NFL Week 10 Preview!!

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The Heed the Call podcast.

Would like Jim Harbaugh to stop staring at them, please.

Just take it easy with the eyes.

Welcome to Heed the Call.

With Dan Hansis and Mark Sessler.

It is the week 10 preview in bulk.

Joining us this week as she joins us every week on Thursday, the great Jordan Rodrique.

Hi.

Hi.

Hi, Dan.

Hi, Mark.

Hi, Gravit.

Michael Sean Dugar.

Oh, Justin's here as well.

Always.

The great Michael Sean Dugar, not with us.

He's on his honeymoon.

Fancy, fancy.

So enjoy.

I hope he has an incredible time with his wife.

And we'll have him back next week.

And,

you know, now that we are, gang, at the midpoint of the season, I'm going to play a little game that people don't like to play.

If the season ended today,

but it's not.

But if it did,

the New England Patriots would have the first overall pick in the NFL draft.

Did you know that?

Yes, I talked about it last week.

Well, yes, they moved into that spot.

Did not hear that.

Did you know that there are seven teams in the NFL right now that are two and seven?

So seven teams are tied for the worst record in the NFL, but according to tankathon.com/slash NFL, it is the Pats followed by the Jacksonville Jaguars, followed by the Saints.

Saints coming in hard on that seven-game losing streak.

If the season ended today,

Jordan, but it does not.

The Chiefs would be the first team to go undefeated since the 2007 Patriots.

Derrick Henry would finish with a yeah, Derrick Henry would finish with 1,052 yards.

Not that impressive, if you ask me.

What is this, 1990?

Like a thousand-yard season, whatever.

But in all seriousness, Washington would win its first division title since

2014.

I guess is that right, 2014?

I would say 2014.

Jordan, go Googling.

I'd say 2007.

I'm trying to figure out if you're needing us to respond or if you're going to take the wheel here, Dan.

Do you have a guess?

All right.

It was actually highly anticlimactic.

It was 2020.

The Pennsylvania.

Yeah, that was the

Rivera.

The record was

not a winning record, and they got

a seven and nine division title and a one and done in the playoffs.

So, yeah, that's not actually that long a break.

But a true division title, it's in play this year.

So it's a fun season.

We're about to roll into the second half, and why don't we get right into it?

Just like we want to get into the revelation before today's show that Jordan Rodriguez was a national jump roper of some kind?

Like a semi-Pro.

Was it a semi-pro jump roper?

Competitive?

I had a strange childhood.

Okay, let's stick a pin in it.

Childhood, or was this high school?

This was my entire childhood up until 11th grade.

Oh my God.

11th grade.

Yeah.

And clearly, I'm like not wanting to talk about it,

which is why you're dragging me into it.

All right.

But before

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basketball.

Football is completely different than basketball.

We know what Justin's been doing all morning.

Does anyone else find those?

I found those sporting sound effects sort of disturbing.

Is it just me?

Oh, that one you found disturbing.

Okay.

Well, I mean, okay.

Of all of the ones to choose from.

Something about it was, yes, something about it put me on edge.

I'm not sure exactly why.

It's a little too squeaky, a little too basketball-y.

Maybe a little too wholesome for the sess dog, you know?

Okay.

something about the teens and the sock hop and being in the gymnasium being wholesome and pure as you walk the dirty, grimy streets of Hollywood at night.

Is that what it is?

Well, that's your theory, and there's nothing I could do to take you away from that theory, so I'm just going to let it

slide for now.

All right, here we go.

The only the blood will wash away the filth of the streets.

Let's get to it.

Primetime games.

Let's start with the number one

ranked team in the NFL according to the

power rankings of record, the Detroit Lions.

They head to Houston to face the Texans.

Sunday night football, Mike Torico, Chris Collinsworth, Melissa Stark.

You know, the Texans, by the way, have now fallen out of the top 10 in the HDC power rankings.

And Jordan, I'll start with you on this one.

Like,

obviously, the Houston's been limping for a little bit now.

You could probably draw a direct line to Nico Collins going out of the lineup.

He could be back in this game.

We're going to have to see.

And you hope that if he does come back, they're not risking anything and having, you know, like a Puka Nakua situation back in week one with the Rams, where you lead to a further setback.

But man, they have missed him.

And now with Stefan Diggs out, they missed him.

That was a...

That was more apparent, obviously,

against the Jets on Thursday night football, but it's that offensive line that you're concerned about.

Detroit Lions have a new edge rusher in the building, obviously.

Let's see how that plays out in the trenches.

Yeah, it's a bit malpractice of what Houston is doing with its offensive line right now in terms of what they're kind of putting in front of C.J.

Stroud.

You're noticing that it's, and the fans are over down in Houston are getting louder and louder about this and pointing the fingers at Bobby Sloick as well, because it's not just a personnel issue, it's a scheme issue.

But when you don't have an outlet guy like Nico Collins, who can be that player, he's obviously explosive in other ways and all of that, but can provide a bunch of different answers for pressure beaters in the passing game because they're still running the ball pretty well.

Joe Mixon's having a good season, but they don't have many outlets now at this point in the passing game.

They don't have pressure beaters.

They're struggling to hit their assignments.

There's an incredibly quick time to pressure when you have Nico Collins on the field versus off the field.

There's a significant delta there.

And to me, it's interesting because we went from Bobby Sloick being

hailed as like the

next hothead coaching candidate to now, you know, Jonathan Alexander, who works for one of the local newspapers there, is getting questions in his mailbag every week.

Is this guy going to give up play calling?

So it's a really interesting time there in Houston.

I think part of it, so you could see the potential this team had.

And this is actually a completely, completely,

it's a total

converse matchup.

That's not the right word, but I'll think of it along the way.

Because Detroit, yes, they did add Zadarius Smith.

It's a great addition for them, but they've already been able to get pressure on the interior.

And that is in part where Houston's O-line is having some significant issues.

So I don't like this matchup for Houston.

But, you know, they still have some things they can fall back on.

Their defense is still playing well.

We'll get to that, I'm sure.

But Nico Collins was, he's eligible to return, but reporters on the ground in Houston did not see him at Wednesday's practice just yet.

So definitely something to keep an eye on there.

It is like, it's really interesting to see where we are with Bobby Slovick compared to a year ago, where he was, you know, Shanahan tree blessed.

And he did a lot with the offensive line a year ago to patch up deficiencies and some injuries.

And it's specifically the interior of that line.

They have given up.

The interior of that line has given up 20.5 sacks, the most in the NFL, 35 total quit pressures on C.J.

Stroud allowed by those three players.

And, you know, it changes what you feel about C.J.

Stroud a little bit, who I was pegging as an MVP candidate.

It just sort of shows you that when the infrastructure breaks down a little bit, and they're a completely different offense without Nico Collins.

And it would be just huge and necessary and fundamental to get him back this week.

It sounded like there was some optimism there.

So we'll see.

But

they've had to go through stretches without him.

They went through a stretch without Joe Mixon.

And we really haven't seen this team at its full power the way that you want.

But the hope is once you get Collins back, because Mixon, 100 yards in four straight games, is having like a career year.

And it's kind of like you can see his lack on the Bengals.

And so he's such a big part of this offense, too.

So

I'm not losing my optimism, but that loss to the Jets, they looked like an exposed offense in multiple ways.

And so how do you fix that against a Lions defense this week?

And a Lions offense that's going to, is beating teams by an average of 18 points over the last four or five games.

And so it's like, you're going to have to go find a way to probably win a shootout.

And that's a tall order for this Texans offense at the moment.

The one thing, too, about

the Lions and the way that they've been steamrolling people is, you know, the Texans defense is still a good defense.

They're third in success rate, first of all, and they get off the field really fast.

They lead the league in the time in time of possession right now.

But the places they really struggle are in the red zone, where the Lions have seemingly fixed their issues from either the beginning of the year or last year.

And they're number, and on fourth down, they're also number 30th in stop rate on fourth down.

That's the down we know the Lions love.

So this is, it's almost like these teams are like mirror images.

of each other right now in terms of where one is weak and really, really the weaknesses are in Houston and where the Lions are at some of their peak strength.

Yeah, Texans need their stars to step up.

C.J.

Stroud has to find a way.

Mixon has to have a big game.

Will Anderson, who's having a really nice sophomore year with that team, he's got seven and a half sacks.

He's going to have to get after it and make Jared Goff uncomfortable and crazy, crazy stat

about the Detroit Lions offense, just to put it in perspective, just how locked in they are right now.

And Ben Johnson is almost certainly

in his final weeks as the offensive coordinator of the Detroit Lions because he's going to get a head coaching job.

In the last six games, the Lions have more touchdowns, 28, and incompletions, 24.

Think about that.

Wow.

I mean, that's.

It's looked that way.

That's special.

That's special stuff.

Justin, you got something there on Ben Johnson?

Yeah, just there was a report Thursday morning that, you know, with

like the sixth time I've talked to this episode.

Proto.

There was a report on Thursday morning that Ben Johnson, who is, like you said, going to have head head coaching opportunities, that he would be very selective with where he decides to take his career.

So that's well, he was last offseason.

I mean, he says the band is don't get your mission to stay.

And you know what?

I think that's super rare.

First of all, you guys know I cover coaching cycles and stuff like that.

And that is so, it's so rare, first of all, that a coach and a coordinator candidate has the autonomy.

to do that because normally you see these guys just mad dash toward any opening.

And similarly, I think it's interesting to look at that through the shared perspective of quarterbacks cannot necessarily choose the situation they end up in.

And we've seen some examples of when it really is a great situation around them and when it's a really terrible one and the impact that it can have early in their career.

Well, this offensive coordinator situation, he's going to be able to choose which opening he takes and when.

And he actually can choose the best situation around him.

And he kind of did that.

He was like navigating toward that last year with the messiness with the commanders, which turned out to be just fine for everybody involved.

