire game, and I went back
to make sure I was right about this. It was
their very first play because I was like, man, that
first play he got absolutely you know, smashed by Devin
Lloyd and that was the one quick pressure and it
was such a big hit. I almost felt like it

(01:16:41):
affected Stroud for the rest of the day. He's not
as comfortable right now in the pocket. He made a
lot of really nice throws, and he made a lot
of just rushed throws where he kind of sacked himself
and it's just not the CJ. Stroud we are used
to seeing. So, like I said, I hope a bye
week can help him reset. Let's go to the NFC

(01:17:01):
where the Rams and the Saints were playing in a
game I dubbed kind of the give us one more
week Bowl, Give us one more week where we feel relevant,
whether it's the Rams or the Saints, who comes out
on top.

Speaker 11 (01:17:12):
Dafford in the shotgun, eighth player of the drive in
a fourteen all tie angle from the seven.

Speaker 6 (01:17:19):
They shoot it down the line right side. Pooka's got it.
He finds his way in behind his blocks.

Speaker 9 (01:17:24):
Cooper Cup, Colby Parkinson, paving the way the paydirts touchdown,
Puka Nakua touchdown, la oh jb.

Speaker 2 (01:17:35):
Long popping those peas. A little bit of a literation,
a little.

Speaker 1 (01:17:39):
Bit of showing the listener a picture of the blocking
that goes on. That's what makes the Rams special, what
they have left that is special. On offense, they've been
a little up and down. It is that blocking from
the edge receivers and the tight ends they get out
of New Orleans Rizzy Ball's dangerous.

Speaker 2 (01:17:57):
With a twenty one to fourteen victory.

Speaker 1 (01:18:01):
Saints had a six to nothing lead early in this game,
and the Rams come out of halftime and like kind
of theyve been doing a lot shook, have a big
stretch of the game where it's just taken a while
to crank it up, but then.

Speaker 2 (01:18:16):
They do, and usually it's Puka Nakua right in the
middle of it.

Speaker 1 (01:18:20):
And that was a very Puka Akua heavy drive which
eventually gave them the lead.

Speaker 2 (01:18:24):
That was with a little under nine minutes to go.

Speaker 4 (01:18:27):
Yeah, it's funny because of their scoring drives. They had
an eleven play drive and they play drive. Then in
between there there was a four play drive and ended
with the DeMarcus Robinson touchdown catch. But otherwise, yeah, that's
who this offense is. They're not like this overly explosive,
big play passing game that you maybe would expect from
a team with Cooper Cup and Pookinakua involved. But it's
still better than the alternative, which is what we saw
when they played Miami and what we've seen, you know,

(01:18:48):
when they played the Eagles, which is like struggling to
hit the throws that you expect Matt Stafford to throw.
At this point, we can't pin him down. We really
can't pin the Rams down unless Kyram Williams breaks one
hundred yards on the ground, which is what he did
today on fifteen attempt scores a touchdown. And you know
it's funny because you say give us one more week,
it's they give us one more week.

Speaker 1 (01:19:03):
Bowl.

Speaker 4 (01:19:03):
Well, Greg, they're six and six, they're right there.

Speaker 2 (01:19:06):
That's true.

Speaker 4 (01:19:06):
Nobody wants to win.

Speaker 2 (01:19:08):
But my logic with that was that is true.

Speaker 1 (01:19:10):
But my logic with that one was if they lose
in New Orleans and likely fall two games back in
the division, they're just not a team that we're taking seriously.

Speaker 5 (01:19:21):
Now.

Speaker 1 (01:19:21):
I thought they would win this game ultimately, because we
kind of call them the best bad team maybe, or
like they're a good bad team.

Speaker 2 (01:19:28):
They're at six and six.

Speaker 1 (01:19:29):
I do feel like I can peg them and they
might change who they are, But to me, they are
six and six team.

Speaker 2 (01:19:34):
They are who their record says they are.

Speaker 1 (01:19:36):
They have enough talent on both sides of the ball,
then they can get it done against bad teams. And
ultimately New Orleans is that.

Speaker 3 (01:19:43):
Yeah, they can do that. In a weird game script
where it starts off and first of all, the Saints
have lengthy possessions late in the second quarter and Matt
Stafford has less than thirty passing yards. Wow, And Blake
Corham is out carrying Karen Williams. And then you fast
forward to the end of the game and they're electric
in the second half and Kyra Williams goes fifteen carries

(01:20:05):
over one hundred yards. I think averages nine yards to
carry in this game, including the one that Ice is
the game. Well, just I don't want to say that
Ice the game because the rookie all everything edge rusher
winds up Ice in the game. On defense, the Saints
have a fourth and goal situation. Derek Carr holds onto

(01:20:26):
the ball way too long, Jared Versus is able to
get to him, knock the ball away Rams win.

