Season 3 Episode 9: Patriots Debacle in London, Tua Gets Set to Return, Week 7 Recap & Week 8 Picks

On this episode, John and Randall discuss some of the best games (Vikings/Lions) and worst games (Patriots/Jaguars) of the Week 7 slate. They also take a moment to discuss Tua's return to the field and what it could mean for his future. They also play all your favorite games, with everyone's favorite host dominating this week ;)

Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:21):
What is going on? Everybody? Welcome, Welcome, Welcome back to
another edition of the John and Randall Football Experience. My
name is John Avino, and joining me from Florida, gracious
enough to grace us with his presence between men's league
softball games is my main man, Randall, Minau, Randall.

Speaker 2 (00:40):
How you doing tonight, John, fantastic man.

Speaker 3 (00:45):
Any night I get to be active, play some softball, basketball, football,
and Henny night he gets to talk to you.

Speaker 2 (00:53):
That's a winning my book. Bid.

Speaker 1 (00:56):
Well, look, I've been playing some softball too. It's starting
to get a little here. But you're definitely more entrensient
than I am. Every time I text you, You're like,
hold on, I'm playing softball. And I thought all you
did was work, But apparently all you do is play softball.

Speaker 3 (01:11):
I do both, John, I mean I work all day,
I gotta do something fun at night.

Speaker 2 (01:15):
I'd play softball six out of seven.

Speaker 3 (01:18):
Nights a week. Okay, so I'm dedicated to the game.

Speaker 1 (01:22):
Yeah, yeah, you're honing in on your craft. Well, anyway,
it was a big weekend of football this past week.
It's hard to believe that we're already through seven weeks
of the NFL it's a regular season here, so we're
nearing in a couple of weeks the halfway mark of
the regular season. You know, one more weekend of games
in October here, which we'll get going with my rams

(01:45):
and the Vikings on Thursday Night football. But Randall, there's
plenty to talk about coming out of the week going
into next week, So let's start with quick hits. Hits. Well, undoubtedly, Randal,
the biggest story this week is that to a tug
of Iloa has been cleared to return to practice and
to return to game. He apparently is going to play

(02:07):
this weekend for the Dolphins on Sunday. And you know,
I have to ask, because we talked about it when
it first happened, but what are your thoughts about tuatuga
Iloa returning to the field this weekend against the Cardinals
and the press conference he gave this week.

Speaker 3 (02:24):
You know, dude's dedicated to game. He loves the game,
and I don't blame him for wanting to return. You know, hey,
I get it and understand those concussions are crucial to
your health, but he wants to play. I support his
decision to play. Maybe he I would have probably thought
about putting on the Guardian cap if I.

Speaker 1 (02:45):
Was him, Yeah, but I'm not.

Speaker 3 (02:47):
That's his decision to do so, to play without it
and pray to God that he does.

Speaker 2 (02:54):
Not get hit in the headquete. I mean, that's all
you can do.

Speaker 1 (02:58):
I think some of the stuff he said was kind
of irresponsible. You know, he talked about how there's a
little bit of a gray area on some of this
stuff later on in life, and you know, I don't
think it's it's a very big gray area at this point. Yeah,
I don't think that every football player ends up with
ct or hardcore CTE. But I do think that there's
been a correlation proven between repeated head traumas and long lasting,

(03:22):
you know, long term effects. So I you know, if
he wants to make the decision to keep playing, that's
him and his family's decision and on him and and
people close to him. But quite frankly, I think the
way he kind of talked about it was the part
that was striking to me, because I don't think he's unaware.
I just think he's it's almost like he's in denial

(03:42):
of some sort like, yeah, you know what, this isn't
gonna hurt me or it shouldn't affect me as long
as I am fine. I mean, this guy's had at
least three major concussions that we know about. Yeah, might
before Yeah.

Speaker 2 (03:56):
And the build off of that, John is why not
just be truthful?

Speaker 3 (04:01):
Why not just say, Hey, look, I understand I've had
some major concussions. Yeah, I and yeah, I know that
continue to play is a risk, but it's a risk
I'm willing to take because one, I do love the game, right,
you know, I love playing the game. I want to
continue to play the game, and I'm going to continue
to take as many precautions as possible, right.

Speaker 1 (04:23):
I Mean he did say that to some degree, but
you know he did. It was more so kind of
in response to you know, the critics or the reporters,
whatever you want to call them, and their questions. But
you know, ultimately, obviously I'm not I'm not wishing Ill
will towards him or anything. I hope that he has
a successful career in a life where he doesn't have
any of these issues later down the road. But I

(04:44):
just think it's, uh, you know, we knew this day
would come sometime when he was he was going to
come back, because obviously he didn't retire right away, and
he said he intended to come back, so we knew
it was coming at some point. So I guess all
we can do is just kind of see how it
all plays out long term and hope that nothing like
this happens again to him, because again, he did get
through all of last year without a major injury, so

(05:05):
you know, he proved that he can stay on the field,
but it was one year and then all of a sudden,
he had another major issue right away. So hopefully that's
the end of it for him, but we'll have to
wait and see. Randall. All right, so let's talk about
some of these games from this past week, because there
was a there was a lot going on. So the
Broncos kind of whooped on the Saints on Thursday, and

(05:26):
I don't think we need to spend a ton of
time on that other than to mention Sean Payton got
a tribute, and I think Drew Brees was there getting
his number retired as well or maybe inducted into the
Saints Hall of Fame. And it was a big moment
for Sean Payton, but not so much for the Saints
current team that was on the field that night. They
looked awful. You know, not much to say there about

(05:48):
Spencer Ratler's performance. But then you get to Sunday morning
and Randall, I, you know, I woke up. I slept
in a little bit because I don't get to do
that too often these days. So I woke up. You know,
I think it was like nine to thirty, which for
me is pretty late these days. And I flipped on
the game, maybe ten. You have to grab some coffee,
and I'm looking them, seeing, okay, Patriots. They got a

(06:09):
little lead on the board here. Not bad. And as
you know last week, Randal, who did I pick the Patriots?
I was all over them. I thought they would have
a good game, and they were up what ten nothing
in this game?

Speaker 2 (06:19):
At one point they were up ten zip to start
the game, John, what happened? Just being not a great
football team happened?

Speaker 1 (06:32):
Man?

Speaker 2 (06:32):
I mean, I really am.

Speaker 3 (06:33):
I like what I'm seeing with Drake May I mean,
he doesn't say he's really shown that he can work
the ball well down the field. Still some questionable play calls.
But end of the day, that offensive line is a liability.
It's got awful, John, And when you look at it
and you think about it. It's gonna be three to

(06:55):
four years before there even contenders again. And when I
say contenders, I'm not even talking about for a Super Bowl.
I'm just talking about contending for like a playoff. Berth
just trying to get into the playoffs. Man, They're gonna
have a top three pick next year, and what we
do with it, I don't know. Do we trade down

(07:16):
because for a number one picker, number two pick, and
Travis Hunter is projected to go number one, But do
we need that kind of guy?

Speaker 2 (07:24):
We need offensive lineman, you know.

Speaker 3 (07:26):
So there's there's that's discussion for later on, but it's
gonna be.

Speaker 2 (07:30):
A while before they do anything.

Speaker 3 (07:33):
Fun fact, John, Jaguars ran the ball literally nineteen times
in a row before a pass.

Speaker 2 (07:41):
Yeah.

Speaker 1 (07:41):
I saw that in the second half, right.

Speaker 3 (07:43):
Yep, in the second half, nineteen times in a row,
and couldn't stop it.

Speaker 2 (07:47):
Knowing I couldn't stop it, John.

Speaker 1 (07:49):
I know, Yeah, I mean I was. I was overall obviously.
You know, you look at this game and you say,
two teams that you don't really think are going very
far this year. Jaguars maybe had a lot of promise
and aren't doing anything with it. But from the Jaguars perspective,
it was a game they had to win to have
any semblance of hope this year, which I still don't

(08:10):
think they do. But they are one of the worst
teams in the league so far the first six weeks
in the season. They absolutely had to come out and
win a game Week seven, but they obviously found themselves
in a whole early and all I could think to
myself was this Drake May kid, He's actually played really
well for a guy who has been thrown into a
fire like he has. Because we talked a lot about
this line and you just mentioned it again, not being

(08:33):
ready to protect a guy like him because we saw
what was happening with Persett. But to Drake May's credit,
I mean, he's done pretty much everything you could expect
him to do in these circumstances where he doesn't have
a big playmaker and he doesn't have an offensive line
that's gonna give him much time. And another fun fact
for you, since we're doing that today, Drake May was

(08:54):
actually the he tied from Andre Stevenson as the leading
rusher for the Patriots this weekend. They both only had
eighteen yards, but that tells you something right now about
the Patriots rushing attack, which I think over the last
few games has been historically bad. I just think that,
you know, like you said, it could be a few
years for this team. But I think the bigger question
that's coming into a focus now for you know, especially

(09:16):
being in Boston and hearing the pundits talk about it,
is is Gerrod Mayo gonna survive this one year as
the head coach? Because I thought for sure that he
was going to, you know, be there at least a
few years, because Bob Kraft had given him this job,
not even this offseason, but maybe years ago. And it's
been so bad that you can't help but question, you know,

(09:39):
is this guy gonna last? And it really came to
focus this week when he went out and publicly said
that his team played a little soft, So it's just like,
you know, you can't have that. And then I'm sure
you heard Belichick and what he said too and criticizing,
criticizing the team and coming on I think it was
on the Manning cast or maybe Pat McPhee or maybe
both when he said something to the effect of, you know,

(10:01):
it's the same players they had last year and their
defense was the top ranked rushing defense in the league,
and this year they've fallen way down, which is a
not so subtle way to say, hey, this team was
way better when I was the coach.

