2025 NFL Week 7 Recap: Broncos Comeback, AFC Favorites Separate and CMC Carries The Load

Episode Transcript
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Speaker 1 (00:05):
Welcome to NFL Daily, where we can always get saved
by the late window.

Speaker 2 (00:09):
I'm Greg Rosenthal.

Speaker 1 (00:10):
I'm here in the Chris Westling podcast studio for the
week seven recapp and yes, the early morning games. I
was talking with you in the news Zoom Jordan, maybe
the worst slate that we've seen in terms of excitement,
in terms of intrigue.

Speaker 2 (00:26):
And then the late.

Speaker 1 (00:27):
Games arrived and they're so good that not only Patrick
Claibahn and Jordan rodrieg are joining me in the studio,
but Nick Shook is with us in Cleveland because you
had the luck to get Denver and New York. Nick,
good job by you.

Speaker 3 (00:41):
Yeah. You know, through about two and a half to
three quarters of this game, I thought, well, it looks
like I'm just gonna get three lopsided results this day,
which is fine, makes riting a little bit easier. But
the Broncos said, no, we are the Kings of the
fourth quarter and we're gonna make a comeback for the Ages.

Speaker 1 (00:56):
So much happened in that game. In these afterdoone games,
I don't want to wait any more time. Let's get
to it. We've got an afternoon heavy start to the show. Yes,
starting in Denver at.

Speaker 4 (01:06):
Attempt of thirty nine yards for the win snap placement
kick on the way.

Speaker 5 (01:12):
It is good.

Speaker 6 (01:16):
Bronco players celebrating.

Speaker 3 (01:21):
Like they just won a home playoff game, and why not?

Speaker 2 (01:26):
Why not? Indeed, Dave Logan of.

Speaker 1 (01:28):
KOA thirty three to thirty two in a game that
had more twists and turns in the fourth quarter than
some teams have for an entire season, the Denver Broncos
scored thirty three points in the final frame. They trailed
nineteen to nothing entering the fourth quarter. They scored three
touchdowns at one point in a three and a half

(01:51):
minute span, and yet they still had to drive the
field after giving up another touchdown Nick Shook to get
a field goal, and you know, so what, they got
that field goal and they escape with a win in
one of the games of the year. When was the
moment you thought that they could actually pull this thing off.

Speaker 3 (02:09):
It was precisely on third down when Jackson Dart stepped
up in the pocket and tried to step over somebody
as he was throwing and through one of the worst
picks you're gonna see all year, and just hand delivered
it to the Broncos linebacker at that point, I thought,
oh god, they're gonna do it. In fact, no, you
know what, We're gonna back up middle to late third quarter.
They're driving, and I'm watching them finally find a little
bit of offensive momentum which they lacked all day, and

(02:31):
I'm thinking, oh god, they're doing this again. They're doing
what they did in Philly. They're just setting up a
twenty one point fourth quarter comeback. Except there wasn't twenty
one points. It was thirty three points. The most points
scored by a team after getting shut out in the
first three quarters in NFL history. Leave it to the
Denver Broncos. They're not even jekyling high. They're Oh god,
my alarm didn't go off. I'm three hours late for work,
but I can still get there and make something out

(02:53):
of the day. That's what they did.

Speaker 7 (02:54):
Today and then got fired. No. I mean, you saw
Jackson Dart's face. For those watching on YouTube, for those
who caught the broadcast, welcome to the first day of
the rest of your life. As in New York, Ohnson
Dart just in absolute horror.

Speaker 8 (03:13):
You felt for him.

Speaker 7 (03:14):
I felt like the game swung in that moment with
the interception. I think that's when Greg stood up out
of his chair and then raised his desk.

Speaker 8 (03:21):
Up as well. To finish the game.

Speaker 7 (03:23):
It was like this, like like fog started creeping in.

Speaker 8 (03:27):
You could just feel like this was happening.

Speaker 7 (03:29):
And what an excruciating finish for every single one of
those players and the two head coaches who.

Speaker 8 (03:34):
Were in absolute hell the entire time through the end
of that fourth quarter.

Speaker 1 (03:39):
Right, So, to back it up, when that interception happens,
to be fair, you know it's still twenty six to sixteen.
The Giants defense doesn't have to give up an immediate touchdown,
and then the Broncos you know, defense does a great
job getting the ball back so quickly. The Giants defense
doesn't have to give up a six play, fifty one

(04:00):
one second drive capped by a b Nicks scramble to
take the lead. But that's exactly what they did. The
part to me, that's as crazy as anything is. It
felt like the Giants had luck because they got a
deflected touchdown for forty one yards to Theo Johnson to
give them an eighteen point leine. And that happened in
the fourth quarter.

Speaker 5 (04:20):
Yeah, it was ten minutes and twenty two seconds ago.
In the game.

Speaker 9 (04:22):
It was nineteen to eight, and I understand there was
like a sequence of fortuitous circumstances for the Denver Broncos,
but that pass could have easily been picked off. And
Theo Johnson now has four touchdown passes from Jackson Dart.

Speaker 5 (04:34):
This one was absolutely not supposed to happen.

Speaker 1 (04:37):
The location in Denver, and that play got me thinking
back to look, I know he's a lot more skilled
than Tebo, but man, Tbo, things.

Speaker 2 (04:44):
Just happened to Jackson Dart.

Speaker 9 (04:46):
Let's listen scattered with a back third and sheventeen and
it'll cut up pass caught on the look of Shay
Let's crap here by the galloping junckson go be.

Speaker 10 (04:55):
Chased to the play by Bearn didn't get in. He
did touchdown own forty one yard ricochet touchdown reception, taking
it in field chunchon.

Speaker 8 (05:09):
So nice little hooking ladder there.

Speaker 9 (05:11):
Yeah, you can actually hear the sound of the keys
getting out, Like people.

Speaker 5 (05:16):
Left the game.

Speaker 9 (05:17):
They were filing out of the stadium at that point,
because like the idea that the sequence that would happen
after that would happened was improbable for most people, including
me and a lot of Broncos fans will that was
a very frustrating game and they decided to peace out,
and I understand it.

Speaker 1 (05:31):
I want to go through a little more of the
end sequence with you, Shook, but more big picture, like
what were some of your takeaways from darts performance and
the Broncos defensive performance for the part of the game
that seemed reasonably normal for the first you know, fifty
three fifty four minutes of this game.

Speaker 3 (05:50):
It's a great way to characterize it because it was
very much a normal and one sided game. The Giants
were playing excellent football on both sides. They basically had
every answer for whatever the Broncos wanted to do. Offensively,
Theos looked like they were sleepwalking offensively. They had one
possession that got down inside the Giants five and they stonewalled.
Then Dane Belton delivers one of the most crushing hits
you'll see all week to stop that on fourth down.

(06:11):
Just a great example of how I thought the Giants
brought the fight to the Broncos to the first three quarters. Offensively,
Darts converting you know, third down passes, They're finding ways
to keep drives going. Scatabo's scattaboy was you know, navigating traffic,
breaking tackles, getting the end zone. It looks like a
Giants win. It looks like one of those games where
you think, Wow, the Broncos just really came out kind
of flat and never recovered until the fourth quarter happened.

(06:32):
I thought that New York played a fantastic game overall
until this crazy sequence of events started. And what's wild
about that is that, you know, claymone just talked about,
Patrick just talked about where you said, you know, the
Broncos had a bit of a fortuitous you know, circumstances
go their way as well, two deflections for touchdowns in
a row and the fourth quarter. We should have known
that it was going to go full chaos from there,

(06:53):
but it still felt like the Giants could recover, and
they did until they didn't.

Speaker 5 (06:58):
Right.

Speaker 3 (06:59):
That's why it's going to sting more than anything for them.

Speaker 1 (07:01):
I know, part of my mind is still living in
the world where, Wow, Shane Bowen and the Bowen sons
is really happening. Like the defense got better for the
Giants for most of this game, and you're on social
media and the fans are like booing the Broncos a
little bit and there's a lot of anti Sean Payton
sentiment because I think the Broncos fans are so attached
to Bo Nicks that they're getting mad about Sean Payton.

Speaker 2 (07:23):
And then and then it all flips.

Speaker 8 (07:26):
Right on its head.

Speaker 7 (07:27):
Yes, it was crazy too, because you, like, I know,
we have mixed opinions on momentum across the board here,
but I will say you could feel like the wind
get knocked out repeatedly of both sidelines over back.

Speaker 8 (07:44):
And forth, back and forth.

Speaker 1 (07:45):
I think that Patrick's momentum argument would argue, Okay, if
all that momentum was happening on one side, then when
the Giants got the ball back thirty to twenty six
and they're trailing with about a minute and fifty to go,
then they wouldn't have been able to drive the length
of the field. And that's exactly what Jackson Dart did
and so that should not be forgotten. Let's actually listen

(08:06):
to his touchdown run, which in this game's you know fashion,
was initially called short.

Speaker 5 (08:13):
First to goal.

Speaker 10 (08:13):
The one forty seconds to go Giants twelve by.

Speaker 6 (08:16):
Four scout up with the tail dock, Dart pumps his
right leg, takes the snap he's gonna run with it,
and he drives ahead.

Speaker 5 (08:23):
He breaks the plane though short he reached out lots
of touchdown. No, he lunged and broke the plane. Tell you, barl,
I think he lunged.

Speaker 11 (08:35):
And broke the plane before his right thigh hit.

Speaker 8 (08:38):
Helpful to wear.

Speaker 3 (08:39):
You're in the plane.

Speaker 5 (08:40):
It is a.

Speaker 9 (08:40):
Touchdown and probable fourth and nineteen, but you got thirty.
They're gonna get the ball with twenty something seconds left, Timber,
So they got it.

Speaker 5 (08:53):
They gotta have some good defense.

Speaker 8 (08:56):
That's that is exactly it.

Speaker 6 (08:57):
Now.

Speaker 8 (08:57):
We were talking a little bit before the show.

Speaker 7 (08:59):
There's you know, oh, neither of these coaches called a
great game, in my opinion, and when things got tense.

Speaker 8 (09:06):
Brian Dable calls that play on purpose.

Speaker 7 (09:08):
We were talking about, oh, you know, you give them
too much time, and it's at altitude and a long
long kicks are possible there in that stadium and all
these things. That is a play that is intentionally designed
to run the quarterback up the middle and score a touchdown.
And even if you don't score a touchdown, then you
have to kill it your last time out to stop
the cluck. So they were going to give them time

(09:29):
back really no matter what, either as a touchdown or
then you have to burn your last time out. So
so they were going to have time the Broncos were.

Speaker 1 (09:36):
I think it's a good play off because I don't
think they necessarily would use the time out right away. Wait,
I think the point is to try to score a touchdown.
You can't you can't play around. You can't live in
a world, Shookie, where you're that where you're that like passive,
where you're trying not to score a touchdown.

Speaker 9 (09:51):
Zach Allen wasn't passive on that play. He was in
the backfield. D does where make a move there? Yes,
they could lose the game on that play. It was
a weird play call because like in terms of like
the way that they blocked it up. Jackson Dark had
to break four tackles to get to that point, and
I'm like, hindsight, they get the touchdown, fine, we can
be results oriented there. I think it was a weird

(10:11):
call considering they probably shouldn't have been. Their penalties got
them there in the first place.

Speaker 5 (10:15):
Shook.

Speaker 3 (10:16):
It was the perfect call in a moment of chaos
because as they line up and then they shift everybody
out wide. I'm shouting at the screen, QB power, QB power.
He's running this up the middle. There is a tackle
split wide. They're trying to spread out the defense. Yes,
and just add to the chaos and confusion of it,
and it does work. But you're right, it is kind
of a strange play called. They're embracing the situation of
chaos but also the top of the screen when it

(10:37):
at first, he's rulled short. Brian dave All tries to
call a time out in that moment of like thirty
two seconds left. That touchdown comes with thirty seven seconds left.
If this game wasn't chaotic enough, there was still another
drive for the Broncos to pull off. Most games end
close to there, but in today's NFL, and with the
Broncos and the Giants in this game today, no, we
still had more excitement to come. And oh, by the way,

(10:58):
they only got to there. And I'm fine with the
call because of this, because they got a pass interfiers
call that bought them a fresh set of downs. They
had Sean Payton running down the sideline so upset with
the call that he gets it on sportsman like conduct penalty.
It puts them first in gold at the one like just.

Speaker 2 (11:12):
Madness and I hated that play, that pedal anyway.

Speaker 7 (11:15):
I know we were shouting about it too in the newsroom.
And it's interesting because so I think you could have
maybe called that on second down for example, Like I
don't mind the play call.

Speaker 8 (11:25):
It clearly did not fool the defense at all.

Speaker 7 (11:28):
You're supposed to sort of part the ocean, part the
waters there with the movement pre snap that you build
into that play.

Speaker 8 (11:35):
Everybody we're all.

Speaker 7 (11:36):
Yelling at our TVs here understanding what's about to happen next,
and the Broncos certainly aren't fooled. I think you can
run that on a second note. But that's what I'm saying.
It's like this game there was too much happening and
too much going on for anything.

Speaker 8 (11:51):
Unweird to happen, if that makes sense.

Speaker 9 (11:53):
Yes, it was just providing an opportunity to have because
you're gonna have to have the guard come back around
becau Zach Allen is unblocked on that play. To move
the guard in that situation with your rookie quarter, it
just seems like a weird decision. Dart, you know, made
it happen because earlier in the game.

