Transcript of 2024 Week 11 Preview

Welcome to NFL Daily, where we're always playing Rizzie Ball.

I like it.

The new Coach Bumpin. It lasts an extra week. We'll find out. We're here in the Chris Wessling podcast studio. I'm Greg Rosenthal with my friends Steve Weish and Patrick Claybon, the Preview crew. My guys.

See, we're getting stressed. We're getting ready for it. Yeah. We're getting our 10,000 steps in this show, Greg.

We are. Yeah, it's a beautiful time of the week to spend a little over an hour with my friends.

Yeah, you wake up, you get the research document the night before we come in here to the preview show, get lathered up, not starting the day like Darren Rizzie did. We'll have to see if Darren Rizzie starts his game day in a similar fashion that he did in his first win.

A little vomit. One and oh.

I don't think that was the issue, but they're in an opposite ball. I believe it could last. I think the new coach bump could last longer than we... They just got a flush last week.

There it is. Greg Rosenthal, a Professional at this. And yes, we start, guys, with our first game, going smallest to biggest spreads in the week, as we customarily do with just how loud things might be. When Jameis Winston makes his appearance in Mercedes Benz Superdome, Cleveland at New Orleans, the New Orleans Saints, a one-point home favorite, Kenny Albert, Jonathan Vilma, and Megan Olivia on the call. It was once the Mercedes Benz Usurperdome Greg, when he famously led a charge to score a shutdown against the will of Dennis Allen, that was one of the most consequential instances of deliberate insubordination to lead a movement to lead to the ouster of Dennis Allen. The Browns coming off the buy. The Saints coming off snapping a seven-game losing streak. A game we'll probably discuss before next April's draft. How do you see it going?

Yeah, this is the one game all week, actually, between two teams that I would say have no chance to make the playoffs. There's a lot more teams this year that seem like they're out of it. But this is the only game where two of them... And yeah, I'm looking forward to this one. It's Jameis coming off the buy week. We're seeing if this Saints team can keep it rolling and make it feel like they They are a new team again. And defensively, I can buy it. That was the side of the ball that played with a different energy, that they had different schemes that they had up front in terms of how they were going to attack the passer. They know Jameis will give them a chance at a couple of plays, so it's a good day to be Honey Badger and maybe get a pick.

The fact that the Saints are only a point up at the dome tells you all you need to know. That bump they got last week, that's going to be a negative bump.

Well, the fact that they're favored at all against another professional football team. Look at their wide receivers. Look at what they've been this year. The Browns actually without Sean Watson. If you take away Watson, I would say they have more things going for them. More good players, better defense.

I mean, that's what I mean. Jameis is going to go not going to eat the W in the white and orange uniform. Okay, I think when you look at this, you mentioned it. First off, they had the by-week. The Browns will clean some things up defensively. That's a problem. The Saints have to score. They're able to manufacture some points against the Falcons, who they know well. But this is when Jamis is going to push the ball down the field on them. They're going to take some risk, try to get to Jamis. Jamis is going to have a big game in the Dome. I just don't think the Saints are a team that's going to start stacking wins. They just don't seem like that. Cleveland coming off the buy, they'll clean things up. They're going to go down to the 504 and do their thing.

Well, Darren Rzezis' second game as the Saints interim head coach. He could become the Saints first interim head coach in franchise history to win his first two games. Those are the stakes after he dropped that big win in his first start. But you mentioned the receiver's, Greg, the Marquez Valdés-Scantling game, which was really the Marquez Valdés the scantling first half, three catches over 100 yards and two touch downs. Derek Carr, it's fair to say he's one of the better downfield passers in the league, especially on those deep 40 plus yard attempts.

He's protected, yeah.

I don't know how much more MVS can offer, but I'm I'm going to be surprised because the Browns had those nasty blown coverages in the Chargers games, where if they can avoid that and pressure Carr, it's difficult to imagine Alvin carrying the team to victory.

This, Browns, the rest of their season is going to be interesting for them. They have to make some decisions on certain players, whether they're going to bring them back, like in the secondary, Martin Emerson, that guy. Denzel Ward has played great all year. I thought Miles Garrett was the B version of Miles Garrett five or six weeks this season, and he's cranked it up to be all the way back the last few weeks. They just have outstanding players on that defensive side. Ward is, and I don't know who Denzel Ward covers in this game, but when he's firing, he's as good as anyone. I think they actually might have to show something down the stretch, or ownership there might be tempted to pull the plug on this whole group. To blame Andrew Barry, to blame Kevin Stefansky.

That would be absolute nonsense. That would be utter Other nonsense. Not to say they wouldn't do it, but that would be utter nonsense to pull the plug on Kevin Stefansky, who's a hell of a coach. Andrew Barry, who knows what he's doing. Like you said, it's a talented roster. There's been one position that has taken this thing. They pulled the cork out of the tub, and he's not-Their offensive line still stinks.

After they lost Callahan, Jedrick Wills, it was a little bit of a story in Cleveland, said publicly. Now, I listened to what he said, and he said, Look, he was upset that he was benched because the week before, he had made a business decision and sat out the game with an injury. But if you listen to everything that he said, he said, I was about 70%, and I'm trying to not hurt the team by playing through that injury, knowing the guy can replace me and play better. I don't know. When I listened to it back, I don't think he meant anything bad by it, but he's upset because now he's been benched. Since then, he's not getting his job back. This was a guy who, at one point, people thought was the future left tackle of the team.

He paid him, yeah. I think he could be a quality left tackle for a lot of folks. But we got to contextualize these trigger terms that tough football guys really don't like. Soft was apparently a huge issue. That's a no-no. That was ruining lives. Now we've got business decision, which, as Greg pointed out, when put in the proper context, it's something that's much easier to understand versus like, Oh, I don't care about the team. I'm only worried about... Well, yeah, it's his body if he wants to be concerned or if you don't want to run out there. The Cleveland Browns put half of Baker Mayfield on the field for several weeks in his final season there for I don't know what reason.

They put half of Deshaun Watson out there this whole season for I don't know what reason. And that is where you can't play. Sorry to make it about Watson. I didn't cut you off. No, you're good. Let's go to a better game.

Let's go to a much better game. Let's go to a game that's going to be, I always say, across the street. It's not even really a street. There's not a lot of traffic on the street. On the other side of...

It's a sidewalk. It's like 25 feet. I tell people, you could hit a golf ball from here to the 50-yard line. With a putter.

I want one so bad. I want a shot out on our demo field with a sandwich. If we could get...

Over the roof and then onto the field.

It would have to go through the score. We're going to have to get some clearance from Stan. Stan, if you're listening to podcast, let me know. I would like to try to hit a sandwich.

If they wanted it to be safer, I think you could hit a tennis ball. That's how close it is. It's very close.

Either way, the location we're talking about is so far, the Cincinnati bangles. Losers of two of their last three, a one and a half point underdog on the road against the chargers team that's won three in a row, including four or five coming off their by with their quarterback playing a spectacular level, Steve. Over a 90 passer rating in every game this year. That all being said, they're still the bangles. I still believe, can they make this close as they have all year, maybe even win the game?

This is one where styles make fights, and I think this is a bad matchup for Cincinnati. I really What I do, the number feels small to me because of that. We're talking about so much of the bangles offense. The Chargers defense, they've got 31 sacks. They get after it. Joey Bosa, Kaleel Mack, Tuli Tui, up below, too. They get after it, and they're good overall defensively. We know the bangles don't run the ball well. I just think some of the long developing routes, that's going to be an issue for Cincinnati to pull off with this defense. Look, they're The charges are second in the NFL turnover differential. They don't turn it over, and they've got 13 takeaways, and 11 of those are picks. This is a typical Jim Harbaugh coach team that doesn't beat themselves. What do the bangles do? They beat themselves. That's why I'm like, stylistically, this is a bad matchup for Cincinnati.

I almost feel bad for the bangles because they come off that game against the Ravens and they feel like, Oh, are we almost falling out of it? Okay, actually, we are a We just keep losing these tight games to great teams. Then here they go on Sunday night against a team. I'm not going to say it'd be a letdown game for the bangles because every game is so big for them. But you look at it and you think the chargers could be a gettable team. I'm with you. I trust the chargers a little more. Now, we haven't seen them beat a lot of good teams. This is a step up in competition, especially for their defense. I'm curious if Orlando Brown plays in this game. That worried me on the Thursday night game, how poor Joe Burrows' offensive line played. I think that's eroded over the course of this season and going up against this pass rush. Joey Bosa looked a little better last week. He's getting healthier. They're deep, as you mentioned, and they're just really sound. Tee Higgins was practicing on Wednesday on a side field, which normally isn't a great sign, but he was doing a lot more than the week before.

