Transcript of 2024 Week 9 Recap

Welcome to NFL Daily, where the game is slowing down for us. We're halfway through the season. It's week nine. We're getting used to these recap shows. I'm Greg Rosenthal in the Chris Westling podcast studio with my friend Patrick Claibon, and joining us live from Cleveland, nick Shook. Nick, done a little self-scouting. I notice sometimes when I'm starting this show, I don't even to nick because I'm so excited to get to the first highlight, so I'm going to get to you. Nick, give me one word to describe Week 9.

Madness.

Okay, I'll take that because I didn't know what game to start with again. And then I thought, I know Ram Seahawks and Eagles, Jaguars were not the biggest games of Week 9, and yet they were so freaking stupid and so freaking weird and dumb. I think we need to start with those two games. So Let's go to Seattle.

Happer takes a snap, second and six, bootleg, left side. He flips his hips. He fires. He's going deep. Demarcus brought it in with one hand in the end zone for a walk-off, TD. 39 yards. Demarcus calls game. He sticks a right-hand up, brings it in and pins it to his shoulder pad. And LA gets out of the Pacific Northwest with a 26-20 overtime win.

That was our friend J. B. Long getting the NFL Daily bump on his next game. There it is. Kspn to Marcus Robinson. Yeah, he only catches impossible, hugely influential passes from Matthew Stafford. 26 to 20. The Rams win it in overtime. And Patrick, yeah, this game was like some of those parties that Stefan would talk about on SNL back in the day. It Maybe that's not a reference for everyone. That's an old reference.It had everything.That's not that old. It had everything. It had interceptions. It had pick sixes. It had mind-numming coaching decisions. It had moments where you thought both of these teams were out of it, but the quarterbacks just kept slinging, and that's how it ended.

It ended just like that in a game where if you're just watching, and folks, I understand there's only so many games you could take in. That was the late game, the last of the late game.Very late.On Sunday before we got into Sunday night football. So a million eyes tuning in to see the fantastic finish. But this was a game, Greg, that the Seattle Seahawks had won five times, and then they went and lost it six times. Just to recap, they had the Woes in the red zone continued, the struggle against the Buffalo Bills. They had two turnovers in the second half in the red zone. One, Cameron Kitchens takes back 103-yard pick six, where Gino is trying to make a late throw to Jackson Smith and Jigaba, who had a great game, by the way, on the back of the end zone, gets hit as he throws. The rookie takes it for the longest play in the NFL this season, all the way back. And then later, Cody White blocks a punt, and the Seahawks are right back in position. Gino is trying to throw a tight-end late-release play, throws it blind, winds up going as the tight-end gets held up in the line.

The tight-end was absolutely held on that play. He was held on the play. He was held. Got to defend my guy, Gino.

And that's one of those things, where along with all the other stuff that you talked about that in this game. There were some officiating that perhaps some people feel a type of way about the way things were officiated in those moments. So that pass gets picked off by Cameron Kitchens again. But then the clock takes down to Gino time, and we're inside of a minute at the end of a quarter. And once again, Gino Smith delivers to Jackson Smith and Jigba, who had over 160 yards receiving in this game. But in overtime, a fourth and one, Greg, the Seahawks with an opportunity. I thought it was a go decision. Mike McDonald thought it was a go decision. The Rams got to stop there. Leads to that Matthew Stafford TD. Just a great game in a division where everybody's only separated by one game.

Right. And that's why I don't think it's crazy to start with it, because these aren't teams that are probably going to the Super Bowl, but they are two teams with good quarterbacks, two quarterbacks on quarterback Island that are in the mix for the playoffs, and they would be a dangerous opponent. And just everything that happened in this game was crazy. Let's actually start at that decision. I don't mind that decision at all. And one of the reasons I don't mind that decision, nick, is because three points doesn't I can't necessarily win the game for you anyways. This game was crazy enough. I do think it's okay to look at the Seattle offensive line and say, third in one, Walker, no gain, fourth in one, Walker, no gain, and say, We're just not good enough. Yeah, maybe you would like a different play call where you throw the ball or it's a sneak or something like that, or you want a field goal. But if you can't pick up a yard on the Los Angeles Rams, and their defense is getting better, but in 2024, they're okay to run against. If you can't pick up a yard, maybe you don't deserve to win.

Yeah, that's the beauty of football is that in those clutch moments when it's just a short yardage situation, it's man on man. It's strength versus strength or relative strength. Who is the better team that's going to be able to deliver? And if you can't earn it, you don't deserve it. And the Seahawks didn't deserve it. But, Greg, you don't have to defend Gino. He defended himself despite the three interceptions that he threw in this game with that last drive. He threw two down to Jack and Smith and Jigba. I was so happy to see JSN finally break out and make a couple huge catches, and they end up getting to overtime because of him. What a back and forth game in a division that is completely wide open. The game ends, the Rams go to four and four, the Seahawks, four and five. Records listed below the score on the screen. And I'm just sitting there thinking, one of these wins feels triumphant. And that's for Sean McVeigh, who sprinted across the field to hug Matthew Stafford and say, great job because he's all fired up because they've dug themselves out of the hole they were in.

And the Seahawks, they got to feel crushed by the fact that they lost this game for the same reason that Patrick just said. They wanted a number of times, and they He lost it a number of times.

Okay, one of those times was actually, I believe, either the very next play or two plays after the fourth down stop in overtime, where Wullen, Rick Wullen, has a chance to intercept it. If he just steps into the pass and Instead, I believe it was Tyler Johnson who made the nice play stepping in front of him, but that could have been an interception. Then Wullen is the guy who gets beat. Another thing that happened in this game, an ejection. Pukunakuwa getting ejected. Did not expect that. A young man named Kobe White, Cody White. Kobe White is the player on the Bulls. Who Mina, times my friend, who's as big as Seahawks fan as anyone out there, was like, I was not familiar with this Cody White fella who ends up playing a big role in the game, having two catches and a big blocked punt. I mean, the end of the first half was absolutely nuts, where, yeah, Gino had those ugly interceptions, but also made some incredible throws. The end of the first half sequence, where the Seahawks somehow scored a couple of touch downs in that sequence, and Stafford had a mind-numming There was like, I don't know, this game was everything.

It took me back to the end of the first half against the Falcons, where there's a limited amount of time on the clock for Gino. It's Gino with nothing to lose, throwing the ball in the middle of the field is the most dangerous. It's like a cornered animal protecting its young. Gino, I'm designating that Gino time towards the end of a half where he can just fire away free from concern about the consequences, which apparently he's doing in the red zone anyway. And so he goes down, scores a countdown. The Rams, perhaps not necessarily thinking about the clock or opportunity, they get the ball right back to Gino. And with five seconds on the clock, it makes me think it was 11 seconds against the Falcons. Five seconds on the clock, he hits Jackson Smith and Jig, but down the middle.

Right. That was a total dime. This game, you look at it, you think the defenses didn't play that well. And yet the Rams had the ball six times in the first half, and they scored three points on offense. The Seahawks had, if you the Neil down, which he shouldn't. So I'm taking that away. They had 14 possessions in this game. Actually, I saw a lot of Jared. Jared Verce has just been fantastic. Fisk has turned into a real player. Kobe Turner has a nice game. Byron Young is very active. And this offensive line for the Seahawks, we keep coming back to it, is just the one thing they can't quite get over. So these teams are improving in ways that are surprising. The Seahawks, I think, had a good defensive day, but you can't feel that good when you ultimately give up that play at the end and Pukunaku is not even on the field.

No. And it sucks because we got the full thrills of the Geno coaster throughout this game. And the fact that they even got to overtime felt like an accomplishment. But once they got stopped on fourth down, you felt the tide shift. It felt like we had... It's like one of those games where possessions and leads change over and over like a basketball game, except it was a football game. And at the end, Stafford delivers. And again, we can point this. Last week, we pointed this again tonight. The beauty of this Rams team, even though they only finished with 26 points with an overtime countdown to send them to victory, they are so much better offensively with guys like Cooper Cup, and though Puka got ejected in that lineup, it just opens up the offense so much more. And Stafford has taken such a jump from where he was a couple of weeks ago, just trying hard to will them to victory. Now he's got weapons, and now he's going to sling it. He gets one-on-one. Demarcus Robinson gets a free release over Tarek Wullen. And next thing you know, they're scoring a countdown with a spectacular catch.

It was a fitting end for a game like that, and a great way to start the show.

It reminded me a little bit of the Super Bowl, Greg, where you see it early on With the compliment, at that point, it was Odell and Cooper Cup, that the Rams were a real problem. But then Odell goes down in the Super Bowl, they have trouble moving the ball. Puka gets ejected from this game, and it stops, stops, stops. This Seattle defense that could not get off the field in previous weeks was able to chain together those stops, but it happens to come where their offense is self-destructing in the red zone. It's in Mike McDonald saying, They do have the pieces after the game. I agree with him. They just got to put it together. He said, Of the fourth down, you have to get a half-yard in two plays, was his reaction, which is a common sense thing. It makes sense to go for that there. Kenneth Walker was running well on that drive. Just the Ram stepped up, made plays in overtime with the Seahawks.

Yeah, JSN gets seven for 180 in two touch downs. The two teams combined for two for seven in the red zone. Ram struggled a little bit, too.

Jsn also had 73, I believe, receiving yards, called back due to penalties in this game. A game where Where Gino Smith got the Rams to jump off sides five times. It had everything.

If you did not watch this game. I think there was four in one drive. That was at the end of the first half where it just kept happening over. Yeah, Gino ends up going 363 and three on a day that he has three interceptions. The difference, though, I do think it's this young Ram's defensive line. Eleven quarterback hits seven sacks of Gino Smith on the day. This NFC West race is going to be wild all season. I'm looking forward to it. Also going to be a good race in the NFC East this year. That's just two teams. Let's go to Philadelphia.

It is first and 10 of the 13. Jacksonville trails by five. They're driving. And the gun, Lawrence. Lawrence. Back. Lawrence looks, firing for the end zone. Intercepted! Intercepted, N'Kobi Dean. He picks it off on the end zone. No funds. The Eagles are going to escape.

N'kobi Dean is back. Like the one from college. I mean, he's been playing great the last three weeks. N'kobi Dean in coverage. A one-on-one. Hey, game on the line. You want to run some clock? Why not throw up a jump ball to Diornaz Johnson? What? This game was lost by the Eagles 15 different times. It was going to be one of the worst losses of the season. And yet, Nekobi Dean saves his coach, nick Siriani. They get the win, 28 It's a 23, nick Shook. Start wherever you want in this game because there's a lot of directions you can go.

I would love to take nick Siriani to task, but they talked a lot on the broadcast about how Siriani offered up his parking spot to anybody who could get a takeaway that changed the game. Well, guess what? Your parking spot now belongs to Nikovi Dean because he just bailed you out, my friend. They made a number of decisions in this game that not only made me scratch my head, it made me want to just explode with rage because Siriani, he's cruising, his team is cooking. They're up 22 to nothing. And that's After they score to go up 16, nothing. They try for two because he's getting aggressive. They try to get him to jump. They don't jump. He calls a timeout. They go for two. Touche push, denied. They do it again. Denied again on the next shutdown, leaving two points out there on the field. It doesn't matter.

It was a touche push again. It was a touche push again to point it out. It's like, what?

