Reactions, Picks, Playoffs and more!

Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:13):
Welcome in the sideline shuffle. It's been a couple of weeks,
but I'm glad to be back back in the saddle,
feeling a little better, not as stressed out back talking

(00:35):
to sports. We've got some Week four reactions, will react
last week. I told you guys back in week one,
not redoing quarterback rankings. We've got some definitely shuffling there
from where I was at week one. We'll do my
picks for week five coming in. We'll do a little
update on the major we baseball playoffs. We'll do an

(00:56):
update on the NBA playoffs, which are now the finals
are set. Like last week, guys, I was just I
was out. The body was done, I was spent, I
was exhausted, I was sick. I was not going to
record a show, and honestly, week before that got busy.
Got I'm gonna sugarcoat it, no excuses. Two weeks ago

(01:19):
forgot last week physically was unable. But I'm glad to
be back this week. A lot has happened. I'm not
going to go too far back. Like I said, we're
staying on week four. We're talking about week five picks.
Things that are more current. A lot happened since the
last time we talked. Basically all of the WNBA playoffs
happened since the last time we talked. We are now
ready for the finals. I think starting Friday night. We're

(01:45):
teams yesterday played in the Major League Baseball Playoffs. Teams
are playing as we speak in the Major League Baseball playoffs.
So we missed the end of the season and some
of that ramp up, but we missed who's the batting champion? Right,
we can all go back and see the stats and
see who finished where. We know Kyle Rally took the

(02:05):
home run title. We know that if he was an
NFL player, he would be getting drug tested every week.
This guy went from not having basically sixty home runs
in his career to hitting sixty this year. Great season
for him, great season for the Mariners. But let's be real,
any other sport, somebody would be watching that guy. I

(02:27):
digressed off top. Let's do reactions to the Week four
in the NFL, because we like to talk about the
most at this time of year. Football. That's the core,
that's the heart, that's what makes everything go. So we
will talk mostly about football at this time of year.

(02:50):
You know, I wouldn't say Week four had any surprises.
Atlanta A little bit over Washington was somewhat of a surprise, right,
Dallas and green Bay ending in a tie, a little
bit of a surprise. I think most of us had
green Bay winning that game, right. The Giants beating the Chargers. Okay,

(03:14):
there's the surprise from week four, the Giants beating the Chargers.
Baltimore starting the season won in three dealing with a
lot of injuries. Right now, Jacksonville, I guess winning against
San Francisco in San Francisco. But all that being said,
the real surprise was the Giants, right, they benched Russell Wilson,

(03:39):
they bring in Jackson Dark and he gets to win
over the Chargers. The Chargers on the road, sure the
better team. I won't think anybody, but maybe most Giants
fans would have admitted going into this weekend seemed like
an easy picker. Didn't quite go that way. Atlanta, Hey,

(04:00):
they're two and two. Good for them. They get that
win over Washington without Daniels. You better capitalize on games
like that, right, So, not a lot of surprises as
far as the way the scores. I'm thrilled that Detroit
put up thirty plus on the league's best defense coming
into the weekend. Philly once again blocks a punt returns

(04:24):
it for a touchdown. So back to back weeks they
return a kick for a touchdown. They do the fake
push push, have everybody in Tampa Bay thinking they're gonna
push up the middle, do the little pitch out to Saquon.
He scores the touchdown, so that's fun. Chicago joined the
kick block party, right They got the blocked kick this

(04:44):
week against Las Vegas. Win that game at the end,
and I'm sorry, Raiders fans, that was on your coach.
I don't know what you were doing. You had what
fifty something seconds left as you crossed midfield, forty eight
seconds right around there as you crossed midfield, and you
end up with a forty eight yard kick or fifty

(05:06):
four yard kick something like that to try and win
the game. You should have been able to get that
ball with that much time left inside the twenty if
not score a touchdown, and you soft played it, let
the time run out, try to go for a game
winning field goal and watched it be blocked. They needed

(05:30):
to have more aggression on that drive. In my opinion,
I think they similar to the Packers not having good
clock management. At the end of the Dallas game, Vegas
did not have good clock management. In my opinion. They
needed to be more aggressive, They needed to get closer.
They needed to make it more of a guaranteed shot.
You're kicking further away, the trajectory of the ball is different.

