2025 Week 6 Recap: Baker Is Balling and The Chiefs Are Back!

00:00:05
Speaker 1: Welcome to NFL Daily, where we're banning the phrase MVP conversation. I'm Greg Rosenthal. I'm here in the Chris Wesleyan podcast studio. I am so excited and happy to be doing the Week six recap here with Patrick Claibaan and Jordan Rodrigue. It was great to be overseas, but I gotta say having a full NFL Sunday here back in Los Angeles feels right, feels nice.

00:00:28
Speaker 2: We missed you. It was kind of weird not having Greg Rosenthal on a Sunday in studio, you know, because I've been doing it so.

00:00:35
Speaker 1: Long, you know.

00:00:37
Speaker 3: No, it was different. We don't have any lag. We can have nonverbal communication as well.

00:00:42
Speaker 2: Yeah, those now waiting for Greg to come screaming in over the Wow.

00:00:47
Speaker 1: That helps. And it was like, and I mentioned this MVP conversation because I see a lot of just tweets about, oh, he should be in the MVP country he should. Well just just say it with your chest, say he's it's Week five. By the way, you don't need to have that conversation if you want, you can just say Baker Mayfield has been one of the best players in the NFL. This year. It's very early, but his plane is stupendous. Why don't we talk about it? To Raymond James stadium shotgun look.

00:01:15
Speaker 4: Tucker in the backfield in motion, Baker Mayfield bell high snap, looks up field, goals of Baldophield.

00:01:20
Speaker 5: He's out a receiver over.

00:01:21
Speaker 6: That's all touched up, Tapa By touchtop Buckeer.

00:01:25
Speaker 1: It's Tells Johnson, touchdown, Buccaneers. What a prop puss for you? Two four and one teams entered, one five in one team left. Tampa Bay takes care of the forty nine ers thirty to nineteen. Yes, that was Gene Deckerhoff on wf us. Baker Mayfield just keeps doing it. You can take away Mike Evans and Chris Godwin and at one point in this game for in the second half of Emica Abuka and uh doesn't matter. He's still gonna get it done on a day. Unfortunately, the forty nine ers had more injury problems. Let's start by focusing on the magic that is this Bucks offense right.

00:02:10
Speaker 2: Now, Baker Ball, Keith Son, rolling Benby. Let me tell you guys about the play that sets up this game changing touchdown. The swing moment of the game. It's the third quarter. The Bucks are up just one point and the forty nine Ers had eaten up half of that quarter's clock on a field goal drive to come within one. Baker Mayfield's drive at this point seems dead. It's third and fourteen, and then Baker Mayfield scrambles. He picks up fifteen yards. He's breaking tackles. He stretches out for the conversion and we have the sound.

00:02:47
Speaker 1: We're down in loll here's the snap, Phil High dropping the bow.

00:02:50
Speaker 5: Baker's gonna be sid.

00:02:52
Speaker 7: It gets out of the shack.

00:02:53
Speaker 4: He rushed with whift cops a yard piece will zig zagging the right breaks another guard.

00:02:57
Speaker 5: Pete fights this wall past till.

00:02:59
Speaker 8: The first.

00:03:01
Speaker 5: Bicker Mayfield give him a first dome the first style. Mister rough, I do.

00:03:08
Speaker 1: Get Jim Dupperhof call I said, awesome. What any snarls afterwards, and he actually starts looking for contact from forty nine ers after there he gets up there ed he sort of he's sort of Elvis Leonore who's going by.

00:03:20
Speaker 9: He's like, what what's up?

00:03:21
Speaker 5: Man?

00:03:22
Speaker 1: Yes, Jordan is a full on Bucks fan now after witnessing her on a Sunday and if you're going to root for a team this year, this is the hell of a one to root for.

00:03:30
Speaker 2: One play later, he hits Tes Johnson for that forty five yard touchdown. The Buccaneers go up twenty seven to nineteen. There you mentioned it, Greg. They're on their fifth and six string receivers at this point. They don't mind Johnson and Johnson can get some right another Johnson, Cameron Johnson, also got a touchdown pass earlier in the game in the fourth quarter. Corner back Jamel Dean Tampa Bay corner Jamal Dean lurked in the flat on fourth and six. Ice this one out by picking off mac Joe who didn't even see him under the actual coverage. So this was a classic Todd Bowles play, the eyes of the of the quarterback, not necessarily the coverage over the top game. This was a classic Baker Mayfield game. Another commendable effort by the bucksfront office to coaching staff to their players and adjustin yet again to more injuries and more you know, you know, things that could hams during any other team during a game.

00:04:23
Speaker 1: And I think this offensive performance really over the last month is a reminder too. If you're going to have some part of your team out as long as you got the quarterback. And then now the offensive line, which which is healthy as healthy as it's going to be this year. Cody mak isn't coming back, but the tackles they've looked good, and you can scheme it up when you have a quarterback playing that well, and ultimately they're they're helped out Patrick by the Fred Warner injury. Unfortunately that sucked. He leaves with an ankle. It's later reported that it's a dislocated ankle, and Kyle Shanahan says he will be out for the season. After he left the game, Josh Dubou of the Associated Press said that the Bucks average seven point four four yards per play, which would be a bottom five performance in the Kyle Shanahan era. So really you could tell that deference wasn't the same after Warner left.

00:05:14
Speaker 3: Yeah, and this maybe the straw that breaks the camel's back and movie he's celebrating the forty nine ers being able to overcome injuries.

00:05:19
Speaker 5: But it's tough to overstate.

00:05:20
Speaker 3: And I know for a few years there the general discussion was devaluating the position that Fred Warner plays. But there's no way like somebody's driving down I four listening to that great Gene deckerholl call, thinking well, Jeane's lagging behind the play. There's no way Baker is going on this fifteen yard run for forty seconds. But that's how it looked, and with Fred Warner on the field, there is no conceivable way that Baker Mayfield gets that first down. And it's great pointing out like it's not just that one play, any number of plays that could have been made where the Bucks in this run game made the Mabel and I know it felt like it was another comfort behind game where Baker's making great plays to win them the game, but they actually had the lead there when the Bucks were able to salt that lead and hold on because they were able to run the ball against forty nine ers.

00:06:04
Speaker 2: Yeah, it's multiple huge plays that saw immediately the effect of Fred Warner not being on the field. The Cameron Johnson touchdown that put the Bucks up twenty to thirteen. That was a miscommunication resnap off of a motion play that should have been rearranged by the green dot player, by the player who's calling the defense on behalf of the defensive coordinator on the sideline that's Fred Warner. You know, it looked like to me that the safety Leonor should have carried with the motion player because de Winters was showing blitz and then he kind of moved with the motion player, but then was clearly going to exchange to the tight end who was also in line on the play and could have leaked out. And so that's a huge problem because then Cameron Johnson everybody lost track of him, and Cameron Johnson is, you know, wow, wide open right behind every single other player on the defense. A lot of the defenders in this Rebuilding forty nine ers defense, it is commended, should be commended for it's been very well coached, and their players have flashed up to in stout, Alfred Collins, these guys, Michael Williams, they've all flashed such potential. But if you don't have the general commanding and rearranging and cannot be fooled by simple out motions or simple sweet motions like it is, it is a huge difference. And it certainly made a difference in this game right away because they targeted him not being there.

00:07:21
Speaker 1: Look, they're not going to ever get fully healthy this year. If Fred Warner and Nick bos are not coming back. It's like they're not going to get close. What they have to hope for is getting healthy yer on offense. George Kittle might be back next week. We'll see pierceall back on the field. But this is a team that's going to have to win by scoring a lot of points. Mac Jones, to my eye when I was watching this game, had a lot of dimes in this game and was up for the challenge. Kendrick Bourne finishes with one hundred and forty two yards. But you mentioned coaching, and one of the reasons, you know, I thought the forty nine ers might pull off an upset here. The Bucks have made me wrong many times this year was that I thought Shanahan could out coach Bulls. But I remember you being very excited about the play call on that Bulls, you know, about that interception that they pulled off, and ultimately, like the backups with toanj just and McCaffrey being a great receiver but still very inefficient as a runner, like it just hasn't been enough.

00:08:18
Speaker 2: Yeah, what I will commend Mac Jones for is he plays sort of this like fearless brand of football, Like he's not afraid to push the ball. You know there's gonna be some errors. There was another play that this Bowls defense got them on early on an interception pretty much right away. The combination, the corner combination of Parish and Vildor, which sounds like something out of Game of Thrones, has been playing really, really well, but Vildor had the early interception of Mac Jones and it makes a big pass break up late in quarter four to help ice out this game. They're just playing really well. They understand their assignments. They're not necessarily names that you know, the average listener sitting at home is going to know. Parish has gotten some pop in recent weeks. But Mac Jones, I thought, played really well through most of this game. He's running out of people to throw the ball to. I mean, DeMarcus Robinson is making plays for him down the stretch. Respect to DeMarcus Robinson, but nobody really saw that coming this year, especially coming in late after the suspension.

00:09:16
Speaker 1: Yeah, well, you know, Juwan Jennings got into Kyle Shannan's face at one point and sort of had jail.

00:09:22
Speaker 2: Why what else could go wrong?

00:09:24
Speaker 3: There was also a play where the forty nine ers had a first and goal opportunity. They wound up getting a fiel on the drive because Juwan Jennings had the most illegal screen I've ever seen. It could have been called a blonde side block, it was so nasty. The defender was then down for several minutes afterward.

00:09:40
Speaker 1: Juwan Jennings said after the game that he was playing with five broken ribs and an ankle injury, so five that's what he.

00:09:48
Speaker 2: Said that didn't come out during the week.

00:09:50
Speaker 1: Five broken ribs and speaking of postgame comments that I just found interesting, Baker Mayfield said, Tedz Johnson is one hundred and forty two pounds representation for the skinny guys in the NFL. Love you, Tesz Johnson for making it this one.

00:10:06
Speaker 2: I was worried he was going to get hurt on that flip.

00:10:08
Speaker 3: I was like, no, but it's like a squirrel for you know, you can't really you can't really hit your your top speed falling down when you're only one forty two.

00:10:18
Speaker 9: Going to hurt it.

00:10:19
Speaker 1: So the Bucks keep finding a way. They're at five and one. If if we were trying to find a theme, Patrick came up with it for me today, or maybe it was Eric. Actually it was the show it was. It was the teams that like needed to take care of business, took care of business. Like there weren't the big upsets and all the banana peals that were on the ground, like down in Miami, the teams with a winning record managed to avoid them. So a second and ten still keep their time out.

00:10:47
Speaker 10: A great play by Herbert to extend that enough to get the incompletion bunch formation right, Trey Harris left, Herbert got to get rid of it, able to break a tackle.

00:10:59
Speaker 6: Here we go, Lad mccon just led to the forty to the thirty to the twenty, Lad still want to speak shops on the bout's left sideline. Whatta play? Oh, Ladd mccaukee stops the clock at twenty two seconds.

00:11:16
Speaker 1: Oh, you don't tell me that, Lad mcconkeye is no longer a number one receiver. That's a franchise quarterback and a franchise receiver making a game winning play when they absolutely need it. Few plays later, Cam Dicker hits the game winning field goal from thirty three yards out. Chargers win twenty nine to twenty seven. That, of course, was the great Matt money Smith on k f I Fun Game. TUA has a touchdown with just over a minute to go, and you think the Dolphins are gonna maybe get a season changing win, but it was not to be.

00:11:54
Speaker 3: Pat Now, it was a great kickoff return by the Chargers that set up that final possession, and Greg called it aside inside of a minute actually where you think, here's this big moment for the Miami Dolphins.

00:12:05
Speaker 5: They need to solve their red zone woes.

