MNF Recap: Eagles-Vikings, Titans-Bills (with Arif Hasan)

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Speaker 1: Protection again, launchdown, Triel, watch wait open touchdown. Hurts keeps the ram the edge and Benson backdown, fighting for the angel. Want to run touch I'm Philadelphia. The second of the night for hurts. Plis cousins to the angel, an interceptid. What a night for cherious sledge. He's got a second and the eagles have their fur to the night. Sometimes that highlight package captures the entire game so well, and that one did. The Eagles get it done on Monday night football, the nightcap of the double header. I am Greg Rosenthal. I'm alongside a reef Hassan of the pro football network. He's covered the vikings for the athletic for a while now, and a reef, welcome to the show. And I say that a highlight package captured the game so beautifully because it included a kirk cousins interception after not handling the blitz. It included Jalen hurts making an absolutely sensational running play and if you listen like really hard, you could almost hear Troy Aikman disdainfully signed in the background of the interception. and to me those were the big stories of tonight's game. It was really not that competitive. I I was. I was stunned by that. Were you stunned, especially by the the vikings defenses inability in the first half to even put up a fight? Yeah, I was. I mean, you know, I figured that the Vikings defense was kind of overrepresenting themselves against the packers first, because packers week one. I think we're just gonna make a thing of that now. But but um, I think that, you know, going up against the team without its top receiver, that was already depleted a receiver and without, know it's two tackles, you know, that allowed the Vikings defense probably to to get a better reputation than it deserved. We saw that against the eagles, who, you know, put out a really good offensive line, had a great receiver and it just really all fell apart for the Vikings. They didn't really have a way of dealing with that. Yeah, you look at the final score and it's only twenty four to seven, you think, okay, they didn't do that bad, but the eagles definitely took their foot off the gas in the second half. They still ended up with twenty five first downs in four hundred and eighty six yards. I mean, Jalen hurts I believe leaved might have had three more than three hundred total yards in the first half alone. So I was getting flashbacks to the Michael Vick six touchdown game in Washington on Monday night football, because that's what this offense reminds me of at its peak. And we've only seen two weeks so far. But jalen hurts is a special runner, a reef, and he got it done throwing the ball tonight. Thirty one for three, thirty three, UH and a touchdown. Also had an interception and we can get into that, but I do want to start with the running because I do think that's where their offense starts. And the runnee had on the goal line where he puts his foot into the ground incredible. I mean he he runs like a running back and then he also gets around the defender that's right in front of him and then he runs over another. Then the other touchdown, where any other quarterback in the league, I think, other than maybe Josh Allen or Prime Cam Newton, goes out of bounds there. But those are the only guys that are considering going for the end zone there and actually get it and reach for it. Jalen hurts like to me that he didn't need like a coming out party, but this felt a little bit like a coming out party. Yeah, actually, Um, you brought you brought Michael Vick and Cam Newton, and I wanted to bring that up because it's like, well, you know, if you're an eagles fan, you've watched, you know, some running quarterbacks. There's been a fair few. The most you know, recent, electrifying warms Michael Vick, but he reminds me more of Cam Newton the way that he can just power through a lot of these runs. I mean like, yeah, he's you know, he's fast, right, you know he's agile, you know, that's all good, um, but his ability to just kind of create, you know, seven, eight additional yards with a word none. That really reminds me of Cam Newton. That was really incredible and it's Nice, you know, to have that in your arsenal. I think that a lot of people don't understand, like why would you go in shotgun at the goal? And also so you can run the read option with one of the best running quarterbacks in the NFL. Right, there are so few quarterbacks, I feel like, that could actually play running back if they really had to. Almost none, and my my list would be too in today's current NFL, would be Josh Allen. If you had to. I think could do it and I think hurts would be even better and I've thought he's somehow underrated as a rusher. I thought Lamar was like this going into his second year. That the the advantage that hurts brings you, because to me he is a special runner because of the vision, because of the power, and that sets up the passing game. Yeah, miles sanders goes seventeen for eight D he's been looking good