October 20, 2025 • 21 mins
NFL Network Insiders Tom Pelissero, Ian Rapoport and Judy Battista look back at the Week 7 action from around the NFL and discuss the turnaround for both the Panthers and Bears, the Packers win against the Cardinals, and the Rams going to London and beating the Jaguars. Cameron Wolfe joins the show to talk about the Dolphins and what could be coming after their lackluster 1-6 start to the season.
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Speaker 1 (00:01):
Welcome back to the Insiders, Tom Pilaicero, Judy Batista, Ian Rappaport,
and join us right now our good friend Cameron Wolf,
who is down in South Florida. There's been no change
made to his current status. He is back with us
again to talk about the Dolphins. With first, let's think
a little more into the four and three Carolina Panthers.
(00:24):
This is part two, by the way of the Monday Podcast.
If you missed out on part one, doesn't matter. You
can start right here, then go to that one or
go back. Either way, we've got you covered here. A
team that you know well, Cam, they're four and three,
they've won three consecutive games. Not gonna have Bryce Young
this week, he'll be Andy Dalton. But what are you
seeing from that team that's allowing them to take steps forward?
Speaker 2 (00:45):
Here?
Speaker 3 (00:46):
Yeah, they're finding their identity. This Panthers team started off
oh to two. I think it was easy for people
to say, ah, here we go again, another bad Panthers team,
let's call it. But it's been cool to see how
they've shifted to really leaning on that run game. Rico
Daldo had those incredible two weeks and then getting back
Cuba Hubbard and having that two headed attack and talking
(01:07):
to some guys this morning about it, it was interesting.
They made clear to both guys early on, we're gonna
rotate every other series.
Speaker 2 (01:14):
Rico's gonna get one, Two's gonna get one, which.
Speaker 3 (01:16):
Probably messes up everybody's mind and fantasy football, or at
least kept those running backs clear of what their their
goals are.
Speaker 2 (01:24):
And they ran the ball well.
Speaker 3 (01:25):
And on defense, which has been up and down for them,
they had their best game and sact justin fields six times.
Derrick Brown's a monster coming back from that injuries, playing incredible,
and J. C.
Speaker 2 (01:36):
Warren had a couple of picks and so you look
around for the rest of it.
Speaker 4 (01:39):
That one pick, Oh my god, Zury pick.
Speaker 2 (01:43):
Incredible, incredible.
Speaker 3 (01:44):
So the guys that Dan Morgan invested in money wise
are showing up for them big time, and I think
that's the catalyst of a team heading towards potentially being
a contender.
Speaker 5 (01:56):
Judy, I feel really good for the Panthers because I
agree like when the season started you thought like, oh
my gosh, here we go again with this team. But
I feel really good for them, like I want them
to be successful. I feel like I felt bad for
Bryce Young last year, you know, the benching, and then
(02:16):
he comes back and things like seem to be working
better for them. I think they've tried to build the team,
rebuild the team back up in the right way, right,
Like they just tried to focus on like fundamentals and
getting good players in there, and finally it seems to
be turning. You know, I don't know. The NFC's South
(02:37):
is a super wide open division except that the Bucks
are like indomitable. But like, I mean, that division is winnable,
and so I don't think you can discount the Panthers anymore.
Whereas you sort of used to look at them and
think like, okay, not the players will look at the Bugs,
you know, maybe the Falcons, the Saints are sort of
out of it. I don't think you can discount the
(02:57):
Panthers as a threat in that division anymore.
Speaker 4 (03:00):
Man. I was actually just thinking about the benching earlier today,
because the thing at the time, it was sort of like,
all right, obviously, you know Bryce is over, Obviously he's benched.
This is it, so like he'll Antidolte will start, and
then Bryce will and then immediately it was like, all right,
we're benching him, but he's.
Speaker 6 (03:19):
Gonna come back, and you're like, okay, is he going
to come back? And I reported it, but you're sort
of like, well, we'll see what happens.
Speaker 4 (03:26):
But then he came back and like slowly, slowly started
to figure it out. I think the last couple of
games last season, you're like, all right, maybe Bryce really
has figured it out. And then this year he's figured
it out, not perfect, but figured out even more. And
it's almost like, if you have patients and continue to
work and develop rather than make rashs decisions, even if
those even if like the patients and the benching, even
(03:49):
if that really really annoyed your starting quarterback, still could
be the right thing. I think the Panthers handled it
extremely well. They have built, built slowly and you know,
strong on both sides of the line, and you're right,
the guys they've paid have really impressed that jays aren
An interception in the end zone was ridiculous yesterday, but like.
Speaker 6 (04:10):
When healthy, those are the kind of plays he makes.
Speaker 1 (04:12):
Yeah, we would have we would have been telling a
lot more about the secondary reception if not for the
first one there in the end zone. Cam Let's flip
it over to a team that does not appear to
be going the right direction. Just unpack for me what
is happening right now with the Miami Dolphins, and even
more so with all the focus on Mike Daniel, what
is going on with Tua.
Speaker 3 (04:32):
Yeah, first of all, I think it's a team that
doesn't know who they are more than anything. This offseason
a lot of turnover. You get rid of a Jalen Ramsey,
you trade to John hus Smith, you don't bring back
a Jabon Holland and Odell Beckham, and you really rely
on young guys and everybody's looking around to who's stepping up,
and there's not that voice anymore.
