MNF Recap: Seahawks-Lions & Titans-Dolphins

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18 for 18 for you.

How does that mean?

You are.

How does that meet your standards?

There you go.

Yeah, it's good.

When the ball doesn't hit the ground, it was a good day.

Oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh.

The Detroit Tigers are in the playoffs, and Jared Goff just pitched a perfect game.

Life is good in the Motor City.

Welcome to Heed the Call with Dan Hansis and Mark Sessler after a Monday night doubleheader, our second in a row.

And yes, the headline coming out of this slate of games is

the Tennessee Titans, really one of the great battles I've ever seen.

That was not victorious, and they have checked the box and gotten their first dub, put up a 30 burger.

No, we'll get to that.

The story, of course, is a really fun shootout at Ford Field where, yes, Jared Goff, absolutely perfect.

18 for 18 in that game and taking care of business against the Seattle Seahawks, 42-29, the final score.

That's 18 for 18, 292 yards, two touchdowns,

a

16.2 average on the throws.

And yes, Mark, to boot, a touchdown reception.

I would say that was a very nice monday night for mr goff checked all the boxes uh i'll never forget we were in london during one of these seahawks lions um you know high scoring shootouts they have scored seattle on detroit in the last three games coming into this 51 points 48 and 37.

uh it felt like that was not going to be the case tonight but then suddenly was feeling like the case and so it was like you needed detroit um you know on the i remember on thursday we talked about the fact that like i think it was Michael said, look out for Geno Smith because in dome environments, Geno Smith is pretty unstoppable.

But that's been true of Jared Goff as well.

Like, his splits for indoor football are pretty incredible.

And we saw that tonight.

But there was this one drive I just want to point out where I thought, like, man, who are the Detroit Lions?

Like, they start off strong and

they're starting to get run up on.

They had nine penalties a week ago, 12 tonight.

And are they starting to lose lose their foundation a little bit in terms of like these close games like this?

And they were up 35 to 27.

And I thought it was a drive where Jared Goff is, you know, he is perfect, but then all the stars around him are playing the way that you want Detroit's roster building process to go.

Like

Jameer Gibbs has a huge blast up the gut.

Sam Laporta, a 30-yard catch.

Gibbs had another run.

And then Amon St.

Brown had a wonderful touchdown catch.

And that came after the throw he had to go.

It's like everyone's kind of stepping up and doing their part on offense.

They've got a couple questions on defense, but I really thought tonight was a showcase of like we've kind of put this entire attack together, and they all play a part, and we need them all at different parts in the game.

And when you get a night like this from Jared Goff, they're basically just unstoppable in terms of stopping them from scoring.

Yeah, I think it's good that you point that out, that this was not a flawless performance by any means.

No.

Way too many penalties.

The defense got absolutely shredded.

Aaron Glenn is going to be

going through this game tape and not getting a lot of sleep because Geno Smith did what he wanted.

Kenneth Walker and the run game for Seattle did what it wanted for large chunks of this game, but they did ultimately find a way.

And it was because the offense, every time Seattle got close,

for the most part, the Lions offense would say, all right, just chill out.

We're going to take control of this game again.

You never actually felt maybe in one instance in this game in in the second half, and I'll get to it in a minute, where the game was ever in any danger for the Lions, despite it being, you know, between one and two scores for much of the evening.

And, you know, the Jared Goff side of it, again, because that's a really special performance in that game.

Joe Buck, a couple of things.

I'm totally confused how 18 for 18.

Let me just look at the numbers again.

I actually just like looking at the box score.

It's just a cool box score to look at.

The entire Detroit passing box score is awesome because I mentioned Goff had a touchdown reception on Amon Ross St.

Brown pass in the red zone.

So they combined 19 for 19, 273, three touchdowns.

Perfect pass rating.

Somehow Jared Goff doesn't have a perfect passer rating.

And I don't understand how that works.

I guess he didn't throw enough passes.

And then Joe Buck said at the end of the telecast that this would have been an NFL record for perfect passing, but you have to have a minimum of 20 attempts

to qualify for having a perfect game in terms of completions.

All seems totally made up, but then again, a passer rating of 158.3, that was what was decided arbitrarily as the perfect number.

Also, stupid.

All beside the point.

The point being that Jared Goff was awesome, and this game is just another reminder that when Goff is protected and you're playing at Ford Field and there are 70,000 insane Detroiters,

Detroiters,

chanting your name.

And the other defense is having an off night, and they're out of sorts.

He could put together games like this.

I remember, Mark, years ago,

I know

it was at the old Coliseum when he was with the Rams.

It was a Thursday night game, I think, against the Vikings.

Wes was with us.

Goff had another one of these games where he was getting protected.

He had the home team behind him, all the similar setup to here, and he was just absolutely shredding the Vikings in that game and his stats at the end of the game.

Just absurd.