It's just, it's a fascinating time to be a coordinator with that much power, that much autonomy in where he ends up.

I will say this.

Still got to be,

what do we say behind the scenes that heed the call?

What do we like to be?

We like to be.

That's what I always say, Justin, about being aggressive.

We want to be.

Aggressive but smart.

Smart but aggressive, right?

You got to see, you got to be, though, because look at Bobby Sloic as an example.

Now, Ben Johnson, at this point,

it's going so well that I feel like he might be able to play it this way and wait for his spot.

But things change fast in the NFL.

You know what I mean?

And you might want to strike while the iron is hot and not get too cute.

I guess that's what I'm saying.

Does that make sense at all, Jordan?

Like, do you know what I mean by that?

Yeah, I totally get that because you could, your ship could, your window could be over.

However, everything I've heard about Ben Johnson Johnson is that that's okay.

It's not like he is,

you know, fueled by this internal fire on a quest to prove himself as like the next great head coach.

I think he wants, really does want to be a head coach, but I think he also understands like success can come in many different forms and reputation can be built in many different ways, not necessarily getting immediately into the head chair.

And if you are already, if you're a candidate once for one of these jobs, and Bobby Sloic is going to see the same thing.

He's going to get interviews.

If you're a candidate once for one of these jobs, you will continue to be a candidate.

And even if the Lions, you know, and I hope they don't because they're so fun, even if a Ben Johnson and Dan Campbell-led Lions had an atrocious downfall next season, he's still going to get interviews because the body of work that he's put in so far, that he's developed so far, speaks louder than any potential blip on the radar in that regard.

But I heard that.

But I do agree.

You could miss your chance.

I think we see that more with defensive coaches than offensive coaches.

But certainly that is like the timeline that you're kind of walking, that balance you're walking.

I think like a year ago, too, specifically, it's like, oh, I'm not sure about the Commanders ownership group, and I, and I'm sure I don't want to work for David Tepper.

So, you know, it's sometimes it's like what jobs are available as well.

All right, let's move to Monday night football.

The number 23 Miami Dolphins.

Already two and seven, or one of the two and seven teams.

So like me even talking about them as a team that's got to have it this week seems ridiculous since they're tied for, the worst record in the NFL.

And yet they do.

In their mind, in that locker room, they're looking at this as this is our season right here, traveling to our backyard, SoFi Stadium, to face the number 15 Rams.

Should be higher in our power rankings, Jordan, but Mark has an anti-LA sports bias and buried him in his personal rankings, which affected our algorithm.

Anyway, Rams obviously on a three-game winning streak here, and with a Dolphins team that is clearly reeling, I feel like this

pretty good spot for LA.

Pretty good spot, I think.

Yeah, my take listening to that from earlier this week, the Power Rankings episode, was that Mark

did not like the parking garage and also other people's joy, and so decided to take it out on the Los Angeles Rams who've won three in a row.

You forgot one other segment, like

hardworking Americans that are employed at the parking garage, like just doing their job.

You forgot that?

I don't have

all of those factors.

You are correct.

All right, Jordan.

At least you're open about it, Mark.

Yeah.

Jordan,

what has been the key to the Rams' turnaround to their season?

Well,

a lot of people would probably expect me to say they're getting healthier.

That is true.

But actually, this Rams defense has won them football games over the last four weeks or so.

They're scoring.

Over the last four weeks, they've scored in every game, although that's safety.

Not the best way to do it

against the Vikings, but they have scored every single week.

And this defense, the front, the line is just really coming into its personality, super aggressive.

Every single player that either starts or is in the rotation, so five different players along that front are either at

right above the league average in pressure rate or as high as doubling it, which Jared Verse is currently the defensive rookie of the year, like running away with it, in my opinion, which Mark, by the way, did predict at the beginning of the year that he would win that award.

So

they're playing outstanding.

They were getting a super high pressure rate early on in the year, but the sacks weren't coming.

That kind of happens when you play like the Kyler Murrays of the world who can evade the actual takedown, but are getting moved off their spot.

Now the Sacks are coming.

And so it's Jared Verse, it's Brayden Fisk.

Michael Hoyt is like playing an Andrew Van Ginkle type of role in this defense.

And their DBs, their young DBs, and then sort of led by the veteran presence of Darius Williams on the outside at corner, their young DBs are really starting to light it up.

Their Their undrafted free agent, safety, Jalen McCulloch had his fourth interception.

He's been targeted four times, and he has four interceptions.

And he plays a rotational role for them, sort of their dime inside linebacker.

I mean, this defense is basically a long way of me saying this defense is finding its personality.

They're aggressive.

They're tough.

They're attacking.

They're young.

It's kind of...

What happened to them on offense last year, where they weren't quite sure some of the new guys, Puka Nakua, for example, that they were bringing in Steve Avula.

And the combination of their their personality, their effort, their toughness, and then the way that they play football, the way that they could pick things up, it really helped that offense reach new levels.

So yes, it's good that they're getting guys back and healthy, but the major difference through October and the first week of November has been this defense.

I remember watching an interview with Les Sneed probably about three or four weeks ago, and it's before some of this was happening.

And he just spoke with total confidence about the young players on this team.

And in the course of a year, everything you've said is exactly right.

Like their ability, I think the reason I fell in love with Jared Verse was like watching some of his college tape.

It's like the havoc and the chaos that he creates when he runs.

And it's showing up here.

And I think that's a huge development for them.

I'm a little concerned in this matchup specifically because for the Dolphins ups and downs, they have looked like themselves on offense.

Like Tua has looked really sharp.

And they're coming off the game, the Rams, where Jackson Smith and Jigbud had 180 yards and also like another 70 plus taken away by by

flags and penalties.

So

the front part of this defense is doing its job.

I wonder in this matchup specifically with the Tyreek Hills and the Waddles of the world, like are the Rams in for it in terms of, I believe they can win, because we got through all that without even talking about how Matthew Stafford is playing.

I think Matthew Stafford looks like a top five quarterback.

He had a lot of turnover worthy plays last week.

They weren't turned.

I think he only had one interception, but you still get

this type of Matthew Stafford play.

It's like they could beat anyone.

So I did have them too low in those rankings, but you can see it was for personal reasons, parking,

sort of disinterest in the building itself.

We understand, like you're an amateur in the power rankings.

You have two professionals with you and sometimes it shows there.

And one thing, Mark, that I think you were alluding to is with Tua back, with the timing elements of their offense back, the offensive and the offensive line is actually playing better the last couple of weeks.

They're running the ball at a pretty effective clip the last couple of weeks.

You know, they can get these timing concepts, these speed concepts going, and that can mitigate the pressure that the Rams are bringing right now.

The Rams defensive line is playing very well, but they haven't faced a quick timing offense and a speed offense that this is.

And you can nullify a lot of the pressure and put the onus on the secondary, who has given up some big plays over the last couple of weeks.

I do think that this is a really interesting, potentially dangerous matchup for a Rams team that's on a roll right now, and it could potentially lead to a shootout scenario.

I agree with both of you.

I,

you know, not all losses are created equal.

And I'm watching the Dolphins.

And to use a fantasy analogy, it's like when your fantasy team puts up 153 points, but you lose 172 to 153, and you're like, ah, shit.

Like, because you would have beaten eight other teams in your league.

Like, the Dolphins, as Justin points to himself, because his girlfriend beat him

this week.

And that's fine.

That's fine that a girlfriend could defeat a boyfriend.

But Justin was on defeat, and he was feeling it.

He was feeling the pain of the loss.

And I won't discuss his fantasy league anymore.

But it's like, I thought the Dolphins played great.

I thought the Dolphins showed up.

And I thought their offense has been amazing.

And Devon A-Chain is basically playing the best football of his career.

Now the two is back in the lineup.

And I'm with you guys.

I think it's a very dangerous game.

In fact, I'm going to pick the Dolphins to win this game.

How about that?

I think the Dolphins, I don't know why I have this inability to quit the Dolphins at 2-7.

They've probably dug themselves too deep a hole to get back in the playoff race.

But at the same time, Mark, to use your term,

they feel like a berserker potentially

down the stretch of the season that could really mess up some teams' playoff hopes.

I mean, I like that we get through that whole, you know, stick a fork in them, diatribe against me, and then you've just predicted the Rams to crumble and defeat.

So, you know, we're going, we're all over the place.

But he did it with analysis and not personal reasons.

Right.

Well, that is analysis.

He did it in a professional manner, you know,

Sir.

He beat you with analysis there, Mark.

Let's move on.

Am I taking a break, Justin?

Nope.

All right, let's roll right into it.

Games, we cannot wait to watch.

Mark, get us going.

All right.

I was the last one into the document, but I'm very excited to have found out, and probably because Mike is not here this week, that the Niners visiting the Tampa Bay Buccaneers was sitting out there like a nice little plum to pick off a tree if that's what they grow on.

I think this is an absolute critical inflection point for the Bucks.

Justin, can we look that up?

How do plums grow?

Go ahead, Mark.

I think it's on trees or is it a both?

I think you got it.

I think you had it, but is it possible they grow out of the ground?

I don't know.

Maybe.

Tomatoes grow out of the ground.

That's weird.

Nobody will get that joke.

They're too clean to be grown up.

You said, how do plums grow?

I said, through acts of bravery.

Oh,

I didn't get it.

It's a good one.

Probably a literary reference.

You're a very smart woman.

Okay, Mark, go ahead.

Plums are a diverse group of species with trees reaching a height of five to six meters

what's so diverse about that

just reading wikipedia i don't know okay uh anyways so

this is a tough spot for the bucks because i give liam cohen a lot of credit for how they played on offense last week specifically with all the people they're missing it it does not sound like mike evans is not practicing on wednesday it doesn't sound like he's going to go you don't have chris godwin bucky irvin has been a really good their running game has been a much better product than in years past.

And I think that Cohn's a reason for that.

