NFL Week 3 RECAP!

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The Heed the Call podcast

gets noimous during Mike Zimmer's sideline shots.

Man, yes.

That Zimmer, he's got that, you know, the mean dad energy.

Just makes you uncomfortable.

Like, you you don't want to go over that buddy's house because you can just feel his eyes.

Welcome to Heat the Call

with Dan Hansis and Mark Sessler.

The week three flagship program where we recap every game played on Sunday and we cannot do it alone, Mark, joining us, of course, the great Connor Orr, our producer, Justin Graver, and Mark.

Man, Mark, you know, this is

always a tough league to figure out.

I feel a little bit more clueless than usual

as we record this show in week three.

It just seems like it's a hard

football league to figure out right now.

There was that idiotic film that came out, I think, in the early aughts, called River Wild, which I believe Meryl Streep is in and others.

But the gist of the movie.

Kevin Bacon plays the heavy in that, yeah.

Yeah, the gist of the movie is, you get it, they're in a raft going down a river back and forth, and people fall out, and they don't wind up where they thought they would.

That's sort of how I treat these Sundays because the idea that, like, first of all, we make predictions on our, you know, on our Thursday show.

Those have gone completely south for me.

I've completely given up on any sort of foreseeable knowledge or prophecy when it comes to football at this point.

So you just sort of sit on that raft with Meryl Streep and see what happens.

I don't know if you actually saw the movie, Mark.

I didn't see it.

I just, you know,

I thought I kind of knew what it was about.

Connor, how are you doing?

You've covered covered the league for a long time now.

What is your confidence level in terms of knowing what the hell is going on?

One to 10?

Absolutely zero.

And it's the worst because when you have sort of like a high-profile exercise in which you predict every game of the season every week, it's just people being like, What a dumbass you are.

And then it, and then it compounds, and then it compounds again.

And then just you just become a bigger dumbass the further along you go.

So it's great.

And famously, Tampa Bay general manager Jason Light came after you last year.

Did that, is there part of you that's like, maybe I got to move off this exercise?

Or does it bring enough notoriety where it's just good for the brand, even if you do tend to come off, not my words, but maybe from the outside as a towering dumbass occasionally.

I keep doing it because I'm just going to say this.

I can't be like everybody else and do, there's one program in particular that I'm referring to, but that basically the entire crux of their NFL show is like, you know who no one's talking about?

The Raiders.

Like, they might be good this year.

And then, like, they'll just clip the 12 teams that they say are good.

And then the other 25 teams that are hot garbage just get forgotten about when they do whole episodes about, oh, secretly, like, this coach is a genius.

And, like, really, they're just, no, you just said, you said every team is good.

And don't, and don't worry, Justin.

The whole idea of the flagship program is that it's like the old inside the NFL.

We talk about every team.

So Connor mentioned hot garbage, made me think of your Titans.

We're going to get to everything.

Sorry, man.

You okay, bud?

I know it's been a long day.

It rolls right off.

No,

it has been a long day because I drove back from Vegas at 2 o'clock in the morning

this morning.

But

football-wise.

You know what?

There's a lot of good football to watch.

I thoroughly enjoyed Cardinals, Lions.

I even enjoyed Raiders, Panthers, which I had to cover as well.

That was like a fun

watch.

So, whatever.

You can tell Justin is not in a good place.

I mean, I just don't buy a word.

We don't need to fill.

We don't need to fill.

But I will say that the Titans being winless, it does seem like that Titans helmet is spinning just a little slower behind Justin today.

That's fair.

The Texas Longhorns are the number one team in the country, and they won 52-3.

No.

So 51-3.

So here's where I'm at.

The Titans may suck, but at least one of my football teams is really, really good.

So I'm okay with how bad the Titans are.

Mark, do you have any follow-up thoughts to that?

I don't know.

I think that's probably just an incredible bomb to the listening audience to know that that's something in the football world is going well for you.

I don't know what to trust you're saying at this point.

You seem to be psychologically

protecting yourself, and I understand.

All right, let's

get going without further ado.

A lot to get to.

Let's start Connor Orr

in

speaking of Texas, Arlington, I believe it is, or that area, the general area around Dallas where the Cowboys were looking to get off the mat after a hideous week two performance.

The Ravens, they were looking to get back in the win column as well.

Somebody had to do it.

Let's get this thing going.

Sensing that Sports Illustrated writer slash very tired father Connor Orr had just put the finishing touches on a spicy Mike Zimmer takedown that he cockily started writing around 5.30 p.m.

Eastern.

The Dallas Cowboys clawed back from a 21-6 halftime deficit to ruin my goddamn afternoon.

Three fourth-quarter touchdowns interspliced with a very cool and very spinny Bones Fossil on-side kick had the Ravens in danger of losing yet another game in which they possessed a fourth-quarter lead.

Baltimore, in case you didn't know, since 2021 has lost 10 games with a seven-point lead or greater heading into the final stanza.

Baltimore looked dominant early in this one: 151 yards and two touchdowns from Derrick Henry, but more kicking issues for Justin Tucker.

Hooked a 46-yarder.

John Harbaugh then later decided to punt in an obvious kicking situation.

The two conversed after the game on the sideline, and you could see Harbaugh, at least I thought, appearing to say, Just be happy we won.

Just be happy we won.

Yes, I think that is the way to look at it because

as you're watching that fourth quarter unfold, this could not have been a more one-sided game.

The Cowboys were getting booed in their stadium.

It was an absolute train wreck of a performance.

Their offense was completely out of sync.

Their defense continues to be a major issue.

Yes, the Zimmer sideline shots were terrifying.

We got a couple of the Jerra shots in the suite of him looking stone-faced.

And just when you thought it was going to go a certain way and we were going to have a grisly blowout.

Yeah, the Ravens don't know how to finish.

And Mark,

in their defense, when it did get to the ultimate crunch time of this game in the final two minutes, they could have laid down, but they did convert two first downs, including a beautiful Lamar Jackson option where he went 10 yards and they were able to kneel it out.

But

it's not going to alleviate all the concerns around the Ravens who have a closing problem.

They do.

And, you know, one of those first downs was a big Henry run.

And I think that was what they wanted to do today.

And you can kind of look at it as two games.

The second is Grizzly and problematic for Baltimore.

They've also...

13 penalties for 105 yards.

That's just not what you're used to from a John Harbaugh team typically.

And I think that costs them down the stretch some really costly downfield defensive secondary issues.

But they did run the ball in that first half in a way that I think kind of confirmed confirmed some of the doubts about them.

It's like, can they, are they going to be able to be this team with Derrick Henry?

And they were.

And so I'm willing to, if you're John Harbaugh, say, like, look, we got out of here.

These games get wild.

The Ravens do this.

I come out with a bigger concern about Mike Zimmer's defense two weeks in a row has shown incredible vulnerability.

And Connor, I know what it, I know that feeling where it leads you back around to thinking early on, I can craft this story.

I can maybe start to eye other games and create notes and ideas about that.

And then suddenly, you professionally are thrown into like a washer and dryer back to back and left, you know, on your lonesome.

So I feel for you on that front.

I call that getting Sesslered.

You got Sesslered on that one, and you had to throw away what would have been a perfectly nice story,

but you move on and you move forward.

You know, the running game, I think, Connor, was a big thing to talk about in this game because Derrick Henry was an absolute monster.

And, you know,

it's one thing in the offseason when the signing goes down to be like, that's a perfect fit.

But now to see him actually be Derrick Henry, and I'm not saying he's, you know, 2020 Derrick Henry,

but he is

playing at a very high level.

He chewed through that horrific Dallas defensive line with ease and got to the second level multiple times.

And that is, you know, by contrast, the Cowboys who have no running game.

And when they were down by three scores in this game in the third quarter, I'm like scratching my head.

I think it was 28-6 or whatever.

And you see them trying to play action fake.

And they're running the ball and chewing clock.

And it's like, what is going on around here?

Of course, after the game, Jerry Jones

was asked about...

Hey, why don't you have Derrick Henry?

Because

we all knew this was a major issue for the Cowboys going into the season.

And here's a great Jerry quote I'm I'm going to pull up for you right now.

We couldn't afford Derrick Henry, Jerry Jones said.

And then

Jones laughed and was asked why not this via PFT.

I don't know.

Why can't you buy a man?

I don't know.

Why can't you buy a mansion when you live in a different kind of house?

We couldn't afford it.

We can't make that all fit.

That's as simple as that.

So I guess it is as simple as that, Connor, but they have two major issues to me.

Defense can't play worth a shit right now, and they can't run the ball.

And that's putting way too much stress on Dak and CD, and you're seeing the cracks there.

What's weird about the running back thing in particular is that it's perpetually the most affordable position in the NFL.

And what the Saints is, or what the Cowboys' problem is, it's very Saints-esque, right?

You kept kicking the can down the road.

You've tied your salary cap up in knots, and even because,

you know, even if you're not willing to spend, you still have enough money to get a running back.

And what you decided to do was get a 30-year-old Ezekiel Elliott to come back for some reason.

So that was a choice.

That's on ownership.

But to your point, I mean, just juxtapose that with what Baltimore was able to do.

You're up 21-6 at the break, and then you get the ball coming out of halftime, and then you just jam the ball 70 yards straight down Dallas's throat.

Derrick Henry runs through basically like a seven-man on the line, third and one.

This is what this is supposed to look like.

Baltimore is supposed to be able to get up on you fast and then ride Derrick Henry out through the rest of the game.

That's why they got him.

And didn't quite work out that way, but it did for a large portion of the game.

I thought those penalties were a big issue, and I thought that Dak calmed down and started to recognize Baltimore's defense a little bit as the game went on.

It just seemed like you're right.

He's in a tough spot because they're not a complete offense.

But this may just be what the Ravens are because the minute the Ravens get their sea legs and we start to think Lamar's really playing the way we've waited now for six plus years,

then the team seems to collapse.

It's like

there are two things at once.

They're like, they're the Ravens.

They're so sturdy.

We believe in them always.

But then they do this at the worst possible time.

And I feel like, you know, to get out of here with a win is like at least psychologically a huge victory for them because this would have been as crushing a regular season loss as the Ravens have had in years and years.

Yeah,

I think it already is now a thing, the fourth quarter thing, and it maybe becomes a bit of a mental block, but to at least survive it, obviously, is a big deal.

Two quick, quick thoughts before we move here.

One,

you know, somebody, you know, kicked the door in on the rules committee because I think they, we found a loophole in the rule book in this game on a play where

Dak gets grabbed in the end zone, and as he's trying to get rid of the ball, he just flips it at the last second to an offensive lineman who's an ineligible

wide receiver, ineligible receiver.

So even they throw it a Pereira and they're like, hey, this is a safety, right?

And he's like, well,

and you could tell he was like, I think, yeah, because he's not eligible.

So if he's not eligible, then that should default to it being intentional grounding or something.

But somehow that counted as just illegal touching and no safety.

So that feels like something that they have to figure out.

I don't know.

Did we get any clarity on that?

It's just very messy.

And for a game that came down to the very end, imagine that they ended up losing that game by a point.

I love the idea of Pereira like coming from like a Tito's boat cruise and then all of a sudden just like, you know, you're like an official and you're so studied on the rule book that you don't think that there's ever going to be something that you don't know.

