MNF Recap: Bills-Jets

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Josh Aaron Rodgers trying to win the game and your defense steps up big.

Taylor Rapp all night and Taryn Johnson coming off of injury.

What can you say about the job they did?

Oh man, we

found a way to win.

Got sloppy there in the second half.

Got to find a way to put more points on the board, but it was a team victory.

We'll take them out.

We get them and

four and two.

Yes, Josh Allen has it right.

It was not pretty, but the Bills don't care about style points.

They care about being in first place in the AFC East, which they are after six games, after a 23-20 win over the New York Jets at MetLife Stadium, a game where first place was on the line, but you come out of the game thinking that the AFC East is the same as it ever was post-Tom Brady.

It's the Bills' division to lose, and it's the Jets, as always, looking up at a big brother.

It just happens to be a different Big Brother, and it is Josh Allen.

Dan Hands us with Mark Sessler, heating that call.

Sestog, gruesome, gruesome watch in some ways this game.

Yes, it was a tightly contested game, back and forth, but

22 penalties for 204 yards, I suspect is how many people will remember this game.

But ultimately, it is the Bills who get out of there with a win and kind of reset themselves with the road ahead.

Well, I think they saved their season.

You know, there's different like worlds of this.

Like the saving their season now, you come off of bad losses to the Ravens, to the Texans, where like we lost belief in you.

After thinking, I thought, you know, they're one of the best offenses in the league.

They'd scored 34 points against the Cardinals, 31 against the Dolphins, 47 against the Jaguars, and then you fall in those two straight matches.

So tonight, it's like it was sloppy.

It needed, the Bills needed multiple

total gaffes by the Jets from a field goal angle, from a penalty angle, from a turnover angle, and they got it.

And it wasn't pretty, and that's okay.

But they're four and two, and they come out of it.

And that's sort of like what I've like.

I feel like

the Josh Allen bills and the Sean McDermott Bills of the last couple of years are like, we're going to get into these holes.

Most of you are going to start writing think pieces about how we might be done, we might be over.

You can stop believing in us, and then we dig our way out.

I'm not sure tonight builds my belief in a, in an immense way around that, because

you encountered a Jets team, get you know that it is in a dark place in a tough place and going through a lot but it was ugly they got out of it and here are the Bills they're four and two do I believe in them I don't know but like I do believe in the fact that like they found a way to close the game but also the Jets closed the game on themselves yeah I thought it was an incomplete game

to be kind toward the Bills against the team that couldn't get out of its own way in multiple ways.

I thought the game, what it came down to was, as you mentioned, Greg Zerline misses two field goals in this game, but the Bills had trouble kicking as well and swirling wins at the Meadowlands tonight.

But after the Bills go ahead on the short field goal and the Jets, once again,

Mike Williams, like, thanks for coming, dude.

But how about we stay on our feet and make a play?

And once again, you're watching this game, you're thinking, oh, Devontae Adams, it would be nice to get him in the building, but that's beside the point.

That essentially, that third and long interception was an arm punt by Rodgers, and

the Bills have the ball first and 10 at the Buffalo 18 with 152 to play.

And I'm watching the game with my two sons, and I'm explaining the nuance of the situation.

The Jets have three timeouts.

The Bills obviously want to burn those timeouts, and they're going to run the ball twice, which they do.

The first one for five yards, the next one for next to nothing.

And then it's third down.

And I'm thinking to myself, if I'm the Bills, am I going to give the ball again to my backup running back and then hope for the best on a day where Aaron Rodgers has already thrown a Hail Mary touchdown?

Or am I going to let Josh Allen win the game?

And it's frustrating as a Jets fan to know.

And I texted you guys before the play happened, like, this is a Josh Allen play.

There's no way this ends with them just running into the line.

And it was a design run, and the Jets were undisciplined, as they've been for much of the season, and don't contain the edge.

And he easily picks up the first down.

Game over.

So good job by Sean McDermott and the Bills for withstanding the storm that came with that Hail Mary at the end of the half.

But ultimately, it was, you know, the Jets that continue to just shoot themselves in the foot.

And, you know, I mentioned that my sons were watching this game, and this was a crazy night in my house, Mark.

This was, you know, since I've been in L.A., I don't think there's been a bigger sports night

in my house because you had game one of the American League Championship Series, and it's the Yankees and the Guardians.

So I have that on the big TV.

