NFL Week 4 Preview!!

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The Heat the Call Podcast.

Worries they'll get benched if they start 0-4.

Oh my goodness.

Pressure.

Husher.

Week four, it starts to get real.

Dan Hansis

with my bud, Mark Sessler.

Yeah, Mark, we got three winless teams remaining as we are about to dig into our week four preview.

The Bengals,

Titans, and Jags.

I mean,

you go 0-4.

Not only can you basically say bye-bye to relevant football after Halloween, people are going to start losing their jobs.

DCs, OCs, maybe a QB.

We'll get to that later during our prediction segment.

And maybe even a head coach.

You don't know.

So the pressure mounts once you get this deep into September without a dub.

It gets dark very quickly.

And if you're like Doug Peterson, who in recent memory of yourself as a human, you won the Super Bowl, like you might not have a job in a couple of weeks if things get

more grotesque than they already have.

So I'm with you.

I was just walking outside my apartment this morning and saw this.

Well, I mean, is it?

It was, I simply went outside.

So yes,

there was a little dog dressed up in a sweater.

You know how people do that sometimes?

That animal has no concept that it's weak four.

We do.

We understand the pressure points, the intense ups and downs that these teams are dealing with.

An animal does not.

And so, animals, big loss.

They're missing out.

We get to experience it and what comes up over the next three days and everything that comes from it, Dan.

All right.

Okay, Mark.

Nice way to get into the show.

Let's now welcome in our Thursday guests.

They are, of course, course, fine, grizzled reporters

with the athletic.

It is Jordan Rodrigue and Michael Sean Dugar.

What's up, gang?

We'll start here with Mike.

Hey, money, Mike.

On the other side of the coin, you happen to cover one of the undefeated teams, the Seattle Seahawks.

What are the vibes in and around a complex when you are a 3-0 team in September?

Yeah, they feel pretty good, but I mean, they're not ignorant to how quote-unquote easy their schedule was.

You know, they won't say it out loud, but I mean, Rayshawn Jenkins damn near did this week when he was talking about

the Patriots' run game, and he was just like, Yeah, we're going against different people this week, you know, different skill guys, you know, that the Patriots had.

And they played the Dolphins without Tua and beat up on them.

So, I mean, they respect every team in the league, obviously, but they know that the Detroit Lions on the road, Monday night football, that's going to be tougher than anything they've dealt with so far this season.

Yeah, and JR, you are also, you came this close to also knowing what it's like to be part of the doomed Ofers, but the Rams pulled it out.

So I'm sure that made a huge difference in terms of the vibes around that complex.

Yeah, there was a lot of tightness in the vicinity before that game and the week leading up to it, and a lot of joy and expletive-filled

releases of happiness, I think,

in the days that followed.

And I'm immediately going gonna regret the way that I phrased that but I think

I feel like this especially this opponent the 49ers you know that that's just absolutely I mean it wasn't just that they avoided that skid that historical skid but also that it was the 49ers I mean it doesn't get get much higher than that if you're the Rams I feel like McVay cannot contain his elation after a game like that.

I mean, I love the way he opened his press conference, but McVay just like wants to beat Shanahan and the way they did it, like, he's not going to be as stoic as some coaches, I believe.

Yeah, and he almost can't help himself either.

And then it was really wild.

They had fans in the press conference who were yelling back at him and applauding.

I mean, it just was

a surreal experience all around, to be honest with you.

All right, let us get into it.

By the way, can I hear that?

I promised

a Money Mike Dugar drop connected to his love of the English singer-songwriter Sting.

Let's check that out.

I love Sting.

I love Sting.

I love Sting Soft Rock.

All right, let's get to it.

Any thoughts on that, Mike?

Is that a thumbs up or a thumbs down in terms of a long-term connection to your brand?

You know,

I'm leaning towards a thumbs down.

I don't think it matches.

I don't think it matches

my get-down quite, you know,

very cleanly.

In some ways, we're still learning about each other.

We're still learning about each other.

This is still a new relationship.

So we're going to work on that.

Let's put that one in Mothballs, Graver, unless Mike does something to get me really mad.

And then Sting will come flying back into the program.

All right, let's get into it.

You know the format by now.

So quit bitching about it, all right?

The format is as follows.

We're going to hit the primetime games.

Not the Wheel of Fortune primetime game.

We got another Fugazi Monday game.

I see what you're doing, we all see what you're doing.

By the way, the Fugazi

Bills, what was it, Bills Jaguars?

That was that the Fugazi one.

That one,

you'll notice before kickoff, they didn't have the Monday night football theme playing.

You know how they like to put that underneath right up to when the ball gets kicked off?

Because they don't have the rights because it's not a real Monday night game.

I see you, 345 Park Avenue.

You try, but you fail.

Let's get into it.

Real prime time, starting with Sunday night football.

I love it.

There are five undefeated teams.

We talked about one of them, but there's only a couple of those undefeated teams that actually, I feel like, have been super impressive and are like, okay, keep an eye on this team

come late January.

One of them is the Buffalo Bills.

They did win the Wheel of Fortune game handily over the Jaguars and absolutely dominated with Josh Allen.

When Josh Allen gets that, it's almost like the Michael Jordan shoulder shrug hot that he gets like sometimes.

It's just something beautiful to watch.

So fresh off decimating Jacksonville and ending that game before halftime, they travel to Baltimore to face a Ravens team, Jordan, that, you know,

they held on and took care of business against the Cowboys, but there have been some cracks in the armor as well.

But these are two teams coming off wins and a big primetime showdown.

Yeah, it's interesting, too, when he kind of goes in that shoulder shrug mode.

He's doing it as a part of a collective.

Like there's a system also lifting him now, whereas it was always very hero ball, like, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, oh, yeah, like when it would be before with Josh Allen, like you knew something incredible was going to happen, but then you like also kind of feared for his life in certain ways.

And he could just make these magical things happen.

But what they're doing with this offense, the offense that I think a lot of us had one eyebrow raised at and just on paper coming into the season.

They're doing, you you know, he's actually leaning on some of the short game, the effectiveness of using the slot.

Khalil Shakir, like, just does not drop passes.

Hopefully I did not jinx him on that.

He's caught, you know, he's caught,

he's on like this 53 catch streak, 53 catch streak or something since last year.

And they're also using a ton of motion at, you know, in their run game and also in the passing game more so than in previous years to like exploit some of that horizontal and vertical spacing.

So they're creating more space for him to attack with a wide complementary set of players.

And the one thing about this Ravens team that will probably be effective and has been effective, where they've looked a little bit discombobulated in other areas, is they're not allowing teams to run the ball at an explosive clip on them.

They've only allowed one explosive run this entire season so far.

So I do think that this is going to be one of those games where you see Josh Allen the thrower.

And again, all of those layers of the field get exploited because the Ravens also have had some issues protecting the middle of the field.

And Mark, you're seeing such a great job with the spread as Jordan's alluding to.

I think all four of his touchdowns in the first half against the Jags, different receivers caught each one.

And that led to a comment that caught a little bit of fire this week from Josh Allen.

Let's listen in.

You know,

it's a fun and wonderful thing when you've got a bunch of guys that don't care about the stats.

They don't care about the touchdowns.

And again, I think throughout practice, we've just had this mindset of like, hey, let's just do things the right way and find ways to win football games.

That's what we're doing right now.

And then, Mark, he clarified later in the day that it was not about Stefan Diggs, who their relationship, obviously, near the end, was a subject of great debate.

But the overall comment and the overall feeling around this offense is that there's just a freeness to it without having to feel like you have to get X amount of targets to, you know, wide receiver one.

Well, I get that it's,

you know, it's not in the character of this quarterback, Josh Allen, to rip on Stefan Diggs, but it is about Stephon Diggs.

It is, because things grew tumultuous last year.

And Stephon Diggs, in the way that he is as a player, you know, he wears out his welcome.

And he's done that in two places.

And I think there was an added pressure and a tightness between quarterback and wide receiver, the relationship a year ago.

And really, like, Sean McDermott's decision to go to Joe Brady, to ex the last coordinator and go to Joe Brady.

Like, I was a little suspicious of the whole thing.

I felt like the house was burning down.

And then in the offseason, to remove your star wideout and instead, like be a collective of players, as Jordan said, a group of people together.

I think it's one of the bigger developments in the entire season right now because it's working.

And, you know, we're a year removed from Josh Allen struggling in the red zone, you know, bunches and batches of turnovers.

And he's playing the cleanest football he's ever played right now.

He like leads the league in completion percentage, yards per attempt.

And just to see the way that they flex their muscles against Jacksonville, it was complete detonation.

It makes you feel like, wait a minute, this is a season where offense is down.

There's a lack of a true dominant team.

Can the Bills be that team?

Because if they can play the way they did and do things like that on offense, they separate from so many other clubs around the league.

Yeah, like I said, I think this is an enormous opportunity for...

Josh Allen to show kind of how he's put it together with this variety of receivers.

And also, I'm not saying he needs a system.

He certainly is not that core.

He could play Hero Ball all season if he wanted to and be fine.

But like, this is so interesting, the way that there's like a companionship between what they're trying to do and the goals of the collective, as well as some of the things that lift up other players and puts them, those players in position for Josh Allen to get the ball to them or to make the decisions that he makes.

And this Baltimore secondary has allowed the most pass plays of 15 or more yards in the NFL so far this season with 28.

And so again, I think this is a real opportunity if the, if the Ravens don't shore things up, maybe move Kyle Hamilton more toward the the middle of the field, is playing there about 30%, but maybe even more at this point.

This could really be an opportunity for Josh Allen to truly show on a big stage, like what the collective is doing with him at the leadership.

And Mike, lest we forget that the reigning MVP quarterback in this game is not Josh Allen, it's Lamar Jackson.

So if there are some doubts around Baltimore, this would be a nice little, I love it, statement game if they could kick some ass here in their home.

I love a good statement game, Dan.

I'm glad you threw that in there.

Statement games in week four, which is true, though.

Lamar talked about it after they barely won against Dallas.

He was like, our fans were going to be in a bad place if we had dropped that.

And he's right.

And there was a lot of pressure on them this week.

They feel like they're doing the thing.

They're hyping this game up.

I think Mark Ingram's coming back to be like their legend guy this week.

They're going to introduce the offense.

And like Baltimore's pre, for anyone who hasn't been, like, Baltimore's pre-game is like badass.

It's super cool.

Yeah, it's one of the best.

So

it probably probably is the best, actually.

And they're introducing the offense and they got the dark jerseys this week.

I think I saw the homie Jeff who covers the Ravens for us at the athletic mention that they told all the fans to be there by a certain time as part of the Darkness Falls pregame.

Like, this is, this is it.

Like, there's a lot of things.

What does that mean?

What does that mean?

Yeah, so they do it.

It sounds like that.

Yeah, so, so they do a really gothic Edgar Allan Poe-themed, like Ravens-themed pregame that is really cool and really, really, and it's not cheesy the way that you would when I all said those words in a sentence like that your immediate reaction is wow that sounds kind of dumb no it is really cool it's really dark it's really gothic it's super intense

and yeah I I get it like I love it I think it's badass like Dan one thing about that like this is the team that boldly decided to brand themselves after a drunk poet and I have no problem with that but I want to say one thing about Lamar real quick like there was the video going around where Marlon Humphrey for his little podcast or TikTok thing or something, like tried to

capture Lamar on the airplane after the tight win over the Cowboys.

And Lamar was like having none of it.

And he just described later, like, that was a win, but that's not how we want to win games.

And it's kind of like, all right, I need that from Lamar Jackson.

Like, MVP aside, like...

Don't be happy with how that went down.

Like, what happens in this game against the premier AFC team tells us a lot more about who Lamar Jackson is this year.

But I like that attitude from him.

I'm not doing your little TikTok video.