(05:52):
The way they kicked through the ball is a little
different then when you're closer to the uprights, So why
not get as close as possible. Why not be as
aggressive as you can to try and get as close
as you can, and then if it is a field
goal right you're closer, odds go up instead of being

(06:14):
four or five to fifty five. You have to drive
the ball different at a lower trajectory. It would have
helped if you blocked on the right side of the
line to not let the end guy just come in.
But Chicago joins the block party that we've seen in
the last few weeks. It seems blocking kicks it's exciting.

(06:35):
You gotta love it. Right, Dallas blocks the kick or
returns the kick for two points, and green Bay coming
down at the end they played for the tie. It
seemed like it did not seem like they were playing
for the win. I get time was tight. There wasn't
a lot of the time left on the clock. You're

(06:56):
trying to make sure you don't leave them anytime if
you end up kicking a field goal, but you kicked
the game tying field goal in overtime when with your
weapons and your quarterback Wade, Jordan Love and these receivers
were talked about all off season, right myself included. I

(07:18):
thought Jordan Love was ready to take that next step.
He has a nice touch, picked up you know, the
Farv and Rogers throwing motion, and it looked like they're
playing for the tie and not the win. And you
ended a forty forty tie was the most points scored

(07:40):
in the tie since the merger. The score got me.
I think Dallas looked a good on offense. They gave
up forty on defense. Green Bay, who destroyed, beat up,
bullied Detroit in Week one, it has not been that

(08:01):
team against any everybody else so far this season. Michael
Parsons walked away pits that his team gave up forty
points to his former club defense for the Raiders other game,
we were just talking about Max Crosby. What's going on

(08:22):
with Max Crosby. Is it just me or does Max
Crosby look much smaller, much less muscular than he has
in the past. He looks skinny, like it's almost worrisome
to see Max Crosby slimming down that much. Maybe it's
a dietary change. Maybe there's a health thing going on.
I doubt that. I think it would be showing up

(08:44):
on you know, the injury reports, there's an illness, Like
the definition in his arms and even his legs seem slender.
He wasn't ever big and jacked and ripped. He was
never a heavy guy, right, but he had more of
the Aiden Hutchinson type bill. Now he's got more of

(09:05):
a Darren Waller type bill, right, Like that slender, tight
end instead of that kind of muscular defensive end. So
I'm going to be paid attention to Max Crosby. He
got paid. But something's off, something's not right there. He's

(09:25):
not really getting the double teams as much, at least
in the games or portions of games that I've watched
this year, and he's not beating those one on ones, right, Like,
something is aloof with Max Crosby. Maybe it's the system,
Maybe it's the way what they're asking him to do right. Aiden,
early in his career they were under he's not getting

(09:46):
so many sacks, and they had him dropping into coverage
and doing different things. So maybe that's all the impact
and the physical transformation is just a coincidence. Ah, but
Max looks very minimum right now talking about Aiden Hutchinson.

(10:07):
Like I said, Detroit went in. They put up thirty
plus on Cleveland's defense, which would stymy everybody so far
this year stymy it All running backs and running games this
year put up big numbers across the board, put up
over one hundred yards rushing combined for Sonic and Knuckles,
put up thirty four points against the league's best defense. Now,

(10:30):
they do come out of that game missing their two
starting corners, right, Both of those guys went down Tarry
and Arnold and Reid both go down in the game.
Read as of today has been placed on IR so
he's out for the next four weeks. Best chance scenario
he's back sometime after the bye week at the end
of October. They do start Aileen McNeil's clock today coming

(10:53):
back from his ACL which is crazy. It's ten months
out or something like that, not even a full ten
month out and they're starting his twenty one day window.
So Detroit's got some work to do. They've got a
Cincinnati team that everybody is considering. Everybody's talking Vegas is
predicting that they're gonna be able to easily handle. Look,

(11:15):
it's ANFL game. There is no easy right. Everybody comes
to earn their paycheck every Sunday. These guys all want
to compete. They all consider themselves at Cincinnati is not
coming out after losing to Denver by twenty eight points
or whatever it was, to just lay down for Detroit.