Speaker 1 (01:20:32):
Yeah, I heard from Jordan who was there at the game,
you know, say he wanted to Jared Verse wanted to
hold himself accountable. He told Jordan in the press there
that after the game he ends up with seven pressures
on this game and that was a big one. And
apparently McVeigh said he was really impressed with versus attitude

(01:20:53):
throughout the week, that he humbled himself after maybe feeling
himself a little too much after you know, really getting
it going. This is a young team, They've had ups
and downs. Apparently players and coaches were very vocal in
the locker room at halftime to just start running the
damn ball, and they did and ultimately, you know, Stafford

(01:21:17):
gets it going enough. They get to six and six
and I'll miss Rizzy Ball. We still got the rest
of the season shook. But if they had won this game,
it's like they would have been kind of back in
the NFC South race and they were not given one
more week. One thing that'll stand out to me in
this game is Taysom Hill left on the cart and
the reaction of the fans. They're chanting Taysom Hill's name

(01:21:41):
as he was helped off car. Derek Carr spoke afterwards
and it was a little emotional just about that reaction
that Taysom Hill got. So you feel for him and
hopefully Taysom Hill, who we've seen is kind of the
key to this offense. Weirdly, we hope he'll be better
down the stretch.

Speaker 3 (01:21:58):
Decidedly before and after moments in this game, before the
taste of injury and after the taste of injury because
he's heavily involved in so many things that the Saints do,
and really an emotional hit to the crowd and the
team as well to see Taysom go down like that,
and NFL Network and sider Ian Rappaport saying that still
got the MRI coming up. But they fear that that's

(01:22:19):
going to be it for number seven for the Saints
this year.

Speaker 1 (01:22:22):
That would be a big letdown and a big subtraction
just in terms of what a value add Taysom Hill
has been for these Saints games. Kind of a lost
season for the Saints now almost officially feels like they're
out of it, although there's not a lot that's official,
even after thirteen straight weeks. But there is one team,
just one that's officially eliminated from playoff contention. And there

(01:22:45):
is one team that officially punched their ticket to the playoffs.
That actually happened on Friday. Let's go to Arrowhead. This
has got to be either on the sideline or quick
till they.

Speaker 2 (01:22:58):
Still the tonal wasn't ready, the balls on the.

Speaker 6 (01:23:01):
Turf, and the jaw fuckball black. Now please be a
full start. Otherwise this game is over.

Speaker 3 (01:23:11):
I think it's ball. Yeah, Chris Chounson song breaker. A
little shift on the offense, put it his decline.

Speaker 6 (01:23:21):
It seems good to put the backers pass and take
over face down.

Speaker 3 (01:23:29):
How is a heartbreaker?

Speaker 17 (01:23:31):
In a season full of prep punch losses, this is
the most heartbreaker. Oh my goodness, you feel for the Raiders.

Speaker 1 (01:23:43):
Macon Crosby and Aidan O'Connell and even Jason Horowitz and
Lincoln Kennedy there in the booth for a k R
l V. The Raiders fumble a chance on a bad
snap in field goal range in Arrowhead as time was
ticking down. Thought they played well enough to win. Nayden

(01:24:07):
in O'Connell throws for three hundred and forty yards. The
Raiders defense gets them the ball back a couple times late,
as the Raiders can't finish off those offensive drives. But
the Chiefs are the first team into the playoffs in
twenty twenty four, get the win nineteen to seventeen. It

(01:24:30):
feels like every week, Nick, the Chiefs win and they
look worse doing it, and the vibes and like the
conversation afterwards are almost probably more frustrating for Chiefs fans
and Chiefs players. It really is starting to give you
twenty twenty three Eagles vibes. I don't think it's like that,
but the way these wins keep getting worse and worse,
they really were outplayed. The Raiders put up over four

(01:24:53):
hundred yards of them and easily outgain them on the day,
but ultimately the Chiefs get the win.

