Transcript of 2024 Week 3 Recap: Revenge of the winless teams

Welcome to NFL Daily, where we're never stuck on 0-2. We're getting that win in week three. I'm Greg Rosenthal here in the Chris Westling podcast studio with Patrick Claybon. Nick Shook joining us from Cleveland. And yes, Patrick, a lot of teams entered week three, oh and two, and they got their first win.

And some of them in a surprising fashion. Yes. Which I can't wait to get to it. And perhaps a mea culpa and some apologies are owed. But that's why we play the games, Greg.

That's right. I mean, your brownie is on the wrong side of it. And yeah, we're going to group them all together, actually, in the second segment of the show, nick. But I was happy in the afternoon games. It felt like there weren't great games going on. And I'm like, wow, Tom braided just had three Cowboys stinkers in a row. And then suddenly, the Rams start coming back, the Cowboys start coming back, and the football gods, they always end up delivery.

Yeah, even the Cardinals made a little interesting there down the stretch against the lines. It was a nice little late hour or late window, witching hour. We had a little bit of fun down the back end.

That's right. But we are going to start this recap in New Orleans in one of the most entertaining games in the history of football that entered the fourth 3-0. Let's go to the Superdome. What a time this would be for an interception.

Korn in an empty backfield. Motion. Tipton.

Kaur back.

Korn steps up, hit as he fires the football, and it is intercepted. It is intercepted by Reid Blankenship. It's intercepted by Reid Blankenship, and the Eagles are going to pull off the upside.

Turn out the lights on the seats. That is Merrill Reece and Mike Quick on WIP. Who would have thought it? The defense getting it done in the end in a game where the Eagles had the ball. Like I said, scoreless going into the fourth quarter, 15 to 12 in the final. It was fitting that the Eagles defense sealed the game because this was an outstanding response by the Philadelphia defense at large. Jalen Carter, Monster Brandon Graham played well. They set the edge. Alvin Kamara in the Saints rushing attack held to 89 yards on 29 attempts. In a game where it was close all game and the Saints were trailing at some point, they kept trying to run the ball and it didn't work. Then eventually, despite a lot of injuries, Patrick, the Eagles's offense gets it done with Saquon Barkley. But to me, it was the defense who stuffed Kamara on some fourth downs, got quick pressure there on Derek Carr, and got the interception to seal the That was the story of the game throughout its entirety.

Coming into the game through two weeks of football, a top 10 offense of all time, the 2024 New Orleans Saints, where they struggled to get to 150 passing yards. The zone run, the big Cipangio's plan to stop this zone attack with Alvin Kamara, they utilize that talent that we just haven't seen a type of performance like this from them throughout the season. They come in and they get it done in a big spot. But the only way that this happens without Lane Johnson to finish the game, without Jordan Mylata-Spe on it.it's Saquon Barkley with the play of the game, essentially, with no A. J. Brown coming into the game. They lose Devante Smith. He's out in the concussion protocol, and it's all Saquon.

Let's listen to Saquon Barkley's game-changing run in the fourth quarter.

It is second down on five. Do they keep it on the ground with Saquon Barkley? They do.

He breaks free.

He's at the 50, the 40, the 30.

He's going to go. Touchdown, Saquon Barkley.

65-yard, touch down run, and the Eagles not only score, but they take the lead.

So that was to start the third quarter. It was right after the Eagles shut down a third and one play call, where Dennis Allen calls the run. They stuff him. They go fourth and one to start the fourth quarter. They stuff him again. I think Allen was in his head a little bit because he was conservative earlier in the game, not going for a fourth down in Eagles's territory. And then the defense, who had just been on the field all day and was clearly gas. I know it sounds crazy in a game that finishes 15 to 12, and like I said, was three nothing before that shutdown, Chuck. But the eagles offense played well all day. They ended up with 460 yards. The Saints had 219. The only reason the game was this close and the score was so low was Jalen Hertz had a couple turnovers, and there was a couple of fourth down fails by the Eagles, so they'd have these long drives that weren't going anywhere. And this is why they brought Saquon Barkley. And to do it, like Patrick said, without their right tackle, Lane Johnson, who went out with a concussion, without Mekai Becton, without Devante Smith on their last offensive shutdown drive, he went out as well.

And A. J. Brown, obviously, was not available for this game. It was gutsy stuff to get them to two and one.

Yeah, I got a Slack message earlier in this game from David Ealey, of all people, actually, who said, I think the Eagles's offense is broken. And I just said, Yeah, but what is one thing that you can always rely on me as the lobbyist to the nation's capital on behalf of the ground game. I am the face of this party, and I'm coming here right now to tell you- It's your year, baby. Run the damn ball because it worked out in their favor. When you lose your tackles, when When you lose your top two receiver, what can save you? A good ground game. And that's exactly what happened for the Eagles of Saquon Barkley. And it really is. It's wonderful to just watch him flourish with the Eagles after those trying years with the Giants. But to do it in this situation where you're coming off of a game where you collapsed against the Falcons on national TV, and you're going into New Orleans, where we spent the entire week singing the praises of Clint Kubiak. He's going to save Dennis Allen's job. Bill Belichick does an entire single inside the NFL about it. And Saquan is the one who who turns.

He just reverses the entire narrative, and the Eagles get a win on the road. Big time stuff.

I knew we were probably in trouble when I had the Saints Block Party podcast guys on on Thursday in this game. I'm thinking like, Oh, they should be ahead by more. I mean, a lot of things went right for the Saints in this game. Look, they lost Eric McCoy, their center, on the third play of the game. That was a problem for them. But Trevor Penning was losing his matchup, like I said, trying to get to the edge in the running game. In general, they didn't look quite as smooth. I was wondering, how's Derek Carr going to play when they're trailing and you just need normal dropbacks? I got to say, despite the score and despite that interception, I thought he played pretty well. Actually, their first drive of the game, he hits a couple of really tough throws to Olave on those plays we talked about, third and long. Then they get the ball after that Saquan TD, and they're down 7-3. I'm thinking, Okay, this is the first real adversity that they faced all season. They get an extended field goal drive, and then they get a really good countdown drive to take the lead back.

They missed the two. They're up 12-7. They don't get the two, which ends up being a pretty big play in the game. Bacar played well on that drive, hit Olave for a countdown where he just toasted Seedy Deuce. To me, I thought these are two really good teams who are having to survive despite some injuries, but especially on the Eagles side. Devante Smith took a brutal hit, has a concussion. Lane Johnson was seen vomiting on the sideline. He history of concussions. That's really concerning for him. Ceeduce, CeeDuce, CeeDuce, CeeDuce, CeeDuce, CeeDuce, CeeDuce, CeeDuce, CeeDuce, CeeDuce, CeeDuce, CeeDuce, CeeDuce, CeeDuce, CeeDuce, CeeDuce, CeeDuce, CeeDuce, CeeDuce, CeeDuce, Garner Johnson, who is now on the other side of this rivalry. He's a quote machine, and we love to hear from him.

They thought they had us on a little seven route. They're like, Okay, cool. But ain't nothing over our head all day. Oh, cool. It's cool. It's cool. We got the best secondary, best D-line, best front seven in the league right now. I'm popping it. And I'm popping it because at the end of the day, they talk about it. They say we were down and out. They're on about last week. Now look at you now. Listen, we keep receipts. That's what I told you all in my room. See you all Sunday. I told you all two days before, they were forward. They got rid of me. I didn't get rid of them. It's still in me. It's still talent on me.

I ain't worried. Come on, give me another one. That is Chauncey Gardner Johnson, Bridget Condon in the mix, asking him some questions there. Love that dude, especially considering he did get Dustin Good for the go ahead touch. I had some negative plays in this game, but it doesn't matter.

Yeah, he doesn't care. He's saying things to get a rise out of other people. That's purely how it operates. Sometimes it gets them yards on the field. Sometimes people could say it motivates the other... I don't know. If they're not trying hard, then what are they doing out there anyway? But no catches for Rasheed Shahid today, which I think is a big part of what CJGJ was going on about there at the end was-That's fair.he's gotten behind everybody. He didn't get behind the equal secondary.

Yeah, good job Quinian Mitchell. Maybe broke up a play early. Again, they got pressure on Carr, and it could have been a long touch down to Shahid. Shahid couldn't take it in. It was just a yard or two short. Those are the fine margins. Then a couple other times where Shahid just didn't seem like he fought for the ball well or miscommunication with Car, including on that last interception. So a different vibe out of the Saints team and the Seagulls team. Now, both two and one. I think they're both going to be in the playoff mix. And yeah, you had a much happier nick Siriani post-game than we've had in the last few weeks.

This guy is a freaking winner. He wanted Alabama. He wanted Oklahoma. He's been winning here over and over and over and over. You know what? We're the Philadelphia egos, so we understand we're going to get criticism. But this dude's a freaking winner.

Jalen Hertz is a winner, and he won today. He absolutely did. Look, the first interception by Hertz was a ball to Devante Smith that normally would be A. J. Brown's route, I think. And he got outmuscled for the ball by Tyron Matthews having a monster season. I actually thought Jalen Hertz did some great playmaking in this game, and we I should mention that Dallas Goddard had 10 for 170. I should have maybe mentioned that a little earlier. Oh, by the way. They had the ball a third and long, I believe, or it was a long down-and-distance situation with about one minute to go, and they run a mesh pick-play of their dreams, where three Saints, their safety, Hauden, I believe, and Lattemor, and another player all collide, and it just opens up the entire left sideline, and Godert goes for 61. I thought the Eagles did a nice job calling plays down the stretch of this game. All right, let's go from one team that was undefeated in the Saints to two teams that were undefeated entering week three. Let's go to Pittsburgh.

Now, Cordero Patterson moves right to left across the formation in front of fields. Back to pass, throws over the middle of the field. It's Calvin Austin. He has a step. Austin heading straight up the middle of the field. Inside the 10 to the 5. Touchdown. Calvin Austin 55 yards from fields to Austin.

Oh, that's sweeter than that.

Nelly's Blueberry pie, baby.

What a job catching that rock over the middle. Out running. All the LA chargers back in, boys, to the end zone. That's how you take it and stuff it in the end zone. That was Rob King and Craig Wolfley of WDVE. I love seeing one of these great Justin Fields' throws completed for a long touch that. I feel like all his best throws this year have been called back by penalty or have just been flat-out penalties. Fields also adds a rushing shutdown on a day nick shook, where, yeah, the Stealers in the second half just didn't allow any yardage. It wasn't going to happen. 20 to 10, Stealers win. Justin Herber aggravates his high ankle sprain in the middle of the third quarter. And after that, it looked like it was pretty one-sided.

Yeah, it was. The Chargers have won the first two games with being a physical team and their defense carrying them. I mean, obviously, they ran away with a win against the Panthers last week, but they met their match there. They met a team that did it better than them, and especially once they lost Justin Herbert, because then T. J. Watt and Herbic could just tee off off the edge and just get after him, and they didn't really have a chance. But the beauty of this game, it all comes down to Justin Fields. He's been under a microscope for years, and especially in his first two starts where he wasn't asked to do too much. And in this game, he took that next step forward. It's like we're watching his maturation in real-time, not to get hyperbolic about it, but that's how much better he was today and more comfortable. That was the most important thing was he looked much more comfortable than he has for most of his NFL career. And there were moments where he got to show off that arm. There was one player where he was rolling to the right and just let one rip.