And then all of a sudden they kick to you and you're like, I don't f ⁇ ing know.

Exactly.

I mean, he was totally, everyone was.

And then the other thing was CeeDee, Lamb, and Dak have not gotten off to a great start this year.

I thought if you watch CeeDee, he put on a masterclass in bad body language in this game.

And even he had some drops later.

And I really felt like he took himself out of the game mentally, leading to physical mistakes.

And I think Brady made a similar point on the telecast, but I had it first, and then Tom Brady made it.

That's how this works.

He copied me, not the other way around.

Brady was solid, by the way.

I know he's done the Cowboys.

He should know the Cowboys better than

any part of his own body at this point.

But he did a solid job, I thought.

He's fine.

Yeah.

It is interesting, though.

He's $375 million.

No, but he's not a disaster.

He doesn't stand out as what's happening here.

I do think he suffers from not being able to be in the facility and you he keeps having to reference the tape that he watches whereas everybody else is like, yeah, I talked to this guy and he explained how this works.

It is interesting.

Like, is it worth it?

All that money and the guy is not allowed to go into any other building.

It's kind of funny.

All right, let's get going and move on from

Dallas.

We head to the backyard here in SoFi Stadium where the Niners and Rams did battle.

And wow, this one got weird.

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Yes, 50,049ers fans invaded Los Angeles on Sunday afternoon, expecting a three-and-a-half-hour block party in Englewood.

Man, we used to party in Englewood, Sesner.

Sure.

Their favorite team was playing shorthanded, but the rival Rams barely had a team to field.

Easy win, right?

Wrong.

The shorthanded Rams withstood an initial Niners barrage, then wiped out a 10-point fourth-quarter deficit before Josh Cardi's 37-yard field goal, two seconds to play, lifted the home team to a stunning 27-24 lead.

The Rams avoid the dreaded 0-3 start.

The Niners have lost too straight, haven't looked too hot doing it.

And I think, boys, that Sean McVay said it best as he stepped to the lectern after this one.

Holy shit.

This was the the most Shanahan McVay game I've seen in a million years.

And I want to start with one thing: that like you have Brandon Ayuk in the lineup for an injury-riddled Niners roster, and he's really not been himself, and we get that, and there's probably multiple reasons for that.

But it's Juwan Jennings who explodes for 11 catches, 175 yards, and three touchdowns.

And if you look across the way at the Rams, in the comeback specifically with the guys they're missing and Matt Stafford being as plugged in as he is, it's like the names on this box score are riddled with people that probably wouldn't have even thought would play a role in week three at this point.

And there's no two better teams in the NFC that draft, develop, and grow talent and get them ready for games.

early on in an emergency situation.

They lost Trent Williams for a chunk of time here, and they put up 400-plus yards of offense with half their stars missing.

So, Dan, I don't know if your takeaway is similar to that at all, but I was just impressed with two teams that refuse to give up.

And the Rams ultimately, I don't know if they saved their season, but they've done this so many times in the last couple of years.

It's like they refuse to just have their necks cut off and just have the thing over in September, October.

McVay refuses.

Yeah,

yeah, you're right.

I mean, there were elements

with the Niners missing three key players that...

It's commendable that they were able to roll it up.

But I didn't think, I thought they just blew another game, which the 49ers tend to do in the Kyle Shanahan

realm.

But the Rams, you know, with their backs against the wall, this is a 14-0 game in the first half.

And the Rams are facing fourth down near midfield, and they call a fake punt.

I mean, we're talking desperation, and they pull it off just barely.

They convert, and then they just hang around.

They just hang around, hang around, hang around.

And you're right, Jawan Jennings is going off, and he actually is the first 49ers wide receiver since Jerry Rice, like literally Jerry Rice, in 1995 with 10 plus catches, 150 plus yards, and three touchdown catches in a single game.

And

then when it was crunch time in the fourth quarter, it was the Rams that were making plays.

And it was such a great collective effort, right down to a totally untested kick returner.

Justin, can you get his name for me?

Having the big run back to set up the game-winning field goal.

It was a rookie kicker who makes the kick.

And I got this from Jordan because I was texting with Jordan Rodriguez, covers the Rams, obviously, and is our Thursday preview friend and friend at all times, actually.

She had this: The Rams installed a 12-personnel package in the earliest days of training camp in case they needed it.

If injuries struck or in cold weather, and injuries obviously did strike, they're missing most of their offensive line, Puka Nakua, Cooper Cup.

I mean, it's been a disaster for the Rams.

So they used that 12-personnel personnel with a ton of success today.

And then in the fourth quarter, they were able, it was Xavier Smith, by the way, on the run back.

Thank you, Justin.

In the fourth quarter, when it was time to finish off this comeback, they swap back into 11 personnel to disguise some of their red zone looks.

As Jordan called it, an absolutely masterful plan.

And Connor, like, that is Sean McVay.

That's what we're talking about when you talk about how does this happen?

And we're going to get to the Packers later.

How are the Packers finding success with Malik Willis when he didn't look like a pro?

Because some of these guys are just different.

And McVay,

what a stage for him in this game to beat his rival Shanahan in this way.

Exactly, right?

And if you go to the Kyron Williams touchdown, I think that got them within a score.

If you look at that play, it's not as much like, you know, yes, there were some moments of power and athleticism, but the run action to the right completely pulls everybody out, and then it leaves your running back one-on-one with someone on the left-hand side.

And it's like, could this man call plays for like medical students and score a touchdown on the 49ers?

I think he could.

And there's just these moments of brain power that are just, you know, you don't want to overreact and overrate to the genius thing, but there is moments where it's just like he's thinking about and seeing the game on a different level.

I do think that if you look at that final march before Xavier, that punt return, there was a really bad drop by Ronnie Bell.

And that is an example of a guy needing to step up who makes a big mistake.

Then Purdy is stuffed on a run-up the gut, and bang, that thing is over, and you're still kicking the ball back to LA thinking, come on, like there's no way they're going to go do this with 50 second seconds, although it happens every week.

But that was an example of the Niners completely breaking down.

And it's unusual to see, like, I know you could say Shanahano is chokes, but like, it's not an offense.

I'm more referring to how he found a way to cobble together offense.

Both teams did, but that doesn't account for what the Rams were able to do.

I mean, it's a huge, like, the Niners are in a tough spot right now, and, like, you kind of wonder sometimes with these teams that have been on, like, five or six straight postseason odysseys, like, is this just one of those years where it's not going to functionally work because they're too battered and they need an extra body or two?

Yeah, I just, I think this is the, I mean, against this opponent, though, like, it should be all even.

And it's it's just, they can't, they didn't close out the game.

And you have, like I said, Xavier Smith, players like 2-2 Atwell, Kyron Williams scoring two touchdowns, including a brilliant somersault into the end zone that kind of woke up the building, which not even joking around.

There was probably 50,000 49ers fans.

And as

that happens every time to the Rams.

Three of us used to work in that complex.

And I just, I kind of smiled, not that I have like a dog in the race here, but smiled smiled thinking about all of those Niners fence spilling out onto the roadway afterwards.

Just like, what the hell just happened?

And should I be worried about this team?

And I think you should be a little bit worried about the Niners because this was

a very troubling loss.

And before we move,

Brandon Ayuk, we just talked about CeeDee Lamb.

Brandon Ayuk's another guy who had obviously a long holdout, missed a lot of the activities in the summer.

Also,

not doing much for this offense.

So So you had Jawan Jennings doing the heavy lifting, and as we expected, he was targeted a bunch in this game, 10 times, in fact, but only had five catches for 48 yards.

And remember, this is the same Ayuk that we've talked about.

No one makes more with their workload than Brandon Ayuk, and it's not quite there right now.

So the Niners have some things they've got to get figured out.

So after that first win against the Jets on Monday night football, they've lost back-to-back road games, and

now they get the Patriots at home, home, which seems like a get-right, but man, this game seemed like it was a chance to get right, and they couldn't do it.

Let's move.

The Saints have been the talk of the league.

Could they keep it up at the Superdome?

Mark Zessler.

Eagles, Saints.

Philly's in-house screenwriter dialed up a conflict centered on man versus self.

Tough to write.

For most of Sunday, the Eagles offense versus the Eagles offense.

Two men save the day.

Dallas Goddard putting up a single-game franchise record for a tight end with 170 yards off 10 grabs to set up a Saquon Barkley go-ahead score in the final minutes.

Six days after his bobble against the Falcons, Saquon, incredible, rumbled for 147 on the day with a 65-yard blast, longest touchdown run by anyone this season.

But this was no cakewalk.

The Eagles traveled through levels of hell.

Lane Johnson was lost.

Devonta Smith was lost.

No AJ Brown.

A Jalen Hurts interception.

A Hurts strip sack.

An overly cute fake tush push that went south, Hurts later stuffed on fourth down, a blocked punt, and a missed field goal, but a career gain from Jalen Carter, a 94.7 tackling rate by Philly, and two deep shots to Rashid Shaheed that were knocked away, unlike the past couple weeks.

Spell doom for a car-led Saints attack that amassed just 219 yards and looked human when it mattered most.

Nice work, Fanjio.

Eagles 15, Saints 12, and an energy-sucking fight to the death.

How How about that?

Now,

Mark, what do we do?

Like,

the Saints obviously were unstoppable.

I think we saw 16 consecutive scoring drives to start their season in the first two weeks.

And then I look at the stats here, and you have Alvin Kamara averaging 3.3 yards per carry.

I flipped this on at the end when the...

Saints had a very real chance, down three, and a very familiar Derek Carr moment where he kind of forces a pass down the middle and late that wasn't there and he didn't need to do it and he gets picked off to clinch a game.

So, you know, did you get the feeling that this is a Fangio masterpiece and the Saints are going to be all right?

Or maybe did that balloon pop of the Saints as a great power of attack?

I tend to think it's an evening out.

I think what I saw from Philly's defense, you know, they were a defense that was missing tackles all over the place.

And like I mentioned, they had that 95% tackling rate today.

There was the huge stop of Kamara on fourth and one.

Carr was not himself.

I think in each of these games, kind of getting up early and then pouring it on with Kamara has helped them be what they were.

And those big plays to Shaheed have been money and like a really special part at key moments in games, two weeks in a row.

And today, thanks to really sticky coverage by Philly's secondary, those two long deep shots fell apart.

And I don't blame Derek Carr, but I thought that Jalen Carter for Philly played, I think, the best game of his entire career.

It's like we've waited for it, and we got it today.

He was a one-man wrecking crew.

Jordan Davis was huge.

CJ Gardner Johnson had a near interception at one point.

Eric McCoy, the Saints center, was hurt early and taken out of the lineup.

And I always feel like when you've got a new center in there out of nowhere against someone like a Jalen Carter or those big bodies in the middle of Philly's defense, that it created some disjointed havoc.

They just looked out of it.

It's like, I expect expect all these teams to look kind of asleep at the wheel for one of the first three games.

And this was atypical for them.

But, you know, the other little thing I'll say before we pass it on is that the Saints have been really successful on early downs, first and second down with big plays.

And I think today they got put into a bunch of third downs.

And if you're Kubiak in that crew, you don't have a lot of rope kind of being tested in those situations.

And I think they kind of walked away with it with a lot to look at and learn going into next week.