Get out of my face.

Was it a TikTok, Mark?

I don't know.

Was it some video of some sort.

I don't know.

I just, maybe I seem like a total old when I say that, but I'd like to not just, you know, celebrating on an airplane when you barely beat the Cowboys.

As Damashek tweets every year, Damashek has a collection of tweets that he just, I think, keeps in a folder and it just runs it back.

The one about Poe

always stands out to me.

The Ravens are named after a poem by Edgar Allan Poe, a New Yorker who went to Baltimore, got drunk, and died.

All right, up next.

Money Mike, you got the Seahawks.

Yep, undefeated.

But here's a challenge to go into Ford Field primetime games in Detroit,

obviously are a big party.

It's like America celebrates these games now.

So you have an opportunity here to, I think, if there are doubters out there right now, they're like, yeah, Seahawks are 3-0, but,

well, you could change all that with a big performance in D-Town.

Has anybody called D-Town?

Probably not.

Go ahead.

Yeah, D-Town.

I haven't heard that one.

No.

I do love going to Detroit, though, one of my favorite road cities.

So I'm happy to be getting out there this week.

Yeah, I mean, of the two undefeated NFC teams, you know, the Vikings being the other one, it definitely feels like the Seahawks are the ones being met with more skepticism, whereas, like, Sam Darnold's, like, a cooler story, and Brian Flores is just a sicko madman defensive coordinator who's just making everyone look foolish when he plays them.

Whereas the Seahawks, you look at their schedule, and it's like, oh, you beat up on Bo Nix in his first start.

You played the Patriots with led by Joby Jacoby Brissette needed overtime to beat them and then you know you beat up on Skylar Thompson I mean beat the snot out of him so bad that he left the game and then Tim Boyle came in anytime someone sees you win and Tim Boyle's in the box score right you get a grain of salt if you could bring a box score to Boyle you're in good position

I think it's a healthy amount of skepticism I think around the Seahawks and they know that as well they know that you know Tyree Kill and Jalen Waddell are a lot easier to cover when Skylar Thompson's Thompson's trying to throw to them.

And they know the Patriots' skill players are just pretty ass for the most part.

So they know Bo Nix is a rookie, you know, making his first start on the road.

This is the real, the quote-unquote real test.

You know, whether the Lions are pretty banged up.

I don't know if they'll have Sam Laporta.

They might be missing some other guys.

Brian Branch, Marcus Davenport's out for the year already, I think.

So they're banged up.

Seahawks are banged up too.

Might not have Byron Murphy.

Their star rookie

D-Tackle.

Leonard Williams is hurt.

He's got bad ribs.

They might not have Ken Walker.

The injury report for this game is going to be real long all the way up to the final game designation one.

But I think the thing that's been real about the Seahawks so far is their defense.

You know, just the way it looks.

You can only play who's on your schedule.

You can only, you know, sack and tackle and pick off who's on the field.

Right.

But

the process of it has been really solid.

They're pressuring at one of the highest rates in the league.

You know, they're getting after the quarterback.

They're dominant in the red zone and they're not relying on turnovers much, you know, which sounds kind of funky, but for me, turnovers are real fluky.

When the ball hits the ground and when it gets batted in the air, what happens after that usually is not determined by skill, it's just really unfortunate.

So, if you're a defense that's getting off the field, like the Seahawks are, without relying on fluky stuff like turnovers every week, I think they only have three in three games and they were all against Bo Nicks.

Like, if you're not relying on that, your defense is usually pretty real to me.

And if Mike McDonald is going to bring the ass kickings that he brought to all of the first-place teams last year to Seattle, then, yeah, I think the Seahawks are in position to get rid of some of that skepticism, you know, and show that they are, quote-unquote, a real team in the NFC.

And, Jordan, on the Detroit side of things here,

you know, the previous week they go down, and I think you have Goff throwing over 50 passes.

And I know you know Goff, and he's probably a buddy of yours.

He's probably in the phone.

You guys probably text.

But, like, you know, does America, are we ready to fully trust Goff to get America's America's team over the hump?

I don't know.

I like it much better when they focus where their game plan probably needs to be, which is that offensive line kicking ass and these two really good running backs in the system with a dash of Goff.

And I know they didn't blow the doors off anyone against Arizona, but they did enough to get the win.

That balance, I feel like, is so important to what they do.

Yeah, I would, if I'm Detroit, I would just really simplify it and try to run at this front minus Byron Murphy.

And I do think, though, so Seattle, I think Seattle's for real.

I know that that there's some skepticism about, you know, some of the teams that they've played and all of that.

This defense is second in DVOA, but it looks structurally sound.

Like it looks like it's doing the things it's supposed to do.

I will reiterate, like, Jared Goff has seen this defense just one time.

And I would say, too, I don't think it's a far stretch to say that Jared Goff so far of 2024 is not really playing as Jared Goff of 2023 was playing just yet.

As the kids would say.

You assume he'll get there at some point because he knows that place.

So if you're a franchise quarterback, you should be able to get back to that sort of space that you were operating in.

But he's seen this defense one time, and that was last season.

And it was a 38-6 Lions loss.

He was sacked five times and threw an interception.

So I couldn't be more thrilled with what he's been doing in Detroit and being a hero.

of that city right now.

But I am old enough to also remember how it can sometimes go when facing a defense that will just try to assault you on every single snap that it can.

So if I'm Detroit, I do try to run the ball.

And

I also think that this Detroit defense is going to be a challenge for Seattle.

Geno Smith is playing some of the best football in the league right now, but he's also, like we alluded to last week, he's playing a lot of hero ball.

He's getting pressured like the fastest in the league.

The run blocking, not just the pass pro is the worst and second worst in the league right now.

The run blocking is also the worst, second worst in the league right now.

And he's still still playing at this clip, but you've got Aiden Hutchinson coming in who's leading the league in sacks with six and a half, and he's like tied for fifth or something in pressures with 15, and they move him on opposite sides of the line, so they're going to try to key in on Geno depending on where the pressure is popping.

So, yeah, I mean, it's just going to be, I think, a really good defensive battle on both sides.

You have got to have a plan for Aiden Hutchinson because he has been a complete revelation this season.

You know, you could have said like pass rushing in general was a little bit of a weakness for the Lions, but not when you've got one guy operating the way he does.

You know, Geno, to me, I've never been the biggest Geno Smith guy, but he has been marvelous against man coverage.

I think he's one of two passers along with C.J.

Stroud that lead the league in completion percentage against man, and the Lions play a ton of man coverage.

So there's opportunities there.

I think also, you know, without Kenneth Walker,

I know it was the Dolphins, and that game felt like it could have been a bigger wipeout than it was for Miami.

They hung around, but to see Zach Charbonnet run the way he did down the stretch, I thought that was encouraging.

Like, there's something about Seattle under Mike McDonald, and, you know, Mike, you alluded to it, but the defense just looks really solid.

I think he's going to get the most out of his players.

And, like, Boye Mafe has, I think, seven pressures in back-to-back games.

And so there are opportunities here.

If you get the Jared Goff of the last couple of weeks where it's been like, uh-oh, wait a minute, we're not getting the pristine version of Goff.

Seattle's going to hang around in this game.

They're going to hang around in all these games this season.

They're that kind of team.

All right.

Also, kind of throw in one last note on Geno.

And when he plays in a dome, he's nails, by the way.

It's super random.

All his games where he's in a dome, he just kicks ass.

For my overs betters, we're interested in that type of thing.

Over, under, 46 and a half, I'm seeing.

And I was just going to say, and I like it because it sounds like we might be in disagreement.

People are bullish on the Seahawks going to Detroit.

I like the Lions taking care of business here and the Seahawks coming down to earth.

We'll see who's right.

Come next Thursday.

The gloating, it will be out of control.

All right, let's take a break.

And when we come back, we'll hit the games we cannot wait to watch in week four.

All right, guys, it's the best time of year.

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All right, we are back.

Okay, Primetime Games in the rear view.

Now the games we cannot wait to watch in week four, and we will start the slate with Jordan Rodriguez.

Yes, and I am stoked.

I feel like you guys are just letting me have these freaking awesome games every week.

Perhaps I am setting

what we are doing.

Mark and I laid out.

We have a dock.

Just to peel back the curtain.

We have a dock.

Here are the games.

And Mark and I laid out.

We said, let's let the athletic people make their move.

And Jordan just...

rushed through the gates to grab this one.

A little hero ball by Rodrigue and a bracelet.

Right, I didn't even pick mine until post-dawn this morning to really see if maybe you even wanted to change your mind.

It seems like it was actually something different, and that caught my radar at about midnight.

I was like, uh-oh,

do we need to find Mark by 9 o'clock?

Is he okay?

Is he okay?

Perfectly okay.

Just being a good, you know, a sharing and giving host.

That was my role.

Unbelievable.

Yes, I did jump the snap a little bit on that, but I'm so excited.

I want to talk about Minnesota at Green Bay.

This is 1 p.m.

Eastern on CBS with Kevin Harlan, Trent Green, and Melanie Collins.

So I want to talk about Brian Flores' defense.

I know we've talked about that, but we've also talked a lot about Sam Darnold, as we should.

He's playing awesome.

Kevin O'Connell, as we should.

He's coaching awesome football right now.

But I'm always looking for new ways to understand things about football.

And Cody Alexander, who runs a match quarters franchise, he did some clinic work with the Vikings this past offseason.

And he, I think, perfectly described what their offense and defense are doing together.

They're not just playing complementary football where both sides support each other and then there's some compromise built in there as well.

He says they're playing total football where both sides fully assert and I think that is the most accurate way to describe what this team is doing right now.

The Vikings are number one in DVOA.

And Brian Flores, the cool thing that he does besides all of this, what he's doing, is he creates like half-to-half game plans that are not just game-to-game full adjustments through the course of one game.

They're specific to half.

So you can adjust within within the half, and then you're going to come out in the second half potentially with a totally different game plan that you can then adjust within.

So, like, for example, last week, he'll blitz at 60%, a 60% rate, then totally invert it, and then just drop everybody and only blitz at like a 20% rate, but he'll disguise some of those blitzes.

And he's also blitzing out of quarters coverage, which as we've talked about before, basically puts a rectangle over the offense, but he's still sending extra pressure while keeping that rectangle like shell over the top.

So the calls are also coming in like at the very last possible second.

So he's getting calls in after offenses have made their counter adjustments or rotations or shown their motions, things like that, that usually are what get defenses to answer the question about pressure that the offenses are asking with those pre-snap motions.

It takes really smart players to do this.

They are playing like on a rope, as they say.

You really can tell he's leaning on these guys to really communicate, to be able to do that and actually achieve that.

I cannot emphasize how extraordinary that is for those calls to be not only as complicated as they are, but to come in that late to where you're almost the last say on a play versus everything that we know offenses can do to dictate to a defense.

But I don't want to leave out the Green Bay element of it here.

I don't know if Malik Willis is going to play.

Jordan Love was back practicing this week, but Malik Willis and Matt LaFleur in tandem, he's not dropping back a ton, I know, but when he is pressured and defenses have tried to blitz him to try to rattle him and see, kind of test what he knows and test kind of how ready he is.

He's completing 61% of his passes against the Blitz.

But again, don't know yet if Jordan Love will be that guy.

I personally would not put Jordan Love back into the mix against this particular defense.

And Malik Willis, you know, they can run the ball, take the teeth out of the Blitz a little bit, do some triple option stuff.

And then I also wanted to mention.

Aaron Jones.

Slow down, Jordan.

Slow down.

Slow down.

I know, but I could not mention Aaron Jones.

I'm excited about this game.

Let's come come back to Aaron Jones.

Let's talk because let's talk a little about Malik Willis here.

Because, like,

here's an interesting thing about Willis.