00:12:07
Speaker 3: And the solution to the red zone woes this Darren Waller is he gets his fourth touchdown in the twenty twenty five season. But then the kickoff return, then Justin Herbert goes lad mccauckie probably wanted to stay in bounds there, but they got a few more commanding Videll carries go Trojans and he had the game of his young career Videll on the ground. But the thing that leapt out to me because the game starts with t A hitting Jalen Waddle on a nice ball. Either Waddle bobbled it or Tarhie still punches it out, but it goes right into Tony Jefferson's hands and it's like, oh, here we go.

00:12:39
Speaker 5: It's one of.

00:12:40
Speaker 3: Those interceptions where box score to us throwing picks again. It was a nice throw, but the Chargers give the ball right back. Devon a Chan has a forty nine yard run for a touchdown and it's like.

00:12:50
Speaker 5: Okay, yeah, this is it.

00:12:52
Speaker 3: We're in and the Dolphins and Chargers went back and forth ultimately until that fourth quarter stretch that we just talked about where the Chargers were able to overcome no Quinton Johnson lad filling in nicely and Justin Herbert.

00:13:04
Speaker 5: I had to look at the on the run stats.

00:13:08
Speaker 3: Eight attempts going over eight miles an hour had a passer rating of ninety eight point four.

00:13:13
Speaker 5: Wow, he's just sitting and they.

00:13:16
Speaker 3: Need to bump up on the run stats on NNGS because Herbo's on the run this year has been much faster than eight miles an hour on a lot of these throws where you know, missing tackles, not missing tackles, but missing their starting tackles. Ultimately, coming into the season, still know Joe Alt and he's having to escape just like he escaped from Jalen Phillips on that final play within the pocket. But there was just so much of the Chargers offense other than a nice day from Videll On the ground. That was just justin Herbert gotta have it moments, and he made those plays today.

00:13:48
Speaker 2: Unfortunately, this is where we're at once again with the Chargers. Is justin Herbert doing something kind of heroic when something kind of heroic needs to.

00:13:57
Speaker 1: Be three games this season, if you think about it, that ended this way with like a hero ball play by her.

00:14:02
Speaker 2: Yes, and then like okay, great, our kicker is good, so thank god, right and and so that. But that's the thing is because going back and looking at that play, I mean I almost didn't even have to look at it. I'm listening. It was cool listening to everybody get excited about it in the newsroom and all of that stuff. But like, I've missed newsrooms, you know, everything's been so remote. It's nice to hear everyone freaking out.

00:14:22
Speaker 1: We're back.

00:14:23
Speaker 2: Newsrooms are back one and and so but it it's it was like I was, like I almost started asking the question, is was was justin Herbert under pressure? Yes, there's no need to even look, but you can go look And he was once again because and it's Mechai Becton, who's missed a lot of the last couple of games, being in the concussion protocol. He's been in and out obviously. Patrick, you mentioned they're missing their left and right tackles, They're missing their starting running back, they're missing their star, both of their starting up.

00:14:50
Speaker 1: Left tackle as well, Trey Pipkins was out.

00:14:52
Speaker 2: They're missing their number one receiver, and still Justin Herbert makes something happen. This is not sustainable. We've seen it year over year over year. This is not sustained a way to play football.

00:15:01
Speaker 1: I hear that, and you're absolutely right. This portion of the schedule before All comes back, I just feel like every extra win is like a little more valuable. Yeah for them, they just have to find a way to survive this part of the schedule and if their offensive line can get healthy enough again with All back, and yeah, they were down to their fourth tackle because Pipkins was out as well. Like the numbers wise, his pressure rate that he faced actually like he got hit seven times today and face a thirty percent pressure rate Like that's that's an easy Sunday for Justin Herbert. That's by far the best, No, that's I would guess that's the best protection he's had probably since Week one against the Chiefs. So he'll take it and he'll just barely, you know, be a game Dolphins effort. Look, they were down twenty six to thirteen in the fourth quarter. They make a comeback, and it's it's kind of been typical for this team. Patrick, Like, you look at the offense and you think, actually, they did pretty well. Their success rate was through the roof on the ground and Tuam made a lot of good plays and he has a comeback. But when they just need like one more play at the end, They've struggled this year. There are a lot of really bad one win teams, and I don't think the Dolphins are good. They have major problems, but they are one of those teams that could look back at four of these games and think, man, if we got like one or two plays different, it'd be different.

00:16:18
Speaker 3: Yeah, and it comes out right Kamani Vadel again. Eighteen carries for one hundred and twenty four yards.

00:16:24
Speaker 1: By the way, when you say go Trojans, you mean the Troy trop Yes, I mean the true We do not you know stand the USC Trojan.

00:16:30
Speaker 3: No, Yeah, actual Trojans live in Troy, which is Troy, Alabama. Shout out to the Trojans again. The all time leading rusher in the history of the Troy Trojan football program, I had one hundred and twenty four yards on six point nine yards per carry. Where this Fins defense we just saw like them get brutalized up and down the field multiple weeks consecutively. And while we celebrate the progress with the offense and like this, I'm not gonna.

00:16:56
Speaker 5: Call it assiance. The revitalization of Darren Waller's career.

00:17:00
Speaker 1: It's oh, I think we can call the Waller Sons maybe.

00:17:04
Speaker 2: The best guys.

00:17:06
Speaker 5: It's week six, Okay, no more sons. I'm celebrating this now.

00:17:11
Speaker 9: The Sons and Sances is in full of.

00:17:13
Speaker 3: Fen comeback album for for Darren Waller. Uh on the offensive side. But it's just it's week in and week out, like consistent warriors by this well these other like we look at the Panthers defense, the Ravens defense today, everybody's seeing growth, but the Fins are right where they were.

00:17:28
Speaker 1: Let's listen to to a tongue of Ala. It's funny because so much focus is on this offense and their relative struggles. You're right, it is that the league's worth wors defense. It's really been the bigger problem. But to us just an honest guy at the podium, and I think this one is not going to get him in trouble, but it's going to get them a lot of conversation.

00:17:48
Speaker 11: I think it starts with the leadership in helping articulate that for the guys, and then what we're expecting out of the guys, Right, we're expecting.

00:17:56
Speaker 5: This, Are we getting that?

00:17:58
Speaker 1: Are we not getting that?

00:17:59
Speaker 11: We have guys showing up to only player only meetings late, guys not showing up to player only meeting Like, There's a lot that goes into that. Do we have to make this mandatory? Do we not have to make this mandatory? So so it's it's a lot of uh, it's a lot of things of that nature that we got to get cleaned up. And it starts with the little things like that.

00:18:21
Speaker 9: What was the question there, I'm not sure.

00:18:23
Speaker 1: I think I think it was about like what they needed to improve upon in terms of the details and everything. And I think he was talking about the player leadership. He was talking about himself. He's like, it comes down to the leadership. He is the leadership. And the way he said it I think was a little confusing. It was an indirect way of pointing them at himself. I believe because he's talking.

00:18:44
Speaker 2: Well himself and other captains.

00:18:46
Speaker 1: I assume, yes, Like it's like an onion level of headline to say that players are not showing up to player only meetings on time or at all.

00:18:55
Speaker 2: So I think, I mean, he's trying to do the aj Brown thing where he talks to his teammates through the media, but he's so like he's to us, So he's like really earnest and maybe says it in a way that's like not subtle enough, like it's almost too overt that we're like, wait, what does he actually mean by this? So it I mean the vibes are strange in Miami. Patrick, you mentioned the run defense, So I am like a bit of a football sicco as you guys know. And since it's week six and it's the thing that's cycling through my conscious and my subconscious at in a given moment, I'm a vivid sleep talker, like full sentences, like coherent, like vivid painting a picture of things. In my sleep talker, I'll wake myself up often talking in my sleep. Last night, I woke myself up in my sleep talking about the Miami Dolphins run defense and how they defend the run as if they only want to rush the passer, And it was like a full on like I was on this podcast making this exact point.

00:20:00
Speaker 1: Now I've made the point.

00:20:02
Speaker 2: So weird.

00:20:03
Speaker 1: Oh my god, you're also you're kind of a sleep mumbler watching games, just like saying things to yourself that aren't really intended for me, but just making what the little common And look, they were better. They were better on paper than the Chargers run defense today, at least in terms of like success rate in everything, like the Chargers defense has been terrible on the ground too.

00:20:23
Speaker 2: But ultimately, trying to give Patrick time to look up this question.

00:20:25
Speaker 5: Yeah, on the concept.

00:20:27
Speaker 1: The question was how do you keep this team from taking a woe is me mentality like this keeps happening to us?

00:20:34
Speaker 9: And that that was his answer, Yes, and they run.

00:20:37
Speaker 1: So he volunteered. The whole idea of them not showing up to the players only means which means I think he was really going out of his way, Yeah, to make.

00:20:45
Speaker 2: That point, the AJ Brown thing, But you can't nobody but AJ Brown can pull off the AJ Brown thing to like.

00:20:50
Speaker 1: Especially because he's the quarterback.

00:20:52
Speaker 5: I mean, the issue is they're one and five.

00:20:55
Speaker 9: Yeah, like that's the issue.

00:20:56
Speaker 3: They're not winning football games, Like who we joke about the players only meetings, Like.

00:21:00
Speaker 5: None of it matters, like that that's the thing.

00:21:03
Speaker 3: And there's so there's gonna be because even in looking for the context, I've already seen all these Oh well here comes to us saying this, and so it's disaster and no, the disaster is on.

00:21:12
Speaker 2: The football great morning at TV tomorrow, Patrick, Yeah, but no, it's.

00:21:15
Speaker 3: Gonna be horrible because it's gonna we're not talking about the things that actually matter in terms of not being able to stop the run, like making horrible rush.

00:21:25
Speaker 1: I actually saw a couple plays with Herbert was just back there and actually didn't have any pressure on him, and I'm thinking, Wow, their pass rush really is struggling. So you're right, there's a lot of.

00:21:36
Speaker 5: Let's no meeting is going to fix that.

00:21:37
Speaker 2: Yeah, let's talk.

00:21:38
Speaker 1: Let's end this game on a positive note, which is a John a Jim Harbaugh quote, And we just haven't had enough of those the last few weeks with the losses. And he said, how he'll remember that Lad McConkie play.

00:21:53
Speaker 12: Justin Herbert back to throw Defender wrapped around him.

00:21:59
Speaker 5: He's able to.

00:22:01
Speaker 12: Just a mighty man and uh shake it off and Hitler mconkey, Lad does he stop?

00:22:09
Speaker 5: Fly By?

00:22:10
Speaker 12: Yeah, I'm gonna remember that play. So they throw dirt over top of me. That's how great I feel about feel about that.

00:22:19
Speaker 1: That's how I'm gonna really categorize anything that happens in my life, whether I remember or not until the day that they throw dirt on top of.

00:22:26
Speaker 5: Well, I mean yeah, I mean that's betting on yourself.

00:22:28
Speaker 3: If you're gonna remember it all the way until the dirt's going on, that's fight until the end.

00:22:33
Speaker 1: That's that's fair.

00:22:35
Speaker 5: And it's like, hey, guys, this a little early.

00:22:40
Speaker 1: Speaking of throwing dirt on the team, let's uh, let's talk about the team we pick against in our Survivor pool every week, the Bengals and the Packers. Here's a fake handoff love bootmaking White tumps.

00:22:53
Speaker 5: It off, flap to the turn of the fight, to the.

00:22:57
Speaker 13: Touchdown touchdown, Packer touchdown, Chuck her Crown.

