Dolphins-Rams Recap + Cowboys Turmoil, Colts Controversies, and MORE!

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Monday night football, baby, Miami Dolphins in for the win.

Big dudes, dog.

Hey, don't count us out, though.

Don't count us out, says Tyreek Hill, walking off the field after the Miami Dolphins on the road in Los Angeles.

Keep their season alive just barely with a 23-15 win over the Rams.

A game that will be remembered, well, if it's remembered at all.

If it's remembered, it will be remembered for defense on both sides of the ball and two potent offenses not being able to get into gear.

Dan Hans is here with Mark Sessler.

He did that call.

Sessdog, let me check out the team stats here.

Total plays, 53 for the Dolphins, 68 for the Rams.

Total yards, 238 for Miami, 327 for the Rams.

So about 550 total yards of offense in this game.

And I don't think I am alone.

That is not what I was expecting at all on Monday night football.

No, I think we talked about it on Thursday as having sort of shootout potential based on doubting the back half of the Rams defense in terms of being light.

The Dolphins secondary had injuries tonight and was light.

And then

none of it goes that way at all, which is, I guess, you know, these island games, they have various levels of meaning.

I think this is probably lower on the scale of that.

But if you're a Dolphins fan, you saved your season tonight in terms of still being relatively in the hunt for a playoff bid.

You are, and they've got the Raiders and the Patriots up next.

That's very manageable.

So, I agree with Tyreek Hill.

And to hold the Rams when you've got your full core of receivers back to 238 yards, I think it's meaningful.

They put a lot of pressure on Stafford.

They sacked him four times.

It's the kind of thing where, like, we don't, like, they don't care if it was a super diamond-shiny, pretty victory.

They fly across the country into Los Angeles.

They handle it.

And it's guys like Zach Seeler, who had

one of the games of the season for him, that just is creating disturbances for the Rams all night long.

And

to that sense, it's meaningful in the sense that Miami would have been done.

Had they lost tonight, they are gone.

And they're probably more in line for a top seven or eight draft pick instead of the fact that they're two games out of a playoff spot at the moment.

Yeah, you look at these teams traveling across the country, look no further in the AFCs than the Dolphins' rival, the Jets, who had a similar situation season on the line.

They're going to play an NFC West team in their building.

They get run out of that building, and they're a laughingstock.

The Dolphins, to their credit, they go on the road in a game where I think a lot of people with the Rams playing a much better brand of football in the last month, you would have thought that the Rams could have done taken care of business here.

And to that point,

and to mention the Cardinals, I mean, the Cardinals, I don't think we mentioned this on the flagship program, SESDOG, but the Cardinals lead the NFC West as we get closer to Thanksgiving, but it's not by some dominating stretch.

They're six and four, but that's enough in this very odd year so far because you have the Niners that are still

figuring things out.

They just got over 500 with their win.

And for the Rams, and Aikman was really keyed in on this on the telecast, like, you're going to be kicking yourself for not playing better on the stage in this game because when you're in this type of dogfight in a division where no team really is standing out, you can't be giving away a game and not performing at the level that's expected.

And I'm going to now pivot to what I thought was just a dreadful game by Sean McVay

in terms of his decision making.

And I know, Mark, that we all know, like, as much as the Sean McVay, Kyle Shanahan tree is praised, as they should be, for revolutionizing offense and, you know, routinely fielding a winner or a championship worthy type team.

McVay has a ring, obviously.

Shanahan has, you know, been very close multiple times, but the one thing that never cognitively made sense to me is how conservative these guys can be at times as well for being such innovative offensive guys.

And then in this game, there is two instances that drove me crazy with mcvey one more than the other the let the second one was at the end of the game where they they work down the field they're down uh 11 points i believe it was right they're down 11 in the final minutes am i right or is it 12 yeah 11.

and um

mcvey has a decision to make it's like go for the touchdown then the onside kick or kick the field goal go for the onside kick and go for the touchdown he kind of splits the baby and and goes all the way downfield to inside the 10 10-yard line and then kicks it on third down.

It's like over a couple seconds.

But the bigger problem, I thought, was the previous drive.

They have a fourth and four

at the Miami four-yard line.

Was it fourth and goal or fourth and four?

I'm looking at this bot and it says fourth and fourth, Miami four.

631 to play in the game.

He sends out his field goal kicker mark and they kick the field goal to get it back down to an eight-point game, but then the defense doesn't hold and it goes back to 11 and that ends up basically ending the game.

The analytics say that you go for it there.

You SU the 22-yard field goal.

And I just thought that was kind of a gutless decision.