Speaker 4 (01:24:57):
I pushed back on that a little bit. The Raiders
on the scoreboard were non existed until the third quarter
when Brock Bauers made that phenomenal catch for a touchdown
pass a reception to make it sixteen to ten, and
then you had Trey Tucker in motion around the end
for a fifty eight yard touchdown. Pass and suddenly they're
in the lead. Because before that, this is one of
those rare moments since I've been remote over the last

(01:25:20):
five years, where I felt like I was sitting in
the newsroom with Patrick again watching the games like it's
twenty seventeen again, because he and I are both, you know,
sending each other messages on social media about how aid
and O'Connell refuses to scramble, and I'm just sitting there, going,
he's got room to run, he's throwing the ball really well,
and yet they're getting nothing out of it. They get
a turnover on downs in Chiefs territory. They just a
bunch of missed opportunities, really, and then suddenly they explode

(01:25:43):
and they have the lead. But it felt that whole
time like, well, that's not going to last. And then
the Chiefs get an opportunity and they have to settle
for a field goal, which goes back to what they've
been all year. Their red zone offense, by the way,
guys really really concerning, like it seems to get worse
every week just with the rest of their performances, and
yet they're eleven and one cause they still get the
job done. DeAndre Hopkins dropped the pass on third down

(01:26:03):
that Patrick Mahomes made a heroic play. He gets out
of a Max Crosby sack, he escapes, he's falling forward
and throws into a wide open Hopkins. He drops it
over the middle. They missed Xavier Worthy on a third
down call where they tried to throw it over a
defense that was very much prepared for the run. They
did a lot of things to lose this game, but
I didn't feel like the Raiders necessarily were in a
position that they could say, hey, we outplayed you. We
outplayed you for about twelve minutes in the second half,

(01:26:25):
and we were in position to win. But then again,
we are the Raiders, And that last play really drove
me up a wall because they break the huddle with
like six seconds on the play clock. Of course there's
going to be operational confusion. Of course, that snap's going
to happen early, and it points to the lack of
experience for Aidan O'Connell and a rookie and center Jackson
Powers Johnson just a tough scene for them.

Speaker 3 (01:26:43):
With the turner contingency up upstairs getting the play in
perhaps a touch second late for the Raiders, but my
Chiefs quest. It's not twenty twenty three Eagles in the
sense that you know there's blown coverages and weird stuff
going on in the secondary. They give it up a
ton of points in December Sincere McCormick, who I literally

(01:27:04):
just had to google again just now to remember his
first name, had five point three yards per carry. Yeah, eight,
and O'Connell throws for three forty. We saw the Bills
score thirty Bryce and the Panthers almost did it. And
then until he took the lid off the rim there
shook because we're tracking eight to O'Connell's scramble yards, which
he has none in his career. He had a scramble

(01:27:25):
that got called back for a hold in this game,
so he still hasn't done it. But after that he
was unlocked and he was unconscious the rest of the
game because he hits the touchdown there, hits the touchdown
to Bowers. He finishes with those two touchdowns twenty three
to thirty five. The Chiefs defense has a problem right.

Speaker 1 (01:27:41):
Now, Greg, Yeah, they do the secondary. I think got
worse by putting McDuffie on the outside. He's a good
outside corner, but he's not a special outside corner. He
was special on the inside. That made the inside position
worse where they're really struggling. The other out side position
is getting torched. Some of it in this game was

(01:28:03):
brock Bauers just being special, but he's beating their cornerbacks.
He goes for ten for one forty. Jacobe Myers had
a strong game. Started out really well in this game,
especially in the first half. Tucker had that fifty eight
yard catch and so, okay, that's one thing that's a problem.
I saw the line of scrimmage, as you mentioned, getting
pushed back against the worst running team in the league.
Although they have been better offensively overall since the Turnie

(01:28:27):
took over, they really have turned this thing around.

Speaker 3 (01:28:31):
Job.

Speaker 1 (01:28:31):
And then the only reason I said they deserve to
win is because in the key part of the game,
after those two quick touchdowns, it's fourth quarter, you know,
you bow up in the red zone to force a
field goal by the Chiefs, who keep struggling in the
red zone. You're down by a couple points and the
Raiders do get back in field goal range. Carlson misses one.
It's one of three misses on the date. They were

(01:28:53):
all really long in cold weather. So it's not the
field goals that you want, and so you give the
Chiefs defense some credit there, but the Chiefs all to
go two and out, I mean three and out twice
in that sequence where a couple first downs win the game,
and they just can't do it. And I'm glad you
mentioned that d Hop drop because I just haven't seen
Mahomes so frustrated. He was so frustrated about Awanya Morris penalty.