Speaker 3 (10:14):
Yeah, he's taking shots. He's trying to break some stuff
up there in New England. He's trying to like send
a message to other owners and GM's like, hey, come
get me Felger and Masber ripping.

Speaker 2 (10:25):
Them a new one.

Speaker 1 (10:26):
I know. I heard it.

Speaker 3 (10:28):
After Tuesday off after that it was it was funny.
But I think I think John, they'll give him two years.

Speaker 1 (10:38):
You don't think this will be it for him? What
if they what if they and and this is I think.

Speaker 2 (10:45):
They'll get rid of Alex help the offensive coordinate.

Speaker 1 (10:49):
Yeah, what if they don't win another game? Like and
I'm not even saying that like fictitiously, Like what if
they go one in sixteen?

Speaker 2 (10:56):
I mean.

Speaker 3 (10:58):
They're going to go one in sixteen, John, And you
really think they're gonna win another game?

Speaker 1 (11:02):
I don't know. I thought I thought they were gonna
win this week. I thought they were gonna win this
week because I thought they were a better team than Jaguars.
But I was wrong.

Speaker 3 (11:11):
I thought I thought you've been watching it. I mean,
I wish they'd played the Panthers. Then we'd really be
seeing who the worst team in the NFL is. But no, no,
they're they're they're gonna hold him on one more year.

Speaker 2 (11:23):
Go from there. Got to get a new offensive coach
in there.

Speaker 3 (11:26):
I would love to see Josh McDaniels come back, as
OC would love to see him come back. I mean,
he's I honestly think he's a guru as an offensive coordinator.

Speaker 2 (11:37):
Guru.

Speaker 1 (11:38):
Don't you feel like they kind of promised the job
of the wrong guy. I mean, nothing against Drod Mayo,
but don't you feel like it would be better off
if Josh mcdaims was the heir to the to them,
which I think he was at one point obviously, but
then he left and kept Belichick or whatever.

Speaker 3 (11:51):
But went to Vegas and then it was kind of
cut after Vegas. But yeah, and he came back for No,
he went to Vegas right after his Broncs Jones the Broncos.
He went to the Broncos after his first year with
Mac Jones. Yeah, okay, but it's it's kind of weird

(12:14):
how he's just not been able to be a great
head coach when he's a great offensive coordinator.

Speaker 1 (12:19):
I guess, yeah, So I wasn't.

Speaker 2 (12:20):
I wasn't.

Speaker 1 (12:21):
I didn't try to I wasn't trying to confuse you.
He did go to the Raiders after his first year
with mac Jones. He was the Broncos head coach back
in the day with Tebow, and then he went to
the Rams. He went to the Rams for a year
in twenty eleven, and then he returned to the Patriots
in twenty twelve. What was he was the OC for
the Rams in twenty eleven, I did not know that,

(12:43):
which I remember fondly. I think Sam Bradford was the
quarterback back then. That was coming off of his head
coaching stint, which was not successful with the Broncos less
than two seasons. The very next year, he returned to
the Patriots, where he remained with the Patriots until twenty
twenty one, mac Jones' rookie year, and then after that
he departed for the Raiders. So he was with Cam

(13:03):
Newton and mac Jones and then he was gone after that.
So but yeah, I mean, maybe they'll bring him back
at some point. But this whole Drodmeo thing is off
to an interesting start. Other games in the one o'clock window.
There were some really good ones. There was some really
big blowouts. So a couple of the blowouts, I'll give
you a real quick The Eagles beat the Giants twenty

(13:25):
eight to three. I'm pretty sure Eagles fans were happy
to see this. Saquon Barkley ran all over his old
team at one hundred and seventy six yards and a touchdown.
You know, nothing of real note from the Giant side
in this game. I think one thing we continue to
see is that Daniel Jones continues to be one of
the more highest paid, maybe the highest overpaid player in

(13:47):
the last several years. Of course, his contract will run
out after this year, but it's absurd that he's making
forty million dollars to go out there and look like
that every week. You know, I could probably do a
better job, but that's neither here nor there. The Bills
beat the Titans pretty good, Randall. That was a nice
twenty four point win for them. Who I know, we
were on the Bill side on the spread on this one.

(14:08):
We both picked them minus nine and a half in
our weekly picks. So you know, the Bills. You think
right now that it's them the Ravens that are the
elite of the AFC.

Speaker 3 (14:21):
Yeah, I mean, I think that adding Amari Cooper was
a huge, huge win. There's that viral video going around
Josh Allen audible that out of a play and then
I think it was Coleman tell.

Speaker 2 (14:38):
Telling Omar, hey run this route.

Speaker 3 (14:41):
You ran it and boom seem up the middle, boom
laser of a throw and for a touchdown. I think
he's gonna be utilized so much better than how he
was utilized in Cleveland.

Speaker 1 (14:53):
Yeah, and the funny part about what you just mentioned
that video is, I mean, I'm sure you saw everything,
but the funny part is that he Amari Cooper first
like puts his arms out like he's struggling, like what
am I supposed to do here? And Kean Coleman's like
telling him without really telling him because they're standing right
next to each other in the formation and there's obviously
defensive backs there. But did you see They asked Coleman

(15:15):
about it at the press conference and he was just like, no, no,
he knows the place. Yeah, it's so funny because he's
like standing up for his teammate, even though the video
is clear as day that He's pointing out, like, no,
go this way. So I thought that was pretty funny.

Speaker 2 (15:29):
No, it was great.

Speaker 3 (15:30):
I think I honestly think with this acquisition the Bills
after a couple of those losses, definitely, And I get it,
Tennessee not a great team deep defensively pretty decent, right,
but I think that this team now for Buffalo, they're
they're AFC contenders.

Speaker 1 (15:50):
AFC contenders now, yeah, they have to be right near
the top of the list at this point based on
what they've been able to do. You know, for a
good amount of the year so far. Are when you
look at the Texans Packers game, Rand, we were treated
to a pretty good game here. You know, it was
Houston was leading very early than green Bay took a lead.

(16:12):
It was back and forth throughout the second quarter and
then into the second half as well. You have the
two field goals from the two teams within the last
two minutes of the game. So this was kind of
an interesting one because this is two different conferences, obviously
battling with two of the better teams that you look
at and say they should be in the playoffs this year.
You know, what did you make of this game and

(16:33):
did you enjoy seeing these two perennial teams that could
end up meeting maybe down the line in a potential
Super Bowl. Did you like seeing these two teams play
each other in this good game on Sunday?

Speaker 2 (16:45):
Yeah?

Speaker 3 (16:45):
I mean, John, who do you think that the game
was as accurate as it could have been?

Speaker 1 (16:52):
As accurate as it could have been in what sense?
Like the result of it? Yeah? No, because CJ. Stroud
didn't have a very big day. He didn't really do
a whole lot offensively. It was really on Joe Mixon,
who carried the ball a ton, and obviously Jordan Love
threw a couple of picks as well. So there's I
think there was missed opportunities on both sides. But I

(17:15):
also think that there's something to be said about two
teams that expect to be in the playoffs playing each
other pretty tightly. And you know, I don't think it
was maybe the as good of a game as the
Lions Vikings game, which we'll talk about in a second, maybe,
but it still to me had the feel of like
a late season playoff atmosphere.

Speaker 2 (17:35):
Yeah, I mean, just strou couldn't even throw for one
hundred yards.

Speaker 1 (17:38):
No, he couldn't.

Speaker 2 (17:39):
Yeah, But I do think.

Speaker 3 (17:41):
That this really goes to show either Packers GM is
great at what he does, Matt LeFleur is great at
what he does. I mean, they held on Jordan Love
for what three years on the bench. Again, all this
criticism for taking a first round pick, and I understand
if I was Aaron Rodgers, I would have been pissed too,

(18:01):
because he was still playing well and they could have
added a piece to help. But they're looking like geniuses now.
Jordan Love's playing well, they're winning games. They're five and
two in a tough division. So once they start playing
division games, it's gonna be a blood bath over there.
But I think this win says more and again it

(18:24):
was on the road for Houston, but I think that
Green Bay is a force to be reckoned with. They
they are serious, they mean business. The Texans, they're in
an easy division right now, but the Packers, the Packers
are a team to watch out for him my book.

Speaker 1 (18:43):
I think that ultimately, when you look at this game,
the biggest thing is is kind of what you just said,
that division the Packers playing is so tough, that this
was the kind of game that when you just look
at these two teams divisions, you know, the Texans AFC
South compared to the Packers and North. It was a
much bigger win for the Packers because the Texans they're

(19:05):
probably not gonna need as many wins to win their
division or get in the playoffs as the Packers will
in the NFC North. So these out of division games
against other tough opponents, you have to find a way
to win as many of them as you can. And
obviously the Packers did so good on them because they
get a big one here. They moved to five and two.
Two of their division mates, which we were just talking about,

(19:26):
the Vikings and the Lions. Randall, this was a really
good game, you know, it kind of had the weird
feeling of swinging back and forth multiple times where the
Vikings got up ten and then the twenty one straight
points from the Lions in the second quarter, and then
Minnesota you know, found themselves down eleven again going to
the fourth quarter. They battle all the way back to
take a lead, and then ultimately you get the game

(19:48):
winning field goal from Detroit. So the Vikings pick up
their first loss the season, and now you have the
Packers who are five and two, who have not had
the buy yet, but both of these teams are now
five and one. So you know, this Lions Vikings game,
I think kind of lived up to the billing. But
what did you make of it when it was all
said and done. We surprised the Lions found a way

(20:09):
to pull it out after the Vikings came back. We
surprised the Vikings even mounted a comeback. Or are you
thinking that the Vikings are more legit than we originally thought,
because honestly, I thought they'd start to fade at some point.
They seem to keep putting up good performances.