It's hard to, I mean, you mentioned Jalen Carter, and it's one of those things where, Dan, I'm sure you saw it with Quinn and Williams, where it's the big-time interior defensive tackles, and they always seem to have this one game where everything sort of comes together, and they sort of figure out the rhythm of the interior of an offensive line.

And once that happens, that jump from very good and promising to next-level game record often happens.

And he was in the backfield constantly, just blowing stuff up.

And when you're running that 49er-style defense, it's that interior upfield pressure that just skews everything.

You can't run half of your playbook.

And that was all about him tonight.

Let's hear, what were you, Jalen Hurts in this game?

What did you see from Hurts?

He's got, I think, I think it's four turnover-worthy plays in the red zone.

They couldn't get out of their own way.

They got a little cute.

Like I mentioned, that tush push where they tried to do kind of a trick where it was a spin-around handoff to Barkley.

He got stuffed.

They had block punts.

I mean, Hurts is going to, at this point, I just assume, throw a bad interception every game.

And it was absent some of the running work that he had against the Falcons.

But it really was Dallas Goddard.

He found Dallas Goddard for three 30-plus yard gains, but that was Goddard

yards after the catch.

I think he had like 160 yards after the catch.

He was marvelous, and he's not really been part of that offense.

So him and Barkley saved the day.

If one of those guys had been milquetoast, they don't win this game.

I mean, if Barkley doesn't have that high-profile drop on Monday night, you know, people are talking about him as an MVP candidate right now.

That's how good he has been.

Here is Nick Siriani on his quarterback, Jalen Hurts.

Yeah, I got Jalen.

Jalen Hurts is a winner.

He's a winner.

He wins, right?

You tell me when he hasn't won.

He's a winner, right?

And

man, I'm proud of him.

I just, I can't say enough good things about his response.

So, not all bad then, Mark.

Well, no, I just thought you would, I thought you would like that

quote from him.

I feel like that will be used again.

I think Siriani was Siriani during that moment.

Jalen Hurts is a winner.

Yeah.

Like he,

there was this one moment early on in the sideline reporter pointed out that Jalen Hurts is a winner.

They were in trouble, and he just Hurts was going up and down the sideline.

Talking to teammates, like taking accountability.

I think that's what people were wondering with kind of missing down the stretch last year.

Like, is he a weird guy or a weird personality?

I don't know his personality, but they seem to respond to him.

But it was not the cleanest game for them at all.

They've got a lot to work on.

All right.

So

they got the big performance from Jalen Carter.

One weird note, and it pops up in my timeline because of the

Jets connection, but Bryce Huff continues to be a major disappointment so far for the Eagles.

He only plays 18 snaps in this game.

He has zero pressures.

And as crazy as it is to say, he has the same stat line as Hassana Reddick this season.

Nothing.

Like, literally, nothing in three games.

So much more affordable.

That is not a signing that's worked out.

But it's funny, like all the, you know, all the Howie fans out there get very quiet about when things don't work out.

But, you know, I guess it's not March, so it's a different time of year.

All right, let's move on to the next game to the desert with the Gravedigger.

Gravedigger was in the desert, by the way.

He was at the Eagles concert at

the sphere, and he drove back at 2.30 in the morning, as we understand it, to get here.

So just everyone keep that in mind as he does this setup.

All right.

I will also keep it in mind as I do the setup.

Here we go.

Lions Cardinals.

One week after Dan Campbell said he cost his team a win, the Lions came out on fire.

Jared Goff started 14 of 14, the best completion streak to start a game in his career, and the Lions were able to control possession and come up with timely defensive stops.

Two failed fourth down conversions by Arizona, plus a Kyler Murray end zone interception to maintain a lead for the majority of the game.

With the Cardinals making a last desperate gasp to tie the game, trying to get the stop and get the ball back after they kick a field goal, Jared Goff on third and 12 throws a dart to Amon Ross St.

Brown with just over two minutes to play and then scrambled for one last first down to ice the game.

Lions win 20 to 13.

Now, guys, there was a key play in this game right before halftime.

Could have changed the entire outcome.

Just as the clock was ticking down to the two-minute warning, Lions snapped the ball and Goff was like immediately under pressure, throws a pass, it's deflected at the line of scrimmage.

Cardinals pick it off and take it all the way back for a touchdown.

But hold up.

The refs had blown the play dead because of the two-minute warning and they show the replay with the freeze frame.

The ball is snapped at 2.01 on the clock.

This pick six should have counted.

The Lions end up finishing the drive with a touchdown on a really awesome, really cool play.

Ben Johnson in his bag, hooking the ladder to Amonra St.

Brown, pitching it back to Jameer Gibbs.

But this was a huge 14-point swing.

And

yeah, the Cardinals had plenty of the entire second half to try to make this up, and they couldn't really get anything going on offense in the second half.

But if you're a Cardinals fan, you've got to be coming out of this one feeling like you got a little screwed over.

I mean, 14-point swing.

I mean,

that is absolutely brutal.

And Goff, who was sloppy, Connor,

last week and said and told the media, I got to be more disciplined.

He now is up to four interceptions and could have been five.

If that doesn't get overturned, he had four interceptions

by his seventh game last year.

So this is the most he's thrown in his first three games.

So he's got to be cleaner, but I guess he got away with one today.

It's one of those weird things where I wish quarterbacks were allowed to be more honest and they didn't have to succumb to this like martyrdom.

And it's just like, you know, Goff could say, like, I have the best offensive coordinator in the NFL and quite possibly the best offensive line of the last half decade.

And like, I'm just me.

So sometimes that's going to be fine and sometimes it's not going to be.

And sometimes we're just going to run laterals and it's just going to look cool as shit.

And I think that's really what it comes down to, you know?

And that's what I love the most about these Lions, Mark, that, you know, who's going to keep the hook and ladder alive?

If you had to guess one team, it's going to be the Lions.

And sometimes there's madness, like last week, going for a fake punt inside your own 20.

And sometimes you get over-aggressive and you blow your chance to get to the Super Bowl, like happened last year.

We can't forget these things.

But just

embracing the kind of element of excitement and surprise and taking risks.

I think that's part of the reason why they become America's team.

Yeah, and I think that there is proof and proof of concept that, too, we've gotten as far as they have after being in the darkness for decades upon decades, that it is the Dan Campbell aggression, and it is these choices, and it is these designs and things that, you know,

him watching football and playing football for so long and like refusing to just put stuff away in the circular file.

I love that the Lions had this sort of approach to football in general.

But I like I watched that play we all did, like the pick six.

My problem with like the NFL is that, and I don't have a solution, so I can shut up, but like that play happens, and because it's a human error and the whistle was blown and it's not the way it should have been, like if this were like a computer error, we've got to get programmers to fix this because we can't have it just be a computer error.

But because it's human, we've got to go on and talk about the theatrics that the Lions pulled off after, and that doesn't nullify what they did.

But this game is not the result it should have been.

I'm not saying the Lions would have lost, but this is completely, like, this soils everything that happened in that affair for me, if you're a Cardinals fan or if you just want football to be handled correctly.

I agree with that, but I will also say, like, the Lions' defense in the second half, I'm just going to read off the results by drive for the Cardinals in the second half.

First drive, interception, punt, turnover on downs, punt, turnover on downs, punt, field goal with three minutes left, down 10.

So I I totally agree.

I mean, they botched this call bad.

The Cardinals should have gone into half.

At the very least, tied, assuming that, you know, if the Lions get the ball back there with under two minutes to go and go do something, the very least it's tied for the Cardinals.

So, yeah, they got totally screwed by that.

Like, it's not to take away from the Lions.

Like, I'm not.

It's more, like, I don't care what two teams it was.

I would, like, I would wonder, because like after last week, like, you'd think Marvin Harrison was going to go on this, like, tear through the league, like, kind of quiet, not a factor in this game and that's kind of the cardinals in general on offense right now right justin like just when you think you got them figured out they seem to confound you they've been very hot and cold so far this year well it was clear that kyler was looking for marvin harrison a lot and on that interception like he really forced it to him when he had the open crosser the dig route underneath with the safety dropping back to take heart harrison away there's something i mean they have a great connection that we saw a few times in this game with like off schedule play breaks down kyler finds marvin harrison jr but he's also maybe like the Lions knew that he was going to be the go-to guy.

They're putting two guys on him in coverage and Kyler's still forcing it to him.

You end up with the interception in the end zone.

All right, let's, we're just getting started here.

We'll take a break and we will continue our way through week three.

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Welcome back.

As you can see, we're outside the Kicker Club right now.

There is

a press conference has been called.

Do you remember when

you remember when

we got bin Laden

and Obama just he like walked down that long red carpet and he's like

Can kill that guy.

He gone

and then he didn't take any questions.

He just addressed the nation.

He's like bin Laden, he gone.

And then he walked off.

Picture that.

Only now it's me.

Like to make an announcement.

This is obviously done

with plenty of forethought and it's something that

is not easy because, quite frankly,

Justin has been,

and I mean, Justin Tucker has been

someone who's been one of one

for

over a decade in this league and the greatest kicker who's ever lived.

You could keep taking photos.

However,

after yet another miss by Tucker today from 46 yards out,

And Brandon Aubrey piping one from 65

today.

There is a new grandmaster of the kicker club.

It is Brandon Aubrey.

What?

And I want to just take a moment to congratulate Brandon for now

being

the grandmaster of the kicker club and thank Justin.

And he's still welcome anytime.

But the announcement is it is official.

Brandon Aubrey is the new king.

Long live Justin Tucker.

Thank you, and may God bless America.

Brandon Aubrey got me one 60-yard field goal.

I just need one more on Monday night to

that's not what this is about, Justin.

And if we could have just a little bit of respect for Justin Tucker right now during what's been

obviously probably a very emotional time.

Yeah.

I mean, Dan, I think you maybe a tad windier than Obama's speech that day yet, the service that you've provided is no less pertinent than removing Osama bin Laden.

I think that you've done an equal, the job was of equal importance, and you handled it presidentially.

Yeah, and in no way am I correlating bin Laden to Justin Tucker, but in both cases, he gone.

You know, so.

All right, so with that said, now it's Brandon's job to hold that spot, and we're going to see if he does.

All right, let's get back to the show.

I thought that was very important, though, to get off my chest.

That's been something I've been sitting with, obviously, for hours since that 65-yard field goal in Dallas.

And now we can move on.

Next stop, Minnesota.

Sam Donald has a beard.

He's a man now.

Respect his traditional masculinity.

Sunday was supposed to be a measuring stick game for the upstart Vikings.

You're going to need a bigger bigger stick.

The Houston Texans had no answers for Mr.

Darnold, four more touchdown passes, or Brian Flores' smothering defense as the team of HTC, Dan's version, rolled to a 34-7 win in front of a delirious number of polite but extremely loud Midwesterners.

Boys,

the Vikings are the biggest story in the league to me.

This team

is

come out of the gates, hitting on all cylinders on both sides of the ball.

Darnold has been a perfect fit for what Kevin O'Connell does.

And now it all makes sense why it seemed there was this calm around O'Connell after Kirk Cousins left, because he knew what Darnold could do in this offense.

And Darnold's level of comfort in the way he maneuvers in the pocket, the way he goes through his reads.

There's nothing overly flashy about what's going on here.

This is not Patrick Mahomes' MVP level play from Darnold, although his MVP odds, this is incredible, continue.