So those two together, hard for me to stomach, I got to say.

I get that.

I think, like, you know, Rams fans, and, you know, we certainly know talking to Jordan, you've got to live with this with Sean McVay.

It's just sort of the experience of the McVay offense.

And it certainly is not unlike how Shanahan creates some annoyances for Niners fans on the same front front with some of that conservative nature, but

they're just a hot and cold offense in general, too.

And I wonder if there's some lack of trust because like the Matthew Stafford to Cooper Cup connection is one of the more aesthetically pleasing things we have in the NFC, and yet then they just break down.

This is a big disappointment for the Rams tonight because I thought their offense, when they look good, they seem like they could hang with anyone, toil with anyone, beat anyone.

And tonight, you just flatline in your own stadium.

And it comes down to those kinds of decisions.

I didn't have a problem with kicking the field goal early and then hoping if the onside kick, which is a tall order, we get it in this league now, works that you're going to be.

You're talking about their last possession.

The last possession.

I had much less of an issue with that because they were kind of screwed either way because the NFL has ruined the onside kick.

Right.

And in that world, it's like you hope for a deep pass DPI or something.

But they're in that position, Mark, because they decided on the previous possession to kick the field goal.

Because, as Bill Barnwell pointed out,

yes, you kick that field goal, it makes it a one-position possession game, but you're

guaranteeing that you need two essential coin flips.

You need to get the two-pointer and the touchdown when you get the ball back.

If you go for it on that instead of kick the field goal, score a touchdown there, that means you can win with another touchdown drive.

So, you're really threading the needle.

And I think more than anything else, and

this is not some piss-poor offense or pop gun offense that doesn't have players that could step up and make that big play in a crucible moment.

You have Matthew Stafford, a borderline Hall of Famer at quarterback.

You got Kyron Williams, who lives for scoring touchdowns in this game.

You have on the outside two of the best wide receivers in football on the outside in the slot in Cooper Cup and Puka Nakua, and yet you send out your kicker.

I just, you know, I've already dwelled on it, but I think that that's the other thing I'll remember.

It's like, man, these Shanahan McVay guys, as brilliant as they are, sometimes it just drives you crazy with how conservative they can be.

I know you also suffered a critical fantasy defeat via some of this, and that's tangential too.

But, you know, flip side to that, when it's 20 to 12

and Miami, and after all that first situation with McVay, and the Dolphins get the ball back, Rams, you got to stop them.

And it's third and six.

It's 20 to 12, deep in the fourth quarter.

And here's your chance to get the ball back

and create a tie.

And instead, it's their 11-yard strike to Odell Beckham.

I thought that was one of the biggest plays of the game where Odell Beckham.

You can't get on the Rams defense in this game.

I'm not getting on them, but I'm saying like the Dolphins went and did what they needed to do there.

But

that was a huge third down.

That was a huge third down conversion.

Then you get Malik Washington for 17 yards.

Then you get the field goal to put you 23 to 12.

And there's not enough time for the Rams and the way that their offense is playing tonight to get back into it.

Yeah, you have, they forced two turnovers, the Los Angeles defense.

They, you know, got after

two.

Which is not easy to do because

he doesn't, he gets rid of the ball so quickly, but they sacked him three times and kept him uncomfortable.

They held down Jalen Waddle and Tyreek Hill.

I know Hill had the one-yard touchdown pass, but with Jared Verse there and Kobe Turner, their defense, it's a homegrown, really good defense that did the job.

The offense just kind of no-showed in a big spot.

And on the Dolphins side, yeah, like that's, you know, Odell Beckham is an interesting player because he's one of the most famous players in the league.

But now at this stage in his career, he's the third wide receiver for an offense that doesn't often use three wide receiver sets.

So he's been playing about 10 snaps a game.

He saw a slight uptick in this game, and he made the big catch.

So, you know, credit Odell.

It's good to kind of just see him and him making a big impact play that helps seal the win for the Dolphins.

And,

you know,

the rest of the Dolphins offense, very quiet in this game.

HN, they tried to get him going.

They couldn't get HN going in the office.

Raheem Mostert has been kind of phased out of this offense, which is crazy considering he had like, what, 20 touchdowns last year.

And then Tua, I thought Tua played, you know, a hot and cold game.

I cannot believe on that one interception.

I mean, this guy, I know he takes jiu-jitsu to protect his head.

This guy is the most famous brain injury patient in the NFL.

And he's lowering his head on an attempt of a tackle.

First of all, Tua should not be attempting any tackles.

On top of that, he should certainly not be lowering his head.

He takes a knee to the side of the head, does not miss any time.

We have some sound on that?