(01:29:15):
That's another problem that's happening. A lot of pressure, four
sacks against the Raiders, a lot of pressure a week ago.
And that sequence was crazy to me because Mahomes made
two magical plays. One is under extreme pressure that he
dumps off to Kareem Hunt and they end up losing
five yards because his offensive line stinks, but he's magical.
And then the next play, same thing, the offensive lion stinks,

(01:29:36):
he's magical, and it's a drop and you could just
really see the frustration setting in a little bit. They
did get some good news, nick back that Hollywood Brown
is trending towards a week sixteen or week seventeen return,
according to Ian Rappaport, So that's awesome and they can absolutely,
you know, play better, but they're not playing well and

(01:29:57):
they're lucky to have the number one seed right now.

Speaker 4 (01:30:01):
So last year, everybody's talked about this ad nauseam. Andy
Reid mentioned it after they won the Super Bowl. The
loss to the Chiefs or to the Raiders, excuse me
on Christmas was the moment they needed to wake up.
It was the moment where they realized, Okay, we got
to be better, We're gonna be tougher, and they went
on the run they win the Super Bowl. I kind
of got that same feeling in this game, but not
for the same reasons, mainly because suddenly they were like
the Raiders were applying pressure. It's almost as if they

(01:30:23):
were shocked that the Raiders were suddenly in the lead,
and they were. At one point they showed somebody in
the siland I don't know if it was Wanny Morris
or somebody else that just said wake the f up,
like shouting in his teammates on the sideline, like, hey, yeah,
we're the Chiefs. We've won back to back Super Bowls,
but just because we put these uniforms on doesn't mean
we're just gonna go win. Wake up now. So I
wonder if this is gonna be the wake up call
for them over the next five weeks going into the
playoffs or not, because there are so many other problems

(01:30:45):
that you guys just described and explained that I don't
think it fixed quickly. But then again, it's the Chiefs,
and all I've been taught over the last two years
and really over the last four or five years is
that they're gonna be there. So until they're not, I
won't believe otherwise. I just I need to see more
a greater sense of urgency from them than.

Speaker 1 (01:31:02):
I right, But I kind of thought like the being
a two point conversion away against a really banged that
Bucks team was the wake up call. And then the
Broncos game where they're trailing and need a block kick
that's Is that a wake up call?

Speaker 2 (01:31:14):
How about when you lose by nine to the Bills?
Is that a wake up call?

Speaker 1 (01:31:17):
You go, you get at the end of the Panthers
and it's like, this is a stream games where they're
not playing their best, but we know that they can
turn around. I just think right now it's absolutely fair
to say that they're not playing at a super Bowl
winning level.

Speaker 3 (01:31:28):
That's all I just get concerned with the idea of
turning it around when the players that you need to
turn it around are are Wanya Morris right like yeah,
and Joshua Williams like I'm my concerns aren't Patrick Mahomes
and Chris JOm or guys and Travis Kelsey that have
won all these Super Bowls and do the things that
we count on them to do. It's it's the guys

(01:31:50):
that we haven't necessarily seen executed at a high level,
and with so much turnover, especially at the tackle position
throughout Patrick Mahomes's career. I just wonder why so hard
to be cheap at this position with this quarterback. It
just it seems counterproductive and it's a thing that has
been going for way too long.

Speaker 4 (01:32:08):
Because they've gotten away with it.

Speaker 1 (01:32:09):
That's why, well, you know, it's a high It's one
of the highest paid offensive lines in the league, including
Juwan Taylor who's at right tackle and is almost as
big a problem as Morris Morrison, Sue Matteo where Day
two picks, it's not I mean, those are real investments.

Speaker 2 (01:32:23):
It just they haven't worked.

Speaker 1 (01:32:26):
My issue is more that they're trying to plug a
lot of different holes the defensive backfield. Now the run
defenses is struggling the tackles and I think team speed
that said Pacheco gets back in this game gives them
a little bit of juice. I think they'll trust them
to have more and more work. Hollywood. Brown's coming back.

(01:32:47):
We don't need to panic either. They have they have
some interesting games down the stretch. No, they're not playing
any other superpowers, but they do have the Chargers and
the Broncos and the Steelers down the stretch in their
final five games, so they will be tested. Now, since
we last talked, there's been a coaching change, and I
guess we could have guessed done this if you listen
to my recap with Will Gavin late on Thanksgiving night.

