NFL Week 8 Preview!!

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The Heat the Call podcast

can throw a spiral.

Well, one of them can.

I'll let you figure out who that is.

Pure athleticism.

Dan Hands is here.

He the Call

with Mark Sessler, but not Mark Sessler today.

Mark feeling under the weather.

So we will dive into the, or maybe he's working on a spiral.

See, I'm still not saying who it is.

I get the fucking spiral.

The week eight preview.

Joining us, Jordan Rodrigue, Michael Schondugar of the Athletic Gravedigger, chiming in out of that boat, that soggy boat.

And here we go.

What's up, gang?

Hey, Dan.

It's a...

We've got some a bit teetering toward unhinged energy from you today, and I love it.

So we're going to get rolling.

You say that quite often.

Do you find that I am like kind of an untethered personality?

Or like, what is what I sometimes, you know, when people are like,

they say something and then you go, haha, and then you think about it later in the day?

It's like Jordan seems every week to go like, wow, Dan, you seem a little fing crazy today.

So this should be an interesting show.

Like, maybe I just like it.

I teeter toward dark chaos myself.

So

it actually grounds me in a way when, when you sort of teeter to that direction as well good and michael sean dugar i think that's one of the the many things he brings to this show just

he just got a like a cool demeanor you know like a young billy d williams vibe mike dugar what's up

oh what's going on man i'm feeling feeling good feeling you know what i'm talking about see how mike brings everything into like a place where we need to be

I'm feeling feeling very good this week.

So let's roll.

I think you have the right to feel that way.

Thanks, Mark.

Mark Bots here.

Okay, so we're not completely

without Mark.

Well, I like to lie a lot too.

He said he's ill.

I believe him.

I believe him.

He's great.

I don't know what to do at the open of a show, you know?

Like, what do I do with my hands?

It's nice to be here.

So far, so good.

A little bit, you know.

This is a big one.

This is a beefy show.

I know we are entering week eight, and you think there's going to be bye weeks in the middle of the season, but not this week.

So we're going to get to all the teams.

Obviously, a little later tonight, we're going to recap the first game of the week, which involves a certain person's team that they cover, Jordan Rodrigue and the Rams taking on who?

The Minnesota Vikings.

So make sure you check out that recap a little later tonight.

I don't know who I'll be

doing it with, but we'll be doing it.

So check that out.

But let's get into it, gang, and let's start, as we always do, with the primetime games outside the Thursday window.

And this one is fascinating to me.

The number 20 Dallas Cowboys in the power rankings, the HTC power rankings, the power rankings of record.

At the number nine San Francisco 49ers, Niners laying four and a half points of wood here.

And I feel like this is a game, Michael Sean Dugar, for two teams that really need a win.

I always like that.

Two teams that are a little bit,

I would say the Cowboys are closer to desperate straits, but the Niners, I mean, they're one loss away from being there themselves.

So two teams, the Cowboys three and three coming off their bye, undefeated on the road, I should add, against a Niners team searching for it.

And of course, now without Brandon Ayuk, who is indeed out for the year after that terrible knee injury.

Yeah, as someone who watches, you know, I cover the Seahawks, and they haven't beaten.

The last time they beat the 49ers, Adrian Peterson was their starting running back, which kind of shows you how long it's been.

In Dallas, I don't know how many times they've lost to them in a row, but it feels like three, three in a row.

Does that include the playoff loss too?

Yep, postseason included.

Yeah.

Yeah, yeah.

Like, it's, and it's, it feels bad.

Like, there's something mental, it feels like, that

the Niners have over the Cowboys.

So, on top of needing a win just for the standings on both sides, I feel like this is the end of the movie where the kids are supposed to stand up for the bully or something like that.

And obviously, the Cowboys are the one trying to avoid getting stuffed into their locker.

They're not that good of a team, which is why they are, what is that, 20th in the power rankings of record?

They actually remind me of Seattle a little bit where their defense is shaky and then they just can't or won't run the ball.

And obviously that's a bad recipe.

And then you ask your quarterback to just do a bunch of superhuman stuff.

I like the Niners, even despite their injuries.

For that reason, I do feel like it's just mental for the Niners over the Cowboys.

Like, they just know we can come in here and punk you.

We turn our boom box up real loud we run onto the field and it just distorts your whole mind uh for dallas and then they end up getting beat up maybe they don't get blown out but it definitely feels like they're gonna get bullied again because it's mental

it's interesting these two teams to your point dan on feeling a little bit of desperation they feel that way because they're both on the verge of something with with the cowboys it's like we've been saying this all year the lame duck coaching staff and the team that just isn't looking innovative that didn't add things you've got the owner on the radio every single week, including this week, by the way, talking to the same host that he sort of belittled a couple of weeks ago

and saying flat out that he doesn't think that, that he thinks that we're designing bad plays or we're designing bad concepts, a notion that Mike McCarthy laughed about later in the week.

But this is also a 49ers team on the other side that's watching its Super Bowl window shrink closer and closer and closer.

And a lot of it is outside their control because of the amount of injuries that they've had.

Sounds like Debo Samuel, though, might be back this week.

He had pneumonia and was in the hospital, but he was back at practice this week.

And Kyle Shanahan, while he doesn't know whether or not any of us will be alive on Sunday, he does seem to know that Debo will be back in the mix this weekend.

Which is kind of predictable because Debo is a legend when it comes to being down on the field and writhing.

And you're like, oh, we'll see him again in maybe two years.

And then all of a sudden he misses one play and he's back on the field.

I feel like a hospital visit for Debo can produce a similar effect.

So going from laid up, getting IV fluids to on the field, that sounds within the range of outcomes that makes sense.

And listen, they need Debo Samuel.

And, you know, their offense has been

very hit or miss overall.

Not bad,

and also understanding that without Christian McCaffrey for the entire season, and we might get him back, we being the Niners, after the buy and fantasy owners,

and week 10.

So that's huge.

So it's like, kind of, can you hold down the fort?

I think this would be a huge win.

I expect the Niners to win the game, but I think if they can get back to 500, hit their buy, get healthy, maybe get CMC, I think you see that big Niners push that we all kind of have expected.

Jarrah, did he apologize to the radio guys?

He said, to my knowledge, reading the clips that came out of there, he said that they were lucky that he still came on the show.

Take that however you want.

I think on this one,

it's also the concepts thing was interesting because Jerry's watched really innovative teams just kick the shit out of his team a couple of times this year.

And this is also going to be regardless of the fact that San Francisco is missing a bunch of dudes.

Like it's still an innovative football team.

It's still an innovative offense, but I don't think they have to be against Dallas.

Dallas has a third worst total rush defense EPA in a seven game start in the past 10 seasons.

Their company is the 2022 Browns, not great.

2023 Panthers, not great.

And so you don't really have to complicate things against this Dallas defense right now, as shorthanded as they are.

You can just run it at them.

And Mike, if you can't stop the run and you can't run the football, not many teams are successful in our game.

You'll get your boots smoked

more often than not.

I also think that Shanahan, I trust Shanahan with his evil brain of like, I can design plays, particularly if he has time to account for who won't be there.

I think there's a very big difference.

I see this with linemen quite a bit, actually.

Like when a lineman goes down and a guy has to come in, the backup tends to stink.

And then if that backup has a whole week to know that he's going to start, he ends up being like much better.

Not just the Seahawks.

I just kind of see that across the league.

Same thing with like some play callers.

Like, yeah, if I lose Debo and Iuke and whoever mid-game, well, now I'm screwed, right?

But if I know all week that I have to have to design a bunch of plays for Juan Jennings or whatever, then he'll be much better, I think.

Which, again, with Dallas' defense, like Jordan said, they're just really stinky.

So, I think that'll be much easier to do now that you know, like, hey, Debo needs IVs all week.

We don't have IUK.

Let's design plays for the other guys, and whatever he designs should work against Dallas's defense.

Uh, Jerry Jones said Tuesday, probably on that radio interview, that linebacker Micah Parsons and cornerback Deron Bland would be game time decisions for this game.

Neither player practiced on Wednesdays as they worked with the rehab group.

I don't know what their practice uh situation was on today, Thursday's taping day, but probably right up against it.

And one more weird note before we move on.

Brendan Aubrey, the star kicker of the Cowboys, did not practice on Wednesday because of jury duty.

And I don't.

He's just like us.

Have you guys, you guys both covered teams for several years now?

Like,

have you ever seen that or heard of that?

I've never heard that.

If it's going to happen, though, it definitely is something that would happen to a kicker or a long snapper or something.

Like, I've never heard that in my 10 years covering the league though it might be mike it might be like the and we've all been there where you you get the form and then you say i'll push it back i'll push it back did he get did brandon aubrey get to the uh uncle sam was like hey uh do you want to be on the jury or do you want to go to jail maybe did he get that uh that note from sam i mean that could have happened wow i didn't i didn't know that till just now it's very funny i quite literally last night uh wrote a letter into the king county which is where seattle is district people because i got summoned for jury duty like and i was i'm trying to get out of it because i don't i don't want to do jury duty that was just yesterday though that's hilarious i i can't imagine that's so weird that's it honestly i wouldn't i wouldn't have expected a kicker or anyone in the nfl to to do that per se but that seems very like kyrie irvingish like to go like just dip ditch work to feel like you have to like fulfill some civic duty that he he would be the person i would pick to potentially do that if i had to pick a like a pro athlete to skip the workant um absolutely not, by the way.

No, I do not want Kyrie on my jury.

No flat earthers on my jury.

I have a

memory of the first time I ever did jury duty.

I was 20 years old and I was living in Boston going to Northeastern and they summons me and I'm sitting downtown in this courthouse and I'll never forget we had a trip to Cancun for spring break like two weeks later.

And I'm literally like, the P scale is 11 out of 10 because all I could think is, I'm going to get picked for jury duty and then miss my trip to Cancun with the fellas.

Not realizing in hindsight, like there is no jury that would ever take some like 20-year-old suburban kid from New York, some college kid, and like stick him in some type of grand jury or anything.

They were never going to pick me, and I wasn't picked.

But that was the scariest moment of my life to that point.

Cancun on the line in downtown Boston in a jury box.

Some real adversity there, Dan.

Some real adversity.

That's just like a peek behind the curtain of what I've overcome in my life.

Let's move on to the Monday night game.

The New York Giants, number 26 in the HTC power rankings, and that might be generous.

Travel to Pittsburgh to face the Steelers.

Steelers land six and a half here.

And listen.