00:23:04
Speaker 1: Wayne Larivie Yes on WR and W. There's no such thing as being a hero when it comes to a Survivor pick. There's just picking against the Bengals each and every week, which I feel bad about, because they battled in this game, at least in the second half. Twenty seven to eighteen. The Packers get it done once again on a day where the teams that needed to win found a way to get a win. And in the first half of this game, I was just wondering, what are we doing here? Why did we add Joe Flacco to this mix? It was the most one sided ten to nothing halftime score that you could possibly imagine. At one point it was two hundred and forty one yards to twenty. The Bengals have not scored a touchdown in the first half for four straight games. That has not happened for them since the nineteen seventies. And I got a hand to Joe Flacco after halftime. He played pretty well, and the Bengals defense, which had at least been competing pretty well, stopped getting stops. And that's what good teams do, and that's what the Packers I believe to be at three one and one, when they needed their offense to step up in the second half, they did it in the first half. They didn't necessarily need to get that much done. And I will remember a play from Jordan Love. It was third and nine, when the Bengals had actually just scored a touchdown that the result was still up in doubt, and Jordan Love is rolling left. He takes a shot while throwing the ball down the field to Matthew Golden. One of my favorite throws of the entire day, and a throw that reminds you, like, Okay, not many people in the world can make that throw. That might not be on a ton of highlight reels tonight, but like, that is a game winning throw and ultimately the Bengals never got a chance even though they kept scoring to have the ball when it was only a one score game.

00:24:59
Speaker 2: Yeah, the Packer started off kind of quiet and a little slow and a little messy on offense to start this game, especially coming off that much rest. Seventeen fourth quarter points and they're awake now they looked a lot more like this team that should have just steamrolled over the Bengals by the end of this game.

00:25:19
Speaker 1: Yeah, Golden was very active in this game. It doesn't look crazy in the box score. Two carries for sixteen yards, three catches for eighty six yards, but he was opened down the field. The throw that he made to Jordan Love was a terrific catch and you could tell right off the bat they were making a point to get him involved. And that was after having the bye week, so it was kind of like Lafleur, like the first thing he wanted to do, I think in this game was Josh Jacobs in the running game and get Matthew Golden back on track. Two for two there, Josh Jacobs ends up with over five yards per carry.

00:25:51
Speaker 3: Yeah, a solid game from both of them. And we got to that point there in the second half because the Bengals started the third quarter with the ball after after the kickoff opening kickoff, they take the ball. They have it for ten minutes, like it's almost the entire third quarter before Jordan Love gets back on the field and they go down and score.

00:26:10
Speaker 1: They shortened the game on themselves. Yeah, I love that strategy.

00:26:12
Speaker 3: And I wondered, like, this is an ugly nice drive from Joe Flacco. This is just like the game in Cleveland that the Packers actually lost, but they ultimately get plays where Jordan Love had a nice scramble to extend on a third down. But there was again I owe Joe Flacco in apology because I like you, Greg thought that this didn't make any sense, But there was great coverage by Kashawan Nixon on Jamar Chase on one of these throws where you'll just realize, oh, that's Jamar Chase, where Flacco fits the ball in between Nixon. Well, case, Chase got in between Nixon and McKinney, but still the ball was there where Jamarka.

00:26:51
Speaker 5: Get it, and you know they weren't getting that in the past few weeks.

00:26:54
Speaker 2: It makes you happy and it makes you sad, honestly, because it's like, that's going to be the play, right, Joe Flacco hurling an impossible throw towards a receiver who will always be able to make what we would otherwise think is the impossible catch. And then a lot of the other stuff looks like what a lot of the other stuff look like today, including you know, Trey Hendrickson leaving with the back injury.

00:27:19
Speaker 9: Oh man, that's brutal, and.

00:27:21
Speaker 2: That some people were raising their eyebrows at that.

00:27:23
Speaker 1: Yeah, conspiracy theorists are wondering, hmm, is he just not like playing through it when he could be traded in the next couple of weeks. I do wonder not about that. I don't believe that for a second. People, I will not do so, but I do know one I would never think that he's taking an injury.

00:27:46
Speaker 2: I do think everyone's eyes on me all of a sudden.

00:27:49
Speaker 1: If they don't win on Thursday Night Football, that the Bengals, that will be their fifth straight loss. And after the first half of this game, I was thinking, Man, you don't see a team get their really dominated for four straight weeks like the Bengals have been in these four games, and they always just give you a little something like, oh, the defense played pretty well in this one, or the offense made a couple plays late like Jake Browning did last week, and in this game, to be fair, they did not have the ball that many times in this game. They started with a little over twenty yards on their first four possessions, which is a disaster, but they scored or missed a field goal on their remaining five possessions. I actually thought the offense looked pretty good. The offense played better, they ran the ball well Flacco you like in general. Flacco made a couple of nice throws. But it's like they always give you just a little to believe in, Like Zach Taylor's going crazy.

00:28:39
Speaker 9: I don't believe.

00:28:41
Speaker 1: I don't believe at all, and I do think there might be a fire sale, at least in the form of Trey Hendrickson if they keep losing game.

00:28:47
Speaker 3: There's an asterisk on one of those field goals because Evan McPherson lined up for record tying sixty seven yard field goal, puts it through the uprights, but Matt Lafleur, the ultimate hater, waited for him to be in his like seconds before the snap Paul's time out.

00:29:02
Speaker 1: We had the record.

00:29:03
Speaker 3: It was there, it was there, It was at Lambeau, it was on grass. There was no way anybody was gonna be able to ask risk this. Instead, Eman McPherson has to come out after breaking the NFL record trying to kick.

00:29:14
Speaker 5: It again and he missed it. He was short, like eight yard short.

00:29:16
Speaker 2: I'm so glad you brought this up because to me, it showed exactly where the Cincinnati Bengals reputationally are at right now because Matt Lafloor, despite the first half performance that his own team had put up at that point in his own offense that he's calling the plays for, had the like onions and the sort of I'll just say it kind of a deep move right to go and say. Finally turned to his Special Teams coach. He's standing kind of off camera. We saw close up of it on the broadcast, and he looks like to me, he looked like he's saying the words, should I get him right before he goes and kicks it, and that if you can pick on a team like bad, if you can bully the kicker of all people, the one glimmer of positivity that you might get, you might get.

00:30:07
Speaker 1: A record, it's an unfair advantage. I don't think you should be allowed to call timeouts like that. There's no way to outlock because you can't.

00:30:13
Speaker 2: Yeah, and Zach Taylor knew it. He was he was kind of like laughing. He was, but he was kind of doing the thing like what the heck man on the other side on the other sideline. Obviously these two know each other very well, and it's like, man, it's fun to pick on your friends when they're on the opposite sideline. But in Matt Lafleur's case, he I think you know you relish being the bully in your house with a team that is so just poor in every phrase in every phase comes in like that.

00:30:38
Speaker 3: And the real loser is all of us because more coaches are going to try to ice the kicker now as some sort of weird psychological game. It comes to your advantage when you have to like rip into a sixty seven yardist and then seconds later have to do it again, Like that's that's the actual problem. There's no like, oh, I'm getting in his head with this time.

00:30:55
Speaker 2: I know you're you're wearing them out intentionally, You're like, yeah, wind up and do that crap in. Man.

00:31:00
Speaker 1: They always say they like to kick, take the practice kick, but I think from six in that case, you probably shouldn't. Okay. Yeah, the Bengals have lost four straight since they lost Joe Burrow. The Packers at three one in one. Good job by them taking care of business. Let's take a break and let's come back, and let's take a little visit to the rest of the NFC West.

00:31:33
Speaker 13: Sam Donald starts under center fort and wide to the right side.

00:31:38
Speaker 5: Play fake.

00:31:39
Speaker 1: Donald has time, gonna let it fly.

00:31:41
Speaker 8: Jasen is out.

00:31:42
Speaker 13: There, Jaysen has cut down chayhawks. Let's spike in the end zone and a sixty one yard rocket to number eleven.

00:31:54
Speaker 1: Jay Yeah, Sen put six more on.

00:31:56
Speaker 13: The board for the Hawks, and that's how you lose off that defense that is fighting you tooth and nail at the line of scrimmage. You throw over them and the Seahawks explode for a big touchdown reception.

00:32:10
Speaker 14: Oh.

00:32:11
Speaker 1: Sam Donald to Jackson Smith and Jigba maybe the best connection in the entire NFL this season. You gotta put Jackson Smith and Jigga in the MVP conversation. Is great and we're having a conversation. Everyone's always out. It's an MVP conversation. Gotta put Sam darn on the MVB conversation and we're five weeks in. Who is this conversation? Just say say it.

00:32:34
Speaker 5: That's what they're trying to do.

00:32:35
Speaker 1: Sam Donald is pretty awesome right now. Seahawks win twenty to twelve in Jacksonville. I loved everything about the Seahawks' performance in this game, except for their running game, I would say, but considering they were down three starters in the secondary, really every group I thought of their team was better than the opposition.

00:32:57
Speaker 5: Pass they were and going down.

00:32:59
Speaker 3: It's started with the Jacksonville Jaguars getting in the end zone first, where you wondered if the Seahawks were their coverage roes were gonna be all game, because they blew a coverage on Brian Thomas Junior that gave the Jags their opening touchdown. But in Jags fashion, Cam Little misses the extra point. That's how you had the six on the board when they get that big sixty one yarder from Sam Donald to JSN, and the Jags offense really couldn't get anything mustard over the course of this game. Well, the defense continued to make plays. They got trey Von Walker back this week. He had wrist surgery, so he was playing with a cast on, but still had the impact in the game. Heinz Allen bothering Donald as well on several plays. But it's really when you see Sam Donald in the way he's played these past couple of years, hitting these deep passes like that was the story of the game.

00:33:51
Speaker 5: It wasn't just that one to JSN.

00:33:54
Speaker 3: He had a nice ball to Cooper Cup that ultimately set up another Cooper Cup touchdown, first one as a Seahawk relations Welcome to the end zone.

00:34:01
Speaker 1: And that touchdown was a really nice throw by Darnold too.

00:34:03
Speaker 3: And so like we get to the point where it's third quarter, it's twenty to six. Trevor Lawrence hits Brian Thomas Junior on a great ball down the sideline. BTJ breaks the tackle, goes in the end zone. The folks in Duval are celebrating. Everything is great, but Travis Hunter was a full step off sides and it's just frustrated because it had no impact on the play. It's one of those things where it comes all the way back, but that gets Liam Cohen and this wild hair and the drive continues. They go for it on fourth down twice in that drive, ultimately get a Tim Patrick touchdown that ensuing possession. Ventral Meller gets a sack on third down. The Jags get the ball back, but the offense is clunky once again. The Seahawks defense gets the stops and it just continues that way. Ultimately, and told, the Seahawks improved to four and too.

00:34:47
Speaker 1: It's one of those where Trevor Lawrence in the box score looks solid enough, although I guess the yards per attempt is under six that's not great, but watching the game, he just was not accurate throughout the course of the game. Now, some of that you can give to the Seahawks pass rush.

00:35:02
Speaker 2: Yeah, they came back. Welcome back everybody.

00:35:05
Speaker 1: Yeah, it was intent. On the other hand, the Seahawks pass rush looked incredible in part because Trevor Lawrence just would not get rid of the ball and he was just holding on.

00:35:13
Speaker 9: To it forever.

00:35:14
Speaker 1: The Seahawks finished with seventeen quarterback hits. You do not see a number like that too often, and seven sacks taken by Lawrence. There were definitely quick pressures in there in the Seahawks pass rush deserves a ton of credit.

00:35:27
Speaker 9: The Jaguars offensive line, which had.

00:35:29
Speaker 1: Played so well throughout most of the year, I think, struggled a little bit the last two weeks, but a lot of that was Lawrence just kind of holding on to the ball.

00:35:36
Speaker 2: Part of the statistic analysis that proves that what your eyes are telling you too, Greg, is twenty two pressures total for the Seahawks defensive line as a group, and that their pass rush as a group, according to True Media. That's early numbers from True Media right after the game, and so many of those are turning into hits and sacks. That is partially and a huge part in this game. Watching him on the quarterback and what I am really impressed with I've been impressed with the Seahawks since Week one. This is an exciting team. They're ascending. They can be dominant in different types of ways. They can win games in different types of ways. They coached around the deficiencies on the defense. They took advantage of what is really an area of the Jacksonville team building process that is still very much coming together in terms of format's identity, which is their passing game, and they were you know, they attacked them in that they attacked them up front without worrying as much about what was going to happen on the back end, and I thought it was really impressive. They're winning with math. The Seahawks are all over the field, whether it's deciding we're gonna send the pressure and try to win that way and not really trust as much what you're gonna do with your receivers because we haven't quite seen a full on identity take hold yet. We've seen bits and flashes of it, but not the full thing. And then on the offensive side, Seattle's winning with math. With their tight ends. A J. Barner is wide open on at least two passes two catches a game and it's really interesting. They love to load up and go heavy, and it is a nightmare for especially zoning defenses that are trying to flip their math in their shell coverage every single time you change the personnel on them.

