Field Yates of ESPN joins the Big Show! Matt Rhule fired, Geno Smith impresses, NFL picks, lots more

Field Yates joins us to explain why Matt Rhule got the ziggy, name Geno Smith & the Seahawks his most surprising team, and lots more.

Meanwhile, we play "True or False?" on Geno, the Eagles, the Bengals, etc. and pick the full slate of NFL Week 6 games!

Episode Transcript

(00:14):
Welcome to three and Out, yournational NFL podcast featuring three sports media pros,
me Tie Shelter from five to thirtyeight, joined by Samantha Bunton of
NBC Sports and Michael Shoddy of Thethirty thirteen. It's time for this week's
big show, where we go longon big NFL topics. We also have
a big guest for you, justlike always, Field Yates, seeing your
reporter from ESPN feel as a fantasticWe love to have him back on the

(00:38):
show. We'll always, of coursepick every single NFL game straight up and
against the spread, just like wealways do. But before we get to
any of that, make sure you'resubscribed. However you get your podcast where
that's Apple Podcast, Spotify, stt, your SoundCloud, iTunes cast, throw
overcast, however you're casting the podsto your ears. Subscribe. All of

(00:59):
ours are at our website three outpoddot com. Three Outpod is also our
Twitter handle and our Instagram handle Everythingthree Outpod at three outpod, three outpod
dot com. All right, guys, this week's big topic true or false.
I'm gonna say something and you guystell me whether it's true or false.

(01:21):
True or false? The Philadelphia Eaglesare five and oh, I think
this is true. This feels legitimateto me, I think. I mean,
there's a point where, yes,you have to pump the brakes a
little bit. But I think peoplehave been relatively circumspect about this for the
most part, as in, like, yeah, they're really good. Nobody's

(01:42):
saying, oh, greatest team,they're going undefeated. But yes, this
is a really really good, wellrounded, complete team that is well coached,
stocked with talent. Yeah, likethis is true, this is absolutely
true. Yeah, I can't goback on this one. Now. I've
been writing the Eagles almost as hardas Tie Road the Rams last season.
I'm not shouting team or death andI'm not calling Super Bowl. But I

(02:06):
do think they're the best overall teamin the NFL. You know, from
soup to nuts, from from thetop of the roster to the bottom of
the roster, I think they havethe most talent. That being said,
there are some things that are holdingthem back. They're not winning games by
fifty points like the Buffalo Bills,but they're consistently dominating the trenches. They've
got a good linebacker corp. They'vegot a good defensive backfield, They've got

(02:29):
a great running back stable, they'vegot great wide receivers. Like anything you
want to do, they can doit. I think the coaching can improve.
I'm not saying it's bad, butI'm just saying young head coaches always
improve. Young coaching staffs always improved. They can continue to get better at
what they do. I think thequarterbacking can be better. I think Jalen
Hurts. I've called him out inthe past. I don't think he's running

(02:51):
this offense at all cylinders with theamount of talent that he has. But
I think they're on their way.And I think when you have that much
talent yet they're five and old,period. But I think they're the best
team in the NFL. You guysknow you are what your record says you
are. I believe this is astatement that is um not true in one

(03:12):
sense, but very true in another. Right. It's it's there's like the
the what is there's like the bellcurve chart of like the dumb looking person
in the middle and then the liketrying very hard to be smart person or
the other dumb looking person at oneend trying very hard to be smart person
in the middle, and then thelike extremely like Jedi wise person at the

(03:35):
far end, and like you arewhat your record says you are is both
the dumb guy and the super Jediwise guy in this case. Um,
I keep trying to poke holes inthe Eagles and and you know, okay,
they like they play in a weakdivision. Okay, well the Cowboys
are also four and one, andthe Giants we will discuss how real they're

(03:58):
for and one is shortly, youknow, the Commanders one and four.
But like this is this is alike at some point all of these wins
have to be meaningful. And youknow, yeah, if you look at
some of the other team strength metrics, um, you know they're they're not
number one with a bullet and likeShaddy said, they're not dominating in games
and blowing people off the ball theway that you would expect a team that's

(04:20):
truly undefeated and has a chance togo all the way through, you know,
or or or win fourteen fifteen games. But number two in Team DVOA,
like this is a really really goodteam. And I think they're going
to keep being a really really goodteam even outside of the division, and
maybe even once you stack them upagainst the broadly recognized to be much stronger

(04:43):
conference than AFC. All right,that's another true or false. Geno Smith
is the most effective passer in theNFL. For those of you who haven't
picked up on the gag yet,it's because this is this is true.
These statements are all literally true.Trying to figure out if they're figuratively true.
He leads the NFL and passer ratingwith one hundred and thirteen point two

(05:04):
shady yeah, Like, yeah,you're not wrong. The numbers not wrong.
I sat up and caped for GenoSmith on the last show, but
this still feels wrong to me,Like, this still feels wrong. I'm

(05:28):
gonna say this one is false.Maybe it's just my gut check. Maybe
maybe I just you know, hadsome you know, some bad tofu or
something. But I can't say thisone is true. I think early on
early returns say he's doing really well. He's obviously surpassing all of our wildest
expectations for him. Like you canhave you know Geno Smith's you know,
every jersey he's ever worn, fromthe Giants to the to West Virginia in

(05:51):
your closet, and I think youwould hear this one and you'd be like,
let's let's not over overdo this one. Like you didn't say best,
you said most effective. I thinkthat's true to a point up to this,
you know, time in the season. But honestly, like no,
I think there are like ten moreeffective passers that Geno Smith in the NFL.

(06:14):
He's just having a hell of arun. Yeah, this is cool
and fun and I loved it ina like very technical sense. You can
say this is true and get awaywith it because we love Gino. Like
we've said this lots of times onhere. We love Gino. We're so
happy to see him doing so well. But I think that the way that
you saw this is just by askingyourself the question, like, Okay,
if I have the opportunity to builda roster from scratch right now hypothetically in

(06:36):
the NFL, who do I wantto do my starting quarterback? You're not
picking Gino Smith, And you're notpicking Gino Smith even if there's four people
taking their quarterback ahead of you.So as much as I think it's great
what he's doing and I think itfeels like legitimate, I mean maybe that's
more of the question you want toanswer. It's like, is what Gino
Smith's doing legit or is this aflash of man? I think it's pretty

(06:58):
legit. I think he's a betterplay than he's ever gotten credit for it.
You know, Tye, you talkedabout this and you'd written that piece
on it, and it's like it'sfinally coming true. He's finally getting the
opportunity to be in a position tokind of prove himself in that way.
But in the end, it's like, yeah, he's not the best quarterback
in the NFL, he's not evenclose to the best quarterback in the NFL,

(07:18):
but he's a heck of a lotbetter than he's ever gotten credit for,
which I think is cool and valuable. All Right, we're gonna go
with the NFC always. I gottado my actual jansment thing. I'm sorry,
I'm already I'm all wound up.Yeah, okay, So I was
ready to call BS on this alittle bit and throw a false out there,

