Potential AJ Brown Trades, Titans Firing Aftermath and Steelers-Bengals Preview

00:00:05
Speaker 1: Welcome to NFL Daily, where we're just pumped at sweater season again. I'm Greg rosenthalm here in the Chris Westling podcast studio. Yes, I know a rainy Los Angeles day with my friend Jordan Rodrieg.

00:00:18
Speaker 2: I know you walked in in your green sweater as my gray sweater on. We both got like the subconscious memo, it's below what sixty eight degrees in LA right now?

00:00:28
Speaker 1: Chris, You know, no one likes to hear Los Angeles people like celebrate when it actually gets a little cooler, a little rainier. But it's beautiful here. It's a beautiful time in the season. Like we think we know some things, we don't know anything. I was gonna mention what's coming up on the news, but those things aren't really beautiful. It's like injuries and a head coach losing his job. But we're going to talk a little TNF with the Steelers and the Bengals later and we're going to play a game. Jordan, I know you love to play games. In this game is would you?

00:01:01
Speaker 2: I do love to play games, Greg.

00:01:03
Speaker 1: Like, what kind are you? Like? A board game?

00:01:06
Speaker 2: So I am I'm a big time settlers of Catan fan slash player. My sister, my twin sister, Maddie. She's actually the reigning champion. Between myself and her, I have been training. She's abroad on a research vessel. She's a scientist, so for most of the year, so I can get my reps in and you can play online and stuff like that, just to get your your practices and all of that. That's my number one board game.

00:01:32
Speaker 1: I think I love a lot of people who are big, you know, board game people. I'm not one of those people. But I did play one game of Sellers of Catan when I was younger.

00:01:41
Speaker 2: I feel like that that game would just make you really mad.

00:01:44
Speaker 1: I don't have the patience I liked to risk. That was when I was like twelve.

00:01:48
Speaker 2: I'll tell you this, fans, fans of Settlers of Catan will exactly what I'm talking about when I say this. Greg Rosenthal and I will never play against each other and Settlers of Kids and because of that, we will have a long and beautiful friendship.

00:02:02
Speaker 1: Okay, I'm looking forward to never playing with you. Let's talk news. We mentioned it on the doubleheader night. It just felt like Brian Callahan's firing with the Titans. Did not deserve to be sandwiched into this glorious night of football upsets, and so we decided we'll talk about it here. One of the least surprising firings. At least we knew it was coming at some point this season. We didn't know when it happens on a Tuesday afternoon. It comes from the team itself. I find that interesting. Absolutely no national reporters had it, no local reporters had it. In fact, Adam Schefter was like on air being asked about it like half an hour before or something like that and said, I don't see that happening, And so that indicates to me, maybe it comes from from the very top. And no one really had a bet on what ownership was thinking there. It was not ownership though that spoke about Brian Callahan's firing. Let's listen to team president and president of football operations, Chad Brinker.

00:03:04
Speaker 3: We were looking for growth in this football team. And that's what this is about right now, is we're not seeing enough growth from this football team. We're one to five and we got to be better in this and I want to acknowledge the fact that we're all frustrated. We understand that you the fan, You're frustrated with everything that's going on, but I can We're doing everything we can. We will do everything we can to build a football program that you can be proud of.

00:03:33
Speaker 1: So I don't know if Chad Brinker ultimately made this decision. We don't know. He's the one that's answering all the questions. Adam Amy. Adam Strunk was not there at the press conference, which is typical. Owners aren't often there at the firings. Mike Burganzi was there the general manager. I do though, by the conspiracy theory that they did it before Mike Rabel came to town, specifically, like they did not want Mike Rabel to be coming in there and reminding them of past dysfunction while Brian Callahan was still there. So maybe they get the fired coach bump this week to try to take out their old faux Mike Rabil. Yeah.

00:04:13
Speaker 2: I buy that. Actually, I do buy that. I think that from listeners and viewers who think Noah team couldn't possibly be thinking about that specific type of detail when making massive and potentially franchise altering decisions, Yes they can, and they often do. This was interesting to me. I think that the players probably knew something was up before any of the rest of us did, because I don't think Jeffrey Simmons, who's been a cornerstone of that franchise for a little while now, who is still a great player, would come so far out as to say how flat the team felt, how pointing fingers without overtly he didn't do the to a thing for example.

00:04:54
Speaker 1: Well maybe he helped, you know, put it over the top by saying, I.

00:04:57
Speaker 2: Just feel like a player like that knows when people and can feel when other people are starting to get checked out or starting to feel a little nervous. It also some sort of awkward. Brian Callahan's father, Bill is on the staff and reportedly left the team as well in light of the news that is his son the head coach got fired. So kind of awkward dynamics all around there. But now you know, the Titans are back to where they've been multiple times over the last couple of seasons, especially an achronus with their GM higher, with their quarterback draft. Everything is like it's sort of Bearsian of the last several seasons where you would almost get everything lined up and then something would happen and you won't be lined up with all three positions of power for in this case, including the quarterback.

00:05:41
Speaker 1: Yeah, they've they've never been lined up. They're you know, in the on the shortlist of the most dysfunctional franchises in the league. Let's go through it. John Robinson and Mike Rabil have a power struggle and they fired John Robinson pretty soon after the AJ Brown trade, which to me really kickstarted this dysfunction going into overdrive. So that AJ Brown trade, which you know, led to that team kind of falling apart, and Mike Rabel clearly didn't seem too happy about it. Okay, you get rid of the GM who had had a lot of success there. Just thirteen months later, they fired Mike Rabel after he has a power struggle with the new GM ran Carthon. And you know, they ownership chose the new GM ran Carthon. That is when they hire Brian Callahan. That that's only a year and a half ago. Ran Carthon lasts one year, which is almost unprecedented. So that's that's ownership saying that they made a pretty big mistake. They announced that Brian Callahan was involved in the hiring of the new GM Mike Borganzi, so as recently as January, unless they were selling us a bill of goods, which is possible in these situations, it could have always been this guy Chad Brinker, who ultimately.

00:06:57
Speaker 2: Common denominator of all of this, even.

00:07:00
Speaker 1: He only goes back a couple of years. But yes, he admitted he has full personnel control. So it's not the GM Borganzh who comes from the Chiefs. He has been there the whole time. And then they decide to bring in Borgonzhi and then yeah, ten months later they fire Callahan. That is a rough two and a half three year stretch for a team just to not be aligned. And then it's like, oh, it's not my fault. I didn't draft him or I didn't hire him, and it's just like an endless cycle.

