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The Heed the Call podcast

aspires to be the full candy bar house on Halloween.

Hello and happy Halloween.

Welcome to Heed the Call with Dan Hansis, aka Vincent Vega,

and Mark Sessler.

I'm trying, Mark.

I'm trying not to

contain my disappointment right now.

This is like I'm not trying at all.

Almost I'm making a point of how much I'm not trying Halloween costume you have on right now.

And I'll go even a little bit further.

We had given you your costume.

You are Count Markula.

You're literally famous for being a vampire on the show, and it's fing Halloween.

And you wear novelty birthday sunglasses.

Well, wait, would would I wear this

normally out on the street?

Shame.

This is a Dan perspective, and

I get where you're coming from, but

this is a costume.

I would not wear this normally out on the street.

I don't say this lightly, Mark.

This is the first time I've ever been disappointed in you.

That's all.

Well, I'm sure it's not

certainly not the first time.

It's the first time today.

Okay, well, we're off and running.

Hey, Justin, how are you?

Let's see if you've actually put in effort to our show today.

All right.

What do we got?

Steve Irwin?

Steve Irwin, that could be one interpretation.

I was going for gone fishing.

You know, the NBA on TNT segment when a team gets bounced from the playoffs, they say they're gone fishing.

And since we forked my Titans on yesterday's show, Titans are gone fishing.

I'm a Titans fan, so that's

the case.

I like the logic.

I like where you got there.

Let me say this, Dan.

Like, the Vince and Vega, you've done an A-plus job.

And I'm not trying to score points with you, you know, amid your disappointment with me, but like...

I'm so bummed.

Thank you very much.

But like, dude, if you didn't want to be Count Markula, what about Cliff Booth?

Give me something.

Well, you've got to...

Like, I, I never, like, dressing up as Count Markula never even came to mind.

So you should have suggested that.

Like, I actually thought to, but I said, I don't want, I figure he probably has something fun in mind.

So I don't want to like make it seem like I'm trying to tell him what to do.

And then instead, you know what you did?

Eugenine Garofiloed it because you're a Gen Xer.

You were like, this this is my statement against halloween like how ironic it is well i'm not trying to be ironic but i i did tell justin this um previously that i think i went out to halloween about eight years in a row as a hardy boy which meant i just dressed as i normally do and so it went but it is it's a state of mind costume is a state of mind so all right Okay, I'm going to move past this now because we've got a big show.

Before we bring in Mike and Jordan, we have to take care of a little bit of business on the show side.

Okay.

Enough of that.

All right, yes.

FAQs does mean facts and questions or something else, apparently, but you know, we're just going to roll that.

Go ahead, Justin.

Take it away before we get into the week nine preview.

All right, shout out Carl Pariso for that song.

Two items in today's facts and questions segment.

Firstly, on the Panthers getting the first overall pick three years in a row thing that we were talking about recently.

Number one, there has been a team to get the first overall pick three years in a row.

From 1976 to 1978, the Tampa Bay Buccaneers did it.

Secondly, regardless of if the Panthers finished this year with the first overall pick, they will not have earned it three years in a row because Silly Me forgot that they acquired the Bryce Young pick from the Bears.

They traded for that pick, and that's how the Bears, that's how they ended up not having the number one pick last year because the Bears.

Great move, by the way.

A great move in retrospect.

Yes, it was, but pretty dumb of me to even.

Justin took some bullets on Twitter for this, and he was humble.

And second item here, the fork committee has some corrections to issue from Wednesday's show when we forked the teams that we forked.

Somehow, the New Orleans Saints escaped the conversation.

I think, I don't know, did we all just obviously assume that they were forked already and forget to bring them up because of that?

Should they have been

an oversight of the court?

So all in favor of forking the New Orleans Saints say aye.

Aye.

Aye.

All who oppose,

the court is silent.

It is unanimous.

Fork the New Orleans Saints.

And we always, as we always do,

we catch a bunch of court is adjourned.

We get a bunch of

people saying we're gutless and all this.

But like without fail, one of those teams are going to make the playoffs.

So remember that.

Remember that.

We'll come back to this.

Check back with us

on December 31st or January 7th and see where we're at.

I want to tell you one thing.

My child asked me to wear this, just if that can soften your disappointment in me.

Because now it's in my head.

It's in my head.

I told you I've moved on from it.

Well, I haven't.

But it did.

It hurt me.

It hurt me because right there.

Yeah, but should I count Markula?

Yeah, but that's a classic mark situation.

Either I hurt Dan or I hurt my child.

Oh, I see.

Okay.

So, oh, now you're doing the Nick Siriani move where it's like, I messed up, so I'm going to bring my kid to the press conference.

Absolutely.

Exactly what's happening.

Whenever you can go full Siriani, you got to do it.

That's right.

You're Nick Siriani.

All right.

Let's welcome in our regular Thursday friendos.

Here they are: Jordan Rodrigue and Michael Sean Dakar of the Athletic.

All right.

Let's start with Jordan here.

Jordan, I guess, are you the paranoid android boy from the Radiohead video?

If you want to go with that, absolutely.

I accept.

I also have my costume today.

I know it's like really elaborate, lots of layers to it.

I'm Jordan, but in a different hat.

Okay.

So here we go again.

Here we go again.

People big time at Halloween.

All the grown-ups.

Look at you.

Look how you guys don't take it seriously.

How cool you guys must feel.

Have fun at the Morrissey concert.

All right.

What about Michael Sean Dugar?

Who are we, Mike?

I think I know, but let the people know.

Oh, yeah.

Oh, yeah.

We're primed today.

You know, got the Dion

get up on, prime shades, really fake gold chain air going on, and the hoodie that says, what does this say?

Ain't hard to find.

Love it.

Beautifully done.

Shout out to the buffs.

I like the headset, too.

That's an excuse.

Oh, you've got the whole thing.

That's what I'm talking about, Mike.

You did not let me down.

Mike, did you know that Mark and I are former colleagues of Coach Prime?

So this even hits home a little bit harder.

We were very close with Dion.

Yep.

He spoke to me once.

He passed me in the hallway once.

Yeah.

Almost made eye contact.

It was incredible.

All right.

Let's get into it.

We got so much to get into on this happy Halloween.

Digging in as we always do.

Starting.

Oh, by the way, this is the last day of October.

It's also the last day of Boostober.

Are we talking about this, Justin?

Great.

Underdog has been dropping new promos, boosts, and discounts every single day this month.

But time is running out, so don't miss these specials because it's Halloween.

I mean, the copy is a little behind the times, so I'm, this is me ad-living as Vincent Vega.

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audience only.

All right, two teams on by, the Steelers and the Niners.

Everybody else playing.

Let's start with the primetime games.

The Indianapolis Colts, number 21 in the latest HTC power rankings at the Minnesota Vikings.

Number seven, coming off two losses in five days after a 5-0 start.

Vikings laying six points of wood here.

So Sunday night football.

Let me fix my little thing here.

It's bothering my neck.

What do they call this thing again?

A bolo tie.

A bolo tie.

Bolo tie.

He wears this

as a Texas tie.

Oh, okay.

All right, Justin.

Hook him.

Vincent Vega.

I don't know, Mike,

how much you're into pulp fiction or if that's on your radar, but this is what he wears on his date with Mia Wallace at Jack Rabbit Slims and then the infamous night after that.

I have bad news for pulp fiction fans.

I did not like that movie.

I thought, so here's, I'll make this very quick.

The disappointment just grows.

My roommate in college, one of my good friends, he was just hyping it up.

You know, I was like, dude, Mike, because he knows I'm in the movies.

I was a writer.

You know, he's like, you're going to like the dialogue and everything.

And I watched it with him in college and I was like, that was not a good movie.

Not just phenomenal, like he was hyping it up to me, but just not very good.

And then I've just come to also, I should add, that, what's the director?

That's Tarantino.

Yes, it is.

Quentin Tarantino is the director of the film.

I think I like it.

I think I like one Tarantino movie.

Wow.

That is a massive

challenge between our film interests.

I think he's like super overrated, and a lot of his old dialogue is like super racist.

So, yeah,

it doesn't move me.

All right.

Well, listen, that is something that

is fair to say.

He also,

all right, what would you say, like, if you could watch Bad Boys 3 or the best Tarantino movie, what would be the best, what would be better, in your opinion?

Probably the best Tarantino movie as long as it's shot in order.

I do think that's another critique of mine.

He just, shooting stuff out of order is, it's a really hard thing to pull off, and I don't think there's one where he's pulled it off.

But

you said you liked one of his films.

What was the one?

I was trying not to try to remember on the fly.

Or

you were giving us a little bit of a...

Maybe we could pull it up a little bit later.

Yeah, let's come back to me on this.

Michael Dugar.

I liked at least one I liked.

Not a fan of non-linear storytelling.

Michael Sean Dugar.

We learn something new every day.

All right, let's get into it.

The Colts at Vikings.

So the big news, obviously, that went down this week.

It is now Joe Flacco at quarterback.

And it is Mark Sessler, a tough assignment for Flacco, who has been bulletproof since this,

you know, what do we want to call it?

The

flacconnaissance, whatever we want to do.

He has always kind of showed up and balled out, but going on the road in prime time against a Brian Flores defense in 2024, that's asking a lot.

Well, it really is.

And I mean, I think this is the, I always thought this was the prime reason, one of the prime reasons that you sit Anthony Richardson because Anthony Richardson versus Brian Flores is like a child wandering into a city street.

He's never seen a city.

So that's a problem.

But I think to Joe Flacco, The Brian Flores defense is a little bit more like the, you know, the Tuesday morning crossword in the New York Times.

You can probably do it by yourself.

You might need a friend to help with a couple answers.

But I think Joe Flacco has been around long enough where he's going to be able to diagnose it much better than Richardson, obviously, and it gives them a chance.

I still think Minnesota's defense does so much to scramble the mind, and it hits you with so many intriguing blitzes and causes so much pressure that this is a tough assignment for Indianapolis.

It's a bit of an acid test.

Like, who are they?

Are they for real?

We're going to find out real quick.

I think Minnesota is the kind of team that could get to the NFC title game if they stay healthy.

And so, this is a tall, this is a tall order for Shane Steichen and friends.

Well,

they need this game.

Obviously, there's no necessary, not necessarily NFC, AFC implications here yet, but

Minnesota needs this game.

They just dropped a big one to the Rams on the road.

They're going to be back at home.

That's one of the toughest environments to play in.

Brian Flores' defense was not doing things pressure-wise that the Rams expected them to do.

Part of that is

they were trying to protect different areas of the field against Puka Nakua and Cooper Cup.