(07:39):
but um, during the five thirtyeight slack chat that we post on
Monday mornings, you're talking about thisa little bit, and Gino is fourth
in total total QBR at this point, it's a little bit more comprehensive and
better, better weighted overall power ratingfor quarterbacks THANFL passer rating, which you

(08:01):
know waits completion percentage very highly andyou know is based off stuff that was
true in the sixties. And thenthe other thing is completion percentage above expected.
Right, Like, given the throwsthat he's making using location data,
how often would you expect those tobe complete? He's actually leading the league

(08:22):
in that at nine point six percentpositive, which means that he's completing nine
point six percent more of his passesthan you would expect an average NFL quarterback
to make, making all the exactsame throws. Right, So if an
average quarterback attempted all the same throwsGeno has attempted at this point in this

(08:43):
year, he would have a completionpercentage nine point six percent less than what
Gino Smith has. So that's that'susually a very good indicator that he's making
really good throws, that he's playingfootball at a very high level. He's
not just you know, it's notjust a fluke, it's not a yak
thing. He's not dominating in yak'sum towards the bottom of the league in

(09:07):
yak per catch. So it's likethis is this is very legitimate through this
point, the question becomes a thethrows he's attempting, are those going to
be throws that he attempts when heplays some better defenses? And then be
will these numbers hold up when heplays against some better defenses? Because right
now, you know, Broncos andforty nine ers are great, but Falcons,

(09:30):
Lions, Saints not so much.And a big tunk of the yards
and points have come against the Falcons, the Lions and the Saints. And
of course there is the small matterof you know, quarterback wins are not
a stat but the Seahawks are twoand three, which is what I brought
up shoddy when you were caving forgeto Monday, which is like, if
if you want to be in thatconversation, your team is gonna have to

(09:52):
help you win some games. Youknow who doesn't need help winning games?
Or guess I should say is gettinghelp w games? Is Danny Dimes?
Because the New York Football Giants arefour and one, Samantha, true or
false? Oh? I want thisto be true so badly, but I

(10:13):
don't think that it is. Lookare the Giants like way better than we
thought they would be? And doI feel like Brian Dable is actually going
to be a pretty darn good headcoach. Yes, yes to both things.
But are they as good as otherteams that have the same record in

(10:33):
most cases, No, I don'tthink so. It will be interesting to
see, And I think there's alot of people out there who are using
the game against the Packers to kindof legitimize them, And to me,
it's like, that's actually my argumentthat the Packers are not very good rather
than my argument that the Giants aregood. So, yeah, as much

(10:54):
as I want this to be truebecause I think it's fun and awesome and
we love Danny Gimes and Brian Gableon all these things, and the Giants
that had been of a rough go, but I think they're better than we
thought, but not necessarily as goodas the record itself implies. At this
point, I'm trying to look atsome of my some of the metrics that

(11:20):
I love to look at, likepoke holes in offenses or defenses, and
the one thing that kind of stuckout to me is on the I'll start
with the negative. On the negativeside, they're a highly penalized team,
and that typically goes to either youngerteams or poorer coach teams. So you've
got like their their fourth fourth inthe NFL and penalties Saints, you know,

(11:46):
Dennis Allen newer head coach, Broncosnew head coach, and then the
Seahawks like they're the most penalized teamin the league. I don't love that
for them because there's really no nothingto point like. Pete Carroll is literally
the opposite of a new coach.So but that's that's the that's not great.
You don't want to be that heavilypenalized team because those things start to

(12:07):
catch up with you. I feellike it's really hard to maintain a high
level of success because by now youare what your record says you are,
and so you do have a reallygood record, but you're you're also what
your penalties say that you are,and you're a nondisciplined team. And that's
just where the Giants are at rightnow, and it's going to come back
to bite you in the butt againstbetter opponents in crunch time and things like

(12:28):
this don't get better if you're ateam that jumps outsides, or you're a
team that's a little handsy on thedefensive backfield, or you're a team that
can't remember the snapcount to save yourgod forsaken life, Like you're going to
continue to be that team. You'renot going to change from week six to
week ten. So that's a negative. The positive one of the things that
I love to look at is whenyou're a good defense, which right now
the Giants are a good defense.I like to see and we've mentioned this

(12:52):
repeatedly in recent broadcasts. Are yougetting the benefit of turnovers? Which is
really a not sustainable statists stick,Like you can create turnovers through six weeks
and that well can dry up.It can go the other way too,
But right now they're a good defensewithout creating a lot of turnovers. And
I think the thing that you hangyour hat on if you're the Giants is

(13:13):
if the ball starts bouncing your waya couple of times defensively, you're gonna
look even better. So I thinkyou know you're pass the point where I
can say you got to clean upthose penalties, because I don't think that
happens in the middle of the season. But I think you can sustain some
level of success if you even asan undisciplined team, If you can sustain

(13:35):
some level of success if you startcreating turnovers, if you start having some
of those like random acts happen yourway, which haven't happened to them so
far. So I'm going to saythis is true insofar as I think they're
an above average football team playing ina really bad division. Yeah, I'm
I'm leaning towards false on this,And again, like Samantha, I would
love for it to be true.I would love for this story to kind

(14:00):
of click. And you know,we've we've gone back and forth on Brian
Dable and I think some of thefootball insider community is a little back and
forth on Brian Dable. But whatever, whatever voodoo that he do is working
at this point, and you know, basically just keeping it easy, lots
of play action, making it easyon Danny Dimes. And if that works
and Sequon Barkley continues to play great, you know they're gonna be in some

(14:26):
games. Now. I think theirrecord, even after only five weeks,
it's still over their skis right.Their estimated wins depending on what you you
know, whether that's by DVA orDVOA or by point scored versus allowed,
is like two two and a halftwo point two, and they've got four
wins. You know, um,I think they're basically dead right in the

(14:48):
middle of the pack average, orit maybe even slightly worse when you factor
in those penalties, and I thinkI think over the long haul of the
season, that's where they're going toend up is in the middle of the
path in a poor division. Butif they can keep stringing together close wins,
at some point we get back tothe wise Jedi version of you are
what your record says you are,because they will have those wins in hand.