His MVP odds, Sam Darnold's MVP odds, Sam Darnold, MVP odds,

have risen from 100 to 1 to 35 to 1.

Sam Darnold, MVP odds.

But it's not overly flashy.

He has really good arm strength.

He has the ability to make plays off-platform, but it's more what he's playing so within himself and not forcing things and taking advantage of when defenses open up windows.

And a lot of that obviously goes back to O'Connell's scheme and Darnold's comfort playing within it.

So it's a perfect fit.

But to me, Connor, the thing that really jumps out, even beyond Darnold, which is going to be the headline here because he's the quarterback and he's the big comeback story, is Brian Flores is starting to put together a resume with this Vikings team that's going to get him another head coaching job.

Obviously, there's some complications around Brian Flores in different ways.

But for what he's doing right now, if the Vikings continue to confuse offenses, including a very good Houston Texans team like they did today, that's another huge story around this team.

And it all adds up to 3-0.

It was funny because they had, I think it was ESPN, had like this panel of coaches and players or whatever on one of their NFL shows trying to dissect what Brian Flores is doing.

And the consensus was like, even we're not 100% sure how he's doing this.

And normally, when you see a Patriots guy defect from New England and then bring like the same nine henchmen over to his team, like Kyle Van Noy and Andrew Van Ginkle and all these like people, you're like, all right, pal, like this is how this is going to go.

But this is turned into something truly befuddling that is just knocking out talented offense after talented offense.

He's going to get another head coaching job.

I'm telling you that right now.

It's like the reverse of a trend we see where the defensive-minded head coach can't keep his offensive coordinator because that guy gets snatched up.

I'm with you.

I think Flores

is the huge factor here.

And it's great that you're getting this really clean

play from Sam Darnold.

It's a perfect marriage.

But last year, one of the things that was great about Bobby Slowick and the Texans was that they were really banged up for much of the season along their line.

But he found a way, Shanahan-esque, to like kind of coach through that.

It's Jonathan Grenard of all people that blew up Houston's line today.

And there's, I read this too, and Dan, maybe you can, like, that Houston's offensive line committed four straight pre-snap, and this includes Laramie Tunzel, four straight pre-snap O-line penalties to end the first half.

And it's kind of was written like, these guys, this crew of people are going to be like seeing this Minnesota Vikings defense in their sleep tonight.

So you've got the offense coached really, really well.

You've got the defense coach really, really well.

And I'm with you.

This is the surprise team of the entire NFL, and it's not fluky.

You always get these fluky 4-0 teams.

I'm not just announcing that, but it just looks really solid all over the place, and they're really well coached.

Yes, there was that.

Vikings team a few years ago with Cousins that went 13 and 3 or whatever, and that was a fluky team, and then they got wiped out by the Giants in the playoffs.

This team feels like they are built better and have a chance in what feels like a very wide open conference right now.

Yeah, that play you're referring to, or that sequence, they're down 14-0.

It's third and four.

They're in field goal range.

The Texans are.

And this just typified their afternoon.

They have three consecutive false starts,

and now they're third and 19 and out of field goal range, field goal range.

And then a fourth penalty, which is an illegal procedure on Laramie Tunzel, who was one of those, he didn't line up close enough to the line of scrimmage deals.

Tunzel got called for five penalties in this game.

And there's a moment later in the game.

So Tunzel, nightmare game, C.J.

Stroud threw his first interception in 267 attempts.

He threw another one later.

There's a moment later in the game when it was out of hand where you see Stroud just sit down and kind of put his face in his hands.

And he's like, what?

What just happened?

happened and that's kind of the same thing Brock Purdy went up to Brian Flores and said to him after the game last week when they knocked off the 49ers.

Like, what just happened?

What are you doing?

So I don't know if this is a league where adjustments get made, and I'm sure that will happen.

But right now, nobody knows how to stop this defense.

And Sam Darnold and the offense, led, of course, by Justin Jefferson, who had another touchdown, are doing more than enough to handle things on that side of the ball.

Put it all together.

What a story.

Big blitz game, by the way, by Flores.

Big game plan.

Got after Stroud

early and often, and yet another quarterback takes a pounding.

All right, let us keep moving.

Up next we head to the former Heinz Field with Connor Orr.

Still better than Across.

That's all I'm saying.

Go ahead, Connor.

A game that for three quarters had all the energy of a quiet Ohio farmland on the side of Route 80 westbound.

Two pregnant cows leaning against one another.

Not in the name of violence, but stability.

Just tonnage amassed, flank, rib, and shortline slapped together like sumo bellies until justin fields burst through the melatonin haze like a quasar gunning a 55 yard touchdown pass to calvin austin the third with seven minutes to go fields was the story here guys taking a hold of the steelers qb conversation and banning russell wilson to the barbo peak just north of bapin bay Justin Herbert left the game after re-aggravating his high ankle sprain.

He came to his post-game press conference in a walking boot, but said he plans on playing against Kansas City next week.

Quentin Johnson, the 2023 first-rounder from L.A., scored for the third time in two weeks, looking a lot better in that Greg Roman Jim Arvaugh offense.

So there you go.

We have another 3-0 team here, and it's the Pittsburgh Steelers, and nobody predicted that.

And you're right, Connor.

Like, it went from...

All right, Russell Wilson's got this calf issue, and he's going to be out week one, but Justin Fields isn't playing so hot in his absence.

So they win again in week two, but it's like, yeah, a little hot and cold from Fields.

But now you're 3-0, and it's right.

It's not even going to be a question now, Connor, right?

Like,

I don't know

how Tomlin's going to handle that announcement or how he's going to play this, because Russell Wilson is a veteran.

He's a pretty decorated guy.

But at the same time,

you cannot take out the quarterback when the team is undefeated.

I think Tomlin is very locker room-led, and I think he'll always keep in his pocket the right to play Russell Wilson, if that's what kind of the veteran guys guys in his locker room say.

But I'll say this.

There were two moments that I thought that Justin Fields took hold of the QB conversation.

The first was they got the ball with 40 seconds left in the half, and they were going to get the ball after the half, but he still let Justin Fields let it rip, and they started deep in their own territory.

And this is one of these situations where most of the teams in the NFL right now are hiding their quarterbacks.

It's a too high shell league, you know, just ask Mel Kuiper.

And a lot of these people, like they don't, you know, you're not itching to push the ball, right?

You're trying to be efficient, run the ball.

But he let Justin Fields throw the ball downfield.

And then he did it again late in the game when he threw that 55-yard touchdown pass.

He's throwing into busy coverage, but he's doing it in a way that's like, Tomlins, like, go get it.

Go take the game over.

And I thought that was pretty significant and something that the guys in the locker room probably went with.

And, you know,

you can't come back now to Russell Wilson.

I think it's like pretty intriguing that he's only been sacked six times in three games because this is obviously a guy that's been punished through his entire career.

They are missing Troy Fatanu, the right tackle who was hurt in practice.

I mean, that's the kind of thing that could unspool someone else.

I just feel like

down the stretch, because they started real slow, right?

I think it was like

a couple three and outs, and it's like that could put your, like, a guy like Justin Fields and the offense in a shell because they're not the most fascinating visual offense.

But I think to Calvin Austin, he had a beautiful throw.

There's a couple, like, he just is starting to put it together a little bit.

And to Dan's point, like,

Tomlin's Tomlin's been talking about wanting a guy that can do a lot with his legs, too.

It's like, I don't know how you make a switch at all right now.

I think it would almost take an injury to make a switch unless, I don't know what veterans are like going to Tomlin saying, we really need Russell Wilson in here right now.

I don't know.

I don't think that's probable to me.

Well, Mike Tomlin is undefeated and probably feeling really good about a win against.

a Chargers team that was running the hell out of the football where you have a comeback in the fourth quarter.

He's got to be be pumped.

Let's listen to Mike.

You know,

there's a nakedness in this business at this level.

There's nowhere to hide.

When you got a challenge like that walking in your venue, you better fight.

We're the number one rusher and rushing team coming into our building.

And so let's be real clear.

They got to fight.

They don't have a choice.

Nakedness.

I love that.

Nakedness.

My new favorite thing.

Let's cut that, Justin.

And there is a nakedness to

the Chargers without Justin Herbert.

And obviously, we learned right before kickoff, he will be playing.

But Connor, I'm definitely nervous if I'm a Chargers fan because now you messed around here with a high ankle sprain that gets aggravated.

He leaves the stadium in a walking boot, and we just don't know what that means.

Did it look like he was in rough shape in this game?

Was he moving, able to move before he went out?

I didn't think he was moving well.

And to your point,

even if you keep coming back with a high ankle sprain, it's one of those things that always leads to another issue.

And I'm not saying, for example, like Joe Burrow's calf injury led to a wrist injury, but a calf injury can lead to, you know, some sort of other soft tissue issue.

And so if you're Justin Herbert, it's like, if you know that you're running the ball this well and you have this Greg Roman offense, isn't there some thought in not punting against the Chiefs, but giving him like a two-week window?

Like you did start with a couple of victories, Give him some time to get healthy before you throw him back out there again like that.

Let's Joe Rosa, too.

Yeah, we're not playing today.

I mean, that's hindsight, 2020, but you're against obviously not a high-occupation.

TJ Watt, yeah.

Pittsburgh attack.

So you're not going to need a shootout, most likely.

And yeah, you got TJ Watt coming after him.

I don't know.

Just a tough way for it to work out.

And you hope Herbert is able to beat Herbert this season because those high ankle injuries can really mess with you.

All right.

Let's head to Nashville.

The Titans, man, they needed this one,

and they had an old friend coming in to play against them.

Let's see how it turned out.

Gravedigger, take it away.

Three old friends, really.

Okay.

For the second straight week, the Packers rode a domino.

You know, Justin has that I drove back from the desert at 2.38 a.m.

energy to him.

It's amazing, and I like it.

Who are the other two old friends?

I'm sorry.

Well, Matt LaFleur was obviously coordinator of 2018, and Brayden Narvison, the the kicker was uh udfa the titans best for camp best for catcher so you went to you went too deep all right go ahead well he's their kicker um

for the second straight week the packers rode a dominant defensive performance a productive run game and mistake-free quarterback play to cruise to victory without jordan love the defense piled up eight sacks and a pick six the offensive line cleared the way for 188 rushing yards on 37 carries with malik willis doing most of that damage 73 yards leading away.

No, Just.

And the Titans, now sitting at 0-3, look like one of the teams, one of the league's worst teams.

Will Levis leads the NFL in turnovers with 8.

With a week 5 by approaching, it's time to start wondering how much longer Brian Callahan will ride with Levis before turning to Mason Rudolph.

Final score, Packers 30, Titans 14.

Fun fact, the Titans have not scored 30 points in just over 1,000 days.

They have not scored 30 points in a game.

Malik Willis

comes into town and leads the Packers to a 30-point day.

Now, Dan, you brought this up on the Friday Patreon show.

I believe you said if Will Levis continues to be a towering dumbass, which you also use that phrase at the top of this show.

I did.

How long before he's benched?

It's a new pedophile.

And I said, look, he's got to...

Be really, really bad two more weeks in a row to get benched.

But after this week, I've seen enough.

I have seen enough.

Will Levis is not good.

And

is it a small table size, three games?

But like, he made a few good plays in this game, made a few right reads and some good throws.