Speaker 2 (04:51):
We saw twa try to.
Speaker 3 (04:53):
Be it, stop stuff in a sack, a step in pooh.
Speaker 2 (04:56):
That's not his best role.
Speaker 3 (04:58):
I don't think he naturally leads in that way, and
when he does.
Speaker 2 (05:02):
He kind of screws up. As he apologized for last week.
Speaker 3 (05:05):
Mike McDaniel was hired primarily to get this offense on track,
to get the quarterback on track. And I think in
these moments where they're really starting to struggle, it's snowball
and nobody is there to stop the avalanche. And so
I know guys were really upset in the locker room
last week by two his comments, they're really taken aback,
and I was curious to see how they were respond
(05:28):
with the fight. But they showed this togetherness, and they
showed the complete opposite. It looked like a team that
didn't want to be out there, and that, to me
starts to be concerning, because it's different when you don't
have the talent. It's a little different when you don't
seem to have the fight, which I don't know if
they had much fight given what I watched on Sunday.
Speaker 5 (05:48):
They looked disinterested, and I thought one of the most
damning things was Bill Kawer, who certainly knows a whole
lot more about team dynamics than any of us do,
said it on national television that they looked disinterested and
that he sounded as disgusted as you know, as you
would expect a head coach to sound when he's talking
about a team that he thought looked like it had
(06:09):
checked out. But that's how they looked. I mean, that
was a complete obliteration. That was an I mean, they
had no fight, and I don't know if there's ever
value in changing a head coach in a football in
the middle of a football season because they're so short.
I'm not entirely sure what that accomplishes, So I don't
even know if that's necessary now. But man, does Steven
(06:33):
Ross have a lot of work to do in the
offseason with this team, Like he has to take a long,
unvarnished look at his franchise and figure out where they're going.
Speaker 4 (06:44):
Yeah, you know, the first of all, no change is imminent,
it certainly seems with the Dolphins, which at least gives
them another week or who knows, to kind of figure
this thing out. If they are going to figure it
out now, I will say, if they have another game
like this, then there's still going to be questions every
week about when when when. So like, it only seems
(07:05):
like it's headed in not a good direction unless the
team dramatically changes it.
Speaker 6 (07:09):
You know, Mike McDaniel can be a leader.
Speaker 4 (07:12):
You can stand up there and be a smart, savvy,
analytical leader. Put the guys in the reposition, have a
great offense, and stand up in front of the room
and lead the team in a way that's not been
traditional football coaches. But when things are going bad, that's
really the test of leadership, and this is the test
for him right now. Maybe the team really does want
(07:32):
to see, like, all right, the team's bad, are they
going to respond to the head coach or not? Last
week it was not and this week we'll see. But
like the players are going to have to play better
if they're going to fix it. Here's one thing I
want to ask Cam before we get them out of here.
When Mike McDaniel started, this offense seemed to be unstoppable.
(07:54):
Like every running back it seemed gained like seven yards
a pop. What happened to this offense? Like Mike Big
Daniel didn't forget how to coach, so like what happened?
Speaker 3 (08:05):
No, it's a great question because McDaniel still is a
great scheme caller and a play caller. It's interesting because
I watched Tua's press conference and he said the word
operation like seven times, and it's been a common word
that he has used, particularly to describe the struggles there.
And I think Tua has to take some accountability in this,
and accountability has been a big thing for two of
(08:27):
this year because I think when things go wrong, you
hear Tua talk about all things are coming into its huddle.
Slowly how they can't make changes at the line of scrimmage,
but that was an area he mastered in previous years
and I just don't see the same version of Tua,
and so I don't know if it's something mentally that
he's in the block on, or it's just the speed
(08:48):
of defenses catching up with how they've running scheme wise,
and they haven't been able to adjust. But the operation
certainly hasn't been cleaned. Your quarterback also has not excelled
in those timing routes, those accuracy over the middle that
had made him great. And so the scheme is set
up for one player, Tua to be excellent in what
(09:08):
he's excellent at. He has not been excellent at nearly
any of those things this year, and as a result,
we've seen that offense be bad. So yes, McDaniel certainly
deserves some blame for this slow start, but I'd argue too,
h may deserve even more of it from the offensive
struggle points because they did it for him, and now
you can't say, hey, this is somebody else's fault.
Speaker 1 (09:31):
And they reminder the Dolphins zode toa fifty four million
dollars fully guaranteed in twenty twenty six, So there is
no clean break looming on the other side of this.
One way or another, they're paying him that money and
it'll probably be to be as a quarterback of the
Miami Dolphins. Cam thank you very much.
Speaker 2 (09:49):
We will see soon on the inside.
Speaker 4 (09:51):
We'll be right back with more on the insight.
Speaker 1 (10:09):
One of the interesting stories of the weekend of Week
seven in the NFL is what I recorded on Saturday
that the Packers got stranded on the tarmac in Green
Bay for almost six hours, which for anybody who's had
a very long airplane delay, you know that's not a
great place to be and you don't have to go
and play an NFL football game the next day. But
I have to think, maybe this is what Michah Parsons needs.