Speaker 3 (20:22):
Yeah, John, they're putting up good performances right now, the Vikings. Okay,
But then the Vikings always play well at home.

Speaker 2 (20:30):
Okay.

Speaker 3 (20:31):
They were beating in primetime Aaron Rodgers at home a
couple of years ago. You know, So just Sam Darnold
did well, He had one pick that was crucial. I mean,
he played well. Aaron Jones ran the ball well for
them as well. All I think is it was two
good teams matching up. It came down to a last
second field goal for Detroit to win the game. So

(20:54):
if you're the if you're the Vikings, you can't look
at this as a bad loss at all.

Speaker 2 (20:59):
You know, this was a hard fought win.

Speaker 3 (21:02):
I do think though, it shows this Lions team they're ferocious.

Speaker 2 (21:10):
They are ferocious, let me tell you. I'm just.

Speaker 3 (21:15):
When you talk about a team that was in the dumps,
the depths of hell, like this team for the longest
time was the laughing stock of the NFL. They could
not win games. It'd be a miracle if they won
two to three games in a year, John, for literally
like ten years straight. I know, and I remember, And

(21:38):
now all of a sudden, Okay, you bring in the
new coach. First year, doesn't start out great, second part
of the year they win the eight games in a
row at the end of the season, just miss getting
into the playoffs. I'm not sure if that was part
of year one or year two. But then year two

(21:59):
progress year year.

Speaker 1 (22:01):
Two, because year one they only won like one.

Speaker 3 (22:03):
Game, correct, you saw then year two, this you're on
and on the eight game win streak. Year three. What
we just saw last year. Now you're in year four
and they got young guys underpig guys. They're they're not
going to be stopped.

Speaker 2 (22:23):
John.

Speaker 3 (22:24):
If they stay healthy, who's gonna stop them. And it's
still mind boggling to me that the division. Everybody in
the division is over five hundred with the winning record.

Speaker 1 (22:34):
Yeah, well that's that's uh. That's also you know, the
Bears didn't play this week, but that's part of it
is that everybody, including them, has kind of played their
best and they haven't had a chance to really beat
on themselves yet. But the Lions, I mean, you know,
you just mentioned some of the story of how they
got to this point. You can't not mention Jared Goff

(22:54):
because I mean, what this guy has done is pretty
remarkable when it comes to completion percentage. The first two
games this season, he was eighteen for twenty eight and
then thirty four for fifty five. Okay, those games were
in September. The first one was against the Rams, the
overtime win. The second one was against the Bucks, the
only game the Lions have lost so far. Okay, so

(23:15):
he was eighteen for twenty eighties thirty four for fifty five.
So in those two games he had a total of
thirty one incompletions. Okay. In the four games the Lions
have played since then, do you want to guess how
many total incompletions. Jared Goff has.

Speaker 3 (23:29):
Had oh you had three incompletions last game, probably two
or three again the week before, and then he was
perfect the week before that. So I mean, it's under ten.

Speaker 1 (23:46):
It's not under ten because I did ask for four weeks,
but it would be exactly ten if you were just
talking about the last three games. So he's in the
last four games, he's had fifteen incompletions total. Okay, that
totally and the only loss of the season the Lions
have he had twenty one incompletion because he threw the
ball fifty five times and completed thirty four passes. But

(24:07):
he has been incredibly economical. Right now, is completion percentage
of somewhere between seventy three and seventy four percent. The
all time record is Drew Brees at seventy four point
four percent. So I think if Goff continues to trend
the way he's trending, you're talking about a guy who
could be in the MVP conversation. We're also could set
a record for completion percentage in a single season. And

(24:28):
the craziest part about this to me is that he's
doing all this on a team that, yeah, they have
a couple guys who you look at and say, okay,
Monross Saint Brown's talent and Samuel Portas talent even though
he hasn't really had a great start to the year.
But the receivers around him aren't necessarily bona fide studs
number ones and twos, and the running backs are the
guys that you look at that offense and say, those

(24:48):
are the work courses of this offense. So Goff is
literally throwing the ball about twenty to twenty five times
game right now, and he's completing eighty percent of those
passes on any given night right now and making them
most of his opportunities.

Speaker 3 (25:02):
Everybody's averaging over ten yards of catch though, John Like,
if you just look at last game, everybody was over.
The lowest amount was eleven and that was Jamier Gibbs.

Speaker 1 (25:14):
Yeah, yeah, I mean, it's a great thing to be
this Lions offense right now because they found a way
to really maximize Jared Goff's potential. And I mean he's
playing out of his mind right now. So between that
perfect game and the other couple of games and he's
played recently, I know they only almost cough this one
up defensively, But the Lions right now, to me, when

(25:34):
you look at the NFC as a whole, I don't
know that there's a scarier team than the Lions because
you haven't gotten the effort from the forty nine ers
that you thought you were gonna get this year. There's
nobody else out west, there's nobody else out east. The
South is what it is. I look at the Lions
and say, why can't they be the best team in
the NFC right now based on the way they've played
and specifically the way GoF has played. So I don't

(25:57):
know they're gonna be a tough out later on the
season for sure.

Speaker 3 (26:00):
Oh and yeah, you know, you lose one of your
best defensive players two weeks ago, but there's still there's
still a tough team.

Speaker 1 (26:11):
By the way. Jamis and Williams got suspended too for PDS,
so he'll be out. Yeah, he'll be out for two games.
He had he was, of course the one who got
suspended for the gambling thing before last year. In this
six games, so he's sees all over the map, but
he'll be out for the next two. So we'll have
to rely on other guys. Two other NFC hopeful contenders.

(26:33):
The Seahawks and the Falcons met in Atlanta, and I
gotta speed. I gotta be honest with you. I was
kind of surprised to see how flat of a game
the Falcons came out and played. You know, I know
that it goes beyond just our picks, but you had
the Seattle Seahawks plus three. I had the Falcons minus three.
I thought the Falcons at home would take care of business,
and boy was I wrong. It was a twenty point

(26:54):
win the other way. So what were some of your
thoughts about the way the Seahawks came into Atlanta and
just took care of business?

Speaker 3 (27:02):
John, The way they came into Atlanta, tick at This
was kind of crazy, okay. And one of the reasons
why it's crazy is these teams don't generally play well,
the West Coast teams coming over to the East Coast
and Geno Smith it's just been bawling John, Like, I

(27:24):
don't know how to explain it. Since he's gone to
Seattle has just been a resurrection to his career.

Speaker 1 (27:31):
Not just since he got there because he was behind Russ,
but since Pete Carroll made him the starter and they
traded us.

Speaker 3 (27:38):
And and the way the division is now with Seattle
in LA, I mean, they're looking like they're gonna be
the division winner.

Speaker 1 (27:48):
Yeah, I'm still early, but yeah, yeah.

Speaker 2 (27:53):
I'm just not surprised.

Speaker 1 (27:55):
You're not surprised. Yeah, Gino Smith is leading the league
in passing yards right now. He has nineteen hundred of them. Now,
granted with that nineteen hundred his right now, his court
has touchdown to interception ratio is eight to six. So
he's playing well. He's throwing the ball a lot. But
I also think part of it is that he is
being given a ton of opportunity to throw the football,

(28:18):
which you know, some of these other teams are not
gonna be calling as many passing plays as the as
the Seahawks would. I'm trying to see his total attempts
numbers this year if I could find it here. Yeah,
So he's also had the most attempts this season by
twenty three. The next closest person is Aaron Rodgers, believe
it or not, who's twenty three attempts behind you know,

(28:38):
Smith this season. So this point all being that it's
great that he's having a fine season. So far. They're
four and three. I think the NFC West is still
a pretty wide open division right now because the Cardinals
have played well. The forty nine ers have really not
played well at all. They've left the door wide open.
Brock Purty through three picks, which we'll talk about in
a few minutes against the Chiefs. The Seahawks have played

(29:00):
Okada four and three rams, obviously not great right now.
If they don't win this week, it's the season's probably over.
But that all being said, I think, like you need
to start you're getting production from him, but I think
you need to start seeing the ball in the end zone.
And they did get that finally this week. He did
throw two touchdowns, He didn't have any picks. He threw
over two hundred yards. So I'm saying that this is

(29:21):
the game that they hope that he plays like that
the rest of the season, you know what I mean,
Because the yards are nice, but we got to find
a way to get in the end zone as well.

Speaker 3 (29:30):
Yeah, I mean he only threw for two hundred yards
this game. Yeah, but two touchdowns, zero picks. Like you said,
that's the key is and that's for everybody. Limiting the
amount of interceptions you're throwing.