But Bucky Irvin's banged up with a toe injury.

Mayfield isn't practicing yet this week.

I think he's definitely going to play, but he's got a toe injury.

Jalen McMillan, your other wide receiver, did not practice.

Sterling Shepard, Mayfield's old college teammate, did not practice.

So this team is down to the studs in terms of what they can do.

You've got a Niners team coming off a buy.

They're rested.

And the biggest news of the week, probably in the world of fantasy or in professional football is that it sounds like Christian McCaffrey will play like Kyle Shanahan Asbett said he's not hurting but it's going to be one of those like you find out what the inactives are on Sunday but we are trending towards it and I think that's going to be a huge A and B test for everything we've said all season Christian McCaffrey, you had a very, Jordan Mason came in and ran the ball really well, but if you have Christian McCaffrey in there and you're a defensive coaching staff, you have to think entirely different about this team.

And do we start to see a San Francisco Niners team that rounds into shape and comes down the stretch looking like one of these teams you do not want to sit in the playoffs against?

Because they've been compromised by injuries all year long.

And I think this is the point where two teams take a very different roadmap.

The Bucs are, to me, they have had one of the roughest months.

They had to play Baltimore, lost.

Atlanta, who's heating up, lost.

Kansas City, they fought hard.

They lost.

They are just a team right now that they are 4-5, and you can see the season crumbling.

They've been swept by the Falcons.

So this is for them sort of survival mode.

Can they do it?

Can they do it at home against San Francisco?

It feels like a really tough home assignment for me and the Bucs.

Yeah, I feel like you could feel things starting to slip away the second Chris Godwin went down, right?

You could feel like just the punch of that.

And that's not to say that they haven't played admirably since then.

I mean, their game last week, I think, you know, if you go for two and you get it, maybe you have a totally different conversation.

And I hear Connor's argument about well the stats are you know conversion rates are really down this year and all of that but that's where you don't necessarily look specifically at the analytics of the league you look at your own team and how you're moving the ball so i think they still should should have gone for it and that

just says crazy stuff i love that guy

they but they that was that was the moment to like retake your season right in my opinion if you're looking at this maybe a little bit more narratively or poetically and they didn't and the coach didn't and i love todd Bowles.

I think he's a fantastic coach, but that was the moment to feel something, right?

And so this is where like Baker, Baker is like willing this to happen, Baker and Liam Cohen.

But you get the sense, it's like the 49ers are like.

rising from the deep right now, right?

Like they've sort of been in this slumber and all of that.

And all of a sudden they're starting to like the one eye opens, right?

It's like the hero's tale where you're in the cave and all of a sudden you turn around and there's an eye that opens and you see it.

And that's the 49ers getting ready to to sort of rear its head right now and why i have such ominous respect for them every year because it's like if they can just get people back at a certain week in the timeline you never count them out and you never miss uh misunderstand what they're capable of um against you if they start to get momentum and get pieces back with christian mccaffrey back at practice this week that's certainly um the eye is open i think yeah i think we're all

i think we're all uh in that boat that we're waiting for them to go and feel confident they're going to go.

Like, for instance, the fact that they're number eight in our power rankings, based on their actual performance this year, they probably should be 10 spots lower.

But there is that respect of what they've proven and this idea that the way they're built,

that they know this is all about getting to January and then making noise and hopefully getting to February.

So they've been biding their time, surviving the first half, which has been very difficult, obviously.

And now you got Christian McCaffrey, limited in Wednesday's practice, but he's going full speed, according to Matt Barrows, who was at the practice.

Debo Samuel, he was in a blue no-contact jersey on Wednesday, so you got to keep an eye on that.

But, you know,

and Kyle's doing what Kyle's going to do.

He's being a cute boy.

Like, he's being a cute boy.

What's going on with CMC?

What kind of workload will he have?

Will he definitely play?

He definitely could.

But he also definitely might not.

Like, okay, that's smart.

That's gamesmanship.

But remember that the Bucs are not a good defense against the run.

The Bucs don't have a good defense.

They have given up an average of 33 points in the last five games.

Yeah, they're allowing 131 yards a game on the ground.

They can't get a stop.

That's also why you go for two and try to steal one in arrowhead.

But I have to move on.

If the Bucs have to move on, I have to move on.

So it sets up very well for San Francisco to begin that push if they can get McCaffrey back.

And I would not be surprised if McCaffrey has a big workload once he gets activated.

I just, it might make sense to ease him into

the fishbowl,

as it were, but I just think Kai won't be able to help himself.

And Brock Purdy loves having that outlet to McCaffrey, and he's so great in the red zone that he'll end up getting 20-plus touches in this game.

That would be my prediction.

Big game, big game for Tampa Bay.

How are we feeling tonight, Santa Clara?

All right, moving on, Jordan, your game.

You cannot wait to watch.

Yeah, and first and foremost, Mark, I did see Dan and I were early in the dock.

I did see I had a choice to make between taking between two games I did want to watch.

And I know that San Francisco and Tampa Bay are two of your pet teams this year.

So I, out of the goodness of my heart and generosity of spirit,

opted to leave you that game and was pleased this morning at about, you know, right before we started recording to see that you had indeed fallen right into my hands and taken that game.

Right into the Rodrigue spider web.

The web.

I am

so impressed with your character.

I'll just start and end it right there.

Also, Mark,

on the show going forward, you don't have to tell us that you were last in the dock.

That would be like you waking up every morning and texting us that the sun came up.

Like, we know.

Like, we know.

Well, aren't I just doing what we praised Jordan for?

I'm allowing people to really dig in with the things that please them the most.

And I'll take one for the team and take typically the fourth most interesting game.

I think I had a game last week that we all understood it was a a sham to even argue for that game.

I don't even recall what it was, but it was a number.

If you can get Jameis Winston on your TV, you got to do it.

All right.

Go ahead, Jordan.

If you want to fix it, I'm willing to fantasize about other scenarios.

Okay, the game that I can't wait to watch is Heath the Call Power Ranked Number 10, Pittsburgh

at number five, Washington Commanders.

This is 1 p.m.

Eastern on CBS.

This is the Eagle, Evan Washburn, and CD game.

Oh, Charles Davis, right?

And

okay, so I like the two stories of these teams who were aggressive at the trade deadline.

And they're led by two of my coach of the year candidates at the moment.

The commanders made one of the best moves of the period by trading for Marshawn Lattimore, corner who can actually give that DB's room some teeth and physicality.

The group that's not great on defense, but they play really hard.

They're led by that really outstanding linebacker tandem in Bobby Wagner and the younger Frankie Louvu.

They're not only hitting, they've combined for six sacks and eight quarterback hits when sent as extra rushers.

I fully expect that to happen.

Against Russell Wilson, this is Bobby Wagner, former Seahawk, as the Mike linebacker against Russell Wilson, another former Seahawk and a captain on a defense that historically soured on Russell Wilson and sort of ended that era.

Pittsburgh filled in their holes the smart way.

Ah, they need a piece here, a piece there.

Mike Williams could be a big Russell Wilson specialty throw target will almost certainly benefit from getting away from the Jets.

Dan knows that life.

Well, Preston Smith can be a fourth rusher on a D-line that's going to have to start spelling some guys because this is a Pittsburgh team that knows what it's capable of and made of at this point and wants to be able to make a rush with a healthy and fresh TJ Watt and Nick Herbig and Alex Heisman down the stretch.

So I like that these teams understand what they are.

And that's easier said than done in the NFL.

And I like that these two teams are confident and more complete as they face each other.

They did a really nice job with commanders like

with their roster because everybody's talking obviously and it makes sense about Jaden Daniels because he is

just a dynamo and a once-in-a-decade type rookie year he's having.

But the balance of their offense has been really interesting to watch.

Like, for instance, their running back room goes three deep.

And Austin Eckler, when he's gotten tapped on the shoulder and he's like, hey, we need you to carry the rock.

He's not the old Austin Eckler with the Chargers, but he's a guy that will give you like an example last game, like 80 total yards.

He'll find the end zone.

It'll just keep the running game moving in the right direction.

And then you have that quarterback with the athleticism that's filling in the gaps that makes him truly dangerous to make up for the lack of explosiveness of Eckler at this stage of his career.

But even like the wide receivers, like we're so happy, all of us, for scary Terry, scary Terry, scary Terry.

Carra got married.

Terry McLaurin,

who

is top 10 in receiving yards, finally.

He's the orphaned boy on Christmas Day, Mark, in front of the warm fireplace with the gifts all around him.

No longer even has the peg leg.

Somehow his other foot grew back.

Like, it's just

a miracle.

It's a Christmas miracle.

But they have, according to the athletic, at least 160 receiving yards a season from five commanders players.

Four have at least 160 rushing yards.

So

you have a full, dynamic, balanced offense led by an incredible rookie player.

So no surprise.

Good job,

I want to see what Daniels, how the Steelers pass rush deals with Daniels.

But on the flip side, you know, you've sort of been saying all year, and I hear where you were coming from about the Steelers that year.

They were no fun to watch.

Since Russell Wilson's come into the lineup,

I would say that they are fun to watch or they're more interesting to watch.

And he's been good.

And they lead the league in yards after the catch overexpected since he's joined the team.

They're more explosive in the passing game.

And I think the Mike Williams edition is very intriguing.

Like the Jets, it just didn't work with the Jets.

And it's a Jets thing, and it's a Mike Williams thing.

It just didn't work.

But I think it will work here.

And I think it's a big story for George Pickens to have someone like Mike Williams there as well.

Calvin Austin's really interesting.

So they can run the ball.

Like Najee Harris, the last couple of weeks, I think all of it's starting to open up and breathe better because Wilson's come in and added an element to the passing game.

I think that's a surprise.

I kind of was done with Russell Wilson.

He's looked competent.

I think it's a big move for Arthur Smith to have him in there.

