October 8, 2024 • 16 mins
Jori Epstein, senior NFL reporter for Yahoo Sports is back for her weekly visit to talk about all things NFL, including the news of Robert Saleh being fired by the New York Jets, did Aaron Rodgers have a role in him being dismissed, was it suprising that the New York Giants came to Seattle and beat the Seahawks, and much more.
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Episode Transcript
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Speaker 1 (00:00):
Jorry Epstein, as she does every Tuesday at eleven am,
joined us thanks to Zeke's Pizza and Zeke'spizza dot Com.
Good morning or good afternoon where you are, Jory, Hello.
Speaker 2 (00:12):
Craig Christopher. Great to be on. Good afternoon from where
I'm coming to you, But good morning to y'all.
Speaker 1 (00:17):
What's your hockey background, Joey. If you have any interest
in hockey, you ever cover it.
Speaker 2 (00:22):
I have very very little interest in background in hockey,
So that is all on you, guys.
Speaker 1 (00:27):
Okay, on to the next That was easy.
Speaker 2 (00:30):
Yeah, I mean I grew up in Dallas, Texas. There's
not a lot of hockey day impact. I think it
was when I was working for Philadelphia one summer in
college at the Daily News Day that there's Sam Bradford's
story about how he would have been an even better
hockey player than a football player. But I think he
lives in Oklahoma at the time. His parents where like,
we're not sending our sun away, which I think sums
up about how how hockey is in that part of
(00:52):
that country. You have to leave if you want to
get really good at any.
Speaker 1 (00:55):
Care a lot, Jory, your reaction to the Jets firing
Robert sawafi games into his fourth season, and I'm going
to ask, right off the top, how involved And do
you think this was Aaron Rodgers' decision?
Speaker 2 (01:07):
Yeah. I think on one hand it's a little shocking
because if you go back and look at coaches that
were hired five games into the season, these are coaches
who are oh and five, maybe one and four. I
mean Dan Plint went from you guys to the Falcons
was oh and five when he got fired five games in,
and this is a team that was two and three
and actually was pretty close to making a comeback against
(01:27):
the Vikings. I think what I said actually last week
on the podcast that I have is that when the
Jets were going to England, this was going to be
a referendum because their team owner, Woody Johnson, was the
ambassador to England for the US during the last presidency,
and so this is going to be one of those
like you don't want to embarrass your team owner games.
And three interceptions, including a pick six from an offense
(01:48):
that should be a lot better than that, was embarrassing.
I think when I look at what Robert Salad did
and didn't do, I think that as a head coach
who had the onfield responsibilities and the offloaders on field,
his defense looks fantastic, and he kept them motivated even
through last year when Aaron Rodgers isn't playing in their
quarterback with a met but off the field, could you
(02:09):
say that he had control of that locker room and
particularly control Aaron Rodgers the quarterback. I don't think so.
You asked Aaron Rodgers responsibility in this, and I think
when you look a couple of games ago, I was
at there Thursday night game against the Patriots when they won,
but that was the game where Sala tries to hug
Rogers on the sideline, Rogers is shoving him away. Then
you go the next game, sala is saying, hey, maybe
(02:29):
Rogers's cadence that's causing all these penalties doesn't work with
our guys right now, and Rogers says publicly or maybe
we need to hold them accountable. Well, you think the
team owner doesn't hear that? So I think that Rogers
is absolutely very involved in this. And also would you
look at perhaps an offensive coordinator who would have been
a more logical firing in a vacuum, anyone in Rogers
(02:50):
sort of his force field is protected and Robert Sala
was not in that force.
Speaker 1 (02:55):
Field, and that Saniel Hackett is I mean, that's his
guy from Theay. This is Jorry Epstein, thanks to Zeke's Pizza,
he joins us every Tuesday on the Beacon Plumbing Hotline,
the senior NFL writer for y'all Who's Sports.
Speaker 3 (03:07):
Well, my question was going to be how bad were
things getting? You just named a few instances where okay,
things are pretty bad. But the Jets, even though they're
only two and three, But what was your reaction to
the Seahawks getting their teeth kicked in by the New
York Giants who are coming in one in three? No
Elik neighbors Daniel Jones is able to find Darius Layton
and then those two end up beating the Seahawks.
Speaker 2 (03:28):
I know you guys always think I'm way too positive
about teams, but I don't think the Giants are.
Speaker 1 (03:33):
Exactly they are. I think most naturally positive person Jory.
I think it's great that I do.