And I'm like, That's the field I saw at Ohio State I have not seen except for a few moments in the NFL. If they can get him like this consistently over the course of a full season, then they're going to be a much better spot. Russell Wilson is not going to see his job again. But the other beauty in this was Calvin Austin, because look, we spent time before the season started. Why aren't they making this trade for Brandon Ayuk? That might be the worst three receiver group in the NFL.

They tried. They thought they had it.

He came through. He came through. He came through today. He led them in receiving. He had that breakdown reception. It's really nice to see them not just lean on George Pickens and Pat Freier-Muth, Especially on a day where they ran the ball decently well, but you didn't have to have Justin Fields try to make hero plays. It was just a good team win from them. You know your defense is going to be good, but their offense stepped up, too, is really encouraging.

So they end up doubling, more than doubling the chargers in total yards, 346 to 168. That's the best day on offense the Steelers have had. I think, Patrick, that one of the most underrated stories of the last couple of weeks, and I got to admit, I didn't watch that Steelers game from last week until Friday. We haven't done a show since then. I think Justin Fields is playing really good football. They're not getting any designed runs for him, at least in the first couple of weeks, none. It's all been his throws, and they forced him today to be efficient on underneath throws and over the middle, and he did it. And so for the first two weeks, I thought his play has been really good, and it sounds like he continued it.

It's almost as though it's a commercial. It's a campaign for playing in the preseason because Justin Fields comes in. He's in the quarterback battle, he's adjusting to Arthur Smith. They had a package for him, which is what they were able to roll out against Atlanta in week one. That small package expanded into a game plan. It expands even more. Now we're starting to see this fully fleshed out Justin Fields, where he did have the mistake. He was looking for Karedail Patterson in a little bit of traffic, the ball gets tipped. Two guys hit it, it eventually gets picked off. But other than that, he took care of the ball. He had a great read on an option keeper for a shutdown run. The pass to Calvin Austin, there was a couple of balls to George Pickens on the sideline as well. Justin Fields is playing really good football right now.

Right, nick. He only had six yards rushing. He had that rushing TD, but he actually hasn't added a ton of rushing value this year. Even going into this week, he was pretty low on the list of rushing bet, which is If he's playing winning football without doing that, you would figure that they're going to figure that part out eventually.

Yeah, week one was his most important rushing game, and it was really just to keep the Falcons from getting back on the field. That was not necessary today because he was able to function in the passing game. A lot of it was underneath, but he was decisive. I think that's the The most important thing is that he was decisive. He wasn't frazzled and rushed and had to try to extend plays because we knew he held on the ball way too long in Chicago. He was not doing that today. Those are massive markers for me because if you look at them over the course of an entire season, if they stick with him, he needs to continue to build upward like this. He's doing a really good job from week to week. The growth has been tremendous, and I know it's only one week to the next, but now I'm just really excited to see how he plays over the next few weeks if he keeps that job, which I think right now he's made a great case to keep that job. There's no reason to replace him. I don't care how healthy Russell Wilson is.

What are we talking about here? I I talked about it with Damosheck on Thursday night. It's like all the people that are there and their sources with the Steelers, and they're like, No, this is going to be Russell Wilson's job. I've never believed it for a second. Tomlin is going to keep stringing this out until he has to make a decision. There is no decision to make. He's played outstanding. Why not? There's zero chance he would ever bench Justin Fields if he's playing this well. It doesn't matter anyways because his other quarterback is not healthy. It doesn't matter. None of that part matters. Look, this is a defensive team, and TJ Watt got after it. I saw him get a crucial sack around Joe All that was on Taylor Heineke late in the third quarter. Justin Herbert, like I said, aggravates what was a high ankle sprain. Do you think he should have played in this game, Shook? How did he look? Because when I saw high ankle spray, and I'm like, Oh, I'm going to change my pick. I got to change my pick to the stealers. Then he was starting, and I was like, I guess I got to stick with my pick.

And then they got me. They got me, Shook.

I hate to say this because I don't want to pin it solely on the staff, but I think this is an example of a coach being a little too stubborn and deciding, look, he's our player. He's our best quarterback, he's the guy that's going to help us win without realizing that... Because he was very immobile in the pocket for the most part, even before he aggravated that injury. There was one play where he got taken down by two guys and got the ball out for a first down where I was like, I hope it doesn't get hurt there. You know what Herbert does? He's good at throwing on the run. He's good at navigating the pocket and everything else. He's talented in a number of different ways. But when he's essentially playing on one foot, it's going to limit him. To put him out there at risk in week three when you have the whole season ahead of you, I just thought it was a bad decision. Obviously, hindsight is a privilege here, but I just felt from the beginning like you were forcing something that didn't need to be forced.

And looking into that, Shook, because we think of Justin Herbert being out there in the flat, big, making throws on the run. No attempts on the run today. Not a single attempt on the run from Justin Herbert.

Then again, the ball moved somewhat in the first half, and they're tied, and they had a TD and a field goal. Early, yeah. Two 60-yard drives. They literally had negative five yards in the second half.I mean, they only hadYeah, they were awful. They only had 15 plays. So even that is a credit to the Steeler's offense. But that's three, three and outs where they went for a combined negative three yards and then one other first half.

And the TD, they fake a screen on the left side, and Joey Porter Jr. Jumps that. Quentin Johnston for the second week in a row. A defense just forgets he's out there. That's how the TD happened.

That's crazy.

They also didn't run the ball well on that, by the way. That was a big part of it, too, is the fact that for the first time this year, they just didn't run the ball well.

Yeah, JK Dobbins finishes with 44 yards. Gus Edwards, clearly the backup now only ends up with nine yards on three carries. Let's listen to Mike Tomlin talking about the defense. We better respond that way. There's a nakedness in this business at this level. There's nowhere to hide. When you got a challenge like that walking in your venue, you better fight.

We're the number one rusher and rushing team coming into our building.

So Let's be real clear, they got to fight. They don't have a choice. Tough week for the chargers. Nakedness.

Yeah. I love that. Not just no cover, but you're out there without cover and you're naked. There's nowhere to hide anything.

The chargers Man, it's amazing how different you can feel after one week because you have this Herbert thing. It seems like it could be a recurring problem, or maybe he'll get better with a little bit of rest. But Joey Bosa left this game with a hip injury. He was off to a strong start this season. And so there's your two best players right there. Big concerns for them. Less concerns in Minnesota, where the Vikings are just one of the best themes in the NFL, I guess.

Darnold shotgun, three receivers left, but now Munt, motions to the right across the formation.

Sam, looking right, swings back to the center, fires and... Touchdown. Jelen Nailer. That's three for Darnold today, three for Nailer this season, and the Vikings lead by three touchdowns. It's 20-0, Minnesota. Kfan, Paul Allen always knows just the right thing to say. Darnol wasn't done. He added a fourth countdown to Johnny Munt, former Ram's tight end. But we didn't like that call quite as much. 34 to 7. Vikings over the Texans. Wow. Two 2-0 teams. I'm not going to say I'm stunned here. I actually picked the Vikings on our show game day view. Just thought, it's a toss-up. Brian Flores throws a lot at these opposing offenses. It's tough for a young quarterback to deal with. But wow, Patrick, 34 to seven. I did not see that coming.

No, wire to wire as well, whether it was the offensive line who did give up four sacks. But on any number of explosive plays for the Texans, they just gave Sam Darnold way too much time. They couldn't get consistent pressure. Justin Jefferson is Justin Jefferson. Nobody's going to be surprised on that one. But Jalen Naylor adding that TD third on the season. He's getting almost five yards of average separation on his plays. Then over on the other side, Brian Flores' defense pressuring C. J. Stroud, 44% of his dropbacks. He was 6 of 11 on those plays with 66 yards, a TD and a pick. Aaron Jones gets 100 yards on the ground.

Had a receiving TD, too. 46 yards receiving. Look at Sprye.

I'm ready to say, through three weeks, this is the best team in the NFL.

It's just...

What else do we need to see? What else? I believe they've shown me, nick. I don't know what it's going to take for everybody else. They've shown me.

I mean, yeah, we're not going to jump to conclusions after three weeks, but we do have to identify somebody as the best team, right? And they have to play the most complete football through three weeks, without a doubt. And as I look at them, I think, well, what's stronger side? Because Sam Darnold is playing way better than most people expected. We know that Kevin O'Kunal, his handiwork there, his fingerprints all over it. He's got a great receiver in Justin Jefferson and all that. But the defense that Brian Flores has cooked up so far just continues to produce. They had Brock Purdy in mental knots last week. They have C. J. Stroud with arguably his worst game as a pro, maybe. We could probably go back and track the numbers from last year, but he was definitely not comfortable, and they run away with it against a team that a lot of people, including myself, had picked to go to the Super Bowl in the AFC. Now, obviously not having Joe Mixon does hurt a lot. But I was a little bit shocked by the result, not because I don't believe in the Vikings, but just because I thought the Texans would put up more of a fight.

And that's kudos to the Vikings for how well they're playing football on both sides right now.

Now, this is the second straight week where the yards for play and the yardage don't quite match up with the lopsided score for the Vikings, yet they've just been really efficient. I think what is awesome to see here is a third year of a regime change coming together. And the whole idea of bringing in JJ McCarthy now was supposed to be that, okay, we haven't been able to do certain things in the past, but this is going to be year two of this Flores system. We're bringing in all these new defensive players. They understand this complex scheme well. We'll be able to support them with the defense. The running game has been absolute trash the last two years. We're going to bring in Aaron Jones. We've learned the scheme a little more. We're going to have a running game ready for McCarthy. Now, it's not McCarthy. It's Sam Darnold, who's been probably a little better than anyone could have bargain for. But the other stuff is all true. They were able to rely, Patrick, on the running game today, and they're obviously relying on this defense, which right through three weeks, again, I would say, is the best in the league right now overall, because they blitzed on 50% of their snaps today, and they got pressure on 45% of them.

Jonathan Grinard gets three sacks. Did you say that one? I lost track of. Jonathan Grinard in the revenge game gets three sacks. Daneel Hunter doesn't get any. It's about this scheme, just putting these guys in position to win. Yes, scrambling C. J. Stroud in his makeup up. At one point, he just cleared his hand on his head. Seemed like he was wondering what the heck is going on here?

Yeah, not necessarily seeing Ghost type situation, but they're everywhere. You have to make so many decisions so fast. That veteran group, they just know where to be. Gruja Hill had an interception on a tip ball. Even when you do make the right read and you get time, defensive lineman gets a hand up, goes to Gruja Hill, the interception that started this whole landslide of events where Minnesota gets a Justin Jefferson shutdown. Right after that, it's seven, nothing. Then all of a sudden, it's 14, nothing, and they're trying to come back. But the vast majority of the run game, Chandler gets seven carries. It was 19 carries for Aaron Jones for 102 yards. He averaged 5.4 yards per carry. They're just They were hitting on all… Every aspect of the game was working out in their favor. And yet, Daneel Hunter's only play in his revenge game on the other side was a late hit on Sam Darnold, where he had to leave the game. He came back in, thankfully, because that was a concerning moment.

Okay, so there are going to be further tests on his ankle. Usually, when you finish out the game, that's a good sign, but that is a little bit of a concern for Darnold. Yeah, and it's some of these guys that have just been around and no floor assistance. Cambynum is in there making plays. And Stefan Gilmore, I has turned out to be... He's been in floor assistance before, a nice signing for them, and they're very deep, and they might have the best home field advantage in football. Laramie Tunzel was called for five penalties in this game, three false starts and two illegal formations and another illegal formation that was declined. I don't know if we give the home crowd credit for the illegal formations, but all the false starts, five freaking false starts. That place is rocking. They love this team, Shook. Give me a better home crowd. I'm trying to think who would top them right now in the NFL.