So this is not an easy out the way that it was early in the year where it's like the Steelers are going to score 18 points and put a lot of pressure on your quarterback.

Can you score 19 or 20?

Yeah, I think that's one place where I think the Steelers will try to exploit a weak spot in Washington's defense.

Now, we've known prior to the Lattimore edition that they've just struggled on the perimeter.

But while their front, you know, their back seven and especially those inside linebackers are playing extremely well, their front is having some issues with

blocking against the run.

They're allowing the 30th worst rushing success rate.

And so Pittsburgh might want to just churn it away on the ground against them.

And then on the other side, it's going to be hard, regardless of how balanced they are.

And they are so fun to watch and explosive the commanders are.

And Anthony Lynn, to you guys's point, has done a great job working with Cliff Kingsbury to get that run game off the ground to make them a more complete and balanced offense because we already know what Terry McLaurin can do.

He's third in passer rating when targeted and fourth in EPA EPA per reception right now.

But Pittsburgh is also number nine in defensive success rate and it starts up front with them.

And it's going to be really interesting and fun to watch how they strategize to nullify the Jaden Daniels impact, which is as explosive as it gets when it's at its best.

Yeah, I think Mike Williams definitely has a chance.

He could also make no impact because he didn't make much of an impact with the Jets.

But at the same time,

Well, they also gave very little form.

So that's why I think it's just an interesting experiment.

But they're going to ask a lot of him.

i think that i think they are they're hoping he is going to be a guy that's going to make the offense more dynamic and yes i think they've leveled up mark since what walt wilson took over but i'm not like to the point where they're the first game i watch on game pass to see where the steelers are at on offense but he can it's like the jets took him out of the oven a little too soon off the acl and and then they you know he got a late start in training camp and then he's got a famously temperamental quarterback in aaron rodgers in terms of like how he feels comfortable with you.

And then all of a sudden the season was starting and they just never synced up.

But there were like little moments even in the in his Jets tenure where it's like, oh, there he is.

He's there.

So if Russ can give him some chances in one-on-one situations, I think he'll make plays.

This is a good one.

That's a good one, Mark.

I got one.

Speaking of the Jets.

So

as you know, Mark,

I called up the Jets after last Thursday night and I said, you big dumb idiot.

Get back here.

You big galute.

Move back back in.

And the Jets came back.

We were on the break.

And we shared, opened the door.

I think you explained it well, Mark.

Open the door,

like a hug,

no words.

And I took the suitcase and we kind of walked inside.

And it's just like that type of situation.

And now those Jets have gone on a business trip.

And I hope they're behaving themselves to Arizona to face the Cardinals.

So it's the number 22 Jets at the Cardinals.

And the reason why I picked this game, it's not because now I'm like, you know, all homer on Jets.

It's more like, oh, interesting game here because I think we're going to feel a lot differently about both these teams based on, or one of these teams in a positive way based on the outcome of this game.

And it's interesting that like in Vegas, for instance, in the desert, this is a pick'em.

So it's like,

who wins this game?

Because the team that wins the game is going to feel really good.

The Cardinals, if they do, are going to be a team that's like starting to really build up momentum to their season.

And for us, for instance, we have them in the Twilight Zone in our power rankings at 13.

Like, there's going to be talk about them being a top 10 team in the NFL if they spank the Jets and end their season.

And for New York, what happens after that Thursday night win?

Is there any carryover?

The last time the Jets had a big Thursday night win, they lost five straight games and saw their season spiraled.

This is their last chance, last chance to be relevant.

And let's see how the game plays out.

So I'll say this, Jordan.

I don't think it's a great matchup for the Jets.

I think what we've seen, I'll even go back to the Patriots game of two weeks ago when they lost up in Foxborough before Drake May got hurt.

When they kept on, they were very undisciplined in their rush.

It's an undisciplined team.

They lead the league in penalties, and they kept on leaving the barn door open for Drake May, who carved him up before his concussion.

I could absolutely see Kyler Murray going mad here with his legs in this game and opening their offense up as a result.

So I like the Cardinals in this game, even if I'm rooting for the Jets.

Yeah, and I kind of alluded to this before when I was talking about the some of the pressure to sack stuff.

But if you go back and you look, and I'm using True Media as a tool here to go week by week, if you look at the teams when Kyler is moving, when he is using his legs, whether designed or not designed, then you see teams with

otherwise consistent pressure to sack or pressure to hit ratios all of a sudden get wildly skewed because you just can't catch him.

He just runs around and runs around and your DBs are covering and then they're gassed and then he makes a play downfield.

And whether, again, whether that's integrated into the design by Drew Petzing or whether it's just Kyler playing hero ball at times,

this pass rush for the Jets, you know, with Hassan Reddick had a big impact, you know, in his return and all of that.

But

it's not going to look the same against this particular quarterback.

And particularly with the way now that the Cardinals are moving the ball in a variety of different ways.

Now,

the Cardinals have hurt me at times this year because I was really excited about them at the beginning of the year in terms of their futuristic/slash look back and the past combined approach to how they're running their offense.

And if that can continue to be consistent, I think they've got a shot against anybody, particularly a Jets team that has been extremely flawed and inconsistent.

And like you said, undisciplined at times, Dan.

I also want to note, this is Joe Douglas.

This is kind of his, seems like a swan song for him, Dan, right?

Because Zach Rosenblatt, my colleague at the athletic, wrote a column after Joe Douglas addressed media, and part of the title of that column was A GM on the Brink.

And it said, Douglas's tone over the last year has gotten quieter, devoid of joy.

Wednesday's was a somber address to the media.

It might have been his last one.

So, Jetson, let's listen to a little bit of that, Jordan.

Not to interrupt, but we have some Douglas.

Are you concerned about your future with the team, Joe?

No, no, I come here every day.

Just want to do whatever I can to

help this team reach its goals, gets to his destination, and

whatever happens, happens.

Basically, he knows, Jordan, he's got to go from 2-6 to 10-7 to make the playoffs, or he's taking a walk.

Yeah, and it's interesting.

I think that if he were in another position, not the head GM spot, This certainly is a move that would have happened already when they decided to sort of part ways, Clean House, and in other directions, including with the head coach.

And you can't, the problem with moving a GM, and then now he's sort of in this gray area at this point where it's like, oh, if the miracle happens and you win, you rip off a bunch of wins in a row, then sure, maybe we're having a different conversation.

Maybe not.

But you can't just easily remove a general manager from the building because you have to think about where they're at in their scouting calendar right now.

They are more than halfway through their scouting operation for the next draft class.

And so so you can't just remove the person who has installed the entire language of that process from the building just as easily as per se, for example, you can remove a head coach and then place somebody else in his job.

And that's not easy either.

But you're basically saying, okay,

the reason why it, to me, it feels like he's a sort of a lame duck at this point is they need him to finish this scouting operation through the draft calendar, right?

Whether he's making the picks or not, I don't know, but they need that body of data in place before they decide to make whatever move.

And to me, when I'm watching his face and how his mannerisms,

that screams all over his face to me of the situation, what's going on right now is he knows it.

If they lose a couple more, everyone knows it.

I mean, it might even be true now, regardless of whether they can win or not over the back stretch.

Well, I think it was, you know,

it's one of the first times this year that I flipped on like WFAN.

It was after watching that press conference.

And it was Boomer Sison who, and we can all see it, said he just looks sad, Joe Douglas.

And you haven't really, that was not his persona.

If anything, he was like a jolly, masculine, kind of round-em-up dude.

And he's been through a lot.

Like, he picked the wrong quarterback in the draft.

You go get Aaron Rodgers, and it's not, look at the 3-16 that looks like a 3-16.

So there's a lot of issues here, even though they're not terrible.

They just don't seem to ever operate in concert.

And you were neutered by the owner because I don't think that it was Joe Douglas who wanted to fire the head coach, but the owner did.

And so the general manager...

I'll take it a step further, Mark.

He wasn't even consulted.

Well, right.

And so you're one of these guys with no power.

And so that's, you know, we've all had, been in a job somewhere where you feel marginalized to some degree, and that's how it becomes.

And so it's rough, and it takes away the idea or the inspiration that this team is going to suddenly overcome their own problems and,

you know, go on a six-game win streak because I think the team they're playing has been on a two-year team-building mission and it looks it looks the part.

They've won three in a row for the first time since 2021.

Kyler Murray is surrounded by bullies.

Like James Conner can bully a team and when they get a lead, they are tough to deal with.

And I think what we're starting to see, because they wiped out Chicago's offensive line too, that they aren't a star-studded defense, but they are operating in unison.

And last week was an example of them going in and beating up a team that people believed in more than the Cardinals a week ago, I think, to some degree.

So I really think that the Cardinals have a chance not only to beat the Jets, but to win the division.

I really do think that they'll be alive in week 18 and they'll have a chance.

They'll meet a playoff team, but they have a chance to win this division.

And Jonah Williams probably is back this week.

They beat Chicago like that, even missing the right side of their offensive line.

And I like the Baron Browning pickup.

Like I've mentioned in the past, you know, finding the little odd man out pass rushers and outside linebackers is a specialty for coaches from a certain background.

And I think that this is similar to what I was just talking about with Pittsburgh and with,

oh my God, with Washington.

Figuring out the last little pieces, like pruning here and there and figuring out the last little additions that you need to make is a sign of a team that knows what it is and what it's capable of.

A couple things.

You mentioned the offensive line of Arizona.

The Jets will be starting two reserve tackles at their guard positions.

I mean, I like Elijah Vera Tucker, but that guy is never healthy.

So they're vulnerable right in front of Aaron Rodgers.

Keep an eye on the Marvin Harrison Jr.

versus Sauce Gardner matchup.

That could be a big deciding factor in this game.

Sauce has not had a great season, but maybe he levels up against the big wide receiver first-round pick.