And then this, you know, you really have to go back to maybe week 17 of 2015, Jets, ironically against the Bills, or coincidentally, up in Orchard Park when Ryan Fitzpatrick threw three interceptions to knock him out of the playoffs, their only winning season in the last 13 years.

That is probably the biggest game since then because of everything that had happened around the Jets.

You know,

last year,

I was thinking about this game as I was, you know, putting the kids to bed.

My wife's out of town, so it's just like a lot going on, SesTock.

I get that.

She's busy and she's successful, so that's a good thing.

So it's just me and the boys, and I get them into bed.

I had promised them, by the way, after the Yankees completed their 5-2 win about a half hour, 40 minutes before the Monday night game ends because of all the penalties.

I said, hey, listen, like they have this whole thing about yes day.

They love yes day.

Do you know what yes day is?

It's a thing.

Kids are super into it.

I mean, I feel like I've experienced my own yes days, but it's probably not what you're referring to.

All right.

Yes day is a thing where kids get to do whatever they want.

The parents have to go along with it.

I said, listen, if the Jets and the Yankees win tonight, I'll give you guys a yes day on Friday.

I'll pick you up half day at school and we'll do something fun.

So now, mistake, by the way, because now I've drawn them into the spider webs of Jet fandom, and I didn't realize I was doing it at the time.

I was over my skis a little bit.

But anyway, you know, last year, week one for Jets fans, it was a stomach punch

that I don't wish upon anyone, especially when that anyone is a fan base is downtrodden

and starved for joy as Jets fans.

So I was angry, and we were there.

We did the show that night, Mark.

I was angry and hurt and bewildered that the season had been taken from us after four snaps.

You know, and whether or not that Jets team was going to do anything is beside the point.

It was that hope was taken away.

And for once, it wasn't even the Jets' fault.

It was just like it was decided.

The fates simply decided it was time for a new wrinkle of misery for the Jets.

But this season, Mark,

this season

is different

because

I feel like this is more

like the last 13 years and really the last 50 years, if you want to start combing through it where it's just a reminder that yeah while fate took something away uh last year the jets now with their fans they take and they take and they take and they take and they take

and they don't give anything and i'm just so sick of living this this role as a jet fan like we we don't even get the persacea bump right we let alone you know a field goal hitting the upright and going through.

We don't get that, but we don't even get the Persacchia bump.

We get Jeff Ulrich taking over and we get, you know, a bad, just a bad job by the team.

The team looked bad.

I didn't think the team was good on defense.

I thought, obviously, with all the penalties,

it was a sloppy game all around.

And just, it's just a take and the take and the take.

And it gives nothing, Mark.

And

I've reached this point as a fan where it's like, I found myself, and maybe it was because I watched the Yankees who have given me joy in my life on the same night where I was just like, I'm just sick of this.

Like,

I'm just like,

how much longer do I have to just

take the abuse as a fan without having anything positive come out of this relationship?

And it's, I think, Mark, you've been in these relationships.

I think the one that you multiple times.

You bring up the, you were trapped in Arizona for two years in an unhealthy relationship.

Like, at a certain point, I feel like you need to take an internal audit when you find yourself in this type of relationship.

And I feel like that's where I am right now, which is not to say that I'm like quitting being a Jets fan or anything, but like I am reaching the point or getting close to the point where

like I want to take a step back and be like, until you could like figure your shit out.

Like, I'm sick of being on the front lines of this carnage and dealing with one disappointment after the next because you can't just take and take and take and take and never give.

And that's what this relationship has turned into.

So I feel bad that I dragged my kids into it and they went to bed sad because I dangled this carrot inadvertently that connected to the Jets doing something well.

But it's just like, I'm sick of it.

I'm just sick of it, Sess Dog.

And I don't know, and I know so many Jets fans feel exactly the same way, but we keep filling that stadium and we keep on believing that something good could come out of all this.

But we're reaching a point, especially coming off this week and the dysfunction that just permeates from ownership down for them to follow up with this sloppy, ugly, like depressing performance.

I'm just, you know, like, I'm not saying I'm going full rabble,

you know.

Well, maybe I am.

Maybe I am.

That might be,

Mark.

Maybe you buy that.

Maybe that's the next.

Maybe until this partner, Mark, this unhealthy relationship I am, I'm I'm in right now, and I have been in my whole life, until they get their shit together, I'm going to take a step back.

And you work on you, and then get back to me when you have your life in order.

Because

your house is not in order.

Your house is chaos, and I'm sick of having a front row seat for all of it.