Because I think I agree with you.

Like, we might see Jordan love, and he was limited in practice.

And as we tape this, we don't know for sure.

But if they ended up going with Malik, and we don't have to linger on him because he might not play, zero turnover-worthy plays per PFF.

And I really love this stat, that they ran 12 RPO

and play action, which you would think is they're trying to make him part of the offense without making him the focal point.

But he had 14 what you would classify as standard drop backs.

So, like, Mark, again, this is such a credit, not just to Willis, who deserves it, but LaFleur, who's gotten to the point where this guy was unplayable in Tennessee, to they were actually entrusting him to run the offense, and he rewarded them with a really solid game.

So, again, structurally,

the Green Bay machine is so sound right now, and you're seeing that in the results.

It's not far from what Baker Mayfield accomplished in prime time after joining the Rams Rams like a day previous.

Because Willis was just not with this team for the incubation period where you'd learn the offense for them to do what they did.

I look at this game, it's like, wait a minute.

You have right now the two frontrunners for coach of the year in Kevin O'Connell and LaFleur.

You've got the frontrunner for assistant coach of the year and Brian Flores.

You've got the frontrunner for MVP and Sam Darnold, in my mind, but also the frontrunner and Sam Darnold for comeback player of the year.

It's like all this confluence of madness and great coaching and great team building all put together in one.

And Flores, like, I feel like he is someone that if you go back and watch the Dolphins defenses that he ran, this is like next level.

And it's to everything Jordan just said, it's next level.

And like they are the first defense in 23 years to have at least five sacks in their first three games.

They're bringing intense pressure.

So the one thing you said that I disagree with, Jordan, is like, I don't know if I'd put Jordan Love in here.

What's like, yeah, it's going to be tough, but like we pay Jordan Love to come in and be here the minute he can play.

Like, what they've done with Willis is brilliant, but I feel like that magic carpet ride will run out at some point, and this would be a ripe place for that to run out.

Yeah, it's a complicated calculus, right?

Because you don't want to put him at risk of injuring even further so that you don't have him down the back stretch of the season.

And if he's going to be pressured the way that we think that Brian Flores is going to bring some of this pressure, then he might have to be moving around a lot.

So testing, you know, how he feels, how that leg is doing,

getting him on the move a little bit maybe during practice will be important.

I agree.

And Dan, thank you for reining me in, by the way.

I earnestly mean that because I just start rolling down a hill.

Well, it's your love.

It's your love of balls.

And I also love it.

I genuinely appreciate it.

I do need that.

Like, I literally have a post-it on my computer that says pause on it,

but I don't listen to it.

Yeah, in this case,

I had to become the post-it in human form.

What do you think about this game, Mike?

Yeah, I like the idea that the quarterback, excuse me the offensive coordinator if he's the head coach but just the oc in general and the dc have obviously competing interests the defensive coordinator's job is to make life as hard as possible on the quarterback and brian flores has done that as well as any coordinator you know in the league thus far matt lafleur his job is to make life as easy as possible on his quarterback uh and i think uh to mark's point about uh coach of the year candidates he has done that as well as perhaps any uh oc slash head coach in the league thus far.

Something has to give.

And I like that.

This is a really good coaching matchup.

I agree with Mark.

I would throw Jordan Love in there just so Malik Willis doesn't die.

And also just because Brian Flores, man, you need to have seen some ball.

I know Jordan Love hasn't played that many games, but he's been in the league a while at least.

You have to have seen some ball to play against this dude because he just confuses the hell out of you.

He's so confusing.

You can watch the film and still not know what coverage he was running on that simulator pressure or whatever let alone know it in real time so that said I like the Packers actually in this cam assuming Jordan love will play I think this is perhaps one of those games where the idea of not having a traditional wide receiver one that you have to make sure eats is important here because when there's pressure coming from everywhere the goal is to just get the ball to whoever the right read is not necessarily like all right we got to get it to our Nico Collins or we got to get it to our Brandon Iuk or whatever.

Like, let's just go to wherever the read goes because the pressure is coming from everywhere.

And I think Jordan would be far more equipped to handle that than Malik.

You know, it's just easier to play.

He's just better than that.

It's that simple.

So I think it's going to be a great game, great coaching matchup.

And I like Green Bay to take this one.

And

Jordan, as promised, we've come back to the running backs.

And I want to say both teams,

it's about balance.

Newsflash, the teams that are running the ball well, the quarterback a lot of times is playing well.

And those things are related.

188 yards on the ground for the packers in week three and they're doing it with a two-headed attack obviously um with emmanuel wilson and and josh jacobs but aaron jones has been everything that the vikings could have hoped for uh so far yeah

green bay packer aaron jones and i just i love that there's so much poetry and radness in this game and there's like human stories and football stories and like you know aaron jones is a huge reason why the vikings finally have some pop back into their run game And he's going back to Lambo, where he's like one of their best running backs they've ever had.

He promised the

Lambo leap if he scores.

That would be fun to see, too.

How would he be received by the masses?

I just, I just love it.

I think he's going to get some sort of ovation or something.

Like, those are good, they're good fans out there.

Like, I feel like they're going to do that, even though it's the Vikings.

Matt Schneideman, I thought, had the great line, our colleague, he wrote in his column this week, you'll find Bigfoot before you find someone with a bad word to say about Jones in the Packers locker room.

So also, you know, Mark, real, not real?

Bigfoot?

Still considering that one.

I won't go on for hours.

I don't know.

I think that's sort of like sits out there as like a mystery of the woods.

It's not real.

It's funny.

All right, Jordan shared her take.

That was Jordan rather than league on Bigfoot.

It is actually interesting.

You get to live your life again through your children.

Hot take.

And when my kids learned about Bigfoot this year,

it blew their mind.

And they're like, they study that clip, and they fall down these YouTube wormholes that I got to keep my eye on.

Big time Bigfoot energy in the hands of this house.

All right, let's move on as we must.

I can't wait.

I cannot wait to watch

little Southern football, Saints, Falcons,

from Mercedes-Benz Stadium.

Southern football.

Southern football.

That's what I like.

And, you know, everybody's like, oh, college football in the South, whatever.

I like that the Saints and Falcons hate each other.

You don't get enough of this in really modern sports in general.

And remember, week 18, 2023, the last time these teams played, it was this year in January.

48, 17 Saints roll Falcons, but everybody remembers Jameis Winston, then the backup quarterback now with Cleveland,

overruling his head coach from the sideline to get Jamal Williams ah, touchdown in 2023 after he led the league with the lines.

All these people are gone.

Well, Dennis Williams, Dennis Allen is still there,

impossibly.

And now here we go, a little revenge, two teams and organizations that don't have a good word to say about each other.

And I'm really interested to see this game from the Saints' perspective, especially, because I was so fascinated by...

you know, how down bad they were in terms of public perception around the team.

And then the offense comes out and goes nuts in the first two weeks.

And then that kind of a lot of air came out of the balloon

in week three.

And,

you know, I thought the Eagles did a really good job.

I think Fangio did a really good job of taking away

what the Saints were doing really well early in the season and forcing Derek Carr to do things that he didn't want to do.

And what you saw here was Clint Kubiak realizing that, okay, if I have to attack intermediate,

I'm not doing the same damage that I was doing.

So they covered the deep end.

They took away the deep shots

and stopped the run and put the Saints in a totally different headspace, and they failed.

So is the book out now already on Kubiak, Mike Dugar?

And if it is, does this whole Saints block party end as quickly as it started?

Or do we see an adjustment and the Saints get back to their ass-kicking ways against the Falcons defense that can be had?

Shout out to my guy, Clint Hurt.

He's a defensive line coach up at Philly, used to be the DC in Seattle.

He's like a Fangio disciple guy.

Wasn't looking great for him those first couple weeks, but to your credit, he and Vic got in there, put their heads together, and they put together a game plan up front that destroyed the run game.

It looked kind of similar to what the Bears did to the Rams.

I want to say in 2018 on Sunday Night football.

Yeah, yeah, just tweaked the front and it was just like, huh, what do we do against this?

The answer is nothing.

I think the Super Bowl that year was pretty similar too, if I remember correctly.

Yeah, so great scheme there.

Great scheme adjustment.

Shout out to Clint.

Shout out to Vic for doing that.

Yeah, I mean, Derek Carr is a very limited guy, in my opinion.

He falls into that bucket of dudes who can ball if you're asking him to do

the least amount of things as possible.

Shout out to Wynn, our colleague at the athletic who kind of wrote about how Kubiak has basically said, yeah, man, don't worry about like the protections and stuff and audibles and all the other line of scrimmage command.

Just hand the ball off and when I need you to throw it, just throw it here.

You know, he's one of those simple, simplified QB guys, which is fine.

It is, because it can work.

But you run against a good DC, you can scheme you up, you can look just real fraudulent.

So I wasn't totally surprised that they were able to figure that out.

That said, I don't have as much confidence in the Falcons to necessarily do that.

However, on the Falcons side of this, I love their secondary now, man.

I was real skeptical when they took Pennex.

I was like, dude, you guys need defenders.

What's going on?

And then now they have the best safety tandem in the league for my money.

Love AJ Island over there.

Yeah, actually, I love this.

I think this is going to be another low-scoring game like the Falcons seemingly have been playing all year.

A really good defensive battle because that Saints defense, I think, is pretty solid as well.

I would be concerned if I'm the Saints, about losing Eric McCoy at center.

He's out for six to eight weeks with a groin injury.

That kind of thing, I think, like really impacted Derek Carr last week.

He went out pretty early in the game.

I keep it simple.

Like,

if you get this version of Alvin Kamara that we've seen, you know, last week was a bit of a, that whole game script just went out the window early.

But the Falcons are bottom third of the league against the run.

They, outside of a little bit of Matthew Judon, they're not rushing the passer real well.

I think you keep Derek Carr safe.

You run the ball as much as you can here.

And you, in return, can deal with the Falcons offense that's been real hot and cold.

Like, you know, one thing about the Falcons, like, so they're playing the Chiefs, and it's like, okay, the Chiefs have had the same head coach since like the bronze age, you know, the same defensive coordinator, like the same quarterback.

And you can abduct them new skill position players, but everything's so consistent.

And the Falcons, new head coach, new coordinators, a quarterback that didn't play all summer.

And it's like you're watching the the Falcons kind of grow before your eyes.

But they weren't able to run the ball last week at all.

And I kind of think it put them into a bit of a blender.

They've just been streaky.

And so if you're the Saints and you can kind of just get back to your offense, I don't think we, I don't think the script is out on Clint Kubiak.

I think they ran into, and I'll talk about the Eagles in a little bit, but they ran into a Fangio unit that was like suddenly finding itself at the right time against the Saints.

Well, he was reminding, Fangio was reminding the league like who the F he is, right?

Like this is, okay, you're going to run a throwback.

We call it a throwback now, but it was only a couple years ago when the offense that Clint Kubiak is running now started rising like wildfire, spreading like wildfire across the league.

Well, what is Vic Fangio?

Like, remember what I did the other time?

I'm going to do it again.

Run a 6-1 on your ass all day up

and you can't do anything about it.

And then, you know, I will say the Falcons cannot stop.

the run.

Alan Kamara is not totally healthy, but you might not really need to be totally healthy against this Falcons front.

Cesar Ruiz,

another interior offensive lineman, is dealing with a knee injury.

If he misses this game, then the Saints will be without all five of the linemen who started for them, who were starting for them last year.

So that's significant, I think, something definitely to keep an eye on as the week progresses.

We don't know how necessarily that's going to go with Caesar Ruiz.

And then on the Falcons side, they are atrocious on third down.

They are six of 27, even though over half of their attempts are not long third downs.

So this is that that is the number one thing, I think, because they're getting advantageous numbers on their down distances, and then they just can't convert on third down.