(01:33:12):
We wondered if Matt Iberflus would make it, and he
went and had a press conference the next day, so
we thought he made it, and then he didn't make it.
Thomas Brown will be the interim head coach of the Bears.
Not often we talk about a coach being fired on
the Sunday Night recap. That happened a day before Nick,

(01:33:33):
a couple days before Nick, but the timing of it
was a first in Chicago Bears history, it's one of
the most interesting jobs that's going to be open because
of Caleb Williams. And it just felt like from all
the reporting there in Detroit that the situation between the
players and Ibra Flus and their frustration probably made it

(01:33:53):
untenable where Ryan Poles or whoever really made this decision
had no other choice but to make a change for
the last five weeks.

Speaker 4 (01:33:59):
And it was the fashion which they lost that game
on Thanksgiving that really I think was the final straw
for them to essentially make him walk the plank before
getting rid of him, which is what they did on Friday.
And now, you know, my friend at Fox Sports, Car Vitally,
I thought, summarized it very well, which is that, you know,
the Bears broke trend by you know, they broke the
standard by firing coach in season for the first time
in their one hundred and five year history as a franchise.

(01:34:21):
And they're gonna have to continue to break trends in
order to get to where they want to go. They
have to continue to operating in a fashion that they
haven't over the last I don't know, ten, fifteen, twenty,
twenty five years. And maybe this is the first step.

Speaker 15 (01:34:32):
You know.

Speaker 4 (01:34:32):
Caleb talked about this last week about how you know,
if he had Thomas Brown as a zo set the
whole year, where could they have been Because you know,
the familiarity, the reps and everything that you get in
training camp and early in the season and just the
time spent together. You can't get that back when you
make a change in season, and you've seen them take
that jump. So I think we knew this was going
to happen eventually. The fact that it happened in the
season doesn't really make a big difference for me. If anything,

(01:34:53):
it buys you extra time to start searching the coaching market.
You try out Thomas Brown in this job, you figure
out where you want to go from here and make
the best of this season. It could have been worse.
You could have waited, I guess, until the end of
the season and not gotten that head start. But we
knew this was inevitable based on how they were playing.

Speaker 1 (01:35:08):
Yeah, shout out to the Flues. The season of Flu's
glow up. It was fun while it lasted. Yeah, Ultimately,
the fashion of it, all, the hair, the beard of
all of it.

Speaker 3 (01:35:19):
It didn't necessarily mean anything, but it gave us something
to be excited about and the idea that hey, this
is going to be something different. But No. Five and
nineteen during his run as the Chicago Bears head coach
in one score games, and really it wasn't just the
way that it happened. It was the timeout and the
not calling the timeout, the fact that he finishes his

(01:35:42):
career without that final timeout going out there, and it
seemed like between the quarterback, the coach, the play caller,
the players standing next to him during that process, nobody
knew what was going on, like the facilitation of how
things are supposed to operate from everything from the offseason

(01:36:02):
and being able to evaluate Shane Waldron as a play caller.
Decisions were always made too late, and Matt Eberflues finally
just ran.

Speaker 1 (01:36:10):
I don't think he ever really had an idea of
how to make the offense and coach up offense. And
you feel bad because like, yeah, I listened to Chris
Long talk about this too, and I thought he was
even handed talking about the Caleb Williams part of it too.

Speaker 2 (01:36:23):
And it's like, it does suck if.

Speaker 1 (01:36:26):
Your career if your Matt eberfluse ends that way, and
It's going to be remembered forever. And Caleb Williams needs
to know not to be changing plays with sixteen seconds left.
It's like an out, like he will never do that
again in his career. But you could also point to
that being like partly on the coaching that but no
one was ready for that moment, most most importantly, Matty

(01:36:48):
Refluse was never ready for those moments, no matter who
was the quarterback.

Speaker 3 (01:36:52):
The quarterbacks head just got bounced off the ground. He's
getting a play call in his ear. He's trying to
get guys with ten seconds to go. Players besides Matt
Eberflus or jumping up and down screaming. Four seconds elapse
after that before the ball gets snapped. During any one
of those four seconds, he could have called time out.
He chills not to.

Speaker 1 (01:37:10):
It's such a brutal way for a coaching career to
And I'm curious if Ryan Poles will be making the
next head coach hiring. The idea is he probably will.
I asked around about this. People don't think he has
any chance that he would be gone. It's murky of
how much was Eberflus his decision to hire or not.