00:07:29
Speaker 2: Yeah, And that's part of the reason why failure compounds in buildings that just seem so out of sync and can't get it right year over year over year. The other part of it is if you are evaluating players, he's saying, we're doing everything we can to get on the right track to make this a football team that fans can be proud of, and all of these things and noting that they haven't seen improvement. Part of that is because you're changing your entire evaluation language internally every two years, even every one year, not even giving one person the rand carthon who's there for a year, even install in event.

00:08:04
Speaker 1: You've got that's crazy, But I don't.

00:08:08
Speaker 2: Think people understand. And I sort of saw this firsthand doing this Fighting RAM series where I was embedded with the Scouting and Talent ID department with the RAMS for a year. It's like the continuity matters. Continuity matters so much because you can develop a way to scout and identify players that specifically fit within the language of how a head coach is teaching his scheme and deploying his plays and concepts on the head coach, the defensive, all of these things that trickle into the different parts of the building. If you cannot get actual continuity on that side of the ball, in your you might have the same scouts year over year, but they're being told to do different things by whoever the new GM or director of personnel is that's coming into the building. You're changing analytics programming, You are changing the types of traits that that people prioritize in every single position on the field. You are either listening to a new coach who and tells you exactly what he wants in his players, or in some cases, in some buildings, you are dictating to that coach what types of players he will be given. It's just not It does not spell success when failure compounds. The number one reason is because they are not developing a language over enough time that integrates through every single piece of the fabric of that building. And that is a huge issue here. You saw it in Carolina for a while, You've seen it in Chicago for a while. It's part of the reason why gms who maybe aren't doing as great as you would like get extensions and continue to get shots Ryan Pole like Ryan Poles because what they see on the other side of it is okay. But you're you're establishing at least a bench a bunch of benchmarks for how you're evaluating players. You're not just shifting it and changing it up all over again and giving the next person who comes into coach an impossible task.

00:09:57
Speaker 1: So they make Mike McCoy the interim head coach. I think more than anything, it was just Brian Callahan didn't have it like we're making all the reasons why the Titans as an organization hasn't had it for a while.

00:10:11
Speaker 2: Yeah. Yeah, he is a fault for some of this too. I mean he did not.

00:10:14
Speaker 1: I mean, yeah, he's at fault more than anyone. I never really understood the hire to begin with. He clearly impressed them in the interview process and everything, and he comes from a great lineage and he got to bring his dad, who was a great offensive line coach. Although the offensive line I would say is the most single most disappointing part of the entire team right now. So it didn't work with Tennessee. But you just you never saw an imprint. You saw very predictable play calling, Like the Raiders knew exactly what was coming last week. There was a play Devin White talked about it afterwards like we knew exactly what they were doing on different and you saw that again and again that it was just a really poorly run offense. They didn't win games, they didn't show progress, So all that like makes sense. Mike McCoy if if you happen to remember the final days of the San Diego charge he was the coach, was a very depressing time. The last couple of years he was put in a tough spot. He did have a winning record one year when he started out, and then the last couple of years they thought they were leaving San Diego. I was at what they thought was the last game in San Diego Chargers history, and Eric Weddle goes around the stadium and it's very emotional and it's like this beautiful thing with the fans. And then the next year they're like, actually, we are coming back. And then so they do it again the next year and it's kind of, you know, again not official, and they fire Mike McCoy right afterwards, and he's just kind of been passed around since. Not an inspiring hire. But ultimately this keeps all the rest of the staff at the same position. And I did notice how Paul Koharski, who covers them locally, kept getting messages from different Titans fans who were getting texts from the team to buy season tickets now that they've fired Brian Callahan, because previously they said we'll consider buying some tickets when you fire Brian Callahan, and so is them circling back, And to me, I think that that's it more than anything is just total apathy and just trying to give the fans something that they are happy about.

00:12:09
Speaker 2: They're gonna now now obviously early on here, and you're going to see this probably with at least one to two other teams. Before the season is done, coaching search cycle starts all over again, so you see you'll see a lot of names put into the running quote unquote. Agents are really good at that this time of year, floating the names of their clients as possible candidates for jobs like this. You'll see probably them look in a lot of different areas, including college football. With some of the movement that's happening and will continue to happen with that big Penn State job coming open, there will be movement all across college football because of that. You're going to see the Titans. Really this will be interesting because they're first, so in your first you know, that's part of it too. I think why they move the way they did when you're first, you get a head start on everybody and to try to get it right.

00:12:57
Speaker 1: Well, we'll see if they can. Obviously, we hope, hope the best for cam Ward, but he's got eleven more games to go in his rookie season. There's so much more and uh, they're keeping the same play caller Bo Hart agree, even though he's not the offensive coordinator, which that's confusing to Dinard Wilsone coach, Right.

00:13:15
Speaker 2: Yeah, who's doing that?

00:13:16
Speaker 1: I know that you figure they get the bum from getting rid of Callahan, but also like how much can you really change in that quick of a of a period. And Mike McCoy seems seems like a nice guy. Definitely not like a fun interim head coach. He's not part of that genre of coaches which I love, like like Dan Campbell, Like Dan Campbell with the Dolphins back in the day, who's got to make speeches and got to get everyone fired up. Mike McCoy is, you know, kind of the Brian Callahan of interim head coaches. He's he's just kind of there. But maybe he's learned a lot over the last decade. We'll see, all right, let's just fly through the rest of this news. Puka Akua is expected to miss some time. According to Ian Rappaport, McVeigh will not go that far and just says he's day to day. They're going into a bye week, so it does make sense that they would let his ankle heal and see if he can come back after the bye. How do you think they look offensively without him? We'll preview the show. But just on the Puka front.

00:14:17
Speaker 2: Well, you need Jordan Winning to step up because he's kind of the one who plays in a little bit more of that Puka role, specifically some of the more hybrid tight end stuff that Puka does, less so the pure receiver stuff that Puka does. So you really need more from Jaywitt, who had a couple bad plays last week in a big drop that he should have had. So that's one thing. This is DeVante Adams now and him and Matthew Stafford missed a couple of plays together this last game, a couple of like just out of sync kind of timing stuff. So you really got to get that locked in. This is one of those two where it would not surprise me at all if Puka tries to go like if they say, oh, we'll leave it all the way up until game time, first of all, because that's just who he is. Second of all, they're playing the Jacksonville Jaguars, Sean McVay disciple, Liam Cohen, Lesnie disciple, James Gladstone of course they're going to try to play it, you know, funny the entire way through. But it also to me would not be smart to play him because if you get hurt overseas, that's a long plane ride back and a brutal one to have an injury on and then you have the bye week on the other side.