So that's Zach Robinson, Kirk Cousins, that's a bevy of upskilled players.

That's just making better decisions and better execution in those crucial scenarios because the margins, this is a rivalry game.

The margins are going to matter.

Yeah, and that failure in third and fourth down is what cost them against the Chiefs, although obviously there was a DPI that was missed there.

But still,

one last note

from

Dalton Wasserman, who does a great job over at PFF.

Again,

you know, I'd love everyone does a great job.

I mean, whenever we discuss anyone, everyone does a great job.

And I'm sure they do.

I don't even know why I said that, but just like.

Why would we cite them if they were shit?

I don't know.

I just think it's funny that

everyone that does anything does a great job.

I don't think I do a great job half the time.

So it's like I would say.

But I don't say when I introduce you, I never say Mark Sessler, who does a great job on Heed the Call.

So maybe read into it.

I don't know.

Well, that's true.

Well, that's your opinion.

Dalton Wasserman, who does a great job for PFF.

Five or more defensive linemen against the Saints

on 27 of 56 snaps, mostly on early downs.

12 snaps combined.

Fongio deployed that type of front in weeks one and two.

So, like, let's see if the Falcons are paying attention, if they try the same stuff.

And if they do, are the Saints going to be two-hit wonders?

All right.

Up next,

Mark Sessler, who does a great job.

Mark Sessler does an incredible job.

What, I mean, what a joy it is.

I wake up in the morning and I think to myself, what a lucky guy I am, because it's like being next to greatness every show.

You just said that you woke up concerned about my well-being because I hadn't filled out the, like the group spreadsheet.

So multiple feelings.

I am here for Eagles Bucks.

Most of what I had prepared to discuss has just been discussed, so I'm going to pivot a little.

And I do think I want to talk about that six-man front because

there was a great article on the Athletic about what Fangio did to blow up.

When I say six-man, I said five or more, but yes.

Well, no, it's basically sort of like a 6-1 they used, but I think it was just a huge

development for Jalen Carter to play the way that he did, for Jordan Davis to look like his draft pedigree.

Zach Bond has been alive and one of the juiciest linebackers in the NFC week after week.

And I, you you know, like, the Hardy Boys can keep looking for Bryce Huff.

He's not been a big presence.

But the way that they created complete dominance last week is a big deal against this Bucs

offensive line.

You know, the Bucs beat the Lions with 216 yards on offense.

Last week against Denver, they were completely neutralized.

They have 223 yards, so they're squeaking out offense the way they can.

I just don't like this matchup at all for Baker Mayfield.

I think part of it is if you look at Jalen Carter specifically, this is how you're going going to use him.

He goes up against Cody Mock, who I think is one of the more interesting looking humans.

He's like a gigantic ginger with like missing five teeth, but he has allowed like 14 pressures at right guard.

It's like the most in the, that's tied for the most in the league.

So

I think this is a situation where if you can make Baker Mayfield, who kind of reminds me of like the Goffs of the world, where it's like when you get him fired up and you get the better version, like Baker Mayfield willed the Bucs to victory against Detroit with his legs, with his arm,

with Chris Godwin.

You saw it.

But last week, a lot of that went away.

And I don't know if it's like, have we found out who the Saints are on offense?

I'm much more concerned that you can find out who the Bucs are.

And especially if the Eagles' defense has turned the script here under Fongio, if guys like Jalen, Jalen Carter is the kind of person that can take over games entirely.

So I'm concerned about the matchup of the two lines, especially for the Bucs.

So there we go.

Nice, Mark.

Great job.

Awesome.

Thank you.

I don't great work.

I don't know why.

It's not pivoted into me looking for

head nods and credit here.

That's the last thing I'm saying.

Just you put it on our radar now, and then I naturally, I default to, okay, what is he saying ultimately?

What is he really trying to get at here?

Is he not saying he's getting enough credit?

I love it.

No, it was not self-reflective.

I think Mike, I saw Mike laugh.

He knows what I mean when we just

slap terms on anyone doing work anywhere in the country.

Mike, was your laugh, was that in agreement that people shouldn't be raised up for their working hard in our industry or just like that?

Mark's a ridiculous person?

I had several laughs.

I think one of them was at the idea of southern football being played by Derek Carr and Kirk Cousins.

And I think the other one was Cody being described as a gigantic ginger.

I just Googled him, though.

I didn't know what he looked like.

And Mark's right.

But does he is he missing many teeth?

And not to make light of this.

Oh, my God.

I didn't make that.

Oh, my God.

Is there like a deliverance thing going on?

That was deep research.

Well, you could just Google his image.

You'll see.

And maybe he's had that work done.

I was going to say he's a millionaire.

So maybe

whatever makes Mr.

Monkey.

He wanted to, he has a persona.

Like he wants.

This is the last I've read about it, which was when he's coming out in the draft.

Like it's like he, it's a thing.

It's been a thing for a while.

Tell your mouth to teeth.

Wow.

Yeah.

No, his Google, it's huge.

Oh, my goodness.

Yeah.

I love an O-lineman with a persona, though.

He's just got to maybe shore up some of that pressure, you know?

There's some 70s energy.

That's insane.

Oh, you see him, Dan?

Yeah, I mean, 1670s.

He's, I mean, he's beautiful inside and out to me.

Any other thoughts on this one?

I agree with Mark.

I think this is a really bad matchup for Tampa Bay, and especially if this defense found a little something.

Schematically, obviously, they've been hammering a little bit more of that vintage fungi.

But also, they tackled better, frankly.

We were talking about concern about their tackling.

They tackled better.

I think that last week you saw a pretty solid game plan against Tampa Bay of bottling up the Mike Evanses of the world.

Now, teams, not every team has a Pat Sertain who's going to be able to do that, but there are other ways to try to take away Baker Mayfield's first option and really try to

have him hold the ball, look past his first option, and then get the pressure going after him.

Baker's longest pass gain last week was 13 yards, and Mike Evans hasn't had a real big presence.

They got to fix that stuff, but they also can't run the ball.

I think it might be Bucky Irving season for you fantasy heads out there.

Rashad White is not running the rock with any efficiency.

All right,

let's take a break, and when we return, we will wrap up the games we cannot wait to watch.

Heed the Call with Dan Hansis and Mark Sessler is on Underdog.

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audience only.

All right, we are back.

One more game we cannot wait to watch before we take a dip into the hot brown gravy boat.

Uh, you are up, Money Mike Dugar.

Sorry, Jordan.

I am going with the Commanders at Cardinals.

Uh, I really like this one.

Although, before I get to this, we're going to throw out the money mic tip of the week here.

Let me write it down.

Yeah, but based on what we were talking about in some of these earlier segments, there we go.

That's a drop I can get down with.

Okay.

There we go.

Maybe we could sting in it.

I don't know.

Oh, oh yeah i love this i love this uh i like aaron jones anytime touchdown uh little tidbit there that we talked about in that one and i like the under

in what was that the falcons game we were just talking about yeah yeah uh saints at falcons i think that banging the under 42 and a half i really like that if you can tease it perhaps do that too by yourself some grace but I really like those.

I haven't decided what my lock is on this one yet and Commanders at Cardinals.

Mike, by the way, this is Doug Peterson level week four pressure because we're trying to get the Money Mike brand off the ground and we got to hit.

We got to hit big.

So I'll be rooting hard for you because it's part of the brand for us as well.

No, that's fine.

I can handle the pressure.

I can't, at least on NFL college,

not so hot.

However, though, I will use this time, the Commanders and Cardinals, just to really talk up Jaden Daniels.

I think he really benefited from doing what he did

on a big stage.

It just kind of is the nature of the business.

Everyone just can't watch every game.

Here, the morning slate of the game starts at 10 a.m.

You know, on the West Coast, like there's a bazillion games on at that time.

We're all just kind of watching Scott Hanson or like in Route 2E Seahawks game if they're at home.

So you can't always just tap into the commanders.

So a lot of us, you know, that first time

really diving and sitting there watching the whole game was Monday night when he just shredded the Bengals.

He was excellent, man.

And poor Cam Taylor Britt, you know, Bengals corner, who before the game game kind of talked about their offense and said they keep it simple for the quarterback yeah they run a college style offense and you know i talked about this with the green bay game that's the job of the oc is to make it simple for your quarterback that's not a knock but the way he said it definitely made it seem like a knock he also wasn't wrong you know but the problem is in 2024 in the nfl a college offense can work in the right especially if your defense stinks why do you say that like why why do you think the college uh offense is well-suited right now?

The offense has the advantage, you know, just with the rules and all this motion and stuff like that.

And it's never been harder to play inside linebacker.

And the inside linebackers are in all of the, they're in the middle of everything, like literally and figuratively.

You know, you're part of the run fits, but you're also part of all of the past coverage things too.

So you have a lot of responsibilities on early downs.

If your head's not on a swivel, you can kind of look like...

all of the Eagles inside linebackers of the last like three years, which is not good.

So like it's just hard to play that spot.

They're spread out, which is a lot of space for those guys to cover.

Safeties have been devalued.

So, you just get guys who are flat-footed on deep balls, like the one Terry McLaurin caught earlier in that game.

Safety just looking like lost, you know.

So, it's tough.

So, you're supposed to make your offense look simple and look good.

And if you've got a quarterback who can make some plays, you can get cooked, you know.

And that's what I actually want to give Cliff some credit.

I'm pretty hard on him as an OC.

I think he just takes his best receiver, sticks him on the left side, and then just vibes out for the rest rest of the game, which Terry McLaurin alluded to post-game.

He was like, huh, maybe I should go to the right for the game winner.

I love that from Terry McLaurin after the game.

He's basically like, yeah, I decided to be the OC.

I moved myself to the right.

I called a go ball for myself.

I adjusted the route

mid-route.

Said, I'm just going to run a double move because he's playing off coverage.

I'm going to catch it and we're going to win the game.

A little braggy, but it wasn't enough to have the glory of the big touchdown catch and all the adulation.

You had to throw your OC under the bus.

But all right, it's cool.

Yeah.

And you know what?

He needed to.

I mean, when has Cliff ever been thrown under the bus?

He's got, he's just been like, you know, despite the records, he's just gotten the job, whatever.

Like, he, you know, this is good.

This is healthy for everybody.

You know, this is a little reality for everybody.

Yeah.

I loved that from Terry, man.

Terry, who does a great job at wide receiver.

Oh, he does.

But the stay on the commanders for the game at least, like, they got one of the best offenses in the league.

They're great running the ball.

Jaden's completing damn near all of his passes.

But I mean the Cardinals offense with Kyler, especially in the drop back game, can look a little collegey too.

More so just because it's like backyard ball when Kyler gets all happy feet in the pocket and decides like it's third and 18.

I'm just going to run for it.

You know, so I actually, I love this game because I think it's really just going to be a shootout and very collegey.

This has very big 12 vibes for me, maybe pack 12 after dark vibes a little bit since they're playing in Arizona.

I like the Cardinals in this one, and I'm expecting some fireworks.

And I think just the two quarterback play styles just going to be really fun if you have no interests as a gambler, just as a fan, like just tuning in to Jaden Daniels and Kyler Murray.

That's just going to be really, really fun.

A lot of points.

And I think I've talked myself into this lock being the over

in this game.

So there we go.

Another Money Mike tip of the week.

I like his college.

I like it.

Well, I think Kyler Murray's skill set is absolutely college adjacent, like in terms of what we're talking about with passing, you know, being more advantageous, despite what the numbers say right now about passing being down.

And Kyler is one of those players who can create and just has a cannon who can create out of structure and get the ball the hell downfield.

Jaden Daniels also has that.

But where I pivot slightly is I think the Cardinals offense in general is structured to meet 2024 actually where it is in a way that maybe is not collegey

because they're loading up with 12 and 13 personnel.