(15:11):
You can't unwin games once you've wonthem. And you know, if
you're at four and one, yougot Ravens, Jaguars, Seahawks, you
take one or two with those goinginto the bay, and you're sitting there
at you know five, and youknow there's five or six and one or
two and like that's that's that's gonnabe legit, Like you're most of the

(15:33):
way to the playoffs there, andthat that puts you a position where you
only have to win a couple ofthe rest of the schedule and you're right
there in the wild card mixed Allright, let's get another true or false
up on deck. How about twoor false Gabriel Davis, at twenty eight
point one yards per catch, isthe most dangerous receiver in football, tearing

(15:58):
things up. He's got a loteven catches, averaging almost thirty yards per
cat. Shatty, that's technically Ithink for alternating, I think it's oh,
go gotcha. Sorry, I justalways wait for no problem. Um
yeah, no, no, no, that's cool. My My initial thought
is that this is false, butI'm willing to be proved wrong. Similar

(16:26):
to how like I was on boardthe Cooper Cup train before a lot of
people, but you had to waitand see it a little bit. And
even I early last season was like, hey, this is a really good
connection, but let's wait and seeexactly how this pans out. When someone's
a triple Chrome winner, obviously youknow it panned out really well. Um,
is Gabriel Davis headed for that?No, but he is a favorite

(16:48):
receiver, a target who's got alot of chemistry with a very good quarterback
in a very high octane, verypotent offense. So I don't think he
does the same things that Cooper Cupdoes. I don't think he is in
the Justin Jefferson Jamar Chase like linehim up without you know, Stefan digs

(17:11):
out there and he's gonna do justfine. Is like the primary guy drawing
all sorts of shaded coverages and allthat. Right now, I think he's
benefiting from a lot of things.But all that being said, what's going
to stop him from benefiting for thosefor the next ten weeks? Like probably
nothing, And so I'm gonna sayno, and I'm probably gonna have to
like dig into the film and likeshow some people on Twitter like why he's

(17:33):
benefiting from like a lot of assistancesto his numbers. But at the same
time, like this isn't gonna stop, not anytime soon. Like if it
stops for him, it's gonna startup for like six other guys, because
right now he is just the dudethat teams are going to the drawing board
unable to figure out how to coverand still stop the running game and still

(17:55):
stop Josh Allen from running and stillstop Stefon Dix. I think this is
a question that I would answer verydifferently depending on the context in which I
was being asked. So if I'mbeing asked like right now, it is
Gave Davis, like an amazing contributorfor the Buffalo Bills and it can eat
you more than anyone else can.Then I think the answer to that is

(18:15):
yes. But a lot of thathas to do with I hate to use
the word like system receiver because it'sjust like system quarterback. Right. It
sounds so pejorative, like you're tryingto take a pot shout at this guy.
But what it really is is ifyou ask me the same question,
and like the offseason when Davis,if he were hypothetically a free agent,

(18:37):
you know, gave Davis be thebest guy on the market. No,
No, he would not. Ithink he is somebody who is thriving in
a system that plays to his strengthsthat in some ways play to everybody's strength.
So then there's enough to go aroundthere. You know, you're not
talking about a quarterback that sort ofleans heavily on like a binkie and that
guy's getting everything. I mean,this is a guy who knows how to

(19:00):
reread the ball around a little bit. And he and Josh Allen, who
clearly frowned a connection. So thereare a lot of things about his situation
that says, yeah, this islegitimate. And you know, if we're
asking, like, oh, isthis something you can rely on, you
know, a shoddy pointed out forlike the rest of the season. Yeah,
and especially for a guy who waskind of maligned by the Bill's fan

(19:21):
base coming into this Seasonly, whenis this guy never going to do anything?
Oh man, he's like bargain basement, bottom shelf guy and he's really
coming to his own And I thinkthat's cool, and I absolutely think that
it is true in that context.But if you're asking me, like,
is Dave Davis the next you know, insert name of outstanding marquee receiver here,
I don't think the answer is yes, outside of the Bills system.

(19:47):
Yeah, And if you dig intothis, that's a little bit more.
It's it's interesting because he's got abouthalf the targets and slightly fewer than half
the catches of a lot of thetop outs. You know, justin Jefferson
as your fifty five targets, fortycatches for still very respectable thirteen point seven

(20:07):
yards per reception. He's the leagueleader in receiving yards at this point.
That's that's tremendous numbers. Cooper Cuphas sixty four targets, caught forty nine
of them, but only ten pointeight yards per reception. This year,
he's he's basically a receiver and atight end and a third down back for
the Ramps. Right now, he'splaying all of those roles. And you

(20:30):
start to look at this and yougo, okay, like, who's who's
above thirty, Who's in that fourteenfifteen yards per catch range sixteen that you
like to see for really dangerous deepthreats, And it's like a J.
Brown, M. Courtland Sutton inDenver. You know, there's there's the
number of guy Chris Olave at fifteenpoint six, Like your your deep deep

(20:53):
threats are pretty thin on the ground, and and some of the same criticisms
that you can level at you,Okay, Chris J. Kirk, he's
only got twenty one catches at sixteenpoint one yards per catch. The fact
that Gave Davis has twenty eight pointone yards per catching. Yeah, there's
a ninety eight yard or in there, Like that's still that's unbelievable. And
if you have a deep threat likethat, it adds so much to an

(21:15):
offense. I don't think like youguys say, overall tools skills, who
would you trade for him? Wouldyou sign him to a big fat giant
guaranteed contract. Not quite yet,but he's on track to be the kind
of you know, look at hisnumbers, look at his production, look
at what he's done. And yethe's going to give defensive coordinators nightmares even
if they don't throw to him oncein a game. All right, let's

(21:38):
go. You brought up Jamar Chase. I want to do one more shoddy.
The Cincinnati Bengals are two and three? True or false? Samantha.
Okay, so when we say see, I'm gonna make you clarify this,
which kind of defeats the spirit tobe exercised, right, So do that?

(22:00):
Like, well, two and threeis in their record at the end
of the season, is going tobe directly proportional to to you know,
same fraction, same percentage. Butyeah, so, I mean, I
guess it depends on how you lookat it. Like, are they if
we say two and three they're asplit slightly below average, like going to
finish with a slightly under five hundredrecord. No, I don't think they're

(22:22):
that bad. They had a coupleof really bad games right out of the
gate, and that's something that cancompletely turn around. We've seen plenty of
good teams really prip up themselves forthe first two or three games of the
season and then they're fine after that. And the loss that we've seen from
Cincinnati since then was a sort ofa hard fought primetime game against another AFC

(22:45):
North team in Baltimore, who isarguably their best competition for the division.
And all of those games are tough, and these teams tend to split a
lot on the season. So yeah, I don't think it's like, oh,
no, the Bengals are going tohave a losing season, Like are
the Bengals really underwhelming and probably notgoing to the postseason in a very like

(23:07):
Gauntlety AFC and less they managed towin the AFC North with like, you
know, eleven wins. Yeah,in that sense, I think that it's
very true. I just we thoughtthey would take a step back this year.
They absolutely have. I think we'repast the Super Bowl hangover point of
it now, so now it's like, well, this is probably who you
really are. There are a lotof things I don't like about this team.