Well, I'm going full low, bro.

No, I respect what you have said.

I think it's a moment of honesty, and it's like a, it's a bit of a breaking point, and I understand that.

Like, I mean, I can relate to the concept of a football team that decides to abuse you.

You know,

we don't support abusive relationships in general or at all.

Not in general or at all.

But like, you know, we understand that from a sports thing.

It's like, here's the problem.

This team has disrupted your relationship between you and your father.

You and your father.

But then also you and your children.

So it's generational.

We're talking about three generations of human beings that are like, what are we doing here?

Like, why are we spending our time in this?

And like, if anything, when we root for a sports team, like,

it feels to us as Jets fans, Browns fans, you know, you got a Titans fan here too.

It's like, it feels almost too much to ask that

it brings us joy.

It's like, that's too much to ask.

Can you be competent?

That's too much to ask.

Your job as a sports team on one level is to be creative, to create something.

You're creating something every time you go out and face an opponent.

You've spent all week creating your game plan.

And the only thing these teams can do, but let's focus on the Jets.

The Jets are creating

total malaise and problems.

And it seems to happen in the last couple of years in this paradigm with Aaron Rodgers in prime time specifically.

And it doesn't matter.

Like a bunch of their players had nice nights, but it's like the Jets find a way to do certain things that spoil your evening, and you are running out of time as a human being to hitch your existence to this wagon.

So, I'm with you, I'm with you, Dan, on this front.

Like, I'm not saying jump ship, but I, I, like, your frustration resonates, I think, with anyone that has done anything that it just continues to fail.

We're not here just to get, we won't, we, and also, you, you know, kids don't like losers, So you're trying to bring your

kids doing this

I my kids because they know me and and it's just a natural part of the family dynamic they they're curious about this team that I care so much about and they're but they're not diehards and it helps that they're 3,000 miles away from where the team plays and as I've said on the show before the old show and I'm saying it again like I have not pushed my kids into Jets fandom and you know perhaps because we're working most Sundays like they're they're not as like attached to the product as I was when I was their age.

And that's good.

And they'll, they're on their own journey.

Um, uh, it would have been a fun night to get uh two W's for our local teams, but but that it's just not in the cards with this team, and that's that's ultimately what it's about.

It's just like

I used to give Wes a hard time all the time about the Bengal, and and it was because, you know, I thought, and I still believe, like, Wes grew up

working class, like I,

this, you know, a working class Catholic, you know, family on the west side of Cincinnati, and the Bengals are in your blood.

And like, I never understood how Wes was able to just look at the dysfunction of the franchise, work up the dossier, and walk away, and then, and then not even think about coming back when something as special as Joe Burrow came in the building, who, you know, was just on the rise when Wes got sick.

He never really, Wes didn't, you know, get to see, you know, Burrow in the Super Bowl and all that.

But, you know, so I'm not,

but I,

for me, like, it's not leaving the Jets fandom, but it's like, I feel at a place where it's like,

I want to take a step back because I'm just so sick of it.

I'm so sick of

these games.

I'm so sick of watching the same game over and over and over.

And that's, that's not taking anything away from the players, like Taylor Rapp of the Bills, who made so many big plays in this game, and

Buffalo's ability to close the door on games that the Jets can't.

Like, I'm not looking for anybody's like

pity.

I'm just saying we're talking about this game right after it's over.

And I'm just like, I'm sick of this shit.

And there's so many Jets fans that feel the same way.

And I don't know what's going to finally change it.

Maybe it's ownership.

Maybe we get our own burrow down the road.

But until any of that happens, I watch the game just from a pure game standpoint, Mark.

I think the problem with this Jets team is that it's not actually that good.

Like, they have a good but not great defense.

They have an average offense at best, and then they're not coached well.

And we're going to give Ulrich the benefit of the doubt, but they're not coached extremely well.

And you put all that together, and that's like a kind of a middling team.

And I think that's what this team is going to end up being now that we've gotten this sample.

I think they're a seven to nine win team if everything breaks right.

And that's who they are.

But it's like coming to terms with that when there was so much hope and optimism leading into this season and last season.

Like that, that's part of this too.

Like it's about coming to terms with the Jets are a mediocre team and you're just kind of dealing with that aftermath when you were hoping to be a Super Bowl team, but it just wasn't in the cards.

Yeah, I think

that's the concern because and now, you know, they've the ownership, the owner has amped up the level of challenge because you've changed the staff.