The fact that that's in him, it's just good to remember that this is what he's capable of when he does have those not-so-hot golf nights, because he's not a perfect quarterback, but his ceiling is as high as almost any quarterback in the league, and that's that's pretty crazy.

It really is.

There are a lot of pieces around him.

Like, I think we've noticed that right away with Detroit.

It's like their line is for the most, they've got a couple injuries on their line, but like their line is in place.

And to have like Jamison Williams,

another guy that had a huge game-changing moment tonight, to have him emerge the way he has and have the ground game just kind of heat up at times.

It's kind of like it can go on a drive or two where it just beats up a defense.

And I'm with you.

I think you said that it was kind of never really in question.

It got kind of close, but that's when I do think also with the Lions, you get certain players on their defense.

Like when Jack Campbell knocked out the Metcalf, DK Metcalf fumble, which was massive early in the game, and Carlton Davis, I thought, who tonight was used kind of the way on DK Metcalf that like Charvarius Ward of the Niners has been.

And especially, I can think of a Thursday night game a couple years ago where it's just sort of a ferocious battle where Carlton Davis, I thought, stepped up big time tonight.

And you get these other parts of the Lions that were not.

part of the team when Seattle came in in these three previous matchups and beat them up with a with a waterfall of points.

I think tonight was it's like our offense has improved.

We're a bit hard to deal with.

We're overwhelming.

We have too many parts on offense.

We can beat you in a a lot of different ways with the deep ball, with the ground game, with Sam Lepardo, with Goff playing the kind of game he played.

But then we're going to have our defense take the ball away once or twice, too.

And that is just, that's the recipe to get to the NFC title game.

Like, if you get this version of the Lions, you know, and it's like, it's early, but it's like golf like this makes the Lions pretty unbeatable.

They're pretty unbeatable if you get everyone healthy and they're doing what they did tonight.

Yeah, and that there are multiple points in this game where I said that I don't think the Lions or the people in that building were ever really sweating this game.

There were multiple points in this game where I thought, oh, now the game's over.

And the 70-yard touchdown got to Jameson Williams.

Williams, again, showcasing how he is having finally his breakout year, and he is just adding him to this offense.

That's when it can start to feel a little unfair.

He goes on the first play from scrimmage on that possession, 70 yards.

Pay jard.

It's 35-20.

The Seahawks, and again, credit and, you know, Seattle fans, because I know they're on edge right now.

They're just like, oh, you're not only talking about the Lions.

First of all, relax.

We will talk about Seattle.

We're going to talk.

And I'm going to tell you that

the reason this game was compelling at all and wasn't a grizzly blowout is because Geno Smith played nearly as well as Jared Goff.

And in some ways, maybe just as well, even if the numbers aren't as perfect at the end of the day, he kept on coming back, and

they had everything in that offense humming.

On a day where I didn't think the officials were necessarily overly fair in terms of breaking it down.

There were two huge plays in this game.

One, the two-point conversion to Metcalf, where they missed the call,

and they called a DPI, giving the Seattle Seahawks another chance.

They didn't get the two-point conversion, but if, and this is kind of on Mike McDonald, too, for not challenging it, we have that play.

And then on the last possession or the second-to-last possession, a clear DPI on DK Metcalf in the end zone that would have given them first and goal at the one on a possession that ultimately was fruitless.

These were huge mistakes, I thought, by the officials that helped out the home team.

But the point I was saying is that after they have that touchdown,

Seattle to once again get it to 35-27.

It's a one-score game, and they force a punt.

Finally, they get off the field, and they get the ball back, Seattle, and they start marching, and they cross midfield.

And that's when I was watching the game with my dad, who's in town,

and they cross midfield, and that the big play of the game was a fourth and three conversion to Jackson Smith and Jigba that gets waived off because of a

offensive pass interference call on Tyler Lockett, one of those calls where it's clearly a pick play, but they didn't do a good enough job, Lockett, in this case, of making it look like he was running a route.

And that was, to me, the game in a lot of ways.

Once that failed,

it was over for Seattle.

So they put up a good effort.

Listen, it's just their first loss of the season.

I think Seattle's had a very nice start to things.

And as someone who watched Geno Smith come into the league, who watched him walk out onto that draft stage at Radio City Music Hall in that white sweater, pissed off that he wasn't picked in the first round, to see his journey from where he was with the Jets, which was an immature guy, got his jaw broken over a plane ticket, was up and down behind the scenes with the Jets, to where he is now, Mark, which is

a very, very polished, great pocket passer, and also a guy who can move with his legs.

He's a really good quarterback, and I have to be honest, like better than I gave him credit for, and he's showing it this year.

Well, it's the year of quarterbacks showing us that they aren't who we thought we were for 80% of their career, and that we give up on these guys too early.

We already knew that about Geno, like, literally two years ago, but the fact is that could have felt like a flash in the pan.

Like, I think last year was like, is he going to be the guy he was in 2022?