(01:37:32):
You know he was hired before him, but in the
same you know, round of cycles, and maybe he got
a chance to kind of okay, rubber stamp that hiring,
but maybe it wasn't really his guy. There was pretty
reliable reporting that he stood on the table and said
he believed Matt Eberflus was the man to do it

(01:37:52):
coming back this year. And I think there is a
there is a case to be made that's a fireable
offense and that you're we're redoing this whole cycle where
the coach and the GM and the quarterback are not aligned.
That just keeps happening over and over and over in Chicago.
And so if you're gonna let Ryan Poles stay, let

(01:38:13):
him truly choose the coach. Don't don't be getting yourself
involved that much on an ownership level. Let Ryan Poles
do it, because if it ends up being the ownership coach,
then you're gonna be firing Ryan Poles in a year
or two and we're just gonna like and the coach
will still be there, and we're just gonna keep doing
this thing over and over and over again. It's happened
for fifteen years. It's an organizational thing. You can see

(01:38:36):
certain organizations make the same mistakes over and over, and
that's what worries me, even though Poles has had a
solid track record and obviously had had the trade that
got him Caleb Williams, I don't know. I just just
just let let the GM do his job. That's gonna
be it for the Patrick Claybond portion of the program,

(01:38:58):
always one of my favorite portions of the program, the
biggest portion of the program.

Speaker 3 (01:39:03):
In terms of size. Yes, I guess they'll wait here
on the Chris.

Speaker 2 (01:39:07):
Was it importance in importance?

Speaker 1 (01:39:09):
Frankly, if we're only talking two segments and I had
to lose either the whole thing before Sunday Night Football
or Sunday, I will lose Sunday Night Football. But I
can't wait to talk a little Sunday Night Football with
Nick Showca you guys enjoy that.

Speaker 2 (01:39:21):
We will all right to Sunday Night.

Speaker 6 (01:39:23):
First and goal from the.

Speaker 16 (01:39:24):
Seven, Alan under center takes a snab quick hitter thrown.

Speaker 4 (01:39:28):
Behind, but somehow caught and now lateral to Alan and
reaching for the pylon.

Speaker 11 (01:39:33):
Are you kidding me?

Speaker 6 (01:39:35):
It's a touchdown? Unbelievable.

Speaker 1 (01:39:40):
A catch by Amari Cooper, a lateral to Josh Allen
and he rubs the remaining five.

Speaker 6 (01:39:47):
Yards for the score. Have you ever seen that one before?

Speaker 1 (01:39:51):
I have not. Chris Brown of w GR in Buffalo
Josh Allen with a receiving touchdown and a passing touchdown
on the very same play he had in a rushing
touchdown later in the second half. To complete the trifecta.
He goes over one hundred yards on the ground. No
one is playing better football right now at quarterback than

(01:40:14):
Josh Allen. Thirty five to ten, the Bills pulverize the
forty nine ers in the snow.

Speaker 2 (01:40:22):
They are built for it. Shookye.

Speaker 1 (01:40:24):
I mean a guy who can pass, a guy who
can catch, although it was a lateral, A guy who
can get engaged to a Hollywood starlet during his bye
week and then show up and be the hero on
Sunday Night football.

Speaker 2 (01:40:37):
I mean, what can't this man do?

Speaker 4 (01:40:39):
My guy's just winning in every facet, in every single way.
Passing touchdown, rushing touchdown, receiving touchdown, it all. He's just winning.
And the Bills are just winning. They're ten and two.
Now they take down the forty nine ers with the
ultimate home field advantage of incredible amounts of snow in
western New York and just how that's like kind of
a neutralizer on the field, except for people like Josh Allen,
who are he is essentially a legitimate like buck, like

(01:41:02):
he's a deer running out there, so he's built for
the snow and to make plays like that. A lopsided
victory for them kind of could have anticipated before the
snow got involved. Now you just see the difference between
these two teams, one team heading up, the other one
heading down, and that play, I'll tell you what you said,
you've never seen it before. I think Marcus Mariota once
did that off a deflective pass one time.

Speaker 1 (01:41:22):
That's a little different, though a little different, you know,
that's the deflection. I just didn't know the ruling that
you get credit for receiving touchdown after getting the lateral.
And the still shot of Alan flying through the air
with the snow, it is just beautiful. And I know
the people who say, I just want football to be

(01:41:46):
played at its highest level, and ultimately the snow is
kind of a distraction and it prevents to, you know,
people from playing their best. I kind of get that
in the biggest of spots, but I like variety shook
in life, So go in these games. It's not gonna
be every single game, but sprinkle it in. Occasionally you
find a team like the forty nine ers who just

(01:42:07):
are not ready for it. They came out of the
gates looking ready for it, but they were slipping inside
and all over the place. Three huge fumbles in this
in the game, brock Purty, not a snow guy game.
Josh Allen and this Bill's running attack definitely snow guys.