Same with Orlando Brown. So it is trending towards getting those two players back, and they're going to need everything and everyone. I love having this chargers team in the national spotlight with Chris Collins, worth in this moment of the season? Because it's like, okay, are you just better than the bad teams? Are you the best bad team? Or are you really going to be a huge part of this season, beat Cincinnati in this game? And they're seven and three.

This would be the best offensive team that the Chargers have played this season. They've only given up a maximum of 20 points this year. That was the highest output. That was in the loss of the Pittsburgh Steelers and Justin Fields in week three. But as much as I love, because I love Tulie, he's having a great season. He's a South Bay resident. The Chargers are South Bay residents. I'm a South Bay resident. I appreciate Justin Herbert. It's fun to watch him have all success. But these are the offenses that they played: Raiders, Panthers, the Field Stealers, The Chiefs, after the Rasee Rice injury, before they got Nuke Hopkins, early season Denver Broncos, early season Cardinals, the Saints during the seven-game losing streak, the Browns, and then the Tennessee Titans with Will Levis coming back and making a first start. I'll believe more after this game.

After this game. It's just a good truth teller.

It's just difficult to put the crown on them right.

I agree with you, and I think that's why they're eighth in total efficiency. If you look at DVOA, which takes into opponent strength, and that sounds about right to me. They're like a top 10 defense. Very solid. They're going to give up points and yards to great offenses because it's 2024. That's what happens. But you look at the Bengos offense and you think like, well, which is the bigger mismatch? Because the Bengos offense, not really consistent running the ball. They make a few too many mistakes as good as Joe Burrow has been this season. I do think it's fair to point out how many times late in games, they've just needed to make one play, and they haven't. Maybe that is all just bad luck. But he even said it. He regrets how he handled that two-point conversion. He regrets that interception against Baltimore. There's just been these little moments where they have had a chance to get over the hump these games against good teams, and they haven't done it. Sometimes that's just your personality for that season. I don't think that's their personality forever, but maybe it's this season. Then you flip the other side.

The personality on the other side is a defense that really can't get their act together. This Chargers team, they do have a good offensive line right now, at least pass protected, and they do have a good quarterback. Maybe that's the bigger mismatch is Justin Herbert running some power in the red zone and making plays down the field and not making any mistakes. He's found the right coach for him to accentuate what he does well, which is just He's totally avoid negative plays, but now he's popping in the big plays, too.

Yeah, it doesn't turn the ball over. I think they could get Gus Buss back this week, too.

He played last week. He was back. That's right. He was back, yeah.

That's just going to add to it.

Looking forward to the game, Kate. Wait to see how Sunday night football turns out. We'll go to our next game because as much as we love that one, guys, it's time for hot matchups presented by Wingstop. It's the Buffalo Bills, who are two-point favorites at home against the Kansas City Chiefs, Josh, Alan, Greg. Without Keion Coleman last week. Keion Coleman already out. Amari Cooper, questionable in this game. He threw his first two interceptions against zone coverage last week. Now, here comes Spag's defense. They're two point favorites to try to beat the unbeaten Chiefs.

I hate that. As that game was ending in Denver, I was thinking, this is going to be a bad spot for Buffalo because everyone's going to pick Buffalo this week.

This is the one that Chiefs lose.

It's like, Oh, they've been rickety, and they've got all these issues. And that's just the spot where it's like Patrick Mahomes rips off the Scooby-Doo mask, and it's just Patrick Mahomes underneath, the greatest football player I've ever seen, going up against a Bills defense that's very sound year after year, and yet he shreds them year after year. So I think the way you win this game for the Bills, man, I don't know who I'm going to pick in this game, but I think you got to win a shootout. And I actually think they can. I think the Bills' offense, it would be great to I have Amari Cooper back, but I do think that they can move the ball, and we know the Chiefs are going to move the ball, and it's not a heavy possession game. I do trust Josh Allen in the red zone a little more than this Chief's offense right now in the red zone.

Well, I'll tell you this. This is against Dallas make fights, and this is going to be a great game. I like the Chiefs defense in this one because they've got players that match up well. They're inside linebackers, Utrank will and nick Bolton. They can spy Allen, they can spy cook. They can run and pursue. They've got different guys in the safe. It seems like they roll through like 16 different DBs every game, playing the opponent in the field situation that can match up well with the tight ends. As well for Buffalo. I just think, again, I'm like you. Like, oh, this is the one where the Chiefs lose. I thought it was remember last week. I said, I thought they're going to lose to Denver. I thought it was a trap game for them.

But this-I mean, you were a blocked field goal away.

Yeah, but I think this one, Kansas City is like, okay, let's go. Let's go get. I like the Chiefs in this game. Yeah.

It's difficult to see because the one spot where things have been vulnerable for Kansas City on Spags this side has been tight ends. Dalton Kincaid not practicing as of Wednesday. See how much Dalton knocks they can work. I'm just wondering about the passing options for Josh Allen, because I know Kaleil Shaqir has had a great season, getting a lot of yards after the catch, but it's tough to do that. It's tough to have the Jack be the basis of an offense against the City Chiefs defense with his solid sound tackling. They've just been sound everywhere on that.

I mean, it's one thing to have a very efficient, effective offense that the Bills have put together with one of the best quarterbacks in the league, an MVP candidate, and a great offensive line, and smart our decision-makers and good role players around them. It's another thing to do it if you're without your three most dynamic pass catchers. Amari Cooper and Dalton Kincaid's availability is really important to me. We know Coleman is not going to be there. You feel for in that spot. It's a different matchup against this Chief's defense than normal because they just stopped the run. It's really amazing how this defense has transformed that even last year when they were playing so well, even at the end of the season, that was probably the vulnerability that maybe you could push them around a little bit and run. The Bills have been a good running team this year. Yet this Chief's defense is just... They get better every year, and they are great stopping the run this year. It's one thing, I guess, to stop your runningbacks. Maybe this is just a let Josh Allen cook type of game and just go crazy. You know how you've been a little more conservative lately?

Don't be as conservative. Let's just run.

Here's the chiefs, get ready to get Charles Amenehu back. He may not be back this week, but he could be back.

Pacheco, too, they think might be next week.

Real quick, can we highlight a player for the Bills? Let's do it. Taron Johnson, their slot corner. I think he might be... He's top one or two in the NFL at his position, so he's not going to clamp D-Hop because of the size or Kelsey because of the size, but he There will be a problem. There will be positions on the field where he will eliminate them as a top receiver and the primary receiver on certain routes because he is that good of a player.

He has been great. See, I say all that in my head. It's your Super Bowl quick. This is my Super Bowl pick. I'm going to take the bills to win this game. There it is. But the reason why is because of the Chief's offense. I still remain a little unconvinced.

No left tackle.

The left tackle obviously struggled a lot last week. Greg Ruso is playing fantastic. Their D-line is playing great. They're just so slow. I get that Kelsey is a unicorn right now. He's just out doing whatever he wants to do, almost, and that works. But Xavier worthy is a little bit of a problem for this Chief's offense. They have not been able to figure that out or get him going. They will this week. D-hop is a great addition, but certainly not fast. Kareem Hunt, it's going to be a big upgrade, I believe, when Isiah Pacheco is back, but he's not going to be back for this game. It's just a slow offense, and their margin for error in the way that they're playing offense is really small against a good team like the Bills. As much as it's a show me something game for the Bills, it's a show me something game for the Chiefs, too. This is a step up in competition for them. Yeah, it is.

It's a step up. And again, narrowly, a Leochanal smash-There it is.block field goal ultimately does it. It's It's just that type of intensity that they offer on special teams and defense. It just makes it difficult to go away. I know we need to see more from the skill position players, but Buffalo doesn't have theirs.