(11:36):
It's at home. They're gonna play with some pride. They're
going to feed the ball to Jamar Chase and Higgins
as much as they can. That running game is not
strong and the defense isn't doing much. This is going
to be a pass heavy game for Cincinnati against the
Detroit team that's down there number one, their number two
area Tarryon he did practice today, so they're expecting him

(11:58):
to be able to play the sweep. But shoulders banged up,
will he be as aggressive? We'll be trying to make
some of those tackles when he comes down into the
box the same way. Right, there's things that can go
Cincinnati's way in this game. If I'm Cincinnati, I probably
try and figure out a way to give Detroit Trey
Hendrickson after the game and just say go ahead and

(12:18):
take him home. Our season's wash. Browning's not taking us anywhere.
Rams and the Colts probably the game.

Speaker 2 (12:27):
Of the weekend right.

Speaker 1 (12:29):
To Uka Akua goes off to out Well has a
great game. Stafford has another great game before going into
playing San Francisco tomorrow night. And San Francisco looks to
be in trouble. Their defense is not performing great. They
got guys going on. My edge went On is not
playing this week. I don't remember where the guy's name

(12:49):
was right now. I just saw it a little bit
ago that he'll be down for the game. Their two
starting receivers are down for the game. Rock Berty's not
playing in the game. And this is a Rams team
that the evens is flying around making plays. The offense
is kind of doing what they want at will, and
they had a great game against the Colts, who face

(13:10):
it to this point in the season have been one
of the best teams in the NFL. Right, they had
an eighty eight yard reception by two two hat Well
Puka goes off for what he have one hundred and
seventy yards or something in the game, he's on pace
flat twenty one hundred receiving yards and one hundred and

(13:31):
eighty catches or something ridiculous, and then you get the
Giants win, The Falcons win, Jacksonville wins. Not many people
that I know had all three of them, if any
of them winning this past weekend. And then the Giants win.
Jackson Dark goes out, gets his first win as an

(13:53):
NFL player for the Giants, but at the same time
loses Malik Neighbors for the season with that ACL, so
his top target, his most talented guy, is now out.
Could that be a hindrance by all means, that's what
you would expect, but could also be a positive for
a young quarterback because now he's really gonna have to

(14:15):
rely on going through his progressions and trying to find
that open guy instead of just going, Okay, I know
I confruss Neighbors, but you know you can't. So if
you're young, look, I'm going I'm looking at him every play, right,
he's my number one. It might be the second read,
but I'm watching what that corner is doing. The whole.
Now you don't have to worry about that. The ball

(14:36):
distribution should be a little bit easier instead of trying
to make sure or trying to force the guy because
it just feel safe. So that should allow Dart to
develop a little bit more as well. Right, he played well,
wasn't you know, lighting the world on fire, but had
a good game to set first win. Brings us to

(14:57):
Week two picks Minnesota once again, they get to be
overseas two weeks in a row. Overseas. You know that
team is just gonna be itching to get back after
that game. We got bye weeks this week for Atlanta, Chicago,
Green Bay, and Pittsburgh, so those four teams not playing

(15:22):
early bye weeks. Never liked an early bye week, right,
I always liked bye weeks that kind of fell right
in the middle of the season. Detroit this year bye
week is in week eight right now. I know it's
not seventeen games, not perfectly in the middle of the season,
but I've always liked that week eight, seven to nine

(15:43):
bye week, right because now you've played a ton of games.
If guys are down, if guys are injured, they're probably
getting ready to come back from injury reserve. If it
wasn't season, you've got the second half push ahead of you.
In those early bye weeks, it always feels like when
that happens by the end of the season, that's when

(16:05):
you start sustaining those injuries and that's when you start
losing the guys and you really don't have that bye
week in there for people to get healthy. So I've
always preferred that middle of the year bye week. Later
in the year, you can make an argument for it.
Right those week ten, eleven, twelve, thirteen type bye weeks,
you can make an argument, especially if you're a healthy

(16:25):
team or relatively healthy. You get to that stage you
kind of want to give a guys some rest, so
you can make an argument. But middle of the season
was always kind of where as a fan, I'd like
to see the bye week hapen. So tomorrow night I
do have the Rams beating San Francisco. I think San
Francisco's in trouble. Like I said, number of injuries, teams

(16:47):
not firing on all cylinders. Ricky Piersall is a nice
target not playing tomorrow, but he shouldn't be your number
one or number two guy, right He's more of a
number three, number four receiver, and he's being asked to
do a little bit more than what he should in
my opinion. Now, he's a talented guy, Don't get me wrong.
Ricky Pierce all can play. He deserves to be on

(17:08):
an NFL roster. This is some guy who should be
on a couch somewhere, but him being one of your
top two targets with Jennings being your number one, when
really he's more of a solid number two and would
be a great number three on most teams. It's just
a different team with George Kittle not being in the
mix as much, with Perdy not having the same season.

