Mike Harmon & Greg Cosell preview NFL Headlines heading into Week 15, including Phillip Rivers' much anticipated return, Caleb Williams vs. Shedeur Sanders, and Broncos vs. Packers clashing in a pivotal matchup!

On a new episode of FOX Football Sunday with Mike Harmon & Greg Cosell, Mike and Greg talk about the Falcons impressive win over the Buccaneers, how Shedeur Sanders will fare vs. the Bears, why Cam Ward's struggles aren't entirely his fault, and & go in depth previewing each game of Week 15 in the NFL! 

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Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:01):
You're listening to Fox Sports Radio.

Speaker 2 (00:05):
Greetings and welcome in another beautiful Fox Football Sunday underway.
It is Week fifteen of your National Football League season.

Speaker 3 (00:14):
Weather. Yeah, it's cold.

Speaker 2 (00:16):
Out there in some of these places, as we'll have
some precipitation along the way, some big games as we
jockey for playoff position. Not only in the real world, no, no, no,
plenty of that, but plenty in your fantasy worlds as well.

Speaker 3 (00:29):
I know off of Thursday's game, a lot of.

Speaker 2 (00:31):
Handwringing, a lot of vexation going all the way back
to an early touchdown from the Buccaneers. Not exactly the
principles that we thought that we would see in terms
of that, right Sean Tucker of Syracuse getting it done.
But as we get ready for a big week with
Mike Harbott alongside NFL Films forty six years, the NFL

(00:55):
Matchup Show and all of the work that he does
each and every week, he joins Colin Coward for fifteen
to twenty minutes of really a good breakdown as you're
gonna get. Colin calls it his best fifteen minutes every week.
It's at Greg Cosell in the Twitter verse. We get
after it again, Greg, ready for another fun and exciting week,
storylines all over the place.

Speaker 4 (01:17):
Yeah, well, you know the storylines are fun, Mike, But
we'll do some football, and you know you're talking about
the weather. We're getting some snow here in South Jersey.
I had to come in early today. I was a
little afraid I wouldn't make it, you know, so if
I fall asleep, you'll just yell at me or something.
You know, I've been here for a bit.

Speaker 3 (01:33):
I got plenty to yell about.

Speaker 2 (01:35):
I mean, we got all sorts of stuff off the
football rader. I mean I could do two hours on
John Cena tapping out to Gunther in his final match.

Speaker 3 (01:43):
I mean, we've got it all.

Speaker 2 (01:44):
We've got craziness from the college football world.

Speaker 3 (01:47):
I mean, you want to talk about a.

Speaker 2 (01:51):
Full holiday holiday holiday's worth of information and intrigue, as
well as maybe some holiday miracles, which we'll get to
it a bit. But yeah, it's certainly a look big
slate of games. We started with the Thursday Night thriller.
We go all the way through with some divisional battles,

(02:13):
some giant question marks, and many happy returns.

Speaker 3 (02:16):
We talk about.

Speaker 2 (02:17):
I mentioned Sina's departure from the WWE in the active world. Well,
today we'll see if your theory. And my brother threw
this line out. He loves your work, and he goes, well,
you know, Greg has talked about Joe Flacco being able
to fling it till he's seventy, Greg, we test that
today as Philip Rivers gets off the couch, out of

(02:39):
the coaching box from his high school and hanging out
with all his kids, He's got a big road test
as he gets activated against what is one of the
best defenses in football in.

Speaker 3 (02:49):
The Seattle Seahawks.

Speaker 2 (02:50):
But one of those Christmas miracle kind of things like
Carol Brady what she got her voice back, what she
wanted to sing in church?

Speaker 4 (02:57):
Well, I guess so we're hoping for a Christmas miracle
if you're the Colts. But you know, it's funny. We'll
get to that game obviously, because the Seahawks. I know
that that Philip Rivers is a good storyline. But the
Seahawks are a really good football team, and you know,
so we'll get to that game, you know, obviously a
little later. But I don't really know what to say
about Philip Rivers. He hasn't played in five years.

Speaker 2 (03:19):
Yeah, I was gonna pull a bunch of highlights, but
I figured I didn't have silver in my beard the
last time he was slinging touchdowns around. But we'll test
that theory about guys the age and their arms still
being live.

Speaker 3 (03:31):
But let's go back to Thursday night.

Speaker 2 (03:33):
Let's talk about another veteran quarterback who had himself a day.

Speaker 5 (03:36):
He is wide to the riot with Pitts and Sales
over there, Robinson and mooning here to the near side.
Snapped the Cousins Tampa brink suppressor, go throwing for the
end zone. It's pets, get me hold on through, give
me a signal, fellas, touchdown at Lada.

Speaker 3 (03:52):
There you go.

Speaker 2 (03:52):
Where we go back to Thursday night, A big night
for Captain Kirk. He finds Kyle Pitts, not once, not twice,
three times, guy who's been on the radar as why
can't they on Corgan well against the Tampa defense and
with no Drake London, Kyle Pitts comes up big but
against the Tampa d And we talk about Tampa and

(04:14):
what they've looked like the last month or so here,
even with some of those weapons coming back. We saw
the frustration in the post game, but we'll stick to
the Atlanta side of this.

Speaker 3 (04:23):
Captain Kirk may have thrown himself into another job.

Speaker 4 (04:27):
You know, it's funny. After that game happened, I just
reminded me of last year. You may remember this. They
played Week five, I believe it was on a Thursday night,
and Cousins threw for over five hundred yards against that
Bucks defense. So I don't want to say he has
the number of Todd Bowles defense. I was kind of
surprised when I watched the tape because you don't get

(04:49):
a great feel for this watching the game on TV,
or I don't anyway, but I was kind of surprised
that I didn't feel like Todd Bowles was whipping out
and dialing up as much pressure as he normally does.
He tried to do so on that final drive two
or three plays in a row, but it just seemed
like there were more four man D line pass rushes

(05:10):
as opposed to the pressure that we're so used to Todd
Bowles deploying, especially with defensive backs, so Kirk was pretty comfortable.
I thought the old line did an excellent job for
the Falcons in pass protection, and they played a good
part of the game with twelve personnel, my two tight ends,
which they play a high percentage of anyway, but certainly

(05:32):
with London out. I mean, who would have thought going
into the game that if you had to play Sills
and Mooney as your main wide receivers in twelve personnel
and then when you go to eleven personnel with three
wide receivers, Dylan Drummond becomes your third wide out. I'm
not a lot of I'm sure not a lot of
people thought that that would produce the results that it did.

Speaker 3 (05:52):
Yeah, there's no question about it.

Speaker 2 (05:54):
You look at a Cousin's thirty and forty four three
seventy three and three, just one sack. And that's the
other thing is you know you mentioned you know David Sills,
he finishes and he has that huge twenty one yard
reception on the final drive, but he dropped what was
a forty six yard touchdown pass that.

Speaker 4 (06:12):
Yes he did, and that that play on the final
drive was a really good throw by Cousins. I mean,
obviously it's fourth and fourteen I believe it was. Yeah,
so you have to make a throw. I mean, you
can't sit in the pocket, you can't throw it for
four yards. You can't throw a check down, but that
was a whole shot versus cover two, and a whole
shot means it's the outside void in the coverage. And

(06:34):
that's not an easy throw, but it's a throw you've
got to make in that situation. It's a critical, high
leverage situation. You don't make that throw, you go home
and you lose. And so Kirk and Kirk obviously he's
been playing a long time. He knows situational football extremely well.
And No, it was, it was. It was a big
time throw. And you know the thing is that was

(06:55):
fourth down, but Cousins was very efficient on third down
as well, and normally that's a down you think of
Todd Bowles and all the pressure schemes, and in this
game they weren't as effective.

Speaker 3 (07:07):
Third down efficiency.

Speaker 2 (07:08):
They were five of eleven making big throws, big plays,
putting themselves in great positions. Kyle Pitts has himself the
day of Davis eleven of twelve, one hundred and sixty
six yards, three touchdowns. We mentioned it off the jump,
No Drake, Drake London. So you're looking at Mooney, Sills,
et cetera. You didn't exactly get a lot of production.

(07:28):
I equated it while we were on air. It's like,
it's got to be the box and one. There's the
two guys. You gotta figure out, you gotta figure out
how to stop. But Jon Robinson, he goes for one
hundred and seventy five total yard. Yeah, and his score,
and then you'll pits running free in the secondary. But
if you can't get any natural pressure on Cousins, plenty
of time to throw.

Speaker 3 (07:47):
And boy did he have himself a day.

Speaker 4 (07:49):
Yeah. And Robinson. I'm glad you mentioned Robinson. I mean,
I've been on record as saying and again, it's not
a mathematical equation. It's not like saying two and two
is four. So it's a fun discussion to have. I
think Jon Robber and since it's the best back in
the league, and you know, in watching this tape, because again,
the thing you notice immediately is how often he's detached
from the formation, essentially as a wide receiver, either in

(08:11):
the slot or split out wide. Twenty percent Mike of
his snaps this year he's been split as a detached player.
Think about that for a back. That's a very very
high percentage. So he can be deployed and certainly with
London not available, Robinson essentially in certain situations becomes just
another wide receiver.

Speaker 2 (08:33):
Gotta say, Greg, that's got to be the worst feeling
in the world when he comes and lines up in
the slot or out wide, because he's going to break
your ankles. And we saw that on Thursday night several times, like,
all right, he's got him at the line, No he doesn't,
because there he goes at one shift and he's gone.
So yeah, just an incredible game on that side, and
we get the final second field goal. We can go

(08:55):
into game down and distance about going forward, the two
point conversions and all all of that. In the end,
Raheem Morris despite nineteen penalties, Yeah, a full football field
worth of penalty yards more than the Buccaneers. They walk
off with a one point win. Baker Mayfield once again
under duress much of the day nineteen of thirty four

(09:17):
to seventy seven two and the pick Bucky Irving. As
I said for fantasy owners a last, he did not
get that goal line touch early, finished with sixty yards
on the ground, just one catch for eleven yards, and
that's where I circled things. You know, we get the
huge return from Mike Evans greg with his six for
one thirty two, but his frustration huge in the post

(09:39):
game of you know, a fifteen point lead that gets squandered.
Abuka quiet return McMillan, but for a half a half
a yard we would have talked about a happy return
for him, but for Bucky Irvin not being part of
the passing game really one of those curiosities.