But overall, situational awareness, poor fourth down, tries to like run through three defenders instead of throwing it to an open Tony Pollard in the flat.

The two interceptions, one of them was just sort of a late game.

We got to get something going on third and 17.

Just chucked it way deep.

But the pick six was like, Jair Alexander was like sitting there.

It was a hitch route on the outside.

And Jair Alexander was just like ready to jump it.

And he's got to see that.

So here's where I met.

The Titans need to make a change.

I don't think they're going to do it before week four.

And Brian Callahan seemed to indicate that he's not going to make a switch.

DeAndre Hopkins in the locker room said Will Lovis is our quarterback.

Jeffrey Simmons was giving him grace too.

So like the whole team still seems to be rallying around him, at least publicly.

Yeah, but the Panthers said that about Bryce Young, too.

That doesn't mean shit.

Right.

To me,

I think after the week five bye, we will see Mason Reginald.

Can I ask you a question, though?

Well, just

okay, look at new coaching staff in Tennessee inherited a lot of these situations.

They inherited Levis, but like they made the move to move on from Willis, which no one at the time had any concern with.

And I'm not suggesting that they should have kept him and made a project out of him, but it concerns me more from a coaching angle that Willis,

in a very brief amount of time, has been coached up to his strengths on the ground and another really clean game through the air.

And the Titans, it's like it brought Will, like, to me, Levis looks like a disaster.

And it makes me wonder if Levis went to the LaFleur Packers, what would we see?

And we keep talking about it's Will Levis' fault.

When are we going to bench him and put someone else in?

Like, I'm kind of left wondering this coaching staff's ability to get the most out of their players because their ground game is a disaster, too.

Well, you know, in fairness, like Malik Willis and Bill and Callahan are on different levels.

He was a prior coaching staff that had Willis, right?

But at the same time, I think it's kind of less, and there is obviously a Titans component to everything that's going on in this game.

But yeah, for me, the big storyline is: yeah, look, just like we saw with the Rams and Sean McVay, Connor, look what real high-level coaching can do.

And you can do things like take Malik Willis and not just make him competent, but make him someone who's a difference maker

in the game.

And he was in this game.

So it has to, and I understand why, Justin, in addition to being probably very tired, like to have to deal with this Malik Willis BS is probably highly frustrating.

But

man, what probably is even the most frustrating, Connor, is that you had Matt LaFleur in your building and you let him out.

This goes all the way back to like, we had talked about this when the year that Zach Wilson and Trey Lance went.

And when you had the Jets at number two, and everybody in the world knew who you were taking, and then the 49ers traded up behind you for someone, the panic that that probably instilled in the Jets, like, holy shit, the smartest team in the NFL is right behind us.

What did they know that we don't know?

Now it's the same thing where if a player leaves your team in free agency and goes to any one of these guys, Kevin O'Connell, Mike McDaniel, you know, Matt LaFleur, you're like, Jesus, I hope like, you know, like, just go anywhere else because you're going to make me look ridiculous.

These guys are just, they're a step ahead of the rest of the NFL.

It's incredible.

But that's my question because then I'm like wondering, do the Titans just simply a month into this not have one of those guys at coach?

And it's too early to judge, but like, that's sort of what I'm saying.

Like this player that couldn't make it there goes somewhere else and he gets Shanahan and LaFlord or Cal O'Call, you know, Connold, and like, but it's not happening in Tennessee.

But he didn't pick him either.

Like, he inherited, Calahan inherited Will Levis also.

And it's like, okay, go make him into the guy that we were hoping he was being.

Meanwhile, he's got eight turnovers

in three games.

And it's now,

these are disaster turnovers.

We talked about it.

So he had the week one disaster pick six that cost him that game.

He had the terrible shovel pass fumble against the Jets that swung that game when it was about to be 10-0 or 14-0.

And now another pick six here.

And you just, you can't.

Callahan can't look the other way.

And I'm just annoyed because I don't need to see Mason Rudolph anymore in my life.

I'm so sick sick of the idea of why I can't, I can't stomach the idea of more Mason Rudolph NFL starts, but they're going to get to the point where they're going to have to pull the trigger.

When they lose to Skylar Thompson or Snoop Huntley, whoever starts for the Dolphins next week, when they lose that game next week, the Titans, that's when it's like, okay, we can't do this anymore.

We have to change.

Because

I'm going to talk about this when we get to the Panthers game, but it is really like.

The difference, when you see finally a competent quarterback come into the offense and it's like, oh, this is what it's supposed to look like.

Like, I think that's going to happen when Mason Rudolph comes in.

Not that Mason Rudolph is great by any means, but he was competent for the CDC.

So that could stabilize things, yes.

Exactly.

And just not doing the job there, man.

And just not make the disaster play that literally kills your chances of winning the game.

Packers, man, they are now in a great position because they,

and I was one of the many people who called them out for it about Malik Willis, and I underestimated the coaching staff and Malik Willis, quite frankly, who's done a great job here in these two weeks.

They have now given themselves the cushion with these wins where they could be very smart with Jordan Love.

Do they want to take another week?

I know they have a big showdown coming up, obviously, with the Vikings that they're going to want to have their star quarterback on the field, but they could be smart about it.

Let's get a little Matt LaFleur before we move on.

You mentioned the evidence, is you mentioned how we

last break

you mentioned how we don't get it?

Whatever, keep going, keep firing away.

They told me this city was going to burn if we came in here and won the game, so I guess it is.

Oh, dang.

Oh, grave digger.

Oh, boy.

It's a tough one.

Packers are a fun team.

I like to watch them, so I'll just say that.

That's good.

All right.

Let's take a break.

And when we get back, we churn on week three.

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All right, we're back.

Let's head to Lucas Oil Stadium.

You know, in my dreams, or as I might have imagined it on, say, August 22nd, as opposed to September 22nd, the week three matchup between the Bears and Colts was an epic shootout between Caleb Williams and Anthony Richardson, two young guns ready to take over the league right before my very eyes.

But that's not what happened on Sunday.

Anthony Richardson was capital A awful, and Caleb Williams made just enough plays in the back end of this game to clear a bar that, quite frankly, was sitting on the floor by halftime for these quarterbacks.

Luckily for Shane Steichen, Jonathan Taylor and the Colts defense each showed up.

They made impact plays and it allowed Indianapolis to get that first win.

They escape with a 21-16 win over the Chicago Bears.

So, you know,

man, I want to start with

the good things about the Colts because Jonathan Taylor does look healthy.

He had a gorgeous cut

on a touchdown run where

I would imagine 98% of the running backs in the league gain maybe three yards in the play.

He blows it up for a long touchdown run.

So as long as his ankles are healthy this year and he's performing and the offensive line is playing at a good level,

they're going to do well.

But Anthony Richardson,

he's the big story for me around the Colts right now because he's still, I believe, the youngest quarterback in the league, even though he's in year two, and he's absolutely playing like it.

He had

so many

bad throws, and it's been a problem for him.

The intermediate throws have been an issue all year.

He's hit on some splash play throws, and he hit on a couple more today, but anything underneath, he was missing.

And he was, you know, by a wide margin, just sailing passes, and it was leading to turnovers and

short-circuiting drives.

And, you know, until he cleans it up, and it seems a lot of it might be, you know, mechanical because we know he's physically a gifted guy, and we've heard that he's not just some running quarterback like he really is.

He has the ability to be a polished passer, he's just not there yet.

And he leads the NFL with six interceptions, and they're going to lose a lot more games than they win if they can't get him on a more steady pace.

He's almost Levis-like in some ways right now, so that's the problem.

The good news is, like I said, their running game was great, and their run defense, which had been awful to start the season, was able to

actually get some stops.

And thankfully, for them, Mark, you have Shane Waldron calling plays for the chicago bears and that's like the other thing i take out of this game indianapolis mark gave up almost 500 yards rushing in their first two opponents the bears with their rookie quarterback attempted 52 passes today

i don't know what the hell is going on with this team the coaching staff is holding them back

yeah i mean this is the kind of um

game where after the draft or the schedule came out, there'd be a bunch of people squawking about how we're going to get to see Caleb Williams versus Anthony Richardson in week three.

And it's like this coming out party for the next wave of stars.

And

that just is

basically the story of the NFL to me this year, where it's like these young quarterbacks are really struggling.

And I watched Anthony Richardson with that terrible interception into the end zone.

And, you know, he spoke after the game and like, I just, I worry about like completely shattering the confidence of these guys.

They've been the best athlete in their towns, in their schools, in their states since they were like 12 years old.

But watching them play, it's kind of like if you're out in Santa Monica and you're on one of those walkways that goes along the beach

and it's kind of a wild west where you can walk, but people can be coming by on like four bikes or someone's on like rollerblades.

And I can do it, I think, because I have the wherewithal to know that I need to get out of the way.

I've lived long enough to know that that's going to be a peril.

You want to be smart.

But if I put one of my children out there, sight unseen,

they're going to get wiped out by a large machine or someone going 65 miles an hour.

And it's like these guys, part of it is like

they're incredibly athletic.

Anthony Richards can do these things that are amazing to watch, but then there's the processing, there's the coaching, there's just the live reps.

There's everything happening around you.

There's trying to control a huddle, trying to control people's tempers.

And they've got a coach.

If you're Caleb Williams, having you throw the ball 52 times, you're not actually going at what's been a historically terrible run defense for the Colts in the first two weeks.

So it's like, I don't even know who to point fingers at because the young quarterbacks like helped them out some way here.

We're seeing quarterbacks coaches do that, and then you got this.

Yeah, well, I do.

That's kind of what I'm hinting at, especially if we just talked about Matt LaFleur.

Like, I don't know if Caleb Williams,

all we talked about in the summer, we all get sucked into it because we watch hard knocks and we look at the fantasy roster and all these pieces around him, and it made sense that he would do well and hit the ground running.

But it just doesn't seem like I'll give you another example in this game.

They finally score a touchdown.

Their first 30 possessions this year end with one touchdown.

They get stuffed on the goal line where the play calling from Waldron is let me take I'm taking the ball out of the hands of my number one overall pick.

And they call a halfback option to DeAndre Swift that loses 12 yards at the goal line.

When they finally do score a touchdown and they have a chance, obvious, it's an obvious go-for-two situation that would have pulled them within a field goal late in this game.

It didn't occur to the coaching staff apparently in time.

They have to burn a timeout.

After scoring the touchdown, it was a Caleb Williams to, and I wonder if this had something to do with it.

It was a Caleb Williams to Roma Dunze touchdown.

It was Caleb Williams' first touchdown pass.

It was Roma Dunze, the other first-round picks, first touchdown reception.

Who gets to keep the ball?

I don't know.

I have no idea.

They have to figure that out.

And in all the hullabaloo, all of a sudden you're like, okay, why aren't they lining up for two?

They call a timeout.

Then they don't get the two-point conversion.

It's just like sloppy, sloppy, sloppy, sloppy.

And if Bears fans want to get pissed at me, they'll be like, well, Dan, why don't you point out that they can't run the ball?

They can't run the ball either.

DeAndre Swift, by the way, is averaging one and a half yards per carry this season so far.

They signed him to a three year, $24 million deal.

So the offense is just really messed up right now.

But in this game, it just doesn't feel like they had Connor a smart game plan to help the rookie quarterback be successful.