Speaker 2 (03:39):
What happened that the Giants started the season against the
Vikings team that no one knew, and they're like, oh,
twenty eight to sixteen. Jones was getting booed by fans
after the game. They must sucks are the only five
and ohero team in the NFC right now. Then you
go the next week, the Giants can't pull it out.
They lose a gain against the Washington Commanders. How even
had a players tell me, wait, I thought they won
that game or maybe Jayden Daniels received the year. I's
(04:01):
not a potential MVP candidate. And then they got their
win and they were pretty close against the Cowboys. I
think I wouldn't be so concerned about loosening to a
Giants team that I think is at least average. I
think what's concerning is that they lost to a Giants
team without the league neighbors, who I thought was integrals
to that team winning. And so that's for the problem is,
and you can't wait to score an offensive touchdown until
the last two two and a half minutes of the
(04:22):
game and expect to win in the NFL.
Speaker 1 (04:24):
Yeah, mylik neighbors reincardinated was what Darius Slayton was against
Trey Brown in Seattle on Sunday. The reason we bring
up the Jets a little bit more is the seahawksy
member go back to the Metallands to play the Jets
on December first, and who knows who Aaron Rodgers will
have installed a coach and everything else back in the
Metallands by that game. Joy, you heard this morning Mike
(04:46):
Tomlin's comments about Russell Wilson. We haven't reported or talked
about it. Can you talk about the Steelers quarterback situation
as it stands now?
Speaker 2 (04:53):
Absolutely? I've been monitoring this for several reasons, including the
fact that I had a feature on Russell Wilson meant
for Week one that has yet to run. But I
know Greg can understand that quite well. But Mike Tomlin
did say in his Tuesday press conference today that for
the first time since the regular season, Russell Wilson is
cleared to be a full participant in Wednesday practice. He
(05:14):
will start out by taking second team reps. Mike Tomlin
said they don't want to disrupt Justin's preparation as they
figure out what Russell can do, but from a health standpoint,
he is good to go now. A reminder, he heard
his cap during training camp with sidelines, a lot of
it came back and still kept that starting position that
he had had above Justin Fields, despite the fact that
they both came in this offseason and neither are under
(05:37):
contracts after this season. Now Justin Fields has started five games,
the Steelers have gone three and two, very similar to
the Seahawks, winning three and then losing two. And while
Justin Fields had started to play a little bit better,
he struggled on Sunday nights. So fall on there f
one hundred and thirty two passen yards. And then during
that time, Tomlin did not declare Justin Field as a starter.
(05:59):
Now he's not saying he's lost the job, but he
did not name him the starter. And this week now too,
Tomlin characterized it as quote, the door is a jar
for Russell to have that opportunity again. But for now,
until they see how mobile wrestle is, particularly behind an
injured offensive lines, Justin is going to continue taking first
team reps.
Speaker 1 (06:19):
Tomorrow, Steelers three and two, playing the two and three
Las Vegas Raiders in the Nevada Desert this weekend. Then
they had the Jets and Giants at home before they're
by and then the Commanders and Ravens after that, So
no picnic for whoever. The quarterback for Pittsburgh is. The
Steelers with Justin field a quarterback haven't scored more. I've
only scored more than twenty points one time. That was
against the Colts two weeks ago, in a twenty seven
(06:40):
to twenty four loss. If you had to see it,
do you think Russell Wilson's the starter? If not the
Raider game, then right after and for the duration after that.
Speaker 2 (06:50):
Yeah, it's a great question. I think that. On one hand,
I would say, if you're Mike Tomlin and you believe
that Russell Wilson is the better quarterback or the quarterback
more capable of leave the team to victory, well better
to bring him back against the Raiders and the Jets.
I know both teams defenses are better than the offenses,
but Raiders are a little bit of softer landing that
Jets defense. On the other hand, you might say, hey,
(07:10):
gave Justin one more chance to try and see if
he can come back because he's more likely to be
a long term option for you in the coming season.
And then if he doesn't do it this week, then
you pull him, and then you don't feel like there's
ambiguity in the locker room. I think what's hard is
that if Justin had improved from week four to Week five. Yes,
they lost to the Colts, but in that game he
(07:31):
scored touchdowns on free draw I think with three straight
drives in the second half, two with his legs, one
with his arms. He looked better as a passer than
he had all season, and also with super mobile. But
then against the Cowboys, the Cowboys had three turnovers back
through two interceptions and also stumbled on a strip sack,
and instead of capitalizing on that, the Steelers converted just
(07:52):
twenty five percent of their third down. You need a
guy who can stay on the field on third down,
and so I guess that's not fully an answer to
your question. I would say, if Justin keeps the job
for this week, which Mike might do, I do think
this performance will be a referendum rather than him getting
to just take the job going forward.