They're running some 21 personnel.

They're running the ball really, really physically and straight downhill, downhill, but they're also moving the different attack points when they run the ball.

So I think that will be a challenge on the commander's secondary, just as much as Kyler working out of structure will be a challenge on the commander's secondary.

But the run game will also sort of place a target on these linebackers.

And Frankie Luvu has been doing a lot of jobs, playing a lot of positions.

Bobby Wagner, who I like adore because I finally got to meet him in Los Angeles.

And Mike has known him for years and he lives up to the hype as a person.

But, you know, this is going to be really challenging for those two and also for the safeties and also for the defensive backs who are going to have to come in and help against this Arizona rushing attack, less so.

But I'm really glad that more people are seeing what Jaden Daniels is capable of as a pro because you've seen flashes of this every single week so far and really truly putting it together on a global stage like this.

I love it for him.

What I think his most amazing achievement was was getting Cliff Kingsbury to show a little urgency because he was making him get the play-in faster.

And I've never seen Cliff Kingsbury look so alive since he was coaching in Houston.

So this is great for everybody.

Could be a Cliff Assance that we're witnessing, and it helps to have a star quarterback.

He also had a star quarterback in Arizona whose name was Kyler Murray.

And I know that that marriage had to end,

and it's good that it did for everyone involved.

But I'm not quite in and sold on the Cardinals' offense in 2024 yet.

I know that they rolled up nearly 500 yards versus the Rams.

That was great, but they're a little bit schizo.

You had like a great first half against Buffalo in week one and a dreadful second half.

They had 277 yards total against the Lions.

In fact, they had less than 280 yards in two of their three games.

So like which version of the Cardinals offense shows up?

Because we've seen both sides of the coin and they are very different.

Well, I mean, part of it is which Marvin Harrison shows up because when he showed up two weeks ago,

lights out, that thing was over.

And so can that happen again?

I think it's just interesting to me to watch Jaden Daniels on passes of under 20-year-olds go 19 for 19.

It was really important for this organization to have that game happen when it happened because I think Washington among any team in the league has just been in abstentia, just gone, not in our mind, not relevant, an easy out.

And if you looked at this game back, you know, in August and said, Commanders, Cardinals, no one cares.

I feel completely different about it.

I'm with Mike.

I think this is outside of Allen versus Lamar, the most interesting quarterback duel of the week.

It's the way the offenses are run.

It is a genuine revenge game if you're Cliff Kingsbury.

I know he's also,

I don't buy into that because it's like he's still getting paid like billions of dollars to not even be a coach.

So that's not true revenge.

They didn't like take your, they didn't kidnap your family or anything.

But it is like your reputation.

Well, no, I mean, like, sure, but like

if you look at the team like the, like the Jets and the Browns, like when you, when you fire entire coaching staffs, you're paying them for a million days after.

It's ridiculous.

I just feel so differently about Washington.

I was trying to think the last time that Washington was a subject of curiosity to me, and it's like pre-name change, way before, RG3.

Can I just say, again, because I did the same thing last week, and I know it sounded like I was counting out Jaden Daniels ever doing it again.

I would love to see it happen again this week, because then you're starting to get that C.J.

Stroud, another number two overall pick vibe.

We're like, oh, this is a thing, and he's taking off.

But his ludicrous has been there all.

Like, he's been that, much of what we saw, he's been aspects of that guy all season.

Let me see it again.

Let me see it again.

I mean, again, like, I'm not going to, you know, first of all, Cliff built his own reputation in Arizona in terms of, you know, the, the...

starting really fast and then sort of fizzling out every season.

So again, I'd like to see them, to Dan's point, would like to see this type of offense sustain through the season.

And then, but I think they just kind of, they finally let go a little bit.

Like, Jaden could play his game a little bit.

He showed the tools, the consistency, the accuracy, the ability to move.

If they ask him to throw short, he's going to throw short.

Okay, well, now what's he wanting to do?

Okay, let's get the ball downfield and let's let the receivers get some of the option stuff going and make those decisions and build that cohesiveness.

So, I'm agreeing with both of you in this because it's like, yes, I would like to see this specifically more.

And I would also like to see Jaden Daniels play like this.

All right.

Those are the games we can't can't wait to watch.

And now, everyone, get on your life preservers because we're about to take a dip.

Jordan.

Whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa.

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

Just a creep.

Mike, it gets a little more disturbing every week, even though it's the same.

Somehow it gets worse.

Yes or no?

No, I don't mind it.

Like I said last week, it's a very, very, very, very shameless.

The best subplot of this whole thing is that Jordan is in a dark place, but like Mike is like kind of into it.

Like, it's, it's an interesting dichotomy there.

I have one technical question because I, you know, when I listen to it, and I feel like we were, I, the sound drop's been in my ear all year all week, but like, um, is he falling from like an extremely great height into specifically into the tub of gravy?

It sounds like he, he's kind of a long tumble there.

It's how you interpret it, and then however you interpret it like there'll be a lot to unpack uh with like your therapist next wednesday or there will be yeah i concur i concur i also have i've started setting my own boundary on this which is removing my headphones when dan gives me a really nice long runway to make sure that i know it's coming i know that the drop is coming and i take my headphones out and then i read everyone's facial expressions to figure out when it's safe for me to put my headphones back in.

So sometimes you have to create your own boundaries and

most times.

I'm going to Fangio your ass and I'm going to find a way to scheme it up so that you have to listen to it next week.

But you got me this week.

Congratulations.

All right, Justin, let's do it.

All right.

We'll start with Rams at Bears.

The Rams head to Chicago coming off one of the most impressive wins in the McVay era with all the injuries.

And what Matthew Stafford is doing behind an offensive line with the worst PFF pass blocking grade and the highest percentage of blown blocks per Sports Info Solutions is truly remarkable.

On the other side, this could be another big blow-up spot for Rome Adunze, who had his breakout game last week against Gus Bradley's predominantly cover three scheme, a coverage look the Rams run at the seventh highest rate.

What do you think, Jordan?

Yeah, you know what?

The big news this week for the Rams was there were no new injuries coming out of the game.

What a Sunday, the perfect Sunday.

I know.

That was a total first.

And particularly playing the 49ers, that was just absolutely wild.

I think that this offensive line featuring, again still a rookie at center and then a completely new player at left guard who only just made the what's happening.

You okay, Justin?

Justin, are you all right?

That would have been extremely full-bodied today.

Oh, I'm sorry.

I can't see you.

So I was like, oh no, am I worried about him?

We're just worried about it.

I feel like, in a way, I'm sort of insulting him.

Everyone's

going to wonder what you guys are reacting to.

I'm sort of insulting him by how much of a physical distaste I have for the drop.

So now I'm like, I'm not insulting you, Justin.

It's not you.

So now I worry about him and I kind of go overboard on the worry.

Anyway, so but I, this is, this offensive line is, is going to have to settle in a little bit.

This is going to be definitely.

Do not worry, though.

This is definitely going to be a week to try to run the ball more effectively than they've been.

They had the touchdown production, but to run the ball more effectively than they had because this Bears defense is built to stop the pass and they are very, very good at stopping the pass.

What does Matthew Stafford do best?

As we know,

this is going to be interesting for, like Justin alluded to, the Rams secondary is really up and down.

And a lot of that's coming from when quarterbacks are creating on the move and throwing on the move against the front.

They're having an issue containing that quarterback and dropping him on first contact.

So they are getting pressure at a 38.9% rate, seventh highest in the NFL right now.

But they only have four sacks.

So that's tied for third to last.

Sacks aren't everything, but this pressure has to be more effective because the DBs are having to cover for way too long against these moving quarterbacks.

And Caleb Williams can throw on the run like an unbelievable superhuman talent that he is.

So I think that that's going to be super significant in this game.

I really hope Caleb Williams is able to build off the end of that Colts game where they fell short, but they actually came to life a little bit in the passing game, which has been obviously woeful.

To that point, we shall see what's up next in the gravy boat.

Steelers at Colts.

Steelers favored by only one and a half points, despite Anthony Richardson having thrown at least one interception in all three games this season and quietly has kind of been one of the worst quarterbacks in the league.

He leads all quarterbacks in interceptions.

His passer rating is better than only Bryce Young.

And now he gets a Steelers defense that has not surrendered more than 10 points in a game this year and is allowing the lowest EPA per play of any defense.

This has all the makings of another low-scoring affair.

No Steelers game this season has finished with a total score over 30 points.

And note the over-under in this one is all the way up at 39.5.

Yeah, I'll start this one.

I am very nervous about the trajectory of Anthony Richardson so far and whether

is this an early season slump?

Is it a guy that is still very young and doesn't have a lot of experience?

We need to give him more grace.

And I think the Colts will give him that.

I don't think there should be any calls for him to to be benched.

But at the same time, like what we have seen so far, the stats look bad, but I think the tape matches the stats.

And there's a lot he has to clean up in terms of the passing game.

And even some of the rushes I sense, and you know, he had the injury issues last year.

There's the frustration with the passing game is leading into some wildly aggressive scrambling and putting the shoulder down and taking big hits.

And in general, I'm nervous about the Anthony Richardson experience in September 2024.

Yeah, I'm not as nervous.

Also, man, Mike Tomlin just is turning every game into a classic AFC North battle.

Even if they're not playing someone in the AFC North, it's just full-on smash-mouth ball.

I'm expecting Ed Reed to just pick off a pass every time I watch the Steelers play

this year.

But the thing about Anthony Richardson is, as you said, he's so young.

You know, like, I expected him to be this raw.

I expected him to have some really bad games.

I expected him to look like a combination of like Nathan Peterman and early Josh Allen, you know, with the turnovers and the recklessness.

And then some players were like, oh my God, this is outstanding.

And I expected that.

He didn't play that much ball in college, you know, as compared to someone like we were just talking about.

Jaden Daniels was in college so long he threw passes to Brandon Ayuk.

That's a long time to have played college ball versus Anthony, who maybe played with 13, 14 starts or something.

Yeah, but fair or unfair, Mike, like it's year two and he was the number four overall pick.

So like there's this, there's this like fine line to walk, right?

Where in the NFL, you get this look at the quarterbacks and two or three years is the look.

And we're in year two after year one was lost.

And you want to see the progress.

And I just haven't seen it yet this year.

And hopefully it comes.

That's all.

Yeah, well, also,

perhaps part of my grace for Anthony is what we're kind of seeing with the renaissance of like the castaway QB.

You know, with we've already seen Geno and Goff, but now like we're looking at Baker, we're looking at Sam Darnold.

You know, I don't necessarily throw Andy Dalton in there, but you can if you would like.

We're just seeing that sometimes it just takes time.

It does.

And if you're willing to give some of these guys some time, as long as they show some flashes, I think they'll be okay.

I like Pittsburgh in this game, though, as they're still figuring that out in Indy.

But I think Anthony Richardson long term is going to be just fine.

I mean, we got a Sam Darnold hive, and he's in, what, like, year seven?

So I'm

willing to give Anthony some time to figure it out.

He is like the polar opposite of a Bo Nicks who played like 7,000 college games.

And it's year two, but it's really just like week seven for Anthony Richardson.

And it's just a lot to mentally process.

He looks to me like he's struggling with that.

I worry about like with him and the Caleb Williams of the world, just like their post-game pressers, like Anthony Richardson was kind of quizzed about what was going on out there.

And it's like...

He's like, I don't, it's almost like I don't know.

Like, I just need more time to figure out how to function this offense.

If you're the Steelers, you got Kirk Cousins being taken out of bubble wrap in week one with a completely new offense.

You get Bo Nick still figuring out how the earth works that next week.

Then you have Justin Herberts totally banged up.

Now you get Anthony Richardson who's totally hot and cold.

Like, it is a Mike Tomlin fever dream because you want to win these close, tight games.