It's crazy, Jordan, what happens in Sunday night football because the Jets were comfortably ahead, heading into the locker room with the the ball near midfield, getting the ball to start the third quarter.

But sometimes one play creates an avalanche, and the Rodgers interception

began a run of 31 straight points to blow out the Jets at home.

It felt like the good old days, if you were a Steelers fan, they're running the football.

Russell Wilson is giving them the opening up the offense like Mike Tomlin thought he could, and everything looked great.

And this feels like a really nice setup for the Steelers to continue to gain momentum against the Giants team that's totally lost.

Yeah, this, you know, we said this before, but usually when Mike Tomlin has decided to do something, at this point, we assume he knows something that we don't know or has seen something that we haven't seen, or there's some other layer to a situation that has prompted him to make that decision.

He's just one of those coaches who over his career has showed that he's earned the benefit of the doubt.

Now, I still raised my eyebrows at that change, especially at this point in the season.

But it also showed the Steelers, I think the duality of this move was not only to throw the ball around the yard a little bit more, a lot more in this case, and score points and those types of things, but also to show the Steelers what elements they still needed to add into their offense to become a complete team that maybe could be capable of being competitive down the stretch.

And in this case, they need more receivers.

And they've already been sniffing around the trade market for receivers.

And there's a lot of reports about this.

This is actually also a team that I would potentially keep an eye on when we're talking about the Cooper Cup trade conversation or we're talking about Mike Williams.

I would definitely keep an eye on them because they showed you, hey, okay, we can throw it.

Now we need a more complete set of skill players, a more complete set of pass catchers because they want to be as complete of a team as possible.

They've already got the guys on defense.

They've got the run game.

They think they have the quarterback at this point.

We'll see if he gets streaky down the stretch.

But now it's about building out the rest of the room that they're going to need to lean on if they are going to have Russell Wilson at quarterback.

Yeah, I actually, I never really doubted Mike Tomlin on that.

I just always felt like Russell Wilson throws the ball better than Justin Fields.

So it was like, the math was kind of simple for me on that.

And you can kind of see the element that he brings with the offense.

He just makes them, you know, more dynamic.

You just got to guard more of the field, I feel like.

You know, he, Justin, obviously runs it better, but that's just not a sustainable way of getting down.

You're going to have to be able to throw the ball effectively.

And I don't even think Russ is like super great like that.

But again, I do think that was the right call.

Shout out to Russ.

Post-game, he got asked to give basically another like slogan.

You know, he had the Gohawks thing in Seattle, and then he had the, what was the Broncos one?

It was awful.

It was Broncos, Broncos Country.

Yeah, Broncos Country Let's Ride, which is just completely awful.

I checked with my Denver homies like as soon as he first time he said it, and I was like, is that a thing?

And like, everyone was like, no, that's, that's not a thing.

No one does that.

So he got asked for a new one since it was his first game with the Steelers.

And he was just like, yeah, let's wait till the end, which is probably knowing Russ, probably just code for like, I don't have one.

The end?

What does he mean?

The end?

Wait till the end is kind of a life slogan, isn't it?

Yeah, it was very weird.

It was a very awkward.

But you know, Mike, that Russ, you know better than anyone, Russ has been thinking about it.

Maybe he's just not comfortable, or maybe he's showing some growth in terms of being corny and having a little self-awareness that, hey, I'm having a good night here.

Like, do I need to be a meme in the morning about being a cheeseball again?

Like, maybe that's exactly, maybe this Russ is exactly the Russ that the Steelers need at this moment in time, who could still play a little bit.

He could throw the moon ball.

He, you know, Collinsworth did a nice job, I thought, on Sunday night.

And you saw him when he was at his apex of this, throwing that ball where it's coming down from above and putting the wide receiver in a chance to make the catch over the DB.

Whereas Justin Fields, you you know, he's probably thrown a dart in that situation.

It's like those little things that really are going to help this offense.

Yeah, I think I would lean towards the growth part on the slogan.

I know he hired a new publicist since he's left Seattle, some big wig, like New York-based publicist company.

I think they also rep Tom Brady.

So, yeah, I would like to think that whatever little, they had a little room focus group type thing, and we're like,

let's workshop some slogans.

I don't know, I don't know Steelers' history enough to know what they would have

thrown on the wall to see if it would stick, but I hope that nothing stuck and he just tries to be a normal person, no slogans.

That would be great.

That would be super great growth for him.

I'd be very happy for him in that regard.

And yeah, his ball placement is just much better.

Like, it really, Tomlin watched them both compete and chose Russ, you know, before the season.

So I didn't, I never really thought that he would back off of that because Justin wasn't like lights out.

He was playing fine.

And then TJ Watt would get like a big sack at the end of the game.

And they would basically win all their games, which you can kind of count on, but not the further you go.

And I think Mike Tomlin was kind of looking down the road with that.

And I know this is a Giants and Steelers preview, but I feel like, Dan, we got poor one out for our Jets after that.

That's what got me off of it.

That game.

That game got me.

Russ got me off the Jets just like that.

All it took was that game.

We'll get to the Jets.

A little too close to the sun there, Mike.

Yeah, I feel for all the Jets fans and the temporary supporters like Mike Dugar.

Real quick on the Giants before we move here.

They averaged 2.2 yards per play against the Eagles.

And the offensive line is not competitive.

Losing your left tackle was crushing for a team that could not afford that.

The

second year center is not playing well.

They are, in general, just like nothing is clicking and they're heading towards something, I would think like

an explosion where the whole thing gets blown up, except for Malik Neighbors and some of the D line.

But Mara said their owner,

he was

asked about the future.

He said, there's going to be no change of coach in GM, not during the season, not after the season.

The Giants are the anti-Jets in a lot of ways, and that's a good thing.

They believe in this setup.

But, I mean, Giants fans, you got to have the stomach for it because that means the Giants want to be more like the Lions.

It's like we're going to eat a lot of poop here, but we believe in this leadership that will get there.

It's going to be a rough rest of the season.

That's all I could say.

Yeah, I think they want another shot at quarterback.

And so it makes more sense to do that with the lessons you hope that this current staff has kept in place.

I know the fan base wants to see change, it sounds like.

But

there's some nuanced conversation to it as well.

And by the way, he was at

the Wellington-Mara documentary screening when he said that, which the juxtaposition there is wild.

But also,

if you are going to get another shot at a quarterback or try again at a quarterback, which I think they're going to do and they're going to probably have to do if they know, if they are watching this product that we're also watching,

they have to get another shot at it or at least try.

And you maybe want to see if this same coaching staff in this same front office, A, can identify correctly this time, you know, that player and then also scheme correctly around this player.

I don't think Brian Dable has bad scheme per se.

I think that the marriage between himself and the quarterback and the rest of the offense is what's bad.

Right.

And John Mara knows what Brian Dable did with Josh Allen, and they still think, like, if we can get him, why fire everyone and bring in a QB guru where you think Dable could do that with the right rookie quarterback?

So it makes sense.

I tend, even though the Giants have had a lot of bad seasons in recent memory, I guess this is just reflexive as a lifetime growing up in New York and seeing their success.

They usually end up figuring it out and making the right long-term moves.

And I don't disagree with this one either.

All right.

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All right, we are back.

We are rolling.

It is Jordan.

It's Mike.

It's Dan.

It's Gravedigger.

Mark?

I am experiencing enjoyment.

Oh, good.

Hi, Mark.

I hope you are.

I mean, I know you said you're unwell, so that might be a little bit of a conflict, but at the same time, I want you to be well, that's your opinion.

Okay.

All right, let's get back to it.

Games, we cannot wait to watch.

Jordan, kick us off.

Yeah, I'm picking Chicago 14 in the Heed the Call power rankings at Washington, number seven in the Heed the Call power rankings.

This is 4:25 p.m.

Eastern on CBS.

This is the Romo Nance Wolfson team.

Normally, this game would be definitively highlighted by the two key storylines of the number one overall pick and clear future of the Bears franchise in Caleb Williams' homecoming to the region in which he grew up.

Number two overall pick, Jaden Daniels, the clear future of the Commanders at quarterback in an absolute delight of a quarterback showdown.

But But Jaden Daniels, who like also may be the first person ever speaking of first here on this show with the jury duty thing, might be the first player ever to return from the locker room to the field after the ribs injury, just absolutely beaming, you know, in excruciating pain, just absolutely beaming as the crowd there absolutely just loved him up.

He might not play this week.

He's week to week.

He didn't practice earlier this week.

We have yet to know his full status, but not practicing with the ribs injury earlier in the week sort of points the needle at Marcus Mariota, who is the backup.

And stunningly, we still get a former number one overall pick against a former number two overall pick and two former Heisman trophy winners.

And with the way Cliff Kingsbury has kind of been cooking the run game, I actually think this will still be a fun watch.

I try to watch Caleb at any chance that I possibly get, and I catch up a lot on his games after I cover my games on Sunday.

And I try to watch Jaden Daniels as much as I can.

But I still think this has a chance to be fun.

I'm not optimistic that Jaden Daniels is going to play, but I'm still picking this one, not only for the fun of it, but also just in case something happens and he does get out there.

I would love it.

It's a bummer that, yeah, I agree with you.

And if you read into the semantics of it all, you know, when an injury happens in the player's day-to-day, it's like, okay, chance for Sunday.

When it's week to week, it's like, well, I don't, if it was, if it was, if it was day to day, then Sunday.

If it's week to week, I feel like you're out this week and we'll see you about next week.

So I don't anticipate it either.

So we'll see what Mariota could do, Mike.

But, you know, for me, that really kind of focuses my attention on this game on the Chicago Bears more coming off their bye, really finding their way in these most recent weeks.

And I don't think the Commanders, I think the Commanders are a good matchup for them because the Commanders' rise has been in large part based on the offensive firepower with the rookie leading the way.

So Caleb and company can eat here and further entrench themselves as one of the big stories in the NFC this year.

And if you care about these things, the Caleb Daniels rookie of the year debate would heat up

considerably.

I got there.

Yeah.

Yeah, this game loses just a little bit of luster with

if Jaden Daniels doesn't play.

I do like what the Bears have kind of become.

And you could just kind of see

every, you want to talk about freezing cold takes, like all the ones that come out of the Bears game versus the Texans earlier this year.

I think that was their second game, maybe about Caleb.

Oh, those look awful now.

Because Caleb, Caleb looks looks like that dude, you know, he just kind of throws the ball in the way.

We're like, yep, he looks like he's gonna be the guy.

Um, so he's kind of turning a must-see TV in that way.