Right. Well, we'll see. To my point about the running game for the Chiefs, though, and that is actually the way you normally beat Buffalo, and they've been very effective running against Buffalo. For what it's worth, Josh Allen has been money against the Chiefs in the regular season, as he pointed out. It doesn't mean anything in the regular season. It's like, what does it mean anything? It does mean something. You guys are trying. It's the But it's also like when the Chiefs are beating the Bills regularly in the regular season, that's proof of concept to me. Obviously, it doesn't mean as much, but both teams are doing everything possible to win, and the Bills are winning these games in the regular season. That means something. The Chiefs running backs have recorded 791 rushing yards, generating the fifth fewest rushing yards over expected in the NFL. I see that with my eyes. I don't think they're getting very good running back play. They have a very good offensive line, and so maybe they don't take advantage of what the Bills' weakness is as much as they normally would because of Kareem Hunt.

All right. Something for us to look forward to. That's a hot matchup presented by Wingstop. We'll leave Buffalo and go to Denver, Colorado, Steve. The Atlanta Falcons coming off of being on the wrong side of a nasty loss in New Orleans. They are two and a half point underdogs on the road against a Bronco's team that was a properly protected field goal away from giving the Chiefs their first loss of the season. A Falcon's win could give both of these teams It's the same record. Greg likes to make pics on the record vibe. How do you feel about the match?

Patrick, this is the kicking game, redemption game because Youngway Coup. Youngway Coup. I mean, that was an issue. I like the number. I like the two and a half number for Denver here. Atlanta is a good road team, though. They're three and one so far. They're offensive lines, good enough to deal with this blitz. But you look at Denver, and this, Greg, I'm coming right It's on your strike zone. Okay. Kerko Chains cannot move. And Denver has really struggled against quarterbacks who can move. The last couple of weeks, Lamar and Patrick Mahomes. But you look at some of the quarterbacks they played before who are the Kerco Chains mobility scale, which is what from zero to about point plus zero. And they've played really well. Again, this is going to be a challenge. Atlanta is going to have to run the football against this defensive front. And we still don't know what the Falcons defense is. They've He's showing us no identity.

The identity is you can't win multiple playoff games with this path. No. There's no way. You can maybe make it to the playoffs. Looking at the Buc schedule, I actually think it's easy. They did Okay. Yeah, the rest of the way, they don't play the rest of the way. They don't play anyone good. They have one game against a team that's not one of the worst in the NFL. I don't think this division is decided. I'm glad you pointed out my records theory, which is like, because these two teams, they both look It's like six and five teams to me. They do. I'm glad the Falcons lost that game last week, which they probably didn't deserve to. They dominated that second half and found a way to... Because a pass rush this bad, where you have 10 sacks on the season, and yet your pressure rate is still is among, if not the lowest in the NFL, too. They don't do anything well at all. This Broncos line can protect. Yes, it can. Bo'nicks is getting a little better every week. Nick Bonito is out there making plays. Jonathan Cooper getting after. I think they're better up front.

I think the Broncos are a legit 6-5 team, and I think the Falcons are a legit 6-5. They're just a funky team. That makes me feel like, let's ride Broncos today.

Yeah, I may have inception you into picking them.

You did. I'm fine with that.

Too legit to quit at 6-5.

I'm fine with that.

We saw what Bo Nicks could... Because Baltimore, really, especially in the first half, I know that they got those 10 points, and then nothing really happened. After that. But Bo Nicks had a whole lot of time in the pocket, and there's been time for him to evaluate what things might be like in a game against the team that cannot get pressure. And all love to AJ Tarrell and Jesse Bates, and God love the folks at the Falcon secondary. They're just back there, man. They're just back there running around for days.

Well, they're hanging. They're getting no help.

They're just trying to make the plays that are available. And over on the offensive side, Darnell Mooney and Drake London, shout out to them. The first pair, league-wide, they both have over 600 receiving yards. You have to deal with Moss and Patrick Sertan. It could be a big Cal Pitz game. It's tough. I'm going to have to... This is like a believe type situation, much like the Chargers game. I just got to find out which team is the team, and this is a great week for this matchup to figure it out.

Coming down to the kicking game. Coming down to a field goal.

Okay. I trust Denver.

Well, if that's the case, I got Kuh in the redemption.

One note for Denver is that Audric Esteme, I don't need to tell you this. I'm sure you've been talking about it on fantasy Live every day. He took over as the starting running back last week. Javante Williams, they put in that third down, like Samajee P-rine. That used to be His old role with the Broncos. And Esteme has got some juice. Yes, he does. Nice speed, powerful guy. I picked him up in my fantasy league. It's a good call. Yeah, maybe he has a big game here.

And the Falcons don't have downhill linebackers. They're Linebackers or Chase Linebackers, even though Caden Ellis is a stud. He can do a million.

Caden Ellis leads the team in pressure. He's an off-ball linebacker.

He's an off-ball linebacker, and they blitz up to that A and B gap. That's where they are.

I like a heavy blitzing team against Kirk Cousins. Well, I don't know. I'm torn. That's a talented Falcon's offense. They make a lot of plays. Kirkgrove is getting it done. When you say that scale, it's like zero to Aaron Rodgers, I guess, in terms of mobility. But Kirkgrove is out playing Aaron Rodgers by quite a bit.

Yes. We'll have time as well. It's not so much.

All right, we hit a couple of the best games of the week, but we are not done yet. The best game of the early window on Sunday. Really looking forward to this one. Yes, sir. Which one? It's Ravens dealers. We'll talk about that after the break. Back on NFL Daily. It's the game that's going to have Patrick Claibon's heart fluttering in the early window.

Well, thanks to a two-point conversion miss by the Cincinnati bagels, it's not as consequential. It's the Baltimore Ravens, three-point favorites on the road at the Pittsburgh Steelers with the over and under 48, Ian Eagle, Charles Davis, Evan Washburn on the call. It's also the Deontay Johnson revenge game coming back on the other side of the division, playing against his team. Greg, there was a Stealers defense that gave the commanders all kinds of problems. What issues can they face for right now, the best player in the NFL, Lamar Jackson?

Well, I think the way to go at the Stealers defense is to run at them, so it's going to be a big test for them, too. But I think the thing they did against Jane Daniels that you can't apply to this week is they're so disciplined in how they rush the passer, and that was clearly the plan last week. Tj Watt was not flying up the field. Maybe He didn't have as many pressures as he normally would, but they kept him contained. That is tougher to do against Lamar Jackson, especially when he's got Derrick Henry and you're having option plays. But if any defense in the NFL can do it, this is the one that will do it because we've seen them do it, Steve. I don't think there's a defense in the NFL that's consistently given Lamar Jackson more problems than the Steelers and Mike Tomlin.

No, I mean, like you said, they're disciplined and they've got the players to play against them. I mean, all their guys can run. They've got guys who He can do things. I look at the other side of the ball, though. I mean, Pittsburgh's strength with Russ Cookin is Baltimore's weakness. My favorite player over the past couple of weeks has been George Pickens. He has been absolutely deep ball, catch and run, They're making tackles, and it is week after week with the Ravens where their secondary is getting tackled. They're missing tackles. They're giving up big plays, and they're giving up intermediate yard plays to let the chains move. The way that the Steelers are playing right now, If this is kryptonite to what's going on and paired with that defense, I just don't see necessarily Baltimore winning a shootout in this.

I'm getting to the point, Patrick, and I just wanted to frame it to you. Okay. I am starting to wonder, are the Ravens ever going to figure it out on defense?That's a great question.Because if they don't, I don't see them as a favorite anymore. I've just been expecting because of the jersey they wear, they will figure it out. What What is your level of concern with this defense?

Clearly, the level is very high. Fortunately, they don't have to play Joe Burrow and Jamar Chase again.

I get it, but they've looked bad against some lesser folks. They might have to play them again in the playoffs.

Yeah, they look bad with Bo Nicks throwing to Courtland Sutton. They look bad with Courtland Sutton throwing to Bo Nicks. It's been bad here in week 11, which is also a euphemism for the Baltimore Ravens defense in 2024, where the only thing historically I can go to is the return of Bob Sanders for the old Colts team where they couldn't do anything, and all of a sudden, Bob Sanders came and fixed it. They got to go to the Super Bowl. Maybe that's the historical precedent. I don't know. I don't know who the Bob Sanders would be on this Baltimore Raven.

It was Dean Pease. They brought him back five weeks ago. It hasn't worked. There we go.