I don't know. I mean, you always have your mainstays are like Seattle and Kansas City. Seattle. But the thing is, how many of those were on third down? Because they play that horn, which is really obnoxious, but apparently it's pretty effective. I don't know.

I think the dome... I honestly, I just think the Superdome was going nuts to start that game. I think a great dome crowd is just always going to be better even than a great open air crowd for obvious reasons.

So here we are.

So we're talking themes here. 3-0 teams. We got the Vikings, our 3-0. We just talked about the Steelers, our 3-0. I do think, and Damoshek said it on Thursday night, it was Week 3 is going to flip a lot of the things you thought you knew from the first two weeks. That's absolutely true. But I do think some of the stories have been established team-wise, the Vikings and the Steelers. I would throw the Saints in there. I know they lost this game, but of the teams we just talked about, they are big parts this season. And then some players are just different. We talked about Barkley. He ran faster on his long run than he has run on any run in five years. He looks different this year. Justin Fields looks different this year, and Sam Darnold looks different. We got to start having to believe. All right, let's look at some teams that looked a little different on Sunday. We're going to take a quick break, and we're going to be back with the revenge of the Owen 2. Back on NFL Daily, and yeah, I said. A lot of teams entered Sunday, '02.

A lot of them escaped with a win and avoided, really, the dreaded 'O' and three, where it just feels like your season is over. And that means it is time for the Sunday Drive presented by the all-new Hybrid Toyota. Let's go to Dallas. It's It's up to the offense to close this out. Lamar fates the jet sweep, keeps it on the quarterback read option, and he's out to the 45-yard line. Let's see the exact spot. First down, Ravens. And with 148 in Dallas left to play for the first time in 2024, The Hayes in the Barn. Good to hear The Hayes in the Barn again from Jerry Sandusky, W B-A-L. And yet, if you were listening closely, you might have hear just a huge sigh of relief from Sandusky before he put that hay in the barn because that 10-yard run prevented the Cowboys from getting the ball back during a mad fourth quarter where they went from 28 to 6 to 28 to 12. Patrick starts yelling in the newsroom. 28 to 18. Patrick Eric starts really yelling in the newsroom and talking about how he didn't get any food earlier in the day.

He can't do that when this is happening. 28 to 25. And then he's actually just silent. He's flipping tables. No, he was just silent at that point. The Ravens got the ball back after Kavante Turb and cut it to 28 to 25. They did ice it with a couple of first downs. As Lamar does, wins it with his arm first, with a nice first down, and then with his legs.

It should have never at all gotten to that point. There was a Brandon Arbury onside kick, which is one of the announceder jinks that doesn't happen, but I'm looking and I see Brandon Arbury sit the ball on its side, and I'm thinking, Well, I've never seen one of these spinny onset.

You said it. You said, Oh, they're trying this spinny onset kick. That one's never right.

The watermelon.

Yeah. Never seen it successful. Of course, Zaflower's Bungles that, and the Cowboys.

It was spinning funny, to be fair. I was like, It's had some knuckleball.

Yeah, Brandon Aubrey can kick the ball 600 miles an hour. I'm sure he kick the ball on the moon if he needs to, but he strokes a 65 yard earlier in the game. He's spectacular. Greg pointed this out that the Ravens keep going in the games where the opposing kicker is better. Yes.

Happened again.

This was true again today. But you're to tell me that Baltimore, yet again, a massive lead in the fourth quarter in a game where Derrick Henry has 25 carries, 151 yards, and two touch downs that they cannot hold on to the lead. After the game, Coach Harbaugh is saying that, yeah, maybe they played things a bit conservatively on offense and defense. At a certain point, when this continues to happen, when they're blowing leads to the Raiders, there's, of course, the memorable loss to the Miami Dolphins, where they have a huge lead in the fourth quarter, the Dolphins storm all the way back. At some point, it's a trend, but they do, after these consecutive possessions, finally have an opportunity where they just keep the ball in the flowers hands. He gets the first down pass to Zé flowers, ultimately runs it out. But it shouldn't be this difficult against a Cowboys team that on the interior could do nothing to stop the Ravens run game where they've had trouble all season long. Right.

Well, that's You know why? It's tough. The conservative play calls on defense, that kills me. I mean, do what got you there. They were absolutely dominant in the first three quarters of this game on both sides of the ball. On offense, it's tough because I did not see this come back It was happening because Henry was running the ball so well. 25 for 151, as you mentioned. Justice Hill, five for 33, signed a nice little two-year extension. Not for much money, but nice money for a backup running back over the weekend. And then Lamar, 14 for 87. Lamar only ran, I mean, only threw the ball 15 times. So this was an old-school Ravens game, like Lamar's first MVP season until it wasn't. And Patrick It has been a trend. They have 10 losses when leading by seven plus in the fourth quarter since 2021. That is the most in the NFL. It's mystifying to me.

I saw a booth shot in the chargers game of Greg Roman, and if I hadn't seen that, you could have convinced me that he might have been in the booth for the Ravens today because of what they put up rushing-wise. I mean, you're right, it's an old-school Ravens win. But those numbers, you're absolutely right, too. That should be a force that allows you to put a game like that away on the road, take the air out of the building, and instead, the building came to life in the fourth quarter and was rocking, and you could barely even hear braided in the broadcast because it was so loud there. Yet they got it done. Here's the thing is you move to 0-3 and everything gets tense, and you start thinking about, Oh, we've blown this whole season and everything else. You just need one win. You need one win, and Jerry Sandusky just needs to put the hay in the barn one time for you to get back on track, and they did it today. I think that's really all that matters more than anything. It is nice on a day where you're not throwing the ball that often to see Lamar complete that past Jose flowers down the sideline.

That was a gutsy throw. It was a gutsy play call, and they were able to deliver. My one complaint about the Ravens is, Stop running Derek Henry wide, please. In moments like that, Stop running him wide as much as you can.

Yeah, I really wanted them to get in the pistol towards the end. They had a shotgun run to Derek Henry, which could have caused him the game. He slips down, and then another-He almost wobbled. Yeah, and then another one, he's trying to hurdle the defender. Cowboys almost got the punch out there. Things got needlessly complicated towards the end when You have the two-time MVP. Perhaps let's just snap him the ball and allow him to do what he does. But again, Derrick Henry had such a solid game, and this defense played better.

Oh, way better.

You do wonder how much of that was Dallas, because looking at the separation, only one Cowboys receiver had more average separation than three yards. Ceed Lamb wasn't getting free a whole lot, and it's just so difficult. It seems like Dallas is having to do absolutely everything to squeeze out every single first down, whereas Baltimore earlier in the game, just going up and down the field, but like Dack's having to make checks, get out of blitzes, nothing comes easy for this all.

Yeah, that's really well put, Patrick, because I just feel like Dack is having to be Superman more than ever before. He's making all the play calls. He's having to make all the plays. You see the frustration, CeeDee Lamb in this game, not being able to get open enough because they can send so much attention to him. He ends up 4 for 67, but getting upset. I don't I think it should be lost that, yeah, they had about a 93 to 96% chance to win this game at every moment from halftime on until that last drive. They were absolutely dominant in this game, pressuring Dak and doing what they wanted to do on offense. Henry, okay, I know the outside runs and the shotgun runs are a little tricky, but you got to feel good about the positive momentum that he took from the second half of last week's game where he got going to this game, where, yeah, he ripped off a beautiful countdown.

Isiah likely the tight end to the left.

That gives it Derek Henry running right at the middle. He's got a hole. He's in the 15, having it to the 10, the five. Touchdown, Ravens. The train is rolling, and the King scores again. A 26-yard shutdown run, and the Cowboys are on the ropes. Yeah, I don't want it to get lost when this signing everything happened and everyone thought, wow, that's going to be cool seeing Derrick Henry and Lamar Jackson together. It is pretty cool. Like guys were bouncing off Derrick Henry today. He had plus 45 in terms of rush yards, over expected. Who was it at the end of that? Was it Calin Carson at the end? You're not going to knock the ball up, bro. Try to tackle him, or maybe just knows he can't tackle. People were just bouncing off this man's body. It was pretty cool.

Yeah, he had the vintage Derrick Henry stiff arm. I believe it was Carson that It was on the other side of that before that play. Then he gets free there. The Ravens had considered, Coach Harbaugh said, making some changes on the offensive line. They decided to stick with this group because late in the week, he said they saw improvement. They certainly showed improvement, especially Daniel Falele in the run game. Lamar actually ran in in the postgame newser of Coach Harbaugh to talk about how Falele played down the stretch. So improvement in that aspect, which is something they really need.

The largest guard, we believe, in NFL It's history. A pretty crazy notion to put this man at guard, and it did not look good through two weeks. It looked good on Sunday. And yeah, just a massive, massive win for a team that considers itself a Super Bowl contender, obviously, with the Ravens. I don't know about the Cowboys. They're one and two, and I'm feeling better every week about standing on that tiny table and saying things are going to collapse because, man, just everything looks hard for them. That was the Sunday Drive presented by the all-new Hybrid Toyota Camry. Whatever your vibe, it's a Camry vibe. Learn more at Toyota. Com/camry. So as the Cowboys are making this comeback, at the very same time, another game that we filed away, and we thought it was over, and our friend Jordan Roderick is already texting items about the Rams defense and the struggles that the Rams had. At the same time, the Rams start quietly making a comeback. But unlike the Cowboys, they finished it off. Final five seconds of regulation.

Cardi from 37 to win it. The rookie with the right foot. Kick off away, and it's a Cardi party at Sofi Stadium.

27, 24. Their first lead of the game with 2 seconds left.

Joshua Cardi thrills the game winner.

That is our friend J. B. Long for K-S-P-N here in Los Angeles. What a call. What a comeback. The Rams, another one where it was 96% win percentage with about 4 minutes left in this game as the 49ers are driving in field goal range, up seven, but they get stopped. They missed the field goal. Fifty-yard pass down to 2-2 Atwell sets up the Rams to tie it up. They get the ball back quickly. And yes, suddenly it's a Cardi party. The The next thing that the Rams did wrong in the final couple of minutes was Stafford spiked the ball a little too quickly because I wanted J. B. Long to have that as a game-winning field goal call. So there was 2 seconds left, and the 49ers got a little closer on that kick return, but it didn't happen. The Rams get off the Schneid 27, 24. Wow. When Jordan said that this division might be up to the Cardinals and Seahawks, who knew? The 49ers and the Rams are both one and two, but the Rams feel much better about it?

Yeah, on a game where they're losing everybody. If you look at the targets, Matthew Stafford is spreading the... Like Tutu Atwell getting five. Demarcus Robinson, I believe, had four targets as well. Three going to Jordan-Whittington. Five, going to Kolby-Parkinson. This was vintage Matt Stafford with everybody out just willing it. You mentioned the 50-yard bomb to Tutu Atwell, where Tutu is making a great play. Tutu had a pass in this game as well.

It was a dime. It should have been completed, but just the other, I think he was bobbling it with Tyler Johnson as he went out of bounds near the goal line. They were throwing everything out there.

