Episode Transcript
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Speaker 1 (00:03):
Hello, everybody, Welcome into the Triple Threat Show. I'm your host,
Jeremy Lapedis. Today is a beautiful Wednesday, October fifteenth. It
is Wednesday, which means it's a big NFL show for
us Here at the Triple Threat Show. We're gonna cover
everything you need to know from Week six and get
(00:26):
you set for what's set to be a really good
week seven. Thursday Night Football kicks off tomorrow. We'll talk
about the matchup, a divisional matchup that has really big
implications in the AFC North, especially if there's an upset
to be hat. We'll talk about power rankings, We'll talk
about winners and losers from last week, and we will
(00:48):
cover the gem of a night from Yoshinobo Yamamoto last night,
the first complete game in seven years in the MLB Playoffs,
a huge feat for them as the Dodgers are up
to nothing in that series. We'll talk about all of
that to help me today, we are joined by my
friend and co host may Rob Fittemi. We are going
(01:10):
to be diving deep into the NFL. May Rob, We're
gonna start off with the NFL winners and losers, as
we do each and every single Wednesday. I'll leave it
up to you here. You want to start off with
the good or do you want to start off with
the bad.
Speaker 2 (01:26):
Let's start off on a Let's start off with the
good on a wacky, wacky NFL Wednesday.
Speaker 1 (01:31):
That's right, wacky Wednesday. It's a beautiful Wednesday. Let's start
off a little positive here, and nothing's more positive than
a little New York Giants being good at football again.
My big winner from Week six of the NFL may
Rob how about Cam Skataboo three touchdowns, the first Giants
(01:51):
running back to do that since Amad Bradshaw back in
twenty eleven. Can you believe that twenty eleven? He demolished
an Eagles defense that was really good, still is really
good despite losing a bunch of pieces. I know Jalen
Carter wasn't there, but this is still a really good
Eagles defense. And he found a way to just win
(02:14):
the hearts of America by being Cam Skataboo. And I
mean it's just incredibly impressive. The Giants with a huge win.
That division is wide open after that.
Speaker 2 (02:27):
No doubt about it, especially with all three other teams
in the NFC East losing this past weekend that the
division is wide open. I'm not going to go as
far and say that the Giants are gonna go ahead
and win the division. But the way that Jackson Dart
is playing, the way that Skataboo is playing, the way
that the defense is playing, and the way Brian Dable
(02:48):
has this team playing right now on the efforts side
of the ball going the extra mile, there's a lot
to love about what's going on in New York. The
only thing you gotta feel for is what if they
had Molik neighbors right now? And that's that's that's the
gut wrenching part of it. But nonetheless, the I mean,
the Giants are on him. They got they got a
(03:08):
lot of good pieces. They got it. They're looking good
right now. The future looks bright in New York for sure.
Speaker 1 (03:15):
I got a couple losers for you here, May Rob
and I'm gonna start this off. We did NFL questions yesterday,
but I'm gonna I'm gonna rephrase this question a little bit.
We've seen now six weeks of football, and there's a
couple teams that I think maybe should consider QB changes.
Those included justin fields. After a negative ten net passing
yards performance over in London. He clearly is not the
(03:38):
best quarterback over there. Tyrod Taylor played one game and
he had that offense going. It was against not a
great defense in the Bucks, but the Bucks aren't a
bad defense. They actually had a little bit going over there.
I think it's time for them to make a move.
They're not gonna do it. But the other one that
I think is a little bit more of a hot take. Here,
(03:59):
we're gonna travel down to the desert cross country here,
Kyler Murray misses one game and that Cardinals offense goes
a little bit with Jacoby Brissette. Is it time for
a quarterback switch in both of those places?
Speaker 2 (04:14):
I want to start in Arizona because this is something
that we touched on before the season started. This is
a pretty much make it or break a year for
Kyler Murray. He goes out, starts the season pretty rough.
I know they went too and oh to start the year,
but beating the Saints and I don't remember who else
they beat the Saints and maybe the Giants or something,
it's no, it's nothing to sneeze at. Pretty much since then,
(04:39):
going two and four, the Cardinal season pretty much just
a train wreck, and Kyler Murray misses one game and
Jacoby Brissette goes out there and has a great game
against a good Indianapolis Indianapolis Colts defense. There's a lot
to love about what's going on in Arizona right now,
but from Kyler Murray's side of things, I think it's
time to either bench him or honestly try to trade
(05:01):
him and get some value for him. Yeah.
Speaker 1 (05:04):
No, there's there's a lot of things that you could
look at. I think that Jonathan Gannon is the next
head coach that's on the hottest seat right now after
everything that's gone down. The team find him one hundred
thousand dollars of course for hitting Mri de Mercato over there.
The injuries certainly aren't helping, but I think it's I
think it's time for something major to go down in
(05:25):
the desert and that would be considered one of the
biggest moves in the entire NFL season so far. Going
back to the winner side, let's talk about the MVP
race a little bit.
Speaker 2 (05:35):
May Rob.
Speaker 1 (05:36):
There's a couple guys that I think firmly through their
hat in there after last week's performances. A couple quarterbacks
we're gonna be looking at. Baker Mayfield. Number one, of course,
is at the top of that list. He's been at
the top of that list. He's been leading this big,
this this Buccaneers team to five and one and potentially
(05:57):
the best team in the NFL alone. Nobody really knows
who best team in the NFL right now with how
things are going. He did it most impressively without his
best running back in Bucky Irving, without his top three
wide receivers. He now doesn't have Evans, Abuka Godwin. You
(06:17):
could even say top four because McMillan has been out
since the beginning of the season. He's working with wide
receivers five, six, and seven on that depth chart, and
yet they're still putting up thirty points performances against good
defenses and day in day out. And the other guy
that I think should throw his hat into the ring here,
how about Drake may Back to back elite performances for
(06:39):
Drake may He's put his name on the map. Some
people are saying in the MVP conversation, may Rob those
two big winners of the week.
Speaker 2 (06:46):
For me, I'm shocked that you said Drake may I
was about I was about to throw Drake May's name
out there. I thought you were gonna say, maybe a
Jonathan Taylor, Daniel Jones, a Puka Nakua maybe, but you
throw in Dan. Are you throwing Drake May the Giants fan?
Speaker 1 (07:04):
That would be for the Patriots?
Speaker 2 (07:10):
No, but Drake May is definitely playing like a ten touchdowns,
two picks, four and two taking just this Patriots team
looks like it's leaps ahead of the last like four
years of what we've seen in New England. This looks
like the best Patriots team since the Brady era. And
he's putting. He's arguably better than Mac Jones was. I
(07:32):
know it's still a small sample size, but he looks
like he was better. He looks better than what Mac
Jones looked like in his rookie year with the Patriots,
for sure. And the Patriots look like they're soaring, especially
in the division where the leader decides to drop two games,
and I know that's gonna be one of your losers
coming up really soon here.