And that was different from the Shane Steichen side with Anthony Richardson, where it's a little bit like Richardson's just going through it right now, but I trust the setup there that if he matures and progresses, they're going to be okay.

I don't know if I could say the same thing about the Bears right now.

I'm worried about Caleb Williams.

Yeah, you watch the Colts side, and what I try to do right with rookie quarterbacks is you freeze frame it and you just look for open receivers, right?

And in Indianapolis, when Shane Steichen's team has the ball, there's two guys on every down where you're like, okay, I could go there fairly safely.

But what I love about the Colts is like, with Anthony Richardson, it's like that,

what's the golf course where you try to hit it onto the island and everyone sits at the island hole and they scream?

Do you know what I'm talking about?

Yeah, I know what you're talking about, but I don't know the name of the course.

Every play is just like that, where he backs up to pass and everyone's like, oh,

and then you have no idea what's going to happen.

And like, how awesome is that?

Probably not as a fan, but just as someone who doesn't care about the Colts' like outcome, every play is just like so incredible.

Because there's open wide receivers, there's talented people with room to run, and you just have no idea what's going to happen with the ball.

It's the TPC at Sawgrass, by the way.

That's what, okay.

I thought it was the waste management open because that's when all the drunk people yell, but that's just a different thing.

I love that one.

Yeah.

By the way, the Colts, before we move on, the Colts won today with a 39.0 pass rating.

That is the lowest of any Colts team in a win since 1989.

This is from Football Perspective on Twitter.

Here, just to give you, what does that mean?

What does 39.0 mean?

If you go 0 for 20 with zero interceptions in a game, you have a pass rating of 39.6.

So that's where they're at.

We move on.

Up next, we head to Cleveland, Mark Sessler.

What's going on in Cleveland?

Browns Giants, a star is born.

You know, here in Hollywood, I don't talk to my neighbors.

Everyone's hidden away.

Bags of cocaine, gun running, film shoots, minus clothing.

But the people of East Rutherford.

That's just what you're involved with.

That's just what I see.

But the people of East Rutherford are feeling very neighborly.

Annoying wordplay, but I had to go there.

The rookie, Malik, who single-handedly took over in the first half, leaping to turn a would-be interception into a massive gain gain before flipping a Daniel Jones overthrow into a touchdown.

He scored again on a brilliant grab the following possession, doing his part to help a Giants defense that left Cleveland in a void.

With Dexter Lawrence and his troops of Terra piling up eight sacks of Deshaun Watson behind a line missing four starters at one point, forcing two fumbles and leaving the Browns organization with booze raining down to ask, where is our hope?

After recovering the opening kick and scoring one play later, this offense was left battered and largely exposed.

The Giants are no treat, but they can say this after a 21-15 win.

In Malik, we've found a glowing orb.

This is a very special Odell-like player who changes that offense.

Ooh.

Ooh.

I see it.

I think so.

We talked about Odell.

In my lifetime, there are two wide receivers that truly jumped out.

I'm going to give Justin Jefferson that, too.

Justin Jefferson.

Randy Moss, Odell Beckham Jr.

We're putting him at that level potentially based on what you're seeing in this game?

I believe so.

I just see something about he's just transformative.

And like, this is, there's not much else happening in that offense without him.

And he just does things.

And he did multiple things a game that I thought broke Cleveland's spirit to some degree.

During the draft, I don't know, you know, there was the Giants had the offseason hard knocks thing.

And if you'd covered the team like I did, and you saw a player like Roma Dunze, you would just be like, oh, the Giants are going to draft him because that's the kind of guy they always pick.

And when,

you know, that person who's like stately and could run for office afterwards, they have like a ton of those guys that have come and gone from that franchise.

But the reason that you pick Malik Neighbors is because he's that total and complete alpha.

And there are very few like receiver alphas in the NFL, like guys who will take the ball away from other people, guys that you can just throw the ball up and 90% of the time that they'll just come down with it regardless of kind of how bad you throw it.

He's one of those guys, and I think that's what we really saw today.

I mean, that touchdown catch was absolutely bonkers, the way that he was able to get his feet inbound.

I don't even know how you can make your body do that.

That was per play of the day, I think.

ESPN Research Neighbors is the first player in NFL history with 20 catches and three receiving touchdowns in his first three games.

So he's off to a great start.

The Giants obviously desperately, desperately needed that win after two hyper frustrating losses to start the year.

And on the Browns side, you know, it happened again, Mark.

I flipped on this game late and there was a fourth and short situation,

key juncture in the game late in the fourth quarter where Watson takes the snap and he kind of scrambles and he spots a little daylight and he goes to pick it up with his legs and it's just not there.

Like he has to lead the league and attempts to scramble out of a muddy pocket only to be taken taken down from behind.

And to me, that just, again, points to there's just, he's lost that explosiveness as an athlete.

What else were you seeing from him in this movie?

I think that's a very good point because I see an increasing lack of trust in Deshaun Watson in certain situations.

And today is a bit special, and I'll get into it in a second, but they keep bringing Jameis Winston in on short yardage packages to do a variety of things.

And it's like, you've got what should have been like one of the league's great on-terra firma quarterbacks that can damage you in so many ways, and they're pulling them out of the lineup.

Like that to me is kind of mind-boggling.

Today, I will say this: like, even before all these injuries hit, he looked a little lost to me.

He made a couple plays, but at one point, Jed Wills was hurt.

Wyatt Teller, who's got a knee injury, I know what's going on there, he was ruled out.

James Hudson was gone.

Jack Conklin never played in this game.

Joel Battonio had a move to left tackle.

You've got no running back.

They had seven rushes for seven yards at halftime.

So you could argue, if you really wanted to, that there is a tremendous lack of support in front of Deshaun Watson, around him.

Amari Cooper had a great start to the game, and then he got, looked like he got hurt at the end.

So they're just, this is not a complete offense right now on any level, but Deshaun Watson adds to it.

He just seems to me to be a different human being than he was when he played for Houston.

I just think he is not special, and he is not able to save them.

Like a good quarterback can come and do a bunch of wild stuff.

This is not what Deshaun Watson can do.

His wild stuff are mistakes and gaffes and errors.

And the place is going, that stadium was absolutely bonkers in all the wrong ways.

They are losing their minds.

Because that's a game you need to have, even missing

all the guys you have.

If you're at home against a Giants team that everyone sees as a bottom five team, you've got to find a way to win that game.

And if they're not going to win that game, it's going to get really ugly.

And I think what you're saying about Watson, he was obviously brought in.

They mortgaged so much,

salary cap and otherwise, toward him to be this force multiplier.

A guy can lift a team up when they're beat up, but he just doesn't have that gear, it seems.

And that's a problem.

That is a problem.

Anything else, Mark, before we move?

You know, it's just to me, like, I don't think that you can assume that Daniel Jones is keepable.

We know he's not, but he looked functional with Malik in there.

He just did.

They looked different.

It opened up the run game for Devin Singledary, too.

So they came out looking like the better team.

And where we were two weeks ago, I wouldn't have thought that.

His pocket movement was night and day in in this game from maybe like two weeks ago.

I mean, there was that one third down that he picked up with Wandell Robinson that was, he almost looked like Joe Burrow-esque in that.

He has changed for sure.

One last thing on yes.

One last thing on neighbors.

You guys, but you, Mark, Dan, you guys picked neighbors to win Offensive Rookie of the Year when we did that prediction show.

And I was like, look, you know, the only time a quarterback doesn't win is when all the quarterbacks are bad.

And this quarterback class is so good.

It'd be pretty dang surprising if Caleb Williams or Jaden Daniels or one of these QBs doesn't win.

We're only three weeks into the year, but

I haven't looked at the books, but I would bet Neighbors has jumped to the top of the board.

I know Jaden Daniels was at the top before this week, so maybe since Washington hasn't played yet, he might still be at the top.

But Neighbors is gaining all the time.

He's got those highlight plays that get voters stirred up.

And he just looks like a special type of player.

Yep.

I can't wait to watch a tape.

Sess Dog, you know what we win if Neighbors wins?

I'd like to know.

Yeah, not a goddamn thing.

Oh.

Well, that's a matchup with how most of these things work.

To Tampa.

The Bone Nick's ascent is upon us.

The 24-year-old rookie quarterback for the Denver Broncos is developing on his own time, which we don't give enough credit for these days.

You know, maybe we're all not great in Little League when dad wants to show us off in front of his friends from the country club, or in high school when your head coach/slash failed insurance salesman questions your attendance and off-season weight training, or when Karen left left me when the money got tight and the hot Peloton body neighbors purchased a new Roomie Infinity for their golden doodle that stood center stage in that great Christmas card.

Anyway, Knicks was 25 of 36 for 216 yards and rushed for another 47 yards in a touchdown.

Denver won the coin toss, received the ball, and ripped down the field in this one.

Huge vote of confidence for Sean Payton in Bo Nicks, and Baker Mayfield was sacked seven times, offensive line banged up.

Had it not been for some super clever Liam Cohen running concepts to free up Bucky Irving in the second half, the stats here would have been very bleak for Tampa.

Wow, Bucky Irving nine for 70 in a big spot.

Yeah,

I saw that in a couple places that it was almost like revealed to be or portrayed to be brave that you would win the coin toss and elect to receive.

It's like,

but I guess it's so now understood that

you want that two bites of the apple at the end of each, you know, end of the second quarter and beginning of the the third where yeah that's you always like that but so connor what happened here is payton wanted to get his young quarterback out there and that kind of set the tone for the whole game as i understand it that opening script he looked electric and uh after the game a lot of the players had said like we weren't questioning the lack of aggression but we were wondering when we were going to come out and basically play like we had an offense and this was the first time that i think sean payton really was just like you know what just go out and do it and Bonex answered the call.

He's really, really good on the ground and I thought made some of his best throws.

One that could have had like throw of the first quarter pull of the season potential had the receiver gotten two feet inbounds there.

So really impressive overall for Bonex.

I saw that Patrick Sertan was lined up, you know, three quarters of the time on Mike Evans and

basically allowed Mike Evans to do almost nothing in this game.

And Evans has been, Godwin was masterful last week, but the two of them have been so unstoppable.

And it's opened up their ground game, which has been terrible for years, but better this year.

But then also, like, Baker on the ground, too, because even last week, like, if you looked at the yardage compilation, it's like you thought Tampa Bay would have gotten whacked by Detroit, but they found a way to make plays.

And

whenever I eyed this game, it was like Baker was getting dragged down on fourth and three at one point.

Like, they just weren't their offense.

And it kind of, it doesn't shake my confidence, but it does a little bit because this is kind of what everyone's like Baker made for such a tremendous season a year ago.

It's like it was a roller coaster ride when he was good.

He was really, really bakerish and enjoyable.

But the off games were team-centric and also sometimes himself.

So was he a different player in this game or was it just everything happening like around Baker Mayfield?

I think it was everything happening around Baker, and there were still times, even into the third quarter, where I thought Tampa was going to come back and win this.

And they did have that kind of tenor and that posture.

And it's weird.

I think like three games into the season, we are still at a point, kind of to what you guys were saying at the top of the show, where there can be just a bizarre curveball defensive game plan that still just absolutely ruins everything.

And, you know, people will say, oh, how come you can't overcome it?

It's if you don't practice for that, like or account for that, then it really is hard to work around.