Speaker 4 (09:55):
Yeah, I mean it was. The return of Evans does
help Thembviously, It's not as if they couldn't score. They
had twenty eight. What Evans does he brings back that
one on one matchup outside the numbers, back into the
Bucks passing game because he's, you know, a boundary X.
You know, he's that single receiver who can win one
on one as he did a couple of times. We

(10:16):
saw that forty five yards on the go route versus
the backup corner Bryan, twenty yards on the quick fade
versus Terrell. Those happened in the third quarter. The thing
is Baker had great success throwing on first down. He
was ten for seventeen for one hundred and ninety five yards.
Seventy percent of his passing yards came on first down,
which is a very high number. But on that final drive,

(10:38):
he missed Ibuka on an open crosser and it was
second and fourteen with just over two minutes remaining. You know,
that's just a throw. It was really a pitch and
catch throw. That's a throw that you know, normally he
would probably make that throw ninety nine out of one
hundred times, and he missed it. He was open, and
he threw it behind him. And then obviously the next place,

(10:58):
third and fourteen, and you know they come with some
pressure and the Falcons actually busted the coverage, but he
just didn't have time to get the ball to Durham
who was wide open.

Speaker 2 (11:11):
Yeah, to seventy seven in this one. The prior four
weeks he'd been well under two hundred yards in each
of those. So sputtering, and now you leave things up
for the taking of your Carolina Panthers. Later on today,
we'll get into that game because we actually could positively

(11:31):
talk about Tyler Shuck, who gets to play spoiler and
perhaps decide the NFC South.

Speaker 3 (11:36):
How about that. I didn't see that on your Bengo card.

Speaker 4 (11:39):
No, no, no, no. That becomes a big game now,
obviously a very big game in Carolina got Who would
have thought that. I mean, it's we'll get to that game. Obviously,
that's a tough one to figure.

Speaker 2 (11:51):
Well, Dave Canalis making the most of his well, I
mean you look at him, and we talk about Liam
Cohen as well, two guys that Baker helped and that
reciprocity in terms of getting them to the next level
as head coaches, and they're thriving this year and right now.
Maybe maybe Baker needs to lean back into them for

(12:11):
a little bit of advice here down the stretch. He's
great coach Sale at Great Coach Sales. Where you find him?
Find me over at Swollen Dome. We're just getting warmed up.
Full slate of games. Talk about that NFC South matchup,
But coming up next, the soft underbelly has been exposed.
The final blow could be had today in a chilly environs. Yeah,

(12:32):
it's a home game and they're gonna need everything to
avoid elimination.

Speaker 3 (12:37):
Who we're talking about we'll tell you next.

Speaker 2 (12:39):
But for the best pregame show every weekend, obviously, besides
this breakdown, be sure tune in Fox Sports Radios. Countdown
to Kickoff, presented by bet MGM every Saturday Sunday morning,
We'll count you down to all the biggest games three
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Down to Kickoff, presented by bet MGM. It's every saturdayday

(13:00):
and Sunday morning. Right here, it's Fox Sports Radio and
the iHeart App.

Speaker 3 (13:05):
Can they finish the job?

Speaker 6 (13:06):
Well?

Speaker 7 (13:07):
Hey, it's Rob Parker and Kelvin Washington from The Odd
Couple on Fox Sports Radio. And in addition to hearing
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That's right, you can now watch The Odd Couple live
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All you gotta do search Odd Couple FSR on YouTube
again YouTube, Just search Odd Couple FSR.

Speaker 3 (13:34):
Check us out on YouTube and subscribe. You don't listening
to Fox Sports Radio Radio.

Speaker 2 (13:46):
Welcome back in Fox Football Sunday, Fox Sports Radio by
Carmen alongside Greg Cosel. Thanks for being with us as
part of your holiday holiday holiday festivities. I always tell
you the best gift you can give anybody a little
bit of your time, a bit of love, and the
iHeartRadio app, download it to their phones, give them the
gift of twenty four to seven Fox Sports or Radio

(14:08):
and all of the podcasts, stations, holiday music, all of
those things that you want, and then some with the
iHeartRadio app, NFL films, the NFL Matchup Show, the podcasts.

Speaker 3 (14:20):
And everything he does. He's grinding weeks week for you.

Speaker 2 (14:24):
It's Greg Cosel at Greg Cosell, find me over at
Swollen Do on the iWatch Flex podcast throwing darts at
the Fantasy World is up.

Speaker 3 (14:31):
Dan Byer and I do that each and every week.
Ian Roddy, our.

Speaker 2 (14:35):
Producer, gets into the defensive metrics a little bit to
find you some extra juice in your lineup so you
can go download that wherever you get your podcasts as well.

Speaker 3 (14:44):
So we've got all that cooking.

Speaker 2 (14:46):
But later on today Greg and it's in the early windows,
so we're gonna see it early on. Patrick Mahomes and
the Chiefs trying to stave off elimination.

Speaker 6 (14:56):
Mahomes to throw four man rush.

Speaker 8 (14:58):
Mahomes unloads outfield and tipped and intercept it as these
Outsire has it up the deflection.

Speaker 4 (15:06):
Another pick for the game for Houston.

Speaker 6 (15:10):
Wow, Chelsea could.

Speaker 4 (15:12):
Not hang on as he's got it hot potato.

Speaker 3 (15:16):
Pick the hot potato.

Speaker 2 (15:18):
That has been the story of the day for some
of the Kansas City season. Here Greg in a nutshell
that game. Three picks overall, you still have Patrick Mahomes
with a ninety one point two rating on the year,
but three picks in that one. A lot of folks
already have the straight out of wicked where they've got

(15:38):
the ready to burn it in effigy Patrick Mahomes or
a Chief's logo or whatever to try to vanquish the
defending conference champs. But today they get a big one
because there's lots of other subplots as the Chargers come
to town. Justin Herbert off the surgery last week, they
had to keep rebandaging that blood soaking through Jim Harbaugh,

(15:58):
equating it to the birth of his children, his marriage,
and everything else as to how great and how heroic
he was. But for the Chiefs five and a half
point favorites forty one and a half the total man
Mahomes has been fantastic. He continues to be betrayed by
his supporting cast.

Speaker 4 (16:16):
Yeah, you know the interesting thing about the Chiefs offenses.
Mahomes has had the most dropbacks of any quarterback in
the league, and that kind of tells you where they
are with their run game, with the exception of one
game a number of weeks ago, when I believe Kareem
Hunt has thirty carries in a game where they ran
over ninety offensive plays, which is very rare in this league.
They don't really run the ball with much volume at all.

(16:39):
So he has, as I said, the most dropbacks in
the league. And we know this week they're going to
be missing pretty much almost their entire offensive line, it seems,
I think the only I think there's only two starters
playing this week. I think it's Sue matteat left guard
and Humphy Creed Humphrey at center, and the other three

(16:59):
will be backups against a good defense, by the way,
So this is going to be a very intriguing matchup. Obviously,
these teams played Week one, that was a long time ago.
Charges won that game. But the Chargers have a number
of players on defense who are kind of very multiple
and how they can be deployed. So this is a

(17:19):
very intriguing matchup. What's the weather today, Mike meteorologists harmon
what's the weather?

Speaker 2 (17:25):
Act get our NFL weather app up as we roll through.
We're looking at a narrow win right now at sixteen degrees,
which means the wind chill coming into a fact here
as well, but not much of a win to knock
down the ball. So he'll be able to throw it
deep with the curiosities because they stop the Chargers run
with the two headed back. Yeah, and I go by

(17:47):
Dell and with Hampton coming back. But yeah, certainly for
the Chiefs and that offensive line. Look, Jesse minters on
everybody short list and the odds either for Michigan or
for an NFL head coaching job, so this is one
for the resume as well.

Speaker 4 (18:01):
Greg's Yeah, like I said, they've got a lot of
good players on defense. You know, they're one of those teams.
The big trend in the league this year and a
lot of defenses are having success. They've been doing it
for a number of years. Is what we call big
nickel mike, where you basically play three safeties. It's almost
your base defense and your nickel defense. And obviously Derwin

(18:21):
James is one of the most versatile players in the
league at that position, so you know that's the way
they'll play. But they have other players. Henley is a
very good linebacker. Diane Henley. Probably not a lot of
people know about him. You're on the West coast, so
you're probably more familiar with him than a lot of
people here on the East coast where I am. But
he's a very very good player. Twoy Polo two is

(18:42):
a really really good d lineman who can play at
D end and at D tackle. We know Khalil Mack
can rush the quarterback. How will they handle the pass rush?
Is this going to have to be a Mahomes game
where he makes a lot of plays outside of structure,
which it seems to me watching the tape chart every
one so maybe I'm wrong, but it seems to me

(19:03):
he's been doing that more and more this year than
he has in any previous year, and we know that
he's very very good at that.

Speaker 2 (19:09):
That will have to be their leading rusher again, most
likely on the Chargers side. Offensively and mentioned the running
backs and really taking up to try to keep Justin
Herbert from having to drop back, even though they called
a bunch of run plays for him last week, like
get down, get out of bounds, you're gonna get blown up.

Speaker 3 (19:26):
You more hits than anybody.

Speaker 4 (19:28):
He left the pocket a lot. I think as far
as called runs, they weren't as many as I think
as people thought. He just scrambled a number of times
because he's just super competitive. And you know, look, I
think guys once they play, you know, they're not thinking
about any injury they have. They're just out there playing.
And we know Herbert's a super high level competitor. But
if I'm not mistaken, they only called two or three

(19:50):
runs that were actually designed runs. But he scrambled a lot.
Don't forget. They have a line issues as well because
they're playing backup tackles, so you know, and the Chiefs
can be very good on defense. It hasn't been exactly
the same this year with the Chiefs defense, but they're
still good and they can still be very good any
given week.

Speaker 3 (20:10):
Yeah, that's a big question here.

Speaker 2 (20:11):
Can they stop the run game, slow it down and
make the Chargers have to pass because, as you mentioned,
the backup offensive both teams with lineman woes, no question
about it. But we've seen the civ like barrage that
you can get on Herbert, no question a lot about it.
So trying to protect him, and I think he was
just wise and going, hey, I've been back here and

(20:33):
I've been a sitting duck. I'm going to be a
little more active with my legs and be proactive. Positive yards,
positive yards. We talk about sacks, we talk about giving
up yardage and making positive plays out of things.