It's tough. George Pickens, Mike Williams, down the sideline, those one-on-one plays that Baltimore hasn't been able to defend all season. But the hope would be, if you're a Baltimore Ravens fan, which clearly I am, if those are low percentage plays, lower percentage for a lot of other quarterbacks other than Russell Wilson. If you go to next Gen stats and you sort deep passing attempts since 2016, it's Russell Wilson, and literally then everybody Yeah, he's the Bingo card. He's the one that makes that go. It's not fluky. We could talk about Russ targeting in the middle of the field. He's just so effective outside of the numbers. Now he has two really talented players, including George Pickens, who's just must see TV because you don't know what he's going to do on any given play before he catches the ball, after he catches the ball, anything goes wrong. It's a concerning one. But with the Baltimore line playing better and Lamar playing the way he is, that's what you hang your hat on.

And speaking of Deontay Johnson, everyone else has stepped up since he's come on to join the Raven team. He barely plays.

All he did was fall down on a play he would have got 50 yards.

But here's the thing-Speaking of which, let's listen to Mike Tomlin.

He was actually asked this week about preparing for his old player, Deontay Johnson. To be honest, which I hadn't thought a lot about it. He's not on a lot of their video. At this stage of the week, I don't know that I've weighed what he might mean to the matchup.

They got more significant pieces with larger roles that are occupying my attention at this part of the week.

The best.

He's having fun this year.

Just the best quote machine. He just gives Dandy, and he says it was just this absolutely philosophical.

Well, there was a hit. There was a little smile when the question was first asked because that smile was like, I'm going to flame this guy in the nicest way possible and say it very calmly.

What's crazy, though, I want to flip it back to the Ravens defense. When you look at the players, when you look at the Roquan Smith, when you look at Kyle Hamilton, who I know he's a little nicked up, I just do not understand Nnamdi Matabike. He's finally starting to come on up front, and up front, they're fine. They don't allow running yards, and they do put pressure on the quarterback. But I mean, again, maybe Zack Orr, some of the stuff they've done schematically, but it has not happened here. But we got to communicate, communicate better. It's the same players that you've had. To answer your question, I don't know if it's going to get better.

Yeah, It's a coaching issue at this point. I mean, you can't point to anything else. The coaching staff changes on the defense. You have so many of the same players, and it's just this bad week after week. Kyle Hamilton was I've seen working lightly at practice on Wednesday, which actually is a good sign. He has a chance, it sounds like, to play in this game, but without him, that's trouble. I do think because they stopped the run, and Pittsburgh obviously wants to run, and they've been a little better lately running, their offensive line has gelled been better. Jalen Warren certainly is playing better than he did when he was fighting through some stuff early. Najah Harris running hard. I think they'll be able to stop the Stealers' run. Can someone just Just play too deep against... This is the Mel Kiper plan. Mel Kiper tried to ban the two high safeties. It didn't happen. It's still allowed, but nobody does it against Russell Wilson. If ever there's a team to just play back and let Russell Wilson dice you up, let's see if he can do it, just throwing short over the middle. Like, dare him to.

Just play back. Marcus Williams is going to miss every tackle anyway, so just let him play 30 yards back.

No worries. He's got Eddie Jackson there to back him up.

I'm just like, Don't allow that. If it's George Pickens making moves in the matrix, that's one thing. But if it's Mike Williams beating you one-on-one, that just, come on.

We'll see. We'll see what Zack wore in the defense. Maybe that's the Silver Lining, it's a whole lot easier to fix play calling and defensive structure than it is to acquire players after the trade deadline, which is something you read.

One last thing on this game. If the Steelers win it, they are in control of the AFC North in a very real way. I I think they can win this game at home. Look, they split with the Ravens pretty often in bad years for the Steelers. Why can't they now? And they would be in the mix. Let's say the Chiefs lose and the Steelers win. It's like a four-way race for the number one overall seed.

Patrick and I were talking about, look at this. Tell What's the Steeler schedule?

Week 15 at the Eagles, week 16, back again at the Ravens, week 17 against the Kansas City Chiefs, week 18 finishing the season against Joe Burrow, Jamar Chase, and the Cincinnati Bengals.Okay.That's.

A stretch. This is their first division game.

Doubt them at your peril.

No, I doubt them not. Did it sound like we doubted them? No. Let's Mike Tomlin say something about me in a Wednesday news conference, ahead of a division news game.

Let's get to-I haven't watched a lot of his programs. When is Game Day Live on again. I have to DVR it. It's on at 04:00 AM Pacific.

It's while you're coaching, Coach. So I understand. No offense taken. Let's go to the Indianapolis Colts who have made a change at the quarterback position. Steve, it is not Joe Flacko playing a revenge game. It's Anthony Richardson making a start on the road at MetLife. The chat's a three and a half point favorite. I love the- Andrew Catalan, Tiki Barber, Jason McCordian, AJ Ross on the call. They go back to the youngster, Steve. I love it. It feels like they bullied them into putting Anthony Richardson back in.

I love it. Look, the perfect timing to do it, too, because the Jets would have gotten to Joe Flacko. They're not going to get to Anthony Richardson. You're going to get a heavy dose of Jonathan Taylor and Anthony Richardson running the the ball because the Jets are mishmash against the run. They can get after the quarterback in certain situations. But this changes things for me. I know the Jets are three and a half. The Jets have scored more than 20 points in just two of their last seven games, six of which were losses. They're not scoring the ball offensively. Defensively, they're in and out because the defense gets put in so many bad situations. But I think with Anthony Richardson coming in, they're not going to take away a superpower. Go ahead and run. Move the ball in the pocket. Let's go ahead and let's let you do you. Okay? Maybe we learned some things watching Joe Flacko that we need to do to help you out a little bit better. I have no trust in the Jets right now. Absolutely none. I think the Colts, that three and a half It's not happening. I think the goal to win this one out right.

I think they will, too. What's that saying? It's like when someone shows you who they are, believe them. What am I in? The Jets. Well done. The jets have shown us who they are. It's unfortunately the dead animal I saw on the side of the highway on the way to work today. That's what they've been. They weren't there. They weren't there last week. They weren't there. They did not show up. You can run on them. I really do believe there's a chance that they watched that Jets film and they were like, We should get AR back in here because we don't need to throw against this team. This is going to be perfect. This will be a soft landing for him. And As bad as it's been in Indianapolis, just based on the way Shane Steken was answering some of those questions, I personally believe he wanted to start Anthony Richardson, and maybe his hands were tied a little bit, even earlier this week until he convinced the powers that be to untie his hands and go back to his quarterback.

Well, now that we have the benefit of hindsight about the decision, and perhaps foresight, as some of us felt at the start of the season. So Anthony Richardson starts one and two, games against the Texans, who we saw pick off Jared Goff five times in prom time, last time out, the Green Bay packers during the Xavier McKinney pick streak and the Chicago Bears when that defense was very good. And then they beat the Pittsburgh Stealers. And Joe Flacko gets in the game against the Jags, has success against the Titans, and it's like, Oh, Joe Flacko, the 2023 Joe Flacko's back. Well, now that we know, it was probably just the schedule playing out the way that the schedule does because they have these last two games against the Vikings and the Bills. So in comes Anthony Richardson. The place that I'm not confident. The worst thing about this Colts team is defensively. We know Gus Bradley plays all of that zone. Aaron Rodgers right now, EPA-wise, against man is negative 51.

Yikes.

He's the worst quarterback against man coverage in the NFL. That's Aaron Rodgers.

In the situation. Also, Devante Adams and Garrett Wilson. It's hard to figure.

I was thinking, Man, they'd be cooking.

Well, now the reprieve is they get to play a team that's going to play most of their coverage snaps in the zone. If there is a spot where Devante has a lot of success, it feels like it could be here.

Let's actually listen to Anthony Richardson. We're taping this on Wednesday. I was surprised because normally the the quarterback move, you would have heard about it earlier in the week. And Steiken said, Joe Flacko is our quarterback moving forward Monday and Tuesday. And then they flipped it on Wednesday. Richardson spoke to the media about what the last few weeks have been like.

As a competitor, you never want to just be on the sideline. You always feel like there's an opportunity for you to go out there and help the team. But just sitting on the sideline, it just allowed me just to just look and see the certain things I could correct about myself, certain things that the team needed help with. I'm just forever grateful for the opportunity. I'm glad that Shane felt like I'm the guy again once again. Like I said, I'm just forever grateful, and I'm just thankful.