Speaker 1 (29:42):
Look at look at the other guy on the other side,
Kirk Cousins, who's had a couple of really good games lately.
But he threw two picks in this game and obviously
didn't overcome them. So you know, that's that's the way
it goes. Bengals Browns. This was an interesting game because
they against the Bengals, you know, if they played with
their food, so to speak a little bit. He only
won by a touchdown, given a late touchdown from Jameis

(30:03):
Winston to David Njoku. And of course, the big storyline
coming out of this game is that Deshaun Watson is
going to be out for the season. He tores achilles
much like Aaron Rodgers' injury last year. It's kind of
what it looked like if you happen to see it.
And of course this is the big storyline for a
lot of reasons, Randall, but maybe the most interesting storyline.
And I you know, I do admit that I'm looking

(30:25):
a little bit beyond the injury right here, and I
don't know if it'd be that easy to do this
for somebody who is not, you know, the same type
of guy that we've come to know Deshaun Watson to
be the last two years or three years, but I
think that this could legitimately be the end of his
NFL career because he's been so bad for them since

(30:46):
they made him the starter and gave him all that money.
I'm pretty confident, and I've read the language that an
injury to this, to this, you know, to him, is
a way to get out of the contract for them.
So I'm I'm pretty sure that if he doesn't come back,
it's probably because they're gonna make the choice to not
have him back and he doesn't come back to the Browns.

(31:06):
I don't see him ever coming back to the NFL.

Speaker 3 (31:11):
Yeah, nobody's ever gonna touch or come within a mile
of that. Okay, I'm honestly shocked that the Browns went
to DTR before Jamis Jamis play.

Speaker 1 (31:22):
Let me just give a little clarity before you get
into this. It's only because this game. It was only
because Jameis Winston was apparently banged up. And when you
list a guy as your third quarterback, he can only
play if the other guy gets banged up. So DTR
came into the game, but then he also got hurt.
So James Winston was the quote unquote emergency quarterback and

(31:43):
came into the game. Jamis will be starting for them
going forward. But that's why that happened.

Speaker 3 (31:48):
Correct, correct, But I'm excited to see him play. You
know what I want to see. I want to see
the Browns make a little bit of a comeback. Okay,
I want to see them do something spectacular.

Speaker 2 (32:00):
Shubb just got back. He did so he didn't.

Speaker 1 (32:03):
Now now they're America Is Dartling, you're saying, because they
have Chubb back and and the U and Watson's out.

Speaker 3 (32:10):
Yeah, I mean David a jok who's been a beast
for them every time he's been playing when he's been
able to stay healthy. Right, So he had a big
game last week. But I want to see the Browns
have a little dog.

Speaker 2 (32:21):
In them, you know.

Speaker 3 (32:21):
I want to see that dog pound out of him.
And I think the city's gonna rally around Jamis. I
think the players are gonna rally around Jamis. It just
thinks that, Yeah, they did get rid of Amari Cooper
as his transitions happening, but now it's time for Jerry
Judy to actually step up and be a wide receiver

(32:42):
threat that everybody thought coming into the league he was
gonna be well.

Speaker 1 (32:46):
I mean, I look at Jerry Judy and I say,
this guy must be thinking, you gotta be kidding me,
because he got drafted into a weird situation in Denver
and now he gets traded here where he probably probably
had a new lease on life, and then look what's
happening seven weeks into the season. So he must be thinking,
are you kidding me? Right now? But maybe Jamis Winston
will finally be the quarterback that can get him the.

Speaker 3 (33:06):
Ball to be determined. I mean, he starts by running
better routes, catching the ball. There's a lot of things
that he could be doing himself to be better. But hey,
we've known Jamis to be able to sling the rock.
He has a good defense, decent weapons around him. This
is his time to shine.

Speaker 1 (33:25):
Yeah, Yeah, we'll see how much he's able to shine
once he gets out there. Next week, he was announced
as the Week eight starter for the Browns. The Colts
beat the Dolphins sixteen to ten. Kind of a crappy
game on both sides. Anthony Richardon did return, but it
was a field goal fest for the most part. Other
than a Tyler Goodson run for the Colts. You know,
Tyler Huntley did throw a touchdown this game to John

(33:47):
new Smith. However, this would be the last game that
he'll play until two A Toulo comes back, and obviously
if TWA gets hurt again, then we'll might see Tyler
Huntley again. But two is playing on returning. So no
big takeaway from me from this Dolphins Colts game, Randall,
But the Colts are kind of surprisingly four and three
right now. If you look at the league and you

(34:07):
just kind of think that the Colts are not one
of the better teams, how about this little tidbit. They're
four and three and they've not lost a game this
season by more than one score.

Speaker 3 (34:21):
That's that's a solid team right there. I mean they
were neck connect with the Dolphins, which is a little
bit of a shocker.

Speaker 2 (34:27):
Yeah, And every time I love every time Tim Boyle
plays for the Dolphins because his college stats always somehow managed.

Speaker 3 (34:36):
To come out where the dude only threw like one
touchdown pass at Yukon. He had like he never really
was even a true starter for a whole season, had
like thirteen interceptions, and it's like, how did this man
get a job in the NFL?

Speaker 1 (34:51):
Like how Yeah? For three years at Yukon, he had
a forty eight point four completion percentage, he threw one
touchdown and thirteen interceptions, and somehow this guy ten years
later is playing in the NFL. It's maybe one, it's
maybe one of the more remarkable like non stories in

(35:13):
the league, because it does come up when he plays,
like you said, but the fact that he's thirty years
old and that far removed from a college career where
he did absolutely nothing and still in the NFL, it
says a lot about the NFL, I think, and not
in a great way.

Speaker 2 (35:27):
I mean, he actually didn't do bad.

Speaker 3 (35:28):
Eight of thirteen, seventy four yards, no touchdowns, no picks.

Speaker 1 (35:32):
Better, better completion percentage than in college.

Speaker 2 (35:35):
Hey, it really is. It might have been a career
high for him right there.

Speaker 1 (35:39):
But the other, yeah, the thing about his NFL career
is that he actually has been, you know, not great
at all. He's got sixty one percent completion that's much better,
but he has four touchdowns and twelve picks. So it's
not like this guy has made the transition and been
like a lot better. If you take the two combined crews,
he's got five touchdowns and like twenty seven picks, So
what are we doing here?

Speaker 2 (36:01):
Mixed? Maybe he's a good locker room guy who knows
how to run his plate in the back. I don't know.

Speaker 3 (36:06):
Well, what I do want to know is why did
Joe Flacco not start? That's what I really want to
know about, you know.

Speaker 1 (36:12):
I mean, Anthony Richardson is the starting quarterback when he's healthy,
and he's healthy, so they're gonna play him.

Speaker 2 (36:16):
But I mean, it didn't look pretty, Joe.

Speaker 1 (36:19):
It did not look pretty, but they won the game.

Speaker 2 (36:23):
Joe Flacco would have lit this team up.

Speaker 3 (36:25):
They would have He would have threw for like three
hundred and twenty yards, three touchdowns and interception and would
have kicked ass Man. Yeah.

Speaker 1 (36:33):
I think the point for the Colts though, is to
try to get him back in, and he's him back
in and this was a team to do it against.
But I know what you're saying. I mean, Joe Flacco
has been lighting it up lately and the fact that
he's got to go back to the bench is kind
of travesty. So uh, hopefully this isn't the last we've
seen it Joe Flacco. But I also don't want Richardson
to do not succeed it's just, you know, if Joe

(36:54):
Flacco is the man.

Speaker 2 (36:55):
So.

Speaker 1 (36:56):
The Commanders absolutely blew out the Panther. And I only
bring this up because Jayden Daniels did not play much
of this game at all. He left very early on,
yet it still was an absolute route. Marcus Mariota turned
back the clock a little bit and absolutely went in
his bag. I mean, sometimes you forget these guys are

(37:20):
still in the league, Like Colt McCoy is a classic
example of a guy who a couple of years ago,
I was like, I had no clue this guy was
still around, and he started starting games. And here's Marcus Mariota,
who I think I still knew was around. But I
mean he comes in, he's eighteen for twenty three two
hundred yards and a couple of touchdowns. Also rushed for
about thirty yards, and you just forget that these guys.

(37:41):
It's so weird to me, like how good these guys
can be their entire college career, and then they come
to the NFL. You don't hear from them forever, and
then all of a sudden, they show up one Sunday
and they can do this still. So I mean, I
was taken aback by how well Marcus Mariota played. Not
that the Commander still won the game because the Panthers
are terrible, but I was shocked to see how Marcus

(38:03):
Mariota played this well.

Speaker 3 (38:05):
Yeah, I mean, I think that really does just go
to show how bad the Panthers are.

Speaker 1 (38:11):
I mean, and day does it show how good Cliff
Kingsbury is.

Speaker 3 (38:15):
Yeah, I mean I really thought that the Panthers were
again a couple last couple of weeks. I keep picking
the Panthers with these huge plus eight plus seven plus
nine to contend because yeah, Andy Dalton had that won
two good games where he was letting it loose with
Deontay Johnson. I mean, he couldn't even throw one hundred yards.

(38:38):
And then Bryce Young comes in, which, by the way,
they just named the starter for this upcoming Sunday. He
was two for two for negative four yards. I mean,
it's not gonna be pretty over there. It is disgusting
how bad that team is.

Speaker 1 (38:52):
Bryce Young came into the game with more passing yards
than he left the game with.

Speaker 3 (38:59):
Thinking about it, that, John john I really think the
Panthers make the Patriots look like Super Bowl contenders.

Speaker 1 (39:06):
I mean, if they played each other though the the
Internet might melt from how bad John?

Speaker 3 (39:12):
I really believe that the Patriots would destroy the Panthers
if they've played.

Speaker 2 (39:16):
Like they would destroy the Panthers.