And they are missing Blake Cashman with a turf toe.

He might be back this week.

So they're trying to protect, I think, more of the middle of the field.

So they weren't sending as many people as they normally do, or they were simulating that they were sending them, but they were dropping them more than usual.

And so I don't think that if, especially if Cashman comes back, I don't think that they play that way against Indiana.

But I will say, for how much football that Joe Flacco has seen, like, I still think this is Minnesota's game and the defense will bounce back in a big way.

But the Flacco element of it, it just introduces a little weirdness into it in a good way for Indianapolis.

And I think this game could be a little bit nuttier than maybe it looks on paper.

I love the insertion of flacco.

I understand why guys like Shane Steichen and

I understand why guys like Steichen and Canales made the moves they made.

And it's probably the people part of the business that I think, you know, I see a lot of the pushback that I've heard and seen on playing Flacco over Anthony Richardson is based on the premise that nothing is more important than Anthony Richardson's development.

And that's just not how an NFL building works.

There is position coaches and assistant coaches and veterans on one-year deals and things like that, veterans in contract years that they don't give a damn whether AR figures this out, you know, because they might not be here when he does.

You know, so there are, Shane has to manage 52 other guys plus practice squad and all this stuff.

And I think that's what the move is about.

I genuinely don't think it has to do with him coming out of the game because he's tired.

He has to watch film with these guys every week and acts as lineman to block and acts as coaches to coach and acts as receivers to hit their landmarks and everybody to do their right thing.

And then you're not holding the guy accountable who's throwing the ball because we need him long term to be good so everyone can get extensions.

That ignores the people part of the biz.

So I'm glad that Shane made that.

It's the same reason why Canales made that move too.

It's like you lose your locker room potentially if you just punt on the season in the name of a guy getting one guy developing into a potential star real quick on the Vikings.

Quietly, Brian Flores' defense has just kind of looked mediocre since like week four.

They were beaten up on Green Green Bay, and Jordan Love's returned after he was hurt.

And then in the second half of that game, they were just getting carved up.

And since then, they've been just like, yeah, decidedly mediocre.

They nearly got walked down by Aaron Rodgers in London.

Jared Goff looked good against them.

And then Stafford, Cooper, and Puka just tore him up.

So I'm very curious to see if this mojo may be wearing off.

I liked him in this game, but maybe Flores is no longer the boogeyman of the NFC on defense.

No, interesting.

And then on the Viking side of the ball, offensive side of the ball, TJ Hawkinson is scheduled to return to the lineup.

This is 315 days after he tore two ligaments in his right knee.

A terrible injury.

He was a big-time part of their offense before he went out after being traded from the Lions, former first-round pick.

And some good stats from Kevin Sieffert over at ESPN

that they average the Vikings, the NFL's fewest pass attempts per game, 27.1.

And their rate of design run

is up 24%

compared compared to the previous two seasons.

And

they have averaged

four targets per game to their tight ends this season.

So the tight end has been pretty much removed from the offense.

He was a major part of the offense before he went out.

So right now, it's been Sam Darnold running the rock a lot.

And when he's throwing the ball, obviously it's Justin Jefferson that's funneling

most of it.

So how does Hawkinson change this offense?

And I think he can if he's in a good physical place, but it might take some But I wonder how much they try to get him involved in the game moving forward.

I am struggling to take any of this seriously.

What's that?

I'm just on, we're all on screens here.

I'm looking at, I've got Deion Sanders here, I've got Jordan operating as someone out of Portland, and I'm listening to John Travolta tell me about the Vikings' operations.

So I don't know.

Fair, fair enough.

All right, let's move on to the Monday night.

There he is.

That's me.

The wickily talent in in the one nini only Adele Nazim.

John Travolta wearing a Vincent Vega costume at the Oscars.

There's layers to this costume.

Take note, Mark.

You know, it's not too late.

You're in Hollywood, Mark.

There's costume stores everywhere.

You could save your legacy.

It's not too late.

I mean, I'd miss three-quarters of the show, but I'm happy to go do it.

All right, let's get to Monday Night Football.

The Tampa Bay Buccaneers, number 16 in the power rankings, travel to Arrowhead to face the number two Chiefs.

The number two Chiefs, yes, indeed.

Unanimously across the board, I believe, Justin, the Lions were voted number one in the power rankings.

So they take the top spot for the first time.

But the Chiefs, undefeated,

eight and a half point favorites on Monday night against the Bucs.

Jordan.

You're kind of feeling about

the state of the Chiefs.

Like, do you think this is a team that has a chance to keep stacking these wins and start to get into some interesting territory, shall we say?

Or are they ripe to be picked off?

Because it's about that time of year where the final undefeated team has a stumble.

Yeah, but probably not this week, in my opinion, because I think this is one of those games where Tampa Bay is the team that's sort of falling apart and starting to get sloppier and sloppier.

I have a point on that I can make later.

But on the Chiefs, they're having their

really statistically down year on offense.

They're putting a lot on their defense, but I think that this is the type of game, particularly in the passing game against a Buc secondary that's just been through the ringer this year in terms of injuries and just different personnel having to bring in help and from different areas, especially, you know, midweek.

This is an opportunity for the Chiefs' offense to start to put things together, what this is going to look like moving forward, especially after the moves that they did make.

And they've been putting a lot in their defense and they clearly know it because they went out and got Josh Uche.

And I love that move for for them because his 2022 statistics show you that he rushes better with a partner.

2022, 11 and a half sacks with Matthew Judon, and then totally disappeared

over the next year.

And he's going to have the luxury of playing next to Chris Jones.

So they seem to know how much they're putting on their defense.

They're leaning into that personality.

So teams, championship teams, everyone, every single one has a different personality.

Understanding it early on.

on in the season and then loading up or making or pruning in different areas accordingly is key to actually sustaining a run like that.

And the Chiefs so far to me look like they're doing it and they look like they're ready to keep putting these wins together.

Yeah, I'm with you.

I think like you also

like the Bucs are a lesson in like when you meet a team in the season.

You know, you don't have Chris Godwin, you don't have Mike Evans.

I don't write the Bucs off though because they had 432 yards of offense last week and I thought they creatively found a way to move the ball.

And I know they lost to the Falcons, but Baker opened 13 of 14 for 114 yards, two touchdowns.

I think Bucky Irvin's a big part of that offense.

Now they got Rashad White going with the touchdown catch.

Cade Otten suddenly came into play.

That said, it still feels like the cupboard is a little too bare for them to be what they wanted to be, and you could see a fade.

And I think you're going up again, and we just talked about Brian Flores, like Steve Spagnola.

He just finds a way.

It's like they don't need a matchup.

It's like whoever they play, they find a way to kind of pull the plug from that offense.

And I expect the same.

I'm with you.

The Uche is a big, he's a big addition.

And

they bring in players and they maximize them.

That's what the Chiefs do.

They find a way to find fits and they get the most out of that player where the Patriots weren't this season.

So I don't love it for Tampa Bay.

And it's like Kansas City.

It's like you could look at the roster up and down and be like, I don't know, is this the second best team in football outside of the quarterback?

And then it's like, yes, they are because it doesn't really matter who the name is.

Yeah, and I wanted to, too, when I say that the Bucks seem like they're kind of on the verge of teetering into some sloppiness.

Certainly when you're minus some veteran players, like that's going to happen.

And they are putting putting up yards.

I think Baker is doing the best he can with sort of the situation, how it's morphed around him.

But when I talk about like, you're starting to see some of that sloppiness like creep in a little bit, Halloween style.

This is from Greg Omen, who does great work at Fox Sports.

One part, he said in a post, he said, one part of the Bucs regression in the last four games, offensive penalties that are backing them up.

In the first four games, when the Bucs were three and one, they had 11 total downs, needing 15 plus yards for a first down, which is great.

It means they're staying ahead of the sticks really well.

In the last four, they've had 25.

And on those 36 plays, they've only had four first downs all season.

So they're getting behind the sticks a lot more.

And part of it is self-inflicted in a big way.

And that's where you can see some of the mental strain is starting to come in a little bit.

What do you think, Prime?

Yeah, I'm not.

Also, I love how.

Mark couldn't get used to me talking football like this.

I'm dressed as a football coach.

Well, that's fair.

I'm just reading your screen and your glasses.

I got to be honest with you.

I'm like getting

the direction to the screen.

And the greatest cornerback who ever lived.

I mean, what could be more football than that?

Yeah.

And a guy who was a former football analyst

as well.

I feel like very fitting.

Yeah, very fitting.

He was getting paid a lot to be a football analyst.

I agree with that.

That's true.

That's true.

Shout out to Josh Uche, by the way.

Relatable content there.

Better when he has a partner.

Aren't we all?

Are we all?

Yeah.

I'm going to jump on this, not being worried about the Chiefs either.

Just because of the guy, I feel like I think I mentioned Flores as like the NFC version of Spags, maybe earlier in the season.

But I do think

Spags has more, a proven one,

but also just has more potential for sustainability with what they're doing it.

I think their defense is top 10 in points per drive right now, right outside the top five in EPA per play.

They're just really hard to score on.

And that sounds like an oversimplification, but I mean, when you're trying to just build a good defense, you should start there.

Can we make it really hard hard on the other team to score on this and they find just different ways to go about it uh i think it's admirable what baker has has done this season is basically like you know what we're kind of at oklahoma again i'm just gonna throw it a lot you know now that can get slippery slope when you're throwing the guys like whose names i got to google instead of mike evans or chris godwin but i think baker's still on pace he's throwing 40 times a game or dropping back 40 times a game i think which is second only i believe to geno smith another guy who in college is just like i'll sling it every play if we need to and is doing well with that.

You kind of can see the college backgrounds kind of helping these guys stay afloat when they don't have the necessary balance on offense to be successful in the NFL.

I do like the Chiefs in this one because of their defense and because of Andy Reid.

I just think he's going to figure it out.

He could take the five of us, put us on the field, and Mahomes would find a way to throw Mark a touchdown on a shovel pass or something.

I'm pretty sure he would figure that out.

So I like them, although I do like the Bucs to cover in this one.

I think they're getting way too many points for a team that has proven that they can move the ball even without their top weapons.

Mike Evans, Chris Godwin, obviously on the shelf, as we said, Tampa Bay ran 72 plays against the Falcons.

Only 15 of those plays were toward wide receivers.

One of the guys you probably had to Google, Mike, was Rakeem Jarrett, who led the team with three catches.

Those are his first three catches of the year.

which is 75% of the way toward his full total from last year.

And one last point on the Bucks side, man, just give the rock to Bucky Irving and make him your number one running back.