Speaker 3 (08:11):
When you look at the NFC West, the one surprising team,
maybe not surprising to you, maybe surprising to Greg and
myself are the Arizona Cardinals, who sit at two and three.
They're right there chasing the Seahawks to try to get
to three and three for next week. But how surprised
have you been with what the Cardinals have been doing?
Five games into the season.
Speaker 2 (08:29):
I mean, look, this is a team where, yes, Tyler
Murray was back last year, but he was back from
that first year coming back from multiple meetairs, which typically
it takes two years to get fully back. Now you
add Mervin Harrison to that mix. I do think that
offensively they were going to be able to figure something
out and they're just kind of a scrappy team, and
so I think that that coaching staff is probably a
(08:50):
little better than we gave them credit for last year
when they didn't have a quarterback. Now they definitely have
things to figure out. They're certainly not consistent, but I
do think they have a lot of the pieces in
they just need to figure out how to activate those pieces.
Speaker 1 (09:03):
Speaking of Arizona or former Arizona coaches, what do you
think the Cliff Kingsbury effect has been on Jade and Daniels.
You mentioned Daniels could even be an MVP candidate right
now for watching them, for what he's doing. Where do
you see Cliff Kingsbury's role in his fast start Daniels
as fast start?
Speaker 2 (09:19):
Yeah. I love how when you touch people around the
league and some people who say this is a Cliff
Kingsbury thing, you have others who give Jaden the bulk
of the cry. You have others who say, oh, it's
Terry McCallan, like all he needed it as a quarterback.
And still someone else who told me that Brian Johnson,
who worked with the egos of offensive coordinator and helped
Jalen Hurt start off his career strong, is now in
the Washington Building and they believe that he's really helping
out Jayden. I think a big part of the effect
(09:42):
on Jayden Daniels that Cliff Kingsbury is having is he's
not trying to overcomplicate things. He started off really song.
I mean again, you have the Cincinnati Bengals, DD's taking
shots but like, oh he didn't really pass much. It's
just a college offense. But really, what Cliff did is said, Okay,
let's do a little by little each week, instead of
what we saw the Bears and Caleb Williams, where they
probably tried to overload him on. Part of that was
(10:03):
on Caleb too. They're like, let's just bring you along
park by part and then as you show what you
can do and you get the confidence and your offensive
line understands how to block for you, and your receivers
understand how they want their routes will continue to expand that.
But I mean, who would have thought that five weeks
could we've been saying that the Washington Commanders are on
a four game win streak. And yes, they're playing the
Baltimore Ravens this week, and so I think it'll be
(10:24):
a tough game. But I don't think we should assume
that the Ravens are going to run right over them,
because I do think that Jayden Daniel is going to
continue to be a dual threat and that this offense
is really going to continue to anchor the team. Now,
the problem is their defense is not quite as good
as they would like it to be. They definitely are
in rebuilding Europe for sure. On the defense. I think
they probably thought they were rebuilding on both sides. Again
they traded away to Hans Babson. But this offense is
(10:46):
incredible and I think it speaks really highly to what
Jaden Daniells can do throughout his career.
Speaker 1 (10:50):
Thirty eight points against the Bengals, forty two against Arizona,
thirty two against Cleveland. The last three games were watching.
They're four and one. A top the nfcast they Jordy
mentioned they play at Baltimore this weekend. Then they have
Carolina in Chicago at home. Joey Epstein Jee's Pizza and
Zexspizza dot Com brings her to you in your ears
every Tuesday at eleven am. Carol ninety three point three KJRFM, Jory.
(11:13):
Who is your player of the week, your standout of
the week, and somebody who really caught your eye?
Speaker 2 (11:18):
Okay, for those of you who are watching Monday Night
football last night, that's where I got my player of
the week from, and that would be Colin Saunders, who
is acted by the chases. Now I'm the defenset line
for the safe And what was great is that if
you're watching the broadcast, we see that basically the broadcast
is talking about Taylor Swift because she's at the game
and how Colin Saunder's brother is a backup fifer for her.
(11:40):
And then right after that, he gets a big man
interception and actually rose it for a little bit of time,
and so I just thought that that was awesome. It
was great to see what he was able to get
thirty seven yards on his interception return. So I remember
when he was at the Senior Bowl I was there,
and I believe his daughter was born while we were
at the Senior Bowl, and he was a big story
already because he could do a flip in the air
at his weight. So yeah, pretty fun story. I'm just
(12:03):
going to keep going with like offensive tackles and tackles,
so your players of the week.
