October 31, 2024 • 35 mins
Halloween Special: Unmasking NFL Teams and Anthony Richardson's Controversy
In this Halloween-themed episode of "Those Guys w/ Alex Hardy & Nick Ferguson," the lights are low as Alex and Nick delve into the heart of the NFL season. With Week 9 approaching, they explore the halfway point of the season, unmasking two teams each to reveal their true identities as the season unfolds.
The discussion kicks off with the Indianapolis Colts' surprising decision to bench Anthony Richardson in favor of veteran Joe Flacco. Nick shares his frustrations and insights into the Colts' quarterback dilemma, questioning Richardson's commitment and the implications of his actions on the team's dynamics.
The hosts then shift their focus to the Cincinnati Bengals and Buffalo Bills, analyzing their performances through the first eight weeks. Nick unveils the Bengals' struggles and the impact of T. Higgins' presence on their offense, while Alex highlights the Bills' balanced attack and their potential as legitimate AFC contenders.
As the episode progresses, the Halloween theme continues with the unmasking of the Washington Commanders and the Los Angeles Rams. Nick and Alex discuss the Commanders' unexpected success and the Rams' offensive prowess when key players are healthy.
Wrapping up the episode, the duo touches on the World Series results, with Nick expressing his disappointment over the Yankees' performance and the Dodgers' triumph. They also preview the upcoming Thursday Night Football showdown between the Houston Texans and New York Jets, a game with personal ties to Nick's NFL career.
00:00 " Nick Ferguson: Frustration on the back burner with this baseball podcast
01:01 " Anthony Richardson benched by Indianapolis Colts because he said he was tired
09:16 " The Indianapolis Colts drafted quarterback Anthony Richardson in the third round
18:06 " Nick Stevenson: Buffalo Bills could be a legitimate AFC contender
25:50 " When your best players on offense are healthy, you have a good offense
27:23 " The Yankees lose to the Los Angeles Dodgers in the World Series
30:28 " The Houston Texans host the New York Jets on Thursday Night Football
Join Alex and Nick as they continue to be your go-to guys for NFL insights, analysis, and a touch of humor. Follow Nick Ferguson on Twitter at @NickFerguson_25 for more hot takes and football discussions.
Mark as Played
Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
(00:10):
We are those guys andwe hope to be your guys.
We just had to.
It's our Halloween special.
The lights are kind ofdown low here on my end.
Nick Ferguson, thatstar shining so bright.
You need to wear sunglasses indoors.
Uh, what's going on Nick Ferguson?
How are you, my man?
Oh man, um, where do I begin?
Uh, I'm very frustrated and Ithink, you know, why I'm frustrated.
(00:35):
So we'll
get there.
This is
frustration on the back burner.
This is, this is supposedto be for Thursday.
We're sitting here Wednesday nightand we're kind of sweating, uh, a
little baseball, but we'll see if,uh, the baseball season is over by
the time this podcast either endsour recording or, uh, when you
hear us, uh, Live Thursday morning.
(00:58):
Well, taped to live,however you want to put it.
Uh, Nick, we're now approachingweek nine in the NFL season.
You know, it used to be a cut and clean.
We're through eight weeks.
We're exactly halfway through,but no, we play 17 games now.
So we got to get through thatninth week until we say we're
finally over the halfway point.
So I'm excited.
(01:19):
It's Halloween.
I think we're going to play alittle Scooby Doo, if you will.
We're going to unmask.
We've got two teams a piece that we'reexcited to kind of, here's who they
were through the first eight weeks,seven, maybe eight games played.
We're going to take off that mask.
And it was really old man Jenkins.
Uh, who are these teams that, you know,through the first half of the season.
(01:42):
Compared to how we think they'regoing to finish things out.
Uh, always fun to do on Halloween, butfirst Nick, I wanted to start with, uh,
Anthony Richardson and the IndianapolisColts ultimately getting benched
for a four and four football team.
This is Anthony Richardson.
Who had 13 starts at Florida.
Now 10 starts in the national footballleague spread throughout 10 games.
(02:05):
And the Colts decided that itwas in their best interest to win
games, to put Joe Flacco in there.
Richardson had missed time, both hisrookie season and this year due to injury.
Uh, Gordner Minshew, wesaw step up last year.
Now Joe Flacco, here's the quote for me.
Shane Steichen, when asked if AnthonyRichardson would start for the Colts
(02:25):
again, quote, that would be great.
We'll see.
I think this is kind of a wild decisionby the Indianapolis Colts who at four and
four believe that Flacco is the answerfor them to get to the postseason for now.
Well, I don't think it's about the belief.
That Shane Steichen and the Coltsbelieve that Flacco can get them there.
(02:48):
I think it's kind of a two parter.
We could probably spenda lot of time on it.
Right.
So I'll get into, uh, you know, Flaccolater, but I think it's more about
what they're seeing from the youngquarterback and Anthony Richardson.
I mean, I don't believe anyoneanticipated that The reaction that he
created was going to be what it was.
(03:09):
And obviously if you haven't seenit, you must've been living up on the
rock, but if not, I will let you know.
What happened, Nick?
Yeah, this was, this was in the23 20 loss to the Houston Texans.
Now 0 2 against their AFC South rival,who's now leading the division by.
Right.
So the idea was that, you know, AnthonyRich is in, you know, in a close game,
(03:33):
a game that the Colts could have won.
He tapped out.
He pulled himself out ofthe game, said he was tired.
And don't get me wrong.
You get tired playing football.
You get tired doing so many things.
And the determination of whether you're inshape or not is how quickly you recover.
And for a guy to get tired, Imean, it's a common thing, but
(03:56):
you never go to the podium.
And you never say it, even if it was true.
And that's kind of the bigger thing.
And for me, the first thing I thinkabout is, if I was a player in that
locker room, how am I going to feelabout my quarterback, who I'm supposed
to look up to, supposed to be the face.
Of the franchise saying that,well, coach, I'm tired boss.
(04:18):
So I need, I need, I neededto, I needed a break.
Oh yeah.
Yeah.
Shane Stein said, Oh, we're goingto give you all the break you want.
I'm going to sit right here next to meand you're going to hold this clipboard.
The next time you go in,Joe Flacco would have to be.
Now, obviously this is not a situationthe Colts thought they would be in,
but they have to handle it and dealwith the situation and not feeling
(04:42):
as though Anthony Richardson isas committed as though he should.
So you go with an elder statesman,a guy who, I mean, shocked everyone
last year when he was able to pushCleveland and get them to the point
where they was able to get to.
Joe Flacco is Mr.
Old Reliable, and in situations likethis, you just need something that
(05:02):
you can hang your hat on that you knowis going to go out there and compete.
Now, you know, this, maybe yourperspective is much appreciated, Nick,
because across the media, you say, oh,Anthony Richardson, you know, scrambled,
shook off a 300 pound nose tackle, uh, wasable to get a first down, took a playoff,
(05:24):
got right back onto the football field.
There's a little bit of, um,uh, consideration coming from
people that didn't play the game.
But Nick, you join a number ofpeople that I saw react to it.
I think Luke Keekly called out Cam Newtonsaying that he would never, number one,
would never do something like that.
Uh, plenty of other examples ofplayers just totally blasting
(05:47):
Anthony Richardson for this decision.
And this is, I mean, taking yourselfoff the field is where does that rank
among one of the, you know, Thingsthat a player could or could not do.
Is this just one of thecardinal sins as a, as a, as a
professional football player?
Yeah, it is a cardinal sin for anyplayer, no matter where you draft it.
(06:09):
But when you are drafted in thefirst round and you play the
quarterback position, a positionthat most view you as being a team
leader, this looks really bad.
I mean, you tapped out in a divisionalgame when you were chasing the
Houston Texans and you're supposedto be the quarterback of the future.
And I'm sure the Colts fans lookedat Anthony Richardson and they
(06:32):
went, Andrew Luck, Peyton Manning.
These guys would have never done this.
And if they would have, theywould have, they would have
never verbalized it publicly.
And that's kind of my thing.
You know, we all have issues that wego through as people and as players.