He's averaging 5.2 yards per carry.

So

you could find ways to keep White involved as well, but you got to start giving Irving the Rock.

And I think that's a key to an upset is finding some balance and helping Baker when the wide receivers are out.

Okay, we're just getting started.

When we come back, we dive into the games.

We cannot wait to f ⁇ ing watch on this Happy Halloween.

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All right, welcome back.

It's, you know what your custom is, Mark?

You're like,

like I said, Janine Garofilo, you're one of the cast members of Reality Bites And it's like look at all these assholes dressed up on Halloween.

I'm over it Well, I mean to be fair that is sort of my attitude to Halloween

You know I like I I understand you said you were over like when Dan says that he's over like I've moved past a certain thing You know that's like if he says that you know it's absolutely not the case.

And I'll probably get a text after the show about this and then we'll we'll discuss it at some other point later when he returns to the West Coast.

This one is one of the worst.

It's Halloween.

Sounds like I'm a real monster.

Oh, my God.

Mark, I would just like you to know that I'm very disappointed in your behavior today and your costume on the show.

The text will arrive about five minutes after the show, I guarantee.

Yes, just Mark, you look like birthday bono.

Thank you.

Well, that's there we go.

You've got your costume right there.

Mark and I went to the

old Joshua Tree anniversary show down at the old San Diego Football Stadium before they knocked it down.

That was a nice time.

All right, let's get back to it.

Can't wait to watch this game, Mike Dugar.

Yeah, my game that I can't wait to watch.

The Detroit Lions at the Green Bay Packers this week.

Yeah, surprised.

I was actually surprised to see the Lions leap the Chiefs in the HTC power rankings there.

It feels very

BCS-y where they're getting some style points there for just running up the score on their own.

Perhaps, yeah, there's some style points there, which I'm not mad at.

That's fine.

Run it up.

We don't see that much

in the NFL.

And that's part of why I like this matchup.

I like both coaches for different reasons.

I think LaFleur has just got his guys just really just locked in, particularly on offense, obviously,

his bread and butter.

But you just see how he can just be pliable from game to game, mid-game.

You know, you watch the film of that Bucs game, or excuse me, them against the Jags, and they were kind of, they were getting real pass heavy there.

Jordan Love was slinging it, and then as soon as he went down, I think they ran the ball like five times in a row and then called like a play action shot.

And then Josh Jacobs eventually ran it.

Like they just, boom, they switched their identity and they were prepared for it, though, too.

It wasn't just that they switched, that they got it done.

Like he's, he's, Matt LaFlore is doing as good a job as any coach, I think, on the offensive side of the ball.

And then Dan Campbell is just like, I'm going to.

score 50 every chance we get.

Like he seems just angry.

I'm not sure why, because he seemed like a very happy guy from afar, but he coaches angry.

It's like, I'm just trying to just embarrass.

That's what you want, right?

Mike?

What I want?

Yes.

I don't know if that's what these other guys, you know, there seems to be like a coaching fraternity brotherhood type of thing that he's getting very close to violating.

Like, you know, trick plays when you're up 20 plus and things like that.

You know, he can blame Ben Johnson for that.

He can blame Ben Johnson.

He can just like just reassign the blame on that one.

So he can, he can feel his feelings on the sideline.

He can try until he runs into the wrong guy during that half, that little end of game, meet at midfield type of thing.

Now, I don't know how many coaches are equipped to challenge Dan Camel.

No, see, that's part of it.

And also, like,

remember, he was, it feels like a million years ago now,

and he was at the time.

kind of ripped for it and everyone had their fun.

But when he said at his introductory press conference, like, we're going to bite people by the kneecaps, that's the, this is the shit he's talking about.

He's like, we are going to be fearsome.

We're never going to let up.

And now he's doing that.

He has that attitude match with a highly talented roster.

Yeah, it's just a kick-ass roster.

Top to bottom, really good.

You know, obviously, I have questions about their pass rush, you know, because of losing all the guys they've lost there.

But they've earned that spot in the power rankings of record.

They really have.

This also, this game quietly, when I was researching this, another reason why I can't wait to watch it, I am a fan of defenses, even though I talk a lot about quarterbacks on this show.

I think we have all three leaders in interceptions in this game, and Xavier McKinney, Kirby Joseph, and Brian Branch.

None of them outside corners, which I just, for some reason, just love that.

Two defenses ranked top 10 in EPA per play.

So we're going to get some good Ballhawks in this game as well with two quarterbacks who like to sling it over the middle, you know, deep.

Like, I really like this matchup for a lot of reasons.

I like the, if Jordan Love plays, I believe he's day-to-day right now.

I like the Packers in this.

That could obviously change, but I think this is a matchup of great coaches, should could be two good quarterbacks, and then three of the best Ballhawks that we've seen in the league just far.

Just tons of intrigue for me.

I love what the mention of Ben Johnson because look at the last four outings for Detroit.

You put up 42 on the Seahawks, 47 on the Cowboys, and they're breaking.

They broke the Cowboys in that game.

You put up 31 on the celebrated Brian Flores and the Vikings, 52 on the Lost Titans.

What this team, this coaching matchup to me, it's kind of like this is where Detroit becomes the true heavy in the NFC.

We're ahead of it because we've already put them number one in our power rankings.

But this, I think, is the last hurdle.

It's Green Bay.

It's your own division.

And it's Dan Campbell versus Matt LaFleur.

It's the classic, like, the old 80s movies.

It's Jock versus Nerd.

And I know that the cinema typically favors the nerd because that's how most of us kind of feel inside sometimes compared to our opposition.

But in real life, like the Jocks just knock those people out.

And that's what I sense here.

I sense a playground beating.

And I think that, you know, if you don't have Jordan Love Hero, you do, but it's like, look at like, I think the lions are out for blood.

And maybe at the owners meetings, that can create some issues for Dan Campbell.

I don't think he cares at all.

I think they're here to destroy people.

And I think we'll continue this week.

Is Matt LaFleur the nerd in this scenario?

He is because Matt LaFleur, and you know this better than anyone, Jordan, that Matt LaFleur is a great coach, but he is certainly like the thought guy.

Like, wow, he's such a thinker and a mathematician, and he can do anything with scheme.

Dan Campbell's like, I've got giant muscles, and I'm going to blow your head off.

So they're quite different in my head.

Got it.

I just thought, you know, I don't think that Matt LaFleur got picked on much in school.

Just, you know, the eyebrows thing.

You just don't pick on a guy with eyebrows like that, right?

Well, he didn't.

Here's the thing, Jordan.

Relative to very important.

I don't know many guys when I was in high school that were getting their eyebrows done.

So Matt LaFleur had those big, bushy, like Liam Gallagher eyebrows in high school.

So now he looks a lot different probably than he did back then.

Just,

I don't know, but I'm just guessing.

I like this because you're also going to see Jared Goff play outside.

A lot of his games this year have been in a dome.

We know historically Jared Goff has struggled in outdoor stadiums.

But also, I do want to make the point that this is not the Jared Goff of old.

And he showed us that last year, but he's really showed us this.

this year.

In fact, like you can't do really anything against him to rattle him at this point.

Now, maybe the elements come into play or something like that, but he's playing well against any type of defense, no matter how much pressure they're sending at him or not.

And in fact, he's actually getting pressured at a really significantly higher rate than normal,

a 35% rate.

And he leads the NFL in passer rating when he's getting pressured.

So you saw this in that game that I was so excited about a couple weeks ago, Detroit.

at Minnesota versus Detroit, and watched him pick apart some of those pressure looks that he was getting.

So I love this matchup for that reason.

You're seeing first a quarterback who is at the apex of his ability and really has climbed into a new level than I think a lot of people ever thought was possible and doing so with an absolute wagon of a team on both sides of the ball and seriously cool safety play on the other side.

And then also you're seeing on the other side too, Mark, to your point, a team that knows how to win in multiple ways.

And they already proved that.

They already laid out the proof of concept.

They're not troubleshooting on the fly anymore because they already have multiple game plans for any scenario, whatever happens with that quarterback.

So I love this.

I think this is a really smart matchup all around.

Led by Xavier McKinney and his league leading six interceptions, the Packers have forced more turnovers than they did all of last season.

They're already up to 19 halfway through this season.

And one other note.

This is an outstanding unit.

We're trying to.

The crocodile hunter is feeling it right now, and I like it.

One other point, Jordan Love, who's had a little bit of a topsy-turvy season so far,

he has struggled mightily against the Blitz this year.

In fact, according to,

let's see, who was it?

According to the Athletic, who have some talented writers and reporters, he has a...

He's 31st in the league among quarterbacks with more than 100 attempts in EPA when Blitz this season.

So watch for Aaron Glenn to try to key in on that and get after Love and cause him to make some errors.

Next up, the games we cannot wait to watch.

Jordan.

Okay, I am picking the Heed the Call Power Ranked number 15 Los Angeles Rams at the number 20 Seattle Seahawks.

This is 4.25 p.m.

Eastern on Fox.

Wait a second,

this is the HTC Athletic Bowl right here.

It really is on Regan.

I get to see Mike.

I'm so excited.

I get to see Mike in the press box this week.

Can you guys sit next to each other?

Can you choose that?

Or do they put the little paper?

I think we can't.

We always catch up before games, which is nice.

Mike does this really great thing too, where often he brings beer for the end of the game

and has great taste in IPAs.

So hint hints.

I knew there was a reason we wanted Mike on this show.

It all makes sense now.

This is the only time I've picked a Rams game this season.

I try to not overtly talk about the team that I cover, and I love to watch the other teams.

So perhaps this will be the only time, depending on how this game goes.

It definitely feels like a pivotal moment for both of these teams.

The Seahawks are in danger of falling apart after getting rolled at home by Buffalo.

They still can't protect Geno Smith.

They'll now face a Rams defensive line in which every starter and one rotational player are getting pressure at above average, above the league average rate, including the defensive rookie of the year candidate Jared Verse, who, as Mike and I have talked about, has doubled the league rate.

And the Rams have life after two wins in five days, including against the powerhouse in Minnesota.

Yes, that was a terrible miss call.

And Matthew Stafford has his top receivers, Puka Nakua and Cooper Cup back.

When he, Kyron Williams, Cup, and Nakua were all on the field together last year, starting at about this time of the season, the Rams surged to a top five offense in essentially every basic and advanced statistical category.

And in Seattle, against a team desperate to put their own season back together, with the NFC West stakes certainly on the line here, this one could get weird.

It could get fun.

It might be rainy and cold.

I love it.

Money, Mike.

Yeah, I'm going to go ahead and obviously give my expertise in the Seahawks perspective.