And finally, just to tie it all together, yes, with all the uncertainty around the Jets and Joe Douglas, it should also be noted, in addition, that Donald Trump is the president-elect, and Woody Johnson, the Jets owner, in the previous Trump administration, was the UK ambassador for that administration, which meant that he had to give up day-to-day operations of the Jets.

That could happen again.

So, yeah, a lot of uncertainty up ahead for the Jets.

The only thing they could do now is try to make something out of this seemingly lost season.

Got to win in the desert to even give yourself a chance.

All right, let's take a break and then we jump in the gravy boat.

Man, just talked about Jets Cardinals, and I think it's going to be a great game.

I hope it is.

I'm getting sucked back in.

That's how it goes for us Jets fans, but maybe that's because I want to build a pick'em entry on Underdog.

Rogers, higher or lower than 240 and a half passing yards.

Ooh, that's tempting.

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All right, we are back.

There are four teams on by, by the way, this week: the Browns, the Packers, the Raiders, the Seahawks, which means

nine,

nine games, 18 teams floating in that gravy.

Hit it, Justin.

Whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa.

Do you take it personal on some level, Justin, that Jordan is so disgusted by your vocal and that she can't literally has to pull the airbuds out?

Like, think about that.

Is there a part of you that's like offended?

A little bit, but also every time Jessica hears it, she tells me it's the worst thing she's ever heard and that she's like, I understand why Jordan hates it.

I think it's somewhat of like a women just hate this sound kind of thing, which I'm like, okay, Jessica, it's a little bit more.

Yeah, that's not, it's almost like a little double hit on you there.

That's a good analysis, though.

No, I was thinking, like, you're going to group all women into one category and say they all hate the sound.

Like, that's.

That's not fair.

She should be.

She'd be two for two.

I took a poll, and that is accurate, actually.

So there you go.

To make you feel better, I actually turn up the volume when you start doing your pleasure moans and the gravy.

Well, they're not pleasure moans.

They're like, oh, this warm gravy is so comforting.

That's what it is.

Yeah, okay.

Well, tomato, tomato.

Jordan, I just had a little bit of vomit come into the mouth area.

Should we do another slow-motion replay?

All right.

Here we go.

Giants at Panthers in Munich.

And this is an instrumental version.

Yeah, you playing the right version?

Like, we're not playing the Nazi version?

This is the 2016 Olympic version.

So if they were playing a Nazi version, it's not the 1941 version or whatever.

Have we got this one right right this time?

Pretty sure.

All right, this game is in Munich, and Bryce Young is starting again for Carolina, looking to build upon one of his best games as a pro last week.

This week, he'll have to contend with a ferocious Giants pass rush that leads the NFL in sacks with 35.

One note: watch for second-round rookie Jonathan Brooks, Hookum, to potentially make his NFL debut, but his status is still uncertain.

And a fun note: Malik Neighbors for the Giants is the first receiver in NFL history to post 50-plus catches and three-plus touchdowns in his first seven career games.

Pretty good, pretty good.

Mark,

the GM of the Panthers, Dan Morgan, came out and spoke about their need to continue to assess Bryce Young.

And this is obviously an audition now for Young.

He's got to play better and build on his most recent performance in this back end or they're going to be back in the market for a quarterback, no doubt about it.

Yeah, I mean, in another world, they could have traded him.

I mean, that was on the table as a potential possibility.

He's been an interesting.

That felt like it would have been kind of insane.

Speaking of taking it out of the oven too soon, like you're in the middle of a developmental season.

Just let the kid play and let's see where we're in January, right?

Well, that's where we are.

That's where we are.

I mean, that's so turned out right, but it's the Panthers.

So it was on the table.

But these are two very young teams.

And if you want to sell it,

I'd say go take a look at Jalen Coker for the Panthers, who is an undrafted player who has really come on.

You know, they got rid of all their wide receivers, but he's been a very productive wide receiver for them and has chemistry with Bryce Young.

Xavier Legette showed up last week, so there's that.

And then on the flip side, the Giants, their rookie class

has the chance to be, it's not just Malik Neighbors.

They have the second highest defensive snaps by rookies on defense and the fifth on offense.

And so it's a lot of young people around Daniel Jones.

And I do wonder if we are heading closer to a place, because I don't put all this on Daniel Jones, and I I know you don't either, but at what point does this coaching staff say we've got to try something else at quarterback?

Not that you have a lot of other options, but Daniel Jones just feels to me like he's on an audition too, and it's heading probably towards the final month plus of his Giants career.

I know they're in different stages of their career, but I think it's the same thing.

It's like, what are you going to do?

Put in the Italian guy, like, you know, the guy that cost you Jaden Daniels?

No, like, just let Daniels play, let Danny Dines play out the rest of the season, and you're probably going to move on and go for a new quarterback in the draft.

Just live with it.

By the way, Jordan, you'll like this.

A little shade for no reason.

Like no reason shade is sometimes the best shade.

Why would I like that?

Yeah, Wink Martindale is the former Giants defensive coordinator.

Kind of a messy breakup.

Not kind of.

A messy breakup with Brian Dayball and the organization.

He's now the DC up there in Michigan.

And he just like...

baked this into his weekly press conference this week when asked about how he's enjoyed the return to the college ranks.

But, you know, yeah, I mean, I'm glad that I'm here.

I love the players that we have.

You know, I think that

it's obviously a different game, but

it's a lot better than being in some places that are two and seven.

Dog, hit him with the Bunsen blur burner blow torch.

I'd like to get a butt heavy with Wink Martindale.

I feel like he's got some stories.

Yeah, come to the Combine.

Prime 47 in the late hours.

He's very insightful.

And I think that it's interesting, you know, that's a very, it wasn't me, it's you.

Like

months and months later.

I'm still trying to figure out why I'm the one who specifically would like that.

Is it like, there are a few qualifying, messy breakup maybe for one,

you know, shade for no reason, pettiness.

I mean, I would say that.

Maybe the girl that defeated you in the jump rope finals back in

your career.

You did.

By the way, I could totally picture walking into prime

in the late hours in Indianapolis during the Combine, and the place is mostly emptied out, but at the far end of the bar, at what Mark and I call Devil's Perch, there's Sessler and Wink, and

they're both at the bar, and there's a bunch of Bud Heavies around them, and mark is peeling the labels off the bottles of bud and lighting them lighting them up with his cigarette lighter and they're just talking shop i just i just not just shop talking life i picture it and i feel like i would love to see it yeah like that's how you miss the the plane home i like in my experience that that night leads to that kind of cause and effect result all right let's dive back in

all right next game bills at colts joe flacco remains the starter in indie and hey here's a stat from nfl pro that i think sums up this matchup The Bills are 7-0 when Josh Allen posts a 95 or higher passer rating this season, 0-2 when he's below that threshold.

The Colts have allowed a 95-plus passer rating in seven of their nine games this year.

Good one.

Jordan, this sets up well for the Bills.

I think in this dome environment, they could continue to cook on offense.

And I wonder what kind of rope Joe Flacco has if this game goes similar to the last time he played.

Yeah, the Bills are so much fun right now, guys.

I try to watch them every single week because the way that they're winning when they do win and they've won a lot this year and they look like a potential Super Bowl appearance team and they're doing it in ways that they show you they can win in a bunch of different ways.

Josh Allen

has mostly played extremely efficiently, but still shows you he still can go into sort of like that psychopath mode when needed every once in a while.

And their run game has come together.

Their defense, despite the fact they came into the year with, you know, thinking, oh, you know, this pass rush, we got to get some energy here.

We've got to get the safeties and there's personnel missing with injuries.

They play hard.

And Greg Rousseau has, I don't want to call it a breakout, but I guess maybe that's fair.

You know, he is having such a year for them.

They just feel like a complete team.

They got their kicking game back into it in a very cathartic way.

That was an emotional moment from Tyler Bass in the locker room.

And that just was, I mean, they just feel like a team that that is starting to get hot and just starting to feel like, okay, we are confident that we can roll the lesser teams, which Indianapolis is at this moment, even to the point where Joe Buscagli, my colleague at the athletic who does great work, he is writing about the potential return of guys like Micah Hyde, Matt Milano, but like that there's no rush.

And that tells you that this is a team that's like, yeah, we're going to be playing deep into January, potentially even February.

And so we're going to maximize the presence of these returns and make this as explosive as possible at exactly the right time because this is a team that sees the,

you know, sort of the promised land right in the distance and they feel like they can go get it.

Yeah, they got it done, obviously, against the Dolphins.

The Keon Coleman, bad drop, allowed Miami to kind of stay in that game.

And

I did, I was wondering on the Sunday show, like, why is everyone so emotional about the Bills kicker?

Then I watched the game and he pulled one extra point, and then he hit another one off the upright that went through.

And in general, I guess he needed it.

And we all need good things to happen sometimes.

Yeah, I remember you guys talking about that because I listened to every show like a nerd.

But

it just was

the fan base was very vocal.

Like he was really hearing it.

Not just.

he could he was very inconsistent through most of the year.

And it wasn't just that he knew he was having inconsistency, but you know, they were bringing in competition, that type of stuff.

But then also, like every

post, every YouTube, everything.

I went to go see it because I was like, oh, wow, he's really emotional.

So I went back and lurked around.

Man, was he getting ripped?

And so you can't help sometimes if you're a young person, even if you try to insulate yourself, like, but hear some of that.

And that catches your attention, particularly in a football town like Buffalo, you know, and so that to me was part of the emotion that he, that he had at the end of the day.

And to have your quarterback vocally come out and stand up for you because it's certainly the position where, you know, these guys seem to come and go.

And like they're, it's, it's a tougher journey for them to be like the alpha male of the room, I'd imagine.

So, matters.

Also, like at the, Jordan, that was good perspective from you because I would imagine you having been involved with high-stakes competition, like in the jump rope tournament, that,

yes, that you're human, and that stuff.

People forget about the human.

It's not just about jumping over a rope a thousand times in a row.