He said separately that he low-key thought it was good for him, that he was low-key grateful for the last couple of weeks. You have heard quarterbacks talk before about that feels like the worst thing that could happen to you, and it almost is a weight lifted off your shoulder to just go play football like you know how to. So I know you were upset that they benched him. I did not think it was a bad idea to bench him based on how he was playing. And I said at the time, I promise you, I put it on Twitter, I promise you he will be starting again sooner than later, certainly by December. I mean, he got way before December. I think it's okay that players who aren't playing well don't play for a couple of weeks. He just happens to play quarterback, and now he's going to play again. I wouldn't be surprised to see a better version.

At that position, again, because you watched him play. He got to the point where he was mentally swimming upstream. This is one, sit back, watch when you're hearing the play call come in, how it's supposed to be executed, whether it works or not. But being able to see, Oh, okay. I see in this situation where I'm not having to process it in the microsecond, but I see how it's supposed to unfold, whether it does or not. Again, you understand a little bit better. So now we'll see. I mean, a lot of people does help. Some people, it doesn't mean. Bryce Young is playing freaking great right now. He's not great. He's playing really good, much better than how he looked earlier in the season. So he's someone who took a step back. The coaching staff is coaching for him a little bit more as well.

He thought then, Patrick, to extend this idea further, that maybe bring in Tyrad for a couple of weeks. Give Aaron Rodgers just a little mental break. It seems like he needs it. He's now recycling his old bits on Pat McAfee. Hey, there's something great in life called hope. It's like, you did that one two years ago. You got to come up with new stuff. Yeah.

In fact, everybody, if you want to be better at something, stop doing it. That's the overall advice that we're coming up. Good on Anthony Richardson to pick up his head coach and everybody and say, Yeah, it was a great idea. Look, I learned to watch on the sideline. Maybe he learned to not be so Yolo with his body. If you gave me...

He's got to go Yolo this week.

I wouldn't ever want to do it. But if you said, Greg, don't like your performance lately, Hosting NFL Daily. You've been a little bit of a mess. Take two weeks off and come back. I bet you'd get a better performance out of it. Yeah.

Rest is good.

We'd never go to the head coach, though, to make a move. We'd never do you like that, though, Greg.

Yeah, I don't want you to go anywhere.

No, I don't either. I'm just saying, sometimes getting a little mentally refreshed, it's not the worst thing ever.

We love rest for everybody. Hope everybody listening gets proper rest and compensation as well. Let's go to a team that might need some coming off of a disappointing into a win streak. The Los Angeles Rams, five-point favorites in Foxborough against Drake May and the New England Patriots, Adam Amin, Mark Sanchez, Christina Pink on the call, Greg. You get to see Drake May go up against Matthew Stafford. Maybe some similarities in the young gunslinger and the Super Bowl champ. How do you see the matchup?

Yeah, I like that comparison. Obviously, Drake May is getting a lot of his value from those scrambles. His 10 plus yard scramble plays is now there with the top quarterbacks in the entire NFL for the season right off the bat. It's funny, going back through that bear's tape, I thought play for play might have been his worst game of the season. He made a couple of big plays, but that past defense seemed to have him scrambling, holding the ball for a long time. He won't be holding it in this game because he'll have no choice, which I actually think is not the worst thing for him. It just puts him on, Hey, if that first read isn't there, I'm It's a create mode, and that's the best Drake may. Could be a little bit of a dangerous spot for the Rams because I do think the Patriots are a little more cohesive defensively than they were earlier in the season. And this Ram's offense, not really cohesive right now.

No, look, this is one. I know the Rams plus five. Look, early start, short week, going across the country. You talked about the disjoint of play. Now, I will say this. Watching that game, I was over at the stadium. Anthony Weaver, some of the coverage looks He was given the Rams and tricking him at the line of scrimage. You heard Stafford talk about some of the simulated pressures. It was a game plan of a lifetime. It was fantastic. But the Patriots are a physical football team. We'll see. I think the Rams are going to have to run the ball some. We don't know what the weather is going to be like. My big thing is that Ram's defensive front is real. Jared Verce, we've talked about it before. He is fantastic. Young, fantastic. They're going to be all over, Drake May, against this offensive line. Give me. You heard, why am I blank on the head coach, Gerard Mayo for the page? Come on, say, Hey, this would be great to have the offensive line together for the second consecutive game. Might not be against this group.

It's five backups. Actually, no, Owen is in there.

Yeah, but the Rams, I mean, their four and five man front looks were fantastic, and they can really, really put pressure on the QB.

The next collection of offensive linemen that they play will be the 12th unique combination of offensive linemen, and that would put in the league. They're currently tied with the bears, the browns, and the saints for the most combinations in starting offensive linemen.

A couple of their starters weren't in the league at the start of the season.

No, they got some guys off the street.

They have played a little better, although Drod Mayo, sometimes he just says things that... He said on Wednesday, trying to big up his coach, Alex Van Pelt, and he's like, Hey, no one deserves more credit for how Drake May is playing than Alex Van Pelt. I'm like, Are you high, man? This is one of the worst offenses in the league right now. Let's not spend the week patting Alex Van Pelt on the back. Why not? Because Drake May is playing pretty well. It's mostly just Drake May. I'm not giving their offensive scheme any of the credit.

Avp was the Brown's OC last year, and he got Joe Flacko going.

Okay.

Come on, man.

I'm not seeing it.

Maybe AVP is who we thought Dave Canales was, Greg.

I'm not seeing it. I'm seeing He's been a young quarterback who's making a lot of impressive plays on his own. He's going to be a good player. But like I said, I thought he was maybe his worst game. If just play for play, was against the bears, which makes sense. It's a good pass defense and everything. That's all.

We're watching his scramble late score to Ramondre Stevenson, where-He had 47 seconds. In Alex Van Pelt's defense, he did have Hunter Henry open early in that play. Drek May went on an adventure, later apologized for not hitting him. But Going back to Jared Verce and Braden Fisk. Oh, man. They've generated 71 pressures as a duo this season. You go back through 10 weeks in the past seven seasons, no other rookie duo has done that. Wow. Incredible draft for the Rams, who had got a long time with While having picks that early, they hit on both of them. But talk about issues in the secondary, that's for games against a different team. That's for games against the Miami Dolphins. It's just tough to imagine them going into Foxborough. I don't know.

Their floor is so much higher because of their defense. I do have concerns about their offense, and just something's missing. Stafford's not having his best season. The running game is much more inconsistent than you would expect out of the Rams. New England might get Kyle Ducker back. They made some changes in their defense where Jon Jones, Jonathan Jones has been there forever. He's now the guy who is in the locker room going, How we feel about a Patriots victory? Oh, yeah. You know how they do that? They were still doing that from Belichick, but now that's Jonathan Jones who's doing that. He was playing safety last this week, and it cleaned things up. They're playing a little better up front. Defensively, I think they'll play well. But man, I don't think this Patriots offense is going to get much done.

If they get some quick passes off like the Dolphins, we saw the Rams were not tackling great, stuff like that.

One note, Jordan What Reggie said when she was in the office was, Jona Jackson came in off IR, and they rushed him back into a plane center. That was where a lot of the problems happened last week. Communication, the line calls, pressure. That's just something to watch. That didn't really I got to check out for them last week.

All right, we'll go from the New England Patriots team, where Greg is concerned about the offense, and the offensive coordination. To the Chicago Bears who fired Shane Waldron earlier this week. They are five and a half point underdogs at home against the Green Bay packers coming off of their buy. Kevin Burkhardt, Tom braided, Aaron Andrews, and Tom Rinaldi on the call. Steve, what do you think the new look Chicago bears will be like?

Well, first off, that five and a half number is too small for me. It'll be interesting. I know Thomas Brown well. I actually covered him when I worked in Atlanta when he was a running back at University of Georgia. Wow. And this is a guy who has had experience. Sean McVay thought very highly of me, coached running backs with the Rams, tight ends with the Rams, was the assistant head coach. That's where I think he's going to get this offense to. I think whether it's throwing it or running the football with the running backs and getting the tight ends more involved to get Caleb in tempo. When did this offense actually function well? When they played tempo, they They fed it up, they nohuddled, they got into a rhythm, and then it's just all over the place. It worked for a couple of games, and then Shane Waldrand, Shane Waldrand. Get away from it. Get this guy. Get Cole Komet going. Let him be your primary target a lot. Let that set things up. The only problem is they're going up against the back. They could be playing catch up real quick, and that's not where you want Caleb to be.