Speaker 8 (12:08):
He can't talk weird.

Speaker 5 (12:09):
Yeah, we talked about.

Speaker 9 (12:11):
A situation where you put him in a tough spot
and he didn't make the play. He made the play
that time, but oh.

Speaker 1 (12:15):
Yeah, it's tricky, like dart ends up fifteen for thirty three,
but for two hundred and eighty three yards in three Touchdowes.
I know some of that was fortunate, but like under
fifty percent, they have no drop back kind of passing game.
The one thing I think that shouldn't be lost is
bo Nicks was having a nightmare game for most of it,
but he was obviously sensational in the fourth quarter, making
all the best decisions and plays when it mattered most.

Speaker 2 (12:38):
And he gets the ball back needing some dimes.

Speaker 1 (12:41):
First play of that drive a great throw over the
middle for twenty nine yards to Marvin Mims, Like you
can get on the Giants defense, but that's a great throw.
They get a penalty of Brian Burns not getting back
on side, and then bow Knicks with a great pass
deep down the sideline to make it a closer field
goal to Courtland Sutton. So he stepped up in the
biggest moments with some darts and man the Giant season

(13:03):
would have felt so different if they had a chance
next week to go sweep the Eagles and get way
back into this NFC East at NFC Wildcard Race, they
would be three and four trying to get to four
and four. Instead they're at two and five. Broncos feeling
good at five and two. I'll give you the final
word shooky on this game. Then we'll say goodbye to you,
and then we're gonna bring it back later in the show.

Speaker 3 (13:22):
I would wish, I would love it if the Broncos would,
you know, play it good football for four quarters. But
that's you know, wishful thinking for it with a lot
of football teams. And this really stings for the Giants,
and I hurt for you because, as Greg just said,
everything was trending towards you being having a ton of
belief and now you have to come back and answer
the same questions, including about your coach, when I really
don't think this is necessarily his fault. So tough one

(13:42):
for them.

Speaker 1 (13:43):
I know every Giants fan I see on social media
it's like Brian Dable has to be fired now, and
it's like, I don't know that the offense the most
fireable offense that Brian Dable has done this season is
starting Russell Wilson in Week one, because every week that
this offense looks this good, it actually shows what about
process that was. Lots of bad processes around the NFL today,

(14:04):
but I actually don't think there were many in Arizona.
I thought this was a good, clean football team or
game played by two good teams.

Speaker 2 (14:14):
Just the road team had to come out on top.
One last stop by this defensive unit.

Speaker 6 (14:21):
We're setting the shotguns Slot to the right side, Harrison
to the swat right, Jones to the left, two safeties
high Green Bay.

Speaker 5 (14:30):
Brissette waits for the snap, he takes it.

Speaker 6 (14:33):
Back to throw deep drop rainbows over the middle into
the end zone and it.

Speaker 10 (14:38):
Is bust it up and it is incomplete put out
of bounds.

Speaker 6 (14:42):
Shones came up with a catch, but out of bounds,
and there is your dagger. If the Packers will a
skate with a twenty seven at twenty three win.

Speaker 1 (14:54):
In Arizona, Wayne Larvie, he's out and tired. By the
end of this game, A lot happened, and in the
fourth quarter of this one too, the Packers survive a
game effort by the Arizona Cardinals twenty seven to twenty three.
No Hail Mary for Jacoby Brissett, who, for the second
straight week, plays very well but ultimately sees his final

(15:18):
pass fall incomplete and that ends in a four point deficit.
The Cardinals have not lost the game by more than
four points all season. Their scoring differential throughout the course
of the season is now negative one, and yet they
fall to two and five on a day where the
Packers had to show something a little different. So far
this season, they have led every game by at least

(15:40):
ten points. They haven't trailed at any point by ten
points until today. They were down thirteen to three early.
They never had a lead in this game until under
two minutes to go. And I thought the key moment
of the game was one where we, and by we
I mean me would have been criticizing Matt Lafleur for
changing his mind to go for it on a fourth down.

(16:03):
I liked the call to go for it, I hated
burning his second time out with just over two and
a half minutes to do it. They had the field
goal kicker out earlier, he had kicked a sixty yarder.
They were going to kick the ball to tight and
you know what Matt Lafleur said, I'm going to trust
my best players, Jordan Love and Tucker Craft to go
make a play.

Speaker 2 (16:22):
And that's what they did. Fourth and two, green Bay.
Can they get two yards to keep this thing alive?
Two point thirty two to go down three. Love looking
to throw has time loft the left side.

Speaker 6 (16:32):
For Craft, He's got it sound fourteen yard line on
the far side.

Speaker 2 (16:38):
They beat aagrian Jenlor Deverson first down.

Speaker 1 (16:41):
Green Bay thought this was a game where the best
players on the field, this kept stepping up, and that
was a case where like, if they don't hit that play,
if Lafleur doesn't have the faith in him, they lose
that game. And if they go for a field goal,
they very well might lose that game the way their
defense was playing, and Tucker Craft and especially Jordan Left
stepped up.

Speaker 8 (16:59):
Yeah, exactly.

Speaker 7 (17:00):
And what I loved about that sequence is you could
almost see the like the torment of the decision going
back and forth in Matt laflorrete, like it flashed across
his face. This is a person who does not really
hide his emotions and has trouble hiding the things he's thinking.

Speaker 8 (17:16):
In the course of a game action.

Speaker 7 (17:17):
If you ever watch him as he goes out officials,
you will definitely notice this. This was you could tell
he was thinking, oh my god, did I make the
right decision. But if you are confident in your players.
And I was giving the Packers grief last week because
or during our preview show, because I'm like.

Speaker 8 (17:38):
You are so good. You are such a good team.
You're so good in every phase. Your kicker is perfect,
you hit a sixty one.

Speaker 7 (17:46):
Yard freaking field goal, which I think is a record
in that stadium on the road, And you are are
so good on offense, and you're so good on defense,
and you have a great coaching staff. And so just
go out and be loose and be free and trust
your play and like, unclench a little bit. And to me,
he almost clenched Greg, he almost clenched Patrick. He was

(18:06):
almost too tight. And then he just let go and
he's like, all right, Jordan Love, Tuckerkraft, go and make
a play.

Speaker 8 (18:11):
And they did.

Speaker 1 (18:12):
It was awesome. And Josh Jacobs finishes out that drive.
You know, he's battling through a calf injury. And look,
we'll see. If their defense is awesome on paper, it's
good on the field, they've been good. Like I would
say that's the case of their offense and their defense.
They've just been good. There have been more potential than greatness.

(18:32):
If Michael Parsons didn't have maybe the best game I've
seen by any defensive player all season today, they could
have given up forty in this game. But he ends
up with ten pressures three sacks. In my book, it's
four sacks because it was two different half sacks, and
I want to abolish the half sack. That is my
subway take. There should be no more half sacks, and
a half.

Speaker 7 (18:50):
Sack is a half sackree, thank you so much.

Speaker 1 (18:54):
So, five QB hits, a couple tackles for lost, some
good run defense plays too, and his biggest sack at
the end where he takes a playoff in the final
drive for the Cardinals, comes back on gets the sack,
and that sets up the desperation play by the Cardinals.
They needed all their best players like Craft and love
in Parsons to get out of there with the win,
because I think the Cardinals were almost playing for their season,

(19:15):
and they played very well.

Speaker 5 (19:16):
Yeah, they played the entire time.

Speaker 9 (19:18):
Other than you know, Rashan Gary made a great play
that actually got the Packers a key possession on a
turnover where Jacoby Brissett is looking to get the balls
on of a night and it looked like a fumble initially, No,
it looked like a bad pass that was just thrown
backwards recovered by the Packers, but Rashaan Garrett got a hit,
I got the ball out and just in that play
where we've bemoaned, I've bemoaned in previous seasons that the

(19:42):
Packers just needed some star power and they got it
today because Parsons also had a sack of Jacobrey Brissette
that took him a very long time to get up
and he was kind of hopping around for a little
bit and I think that slowed him down. But to
go back to that fourth down play, like they gotta
have it, play the thing, looking back at the dots,
looking back at the all twenty two, uh Romeo Dobbs

(20:04):
got open over the middle. Josh Jacobs won on his
option route as well as Tucker craft with you know,
a Cardinals fan would say he pushed off. He did
push off. It was that veteran crafty puss.

Speaker 1 (20:14):
I mean they would, but they almost never call that
at full speed.

Speaker 9 (20:17):
But all three of those guys got open on that play,
and I think that's that like to get to that
point of Matt Lafleur making that gotta have it decision.

Speaker 5 (20:27):
He not just went with a play to get to
get Tucker Craft open. Two other guys got open.

Speaker 1 (20:33):
Trust your play calls too, because I thought he had
a great game calling the game. There were so many
plays where Jordan Love had easy buttons, especially in the
second half. First half less so, but the three points
that they got before halftime were so massive. They got
the ball back after a stirring Jacoby Brissett drive, and

(20:56):
we'll talk Persett in a second. It was the last
drive of the first half was stirred and they played
great to end it. And the Packers get the ball
with seven seconds left on the thirty five, and that's
where you know, I think you make a mistake in
terms of the kickoff, kicking it out of bounds and
it starts at the thirty five. They get it with

(21:17):
seven seconds left and Love hits Dobbs over the middle
for twenty two yards in time to take the time out,
and then that sets up that sixty one yard that
those three points were huge, but man after halftime where
they scored three touchdowns, there was a lot of Matt
Leafleur specials, just really creative stuff and getting his receivers open.
I mentioned Brissett. I think Jonathan Gannon, He's got a lot.

Speaker 2 (21:39):
Of tough things.

Speaker 1 (21:40):
Over the next week, they're going into their buy I
think there they just should be three and four. They
feel like a three and four team. They could even
be a four and three team the way they've played
the last couple weeks. But they're two and five and
they have to decide whether to go back to Kyler
Murray or not. Because I think the offense has just
looked more cohesive and more of what it should be
with Jacoby per Set at quarterback. And I'll say it

(22:03):
for you, Jordan, because you always say that it should
go through trade McBride.

Speaker 2 (22:06):
Thing like you saw that today.

Speaker 1 (22:08):
I think get helped that they have Elijah Higgins back
and they're two more two tight ends, and it just
looked more like what they want to do under center,
play action, all this stuff.

Speaker 2 (22:16):
It's just what their coaching stuff knows.

Speaker 7 (22:18):
It's why they brought Jacoby were set in to see
if this could work. Then it would really work right,
and who knew they did not obviously plan for an
injury or this type of thing. When I was at
camp over the summer and I was fortunate to talk
to Jacoby Wessett, and I encountered one of the most
confident individuals I met, I've met in years in terms

(22:41):
of if he was going to get a shot, he
was going to do he was going to absolutely make
the most of it, going rep for rep throughout those
pretty open training camp sessions where a lot of times
the number one and the number two are actually getting
a lot of the same reps with the way that
they run their practices. And I thought that it showed.
I thought it absolutely showed. You see Drew Petsing running

(23:02):
the offense that he specifically wants to run through the
tight end, especially like you mentioned having some personnel back.
But then also dotting in a couple of guys here
and there, say Jones made a pretty crucial, crucial catch
Marvin Harrison two catches for fifty eight yards with a
thirty five yard long as well, and drew a.

Speaker 2 (23:20):
Big pass interference on it.

Speaker 7 (23:21):
Deep threads absolutely, so it's not like these guys were absent,
but this. This was Jacoby Brissett and Trey McBride's game
together today, and Trey McBride was really upset over a
mistake that he made earlier, like five minutes after the
play happened.

Speaker 8 (23:35):
Was Greg and I were talking about.

Speaker 7 (23:36):
He was like yelling at himself and hitting himself in
the chest on the sideline. And then he goes out
and he scores the two touchdowns, ten catches on thirteen
targets for seventy four yards, and some of them were
absolutely crucial, and I believe that is more touchdowns than
he had all last season.

Speaker 2 (23:51):
Just a good, clean football game.

Speaker 1 (23:52):
I really thought it looked like a playoff type of
game because I think the Cardinals were desperate feel for him.
We'll see about the Kyler decision. I just think Brissett
has been excellent in these two weeks.

Speaker 5 (24:02):
But I mean the results are the same. It is, yes,
a lot of losses.

Speaker 9 (24:06):
Now fifteen combined points in those five losses, which is bananas.

Speaker 1 (24:11):
It's a it would be an organizational changing move to
bench Kyler right now.

Speaker 2 (24:17):
Gannon is at a key point. I'm just I'm curious
how it goes.

Speaker 1 (24:20):
And I'm glad you mentioned that play where McBride didn't
come up with a touchdown and he was Matt. I
gave a lot of credit to edgren Cooper, so to
keep the theme on this game in terms of stars
making absolutely crucial plays. That played by edgren Cooper. A
tackle on the sideline where he basically threw Michael Wilson's
face into the ground to set up a fourth down

(24:42):
attempt by the Cardinals where they then tried to sneak
it and edgern Cooper helped us stuff the sneak. This
is a young linebacker stepping up. Those were two game
winning plays by him. Let's go to a game where
there wasn't a ton of game winning defensive plays, but
there were a lot of great high snap for Jones.
But he pulls it down, get to the Taylor marching

(25:03):
to us right, he's.

Speaker 10 (25:04):
At the fucking touchdown to try fucked again for Jonathan Taylor.

Speaker 12 (25:10):
Three rushing touchdowns for the greatest running back going right now,
it's thirty.