Speaker 4 (20:46):
And I know it was Week one, but it's still
it's a head to head and coaches look at that,
you know, very carefully when they do their game planning,
because coaches end up coaching against coaches. So you remember
Herbert had that run to kind of seal the win
when Chris Jones went too far inside in that Week

(21:06):
one game, So Herbert, Look, Herbert had a very very
good athlete for a man that size. That's a factor
in their offense.

Speaker 3 (21:13):
Go back all the way. I remember that slide.

Speaker 2 (21:15):
And then immediately the cameras did a good job of
getting the Chiefs defensive front kind of getting after each
other in terms of assignments and lane responsibilities, et cetera.
So yeah, certainly a little bit of a callback, there,
no question about it. As we continue going through the slate,
let's go to another huge game. We've got the Buffalo

(21:38):
Bills go out against the New England Patriots. How about
a little bit of Josh Allen if we can. He pumps,
he pros, he's got tuxdown, he's got Jackson Hawes.

Speaker 3 (21:51):
A little bit of Jackson Hawes.

Speaker 2 (21:52):
I thought that was better than the forty yard scramble
because you know, we don't have the in helmet camera,
at least we're not privy to it. I think they exist, Greg,
I think it's there so that you can always say, okay, quarterback,
what'd you see and when he lies, you go, oh, yeah.

Speaker 3 (22:05):
We got the tape.

Speaker 2 (22:06):
But for the Jackson Hawes touchdown, huge effort for the
Bills against the Bengals a week ago. Now you have
this divisional battle. They're a narrow favorite on the road.
Congratulations to Josh Allen and Hailey Steinfeld as they're expecting
a child over under forty nine and a half in
this one. Greg, let's go back to our handy dandy

(22:27):
weather app as we go down the road, because we're
gonna be hey, we actually have some outdoor games. Like
last week, it's like, oh, there was weather in a
bunch of cities, Like ah, they're all domes.

Speaker 3 (22:36):
It doesn't matter.

Speaker 2 (22:38):
As we look at this one, you got potential for
some snow winds coming out of the northwest at about
seven to nine miles off.

Speaker 4 (22:45):
That's nothing. That's nothing. The question is, Mike, are those
domes swollen domes or just domes?

Speaker 3 (22:50):
Now they're just domes?

Speaker 6 (22:51):
Okay, nothing.

Speaker 3 (22:52):
Nothing tops the size and scope of this noggin.

Speaker 4 (22:58):
This is a fascinating game. I mean, obviously, you know,
the the Bills are a really interesting team. They've got
a lot of young players on the defensive side of
the ball that are sort of growing into playing defense.
You know, the hope being that they'll become impact players
as they play. Cole Bishop's had a good season. I
really liked him coming out of Utah. You know. Obviously,

(23:21):
Dean Walker, who was a fourth round pick out of
Kentucky I remember, and he's had a very nice year
for them this year. Again, a player that looks like
he could develop into an impact d tackle. I remember
watching him his next to last year in college and
just the size and the movement. I thought, with a
really good final year, we'd be talking about him as
a first round pick. It just didn't quite work out

(23:42):
that way. They got him in the fourth round. He's
had a nice season. The guy that's really been you know,
it's sort of the fountain of youth has been Shaq Thompson.
He plays every snap. It seemed like he played in
Carolina about thirty years ago.

Speaker 3 (23:57):
Yes, sir, but he's had a really.

Speaker 4 (24:00):
Nice season for them. And I guess Joey Boss do
back today after missing last week. Last week, they really
struggled on third down and that's something they'll have to
get cleaned up today. Obviously, Joe Burrow is terrific at
seeing things. One thing Sean McDermott does as well as
any defensive coach in the league, and it's becoming another

(24:21):
trend in the league is changing the picture pre snap
to post snap. That's becoming a very big deal in
the league and John mcdermot's done it extremely well for years.
The Bills will have to play better, I think, on
defense today than they did last week. Obviously, they got
those two big plays last week which turned the game around.

(24:43):
If you're the Bills, you say that, you know, coming
up with big plays at the right time. If you're
just watching the game, they feel kind of fluky, but
you know, hey, sometimes that's the way it works in games.
And Christian Benford, their corner has been ruled out, so
they're going to be playing Maxwell Harston and Tradavious White
at corner pretty much for the whole game. And we'll

(25:04):
see how that plays out.

Speaker 3 (25:05):
Yeah, we've talked about it a lot.

Speaker 2 (25:06):
Shack Thompson in his eleventh year, you know, the old age,
aged myself by the gray and my beard and forget
about guys and the Yeah, it's year eleven.

Speaker 4 (25:16):
He remember, do you remember he played running back some
running back in college.

Speaker 3 (25:20):
I mean he was one of those guys all those
years ago.

Speaker 2 (25:23):
Yeah, still dial him up every once in a while.
I'll tell you it's the curiosity. As we look ahead.
You got the Patriots on the other side. Drake May
one of the leaders in the clubhouse for the MVP considerations.
Twenty three touchdowns against six picks. He's absorbed forty sacks.
That's the number that stands out. You know, that growth

(25:44):
and negative plays, but they've been able to overcome to
this point. Greg and this is where Bosa comes in
so huge a plus one ten point differential on the
year for the Patriots with the two headed monster out
of the backfield and then Stefan Diggs leading the way
amongst a bevy of wide receivers. Booty's been strong at points,

(26:07):
Hunter Henry's had a nice year at times. But the
past distribution, you've got the one in Diggs, but Drake
May doing a good job of distributing the ball.

Speaker 4 (26:17):
Yeah, And I think one question, you know, with bos
of being back, and then one area where I think
the Bills would feel like that they need to be
effective is the pass rush with four because you're going
to have a backup left tackle playing with Will Campbell out,
so it might be Vederian Lowe who is starting at
left tackle. We'll see how that goes. So that's an

(26:38):
area where I think the Bills are going to need
to have some success, whatever that means. Don't forget it's
not always sacks. If you can make Drake May play
a little faster, speed him up, because one thing and
watching the tape of May, and obviously he's been very
good in so many areas that you don't necessarily expect
second year players to be good at. He's been outstanding
on third down, he's been out of stay versus pressure.

(27:01):
But you just want to try to speed him up
a bit and get him to have to play a
little faster the other side of the ball. This is
a good defense that that New England has. They're fundamentally sound.
They've got some solid players, They've got two good corners.
It's a good matchup. This is a really, really good matchup.
You know, there's been a lot to talk about New

(27:22):
England being a better team than Buffalo. I mean, you know,
sometimes it's not just the players, you know, just looking
at a roster per se, but it's you know, how
a game plays out. You know, Josh Allen obviously can
make special plays, but you know what, May has shown
the ability to do some of that this year as well.

Speaker 2 (27:40):
Now that's it, right, It's all about that closing time.
This is one that'll be fun. We've seen Allen last
week had to put the cape on in big spots
and then they the defense stepped up as they needed
it a couple of times against Joe Burrow, which led
to his sullen midweek conversation. So why don't we stay
in the go jump to that game. Baltimore Cincinnati. Baltimore

(28:04):
a narrow favorite. We've talked a lot about the offensive
sputters that they've had over the course of the season.

Speaker 3 (28:10):
A lot of handwringing.

Speaker 2 (28:11):
I think Harbaugh to a degree is happy that everybody
wants to focus on Mike Tonlin's job and they're leaving
him alone.

Speaker 3 (28:19):
At the moment, right fifty one and a half is
your total?

Speaker 2 (28:22):
Lamar looks compromised Derrick Henry other than a couple of
spurts over the course of the year, Greg, I think
Father Time might be catching up a little bit to
where we're at in terms of deploying him, because he
also doesn't really factor into the passing game, which you know,
you don't have that safety valve for Lamar that way.
So it's just that difficult proposition for Joe Burrow. He

(28:45):
had that mid week week speech to where you know,
that's all becomes a matter of interpretation. Some good laughs
from Jamar Chase. Does he want out of Cincinnati? Does
he just want change? Folks thinking that he was gonna
walk away That guy didn't do the rehab.

Speaker 3 (28:58):
He just did to want because he doesn't like football.

Speaker 4 (29:02):
Come on, yeah, you know, look, it gives people something
to talk about it all that. It's an interesting game
because they just played a couple of weeks ago, as
you know, that was Burrow's first game back. And you know,
Burrow is just so good at recognizing things. He sees
things both pre snap and post snap. I remember the
touchdown he threw to Yoshavas, which was just a great

(29:24):
chess match play. I actually broke that play down in
the Matchup show this week because I thought it was
just a terrific snapshot of the Ravens d and the Bengals,
oh and Burrow and the chess match. And that's the
stuff I love about football. As you probably know. You know,
this defense for Baltimore has played better over the last
month or so, and the Bengals offense has become a

(29:48):
little more balanced because Chase Brown has become more of
a factor. And I know there's been a lot to
talk about Lamar and the offense, and Lamar has just again,
you know, I'm not in his head, but he's just
missed some throws over the last month. I can't speak
to the nature of the injury, if that's a factor,
but he's just missed a lot of throws that we
would call layups, pitching catch throws, which he normally over

(30:11):
these last number of years, just never does and he's
been doing it, and I don't have a reason why
but it's there on the tape, and you know he
just doesn't look to be as comfortable a player as
he has for you know, almost into game in the league.

Speaker 2 (30:26):
Talk about borderline, the yips if he was a second
baseman somewhere, go back to Yeah, we'll do it this morning.
How about a little Chuck no block reference for your
Sunday morning together?

Speaker 4 (30:36):
Oh boy?

Speaker 3 (30:37):
Yeah.

Speaker 2 (30:38):
A couple of weeks ago, thirty two fourteen was the
final of that one Ravens and Bengals and Joe Burrow
and you mentioned Chase Brown six straight games where he's
gone over one hundred and tovey yards, so getting him more
activated in the past game. They'll be without t Higgins
boys again, so more Yoshivash for the win along time
alongside Jamar Chase.

Speaker 4 (30:59):
They were without Joshabats in that game two weeks ago
as well. Mitchell Tinsley played a lot of snaps, so
I'm sure he'll be out there as well. We'll see
this is look, obviously it's a huge games. It's at Cincinnati.
What's the weather there, my.

Speaker 3 (31:15):
Man, Let's go.

Speaker 2 (31:16):
Let's take a look your acurate weather report here on
a beautiful Sunday morning, resplendent. I can't do what that
viral sensation's doing with the angry mentions of reeds where
people are flirting with her. But if you want to,
I mean, hey, at Swollen Dome, let me know. Wins
eight to ten miles an hour, twelve degrees and clear
though twelve degrees we got you know.