00:37:12
Speaker 3: Yeah, there was a AJ Barner play that essentially ended the game in the hopes for the Jacksonville Jaguars because it led to a Jason Myers field goal that would make the comeback a little unfeasible. It's sixty one yards from AJ Barner where he's got Win guard to his left and he's hand fighting with him for thirty yards down the field. But it's the downfield passing of Sam Donald once again, where in weeks where we saw some quarterbacks get hidden, today where Sam Donald in the fourth quarter like in fact, the whole second half on full display, full availability to attempt every throw and the Seahawks team expects their quarterback to complete them, then they should.

00:37:51
Speaker 1: And the defense picks up the offense and vice versa. I mean, there was a four drive stretch in the second half where the Seahawks had a total of two first downs and they were almost bagging the seat Jaguars to come back in the game. But the defense holds up, and then Clint Kubiak comes up with that great play call, being aggressive with a chance to put the game away with under three minutes to go, And yeah, he sees Barnard just wide open on the throwback pass. And Darnold's been pretty good under pressure in general. But like we wouldn't find out today, he was one for four under pressure. He just was not facing much. So goodwin by the Seahawks. They get to four and two, Jaguars fall to four and two. They will be heading overseas to play the Rams. Spicy one would the Rams be going to London on a high.

00:38:39
Speaker 10: Stafford has first and goal, takes a snap, boots out the right side early.

00:38:43
Speaker 7: To a flat all alone.

00:38:44
Speaker 6: Tyler Hickbee struts in big rig Higgs with a spike and a two touchdown lead on the road in Baltimore.

00:38:55
Speaker 1: Our friend JB Long on KSPN. Great call, even if I don't love the fake camp celebration. Tyler Higbee gets it done, gets in the end zone on a day where the Rams played with their food a little bit. It happens, that's what these Rams do. But they did score two touchdowns in the span of a minute. And thirty two seconds early in the second half, and that ultimately finished out the scoring seventeen to three against the Cooper rush and snow puntley led Baltimore Ravens.

00:39:32
Speaker 2: This looked like a worst case scenario unfolding for the Rams in an early early game to start a long road trip, first to Baltimore then to London. Their offense could not move the ball awful in the red zone at first, including back to back missus receivers Dvonte Adams included in that one receivers were dropping passes. Pukinakua was injured before halftime, spent halftime in the locker room getting his ankle wrapped up, tried to come back in, came back a couple plays, had to leave with sporadically in and out of the game. Their defense was getting run over in the first half to the tune of ninety yards by Derreck Henry, and special teams continued to be awful. They were tied three all versus the Cooper rush at that time Ravens at halftime and then doom now now doom doo new new that's right, enter land Man, the Rooms middle linebacker punched out another ball as second of the season to force a fumble in the third quarter, Quentin Lake recovered it. The Rams scored two plays later that played a higbee that you just watched. They went up seventeen to three and there they would stay thanks in part to that play man swung the game big time for them.

00:40:41
Speaker 3: Yeah, on the broadcast, there was a discussion about that being Zay flowers first ever fumble, and every Ravens.

00:40:47
Speaker 5: Fan in the world was like, oh there was one.

00:40:49
Speaker 1: Yeah, playoff games Couch, I hate when they bring this up. Dad.

00:40:53
Speaker 5: Anyways, Yeah, no, definitely counted that one.

00:40:57
Speaker 3: But you started and there's the old hawk, I mean from endgame where it's like, don't give me hope. But Tyler Huntley comes in the game on a fourth and twelve.

00:41:08
Speaker 2: All run quarterback runs and there there.

00:41:11
Speaker 3: Was a moment but the offensive line breaks down. Ultimately their sacks and throwaways to end the game. But signs of life from the Baltimore Ravens defense, like if you say the Rams are playing with their food, it's like.

00:41:24
Speaker 5: Ah, or maybe bright Baltimore didn't like trip over himself.

00:41:27
Speaker 1: Well, they got Kyle Hamilton and Marlon Humphrey back in this game, which is pretty massive for their secondary. Still a little surprising that they were able to slow them down, but yeah, they outgained the Rams ultimately in this game two ninety six to two forty. And yeah, that Tyler Huntley drive that you mentioned that was the ultimate short in the game on yourself drive almost a ten minute drive, seventeen plays where they ultimately couldn't score any points and it was over after that.

00:41:53
Speaker 2: Yeah, and I want to commend it particularly Marlon Humphrey because he was in position to have an interception on that play in the corner of the end zone. Actually, unfortunately that's the one pukin Akuah got hurt on. Pukan Akua had to go into defense mode essentially to break up that potential interception. This was a really up and down game by by everybody, by Matthew Stafford, especially by his receivers. He missed a couple of throws, but he also had a couple of crucial drops Jordan Whittington, who is seems to be the number three receiver on this football team at this point. It maybe will have to do more in the future because pukin Akua's status is very much up in the air. Sean McVay said postgame it was an ankle injury. The team's official word on it during the game was a foot injury. So this happens frequently with the Rams, so definitely something to keep an eye on there. It's especially bad to be injured on a really long road trip like this. Never good at all. Phukanakua. I mean, let's do it, Let's put him in the MVP converse. No, but it really is. He's having the best season, leading the league of all receivers and in so many categories, and thank you Walker walking first down waiting to happen. And if he is hurt, the entire lens of this offense shifts because it was. Even though Sean McVay has said he doesn't want to funnel his offense through one player, it has been going through Matthew Stafford and Puka Nakua and so getting that multiplicity that Sean McVay keeps saying he wants, especially if Puka's banged up, is going to be big.

00:43:25
Speaker 1: Now, yeah too too. At We was inactive for this game. Blake Quorum left with an injury. They haven't consistently gotten, you know, their rookie Ferguson, Terrence Ferguson going Higbee ends up leading the team. They've tried to force the ball to DeVante Adams and it hasn't been incredibly efficient. Not that he hasn't helped. I'm glad you mentioned Landman, though, I mean seventeen.

00:43:44
Speaker 2: Seventeen tackles that agious franchise record. I want to shout out too, because now you're gonna see other players they need more from. Jordan Winnitting for sure, he had a bad drop and then had a couple of other errors throughout the game. But Kyron Williams part of what gets the Rams going in the right direction and gives them a little bit of life after more miskicks by Josh Carty and Sean McVay hates his kicker so much at this point that he's he's like going for it all the time, which is a big deal for McVeagh, who didn't go for it earlier in the game. And then Cardy misses a twenty six yard kick. It's just bad, and and and so on fourth and three in the On the opening drive of the third quarter, Matthew Stafford hits Kyen Williams for a one point five cheeks down thirty yard catch which then sets up Kyen Williams own rushing touchdown with a big block by Davis Allen to help him out. These are huge plays that gave them life in the Rams cannot seem to put a full game together, but for every second or fifth game, you know, and and that's bad that they have to. They have to be able to put a complete game together. Their defense carried them in a lot of ways today. Shout out to Byron Young leading the league in sacks to this up to this recording with seven and a half helped close the game out. It's just I don't know what this team is. I know what they want to be.

00:45:02
Speaker 1: You're like, that's most of the league right now. And yeah, this was one they just had to survive. The Ravens got to where everyone thought they were going to get to, which is one in five at the bye week. We'll see if Lamar Jackson can save them. On the other side, it is going to be difficult. All right, Let's go to New Orleans where our friends at the Saints Block Party podcast we're having their their big outing. They've been undefeated previously, but could they challenge and defeat their biggest challenge yet. Drake May bigs on the.

00:45:36
Speaker 8: Right side with Hooper snap this May stands and throws on your side at the shut into.

00:45:43
Speaker 13: The end zone.

00:45:44
Speaker 1: A plot out of the play and it's a touchdown.

00:45:47
Speaker 5: He shine, we got a head shot?

00:45:52
Speaker 1: Yep, yeah, Hey.

00:45:55
Speaker 3: Sean Booty selects playing cod Yeah.

00:45:58
Speaker 1: Scott Dolax celebrate celebrating the headshot that the Patriots player Kayshawn Booty made. Yes, Drake May down the field to Kaishawn Booty twenty five to nineteen. The Patriots win. That play was symbolic of a fantastic game by both May and Booty. Booty pays for forty of his friends and family members to attend this game. LSU guy, of course. I mean we know his salary. That's a pretty big chunk right there, having to pay for forty tickets those yeah, do the math. That's that's a minimum like ten thousand dollars five ten thousand dollars something like that to watch him go five for ninety three and two key touchdowns. Drake May as he's been all season money on plus twenty yard throws. I think he was three for four in this game for over one hundred yards and it would have been five for six for over like two hundred yards. But he had a long throw to Stephan Diggs taken back by a penalty, and another long touchdown to de Mario Douglas taken back by a weird phantom penalty. None of it mattered. What mattered in the end was kind of like the flip of the Packers Bengals game. Patrick right when they needed to. The Patriots defense actually got a few stops late in the game when the Patriots offense slowed down, so it was very much like an all offense game in the first half, and it was three to three after halftime, but they found a way to get a win over the hard luck one in five Saints who have been in for these losses.

00:47:37
Speaker 9: To the last possession, yeah, it was.

00:47:39
Speaker 3: Kaden Ellis, I believe, jumps on top of a fumble that was forced on a pass from Spencer Ratler to Juwan Johnson.

00:47:47
Speaker 9: Where Spallane Christian Ellis, yes, O.

00:47:49
Speaker 3: Christian Ellis, excuse me, punches the ball away from Juwan Johnson, who was red hot to start the season and just really slowed down. They hurt the Saints comeback opportunity because it was twenty five to nineteen there for quite a while. The Saints just couldn't break that number, and that was an opportunity there at their thirty six yard line where they got up close to the fifty and turned the ball over where It's another one of these games where you're like, oh, Spencer Ratler played pretty well and the Saints were in. You can't celebrate like almost all the time. But it's it's true. The Saints are in these games.

00:48:24
Speaker 2: Yeah. I think every week someone gets mad at me for saying that, but it's true. It is so true.

00:48:29
Speaker 1: It's the defense that's the problem, and their secondary was a disaster in the first half. Jonah Sanker, Oh my dude. Yeah, the rookie safety got confused a couple times. One of the times he was bailed out by one of those phantom calls. The officials were terrible in this game for both sides, Like they they called back at that touchdown in de Mario Douglas on a complete phantom opi on the Patriots, and then in the two of the worst makeup calls the next two plays like called complete phantom calls on the Saints almost to make up for it, and it just it just wasn't a great day for the Zebras there. But I don't want that to be the focus with Drake May. I just feel like they'll always have a chance. He's so calm in the pocket right now. What are you laughing at?

00:49:16
Speaker 2: I don't want that to be I'm just saying, like it's immediately just there's nothing more boring than talking about bad, bad.

00:49:25
Speaker 1: Calls, even if it was a bad call game. But May, Yeah, yeah, like he's he's so calm in the pocket right now that on one play he was stiff arming a guy with his right hand and then threw it out of bounds with his left hand, which to me is a little old George Pickett. Yeah, that's like a little too much like calm. But there were so many plays that he bailed them out of penalty after penalty after penalty or like terrible. Like they're one of the worst running teams in the league, which is mostly offensive line issue, and so they kept being in these long yarded situation and I'm thinking about a fourth down to Diggs, a third and nine to Mac to the sidelines. There was one play where like they had three straight penalties, and one of them was like a you know, on a fifty yarder to Diggs and they and he kept having to like make them right, and ultimately he did make them right. Typical of that was the play to Booty to ice the game.