Speaker 4 (25:15):
Seven seventeen Colts over bolts.

Speaker 5 (25:19):
And he's going to the house.

Speaker 9 (25:20):
I thought we're an ingle would I thought he was
headed down to Huntington Beach.

Speaker 1 (25:23):
The way he was winning that ball sat out to
Charles Arbuckle, making his NFL Daily debut. I'm Matt Taylor's
on the show every single week because Jonathan Taylor and
this Colts offense is getting it done every single week.
Thirty eight to twenty four against the Chargers Patrick, anytime

(25:45):
the Chargers even got it to third or fourth down,
much less, Yeah, get a stop in this game, and
there weren't many. It it felt like a miracle. Just
an awesome offensive performance by the Colts.

Speaker 5 (25:58):
No, it was incredible the Colts.

Speaker 9 (26:00):
That was the third Jonathan Taylor touchdown, as they noted,
and actually the south end zone and so far does
early point towards Huntington Beach if you think about it.

Speaker 8 (26:08):
So it was just we love geographic accuracy, we do.

Speaker 5 (26:11):
And it's something we'd hear to on NFL Daily.

Speaker 9 (26:13):
The Colts didn't stop scoring in a game where the
Colts defense needed to make plays. Certainly, they did turn
the Chargers over a couple of times and got a win,
avenging their their loss to the stadium itself.

Speaker 5 (26:27):
They didn't beat the Rams.

Speaker 2 (26:28):
There now on one and so far one and.

Speaker 5 (26:30):
One in so far on the season.

Speaker 9 (26:33):
They got Khalil Mackbeck, which helped them, and it might
have helped them more against the lesser team, but the
Colts are just so dominant. Jonathan Taylor had three touchdowns
ever six yards of carry. There was a Tyler Warren
score that made it twenty to three, and the Chargers
on what felt like at that point it got to
have it drive. They went non plays down to the
Colts eight and Nick Cross was covering Quinton Johnston. He

(26:54):
was blanketing him, a clean pocket for Justin Herbert and
he just kind of inexplicably throws it directly at Nick Cross,
who picks it off corrals it with one hand for
the turnover. He had another interception where Grover Stewart tipped
the pass got an interception. He's thirty one years old
as his first career interception. I promised fifty three Colts
players were on the field celebrating after he got that one,

(27:16):
and they weren't able to hold serve consistently against the
Colts team that had over four hundred yards of total offense.
Alec Pierce getting back getting down the field my obligatory.
Alec Pierce mentioned he had like three catches for seventy
four yards late in the third quarter there and just
a dominant performance by Dimes and company where they consistently

(27:38):
made the plays and the Chargers defense couldn't ultimately keep up.

Speaker 7 (27:41):
Every time I flipped over to this game, I went,
I would say, oh, Patrick, because Alec was making a play.
You guys, this six and one Indianapolis Colts team, by
the way, is such a complete team. They're so balanced.
They came in having real questions about their corners. Yes,

(28:01):
Justin Herbert put up four to twenty yards through the
ball fifty five times. Had some great performance from a
couple of guys, including this Gadsden guy who is has
arrived on the scene in a.

Speaker 1 (28:14):
In a bolt. I mean his his first game in
the NFL. Gadson what what was that week three or four?
Obviously the son of an NFL great, Like he puts
up seven for sixty and he's he's like putting up
brock Bowers, Tyler Warren type of number since it's insane.

Speaker 7 (28:28):
So yeah, they got theirs certainly in the passing game,
but you cannot outproduce a team that is so production
based that is the Colts, and they're so balanced in
doing it. Run and pass ninety four yards for Jonathan Taylor.
But then also, you have like six receivers getting at

(28:48):
least three catches a piece.

Speaker 8 (28:50):
Is this to me? This is like the deepest receiving
core in the NFL right now.

Speaker 1 (28:53):
Well in there, I agree in terms of like top
like four guys who you if you're including Warren as
the fourth or fifth even when you want.

Speaker 8 (29:03):
Jonathan Taylor had broken catches today.

Speaker 1 (29:05):
Jonathan Taylor has become a complete player. But I'm glad
you use that word complete because he knew he was
one of the worst pass blocking running backs in a league,
and everyone killed stich in a couple of years ago
when they had that play to win the division. Gardner
Minshew Minshew to, I believe Tyler Goodson was it, and
everyone's like, why is Tyler freaking Goodson in the game

(29:27):
with the division online, which is fair. But Jonathan Taylor admitted, like,
I just haven't been that guy in pass pro, and
he talked about working on it all summer long, and
if you look at the snap distribution, he now does
not leave the field and that's why he's catching more
of those dumb poffs. He he doesn't have like the
best hands in the world. They can catch a dumbpop
and then when he has the ball in his hands,

(29:48):
he's still freaking Jonathan Taylor. This offense is just so
tough to stop, and I am a little disappointed. I
give the Colts all the credit, but I am a
little disappointed that Jesse Minner and this Chargers defense has
had no push back against opposing offenses for the last
five or six weeks. And they're not that injured, Like
they got Klio mac back, they got Pairman back. They

(30:09):
haven't been that injured this whole time. So to me,
they have been one of the bigger disappointing units in
the league.

Speaker 2 (30:15):
The Chargers defense. What did you see out of them today?

Speaker 5 (30:17):
Patrick?

Speaker 9 (30:18):
It was they only got pressure on fourteen of Doms's dropbacks,
and even then, because we talked about it all the
time on next gen stats, pressure is more of a
proximity alert than anything else.

Speaker 5 (30:28):
So they got close to Daniel Jones.

Speaker 9 (30:30):
But even in that situation, he had an eighty nine
passer rating the average over five yard per attempt, where
it was just constant that the Colts checked it down
to be perfectly honest.

Speaker 5 (30:41):
Like forty plus was in question.

Speaker 9 (30:43):
But they got to a point where they were just
running clock, and the Chargers essentially were running clock as well,
with Herbert throwing for over four fifty, but a lot
of those, like there were four and twelves, fourth and
twenty twos that the Chargers kept converting and staying on
the field, so it was.

Speaker 5 (31:00):
He just didn't make any plays.

Speaker 9 (31:01):
It felt like like over the course of the entire game,
Khalil Mack had a sack, but other than that, not
a lot was going on.

Speaker 1 (31:08):
And it's a lot of Herbert, like Herbert scrambling a lot.
I mean, Herbert's second half of this game was an
ultimate like show of just watching a guy trying to
do it all by himself, and it was pretty entertaining
to watch, to be honest. I mean, there were a
lot of like dimes in there, but it's just too much.
And it'd be one thing if he was making up
for at one point today being down to their sixth
tackle because they lost Austin Deckliss at one point, although

(31:30):
he did come back in. You know, they're gonna get
Joe All back potentially as early as Thursday night, so
that would be just team changing for them. But he
can't be making up for the defense and the offensive
line situation. They just need the defense to be better
and the special teams, Like there was a moment in
this game where they had scored a couple times in

(31:51):
a row and then special teams gives up a big play.

Speaker 2 (31:54):
Ultimately, though, there's just not many.

Speaker 1 (31:57):
Teams that have that many wide open receivers like Michael Pittman,
Like guys are just open for Daniel Jones.

Speaker 5 (32:03):
It's fun to watch.

Speaker 7 (32:03):
Yeah, I'd like to, especially as we get like more
and more data from this season, maybe at the halfway
point or something, I'd like to do a deeper look
or deeper dive at this Chargers.

Speaker 8 (32:12):
Defense and like what exactly is going wrong? Because they
started out so so well.

Speaker 7 (32:17):
And they look dominant, and they look schematically sound, and
it's almost like we you know, we talk. I know,
it's all this is a huge mental thing and players
have to make plays and coaches have to put players
in good position, but it's almost like, you know, Jesse
Minner doesn't really want to change what he does, nor
does he maybe feel like he can, you know, even
some of their guys that they that they kind of
brought in and invested in and then developed, you know,

(32:40):
he's trying to play with all these light boxes. You
can't really do that against Jonathan Taylor right now, especially
when the Colts can just kill you in every different
direction possible. You know, there are zoning defense and they
can be really really good when they're playing fundamentally sound,
but then there's just breaks in different places.

Speaker 8 (32:58):
And yeah, injuries are one thing.

Speaker 7 (33:00):
But to your point where a lot of the guys
that were injured are back now, they haven't been back
for a long time, so maybe they say they way,
they haven't.

Speaker 1 (33:06):
Been that injured. On defense, they've been an average number
of injured. They're just thin. I think, yeah, I offense,
I get it that they're a they're a frustrating team
the Chargers right now, but most of the credit just
goes to having to play the Colts.

Speaker 8 (33:20):
What I'm saying is, I think it's I think it's
because I curse them.

Speaker 2 (33:23):
Honestly, Yeah, that's the raison.

Speaker 8 (33:25):
There's no other reason.

Speaker 9 (33:26):
There's a significant contrast in specifically watching these two teams
where it's like Justin Herbert is having to square general
relativity and quantum mechanics every single play versus dimes. There
was a play where Michael Pittman Jr. Is in the
bottom of a three receiver and wide open, like where
are the layups?

Speaker 3 (33:46):
Yeah?

Speaker 5 (33:46):
And the Chargers offense, it's just all Herbert. Yeah.

Speaker 2 (33:49):
And it's all Herbert.

Speaker 1 (33:51):
And for the Colts, it's all like everybody. And that
includes the defense making just enough plays. Shout out to
Nick Cross with that innerception on the play you talked about.
That was a great catch. That was like a one
handed catch. And Friend of the Show, mar hit hit
the bell, Jordan. She wants to keep track of how
many times I mentioned Ally Connolly. Friend of the Show.

(34:13):
Ally Connelly called him in a text perhaps not only
the NFL's most improved player, but potentially the most important
non superstar in the entire NFL.

Speaker 2 (34:26):
Nick Cross.

Speaker 1 (34:27):
And if you want to know what he means by that,
read the thirty five hundred word essay that he wrote
about Nick Cross, Who's kind of the spine of the
structure of how this defense is built, and you'll understand,
you'll get a little smarter. That's on the read optional subsec.
Let's take a quick break because we have a lot
of games to get to, including the Carson Wentz Revenge, Sock.

Speaker 11 (35:00):
Aj Brown to the fourth side. This is the biggest
third down of the season. Quite frankly, Hurts head the gun,
Hurts is black, brick comes for Loush.

Speaker 5 (35:16):
He is a little pigot for AJ Brown?

Speaker 11 (35:18):
Who has it?

Speaker 3 (35:19):
Who hasn't?

Speaker 2 (35:20):
He's down at the ten yard line. Hurts day j
Blown Fike Mifflicent.

Speaker 1 (35:27):
Great call there by bar Race Clint w I p
yes Jalen Hurts to a J. Brown helps to seal
a twenty eight to twenty two victory. And how symbolic,
how perfect that play was in encapsulating a perfect day

(35:47):
just about by Jalen Hurts. He was perfect on deep shots,
by the way, five for five on throws over twenty
yards for two hundred and fifteen yards. This game reminded
me so much of when their offense was rolling at
least a passing attack last year. There was a fourth
down early in the game, fourth and four, and that's

(36:08):
where he hit his first bomb to AJ Brown ends
up being a thirty seven yard touchdown, and it reminded
me so much of a second quarter, fourth and four
go ball that he threw to AJ Brown in Week six.
I went to go check last year against the Giants,
which I thought was if you we're gonna pick one
play that kind of like unlocked them in the middle
of the regular season last year.

Speaker 2 (36:30):
It was that one.

Speaker 1 (36:31):
He ends up going deep quite a bit in this game,
including to Devonte Smith.

Speaker 11 (36:36):
Hurts under his son of this time with Barkley behind him.
Brown and win to the fourth long and second down.
Hurts fakes he's pack, He's looking, he is going deep.
He looked Devonte Smith. He has a Tuning fifteen.

Speaker 2 (36:52):
Ten fifth touch to fight Tay Smith.

Speaker 1 (36:57):
Feet Rodgers on real Devonte nine catches one hundred and
eighty three yards. Aj Brown ends up with one twenty
one in two. They will be happy on the flight home.
No more drama. It was just an old school Jalen
Hurts performance.

Speaker 8 (37:11):
I'm happy they ran play action.

Speaker 7 (37:13):
Yeah, and they didn't just run play action, which they
had only run six play action passes entering this game,
and all of them were paired with passes and route combinations.

Speaker 8 (37:25):
That did not go over seven yards.

Speaker 7 (37:29):
This this game, Jalen Hurts was four for four on
play action from under center for one hundred and twenty
one yards and a touchdown, and so averaging thirty point
three yards per play action pass and a touchdown. He
was also just about perfect against Brian Flores's blitz eleven
for fourteen for two hundred and thirty three, two touchdowns.

Speaker 1 (37:53):
Including that last play like that was great. Solving the blitz.

Speaker 8 (37:56):
This looked great.

Speaker 7 (37:58):
He had an incredible, incredible game, played nearly perfectly, and
the Eagles did some different things.

Speaker 8 (38:04):
They moved his spot, they developed and.

Speaker 7 (38:07):
Formulated and schemed, and this was actually something where no,
they didn't necessarily get the run game going, they didn't
have to. They could throw the ball all day long
against a secondary that is very good.

Speaker 2 (38:19):
Right.

Speaker 1 (38:19):
I love that Hurts also had two third and long
creation plays that when Hurts is playing well, he mixes
those plays in. He had a third and fifteen to
DeVante Smith for twenty eight yards and then a third
and thirteen where he scrambled to aj Brown which set
up one of the touchdown.