I'm very concerned about the state of the Seahawks.

It feels like their season is on the line in week nine.

They're reeling a little bit with a 4-4 right now.

But if you lose, you're in last place in the division heading into your week 10 buy right ahead of the trade deadline, which somehow is on election day as well.

I don't know.

That seems a little funky.

Well, the NFL is like, we're going to own that too.

Yeah.

No, seriously, that's what I was thinking.

Like, they came for Christmas.

They came for Black Friday.

It's like, now you're coming to the bottom.

Yeah, you get tight end day.

Listen, don't get us going.

This is the greed that they were talking about in the Bible.

Jesus, Roger.

Anyway,

what do Cubans say?

Pigs get fat, hogs get slaughtered.

It's just absurd how many days they're trying to own here.

But I really am concerned because they don't have...

Mike McDonald doesn't have, obviously, a track record of pulling a team out of this.

He's still trying to prove to his guys that his way works.

He's very processed over results, which is fine.

But eventually you need results.

You're the new guy.

Like guys need to see that you know what you're talking about.

I think the Seahawks are experiencing some predictable growing pains because everyone is new at their job.

Their head coach is new.

He's never been a head coach before.

Their OC came from college.

He's never coached in the NFL before, let alone been an OC.

Their special teams coordinator is from college, Jay Harbaugh.

Their defensive coordinator by title, Aiden Durday, he came from the Cowboys as a position coach.

So he's never been a D coordinator before.

And none of these guys know each other.

Mac McDonald's had to hire based on merit, not just call up all his homies, which is also fine if it works.

You know, he just put a bunch of inexperienced strangers in important positions on a team that was trying to win now and not rebuild.

There's a lot of pressure there to decrease your margin of error.

And when you go four and five, you'd be 0-2 in the division.

I believe they'd be 1-4 in conference with the loss.

It'd be like their fourth straight home loss.

See, like all the things that would be piling up there heading into their bye week.

Very concerned.

And Matt Stafford and Sean McVay, as Jordan and I have talked about over the years, they've gotten several people in Seattle sent to the unemployment line.

Coaches, position coaches, people in front offices, players, like playing the Rams has been detrimental to people's livelihoods in Seattle.

And it could be the same thing with this new regime if they can't stop Matthew Stafford or Matthew Puka and Cooper on Sunday.

I was going to ask you something, Mike, because A drill down.

You're in the NFC West, which is a showcase for offensive minds.

You obviously have McVay.

You've got Shanahan.

I'd even say Drew Petzing has his moments too.

And I feel like every time I watch a Seahawks game, and this is a Ryan Grubb question, you've got two really solid running backs.

And it feels like you're coming into halftime week after week.

And I think last week they had one yard rushing against the Bills in the first half.

Well, what's happening there?

And whenever I watch these Seahawks broadcasts, it's like, well, they do mention the inexperience of the coaches versus like a Sean McDermott.

But what is going on when you're,

why are they not establishing a more balanced offense?

It feels like that's happened multiple, multiple weeks.

Yeah, I think this is just what happens when you hire someone who's had so much success throwing the ball.

You know, he believes in the run game, but it's almost being treated like a side dish.

Like, okay, we have to run the ball because we got to balance out our numbers.

It's almost like something you have to do versus it being who you are, you know?

And I think that there's, it's really important.

You can't just like, oh, okay, we're going to throw in a few inside zone runs at a shotgun to balance things out.

Like, no, if you're going to do that, be that.

You got to be that.

And instead, it's more like, oh, damn, Ken Walker's only touched the ball twice.

Let's call a run here, guys.

It's like, that's not how it works, you know, in the NFL.

And as someone who, you know, I'm a wazoo guys, you got, you all know, I watched the air raid for years with Mike Leach.

This is exactly what it looked like.

We would throw the ball a lot.

And then after a while, like, all right, let's throw a run in here for good measure.

And it just doesn't work like that.

And I think that's what Ryan Grubb is working through as someone who had a lot of success at Washington building this elite passing offense.

But now you can see where the run game has been like his shortcoming through eight weeks.

Mike, I did want to check too with you.

Um, DK Metcalf, do you anticipate that he'll be back this weekend?

Because he could be a factor.

He, it's been uh, feet, you know, hit or miss at times against this group.

No Jalen Ramsey, obviously, now, so that that probably makes a difference.

But Darius Williams has been playing quietly some of the best football of any DB in the league over the last couple of weeks.

And I will never forget the play he made a couple years ago where he jumped a screen pass and he intercepted it and he took it all the way back for a touchdown.

I mean, this dude just really knows the Seahawks.

So, I'm wondering if DK Metcalf is going to be back this week.

I'm anticipating him playing.

It's not just something, no one's like texted me or called me or told me that or anything.

I'm anticipating him playing in part because he's a warrior and because they know the stakes of this game.

Darius Williams, great mention, a guy who's gotten some people fired.

Multiple people got fired after that game when he had to pick six in the wild card round in 2020.

Also, the Let Russ Cook thing died in 2020 when he picked off Russ twice in Los Angeles.

I think that was week 10 of the 2020 season.

And that eventually got Brian Schottenheimer, the OC fire.

You see what I'm saying?

The Rams killed.

They're the boogeyman for the Seahawks.

The Niners are, too.

I can't overstate the stakes of this game for Seattle.

Boogeyman, that would have been another good

custom for you, Mark.

Just FYI.

Yeah, I'll take a note for next year's Halloween episode.

Jared Verse.

Sorry, by the way, about my barking laugh.

You guys are getting me

some good ones today.

Jared Verse through seven games leads all rookies and quarterback hits, six more than the next closest defender.

And yes, they draft well.

And it's their first first-round pick, as everyone knows, since 2016.

So it looks like they hit on it again.

Good organizations make good decisions and stay relevant.

Bad ones make bad decisions and stay bad.

You know where I'm going with that.

What are you talking about?

I don't know.

Let's move on.

Well, that team I'm talking about does play in the division, but we ain't talking about that team.

We're talking about the Dolphins and the Bills.

The game I cannot wait to watch.

The Dolphins sitting at number 23 in the

power rankings of record against the number three Buffalo Bills.

We got them all the way up at three.

I don't mind that.

Apparently, because I had them lower.

That means somebody was spiking them, and it must have been you and some of my other colleagues on the show.

But number three, I think I had them at five, so not too different.

The Bills,

I talked about it on Sunday.

I said it's time after what we've seen these last few weeks, the Bills have a seat at the table when you're talking about the best teams in the league.

That's the level of ball they're playing right now.

And I think the reason I picked this game,

first of all, the first two that I wanted to watch have already been picked in the document that we have.

So, it's really, you know, the third.

It's like it gets the bronze medal.

But, you know, I think that it's a back against the wall game for the Dolphins.

Did we fork the Dolphins on Wednesday's show?

No.

No, but we talked about this.

They will be forked if they lose this game.

Yes,

they absolutely.

Now, if you believe in the Mike McDaniel era in Miami and the jury's out, the jury has come back and said, hey, give me a gavel.

Bang me with a gavel, Justin.

The jury has returned a verdict that the Dolphins are fun to watch on offense when the quarterback is healthy.

But is this team ever going to be successful, like truly successful?

And now, after you lost two or for a month and the season went down the toilet, after you blew the game against the Cardinals that you should have won, you got beat at the gun in your building.

Now you got to do something special.

And going up to Orchard Park to beat the Bills now would qualify.

Again, now we're going to be in November.

And

if it's going to be chilly and unpleasant in western New York, certainly possible.

How does this offense travel?

But I don't know.

I think...

And I don't know where this comes from.

Maybe I'm

just stubborn about it.

Impossible.

That two weeks ago, I I thought the Dolphins had a chance to get back into this playoff hunt.

Well, here it is.

Here's your season.

And the Bills, maybe the Bills stumble and look past the Dolphins as a team that's already finished and cooked.

But yeah, I see this is a game that the Dolphins will play with extreme urgency and are going to make this a tight game.

Can they force Josh Allen to make mistakes?

He finally threw an interception last week.

And can the Dolphins' offense build on their week eight, which despite the loss, I thought Mark was quite impressive.

The The reason I put Buffalo up where I did,

they've topped 30 points five times.

And that's with an offense that came into the year where it's like they're kind of figuring out who they are with a lot of new faces.

They dominated Seattle last week, and Amari Cooper wasn't a big part of that at all.

He really didn't even play a role.

So that person's going to become part of this too.

They've given up 10 points, exactly 10 points in four games.

This is a dominant team with an experienced, cohesive coaching staff.

I think we saw that against Seattle.

It's like it was, here's a coaching staff that's been together and been through all sorts of ups and downs, and here they are.

My thing about the Dolphins is the reason I think

they could play in this game is they absolutely looked like the old Dolphins on offense last week.

And I think it starts, it's not just all the parts came back into play.

Waddle was Waddle.

You know, you had Tyreek Hill back in the mix.

But what I saw from Tua was that he was,

he had the defense on like the defense, he can stun them and stop them with the way he he throws the ball quickly and what he does.

And all of that was exactly there.

Now, there was the play that I forgot to mention on Sunday night where he actually scrambled and slid and the entire stadium went nuts because it's like it was a learned trait.

Like we don't need him to get hit again.

But we got the full version of Tua.

And if it was a lesser version, I'd be really concerned.

But I think this is your season.

And this is Mike McDaniel's kind of...

This is your trademark.

You have to go.

This is the team that's been on you.

And the weather is starting to turn.

And so who are you, Miami?

Because if you lose this game, you're out of our minds.

You float away like a boat on the water.

The Bills secondary is vulnerable, too.

Both, they really have stepped up and made splash plays at crucial moments.

But overall, across the entire stretch of the season, you can see where some of their vulnerabilities are.

And so I think you're going to be able to pass the ball against this Bills defense in this game.

And I agree with you, Mark.

I thought Tua was great.

I went back.

There's, you know, there's these filters you can use on NFL Pro now where you can extrapolate just certain throws.

And so I went back and I was looking at just the past plays and he was throwing the ball confidently.

The offense so clearly just runs completely around him.

And the conversation about durability and all that, that's one we can have at another time.

And in terms of do you build an entire timing-based offense built around the specific timing of this one player?

But at the same.

On the same token, when it's on, it's on.

And he was throwing confidently.

He was making tight window throws.

He made at least four tight window throws that just show how confident he felt in being back.

I think the crowd loving on him a little bit really helped him too.

He said some nice things about that after the game.

And

on the converse side, though, I have concern about Miami's defense as well.

Now, there's this thing that happens to you statistically as a defense when you play.