Everyone inside that building is doing what they were doing before with new responsibilities and that's why I you know I when I look at both of these teams the bills I give credit to you have Novon Miller right now Ed Oliver's out of the mix you did not have James Cook tonight who is a really I think the story

Yeah, exactly.

You have that, 150 yards of total offense.

Exactly.

Like that to me, the ability to come out and have someone perform the way they did at that position tonight was a big part of it.

The Bills have been a team that's figuring out who they are on offense, but they're missing guys all over the place, and they were able to get through it.

Like, winning ugly is great.

Losing ugly the way the Jets did, where it's like, wait a minute,

in a season where kickers are nailing, you know, 58 and 59-yard field goals, and it was a windy weather

doused evening.

So that is part of it.

But that just played into it.

But the Bills found a way out of this whole thing.

I thought

the officiating tonight was a disaster.

Like,

We always text during these games.

There was a roughing,

like the pastor call that I thought was one of the worst I've seen.

And these happen all the time, but it's just like, this stuff has too much impact on the game.

You've got to find a way to better.

There were two of them.

But one, even Aaron Rodgers said that the one on him

was a disastrous call.

And it's like, this stuff seems,

yeah.

It seemed a little ridiculous.

Yeah, some of them seemed really bad, including the rough in the passer on me.

That's not rough in the passer.

Might as well play sarcastic ball if we're going to call those things.

And I thought the one on Kinla was not rough in the passer either.

Yeah, and that goes back to what we've been talking about forever, which is if we can, like on the Garrett Wilson touchdown in the first half, if officials upstairs can quickly correct an officiating mistake on a touchdown, how are we not correcting those plays?

I think the Jets got three points out of that bogus call on Rodgers.

And it's just so frustrating.

And then the play at the end where the Jets were kind of in freefall mode and lost anyway, but where Rodgers' arm is going forward, but he's not throwing the ball, and then it kind of falls out of his hand.

And I thought that was just crazy too, Mark, because

not only did they not give the Bills possession of the ball, they recovered the loose ball.

I don't even know how this works, but they do, That is something they checked upstairs and changed it from fumble to incomplete pass.

And then Sean McDermott's like, hey, hey, hey, what happened?

And

the game stops so the officials can explain to the bills why that happened.

Like, you could just stop a game to talk to the officials about a play that happened.

Don't you have to use a timeout or something there?

It just was like a sloppy,

the whole game was pretty sloppy in terms of the presentation to the audience, put it that way.

It was.

You know, it's,

I don't know.

I think, I think the, let's be real with our show.

It's like, we're a Jets-centric show on one level, and it's, it is, you know, hopes and aspirations have been affected here.

The bills ride on for another day, but they're slot, they've got a lot to figure out, but they were missing a ton of people today.

So I,

I'm impressed with what they pulled off, you know, on the road in this situation, missing the people that they were missing.

And the Jets have to work the way out of this.

I think Ulbricke is like, I think they're basically saying, look,

if you're ownership, we're testing him to be the head coach.

I think it was a situation where it's like, we want him to be the head coach.

We figured that out over the last year plus.

And I kind of even felt back during hard knocks, it was like, he certainly feels that way.

So this may be an audition for that.

Tonight was not an acid test on that level.

But like, I will say one thing, like, outside of the game, like, there was the footage of him beforehand, like, coming into the stadium, like, embracing, holding hands with Jets fans.

Like, he seems to get it.

And, like, like, I thought even his pregame interview, like, his demeanor and who he is, like, maybe there's something to pull from that.

Maybe, maybe, what is happening now is not where we are.

How about we play a good game?

How we play a game?

No, but I'm being too hopeful.

I don't know.

Like, no, I think he's no, but also, you're asking a lot.

Like, we don't even know.

No, I have, I'm not making any like judgments on Ulrich after one game, but like, I'm just saying, I like texted you at one point.

Like, maybe you stumbled into because, like, the only way that bad teams that we follow can get on that, like, you stumble into something.

You don't go source it.

You stumble into it.

Like, have they stumbled into a good coach?

We'll see.

I'm not seeing that happen tonight, but like.

I guess all I can say to that is, you know, one game in, it was a dog shit performance by the team.

So the good thing for Ulrich is that it's a long runway that he gets here, and he gets an audition.

And based on what we had heard from Connor Orr, he's well regarded both inside the building and outside amongst the Shanahan coaching tree.