Speaker 4 (31:40):
Yeah, I'm not a big fan of the twelve degrees myself,
but I don't have to play in it or sit
in it. But you know, when there's no wind, I
think at least the quarterbacks probably feel like they can
throw the ball.

Speaker 3 (31:49):
That's it.

Speaker 2 (31:50):
You can at least cut through that and get some points.
Fifty one and a half is the total. So expecting
some fireworks there, no question about it. As we continue.
Still some big games, one where they're gonna be playing
essentially on a rock.

Speaker 3 (32:04):
Yeah, that's right. It's on the lakefront.

Speaker 2 (32:06):
A couple of teams battling at at young quarterbacks now
being pitted against each other, might as well put them
in the squared circle.

Speaker 3 (32:12):
We'll do that as we continue.

Speaker 2 (32:13):
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It might decide what you do with your fantasy squad.
He's great, co Sell, I'm by Carbon and this is Fox.

Speaker 1 (32:36):
Fox Sports Radio has the best sports talk lineup in
the nation. Catch all of our shows at Foxsports Radio
dot com and within the iHeartRadio app. Search FSR to
listen live. Now we're talking some classics. Tell me you

(32:56):
don't start bopping along in your chair. Be thinking about
Chropole Gold Locales. Maybe you're getting away for the holiday
holiday holiday if you are out and about at Swollen Dome,
tell me those holiday destinations. What you're thinking about and
what this memory invokes. For me, it's my mom cooking
a lot and yelling at us and throwing things at us.

Speaker 2 (33:16):
Get out of the kitchen, Get away from that. Yeah,
Mike Carb with Greg co Sell with you.

Speaker 6 (33:22):
There you go.

Speaker 3 (33:22):
I just had a flashback.

Speaker 2 (33:24):
That was one of those post traumatic stress disorder moments
for me.

Speaker 4 (33:28):
They're great. I understand it because to this day I'm
not allowed in the kitchen. I walk in the kitchen
and my wife says, what are you doing here? You know,
so I'm not allowed there myself. So I get it.

Speaker 2 (33:39):
Yeah, I mean I do most of the cooking, so
I occasionally will do the snap thing myself, and then
I recognize that. I remember, It's like no, no, no, come
on in, you got you gotta taste test this. Ultimately
you're consuming. But yeah, certainly a flashback coming out. There
plenty of games as we go through the slate that
are highly intriguing.

Speaker 3 (33:59):
We'll get to them. We'll get to Philip Rivers and
his return.

Speaker 2 (34:02):
I had expectations there, But we go down to the Lakefront.
We've got Cleveland and Chicago. First, let's take the visitors.
Let's talk a little bit. Shador Sanders and the Browns
are a two point conversion away from Tye.

Speaker 6 (34:24):
In this game.

Speaker 2 (34:25):
Clearly they did not get that two point conversion. I
think Mark and I were looking to commiserate on the
Caleb Williams near miss. We'll get to that on the
other side of the coin here in a second. Greg
But Shador Sanders then not on the field for the
two point conversions. Talking heads converge and scream at each other.
But for shaudor a week over week we're seeing some
big plays, the mobility and tucking the ball. His touchdown

(34:48):
run was a work of brilliance and patience and waiting
for things to develop, and we're seeing him push. So
now he's been named the starter for the rest of
the year. Harold fannin junior come one of the top
fantasy options at wide at the tight end position. Wide
receiver Jerry J. Judy's been reactivated a little bit. No

(35:09):
one joke you today. Dylan Sampson as well. You got
some issues all their offensive line. That's one of the
things we can talk about for most teams at this point,
how many will play out of the five that you
normally see, and then we play whack a mole in
terms of the injury report. But for sure, Sanders Greg
acquitting himself quite nicely the last couple of weeks.

Speaker 4 (35:29):
Yeah, I mean we have two games now of Shador.
The first game we saw that he struggled quite a bit,
which I think most people who watch the tape would
tell you that sure, and then in the second game,
I thought he played extremely well. I thought he made
some really strong timing anticipation throws, through the ball with
really precise location, saw things clearly made some throws under

(35:54):
pressure where the pocket was squeezed, which is really important
for his game because even though he does have functional mobility, Mike,
he's not necessarily a playmaker. You know, you're not going
to think of him as a Mahomes arn Allen or
a Jackson, but he does have enough movement ability, but
he's really a pocket quarterback at his core. And I
thought that, you know, when I finished watching that tape.

(36:16):
And by the way, Tennessee has played well in some
games this year defensively, the Nard Wilson is a very
good coordinator. That's a team that just doesn't have a
lot of talent, but he does some good things that
make it hard at times for quarterbacks. And I thought
your Door handled himself really really well, and he played
extremely well in that game.

Speaker 3 (36:35):
They continue to fight.

Speaker 2 (36:36):
Obviously, it's not in the purview of what we do
here talking about the film and what you see between
the white lines, But be remiss if I didn't bring
up the fact that, you know, cam Ward's still trying
to hold them to a massive standard. They get a
w and then on the team plane, you know, you
had one of their defensive players say, hey, celebrate this,
and it got reported by a guy that was.

Speaker 3 (36:57):
On the charter.

Speaker 2 (36:58):
He won't be on the charter more after letting that out,
as it were, So remember freedom of speech.

Speaker 3 (37:05):
Just watch what you're saying.

Speaker 4 (37:06):
Yeah, you know, awards in an interesting situation. And then
you know, I've watched every one of his games. Obviously,
you have to understand he's playing behind an offensive line
that's argue will be one of the five worst in
the league when it comes to pass protection, a lot
of players with high pedigree who just haven't performed to
the needed level. And then he's playing with two rookie

(37:28):
wide receivers, a rookie tight end, and you have a
rookie quarterback obviously, And the thing that has made it
really difficult is because until last week they really have
not run the ball well at all. He has the
fifth most dropbacks of any quarterback in the league, Mike,
and that's the last thing you want with a rookie quarterback.

Speaker 2 (37:46):
Absolutely insane. We remember that Tony Pollard is out there
for you. Yeah, not be out there again.

Speaker 4 (37:52):
Ball last week they did, and they actually went heavy
with six ozero linemen quite a bit with what we
call five man surface where there were five players lined
up to one side of the center. So they really
went heavy, they really made a commitment to running. It
worked last week. They obviously played the Niners this week.
I know we want to get back to Chicago momentarily,

(38:12):
but they played the Niners this week. We'll see what
their game plan is. But it's just been a tough
situation for Ward, who obviously has been uneven, been up
and down. But for the people who think at this
point in time that oh, he's a bust, that's just
this very silly thing to say.

Speaker 2 (38:27):
Yeah, I also just love the fact that he's got
the competitive fire he's try how he hold it to
a standard, which is good.

Speaker 4 (38:33):
I've been around him and believes he's a great kid,
and he's definitely got competitive fire and the desire to
want to be great.

Speaker 2 (38:40):
All right, let's go back to that Bears side. Let's
hear that Caleb Williams once again, let me read fours than.

Speaker 5 (38:45):
One, Chicago take the sweat, good legg you left Williams
looking floats the.

Speaker 3 (38:50):
Ends seven exact.

Speaker 7 (38:53):
Let ourception leaping in our sception by Kee Shotton NETSI.

Speaker 4 (38:58):
Mzer Is.

Speaker 3 (39:02):
There you go.

Speaker 2 (39:02):
I hate the word dagger coming off of Wayne Laravie's lips,
especially when it's my team on the other side.

Speaker 3 (39:08):
Bear's fight in the second half.

Speaker 2 (39:11):
Not enough, but that play has been decided, dissected every
which way till Sunday. What'd you think of Caleb against
the Packers a week ago?

Speaker 4 (39:19):
You know, Caleb is one of those guys that's very
uneven throughout the course of a game. He just misses
throws that he has to make, but he makes outstanding
throws as well. I mean, and he this past week
we saw it again. He made two outstanding throws on
the move on the TD drive on the first third
quarter possession when he hit Commet for twenty six yards.

(39:40):
I'm sure people remember that one where he's racing to
his right and then the key ist one yard touchdown.
You know that that was just a ridiculous throw. And
then you know on the final fourth quarter possession before
the interception, he hits Burden for twenty seven yards. Another
big time throw he is.

Speaker 2 (39:59):
He's said, we'll pick this up on the other side,
Greg As we finished Hour two, coming next, Granny's a
welcome in our two of the program, we get it
pop in here. Fox Football Sunday, Fox Sports Radio, Mike Carmon,
Greg Cosel with you. We got weather all over and

(40:20):
we now have the Weather channel on and they're showing
New York City snow falling. Looks like that wet stuff
that sticks and becomes a problem. So be careful out
there on the highways and byways. Be smart, take a
little more time. Know there's no heroism driving like a
lunatic on the highways. Reminder, every goal starts with an assist,
and that's on and off the field. That's why Haley

(40:42):
On and US Soccer they're launching for the Assist, a
celebration of everyday acts of support that help people achieve
their goals with iconic brands like Centsindine, Tom's, Voltaurin, Advill
and Centrum. To learn more, go to haley on Assist
dot com. Greg, we were gonna so rudely interrupted by
the stinger, right, such a salient point about Caleb Williams

(41:06):
and what we saw in that final drive that culminated
in the interception.

Speaker 3 (41:10):
So let's let's pick up where we left off. Action
already in progress.

Speaker 4 (41:15):
Yeah, I mean, I just thought, you know, it's funny.
So much of this is opponent based, and I think
sometimes people forget that. They want to evaluate, you know,
each quarterback each and every week. You know, just play.
You see one play, Oh my god, he's great. One
play he's not great. You know, Sometimes it's the opponent.
The Packers. Jeff Hafley does a phenomenal job with late rotations,

(41:36):
his own coverage concepts. I thought he did a terrific
job minimizing the intermediate between the numbers throws that are
foundational to Ben Johnson's offense, you know, But Caleb overall,
there's a lot to like, and he throws a great ball.
There's no question. He just has to become and I
hate to use the word consistent and so overused, but

(41:57):
he just misses too many throws that are clean and
ideally he just continues to get better at that.

Speaker 2 (42:02):
Bit by bit we watch it. They've got the sandwich
game today against Cleveland. If you want to go full Nerd,
you go Admiral Akbar.

Speaker 3 (42:10):
It's a trap.