Kyler Murray, essentially, where you can get pressure, but your pressure to sack ratio just dramatically changes because you can't take him down because because he can scramble around everywhere.

And so that's skewing the numbers here.

But Miami's defense is now getting pressure at like a 40% rate, but they're not actually taking down the quarterback.

Okay, well, who is that going to be dangerous with as well against Josh Allen?

So I actually have more questions about both defenses in this game than I do about the offenses, which is a bit surprising to me because we've had so many questions about Miami's offense and even Buffalo's offense through the start of the year.

Yeah, I think last week we talked about the Cowboys and the Niners matchup.

And I think I mentioned how it feels mental what the Niners have over Dallas, and this feels like the AFC version of that with the way Sean McDermott has just pulled out his belt and just whipped Mike McDaniel's ass.

I don't think

the numbers aren't super lopsided.

Imagery is out of control on that one.

I don't know how many times he's beaten him.

I think maybe like once since he's gotten higher, playoffs included, like one in five or something like that, been outscored by quite a bit.

You know, it just seems mental because the teams have matched up pretty well on paper in a lot of those instances.

Last year's game in Buffalo, I feel like, was an example.

They both went into that looking pretty similar on paper and then just got their ass kicked.

So this one, again, looks very similar.

When they have Tua back, you line it up, player for player, coach for coach on either side of the ball.

It looks even.

And I just don't expect it to be.

I think there's just, you know, to quote Chris Tucker Friday, you know, it's just like they got mind control over Miami, it feels like in this instance, You know, so I really like Buffalo in this.

I just think they're super well coached.

McDermott falls into that bucket of, I guess, the non-Super Bowl-winning coaches that I just start, just really believe in.

You know, Matt LaFleur falls in that for me as well.

Just like, guys, I'm like, I know you're going to have your dudes ready to play more often than not.

And when I can count on that, particularly at home against a division rival,

I'll really take you against pretty much anybody on any given Sunday.

And then you add in how just inept Mike McDaniels' offense looks against competent teams, usually in November and December,

which is where we're getting to now.

Like, yeah, I think this could be trouble for Miami.

And I do think there will be a big fat fork in them after Sunday.

I was going to say, if they do lay an egg in week nine, they could very well be sellers at the deadline at two and six.

And for that reason, I think this is the most important game of the Mike McDaniel era.

And it just crossed my mind again.

You know, Deion has been in our lives for so long and in so many ways.

Like, even as a Yankee fan, like, Deion has like major New York Yankees moments.

What the hell?

Like, this guy has lived a thousand lives,

including when he was, you know, at least tried to be an RB star.

At the end of this episode, Michael Sean Dugar will perform Must Be the Money, the 1992 Deion Sanders jam.

So just stay tuned for the end of the show.

Oh, boy, a song from the year I was born.

Wow, that was a lot of pressure.

All right, finally, Mark Zessler, the game you cannot wait to watch.

And I, you know, this is atypical, but I jumped in that document and grabbed this first this time.

Was it you or was it Justin posing as you?

Well, so last week, I like I did work through our producer.

That's he does a wonderful job, a great job.

And yes, but this time it was me.

I was actually on the laptop when it when the document has been an asset to us, man.

There's a nakedness to Justin.

There really is.

Nickedness.

I'm going Broncos at Ravens.

The Ravens are on my radar a little bit, and I have a report from the future.

Okay.

Oh, is that what the costume is?

Those glasses see into the future?

Because then it's not terrible.

All right, well, if I'm getting to not terrible, that's exactly what the costume is.

Report from the future.

To the annoyance of everyone, is Sean Payton about to usher in a violent coup d'état in the AFC?

The Denver Broncos are 5-3 in the most ignored outfit in pro football.

Why?

The defense leads the entire league in EPA per play.

The offense certainly does not, but Peyton is spinning his wonder with Bo Nicks.

This is my shocker of the week.

On Monday morning, Sally Jacks, an accountant at Diamond Financial in Outer Baltimore, will be preparing her toast and jelly in the break room.

When twenty pounds overweight Ronnie Bartswaltz is in.

He's asked her out three times, and she's said no, each time.

He doesn't get the message.

The Ravens are in free fall, huh?

Ronnie Barth says.

I don't watch sports, she answers quietly.

Yeah, but I bet you heard about it.

No, I went out to lunch with my sister yesterday.

Well, the Ravens' secondary is really leaky, Ronnie Barts says.

You know, they'd given up 17 passing touchdowns in eight games.

Now two more against Bo Nicks.

Is that good?

Sally asks, slowly backing away towards the door.

No, it's not good, says Ronnie Barts.

Maybe you should read the athletic.

Okay, thanks, Sally whispers.

Once out of the break room, she does not walk to her cubicle.

She runs.

Broncos 21, Ravens 20.

This is your sports lock of the week.

I didn't see anything.

Well, nice lock.

I like it.

It's gutsy.

I didn't see.

Ronnie just seemed to be making conversation with something he was passionate about, and Sally was treating him like a monster.

I mean, is there more to the story?

Well, I noted that he'd already,

it's one of those office things that are wrong.

Like, he tried to ask her out three times previously, and she said, no, I missed that.

Yeah, he keeps.

See, that was your problem.

Listen, if you have to back toward the door during an interaction,

that's your problem.

Yeah.

never do.

Yeah, I was

trying to breadcrumb the discussion.

I got you, Mark.

So this is a very, this is a very, as someone that knows Mark well, this all connects because you got the idea of Baltimore spiraling out.

That checks a box for Mark.

And then there are these teams.

This is a classic Sessler fascination team, the Broncos now.

You have a grizzled guy like Sean Payton that's intriguing to Mark.

You have Bo Nicks, a young upstart.

Anything upstart,

anybody coming off some level of success for the first time that's not getting overly pumped up.

That's right down Sessler Boulevard.

Correct me if I'm wrong, Mark.

So this is kind of like a perfect storm.

And I'll say this: like, you're right.

Like, nobody's talking about the Broncos.

And maybe because a lot of their wins have not been high-profile wins for the most part, I'd have to go through their schedule and take another peek.

But they are winning games, and the defense has been consistently very good this season.

And quietly, Mike, the Bo Nicks is improving.

And what we saw, and I know that the Panthers suck, okay?

And that was underlined.

That was underlined.

They suck harder than Count Markula, but that was underlined.

Who's not here today?

How is he not here today?

I don't know.

He does not operate in the daytime.

How about that?

They give, that's a good one.

Got me.

But yeah, you give this kid time to throw and he will pick you apart.

So it's not always going to be as easy as the worst defense in the league, the Carolina Panthers.

But if this offensive line can block for him, he's shown now, Mike, that he could he could ball and he could pick a defense apart.

Yeah, Denver just quietly, I think, fifth in point differential in the league, better than teams like the Chiefs, Packers, Vikings.

They might be better than as well.

However, I do think this, yes, they're benefiting from a good schedule.

I do think not only just a favorable schedule, I think they're probably going to heading into the,

I guess this is maybe another report from the future.

They are heading in, they're going to head into week 10 or into the trade deadline.

I think leading HTC power ranking teams in wins over teams that have been forked.

I would guess.

I love that.

They have a lot of wins.

I think four of them are teams that either have been forked, I'm sure, or will be.

Jets, Raiders, Saints, Panthers.

So, I mean, if they beat the Ravens, obviously, that's a really great win.

I do just like how they put that together.

I don't think it's even just Bo.

It's really just they're winning as a team.

I really think sometimes they got to win it because their defense kicks ass.

Sometimes they got to win it because Bo has to make a few throws or use his legs, like he's been really good at.

He's a really big, strong kid, knows how to use his legs.

Sometimes they got to run the rock.

You know, sometimes they just play a team that stinks.

You know, you can only play who's on your schedule.

I think this is when we find out if they're for real.

I do like the Ravens in this one, mostly because it does feel like the Ravens, just they put up a stinker at home every year at least once, and then they put up a stinker on the road at least once.

I think they've already got the home stinker out of the way by losing to the Raiders, I would think.

But their defense is just so dysfunctional.

And when teams got to throw, it makes me really, really worried.

And credit Payton and the Broncos and the rookie quarterback.

They have taken care of their business this year, Jordan.

But right now is when we can decide.

This is a good thing about football and sports.

Like we could speculate are the Broncos are for real or not.

All right, at Baltimore, at Kansas City.

Let's see where you're at in two weeks.

There you go.

I know.

I love this so much over the next two weeks for them because, yes, you guys are all right.

Like, we aren't, people aren't talking enough about specifically, in my opinion, the Broncos defense.

Our colleague Larry Holder puts, like I said last week, puts together the stat packs for us every week via True Media, helped out with this one for me.

Best statistical eight-game start to a season for the Denver Broncos defense in terms of EPA per play and in terms of creating either negative or neutral plays or turnovers in the last 25 years.

This defense is so badass.

And I just love that Vance Joseph really took a really long look at this group at the language that they were using to install and progress in the teaching and to like continue to have this continuity in certain ways and then add and subtract in other ways.

And like really just, I love a sort of a comeback story like this in such a dominant fashion.

And I love that they're going to be tested against these two offenses.

This is, to me, is a much bigger test than even Kansas City will be because Baltimore, I've used this word again today.

Baltimore is a wagon in every way on offense.

They are so fun to watch play.

And so they're going to need every bit of this historic defense to try to counter what Lamar Jackson, Derrick Henry, and company can do.

Last note on the Broncos defense, defense, this via Jeff Legwald of ESPN.

The Broncos have 12 players with at least half of a sack and the highest pass rush win rate in the league, 55.8%.

So they get to the quarterback.

They have the best cornerback in the league.

This is a team top to bottom on defense that gives teams hell.

Well, here's the big test.

Let's take a break.

And when we get back,

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This is why you got to watch the YouTube show.

So all season, Jordan Rodriguez has been pulling her earbuds out for the gravy boat because she's disturbed by the sounds Justin makes.

And

credit to Gravedigger, because it's Halloween, he came up with, what do you call that, Justin?

The graveyard.

The graveyard.

And now Jordan's like, okay, no gravy boat boat this week.

And it sounds like it's just a regular Halloween bit.

Oh, but no, it got creepy and weird.

And you didn't get those earbuds out in time.

I feel violated.

Like Sally.

All right, let's get to it.

Me and Sally need to make a report to HR.

Yes, you do.

Into the gravyyard.

All right, we'll start with Commanders at Giants.

Fresh off the Hale, Maryland.

The Commanders sit atop the NFC East with a chance to strengthen their lead in this divisional matchup with the Giants.

A fun storyline here.

The two most exciting players in this game were teammates last year at LSU.