I thought tonight was the best game he's ever played.

I mean, I really think it was.

And I think he fits in this offense really well.

This is the second game where Seattle, they had 18 yards rushing at half.

And so it's like, that's a big part of what they want to be.

And that happened against the Broncos as well.

And they finished with 146 against the Broncos.

They certainly came around tonight, were able to run the ball really well.

And I think also under Mike McDonald, this team, like other teams are just not built in the way.

And it kind of reminds me of the Lions a little bit and how they are very resilient.

I kind of just noted their resilience, like to come back over and over in this, but this was a team that came in with like five of their most important defenders missing.

Like Newoso, Baker, Mafe, like Byron Murphy, Leonard Williams.

These guys were like inactive.

They're not on the field.

And so that's a large reason why Detroit was able to do what it did.

But Seattle didn't play that way.

We've seen teams look like they're floating around in a mental abyss already in this season.

You see teams that seem to not respond to their coaching.

I don't think that's true of Seattle.

And I thought Geno is a big part of it.

And like they are, I didn't pick them for the playoffs.

That was my first mistake.

I really think they are a playoff type team, especially in a bit of a weakened NFC West.

Goff was especially deadly in play action in this game where he was 12 for 12 for 229 yards and a touchdown.

And that, again, if they could play to the script, they want to play at the flow.

They want to play at, they are almost impossible to stop.

So great performance.

That also was a, if we're talking about injuries, I'll mention that the Lions were missing Frank Ragnow in this game.

They moved some chairs along that line and really did a nice job protecting the quarterback.

Goff, obviously, is not the most nimble quarterback.

He's not known for his ability to extend plays.

He needs that protection.

And that Detroit offensive line did it again.

My last thought on this game, Mark, and then I'll throw it to you if you have something before we get into the other Monday game is,

you know, said at the top there, it was a perfect game.

It was 18 for 18, and I actually was at, I was at a perfect game.

It was David Cohn, July 18th, 1999 at Old Yankee Stadium.

And that feeling, whether you're at the stadium or you're watching at home, when you're getting closer to the perfect game,

and even the routine, it's a ground ball to short, everyone's holding your breath because to pull it off, the fielders have to be perfect too.

And that's what I was thinking when I was like really weirdly invested in this perfect game.

And, you know, when he would put the throw on the money every time, well, now Sam Laporte has got to catch the ball.

And then concluding in a really nice climax to it all, Amon Ross St.

Brown, the pass is a little bit high.

St.

Brown's wide open.

He gets the high points and then gets the toes down.

They showed on replay.

And I let out a big exhale like I'm a Lions fan.

But I think a little, I think we're all, and I understand if you're listening to the show and you're an NFC North fan that has no connection to Detroit, we're all kind of Lions fans because they're just fun to watch.

And all these primetime games kind of reinforce that.

Well, I think Goff is a big reason for that.

Like, it kind of mattered to me when they had the draft in Detroit, and you've got the public, like the civilians, the working men and women of Detroit, like screaming his name.

And it's a person that was traded there as, you know, wasted goods at that point.

And it's another quarterback that's like, you thought my career was over.

And I was, you know, I used to call him like a glass of like milk because he seemed very vanilla to me and sort of not the guy I'd want running my team.

But look what he's done here.

And it's like, I think sports has this power to kind of reshape everything we think.

And it's kind of interesting what happens because Detroit goes into a buy now.

Seattle plays three games in the next 11 days.

So that, I don't like that.

I hate the way they, I think the Jets got ran into that situation too.

It's like, I don't like that for these teams, but that's part of the drill.

I will tell you one thing.

I was at a Broncos, when I lived in Denver, I was at a Broncos Raiders game, and it was 2002, the year that Rich Gannon took the Raiders to the Super Bowl under Gruden.

And I had bought as a wedding gift for a friend and his wife.

You know, he was married, so that's why I was a wedding gift.

That sure makes sense.

Right, that makes sense.

So we were like, we were low in the end zone, and gannon completed i think like he i believe he broke like an nfl record at the time like 18 straight completions it might have been like a vinny test diverde record um but i couldn't i had no idea any of that happened jerry rice caught like two touchdown passes in that game or something like that but like i had no idea that any of that happened because of where we were sitting so i didn't have the same majestical um feel about the game that you did because you know there was no one telling you in football no one's telling you that's happening over the loudspeaker it's not a no-hitter especially back then.

Whenever that was in 1982 or whatever it was, please.

I was drinking like

illegal beers.

Who knows what was happening?

And just one more point before we hit the break.

Yes, the Detroit Tigers are in the playoffs.

They're playing the hated Astros, and I love it.

Now the lines are on by, so the Peters put all their focus on this Tigers team.

That's a very lovable team themselves.

So good times in the motor city.

And on the subject of baseball, Pete Rose died today,

83 years old, one of the more complicated figures ever in baseball.