Speaker 4 (01:42:22):
Yeah, which is crazy because party definitely played some nasty
weather games at Ames, you know, Iowa when he was
there in state back then, god knows he was there forever,
he had to have played at least one bad weather game.
But it is That's that's essentially what this is is.
You know, this is why I think that football, you know,
you talk about being played at the highest level. I
think that it's not just for variety. This is football
in its purest form. That shot of Josh Allen diving

(01:42:44):
with the snow all around him, and there's a guy
in an NFL beanie looks like he's part of the
like the ball Boys or something, just staring intently watching
magic happen before his eyes. That is football. How can
you not fall in love with that? That's fantastic. That's
gonna be framed in Canton. I'm gonna go to Canton
this summer. It's gonna be on a frame somewhere. He's
gonna be on and it should be because that's football
at its core.

Speaker 1 (01:43:03):
You know what's crazy is the forty nine ers actually
ran the ball quite well in this game. Christian McCaffrey
leaves with a knee injury. Kyle Shanahan announces after the
game that it's a potentially season ending knee injury. Really
disappointing for McCaffrey and really disappointing obviously for the forty

(01:43:23):
nine ers, who get Perty back but did not have
Bosa back or missing five starters on defense, we're missing
Trent Williams, and yet they actually ran seven point six
yards per carry when they gave it to McCaffrey. Jordan
Mason had a number of positive runs early in this game,
ends up thirteen for seventy eight. Their success rate is
really high, and they're setting up for a field goal

(01:43:44):
to make it seven to six about midway through the
second quarter, and they're moving the ball and it seems
like a normal football game. They missed the kick and
the very next play Cook takes it. What it was
sixty five yards for a touchdown. And after that it
was just as one sided as it gets. And you
just think, if Josh Allen and the Bills are hosting

(01:44:07):
games in the snow or in tough weather, he really
is built for it.

Speaker 2 (01:44:11):
Now, they didn't try to throw the ball too much.

Speaker 1 (01:44:13):
He only threw it seventeen times, but he ripped a
couple passes right through the air, whereas Purdy like guys
were slipping. He had a couple decent throws, but you know,
Deebo's falling over all over the place and fumbles it.
Purty fumbles it because he can't hold on to it.
He throws the ball eighteen times for ninety four yards.
Any penetration by defense happened by Buffalo in this game.

(01:44:35):
Their offensive line was much better, and they're just they're
just a tough team. And it's one reason why I
think they have a real chance to win the Super
Bowl this year and make my prediction look good. It's
because every aspect of the game they can excel in,
whether that's running, passing, run, defense, or pass defense, and
depending on the week, they can do different things. And

(01:44:56):
they've just been through so many wars that games like
this it's like no problem for them. They are the
AFC East champions here with five weeks left of the season.
It's crazy.

Speaker 4 (01:45:05):
Yeah, Week thirteen clinchers. It's been a long time since
that's happened that quickly. But that's also goes to show
what the AFCAS East is. The Bills are the superior team,
way more superior than any of us. He anticipated them
being this year. Yeah, that's who they are. But it
makes me think about two things. I think back to
when the Bengals beat the Bills in the playoffs a
few years ago in a snowy game, and Bills fans
complained about the snow neutralizing their pass rush, and that's

(01:45:26):
why the Bengals were able to beat them. That's the
beauty of a snow game is that it neutralized the
pass rush. You look at the pressure right here. Five
pressures for the nine Ers, seven pressures for the Bills.
There's a clip of Josh Allen, i think in the
third and fourth quarter dropping back and he's got all
day to throw and just rips one right down the
middle of the field for a completion inside the red zone,
and I was like blown away by the fact that
he just could stand there and just pat and bounce
and patent bounce until he found somebody. Just because of

(01:45:48):
the snow. It's also because of this offensive line, which
is getting better and is coming around. But it also
speaks to their evolution as an offense since Joe Brady
took over last year, which is that they figured out
how to run the ball traditionally. Instead of just relying
on Josh Allen as the only runner on the field,
they can now lean on James Cook fourteen for one
oh seven, Ray Davis eleven for sixty three. Each of
them had a touchdown. Josh Allen Chipson three for eighteen.