And it's like, it matters what sometimes you see these teams that go like 10 and 4, and then you look at the quarterbacks they played.

Like, Tomlin is the guy that can take advantage of that.

It is a factor that Alex Highsmith is not in there.

That is a really productive, underrated pass rusher.

But I just like the setup for Pittsburgh for the fourth week in a row.

And by the way, shout out to Justin Fields, who,

according to PFF, zero turnover-worthy plays in week three and is absolutely getting it.

He understands, and that's why Russell Wilson ain't sniffing the field.

The way he's playing right now is we have a badass defense and we can win these ugly games.

So I'm going to take, I'm smart.

I'll make the passes when they're there.

I'll take off and run when it makes sense.

I won't do stupid shit.

And as a result, he fits for this team.

And as long as I think he plays within himself like this and is in the Steelers mode and doesn't care that his numbers aren't going to be any good, Tomlin's going to roll with this dude, even if he's not announcing it formally.

Next.

Next game, Denver Broncos at New York Jets.

Has the game slowed down for Bonix, or will his week three performance end up being an outlier?

That's the big question in this game.

And we're going to see how the rookie deals with pressure in this one.

Because last week, he faced the lowest pressure rate he's seen of this young season and had his best game.

This week, he faces a Jets defense that has generated pressure at the second highest rate overall and the highest rate of any team when blitzing.

So, can the Jets roll to three straight wins?

Sestog, I know you were amped up watching the Broncos on the game tape.

I thought it was a big step forward because it felt like their season was on the brink.

I don't like the matchup against the Jets.

To Justin's point,

without Hassan Reddick, who has decided he's just going to allow, you know, $9 million go by the wayside this season, they are pressuring the passer.

They're making life very difficult.

And the most encouraging,

you know, Patrick Sortan totally took Mike Evans out of the game last week.

So I want to see how that works against like Garrett Wilson.

But if Wilson gets going, the most encouraging thing in the AFC East from a week ago was Aaron Rodgers looking the way he did.

I mean, it is to me different than the Kirk Cousins

experience at all in terms of his mobility and just him moving around.

I'm encouraged about the Jets.

And I think like it's kind of, for me, Dan, it just boils down to simplicity with the New York Jets experience.

Like, stack wins.

Don't be Nathaniel Hackett losing to Denver

at this point in the season.

Just take Denver and throw him out the window like a ragdoll.

Stack wins and stay alive in the AFC East.

Yeah, I think that Rodgers performance against the Patriots was probably the Jets, the best Jets quarterback game I've seen since pre-injury Chad Pennington when he was playing at a very high level.

Maybe a couple fav games in that mix.

Maybe Vinny in 98 when he was on a heater.

But overall, it was shocking to see a quarterback dominate play the way Rodgers did.

And along those lines, and Jordan, I'd love your feelings on this.

I want to play a little Rodgers tape because the only thing that I'm nervous about is the Jets fan.

I'm noivous that this is a team led by a coaching staff that does not handle the idea of success too well.

Sometimes I feel like they get a little too high.

and don't keep perspective.

And we just embarrassed Robert Kraft and the Patriots in our building and then got a long week to celebrate it and it's like please Jets to your point Mark please Jets show up and take care of business against the Broncos team that you should beat at home here's Rodgers along those lines I go back to this quote a lot but Mike McCarthy said our biggest uh our biggest struggle is going to be handling success back in in 2006 in green bay and there's a lot to that i think you know when it's easier when you're kind of getting kicked in the teeth to to kind of come together it's us against the world it's us against the the big, bad media who's saying how bad we are.

You know, we can kind of come together, but can you still come together and have the same approach when everybody's kind of starting to sing your praises a little bit?

I think that's the mark of a great team is can you handle the success part with the same focus, the same mentality, the same mindset, the same energy when you're starting to get on a little bit of a roll.

You didn't call the media great.

That's true.

That's a great point, Mark.

You do a great job making a great point.

So what I think was really, really funny is that, so I was talking to a coach the other day about how really high-level players and coaches, and especially once they're starting to click as a full ecosystem, it's this

really creative approach to building adversity if you feel that you need adversity to play through.

And to your point, Dan, I don't think that this team, I mean, my God, they've had their fair share of adversity.

Like, exhale for a second, right?

But there's always that thing in the back of your head.

And you see some of the all-time incredible competitors that walking this planet who have built those sort of demons in their mind or like, you know, Sean McVay jokes all the time that maybe they should punch Matthew Stafford in the stomach before games because he's always better when he has something to work through.

You know, these, these types of things, that's a very real phenomenon in this sport.

So I actually love Betty.

Just came out and said it because he's one of the biggest people that does that.

Like, I don't have anything to worry about.

So I'm going to create a worry and then step over it.

Like, because the act of stepping over that worry, even if it's real or not real, is the point.

And so, I just think that's a fascinating psychological phenomenon.

And I'll use a great documentary.

They did a great job over there at HBO with the documentary about the Sopranos and David Chase and James Gandalfini, who played Tony Soprano, brilliant actor, tortured guy, rest in peace.

He would, to get in the Tony Soprano mindset, because he very much wasn't a Tony Soprano type.

This is a guy that wore Birkenstocks and

listened to classic rock.

He would put a rock in his shoe and just walk around with it all day to get himself pissed off.

I want the Jets to stay pissed off and stay in the vibe that they are the laughing stock of the league and everyone thinks this is going to fail.

And that's why the microcosm moment of as much as they played it off, Rodgers pushing away Salah, who was trying to give him a big celebration hug when they were up 14-0 in the second quarter.

It's exactly, I don't agree with everything Aaron Rodgers does, but there are some things that I do agree with, and that is exactly what he needed to do because it's the head coach.

That's part of the problem with that organization sometimes buying into the hype.

See, last summer.

Next.

Real quick, before we move on to the next, O-Nix did play really well last week, but it's sort of the same thing you said about Jaden Daniels, Dan, which is like, let's see it again.

Let's see some consistency.

Yeah, not this week, Dan doesn't want to see it this week, though.

Bengals at Panthers.

Andy Dalton faces the Bengals for the fourth time since he left Cincinnati five seasons ago.

It's a big revenge week.

Anybody tracking that?

We got a lot of revenge all over the place.

There it is.

Aaron Jones, Cliff Kingsbury, Andy Dalton.

So was last week a mirage for the Panthers against what's just a bad Raiders team?

Or are Cincinnati's defensive woes a major concern?

Or was that just a blip last week against a talented QB, rookie QB, and Jaden Daniels?

All these questions and more will be answered by Sunday evening.

Fun fact for you.

Chuba Hubbard has generated positive rushing yards over expected at the highest rate in the league.

I bet you wouldn't have guessed he is that guy.

Did you guess that, Michael, Sean, Dugar?

He's sitting on the bench in my fantasy league where the buy-in is $175.

So,

yeah, perhaps I should have been more aware of that.

Also, I just...

Let's talk more about your fantasy team.

Nah, it's okay.

I mean, I'm good in that league, but I'm good in that league, Dan.

You'll like this.

I have Garrett Wilson and Brees Hall.

So that's part of why i've been successful in that league nobody wanted to touch any jets players and i was like oh yeah sign me up for that i believe i believe in aaron rodgers uh also to uh to sean mcve's joke that jordan mentioned i just imagine tyrod taylor shuddering at the fact of the team doing something to you to inflict pain before a game poor guy

uh in this one though bengals at cardinal bengals at carolina I love the Bengals here.

I think the clock strikes midnight on the backup QB experience we see around the the league.

Shout out to my homie DJ Bienemi, covers the Texans for ESPN.

We have this like backup quarterback rule where if the backup quarterback comes in, go ahead and take them to cover.

You know, it's not foolproof as the Dolphins just showed us last week, but it stands the test of time.

It's also for my real degenerate gamblers.

That works when the star player is out in the NBA as well.

So go ahead and keep that in mind.

Sixers fans will know that.

They always cover without and beat, at least in that first game.

So yeah, I think the Bengals just handled the Panthers this week.

We're like spamming the money mic picks this week.

Like, we're gonna hit on a couple of things.

I'm on it.

I'm on it this week.

I feel good about it.

I feel good about the Bengals.

I think their offense is great.

You know, I saw some criticisms of Joe Burrow the next day after they had lost, and I was like, What the hell game did you guys watch?

Like, I know there were two games on, so maybe everyone

was like, Yo, that's speaking of my fantasy team as a Zach Moss fantasy owner.

I was like, Yo, this offense looks great.

Got T.

Higgins back.

I think they'll be fine.

I don't believe believe in the Panthers defense.

I think Joel looks great.

I think all looks good.

In Cincinnati, after this week, pressure comes off of their head coach's back, and they bounce back in a big way in Carolina.

I have a concern, though, because you're right.

Like, the idea that they lost to Washington, so it's like everything's the problem.

Like, Burrow and the offense and Jamar Chase, like, they got it going.

Like, they scored on all but one drive.

So, that wasn't the issue.

But they rank like 30th in EPA per play on defense.

Outside of Trey Hendrickson, who is a phenomenal phenomenal player, they're getting very little pass rush.

So I do see a window.

If last week was a sign of what this Carolina Panthers roster really can be with your veterans, you lost Adam Thielen.

That's not great.

But in general, like, can they move the ball and score points?

I think you can against Cincinnati.

I think that's going to be the case for the Bengals and a hump for them to get it over all year long.

I'm personally thrilled that this Panthers team is no longer even

pretending to pretend that Thielen is their number one receiver, whether by necessity of him being out or also the fact that we saw with our own eyes what Andy Dalton and Deontay Johnson can do.

I think what hasn't been fluky with this Panthers team that we've rightfully criticized for a lot of things this year so far,

but the offensive line has been playing well since the start.

Some issues at left tackle, those are very clear, not just with 11 pressures allowed, but also all over the tape.

But the interior, and this is like Andy Dalton's music here.

This interior offensive line is singing to him right now, and they've only allowed allowed seven pressures all season.

They overhauled this group to try to help Bryce Young.

This is also going to help Andy Dalton.

I still think that Cincinnati plays like a rage game.

Like, this isn't just like a back against the wall game.

I think it's like a rage game.

I mean, Joe Burrows' press conference,

he seems to me, I don't know him, but he seems to me like one of those people.

If you are so mad, like so deeply angry, to a certain point, you just get like spookily quiet.

You just shut down.

This happens to me.

I very rarely do get angry.

I'm a smiley person, as you guys know.

But if something pushes me that far, I kind of felt that in Joe Burrow where it was like, I am going to go full psychotic if anyone speaks to me.

Oh, we got to get Jordan to that place before the end of this.

I think if anyone could, you might be able to, Dan.

I feel like you're starting to learn which buttons to push here.

By the way, you mentioned Andy Dalton music.

I can only imagine he listens to the most Jesus-y of Jesus Christian rock, and I can't even imagine what it sounds like.

And one other point, Money Mike Dugar,

I'm sorry to say, but when you reference your fantasy team twice in one monologue,

you got to incur the sting penalty.

I'm sorry, hit it, Justin.

I love Sting.

I love Sting.

Oh, man.

I may never talk about

that.

Stingley again on this show.

I'm always going to refer to him as Derek Stingley Jr.

from now on.

All right.

Nice origin story.

All right, next.

All right, next game.

Jacksonville at Houston.

Okay, bear with me on this one.

In the words of Irish singer-songwriter Dermott Kennedy, the city burns in the distance.

I'm alone and I listen.

When we return to our rhythm, will we have grown in our wisdom?

I believe this was written about Duval County and more specifically the Jacksonville Jaguars Organization circa September 2024.

In all seriousness, the Jags are in a dark place.

So, in all non-seriousness, naturally, this will be the game where they come out on the road and surprise us all by beating a more talented Texans team in convincing fashion, no less, forcing us all to reevaluate our opinions of football and life itself.