But again, I think Thomas Brown will keep them more steady. It's going to be more of a running back, tight-end-centric offense. May not be music to DJ more, but this could free him up a little bit. I don't expect a radical change, especially this week, because they're facing the back.

Right. You don't get the fired coach bounce with the coordinator. No. Because you can say he's Shane Waldron. Shane Waldrons put a lot of tape out there in numbers as an offensive coordinator, and they've all been pretty good, like better than league average to league average.

In what metric?

I'm saying with Seattle and the Rams in the past. I'm saying he's run offenses that were competent, that were fine. He didn't run them in LA. The consistency is Matt Iberflus. Matt Iberflus has been there for a minute. Yes. And all those offenses stink. And you can say, oh, he's a defensive coach. It's not his fault. He's saying, I meet with Caleb every day. Maybe stop, bro. Stop. Because all you're like, hey, we can't turn the ball over. I'm just looking at, we're going to play to the defense. Caleb hasn't thrown an interception for three straight games. How's that going for you? He doesn't make a play. He doesn't make a decision. He just sits back there and waits. The pass rush for the Patriots wasn't even that good in that game. There were moments, certainly in the second half, as it got worse and worse, where they were dominating. But in the first half of that game, a lot of it's just him standing there, and then he's looking over. Okay, my primary read is not there. How about my secondary read? Oh, there's DJ more just loathing out there, just running around. There's Keenan Allen looking a little washed.

There's a bunch of backups on the offensive line. I don't know, man. I don't know if a coordinator change can fix it, but to me, Eberfluce is the consistent part of it. That's the original sin. They should have changed it before this season started.

There's not a person in a league who won't tell you otherwise.

Sorry for that rant.

No, he's right on. Nothing to apologize for. They do get Cole Kameh because he had one target against the commanders, no targets against Arizona. I guess Shane Waldron got in Caleb's ear and he's like, Hey, load up 85 so I could try to keep my job. He got four targets, caught two of them. Apparently, that wasn't necessarily enough. Over on the other side, it's just this defense, still a good defense, but they've just had to deal with their offense doing next to nothing for several weeks. Here comes a healthier Jordan Love with a chance to come back after the buy in a packer's team in a good division. Things are They're all good in one place, and they're all bad in another. It feels like unless Chicago can really pull something off, a miracle is going to continue to stay that way.

I'm banging on Matt Iberfluss. You can say that his defense, they're still a good defense. 30th in the NFL, in DVOA in terms of their rush defense. Which is crazy.

They led the NFL on rush defense last week.

You know what's going to happen on Sunday? Josh Jacobs with those duo runs in that well-c coordinated Packers offensive line. They're not happy. They got They're stuffed into the locker by the lines the last time they played, and now they're coming off a week off. They need this win. They're just going to run straight through this bears team. I'm with you. Well over five and a half. Let's take another break. We're going to come back. We're going to talk about one of the weirdest seven and two teams of my life. Wow. Back on NFL Daily. I wonder if during the commercial break, people are bringing up the nfl. Com standings and thinking like, Who is the weirdest seven and two team of our lifetime? Who do you think it is?

Well, I mean, we have some options here. Okay. Of our lifetime? Consider.

One of the weirdest, I think.

There have been some things that have happened for the 2024 Minnesota Vikings, who are a six-point favorite on the road against Will Levis and the Tennessee Titans, Greg Spero, Adidas, Adam Archaleta, and Adida Kikwala on the call. They're over and under a firm solid 39.5 points as Tennessee did score in their limited opportunities against the Chargers. Sam Darnal coming off a three interception game. Could this be closer than the experts think at six?

Yeah, with the Titans at home. I thought Will Levis had his best game of the season. That's a low bar, but he played fine. I I think when he threw the ball, it went where he wanted it to throw. He had a couple of nice plays. They pushed the ball down the field a couple of times. They thought their defense was going to be carrying them this year, and that just hasn't happened because they give up a lot of yards through the air. That's why I don't really think they have much of a chance to win this game because with Hawkinson back, this offense is just so varied. They're getting a lot of good production that the Vikings are out of Josh Oliver. Yeah, Darnold fritzed out a couple of times as he's known to do. But they're moving the ball on a play-to-play basis, I don't think it was a terrible game for Darnold outside those interceptions. Man, if you have two tight ends, both producing Josh Oliver, like I said, has had a lot of big catches. You have Addison, Naylor. This is a dynamic passing attack, and this is one of the worst pass defenses in the NFL by the numbers with the Titans, so it's a pretty big mismatch.

And they can't score. I mean, this is a team where Brian Flores can warm them up. I mean, they've got just so many guys. Hopefully, we get another Kam Bynum ray gun, breakdown, television.

Well, he mixes it up. That one went big, so he's not going to duplicate it. He did the parent trap. I mean, Kam Bynum is sneaky star of the season.

Yeah, I mean, man, that was so good because ray guns just retired. It was a sad day in the breakdancing world.

I don't know if they were sad about it.

Look, this is one. The number 6 is fine. I mean, Tennessee, close counts in horses shoes. They're A for efforting it right now. I mean, look, they're not tanking it, but the Vikings understand what's happening. Detroit's starting to pull away. They see Green Bay coming off to buy. They know they'll tighten it up. Kevin O'Kannell will get them right right now.

The Titans offense has allowed a league high 43% pressure rate this season, including 53.6 against the Blitz. That's also a league high. So a team that gives up more pressure than any against the Blitz with Will Levis at quarterback and Brian Flores coordinating the other team seems like trouble. The Vikings are getting a little healthier on defense lately, too. They had Blake Cashman return last week and really helped them.

Yeah, in that metric, it's number 8 against number 32. So congratulations to the Titans offensive line. On the bright side, since Nuke got traded, Calvin Ridley has seen his target rate increase from 20.3% to 32.3%. He had those two touch downs where you go back a few weeks ago and he had a profanity lace tirade about not being involved in the offense. It turns out swearing is good, and it gives you opportunities. He played well. It's just, which Titans team are we going to get? Are we going to get the defense that, fantasy-wise, only allowed one top 10 quarterback in the first five weeks to three out of the last four weeks for Tennessee, where it has not been that good?

It's such an advantage for these NFC North teams to play the AFC South out of division this year. Because we look at the Vikings the last couple of weeks. Those are a couple of ugly wins. That Colts win, that was ugly. Jaguars Cribs win, that's ugly. But they all count. If you look at the Viking schedule, they just got to keep winning these types of games. They're going to get to 11 wins without even beating other good teams. If you can just get some of those wins, they get to 12 to 13, which is really crazy if you think about it.

They might have to, though. When you look at some of the other divisions now, okay, there could be a wild card coming out of the NFC East. We didn't necessarily see that a couple of weeks ago, right? It could be either Philly or Washington. There could be a wild card coming out of the NFC West.

It's It's possible, but I know it's early. We're going to be wrong. It does feel like three teams in the north get in and two teams in the east, and that's your playoff.

They've got to play each other. There's going to be some cannibalism in there, too. That's why Minnesota has got to show up. Now is not the time to have a clunker.

Speaking of the NFC West, Steve, let's get to the Seattle Seahawks on the road at the San Francisco 49ers who survived a bad Jake Moody kicking game with a Jake Moody game winner Six and a half point favorites against the Seahawks who have lost... Is that five? Five of their last six games beat the Falcons, the only thing keeping them from a six-game losing streak, Greg. Can they get back in this hunt in this tight division with a win on the road in Santa Clara?

Probably not. What a tough week for them to come off to buy a game they really need to have to play in Santa Clara. This has been the matchup in the Geno Smith era and even before that the Seahawks just could never figure out under Pete Carroll in that first matchup. We were in London at the time, so we did not watch it live, Steve Weish. But Seattle, San Francisco, that Thursday night, it was so similar to all the others. Seattle, it just felt like a redo where they're not tough enough. They've made changes. They get rid of Tyrell Dodson, their starting linebacker. Their Green Dot player who's played almost every snap this year is suddenly not even on the team anymore. They're going to change up how they do things. I am curious how they come out of their buy and what changes, because this is why you hired Mike McDonald. He was supposed to be the Shana Hand tree stopper. He did a good job, I thought, against the Rams before the buy. That was maybe their most encouraging defense game almost of the whole season. They end up losing it, but they played well enough to win on defense.