Speaker 1 (07:50):
Yeah, there are a couple losers on my list here,
But I do want to touch on this the Patriots
just a little bit more because you've been high on
them all year long, and I thought it was gonna
be a little bit slower for them. But you look
at that schedule coming up, and not only is it
incredibly easy may Rob, but according to DVOA, it is
(08:12):
the easiest remaining schedule of all time, all time, the
easiest remaining schedule. So this Patriots team should I'm not
gonna say run the table because that's a little bit crazy,
but this is a Patriots team that I feel like
has just about locked up a playoff spot as long
as they don't implode catastrophically. Drake may has a real
(08:33):
shot to be a true MVP candidate with the way
that this schedule plays out, because a schedule is a
huge part of what makes a team a player and
the storylines in the NFL. Going back to the loser's
side of things, I've got a couple teams that I
just I'm a little concerned about may Rob. The Eagles
lose two straight games, so do the Bills. These two
(08:55):
teams were at the top of our lists for our
power rankings for a while. They were the last two
undefeated teams, and now they've lost games to teams that
frankly they're better than now these are two teams that
have i will say similar issues. Right for the Bills,
that defense is atrocious. Oh my god, that defense is
(09:19):
so bad. It's it, I mean, legitimately in contention for
one of the worst defenses in the NFL. When you
lose your only guy that can cover in Christian Benford,
there's nobody left. We saw it effect the affect them
in the playoffs. But even when he was out there,
they were still giving up thirty forty points a game
(09:39):
to just about everybody that they were playing. But Josh
Allen covered up a lot of that. But then you
start to lose weapons. Dalton Kincaid goes out, Josh Palmer
goes out, which you know, probably not the biggest loss,
but losing a wide receiver and then having to rely
on a bunch of rookies and Khalil Shakir just is
not working out for them. You see teams really train
(10:02):
in on the run, and when they fall behind, you
can't hand it off to James Cook. James Cook is
not getting the touches he needs. He's the only real
weapon that he has that Josh Allen has right now,
and he can only Superman so much. And we're seeing
that start to catch up with the Bills. Josh Allen
can't do everything every single week. The other team that's
(10:22):
doing that a little bit is the Philadelphia Eagles. They
also lose, like I said, two straight games. Right now
that they've lost two straight games, there's a lot of
buzz and I'm not really worried about their team because
of the talent on it. They have the talent. I'm
worried about the off the field issues. There has been
report after report after report, even when they won the
Super Bowl, about AJ Brown and other players being unhappy,
(10:45):
players meetings taking place. Players meetings are not supposed to
take place when you're undefeated. Players meetings are not supposed
to take place when you're coming off of winning a
Super Bowl. You're supposed to be all buddy, buddy, all happy.
You just won. You reach the pinnacle of the sporting
more for you to accomplish other than doing it again.
And yet everything is falling apart in that Philadelphia locker room,
(11:07):
especially after a division lost to the Giants, a game
that they are the better team in. Undoubtedly they're the
better team in that game, and yet they just looked
incompetent offensively. They looked like they couldn't stop Jackson Dart defensively.
They weren't ready to deal with Jackson Dart, which is
not a good thing. The Saints were ready to deal
with Jackson Dart right there are ways to deal with
(11:29):
Jackson Dart, and the Eagles just we're not ready for it.
Those two teams, I have a lot of concerns about.
They're still gonna be great. They're still gonna make the playoffs,
I believe, but these are two teams that need to
get their act together, and they need to get their
act together quickly.
Speaker 2 (11:44):
I feel like these two teams have separate issues on
both on either on opposite sides of the field. For
the Eagles, it's defensively, you know how good they're offenses. Yes,
Jalen Hurts is an issue, but you still have Saquon
bark you still have a loaded roster. You should be
able to get it done. You should be able to
piece it together as the season goes along. When I
(12:05):
look at the Eagles, though, it's their defense that gives
me cost to pause. It's the fact that they lost
ten guys after winning that Super Bowl. They lost ten
guys on the defensive end of the ball. It's the
problem that they have like an average age of under
twenty five years old, just under twenty five years old,
the third youngest defensive unit in the NFL. It's the Eagles.
(12:27):
You cannot rely on a defense that's like that. It's inexperience,
it's young. You just cannot rely upon it, especially for
a team that has the strength of schedule like the
Eagles have this year. For the Bill side of things, though,
this was my issue with the Bills coming into this year.
I knew how good Josh Allen was. Josh Allen's the
best quarterback in the league, there's no doubt about it.
(12:48):
But the issue with the Bills right now is they
don't have a wide receiver one. They don't they have
a group of wide receiver twos and threes. Curtis Samuel's
a nice player. Coleman hand be that he's nowhere near it.
Kin Kid's cool, Josh Palmer, nice player. But you don't
have a legitimate wide receiver one that can go up
(13:09):
there and get you a catch when you need it
on a big third and third down, a big second down,
and partially you kind of give the you kind of
gotta give the Patriots some credit here because they kind
of broke the Bills. They You figure out that if
you can stop James Cook and force Josh Allen to
throw the ball to these guys and force him to
beat you down the field, it's gonna bite you at
(13:31):
some point. And this is that's a that was a
good Falcons front. They have a good defensive front. They
have a good secondary. Jesse Bates is no scrub in
the secondary. There's a lot of great pieces on that
Falcons team. Am I shocked that they won? Yeah? But
when you look at it and you kind of break
it down, I mean, it makes sense. And this is
a Bills team. These are two teams and the Eagles
and the Bills right now that do not look good.
(13:53):
I wouldn't say don't look good at all, but have
a lot of problems. Like you said, you need to
figure it out to make the playoffs.
Speaker 1 (13:58):
Yeah, no, they do need to figure the out quickly.
And here's the thing. I just want to get back
to this point a little bit, because you made it
a little bit too. If losing Josh Palmer affects your
offense so much, you need to take a long, hard
look in the mirror because losing Josh Palmer should not
affect your offense as much as it did. Losing Dalton
and Cad should not affect your offense as much as
(14:19):
it did. And maybe you just need to give some
more credits to the Falcons. But I think that was
more about the Bills than it was about the Falcons.
I got one more. I got another little set of
winners for you, and then I'm gonna hand it over
to you. See if you got any winners or losers.
I got two teams that I think were big winners
this week. First of all, the Bears. That's now two
straight wins that they don't get. They might actually be
(14:42):
blessed by the Pope at this point with everything that's
going on in Chicago. They've won two games off a
block field goal, and now Jake Moody comes into Chicago
and makes a game winning field goal. He just got
run out of San Francisco because he couldn't make even
a regular field goal. Jake Moody had a really great game.
They got lucky in that one. The Commanders dominated it.
(15:05):
They just had two pretty inexcusable fumbles from Jayden Daniels,
a bad interception from Jaden Daniels, Bill fumbled one time,
three total turnovers in that game. It was just it
was not a good look for the Commanders in a
game that they really needed to catch up to the
Eagles in the division. If they had won that one,
they would be neck and neck with the Eagles right there,
(15:27):
and this would be a much different conversation. But the
Bears get a big win. Shout out to them. DeAndre
Swift career high. Where did that come from? I don't
know what DeAndre Swift was on last a couple nights ago,
but like I guess he's good at football. Now I
still don't buy it. I don't think he's very good
at football, but he loves to go off against the Commanders.
(15:47):
That's two straight times he's played the Commanders that he's
gone over one hundred yards. But let's talk about the
other big winner for me, and that is the Kansas
City Chiefs. The Kansas the Chiefs get a big win
against the Lions. And this was one of my big
questions from yesterday, May Rob. Are the Chiefs just the
(16:10):
best team in the AFC, or even more than that,
are they just the best team in the NFL? Right now?
Patrick Mahomes is playing at levels that he hasn't since
his MVP seasons. Right. The offense is putting up numbers
that it hasn't since his sophomore season, which was his
first year starting in the NFL, when they took it
(16:31):
over by storm. Right, this is a Chiefs offense that's
figuring it out without weapons. Rashie Rice. Is it not
back yet? They'll get him back after the bye week? Right?
This is scary? How good this Chiefs offense is? Are
they the best team in the NFL right now? The
legitimately needs to be asked.
Speaker 2 (16:53):
It does need to be asked, But I don't know.
I don't know if I'm ready to proclaim them as
the best team in the NFL or at least in
maybe in the AFC, but in the NFL. Is crazy
with how good the NFC is right now. The AFC
is just that week when you have the Steelers at
the top of the North, you have the Patriots at
the top of the East, and then what the Colts
(17:15):
in the South whatever you want to call it. In
the South, the AFC is just weak. They're just weak.
You could arguably the second place team in the AFC
right now. Are the Broncos or the Patriots, It really is.