00:50:27
Speaker 8: Three receivers to the right, Stevenson lives up behind the right guard, step back to me a twist up front. He stands and he throws a left back shorter caught by body, want to throw? The connection is there again, Drake baby, the sean booty well, the defender on his back at a first down to England near midfield.

00:50:45
Speaker 1: In fact, from a Saints forty nine yard line. That's a big time throw. Voice, that's a big time throw.

00:50:51
Speaker 7: Oh, start the fusses, pack the bags.

00:50:54
Speaker 1: You got a four to two football team heading home.

00:50:56
Speaker 15: Baby.

00:50:57
Speaker 3: They're heading home, baby with their quarterback greg who took over two and a half seconds to throw sixty nine percent of the time in this game, which I think kind of skews those pressure numbers because the Saints, again, who had a defense that struggled pressure. Drake May on fifty eight percent of dropbacks, but I think a lot of that is Drake May holding onto the ball to hit home runs, and he hit him today.

00:51:20
Speaker 1: Yeah, so many of the third downs, like they're six or thirteen on third downs and hit another fourth and long where like third and longs and yeah, he's holding onto it because the Saints don't have much of a pass rush.

00:51:29
Speaker 2: Well, he's calm. That's why I think he's okay with holding onto it. He's calm, and he knows that he can buy a little bit time too if he absolutely needs to. He can move around in the pocket, he can move around outside of the pocket. I think he's playing with that kind of confidence where normally you see when a quarterback is really confident in getting in rhythm, he'll get the ball out quick. He's done that too, But this game is a little bit different because yes, to your point, Patrick, Pa, there was there were dialing up pressure. They were trying to get pressure on him. You just never quite felt like he was despite what the numbers say. You never quite felt like it was too much for him and that he could hold the ball and was holding the ball because he has sort of that patient confidence some would call it. You know, a lot of dip on his chip, but it's like paying off for him. Like the tostitos does not break in half in this case. In this case, you can scoop.

00:52:15
Speaker 9: It on up.

00:52:16
Speaker 1: His numbers are getting outrageous. I love that. I love the way you just kept with that one.

00:52:21
Speaker 2: I want to go watch my face after.

00:52:23
Speaker 1: Saying over ten yards per attempt in this game. Yeah, his numbers are getting crazy. He is one of the many people I saw journalist suggests, Hey, he should be in the MVP. Conversation. They were just having a conversation. Do you having a conversation?

00:52:39
Speaker 2: Do you know what I love? I've I've learned. I've learned about this as one of my favorite discoveries this year. Watching a Patriots game next to you, like you watching it. I'm not really got one eye on and I'm not really watching it, but you watching it, and then like you're making noises. But then also you're there's a wave of college football coaches that just get fired in the middle of the second quarter of some of these earlier games, and that's when you decide to send out some of your spicier takes just about the game in general. The Spencer Rattler, I'm not saying you said he should be in the MVP. Conversation. You kind of did the adjacent take.

00:53:12
Speaker 1: I said, if he was a first or second round pick, people would just talk about him like a franchise quarterback.

00:53:16
Speaker 2: But you wait for the news dump.

00:53:17
Speaker 1: You know you think I'm paying any attention. We are very different. I don't give. I don't care about college football coaches being fired on a Sunday.

00:53:25
Speaker 9: That is not my interest.

00:53:26
Speaker 2: Just where can I get Craig just a little, just under the caller?

00:53:29
Speaker 1: I mean, I'm not noticing. I have to admit I am not a Twitter or a Blue Sky reader on Sundays. I'm just I'm just a poster. Greg posting duck, Duck posting duck. Speaking of ducking, you don't want to duck this Panthers offense right now because it's one of the best in the league.

00:53:48
Speaker 4: It's gonna be a thirty three yarder for the win and a chance to get to five hundred. J. J. Janssen the federable Champson to snap, Martin puts it down, Fitzgerald.

00:53:59
Speaker 16: Swings the the kick is good.

00:54:02
Speaker 1: The Panthers would it Ryan Fitzgerald.

00:54:06
Speaker 5: The game winning field goal.

00:54:08
Speaker 13: Carolina thirty, Dallas twenty seven, Sweet Carolina.

00:54:13
Speaker 1: Indeed, oh any straw on wr f X, we got jj Jansen NFL Daily z own yes into a highlight. Fitzgerald hits the game winning kick thirty to twenty seven. And you might have thought I was being a little flip by calling the Panthers one of the best offenses in the league. Well today and this is, according to Shilkapadia at the Ringer, the second highest success rate of any team in any game all season, and actually for the entire season, they're up to fourth overall on offense. They're getting it going on the ground consistently. Ric o'dowdle goes over two hundred yards from scrimmage for a second straight week and the Carolina Panthers are three and three.

00:54:59
Speaker 2: Yeah, all the things I was about to say, whoo, leave no Downell. Rico'dowdell had two hundred and thirty nine scrimmagejars, including one hundred and eighty three yards rushing and then a thirty six yard receiving touchdown that I know we have sound forward that was just beautiful against his former Dallas Cowboys team.

00:55:18
Speaker 4: Aids in the game, orbit motion again, shotgun snap bake to Downell Young, backpedaling blush to his left pros down field down a wide open ten.

00:55:27
Speaker 5: The touchdown rico'dodell buckle up.

00:55:33
Speaker 2: Yes, I loved it. And as you can tell after back to back two hundred plus yards rushing games by the Panthers, who by the way through weeks four through six, are second in the NFL in rushing success rate, which is outstanding. They're also getting the fourth best yards before contact in the NFL blocked for them, it's all clicking the offensive line and the run game. You can tell that it has settled down the entire offense. Bryce Young threw the ball really well off of that foundation. He was seventeen of twenty five for a one to ninety nine, three touchdowns and an interception, but the interception wasn't really on him, It bounced off of Teed McMillan's hands. Tet McMillan made up for it in a big way with his first and second career touchdowns. This you can tell they're gonna start seeing more loaded boxes soon. They're not seeing a ton of loaded boxes right now, but you can absolutely tell that them establishing the run behind Rico Dawdle, behind this really really solid offensive line, the way that they're playing right now. This group is starting to form a little bit of an identity, and it's settling the quarterback when they start seeing these loaded boxes. It's time for Bryce Young to repay the favor when they test his arm a little bit more.

00:56:39
Speaker 3: And I've bemoaned them for upwards of over a year on this Javonte Williams had twenty negative twenty seven rush yards over expectation. As you're ever either, it's Rico o' Dowdell's given those guys a whole bunch of rests on the bench.

00:56:55
Speaker 5: I'll say, the Panthers fixed the run Gate run game.

00:56:58
Speaker 2: What did you ever say?

00:57:00
Speaker 5: What did he do?

00:57:00
Speaker 17: Like?

00:57:01
Speaker 3: This is the most intriguing thing on the planet to me because Dallas could get nothing going through the air. Mike Jackson never wants to see George Pickens again because he gave him all kinds of fits. But other than that, like this, this was a slog on the ground and the Cowboys had to do everything through the air, and Dak almost.

00:57:16
Speaker 5: Pulled it off.

00:57:17
Speaker 1: I continue to be impressed with Dak Prescott, But you said it. This rush defense, which is historically bad, had improved to like average ish until the last two weeks and last two weeks they've been flat out good. And that was the difference in this game that we mentioned that was one of the best rushing performances by any team all season by the Panthers. Meanwhile, the Cowboys had an eleven percent success rate, which is just like horrendous, one of the worst performances by any team on the ground all season. And it happens against Carolina. Like even though the scores high, you can't go too crazy that they're like some shutdown defense that's complimentary football. And man, that's a stinging loss for the Cowboys.

00:57:59
Speaker 2: Yeah, if they were going to have this defense was going to have at least one problem happened to it. The problem was George Pickens and Dak Prescott. Dak Prescott, how had another excellent, excellent game that kind of goes to waste here. George Pickens was nine for eleven for one hundred and sixty eight yards and a touchdown and on one anything could happen when this man has the ball. Okay, on the touchdown, he blew the Carolina crowd a kiss. On one of his long catches, he slowed down toward the sideline just so he could throw a stiff arm just for the heck of it. Didn't know what was going to happen. Yeah, just exchange, exchanged the ball casually in one hand, slows this pace down. Tries for the stiff arm. But overall, you know, the run game for the Cowboys was shockingly not there. Although the Panthers have improved to about middle of the pack against the run over the last couple of weeks, still not a strength for them by any means. But it's interesting because when this defense had to step up and make these big plays, they forced, you know, a three and out. Dallas had just forced its first three out of the game. The Panthers defense, which was, as we know, so unbattled all season, stepped up in return. Trayvon Meyrig made a huge stop he's been playing.

00:59:09
Speaker 9: The last three or four weeks under first down.

00:59:12
Speaker 2: And then Bryce Young and the Panthers get the ball back. They're driving. He hits Tommy Tremble down the left sideline and that was when the Cowboys finally did load up the box to try to stop Rico Dowdell. And then he hits Hunter Renfro on an absolute dart of a slant route that seals this game, sets up this game winning field goal like it was. It was a ballsy game by the Panthers, and I love that this turned into a little bit of a shootout, just a little bit of one, because these two offenses are fun to watch for the most part now and I think they're both improving. And for one or two of these teams every week you wonder is it going to be a wasted effort? Today it was for the Cowboys.

00:59:50
Speaker 1: I just like that these two teams are going to be in the mix. We've got too many teams that are looking a little doa after six weeks, then then I would like we got eight or nine teams. The Cowboys and the Panthers are turning into teams that are that are entertaining. They're in the middle. We need some teams in the middle. We don't just need the top and the bottom. Let's take a break and talk about one team that is really at the bottom on the other side. But as we do, let's actually listen to Rico Daddle answer a question from Charlotte Great Joe person. We'll be back on the other side to talk London game.

01:00:26
Speaker 13: Rico, if your message last week play is buckle up to the Cowboys, what's your message after the game?

01:00:33
Speaker 5: And one buckle up.

01:00:38
Speaker 18: On fourth and seven with the game on the line, no timeouts remaining. One full team Tanna and Sutton the New York Jets, Justin Fields, what do you have in your local to go and win this game of football?

01:00:51
Speaker 1: Field stumps his foot takes it, two seems, two.

01:00:53
Speaker 16: Seves on the person, the trooper brings him down, sucks on fourth down on the Denver prom coach somehow well hate going out yet look the Jets will full to Oh I'm six thirteen eleven with one O.

01:01:12
Speaker 1: Nine left on the clock.

01:01:14
Speaker 16: Yet again the prom Coast defense getch it?

01:01:17
Speaker 1: Then, Oh, just because I'm not in the booth with them doesn't mean we can't get Will Gavin of Toksport into the show. Great call, fitting call, fitting play to end a defensive struggle. To put it mildly, Justin Fields takes nine sacks to go along with his nine completions, and the Jets end up with negative ten passing yards in a game that they were only a few yards away from attempting a game winning field goal at the end thirteen to eleven. Because yeah, the Broncos only had twelve first downs in this game as well. Are you taking this Patrick as a positive of the dominance of the Broncos defense or as a negative for basically anything else in this.

01:02:07
Speaker 3: Well, I think you had been calling for this week in nice consistent bon Knicks game didn't necessarily get it. There were times where Sean Payton was taking the hand the ball out of bon Nicks's hands, where like weird third down reverses and the screens that were ultimately doomed. I yeah, celebrate nine sacks, but there's calls for concern because they almost did the thing we talked about on the previews show. They almost beat the last unbeaten and then turned around and lost to the team that had no wins in the twenty twenty five season, where just some weird stuff from the Jets at the end of both halves ultimately given the Broncos a little bit of a gift there in London.