Two touche pushes denied. It was denied so firmly that when they meet a fourth in inches in the second half, when the Jaguars have finally woken up and they're mounting a comeback, it's fourth inches, and he calls a play-action roll out to the right because he's been scared off of the push-push by the Jackson deal defense. That one also fails. A number of decisions in this game, Siriani made that gave the... They cracked the door open for the Jaguars to come back, and they almost sprinted right through it, except Doug Peterson, in a battle of wits, with the coach who replaced him in Philadelphia decides to surrender on fourth and 3 from the Philadelphia 49. That gives the Eagles a chance to tack on points. Devante Smith makes a fantastic one-handed catch to score a countdown. They go up by 12. The Jaguars mount a comeback again, and then it ends in heartbreak by targeting a running back who is not a pass catcher. I understand the situation there, and you think you have a mismatch with Nekobi Dean. Well, Trevor Lawrence just learned Nekobi Dean is no mismatch against a running back, especially in a key situation.

Yeah. And Doug Peterson, to me, the thing that was mystifying, not just that Trevor looked like he predetermined like, Hey, I got one-on-one on the outside. I'm just going to go to it no matter what I see in terms of the leverage, no matter the matchup either, Because I know N'Acobi Dean is not great in coverage on the outside, but it's also D. Ernest Johnson. But the weird thing is that they're even throwing that ball anyways. They asked Doug Peterson after the game, Did you think about trying to run clock a little more? Because that's 143 left in the game, and you don't want to leave Philadelphia all the time in the world necessarily. So even going, and he just said, Well, it is something that we discussed, but we decided we had to get points, and points were the most important thing. You didn't get the points, you didn't get the wins, you didn't run the It didn't make any sense.

Yeah, it's a questionable thing to consider because I know that Travis ETN and Tank Bigsby didn't have a great game on the ground, but 24 and 22 yards, respectively. But Diorna Johnson's in the game. I guess you could give the ball to Diornais Johnson. Trevor had a rushing shutdown as well. It's so easy to find these moments with the Jacksonville Jaguars in 2024. Just categorically, and we could have the conversation conversation about the Eagles. They tried the Jags here, but you can't out Jags the 2024.

Yeah, and that's what was on my mind as this game ended was, what's Sports Talk radio going to be like in these cities tomorrow? Because I know what it's going to be like in Philly. They're going to be taking Syria. I need to task and saying that He almost lost in the game, and he should be fired and everything else. Understandably so in some respects. And then in Jacksonville, it's going to be, why are you targeting Diornais Johnson when you have Evan Ingram on the field who made a big difference in the second half? You have Brian Thomas. You have Parker Washington. This guy should be like seventh on your of the list, both of these coaches deserve criticism for the way this game played out for sure.

Right. Trevor had another interception in this game. I think it was the perfect Eagles game because of what you just said. Nick Siriani, I mentioned it on NFL Daily last week, he's been the main character of every single week, and he finally had a week where he wasn't. Everyone was just cool with him. It's almost always after wins, too. He's just like, I got to get back in on this. There was one moment that, to me, really defined it. Saquon who ends up going 27 for 159 and a shutdown on the ground, also had a 40-yard day through the air, another shutdown there. Just a ridiculous player. We might need to start talking about him as an MVP candidate if we're allowed to go non-quarterbacks. He doesn't get the ball in any of those two-point situations or the fourth-an-inch situation either, which is absolutely crazy to me. But after they called the draw, and I think it was third and goal from the 17, something like that, Saquon hit it for a countdown. It was a 19-yard countdown. Siriani starts celebrating and running down the sideline like they just won the Super Bowl. He is completely losing his head.

Him and Kelenmore is going absolutely crazy. To make a real point about it, there maybe is something, too, taking on the personality of your coach. He is too up and down. He just seemed like he totally lost his mind there for 20 seconds. Then he's like, Two, two. I got to go for two. That's before one of those two. This team seems like as up and down as nick Siriani, nick Shud. You're not. You're very even keel.

No, I'm very even keel. When I watch that coach, he coaches like he's worried about what people are thinking about him all the time. He coaches like I'm always trying to prove a point, whether it's that I'm good enough to coach or that we're good enough as a football team. And for a half, they were the better team by far. They should have cruised to victory in this game, and they left the door open because of what their coach did. Now, let's not overlook the fact, Greg, by the way. You mentioned that Trevor threw another pick. Let's talk about the bonfire because it was Zack Bond making the pick. Zack Bond in coverage, having a great season, made a great play. This is a good football team. If their coach can just get the hell out of the way.

Okay, so I'm glad you pointed that out because I made some snarky tweets about this, just how fun. This was the perfect in the Ego's game, and someone responded like, Is this the most dead in the water team with this record in NFL history? Dead in the water. And I say like, No way. They've got way too many good players. That's the thing is they had a couple of the best plays of the entire season because because their players are just better than other players. Let's listen to... I don't even know which one to pick. How about the Saquon spin move and backwards hurdle?

Hertz in the gun. He backpedals. He's looking, still looking. He fires it out in the flat to Barkley, who beats one man, spins past another, leaps over a third, and comes down at the 30.

What was that?

I've never seen that move, and I've been watching football all my life.

Well, he did that. Listen, no, no. He did that to show off to Shady McCoy. He's never done this.

No one's ever done this. He hurdles a guy backwards.

How did he jump over a guy backwards?

He did.

The ovation in the crowd, you could hear it when they finally saw the replay. That's a sight to be whole.

The sideline lost their mind, guys. And understandably so, you're right. That's one of the best players ever. You never see that in football. Everybody was like, All right, what do you compare that It immediately blows up on social media, right? In my head, I'm thinking, he looks like you're playing Super Mario on Nintendo, and you're trying to take down one of the people that are trying to come out of Super Cooper or Koopa Troopa, whatever it is, and you got to jump backward because you're headed in the wrong direction just to knock him out. It was like that. It was incredible. It defied the laws of physics.

No, and this is the play. Folks are like, Hey, what was Saquon Barkley like? You pull up this play and say, Nobody ever saw that. We probably will never see that again because he just completed a spin move. He feels like he has the to do another spin move. Mid-spin, he realizes the defender is going low, and he jumps without seeing him. Nobody is doing that. Nobody has the physical capacity to make that decision, as well as the awareness to do all of it, and then the flexibility to complete it.

It's just 14 yards, but whatever.Right.

And everything.Explosion. So he's running better than he's ever run before. Jalen Hertz, I swear, the last couple of weeks is running better than he's run in a while. He gets 67 yards in this game on the ground and just looks fast as hell. And as great as that Saquon play is, I don't know for sure that it was the best football play in this game. Let's go back to Merrill Reece.

Hertz at the backfield. Cacahoe Vera in motion. Cacahoe Terra moves to his right. Here goes Hertz, going for the end zone. Devante Smith. He caught it from the end, but I don't know if he stayed. He's in.

Oh, my goodness.

One hand. One hand. I don't know how he did it. I don't know how he did it. I don't know how he did it. And stayed in. Smith is unbelievable.

The slim reaper with one of the best plays of the year by any receiver. That's my quick and Meryl Reece, by the way. They almost undersold that. First of all, I was getting annoyed at Jalen Hertz on that throw because Jalen Hertz on a third and 22, God love him. He'll never take that 15 yards to try to make the field goal closer. He's just throwing that thing. And I didn't think that had any chance And Devante Smith, who leads the league in just how impressed I am over expected, because compared to his numbers, he's just such an amazing football player. To pull that off one hand and get his shin down at full speed, It was just like, these guys are too good, nick, for me to discount them. Jalen Hertz had four throws over 20 yards in this game. Jahaan Dotson had a 36-yard play.

Another great catch.

I'm giving this team a chance despite their head coach.

Yeah. To use a commonly used phrase on social media, again, usually in regards to Justin Jefferson, F it, Devante Smith down there somewhere, because that's why Jalen threw that ball the way he did. He knew that one guy down there is going to be able to make that play. Mind you, this is after they lost A. J. Brown, who exited the game. He said, Screw it, third and long. I'm going to throw it down there anyway. At that moment, I went, wow, he just build Seriani out. Then again, he needed Nekobi Dean at the end. It was a full team effort to win this game when many of the odds were stacked against them, sometimes by their own head coach. It was a spectacular catch, but I am going to throw some cold water on it. Okay. Because We saw one of the best catches I've seen in my life on Monday night football last week with the Jets. No, Thursday night football, excuse me, with the Jets. That Garrett Wilson catch was still better than Devante. Let's not put them in the same category. They're both great, but one's better than the other.

I'll put them in the same category, but I'll give the edge to Garrett.

In terms of the margins for error, I feel like Devante had a smaller margin of error.

Yes.

Just the direction he was going in the speed, a little bit there, but the spectacularness of the particular grab. It's one of those things. Why put bad beep against each other? Yeah, we're comparing Rembrandt here.

These things are works of art. But that was a classic Devante catch because even then, I feel like you don't even know how hard that catch was. And yes, AJ Brown out with a knee injury. That's huge. They won this game without AJ Brown, without their left tackle, without Dallas Godert. They need to get healthy. That'll be a big thing for them. Moving forward, Jaguars stuck at 2:07. Let's go to It's the game that would have been more likely to start the show before the craziness late. How about a great game up in Orchard Park? This is going to be a 61-yarder from the left hash with 10 seconds remained.

Snap by Ferguson, hold by Martin, kick by Bask is long enough, and it is good. Bobs away for Tyler Bass, who bombs it from 61. It's a career best for the Bills kicker.

Unbelievable.

Tyler Bass missed a kick earlier in the game. Doinked one on an extra point, which went in. Ended up being a big play. Hits it from 61 to cap a great offensive back and forth shootout in the second half, and maybe a game that all but puts the AFC East away. Yes, the Bills are seven and two. They're up four games on the Jets. What, three and a half? Four and a half on the Dolphins who are at two and six. And we could talk about the kick, but I want to talk about Josh Allen. This is the best version of Josh Allen that we've ever seen. Maybe play off Josh Allen a couple of years ago when they lost to the Chiefs is close, but this is the best version of Josh Allen we've ever seen because it's repeatable. Here's what he was going against today. Did not have Amari Cooper going into the day. He threw an interception on the goal line that was a perfect throw right into Keion Coleman's bread basket, a great audible that showed he made a really good decision. It pops up from Keion Coleman and goes in the air, intercepted by Jalen Ramsey.

He fought against two bogus holding calls that took away a Bill's Drive. One of them was a beautiful rushing shutdown by Josh Allen. It was a total phantom call, one of the worst holding calls of the year. He beats a free rusher on that play to score. The defense basically only got two stops all day. The first possession of the game and a fumble to start the second half when they were down. That one possession was all he needed to win this game. They finish the game, TD, TD, TD, then gets the ball back with 138 to go, gets him in field goal range for Tyler Bass to hit that kick. And it's because it's mostly It was really his decision making. In this game, there were some spectacular plays, but it was mostly the Dolphins dropping back in zone and saying, Can you be patient? Can you just keep taking what's there for you? Josh Allen. And he did it to this whole gang of receivers. He ignored the pass rush when he was there. He's just playing football at a different level. On a day where he didn't get much help, at least from his defense and from the officials, he gets it done and gets him to win.

Get some help from the receiving group, including the runningbacks. There, Ray Davis had 70 yards after the catch. Khalil Shaqir, who the Dolphins could not tackle today, had 59 yards after the catch, including several broken tackles on just swing-out screens. James Cooke goes 25 after the catch. That fumble that you mentioned, that's Ron Johnson punched the ball away from Rahem Mostert. That feels like you look at the defense, the defense made a play to win. That was really it. That was really it. Tua and Devon Achan and the Dolphins going up and down the field. Tyreek Hill back after getting nothing, no targets. Until late in the fourth quarter, Jalen Waddle catches his first, then he catches the countdown. It was good to see this Dolphins offense back, but even at their maximum potential, they couldn't contend with Josh Allen may be getting into that MVP.