Speaker 9 (38:35):
Yah, It's set up a touchdown that the Eagles needed.
They needed all of them. And in the manipulation, the
pocket manipulation from Jalen Hurts, where a few years ago
he would have escaped to his right early, he stays
in the edge, comes back around, and then he goes
to the right and gets AJ Brown where we a
couple of weeks ago against a very good receiving cores,
Isaiah Rodgers had the best game ever, literally the best

(38:59):
game ever against Higgins and Jamar Chase, and then he
comes back around and to aj and Devanta gives up
one hundred and fifty six yards including that bomb as
well as the third down to AJ Brown, where those
guys kind of took advantage of their old teammate. And
I think, especially on the slogo to AJ Brown, like
that prior knowledge, you know, it comes into play.

Speaker 1 (39:21):
Shuts up all the WIP callers who are like, how
did we possibly let Isaiah Rodgers go?

Speaker 2 (39:25):
Although I think, you know, it would have been good
to keep him. It was.

Speaker 8 (39:28):
Yeah, Dori Jackson got banged.

Speaker 1 (39:29):
Up in the middle of the game, that's true, and
Killer Ring like, not like they've been great, but you
should be able to survive with one replacement level cornerback,
and they did for the most part.

Speaker 2 (39:38):
Today.

Speaker 1 (39:39):
It was a weird Fangio game typical in that like
they let them go down the field and they end
up forcing quote unquote five field goals in six red
zone trips. Carson Wentz and the running game really moved
the ball well all day.

Speaker 12 (39:53):
Now.

Speaker 1 (39:53):
Two of those forced field goals were after touchdowns called
back one by penalty. A nightmare game for their center,
Blake Brendle. Blake Brendle in this game, even in just
the first half, had a sequence where he threw the
ball twenty yards over Carson Wentz's head. There goes one
red zone drive, he gives up a massive hit from

(40:13):
Jalen Carter which turns into a pick six and get
to be early and as a penalty that calls back
a touchdown. They also, I thought made a crazy overrule
on a potential TJ Howkinson touchdown with a little under
three minutes to go. To me that that was a
touchdown and the end of the game would have looked
a little bit different. That's not taking anything away, it's

(40:34):
just pointing out it was a weird game where Carson
Wentz looked good for about eighty percent of the place
and the other plays were such disasters that that's what
people will remember.

Speaker 7 (40:46):
Yeah, and I and also I would I would put
Kevin O'Connell in there too with some of the play calls.
At one point at a second and one in the
second quarter from the six yard line and they end
up kicking a thirty three yard field goal from that
field position, I mean.

Speaker 2 (40:59):
Not running it in any of those plays.

Speaker 7 (41:00):
Yeah, and it was It's one of those games where
you just you just take Carson Wentz for who he is,
take him as he is, and whatever comes with him.
You just try to endure and weather the storm. You know,
I thought, because of all the messiness that was happening
for the Eagles internally and all the chatter externally, and

(41:21):
could they actually adjust and could they actually do X,
Y and Z coming up against a really tough defense
and reputationally tough defense and schematically tough defense, and then
a pretty composed despite all the uncertainty at quarterback, relatively
composed and well coached offense, especially with some of the
weapons that are available to Carson Wentz. But the Vikings

(41:42):
teetered on the brink of pure chaos to me multiple times.
And again they could go most of the field and
then all of a sudden, they would things would just happen.
They would just make mistakes, or there would be weird
play calling sequences, or the Vikings we makeuld play, or
the officials would get involved, either one.

Speaker 8 (41:59):
You know, at every pick one, anything could have happened
and did happen in this game.

Speaker 9 (42:03):
There was and I'll give you because on the Jaylgs
pick six, like he starts lined up over top of
Justin Jefferson, kind of drifts a little bit and then
runs back over and Carson Wentz gets plastered, as you
noted by Jalen Carter.

Speaker 5 (42:14):
And those interceptions happen. They happen all the time.

Speaker 9 (42:17):
The Makuba interception was the typical Carson Wentz pick where
it's like, you can't, you can't throw that ball that
really had no chance to be completed, and he's just
kind of throwing a yolo ball as if it's a
hail Mary situation.

Speaker 5 (42:31):
But they're still in the game at that point.

Speaker 1 (42:33):
Oh it's early second quarter. I mean, he played pretty
well from that point forward. At that moment, I thought
either JJ McCarthy or Max Brasmer is starting next week,
because I just thought it was gonna circle down the drain.
And actually Wentz played pretty well the rest of the game.
I mean, he ends up with three hundred and thirteen
yards like I said, he could have had they could

(42:54):
have had a couple of touchdowns there, and he has
them in it at the end. But yeah, when you
have a unfortunately, he's going to have these sequences. The
sequence was a pick six, a play where he fritzed
out and threw the ball backwards. Uh, and it ended
up being a negative nine fumble that's what it's called
at because he threw the ball backwards out of bounds.
Then a holding penalty on his offense, and then the

(43:14):
other interception. So it's just like those four plays just
absolutely killed them. Take everything away though, And the Vikings defense,
I don't think it's been special this year. It's just
been okay, it's like the twelfth best defense in the league.

Speaker 2 (43:26):
And they didn't.

Speaker 1 (43:27):
They weren't special today and they just that's just they just.

Speaker 2 (43:30):
Need to be.

Speaker 8 (43:30):
But they solved the Toush push they.

Speaker 1 (43:32):
Saw maybe I mean, yes, they had a defensive player
lying down in front of the center on his side
essentially with two players over him to try to block it. Now,
they the Eagles did hit their first Toush push, but
it was very close and it was tight. And then
the next one there was actually a false start on
aj Brown, so we never really found but it was

(43:55):
it was interesting. You'll see We'll see if someone copies them, no,
because I don't.

Speaker 5 (44:01):
Know it puts ten people.

Speaker 2 (44:05):
Okay, he's a human.

Speaker 8 (44:08):
Beings, He's a human literally they literally called this gup
like recently. It's like, who was it worked up? Today?

Speaker 7 (44:17):
You are to lay horizontally across the line of scrimmage.

Speaker 2 (44:22):
It's amazing. This is insane, lawens Is it crazy?

Speaker 1 (44:26):
That's the type of thing led to Yeah, it's the
type of thing that led to his Dolphins players, like
not being sad when he left good Win by the Eagles,
and uh, more than anything, it's it comes down to
the players. The Eagles offensive line was totally dominant. None
of the Vikings pass rushers won one on one matchups
at all. It should be pointed out helping Jalen Hurts,

(44:48):
while on the other side, the return of Jalen Carter
being Jalen freaking Carter made all the difference in the world.
There wasn't a single edge rusher in this game that
had a quick pressure. You know how many Jalen Carter
had all by himself.

Speaker 2 (45:01):
Six. He was awesome in this game. Eagles win.

Speaker 1 (45:05):
Vikings fall to three and three ahead of tnf Let's
stay in the NFC East play clock.

Speaker 4 (45:10):
At one, they get it off, Blitz is coming, Mariota
in trouble being ripped away, stays alive, throws it in
the fire, picked off.

Speaker 12 (45:19):
Guess who to Ron Bland one man the big pick six.

Speaker 2 (45:26):
That's Kevin Burkhart on Fox.

Speaker 1 (45:28):
And that's also the trademark oh call by Tom Brady
or is it more like, oh, it's just a lot.

Speaker 2 (45:35):
It's a lot of poh every week. Should someone tell
him to stop bet?

Speaker 7 (45:40):
Or no?

Speaker 8 (45:41):
We like it feels like he should.

Speaker 1 (45:44):
It's authentic, it's energy, Okay. Forty four to twenty two.
The Cowboys win a game where sure the Commanders did
not have Deebo Samuel or Terry McLaurin, and they lost
Jaden Daniels in the third quarter of this game and
he did not return and that's the biggest story coming

(46:06):
out of this game. But ultimately, the Cowboys offense, we're
putting up points no matter who is going to be
on the Commanders today.

Speaker 8 (46:12):
And their defense actually helped them today. You guys.

Speaker 7 (46:15):
They played complimentary football in all three phases and especially.

Speaker 8 (46:18):
Notable on defense.

Speaker 7 (46:19):
I want to put a spotlight on the two Dallas
takeaways in the third quarter, both of them that led
to touchdowns. The first was a sack fumble Jadavian Clowney
recovered it. That was the play that Jayden Daniels heard
his hamstring on and eventually was ruled out of the
game after first going to get checked out in the
blue tent and then going to the locker room. Plus
Dak Prescott and the Cowboys then scored on the corresponding possession.

(46:42):
Marcus Mariota comes in, he throws a pick six, really
bad you saw it, desperation throw by Marcus Mariota. Darn
Bland comes in and scores off the takeaway, and it
marked just a really good day for the Cowboys defense overall. Yes,
against a really depleted Commander's receiver room as previously noted,
but the Cowboys, when facing the like numbers four, five,

(47:05):
and six Washington receivers and a very banged up zach Ertz,
just decided like, hey, we are going to play a
ton of man to man coverage in this game. We
are going to blitz more than we normally do. The
neck veins on Matt Eberfluss's neck were standing out every
time the sideline cameras cut to him.

Speaker 8 (47:23):
This was the defense had juice.

Speaker 7 (47:25):
This game, they played complimentary football and again I already
can hear it now.

Speaker 8 (47:29):
Yes, yes, the Washington Commanders.

Speaker 7 (47:32):
Were extremely depleted, even down a quarterback by the end
of it. But this Cowboys defense really needed a game
like this. They were good, pretty good against the run
as well, and they made plays and that is something
that's been sorely lacking. Because Dak Prescott had another incredible game.

Speaker 1 (47:49):
It's happening every week. To me, he's been the best
quarterback in the league along with Mahomes. I would say
we'll get to him, but in terms of just consistently
every week, Dak has been ridiculous. And you know, Ceedee
Lamb returns to this game and he puts up, you know,
a monster touchdown right off the bat. What was that

(48:10):
seventy six yards or something, and yet George Pickens, you know,
still ends up having like a very entertaining game.

Speaker 8 (48:17):
Yeah, anything can happen when this guy touches the ball.

Speaker 9 (48:20):
No, we see because the Cowboys were still explosive without
CD Lamb, but you could, of course CEEDI and Dak
have played a lot of football together.

Speaker 5 (48:29):
He had one hundred yards before the end of the
first half. It wasn't just that home run.

Speaker 9 (48:32):
There were a couple of third downs where you just
see them continue to execute at the high level. Javonte
and the run game got back healthy after the disaster
in Charlotte. But as much as the positive cutaways of
Eberflus over on the side, we haven't had a lot
of positive uberflues cutaways, you know, jayde Daniels still had

(48:53):
when he was in Yeah, still had a lot of
time he was back there on sixty three percent of
his dropbacks was over two and a half seconds, and
a lot of that is you know, balls that would
have come out if Terry McLaurin, Yeah, Lesmond or Debo
who was getting you know, twenty nine percent or twenty
plus percent of the air yards on this team while
he was healthy. You could see that the absences really

(49:15):
impacted the offense as well. But this is a game
that even if they were there, the Dallas offense was.

Speaker 7 (49:21):
On fire and one correct because you could see every
everything was just a little off the timing, some of
the spacing for the receivers that were available. A couple
of guys made plays. Jaden Daniels had a really great
sort of correction. He started running the ball a little
bit and then getting the ball to Jeremy McNichols who
had a big catch and run as well to help

(49:41):
get them to the goal line. And then Jaden Daniels
nearly did the same thing that he did last week,
which was mishandling a bad snap, but instead he keeps
it himself, and Jerry McNichols adjusts as well in the
moment and helps lead block for him keeping it for
the touchdown. They make it a game twenty to fifteen.
Unfortunately for them, Dak Prescott is on the other side.
He goes right back to George Pickens deep against Marshawn Lattimore,

(50:05):
who did not look like he was having a good
time at any point during this game. And he's so smooth.
He looks like he's running in slow motion, but he's not.
It does not make sense to me. He just everything.
And then all of a sudden, pure chaos hits because
he does some WWE move or something in the middle
of a play, but it sets up a Javonte Williams
run to the goal line, and then Dak Prescott of

(50:25):
course hits Jake Ferguson and they scored in about thirty
seconds to close that to close out the first half,
and it just was This Cowboys offense just has it.
They won't have this kind of performance for their defense,
I don't think for the rest of the season.

Speaker 8 (50:42):
Although the adjustments I think were liudable.

Speaker 7 (50:45):
Like I said, playing more man coverage is not something
that they wanted to do clearly earlier in the season.
They won't be able to against non depleted receiver corps
that they'll face later in the year. But at the
same time, like man, these games, these Dak Prescott games
are just awesome.

Speaker 1 (51:04):
Well, they can play more man and I'm sure they will.
It's shout out to a Beat reporters. Shout out to
the Cowboys for letting Beat reporters watch actual practice a
little bit unlike other teams. They did note this week
that they saw them practicing man coverage quite a bit
more than they usually do, and it's like, yeah, be flexible.

Speaker 2 (51:21):
To go back to the Eagles game quickly.

Speaker 1 (51:22):
One of the reasons they want is Vic Fangio called
man on so much more than they normally do, and
because that's what scrambled to Carson Wentz's brain, and they
need to be flexible. You paid Deron Bland and Trevon Diggs.
All that money, let them do what they do best.
And yeah, for all the excuses that you can make
for this win. They essentially were trailing thirty five to
fourteen before Marcus Mariota took a snap.