Uh, this, the need, must, you know, like they have to win this week thing that we talked about with the Niners and Cowboys doesn't totally apply in the same way to the Bears, but because of strength of the division, it feels like it kind of does.

Because the NFC North, Jesus Christ, every team over there is kicking ass.

Like, all the teams.

Jesus Christ.

I think every team over there,

every team in the NFC North has a winning record.

And every team in the NFC North also has obviously a positive point differential.

And Green Bay with the lowest one is plus 43.

You know, that's like the Niners lead the NFC West, I think, at plus 22.

Right.

So, like, just to show you

how badass everyone has been in the NFC North.

So, every team in that division is kind of on a keep winning, keep winning to keep your season alive type of feel.

You know, they won't obviously send send four teams to the playoffs, maybe three.

So it's going to be a dogfight over there.

And I think I have all of the other teams in the NFC North winning this week as well.

And by the time this comes out, we'll know if the Vikings had won.

So, yeah, I'm looking at the Bears from that perspective, too.

Like, they're a really fun team to watch.

They're really good.

Caleb's really good.

Their defense is cash.

And then they might be the fourth best team in the division.

Just kind of bad luck for them this year.

Yeah, the Bears still have to play everyone else twice.

Packers, Lions, Vikings twice.

And they also have the Seahawks and the 49ers thrown in there near the end of the year, just sprinkled in for funsies.

But Caleb Williams has used this time to improve.

Our colleague Larry Holder puts together a really cool stat package for us on True Media.

Every week he does great work over at the athletic.

And Caleb Williams from weeks one through three, he went from the 28th quarterback in EPA per dropback.

Now he's third.

And he's completing 74.1% of his passes, which is second.

And he was at a 59.3 completion percentage weeks one through three, which was 30th.

And so he's steadily improved.

The caliber of opponent has helped as well.

And this is also kind of a cool matchup, an opportunity for, I think, both teams because the defenses are like...

a little bit of the inverse of each other in a slight, in a kind of a slight way.

Although the commanders are like the far weaker unit, you actually do still want to run against the Bears.

The Commanders are doing that very, very, very well.

They're built to defend the pass, and you actually maybe can make them vulnerable against the pass in general this week because Kyler Gordon and Jaquan Brisker, two of their best defensive backs and two of the most talented young players in this defensive backs in the league, they're still not practicing despite the bye week.

So something to watch.

And then on the other side, you know, the commanders are playing hard.

They just have too many

personnel holes.

And you can certainly pass against them.

Their linebackers are playing really well, as is their front.

They're not missing a ton of tackles.

But you can really throw at these defensive backs in Washington.

And so I think this could be a big sort of almost an inverse of each other attack game on either side.

Yeah, I think it sets up well for Chicago.

They caught a break.

In fact, they've had not to, you know, throw cold water on the whole thing there because

they're going up.

Everything's going well for the Bears for once and their fans.

But, you know, they have a buy last week, so they get right.

And now they get the commanders potentially without the Prodigy quarterback.

They have beaten teams for their four wins with a combined record of 6-20.

They've beaten the Titans, the Rams, the Panthers, and Jags, and now they get the Commanders without their Dynamo QB.

So just keep that in mind if that's how it ends up playing out.

But you know what?

If they stack another win and they're 5-2,

it don't matter.

You just win.

We move on.

Michael Sean DeGar, the game you cannot wait to watch in week eight.

All right, I'm going to cheat a little bit with the game.

I can't wait to watch this week being the one that I will see live, which I believe is a first for me.

Take the Bills at the Seahawks.

The Bills were fifth in the power rankings of record there.

You know,

both of these teams, they've already made trades to kind of atone for an offseason plan that didn't work.

The Seahawks have made a couple trades already to upgrade their front seven.

They added Roy Robertson Harris from the Jaguars, gave up like a pick somewhere into the future for him to get him from the Jags.

And then on Wednesday, they gave up Jerome Baker and a fourth-round pick to get Ernest Jones the fourth from Justin's Titans.

So that's kind of a plan that they thought they could revamp their whole linebacker room.

It was like, we don't need Bobby Wagner or Jordan Brooks.

We'll go with Tyrell Dotson and Jerome Baker.

Well, that didn't work.

So now they had to flip-flop that.

And then obviously the Bills kind of went into the year with their whole everybody eats mindset with getting rid of Stefan Diggs.

They were like, we'll just spread the ball around to whoever, and no one will be able to game plan for us because they won't know where the ball is going.

Well, that didn't work, um, so they went and got Amari Cooper.

So, that there's some similarities between these two teams.

Uh, in that regard, I can appreciate both teams realizing that, hey, our plan was stinky, let's change something up.

Also, those were very foreseeable issues as well.

I mentioned the NFC West, uh, it's a

dumpster fire, it's too strong, but it's definitely not good.

Like, the Seahawks are four and three, and they're only what 13th in the power rankings of record.

And that might be generous.

You know, they're 4-3,

but they have some really fatal flaws.

You know, they don't run the ball.

They can't really stop the run with any consistency.

That is, as we said earlier, a recipe to get your boots smoked.

They beat up on Kirk Cousins in week seven, Kirk Cousins, who has center blocks tied to his cleats.

So if you get pressure on him, he basically just goes down.

Josh Allen is the opposite.

He has five-hour energies tied to his cleats.

So if you get near him, he just runs away.

So that's going to be a huge challenge for their pass rush to have their contain and keep Josh Allen, who's playing super well and has somehow not thrown an interception in check.

I really like the Bills in a tight one here, but I think this is going to be a good game, particularly a huge one for the Seahawks, who are kind of still finding themselves and trying to prove whether they're actually good.

Yeah, and that's a great way to tag it there because there's a reason.

And by the way, if you guys feel at all conflicted out on our slogan that it's the power rankings of record, because I'm sure the athletic has a power rankings, everybody does.

That's okay.

Just understand that.

But the real ones know what matters, and it's our power rankings.

You said that, you know, we don't really know who the Seahawks are.

Like, let's get a gauge on them.

This is a good one.

That's why they are number 13 in our power rankings, which I've always called the Twilight Zone.

When I can't figure out a team where to put them, I just stick them at 13 and forget about it.

And so here's a nice test, Jordan.

And I thought the Bills who were aggressive and I'm happy they were and Bills fans are happy they were because a lot of teams need wide receivers and that market is cooking.

They went out and they got the Cooper deal done and to see for a guy that got in the building only a couple days early.

earlier how they had him so involved and he scored a touchdown and and and that's i think only going to grow like a monster amari cooper game here wouldn't stun me against the seattle secondary yeah it it builds confidence and it builds reps reps, and that's the main thing that they need right now when you bring in a new player like that.

So I liked what they did.

I liked that they just went for it and just threw him in there.

You could already see some of the ways that he helped spread the field out for that receiving core.

If you go back and look at the all-22, like their layers and just the space that they're using in the passing game already looks different from

before they had Amari Cooper.

And that's just what a player like that does, regardless of what his status is and like as an elite receiver or not or whatever in this league, or he is a one, which means you're going to

allocate space differently.

What I really like about the Bills, too, though, in tandem too with the quarterback, is that they can also run the ball.

And I know I've been squawking about this every single week, but they have 11 rushing touchdowns so far, second most in the NFL.

And when they run it, they do it in a very physical and efficient way.

Obviously, Josh Allen has the duality with his legs as well, but he is not now playing like this brand of chaos ball.

Mike mentioned the no interceptions.

He's not playing this brand of chaos ball, which frankly, like, let's be honest, we love watching Josh Allen chaos ball.

It's very, very fun.

However, it does lead to mistakes and inefficiencies.

And now he can be, he's showing he can be.

both things.

It's not terrible to be a game manager every once in a while.

It's not terrible to have all of these added dimensions now where you, if you need to go and throw the rock around, you can now that you have the layers in your passing, in your passing structure.

Now you can run the ball if you need to.

This is a game that's quite clearly gearing itself up to play deep down the stretch in the winter and building little extra pieces the way that they have.

They clearly have an eye on the Ravens right now and are just trying to get just little advantages here or there, whether it's the space on the field, the personnel they bring in, the way that they can run the rock.

Like they're clearly

building toward what they believe will be a deep postseason stretch.

Yeah, I wonder about that Josh Allen interception free streak he's on, you know, plays a lot into his his lack of trust in the wide receivers that he's had to this point and playing a different type of football, which shows his growth and maturity.

He might start throwing more interceptions now, but the offense gets better because now you're pushing the ball downfield.

You got this number one receiver that you've needed.

So keep an eye on that.

This team becoming more explosive.

Very scary thought that the Bills have a chance to get a lot better from where they are right now.

Looking forward to it.

They're not squawking, Jordan.

You're not squawking.

I squawk.

It's okay.

I squawk.

Squawk.

That's pejorative.

I think that

you're underlining certain points that you feel passionate about.

You know what I mean?

That's how I see it.

Well, it's just a I like crows, you know, like darkness and, you know, I like crows.

You should come to my house then because I have so many crows in my neighborhood that my neighbor gifted me a BB gun to scare them off the palm trees.

I have three crows.

Like I call them the three old men.

Like they sit outside my house and they just hang out.

They're like the, if you added a third, like the guys from the Muppets, or maybe like the guys from

King of the Hill standing around the grill.

They're all they all stand there and like I always give them a head nod because crows remember faces and they remember how you behave toward them.

So when I walk my dog too, I'm like, Tucker, get your shit together, man.

Be on your best behavior, respectful, respectful, respectful, like ominous respect, similar to like the respect I have for like a Kyle Shanahan, for example.

Yeah.

And that's how you treat the crows and then they treat you right back.

You want to go down a wormhole?

A little wiki wormhole, do some crow research.

Oh, crows.

They will bring you gifts.

Yes.

I leave them shells.

Pieces of glass, things that they present to you, and they will target your dog if they don't like you.

I've seen crows attack dogs that are being walked.

So me shooting at them maybe is not the wisest idea.

But just remember, I'm shooting to scare, not kill.

Just before we get the

tell them that, because they won't forget, man.

They remember faces.

They just, they're cool.

They're cool birds.

I don't like birds generally, but I like crows.

Yeah, and this is coming from a guy that during COVID in 2020 befriended three squirrels in my backyard and was feeding them, sitting on my lap.

Just like a lunatic behavior.

You want to talk about like, is Dan maybe crazy?

Unhinged.

When I told people the story of

Gus, our squirrel in the backyard, that I literally became friends with when I was trapped at my house for 18 months,

it's a little disturbing to to look back on it, Mike.