Deshaun Watson said the same thing about the Giants, where this is not something that they were doing up until this point.

It messed us up.

And I think the same thing.

Vance Joseph had a really, really nice.

nice game plan here.

The Buccaneers were a little banged up in bad spots.

And even then, I thought that they were still really close to breaking back into this game at the end.

And yet they did not.

They played without Vita Vea, Kalijakansi in this game, and now they have the Eagles coming up next.

So the Bucs come down to earth a little bit, and now they'll get a gut check next week.

Anything else on this game, Connor?

I just think at this point, we'll see how Jaden Daniels does on Monday.

But how many more of these games does Bo Nix put together before he enters the conversation for best rookie quarterback so far.

I think this game was that good from him.

And in his defense, the first two games were very difficult matchups for any quarterback, let alone a rookie.

So, yeah, there's something to build on here for the Broncos.

Let's listen to a little Sean Payton, why don't we?

Kid's been confident.

This kid's been through Auburn.

He's transferred.

He's won and won and won and won.

And honestly, I haven't seen him flinch.

We all get a little bit more confident with a win,

but I say that respectfully.

He hadn't flinched.

And I think that

we had a good plan.

The players did a good job.

And

certainly he had more fun than he did in prior weeks.

I did this story on Bo before the draft, and it was really funny because we were talking about things that you've been through and, you know, as opposed to life things that are very difficult.

But I was like, what on the field, you know, has braced you for life in the NFL, which is kind of going to suck sometimes.

And he's like, well, I went to the school that my dad went to.

I broke my ankle, got benched, and then they basically fired me and sent me to Oregon.

So he's like, you know, after feeling like shit for a long time, you know, you have to pick yourself back up.

I mean, he's 24.

He's married.

He's like, he's been through the rigors of life.

And I do think he's a very interesting test case as a quarterback and a person, you know?

You know, Mark Sessler, a little adversity can do anyone a little good you know i don't i'd rather not face any

okay

let's take a break and when we return we'll close out the week three sunday slate

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All right, we're back.

Let's head to Seattle.

Sess dog, take it.

Finns vs.

12s.

Who knew?

Nobody wanted to play the Dolphins in week three, long before the wind and snow began to tumble.

But nobody, including the Seahawks, knew Skylar Thompson would be in the lineup, looking more like Hunter S.

Thompson in a sweat lodge.

He was battered around and ultimately knocked out of the lineup in favor of Tim Boyle.

In favor of, I'm not sure, fight as they might, Miami was cooked and vulnerable to Zach Charbonnet rumbling and Geno Smith slow dancing with DK Metcalf, who piled up 104 yards with a 71-yard scoring bomb.

But Seattle was sloppy.

Two picks for Geno, one batted as the clubs combined to go one for 17 on third down at one stage.

Miami suffered its second worst first half half defeat of the Mike McDaniel era.

Newbie Mike McDonald, though, has the NFC's final unbeaten team.

Seahawks 24, Dolphins 3.

This game felt very, very over, very, very quick, and then it kind of hung around.

It was a weird one, but never really in question.

The Dolphins, the AFC floats away with each passing hour until functional quarterback play returns to South Bay, to South Beach or South Bay.

Sure.

And, you know, that Skyler, what is the injury?

It's a chest injury.

Like, yeah.

I think they didn't say exactly, but it was questioned on the broadcast.

Like, did he, like, puncture a lung or something?

Like, he was lying down on the field, but did get up and walked off very gingerly.

So we don't know, but it was chest.

But I mean, you were kind of, you said it in jest a little bit, but it's true.

Like, this is the time where the Dolphins, you know, usually are playing their best football and they bank wins.

It's not a, obviously, there's a lot of reasons to be concerned concerned here.

And if we're going to be, if it's Tim Boyle season, I know Tim Boyle.

I've seen Tim Boyle play.

Tim Boyle,

I don't care.

Matt LaFleur couldn't make Tim Boyle a player, although maybe he could.

That's the thing.

This was the opposite of everything we talked about.

We're like, Mike McDaniel couldn't quarterback coach his way out of this one.

But we'll see.

I mean, because as long as Tua is missing time, there's going to be now doubt around this team.

Because based on everything I'm seeing here, you're not getting the big Tyreek game, the Waddle game.

HN is not doing much in this game.

And that really, you want to give credit, Mark, to Seattle for being 3-0, and they deserve that credit.

But this one was kind of put on a platter for him, it sounds like.

Yeah, and we did learn that it was Skylar Thompson with a rib injury.

So we'll see if he's back.

I will say one thing about the Seahawks, because I think, Connor, you were slightly fascinated by aspects of them in the opener.

I think this is like a well-coached team.

And I think that Ryan Grubb is trying to figure out how to get this offense to kind of move.

They didn't have Kenneth Walker, which makes a difference.

But Charbonnet came in, and down the stretch, like with a lead, he became a punishing runner when Miami was trying to hang around and turn this into like a one-score type situation.

So I think this is an interesting

factor in the NFC West because if you get...

good Gino in a running game, I think this defense, it wasn't just Skylar Thompson.

They found a way to keep everyone on Miami as a non-factor.

Like

Tyreek Hill had a one catch right before half.

He was shut out otherwise.

And it's like, it's still Tyreek Hill.

It's still a pro quarterback.

I know it's a second or third guy, but still Tyreek Hill.

It's still, Devon A.

Chan was in there.

And it's like, they were just, they've vanished for such a long period of time.

We're in the middle of a defensive switch in the NFL, which, you know, it was funny like when Mel Kuyper said that thing about the two high safeties.

This is really year three of that in the Vic Fangio defense.

And what's going to happen a year from now is everybody's going to be running a Mike McDaniel or Mike McDonald defense if they can figure out how to do it.

You know, we've already seen three or four Ravens coordinators get other jobs.

Miami has one, Tennessee.

And I think there's going to be a proliferation of that.

And it's going to be really interesting.

We're kind of going to shift in that direction.

And bully to the Seahawks.

They are 3-0,

but now it gets a little tighter.

They have...

At the Lions on Monday Night Football coming up next.

They also have Brock Purdy, Matt Stafford, and Josh Allen on the the schedule ahead.

So we're going to get a real clear idea of what kind of NFC contender Seattle is, if they are one at all.

But 3-0 is 3-0.

Anything else, Mark?

Nope.

I would suggest that you don't make this number one on your film-watching power rankings, but

I think you will like some Seahawks elements.

I hope you do.

I pray you do, Dan.

All right.

Well, thank you, and I pray as well.

All right, let's head to the desert.

Ironically, now it's Justin going back to Las Vegas to talk about Panthers, Raiders.

The only person having a longer day, I think, now than Justin is Antonio Pierce.

Let's get to it.

Yeah.

Ooh, jaunty.

You know, it's incredible what competent quarterback play can do to make an offense look functional.

And Andy Dalton was not just competent.

He was dealing in this game, tossing three touchdown passes before halftime as the Panthers went to Vegas and easily, easily took took care of business against what looked like frankly an overmatched Raiders team.

Carolina dominated the line of scrimmage on both sides of the ball, major shocker.

Taylor Moton essentially shut down Max Crosby and this game was pretty much never in doubt.

It felt like it was truly over though.

Midway through the third quarter, Antonio Pierce elects to go for it on fourth and two at his own 37 yard line, further highlighting how crazy and ridiculous it was back in week one when they didn't go for it on fourth down.

Failed to pick up this first down, and Carolina now cruises to victory from there, has a chance to turn their season around if they can get this level of play from the quarterback position.

Final score, Panthers, 36, Raiders, 22.

Now, I'm not saying the Panthers are going to be a playoff contending team.

I think they're going to be a friskier team that gives the good teams a tough fight week in and week out.

They played inspired football today, and I think the QB change is something that can invigorate an entire roster.

Like your defense plays harder because they know that they're going to get some support from the offensive side versus thinking, like, what's the point of getting a stop?

We're just, we're not, we're just going to punt it in three plays anyway.

Andy Dalton today, first quarterback this season to throw for 300 yards and three touchdowns in the same game.

Wow.

I mean, this, listen, this is, we're talking, bro, we're talking the NFC South here.

An 0-2 start does not doom anybody when you play in the NFC South.

And

this is, I thought that Bryce Young was having a bad week last week.

This Sunday is even worse because when Andy Dahl goes right down the field gravedigger and scores, it's like, yeah, that whole team perks up.

I'm just like, oh, wait, so we actually have a chance.

Because it's easy to forget now, but they did put some money into this team and built out some areas of the roster that were particular

trouble areas in their lost 2023.

But it felt like with Young, the playing way he was, they just didn't have any hope.

And Dalton, which I kind of like, Mark, because I feel like we've been following Andy Dalton forever, the glowing ginger man, him bringing hope is a good thing.

Maybe the best of things.

Suddenly, you've got a 100-yard rusher, a 100-yard receiver, and a 300-yard passer, and the defense is making plays.

And you'd cut to the sideline, and everyone was just up on their feet.

And it kind of reminds me in a weird way of what happened under Pierce for the Raiders at the end of last season, where this dejected roster felt life.

But this is really because now we can scout and see what the Panthers really are on offense with a functional quarterback.

And I wouldn't be surprised if, you know, by the end of tomorrow, Tepper comes out and says, I actually did make, I did suggest the quarterback.

Tepper be talking.

Yes, because it was smart.

And I want to let you know.

Tepper be taking credit, you're saying.

Yes, yeah.

Yeah.

And Connor, you saw the report, I'm sure, that service threw out the weekend that teams were making phone calls to the Panthers about Bryce Young.

I don't know who's leaking that story and whose best interests are

behind that.

But at the same time, it's like we're not seeing Bryce Young anytime soon with Carolina Panthers unless Dalton gets hurt now.

I love this idea that

maybe Andy Dalton was he was like

Andy Dalton in his era, but then he got like frozen in time, forgotten about, and now he's like thawed out in this era of less good quarterbacks, and he's like this apex predator here.

Like, you know what I mean?

Like, like that.

Well, kind of like Flacco last year a little bit.

Yes.

Yeah.

Yeah.

Yep.

Yeah.

I mean, why not?

I mean,

it's starting to feel like a weird year if Dalton becomes the new Flacco and all of a sudden, you know, Let's not get ahead of ourselves, but if the Panthers are seven and five, I wouldn't be absolutely stunned to put it that way uh and on the raiders side it's like christ let's listen to antonio pierce after this game i don't think it was a team it was i think there was definitely some individuals that made business decisions and will make business decisions going forward as well

he's talking about business decisions the big interim coach energy flopping around there i'm sorry yeah um Gardner Minshew threw a really bad interception with about five minutes left in this game.

I don't know if he was not on the same page as Devontae Adams or if it was just a missed throw, but it was like right into the stomach of the cornerback as Devontae was looking the other way.

And he did not come back into the game after that.

They put Aiden O'Connell in.

And I don't know if this was a benching where it's like, you haven't played well enough today.

So let's throw.

Or if it's like, we're down 34 to 14 or whatever, 36 to 14, I think.

So we're just going to go put.

the rook or the second year quarterback in and see if I'm sure they asked him, right?

I'm sure they asked Pierce.

They did.

And O'Connell led a touchdown drive.

Didn't look terrible.

The game game was way over at that point, but I do think there were some business decisions.