Yeah, I think Tua has to feel better, and Dolphins fans have to feel better about their offense, not their defense. But just while we're still on Buffalo, I'm glad you mentioned all those yards after the catch. That's one of the reasons why I I give Allen so much credit because we know he can win the other way. And he did. His shutdown throw to Quitten Morris was classic Josh Allen, where he's throwing blind while getting totally tackled. It seemed like the play was over, and he somehow finds Quitten Morris. I don't know if he's just throwing in a spot, if he's throwing in the air. That's Josh Allen. But all those yards after the catch, nick, was because the ball was in a perfect spot. I can think of a third down clearly early in the game, where if he throws it to where Shaq here is going, he's going to get tackled, and he turns Shaq here around with the ball. Perfect location. He's so accurate now, and then he gets the Yack after the throw. So just next level quarterbacking from a dude that it's going to be very tough to beat this year.

Yeah. And in hearing this, it makes me think about another team that we talk about, and it really makes me think about an elite group of quarterbacks. And the other team, the other quarterback, it's Kansas City and Patrick Mahomes. They don't win pretty, but he's really good at extending plays, finding guys open. None of it looks really in structure. Most of it's out of structure. It's improvisation. That is Josh Allen's game. And that's why when you speak about that, throw to Quentin Morris, it's exactly that. He's one of the very few who can make that happen consistently in what elevates this team. Because the bills have looked like four different teams when they've won games this year. They look like an explosive offense. They can throw the ball over the yard. They look like a great ground team. They look like a team that's one close, and they've looked like the team like they were today. It really makes them difficult to project, but also really frustrating to play, especially for a team like the Dolphins, who, look, I don't usually feel bad about Miami fans because you're in Miami, glitz and glamor, everything else, the weather's nice.

But the Dolphins have lost two legitimate heartbreakers in the last two weeks. And this week, they played well enough to win for the most part. They played well enough offensively that Buffalo couldn't get stops. I mean, two of us, 25 and 28 for 231. Most of them in Achan combined for 19 yards on the ground. That should be good enough to win. And yet they're two and six because they get beat by teams with quarterbacks who find ways to win or find ways to put them in position to win with kickers hitting game winning field goals. So a rough stretch in what's been a rough season for the Dolphins. At two and six, you're like, well, I mean, there goes the AFC East. We're now opposite records, essentially, with the Bills who just beat us in their place. Now we got to scrap for a wild card spot. But again, the Bills showing why they're one of the teams that you have to take seriously in the AFC because they can win in a number of different ways.

Yeah, the Dolphins, I'm not totally ruling them out for making a run because offense travels. Their schedule isn't easy to try to rip off that run and get into the wild card race. But you could see it because Tua was awesome in this this game, and it just looked like the two of that you expect to see. The running game has been good now for three straight weeks, but they have zero pass rush. That's a huge mismatch in some of these games, including this one. They just don't have a pass rush. They're trying to get Chopp Robinson going. They're also 4 and 10 in their last 14 games as an organization. And they're a team that's spending a lot of money. They're one of the most expensive teams. This is year three of the program. So on one hand, you give them a little bit of a pass because Tua got hurt. On the other hand, it's a disappointment that's going to be tough to get out of. Their best defensive player is Cleus Campbell, a 39-year-old on a one-year deal. So they have issues. But Tua was legitimately great. He had a third and seven throw with 230 left in this game, where just the smallest of windows that he has to hit Waddle, and he hits Waddle.

There's a fourth and two play where they had to score to keep the game alive, and he's diving headfirst and making everyone have their heart in their throats, but he gets it done. They had to keep scoring, countdown after countdown, to with the Bills in this game, and then they did it, and they just left Josh Allen too much time. Let's listen to what happened after the too much time. Josh Allen, given his kicker, some love, one of his longtime teammates.

Got emotional in my little postgame speech out there. Just It's a child in tribulations that he's been throughout this year. Obviously, missing one early in the day, hitting the pole on another. He could easily put it in the tank. And 61-yard field goal to win a game against a division rival. That's what stories are made of. I love him. I respect him so much. Everybody in that locker room is so happy for him, and he's our guy.

Yeah, big time kick by Tyler Bass on a day, like I said, that started in a way. He just thought it was going against him. They got it turned around. They're one of the best teams in the NFL. My Super Bowl pick from the AFC. Let's go to Green Bay, where my pick from the NFC was playing on the road.

Second down and two, Green Bay from their own 38.

Love takes the shotgun snap. Lyons bring a late blip. Love back, looking via Chase. Love throwing.

He picked off the line. Kervy Joseph, left side. He's going to go, baby. Count it down. Five, end zone. Touchdown, Detroit Lyons.

How big is that? How What dick is that?

Parker's trying for some late magic here, but it's the Lyons that come in with a bolt of lightning. Pick six.

Love Dan Miller and Loemis Brown, a W-X-Y-T. Yeah, that felt like the dagger, even though it was before halftime on a rainy, ugly day at Lambo. It was tough to get the passing game going. That made it 17 to three. The lions ended up winning, 24 to 14. They got a couple of mutters, David Montgomery and Jamir Gibbs. And yes, Jared Goff playing well in the rain, dispelling the small hands narrative. What do you think about this Lion's team, Shook, after a thorough, impressive win over another good NFC North team. We've been saying this is going to be a great race, but maybe just the Lyons are just a team.

Well, I mean, they're the team that's built to win a game like this, which is crazy. I know Goff talked about this after, but they're an indoor team, and they just went and won the game on the road in the rain at Lambo against a team that is supposed to be a great outdoor team. But yet they're built for this because of their mutters like you just spoke of, David Montgomery, Jamir Gibbs, and Jared Goff, who, even though he finishes with 145 passing yards in a countdown, he only has four incompletions on the day in an environment that was so bad. They showed a shot of Aaron Glenn on the sidelines, and he's wearing glasses, and they're completely drenched in rain. I don't know how he saw anything. He's not wiping them off, guys. He's keeping them on. He's a football guy, Shook. He's got the plate sheet in front of him. Yeah, he's just completely wet. That's a former NFLer right there who's played in the elements in his time in the league, and he was not about to wipe him and show any sense of weakness. And that's the Lions. They embody the personality of their coach, Dan Campbell, Aaron Glenn.

Tough guys. Guys who are going to come in with the receiver wearing a hoodie that says, Green Bay sucks, which, by the way, spelling area, Green Bay is two words, Amun Ra, St. Brown, not one. Get that fixed. And they back it up. They back it up by winning a game with the elements against them pretty handily, to the point where Green Bay gets a red zone possession in the fourth quarter, and they turn it over on downs because they can't find a way into the end zone. They fumbled the ball a couple of times before they decided to punt. They were having a tough time. Lyons, the superior team, what a resounding win for them in a game between two teams that were very close in the standings and are still going to be there at the of the year. A major statement win for Detroit.

And they did it without one of the best defensive players in the secondary in the NFL for the majority of the game. As Brian Branch gets run, has a hit on Melton on the sideline, it goes helmet to helmet. They run him for that. Also, it has a double bird that leads to a flag being thrown. We're still trying to figure out what the enforcement was.

I think it just means a fine, and they just threw a flag on the field. And yes, the best NFL double bird since Bud Adams was famous for just doing the Double Bird all the time. Yeah. An owner.

He celebrates with a Double Bird. No celebration for Brian Branch there, but they're able to get stops early this week. I noted the fact that the Lions had in their five-game win This week, they had scored more touch downs than Jared Goff had in completions. And then a packers fan hopped in and said, That's a dome team stat. We'll see what they do in the weather. Will the Green Bay packers defense able to, as Shook said, hold Jared Goff to He's doing four incompletions.

But the stat still stands. It wasn't today. They got three touchdowns and four incompletions. But it's one of the most insane stats that I've ever heard of covering this sport, that that is now a six-week span. I'm of two minds. Usually, okay, you get the pick six, you get out gained in this game by 150 yards. The packers did it. Kind of reminds me of the Titans game last week. The packers did move the ball pretty well in this game. And you think like, okay, are they getting a little lucky here where they're getting out gained in a couple of different weeks? And I guess I have a hard time with that. I don't think they're getting lucky. They just have outstanding coaching, outstanding players. It reminds me a little bit of the Patriots back in the day where, yeah, they'll slap you around offensively and outgain you plenty sometimes. But then they can win this way because every unit is so complementary, and they know how to play with a lead. That game against the Titans, what does it matter that they got outgained? This game, what does it matter that they got outgame?

They got into a certain position of the game, and they know how to hold on to it. They're just so well coached, and part of that is their fourth down decisions. Early in the game, it's fourth and one. It's rainy. Tom braided is on the call. He doesn't love the fact that they're going for it on fourth and one inside the 10-yard line. Instead of taking, you're going for three points. Instead, they throw it. Let's Let's listen to what happened on that play early in the second quarter. At this point, it's a three-nothing packers lead. So here we go. Fourth and goal for the Lions from just inside the Green Bay. Three golfs.

Got it back, looking, throwing left side once. Amun Ra makes the grab, Touchdown, Detroit Lions. Oh, baby. What a throw that time by Jerrord Gough. Amun Ra spinning and making the catch, getting two feet down, and the Lions take the lead. The Dan Campbell Gamble pays off.

It's just less of a gamut when you have players that good, what a freaking route, what a throw. I'd give credit to the play call, but it's just like, those are guys exhaling. And then later in the game, Jamir Gibbs gets a breakdown on another fourth and 1 where they pop it for 15 yards. So it's just excellence. You don't have to single out one thing. They're just excellent.

Excellent. I believe it was Cory Ballantyne that was given the unenviable task of not just staying with Amon Ross, St. Brown before that play while he was in motion, but then during the play, where the Lion's offensive line shows just how they're able to keep Jared golf so clean because that's an eternity to cover Ammon Ross-St. Brown, who does two moves on the route, and then it's a back shoulder. I guess you throw in that as another throw. The lines are doing this. Again, Brian Branch out of the game. They lose their best edge rusher for the entire season. They just keep coming.

Yeah, and Mike Florio put on Twitter during the Browns game that the Browns are expected to trade Zedaria Smith to the lines. The expectation is that by Sunday night or Monday, that trade is coming. I really wanted to just respond to him and be like, So are you reporting the trade? Is is happening or not? And what do you mean the expectation is that the trade is happening? And I tried to think about it, and I was like, Oh, well, Zedaria Smith is playing right now. And so he basically knows it. I'm going to just trust that thing's happening. And they're just making sure Zedaria Smith doesn't break his leg or something in that game. But I've never heard of a report quite like that, or a report happened in that point of the week.

That's the hedge master, okay? There's some hedges that occasionally get sprinkled into some reports about things that may It could happen in the event that another thing might possibly could theoretically happen, then the other thing could happen, maybe.

You would think, though, you would think that in baseball or basketball, when a trade is imminent, the guy gets pulled from the game. Zadaria Smith played the whole game. I'm sitting there watching as I see the report, and I'm thinking, Are they going to take him out of the game? Don't you have to protect the asset if you're going to trade him? So we'll see what happens. But you know what, guys, I want to say this about the Amun Raa TD pass, right? This is a perfect example of continuity. This is a team that trusted their coach, their GM, and what they had building years ago. And now they've seen some success last year. They go into a situation on Sunday where the elements are against them. Fourth and goal, it's raining, and you're going to throw a back shoulder fade to a guy in the end zone? Chances are not. That's not going to happen. But they've been together so long that they trust each other. They know exactly where they're going to be, and Jared Goff puts it on him perfectly, and he's playing the best football of his career. That's what makes this team so scary.