The one thing you never do, you neveropenly admit that publicly because
(06:54):
you can't really live that down.
And if Anthony Richardson, how do you walkinto that locker room and face those guys?
How in the hell do you walkinto the quarterback locker room
yourself and be like, okay, wellI'm still the guy of the future.
You guys draft me to be that guy.
I am that guy is like, no, you're not.
(07:15):
You tapped out.
So as our leader, if our, if our leadertaps out, what happens to us as a team?
You talk about the future,you talk about the leader.
Anthony Richardson is one of thecaptains of the Indianapolis Colts.
So they follow his lead.
And his actions clearly reverberated,not just, you know, amongst his
(07:36):
teammates, but the coaching staffmaking that decision as well.
Now, six starts in 2024, uh, 44 percentcompletion, four touchdowns, seven picks.
Uh, however, there's no one inthe national football league
that has a larger a dot averagedepth of target on his throws.
So we're talking aboutlow completion percentage.
(07:58):
Uh, trying, trying to throwthe ball downfield, but again,
10 starts in his career.
Uh, is it just a result of thisone play benching himself or is
the leash getting shorter andshorter for starting quarterbacks?
Because the leash is gettingshorter and shorter for coaches too.
When Shane Steichen was hired,Chris Ballard was talking about
(08:20):
a three, maybe four year process.
When mature, when the maturation ofAnthony Richardson, he said, Terry
Bradshaw probably wouldn't make itin the league because he didn't play
right away or play well, right away.
Troy Aikman didn't win a game.
His rookie season, Derek Carrstarted Oh and 10 in his career.
All of them certainly carvedout, you know, NFL careers.
(08:41):
I'm not lumping Derek Carrwith a Troy Aikman and Terry
Bradshaw, but you get the idea.
These things take time, but thepressure cooker in the national
football league now in 2024.
Does that play into it more so than thisone decision made by Anthony Richardson?
Is this just ten games over the courseof one and a half seasons, and the
(09:04):
Colts just aren't liking what they geton the investment that they made for
the fourth overall selection in 2023?
This is a case of the Colts notliking the investment that they made.
It's like going out andbuying a new car, right?
It's very trendy.
Everyone says that this is the car to buy.
(09:25):
Motor Trend, the car of the year.
You go buy the vehicle.
You don't even test drive it, right?
Then you take it home andyou go, you know what?
There's something aboutthis that feels Not so good.
And then you go out there and youstand in front of the car and you look
at it and you're like, you know what?
I felt victim of the, the wholetrend, the narrative of what
(09:47):
the guy was supposed to be.
You forgot to look under the hood.
You forgot to see what thecar was actually made of.
Right.
And you didn't even test drive it.
So that's where I feel as though theColts are looking at this situation and
they are second guessing their decisionand drafting Anthony Richardson saying,
okay, well maybe he wasn't ready.
(10:07):
Yeah.
He performed well at the combine,but maybe the men to 42, he needed
as a leader, knowing as thoughyou're following Andrew Luck,
you're following Peyton Manning isnot the guy that you really want.
And, and I hate to say that, Imean, if things don't turn around.
I'm sure Colts fans will start lookingat Anthony Richardson the same way
(10:28):
they look at Jeff George, right?
A guy who's got a strong arm, but he justdidn't have those leadership qualities.
And it puts Shane Steichen and theColts in a tough situation because Joe
Flacco is not a long term solution.
So they may have to go back into thedraft and try to find another quarterback.
That's tough to do, right?
(10:48):
Clearly, there's no longterm plan with a 39 year old.
And before selecting AnthonyRichardson, we saw Carson Wentz,
Matt Ryan, Phillip Rivers.
Um, listen, you zoom out, and this iskind of an indictment on the front office
led by Chris Ballard based on theirdecision making at the most premium
position in all of professional sports.
So, Nick, you know, Anthony Richardsonfailing to complete 50 percent of
(11:12):
his passes, Uh, you know, the, thecombination of arm strength and
mobility at that position, did theyjust fall victim to thinking they
could have found the next Josh Allen?
I think it's so fascinating whenyou look at teams that identify raw
talents and specific traits when itcomes to the quarterback position.
(11:32):
And as we naturally progress in the sportand the best athletes get the football
in their hands in large part, becausethe quarterbacks make the most money, you
know, but time and time again, teams can.
Fool themselves into thinking willtake the raw athlete who may not have
the amount of reps that, you know,other experienced, seasoned college
(11:53):
players have, um, thinking thatthey can fix all of those problems.
And yet there's only one Josh Allen, butyou have Anthony Richardson to this point.
You have Trey, the TreyLances of the world.
Um, you know, we can criticize AnthonyRichardson all we want, but maybe this
has more to say about talent evaluationin the NFL and these teams thinking that
(12:15):
they can quote unquote fix or developthese raw prospects that just aren't
ready to play at the professional level.
Yeah.
I think it has a lot to do with theevaluation because I mean, you have a
lot of scouts who fall in love with.
The tangibles, right?
Oh my God.
You look at his size and his hand size andhow, how the ball jumps out of his hands.
(12:38):
We always hear about that.
Look at this arm strength, but thenwe never really look at what's above
the neck and what's below the wave.
Wait, and what I mean by that is you'retalking about a guy's mind and how he
thinks, how he processes information.
Can he lead in tough situations, butalso what happens below the ways.
which has a lot to do with their footwork.
(12:59):
And look, sometimes there's a hit andmiss, and there are, there's a 40, there
is a short shuttle, there's a verticaljump, but there's nothing really in
place to really test a guy's heart.
And it seems as though I'm attackingsomewhat of the integrity of, you
know, Anthony Richardson, but whenyou tap out, I mean, that's the
(13:19):
only thing I can go, go back to.
I know how difficult it is To get intothe NFL, I know how difficult it is to
stay in the NFL as an undrafted player.
And the last thing youwant to do is, is tap out.
So it makes it really difficult, buthopefully this changes some of the process
when it comes to GMs and scouts and howthey evaluate and they just kind of move
(13:43):
to other aspects of a quarterback's game.
Other than hand size and howthe ball jumps out their hands.
This may sound crazy, Nick, but youknow, granted we're given the Um,
COVID exception for a lot of thequarterbacks that were coming out.
Bo Nix started 60 gamesbetween Auburn and Oregon.
Jaden Daniels started, you know, forfive years between Arizona State and LSU.
(14:07):
Like maybe experience just kind ofhelps with some of these things.
I'm just saying.
Well, experience helps.
And I think what, you know, ShaneSteichen was trying to do, uh, with the
Colts when he was looking at AnthonyRichardson, obviously the guy is a
specimen when you see him and the waythat he throws the ball because he
throws the ball with a lot of velocity.
(14:28):
It seemed as though maybe there was, youknow, An intention of trying to duplicate
the same thing, you know, uh, what Phillyhad with Jalen Hurts and maybe seeing a
little of that or maybe seeing too muchof that and Anthony Richardson, which
caused this problem, which forced themnot to focus on the most important things.
The mental makeup of Anthony Richardson.
(14:51):
Well, the Indianapolis Colts willbe certainly interesting to watch.
Um, the AFC South is one thateven when you played Nick may not
have been the most competitive.
Um, so look, they're two gamesback, really three with the tie
breakers to the Houston Texans,considering they lost them twice.
So they believe the season isn'tlost and neither should we.
So we move on Nick with thisHalloween edition of those guys.
(15:15):
Um, really when you zoom out, we'rehalfway through the season and
we're kind of discovering who someof these teams really are, Nick.
I want to start with, uh, one teamin particular that you saw through
eight weeks, you're ready to takeoff the mask from any preconceived
notions you had going into the season.
Maybe they came out with a hot start eightweeks into the season, NFL team and tell
(15:40):
me who they really are for Halloween.
Well, the mask I want to take off.
is for the CincinnatiBengals and Joe Burrow.
Like, this is a teamcoming into the season.
I mean, obviously, since JoeBurrow became the quarterback,
a lot of Super Bowls aspiration.
We're talking about a team thatended up being in the Super Bowl a
(16:00):
couple of plays away from winningone and defeating the Rams, but that
wouldn't be the story, the end ofthe story for the Cincinnati Bengals.