Like I said, Max Crosby was shut out.

He made a couple plays in the first quarter where he was in the backfield

doing the usual Crosby havoc.

But from then on, it was like, where's Max Crosby?

Well, where is this underrated defense that just stopped Baltimore?

Like, what happened to the Raiders?

Are you insinuating that Max Crosby was making business decisions?

I'll let him know that you said that.

Yes.

I don't think so because he made a play in the first quarter where I was like, oh, this is defensive player of the year level Max Crosby.

And then

they like ran screens right at him.

They chipped him a lot.

They ran at him on the ground and just did a lot of things to keep him from having a big impact on the team.

They did show Devontae Adams

was the first half ending and he's just sitting there on the bench looking like it's a thousand yard stare into deep space.

And like I wouldn't be surprised he's doing that at other times too.

Not saying he's one of the business decision guys, but like why is he on this team?

And I mean, we've asked that a hundred times, but it's like at some point, like, this just doesn't make a lot of sense for future.

I mean, he was awesome last Sunday.

I know he's awesome, but it's kind of,

if they're going to lose games like that, they get floored today.

Like, as surprising as it was that the Panthers pulled this off, like, after what they did to Baltimore, like, Las Vegas, this is a.

Dude, the Panthers might be going to the Super Bowl, dude.

Well, that would be actually like before we write off the Raiders, maybe they just ran into a juggernaut tonight because

Andy Dalton's in the house.

Oh, give me a good one.

Give me a real good one sending us into Sunday Night Football.

Go.

Keep out in.

Beautiful.

To Sunday Night Football.

Sunday night.

Ah, yes, there was one game left on the Sunday schedule.

It was in Atlanta at Mercedes-Benz Stadium, and it was the defending champion Kansas City Chiefs.

Once again, back against the wall in the final seconds.

But my goodness, the Kansas City Chiefs are inevitable.

With the Falcons knocking on the door at the chance to go ahead, they get a stuff of Bijan Robinson, and it's Nick Bolton shooting the gap minus three on a fourth and one carry.

And it was the difference in a 22-17 win for Kansas City, which improves to 3-0.

on the season.

You know, Mark, even if none of those three wins I would label as dominating or aesthetically beautiful or even overly impressive, they have reached this stage.

I'm watching the game with my son, Harrison, and he's thinking the Falcons have a chance to win.

And I'm like, just wait.

The Chiefs are inevitable.

They'll find a way to get it done.

They always do.

And it is like the Nick Boltons and the Drew Tranquils.

And if they were like a middle-of-the-road team, like casuals wouldn't really even know who those guys were.

Except don't all these games feel like the Super Bowl just over and over where it's like tight, it's uncomfortable, like they've got a bunch of guys banged up, there's light for the other team.

And then to your point, like it's inevitable that Nick Bolton blasts through and stuffs B.

John Robinson.

You know, Drew Tranquil was making life so difficult for Kirk Cousins.

And you've got two Falcons drives that die deep in Chiefs' territory.

And it's another game where, I'm sorry, but it's like, I know there were, in theory, like some makeup calls, but the DPI, that was a clear DPI on Pitts.

And it's like, you're for the Falcons, like, you've got to just look back.

Like, there was a Super Bowl where people were doing that.

So it's like, you're looking back and just being like, how do you stop this team?

And if I'm at this point,

Andy Reid, it's like, take your Shanahan tree and stick it up your butt.

No matter what happens to us, we find a way out of the darkness and the Chiefs win ugly.

They know how to win pretty.

They know how to win ugly.

And we have no way.

You're watching the Falcons.

You have no idea if the Falcons can pull this off.

There's like no question that the Chiefs can pull it off.

Connor, the play that Mark is referring to, it's a third and five at the Kansas City six-yard line.

There's 4-12 to play in the fourth quarter.

Kirk Cousins lining up at a shotgun, targets Kyle Pitts.

He is

mugged pretty good by Cook, but the flags don't come out.

They still have one more chance after that on a fourth and five, but that gets blown blown up as well.

That pass wasn't really competitive.

But yes, very clearly, and Chris Collinsworth backed it up on the telecast from his vantage point that that was pass interference and yet it was not called.

And the people that are sick of the Chiefs, quote-unquote, getting calls, have another one to add to the ledger.

They do, but it's almost like don't

do like split back on fourth and one with the game on the line and have your backup running back as your lead blocker against the best best sideline-to-sideline tackling team in the NFL.

Like,

the reason that the Chiefs won the Super Bowl last year is because they are the best tackling in space team in the league.

They have the best players to bring down guys like Christian McCaffrey, guys who are really good at working in space.

While we would have hated any play call that wasn't successful, that one felt overly cute.

And I feel like it masks the point that like Kansas City not only maybe gets the calls, but they also force their opponents into making some pretty ridiculous, overly complicated decisions as well.

Yeah.

And it's fair to say that Kirk Cousins, this version of Kirk Cousins, who obviously does not move at all,

he's still on some level working his way back from the Achilles tear.

And maybe he never, maybe this is just his mobility at this stage.

But speaking of Collinsworth, he also pointed out on that fateful fourth and one on the following drive, because the defense of Atlanta does a good job getting the stop, getting the ball back.

They move down the field with the help of some penalties.

They're in a third and one,

and Tyler Algier gets stuffed for no gain, fourth and one.

And, you know, some teams, many teams, most teams, you have the option of a QB sneak.

But creaky old Kirk Cousins coming off the Achilles.

Whenever you're in the situation, Justin, where you can't call plays because of the quarterback's physical limitations, it's not great, and it helps the defense that much.

And

a Kansas City defense that always seems to rise to the moment doesn't need any more advantages.

I mean, in that situation, it's almost like the QB sneak is automatic.

They were fourth and inches, yet Algier was technically stopped for no gain, but he got it right to the line.

And if you can't go to like the most automatic short-yardage play, I know they don't have the Eagles tush-push or whatever magic, but I feel like that is a very convertible QB sneak play.

Like, is there a conversation about bringing in Pennex, the way the Browns randomly bring in Jameis Winston?

And like, yeah, you're telegraphing to the other team that this is probably a QB sneak, but you can still not, you can still just fake them out and hand it off.

Like, I don't know.

Also, another note on the Chiefs' defensive penalty thing.

Like, yes, that first one was an obvious pass interference that they missed, but then they flagged Kansas City three times on this drive.

Illegal hands to the face, pass interference, horse collar tackle.

It's like the refs maybe missed one, but they were.

That type of logic drives me nuts.

Like, that's, that doesn't, first of all, at least a horse collar, that was a good call, I thought.

But it doesn't make up for the fact that you got to throw.

And look, the Chiefs just got a DPI that you should have thrown the flag, and they threw the flag, and that allowed them to get past Cincinnati.

That should be first and goal from the one-yard line, so you could throw a bunch of laundry on the ensuing drive.

But the Falcons, like I said, their defense had to get off the field to even get that opportunity.

That very well could have been if the Chiefs' offense was at all functional.

And Travis Kelsey of 2024 didn't operate like a sloth in terms of his speed and movement on the field,

they don't even get the ball back.

And again, with the Chiefs markets, the offense,

it just seems to lack that extra gear.

And I know they're missing Isaiah Pacheco, and that's

a big deal.

And you got good things out of Rice in this game.

But the Travis Kelsey element of this thing continues now to build up to me in terms of, okay, is this just who he is now?

And if that's who he is, we're already missing Hollywood Brown.

Like, Xavier Worthy has now been very quiet for two games.

Is there going to be enough here to make the Chiefs consistently good on offense, or are we talking about the same things again?

I think we could be talking about the same things if you're going to keep missing people like this, but it's also the team that decides to plug in Carson Steele, who I like Carson Steele, like in theory for

who we've seen so far.

Well, we know you like Carson Steele, Mark.

We get it.

I know you're saying that I think he's like Peyton Hillis part two or something, but

I think he's the kind of example where

this is a player that struggles in another system.

Tonight he's productive, and they're able to...

with missing bodies, pull off drives of 17, 13, 11, and 11 plays.

They were like dominating time of possession at one point until the Falcons kind of got back into this thing.

And I think they know, and they knew before we did, that in a, you know, a couple years ago, this is a night where Kelsey has 14 targets, nine catches, 98 yards, and three touchdowns in the red zone.

And that's not who this player is anymore.

And they're working their way around it.

But

they're like what the old Patriots were.

It's like, we'll take the first month and figure out what we are on offense.

And with Patrick Mahomes, it's like, cool.

I guess I just trust sports and I trust the Chiefs to make this all work.

Even when Harrison Butker decides to miss a PAT and like, you know, Rasheed Rice is in and out of the lineup.

It's like,

they are inevitable.

It's the perfect word for it.

And this is the kind of game where if you're the Falcons, you cannot make a mistake.

You can't make those little mistakes.

You can't have your run game nullified by the fact that you know it's going to go to Bijan in that critical situation at the end because your quarterback is completely ineffective on the ground.

Yeah, it's good when you could be figuring out yourself and be undefeated.

And that's where the Chiefs are after three games.

We have two games to play on Monday.

And just so everyone knows, we will be there for you, as we always are at Heed the Call, recapping both games.

Only one mark true primetime game.

I just want to make that clear.

I sniffed that out on the Thursday show,

if you check that out.

But yes, Jacksonville and Buffalo are playing football on Monday, but that's in the Wheel of Fortune window.

The Washington-Cincinnati tilt will be played in primetime.

So two more games, and we'll have the recap for those games.

Any other thoughts before we sign off, gentlemen?

Yeah, we'll have the recap for those games back on youtube because they tried to take us down but they failed nebulose very highly nebulous what happened to our youtube feed over the weekend but uh thank you to uh our underdog compadres for helping to sniff out the issue and justin for staying on top of things

uh to get youtube back up and we hope it doesn't happen again uh connor we hope you have yes they are starting to become uh tangible real figures that have struck multiple times so

You wonder who they are and why they might be looking to slow down

us and what that says about them.

That's all.

Connor, if there's something, a little deep dive there for a long form down the line, maybe we could do a conversation after the show.

I'm just still trying to get over how bad I feel for Arthur Blank losing on Arthur Blank night.

And my favorite thing.

I mean, he got into the ring of honor, finally.

Incredible.

It's an amazing thing.

How do you?

That's an amazing thing.

Usually the team and you just got into the ring of honor.

But also, like, there was a board meeting where

it was decided Arthur Blank's in the ring of honor.

Like, usually I'm of the mind, like, I'll use Pete Rose as an example.

Like,

if you're going to eventually put Pete Rose in the Hall of Fame, don't wait till he's dead to put him in the Hall of Fame.

Like, put him in the Hall of Fame so warts and all, the man can enjoy, you know, his, his, uh what he did as a professional but Arthur Blank it's like do you need to do this now like can't you be celebrated you know 10 20 years down the line you're you're the owner like you're throwing yourself your own ring of honor party that is I mean there's something very falcons about the whole thing and maybe that's why I had 170% confidence that the Chiefs were going to get out of that building with a win no doubt I think every owner like the I think like the Haslam should put themselves in the ring of honor at this point just Just like, let's really dial this up and get as obscene as possible with the

notion.

Good idea.

Good idea.

Okay.

Thank you to everybody

for checking us out.

And we'll see you next week.

A whole new row of shows.

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