Intercepted me, dude.

Yeah,

I feel good.

Everything's good.

I went up to that dude that intercepted me

and asked him, like, bro, you couldn't just ran out of bounds or like cut back?

It was like, you've seen me and I've seen you.

Like, you wanted to just run me over.

He told me after the game, there was like, he's like, there's no room.

Like, there was nowhere else to go.

So, you know, he got to do what he got to do to help his team win games.

And, you know,

I wasn't planning on using my head to go ahead.

Hopefully this is a learning lesson for Tua, yet another learning lesson that that's not how the NFL works.

People aren't concerned about your physical well-being and they're not going to duck out of bounds.

So just stay out of the way, kid.

Just protect yourself.

That is my unsolicited advice.

The dolphins will survive without you trying to make a tackle on an interception.

You know, like when Alex Smith came back from the obviously grizzly, like knee scenario, leg scenario, and like watching him wasn't fun because you were just...

sitting there sort of silently praying to someone somewhere that like nothing would happen to him.

Like that that is how it's been watching Tua on some of these things, but he seems to not give a fk.

Like he couldn't be more like, he couldn't be more basically like, I'm just going to go do what I want to do.

Like that response was like, you're worried about my head?

Like I'm not.

Like I'm just going to go play.

So I don't know.

There's a disconnect there.

Like we're all concerned about it.

He seems to be like.

He's laughing.

He's chuckling through.

Right.

Yeah.

I think, yeah, I don't want to be the old man shouting at the cloud, shaking my fist, but I'm sure there will be some talking heads that will get after Tua on this in a real, meaningful way, in a serious way.

But I would just say, be careful, bud.

Anything else on this game?

Let me check out the Dolphins' upcoming schedule.

It's nice because it's the Raiders, and then it's the Patriots are a different situation than they would have been a month ago.

We get that.

In fact, they have more hope than some of these other teams, than the division, than the Packers.

You've got a chance to climb back in.

That's why I think tonight mattered so much for Miami specifically.

Like, had they lost, we're talking about draft picks.

Yeah, to use an Aaron Boonism, it's all in front of them because

the division's gone.

Obviously, the Bills are going to win that.

But at 3-6, it's a narrow path, but you have, and I know the Patriots are a little bit better now, but they're still not a good team.

The Raiders, the Patriots, and the Jets in the next four weeks are three of the worst teams in the AFC.

So if you take care of that business,

you know, and then you see what happens in Green Bay, you know, there's a chance.

There's a chance that there's a path back there.

But I also have to say, like, I didn't see enough in this game to feel like I'm watching a playoff team here.

In fact, I am underwhelmed by the Dolphins, even with Tua's return, that the offense is just not back to where it was during the good old days.

Even, you know, I'm talking the good old days or last September and October or whatever.

Like, is that offense coming back, or is Mike McDaniel?

Is the league caught up a little bit to the Dolphins,

the McDaniel Tua Dolphins?

I'd like to see them break out.

And, you know, the fact that I know Tyreek Hill, he told Lisa Salters, I believe, in this game that he's dealing with a torn ligament in his wrist.

But the fact that Hill and Waddle are both on pace for less than a thousand yards, there's something not right in the stew right now with the Miami offense.

So there's a lot to work on still.

Well, the on-pace thing has to do with Tua not having been in the offense for weeks on end.

But I hear you.

I thought they did, outside of tonight, since Tua has returned, I thought they did look like the Dolphins, like in many of their drives.

And yet, when we're at the point of the season, not tonight, no, previous to tonight, I thought in these weeks where he's returned, I thought the theme was that they did look like the offense of old.

But now we're at the point in the year where Tua is wearing headscarfs and stuff when he's in these games.

So it's like, you know, that's when I get concerned about Miami, when you're having to go play teams in cold weather and there's elements and you're not down in 106 degree steamy South Beach when you're like, you know, the opponent can't breathe and they're like just simply wondering when they'll get on a plane filled with oxygen.

Like, that's a nice setup for the Dolphins.

But now we're in the tough part of the year where like the Mike McDaniel experience has not worked.

So I'm with you, but I...

I do think just because the league is so mediocre, if you look at some of the, outside of like five, four or five teams, the league is so watered down and mediocre that I don't count Miami out.

And that's typically what I don't do.

I'm ready to wave goodbye to these teams, but like not with the Dolphins and not even with the Rams.

If you look at the Rams, the Rams have the Patriots and the Eagles and the Saints.

They could go two.

If they go two, two and one there, you're still hanging around, but they do have a tougher schedule down the stretch after that.

Doesn't it feel like we're talking about two teams that won't matter?