I don't know where you come down on that.

Like, are you judging me a little bit?

It's okay.

No, this is actually relatable content.

Not for me.

I don't really care about birds too much.

But

my mom went and got a BB gun because there were raccoons in their yard messing with her little, she got a little dog, lap dog.

I don't know what type of dog it is, but she had to go get a big-ass BB gun too.

She was ready to lay them raccoons out.

So when you mentioned being gifted the BB gun, that was kind of funny.

And then that second part about you naming your the squirrels in your backyard.

I have a friend named Stacey.

She's on local radio here in Seattle.

Her mother is like doing the same thing right now with raccoons, and Stacey like documents it on her Twitter.

And like, there's raccoons just show up now, just chilling.

They got names, they hang out, they want food, they're part of the family now, and it's it's so dangerous.

Last, like, two weeks ago, I showed her this article where this lady in somewhere outskirts of Washington, like a hundred, she was doing the same thing.

Then, a hundred raccoons came to her house wanting food.

I'll find the article.

Like a hundred of them pulled up.

That was nuts.

So be careful.

That's all I'm saying.

Yeah.

The raccoons are

my crows protect me.

So yeah, the raccoon is the animal that you encounter a raccoon in your backyard and you like try to intimidate.

It just looks right back at you like, don't even think about it.

Like it will, it will even do like the move, it will disrespect you where it will, it won't run off.

It'll walk slowly, but hold eye contact on you.

Like, this is an over type thing.

It's like, oh, shit.

I love their little hands.

They grab things.

Like,

I have problems.

Let's see.

Where are we at?

Oh, the game I cannot wait to watch.

Two teams, again, that I'm feeling out, and I think a lot of people agree.

The number 15 Eagles at the number 11 Cincinnati Bengals.

This is Iron Eagle and Charles Davis, who did very well.

Just power rankings on top of power rankings.

And our Wednesday announcer power rankings with Andrew Marchand of the Athletic.

We broke that down.

and Eagle, what a

bird in the beak or whatever.

That's when Eagles paired with

the old Chargers quarterback, Fouts.

But

great team, good game.

I'm excited for this one.

And how about Saquon Barkley?

Let's start here.

The Eagles are weird.

They're a very weird team.

Very weird on offense.

This is a good stat that

I encountered this morning that the Eagles against the Giants, and I know that was a a grisly mismatch, one for 13 on third down in that game.

Bad.

Third down has been an issue for them.

Four for four on fourth down.

So, you know, the tush push is alive and well for this team, but it's almost like everything's so jagged with them, and it's so dependent on the A.J.

Brown big play or the Saquon Barkley big play.

And they got a lot of big plays from Saquon Barkley, who absolutely blew the doors off his former team in week seven.

So that Eagles team with their up-and-down offense, but a defense that might be coming together a little bit now travels to Cincy against the Bengals who, you know, Mike, I see the Bengals as a team that could make a real push in the back half of the season, but here's a gut check for them because the Eagles are starting to find their way a little bit, I think, as well.

I want to see if the Beng care of business because they should.

They should win this game if we see them as a credible AFC contender.

Yeah, I don't necessarily root for anyone to lose their jobs or anything, but like credit to John Marr, the owner of the Giants, for having some maturity there, because I for sure thought watching Saquon go crazy on them was going to be the end of their general manager.

Imagine Woody Johnson and Mara switching spots, how that plays out.

What did Bill Belichick call it?

Ready, shoot, aim?

Ready, fire, aim, yeah.

AJ Brown, AJ Brown got the Titans GM fired, right, for the same thing, I want to say, went crazy on him.

And I think in Philadelphia, Justin's nodding his head, yes.

Yeah, and then I think he got canned very shortly after.

So I thought history was going to repeat itself there.

It shouldn't have, but I thought that was maturity there.

But yeah, Saquon, a baller.

I thought the Bengals, though, to go back to them, I kind of thought they were cooked after the Ravens lost because their defense was Swiss cheese.

I believe they were like one and four at that time.

That was a game they probably should have won.

But then I looked at their schedule.

I was like, I don't know, man.

If Jamar and

Jamar and Joe can basically just be Brady and Randy Moss from like 07 or whatever, then they'll have a chance, even if the defense stinks.

And then the defense kind of turns it around.

I mean, that helps when you play the Giants and Browns, of course.

This would be a much tougher test.

But the way that Joe and Jamar are playing and obviously getting T.

Higgins back, you know, he was missing a couple of games earlier than year.

I actually have a little bit of faith in them

now.

If the defense can just be competent, I know they won't be as good as they were against the Giants and the Browns.

Like those two offenses are just like...

just awful.

I think they played each other.

And it was a game I like purposely was like, I'm not watching any of that.

The Giants and Browns.

But yeah, I think the Bengals have a shot here.

The AFC is pretty much the wizardry of the Chiefs,

Bills, Ravens, and then kind of everybody else.

I would throw the Texans in there when they get Nico back because CJ looks very mortal without him.

But I think the Bengals got a chance to be frisky here.

I actually do like them in this game because...

I forget what adjective we used to describe the Eagles.

I think it was just weird.

I actually just think they're dysfunctional.

I really do.

Like, they can just kind of thrive in it.

It's almost like I had a couple of friends in college who could just like binge drink and then just like wake up and go to class, right?

And then come home, study, binge drink, and just keep going.

And then they like have a 3.5 or something like that.

Those could be functional alcoholics.

Yes.

Yes.

This was this, they're like, they're like, I don't know how to put that in football terms totally with the Eagles, but that's what they are.

They're your friend who can just get hammered during the week and still pass their exam on Friday.

Like that is, that is death.

Sounds like that.

That's just not totally sustainable, though.

Oh, college.

I just got wasted every single day.

Every single day.

And I went to class and I got good grades, but man, it was just a party for four years.

All right, Nick, we get it.

We get it.

Jordan, you're a good person.

That's what the Eagles are, yeah.

Yeah, I think

you just got to keep running the ball.

The past game has been a bit inconsistent for the Eagles.

Jalen Hurts has been a little up and down.

And I think that you can just, the Bengals run defense has been so inconsistent.

They've had three games of 120-plus yards, but they've held their other four opponents under 75 rushing yards.

So I think this is one of those games where you try to test them there to see which

personality of the Bengals defense is going to show up that day.

And then this was really crazy.

I don't know how you're going to rattle.

Like, first of all, on the other side, the Bengals offense has never really come into question for me.

I mean, Joe Burrow has been throwing it around since playing great, Burrow.

Yeah, since the start of the season, even minus some personnel.

And then now he's got more weapons back.

And so that's great.

But I'm curious on the other side, how the Bengals' defense is, which is the big question with the Bengals, in my opinion, how they're going to pressure Jalen Hurts.

I had to triple-check this because it freaking blew my mind, but I was looking at next-gen stats, and the difference between the pressure the Bengals get when blitzing, which they have to do to manufacture pressure now, compared to not blitzing, is the fifth largest like delta in the entire NFL.

So, if you're not sending extra pressure, you basically can sit back there all day against this Bengals defense and try to pick them apart.

So, I am curious to see how they're going to try to manufacture

that pressure against Jalen Hurts and kind of move him out of his head a little bit.

This per the athletic chip.

Jalen Hurts is a winner.

He is.

He's a winner.

Okay.

He wins.

Okay.

Joe Burrow

is having one of his best statistical seasons.

His expected points added per drop back of the season.

0.16 is the best of his career.

And on plays with a passing attempt, the Bengals EPA is the second best in football.

So it's been the defense that had been holding them back, but their defense is getting healthier now and they're playing better.

And the defense in back-to-back wins is allowed no more than 14 points in those games.

So let's see if they're picking up momentum and they're about to go on a run.

I think they are.

All right.

We are about to go on a run

to a big

ceramic bowl with a murky, thick liquid

to the gravy boat, but not before this break.

Gotcha.

Gotcha.

Put them back in.

We're going to break.

God damn it.

All right.

We just did my game.

I can't wait to watch Eagles Bangles.

Can't wait for that one.

I also can't wait to build a pick'em entry on underdog.

Might have to get Money Mike's help with that.

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All right.

Get on you.

Whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa.

Oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh,

God.

I don't know how it's the same drop every week, but it gets a little more perverse.

And maybe it's just I get to know Justin a little bit more each week, so it creates this type of cognitive association that's messing with me.

But what's up, Justin?

Yeah, Jordan,

I find myself distancing myself myself from Justin more and more each week.

The more that I'm going to be doing that.

I know what you mean.

I know what you mean.

Justin has been an asset to us, man.

Yeah.

What's up, Justin?

I'm going to hit that drop every show for the rest of time.

Like, to quote Mike Tomlin, there's a nakedness to Justin Graeber in my mind falling into the gravy bowl.

He's just totally nude falling into that bowl.

So maybe that's part of the issue that I'm dealing with as well.

Jesus Christ.

All right.

Ravens at Browns.

This would have been Mark's game I can't wait to watch, but Mark is sick.

So although this is the biggest gap in power rankings between any teams.

Well, let's check in with Mark.

Mark.

How are you, by the way, Mark?

Are you upset about missing this gravy boat segment?

I am doing excellent.

It is still the same night.

He doesn't know what time of day it is.

That's troubling.

It's a good thing he's missing the show.

Okay, go ahead.

All right.

So this is the biggest gap between two teams of any game this week in the HTC power rankings.

The number one Ravens taking on the number 30 Browns.

But the game still has some intrigue here because, number one, Lamar Jackson and Derrick Henry have been just thrilling to watch all season long.

And the Browns' meltdown has been equally entertaining to watch.

But now, Jameis Winston, can he come in?

Will he steady the ship?

Or will Kevin Stefanski be proven right in that Deshaun Watson actually was giving the Browns a better chance to win every week?

We might find out.

Can I just say I'm so happy, Jordan, that

Jameis Winston, who absolutely is going to become a reverend or a preacher after he retires, like he's getting closer and closer to that place, and I can't wait for it.

I think the unintentional comedy with Jameis is always at a high level.

Playing for the Browns for like eight straight weeks, I mean, this could be fun.

Let me just say that.

I don't know if he's going to be any good in the position.

Can't be worse worse than the previous guy, but I'm looking forward to just the sound clips.

Bring them on.

Yeah, we're going to get some really great sound bites for this show.

Maybe some new drops as well.

And maybe some that can ease the pain of the gravy boat for me.

First and foremost, before getting to the Browns, Lamar Jackson is the MVP if the season ended today.