(10:32):
Maybe just get him really angry, angry the whole deal,
because he went out there, Judy. And not to say
that we haven't seen Michael Parsons going full borks, we
have every single week, but three sacks. He was all
over the field and helped the Packers put one away
on the road under kind of weird circumstances.
Speaker 5 (10:50):
They did look a little sleepy like slow out of
the gate at the first part of the game, and
you sort of thought, like, are they just sort of
out of whack because of that? Like their schedule just
got didn't they have to blow off meetings, evening meetings
they couldn't do We're stuck on the plane, right, So,
like I just thought, like, are they just so out
of whack now that they're And then of course they
sort of played themselves into waking up and like I mean,
(11:14):
Michael Parsons was just a beast, and you know, I'm sorry,
like we all like to stir the pot, like right,
Like I just wonder like does Jerry Jones see those
highlights at any point, and like, you know, does he
go like Wow, Yeah, that's yeah, he's good boy. You
would love to have a player like that on your team.
He's I mean, he's just been great and I'm sure
(11:35):
everything that the Packers could have hoped for. And certainly
as the Packers sort of put themselves in position in
the NFC North, I expect to see that We're going
to see a lot more of that kind of Michael
Parsons performance. He seems to be on a mission.
Speaker 4 (11:49):
You know, when when teams trade first rounders during the draft,
someone would be like, hey, you guys, you know we're
supposed to have the number twenty one pick. What are
you doing? And it's like, oh, we're watching film of
the guy we righted for it, right. That's like a
common sort of like draft joke. I wonder if Jerry
Jones sees the Micah Parsons play and it's like my
two first rounders, like guy, it's like how you feel
(12:10):
and everybody good. So the jury is still out on
who won the trade, but I think it's very fair
to say the Packers got absolutely everything they could have
wanted and hoped for, and like you know, Jordan Love
certainly has been good more than good enough, but having
an absolutely dominant defense really helps. I was laughing Tom
(12:33):
because well, two things. First of all, getting stuck on
the tarmact is maybe the worst thing. Tarmac is maybe
the worst thing of all time during training camp, that's
like my nightmare.
Speaker 6 (12:41):
Unless they're serving.
Speaker 4 (12:43):
And if they're serving, it's sort of like if we
have power and they're serving like drinks and maybe some snacks, flights.
Speaker 5 (12:52):
Yeah, let's do it. No alcohol team plans.
Speaker 1 (12:56):
You should know this. There have been violations over the years.
Speaker 6 (13:00):
You're not allowed didn't you break one of them? I
feel like, when who's the guy who did.
Speaker 1 (13:04):
The Miller lte ad or no lost Taylor Heinekew's highlights
on the plane back? And then it became, hey, he's
not allowed to do.
Speaker 6 (13:11):
And then I think you got him fined.
Speaker 1 (13:13):
I think I don't think that was my fault. I
think that that was his fault. But someone did. I mean,
they weren't planning to have dinner on the plane either.
So literally, when I got a FaceTime from unnamed source
from the tarmac, I asked that question, have you eaten?
It was no, someone just ran to get Chick fil
A for everybody. So NFL players, they're just like us. Well,
(13:34):
the other thing to the Cardinals. Now, I had research
confirmed this five straight losses by a grand total of
thirteen points. That ties the fewest point differential in a
five game losing streak in NFL history. With the forty
nine ers, who had forgotten this, had a streak like
that back in twenty seventeen. The Cardinals at two and five,
they're not far off. You know, you're going into your
(13:56):
buy on a five game losing streak. You think that
the sky is falling and certainly they're behind the eight ball,
but without their starting quarterback the last couple of weeks too,
They're in every one of these games. At some point,
you got to learn how to finish. We'll see how
they come back here after the bye. The Bears appear
to be figuring out how to finish. And I just
I feel like we are saying this on a weekly
basis right now, Judy. The way that Ben Johnson has
(14:18):
Caleb Williams playing, the way that Ben Johnson and Dennis
Allen have players reacting to situations within the game, It's
amazing to see where they've come, even just since Week one,
where that game got away from them against the Vikings,
to the way that even when they took a couple
of hits from the Saints yesterday, they kept slugging and
finished that one off for their fourth consecutive win.
Speaker 5 (14:40):
It is amazing how different they look from week one.
Right week one, we all came out of that game thing,
I'm like, oh my god, okay, this is they haven't
really improved at all yesterday. I mean, the defense is
what carried them yesterday, right because I thought Caleb sort of,
you know, had a little trouble getting into the flow there.
But now the defense is going to be able to
perform well too. They are again in an extremely competitive division.
(15:05):
You can no longer look at the Bears and say, well,
not this year. They're still a growing team. You know,
it's our first year head coach. You got to give
them time. Like, no, you have to look at the
Bears now and say, like, they can win any game, right,
if things fall into place, they can win any game.
They're certainly a threat in the NFC North, you know,
are they among the NFC elite? Maybe not yet, but
(15:26):
the way they are playing and the way they're progressing.
We're only in week seven, and the way you have
already seen them take steps growing only leads you to
believe they're going to continue to get better as they
get more familiar with each other, as Ben Johnson gets
more of a hold on things. You would think the
second half of the season is going to show more growth.
(15:46):
They are certainly going could very well be in the
playoff mix.
Speaker 6 (15:52):
The Saints are bad.
