December 12, 2025 • 42 mins
Baker Ball season is officially in jeopardy. After an incredibly preposterous final quarter of play, the Atlanta Falcons triumphed over the Buccaneers in the Week 15 edition of Thursday Night Football. Kyle Pitts Sr. scored three touchdowns, Bijan Robinson dominated on the ground and Kirk Cousins actually looked like a serviceable quarterback. Despite that, the Bucs had every opportunity to put the game away but ultimately fell to 7-7 on the season. Tampa Bay is now a half-game back from the Carolina Panthers — a team it will play twice in the final three weeks of the season. Gregg Rosenthal and Nick Shook handle the recap of this wild one, before collaborating on a Week 15 Power Ranking of every NFL team.
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Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:00):
Well, become a snap. It's on the air.
Speaker 2 (00:01):
Hash snap spot kick by Gonzales.
Speaker 1 (00:08):
It is good, fly home safely. Atlanta wins if there's
order together.
Speaker 2 (00:15):
Twenty nine, twenty eight, the Falcons beat the Buccaneers on
a forty three yard field goal by saying Gonzales.
Speaker 3 (00:29):
Never doubt Kirk Cousins on Thursday Night football against the
Tampa Bay Buccaneers, one of the most reliable phenomenons in sports.
Falcons come back from twenty eight to fourteen down in
the fourth quarter to stun the Bucks twenty nine to
twenty eight. That was Westurham on w z GC and
(00:55):
the NFC South might not be great shook, but they
have a way of coming up up with the most
ridiculously dumb, entertaining games every season, and this was one
of them.
Speaker 4 (01:07):
This was certainly one of them.
Speaker 5 (01:08):
Especially after it was twenty eight to fourteen. I thought
the Falcons were dead and buried. They had nineteen total
penalties in this game. I thought, well, you know what,
it's a good thing they're wearing red hats because it's
like wearing red red helmets, because it's like wearing red
hats like they're Santa Claus. Because they were just gifting
the game to the Buccaneers, terribly timed miscues. It just
seemed like they couldn't get out of their own way.
But Kirk Cousins wasn't going to let him go down
(01:29):
that easily. He's gonna make throws under pressure. He's going
to take shots from rushers. He's gonna find Kyle Pitts
a billion times for the Kyle Pitts game, and they're
somehow going to pull off a victory on the road.
Speaker 3 (01:40):
And I can confirm that Connie Wolf is somewhere on
a couch feeling no pain and enjoying her Kyle Pits
breakout games. She's been honking about him all season. And
here's what he did. Shook eleven catches, one hundred and
sixty six yards in touchdowns, the first tight end to
(02:02):
put those numbers together one fifty and three since Shannon
Sharp in the nineties. It was just an outrageous game
by Kyle Pitts. Let's listen to his hat trick touchdown sales.
Speaker 2 (02:16):
Over there, Robinson and Mooney here to the near side,
snapped your cousins.
Speaker 1 (02:20):
Tampa breaks the pressure, the throwing for the in zone.
Speaker 2 (02:23):
It's pets Denny hold on through Denny, give me a signal, fellas.
Speaker 1 (02:29):
Touchdown Atlanta boy, he did juggle it here, Wes. This
is gonna get looked at pretty hard. It's being called
a touchdown. Touchdown. The Tampa crowd says no, and here's
the in turn.
Speaker 2 (02:43):
Have to review the ruling on the field stands as
called touchdown.
Speaker 3 (02:47):
Ooh, I love that because when you watch that on replay,
you see there are two defenders in the area. Levante
David is one of them. They knew by the end
of the game. You gotta send extra attention to Kyle Pitts.
And it doesn't matter whether it was plays after the catch,
nice touch throws by Kirk Cousins. Pitts was getting it
done all night. And Kirk finishes with three hundred and
(03:10):
seventy three yards versus and three touchdowns. In the last
three games against the Bucks, he has eleven hundred and
fifty eight yards and eleven touchdowns only one interception. And
we're gonna have to have a conversation about Todd Bowles's
defense at some point, Shook, I guess it's right now,
because there were many There were many ways to blame
(03:35):
the Bucks for this game, Baker Mayfield will get to
him in his fourth quarter. But to give up that
much all night to a Falcons offense that was trying
to give the game away with penalties. To give up
a drive at the end of the game where they
had a third and twenty eight and then a fourth
and fourteen and let David Sills and Kyle Pitts cook
(03:57):
you and Bejon Robinson all through the air was a
little embarrassing. And they were really ahead of what Todd
Bowles was trying to do all night. We got to
give Kirk his flowers for an awesome performance.
Speaker 5 (04:09):
Yeah, I mean, this is what you know, veteran experience
can do for a quarterback who's facing a ton of blitz,
A ton of blitz looks and a ton of blitz
is overall one of those rare games in which the
Buccaneers blitzed eighteen times and recorded a pressure eighteen times?
Did you really ever get the even numbers like that?
But they got home once they got one sack out
of it. Did they get a lot of hits on
Kirk Cousins. They did, and they broke up some passes,
(04:30):
but they didn't affect him enough to undercut this offense,
especially in the key spots in the fourth quarter. There
were multiple times over the final six minutes where I'm
sitting there watching this thinking it's over. He's not going
to hit this throw, They're not going to convert this
third and long.
Speaker 4 (04:44):
And then he does.
Speaker 5 (04:45):
It's David Sills, it's Kyle Pitts, it's Darnell Mooney. It
doesn't matter. No matter what the Buccaneers tried to do,
they were always, like you said, a step behind what
the Falcons you know, were able to do offensively. And
of course, like I know, like statistically he doesn't run
up a massive game, but he still had a lot
of scrimmag yard Bijon Robinson, like he's the best player
on the field on both sides, and he was a
key part of extending some of these drives and the
(05:05):
Falcons absolutely needed, you know, short checkdowns to Bijon makes
multiple guys miss, picks up first downs, picks up big games,
shortens the down and distance on key downs that come
on the next player too after his place, Like he
he played an integral part of this, but of course
Kyle Pitts did too. But it all starts with Kirk Cousins.
Which brings me back to the original point. You think
you tweeted this and you're absolutely right. Something about a
(05:28):
Todd Bowles defense brings the best out of Kirk Cousins.
Speaker 4 (05:30):
Yeah, it does.
Speaker 5 (05:31):
We can go back to last year Kirk's two best
games with the Falcons as their starter. We're against Todd
Bowles defenses. But I also want to circle back to
a couple of weeks ago when we talked about the
QB Index and where I ranked Kirk Cousins.
Speaker 4 (05:41):
That you don't you game it is. You just ran
those Kirk numbers and you said, oh, he didn't look
that good against the Jets. Well, damnity looked that good tonight.
Speaker 3 (05:52):
You know what I thought, he didn't look that bad
last week. Overall, he has looked like a pretty good
backup quarterback, which I think is an upgrade from the
last few games that he was playing last year. And
in this game, he yeah, was another level. Todd Bowles
been running this defense forever and everyone you know, I
just think even though it's unpredictable in certain ways, you know,
(06:15):
there's a lot of chaos that Kirk knew the pressure
was coming over and over at the end of that game,
and it wasn't all easy. I thought it was interesting
when Bulls decided to accept a holding penalty that actually
made it second in twenty eight instead of third in eighteen.
Now it turned into third and twenty eight, but it
did give them an extra down. I wasn't sure about that.
(06:36):
They're trying to set up for a game winning field goal,
so I get it. It was a very tough decision. There
were a lot of crazy decisions, but you're right, like,
this is where a veteran quarterback can help so much.
And Zion McCollum got hurt in this game and was out,
and right now they're not as good at cornerback as
they were. Jamel Dean got hurt early, although he did
come back in. And the Bucks also had some bad luck.
(06:58):
Look they Levonte David forced the fumble on Darnell Mooney
inside the ten yard line when they were going in
for that last Kyle Pits touchdown. The Bucks recovered it.
They forced the fumble on one of these blitzes against
k against Kirk Cousins on the very last drive, and
Kirk Cousins somehow recovered it.
Speaker 5 (07:16):
Like we got we got the rare, we got the
rare tie and the tie goes to the offense. You
don't really ever see that, but they said both the
offense and the defense recovered it, which I don't know
if I've ever heard that, And the tie went to
the offense, which was preserves that. And this is a
great example too of what the Buccaneers failed to do
in the little spots, because that fumble that you talked
about inside the ten ball comes out, there's four Buccaneers
in that area, and somehow they don't.
Speaker 1 (07:37):
Land on it.
Speaker 5 (07:37):
Ryan Newsll ends up landing on this the offensive lineman, like,
these are the little things that a Todd Bowles defense
should do to seal a victory, and instead they gave
the Falcons chance after chance after chance and ultimately paid
the price for it.
Speaker 3 (07:50):
You know what's funny is I get, you know, you
kind of look and there's no triple numbers in rushing
or receiving for John Robinson, and so it's like, oh, yeah,
he wasn't as explosive. And the two biggest place he
out all night were called back. One was a one
handed catch on the sideline which he didn't get his
second foot down, and then another was a big time
run that got called back by one of the nineteen penalties. Yes,
(08:11):
that was the most for any team all season long,
the most for any Atlanta Falcons team in the history
of the franchise. They're wearing those red helmets that Steve
Bartowski used to wear when he was the number one
overall draft pick of the Falcons when they were playing
back in the sixties and he was in the seventies.
And never before has there been this many penalties. And
yet on that night where it didn't feel like Bajohn
(08:32):
even did that that that much, even though he made
so many miss tackles. Yeah, that was numbered what's the number,
one hundred and eighty seven yards in this game?
Speaker 5 (08:39):
I thought, I thought mental mathought it was one hundred
and seventy five. It was what ninety three on the
ground and two in a touch sdouting.
Speaker 3 (08:45):
Yeah, So he he always serves his fantasy owners with
eight catches there. He really was the best player, and
he overshadowed like a great performance by Mike Evans who
comes back and gets six for one thirty two in turn,
including a really long play down the field. And he
also forced about I think five penalties, most of them
were on him by a j Terrell like. He was
(09:06):
awesome in this game, and yet you look at the
Bucks and at a certain point you have to say
this is not a good football team. You get Tristan
Wurf's back and he plays outstanding tonight. You get Mike
Evans back, he plays outstanding tonight. Jalen McMillan has a
big play that almost results in a touchdown, ends up
on the one yard line and they cash it in.
And yet they just find a way to trick this
(09:26):
game away, and it really started with the Baker interception.
That's kind of the UN's. Then there's two unforgivable plays
by Baker Mayfield in the fourth quarter of this game.
One is the interception which really gives the Falcons a
real chance to make it a comeback in this game.
And this is the second time he's done this in
a fourth quarter to lose a game, and it's one
of the many fourth quarters since that early part of
(09:48):
the season where he's been bad in the fourth quarter.
And then they go for it was I think second
and fourteen. They decide to be aggressive before the two
minute warning, was absolutely the right call, and he misses
wide open Abuka. He throws it behind him. Abuka does
isn't able to make a tough catch. I think most
quarterbacks hit that throw, and he had just a few
(10:10):
throws tonight that were just way off. And if he
hits that throw, we're not talking about anything. In fact,
we're talking about a nice play in a nice game
by Baker. But in the crucial moments he was at
his worst.
