Travis Hunter Out For Season, Describing Every Team in 5 Words or Less, LaFleur's Job Security

00:00:04
Speaker 1: Welcome to NFL Daily, where Grande's back in the house.

00:00:08
Speaker 2: You're always here.

00:00:09
Speaker 1: We're here in the Chris Westling podcast studio. This is NFL Daily, Colleen Wolf, Jordan Rodrieg. We've seen each other. It's Tuesday. Yeah, it's here.

00:00:20
Speaker 2: It's true.

00:00:21
Speaker 3: And for those of you who don't know who Caliana Grande is, it's my pony too.

00:00:27
Speaker 4: Welcome such personality.

00:00:29
Speaker 3: She is truly and like all sorts of different personalities too. I'm curly, beach waves straight, just like some tossled curls.

00:00:37
Speaker 4: It's like Ken, her job is beach. Your job is curl. Your job is puzzle.

00:00:42
Speaker 5: You know what is volume. We're all in the you know, sports biz.

00:00:45
Speaker 1: But there there could be extra outside marketing opportunities for you here with you know, like I don't know if it would be like a line of toys or something, line of fake hair, you knows, some sort of spon opportunity.

00:00:59
Speaker 5: I was like, I don't know what that actually would be.

00:01:01
Speaker 4: You're like, yeah, extension.

00:01:05
Speaker 1: So today we have taken the three most succinct people in sports media. Oh wow, Yes, and we've given them a heart assignment. We're going to describe every team in the NFL in five words or less. If you could get it under five, believe to you. And we're going to do it in an efficient, entertaining manner that makes our producers proud because they're afraid that this is going to go super long.

00:01:31
Speaker 5: It's not. It's going to be fun.

00:01:33
Speaker 1: And we'll talk a little t NF preview on the back end, but first let's do a little bit of news, and unfortunately we'll start with a bummer. Travis Hunter is not going to be back this season. We found out on Tuesday afternoon that he is getting surgery on his knee. It was hoped that it was going to be a short term injury, that he was going to be ready right when short term injured reserve like came up in a few weeks and then a change of pace here from Ian Rappaport, and yeah, they lose their dude, Travis Hunter for the rest of the season. Such a bummer for a guy that we kind of thought was going to be a main character of this season. Just hasn't worked out that way, I.

00:02:11
Speaker 4: Know, and I think we were all right and fair to be as excited as we were about him. I think the Jaguars still I don't bemoan them or criticize them for being as excited as they were to draft this guy. I know it, you know, insides, groans in hindsight and all of that, because it's totally turned out, completely different than I think the highest of expectations on Travis Hunter were, and maybe some expectations even unfairly placed on him by the organization when they were so excited to bring him in. And you know, he's changing football and all of these things. But I think he still can. I just think it's a really tough start to season. Greg looks really grumpy right now.

00:02:50
Speaker 5: Well, yeah, this this makes me grumpy. I was so excited.

00:02:53
Speaker 4: Well, I couldn't tell if it was what I was saying, or you're watching something.

00:02:56
Speaker 2: That's a common thing the people feel.

00:02:58
Speaker 4: I'm already feeling great. I'm going to look at call rest.

00:03:00
Speaker 1: Greg faces something Colleen's brought up many times on this show. I had to face at the people that would have any sort of impatience with Travis Center.

00:03:08
Speaker 5: I'm not greed at all.

00:03:09
Speaker 4: This was always going to take time to figure out what his his actual life was going to be in the NFL, with his jobs plural and I still think it will be jobs plural in the NFL. I also don't think if we were going to read the tea leaves backwards, not as surprising, maybe just hidden really well, because for all the optimism in the start, they did still go out and trade for Jacobe Myers, So I you know, I still like feel like that maybe telegraphed a little bit of what the situation was, even though I do think they have a plan for him long term as well.

00:03:38
Speaker 3: And it's just such a bummer too, because he had his best game before he was injured, so we finally started to see him kind of blossom and bloom and his confidence come out a little bit more, and he was supposed to be the focal point, or at least that's what they were saying after the bye week, and now we don't get to see that. And also Greg's face, yes, it is, it's something that plagues everyone who does the show with him because you don't know if he is reacting to what you're saying, to what he's thinking, to something that he's seeing on his computer, something that Eric is saying to him, and a lot of times it's such.

00:04:17
Speaker 5: A pleasant face though it's so pleasant so much shame it.

00:04:20
Speaker 3: Will sidetrack you sometimes, right, I'm like, I'm gonna wrap this up.

00:04:23
Speaker 2: I don't know, I am miss focking. Should we stop to out?

00:04:27
Speaker 1: I get mocked for it at home sometimes today I actually thinking with me, what a great drop. I love that drop, and it's it is a lot for my family to bear. But yet Emmica was making fun of me this morning because I was making some face to something responding to what I imagine myself saying in this segment that's coming up later on the show, because it was just you know, wow, why not Wow? Travis Hunters gotta be fine. Give me all your Travis Hunters stock, Okay, plenty.

00:05:00
Speaker 4: I'm still so excited about him.

00:05:01
Speaker 1: It's a five year rookie contract, right, and I think to make that sort of trade, and I still believe it what I thought when they made the trade, Like the idea is for him to be in the Jacksonville Jaguars Ring of Honor whatever it is that they do, and it's a long term process. But I think he showed immediately he is absolutely an NFL cornerback. The movement skills are there for him to be an NFL receiver. But it definitely was obvious that that took longer to pick up. Let's talk a little bit about Matt Lafleur coming off that rough Monday night game. I thought it was really interesting right after the game, your colleague Matt Schneidman of The Athletic asked him how he felt in terms of whether he was coaching for his job now in this season.

00:05:51
Speaker 6: I'll leave that for everybody else to decide. I'll just focus on the day to day and trying to do I feel like you're always coaching for everything in this league. You know, that's just my mindset.

00:06:03
Speaker 5: That's always been that way. You know, you can't ever.

00:06:10
Speaker 6: Exhale. You got to always be pushing, and that's just my mindset. So and that will be my mindset until they tell me not to coach anymore.

00:06:20
Speaker 1: Usually we don't, you know, just do a press conference as an item of news. But it does get to something we started to talk about on the show yesterday that the Green Bay residents, the Packers fans, they're not happy. And then in this article by Schneidman kind of alludes to the fact that hey, there is a new team president. There ed policy they did not give the contract extension to Matt Lafleur or Brian Gudakhantz the GM before the season, So next year they would be entering a contract year, which in coaching GM circles usually means this year is really the contract year. Fascinating, it feels a little bit overreactionary, but I get it. They're a team that has really high expectations, well.