00:15:22
Speaker 1: Yeah, they got they got to think long term and think that, hey, if we're the team that we think we are, we could go win a game overseas against the Jaguars without pukuin Akua. So that will be interesting to see because he's been as valuable as any player in the league. Brian Branch, we talked about the fight that happened after the Chiefs Lions game. I threw it out there wondering like, is there a chance he would get suspended and it did happen. I think some of his previous infractions might have played a factor here, maybe even Dan Campbell's words after the game where he had no quarter essentially for Brian Branch, no, you know, saying like we we will not stand for that thought it was a cheap shot. So they lose Brian Branch for a tough matchup for the Lions.

00:16:08
Speaker 2: Are depleted in the secondary too. That's tough.

00:16:10
Speaker 1: They are down their top two cornerbacks and now they're down Brian Branch for a game. Who do they have this week? I forget, off the top of my head, they have the Tampa Bay Buccaneers before their bye week. So the Bucks getting a bunch of receivers. Yeah, getting a little bit of injury luck on the other side, which which they also had last week in San Francisco, So sometimes it works both ways. Speaking of you know, coaches that are under you know, the microscope, Aaron Glennon, I wouldn't say he's on the hot seat, but he he is zero and six and I don't think he's done himself a ton of favors for how he's handled the postgame press conferences throughout the course of the season. Let's listen to him being asked after the game about justin fields justice numbers are knock good on? This team is going to be next week?

00:17:00
Speaker 4: Or come on, man, what kind of question is that not a good game? I think there's a number of guys that you know, I mean, sometimes this league is like this and there are guys that have bad games. That doesn't mean you just bench them. Come on, you know better than that?

00:17:14
Speaker 1: Hmmm does he? That's a totally fair question. I think the better questions is like, why didn't you Benjamin that game? Like it was one of the many things I wish I had said about that that performed, Like if you put Tyrod Taylor into the game late in that game, I think they win it. And I think there's a lot of players on the team that probably think that too.

00:17:31
Speaker 2: Yeah, first of all, I don't think justin Field is over all the problem here with with what's happening in the Jets right now and has continued to happen to them. But a game like that where he has the third worst EPA per drop back of the season and the second worst from a couple of weeks ago against Buffalo, but that this game specifically the third worst, and was not throwing the ball downfield lowest average distance of throw in the NFL since the season began of any team of any quarterback. So yeah, you want to throw the ball down the field, you have to throw the ball down the field a little bit more. And either they weren't letting him, or he's not trusting what he's seeing, or guy all of the above. And he's holding the ball, he's taking sacks. I think, to me, this is more like a beat writer who already knows the head coach really well, the head coach who already knows the beat right. I don't know who it was, but it was very blunt. It was very like I think sometimes we think that things are being antagonistic, when sometimes that's just the way people communicate with each other because they know each other really well, and it happens to get picked up at the wrong time by the cameras. Now, I will say locally and fairly. So there is pushback on his comments overall in terms of the strategy of them, because you do need to think about whether or not you need to make a move at quarterback well.

00:18:47
Speaker 1: In that game. But I think it speaks to where he struggled and where Tanner Engstrom struggled too, Like calling, yeah, a drop back pass when you needed five or six more yards to win the game and you just ran the ball pretty well and you call it pass on first down. I think it's a totally fair question.

00:19:04
Speaker 2: Oh, I agree, that's what I'm saying. I don't know that a ton should be made about the question. The answer itself, I just because I think it's a fair question. And honestly, I think, to me, if he's really looking at this game, and I think he is, he's seeing a lot of problems with his own situational management, with the play calling on the offensive side, with the play calling on the defensive side. Like, there's a lot of other issues, That's what I'm saying that aren't necessarily it feels had a bad game, let's not sugarcoat that. But there's a lot of issues strategically and situationally with this team that don't get fixed by benching the starting QUARTERBA.

00:19:36
Speaker 1: One thing I've just noticed is in his post game he just refuses to He's just I think so angry after the game that he refuses to give anything. And I think he would be under a little less heat there if not for.

00:19:54
Speaker 2: Shoot, look at Jacksonville, like.

00:19:55
Speaker 1: The higher expectations, which the.

00:19:57
Speaker 2: Positions right switch the positions we're having to say conversation about Liam Cohen, who has done a great job so far but has had some sloppy stuff on offense. If you switch those two markets in those two coaches right now, we're not even talking about this. We are talking about you got to figure your you know what out in terms of the game management, to play calling, get better play out of the quarterback, have a better plan for the quarterback. But quarterback has to play better.

00:20:22
Speaker 1: We are Liam Cohen might have some wins though, that's the main thing.

00:20:24
Speaker 2: But that's the thing we're we're not like that's the tone. Yeah, we're talking a lot about the tone. I don't I just don't really, I don't really see the point of it.

00:20:32
Speaker 1: I think it's it's it's more representing maybe maybe how that locker room is feeling, or maybe just like giving a little bit to that Farah.

00:20:43
Speaker 2: Wilson was pretty open about how disappointed he was about that late second quarter into halftime strategy. Like he said, I know, once I learned what the plan was, I was disappointed and as he as he should be. It was a cowardly way to coach a football game.

00:20:57
Speaker 1: Yeah, I think when when you're the kind of a CEO head coach, you have to have that part of the game and part of it is game management buttoned down, and part of it is handling the media afterwards. The Minnesota Vikings are not letting us know who the starter is at quarterback. This week, Kevin O'Connell says he wants to see how this week looks for JJ McCarthy. He also mentioned Carson Wentz will be practicing. Does feel like Carson Wentz has a good chance to start again, a little bit of a soft benching. I feel like for JJ McCarthy.

00:21:34
Speaker 2: There is somebody who you are not thinking about in this conversation that I think the local media there has been thinking about since training camp. We all should be thinking about and talking about as it pertains to can Carson Wentz actually like not Carson Wentz up a game, you know or has he heard it? Like it banged up Max Brosmer, their backup who basically they he was the only backup that stayed on the team. They overhauled their higher quarterbacks room late into training camp to bring Carson Winson. They kept Max Brosmer in when I was there for training camp. Not only was he throwing the ball really well, but like the coaching staff like this kid's got something and the coaching staff is buying in on his development.

00:22:16
Speaker 5: Now.

00:22:16
Speaker 2: I'm not saying he's gonna come out here and be the future. I'm not saying that at all. Please don't be in my comments section, But and I put him on the Future Hits list for that reason, and I got I caught heat for it, because why the hell am I putting don't don't I know JJ McCarthy's on this team, Why the hell am I putting Max Brosmer for the Minnesota Vikings choice and all of that fair. But he's got something to him and the coaches see it and they like it, and they want him to keep They want him to stick around, and they want to develop it.