It's one of those moments where it's a Sean McVay team, and you just see the guys that... Because Tutu has been there for years. These guys that have come up through the program, they can contribute. And despite the fact that we haven't seen them in volume, it maybe shouldn't be such a surprise when he's had young guys contribute early on, and these guys are waiting in the wings, and they have a chance to set up. I know the Niners were hurt, but man, that's a great win so far.

It is. And you could tell after the game how happy and maybe even a little surprised Sean McVay was. All right.

Holy shit. That was what a job by our group.

Just continuing to battle, continuing to fight. There's a lot of guts. There's A lot of resilience in this group, and it's just one game, but I'm really proud of them.

I'm really proud of them.

What a coaching performance. You know that feels good. In a matchup, nick, that hasn't been too kind to the Rams during the Kyle Shanaan era, Kyle Shanaan, except for the NFC Championship, which is the one he would want the most, has tended to win this matchup over the Rams. This was the biggest Rams comeback, because they came back from 14 in this game. Since week two of 2012 against Washington. You know who was the tight ends coach of Washington back then? It was Sean McVay. He was the offensive coordinator of that game. Kyle Shanaher. Kyle Shanaher. Rg3 second Career start. And just what a performance by this team.

Yeah. We talked about them being banged up. We counted the Rams out for semi-foreseeable future because of all the injuries that they had. But the funny thing was, is when it got close late and they had the ball, and I'm like, it's in Matthew Stafford's hands. And at that point, anything is possible no matter who is out there. And they proved it. And just like Patrick said, it's part of the program. These guys who have been around for a long time were delivering, coming through. It's really great to see. And it's also really encouraging because this is a team that had every reason to count themselves out. As they're in the midst of this comeback at home where they're down by two touch downs, they see shots of the sideline, and guys are just losing their minds amid the chaos. I didn't realize so if I could get that loud. Then they finish, of course, with the Cardi I just keep thinking about Walk a Flock of Flames, Grove Street Party. But instead of It's a Party, It's a Party, I think of Kicking Cardi, Kicking Cardi, Kicking Cardi.

Fantastic. Yeah, they got to cut that track immediately because Cardi Party is a great call. And the history comes true yet again because there's a crucial fourth-quarter interception by Matt Stafford that gets dropped by the 49ers. And yet again, specifically because of that non-INT, the Rams were able to come back and win the game. There's a shot of Kyle Shanahan on the sideline, losing it as that ball hits the turf, because I feel like he could sense it as well. Yeah. In wasting a huge career performance from Jowan Jennings, and Brock Purdy only has 80 completions in this game. Brock Purdy played well. He had three touch downs, no picks.

Okay, so Jowan Jennings finishes for 11 catches, 175 yards, and three touch downs. I know they didn't win the game, but just one of the best receiver performances we've seen a long time, because it's not just about the box score, it's about the quality of the catches, mossing people, tight coverage, picking the ball off the turf. It was truly awesome. Let's actually listen to his third breakdown catch. Auk and Jennings are slotted left.

Jj is inside. Tongis is right. Third down. Purdy back. Purdy time. Purdy throws. Downfield wide open caught. Jowan Jennings has a hat-trick in LA. Touchdown.

San Francisco. What a game. And you just could have not told me at that point. It's 21:07, midway through the third, that the Rams were going to come back to win this game because you said I thought Purdy played well. Jordan Mason, 19 for 77, had a couple of catches. Purdy actually was pretty effective on the ground. Ayuk has been quiet. Ten targets, only 48 yards. But those Jennings catches over and over. Just going really into my heart, I know no one cares about anyone else's fantasy team, but let me tell you how dumb you feel when you picked up Juan Jennings as your first waiver pick middle of the week, and then by the end of the week, dropped him. Oh, no. Then for some reason, sometimes I just delete tweets for no reason. After a while, I'm just like, I didn't really like that one. I'm just going to delete it. I don't care. I feel better about life. For some reason, I tweeted in the middle of the week, Juan Jennings is He's about to have the best month of his life. For some reason, I deleted that tweet, too. I'm just feeling like I could have been Trust yourself.

This loss is...

Yeah, it's personal.

I mean, Ellis should be thanking you.

That's true.

You made this happen, Greg?

That's true. My beautiful daughter, her 13th birthday on Saturday, was awesome. You feel a different way, literally sprinting after five 13-year-old girls running through traffic as we're going to dinner. But it is amazing. It was an amazing moment for me as a dad just seeing her growing up like this, but it was her weekend. Her Rams weren't going to lose. Yeah. Not on this weekend. Happy birthday, Alice. All right, let's go to Cleveland, where the home crowd did not leave in as happy a state.

Punch formation to the right.

Now, neighbors in motion to the left. Jones in a shotgun set.

Singletary to his right. Jones back to throw, looks, fires one left corner of the end zone.

Nabors makes a diving catch, but did he get his feet in? No signal yet. Yes, TD.

In the back left corner of the end zone.

Jones threw it high, and Nabors went up and got it.

The rookie's second TD in his many weeks. This kid's just different, man. Blake Nabors is awesome. The New York Giants are awesome. For one week, they got it done. Look, their offense played well last week. Nabors finishes 8 for 78. He has another shutdown later, but that one was absolutely sweet. That was Bob Papa on WFAN. Deshawn Watson and the Browns offense. Get the ball back a bunch in the second half of this game. It was 21 to 7 by halftime, and the Giants didn't add any points, but the Browns did not add enough, Shook. And the Browns are now one and two, 0 and two at home, and the Boo Birds were out for Mr. Watson.

Yeah, rightfully so. I hate to start with the negative, but the Browns' offense is lost, completely lost. Their quarterback is wildly inconsistent, wildly inaccurate. In, not comfortable, slow to make his decisions. They don't lead on the run game, except for 10 carries for Jerome Ford in this game. He popped off a couple, then he fumbled on a drive in the fourth quarter when they're trying to mount a comeback. It's an ugly picture. They don't adjust well during games. Kevin Stefansky has twice now when his quarterback is under constant duress from opposing pass rushes, he waits until the third quarter to dial up his first screen. They're just slow to do everything, react, adjust, everything. And that's all I'm going to say about the negative side, because the Giants have taken a really It was a good step forward. I don't know if it's going to hold, but for one week, Daniel Jones looked more than competent. He looked confident and consistent and delivered the football on time and used his legs to extend plays and kept drives going. And Devon Singletary did enough in the running game. But of course, the story all revolves around the guy that Daniel Jones trusts the most, even though they've now only played three games together.

And his name is Malik Nabors. And if you don't know his name, you should know it by the end of this podcast because he's a star and he's not going anywhere, and he's going to be a household name real soon if he isn't already. He is phenomenal. And there were some serious talent in this receiver class this year and last year. He might be the best out of this class. He's just a different guy.

I think it's safe to say through three games, he has been the best of this rookie class with all due respect to Marvin Harrison Jr and the accomplishments that he has.

We'll throw the quarterback's in there, too. He's a rookie of the year right now. It's early, but yes.

Well, the shutdown, the call that you heard at the start, Malik Nabors is open. He has beaten Emerson by five yards, and it winds up being a highlight catch that Daniel Jones throws high and behind Malik. He has to jump in 360 spin, and we could celebrate the countdown. But looking back at it, that was a bad pass.

Yeah, it was.

It was a horrible pass. And Malik Nabors turns it into a good pass. And earlier in this game, he absolutely goes on top of Emerson and just mosses him directly over the top of his head.

I think it was on that drive.

Yeah, it was on the drive. At the very least, the defender got a chance to see that one and watch Malik Nabors come back and make a circus catch. But he's just so good. The reason he and the pass rush were the reasons. Wyatt Teller goes down. Of course, Cleveland's had problems getting their tackles on the field all season. But Dexter Lawrence has two sacs. Brian Burns has a sac, including a crucial strip, where you felt like there might have been some hope for the Browns. They consistently got the pressure. And all credit to the Giants secondary as well. But Deshawn Watson has He's holding the ball. It's tough to say before we look at all 22, how well the secondary played, because we don't know if Deshawn is just bouncing in the pocket.

He's just holding it forever. I guess maybe this is just wishful thinking on my part, but I was like, Are they thinking about benching him here? Because it just seemed like he was a bit... Or was it more about the offensive line? Because the pressure numbers are crazy. Burns was seven, Lawrence was six, O'Gillari with four. They were all over him, but it just seems like he's holding it. He's not knowing what to do. He even made a bad decision on when to run on a late fourth down. It looked like it was going to be actually the hay in the barn type of play, but they got the ball back one more time because of a missed Giants' field goal that gave him another drive to catch up. It just seems like the decision-making process is in mud, Chuck.

Yeah, he's slow. He's just slow to make a decision. He's not confident, and you can see his hesitation. I mean, that play that you just described, that was an RPL on fourth and one, which followed a Jameis Winston telegraph sneak on third and 1 because he only comes in for sneaks. They run two plays out of the formation.

What are we doing here?

Yeah, exactly. That's what I'm saying. To Sean Watson can't sneak? They don't adjust well. They're trying to protect him or whatever, but he's slow to process, and he's also not good at extending and creating anymore. Even when he tries the bail out of the pocket, it's like he's running in the mud that you just spoke of. So they can't really do anything, and they're just stuck in first gear this whole time. Not to mention that his decision making is just rife with just uncertainty, and it holds the entire offense back. Yeah, some of it has to do with the offensive line, for sure. Yeah. I mean, they've had a ton of injuries up there, and the Giants did a phenomenal job of getting after him and beating them with stunts and everything else. But it's also on the quarterback, and it's more on the quarterback than anything, because even when he has time to throw, he's still missing open guys.

I give the Giants some credit. They were criticized heavily, Shane Bowen, for being very static, very predictable. And then what do they do? They come out, they blitz Watson 56% of the time. That's outrageous. Watson goes on the blitzes. I mean, this is a veteran quarterback. He goes 8 for 18 for 92 yards, a breakdown. But here's the keyset in seven sacks all against the blitz. I mean, come on. That's just a guy that's just not seeing the field. But I don't want to take away anything from the Giants here who are going to Thursday Night Football. It's such a long season, and maybe it'll feel long again if they get waxed on Thursday Night Football. But suddenly, it's like you look at last week and you think, Hey, their offense actually played pretty well against Washington. And if they actually had a kicker, they would have won that game. And now they look pretty competent on both sides. Wendell Robinson is making plays. And like, Okay, I feel better about them than I feel about the Browns.

Yeah, I agree. And honestly, a lot of credit is due to the offense and the way that they called this game because they were blitzed early. They were bum-rushed by the Browns. In fact, Jones almost threw a pick, and it was wiped out by ruffing the passer on Greg Newsom, and it felt like all the momentum was just going in the Browns' favor, and it was going to be an avalanche, and the Browns were going to run away with it. They bounced back, and what they did really well is Dable and Jones and just this whole offense is really working together well, knowing what each person's strengths are and just highlighting those strengths. A lot of underneath passes where you're giving guys space to make plays and run after they catch that type of thing, and then you mix in neighbors. It's actually a It's a nice balanced operation. Like I said, with the Ravens, you only need one, and they got their one today, so we'll see what happens.

All right. They got it. Yeah, a shame because literally the first play from scrimmage of the game was Amari Cooper catching a countdown. I thought that's going to be the highlight with our friend Andrew Siciliano, but it just doesn't feel right to do it now. You robbed that from us. I think that was the last play they had in Giants territory for almost the entire first half, which is absolutely ridiculous. So the Giants get off the Schneid, one of the worst-looking teams in the NFL coming into the week, but not the worst-looking. Could the Panthers actually go on the road and get a win with the Red Rifle?

