Week 7 MNF Doubleheader and Big Injury News

Gregg Rosenthal is joined by Nick Shook to recap the Week 7 Monday Night Football doubleheader between the Ravens and Buccaneers and the Chargers and Cardinals. The show starts off with the Ravens beating the Bucs and a break down of Lamar Jackson's elite play, followed by a look at the state of the Buccaneers after injuries to Mike Evans and Chris Godwin (11:30), and Baker Mayfield's play (20:30). After the break, the show shifts to the Chargers coming up short against the Cardinals despite a great game from Justin Herbert (29:30) and then a talk about James Connor and Kyler Murray putting the team on their back (34:30). Finally, the guys get you caught up on news from around the NFL including Jameson Williams' suspension (43:16), injury updates for Brandon Aiyuk, Jayden Daniels, Tua Tagovailoa, and DK Metcalf (45:36). 

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Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:09):
Welcome to NFL Daily, where every one of these Monday
night doubleheaders gets a little crazy. That's right, I'm here
in my garage. Nick Shook is in Ohio and his
fingers are tired after writing up these games. Ravens Bucks
a lot going on in that game early late, a

(00:31):
lot of points, and then the Chargers and the Cardinals
have a tastefully quick game but a weird ending and
a lot to talk about there.

Speaker 2 (00:40):
Welcome Shook. A long day for you.

Speaker 3 (00:43):
Yeah, you know, Greg, this is how I know you're
a writer at heart, because I didn't even mention that
to you. But that's the first thought I had as
I was preparing to jump on this show was wow,
my hands are tired after running all that up. So
thank you for noticing that. I appreciate that.

Speaker 1 (00:55):
Yes, you know, Shook's a big guy, but I can
tell when he's playing hurt.

Speaker 2 (00:59):
Let's not mess around.

Speaker 1 (01:00):
Let's start with the main event that was down in Tampa.
We'll get to the undercard Chargers in Cardinals a little later.

Speaker 4 (01:07):
On second and seventeen, Lamar to throw going deep near side.

Speaker 2 (01:11):
He's got Patement open.

Speaker 5 (01:12):
The five touchdown was shot Bateman.

Speaker 2 (01:17):
And the Ravens strike again.

Speaker 4 (01:20):
Forty nine yards from Lamar in Jackson.

Speaker 1 (01:23):
That was Jerry Sandusky and Rod Woodson on WB AL.
I missed the great celebration by Bateman the first time.
I was too busy celebrating that touchdown for my son,
who started Bateman in fantasy the char The Ravens get it.

Speaker 2 (01:41):
Done, forty one to thirty one. What a wild game.

Speaker 1 (01:46):
Lamar Jackson throws five touchdowns, matching his five incompletions. Oh,
by the way, he ran for fifty two yards. More
on that in a second, But that was just a
beautiful throw on a night full of them, full of
good decisions, full of open receivers, full of Lamar and
his offensive coordinator Todd Monkin just reading those Todd Bowles

(02:11):
blitzes before they even got to him. What a performance
there by the Ravens offense Nick after they fell down
ten nothing.

Speaker 3 (02:17):
Early, Yeah, you know all that was missing from that
call was the Hayes in the bar, and it was
because it was too early. But I'll tell you what,
when I saw that touchdown pass, I said, good night Buccaneers,
because the Ravens were not about to be stopped on
Monday night, Year two, the Todd Monkin offense is in
full force in a game like this. Consider their first
possession of that game, they had to punt. They got
blitzed twice. They didn't have an answer for it. After that,

(02:39):
the Ravens went touchdown, touchdown, field goal, field goal, touchdown, touchdown.
They scored thirty four unanswered points. They were an absolute
machine and most of that didn't even involve Derrick Henry.
It was the Lamar Jackson show. They were making it work.
In the passing game, he was taken off running. They
could not be stopped. And folks, if you had any

(02:59):
questions about the Ravens, I know we can sound hyperbolic
when it comes to this team because they could be
so impressive on nights like this, But I'm telling you
right now you have a leader for MVP. His name
is Lamar Jackson.

Speaker 1 (03:08):
Oh yeah, there's no question he's gone to another level.
It's crazy because he's won two MVPs. But the way
that he won his first MVP was so unique and
it was incredible to watch, nothing quite like it in
NFL history. And yet even when it was happening, you

(03:30):
knew you can't probably like live like this. Your whole career,
and it was why Greg Roman, who was not lost
on me, is part of This Night's Adventures too, while
coaching up the Chargers and they're kind of stillborn offense
in Arizona, and meanwhile, Lamar Jackson is in a much
better offense for him. So that was the first MVP.

(03:52):
Then last year playing outstanding on the best team in
the league, and it just was a year where, let's
be real, there wasn't like perfect MVP candidates and he
was the best one because he's probably the best quarterback
in the league in a year where there just wasn't
anyone standing out and they were the best team. But
right now, I think mentally physically, he's certainly running the

(04:13):
ball better, and I think he's making better decisions, and
there just aren't as many inaccurate throws from Lamar Jackson.
And when he plays a defense that has some holes
in it, like this Tampa Bay Buccaneer secondary does when
they blitz and they don't get home, I mean, he
just trashes them. It's kind of amazing to think the
old book against Lamar Jackson was, oh, well, he can't

(04:36):
really handle the blitz, like go cover zero against Lamar Jackson.
He went eleven for fifteen for one hundred and sixty
six yards and three touchdowns against the Blitz. He is
second in the NFL this season in success rate against
the Blitz, behind only Patrick Mahomes, who's also pretty good
and probably will be heard from in this MVP race.

Speaker 3 (04:55):
Yeah, you know, in my notes about Lamar last week,
it was, you know, he's really take and his passing
game to the next level, like he's become a very
accurate passer. That was like the knock, oh, we can't
throw the football. Well, he could throw the football and
last year, you know, you compare MVP seasons if this
is going to be an MVP season for him as well.
It was about the Zay Flower Show when it came
to the passing game because they lost Mark Andrews and
Zay Flowers really stepped in well tonight. Zay gets one

(05:17):
catch for eleven yards and then disappears because he gets
a little banged up, and it becomes the Rashad Bateman Show.
Four catches for one hundred and twenty one yards. Mark
Andrews gets four catches for forty one yards and two touchdowns.
Him and Bateman combined for three touchdowns. Overall, it doesn't
matter who's running routes or who's open, Lamar is going
to get it to him on target. And that's not
even accounting for his running game. And that's why they've
taken this entire offense, and Lamar has elevated himself to

(05:39):
a whole new level. And what makes them so scary
to play against because you can't just blitz him anymore.
There is no simple blueprint to stop this offense.

Speaker 1 (05:47):
I mean, they are just an absolute wagon. We're going
to get to the really heartbreaking ending to this game,
which included Chris Godwin's injury, in a minute, but I
kind of want to set up what led to that
point because you mentioned, yeah, the game fell over after
that Bateman touchdown. But after that was Derrick Henry's crazy

(06:08):
long run down the field, which I just assumed it
was going to be a touchdown because you didn't see
a defender. I think it was Zion mccollin, you know,
on the screen the whole time he flies in because
he had the angle. But yes, it was an eighty
one yard run. Let's actually listen to that one.

Speaker 4 (06:23):
Derrick Henry is the deep back of the offset eye
recard in front of him, Lamar under center, give us
the Henry left side breaks to the line across the
fifth Blake right, tellas how's midfield. The train is rolling
Peter by twenty fifteen and he's taking off his feet
at the ten. Derrick Henry flips the field with.

Speaker 1 (06:43):
One run, yes, eighty one yards and Rod Woodson, I
don't blame him. I assumed that Derek Henry was gone too.
And let's fly up that tweet that you had, Eric Roberts.
If you're watching on YouTube, and really check us out
on YouTube, subscribe, Like we really appreciate that we been
growing the audience there, and we obviously loved the audio

(07:03):
audience the most. You guys are our people, but it's
cool either way. And you can see how Derek Henry
reached a top speed of twenty one point seventy two
miles per hour That was the third fastest of his
entire career and the fifth fastest by a ball carrier
this season. Yeah, McCollum was even faster. Often called the

(07:24):
most athletic guy on that Bucks team, which is saying something.
So that's the type of effort it would take to
catch up with him. But that set up Mark Andrews's
second touchdown, which by the way, was part of him
becoming the all time receiving touchdowns leader in Raven's history.

Speaker 2 (07:41):
So much was happening in this game.

Speaker 1 (07:42):
That was just like an afterthought they mentioned as a
little lower third. That's pretty cool a pad passed Todd
Heap as the leader in Raven's history.