00:22:41
Speaker 1: I was getting excited in London when when he was worming up on the sideline, we thought it was Bras time, but it didn't happen. Wentz stayed in that game. The more interesting part for me is if JJ McCarthy is back on the practice field, and maybe they'll use the injury as an excuse. They're bringing him back slowly, but if he is on the practice field and he's not starting, it is really taking a more aggressive Hey, we're trying to develop this kid long term, but we kind of decided he is not ready to go right now and he is not going to be starting games when he is able, which was kind of my suspicion over the last couple of weeks anyways, and it's different, but I think we have to support quarterbacks having different development arcs, yes and timeline, So we definitely would have been surprised going into the season to find out that this is how it was going. But we'll see. Maybe it will be McCarthy this week and this will all be a waste of time. Surprising news this week, Eagles pass rusher Zadarius Smith retired out of nowhere and he signed with the team four weeks ago. Made a big impact, i would say, in the first couple of games and has been playing plenty there without Nolan Smith, so they are very thin in terms of their edge rush group. It is becoming a major problem for them. They have a Zizo Jalari, they have Jlyx Hunt, but they are just not getting much heat. So it just makes you think that Howie Roseman's going to make a move there, maybe a move at cornerback. More than that in a little bit. And then finally I noticed Chauncey Gardner Johnson was released from the practice squad, and since we are the official podcast tracking all the doings of CJ GJ are Great, producer, Eric decided he'd put together something combining a couple of clips from the last few weeks. Let's be real, every team that's gotten Chauncey Gardner Johnson since has gotten sick of him pretty quickly.

00:24:36
Speaker 2: But it's always it's getting shorter and short, it's getting shorter.

00:24:40
Speaker 1: The Eagles had him for a year and then they let him go to the Lions, who had him for a year, and to be fair to you know, CJGG, the Eagles took him back once getting add a little spicy defense you CJ. Gardner Johnson who did not play well or fit in in Houston. Yeah, but you don't go to the Ravens kicking that noise.

00:24:58
Speaker 2: How many weeks is he there?

00:25:00
Speaker 1: I feel like he's gonna have learned and he's a good player. Oh yeah, I'm gonna say, all right, there we go weeks left. We'll be there through this left and then I'm gonna give him one more year, thirty weeks left. I just think it's a solid year.

00:25:12
Speaker 2: And at any point but.

00:25:13
Speaker 1: This is and then it'll kind of expire. That second clip was from seven days ago, so I was only twenty nine weeks off. That was rough.

00:25:24
Speaker 2: That's okay, you know what his agents, we start the counter is the agent.

00:25:27
Speaker 1: Told Pro Football Talk that they wanted a spot with a clearer path to plane, and once the Ravens made another trade for a safety Aloie Gilman, the path to plane was really no longer there, and so he gone.

00:25:41
Speaker 2: I need someone to not let me put off getting a haircut for quite long in the future. Real shaggy September over here.

00:25:49
Speaker 1: I mean, yes, that those two clips from September and quiet October, so much happens. I love a little shaggy September. Let's take a break. We're going to play a little game of would you wrap there? In just a few minutes, tak a little TNF two back on NFL Daily and we're gonna play a quick game of would you rather? And we're approaching the trade deadline. We're still pretty far away November fourth, but I've already gotten a lot of trades.

00:26:19
Speaker 2: Mm h. This is great for you. You love this.

00:26:22
Speaker 1: I love trade season. And if you think about this season in particular, there's a lot of teams at the bottom definite sellers. Titans, Raiders, Saints, Browns, Jets. That's a lot of potential sellers. Considering we're only six weeks in. We still got a few more weeks. There's more possible teams out there, Like would the Ravens and Bengals ever be sellers? I mean if the Ravens Cardinals, Yeah, if they took on some l so we're gonna play some Would you rather mine were somewhat focused on jamming some some trade content?

00:26:54
Speaker 2: So I'm gonna shocked by this information.

00:26:57
Speaker 1: I'm just gonna throw out one which has just like a little bit of backing, you know, information behind it, but is more just spicy and fun. Would you rather Aj Brown? Or actually, let's go AJ Brown and a fourth round pick? Or Christian Gonzales of the Patriots?

00:27:19
Speaker 2: Whoa, oh man.

00:27:23
Speaker 1: This is partly informed by Mike Rabel and the Patriots seeming to be like a little annoyed all the time about Christian injuries, about injuries and about injured players in general.

00:27:34
Speaker 2: This wasnese not actually humanly helped. Let's be annoyed about that.

00:27:39
Speaker 1: And yeah, and Mike Rabel made it pretty clear in Tennessee he would get sick of and sometimes get rid of players who would miss practice with soft tissue injuries, which is what christ so to me, it doesn't make a ton of sense to trade him. But if you would, the Patriots have been connected with AJ Brown. And this is just a way of the large your conversation and look, teams are having it around the league, like could AJ Brown be available? I think there's a lot of teams that think either AJ Brown or DeVante Smith could be available at some point. To me, AJ Brown would make more sense of those two. And so there's an interesting need combo here. I think the Eagles would do that trade. But which would you rather?

00:28:23
Speaker 2: I would rather have? If I'm a team that's in contention possibility like at a Hey, I'm a buyer and I'm looking to see if you know, after the deadline I can make a real run. Would I would take AJ Brown? If I had a quarterback and if I had a pass heavy or even balanced attack like I'm looking at. You know, there's a couple teams in Los Angeles that might be into having AJ Brown on their roster. There are teams all over the NFC. There's a Buffalo Bills team.

00:28:53
Speaker 1: If he was available, he'd have a fantastic market.

00:28:56
Speaker 2: Yes, there'd be a Buffalo Bills team that might be super interested in having a receiver finally, a number one receiver like AJ Brown on the team, and maybe even having a player such as that on your roster kills the entire section of the playbook that's all gadget plays. How about that? Wouldn't that be something for the Buffalo Bills. Yeah, I think I would pick AJ Brown. I love Christian Gonzales, you know this, but I think that I would rather. If I'm looking to actually make a push, I'm looking at scoring points, run blocking, I pick Aj a little.

00:29:29
Speaker 1: Maybe I'm overrating Christian Azal because I threw in a fourth with AJ Brown, Because I just figured Gonzalez is going to get a big contract after this season. He'll be eligible, yeah, for the first time. So the big contract wait the Patriots out is coming. But the big contract would be coming for AJ Brown too. You can't trade for him and not give him even another upgrade, although he just got one. He's already getting paid a lot of money. But the difference in years I just think about. Yes, I guess what top like number one wide receivers are earth on the market a little bit more than number one cornerbacks. But I think if you were just putting cornerbacks on the open market in a vacuum, everyone's just available. I would guess Christian Gonzalez would be a top five cornerback in the entire NFL, and maybe AJ Brown is a top five receiver too, But at that age and you have cost control for him, like for five six years, I would think that would be like an extremely attractive trade target that Patriots fans would go crazy if they traded him.