(17:30):
Christian McCaffrey's kind of been doing his thing, but again,
not all the pieces are there for that offense to
really click the way Shantan normally has it clicking. Defensive
injuries right, boast is out. Like I said, they've got
another edge down. They don't have Greenlaw this year, still
trying to find their way. I think they'll figure it
out on Sleigh, I do, but right now, you got

(17:54):
to go to the ranks. Right they're clicking on all cylinders.
Offense is doing well, defense is hungry and flying around.
They've beaten Indianapolis. They had a really good game against
Philadelphia almost with that one. They beat Houston and Tennessee.
Not great opponents, but nice soft start to the season.

(18:14):
So I'll take La Tomorrow. I'm taking Carolina to beat Miami. Look,
it's just not Miami's year. I do expect that team
to continue to compete. We might see Miami trade some guys.
We might not see Mike McDaniel make it seventeen. They
had a good opportunity. I felt like to get right

(18:40):
a little bit against the Jets, and they did somewhat
until they lose Tyrek Hill. I think Carolina gets them
this week. Carolina has been playing okay football. I mean
they beat Jacksonville. Only team to beat Jacksonville here is
Carolina Panthers. So I'll take them, and then I guess

(19:02):
it's an upset. I mean, Miami's going one in three,
Caroline is one in three. I'll take Tampa Bay. Oh,
Tampa gave Philly everything you have, but Philly is specially
right now. Right they're coming off of that Super Bowl.
They don't have any hanging over. They're still playing really
solid football. So it's nice to see what Tampa is

(19:26):
doing right now. Detroit has them in a couple weeks
on Monday Night. But I will take Tampa Bay to
beat what is a tough Seattle team in Seattle. Mind you,
I'm taking them to win in Seattle because that's just
how I feel about Tampa Bay. They did miss Mike Evans,
I felt like this week against Philly, but that team competes.

(19:47):
I know Bucky Irvings out that could throw it off
quite a bit. Actually not having both of those guys.
I saw Bucky Irvings today actually that he's not going
to be playing this week. Actually, that being said, I'm
gonna do this while we're on the air. I'm changing

(20:08):
my pick now for that game. I'm gonna take Seattle
to beat Tampa Bay. Actually, not having that top receiver,
not having the top running back, I think they'll go
up there compete. But Seattle's defense is playing well, the
offense is playing well, San Barnold's playing well. I'll take
Seattle to win that game. Actually, I think Detroit beats

(20:32):
Cincinnati on the road this week. I think everybody in
the NFC East wins this week. So Dallas beats the Jets,
the Giants, Speaks beat the Saints. I think Philly beats Denver,
and I think Washington beats the Chargers. Let's face it,
Daniels probably plays this week. He did practice today. As
long as there's no setbacks, he's gonna play. And the Chargers,

(20:57):
I mean, you're coming off of a bad loss, so
you want to do better right you're at home. I
just think Washington's going to be a little too much
for this Chargers team because they they haven't been playing
in all cylinders right. They've kind of been good, They've
been better than their division. They started the season with
three straight division wins Kansas City, Vegas and Denver. Then

(21:21):
you go lose to the Giants, no show basically for
who the team is or who we thought the team
was in that Giants game. I'm going to take Baltimore
with or without Lamar to beat Houston because Houston's offensive
line leaves way more to be desired than there should be.