this year, but it's set up a passing game. Tonight, a reef, where got it, goes five for E D Two, Vante Smith's seven for eight, a j Brown five for sixty nine. Quez Watkins has that big play and goes to for sixty nine. So four receivers go over sixty five yards. And kind of what did you see out of the Vikings? And then what did you see out of the Eagles passing game? That that really made it feel like it was kind of easy pickings and hurts really could have whoever he wanted throughout the night. Yeah, I mean I'll cop to this. I thought that, you know, before he transferred Oklahoma that Jalen hurts his best position in the NFL was running back. I thought, you know, he should have just been a running back, but you know, I guess, Guess Lincoln Riley did something correctly there and was able to turn get better. That's the thing. You know, it we really underrated. A Lot guys get pro coaching and they're doing it as their profession in the age. They get better. Yeah, right, absolutely, and one of the things that, you know, makes them he was always good at this both at Alabama Oklahoma was his ability, particularly to you know, pick apart zones. And the thing is, when you're up against running quarterback, a lot of teams like to play a little bit more zone than they're used to so they can always have their eyes in the quarterback, can converge and if you've got a quarterback that's really good at picking apart those zones, Uh and and you can throw the ball, which you know hurts seems to be able to do for these two weeks. You know that that's tough. You know, the issue is that the Vikings Um you know, they typically play like a match zone, which allows them to play a little bit of man coverage. Uh, and you know, I'll have to watch the tape back again, but it's not like they it looked like they were playing a little bit more of a standard landmark or dropback zone, where they where they go to their spots and they put the rise in the quarterback and that gives you a lot less flexibility, puts, you know, your players in positions where you can just find the scenes in those zones and pick them apart. And that's exactly what the eagles receivers were trained to do. That's exactly where hurts put his eyes. Um, you know, he was probably not always going to his first read. He was going to a second or third read and and they and he knew, based off of, you know, the coverage, that he was looking at where those zones might be. And so the Vikings are are very much a defense that relies on disguise and if you if you have fewer tools available, was getting upset later in the game. UH, well, they normally are what they yeah, what I'm saying here is that they didn't. I think part of that was because they wanted to get all of their players to have the rods in the quarterback and so you don't have the ability to have these weird rules and match zone where, you know, somebody picks up somebody else. You know, you pick up the three while I pick up the two or something like that. Um, you know, they were having the safety's play, you know, a normal too deep and and they and they varied the back end a little bit more than I think Troy Aquin was saying, but you know, for the most part it was pretty easy to identify the defense for a modern NFL quarterback, right and troy. Troy gets frustrated when the game starts getting bad. We'll get to his frustrations with with Kirk cousins in a second, but I do want to just stick with the Eagles for just a little more. When they are dropping back, and you mentioned and how you explain that with the zone coverage makes a lot of sense. When Jalen hurts is getting rid of the ball to a Davante Smith on a third and five, on those kind of easy out routes where he has a very simple read. Um, not that he can't go to a second read because he has so much time him when he needs it. The offensive line was giving him time to go through his reads, but for the most part, on the third and short types of plays, it was easy pickings and he didn't have to go to his second reads because the easy stuff was right there. And that's what I'm talking about when it comes to the running game opening up the rest of their offense. All those changes, the vikings lack of disguise is because of they're afraid of Jalen hurts uh the runner, and if he can hit those relatively simple short area throws, and he's done it through two weeks, to me this should be one of the best offenses in the NFL. Yeah, it certainly has that capability. I mean they've got a great cadre of running backs. They've got, you know, a top three, if not top one, offensive line. They've got a quarterback that can really that really knows how to, you know, do some damage, and you know those top two receivers are great. You know, you'd be nice to see quays Watkins do this again and again and again throughout the weeks. We'll see if he's got that. They love him, by the way. He is he is those typical guys. And I tell me, who's the guy in the Vikings? Maybe it's kJ Osborne, maybe it's someone playing a different position, but he's Quez Watkins is the ultimate