Absolutely outstanding, playing unbelievably.

We all know this.

We've talked about it.

The thing that's interesting about the Browns this week to me is that Kevin Stofansky was saying that Ken Dorsey is going to call the plays.

And so to me, it kind of reminds me of,

there's like, Dan, I'll explain this one to you.

There's a millennial and Gen Z phenomenon.

It's called quiet quitting, where like you're.

Listen, I'm not 100 years old.

Like, what is this?

That's Sessler.

I know what quiet quitting is.

I've probably done it.

I might have done it my last job.

I'm not sure.

We have to figure out what the exact definition is, maybe.

Okay, so it's like you're perhaps frustrated or exhausted by the corporate structure around you, and you either lack the power to raise a fist, or in this case, maybe the charisma to raise a fist in protest.

So you actively detach and you simply fade into the workplace like Homer Simpson into the shrubbery.

That's what Kevin Stefansky is doing to me.

That's what this feels like to me.

He's like, just going to back away and pretend that I was never here and then run out the door the first chance he gets.

Well, I think that's spot on.

And here's the one thing, other thing about this game.

Lamar absolutely is playing out of his mind.

He's such a great player, and he's getting better every year, it seems, when he's healthy.

But Derrick Henry is also on pace to break the NFL single season rushing record.

He's averaging 124.7 yards per game.

And like Adrian Peterson, when he went for 2,000 a decade or so ago, he does it with, even when he's not having a great game,

he always can bank on ripping off that one 50, 60, 70 yarder that turns the, you know, late in the fourth quarter.

He's got 58 yards.

Oh, all of a sudden, he's got 130 yards.

Like, that's the dudes are the guys that have that big play in them.

And I just wonder if Henry ends up running for 2,200 yards or something, does he beat Lamar?

It's a good problem to have if the Ravens have the top two MVP candidates, put it that way.

All right.

Yeah, it kind of reminds me of when Tyreek was on pace for 2K, I think, last year, and then Tua was going crazy too.

He kind of wondered if they would almost steal votes from each other.

The Dolphins are fraud when it turns like December and January, so it ended up not being a problem.

But yeah, very similar circumstance this point in the year.

All right, next.

Yes, next.

Real quick, though.

Sorry, I know we have to move.

What?

Derrick Henry currently leads the league in rushing attempts, yards, yards per carry, touchdowns, longest run, runs of 20 plus yards, runs of 50 plus yards, rushing first downs, yards after contact, yards before contact, and he's second in broken tackles.

Okay, moving on to Colts.

Don't you wish he was still in the Titans?

That would be.

Yes, I do.

Imagine being at Canton when they inducted him, and they were like, just think about it now.

Like, I don't know, who would it be?

Let's say, I don't know, Amy Strunk or something.

We're like,

and

to think we thought about letting Derek leave, but we never could do that because he is the Titans.

And the greatest thing I ever did as owner is making sure he played his entire career here.

And now I welcome him into Canton.

And on week one, we're going to build a 45-foot statue in front of Nissan Stadium.

We are a perfectly run organization.

Wouldn't that be cool if that's how it played out, Justin?

Would be.

Moving on, Colts at Texans.

A rematch of week one when the Texans beat the Colts by just two points, but injuries have reshaped both of these rosters since then.

So the question, can Anthony Richardson rediscover some of those huge splash plays that he was hitting against the Texans defense back in week one and show some progress in his development as a quarterback?

Or will the Texans sweep their division rival?

Mike.

Yeah, so when I was building my parlay for the week, I was looking at this game and I was like, oh, maybe I take Anthony Richardson's over-under.

Let me check what it is.

It was like 186 passing yards.

I was like, oh, my God.

And he hasn't even,

he's went under that like three times already this season.

He went over that against the Texans in week one.

But oh my God, man, his, I'm still on the AR train, but man, he's, he's got to get better at just making the layups.

He just doesn't make layups.

He's pretty much a home run guy.

And I just, I just jump sports with the analogies there, but you guys get the point.

And also

football is completely different than basketball.

Thank you, Mark.

And

also,

CJ Stroud without Nico has kind of been interesting to watch.

Like, CJ's not like a worst player or anything.

Ball placement's still there, but like their O-line is not as good as I feel like it was last season.

They can run the ball now, which is good.

They got Joe Mixon back.

He was pretty much the only reason they had a chance to beat the Packers last week.

But CJ's numbers are down without Nico.

So actually, I still like the Texans in this one, but that's only mostly because I just don't think Anthony Richardson will throw for more than like 205, which is kind of nasty.

And I just think the Texans are a better team overall, even without Nico.

But yeah, I feel like there's genuine concerns about both of these clubs right now.

There are.

The money mic tease is coming up after we get out of the graveyard boat and towel off.

But

yeah, the

Richardson thing is a concern.

He is 32nd in the league in completion percentage, completing 48.5% of his passes, 29th in EPA per drop back and has thrown twice as many interceptions, six as touchdown passes.

He had a pass rating south of 60, but they still beat the Dolphins because they're the Dolphins, but it ain't going to work here.

And I think C.J.

Stroud is a truly great quarterback.

And when great quarterbacks are embarrassed and throw for 86 yards in a game and in a tough loss against a fellow contender, they usually come back and take it out on the next team.

I love the Texans in this game and Stroud bouncing back with or without Nico Collins.

Next.

Next, Cardinals at Dolphins.

The world anxiously awaits the return of Tua Tagawailoa, and with him, hopefully, the return of watchable football in Miami.

The Cardinals are one of two teams this week to be underdogs, despite being ranked higher in the Heed the Call power rankings.

Cardinals number 18, Dolphins, number 27.

I'd say the Dolphins are the biggest candidates to be massive risers up those rankings next week, depending on how they look with QB1 back under center.

You're a copycat, Justin.

How's it?

On Wednesday's show, I said the Dolphins were my choice as the team not to give up on.

And then two days later, on the same show, you presented as your opinion.

Gotcha.

A little gotcha journalism right back at the grave digger.

Stupid.

Sorry.

Yes, Jordan, this is, I think Tyreek Hill was quoted this week that he's saying he wanted to cry or he did cry or something like that when he saw two back on the field.

I would too if I was Tyreek Hill and I was playing with the Boyles and Skylars of the world before that.

Yeah, his EPA per pass play targeting him went from like second, first or second in the NFL when Tua was healthy or has been healthy to something like in the 60s.

So I would, yeah, I would cry too, joyfully.

Yeah, I think that would, that, that would be great.

Um, it's interesting.

Oh, by the way, Dan, this is a Bonetti game.

This is a

Bonetti, Bonetti Hive assemble.

He did great with his call earlier this year.

He does great work.

He must be off baseball now, right?

Bonetti, the Tigers.

Yes, they did not advance in the American League playoffs.

Only one team advanced.

Just trying to give you some pop there, Dan.

The fall classic.

It is my New York Yankees.

Let's go, Yankees.

Just trying to give you something to be positive about because we're going to talk about the Jets next.

But yeah, Tua being back, obviously there's going to be a lot of eyeballs on this game.

There's probably a discussion for much more space in a different show about the guardian cap conversation.

Well, he's already.

I don't know if you saw this, but he's wearing the special quarterback helmet that actually provides more protection than a guardian cap would on a normal game.

That was my next sentence that I was about to say.

My question, Jordan, maybe you know the answer.

Does

he's wallpapering over that?

Does the

special helmet or whatever, if you added a guardian cap on top of that, wouldn't that just provide even more bonus extra protection?

That was the next thing Jordan was going to say.

Okay, maybe.

No, what I was going to say is there's still such limited data about the Guardian cap, and there's also not

public or peer-reviewed data that is published about the Guardian cap.

It's NFL sponsored.

And so that's why there's this dialogue about it.

And I think some

outcry because the league had marketed some stats, you know, know, talking about positive

influence of the Guardian caps.

But we actually don't have enough data to say that definitively.

And I, by the way, 100% think that more research and more investment should be made in protecting players from concussions.

But when you, I learned this when I did a big story on grass and turf and the lack of safety protocols that are actually in place by the league and checking whether a field surface is safe to play on,

particularly an artificial playing surface.

Teams work with

a league-owned and operated and a league-sanctioned partner to collect injury data.

The NFL works with certain

companies that they partner with and then collect that data with another partner that's mutually agreed upon by the NFL and the LPA.

And players self-report.

Teams are supposed to self-report these types of things to gather that data.

In the first place, what I'm saying on all this is I want this to work.

I want these to be helpful for players, I want more attention to be placed on concussions.

But when everything is coming from one entity that owns the other entities, or there's a financial

stakes at play here between entities, I would like more public data to be available about these caps and more public studies to be done that are peer-reviewed and published in scientific and medical journals.

That's all it's not, it's not real.

I would like you to

do enough to me today, Justin.

Jordan, anytime you need to use my soapbox,

you don't even have to ask.

I liked it.

Great takes.

And, you know, when he was asked to about, are you going to wear the guardian cap?

No.

He's like, why not?

Personal preference.

I'm just going to be real.

It looks bad.

It looks lame, and the players don't like it.

I would imagine that's part of the reason why.

If it didn't look like it stood out so much, I think these guys, it's a tough guy league.

Somebody needs to be brave.

You know, in Billy Madison, when Ernie peas himself on the class trip, and and then Billy takes goes to the water pump and he puts it on his jeans and he's like everyone my age pees their pants it's the coolest everybody my age pees their pants it's the coolest somebody needs to be the Billy Madison like a high level player and wear the guardian cap they tried to make friend of McVeigh the guardian cap because the Rams were the first team to bring a guardian the guardian caps actually into training camp practices and mandate that their linemen wore them they did not do this for concussion reasons or head injury reasons.

They did this because Matthew Stafford banged his thumb on a lineman's helmet

and hurt his thumb right the year they won the Super Bowl.

And so now

the league is saying, like, oh, the Rams

are the ones, Matthew Stafford and Sean McVay are the ones who were the early champions of this.

Well, a reporter came to Rams and asked Sean McVay, like,

would you wear this?

And he said, no, and he laughed.

So it's like,

you know, what do we do?

We have to find a way to keep players safe that actually has like

data and and actual i'm gonna go on a whole rant so i just

need to use the soapbox we gotta move yeah we gotta move but you are welcome to use the soapbox anytime you want one quick cardinals note cardinals fans haven't been able to celebrate back-to-back wins for almost three years

46 regular season games, 56 games if you count the preseason and playoff games.

Let's go, Cardinals.

Win two goddamn games in a row.

Next.

All right, next.