(23:27):
I think they got really lucky lastyear to get as far as they
did, which is absolutely not tosay they're going to be a bad team.
Or they are a bad team,or even that they're a below average
team, but how far above average? Arthy Probably not very far. And
this is essentially where they were lastseason, And I think that's important to
keep coming back to because you talksuper Bowl hangover, very true, but

(23:52):
for the Bault of the twenty twentytwo season, this was a team we
were asking questions like this about wewere not entirely sold on Joe Burrow.
We were not in the space wherewe were with Jamar Chase, and they
overperformed that. That defense has overperformedin the playoffs and has sort of come
back to earth a little bit.Still still playing very well, but I

(24:15):
think the rest of the division hasgotten outside of Pittsburgh has gotten just a
little bit better. And so whenDeshaun Watson comes back and you got to
play the Browns with him at quarterback, the Ravens are much tougher out than
they were last season. All ofa sudden, you're like, are like
two more losses last season and they'renot talking about Super Bowl hangover. They're

(24:37):
talking about picking in the top halfof the draft, Like this is a
different world from where the Bengals thoughtthey were. But it's essentially where they've
always been. And until you're that, until you're like the late nineties,
early two thousands Ravens or the Steelers, you know, basically since the seventies,

(25:00):
Like, until you're that team,you can't write checks that you don't
have the funds to cash. AndI think a lot of their fan base
and a lot of the national mediawere doing that with the Bengals because we
just assumed that young superstars meant sustainedsuccess, and they're not that guy,
not yet, and so until theyproved the opposite. Yeah, this is
a true statement. There's still thisteam that, until further notice, is

(25:22):
at or around mediocrity consistently, untilthey prove that they can consistently be that
super Bowl contending team, which they'venot done. They got their once,
Plenty of teams get their once.They got to prove that they could do
it more than once. Yeah,I'm saying it's false, but I do
think they're better than this. Iwrote last year thirty eight that Joe Barrow,

(25:47):
Jamartes and the Bengals are ahead ofschedule. You know, I think
they expected to be competitive last year. I don't think they expected to be
as good as they were, andthey were good kind of in flashes and
in spurts, and there were therewere times after writing that article where I
was like, they're gonna make melook dumb, you know, and instead
they made me look really, reallysmart. And some of that is having

(26:08):
talented players in key places, andyou know, some of that is getting
hot at the right time or clickingat the right time. And I think
at this point right now, earlyin the season, they're not clicking.
You know, Jamar Chase is notclicking. Teams are covering him differently,
and he's learning how to adjust tothat, and Zach Taylor is learning how
to adjust to that also. AndI also think they made some moves on

(26:30):
the offensive line that haven't made theoffensive line better at protecting Joe Burrow yet.
But like as you always say,Shatty, that takes time to gel.
I don't think they're going to finisheight and nine, but it is
not outside the realm of possibility,because they are in a tough division in
a tough conference, and they canbe you know, spiritually, morally just

(26:52):
as good at football and get worseresults, and uh, you know,
then they might be the eight andnine to Super Bowl Team of destiny that
I crowned the Baltimore Ravens this yearwhere they we're very very very unlucky to
go eight and nine and now lookout. So we'll look out for Field
Yates, our big guest this week. Cannot wait to talk to him,

(27:15):
pick his brand on all this stuffthat's going on in the NFL. Stay
right here on three and out,your National NFL podcast. Welcome back to
three and out, your National NFLpodcast. Of course it is our midweek
big show and we have a bigguest, just like always, Field Yates,
NFL insider for ESPN, co hostthe fantasy focused podcast. How you
doing today, Field, I'm doinggreat. Thanks for having me. I

(27:37):
believe this is what the second orthird time joining the show, so it's
an odd Yeah. Always love havingyou back on. I want to pick
your brain real quick. We havebeen kind of expecting the Matt rule firing
at some point over the last eightteam months, so we didn't dig into
it much at the beginning of theshow real quickly. What kind of brought

(28:00):
about Why was this the time andnot at the end of last year or
you know, given him the restof the season one made it the last
straw for David Tepper. Yeah,I think that while there have been instances
of coaches being fired after just oneseason, there have been several of them,
and probably several too many in myopinion. Typically you'll see a team
or an organization an owner go forat least two years before they feel like

(28:22):
they have a real grip on whetherthe coach has suited to be that person
going forward or not, especially whenthere's quarterback uncertainty, which has been the
case in Carolina. I think thatCarolina, though, came into this season
with some level of expectation, notjust because what is and has been a
very good defense, but also theconcept that while Baker Mayfield was probably not

(28:45):
ever a top five quarterback, Idon't think he was either a bottom five
quarterback, and then this year hehas now been performing like a bottom five
quarterback. So pretty much every quarterbackdecision they've made as Matt Rule was hired
as the head coach has, Iwould say, largely backfired against them.
That's probably the driving factor behind it. And then obviously Steve Wilkes takes on

(29:08):
as interim head coach. I've beentalking a lot about how minority head coaches.
He's involved in the Brian Flores lawsuit. How long a leash each new
NFL coach gets is something that welook at, because Steve Whillikes didn't get
a very long one that rolled outa longer one. What do you think
this means for the coaching search forthe rest of the year and how is

(29:32):
that going to go? And doesSteve Whilliks have an opportunity to win this
job for real? Well, DavidTepper did say he had an opportunity.
If things go really well, we'llsee, you know. I think that
the inclination, I think probably naturallyis always when you have firehead coaches to
probably think big outside of the organizationthat would be my guess is to owners

(29:52):
default too. That being said,if they turn their season around, it
won't be easy because Baker Mayfield's gonnamiss some time. It's not like their
backup quarterback in Sam Darnold and pJ. Walker are guarantees to be stars
or any kind of upgrade over BakerMayfield. And then there's the possibility that
ownership says to the front office,Hey, if we've got players who aren't
a part of our future going forward, you have the green light to acquire

(30:15):
some draft capital because they're already downsome future draft capital because a prior trade
that they have made, whether itwas Bunk Gilmore, C. J.
Henderson, and you name it.There have been steveral moves they have made
to get their roster ready to win. Now they haven't one now, So
I think Steve Wilkes probably has ashot. I think that if their season
plays out like I expected to playout, which is not particularly well,

(30:37):
then it's probably a long shot forSteve Wilkes to have the job going forward.
So let's go from the bottom ofthe league to the top of the
league. We spend some time priorto you jumping on talking about various teams
in the NFL. We're having atrouble really getting a firm handle on.
You know, we did a trueor false and you know, when you

(30:59):
look at of Philadelphia Eagles, whocurrently have one of the best records in
the NFL, they are playing aswell, it's just about anyone in the
NFL that aren't the Buffalo Bills.But they've won some close games against some
not really great opponents, and thereare some pop marks to what is otherwise
a really good record. You know, are the Philadelphia Eagles for real?
And what are your expectations for themfor the rest of the season. Yeah,

(31:22):
I think they are for real.I think might be the most balanced
roster in the NFL. It's hardfor me to find a glaring weakness or
award, if you will, ontheir roster at the moment. Offensive,
but we know how good they havebeen. Jalen Hurts just keeps getting better
and better and better. And Iknow these awards are you know, a
little sort of gimmicky and not necessarilyindicative of anything, but the Eagles have

(31:45):
had three defensive Player of the Weekawards already and two Special Teams Player of
the Week awards already. Typically thedefensive or offensive Player of the Week winner
is a guy's got some real talent, and the Eagles have many of those
players on defense, including Darius Slayand Assnreddick and also Brandon Graham will each
won that award, So they're balancedreally in all three phases. I think

(32:08):
that head coach Nick Syrian deserves aton of credit because he has had a
vision since the moment he was hired. He has had a way that he
has carried himself since the moment thathe has hired, he was hired,
and he's coached with a certain aggressionthat I think are all appropriate and contributing
to winning right now for Philly.So I'd be surprised if this start proves