Speaker 7 (51:42):
I flipped to the Broncos game for example, But I
just want to shout out Brandon Aubrey. There's another sixty
one yard field goal. So we mentioned Lucas Herisik earlier,
and Brandon Aubrey hit a sixty one yard field goal
to go up twenty to eight there in the first half.

Speaker 8 (51:59):
I mean, kickers, man.

Speaker 1 (52:00):
It's becoming normal. You know what else is becoming normal?
Like the Cowboys just they're part of this season at
this point. I guess I'm just I don't know, Like
put the NFL hat on me and put me next
to Rob Low in the crowd, cause, like I find
myself rooting for teams to stay alive and interesting, that's
kind of what I want, And it's pretty interesting. The

(52:22):
Cowboys are ahead of the Commanders right now in the
NFC East. Man, if the Giants had finished off that
game had be really spicy there, but three three and
one they're just in the mix. They might have the
best quarterback in the league. The Commanders are going to
have to do something they haven't had to with Dan Quinn,
which is going to get out of a little bit
of a rut here at three and four. Uh, let's
go to a team in London who barely spent any

(52:46):
time there, but they're not trying to get out of
a rud at all.

Speaker 6 (52:49):
Fourth and one, Stafford under center, staff rolling left, looking downfield.
Stafford plants throws deep down the middle of the.

Speaker 5 (52:58):
Field of the end. It's a touchdown Rams.

Speaker 10 (53:02):
It's the rookie tiny Terrence ferguson his first career touchdown
on a fourth and one play.

Speaker 3 (53:10):
The explanation point for the Rams in London.

Speaker 1 (53:14):
That is JP shagic from Westwood One. Apologies to JB.
Long if you putting a JP instead of a JB
just feels wrong. We couldn't we couldn't find the radio
calls for JB. Long, who I am reliably told from JB.
Long spent less than twelve hours in there. Its announced
the college football game in America on Saturday night, and

(53:36):
then flew over called the game. The Rams win thirty
five to seven. Yet they barely spent more than twenty
four hours there. They got their Saturday morning, and you
wonder if teams are going to start copying them because
Matthew Stafford finished with five touchdowns in a game where
everything looked good for the Rams except for maybe the

(53:56):
offense in the third quarter. But that's like a small
little knit to pick Patrick. Like their defense was awesome,
their offense was awesome.

Speaker 2 (54:06):
Where do you want to start.

Speaker 9 (54:07):
We'll start with DeVante Adams breaking an NFL record today
having three touchdowns, all less than two yards. One of
them was a one hander that he called for Matthew Stafford.
As you wondered, like, what would this offense look like
without Pukaakua, The answer is pretty good. Where the Jags
really like there's a conversation to be had because the
deployment of Travis Hunter was mostly at wide receiver in

(54:30):
this game against the Rams. But Andrew Winguard once again,
like we just saw him get beat on that play
action touchdown to the tight end, Like it's week after
week where teams are isolating him in coverage and it's
just it's the results are not good for the Jacksonville Jaguars.

Speaker 1 (54:45):
Two huge penalties in the first half of this game
before giving that playoff. Yeah, Stafford ends up with five
touchdowns in one and eighty two yards, not a stat
line you normally see, but it was raining heavily through
the first half of this game. The rain did let up,
but it was sloppy, people slipping all around, so not
a ton of chunk plays down the field until you know.

(55:06):
Hunter got one in Diami Brown for the Jaguars later, and.

Speaker 7 (55:09):
All five of his touchdowns came against the blitz, which
again you would think, because of the familiarity between these
two coaching staffs, that you just don't blitz Matthew Stafford,
but apparently that is what the Jacksonville Jaguars decided they
were going to try to do today, possibly trying to
take advantage of yet again missing Rob Hanstein at right

(55:30):
tackle and also missing pukin Akua, who's really great in
the blocking service. I think it is such a compliment
to how many jobs pukin Akua actually does for the
Rams that they were in twelve or thirteen personnel, more
than they have been by volume since twenty twenty and
even before that, since we really just started tracking this.

Speaker 1 (55:50):
Oh, I got a next Genen stats please go for it.
In thirteen personnel, so that's three tight ends on the field.
It is by far the most any team as ever
had three tight ends on the field. It was almost
forty percent of the time. Next Gen only tracks back
to twenty sixteen, but by far. For comparison, the Rams
had six snaps total in that with that personnel over

(56:12):
the last four years. And yeah, they were in it
almost forty percent of this game.

Speaker 2 (56:17):
And they just got heavy, and they they got good.

Speaker 7 (56:19):
Because Puka Nikov plays both receiver and tight end for them,
depending on the type of pass play or the type
of run play.

Speaker 8 (56:26):
And I think that is such a compliment to him.
And it is again I think a really.

Speaker 7 (56:31):
Timely and really good reminder to Rams head coach Sean
McVay that you can use more than one player on
your roster, You can target more than one player, you
can use more than one personnel in hell, good things
might happen when you decide to do so, especially if

(56:53):
you can finally be the Kyle Shanahan of the world
and beat up on your former offensive later Liam Cohen
and beat up on your former employee and less need
can beat up on his former protege James Gladstone. This
game had so many connections and so much, so many
layers and levels to it. But I think to me,

(57:14):
when Sean wy Fay goes into the bye week, and
I know this is when he goes and actually catches
up on what the rest of the league is doing,
like a true football sico, he is going to look
back at this game and say, this is exactly what
I myself said I wanted to do with this team,
including with Pooka Is on the field, is be as
multiple as possible, have so much more dimension to this offense.

Speaker 8 (57:37):
I think he called a great game.

Speaker 7 (57:38):
I think Chrishula called a hell of a game on
defense as well. He kind of hid the issues that
those cornerbacks are having and took advantage of still continued miscommunication, inconsistency,
lack of identity within the Jaguars passing game that Patrick
you have been on.

Speaker 8 (57:53):
You've pointed this out from the jump.

Speaker 9 (57:54):
Well, and the thing is that we talk about fighting
history and legacy, that they're doing it. And it wasn't
just Brian Thomas Junior the end breakers on inbreakers today,
trav was nine of twenty four hundred and forty two yards.
Diammi Brown had one where he looked like he was
making a weird decision on it. There was another by
Parker Washington, and again a lot of the breakers where

(58:15):
guys were trying to make breaks and slipping and falling.
But both teams were playing on the same field. It
just seemed to impact the Jags a little bit more
where you almost wonder like, maybe just take the middle
of the field out. If everything is to go on
that one get that way for the passing game, maybe
just stop doing it all together, right.

Speaker 1 (58:30):
There was a third down where, yeah, you mentioned Diami
Brown kind of stopped short or is it a little confused?
Travis Hunter doesn't even look the way the ball on
another third down, although he does finish with eight catches
for one hundred and one yards.

Speaker 2 (58:43):
They were trying to target him, especially late.

Speaker 1 (58:44):
It was almost like they were trying to work on him,
and he had a thirty four yard touchdown.

Speaker 2 (58:50):
He had a great catch down the field.

Speaker 1 (58:52):
It's another game where I think the box score for
Trevor Lawrence lied, like I don't think he played well.
There was a fourth down where he made a back
decision to run in the goal line and then got
stopped but didn't like kind of if you're going to
do it, you kind of have to make it happen
and go all out and ultimately just you know, gets
called you know, short by a couple of yards. He

(59:14):
takes a couple of sacks on a play where there's
like a pretty clear blitz. The Rams have a tendency
to blitz on second down. It's just and he just
doesn't see it. He just he kind of doesn't see
things and hit the bell. Olie was at the game,
and this is good insider information.

Speaker 8 (59:32):
It's always good information.

Speaker 2 (59:33):
That's as good information. I want to make the listeners.

Speaker 7 (59:36):
I want to make sure the listeners arewhare what we're
doing here. We're trying to track how many more time
who wins Allie or Walker in terms of Greg mentions
per show.

Speaker 1 (59:45):
The problem is you putting this up is going to
limit both of them moving forward.

Speaker 2 (59:49):
But that's this one's too good.

Speaker 1 (59:53):
This one's too good to pass. Shout out to UH,
to my son. There's one who got to see in
person one of the all time UH performances in any sport.

Speaker 2 (01:00:14):
I went to that. It is like it is like.

Speaker 1 (01:00:18):
Taking some sort of like incredible I don't.

Speaker 2 (01:00:21):
Know, drug or something.

Speaker 1 (01:00:23):
To hear your child say like that was so much fun,
after anything, after something, and that that was that on
Friday night, shot out. Shout out to show Tony for
making a lot of people happy.

Speaker 9 (01:00:34):
Happened to see the greatest baseball Yeah, I just happened
to be there.

Speaker 2 (01:00:38):
Just making a lot of people happy around here. Okay.

Speaker 1 (01:00:41):
I do want to mention the point, which was he's
at the game and he said the sideline and the
offensive organizational whatever you want to call it for the
Jaguars was a total was in total chaost the whole time.

Speaker 2 (01:00:57):
Players didn't know whether to go in or not.

Speaker 1 (01:00:59):
Like they're talk it's total confusion out of the side,
Like players don't seem to know the play.

Speaker 2 (01:01:04):
They're coming in and out of the huddle.

Speaker 1 (01:01:06):
Liam Cohen's kind of yelling at Trevor Lawrence to get
back in the huddle. But Trevor Lawrence is like coming
back out of the huddle to like find out what's
going on. Whatever is going on, Trevor Lawrence is not
really understanding I think, or you know, figuring out what
they are trying to accomplish on offense. I think that's
clear to say by you wouldn't even need to be

(01:01:26):
there to see that to know that. But I think
just by what's going on on the field, it's like
it's too much for him and this offense right now.

Speaker 2 (01:01:33):
But a lot of that is because you know that
the Rams were doing great things on.

Speaker 1 (01:01:36):
Their set of the ball as well. All right, let's
move on. That was that was a sad game to
send to London. I feel bad, but at least at
least they saw a great performance by a team that
could be going deep in the playoffs and if they
went to the postgame pression the billionaire, Oh that's a
good call.

Speaker 2 (01:01:53):
A great quote too by Devonte Adams.

Speaker 5 (01:01:54):
He's a killer. That's that's what killers do. They go
out and kills.

Speaker 1 (01:01:58):
I feel like we could use that, uh in the future.
I'm not sure how that was him talking about Matthew Stafford, not.

Speaker 9 (01:02:04):
Just a general killers staff Sometimes, you know, kill in
varying locations.

Speaker 1 (01:02:08):
Then they'll just go and that is what killers do.
By definitie, that's how they become killers. Where the panther's
gonna be killers, We're gonna find out after the break.

Speaker 4 (01:02:29):
In an empty set, Hubbard playing an up back position
now he motions off the left tip of Dalton handy
the staff back to throw, launches deep downfieldly get it.

Speaker 9 (01:02:40):
Just makes the catch inside the twenty five yard line.

Speaker 2 (01:02:44):
It's been a career game for Xavior Lea.

Speaker 5 (01:02:48):
Yet they went for the Haymaker. That's a Xavior league
get delivers.

Speaker 1 (01:02:54):
That's a Gutchy call right there. That was any draft
on w r F X and Luke Keigley, maybe Jake Dolone,
Maybe Jake Doloone, who knows, probably Jake Dilone. Panthers win
thirteen to six in a game that they unfortunately lost
Bryce Young to an ankle injury. Andy Dalton finishes the

(01:03:17):
game out. But yes, if we're talking most improved players,
how about just within this season. Xavier Lagett was struggling
in September. But this is two games here where he
stepped up and made huge plays. Nine catches, ninety two
yards and the Carolina Panthers are over five hundred.

Speaker 2 (01:03:37):
Jets haven't won a game.

Speaker 9 (01:03:39):
Yes, and the Xavier Lagett that was the play to
ice the game. They really didn't do anything with Andy
Dalton in like that was the most significant play on offense.

Speaker 5 (01:03:47):
And it's Andy Dalton.

Speaker 9 (01:03:48):
You know, firing up the fire engine on a hot
air balloon and Examperla.

Speaker 5 (01:03:53):
Gets down there and shields off to three under.

Speaker 9 (01:03:55):
That's what it was, Greg to go back here, Well
that's that's a like you can hear the as that
ball like slowly descends and Laget's having a fight for
his life to keep it from being picked off. So
go back to the second quarter, three nothing Panthers. The
Jets run quarterback Powerboat justin Fields. He gets the first down,
he gets hit as he slides by Nick Scott. He's

(01:04:16):
on the turf for like a third of a second.
Then he pops up. The independent neurologists pulls him off
the field to Rod Taylor comes in Fields eventually comes
back in the game. But the deepest penetration they got
was to the forty four of the Panthers with Fields
in after that hit, and he would be substituted out.
I didn't quite get to Aaron Glenn's postgame comments because

(01:04:38):
I ran to do a Game Day live after that,
but I wonder about that decision and how the evaluation
played into that. The Panthers got their score before halftime.
Bryce hits t Mac twice on back to back eleven
yard passes. Then they set up a screen to Chewba
Hubbard that the Jets defense was not there for at all,
to the extent that there were three linemen out front
blocking for Cuba Hubbard. They couldn't get to anybody before

(01:05:01):
Trooper ran ahead of them. They get twenty six yards
and I'll count that screen as a play action play
where Bryce was very good on play action. He had
one hundred and twelve passer rating and a touchdown. A
couple of plays after that, he does hit Laget on
another play action play. For that he was trying to
spin away from Briggs on the play where Briggs kind
of dives low and clips his ankle. They've got the

(01:05:23):
Bills up next. I hope they're able to have Bryce because,
as we noted, they don't really do anything with Andy
Dalton today, and I was a short play coming in
where he's having to play for, you know, in the
backup position. I'll grant that against the defense that's been
solid relatively late, the Jets have been, but jac Horn's
play in the second half keeps them in this lead

(01:05:46):
because he has a one handed interception of Torod Taylor
unreal play for some reason, Taylor troes JC Horn once
again on like this day of NFL Legacy where Gadston
goes off in my game, Right, Andy Horn goes off
in my game where he single handedly literally saves this

(01:06:07):
game for the Carolina Panthers, because other than the hot
air balloon, that was really it in.