Speaker 2 (07:51):
And yeah, at that point, it's thirty four to ten.

Speaker 1 (07:54):
Right after that, actually shook was Lamar Jackson kind of
losing his mind and throwing backwards pass with just an
inaccurate pass that turns out to be a fumble that
we thought was returned by McCollum but eventually was just
ruled a fumble and that he was down, and the
Buccaneers get a touchdown and then they score another touchdown.

Speaker 2 (08:15):
So when you were going through all your.

Speaker 1 (08:17):
Touchdown, touch up, touch a touch up field goal, you
had to stop because there was that.

Speaker 2 (08:20):
Fumble in the mix.

Speaker 1 (08:22):
But then there was another touchdown drive which was led
by even more Derrick Henry. This one two punch, it's
it's just crazy. It's just like it's I've never seen
anything quite like it. Like it's just awesome as a
football fan, it's like, you know, you're watching a moment
in time, kind of like that first Lamar Jackson MVP season.
This can't go forever these two at this level, but

(08:44):
right now it's just ridiculous and there is every reason
to believe it can continue all season.

Speaker 3 (08:49):
Yeah, and what's scary about that is Dereck Henry was
having a quiet night At one point a graphic flash
in the screen that showed he had five carries for
I think like twenty two yards or something like that,
and they were still putting up points. He ends with
fifteen care for one sixty nine. This can jump up
and get you at any point in the game. It
can be the closer, the knockout punch, even when you
least expected. That's how dangerous this duo is.

Speaker 1 (09:10):
Yeah, and that that second touchdown that he scored Derrick Henry,
not that he set up, rather that made it forty
one to fourteen. I actually think that's an important moment
in the game because that was the moment that it
was over. It was forty one to eighteen. The only
reason the Bucks had even gotten those eight points there

(09:32):
after thirty four straight by the Ravens was Lamar set
them up on a short field. There's under nine minutes
to go, and I thought at that point Todd Bowles
might just pull his starters, because you know, that's what
a twenty three point lead with nine minutes to go.
It was a very physical night. There were a lot

(09:53):
of injuries. Mike Evans had already left this game with
a hamstring injury. He actually dropped a potential touchdown pass
after he got his one hundredth career touchdown.

Speaker 3 (10:04):
To start the scoring. Also a footnote right.

Speaker 1 (10:08):
Like his one hundredth career receiving touchdown. It's a little
confusing because he had his one hundredth total touchdown a
couple of weeks ago on a primetime game, but this
was a one hundredth receiving second drive. The Bucks are
trying to go up fourteen to nothing after a couple
of good defensive series and he drops a pass and
he hurts his hamstring. He came into the game with

(10:28):
the injury. You could tell he was limping around even
on the sideline. Some questions maybe should they have let
him keep playing in that game? But a lot of injuries.
Tyke Smith had a concussion, Marlon Humphrey had a knee
injury and just people were hitting it's hot there. I
just was like, maybe they're gonna pull their guys. They
don't pull their guys. Baker Mayfield starts that next drive
and we'll get to Mayfield's night by throwing a ball

(10:52):
right at one of the Ravens defenders. I think it
was our Darius Washington. It goes right through our Darius
Washington's hand and Kate Aten catches it on his shoulder somehow.
Is a truly remarkable catch, and they end up scoring
a touchdown on that drive. Like I said, it was
forty one to eighteen. I thought they'd just pulled their starters. Okay,

(11:12):
they score there, maybe you pull it then, no, let's
go for an on side kick.

Speaker 2 (11:17):
They get the on side kick. It's perfectly executed.

Speaker 1 (11:20):
And I bring all that up, Nick, because they scored
another touchdown and it all led to this sequence where
it's forty one to thirty one.

Speaker 2 (11:28):
With a minute to go and it's over.

Speaker 1 (11:31):
They have the whole field to go and Chris Godwin
dislocates his ankle and it was like a sickening moment,
and they didn't show the replay because it looks so bad.
But if you rewound your television, which I did enough
to just see like it was a dislocated ankle, the

(11:51):
team announced after the game, that tells you all you
need to know. I just started going through all the
moments that led to that point that Todd Bowles should
not have had his starters out there necessarily, but also
just all the bad luck that it took for them
to even be playing in that moment. And it sucks, man,
because Chris Godwin's one of my favorite players. He's a

(12:11):
lot of people's favorite players on that Bucks team certainly,
and it looked like a season ending injury for a
guy who was really having a career season.

Speaker 3 (12:19):
Yeah, you know, a guy who caught a fifty five
yard pass for a touchdown last week, primarily because he
caught it and ran fifty five yards for a touchdown,
Like he's a game breaking player, and him and Evans
together make for one of the best, you know, one
to two punches at receiver in the NFL. Once they
lost Evans, that offense, you know, entered a rut because,
as we've learned tonight, if you didn't already know, Baker
Mayfield relies heavily on Mike Evans, so then he's gonna

(12:41):
rely on Chris Godwin. He's going to attract all the
defensive attention. But all this comes back to the point that,
in a rare moment, getting the onside kick actually worked
out poorly for the team that got the on side kick,
because it gave them the hope or the opportunity to
keep pushing forward and leaving those guys on the field
when with the benefit of hindsight, we know that they
shouldn't have been out there. We didn't know he was
gonna get hurt. But you don't get that onside kick,

(13:01):
they're not out there and it doesn't matter. But because
they got it, they kept pushing forward and trying to
win a game that they obviously weren't going to win,
and now the worst possible result has come from it.

Speaker 1 (13:10):
Right, Let's listen to Todd Bowles answering a lot of
pointed questions after the game about Godwin's injury.

Speaker 6 (13:17):
He's a player, was trying to win the ball game.
I mean we were still down ten with trying to
get extra points and kick another onside kick. It just happened.
It might going down. We have that many receiver receivers
left as it was, so we play what we got.

Speaker 1 (13:32):
Bulls kept going around in circles on that, and I
understand what he was saying. I think there are shades
of gray here. Ryan Clark was on after the game
on SVP on ESPN, explaining that this is how football works.
You played to the end. You're trying to win. You
were down thirty four to ten. You don't want to

(13:53):
sound like you're giving up on your players. They want
to be out there, they want to win. I do
think you can protect your players. Like I said, I
was thinking about it with six and a half minutes left.
This drives me crazy each and every week that these
teams who do all these things in the preseason and
during the regular season to prevent injuries then just have

(14:13):
players out there in hopeless situations. Late when he got hurt,
there was one minute to go, they were down two scores.

Speaker 2 (14:22):
I think they were out of timeouts.

Speaker 1 (14:23):
They might add one, and they had ninety yards to go, like,
there's no chance, there's no chance to win that game.
In that point at John Harbaugh had already put in
Josh Johnson. I think it's worth mentioning he had kind
of raised the you know, white flag, saying, hey, you
just want to end this thing, because you know they

(14:43):
got the ball around midfield after another field on sidekick
and they were up ten. The Bucks had their timeouts,
they decided to use them, but Josh Johnson came in
to just hand the ball off because John Harbaugh wasn't
messing around. I disagree with Todd Bowles. I think you
get the ball in that situation a minute thirty left,
you don't have a chance to win, especially after the

(15:03):
first couple of plays, and it takes a lot, and
it's bad luck, certainly, and it's football players getting hurt
playing football. But I think he could have called off
the Dogs a couple series before.

Speaker 3 (15:15):
Yeah, and again we're operating with the benefit of hindsight now.
But to do use a cross sport comparison, I think
it was the late Ayrton Senna who once said, as
soon as you see a gap as a racer and
you don't go for it, you're no longer a racer.
And that just speaks to the competitor in everybody, and
especially in football, which you need to be the ultimate
competitor to not only win but survive. It's just that
you got the worst possible outcome from this, and one

(15:36):
that could absolutely, you know, derail your season, especially after
you lost Mike Evans to a hamstring injury. And it's
gonna hurt for them, Like it's gonna hurt for them
beyond the fact that they saw what happened on the
field and they all realized in that moment, Oh man,
why do we even risk this. It's gonna hurt for
them long term and it is unfortunate, but again, it
still is football.

Speaker 2 (15:54):
Yeah.

Speaker 1 (15:56):
I just I'm such a fan of Godwin since he
first came into the league when when he was playing
with Jamis. He's the type of receiver I like you meant.
We were talking before the show you mentioned and Kuon Bolden,
we were like, who has the Ravens receiving touchdown record? No,
he wasn't there long enough, And Godwin almost reminded me
of like a smaller an Kwon Bolden, but so tough

(16:16):
in the way that he plays, and injuries affect players differently,
and he took so long to really become the player
that he was after. I believe it was a torn
acl right that that he was coming back from a
couple years ago, and you thought, oh, you're you're never
going to see that Chris Godwin again.