I know, but like when you're going to be able to do it.

We do what we do for a living, but these feel like two teams that will be lucky to sneak in the playoffs and maybe be wild card cannon fodder potentially.

So

I see a path for more the Rams than the Dolphins.

But yeah, I came out of this game thinking neither of these teams got it.

Right, but if we want to discuss the ultimate meaningfulness of most of what we discuss, we're in a hot

waters.

I'm trying to bring you back to your typical waters, Mark.

That's what I'm trying to do.

I'm just saying

the Dolphins looked shot in the head.

Bring back nothing matters, Mark.

Bring back nothing matters, Mark.

I don't think either of these teams ultimately matter.

No, I do not.

Okay, by the way, the stats,

because I didn't, you said it, it's like Tyreek Hill is not on pace for a Tyreek Hill season only because of Tua.

No, it just hasn't been there.

His first game of the year, it was Tyreek.

It was seven catches on 12 targets for 130 yards.

Here are his yards by game, and I know there is a portion of this schedule about four weeks without Tua, but also he's been there for half of this too: 24, 40, 23, 69, 8, 72, 80, 16 tonight.

That's not Tyreek Hill.

That guy was on pace for 2,000 yards this time last year.

Yeah,

figure it out, Mike McDaniel.

Well, I think defenses or defenses have

two seasons of tape on all this, so they'll improve tonight.

I know.

Figure it out.

Zig.

Well, I think that's one of the, isn't that sort of

one of the subplots of the season is like Mike McDaniel, maybe not like this, we just applied genius, the word genius to football coaches.

Like geniuses are creating, well, I shouldn't say atom bombs because that wasn't a friendly genius move, but like geniuses are doing things that like change the earth.

Like, oh, so you've got two super fast receivers that had like 900, 1,000 yards in a season.

You're not a genius.

And then the quarterback goes down and the offense looks like a Pop Warner scenario where all the players smoked weed and they're eight years old.

So we've got, you know, I'd slow down on the genius thing.

We're going to smoke your weed

counter that

the men that built the atomic bomb were after peace.

Isn't that ironic in a way?

Yeah, I would agree that that was ironic and also not correct.

Like, I don't think that's ultimately,

that's an odd way to go about it.

What half-man wrought?

Is that what you're at?

All right.

Do we need to take a break before we hit some news?

Yeah.

All right, we'll be right back.

Heed the call with Dan Hanses and Mark Sessler's on Underdog.

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You know, Dan, we had a softball team for years, and I touted myself as the manager, and it's because I couldn't see anything.

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All right, we're back.

Yeah, a little bit of cinema fog of war,

the Barbenheimer thing.

But that's what the end of Oppenheimer basically was pretty doom and gloom, right?

Like, what was the line?

Let's play that line.

Let's play the end of that crucial line in the conversation with Albert Einstein right now, Justin.

Albert.

When I came to you with those calculations, we thought we might start a chain reaction that would destroy the entire world.

I remember it well.

What happened?

I believe we did.

Bang.

There it is, dude.

Well, what a lesson learned.

That speaks to you.

What a lesson learned.

Well, did we learn?

I don't know.

Was that the end of, was that the last great

cinema event?

It was a bit of a cooked-up cinema event, but it's like, you got to go see these two movies together in the cinema.

It's like, when is that, when will that ever happen again?

Maybe never?

Well, I don't know, but talk to my kids.

The Santa gets kidnapped movie with The Rock is being talked about like it's,

you know, Gone with the Wind meets Citizen gain.

So,

sure, I guess elementary school channels that is getting a lot of buzz, you know, but uh, red one, I believe it's called.

All right, let's hit some news.

We saw the big plays in the air and on the ground from Justin.

What impressed you more, his arm or his leg today?

Oh, oh, I mean, I just I'm changing his name to Beast.

He's uh Beast Herbert, uh, half man, half beast.

I love that guy.

Jim Harbaugh.

High on his quarterback.

I'm high on his quarterback, too.

Let's start with,

you know, the drama in Big D.

The Cowboys, obviously, one of the biggest disappointments in football the season going down the tubes.

And as I said, I'm losing interest in the Cowboys because they're just so bad.

But if there's a little like if when the locker room starts to, you know, Oppenheimer

and there's just big clouds of smoke, big mushroom clouds starting to form over Gerald World, I'll, you know, I'll plug back in for that.

Here is Micah Parsons on the job security of head coach Mike McCarthy.

You know, that's above my pay grade about if Mike is coaching again next year.

But, you know,

all coaching aside, coaching, you know, Mike can leave and go wherever he wants.