00:07:00
Speaker 4: Dedably high expectations, and with ed Policy coming over, I think we have to remember, like some of the moves that they made immediately, they've made it clear they're not going to be the same old Green Bay Packers. They're not going to be a team that is very very good but stay is very very good without transcending into great to Super Bowl for quite some time at this point. And so that's where when you see someone who you know at leak circles, they talk about at Policy having sort of an aggressive mindset of what he wants to do, and that actually really fits Matt Lafleur that in a way because of some of the way that Gudikins has doubled down, tripled down on certain talent traits and really been able to identify certain players. Also, could you know, define him too, and it certainly defines the moves that they made, whether it was drafting Matthew Golden, but then also going out and trading for Micah Parsons, really pushing their chips in under. You know, this new team president obviously they have no ownership overhead, so this person becomes extremely, extremely important within the organization. At the same time there is really a lot of frustration with this offense. There also is extreme praise and a name starting to circulate about the defense, and that is Jeff Hafley, who is going to be a head coaching candidate in this cycle. And you know, started out, you know, a little bit shaky, adding new personnel, losing personnel in terms of the defense, brought this defense along to improve over the last couple of weeks in an extraordinary amount adjustments being made, getting the most out of certain players. And I think that that's also something that complicates this is all of the noise of praise on one side of the ball. Well, you have an offensive head coach and his offense does not look good. And I think that that just adds to this tightness in the amount of pressure that's coming out of Green Bay right now.

00:08:51
Speaker 3: And Ed policy is also mentioned that he doesn't want to coach in a lame duck situation, so that would mean that this decision needs to be made sooner rather than later. And the slow starts on offense are just becoming a trend. I know, against the Eagles, that was a defensive battle and we haven't seen a shutout in the first half in years and years. But before that against the Panthers, they had only scored seven points in the first half and it seems like that is sort of an issue now that is trending.

00:09:21
Speaker 4: And I think too, and I know Matt Lafleur a little bit. I'd worked on a massive project with him a couple of years ago, and he's brilliant, right, He's absolutely brilliant. He is a coach who if he were not going to be with that organization anymore, other teams are running, not walking, to go bring him in to their building and try to lock him in long term. And his resume is incredible. With the Packers in terms of the double digit win seasons, everything becomes different. Though, when you have made a statement as an organization, which they did with the Micah Parsons trade, that they believe that they are a Super Bowl contending team. Your offense cannot look like this if you're a super Bowl contending team. And here lies the double edged sword of getting into that level of contention. If all of a sudden something does not look right, it becomes the finger that's sticking out of the fist when you're punching right. That's the one that gets broken.

00:10:12
Speaker 5: Right.

00:10:13
Speaker 4: That's something to keep an eye on here.

00:10:15
Speaker 1: But it's also I think people just overacting to the moment. Like their tenth in offense this year, they're eighth in defense. Defense has actually been like a little bit disappointing, like overall, like we're coming off this last week where you're watching that game and that was an incredible performance, Like the week before they could not get off the field against the Carolina freaking Panthers, Like watching that game back, like it was just as much the defense, if not more against Carolina. And so I just think it's it's overreacting considering he's one of the best coaches in terms of just win percentage in the history of the NFL, and Jordan loved him. Make a lot of sense together. But I don't doubt any of the reporting. They haven't been as good this year and if, for whatever reason it really went south the rest of the way, Yeah, he would be really attractive.

00:10:57
Speaker 4: And you look at him on paper, I don't if you look at it from afar and you look into one paper, this conversation is asinine, right, But at the same time, like the dynamics of the conversation are what we're trying to explain here, not necessarily his record, his percentage, which are unarguable and undebatable in my opinion, right, but the dynamics of that of that organization right now, and the pressure that's the thing that I don't think people are capturing enough, the enormous amount of pressure week over week over week that is condensing and condensing the atmosphere there showing it.

00:11:32
Speaker 1: He's showing it the way he's acting and the way that he looks and look Guda Kan. It wouldn't be shocking either if they both got sent away, if Lafleur did, because Aaron Banks, like that was their huge move this offseason, you know, before Michael Parkson, Aaron Banks, He's kind of been a disaster for their offensive line. They're pushing the chips in. I just look at it as like, yeah, the context does matter that at one point in that game, it's like, you don't have Tucker Craft, you don't have Romeo Dobs, you don't have j Red, you don't have Elton Jenkins. Like those are the guys you would make like a top the list of the most important players on their offense. All Right, we talked about Joe Shane and Brian Dabole on Monday, so everyone check out that that breaking news episode we had. I did just want to close the circle because at the time that we taped, we weren't entirely sure that Joe Shane was going to stay. Although Ian Rappaport, as he does, pretty much knew and said on the show that he fully expected Joe Shane to stay. And yes, the GM just thirty minutes like after we tape that. I hate when that happens. It was it was announced in a press release, but I thought this was very funny calling and very telling. When they sent the tweets out announcing that Dave Ball is gone. They take a big section of the press release and they put it out on Twitter, and I noticed that they stopped the section of the press release that went out on Twitter right at the point where they announced how much they believe in Joe Shane and that Joe Shane is going to help them pick the next coach, and that Joe Shane has done a good job building a young nucles because they're not stupid, they know that Giants fans are gonna think this is a half measure and Joe Shane hasn't really done much of a good job. It was Joe Shane's pick to hire Brian Dable, and more than anything, it was Joe Shane going into this offseason that was like, no, we need to keep Dable and Shane Bowen one more year. Was Dabe's decision to keep Shane Bowen, but he really pushed to keep Dable one week so they knew the fans would not be happy with that. So it's like, you cut that part off. Its a little social media strategy.

00:13:30
Speaker 2: Well yeah, and that was very strategic on their parts, So good job by them.

00:13:34
Speaker 3: But I just thought it was so interesting because for up until, like even just a few weeks ago, it seemed like the two of them, Joe Shane and Brian Dable were like a package deal and that they were both in this together and that no matter what happened, it would either be both like all or nothing, and then one week you all of a sudden heard ooh, Brian Daball not sure about him, and it was just like then the following week he was gone.

00:14:02
Speaker 2: So it escalated quickly. The fracture.

00:14:05
Speaker 4: Chaos is a ladder, so is uh what happened?

00:14:08
Speaker 5: So is like the workplace.

00:14:10
Speaker 1: And I think one of the as you get older, you realize, like, oh, one of the biggest skills to succeeding in life for a large swath of people are people that can attach themselves to positions of power.

00:14:22
Speaker 2: Yes, that's what I did to you.

00:14:23
Speaker 5: Gret does not explain everything.

00:14:26
Speaker 2: Good coattail around here.

00:14:28
Speaker 1: Hold On doesn't explain everything, doesn't even necessarily explain most things, like talent matters. There's a lot that goes into it, you know. But in the NFL, and I think in probably a lot of workplaces, there are a lot of people that are good to attaching themselves to power. And so Joe Shane is is John Mayra's guy, the owner, and he's going to stay.

00:14:47
Speaker 4: Little sized, medium coat tails say.

00:14:50
Speaker 5: The small, the small if I'm not a small, but I.

00:14:53
Speaker 2: Do love his shirt.