But the problem is I thought theywere going to be more Uh, productive
offensively and it just seems asthough they haven't really been there.
And this was a defense that overthe past couple of seasons were kind
(16:20):
of like a thorn in the backside ofKansas City Chiefs and Pasha Mahomes.
And you have to wonder whatreally happened to their defense.
And here's the other thing.
I mean, 0 and 4 at home.
I mean,
if you can't defend your own hometurf, what in the hell can you defend?
They came into this season, Nick,with a contract dispute for both T.
(16:44):
Higgins and Jamar Chase.
And it's really telling just how differentthis offense, how much better they are
when Tee Higgins gets to play, right?
He misses the first two weeks ofthe season, losses that unbelievable
shock of a loss to New Englandwhere they put up 10 points, and
the one point loss to Kansas City.
Maybe we'll excuse since they're 7 0.
(17:04):
Meanwhile, he returns to thefield, um, you know, misses,
uh, some action here and there.
But they're four, sorry, threeand two with him in the lineup,
averaging closer to 25, 30 pointsa game with him in the lineup.
So thinking that they can save moneyand he's had his own injury setbacks,
but it's going to be a difficult,uh, tight rope for him to navigate.
(17:27):
Understanding that if he's playing atless than a hundred percent and his
production, his numbers don't show up.
The Bengals could use thatbargaining against him.
If he misses too many games to get right.
The Bengals could say he didn'tplay enough games when doing
their next contract negotiation.
So it's just clearly the offenseis better with him in the lineup.
(17:49):
Um, but looking out for himself andhitting the free agent market potentially
for his age 26 season, you know,could lock up his financial security.
So I'm just, I, you know, when, whenall of their weapons are healthy, the
receivers, the running backs, I knowthat Chase Brown is kind of getting
worked in Zach Moss is Um, you know,was one of their leading rushers
(18:12):
for the first month of the season.
They're still trying to figure thingsout, which is kind of hard to do, to
recognize knowing that, look, they finallyhad a full off season of Joe Burrow.
They move on from an integral piece,uh, like Joe Mixon, who's, Uh, one
of the top running backs in the NFLwent hungry, uh, healthy this season.
I guess I'm hungry right now, but,uh, they made some wholesale changes.
(18:35):
They were supposed to getsome continuity with Burrow.
And yet here they are last, uh,uh, third, sorry, in the AFC North.
Um, I want to talk about an AFCteam, Nick, that through the first
eight weeks of the season, theyare exactly who they were to.
So I take the mask off, and I seethe Buffalo Bills as a legitimate AFC
(18:59):
contender, because more than anything,they are the most balanced offense in
the AFC, and can change their identitybased on who their opponent is.
Now, what I need to find out,and what we're trying to figure
out, is Is with Vaughn Millerreturning off of his suspension.
How this defense takes shape.
They played one of their most completegames against Seattle this past week,
(19:22):
who we thought, you know, could be oneof the surprise teams out of the NFC.
Uh, meanwhile, Josh Allen hasn'thad to play as much hero ball.
They're working in Amari Cooper.
James Cook has been absolutelydominant in the backfield.
And this Buffalo Bills team, youknow, we ripped this mask off and
they could be really one of the bestteams behind the Kansas City Chiefs.
(19:45):
Well, yeah, they could, could be,but, uh, they still have, uh, issues.
And, you know, having a quarterbackwho runs like a running back
and having James Cook in yourbackfield, it definitely helps out.
The addition of Mari Cooper brings aveteran presence on the offensive side of
the ball and a reliable weapon for JoshAllen and having Von Miller come back.
(20:09):
Hopefully, you know, conditioningis what it needs to be, but that
should be a boost and a part to beable to uplift the Bills defense.
But I mean, when I look at theBuffalo Bills, it seemed like the
same storyline every single year.
Uh, they start out great.
(20:29):
Josh Allen is havingsomewhat of an MVP season.
Then we get to the back halfof the season and they fall off
as things start to get tight.
And oh, by the way, you still have tocontend with the Kansas City Chiefs, which
Josh Allen seemed to can't get over it.
If Josh Allen was Superman, KansasCity is definitely his kryptonite.
(20:50):
And oh, by the way, don't mention theteam that the Bills lost to earlier
this season, the Baltimore Ravens.
So yeah, it looks great.
Everything looks up for the Billsand Josh Allen, but I still have my
doubts about Allen and the BuffaloBills being able to get over the hump
because they haven't proven that theycan over the past couple of years.
(21:11):
The Dolphins and then the Colts, we'llsee if it's still Joe Flacco come Week
10, and then they get their matchupat home against the Kansas City Chiefs
before heading into the bye week.
So we're going to find out whothese Buffalo Bills really are.
But by taking the mask off now, I justwant to shine a light on the team that
look, 34 passing plays, 34 rushes.
(21:33):
And they get a quality winagainst the Seattle Seahawks.
Nick, another team you're looking totake the mask off on as we approach
the second half of the season,
the Washington commanders, who are they?
Really?
Well, we don't really know.
We don't know.
Here's a team thatfinds ways to win games.
And, you know, over the past couple ofyears, when we looked at the commanders,
(21:55):
Well, here's what we knew about them.
They found ways to lose games.
That's what bad teams do.
And watching them playagainst Chicago Bears.
I mean, that last Hail Maryplay was utterly ridiculous.
Yeah.
Back
up.
Tell me about, uh, tellme about that play.
If you've seen anything like it.
And then, uh, I need you to rate TyreekStephenson's performance on that play.
(22:18):
But first.
Anything you've seen like that before?
I've never, I've never seena play like that before.
I've seen Hail Mary plays completed,but with the drama leading up to that
particular play, nothing like it.
It was an epic fail even beforethe Hail Mary was even thrown.
Like, uh, right before that,I think it was probably about
(22:40):
six seconds on the clock.
The defense for, uh, ChicagoBears, they're playing off.
So they allow the Washington Commandersto run like an eight to six yard kind
of speed out to put the ball in perfectdistance so Jayden Daniels could actually
take a shot down the field, right?
And then, There was a littlekind of subtle timeout before
(23:03):
the Hail Mary took place.
And then to see the Chicago Bears lineup where they're only rushing three,
which I think is utterly the stupidestthing that I've ever seen in football.
And then he had a guy on thesecond level spying Jane Danes.
Jane Danes is runningaround, running around.
The guy who's spying him is just stayingon the second level, moving around.
And I'm like, at some pointyou're going to trigger because
(23:25):
you're just standing there.
I'm like, do you not understandsituational football?
Even if Jane Daniels wereto run, that's a long way.
And someone you would think maybewould track him down and tackle him.
So you might as well add on andadd more pressure to the throw.
That didn't happen.
I don't know what the hell hewas doing, but then you get three
(23:47):
receivers running towards him.
You can even see the WashingtonCommanders fans pointing, trying to
alert him of what's happening, but thenhe finally tries to get into the play.
He jumps.
I don't know if he tipsit, whomever tips it.
But the idea on those types of plays,some DBs think that they're free plays,
so they all try to catch the ball.
It's a cheap interception, you think,but what usually happens, the ball
(24:10):
is deflected, comes off of someone'shands, because you're supposed to
bat it down, and then a guy who isthe backcatcher catches the ball.
So, from a defensive standpoint,everything about those last two plays
were utter disaster, but it only increasesthe folklore of one Jane Daniels.
(24:31):
And I had someone today tell, call,tell me, well, when they think
about Jane Daniels, he's baby Jesus.
I was like, what?
He's looked at as being baby Jesusbecause Dan Quinn taking over and
looking like Cliff Kingsbury, whois in my, in my opinion, he's a
quarterback whisperer because hegets another guy like Jane Daniels.
(24:53):
But the Washington Commandershas surprised a lot of people.
They are so far ahead than mostpeople have thought they would be.
And I have to give a big shout outto my dude, Adam Peters, the GM
for putting this team together.
Now look, we're ripping this maskoff and we're talking about a
team that has, uh, one, uh, oneteam ahead of them in the NFC.