like, oh the guys in the building love him. They all think like he's gonna have a much better career than everyone outside of the building loves him. That's what they seem to think about Quez Watkins. Actually, Osborne is is a pretty good example of that. I mean, people won't stop talking about about him and how you know how smart he is, he's like one of the smartest receivers in the room, and how much he loves to block, how much he just like gets in there and you know, all of the normal stuff that you say about a receiver than everybody loves right. He's got basically checks every one of those boxes. So yeah, that's great when that's your third or fourth option, which is what Watkins is in the passing game. Watkins is, you know, their fourth option really behind God her and and maybe even a running back that they get through. So yeah, they were rolling offensively. It's gonna get harder at some point. Uh, this game could have been much harder. Uh If if the defense of the eagles wasn't as dominant as it was. We saw Jonathan Gannon, who got a lot of grief for not blitzing and playing very vanilla a year ago. UH, blitz the hell out of kirk cousins. You know, he blitz the lot last week too, against Jared Goffin. It did not work that well for the most part, but he did it tonight. What did you see out of Kirk? and Are you excited because you're you're going off the Vikings beat, you're going to the national beat. Are you excited, uh, to like not have to answer for Kirk cousins is Monday night football performances anymore? Because it's not your fault. A reef, I appreciate that you put that out there, because sometimes it feels like it is. I know, I mean, I I just know it covered it. They're just like why, why are why is he doing this to us again on Monday night football, like it is kind of a bummer. I mean, yeah, well, and and, and here's the thing. He gets really tiring. Like I kind of wanted the vikings to move on from Kirk, not just because it might be the best move for the franchise, which you know probably right, but because you're tired. Personally. I'm yeah, I just have to come with this guy. Forever and nothing change. But no, I mean again, and I he sees somebody that I think I want to answer for, because that the eagles defense was has been full of excellent players and it feels like they've never been able to turn all those excellent players into a good defense, right, and last week against the lines, we kind of saw that a little bit, right, you know, and and they gave up with thirty five points or something like that. That that felt, you know, like you could do a lot more given the pieces that you have available to you. And then you end up asking questions that are not fair, like is, you know, is Darius slay cooked? Has He done? And it turns out, no, that's not the case. Five, five pass deflections. That's like a season for some players, and along with this couple of interceptions there. Yeah, and and and some of those best deflections could have been he had so many opportunities that he had like enough drops and no one's gonna say he had a bad day or that's the one he should have got, like if you're having a day where you dropped like two picks and no one even remembers that. But what's what's the deal with Kurt because he started this game slow. They went three and out I think four of their first five drives. He he kind of forced it to IRV Smith a couple of times in that spot, but it didn't feel like a disaster. But you've watched them a lot. Like when it starts going bad, it does seem to snowball, and this was one of those games. Yeah, I mean, like you mentioned, Agannon blitched a lot. I think kirk cousins was blitzed just under of his dropbacks tonight. Like that is what that's so it might have been more than anybody else in week two. Like that's wild. That's disrespectful, frankly, really really we don't I can't think of an elite quote. I can't think of an elite quarterback where you feel comfortable blitzing half of them. I mean Lamar against the dolphins last year and that started a trend. Uh, but that that that that was a blip in his career. This I think he was too. At one point he was two for ten, for ten yards against the blitz, with a couple of picks. Yeah, Um, that. Yeah, I think that graphic showed up on the screen and I was like that's probably gonna end up writing about tonight is is kirk cousins against the blitz. So the right tonight after this, I've got I've got one last piece lined up before I apologize then because I've got another podcast after this. Anyway, I've put myself through this. This is it is kind of torture being a Vikings Fan. I can imagine at times it's been a torture being a vikings journalist or you know someone that covers the team. Cousins led this Uh team in rushing with twenty yards. Jalen reagor was second was seventeen yards. By the way, Eagles fans, can we ease it on the reagor booing, like, was that necessary? Did we need you booing Jalen Reagor in Philadelphia, like, what did this man do for you? It felt like dunking on like you're winning the