00:14:54
Speaker 4: Small, I know that's a really good shirt, Greg color, good text.

00:14:58
Speaker 1: It's a pop and I'm waiting for sweater weather and it's just like not arriving if I see it's over seventy, to make it happen. Like if it's still over seventy, I'm gonna be dressing like it's the summer. That's the beauty of Los Angeles.

00:15:10
Speaker 5: Come join us.

00:15:12
Speaker 1: Paid for it by the Los Angeles City Council. Last item of news, Last couple. Dan Quinn is taking over as defensive coordinator in Washington. So like Dan Campbell, it's the week of Dan's yeah in Detroit. Who's not taking over as offensive coordinator exactly, but is taking over as the play caller. He's trying to do something. Also, Deron Pain, we didn't mention this on Sunday.

00:15:34
Speaker 5: That's my fault.

00:15:36
Speaker 1: Was thrown out of Sunday's game for punching a mon Ross Saint Brown with an empty fist. Maybe we did talk about that now that I think, well, just like I mean, hitting a helmet, hitting a helmet with a closed fist is just the dumbest thing you can you can possibly do because it's only going to hurt yourself and it's going to cost you a week's salary, which for Deron Payin, who makes a lot of money, is like close to a million dollars. I mean, that's a preposterous thing to lose for hurting your own hand. But he has been suspended and that is upheld, so he is not going over to Madrid. Neither is Jaden Daniels. Neither is Trey Amos, who has a fractured ankle. So the vibes are down horrendous in Washington, and the Steelers' vibes they're confusing. We'll get to them in a second. But I do like the fact that they signed a Santi Samuel Jr. To their practice squad. I'm surprised Santi Samuel Jr. Couldn't get a better contract than that, but he's coming off of a spinal fusion surgery. I really thought he was a good player for the Chargers when he was at his best, so good luck to him. He kind of fits what they're going to do. Let's get to the second.

00:16:38
Speaker 4: I've noticed you're composing your face very carefully since the opening.

00:16:43
Speaker 5: I definitely am not composing my face any differently. I promise there's a lot going on on this head right now, But that's not one of them.

00:16:54
Speaker 4: We're in your psyche though you always are in we live there and in the coattail.

00:16:58
Speaker 5: Will I live here?

00:17:00
Speaker 4: You know, in.

00:17:03
Speaker 5: Some world, I'm always in the Chris Westling podcast. I mean, we keep going, might as well take a break at this.

00:17:11
Speaker 1: There is the love language that I love that I'm used to thank you thrown in Colleen voice. So this was a great idea by Eric. Shout out to executive producer Eric Roberts. If this segment doesn't work, yeah, it's not all on you, Eric. We bear some responsibility, but you're like the coach. You're like Matt Lafleur right now, and someone out there is ed policy watching this and hoping that it all works, and we got to make it work. We're the players. We're going to describe each team in five words or less. I think it's that simple, and we're going to go through. We assigned division by division, but I wanted to be equal, so at the end we're just going team by team, so so that no one felt like they had an extra division or anything.

00:17:54
Speaker 2: And you actually went back and like fixed it too.

00:17:56
Speaker 1: I did.

00:17:57
Speaker 5: I messed it up at first.

00:17:59
Speaker 3: I don't know what happened with the first one, but you know in yours it was quality was right there in the forefront.

00:18:05
Speaker 5: Okay, so should I get us going? Yes, I'll do it.

00:18:10
Speaker 1: Let's do it all right, Let's start with the NFC West. Okay, we'll go there for the Arizona Cardinals. And this yes is describing each team in five words or less. It's marveson. That's it. We're done for the day. Fire A wrap on, Greg Fire, Matt Lafleur, Sorry, ed so great, Eric, Uh, you know, the guy you chose to be in charge ultimately couldn't handle it, and your segment's gonna fail. The Arizona Cardinals Marvin Harrison, Senior in charge.

00:18:51
Speaker 2: I love that. That's great.

00:18:53
Speaker 1: I don't know if you noticed a couple of weeks ago, how he just said, I can't watch this offense.

00:18:57
Speaker 5: This is not this is not all what I'm used to.

00:19:00
Speaker 1: And immediately they're like, okay, we're gonna change our franchise quarterback and change the entire director.

00:19:04
Speaker 3: I mentioned it on our pregame show, but like, I got nothing from it. So I don't know how many people actually he was listening to what his Dad.

00:19:11
Speaker 1: Was saying, yeah, it wasn't like it wasn't some random podcast. He was like, no, you're just gonna tell ESPN dot com. Okay, the Rams personnel so heavy, Jordanikey.

00:19:24
Speaker 2: Oh my god, okay, cool, I love this.

00:19:27
Speaker 1: I love it.

00:19:28
Speaker 2: Great job, Eric.

00:19:29
Speaker 4: We've wad a nice recovery here, Greg.

00:19:31
Speaker 1: We Yeah, we have a whole social video about it that really explains that. You know, it just gets you going in the morning when you see that thirteen personnel and that those tight ends and full backs and oh man, wide receivers blocking oh man, the forty.

00:19:47
Speaker 5: Nine ers ouch oof oh why Ash?

00:19:56
Speaker 1: That's five words, five exactly five five words.

00:19:59
Speaker 2: Yeah, not the over so good job.

00:20:02
Speaker 1: I think that was pretty self explaina to her. You wouldn't think that they were six and four based on that, But I just I do think that kind of explains their entire season.

00:20:11
Speaker 5: And then the Seahawks Dom Sam d v o A.

00:20:18
Speaker 1: Darlens. This one's like a little tricky, tricky, but it's not like the normal Sam that we've seen before. It's like Dom Sam.

00:20:28
Speaker 2: Yeah.

00:20:28
Speaker 4: No, I know you're saying, I'd love for you to not explain this.

00:20:31
Speaker 1: No, I don't need to I think everyone everyone knows it doesn't like a dom Sam. You're up next. Oh god, NFC East cool?

00:20:42
Speaker 2: All right, gang, here we go. So I'm gonna start. Are we going in alphabetical order?

00:20:49
Speaker 5: Yeah?

00:20:49
Speaker 1: Do it by the city name that that'll help out, because all right, look, do it by whatever is it. I'll give I'll give you time. I'll give everyone behind the scenes time. We're putting up graphics. It's on the NFL channel. The words dom Sam and me just saying OUCHI or whatever is is making it onto the NFL channel. And then you can also watch us on YouTube. And I've been noticing the subscribers they've been they've been picking up a little bit. So just like, subscribe, support the show and support what Colleen is.

00:21:18
Speaker 2: Ok here we go.

00:21:19
Speaker 3: The Dallas Cowboys first up here. Five words are filing a missing Parsons report.

00:21:30
Speaker 5: I love a pun.

00:21:32
Speaker 2: Thank you. I feel like that really doesn't need I think everything.