But guys, I, you know, I kind of feel bad for is guys like Zach Martin and guys who might be on their last show on their way out, you know, because that's who I wanted to hold a trophy for.

You know, you want to win games and do great things with those type of legends who put in more time and work than Mike McCarthy ever did.

So those are the kind of guys that I have so much sympathy and hurt for.

Yeah, I understand where Parsons has come from.

Maybe some of the language he used there

looks like he's burying Mike McCarthy.

And in some ways, he's not obviously showing a ton of compassion for the head coach.

But what he's saying is right.

It's like the guys that are near the end of their playing days that maybe this was entering the season they saw as their big chance or last great chance to make a deep run.

And now

the sands are slipping through the hourglass Susdog.

And Zach Martin is a perfect example from Parsons.

Zach Martin was brought up in whispers before the trade deadline, which that surprised me because that was someone you talk about as a foundational player on that team.

I mean, it didn't come from the Cowboys, but you know, like, that's an example of when you listen to the way he said it when he's got microphones pressed in his face, where it feels a little softer to me than when you read it.

But

I don't know.

Like, I get it because you're the player, and so these guys that you are out in the field with matter to you, and, like, they're the ones that are really kind of your fellow soldiers.

But that is not what you want to hear a player say about their coach.

I'm not going to say it's disrespectful or something, but it just kind of tells me that unlike you, could you imagine a Lions player saying that about Dan Campbell right now?

Like, that's the difference to me.

It's like there's certain coaches, and we talked about it last night, that like come in, like the Mike Tomlins, like they are the alpha center of the heart, the beating heart of the team.

And I think that Mike McCarthy is just a little adjacent to that.

Despite the fact that before this season,

obviously, he did a good job.

They won a lot of games.

But this year, you know, the wheels are falling off.

And like, you don't get a sense sense that Mike McCarthy has any sort of autonomy control or creativity to get them out of it and the players are gonna start to talk because I think the Cowboys experience has been extremely negative it's little things like have you you remember the thing that's out there about when they go to the weight room you've got like fans walking by staring at them I mean I know in our old office like I'd be typing and there'd be like tour groups coming by watching me on my computer and for some reason it agitated me or for good reasons but these guys are saying like when I go try to do my workout I've got like cowboys fans staring at me like through a glass window and it's like what's going on here are we a zoo

well no but it's are we a zoo or are we like actually like trying to win something here and so it's I don't think Mike McCarthy has the like unparalleled support of the team and this is a verbal example of that sure I agree with you.

You don't think that

like they're overcomplaining?

Like, I would not want to be working out as an NFL player and have a bunch of

jabronis walking by staring at me and taking photos of me.

You know what?

I didn't care about the tours either at NFL media.

That's a good idea.

So they often happened.

Well, they often happened.

I don't want you to take this.

I want you to take this just in a more factual way, but they often happen on Sunday mornings early when I would have to drive into the office and I'd get there way earlier than I needed to.

And it was the ownership groups of the visiting team playing the Rams or early morning school groups or groups of people that were going over to the stadium.

And so, like, a lot of times I would be in there alone with like an Andrew Slier

for like two or three years.

There were

dozens and dozens of groups that passed by the glass when I was there as well.

That is true.

Never bothered me.

Never bothered me.

I think it's

my personality, like I was pressed on.

It's a little presumptive that you thought they were looking at you.

I mean, let's talk about that.

I don't think they were looking at me, but it's like also the way that they put that cubicle.

Like, my computer was facing the window, and so like they could just be, they're staring at my computer and just like...

What do they call that?

Main character syndrome?

That's not what it was.

I was the only one they were looking at.

Justin, you get a little bit of that?

A little bit

MCS from the sess dog there with the walking tours?

Of course, Justin's going to agree.

Oh, gravedigger.

Yeah, I seem to recall when I was on the other side of the glass watching you guys tape the pod.

Anytime someone would walk by, Dan, you're a good job.

Just like staying focused.

Greg, same thing.

Mark's always like, who's out there?

Hello, you're looking at me.

That is fictional nonsense.

That is

fictional nonsense.

That is fictional nonsense.

And Justin knows that he needs to agree with Dan in situations like this, and that's what he did.

Good little boy.

He does not need to agree with me.

He's simply pointing out a...

But I'm not talking about the podcast studio, which you couldn't even, there were people that would do that.

And we'd all talk about that.

And like, you know, main character syndrome, one of us had a football signed, like, falsely by a football coach put up next to the window for people to walk by and see.

So, you know, and I thought that was entertaining.

I had no football signed.

That was a gift to me from the great Dabbo Sweeney.