Jaden Daniels, obviously, for Washington and Malik Neighbors for New York.

How about that, Mark?

Your thoughts on this one?

I really, well, we forked the Giants.

You know, I want to see how Washington responds.

I think it's so interesting because they've grown up up so quickly with a new coaching staff, a new quarterback, a ton of new veteran players on both sides of the ball.

It's like they're going through this journey for the first time, unlike so many winning teams.

And I think they're to be taken very seriously.

And I was trying to compare them to like, I'm not calling them the, like the 1999 or the Rams.

I'm not calling them the first Court Warner Rams team because that was a different type of offensive juggernaut.

But that all happened coming off like a five-win season, too.

And so I want to see how Washington, each week it's like, how do you respond?

How do you respond to what happened last week?

Because it had to be for each of those players, for the coaches, for the city, and what's happened in the last week.

The biggest sports high that you can imagine in DC,

I went to school at American University and the Redskins were the team then and they stunk.

And the Commanders have mostly stunk and it's been so long.

Like, how do you respond to what is really a civic wild moment?

I think it's more of a, it's a bigger story than just the matchup because I think you can go beat the Giants.

That's not an issue.

They're a little bit spicy.

But what does the next step look like for Washington?

Do they come out as consistent?

It's kind of crazy that last Sunday morning, we didn't know if Jaden Daniels was even going to play.

Right.

And, you know, I was, speaking of college, I was boots on the ground in Boston when the Patriots dynasty took off in the early 2000s.

And as fans up there, like I'm sure Commanders fans now, there is this like,

is this really happening to us?

Like when we've been downtrodden for decades and all of a sudden, are we the big bad kids on the block?

It's got to be, I'd love to feel that feeling one day myself as a fan, but it's got to be one of the best fan feelings to actually realize and knock on wood because Washington fans thought this about RG3 once upon a time, but to start to realize, wait, we're not the also ran anymore.

We're actually like the center of the football world.

And on the flip side of that, their division rival, the Giants, who lost another game on Monday night, can you just flash this tweet up, Justin?

And I don't want to, I'm not picking on Daniel Jones because he's not the worst quarterback in the league, but he's very clearly not a guy or the guy.

This is the game-ending interception.

Tim Holt on Twitter sent this out where you have two guys crossing underneath.

And yes, check it out on YouTube.

This pass ended with a game ceiling interception.

And it's like, go find a guy.

And I know he had pressure coming in his face at the end of this play, but go find a guy who can make the plays that Jaden Daniels makes.

Oh, and oh, by the way, not to dwell on it, but if you don't have your little Tommy DeVito moment last year, Jaden Daniels is probably making those plays at the Meadowlands.

But listen, we're a Tiffany franchise.

A little petty, but yeah.

Something that's irritating, too, about the Daniel Jones situation is that Brian Daybull is actually building in pressure answers into the offense, but literally Daniel Jones is not moving them to where they need to be.

On the strip sack by TJ Watt near the end of the game.

He was supposed to move Theo Johnson to help chip and not let Watt basically get to him clean and free.

And he didn't move him because he was focusing on other stuff.

That's just like the Daniel Jones story, in my opinion.

And it's irritating because this keeps happening.

Those types of plays, like what was just shared out, I understand that there was pressure coming at him on that play, like you said, Dan.

But again,

there are answers that are being schemed into the equation for him.

And he's just missing answers on the test.

And I think that the Giants are a mess.

I love their rookie class.

I think there's some real bright spots.

I just to sorry, shameless plug.

I just had Brandon Brown, the assistant GM for next week's episode of the Play Callers, talking about what the future could potentially look like.

There are bright spots within this organization, but if you can't fix your quarterback question, you have nothing.

And so that's what's, and we've seen, and we see that on the other side.

Every team, it feels like week after week, so many of these teams that the commanders are playing, they exist as a reminder of what happens when you get the answer right at quarterback.

And about the hype and the buzz about the commanders, I love Jaden Daniels, how calm he is, how after that Hail Maryland, like he just did not even blink an eye.

He was so even.

He just, it was almost like, dude, did you see what you just did?

It was incredible.

And you could see his teammates, like they just wanted to be close to him.

They wanted to be around him.

Bobby Wagner and Frankie Luvu waited for him on the edge of his post-game field interview to congratulate, to be near him.

For Bobby Wagner to show that respect to you, I mean, I think this is a very inside-out organization.

And I have, I, I, I know that there's a lot of excitement and buzz growing on the outside, but I don't think it'll, it'll rattle these guys on the inside at all.

Next.

Next, Cowboys at Falcons.

The Cowboys somehow avoided a forking on Wednesday's show.

Not blaming anyone, Dan.

But can they avoid dropping a third

game?

Can they avoid dropping a third straight game in this contest with the Falcons?

Dallas hasn't won at home this season, but they are 3-1 on the road.

This is a backs against the wall, wounded animal situation, and the Cowboys could get Micah Parsons back.

But all in all, I think this game with the Falcons could just be a race to 30 points.

Mike,

I need.

I put myself out there, and I have no problem.

If you veto in our stick a fork in them segment, a team, and they go on to, yes, flatline and miss the playoffs, I will donate to charity, and I'll have no problem doing it.

But at the same time, I'm rooting hard for the Cowboys to make me look good, but it's got to start here.

This is a Falcons team that might have a winning record, but are not a dominant team by any stretch.

You got to get this dub in Atlanta.

Yeah, I feel like how you view my faith, which has since fallen off in the Jets, is probably how I'm looking at you right now wanting to believe in this iteration of the Dallas Cowboys.

There's just nothing to believe in.

You know, this year,

previous years, perhaps, but even last year, their defense was playing with fire because everyone on their defense weighed as much as I do, which is an issue when you need to stop the run.

See, I just don't believe in the way Dallas is constructed.

I feel like Mike McCarthy is probably going to take a lot of bullets, you know, when this is all said and done.

Same thing with Dak.

That's just kind of how it goes with the nature of the...

of the beast, but this really feels like a roster construction issue.

And a lot of what's going on is predictable losing micah really stunk you know you can't really account for that but just the way they were even with micah they were getting run all over uh i do think there should be though a lot of points in this game because the falcons defense is just

it's just dysfunctional oh you can just move the ball on them just pretty easy whether you score or not it's kind of up to you and your competence but you can just move the the rock on them kirko chains although on the other side can move the ball on you whoever you are uh for the most part like he's playing really well when there's not people right at his feet feet.

So getting Micah back would be huge because when you put any, and you just breathe on Kirk Cousins, if there's pressure over there, he might just fall down or throw the ball in the dirt.

And that's going to be Dallas' only hope.

I like Atlanta in this one.

And then, yeah, I think the Cowboys should absolutely be forked.

I'm with Justin.

They probably should have been forked after the Niners lost, but it's okay if it's delayed a week because they would get to 500 if they won.

But they should absolutely be forked with a loss here.

Give me, you got to get me this W, Dallas.

And the Atlanta pass rush is historically bad.

So I'm banking on Dak setting up.

And then that CeeDee Lamb monster fourth quarter.

Maybe he's about to go on one of those hot streaks.

And then maybe down the line, obviously you get back Micah and away we go.

One last note before we move.

This is from David Lombardi on Twitter.

49ers Cowboys was Sunday Night Football's most watched week eight game ever per MDC.

Of course it was.

Peaking at 26.4 million viewers.

So people that don't understand why the Cowboys are always in primetime no matter what, that's why the Cowboys are always in primetime.

And Cowboys fans that worry that the Cowboys as an organization have lost the plot and they see themselves as a huge success despite having no chips or no Super Bowl appearances in a quarter century.

Well, because they are a massive financial success.

It's just not on the field.

Next.

Next, Raiders at Bengal.

Cincinnati was the biggest faller in the latest edition of the HTC power rankings, dropping eight spots from number 11 last week to number 19 this week.

Luckily for them, they get a forked opponent in Las Vegas in week nine.

The Bengals absolutely need a win to keep their playoff hopes alive.

While is it too early to say Antonio Pierce might be coaching for his job?

Mark?

Well, I was someone that put the Bengals up as a forked candidate and was rejected, but I kind of view them.

Soundly rejected.

Soundly rejected.

And I get it because

you've got a top-five quarterback playing like a top-five quarterback.

And so there was a bit of anti-logic there.

I just think they've got to start stacking wins immediately.

I view them the way I do with the Dolphins, but they're in a better spot.

They're not going to Buffalo.

They're playing the Raiders, who are a hot mess.

The Raiders right now

are running the ball at a pace that is the

second worst for that team in this century.

And, you know, I guess that's a bit of an outlier stat, except you see it on the field.

You don't have the quarterback that can carry you.

You've got problems.

You've flip-flopped quarterbacks.

Your Your coach is going to make on a weekly basis one decision that we talk about on our show every Sunday night.

That's a bit of a liability.

And you can't, like, if anything, if you had a ground and pound type offense where you can support the lack of talent around you, that's fine.

But it's like Max Crosby on defense and very little else.

And so, Bengals, you've got to take care of this.

And I think you need to take care of it with authority.

You need to show us who you really are.

And you need to go on the run that we expect you.

This is the one team that gets a free pass for for starting slow for starting in a slumber through all of september and i find that to be ridiculous that they get a free pass for that i don't know if they get a free pass but it is just the reality of the situation this is what they've done but they haven't heated up this year and that's why there's cause for panic in the streets of cincinnati next

next patriots at titans it's a fork off Drake May is working through the concussion protocol, but could return this week.

Will Levis also has a chance to return this week.

I really hope they both play because I can't imagine a more boring game than Jacoby Brissette against Mason Rudolph.

Loser of this game will have a firm grasp on the number two overall pick.

Titans, please do not win.

Justin, do you know I was watching the World Series this week, and in the middle of the World Series, Yankees versus Dodgers, millions and millions of people watching.

They cut to a mayonnaise commercial with Will Levis doing the splits.

Like, I know we've hit on this, but like,

it's crazy that that commercial is still in rotation.

That's all I have on this game.

It is.

I mean, who cares about either?

Neither of these two team seasons are going anywhere.

Both of them are.

Well, wait a second.

The Patriots.

I saw a report out there that the Patriots are maybe looking to add pieces at the deadline, spurred on by the

victory over the Jets.

And I say, as someone who doesn't need the Patriots to be good ever again, yes, mortgage the future to try to make the playoffs this year.

Go for it, New England.

Yeah, that would really surprise me if that actually happened because, like, a week ago, Jared Mayo was like, call us, take, take some people away from us.

You know, so I would be surprised.

I do, I will say quickly.

Yeah, well, I thought of you, Dan, last week because that was the Patriots Super Bowl.