Speaker 5 (10:20):
Even in the two point conversion of Chris Godwin. That
was the ball that was behind Godwin and required a
fantastic adjustment on the ball by Godwin to catch and
get his feet down to convert the two point conversion.
So yeah, it was it was an up and down
game from Baker, which is what we've seen, you know,
and a lot of people, I think chalk that up to, oh, well,
he doesn't have his guys out there. You know, he
doesn't have Mike Evans, Chris Godwin's got some rust on him,
(10:42):
you know, Abuka's he's been banged up for a while
and he's and everybody knows he's going to Abuka. Well,
he had everybody tonight. Bucky Irving's back, Godwin's been in
the lineup for a few weeks. Evans is back, McMillan
makes his season debut, and we still see the same struggles,
and especially in the fourth quarter, and you know that
interception I thought was a great example of a re
E Morris defense that I felt was a step behind
(11:02):
for most of the night, especially outside the numbers. They
were picking on Kobe Bryant outside the numbers, like Dyke.
It was just layups, I mean, speed out motion, a
guy into a little bit of a stack between two receivers,
speed out there, everything outside the numbers, Mike Evans, no
matter who it was, just keep feeding out there. Bryant
soft coverage had to drive down. The ball never got
(11:22):
home in time. Evans moss Is Bryant for a catch
like It's just getting crushed outside the numbers the whole night,
and in a big spot in the fourth quarter, they
try to go back to that bread and butter and
who's there to make the play and bit Baker into
the throw d Alford to make that perfect place sitting
underneath the pick it off. I thought it was just
a great example of them finally adjusting at the perfect
time and leading on a veteran to make a play
(11:43):
like that and give themselves a chance to win and
it's also an example of how the Buccaneers can't get
out of.
Speaker 4 (11:47):
Their own way.
Speaker 5 (11:48):
They haven't been able to get out of their own
way for really since the Patriots game. I think that
loss to the Patriots is probably the start of their
their downfall. They just haven't been the same team since then.
The loss of the Saints last week obviously was a
big example of that, and tonight is.
Speaker 3 (12:00):
I mean, they're two and six in their last eight.
They're one and five in their last six. And the
two wins that they have in that stretcher against the Saints,
a three win team and the Cardinals by three points,
where they got out gained by one hundred yards, a
three win team, and at least before they were losing
two good teams like the Patriots, like you mentioned, like
the Lions if you go back to that primetime game.
(12:22):
But now they're losing two bad teams too. Let's let's watch,
you know, if you're watching on YouTube, that fifty yard
catch by Evans, because I do think the Buccaneers, despite tonight,
are still my favorite in the NFC style barely over
the Panthers, they have an advantage, and that was just
incredible play by Mike Evans, who, like I said, looked
(12:44):
awesome tonight, was moving so fluidly, made some really difficult throws.
Baker gave him a hospital ball early where he throws
way too high and he ends up landing on his
back and he ends up being okay, but you look
injured on that play. By the way, you mentioned Kobe Bryant.
He gave one hundred and two yards and coverage tonight
against Mike Evans alone, one of the highest numbers for
(13:08):
one receiver on one cornerback all season long, five for
one oh two on that one receiver. I do think
Mike Evans adds a new element for their team that's
really gonna help. Bucky Irving obviously has helped. Tristan Wurst
being back helps like they they probably now though, if
we're thinking big picture and we're watching also the first
play of the game, you know, first catch of the
(13:28):
game by Mike Evans, which is awesome. The Bucks crowd
got so into Mike Evans being back for this game.
He's really the heart and soul of this team, so
I think he'll give them something, though, Shook. They probably
have to sweep the Panthers now or really hope for
the Panthers, for instance, to lose this week, to lose
a game that you you know, maybe don't necessarily expect
(13:50):
the Panthers to lose in New Orleans like a game
like that, or they're gonna have to now sweep the Panthers.
Speaker 5 (13:56):
Yeah, now it's suddenly very tight and uncomfortable for a
team that had a very cushy lead early in this
season and have let that evaporate. I do agree with you, though,
it is the slimmest of margins that the Buccaneers still
seem to have a bit of an advantage in the
NFC South, and it is because of what you just
said with Mike Evans return, because there was that play
that we just played there where Evans mosses Kobe Bryant
for the big game. That was a classic play that
(14:19):
Baker has turned to throughout his time with the Buccaneers,
which is f it Mike Evans is down there somewhere,
I'm just gonna in all else fails, just drop back
and throw it up the thirteam and hope that he
makes a play on the ball, which he does. That's
that's what he's built his career on, is making plays
like that. Usually it happens on the goal line too,
but that obviously was a big chunk play that opens
up their offense. And why I still believe that they
(14:40):
have an advantage because in the most dire situations, you
know that is at least an option, whereas in the
previous six weeks or so, Baker has just.
Speaker 4 (14:48):
Not had those options.
Speaker 5 (14:49):
He's had to scramble, he's had to make some incredible throws,
which he's just lacked.
Speaker 4 (14:54):
He's you you were right last year and you're right
this year.
Speaker 5 (14:56):
He's a streaky quarterback and he's been on a downturn
for a while. But bringing Evans back in the full
leaf gives you a life raft or something to cling
to that. Okay, well, maybe we can find a bit
of a rhythm and for a good stretch of tonight.
Speaker 4 (15:07):
They did. They did, Mike Evans.
Speaker 5 (15:09):
Yeah, it's just that they didn't finish, and that again
speaks to the lack of quality in the division and
why the door is very open for the Panthers.
Speaker 4 (15:16):
The problem, though, is that we don't know who the Panthers.
Speaker 5 (15:19):
Are from week to week, so we can't put our
full faith behind them right now.
Speaker 3 (15:22):
No but now they have an advantage, which is if
they can win this Saints game, the Panthers are really
looking at a situation where splitting with the Bucks might
be enough, likely will be enough to win the division.
Because the other Bucks game that we didn't mention, it's
at Miami. Actually that's a very winnable game. Carolina, on
(15:42):
the other hand, has has a little bit of a
tougher schedule down the stretch. I want to point out
with Baker, though he is streaky, and for a section
of tonight, I thought it was the best that he
looked because he made more high level throws in this
game than we've seen since maybe early October, so I
give him credit for that. But even a game where
there were all those positives, he kept taking unnecessary sacks,
(16:05):
Like the pressure to sack ratio is so high. He
took five sacks in this game. He was only quote
hit seven times, so a lot of the times it
would be a few steps forward, good play, and then
he would take a negative play. Usually their drives stopped
because he had taken a negative play or he had
made a mistake. I didn't feel like the Falcons were
doing a ton to really stop him. So it's it's
(16:30):
just a you know, you win something, you lose them.
Let's actually listen to Gene Deckerhoff because you mentioned the
Godwin two point conversion, and it's one of the reasons
why I think there's some optimism for this Bucks team
just a little bit, is that Godwin's back. He's playing
well at BUKA, had a good night tonight. You have
the full compliment with McMillan, and yeah, let's listen to
Godwin got the touchdown and then got the two point
(16:50):
conversion to give them a fourteen point lead.
Speaker 6 (16:53):
And see if Tampa Bay could punch you in a
get two. If Goobert had just one two point conversion
and seven and twise this season, could we make it
two out of eight? I feel shotguard hive scrap looks
to his left, looks back to.
Speaker 1 (17:08):
The left, goals old the better and there's a caw
pall touchdown, two point covers a drive. Chris Gottwold got
eight points all that try.
Speaker 3 (17:16):
One of my favorite things there shook was Godwin screamed
then after the octopus the six plus the two, they
the broadcast picked him up screaming octopus. A shout out
to Chris Godwin, one of us. I love that. Uh
what did you think about the Falcons decision? They go
on a quite a long touchdown drive after that, and
(17:40):
we're gonna wrap up this game talk with this year.
They cut the lead to eight, twenty eight to twenty
and they go for the two. So they don't get it.
There seems to be a miscommunication on the play. Kirk
Cousins isn't happy. Then that forces them to go for
two again. When they ultimately you know, cut the score
(18:00):
to twenty eight twenty six, they fail again and then
that sets up what ends up being the game winning
to Feeld goal at the end.
Speaker 5 (18:06):
Uh, step into my office please, because I have some
things that I would like to tell you about this strategy.
I've complained about it before and I'm going to complain
about it again. The idea of going for two down
eight in the fourth quarter is backed supposedly by analytics,
with the thought that it increases your chance of victory.
(18:28):
I am one hundred percent against this, and we saw
exactly why tonight. The Falcons went for two twice. Supposedly,
you know, maybe they're two best go for two plays, right,
Neither looked anywhere close to being completed. They were just
completely disjointed messes. The first one, especially the second one.
Cousins didn't sense the pressure and didn't get the ball
out in time. That's got to be a hot immediate
(18:49):
like they put Bejon on the flat, he's got to
get the ball out. When you're down fourteen and you score.
The idea of going for two is the idea that, well, well,
we get the two, then we only have to kick
an extra point to win the game. Yeah, but you
fail to recognize that if you don't get it, you
bask yourself into a corner in which you must go
for two to go to overtime.
Speaker 3 (19:07):
Right, you know you know that you're just thinking no.
And here's why I get it the next time.
Speaker 4 (19:12):
Here's why.
Speaker 5 (19:12):
And those who watch me play college football on Twitch
saw me do this the other day. You kick the
extra point to make it a seven point game. If
you are fortunate enough to score again and have the opportunity,
you preserve the option to kick the extra point to
send it to overtime. Or if you're feeling, you know, gutsy,
you go for two and you go for the win.
In that scenario, you save that option until later.
Speaker 3 (19:34):
Okay, I understand that, And I think it's all situational,
depending on the game, the situation. So I don't think
anything should be hard and fast. I think you can
make the argument that the way this game played out
is actually even a reason to do it. They still
won the game, shook and because.
Speaker 4 (19:51):
That should not factor into my life.
Speaker 3 (19:53):
No, no, no, that should here because I want to
have as many different chances to win the game. And
the reason why I'm okay with it even if they
lose the game because of that, and they don't go
to overtime, and in theory, in another world, they would
have gone overtime. The game of football, like you play
to win the game, and so you're asking you're asking
(20:17):
your players and the players that are playing the best
on that night, which is definitely Kirk Cousins in the offense,
to go win it for you and and and like
win the game, not waiting for overtime and playing extra
like win it. And you know, eleven men on eleven men,
and the Bucks won those two plays, and then you
(20:37):
just okay, you know you were too good for us tonight,
but I liked our offense better than their defense. And
on those two plays they want it instead of waiting
for overtime. And oh, by the way, there's very much
a possibility that yes, we failed on those two, but
that there could be even time to get the ball
back and you win the game again.
Speaker 4 (20:55):
But if you follow my approach, you could still you
have that option.
Speaker 3 (21:00):
Yes, it would have been tied.