game. You got rid of him. You gotta pick for him. You should be happy about that. He didn't draft himself over Justin Jefferson. You drafted him over Justin Jefferson, like. That's an unnecessary booing. I I kind of like the first one when he caught like that that punt for like the one yard return. Like I get it. It's like a welcome back to Philadelphia. So it but like the in the fourth quarter when the whole game. This isn't. This isn't Kyrie irving returning to Boston, or even Russell Wilson, who you know who's been a great player, returning. See, this is Jalen Reagor, who was like your fifth receiver. It just it just felt until I would be fine with it if eagles fans didn't complain forever that everyone brings up the Santa Claus battery throws like this is why? Then yeah, then this. Well, it's just like after, and of course I'm filtered through covering the Vikings, but after like thirty eight and seven at the NFCY championship game, they're throwing like beer cans and Vikings fans leaving the game. It's just like I don't like. Okay, the Santa thing was like thirty years ago, but that was yesterday, like just like just relaxed. But here's the thing, like I would I would understand it right, because Jalen reagor had a fairly combative relationship with fans, like I get that, and that you know there might be some push and pull there, but after the year that he's had, starting, I think, with his grandmother dying in January and then his best friend dying in May, and then him having the camp of his life, apparently, you know, he he did excellently. From you know, I talked to Multiple Eagles reporters about this because, you know, traded the Vikings. I want to know. And he had an amazing camp and he was, uh, you know, a completely different person. He was respectful, he didn't want to engage with it. It's just like you got to give people a chance to change right. Like fans are coming at me being like, oh, he was coming back, yeah, something like that. that. He came after the eagles fans. We don't like that. That's fine, and Eagles fans piped down. I was the only NFL media analyst to pick the Eagles to win the Super Bowl this year. So I'm on withagles. Just be happy. It's like when you're winning, just just be happy. You don't need to. It's another thing when you're like a division favorite you're winning, people are like, did you see that hurts? His odds storage M v P bumped from like fourteen to one to eight to one at halftime, like like just you, you, you've got a lot going for you. Yeah, that might be even a little over over the M v P odd skis even for me, and I am I am truly expecting jalen hurts to have one of the before I got onto this pod of music here. You gotta be careful. Rosenthal is like this huge Jale and hurts guy. You've got to you've gotta watch out. I am I spent this offseason saying like, no matter what you think of hurts, like this season is gonna look better than you think. He might have some warts to his game, but it's not gonna totally show up this year. He is in the perfect situation and I'm I'm excited to watch this team all year. I'm excited to watch the Vikings too. I think they'll be better than this. Jefferson held to forty eight yards on on twelve targets. Cousins had eleven past deflections in this game, which is just outrageous. How many times the Eagles UH touched his passes. I just think it was one of those nights. And it's week two, so everyone calmed down a little bit on both sides. A reef, you don't have to come down. You need to REV it up. You need to go do another podcast and then go right in an article and then you're starting with where at the pro football network next week? You can't be taking a week off in the middle of the season, are you? Oh No, I do. I don't have that kind of time. I'm starting Wednesday. Okay, Um, everyone, check out a reef. Really Smart Analysis, uh in everything that he does. I love reading him and he's got one of the fullest beards and the shiniest domes in terms of like full beard to Shiny Dome Ratio. He might lead the NFL. He might be the M v P at the League. Doing my best work every day on it. Reef, thank you. I'll let you go and we are going to get to the titans in the bills game. I wish it was a better game, but it was worse. One quash for the touchdown, easiest touchdown catch he'll ever make. Her sell. She questioned all bills tonight. Kind of might be all bills all season. We'll see, but that where. Those were the highlights for about forty one to seven beat down of the Tennessee Titans Justin Graver. This was a game for most of the first half. It was ten to seven late in the second quarter and then the roof just like collapsed on the titans like a like a table being broken outside hills stadium at Orchard Park by the End Malik Willis's plane Um everything that could go wrong was going wrong and it didn't feel like one of those forty one seven's where the seven got a ton of bad luck. I know the turnovers were for nothing here, but it was a beat down on both lines, very much like the bills game against the rams. They just seemed to