Here's the snap. Pressure off the backside. Dalton floats one. End zone. Deontay Johnson, back right corner, hangs on. Touchdown, Carolina. Deontay's first TD as a Panther. Dalton, two TD passes. The Panthers coming into the game hadn't had a TD pass since the Green Bay game last year.

That was Anisharov of W-R-F-X, Andy Dalton to Deontay Johnson. Look, there's only one quarterback in the entire NFL this season who has thrown for more than 300 yards and three touch downs in a a single game. That man is Andy freaking Dalton. Let's go. 36, 22. I'm fired up about this Panthers win. You shouldn't be, Greg. I mean, they dominated the Raiders. The score flatters the Raiders, both sides of the ball. It wasn't just Andy Dalton. It was the Panthers defense showing up. It was the Panthers offensive line showing up. It was something to see. And yeah, you might think, Okay, Andy Dalton dinked and his way down the field. That throw to Deontay Johnson, I thought was a good example. He made some high-level throws, some mid-range throws over the top of the linebacker, ahead of the safety, some throws up the sideline, a beautiful throw to Adam Thielen for the That one was under pressure. I mean, he played really well in this game, Andy Dalton.

He did. He was getting hit as he threw that ball to Deontay Johnson with Jack Jones in coverage. Of course, Jones is going to take some gambles, try to make some plays, but it was good coverage and a great pass from Andy Dalton, who I owe the most sincere of apologies, not just to Andy Dalton, but to this entire roster. I did not think there was enough talent on this roster to have this type of performance against the Raiders team that looked good in a comeback win last week. But Garner-Minschuh really struggled. And this Panthers defense, the Jero Everhows' unit, just came in, made plays. Aiden O'Neill comes in late, gets a shutdown. And so now they've got to... Antonio pierce has a set of decisions to make, but It's going to be tough to look past anything other than a resurgent Carolina Panthers team. Chuba Hubbard goes over 100 yards on the ground? Yes. Where was this? Where were these guys? I don't know if we could put this all on the second-year quarterback.

No, that's unfair.

That's impossible, but just a great week of preparation by everybody in Charlotte.

Right. You do have to give a lot of credit to Dalton. I mean, the offense improves this much. I think one thing he did, shook in this game, and I know you the Bryce Young tape was, he waited for plays to develop. If his first or second read was open, he looked good. I do think there is something to these veteran quarterbacks I've noticed over the years. When they can not have to start 17 straight games, but they've had a lot of experience, and they could actually play in the first place, which to me is the case for Andy Dalton. When they get another chance to go sling it, he was so grateful for the opportunity. He's learned a lot, and I I don't know if this is going to work for 12 or 13 weeks, but he's taking pictures before the game with his kids and his wife on the field before the game. It meant that much to him. Then he went out, and I think you hate to be a cliché here, but I think he had the time of his life. I mean, he was having a blast out there.

I feel like you're talking about Joe Flacko last year. It's the same thing. Exactly. It's a guy with a ton of experience and armed talent who can come out there and sling it and isn't overwhelmed by the speed of the game. I mean, look, last year we saw it in one game from Dalton, 361 and 2 touch downs, 319 and 3 touch downs today. I'm telling you what, I see it one more time, and I'm going to be believing that Andy Dalton can still do it for at least some stretches of a season.

I think we're about to find out. Yes.

I'm very excited about it. I'm just relieved for Panthers fans. They were at the game last week with Brown bags in their head in week two. In week two, you're supposed to have hope in week two. Now they got a little bit of hope. They went and got to watch their team win a game on the road.

Yeah, this was a humbling loss for the Raiders to really have it just drilled to you for most of the game. I mean, the yardage in the end doesn't look that dramatic dramatic, but going into the third quarter, it was extremely one-sided. The Panthers had 400 offensive yards going into the fourth quarter, and this is supposed to be a defensive team, and Antonio pierce was not happy.

No, they didn't. I think as the game went on, I don't think it was a team. I think there was definitely some individuals that made business decisions. I'm going to make business decisions going forward as well.

That's an upset coach right there.

I watched that game, I'm I'm trying to think about who he's talking about. Now, he has some lighter guys in the secondary, Jack Jones, J'Corean Bennett. I thought they played really well this season, especially Bennett. I don't know who he was talking about. I think their biggest issue on defense was that Max Crosby has a high ankle sprain, which we didn't know about. We knew he had an injury that he left last week with, but he was questioned by the injury report, and he was expected to play, and he did play, but he had no impact on this game. It was so weird to watch a Raiders game where Max Crosby's just doing nothing. Then suddenly, it was like the whole defense just didn't make any sense because Malcolm Kuntz and they have some other injuries at the other edge spot. Christian Wilkins really didn't do that much in this game. Suddenly, it just... I mean, you said it. Chuba Hubbard goes for almost 170 yards from scrimmage. They were just bigger, stronger, faster, tougher. This was the image for Dave Knauss that he wanted going into the air.

Yeah, and the injuries for Max Crosby shows up on the stat sheet. His pressure percentage was 8.3%. We're used to seeing Max Crosby up in the '20s, the '20s and '30s. But Christian Wilkins, playing healthy, was sitting there at 9%. Nobody above 10%, nobody really bothering Andy Dalton. Then on the Over on the other side, Jedevian Clowny is back. He and Shaq Thompson above 25% on their pressure percentage. It's just the entire team just played so much better. Like Antonio pierce is talking about decisions to make, he's got a full set now.

Yeah. I mean, I don't think he's got to change quarterbacks, but I guess crazier things have happened. Minchou, he was Minchou in this game. He had one or two crazy plays, but he didn't look that much different. Meanwhile, Andy Dalton is cashing them checks with each and every win. Every win he gets, a quarterback wins our thing. He gets $75,000. That's nice. And he gets a million dollars if he can get to 70% of the regular season snaps. So if Andy Dalton can say healthy for the rest of the year, or he gets another million for a playoff birth. That would be exciting for him.Let's not get ahead of ourselves.Okay, that's a little much. Both these teams deserve to be one and two. I don't know. Yeah, I feel like you never know. It's a long season, Shook. As Jason Pinnack once said, I forgot to mention this during the Giants part, but I liked it. He said, The Giants have a new team motto. You want to know what the team motto is? It's, Fuck it. I think all the teams can just embrace this. Carolina Panthers to the playoffs to get Andy Dalton a million dollars.

Fuck it.

Why not?

All right, let's go to Indianapolis, where the 0-2 team got a little revenge on Sunday. Chicago with a ball down by one score, and barking left to right on the Colts defense. Play action. Backing to throw is Williams. And the ball is out. It's a strip-sack.

It's available for it. And I think the Colts have it around the 17-yard line.. Liatu Latu with a strip sack, and it's recovered, I think, by Grover-Stewart, the third takeaway of the ball game for the Colts on defense.

That was Matt Taylor of WF, and Fitting in there because this was a game of turnovers, a game where the quarterbacks made a couple of plays but gave the ball to the other team. And in this case, it was a strip sack of Caleb Williams that helped to clinch it. One of three turnovers by Caleb Williams in the game. Anthony Richardson, also a couple of picks, but the running game of the Colts helps to get it done. 21 to 16. Yeah, Shook, I thought that was a fitting end of the game because Caleb did a lot of good things in this game, actually. They made some progress throwing the ball down the field. He had this just absolutely gorgeous dime to Adunze in this game, and then that play was followed by an interception. He had had his first shutdown throw earlier in the fourth quarter to make this game close, but then they get a ball back with a chance to maybe take the lead, and it's a forced fumbles. So it was like one step forward, two steps back for Caleb Williams.

Yeah, I felt like I white-knuckled my way through this entire game because of the quarterback play on both sides. First off, Chicago. What are you doing asking Caleb Williams to throw the ball 52 times? It was a pretty close game. You could have ran the ball, and I know you weren't running it well, but you could have balanced it out a little bit more. You're putting a lot on your rookie quarterback's shoulders. Caleb has this thing, and he did it against Houston. He did it again today where that improviser in him, he hasn't quite dropped that entirely, but he also is forced to improvise a lot because of the offensive line. And it just gets wild. He's making guys miss. He's spinning around. It's not like Kyler Murray. It's different. He's got this cannon arm that he just lets it rip. And sometimes it finds its target. But other times, it's out of desperation, and you end up with turnovers. That's what happened against Houston. That's what happened today, too. I feel like they don't put him in the best spot. But then on the other side, Anthony Richardson, through one of the ugliest interceptions you're ever going to see, running toward the goal line, trying to flip it over a defender.

He was easily picked And then they come out of the half, and Shane Steigen has asked about it by the sideline reporter, and he goes, It's my fault. It was a bad call. I put him in a bad situation. Richardson immediately rolls to the right, throws across his body, sails it over his intended target for another their pick. So it was just like a back and forth, not comedy of errors, but just young quarterbacks making mistakes. And ultimately, the Colts come out on top with plays like that. It's a fun watch if you want to see a tumultuous football game and two talented quarterbacks. But my God, I felt like I needed a nap or a drink or something after this game.

Yeah, this game brought to you by talent and inconsistency, and you saw it time and time again, whether it's Anthony Richardson pushing Trey Sermon into the end zone along with several of his teammates. You just see the whole team. Yeah, There's an explosiveness there. But as you mentioned, Shook, go watch the interception he threw in the back of the end zone, rolling to his right. He tries to soft toss this ball that has no chance. You can immediately see the look on his face afterwards. But just... And congratulations. Good call. Shout out to Shane Steiken for trying to put that on himself, because over on the other side, the bears had a fourth in goal, and they ran the most hopeless speed option that has ever been seen by mankind. And coming into this game, the Colts have not been able to stop anybody on the ground. The bears have not been able to run the ball. And so we were going to figure it out. The bears cannot run the ball, period. It is hopeless. And so for those looking at the stat sheet, and we talked about Caleb's erraticness, he's having to overcome so much to move the ball.

Right. Nick, you could say that, How can you throw the ball that much? But they had 84 plays because they had these long drives, because they were turning the Colts over. Because actually, in terms of possession and everything, they were dominated. And they did run the ball 29 times. They got 63 yards. I mean, that is just absolutely pathetic. And they were down two scores, ultimately, for a good chunk of the middle of the third quarter on. So they had to go into throw-up mode when you're that inept. I mean, they had one design run, I believe, that went for more than six yards in all those runs. I mean, that is just crazy. And it does point out that Caleb is not playing with a full deck. Richardson, I think, is in his own head a little bit. You mentioned it with pushing the ball. I thought the second one wasn't a bad decision. The first one was a bad decision. Stuyken can take the blame for there. It was a bad play call because there was nothing there, but you got to just throw it away. That needs to be an incomplete and a field goal, not an interception.

The second one, I think, was It wasn't that bad of a decision. It was more just an overthrow because he didn't get his feet set and all that. That has been happening, and that is disappointing. I actually listened to the locker room sound after the game of Steiken and Richardson. It was interesting. After taken, fires everyone up, Richardson then takes over and also says, Great job today, everyone. It's going to be the first of many, gives everyone their props, but then somberly says, I'm going to be I got you guys in future weeks. It is not going to be like this, which is just like, it's why people love Anthony Richardson, why he's a leader, just the way he said it and the way people are looking at him. He didn't need to do that in that moment, but you can tell he's not happy with how he's playing. But he got bailed out by his defense. Seven tackles for loss by the Colts defense, four sacks. And yeah, Latu Latu, who is my defensive rookie of the year, picked before the season, just throwing darts there, but was on the injury report and ended up having a really nice game.