(32:31):
to be Fool's goal. They seemlike the real deal to me. And
the scary part for I think therest of the division is that as far
as assets go, next off season, they're loaded. They've got so much
extra draft capital and a real chanceto be a team that could get even
better in twenty twenty three and beyond. Let's talk a little fantasy here for

(32:51):
a second. So I think,if memory starts to me correctly, the
last time you were here, wetalked a little bit about like weird rules
that people add to fantasy leagues andyour thoughts on that. And so I'm
curious because I saw the other daysomebody tweeting about their kickers only league,
where the whole league was just kickers. All you did was draft kickers and
you had three active kickers every week, yeah, and one kicker on the

(33:15):
bench. So I kind of wantedto get your thoughts on this like highly
highly specific, niche type of fantasyleague like, is this really something that
there's a future in or were justgoing to get more and more sort of
nuanced and heavily detailed, like highlyspecific types of fantasy leagues, or is
this one of those passing trends like, Oh, somebody thought this would be

(33:37):
funny, a couple of people triedit for a couple of years, and
then ultimately we just go back tothe old favorite style of doing things.
I think what I found in theadvent of social media is that there is
like a niche for everybody, andthere are going to be some people that
find amusements or enjoyment in playing ina kickers only fantasy league, or maybe

(33:58):
a I don't know, but offensivelineman fantasy league or something non traditional one.
I think the reality is that peopleare going to default back to what
ninety eight percent of us play,which is just your run of the middle,
traditional fantasy football. And part ofwhat I think is so unique about
fantasy football is that the format doesn'treally need to change. I mean,
there are leagues that I've been playingin for over a decade that we haven't

(34:21):
changed a thing, and it hasn'treally and it has not resulted in any
lost interest in the league. Peoplelove it just as much now as they
did when we started at twelve orso years ago. And while you certainly
love it more in the years inwhich your team is winning, you still
find that enjoyment when draft night begins, and when the season begins, and
whenever you secure a victory at theend of the week. Shatty mentioned a

(34:45):
little bit earlier when he was askingyou about the Eagles, that we had
done kind of a true false thingearlier where we were talking about legitimacy of
teams that look either really good orreally bad. So aside from the Eagles,
I'm curious to get a team fromyou who you think has been a
really pleasant surprise, it's performing alot better than you thought they would,
and then also a team that's lookinga lot worse than you are expecting.

(35:09):
All right, So, as faras teams that are eighteen that is performing
better than I may be forecasted forthem, I know that their record is
two and three, but I've beensuper impressed with the way in which the
Seahawks have competed offense will be thisyear. I mean, they're averaging twenty
five plus points per game right now, and that's really been even better.

(35:29):
Over the past three weeks. GinoSmith has been one of the best stories
of the NFL season so far.He's just played so so well, and
I think it is deserving of allthe praise it's been coming his way.
That the reality is that with somany teams, I think it's like sixteen
or eighteen teams that are two andthree or worse, there haven't been too
many pleasant surprises. So that's onethat comes to mind, even if they

(35:51):
still have a losing record. Onthe other side of the spectrum, you
think the Rams right now are adisappointments. And while I have no issue
at all with the way they wentabout their business last year and trading so
many picks to acquire players that helpedthem win a Super Bowl, things seem
to have caught up to them muchfaster than I anticipated. And if I

(36:13):
told you that the Rams were thesecond lowest scoring maybe it's a third lowest
scoring offense in the entire league throughthrough five weeks, you probably wouldn't believe
me. But that's where they're They'reaveraging sixteen points per game. They're like
third or five. Maybe that's fourthlowest scoring team. It's just a number
that you would have never thought fora guy for an offense and is coordinated,

(36:36):
well technically not coordinated, but isrun by Sean McVeagh who seems to
have the magic touch when it comesto offense. So the offensive lines really
in a heap of trouble, andthe pass catchers not named Cooper cup especially
and Tyler Higbee have been largely nonfactors so far for LA. So I'm
gonna go last, and I'm gonnatake the normal tie sports media question.

(37:00):
But as you mentioned earlier, you'vebeen on the show before, so we've
asked you the baseline media question inthe past, like how did you get
to where you're going? How canpeople follow the field the eights path to
success, which is pretty intricate,you know, being super talented, super
young, and being a rock staris not exactly an easy path. But

(37:22):
I want to ask you a followup because one of the guys you're closest
with in the world, Matthew Berry, was the face of ESPN Fantasy for
so long, and so what islike, what's new at the Worldwide Leader
in the post Matthew Berry era whenwhen it comes to ESPN Fantasy when it

(37:42):
comes to really world that he helpedengineer, what does that mean for you
and everyone else who asked to sortof carry that torch into the future.
I said this at the time,and I'll repeat it because I think it's
worth it is. When Matthew left, it turned into an opportunity for people
to recognize what he may have donefor them in their career. And if

(38:04):
you go through the fantasy football industry, I would defy you to find a
single person who wasn't impacted by MatthewBerry and what he did for not just
DESPN, but for fantasy football atlarge. Whether it was influenced, whether
it was motivated, whether it's somebodythat you have emulated, whatever the circumstances
are, Matthew made and I thinkan indelible mark on your journey, whether

(38:27):
you're doing this full time, whetheryou're doing it part time, whether you're
doing it because you love fantasy football, whether you're doing it goes need to
make ends meet, whatever the circumstancesare, Matthew was someone that you are
aware of and probably motivated to belike. And as entertaining twists on fantasy
football make them one of a kind. So his departure obviously has been a
notable one for us here at ESPN, and I think that the reality is

(38:50):
that it's created a lot of opportunitybecause Matthew was such a big force for
us at ESPN, and I've beengrateful for the chance to take over some
of that opportunity. But it's alsobeen an opportunity for people that are in
either new roles or have sort ofshifted their platform a little bit. We've
got some new talent on the onthe squad, including Liz Loza and not

(39:12):
quite totally new, but Eric Moody, who's probably about a year and maybe
maybe a little over a year inwith us here at ESPN. But someone
like Daniel Dopp and Mike Play whoI spend a ton of time with daily,
have seen a platform rise. Andit's cool to see all that because
while it's I'd love to sit hereand tell you, like we all would,
that you know, I have allthe thoughts, I have, all

(39:32):
the opinions, I have all thetakes that matter on fantasy football, it's
not even close to the truth.If you need a big team, and
our team this year I feel likehas been extremely strong. You know,
we're only about a third of theway through the season, but I think
it's it's been a very gratifying andrewarding one so far. All Right,
well, I certainly have plenty oftakes that don't matter. How can people
follow along with the takes that youhave that do matter and the rest of

(39:57):
the team at ESPN. Yeah,I take plenty of take that don't matter.
Also my sort of m oh Itry to findel as much my content
as like yeah through Twitter at FieldYates f I E. L. D.
Yate just like my name. SoI appreciate all you guys having me
on. If everyone we'll check itout, check out my content, go
there and look for it. Interactingwith you killer. Thank you so much.