00:21:38
Speaker 3: Yeah, they are very disappointing this year, and the defense is a massive reason why. Okay, so next one is the New York Giants. I can do alphabetical order straight off of my head. Okay, you can't sit with us, and that is from Mean Girls and we all it's it's a couple of different reasons why I sit with us, because there are so many players that are injured that there's just not room.

00:22:05
Speaker 2: Also, Brian daball, you can't sit with us.

00:22:08
Speaker 5: Yeah, oh you're out.

00:22:10
Speaker 2: So that's the Giants.

00:22:11
Speaker 5: So normally I would I would hear that and think, like they're the cool.

00:22:16
Speaker 1: Kids, you know what I mean?

00:22:17
Speaker 2: Like, but no, like literally, you can't sit with us.

00:22:20
Speaker 5: Yeah, they don't go home.

00:22:21
Speaker 2: You've been dismissed.

00:22:22
Speaker 5: They don't seem they don't seem that cool right now, Like that's not a tabe.

00:22:25
Speaker 2: But they were like I actually was liking the Giants for a second.

00:22:31
Speaker 3: And I hated the fact that I was liking the Giants for a second because Jackson Dart and camp Skataboo were super fun and they were exciting and they were ridiculous and they were such bros.

00:22:41
Speaker 2: And I hate it that I was like into it. So I'm going to have a problem going forward, I think, with this team. But for now, yeah, you can't sit.

00:22:51
Speaker 1: Well did you see that the animation that Malik Neighbors happened to post on his Instagram story overnight. I wouldn't have seen this either, but now it's getting passed around, so we'll see if we can get permission to it. But it just was about the difference of of like what Jackson Dart is like, you know, as a home at home and then maybe when he's out with the boys spoke so fun.

00:23:12
Speaker 5: We'll see later, all right.

00:23:14
Speaker 4: I love that.

00:23:15
Speaker 5: Okay, I recommend everyone go check that out.

00:23:18
Speaker 3: Perfect the Eagles, Philadelphia Eagles, Torn like Natalie and Bruglia.

00:23:27
Speaker 2: The Great Natalie and Bruglia had such a banger of a song.

00:23:31
Speaker 3: I'm torn because I love the defense right now, and I really like all of the moves that Howie Roseman made and Jalen Phillips adding him back into the fold with Vic Fangio. He played so well against the Packers. I'm really into the defense right now. The offense, though, is so inconsistent. I don't really know what to think. So I am literally torn on this team. Yes, they have the record and they're getting the wins, but I'm trying to protect myself from myself.

00:24:03
Speaker 1: Don't they feel like though this is a team and organization that they almost need. They need it like this, they need the chaos, their love language is like an ugly regular season where everyone's starting to doubt them and then suddenly, like at the end, it just ends up being perfect.

00:24:21
Speaker 2: I hate when you're right. You're right. That's my love language too. Chaos. It's the only way I can thrive.

00:24:27
Speaker 3: You need deadlines, yes, chaos, you need everything falling apart, and then you're just like, Okay, we figure it out right now while everyone is at their wits end and you're right.

00:24:37
Speaker 2: Maybe that is their secret sauce.

00:24:39
Speaker 1: Can I could I like bring you back to last season around this tide and like how they were thinking, And then can I bring you back to the final three weeks of the season in twenty seventeen when they won the Super Bowl and everyone just assumed not only is the season over, but every like the most beautiful Eagle season of all time is completely ruined and there was zero hope left. And then they just, you know, won the Super Bowl.

00:25:00
Speaker 3: It was like, Okay, yeah, how in the world is Nick Foles and this Eagles offense going to play against the Minnesota Vikings defense?

00:25:07
Speaker 2: And then yeah, they did it.

00:25:09
Speaker 3: Yeah, but that's also not counting the year in between. All of that just flapped and the chaos, just like it closed in on them. That happens, okay, And the last one in the division, the Washington Commanders Fix You by Colturep and I just you know it's it's a song about helping someone through a hard time when they're feeling very low and sort of crashed out. And I was looking up the lyrics and it's kind of like right on the nose when you try your best but you don't succeed, when you get what you want, not what you need, when you feel so tired but you can't sleep, you're stuck in reverse.

00:25:48
Speaker 4: Man.

00:25:48
Speaker 5: I mean, I don't know if they're getting what they want unless that's like a.

00:25:52
Speaker 3: Okay, well so in my mind what they got what they want when they finally signed Terry McLaurin to the deal, but it was like a little maybe too late.

00:26:02
Speaker 4: Still so annoyed by that.

00:26:03
Speaker 1: Personally, right, And they got it last year to what they wanted and this but not what they would cost, right, Yeah, it hurts all right, Jordan, you're up with the NFC North.

00:26:13
Speaker 4: Okay, So NFC North, We're gonna start with Chicago Bears. They're good. Is getting better you guys. A reference to Ben Johnson's thing that he's chanced with all of his players in the locker room scrum after every win, good better best. Never let it rest until you're good gets better and you're better gets best.

00:26:36
Speaker 5: The Chicago Bears this wait that's up in his locker room.

00:26:39
Speaker 4: He chants it every time.

00:26:40
Speaker 1: That's right, I have.

00:26:44
Speaker 4: It's shel Silverstein.

00:26:45
Speaker 2: I believe, and is it?

00:26:47
Speaker 4: Never let it rest until your good gets better and your better gets best. Chicago Bears, they're good is getting better? You guys, hope is here?

00:26:53
Speaker 1: I do like it.

00:26:54
Speaker 5: It just goes to show you can say whatever like you want.

00:26:58
Speaker 1: And with these motivational slogan, as long as they can, like call a play, you'll get you'll get by with it.

00:27:02
Speaker 4: If it's catchy and you can scream it with veins popping out of your neck, it works.

00:27:07
Speaker 3: If he's Manning has showed us that motivating Manning, you can really make anything, turn anything into a slogan.

00:27:12
Speaker 4: Is that sponsored by whatever? Commercials?

00:27:14
Speaker 1: But if they uh definitely not progress?

00:27:18
Speaker 2: Is it progressed?

00:27:19
Speaker 1: Maybe it is?

00:27:19
Speaker 3: Maybe it is.

00:27:20
Speaker 2: I like the backup.

00:27:21
Speaker 1: Probably if that's one of those things that if they were two and seven, everyone would be mocking them for it, but since they're winning, then it's awesome.

00:27:28
Speaker 4: Detroit Lions Dan Campbell, Dan Campbell versus offensive regression, which to me is the physical embodiment of Dan Campbell as the spider man who's like holding the two trains as the trains are crashing, and it's Dan Campbell like for real offensive aggression and his little glasses are on his face and all he's straining to try to pull this offense back into what he knows it could be. We'll see if it works.

00:27:54
Speaker 5: That was more than five words, though, Well, I'm explaining it. Oh, okay, did you miss my?

00:27:58
Speaker 4: Did you miss my?

00:27:59
Speaker 5: Greg?

00:27:59
Speaker 2: The word I?