I learned about it because I got a text from Nick Wesling, Chris's brother.

And Nick and I, he's a huge baseball fan,

as was Chris.

And Pete Rose.

I just brought him up on the show recently.

You just mentioned him.

I think last week I mentioned, because we were having some fun about Arthur Blank putting himself into the ring of honor for the Falcons, which is still really f ⁇ ing funny.

It's weird.

And I said, you know,

certain people you want to make sure you get them into the Hall of Fame while they're alive because they,

despite their transgressions, like what they accomplished should be recognized and they should be able to enjoy it.

That sucks.

That's sad.

But on the other side, anything that reminds me of Chris is good.

And Pete Rose always reminds me of Wes, a guy that also, like Wes, grew up on the west side of Cincinnati.

And

we played softball together, obviously.

And Chris always wore number 14 in honor of Pete Rose, his boyhood guy that he just looked up to,

a local boy made good, imperfect as he was.

So anyway.

I won't talk about baseball anymore, but I really did.

You know,

Rose, I just watched a documentary on him, too.

And like the whole time I'm watching the documentary, especially when they're talking about his, you know, growing up, where he did,

just makes me think of Chris.

So I wish I could talk with Wes tonight about Pete Rose and his complicated legacy because he's a fascinating figure, and I know Chris would have had a lot of takes.

Yeah, like we're of the age where like Pete Rose, you know, you'd watch like this week in baseball.

Like there wasn't a lot of stuff to watch back then.

And like Pete Rose was front and center of the whole thing.

And the idea that it's Paul Giamatti, the actor's father, Bart Giamatti, who was then the commissioner of baseball, that's one of the major reasons that Pete Rose, and I look at it, I'm not saying Pete Rose was a pure person.

We all get it.

It was complex, but we like complex people.

Maybe a lot of people don't even know the backstory.

This is the all-time hits leader in Major League Baseball who was caught gambling while he was the manager post-playing career of the Cincinnati Reds, and he was banished from the game.

That's the backstory with that.

Anyway,

well, yeah.

And poor Bart Giamatti, he died shortly after that ruling.

The stress of it apparently was a factor, some people think.

So complicated, complicated situation.

Anyway, Miss Harrison.

It's so easy to be American, I think, is what the lesson is here.

Is it?

That's a gist.

Let's save it for the America podcast.

I don't think that at all.

I could not have been less serious about that part of it, Bia.

Let's take a break, and when we get back, we hit Titans Dolphins.

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audience only.

All right, we are back.

Before we get into Dolphins Titans and the joyride of that game,

just

a special announcement, big announcement.

Give me that announcement, horn, gravedigger.

As many of you know, patreon.com slash heedthecall, your home for all fun HTC content not connected with the show that we do five times a week here.

And a big premiere this week on Monday.

It's already up right now, Rolling Thunder with Mark Sessler and Jason Zumwalt.

Mark, is there anything you want to share about the premiere or your feelings about the program so far?

Go ahead, buddy.

Well, I don't know how many episodes of throwback that you've done.

I think we've got a long way to go to catch up with your podcast that you do with Bob, but I am doing this with Jason Zumwalt, who is very passionate about the project.

And we have decided to create a podcast that goes down many different avenues.

Our favorite bizarro writers,

very strange films.

In this case, we're going to cover a film that basically overtook society back in 1999.

So I'll tease it that way.

But

should I say?

Well, yeah.

It's already up.

It is a show about, everyone always teases us about like, oh, Star Wars.

It is about the Phantom Menace because I think it's a very divisive, divisive film that Jason and I don't feel the same way about.

And no, I mean, many of my guy friends do not feel the same way that I feel about it.

I'm pretty more negative on it.

And and so I think we

we unpacked it we explored it this is gonna be a real test mark

you know how it's like why a test

it's like your wife like hey why don't you ever listen to

my podcast my football podcast and like she's like well I don't know I just don't know anything about it doesn't really you know it's not for me Now I feel that way about this.

However, I really want to support the Patreon and support you and Jason.

So I'm going to listen to this Star Wars podcast.

This is outrageous, but Dan's about to listen to a Star Wars podcast.

That's how much I believe that Rolling Thunder will deliver on the goods.

I mean, if it took a decade plus of

you doing what you do on this topic and me doing what I do and it got to this point, like I've already scored a major victory.

I think I actually would say one last thing.

I think you're wrong.

And I don't mean that in a confrontational way.

I think that everyone, it's kind of like people might not have liked Titanic, but everyone saw Titanic.

And you're one of the few people that I know that maybe you saw this movie, but like most people saw this movie and either hated it

or were like young enough to think that it kind of snowed them over.

So I think it's a bit of a ruse job by Lucas, and that's how I feel.

But I think like everyone's going to have an opinion about it.

Save it for Rolling Thunder.

I will.

No more teams.

Yeah.

And I did that too.

Yeah.