(01:46:09):
He has a touchdown. This is a team that you
just said can beat you in a number of different ways.
This is the way that they can win in a
snow game at home of the playoffs, and they get it.
And right now they're in one of the prime positions
to get the AFC's top seed, or at least be
in contention for it. So everything's coming up bills right now.

Speaker 1 (01:46:25):
It is a team that I look forward to watching
I don't know if they technically deserve to be AFC
East champions. I'm just gonna have like a little point
of order. How can they be deemed AFC East champions
if they've never even played against Drake May I mean, oh,
just well, I feel like they got two more games
down the stretch. Everyone's saying the Bills have an easy

(01:46:46):
schedule down in the stretch. They actually haven't played the Patriots.
How can you be the division champ if you haven't
even played the Patriots.

Speaker 4 (01:46:53):
Well, we're gonna get that twice here on the stretch,
and I expect them to win both games.

Speaker 1 (01:46:57):
It can't go any worse than it did at the
end of the Belichick era, even when they were making
the playoffs. They literally didn't get a stop back then.
This team is absolutely awesome. I can't believe. A thing
that actually happened in Buffalo tonight was Josh Allen and
Sean McDermot doing snow angels on the field after the
game together. That's that's what you know things are going

(01:47:21):
well for the Bills. Fun week, fun game, Yes, over,
I believe twenty inches of snow around the stadium. It
was up to three feet in some areas of Buffalo,
and yeah, a couple inches were happening. A lot of
the fans at the game were just standing the whole
time because they couldn't sit down. Very cool, and at

(01:47:41):
this point it's not you can't even say long tortured
Bills fans.

Speaker 2 (01:47:45):
We got Eric Roberts back here. Who's you know, a
fan of a Dodgers.

Speaker 1 (01:47:51):
Winning the Super Bowl and he's been rooting for one
of the best teams in the NFL.

Speaker 2 (01:47:54):
I don't want to hear about tortured. You guys have
been good.

Speaker 18 (01:47:56):
I was a seven or years tortured. You thought you
gotta be talking about like my niece and they only
know Josh Allen. I was out the Nathan Peterman five
or seven. Come, I've been around for the next generation
of Bills fans. You can say, because all I'm.

Speaker 1 (01:48:08):
Saying is this is an extended, beautiful run of success
and then should only continue. But I do know that
until you make the Super Bowl, win a Super Bowl,
it feels like something is missing. But these are the
good old days, is what I'm trying to say.

Speaker 2 (01:48:23):
So enjoy it. Oh, I am, trust me, I am,
and I am as well. This was a beautiful show. Choky.

Speaker 1 (01:48:30):
I want to get you back to everything that's going
on in Cincinnati. Celebrate your calves victory. Get ready for
Monday night football, because we're talking about your Brownie is
in a big spot once again. I mean, I'm fine
with the Browns being in primetime compared to these forty
nine Ers games. Are there any coming up that we
need to get out? Week seventeen, they're playing the Lions.

(01:48:50):
They're not going to flex them out of that. We
got Week fifteen against the Rams. It's crazy how done
this forty nine Ers team feels because of the injuries.
It's the first time since two thousand and fifteen that
they've lost twenty five by twenty five points and back
to back weeks, only the fourth time in the history
of this proud franchise that's ever happened. And they do

(01:49:13):
not feel like they are coming back from this down
two games and the injuries are are just too much.

Speaker 4 (01:49:19):
Yeah, they're mounting. Just the hits keep coming. Soon as
you get one guy back, you lose another, you lose another,
you lose another. I mean, it's it's too steep of
a hill to climb. And ill An NFC West is
still very much for the taking, but they don't feel
like a team that's on the rise. And it's unfortunate
for a team that made the Super Bowl and lost
in heartbreaking fashion overtime last year, but that's just the
fact of the matter with them.

Speaker 10 (01:49:37):
No.

Speaker 1 (01:49:37):
I saw the Bears on the schedule next week and
I'm thinking, well, that's a good spot. But it's a
good SIoT for both teams. So that's it for our
recap show Week thirteen in the books. As I said,
shooky and I will be back on Monday night. Talk
a little Browns talk, a little Broncos talk, a little
news of the day. I want to thank everyone that

(01:49:59):
helped out the Thanksgiving week, a lot of extra hours.
Eric behind the glass, Chris doing a bang up job.
When when Josh Allen is going snow Beast, snow Angels,
you know football is back.

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Gregg Rosenthal

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