Speaker 2 (16:35):
That's too bad.

Speaker 1 (16:36):
And then here he was coming into this week leading
the NFL in receptions, leading the NFL in yak, third
in receiving yards.

Speaker 2 (16:46):
He he wasn't.

Speaker 1 (16:47):
It's it's weird to call him the one and Mike
Evans the two because of the roles that they play,
but in terms of production, like he was the number
one receiver on the Tampa Bay Buccaneers, He's also in
a contract year, and just all that combine it. I
think that's part of the anger that people had about

(17:08):
Todd Bowles, and maybe some of that even from me,
I tweeted something is a little unfair. I think the
overall point about garbage time playing is something that like
teams I think will get better at over time. They
really haven't. But I do think that's something that is
dumb that so many teams do. But it's also just disappointing.
It's also disappointing for this Bucks team, who plays the

(17:28):
Falcons next week almost certainly going to be without Mike
Evans and Chris god When you would think Evans is
going to be a week to week type of injury.
They have Trey Palmer, they have Jalen McMillan was back
for this game. They have Sterling Shephard's that's their wide
receiver crew, so good luck.

Speaker 3 (17:44):
Yeah, that takes a lot of the punch out of
this offense, which was liable to blow up at any
time for a huge number of points, just as the
Saints how that went last week because they learned very
quickly that this offense can put up a ton of points.
And now you take that out of there. We knew
the running game, which has been up and down, has
gotten better in recent weeks, but was a big point
of emphasis going into the season. That's why they invested
in Bucky Irving. Sehn Tucker had a breakout game last week,

(18:05):
like the balance was coming, but the threat was always
the passing game started with Baker Mayfield, but it really
relied on those two guys. You take those two guys
out of the equation, suddenly that ceiling is so much lower,
and suddenly the NFC South race gets very interesting because
the Buccaneers no longer look like the best team in
the division if they can't put up points at that
rate without these guys.

Speaker 1 (18:21):
It's why gambling's crazy. We're not allowed to gamble, yeah,
you know, as NFL employees, And that's saved us a
lot of heartache. And I don't know how people do
it over the years, but I am thinking about like
they're over, Like I picked them to win the division.
I like this Bucks team, and I really liked their

(18:41):
over under two And when this game started, I think
it was a very typical Bucks game for this season,
like when they look good, they look good.

Speaker 3 (18:50):
You know.

Speaker 1 (18:51):
They came out and Baker's eleven for thirteen to starting
the game, and they ran the ball well all night,
Like if they could have kept the lead, they could
have run the ball I think more consistently, but they
just got in a game script where they had to stop.
But for the most part, they've kind of figured out
their running game. The defense is another matter, and they
have injuries there and they're playing the Ravens and they

(19:12):
probably always were gonna lose this game. But this is
a team that I think could win the division because
they're pretty balanced, but mostly because they're a good offense,
and I think Liam Cohen has done a really nice
job this year overall accentuating Baker's strengths and getting a
lot out of out of the weapons that they have,

(19:32):
and they do have weapons. You saw Kate Atten went
for one hundred yards tonight, and now like maybe Evans
gets back one hundred percent in a couple of weeks
and they they'll still be fighting.

Speaker 2 (19:41):
It's not like their season is over.

Speaker 1 (19:43):
But if if Evans and Godwin are out, you know,
if god Win's out for the season, Evan's out for
three weeks, it's like that that might be enough that
that capsizes your season. Forget forget your over unders, forget
your division, forget your team that's more important.

Speaker 3 (19:56):
Yeah, it's gonna be a real test that Baker Mayfield
as a quarterback too, because we know he had that
great season last year. He got paid for it and
everything else. Everything's turning up for him, right, But you
take away his top two targets, it's gonna get harder
for any quarterback. Just ask Matthew Stafford how it's been
with the Rams. But this is going to be a
real test of how he can make do with it.
Because as soon as Evans left the field and they
were in that gold to go situation, he threw that
interception in the end zone. I realized for the first time,

(20:17):
Baker doesn't know what to do when all else fails.
Before it was thrown up to Mike Evans. Well, now
he doesn't have that guy out there, bro right to
Marlon Humphrey. I'm glad we got to this point because.

Speaker 2 (20:32):
Patrick Claibn's MVP candidate, Baker Mayfield was bad in this game.
Like he was straight up bad.

Speaker 1 (20:39):
And it's funny because he had a monster fantasy night
in the end because of those third quarter, those fourth
quarter touchdowns. He ends up with three touchdowns and three
hundred and seventy yards along with two interceptions. But after
that fast start, and it's almost emblematic of Baker's career,
he was like kind of collapsing in on himself for
a couple of quarters. He was sacking himself. The two

(21:02):
interceptions were just total panic plays where he didn't know
what to do on that end zone interception and then
the second one, it was such a bad interception that.

Speaker 2 (21:15):
Marlon Humphrey got hurt on it.

Speaker 1 (21:17):
Yeah, because two Ravens were fighting over the ball because
they both were gonna get it, and he could have
been intercepted a couple more times, and he just he
hit a play early where he improvised and he made
something happen while just running around. I was like, oh,
that's almost dangerous when he hits one of those early,
because then he just started doing it and he was
kind of running in circles and it was the bad
Baker and you see these pop up, and he's mostly

(21:39):
kept this down in Tampa, but you see it pop
up for a couple quarters at a time, and it
was kind of a rough watch there for a couple quarters,
and it makes me a little worried about what's going
to happen without the.

Speaker 3 (21:50):
Yes And I'm telling you a lot of that has
to do with the fact that Evans isn't on the field,
because the first half of last season it was chuck
and pray and usually it worked out for them, and
it got them on track when nothing else is working
that would work for them. The game script in the
situation also affected them, the fact that they had to
suddenly dig out of this deficit. They couldn't lean on
the running game, and he takes away his best receiver.
Where's he going to go now? And that's just what
I fear could be the outcome for them In the

(22:11):
next couple of weeks.

Speaker 2 (22:12):
He was creatiant though he was holding the ball. It
was it was driving me a little crazy. Yeah.

Speaker 3 (22:16):
Yeah, it's that weakness and it's him getting beat by
underneath the zone like Robber cover one. Robber has always
been his achilles heel for his entire career. It's those
two things that have held him back, right, So they Yeah,
I mentioned the two interceptions. Yeah, there could have been
two more, and they were both on basically what you're
talking about, him not seeing the underneath defender. I know
he've gone a long time on this game, but I
find it kind of very interesting. Just a couple more

(22:38):
points I want to get to before we leave it.
I mentioned Marlon Humphrey. He had that injury, knee injury.

Speaker 1 (22:42):
That's important for the Ravens, who you know their defense
is a little up and down, but certainly finished off
this game well that. I think the defensive line is
really good.

Speaker 3 (22:53):
Yeah, they had a nice bounce back because early in
this game it looked like, oh man, here they go. There.
They'd struggle to communicate, they're caught out of alignment on
the touchdown pass to Mike Evans. Buccaneers are going up tempo.
They're catching them by surprise. But they were able to
bounce back. Probably for the first time this entire season,
I saw this Ravens defense legitimately pick themselves up off
the mat and turn into performance. That makes me think, Oh,

(23:15):
the potential is there. They're lacking some pieces, some guys
have gotten hurt zach Orrs, the first year defensive coordinator.
But for the first time this season, I was like, Oh,
this Ravens defense can't actually get the job done. Because
those stops they got in the middle of this game
were a big part of why the Ravens could put
up so many points. The Buccaneers offense wasn't on the
field played in simple I.

Speaker 2 (23:32):
Think they're I think their front is good.

Speaker 1 (23:33):
I mean they stopped the run, and Mattabique and a
Dafe always stepped up.

Speaker 2 (23:39):
Kyle Vanoy's doing his thing. There's obviously roku on there.

Speaker 1 (23:42):
I think they're a little deeper upfront than than people expected,
and they're good upfront on both lines. Like their offensive
line is really improved, Like we're talking about Derrick Henry
getting these big lanes to run through.

Speaker 2 (23:56):
It's cohesive.