So he's going to get a chance.

And Todd Downing taking over for Nathaniel Hackett was absolutely an upgrade, even though they didn't obviously score a ton of points.

They got it in the red zone a bunch.

Brees Hall all of a sudden looked like a running back again.

That was obviously maybe a year too late getting Hackett out of the play calling role, but you know, better late than never.

All right.

I'm just saying, I'm like, I'm not, it's not that I'm not a Jets fan anymore, Mark.

I am Rob Lowe right now, and I am, I reserve the right as someone someone who has eaten the shit for 35 years to take a step back.

Yeah.

And if the Jets can show me at some point this year that they are, they have their stuff together and they're in a healthy place internally,

I will step back into the relationship.

But right now, we are on a timeout.

Well,

I mean, you know, I feel like I spent the last season or two suggesting similar concepts.

We're like two divorced wives having like glasses of white water.

I'm not divorced.

I'm not divorced.

Okay.

Well, we're not unlike that.

Like we've got similar things to complain about.

I've taken a step back.

Yeah.

If you want to go out and like go out and get some Mexican food together and have a couple of margaritas and like, you know, dump on our significant SOs, like we can.

But I want you to know that I believe this is a relationship worth salvaging.

But right now, I'm taking a step back.

I'm rocking.

I'd be there to support you at a Mexican restaurant on like a Friday at 4 p.m.

You know, a little happy.

I know.

I know you would be.

I would be.

I knew you would be.

Yeah.

And Justin, you're invited too.

As long as you got that insane quarterback.

Star game true.

By the way, we didn't talk about this yesterday, but Justin's quarterback, Will Levis, like one of the most insane things that happened on Sunday is him barreling out of bounds and taking out a ball boy's like knees.

And then also, he was like a ball man.

It was a ball.

Just destroying his leg.

It was a ball man.

But like the capper to the ball man was that unlike some players that understand that they just deeply change someone's life for like the next year and a half, like well, Will Evis just gets up and runs away.

Like, by the way, you don't know.

I mean, listen, listen, since no, I mean, he did, but

maybe he visited him.

He could have visited the person later.

That's fair.

I don't know.

I'm sure Justin actually has the entire breakdown.

He did.

Justin, what happened after the game with Mr.

Mayonnaise himself?

Did he approach the ball man?

That's actually a good question.

I don't know the

answer to that one.

I know that the man, the ball man, is named Brian Robb.

He was a sideline staffer.

He's been with the Titans for over 20 years.

He was taken to the hospital in the middle of the game for surgery on his leg.

And he reported during the game that he is in good spirits.

He gave a thumbs up as he was being carved out.

He's in good spirits.

Good.

Good spirits.

As his right leg is turned into an accordion that would make Aiden Hutchinson squirm.

How do we know that he's in good spirits, by the way?

That sounds like a not a bunch of stuff.

Yeah, that sounds totally made up.

That sounds like PR Central, Titans PR Central from the Gravedigger.

Yeah, I don't know.

All I know is that we three cheer for teams who are always the underdog.

So landing with underdog was the perfect home for he to call.

Justin.

You're the best, bud.

Well, you soiled that up well.

Does that count as the Will Levis meme of the week?

Destroying a man's life.

Was that our ad?

Was that our ad read?

When Will Levis scored through this touchdown pass, he was doing like Spider-Man celebrations.

Yeah, we don't need to do that, Will.

That was going viral.

And then, yes, the guy being carted off was counted by some on Twitter as the Will Levis meme of the week.

Do you think Hellmans is having that buyer's remorse about their national ad campaign?

Multiple meetings, multiple corporate meetings between, you know, remember what happened with Baker, too.

Baker's had so many lives, but he was on progressive commercials, legitimately every commercial break of every game, as his career was going in the toilet and he was like getting benched by the Browns.

And I feel like

they had to pivot out of that at some point,

Justin.

And, you know, we're not, I don't know how we got on Titans Corner, but here we are.

Mark Brown.

Hellmans is going to have to, they're going to have to pivot.

They're going to have to pivot out of this ad campaign.

Yeah, well, if you remember, Baker came out and said, like, I've been spending too much time doing ads.

And he made like a declaration before the season started that he wasn't going to do ads anymore.

And now he's leading the league in touchdown passes.

He's second in passer rating.

All Will Levis has to do to become a great quarterback is tough

doing that spots.

Mr.

Optimism.

On a Monday night, Mark.

No, I'm out.