It's about how can you filter out the critical nonsense and focus on jumping over a rope as fastly and as accurately as possible.

Yeah, you nailed it, Dan.

That's exactly what it was.

And

we can leave it at that completely.

Next.

Next.

By the way, I did ask Justin if he could do a cursory Google search to see if he could pull up

some article written in the

local Tribune about Jordan Rodriguez and jump rope, but nothing so far has come up.

I know.

I know there's nothing out there.

She scrubbed it.

She scrubbed the interwebs.

All right, next game.

Broncos at Chiefs.

The Broncos failed their measuring stick test last week, getting blasted by the Ravens 41-10.

But now they have a chance for redemption, taking on the undefeated Chiefs.

Kansas City is favored by eight points more than anyone else on the week 10 slate.

But the Chiefs have not covered a spread bigger than a touchdown in almost a year.

So will this one be closer than the bookmakers think?

I saw, Jordan, that the

where's the stat?

I had this stat.

I think they're plus 56 this season in point differential, which is the lowest ever.

Yeah, the Chiefs have a plus 56 point differential this season, the lowest ever for an undefeated team through eight games.

And yet, when I hear that set, Jordan, I don't hear like, oh, the Chiefs aren't for real.

The Chiefs are like the Vikings team from a couple of years ago or whatever.

I don't, I just say, like, yeah, that's why they're so frustrating frustrating is because they win the crucible moments every week.

Yeah, when you think about how certain teams are built, there are perennial playoff contenders, and I would kind of compare those teams to like long-distance runners or marathon runners.

If back, you know, year over year over year, particularly as these seasons get longer and longer, these are teams that understand the toll that it will take.

They understand what the necessary rest in the downtime is.

They understand like when they need to start putting things together, when they need to surge, when they need to hand fight against their competition on the outside lane.

But the Chiefs are ultra-marathoners.

And I don't know if you guys have ever met an ultra-marathoner who like does it for

their job and like our sponsor.

Those people are psycho because they understand the darkness that their body will go through for miles and even days as they run this like extra, extra long distance race, often in different types of elements, climates, terrain, those types of things.

And that's the Chiefs.

The Chiefs at this point understand that they are just, they're just built like this.

They're built in this place that just sustains and sustains.

It's completely the opposite feeling that we get when we watch like the Eagles of last year really surge, but they always felt sort of tenuous, even when they were stacking together win over win over win.

It was like, all right, when are you going to hit the wall at a certain point?

You have the opposite feeling about the Chiefs.

You feel like they're just going to go.

And that's exactly what they're doing.

The Broncos, I was really excited about them last week, even though this was going to be obviously that these two weeks were going to be their first actual tests of the season.

Really was excited about their defense.

I'm still excited about their defense, but against these teams that just are built different,

this Broncos team is going to struggle.

I think also to your marathon analogy, which I like, like when you do run a marathon, I've only run half marathons, but you get the like the people along the side of the road that hand you like the little juice packet or like the, you know, the energy

clay stuff, which is good.

It's a juice packet.

Well, you know, it's like little snacks.

Perhaps they get their juice packet.

I would just say like some of their juice packets this year are like Kareem Hunt, you pull him off the street.

He's got the second highest success rate of any back in the league.

You trade for DeAndre Hopkins, and he looks like he fits right in as their best wide receiver already.

It puts Xavier Worthy in the right place, so they just adjust on the fly, and like they win close games, but I wouldn't be surprised if they just win nine more of them this regular season.

After they finish their race, do they retire to a recovery pod?

Are you googling marathon tips right now?

How about you shut it

next?

All right, next.

Vikings at Jaguars, the Cam Robinson revenge game.

You know, because they just traded him.

Gotcha.

Surprising news Thursday morning.

Trevor Lawrence is unlikely to play on Sunday.

Can Jacksonville even be competitive without him?

How much longer will Doug Peterson be employed?

Tune in Sunday at 1 p.m.

Eastern to find out.

Nice.

That's a good one, Justin.

Mark, I'll set it up this way.

It's a little bit more ominous.

The reporting from Ian Rappaport, our erstwhile colleague at NFL Media,

he is receiving treatment on the troublesome left shoulder, and he and the Jaguars, quote, continue to weigh options for the future, which makes me think that we might see more Mac Jones than other people are expecting.

And that is obviously bad news for Lawrence and the Jaguars.

You wonder if it turns into one of these sort of soft shut-you-down for the season situations if the Jaguars continue to lose and you're about to fire your head coach.

It just seems like

ownership down, it's like we've got a lot to offer the next coach.

It's a really attractive landing spot and it starts with your quarterbacks.

So keep him out of harm's way if the season's truly lost.

Their offense has not been the problem.

They are banged up and they, you know, to lose Christian Kirk doesn't help, but they have been averaging 27 points per game the last five weeks.

That's not been the issue.

Trevor Lawrence has always been plagued by, it seems, like, ridiculous drops in key spots almost on a weekly basis.

And he's had to overcome a lot.

There is talent on this team.

I look at Minnesota, though, and I feel like they are a complete football team right now.

And like,

they've got the star power on offense to just blow your doors off.

And a defense that we know, we've talked every week, how it confounds, confuses, and debilitates the opposing attack.

And so, I hate this situation for a backup quarterback.

I didn't like it for Trevor Lawrence.

I hate it for a backup.

And I think this is where Minnesota can go in and drop a pretty decisive bomb on a fading Jaguars team.

Yeah, I love Minnesota.

I saw a quote getting passed around a little bit and aggregated today or this week where Doug Peterson was asked,

what have you seen from Sam Darnold this year?

And what's made him the better quarterback and his improvements?

And he deadpanned.

Sam Darnold.

He deadpanned Justin Jefferson and chuckle, chuckle, chuckle.

And then people just run with that.

But then if you listen to the rest of the quote, he was like, yeah, he's been surrounded with better talent and better coaching.

And he's always been a good quarterback.

He's just now getting a chance to do it in a, I'm paraphrasing, but in a healthy environment.

It's like, yeah, no duh.

Like that's that's right.

That's exactly what happened with Sam Darnold.

He was he's finally getting a chance to play with some proper villains and he's doing it.

And I think he'll continue to do it.

I like that.

I think he'll continue to thrive.

I like that he brought no duh back into the lexicon.

It's been a while.

I'm Jerry Seinfeld.

All right, next.

Very dangerous.

All right, Falcons at Saints.

I didn't say no doi.

I could have said no.

I was going to say I was waiting for no doi.

That's not a good idea.

Loser, loser, double, loser, as if whatever, get the picture, doi.

Beautiful.

Very good.

That sounds like a drop.

Go ahead, Justin.

Falcons at Saints.

With Dennis Allen out the door, many are asking, will the Saints be the beneficiary of the Bersacea bump?

You like that?

Who is it?

Beneficiary of the Shaws.

I call, I call

bullshit on your setup, Justin.

Who, who is many people?

Who are those people that think there will be a Basacea bump this week?

Many, many people.

Who are all these people?

Just all the people.

No, I was going for be the beneficiary.

Wait, was that your trump?

Oh, my God.

I was going for be the beneficiary of the Bersace bump.

Alliteration, baby.

Oh, okay.

Irresponsible writing tactic.

Go ahead, Jordan.

Impressive.

Wow.

No, I mean, you know what?

I have to say, I've been hesitant to give Kirk Cousins an overly excessive amount of flowers this year.

He's been balling.

It's been great to watch.

Watching him move is still a bit painful.

I've been hesitant on that, but I got to give him his flowers because regardless of the lack of mobility or sort of the stiffness that's that's clearly there, this offense is clicking.

The defense is not great, but still can show up in certain spots.

They're not rushing the passer well.

They're not doing certain things well, but I expect them to be able to manufacture more of that down the back stretch.

But this offense is really operating on all cylinders right now.

And it's an offense that has gotten better as time has progressed.

Kirk Cousins, you can feel, is confident.

This is something where

he usually gets streaky.

at some point in a season, but because it's so balanced with the run game, with what they're able to do with all the weapons around him, and also the scheme with Zach Robinson, you feel like this is, there's less opportunity for that streakiness.

And you're also catching a Saints team that's just at rock bottom right now.

Yeah, and I'll just add this.

We just talked about Trevor Lawrence and protecting a franchise star for what comes next.

Chris Olave is now up to four concussions in a three-season NFL career.

And some quotes

from coming out of the Saints right now.

Darren Rizz, the interim coach, he wants to go thoroughly through the process and making sure he's making the best decision for Chris Olave, removing football from that equation.

what's the best decision for the person?

So, I mean, it looks like an extended absence is coming for Olave, and that makes a lot of sense because this is becoming now a recurring situation that you don't want anything to do with.

I wonder if we see Olave again this year.

I guess.

Well, I think it's, I know we got to move here, Dan, but I think it's bad optics too to get him out on the field immediately after what happened, especially.

I think he had some family that was posting on social media about just how frustrating the situation was for him, watching him get get hurt the way that he has, including some of those passes that are putting him in harm's way as well.

And Michael Thomas was outspoken about this.

I mean,

it would be a really tough look for a team to rush him back in any way, considering the optics and also the context of that situation.

Sure, of course.

All right, next.

Next.

Patriots at Bears.

Drake May versus Caleb Williams.

Wow, that's fun.

May has been outstanding with a lot of factors working against him.

Right now, he leads all quarterbacks in percentage of plays created out of structure, as in outside the pocket and beyond his first read.

That's per patent analytics.

But the Bears defense is number one in the NFL against the pass in terms of EPA per dropback allowed.

This is kind of a sneaky, fun, good matchup.

Mark?

I agree.

I mean, I think we've talked about it before the Drake May kind of changes everything you felt about the Patriots in terms of wanting to watch them this season, which I had no desire.

That's increased, but just their future.

And, you know, he has nine turnover-worthy plays.

And I think part of that is you got to look at a guy who's like...

got one of the worst surrounding casts in the league.