Yeah, he a big play there. But speaking about Richardson, these are things that he can clean up. I feel like he's in a situation where because of the personality he has and the respect he already has in the locker room as a leader, it can get better over time. He really just needs to clean up the footwork and be more consistent in that. Caleb, I feel bad for him, not because he's not talented. It was the right pick at number one. He's just not in a great situation. You can see him. I think it was after the second turnover he had, he sat down on the bench and he just did the unsnap of the helmet, sat down and just looked up like, Oh, my God, what What do I have to do? He makes some of those mistakes on his own from trying too hard, but I can just feel bad for him. I feel like he's playing with one hand tied behind his back sometimes. A lot of it is scheme, I think. It's personnel, but it's also scheme. They're not doing him any favors.

Yeah, Shane Waldron is not a popular man. The offensive coordinator for the bears, never seem to be. But look, this is Matt Iberflus's team. This is Ryan Polls' team, your three, four of the regime, depending on how you want to look at it, coach or GM. They have time to turn it around, but it's been a discouraging start, especially for the offense. The Colts to one and two back in the mix. Hey, at least Adunzi goes six for one, twelve. Komet has a nice game. Dj Moore has a nice game. At least he got some fantasy numbers. The Colts get off the Schneid. One more 0-2 team I want to talk about. They got their First win on Sunday. It was in Tampa Bay, and it was authoritative. Mcgloughlin, the tailback.

Nix pitches it right.

Mcgloughlin. Oh, don't cut, don't stop. He didn't. He outran the pursuit. And Denver has a countdown. That is Dave Logan of K-O-A. A running back has never stuffed it in the face of a play-by-play man faster than Jaleel McGloughlin. You tell me not to stop? Stop and got me that touch done. I mean, that was one of those play calls. That's a fourth and goal. And he has a man over, just absolutely reads the play. I believe it was Anthony Nelson. And McGloughlin shakes him out of his shoes and somehow gets to the edge. You never see that play work in that spot. I was stunned. Good job by Jaleel McGloughlin. The Broncos win this game 26 to 7. I had eyes on this game throughout. This was an absolute butt-whoping. Despite not having much of a running game, McGloughlin gets seven yards on five carries. Javante Williams ends up with 12 yards on five carries. But Bo Nicks was awesome. First play of the entire game, back shoulder throw to Courtland Sutton, plus 22 down the field. Okay, a little bit of a push-off by Sutton, but he trusted his receiver to make a play.

He made a play. Third play, a beauty over the shoulder of Reynolds down the field. Again, we're saying Bo Nicks can't throw it down the field. That time, he was protected well. I thought the offensive line really played well all day. Then Nicks ends up running in for the first countdown of the game. Nicks ran well all day, 9 for 47 on the ground, including a nice scramble. He's actually up to 107 yards on 18 rushes for the season. The Broncos were aggressive. Sean Payton went for it on fourth down in his own end while up two touch downs. That was really surprised, impressed by. Got it. Defense was awesome. They pulled the Bucs pants down here in this game. It was very one-sided, Patrick.

Yeah, and that Jaleel McGolfland shutdown was on fourth down as well, where he gets Anthony Nelson to stop and slip, and he finishes that drive off with the score. I thought it was a great performance, not just by Bo Nicks, but this entire team, including two turnovers from Brandon Jones. One was an interception, one was a fumble recovery. Patrick Sertan was Patrick Sertan. I had Mike Evans incarcerated for most of the game. Then just the rest of this team continuing to make play after play, where we're expecting Baker and the Bucks to do something. Just kept waiting. All the Bucks come back comes, and he gets a touch down to Chris Godwin at to start the third quarter, and you're thinking, this is it. Nothing else. This Bronco's team goes wire to wire in, and honestly, a pretty impressive fashion, nick, where the Bucks could do nothing. And they had done almost everything to start the season, where I thought Baker Mayfield was playing an MVP level. And here comes Denver to shut all that down.

Yeah. I mean, he comes back to Earth a little bit. It's like they always say, got to have a few rainy days to appreciate a sunny one. Baker had a rainy day on Sunday. I I think a lot of this story is the fact that the Bucaneers allowed Bo Nicks to do some things. You look at their pressure rate. They had nine pressures. It's 23.1%. They blitzed at a rate of 43.6%, which is pretty frequent, and yet they didn't get the job done. That's a concerning sign for the Bucaneers in the long term, which had showed up in previous weeks, and now we see it bear out in this result here. But look, man, like with the other two teams we talked about earlier, the Ravens being one of them is you just only need one. You need one win to get back on track. And for as bad as Bo Nicks looked through the first two weeks, it's so much more encouraging to see him put together a performance like this. Yeah, he didn't have a pass and a shutdown. I don't care. He kept them going, and they cruised to a win here on the road.

This is all you need to get back on track, reverse some of the momentum from negative to positive, and allow Sean Payton some patience with his quarterback. So it's really encouraging to see.

Well, and they have a little bit of an identity here on defense. If I told you one of the teams in this game leads the NFL in blitz percentage this year, and it's by a lot, you would think it'd be the Todd Bulls Bucks, but it's not. It's the Broncos who came into this game. I noticed that last week they were just kamikaze on defense. Van Joseph in his bag right now. Sometimes it's working, sometimes it's not. But it was work in this game. Seven sacks of Baker Nine quarterback hits, 45% pressure rate. Baker at one point was 11 for 17 for 78 yards, so he tax on some garbage time just when they started playing softer. The blitz numbers were even higher earlier, and it was bad Baker tendencies where the pressure to sack rate was pretty high. He was back scrambling around, hoping to make a play, holding it, wasn't happening. Zack Allen has been really awesome all season. I think he had seven pressures in this game, something like that. He has been really good for them up front. They're having a little bit of an identity on defense where they're aggressive, and they needed a win in the absolute worst way.

They were the most down bad team in the entire NFL outside Carolina. But considering the way their preseason went and the expectations that they had, I think actually they felt the worst of just about anyone, and they came out and they looked like it. There is something about, I think, teams that need to win more, playing better. I really do think. I mean, it's a thing. It's human nature. I don't know, Patrick. I just mean, if you're 0-2, I feel like you're more likely to... They come out 143 yards to 23 to start this game. It was like the Ravens needed that when they came out so strong. Maybe there's something to it, Patrick. Maybe.

We could say that. The Broncos, the Tried Hard, they definitely played better than they have. That's all I mean.

The first two weeks. You get a little more focused. You get everything's better during the week. You know you need it all week long, and you play your best.

Maybe more opportunity to find out the things that you don't do well and to be able to focus on the things and the places where you can be successful. We're going to have to pull, as nick mentioned, the Bucaneers, maybe back down to Earth and start to re examine those first two wins a little bit.

I mean, they had just over 200 yards last week and were more than doubled. Maybe they were a little fortunate there. But you mentioned it, Sertan. Awesome day against Mike Evans. Sertan, who had a slow start to the season, a ton of penalties the last couple of weeks. Actually, been losing his one-on-one match. They're I mean, he is the only cornerback in the NFL that they just say, Go cover someone with no safety help. It was literally it. And he's done it. He's had to do it three straight weeks. The first two weeks actually haven't gone that well against Dike and Pickens. It went very well against Mike Evans. So props to the Broncos. Their first win of the season. All right, those are all the '02 teams that got off the schneid. We're going to get to the rest of the games after a little break. Back on NFL Daily. We're going to go to Tennessee, where one of the best stories of the season is being written by the Green Bay packers. But first, we're going to hear a little bit from their defense. From the 31, here's the snap. Quick throw, right-side line.

Yes. They're accepted. Down to the sidelines. Jair Alexander, high stepping, hands-off. Touchdown. Jair Alexander. And the packers lead it 16 to 7. Holy cow. Wayne Larravie and Larry McCarron there on W-R-N-W. You looked up, and this game just went from 7-7 to 17:7 in a blink of an eye. That happens when Jair Alexander is out there with pick sixes. It happens when Malik Willis is as efficient as hell. Thirteen to 19. Yes, he got the start over. Jordan Love, who was ruled inactive. 202 yards through the air on only 19 attempts with a passing breakdown. Who was their leading rusher on the date? It was Malik Willis. 6 carries, 73 yards. What a performance by this kid. 2-0. The ultimate revenge game. We talk about revenge games. They didn't want you last year. They didn't want you the year before. They publicly hung you out to dry, Mike Vrabel. Then you gave them away from nothing going into this year, and you lose to them week three. That's amazing. It's spectacular.

At this point, early last season, we had the Pastronaut, Josh Dobbs taking the world by storm, coming in on short notice. Malika Willis did just get there. It's not the exact same situation, but Malik Willis really, literally just gets there. Josh Jacobs gets under three and a half yards per carry. And you come in to a world before last week, and you're telling people, Well, hey, Malik Willis is going to He's going to need to throw for 200 yards. He's going to need to have 3 30 plus yard completions on the way to his first 200-yard passing game with seven different receivers on only 19 attempts. Folks would say, You're insane.

It's your crazy. You are insane.

That's never going to happen. But Matt Lafleur believes in Malik Willis. He dialed up a game plan for him for the second week in a row. That's awesome. He comes through.

Let's listen to Mat Lafleur talking about Malik Willis after the game. Yeah, I think anytime, maybe a change of scenery can be good for some guys.

I just cannot articulate the job that he's done in a short period of time.

People can't fathom it.

I promise you, you guys don't get it.

I know you think you got it, but you don't get it.

What he's been able to do is I've never seen something like this.

So hats off to him.

Hats off to everybody around him.

I think it's just special. To me, it's probably the number one personal story of the season so far. I never would have seen that come in. He was dynamic on the ground. They cruised to this victory, but it was in part because he was making good decisions, but also is able to run the ball and presents that threat. Lafleur is being humble about it, but he's done an awesome job, and Malik Willis didn't want to bury the Titans or anything after the game. But it's not just about a change of scenery. It's about an organization. The Titans have worked to do, Shook, and the packers, these two wins. Even if Jordan Love comes back next week. It sounds like there's a pretty good chance of that. You just feel like they're deposits in the Mojo Bank for a team that has really big aspirations here.

First National Mojo Bank. That was strangely combative from Matt LaFleur, but I think he's been reading some of the press clippings, and I think he's been hearing the doubt. The doubt came from people like me because Malik Willis didn't show us anything that should give us any reason to be confident in him prior to week two. Even in week two, LaFleur did a masterful job of building a game plan that didn't ask him to do too much, leaned on the ground game, and he made his plays in spots. And he was good when he made those plays in spots. Don't get it twisted. But this week, it wasn't just making the plays in spots. When you throw for 200 yards, when you throw for a touch down pass, when you lead your team in rushing, that says everything I need to know about him. And it's got, like you said, the sweetest revenge game ever. You mentioned the Pastronaut, Patrick. The Pastronaut is who the Titans signed off of the Lyons' Practice Squad to replace Malik Willis in the middle of a season a few years ago. And now he comes back all the way back around with the packers and gets his revenge.

It's a great story. You're absolutely right. But on the flip side, there was a game break that showed that Jair Alexander pick six today. It was a Fox game break. And I believe whoever was doing the play by play in the studio called Will Levis, something like the turnover or the giveaway machine. Is that his reputation now? I know it's been bad through three weeks. How much patience do you have with this? You got to figure this out. What are you going to do?