Speaker 2 (42:11):
It might be minus ten is what it's gonna feel
like there on a rock hard surface. Always the top
three or bottom three, depending on how you're ranking things
in terms of worse fields to actually play on. Congratulations Chicago,
that bring back memories for you.

Speaker 4 (42:27):
Mike.

Speaker 2 (42:28):
Oh yeah, no, that's it. I'm soft now. I would
be wearing two pairs of sweatpants. I'd be rolling in
with as many hand and foot warmers as I possibly could,
thick boots, man, I might have the gore tex jacket
that Jason Alexander warre on Seinfeld before.

Speaker 4 (42:43):
But of course there'll be some people out there with
no shirt on, and you know, hopefully they survived the day.

Speaker 3 (42:48):
That's it.

Speaker 2 (42:49):
Be smart out there, you know, just because you're a
little warmer because of something maybe you've ingested, you know,
the old cinnamon hot dam that they used to give
me when I'd travel to Madison, Wisconsin as a Northwestern fan.
It's like, you're gonna need this not only because it'll
keep you warm, but because by the fourth quarter it's
gonna get ugly.

Speaker 1 (43:08):
Yeah.

Speaker 4 (43:09):
I never quite understood all that, but I guess I
don't have to understand that.

Speaker 3 (43:13):
No, that's it. You just you sit, you nod, you go,
that's not me.

Speaker 2 (43:18):
And then you throw another long on the fire, refill
your coffee or whatever your beverage, your choice, ites and
you move on, but that an interesting game for the Bears.
Later on today, another big one as we look across
the board as a whole, the division rivals, they got
the win.

Speaker 3 (43:34):
Last week.

Speaker 2 (43:34):
The Green Bay Packers travel out to Denver, a couple
of defenses getting after it. We look at Jordan Love
versus bo Nicks forty two and a half the total
Packers a narrow road favorite Vegas. Still in the public,
still not full believers in what Sean Payton and company
have done. But let's start with the Jordan Love side

(43:54):
of things, with full compliment of receivers back and ready
to go. Josh Jacob's a bit compromise with the knee
actually is backup. Wilson is banged up a little bit
as well.

Speaker 4 (44:05):
Yeah, you know, it's funny. I mentioned a moment ago
that you have to look at each game as a
specific matchup event, and we saw that last week. You know,
I spoke earlier about more teams playing what we call
big nickel with three safeties, and do it to Kyler
Gordon being out and now essentially being done for the season.
I guess, you know, if they make the playoffs, I
guess he could be back. I know they just put
him in ir He's their slot corner and a very

(44:28):
good one. So what they did last week and they've
been doing, is they've been playing big nickel since they
got CJ. Gardner Johnson. And you saw last week matchups.
It's about matchups. If you're going to play big nickel
and play man coverage, then you're going to end up
versus three wide receivers, having your big nickel safety match
up man to man on a wide receiver. And we

(44:49):
saw that with one of the Watson touchdowns. So you
know comes down to match up football at times, not
every play, but there's times you can exploit that. You
know the play I'm talking about that quick abso that
Watson took to the house. So you get into match
up football. And you know that's one of the drawbacks
of playing big nickel that if you do play man,

(45:11):
let's say on third down or second and long, and
you want to and it's against eleven personnel three wide receivers,
you can get stuck sometimes. But that's the trade off.

Speaker 2 (45:19):
Garter Johnson becoming one of those full heroes in Chicago,
everybody already looking for a big extension. I think he
becomes the latest in the guy if you don't like
when he's on an opponent because he's an agitator, a talker,
all of those things. But when he's your guy, see
Aj Prasinski, Dennis Rodman as previous Chicago examples that suddenly
he becomes that much.

Speaker 3 (45:39):
Hey, that's my guy, because he's not a.

Speaker 4 (45:42):
Funny because not only on that forty one year touchdown
to Watson, but also on the Packers' touchdown drive in
the fourth quarter, he was on Reed who ran across
a crossing route and beat him. So you know, like
I said, that's you have to live with that. If
you're going to play man and in your big nickel,
you're gonna have to live with it, you know. And
sometimes it works and every once in a while you
get beat, But if that's how you're going to play,

(46:03):
you know, you're going to have to live with it.

Speaker 3 (46:05):
Yeah. I've always keep your minding, folks.

Speaker 2 (46:07):
As much as I can celebrate the w's, and I
do every last one of them, doesn't mean you and
you're not realistic. They still give up twenty six points
per game, they still let you drive up and down
the field, but they've generated twenty seven turnovers that's going
to be the big part against a banged up Browns
offensive line today and maybe Shudur being generous with the

(46:28):
football and.

Speaker 4 (46:29):
And you know, getting back to the Packers, they're obviously
playing against a very good defense.

Speaker 6 (46:33):
Yep.

Speaker 4 (46:33):
The Broncos are really good. They they're fast, they can
rush the quarterback. They've got good players in the secondary.
This will be you know, again, I don't know what
what's the weather in Denver. We haven't done that.

Speaker 2 (46:46):
We're bringing it up right now on wins are negligible
and as of now it's saying it's going to be
sixty three degrees and clear.

Speaker 4 (46:55):
Oh my god, how about that, it's going to be balmy.
It's short T and T shirt whether they're out there, Mike, Yeah, no, that.

Speaker 2 (47:02):
Was one as you're looking at all the games, like
all right, circle that one, circle that one. All right,
we'll keep an eye on that for Sunday morning. Nope,
don't have to worry about that there.

Speaker 4 (47:10):
Greg.

Speaker 3 (47:11):
Just make sure you put some sunblock on because it's well.

Speaker 4 (47:13):
Yeah, there you go. That should be a fun and
late game. Man. I'm looking forward to that one because
you know, I'm one of those people Mike and I'll
be the first to admit it. You know, I know
a lot of people love games in the snow and
all that. I like to see games where the athletes
can perform to their highest athletic level. That's just who
I am, you know, it's you know, I'm not a
huge hockey fan. But when hockey changed the game, you know,

(47:34):
and I don't know all the rules, but they changed
it so the games faster and there's less mucking it
out in the corner. Then I really became you know,
I enjoy hockey more because you see these guys go
up and down the ice.

Speaker 3 (47:44):
What the guys skate? I always argued for the Olympic
size rink.

Speaker 4 (47:47):
Yeah, you know, so that's just me. I know, yeah,
that's just a personal opinion and there's no right or
wrong there. But that makes me really more excited now
to see that game as one of the late games today.

Speaker 3 (47:57):
See there you go.

Speaker 2 (47:58):
And if you are excited and angry at him at
Great co Saliz, where you find him, you find me
over at Swollen Dome.

Speaker 3 (48:04):
Well maybe read those a little later on.

Speaker 2 (48:06):
With the iHeartRadio apps, stream us wherever you happen to be,
catch us all of our Fox Sports Radio shows live
twenty four to seven in the new and improved iHeartRadio app.
Search Fox Sports Radio and the app stream us live
all day every day, and be sure to select Fox
Sports Radio is one of your presets in the iHeart app,
so it always pops up at the top of your screen.
All right, let's go to another one of the games

(48:28):
later on today we've got because we can do this
one fairly quickly. Arizona has gotten great work from Jacoby Brissett,
right McBride and he and Wilson. They've done it without
Marvin Harrison Junior on the field. But today they've got
to try to navigate the best defense going in the Houston,
Texan CJ. Stroud and company. While the numbers haven't been robust,

(48:49):
no Nick Chubb for them. Today it's Woody Marks and
a lot of Nico Collins. Higgins has been a more
consistent option as well. But Arizona, I've got a couple
of folks that work around the is like they're just
frustrated watching what the offense is able to do but
not being able to finish the job.

Speaker 4 (49:06):
Yeah, and we've talked a lot about Houston, Obviously they
are a team that could easily make the playoffs, they'll
be in the division hunt now. Their defense is just
so good, and I think the one thing that just
quickly to talk about with them, I think their defensive
tackle group doesn't get talked about enough. The focus is
always Anderson and Hunter, deservedly so. But inside they are very,

(49:27):
very good. They've gotten outstanding play so it's very hard
to double people. You know, teams have to start chipping
on the outside, you leave one on the ones inside
they are really good. And I know I've said this before,
I'll just say it one more time. I think Kalin
Bullock's been the best post safety in the NFL this year.

Speaker 3 (49:43):
No question about it. Talk about that. I'm building the
wall of mean.

Speaker 2 (49:46):
Eventually it's going to be you know, people do T
shirt quilts. My daughter's working on one from all the
concerts that we've gone to, Greg and you'd be happy
with a lot of the entries there when we're talking
about Paul Simon and Paul McCartney and a bunch of others.
I'm gonna have my wall all of mean, of all
nothing but nose tackles and defensive tackles.

Speaker 3 (50:03):
You a big concert guy, Mike, Oh, huge, huge, as
many as I can get to, brother, Wow.

Speaker 4 (50:09):
Wow. So yeah, you're a big music guy. Yeah, I
don't go to as many as I did years ago.
But you know, hey, but I love music. You know,
I have no musical talent, but I love music and
I love to read about it when I go to
Barnes and Noble. That's it.

Speaker 2 (50:22):
And again the celebration cupcake. If you run into Great Coachell,
you got a question. I got to pay tribute with
the celebration.

Speaker 4 (50:28):
Cupcake, had one yesterday.

Speaker 3 (50:30):
That's my guy. It's my guy.

Speaker 2 (50:32):
Barnes and Nobles actually on my list of things I
need to do later on today because I've got a
bunch of readers on my list for the holiday holiday. Holiday,
so we'll be taking care of that. Maybe I'll get
a cupcake in your honor.

Speaker 3 (50:42):
How about that?

Speaker 4 (50:43):
There you go. You can't go wrong with the celebration cupcake.

Speaker 2 (50:46):
Never Never was celebrating Week fifteen of your National Football
League season. How about we get one more game in
all the chaos that is Philadelphia. They already got rid
of that rabbit that was there for four days. We
saw the interception from Jalen Hurts to close that one out.

Speaker 3 (51:03):
Let's hear it.

Speaker 6 (51:06):
Fourth Perts in the shotgun. A touchdown would win it
for the Eagles. Kerts pulls it Rose.

Speaker 9 (51:14):
Intercepted, game over, intercepted, game over, game over. The fourth interception,
Tony Jefferson unbelievable, unce does it see.