That's what it's looking like, the Patriots with a rookie
or with a second year quarterback. I mean, the fact
(17:36):
that the Chiefs are getting Rashi Rice back as well
after this week is big news that it's kind of
flying under the radar right now. But I mean with
the way that the Chiefs were able to just kind
of manhandle that Lion's offense pretty much shut down that
offense is ridiculous. And like you said, Patrick Mahomes is
playing like his MVP season. He threw for two fifty
(17:57):
seven and three touchdowns last week. Classic classic Patrick Mahomes,
and you know he's gonna continue to play at a
high level. It's just gonna be about can the quarterback play,
just play? Can they match up? And that's what it's
gonna That's what it's gonna come down to. It's gonna
that's it's gonna be. Can your quarterback match up with
the best with probably either the best of the second
(18:19):
best quarterback in the league. It's gonna be.
Speaker 1 (18:22):
It's it's gonna be tough. But may Rob those are
those were my big winners and losers. You got any
that I missed. You want to throw onto the pile.
Either give them their roses or throw them onto the fire.
Speaker 2 (18:35):
Well, I was gonna say the Chiefs, but you said that.
My only lose, my only last loser of the weekend
was the l a Rams, And yeah, well you could.
Why why are they a loser? They still won this week? Well,
when you lose your best, when you lose the best
receiver in the league to a foot injury that could
be season ending, that's a that's kind of a loser
(18:56):
in my book. I wouldn't say you lose, but you
lose in the long run, because this is a guy
in pokin a coup. That's in my opinion. He's in
the MVP conversation as well. For sure he is. He's
the best wide receiver in the league. He's an absolute stud.
He's leading that Rams offense. He's the engine to that offense,
and they lose him to a foot injury that we
have no idea if he's gonna be put on ir.
(19:19):
We're probably gonna learn more before this coming Sunday, but
he's gonna be a guy that we're gonna have to
keep our eye on. If the Rams are gonna be
something come come this postseason, because, like I said, he's
the engine to this offense. He's I wouldn't say he's
what makes staff Matt Stafford. Matt Stafford looks so good,
but I mean, in a conference is loaded loaded as
(19:42):
the NFC right now, it's it's it's gonna be dicey.
If you're the Rams, you're gonna need Pokinaku to make
it to make it into the playoffs this year.
Speaker 1 (19:53):
No, I completely agree with you that that offense just
disintegrated without him. That's how much of an engine he
is for them. But we do have to get into
a lot more NFL talk winners and losers from week six.
We've got to take a look at teams overall from
week six because the power rankings I think are super
interesting this week. Like I said at the beginning of
(20:15):
the show, I don't know who's good at football right now.
I don't know who the best team in football is.
There's a legitimate claim for no teams to be the
best team in football right now, and also a legitimate
claim for there to be like five or six teams
that you could put at your number one spot in
the NFL right now. But we're gonna start at the
(20:36):
bottom like we always do. The Week six Power rankings,
we've broke it up into our tiers. Yet again, we
have our awful tier teams thirty two to twenty seven.
Over Here, the Jets remain at the bottom, the last
winless team their number thirty two. The Titans fire their
head coach, Brian Callahan no more as a head coach
(20:58):
in Tennessee. Is the number one, the first head coach fired,
and I think that's gonna start a little trend. Jonathan Gannon,
I think the next next coach to go. But the
Titans at thirty one, Bengals at number thirty. They continue
to fall. Despite Joe Flacco giving them a little bit
of juice offensively, that defense just is not enough for me,
(21:18):
and they're gonna continue to lose football games. The Saints
up to number twenty nine, despite them still losing football games.
They've been in every single one, and I'm gonna give
them a little bit of credit for that. The Dolphins
stick at number twenty eight. They're a good football team.
Excuse me, They're a good coached football team with a
bad quarterback and a horrible defense, and because of that,
(21:41):
they are just gonna get really unlucky at times. At
twenty seven, we've got the Cleveland Browns. They're rounding out
that awful tier noise is getting awfully loud to get
Shitter Sanders in the game. Dylan Gabriel through fifty two
passes last week. Fifty two. That's not a winning formula.
They need to ground and pound and get their rookie
(22:03):
rookie quarterback comfortable. I think we see Shuar sooner rather
than later. Stefanski, his job is definitely a little bit
up in the air right now.
Speaker 2 (22:15):
Yeah, And Gabriel threw fifty two passes and didn't even
throw for three hundred yards. Didn't even throw for two
hundred and fifty yards. That is a that is not
a winning formula. If you're looking at the the Cleveland
Browns right now, this is a Brown squad that has
some talent. They have a nice run running back in
quin Shawn Judkins. On the field of course, uh their
(22:37):
wide receiving corps and anything to sneeze out. They have
a nice tight end Jerry Judy, Dave Nijoku. You still
have Cedric Tiltman, Cedric Tillman over there. You have a
lot of good pieces on this one on this team
in the Cleveland Browns, But it's gonna come down to
quarterback play. It's gonna be it's gonna come down to
(22:58):
if your quarterback can throw the ball down. So I
don't blame me for the throwing of me here. And honestly, yeah,
Kevin Stefanski's job is definitely up in the air right now. Yeah.
Speaker 1 (23:09):
I wouldn't say he's necessarily on a boiling hot seat,
but it's definitely a little bit warm. He's still a
really good coach, and I don't think the Browns would
be smart to move off of him. But at the
same time, the Browns are not a very smart organization,
so I wouldn't be shocked getting into our next tier up.
This is what we like to call the bad tier.
They're not the worst of the worst, but they're certainly
(23:30):
not good. The Raiders here kick it off at number
twenty six. Pete Carroll I think is going to be
fired after this season. I don't. He think is more
likely he retires than he gets fired, but he's clearly
not the answer Over there. Gino is playing really bad.
They get a big win over the Tennessee Titans, but
that doesn't move me in the slightest. That offensive line
(23:51):
is horrible and I need to see more out of
that defense. Devin White played really good, though, so shout
out to him. And at number twenty five. I've got
the eras Zona Cardinals. I just talked about it. I
think Jonathan Gannon is the next head coach to go.
There's a legitimately, there's a legit conversation. I think that
needs to be had about that quarterback room. If Jacoby
Brissette really is the better answer, you lose Marvin Harrison Junior.
(24:14):
But that was a game that they probably should have won.
I think there was a holding penalty on that last
play in the end zone. I also think that if
the sun wasn't just a laser beam in the in
Jacoby Brissette's eyes or the ref's eyes and that end
zone at the very end of the game, that maybe
they would have been able to see something or make
a call. I could barely see the Cardinals players on
(24:36):
the field from the TV because of how the sun was.
They were wearing their all whites. They blended in. I
don't know how anybody actually saw them, but that was
a tough way to lose that game. It was very winnable.
But the Cardinals at number twenty five a short little
tier here for the bad tier. A lot of teams
have moved down to the awful side.
Speaker 2 (24:55):
Yeah, really quick, I just want to jump over to
the Raiders really quick. What are your thoughts on kind
of brock Bowers, Jeremy, because honestly, this is a guy.
I mean, he's the starting tight end on the team.
He was a guy that came out of college that
you thought was going to be kind of like the
next Travis Kelsey, the next Rob Gronkowski esque guy.
Speaker 1 (25:13):
Well, brock Bowers has missed a lot of time this
year with an injury right He missed last week. Michael
Mayer came in and played, but he played one healthy
week where he had over one hundred yards. If he's healthy,
he's still the best tight end in football. I'm not
concerned about him at all. He just needs to get
over that knee injury, and that's not something that's easily done.
(25:34):
Clearly he's been dealing with it for a while. But
that is definitely a concern for me.
Speaker 2 (25:41):
For sure. His knee is definitely in tough spot right now.
Definitely not looking good, but I think some of it
also has to go to the QB player. It has
to be some of it has to also go to
Gino Smith and to the to the offensive scheme. If
they're not getting the ball to him, kind of hard
for him to get points. It is kind of a
loaded Raiders offense, and this is a scheme led by
(26:02):
Pete Carroll that is very run heavy and astron genty.
It's going to be run heavy for the most part.