Last week, they win because they get a bunch of short fields and they rack up a bunch of points, even though Jared Goff's yardage total is super low. This time, they do it in a completely different way, and it's the same result. Everybody's got to watch out for this team in the NFC.

Oh, yeah, they're the favorites. Look, packers, they're at what? 6-3. A couple of losses back, so they got some ground to make up. Jaden Reid pulls off some incredible plays. Jordan Love did not look 100% in this game. He was not moving well. He's not always the most accurate thrower, so you don't know if it's the rain, it's the injury, but he was certainly affected in this game, and they're able to run the ball, whether it's Jacobs or Wilson. They have 6.6 yards per play. I still feel very good about this packer's team, but they got outclassed in a game where everything had to be right. And yeah, it has to sting to have the game end. Let's listen to Just the chants that are happening at the end of this game. This is a road game.

At Lambo Field, Jared Goff chants breaking out.

How about that?

That's pretty great.

It's a great feeling.

If you're on that Lion sideline, they're all celebrating over there.

That is freaking amazing. Sometimes I just think about the fact that the Detroit Lions are the best run team in the NFL outside of Kansas City. It is an amazing thing. I love it. They are so fun to watch. Let's take a quick break, and we will be back with another team that's very fun to watch and put up a lot of points on Sunday.

Only about 18 yards away from field goal range. Lamar fakes the delayed handoff. Now, he fires down the middle. He's got a man wide open. That's Zee flowers at the 30-yard line, breaks a tackle. He's on the 20. Flowers on the 10. Five. Touchdown. Zee flowers. Oh, what a catch and run. And the Ravens have delighted the crowd. Forget the field goal. They got the end zone.

Rod is funny.

Yeah, I'm never really sure what Rod is saying or doing in the booth. Hall of Famer. I mean, you go to the Mall in Torrance on Saturday like me, you'll see some Rod Woodson jerseys up at the store. People still buying Rod Woodson Raiders jerseys and Ravens jerseys, but I don't know what he's doing in the booth sometimes. Wbal, Jerry Sandusky, Rod Woodson, sorry. Lamar Jackson is the headline here. Big time play before halftime. The Ravens go on to roll 40 One to 10. These were two, five, and three teams, Patrick, but they were not the same.

They were not the same, but early, it felt like they were. It was a 10 to 17 game. Will Lutz hits a field goal, and it's the cut to a countdown, and that's That's it for the Denver Broncos. Offensively, they're stuck on 10 for the remainder of the game. The Ravens go, Touchdown, Touchdown, Touchdown, Field goal, and wind up winning 41 to 10 in a game where Derrick Henry has 100 yards on the ground. He adds his 100th career rushing, Touchdown, the fifth fastest ever to get to 100 rushing, Touchdowns, two on the day. Lamar has three incompletions, and the defense figured things out. I know the scoreboard got lopsided, but early on, they had two fourth down stops. One of Javante Williams, another is in a completion. They forced a turnover on the first possession of the game, other than a very frustrating Philly Philly, where somehow Marcus Williams gets mossed by Bo Nicks. It was a bounce back performance for this Ravens defense, and Greg Rosenthal called it because he said that the Broncos were going to get run out of the stadium, and they did. They got run out of the T-Bank as if they had put a note on the teller's window.

That's true. I made it 33 to 13 on game day view and Broncos fans were honking. Look, defense sometimes is a function of who you've played. I know they did well early in the season against a Baker Mayfield Bucks team, but that was early. The last month of the season, it's been against the worst quarterbacks in the league, except for the week that they played Justin Herber, and they just looked okay. Now you're playing an MVP and you can't have your defense carry you. This is a Raven's team, which didn't even add Deontay Johnson to the mix. And by the end of the game, they're doing the ultimate victory, Cigar. They're throwing a pass to Patrick Ricard. Let's listen to that.

Derrick Henry checks in. Lamar takes a snap, rolls out, throws. Pat Ricard, TD Ravens. What a creative play call. By offensive coordinator, Todd Munkin. He brought Derek Henry back in. Seventy-thousand fans and every member of the Broncos had their eyes on Derek Henry off the play fake. Lamar Jackson throws it to Pat Ricard.

Love that. Look, we have Todd Munkin deserves a few flowers here. Lamar Jackson only had to throw 19 passes. He went all Jared Goff. Three incompletions, three touch downs, nick Shook.

That's not that creative of a play call, by the way. That's just a game of All right. It's just a game of fullback flat. Look, fullbacks are people, too, but it's just fullback flat. All right, guys. But no, I mean, this is exactly a classic case of a really good team that enters a week pissed off because they got beat by a team that was inferior to them the week before, and the next team waiting in their path is going to pay for it. And the Broncos paid for it today. And if you look at one number, it's all about efficiency. You talk about Lamar Jackson only having three incompletions. They average 7.3 yards per play. They're just picking up yards at will all game. And then they put the cherry on top and really send a message to Sean Payton, who got in hot water last week for sending the message to the Carolina Panthers and said, We're going to throw it to the fullback who also used to play a little bit of defensive tackle. How you like them apples?

The difference was that was the third quarter. They were just rolling them up. What did you see out of Bo Nicks in this Bronco's offense? Because I got to say, it's become a running joke that every white quarterback is called Sneaky Athletic. It's like it doesn't have to be that way. C. J. Stroud is Sneaky Athletic, too. But I actually do think Bo'Nicks is Sneaky Athletic, baby. Because I knew he could run, but I didn't know he could run this well, that he could be this efficient a scrambler. I knew he's athletic, but I didn't think he could be mossing people on a contested catch for a touch done. Courtland Sutton, by the way, took a quarterback hit on that throw. That was a really well-executed play by the two of them on a fourth down.

Courtland Sutton featured one of those pressures that the Ravens really didn't get a lot of on the day But it's not just the Baltimore Ravens defense. It's having trouble keeping Bo Nicks from getting yards. This is an athletic dude, which is why I think the notion that it's sneaky is like, okay.

I just didn't see all that at the college tape that I saw, but maybe I missed it.

That's what it is. The people who think it's sneaky athletic are surprised by it didn't watch them in Oregon. And maybe they didn't watch Justin Herbert at Oregon because that's the basis of their offense and where quarterbacks thrive. Dylan Gabriel is doing it right now. But what Bo Nicks does best is when he gets out on the perimeter. So it behooves the Broncos to get him out running, whether it's throwing or running with the football, that's his greatest strength right now. He's not really a guy you want to operate in the pocket all day, especially behind this offensive line, which has been up and down. So that didn't surprise me at all. It's just the fact that you know there are limitations. You know that he's still a rookie quarterback, and you know you're playing a Raven's defense that's going to be capable of causing problems for him. So that's just the result you get. But I still think highly of him. I think he's got a bright future. It's a different bright future than a Drake May for different reasons. But I think that it serves him best to get him outside and on the run and take advantage of those athletic talents.

That's when he's most dangerous.

You saw the problem that this Ravens defense has in terms of generating a pass rush. But to your point, nick, when Bo Nicks had over four seconds, he was two of five. There were a lot of times where But the Ravens got nothing, and Bo Nicks is just back there. One of those completions, one of the two, was a ball to Courtland Sutton, where the problems covering the other team's wide receiver ones have been consistent for Baltimore all season long. They had issues dealing with Courtland-Sutton, but Bo Nicks just didn't generate the type of offense that other quarterbacks would really pick you apart on that. But on throws of under two and a half seconds, and then he was four of six. Over, he was 15 to 27. He had that interception, but he played well when he was out on the edges. I still think Baltimore has to figure something out, if not personnel-wise, play calling-wise in terms of getting some pressure on the other.

Look, they still have to play the Chiefs twice in including next week in Arrowhead. They have the Falcons after the Chiefs. This was always going to be a tricky part of the schedule, but they're five and four, and they have plenty of winnable games down the stretch. They are going to be in this AFC wild card race, I believe, until the end. Whether they get over I don't know, but they're only one win away from topping their over-under win totals for the year. So they're beating expectations. They're going to be in the mix. But I think this was a humbling game for Broncos and their fans, thinking there's a pretty big difference between them and the real deal contenders. We're going to find out a lot on Thursday night about Real Deal contenders because that's Bengals, Ravens, the rematch. Let's go to Cincinnati. Hopefully, they set us up for a good one.

Burro ready for the shotgun snap. Three receivers left, one right.

Joe Joe has the ball.

Looking left. Goes caught by Gusecki. He's at the 20. Middle of the field, 10, 5. Touchdown. Wow, wow, wow. 47 yards. Touchdown pass. Number 5 for Joe Burrow to tie his career high.

Sometimes all you can say is, wow. You're just watching greatness. Dave Lappum knows it. That was him, Dan Hoard on WC, K, Y. Yeah. Joe Burrow got five All the touch downs. Almost got a six late in the game.They wanted six.They wanted it. Why not?It.

Was a lot of throwing.

Life is short. Get the six touch down. I mean it. Why not? The Raiders, they're just speed bumps right now at this point of the season. They're just falling harder and faster. They actually bench Garner Minchu for Desmond Ritter in this game. Finally, the Bengals get a game. They can just relax and enjoy a victory. 41 to 24, nick. When this offense is cooking, it looks like one of the league's best, even without Tee Higgins on Sunday.

Yeah, Joe Burrow, he put together a master class of improvisation in this game. You've seen him thrive from the pocket, throwing downfield, and they've had to because their defense has just been subpar for the early portion of the season, at least. They had to throw their way to just stay in games. That wasn't the case on Sunday because they got after Garner Minchew so much that Antonio pierce benched in, like you said, for Desmond Ritter because he's just throwing spaghetti at the wall and seeing what sticks at this point. But Burrow was fantastic. And it reminded me, again, not to make another Mahomes comparison, but I'm going to because the improvisation was just exquisite. According to next Gen stats, he goes 22 for 31 when he's not on the run. He's under eight miles an hour, right? But over eight miles an hour, he's five for eight for 42 yards and three TDs. Just the way to create and make plays out on the run finding guys. This offense was humming. Chase Brown goes over 100 yards for the first time in his career. They finish with 373, and it felt like it could have been 573 with the way that they looked.

They just looked like a really good unit, even without Tee Higgins today. These types of games, I know that they don't play the Raiders every week, and I know they're going to be challenged defensively continuously. But this game, man, it had to feel good. They were finally back home, and they could send their fans home winners comfortably so for the first time this season.

You don't have to apologize for easy wins over teams that are struggling. The Raiders had chances to be the Chiefs last week. This bangles team, I think it's important for them to get a consistent ground game. They also didn't have Zack Moss. They're getting a lot production out of Mike Sicke, who goes for 100 yards and two touch downs. Their tight ends have been quite good all year. Eric Hall has been a really good rookie for them. They play Tanner Hudson. They've got all the components offensively. I think we know that, and it does set up a delicious TNF. I got nick Westling on the recap with me. I've been looking forward to this one for months. I wanted the Bengals to get their five and four. Instead, their four and five, and it just makes it an even bigger game for them, but at least they're going into it feeling good.