Speaker 4 (15:53):
Obviously, they don't win any games, and they just lost
their starting center and the backup running back, and so,
like my guess is they'll probably continue to be bad.
They must be the best bad team around. Like, and
I know the Browns just beat up the Dolphins pretty good.
I feel like the Saints are having good season.
Speaker 6 (16:13):
Is that weird?
Speaker 4 (16:14):
They don't win any games, but I really feel like
they play hard, they play well, they almost always lose,
and they seem like a team that's pretty well coached,
which I know doesn't make any sense maybe, but like,
like if I was a Saints fan, I'd be like,
all right, we need a lot better players, but.
Speaker 6 (16:32):
This team might be okay.
Speaker 2 (16:33):
You know.
Speaker 1 (16:35):
We also saw the Rams yesterday beat up on the
Jaguars in a game that we know there's a lot
of familiarity between those two organizations. Sean McVay certainly seemed
fire up, fired up to take it to his former
multi time assistant Liam colem Keeps. In that game on
they where Pokin the Cool, one of the best receivers
in the NFL is not in there. Matthew Stafford throws
(16:56):
five touchdown passes, including three to Devonte Adams. It was
a good day to be the old guys over there
in London. We also saw the Jets, who just were
coming off of a brutal performance in London. They come back.
This is one of those games that on paper you
look at and you're like, Okay, there's a scenario where
(17:16):
they can go and get this one. Yet, for the
second straight week, Aaron Glenn allows the end of the
first half to expire without attempting a final play. He
now is openly One week after biting back at reporters
who asked him while making a quarterback change, he has
now said publicly he is considering what to do in
consulting other coaches. Judy, you're close to people in that organization,
(17:41):
what exactly do you make of the state of the
OH to seven Jets right now?
Speaker 5 (17:48):
So frustrated, so frustrated. I think what is so maddening
about this team is, and we talked about this a
little bit last week on the Insiders, is that they win.
They play well in spurts on different sides of the
ball right occasionally, especially in the first few games of
the season, the offense looked pretty good, like stuff you
could build on. Is that first game against the Steelers
(18:09):
the offense looked really pretty promising and the defense looked terrible.
And now the last two weeks the defense has looked
really good. I mean, they lost but they held the
Panthers to thirteen points, same thing as last week. They
could have won the game if the offense had just
been able to put any one drive together. So they're
just so frustrated, so frustrated. I don't know what Aaron
(18:35):
Glenn is going to do. He said he wants to
take a little bit more time to think about the
quarterback situation. We were talking before about the Bryce Young thing,
and I thought about this before, like, is this a
situation where they think if you sit justin fields for
a few weeks, reset and maybe things are different. I
don't know, He's not a rookie anymore, right, He's played
some football. This has happened in multiple spots. But I
(18:59):
don't know if they are very many good options for
Aaron Glenn. I mean, right like Tyro Taylor. You know,
everybody likes him and he can throw the ball down
the field, which he did yesterday. In that respect, there
was a little bit more juice to the offense when
he got in there, but the results were the same.
I mean the interception. You know, I don't know that
there's a good choice for Aaron Glenn here. As he
ponders the quarterback situation, and I don't know how they
(19:21):
They have to put a game together. The defense is
playing well enough to win these games now the last
two weeks. They just have to be able to put
a few drives together and just look competent. Competent. Certainly
it'll look better when Garrett Wilson is on the field,
of course, but I mean, they just have to stop
making bad mistakes. They've got to stop making penalties. They've
got to do better game management, better situational football, like
(19:44):
you just talked about. They've just got to get more competent.
Speaker 4 (19:47):
Yeah, I mean to me, like looking at the quarterback decision,
I definitely understand why Justin Field was not in the
field after the first half, Like that was that seemed
fairly obvious.
Speaker 6 (19:59):
But to watch Taroto go out there.
Speaker 4 (20:01):
And I think through two interceptions and the offense didn't
move at all, I'm sort of like, all right, like
what are they What can they do? Like honestly, like,
what what can they do to make it better?
Speaker 6 (20:11):
Like I have no idea?
Speaker 4 (20:13):
And you know that's a little brain numbing because like,
if you're Jets fans, you like to think that.
Speaker 6 (20:19):
There's like a light at the end of the tunnel,
and I don't know that there is on the roster.
Speaker 4 (20:23):
And I guess it's all the head coaches fault, because
everything's the head coach's fault, but.
Speaker 6 (20:29):
Like, is that his fault? You know, Like they don't
have any good.
Speaker 1 (20:33):
Quarter put his stamp on Justin Fields obviously before the
season they not even close to I think.
Speaker 4 (20:40):
And I think at the time that was probably the
best option for them.
Speaker 6 (20:44):
But then it's like they got a bunch of old.
Speaker 4 (20:46):
Players after going all in with Aaron Rodgers, and now
like it's just kind of like a weird transition where
they just don't have any don't have enough to win,
And I think that's that's tough.
Speaker 1 (20:57):
All right. We got to go Insiders five days a week.
You can find the podcast. You can see us seven
pm Eastern Time on NFL Network on Tuesdays, Wednesdays and Fridays.
We're on the Fast Channel on Mondays and Thursdays. We're
all over the place. Thank you for being here for
Ian Raupport, Judy Battista, and my dog who I've been
holding for a half hour because he was getting.