Speaker 5 (21:02):
No no, no, no, no, they don't have to tie
it the second time. They could go for two. Then
if they want to the second time and go for
a one point lead or be down by one, and
the same scenario plays out. It's just in my mind,
why back yourself into a corner in which you must
go for two, especially when the first one fails and
you're like, god, we probably can't convert a two pointers.
Speaker 3 (21:18):
It's a really interesting conversation, and I don't think there's
a right answer, And I do think it's really dependent
on the team, the game in this situation that I
don't like anything close to a hard and fast rule.
I also think the fact, like the Falcons are the
Falcons and have four wins on the season.
Speaker 4 (21:34):
Or.
Speaker 5 (21:36):
Go for the second time, or just go for to
the second time. That's all I'm saying. Just do it
the second time.
Speaker 4 (21:41):
Yeah.
Speaker 3 (21:42):
But the thing that I find just a little unsettling
is that all these like tough guys who are like,
how can you listen to the math? How can you
like how about you just like decided on the field
instead of just like letting your kicker go out there
to hey, let's kick the ball and tie. How about
being real men and try to go win a football game.
(22:03):
I would think this would work with the current crab Street.
Speaker 5 (22:07):
And that's why you go into that second scenario and
you say, let's go win it right now, Let's go
for two and go for the one point lead and
the win.
Speaker 1 (22:13):
That's it.
Speaker 4 (22:14):
That's all I'm saying.
Speaker 3 (22:15):
We've got more on this show. Chris Pabona begging us
to take a break, and it is time man the
Falcons and Raheem Morris just screaming at the camera afterwards.
Good for him. It's been a tough season. With the
way this game was going. I was wondering was Zach Robinson,
the offensive coordinator, getting on the flight home because of
(22:36):
all those penalties and if they had lost this game
in ugly fashion. Who knows. We don't know about the future,
but a good night for them. Buck season is not over.
But this is not a good football team, as their
record indicates. We're going to talk about who are the
best football teams in the entire NFL After the break,
We're going to do a power rankings. Shook, it's been
five weeks since we did this, and we're going to
(22:57):
go thirty two to one and decide who are the
very best back in people back on NFL Daily. Yes, Shook,
this has happened a couple of times. Whenever we think
it's going to be a bad Thursday night game, I'm like, OK,
(23:19):
we got to give the people a little red meat.
We got to give them what they want. Let's do
some power ranking and then that Thursday night game turns
out to be a banger. But you know what, why
not have two big slices of big red meat. I
don't care, I'm getting old. Does that even make sense?
Speaker 1 (23:36):
No?
Speaker 5 (23:36):
I mean, like two nights ago at Marble Room in Cleveland,
like it's a great place, and yeah, fresh off of
tasting that fantastic steak.
Speaker 4 (23:46):
Yes, let's give them all the red meat.
Speaker 3 (23:47):
I eat way too much red meat and I never
regret it. Let's do the power rankings bottom to top,
and we'll speed through. The bottom team is because they've
been out of it for a while. The bottom quartile
number thirty two, the Las Vegas Raiders. We were in
complete agreement on that that they are now the worst
(24:08):
team in the NFL. Congratulations to Tom Brady and what
you've done. The Tennessee Titans at thirty one, Jets thirty.
The Commanders. Man, if we had seen this at the
beginning of the season, Shook that the Commanders are the
twenty ninth best team in the NFL. My god, the
Giants at twenty eight, Cardinals twenty seven. Man, that's sad.
You had them a few spots lower than me. Brown's
(24:29):
at twenty six. And here's just a little light pat
on the back for the New Orleans Saints. Why don't
you give the Saints some love. Hey, you're only the
eighth worst team in the NFL according to me and Shook.
Speaker 5 (24:40):
I mean, you know, if it was like a month
and a half ago, they probably would have been thirtieth here,
So congrats, you've climbed five spots. And it's because you've
been You've been spunky, you've been you know, scrappy. In
your last few games. You beat the Buccaneers. You beat
the Panthers in a weird game in week ten, and
you had a close loss to the Dolphins in week thirteen.
Good on you, Tyler Shuck. Keep balling, man. I honestly, Greg,
(25:00):
I know we're not going to divert too much here,
but I actually think Tyler Schuck has the goods.
Speaker 4 (25:04):
He just needs reps. Like I like what I've seen
for him so far.
Speaker 3 (25:07):
Okay, if you there was one team in the s
bottom eight you wouldn't want to play. I mean, I
guess in theory, according to our rankings, it's the Saints.
To me, it would probably be the Browns. Yeah, something
about that, just because of their defense. And then the
Cardinals are just good enough to lose against a decent
team at least they were. Let's go to the next
quart out because like those teams have been dead forever.
(25:29):
The order of it doesn't matter too much to me.
We have the Falcons here at twenty four. Now we
kind of assume going into it that they're going to
lose this game. Maybe maybe we should bump them up
a spot over the Viking to or twenty three. But
I wouldn't put him any higher just because they made
this comeback. The Colts all the way down at twenty two.
(25:49):
Let's stop there. We have the Colts below teams like
the Dolphins, Bengals, Panthers. What was your thought process here
of like where this Colts team is that? And how
sad is it that we had them like in the
top five, you know, eight weeks ago and now they're
down at twenty two.
Speaker 5 (26:06):
Well, when we did that, most likely like who we
could see you know, getting to the super Bowl a
few weeks ago. God, that aged poorly for me putting
the Colts that high. But I mean, this just speaks
to the value of a quarterback. It's it reminds me
of the College Football Playoff when they decided to leave
undefeated Florida State out because they didn't have Jordan Travis
because he had suffered a season enning leg injury. It's
the same thing, like your quarterbacks out, and we've seen
(26:27):
how they struggled even with a you know, injured Daniel
Jones with that leg fracture for a couple weeks before
he got hurt. Now, this could also age really poorly
if Philip Rivers authors the greatest Disney movie You've ever
seen and comes out and balls out for them, but
it's not gonna happen.
Speaker 3 (26:43):
And I think that helps explain why the Bengals are
even as high as twenty, because Doe Burrow is playing
football and he's playing it incredibly. I finally got to
that Bills game and like, oh man, he was so
good in that game. Josh Allen was even better because
Josh Allen didn't have that Benford play unfortunately, for which
is more of a great defensive player than anything. But
that was just awesome. I would change the rankings and
(27:07):
put the Buccaneers now below the Steelers in the Ravens,
So we have the Steelers at seventeen, the Ravens at eighteen,
the Panthers at nineteen. But just kind of talk about
that group because it's depressing to me that those two
AFC North teams are right there and we basically agreed
on them with like the Panthers kind of in a
category also with the Bucks is like, yeah, like two
(27:30):
of these teams are gonna make the playoffs, but they're
not even among the best fourteen teams in the NFL.
Speaker 1 (27:35):
No, they're not.
Speaker 5 (27:36):
And it speaks to the poor quality of both the
NFC South and the AFC North. I mean, we have
three AFC North teams in this group. It just tells
you how bad the division is, or just how mid
the division is. And we got the mid off already
last weekend between the Steelers and the Ravens, Steelers coming
out on top in that one.
Speaker 4 (27:52):
But it's none of these teams look strong. None of
these teams that look at the Super.
Speaker 3 (27:56):
Bowl pick wind everyone else. Makes sense. But the fact
that I'm I'm willing to drop them this low in
the power rankings when their defense the numbers would tell
you it's been pretty good over the last few months,
although I have my doubts about it. Like a team
quarterbacked by Lamar Jackson, I just it's it's one of
(28:18):
the most disappointing seasons by any team in a long time.
And I feel like it's weirdly slipped under the radar
because Lamar missed that time, and you can kind of
blame it on his hamstring. But to me, there's more
that's rotten there than just that. It's it's really disappointing.
Speaker 5 (28:35):
So the way I kind of want to frame this
group is like if you pit the Bengals against the
Steelers or Ravens right now, who are you picking in
that game? Because I know who I'm picking, and it's
not the Steelers of the Ravens, like just based on
how they've played over the last month.
Speaker 3 (28:47):
And I also good point, Yeah, we should have the
Bengals higher then if that's at.
Speaker 4 (28:51):
Least but like we're looking at total product.
Speaker 5 (28:54):
Yeah, I guess power rankings is like who you'd take
on a neutral field or whatever right now. But I
also look at the Ravens and Steelers and I think
if there was any team that's gonna climb out of
this group, I believe it's probably the Ravens. And because
Lamar looked a little bit better last week. He had
more mobility, he looked more like himself, their defense is
just very hit or miss right now. After having a
(29:15):
relatively strong couple of weeks, it's hard to predict who
they are, kind of like it's hard to predict to
the Panthers are going to be from week to week.
And I think if Lamar can continue to get closer
to who he is, than they could elevate. My other
issue with them is that Derek Henry, I hate to
say it, father time looks like it's starting to hit him.
He's just not very effective right now, and that's kind
of hurting their entire offense, especially with a relatively immobile
(29:35):
Lamar Jackson.
Speaker 3 (29:37):
You know who else is hitting him, like the all
the free rushers that Daniel Falle just watches like run by.
But you're right, I agree that Derek Henry doesn't look good.
Let's bring up the next graphic, Chris, of the next
sixteen teams, and yes, I would knock the Buccaneers now
below this, Steelers, Ravens, even the Panthers team. That's just
it's been too long of a stretch. So we have
(29:58):
the Chiefs at fifteen, the Cowboys at fourteen, and the
Eagles at thirteen. Let's actually throw up your QB Index rankings.
Speaker 1 (30:08):
Now.
Speaker 3 (30:08):
I know Joe Burrow was the biggest riser on the
QB Index rankings this week. It is time for Quarterback Keeper,
presented by Snapdragon. But I was curious to see where
Dak Prescott was on your list, and if Patrick Mahomes
was in your top ten. I just want to give
(30:28):
you the floor for the moment that Patrick Mahomes is
just not even in your top ten. Shook, where is
he right now? And what do you have to say
for yourself.
Speaker 4 (30:40):
He is twelfth right now.
Speaker 5 (30:42):
He drops seven spots, And I think that sometimes in
this process, a ranking can really reflect a couple of weeks,
and I think that applies to Patrick Mahomes. The reason
is is that I believe that I've had about the
most faith of anybody in Mahomes' ability to overcome challenges
around him and lead his team to victory. Done it
for multiple years. He was a big reason why they
(31:02):
got to the super Bowl last year. He's not doing
that anymore. We can talk about the three interceptions, we
could talk about the ten straight incompletions in the game
against Houston, but it's more than that.
Speaker 4 (31:11):
He's just not doing the things that he did before.
Speaker 5 (31:15):
His scrambling, his play, extending the ball the way it's
coming out of his hand just like has a noseedive
to it. He just doesn't look like himself. And it
doesn't help him that people aren't catching passes on the
other end either. So I felt like this is a
bit of a course correction over a few weeks of performance,
maybe even going back to Thanksgiving that loss to the Cowboys,
And when I look at the performance of some of
these quarterbacks that are in the top ten, and I
(31:36):
measure them against Mahomes over the last month or so
and really over the whole season. I'm just thinking, look,
late season, these guys are building real minium. They deserve
to be in this top ten more than Mahomes. He
needs to fall out of the top ten for the
first time in the history of me doing QB Index.