Jets at Patriots.

Another rematch.

The Jets dominated the Patriots back in week three, 24-3 victory.

Oh, my God.

The Pats have a new quarterback, Drake May, who has actually been playing some really good football.

The Jets need a win in the worst way, and despite May looking ahead of schedule, I'd say, he has lost both of his starts by an average of 18 points.

So we'll see if this one is any different.

I can't believe

I live in the same universe where I remember doing that Thursday night podcast after the Jets stomped the Pats and

everything seemed possible.

And at that moment, Rogers gave a press conference.

I think the next day, it's like

it was just so funny, and it's so Jets.

But he said in the press conference,

we're going to have to be a team that has to learn how to win and how to carry yourself after wins.

They have not won since.

I mean, there's nothing more Jets than that.

And then

you have Devontae Adams, and this is also, you know, the signs of dumpster firedom.

Five days since he joined the team, he's the one that stands up in the locker room after they get embarrassed and quit, quite frankly, against the Steelers.

And he stands up and gives a talking to to the team.

And here's Devontae Adams on why he did that.

It's not really my personality to see something that's not right and to just let it go on.

There was a lack of energy and urgency out there.

And I had reservations about speaking up too early and being too vocal too early, but I felt like, you know,

in my mind, I said, F that, because

I need to, you know, we don't have time.

It was something that I wouldn't have been able to sleep if I didn't speak up on it.

And a lot of these guys in here haven't been anywhere else where they've won and, you know, have had that urgency that it takes in order to be a good team.

So, you know, this team being so talented on the, you know, roster-wise, it's just a waste to have everybody out there and, you know, to have a dead sideline like that.

I'm not here to be the savior.

I'm here to help shift this culture more than anything.

I can go out there and make the plays that I can make and try to influence guys as much as I can, but I'm trying to

enforce a winning mindset on these guys.

And Aaron Rodgers then said, I thought it was the realest speech I'd heard in a locker room in 20 years.

Get off it, Rogers.

Why does the new guy have to come in and give that speech?

Where are you, Aaron Rodgers?

Like,

shouldn't you be the guy when Ulrich

addresses the team, walks out of the the room?

Why the f are you not the one that's standing up and giving the realest speech of the 20-year career?

It's and this is, and Mike, this is not Rodgers' fault.

Like, this is not, he has not been the problem.

In fact, there's, there's data that backs it up that he's actually, I think, second among NFL quarterbacks in big-time throws.

His turnover rate per play is on the higher end of the scale in the league.

He's not playing elite football, but it's everything around him that's let him down, including Garrett Wilson, including Sauce Gardner, including Brees Hall, including the offensive line, especially in the run game.

Even Quinnen Williams is having an off year.

Like, this is a great roster, but a bad team.

Yeah, I think when I got off our Jets over the weekend, I think part of the reason I text you that I did is because they just don't have leaders.

You could just feel it, you know?

I don't really, I'm not like plugged in with anyone over there that covers the Jets or it's on the team or anything.

I can just feel it when a team doesn't have the necessary levels of accountability to pull themselves out of being a dumpster fire.

Because some teams do have that.

Like some teams, if they do start slow or whatever, I kind of feel like, okay, they have ex-player here, ex-coach here that will figure it out.

And the fact that, yeah, Devontae has to come in and be the adult in the room is super alarming.

Like, kudos to him for doing it.

But I mean, also, I think we know the obvious reason why Rogers isn't giving these elite speeches because they would be awful.

You know, he, if I had to pick a football player, might be the other guy to maybe ditch work to go do jury duty.

You know, Because he's just, just a weirdo, man.

That speech would go all types of places.

He'd be using words everyone has to look up and words that don't exist, and citing a bunch of Joe Rogan podcast quotes, and it'd just be all types of stuff that you just don't want to hear if you're down 10 points at halftime or something like that.

I mean, imagine Kyrie

and Aaron Rodgers in the jury box, and your life's on the line.

Just imagine that scenario.

Oh, my God.

Hassan Reddick should be returning for the Jets in some capacity.

And keep an eye out on Gerard Mayo, who's having a tough first year, and there's some bubbling reports,

including Greg Bedard, who went on Boston Radio this week and said that, you know, let me just read this, what Bedard said.

I think that, how do I put this?

I think that there were some thoughts during the summer that there were questions going on around the building about whether this was the right thing for the program, that being Mayo.

There was some second guessing, second thoughts about it, and I'll tell you, it's my opinion from talking to people there that I don't think Gerard Mayo is assured of a second season if this is a complete dumpster fire.

And this is coming off Mayo calling his team soft, which is a big no-no for a lot of players.

So, yes, the rookie quarterback, Drake May, has been good through two games, but everything around him is rotten, and that's a problem.

Next.

Next.

Packers at Jaguars.

Jacksonville returns from their two-week stay across the pond to take on the Packers, who are on a three-game winning streak.

This game for Jacksonville doesn't have quite the same lose and you're fired feeling for Doug Peterson, but it does kind of feel like it's only a matter of time before one of those games does happen.

And it's like, okay, the end.

So the Jags need to keep winning to salvage their season.

This one will be tough.

Yes, but Jordan,

I don't know why.

I feel okay about the Jaguars in this game.

I think Green Bay is not playing at the highest level despite, you know, winning.

And the Jaguars, just put it this way: if I were to get behind an underdog this week, the Jaguars playing well at home here wouldn't shock me.

Your thoughts?

I think it, knowing you, getting to know you a little bit more over the last year, a couple years, Dan, I think the reason you feel good about this Jaguars team is that they can run the ball now.

And that always helps settle everything down.

Tank Bigsby has emerged, currently ranked second in yards per carry and in rushing yards over expected.

And that's the one area that really where this Packers defense is actually particularly vulnerable because otherwise this Green Bay defense is taking the ball away.

They're aggressive.

They're assertive.

Jeff Hafley's defense comes from the Bob Sala and D'Imiko Ryan's coaching tree.

Bob Sala, by the way, was at practice this week.

He's in an unofficial role.

Him and Matt LaFleur are BFFs from a long way back when they were in Houston together.

Their little group of quality control assistants was nicknamed the Piss Boys.

So go do a deep dive on the Play Collar series if you want to know more about that little tidbit.

But you can run on the Packers.

And that's why I think you do feel good if I'm going to psychologically analyze you here, Dan.

I think that's why you would probably feel good about this Jaguars team.

We're like, that all is not lost and totally hopeless.

And that is the only, really the weakness of this Packers defense.

And the offense is just starting to progress more and more and more every week.

So I do think they're going to put up points against this Jacksonville defense.

Yeah, I would actually be really surprised if the Jags won or if the game was close.

Uh, I just think that their past defense is just so suspect.

That the way that Matt LaFleur and Jordan Love and that whole scheme is working, man, Matt LaFleur, he just wins a coaching battle every week.

Obviously, his quarterback is very good too, but he just feels more prepared than the other guys.

Uh, and he gets his guys to go execute at a higher level.

I do think, though, part of the reason the Jags defense in the past game was so suspect because they didn't have Tyson Campbell.

He's like the one corner that I actually trust to cover anyone with any consistency.

I believe he's back now.

He was hurt earlier in the year.

That should help.

But otherwise, I just think that they're just kind of out of sorts back there.

Their pass rush is really streaky, despite having some pretty heavy investments up there, I feel like, up front.

I don't trust anything that they're doing at like linebacker really right now.

So, yeah, I just really like LaFleur to just win this matchup against the Jags.

And Justin's right.

I think every game that the Jags lose increases the chance of Doug Peterson getting the boot.

Maybe I have to tinker tinker with my fearless prediction because I am on an island, it appears on this.

Next.

Next, Titans at Lions.

The Titans went into fire sale mode this week, trading away DeAndre Hopkins and Ernest Jones IV on Wednesday.

Now they head into the Lions Den at less than full strength with Mason Rudolph expected to start another game.

I have one thing to say about that.

In the words of Brian Callahan.

Titan down.

Yes, we are not tightening up anymore.

We are tightening down.

The Lions are firing on all cylinders, but you have to wonder if maybe, is this a letdown spot?

A big emotional victory over a divisional rival last week with an extremely subpar team who you're favored to beat by 11 points up next on the schedule?

Spoiler.

It will not be a letdown spot.

Yeah, I don't think, I don't know.

I mean,

the Lions, Jordan, are averaging 40 points per game.

since week four.

Jared Goss playing the best football of his career.

And I just, maybe this is just credit because I believe in their coaching staff.

Feels like a team that doesn't have those type of weeks and are going to roll here.

Your thoughts?

The Lions kick so much ass.

It is so awesome to watch.

I watched that.

That was my game I could not.

effing wait to watch last week.

And I watched that Lions Vikings game twice, won the broadcast after I got done covering my game, and then also on the all-22 because both brought me so much freaking joy.

Like it was so awesome on both sides, but really watching the Lions do this to people, watching Jared Goff play, not just play great and efficient quarterback, you know, at an efficient level, but also he's manipulating the line of scrimmage in ways that we've just not really seen from him in the past, particularly against that defense last week.

The last thing I want this Lions team to do is go trade for a pass rusher.

I think that's the last thing they need to do.

They did, like I wondered if they would.

They manufactured a lot more pressure from A, their interior, and then they blitzed a lot more.

They like blitzed Sam Darnold on almost 40% of his drop backs before they were only blitzing at about a 20% rate.

So they need to go out and get somebody.

And Dan Campbell has sort of floated it out in the media a little bit that Brad Holmes is like on the phone and that would be the position to go get in my opinion.

Yeah,

that team

is just.

They're well run top to bottom.

It's kind of, it's crazy in retrospect, like looking back on it, like the Lions have gone from the laughingstock of the league to now teams like the Giants are looking at the Lions like this is the path that we need to follow to get our team in the right place.

Next.

All right, next.

Okay, I'm digging around in the gravy boat.

What's this here?

We have a third rematch.

Wow, a third rematch has just been discovered here in the gravy boat.

It's Falcons at Buccaneers.

And this one just happened to be.

So your head's above the water and you're just wading your arms through like a liquid that you don't know.

Like it could be an alligator in there for all you know, and you're just coming up with stuff.

It's like, how does that?

Yeah, I mean, it's so thick and murky that I can be looking down into the gravy boat.

I think you just made Jordan throw up.

That's a first.

We get a slow-motion instant replay of Jordan nearly vomiting.

Yes, that will be inserted.

If you're watching on YouTube, you can see that happening.

That's why you got to go to youtube.com

backslash at heed the call.