Speaker 1 (12:08):
I could hear I could hear all of Louisiana scream
and take a knee, take the touch back, and then
he runs out to the thirty five yard line breaking tackles.
That was a fun play of last night's Chiefs win
over the Saints. One of the few Saints bright spots.
Derek Carr had to leave that game injured. Laid in it. Okay,
who we got the Commanders at five and four and one,
(12:28):
we got the Vikings at five and oh, the Chiefs
at five and oh who's standing? Maybe not those three teams,
but who's in first place? Are knocking on doors that
you may not think is maybe as a pretender, maybe
not be for real.
Speaker 2 (12:41):
Yeah, that's a great question. Again, It's really fascinating because
I was looking at it yesterday and I believe seventeen
of the nineteen teams in the past in the decade
before now who went five and oh made the playoffs
the NFC. The last two conference championship champions of the
Eagles and then the Niners both started the season five
and oh. So this is this is real. This is
(13:01):
not like oh, three and oh you can get it
without putting too much on your Seahawks three and know
you can start off with and some fleets can happen
in some scheduling things. Five and no really says you
have something that said one of the last two teams
in that stretch, who went five to one to not
make the class with the Vikings, So take for that
what you may. I think in terms of teams that
we should expect to be a little fight sier then
(13:24):
maybe with thepot I still think that the NFC South
is a little fistier than we would expecting going in.
I don't know if it's going to be Atlanta or Tampa,
but I think each of those teams has the potential
to win a playoff game. What's been making Obviously at
least one team from that division, if not two, will
make it.
Speaker 1 (13:41):
Say the Saints, okay, fair enough, Seahawks at Falcons here
not this week, but of course after the ten day break.
The Seahawks ad October twenty of Seahawks at Falcons. I'll
be there in Atlanta for that you mentioned Minnesota. They've
got Detroit this weekend in a really big game in
the NFC North. Then they're at the Los Angeles Rams.
Then they had the Colts at home, and then go
on a three game road trip. The Vikings do at Jaguars,
(14:03):
at Titans, at Bears to finish November. Joy, it's great
talking to you as always. Enjoy where aheaded this weekend
before you stay at home.
Speaker 2 (14:13):
Yeah, I will be in New York and Monday night
I will be at the Jets hosting the Buffalo Bills.
So two pretty interesting teams right now. And I know
we often see after a head coach has fired that
well shot of adrenaline that it gives the team. So
we will see what this Jets team can do against
Josh Allen and COO.
Speaker 1 (14:30):
Real quick, Joey, what'd you make of how the Josh
Allen possible concussion was handled at the end of that
game Sunday.
Speaker 2 (14:38):
That is something that I was not fully plugged into,
and I'm going to let you answer.
Speaker 1 (14:44):
It looked bad, it looked like he was if not
con if not unconscious, it certainly affected and concussed. And
he barely got it. It looked from what we have
was in the press box watching it, it looked like
he barely got evaluated. And he was right back in
the game again and finished it in Houston. Of course,
the Bills got backed up, had to punt from their
own end zone, and then the Houston drives a short
(15:04):
drive down and wins the game on a long field goal.
The Texans went beating the Bills, and Bills a lesson rowow.
Speaker 2 (15:10):
So yeah, yeah, what I would say is that if
we did that, I mean again, you have an addition
to the teams looking out for someone to get evaluated,
you also have the and I think they call the
UNC the unaffiliated, unaffiliated neurological consultant who's up in the
box watching for concussion like symptoms. For example, on that
Sunday night game, Justin Fields got taken out for a
play after he was hitting ahead and hit the ground.
(15:31):
And so that happens whether or not the player feels
like it's necessary. But I would hope is that if
something like happens like that happens to a guy like
Josh Allen, even if he gets back in, I hope
that they're doing some sort of evaluation after the game
as well, to make sure that they're not going to
continue to create an issue. One obviously, first and foremost
from a person in a long term health standpoint, But two,
(15:52):
even if I'm an on field standpoint, it's week five,
week six, like, you don't want to have your players
continue to play with a serious injury now and risk
your playoffs. So I would hope that both on and
off the field, our decision would be easy because he's
been need to evaluate.
Speaker 1 (16:06):
Exactly and there is a red hat on the sidelines,
a concussion an affiliate concussion consultant on the sidelines right
by the medical tenor also to avoid these situations. Joey,
thanks a lot, enjoy the home weekend and the Giants
Monday night Jets Bill's game. We'll talk to you next Tuesday.