You know what I'm saying?

Like, Clemson for my work in the community, sir.

Which, by the way,

I don't know what happened.

You know, that's a dark place now, that studio, but like, I don't know.

They never sent me back any of my stuff in that studio.

i had i had a lot of stuff in that studio you know what and i and by the way like if anything at least through my words i always supported you on the dabbo sweeney um civilian work like i i thought that there i know you didn't do it built orphanages outside clemson's campus yeah i wanted to at least raise up the concept that it was a possibility you are right they none of that was sent back to anyone they probably put it into one of their little bonfires outside of sofi next to that little ridiculous pond that's what i'd say

although Although it might have been hard to get all that stuff out of there without slipping on all the blood on the floor, you know?

Well, anyway, let's get back to it.

All right, let's get into it.

All right, so there you go.

This has reached new levels of absurdity.

Let's get to some quarterback controversies.

Here is Shane Steichen, Colts coach, on

the Joe Flacco situation.

I talked about this on Sunday, how some of the second guessing or the

you know, 2020 is hindsight.

You know, it's rich

in the Twitter echo chamber.

But at the same time, Shane Steichen now, he's going to invite more criticism if he continues to start a struggling Joe Flacco.

Here's a little back and forth between Steichen and James Boyd, who covers the Colts for the athletic, about the process involving Anthony Richardson.

and the QB1 job.

Shane,

and again, this is just to, I guess, clear the the air or get some understanding.

When we talk to you, we've talked to AR, we've talked to Cam Turner, like no one will say specifically what Anthony needs to work on.

Can you just explain like what he did or didn't do or must do, not do

to improve?

Because everything that we always hear is, oh, everything, or he has, like, can anybody be specific about this?

Yeah, I think it's just consistent with the process.

That's what it is.

You got to go through the process every single day.

And that's where it's at.

You know what I mean?

He's a great, great person, a phenomenal human being.

Like I said, not ever losing faith or trust in him.

We're going through a process right now, and that's where it's at.

Can you explain the process?

Like, has he been late?

Has he not prepared the right way?

Like, do we hear those words?

And

you can take it.

And I'm just trying to understand not to put any words in your mouth or span anything.

Like, what does that mean?

Yeah.

Well, like I said, we're going through a process, James.

That's it.

You know, I got to say like first of all good job by James Boyd there doing the job that he needs to do there and asking those questions mark I you know one of the things I talked about it on Sunday was you know what was the the wording that a reporter you know that treating Joe Flacco with the dignity and whatever

Maybe this is Shane Steichen.

I'm sorry, but like maybe this is Shane Steichen treating Anthony Richardson with some dignity and respect because behind closed doors, they think there's a lot for this kid to work on, including including maybe he didn't even shut down the fact that he's maybe not doing his homework or doing some other things the right way.

He left the door open on that with his response.

Like, maybe that is, they're protecting him because he's so underprepared for the moment at this time.

Yeah, like that answer.

I mean, it's coach speak, but that answer was so under layers and layers of like head coach jargon to basically provide no detailed information at all about what they actually think about Anthony Richardson, that it just tells me, like, look, like, it's a fair question.

And the reporter did a, like, he, I like the follow-up question too.

Like, can you please just try to give us something?

And when you get nothing, it's a really good thing.

It reminded me of like Sessler a Super Bowl week when you're in that scrum.

Like, you wouldn't, you're not taking one word answer.

You're following up and you're following up and you're following up, sess dog style.

Well, it depends.

Early on in the process, I probably would try to get second and third questions, but then, you know, a couple of years in, you're like, all right,

this story is going to be on the site for about eight hours.

Like I'm in between like 500 pounds of smelly men flesh, like with their armpits in my face.

So it's like one question might be enough.

But in this case, you know who hated that more than anyone else, by the way?

Wes.

Wes.

Wes was a born football man.

He loved to talk the game.

He loved to write about the game.

He loved everything about the sport and the history of it and the strategy of of it and just chopping it up with his buddies and we were his buddies and we were very lucky to be that.

But Wes did not like being on the beat.

Wes did not like being pushed up against sweaty men in collared shirts.

And he was very vocal about it, whether it was the Combine or the Super Bowl or whatever event we were at.

The one I'll never forget was when they stuck the Super Bowl in New York and it was, you're just praying it wouldn't like you wouldn't get a blizzard at some point.

And I think you and Greg were up in Manhattan

because Wes and I were covering the Broncos and Seahawks.

And my team, the Seahawks, were literally in the hotel next to us and down in Jersey City.

But Wes had to take, like, each morning, some cavalcade of cars to get, one time it was on a boat.