But I wasn't going to move Dak because we know
that Dak is the engine that makes the Cowboys offense go.
And it doesn't matter if it's Ceedee Lamb or George
Pickens or Ryan Flinoy who's out there. He's continuing to
(31:59):
throw them in two games. Yes, they lost to Detroit. Yes,
he had a couple of turnovers, they were contested balls.
It wasn't really entirely his fault. I still believe he
deserves to be in the top five.
Speaker 3 (32:08):
Oh yeah, I agree with you absolutely. There the Mahomes
things interesting. Now you having Trevor Lawrence ahead of him,
that's too far. It's crazy. Trevor Lawrence has played great
the last two weeks, but to me, the rest of
the season outweighs significantly from home. So do you have
out eleven because everyone else in your top ten night
I actually would not have any problem with their You
(32:30):
have Darnald Love who is maybe an MVP candidate, Herbert
and Jared Goff, Josh Allen May and Stafford is still
a top your rankings. It's just crazy because when you
think about like Breeze and Manning, maybe Breeze had like
one season, but especially the Peyton Manning and the Tom
(32:51):
Brazy Brady's of it all, there were no seasons where
at the end of the season you could say he
was not a top eight quarterback. And I'm not sure
if I'm ready to go there. With Mahomes, we have
another month ago the Chiefs though at fifteen wild well,
we have the Cowboys ahead of them. Of course they
won that game head to head. We have the Eagles
now at thirteen, which I think feels right to me
(33:13):
this section forty nine Ers at nine, we like the
forty nine ers on NFL Daily, Chargers at ten, Bears eleven,
Jaguars twelve, and Eagles thirteen. It's really interesting because I
think this is a group of teams where if you
told their fan bases right now, you're going to win
a playoff game. They'd say, Okay, I'd take it. That's
(33:33):
pretty good. Like we're in the final eight, we're in
the division round. Like that alone would be a good
outcome for this Philadelphia Eagles team, which really shows how
far they've fallen.
Speaker 4 (33:43):
It'd be a good outcome for the Bears. It'd be
a good outcome for the Jags. It might even be
at this point a good outcome for the Chargers.
Speaker 3 (33:49):
But oh yeah, get get the playoff monkey off. Herbert's
back to me. That would be like when Lamar won
his first playoff game. Just at least get one in,
and especially a season with you don't have your two tackles,
I think they would be fantastic.
Speaker 5 (34:02):
Yeah, But to answer your question about who was at eleven,
it was brock Purty who was on a buy, which
is why I couldn't really justify moving him around us.
Now that's on second examination, I probably would have put
Mahomes at eleven perty at twelve. You know, now that
I've had a chance to reflect after firing it off.
But the Niners standing in the power rankings kind of
justifies it. Like they've pieced together their defense, and yes,
(34:23):
they don't have a pass rush, but they've performed well
enough to limit, you know, the Panthers and Bryce Young
to a nightmarish performance in prime time, and they continue
to win games. And party's most recent game, which is
a win over the Browns. The numbers don't reflect it,
but he made some throws in that game where I
was just like, he's back.
Speaker 4 (34:39):
That's who he is.
Speaker 5 (34:40):
It's a little bit out of structure, it's a little
bit off platform. He's converting key downs. That is who
Brock Purty is. And I think that he's headed in
the right direction after looking pretty rough the week before
with all those interceptions against the Panthers. So that's part
of why I put him there, and I think again
it's a big reason why we have the Niners at
nine because despite all these injuries, they continue to find
ways to win football games because they're just disa they
(35:00):
show good fundamentals, they execute well.
Speaker 4 (35:03):
Kyle Shanahan man a legit candidate for Coach of the Year.
Speaker 3 (35:07):
Man, I'm always putting Chuck on a hot seat with
these quarterback rankings. That was Quarterback Keeper presented by Snapdragon.
Learn more at snapdragon dot com slash laptops. Let's wrap
the show with our top eight in the power rankings.
This was an interesting exercise to think about the Lions
for me because in the end I had the lines
a little higher than you, like, I still had the
(35:28):
Lions over a lot of the AFC playoff teams, and
you realize, like man, even though the Lions have a
lot of issues, like a lot of these teams, I'd
throw the forty nine ers in here too. If you
put them in the AFC, they got a shot. Like
even the down Lions team like we saw, they can
put forty on a decent team like the Cowboys. So
(35:50):
at eight, but like man, if you're a Lions fan
in a down season, we think you're the eighth best
team in the league. In Week fifteen, that's not so bad.
We have the Patriots down at seven, probably low than
a lot of places do, although they were tied with
the Broncos, so ultimately those two were tied for six,
and then the Bills and the Texans tied at fourth.
(36:10):
I separated and went with my rankings, had the Bills
ahead of the Texans, but we basically had them flip
flopped in very close to each other, and then we
had the exact same one two, three, Rams, Seahawks, and Packers.
Let's actually just talk about the Bills and the Texans.
I'll talk for myself first. I thought these top four
teams in the AFC stood apart a little and they
(36:33):
basically were all in the same group. Bills, Texans, Broncos, Patriots.
That actually was my order shook. How did you feel
like you were separating these teams? And how crazy is
it that this Texans team I think was first for
you in the AFC.
Speaker 1 (36:50):
Yeah?
Speaker 5 (36:51):
No, actually know who was first being the AFC. I'm
gonna ing you for this since you're you know, Massachusetts guy.
I had the Patriots four, ok. I was shocked that
your rank dropped them all the way to seventh. But hey,
maybe I'm the homer here. It's tough to I kind
of wanted to give them credit for what they've accomplished.
I didn't necessarily and rightfully evaluated it as like, all right,
(37:12):
let's put them on a neutral field who I think
is going to win? Because that's what drove the rest
of my evaluation here with the Bills and the Texans.
Speaker 4 (37:19):
And the Broncos.
Speaker 5 (37:20):
The Bills are looking about the best that they have
all year. I think that every team in this group
is flawed in one way or another, but I do
like the momentum that they're building and the direction they're
headed in. Obviously it starts with Josh Allen, but I've
seen some interesting performances from their defense.
Speaker 4 (37:35):
They've been opportunistic, like they were against the Bengals.
Speaker 5 (37:37):
They absolutely shut down the Chiefs and they played them,
so they've had some good performances. The Texans have the
best defense in the NFL, and I think that will
travel and could beat anybody on any given day. The
Broncos are a team that I think is also headed
in the right direction. Bo Nix has encouraged me over
the last few weeks, but I do see some flaws
in them, namely in their running game, leaning too much
on our J Harvey, who's a rookie. And I know
(37:58):
that they have a good defense, but I have a
little bit of nervousness. I can't quite it's some trepidation.
I can't quite trust them in certain scenarios against other teams.
Speaker 4 (38:08):
But I still like the makeup of their team overall.
So that's why they land where they are.
Speaker 5 (38:11):
Patriots more than anything, Like I said, just rewarding them
for what they've done, and also all the faith in
the world and none other than mister Drake May of course.
Speaker 3 (38:20):
And to me, they're all very close. And if the
Patriots win this Sunday, obviously they'll be even higher on
a list like this. To me, you can't separate the much.
But I really think this whole Texans to the super
Bowl bandwagon is gonna get a lot of people on
it over the next month because they have the Cardinals
and the Raiders next, they have the Chargers offensive line
(38:42):
on the road. That's by far their hardest game of
the season left. That's actually an NFL Network exclusive game.
We have one more game this season that's a Saturday
afternoon game, and it's gonna be really interesting, and they
finish up with the phillip Rivers Colts. They are not
going to lose two more games the rest of the season.
They are gonna get to eleven and six at worst,
(39:03):
and there's a pretty decent chance they win all four
of those games. You know, it's tough to win every
week in the NFL, so you know, I could see
a surprise, but there's a real scenario they win that division,
that they are the two or the three seed, and
a lot of people are looking at that defense is
the best thing going in the AFC going into the playoffs.
Let's wrap just going over we agreed. I think it's
(39:25):
a pretty clear top three, Rams, Seahawks, Patriots. I really
think Seahawks are getting slept on a little bit nationally
as like right there with the Rams and I haven't
over the Packers, So did you as like maybe the
best team in the NFL. I know, we got to
see it with Darnold and everything, but we don't have
superpower teams this year. I think the Rams are the
(39:45):
closest to it, and they have a chance to really
prove it over the next six days here by beating
the Lions and the Seahawks. If they can do that,
they can enter the playoffs as a real deal, like
super favorite. Other than that, yeah, I think these three
teams are going to kind of be the teams going
into the NFC playoffs.
Speaker 5 (40:04):
They're going to beat the Lions just because I think
the Lions limitations are going to prevent them from keeping
up with the Rams. That Seahawks game is going to
tell us a lot about these two teams. It is
a bummer that I think the best two or three
teams in the NFL all reside in the same conference.
But it's not the first time that we've been here. However, Greg,
I would like you to enlighten the listeners and the viewers.
What was the text that I sent to you around
(40:25):
midnight Eastern on Tuesday going into Wednesday?
Speaker 3 (40:28):
You told me the Rams are going to win the
Super Bowl in some form or fashion. Yeah, I can't
remember the exact words, but that was the takeaway.
Speaker 5 (40:38):
I believe I might have ended with book it. That's
how confident I am in the Rams right now. In
a year in which every team is flawed top to
bottom in one way or another, there is, like you said,
no more complete team than the Los Angeles Rams. And yes,
I was watching them take the Cardinals behind the woodshed,
and that you know doesn't it's not a measuring stick game,
but it was one of those games where you saw
(40:58):
elite passing from Matsthugh Stafford. You saw an incredible rapport
between him and Pukaakua and him and DeVante Adams, and
you know, even the tight end group because they love
to ruin that thirteen personnel, which we know Jordan loves
to talk about and for good reason, because it makes
them so multiple and they're hard to defend. But as
a team, top to bottom, front to back, defense, offense,
special teams had a little bit of issue with kicker.
(41:21):
They just look like the strongest contender to win the
Super Bowl. It is not a situation in which I
think back to the twenty sixteen Falcons. Late in the
regular season, I was confident they were going to win
the NFC, and they did, and Matt Ryan was going
to win MVP, and he did, and ultimately they lost
that Super Bowl.
Speaker 4 (41:35):
But they're not quite there.
Speaker 5 (41:37):
But they're about as close as you can get in
this league right now to a team that gives me
that much confidence because they have the quarterback. They have
an explosive, dynamic running back in Kiraun Williams. They got
a good spell back in Blake Corum. They have an
offensive line that is absolutely dominating in the trenches. They
have talented pass catchers, they have a defense that's highly
underrated and can win the trenches as well, and all
of that combined can travel and win anywhere home on
the road, and as it stands right now, they're not
(41:58):
going to have to go on the road as long
as they beat the Seahawks in that Thursday night or
next week, that will be tough.
Speaker 3 (42:03):
We're gonna go live on YouTube next week for the
first time on Thursday Night. I think Jordan Rodriguez joining
me for that one. Shooky's got the night off, so
that's gonna be fun. Join us live. We're gonna do
something different because that's just a fun game. It matched
up schedule wise. Let's hit that music. Thank you, Shook
big week. Chuck's not done. He's gonna be back on Saturday.