00:30:29
Speaker 2: But if you are again you're talking trade deadlines, yesally Greg, So you're not really thinking necessarily about twenty twenty six. If you're a team that is aggressive to buy at the trade deadline, you are thinking about this January and potentially this February. That's what you're thinking about. All the other stuff can come after that, but that's what you're thinking about. Is breaking through that final window of contention, that final little ceiling and getting into like the real contention area versus playoff contention. You have to make some big moves in order to get to that point. And that's why I think a team would and and potentially will even make this move if he's available, because he could take he can take your receiver's room from an A to an A plus a B to an A plus hell a C to an A depending on your passing attack and your quarterback. If you bring him into your building.

00:31:22
Speaker 1: Well, imagine AJ Brown is the one you're talking about. You need to get quarterback. How would Drake May? He would he would qualify. Think, Oh, I mean I want this to be in the trade. This is that's yes, that's the trade. That's what I'm saying. Which, so you're so back I think that, I think I could see that happening. I wouldn't want it. I actually would rather have Christian Gondals personally because of the long term, long term thing. Hard to find a good young cornwork. All right, give me one.

00:31:48
Speaker 2: Okay, this is kind of related to not just this head coaching vacancy, but a couple of others who have been on shaky ground over the last year or so. Would you rather you're starting in twenty twenty six. You're not coming in now, You're starting in twenty twenty six. Rosters as is okay, so don't do the free agent math or anything. Rosters are as is. Would you rather take over the Tennessee Titans, the New York Jets, the Miami Dolphins, or the New York Giants?

00:32:18
Speaker 1: In Ownership counts.

00:32:20
Speaker 2: Ownership, everything counts, But you are making roster and coaching decisions.

00:32:25
Speaker 1: Oh I'm drunk with power. Yeah, well you'd like this one. Yeah, you can eliminate the Dolphins and the Jets quickly. I think because they don't have quarterbacks that I would want Jackson Dart is a consideration ownership. You know, these are teams that have done a lot of losing. Ultimately, I think you'd feel better about the Giants ownership, like over the you know, the longest of stretches, so that that's a positive for them. You know, I'm gonna have a lot of confidence that I'm going to be the one to really fix things, and I can fix some camboard. I think I would take over the Titans of it just because of camboard.

00:33:05
Speaker 2: That's that's an interesting one. I actually thought you would pick that one. I actually would pick the Dolphins because I if I'm looking at the roster as is what I see. If I am a GM or whoever the person in control is going to be, I will get to hire my own head coach at that point, and intern there hasn't already been a move to make that move prior to twenty twenty six. Okay, I will I see a roster full of big time tradable assets from the quarterback to the edge rushers to the receivers. Still if you want to.

00:33:39
Speaker 1: But you said, like for the rest of this season or next no, no, next season, Well those guys are all gone.

00:33:43
Speaker 2: But I'm saying you have this whatever core is there, now, this is what you have to work with. That's what I'm saying. Don't think agency or whatever. Like I see a complete rebuild, and I see a huge load of picks coming in, draft picks coming in because of all of these players who would then be deemed as tradable to completely overhaul and rebuild that entire proce.

00:34:07
Speaker 1: See we we we see things differently because they would be last on my list. I don't see any players that I really want long term. There are not many like Jalen and Waddle. Like there's one Patrick Paul, somebody, there's two.

00:34:20
Speaker 2: Somebody would trade for Tua, sure.

00:34:23
Speaker 1: But not not that much. And you'd have to you have to take a dead cap hit and everything to get rid of him. I don't think you're going to get much the pass rushers, even pretending they're on the team next year, which they're not going to be.

00:34:35
Speaker 2: This is the parameter, right, But even then he gave me a J Brown, a fourth round pick. You play in the parameters of my game, So I will never play settlers of Cata.

00:34:44
Speaker 1: I would put him, you know, even if you're getting the stuff that you would get for him, like this year, for instance, because I think Chubb and Jalen Phillips will be available in trades. I just I don't know if it's much. The longer I thought about it, though, after I answered quickly because my initial instinct is just just take the team with the best quarterback. Yeah, I don't think that's right, because I think the Jets and the Giants ultimately have way more foundational pieces that I like. I kind of like the Jets offensive line, like their vacuum. They're two young tackles, that's like a really nice starting point. You have Garrett Wilson, you have Sauce Gardner. It's a lot to overcome. The Giants I think are the pick. Actually, though for me, now that I came all the way back around, I'm not sure how I feel about Jackson Dart, but I get to see what happens, and you know, you took them late enough that you can still have eyes wide open at quarterback. But you have Molik Neighbors, you have Andrew Thomas, you have Abdell Carter, you have Brian Burns, you have Dexter Lawrence. Ultimately, you have at least a history that they used to win some games.

00:35:51
Speaker 2: That was my second pick.

00:35:52
Speaker 1: Blue.

00:35:53
Speaker 2: The Giants were my second pick because of all of the players that you just said, minus perhaps Jackson Dark because I would not want it to take over a team and inherit a quarterback who wasn't like a lights out Jayden Daniel's superstar, like you know.

00:36:07
Speaker 1: We'll see how he looks the rest of the year and then we'll just replace him.

00:36:10
Speaker 2: And yeah, that's what I'm saying, is like you could always you could always move from somebody who isn't necessarily a top five pick. You can always reputationally and optically move on from that player. So it's good. I just wouldn't want to inherit the quarterback.

00:36:21
Speaker 1: That's fair. Although after that last game, I mean my mind is open. That game was good enough to change.

00:36:28
Speaker 2: We don't know if he's gonna make it to next year. Cope, he stays healthy.

00:36:32
Speaker 1: That one game. That one game was good enough though to change I think, like the math of Jackson Dark. Like if we were redoing the draft right now just based off that one game, I think it would be like you have to move off your points. That game was good enough at an NFL level, and he did so many different really good things in that game, like he would be a top five pick. He would no longer be a late pick.

00:36:54
Speaker 2: I love this because I remember, and fairly so. I think at the time you comped him to Tim Tebow because because.

00:37:00
Speaker 1: I just went that was a team TEPO performance. You mean in terms of the stack.

00:37:04
Speaker 2: Eric's been great to sun up some of the tapes we could we could go through the transcript, so yes, later on, but I remember texting you during this this last game that their their win and saying, see not Tim Tebo.