Like, there's like all these things to go find the Broncos in some other part of the city.

And he had showed up with all his luggage having been lost.

And he had bought a coat.

He had no coat.

And so, and I think the other thing with Wes, it's like he's got no luggage.

He's got no clothing.

He doesn't doesn't want to do this, and it's like you got to get up early, depending which team you cover.

And, like, you know, Wes is Wes in Super Bowl week

doing that either.

Well, yeah, like Wes in Super Bowl week, like, you want to stay out late, we liked our hotel nights, and then it's like you got to get up at 6 a.m.

So, yeah, point being to Steichen, like, I think he's just sort of just saying, hey, guys, like, he's not ready right now to play, and like, we know better than you, we're watching him all the time, and we've made this decision, and you've got this super, whether Joe Flacco's playing

well or not, like, he's ready for any situation.

And this other player is not ready for almost any situation.

Right.

And, you know, not to belabor it, but when we talk about, wow, I can't believe the culture is showing the veteran QB more respect and dignity or whatever, like, this could very well be Shane Steichen trying to protect this kid.

He's not ready for prime time.

So, like, try looking at it from a different perspective instead of just assuming that there's some type of gross incompetence going on about not letting this superstar, young superstar eat.

There's nuance potentially at play here.

They took him in.

They knew that he had already a super raw college career.

And so this was an experiment.

And it's not surprising to me that he's not ready to start

NFL games, you know, game after game at this point.

We've got a stopping point, and there are quarterbacks that bloom in year four, year five.

That wasn't the plan.

That's not why you take him in the first round, but that might be the case.

Right.

It seems like it's heading toward

next year will be decision time, and they're going to give themselves more rope, and they're just trying to figure out how to handle this weird in-between process right now.

Not easy.

Finally,

yes, Justin.

If this is about the Titans, I'm going to lose it, dude.

I will punch you through the screen.

Tough loss in a fantasy match.

What I'm doing.

Okay.

I wish I hit this about five minutes ago, but I've been searching for it.

Here it is.

It's about me.

Sorry, it's late, but it's better in than not in at all.

You are,

Justin, you are, what is the Tomlin?

Hit the Tomlin drop.

Go ahead.

I have a new Tomlin drop, BTW.

For yourself?

Justin has been an asset to us, man.

I was thinking of using it for Mike.

Next time we have a money Mike seg, but here it is.

You know I'm a degenerate.

Absolutely, yes.

Finally, Matt Ebrifluce talks about it on the Sunday show.

It felt like things are so bad with the Bears right now that heads might roll, whether it's the play caller, Shane Waldron, or

the quarterback and Caleb Williams, or the head coach and Matt Ebriflues.

Well,

Ibrif Luce spoke to reporters.

He's still employed.

Right now, everyone's still where they are, including Caleb Williams as QB1, as he should be.

But at the same time, Ibraflues is making it clear that there's some hard conversations conversations happening behind closed doors.

There will be changes, adjustments being made.

Again, I'm not going to disclose those right now.

I'm not at that point in the process.

You know, Monday's a long day in terms of the evaluation of everything, you know, in terms of

lineups, in terms of the coaching, in terms of how we need to do better.

you know, in that coaching and how we need to do better in a communication in-game, during the game, after the game, prior to the game.

So it's important that we take time to make those decisions and make the right decisions.

That's for the Bears, best for the Bears going forward for this week and then going into the future.

Okay.

I speak fluent Coach Word Salad, Mark.

I know you do as well.

Not as good as the German that you have, but mastered.

But that means I'm about to

take play calling duties away from Shane Waldron and give them to someone else.

Maybe I'll do them myself.

But that will be the change I'm making.

So someone has to get thrown to the wolves.

And very clearly to me, it will be Waldron.

And it's just a matter of time before that gets announced.

Yeah, like the scapegoating process

typically starts with the coordinator.

And, you know, more heads will roll at some point here.

I think we all probably understand that.

But it probably helps Iberflus that he's a defensive-minded coach.

I hate that term, but like that it's not his, he's not a McVay, so it's not his offense.

So he can kind of say, look, what I came here to do, we are executing, we're growing.

But this other guy over here, other side of the building,

not loving that.

And, you know, it is fair.

Like, they've scored, they haven't scored a touchdown since week eight.

They've scored 27 points in the last three games.

They're 31st in yards per play, 30th in yards per game, 30th in yards per pass, 28th in yards per carry, 32nd in sacks allowed per pass, and 31st on third down.

So it's, because there are only 32 teams in our league, like it's kind of,

it would be tough to be worse than they are.