be in a different class right now, uh than than other NFL teams. Yeah, I think my initial overreaction to this game is the bills are winning the Super Bowl. They look like the best team in football. But also the first two weeks of the year ultimately don't matter. Yes, but the titans, I mean this game had, I felt like this game had a couple inflection points where, if things had gone slightly differently, the entire course of the game flow is different. And one of them was the first play, uh that we heard there, the fourth down, fourth and one from like I think it was the two yard line. The bills have the ball four fourth and one from the Tennessee four yard line. If the type get a stop on that fourth down, they take over ten seven with a minute to play in the first half, losing ten. I hear what you're saying and I respect you and I respect your points, but they already had stopped him on a fourth down play in that half. And what I mean by like it wasn't a cheap forty one to seven. It was four, fourteen yards seven, and even at that point in the first half they were doubling them up, and I think that's what has to be disconcerting for the titans and bills fans will get to how great the bills are in a second. It all ties together, but I think what has to be disconcerting for the titans is you want to think of them as a really tough team and you watch this game closer than I did. I was doing channel five UK coverage once it was about mid to late second quarter of this game. Would you say that the titans line play held up against Buffalo on both sides? Because if the bills are managing to push around the titans, that that is a bad sign I think the bills did push around the Titan on both sides of the ball. That Taylor Lauan went down with what looked like a pretty serious injury. They had to bring the card out for him really early in the game. On the first drive for the titans, they did end up going down and scoring on that drive, that seventy five yard drive. That was seventy five of their seven yards in the in the whole game, though, so they they made a good like that was it from there. The offense was completely useless. They couldn't do any they could not move the ball. Derrick Henry finished this game with uh thirteen carries for twenty five yards and he did get in the end zone early on the first drive. But every time it felt like the titans, like it's now we're never titans. You have to score on this drive to make up play or something. They would stall out. At the end of the first half. Ryan Tannehill got sacked with just under forty seconds left at the Tennessee twenty nine yard line and the titans decided to just let the first half clock run out. They could have tried to move the ball and get points, but moving the ball was just not happening against this Bill's defense, and that's that's a joke, though. That's like I hate that. It's the opposite of what Dan Campbell did for the Lions on Sunday. It's the opposite of what Nick Sirianni did tonight when he had the ball inside his own ten and uh under ninety seconds to go and really played aggressively once they had the chance and they got point. And I know the titans aren't there yet. They're like not ready for that, but that that is telling to me and they have to be. They have a veteran quarterback, they have continuity across the staff and the offense. They don't have continuity on the offensive line. They don't have continuity with their skills receivers. They have a long way to go. And and and we're going to talk about how dominant the bills are now, because defensively, that's where I think you would expect the titans to at least get some some metaphorical punches in, and I suppose they did, keeping it to ten seven late into the second quarter. At that point I was like, Oh, this is a titans game. It doesn't feel even, but they're keeping it close. So kind of tell me about how the bill's offense overwhelm them and and how, I guess, neutralized that the Titans Defensive Line. Well, it started with Stefon diggs and and he was just unguardable. But the titans were also trying to guard him with undrafted free agent rookie cornerback tray avery and a sixth round pick from a few years ago, Chris Jackson, who ended started this season on the practice squad, was elevated for today's game. Titans were without Christian Fulton, obviously, Harold Landry towards a C L Bud dupree went out in the first quarter and didn't return. So the titans could not get pressure on Josh Allen almost at all and the cornerbacks were left on an island against Stefon Diggs. Caleb Farley gave up a huge catch to Jake Kumero. The bills were just attacking all game long. It felt like, you know, a third and fourteen turned into a third and nine because of a defensive offsides. Easy pitch and catch right over the middle. There's no resistance from the titans defense. It just felt from the very beginning of the game like the titans were gonna struggle to get stops and forcing the bills into multiple fourth and one. City Saans was like the only time the defense was able to get off the