If we take the way that they treated Malik Willis, he's only got a few more games.

I mean, Mason, not only did they choose Will Levis over Malik Willis, they chose Mason Rudolf over Will Levis. That was supposedly a pretty tight camp battle. Yeah, they're not going to... The thing with Will Levis is sometimes you get in a streak of just some Some of it is bad luck that the turnovers are catastrophic turnovers. Then again, he had three turnovers in this game, including a lost fumble. Sure, you go 26 for 34 for 260 and two touch zones otherwise, but counting on 2-3 turnovers a The game is just not how you're going to win. There's no way Malik Willis would ever be caught doing that. Let's listen to Malik Willis' shutdown pass, a screen to Emmanuel Wilson. Second down, they fake the hand off to Milton, dumps it off to Wilson, left side. He's barreling his way to the 15, to the 10, to the five, to the end zone. Touchdown. And the packers cash it in. 26 to 7, Green Bay, 8:25 to go on the third. I was just curious if Wayne Levery brought out the Dagger mid-third quarter, but no, I guess I could have listened ahead of time.

Just curious. Nice game. Nice game for the packers, too, who have not been great defensively to dominate the Titans on the ground, stopping Tony Pollard. Tajay Spears had a combined 21 yards in this game.

Yeah, and looking at Will Levis again, everybody's going to get got on the occasional stare down out. Jair Alexander's first career pick six, but that's eight turnovers now in the season for Will Levis. He added another one late. Looking deep to Calvin Ridley, Xavier McKinney gets another pick, which Xavier McKinney's had an interception in every game. A great pickup this offseason by the packers. But they just mount. These turnovers mount. It wasn't a weird one. He didn't throw a cartwheel interception or something absurd like he had in the first couple of weeks of the season. But the sheer volume of them is just too much.

Yeah, I think the Titans were a little unlucky to be owned, too. Their defense had played really well. Their defense did not play well in this game, giving up that many yards to the packers. Completely outplayed. So it's the running game. It's the defense. It's not just Will Levis. And yeah, the packers are staying alive in the NFC North, just trying to keep up with this Vikings team in second place. Would they be tied for second place? Let's go to Arizona, where the Lions tied together win. Jared working out of the gun.

Takes the snappies back. Four-man rush. Goff sets, throws God, Amunra, flips it on the hook and ladder, coming inside the five.

Cindy Enzo, Shamir Gibbs.

Yes.

Touchdown Detroit Lions. Oh, baby. How beautiful is that? Thank you, Ben Johnson.

Man, the creativity, the old flea flick. I don't know what you call that?

You call that a hook and ladder. W-x-y-t, Dan Miller, and Loemis Brown. And yeah, there is something just gleeful, makes you feel like a kid when you see a hook and ladder, just a play like that, executed perfectly. The lions win this game 20 to 13, shook. Not perfectly clean from the offense, but this line's defense has really played well, I think, overall this season. The Running game gets, I think, almost 200 yards on the ground for the lions, and they hold on for a victory over Arizona.

I would like to, before we dive into the lions defense and the way they ground out this win, because they did. Make no mistake, it was a war of attrition in the second half. It was not the most interesting football viewing experience. It was a stalemate of sorts. But I need to know, did Ben Johnson pull up the tape of the 2007 Fiesta Bowl, which happened to be played in the same stadium, in which Boise State ran the hook and ladder before running the Statue of Liberty to upset Adrian Peterson's Oklahoma sooners? I just need to know because that's what came to mind when I saw it. But yeah, I mean, this is... Jared Goff throws a bad interception in the second half. Dennis Gardec makes another great play, and it was a bad interception because he just never saw him coming. He was going through his progression. And yet the lions hold them there. They turn it over on down. They don't get any points out of it. And that's how the entire second half of this game went, which was vastly different than the first half when lions go down and score, cardinals go down and score, lions go down and score.

And it felt like they were just going to go back and forth throughout the day. The defense made Kyler Murray's life in the second half really rough. He's obviously leaning a lot on Marvin Harrison Jr, which is good to see. They scored a shutdown, need to establish that connection and keep working on it, and they did. But in the second half, they couldn't run the ball for most of this game, and that really hurt their offense. Then he just had nowhere to go in the passing game, even when he tried to scramble and extend. It just wasn't working like the week before. You could see him, he was visibly frustrated by the end of the game because he just felt like, What else can I do? What do I have to do to try to make this happen? They had opportunities to go tie this game. They just didn't convert. That's credit to the Lions who go on the road, play good enough offensively, good enough defensively, and get a total team win.

Yeah, you look at the rushing totals for the Cardinals. James Connor, 9 for 17, and then the backups, Benz and Demarcado, don't really get involved If they can't run, they're just not who they are. You mentioned that Harrison gets 64 yards and a touch down in this game, but it took 11 targets to get there. Just nothing downfield. I've been impressed on tape of this Lion's defense. I think they've played pretty well up front. I think they're slowly getting a little better. Then you have the duo, David Montgomery for 105 yards on the ground. Jamir Gibbs gets 83 yards. Was also the recipient of that hook and ladder, which I guess counts as a reception even though he didn't get a reception.

Zero targets, zero catches, 20 yards, one countdown.

That doesn't make any sense.

I think maybe the way that they scored that-It counts as a rush. Because the key difference between... Because going back and looking at the Boise hook and ladder was That was more of a catch and then a pitch. Ammon Ra caught the ball and pitched the ball in the same motion. They may not-He chest past it. I don't even know if they're given Ammon Ra credit for catching the ball on that play because he got it to Jamir Gibbs so quickly. As far as execution at that point, that's a huge ask, considering the spacing there of Ammon Ra St. Brown. But he delivers in this lines defense. Although there was the loss to the Bucaneers last week, you still saw the coverage improvement from a season ago, where people are running free all the time. They get pressure on Kyler Murray today. Of course, it's Kyler, so somebody's going to run away from some of those plays. But when he attempted to pass under pressure, he was one of six for seven yards. It's a great performance, by the way.

Yeah. I mean, Aiden Hutchinson coming off a week where he gets five sacks and somehow doesn't get defensive player of the week. I know you didn't win, but are we blind? That should just be a rule that you get it. Big win for them, two and one. I'm always just curious. This team, we've seen the slow just maturation of them as a team. You're coming off a really disappointing loss. You're on the road, a tricky place. That's the type of win that a good team gets to just bounce back quickly. They do it. Jared Goff has an interception in this game, but otherwise was pretty efficient, 18 for 2,399 yards. And yes, he did ice the game. I mean, the Cardinals hung around here. They kept getting stops late in the game. So the Lions had the ball needing a first down to ice the game away. High formation behind Goff.

Now they ship single-back as Montgomery. Skipper in there. Sixth offensive lineman.

Goff takes the snap, turns, gives. No, Boots right.

Looks, looks. Being chased.

Goff running.

Goff to the Goff to the 45.

He slides for the first down. That is your ball game.

Jared Goff doing it with his legs.

We came in talking about Kyler Murray being a problem.

Kyler Murray was going to break your heart with his legs. You know who just broke their hearts?

Number 16, Jared Goff.

Jared Goff.

I think there was a tinge of sarcasm there. I just assumed it when he was comparing him to Kyler, but I don't know. That felt just some full-throated Jared Goff love. And why not? His long run, that might be his long run of the entire season. Good job by him. Sam Laporte left this game with a low ankle sprain, so that is something to keep an eye on. They have struggled to develop the secondary receivers. I know Jamison Williams had a big couple of games, but he was totally opposite in this one. One catch, nine yards, and otherwise, it was quiet outside of Amon Ross, St. Brown with 75 yards and two touch downs. Let's head to Seattle, where, yes, it was not to a tongue of Iloa at starting quarterback for the Dolphins, but the Seahawks don't care. The Twelves just want to get a W. Gino out of the shotgun.

Mcantosh in the game, and now he swings out to the left side.

Gino steps up in the pocket, looks, holds, throws deep, got Dike open. 30, 20, 15, 10, 5, runs away from Miami. Touchdown. Seahawks, a 71-yarder to Dike. Gino waited, waited. Great route.

And then Dike just popped into the secondary open.

Dike laid it up there, and the secondary never had a chance to catch Dike.

When Dike wins, he wins by so much. He had to wait for that ball just a little bit. Dike Smith gets it done. That was K-I-R-O. Steve Rable on the call. The Seahawks win easy. 24 to 3. Wasn't a smooth game every minute for the Seahawks offense, but ultimately, they got 21 first down, 370 yards. So all the twelves that I follow on Twitter that are honking about it not being too smooth, it's like, okay, I mean, let your defense win a game for you when you're going up against some bad quarterback play and get those early touch downs. Seal it late with a really long 98-yard drive that Zack Charbonney got them He had 24 points on. He had a nice day, 91 yards and two touch downs, nick, and this one was never really in doubt. The Seahawks are 3-0.

Yeah, they're 3-0. Be happy with the Seahawks fans. It can all be pretty. Sometimes you're going to get some less attractive victories, but they all count the same, and it was a big one for you. You went and took care of business against a team rolling with a backup quarterback. The main takeaway I had as soon as this game really reached the third quarter was, man, the value of a quarterback in the NFL remains so high. When you lose that guy, it hurts so much. Now, Skyler got hurt and left this game. He ended up with Tim Boyle playing in the second half. But overall, you just see the offense and how they just take a few steps down without a guy like Tua back there. I mean, they get a pick off of Gino because he tries to get rid of the ball under pressure deep in his own. He was basically in his own end zone. It tips off of the intended receiver's hands. It gets caught by Cater Cohu for a pick, and they get three points out of it. That was their entire offense for the day in terms of scoring.

That just illustrates how much of an uphill climb you face when you lose a starting quarterback in this league and you roll with a guy like Skyler who... Look, Mike McDaniels spent the whole week talking them up. I understand you're backing your quarterback because that's your guy for the foreseeable future. Rough experience to watch them struggle through this one, and a nice little victory for the Seahawks defense, holding them to three points.

Well, one of those 12s thought Tim Boyle looked a a bit more comfortable, actually, when he came in.

Would you say that- Which is crazy because he didn't look very good either.

Okay. Would you say that's accurate? Tell me a little bit about the Seahawks defensive performance in this game because you do see them doing some creative stuff. There was the way they played defense, only rushing one on the Hale Mary, which was fun. Well, Mike McDonald is the mad scientist going up against the other mad scientist, Mike McDaniel here. Clearly, I know Skyler Thompson hurts them, but tell me what you saw out of the Seahawks defense.

A lot of not even trying to get after the quarterback. They only blitzed five times all day. Their pressure rate was 38.5%, but it was 15 pressure. So they were getting them organically and not through the blitz. And a ton of sitting in zone coverage. 84.6% of passes, pass, dropbacks, zone coverage. They were basically asking Skyler to pick their defense apart and daring him to do it, and he couldn't do it, and just getting the job done on that side of the ball, which look, in these instances, that's what you're asked to do. Now, rushing one on a heel Mary, that actually is the exception to my never rush three rule. We can roll with that. That's fine.

That's not three, it's one.

That's what I'm saying. Three or less, that's fine.

If I'm Skyler Thompson in that situation, I'm content to just see how long the play can last. But ultimately, they really got nothing out of it. Five on one. Yeah, just nothing. Absolutely nothing out of that. But that's really how it's been. The protection, clearly, on a one-man pass rush, better than it's been for the Dolphins all season because it wasn't good when Tua was in. Here is the Seahawks able to just rush four and get consistent pressure throughout the game, where the Dolphins were never in this game. Even Gino had two interceptions. Of course, that one is he's going to get tackled for his safety. He's flipping the... Zack Charbonet gets both hands on the ball. That's not on Gino, but just a serviceable meh game.