Because it's a good topic because I went to the movie theater to see that goddamn movie and I could, I was

scratching at the walls trying to get out after about 25 minutes of CGI terror.

It is appalling.

It is appalling, and I think if you listened, you'd realize, Mark, after all these years, does not disagree with your general approach to this movie.

Hey, man, live long and prosper.

I'm not here to give you any

incorrect channel, but yeah.

Is this it?

Live long and prosper.

All right, let's get into the other game.

The other game.

The Wheel of Fortune game.

Oh,

I remember this song.

Let's get this one into the Sunday flagship rotation.

Here we go.

Tennessee Titans.

They needed it.

They needed it bad.

They entered action on Monday night, 0-3.

But...

Miami Dolphins are the perfect opponent for any team, winless or otherwise, because without Tuatunga Vailoa, they have been exposed.

And the Titans proved it again in a 31-12 win in Miami.

Let's get to it.

Let's bring in Gravedigger on this one.

This was a game that started on an almost,

I don't want to say comical, but I think it is something, Justin, because I don't want to skew all negative because your team got to win.

But

Will Levis has become almost like the

Michael Scott type figure now in terms of football Twitter, where he's just kind of unintentionally funny, and we're all waiting for the next moment where everybody's kind of cringing and laughing.

And it kind of happened again in this game where he throws the early interception, and then he injures his shoulder, and then there's just a lot of sideline histrionics where the telecast is doing a bunch of lip reading first on the interception where they're like, I didn't even see that guy, or whatever.

I don't know if he actually talks like Keanu Reeves.

And then after

he dives and hurts the shoulder, you see him mouth, I think I hurt my shoulder.

And he ends the game on the bench.

So it's Mason Rudolph playing and getting the victory despite underwhelming production.

Your thoughts on the Levis of it all and the Titans finally getting in the win column?

I have come to enjoy the weekly Levis meme.

I think that's what it is.

It's like he is the most memeable quarterback in football right now, which is fun.

Like, I want to embrace that.

And if you want to call the Titans the Tightoons because, like, they are somewhat of a laughing stock, or at least their quarterback is a laughing stock, I'm kind of okay with it.

All right, well, let's slow down a couple, a couple of things.

First of all, I don't think they're a laughing stock, or he's a laughing stock, because that's, you know, I don't love that idea, but there is something, there's an entertainment value to his foibles that has really started to take on a life of its own.

And I'll just say, I don't know if if I totally believe you, Justin, because before the season started, you were talking him up big as a franchise quarterback.

To get to this point

is pretty startling after four weeks, but I don't want to skew negative.

I just want to say that's a part of the conversation because that's where people were like zoned in at the beginning of this game, the Levis side of things.

Yes, and it was, I mean, Levis needed to come into this game and play a very clean game to satisfy what people have been wanting to see since the beginning of the season because he's had a disastrous turnover in every single game.

and this one wasn't exactly disastrous but it was mind-bogglingly bad like the emmanuel ogba is a huge man and he's standing right in front of the intended receiver on the play like the fact that he didn't even see him is very concerning on a lot of levels for levis's future as a quarterback but i do want to say like going into the season i did not necessarily think that Will Levis was going to be a franchise guy.

I obviously hoped that he would prove himself to be a a franchise guy.

My stance on that was the Titans will be good if Will Levis is a franchise guy.

And if Will Levis is not, then the Titans won't be good.

And that's kind of what we've seen through four games now.

And Mason Rudolph came in and just played very even-keeled game manager to the maximum.

Don't screw this up.

Boring.

This is exactly what I was talking about.

I didn't want to see Mason Rudolph in my life.

He's so boring.

He's so milquetoast.

This is every game.

And you know what?

To his credit, he wins also.

But after the game, Brian Callahan actually spoke about who's his quarterback moving forward.

And if you, if you're expecting it to be Mason Rudolph, you might be surprised.

100%.

Yeah, it was healthy.

He's our quarterback.

It was not a decision based on anything other than his health and protecting him, particularly with the bye week and the shoulder.

That didn't feel great.

I didn't want to put him back out there.

And I knew I was going to run the ball quite a bit.

So that was really what it factored.

But he's our starter when he's healthy, and we're ready to roll with him.

You know,

I think Brian Callahan's like you were brought there to at least for the first portion of the season.

I don't think you jumped ship on Will Levis yet.

We all get it.

This is a problematic situation.

He's really young.

He's inexperienced.

He's making like weekly gaffes that I don't know if those are if that's characteristic to who he is.

That's a surprise to me, but he feels like a massive roller coaster.