Speaker 2 (21:16):
Scared of the thunder.
Speaker 6 (21:18):
All right, Doug, I'm Tom Tella.
Speaker 5 (21:20):
Seril see
Welcome back to the Insiders, Tom Pilaicero, Judy Batista, Ian Rappaport,
and join us right now our good friend Cameron Wolf,
who is down in South Florida. There's been no change
made to his current status. He is back with us
again to talk about the Dolphins. With first, let's think
a little more into the four and three Carolina Panthers.
(00:24):
This is part two, by the way of the Monday Podcast.
If you missed out on part one, doesn't matter. You
can start right here, then go to that one or
go back. Either way, we've got you covered here. A
team that you know well, Cam, they're four and three,
they've won three consecutive games. Not gonna have Bryce Young
this week, he'll be Andy Dalton. But what are you
seeing from that team that's allowing them to take steps forward?
Speaker 2 (00:45):
Here?
Speaker 3 (00:46):
Yeah, they're finding their identity. This Panthers team started off
oh to two. I think it was easy for people
to say, ah, here we go again, another bad Panthers team,
let's call it. But it's been cool to see how
they've shifted to really leaning on that run game. Rico
Daldo had those incredible two weeks and then getting back
Cuba Hubbard and having that two headed attack and talking
(01:07):
to some guys this morning about it, it was interesting.
They made clear to both guys early on, we're gonna
rotate every other series.
Speaker 2 (01:14):
Rico's gonna get one, Two's gonna get one, which.
Speaker 3 (01:16):
Probably messes up everybody's mind and fantasy football, or at
least kept those running backs clear of what their their
goals are.
Speaker 2 (01:24):
And they ran the ball well.
Speaker 3 (01:25):
And on defense, which has been up and down for them,
they had their best game and sact justin fields six times.
Derrick Brown's a monster coming back from that injuries, playing incredible,
and J. C.
Speaker 2 (01:36):
Warren had a couple of picks and so you look
around for the rest of it.
Speaker 4 (01:39):
That one pick, Oh my god, Zury pick.
Speaker 2 (01:43):
Incredible, incredible.
Speaker 3 (01:44):
So the guys that Dan Morgan invested in money wise
are showing up for them big time, and I think
that's the catalyst of a team heading towards potentially being
a contender.
Speaker 5 (01:56):
Judy, I feel really good for the Panthers because I
agree like when the season started you thought like, oh
my gosh, here we go again with this team. But
I feel really good for them, like I want them
to be successful. I feel like I felt bad for
Bryce Young last year, you know, the benching, and then
(02:16):
he comes back and things like seem to be working
better for them. I think they've tried to build the team,
rebuild the team back up in the right way, right,
Like they just tried to focus on like fundamentals and
getting good players in there, and finally it seems to
be turning. You know, I don't know. The NFC's South
(02:37):
is a super wide open division except that the Bucks
are like indomitable. But like, I mean, that division is winnable,
and so I don't think you can discount the Panthers anymore.
Whereas you sort of used to look at them and
think like, okay, not the players will look at the Bugs,
you know, maybe the Falcons, the Saints are sort of
out of it. I don't think you can discount the
(02:57):
Panthers as a threat in that division anymore.
Speaker 4 (03:00):
Man. I was actually just thinking about the benching earlier today,
because the thing at the time, it was sort of like,
all right, obviously, you know Bryce is over, Obviously he's benched.
This is it, so like he'll Antidolte will start, and
then Bryce will and then immediately it was like, all right,
we're benching him, but he's.
Speaker 6 (03:19):
Gonna come back, and you're like, okay, is he going
to come back? And I reported it, but you're sort
of like, well, we'll see what happens.
Speaker 4 (03:26):
But then he came back and like slowly, slowly started
to figure it out. I think the last couple of
games last season, you're like, all right, maybe Bryce really
has figured it out. And then this year he's figured
it out, not perfect, but figured out even more. And
it's almost like, if you have patients and continue to
work and develop rather than make rashs decisions, even if
those even if like the patients and the benching, even
(03:49):
if that really really annoyed your starting quarterback, still could
be the right thing. I think the Panthers handled it
extremely well. They have built, built slowly and you know,
strong on both sides of the line, and you're right,
the guys they've paid have really impressed that jays aren
An interception in the end zone was ridiculous yesterday, but like.
Speaker 6 (04:10):
When healthy, those are the kind of plays he makes.
Speaker 1 (04:12):
Yeah, we would have we would have been telling a
lot more about the secondary reception if not for the
first one there in the end zone. Cam Let's flip
it over to a team that does not appear to
be going the right direction. Just unpack for me what
is happening right now with the Miami Dolphins, and even
more so with all the focus on Mike Daniel, what
is going on with Tua.
Speaker 3 (04:32):
Yeah, first of all, I think it's a team that
doesn't know who they are more than anything. This offseason
a lot of turnover. You get rid of a Jalen Ramsey,
you trade to John hus Smith, you don't bring back
a Jabon Holland and Odell Beckham, and you really rely
on young guys and everybody's looking around to who's stepping up,
and there's not that voice anymore.
Speaker 2 (04:51):
We saw twa try to.
Speaker 3 (04:53):
Be it, stop stuff in a sack, a step in pooh.