All right.

Okay.

This is interesting.

This is interesting.

Mark, so this is, you mentioned, Mike, that the backup QB bump.

We, on the old show, used to call it the Basatia bump for the interim head coach

who does some business when he takes over.

There's also, this isn't a bump, but this is like the,

what is it when there's a body that's dead, but it moves.

What do they call that?

Unpredictable?

That, yes, that's what I was looking for, Mark.

But it was like, you know, rigor mortis is set in, but there's a little like twitching going on.

Like, I don't imagine the Jaguars are this bad.

So like, if there was ever a circle of the wagons moment, it's in this game to perceive, preserve some sense of dignity and stay on the radar on some level, or the whole thing craters.

It could go either way, honestly.

I have no vibe on where they're coming from right now.

They're tough to get a read on.

They just seem lost to me.

I don't like when your so-called star players aren't showing up in games.

And, you know, Josh Allen changes his name to Josh Hines-Allen.

I get potentially why he did that, his choice, but he's vanished.

He's completely vanished.

He was an impactful star defender in this division, like

last couple of years.

So he's gone.

And Trevor Lawrence, I read this on the athletic, and this kind of threw me because it's not just about quarterback wins.

I'm not going down the road, but he joined Jim Plunkett as the only other quarterback drafted number one overall to have multiple losing streaks of eight or more games in their career.

Multiple.

Like this team under Doug Peterson has had a tendency to just completely fall off the table.

And I know that last year there were injuries with Lawrence and stuff, but he looks to me like a completely different player.

If we were saying, you know, we need patience with Anthony Richardson and patience with Caleb and all these guys, we do.

But Trevor Lawrence is at a point where I'm like, you've played a lot of football, and you are not looking like the player that I knew a couple years ago.

At the end of two seasons ago,

he looked like a top five specimen, and it's not the case right now.

So you can go beat Houston, maybe, but I don't really see a very clear roadmap except for the fact that the league is completely unpredictable.

Yeah, it's interesting that Houston is too well-rounded and deep in so many positions and too, like, it was so animalic what happened to them last week.

And of course, there's a Flores factor and those types of things, but they're just too good of a football team and too well coached.

And

there's a very little

normal world.

There's very small chance in a normal world that they drop this game,

which is why we're spending a lot of time talking about Jacksonville, because Jacksonville is on the precipice of probably some major change.

I mean, you're starting to get some of the like league insiders doing appearances at different channels that are floating colleagues of yours who and like cherished coworkers and probably close personal friends, a

group text member,

best friends

to potentially be coming in as a fit to take over.

I mean, this, like, and Connor's alluding to it, and I know Connor and I talked to some of the same people in coaching circles, and they're alluding to it.

And it's just like, this is a thing where this is a league full of people who believe that they can be the next person to fix the superstar or the potential superstar quarterback they are going to be the ones who come in and do the thing it's a league of very few people who actually can do that but it's one of these jobs where the buzzards and the vultures will start circling immediately and the walls start closing in and everybody in an organization that that is happening to feels that i also think that that's probably part of the reason why the Panthers made the decision that they did as quickly as they did, because once you start feeling that outside pressure creeping into a building, you have to make some significant changes.

This Jacksonville team does not look like they're even prepared to pivot in any sort of way.

Yeah,

that's definitely fair.

By the way, is anyone intellectually curious about post-mortem movement?

Because I have some data.

Yeah, I mean, well, certainly.

All right, so I was right about rigor mortis, which is when after death, the body's muscles muscles stiffen due to

lack of oxygen.

The state of muscle stiffening creates movement.

But then there's the other one.

And listen, man, we're all humans.

We're just bodies, right?

Decomposition.

And the body will move after death, drying ligaments.

As the body mummifies, the ligaments dry out.

Also, maggots and other critters, fly and beetle larvae can move smaller parts of the body during certain stages of decomp.

And finally, bloating.

As gases from the intestines are no longer contained, bloating can occur, which could also contribute to movement.

That happens in live life too, by the way.

Most of those things.

But when we're alive,

it's not as yeah, hopefully not the maggots.

No, the bloating.

The bloating happens in live.

Release of gas as well.

Not me, but you know.

Okay, I got you.

The more you know about the human body.

What's next, Justin?

All right, Niners, or sorry, Patriots at Niners.

San Francisco looking to bounce back against a reeling Patriot squad that looked surprisingly good in the first two weeks, which made their performance in week three surprisingly bad.

The Niners will again be without Christian McCaffrey and Debo Samuel, but they should get George Kittle back this week.

New England, seventh worst defense by DVOA this season.

San Francisco, seventh best offense by DVOA this season.

The largest point spread of the week is San Fran minus 10.

Yes, CMC in Germany trying to get things figured out.

Hold off on the German national anthem.

Justin, Mike, your thoughts?

uh yeah i think this is a this is a dangerous line to play with this is just screams backdoor cover uh of some sort uh 10 points or 10 points or more spreads they scare me a little bit but i do love the the niners in this you know i've watched new england up close that is not a very good team their skill players are just god awful uh it's really really bad i do like their running back tough cat but i mean you just can't can't live like that i i i would expect drake may to play play again at some point even if they start Jacoby just because I could see it kind of getting out of out of hand early.

I think the Niners will be fine, you know, I think it's better that they're dealing with some of these injuries early on because we expect them to play late into the season.

So if you're going to have to send Christian McCaffrey to Germany, you know, just do it now, you know, early in the season.

You know, going to Germany is usually not great, you know, for any injury.

But like I said, do it early.

If you're going to lose Debo, lose him early.

You're going to lose George, lose him early.

You're going to need all those guys in December and January.

I like Kyle Shanahan to just dial up some stuff to just absolutely flummox Gerard Mayo and his group on defense.

Yeah, and the over-under on this is surprisingly low, too, because I think the Niners are going to put up a ton of points.

Sestogly, 40 and a half.

Yeah, so I like the Niners.

Sestog, let's give some flowers along those lines of why you might want to bang me over.

Like, your boy Brock Purdy totally lost in the collapse in the fourth quarter.

Played one of the best games I've seen him play in the regular season.

Juwan Jettings, obviously, was the big star, but to be shorthanded and to ball out the way Purdy did, that answers questions from critics like me that are like, well, he has this incredible setup.

Well, even if you took away some key pieces, that guy was balling out on Sunday.

Yeah, I thought he was properly credited in the week since.

I've seen people note that game, and they've got to be furious about how that whole thing went down.

It is, you do see the...

The factor here with losing these people on your offense because it's unusual for the Niners to be this way, but they've really struggled to get separation, to get their wideouts to get separation.

There's a number out there, the Purdiest targeted open receivers on just 32.4 of his targets, which is a career low.

Their separation is the lowest it's ever been in the next-gen stats era.

So some of the, you know, it is Shanahan, it is the system, but when you're missing all these star players,

it really does add up and it leads to tight losses like last week.

And I know that Jordan Mason is not Christian McCaffrey, and I have a little bit of concern, like, do we even see Christian McCaffrey like this year or before like December?

I think there's lingering or growing concerns about that.

But Jordan Mason Mason Germany has got to be

doubt right now.

It's a choose your own adventure and it may not end well.

But Jordan Mason leads the league in like rushing yards after contact.

He's been great and he's just another example.

Going back to like Mike Shanahan is like, you could plug like the most undrafted from the distance runner in there and he's productive in this offense.

So I'm with Mike.

I think that they find a way to get this thing done.

The Patriots...

Better.

Look, they're battling, but the Patriots are still deficient in multiple areas.

Next.

Browns at Raiders.

Ugh, this game.

All right, there are some interesting storylines, and mainly that's the how long will these quarterbacks continue to be.

This is going to get on Sessler's shit list with setups like that.

I mean, be careful, bud.

Antonio Pierce hinted at a possible quarterback change earlier in the week, but it seems like Gardner Minshew will get at least one more chance to lead lead the Vegas offense.

The Browns, on the other hand, have not hinted at any quarterback change, though, and I hope I am not speaking out of turn here, Dan, it is the official position of the Heed the Call podcast that Deshaun Watson should be benched as soon as humanly possible for the sake of Browns fans and, you know, just like decent human beings everywhere.

Not an overstep there, Justin.

We talked about it on Wednesday's show with Connor Orr, Mark,

but we're probably not going to see it.

How bad would it have to get, you think, for Stefanski to actually make make the move to Jameis Winston, who's a backup that's better than many?

Well,

I think we're already there in terms of the play.

It's not a great situation for any quarterback.

Their offensive line is really banged up.

Wyatt Teller, who's been like an absolute stud at guard, is on IR.

They've got a rookie playing in his place.

You've got Miles Garrett dealing with an Achilles foot and thigh injuries.

David Ojoku is still dealing with an ankle.

You're down to potentially your third running back, fourth if you count Nick Chubb out of the situation.

So you can put Jameis in.

I don't think it's going to be a much better environment for him.

But in terms of when and how, like, I fully agree, and I have a prediction around this later, that you've got to experiment and move on with different quarterbacks here for Cleveland.

I just don't know if Stefanski has the in-house power to do it.

I know when we've talked about it, we said, just go do it and ask for acceptance later.

I don't know if that's how it works in Cleveland.

This isn't Shanahan.

I'm not sure where he is in the pecking order of being able to go do that with any sense of autonomy.

Yeah, listen,

the coach and the GM and the people, they know ball.

They know what bad, bad, bad football looks like.

So you might be onto something there, Mark, because you have to be like gouging, having already gouged your eyes out weeks ago in order to not actually see how bad this football is.

And when teams play that bad of a football,

if it's up to the coach and it's up to the GM, there are changes.

So

you might be onto something with that.

I do want to say also,

one thing I love about Connor Orr among many qualities, he has a great voice and it sounds awesome on this show.

And listening to him rant about suggestions that Kevin Stefancy could do to kind of force his way out of the situation creatively,

I was stuck in traffic for two hours yesterday and it made the ride home very enjoyable.

So thank you, Connor.

That's what Connor does.

And that's why he's a mainstay on uh heed the call

one last thing this is totally unfounded i am um obviously an insider of a high level uh but this is not triple source it's just a theory about the antonio pierce gardner minshew thing i don't think anti

i don't think antonio pierce likes gardner minshew i don't think he likes the cut of his jib i don't think he likes the way he carries himself just a theory that they they don't they don't connect and maybe he wants a different guy running his team just just an just an energy check.

All right, next.

All right, two more.

Chiefs at Chargers.

Now, Justin Herbert said earlier this week that he feels better now than he did at the same time last week, but the Chargers likely will be cautious here because they will be without their starting tackles, both of them in this game.

And it is an important divisional matchup.

Maybe we'll see about Herbert's status later in the week, but definitely a scary one.

The Chiefs are off to their fourth 3-0 start in the Mahomes era.

Every other season they started 3-0.

They made it to 4-0.

Hey, Mike, isn't it annoying?

I mean, I can't even imagine what it's like for Chargers fans because I think they do exist that it's happened again.

Like, all their best players are hurt.

In fact, if you look at their roster right now, and I know that we might see, we might see Herbert, but like their tackle, their best pass rusher, their quarterback.

Who else am I missing?

Their rookie, Phenom Tackle, Herbert, Alt Bosa, Rashawn Slater.

I mean, enough.

It's every year with these with these guys.

Yeah, I feel like the

Ravens sometimes, the Niners, and the Chargers.

I feel like those are teams were consistently questioning their strength and conditioning department.

They just have guys,

it feels like they never have one or two injuries.

It's like, oh my God, everyone.

You know, I think the Niners had someone get a concussion during a walkthrough.

I've never heard of that in my life.

This was a few years ago.

I think it was a lineman, if I remember.