And so it is fair to look at Shane Waldron and say, and also we've, you know, this is a team that has the unusual world of like multiple player meetings that they're requesting with the coaches, like coach us up more.

We need more definitive coaching, press on us more.

And you've got a rookie quarterback getting his head knocked off week after week.

So it is the perfect stew of the offensive coordinator being demoted very soon.

Yes.

And as I said last week on this very program, there's a timing with this for coaches when you want to be able to flip this lever or lever, depending on what region you hail from,

at the end of the season.

You want to do it in January.

So that is, you got to throw somebody to the alligators if you're a head coach.

But when you're forced to do it in season, You're the one that gets fed to the Alligators if things do not turn around by January.

And I don't think they're going to turn around for the Bears.

I have a very bad feeling about the rest of the season.

I think there's going to be a number of people being sent to the Bahamas on paid leave.

Absolutely.

All right, real quick, spin through the league, a few injury updates.

The Bucs have been savaged by injuries this year, and it looked like they might have lost their left tackle Tristan Wurfs to a season-ending knee injury on Sunday.

However, it turned out it's an MCL sprain, so not an ACL tear or anything season-ending.

That's after the MRI came back.

So, Rapsheet reported this.

It's a positive development.

He's still going to be out a couple of weeks, but now the understanding is that he will be back for the stretch run.

And now, the Bucks just need to win a couple games to keep their head above water.

They are on a losing streak, obviously.

Tight end for the Lions, Sam Laporta.

He got banged up in the Sunday night win over the Texans.

He's day-to-day with that shoulder, so it doesn't appear to be serious.

Less, the news is less rosy for rookie rookie wide receiver of the Bills, Keon Coleman, who has a wrist issue.

He's already been ruled out for the big showdown against the Chiefs in week 11.

So the wide receiver room for the Bills will be a little bit short for a clash and potential AFC championship preview.

All right, that's what's happening in the news.

Mark, anything you want to add before we take this home?

Well, all I'd say about the Bills, because you started to see it, like Amari Cooper's not been playing for them since the trade, and Keon Coleman was really starting to develop.

And so, it's made Khalil Shakir kind of their guy.

But you'd hope as they get closer to games that matter in terms of living or dying, that they can have the full compliment.

Other than that,

Sam Laporta, a little bit of a downseason right now, but like that offense is so weapons-rich that if they can get him back, that would be huge.

Absolutely.

Hey, that closes the book on week 10, week 11, and the ramp up to it begins for us on Wednesday morning when we have the drop of our next episode.

It's going to be a fun one because it's not only Connor Orr, as we have every Wednesday, and we're lucky to have him, Dave Damashek.

Oof, we'd love Dave.

Dave Damashek will join us.

And

we have a fun idea that we're going to execute with Oppenheimer-like precision on Wednesday.

That's my prediction.

So make sure you check out the Wednesday show.

We'll also preview Commander's Eagles and that ep.

And then Thursday comes around and you know how it goes, the wheel.

Make sure you subscribe on YouTube.

Justin does incredible work producing that YouTube program.

And you get to see Mark and I aging in reverse, seemingly.

It's the whole package.

Also, that weird thing, can you fly up that tweet, Justin?

This bizarre moment that happened 18 minutes into our Sunday night show when we itched the same exact spot on our respective faces, Mark, at the same exact moment.

Yeah.

Like, what?

That was disturbing to me, like, legitimately disturbing.

I didn't know if it was like the kind of like human programming where like you mimic each other to kind of compliment and act like, yes, I understand you, but none of us knew it was happening, so it can't be that simultaneous.

Yeah, no, it was well, you and I especially did the exact same motion, which just told me we were in concert in unison and really enjoying what we do.

And Connor was part of it too.

So I really only see it as like a subconsciously positive sign that the show is working.

I saw it as a glitch in the matrix and perhaps

the biggest proof yet that we live in a simulation.

Actually, that could be an episode of Rolling Thunder, to be quite honest.

The

since we're going to come all joint.

Yeah, you were part of that, so you'd have to come on.

If you want to do like a three, I know your last episode was 90 minutes.

If you want to do like three hours on the itch, capital T, capital I, I am in on that.

I think just to test

the boundaries of human patience, we should do a three-hour episode on that one particular four-second event.

And of course, you can only get Rolling Thunder and the Throwback Podcast and the draft show and

I dream and read the Republican newsletter of Mark Seeker.

It is not Republican.

Patreon.com slash heed the the call, where you have all the exclusive fan club content that we're putting out there.

All right, that's it.

Enough.

We'll see you on Wednesday.

Heed the Call.

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