(42:25):
We're doing the All Underrated Defense with the Ali Connelly.
But before that, we got a special treat in the feed.
We've mentioned it all week. I hope everyone can check
it out. Power Players with Jordan rod Reeg a new
series that we're doing that goes up on Friday. We
will see that
Well, become a snap. It's on the air.
Speaker 2 (00:01):
Hash snap spot kick by Gonzales.
Speaker 1 (00:08):
It is good, fly home safely. Atlanta wins if there's
order together.
Speaker 2 (00:15):
Twenty nine, twenty eight, the Falcons beat the Buccaneers on
a forty three yard field goal by saying Gonzales.
Speaker 3 (00:29):
Never doubt Kirk Cousins on Thursday Night football against the
Tampa Bay Buccaneers, one of the most reliable phenomenons in sports.
Falcons come back from twenty eight to fourteen down in
the fourth quarter to stun the Bucks twenty nine to
twenty eight. That was Westurham on w z GC and
(00:55):
the NFC South might not be great shook, but they
have a way of coming up up with the most
ridiculously dumb, entertaining games every season, and this was one
of them.
Speaker 4 (01:07):
This was certainly one of them.
Speaker 5 (01:08):
Especially after it was twenty eight to fourteen. I thought
the Falcons were dead and buried. They had nineteen total
penalties in this game. I thought, well, you know what,
it's a good thing they're wearing red hats because it's
like wearing red red helmets, because it's like wearing red
hats like they're Santa Claus. Because they were just gifting
the game to the Buccaneers, terribly timed miscues. It just
seemed like they couldn't get out of their own way.
But Kirk Cousins wasn't going to let him go down
(01:29):
that easily. He's gonna make throws under pressure. He's going
to take shots from rushers. He's gonna find Kyle Pitts
a billion times for the Kyle Pitts game, and they're
somehow going to pull off a victory on the road.
Speaker 3 (01:40):
And I can confirm that Connie Wolf is somewhere on
a couch feeling no pain and enjoying her Kyle Pits
breakout games. She's been honking about him all season. And
here's what he did. Shook eleven catches, one hundred and
sixty six yards in touchdowns, the first tight end to
(02:02):
put those numbers together one fifty and three since Shannon
Sharp in the nineties. It was just an outrageous game
by Kyle Pitts. Let's listen to his hat trick touchdown sales.
Speaker 2 (02:16):
Over there, Robinson and Mooney here to the near side,
snapped your cousins.
Speaker 1 (02:20):
Tampa breaks the pressure, the throwing for the in zone.
Speaker 2 (02:23):
It's pets Denny hold on through Denny, give me a signal, fellas.
Speaker 1 (02:29):
Touchdown Atlanta boy, he did juggle it here, Wes. This
is gonna get looked at pretty hard. It's being called
a touchdown. Touchdown. The Tampa crowd says no, and here's
the in turn.
Speaker 2 (02:43):
Have to review the ruling on the field stands as
called touchdown.
Speaker 3 (02:47):
Ooh, I love that because when you watch that on replay,
you see there are two defenders in the area. Levante
David is one of them. They knew by the end
of the game. You gotta send extra attention to Kyle Pitts.
And it doesn't matter whether it was plays after the catch,
nice touch throws by Kirk Cousins. Pitts was getting it
done all night. And Kirk finishes with three hundred and
(03:10):
seventy three yards versus and three touchdowns. In the last
three games against the Bucks, he has eleven hundred and
fifty eight yards and eleven touchdowns only one interception. And
we're gonna have to have a conversation about Todd Bowles's
defense at some point, Shook, I guess it's right now,
because there were many There were many ways to blame
(03:35):
the Bucks for this game, Baker Mayfield will get to
him in his fourth quarter. But to give up that
much all night to a Falcons offense that was trying
to give the game away with penalties. To give up
a drive at the end of the game where they
had a third and twenty eight and then a fourth
and fourteen and let David Sills and Kyle Pitts cook
(03:57):
you and Bejon Robinson all through the air was a
little embarrassing. And they were really ahead of what Todd
Bowles was trying to do all night. We got to
give Kirk his flowers for an awesome performance.
Speaker 5 (04:09):
Yeah, I mean, this is what you know, veteran experience
can do for a quarterback who's facing a ton of blitz,
A ton of blitz looks and a ton of blitz
is overall one of those rare games in which the
Buccaneers blitzed eighteen times and recorded a pressure eighteen times?
Did you really ever get the even numbers like that?
But they got home once they got one sack out
of it. Did they get a lot of hits on
Kirk Cousins. They did, and they broke up some passes,
(04:30):
but they didn't affect him enough to undercut this offense,
especially in the key spots in the fourth quarter. There
were multiple times over the final six minutes where I'm
sitting there watching this thinking it's over. He's not going
to hit this throw, They're not going to convert this
third and long.
Speaker 4 (04:44):
And then he does.
Speaker 5 (04:45):
It's David Sills, it's Kyle Pitts, it's Darnell Mooney. It
doesn't matter. No matter what the Buccaneers tried to do,
they were always, like you said, a step behind what
the Falcons you know, were able to do offensively. And
of course, like I know, like statistically he doesn't run
up a massive game, but he still had a lot
of scrimmag yard Bijon Robinson, like he's the best player
on the field on both sides, and he was a
key part of extending some of these drives and the
(05:05):
Falcons absolutely needed, you know, short checkdowns to Bijon makes
multiple guys miss, picks up first downs, picks up big games,
shortens the down and distance on key downs that come
on the next player too after his place, Like he
he played an integral part of this, but of course
Kyle Pitts did too. But it all starts with Kirk Cousins.
Which brings me back to the original point. You think
you tweeted this and you're absolutely right. Something about a
(05:28):
Todd Bowles defense brings the best out of Kirk Cousins.
Speaker 4 (05:30):
Yeah, it does.
Speaker 5 (05:31):
We can go back to last year Kirk's two best
games with the Falcons as their starter. We're against Todd
Bowles defenses. But I also want to circle back to
a couple of weeks ago when we talked about the
QB Index and where I ranked Kirk Cousins.
Speaker 4 (05:41):
That you don't you game it is. You just ran
those Kirk numbers and you said, oh, he didn't look
that good against the Jets. Well, damnity looked that good tonight.
Speaker 3 (05:52):
You know what I thought, he didn't look that bad
last week. Overall, he has looked like a pretty good
backup quarterback, which I think is an upgrade from the
last few games that he was playing last year. And
in this game, he yeah, was another level. Todd Bowles
been running this defense forever and everyone you know, I
just think even though it's unpredictable in certain ways, you know,
(06:15):
there's a lot of chaos that Kirk knew the pressure
was coming over and over at the end of that game,
and it wasn't all easy. I thought it was interesting
when Bulls decided to accept a holding penalty that actually
made it second in twenty eight instead of third in eighteen.
Now it turned into third and twenty eight, but it
did give them an extra down. I wasn't sure about that.
(06:36):
They're trying to set up for a game winning field goal,
so I get it. It was a very tough decision. There
were a lot of crazy decisions, but you're right, like,
this is where a veteran quarterback can help so much.
And Zion McCollum got hurt in this game and was out,
and right now they're not as good at cornerback as
they were. Jamel Dean got hurt early, although he did
come back in. And the Bucks also had some bad luck.
(06:58):
Look they Levonte David forced the fumble on Darnell Mooney
inside the ten yard line when they were going in
for that last Kyle Pits touchdown. The Bucks recovered it.
They forced the fumble on one of these blitzes against
k against Kirk Cousins on the very last drive, and
Kirk Cousins somehow recovered it.
Speaker 5 (07:16):
Like we got we got the rare, we got the
rare tie and the tie goes to the offense. You
don't really ever see that, but they said both the
offense and the defense recovered it, which I don't know
if I've ever heard that, And the tie went to
the offense, which was preserves that. And this is a
great example too of what the Buccaneers failed to do
in the little spots, because that fumble that you talked
about inside the ten ball comes out, there's four Buccaneers
in that area, and somehow they don't.
Speaker 1 (07:37):
Land on it.
Speaker 5 (07:37):
Ryan Newsll ends up landing on this the offensive lineman, like,
these are the little things that a Todd Bowles defense
should do to seal a victory, and instead they gave
the Falcons chance after chance after chance and ultimately paid
the price for it.
Speaker 3 (07:50):
You know what's funny is I get, you know, you
kind of look and there's no triple numbers in rushing
or receiving for John Robinson, and so it's like, oh, yeah,
he wasn't as explosive. And the two biggest place he
out all night were called back. One was a one
handed catch on the sideline which he didn't get his
second foot down, and then another was a big time
run that got called back by one of the nineteen penalties. Yes,
(08:11):
that was the most for any team all season long,
the most for any Atlanta Falcons team in the history
of the franchise. They're wearing those red helmets that Steve
Bartowski used to wear when he was the number one
overall draft pick of the Falcons when they were playing
back in the sixties and he was in the seventies.
And never before has there been this many penalties. And
yet on that night where it didn't feel like Bajohn
(08:32):
even did that that that much, even though he made
so many miss tackles. Yeah, that was numbered what's the number,
one hundred and eighty seven yards in this game?
Speaker 5 (08:39):
I thought, I thought mental mathought it was one hundred
and seventy five. It was what ninety three on the
ground and two in a touch sdouting.
Speaker 3 (08:45):
Yeah, So he he always serves his fantasy owners with
eight catches there. He really was the best player, and
he overshadowed like a great performance by Mike Evans who
comes back and gets six for one thirty two in turn,
including a really long play down the field. And he
also forced about I think five penalties, most of them
were on him by a j Terrell like. He was
(09:06):
awesome in this game, and yet you look at the
Bucks and at a certain point you have to say
this is not a good football team. You get Tristan
Wurf's back and he plays outstanding tonight. You get Mike
Evans back, he plays outstanding tonight. Jalen McMillan has a
big play that almost results in a touchdown, ends up
on the one yard line and they cash it in.
And yet they just find a way to trick this
(09:26):
game away, and it really started with the Baker interception.
That's kind of the UN's. Then there's two unforgivable plays
by Baker Mayfield in the fourth quarter of this game.
One is the interception which really gives the Falcons a
real chance to make it a comeback in this game.
And this is the second time he's done this in
a fourth quarter to lose a game, and it's one
of the many fourth quarters since that early part of
(09:48):
the season where he's been bad in the fourth quarter.
And then they go for it was I think second
and fourteen. They decide to be aggressive before the two
minute warning, was absolutely the right call, and he misses
wide open Abuka. He throws it behind him. Abuka does
isn't able to make a tough catch. I think most
quarterbacks hit that throw, and he had just a few
(10:10):
throws tonight that were just way off. And if he
hits that throw, we're not talking about anything. In fact,
we're talking about a nice play in a nice game
by Baker. But in the crucial moments he was at
his worst.
Speaker 5 (10:20):
Even in the two point conversion of Chris Godwin. That
was the ball that was behind Godwin and required a
fantastic adjustment on the ball by Godwin to catch and
get his feet down to convert the two point conversion.