Yeah, they get a chance to take on the Ravens at home. We are going to see more Mike Gysicki. It's a torn ACL for Eric All. Oh, my gosh. The good two-way tight-end, blocking and receiving, going to be done. That's going to change things a little bit for the bangles. But just to see, as Shook mentioned, Joe Burrow throwing on the run, that that breakdown pass to Chase Brown. He gives Chase Brown time to uncover, and that's what speed at that position does, because there's nobody open, but Burrow's able to roll to his right enough time for Chase Brown to clear, and he hits him there. They really didn't even get a lot from Jamar Chase, but he commanded so much attention. They're able to just go up and down the field. This is the the bangles team that was promised. What do we take from Coach lose squad holding the Raiders to 24 points? I don't know. It's the Raiders. But despite the fact that they give up Zamir White's first rushing countdown of the season, I think they had a solid game, considering that the Raiders Started with a 17-play drive that takes up almost the entire first quarter.

The first quarter had three drives in it. It was just between the bangles and the Raiders consuming clock. But after that, I really think they got it together on the other side of it.

Trey Hendrickson had 10 quarterback pressures, seven quick pressures, which is up there with the most by anyone in any game all season. The Raiders have the worst EPA per rush of any team, not in this game, but in the entire first nine weeks of the season of any team this century. They are the worst. The worst running game maybe ever, at least right now. They are in the mix. This is one of the games where the coach lost. I don't think anything would happen midseason with Antonio pierce, but it's one of the games today that got me thinking about, I wonder what this offseason could look like.

The story of this game was one great opening drive, and Garner-Minshuh makes a couple of nice throws, and Zamir White gets in the end zone, and then they just disappeared offensively. I understand why he's tired of Minshuh, and he's just grasping at straws at this point because he's looking for, as the coaches say, a spark. Well, Desmond Ritterer is not going to provide you a spark. Aiden O'Kunal lost that spark when he got hurt. You have nowhere else to turn, and you have no answers. Devante Adams is no longer on this team. Jacobi Myers, his return has helped this offense and helped them early in this game. But that's not something that's going to fix everything. This damn has a lot of cracks in it, and you just don't have enough pieces of chewing gum to keep everything from leaking out. So I hate to say it because it's his first year as the permanent head coach, but they're just going nowhere fast. So I would not be surprised if at some point they did make a change.

Well, especially just because of the history there with Mark Davis. But big win. I want the bangles to be relevant to the very end of the season. I think they will be no matter what happens on Thursday night, but does set up a fun one. Let's go.

I do want to give out some hope. They're waiting in the MRI on Eric Hall. I don't want to go Twitter doctor there. Perhaps there's a chance it's not a terror, so we're going to have to figure that out.

All right, let's hope. Let's also go to the Giants, go to the Washington Commanders, and see if the commandos could get a season sweep.

First of 10 at the 18, three wide receivers on the left, empty backfield. Jane loads one up towards the end, towards McClord. He catches it. Touchdown. Touchdown, Washington. Perfect throw from Daniels to McClore. If we've learned anything, you do not doubt Jane and Daniels going to Terry McCoy.

You never doubt him. Although like, Ram Weinstein sounded almost surprised by how good of a throw that was, yes. Time running down in the first half. Jaden Daniels gets a 17-yard countdown to Terry McLaurin. Washington stays ahead the rest of the game. They win 27 to 22 against a game Giants offense. It was the Washington offense that had to win this game for them. And week after week, the different tests that they faced, they just keep passing. I was really impressed by the commanders in this game because the Giants did what they wanted to for much of the game offensively, ran the ball down their throats in the first half. Yeah, I know there was that famous, it was now famous, that Daniel Jones had zero passing yards in the first half and a shutdown, which I think he was the first person ever to do that. But they were moving the ball great. He barely threw the ball in the first half, and they kept scoring in the second half. But what did the commanders do? Their offensive line dominated. They're 11 for 11 this season now on fourth downs. When Jaden Daniels had to deliver, he did.

A play really stands out to me that that won't be in any highlight package. Third and eight, up 24 to 16. It's still a one-score game at that point. Giants get early pressure up the middle. Dexter Lawrence doing what he's done all year. Almost any other quarterback would not have completed a pass on that play. And Daniels just so calm, just keeps drifting back, drifting back, drifting back. The games just seem so slow for him. He finds his open check down for the first down, and they end up scoring a field goal on that drive that essentially ends. And there was just a lot of moments in this game, Shook, where he just needed to make a play like that, TD to McLaren, and he just makes the play. And then you just take it for granted. But they weren't necessarily easy plays. These were pretty high degree of difficulty plays that this rookie just keeps putting on tape every single week.

Yeah, and that's why he's committed the attention that he has. That's What I tried last week's win was so big when he's playing through a rib injuries, because this is a kid who has exceeded all expectations because of his ability to deliver in the clutch. And even in a game against the Giants, a game that on paper, you're supposed to win. You are a team that is ascending. The Giants are a wayward ship at best, and yet you still have to come through in the NFL because any given Sunday, you still have to come through in the key moments. And again, time and time again, he's able to do that on a day where the offense is fairly balanced but still leans on him, where the Giants are giving you everything they've got and making an interesting game for quarters. That's why he's going to win offensive rookie of the year. That's why everybody has hope in the nation's capital now, because they know for the first time in years, if not decades, maybe since Robert Griffin III, when he was a rookie, they have a quarterback that can get the job done, and he continues to prove it even in games like this.

He does it with not a full contingent in the backfield. Brian Robinson Jr. Out with a ham string injury. Austin Eckler exceeded his season high of eight carries in the first half, and he finishes with 11. They had Rodriguez come in. He had 11 carries well. But the Giants scored their first... That's Daniel Jones' first passing shutdown at MetLife this season. And considering that this was a relative offensive explosion, and they beat this team earlier this year in a field goal festival from both teams, where the one team couldn't kick field goals, and that was the Giants, and the commander was able to bring in a kicker and have success in the kicking game. Here, they just make every single necessary play. It was not this continued... Every single high leverage play, the Washington Commanders came out on top here, and the Giants, where we're doing Game Day Live, and Mark Ross looks up and he sees Deontay Banks on Terry McLaren, and he calls a countdown before it happens. It's like, Oh, this is Banks on McLaren. That's not going to work out. Terry has a quarterback now, and you could just see how gifted a receiver he is.

Yeah, they've only turned the ball over three times this season, I believe, ties for the fewest ever through nine games in NFL history, which is crazy. So they've been very careful with the ball. And the Giants only had seven real possessions in this game. That's why I'm giving the offense for the commander. This was very similar to the first game, where it was a bunch of long drives between the two teams. It was the classic Daniel Jones game because it has that crazy stat at halftime. Everyone's laughing. He had a fumble that should have been returned for a down by the commander's defense. They blew it dead. It was a mistake by the officials, but they did award the ball to the commander. And so he has a big groaner of a play. He has that funny stat. But he also has a truck stick on the goal line where he runs over two dudes. I forget who he runs over on the goal. And I believe it was Dante Fowler and Sanrastill. Sanrastill was the one who really got it, but Fowler is involved, and Jones runs him over, and then they're trying to He gets up in this game.

And it was a one-score game, and he leads them to two shutdown drives in the fourth quarter when it's still a game. So he actually played pretty well, and it still wasn't enough. So that's the classic Daniel Jones game. But the touch downs to me that the commander scored are so instructive. Echler had an absolutely nasty, angry run on the goal line where he just runs over O'Keeke. That was what was on my mind. Then you have the first shutdown throw to McCloren, Which is a second in inches. The last thing you think they're going to do is throw the ball there because they've been running so well. It was not an easy play, but he throws it into a tight window to McCloren, get the touch on. Then there's the dart that you heard already to McCloren that we listened to as the highlight. But another play that really stands out to me is second and nine, and this is why the coaches deserve a ton of credit. They've really timed their play call sequencing so well. It's second and nine late in this game. They're trying to run clock and win the game this year, and they dropped Jaden Daniels back to pass with 2:05 to go.

Instead of running again there, which is going to be predictable, instead of running on first down or on third down, you pass it on second down, to give Jaden Daniels a chance to close out the game. Let's listen to that call. Daniels is in no rush, lifts his foot, takes the snap, play action, rolling right, throwing back left.

That's a wide open.

The lomine Zakea is at the '45 Racing stays in bounds at the 27-yard line. What a play by Daniels to Zakeas. I love that because it's just a perfect play call in the moment, and they were aware enough situationally because the clock is running there, and you're about to hit the two-minute warning that they're on their Ps and Qs, that they snap the ball. When they snap it, they know they're going to get a play where they can throw the ball, and they don't mind stopping the clock. You'd be surprised. Not that many coaches are going to be that confident in their rookie quarterback to make that play call, and they're not going to be aware enough to call that, and that ends the game. It's awesome.

Just preparation, execution, and being able to rely on your players to make plays. I saw Lamondé Zakeas giving big hugs to Cliff Kingsbury and Dan Quinn as they're able to nail the play out towards the end of the game, where they could have scored again. They're able to just shut it down and save snaps.

Yeah, not of the Sean Payton variety. They could have put it 34 to 22, just decided not to. On a date, Noah Brown and Zakeas and Ekeler and Diami Brown are their four leading receivers. Terry McLaurin, a very efficient two for 19. Two touch-ons. They are seven and two. What a great NFC East race it's going to be between Washington and Philadelphia. Let's go out West and see how the bears responded from that Hale Mary fiasco. Third and five at the 47 of Arizona.

Harrison wide left, and Murray runs it far side and breaking free is D. Mercado at the 40. Nearsight 30, 20, 10, 5. Touchdown with four seconds left in the half. The bears never expected that. D. Mercado on a handoff runs 33 yards for a countdown. The bears give up another big score at the end of the half.

Dave Pash hitting him where it hurts on KMVP. And yes, it's time for the Sunday Drive presented by the all-new hybrid Toyota Camry. Oh, man. A hale Mary as a 53-yard run. That drive was totally preposterous. They got the ball back with 26 seconds left, and they ran for a shutdown and left 4 seconds on the clock. The bears defense, not impressive all day. 29 to 9, the Cardinals put it on the bears every which way. On a day that Kyler Murray had a C game, maybe even C minus for how he's played this season. Didn't do anything great. Didn't take anything off the table. The Cardinals win easy. That's a sign to me that this team is really growing, is really becoming complete. They can run the ball. James Connor ends up with 18 for 107. You heard the Amari Demarcato run. Trey Benson has a little cameo in a big spot in the game and gets a shutdown, had a 17-yard run as well. And their defense, just very, very impressed by their defense, having 16 different players He got a pressure on Caleb Williams. Yes, that is the most next-gen stats has recorded in a game all season.

That seems insane that 16 different Cardinals got pressure. Another game where Caleb was pressured almost half the time. It was just hunting season for this Cardinals defense, sending blitzes, and sometimes even with a four-man rush.

That's what it is for this Arizona Cardinals team, where it's pressure by committee. Because you mentioned 16 players. According to next Gen stats, Caleb Williams was under pressure on 15 attempts. And so 15 times, Caleb Williams is throwing the ball. The Cardinals have 16 guys getting pressure. I know there's more total pressures than that, but still, to see him on those pressured attempts, he's 9 of 15 for 78 yards, which doesn't seem that bad, but they could not sustain drives against this Cardinal's defense. There's pressure. They were able to hold DeAndre Swift to keep him away from a couple of game-breaking plays. When you get positive, like the 54-yard Amari Demarcato TD, where he didn't even have that many carries, James Connor goes over 100 yards on the ground. It just seems like the Cardinal is just a better team here playing at home against the bears team that's How's that feeling right now.