00:28:00
Speaker 5: There was no There was no stopping. I just just kept going.

00:28:03
Speaker 4: Well, I'm trying to keep the pace. You know, we were told to keep this quick.

00:28:07
Speaker 5: Oh we were told it's nationwide.

00:28:09
Speaker 4: By the way, got it on your side, Green Bay Packers too much talent for this, doesn't need explanation. Minnesota Vikings one personality with multiple moods.

00:28:24
Speaker 1: Hmmm, that does need explanation. I want I want some one personality with multiple moods. So is that I would interpret that as Kevin O'Connell, who seems like a complex man. Maybe there's lots of sides to Kevin O'Connell.

00:28:40
Speaker 5: I would think so.

00:28:41
Speaker 4: But I think as a team, we know what this team is supposed to be. We know what they came into the year projecting themselves as, and all of a sudden you're getting this extreme whiplash depending on which version of himself the quarterback is every single and so you do have a purported team identity, right, yeah, but you never know actually what mood you're going to be in that day, or what mood the quarterback is in, or what version of the quarterback you get. So one personality with multiple moods, and it's like bipolar and being Yeah, dealing with someone who's bipolar.

00:29:14
Speaker 1: Kevin O'Connell, who always presents very like under control and good guy in public, you've started to see like the cracks a little bit, like he's starting to get like just a little bit annoyed, lafleur, like the pressure there in Minnesota.

00:29:29
Speaker 5: All right, NFC sou that was it for that division?

00:29:32
Speaker 4: Right?

00:29:32
Speaker 5: Yes?

00:29:33
Speaker 2: Okay, okay, first up, we have doing the cities here.

00:29:39
Speaker 3: The Carol Lane of the Atlanta Falcons, gotcha, everybody, I.

00:29:44
Speaker 5: Do like that it's doubling as a test for can you alphabetize?

00:29:48
Speaker 4: See this is why I was stressed two minutes before we started.

00:29:51
Speaker 3: Yeah, exactly, Yeah, Okay, Atlanta Falcons starting with the A's here Southern hospitality. Why because of their inability to sustain drives. They are really showing their opponents, So they're hospitality.

00:30:11
Speaker 5: You did it in two words. Yeah, that's gonna be tough to top.

00:30:14
Speaker 2: There's Oh, don't worry. There's some ones that are coming up that are just one word.

00:30:18
Speaker 5: There's only one way.

00:30:19
Speaker 4: Are you? Are you not having a stop watch out for the pauses?

00:30:22
Speaker 5: Greg or you She gave a good pause.

00:30:24
Speaker 1: I'll accept that pause except that pause.

00:30:26
Speaker 2: Okay. Next up, we have the Carolina Panthers Cats out of the bag.

00:30:34
Speaker 3: Oh, because you know, they're coming off of the three game winning streak.

00:30:39
Speaker 1: And I feel like, if cat's out of the bag, it's like, no, they're not coming back in. It's gonna stay bad. It's almost like a prediction.

00:30:45
Speaker 3: I kind of hope that that's not true, but I felt like the cat was in the bag. They had it in the bag when they were winning.

00:30:52
Speaker 4: Maybe it's Schrodinger's cat. You don't know if they're alive or dead?

00:30:55
Speaker 5: Oh god, pound in all right?

00:31:01
Speaker 2: Okay. Then we have the New Orleans Saints. Awe, shucks, I love a pun.

00:31:11
Speaker 3: Yeah, he's shown some promise and they got their folks their first road win.

00:31:18
Speaker 2: Yeah in week ten, so I'm happy for I.

00:31:21
Speaker 5: Want more pot Yeah. It's like that was like a nice little pat on the head for them.

00:31:25
Speaker 1: Shucks.

00:31:26
Speaker 2: Yeah, all right.

00:31:28
Speaker 3: And then we have the Tampa Bay Buccaneers, who this one for me. It's a little pirty, like an rmydy type deal.

00:31:39
Speaker 5: Okay, are you are you coming up with it right now?

00:31:42
Speaker 4: No?

00:31:43
Speaker 5: Okay, not at all.

00:31:44
Speaker 3: But they are about to go into the toughest part of their schedule, so I was thinking, like along the terms of a pirate and a stormy see, and they have to weather the storm, but they still have a favorable situation, so it's almost like they're an annoyed pirate.

00:32:00
Speaker 2: But it is our matie, right is that? Isn't that?

00:32:03
Speaker 5: That's the that's the phrase is R matie? Yes, okay, So.

00:32:07
Speaker 3: I've just never spelled it out before, so I wasn't surious how you did spell it.

00:32:12
Speaker 1: I would I would spell I would spell a R, but like six rs right, r mate. Yeah, so, and how does that describe the team? Again?

00:32:25
Speaker 3: Describes them because you know they had the recent loss obviously, but and all of the they've weathered the storm of all of the injuries that they've dealt with, and now they're about to go into a tough part of their schedule. But they've gotten through this so far that now our matie wait and see what happens next.

00:32:50
Speaker 5: We might we might workshop that one going the break.

00:32:53
Speaker 4: Yeah, a lot of might need help, guys.

00:32:55
Speaker 1: No, my mine as well. I'm enjoying that. I'm enjoying this second mean so much. Eric, we're halfway through.

00:33:03
Speaker 4: Yeah, is this going as fare?

00:33:04
Speaker 5: You're in charge? No, I think it's going at a good pace.

00:33:10
Speaker 1: Can you just give us, like your halftime speech slash evaluation of how we're doing before.

00:33:16
Speaker 5: We I'm involved in this way too much.

00:33:18
Speaker 6: You guys are doing great, okay, especially the alphabetizing live that's my favorite part.

00:33:22
Speaker 1: Actually, thank you, Eric. I like everyone has their own.

00:33:31
Speaker 5: Let's take a quick break.

00:33:32
Speaker 1: And we're gonna do the rest of the league, and yes, we'll talk a little t NF at the end of the show.

00:33:51
Speaker 5: We have some breaking news here on NFL Daily.

00:33:57
Speaker 1: Whoa, what is it? Colleen Wolf was making the Buccaneers slogan as she went, which is totally fine.

00:34:05
Speaker 2: Listen, here is the situation.

00:34:07
Speaker 3: I'm a terrible liar, but I also am such a preparer, and when I looked at my notes, I realized.

00:34:12
Speaker 2: That was the only team that I just did not have one for. And I had all of the reasoning but not the actual phrase.

00:34:20
Speaker 3: So can I submit like shiver me timbers sing instead in place of that?

00:34:25
Speaker 5: I think you did well with it in the end, but it was un Yeah.

00:34:27
Speaker 3: I think everyone knew that I was lying, and I would just like to say that is a characteristic of a good person. I'm a bad liar and I have come around to admit this, and I apologize to the listeners for.

00:34:39
Speaker 5: What a saved.

00:34:41
Speaker 1: That's like someone who's in a job interview, like what's your biggest weekness? I worked too hard, you know, I'm just perfectionist. I don't have a bad work balance. That was incredible.