I'm out on the Levis experience.

All right, let's take a break and and we'll do a quick little news um

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All right, we are back.

How about some news?

I wouldn't be a hypothetical in that matter.

Do you think I'm an idiot?

Do you?

Okay, well, I'm not going to hypothetical with you about when I'd consider coaching change in light of the timing we're sitting here with.

I'm not at all.

Jarrah on Mike McCarthy's job security.

And, you know, I don't, I'm not saying that Cowboys fans have a case,

you know, that is in line with Jets fans or Browns fans or Titans fans.

But if you want to go full Rob Lowe, Cowboys fans, until Jara is,

you know,

flushed out, as Mark says,

you could do that.

And we could have a little, you could come to the Mexican cantina as well.

How about that, Mark?

No, I'd agree, because I think there's different

layers and levels of I root for a team that is celebrated, but they also stumble.

And we've got an owner, if you're a Cowboys fan, that like, you know, you get four or five whiskeys into him, and he's, who knows what he's going to say.

And now, while I find that enjoyable, like that also works at a Mexican restaurant, so come on down, come on down and hang out with us.

And again, Mark, I'm on a break.

We were on a break.

That's different.

I know, but that's what I've not filed any paperwork.

I haven't legally separated.

I am just, I'm on a break.

And I'm watching.

Like, I'm the kind of, like, that's where, as your friend, like, I get, I get, you know, I understand.

And, like, I would just talk with you and listen to you, and you can talk through it.

Right.

Get a little, you know,

get a little heightened on some margaritas and we'll figure it out.

I like it.

Maybe we Thelmo and Louise right over the ridge together.

Well, Justin's with us too, so

Justin can hop in the back seat.

All right, anyway,

real quick,

a little addendum to all that Jet stock.

Hassan Reddick, who, you know.

But by the way, bad Gravediggle.

This is another delightful challenge.

Gravedigger, after Michael Clemens loses contain and the game's over, I got Gravedigger firing off text.

Man, you think if Hassan Reddick was there, maybe he makes that play.

It's like, Christ, Justin, I know you mean well.

Justin specializes in that specific type of text.

Like, oh,

is someone stabbing you and twisting a knife into some part of your body?

With Mark and I, we can't be sending off the, well, maybe if Hassan was there.

It wasn't, because it wasn't even taunting.

It wasn't just, there's not a bad bone in Justin's body, except for the one that broke through his skin.

It's just like we didn't need it, and it happened anyway, and we moved forward.

It was sort of like, yeah, they're two and four, but they were really competitive against the Bills.

And imagine if they had this big-time pass rusher on the end.

Do you not see why that's annoying?

Like, can I do you not see why that is ponderous?

Actually, I could hear all the listeners of our show right now slapping their forehead at the same time.

Right.

Tedious, sorry, unneeded, unrewarding.

Justin, if you weren't such a beautiful person and a fine producer, maybe I would have been mad, but you get the pass.

You always get the pass.

Hassan Reddick got fired by his agency, and now he's hired agent Drew Rosenhaus

as his new agent, and he will meet with the Jets before, or is supposed to meet before the game tonight to begin, quote, the process of resolving the situation and ending the holdout.

That's from Rapsheet.

And

I don't know, it's like close to $10 million or something in that range at this point that Reddick has coughed up.

And it looks like now Rosenhaus is trying to get through to this guy to get him in the building, but it's not going to bring back that money.

And

it's not going to get the stop of Josh Allen on third down there.

So we'll see what happens with that situation.

But based on that reporting, it feels like it's something that's going to be happening very soon.

Kevin Stefansky, the Browns head coach, we talked about on the Sunday flagship show, Sest Dog.

We talked about how at a certain point

that Stefansky has to be held accountable as well if Deshaun Watson continues to play despite being, by almost any metric, the worst quarterback in the league.

That led to some difficult questions in his Monday presser, specifically whether Jimmy Haslam, the owner of the Browns, is forcing him to keep starting the high-paid controversial quarterback.

The prevailing narrative

still seems to be that everyone thinks that Jimmy Haslam is forcing you to play Deshaun Watson.

So

I guess I just want to throw it out there again and ask

how is this decision made?

And is there any truth to that whatsoever?

Well, as you know, Mary Kay, I don't get caught up in narratives,

but

we have a good dialogue with myself and Drew Ownership about all things that have to do with this team.

They've been nothing but supportive, and any decision when it comes to football is my decision.