(40:17):
Field Yates one of the very bestin the business. Always glad to
have him on NFL Insider for ESPN, co host of the Fantasy Focus Football
podcast. You gotta check it out. Meanwhile, we will come back and
pick every single NFL game straight upand against the spread, just like we
always do. Three and Out YourNational NFL Pod. Alright, We're back.
I'm three and out your National NFLPodcast. Every single week we get

(40:42):
big guests like Field Yates get greatstuff from him, and then of course
we pick every single game straight upand against the spread. Guys, let's
get right into it. Commanders onepoint underdogs at the mighty Chicago pairs,
who we could have done our wholeanother true false segment about at two and
three could have been four and one, could have been oh and five.

(41:06):
But the Commanders are one and fourand I think they deserve it. As
Samantha, who do you like here? All right? What's the line here?
Plus one? Commanders are getting apoint at one point underdogs? Yeah,
I'll take the Bears off. Idon't believe in either of these and
this is exactly the kind of liketrash heat matchup that you would expect for
both in it football, that we'vecome to expect, I should say.

(41:28):
So, I'm not sure this isgoing to be an improvement on last week's
debacle, but I guess I justbelieve in the Bear's ability to continue to
get better, and I don't believein the Commander's ability to get better.
I think that's kind of ye.They're feeling with what they have to work
with, and you know, Iwill pick pretty much anything over Carson one.

(41:51):
So yeah, I think the possibilityexists in greater sums for the Bears
to have like an adequate game thanit does the Commanders. So I'm going
Bears here. I will say thatthe less said about this game probably the
better boat before, during, andafter it. The specific thing that the

(42:12):
Commanders can't do is protect Carson Wentz. Like Carson Wentz has issues, they
can't protect him. The specific thingthe Bears are really good at doing is
getting after the quarterback. I thinkthat's gonna you know, gel on this
one. I'm not surprised to seethat the Manners are the underdog, you
know, in this matchup, andI picked the Bears to win this one
in and it's probably gonna be prettyugly for Carson Wentz and company. Yeah,
I'm going to go the same way, especially because the Bears should be

(42:34):
able to control the ball on theground and limit exposure. Neither of these
teams are great, but I thinkI like the Bears better than the Commanders,
especially at home. I will laythe one point, which is basically
a pickome at that point. Soyeah, Bears for me, straight up
and against the spread. Forty nineErs five and a half point favorites at
the Atlanta Falcons, shoddy, whoyou got. I think this one probably

(42:59):
gonna end being closer than the generalsentiment of these teams expect. The forty
Ers are starting to get that mojoof playing down some opponents. The Falcons
are starting to get that, youknow, approaching pluck levels, as we've
talked about in the past. SoI will take the fortin Ers straight up.

(43:19):
I will pick the Falcons against thespread. It would not surprise me
to see this one come down tolike a young whoku uh you know,
field goal attempt at the end,and maybe it's just a little bit too
far and the fortin Ers end upwinning this one. Yeah, same um.
This is one of those weird gameswhere I feel incredibly confident that,
like, the Falcons will cover thespread here that there's but I also don't

(43:44):
think there's much chance they win thegame, if that makes sense, Which
is a bizarre thing to say abouta really close matchup. But this is
a combination of this jot He mentionedthat the forty nine or sort of tendency
to play down to the opponent butget out no problem with the victory,
and the Falcon's ability to keep itreally close, and then screw up at
the end. So this game I'mkind of Taylor made, I think for

(44:06):
this particular. Yeah, it alltake the favorite and then pick the underdog
cover. I'm right there with you, guys. Falcons are five and oh
against the spread. I'm going totake them against the spread here forty nine
is are gonna win this game though, Patriots plus three, three point underdogs
at the Browns. Samantha, butyou got there. I have no idea

(44:27):
what to do with this game,guys. I mean, it's just the
Browns, like tick, get outof their own way, and like every
other week, they seem to rememberhow to put it together well enough to
like win a football game against ateam which theoretically they should beat, and
they should beat the Patriots, especiallyat home. They should. But Bill
Belichick, who has still nursing thatlifelong grudge against Cleveland for moving to Baltimore

(44:52):
and forgetting to give him the forwardingaddress with what I yeah, I just
that's funny. The way that Brown'sdefense has been playing is something that I
think Belichick and the Patriots can takegood advantage of. I have to Bill
Patriots here, I have to BillBelichick does not lose against former assistance,

(45:16):
nor does he lose against former quarterbacks. This is going to be a game
where I think the Patriots smelled alittle blood in the water defensively last week,
and they will just continue to feastthat. I think this is going
to be a matchup where all ofa sudden, the air is taken out
of the Jacob Brissette. The Brownstires in terms of being this fantastic team

(45:40):
that's just waiting for Deshaun Watson tocome back. I think this one will
end up looking like their outclassed,even if they're not. From a talent
perspective. The Patriots are just theteam that does that two people, and
Bill Belichick is the coach that doesthat to people. Yeah. I won't
totally rule out the Browns can speakthis one out just because of their pass
rush against the Zappy, but Ithink that same boat, better coach team.

(46:02):
Too many points in the Patriots direction, literally and figuring figuratively. I
will take them to win straight upand against the spread Jets plus seven going
into Lambeau shoddy Do you like theJets getting seven points? I this seems
too big. This, this seemstoo big. This, this seems like

(46:25):
ye. Now, as I saidin our takeaways, there are always games
where you feel like just grabbing theflour around the neck and being like you
have a running attack. You haveAaron Jones, like freaking remember that this
exists, and this could be acourse correction game in that favor. And
if it is, I think AaronJones could take over this game and the

(46:46):
Packers could absolutely win this game byseven. But that being said, I
think the Packers are the better team. The Jets are the team that seems
like they're fighting more like they're actuallymore interested in playing football games right now,
and I actually enjoy watching them somuch more because of that. Like,
it's really infuriating to watch the Packers, who still have quite a bit

(47:07):
of talent on both sides of theball, and just act like this guy
is falling around them at all times. It's just super annoying. So I
will take the Packers here because theyare the better team. I will take
this to be a closer and sevenone game. I will take the Jets
against the spread. Yeah, I'mgonna go kicking and screaming here because I
like lazy, arrogant brand of footballthat the Packers are playing. Right now

(47:27):
makes me angry. I hate it. I don't like watching it. I
would love to see the Jets comein and just clean their clock and embarrassment,
embarrass them, because that's what youdeserve when you play football this way.
And look at what happened in Londona week ago against the Giants,
like it's just inexcusable and it makesme mad and it makes me want to

(47:50):
root or whoever. So it doesn'tmatter anybody but the Packers when they're behaving
this way. So at the sametime, the SAME's not being played in
London. I don't know the theJets are as good as the Giants in
terms of ceiling, at least notat this point. We do have the
Zach Wilson is Good T shirt toconsider, which is two and all.
I will wear it again on Sunday, so perhaps perhaps if you believe in

(48:13):
superstitious things, which I don't really, but you know, I'm gonna wear
it anyway just in case. Butpicking against the shirt, I'm picking against
Zach Wilson, picking against the Jets. Sorry, guys, I don't want
to, but I will take theJets to cover because they just think again,
the underwhelmingness of the way that thePackers are playing right now might be
good enough for a win, butI don't think it's good enough to cover

(48:35):
Jet s Jets, Jets, Jets. I'm going New York all the way
I want it. I like it. I think it's going to happen.
Jets are gonna win this against thespread, and they may even win straight
up because the Packers just do arenot playing like they want to win games.
Jags two and a half point underdogsat the Colts coming off that uninspiring
divisional game last week. Jags againgetting two and a half at the Colts.