00:34:51
Speaker 2: I'm glad to get that off.

00:34:52
Speaker 5: The same thing happened to me too.

00:34:53
Speaker 1: Our our producer on the NFL channel side Quab asked me what my Steelers one was on the way, and I was like, oh wait, that's the one I forgot.

00:35:00
Speaker 5: Thank you so much. It happens to the best of us. And by saying that, I was saying the best of us is me.

00:35:08
Speaker 4: Another interview trick, by the way, who's a little subtle trick of phrase there.

00:35:12
Speaker 1: All right, let's do a NFC North It's my turn, and I'm gonna go with the Baltimore Ravens to start, and the phrase would be feeling alive closer to death. Wait, because every Colleen show that we do together that is five words.

00:35:32
Speaker 2: It seems longer.

00:35:33
Speaker 1: I mean, don't you You know you hear that with people, whether it's something that happens in their life or something they go through, like getting a little closer to death. It's every Tuesday gonna it's gonna make you feel alive death. And for John Harbaugh and this Ravens team, you know, falling to one and five at this point, like they've done the regular season thing, if like one m VPS, they've won a lot of games, it's like to just feel a little more alive. You had to fall to one in five.

00:36:01
Speaker 3: Yes, you feel to the brink and back. You have seen the worst. You know what, it's like and now it's like, ah, almost like a near death experience.

00:36:09
Speaker 5: Yeah, yeah, that's where I was going.

00:36:11
Speaker 4: I could have just said a near death experience, but I guess you went your way.

00:36:16
Speaker 5: Well, I like my way better.

00:36:17
Speaker 2: You know what, we should make this a collaborative effort. Maybe go back to the box real quick and.

00:36:24
Speaker 5: The Cincinnati Bengals.

00:36:28
Speaker 1: The words are calamitous, wretched, ruinous, ooh, pathetic defense.

00:36:37
Speaker 2: Wow, pathetic seems personal. I don't know why. Ruinous is an amazing word.

00:36:42
Speaker 1: Ruinous that's ruined. It's ruined so many things. It's ruined Sundays for those fans. It's like ruin the excitement over Joe Burrow possibly returning. It's just it's just horrible. I know, the Cleveland Browns, the Curse of Deshaun Watson. Don't think much explanation really needs, but that really explains the last four years. And then the Steelers, which I did come up with after Quab reminded me, which is the same, different year.

00:37:14
Speaker 4: Just like, so, not only did you come up with one, you also gave Quab extra work.

00:37:19
Speaker 1: Sure that's true, but I said it to him and he said, yeah, that's perfect. And that's only four words, it's like, oh, Mike Tomlin, your team is getting out scored overall, but you have a winning record and you seem like just targeted for losing that first weekend of the wild Card once again. West of this same stuff they weirdly have. God, they're too interesting to be put into the West of His spot. They usually get. I feel like now that Saturday night in the C spot where it's like good ratings, but they probably won't give you a good game. All right, Jordan, you're up AFC East.

00:37:53
Speaker 4: AFC East dream with me here, people, Okay, I'm gonna start with the bills and imagine the this to the popular LIT song their own Worst Enemy?

00:38:07
Speaker 5: Mmm, what's the popular LIT song?

00:38:10
Speaker 1: Is?

00:38:10
Speaker 4: That?

00:38:10
Speaker 2: Is li lits the art list?

00:38:12
Speaker 5: Yeah, but well what's the actual song?

00:38:13
Speaker 1: That's the song?

00:38:14
Speaker 4: Surprise to me, I am my own worst ed. There you go, because every now and then I kick the living out of me. See I tried that.

00:38:24
Speaker 2: I tried that.

00:38:26
Speaker 4: I don't know if we can.

00:38:27
Speaker 5: Even keep that and now I got it right now, Actually we can't.

00:38:30
Speaker 1: We're gonna have to play a song.

00:38:31
Speaker 4: That's because it was so closely in tune origin to the original.

00:38:35
Speaker 2: But yeah, watch out.

00:38:38
Speaker 3: We're gonna Jordan and I are going to go off and start our own band right to the top of the charts.

00:38:44
Speaker 2: We don't play any instruments, but it's fine.

00:38:48
Speaker 5: Play like anyone that was on the Warped tour. You're gonna be covering.

00:38:51
Speaker 2: Oh man, I love the war.

00:38:54
Speaker 4: Yeah, I mean this is pretty self explainatory. They they truly are. They have been their own It's even the Chiefs anymore. They are their own worst enemy. Okay, the Patriots. I'm fully aware I'm about to lose any cool points I may have ever garnered with either of you two, including everybody in the in the booth as well.

00:39:13
Speaker 2: A setup. I'm so excited about this.

00:39:15
Speaker 4: Let me put on my Galadriel voice, whispers of a nameless fear. Okay, you won't get it. You're doing the face Lord of the Rings. Reference listeners. Listeners not only will get this, yes, I will get messages about it, and I will get love from them. I don't need it from you, guys.

00:39:36
Speaker 2: I'm no, I'm very intrigued that the Patriots.

00:39:40
Speaker 4: Yes, a shadow rises in the east. What the old the old evil has returned?

00:39:47
Speaker 2: Mmm, I hate the old evil.

00:39:49
Speaker 5: Yeah, Patriot, but it's like, uh, it's like the Old Evil with like some new paint.

00:39:53
Speaker 1: Though. It's like that little scene, Yeah, when Dave Portnoy is in the owner's box.

00:39:58
Speaker 5: I think we can call it the Old Evil. Okay, Mike, I was.

00:40:02
Speaker 1: Like, I can't enjoy a touchdown from Drake May you gotta immediately go to Portnoy. It's like it makes it tough.

00:40:11
Speaker 4: More movie references on the way the Miami Dolphins, How you like them Apples? Because when I saw the photo of Mike McDaniel in his car with his giant watch hanging out the window, driving past the bills bar I immediately thought of that scene in Goodwill Hunting when Will slaps the number on the glass and says, how you like them apples?

00:40:31
Speaker 2: Oh, I got a number.

00:40:33
Speaker 4: How you like them apples?

00:40:34
Speaker 1: It's so good too? And then he like they asked him about it on Monday, and he did the Mike McDaniel thing where he just gave a total non like a non answer that did confirm it, but did it in such a confusing way that you couldn't even totally laugh at that. You couldn't quite use it as like a sound bite on shows like this where he said something like AI is real, So that could have happened. It was like, hey, who are you? But I do love that he did that. More coaches and players just like stunting on their opposition even when they're losing. Bat like, enjoy the wins when you're losing.

00:41:09
Speaker 4: Yeah, I never mind it. Jets super earnestly want to say this, just learn how to win. They're loaded already on draft picks. I don't want them to worry about draft order at this point. I just want them as an organization to understand what it actually means and takes to win football games and get into that habit before they go about this full on rebuild.