01:02:47
Speaker 1: Yeah, the end of the first half, especially Garrett Wilson gets upset, and I was equally upset with how they handled that. A ten play drive in which which they somehow ran out of time at midfield, and then they have a fourth down with about twenty something seconds to go, and instead of just running a Hail Mary to give their playmakers a chance to go make a play, they can't get organized and the clock just runs out. Aaron Glenn also took a time out in the second half, taking too long to make a decision whether to go for it on fourth down. And oh, by the way, he didn't even go for it anyways. Just a guy in Aaron Glenn who game management wise, seems to get a little overwhelmed and freeze and on the field, justin fields. I think was kind of his avatar, because I'm sure there weren't many Jets receivers open, but he's just hoping that they're open, and he's just standing there and he's holding the ball forever Jordan, and he's taking sacks. Not many of these sacks were quick pressure sacks.

01:03:52
Speaker 2: No and two point six yards per attempt in this game. That's the lowest of any quarterback in any game so far. To the point of this, it can always get worse, folks, but it so far has not. Here in Week six of the NFL season, He's also the owner of the second worst EPA per dropback game this season and the third after today.

01:04:12
Speaker 1: I mean negative ten yards passing. I was wondering.

01:04:15
Speaker 2: I was like, it was worse in Buffalo. This was the third worst today.

01:04:17
Speaker 1: I was like, that can't happen too often. It has not happened since Ryan Leaf's third career start. That is the worst overall passing performance just by yardage in thirty seven years.

01:04:27
Speaker 3: He's the first quarterback that was sacked at nine or more times with nine or fewer completions since he'd beard record in twenty twenty one when he was sacked nine times against the Browns and he only had six completions.

01:04:39
Speaker 1: It is an awesome defense when they're playing overwhelmed quarterbacks. And I know that's that's not trying to damn with faint praise. There's only been four games all season this was Chiocupadi again, where a team's had under ten first downs. The Broncos defense has cost three of those games. And if you go back to last year, they built up those crazy numbers absolutely destroying substandard quarterbacks and passing. So if you are a bottom ten passing game, the Broncos defense will just win the game for you. Bonext doesn't have to do anything. I didn't even think he played that poorly today relatively. Their running game was terrible. There was just some weird play call.

01:05:18
Speaker 2: Yeah, one one hundred yards rusher game from Sean Payton, and now nothing else, please, no, no more.

01:05:25
Speaker 1: I just felt like, I don't know if I'm a Broncos fan. It just feels like a surviving, advanced type of game, kind of like the Rams win.

01:05:31
Speaker 2: It was a kind of a rock fight, except not like an interesting one. It was interesting in the in the sense that you wonder, like these mistakes that seem to compound for the Jets, they're happening with situational management too. And I want to point out, like listen, I am, I am one hundred percent on the team of give a coach a chance to develop as a coach, just like the rest of the team is getting, you know, give them a chance to develop as a team, find an identity, all of these things. Aaron Glenn is known for his development of players, of culture, of scheme, and when his hands are on the scheme, but he's not calling the game. Steve Wilks's on defense, tanner Ingstrand is on offense, and he's not making good situational decisions and all of that combined is a problem because it's almost like, I wonder perhaps if his hand is in too many fires, hands are in too many fires in behind closed doors when he's trying to develop all these different phases at once of this team, and now some of the things are falling short, such as the situational management, which coaches often give up play calling. Coaches who are flailing give up play calling in order to better situationally manage games.

01:06:40
Speaker 1: Broncos fans were saying Sean Paige should do that, which is crazy today because he had some strange game like that's those third and long calls were frustration calls, like I'm sick of watching this. I'm just going to give up on this drive at this point. That's what they felt like, Yeah, and he will do that.

01:06:54
Speaker 3: He'll occasionally do that, and this was a game where it goes Straw can afford to kind of have those rage calls where it's like, all right, well, Franklin did have a fumble on a on a drive where the Broncos ultimately could have scored.

01:07:10
Speaker 5: The Jets got one of those turnovers.

01:07:12
Speaker 3: They just couldn't take advantage of any opportunities that the Broncos provided them. So, yeah, you get your rage calls out coach Peyton, because what.

01:07:20
Speaker 2: Do you think it sounds like you're.

01:07:23
Speaker 3: It's probably something like, ex Jet, throw the ball or just like just get these off the field.

01:07:33
Speaker 1: Uh. So they had seven drives in the second half the Broncos or six drives rather, and only gained a first down on one of them. I mean that's they actually looked totally normal in the first half. I would say it was like normal but not exciting. And they had that fumble and after that the Jets defense played well. This game was not indicative of how this Jets season has gone. Where their running game has been great today it's stunk. Their defense has been the maybe bottom three in the league. They played well today against Denver, and the passing game has at least had spurts in. The passing game was got awful, but that's what happens to bad teams. They just find a way to lose.

01:08:09
Speaker 2: That's to Will Gavin for making it sound like an.

01:08:11
Speaker 1: Exciting say it was at that moment, it was. I mean it the whole.

01:08:15
Speaker 2: I mean, I'm not saying I have links that allow me to listen to certain things. Oh he made the game sound great the entire time. Shout out to.

01:08:22
Speaker 1: Will Gavin, he is the best thing. And to everyone else in the UK, we apologize. Jaguars rams will be much better next week. You know what else is better? Get Nick Shook on the show. Yeah, Jones out of the gun, changing the play at the line of scrimmage. Now he's gonna dip under center. Jones pitches the left side that Jonathan Taylor cuts up the touch down.

01:08:50
Speaker 8: Touchdown indeed for Chonathan Taylor and the Colts indeed retook the lead.

01:08:57
Speaker 4: Thirty took twenty seven thirty two remaining in the fourth quarter.

01:09:03
Speaker 1: Colts win thirty one to twenty seven. They get two fourth quarter touchdowns to come back on the Cardinals in a back and forth, fun football game that was worthy of having the man Nick Shook cover it. The Colts Shook have one games, I think in different types of ways, and I thought it was cool to see them win a game like this where it looked like they were gonna let go of it against a bunch of backups. Frankly for the Cardinals with Jacoby Brissett at quarterback, Yeah, it.

01:09:34
Speaker 15: Was an interesting day for them because they jump out to an early lead, and then the Cardinals come storming back and then it's just blow for blow, kind of like a heavyweight fight between the Colts, who are a good team at least in terms of record, and the Cardinals, who are not a great team in terms of record. It was a fun example of how oftentime, week to week, we don't really know what's going to happen in an NFL game. One team can come out and be way stronger than you anticipate, and the other one can kind of still be themselves but find it to be a little bit challenging. But the one consistent theme with the Colts this year has been Jonathan Taylor, and he goes for twenty one for one to twenty three in a touchdown.

01:10:03
Speaker 17: Today.

01:10:03
Speaker 15: Daniel Jones, pretty sharp throughout most of the afternoon, runs a touchdown in also throws a pick to Mac Wilson, which was like an incredibly athletic pick that didn't matter because the Colts got it right back defensively like two plays later, maybe even the next play later in their own red zone. So very much a fun back and forth game with the consistency of Jonathan Taylor in an offensive line that continues to perform above our expectation, and the Colts Man five and one, they keep on rolling.

01:10:28
Speaker 1: I want to point out the bizarre injuries that happened before this game and the more normal injuries that happened during it before throwing it back to you, Shook. Anthony Richardson suffered an orbital fracture before the game using one of those resistance bands and had to go to the hospital. That sounds horrifying. So Riley Leonard ends up being the backup quarterback for this game. Our various Awards suffered a concussion after getting run into I think it was by a wide receiver, was a tight and you know, during warm ups and then he's suddenly out. Just completely bizarre. And then during the game, the Cardinals, who were already short Kyler Murray of course, and they're running backs and Kelvin Beacham also lose Amari de Marcado. They're running back, they've been down a couple tight ends and then they lose Marvin Harrison Junior in this game, and yet Shook, they put up twenty five first down. So before I put on you know, game pass tonight, like what how did the Cardinals offense get four hundred yards going against this Colts team and make this such a good game.

01:11:37
Speaker 15: It should warm your heart for me to tell you that Jacoby Brissett was the reason Yeah.

01:11:42
Speaker 7: Settled down this offense.

01:11:44
Speaker 15: He gave them the consistency that they've lacked for most of this season. They also went nine of fourteen on third down. At one point he was nine of twelve. Like, they were great in clutching moments because of Brissett, who was just a bit of a point guard passer. He scrambled like once or twice when he needed to one time to get a first down. Drew like a call from the broadcast crewer. They were like, he's not Kyler Murray, but he can run. It looks a lot different, but it worked out really well for them. That and a dependence on Trey McBride, especially in the red zone. They threw a touchdown pass to him early. It was after one was kind of wiped away. I thought that he was already in the end zone. They ruled of the forward progress so stopped inside the one. The next play they run a bootleg and throw it right to Trey for a touchdown. Justice is served. That's why they were strong. Their strength is kind of statistically doesn't back it up with the Cardinals, but their defense has been stronger than their offense this year. This time around, because Brissette was in and was commanding this offense like a seasoned, weathered ship captain guiding them into the storm, they were able to be a better offensive unit and go toe to toe with the Colts.

01:12:42
Speaker 2: Jake Briskett aka Drew Petsing's favorite backup who's played in this system before, who came in and was going rev for rep in practice in training camp with Kyler Murray and was so confident and what absolutely fits what this system is now locally, and it is so fair to be upset locally. And I think they are about the way that some of this offense is going, and I think they should be in parts of it, because it's it's Kyler Murray and an erratic connection with Marvin Harrison Junior. And it's the ball is not going enough to Marvin Harrison Junior, and it's the Cardinals are terrible at running the ball in terms of success rate, even before James Connor and Trey Benson suffered the injuries. But this at its heart, and I keep saying this, and I know I sound so hideously annoying at this point, but this offense is built to run through the tight end, come hell or high water, no matter whatever else is happening, and taking shot plays down the field, every smattering of it every so once in a while to a X receiver, a speed receiver, a gadget receiver, anyone you want to throw in there. And that is what's happening. At the end of the game. You see this plan in action. Jacoby were said to Mike Wilson, contest to catch thirty yards and then they go for the touchdown again to Trey McBride, who doesn't get it. That's happening all game. This is what Drew Petson wants to do on offense. Like it or not, I don't have an opinion, like it or not. This is part of the reason he brings this guy in is to be a perfect match for what he specifically wants to be doing.

01:14:20
Speaker 1: They tried to get McBride involved on the last play of the game, and you have a chance to go take the lead, and I think if percent puts the ball on, yeah, Trey McBride, maybe they call a pass interference. But it was such a rocket that no one had a chance to catch it.

01:14:35
Speaker 3: Maybe they didn't, and ultimately the trajectory of the ball changed how Trey McBride pursued it as well, because I think if he jumped or lunged earlier while he was being grabbed, yeah, it might have looked more like a call that the official could mance sell it true instead, like he's fighting through the contact when he actually is being held, and then after he sees where the ball is, he's like, oh no, that ball's not on me. Fake lunch for it, and the stripes.

01:14:58
Speaker 5: Weren't buying it.

01:14:59
Speaker 1: Yeah, they he fall to two and four, and just reading between the lines from the National Insiders this morning, Kyler Murray could be out one more week. They have a bye after that, they have the Packers. Man, that Titans loss really hurts now, because this would just feel different. At three and three, you could feel like you could take that one more loss before the bye, But two and five it would be a long way to come back from for the Cardinals. But good on the call to you know, focus on Tyler Warren. Early in the game, Josh Downs has a big time touchdown. They just spread it around rolling they get it done. Let's go to Pittsburgh where, yeah, the Steelers.

01:15:35
Speaker 9: Are feeling pretty good in that division.

01:15:38
Speaker 12: Feel stop in an h back position there now, he'll motion back to the right. Rogers gets a snap play action pass, rolling to his right, looking downfield, looking.