So it's going to be variable, but I'm come out more concerned about what happened to Caleb Williams a week ago.

Like, I don't think that the Patriots are necessarily the team to create the damage that what we just saw, but like Caleb Williams was under constant harassment, and it showed, and I think he's got like three wide receivers that like are top 10 in off-target throw rate where they're just not being put in a position to catch the ball.

And that's when you start to get that side of Caleb Williams that we were a little concerned about, you know, coming into the into the draft.

So I just hope that he's well protected down the stretch because there's a lot to like.

I think that Drake May's got a chance of a better back end of a rookie season, though.

The Bears are eating themselves a little bit.

This is the third time this season that there have been like players meetings meetings and the players have openly talked about it.

Last week, players were open about some of the coaching decisions.

After the Hail Maryland, they were open about some of the coaching decisions.

And to the point where, you know, there have been other occasions where Iberfluce has come out and been like, I think it's great that we get.

criticized that that our players feel comfortable talking to us about the issues that they have.

Shane Waldron has said the same thing after that captains meeting.

But

this is apparently this week was a frank discussion about the team just not being good enough, which Iberflues downplayed.

It's like the vultures are starting to circle in a very real way about these jobs on the outside of the building.

And internally, it feels like all the messaging is just incongruous with each other.

And I do want to point out that this seems to get lost.

Matt Eberflus had a chance to hire Zach Robinson as his offensive coordinator.

And he picked Shane Waldron instead.

And so you have to think what the different trajectory of this team and this offense in general could look like had he made a different decision.

Yeah, there was a certain

joylessness to watching the Bears most recently.

It just, again, had me thinking, God damn, what happened during the buy with this team?

Because they came back just totally different

on offense and more lost than ever.

And I thought that it would not surprise me, put it this way, if that Hail Mary, the Hail Maryland is remembered, obviously as the turning point in their season.

And it leads to a long losing streak that leads to Ibra Fluce being out of the building by hell, even Thanksgiving.

Just keep an eye on that situation because it seems like things are falling apart at a high rate of speed all of a sudden.

Next,

next, Titans at Chargers.

Will Levis is finally actually expected to return this week.

I feel like I've said that three weeks and after.

Oh,

no.

Okay.

Later.

Sorry.

Jim Harvaugh's defense is the best in the NFL in terms of points allowed per game, and the Titans' offense struggles to score.

So we may not see many points from Will Levis, but maybe we'll get a fun new meme or two.

Maybe.

And I know you're just protecting yourself now, Justin.

It's gone from you telling us in August that he was a franchise quarterback.

That if he was a franchise quarterback, the Titans would be good.

That was my thesis.

Was it all?

Wouldn't the Titans your Super Bowl pick?

No.

No.

Ravens lying.

We already talked about it.

Never pick your favorite team to be the Super Bowl team.

Never mind.

Yeah, who would do that, Dan?

Who would do that, Dan?

I don't know.

Some fool.

Justin, I hope for your sake that Will Levis gives you some positive things in his return to the lineup.

But one thing that does bring me joy, Mark Zessler, is Jim Harbaugh with scary eye contact just talking crazy.

Hit the clip.

The middle, the middle of the season is always critical that way.

Like Bill Belichick talks about the middle eight

in a football game.

I mean,

there's a middle eight in a season, too.

You could break it down

that way.

You know, six, seven, eight, nine.

I mean, those are important games.

You know, the only joke I know is

why were six afraid of seven?

Oh, God.

Because seven, eight, nine.

Six, seven, eight, nine.

Those are big games.

Hey,

for next week, or maybe for the flagship show, Justin, let's play that back, but put some terrifying serial killer music underneath it.

I just want to hear what it sounds like.

Okay.

Wake me up, by the way, when this week is over with this game.

No offense, Justin.

Sorry, because I can't wait to watch the next four Chargers games.

They've got the Bengals, the Ravens, the Falcons, and the Chiefs.

Those are going to be fun because this defense is badass.

Yeah.

So is Justin Herbert playing, I think, some of the best football of his life.

I mean, and they are, I think the idea was that they were going to be this sort of offense shot out of a cannon from like 1972.

And it's been the opposite of late, especially against Cleveland.

Like, they have a good secondary, and he fried them with deep passes.

So I think that they're growing as an offense, and you're going to get more of those intense Harbaugh Q ⁇ As as he starts to mind-meld with the gods.

And also, Justin Herbert, you know, that ankle getting further away from the high ankle sprain, I think, has made a big difference in addition to, yes, him starting to get some real chemistry with his receivers.

And

I'll put them as kind of a loser of the trade deadline.

I would have liked them to add somebody to the mix.

Man, bring back Mike Williams, but obviously they decided not to do anything like that.

Let's see if they continue to just develop naturally.

Next.

Next, Eagles at Cowboys.

Man, this game lost a lot of juice with the Dak Prescott injury, even with Micah Parsons expected to return this week.

This game's on CBS, Eagles, Cowboys, CBS.

What are we doing, NFL?

That's a thing.

They have a weird thing that they switch every year.

I don't really care to dive into it.

But here's a Jane Slater report.

Our former colleague, our erstwhile colleague at NFL

Media.

As the Cowboys weigh in on Dak Prescott's IR status, sources tell me the initial diagnosis is a partial avulsion, gross, of his hamstring tendon, which is partially torn off the bone, double gross.

I'm told it typically takes more than a four-week recovery.

In some cases, they let it scar over, triple gross, repair, and then strengthen.

With that being said, Prescott is seeking other opinions, which is why there is currently a reluctance to place him on IR or make any determinations about a timeline for return.

I mean, if someone has that opinion about that part of my body, I don't know if I want to go find someone with a completely different opinion.

Like, I want to deal with that.

I'm not scared to compete.

Well, it's a terrible Cowboys team.

You know, he said it himself.

He's a soundmate, are you, Mark?

Well, it's literally torn off the bone.

Come on.

Yeah, but there's definitely some quack, maybe a Twitter doctor out there that says, nah, it's on the bone.

Listen,

if it's partially off the bone, that means it's also partially on the bone.

That's

a glass half-full.

More importantly,

given the opportunity at a high-end sports bar, bone-in wings or boneless wings?

Jordan?

Bone-in flats with blue cheese.

Oh, so no drumsticks?

Is that a flat?

I don't like drumsticks.

I didn't know that was a term, but I was able to pick it up.

That says a lot about me and my intelligence.

Justin, how about you?

I'm also a huge fan of flats, but it depends on the place.

Like Buffalo Wild Wings, I'll take boneless.

Pluckers, I'll take boneless.

But other places, give me the bones.

All right.

Support your local businesses and your small business owners, Mark Sessler.

I,

since returning to a non-vegetarian diet, I've only had wings once, and it was with Justin and you, Dan, at Rocco's.

And I think those were boneless and they were excellent.

I believe it.

It almost came off Justin as like a man versus food challenge.

Mark could not stop tearing chicken off the bone like it was a Dak Prescott hamstring.

They were boneless, but yes, you're correct.

I agree.

Multiple varieties.

The correct answer is bone in.

Bone in is the correct answer.

The Cowboys, and by the way, I wish I forked them.

I'm going to tell everybody now.

And that's irregardless of the quarterback injury.

Should have done it.

Todd Archer, the Cowboys entered the season with 63% chance of making the playoffs, which was fourth highest in the NFC.

After Sunday's loss, they dropped to 6%, fourth lowest in the NFC.

Following the Dak Prescott injury news, it's down to 3%.

I believe I will be making a charitable donation to Connor's cause.

Next.

Stick a fork in him.

Ow.

Is that it?

That is it.

Yeah.

Good.

I did want to play One Drop, though, but nobody brought him up, so I'm just going to play it.

I got balls.

I got big balls.

Oh, yeah.

From Nick Siriani.

Yeah, let's talk about Siriani.

I watched that game last night.

What a disgrace.

Yeah, right?

This guy's sick.

I listed all the things that happened because of Nick Siriani's decisions in that game.

Yeah, you did a nice job of with it.

I'm going to go full mad dog.

He's a disgrace.

Oh, my God.

You got to get this guy out of here.

He stinks.

Not that different than how I usually talk.

I mean, I'm just, I was in awe of how bad he was at his job.

And give it up, Eagles fans.

You know, I mean, Eagles fans aren't always on the same page, but you guys did a nice job in that building.

He had a nice job in that building.

You got after him pretty good.

Because

it was, you know, in real time, like you didn't need hindsight 2020 for the mistakes that he was making.

Going for two when you could go up 17-0 just because there was a penalty on the extra point, taking field goal, you know, multiple points off the board, attempting

fourth down and short passes on rollouts late in the game when you're up five and you're going for a 57-yard field goal.

My God, Trevor Lawrence, put it this way: Trevor Lawrence, Jordan, really bailed out

Siriani with that awful decision to go one-on-one with a fade pass to a running back that led to the game-ending interception because that was set up to be an epic week from hell for Siriani.

He would have to not only have his kids up on the dais, he'd have to go to the local orphanage and clear that place out in a school bus and stick him up

there at the platform to dodge the venom that would have headed his way.

Yeah, it's interesting.

I've been wondering about this for a while.

I don't know him personally,

but over the last couple of years, watching some of the ebbs and flows of the Nick Siriani experience,

you know, there's like specific personality types.

And a lot of times in football, coaches gravitate who have this personality type, like gravitate toward football because it's such a high-octane environment where it's almost like things can't be calm.

And quarterbacks are like this.

A lot of really great quarterbacks are like this too.

Things can't be calm.

It's almost like there needs to be something to work through, even if that something is yourself.

And you have to like create your own adversity in order for your brain to feel calm.

And I almost kind of wonder if that's like where we're going with this guy.

It's like, things were going great for Philadelphia.

They just came off like an all-time epic running back moment with Saquon.

Their team is cruising.

Their defense looks better.