But it's like I'd stick with him for a while just because

Mason Rudolph or not, I think Brian Callahan just does not really trust this offense i thought tonight though was a bit of a turning point it tony pollard got the ground game going i thought that was a big part of what was happening they're a little weapons free but you were also playing the dolphins and you needed to come out of here with a win they got 30 points as a team for the first time since january 2nd 2022 i saw someone some titans fan on twitter

like going losing his absolute mind over that and that shows you the state of the fan base but i will say you play the dolphins team that when you add up who they were missing tua bradley chubb armstead kendall fuller david long raheem mostert odell beckham that adds up to 430 million dollars in salary like the dolphins just are a wounded lost team and it's like i could walk into like um the white planes like and you're trying to get tyler huntley two days into being there to be functional it's like i could walk into an ibm branch in white plains and say i can run the office but i can't.

Like it takes time.

And so I think we're seeing the limits, even though we've seen like the Matt LaFleur scenario and some of these other coaches that with backups have done a lot, like the Dolphins look about as limited to me as I can imagine a football team on the final few days of September.

Yeah, with the Dolphins,

it's hard to even for me to gauge what to take out of it in terms of the true positives for the Titans because the Dolphins are such a mess right now.

And I know one thing I know is that Tennessee's defense, for the most part, has been very solid this year.

So this was always going to be a challenge for Miami without Tua.

But, you know, as I'm watching this, it's like

their

inability to pivot and find any functionality to their offense.

I don't want to get too on Mike McDaniel over it, but for a guy that has been trumpeted and he's a media darling as a real difference maker, as one of those special guys.

He's not one of those special guys because you see special guys like Matt LaFleur, what he was able to do when Jordan Love went out with Malik Willis.

Like, that's what you should be able to find a way to coach up.

You still have a lot of talent on that offense.

And

that old idea that there's only so many coaches that actually are difference makers.

I believe that.

And I think it's Kyle Shanahan, and I think it's Andy Reid, and I think it's Sean McVay.

And I think you could, you know, maybe put Matt LaFleur in there, but maybe let's wait until he wins something.

You could maybe think about the Harbaughs there, but outside of that group.

Dan Campbell?

No, I don't think he's that.

I'm saying the true guys that are the difference makers, like that can save a ship that's sinking when you lose your captain, in this case, Tua, of their offense.

And McDaniel, to me, has failed that test.

And I understand it's the quarterbacks and the players that decide these things, but it's just a real tough look to see this offense crumble the way it has.

And they have no downfield passing.

They have no way to figure out how to get Tyreek Hill going in this situation.

Devon Achan cannot move the ball on the ground without the passing game to balance things out.

Even when they get a pass off, when Snoop Huntley gets a pass off, TJ Wild has a terrible drop.

It's just so ugly and it's grizzly and obviously puts a defense in an impossible situation as well.

They can't run the ball.

And this is a theme all season, even when they had Tua.

They have been, and I know HN was like leading the league in force missed tackles coming into this game, but in this game specifically, they had 72 yards on 26 designed runs.

So that removes the scrambles and whatever.

That was minus 43 rushing yards over expected, the next-gen stats thing that looks at like where the blockers are and where the defenders are.

So they're 43 yards underexpected.

In their other three games this year, against Jacksonville, even though they they won that game, they ran for 81 yards on 25 carries.

Against Buffalo, they put up 139 yards, which is okay.

I mean, it's pretty decent.

34 carries to get there, 4.1 yards per carry.

And against Seattle last week, 65 rushing yards.

So you want to help a backup quarterback, you got to be able to get something moving in the ground game the way that the Packers did with Matt with Malik Willis.

When he started those two games, they pounded the rock with Josh Jacobs and they were successful at it.

And yeah, you can say, well, defenses are going to crowd the line of scrimmage because they don't feel threatened by the quarterback.

But Matt LaFleur came out in that first game with Malik Willis and had like 15 different random run concepts, power, zone, gap, motion this way, counters, polars, like all kinds of different stuff to keep the defense from being able to just load up one side or one the middle or whatever.

And that's something that Mike McDaniel has got to figure out or they're just going to be waiting for Tua to come back.

And by then the season's long gone.

That's what I, Mark.

That's exactly what I'm what I'm saying.

I'm glad that you added to that, Justin.

It's like that this is where a guy like McDaniel needs to make his money, figure it out, because you have a quarterback with a recurring brain injury that you're not going to rush back into action.

I don't know what their plan is with Tua, and I know it's going to be tempting, especially there's going to be a lot of Dolphins fans screaming for this to get this guy back in the lineup, but that's a whole tricky other situation.

So it's a very dicey, very dicey times in Miami right now.

The only thing I like about their setup is that they go to New England.

That's a game you can try to figure your stuff out with beforehand.

How do you know though, Mark?

Well,

what makes you think that going to New England is

going to solve things.

I'd rather go to New England than 25 other cities.

You know what I mean?

I'm just saying that.

Like compared to, hey, let's go to Minnesota and see if we can figure this out.

So I like that better, but then you have a buy.