(48:59):
Samantha, who do you like?Nobody? But I think we've finally
reached the point. I mean,what at eight straight losses, I think
for the Colts against the Jaguars likethis is the Jaguars are not good enough
to hang on today. I thinkthis is a point where we snapped the
streak. I'm going to take theColts. Yeah, I think that streak
is just in Jacksonville, right,I think the Colts have typically been the
better team, right, So Iwill take the Colts here as well,

(49:22):
because I think in terms of trending, like the Jags are the better team
right now. But in terms oftrending, like I think we see the
Colts take this one, and Ithink we continue to ask ourselves what happened
to the Jaguars early season's success.Yeah, I'm hoping this means a kind
of a bounce back for Trevor Lawrence. He learned something last week. I'll
take the Jags and the points Vikingsminus three at the Miami Dolphins. So

(49:46):
we're clear as of recording this Wednesdaymorning to a tonk of Iloa is like
resumed team activities and throwing, butis not practicing. But even if he
is medically cleared to play this week, he is unlikely too. They're probably
gonna hold him back no matter what. So that that affects this line a

(50:07):
little bit shaddy where you're at onthis. If TWA plays, they win.
If Ta doesn't play, they lose. That's where I'm at. Yeah,
same Like I was trying to startasking myself the Cheddy Bridgewater question and
how does that factor it? AndI thought you want it on think matters
two us in Dolphins win, twois out Kirk in the Vikings win.
Yeah, this is probably going tobe the Vikings, but they play everybody

(50:27):
dangerously close. They have let everyteam in and they keep limping away with
victories. That said, three pointsis probably the right number. I will
hold my nose and take the VikingsBengals one and a half point favorites at
the Saints. Interesting, Samantha,who do you? I'll take the Bengals
here, mostly because I think youhave to. This is the kind of
game that the Bengals if you haveto win this, and if you don't,

(50:51):
then we're all kind of done withyou and really dismissing you as a
flash in the pand for twenty twentyone, and so, yeah, you
have to, and I think theywill. If Geo Smith did what he
did against the Saints, you gottathink Joe Burrow has a better chance to
do some of those things. Evenif the Ravens gave sort of the rest
of the League of blueprint on howto beat the Bengals, I don't think

(51:13):
the Saints have the talent to duplicateit. So Bengals all the way.
Yeah, same here. I thinkto get right game for the Bengals,
and I don't think Taysom Hill isgoing to be able to catch everybody by
surprise. This week, Ravens fivepoint favorites at the four and one New
York Football Giants. Shaddy, whodo you got? I'm gonna go Ravens.

(51:34):
I'm riding the Ravens train as hardas I can. As I said
before, I don't think the Giantsare as good as their record. They're
very good, They're not as goodas the Ravens. I will take them
getting awfully surprised when they can't stopthat Ravens rushing attack. I think that
some of the problems that Baltimore ishaving defensively will cause them to lose games
to teams that are theoretically worse thanthe Giants. But the problem is here

(51:55):
is that matchup wise, what theRavens are doing poorly on defense is not
match up with what the Giants dowell on offense. Yeah, so I
gotta go late this year. Yeah, I'm gonna go with the Ravens.
Interesting report, I think it wasTom Pellicero trued out this morning. Oh,
the Giants are planning on using therunning game to keep the ball out
of Lamar Jackson's hands. I'm like, well, I hope, so,

(52:19):
Like, what what was your otherplan? Like? Weird to see your
report on team strategy, but alsoweird to state the obvious Ravens and I
will lay the five Bucks minus eightat the Pittsburgh Steelers. We could we
could have done a truer false onthe Pittsburgh Steelers being one and four.

(52:40):
Samantha, what do you think aboutthis line? Oh, the Bucks to
win and feels incredibly easy, Butthat eight gets a little bit sticky because
the Bucks has been pretty underwhelming,right, Steelers are also underwhelming. But
look, I can't believe that,I'm like Tom one team can be that
bad for that long. I thinkI'm gonna figure some stuff out. Yeah,

(53:00):
would virtually lock the Buccaneers into gettinga win here, but I'm going
to take the Steelers to cover upright there with you. I think the
Steelers have to, you know,go back to square one and have some
sort of sense of pride and thatthe professional football players, like they got
embarrassed last week, but I don'tthink that embarrassment continues going forward. Like

(53:22):
I think they get right, theyyou know, have their whatever players only
meeting or whatever it's going to be, and they lose this one because the
Buccaneers are the better team. ButI don't think it's nearly as bad as
they look last week against the BuffaloBills. Yeah, and I don't think
I'm with Samantha. The Bucks.I don't see them beating anybody by like

(53:43):
nine, ten, twelve. Ijust don't see that being where they're at
right now. I haven't done.I think the Saints. They beat the
Saints by ten, the Cowboys earlyon, you know, I just I
don't see that holding up. SoI will take the Chiefs, I'm sorry,
I'll take the Bucks to win,but the Steelers to cover Pans.
There's plus ten and a half atthe Rams. Kind of the same situation

(54:04):
in reverse, Shoddy, your belovedPanthers now minus fired Matt Rule. We
didn't even talk about Matt Rule gettingfired because it's just the thing that we've
been waiting for it. Yeah,we've been talking about Matt Rule getting fired
for two years now. So thisis just man. I don't think the
Panthers win this one. There's justtoo much of a talent disparity. But

(54:27):
I think they cover because again,you go back to you go back to
the Trenchets. The one thing thatthe Rams are struggling with is through six
weeks, they do not know howto protect Matthew Stafford this current offensive line.
They don't They don't understand it.They can't figure it out. They've
tried different things. It does notwork. The Panthers are pretty good against
getting against quarterback. Now again,I think the talent level is too big

(54:50):
of a disparity. I think theRams defense has something to say about this
game because the Panthers offense has beenso bad. But honestly, like,
if it's within a couple of fieldgoals at the end of this game,
it would not surprise me if youget like a late drive by Baker Mayfield,
a late interception by Matthew Stafford,which was his calling card for so
many years, if you get sortof that backbreaking thing. I think the

(55:10):
Panthers are in this one, butI don't think they went in. Yeah,
we've been having this like matt ruleprobably ought to be fired conversation for
so long now, right that youthink we would be jumping up and down
and like like dunking on this andinstead or just like, oh right,
that finally happened. It's like wetalked about it so much that it pulled
up for ourselves out on it.But to that end. I don't know

(55:31):
that I think the dead cat bouncecomes here. I don't think this is
that kind of situation. Not sure. I Drew with Firing becomes a coordinator
there either, which is going tocause a lot of problems for the defense
that we're really having a lot ofproblems. So, yeah, the Rams
are the easy pick here. Also, the Rams have greatly underwhelmed me this