It's like, things are too good.

I got to fuck something up really quick in order to make my brain feel calm.

Like that's, I kind of, I'm like suspicious that maybe we're looking at one of these personality types of seriality.

I'll use a analogy that I don't like because it hurts me but you know those of us that followed the Yankees all throughout the season knew what happened in the fifth inning of the World Series was a possibility because they had been sloppy and made mental and physical errors all year.

They didn't play the game the right way.

I'm just going to say it now.

I think the Eagles the season could end up in a similar way because the head coach ends up screwing them with some bad decision making and it leads to obviously turmoil both within the fan base and perhaps changes.

I feel like the Siriani chapter that really gets remembered is yet to be written.

Well, that's also the,

you've been on the Siriani beat for multiple years, and that would be like an apex moment for you.

But yes, the DNA of that team, like those star players, needed to bail out the decision-making in that game specifically.

And that, that luck runs out at some point.

You can't get in your own way.

And my one thing, my one thing about that fourth and one, where he rolls out,

every other season with Siriani and Hurts, that's a tush push that works.

And two tush pushes didn't work on the two-point conversions.

And I kind of felt like it was this crack in the arm moment where they got away from who they've been.

And I don't like that.

And so I think that decision absolutely riled up that.

That stadium because they all expected to see what they've seen for years that's worked.

And they went in some wacky direction.

You're good fans, Philadelphia fans.

You're a little bit crazy, but so am i love that though yeah i love that about you yeah all right jalen hurts is a winner he's a winner um he wins enough all right we'll be right back

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All right, we're back.

Before we sign off, as we always do, let's check in on our fearless predictions.

How did we do in week nine?

Let's start with Mike, who is again in Jamaica on his honeymoon.

And that sounds better than what we're doing.

Over 700 total rushing yards by quarterbacks in week nine.

How many?

There were 528 total quarterback rushing yards in week nine.

Egon, the gravedigger, Joe Flacco, throws for 300 plus again and leads Colts to victory over Vikings.

We could double this one up because the Zuzzer had the same exact prediction and we met the same exact fate.

Hey.

The Flacco sucked in addition to the Vikings winning the game.

All right.

Speaking of sucked, Mark Sessler's in last place in this competition.

We get a shutout this week.

Well, can I say one thing?

I'm never doing something like that again because on Sunday, you're like 18 minutes into Sunday where there's like 42 games happening and none of them were shutouts.

And I was like, this was stupid.

Like, I already know I'm not going to win this thing.

So,

technically, Rams Seahawks was 0-0 through the entire first quarter.

I thought of you, Mark, because I was like, if it's 0-0, like, there's a potential that one of these teams could be shut out with the level of play, and then things got real chaotic, real quick.

But I thought of you, I was like, could this happen?

Could this really happen?

Well, also, Thursday night football, the first game of the week started out pretty, uh, pretty rough, as I recall, as well.

Uh, but that was not a shutout either.

Anyway, Jordan Rodrigue, at least two tight ends go for 100 plus receiving yards i did it this is leave me alone this is pretty incredible didn't you have two that hit exactly 100 exactly 100 at travis kelsey with his last catch it was like the second to last play of the game he got to 100 and i was lighting up the group chat guys i was being real embarrassing about it i'm a monster i'm sorry but like oh my god i did it i finally did it yay i'm very proud of you but at the same time mark i need your help with this can you put up the the graphic again?

Just got to make sure that we want to check every box.

Uh, I see 100 plus.

Does that mean 101?

Oh, so over 100?

Well, it doesn't.

It means 100 or more.

Right, like Joe Flacco was 300 or more.

After how excited I just was

just clean-spirited, Dan.

No, just legitimately, someone had to ask the question.

That's all.

Do a good job.

That's pretty crazy.

Like, it came down to the last game, the penultimate play, going to a tight end.

In overtime,

in overtime, a tight end that had 13 catches previously and had still not eclipsed triple digits.

An all-timer right there.

And no tight end.

I turned into an absolute monster during that game, you guys.

Like, Tucker, my dog, is the only witness, but like, I was a monster.

And no tight end had 101 or more.

It was like Gasicki and Kelsey had 100 on the dot.

That's pretty amazing.

Spotted a ball differently in one of those games.

Like you might have lost, you know.

It's really amazing.

All right.

Now, without further ado, we'll do our

predictions for this week.

I'll start on this one because I just said that I'm mea culpa about the Cowboys and certainly if the fates didn't help me either with this Prescott injury.

But

because of that, this is my slapping myself on the wrist by almost ensuring that I will not get a fearless prediction.

So I'm going to get behind the Cowboys.

Cooper Rush will throw for two-plus touchdowns.

Jonathan Mingo makes a bingo,

and Dallas wins.

That is my over-Philadelphia.

A bingo is...

What is your definition?

What's the definition there?

Jonathan Mingo makes a bingo.

Jonathan Mingo, of course, being the wide receiver, the organization was widely derided for

giving up a fourth-round pick to get the Panthers draft bust at the deadline.

Jonathan Mingo makes a bingo, means he makes a f ⁇ ing play.

You know what I mean?

It's like makes a play.

Okay.

A play.

Well, I mean, listen,

Mark and I have both been victimized by you at various points in terms of being extra specific about the definition of what this actually means.

So you have to be a little bit more specific.

Makes a play.

Like what?

Like a two-yard game.

Wait a second.

A two-year game.

You're telling me like a six-yard game.

You're telling masking.

Let me just be clear here.

Let me just be clear here because

maybe I'm going nuts.

Maybe I'm going crazy.

I have a triple tease involving the Dallas Cowboys with Cooper Rush beating the heavily favored Eagles.

And you want me to ramp up the level of difficulty on the Jonathan Mingo makes a bingo?

What are the specifics of this?

I'm simply asking for specificity and accuracy like any good journalist, Dan.

You're a capital J journalist background.

You should know me.

Just to clarify, Jonathan Mingo makes a bingo means, you know, make a fucking play.

Okay, well, we can all identify a play if we see it, but it doesn't really matter because Cooper Rush has to score two touchdowns and the Cowboys have to win.

So we'll come back to this next week if it matters.

I will throw myself at the mercy of the court to decide if Jonathan Mingo made a bingo.

That's fair.

I think we, yeah, but if the other two things happen, happen, you almost deserve to win it anyways.

All right.

Mark, don't put that in the air.

No, because

we've been doing this for a decade.

I know how this will go.

Bingo will be defined any way that Dan will want it to be ultimately.

Mercy of the court.

Mercy of the court.

Cooper Rush fumbles and Jonathan Mingo jumps on it 15 yards behind the line of scrimmage, but that counts as making a play because he saved a turnover.

Is that something that would

you guys decide?

Okay.

That's

a group committee.

I should feel like I have power here.

I feel somehow like I have none.

That does

there feels like that there feels like some real life stuff coming off this week in America.

Go on, Mark, your pick.

So I have two things happening.

A 400-yard passer and a receiving performance of 200 plus yards, which means 200 or more yards.

They don't have to be on the same team, but two major performance.

200, 200 week.

Okay.

Jordan?

Yeah, so I kind of leaned into the Bobby Wagner Russell Wilson chess match, the kind of the poetry of that matchup, considering the history.

And I have three takeaways by the Commanders' defense against the Steelers.

They have not hit that mark yet.

They have intercepted Andy Dalton twice, but three takeaways by the commanders, whether it's forced fumble, recovery,

interceptions, whatever, splash plays

by the commanders' defense against Russell Wilson and the Steelers.

Ooh, I like that.

Spicy.

Specificity.

All right, great stuff.

Awesome.

Wait, there's two more predictions.

Up next, the gravedigger.

You want to do mine first or Mike's first?

Up next, the gravedigger.

All right.

nine is Christian McCaffrey in his return to the field, puts up a hat trick, three touchdowns for CMC.

My fantasy team needs it.

Give it to me.

That's a fearless prediction.

That's good.

Okay.

And finally, in absentia, the great Money Mike Dugar.

Money Mike, in honor of three teams choosing PATs over two-point conversion attempts in week nine, this week will feature at least three two-point conversion tries.

Nice.

Nice.

I like that.

He always has good ones.

That feels like the way to start playing the fearless prediction game where you just lay it out there and let the entire schedule play out.

I feel like when you go individual games,

Mike knows what he's doing.

For some reason, Mike seems like a guy that measures the odds to gain victories, monetary or otherwise.

So I'm just going to start.

I'm going to start going down that road.

You know, I've been sting penalty dropping myself too often in this competition.

No, I feel like I wrote the initial book on that.

Like, I've just, this has been an absurd journey.

Yeah.

All right.

Well, remember, there's a trophy at the end of the season.

All right.

Check out Friday morning exclusively on the Patreon.

We're going to draft all these games that we just previewed

ahead of the Sunday night flagship show.

And of course, be there for that where we recap every game that we just broke down.

Until next time, do what you must.

Join your local, you know, jump rope competition and just understand that

dreams can be made in simple backyard

hobbies, Mark.

Like those can turn into like championship dreams and trophies of their own.

Oh, I mean, that's the roadmap.

A little too wholesome for my liking, but it's good for some.

I have 36 medals.

Thank you very much.

Oh, my God.

Did Did you know that the Meek Mill song Dreams and Nightmares is actually about jump roping?

Like that is,

listen to the lyrics.

It's all in there.

It's all in there.

Anyway, Jordan, we'd like a photo of your medals next week.

We would love it.

Please, that's our request.

That's all we ask.

Until next time, heed the call.

The middle of the season is...

It's always critical that way.

Like Bill Belichick talks about the middle eight

in a football game.

I mean,

there's a middle eight in a season, too.

You could break it down, you know, that way.

You know, six, seven, eight, nine,

those are important games.

The only joke I know is

why was six afraid of seven?

Because seven, eight, nine.

Six, seven, eight, nine,

those are big games.

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