Speaker 1 (23:57):
When they have the option plays and Lamar chooses to run,
it's just like the easiest eight yards and that's been
true his whole career. But that does take some cohesion
that wasn't there the first couple weeks of the season.
And then Ronnie Stanley, I wanted to point out, didn't
give up a pressure in this entire game despite all
those blitzes. That's amazing. Zero pressures. He has given up
zero sacks all season. Next ten stat says he's the

(24:21):
only guy with fifty like pass sets to do that,
and he you know, he's like a couple hundred or
whatever at this point, so he's playing out of his mind.
I believe he's in a contract year too, so some
guys are getting paid there. This is the best team
in football right now. I don't think there's any question.
I know that Chiefs fans would disagree, but I just
think right now, neutral field, who you're taking, it doesn't

(24:44):
make a difference. Ravens fans know that like that that
crown is meaningless, but right now they're the best team
in football.

Speaker 3 (24:50):
Yeah, at least visually speaking. The Chiefs offense is slow
and methodical, and the Ravens can put up points in bunches. Yeah, absolutely,
But it's really just.

Speaker 1 (24:57):
Like being able to do it all. Lamar is doing
it all. He's got the coach to match. And yeah,
that was a fun night, even though it was one
sided by the end, it was a lot of fun
at least until that late injury. So prayers for Chris Godwin.
We'll be thinking to him. We're also thinking of the

(25:17):
Cardinals and the Chargers. We haven't even gotten to the
other game tonight.

Speaker 2 (25:20):
We'll do that.

Speaker 3 (25:21):
After the breath.

Speaker 7 (25:31):
First down of the forty four of LA good response
by the Cardinals. Murray under center, trying to pay off
this drive of a touchdown back to throw off play
action deep in the pocket, stepping up, moving left, taking
off running far side.

Speaker 8 (25:42):
Forty five, forty gets past the defender of the thirty
farside twenty he will walk in ten five touchdown Tyler
Murray a forty four yard touchdown run. And as soon
as he got past the defender on the far side
of about the thirty.

Speaker 1 (25:57):
That was all Steve Road KMV Dave Pass on the call.
I was waiting to hear Ron Wolfley's voice coming there
with a little excitement. Dave Pass wasn't kidding, it wasn't
He wasn't the only one that knew, was all she wrote.
Kyler Burry did it again. He lifted up his arm
at about the forty yard line. That's three touchdowns this year.

(26:20):
He's called in the middle of the play like thirty
yards out.

Speaker 2 (26:24):
I love this man. I mean, he's having a weird season.

Speaker 1 (26:27):
It's not even that good, but kind of like this game,
not that good, but good enough for the Cardinals. They
win it seventeen to fifteen on a night the Chargers
didn't get a touchdown, and yes, the Cardinals did get
a game winning field goal from our old friend Chad Ryland.

(26:49):
And yet our producer Eric Roberts really making a stamp
on this show. He's killing it this season with his baby.
His Dodgers are in the World Series. He says, hey,
there's no rule you have to put the game winning
field goal as the radio call. It wasn't that exciting,
it wasn't that special. It was a chip shot. I'm
putting my stamp on this show. I'm making it the
Kyler Murray touchdown call. I agree, that's more memorable. What

(27:11):
do you think, Nick, It's artistic integrity right there.

Speaker 3 (27:14):
I mean, who else would would come through and say,
you know what, the best play was the Kyler. This
game didn't have a lot of great plays, Greg and
look we have the with Tody's right, worst throws of
the year. Have about a nominee here for worst pursuit
angle of the year. Those of you watching on YouTuber
saw it. Chargers linebacker Junior Colson, He's a rookie for Michigan.
Terrible pursued angle got roasted on the broadcast. He was

(27:34):
the last line of defense on that touchdown run. Made
it too easy for Kyler.

Speaker 1 (27:37):
Okay, I was texting with with Mina today about that,
about that Junior Colson is unplayable. Mina chimes and she
was like, you're way too invested in this Chargers defense,
and I am. I had this this right, friendly gentleman's
you know, wager that they would finish at least in
the top twenty of the DVOA defense of this year

(28:00):
with Mina and look, they're going to do that easily.
They're in the top five right now. But I've been
watching Junior Colson week after week and like, they can't
play them. Day on, Henley's pretty good and Junior Colson
is killing me week after Let's actually bring in Eric. Eric,
you can put yourself on the camera here, because you know,
first of all, you you wanted this highlight in it's

(28:21):
big moment for you.

Speaker 2 (28:22):
And then you said you hated this game. This game
was annoying you. Why? Why? What's with the hate?

Speaker 9 (28:27):
I think just maybe because I had the Bucks and
the Ravens. I think it was maybe maybe there was.
It was the only game going on at that time.
You know, it's okay, yeah, I love it, but I
think every time, and you know what really bugged me
was the ticker in the top corner of the Buccaneers
Ravens game. I'd look up and it's like three zero
three zero six nine. That's just I think the comparison

(28:50):
is what got me today. There was so much a
dumb scorers.

Speaker 1 (28:52):
And I'm with you, I'm you know, I'm I believe
in you, Eric, and I'm going to listen to your guidance.
And if you say that call wasn't worth it.

Speaker 3 (29:02):
I mean, how can a Dodger fan who's used all
these home runs be happy with field goals? I totally
get it.

Speaker 1 (29:08):
Here's where I will push back. I think this was
a good game. I mean it was memorable in that Yes,
it was so perfect that it was like the ESPN
Plus Undercard game, and it's like the ultimate Justin Herbert game.
This was Justin Herbert's career game because he absolutely balled

(29:31):
out in this game. For anyone that didn't watch the
first two and a half three quarters closely, if you
put this on your game pass or on your NFL
Pro and I kind of want to rewatch it almost
because I did start going back through every single play yet,
and I'm like, my god, Justin Herbert's playing like one

(29:52):
of the best games I've seen anyone.

Speaker 2 (29:54):
Play all year.

Speaker 1 (29:55):
He threw for over three hundred and fifty yards, He
had dime after dime after dime. His receivers were dropping
so many passes, and so you think that Justin Herbert, Okay,
Justin Herbert's playing the best he's certainly played all year. Yeah,
three hundred and forty nine yards twenty seven for thirty
nine despite all those drops, and yet they don't even

(30:17):
score a freaking touchdown. Yeah, they're on ESPN Plus and
they lose on a last second field goal where there's
like controversial non calls and controversial penalties.

Speaker 2 (30:28):
Like this was Justin Herbert's career in a nutshell.

Speaker 1 (30:31):
And oh, by the way, he has like Greg Roman
as an ankle weight as his offensive coordinator.

Speaker 2 (30:36):
That's it. It's Justin Herbert's career.

Speaker 3 (30:39):
Greg Roman, who is known for scheming up a good
running game, and their leading rushers tonight finishes with forty
yards on fourteen carries. The entire onus was on the
shoulders of Justin Herbert, and like you said, he balled out.
And then it was Lad McConkey dropping passes, and it
was Seemy Filoko dropping passes, and anybody with the ball
within the catch radios dropping passes. It was so frustrating.

(30:59):
It rote in to what we learned. It was nine numbing.
Like I'm just sitting here shouting at the screen. Somebody
make a freaking play. The one guy who made a
play early in this game, Jalen Rager, catches a beautiful
deep ball from Justin Herbert and immediately fubbles it into
the end zone. That's the Chargers offense in a nutshell
this season. It drives me insane.

Speaker 1 (31:16):
Here's the thing, so I thought, after last week's game, Oh,
Justin Herbert is about to go on one.

Speaker 2 (31:23):
Not to pat myself on the back, but.

Speaker 3 (31:24):
No, well, known to do that. Here you go, here's
a pet.

Speaker 1 (31:28):
And I really thought he came out of the by
looking like Justin Herbert from twenty twenty one, twenty two,
you know, most of twenty three, like when he's healthy,
and he just wasn't that guy for most of this
year because he was playing through injuries and it's a
new offense and they're playing very conservative. I was like, Oh,
he's planting on the back foot, he's throwing some passes downfield,

(31:49):
he's moving better, he's looking like Justin Herbert.

Speaker 2 (31:52):
And so I think you saw that tonight.

Speaker 1 (31:53):
So I think Chargers fans should be very frustrated with
this loss. And yet I do think there is some
hope that, yeah, there's not a lot of good receivers
around him, maybe they'll trade for Mike Williams or trade
for someone else that can help. It's not a great
sign that will Disley goes eight for eighty one. He's
their leading receiver with eleven eleven targets, and like mcconkey's

(32:15):
banged up and he's playing through it, and Josh Palmer's
banged up and he's playing through.

Speaker 2 (32:20):
It, and they're just not explosive.