(25:14):
We have the 6 1 Lions.
So, we take this mask off.
Are we looking at a team that'scompeting for a first round bye, Nick?
Like the one overall seed inthe NFC with Washington here?
Part of me wants to say yes,but I'm going to say no.
And the reason I'm going to saythat is because you still have
those darn pesky Detroit Lions.
(25:35):
And we still don't know what they'regoing to do to shore up their defense.
Come next week by trade deadlinebecause we don't, we already know
Aiden Hutchinson is not going toreturn and he will not return until
the team makes to the Super Bowl.
So we don't really know what's goingto happen, but right now the number
one team and the NFC from, for me, inmy opinion, based on how they perform,
(26:00):
Jerry Golf and the Detroit Lions.
Yep.
Without a doubt.
Uh, the last mask I think we needto rip off here, uh, at least from
my standpoint, have to be these L.
A.
Rams.
Nick, did you know that whenyour best players on offense are
healthy, you have a good offense?
For a team that, uh, came out Thursdaynight against the Minnesota Vikings,
(26:21):
what I saw with Puca, Nakua, andCooper Cupp playing limited reps,
And their ability to put up pointswas just something to marvel.
I mean, we talked about it onour last episode with our rapid
reaction to Thursday night.
Um, I just think that it is a top fiveoffense when everybody is healthy.
And again, it's a big if it's thenational football league, but getting
(26:45):
these players back healthy at theright time, a game back of the Arizona
Cardinals for the lead in the NFC West.
Uh, they could just as easily, you know,go on a tear spreading the football out
to those receivers, plus the contributionswe saw from Demarcus Robinson.
Uh, meanwhile, Kyron Williamsremaining to be that heartbeat.
I'm not going to spendtoo much time on it.
(27:06):
We have back to back episodes with Ramslove, and I understand we have a ton of
love for LA, Nick, because the LA Dodgersare the 2024 World Series champions.
They close it out game five.
They get to celebrate, uh, in theBronx before coming back to LA.
So before we get to Nick, before we splityour Yankees tribe, they won more world
(27:29):
series games than any other team, but LAthis year, uh, any reflections you have
before we, uh, You know, this show of notejust wants to talk about all of our teams.
That includes baseball as well.
Well, my, uh, natural instincts areto use a bunch of words that, uh, I
can't really use, but I'm sure youunderstand where I'm coming from.
(27:52):
Uh, when I look at how the Yankees allowthis one to slip away from them, uh, it's,
it's very frustrating and I can only kindof, uh, equate that To it as a dumpster
fire because having three eras whichallow the Dodgers to put up five runs is
(28:13):
utterly ridiculous, especially knowing asthough these were all due to human error.
So I'm sure that those individuals whowere associated with the errors that I
speak, let's just say they're gonna havea long offseason, a very long offseason.
So that's.
(28:33):
All I'm willing to say because if,if I don't stop there, I'm gonna
say something I'm gonna regret.
I'm gonna be pushing those buttons.
Nick, you talk about a long off season.
Maybe you and me since we started thispodcast, recapping the Patriots dynasty.
You and I could sit, watch the Netflixthat 2004 Boston Red Sox come back another
time when the Yankees were at their best.
(28:55):
That's why, you know what?
With that being, with thatbeing said, we could watch it.
And granted the Yankeeshad a great season.
They lose to a Dodgers team that Ithought was just kind of uber talented.
But even in this series, I mean,the hero and the MVP of this
series wasn't Shohei Itani.
It was freaking Freddie Freeman.
(29:17):
He was, he was like Freddie Kruegerto the New York Yankees, because every
time Freddie got up to bat, it was good.
Something was going to happen.
I started calling himfive nights at Freddie.
It
was somewhat of a terror and itjust scared the hell out of me,
but, you know, kudos to the Dodgers.
I knew it was going to be a toughseries, but, uh, they had a great
(29:39):
squad and they always have great squad.
So, you know, losing to a team like that.
I mean, Hey, kudos to them.
Uh, they got the jobdone, but you're Boston.
Uh, Red Sox.
I still remember, Who's your daddy?
Yeah.
Who's your daddy?
That would always remainvery classic to me.
(30:01):
2003 was a tough season.
So look, if 2024 was toughsledding for the Yankees, maybe
things will turn around in 2025.
You know, with or without JuanSoto, but we'll cross that bridge.
And you called it Freddie Freeman, theWorld Series MVP, four homers, 12 ribbies.
He became the, uh, let's see the mostconsecutive games with a home run
in the world series with six datingback to when the Dodgers won in 2020.
(30:28):
Uh, so Nick, before we split Thursdaynight football, it is the battle
of Nick Ferguson, the Nick Fergusonbowl, the battle of two former teams
that Nick played for the HoustonTexans visiting the New York Jets.
And look, not since the 2002 Jets withone Nick Ferguson had there been this
(30:48):
much excitement coming into the season.
Uh, healthy Aaron Rodgers, youknow, improved weapons, big free
agency spending on the defense.
And here they are last place in theAFC East two and six the Houston
Texans six and two So i'm not goingto take the angle of oh rogers
(31:08):
is talking about pepper water.
What a goofball Really?
How do the houston texans go into this?
Um, you know licking their own wounds.
We won't get nico collins back for a week.
They just lost stiggs for the year um,how do they avoid this more or less being
a trap game, but also You Look, I won'tsleep on Aaron Rodgers in primetime.
(31:32):
Well, the best way they cando this, they have to do it
from a total team standpoint.
And often we talk about, you know,complimentary football, being able to
throw the ball, being able to pass it.
This is where a guy like Tank Daledefinitely will need to step up.
But this is why you added Joe Mixonto your roster and seeing that this
(31:54):
year looks entirely different foroffensive coordinator, Bobby Sloic.
And CJ Stroud.
Like, that first year was just great.
It was just, they were just,they took the world by storm.
But it seemed as though thingsare now starting to catch up.
And this was with a healthyreceiving corps before Nico Collins
(32:14):
went down for a couple of games.
And then now, the unfortunate news.
So this is going to be a tough game,uh, for the Texans to pull out.
I'm just going to say right now, thisis a must win for the New York Jets.
And I think this game came at the righttime because they needed to find a
way to kind of put that bad taste orget that bad taste out of their mouth.
(32:37):
And they're facing a teamthat has issues of their own.
So this is the game I thinkthat the Jets get back on track.
Yep, I just want a close game.
Sometimes you don't see that on Thursday,but when it's the standalone, you
just want to see a competitive game.
Um, look, the Jets defense gets a,you know, a little shot in the arm
with Hasan Redik, who will play moresnaps after making his season debut
(33:01):
last week after that lengthy holdout.
Um, and then meanwhile, you lookat the Jets offensive line and that
Texans pass rush, the combinationof Will Anderson and Daniel Hunter.
Um, you you're talking aboutone of the best front fours in
the national football league.
I think third in the NFL.
With 27 sacks.
So the battle of the trenches is goingto determine who's going to win this one.
(33:22):
Um, but Nick, I mean, how do you viewthis type of game for two franchises
that you played for, uh, one, yourfirst team, the other being your last
in the national football league, areyou emotionally invested with your guy,
D'Amico Ryan's, your teammate in Houston,or are you always going to look back to.
Where you started your professionalcareer with the New York Jets.
(33:43):
How do you watch a game whenyou see two teams you've played
for up against each other?
Well,
you look at it as a business transaction.
And as they say in business, youtake out all the emotion, right?
You don't want to get wrapped up into it.
So I'm just going to see, look atit as two teams that appear to be
going into different directions, alltrying to get a win on Halloween.
(34:06):
And I mean, For the Jets, they're justtrying to avoid, you know, the game
on Thursday night being Fright Night.
Yeah.
So,
look, let's see.
Let's see what happens.
I still think that this is a game that theJets need to win and the Jets should win.
Well, I'd have to quote MichaelJackson here on A Way Out.
It's going to be athrill on Thursday night.
(34:27):
He's Nick Ferguson, 10 years in theNational Football League with the Jets,
with the Texans and the Denver Broncos.
Feel free to reach out to him atNickFerguson underscore 25 for any
questions about his teams, your teams.