Speaker 5 (01:06:12):
The second half.

Speaker 7 (01:06:13):
Yeah, to your first question about what Aaron Glenn was saying, effectively,
I mean, essentially it is being treated as a benching
and Aaron Glenn is not ready to say, according to
the jetsby reporters, who the quarterback is going to be
next week, and added that the team needed a spark,
which is why Torod Taylor came back in.

Speaker 8 (01:06:33):
Yeah, I thought I agree with you.

Speaker 7 (01:06:34):
I thought Bryce Young played pretty well, honestly, and I
think he has been playing pretty well. And I think
it's interesting. I know locally they don't really like that
there's a two back system emerging here, especially after rico'dowell.
But watching Chuba Hubbard manipulate the screen game at one
point he outran his own blockers on that play you
mentioned to the outside where you would have liked to
see the blocking layer back in and sort of thread

(01:06:56):
him through the inside. But he is so athletic and
so explosive, especially on some of those short catch and runs.
And I love that play design and how it was
set up, and I think if they're going to try
to get explosives any which way, not always able to
trust them in the passing game. Although really happy for
Xavier Laguette for having a really solid career game, it

(01:07:17):
was just a cool thing to watch all of these
guys get activated. You really want to make sure that
Bryce Young can continue this. According to Joe Person at
The Athletic, my former beat partner, initial testing came back clean. Obviously,
follow up testing, MRI stuff like that is going to
have to happen over the next day or so with
Bryce Young. Because this Carolina Panthers seemed over which is

(01:07:40):
over five hundred for the first time since what twenty
twenty one? Yeah, they are. They seem like they're improving
every single week. The defense is improving. Six sacks today.
They didn't have six sacks the first six games last season.

Speaker 8 (01:07:54):
This is just awesome. I love watching this team.

Speaker 1 (01:07:57):
I felt bad about my If they had just played
Tyrod week, they probably would have won that game. Take
just because those two throws by Tyler tyrad were late
and also seemed to be using the same what was
it called the balloon propeller thing, had a little bit
of that to those throws too. Unfortunately, sas Gardner has

(01:08:17):
a concussion and it's just dark days for the Jets.
But yes, the Panthers at four in three and now
they're just they're just be in the mix and Reso
Dawdle fantasy owners can be happy because he still led
the team and carries with seventeen. But yeah, Panthers' offense
didn't really get that much one four point three yards
per play, and the Jets become only the second team

(01:08:39):
in the last decade to give up thirteen points or
less in two straight games and not win either of them.
Shout out to the most depressing Bill Belichick team of
all time, the twenty twenty three Patriots. Let's go to
the Bears, not depressing at all.

Speaker 8 (01:08:53):
I need a line, hangout.

Speaker 12 (01:08:56):
To the right, chet Tat, give it a swip the cup, Cup,
get up the queshtging of the episode Touchdown Touchdown.

Speaker 1 (01:09:03):
Bears, Dianre Swift and Jeff Joniac from WMVP.

Speaker 2 (01:09:12):
What a tandem.

Speaker 1 (01:09:14):
DeAndre Swift, Jordan he may not always be great, but
that man is streaky, and when he's great, he's great.

Speaker 7 (01:09:23):
The Bears run game looks so much cleaner and so
much sharper post bye week than it did heading into
the by They had two hundred and twenty two yards
behind DeAndre Swift and the seventh round rookie running back
out of Rudkers Kyle Manongai. I hope I am saying
Matt correctly after hearing it over and over and over
again on the broadcast, yet being here for so many hours,

(01:09:46):
it seems to have left my brain. You guys, This
game looked over over In the first half, the Saints
had just seven first downs, three of them were by penalty.

Speaker 8 (01:09:55):
Spencer Ratler had already thrown.

Speaker 7 (01:09:57):
A bad interception, and Dennis Allen, former head coach, had
him totally turned around and was just abusing all the
skill guys on some of his blitzes that he was
sending at the Saints and that the tight ends and
some of the receivers and the running backs had to
pick up. And it turned into interceptions, and it turned
into bad plays by Spencer Ratler, and Chicago was up
twenty to zero right before the end of the half,

(01:10:20):
Spencer Ratler hits Chris Olave on two really really huge plays,
including a touchdown that made up seventy eight of Saints
one hundred and four first half yards.

Speaker 8 (01:10:29):
You can't stop the Denissance, You cannot stop the dnosaide.

Speaker 2 (01:10:32):
Well, it's back on.

Speaker 7 (01:10:33):
You may only it's back on, and you may only
hope to contain it. Because three total interceptions by Spencer Raller,
including one late in the fourth quarter by Tremaine Edmunds
on a tipped pass that gave the Bears their sixteenth
takeaway of the season. And I think we have sound
for the play that icd the game.

Speaker 10 (01:10:52):
Rattler brings Jackson in motion to the right, takes the snap,
gonna roll to the right. Camara got bumped up and
cover stipped up in the earners Tamade Edvans on.

Speaker 2 (01:11:01):
The tip by Edwards. Bears taken away for a fourth
time today.

Speaker 5 (01:11:06):
Edwards on the tip they wanted to.

Speaker 2 (01:11:08):
Go to Kamara.

Speaker 10 (01:11:09):
He got wiped up by Johnson, the is line banker,
and that boone was ricocheted right into the hands of
Tremade Edmonds is third interception this year.

Speaker 1 (01:11:17):
Yeah, well we're you know, just going heavy on Dennis Allen.
I hate to do this. When I first saw this,
I have to admit I had a physical reaction. But
here's Ben Johnson in the locker room after the game
giving a game ball away that will make the skin

(01:11:38):
crawl of any New Orleans resident.

Speaker 13 (01:11:41):
Okay, defense forty four yards on the ground, defense for sacks.

Speaker 2 (01:12:05):
That is ow, get with it, he lairs, I love it.

Speaker 7 (01:12:08):
He did the little kick dance that was on TikTok
a couple of years ago.

Speaker 2 (01:12:11):
To be real, the Bears have won four straight games.

Speaker 1 (01:12:14):
They've been kind of wacky, but they're winning in different
types of ways. I think they're creating offense. And my
number one takeaway from this game, and it's now from
the two weeks, is they just look like a different
team since to buy defensively and running the ball and
man like. I think they solve some things they might
have been because Ben Johnson opened up the playbook a

(01:12:35):
little bit. He said the Governor was off to the
Monday night football guys in terms of how they use
motions and everything. They were trying to really simplify it
the first month. It's like it's not simplified anymore. That's
helping the running game, and then the defense has just
seemed to find something in the last couple of weeks.

Speaker 9 (01:12:48):
Yeah, fifty seven percent success right for Deandrew Swift, fifty
three for Kamon young Guy, and the defense holding Alvin
Kamara to thirty six percent success rate. And I was
excited for the the Kendre Miller revenge game against Dennis Allen.
Chris Alave kind of got his through the pass game,
but just one carry for seven yard, got hurt for
Kendre Miller got.

Speaker 5 (01:13:08):
Hurt leaving the game.

Speaker 9 (01:13:10):
And it's a weird situation for the ground game for
the Saints where they were behind and trailing and having
to throw a lot here, but it seemed like asking
a lot of Spencer Ratler. But again, this is a
defense that before the bye was getting run over by
every buck and the Commanders come in with the I

(01:13:30):
think the number two run game at the time, they
shut them down. And now after this performance, like, yeah,
perhaps taking personnel decisions away from Dennis Allen allows him
to ingratiate himself.

Speaker 5 (01:13:41):
To a locker room in a way that we didn't
see it.

Speaker 2 (01:13:44):
He's always been a good coordinator.

Speaker 7 (01:13:45):
Yeah, and that's why Ben Johnson hired him, But it
is interesting on the other side, Like Greg, you brought
up their own run game. I mean, especially when they're
doing these zone runs, the layers of their blocking is
so much cleaner. When I say it means that not
only are they getting off the line of scrimmage, but
they're setting up second and third layers of their especially

(01:14:07):
outside in middle zone runs. That really helped DeAndre Swift
see it very well, and he's clearly thriving off of that.
In the start of the year, some of the yards
before contact by this offensive line was there. They were
blocking some stuff open. It wasn't totally consistent, but they
were blocking some stuff open, and he was not getting
the yards after contact and that was a huge issue.

(01:14:29):
He has really come alive post by week, and I
think part of it that helps is it's visually more appealing,
like you can. Actually, I loved what they did this game.

Speaker 8 (01:14:39):
The broadcast.

Speaker 7 (01:14:40):
They did a lot of shots because the booth, like myself,
were kind of geeking out over the run game and
how much it's improved over the entire or over the
last couple of weeks, and they were really showing a
lot of the angles exactly clarifying what they meant when
they were talking about some of what the running back
was going to be able to see. The thing about
this offense that is still erratic is.

Speaker 8 (01:15:02):
The passing game.

Speaker 7 (01:15:03):
And there were a couple of wow plays, and Caleb
Williams and Robo Dunze you can tell that when they're
really on, they're on, and when they're off, they're just off.
DJ Moore had a nice catch and run play where
it seemed like he just could not get tackled at
one point. But it's gonna be one of those games
where I think it's gonna be so important to go
back and look at the All twenty two because there
were some plays where it seemed like Caleb Williams was

(01:15:24):
holding onto the ball for a really long time, and
I want to think that it's because players were covered downfield,
But then we are talking about the Saints defense here,
and so this is gonna be one of those where
if you can't really see the full picture on the broadcast,
you're gonna want to go look at the full picture
before you make a true opinion. But the passing game
overall is just a little out of sync, a little erratic.

Speaker 8 (01:15:43):
They didn't need it today.

Speaker 7 (01:15:44):
All they needed was to run the ball well and
sometimes that's all you can ask for.

Speaker 1 (01:15:48):
And get good defense. And the offensive line's been better
that The Saints are supposed to be all about their
offensive line, but it has not been good this year.
And they lost their captain Eric McCoy today to a
I believe it was actoral or was it a biceps.
It was one of those two where it was a
biceps and it does not sound good for him.

Speaker 2 (01:16:06):
That's gonna hurt.

Speaker 1 (01:16:07):
Those are those are the two injuries that always set
off alarm bells for Yeah, it didn't used to exist
back in like the seventies. You know, they didn't have
like torn biceps.

Speaker 8 (01:16:16):
What development came along a lot, you.

Speaker 2 (01:16:18):
Know what came along.

Speaker 1 (01:16:20):
Patrick freaking Mahomes came along to this league, and the
day he started playing, he changed it. And he's all
the way back if he was ever gone, even in
the slightest Chiefs do get the.

Speaker 3 (01:16:29):
Ball to start the third quarter. That entries into that
same discussion. They loaded the right side up again a
single new.

Speaker 14 (01:16:36):
Side Tog Rise touchdown Canza City rash Shee Rise his
second touchdown.

Speaker 3 (01:16:44):
The Chiefs go on to sixteen play.

Speaker 6 (01:16:46):
Ninety four yard drive, three drives, three long touchdown rives.

Speaker 1 (01:16:52):
Thank you for summing up the first half so beautifully,
Mitch hold this on kfn Z, and thank you to
me for making sure we took this Chiefs team as
our survivor.

Speaker 2 (01:17:06):
It wouldn't have mattered. We'll get to the Patriots.

Speaker 1 (01:17:10):
But if you can choose the game that was the
most lopsided in the entire NFL this season as your
survivor pick, you're doing something right. The Chiefs finished with
thirty first downs in this game and the Raiders finished
with three.

Speaker 2 (01:17:25):
I don't really need to say that much more.

Speaker 1 (01:17:29):
Usually, at some point the stats, like you know, like
there you write down these little stats because like, oh,
it'll be crazy to mention that through two and a
half quarters, these were the stats.

Speaker 2 (01:17:38):
This is the stats.

Speaker 1 (01:17:39):
At the end of the game, they brought in Kenny
Pickett for the last couple of drives. Kenny Pickett's very
first step he loses a fumble and then of course
he goes three and out his next drive too, Like
it didn't get any better in garbage time. Meanwhile, Gardner
Minshew played the entire fourth quarter. He had almost as
many drives Gardner Minshew in the fourth quarter, which scored
zero points by the way as Patrick Mahomes did. Because

(01:18:01):
Patrick Mahomes put up thirty one points in only five
drives and then his day was absolutely done.

Speaker 2 (01:18:08):
They just look so good right now.

Speaker 8 (01:18:10):
The Chiefs belt meat ass.

Speaker 9 (01:18:13):
Yes, it was old school to the point where it's
Rashie Rice being fully reintegrated like that. Instantly he catches
the shovel pass and then they force feed him a
touchdown pass down the sideline where they could pick and
choose who got to score.