01:15:45
Speaker 1: Goes back across his body. Get talk in the end zone. What a grab.

01:15:50
Speaker 13: Mike counter Hayward back with inficent throw by Rogers and Hayward with his first touchdown of the season.

01:15:59
Speaker 1: Put that on the throw year nominated.

01:16:01
Speaker 2: That's a vintage throw right there.

01:16:02
Speaker 1: I've been tough on Rogers, but his best throws this year, if you just take the highlight reel of his ten best throws, they look pretty sweet. Steelers win twenty three to nine. Nick. That was Rob King on w dv E, Max Starks helping him out. Very similar to I think how the Steelers would draw it up, even if Aaron Rodgers would probably love to, like have better numbers. Overall, this is Steelers football right now.

01:16:33
Speaker 15: Yeah, And when you run this one back on NFL Plus, what you're gonna find is a lot of nothing in the first half, some minor successes, a great first play goals to Jarnell Washington. Everything ends up grinding to a halt and a lot of Chris Boswell field goals. But in the third quarter, in early fourth quarter, you're gonna find vintage Aaron Rodgers making throws just like that. That completion to Connor Heyward made me audibly shout wow. And nobody's home, so it doesn't matter. But for me, I was shocked by the fact that you're freaking I know, yes, exactly.

01:17:03
Speaker 2: You know.

01:17:04
Speaker 7: Who knows? You might have been shirtless? Who knows, but it was. It was a heck of a performance.

01:17:10
Speaker 1: Did you just go third person talking about how you were watching the games shirtless?

01:17:16
Speaker 5: But I wasn't.

01:17:17
Speaker 9: I wasn't, don't.

01:17:19
Speaker 5: Why didn't you add in this non existent detail that you said that because.

01:17:26
Speaker 15: I was totally let my freak flag fly Aaron Rodgers won his freak flag fly about eight minutes in this game.

01:17:31
Speaker 7: I'm bringing it back. I'm getting back on track here.

01:17:33
Speaker 2: It's okay. Greg's been explaining my jokes a lot recently.

01:17:36
Speaker 9: I just was trying to help out the female and male.

01:17:39
Speaker 5: Ye don't limit.

01:17:42
Speaker 1: I want to listen to Miles Garrett talk about Aaron Rodgers and this game plan because it sounded very similar to the game plan that they had overseas.

01:17:55
Speaker 17: Stop us at the D line front. Uh, you know, they've gotten chunk for me. They chipped got he got the ball out no, as quick as possible, And there weren't a lot of situations which even if I was running but no, I could have got there. So I think that was a situation for all of us, you know, the way he was getting out or springing it out to the other side. No, he moved now behind the line of scrimmage more than he has in the last couple of years, and that wouldn't buy you know, mistake.

01:18:25
Speaker 2: Ah, So we have a theme for this segment.

01:18:28
Speaker 1: I see no clothing, Darkford, David and Joka, who might be getting towards the end of his Browns tenure. Here another man who doesn't like to wear a shirt too much. It just seems like like the book is out shook a little bit on how to at least slow down this great Browns defense.

01:18:46
Speaker 15: Yeah, I mean it's a theme pretty much every one of their games, say, for maybe Baltimore Fallows the same track, which is first half feel out period. Brown's defense is going to limit you to field goals or just stop you out right. It's going to keep the offense in the game. The offense is going to do then you're gonna get to the second half. The defense is gonna wear down. The opposing offense is going to take half time to figure out how to attack this defense. They're going to find success and it's up to the Browns offense to match it. And that's the same team that hasn't scored more than seventeen points all year, So guess what, They're not gonna match it.

01:19:13
Speaker 7: So yeah, it is. It's it's definitely a theme.

01:19:16
Speaker 15: It's not encouraging because I don't think the Browns have another route to go down this season to try to find success save for another quarterback change.

01:19:24
Speaker 9: Well that'll happen at some point, don't you think.

01:19:26
Speaker 7: Yeah, it will, it will.

01:19:27
Speaker 15: I mean, Dylan Gabriel, he's fine, but he's like he's Gardner minshew. That's who he is at best, and you need more than that unless you're in an emergency situation like the Colts were a couple of years ago. So that But I don't want to take any cred away from Steelers because they played with their hair on fire.

01:19:40
Speaker 7: Dictly, they played with more emotion. They were also very sloppy.

01:19:43
Speaker 15: Which is unlike them. They had ten accepted penalties against them. They entered the game with the least amount of penalties on average per game, so something to clean up there. But they played with a renewed sense of passion energy like they really believe this is our division.

01:19:54
Speaker 7: We're gonna go take it in a division game.

01:19:56
Speaker 5: Yeah.

01:19:56
Speaker 3: Dj Watt had seven pressures and he didn't even have the most pressures on the team. Nick Herban had eight as well as two sacks, where like Dylan Gabriel in the Browns offense didn't have necessarily a great game. I don't know how much opportunity Dylan Gabriel had as a quarterback that traditionally like that's his his ability. That where he excels relative to other quarterbacks is getting rid of the ball quickly. Has that crafty left handed nature that lefties tend to have where they're just able to, you know, achieve where some of us can't, Like, how'd you do that left handed?

01:20:29
Speaker 5: Okay?

01:20:30
Speaker 1: You know, like most sports, you'll try to contest a left quarterback. It doesn't seem to help enough.

01:20:35
Speaker 2: It doesn't help. In podcasting, I could tell you.

01:20:37
Speaker 7: It does.

01:20:38
Speaker 3: It does help in podcasting as well, but yeah, the opportunity is very limited for Gabriel today.

01:20:43
Speaker 5: It's just yeah, I mean, if you make a change, what's the point. But I said that about Joe Flacko.

01:20:48
Speaker 1: So look, he's had brutal, brutal situations and checking the quick pressures to in this game, like Nick Herberg had five quick pressure I had three.

01:20:56
Speaker 2: So you have to against against a scheme like this that's trying to mitigate pressure quickly.

01:21:01
Speaker 1: Right, like you just have no like no one else in the NFL had that many quick pressures today. So he's had a brutal start. And we say we don't know much about the NFL and what these teams are, and I think that could even be true about the Steelers in some way. But I think we do know something for the Steelers after six weeks, they should win the AFC North Like they may not, but they should that. You know, the next closest team is led by Joe Flacco and it's the Bengals, and then the next closest team has four more losses than them. That's a big comeback to try to make. For the Baltimore Ravens, they should have a home game in the playoffs this year. We'll see if they get there and with it in the end. Yes, we still have a long time to go until we get there. All right, two teams that probably won't be playing home games in the playoff this year, Let's go to Las Vegas. Tucker left shotguns, Smit's gonna throw please pocket stance, stance, scance throws.

01:21:55
Speaker 13: Michael Marith a Gofeitars touchdown Raiders Jano look on field, heavy full Michael fir.

01:22:03
Speaker 1: Oh, yeah, Gino's back, so it's Jason Horowitz KRLB twenty to ten. Dynamite performance from Gino Smith. Don't actually watch the tape to see if that's true. He was fine in the end. It was not great for most of it, but the Raiders defense was more than game. And I will start negative on this one, Shook. I do think this was the game where the cam Ward Titans offense just went from like man, cam Ward's fun at least to just man, this is depressing.

01:22:35
Speaker 12: Yeah.

01:22:36
Speaker 15: They couldn't protect him, he couldn't get comfortable. You saw the lack of talent around him, and you saw his lack of experience. There were instances in which he was holding onto the ball too long and it ended up going nowhere instances in which they had decent field position or opportunity and did absolutely nothing with it.

01:22:50
Speaker 7: And they also turned the ball over, you know, three times.

01:22:53
Speaker 15: He threw a pick, and he lost two fumbles, including one with the game essentially out of reach.

01:22:57
Speaker 1: It was a really really to one that he just dropped right. It's yeah, yeah, yeah.

01:23:01
Speaker 7: He went to go throw it and just slipped right out of his hand in the face of pressure. It was a really, really tough watch.

01:23:05
Speaker 15: It was just like, you, Tay Calvin really really had this offense, which they did today, and he has nowhere to go, Like he's trying to hit Iomanner, He's trying to, you know, find Van Jefferson. Tyler Lockett is all but non existent in this offense, and they can't protect him. More than anything, their investment in the offensive line has not paid off at all, and.

01:23:21
Speaker 7: It's just a bad overall unit.

01:23:23
Speaker 15: So yeah, I don't want to start negative, but it's true, like the Titans are a tough watch. This was probably their worst game of the year and the perfect time for the Raiders. Losers of four Straights losers by thirty four points in Indianapolis to get back on the winning track. A get right game comes at just the right time for the Raiders.

01:23:40
Speaker 2: Yeah, they really needed it because there's reports coming out of Las Vegas all week. This week Pete Carroll like not so subtly calling out Chip Kelly, he took a leaf out of Patrick's very Sutton, very not so subtle of the last couple of weeks of brock Bauers. Still struggling dealing with the injuries. US out today and he was out today, and just tough times. It felt like even on that Geno touchdown, the play by play was a little past progressive scan scan scan scan, scan, scan, scan all over the field before getting to the touchdown. They needed this in Las Vegas. And I don't know that it fixes pretty much anything, but man, winning is a little bit better feeling right now than some of the bad vibes that were coming out of there all week.

01:24:26
Speaker 3: Yeah, and they got a great defensive place, especially from Devin White, who had a just an absolute whiff up front on the protection by the Tennessee Titans where cam Ward got blasted.

01:24:37
Speaker 5: The ball came out there.

01:24:37
Speaker 3: He picked off cam Ward on a play late later as we got into this game, I literally I wondered on air on Game Day Live today, are the Titans going to do this two weeks in a row? Did not separate but cam Ward ultimately we saw it from Jackson Dart as well. Sometimes the ball just fly eyes out of your hands inexplicably, and that's what happened when the game wasn't necessarily out of the course like some weird stuff gonna happen. And the Times could have done two in.

01:25:07
Speaker 1: A row right because Gino through they were up seventeen to three, and the whole game plan seemed to be around not letting Gino make a killer interception like he has the last few weeks. He did not attempt to pass that went over ten air yards until the fourth quarter, and then he hit a couple. But then he also got a little panicked on a third down and thought, Michael Mayer, I believe it was it was going to stop on a route and threw an interception up seventeen three. Otherwise he only had six interceptions, and like the numbers are all six incompletions rather six incompletions, and the numbers like looked pretty good, but it almost looked like they were afraid of what Gino was gonna do. And in theory, there are only a blocked field goal away from being three and three, but they do feel like they're a deserved two and four here shooky.

01:25:55
Speaker 7: Yeah, yeah.

01:25:55
Speaker 15: This record I think accurately represents the stage of this team right now. By the way, geno average area ards per attempt today two point seven is des in the game since Week nine of twenty twenty two almost. I do give them some credit fields number. I know, I know, let's not go there. I do give them some credit though, because that touchdown to Michael Maher. They did that a few times, and I think that it's going to be an important part of how they operate their offerens going forward, because their offensive line is not great. We know how often Ashton Gent's getting hit behind the line of scrimmage, but they are bootlegging a lot, a lot of play action, buying Geno some time. And what they're doing is they're using Mayor as a blocker, just a chip and release type, and he finds a soft spot in the zone, gets open, and Gino went to him a couple times, including on that touchdown pass. I think that's going to be vital to him because, as we know, Gina likes to push the ball, and if their receivers are not getting separation, he's got to stop pushing the ball and find somebody underneath. So two point seven eight yards per attempt is not exciting, but it might be what we see more from the.

01:26:46
Speaker 1: Raiders going for little Trey Tucker down the field at least late in the game. They get a home win, first of the year for them at home, and yes, the Titans fall to one in five. I thought it was interesting after the game. Jeff Free Simmons, who's been incredible this year, said he thought they had their worst week of practice all year. Usually hear they, oh, we had a good week of practice, and he thought they came out flat and not sure if he said unprepared. I think he just said flat on Thursday, that there was like no energy in the facility during the week, which could be a passive aggressive conversation about the coaching staff.