Speaker 2 (51:25):
I was going to start by saying, hey, it's a
matchup of Super Bowl quarterbacks, So that hit the rewind
on that one. But Matt money Smith and Kfi here's
six forty our teammate over at a five seventy LA
Sports and Petroster in the afternoons on the call there.
But we saw the best and most explosive game that
we've seen from Saquon Barkley in a while.

Speaker 3 (51:47):
Greg, you down the stretch. He didn't touch the ball well.

Speaker 4 (51:50):
The second half was strange in the sense that the
Eagles didn't have the ball very much. Obviously the turnovers.
But I will say this, and I said it all week.
I thought this was the best game that the Eagles
played in turn of their past game concepts, and I
think it's absolutely something to build on. Obviously, Hurts is
not going to throw four interceptions every week. He never
does that, And and interceptions. You have to look at
each one separately. We're not going to go reach one obviously,

(52:12):
but I thought in terms of what they did with
their their route concepts, their route combinations, defining the reads
and throws more cleanly. For Jalen Hurts, he made some
very very good throws in this game, better than we
had seen previously. So I think if you're an Eagles fan,
you should be a little optimistic going forward.

Speaker 2 (52:29):
Yeah, even on that drive, the out route that he
threw to Goddard along the sideline just before that was
a great throw, great great throw and catch, So they
go back there.

Speaker 3 (52:39):
You get the tip drill.

Speaker 2 (52:41):
Jefferson finishes the job, and now we have the game
against Vegas eleven and to play half point favorites.

Speaker 3 (52:47):
This one seems like you run it through.

Speaker 2 (52:49):
But the fact that we get to add another starting
quarterback to our laundry list for twenty twenty five and
Kenny Pickett, I feel like I win the Bengo card
because we're getting the sixty Greg before it's done.

Speaker 4 (53:00):
Well, you meant, you know, it's funny you mentioned him
late in the game. He made a big time throwing
overtime to DeVonta Smith's for twenty eight yards. I just
thought that there were really good throws in this game
that came from really good concepts that really helped him
see it more clearly. And like I said, and empty formations.
They went empty fifteen times in this game, and that

(53:21):
the most they've done all season. And I'm sure you
know you know what empty does. It stretches out the defense.
You can clear the picture for the quarterback pre snap,
so you know, I think they're moving in the right direction.

Speaker 3 (53:33):
Give him some bigger windows to throw.

Speaker 2 (53:35):
Lots of being made there, and certainly if they're even
in a game in the fourth quarter, the Philly Faithful,
we'll let them know it because that is a home game.

Speaker 3 (53:45):
As we go down the well.

Speaker 4 (53:46):
Right now, it's snowing here in Philly by the way,
well out Jersey, but supposed to stop around ten o'clock
Eastern time. But then it's supposed to be twenty five
to thirty mile hour winds, so that should be a
fun one.

Speaker 6 (53:58):
Mike.

Speaker 3 (53:58):
There you go.

Speaker 2 (53:59):
He's at the weather update, Greg co Cell in front
of the teleprompter and with the green screen behind him.
He did the whole thing about fronts and everything you
have to see that dance and that two step another time.

Speaker 3 (54:11):
We got plenty of games left to go on the slate.

Speaker 2 (54:14):
Couple of big ones, especially one in the late window,
a fifty four and a half total is out there.

Speaker 3 (54:20):
And one of those where there's still a bunch of unrest.

Speaker 2 (54:23):
And one of the formations that you've talked about a
lot that's starting to get some other national run and acclaim.
We'll talk about that as we continue at Greg co
Celle where you find him the NFL Matchup Show, NFL Films,
and of course one o'clock Eastern time every Thursday, alongside
our teammate Colin Coward. Here across the network, you get

(54:44):
the visual and what Colin calls his best fifteen to
twenty minutes each and every week. Hey, be sure to
subscribe to the Fox Sports Radio YouTube channel. Search Fox
Sports Radio on YouTube. You'll see the best videos from
all our shows. Don't stop there, hit that thumbs up
icon and comment away. Let us know who's taking and
even whose takes you don't. Search Fox Sports Radio on
YouTube and subscribe. Coming up next a big NFC battle.

Speaker 3 (55:08):
He's great. Go Sell and Mike Carmen in this as fin.

Speaker 1 (55:11):
Fox Sports Radio has the best sports talk lineup in
the nation. Catch all of our shows at Foxsports Radio
dot com and within the iHeartRadio app search FSR to
listen live.

Speaker 2 (55:30):
Welcome back in some technical wizardry, Chris Purfett getting it
done alongside our guy Brandon Deutsch. Yeah, Mike Carmen and
Greg co sell through the resplendid nature upgrade in vocal
technology as we get ready for the close of our
show here today, we got another forty minutes of massive

(55:51):
action leading into countdown to kickoff, presented by bet MGM.
Nice workfellas and for those unaware, you don't need to know,
but we tried to give folks love on the air.

Speaker 8 (56:02):
There you go.

Speaker 2 (56:03):
When we get some things done, We've got action on
the pitch. Yesterday we had the Heisman Trophy. We got
plenty of time before we have to evaluate those guys
for draft purposes.

Speaker 4 (56:12):
But by the way, mister Mendoza, do you hear Mendoza's speech?

Speaker 3 (56:16):
Great speech?

Speaker 4 (56:17):
I mean, come on, if that didn't make you know,
bring a tear to your right just for a little bit,
then you're you know you're not you're struggling.

Speaker 2 (56:23):
Yeah, we saw some some good stuff of him. He
took some kids out of shopping spree in the morning
in contor of his mom. Like, just a lot of
a lot of great stuff, the best of what sports
can do and humanity. Uh we we try to bring
it here. It's Sunday morning. I know, folks heading to
and from services, believe in whatever. Uh you know, higher

(56:43):
power energies you've got out there, and uh you know
some of what he gave you was was just absolute gold.
So uh, I do encourage as great says go check
that out, uh in the Twitter verse online, et CETERA
great speech, great campaign for Indiana. We'll watch the playoffs
with rapt attention coming up here as we get rolling.

(57:05):
And then of course Greg has all his draft evaluation
and go back in the archives find the twenty five version,
but already starting to get his data points and everything
loaded up for twenty twenty six.

Speaker 3 (57:17):
Can't wait to go through that process with you as well.

Speaker 6 (57:20):
Greg.

Speaker 4 (57:20):
Oh yeah, and you know it's funny. I get toward
the end of the NFL season, I get real excited
to start watching the college guys because obviously I can't
do that during the regular season like some other guys
can because of my NFL work, but get real excited
because it's a whole different process, Mike. You know, during
the NFL season, I'm very, very focused on tactic schematics. Yeah,
I look at players obviously, but you know, I'm not

(57:41):
breaking down, you know, all the left guards in the NFL.
Whereas I get to the draft and it's a whole
different mindset, which really I kind of enjoy. It's just
a whole different feel and I love it.

Speaker 3 (57:51):
Different draft evaluation.

Speaker 2 (57:52):
We'll get into all of that as we get closer
towards the culmination of this NFL campaign at Great go
Sell where you can follow him along follow me at Swollendome. Hey,
every goal starts with an assist on and off the field.
That's why Haley On and US Soccer they're launching for
the Assist, a celebration of everyday acts of support and
help to help people achieve their goals and iconic brands

(58:14):
involved like Censidine, Tom's, Voltaran, Advil, and Centrum.

Speaker 3 (58:18):
To learn more, go to haley on Assist dot com.
That's h A. L.

Speaker 2 (58:23):
E O. N Assist dot Com. Now back to the
business of the NFL for today. Later on we've got
the Detroit Lions in your La.

Speaker 6 (58:34):
Rams.

Speaker 2 (58:34):
That's one of the big games on the slate for
us as we get ready, fifty four and a half
is your total that'll be out here in Los Angeles.

Speaker 3 (58:42):
So no worries about weather.

Speaker 2 (58:43):
Yeah, it is technically not a dome stadium, so if
there's lightning, we have had lightning delays before, So people
get a lot of sorts with that, Greg because they
do have the open ends. No expectations here because it's
been eighty degrees where I live most of the last week.
But RAMS is six point favorite and something you hot
spotlighted weeks ago. The three tight end offense some set

(59:07):
starting to get a little more run as we watched
the Rams on their quest to get Matthew Stafford an
MVP and another Super Bowl run.

Speaker 4 (59:15):
It's I still find it fascinating. I actually spoke about
this on my Matchup show with Darius Butler and Sal
Palell and just I don't recall a coach making such
a dramatic change. It was week seven when Sean McVay
decided that, you know what, I'm going to play with
three tight ends. I don't want to say as the
main foundation, but I would say since week seven might

(59:37):
probably more than thirty five percent of their offensive snaps,
maybe even forty percent have come out of three tight ends.
And I did some of the numbers this week. And
normally the way I work is I watch tape and
what I see, I'll see things and then I'll say, oh,
let me check that with the metrics. You know, I
don't start with the metrics first. I always start with
the tape first, and then I just started doing some

(59:58):
work on the numbers. Have been so good at a
thirteen personnel meaning one back in three tight ends, especially
on first down. It's been crazy how good they've been
in the run game and the pass game. And this
past week, by the way, was the first time that
Puka Nakua played as the only wide receiver in their

(01:00:19):
three tight end package. Prior to this week he did
not play in the three tight end package, and he
caught a pass for thirty two yards. But it's been
fascinating to me. You don't normally see that kind of
a dramatic change by a coach during the you know,
in the middle of a season.

Speaker 3 (01:00:34):
Particularly if you're winning.

Speaker 2 (01:00:35):
Greg Yeah, yeah, right. Otherwise it's a break glass in
case of emergency. How do we keep our guy upright right?
It's funny because a guy that we'll talk about in
a minute, that's gonna be one of the big questions.
But for this matchup for the Rams, they go against
a very depleted back seven for the Detroit Lions.

Speaker 6 (01:00:55):
Here.

Speaker 2 (01:00:55):
Yeah, the offensive side of things have really been ronicle.
John Morton, you know, had big shoes to fill. You
talk about Dan Campbell, all of that from from the
offensive side, But defensively, I just don't know that there's
enough there against this Rams offense.