00:37:16
Speaker 1: Yes, I mean very much not Tim Tebow in that game. I'm going to do a little different type of would you rather We're going to go back to the trade candidates. But first this is more of just a life one, all right, you have the option.

00:37:30
Speaker 2: Remember I'm already getting hit twenty times in my lifetime by Miles Garrett.

00:37:34
Speaker 1: It's closer to that one. All right, you have the option, and we actually have a drop ready here. You have the option to listen to this drop in a soundproof booth.

00:37:46
Speaker 2: Baker Ball Cathe sod rolling manbe baker Ball Caith Sadrobe no baker Bole Cathe.

00:37:56
Speaker 1: So just keep that plane.

00:37:59
Speaker 2: Listen to this keeps while in a soundproof booth baker Ball for.

00:38:05
Speaker 1: Twenty four hours straight, while watching the Baker Mayfield Scramble from Sunday on a huge television in which the soundproof booth, you will be given exactly two salads from the huddle at ten hour intervals. You can choose the ingredients of the salads. I know you like that, okay or okay.

00:38:28
Speaker 2: Ball yeah, please stop?

00:38:31
Speaker 1: Okay. So it would be twenty three hours fifty nine minutes more of that, but then you're watching the scramble or you're back in the soundproof booth for twenty four hours, but you have to listen to a specially curated podcast by Eric collecting every single mention and discussion of Drake may since the inception of NFL Daily. You don't have to clap for when you like good points, but every time you do a bag of trapper beef jerky magically appears for sustenance, So it's which would you rather?

00:39:09
Speaker 2: This is so personally curated. I don't know whether to be horrified or feel very special? Right, thank you? Oh I do love a huddle sour.

00:39:20
Speaker 1: Okay, I thought that would be.

00:39:22
Speaker 2: Playing the sound. Stop playing the sound.

00:39:27
Speaker 1: It's twenty four hours. What if I threw in with the drake May deal. You can also get the bucks, you know every Sunday as like an assience. I picked that, Okay, so good. I just think that I want you to have to listen to all the drake May the beef jerky. Anytime you clap, you have to clap to a good point.

00:39:42
Speaker 2: But yeah, good job, Greg, Thank you right the whole time, Greg, Drake May Drake May.

00:39:49
Speaker 1: Greg. No, No, we've got We've got time to go. All right, you're up.

00:39:53
Speaker 2: Oh that was so fun. Okay, I took your This is another like very person only detailed one. I you know, I cherish our friendship, and so I thought about you specifically when designing this one, mostly based on your stature.

00:40:11
Speaker 1: Would you like to talk about that a lot?

00:40:12
Speaker 2: Complete? A pass behind attempt to pass behind the Raiders offensive line or against the Broncos defensive line.

00:40:22
Speaker 1: Oh wait, you have to complete complete a pass behind behind the Raiders offense.

00:40:29
Speaker 5: One.

00:40:29
Speaker 2: I'd rather either do that or attempt to pass against the Broncos defensive.

00:40:36
Speaker 1: Okay, well, I would just go Raiders because I would hope that you know, we're playing the Titans or something like that. I don't know who we're playing.

00:40:42
Speaker 2: Jeffrey Simmons right in your face.

00:40:43
Speaker 1: I mean, that wouldn't be great.

00:40:44
Speaker 2: I mean interior pressure for a lower stature quarterback.

00:40:48
Speaker 1: But basically, the Browns defense is a worst case scenario. If you're picking the defensive line, I least want to go against. You know, they're in the top five certainly, So I just feel like I'm going to roll with the Raiders. I feel like silver and black I would look good. It's slimming, it's cool. I feel like you put sixty percent G on the back of a Raiders jersey. That's selling. Yeah, you know.

00:41:12
Speaker 2: I also feel like, because you I would know that you would want to just for a minute, put yourself into Geno Smith's shoes, his cleats, feel his I mean, not this year. You'd want to feel just a small percentage of his pain. Take that away from him, you know, take it upon your shoulders. It was in that moment. You know, you only see one pair of footprints leaving the field that day, Greg, It's in that moment that you carried him.

00:41:36
Speaker 1: I would do anything to help him out because he is not having fun playing football right now. You can see it. They got the shackles on him. It's not going well. And yeah, you can kind of. Yeah, just imagine what it's like for you know, watching Dylan Gabriel every week and then like subtract like four or four more inches he's what five ten, five eleven, Yeah, it would it would be comical. I will wrap up with a more of a trade deadline. He won again because they didn't want to get you know, some talking in this. There's a lot of interesting players potentially available, and so I just thought I would give you some of the offensive skill guys who would you want the most? So I'll give you Chris Olava or Jacoby Myers or Breese Hall or Rashid Shaheed. Those are some of the most interesting skill position players I think will be available for various prices during the trade deadline.

00:42:38
Speaker 2: Jalen Waddle an option at all, No, you.

00:42:40
Speaker 1: Could throw that in if you really want.

00:42:42
Speaker 2: Okay, I'd probably take Jalen Waddle. Okay, Chris o Lave would be good. I worry about the the concussion history, obviously as a human, I worry about that. For him. Rashid Shaheed's got some pop. I think I would take Jalen Waddle though, if I was going to choose, especially if I'm looking at the parameters in context of the trade deadline, like I said, buying to win now, Yeah, that's I think I would want that speed and versatility on my on my roster.

00:43:11
Speaker 1: I think I think they'll wind up not really making him available, but I'm I'm making him available to you, so that that's a totally fair answer. I could see that. It's interesting to watch a lobby and Shaheed. Shaheed's running more diverse routes these days. Like he beat Carlton Davis, you know, on press coverage last week with a really nice move and we were talking about too too out. Well before the show, you're saying you can't you know, you can't teach that sort of speed. Well, like Brashid Shaheed's got that sort of speed. Literally the fastest player in the NFL this year. In terms of, you know, miles per hour on the on that long touchdown, and some size to him and a little bit of versatility. Albbs happens to be coming off one of the worst games of his career, so maybe it's tough, but it had me go back to watch those targets because he is not He's not bringing in the contested catches he had. I would say three drops in that game, like PFF for instance, only gave him one. He's not quite as explosive or maybe as confident as he used to be. His yards per catch under ten. He's an interesting player. I think as a trade deadline approaches, if I was picking one of these players to most likely actually get dealt, I think it would be Jacoby Myers, just because he's on.

00:44:21
Speaker 2: The well and he there was all that buzz beforehand before the season you wanted to get to be traded. So yeah, I have no reason to believe that won't eventually happen with the Raider season going the way that it is.