And yeah, so sorry about that.

Oh, no, that's cool.

Literally, they couldn't even Josh Uche, by the way.

They did.

So that's a little conflicting.

The fact that I thought I was done with having to see Robert Kraft and his friggin' son, like, you know, smugly patting each other on the back.

Like, enough of that.

And old man, take the Nikes off.

Next.

Next, Chargers at Browns.

This one, there's one obvious storyline here.

That's the Jameis Renaissance.

And why not Jameis Winston?

I mean, come on, we're seeing it all over the league.

Sam Darnold, Baker Mayfield, Geno Smith, former top pick QBs.

Well, Geno was second rounder, but former top pick QBs finding success in new homes.

However, this is a tougher matchup against the Chargers defense.

The Chargers play a very gritty brand of harball.

Can they keep up, though, with the Forest City Gunslinger?

That's my new nickname for Jameis Winston.

Okay, we'll work on that one.

Dugar?

Yeah, I enjoyed Jameis kind of soft-launching his mega church.

Yeah, he's definitely like preparing unwavering faith.

Man, that was just, you put that on the t-shirt, man.

That was, that was, that was genius.

That white boy from Detroit in the post-game reference to Eminem.

It was just, yeah,

he was on fire.

He was almost on fire in front of the microphones more than he was torching the Ravens defense, which couldn't be, I think, we talk about like teams far away from each other in the power rankings of record.

The Ravens defense versus the Chargers defense is about as wide a gap as you're going to get from one week to the next.

The Ravens are completely dysfunctional, and the Chargers are like a well-oiled machine on defense, at least with Jay Herbo, their quarterback, playing really well.

I think this is not officially on my parlay for the week, but like Jameis, anytime interception feels like such a lock this week.

He threw three passes to Ravens defenders on Sunday.

And I think the Chargers, DBs, if they're not on the jugs machines right now, they're doing something wrong because this is their chance to kind of close the door on Jameis' megachurch for a week.

Mark, Jameis Winston, according to our buddy Andrew Ceciliano, the voice of the Browns, Jameis Winston said he has not heard from Eminem since Sunday's viral post-game interview, if you were wondering.

I was wondering.

And I texted Andrew this week because his job went from, I thought, a tough assignment dealing with the previous quarterback to something very joyful.

And his call at the end of that game was one of the great radio play-by-play jobs that I've heard.

And we love Andrew.

Yes, next.

Next.

Saints.

Keep it going, Browns.

Let's get weird.

Yes.

Saints at Panthers.

Derek Carr is practicing, which could take the Saints from dumpster fire disaster to somewhat watchable.

But having just traded Deontay Johnson, Deontay Johnson, the recently forked Carolina Panthers have sort of waved the white flag on this season.

So will, can, the Saints finally end their six-game losing streak?

Hmm, interesting.

Now, this is a sad matchup, Jordan.

What does Mike say?

The game pass, straight-to-game pass game.

This is a similar vibe, although I do think you're setting yourself up if you're New Orleans for one last sort of desperation surge with Derek Carr if he gets back at the wheel.

But they were starting to fall off offensively, even with Derek Carr healthy right before he got hurt.

So still a concern there.

Carolina's defense is shockingly bad.

It's not enough that their offense is not good.

Their defense has also been shockingly bad.

So the combination is just chaos over there right now, in my mind.

Big changes are going to have to be on the horizon,

probably in more ways than one in the offseason.

You know, like I once did

mushrooms in Boulder, Colorado,

like up on the mountain peak.

Yeah, well,

you know, you go above the tree line.

I just took a nap above the tree line and I spoke to God and it was like, that's what it's like playing the Colorado Panthers.

What did Carolina have to say?

Well, yes, that's true.

But that's what it's like playing the Carolina Panthers, I think.

Everything kind of becomes right for a Sunday.

So the Clint Kubiak thought pieces have died, but he'll probably look good this Sunday.

All right, next.

All right, next.

I have been digging around in the graveyard here, and it's like just all these teams we've left for dead.

Get it?

Because it's a graveyard.

But here we go.

I'm gonna shovel.

I'm digging.

Yeah, I'm digging up here.

I'm just dug up a good matchup.

Oh my God, it's Bears at Cardinals.

Another showdown between top rookies here.

Caleb Williams on one side facing off with Marvin Harrison Jr.

on the other.

But how will the Bears bounce back after losing on that Hail Mary?

Or on the other side, can the Cardinals win three games in a row for the first time since they opened the 2021 season with seven straight wins?

They have a chance to do it here.

Mike, I call this the inconsistency bowl because we got the Bears who came back from the bye and the offense with Shane Walgreen went in the tank against the Cardinals who have been famously hot and cold this year.

A lot of ceiling with these two teams, but the floor is pretty low too.

So

I have no idea what we get here for what it's worth.

It's number 17 Bears and number 14 Cardinals in the power rankings of record.

Yeah, I think the Cardinals' inconsistency, at least on offense, you know, I talked about their defense.

They just don't have the horses to be consistent, which is, that's fine.

They've been bad for a while.

But on offense, I feel like they're still trying to figure out what they want to be.

They use this really high pick on Marvin Harrison Jr., but they're not building their passing game around him the way the Giants have with Malik Neighbors.

You just see the difference.

The talent gap isn't that wide to me, if there is one at all.

But they're clearly building things to make Malik the focal point, whereas they're just like, oh, well, Marvin, you're the Z on this play.

We'll get to you if the Reed's there, you know.

I'm not judging that, it's just an observation, uh, per se.

And I think that does lead to inconsistency.

Then you see James Conner run the ball hard as hell, and you're like, huh, maybe that guy should be part of our identity, perhaps, you know.

Um, so I can see why they're in this weird space.

Uh, credit to the Bears, though.

I think they were as advertised on defense, other advertised coming in, it's like their defense is gonna be nails, and they've been really solid.

You know, I've been really impressed whenever I get a chance to turn on the film of that side of of the ball, you know, Hail Maryland notwithstanding.

Of course, I really like this matchup.

I think it's at the same time of Jordan and I's game, so I won't get to watch live, but this will be one of the games.

This is not an NBA League pass game.

I do think this should be.

This is almost as close to must-see, I think.

And last thing, just the Bears.

Man,

that's tough.

They're in the best division in football, man.

They can't afford to be giving up games on Hail Marys, particularly NFC games, too.

That was just a mess all around.

So for their sake and for them being relevant in the conference, I hope they can bounce back and win this.

Because if not, with how the rest of the teams in the conference is looking, they could be just dead in the water by like week 10 or something.

And one little tag, because famously, Bears cornerback Tyreek Stevenson was taunting Commanders fans on the sideline and, you know, got a late start on the Hail Mary.

He was also the one that, you know, tipped the ball accidentally to

the receiver for the touchdown.

He apologized to the team this week, which led led to a lot of tweets congratulating Tyreek Stevenson on being so mature and owning up to his mistakes.

And I guess that's cool.

That's good.

I'm glad he did that.

But always weird when all of a sudden now he's just getting showered with praise.

I guess it's a roundabout way to end up being told what a great guy you are.

I'm going to try something like that this week.

I haven't decided what I'll do.

That is a classic.

Like, Dan, knowing you for over a decade, like, that's the, like, the minute I saw that starting to bubble up, it's like, that is absolutely going to be on Dan's solar radar.

Like, he's not going to love that.

And I'm with you.

And

What an incredible show of character by Tyreek Stevenson.

All right.

Let's just move on, okay?

All right.

Yes.

He learned from a mistake.

I know.

I'm just saying.

Like, can we just say?

I'm not going to be the opposite of you on this, Dan, as the golden retriever of the group.

All right.

Go ahead, Justin.

One more.

What an amazing.

I like crows.

Oh, that's true.

That's true.

It's Halloween.

Crows seem like they're part of the.

Jaguars at Eagles.

The Eagles are hitting their stride as we reach the mid-season point here.

The Jaguars just got forked, so that's the opposite of hitting your stride.

But Travis Etienne may be back this week.

Although, is that good?

Is that good for the Jags offense?

Tank Bigsby has been so impressive.

Like, Travis Etienne, who cares?

It doesn't matter.

The Eagles should be able to flex their style of play here against a very bad defense.

The Jags are allowing the second highest EPA per play in the league.

Mark, I saw you shaking your head.

I think, of course, it helps.

Tanks Bigsby has been great, but Atien would add an element to that offense.

They could both be on the field at the same time, too.

I don't know.

Seems to be.

They can, but I think Bigsby, like, you know, so last year this wasn't the case, but when you make him the primary runner, he is forcing missed tackles at the second highest rate among any running back in the league.

He looks the part.

And so I kind of, that's why I mentioned Travis Etienne is like, you know, this is a seller team potentially.

They wanted to move Christian Kirk before he got hurt.

I would maybe trade Travis Etienne.

I really think Trent Tank Bigsby is a lead back.

This is a bad offense.

They were one for nine on third downs against Green Bay.

That's a good defense, obviously.

But I think we might get the firing that we expected

one of these weeks soon.

And the Eagles, Jordan, have really played well lately.

Yeah, they have, and their defense is starting to come together just like I really hoped it would because, you know, Vic Fangio, me and Mark are on the Fangio system team still there.

The DBs, I want to credit Christian Parker and Joe Casper because the defensive backs look ready to go, even backups.

And I wanted to float a nickname by you guys for Cooper Degine now that he's playing really well in that sort of star hybrid role.

You guys let me know what you think about this.

Because I just think it in my head every single time I see him make a play, that tackle in the flat was outstanding in open space.

What do you guys think about DeGene Parmesan?

I love a good deal.

I love the rest of the development reference.

Well, what about the like, all right, because I was thinking for some reason, I don't know why

white chocolate came to mind.

All right.

White chocolate chill.

There you go.

But what about, all right, so, because he's like the first white cornerback in like 30 years.

What about we combine those, and it's Degene Alfredo?

I don't know.

Just throwing it out there.

Ooh.

Parmesan cheese is rather pale, Dan.

That was accounted for in the nickname.

Oh, shit.

Okay.

All right.

All right.

And I'm with you.

It's a pale cheese.

It's a pale cheese.

That sounds like a drop, too.

I don't know why.

All right.

That's it.

That's it for the gravy yard.

Great job, Justin.

As always, we'll be right back checking in with Money Mike and then making our fearless predictions.

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Ah, welcome back and happy Halloween once again.

Mark, some

upsetting news came down the pike this week

that the Kelsey brothers, of course, Travis and Jason,

who in addition to being football stars or former football stars also are podcast stars,

they have been named People's Sexiest Podcast Hosts of 2024,

which was obviously a setback for Heed the Call with Dan Hanses and Mark Sessler to present a dissenting opinion.