(21:41):
Minnesota loses this week again overseas to Cleveland. I think
Cleveland's defense is going to want to redeem themselves. Carson
Wentz is by all means still playing quarter back this week.
It sounds like JJ McCarthy they're bringing him along nicely,
but he's not quite ready to come back from that ankle.
I'll take Buffalo to be in England this week and

(22:04):
move to five and zero. I think Jacksonville goes into
Kansas City and gets that win. This week, I'll take
Indianapolis to beat the Raiders. They're just a better team
right now. Sorry Raiders fans, but Indianapolis is the better
team right now. You guys are competing, you're starting to
figure it out. Ashton Gentry had a really nice sixty

(22:25):
yard scamper this week, so you're starting to figure out
the running game. But you also lose your left tackle
this week, right close to Miller gets hurt. And then
I don't know why I'm doing this, but my upset
pick of the week I'm taking Tennessee to beat ariz
aon So those are the picks. Again. Don't use my
picks to gamble, don't come after me if they don't

(22:45):
work out for you. That's just how I see the
games going. It's all meant for conversation and debate. All right,
quarterback rankings, let's get into these real quick. The largest
rise that I had for week one should be a
no brainer. Daniel Jones moving up twenty three spots to seven, one, two, three, four, five, six, Yeah, seven,

(23:13):
he's played great, I have well. Let's Daniel Jones was
the highest person to move up. The largest fall was
Jadeen Daniels because he was injured and he hasn't played,
so other guys have been playing better since he's been out.
But he's good by all means playing this week, so
you might see him go back up in my rankings

(23:36):
after week eight. We have let's see one, two, three, four,
five guys that were not ranked prior that are now
on the list. We've got six people that stayed in
the spot they were at, and we have five guys
that are off the list right now. Russell Wilson for

(23:56):
the Giants, Joe Flacco for the Browns as he was
replaced by Dylan Gabriel. We found out today Joe Burrow's
out because of his injury, so he've got Jake Brownie in.
JJ McCarthy's still injured, and you have Carson Wentz playing
for him, and Rock Purty we now know is not
playing tomorrow night. So I had to move Mac Jones,

(24:20):
previously not ranked into the rankings. So here's the order
of the quarterbacks as I see them after Week four,
play top quarterback I have in the league Josh Allen,
followed by Jared Goff, Matthew Stafford, Patrick Mahomes, and Lamar

(24:40):
Jackson regardless of this team struggles. That's my top five, okay,
Josh Allen, Jared Goff, Matthew Stafford, Patrick Mahomes, Lamar Jackson.
Top five six to ten. I've got Baker Mayfield. I
think he's playing great quarterback right now, Daniel Jones at seven.

(25:00):
As I spoke about Shandon Hurts, Dak Prescott's playing really
well and moved him up seven slots this week, and
Justin Herbert stays at the tenth spot eleven through fifteen.
I've got Sam Barnold moving up a seventh spots for Seattle,

(25:21):
Aaron Rodgers, then Jordan Love, CJ. Stroud and Jordan Love.
You're lucky you're still there. There's a chance you're gonna
be moving down. You're not four spots this week, but
that's because other guys dropped so far, Jordan, and you're
on a bye week. Like when you come off that
bye week, those next three games, you better kill it

(25:42):
or you're gonna be moving down this list, then I
have CJ. Stroud, same thing for you, Sorry for your
offensive line being so bad, not having a running game
to speak of right now, and the team seemingly and
turmoil as they trade the best offensive lineman you had left,
they get rid of CJ. Gardner John's and it's a
struggle in Houston right now. But I've still got c J.

(26:04):
Stroud at what fourteen? And then Jayden Daniels is at fifteen,
so sixteen through twenty, Gino Smith dropping four spots, Bo Nicks,
Caleb Williams moving up six, Drake May moving up eight spots,
and Kyler Murray staying put twenty one through twenty five.

(26:28):
I've got Tua staying put, Trevor staying Trevor Lawrence staying put.
Carson Wentz, not previously ranked justin Field, moving up two
spots again only because other people fell, not because he
played so well. And Mac Jones previously not ranked twenty

(26:50):
six through thirty. Jake Browning with Cincinnati hasn't played horrible.
He's not Joe Burrow, but he hasn't been garbage, so
previously not ranked, I've got him at twenty six. Bryce
Young moves up one Michael PENNOCKX Junior moves up one,
cam Ward moves up two, and Jackson Dart they're at