Speaker 1 (32:22):
But I do think this is the best Herbert's played
easily back to back weeks now. And this was a
really good game because it wasn't just that they were
dropping these easy short passes. He was making some nice
opposite hash field throws to the sideline that make you believe, like, Okay,
this offense is coming along. They got to keep improving

(32:43):
because if they do improve and the running game can
be better than tonight and it was terrible tonight, like
shockingly terrible, then they might have something because they have
a pretty good defense.

Speaker 3 (32:53):
Yeah, and I'll get the Cardinals defense some credit too,
because they made a few nice pass breakups and contests
on catches that could have been catches and end up
being any completions because the drops or breakups whatever. But
when you look at them from an offense as a
whole standpoint, this is still just reminds me way too
much of where they've been for most of this year,
which is a low stealing when it comes to scoring.
I mean, five field goals accounts for your fifteen points.

(33:13):
They're in a third and short situation late in the game,
in field goal range, and they opt for a low
percentage jump ball to the end zone. And the receiver
never even runs the full route so much that Jim
Harbaugh is complaining about pass interference. They picked up the
flag because the ball was uncatchab because he wasn't within range.
Why are you not treating that like two downs or
at least draining some more clock if you're going to
kick the go ahead field goal in the final two

(33:34):
minutes of a game. It's an approach issue for the
Chargers in my opinion, especially when the running game doesn't work.
This offense struggles justin Herbert plays well and they still
struggle and they still lose. But my biggest concern with
them greg This defense, which is supposed to be tough,
which you just talked about, is going to finish, you know,
up in the top twenty or maybe top ten in DVA.
They crumble down the stretch. They didn't lose in time
of possession. They weren't gassed. Okay, they let a Cardinals

(33:56):
offense go right down the field and kick the game
winning field goal.

Speaker 2 (33:58):
I mean they gave up seven ten points.

Speaker 3 (34:01):
Put in the clutch. They weren't there in the clutch.
That was James Connor catches the pass for thirty three
yards to set up the game winning field goal. That's unacceptable.

Speaker 2 (34:10):
Fair.

Speaker 1 (34:11):
That was a mistackle by the guy. I just gave
some flowers to Dayon Henley. It was a tough It
was a tough play. Kyler Murray makes a good play,
makes something out of nothing, buying a little extra time.

Speaker 2 (34:24):
It was just one.

Speaker 1 (34:25):
It was kind of like some plays that Lamar Jackson
was making tonight to me, where he just changes the
angle and changes the geometry, where that extra second he
holds the ball just changes the angles and it's tough.
James Connor is freaking awesome. Everyone should apologize if they
got on Jordan Rodrige the athletic for putting him on
our All Pro team before the season, because man, I

(34:47):
just I just love watching this guy play. And Connor
was the key tonight and him breaking that tackle what
was a thirty three yard game. He had another eighteen
yard catch, so he was their leading receiver despite a
lot of in early two catches, and he had one
hundred and one yards and they were hard earned yards.

Speaker 2 (35:04):
And they didn't have it.

Speaker 1 (35:05):
Always are a ton of offense, but they had enough offense.
Like the scheme seems a little off compared to what
we expected. You know it, but they Kyler Murray and
James Connor made enough good individual plays.

Speaker 3 (35:18):
Yeah, there are some simple truths to this Cardinals offense.
If James James Connor is cooking, they have a shot
to win a game. If James Connor is not cooking,
third down is gonna be a miserable viewing experience for everybody,
because that's usually what it is for them. It's third
and long and it's Kyler just being asked to be
a hero. Luckily they avoided that after that some early
stretches of that tonight because Connor got going, they got

(35:39):
to halftime and I think their combined r yards total
was a little bit over one hundred. Him and Murray
end up with over two fifty by the end of
the game because they really came on strong in the
second half, and in a game like this, that was
the difference. Again, not aesthetically pleasing in terms of points scored,
but for those of you who appreciate throwbacks like James
Connor and tough football, you'll enjoy watching this game.

Speaker 1 (35:59):
Hey, and a run quarterback like Kyler Murray who can
just rip off a forty four yarder and had another
key scramble and they pointed out is accurate in the
red zone, and they were saying, how confident Kyler is that,
Like he gets so locked in the red zone. I
love Kyler's confidence. He's just he's so freaking confident and like,
if you're his height and you're gonna be one of

(36:22):
the best, Like, yeah, let's say ten to twelve in
the world at what he does, like, you better be confident.

Speaker 2 (36:29):
And he's had like an okay season.

Speaker 1 (36:31):
I wouldn't even say it's been up and down because
it's been mostly just at a simmering level of like okayness.
He had that one great game against the Rams, and
otherwise it's just been like okay, Like he's not playing poorly,
he's I think he's a little more under control than
he used to be. Him and Marvin Harrison, though, can't
get on the same page. I don't know if it's
Harrison or what. The broadcast crew is really getting on

(36:55):
the Cardinals for not feed him more. And then they
were showing him have really poor effort on some of
his routes and they're like, yeah, look at this poor effort.

Speaker 2 (37:04):
See, you got to feed him more. So he doesn't have.

Speaker 1 (37:06):
This poor effort, and I'm thinking like, hey, how about
not have the poor effort, Like, okay, how about run
your routes.

Speaker 3 (37:12):
That's right. But I also think that Harrison comes from
a place at Ohio State where he was the guy
and he had a quarterback in Kyle McCord who was
basically told throw to Marvin, no matter what he could be,
double throw to Marvin. He's in the NFL now where
he's not getting the same attention. So it's not that
feed him throughout the game. It's get him going early,
get him into a rhythm. I mean, he finished this
to night with six targets. He's got three catches for
twenty one yards. He drops a ball thrown between double

(37:33):
coverage on that final drive in which they did go
down and kick the game winning field goal. He just
wasn't a part of the offense. And this offense is
limited enough, especially when the running games is not going,
that you got to get him going if you're gonna
beat a team that's better than the Chargers defensively. So
I can understand the concern. I would love to see
him ball out because I know he's got the talent
for it, but I think he got to get him
going early.

Speaker 1 (37:53):
I agree, but he's a rookie receiver that for whatever reason,
like it's not all there yet. It's not Malik Neighbors.
I don't think it's Brian Thomas yet. And you can say, like,
let's feed him. I mean they have been. They've thrown
the ball to him thirty seven times in six games
before tonight. Yeah, that's that's over. You know what is

(38:14):
that's over six per game. I guess that's not crazy.
But he's only caught seventeen of those throws. Now, some
of that is on Kyler, but it just hasn't been
an efficient play for them, and sometimes they have just
been forcing it to him that I don't get his
usage though, Like they're just using him as if he's
Ted Gin and that's not really who he is. It's
just like there's a there was a stat of like

(38:37):
who's furthest down the field within a couple seconds of
the play starting, and Harrison is among the lead leasers,
So that means like his average route.

Speaker 2 (38:47):
Is just going deep, deep, deep.

Speaker 1 (38:50):
Another player in this game was also in the top
five of this stat. I would give you ten guesses,
and I don't think you would get it.

Speaker 3 (38:56):
But I'm going to get you guess which which team
is he on? Is he on the Cardinals Chargers?

Speaker 1 (39:00):
I mean, I don't wanna I said, I said, another
receiver in this game, and you can't guess it is
in the top five of this stat And the stat
if we haven't lost all of our listeners and viewers,
is like how far you are down the field after
I think two seconds or three seconds something like that?

Speaker 3 (39:17):
Come on, is he Greg Georg No? But decent, don't
don't do not tell me it's Jalen Riger.

Speaker 1 (39:23):
It's it's Seemiko, Yeah, which Herbert loves to throw to him,
whether reason one on one or not.

Speaker 2 (39:30):
It's a burner.

Speaker 1 (39:30):
And but basically all that says is like, that's you're
just running like nine routes.

Speaker 2 (39:34):
You're just running, You're just running down.

Speaker 3 (39:36):
That still doesn't make a lot of sense.

Speaker 1 (39:38):
It doesn't make a lot of sense for Marvin Harrison.
And they got to get that going. And you mentioned
the call that they didn't make for the Chargers, and
you also mentioned the call that that went against the
Chargers on that hit to the head of Harrison, which
it was a it was a tough call. Tough couple
of calls went against the Chargers. It was close. I
would need to see it again. But big win for

(39:59):
the Chargers. There three and four and their only one
game out in the NFC West. It's just one of
those important wins that kind of like keeps them connected.
Like this is a team where I think things could
go pretty wrong if if they far fall too far out,
But in this division, they feel like, okay, like we're
in it. We're still a relevant team. And there's a

(40:20):
lot of irrelevant teams right now in the NFL. They're
mostly in the AFC, but like there's more bad teams
than usual. I didn't want the Cardinals to be one
of those teams this year, and I'm kind of glad
they're sticking around five hundred. Yeah, the Chargers have kind
of played like a five hundred team so far, so
they deserve to be at three and three. I'm happy
with both these teams records.