field until the middle of the third quarter, and by that point the game was was basically over. I mean it was seven, so it wasn't over, especially with everything we saw. It was Sunday, but this game is over. But then Kyle Phillips muffs a punt and then it really was over from there. Tannehill comes back on the next possession throws an interception. On the next possession there was the pick six and then it was seven in the third quarter and the Titans said here comes Milik Willis, but Stefon Diggs and and Josh Allen just have a chemistry that's unbelievable and people are like, Oh, why are you putting this guy on Stef digs? Whyre you doing that? That's not the plan. I mean, first of all, you only have so many guys. I mean who's WHO's their number one cornerback right now it's like Roger McCreary, a rookie, and they're in. They're playing Caleb Farley, who hasn't been healthy. If everyone was healthy on this defense, probably wouldn't be playing more than steps. There is no one special to put on him like they've. They've got Kevin BYARD and they don't have a roster of a team that was the number one seed a year ago. They've got a roster that needs to, patriots style, figure itself out as they go along. The problem is they're they're oh and, two and and they're in the right division for it. But they're gonna have to stack some wins along the way while they're figuring things out. But the bills are, I mean they were just an unstoppable machine on offense and the ram the rams won the Super Bowl. The titans were the one seed and they've beaten those two teams by a combined score seventy two to seventeen. So a lot of teams are gonna feel bad after facing this bills team, even though they didn't even have like Gabe Davis in this game. And you mentioned the short yard situations. Like there their traditional running game isn't still cooking, but did you? At least you let yourself enjoy watching Uh Josh Allen just at some point seemed like he was just kind of like showing off because he basically threw uh a pass. At one point I looked out of the quarter in my eye where it appeared like he was doing like a submarine style Um pass from the pocket, like he was like a side arms submarine pitcher. He didn't even need to do it. He wasn't on the run. He just kind of threw it underhanded from the pocket like seventeen yards down the field, like I've never seen such a thing. Oh, we know he's having fun. I mean they talked about how last week he was laughing while stiff arming RAMAS defenders, like literally laughing on the field during the play. The titans bottled up the rushing attack pretty well too. Devin singletary six for nineteen, Zack Moss three for seventeen, James Cook came in and ripped off a long one when it was long over. Um singletary did have a big run to start the game, a sixteen yard run to start the game. His other five carries went for three yards. So it wasn't like they were running it. But Josh Allen is just magical. He's unstoppable. The way he's playing football right now. He's crazy. He I hate hyperbole, but if if you kind of start with the playoffs last year, or even if you want to go back to the regular season game where he pitched the perfect game against the Hatriots to win the division, I just never seen a quarterback have a five or six games stretch any better. I think there's a certain point of transcendence that you reach that it's stupid to pick who's better. Like there have been other quarterbacks who have had streaks like this. Uh, you might even say many of them, but none have been none could possibly play the position any better than he's played. Because I saw you tweeting about it at one point, graver, or maybe it was you sent me a text like yeah, they forced him to punt three times, like that's more than anyone's done in the last few games. It's like, but that's the level that they're at that if you can force three points, you're feeling like you get a win, but that's not a win when you're playing against the team that also can turn you over and have an elite defense. Von Miller was unblockable again in this game and their defensive line absolutely looks like a problem. Greg Russo had a good game. Roussou destroyed Aaron Brewer on one play, just knocked him into Tannehill slap here to really the whole thing. It's a combination. Oh you can stop their running game, great, their defense is gonna eat you up and they're gonna throw the ball all over. To really emphasize how dominant of a game this was, I will read you this stat that I also texted you. The bills had eight tackles for loss the titans scored seven points. They had more tackles for loss and the Titans scored points. That is just I mean it was a total beat down on both sides of the ball from about the time that Stefon digg scored that touchdown until the end of the game. And I will say any concerns about Ken Dorsey taking over as play caller for Brian Day ball should be completely erased. This bill's offense looks amazing, and their touchdown that they scored on that fourth and one from the four yard line. It was it looked