Pod or pod and hashtag 48.4.

We're getting there.

We're moving.

Yes.

All right, go.

So, anyway, this one just happened three weeks ago on TNF, but the Bucks, who actually lost that first game to the Falcons, now have to find a way to generate some offense without their two biggest weapons, Chris Godwin and Mike Evans, obviously.

Liam Cohen has been excellent all season, but this will be his biggest challenge as the offensive coordinator.

And Baker, right, Mike?

Because this is going to be tough.

And I think, and Todd, Bulls can deflect in the post-game or say the right things, depending on your angle on it.

But I thought they made two mistakes in that Monday night that could have ruined their season.

Mike Evans should not have been playing in that game.

The hamstring injury is actually in a different spot than the one that was bothering him.

So the whole thing is jacked up, and they don't expect him back until after the buy at the earliest.

and godwin had no business being on the field and now he's done for the year he needs surgery on that dislocated ankle a lot of pressure on baker and baker's been a little loose with the football in the last couple weeks i predict um a lot of interceptions and a lot of turnovers creeping uh into this tampa defense more of the same in fact over the last two weeks Yeah, Baker seems like he's pretty comfortable reverting to like Big 12 mode if he has to and just like, hey, if we got to throw it 50 times, I'm with it.

He's got the arm strength.

Yeah, he gets a little loose with it.

So that's a problem.

Yeah, the sucky thing for the Bucs was that, yeah, it felt like both injuries were very avoidable.

You know, as someone who's had a bad hammy like that, Mike Evans committed probably like

the biggest no-no, which is trying to run a go-route.

When your hammy's bad, like, come on, man.

Everybody knows you got bad hammy, man.

You're just running little

shot stuff.

Like they was asked, like Bulls was asked, Mike, like, sometimes you do have to protect the player from himself.

And that's, and they were asking that about Godwin, but it was Evans that really felt particularly egregious to me.

Yeah, I mean, Evans, Evans just has to know, like, there's just certain routes you can't run, you know, as a semi-like I play flag football on the weekends.

I play with a bad Hammy.

I'm in a few leagues.

Like, you just can't explode straight.

Like, you just can't.

Like, I went through a whole season once with a bad hammy, and I never ran.

Do you also have 100 career touchdowns?

Not in that league, no.

I'm getting there, though.

But it's just, it just seems so, like, as soon as he ran and grabbed his leg, I was like, yeah, that's your fault for trying to run full speed on a gold ball with a bad hand.

He's been in the league since the 70s.

I don't know why he would make that mistake.

And yeah, Godwin shouldn't have been out there, but I understand why he was.

You know, they thought they could rally late.

I get that.

I just think Baker, though, let's just stay focused on them.

I think he's going to still put up some decent raw numbers just because, again, I just think he's equipped to just sling it around the yard.

I just think that's what they're going to have to do and what he's going to be comfortable doing.

I don't know if I like them in this game just because the Falcons are a little bit healthier and well put together.

they're well put together, even though I just saw them get their boots smoked on Sunday.

But yeah, I do think the Bucs, if they just make like one trade or something for a skilled player or something, doesn't have to be a splash like we've seen.

Just add another piece.

I do think they can stay afloat in a very winnable NFC South.

I like the Falcons a lot in this game.

They're coming off, like you said, a bad loss to the Seahawks, the 3-0 against the NFC South.

Bijan and Pitts are doing well for that offense.

We're not going to get the shootout that we got in the first matchup between these two, and I just like the Falcons.

Next,

the Falcons are the other, only other team who are lower in the HTC power rankings to be favored.

Next, Saints at Chargers.

The Saints have teetered on the brink of unwatchable territory for me since their, I guess, their entire roster was placed on IR like a month ago.

Alvin Kamara has been playing through a broken hand.

What?

How did he sign his two-year extension that he just did if his hand is broken?

The Chargers because he's

a dominant.

Yeah, I don't know.

If it's the left hand, then it wouldn't affect his handwriting.

Right.

Yes, that was a joke.

Um, the Chargers couldn't score a touchdown last week, and it cost them the game.

All I had to say about this game is: wake me up when it's over.

Oh,

wake me up before you go, go.

Jordan, thoughts.

I would recommend watching it, actually,

because you get to watch Justin Herbert play some really good football, which he's been doing for the last couple of weeks.

He had he accounted for 349 yards of the total 395 yards of offense that the Chargers amassed against the Cardinals on a game like nobody watched because of the streaming service it was on.

His receivers are letting him down, which I know we give a lot of like, but if only if we could just get this system for Justin Herbert, if we could only do this for him, if we could only just maximize his talent, he is maximizing his talent at this point in the season.

He's throwing beautiful passes, and he had seven drops in this game, so he's got to get some help from his receivers.

Chargers need to get their run-going game going a little bit.

Against New Orleans, as decimated as they are, as bad as they're playing, this is the perfect sort of get-right game for them.

How about this?

And

the soapbox Jordan was on earlier.

I was using it.

It's very sturdy.

It's built strong, Ford tough.

I was, you know, ranting about the NFL and some of the decisions that are being made with the schedule and their business partnerships.

The ESBN did not mention the audience numbers in the press release for the week seven Monday night games.

This per Florio.

Florio loves this shit.

So, yes.

Per source with knowledge of the data.

The game attracted an audience of 1.8 million.

And that includes those who watched via over-the-air channels in the local markets of Phoenix and Los Angeles.

So, I mean, that means nobody watched that game.

And maybe, just maybe, the NFL takes that under advisement with these staggered Monday night games, which are just

the pits.

Next.

Next.

Panthers.

The Pitts.

Who says it?

I did.

Unhinged.

I love it.

If peeing your pants is cool, consider me Miles Davis.

If peeing your pants is cool, consider me Miles Davis.

Next.

Yes.

Okay, Panthers at Broncos.

Andy Dalton was in a minor car accident earlier this week.

He's mostly fine, but he did injure his thumb.

So now Bryce Young is starting again against the ferocious Denver Broncos defense.

I'm sure that's all going to go very well for the former number one pick.

I like it, Justin will snark in your setups this week.

Mike,

Denver's defense does have the ability to flummox an opponent.

And Bryce Young back in the lineup after about a month off, although he did get into some blowouts, doesn't set up well, I don't think, for the second-year quarterback.

Yeah, and it's some bad luck on Carolina's side.

Didn't Cam Newton get in a bad car accident, too?

Did he flip his car?

His car flipped.

That was legitimately, yeah.

Wait, he played after that, though, right?

Do I remember that?

Yeah, I think so.

I think he did.

Yeah,

Cam was, yeah, yeah, but Andy Dalton.

Come on, man.

The standard has been set for starting quarterbacks in car accidents, though, if that's the case.

Like, there's a standard there within the organization.

If you get in a car accident, you should play.

You know, Nate Burleson got in a car accident once because his pizza slid off the passenger seat and he went to adjust it and got into a minor

dust up.

And that felt very relatable.

He broke his arm trying to get the pizza from the titanium.

Did he break?

Yeah, he broke some arm.

Tough.

I'm sorry.

That's not funny, but it kind of is, man.

No pizza is worth that.

Well,

pizza's pretty awesome.

It is, but man, he was still on the Lions, too, I think, at the time.

Like, broke his arm.

But anyway, yeah, these last two games, honestly,

have the potential to be very yucky.

Although I'm trying to get away from that.

Is that the yucky trifecta for today's podcast?

I'm trying to expand my vocabulary a little bit, but I just feel like the words like stinky, yucky, poopy, like they just really hit hard when used appropriately.

So I just kind of defer.

You have a young child, too, I know.

Yes, yes, yes, I do.

Yeah, I don't have any interest in either of these, but I do think that I'm trying to hold out hope for Bryce.

I think the height thing will be too much.

Like, my man can't see.

He's jumping to throw check downs.

I think you're just cooked in the NFL if you're doing that at that point.

I'm trying to hold out hope.

So, when I do watch this game, I won't watch it live.

God knows I love myself.

I'll go back and watch it so I can fast forward through things when appropriate.

I'll be looking to see if Bryce just looks a little bit more comfortable in the pocket and if he's like literally throwing the ball with his both of his feet on the ground because he wasn't doing that last time he started the game, and that's just that's inexcusable in the NFL against this pass rush.

He's not going to be very comfortable.

I don't know.

It's going to be a problem.

Last game.

Last game, Chiefs at Raiders.

The Chiefs keep grinding out ugly win after ugly win, and they'll have another chance to do so here.

Kansas City's struggling offense takes on the Raiders' underrated defense, while the Raiders' disastrous offense takes on a very great Chiefs' defense.

That is a recipe for an under, if I've ever seen one.

But remember, last year, the Raiders, under interim head coach Antonio Pierce, beat the Chiefs 20-14 in week 16.

Here's a great stat, Josh Dubaugh of Associated Press, the Associated Press.

The Raiders are the last team to beat the Chiefs, Christmas 2023, the last team to beat the Ravens, week two, the only team to lose to the Panthers this season, week three, and the only team to lose to a team coached by Jeff Saturday, the Colts in week 10, 2022.

The Raiders are weird.

The Raiders are bad, but sometimes the Raiders show up out of nowhere, and we'll see if that happens here.

Diana Rossini of ESPN reported the Rams and the Chiefs.

Oh, excuse me.

Sorry.

My God.

Diana Rossini, formerly of ESPN and now the athletic, reported the Rams and Chiefs discussed Cooper Cup, but the Super Bowl champs needed to trade with a team that was willing to take on a large chunk of the salary and didn't want to give up high picks.

The Tennessee Titans were willing to play ball, so it's DeAndre Hopkins that is now a member of the Chiefs.

He's 32 years old, Jordan,

and we'll see if he could still play the guitar.

But obviously, a move the Chiefs needed to make, we'll see if he's involved in this game.

But yeah, adding another player, certainly one with the resume of Hopkins, is intriguing at the very least.

To me, this is less so about what kind of production he can add and more so getting the ball to him in opportune moments, contested catches, for example, working him along the line of scrimmage so that when you move him and coverage starts moving toward him, then other spaces on the field will open up and getting him the ball enough to remind people that he's still a threat.

Now, I don't doubt that he can still play,

even, you know, as he's dealt with some injuries and then also his age, but you want to really be efficient with where you get him the ball and how you get him the ball based on different alignments so that you can dictate now how defenses play your other receivers in different ways.

And I think that's the big reason for this signing.

Less so adding a bunch of production stats-wise, but more so opening up production for everybody else on the field and getting him the ball in opportune moments.