(55:51):
season, so I'm tempted to takeCarolina to cover, but I just think
that they're headed in a bad direction. I think this is an opportunity for
the Rams to kind of showcase whatthey do well. So I'm gonna take
the Rams from favorites. Yeah,I am thinking this is the Rams go
up seventeen zero, and I'm thinkingthey're gonna easily cover ten and a half,

(56:12):
and then it finishes twenty seven nineteenbecause there's some ridiculous like punt block,
back door cover things. I'll takethe Rams straight up Panthers to cover
Cardinals two and a half point favoriteson the road to face Joe Smith and
the mighty Seattle Seahawks. Samantha,who you got, I'm taking the Seahawks.
I'm gonna do it. This seemslike the exact kind of situation where

(56:35):
Arizona we'll just go in and screwup, and Gino and the Seahawks have
proven they can hang with absolutely anybody. It's a divisional game, so you
know it's going to be a littlebit weirder and wilder than what we see
outside of that. So yeah,I mean, I have a lot of
questions about Arizona, so this isa great time to go steal one here.
The Seahawks feel like a lot ofthose questions that I had about Arizona

(57:00):
were at least answered, even ata loss to Philadelphia. I might be
incorrect about them, but I thinkthey're a better team, and this is
probably another game where Gino throws fora ton of yards, probably a couple
of touchdowns. But I also thinkthat the Cardinals are a good enough defense
to also get a couple of turnoversgoing their way and then it just turns
into a shootout. And I thinkTyler Murray is a better quarterback as we

(57:22):
talked to, more effective quarterback aswe talked about earlier than Geno Smith,
even if they haven't looked like thatso far this season. I'm gonna take
Cardinals to witness one. You knowwhat, I will also take the Seahawks.
I'm prepared to be wrong. I'lltake them at home, the Fortress
of the Clink, twelfth Man,all that stuff. Why not. I

(57:43):
wanted to see more from the Cardinalsthan I've seen so far, and that's
numerically too. Seahawks are well outof them in dvoa Bills minus two and
a half at the Chiefs. Herewe go the AFC Championship preview. Elect
Shaddy. Who do you gi it? Who do you like? I will
take the Bills both straight up andagainst the spread. I don't think this
one is particularly close. I thinkyou can coach the Bills. I think

(58:08):
you can outplay the Bills. Idon't think you have better talent than the
Bills, and I think that theChiefs do some things to keep this one
a very good, exciting game.But I don't think this is the back
and forth, if you know,overtime game we saw off the end of
last season. I think this gameis the bills true coming out party as

(58:28):
BT, because it's let's stop talkingabout them in terms of where they are
among the NFC elite and started talkingabout them as the singular AFC team to
beat. I will also take theBills here straight up and against the spread.
I think that it's two things,one of which is it's sort of
like the Murphy's law, like,well, if you took the last match

(58:49):
and the next time we meet upand the old duel between you know,
two old cowboys or whatever. Iabsolutely I think that kind of that,
there's some truth to that. Butalso the Bills are playing with a sense
of urgency and sort of a willingnessto just never take the foot off the
gas and the absolutely relentless that I'mnot seeing out of the Chiefs, And
sometimes I think in a matchup likethis, that's what's going to matter.

(59:14):
I think there's gonna be a lotof points scored in this one. I
will say that, much like Idon't particularly elite defense here, but I,
yeah, give me the Bills forsure. Yeah. I think this
might come down to whose scores last, or it might be a pretty resounding
win for the Bills. And I'mgonna take them, and I'm gonna lay
the two and a half, evenon the road. Sunday Night Football.

(59:34):
Of course, for those of youwho know the podcast, you know Samantha
is Content director for NBC Sports isin the control booth for Sunday Night Football.
Cannot pick this game, but shecan tell you how she thinks it's
gonna go. Samantha, Cowboys sixpoint underdogs at the best team in the
NFL, the Philadelphia Eagles. Howdo you think it's going to go?
I'm excited about this because this isthe first time I've been happy to see

(59:58):
this matchup on my slate in career, because it has been one of those
that's like totally overblown and everybody getsreally excited about it and it's never any
good, and it certainly hasn't beenfor the entire time that I've worked here.
But now we're there. Guys werethere, so I yeah. Without
making a pick on this, Iwill say the Eagles have to lose sooner
or later, and I think it'sprobably going to be sooner. I still

(01:00:21):
think they're the better team here,but I expect Dallas to get in their
way a little bit. Every Sundayit will be the night for it.
The matchup to watch is when protectionbreaks down for the Eagles and you have
Micah Parsons and Jails in the openfield. What happens because there are very
few athletes in the NFL, andwe saw with Adan Hutchinson a week one,

(01:00:45):
very few athletes, even elite athletes, can deal with Jayalen Hurts in
the open field. Micah Parsons isone of them. But I don't think
it's enough. I think the Eaglesstill win this one. I think it's
very very close. I think theydo give him fits. I think there
are moments where Mike Parsons looks likethe most dominant force the NFL has seen
because he is able to sort ofcollapse around and catch up to Jalen Hurts

(01:01:07):
the open field. But I don'tthink it's enough. I think the Eagles
win this one, but it's veryvery close. Yeah, they play teams
close. Beat the Lions by three, beat the Jags by eight, beat
the Cardinals by three. I thinkthe Eagles are gonna win, but I
think the Cowboys keep it within six. So I will take that Eagles to
win. Cowboys to cover. MondayNight Football Broncos five and a half point

(01:01:29):
underdogs at the LA Chargers, shottingwho you got here? I will take
the Chargers all the way. Iwill take the Chargers straight. Okay,
right, okay, you know,twice on Sunday and four times on Monday.
Like, the Chargers are just amuch better team, and I think
the Broncos continuer fall apart. Iwas working through like a weird thought exercise

(01:01:49):
the other day about like, isthere anybody who I would take the Broncos
against right now under this horrific likeNathaniel Hackett, like lost Russell Wilson regime?
And I thought, I don't,maybe commanders, Like I don't know,
guys, I just can't. Iknow the Chargers are being up,
I know they are a little bitpoorly coached, but I guess I can't
do it. I can't do it. I'm taking the Chargers, I am.

(01:02:14):
I can't even pick Denver to cover. I can't do it. They're
a mess. I will take Denverto cover because not only do they have
talent on defense, I don't.It's the other way around. Who do
I like the Chargers to beat bya touchdown or more? Not a lot
of teams right now. That's agood point to Actually, they're licking their

(01:02:36):
wounds of and you know literally andphysically, you know, like they're injured,
also not playing as well as theycould be, but I will take
the Chargers to win, but Iwill take the Broncos to cover, and
I will take all the five starratings you want to give us on your
podcatcher of choice, whatever that maybe. Fantastic show today, great guests
from Field Yates, just one ofthe best in the biz and love having

(01:02:59):
you guys join us for that.Make sure you subscribe however you get your
podcasts. Go to three outpod dotcom, subscribe, rate, review,
share, spread the word. Becausewe love doing it, we want to
keep doing it for you. Beready eight am, first thing Monday morning.
We will go live on Twitter spacesjust like we always do, to
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