01:27:22
Speaker 9: I don't really know.

01:27:23
Speaker 2: Depends was it a player's only lead energy feeling or was it.

01:27:27
Speaker 1: A let's sell what you want to hear coming off like your one miracle win of the year. Yeah, the Cardinals had dope as hell vibes.

01:27:33
Speaker 3: Yeah, and Jonathan Gannon and them came out and competed. Meanwhile, you know, teams are losing and the meeting structure is bad, there's bad vibes. It turns out winning is good unless you're in Arizona where the vibes are doping.

01:27:45
Speaker 9: We'll see.

01:27:45
Speaker 1: But our friend Justin Graver, who does a great job with his podcasts of the Titans and of course as the producer of He the Call I remember a couple of weeks ago on his podcast Music City Audibles, they were back to back show titles that were called why is Brian Callahan still the Titans enid code? Followed by is this the worst Titans team in franchise history? I think both of those titles would work again this week. I hate to wrap up Patrick and Jordan's section of the show on such a down note, but it was a joy to yes, well, I mean on talking about what it's like to be a Titans fan, right.

01:28:21
Speaker 3: I have a positive note yes earlier because I was taken aback by the idea that odafe Oway could somehow compare to Khalil Mack. He had one fewer pressure than the entire Baltimore Ravens team. Let's go so congratulates.

01:28:34
Speaker 1: I'm glad you pointed that out. He did lead the team in pressures today and the team being the Los Angeles Chargers.

01:28:42
Speaker 9: How about how about picking him up? Speaking of if you will.

01:28:45
Speaker 2: Go ahead, you go, I was gonna say, and may as we Patrick and I leave, May we attack the rest of our night like George stiff arm on the sideline, you.

01:28:55
Speaker 14: Know, please yeah to Sunday night with the three line, the checko motion left Mahomes in the pocket, darts in your side, cut touchdown, chance o city, Holly walk Brown is having a night.

01:29:09
Speaker 16: And the Chiefs answer a touchdown with a touchdown to go up twenty six to seventeen in the game.

01:29:16
Speaker 1: Oh that is Mitch Holtis on k f n Z Hollywood. Brown's having a night. Patrick Mahomes was having a night. It felt like a throwback night because the Chiefs offense has been having night after night after night last few weeks. Thirty to seventeen. Chiefs win going away against the Detroit Lions. They are three and three, Nick shook, and yet it feels like they are scarier than they've been in a few years on offense, at least one of which they won the Super Bowl.

01:29:51
Speaker 15: Yeah, let's bury the concerns about the Chiefs once and for all, folks. So I know that we talked about their their close loss recently and we were like, but it actually fel good even though they lost the game. Well, we're seeing it bearing out in this game right here against the Lions. We knew that the Chiefs were probably going to have a bit of an advantage against that Lions defense. But to see them work at the efficient rate that they did, to see Mahomes continue to improvise, and to see him lean on Travis Kelsey, especially getting him going early and then all the way through the rest of the game and distribute the football. It was classic Chiefs And the craziest part about it all to me was the way that they ended the game by doing what the Lions usually do best, which is run the ball with authority to get those first downs.

01:30:30
Speaker 1: I thought you were going to say, fight with no I mean, yeah, So the game ends with Patrick Mahomes trying to shake the hand of Brian Branch. Now, Patrick Mahomes is this sharp, guys, Is there an outside chance he knows how salty Brian Branch is in general, and it's a little passive aggressive with him there. I don't know. I don't know if he's that next level.

01:30:53
Speaker 9: Probably not.

01:30:55
Speaker 1: Brian Banch just passes his hand, which is fine. Juju Smith doesn't appreciate it, probably says something, and then Brian Branch puts his hands on Juju's face. Juju maybe exaggeratingly, goes to the ground and a fracas ensues, and then I love football because a minute later both teams are just dapping each other up. Wouldn't be surprised though, if Brian Branch gets punished and might even be more than a fine. You just never know. No need to focus on that when you're talking about Kelsey and this Chief's offense. Yeah, he goes six for seventy eight tonight, and I thought the pass interference that he drew late in the first half to extend a Chiefs drive what was really massive on a play where he's going down the sideline. And I think it pointed out all the mismatches tonight that the Chiefs had Lions missing their two starting cornerbacks and they will be back later in this season. But ultimately the Chiefs now have an offense, and I mentioned they haven't looked this good in three years. This is the most they've scored in a three game stretch since twenty twenty two. And it was without their starting left tackle Josh Simmons. But Jalen Moore, the highest paid, you know, backup in the league, comes in. He plays well enough against Aiden Hutchinson and the Lions. And yeah, they had seven drives before that last one shook, and they reached the red zone on six of them. I mean, that is about as dominant an offensive performance as you could have. And they left it so that the Lions basically couldn't make any mistakes, and they made a couple of mistakes on offense on a night where their defense just couldn't get stops.

01:32:34
Speaker 15: Yeah, there was a stretch in the third quarter that was most concerning to me about It's just something that you don't see the Lions do where they went on a decently It was like a seven play drive right and they started their own twenty six. They handed off a couple of times. They get a short pass over the middle of the Amanos Saint Brown. They get a first down in the pass to Jamison Williams, and then the next three plays they kind of fall apart and there's a handoff to Jamior Gibbs for a game of two. Then there's a swing pass to the left that gets absolutely blown up, and then there's a swing pass to the right that goes for one yard and they punch.

01:33:02
Speaker 7: And in that sequence, I thought.

01:33:04
Speaker 15: Are the Lions like out of answers for the first time offensively, because usually they are such a well oiled machine. They're in a great rhythm. The Chiefs got them out of the rhythm. And the crazy part about that. The strange thing is is they did it while only pressuring them nine times twenty nine percent of the night. So the usual strategy to beat the Lions is get Jared Goff off a spot. He didn't really get off a spot until late in this game when things got desperate. It's just that, I don't know. I felt like the pressure of trying to keep up with the Chiefs, which is what they used to be in the.

01:33:31
Speaker 7: Tyreek Hill era. Yes, kinda got to the Lions tonight.

01:33:34
Speaker 1: Yeah, a little bit. And look, they had a touchdown on the first drive of the game. When the Lions look good on offense, they just look like the best team in the NFL. In that first drive, everything is working. Then they go for it on fourth down on the goal line. They throw the ball on a trick played from David Montgomery to Jared Goff. After a long discussion way after the play, they call the flag and call in the legal formation. So that's seven turns into three. And then later in the night they have a fourth down Aman Ross Saint Brown drops it and I don't know if that's pressure, but it was the need to feel like you had to play perfect because until the end of the game I was thinking, I was like, how much better could Jared Goff play? He played almost a perfect game. He had a lot of dimes in this game. The touchdown to Jamison Williams was fantastic. The touchdown catch by Sam Laporta was absolutely incredible, Like Jamiir Gibbs was running to the outside early in this game. Like, for the most part, they did well, but you had to be perfect because the Chiefs offense was nearly perfect, and you mentioned it to end the game with Pacheco.

01:34:40
Speaker 9: They did a lot more under center runs tonight.

01:34:42
Speaker 1: And finally I look at the box score, Shookie and the leading rusher for the Chiefs is not Patrick Mahomes. We shouldn't be throwing a parade for twelve for fifty one from Pachecko, but just having like a respectable running game and Kareem Hunt had a couple successful runs too. It was it's just an average running game. Was such an upgrade for them. That's all they really need, and they had it tonight.

01:35:05
Speaker 15: Yeah, a couple of anger runs at the end to finish the game, which I think is important because too often we look at this team as well, Mahomes is going to have to do everything and he'll distribute the ball, but he's gonna have to run, and like you said, he was leading them and rushing. So it was nice to get contributions from both Pacheco and Hunt late in the game and prior to that in key moments. But there was also it was interesting because I don't think the final score necessarily gives us the full picture of how close this game really was.

01:35:29
Speaker 7: It's just that the Lions, they didn't run out of steam.

01:35:31
Speaker 15: They just couldn't get past what suddenly became an insurmountable advantage in the part of the Chiefs in the fourth quarter. But like there's a sequence earlier in this game where they each turn it over on downs, they each go foard on fourth down, they each having complete passes, where I'm like, this is I mean, these are two fairly evenly matched teams. I would love to see now. Granted Josh Simmons wasn't out there, so that's you know, one one feather in the cap of the Chiefs. I would love to see them play again at some point.

01:35:54
Speaker 7: Possibly the super Bowl.

01:35:55
Speaker 1: Well that's the only time.

01:35:58
Speaker 15: Both the quarners, they get both their corners back and see if that evens things out a little bit.

01:36:02
Speaker 1: I think it could happen. So it's not just the two corners. And Kirby Joseph left this game then but then went back in. It's Alee McNeil was is still out. He started to practice for this Lions team. And the Lions have talked about, you know how they're going to get some of their injured players back, unlike a year ago when they did not. On the Chiefs, on the other hand, get Rashi Rice back. They survived this early portion of the schedule at three and three, and I know they got some tough games coming up, but they have to feel great about where they're at. And they told Chris Collinsworth during the week in Mike Tarico that they feel better about this team at two and three than they did, you know, last year for most of the year, despite other wins. And I get it because at the at their heart, they're an offensive team. Nick they don't want to be winning the way that they won a year ago. They're incredibly healthy. They literally did not have an injury designation this week. Josh Simmons missed the game for personal reasons, so they're as healthy as any team in the NFL right now. Chris Jones, the one big weakness that they've had this year is Chris Jones doesn't looked like Chris Jones until tonight. Three quick pressures. Got a hit on Jared Goff on the key third down late in the game, was very active in terms of beating the Lions guards throughout the game. I get it. If I was a Chiefs fans, I would feel better about this team right now, especially in an AFC where Lamar's team is one and five, Joe Burrow is done and dusted, and you know, it seems wide open. Yeah.

01:37:36
Speaker 7: And the weird thing too, is like as I'm running through this in my head right now.

01:37:39
Speaker 15: I'm thinking, yeah, you want to be an offensive team because that's your identity with Andy Reidis or coach and your background since he's taken over. But I think about when they beat the forty nine ers in the Super Bowl two years ago, and I was a defensive team, And then I think back to Week one and how we haven't released we didn't see that wasn't the same Chiefs defense. But then you consider tonight and you're like, the defense kind of put that game away for you in the fourth quarter. Yeah, So I'm come all the way back around to ask you, Greg, is the chief defense like competence slash better or are we.

01:38:06
Speaker 7: Still masked by the fact that they can move the ball so well.

01:38:08
Speaker 1: I don't think their pass rush is great, but every team has some sort of weakness. Like you mentioned, their pass rush tonight wasn't amazing. They had to blitz a lot to get it. But they're a team that's better when they're ahead with Steve Spagnolo. Compare that, by the way, to the Lions, whose pressure right tonight was seventeen point nine percent. They you know, they have nothing other than aiden Hutchinson in terms of their pass rush, and you give Patrick Mahomes and Andy Reid a great offensive line and you have a chance to win the Super Bowl. Okay, they made a big statement today. We made a big statement, Shook. We served this beautiful Week six, I think, with glory, with respect, and with a lot of fun. For the first time since Sam Darnold was the quarterback of the Carolina Panthers four years ago, the Carolina Pans. There's our five hundred in the middle of a mind NFL season. I just wanted to say that one final time, anything is possible in this season, and anything is possible tomorrow night, when we will be recapping Monday Night football. We got a doubleheader, Shook, So let's go. I would say get some sleep, but let's go watch some games and feel as ready as we're going to need to be for that game. Buffalo Atlanta Chicago Washington should be a fun one. We are going live on YouTube after both of those Monday night games finish. It's me and Shook. I can't wait Week six. It's a live