Speaker 1 (39:20):
I feel pretty confident saying that. I think Drake May
would would carve up the Panthers defense. Unfortunately, we may
never get to see that because they don't play a
super Bowl for terrible teams. All right, well, the Chiefs
in forty nine ers. Is time to play our favorite
weekly game, or at least my favorite weekly game of
Patrick Mahomes was ass again, Yet the Chiefs found a

(39:40):
way to win. So are you scared about the long
term output of the Chiefs?

Speaker 3 (39:44):
No, because he's doing exactly what he is. He is
John wait.

Speaker 1 (39:50):
For it, uh oh, you're gonna need him the booty
cheek player of the week.

Speaker 2 (39:54):
He was booty cheek John booty cheeks. Okay, I mean
the dude was literally playing like crap the whole season long.

Speaker 3 (40:04):
He's not top ten in any single statistical category. He
has six touchdowns, eight interceptions or something reverse or something.

Speaker 1 (40:15):
You're right about that, right.

Speaker 2 (40:17):
So, I mean I am not confident in them at all.

Speaker 3 (40:21):
I don't care if they just added d Hop I
don't thee Hopkins is old.

Speaker 1 (40:26):
He hasn't.

Speaker 2 (40:27):
He's literally gone, John, this is how bad it is.

Speaker 3 (40:30):
He's played with Colt McCoy, he's played with some other
crappy quarterback.

Speaker 2 (40:35):
I don't think he really like Over the last couple.

Speaker 3 (40:37):
Of years, he was just playing with Will Levitz And
now guess what, he goes to the quarterback that leads
the league in interceptions.

Speaker 2 (40:46):
This dude has been out of luck with quarterbacks.

Speaker 1 (40:50):
Yeah. Well, I think they're looking at this a little
bit differently than you are, but the point is taken
for sure. I'm gonna say the same thing I said
to you last week. This is not going to be
the long term output for Patrick Mahomes. I'm just I'm sorry.
It's just not It's the guy. He's not going like
right now. His projections for the season say that he's

(41:10):
gonna throw seventeen touchdowns and twenty three picks. It's just
not gonna happen. The worst year he's ever had was
probably last year. If I'm trying to remember this off
the tome ahead and pulling it up right now, he
had twenty seven touchdowns fourteen picks. So the twenty seven
touchdowns was the second fewest he's start he's thrown in
a year that he started. The fourteen picks was the

(41:31):
most he's ever thrown. So yeah, there's been a little
bit of carryover. Wow, he's probably been more turnover prone
the last couple of years, but the rest of the
numbers are right on par with where he's always been.
So I have reason to believe that this will get
figured out. And the thing that I told you last
week is the same thing I'm gonna say now. They're
six to zero and their best player, maybe the best

(41:53):
player in the league, hasn't figured it out yet this
season for whatever reason. So you look at the other side.
In this game, rock Perty threw three picks. Okay, he
threw three picks, and they couldn't find a way to win.
So that says a lot about this game. The two
guys had five picks combined. And you know, you might
say that, oh, it was just a battle of two
bad quarterbacks this day, but these are literally the guys

(42:14):
that were playing in the Super Bowl, you know, seven
months ago. So I think that the Chiefs are very solid.

Speaker 2 (42:21):
I'm higher John on the forty nine Ers than I
am on the Chiefs.

Speaker 1 (42:24):
Well that's just blaspheme. But okay, Sunday night, Randall, you
had this kind of trouncing of the Jets by the Steelers.
It was Russell Wilson's debut for the Steelers after weeks
of sitting behind Justin Fields, and obviously it was kind
of a curious decision for a lot of people coming
into the game because Justin Fields has played relatively well.

(42:45):
They were four and two, he wasn't turning the ball over,
but Russ came out, played really well through for over
two hundred and sixty yards two touchdowns, also ran for
a touchdown, and the Jets continued to be what the
Jets have been even with Aaron Rodgers this year of
mediocre football team at best. Were you surprised by the
outcome of this scheme and were you surprised that it

(43:07):
was as wide of a margin it was it was
with Russell Wilson playing.

Speaker 3 (43:12):
So I remember us talking about last week on the
episode saying, you know what, hey, I can see the
reason why you want to go to Russ, right, like
you want to try to move the ball a little
bit better downfield. Yeah, you're four and two, but you
know something's off, so they say, let's give the ball
to Russ.

Speaker 2 (43:27):
Let's see if you can eat.

Speaker 3 (43:29):
He made some great touch throws on the sounds George Pickens,
and don't get me wrong, George Pickens actually made those
throws with some of the incredible catches he made. But
I think the story of the night, John is I mean,
I guess you could have two. One Rush showed up
in primetime and two Aaron Rodgers stunk up the bed again.

(43:49):
I mean, what do you have three interceptions? Two interceptions?

Speaker 1 (43:53):
I think it was two this game, but he had
three the game prior.

Speaker 3 (43:56):
Yeah, yeah, yeah, so, I mean and again one of
them was right off the chest of his own wide
receiver and bounced out. But I think this is a
tell tale sign.

Speaker 2 (44:08):
What the Jets are gonna be.

Speaker 3 (44:09):
I mean, how you added DeVante Adams, but guess what
he's not gonna be helping you.

Speaker 2 (44:13):
It seems like, yeah, Aaron Rodgers is just so bad
right now.

Speaker 1 (44:17):
Man. I know, I don't know what's going on. I mean,
obviously I thought they'd be better than this, but I
think the one thing I was not accounting for was
that he would be this bad. I mean, it just
hasn't looked good, and some of it isn't all his fault.
I mean, you look at a good example of what
you just mentioned with the receiver dropping balls, and I
think Garrett Wilson's been the biggest culprit of a guy
who has a lot of talent and a lot of

(44:38):
potential on paper, but it just really has not played
out this year. Especially you know, if you're look at
his career numbers, he succeeded with some of these other
quarterbacks that have played the last couple of years with him. However,
it just hasn't connected with Rogers to the point where
they go out, they get Adams and you know, he
looks like early on in his game, oh man, it's
gonna be the old connection. He had three catches I

(44:59):
think of the couple drives and that was it. He
didn't end up catching another pass for the remainder of
the game. So you're right, there are two stories here.
I think one of them is the Jets just continuing
to be bad. Luckily for them, they get the Patriots
again this upcoming week, who they beat pretty handily earlier
this year. But for the Steelers, I think it's just
a it's a good sign that Russ went out there

(45:20):
and showed that he could still play, because obviously Justin
Fields was winning games. But the one thing he wasn't
doing was taking shots down the field. And I think,
if you have a guy and now you do and
Russell Wilson's willing to throw the ball down the field,
you could see some of the good that can happen
when you do that. And that was George Pickings making
some of those plays that you were just mentioning a
moment ago. One final thing for me on this game, though, Randall,

(45:42):
I don't know. You probably weren't checking the betting odds
on some of these things like I was, because I
was creating a same game parlay for this game with
my buddy Scott. He's a big Steelers fan. Shout out
to Scott. But we were getting ready to make a
same game parlay, and I'm looking at some of these
lines and Russell Wilson's alternate passing yard lines. Do you
want to guess what two fifty plus yards for him

(46:05):
was odds wise?

Speaker 2 (46:06):
Probably like plus two seventy.

Speaker 1 (46:10):
I saw it on DraftKings before the game for two
fifty plus for Russ. It was plus six point fifty what. Yeah,
And I didn't take it because why. I mean, I
was like, ah, you know, who knows what he's gonna
look like. But he came out and threw for two sixty.
And in hindsight, if you ever have a guy that's
played well in the past, and that's the situation and

(46:32):
that's the line I'm taking it, I don't care who
it is. I mean that, you know. I was literally
looking at it like, man, I should have thrown one
hundred dollars on this at this rate, but of course
I didn't. And uh and he goes out and through
for two sixty plus. So just a little lesson for
you there. If you're sitting there debating it because you
think the lines are crazy, you just take it.

Speaker 2 (46:50):
That's that's insane.

Speaker 3 (46:52):
The other story here, too, John is I really think
it's one the Jets are done, but it's it's also
that can the Steelers actually be legit here? Are they
gonna be a team that actually kind of can control
their destiny into the playoffs, win the division and kind
of go on a run?

Speaker 2 (47:11):
Right now?

Speaker 1 (47:12):
Well, do you think Russell Wilson is better for the
long term success of the Steelers than Justin Fields was.

Speaker 3 (47:20):
And I know it was a short show him, but again,
we know what Justin Wilson is, Russell Justin Wilson, Russell
Wilson is.

Speaker 1 (47:28):
Yeah, if he.

Speaker 3 (47:29):
Has a good arm, he's known to perform well. And
we've seen a good enough sample size from Justin Fields
to know that, Hey, if he needs to come into
a backup role, can he win a game?

Speaker 2 (47:41):
Yes? Is he gonna make it a blowout game like
this was?

Speaker 1 (47:45):
No?

Speaker 3 (47:46):
But hurt the Jets though, was they were up what
ten points? Yeah, going about to go into the half,
and then all of a sudden that was a quick.

Speaker 2 (47:57):
Turnaround.

Speaker 3 (47:59):
The defense for them got worse. You fired your defensive
guru of ahead, coach, and look what happened.