Speaker 2 (16:22):
Yeah, Christopher, great to talk to you, and good luck
with your short week
Jorry Epstein, as she does every Tuesday at eleven am,
joined us thanks to Zeke's Pizza and Zeke'spizza dot Com.
Good morning or good afternoon where you are, Jory, Hello.
Speaker 2 (00:12):
Craig Christopher. Great to be on. Good afternoon from where
I'm coming to you, But good morning to y'all.
Speaker 1 (00:17):
What's your hockey background, Joey. If you have any interest
in hockey, you ever cover it.
Speaker 2 (00:22):
I have very very little interest in background in hockey,
So that is all on you, guys.
Speaker 1 (00:27):
Okay, on to the next That was easy.
Speaker 2 (00:30):
Yeah, I mean I grew up in Dallas, Texas. There's
not a lot of hockey day impact. I think it
was when I was working for Philadelphia one summer in
college at the Daily News Day that there's Sam Bradford's
story about how he would have been an even better
hockey player than a football player. But I think he
lives in Oklahoma at the time. His parents where like,
we're not sending our sun away, which I think sums
up about how how hockey is in that part of
(00:52):
that country. You have to leave if you want to
get really good at any.
Speaker 1 (00:55):
Care a lot, Jory, your reaction to the Jets firing
Robert sawafi games into his fourth season, and I'm going
to ask, right off the top, how involved And do
you think this was Aaron Rodgers' decision?
Speaker 2 (01:07):
Yeah. I think on one hand it's a little shocking
because if you go back and look at coaches that
were hired five games into the season, these are coaches
who are oh and five, maybe one and four. I
mean Dan Plint went from you guys to the Falcons
was oh and five when he got fired five games in,
and this is a team that was two and three
and actually was pretty close to making a comeback against
(01:27):
the Vikings. I think what I said actually last week
on the podcast that I have is that when the
Jets were going to England, this was going to be
a referendum because their team owner, Woody Johnson, was the
ambassador to England for the US during the last presidency,
and so this is going to be one of those
like you don't want to embarrass your team owner games.
And three interceptions, including a pick six from an offense
(01:48):
that should be a lot better than that, was embarrassing.
I think when I look at what Robert Salad did
and didn't do, I think that as a head coach
who had the onfield responsibilities and the offloaders on field,
his defense looks fantastic, and he kept them motivated even
through last year when Aaron Rodgers isn't playing in their
quarterback with a met but off the field, could you
(02:09):
say that he had control of that locker room and
particularly control Aaron Rodgers the quarterback. I don't think so.
You asked Aaron Rodgers responsibility in this, and I think
when you look a couple of games ago, I was
at there Thursday night game against the Patriots when they won,
but that was the game where Sala tries to hug
Rogers on the sideline, Rogers is shoving him away. Then
you go the next game, sala is saying, hey, maybe
(02:29):
Rogers's cadence that's causing all these penalties doesn't work with
our guys right now, and Rogers says publicly or maybe
we need to hold them accountable. Well, you think the
team owner doesn't hear that? So I think that Rogers
is absolutely very involved in this. And also would you
look at perhaps an offensive coordinator who would have been
a more logical firing in a vacuum, anyone in Rogers
(02:50):
sort of his force field is protected and Robert Sala
was not in that force.
Speaker 1 (02:55):
Field, and that Saniel Hackett is I mean, that's his
guy from Theay. This is Jorry Epstein, thanks to Zeke's Pizza,
he joins us every Tuesday on the Beacon Plumbing Hotline,
the senior NFL writer for y'all Who's Sports.
Speaker 3 (03:07):
Well, my question was going to be how bad were
things getting? You just named a few instances where okay,
things are pretty bad. But the Jets, even though they're
only two and three, But what was your reaction to
the Seahawks getting their teeth kicked in by the New
York Giants who are coming in one in three? No
Elik neighbors Daniel Jones is able to find Darius Layton
and then those two end up beating the Seahawks.
Speaker 2 (03:28):
I know you guys always think I'm way too positive
about teams, but I don't think the Giants are.
Speaker 1 (03:33):
Exactly they are. I think most naturally positive person Jory.
I think it's great that I do.
Speaker 2 (03:39):
What happened that the Giants started the season against the
Vikings team that no one knew, and they're like, oh,
twenty eight to sixteen. Jones was getting booed by fans
after the game. They must sucks are the only five
and ohero team in the NFC right now. Then you
go the next week, the Giants can't pull it out.