like it was designed to be a little swing pass to the running back and the titans pounced all over at Josh Allen's rolling out to his left looking to hit the running back in the flat, but I think it was all a disguise, intended to get the defense moving left, which worked perfectly, and Stefon diggs leaks back out to the right and was wide open for for the touchdown. So I think this bill's team is gonna be really tough to beat and I also think they're gonna they're gonna have the best, better passing game. UH, they're gonna have they're gonna beat you up front. No, by the way, most of the time they'll out coach you, because they did just out coach Sean McVeigh and they did just out coach Mike badly, badly. I mean the titans didn't like. The titans didn't make any adjustments to try to take away Stefon diggs. They just left their young, inexperienced cornerbacks trying to guard him one on one, which I know you say it's not the plan, but like, you can rotate safe, you can try some kind of bracket coverage to stop him from going off for twelve catches for a hundred and forty eight yards and three touchdowns. I mean, Geez, shout out to Stefan Diggs, like their number two receivers tonight was Dawson Knox for forty one. Kumero was in there. The bills do have some injury concerns going into next week's game against the dolphins. Uh. They lost Jackson's that was a brutal hit by tremaine edmonds just like crushed his head area. You know, Um, his teammate, I believe it was ployer, said he got a text back from both Micah Hyde, who also left the game her and Dane Jackson saying that they're all right. I mean, I don't know all right means in this context, but at least Dane Jackson uh is able to be texting and and hopefully it's not too serious. They are missing a lot of players right now. A tradavious white Dane Jackson, Micah Hyde, Jordan Phillips got hurt in this game. Ed Oliver missed at Dave Davis UH was out. So it's a lot of a lot of good players. But bill's fans aren't worried about that. Tonight Bill's fans are feeling no pain. And you know, it's a long time Patriots Fan, I would say, like you might as well enjoy these early season romps like, yes, you know in your heart super bowls aren't one in September, but so what? You're in September, like we don't know what's gonna Happen. Another pandemic might hit us in like a month. Let's enjoy this while it's happening. I'm joking. All I'm saying is, like this is the world we're living in now, and while every other team is kind of like figuring it out and, uh Oh, we're still in like preseason week two mode and like we're going to figure out our LINEUPS. It's like no, the bills are in divisional round of the playoffs last year. Still they haven't stopped playing. They've actually found a more creative offensive coordinator somehow, maybe, and they're just crushing people. So, like it's salad days, enjoy it. Why not? What? What's the worst that could happen? Another crushing playoff loss? Wait for that to happen before you worry about it. Let's enjoy a truly dominant I think you mentioned. I think this bill's offense has really, really evolved to a place that is so hard to defend, and what I mean by that is the titans last year, where when they played this team last year and beat them. We're able to frustrate Josh Allen by forcing him to take the underneath options, taking away don't let anything get over the top the cover two shell, and they kind of tried that in this game, and and so did the rams. And Alan was content to just hit digs on a nine yard out. Let him stiff farm McCreery's face to you know wherever, oblivion and pick up extra yards and instead of having like a second and seven or a second and eight after like a short dump off completion, the bills were able to turn those into second and ones and really stay ahead of the sticks that way. And Alan was patient, just I mean he was perfect. He was it was perfect. They're they're they're almost unstoppable when he's making decisions uh like that. And and look, some defense will figure it out or something might go wrong at some point, but for right now he's at a level that, if you love football, it's just hard not to enjoy watching. He's at a level, frankly, that I thought in my heart of hearts, maybe Cam Newton could get to someday, and that's the player he always reminded me of most, because they run so similarly and like the NFL has changed. Offense has changed, but Josh Allen has changed too. And and Kim Newton won m VP and was unstoppable in that year. But I just think the way NFL offenses have evolved, this Josh Allen Offense is at another level, even uh than than those panthers offenses were at. And Josh Allen is doing something similar but doing it um even better and the way that he runs those arm angles and oh by the way, yeah, he's stiff arming guys too. So that's it for uh bill's titans. It was forty one to seven. I'M gonna wrap up with a quick top six list. I'm I'M gonna try to add this and and maybe we'll mix things up and if you're listening this far, let me know if you like it or not. But