Speaker 3 (40:37):
Put it down, this felt more like a finish and
an addition to the record that matched who the Chargers
are than the Cardinals necessarily. Like the Chargers coming into
this game, what were they three and two? They felt
like they were not the best three and two. Team
three and three seems better and we'll see where they
go from here. But they're not quite that good yet.

Speaker 1 (40:55):
I thought they were gonna build on last week what
they did against Denver, and they just didn't.

Speaker 2 (41:00):
They didn't tonight.

Speaker 1 (41:01):
They should have had a better offensive game. This This
Cardinals defense is tricky, though we've talked about it on
the show before. It's what Michael Lombardi used to call
on the Simmons Podcast, a battleship defense that if if
they like put the if they hit the right like
components in the right week, like R three and L
six or whatever, like it hits. And this was a

(41:22):
good defensive game plan where they really managed to stop
the run. And they don't have a lot of talent,
but it seemed to work. I did just want to
give one quick shout out to Will Disley, not just
for all those receptions, but for sending a Buddha Baker
underground with one of the stiff arms of my lifetime.

(41:42):
I really think so that was one of the best
stiff arms I've ever seen. I mean, he basically he
like picked up it was almost like he picked up
the man's face and then threw it onto the ground.
He like dunked him. That's you can't really do better
on a stiff arm than that. I really do do
think that's one of the best stiff arms ever.

Speaker 3 (41:58):
The only way you can do better is what Derreck
Henry did to Josh Norman, which is pret by his
face and throw him in the end.

Speaker 1 (42:04):
That's pretty much what reminded me of It's not It
wasn't that level, and I think there's something similar here
where it's a defensive back. It was a little lighter
and just flies and has no regard for their body.
And that's what Buddha Baker was here. It's almost like
they're not trying to stop themselves from getting posterized, and
you almost respect that out of them. But yes, that

(42:24):
was that was what happened to poor Buddha Baker.

Speaker 3 (42:29):
Yeah, this is this is a good week for that. Greg.
We also had the Patrick Mahomes trucking of Milk Mustafa
on the goal line.

Speaker 2 (42:35):
That was good too.

Speaker 1 (42:36):
Show a lot of good candidates for for the scepter
on Good Morning Football with Kyle Brand. That's it for
for this game at least, although I did want to
just introduce one of my medium takes before before we leave,
and it's just it's just a question I've been writing
down in my notebook for the last few weeks, which

(42:56):
is is the off Chargers offensive line? And he I'm
leaning towards no, Like it's got all these big time
names and I heard it was gonna be good and
Greg Roman's the coach.

Speaker 2 (43:07):
But what I see is not good.

Speaker 3 (43:09):
Okay, that's fair.

Speaker 1 (43:10):
I don't care how many first round picks and all
like Joe Allt and race On Slater and all this.

Speaker 2 (43:14):
It's like, it doesn't look good. Doesn't look at me.

Speaker 3 (43:17):
It was supposed to be better this year, and they
did lose both of them for a stretcher in the season,
so the sample size is small. But consider this from
next Gen stats. Justin Herbert averaged three point zero eight
seconds to throw on Monday Night, the longest time to
throw in a game this season. He completed twenty two
to thirty one over two and a half seconds for
three hundred and two yards. So he is getting time
to throw, which is better than what we could have

(43:39):
said about him earlier this season.

Speaker 1 (43:41):
Maybe he's making time to throw, but yeah, maybe I
got also is good under but I felt like I
saw them losing, certainly in the running game. But that's
a fair retort and that's why you make the big bucks.
Nick Schuck, All right, let's do some news. Eric, you're
still there.

Speaker 2 (44:02):
Yeah, we got a sneaky amount of news today.

Speaker 1 (44:05):
We'll roll through a pretty quick surprising report came out
on Monday night.

Speaker 2 (44:09):
ESPN's Adam Schefter had it first. Jamison Williams is reportedly
going to be suspended for two games for a pe
D suspension.

Speaker 3 (44:20):
Yeah. This is after he was suspended already for violin
league's gambling policy. It's early in his career and folks
have said that he has matured, but a second suspension
for a different thing suggests that maybe he doesn't make
the best decisions. So we'll see about the details if
they ever come out about what happened. But kind of
a bummer. Luckily it's only two games from the Lions.

Speaker 1 (44:40):
Yeah, Jamison Williams confirmed it. He says he has no
choice but to take it on the chin. I'm in
good spirits. I'm just ready to be back with my
brother's as ap. And yeah, I just wanted to make
sure I credited the right person here.

Speaker 2 (44:58):
Eric Woodyard with ESPN. That was chefter passing it along.

Speaker 1 (45:03):
Good reporting there that he got the quotes from Jamison
Williams before it was even officially announced. So that is
going to happen, And yeah, that's a big loss for them,
but it is going to be a short term loss.
A little more Tim Patrick in Our Life been a
nice story, Tim Patrick.

Speaker 3 (45:19):
Yeah, yeah, I like the way he's fitting that offense
so far, has made some nice plays.

Speaker 1 (45:22):
He's not going to replace Jameson Williams, but you can
get Kelly Fraeman to just do a little.

Speaker 2 (45:27):
Bit of a Jameson Williams impression for a couple of
weeks and they'll be fine.

Speaker 1 (45:30):
But disappointing obviously for the team and for Williams, and
especially in a season where he'd been doing so many
good things. We got the confirmation of the bad news
we expected Nick on Sunday. We found out Monday Brandon
Ayuk is indeed going to miss the season with a
torn ac l. We also learned that Christian McCaffrey will

(45:50):
not return this week. They have a Sunday night game
against the Cowboys, then they have a bye. Kyle Shanahan
had some optimism about Kaffrey returning after the bye. Unfortunately,
Brandon Ayuk will not be returning at all this season.
We'll see, if you know, when CMC is back on
the field, if there's another receiver maybe brought into the
fold by the forty nine Ers. Maybe we'll talk a

(46:13):
little forty nine Ers trade candidates on our trade deadline
preview spectacular that's coming up on Wednesday show.

Speaker 3 (46:20):
Yeah, the idea of sending Mike Williams back to the
Chargers made me laugh just because of the pairing, But
I mean, why not kick the tires there if they
need somebody. Luckily, Ricky Piersol made his debut this weekend,
but this is a team that really needs the bye.
Wee with all these injuries, including Jordan Mason who played
over the weekend, but we know he's dealing with the
shoulder issue.

Speaker 1 (46:35):
Yeah, and John Jennings was out of that game, and
that they Deebo Samuel is in the hospital. I should
have mentioned that up top with pneumonia. He had fluid
in his lungs, so there actually is no timetable of
him getting out of the hospital. That sounds scary, and

(46:56):
you know, you hope, you hope the best for him.
Sometimes that's a situation that it's not a long term
situation and it can be very serious. He would not
be in the hospital if it wasn't. So yeah, just
a lot going on in San Francisco and we'll get
more news on debo throughout the week. But yeah, devastating
for Ayuk. You're happy for him that he got his contract,

(47:18):
but this season of that just it's like bad vibes
in the offseason for the forty nine ers and partly
for Ayuk, and you hate to see that it's kind
of continuing here with that injury.

Speaker 2 (47:30):
Really unfortunate.

Speaker 1 (47:31):
Jaden Daniels does not have an injury that serious at
the Washington Commanders are calling him week to week. We
didn't really get details on the rib injury, but Dan
Quinn says he's hopeful that he'll play against the Bears.

Speaker 3 (47:45):
Sounds like a comfort thing, which is usually the case
with rib injuries, especially for quarterbacks. I know most of
them were flack jackets, you know, rib protectors. Nothing that
you really want to rush, though, if you can find
a way to make it work with Marcus Mariota for
a week, you do that and exercise caution and it's
still good news.

Speaker 4 (48:00):
This.

Speaker 3 (48:00):
You didn't want anything that was going to keep him
out for a long time.

Speaker 1 (48:03):
Yeah, you you want to see that game against Caleb Williams. Yeah,
but Mariota showed enough that you believe we could win
a game with with Mariota. And either way, the only
thing that really matters is Jaden Daniels's health for this season.
So they're not gonna tell us necessarily if it's bruised
ribs or one smaller fracture or whether it's four fractures.

(48:28):
You know, we're probably not going to get that report.
And there's there's just like no way we're gonna know
unless someone has a good source inside the commanders.