Speaker 5 (01:18:28):
Just just a nasty Raiders performance across.

Speaker 1 (01:18:31):
The board, it was, and the linebackers especially got picked
on a Land and Roberts and Devin White.

Speaker 2 (01:18:39):
It was just ugly.

Speaker 1 (01:18:40):
But putting Rice in there for juju just he has
so much juice. That touchdown throw that we saw what
a great route, like his footwork on that one on
one versus q Blue Kelly, like it's just a mismatch.
They just start checking off everything, like the Mahomes fun
factor is there. He had an incompletion of Taekwon Thornton
which could have been one of the best throws of
the year. He was getting hit and he threw it

(01:19:00):
about fifty eight yards and hit Taekwon Thornton in the
shoulder pad. It didn't It wasn't a completion in the end,
but it was absolutely ridiculous. He had a no look
pass that was too worthy. I believe that that was
an amazing no look throw. He also had a bullet
that was absolutely beautiful. That one was too worthy. The

(01:19:22):
no look was to Rice. He is just out there
having fun, and so is Andy Reid. If you just
listen to the dummy call that they had on a
fourth down conversion, let's listen.

Speaker 5 (01:19:36):
Well, they're going for it on their own. Forty tried
to draw him off side. Never work, man, Sorry my home,
says coach.

Speaker 6 (01:19:51):
It doesn't.

Speaker 7 (01:19:57):
Oh my god, doesn't any want to do it better?

Speaker 5 (01:20:00):
Too?

Speaker 2 (01:20:00):
Cute or great? What do you think, Patrick, No, they're
just trying stuff.

Speaker 5 (01:20:05):
They're playing the Reers horrible.

Speaker 2 (01:20:09):
At that point, the game was close. I think it
was only seven ye.

Speaker 5 (01:20:12):
Just the nature of the game, like it starts to
zero to zero.

Speaker 1 (01:20:15):
They should have never driven that bus around Arrowheader.

Speaker 2 (01:20:20):
What was it I for?

Speaker 5 (01:20:21):
It was they took of the bus.

Speaker 1 (01:20:23):
They have not won a game since, but I got
to feel like Raiders fans were wondering were we better
off of the Antonio Pierce.

Speaker 8 (01:20:30):
It wasn't even this regime's fault.

Speaker 1 (01:20:32):
I know, but they're still taking out of him as
at least Antonio Pierce kept it close. I mean, Pete
Carroll's come in there is the worst team in the NFL,
along with the Jets. I know they've won two games.
I guess the Titans are right there too, but everything
about it is bad.

Speaker 2 (01:20:46):
Like they're the It's hard to watch Gino, it's hard
to watch the Stevens.

Speaker 7 (01:20:51):
This is what I wonder And I asked you the
same question, but Greg, it was hard for you to
even think of really an actual answer.

Speaker 8 (01:20:59):
It's like, what do you do if you're the Raiders?
Like what do you do?

Speaker 7 (01:21:03):
Do you make personnel moves? Do you sell it the deadline?
Do you try to stockpile a bunch of draft picks?
Do you make coaching changes?

Speaker 5 (01:21:11):
Like?

Speaker 7 (01:21:11):
This is so much worse than I think anybody thought
that it was going to be.

Speaker 8 (01:21:17):
You thought that they would at least be respectable.

Speaker 7 (01:21:19):
There are some really solid people in that building, and
what are they going to do?

Speaker 1 (01:21:26):
Well, here's what Pete Carroll hasn't been able to do
for many years, which has provide any advantage as a
defensive coach, and he's not doing it this year. And
to be fair, they lost Max Crosby during this game.
They lost Adam Butler, who's a starting defensive lineman during
this game. They did not have Joe Kobe Myers available
for this game. They did not have Rock Bowers available
for this game. No team has needed a bye week

(01:21:49):
more than this Raiders team, and they will get it
and hopefully that can solve something. But man, the Chiefs
are four and three and Patrick Mahomes is putting a
monster fantasy stats again. And if you asked me what
team are you most confident if you had to pick
one team would be playing in the Super Bowl for
either conference, I mean, I think the average answer would

(01:22:10):
be the Kansas City Chiefs. Chris Jones, by the way,
also looked awesome in this game.

Speaker 7 (01:22:14):
Certainly we're right back to this Chiefs team as we've
always known them.

Speaker 1 (01:22:19):
And then some I think I think better than the
last couple of years. That's absolutely right. All right, you guys,
I've both had long days. You were live on TV
for three hours, so long that you haven't even noticed
how there's a button open in your shirt and I
can see your chest hair right now. Sorry, this happened,

(01:22:40):
and Jordan you you were on air I believe at
like eight in the morning or something live and so
we're going to say goodbye to you too. But it
was a thin slice of heaven. And uh, we're going
to go to our next game. This is going to
be a thin slice of heaven for me. Patriots and
Titans all keep track of the tally from now on?

Speaker 8 (01:22:57):
Do you want the tally?

Speaker 2 (01:22:58):
Yes?

Speaker 7 (01:22:59):
Before I go okay, we've got allie two Walker one.

Speaker 8 (01:23:03):
Okay, he still has time to come back.

Speaker 7 (01:23:04):
Greg self mentioned one bill one chest one.

Speaker 2 (01:23:10):
I mean that ever been mentioned. I don't know that
my chest is ever. You know, we're just gonna the first.

Speaker 8 (01:23:15):
We're just gonna keep tabs on it, all right.

Speaker 2 (01:23:17):
He takes the snap chest hot. He dropped back with time.
He loads up a hop in there, buddy, and he
reads his snaps him. He touched down Padreds.

Speaker 1 (01:23:29):
What a throw?

Speaker 5 (01:23:30):
What a throw? More pointly, it's the catch Kayshawn Booty.

Speaker 2 (01:23:37):
It's a developing and the one heck of a weapon
for Drake May.

Speaker 15 (01:23:40):
It's fingertips extended deep post left and they take the shot.

Speaker 3 (01:23:45):
Easy kick out of bounds, you're to forty.

Speaker 5 (01:23:48):
You get it to the fifty on a run, bag
it to Hunter.

Speaker 2 (01:23:51):
Henry and then Josh McDaniels take a shot.

Speaker 1 (01:23:54):
That was Scott Zolac acting like a touchdown against the
Tennessee Titans one them the Super Bowl, and I don't
mind it one bit. Patriots win thirty one to thirteen.
Was also Bob soci on w b Z. After the
game shook, Drake May was asked about his completion percentage.
Some of these box scores are getting absolutely crazy. He

(01:24:17):
went twenty one for twenty three today for two hundred
and twenty two yards, and he said, look, I'm not
trying to be a captain checkdown. I'm not trying to
be checked down Charlie as I believe what he said,
and he's not. That's actually the second touchdown he's had
this year over fifty yar yards. He's the only quarterback
in the league to do that. Surprisingly, there have been
some shots down the field, but he was really accurate

(01:24:38):
on a day the Patriots win thirty one to thirteen.
It didn't start out that easy, but in the end
it looked like a lot of Patriots games this year.

Speaker 3 (01:24:45):
Yeah, and Drake May is dazzling so much that Scott
Zolex going horse in the booth because he's just overwhelmed
by how well Drake May is playing. He's not checked down, Charlie,
but he is the third player under the age of
twenty four with two hundred plus passing yards and a
one hundred plus passer rating in six consecutive games. That's
how well he is playing right now. And that was
the story of their game in the second half. This

(01:25:07):
game actually reminded me a lot of an earlier Titans game.
I know the Patriots won, but you'll see the connection here,
in which they played pretty well with the Rams for
three quarters and then the Rams overwhelmed them in the fourth,
in part because the Titans made mistakes that opened the
door for the Rams to do so. The Patriots did
that to them, But it started with that touchdown pass
to Kaishan Boody, Drake May's latest deep shot to him

(01:25:27):
for a touchdown. We've seen it happen over the last
few weeks. And then it really snowballed in the second
half when they score a touchdown in the midway through
the third quarter, and then just eleven seconds later, kylevon
Chaisson gets the fumble from cam Ward who had the
ball fall out of his hand again as we saw
him do recently. I believe it was against the Raiders
and returns that for a touchdown, and before you know it,

(01:25:48):
in the blink of an eye, we go from seventeen
thirteen Patriots to thirty one to thirteen Patriots. And that
was all she wrote, because that's where the scoring finished,
and that's all that really mattered for another win for
the Patriots.

Speaker 1 (01:25:58):
I have not heard this call, but let's give it
a shot. If he got horse off that that first touchdown,
let's hear what this one's like.

Speaker 12 (01:26:05):
Ward under center to receivers to his left, to to
the right and pluding a tight end.

Speaker 2 (01:26:09):
On the wing, single back hands on means.

Speaker 12 (01:26:12):
Turns, playfakes, rolls in the chase, pitch up the ball,
come on the play, chase on passer running into the
end zone as pam Ward off, the plays take rolling
backward in big trouble.

Speaker 2 (01:26:26):
The Patriots are selling able to holding pick the football.

Speaker 1 (01:26:35):
Scott Zoleek, I'm a I'm a self talker too, but
you just had an entire conversation with yourself on the
air while your play by play guy was talking, you
killed you killed the touchdown call because you said it
was coming back and then it wasn't coming back, like
we all went through it. Shout out to Caleb on Chason.

(01:26:57):
By the way, four quarterback pressures in this game, so
I know he got a fortunate there, but he's been
good for them this year. How did Kim Ward look
shook with the new head coach or at least interim
head coach Mike McCoy.

Speaker 3 (01:27:11):
You know, in the first half, it was pretty encouraging.
It was an interesting dynamic or dichotomy between these two
teams because Mike Rabel shows up with an intent to
run the football and win the physical battle, and so
they hand off to Romandra Stevens in four straight times
to start the game. They handed off to him a
fifth time in the opening drive. There's drive kind of stalls,
Drake May takes a sack of Hick a field goal,
and then war comes out and he's dealing. He's finding

(01:27:34):
Eye a manner over the middle. He's looking for Jamiri
Dk like he's he's tossing the ball around right. But
then it all kind of came to a screeching halt
in the second half with that type of play, and
from there, I mean, once the deficit grows for these Titans,
you just know that they're so limited in terms of
talent or just experience that you realize it's going to
be a very steep mountain to climb, and that's where
things kind of fell apart. But in the first half

(01:27:55):
I liked what I saw. I mean, he looks a
lot like he has in most games save for a
couple in which, like the difference in talent was so
significant that you knew they just couldn't do anything. It's
again just a case of the Titans, even when they
make a coaching change, they're still just kind of playing
with one hand tied behind their back. Their turnaround is
not going to happen overnight, no matter who the coach is.
I would say they looked a little more organized, but

(01:28:16):
they're still messed up the details. So I think it's
going to be a change or an improvement that happens
next year.

Speaker 2 (01:28:21):
Yeah.

Speaker 1 (01:28:21):
Supposedly they were simplifying the offense for cam Ward and look,
he did go twenty five for thirty four and was
effective for most of the game. But ultimately he's going
up against a team where every week, like Drake May's
completion percentage over expected is just absolutely outrageous. It was
plus twenty four to eight. Like the biggest problem they
have is he just takes too many hits. He left

(01:28:43):
the game to get checked for a concussion. That's like
the third time this year that that's happened. He rushed
for sixty two yards. He's going to need to protect
himself better. Jeffrey Simmons, by the way, left with the
hamstring injury. Was out the final three quarters of this game,
and I think a lot of credit has to go
to his teammates picking him up. Ramandre goes for eighty
eight yards on the ground to Mario Douglas has a

(01:29:05):
one handed catch on fourth down, which allows them to
score another touch on. Austin Hooper's touchdown was a good throw,
but it wasn't even better at catch. So oh yeah,
people have been killing like their roster construction in terms
of their receivers. I tell you what, they have a
lot of guys who block, who are pretty versatile and
who have good hands, like they're not separating, but they've

(01:29:26):
been pretty reliable for Drake May. It's led them to
a five and two record. I'm actually looking forward next
week Shook to a tougher matchup against the Browns defense
on the other side. You know, it's not as tough,
but that's actually the best defense that they that they
faced maybe all season.

Speaker 3 (01:29:39):
Yeah, And I would be curious to see how the
Browns approached this because Stefon Diggs has been very good
over the last few weeks, and he made some really
great catches today. Him and Drake May are very much
in the same page. May through a great backshoulder fade
to him on the sideline that only probably Diggs is
going to make that catch, or you know, he's in
that upper tier of receivers with the late hands, like
a more inexperienced receivers not making that play. He also
like layered in a couple of differ and balls to

(01:30:00):
different guys as well. And so I'm curious to see
how the Browns approach it. Do they take Denzel Ward
and travel him. Who do they identify as their top
receiver because Booty's obviously blossoming this season. It's gonna be
a very interesting matchup. That note on Simmons is important though,
because that is when this game truly changed. Once Jeff
Simmons came out of the game, the Titans didn't have
an answer for whatever the Patriots wanted to do. And
that's really where the scales tipped in New England's favor.

Speaker 1 (01:30:21):
Yeah, the ground game had had its best day for
the Patriots. Trell Jennings, of all people, ends up getting
more touches than Trayvon Henderson. It's dark out here in
the Trayvon Henderson streets. Mike Rabel said they might have
found their five minute back man, and it's not Travion Henderson.
Let's go and talk about your Browns before we get
to Sunday Night football.

Speaker 2 (01:30:42):
A good Browns day.