Speaker 2 (04:56):
That's not his best role.
Speaker 3 (04:58):
I don't think he naturally leads in that way, and
when he does.
Speaker 2 (05:02):
He kind of screws up. As he apologized for last week.
Speaker 3 (05:05):
Mike McDaniel was hired primarily to get this offense on track,
to get the quarterback on track. And I think in
these moments where they're really starting to struggle, it's snowball
and nobody is there to stop the avalanche. And so
I know guys were really upset in the locker room
last week by two his comments, they're really taken aback,
and I was curious to see how they were respond
(05:28):
with the fight. But they showed this togetherness, and they
showed the complete opposite. It looked like a team that
didn't want to be out there, and that, to me
starts to be concerning, because it's different when you don't
have the talent. It's a little different when you don't
seem to have the fight, which I don't know if
they had much fight given what I watched on Sunday.
Speaker 5 (05:48):
They looked disinterested, and I thought one of the most
damning things was Bill Kawer, who certainly knows a whole
lot more about team dynamics than any of us do,
said it on national television that they looked disinterested and
that he sounded as disgusted as you know, as you
would expect a head coach to sound when he's talking
about a team that he thought looked like it had
(06:09):
checked out. But that's how they looked. I mean, that
was a complete obliteration. That was an I mean, they
had no fight, and I don't know if there's ever
value in changing a head coach in a football in
the middle of a football season because they're so short.
I'm not entirely sure what that accomplishes, So I don't
even know if that's necessary now. But man, does Steven
(06:33):
Ross have a lot of work to do in the
offseason with this team, Like he has to take a long,
unvarnished look at his franchise and figure out where they're going.
Speaker 4 (06:44):
Yeah, you know, the first of all, no change is imminent,
it certainly seems with the Dolphins, which at least gives
them another week or who knows, to kind of figure
this thing out. If they are going to figure it
out now, I will say, if they have another game
like this, then there's still going to be questions every
week about when when when. So like, it only seems
(07:05):
like it's headed in not a good direction unless the
team dramatically changes it.
Speaker 6 (07:09):
You know, Mike McDaniel can be a leader.
Speaker 4 (07:12):
You can stand up there and be a smart, savvy,
analytical leader. Put the guys in the reposition, have a
great offense, and stand up in front of the room
and lead the team in a way that's not been
traditional football coaches. But when things are going bad, that's
really the test of leadership, and this is the test
for him right now. Maybe the team really does want
(07:32):
to see, like, all right, the team's bad, are they
going to respond to the head coach or not? Last
week it was not and this week we'll see. But
like the players are going to have to play better
if they're going to fix it. Here's one thing I
want to ask Cam before we get them out of here.
When Mike McDaniel started, this offense seemed to be unstoppable.
(07:54):
Like every running back it seemed gained like seven yards
a pop. What happened to this offense? Like Mike Big
Daniel didn't forget how to coach, so like what happened?
Speaker 3 (08:05):
No, it's a great question because McDaniel still is a
great scheme caller and a play caller. It's interesting because
I watched Tua's press conference and he said the word
operation like seven times, and it's been a common word
that he has used, particularly to describe the struggles there.
And I think Tua has to take some accountability in this,
and accountability has been a big thing for two of
(08:27):
this year because I think when things go wrong, you
hear Tua talk about all things are coming into its huddle.
Slowly how they can't make changes at the line of scrimmage,
but that was an area he mastered in previous years
and I just don't see the same version of Tua,
and so I don't know if it's something mentally that
he's in the block on, or it's just the speed
(08:48):
of defenses catching up with how they've running scheme wise,
and they haven't been able to adjust. But the operation
certainly hasn't been cleaned. Your quarterback also has not excelled
in those timing routes, those accuracy over the middle that
had made him great. And so the scheme is set
up for one player, Tua to be excellent in what
(09:08):
he's excellent at. He has not been excellent at nearly
any of those things this year, and as a result,
we've seen that offense be bad. So yes, McDaniel certainly
deserves some blame for this slow start, but I'd argue too,
h may deserve even more of it from the offensive
struggle points because they did it for him, and now
you can't say, hey, this is somebody else's fault.
Speaker 1 (09:31):
And they reminder the Dolphins zode toa fifty four million
dollars fully guaranteed in twenty twenty six, So there is
no clean break looming on the other side of this.
One way or another, they're paying him that money and
it'll probably be to be as a quarterback of the
Miami Dolphins. Cam thank you very much.
Speaker 2 (09:49):
We will see soon on the inside.
Speaker 4 (09:51):
We'll be right back with more on the insight.
Speaker 1 (10:09):
One of the interesting stories of the weekend of Week
seven in the NFL is what I recorded on Saturday
that the Packers got stranded on the tarmac in Green
Bay for almost six hours, which for anybody who's had
a very long airplane delay, you know that's not a
great place to be and you don't have to go
and play an NFL football game the next day. But
I have to think, maybe this is what Michah Parsons needs.
(10:32):
Maybe just get him really angry, angry the whole deal,
because he went out there, Judy. And not to say
that we haven't seen Michael Parsons going full borks, we
have every single week, but three sacks. He was all
over the field and helped the Packers put one away
on the road under kind of weird circumstances.