But I mean, you got to get the ball to
the tier best player him. Both Brock Bowers and Jacoby
Myers are just sitting there and kind of in a way,
just rotting, rotting in a way in Vegas right now,
and I feel like, in my opinion, I feel like
(26:23):
these are two guys that kind of need to find
a way out of Vegas if they can. But that's
just my opinion.
Speaker 1 (26:28):
I think Jacoby Myers gets traded. I think the Bills
are a good spot for him. I think that'd be
He's not necessarily an elite wide receiver, but he's one
of the most underrated wide receivers in the NFL. Put
him with Josh Allen. I think they get a lot
of things done together. But we move up into the
next tier. Here the Giants kick off this tier that
(26:49):
I'm still working on another name for calling it the
bad tier, but you know it needs a better name,
may Rob. We got we gotta workshop that one. This
is a tier that I think these teams are bad,
but gosh, I mean, maybe they're good. I guess We've
got four teams in this tier, lots of NFC teams here.
The Giants, like I said, up to number twenty four.
(27:10):
This is actually the highest they've been all season. A
big win on Thursday Night football against the rival Philadelphia Eagles.
Huge for them, it really is. Cam'skataboo looks amazing. The
next running back for the Giants, Jackson Dart, if he
can stay healthy and not you know, shoot himself into
a wall every time he jumps forward. It's very scary
(27:31):
and Russell Wilson is never gonna see the field again
for the Giants with the way that the Giants fans
and Brian Dable more crucially reacted to when he threw
one pass, which, by the way, one of the worst
throws I've ever seen in my entire life. The Giants
up to number twenty four, the Vikings off of a
bye week, fall a couple spots to twenty three. Nothing
against them. I don't like their quarterback situation. Their offensive
(27:55):
line is in shambles due to injuries, and I'm just
a little concerned about J. J. McCarthy's future. Overall twenty two,
I've got the Cowboys. I mean, gosh, I want to
say this Cowboys team is better. Dak Prescott legitimately playing
at an MVP level. He might be the best quarterback
by the numbers this season if you just strip away
(28:16):
all the context and looks at them, look at the numbers.
Dak Prescott probably your MVP. But you can't strip away
all the context. You have to look at the context
when you're making these awards, which is why Joe Burrow
didn't win it last year. Right The defense for the Cowboys,
it might be the worst in the NFL, and they
can't stop a fly right now, it's ridiculous. Cowboys at
(28:37):
number twenty two, Bears up to number twenty one. That's
two straight last second victories for him. Something in the
air is different in Chicago right now. Who knows what
it is, but the Bears continue to rise. Caleb Williams
not necessarily playing his best football, but he's playing good
football right now. He's playing he's playing mistake free foot
(29:00):
ball right now, and that is the bare minimum that
you can ask for a quarterback to be successful in
the NFL.
Speaker 2 (29:09):
Yeah, there's one team I kind of want to touch
on on this list. The Bears, Vikings, and Giants all
seem like are all teams that deserve to be here,
but the Cowboys. The Cowboys losing a tough game to
the Panthers, I borderline one to throw them in my
losers for the week, but I mean I can't. When
you look at when you break it down, this is
(29:30):
a team that's kind of relying on George Pickens. Don't
get me wrong, George Pickens looks like a wide receiver
one right now. For the Cowboys had nine catches for
one hundred and sixty eight yards last week. Dak Prescott
throwing for two hundred and sixty one for three touchdowns,
no picks, no turnovers, nothing. It kind of both harps
(29:51):
on the defense. But at the same time, this is
a Cowboys team that's missing their wide receiver one, their
best player in Ceedee Lamb. When they get him back.
This is going to be a good Cowboys offense. They're
already a good Cowboys offense, but when they can get
their guy back, they will be even better. It's just
gonna depend on that defense. How they can that defense
(30:11):
stop a cold? Can they actually be able to stop
some teams? Yes? Is Rico o'dowdell somehow the best running
back in the league in Week six? Yes? Will he
be in like week twelve? Probably not, But that's fine.
Like when we're just looking at this, when we're looking
at this defense, I expect them to play better. We've
seen them play better. It's just gonna be about can
(30:34):
they string some wings some wins together, especially in a
kind of reeling NFC East right now, to make the playoffs. Yeah?
Speaker 1 (30:41):
And look, here's the thing, that division's wide open. They
absolutely could because of how good Dak Prescott's playing. You're getting,
like you said, they don't have Cede Lamb. They're getting
CD Lamb back potentially this week, right And we don't
know how that's gonna affect the offense as it is
with George Pickens playing out of his football right now,
but it can only really help them go up from here.
(31:04):
And he's gonna lead to more guys being more open
because if you're CB one and one of the best
corners in the league can't cover George Pickens, imagine what
CB two's are gonna have to do against George Pickens.
It's gonna be a nightmare. George Pickens is gonna have
a huge, huge season. But let's hop into our next tier,
similar to our last tier. This tier again, I still
(31:26):
work shopping a name a little bit, the good tier
tier that I think these team's probably still good at football,
but I don't know if they're actually good or not.
Kind Of a little bipolar is the way that we're
looking at these two tiers. Trending up though, is the
Carolina Panthers. They're here at number twenty. They've been sitting
around this spot all season long. Bryce Young has really
(31:48):
good half of games, and like it's enough for them
to win football games against bad defenses, but when you
start to go up against better teams and true contenders,
it's not gonna be enough. I need to see more
consistent and see out of him. I need to see
him play a full game of football before I say
that this team is any good. Nineteen The Ravens continue
to slip. They're one and five, and while I don't
(32:09):
necessarily think they're eliminated from playoff contention, because when you
look at the rest of their schedule, I mean, we
talked about the Patriots being the easiest schedule of all time,
but after this bye week, Bears, Dolphins, Vikings, Browns, Jets, Bengals, Steelers, Bengals, Patriots, Packers, Steelers, right,
there are what two playoff teams in that entire back
(32:33):
half of the schedule, Like that is a super easy
schedule for them. There's a legit thought that they could
run the table down the stretch here and finish twelve
and five, which would be ridiculous, right, but you get Lamar,
and Lamar is la marvelous, Right, He's gonna find his
way out of there, and he's going to be an
(32:54):
MVP candidate every single time he's fully healthy. Number eighteen,
I've got the Broncos. I'm concerned about this team. I'm
always concerned about this team. They just almost lost to
the Jets in maybe the most ugly game I've ever
seen in my entire life. That was atrocious. Oh my god.
That defense is really good, but that offense needs to
(33:16):
be able to move the ball. They can't get a
run game established, and that's something that Sean Payton loves
to have. The wide receivers are good, but when you
go up against even an okay defense like Sas Gardner
isn't the best cornerback in the NFL. He's a good cornerback,
don't get me wrong, but he's not the best. And
he's still shut down Cortland Sutton, who again, he's a
(33:36):
good wide receiver, but he's not the best wide receiver.
So you don't have a real pass game and you
can't establish a run game. You're gonna have games like
that where the Jets nearly win because of a safety
thirteen to eleven. I That game made me throw up
a little bit in my mouth. It was kind of bad.
(33:57):
The Falcons up to number seventeen. A huge win for
them against the Bills. But again, I don't know which
team is real. Michael Penix just had a huge game.
Bijon just had a massive game one hundred and seventy
rushing yards last in the win. He was huge for them.
That Bill's defense is really bad, though not the first
guy to run all over them. Dereck Henry week one.