He's breaking down tape.
He's got hot takes onAnthony Richardson quitting.
On the Colts, among many other things.
I'm Alex Hardy.
We are those guys.
(34:47):
We hope to continue to be your guysthroughout the course of this NFL season.
And Hey, baseball's over.
We got less distractionsthan we've ever had.
So looking forward to chatting with you,Nick, when we officially hurdle over the
halfway mark of the season, and it'llbe a cold, crispy November in Denver.
What do you have to say for thepeople on the way out, Nick?
(35:08):
Hey, if you guys are handing outcandy for Halloween, don't give
the kids that damn candy corn.
That stuff is terrible.
I hate that candy.
I'd actually be afraid to trickor treat at your house, Nick.
There's probably some healthy snacks,like I'm getting a box of raisins or, uh,
you know, a warm glass of apple cider.
(35:29):
Well, Alex, if you are trick ortreating at the Ferguson house,
so, hey, man, I'm trying toreduce the dental, uh, work that.
Parents have to pay because yourkids eat so much darn sugar.
Yeah.
Yeah.
They'll be thanking you for that.
We are those guys andwe hope to be your guys.
We just had to.
It's our Halloween special.
The lights are kind ofdown low here on my end.
Nick Ferguson, thatstar shining so bright.
You need to wear sunglasses indoors.
Uh, what's going on Nick Ferguson?
How are you, my man?
Oh man, um, where do I begin?
Uh, I'm very frustrated and Ithink, you know, why I'm frustrated.
(00:35):
So we'll
get there.
This is
frustration on the back burner.
This is, this is supposedto be for Thursday.
We're sitting here Wednesday nightand we're kind of sweating, uh, a
little baseball, but we'll see if,uh, the baseball season is over by
the time this podcast either endsour recording or, uh, when you
hear us, uh, Live Thursday morning.
(00:58):
Well, taped to live,however you want to put it.
Uh, Nick, we're now approachingweek nine in the NFL season.
You know, it used to be a cut and clean.
We're through eight weeks.
We're exactly halfway through,but no, we play 17 games now.
So we got to get through thatninth week until we say we're
finally over the halfway point.
So I'm excited.
(01:19):
It's Halloween.
I think we're going to play alittle Scooby Doo, if you will.
We're going to unmask.
We've got two teams a piece that we'reexcited to kind of, here's who they
were through the first eight weeks,seven, maybe eight games played.
We're going to take off that mask.
And it was really old man Jenkins.
Uh, who are these teams that, you know,through the first half of the season.
(01:42):
Compared to how we think they'regoing to finish things out.
Uh, always fun to do on Halloween, butfirst Nick, I wanted to start with, uh,
Anthony Richardson and the IndianapolisColts ultimately getting benched
for a four and four football team.
This is Anthony Richardson.
Who had 13 starts at Florida.
Now 10 starts in the national footballleague spread throughout 10 games.
(02:05):
And the Colts decided that itwas in their best interest to win
games, to put Joe Flacco in there.
Richardson had missed time, both hisrookie season and this year due to injury.
Uh, Gordner Minshew, wesaw step up last year.
Now Joe Flacco, here's the quote for me.
Shane Steichen, when asked if AnthonyRichardson would start for the Colts
(02:25):
again, quote, that would be great.
We'll see.
I think this is kind of a wild decisionby the Indianapolis Colts who at four and
four believe that Flacco is the answerfor them to get to the postseason for now.
Well, I don't think it's about the belief.
That Shane Steichen and the Coltsbelieve that Flacco can get them there.
(02:48):
I think it's kind of a two parter.
We could probably spenda lot of time on it.
Right.
So I'll get into, uh, you know, Flaccolater, but I think it's more about
what they're seeing from the youngquarterback and Anthony Richardson.
I mean, I don't believe anyoneanticipated that The reaction that he
created was going to be what it was.
(03:09):
And obviously if you haven't seenit, you must've been living up on the
rock, but if not, I will let you know.
What happened, Nick?
Yeah, this was, this was in the23 20 loss to the Houston Texans.
Now 0 2 against their AFC South rival,who's now leading the division by.
Right.
So the idea was that, you know, AnthonyRich is in, you know, in a close game,
(03:33):
a game that the Colts could have won.
He tapped out.
He pulled himself out ofthe game, said he was tired.
And don't get me wrong.
You get tired playing football.
You get tired doing so many things.
And the determination of whether you're inshape or not is how quickly you recover.
And for a guy to get tired, Imean, it's a common thing, but
(03:56):
you never go to the podium.
And you never say it, even if it was true.
And that's kind of the bigger thing.
And for me, the first thing I thinkabout is, if I was a player in that
locker room, how am I going to feelabout my quarterback, who I'm supposed
to look up to, supposed to be the face.
Of the franchise saying that,well, coach, I'm tired boss.
(04:18):
So I need, I need, I neededto, I needed a break.
Oh yeah.
Yeah.
Shane Stein said, Oh, we're goingto give you all the break you want.
I'm going to sit right here next to meand you're going to hold this clipboard.
The next time you go in,Joe Flacco would have to be.
Now, obviously this is not a situationthe Colts thought they would be in,
but they have to handle it and dealwith the situation and not feeling
(04:42):
as though Anthony Richardson isas committed as though he should.
So you go with an elder statesman,a guy who, I mean, shocked everyone
last year when he was able to pushCleveland and get them to the point
where they was able to get to.
Joe Flacco is Mr.
Old Reliable, and in situations likethis, you just need something that
(05:02):
you can hang your hat on that you knowis going to go out there and compete.
Now, you know, this, maybe yourperspective is much appreciated, Nick,
because across the media, you say, oh,Anthony Richardson, you know, scrambled,
shook off a 300 pound nose tackle, uh, wasable to get a first down, took a playoff,
(05:24):
got right back onto the football field.
There's a little bit of, um,uh, consideration coming from
people that didn't play the game.
But Nick, you join a number ofpeople that I saw react to it.
I think Luke Keekly called out Cam Newtonsaying that he would never, number one,
would never do something like that.
Uh, plenty of other examples ofplayers just totally blasting
(05:47):
Anthony Richardson for this decision.
And this is, I mean, taking yourselfoff the field is where does that rank
among one of the, you know, Thingsthat a player could or could not do.
Is this just one of thecardinal sins as a, as a, as a
professional football player?
Yeah, it is a cardinal sin for anyplayer, no matter where you draft it.
(06:09):
But when you are drafted in thefirst round and you play the
quarterback position, a positionthat most view you as being a team
leader, this looks really bad.
I mean, you tapped out in a divisionalgame when you were chasing the
Houston Texans and you're supposedto be the quarterback of the future.
And I'm sure the Colts fans lookedat Anthony Richardson and they
(06:32):
went, Andrew Luck, Peyton Manning.
These guys would have never done this.
And if they would have, theywould have, they would have
never verbalized it publicly.
And that's kind of my thing.
You know, we all have issues that wego through as people and as players.
The one thing you never do, you neveropenly admit that publicly because
(06:54):
you can't really live that down.
And if Anthony Richardson, how do you walkinto that locker room and face those guys?
How in the hell do you walkinto the quarterback locker room
yourself and be like, okay, wellI'm still the guy of the future.
You guys draft me to be that guy.
I am that guy is like, no, you're not.
(07:15):
You tapped out.
So as our leader, if our, if our leadertaps out, what happens to us as a team?
You talk about the future,you talk about the leader.
Anthony Richardson is one of thecaptains of the Indianapolis Colts.
So they follow his lead.
And his actions clearly reverberated,not just, you know, amongst his
(07:36):
teammates, but the coaching staffmaking that decision as well.
Now, six starts in 2024, uh, 44 percentcompletion, four touchdowns, seven picks.
Uh, however, there's no one inthe national football league
that has a larger a dot averagedepth of target on his throws.
So we're talking aboutlow completion percentage.
(07:58):
Uh, trying, trying to throwthe ball downfield, but again,
10 starts in his career.
Uh, is it just a result of thisone play benching himself or is
the leash getting shorter andshorter for starting quarterbacks?