Speaker 1 (48:06):
Yeah, yeah, you're right. I mean they led early in
this game, did the Jets. They got out to the
quick start of the two teams, and ultimately for them,
it just didn't end up lasting. I mean, they were
up seven to three, they were up fifteen to six,
and then the the eleven year touchdown, but twenty seven
seconds left in the first half kind of was the

(48:27):
beginning of the unraveling of the Jets, where you had
basically from that point on. You know what, thirty one
straight points scored for the Steelers. So I don't know,
not a great night for the Jets. Obviously, not a
great season so far for them or for Aaron Rodgers.
But I will say, you know, moving forward for the Steelers,

(48:47):
the outlook has to be pretty positive. Now we turn
your attention to Monday night. You have the Ravens Buccaneers game.
And you know there was two games. Obviously the Ravens
Bucks game scored seventy two points between the two teams.
It really was moreide than the final score indicated because
you had the uh, you had the Bucks going for
thirty one points, even though a lot of that was late.

(49:10):
But the Ravens just continue to flex their muscles here, Randall.
I mean, Derrick Henry has had a beginning to the
season like I don't remember running back having, especially for
a new team. He has come in and fit in seamlessly.

Speaker 3 (49:23):
Yeah, John, I mean, the dude's been a work course
for them, an absolute work course. And I thought he
was gonna kind of regress a little bit just based
off of kindo.

Speaker 2 (49:33):
I mean, what did he have a thousand yards last year? Yeah?

Speaker 1 (49:36):
He did? I think he just got there barely, but
he did.

Speaker 2 (49:39):
Yeah.

Speaker 3 (49:40):
Yeah, but I thought it was gonna kind of be
a little regression this year. But hey, he went to
the right team, good offensive line, they love to run
the vault, pounded on the ground, and guess what he
did his thing. He did his thing. Yeah, he's been
doing his thing the whole season long. I think it's
just a great combination between him of Lamar.

Speaker 1 (50:01):
Yeah, I think that's an understatement at this point. I
think that Derrick Henry, it's it's crazy because all these
games he seems to, you know, be cruising along at
a fine pace and then all of a sudden, he
just hits like an eighty yard touchdown, you know what
I mean, Like they've just been sitting here waiting and
all of a sudden, boom, it's gone. And that's he
did the same thing the other day. I don't think

(50:21):
he quite got to the house, but it was a
seventy yard touchdown or so there, or seven yard run
that set up a touchdown for the Ravens. And on
top of Lamar Jackson, you know who has been an
MVP now twice in this league and could well be
on his way to a third straight time or a
third time winning MVP, not third straight. But he's already
playing at a high level. And you bring in Derrick Henry,

(50:44):
and I mean Lamar Jackson is making it look easy
right now. He's throwing all over the field, He's finding
different targets. Rashad Bateman has been huge for them. Mark
Andrews finally got back in the mix with a couple
of touchdown catches in this game. You know, obviously you've
got Zay Flowers who've got a little bit up in
this game, did return but didn't end up being an
ultimate factor in the long run. But they look like

(51:05):
a team that right now could win it all. And
obviously we've talked a little bit about the Chiefs, and
you know they're six and oh, but they haven't played well.
Right now, I think the Ravens would beat the Chiefs
no problem in a playoffs and there I also think
they're probably better over the Bills if I'm just picking
between the Ravens and the Bills right now. But obviously
we have plenty of time left the season to figure
it out. But I really think the Ravens are a

(51:28):
prime Super Bowl contender right now.

Speaker 3 (51:32):
I agree, and it goes back to what we said.
I think AFC is then and Buffalo as the prime contenders.
I still think Cincinnati has potential to be in there.
Behind Cincinnati. I'm gonna go Pittsburgh below Pittsburgh now on
a couple extra notches.

Speaker 2 (51:51):
I'll go with the Kansas City Chiefs at like sixth
seventh spot.

Speaker 1 (51:56):
Okay, all right, so you've got them on the edge
of the playoffs right now. I can respect that. Uh
what about the Bucks though, I mean, you know, you
look at the other side of this, and honestly, one
thing we haven't talked a whole lot about so far
is that there's been There was a ton of injuries
this past week all around the league, whether it beat
a quarterbacks, uh some major you know, receivers and running

(52:17):
backs as well missing time now. And I think, you know,
it was really evident with the Bucks because he had
Mike Evans getting hurt first with a hamstring injury, which
obviously a hamstring is is not gonna end his season,
but it's going to it, you know, for lack of
a better term, hamstring, his ability to get back out there.
Uh So he'll be out for a few weeks at
least and then you had Chris Godwin who goes down

(52:38):
with this dislocated ankle literally under a minute left in
this game when the Bucks are trying desperately to score
another touchdown. But I mean, obviously the outlook was they're
going to lose the game at this point. Uh So
this is a brutal loss for them. And obviously now
Baker Mayfield, the attention is going to turn to him
in the running game, and what can he do without
top notch receivers on that offense. Uh But I mean,

(53:00):
what do you think the Bucks outlook is now with
these couple of guys down at least, you know, for
a few weeks with Evans and probably the season for Goblin.

Speaker 2 (53:09):
Yeah, Evans is out at these three weeks right now.

Speaker 3 (53:11):
I mean, he dropped that he heard it on a
touchdown pass that he should have actually caught that ball hit.

Speaker 2 (53:16):
Him right in the hands.

Speaker 3 (53:17):
Yeah, so I'm thinking he should have caught that. Maybe
if he catches it, maybe he doesn't get hurt. Who knows,
But any quarterback without wide receivers, unless you're Tom Brady,
it's it's gonna be.

Speaker 2 (53:31):
Tough to win teams. It's gonna be tough to move
the ball down the field.

Speaker 3 (53:34):
Yeah, Okay, that's that's just the reality of the situation.

Speaker 2 (53:39):
John.

Speaker 3 (53:40):
So I'm hoping that maybe, just maybe, because I do
like seeing Baker do well. You know, he did well
for you and the Rams. He want us to bet
that one day together, remember that I do.

Speaker 2 (53:52):
But but I.

Speaker 3 (53:54):
Do think they have some other good young ride receivers
on their team that we're able to get some playing time.

Speaker 1 (54:00):
Yeah, Jalen McMillan. Jalen McMillan's the main one who probably
benefits the most from this, right, So it will be
interesting to see how Bigger kind of manages things. And
then the last game of the weekend was the Chargers
in Cardinals. Game was out West Monday night game, a
second Monday night game. And I mean, the Chargers are
three and three, so they're not exactly in the basement

(54:21):
of the league right now. Justin Herbert also threw for
damn near three hundred and fifty yards in this game. However,
they could not get in the dang end zone in
this game. Randall, what is the deal with the Chargers
because they some weeks looked like one of the better teams.
Herbert's looked Okay. JK. Dobbins has had a good season
in the backfield, but right now they're just not very

(54:42):
consistent with with Jim Harbaugh.

Speaker 3 (54:44):
Here, regression progression, regression, regression with one of the best
quarterbacks in the NFL or what I thought one of
the best arm talents in the NFL. I kind of
saw last year starting to repress Billy, he's just been regressing.

(55:07):
Here's his rookie campaign.

Speaker 2 (55:09):
John. To be frank with you.

Speaker 3 (55:10):
I mean, everybody was so high on this kid after
that's showing against when he had that spot start against
the Kansas City Chiefs.

Speaker 2 (55:18):
Okay, and next thing.

Speaker 3 (55:20):
You know, it's just it's been downhill since that first
year for him. And I don't know why I thought
Jim Harbow would help him. I thought last year, I'm
blanking on his name. The offensive coronary he was with
Dallas was with them. What's his name, John, Kellen Moore,

(55:41):
Kellen Moore? Than thank you, John, thank you. I thought
Kellen Moore would have resurrected his career. But no, I
was wrong there, and I'll admit that I was wrong.
So I just don't know what's going on with the Chargers.
They had just been a bust of a franchise.

Speaker 1 (55:58):
I like that. You're a big enough man to when
you're wrong, So I have respect for that, and I
just don't.

Speaker 3 (56:06):
Just don't get used to it because I'm never I'm
very ever wrong, John, as you know right now, I'm
very ever wrong.

Speaker 2 (56:13):
But but I am. I will admit it.

Speaker 1 (56:15):
Yeah, very ever wrong? Is that even a saying? Is
that the right way to say that?

Speaker 2 (56:20):
All right? Now you're calling me out for incorrect grammar?
Is that what this is?

Speaker 1 (56:24):
Oh? I'm just who I've never heard that?

Speaker 2 (56:26):
What's my grammar? Wrong?

Speaker 1 (56:27):
There?

Speaker 2 (56:28):
I'm never ever wrong.

Speaker 1 (56:29):
Ever never, never, very very never wrong. I don't know
what the right way to say that is. I get
what you're saying, though, So yeah.

Speaker 3 (56:37):
It's all a bunch of humba balloon Yeah, okay.

Speaker 1 (56:41):
All right, Well let's move on, Randall. Week seven is
officially in the rear view mirror. Uh but now we've
got week eight to focus on. So you know what
time that means. It's time for a guess. That's spread,
it's time to play guess, all right, folks, Very good, Randall,

(57:12):
very good. I love when you break out the the
game show host voice. All right, So you guys know
how guess that spread works. Randall and I are going
to try to stump each other with some upcoming lines
for the weekend. So far this season, it's been pretty
back and forth. I actually last week, Randall, I pulled out,

(57:36):
pulled it out on the last one to win. The
week after I got the running back, I was able
to pull out the wide receiver and match you at
the very end there, so I won guess that spread.
I believe for the first time all season it was
either you had won or we had tied.

Speaker 3 (57:53):
Every other week it's been neck and neck, man, And
that's what this game is about.

Speaker 2 (57:57):
Excitement. We're gonna win this.

Speaker 1 (58:00):
I don't know, all right, Well, is it up to
me to go first?