Ricky Hollywood.

Hey, boys, it's Ricky.

Just have some bad news I wanted to leave with you guys.

Unfortunately, the Kelsey brothers have been named People's Sexiest Podcast Hosts of 2024.

And I was just curious if you guys also submitted.

I mean, with Dan's hair and,

well, his hair and Mark's feminine Hollywood Boulevard energy, I swear it should have been you guys.

Miss you so much.

If it was up to me, you would be the sexiest podcast host of 2024.

But there's always 2025.

Oh, wait, is like Mark 50 yet?

Okay.

I thought this was a dissenting opinion.

Yeah, well, no, she's seen, it's pretty clear who she voted for.

I will, I don't live far from Ricky Hollywood.

I know where she goes out at nights.

I will find her and have a word with her.

What did she say?

Feminine Hollywood Boulevard energy.

I didn't get that.

I'm not trying to admit that, Aura.

Be careful in your approach, Mark, because me and Sally are already conversing on some issues.

So,

you know, that's a fair point.

I I would say, you know,

we're less than a year removed from our previous podcast.

We went to Austin, Texas

for the Podcast of the Year award, which feels like a total sham at this point.

I felt like it was for our middle managers just to simply get a trip to Texas.

That's what I, because it was in the bag that we were not going to win.

We thought we might have a chance, but we lost to the Kelsey brothers, if I'm not mistaken, and Shannon Sharp.

And we were like, I mean, that was a long shot.

To lose this way, too, I don't agree.

I think actually, my thought is that Jason is much more preferable than Travis.

I think Jason is sort of like a Burley Woods man that, like, um, you could see, like, marrying, like, Travis giving a break with Travis.

So,

I don't know if I want to put that on the public record, but you just did.

Yeah, delivering that feminine Hollywood energy in a big spot.

All right, let's check in with Money Mike Dugar, who always is bringing his

hot takes and hot picks.

Should we look at last week?

Yeah, let's check out how he did last week

with his five-team tees.

We call it the Greg Olson three-legged tees plus two.

So three for five, that's profitable.

It's pretty good.

60% hit rate.

A kicker in Tampa Bay or Atlanta going over one and a half field goals felt like a lock.

Neither kicker did it.

Young Wei Ku missed.

one of his two field goals or he would have hit it.

Joe Burrow hit his alt passing yards line of 225 plus.

Lamar Jackson over 263 passing plus rushing yards.

He had 289 passing alone, so that's a win.

Hunter Henry beat his 32.5 receiving yards line up to 45 receiving yards.

So three wins there.

But unfortunately, Tyreek Hill only had 72 receiving yards and zero rushing yards.

So he did not go over 86.5 rush plus receiving yards.

All right, Mike.

I'm sorry, three out of five is not good enough.

We're going to have to hit you with the sting drop penalty for your percentage this week.

I apologize.

I love sping.

I love sting drops.

I had too much faith.

Oh my god, I hate that drop.

I had too much faith in the homie Young way, man.

I thought that 54-yard.

He's been a little touch and go at times this year, Youngway.

He's had some big kicks also, but yeah.

Yeah, that was unfortunate.

What do you got this week?

I'll keep it to three this week.

I don't have any player props this week.

We'll just go with some spreads that I like.

Well, at least one money line.

Bills minus six or six and a half.

Doesn't matter.

I've seen it different in different places.

Chargers spread as well.

And we'll go Eagles money line.

Those are the three locks I love for the week.

If you want to make money,

get on it.

All right.

Now, moving on.

As we always close the show with Fearless Predictions, let's check in with last week's Fearless Predictions and see how we all did.

All right, starting with Michael Sean Dugar.

There are six teams getting five-plus points spread-wise.

At least four of them will cover.

Oh, yeah.

I forget who they all were at the moment.

I think.

Okay, yeah, go ahead.

He had Cleveland plus nine.

Okay, first of all, clarification.

I'm using the point spreads at the time of our last Thursday show.

These lines did move a little bit, and I'm not sure you would have hit this if you go with the closing lines, but it's fine.

Let's just keep.

We're trying to bring the show into a close.

We don't need to go to the next one.

Okay, okay, okay.

Cleveland plus nine.

They won outright.

New England plus seven.

They won outright.

Vegas plus ten.

They covered.

Colts plus five and a half.

They covered.

There's four of your eight.

All right.

Mike is in first place in this halfway through.

The Gravedigger Raiders upset the Chiefs with three-plus touchdowns from Gardner Mean Chu.

Sorry, buddy, that did not work out.

The Zuzzer Jets get double-digit win in New England.

Garrett and Devontae go over 200 yards combined.

And can I reiterate,

I feel so sorry for Jets fans and what they have to go through.

Like, it cannot be easy to go through life as a Jets fan, and I just pull for you guys to one day get your own Jaden Daniels.

Jordan Rodriguez, two games decided by a game-winning kick, both

46 yards or longer.

Were there any?

There were two games decided by game-winning kick zero of the distance.

Oh, yeah.

You had some chippies.

Sorry, Jordan.

And the cess dog, a little bit of controversy, sess.

You weren't here for last Thursday's show.

Oh, I heard about it.

Yeah, I'm sure you did.

No one told you.

Nobody was supposed to tell you anything.

Yeah, nobody was supposed to.

No, I heard about it just from the public.

No, we told the public not to say anything so you would learn about it on today's show.

Well, I strongly disagree because

when I brought up the change in play calling duties slash assistant coach situation,

we talked about a shift in play calling duties being something that

you would all smile favorably upon.

So I, you know, then I catch COVID and like a bunch of nonsense happens while I'm

absent on a couch asleep.

That's a tough break, but what about this week?

Well, it happened this week.

An NFL single-game record of some variety is broken.

Do you have any idea, Mark?

Like, you're thinking we're being unfair by not giving you the Fakacta one last week?

There are like 400 NFL records broken like every week.

Every week.

I'll share just a few.

Jordan was nice enough to dig it up because the NFL sends out documents just explaining all the different records.

Not to do that.

Jordan, do you want to do it?

Jordan, give us some records that were set in week eight.

Okay, let me on the spot here.

Okay.

Malik Neighbors, he became the third player in the Super Bowl era with 40-plus receptions in his first six career games.

Uh, Bo Nicks passed Drew Locke and Hall of Famer John Elway for the most wins by a rookie-starting quarterback in Broncos history.

Um, let's see, let's see.

Uh, Matthew Stafford passed Dan Marino for the ninth most completions in NFL history.

Do you need me to continue?

Yeah, well, get the gist.

I will, I will backmark up a little bit because he specifically said a single game record is broken.

Not most in NFL history, not careers.

Not a stat compiler type

deal.

What was the single game?

So I'll read it to you.

Dan Rolofsky tweeted this out.

You can read it yourself.

But, okay, a team that scored 20-plus points, didn't turn it over, allowed fewer than 250 yards.

In NFL history, teams are 750 and 1, including playoffs, when generating that box score.

The only loss

was the Jets against the Patriots.

Last week, a single game record was set.

A mind-altering, hallucinogenic-type stat was set last week.

Is this you lashing out, Mark?

Yeah, no, I think the thing is, I didn't only nail it.

I mean, it was like prophetic.

Think how niche you had to go there,

how many layers there were to get to that being an NFL record.

It was

literally

a niche.

Oh, the Jets will show you.

I will push back on Mark now after defending him a second ago.

A single game record, when you think about it, you're thinking, like, oh, most receiving yards in a game, most passing touchdowns in a game.

This is ridiculous.

That's what you're thinking about, but this is this, this is a single game record.

Listen, all actually, this is more, this is more, because that's, I knew this was gonna, like, some running back running for like more than you'd think, like, that's one thing.

This 750 times in history,

and then we gave it this game goes in the, and I know, but it's like, and all, and all the Mark Parrotheads out there are gonna, you know, you know, put you up on their shoulders, and so we're not taking it away from you.

But just all I'm gonna say is this week, you better come with like a prediction that is rock solid give us something

go ahead start all right well so this week my my fearless prediction is that we will get and this does not happen it's very rare um we get a shutout that was very trumpy by the way I didn't try I didn't try

it's very rare we get a shutout

zero points for one team a team gets shut out okay I like that and there's no way to misinterpret or you know find a way to manipulate yeah that's good all right Jordan you yeah I know you guys were really excited about National Tight Ends Day last week or National Tight Ends Week or whatever the hell it was.

It was the week of the tight end touchdown.

I'll continue the tight end annoyance by saying two tight ends go over 100 yards this weekend.

Two, huh?

Dose, two.

We good with that?

Two?

That feels a little.

Well, what's the norm?

I don't think it's happened once this year.

I don't think it's happened yet.

This season

touchdowns.

Is that really true?

Even last week, where they had like the big tight end week.

It just touchdowns.

Yeah.

Wow, unbelievable.

All right.

how about money mike

all right this week i am going with over

uh continuing the money mike theme uh there we're going with an over over 700 total rushing yards by quarterbacks uh in week nine uh for those curious uh that has only happened it happened the first two weeks of the season and has not happened since over 700 yards rushing combined by quarterbacks that includes Neil Downs as well.

I know that's going to impact the total, which it does every week.

It usually accounts for about on average, just doing some napkin math, about 30-ish yards per week, is usually what kneel downs account for it.

But still, even with those, we're going over 700 this week.

I like it.

Justin.

All right.

I have Joe Flacco continues to impress, throws for another 300-yard game and leads the Colts to victory over the Vikings.

And I,

and this wasn't planned, have the same exact prediction as Justin Graver.

We are Lockbros this week.

I have also

the Joe Flacco-led Colts.

They get a 300-yard passing game from their quarterback, and they beat the Vikings on the road in prime.

Wait, you both wrote the same exact sentence?

That's kind of effed up.

Mind-melled.

It's a bit of a paranormal scenario on this Halloween.

How about that?

And we hope everyone has a happy Halloween.

Thank you for checking out the show.

And remember, the Friday morning draft of the games that we will cover on Sunday is on Patreon on Friday morning.

Speaking of Patreon, the trade deadline live stream also on election day.

So I guess we're trying to get a piece of that election day action too.

But I, you know, I already, I took advantage of the early voting period personally.

So my schedule is clear for next Tuesday.

How about you, Mark?

It's not clear, but I'll handle my business on the day that it's that people, someone will be elected.

Excellent.

Excellent.

And on Sunday, we'll recap every game that we just previewed.

Thank you to everybody.

Thank you to Mike and Jordan.

And until next time, do what you must.

Heed the call.

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