00:44:33
Speaker 1: Our friend Adam as you know, he's got good connections and yeah, look, I think any Saints player, for the most part, except for the really young players, are going to be available for the right price. But there's a couple of guys on that team, like Pete Werner, their linebacker, or Carl Granderson who you almost expect to get dealt I don't think a guy like Shaheed or even a Lave would go unless someone comes in and gives a big price.

00:44:58
Speaker 2: Unless two two out Well is not available move and I believe he will be.

00:45:01
Speaker 1: Yeah, he would be available, but he would have cost second rounder minimum maybe at first. I mean, he's gonna get a big contract, good big second contract. I wondered if Jordan Addison could ever be available, just because the contracts structure. They need him this year, but also you know he's had the suspensions and things that are always popping up. David and Joku I think will be available.

00:45:23
Speaker 2: I see that one.

00:45:24
Speaker 1: There's some interesting offensive linement like the entire Rounds interior line I think could be available. Kevin Zeitler or the Titans I think could be available. It'll be interesting. We'll get into it more when we get clear.

00:45:35
Speaker 2: Your favorite to the deadline, Your favorite time of year? Great Season, Part two.

00:45:40
Speaker 1: Our TNF preview. It is in Cincinnati Thursday night. Steelers are five and a half point favorites going to Cincinnati, and yeah, Joe Flacco who started for the Bengals only suddenly, yes, six days after arriving there is gonna start another game four days after the first start. It's outrageous, at least according to Mike Tomlin.

00:46:05
Speaker 5: You know, to be honest, it was shocking to me. Andrew Berry must be a lot smarter than me or us, because it doesn't make sense to me to trade a quarterback that you think enough of to make your opening day starter to a division opponent that's hurting in that area. But that's just my personal feelings.

00:46:25
Speaker 1: Who Okay, someone is not a fan of Andrew Berry because I feel like Mike Tomlin would not make that point at a criticism for something that is worthy of being critique this specific move if you want to from Mike Tomlin, if he didn't have a little more of something there that he's just not a fan of how Andrew Berry and the Browns do business.

00:46:45
Speaker 2: Someone wanted to face Jake Browning.

00:46:48
Speaker 1: Come on, that's fair.

00:46:49
Speaker 2: He knows Joe Flaco so well at this point that dude wanted Jake Browning ball. I know you're still a believer.

00:46:55
Speaker 1: No, I'm not I'm definitely not.

00:46:57
Speaker 2: No, but he that guy really wanted Jake Browning.

00:47:00
Speaker 1: I don't think it's that. I think he's questioning like the integrity of the Browns and how they operate. And I saw a lot of people answered it's like, oh, well you got something for Joe Flacco, like that's a clear win, Like of course you would do that. Like what are you even talking about? You can't be worried you're not gonna win your division anyways. Okay, let's calm down about Oh they got something, they got something about, Hey, we got trade research. You got a fifth to a sixth round pick swap that's worth nothing, like that is worth next to nothing and whatever people make a big deal of like, oh we got something for him, and it's some like pick swap that you're gonna give up a million times on Day three of the draft when you're just like moving, it's just like calm down. I kind of like Mike Tomlin saying, like, are we even trying to win at playing football here? Or we just are we just like playing math?

00:47:46
Speaker 2: Yeah, because he sometimes he does make comments about other organizations, but it's never over like it's always very there's a lot of like subtext to wade through, and there's like hints and clues, bits and pieces, but never like I'm going to call you by your name kind of a thing like that was wild to me. I still, I do think there's something too, not really wanting to see the more veteran quarterback, especially one who's so familiar with the Steelers and the defense they have always run. That's changing a little bit now, but still is Mike Tomlin's defense twenty five times, twenty two in the regular season and three times in the playoffs. These Joe Flacco has faced the Steelers.

00:48:26
Speaker 1: Wow.

00:48:27
Speaker 2: Blaco is eleven and eleven in the regular season against the Steelers and one to two in the playoffs. In the twenty two regular season meetings. This courtesy of my colleague Mike de Fabo at the Athletic he's completed sixty one percent of his passes with twenty seven touchdowns and twelve interceptions for a passer rating of eighty five point four. When he's at a passer rating of ninety eight or higher, he's been seven to zero including the playoffs against the Steelers. So yeah, I think he wanted Jake Browning.

00:48:54
Speaker 1: Yeah, I mean let's calm down though, Like I know.

00:48:57
Speaker 2: It's like Joe Flacco, It's like seventy year old Joe.

00:49:00
Speaker 1: Get that. No, I mean, let's come down. Those numbers are doing a lot of work from you know, ten to fifteen years previous when they were.

00:49:08
Speaker 2: Seventy year old Joe Flago. But he still he knows this group.

00:49:11
Speaker 1: He played well last week. I think the Bengals are putting a lot into what happened in the second half of last week. But he did show up there and that Jamar Chase touchdown was a thing of beauty. And we find out after the game that it was inaudible called by Jamar Chase. I mean, I haven't heard that happen. I love. It also makes you wonder, like what exactly is Zach Taylor doing there that the wide receiver is going into the huddle and just calling plays because Flacco and Chase and Higgins. Flacco was saying it was so cool to see how good they are on the field, like he literally had in practice with them, He had twelve practice snaps with them during the week and to see what they could do on the field, and they were just talking about, hey, this could work, that could work and they're out there just like calling plays by themselves. And I think he got rid of the ball very quickly in the second half of that game. He was decisive and he looked better in that one half than he had at any point for the Browns this season.

00:50:02
Speaker 2: Yeah, he gives the great receivers a chance, and he's not really like he's playing kind of like fit mode football right now. He literally has nothing to lose. These teams are trading him around basically being like, can you help us get the ball to our pass catchers so that they don't stop showing up to our building? Like, get these guys the ball. And that's what he's going to do. And with as sort of banged up and limited as they've been the Steelers have been in the secondary, Joey Porter Junior obviously came back last week, still a little bit banged up from the injury. Jalen Ramsey was dealing with the hamstring but played really well last week on a short week. I think that, Yeah, you're probably kind of annoyed that this is the guy who's at least going to give his pass catcher a shot, right.

00:50:45
Speaker 1: I do think he's an upgrade ultimately, they have so many other problems on their team, and so I'm curious what you think about Aaron Rodgers coming off potentially this game in years. Yeah, potentially his best game since the Packers. He did have some great box score games with the Jets last year, but eye test wise, I thought he kept stacking really good play after really good play. He had the wow plays, but overall he was just really composed. And he's going up against a Bengals defense which might not have Trey Hendrickson and just benched their inside linebacker Logan Wilson, who had gotten multiple long term contracts and is only twenty nine years old, and they benched them for a rookie, Barrett Carter. So they're playing two rookies at linebacker, neither of Rogers, neither of whom played well last week. By the way, Demetrius Knight really hasn't played well all season. So how about that chess match for Rogers against this al Golden defense which has been playing hard but not consistent.