Speaker 2 (58:04):
Now?

Speaker 1 (58:05):
Or do I? Do you go first? Because I like, I.

Speaker 2 (58:08):
Think it's up to you to go. I think.

Speaker 1 (58:13):
You go first because you Yeah, yeah, I'll give you.
I'll give you somebody first. How's that sound?

Speaker 2 (58:20):
Okay?

Speaker 4 (58:20):
John?

Speaker 2 (58:20):
Thank you? So you're the home team today.

Speaker 1 (58:22):
I'm the home team today, and I'm going right for
the juggular here. Okay. We just talked about him today
as a guy coming in and hopefully he can give
a spark to a city that desperately needs it. I
want you to give me the number for Jamis Winston,
passing yards for the Browns as they get said to
host the Baltimore Ravens on Sunday.

Speaker 3 (58:43):
Well, Browns have been trying to run the ball, even
though they haven't really been handed it off all that much.

Speaker 2 (58:50):
Jamis. I'm gonna say, John one ninety seven and a half.

Speaker 1 (58:56):
Uh, you are wrong, and twenty six and a half
for your boy, Jamas Winston.

Speaker 2 (59:02):
Damn it. I was gonna go to twenty five, but
I didn't.

Speaker 1 (59:06):
But I didn't that you would have been, you would
have been, I.

Speaker 2 (59:10):
Would have been. That's okay.

Speaker 3 (59:11):
You know what, John, I'm gonna give you a toss
up here, give me per se because.

Speaker 1 (59:19):
A toss up does not mean a gimme.

Speaker 3 (59:21):
Oh, it's a toss up like I'm tossing it up,
like I'm giving you.

Speaker 1 (59:25):
That's called it. That's a softball.

Speaker 3 (59:28):
Now I'm tossing it up to you. This is this
is an alley, John, you got this slam dump all right?

Speaker 2 (59:33):
You're a man. Fans.

Speaker 3 (59:35):
I want you to know if I say, hey, it's
a toss up, and I get it like a toss
up comedian fifty.

Speaker 1 (59:39):
Fifty right exactly, But in this.

Speaker 2 (59:42):
Case a toss up. He like, I'm gonna give you
a toss up here, all.

Speaker 1 (59:45):
Right, just give me the players. Just give me the player.

Speaker 3 (59:48):
You know what, I was gonna give you a great player.
Now I'm gonna give you Matthew Stafford for the Rams.

Speaker 1 (59:54):
I knew that's where you're going.

Speaker 2 (59:56):
Minnesota had l a.

Speaker 1 (59:58):
We got John Well, he's getting Cooper Cup back tomorrow
night or tonight, depending on when you're listening to this,
Probably tonight because there is Thursday morning. For the first time,
I'm going to say that Matt Stafford's been playing. Okay,
this number's gotta be. I'm gonna say a very similar
number what we just saw for Jameis Winston. I'm gonna

(01:00:19):
say to twenty two and a half.

Speaker 2 (01:00:26):
And a half.

Speaker 1 (01:00:27):
Now I shorted my guy, all right, sure, your guy.

Speaker 3 (01:00:30):
You just said he's getting Cooper Cup back. But let's
go under on the yards. That makes sense, right, all right?

Speaker 1 (01:00:37):
Man? I won last week? So just remember, uh, okay,
So where should I go with my magic rushing touch here?
I think the place I'm going to go is let
me find somebody here. Why am I having trouble finding

(01:00:57):
rushing props for this Sunday? Seriously, why am I having trouble?
They're not on here? Here we go, here's one. Here's
one for you, Randall, here's one for you. Okay, I've
got a great one. The Jacksonville Jaguars are terrible. As

(01:01:18):
we've just noted, they're hosting the Green Bay Packers this weekend.
I want you to tell me how many rushing yards
Josh Jacobs is set at right now, line.

Speaker 2 (01:01:26):
Wise, forty seven and a half.

Speaker 1 (01:01:32):
Wright, You're going right for it. Forty seven and a half.
You think that's it.

Speaker 2 (01:01:37):
That's all. That's all it is, John, That's what it is.
It's gonna be.

Speaker 1 (01:01:40):
Are you sure you don't want to change your answer?

Speaker 2 (01:01:43):
It's gonna be fifty two or forty five. It's one
of those.

Speaker 1 (01:01:46):
You're not changing your answer. The final answer is sixty
nine and a half.

Speaker 2 (01:01:54):
That's that's horrendous. Yeah, I didn't think you would be
that high. To be honest with you.

Speaker 1 (01:02:01):
I know it is.

Speaker 2 (01:02:01):
Why.

Speaker 1 (01:02:02):
That's why you guessed a lot lower.

Speaker 3 (01:02:05):
Alrighty, let's go with I got a chubby, Nick Chubb?
How many rushing yards for him?

Speaker 2 (01:02:13):
Now that he's back. Ooh uh, that's one is at Cleveland,
so Cleveland is home for all?

Speaker 1 (01:02:20):
Yeah, I remember I just gave you Jameis Winston. I
didn't see didn't see the rushing lines though, when I
was looking at the passing the line. I'm gonna say
that Nick Chubb's gotta be a respectable number, but not
too high because he's just getting back. I'm gonna say
it's like sixty five and a half.

Speaker 2 (01:02:40):
We should have switched John fort and a half.

Speaker 1 (01:02:44):
Oh, I was actually gonna go in the fifties. I
probably would have still been too high. But okay, that's
good to know. I guess I'll have to monitor that
going into Sunday. Al Right, down to the wire job,
all right, still zero zero chance for one person gonna
win it. Here at the end, I'm gonna give you, uh,
you know, the Phillies Philadelphia Eagles are playing the Bengals

(01:03:06):
in Cincinnati. I'd love for you to tell me what
you think the line is. Actually, you know what, I'm
gonna do a dealer's choice here, Jamar Chase or aj
Brown Randall you.

Speaker 2 (01:03:16):
Pick jimme Jamar, all right, go for it.

Speaker 3 (01:03:22):
Let's see Jamar is gonna be somewhere in this eighty ranch.

Speaker 2 (01:03:29):
I'm gonna say eighty four and a half yards.

Speaker 1 (01:03:34):
Randall, you are incorrect. It's seventy four and a half.

Speaker 3 (01:03:39):
Oh, I was gonna in the seventies and AJ Brown
John just to shoot it out as a funzie.

Speaker 2 (01:03:45):
AJ Brown's probably at like sixty seven and a half.

Speaker 1 (01:03:49):
Oh, he was seventy three and a half, so you
would have been uh, it would have been one off
on him too. But they were within one of each
other when I saw it, So I'm like, let me
have Randall, just pick it.

Speaker 2 (01:04:01):
Fun fun fun way, fun way.

Speaker 1 (01:04:03):
All right, win it all right? Here, win for the
second straight week if I can get this.

Speaker 3 (01:04:08):
Okay, here we go, Atlanta at Tampa. Wide receiver for
the Falcons, Ray Ray McLeod the third.

Speaker 1 (01:04:18):
Oh Man, Randy, you screwed up, man, because I've been
looking at Ray Ray McCloud all season, not this week yet,
but I love Ray raym cloud because of what he
brings to the table. I think I got this in
the bag. I'm gonna say the yardage for Ray Ray
is thirty eight and a half.

Speaker 2 (01:04:41):
Damn sixty two and a half.

Speaker 1 (01:04:45):
That is the highest I've seen that, by.

Speaker 2 (01:04:47):
The way, I'm kidding. I'm kidding. It was thirty five
and a half.

Speaker 1 (01:04:52):
Yes, yes, Oh my god. I was like, there's no way.
I was like, I've seen that like forty all year.
I'm like, somebody must be out for the falcons that
I don't know about. But nope, you were just trying
to pull a fast one.

Speaker 2 (01:05:10):
That's what happens.

Speaker 3 (01:05:11):
But when you go with the guy that's not gonna
be getting much playing times, you know it's gonna be
low and you gotta right, John, I'm proud of you.
Back to back weeks of winter, Dude.

Speaker 1 (01:05:20):
They gotta I gotta get my clutch rating and Madden
changed to in ninety nine because I'm coming right down.

Speaker 2 (01:05:25):
Back to back to back weeks. You've gotten at the buzzer.

Speaker 1 (01:05:29):
I know, I know, I'm just the man, So give
it to me, baby. That'll do it for guys, all right.
So that doesn't for guess that's spread. So you know
what time that is now, randall or what means that time?

(01:05:52):
I can't speak right now for whatever reason. It's getting laid.
I'm tired, but you know what time it is now?

Speaker 2 (01:05:58):
It's time to play, all right.

Speaker 1 (01:06:03):
So last week. After a three to no week for me,
in week six, I regressed back to my normal mean
I was one and two. I've had at least one
win every week this year, however, I've only been five
hundred or better twice. So I was one and two
week one, and then I was one, one and one,
and then from weeks three through five, I was one

(01:06:24):
and two, and then three to oh and then one
and two. This past week, Randall was a winner once again.
He was two and one this week. He's been giving
you guys some hot winners all season long, with the
exception of weeks four and five, Randall, you and I
both went nine and six in our overall picks, which
was good showing for both of us. But you you
did it again with the hard locks here, John.

Speaker 3 (01:06:47):
I just want to make our viewers money, okay, Is
that I care about their viewership.

Speaker 1 (01:06:51):
I love when you say viewers because I'd love to
correct you and say listeners. But you know, someday we
might have a someday we'll have a video version of this.