It sounds like it's a case of one team that I think prepared better than the other. I could understand that with the way that Chicago lost that game and Matt Ivermectin said to spend two days answering questions about Tyreek Stevenson. I mean, you talk about distractions. That's a distraction. Everybody was surprised by that, touched down round by Amari DiR-Mercado. Dave Pash was surprised. When he called it, he goes, Murray carries to the right.

What was the surprising play called the run in that spot? Of course it was. Yeah.

Maybe it was a Kyler check.

Yeah, right. And Iberfluz admitted after we went for a pass pressure because we didn't think they were going to run. I understand. But I'm worried about the bears because I think that this might snowball if it gets like this. This might be the turning point. This might be the moment that we look back and think, that was the beginning of the end of the Matt Ibrafus era. Whereas on the Cardinals, look at them. They're five and four. The Cardinals, who we said would be a fun team, and we'll see how many games they win, just take it to a team that had a good defense, that did not bring that defense to the desert. And on a day in which Kyler Murray plays, okay, they still dominate with the rushing attack that, again, we know this to be true about the Cardinals. James Connor breaks 100 yards, they'd probably going to have a good chance to win the game, and they certainly did today.

The bears were not going to win this game no matter how many times he played it because of their run defense right off the bat. There were a couple of early drives where the Cardinals didn't get anything going. The teams are just trading punts early in the fourth quarter. But after that, they got whatever they wanted to on the ground. It was that creative, just perfectly time run blocking and play calls that they had last year where it It was outside, it was inside, it was zone, it was power. It was a little bit of everything. They end up with 2:13, but they had like 160 at halftime and just coasted the rest of the way. And yeah, I think nationally, the big takeaway from this game will be bears. But to me, it's the Cardinals. They're in first place, and they have a lot going on. I think they have great vibes right now. They haven't been in important games like this since about the same part of the season in 2021, when I think they got to 10 and 2 that year before it really caved in on them. So just a lot of credit.

This coaching staff is really showing what you can do with strong coaching and buy-in from the players, and they're really playing hard. On the bear side, you mentioned It's been a distracting week, nick. There were some conversations with the media and the coaches. Courtney Cronin of ESPN even said, This is a really important game for Ibraflux. Almost hinting at they knew something More when I was surprised by that because, look, they're a 4-3 team, but they bench Tye Rick Stevenson. He has his helmet off the first couple of drives, and then suddenly he has to come into the game. He actually made some good plays in this game. He has to come into the game because they have a couple of injuries. I know those injuries are why Patrick Klabon joined me on the Cardinal side and flipped his pick right before the game.

Yeah, I felt for a couple of weeks now, Kyler Gordon and Jaquan Brisker, the deciding factor is the Bear's defense is notably different without both of those guys in the secondary. This is something that now we're two weeks. We saw it happen with the Baltimore Ravens and Marcus Williams, and now with Stevenson of the bears. I think it's very difficult, especially in the secondary, to do this vibes punishment thing for players when they make mistakes, if they are the best player in that particular situation, which is why they were on the field in the first place. Then you do that and more bad things happen. You put yourself in a position where you execute because you're punishing a guy for not executing, when, let's be honest, Stevenson wasn't the only bear to make a mistake on that particular play, and he definitely wasn't the one to make a mistake in that particular game, in the loss.

No. The coach not taking a time out, the coach in the way that he called it, the coach setting up that thing made mistakes. And Eber Fluss, he's just holding that play sheet real tight right now. When they had that holding call that called back one of their big runs on the thing, he just a look on his face like I would imagine bears fans had at home of just total fury that he's just trying to hold inside, and you just feel like it's piling up a little bit. And it's true about Caleb Williams, too. Multiple things can be true. The His defensive line is not playing well. I think whatever they're calling on offense isn't working. He's not on the same page with Keenan Allen and DJ Moore too many times. Just a lot of incompletion. But also, when he has been protected, he hasn't looked comfortable, and he's missed a lot of throws by a lot. There were just a lot of uncatchable passes in this game before the roof really caved in in the second half, and they couldn't protect him. It's just a lot going wrong for the bears. And yes, Matt Iberflus will really be tested.

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. Let's go to Cleveland. Jameis Winston's got the Browns as a feel good story, right?

So a third and six. The chargers, two of five on third down. They go empty. Herbert rolling to his right, sets his feet, takes a shot down. Field, Q, wide open. 30, 25, 20. Turn on the Jets, Quitten. Touchdown. Chargers, 66 yards.

That was our friend Matt Money Smith, K-Y-S-R. Thank you to whoever cut that highlight for making sure Daniel Jeremiah didn't get He didn't get into it at all. I already have regrets about leading into this game and taking a shot at Jameis. Yeah, he didn't have a good day, three interceptions. The Browns, they've been through enough. Their fans have been through enough. Let's talk about the brightness of this game, at least to open. The chargers are five and three. Justin Herbert, on the backing of his placement on quarterback Island, had another really clean game, nick, against a good defense.

Yeah, Greg, I know you like to tout when you're right about making prescient pics, like the Bills being a Super Bowl pick. Me? Me? Justin Herbert. Me? You? Of all people, you? Justin Herbert playing like one of the best quarterbacks in the league over the last month and a half or so. Well, guess what? He had his best game of the season today, and it was because of the circumstances around him. Now, that highlight we played, that's a blown coverage. Browns blew two coverages for two shutdown passes, but it was still on Justin Herbert to find Josh Palmer for the first shutdown pass on a third and incredibly long. I think it was third and 21. It was shocking to everybody, including everybody at the stadium in Cleveland. They were like, I can't believe they just gave up this play. But that's the illustration of who Herbert is, because they got pressured a lot by this Browns defense, which played really well except for those blown coverages. In this game, he faced a pressure percentage over 50 %, and yet he delivered, dealt all day, all afternoon. He was fantastic. And we had some interesting insight from NextGen stats that captures the picture here because the deep ball is working for him in this last month.

He was the most productive on passes over 10 air yards on Sunday. He completed 7 to 12 downfield attempts for 196 yards and two touch downs. He's reached 100 plus passing yards on downfield attempts in three straight games. And that was after he totaled a grand total of 145 passing yards on such attempts in the first four weeks combined. He's balling right now, and they're all benefiting from it. And they were clearly the better team on both sides of the ball in this game today. And for the first time this season, I saw the chargers who have a good defense. We talked about how they're physical and everything else. I saw them impose their will on an opposing offense and really shut down anything the Browns brought to the table. It was a resounding victory for them. And the first time where I look at them and think, you know what? If they can play like this every Sunday, they're going to be in the discussion. Before, I thought a little bit of fraud watch with Herbert playing like this and the defense playing this well like they did on Sunday. Watch out for them.

Yeah, it's It would be very easy for somebody to pull up the fact that Josh Palmer got 10.4 yards of separation on his countdown. It was seven yards of separation for Quentin Johnston on his and say, Well, Herbert was the beneficiary of these blown coverages. But Joe Alt gave up more pressures to Miles Garrett today than he has in his previous three games combined. Miles had three sacs early in this game. A lot of pressure for Herbo. In the run game, J. K. Dobbins has most of the carries, goes for 85 yards and two touch downs. There was a great cutback that he had where the chargers were just making these, again, a team in position that's had wins. You could see the reason that they've won these games, because when they get in position to make the play, If the play is out there to be made, the chargers made it today, and the Browns didn't a week after they made those plays to get a win against Baltimore.

Yeah, Jakey Dobbins goes for 85 yards and two touch zones on the ground. His first good running game in a while. Mcconkey has turned into a very steady weekly option. Getting Quintin Johnston back is big for a team that needs as many weapons as they can. Explain to me, Shook, how this defense, which has been really solid. I mean, part of it has been opponent-based. I admit, but they do a little extra. And the Browns' offense is coming off of a good performance. Instead, today, yeah, Jameis Winston. You mentioned the throws over 10 yards for Herbert. Winston was 9 for 20 on his throws. Not much yardage, three perceptions and his shutdown on the day. How did they get it done?

Well, first off, the chargers did a great job up front with limiting the run. The Browns could not get anything going on the ground. Nick Chubb went 15 for 39 yards. For you mental math experts at home, that's 2.6 yards per carry. And I I have the assistance of the box score in front of me right now. So they were one dimensional. And when you're one dimensional against Jameis Winston, what do you do? You mess up the picture. You make it difficult for him to find guys open. And they did it all day. I mean, he threw the classic Jameis Winston turnover worthy passes in bunches in this game. Now, one of them, first two picks were actually bad luck. One was tipped and caught in the end zone, and another one, he expected Cedric Tillman to win the leverage inside on a post, and he just gave up on the route because he never won the leverage inside. And Jameis threw it as an anticipatory throw. But this offense just had nothing. They couldn't go anywhere because they couldn't run the ball, and Jamis kept turning the ball over. Even when they got close, they turned the ball over.

They were beat at a human level. We know that we are the inferior team here. The coaching staff of the Chargers was miles ahead of the Browns staff on both sides. Jesse Minner put together a great defensive game plan, and Greg Roman was running circles around this Browns defense on those blown plays and on some of the bigger plays they did. I thought the most impressive play the entire day was the cutback that Patrick just mentioned on the jk. Haven't touched down run. It was blocked perfectly. One of the best blocked plays I've seen all year to where it was an easy run into the end zone. That's just the sign of a team that's better coached and better prepared and executes better.

And are getting great production out of those two rookie corners I was talking about. It's Kam Hart, Taheep's still season. Jim Harbaugh was honking about it after the game, just saying he thanks God that he has these two guys, and they're getting Tulipilotu with two and a half sacks in this game, Morgan Fox with a couple of sacks, so getting a lot of production. Yeah, the Browns are at two and seven, and this was a come back to Earth game. You thought maybe is James going to lead us to have some fun? I think they'll have more fun down the stretch than they would have without him, but they are going to be sellers at the Trade Deadline. That's coming up on Tuesday. We have Mike Garafolo in the studio for a post-trade deadline. Spectacular. So that'll be a lot of fun. Zadaria Smith could be leaving the Browns. We'll see if anyone else is. Let's take a quick break. Our last break? I hope so. We'll be back to talk a little Falcons, Cowboys on the other side.

Atlanta, one for five on third down. They're going for it on fourth and two. All up here. Yeah. Empty set for Cousins. Cowboys showing pressure. Snap to Kirk. Here they come. Got to get rid of it. Live for Mooney. Caught. 20, 15, 10, 5. Touchdown Atlanta. Fourth and one is the home run ball for Darnell Mooney.

A fourth down decision that resulted in a shutdown for Darnell Mooney. Their leading receiver, five for 88 in a countdown. He might have to be their leading receiver for a minute here. Drake London left this game with a hip injury. But no more bad news for the Atlanta Falcons. They're on a streak, 27 to 21. They beat the Dallas Cowboys to get to 6 and 3 atop the NFC South. The Cowboys becoming irrelevant, and Kerco chain just keeps finding a way to get it. I guess you just don't have to move to play quarterback at the NFL.