00:51:40
Speaker 2: When I went back and watched the Steelers this Alto into the Steelers this last game, yeah, I agree with you. I think other than that sort of garbage time of the season, Rams game where the Rams came to the Metal Lands when he was still a jet and made it kind of a game at the end of the game. Other than that game, this is the best game I've seen from Rogers in a while, and it really was the second half. And what I saw from Aaron Rodgers in that game was a lot of the last couple of years have really been punctuated by like there have been mistakes all over the field, himself included, and he's always looking around and getting angry, and he's angry at the sideline, and he's angry at team and he's just angry. Well, in this game, early on, he misses a long pass attempt to DK Metcalf. It was wildly underthrown, like egregiously underthrown. So that's the thing where you're like, Okay, this is probably why in part he's not really throwing the ball down down the field anymore. But he didn't. He got mad. He was mad at himself, clearly, like he sort of internalized it in a way that to me, I've only been watching him externalize it for the last couple of years, and instead he folded back into what the game plan clearly was and will be moving forward, which is hit yak plays and get the ball out fast, which he always does, but depend on the guys to get yards after the catch, whether it's DK Metcalf who's touchdown later in the game was off of a yards after the catch play on a quick throw by Aaron Rodgers where he was excuse me, on a movement throw by Aaron Rodgers where he was bootlegging out, which is great because he looks better moving now than he has in quite some time. He doesn't look twenty, but he definitely looks better than we've.

00:53:20
Speaker 1: A lot of plays a last week.

00:53:21
Speaker 2: A lot of plays on the move. They're moving his spot around and he's getting yards after catch plays to guys like Jalen Warren who is playing a little yards after the catch receiver as well as running the ball and DK Metcalf, And I think, and especially including the tight ends and the way that they're protecting, especially last week, and the way that they're moving his launch point, I think that that bodes well. This bodes well for Aaron Rodgers and the Steelers. If he again he had the confidence and he'd let that thing sail and it was several feet before where he intended to put it, and I think seeing that and then being like, Okay, I got to come back to Arthur Smith's game plan here and actually adhering to it, I think it worked.

00:54:01
Speaker 1: And the play has essentially ended for Rogers this year when he's gotten pressure quickly, even last week, like the numbers under pressure have been bad. And I don't think their offensive line played well at all against Cleveland pass pro wise, but that's a much tougher matchup and they game planned around it so well. We talked to Miles Garrett talked about it in the post game that it didn't matter. So if you have a bad pass protection group and I'm still waiting to see what the Steelers group is, like, I mean, this is the perfect matchup for you. The Bengals just have no juice if Hendrickson is not on the field, and even if he is on the field, they don't have a ton of juice. And you mentioned the tight ends. They have gone to the Darnel Washington offense like he love it. He's dominating snaps. Pat Freiremouth is tight end three there now by quite a distance. So it's Washington playing eighty percent of the snaps. John Wis Smith's gonna be on the field quite a bit, and they're using Washington really as an extra offensive lineman, but also detaching him. And I really think he is the third most important person on that offense to DK Metcalf and Aaron Rodgers, and he might be just as important as DK Metcalf. It's it's crazy. So it's an uphill battle for the Bengals. Although you know, Thursday night in the division at home, if you're into those sort of numbers, it is pretty rare for like a team to go on the road winning the division on these short rest, especially in the AFC North. Yeah, the Bengals have complained about it for years, and they got a home game here this week.

00:55:26
Speaker 2: And I will say I did get a kick out of Aaron Rodgers' response to Evan Washburn, who asked him, what was it like for you to come down and you know, experience some AFC North football after this last game, And Rogers sort of looks at him and is like, well, I've been playing NFC North football for woo and so it's like, okay, So he's not I think I think he's feeling it a little bit, and he's not really phased by any of this. They already have such a gap thanks in part to some of the injuries around the division, especially at quarterback, they already have such a gap. These are games you cannot losebous, so you cannot play down to your opponent. If they can literally just hit the floor of their potential in this game, I think they have no problems in this team.

00:56:06
Speaker 1: Five and a halfs a lot. I would maybe take the Bengals there. And yeah, if the Steelers win this game, they should win the division. I mean they should win the division regardless.

00:56:16
Speaker 2: They have a seventy two percent chance right now before this game of winning the.

00:56:19
Speaker 1: Division, right, And like, yeah, he isn't really raiding the AFC North because he showed up for just in time for Joe Burrow to get hurt, Lamar Jackson to get hurt, for both those teams defenses to absolutely stink, and for the Browns to be the Browns, but a particularly depressing version of the Browns. And oh, by the way, the Steelers defense has been getting better and better Nick Kerberg. No matter how good you think Nick Kerberg is, he's probably better. There's a pretty strong argument to be made that like He's not just the best pass rusher on this team. I think that's I think that's clear right now. He's better than TJ. Watt, but he you know, he's top five in the league just in terms of that, like pure skill set.

00:56:57
Speaker 2: They're sending more blitzes. Jalen had a couple of hits quarterback hits because of the blitzes that they're starting to do safety blitzer or send that slot player in for extra pressure too. That actually really compliments Nick Herbig super well. You could see how well that those two kind of work off of each other. It's not just how he works with the rest of the defensive line and they I know, they were like really penalized last week too. I don't really mind that. I just saw more like juice from this defense, you know, and getting guys back helps obviously, but I just saw just more from them and like just that like that feeling that kind of jumps off the screen that you can't really quantify.

00:57:36
Speaker 1: Yes, I saw that too in London that you know, their defense came out to a slow start, to put it nicely, to start the season, but I think they've been getting better and better as they go. Who knows Bengals defense is you know that I know the webin on the text thread with the Wesleyan brothers, and you know they've noticed that DJ Turner is playing well, like Dax Hill is playing well, like they've been hard. I think they can make this thing interesting. But yeah, ultimately it'd be surprising if the Steelers did not win. We will be recapping that game on Thursday. Yeah, let's forget even playing the music out.

00:58:14
Speaker 2: I picked the other one.

00:58:16
Speaker 1: We will be back.

00:58:18
Speaker 2: I chose the Bear.

00:58:19
Speaker 1: You will be back, Jordan, and this Baker. This drop will probably be back too, because we'll be talking about the Buccaneers and every single game other than TNF, previewing it all from the studio on Wednesday.

00:58:32
Speaker 2: We will see that Baker. Oh my god, that's really annoying. Ball Keith sun rolling Ben