(34:19):
We could find some more examples if we go through
their season as well, but I do need to see
more consistency. Good to see Drake London get involved, but
I just don't know if it's gonna be like this
week in and week out with the Falcons and the
forty nine Ers fall to number sixteen mostly because of injuries. Look,
it's been the same song and dance with this Niners
team every single year, right, The injuries just pile up
(34:41):
and pile up and pile up. Now they've lost their
two best defensive players and that defensive unit is gonna
be in shambles. Fred Warner done for the season, Nick
Bosa done for this season. You have Mac Jones who's
playing through an injury, Rock Perdy who's gonna come back
probably still not one hundred percent. You're getting George kittleback
potentially this week, but wide receivers are all hurt. Ricky
Pierce Sall is dealing with a nagging injury. Juwan Jennings
(35:05):
is playing through five broken ribs and a high and
low angle spring. I mean, what a beast, first of all,
but also you don't need to be doing all that, man,
It's it's not worth it. Kendrick Bourne wide receiver one.
I've always like Kendrick Bourne, but he's not a wide
receiver one. I guess Mac Jones little connection over there.
(35:27):
But Christian McCaffrey playing good football, but he's not like
elite Christian McCaffrey level. Right now when he's the only
one out there, he can't quite get it done anymore
all on his own. These teams, I still all think
have the potential to be good or even playoff teams,
but they're just not showing it to me yet right
now as we stand in the season, so I just
(35:48):
can't put them up in that good tier higher.
Speaker 2 (35:52):
I'm not gonna lie. I love this tier personally. I
think this is a great list for this tier. This
is honestly shaping out to be best. Your best list
so far, Jeremy's through six weeks. I'm not joking the
Panthers already, Like I think the Panthers are a good team.
I mean the way that they're playing right and they're
they're not good. They're like you said, eh good, Are
they good? Are they bad? There's somewhere in between their
(36:14):
mid Bryce Young is probably not the wide probably isn't
the future for the Panthers. But you get Ted McMillan.
He looks good. Rico Daudell has looked good so far
over the last couple of weeks. That defense still looks
pretty good. They're good. They're young team that's kind of
growing right now. Similar to another team that we're gonna
be bringing up soon here in a couple tiers. Next up,
(36:37):
you got the Ravens. Ravens, like you said, when Lamar
gets back, they'll be fine. Do I think they're gonna
run the table, Absolutely not, But I still think there'll
be a decent team. I think when they can get
him back, they could potentially get back to five hundred.
They could break five hundred, They could finish like they.
Speaker 1 (36:55):
Could win ten games, I think pretty easy.
Speaker 2 (37:01):
Ten games, especially with the way that defense is banged
up right now. Ten games is a stretch in my
opinion right now, just just because of how banged up
that defense is not only looking right now, but it's
going to be looking for the rest of the season
with how many season ending injuries they have there. I
think they can get to like nine, like you said,
maybe ten wins, but I think that's it. I don't
(37:21):
think it Caps past ten after that. Broncos the Broncos
Jets game is in contention for the worst game of
football I've ever seen in my life, at least in
contention for this season. It is that bad. It is
the front runner for the worst game of the year
so far. The amount of turnovers, fumbles, weird play. That
(37:43):
was worse. That was worse than the Titans and Cardinals
game two weeks ago, because at least that game was exciting.
At the end of the game, it was just the
Broncos and Jets was just a battle of trash, trash
and trashirt. So uh yeah, that's just that's all I
gotta say about the Broncos there. They're still good team.
But definitely don't go back to London if you're the Broncos,
(38:03):
because you clearly can't do that.
Speaker 1 (38:05):
I think you could put that game in the nineteen
thirties and nobody would bat nye Like, I think that's
the big issue. Like it was just ugly.
Speaker 2 (38:15):
Yeah, the Falcons, they're probably a good team. I think
they're gonna just figure it out. Shout out Drake London
with the way he's been playing. He was an absolute
monster that for that Falcons team and that defense, Like
I like we talked about earlier when we were talking
about the Bills, I think we don't give that Falcons
defense enough credit when we're talking about when we're looking
(38:36):
at this game, because that was a big part of
how they ended up winning that game against the Bills.
And finally, the Niners. I think the Niners might be
a little bit low here, but I think they're also
dealing with injuries that we talked about. That injury to
Fred Warner is gonna be big time. That is a big, big,
big loss if you're the Niners, especially losing Nick Bosa,
especially losing a lot of pieces in that secondary. You
(38:58):
don't really have a leader on the d defensive unit anymore.
I don't know what to really look for if you're
if you're the if you're a Niners fan, there's a
lot of concern I would be having with Fredick. With
Fred Warner going down with an injury. But like I
like we talked about, the Niners just banged up. They
Ricky Piersoll's hurt, Juwan Jennings is hurt. You have Kendrick
(39:19):
Bourn coming off the street coming from New England and
going off for a hund two games in a row
for one hundred and forty yards. Mac Jones looks like
what the second coming of Jimmy Garoppolo when he was
with the Niners. I don't know who else to call it.
I don't know who else to call.
Speaker 1 (39:35):
You're not really who.
Speaker 2 (39:36):
Else to compare him to. But the Niners look pretty good.
You gotta give Kyle Shan a lot of credit with
the way that he's coaching, and he looks like a
Coach of the Year candidate. But this looks like a
really good list so far, Jamie. Let's get to the
next tier.
Speaker 1 (39:48):
Let's get up into the good tier here. I have
been real low in the Steelers, and I guess low
is not the word, because they're just mid all the time.
And I like to keep them mid because they're mid.
But they're up into the good tier here at number fifteen.
I did a full reset after last week. I was like,
you know, I don't like the state my list is in,
so I did a full reset here, and I think
(40:09):
that's helped a whole lot. Here the Steelers up to
number fifteen, the highest that I've had him here. They
are going to win ten games this year. They're going
to make the playoffs like they always do. But Aaron
Rodgers legitimately has given them another offensive level that they
can get to. They don't often hit it, but they
(40:30):
have this ability to get there with DK, with the
way that Jalen Warren is playing, and with the way
that Aaron Rodgers can play when he turns it on
for a couple of big games. This is a team
that could win a playoff game this year if they
get the right matchup. But I don't know if that's
a guarantee with how wild the AFC has been all
season long coming off of bye. My other team here
in my good tier, it's the Houston Texans. This is
(40:53):
the best defense in the NFL. I firmly believe that
the offensive line is the worst in the NFL. And CJ.
Stroud is a really good quarterback. So it is. Nico
Collins a very good wide receiver. You have a lot
of good options in that backfield. Woody Marks, I think
is a lot of fun. Nick Chubb still has a
little bit of juice left in his engine over there.
The Texans, again, they're gonna be fringe playoffs every single
(41:16):
week until they show me something either bad or really good.
But I still believe in this Texans team.
Speaker 2 (41:24):
You might, I might believe in the defense a little bit.
I don't know if I'm ready to go as far
as the best defense. I could put them top ten,
but I would put them as a fringe top ten.
But their offense is where that train stops for me. Yes,
you have talent, yes, but CJ. Stroud looks like a
mid quarterback right now if I'm being honest, and they
(41:44):
look like they're the third best team in their division
right now. The Colts and the Jaguars are, in my opinion,
solidified as better teams than the Texans right now, and
I think that's kind of hands down in my opinion.
That's just me, Jeremy. I'm not trying to harp on
you at all.
Speaker 1 (41:59):
I agree.
Speaker 2 (42:02):
But the other side, with the Steelers, yes, the Steelers
are just the definition of mid. They're gonna win the
North because somebody has to win the North this week
this year. The Ravens are blown to bits with injuries,
the Bengals lost Joe Burrow and can't stop a cold
because they gave like four hundred million dollars to three guys,
and the Browns are the Browns, So the Steelers are
(42:23):
gonna have to win that conference because somebody has to.
So they're just kind of just the mid team that's
still there. Honestly, it makes sense.
Speaker 1 (42:30):
But it does.
Speaker 2 (42:30):
Let's get it top thirteen, because that's just fifteen and
fourteen right there.
Speaker 1 (42:34):
That's just fifteen and fourteen, which means we've officially hit
this playoff tier. Okay, because this these are the teams
that are going to make the playoffs. These are the
teams that, if the season ended today, would be the
playoff level teams or higher. And let's start off with
the New England Patriots. Mac excuse me, not Mac Jones.