Speaker 5 (10:50):
They did look a little sleepy like slow out of
the gate at the first part of the game, and
you sort of thought, like, are they just sort of
out of whack because of that? Like their schedule just
got didn't they have to blow off meetings, evening meetings
they couldn't do We're stuck on the plane, right, So,
like I just thought, like, are they just so out
of whack now that they're And then of course they
sort of played themselves into waking up and like I mean,
(11:14):
Michael Parsons was just a beast, and you know, I'm sorry,
like we all like to stir the pot, like right,
Like I just wonder like does Jerry Jones see those
highlights at any point, and like, you know, does he
go like Wow, Yeah, that's yeah, he's good boy. You
would love to have a player like that on your team.
He's I mean, he's just been great and I'm sure
(11:35):
everything that the Packers could have hoped for. And certainly
as the Packers sort of put themselves in position in
the NFC North, I expect to see that We're going
to see a lot more of that kind of Michael
Parsons performance. He seems to be on a mission.
Speaker 4 (11:49):
You know, when when teams trade first rounders during the draft,
someone would be like, hey, you guys, you know we're
supposed to have the number twenty one pick. What are
you doing? And it's like, oh, we're watching film of
the guy we righted for it, right. That's like a
common sort of like draft joke. I wonder if Jerry
Jones sees the Micah Parsons play and it's like my
two first rounders, like guy, it's like how you feel
(12:10):
and everybody good. So the jury is still out on
who won the trade, but I think it's very fair
to say the Packers got absolutely everything they could have
wanted and hoped for, and like you know, Jordan Love
certainly has been good more than good enough, but having
an absolutely dominant defense really helps. I was laughing Tom
(12:33):
because well, two things. First of all, getting stuck on
the tarmact is maybe the worst thing. Tarmac is maybe
the worst thing of all time during training camp, that's
like my nightmare.
Speaker 6 (12:41):
Unless they're serving.
Speaker 4 (12:43):
And if they're serving, it's sort of like if we
have power and they're serving like drinks and maybe some snacks, flights.
Speaker 5 (12:52):
Yeah, let's do it. No alcohol team plans.
Speaker 1 (12:56):
You should know this. There have been violations over the years.
Speaker 6 (13:00):
You're not allowed didn't you break one of them? I
feel like, when who's the guy who did.
Speaker 1 (13:04):
The Miller lte ad or no lost Taylor Heinekew's highlights
on the plane back? And then it became, hey, he's
not allowed to do.
Speaker 6 (13:11):
And then I think you got him fined.
Speaker 1 (13:13):
I think I don't think that was my fault. I
think that that was his fault. But someone did. I mean,
they weren't planning to have dinner on the plane either.
So literally, when I got a FaceTime from unnamed source
from the tarmac, I asked that question, have you eaten?
It was no, someone just ran to get Chick fil
A for everybody. So NFL players, they're just like us. Well,
(13:34):
the other thing to the Cardinals. Now, I had research
confirmed this five straight losses by a grand total of
thirteen points. That ties the fewest point differential in a
five game losing streak in NFL history. With the forty
nine ers, who had forgotten this, had a streak like
that back in twenty seventeen. The Cardinals at two and five,
they're not far off. You know, you're going into your
(13:56):
buy on a five game losing streak. You think that
the sky is falling and certainly they're behind the eight ball,
but without their starting quarterback the last couple of weeks too,
They're in every one of these games. At some point,
you got to learn how to finish. We'll see how
they come back here after the bye. The Bears appear
to be figuring out how to finish. And I just
I feel like we are saying this on a weekly
basis right now, Judy. The way that Ben Johnson has
(14:18):
Caleb Williams playing, the way that Ben Johnson and Dennis
Allen have players reacting to situations within the game, It's
amazing to see where they've come, even just since Week one,
where that game got away from them against the Vikings,
to the way that even when they took a couple
of hits from the Saints yesterday, they kept slugging and
finished that one off for their fourth consecutive win.
Speaker 5 (14:40):
It is amazing how different they look from week one.
Right week one, we all came out of that game thing,
I'm like, oh my god, okay, this is they haven't
really improved at all yesterday. I mean, the defense is
what carried them yesterday, right because I thought Caleb sort of,
you know, had a little trouble getting into the flow there.
But now the defense is going to be able to
perform well too. They are again in an extremely competitive division.
(15:05):
You can no longer look at the Bears and say, well,
not this year. They're still a growing team. You know,
it's our first year head coach. You got to give
them time. Like, no, you have to look at the
Bears now and say, like, they can win any game, right,
if things fall into place, they can win any game.
They're certainly a threat in the NFC North, you know,
are they among the NFC elite? Maybe not yet, but
(15:26):
the way they are playing and the way they're progressing.
We're only in week seven, and the way you have
already seen them take steps growing only leads you to
believe they're going to continue to get better as they
get more familiar with each other, as Ben Johnson gets
more of a hold on things. You would think the
second half of the season is going to show more growth.
(15:46):
They are certainly going could very well be in the
playoff mix.
Speaker 6 (15:52):
The Saints are bad.
Speaker 4 (15:53):
Obviously, they don't win any games, and they just lost
their starting center and the backup running back, and so,
like my guess is they'll probably continue to be bad.
They must be the best bad team around. Like, and
I know the Browns just beat up the Dolphins pretty good.