Because the leash is gettingshorter and shorter for coaches too.
When Shane Steichen was hired,Chris Ballard was talking about
(08:20):
a three, maybe four year process.
When mature, when the maturation ofAnthony Richardson, he said, Terry
Bradshaw probably wouldn't make itin the league because he didn't play
right away or play well, right away.
Troy Aikman didn't win a game.
His rookie season, Derek Carrstarted Oh and 10 in his career.
All of them certainly carvedout, you know, NFL careers.
(08:41):
I'm not lumping Derek Carrwith a Troy Aikman and Terry
Bradshaw, but you get the idea.
These things take time, but thepressure cooker in the national
football league now in 2024.
Does that play into it more so than thisone decision made by Anthony Richardson?
Is this just ten games over the courseof one and a half seasons, and the
(09:04):
Colts just aren't liking what they geton the investment that they made for
the fourth overall selection in 2023?
This is a case of the Colts notliking the investment that they made.
It's like going out andbuying a new car, right?
It's very trendy.
Everyone says that this is the car to buy.
(09:25):
Motor Trend, the car of the year.
You go buy the vehicle.
You don't even test drive it, right?
Then you take it home andyou go, you know what?
There's something aboutthis that feels Not so good.
And then you go out there and youstand in front of the car and you look
at it and you're like, you know what?
I felt victim of the, the wholetrend, the narrative of what
(09:47):
the guy was supposed to be.
You forgot to look under the hood.
You forgot to see what thecar was actually made of.
Right.
And you didn't even test drive it.
So that's where I feel as though theColts are looking at this situation and
they are second guessing their decisionand drafting Anthony Richardson saying,
okay, well maybe he wasn't ready.
(10:07):
Yeah.
He performed well at the combine,but maybe the men to 42, he needed
as a leader, knowing as thoughyou're following Andrew Luck,
you're following Peyton Manning isnot the guy that you really want.
And, and I hate to say that, Imean, if things don't turn around.
I'm sure Colts fans will start lookingat Anthony Richardson the same way
(10:28):
they look at Jeff George, right?
A guy who's got a strong arm, but he justdidn't have those leadership qualities.
And it puts Shane Steichen and theColts in a tough situation because Joe
Flacco is not a long term solution.
So they may have to go back into thedraft and try to find another quarterback.
That's tough to do, right?
(10:48):
Clearly, there's no longterm plan with a 39 year old.
And before selecting AnthonyRichardson, we saw Carson Wentz,
Matt Ryan, Phillip Rivers.
Um, listen, you zoom out, and this iskind of an indictment on the front office
led by Chris Ballard based on theirdecision making at the most premium
position in all of professional sports.
So, Nick, you know, Anthony Richardsonfailing to complete 50 percent of
(11:12):
his passes, Uh, you know, the, thecombination of arm strength and
mobility at that position, did theyjust fall victim to thinking they
could have found the next Josh Allen?
I think it's so fascinating whenyou look at teams that identify raw
talents and specific traits when itcomes to the quarterback position.
(11:32):
And as we naturally progress in the sportand the best athletes get the football
in their hands in large part, becausethe quarterbacks make the most money, you
know, but time and time again, teams can.
Fool themselves into thinking willtake the raw athlete who may not have
the amount of reps that, you know,other experienced, seasoned college
(11:53):
players have, um, thinking thatthey can fix all of those problems.
And yet there's only one Josh Allen, butyou have Anthony Richardson to this point.
You have Trey, the TreyLances of the world.
Um, you know, we can criticize AnthonyRichardson all we want, but maybe this
has more to say about talent evaluationin the NFL and these teams thinking that
(12:15):
they can quote unquote fix or developthese raw prospects that just aren't
ready to play at the professional level.
Yeah.
I think it has a lot to do with theevaluation because I mean, you have a
lot of scouts who fall in love with.
The tangibles, right?
Oh my God.
You look at his size and his hand size andhow, how the ball jumps out of his hands.
(12:38):
We always hear about that.
Look at this arm strength, but thenwe never really look at what's above
the neck and what's below the wave.
Wait, and what I mean by that is you'retalking about a guy's mind and how he
thinks, how he processes information.
Can he lead in tough situations, butalso what happens below the ways.
which has a lot to do with their footwork.
(12:59):
And look, sometimes there's a hit andmiss, and there are, there's a 40, there
is a short shuttle, there's a verticaljump, but there's nothing really in
place to really test a guy's heart.
And it seems as though I'm attackingsomewhat of the integrity of, you
know, Anthony Richardson, but whenyou tap out, I mean, that's the
(13:19):
only thing I can go, go back to.
I know how difficult it is To get intothe NFL, I know how difficult it is to
stay in the NFL as an undrafted player.
And the last thing youwant to do is, is tap out.
So it makes it really difficult, buthopefully this changes some of the process
when it comes to GMs and scouts and howthey evaluate and they just kind of move
(13:43):
to other aspects of a quarterback's game.
Other than hand size and howthe ball jumps out their hands.
This may sound crazy, Nick, but youknow, granted we're given the Um,
COVID exception for a lot of thequarterbacks that were coming out.
Bo Nix started 60 gamesbetween Auburn and Oregon.
Jaden Daniels started, you know, forfive years between Arizona State and LSU.
(14:07):
Like maybe experience just kind ofhelps with some of these things.
I'm just saying.
Well, experience helps.
And I think what, you know, ShaneSteichen was trying to do, uh, with the
Colts when he was looking at AnthonyRichardson, obviously the guy is a
specimen when you see him and the waythat he throws the ball because he
throws the ball with a lot of velocity.
(14:28):
It seemed as though maybe there was, youknow, An intention of trying to duplicate
the same thing, you know, uh, what Phillyhad with Jalen Hurts and maybe seeing a
little of that or maybe seeing too muchof that and Anthony Richardson, which
caused this problem, which forced themnot to focus on the most important things.
The mental makeup of Anthony Richardson.
(14:51):
Well, the Indianapolis Colts willbe certainly interesting to watch.
Um, the AFC South is one thateven when you played Nick may not
have been the most competitive.
Um, so look, they're two gamesback, really three with the tie
breakers to the Houston Texans,considering they lost them twice.
So they believe the season isn'tlost and neither should we.
So we move on Nick with thisHalloween edition of those guys.
(15:15):
Um, really when you zoom out, we'rehalfway through the season and
we're kind of discovering who someof these teams really are, Nick.
I want to start with, uh, one teamin particular that you saw through
eight weeks, you're ready to takeoff the mask from any preconceived
notions you had going into the season.
Maybe they came out with a hot start eightweeks into the season, NFL team and tell
(15:40):
me who they really are for Halloween.
Well, the mask I want to take off.
is for the CincinnatiBengals and Joe Burrow.
Like, this is a teamcoming into the season.
I mean, obviously, since JoeBurrow became the quarterback,
a lot of Super Bowls aspiration.
We're talking about a team thatended up being in the Super Bowl a
(16:00):
couple of plays away from winningone and defeating the Rams, but that
wouldn't be the story, the end ofthe story for the Cincinnati Bengals.
But the problem is I thought theywere going to be more Uh, productive
offensively and it just seems asthough they haven't really been there.
And this was a defense that overthe past couple of seasons were kind
(16:20):
of like a thorn in the backside ofKansas City Chiefs and Pasha Mahomes.
And you have to wonder whatreally happened to their defense.
And here's the other thing.
I mean, 0 and 4 at home.
I mean,
if you can't defend your own hometurf, what in the hell can you defend?
They came into this season, Nick,with a contract dispute for both T.
(16:44):
Higgins and Jamar Chase.
And it's really telling just how differentthis offense, how much better they are
when Tee Higgins gets to play, right?
He misses the first two weeks ofthe season, losses that unbelievable
shock of a loss to New Englandwhere they put up 10 points, and
the one point loss to Kansas City.
Maybe we'll excuse since they're 7 0.
(17:04):
Meanwhile, he returns to thefield, um, you know, misses,
uh, some action here and there.
But they're four, sorry, threeand two with him in the lineup,
averaging closer to 25, 30 pointsa game with him in the lineup.