Speaker 15 (01:30:43):
Finally, j Chander the backfield two from the pistol, throws
to the outside, blasted, picked off Campbell down the sideline,
piece of the ten.

Speaker 14 (01:30:52):
The five touchstone. Are they gonna call it a score?
It's a touchdown. Campbell did step out of bounds. He
tight wrote the sideline, Welcome to Cleveland.

Speaker 1 (01:31:07):
So much focus of this game is gonna be on
the losers. The Dolphins are one and six, you know
the Browns are two and five. Will Mike McDaniel survive
the week.

Speaker 2 (01:31:16):
Who cares about that?

Speaker 1 (01:31:17):
We got to hear another Andrew Siciliano call, and yes
it came from a big defensive play, but they got
it done on offense as well, at least enough Quinnchod
Jenkins with three touchdowns on the day, and what the
hell shook? Before I give you the floor, let's just
get another Siciliano call into the show because there hasn't
been enough this year and.

Speaker 15 (01:31:38):
They're now all the Miami forty six yard line for
the far hash out of an I formation, fannin in
front of Judkins Gabriel on first half, We'll give to
Judkins running up the middle, pick hole forty he's in
the thirty five, he's in the thirty. It's a put
race twenty fifteen course sideline TOUCHCD Quinn shot Judkins forty.

Speaker 2 (01:31:58):
Six, he's to the house.

Speaker 1 (01:32:02):
Are you able to enjoy a blowout Brown's victory?

Speaker 5 (01:32:07):
Shuck?

Speaker 3 (01:32:08):
I enjoy it through my friends who are at the
game and text me the Browns are back, and I
am able to reply, No, they're not. They're just playing
a team that's worse than them and capitalizing on it.
It was a good This is the game plan. I
expected like that touchdown run. I expected that to happen
against this Dolphins defense which cannot stop the run. We've
seen it over and over again. But we have this
weird balance between rushes for negative games, like just be

(01:32:31):
like tackle for loss for a loss of three, Like
Judkins average precarious three point four for this game because
there's like five or six examples where he just gets
tackled in the backfield and then it's Judkins runs for
four because he had to break two tackles. Then he
rips off a forty six yard touchdown run. But yeah,
it all comes back to the defense with this team,
and they found an opponent that is so disjointed that
they were able to capitalize. And you know they pick

(01:32:52):
off two or three times, the first one being an
errant throw, the next two just being poor decisions and
bad throws. By two a tongue of Baila. The first
one went off of eh Chance hands and was a
great play. We saw that highlight as well. But fun
little fact for these Browns, Tyson Campbell gets a pick six.
Another former general Ray Shawn Jenkins gets an interception in
this game as well. The most dominant performance you're gonna
see from the Browns this year and maybe into next year.

(01:33:14):
But they needed it. It's always nice for a fan
base to get a nice little blowout win that was
so lopsided that even their fans started to leave the
game early enjoy it.

Speaker 1 (01:33:23):
Andrew Berry's back, you know, he was taking a lot
of slings and arrows from Joe Flacco. But the guy
he traded for, Tyson Campbell. Yeah, with the with the
pick six and look you win the turnover battle for
it to nothing. You mentioned to he leaves this game late,
it was over at that point. Quinn Ewers, who was
the backup today over Zach Wilson comes in three interceptions.

(01:33:44):
You do wonder if that'll be it for Mike McDaniel
in Miami. This is him after the game.

Speaker 16 (01:33:51):
A game like this, You know, I think we didn't
see coming in terms of our prep, but you absolutely,
with one hundred percent certainty, you have to evaluate everything.

Speaker 5 (01:34:03):
You know, I think it goes for.

Speaker 16 (01:34:06):
You know, no person or no player or no coach
is got their hands clean. Uh, And and we have
to go back to work and starting with me, do
a better job.

Speaker 1 (01:34:21):
It's a bummer, like it all comes down to the coach, quarterback,
their relationship, their performance, and I think today said at
all one hundred yards for two I know is bad weather,
but one hundred yards three interceptions. It just feels like
a regime ending type of performance. And even on a
day where their their defense got some stops along the way,

(01:34:43):
just couldn't happen for them. Enjoy the victory. Hey, why not,
shooky and enjoy a Sunday night football game. We're gonna
talk about right now after the break.

Speaker 5 (01:34:52):
Maybe not right now.

Speaker 13 (01:35:02):
Christian McCaffrey has carried the load tonight that he stands
behind Matt Jones.

Speaker 2 (01:35:07):
Now cal yuschik chefs i formation.

Speaker 13 (01:35:09):
Jones takes and gives Christian touch it up inside back penalties.

Speaker 2 (01:35:13):
White cushing, pushing, pushing, take out.

Speaker 7 (01:35:16):
Of man.

Speaker 3 (01:35:20):
Up front for the Niners tonight.

Speaker 2 (01:35:22):
Huh touchdown?

Speaker 5 (01:35:24):
Maybe they put it.

Speaker 2 (01:35:25):
Away San Francisco.

Speaker 1 (01:35:28):
Oh they weren't just pushing, they were pulling. But whatever
gets the job done. The forty nine Ers beat the
Falcons twenty to ten on Sunday Night football to get
to five and two, just poking the balloon and letting
a little air out of all that Falcon type coming
off their win in primetime last week.

Speaker 2 (01:35:47):
They've been living it in primetime.

Speaker 1 (01:35:48):
But man, the forty nine ers have been living this
life with Christian McCaffrey. It doesn't matter who gets hurt,
who's in the lineup, who doesn't. They're giving about thirty
touches a game to Christian McCaffrey, and it's working well enough,
especially tonight thirty one touches and I love Nick when
the highlight fits the theme of the night. He finishes

(01:36:09):
with one hundred and twenty nine yards on the ground
on twenty four carries, but Dodd Dobinson also effective on
the ground.

Speaker 2 (01:36:17):
It was a sight for sore eyes.

Speaker 1 (01:36:18):
The forty nine ers could run the ball again and
ultimately they controlled the game, and especially that late fourth
quarter drive to put it away.

Speaker 3 (01:36:27):
Yeah, I feel like we were two seasons ago with
them where they run the football, maybe four or five
seasons ago the way they executed. But really I think
it was perfectly fitting that the team that they played,
they essentially took their game plan from their most recent
primetime victory. Only six days ago, the Falcons were rolling
with Beijon to a victory and they said, we're doing
the same thing with Christian McCaffrey from basically the start,

(01:36:49):
but really right before halftime, riding all the way into
the finishing touchdown in the fourth quarter. Look, when when
you're down, you know your top receiver and Ricky piersaw
you is still enough, Brandon, You're playing with Mac Jones
as a backup quarterback who's been battling his own slew
of injuries throughout this season. Who do you turn to
your best player and you ride him to victory? And
that's what they did.

Speaker 1 (01:37:09):
It's crazy how complete Christian McCaffrey is as a player
and you lack the explosion right now. And that's what
maybe is different from this, you know, iteration of the
forty nine ers running attack compared to previous years. His
long run for the day was fifteen, but he had
thirty one touches that includes seven catches for seventy two yards,

(01:37:34):
and so he was the leading receiver by far today.
And I started wondering, like if you just took his
forget all of his rushing numbers this year, and we
know on a personnap basis, they haven't been great. Forget
the rushing just looking at his receiving numbers, he's third
in the NFL with fifty three receptions.

Speaker 2 (01:37:50):
He's now sixth in the.

Speaker 1 (01:37:52):
NFL for five hundred and sixteen receiving yards, so you know,
more than all the receivers except for five. And then
he's first by a long shot in scrimmage yards with
nine hundred and eighty one. We're only seven weeks into
the season and he's almost at a thousand scrimmage yards.
And okay, he's not making as many people miss, although

(01:38:13):
he does make people miss. But man is he tough.
He's running through people's faces tonight, and he's smart if
you get him one on one against a linebacker in coverage.
So much of their offense is about setting him up
to do that. He knows exactly where to go. He
knows how to set up defenders. He is not John
Robinson right now, but he didn't need to be. And tonight,

(01:38:36):
on a night where Robinson was pretty quiet against a
really frisky forty nine Ers defense, he was awesome. Give
me your thoughts on watching this forty nine Ers defense
and what they did to hold down the Falcons to
only ten points.

Speaker 3 (01:38:49):
Oh, I mean, first off, what an achievement to accomplish
this without Fred Warner, who you lost to an injury
last week. I mean that that's a massive missing piece
that you think would immediately create a man match in
favor of the Falcons when you incorporate Bejon out of
the backfield. Jon didn't really make all that much of
a difference tonight. They found ways to patch that whole,
that biggest hole, the biggest void on their defense up

(01:39:11):
and I think a big part of it was getting
Kevin Gibbons back and this pass rushing unit up front.
You saw Bryce Huff making a difference all the way
to the end, you know, getting after Michael Pennix, en
forcing an incomplete pass that for a moment was believed
to be a fumble. This defense, I mean, Robert Sala
has just done such a great job of making the
most out of whatever spare parts he has left, and
that's how you hold the Falcons to ten points.

Speaker 1 (01:39:31):
I just love that You're like it was big that
they got Kevin Gibbons back, and you're right, like they
just need poddies. But okay, let's look at who made
the biggest plays of the night. Chase Lucas, a slot cornerback,
was not overly familiar with who was filling in for
Upton Stout the rookie slot, makes a couple huge plays late.
He's actually the highest ranked player according to PFF in

(01:39:55):
this game. Bryce Huff, what a trade that is turning
out to be two sacks, two quarterback hits. Another Hurry
had a force fumble late that they ended up calling
back against Pennex because there was a penalty down the field,
but he was just everywhere. And then Tatum Bethune is
in there at middle linebacker for Fred Warner and he

(01:40:18):
made a number of big plays in the night, and
one of them is a pressure late in the first half,
and I thought this was typical of the pressure numbers overall.

Speaker 2 (01:40:28):
Weren't crazy.

Speaker 1 (01:40:29):
They definitely ticked up late in the game, but they
were well timed on key downs and I think that's
been a forty nine or staple when Demico Ryans was
the DC. Now when Robert sala is the DC again,
it's like they really know when to hit on big
downs and they made it absolutely happen tonight. But I'm
thinking of that play to end the first half and
they make Pennix throw an intentional grounding with ten seconds

(01:40:51):
to go, and eventually that runs the clock out because
they have to do a ten second runoff and they
don't get three at the end of the half. And
it was typical for me for a night where like
Pennix wasn't awful, but he wasn't composed throwing to all
parts of the field in key spots when under pressure.

Speaker 3 (01:41:08):
No, no, he missed some throws whether he was pressured
or unpressured, and especially when things got desperate late in
this game, of course. But I think that's a product
again of the forty nine ers defense and really like
what key this win for them was how they delivered
in big moments. The third down that they complete a
pass that sets up the McCaffrey touchdown. That's a third
and long that followed a really really nice play by

(01:41:28):
a defensive tackle for the Falcons to cut down McCaffrey
in the backfield. Former Ohio State Bucky Zach Harrison made
a fantastic play, and yet they still overcome that with
the big plays on the key down that's me mccarkyl.

Speaker 1 (01:41:44):
Look, yet his one interception was not on him tonight.
They didn't ask him to do too much one hundred
and fifty two yards, but just a couple of key
third downs like they were mostly field goal drives, but
a couple of key third downs, one to Jennings, one
to Burn and then you mentioned the third and long
to McCaffrey. And he's been the perfect level of backup
because I don't think anyone who really knows ball thinks

(01:42:05):
he's playing at a higher level than Brock Purty plays.

Speaker 2 (01:42:08):
On average.

Speaker 1 (01:42:09):
He's playing good enough ball to help them win games,
but not good enough to make a real controversy.

Speaker 2 (01:42:15):
That's perfect.

Speaker 1 (01:42:16):
They're five and two and they've really managed this part
of the schedule and they're not going to get their
defensive players back, but they will get pierce All back,
they'll get Purty back, hopefully soon. And a disappointing game
for the Falcons to fall to three and three. These
two teams, they're just they're stuck in the middle of
the NFL. But the forty nine ers are right there
atop the NFC West, now tied with the Rams, who

(01:42:38):
started this long Sunday of football in London about fourteen
hours ago.

Speaker 2 (01:42:45):
So I know you've been driving all over the state.

Speaker 5 (01:42:48):
Nick.

Speaker 1 (01:42:49):
Congratulations to your grandparents renewing their vows this morning, and
congratulations to you being such a good grandson that you
drove all the way across the state and then back
into I'm for kickoff because you're a great NFL Daily correspondent.

Speaker 2 (01:43:03):
Appreciate you, man.

Speaker 3 (01:43:04):
Yeah, I'll take that. I'll take yeah, shout that in
their great grandparents sixty five years. That's the model consistency
right there.

Speaker 1 (01:43:10):
That's awesome. That's really cool and really cool that they
could do that and that you could be there for
that sixty five years. If we can only hope, all right,
who knows, maybe we'll be celebrating the sixty five anniversary
of NFL Daily someday.

Speaker 3 (01:43:26):
I think there's gonna be a new hosts by then.

Speaker 5 (01:43:28):
Doing the math. Yeah, that'll be a Walker host.

Speaker 2 (01:43:31):
We'll be back Monday night. We got a doubleheader.

Speaker 1 (01:43:33):
Both games are Austin, Houston, Seattle, Tampa, Bay Detroit starts out.

Speaker 2 (01:43:37):
Nick Schuck and I will be there. It will see
you Monday night.

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