Mark, I'll let you take this.

He said earlier in the press conference that Deshaun gives us the best chance to win, which is a pretty scathing indictment of Jameis Winston.

Oh, by the way.

Well, a scathing indictment of Earth.

Like there was a clip I saw the other day from last autumn where Stefansky is enthusiastically sprinting down the sideline,

tracking an incredible Joe Flacco touchdown bomb down the field that brought the Browns to victory.

And so here we are now.

And

this is nonsensical.

He looks like he's been kidnapped by Hezbollah.

And that's just how he looks

in these press conferences.

And we all get that something...

incorrect, something fishy, something suspicious is occurring.

And it's too impossible to break down at this point.

But I will say that, like, for years and years, just based on my Browns fandom, I've tracked and been close to other Browns fans who are like, whether the journalists or podcasters or budding journalists, or they all had this like undying optimism that

the fog of war that is the Cleveland Browns, and we just talked about another team that's in the same boat, that there would be a way out of it, that something great would come.

And I'm watching so many of of them losing hope.

They're losing hope.

And it's not just hope.

It's apathy.

It's like the team is not good or bad.

It's not just that.

It's like, I don't care anymore.

I want out.

I want to go rake my leaves.

I want to go eat leaves.

I want to go climb into a tree.

How about you come to the Baja Cantina?

Well, I think that's sounding like the best option for so many individuals at this point.

So it could be a big crowd there.

Could be that.

Could be.

Could be.

So we shall see if this just continues.

It's becoming a fascinating situation in terms of how much longer can Kevin Stefanski say that that guy gives him the best chance to win.

Unbelievable.

Speaking of guys that give a team their best chance to win, well, two actually does give his team the best chance to win.

The Dolphins quarterback, who's been out now for about a month after sustaining another head injury on Thursday night football,

everyone wants to know, you know, do the Dolphins get to a back this season?

What is the timeline?

And Miami has been,

you know, obviously has not been sharing much in terms of what that is.

Mike McDaniel, the head coach, was asked about Tua and whether or not he would play again this season.

Here's what he had to say on Monday.

As far as timelines go,

I know he's not playing this week,

and I do expect to

see him playing football in 2024.

But where that is exactly, we'll let the process continue since we still have

time before he even could entertain anything.

All right.

That all checks out.

And as we said, even though the report came out at Mark

a couple weeks ago that the NFL was not involved in this in any way, this is a big issue.

And Tua is the face of brain injuries in the NFL right now.

And the Dolphins and the league are going to handle this carefully.

So I don't know.

We'll see what that means.

But McDaniel's saying that he'll be back or believes he'll be back for Dolphins fans.

If he could hold a fort and just hang around, that division is obviously not as fearsome as perhaps we thought.

The Patriots stink.

The Jets aren't much better.

The Bills are obviously an imperfect machine.

So the Dolphins, if they could just hang around, maybe they get Tua back, and most importantly, Tua can stay healthy.

Maybe they still have playoff aspirations this year.

I mean, maybe.

They're almost a team.

In this specific situation, I'd really track their win-loss record on a week-to-week basis.

Because at one point, does it not make sense to do this with this human being?

And there seems to be like you guys don't get it.

He wants to come back.

He wants to play.

This is something he wants to do.

Okay, well, he's part of this, but at some point, the Dolphins don't make a lot of sense to me, and I don't know why you put this human being back in this situation.

But that's just more my personal feeling versus like a football team can operate the way they want, but it's the same way I feel about Hassan Reddick.

It's like, at what point do you not sign Hassan Reddick if the Jets are, you know, falling off a cliff?

Like, when do you not worry about this stuff?

Like, we're getting there.

Like, we're almost in November.

So at what point do these things not make sense?

The Dolphins, to me, are not a playoff team.

And if they are, they're like a fringe playoff team.

So like, does Tua, do we just let him go into next year and see where we are with this person?

It's one of the more complex injury situations that we've dealt with in the last five years because

some of the more dynamically gruesome head injuries have happened to this one person dynamically gruesome head injury wow

well am i you know what i mean though just no i know what you mean

it stands out never heard those words put together no it just stands out differently to me than other

any other quarterback on this front and so i i don't know what the rush is what's the rush here the rush is the dolphins internally want to save their season because it's been yes depressing as hell with skylar thompson and you know insert quarterback here trying to hold down the fort.

Okay, finally, injury news.