So yeah, it was it was an up and down
game from Baker, which is what we've seen, you know,
and a lot of people, I think chalk that up to, oh, well,
he doesn't have his guys out there. You know, he
doesn't have Mike Evans, Chris Godwin's got some rust on him,
(10:42):
you know, Abuka's he's been banged up for a while
and he's and everybody knows he's going to Abuka. Well,
he had everybody tonight. Bucky Irving's back, Godwin's been in
the lineup for a few weeks. Evans is back, McMillan
makes his season debut, and we still see the same struggles,
and especially in the fourth quarter, and you know that
interception I thought was a great example of a re
E Morris defense that I felt was a step behind
(11:02):
for most of the night, especially outside the numbers. They
were picking on Kobe Bryant outside the numbers, like Dyke.
It was just layups, I mean, speed out motion, a
guy into a little bit of a stack between two receivers,
speed out there, everything outside the numbers, Mike Evans, no
matter who it was, just keep feeding out there. Bryant
soft coverage had to drive down. The ball never got
(11:22):
home in time. Evans moss Is Bryant for a catch
like It's just getting crushed outside the numbers the whole night,
and in a big spot in the fourth quarter, they
try to go back to that bread and butter and
who's there to make the play and bit Baker into
the throw d Alford to make that perfect place sitting
underneath the pick it off. I thought it was just
a great example of them finally adjusting at the perfect
time and leading on a veteran to make a play
(11:43):
like that and give themselves a chance to win and
it's also an example of how the Buccaneers can't get
out of.
Speaker 4 (11:47):
Their own way.
Speaker 5 (11:48):
They haven't been able to get out of their own
way for really since the Patriots game. I think that
loss to the Patriots is probably the start of their
their downfall. They just haven't been the same team since then.
The loss of the Saints last week obviously was a
big example of that, and tonight is.
Speaker 3 (12:00):
I mean, they're two and six in their last eight.
They're one and five in their last six. And the
two wins that they have in that stretcher against the Saints,
a three win team and the Cardinals by three points,
where they got out gained by one hundred yards, a
three win team, and at least before they were losing
two good teams like the Patriots, like you mentioned, like
the Lions if you go back to that primetime game.
(12:22):
But now they're losing two bad teams too. Let's let's watch,
you know, if you're watching on YouTube, that fifty yard
catch by Evans, because I do think the Buccaneers, despite tonight,
are still my favorite in the NFC style barely over
the Panthers, they have an advantage, and that was just
incredible play by Mike Evans, who, like I said, looked
(12:44):
awesome tonight, was moving so fluidly, made some really difficult throws.
Baker gave him a hospital ball early where he throws
way too high and he ends up landing on his
back and he ends up being okay, but you look
injured on that play. By the way, you mentioned Kobe Bryant.
He gave one hundred and two yards and coverage tonight
against Mike Evans alone, one of the highest numbers for
(13:08):
one receiver on one cornerback all season long, five for
one oh two on that one receiver. I do think
Mike Evans adds a new element for their team that's
really gonna help. Bucky Irving obviously has helped. Tristan Wurst
being back helps like they they probably now though, if
we're thinking big picture and we're watching also the first
play of the game, you know, first catch of the
(13:28):
game by Mike Evans, which is awesome. The Bucks crowd
got so into Mike Evans being back for this game.
He's really the heart and soul of this team, so
I think he'll give them something, though, Shook. They probably
have to sweep the Panthers now or really hope for
the Panthers, for instance, to lose this week, to lose
a game that you you know, maybe don't necessarily expect
(13:50):
the Panthers to lose in New Orleans like a game
like that, or they're gonna have to now sweep the Panthers.
Speaker 5 (13:56):
Yeah, now it's suddenly very tight and uncomfortable for a
team that had a very cushy lead early in this
season and have let that evaporate. I do agree with you, though,
it is the slimmest of margins that the Buccaneers still
seem to have a bit of an advantage in the
NFC South, and it is because of what you just
said with Mike Evans return, because there was that play
that we just played there where Evans mosses Kobe Bryant
for the big game. That was a classic play that
(14:19):
Baker has turned to throughout his time with the Buccaneers,
which is f it Mike Evans is down there somewhere,
I'm just gonna in all else fails, just drop back
and throw it up the thirteam and hope that he
makes a play on the ball, which he does. That's
that's what he's built his career on, is making plays
like that. Usually it happens on the goal line too,
but that obviously was a big chunk play that opens
up their offense. And why I still believe that they
(14:40):
have an advantage because in the most dire situations, you
know that is at least an option, whereas in the
previous six weeks or so, Baker has just.
Speaker 4 (14:48):
Not had those options.
Speaker 5 (14:49):
He's had to scramble, he's had to make some incredible throws,
which he's just lacked.
Speaker 4 (14:54):
He's you you were right last year and you're right
this year.
Speaker 5 (14:56):
He's a streaky quarterback and he's been on a downturn
for a while. But bringing Evans back in the full
leaf gives you a life raft or something to cling
to that. Okay, well, maybe we can find a bit
of a rhythm and for a good stretch of tonight.
Speaker 4 (15:07):
They did. They did, Mike Evans.
Speaker 5 (15:09):
Yeah, it's just that they didn't finish, and that again
speaks to the lack of quality in the division and
why the door is very open for the Panthers.
Speaker 4 (15:16):
The problem, though, is that we don't know who the Panthers.
Speaker 5 (15:19):
Are from week to week, so we can't put our
full faith behind them right now.
Speaker 3 (15:22):
No but now they have an advantage, which is if
they can win this Saints game, the Panthers are really
looking at a situation where splitting with the Bucks might
be enough, likely will be enough to win the division.
Because the other Bucks game that we didn't mention, it's
at Miami. Actually that's a very winnable game. Carolina, on
(15:42):
the other hand, has has a little bit of a
tougher schedule down the stretch. I want to point out
with Baker, though he is streaky, and for a section
of tonight, I thought it was the best that he
looked because he made more high level throws in this
game than we've seen since maybe early October, so I
give him credit for that. But even a game where
there were all those positives, he kept taking unnecessary sacks,
(16:05):
Like the pressure to sack ratio is so high. He
took five sacks in this game. He was only quote
hit seven times, so a lot of the times it
would be a few steps forward, good play, and then
he would take a negative play. Usually their drives stopped
because he had taken a negative play or he had
made a mistake. I didn't feel like the Falcons were
doing a ton to really stop him. So it's it's
(16:30):
just a you know, you win something, you lose them.
Let's actually listen to Gene Deckerhoff because you mentioned the
Godwin two point conversion, and it's one of the reasons
why I think there's some optimism for this Bucks team
just a little bit, is that Godwin's back. He's playing
well at BUKA, had a good night tonight. You have
the full compliment with McMillan, and yeah, let's listen to
Godwin got the touchdown and then got the two point
(16:50):
conversion to give them a fourteen point lead.
Speaker 6 (16:53):
And see if Tampa Bay could punch you in a
get two. If Goobert had just one two point conversion
and seven and twise this season, could we make it
two out of eight? I feel shotguard hive scrap looks
to his left, looks back to.
Speaker 1 (17:08):
The left, goals old the better and there's a caw
pall touchdown, two point covers a drive. Chris Gottwold got
eight points all that try.
Speaker 3 (17:16):
One of my favorite things there shook was Godwin screamed
then after the octopus the six plus the two, they
the broadcast picked him up screaming octopus. A shout out
to Chris Godwin, one of us. I love that. Uh
what did you think about the Falcons decision? They go
on a quite a long touchdown drive after that, and
(17:40):
we're gonna wrap up this game talk with this year.
They cut the lead to eight, twenty eight to twenty
and they go for the two. So they don't get it.
There seems to be a miscommunication on the play. Kirk
Cousins isn't happy. Then that forces them to go for
two again. When they ultimately you know, cut the score
(18:00):
to twenty eight twenty six, they fail again and then
that sets up what ends up being the game winning
to Feeld goal at the end.
Speaker 5 (18:06):
Uh, step into my office please, because I have some
things that I would like to tell you about this strategy.
I've complained about it before and I'm going to complain
about it again. The idea of going for two down
eight in the fourth quarter is backed supposedly by analytics,
with the thought that it increases your chance of victory.
(18:28):
I am one hundred percent against this, and we saw
exactly why tonight. The Falcons went for two twice. Supposedly,
you know, maybe they're two best go for two plays, right,
Neither looked anywhere close to being completed. They were just
completely disjointed messes. The first one, especially the second one.
Cousins didn't sense the pressure and didn't get the ball
out in time. That's got to be a hot immediate
(18:49):
like they put Bejon on the flat, he's got to
get the ball out. When you're down fourteen and you score.
The idea of going for two is the idea that, well, well,
we get the two, then we only have to kick
an extra point to win the game. Yeah, but you
fail to recognize that if you don't get it, you
bask yourself into a corner in which you must go
for two to go to overtime.
Speaker 3 (19:07):
Right, you know you know that you're just thinking no.
And here's why I get it the next time.
Speaker 4 (19:12):
Here's why.
Speaker 5 (19:12):
And those who watch me play college football on Twitch
saw me do this the other day. You kick the
extra point to make it a seven point game. If
you are fortunate enough to score again and have the opportunity,
you preserve the option to kick the extra point to
send it to overtime. Or if you're feeling, you know, gutsy,
you go for two and you go for the win.
In that scenario, you save that option until later.
Speaker 3 (19:34):
Okay, I understand that, And I think it's all situational,
depending on the game, the situation. So I don't think
anything should be hard and fast. I think you can
make the argument that the way this game played out
is actually even a reason to do it. They still
won the game, shook and because.
Speaker 4 (19:51):
That should not factor into my life.
Speaker 3 (19:53):
No, no, no, that should here because I want to
have as many different chances to win the game. And
the reason why I'm okay with it even if they
lose the game because of that, and they don't go
to overtime, and in theory, in another world, they would
have gone overtime. The game of football, like you play
to win the game, and so you're asking you're asking
(20:17):
your players and the players that are playing the best
on that night, which is definitely Kirk Cousins in the offense,
to go win it for you and and and like
win the game, not waiting for overtime and playing extra
like win it. And you know, eleven men on eleven men,
and the Bucks won those two plays, and then you
(20:37):
just okay, you know you were too good for us tonight,
but I liked our offense better than their defense. And
on those two plays they want it instead of waiting
for overtime. And oh, by the way, there's very much
a possibility that yes, we failed on those two, but
that there could be even time to get the ball
back and you win the game again.
Speaker 4 (20:55):
But if you follow my approach, you could still you
have that option.
Speaker 3 (21:00):
Yes, it would have been tied.
Speaker 5 (21:02):
No no, no, no, no, they don't have to tie
it the second time. They could go for two. Then
if they want to the second time and go for
a one point lead or be down by one, and
the same scenario plays out. It's just in my mind,
why back yourself into a corner in which you must
go for two, especially when the first one fails and
you're like, god, we probably can't convert a two pointers.
Speaker 3 (21:18):
It's a really interesting conversation, and I don't think there's
a right answer, And I do think it's really dependent
on the team, the game in this situation that I
don't like anything close to a hard and fast rule.