I feel like the Saints are having good season.
Speaker 6 (16:13):
Is that weird?
Speaker 4 (16:14):
They don't win any games, but I really feel like
they play hard, they play well, they almost always lose,
and they seem like a team that's pretty well coached,
which I know doesn't make any sense maybe, but like,
like if I was a Saints fan, I'd be like,
all right, we need a lot better players, but.
Speaker 6 (16:32):
This team might be okay.
Speaker 2 (16:33):
You know.
Speaker 1 (16:35):
We also saw the Rams yesterday beat up on the
Jaguars in a game that we know there's a lot
of familiarity between those two organizations. Sean McVay certainly seemed
fire up, fired up to take it to his former
multi time assistant Liam colem Keeps. In that game on
they where Pokin the Cool, one of the best receivers
in the NFL is not in there. Matthew Stafford throws
(16:56):
five touchdown passes, including three to Devonte Adams. It was
a good day to be the old guys over there
in London. We also saw the Jets, who just were
coming off of a brutal performance in London. They come back.
This is one of those games that on paper you
look at and you're like, Okay, there's a scenario where
(17:16):
they can go and get this one. Yet, for the
second straight week, Aaron Glenn allows the end of the
first half to expire without attempting a final play. He
now is openly One week after biting back at reporters
who asked him while making a quarterback change, he has
now said publicly he is considering what to do in
consulting other coaches. Judy, you're close to people in that organization,
(17:41):
what exactly do you make of the state of the
OH to seven Jets right now?
Speaker 5 (17:48):
So frustrated, so frustrated. I think what is so maddening
about this team is, and we talked about this a
little bit last week on the Insiders, is that they win.
They play well in spurts on different sides of the
ball right occasionally, especially in the first few games of
the season, the offense looked pretty good, like stuff you
could build on. Is that first game against the Steelers
(18:09):
the offense looked really pretty promising and the defense looked terrible.
And now the last two weeks the defense has looked
really good. I mean, they lost but they held the
Panthers to thirteen points, same thing as last week. They
could have won the game if the offense had just
been able to put any one drive together. So they're
just so frustrated, so frustrated. I don't know what Aaron
(18:35):
Glenn is going to do. He said he wants to
take a little bit more time to think about the
quarterback situation. We were talking before about the Bryce Young thing,
and I thought about this before, like, is this a
situation where they think if you sit justin fields for
a few weeks, reset and maybe things are different. I
don't know, He's not a rookie anymore, right, He's played
some football. This has happened in multiple spots. But I
(18:59):
don't know if they are very many good options for
Aaron Glenn. I mean, right like Tyro Taylor. You know,
everybody likes him and he can throw the ball down
the field, which he did yesterday. In that respect, there
was a little bit more juice to the offense when
he got in there, but the results were the same.
I mean the interception. You know, I don't know that
there's a good choice for Aaron Glenn here. As he
ponders the quarterback situation, and I don't know how they
(19:21):
They have to put a game together. The defense is
playing well enough to win these games now the last
two weeks. They just have to be able to put
a few drives together and just look competent. Competent. Certainly
it'll look better when Garrett Wilson is on the field,
of course, but I mean, they just have to stop
making bad mistakes. They've got to stop making penalties. They've
got to do better game management, better situational football, like
(19:44):
you just talked about. They've just got to get more competent.
Speaker 4 (19:47):
Yeah, I mean to me, like looking at the quarterback decision,
I definitely understand why Justin Field was not in the
field after the first half, Like that was that seemed
fairly obvious.
Speaker 6 (19:59):
But to watch Taroto go out there.
Speaker 4 (20:01):
And I think through two interceptions and the offense didn't
move at all, I'm sort of like, all right, like
what are they What can they do? Like honestly, like,
what what can they do to make it better?
Speaker 6 (20:11):
Like I have no idea?
Speaker 4 (20:13):
And you know that's a little brain numbing because like,
if you're Jets fans, you like to think that.
Speaker 6 (20:19):
There's like a light at the end of the tunnel,
and I don't know that there is on the roster.
Speaker 4 (20:23):
And I guess it's all the head coaches fault, because
everything's the head coach's fault, but.
Speaker 6 (20:29):
Like, is that his fault? You know, Like they don't
have any good.
Speaker 1 (20:33):
Quarter put his stamp on Justin Fields obviously before the
season they not even close to I think.
Speaker 4 (20:40):
And I think at the time that was probably the
best option for them.
Speaker 6 (20:44):
But then it's like they got a bunch of old.
Speaker 4 (20:46):
Players after going all in with Aaron Rodgers, and now
like it's just kind of like a weird transition where
they just don't have any don't have enough to win,
And I think that's that's tough.
Speaker 1 (20:57):
All right. We got to go Insiders five days a week.
You can find the podcast. You can see us seven
pm Eastern Time on NFL Network on Tuesdays, Wednesdays and Fridays.
We're on the Fast Channel on Mondays and Thursdays. We're
all over the place. Thank you for being here for
Ian Raupport, Judy Battista, and my dog who I've been
holding for a half hour because he was getting.
Speaker 2 (21:16):
Scared of the thunder.
Speaker 6 (21:18):
All right, Doug, I'm Tom Tella.
Speaker 5 (21:20):
Seril see
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