They lose a gain against the Washington Commanders. How even
had a players tell me, wait, I thought they won
that game or maybe Jayden Daniels received the year. I's
(04:01):
not a potential MVP candidate. And then they got their
win and they were pretty close against the Cowboys. I
think I wouldn't be so concerned about loosening to a
Giants team that I think is at least average. I
think what's concerning is that they lost to a Giants
team without the league neighbors, who I thought was integrals
to that team winning. And so that's for the problem is,
and you can't wait to score an offensive touchdown until
the last two two and a half minutes of the
(04:22):
game and expect to win in the NFL.
Speaker 1 (04:24):
Yeah, mylik neighbors reincardinated was what Darius Slayton was against
Trey Brown in Seattle on Sunday. The reason we bring
up the Jets a little bit more is the seahawksy
member go back to the Metallands to play the Jets
on December first, and who knows who Aaron Rodgers will
have installed a coach and everything else back in the
Metallands by that game. Joy, you heard this morning Mike
(04:46):
Tomlin's comments about Russell Wilson. We haven't reported or talked
about it. Can you talk about the Steelers quarterback situation
as it stands now?
Speaker 2 (04:53):
Absolutely? I've been monitoring this for several reasons, including the
fact that I had a feature on Russell Wilson meant
for Week one that has yet to run. But I
know Greg can understand that quite well. But Mike Tomlin
did say in his Tuesday press conference today that for
the first time since the regular season, Russell Wilson is
cleared to be a full participant in Wednesday practice. He
(05:14):
will start out by taking second team reps. Mike Tomlin
said they don't want to disrupt Justin's preparation as they
figure out what Russell can do, but from a health standpoint,
he is good to go now. A reminder, he heard
his cap during training camp with sidelines, a lot of
it came back and still kept that starting position that
he had had above Justin Fields, despite the fact that
they both came in this offseason and neither are under
(05:37):
contracts after this season. Now Justin Fields has started five games,
the Steelers have gone three and two, very similar to
the Seahawks, winning three and then losing two. And while
Justin Fields had started to play a little bit better,
he struggled on Sunday nights. So fall on there f
one hundred and thirty two passen yards. And then during
that time, Tomlin did not declare Justin Field as a starter.
(05:59):
Now he's not saying he's lost the job, but he
did not name him the starter. And this week now too,
Tomlin characterized it as quote, the door is a jar
for Russell to have that opportunity again. But for now,
until they see how mobile wrestle is, particularly behind an
injured offensive lines, Justin is going to continue taking first
team reps.
Speaker 1 (06:19):
Tomorrow, Steelers three and two, playing the two and three
Las Vegas Raiders in the Nevada Desert this weekend. Then
they had the Jets and Giants at home before they're
by and then the Commanders and Ravens after that, So
no picnic for whoever. The quarterback for Pittsburgh is. The
Steelers with Justin field a quarterback haven't scored more. I've
only scored more than twenty points one time. That was
against the Colts two weeks ago, in a twenty seven
(06:40):
to twenty four loss. If you had to see it,
do you think Russell Wilson's the starter? If not the
Raider game, then right after and for the duration after that.
Speaker 2 (06:50):
Yeah, it's a great question. I think that. On one hand,
I would say, if you're Mike Tomlin and you believe
that Russell Wilson is the better quarterback or the quarterback
more capable of leave the team to victory, well better
to bring him back against the Raiders and the Jets.
I know both teams defenses are better than the offenses,
but Raiders are a little bit of softer landing that
Jets defense. On the other hand, you might say, hey,
(07:10):
gave Justin one more chance to try and see if
he can come back because he's more likely to be
a long term option for you in the coming season.
And then if he doesn't do it this week, then
you pull him, and then you don't feel like there's
ambiguity in the locker room. I think what's hard is
that if Justin had improved from week four to Week five. Yes,
they lost to the Colts, but in that game he
(07:31):
scored touchdowns on free draw I think with three straight
drives in the second half, two with his legs, one
with his arms. He looked better as a passer than
he had all season, and also with super mobile. But
then against the Cowboys, the Cowboys had three turnovers back
through two interceptions and also stumbled on a strip sack,
and instead of capitalizing on that, the Steelers converted just
(07:52):
twenty five percent of their third down. You need a
guy who can stay on the field on third down,
and so I guess that's not fully an answer to
your question. I would say, if Justin keeps the job
for this week, which Mike might do, I do think
this performance will be a referendum rather than him getting
to just take the job going forward.