It's a tough matchup. They always look like a team that's just not as physical as the 49ers, and they happen to catch them when Christian McCaffery is back in the mix.

Yeah, I think the six and a half number is big. I think this is going to be a tighter game just because it is what it is. San Francisco, getting McAfree back. I know it was the first game last week against a tough Buck in the Ears team. They're still just not there yet. I think in two weeks from now, San Francisco is going to really start rolling offensively. I think Seattle understands this is it. They've got to man up, they've got to show up, or else it's going to get sideways real quick with the rest of the division, especially Arizona, playing the way it is playing as well. Arizona has raised the stakes for everybody in the NFC West. I think Seattle will come out and play a pretty good game. They're not going to win, but I think the 6.5 number might be big.

Yeah, it's an opportunity where Mike McDonald, optimistic about DK Metcaff's return. The Seahawks have needed him back. The 49ers, traditionally, do all they can to bother DK, trying to get in his head. But the most impactful aspect of that is the way he's covered, and they have done a good job with DK in the past. The Seahawks' offense has seen some changes. We got more prominent Jackson Smith and Jigma during Dike's time out. Perhaps that's an opportunity for some positivity there, and the buy giving them a chance to come back and do things differently defensive than the first time they had this matchup. It's almost a healthy 49ers team, Ricky Pearsall coming in on the way up.

That's a great call, Patrick.

Here they are again, Greg, as you pointed out, 49ers after the buy going on a run. Hulky had dumb dumb every year.

You're so involved, too, with Juan Jennings. Yeah. Jennings really played the X last week. They had Debo in a little bit of a different role, and Juan Jennings maybe is the guy who's going to get a lot of receptions and targets down the stretch. He's someone I think could have a big close to the season now that he's healthier, and they rework their offense. Mccafee really helps so much in the passing game. It's obvious he's a good runner, but he's one of the best pass protecting runningbacks I've ever seen. And he's so good as a receiver that it really helps unlock, I think, everyone else. So it's going to be tough for Seattle. They just have to avoid on offense negative plays on first and second down. I couldn't believe this stat that Ben Solak from ESPN sent out. The Seahawks right now on third down faced the longest average distance of any NFL team since 1980.

No way. Nuts. No way.

I couldn't believe it. It's because of these negative runs. It's because of these sacs. It's partly because they're such an explosive offense that they don't even get to third down when things go well. They're just hitting big plays. But when they do, I'm shocked they're even the worst in the NFL this year. Like, wow, they're worse than the Panthers.

I would think a team like Kiera Liner.

They're the worst since 1980, and that's when ESPN stats and info started keeping track. For all we know, they're the worst one ever.

Well, they We still have two 30-yard losses in there.

Right, but so what? It's like that's still just a couple of plays. In one of those losses, they actually got it back to third night. I know what you're talking about. They keep having those like the ball goes over a Geno's head and stuff. But you see it.

That is a nice Sean McVay memory pulled by you, Greg.Thank.

You very much.Very strong. These Seahawks games, they stick in my head. Man, the Ken Walker negative six runs in the sacks.

But still, I would think a team like Jacksonville that has all these freaking holding penalties or something like that on situations like that would be one of those teams. That's a mind-blowing number.

If they come out and they lose a close game, but it looks like two pretty even teams, that'll actually show me something that they're a little different because maybe it's the fan of me coming out, but I worry for them in this spot.So show me something, Mike McDonald.There we go.

That's a good call.

If not a victory, get a moral victory.

I'll take it. That's why I'm not a real fan because I would take a moral victory.

Let's go to a team that hasn't had any victories, moral or otherwise, the Dallas Cowboys, playing host to the Houston Texans, coming off of that heartbreaker to the line seven and a half point favorites. It's Monday night football, Joe Buck, Troy Akeman, Lisa Salter. We won't have to worry about our stellar neighbor, that bright object 93 million miles away being an issue, taking a shutdown away, Steve. I guess there's going for them. Can they need to text them?

No. That seven and a half number is plenty good. I mean, Huchan, they know now where they have to be. They have got to start winning some ball games. I mean, this is the point. If they're going to be a player in the AFC, they've got to start playing well. Defensively, They've been fine. That's where they're going to win this game. I mean, the way their inside linebacker's played, they're going to get pressure on Connor Orr or Trey Lance or whomever the Cowboys trot out there. Look, offensively, they're still going to have their issues. We did see Dallas show up a little bit on defense last week. But Houston, their defense, I think, is really going to have to turn a corner. I still don't know if Will Anderson is going to be back. But again, the way this guy is in a secondary and inside linebacker's play, I think that's what's going to get them over the hub, and they're going to beat that point.

Yeah. Show me something with your run blocking with their early down runs. They've become very predictable. Houston, a lot of first, second down runs, and then they're in a third and eight, similar to what Seattle has been going through. I'm with you. I thought that Cowboys defense in the first half of the Eagles game played as well as I've seen them play in a long time. It's funny how when you insert one of the best defensive players I've ever seen into the lineup, that they get a lot better. But they really did look good. The Eagles got seven first half possessions to get that second breakdown. They were playing hard, and then the roof fell in a little bit. But Overshown is playing great. Sounds like he's going to be healthy enough to play in this game, and they might get Daron Bland back for this game on Monday night. So defensively, I actually think they could ugly it up.

Nico Collins should be back for this game.

That's a huge one. That changes the offense. Our friend Seth Payne, who was on the show, has pointed out over and over, I know the offensive line is bad, but if you If you get Nico Collins in, the offensive line will look better because C. J. Stroud will just be getting the ball to his guy, Nico Collins.

You know who leads the Houston Texans in the receiving yards this season, despite not having played since week five? It's still Nico Collins. I think, as we saw, John Mechie, again. Congratulations. That's great. Coming back from Loupini, having his breakout game, getting in the end zone for the first time on Sunday night football. A lot to look forward to there. I'm going to need 45 passing yards in the game for the Dallas Cowboys.

Cooper Rush is starting again. Okay.

Here we are.

They've told us what they think of Trey Lance then.

But I mean, Trey Lance came in the game. They got some positive yards. Then Cooper Rush came back in and immediately fumbles. He gives a turnover back to the Philadelphia Eagles. Everything's a mess there. So seven and a half feels solid to me. Okay.

Should we do our survivor pick?

Real quick before we do it. Now, last year, Bobby Sloak was the Whizz-Kid, and now some people are questioning what you just talked about, the early predictable rundowns. Is he really that grave in OC? Since this is the OC, pick on the OC show.

That happens. I believe we give too much credit, and I do it as much as anyone, so I'm putting myself in We give too much credit and too much blame to the coordinators. It's just the move we always do. If you have a good year, coordinators go get hired and interview around. I don't know, but there's a lot of variance, a lot of luck to it. But yeah, Sloic hasn't been great. Despite that, last week we went against the Cowboys with the Eagles.

Oh, yeah.

Let's just keep it rolling. Keep it rolling.

I do not want to hear about Cooper Rush's five-in-one stretch in 2021. Ever again. I will gladly, Greg, sign on to make this our survivor.

Eric, behind the glass. Eric Roberts doing a great job. Did go back and track it. We've hit all of our survivor picks. After we started off bad. Patrick missed one, then I missed one week, too, and we decided to restart as a team in week three. We've hit them all. The lions actually have not been used. They play the jaguars this week.

They got to save it.

We'll save them. But I think let's save them. I think just fading the cowboys That's a good move. Let's go Texans.

If we want to finish this thing out, we're going to keep the timeouts in the bag and see how things go in the fourth quarter.

Let's go Texans.

Let's go to our next game. The Miami Dolphins coming off of a win on the West Coast are back at home as the Las Vegas Raiders off of the buy, seven and a half point dogs, 44, the over-under Tom McCarthy, Jay Healey, Ross Tucker, and our friend Tiffany Blackman on the call. Greg, Miami showed us a little something, especially defensively against the Los Angeles Rams. How are they going to do against the Raiders off the buy?