I also think the fact, like the Falcons are the
Falcons and have four wins on the season.
Speaker 4 (21:34):
Or.
Speaker 5 (21:36):
Go for the second time, or just go for to
the second time. That's all I'm saying. Just do it
the second time.
Speaker 4 (21:41):
Yeah.
Speaker 3 (21:42):
But the thing that I find just a little unsettling
is that all these like tough guys who are like,
how can you listen to the math? How can you
like how about you just like decided on the field
instead of just like letting your kicker go out there
to hey, let's kick the ball and tie. How about
being real men and try to go win a football game.
(22:03):
I would think this would work with the current crab Street.
Speaker 5 (22:07):
And that's why you go into that second scenario and
you say, let's go win it right now, Let's go
for two and go for the one point lead and
the win.
Speaker 1 (22:13):
That's it.
Speaker 4 (22:14):
That's all I'm saying.
Speaker 3 (22:15):
We've got more on this show. Chris Pabona begging us
to take a break, and it is time man the
Falcons and Raheem Morris just screaming at the camera afterwards.
Good for him. It's been a tough season. With the
way this game was going. I was wondering was Zach Robinson,
the offensive coordinator, getting on the flight home because of
(22:36):
all those penalties and if they had lost this game
in ugly fashion. Who knows. We don't know about the future,
but a good night for them. Buck season is not over.
But this is not a good football team, as their
record indicates. We're going to talk about who are the
best football teams in the entire NFL After the break,
We're going to do a power rankings. Shook, it's been
five weeks since we did this, and we're going to
(22:57):
go thirty two to one and decide who are the
very best back in people back on NFL Daily. Yes, Shook,
this has happened a couple of times. Whenever we think
it's going to be a bad Thursday night game, I'm like, OK,
(23:19):
we got to give the people a little red meat.
We got to give them what they want. Let's do
some power ranking and then that Thursday night game turns
out to be a banger. But you know what, why
not have two big slices of big red meat. I
don't care, I'm getting old. Does that even make sense?
Speaker 1 (23:36):
No?
Speaker 5 (23:36):
I mean, like two nights ago at Marble Room in Cleveland,
like it's a great place, and yeah, fresh off of
tasting that fantastic steak.
Speaker 4 (23:46):
Yes, let's give them all the red meat.
Speaker 3 (23:47):
I eat way too much red meat and I never
regret it. Let's do the power rankings bottom to top,
and we'll speed through. The bottom team is because they've
been out of it for a while. The bottom quartile
number thirty two, the Las Vegas Raiders. We were in
complete agreement on that that they are now the worst
(24:08):
team in the NFL. Congratulations to Tom Brady and what
you've done. The Tennessee Titans at thirty one, Jets thirty.
The Commanders. Man, if we had seen this at the
beginning of the season, Shook that the Commanders are the
twenty ninth best team in the NFL. My god, the
Giants at twenty eight, Cardinals twenty seven. Man, that's sad.
You had them a few spots lower than me. Brown's
(24:29):
at twenty six. And here's just a little light pat
on the back for the New Orleans Saints. Why don't
you give the Saints some love. Hey, you're only the
eighth worst team in the NFL according to me and Shook.
Speaker 5 (24:40):
I mean, you know, if it was like a month
and a half ago, they probably would have been thirtieth here,
So congrats, you've climbed five spots. And it's because you've
been You've been spunky, you've been you know, scrappy. In
your last few games. You beat the Buccaneers. You beat
the Panthers in a weird game in week ten, and
you had a close loss to the Dolphins in week thirteen.
Good on you, Tyler Shuck. Keep balling, man. I honestly, Greg,
(25:00):
I know we're not going to divert too much here,
but I actually think Tyler Schuck has the goods.
Speaker 4 (25:04):
He just needs reps. Like I like what I've seen
for him so far.
Speaker 3 (25:07):
Okay, if you there was one team in the s
bottom eight you wouldn't want to play. I mean, I
guess in theory, according to our rankings, it's the Saints.
To me, it would probably be the Browns. Yeah, something
about that, just because of their defense. And then the
Cardinals are just good enough to lose against a decent
team at least they were. Let's go to the next
quart out because like those teams have been dead forever.
(25:29):
The order of it doesn't matter too much to me.
We have the Falcons here at twenty four. Now we
kind of assume going into it that they're going to
lose this game. Maybe maybe we should bump them up
a spot over the Viking to or twenty three. But
I wouldn't put him any higher just because they made
this comeback. The Colts all the way down at twenty two.
(25:49):
Let's stop there. We have the Colts below teams like
the Dolphins, Bengals, Panthers. What was your thought process here
of like where this Colts team is that? And how
sad is it that we had them like in the
top five, you know, eight weeks ago and now they're
down at twenty two.
Speaker 5 (26:06):
Well, when we did that, most likely like who we
could see you know, getting to the super Bowl a
few weeks ago. God, that aged poorly for me putting
the Colts that high. But I mean, this just speaks
to the value of a quarterback. It's it reminds me
of the College Football Playoff when they decided to leave
undefeated Florida State out because they didn't have Jordan Travis
because he had suffered a season enning leg injury. It's
the same thing, like your quarterbacks out, and we've seen
(26:27):
how they struggled even with a you know, injured Daniel
Jones with that leg fracture for a couple weeks before
he got hurt. Now, this could also age really poorly
if Philip Rivers authors the greatest Disney movie You've ever
seen and comes out and balls out for them, but
it's not gonna happen.
Speaker 3 (26:43):
And I think that helps explain why the Bengals are
even as high as twenty, because Doe Burrow is playing
football and he's playing it incredibly. I finally got to
that Bills game and like, oh man, he was so
good in that game. Josh Allen was even better because
Josh Allen didn't have that Benford play unfortunately, for which
is more of a great defensive player than anything. But
that was just awesome. I would change the rankings and
(27:07):
put the Buccaneers now below the Steelers in the Ravens,
So we have the Steelers at seventeen, the Ravens at eighteen,
the Panthers at nineteen. But just kind of talk about
that group because it's depressing to me that those two
AFC North teams are right there and we basically agreed
on them with like the Panthers kind of in a
category also with the Bucks is like, yeah, like two
(27:30):
of these teams are gonna make the playoffs, but they're
not even among the best fourteen teams in the NFL.
Speaker 1 (27:35):
No, they're not.
Speaker 5 (27:36):
And it speaks to the poor quality of both the
NFC South and the AFC North. I mean, we have
three AFC North teams in this group. It just tells
you how bad the division is, or just how mid
the division is. And we got the mid off already
last weekend between the Steelers and the Ravens, Steelers coming
out on top in that one.
Speaker 4 (27:52):
But it's none of these teams look strong. None of
these teams that look at the Super.
Speaker 3 (27:56):
Bowl pick wind everyone else. Makes sense. But the fact
that I'm I'm willing to drop them this low in
the power rankings when their defense the numbers would tell
you it's been pretty good over the last few months,
although I have my doubts about it. Like a team
quarterbacked by Lamar Jackson, I just it's it's one of
(28:18):
the most disappointing seasons by any team in a long time.
And I feel like it's weirdly slipped under the radar
because Lamar missed that time, and you can kind of
blame it on his hamstring. But to me, there's more
that's rotten there than just that. It's it's really disappointing.
Speaker 5 (28:35):
So the way I kind of want to frame this
group is like if you pit the Bengals against the
Steelers or Ravens right now, who are you picking in
that game? Because I know who I'm picking, and it's
not the Steelers of the Ravens, like just based on
how they've played over the last month.
Speaker 3 (28:47):
And I also good point, Yeah, we should have the
Bengals higher then if that's at.
Speaker 4 (28:51):
Least but like we're looking at total product.
Speaker 5 (28:54):
Yeah, I guess power rankings is like who you'd take
on a neutral field or whatever right now. But I
also look at the Ravens and Steelers and I think
if there was any team that's gonna climb out of
this group, I believe it's probably the Ravens. And because
Lamar looked a little bit better last week. He had
more mobility, he looked more like himself, their defense is
just very hit or miss right now. After having a
(29:15):
relatively strong couple of weeks, it's hard to predict who
they are, kind of like it's hard to predict to
the Panthers are going to be from week to week.
And I think if Lamar can continue to get closer
to who he is, than they could elevate. My other
issue with them is that Derek Henry, I hate to
say it, father time looks like it's starting to hit him.
He's just not very effective right now, and that's kind
of hurting their entire offense, especially with a relatively immobile
(29:35):
Lamar Jackson.
Speaker 3 (29:37):
You know who else is hitting him, like the all
the free rushers that Daniel Falle just watches like run by.
But you're right, I agree that Derek Henry doesn't look good.
Let's bring up the next graphic, Chris, of the next
sixteen teams, and yes, I would knock the Buccaneers now
below this, Steelers, Ravens, even the Panthers team. That's just
it's been too long of a stretch. So we have
(29:58):
the Chiefs at fifteen, the Cowboys at fourteen, and the
Eagles at thirteen. Let's actually throw up your QB Index rankings.
Speaker 1 (30:08):
Now.
Speaker 3 (30:08):
I know Joe Burrow was the biggest riser on the
QB Index rankings this week. It is time for Quarterback Keeper,
presented by Snapdragon. But I was curious to see where
Dak Prescott was on your list, and if Patrick Mahomes
was in your top ten. I just want to give
(30:28):
you the floor for the moment that Patrick Mahomes is
just not even in your top ten. Shook, where is
he right now? And what do you have to say
for yourself.
Speaker 4 (30:40):
He is twelfth right now.
Speaker 5 (30:42):
He drops seven spots, And I think that sometimes in
this process, a ranking can really reflect a couple of weeks,
and I think that applies to Patrick Mahomes. The reason
is is that I believe that I've had about the
most faith of anybody in Mahomes' ability to overcome challenges
around him and lead his team to victory. Done it
for multiple years. He was a big reason why they
(31:02):
got to the super Bowl last year. He's not doing
that anymore. We can talk about the three interceptions, we
could talk about the ten straight incompletions in the game
against Houston, but it's more than that.
Speaker 4 (31:11):
He's just not doing the things that he did before.
Speaker 5 (31:15):
His scrambling, his play, extending the ball the way it's
coming out of his hand just like has a noseedive
to it. He just doesn't look like himself. And it
doesn't help him that people aren't catching passes on the
other end either. So I felt like this is a
bit of a course correction over a few weeks of performance,
maybe even going back to Thanksgiving that loss to the Cowboys,
And when I look at the performance of some of
these quarterbacks that are in the top ten, and I
(31:36):
measure them against Mahomes over the last month or so
and really over the whole season. I'm just thinking, look,
late season, these guys are building real minium. They deserve
to be in this top ten more than Mahomes. He
needs to fall out of the top ten for the
first time in the history of me doing QB Index.
But I wasn't going to move Dak because we know
that Dak is the engine that makes the Cowboys offense go.
And it doesn't matter if it's Ceedee Lamb or George
Pickens or Ryan Flinoy who's out there. He's continuing to
(31:59):
throw them in two games. Yes, they lost to Detroit. Yes,
he had a couple of turnovers, they were contested balls.
It wasn't really entirely his fault. I still believe he
deserves to be in the top five.