00:41:30
Speaker 1: And we'll be talking about them shortly. Little T and F last time in primetime for the Jets this year, And is that the end of the AFC East? It is losing track all right. Now we're gonna go We're gonna go team by team here. Okay, we've divided up Broncos. You have Colleen.

00:41:47
Speaker 3: Okay that John Denver is full of And that's five words because I didn't say the last one. But it's because well, first of all, I don't know if anyone thought that the Broncos would go on the run that they're on. Just looking at their record, however, it's kind of like when I look at the wins and you watch the games and you see the way that the offense is so inconsistent.

00:42:16
Speaker 1: Are they full of we don't know, we're really uh oh, win's a win though, but really using that button, I know.

00:42:25
Speaker 3: Yeah, it's true, but yeah, so I just feel like they obviously rely on their defense so much and we don't know what the if the offense can sustain playing at this level.

00:42:34
Speaker 2: But they are eight and two now, So.

00:42:37
Speaker 1: Big week, Chiefs Broncos. We'll talk about it on Wednesday. You have the Chiefs.

00:42:42
Speaker 4: Mahomes' last wild card twenty twenty one. Oh and I know it's a confusing because it's only five words, right, so I only working five words. He's only not had a first round by twice, so.

00:42:55
Speaker 5: He played in the wildcard round in twenty twenty one.

00:42:58
Speaker 4: Yeah, so we're technically thinking about the Chiefs possibly being a wildcard the wildcard team because of the way the AFC is set up right now, it's it would be really weird for him to not have a first round by. It feels like forever, because it has been forever.

00:43:12
Speaker 5: I am bringing this up. I would not be able to have remembered this off the top of my head. But yes, they were.

00:43:19
Speaker 1: They played the Steelers in the wildcard round and then they beat the Bills and they got to have it at home because I think there were multiple upsets in the divisional round, so they still got to have Maybe it wasn'tny multiple upsets, but they basically just didn't get to buy and they beat the Bills and then yeah, they lose to the bank.

00:43:37
Speaker 3: It feels like so many lifetimes and you know what it will be a tougher rountis.

00:43:41
Speaker 4: That I put myself into so I didn't have to google Taylor Swift lyrics guys to try to make a tailor swift pun. I felt like that was going to be the obvious thing. Instead, I went overly complicated.

00:43:50
Speaker 1: Oh what's the Taylor Swift pund that's on me?

00:43:52
Speaker 4: I don't have any.

00:43:52
Speaker 2: I didn't want to do.

00:43:54
Speaker 4: She's really great with her puns and things, and I feel like that would have I wanted to challenge myself and then I just set us all through mental gymnastics.

00:44:01
Speaker 1: Here the Raiders. The Raiders are I thought it was great. I think it's a good point. It's salient about the different path the Chiefs are going on right now, the Raiders familiar path forlorn, melancholy, hopeless Pete. That's it, just like what do we need with like a sad peak, Carrol Oh.

00:44:19
Speaker 2: Nobody wants it, nobody likes it, nobody needs.

00:44:23
Speaker 5: It, Like if I could have fit, like I don't belong here anymore.

00:44:27
Speaker 1: That was what I was thinking of the it doesn't even go here, just it's just said Chargers calling.

00:44:34
Speaker 2: Okay, Chargers. Thunderstruck. That's one word.

00:44:37
Speaker 1: Wow.

00:44:39
Speaker 2: And I feel thunderstruck by the Chargers this year.

00:44:42
Speaker 3: And knew that they would be good, and I knew that they would figure things out. But I just like every time Jim Harball has a microphone near him, it's it's fun and shocking and amazing, and I'm just I like the vibes of this team.

00:44:58
Speaker 1: And they've had every reason to not be seven and three right now.

00:45:02
Speaker 2: All these are that they've dealt with and still look at them. I love it.

00:45:07
Speaker 4: Texans Jordan Davis Mills to the rescue, My god, I.

00:45:14
Speaker 5: Hope not we got any c J. Stroud News that was great.

00:45:19
Speaker 1: Last week it was great.

00:45:23
Speaker 4: I had to really stretch that one.

00:45:24
Speaker 2: That was that was good. The Tones, it was like Dan Campbell with his Tones talking about the play call. I'm calling the plane.

00:45:32
Speaker 1: I mean, I'll do it. I'll stick my neck out. I think they're going to make the playoffs. Look at you, let's do the Jaguars. I came up with two with the Jaguars and then never decided which which I want.

00:45:46
Speaker 2: We'll tell you which one's better.

00:45:47
Speaker 5: Oh, I can do both. Yeah about that, I got the side in the moment.

00:45:51
Speaker 2: We will judge them.

00:45:52
Speaker 1: Actually, you know what, the second one is just boring. The Jags messy fun no longer fun. I mean right, They've just kind of been a bummer to watch. We named them our messy fun team of the Year, and then they went out the next week and just had this totally bizarre win over the Chiefs that was so far the peak of the Jaguar scene. But you know what, they've got time. They're literally still in the playoffs as of today. Over the Kansas City.

00:46:17
Speaker 3: It sounds like a college relationship. Yeah, massy fun and not fun anymore.

00:46:22
Speaker 4: Yeah, like when you see his bathroom for the first time.

00:46:24
Speaker 2: Oh my god, what has happened in here?

00:46:28
Speaker 4: What?

00:46:28
Speaker 2: How old is this? How long has that been sitting there?

00:46:34
Speaker 1: Speaking of young men disappointing you. My other one was Trevor leaves us bleach. My other one was Trevor leaves Us wanting more. That's more said, all right.

00:46:47
Speaker 3: Colts, Colts, the limit does not Existoo, two mean girls references in one show. I know, I know, Yeah, the limit does not exist for the Colts team because they're going all of the way.

00:47:02
Speaker 1: Been some warning signs the last few weeks, but I do like that they went into the it's always big, get into the bye with the win. That was big.

00:47:08
Speaker 5: And finally Jordan wrapping up with the Titans.

00:47:11
Speaker 4: Are you guys right for this?

00:47:13
Speaker 2: I've never been more ready.

00:47:14
Speaker 4: The Titans are still playing. Oh that's right, five words exactly. At least they're in Nashville.

00:47:26
Speaker 1: They have like a they have like a cool number one overall pick playing quarterback. And yes, they they might be the most forgettable team right now in the NFL, but they might have the number one pick again two straight years.

00:47:39
Speaker 2: Good for them.

00:47:40
Speaker 1: Not a great sign. Jets also in the mix for the number one overall pick and I'm going to say it. I think that was a success. Describe your teams in five words or I want I want my Chiefs.

00:47:52
Speaker 4: One back.

00:47:53
Speaker 1: Okay, yeah, there's always changes the books. One back after the fact, Eric, are you happy with it? We're getting the thumbs out.

00:48:01
Speaker 5: It was good. Good job, guys.

00:48:03
Speaker 2: They felt like a little hesitation.