But I would say this, like, I'm watching a team that, if this is what happens when hard times hit, because here's the next hard time that's going to hit it's called a winter that's the next thing this team's never been able to deal with so I don't really like the idea of a Dolphins team that doesn't start about seven and one under Mike McDaniel

I don't like the idea of them being three and eight or three and nine and then getting two a back like look at I see a couple players on this team that I do you I don't know if I try like Tyreek Hill cares I'm not saying he doesn't but it's like how long until Tyreek Hill is annoyed with this situation Waddle is annoyed everyone's annoyed You got a lot of injured players all over the place.

Jalen Phillips went out tonight.

Like, it just feels kind of like a lot of bad energy, a lot of bad juju, and the situation's not good, and it's not going to get fixed two weeks from now.

And I don't think Tua is the kind of guy that's going to come in like Brett Favre

and save the whole situation.

I don't see him that way.

See, here's the thing, though.

I'm not the biggest Tua fan, but it's what we've seen in his absence that shows you how perfect.

This makes you appreciate him more.

I absolutely agree.

I do agree with that.

Whether we think that Tua is a guy that can take a team to the Super Bowl, I certainly have my doubts as well, but someone who could functionally run the offense.

It also, like, you could also look at it from the other perspective.

It's like they don't have a guy on the roster who can run the offense that they have.

Well, that's part of their blame on that as well.

They got rid of Mike White, who I thought was a good backup right before the start of the season, and they felt comfortable with the guys on the roster.

And Schuyler Thompson is bad and gets hurt immediately.

And Snoop Huntley is the ultimate journeyman.

So

they're just in a they're in a way right now and it's just like, that was a tough watch.

That was a bad football game.

And I watched my own team play a bad football game against the Denver Broncos.

So to get back-to-back of those type of games where it's just like two hopeless offenses, hoping they can set up for 52-yard field goals, turning turnovers into nothing.

And like all this, all this, oh, man, it was just, it was just, and then the Titans, come on, Justin.

And

like, what are we doing with?

They're better built, though, than something, though.

I would say the Titans are better built in some way.

What's the score?

It's 24-12.

And there's some bizarre madness that happens with this, you know.

Rule change, by the way.

What we're doing on a free kick after a safety?

What happened on that play, Justin?

Does anybody know what happened at the end of this game where there's a safety and a free kick, and then the free kick goes to the Titans, flags come out, and then all of a sudden the Titans have the ball in the red zone of the Dolphins.

What the hell happened there?

At the 10-yard line, this was the most confounding play of the season to me, and I will go to my grave thinking that all 22 players who are on the field for this safety punt, that's what happened.

So the Titans get a safety, or they create a Dolphins safety.

The Dolphins are punting it to the Titans, and they decide they're going to do an on-side punt because it was a safety, and you have to declare that in advance.

And so they line up for the on-site punt, and the Titans players treat it like a punt.

They like try to little pooch kick past like the big group of people, and the Titans players are just like running away from the ball.

Like, we don't want the ball, don't touch the ball, don't we don't want to muff the punt.

And the Dolphins players run down and jump on the ball.

And it's like, this is a live kickoff.

This is not a punt on fourth down where you just don't want to touch the ball.

Like, you got to go grab the ball.

And they were saved by this bizarre rule about the landing zone because the ball didn't didn't land in the landing zone.

The fucking landing zone again.

But the best, wait, the best part about it was

when the official had to come out and tried to explain it, and I feel bad for these guys sometimes.

Like, A, you're in an agitated stadium that can't believe what's happening to the football team.

But, like,

his verbal attempt to get out what actually occurred.

I felt so bad for him.

I did too, because I mean, I think he was like, wait a minute, this has not happened to me ever in my career.

Like, it's happening now.

And, like, you know, it's the kind of thing where everyone suddenly wrote like a two-paragraph blog blog about what actually happened because nobody knows and the players didn't seem to know and the ref didn't know

the players did not know that they were okay to not touch the to not field the ball because of the landing zone.

That's what I was saying I'll go to my grave like nobody on the field was aware of that fact.

What do we do?

Here's the landing

zone.

So an on-side kick slash punt is the receiving team's ball automatically if it goes more than 20 yards.

Now, that's the new rule.

You have to declare that it's going to be onsides.

The ball cannot travel more than 20 yards, or they just don't, or it just goes to the receiving team.

And there's a 15-yard penalty from the spot of where the kicking team lined up.

So, because it was a safety punt and not a traditional kickoff, the ball's already backed up a little bit, and then it moves 15 yards down to the 10-yard line.

So, the Titans get the ball first and goal from the 10 with just over two minutes remaining.

I mean, who are the stewards of the game that came up with this?

I am telling you, someone sat in an office at 345 Park Avenue and walked out of there, patting themselves on the back.

What have you done to the game?

What have you done to the play?

Rule change.

You know what you search.

I mean, this is why I'll be doing like a gymnastics blog three years from now because

this is overly convoluted.

Like,

I need to go, you know.

I would read the officiating in this game overall was pretty horrendous.

Like, they botched.

I'm not going to complain.