Just imagine going to sleep on Tuesday night on the one in five Titans.

You don't know if Mason Rudolph or Will Levis is trying to get you the ball.

You know, neither one is really going to be able to.

You wake up on Wednesday morning and it's like, hey, guess what?

You're on the two-time Super Bowl winning Kansas City Chiefs.

You're 6-0.

Patrick Mahomes is your quarterback now.

Good luck.

Have a great rest of your season.

Graver, you're down bad, man, huh?

It's tough.

I love him down.

I love Connor to death.

He's like one of my favorite analysts and writers that's out there right now.

Our own Connor Orr, your first one.

Yeah, Connor Orr, who does great work.

I don't agree with him, though, from earlier this week.

I don't think Vegas is going to turn this around.

I really don't agree with him.

I love him.

As much as I adore him, Connor had a tremendous week of hot takes on the show,

starting with the Raiders making a run to January football and capping it by saying that Joe Buck and Troy Aikman are the worst announcing team of any in the league.

Just elite hot takesmanship from my man, Connor Orr.

All right, let's take one more break.

And when we get back, the Money Mike plays for week eight and our fearless predictions.

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All right, welcome back.

You heard it right there.

It's the money mic

time of the week.

And listen, you had a 16-leg

parlay last week for your dad.

And you didn't go 16 for 16, but nobody does.

But you did incredible work by my quick math here, which is never to be trusted.

16 minus 5 is 11.

So 11 out of 16 is pretty damn good.

You hit on a bunch.

You got let down by the Jets and the Niners and Kyron Williams and Jaden Reed, but otherwise, great work.

So we're going to narrow it down now, Money Mike, from a 16-leg dad parlay, which

maybe on Patreon we'll have a separate show where it's just Mike and his dad breaking down things.

But let's go with the Greg Olson three-legged parlay

for the week.

Although I love G-Reg, can I do five?

Can I do my favorite five?

Well, I mean,

that's tough for the Greg Olson side of it, but yeah, give us five, yeah.

I mean, it'd be, I'm curious about the Greg Olson five-legged parlay.

I mean, technically, that would be great for him, right?

Yeah, major question

about that, and I'd like to take a look just out of curiosity, but go ahead, Mike.

Oh, my goodness.

Okay.

So

either kicker.

It's like total recall stuff.

Go ahead.

Sorry, Mike.

No, you're good.

Either kicker in the Falcons Bucks game, they both have the same over of one and a half made field goals.

I don't care which one you take.

But I think they'll both go over, but just one of them going over one and a half field goals.

Joe Burrow, this is an alternate line, 225 plus passing yards.

Lamar Jackson over...

263.5 combined passing and rushing yards.

Hunter Henry over 32.5 receiving yards.

And then Tyreek, who basically begged us to take this.

Tyreek Hill over 86.5 combined rushing and receiving yards in a game against Arizona.

I mean, the guy was literally tears of joy because his quarterback was back.

He is going to look to ball.

I like that Hunter Henry one.

That's a little sneaky one.

Oh, yeah.

Him and Drake may have been locked in since Drake has been starting.

He's been his guy.

He came up in fantasy this morning because of that.

Yes.

Very good.

Nicely done, Justin.

All right, let's now move to the final part of the preview show.

It's our fearless predictions.

First, we go back and look at how things played out a week ago.

And let's pull that up.

All right, the gravedigger.

At least two headlines praising Mike Tomlin for starting Russell Wilson by next Thursday.

I found like 50.

Here's my favorite 10.

Here's my favorite 10, he says.

What a flex.

All right.

Give yourself a ding.

Give yourself a ding.

I like that one.

I wish I would have picked that one because I felt that Wilson was going to to play well too, but I didn't think about it for fearless prediction.

The Zuzzer, we get.

All right, so Zuzzer had a pivot because Zuzzer thought that Will Levis was going to have a memeable moment in week eight, and then he got quiet-benched with that shoulder issue.

So I had a pivot and went to we get a 200-yard receiver or rusher in week seven.

And goddamn it, I mean, I had it.

This is like the fourth time this has happened to me.

I had at the end of the third quarter, Saquon Barkley with 176 yards on like 17 carries

and heading toward a 200-yard day.

And then this conversation was captured on the sideline between Nick Siriani and his star running back.

You're 13 yards away from your career high.

I would love for you to get that, but that's up to you.

I just don't want, like, I'm going to take out all the starters if they don't spoil.

Let them eat.

Are you sure?

Yeah.

I promise.

I'll listen to me.

I want you to do it if you want to do it.

So I'd rather see the young boys eat.

I mean, everybody comes off great there.

Nick Siriani, who's been in the crosshairs, comes off well there as a player's coach and having that moment.

Saquon for being just a dog who's also the dude, who's also worries, you know, wants the younger guys to get their playing time.

But Zuzzer doesn't come off well because I get beat by it.

So whatever.

Michael Sean Dugar, both star wide receivers traded, will go for over 100 yards in first games with new teams.

That's Devontae Adams and Amari Cooper.

Neither did.

You're 2-5.

I'm 2-5.

Gravedigger, 3-4.

Jordan Rodrigue, both Amari Cooper and Devontae Adams will catch a TD.

One did.

Dang, that sucks.

Jets let me down.

I know how you feel.

Everyone buying in on the Jets and learning the hard way.

One and six.

Mark Sessler, a head coach or coordinator, is fired by our next Thursday show.

What is that?

Who got fired?

Well, we said this the first time that he made this prediction because he ran this one back for a second week in a row that if somebody gave up play calling duties, that would also count as a coordinator being fired.

And Kevin Safanski has given play calling duties to Ken Dorset.

Wait,

let me see what he said.

Well, he said a head collection.

He didn't get fired because he's the head coach.

Right, but we had this long clarification conversation about this, and it kills me that Mark's not here to defend his own.

I'll do, let's vote on this.

The head coach

choosing to give play calling away is not getting fired from play calling duties.

I'm sorry.

All right.

All in favor.

Okay.

All in favor.

I'm inclined to agree with you, Dan.

Here we go.

All in favor of, this is a vote between Mike, Jordan, and Dan.

All in favor of

giving Mark credit for that as a firing of an offensive coordinator or a play caller say aye.

All in favor of

pushing Mark to own seven, no hard feelings,

say aye.

Aye.

Aye.

Justin, please check with us before you build the boards up.

That's a disgrace that you even, that was something that you thought you could push through on your own.

Sorry.

Mark called me yesterday to talk about it, and I gave it to him.

He called you?

Well, he called me because he was driving and he was like, hey, can you put my initials down on this game?

And I was like, Oh, that's why he was first in the document this week.

I even left him a little note that said, Look at you, Mark.

Yes, um, so he's like, I'm driving, I want to put my

initials in there, but I'm driving.

Can you do it for me?

And I was like, Oh, sure, what game?

He was like, Baltimore, since Baltimore, Cleveland.

I was like, Baltimore, Cleveland, like number one in the powering source, number 30.

You want that game?

And he was like, Yeah, I think there's some intriguing storylines.

I love watching the Ravens for the first time in my life.

I actually enjoy watching Baltimore football and James Winston.

And then he said, by the way, I think I got my fearless prediction right because Savansky gave up.

How about this?

Let's not say anything.

And listeners and viewers, don't tell Mark.

And then he's going to learn when the board comes up on next Thursday show.

All right, let's get into our fearless predictions for week eight.

This is going to seem completely counterintuitive.

And I know anything that involves like picking against the Patriots is

not fearless.

So I really stacked it up.

So I think the Jets are going to, at the very least, get off the mat and beat up the Patriots in New England.

And I'm going to say it's going to be a double-digit win

with

Devontae Adams and Garrett Wilson combining to go over 200 yards receiving.

So

three-legged, Greg Olson did.

The Jets stomped the Patriots

with their two receivers having big days.

This is why we don't believe you when you say you're off the Jets.

No, this is more.

Well, I could see that, and I understand that.

It makes sense that they're going to suck in their fan base by beating the terrible Patriots again, in my opinion.

But I don't, I'm not back and stop knocking on my door, Jets.

All right, Mike, you're up.

I mean, that seems very back.

Just throwing that out there.

I'm staying away from the Jets because they have hurt my heart.

All right, for me, week eight, there are eight teams getting at least five points via their spreads.

I think at least four of them, so half of them, will cover their spreads this week.

Ooh, okay.

Jordan?

Two games decided by game-winning field goals, even though they don't have to be on the last drive of the entire game, but two games decided by game-winning field goals, both of at least 46 yards.

I love it.

Justin.

All right.

Mine is that

this is stupid.

The Raiders will upset the Chiefs with three touchdowns or more from Gardner Vinciu.

Bang.

All right, dude.

Now that's a fearless prediction.

Do we have one for Mark?

We have one for Mark.

An NFL single-game record of some variety will be broken.

Single game record of

NFT.

Like, what is the parameters there?

So to me, this is extremely broad, and I feel like maybe we should try to get some clarification from him because it's like

there's so many records.

Here's what you seek a little bit of clarification that maybe make it an individual record of some kind

rather than some type of oddity.

I don't know.

Check in with him, but don't tell him about the 1 and 6 0 and 7 thing.

I'd be okay if that was like some type of team combined thing, like most penalties or...

punts or something, you know, a single game record.

I understand, yeah.

Like, is he looking for the umbrella where it's anything like that?

Well, that's what i'm wondering when he said of some variety it's like the varieties are kind of endless he's well he's he meanwhile mark thinks he's going for a two-game winning streak with this broad one but in fact he's still looking to get off the schneid which is amazing yeah also we get an email um every week from you know the the the league sends out like it through its various pr channels to all to you guys to us to everyone like that milestones or what to look for in week eight like those things so i'm like i need a little more specificity because he could have maybe closed his eyes and pointed at any one of those, just listed out.

Because there's a lot of things that could happen miles away.

Yeah, there's so many little wrinkles.

See, he's a little sneaky guy right now.

He tried to butter me up by being first in the document this week, and I left him a little note, and now I'm slamming him on.

I'm willing to fantasize about other scenarios.

All right.

Thank you to everybody, of course, for checking out the show.

Check out the Sunday show where we recap every game we just previewed.

And of course, check out Friday morning on the Patreon, exclusive on the Patreon, patreon.com slash heed the call,

our draft of all week eight Sunday games.

Until next time, thank you to Jordan and Mike.

As always, you guys are studs.

Thank you to Justin.

You're a beautiful man, covered in gravy.

Until next time, heed the call.

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