Speaker 3 (32:08):
Oh yeah, I agree with you absolutely. There the Mahomes
things interesting. Now you having Trevor Lawrence ahead of him,
that's too far. It's crazy. Trevor Lawrence has played great
the last two weeks, but to me, the rest of
the season outweighs significantly from home. So do you have
out eleven because everyone else in your top ten night
I actually would not have any problem with their You
(32:30):
have Darnald Love who is maybe an MVP candidate, Herbert
and Jared Goff, Josh Allen May and Stafford is still
a top your rankings. It's just crazy because when you
think about like Breeze and Manning, maybe Breeze had like
one season, but especially the Peyton Manning and the Tom
(32:51):
Brazy Brady's of it all, there were no seasons where
at the end of the season you could say he
was not a top eight quarterback. And I'm not sure
if I'm ready to go there. With Mahomes, we have
another month ago the Chiefs though at fifteen wild well,
we have the Cowboys ahead of them. Of course they
won that game head to head. We have the Eagles
now at thirteen, which I think feels right to me
(33:13):
this section forty nine Ers at nine, we like the
forty nine ers on NFL Daily, Chargers at ten, Bears eleven,
Jaguars twelve, and Eagles thirteen. It's really interesting because I
think this is a group of teams where if you
told their fan bases right now, you're going to win
a playoff game. They'd say, Okay, I'd take it. That's
(33:33):
pretty good. Like we're in the final eight, we're in
the division round. Like that alone would be a good
outcome for this Philadelphia Eagles team, which really shows how
far they've fallen.
Speaker 4 (33:43):
It'd be a good outcome for the Bears. It'd be
a good outcome for the Jags. It might even be
at this point a good outcome for the Chargers.
Speaker 3 (33:49):
But oh yeah, get get the playoff monkey off. Herbert's
back to me. That would be like when Lamar won
his first playoff game. Just at least get one in,
and especially a season with you don't have your two tackles,
I think they would be fantastic.
Speaker 5 (34:02):
Yeah, But to answer your question about who was at eleven,
it was brock Purty who was on a buy, which
is why I couldn't really justify moving him around us.
Now that's on second examination, I probably would have put
Mahomes at eleven perty at twelve. You know, now that
I've had a chance to reflect after firing it off.
But the Niners standing in the power rankings kind of
justifies it. Like they've pieced together their defense, and yes,
(34:23):
they don't have a pass rush, but they've performed well
enough to limit, you know, the Panthers and Bryce Young
to a nightmarish performance in prime time, and they continue
to win games. And party's most recent game, which is
a win over the Browns. The numbers don't reflect it,
but he made some throws in that game where I
was just like, he's back.
Speaker 4 (34:39):
That's who he is.
Speaker 5 (34:40):
It's a little bit out of structure, it's a little
bit off platform. He's converting key downs. That is who
Brock Purty is. And I think that he's headed in
the right direction after looking pretty rough the week before
with all those interceptions against the Panthers. So that's part
of why I put him there, and I think again
it's a big reason why we have the Niners at
nine because despite all these injuries, they continue to find
ways to win football games because they're just disa they
(35:00):
show good fundamentals, they execute well.
Speaker 4 (35:03):
Kyle Shanahan man a legit candidate for Coach of the Year.
Speaker 3 (35:07):
Man, I'm always putting Chuck on a hot seat with
these quarterback rankings. That was Quarterback Keeper presented by Snapdragon.
Learn more at snapdragon dot com slash laptops. Let's wrap
the show with our top eight in the power rankings.
This was an interesting exercise to think about the Lions
for me because in the end I had the lines
a little higher than you, like, I still had the
(35:28):
Lions over a lot of the AFC playoff teams, and
you realize, like man, even though the Lions have a
lot of issues, like a lot of these teams, I'd
throw the forty nine ers in here too. If you
put them in the AFC, they got a shot. Like
even the down Lions team like we saw, they can
put forty on a decent team like the Cowboys. So
(35:50):
at eight, but like man, if you're a Lions fan
in a down season, we think you're the eighth best
team in the league. In Week fifteen, that's not so bad.
We have the Patriots down at seven, probably low than
a lot of places do, although they were tied with
the Broncos, so ultimately those two were tied for six,
and then the Bills and the Texans tied at fourth.
(36:10):
I separated and went with my rankings, had the Bills
ahead of the Texans, but we basically had them flip
flopped in very close to each other, and then we
had the exact same one two, three, Rams, Seahawks, and Packers.
Let's actually just talk about the Bills and the Texans.
I'll talk for myself first. I thought these top four
teams in the AFC stood apart a little and they
(36:33):
basically were all in the same group. Bills, Texans, Broncos, Patriots.
That actually was my order shook. How did you feel
like you were separating these teams? And how crazy is
it that this Texans team I think was first for
you in the AFC.
Speaker 1 (36:50):
Yeah?
Speaker 5 (36:51):
No, actually know who was first being the AFC. I'm
gonna ing you for this since you're you know, Massachusetts guy.
I had the Patriots four, ok. I was shocked that
your rank dropped them all the way to seventh. But hey,
maybe I'm the homer here. It's tough to I kind
of wanted to give them credit for what they've accomplished.
I didn't necessarily and rightfully evaluated it as like, all right,
(37:12):
let's put them on a neutral field who I think
is going to win? Because that's what drove the rest
of my evaluation here with the Bills and the Texans.
Speaker 4 (37:19):
And the Broncos.
Speaker 5 (37:20):
The Bills are looking about the best that they have
all year. I think that every team in this group
is flawed in one way or another, but I do
like the momentum that they're building and the direction they're
headed in. Obviously it starts with Josh Allen, but I've
seen some interesting performances from their defense.
Speaker 4 (37:35):
They've been opportunistic, like they were against the Bengals.
Speaker 5 (37:37):
They absolutely shut down the Chiefs and they played them,
so they've had some good performances. The Texans have the
best defense in the NFL, and I think that will
travel and could beat anybody on any given day. The
Broncos are a team that I think is also headed
in the right direction. Bo Nix has encouraged me over
the last few weeks, but I do see some flaws
in them, namely in their running game, leaning too much
on our J Harvey, who's a rookie. And I know
(37:58):
that they have a good defense, but I have a
little bit of nervousness. I can't quite it's some trepidation.
I can't quite trust them in certain scenarios against other teams.
Speaker 4 (38:08):
But I still like the makeup of their team overall.
So that's why they land where they are.
Speaker 5 (38:11):
Patriots more than anything, Like I said, just rewarding them
for what they've done, and also all the faith in
the world and none other than mister Drake May of course.
Speaker 3 (38:20):
And to me, they're all very close. And if the
Patriots win this Sunday, obviously they'll be even higher on
a list like this. To me, you can't separate the much.
But I really think this whole Texans to the super
Bowl bandwagon is gonna get a lot of people on
it over the next month because they have the Cardinals
and the Raiders next, they have the Chargers offensive line
(38:42):
on the road. That's by far their hardest game of
the season left. That's actually an NFL Network exclusive game.
We have one more game this season that's a Saturday
afternoon game, and it's gonna be really interesting, and they
finish up with the phillip Rivers Colts. They are not
going to lose two more games the rest of the season.
They are gonna get to eleven and six at worst,
(39:03):
and there's a pretty decent chance they win all four
of those games. You know, it's tough to win every
week in the NFL, so you know, I could see
a surprise, but there's a real scenario they win that division,
that they are the two or the three seed, and
a lot of people are looking at that defense is
the best thing going in the AFC going into the playoffs.
Let's wrap just going over we agreed. I think it's
(39:25):
a pretty clear top three, Rams, Seahawks, Patriots. I really
think Seahawks are getting slept on a little bit nationally
as like right there with the Rams and I haven't
over the Packers, So did you as like maybe the
best team in the NFL. I know, we got to
see it with Darnold and everything, but we don't have
superpower teams this year. I think the Rams are the
(39:45):
closest to it, and they have a chance to really
prove it over the next six days here by beating
the Lions and the Seahawks. If they can do that,
they can enter the playoffs as a real deal, like
super favorite. Other than that, yeah, I think these three
teams are going to kind of be the teams going
into the NFC playoffs.
Speaker 5 (40:04):
They're going to beat the Lions just because I think
the Lions limitations are going to prevent them from keeping
up with the Rams. That Seahawks game is going to
tell us a lot about these two teams. It is
a bummer that I think the best two or three
teams in the NFL all reside in the same conference.
But it's not the first time that we've been here. However, Greg,
I would like you to enlighten the listeners and the viewers.
What was the text that I sent to you around
(40:25):
midnight Eastern on Tuesday going into Wednesday?
Speaker 3 (40:28):
You told me the Rams are going to win the
Super Bowl in some form or fashion. Yeah, I can't
remember the exact words, but that was the takeaway.
Speaker 5 (40:38):
I believe I might have ended with book it. That's
how confident I am in the Rams right now. In
a year in which every team is flawed top to
bottom in one way or another, there is, like you said,
no more complete team than the Los Angeles Rams. And yes,
I was watching them take the Cardinals behind the woodshed,
and that you know doesn't it's not a measuring stick game,
but it was one of those games where you saw
(40:58):
elite passing from Matsthugh Stafford. You saw an incredible rapport
between him and Pukaakua and him and DeVante Adams, and
you know, even the tight end group because they love
to ruin that thirteen personnel, which we know Jordan loves
to talk about and for good reason, because it makes
them so multiple and they're hard to defend. But as
a team, top to bottom, front to back, defense, offense,
special teams had a little bit of issue with kicker.
(41:21):
They just look like the strongest contender to win the
Super Bowl. It is not a situation in which I
think back to the twenty sixteen Falcons. Late in the
regular season, I was confident they were going to win
the NFC, and they did, and Matt Ryan was going
to win MVP, and he did, and ultimately they lost
that Super Bowl.
Speaker 4 (41:35):
But they're not quite there.
Speaker 5 (41:37):
But they're about as close as you can get in
this league right now to a team that gives me
that much confidence because they have the quarterback. They have
an explosive, dynamic running back in Kiraun Williams. They got
a good spell back in Blake Corum. They have an
offensive line that is absolutely dominating in the trenches. They
have talented pass catchers, they have a defense that's highly
underrated and can win the trenches as well, and all
of that combined can travel and win anywhere home on
the road, and as it stands right now, they're not
(41:58):
going to have to go on the road as long
as they beat the Seahawks in that Thursday night or
next week, that will be tough.
Speaker 3 (42:03):
We're gonna go live on YouTube next week for the
first time on Thursday Night. I think Jordan Rodriguez joining
me for that one. Shooky's got the night off, so
that's gonna be fun. Join us live. We're gonna do
something different because that's just a fun game. It matched
up schedule wise. Let's hit that music. Thank you, Shook
big week. Chuck's not done. He's gonna be back on Saturday.
(42:25):
We're doing the All Underrated Defense with the Ali Connelly.
But before that, we got a special treat in the feed.
We've mentioned it all week. I hope everyone can check
it out. Power Players with Jordan rod Reeg a new
series that we're doing that goes up on Friday. We
will see that
Host
Gregg Rosenthal
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