I'm not complaining about the refs guy.

I don't care that much, but a number of calls that were just like, the spot is clearly wrong.

They blow the fumble dead.

I mean, yeah, there was an early play that would have been a scoop and score touchdown potentially by the Titans that, again, there was hesitation and they blew it dead and should have let the play play out.

Just not a game that we ever need to think about again.

I'm glad that you have a win, Justin, because you deserve it.

But let's flush it out of our minds.

One thought, one other thought

on Mike McDaniel.

Do we have a side-by-side of Mike McDaniel when he started as the coach and Mike McDaniel now?

Yes, this is him at his introductory press conference on the right, if you're watching on YouTube, and from tonight's game on the left.

Okay, so, you know, I guess you could call it a glow-up or whatever, but he's hitting the tanning bed really hard.

He's got designer glasses now.

He's got a very expensive haircut.

And I just wonder, Mark,

I just wonder if the old McDaniel, you know, I want the old McDaniel back.

The Miami Makeover, Mike McDaniel, I'm not as big a fan as

the

outsider that took over.

And I don't know if these things are correlated, but what the hell?

There's a direct correlation between the new Mike McDaniel image and the failures to properly shift after the Tua injury.

I did.

There's my hot take.

Sell it all over social, Justin.

Thank you.

I think it's fair.

I think it's fair.

um i mean we see these coaches nowadays they're way younger um they've come from the world of being an assistant coach i think mike mcdaniel was pretty you know tucked away not someone that we knew about and you're i think typically i think two things a you live in miami So that's a different place to live in other places.

It's going to affect what happens to you aesthetically.

I think especially when you are one of the most famous people in Miami and one of the richest people in Miami or a rich person in Miami.

Secondly, usually, I know he's married, but usually

I tend to think that there's either a friend or female influence that step in and say, we're going to work on you a little bit.

But I miss the pure,

you know, just he was a nerd.

And I, like, we don't have a nerd now.

We've got a nerd that got kind of hot or semi-hot or a hot version of a nerd.

I don't know.

I think, yeah, I know exactly what you mean.

Like a semi-hot former nerd now.

It's not just like the girl that takes her glasses off like at the end of the second act, like in one of those those 90s movies.

It's a little different than that, but he's also got like $7,000 limited edition Jordans with the designer sweatpants pulled up to the calves.

There's just like a whole thing going on with the vibe now.

I don't know.

I don't like when people

roughly our age get better looking.

Like I'd rather them continue on a downhill course and we at least stay relatively on par with them.

Thank you.

I think you got to the bottom of it ultimately.

All right.

So there you go.

The Dolphins one and three.

Like Mark said, now travel to New England to try to get some things figured out.

And the Titans get that win.

Anything else?

Let's say this.

We have challenged you, the audience.

And for me, it's good cop, bad cop.

I'm the good cop.

Mark's the bad cop.

I love what you guys do for us.

We just need a little bit more because what we're trying to do is hashtag 48.4.

Where are we at right now, Justin?

Where have we moved since Sunday when we launched this campaign?

We're trying to get past a certain figure on a different feed.

And this is something that we're very gung-ho about, and it's very important to us.

And we don't ask for much, but we ask for this.

If you can help us out, where are we at on this one?

We are just over 12,000 subscribers as of the time of this recording.

Hopefully, by the time all of you people are listening to this, it's way higher because you're out there heeding that call and pumping us up over close to 48.4.

But right now, we're just over 12,000.

So we're, you know, a little over a quarter of the way there, I guess.

And, Mark, just to be clear, that Justin, when he said you people, he didn't mean it in a negative way.

I am very

fond of our listenership and our audience, and I believe in them, and I believe they're going to carry us to great heights.

That height, the peak being hashtag 48.4.

Yeah, and I think like,

well, when you label me the bad cop, I think that, you know, the precinct would be in trouble if I'm the bad cop, like dealing with stuff.

But like,

I can get agitated with our listeners because I just expect a lot of them.

And this would be a case where it's like, there are at least, you know, 30, 40, 50,000 people out there that haven't taken action on this call to arms.

And it's just simply take action.

Stop what you're doing, or at least plan tonight or very soon to do it.

Is it that tough?

Very well.

Very well said.

All right, coming up the rest of the week,

Steve Smith and James Palmer.

Yeah, that's Steve Smith, number 89 himself, Agent 89.

That was the name, right?

Love that.

They will join us on Wednesday.

We're going to check in on the rookie wide receivers at the quarter poll mark.

Also, we're going to preview the Bucs Falcons TNF matchup Thursday.

Of course, we have the week five preview show with Jordan and Mike, TNF recap later that night.

And yes, the Sunday night flagship with Connor Orr, all coming up around the bend.

Thank you to everybody for your support.

And until next time, heed the call.

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In the here and now, I'm very interested in New Thought, which is the spiritual philosophy that grew out of born like this into this.

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