Speaker 3 (01:07:00):
You could technically watch the podcast like you could technically watch.

Speaker 1 (01:07:06):
The line on the bottom of the All right, give
me your first pick.

Speaker 2 (01:07:12):
You just are so tired of me. Job.

Speaker 3 (01:07:16):
I understand it all right, John Arizona is coming to Miami.
Out here the linus three and a half in favor
of Miami.

Speaker 2 (01:07:24):
But you know what that means was coming back. I
get it.

Speaker 3 (01:07:29):
West Coast team, East Coast time. Give me Arizona plus
three and a half.

Speaker 2 (01:07:36):
Winning streak.

Speaker 3 (01:07:37):
I still don't think Miami is good even with two
are coming back.

Speaker 2 (01:07:41):
Give me my Arizona plus three and a half.

Speaker 1 (01:07:44):
I like where your head's at on that one. I'm
going to go with the road team as well. I'm
gonna go with kind of the opposite of a team
from the East going out west. I love the Buffalo
Bills this week minus three at Seattle. Uh. The Buffalo
has been rolling, and there's no reason for me to
believe that it's gonna stop this week against the Seahawks
team that's coming off a very good win coming out

(01:08:05):
east to play Atlanta. But that's part of the reason
why I'm pretty confident the Bills are gonna win this
game because, quite frankly, I expected the Seahawks and not
play so well last week. I think it's a little
bit of a letdown spot for them, and I don't
think three points will be all that hard for the
Bills with the team they have to overcome. So give
me Buffalo minus three at Seattle.

Speaker 3 (01:08:24):
A great pick, John, Well, John. The next pick I'm
gonna go with is they're coming off a loss. I
don't think Anthony Richardson is gonna be playing all that well.
Give me Houston at home minus four and a half
against the Cults.

Speaker 2 (01:08:40):
Okay, Houston at home minus four and a half.

Speaker 1 (01:08:46):
First the Okay, I like it. That's probably a good pick.
You're you're you're happy or I'm happy that you stagged that,
because if you didn't, I might have had to take
it from you. I'm actually seeing it minus five. But
I'll give you the minus four and a half because
I'm a very very generous person. I'm going to for
my next pick go with the Doug Alert. I'm gonna,

(01:09:12):
I'm gonna, I'm gonna pick the Washington Commanders at home
plus two and a half. I know Jaden Daniels is
questionable right now. Uh, but I actually think I have
a hunkering that Jaden Daniels is gonna find his way
onto the field this weekend. I think ultimately he'll be okay,

(01:09:33):
and I think they're playing Caleb Williams. It's an interesting
matchup from this perspective of the two first picks in
the draft. Right now, the Bears are favored minus two
and a half. And this line will change, trust me
if if Jadon Daniels is ruled in, but even if
he doesn't play, seeing what Marcus Mariota was able to
do this past weekend with that offense, and basically the

(01:09:55):
Bears have been a little too inconsistent for my liking,
although they've been a lot better lately. But but I
still would like Washington at plus two and a half
at home with Marcus Mariota the way they played this
past weekend. So give me the Commanders, whether it's Jade
Daniels or Marcus, And for that reason, I would take
them right now before Jane Daniels gets ruled in.

Speaker 3 (01:10:18):
I like that, John, that's a great bet, and I
like the thinking on it before he gets ruled in
because you know the Linels shift there as well.

Speaker 2 (01:10:25):
Yeah, there's a lot of high lines this week.

Speaker 3 (01:10:29):
We got Patriots as seven point dogs, We have a
couple at eight. We have Detroit and Tennessee's eleven points.
We have the Chargers or seven points over New Orleans, and.

Speaker 1 (01:10:41):
The Jephs are over the Raiders.

Speaker 3 (01:10:45):
Yeah, and and Denver's ten over Carolina.

Speaker 2 (01:10:48):
A lot of high, high high lines.

Speaker 3 (01:10:51):
However, I'm gonna go with the low line here at
john Give me Cincinnati minus two and a half over
the Eagles.

Speaker 2 (01:10:57):
Okay, I'm sticking with my gun. Cincinnati is gonna go
on o wnon Street.

Speaker 3 (01:11:02):
They're gonna go on a tear, okay, and this team's
gonna come back and win the division over Pittsburgh and
the Ravens. Okay, So I heard you heard it here
first last week the week before. Give me Cincinnati minus.

Speaker 2 (01:11:16):
Two and a half.

Speaker 1 (01:11:18):
Yeah. I like that pick. I mean that was in
consideration for one of my earlier picks. So I'm glad
for you that you were able to snag it. I'm
gonna go ahead and do something that I probably am
gonna regret doing a week from now, but I'm gonna
go ahead and pick the Jets minus seven. They trounced
the Patriots the first time they played them. They're playing
them again here in New England. I know things have

(01:11:38):
not been going great for this Patriots team, but are
sorry for the Jets. But if they can't beat the Patriots,
then they've got really long term problems. So I think
I'm picking this game more so because I just want
to believe that they're not going to go down without
a fight this year. I could totally see a world
where the Patriots sort of keep this game close, but
honestly not really. If it's anything like the first time

(01:11:59):
they the Patriots will roll or sorry, the Jets will
roll again. So give me Aaron Rodgers and the Jets
minus seven here at New England.

Speaker 2 (01:12:09):
You can take that. John. I was thinking about taking
it as well.

Speaker 3 (01:12:12):
But you know what, I think Drake May didn't start
the first time against the Jets.

Speaker 2 (01:12:17):
It's in New England. I think this one's a game changer.

Speaker 1 (01:12:21):
Well, luckily for you, I don't think you have any
semblance of an idea what you're talking about, so.

Speaker 2 (01:12:27):
I do not.

Speaker 1 (01:12:29):
But that doesn't Yeah, there you go, you got it.

Speaker 2 (01:12:32):
Go ahead, now you know, you go, you go, you go?

Speaker 1 (01:12:35):
No, No, I was just gonna say that does it
for herds? All right? So that brings us to the
towards the end of our episode. Always a sad part
of the Night Randal when we get to this point
in the night where we are getting ready to close
up shop, but there's still a little bit of business

(01:12:56):
left attend.

Speaker 3 (01:12:57):
To that there is, John, And it's one of the
favorite games on this show that you've been kicking my
ass off.

Speaker 2 (01:13:05):
So we might have to change the last game of
the year.

Speaker 1 (01:13:08):
No, you finally got back of me last week because
the there was the technicality.

Speaker 2 (01:13:13):
Exactly, but the technicality. I don't want to win on technicality.

Speaker 3 (01:13:16):
I want to I want to just win, win, win, Okay,
But anyway, I get a word, John, you have to guess.

Speaker 4 (01:13:22):
It, John, what.

Speaker 2 (01:13:25):
He's the word?

Speaker 1 (01:13:26):
All right? Well, I want to say that I think
this might be the best job you've done ever of
just trying to like lay it in there because you
didn't you didn't have a tell tonight necessarily, but I
think I might still have it, And if not, then
I still have a good guess. I think the word
of the day is when you said hubble hubbable who.

Speaker 5 (01:13:48):
All right, John, let fine out never ever ever ever
went ever, John, whatever, it doesn't matter, just stop the
hall of baaloo.

Speaker 1 (01:14:03):
Yes, Oh it was so simple because you just said
it like so casually.

Speaker 4 (01:14:11):
Oh man, Yeah, you got it, John, but yet you
got it.

Speaker 1 (01:14:14):
Oh God, I'm getting good at this. I remember when
I couldn't win this at all, and now I like
win it every week.

Speaker 3 (01:14:22):
That's it, that's it. I'm gonna next week is gonna
be a thriller of a week. I already know. I'm
gonna make sure that there is no way you're gonna
guess the word of the day.

Speaker 1 (01:14:34):
You better you better get like a phrase or something,
because I'm coming swinging now. I've been really good.

Speaker 2 (01:14:39):
I've been getting phrases. I've been getting words.

Speaker 3 (01:14:42):
I thought I've been putting them in and out there nicely,
but clearly I wrong.

Speaker 1 (01:14:47):
Nothing gets past me because even tonight when you said it,
I knew it right away, and I giggled to myself,
and I think I giggled actually a little bit on
the on the mic too, and I think I played
it off pretty well like I didn't know that you
had done it, but I knew it. I knew it
all along. So you're keeping track at home. That is
officially my fifth win of the year in eight weeks.

(01:15:10):
So I am I'm dominating right now.

Speaker 3 (01:15:14):
You're kicking ass, John, You're kicking ass.

Speaker 1 (01:15:18):
All right, well, Randall as I always do before we
head out for the evening, I like to ask if
there's anything we didn't get a chance to talk about
today that you had on your mind that you wanted
to talk about.

Speaker 2 (01:15:29):
Oh, John, we got it. We got do with everything
I wanted to talk about today. I thought it was
a great show.

Speaker 1 (01:15:34):
I love when you say that because it makes me
feel like I hit on everything that we want to
hit on. So that's that's great. All right, Well, thanks
for listening. As always, everybody, we appreciate the listenership. We'll
be back next week with the recap of week eight,
but until then, here's Randall.

Speaker 3 (01:15:54):
Goodbye, Goodbye, good friends, goodbye.

Speaker 2 (01:15:58):
Did you hear my voice just crack?

Speaker 1 (01:16:02):
I definitely did.

Speaker 4 (01:16:08):
I can't get any ways on this show. I keep
losing at every game. Every game we've had hard losses.

Speaker 2 (01:16:18):
Gong Friends, there's a lot of hope about