So thinking that they can save moneyand he's had his own injury setbacks,
but it's going to be a difficult,uh, tight rope for him to navigate.
(17:27):
Understanding that if he's playing atless than a hundred percent and his
production, his numbers don't show up.
The Bengals could use thatbargaining against him.
If he misses too many games to get right.
The Bengals could say he didn'tplay enough games when doing
their next contract negotiation.
So it's just clearly the offenseis better with him in the lineup.
(17:49):
Um, but looking out for himself andhitting the free agent market potentially
for his age 26 season, you know,could lock up his financial security.
So I'm just, I, you know, when, whenall of their weapons are healthy, the
receivers, the running backs, I knowthat Chase Brown is kind of getting
worked in Zach Moss is Um, you know,was one of their leading rushers
(18:12):
for the first month of the season.
They're still trying to figure thingsout, which is kind of hard to do, to
recognize knowing that, look, they finallyhad a full off season of Joe Burrow.
They move on from an integral piece,uh, like Joe Mixon, who's, Uh, one
of the top running backs in the NFLwent hungry, uh, healthy this season.
I guess I'm hungry right now, but,uh, they made some wholesale changes.
(18:35):
They were supposed to getsome continuity with Burrow.
And yet here they are last, uh,uh, third, sorry, in the AFC North.
Um, I want to talk about an AFCteam, Nick, that through the first
eight weeks of the season, theyare exactly who they were to.
So I take the mask off, and I seethe Buffalo Bills as a legitimate AFC
(18:59):
contender, because more than anything,they are the most balanced offense in
the AFC, and can change their identitybased on who their opponent is.
Now, what I need to find out,and what we're trying to figure
out, is Is with Vaughn Millerreturning off of his suspension.
How this defense takes shape.
They played one of their most completegames against Seattle this past week,
(19:22):
who we thought, you know, could be oneof the surprise teams out of the NFC.
Uh, meanwhile, Josh Allen hasn'thad to play as much hero ball.
They're working in Amari Cooper.
James Cook has been absolutelydominant in the backfield.
And this Buffalo Bills team, youknow, we ripped this mask off and
they could be really one of the bestteams behind the Kansas City Chiefs.
(19:45):
Well, yeah, they could, could be,but, uh, they still have, uh, issues.
And, you know, having a quarterbackwho runs like a running back
and having James Cook in yourbackfield, it definitely helps out.
The addition of Mari Cooper brings aveteran presence on the offensive side of
the ball and a reliable weapon for JoshAllen and having Von Miller come back.
(20:09):
Hopefully, you know, conditioningis what it needs to be, but that
should be a boost and a part to beable to uplift the Bills defense.
But I mean, when I look at theBuffalo Bills, it seemed like the
same storyline every single year.
Uh, they start out great.
(20:29):
Josh Allen is havingsomewhat of an MVP season.
Then we get to the back halfof the season and they fall off
as things start to get tight.
And oh, by the way, you still have tocontend with the Kansas City Chiefs, which
Josh Allen seemed to can't get over it.
If Josh Allen was Superman, KansasCity is definitely his kryptonite.
(20:50):
And oh, by the way, don't mention theteam that the Bills lost to earlier
this season, the Baltimore Ravens.
So yeah, it looks great.
Everything looks up for the Billsand Josh Allen, but I still have my
doubts about Allen and the BuffaloBills being able to get over the hump
because they haven't proven that theycan over the past couple of years.
(21:11):
The Dolphins and then the Colts, we'llsee if it's still Joe Flacco come Week
10, and then they get their matchupat home against the Kansas City Chiefs
before heading into the bye week.
So we're going to find out whothese Buffalo Bills really are.
But by taking the mask off now, I justwant to shine a light on the team that
look, 34 passing plays, 34 rushes.
(21:33):
And they get a quality winagainst the Seattle Seahawks.
Nick, another team you're looking totake the mask off on as we approach
the second half of the season,
the Washington commanders, who are they?
Really?
Well, we don't really know.
We don't know.
Here's a team thatfinds ways to win games.
And, you know, over the past couple ofyears, when we looked at the commanders,
(21:55):
Well, here's what we knew about them.
They found ways to lose games.
That's what bad teams do.
And watching them playagainst Chicago Bears.
I mean, that last Hail Maryplay was utterly ridiculous.
Yeah.
Back
up.
Tell me about, uh, tellme about that play.
If you've seen anything like it.
And then, uh, I need you to rate TyreekStephenson's performance on that play.
(22:18):
But first.
Anything you've seen like that before?
I've never, I've never seena play like that before.
I've seen Hail Mary plays completed,but with the drama leading up to that
particular play, nothing like it.
It was an epic fail even beforethe Hail Mary was even thrown.
Like, uh, right before that,I think it was probably about
(22:40):
six seconds on the clock.
The defense for, uh, ChicagoBears, they're playing off.
So they allow the Washington Commandersto run like an eight to six yard kind
of speed out to put the ball in perfectdistance so Jayden Daniels could actually
take a shot down the field, right?
And then, There was a littlekind of subtle timeout before
(23:03):
the Hail Mary took place.
And then to see the Chicago Bears lineup where they're only rushing three,
which I think is utterly the stupidestthing that I've ever seen in football.
And then he had a guy on thesecond level spying Jane Danes.
Jane Danes is runningaround, running around.
The guy who's spying him is just stayingon the second level, moving around.
And I'm like, at some pointyou're going to trigger because
(23:25):
you're just standing there.
I'm like, do you not understandsituational football?
Even if Jane Daniels wereto run, that's a long way.
And someone you would think maybewould track him down and tackle him.
So you might as well add on andadd more pressure to the throw.
That didn't happen.
I don't know what the hell hewas doing, but then you get three
(23:47):
receivers running towards him.
You can even see the WashingtonCommanders fans pointing, trying to
alert him of what's happening, but thenhe finally tries to get into the play.
He jumps.
I don't know if he tipsit, whomever tips it.
But the idea on those types of plays,some DBs think that they're free plays,
so they all try to catch the ball.
It's a cheap interception, you think,but what usually happens, the ball
(24:10):
is deflected, comes off of someone'shands, because you're supposed to
bat it down, and then a guy who isthe backcatcher catches the ball.
So, from a defensive standpoint,everything about those last two plays
were utter disaster, but it only increasesthe folklore of one Jane Daniels.
(24:31):
And I had someone today tell, call,tell me, well, when they think
about Jane Daniels, he's baby Jesus.
I was like, what?
He's looked at as being baby Jesusbecause Dan Quinn taking over and
looking like Cliff Kingsbury, whois in my, in my opinion, he's a
quarterback whisperer because hegets another guy like Jane Daniels.
(24:53):
But the Washington Commandershas surprised a lot of people.
They are so far ahead than mostpeople have thought they would be.
And I have to give a big shout outto my dude, Adam Peters, the GM
for putting this team together.
Now look, we're ripping this maskoff and we're talking about a
team that has, uh, one, uh, oneteam ahead of them in the NFC.
(25:14):
We have the 6 1 Lions.
So, we take this mask off.
Are we looking at a team that'scompeting for a first round bye, Nick?
Like the one overall seed inthe NFC with Washington here?
Part of me wants to say yes,but I'm going to say no.
And the reason I'm going to saythat is because you still have
those darn pesky Detroit Lions.
(25:35):
And we still don't know what they'regoing to do to shore up their defense.
Come next week by trade deadlinebecause we don't, we already know
Aiden Hutchinson is not going toreturn and he will not return until
the team makes to the Super Bowl.
So we don't really know what's goingto happen, but right now the number
one team and the NFC from, for me, inmy opinion, based on how they perform,
(26:00):
Jerry Golf and the Detroit Lions.
Yep.
Without a doubt.
Uh, the last mask I think we needto rip off here, uh, at least from
my standpoint, have to be these L.
A.
Rams.
Nick, did you know that whenyour best players on offense are
healthy, you have a good offense?
For a team that, uh, came out Thursdaynight against the Minnesota Vikings,
(26:21):
what I saw with Puca, Nakua, andCooper Cupp playing limited reps,
And their ability to put up pointswas just something to marvel.