Speaker 3 (08:11):
When you look at the NFC West, the one surprising team,
maybe not surprising to you, maybe surprising to Greg and
myself are the Arizona Cardinals, who sit at two and three.
They're right there chasing the Seahawks to try to get
to three and three for next week. But how surprised
have you been with what the Cardinals have been doing?
Five games into the season.
Speaker 2 (08:29):
I mean, look, this is a team where, yes, Tyler
Murray was back last year, but he was back from
that first year coming back from multiple meetairs, which typically
it takes two years to get fully back. Now you
add Mervin Harrison to that mix. I do think that
offensively they were going to be able to figure something
out and they're just kind of a scrappy team, and
so I think that that coaching staff is probably a
(08:50):
little better than we gave them credit for last year
when they didn't have a quarterback. Now they definitely have
things to figure out. They're certainly not consistent, but I
do think they have a lot of the pieces in
they just need to figure out how to activate those pieces.
Speaker 1 (09:03):
Speaking of Arizona or former Arizona coaches, what do you
think the Cliff Kingsbury effect has been on Jade and Daniels.
You mentioned Daniels could even be an MVP candidate right
now for watching them, for what he's doing. Where do
you see Cliff Kingsbury's role in his fast start Daniels
as fast start?
Speaker 2 (09:19):
Yeah. I love how when you touch people around the
league and some people who say this is a Cliff
Kingsbury thing, you have others who give Jaden the bulk
of the cry. You have others who say, oh, it's
Terry McCallan, like all he needed it as a quarterback.
And still someone else who told me that Brian Johnson,
who worked with the egos of offensive coordinator and helped
Jalen Hurt start off his career strong, is now in
the Washington Building and they believe that he's really helping
out Jayden. I think a big part of the effect
(09:42):
on Jayden Daniels that Cliff Kingsbury is having is he's
not trying to overcomplicate things. He started off really song.
I mean again, you have the Cincinnati Bengals, DD's taking
shots but like, oh he didn't really pass much. It's
just a college offense. But really, what Cliff did is said, Okay,
let's do a little by little each week, instead of
what we saw the Bears and Caleb Williams, where they
probably tried to overload him on. Part of that was
(10:03):
on Caleb too. They're like, let's just bring you along
park by part and then as you show what you
can do and you get the confidence and your offensive
line understands how to block for you, and your receivers
understand how they want their routes will continue to expand that.
But I mean, who would have thought that five weeks
could we've been saying that the Washington Commanders are on
a four game win streak. And yes, they're playing the
Baltimore Ravens this week, and so I think it'll be
(10:24):
a tough game. But I don't think we should assume
that the Ravens are going to run right over them,
because I do think that Jayden Daniel is going to
continue to be a dual threat and that this offense
is really going to continue to anchor the team. Now,
the problem is their defense is not quite as good
as they would like it to be. They definitely are
in rebuilding Europe for sure. On the defense. I think
they probably thought they were rebuilding on both sides. Again
they traded away to Hans Babson. But this offense is
(10:46):
incredible and I think it speaks really highly to what
Jaden Daniells can do throughout his career.
Speaker 1 (10:50):
Thirty eight points against the Bengals, forty two against Arizona,
thirty two against Cleveland. The last three games were watching.
They're four and one. A top the nfcast they Jordy
mentioned they play at Baltimore this weekend. Then they have
Carolina in Chicago at home. Joey Epstein Jee's Pizza and
Zexspizza dot Com brings her to you in your ears
every Tuesday at eleven am. Carol ninety three point three KJRFM, Jory.
(11:13):
Who is your player of the week, your standout of
the week, and somebody who really caught your eye?
Speaker 2 (11:18):
Okay, for those of you who are watching Monday Night
football last night, that's where I got my player of
the week from, and that would be Colin Saunders, who
is acted by the chases. Now I'm the defenset line
for the safe And what was great is that if
you're watching the broadcast, we see that basically the broadcast
is talking about Taylor Swift because she's at the game
and how Colin Saunder's brother is a backup fifer for her.
(11:40):
And then right after that, he gets a big man
interception and actually rose it for a little bit of time,
and so I just thought that that was awesome. It
was great to see what he was able to get
thirty seven yards on his interception return. So I remember
when he was at the Senior Bowl I was there,
and I believe his daughter was born while we were
at the Senior Bowl, and he was a big story
already because he could do a flip in the air
at his weight. So yeah, pretty fun story. I'm just
(12:03):
going to keep going with like offensive tackles and tackles,
so your players of the week.