Speaker 4 (01:01:12):
Yeah, with Ryan Branch being out really good football player.
You know, they play a lot of base defense anyway,
because they like to keep the three linebackers on the
field because Derek Barnes not a big name. People know
Angeloni and Jack Campbell, but Derek Barnes is a very
versatile player, can play on the ball, off the ball.
They're probably gonna play a ton a ton of base
defense against the three tight ends. But the back end

(01:01:35):
they can still throw the ball, and who knows. You know,
every game is different, and I think that's what the
great the great offensive coaches do is they're not wetted
even though they played a ton of three tight ends.
Maybe this is a week they go more three wide
because of the injuries on the back end for the Alliance,
you just never know. They obviously have some pretty good receivers.

(01:01:55):
I don't know if they get at well back today.
I think he's been activated. I don't know. I think
I saw that, but certainly with the Coop and Adams,
so they're pretty good.

Speaker 2 (01:02:03):
Certainly have to take care of that and try to
slow down that run game as well. On the Detroit side,
I'm on Ross Brown battled back a lot of questions
ahead of his last time.

Speaker 3 (01:02:14):
Players it.

Speaker 4 (01:02:15):
Yeah, that guy's just now the big question for them
will be past protection. We know that GoF who can
be very very good. Obviously he's a little more of
the old school quarterback, the kind of guy that needs
to be protected. Throws it really well when he is
sees it well. But that gram defensive front is very
very good. Can they protect when you get into those
must pass situations?

Speaker 2 (01:02:37):
At great co sell where you find in the NFL
Matchup Show weekly with Colin at one o'clock Eastern time
here on the network and of course FS one you
can see the visual component of that as well. Now
we're gonna step over to the newsdest get an early
update on what's going on in our universe, including some
injuries that we're watching. As kickoffs approach with our guy

(01:02:58):
Dan Bayer at Dan Byron where you find him.

Speaker 3 (01:03:01):
Hear him later on this afternoon's part of Red Zone Radio.

Speaker 8 (01:03:03):
How you doing, Dan, Good morning, guys, Doing well and
the answered Greg's question, Yeah, to too at Well, not
that it was a question much as to confirm it.

Speaker 4 (01:03:10):
Too.

Speaker 8 (01:03:10):
Too at Well was activated off ir back from that
hamstring injury for that Rams Lions game that you talked
about in the late window, the new primetime game in
that late window, though definitely in Seattle as everybody wants
to see Philip Rivers and the Colts take down the Seahawks.
Rivers expect to get the start later on today against
the Seahawks. He was activated from the practice squad yesterday.

(01:03:31):
ESPN reports that the Colts and Daniel Jones of ed
talks and the we'll have talks this upcoming offseason on
a new deal. He had surgery on Tuesday for that
ruptured achilles gonna need six to eight months to recover.
Texans running back Nick Chubb won't play against the Cardinals.
Today dealing with the rib injury. Hacker's running back Josh
Jacobs expected to play in Denver. He's been dealing with
a sore knee all week. Didn't practice on Wednesday or Thursday,

(01:03:54):
but did get in a limited workout on Friday. Should
go against the Broncos. Another great game in that late
window Eagles tackle Lane Johnson. He's not going to play
to day against the Raiders, but NFL Network says he's
targeting a return neither week sixteen or week seven week
seventeen from that list Frank injury. You guys talked about
it earlier for Nanda Mendoza winning the Heisman. The quarterback
from Indiana did so in convincing fashion. Vanderbilt quarterback Diego

(01:04:17):
Pavia finished checking in balloting. Spurs will face the next
in the NBA Cup Final in Las Vegas on Tuesday,
this after San Antonio handed Oklahoma City just their second
loss of the season last night, winning one eleven to
one or nine in Las Vegas. Some late college hoops
number eight Kenzaga a winner against number twenty five UCLA
as the squad's played in Seattle eighty two to seventy two.

Speaker 6 (01:04:37):
Guys back to you appreciate you.

Speaker 2 (01:04:39):
Dan, have a good call. Later on today, I know
the Seahawks in your window. You get to chronicle the
exploits of one Philip Rivers.

Speaker 6 (01:04:47):
It is the must watch game for sure.

Speaker 8 (01:04:49):
And it's crazy because it's a really good late window
today and that just rowse from the bottom all the
way to the top.

Speaker 6 (01:04:55):
Despite the spread of what it is. It should be
fun to.

Speaker 2 (01:04:58):
Watch thirtina and a half Dan and Kerry Roads later
on at Dan Byron Fox where you find it.

Speaker 6 (01:05:03):
Thanks Dan, Thanks guys.

Speaker 2 (01:05:04):
All right back with us here. It's Fox Football Sunday.
Mike Carbon, Greg co sell with you. That's the game
we go to next. Seattle thirteen and a half point
favorites Philip Rivers. My indecent proposal. If we're gonna go
down this road. Marcedes Lewis was an emergency pickup by
the Broncos a couple of weeks ago.

Speaker 3 (01:05:21):
How about he goes in.

Speaker 2 (01:05:22):
He becomes another pass protector for Philip Rivers against Seattle
and what they have on the slate going forward, his
over underd for passing yards Greg has won fifty three
and a half.

Speaker 4 (01:05:33):
Well, this may not be the defense that you really
want to have your first started, not really for five years.
You know, this is a defense that plays big Nickel.
We've spoken about that. That seems to be one of
the themes of our conversation this morning.

Speaker 3 (01:05:46):
Nickel Show of Record.

Speaker 4 (01:05:47):
Absolutely, that's right, that's right, Nickymn WARRII the rookie from
South Carolina has been a really good player for them,
And they rushed the quarterback. They don't blitz a ton,
but they rushed the quarter back extremely well. This is
a high intensity, high level energy defense. They compete, they pursue.

(01:06:08):
They've gotten phenomenal play from DeMarcus Lawrence, but they have
the Leonard Williams, they have Byron Murphy. This is a
really really good defense. They got Julian Love back last week.
You know, I just I don't know. I don't know,
I really don't know. Look, the bottom line is, I'm
going to tell you right now, I loved Philip Rivers
as a player. I he was one of my favorite

(01:06:29):
quarterbacks just pre snap post snap, super tough in the pocket.
But the reality was, and this is just purely from
tape his last year in the league, he just couldn't
throw it very well. And again, I don't know if
what happens with five years of not playing at the
NFL do you come out and throw it better? I
don't know the answer to that, but I just hope
against this defense. I mean, they've got a great third

(01:06:52):
down defense. They're second best in the NFL. Seattle. It's
not the matchup you want, Yeah.

Speaker 2 (01:06:58):
No question about it. I'm actually looking at a betting site.
They actually have a requested special that is quote called
quote crimea River and it's his passing yards and over
one and a half interceptions under a point five passing
tds and the Seahawks to cover that thirteen and a
half point spread, you can get that at plus sixty fifty.

(01:07:19):
I got to imagine it's you try to just put
this one away as fast as you can with a
lot of Walker and charbon Ay.

Speaker 4 (01:07:26):
Well, yeah, I mean, look, obviously, you know they're going
to try to, you know, score early, quickly and get
ahead and make it a situation where Philip Rivers has
to drop back. You know, Mike McDonald's terrific on third
down when they play dime. He's very multiple with his
front and looks and the pressure looks not necessarily blitz,
but pressure looks and He dictates protection with his front presentations,

(01:07:49):
and then he has a great understanding of how to
break down those protections because you can dictate pass protection
by how many you line up on the ball, because
you've got to account for people. If you're an offense,
you can't say, well, gee, I don't think Mike Harmon's coming,
even though he's sitting right there as a defensive lineman.
You know, I don't think he's coming. You can't say that.
You got to account for him.

Speaker 2 (01:08:09):
Nominee for the NFL twenty twenty five Salute to Service
Award for his background and related efforts. Luke Rhodes is
your long snapper for the Colts. That's who I'd be deploying. Hey,
fill up your lining up ten yards away right right.
I'm giving you a shot to see some things and
to be able to count to two before the pass rush.

Speaker 4 (01:08:30):
Is on you and then do a nine step drop.

Speaker 3 (01:08:34):
But that's it, right.

Speaker 2 (01:08:35):
You eventually just yelled punt check like you're back on
the streets of Jersey and Philadelphia and Chicago. All right,
let's go back to the we talked talked about it
briefly last hour. Let's go back to the NFC South
Carolina narrow favorite two and a half point road favorites
against New Orleans.

Speaker 3 (01:08:54):
We've seen some good things.

Speaker 2 (01:08:55):
Styler Shuck has ac quitted himself pretty nicely with his
receiving core there on the offense side. Defensively, they can
get after it and still present some problems. This is
one that I circle just from a potential chaos in
the NFC in terms of playoff bracketing, et cetera. Obviously,
a lot of folks in Tampa will have their Fleur

(01:09:15):
de lys flying high for this one. As Carolina gets going,
Bryce Young Tetoro and McMillan, and we talk about ric
O'Donnell and Cuba. Rico and Cuba. I don't know if
that's a pop duo from the eighties, but it works
for me here. But right now in the driver's seat
there in the NFC South.

Speaker 4 (01:09:33):
It's crazy. That's an interesting matchup, particularly on the other
side of the ball. Tyler Shucks played well. I mean
I always felt, and I said this even through the
draft process before the draft, that I thought his tape
was the second best of any quarterback coming out after
cam Ward and he started, he's looked, he's been efficient,
he looks relatively poised and calm. He can make any throw.

(01:09:56):
He's very mobile for a man that size. He's playing
against the Carolina defense that predominantly likes to play with
a single high safety. Jc Horn is back this week
after missing a game. What they play with Caroline is
he's the boundary corner. Always lines up to the short
side of the field. Michael Jackson always lines up to
the wide side of the field. It's another team that

(01:10:18):
plays a good amount of big nickel with the rookie
Lathan Ransom, So you know it's it's gonna be an
interesting matchup and the offensively Carolina you know, as long
as Bryce Young doesn't turn it over, you know, because
every once in a while too, he makes a throw
where you go out that's a really good throw. But

(01:10:38):
he's not a strong arm kid. He's not necessarily a
guy that's gonna sit in the pocket and drive the ball.
But if they can run the ball and the two
headed monster's pretty good, Mike.

Speaker 2 (01:10:48):
Right, the meadi part of the curve, averaging about twenty
three points per game. Yeah, the Carolina Panthers, I'm intrigued.
This one to me is actually fascinating. Yeah, shuck a
guy that you know we talked about a long time
ago when Rattler was still playing, and thus far a
guy making his case for a twenty twenty six start.
Let's get one more in real quick before we have

(01:11:09):
to take the commercial pause before the final stretch run
Washington against the Giants. We saw Jayden Daniels back out there.
Took a spill the elbow. He's gone again, So Mariota
back under center. Jackson Darton Company two and a half
point favorites. Let's go to the Weather Channel. Although you're
out there, you can just tell me all about it.