Maybe that one was a little... I'm going to give it 60%. Okay, 60. I mean, sometimes it sucks. It's so annoying to have to take a safety. I can't imagine what it would feel like to be an NFL quarterback in any respect. But I can just imagine that it would be the most annoying thing. I just can't take this safety. You're right, he got it out to him, but that was a crazy decision. Look, Gino has been under pressure a lot this season. 43% in this game, that's a really high number. He actually, other than the interception, dealt 8 for 13 for 148 yards against the pressure 11 yards per attempt. It was like he made a lot of good plays. That's just been how they've had to win. I think they're 3-0. They've had a fortunate schedule. It is what it is. You got to just take advantage of it. They got that close Patriots win. You beat Bo Nicks on opening day with a little bit of a comeback, and you beat Skyler Thompson. And yet the weird confidence, I don't think it was just coach speak. I think they were really confident.

Even Dolphins fans and the media I think they thought this team is better than they were. And I thought they had a lot of problems going into this game that weren't Tua related. That's it. So if you then remove the quarterback from a defense that's like, maybe it's average. We'll see. Maybe it's below average. And an offense which had some issues beforehand, it's concerning. They're at one and two. We'll see, but it's starting to feel like it'll be a two-team race in the AFC East. A little earlier to get that. By the way, remember back on our preview show, Patrick Clavon, we all, me, you, and Steve Weyf, said, We're not worried about all going down with the ship. We're all going to take the exact same team, even though they were only four and a half point favorites. And oh, there was a bigger favorite in Tampa. Bucks lost. Oh, there was a bigger favorite in Vegas. Lost. Bigger favorite, even the San Francisco 49ers playing the Rams. They We lost, too. We avoided all those landmines. We picked the Seahawks, and you never had to sweat it. So good job by us.

That's what we do, Greg. That's right. We live, we breathe, we obtain sustenance to provide our bodies with what we need to survive. And yes, we got knocked out of our own survival.

No, we're starting over. It's a new one. It's now new. Actually, now that it worked out well, I think me, you and Steve should be one person, and we'll make a joint decision every week since we're on fire. Because that's what we do.

We survive together.

We are like Vultron, and unfortunately, we're about to lose our arm and our left hip because Patrick Claibon will not be with us to cover Sunday Night Football. But Shook and I will be right back after the break. To do so. And thank you, Patrick. I'm going to give you... You know how Tom braided gives a grade for all these passes? I'm giving you an A plus.Thanks.

Greg.there we go. Enjoy Sunday Night.

Cousins will be under center on fourth down and a yard to go. Long count. They give it off for Sean Robinson hit in the back He goes down. Kansas City holds on Downs again. Nick Bolton scrapes to the outside and makes the hit. And Kansas City defensively holds on Downs, fourth down at the sixth, and now the 13. 22 to 17. The Chiefs defense gets it done once again. Mitch Holtes from WDAF. Familiar storyline, isn't it? The Chiefs defense winning the game at the end. The Chiefs offense not being fully in gear, but making just enough plays. And yes, the Atlanta Falcons Kirk Cousins just playing weird games. That's what Kirk Cousins is going to do. I know nick Shook, you did not like the play call. That was fourth and inches for the Chiefs with about a minute to go, and they throw it outside left to Bajon Robinson. I believe Kirk Cousins changed into that play. It looked like he changed the play at the line of scrimage.

Yeah, anytime you run it wide on fourth and short, I know you can't sneak Kirk there. You think that's not going to be an You're always going to put yourself in a bad spot because you're essentially giving yourself a longer path to get past the line to gain. The Chiefs snifted out like it was nothing. Nick Bolton making a great play after coming back from leaving with an injury earlier in the game. Big moment for the Chiefs defense. The Chiefs defense that we've seen do this time and time again over the last few years. It's a big reason why they won the Super Bowl last year. We could talk about that over and over again, as we have many times. But my issue is that drive, and it's the previous drive when they're in a goal-to-go situation and they throw it up to Kyle Pitz, but Kirk doesn't put it high enough to take advantage of Pitz height. Yeah, it could have been PI there, probably should have been. Then they call a similar play on fourth down. I just felt like they didn't give themselves a lot of winnable situations with the play calling when they needed a countdown in those last couple of drives, and this is the result.

Well, I think you pointed out there, though. I mean, if the play call was bad on the run, but the play call was bad on the pass, it's like you got to just execute on some level. To me, that throw, your right to Pitz was a bad throw, and everyone was like, That was a bad no-call. I guess it was a bad no-call. It was. But that throw made no... It was just like... I don't know if it was...

If the guy's big, you direct him because he's an athlete.

You just wonder. I I also don't think Kirk is as accurate as he usually is. He's so good in general at making decisions, and he's played quarterback for so long that it still looks like a version of Kirk Cousins, and he's getting it done in some way. But that was just a bad throw. There was a couple of other bad throws in the night. Now, the 50-yarder to Pitsy put that out there. That's a nice play. I'm not saying it's not all there, but sometimes coming off these injuries with your plant leg, just the accuracy is not as consistent because the throw to London on fourth down was also curious. But you put that more on execution to me than the play call because you're running those two plays back to back. Algier has a chance to try to get the first down on third and one or two, and he He doesn't get it. It's a no gain on third and one from the 13. That's running right. You lost your right tackle in this game, Caleb McGarry. You lost your center in this game, Drew Dolman. So that's a big deal. And so then it's fourth down.

Where are they going to run? Okay, let's go to the left side where we're healthy. It's a play, nick Bolton said after the game that they felt like they gave up earlier in the game, and he identified it quickly. But you know who else identified it quickly? Every other member of the Chiefs. I know Bolton got the glory there, but everyone won. It's a game of trenches, and Kirk Cousins faced so much more pressure than Patrick Mahomes did in this game. Ultimately, the Chiefs ran the ball well enough that the running games were almost a draw. And that's a big advantage for the Chiefs that they were able to pass, protect their guy much better than the Falcons were, who couldn't identify blitzes, and Spag is going crazy at the end, and Kirk Cousins is a pinata. And I'm saying all this making it sound like it's a blowout. No, these two teams look pretty even, but that was a different.

Yeah. And that makes me rethink what my next point was going to be, because I am not a fan of bubble screens, okay? I just think it's a low potential play, but I understand the use. And I understand why they were peppering them in a lot, because if you're facing that much pressure, if you don't trust your offensive line to protect your quarterback well enough, then play the perimeter and try to make the play there. But in those situations late in the game, it became predictable, and they were all snuffed out pretty quickly. So you're in a tough spot. If If you're not protecting well, everything's going to be a little bit harder. They didn't run the ball well as a team, statistically. It's 63 combined yards between Alger and Béjian Robinson. But at the same time, maybe try to get him the ball in space in a different situation, I don't know. As you watch the flow of those last couple of drives, I just didn't feel good about where they were going. They got bailed out a lot in that last drive because of a bunch of penalties on the Chiefs and moved them down within range to score.

But ultimately, the same gut feeling that I had about their play calling flow is what bared out with the fact that they weren't able to get the job done in the end.

Right. To back it up, the score is 14-10 late in the second quarter. Then I think it was a big moment in the game. They get a rusher on Cousins. He's hit while he throws. I think that was to Sean Wharton, who's had a nice start to this season, also had a great week one. The ball floats up. The Chiefs intercept it, throw a lateral. They get a field goal before halftime, makes it 14, 13. Then you come out of the break The Falcons ran three plays in the third quarter. Three plays. Meanwhile, the Chiefs go 11 plays for 67 yards. They have their old bugaboo and get stuck on the goal line. They blow a first and goal from the three where it's like, Carson Steele, direct snap. Carson Steal, negative two. And that's negative. And then they get the field goal three and out. They go down with a long breakdown drive. Travis Kelsey finally makes a few plays in this season. Rashe Rice, who had just a monster where Knight has a couple of big gains. They have a nice play call that gets Juju wide open for his only catch of the night, and you get the countdown, 22 to 14 lead.

And yet then in the fourth quarter, the Chiefs go three and out a couple of times there and keep giving the Falcons chances to win that game. And ultimately, Kirk Cousins had two chances in the red zone to take the lead or to win the game in the final five minutes. And both times, the protection really falls short. And this Chiefs defense and Spagnolo just finds a different way to do it every week. They don't need Patrick Mahomes to be Patrick Mahomes because he hasn't really been Patrick Mahomes quite yet this season. Five touch downs, four interceptions on the season. That's not really a Patrick Mahomes type of stat line.

Yeah, but it's a mark of a champion, a defense that comes through in the clutch in the fourth quarter when you have to prevent a shutdown to win the game, when you go from an eight-point lead to a five-point lead and you have to get a stop, and they get multiple stops. It also reminded me a lot of the end of the week 2 game the lines and the Bucaneers, where the lines had a couple of chances to go down and score, and they couldn't get it done either. And indicative of what we've seen around the league, especially in the passing game over the first three weeks, not so much this week as the first two, where teams get within range and they just can't get it done. I wonder if the Falcons iron that out. I know Kirk said last week after that comeback win over the Eagles, it's still a lot of new. And in pressure situations like this, the fact that it was new hurt them. I also thought it was very interesting that they went tempo a little bit in the fourth quarter because that's where their strength was in that last minute drive against the Eagles the week prior.

But overall, the result is still the same. You're one and two, which is still better than zero and three. But you know.

I mean, it just looked like every Kirk Cousins game I've ever seen. The game with the Commanders or Washington, rather, back in the day, the games with the Vikings for all those years now, and now the Falcons. Kirk Cousins brings his own style of game, which is just a whole lot of insanity, and it ends in some crazy In a crazy way. And there's a whole lot of free rushers on the blitz. That does seem to be a trend, and Kirk just getting absolutely waylaid. I mean, he got hammered in this game. He was 6 for 13 against the blitz for 57 yards, 4.4 yards per attempt, 14 for 16 for 173 when he wasn't getting blitz. So that is a problem. The injuries are a problem. And Chiefs fans, I'm not just hating because we're bored of you, but it hasn't been a great three and out, and none of that matters. They're going to round it. They're going to figure out the things that are wrong, and they're stacking wins along the way. But it's not just me who thinks that. I mean, they were 16th in DVOA heading into this week. I bet they don't climb that much in this performance because they weren't that dominant.

This looked like two even teams, but they don't make the mental errors, and they get the win, and they play the chargers next week. Who knows if Justin Herbert is going to be in that game? We will see. That's it for Week 3 here. On the Sunday Night Recap. Shuki, I'm going to do the thing that I always don't like what they do in shows or podcasts or any final thoughts, nick Shuck. I just wanted to hear from you one more time.

Yeah, I think the Chiefs, their start actually tracks what they've done the last couple of years. If you look at their schedule from last year, they won 23 to 20, 27 to 20, 19 to 8. They had a blowout win over the bears and a close win over the Jags. This is par for the course for them. They've won the Super Bowl the last two years. I wouldn't be concerned.

Yeah, it is who they are and who we are. Nick Shook is a man who like to do podcasts after primetime games. So we will be back after the Monday night double header, nick at Night. Mr. Shook and I will recap Bill's Jags and Bengals, Commanders. That should be fun. Until then, after this week 3, we know football is back.