just for a little fun, little something different at the end of each one of these Monday night football recaps, which would usually only be one team, I'm gonna add just my final top six lists of something that's sparked from the game, or in this case the games tonight and and right now I'm just gonna do the top six runners at quarterback in the NFL right now, inspired by Josh Allen and Jalen Hurts, who, uh, spoiler alert, are both on this list and since this show has gone long, I'm gonna make it quick. Number six, because, again, I don't like round numbers. Justin you remember that right. So it needed to be either four or six, and it's like I can include more good players here if you if you go coming eventually playing off this idea that, oh, I can't wait to hear. Number six is Mariota, and I wouldn't have I wouldn't have expected that a few years back. I'm just talking about right now this season. What I see explosive power and they're actually using him. Marcus Mariota's number six. It's a pretty big drop from five to six. Justin fields is five. Look, we gotta get more than eight completions in a game. That hasn't happened yet this season through two weeks. Uh, but he is a powerful, uh runner with great speed and and and I think they need to lean into that a little more than they have. Number four is Kyler Murray, who had points in his career I've thought had a chance to be maybe the best pure runner in terms of just making people miss that I've ever seen at quarterback, like just in terms of making people he's a little more hesitant to run now already than he was a couple of years ago. You saw in his rushing totals a year ago. so He's number four. Number three is Josh Allen. UH, look, he only had to run one time tonight. That's the beauty of Josh Allen. Whenever he wants to run, he could be number one. Like I said, he's Cam Newton, the two most efficient runners justin in the NFL last year at any position, running back or quarterback, in terms of creating ten yard plays per run. Where Josh Allen and Jalen Hurts, Jalen hurts his my number two when we talked about it with a reef, when he puts his foot in the ground and the way he sees the field in front of him. That's why they have him in shotgun. He sees the field like a running back, like he could play the position, and it's gotten undersold because he's not just running guys over. Yeah, he's not Lamar Jackson, but he absolutely sets up defenders with the way he uses his leverage and gets past them. And when he puts his foot in the ground, he goes like to me he has a chance here to have the greatest season any quarterback has ever had running the football. I think he has power. He I really think he has a chance to do something like no one's ever done that before. I think he could do it this year and be like the number one overall fantasy player. But number one still gotta be Lamar. I mean he's the greatest to ever do it. And, in case you forgot, on that play where he ran seventy one yards against the dolphins on Sunday, that was a play that looked like it should have gone outside, but he put his foot in the ground and he gets through that hole faster than like any running back I can think of, one of the most physically gifted and natural runners, whether quarterback or running back, that I have ever seen. So just because of history and just because he deserves that respect, he gets number one. But I'm telling you, hurts his coming up close. Number two and if Alan needed to, he could be there, right there too. I have all he's loved running quarterbacks since I was a kid. Randald cunning and was my favorite. We are living in the golden age of running quarterbacks, and you saw it on Monday night football and builds me for a second. Malik Willis played the fourth quarter of this game. He only threw four passes and he only completed one of them, but he did have four carrias for sixteen yards, and on a couple of them he looked pretty electric as a runner. We'll see how he's setting up the zumwalt drop. I mean what you just I had everything wrapped up in a beautiful bow, graver. I let it all, from the running backs, uh, to what we saw tonight, and then you hit me with Oh, Malik Willis one for six positive. I do gotta say. Malik Willis will be on this list just based on the preseason. Heck, I just I just put him on the list. Sorry, Mario, based on the preseason, just to pay off you jumping in there. Malik Willis, you are now on the list. Crossout, Mariota. That preseason was still against professional players and it was special. I loved watching the Games tonight, even though if they were one sided, they were the types of players that I love to watch. I love all of you for listening in and I would love it if you check out the Tuesday night or the Tuesday podcast rather, with Colleen Wolf. I'll be there too. Uh, we're gonna talk about some cornered animals. Little teaser there. That's it until then. UH, for Rifasan, for Justin graver, for Kirk cousins, for Troy Aikman's total disapproval of kirk cousins not throwing the ball. I'm Greg Roses DOF he the call