I mean, we talked about it onour last episode with our rapid
reaction to Thursday night.
Um, I just think that it is a top fiveoffense when everybody is healthy.
And again, it's a big if it's thenational football league, but getting
(26:45):
these players back healthy at theright time, a game back of the Arizona
Cardinals for the lead in the NFC West.
Uh, they could just as easily, you know,go on a tear spreading the football out
to those receivers, plus the contributionswe saw from Demarcus Robinson.
Uh, meanwhile, Kyron Williamsremaining to be that heartbeat.
I'm not going to spendtoo much time on it.
(27:06):
We have back to back episodes with Ramslove, and I understand we have a ton of
love for LA, Nick, because the LA Dodgersare the 2024 World Series champions.
They close it out game five.
They get to celebrate, uh, in theBronx before coming back to LA.
So before we get to Nick, before we splityour Yankees tribe, they won more world
(27:29):
series games than any other team, but LAthis year, uh, any reflections you have
before we, uh, You know, this show of notejust wants to talk about all of our teams.
That includes baseball as well.
Well, my, uh, natural instincts areto use a bunch of words that, uh, I
can't really use, but I'm sure youunderstand where I'm coming from.
(27:52):
Uh, when I look at how the Yankees allowthis one to slip away from them, uh, it's,
it's very frustrating and I can only kindof, uh, equate that To it as a dumpster
fire because having three eras whichallow the Dodgers to put up five runs is
(28:13):
utterly ridiculous, especially knowing asthough these were all due to human error.
So I'm sure that those individuals whowere associated with the errors that I
speak, let's just say they're gonna havea long offseason, a very long offseason.
So that's.
(28:33):
All I'm willing to say because if,if I don't stop there, I'm gonna
say something I'm gonna regret.
I'm gonna be pushing those buttons.
Nick, you talk about a long off season.
Maybe you and me since we started thispodcast, recapping the Patriots dynasty.
You and I could sit, watch the Netflixthat 2004 Boston Red Sox come back another
time when the Yankees were at their best.
(28:55):
That's why, you know what?
With that being, with thatbeing said, we could watch it.
And granted the Yankeeshad a great season.
They lose to a Dodgers team that Ithought was just kind of uber talented.
But even in this series, I mean,the hero and the MVP of this
series wasn't Shohei Itani.
It was freaking Freddie Freeman.
(29:17):
He was, he was like Freddie Kruegerto the New York Yankees, because every
time Freddie got up to bat, it was good.
Something was going to happen.
I started calling himfive nights at Freddie.
It
was somewhat of a terror and itjust scared the hell out of me,
but, you know, kudos to the Dodgers.
I knew it was going to be a toughseries, but, uh, they had a great
(29:39):
squad and they always have great squad.
So, you know, losing to a team like that.
I mean, Hey, kudos to them.
Uh, they got the jobdone, but you're Boston.
Uh, Red Sox.
I still remember, Who's your daddy?
Yeah.
Who's your daddy?
That would always remainvery classic to me.
(30:01):
2003 was a tough season.
So look, if 2024 was toughsledding for the Yankees, maybe
things will turn around in 2025.
You know, with or without JuanSoto, but we'll cross that bridge.
And you called it Freddie Freeman, theWorld Series MVP, four homers, 12 ribbies.
He became the, uh, let's see the mostconsecutive games with a home run
in the world series with six datingback to when the Dodgers won in 2020.
(30:28):
Uh, so Nick, before we split Thursdaynight football, it is the battle
of Nick Ferguson, the Nick Fergusonbowl, the battle of two former teams
that Nick played for the HoustonTexans visiting the New York Jets.
And look, not since the 2002 Jets withone Nick Ferguson had there been this
(30:48):
much excitement coming into the season.
Uh, healthy Aaron Rodgers, youknow, improved weapons, big free
agency spending on the defense.
And here they are last place in theAFC East two and six the Houston
Texans six and two So i'm not goingto take the angle of oh rogers
(31:08):
is talking about pepper water.
What a goofball Really?
How do the houston texans go into this?
Um, you know licking their own wounds.
We won't get nico collins back for a week.
They just lost stiggs for the year um,how do they avoid this more or less being
a trap game, but also You Look, I won'tsleep on Aaron Rodgers in primetime.
(31:32):
Well, the best way they cando this, they have to do it
from a total team standpoint.
And often we talk about, you know,complimentary football, being able to
throw the ball, being able to pass it.
This is where a guy like Tank Daledefinitely will need to step up.
But this is why you added Joe Mixonto your roster and seeing that this
(31:54):
year looks entirely different foroffensive coordinator, Bobby Sloic.
And CJ Stroud.
Like, that first year was just great.
It was just, they were just,they took the world by storm.
But it seemed as though thingsare now starting to catch up.
And this was with a healthyreceiving corps before Nico Collins
(32:14):
went down for a couple of games.
And then now, the unfortunate news.
So this is going to be a tough game,uh, for the Texans to pull out.
I'm just going to say right now, thisis a must win for the New York Jets.
And I think this game came at the righttime because they needed to find a
way to kind of put that bad taste orget that bad taste out of their mouth.
(32:37):
And they're facing a teamthat has issues of their own.
So this is the game I thinkthat the Jets get back on track.
Yep, I just want a close game.
Sometimes you don't see that on Thursday,but when it's the standalone, you
just want to see a competitive game.
Um, look, the Jets defense gets a,you know, a little shot in the arm
with Hasan Redik, who will play moresnaps after making his season debut
(33:01):
last week after that lengthy holdout.
Um, and then meanwhile, you lookat the Jets offensive line and that
Texans pass rush, the combinationof Will Anderson and Daniel Hunter.
Um, you you're talking aboutone of the best front fours in
the national football league.
I think third in the NFL.
With 27 sacks.
So the battle of the trenches is goingto determine who's going to win this one.
(33:22):
Um, but Nick, I mean, how do you viewthis type of game for two franchises
that you played for, uh, one, yourfirst team, the other being your last
in the national football league, areyou emotionally invested with your guy,
D'Amico Ryan's, your teammate in Houston,or are you always going to look back to.
Where you started your professionalcareer with the New York Jets.
(33:43):
How do you watch a game whenyou see two teams you've played
for up against each other?
Well,
you look at it as a business transaction.
And as they say in business, youtake out all the emotion, right?
You don't want to get wrapped up into it.
So I'm just going to see, look atit as two teams that appear to be
going into different directions, alltrying to get a win on Halloween.
(34:06):
And I mean, For the Jets, they're justtrying to avoid, you know, the game
on Thursday night being Fright Night.
Yeah.
So,
look, let's see.
Let's see what happens.
I still think that this is a game that theJets need to win and the Jets should win.
Well, I'd have to quote MichaelJackson here on A Way Out.
It's going to be athrill on Thursday night.
(34:27):
He's Nick Ferguson, 10 years in theNational Football League with the Jets,
with the Texans and the Denver Broncos.
Feel free to reach out to him atNickFerguson underscore 25 for any
questions about his teams, your teams.
He's breaking down tape.
He's got hot takes onAnthony Richardson quitting.
On the Colts, among many other things.
I'm Alex Hardy.
We are those guys.
(34:47):
We hope to continue to be your guysthroughout the course of this NFL season.
And Hey, baseball's over.
We got less distractionsthan we've ever had.
So looking forward to chatting with you,Nick, when we officially hurdle over the
halfway mark of the season, and it'llbe a cold, crispy November in Denver.
What do you have to say for thepeople on the way out, Nick?
(35:08):
Hey, if you guys are handing outcandy for Halloween, don't give
the kids that damn candy corn.
That stuff is terrible.
I hate that candy.
I'd actually be afraid to trickor treat at your house, Nick.
There's probably some healthy snacks,like I'm getting a box of raisins or, uh,
you know, a warm glass of apple cider.
(35:29):
Well, Alex, if you are trick ortreating at the Ferguson house,
so, hey, man, I'm trying toreduce the dental, uh, work that.
Parents have to pay because yourkids eat so much darn sugar.
Yeah.
Yeah.
They'll be thanking you for that.
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