(42:55):
Drake May. Excuse me, Drake May. In MVP conversations, he's
had an amazing season. Shout out to him. He continues
to just wow me with the way he's playing right now.
I thought he'd be good, but I didn't think he'd
be great right now, maybe bordering even on elite and
that's a little too far, honestly, But if he keeps
playing the way that he is, there's a real conversation
(43:17):
to be had about where he ranks in the QB hierarchy.
Right now, the Seahawks up to number twelve. I guess
Sam Donald is good at football again. I don't know
what they did to Hitman Minnesota, but they turned him
into a good quarterback. I'm willing to admit my faults.
I'm willing to admit my mistakes. That's a really good defense.
We knew it was going to be a really good defense.
(43:39):
Is a good offense with a lot of weapons. We
knew it was going to have a lot of weapons.
But I didn't believe in Sam Donald behind that offensive line,
and he has continued to prove me wrong. And the
Seahawks are a legit threat in the NFC right now
at number eleven. The Commander's fall. They've been sitting at
seven all year long, honestly, but their fall out of
the top ten after that loss, I have to start
(43:59):
to accept the reality that without Jaden Daniels, this team
is straight mid maybe even worse than that. Jaden Daniels
is one of the best quarterbacks in the NFL. He's
arguably top five, and he continues to prove that with
the way he plays. But if he's gonna keep getting hurt,
I don't think that knee injury is fully healed, and
that's a little bit concerning because he's not running with
(44:20):
the freedom that he needs to to make that commanders
offense go. They need Terry back in the worst possible way,
and they need him back to his self from last
year because if he is what he was at the
beginning of this season, this is going to be the
best five hundred team of all time. That's what we're
looking at. And during the top ten, though you talked
about that AFC South, the Jaguars up here at number ten.
(44:43):
Trevor Lawrence just makes too many rookie mistakes for me
to really elevate them even higher than this. But at
the end of the day, they're winning games. That defense
is elite. I don't like the trade that they made
Tyson Campbell for Greg Newsom. We saw it burn them
in last week's game when Greg Newsom got burned himself,
But that's only one week. Greg Newsom's a good corner,
but it's gonna cost him more money to keep him
(45:05):
than it would have been for Tyson Campbell, and I
also think Tyson Campbell just a better corner overall. Outside
of that, this is a very good Jaguars team. I
need to see more to Travis Hunter. But as long
as they keep winning games, there's not too much to
complain about. Number nine we have the Chargers. As we
continue through our top ten. The injuries on the offensive
line are very concerning, but Justin Herbert is a superhero
(45:27):
and he can do just about anything he wants. Granted
it was against the Dolphins defense, which is why they're
not taking a huge boost. But I do think Justin
Herbert legit MVP type considerations because he is a great quarterback,
the fifth best quarterback in the NFL. The Eagles at
number eight, they fall a lot. This is the farthest
(45:47):
they've fallen all season long, a lost to the Giants
where they just looked bad. They just simply looked bad.
This is as we went through their schedule, the third
or fourth straight game this season where they've only played
one half of football. That's unacceptable. They need to play
a full game of football and I've yet to see
that happen out of them. They're gonna get burned more
than once if they continue to play like that. The
(46:09):
Packers at number seven, That offense is a little concerning.
The defense still plays great, it really does, but I
need to see Jordan Love look more consistent. You still
have a really good running back in Josh Jacobs. I
like that they're getting Matthew Golden Moore involved. Romeo Dobbs
is having a really good season. But I need to
see more out of that offense. I think losing Reed
(46:31):
is a huge loss for them. They'll get him back
in week ten, and we're starting to see that without
that big playability, which is crazy because Jordan Love has
a lot of big playability wide receivers. Kristan Watson coming
back soon, that's something to watch as well. His practice
window has opened. That should really open up the offense
for a lot of those other guys. At number six,
rounding out this playoff tier, it's the Indianapolis Colts Indianapolis Jones.
(46:56):
Indiana Jones continues to find way to win games, a
lot of it behind the power of his sidekick is
running back Jonathan Taylor. Right, Jonathan Taylor, offensive player of
the Year front runner probably after Puka goes down. He's
playing great football. Best running back in the NFL right now,
maybe just behind Bijon, but the Colts are continuing to
(47:17):
win games. That defense very opportunistic. I need to see
more out of it, but they're doing everything they can.
They're causing turnovers. And the Colts just outside the top
five at number six.
Speaker 2 (47:29):
I don't hate it. I don't hate it at all, Jeremy. Honestly,
there's only the only thing I will say is I
think the Chargers are a little too high on this list.
But around looking at this list, I mean, the Patriots
are a legit team in the AFC, the Seahawks are
a legit team. The Commanders are just kind of injured.
I think they're gonna figure it out. But the Jaguars
and the Chargers, these are two teams. Jaguars kind of
(47:51):
getting the breaks beaten off and by the Seahawks this weekend,
and then the Chargers, Like you said, just that offensive line, Yes,
you said that, You're a little bit worried about the
offensive line. I'm really worried about the offensive line. That
and the fact that they don't have a legit running
back right now. They don't have Nase Harrison. They're not
gonna have Omary and Hampton until like week eleven or
(48:14):
week twelve. Like, this Chargers team is just it's a
young team, but it's also an injured team. So I
think they're a little bit too high, but everyone else,
the Packers, I expect to figure it out. Honestly, if
I'm being one hundred percent honest right now, I think
the next Jayden Reid is gonna be Matthew Golden. That's
(48:35):
what Matthew Golden is, and that's why I said a
couple of weeks ago that Matthew Golden's gonna be the
next big guy for this Packers offense. He's going to
be a guy that you need to target in your
fantasy leagues because he's that good of a player. He's
gonna grow into that kind of a player. He's a rookie,
and with Reid going down, Golden's just taking all of
(48:55):
those targets, all of those routes, all of those all
that yard that Reid would have gotten. And honestly, when
Reed comes back, I don't know how he's gonna be
able to fit into that offense. Is it gonna be
two sides of just downfield deep threats. It could be
with Golden and Reid standing opposite sides, But at the
end of the day, it's a good list. I just
think as we continue to move forward, it's gonna change
(49:18):
just two things. The Charges and the Jaguars need to
move down because the Seahawks and the Patriots, the Patriots
specifically shouldn't be that low. I don't think Seahawks, I
can still kind of hear a little bit. They're too young.
They're to this and that too an experience. Give them
some time. I'm still like that. But the Patriots definitely
need to move up a little bit.
Speaker 1 (49:36):
See, I'm more worried about the youth on the Patriots
than I am about the youth on the Seahawks, honestly,
because I think the Seahawks are a much more established team.
They have got a lot of guys that have proven
that they can be stars in the NFL. But yes,
I understand those two teams definitely have an argument to
move up, for sure. But moving up into the super
(49:56):
Bowl category, the top five teams in the NFL, the
teams that I are if the season ended today, the
true top teams, the ones with the odds to win
the Super Bowl that are the highest. At number five,
it's the Buffalo Bills. I just can't quit him. Josh Allen,
elite quarterback. He's too good for this team. They don't
deserve him. And he needs some help immediately otherwise they're
(50:20):
going to continue to fall here. The Rams stay steady
at number four. They've just been sitting around here all
season long. Because Matthew Stafford is playing again at an
MVP level, He's not gonna get that consideration because it's
been Puka that's really been getting all of that buzz,
as he should. But the Rams are the team that
are just kind of that consistent stalwart one that's gonna
(50:41):
be a threat in the NFC no matter what, as
long as Stafford stays healthy. The Lions at number three,
they lose a big game to the Chiefs, but I
do think this is still a Lions team that is elite,
one of the best in the all of football and
one of the best in all of the NFC. This
is a Lions team that just ran into a good
Chiefs team with a good Chiefs game plan, and that's
(51:03):
tough to beat a lot of times. The Chiefs at
number two, not quite at number one, but the highest
they've been and exactly where they were sitting in the preseason.