There was actually a very lengthy play in the pocket where Kerc Cousins evaded pressure for a while. Kerc hung in there and made a throw to Bijon Robinson who got some yards after the catch. Bijon goes 19 carries for 86 yards. The defense does enough. Dak Prescott actually leaves this game with a ham string injury. Cooper Rush comes in late. Falcons play it safe, allow some short completions. Ceed Lamb playing with a shoulder injury in this game, eventually left with that shoulder injury, which was emblematic of the situation for the Dallas Cowboys. It's all on CeeD Lamb's shoulder. To really provide the production for this passing offense. We've said it week to week, Dak goes 18 of 24 for 133. He has a breakdown. The Cowboys are in this game, but on plays like that on the defensive side, on the highlight for you guys watching on the podcast, Darnell Mooney runs a wheel route. Cowboys are in man. Three Cowboys defenders run into each other, leaving Darnell Mooney wide open for that TD on fourth down, where Raheem Morris is making these fourth down calls. The Falcons, if I'm not mistaken, got every fourth down that they went for in this game where Dallas just could not make the play.

Yeah, when you're giving up a lot of pressures to the Falcons, pass rush, it means it's broken. For Dak to leave this game with an injury, CeeD eventually leaves. Zeke didn't even make the trip. Our Jane Slater reports that he's been, quote, distracted for much of this season and has been late to team meetings. I I don't know. This is supposed to be the foundation. Not that Zeke is that important of a player, but just everything for this team and their schedule makes you feel like they should be sellers, and that they could end up with a pretty high traffic. Forget about contending for the playoffs, nick.

Yeah. Well, first off, that's strangely ambiguous, and I think that points to a larger issue at hand with these Cowboys. But really, if you look at them just simply, they have a bear cupboard right now. All the injuries that have impacted them on both sides of the ball, Dak Jack getting hurt in this game, CeeD playing through injury, and he still hasn't quite been on the same page with Dak over the last month. They've had a lot of miscommunications that have resulted in turnovers and everything else. I mean, Jerry Jones spoke this week about how if we just cut down on the turnovers, the opportunity is still there. We know how Dak can play in between the turnovers, and we have a great coach in Mike McCarthy. You're patching things up with the stuff that's not going to hold. The foundation itself is cracked, and there's really nowhere to turn. So as much as the Cowboys want to be contenders, a loss like this that drops you to three and five with the trade deadline approaching, I think I agree with you, Greg. I think they become sellers. I think they admit that, look, we don't have a good enough roster to compete.

We're too banged up. We're not going to catch the other teams in our division. We might as well sell because games like this where you lose by six points, granted with a breakdown in the final two minutes, that should be informative to you that You're just not good enough this year, and maybe you need to reset. Now, on the Falcon side, Kirek keeps slinging it, baby. Three touchdowns, and that touchdown pass to Darnell Mooney that we just played looked a lot like that first Kyle Pitz touchdown pass against the Bucaneers, which also came on fourth down. I love the aggression of the Falcons right now. They're playing with no regard for what could possibly go wrong. They don't care. They're flying high, and they win another one.

Yeah, no way that they were going to lose on Outkast Sweatshirt Day. I don't know if it was officially that, but they started selling them. It might as well be official. They started selling them over the weekend, and yeah, the Cowboys go to Philadelphia, or they have Philadelphia in Dallas next week, then Texans at Commanders. It's feeling grim for this team. We'll see if Dak can play next week. They'll need that to happen. Can I give the Falcons credit for stacking up these wins against teams that they should beat, because I didn't know that they were going to be in a position, really, to do that all season. Hey, Greg, real quick before we jump games. Okay. We have a little surprise for you. A few weeks back, maybe a month back now, we exchanged in our group chat a picture of a giveaway at Tulane. Of course, there's some Tulane flavor to this recap with Darnell Mooney and yourself, of course. We've got Randy Chávez. I mean, if you're not watching on YouTube, just seeing Randy's back is totally worth it. Randy spearheaded this idea, so we tracked down a Tulane throwback football helmet for you.Oh, my goodness.This is an amazingIt's the bacon wave.

Not only The most beautiful helmet in the world, but also has a nice children's hospital, New Orleans. Support them. Tulane Greenwave helmet. Thank you. Darnell Mooney representing the Greenwave proudly. But, hell, the Greenwave are representing the Greenwave, proudly. Are we in in the top 25 now? I need to check because they were 28 also receiving votes before they won on Halloween night.

The preposterous CFB poll coming out on Tuesday where it's all vibes.

Wait, we got to wait till Tuesday?

Yeah, we got to wait till Tuesday. I was wondering, actually.

It's got to be a show.

Who cares about actual principles and figuring it out and what the votes mean? Just make it a big TV show and slap everybody in the face.

Well, you know what? Election Tuesday, where you honor the team that just splattered Charlotte on national television.

Well, you know what, Tulane? They could be in that top 25. They should be. They should be after beating Temple this weekend. I shouldn't. I shouldn't get them. I just assume it's going to happen. I'm going to enjoy it. They're seven and two. They've won six straight because the other team I root for doesn't have as many wins in their future.

Hasty in the back in the field with May. Play fake. May, looking deep, throwing deep. Boody is there, but it's intercepted. Hooker came over to get it.Takes it.Takes some of that.Hucker.

Came over to get it, took a knee, and it's over. It's over.

Amani Hooker. His third pick of the year, his second of the day. And he saved the day.

Yes, Amani Hooker gets it done. That was Mike Keith, Dave McGinnis, WGFX, the Titans. Hang on to win 20 to 17. At first, I had this one way higher up in the show because it deserves to be included in the drunk games, but not as relevant. And so it would have maybe been showing my Patriot's bias. Drake May does a little bit of everything, has a crazy game-tying, a shutdown to force it to overtime. And then an underthrown ball thrown into the wind by Drake May's estimation. Said he should have put more on it, and he thought he would have had the arm to do it, but comes up short, as do the Patriots. 20 to 17. Nick, the Patriots sat Kyle Duger, K. J. Osborne, and Taekwan Thornt, perhaps in a pre-trade talk idea. They're going to trade them because they sat Josh Uche a week ago before trading them. The Titans get a win. Hey, everyone deserves a win every once in a while, and the Titans needed this one. They're two and six.

This game felt on just visual, just eye test alone. I was like, this game matches their records. Like, these are both teams with one or two wins, and they're battling all the way to overtime to try to scratch to catch out another win. I got to give a lot of credit to Drake May. I know the Patriots lost, but he played well, and he also engineered a drive that included a last second, no time left in the clock, desperate throw into the end zone under pressure to Ramondre Stevenson to send this game to overtime. He also ran eight times for 95 yards and led them in rushing. I felt like they deserved to win, but they are the Patriots. Whereas on the Titans side, you got Mason Rudolf, again, filling in for Will Levis, does a good enough job, throws a pick that was a high ball on a tight end, like a tunnel screen along the goal line. I don't know why you're quite running that on that situation, but it ends up in the hands of the Patriots. Ugly game that matches their records, but still an entertaining game. And Tony Pollard, 28 for 128.

Nice little performance for him.

I love that you mentioned Pollard, who I keep mentioning, would help this Cowboys team so much and has been one of the better runningbacks in the league, like a top 10 runningback this year. He's leading the NFL in yards after contact, and he's stuck on this team that just can't help him out. So great job by the Titans. Let's listen to that play. I have not listened to this yet, but I am curious. I want a little Zolak of May's game-tying touch down. The snap to May, back two steps, looks to the end zone.

He pumps, he backs up, he slides left, he looks in the left corner.

Now he rolls to his right.

He pulls up in the middle of the field. Drake May alludes a defender Running to his left, looking to the end zone, trying to keep the play alive.

Falling down, he throws to the end zone. It's caught. He's got it. Touchdown. Ramond Ray Stevenson.

Oh my God, Drake May.

Left and right, bobbing and weaving, zigging and zagging.

He tosses the ball to Ramond Ray Stevenson, and the Patriots are an extra point away.

Absolute stunned silence from Zolak during the first because Drake may had that ball for 11 seconds before he threw it, by the way. Stunned silence, but you can hear Zolak building in the silence and then finally erupting as Drake May makes what could have been a play of the day if Saquan didn't jump over somebody backwards for no reason, just in a That was an incredible moment from Saquan. We talked about that already. But the number two play of the day from Drake May was zeroes on the clock.

I know. If he didn't look so tired, I know that wasn't part of Gerard Mayo's thinking of not going for two there, but May looked a little gassed right there. It was the second longest shutdown completion in terms of holding the ball in the next Gen stats era behind.

Can you guess? Dan Daniels' Hill Mary from last week.

Yeah, last week. There we go. There you go. It was just a preposterous play. It's crazy because May did a lot of crazy things in this game, and yet when they got the ball back at the end, I was like, and they only scored one shutdown all game. I was like, I wouldn't be surprised at all if they just scored a shutdown here. In fact, I think they will. And somehow he made it happen. It was a very composed drive before that play, which was crazy. He let you know he was not worried about getting a concussion last week. Literally the second play of the game, he runs up the middle for 26 yards and doesn't slide and takes a pretty big hit to the midsection on that play. Earlier in that tying, touch down drive, he missed Mario Davis. It is up and down, but he needed a TD. He got it. He's their best player. They're a mess. It was just a lot going on in this game, but I don't know if the Patriots deserve to win because they were out gained by like 100. They lost the turnover battle, the time of possession they lost.

Their offensive line is absolutely terrible, especially in run blocking. Ramondre, who's a really good player, had 16 yards on 10 carries. So it's like that's all blocking. They could not pick up a yard to save their life at one point. And so that's why I don't kill them for not going for two, and yet I wanted them to go for two.

Yeah, because you have an opportunity to win the game and you're not a good football team, and it was a slog of a game in itself. By the way, that completion probability on that throw, 15.8%. I don't know where that ranks, but it's pretty good for a rookie. They have a quarterback. They have the guy. They just need to make sure they don't break in and start adding to around him.

They don't have anything else, though. I think they're the worst team in the NFL other than Drake May. If you just took out the quarterback position. Oh, for sure. I really think they are. Who knows? I mean, you can't really measure that. Also, the Titans got a little bit of luck. They drive down the Patriots' throats after Mayo decides to go to overtime, but they have a fumbled snap on third down inside the 10-yard line, and that ball was up for grabs, and Mason Rudolf gets it back. So that's the best play of Mason Rudolf's Titans career. He got the ball back on the fumble.

But, and again, I'll triple down on the play of Tony Pollard. Tony Pollard had 30 plus yards on that drive in overtime, making something out of nothing every single... All they had to do was to facilitate the exchange between the quarterback and the center and hand the ball off to Tony Pollard. And they almost messed it up entirely. Mason-rudolf able to get back on top of that ball. But that's the reason they got that field goal that the Drake-Mae interception ends the game, because otherwise, it could have been an absolute calamity for the Titans, but they...

I was hoping for a tie here. I thought maybe we could-Yeah, we were very much in the ties, though, and I tweeted about it in the next play, Drake-Mae. Because Mayo used all of his timeouts just to stop his defense from being tired, which I guess. I don't know. Let's listen to Brian Callahan after the game. You're saying, really, we're going to listen to a quote from a winning coach on a 2-6 team, but it's like this is for the Titans fans out there. This is for Mike Keith. This is for Gravedigger. This is for Brian Callahan.

Just how badly did you guys need this today?

Look at me. I needed it bad, man. It because we needed it. Callahan was pretty emotional a couple of times during that press conference. It wears on you this losing, so good for the Titans getting their second win of the year. Let's go to another slogfest That was fun in Carolina.

Panthers trying to stop a five-game losing streak. Saints have lost six in a row.

Crowd at Bank of America Stadium to its feet. Fourth and four.

It comes down to this.

Carr out of the shotgun.