Speaker 1 (12:08):
I could hear I could hear all of Louisiana scream
and take a knee, take the touch back, and then
he runs out to the thirty five yard line breaking tackles.
That was a fun play of last night's Chiefs win
over the Saints. One of the few Saints bright spots.
Derek Carr had to leave that game injured. Laid in it. Okay,
who we got the Commanders at five and four and one,
(12:28):
we got the Vikings at five and oh, the Chiefs
at five and oh who's standing? Maybe not those three teams,
but who's in first place? Are knocking on doors that
you may not think is maybe as a pretender, maybe
not be for real.
Speaker 2 (12:41):
Yeah, that's a great question. Again, It's really fascinating because
I was looking at it yesterday and I believe seventeen
of the nineteen teams in the past in the decade
before now who went five and oh made the playoffs
the NFC. The last two conference championship champions of the
Eagles and then the Niners both started the season five
and oh. So this is this is real. This is
(13:01):
not like oh, three and oh you can get it
without putting too much on your Seahawks three and know
you can start off with and some fleets can happen
in some scheduling things. Five and no really says you
have something that said one of the last two teams
in that stretch, who went five to one to not
make the class with the Vikings, So take for that
what you may. I think in terms of teams that
we should expect to be a little fight sier then
(13:24):
maybe with thepot I still think that the NFC South
is a little fistier than we would expecting going in.
I don't know if it's going to be Atlanta or Tampa,
but I think each of those teams has the potential
to win a playoff game. What's been making Obviously at
least one team from that division, if not two, will
make it.
Speaker 1 (13:41):
Say the Saints, okay, fair enough, Seahawks at Falcons here
not this week, but of course after the ten day break.
The Seahawks ad October twenty of Seahawks at Falcons. I'll
be there in Atlanta for that you mentioned Minnesota. They've
got Detroit this weekend in a really big game in
the NFC North. Then they're at the Los Angeles Rams.
Then they had the Colts at home, and then go
on a three game road trip. The Vikings do at Jaguars,
(14:03):
at Titans, at Bears to finish November. Joy, it's great
talking to you as always. Enjoy where aheaded this weekend
before you stay at home.
Speaker 2 (14:13):
Yeah, I will be in New York and Monday night
I will be at the Jets hosting the Buffalo Bills.
So two pretty interesting teams right now. And I know
we often see after a head coach has fired that
well shot of adrenaline that it gives the team. So
we will see what this Jets team can do against
Josh Allen and COO.
Speaker 1 (14:30):
Real quick, Joey, what'd you make of how the Josh
Allen possible concussion was handled at the end of that
game Sunday.
Speaker 2 (14:38):
That is something that I was not fully plugged into,
and I'm going to let you answer.
Speaker 1 (14:44):
It looked bad, it looked like he was if not
con if not unconscious, it certainly affected and concussed. And
he barely got it. It looked from what we have
was in the press box watching it, it looked like
he barely got evaluated. And he was right back in
the game again and finished it in Houston. Of course,
the Bills got backed up, had to punt from their
own end zone, and then the Houston drives a short
(15:04):
drive down and wins the game on a long field goal.
The Texans went beating the Bills, and Bills a lesson rowow.
Speaker 2 (15:10):
So yeah, yeah, what I would say is that if
we did that, I mean again, you have an addition
to the teams looking out for someone to get evaluated,
you also have the and I think they call the
UNC the unaffiliated, unaffiliated neurological consultant who's up in the
box watching for concussion like symptoms. For example, on that
Sunday night game, Justin Fields got taken out for a
play after he was hitting ahead and hit the ground.
(15:31):
And so that happens whether or not the player feels
like it's necessary. But I would hope is that if
something like happens like that happens to a guy like
Josh Allen, even if he gets back in, I hope
that they're doing some sort of evaluation after the game
as well, to make sure that they're not going to
continue to create an issue. One obviously, first and foremost
from a person in a long term health standpoint, But two,
(15:52):
even if I'm an on field standpoint, it's week five,
week six, like, you don't want to have your players
continue to play with a serious injury now and risk
your playoffs. So I would hope that both on and
off the field, our decision would be easy because he's
been need to evaluate.
Speaker 1 (16:06):
Exactly and there is a red hat on the sidelines,
a concussion an affiliate concussion consultant on the sidelines right
by the medical tenor also to avoid these situations. Joey,
thanks a lot, enjoy the home weekend and the Giants
Monday night Jets Bill's game. We'll talk to you next Tuesday.
Speaker 2 (16:22):
Yeah, Christopher, great to talk to you, and good luck
with your short week
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