Speaker 2 (48:37):
So get working, like everyone's all buddy buddies with.

Speaker 1 (48:41):
With Cliff and and that staff, Like, let's let's let's
see that reporting come out.

Speaker 2 (48:45):
Let's find out tell.

Speaker 3 (48:46):
Them, take those sunglasses off and look you in the
eye and say, look, tell me the truth. What's going on?

Speaker 4 (48:51):
Uh?

Speaker 2 (48:52):
Yeah, so we'll see. That'll probably be something.

Speaker 1 (48:54):
Look, if I had Jayden and Daniels on my team
and you're not sure if he's going to start or not, yeah,
you probably leave that up in the air until last
just just to make the Bears prepare for both scenarios.
Looks like we'll be in a similar situation with to
a Tongue of Iloa this week finding out if he's
officially out of the concussion protocol. He will be returning
to practice officially on Wednesday, so he has to practice

(49:18):
to get out of the protocol. So there are still
steps to happen, but it does sound like the team
is confident he's going to be ready to go. He
spoke on Monday, said he had been symptom free for
weeks and had no problem with the Dolphins putting him
on injured reserve because that's what the expert said was

(49:40):
most safe for his health, but also said it you know,
it wasn't something that was bothering him as early as
twenty four hours after the concussion. Let's listen to to
a Tongue of Iiloa a little defiant in his conversations today.

Speaker 10 (49:53):
Well, how much risks did we take when we get
up in the morning to go to go drive to work,
car crash? Mean I don't know everything I think takes less.
So to answer that question, every time we all suit up,
we're all taking a risk that we could potentially get hurt,
whether it's a concussion, a broken bone. Anything, you get

(50:15):
up off of the bed the wrong way, you potentially
could risk he's spraining your ankle on There's just risk
in any any and everything, and I'm willing to play
the odds.

Speaker 2 (50:26):
He had me until the getting out of the bed thing.
Now you really did?

Speaker 1 (50:29):
I want to be serious because that was just like
a clumsy analogy.

Speaker 2 (50:33):
But what do you think of what he said?

Speaker 3 (50:36):
I mean kind of sounds like somebody who's getting on
a plane and trying to tell their friend that they're
safer on a plane than they are in traffic.

Speaker 1 (50:42):
I'm that guy, though, Like he actually he actually did,
you know, make a fair point about the car stuff.
I think about that, like that is it? Yeah, there
is a lot of risk in that, and we're willing
to accept it. Like I at least think it's worth
like listening to him on it and considering his vantage
point on it.

Speaker 3 (51:01):
Well, I think if he's the one who's willing to
lay it on the line, then you kind of can't
get in the way, especially if the doctors say he's
clear to play. I know this team certainly needs him.
I just watched back that Colts Dolphin's ugly game that
took place on Sunday when in which Tyler Huntley and
Tim Boyle played, And I know they need to a back,
but again it comes down to what he wants. If
that's what he wants, then you can't stop him. If
he knows the risk, you can't stop him.

Speaker 2 (51:23):
I think he is frustrated.

Speaker 1 (51:25):
There were some other quotes during that press conference, maybe
with the tone of it, that people are treating him
so differently than other players, and he said, do I
want to be known for this? Like, no, I don't.
Those are the cars I've been dealt. I hate that
it happened. You know, we don't look at boxers the
same way we don't look at hockey players. And it

(51:48):
is interesting because like Chris o'lave's out with a concussion
still from a couple.

Speaker 2 (51:54):
Of weeks ago. Now he was on an outwhere of
them that was a brutal hit.

Speaker 1 (51:58):
Yeah, And he had a pretty serious concussion a couple
of years ago too, and he's had won every season
that he's had, Like Derek Carr's had had a smattering
of concussions late last season that he like quickly returned
from and I think what Tua might be getting at too,
it might be frustrated with is like there's so much

(52:20):
attention on to a tongue of I looa, and there's
a reason for that. When he suffered him, it's looked
really serious. In the fencing position, it's been everyone watching
and they have been really serious. So I just think
there's nuance to it. But he was it was a
different to it.

Speaker 2 (52:34):
Today.

Speaker 1 (52:35):
He said he did not consider retirement, and he respected
everyone's question, but I think he kind of stood his
ground and was just very clear in where he was at.
And I think actually it was good to hear from him.
And when I heard those quotes like that, we just
played it. It made me think a little bit differently
about the situation.

Speaker 3 (52:55):
Yes, what it really speaks to is also the locker
room environment, because you don't want to be the one
player on your team that's being treated with kid gloves
and being treated especially as opposed to all of your teammates,
no matter whether you're in high school, in college in
the NFL, you don't you want to be considered to
be right alongside the rest of your guys ready to
go to war. And I know it sounds crazy, but
that's that's the football playing mindset. So he doesn't want

(53:16):
to be treated like that. He wants to go out
there and play football and everybody stop worrying about his
health and he'll handle that.

Speaker 1 (53:20):
So I understand, right, And I also would understand and
respect if he didn't want to play football anymore. Right, Yeah,
like we that we'd all be in that position where
we say, look, we totally respect that. Of course, it's
this guy's decision for what to do. So on the
flip side, maybe I was thinking that it's a little
hypocritical not to give him the agency to take all

(53:43):
the information. He's a serious, smart guy and make the
decision that a lot of players make. You know, he's
he is not the only one, and respect that too,
and obviously hope for the best. So other injury news
around the league, DK Metcalf is week to week with
a knee injury. They have a game against the Bills,
which I'm really intrigued by this week, and they'd really

(54:06):
miss DK Metcalf. He obviously changes their entire offense. We'll
see if he can get back on the field. But
usually week to week means you're out, which is why
when they said week to week for Jade Daniels, I thought, oh,
he's out, But then then Dan Quinn sounded so hopeful
that I'll play that it made me think, well, week
to week doesn't necessarily mean anything in particular, but I

(54:26):
would expect dk Metcalf to miss this week's game just
because they use that phrasing. I wanted to listen to
a little Dave Canalis sound. We haven't heard a ton
this season from the Panthers coach. He was asked on
Monday if the team would consider trading Bryce Young and
whether they felt like they would need to play Bryce

(54:46):
Young to see what they have before possibly trading him.

Speaker 5 (54:50):
Right now, we're focused on the Broncos and he's played
this week, and that's really where our focus is at,
you know, And all those other conversations are all hypothetical
conversations that you know definitely and Brant, you know that
we have to have. But right now, we're focused on
playing the Broncos and you know, folks, on getting Andy
to take another step in terms of getting us back
to good football.

Speaker 1 (55:07):
Okay, so I could have played more of his press conference,
which had similar quotes. People were asking him pretty directly
like is Bryce Young going to be traded? Like could
Bryce Young, you know, be on the trade block? And
he won't even answer those questions. That just makes me think, yeah,
they're going to trade Bryce Young. That's just my instinct
because I think it just makes sense. I think the

(55:31):
timing makes sense.

Speaker 3 (55:32):
Well, I mean, obviously he's got to defer to the
front office because they make those moves ultimately, but yeah,
you don't want to take the value of your quarterback
either in trade talks. That makes sense too, But what
makes the most sense is getting him out of there.
The fact that they didn't play him in that blowout
loss until last three minutes of the game kind of
told you everything you needed to know, which is that
we're not worried about his development. We're potentially worried about
preserving his trade value.

Speaker 1 (55:52):
Right because if you're going to get trade value for him,
and it's going to be very low, it's going to
be better right now than it then it likely will.

Speaker 3 (56:01):
Be the him better on the trade market, because.

Speaker 1 (56:05):
First of all, like he'll probably play again and that
won't go well, because nothing's going to go well on
this Panthers team until proven otherwise. And I've just seen
like too many quarterbacks that absolutely like struggled. I mean,
he's at a pretty crazy level. But Josh Rosen got
a late second that was crazy. They king about it now,

(56:25):
but from Miami. I mean that was that was maybe
ownership getting involved, if if I had to guess at
the time, because they were just looking for like quarterback solutions.

Speaker 3 (56:36):
Because that was the year after they got Jacob Wing
right and that didn't work.

Speaker 1 (56:40):
Yeah, they were I've seen I've like these quarterbacks that
struggle in their first spot.

Speaker 2 (56:44):
They always get something.

Speaker 1 (56:45):
With Bryce it might only be like a conditional fifth
to a fourth or something like that. Baker got it's
it still would be better then it'll be later. So
I I just got an instinct that they're going to
trade him. I thought it was interesting to and the
mcaffee show that Bill Belichick said he was kind of
hurt that Drod Mayo said the Patriots defense was soft

(57:09):
and then listed how good the Patriots were in terms
of their run defense last year, and it's all the
same players for the most part, and actually they're a
little healthier this year in some spots, although he was
leaving out other key players that weren't there Judean, Christian Barmore,
Juan Bentley.