Aiden Hutchinson, terrible, suffers that gnarly, broken leg, tibia, fibia, fibula, and they, you know, he has the emergency

surgery.

I think we mentioned that it was a compound fracture on Sunday.

That was a tweet that turned out not to be true.

Apologies.

So that is not a compound fracture, but it was a nasty fracture.

It was the leg flop, the whole thing.

His season's obviously over.

And yet Dan Campbell, trying to put a brave face on it, didn't rule out

Aiden Hutchinson, whose leg was flopping on the field 24 hours ago, from, I guess, coming back this year.

Here's Dan Campbell.

Look,

it's 46 months.

I would never count Hutch out ever.

So, yeah, probably, you know, long road, but I would never count him out.

And I would say

if anybody can make it back, it'd be him.

Here's the easy math.

It's October 14th.

The Super Bowl is like february 13th or something like that uh the lions internally best case scenario he's playing in the super bowl on some level on some snap count in a miracle scenario that so don't get your hopes up that he'll be ready for the stretch run this was a terrible injury and um adam shepherd reported on monday uh that the lions plan to seek edge depth via trade without mortgaging their future so

we'll see we mentioned this on reddick at the top of the news he actually would make sense uh But will the Lions feel like they need to bring somebody in?

There's no replacing Hutchinson, but maybe someone that can fill in admirably will be enough to keep them on the Super Bowl path.

I heard a few whispers out there or theories that if you really wanted to target a team like the Browns, you could sell a lot to get a Miles Garrett type figure.

That feels impossible to me.

That also would be the opposite of what Schefter reported.

Not that that is the be-all end-all, but they're not going to make a massive trade here.

They're just looking for somebody to hold down the fort.

Yeah,

I guess not.

But like

that, if anything, that was one of their positional question marks beyond Hutchinson.

So like they've, I don't think you get to the Super Bowl without being able to basically handle, hassle, and create nuisance for another quarterback.

Like that's the kind of team they need to be.

And so they've got to address it somehow.

There's ways to do it.

But

I think you do sell high if you need to.

Get something.

Get someone to make this, make a difference.

Like, that he was literally one of their most, I think it was top three key player for them.

All right.

That's what's happening in the news.

All right.

This is the Monday night recap.

And coming up on Wednesday, Connor Orr in the building.

We'll have a nice fun time.

Connor, as we always will.

We'll preview the Broncos at Saints' TNF matchup.

Week seven, Mark.

Isn't it crazy how quickly things

roll on in the NFL?

Especially when

we're at that Mexican happy hour, you know, going through our ups and downs, like the hours pass.

What is time when you're on your second pitcher of Sangria?

On Thursday, of course, we have the week seven preview show with Jordan and Mike, the TNF recap later that night.

And finally, of course, the Sunday night flagship with Connor Orr.

That's what's coming up.

A reminder, the Patreon.

Sign up for the Patreon.

We got fun stuff over on the Patreon.

You got our Friday morning draft show where we pick the games that we cover on Sunday.

You have the Throwback Podcast, the exclusive home of the Throwback Podcast with Bob and I.

You have Mark Sessler and Jason Zumwalt rolling thunder every month.

You have the Sessler newsletter, which, you know, Mark, I know you just sent that last one out, but it's time to start getting the new one cranked up.

There's some ideas out there.

Been working on it.

Yep.

Yes.

And don't ask me for help because I won't give you any.

That's your assignment.

No.

I'm on a journey.

I'm on a new journey.

I want you to enjoy it.

I want you to enjoy it from a like a consumer.

And I loved it.

I loved it.

I love newsletter one so much so that I can't wait for you to get cracking on newsletter two so I can enjoy that one.

I'm on it.

All right, beautiful.

And that's and that's it.

Oh, and where are we at?

Justin, hashtag 48.4.

Obviously, I'm not saying we're going to get there.

Rome wasn't built in a day, but we should be pushing people to, if you're a listener of the show, we don't even need you to watch every show on YouTube, but if you could just go to where, Justin?

youtube.com slash at heed the call pod.

Yes, the at symbol is part of that URL.

We are just north of 14,100 subscribers as of this recording.

We are slowly making progress, but still a long ways to go to to get to that 48.4.

Yeah,

let's cut into that deficit as we get toward our main goal.

And thank you to everybody for following along.

We're on a break.

This is not the end of something.

It's just a pause button, Mark.

That's all it is.

That's

on a break.

Exactly.

Ross had it right.

Until next time, heed the call.