You fall into the gravy boat?

What happened?

Yeah, no, that's also, by the way, all those things you described about what happens to a body when it drops sounds exactly like what's happening to the fella who falls into the gravy boat.

Oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, come on.

I almost got her.

She pulled the headphone out.

Wow, so close.

That was good.

Even though I waited for her to put the headphone back in before I hit it.

Damn it.

All right.

For what it's worth, though, I do like, if Herbert plays, I do like the Chargers plus seven and a half in this.

I actually think the Chiefs' offense looks really fine to me.

I know there's, I was watching some like talking heads this week that were kind of concerned about the Chiefs' offense.

The numbers are good.

I think the film looks fine, unless you're just really concerned about Travis Kelsey.

But, you know, sometimes old people just got to coast through the things that don't matter as much.

And Travis is old.

So he's got to do that.

It's early in the season.

By January, December, I think he'll be killed.

What's bad for fantasy owners isn't necessarily bad bad for the Chiefs.

I would like to see, honestly, like that element of the Casey offense that was hinted at in week one and the explosiveness with Xavier Worthy and Andy Reid scheming up ways to beat the defenses that are putting everybody in a rectangle.

What else have we got?

All right, once again, the fake primetime game has fallen to the very bottom of the gravy boat.

I wish no one would watch this game because it's Titans at Dolphins.

The last time the Titans headed to Miami on Monday Night Football, on real Monday night football, though, was week 14 last season.

The Titans scored 15 points in 51 seconds to erase a 14-point deficit and stun Miami, winning 28-27.

Now, the Dolphins have not announced who will start at quarterback this week.

All signs are pointing to Snoop Huntley.

So can the Titans, can Will Levis avoid a backbreaking turnover and just go beat a backup quarterback, get Brian Callahan his first win?

Probably not, but I hope so.

Mark, I mean, come on.

If it doesn't happen here for the Titans, we might be down a producer next week.

Yeah, it could get dangerous and scary on that front.

You know, when I look at what happened to Miami, it's the example of

a quarterbackless offense completely falling apart.

Like, they hung around against Seattle, but everything that has made them special under Mike McDaniel,

it makes you appreciate Tua a little bit more than I have historically.

I do wonder, though,

in this situation, you have no Teron Armstead.

And even when you had Tua, the splits,

he might play.

He's got a concussion, but that's not a great situation.

Like, when he's not been in the lineup in the world of Tua,

it's been a much more dangerous situation for Tua.

So I don't like any backup quarterback having to deal with this.

But this game, to me, it's like, why are we, like, first of all, if you want to put two games on, make this second B game like one that we could have flexed out and just like, get this off my TV screen.

Sorry, Justin.

Jordan, like, yeah, like, is is it fair?

If this continues and the Dolphins no-show on offense again, as we sing the praises of Mike LaFleur for making the most of the scheme, even though the quarterback's not who he wishes on the field, like,

you still have Tyreek Hill and Devon Achan and Waddle, and you have weapons on that field.

They shouldn't completely vaporize just because Tua.

Yeah, I do think, though,

you know, and I've talked to you guys about this before, just how significant some of the elements of this offense, the timing, the cadences the snap counts the motion orchestration all of these little tiny things that are so based on that quarterback uh executing them and practicing them to get that timing down with the receivers that that's one of the critical elements of this of this offense that's why they paid him what they did um so i can understand why it looks so bad right now and also with the the offensive line issues however this is where you if you're mike mcdaniel you start to you do try to prove kind of what you're made of a little bit okay this offense doesn't work, let's build a new one.

You saw this though, that coaches sometimes have to go through this.

I like, I don't like injuries, but I like when coaches do have to go through this type of adversity, and it's a sink or swim situation.

And how are you going to sort of like build Lego bricks together

your way out of it?

And that's what you're going to have to ask Mike McDaniel to do.

I have usually lines and lines and lines of notes for every game because I really like to prepare, as you know, it's kind of annoying.

But

on this one, all I have written down is three words what a mess yeah that's that's fitting and good luck to you Justin let's take a break and we'll wrap things up with some fearless predictions

Heed the Call with Dan Hansis and Mark Sessler is on underdog.

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audience only.

All right.

Okay, let's wrap things up.

The week four preview, as we always do, our fearless prediction, the winner at the end of the season with the most fearless predictions gets a big old trophy.

Come to think of it, we got to kick up a tiebreaker in case there's two two or more people with the same score.

But anyway,

let's check out how we did in week three.

All right, I'll start with a Zuzzer.

Third straight week with more 100-yard rushers than 300-yard passers.

Bang!

Give me a ding because I added it up.

I tabulated it late last night before I went to bed, and it was six 100-yard rushers.

Five 300-yard passers, or was it 7-6?

One or the other, Justin.

Either way.

No, 6'5, you're right.

6-5.

Give me the W.

I'm 2-1 on the season.

Also 2-1 on the season.

Oh, money Mike wants it.

He wants the showdown with the tugboat.

We get a 375-yard passer this week.

We did get one from who, Mike?

Dak Prescott.

Yeah,

a little back door to 375 for Dakino.

379, I think he hit four yards over.

Love Dak.

Shout out to him.

Wow.

In a game where I think they had like three points entering the fourth quarter, that says a lot about that Cowboys Cowboys offense, to be honest with you.

Jordan Rodrigue, oof, we are now in

Tytoonville right now for everyone else in this competition.

0-3 is across the board.

Anthony Richardson runs for two touchdowns, throws two interceptions as Colts beat Bears.

You got half of it.

Yay, half.

Gravedigger, we will witness at least two 60-plus-yard field goals in week three.

Did we get one?

Also half, yes.

Brandon Aubrey came through, but no one else.

Chris Boswell Boswell had a chance and he missed one.

Oh, he stuck it to the gravedagger.

And Sest Dog just has been unserious in many of these competitions.

And once again, playing to type 0-3, one shining signal caller will throw for 450 in a majestic week three.

I guess Dak was the highest.

Yeah, possibly.

I believe every word of what I'm saying, obviously.

All right, Mark.

Good.

input on that.

That wasn't even me from today, but

I like to

cook these up.

I really believed that was going to happen.

So I don't like the suggestion that I'm throwing the fight here.

All right.

Nobody wants to go 0-4,

as we know.

Just ask the Bengals, Titans, and Jags.

So let's make our week four predictions and then get the hell out of here so Jordan and Mike can get to team facilities.

I will go first.

I think after week four,

one of the entrenched starting quarterbacks will lose their job for performance-based reasons.

Of course, it has to be within the parameters of our conversation point.

So this new, this announcement needs to come obviously before next Thursday show.

But someone loses a job.

And I'm looking at, I'd like to say like Trevor Lawrence, but no, he's safe.

And Deshaun Watson, he's probably safe.

But yeah, I'm looking at you, Will Levis.

I'm certainly looking at you, Gardner Minchu.

I think your head coach secretly hates you.

And somebody loses their job.

Who's next?

Well, complication for you on the Levis front is that the Titans buy us next week.

So they may bench Levis, but

you may not get the announcement by next Thursday.

Hey, that's why it's fearless.

I knew that.

I baked that in.

Really?

You're going to tell him?

Really?

No, I take it.

I think Will Levis is going to do something so staggeringly stupid that Callahan is going to announce that he's benched even before the bye week.

He's going to step out of the typical tropes of a head coach benching scenario.

Mark, you're up.

Mine is in a similar world to yours, so I'll jump on this one.

Again, I truly believe this is going to happen because I think we're getting to a point where it is.

I believe every word of what I'm saying.

By the way, Mark, you don't have to qualify that you truly believe this is going to happen.

This is the fearless prediction segment.

Well, because I think it could be conflated with the idea that I want it to happen.

I believe that the Browns are going to bench Deshaun Watson

in game or after game.

I think it's going to come.

I want to say for my prediction, it's going to be by next game.

Like it's going to happen in a similar fashion to what you described.

I tend to think

that's my prediction.

My other feeling is it could happen in-game.

I really think so.

I'll give you both.

Are we comfortable giving Mark either?

Either benchmark is

in-game or benched.

He will be benched.

He will not be the starter

after this week.

And if it happens at the end of the fourth quarter or something, so be it.

But like, I just think it's, I just think we're there.

I think we're there.

And, you know, I don't know.

I think we're there.

I don't know about the Browns.

Well, that's the question.

We don't know how they operate, but I'm sticking to it.

Jordan Rodrigue.

Let's try this again.

I believe my fearless prediction, that is full of fear, actually, by nature, there will still be two winless teams and still two undefeated teams after this week.

Again, the winless teams are,

as it stands now, the Bengals, Titans, and the Jags.

The undefeated teams, as it stands right now, are the Chiefs, Spills, Seahawks, Vikings, and Steelers.

Both have to occur.

I understand this.

So exactly two undefeated teams.

It's been my demise in the past.

So

there can only be two undefeated teams left.

There will at least be two

teams.

Okay, that's important.

So it could be more than two.

But there will be at least two winless teams as well.

Okay.

Mike?

Yeah, Dan, I think Jacoby Brissette could get your prediction.

That's the other one.

Thank you.

Thank you.

I was thinking

around it as well.

Also, to clarify, Mark, before we go, so let's say Deshaun gets benched in-game, but then the fansky is like, he's still our guy.

How are we rolling with that?

Yeah, I was trying to get that clarified.

What do you guys think?

I was saying we'll give you either, Mark.

I want you to get on the board here.

I'm fine with either.

That's really nice of you to do that.

That is nice of you.

But I think if either of those happen, that is a seismic event in Cleveland.

So

thank you for giving me both options.

but I will take that.

Yeah, I'm cool with either one for what it's worth.

Mike?

I don't think either one will happen for what it's worth, but you know, just wanted to help Mark.

It's fearless.

I think, Mark, for the reasons you mentioned, I don't think Stefanski has full autonomy to do such a thing.

It's not even really his fault.

My prediction is that we'll get two tight ends to go for 100-yards receiving.

in week four.

I believe it's only happened three times total so far this season, but I see some advantageous matches, advantageous matchups this week.

I think Travis Kelsey is an option.

Isaiah Likely, who's already done it, is an option.

And if Jalen Hurts is forced to only throw to Dallas Goddard at this point, he could do it as well this week.

I think he did it last week.

There was one more, but I can't remember.

Oh, Brock Bowers.

I think Brock Bowers

is a candidate.

He's come close, I think, already.

Tough year for the tight end.

Do the Ravens like Mark Andrews anymore?

What happened with that?

They just think Isaiah Likely is better, which I agree.

So, yeah, I think we're going to get two tight ends go for 100 yards.

All right.

Justin, I didn't forget about you this week.

You're up.

Close it.

All right.

My prediction is: so, this has been the lowest scoring season of football since 2006, and the NFL teams are averaging just 21.2 points per game this season, the lowest average since 2006.

Overs have hit in just 20 of 48 games.

My prediction: this is the highest scoring week of the season.

And to quantify that, at least 10 of the 16 games this week, including Thursday Night Football, will go over the point total.

Ooh,

10 of 16 hit the over.

Okay.

That's more than half.

And right now we're well under half the games have hit.

All right.

That's a good one.

Fun.

That'll be a good thing to track on Sunday, Monday, and Thursday.

All right.

Thank you to everybody

for watching and listening.

Thank you, of course, to Jordan and Mike for their invaluable.

You guys are great.

What you give us every week in terms of the preview.

Remember, we'll be back tonight to recap TNF.

Also, we are going to do our draft SESDOG on Friday morning, which you can check out on patreon.com slash heed the call, where we draft the games that we will be covering on Sunday.

Make sure you check that out.

And of course, come on back Sunday night for the flagship program with Connor Orr, Sess Dog, the Gravedigger, and old Daddy Rich.

All right, till next time, Heed the Call.

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