Here's the snap. In the pocket, Carr floats it deep down the left side for Wilson. It is juggled and incomplete. Carolina takes over. It has been a long time since we have lined up in victory formation on this field.

Yeah, good for the Carolina Panthers, 23 to 22. That was Anis Straff from W-R-F-X in Carolina. We haven't had to call that name too often this season. Yeah, Derek Carr and the Saints had a chance to set up for a game-winning field goal. They don't really get that close, and Bryce Young neels it out, and that must have put a smile on Patrick Clavon's face.

Yeah, it did, because the conversation about Bryce Young just being completely unviable as the season began where the offense wasn't good. He gets benched for Andy Dalton. Andy Dalton comes in, and it's He's like, Oh, the Carolina Panthers exist now because Andy Dalton's there. And he gets back in, albeit due to an Andy Dalton injury, gets this win over a team that they got run out of the stadium by in the first week of the season. And now it seems like they are, not just seems, these two teams moving in completely different directions. The Panthers are not a good football team by any stretch, but they come through, beat up this beat-up Saints team towards the end, where Chris Olave has to leave this game with another concussion. He He was taken to the hospital. We got updates from his brother letting us know that he was texting him, fine. He eventually make it back into the locker room after the game. But even in that final fourth down decision where they need four yards, and it's a shot played down the sideline where you're wondering the decision making, the play calling, the execution, just all bad right now for the Saints culminating in a loss to a team, again, that they humiliated in the first week of the season.

Yeah, that's a great call. The difference between how it started and how it ended. They're throwing it to Cedric Wilson. I know they're banged up, but they get 215 yards from scrimage from Alvin Kamara in this game. They outgained the Panthers 427 to 246. They find a way to lose it. Bill Barnwell pointed out, teams that had outgained their opponent by 150 yards, run for 150 yards, and won the turnover battle had been 277 It's 275 and zero, and now it's 275 and one. That is your New Orleans Saints, and we are definitely on Dennis Allen, possibly getting fired this week. Watch, he has the third worst winning percentage of all time by any coach. And after the game, I read this article by nick Underhill on New Orleans football, and he just wrote that some guys in the locker room aren't really that he's lost the locker room. And he put it a little vaguely, but he did have a quote from Alvin Kamara who said, Look, guys want to win in this locker room for each other. And he very clearly saying, We want to win for each other. Maybe not the guy running the plays.

And it was a little vague how he said that they lost the locker room, but it's in there in the article.

How do you feel about it?

Tell me how you feel about it. It It's rough. Kaylen Saunders, after the game, was tweeting some of my favorite tweets by an NFL player this year. He said, If that was a college bowl game, that MF would have been called the Cotton El Doodoo Bowl. We just lost the Cottonell DoDoo Bowl. Shaking my head. Yeah, and then even before, he said, MFs is cheekbones. New Orleans, you all does it bet. Is he calling his own team cheekbones? Just the whole game is.

No, he's calling the Panthers.

Oh, okay. He's calling the Panthers cheekbones. Yeah, they lost a bunch of cheekbones.

Which I don't know if it makes me think about Silence of the Lance, but that's neither here nor there. I think that we are 100% firmly, very much on Dennis Allen watch, rightfully so. It makes you question why he retained the job after last year. And after breaking the 275 game win street that you just spoke of, I can't imagine a scenario in which he preserves his job. They started 2-0, they've lost seven straight. And even after they got Derek Carback and put up over 400 yards of offense, they looked like a pretty good offense. They couldn't finish the job. They go five for 15 on third down. They lose to the Panthers in Carolina in a game that was very winnable. And on the fourth and four, they throw the ball up when Alvin Kamara has got 155 yards to his name. What are we doing? What are we doing? We are marching toward the end of the Dennis Allen era, slowly and painfully, with half of the season left to go.

Yeah, and shout out to Jadavian Sanders, a rookie who gets 87 yards, 62 yards, Jack. Like, Bryce Young, his only interception on the day was on a total dime that was stolen stolen by defender. Jalen Coker, Xavier Laguette gets in the end zone. I want to give a little bit of credit to the Panthers. Enjoy this win. But some of these quotes are just crazy. The one from Kamara says, I can keep going when he's talking about all the things that aren't going well. We got guys, I'm naming names. I think there's confidence there, but there might not be confidence in something else.

What's the something else, Alvin?

Yeah.

Door number three.

There was another Calin Saunders tweet where he said, Fans say keep losing so we can get number one pick. Hell, throw me in at quarterback and let's have something fun to watch.

Okay. That would be fun. Yeah, it's sad. At one point, Cam Jordan, he only played 10 snaps in this game, punched the bench, and he was seen having to be brought to the locker room by Derek Carr as he was very frustrated after the game. It's just It's a tough scene, and you do wonder that ownership hasn't always been maybe as hands-on. Mickey Loomis, I think, has as much power as any executive in the league. It just got me wonder, how bad does it have to get for maybe some attention to be on Mickey Loomis, maybe not being the one who was making all these decisions? Because DA, that's one thing. We know how that's going to end up, but that's one thing I'm watching for the rest of the year. Got to be watching this Sunday night football game as well. I'm going to be watching Patrick Clavon say goodbye, too, from the Chris Wesley podcast studio.Thank you, sir.Thank.

You, guys.

All right, to Sunday night.

Second and 11 from the Colts 14. Jones, the single set. Addison in motion to the right. Play action from under center. Darnold to the end zone. Touchdown. Josh Oliver with a countdown to stretch the lead to 2010.

Kfan, Paul Allen. Vikings hit the extra point. They give up a meaningless late field goal. And Justin Jefferson, of course, gets the onside kick attempt. Nice one by Matt Gay. Vikings win this Sunday night. Football 21 to 13 here with nick Shook. And that was a fitting highlight. Sam Darnold, after making some mistakes in a game, as he does, hits a nice breakdown on the move on a nice play call, as Sam Darnold does, as Kevin O'Kownal does, Vikings back in the win column.

Yeah, it was funny because in the lead up to that snap, Chris Collins was just talking about how, I wouldn't, based on how the mistakes they made tonight, I wouldn't trust the passing game, then they immediately run a bootleg away from his throwing arm, and he hits Josh Oliver wide open for a touch down. It illustrates the confidence that Kevin O'Kownal has and Sam Darland even on a night where he threw two picks, including a pick that followed a Joe Flacko pick. It seemed like it was going to make the game interesting. And yet this is where the Vikings are. A big win for them after losing two straight. They get back on the winning track. They beat a Colts team that decided to pull the plug on Anthony Richardson, at least for now, by shutting them down defensively. Brian Flores puts together a great game plan. Mass It opens up the picture for Joe Flacko. You could see him hesitant in the pocket for most of the night. He finishes with under 200 passing yards. It's not the same explosive offense we saw from him the last time he started this season. And the Vikings get back in the win column and back on track.

Yeah, Flacko It was 4 for 10 for 50 yards in an interception under pressure. It wasn't just the interception, for instance, which was a bad throw. It was the decision making on a drive where they're still in the game late down a score, he passes on an easy open check down for a first down. Instead of pushing the ball down the field, it gets deflected. The next play on fourth down also gets deflected when he's under pressure. Harrison Smith with a couple of nice plays there. There was an early play in the game where he just gets panicked before the pressure even gets there and sails a checkdown throw early. A deflection on third and five. Another one where he's on the move, and there is a receiver open. I think it was Pitman, and he throws it at his feet because he's not used to throwing the ball on the move. I was thinking, well, I don't know if Anthony Richard hits that throw, but Anthony Richardson would have a better chance on that throw. So the The Colts only get six points on offense on a night where they do get a defensive score on a turnover, on a Sam Darnold fumble that was returned for a shutdown.

The Colts did not hit the red zone all night. So if nothing else We're back to Brian Flores' defense can make a substandard offense who was starting a few backups on the offensive line look just absolutely terrible. And that could take you a long way. Might not take you to the top of the NFC or even this division the end, but it gets them to 6-2. If you can beat up on the bad teams, that's going to be huge for them.

Yeah, and especially an offense that's pretty one-dimensional when Anthony Richardson is not involved. Jonathan Taylor's numbers with Joe Flack on the field have not been good. They were not good tonight. And late, when they had to throw the football, you could tell they could just pin their ears back and get after him. They sacked him multiple times. He looked uncomfortable. He looked uncomfortable for most of the night. And I don't know if it leads to this because Shane Steigen was pretty definitive when he made the switch to Joe Flacko. But a lot of people have reason to criticize his decision now. I know it's only one game, and I know that the sample size before, while small, was very productive. But at this point, at four and five, now the questions are justified. What do you do from here? You made the switch to Joe Flacko because you needed to win games. You put up 13 points, you put up six offensive points. That obviously is not good enough to win a game. It's going to be an interesting time for the Colts.

They're not going back. They're not going back this week, at least. They got the bills. I think they looked at this schedule and thought it was going to be ugly and thought Flacko gave them a better chance to win. Maybe that turned out not to be true tonight. Richardson probably would have struggled They're still in this game, too. But they have the bills next week. That's a home game. Then they're at the Jets playing better defense, I suppose, at least for a week. Then the Lions. We'll see if Flacko gets through all those games. If he plays this poorly each week, yeah, he might not get through all of those games, but they're at 4 and 5. The Texans, who are a little bit of a mess right now, are feeling like, Okay, thank you, Minnesota Vikings. Thank you, Justin Jefferson. Yes, I should mention Justin Jefferson, 137 yards on seven catches. The NBC showed the stat that he was just eating up off coverage because the one time they played him in press, at least the one target, they hit him down the field for a big gainer. Look, Darnold made three groaners. I mean, the fumble was typical Darnold taking a bad sack where he's backing up.

It was quick pressure, but he tends to make bad protection worse. He took four sacs in this game. Both quarterbacks did. But even though he had a couple of interceptions, even Even though he had the turnover on the fubble, the throws he had were quite excellent. I give him credit. I give Gino Smith, for instance, credit for always continuing to keep firing after making mistakes. Sam Darnold has a good tendency to do that, too. They had no points at halftime. They put up three touch downs in the second half. The play to Addison was an awesome throw and an awesome catch where Addison one hands it. And ultimately, they did more than enough. On a night where Aaron Jones was a little up and down, Sam Darnold really had to get it done.

I will say they have a nice little once you punch that backfield with Cam Akers, who we liked him in the preseason with the Texans. He made the team. They acquire him on October 15th, and he serves a nice little spellback role tonight, especially when they're putting the game away late. I like the way that they're built. You're going to take the good with the battle with Sam Darnold. I'm starting to get like K's Kenan vibes from that year that he was their quarterback. A little bit higher ceiling. His best games have been much better than the Kenan's best games were at that time, but you are going to get some mistakes from time to time. But if they can weather that storm, and they usually do with that defense, then they're still going to be right in the race.

Right. Only six incompletions on 34 attempts. Now, two of them were caught by the other team, and there was a fumble, but that's the experience. They are a good team. The Colts right now feel lucky to be four and five. And yeah, shout out to the listeners that have been with NFL Daily since the preseason when Shuki and I were doing Sunday night preseason and talking about K-Makers. That was our lead story back then. We're just getting rolling through nine weeks. Appreciate everyone who helped out on this show. Randy Chávez. What a sweet guy bringing me this Tulane helmet.Thank you, Randy.Roll wave, baby. Yes. Thank you to Eric, behind the glass, Shook in Cleveland, Patrick Claibon, of course, doing a great job. When Sam Darnold is making big mistakes, but making big plays, you know football is back. See you Monday night.