Speaker 4 (01:11:30):
I'm in South Jersey, so I don't know, you know
how it is a little further than you know, ninety
miles north.

Speaker 3 (01:11:35):
That's see.

Speaker 2 (01:11:35):
There you go.

Speaker 3 (01:11:36):
We get to the fun and excitement of well, it's
still a world away, you know that kind of thing.

Speaker 7 (01:11:41):
It is.

Speaker 4 (01:11:41):
It is terms of our Yeah. I know people always
say to me, I'll be in New York City, I'll
see you, and I'm like, I'm not really in New
York's not an easy in and out city.

Speaker 3 (01:11:50):
Like I'm not giving you the two hours find me out.

Speaker 4 (01:11:53):
It's a two hour, two hour drive basically because you know,
New York. You don't just zip in and out.

Speaker 2 (01:11:58):
Well, that's twenty mile commute from my house to the
studio every day, could be two hours.

Speaker 3 (01:12:04):
I don't know.

Speaker 2 (01:12:04):
Right right bar between one and two, it looks like
thirteen mile an hour winds and temperatures in the high twenties,
at least a.

Speaker 4 (01:12:11):
Little better than we were supposed to get down here
where it's supposed to be twenty to thirty mile an
hour winds down here in the Philly area.

Speaker 3 (01:12:17):
Well, that's it.

Speaker 2 (01:12:18):
You got to eat a couple extra cupcakes so you
don't get blown away there. You go, put some rocks
in those boots. Keep your ground in, Gregkosel.

Speaker 4 (01:12:24):
You know I only eat the one cupcake. I could
easily have two, mic but I just know that wouldn't
be a good idea.

Speaker 3 (01:12:29):
You're a disciplined man. That's what you do.

Speaker 4 (01:12:31):
I got to keep my got to keep my girls.

Speaker 6 (01:12:33):
Figure, you know, nicely done.

Speaker 2 (01:12:36):
Forty six and a half the total on this one.
Mariota winging and around. As we've seen, he's got his
compliment of receivers, certainly Debo and McLaurin in company, but
Jackson Dart, one of the tails of the tape and
saw some metrics over the course of the week in
terms of teams they've played, teams they've beaten, and what
he's been able to do thus far. Pretty good run

(01:12:57):
here for Dart, even without Nay Scatabo.

Speaker 4 (01:13:03):
Yeah, you know, Dart's a fascinating guy. Was actually talking
with a former GM this week who you know is
still close to the game and just talking about the
fact that Dart is at the point you know he's
gonna have to learn. Well, ideally, the more he plays,
the quicker he'll see things. Because most quarter young quarterbacks,
not all it depends what style of quarterback they are.
Asha dur Sanders is at his quarter pocket quarterback, so

(01:13:25):
he's not just looking to flee the pocket. But a
lot of quarterbacks who are very athletic, and Dart kind
of falls into that category to some degree. You know,
when you don't see things, you rely on that parachute,
which should be a parachute, but they use it too quickly,
they leave the pocket. And yeah, you can make special plays,
and those plays get people excited. They get your teammates excited,

(01:13:45):
they get fans excited. But it's hard to live that way.

Speaker 3 (01:13:48):
Gotta love the juice plays though, because they everybody are.

Speaker 4 (01:13:53):
You know, everybody loves those plays, and then hey, they're
fun to watch. That's why people love to watch those
kinds of quarterbacks, you know. But you know, dart is
just looky. I think he's been in the blue ten
in every game this season and he missed two. You know,
you really don't want to go through a season like that.

Speaker 3 (01:14:11):
No, it's not planning. That becomes wishing and hoping, which
is that was not a strategy.

Speaker 2 (01:14:17):
He's Greg co sal at Greg Coat Cell, NFL Films
forty six years, the NFL Matchup Show, of course, Colin Coward,
one o'clock Eastern every Thursday. You see it there and
hear it across our Fox Sports radio platforms on the
iHeartRadio app find me over at Swollen Dome the I
Watch Flex podcast with Dan Byer, who's at the news
desk with us this morning. You find that we have

(01:14:39):
our updates, our top lists and everything for this week's plays.
Get that downloaded again. Evangelized sending all the friends and family.
We appreciate you giving us your time and a little bit.
It's the most valuable commodity that we all have, So as.

Speaker 3 (01:14:53):
We come up.

Speaker 2 (01:14:54):
We've got a couple of games left, including a punctured
lung and a big Monday night battle left to go.
We'll do that as we finish up here. It's Fox
Football Sunday.

Speaker 3 (01:15:04):
You're listening to Fox Sports Radio Radio.

Speaker 2 (01:15:06):
Holiday holiday Holidays, Welcome back in Fox Football Sunday. If
you missed any of today's show, catch the podcast. Search
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(01:15:28):
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off the air. We appreciate you, each and every one

(01:15:48):
of you, wherever you are on this globe. Whatever you
got popping on a Sunday morning to and from services,
maybe a little bit early breakfast as you get ready
for the early slate. Maybe you're still in hitting the
snooze button, but just listening to us while you do so.
Whatever it is, we do appreciate you being with us,
being part of the extended family as we hit the

(01:16:09):
holiday season.

Speaker 3 (01:16:10):
It's never lost on us.

Speaker 2 (01:16:12):
The weight, you know, the place that we play in
the lives of this world, and how about your time
means So when you give us a little bit of it,
it makes my heart grow three times. Like I'm the
Grinch at Great Cosa where you find them on Twitter,
find me over at swollen Up. I didn't know how
I was going to land that play.

Speaker 4 (01:16:31):
Yeah, you didn't know. You had no idea where you're
going with that.

Speaker 3 (01:16:33):
I but it was pretty good though.

Speaker 4 (01:16:34):
Yeah it was okay.

Speaker 2 (01:16:36):
Oh see, no celebration cupcaking because I landed the plate man.
It might have been a little bumpy there, but we
got there all right. Pittsburgh three point favorites home date
against the Miami Dolphins. Another one of those games where
hey Tua in cold weather and blah blah blah blah
blah that we have along the way. Seven mile an
hour wins as of now twenty degrees is what we're

(01:16:59):
looking at when we get down to it.

Speaker 3 (01:17:01):
TJ.

Speaker 2 (01:17:02):
Watt the scary thing reminiscent to some degree of the
Toad Taylor puncture.

Speaker 3 (01:17:07):
Yeah right right, justin Herbert start. But TJ.

Speaker 2 (01:17:11):
Watt ruled out here, So that makes life a little
better for Tu and that passing offense maybe a little
more time to operate. But it all starts with and
ends with Devin Hm.

Speaker 4 (01:17:20):
You know, it's funny this team. Obviously, I think they've
won four in a row and idle six.

Speaker 3 (01:17:26):
Yeah.

Speaker 4 (01:17:26):
Yeah, I don't know if they technically still have a
shot in the playoffs that they went out, but obviously
they're playing behind a chain. He's an explosive runner, certainly
on the perimeter. And the thing that is totally overlooked
is in the last four or five weeks, this defense
has played exceedingly well, Mike. I mean they may be

(01:17:46):
I don't have all the numbers in front of me.
I think they may be number one in scoring. They
are certainly in the top two or three on third
down in this four game winning streak, They're they're getting
turnovers on defense. This is in any ways, they've become
kind of a complete team. Now everybody's gonna look to
the weather and you know, two is a certain kind
of player. We've talked about that many times, and they

(01:18:09):
have to play a certain way on offense. But if
they can run the ball, and I gotta tell you,
Mike McDaniel, people can say what they want, We're not there.
I've been fortunate enough to be able to have conversation
with over the years. He is really kind of a
savant when it comes to the run game.

Speaker 3 (01:18:25):
One of the interesting slots. Let's go to the Sunday
night football game.

Speaker 2 (01:18:28):
We actually have a positive play from Minnesota from last week,
so we have to play it.

Speaker 3 (01:18:35):
I guess we don't. JJ McCarthy had his big breakout.

Speaker 2 (01:18:39):
I'm still waiting for Justin Jefferson to get along board,
but they got a big date on the road at Dallas.
Five and a half point favorites are the Cowboys at home.
Forty eight point five is the over under on this
one for Dallas.

Speaker 3 (01:18:52):
No digs, they're just done with yeah. In the secondary.

Speaker 4 (01:18:56):
To me, this comes down to the Minnesota defense because
they have to keep the game close. Because JJ McCarthy
last week, he was in a great situation. It was
a shutout. He didn't have to throw the ball out.
He made a couple of really good throws, by the way,
but you don't want him dropping back thirty five forty times.
So it's up to the Vikings defense. To keep this
Dallas offense together so that the game, and you know,

(01:19:16):
in the third quarter is not twenty seven. You know,
Dallas doesn't have twenty seven points. So we'll see how
that plays out. I mean to me, if you can
keep it close and allow McCarthy to be kind of,
and I hate to use this term, but people will
understand it, kind of a game manager, then I think
they have a chance. But you certainly don't want to
have to have him drop back forty times by choice.

Speaker 2 (01:19:36):
You had that touchdown pass to Josh Oliver and everybody said,
Josh Oliver's where's Addison?

Speaker 3 (01:19:40):
Where's Hockinson?

Speaker 6 (01:19:41):
Where Jefferson? That was good ball, by the way, that.

Speaker 3 (01:19:45):
Good throw. All Right, we got the Jets.

Speaker 2 (01:19:47):
They've got a new quarterback in Brady Cook going up
against Jacksonville and their run game really quickly.

Speaker 3 (01:19:54):
That I think is the last one we haven't touched
at all.

Speaker 6 (01:19:57):
Yeah.

Speaker 4 (01:19:57):
The thing about Jacksonville that I noticed last week because
all of Lawrence's good throws kicking outside the numbers, and
I don't think that's a coincidence. I don't think he
sees the field great between the numbers, and I think
Liam Cohen knows that, and he threw the ball extremely
well outside the numbers.

Speaker 2 (01:20:11):
Here you gotta run the football more, Jacoby Myers, Thanks Greg.

Speaker 3 (01:20:15):
What a great week.

Speaker 2 (01:20:16):
Week fifteen Countdown to Kickoff presented by bet MGM.

Speaker 3 (01:20:19):
Next here on Fox Sports Radio