This is where they are meant to be. This is
a Chiefs team that, again we talked about in the
Winners and Losers section. Patrick Mahomes playing like an MVP.
He hasn't put up numbers like this since he won
(51:24):
the MVP. The Chiefs offense haven't put numbers up like
this since his sophomore season, his first year starting. And
if he can continue to play like that, this is
a Chiefs team that's incredibly dangerous and is going to
go on one hell of a run. The Buccaneers at
number one. They're the best team in football. Maybe Baker
Mayfield is playing like the best quarterback in football for sure,
(51:46):
but I don't know if this Bucks team is the
best in football. I'm putting them at number one because
they continue to find ways to win games, and finding
ways to win games is the most important thing, hands down,
point blank period, end of sentence. Stop whatever you're saying.
The Buccaneers finding ways to win games is the most
important thing in the NFL. But they're not doing it convincingly, right,
(52:08):
They're just not doing it convincingly. They're losing a lot
of their guys to injury. It's very concerning. The defense
is doing just enough, just enough to win football games.
Because four of their five games now have been walk
off wins. Their first victory formation was last week. They're
five and one. That's that's ridiculous. Like the Saints had
(52:31):
victory formation before they did they That's that's the world
we're living in right now. I'm keeping the Bucks at one,
but it's an uneasy one for sure. Win games. You
stay a loss, you're gonna fall. You're not gonna keep
that one seed after a loss.
Speaker 2 (52:50):
Yeah, And that's that's what it boils down to. I
think the Buccaneers they're a weird team. Therefore, like you said,
this was the first win that they've had that was
in based off of Baker Mayfield game winning drive. Like
he's the MVP front runner for a reason. But at
the same time, he can't be the only reason why
you win games. Like, at some point you have to
(53:12):
look at the defense, you have to look at Todd
Bowles and say, hey, can you guys stop a cold please?
Can you guys like give the offense a second to
take a to take a breath down the stretch? Can
they actually win a game in like with five minutes
to go in the fourth quarter, not thirty seconds to
go in the fourth quarter. Don't get me wrong, they've
had a tough schedule, and I think that's what it
kind of boils down to as well, that they're the
(53:34):
level of schedule that they've had. They played the Texans,
they played the Seahawks. They even the Jets game was ridiculous.
I don't know how that happened. The Eagles, the Niners,
the Falcons, like they've played four legit playoff teams right
now so far, and I think that kind of has
that plays a role in it. But at the same time,
(53:55):
you have to look at the the Bucks defense and
you have to ask them to figure it out too,
because they can't just be the offense. The only other
thing I have to say about this list is the
Chiefs are little are still a little too high. Yes,
the Chiefs are going to end up climbing that high,
but are they that high. No, they shouldn't be. I
don't think it's just too it's just too early in
(54:16):
my opinion. Yes, is Mahomes probably the second best quarterback
in the league. Probably, yes, But they still have a
lot of issues across the board. I think their offense
is still kind of overrated. Their defense is still a
little overrated, even though I know what they did to
the Lions we can't just base them off of one week,
so I can't take them from like spot eight to
(54:38):
spot two in one week. That's just a little too
high for me. But other than that, probably your best
list so far, Jeremy, Honestly after six weeks is probably
your best list. Seriously.
Speaker 1 (54:48):
Oh, we love that. We love to hear that. Honestly, No, uh,
I did worse. I moved the Chiefs of from eleven
to two, So yeah, like that's a big jump. But
like I said, I don't think you understand how close
I was to putting the Chiefs at number one this week.
I almost did. If I hadn't thought a little bit more,
(55:11):
they would have been ahead of the Bucks right now.
But the Bucks are five and one, and that means
a lot. Like I said, I'm just so moved by
the way that Patrick Mahomes is playing football right now.
When he plays football like that, this is a Chiefs
team that's basically unstoppable. But we do have to move on.
We have to talk a little bit about what's going on.
On Thursday. Week seven kicks off. We're done with Week six.
(55:33):
Throw it out the window. We don't need to talk
about it anymore. Week seven is here. It starts officially
right now, as decreed by the Triple Threat Show. Thursday
night preview, the Steelers take on the Bengals. We talked
about these two teams. The Steelers the only team in
the last three weeks to get a win in the
AFC North, nine to zero. Every they've excuse me, they've
(55:56):
won three games. No one else has won again, three
and nine over the left last three weeks. It's ridiculous.
It's kind of bad, but you know what, that's just
how it goes in the AFC North. They have a
commanding lead. They're five and one right now, they get
a divisional test against Joe Flacco and the Cincinnati Bengals.
The Bengals are not favored in this one, although they
(56:19):
are at home. The Bengals five and a half point
dogs in this one. The Steelers looking to take a
win into a tough stretch of games. Right We've seen
them win their last division game at home, but Joe
Flacco had put a little bit of life, breathe a
little bit of life into that Bengals offense. Do they
(56:40):
stand a chance against the Steelers defense that's playing a
whole lot better than they were at the beginning of
the season.
Speaker 2 (56:48):
Yeah, I think the Steelers defense is a big reason
why they are where they are right now. But you
also got to give credit to Aaron Rodgers in the
way he's playing because he's been Him and Jalen Warren
are a big reason why they are where they are
right now. DK Metcalf looks like he's kind of resurrected
his career in Pittsburgh as well. The Steelers look like
a decent team. They look like the best team in
the AFC North right now because I think the Bengals
(57:11):
are going to end up winning this game. The Bengals
are my favorites, favorites to win this, to win this,
not only this division, but to win this game. They're
They're the best team in the AFC North right now.
I think you can't take the first four weeks for
granted for this team. I also think this division is
that bad where the Steelers could lose three games in
a row. They've had a little bit of a Cups
(57:32):
cupcake schedule here. But I expect the Bengals to climb
back into it. I expect them to start start it
with this game. They're on a four game losing streak
and to snap that three game win streak for the
for the Steelers, I think, I really think the Bengals
are that good. Yeah.
Speaker 1 (57:48):
No, I'm kind of leaning on the same page as
you right now. Honestly, the Pittsburgh Steelers have been great, right,
They've been really good in just about every single facet.
But they have a losing record on Thursday Night Football.
They have a losing record, especially on the road in
Thursday Night Football, nine and eleven in Thursday Night Football games,
(58:11):
two and eight on road Thursday Night Football games, and
this one's on the road. Now. The saving grace for
them is that they're playing the Bengals defense, so that's
not too much of a concern, honestly. But the one
thing that you do want to look at when you're
taking a look at trends like this is it's a
division game. Anything can happen in a division game. We've
(58:32):
seen division games go crazy the last couple weeks on
Thursday Night Football, the Giants demolished the Eagles. But I
can't I can't stay. I can't stand there with you, man,
I can't do it. This is too good of a
Pittsburgh defense. The way that they're playing against the run,
especially over the last couple of weeks, has moved me
a lot. Getting their first round pick in the rookie
(58:53):
out of Oregon, Derek Harmon, has meant a lot for them.
They finally have someone that can make this team one dimensional.
As much as this the Bengals were already one dimensional.
It's really just gonna be up to if Joe Flacco
can show up on Thursday Night football. And as much
as it's a cliche, I mean, I think for how
good these offenses are, the undermight hidden this one. You
(59:15):
got two forty year old quarterbacks playing at eight pm
on a Thursday That can't That can't be good for them.
It just it just simply can't. I think the Steelers
find a way to win this game because I just
don't think the Bengals offense is gonna be able to
get it going the way that they need to. Although
I do think this is gonna be a lot closer
(59:36):
than people think. Chase Brown has been really disappointing and
that's the main factor. They don't have a run game.
And if the Steelers can, you know, lock in on
those wide receivers, play a lot of two high play
a lot of Cover two, Cover three, deep zone kind
of things. Get pressure on Joe Flacco with their edge rushers.