00:48:05
Speaker 5: Yeah, they felt like it was good. Felt like we can be better. Like edge on the ship here, guys.

00:48:09
Speaker 4: That was Dan Campbell denying his plays.

00:48:12
Speaker 1: It was good.

00:48:12
Speaker 2: It was good.

00:48:14
Speaker 1: The New York Jets are playing the New England Patriots this week. And before the season, if you had told me that it would be a twelve and a half point spread, oh crazy. I wouldn't have believed it. But the Patriots have won seven straight games. They're coming off I think their best win of the season against the Bucks. The Jets will not have Garrett Wilson in this game. They will not have starting cornerback Aziree Thomas in this game, who has a concussion. And I was thinking, actually, this could be a tricky spot for the Patriots because the Jets have played better over the last month.

00:48:53
Speaker 5: They've been the competitive team.

00:48:54
Speaker 1: They've also won, you know, the last couple of games, and defensively especially they have turned it around and have been mostly respectable, but losing Garrett Wilson especially is a big bummer for this team.

00:49:07
Speaker 3: Yeah, because they're going to have to lean on the run and Brisall is going to have to go up against this really good Patriots run defense. So I'm not sure how they're going to score points because obviously the Patriots are going to know that they're going to run the ball, so they're going to stack the box.

00:49:21
Speaker 2: So what do you even do? How do you get creative in those situations?

00:49:26
Speaker 3: And Drake May has been playing so well now going up against a secondary without Sauce Gardner.

00:49:32
Speaker 1: Will McDonald is also I knew I was forgetting someone else that is absolutely crucial to what they do. And I think Will McDonald and Jermaine Johnson, it's only been a couple games together, Like, that's a really good edge duo. I think they should be happy that they didn't trade those guys away. And Will McDonald's been playing well, but they don't have a chance like to often play with the lead and then let those pass rushers go. And this is a game where, yeah, they might not be playing with the lead.

00:50:00
Speaker 4: Yeah, and the Patriots might be And the Patriots might be running the ball a lot, which means I would like to see more Trevion Henderson. We saw really his explosive playability on full display last week, and I think there's high potential for that to happen again. I am so impressed, way more impressed than I thought I would be with this Patriots defense. I know it was a place they invested heavily into, and Mike Rabel set about sort of pruning all of the former Belichick draft picks and removing them from the roster and then playing his guys and some of the guys that they went out and spent money on in free agency. From the front to the coverage, they are so solid. Even if the Jets had multiple threats in the passing game, it's it would be so hard. Christian Gonzalez is playing well. This front is defending the run extremely well. But they also are are looking dynamic against the pass too. It's just they are an entire handful, and it is why I'm saying they're back. I mean, and they're back. Unfortunately for the rest of the East, a new dark is rising. Mmmm. But it was the same dark the whole time, the same evil.

00:51:08
Speaker 1: It's such a it's such a strange season. And then and that game was typical of it, Like the running game was terrible for every run except for two essentially, and even like their passing game was pretty inconsistent in that game. But you have Drake May, who as a second year player just seems beyond his years, and he is the one who changes the play at the line of scrimmage to set up Kyle Williams for that insane touchdown, and that was just like it wasn't even bad defense. It was just a perfect call against man coverage and a really incredible throw and some explosive ability from Drake May and Kyle Williams. And same thing with that fourth down play. But like their players are just good. But then you peek behind like the curtain a little bit and some of the numbers don't totally support what the eye test tells you, Like they're somehow still twenty ninth in DVOA on defense because you know they're giving up drives and they they do tend to give up some big plays. But I think to your point, Jordan, that they are improving, that they're a lot better that's including the entire season of stats. In the last month or so, they've been much better. I think the offensive line is getting better too. That that would have been the area where I'd be concerned, because Jermaine Johnson and Will McDonald have nine quick pressures last week in that Jets game, like they were awesome. They were the best edge duo in the league last week. But without Will McDonald like that, then they can send help to the other side and there's like less of a route for them to win. And yet there's something about like the Jets. I'm always worried, even though that they've handled the Jets over the years, I'm always worried about the Jets.

00:52:43
Speaker 5: That's their rival.

00:52:44
Speaker 2: Look at what we.

00:52:47
Speaker 4: Almost like a team of pesky, optimistic upstarts could upset dynastic evil. You know, I want to want you to make a movie about that.

00:52:55
Speaker 1: Yeah, they might start justin fields in this game, but they might start to Taylor. They would not take any questions. And by day I mean Aaron Glenn on Monday, I know, but he was like he was just like, stop with the quarterback questions.

00:53:11
Speaker 5: I don't want any quarterbacks. It's like that.

00:53:12
Speaker 1: It's gotta be a question kind of a big deal, especially when like you had zero dropback game like Field is. I think the best way to beat the Patriots though, is actually have Justin Fields play quarterback and just run him like they have not unlocked him as a runner. Has been like a little a little surprising to me. I guess that's all we got on Jet's Patriots.

00:53:34
Speaker 4: It'll be fun either way.

00:53:35
Speaker 1: Sad sad state of affairs, but I do like to see like the Patriots in primetime with this version of the Patriots feels.

00:53:42
Speaker 5: New like it does.

00:53:44
Speaker 2: It's like a totally different team.

00:53:45
Speaker 4: I wonder how much waxing Crescent talk we get from Al on this, you know, depending on how the game game actions going. Yeah, you know, that's always my favorite moment.

00:53:56
Speaker 1: They were.

00:53:57
Speaker 5: They were the first team, by the way, only or no.

00:53:59
Speaker 1: One of only three team in twenty five years last week to have four fifty yard plus plays. So that was just like a really weird, really like explosive. Yeah, it's hard to get a fifty yard game in the NFL with US four, wasn't it.

00:54:12
Speaker 4: The first Patriots team since two thousand early two thousands have two rookies have recorded explosive play fifty plus yards in.

00:54:20
Speaker 5: The same game.

00:54:21
Speaker 4: Insane.

00:54:22
Speaker 1: And you have Will Campbell, who's getting better at left tackle, like they are led by their young guys. But it's just a he's getting better. It's been good better, it's been solid his favorite. I mean, I wanted armand Membu, and I would still want armand Membu. Who's on the other side. The Jets offensive line is playing really well. They're actually are pieces here. I think for the Jets fans to get excited about die you never know quarter because I'm a homer, I think, actually I would take the Jets to cover that twelve and a half if nothing else. That's it for today's show. We described the entire NFL in five words, and we did it so well.

00:54:54
Speaker 2: I'd say we crushed that assignment.

00:54:56
Speaker 1: I think we absolutely did. We will be back. It'll be me Jordan and Patrick Claybonn on the preview show. Will hit thirteen games this week, Big week.

00:55:09
Speaker 5: Can't wait for it. We will see you on Wednesday.

00:55:13
Speaker 2: I'll see you guys next Tuesday.

00:55:14
Speaker 1: Hi,