(27:13):
thirty previously not ranked. That leaves Spencer Ratler, previously the
bottom number thirty two quarterback on my list, now at
thirty one. And that's only because the rookie Dylon Gabriel,
who's never seen the field, is now the thirty second
ranked quarterback on my list. So that's how I see it.
You know, leave comments, leave your list, tell me how

(27:36):
wrong I was. Would love the debate. Maybe I'll get
you on the show. With the website the link, maybe
we can get you on the show and we can
debate a little bit about what you think the order
of the quarterback should be. Or maybe we'll do a
top ten if I have somebody on the show to
talk about it. All right, Major League Baseball playoffs the

(27:57):
best part of the entire baseball season because it's to
freaking long. One hundred and sixty two games. That's just unbelievable, right,
ridiculously long games in action? Today, what do you got?

Speaker 2 (28:14):
San Diego beat the Cubs, Cleveland got one back against Detroit,
and Boston and the Yankees are in the top of
the first the Dodgers and the Reds playing later. Dodgers
went off last night. A couple of players with multi
home run games.

Speaker 1 (28:35):
Tigers and Guardians. Like I said, that series is tied
at one. Boston currently leads the Yankees one game to
nothing after their win. And then you've got yesterday, you've
got the Dodgers. Like I said, they went off last night.
Otani did his thing. We'll see what that looks like tonight.

(28:56):
I expect the Dodgers to get past the Reds to
be playing the Phillies and Uncus the Padre series. That
series is now tied at one game at pieces as well,
all of the teams are working their way on the
American League side to play either the Mariners or the
Blue Jays, those top two seeds, or the Phillies and
the Brewers. On the National league side, everybody's given it.

(29:18):
They're all playoffs is different. We know that about as
football fans. The playoffs and plup. Baseball is the same.
Hockey is the same, Basketball is the same. The playoffs
make it special. It makes more fun if you're not
at Typically somebody who watches baseball turn on a playoff game.
You don't have to watch the full seven game five
game series, right, just turn on one, turn on the

(29:40):
game that decides. Right, if they get to a three
to win lead, maybe watch the game, see if that
team wins. If it gets to a game seven, you
should definitely win. That's what NFL fans love about our playoffs.
It's one and done. Everything matters. You get that way
in a baseball game, and man, the tension, it's palpable.

(30:03):
You can taste it, you can feel it through the
TV as you watch the game. So that's where we're
at with the playoffs. I really thought the Tigers were
going to do better this year with the way they
first three quarters of the season went, but it's been
rough for them the last month and a half. Turn
Bull had a good start yesterday, didn't quite get what

(30:27):
they needed today as Cleveland finishes out the game earlier
six to one. On the WNB side of the action, again,
like I said, they are now set for the finals.
We have the Phoenix Mercury and the Las Vegas Aces
in the finals starting on Friday, Game one in Las Vegas.

(30:49):
They've won two of what the last four WNB titles
something like that. Vegas has didn't look good part way
through the season. They went fifteen to sixteen straight. To
end the season, Asia gets her what first MVP, her
fifth Defensive Player of the Year award. Indiana says, wait

(31:12):
a second, we are so much more than Caitlyn Clark
and puts together a nice season. Six seed in the playoffs,
upsets the Atlanta Dream take Vegas to overtime in game five.
They're like, oh, we're putting you on notice. We get
the shooter back. We're coming for the hole league, right

(31:35):
Thompson and uh, Phoenix, she's putting on an MVP caliber
playoff Offisher Collier is the face of women's basketball right now.
I thought she probably should have been the MVP. But
you end the season the way Vegas did, I get right.
They go, Asia Wilson, Phoenix beats defending champions, they beat

(32:02):
the Minnesota Links, who is the number one seed, and
they awaited Vegas or in the end, they finished their
season or their series in four, they didn't have to
go to a fifth game again. If you don't watch
the WNBA, pay these women some respect. Go find out
what's going on with the game. Find out how these
women are not being treated properly. By the league. Now

(32:26):
they're being looked at as less than then watch the
product they're putting on a court. It's worth it, it's
good support it. So I'll be tuning into that on Friday. Baseball.
I'll probably tune in more when the World Series has
been decided what those two combatants will be Week five,

(32:47):
I'll be watching this week starting tomorrow night. But that's
the show for today. I'm glad to be back. Thanks
for listening. We'll shuffle on to the next time putants