I just don't think they're gonna be able to get
(59:58):
it done at this point. Good as the Bengals offense is,
but that's not the only thing we have to talk
about Mayrob, because baseball also going on right now in
the playoffs. October is baseball season. We all know that
the NLCS Game two took place last night and we
(01:00:20):
saw an absolute dominant effort from Yoshi Yamamoto of the Dodgers.
The Dodgers take a two to zero lead. They haven't
lost a game on the road yet this postseason. Four
to zero on the road, and these have been two
of the best pitching performances back to back by a
starting pitchers group that I've ever seen in the postseason.
You had Blake Snell in Game one, go eight innings,
(01:00:43):
facing the minimum Mayrob, facing the minimum batters, He allowed
one base runner on a hit, immediately picked him off.
He faced the minimum amount of batters. That is so impressive.
That's practically a perfect game. They pull him, the bases
get loaded, and they find a way to win that game.
The offense shows up for them in Game two, and
despite Yoshi Yamamoto giving up a home run on the
(01:01:05):
first pitch, not a single thing goes by after that.
A complete game may rob the first complete game in
seven years in playoff baseball. The last one, Yeah, exactly
seven years ago, October fourth, Justin Verlander against the Yankees
twenty seventeen for the Astros. He absolutely dominant, was Yamamoto.
(01:01:29):
And if the Dodgers can get starting pitching like that,
they don't even need to worry about a bullpen that's
a little bit depleted. They're really good, and I think
they're on a collision course with the Mariners, who are
also up to Zho in the ALCS. Game three of
that one tonight, by the way, But talk to me
a little bit about this Dodgers Brewers series.
Speaker 2 (01:01:50):
Yeah, this is a series that I mean, we talked
about it to start. I mean, we thought the Dodgers
Achilles Hill Achilles heel in the series was going to
be their pitching. We said it all year long that
their pitching was going to be their issue. We knew
how good their hitting was and how loaded it was,
but we thought that their pitching was going to be
(01:02:11):
the issue. And for Yamamoto to show up and show
out the way he did and to show the way
he handled the advert. He gave up a home run
on the first pitch of the game in the bottom
of the first His first pitch was a home run,
and after that he didn't let up a single run.
After that, he gave up three. It's the entire game
with seven strikeouts and went all nine innings to go.
(01:02:32):
It That just that speaks for itself. There's really nothing
else to say when when when you see that, when
you see that kind of a stat line, the Dodgers
are that good. I think they're going to win the
Pennant for the second straight year. But on the other
side with the Mariners, I kind of want to touch
on that more, honestly, because this is going to be
(01:02:52):
a fun series as we go down the line here,
as we come down the stretch game three later tonight,
I think the Blue Jays are going to come out
and win this game. If they lose, there's no way
they drop three straight. That would be ridiculous. If the
Blue Jays dropped three straight to the Mariners, regardless of events,
if it's at home or whatnot, I just would be
shocked to see it happen. But at the same time,
(01:03:15):
I think we're locked in for a for a West
Coast World Series here, Jeremy Seattle versus LA in the
World Series is gonna be phenomenal. I can't wait to
see it. And I think these are the two best
teams in the MLB. AM. I kind of upset that
the Red Sox didn't beat the Yankees and could have
faced the Blue Jays in the Alds. Yeah, But at
the same time, do I think they would have beaten
(01:03:37):
the Mariners. Probably not. At the same time, I think
it's there's gonna be a phenomenal series in the World Series,
and I can't wait. We're probably gonna have to We're
probably gonna have to preview the World Series on Friday.
Speaker 1 (01:03:48):
Man, we there's a real chance that we are going
to have to. Here's here's my concern with the Blue Jays.
The pitching matchups just don't go in their favor. They
really don't. George Kirby on the mound for the Mariners
tonight against Shane Bieber. Shane Bieber, who struggled in his
first outing against the Yankees, only went two and two
thirds innings six point seventy five ERA five hits in
(01:04:12):
those two in less than three innings, only two strikeouts
against George Kirby, who's been a monster this postseason, and
really the entire Mariners pitching staff has been a monster.
The other thing, may Robin, this is your stat The
Blue Jays not very good on the road, forty and
forty one away. That's a big concern for them. I
think the Mariners dominate the way that Jorge Polanco is
(01:04:33):
playing baseball right now, the way he's just putting contact
on the contact on the ball, putting the ball in play.
Good things happen when you put the ball in play,
and the Mariners are showing that. But when you preview
Game four, I mean, it doesn't look too much better, right.
Max Scherzer mad Max. First of all, shout out, Max
Schuers are gonna retire as a national I hope go
(01:04:56):
out and get another win, king you deserve it. Max
Schuers are a great Hall of Fame first ballot pitcher,
one of the greatest pitchers of our generation. But he's
going up against Luis Castillo. That's just not a good
matchup for him. It just simply isn't. It's not a
good matchup for the Blue Jays. I think we're really
(01:05:17):
looking at a Mariner's sweep right now. It sucks, but
I just don't think the Blue Jays and really have
really a shot with the way that these pitching matchups
are lining up. I hope so. But also I think
this is a Mariners team that's just dominating on their
way to the World Series right now and getting a
(01:05:37):
lot of rest for their guys who basically played an
extra game, going fifteen innings in the elimination game against
the Tigers. Oh, it's just tough. Cal Raley's having a
great postseason as well. It's tough to go against that
I'm taking. I'm taking the Mariners to sweep this series. Actually,
But I do see your point. This is a great
Blue Jays team. They're just running into a brick wall
(01:05:59):
that is the Mariners starting pitching staff.
Speaker 2 (01:06:04):
Yeah, and that's that's what it boils down to. The
last thing I want to say about this Mariners team.
And I feel bad because I was supposed to be
here yesterday morning. We would have talked about it yesterday morning.
But nonetheless, here we are the fact that the Mariners
won not only both games in Toronto, where the Blue
Jays have won double the games that they've lost. They're
like thirty seven and nineteen or something crazy. And right
(01:06:29):
after that ridiculous fifteen inning game against the Tigers in
Game three where they went head to head, back and
forth for fifteen straight innings, everyone thought the Mariners bullpen
was gonna be depleted. They're gonna lose Game one. In
Game two, they're gonna go down to oh and then
have to climb back into the series. Oh no, they
win Game one, and then their offense shows up in
(01:06:51):
Game two and just hammers the Toronto Blue Jays in
every way possible. Like this is that good of a
Mariner's team. Cal Raley looks like the best hitter in baseball.
Given Aaron Judge a run for his title right now,
and there was a real chance where the Seattle Mariners
could win the World Series. I'm just not picking them
(01:07:14):
because I know the Dodgers are that good with their pitching,
I just can't do it. The Dodgers pitching is a
little bit better and the Dodgers hit hitting is a
lot better. So I think that's what it boils down to.
I got the Dodgers winning it. But we'll be back
on Friday to probably preview that one.
Speaker 1 (01:07:32):
Yeah, we'll see worst case scenario, I guess closest case
scenario to the World Series. We have the Mariners in
and the Dodgers up three to zero with a chance
to close out the series on Friday night, So we
can't quite preview it, but we can assume. I feel
pretty confident that the Brewers and the Blue Jays just
don't have the juice to come back against these two teams.
(01:07:52):
But you can save that and you can yell at
me if I am wrong. In a couple of weeks.
We'll have to see though. But thank you everybody so
much for tuning in to today's episode of The Triple
Threat Show. We have been your hosts, Jeremy Lapedis and
may Rob the Temmy. Make sure you check us out
everywhere you get your podcast Apple podcast, Amazon Podcasts. You
(01:08:15):
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give us a subscribe. We appreciate you tuning in listening
(01:08:37):
every single time we do, and we will be back
on Friday Friday Game Picks, going over the biggest games
in college football in the NFL, breaking down potential World
Series matchups in the MLB, and anything else that happens
from around the world of sports. We'll see you then,
Bye bye,