I think they'll do well. I'm really curious to see if Anthony Weaver in this defense is starting to build something.

Yeah, because they've not been great most of the season.

No, but that was a fantastic performance. Sometimes a new defensive coordinator takes a little while for it to get going. The schedule's turning in their favor now coming up, including this matchup. Garner-minshuh is starting for the Raiders. There was some question. There actually was even some light reporting thinking that it was going to be Desmond Ritter, and I think they lost their stomach for it.

I'm still questioning it in general.

I don't know. This Raiders team, Scott Turner's first game as offensive coordinator. They have some of the worst rushing stats of any team this century, so he'll try to turn that running game around.

We've hit some historical... You dropped in my lifetime twice, ever seen once, and now in this century.

Since 1980, he made an appearance.

I think it's EPA per rush. They have the worst number since 2000, the Raiders.

Yeah, I mean, look. And you just know Miami's offense is just getting ready to hit.They're trying toI hope so. They're using their running backs a lot. I mean, you're not seeing a guy with a hot hand stick with the ball. They're rolling Achan and Mosert and Wright, 25, they're rolling them through. Instead of, I just think they're getting ready. They're offensive line. That's a big concern, the right tackle with Austin Jackson going on IR. They know there's some certain things we have to do, and the one is get the ball out quickly. But in this game right here, a seven and a half is plenty. I mean, the Raiders are just right Now, they're a mess. But I think Miami is... This win right here, I think, made them feel pretty good about their talent. We know if they can play up to their talent, they're a very dangerous football team.

It made me feel good about their talent because it was tough. I was trying to go back and remember a game where we saw Tua Tuna Valua under pressure as he was like that on the road, and the Dolphins still winning nonetheless. A lot of that was the defense. A lot of it was Jason Sanders hitting that clutch kick late in the game. But despite all the pressure, they still looked serviceable on offense, and they made plays, and they had big plays, a couple of them as well, where this Raiders team, I don't know what changes on the buy. I don't know. Max Crosby gets some time off, perhaps.

Yeah, that could help. That helps. Jacobi Myers helped them When he came back into the lineup, he really made a big difference for them. Man, this Raiders team, it's sad. They are the least interesting team in the NFL. I was thinking about this. Even when the Raiders were bad, I always thought they were interesting. Antonio pierce is interesting as just a personality. But I would actually say they are the most under the radar. I just don't really want to watch them team just about in the NFL. You could throw the in there, I guess. But for a Raiders team to be that team, that's sad.

Yeah. I mean, look, Max Crosby, you love him because he's one of the best, I'll say, one of the best defensive players in the NFL. But he's like, N'amdi Asunwa. N'amdi had all those great years with the Raiders and never played on a team with a winning record. That's the direction that Max Crosby is headed in with his career. Salute to him. He's going to handsomely compensated. He's Mr. Las Vegas. He's going nowhere. Salute to him for not saying, Get me out of here. But, man, I just don't know, even looking at future years, if they get a quarterback, is AP going to be around? This team still has a lot of turnover to get some competitive players on that roster.

Yeah, and it is a big game Every game is a big game for the... Every game is a big game for the Dolphins at this point. But six losses. You can get back in the AFC playoff picture. It's a big game for our Thanksgiving night podcast, which I think I'm planning to do this year because that schedule doesn't look great. But Dolphins, if they're coming in on a three-game winning streak against the packers, that's a good nightcap for the Thanksgiving slate. I want them to get to that game on a three-game winning streak, and you got to win this one, the second game of that streak, to make it happen.

The best one since this century, Patrick.

I'll hop on to that because the middle game on Thanksgiving is going to need a pick me up because we're going to get the Dallas Cowboys and potentially Cooper Rush again on that one. But speaking of Thanksgiving, let's wrap today up with Kevin Harland, Trent Green, and the crew on the call for Mac Jones and the Jacksonville Jaguars on the road against the Detroit Lions, where they are 13 point favorite, Steve, with an over-under of 47. A Jared Goff get-right game after five picks in Houston? Yep.

Okay. Yeah, it'll be Jared Goff get-right game. Look, this is one where Detroit could very easily sleepwalk a little bit, and that 13 number might be big. I mean, they're not going to lose this game, even if Jared Goff throws those types of interceptions because Jacksonville just can't. I mean, they can't do enough consistently right on both sides of the ball, offensively and defensively, to get past what Detroit offers, especially if Detroit runs the ball. But Yeah, the lions. Check that box.

I think they are in a perfect spot to cover the 13, maybe make it 30, because they're so well-coached and I think are so focused and hungry that It's like they're coming off a loss. I say great teams respond well to a loss. I think they'll feel like, We did not play our best last week. We can't let that happen again. We're going to be ready to go in front of our home crowd, and we're playing Mac Jones with one of the best secondaries in the league. It's amazing how these two teams, I'm thinking about them together, and they could be in the NFC Championship, the Eagles and the Lions. What was the problem last year for both these teams? Their defensive backfields. What did their front offices attack, attack, attack all offseason and personnel? Defensive backfield, secondary. It's the secondary that makes the Lions special. I mean, Mac Jones isn't going to get anything done against this team. There's just no way, right? I mean, maybe Travis Etienne, but they're a good run defense, too. Because one of the reasons they're so good in the back end is they don't send extra guys. Even without Hutchinson, you get Zedaria Smith playing in this game.

I'm going 41 to 7. Forget this game. I like that.Let's.

Go.all right. That's a significant 41 to 7. Not even garbage town points. When do they get the seven? That could be the biggest point.

They actually get it early. It's seven to seven, and then the lines take that person.

This might be the biggest differential in this century.

That might be the biggest number we've seen all year. I've been waiting for it. We're mid-November. Let's get to it.

There was another big one last week. It was like a 13, 13.

It's time to start having big numbers. There's a lot of dead teams. One news item in this game, Doug Peterson said he was optimistic Trevor Lawrence will return after the buy, which is interesting because there was some reporting, I believe, from our network- That he could have-that he could be out for the season. When that happens, just having worked in the business, you do wonder where is the information coming from. Like, Dak Prescott, for instance, to use a different example, spoke with CBS, Tracy Wolfson over the week, and she was like, he said, I was a little surprised I wasn't put on IR yet. And it was like going back and forth of like, Is he out for the season? Is he not? And sometimes there's different agendas going on. So you do wonder what Doug puts that out publicly, that he's optimistic Trevor Lawrence is coming back. But we heard from another report that Trevor Lawrence might be out for the season. I'm just curious. Just something to watch. I don't know. You know what I'm getting at.

Yeah, I know what you're getting at.

I remember-It's like maybe the agent or maybe some part of the team thinks it'd be better for Trevor long term to just start that process now. If they get a higher draft pick, so be it. And Doug Peterson wants to win games. I don't know.

All of that happens.

Right. I don't know if it's happening here, but it just makes you think about it.

Well, yeah, I do remember Ian quote-tweeting Jay Gruden, said that he's hearing that Trevor was going to have surgery, and Ian said, we don't know yet.

Exploring all options.

They're considering all the options. I will say, if Trevor Lawrence needs surgery, if he's going to have to have surgery anyway, then go ahead and have it now. We don't know what the changes are going to be in Jacksonville. Why not give him an offseason where he's with the team and not recovering from surgery?

Here's another thing with that. The Jacks learned this with Blake Portals. If he was unable or if he was on the roster by a certain date, bonus has kicked in. He held off wrist surgery until after the season where they could not cut him injured. So he was on the roster.

Not a concern for Trevor Lawrence, but also a fascinating thing that can happen with a player.

Because I was thinking like, because it's always teams want to have the player have the surgery on their own time. They want to play. They would prefer not necessarily to want to play to hobble around on vacation, but just to play when you could play and then have the surgery when you can't play. But we'll see how they treat Trev in this situation. But a Mac Jones playing against the lions on the road is not something that anybody wanted.

No. What a The lions is the best team in the NFC. And yes, what a world. I get to spend it with you guys every Wednesday here in the Chris Wesley podcast studio. That was a lot of fun. Thank you for watching and listening to NFL Daily. Yes, we will be back. Thursday night football, one of the best games of the season. Commanders, Eagles, Steven Ruiz of the Ringer will be joining me for the recap show. So check that out. Yes, when we're talking about players avoiding surgery, you know football is back.