Speaker 2 (57:27):
But you know that was, you know, kind of self serving.

Speaker 1 (57:30):
But I thought it was interesting that he just said
none of these guys are soft. These are tough, hard
nosed players, and you know he's putting Mayo in a
tough spot, and he's almost telling Mayo through Pat McAfee
like you're blowing it, dude, don't say this stuff.

Speaker 3 (57:45):
I think not having Christian Barmore is a bigger loss
than people realize. I mean, especially just the trench play.
He's a wrecker in there, like he causes problems, and
not having him, they're hurting without him. But I just
think it's really refreshing to see Belichick like unfiltered, like
not just on distance, Naty Belichick. Like at one point
he made a comment about the Jets, saying, like the
Jets and the Jets and Woody is Woody and how
they handle the Robert Sola thing. Like it's just it's

(58:07):
really really refreshing to see Belichick open up, kind of
like it was when Tom Brady went to Tampa back
in the day.

Speaker 1 (58:12):
Okay, good comp I will make like a point of clarification,
I would say I do not think he's unfiltered. I
think he's extremely filtered and calculated. Like he has certain
things that he yes, he has certain points that he's
happy to hit. One of them is Drowd Mayo, which

(58:33):
is why I thought this was interesting enough to bring
up of, Like he's not afraid to be critical of
the Patriots right now and Drowd Mayo and how drowd
Mayo is handling things and don't I don't blame him, frankly,
you know drowd Mayo, Like that's a risky thing to
call your team soft and the play you know, his
players that Belichick know as well, Like they might not
like that, and that's his way of saying that. But

(58:54):
he has his angles that he's willing to take, like
maybe people that have in the past.

Speaker 3 (59:01):
Yes, there it is.

Speaker 2 (59:03):
And he's taking shots.

Speaker 1 (59:04):
Whereas where I see him do a lot of game
analysis and stuff, it's pretty vanilla and it's almost like
he's protecting himself versus future employers or versus things being
brought up next year when he's on the sideline.

Speaker 3 (59:15):
That's just what I mean. The way that he left
New England. I mean they parted amicably, supposedly, but like
you think you really wanted to lose that job. I
don't think so there's a little bit of vindictiveness in this. Hey,
you know what, grass ain't always greener. You know, I
found more success with those guys last year. You better
figure it out, Patriots. If you thought he was a
better coach than me, or a better choice than me,

(59:38):
better figure it out.

Speaker 1 (59:40):
Yeah, And look, he's prompted by McAfee with the question,
but it's a little bit of a victory lap. And
I wouldn't say I don't blame him, but he's not wrong.
Their defensast collapse without him, They aren't as well coached.
That was I think a misstep probably by Drod Mayo.
And now he's gonna have to deal with another day
of conversation about it because someone's going to ask Rod

(01:00:02):
Mayo about what Bill Belichick said. And Delicious in New England.
Finally in the News, they flexed the Colts Vikings game
into Sunday Night Football Week nine. I love a good
Sunday Night flex. Feel like we haven't really had many
the last couple of years. Jags Eagles. Doug Peterson's revenge

(01:00:22):
game is out, so thank you for getting the Jaguars
out of primetime.

Speaker 3 (01:00:26):
Good job, And there's nothing better than talking about a
flex and then just flexing.

Speaker 2 (01:00:29):
Yeah, there it is.

Speaker 1 (01:00:31):
I mean, that's worth the price of admission for the
YouTube subscribers right there seeing Nick's guns. Remember when they
didn't have flex, we would just be watching the Jaguars
in primetime.

Speaker 3 (01:00:43):
I mean, hopefully Anthony Rigison plays better than did last week,
though I'm gonna need that for that.

Speaker 1 (01:00:46):
You know what, I like a little. I like some
different teams in primetime. The Colts are like never in primetime.
They're never on Sunday Night football. The Vikings are a
good watch. I'm into that game. Let's have some Sunday
night diversity. Kind of about another flex. Just note, I
noticed they took Bengals Eagles out of the four to

(01:01:06):
twenty five National Game this week and put in Commanders Bears.
How's that if you had told me that before the
start of the season. And it's not like the Bengals
and Eagles have fallen off a cliff, But that's interesting
you took the Bengals and Eagles. No, you're not good
enough for our spot, your old news Joe Burrow and
Jalen Hurts.

Speaker 2 (01:01:26):
We're going with the new stuff.

Speaker 1 (01:01:27):
Marcus Mariota and Caleb Williams Now I hope, no, I
hope it's.

Speaker 3 (01:01:31):
Jis the year of the Commanders as long as Jane
Daniels is involved. Fingers crossed Network executives the Jayden Daniels plays.

Speaker 1 (01:01:38):
All right, we wrap up every Monday night football recap
and thank you for tuning in a long one tonight.
We're enjoying this one. It's time for our Captain Morgan
Players of the Week. Captain's Corner presented by Captain Morgan.
Why don't you get us going?

Speaker 2 (01:01:53):
Nick Schuk?

Speaker 3 (01:01:54):
All right, Captain's Corner. We've talked about him a lot indirectly,
even though they didn't play today, they played yesterday. Marcus Mariota,
you are the main my Captain's Corner this week eighteen
for twenty three two and five yards two touchdowns in
relief of Jaden Daniels. That offense didn't miss a beat
without their rookie sensation quarterback. You handled the job well
like the aggressive, experienced veteran that you are. Good job, Marcus, Yes,

(01:02:16):
I love that choice. He really did look good.

Speaker 1 (01:02:19):
Not I was just I know it was against Carolina,
but they were throws down the field.

Speaker 2 (01:02:25):
They were accurate.

Speaker 1 (01:02:26):
I couldn't help but think of our friend Chris Westling,
you know who we lost a few years ago to cancer,
and his unflagging belief that Marcus Mariota could have some
Joe Montana like traits to his game is accuracy, his footwork.
He loved a young Marcus Mariota. I wouldn't say unflagging,

(01:02:47):
because I think he did, you know, kind of give
up somewhat eventually, But that was the Marcus Mariota of
our dreams, of Wes's dreams, and what a performance by him.
I'm gonna go with Saquon Barkley obviously. You know, he
pops off three huge explosive runs. You know, he runs
the ball only seven times and seventeen times and almost
gets a career high. He does it in met Life

(01:03:09):
Stadium like it's it's just perfect, it's awesome. But he
gets it because of the audio that the Eagles released
on Monday of Nick Sirianni going over to him on
the bench and repeatedly asking Saquon if he wanted to
break his career rushing record, and I think he only
needed well eleven more yards or something like that. Yeah, yeah,

(01:03:32):
something like that, like, hey, I want to help you
get this if you want to get it, and Saquon
putting him off. And it was that thing where you
bring something up to a friend and you're not sure
if they're just putting you off just to say that,
so you go back to them again the second time
to give him another chance to say yes, and like
Sekon was like, no, let the young kids play like

(01:03:52):
the game's over. I want to I want I want
the young kids to eat. And that was really cool
by Saquon Barkley. Everything you hear and see and know
about Saquon Barkley is that he's not just a great player,
but an awesome leader, a teammate, and just just a
cool dude. So he is my Captain Morgan Captain of
the Week.

Speaker 3 (01:04:13):
I'll tell you what listening to Sirianni double back and saying,
by the way, just to be clear, I want you
to get this, and then Saquon saying no, let the
young kids eat. First off, demonstration of humility and also
a demonstration of not being greedy and taking chances and
risks in the game you don't need to take. So
good on, Saquon, smart man.

Speaker 1 (01:04:31):
Brought it back around. Good job by you, shook. That
was the Captain's Corner presented by Captain Morgan. Is delicious
and crisp, perfect for game day with friends.

Speaker 2 (01:04:40):
Spice it up.

Speaker 1 (01:04:41):
Visit Captain Morgan dot com to find a Captain near you.
Please drink responsibly.

Speaker 2 (01:04:46):
That's all.

Speaker 1 (01:04:47):
We will be back. As I mentioned on Wednesday, play
the music. We're gonna be with Colleen Wolf, Jordan Rodrigue.
Let me be a little trade deadline preview excited for this.
We'll make up some take trades that we want to
see in the meantime. For Eric Roberts, for Nick Chuck.
Look when Justin Herbert is doing everything you can and

(01:05:10):
still losing a big game in primetime, you know football
is back.