NFL 2025 Week 4 Preview + TNF Recap

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All All right, Mark.

Week four preview, and it's got a theme.

I call it reputation amputation.

What was that?

What, this?

Reputation amputation.

Okay, stop doing that, please.

Week four is all about reputation amputation.

Okay, I'm leaving now.

Ah, you're no fun.

Week four preview, let's go.

Heyo!

Heed the call

Thursday night football recap week four preview Dan hands us here with Mark Sessler, Connor or Justin Graeber on the ones and twos

And yes Mark we're gonna get to every game on the week four schedule, but let's start with a game that's already been played in the desert

Seattle Seahawks 23 Arizona Cardinals 20.

And

I don't want to tinfoil hat this thing.

But, you know,

we go back, Connor as well, way back

the primordial ooze of Thursday night football

on NFL Network when they launched that.

Yes, young ones, there was a time where there was no Thursday night football, only on Thanksgiving.

And back then, all the games were on NFL Network.

It was a huge draw for the network.

And all the games are terrible.

As we've said on this podcast for years, it felt like it was Titans versus Jaguars every single week.

And now that we've entered into this new era of Thursday nights where,

you know, Amazon spent a trillion dollars to get the package.

I'm not saying that the games are, you know, there's a little funny business going on, but is it interesting that even an old school Thursday, 2014 Thursday night game all of a sudden turns into a WWE match and it gets the 2020?

And And then it's like, all right, but we still got to let the Seahawks win this game, but we're going to get the eyeballs on it because Bezos demands it.

Anybody, am I crazy?

Or is there something else going on here?

Connor, SI cover story?

Yay or nay.

Let's get to the bottom of this thing.

I'm down.

Let's save me from staying up until midnight to watch a game between the Seahawks and the Cardinals.

But in all seriousness, yeah, this was a game that was a snoozer.

It was, not if you're a Seattle fan, they were in total control defensively.

We talked about this going into the game.

This is a team people are kind of sleeping on a little bit.

Their defense is stellar.

Their offense is figuring it out.

Darnold's playing at a very high level of quarterback.

And the way they're able to, the Cardinals seemingly come from the dead and score those two touchdowns,

give them credit.

I will say the kicker, was it Ryland on the

kickoff that went out of bounds?

Right.

That's a thing.

This is

the new world order with the landing zone, and they're trying to kick the dirty ball, the dirty ball that they hope to skip over the 20, between like the 20 and the 15.

So the kick returner has to pick it up and it

jacks up their return game.

But if you fall short, the ball goes on the 40, so they didn't have to go very far, especially mark in today's NFL where the kickers bang them from

55 plus with regularity.

Easy for me to say.

You kind of knew,

well, I don't know.

Like, I am wrong so often watching these games, but I kind of was like, oh, well, Sam Darnold, if anything, has been efficient and accurate tonight.

You knew the game was kind of over at that point.

But like, to your, to your, what you're saying about, wait a minute, this whole game felt like we were going to have one conversation and it was going to be pretty dark around the Cardinals.

And then it kind of obviously switched.

And we can talk about individuals and that, like the Marvin Harrisons of the world and the Kyler Murrays.

And it kind of switched, but I don't think, it always takes one or two moments, right?

And the Jackson Smith and Jigba holding call where he is, you know, dragged, someone falls on top of him on what was a touchdown run by the Seahawks, and they nullify that.

That to me was not a holding call, but I'm not an um or an official, but so it was not to me.

Then their very amazing Seahawks kicker Myers like misses a field goal.

Had either of those things gone in a more just direction, like we're not talking about the Cardinals having the end of the game situation they did that even leads to that kickoff.

Like, it just the game.

My point, exactly.

Well, right, the whole thing just switched.

And I think that you're right.

That

because I was telling Connor before we signed on here that, like, I am the fool.

And I've been doing this forever.

We're like, you know, that I want to see a game finished in like two hours and 12 minutes.

I will chase that my whole life.

And the game script here, the speed of it was swift.

It was beautiful.

It felt very Thursday night-ish.

And then it's like, wait a minute, we're going to overtime now.

And, you know, I'd sent a nuclear bomb sound drop for Justin to play where I was going to shoot the Cardinals into the sun forever as my pet project, another failed pet project.

And I can't even play it now because they come, of course, they come crawling in.

I mean, they're still a failed pet project, by the way.

But, you know, but not to the degree they were like at halftime where it was like every whole nation sees that this is the same thing.

They'll continue, Connor, to suck in people like Mark that still think, oh, but there it is.

There it is.

There's something there.

See?

That's their magic potion.

Go ahead, Connor.

Before we get too far down that road, though, I do want to defend the Cardinals kicker because I feel like they had like the boner cam on him after that moment that he incurs the penalty.

But

if you think about it, if you mess that up, it's only five yards difference from the touchback.

And so for me that's not really a risk not worth taking i mean you know doesn't it look like a weird doesn't it look like a weird kick though like from the angle of this

strange

two things first of all i don't know what it is but but apparently nfl coaches feel the same there's something a big difference between 40 and 35.

i don't know it just seems that way but it's really not you're absolutely correct the other thing right kind of it's like It's hard to do what these kickers are now being asked to do.

Like, I'm happy.

I think they've done a good job, the league.

They've kind of figured this out a little bit to make it a play again.

But they used to just blast it through the end zone.

Now they're being asked by their special teams coach and their head coach to kind of like coffin corner these things.

And you see it every week now with multiple games.

And it's not just

coffin cornering, right?

We have like three different kinds of styles that are emerging.

You have like the knuckleball that we saw from Cardi and the Rams.

There's like more of the high arching one.

And there's a couple different ones where it's almost Wakefield-esque, right?

You want a different spin on the ball.

You want a different rotation on the ball, and there's a lot to it.

So, I don't think it was just the kick.

I don't think it was just the spot, it was also the accent that you want to have on that ball.

So, there's a lot on these guys' plates.

It's a tough job.

Can we get on Gannon a little bit?

I know you could easily debunk it

by saying, well, it wouldn't have mattered.

Well, it's the fallacy of the predetermined outcome.

But

if they go down the field as Seattle did and kick the field goal, it's not going to matter if you're up one or tied.

But I'm not going to, you never know how the team, how anything changes.

I think they go for two there.

I think you go for two.

I think

that's how to live life, man.

That's how you heed the call.

And when you wipe out the deficit that Arizona does there in such an unlikely manner,

touchdown, missed field goal, touchdown, the building's up for grabs.

Seattle's reeling.

Kyler's got his confidence back.

Guys are making plays.

I really wish they would have gone for it.

If for no other reason, for the drama of it, this was a night where we haven't had this much melodrama around a Cardinals wide receiver since Jerry Maguire and the Cuba Gooding Jr.

character.

Like,

the Marvin Harrison soap opera was what an emotional, like, three-act story.

How amazing would it have been if he makes the big play to win it on the two-point conversion?

It's one of those things, like, ah, we never got it.

Johnny Gannon, I bet he'll think about that tonight when he goes to the next one.

Or do you go for two after Harrison changed his night by scoring the touchdown in the previous drive?

I believe is what the guide tells you to do.

Down 14, go for two.

The first time, if you don't get it, you can go for it again.

He chooses to kick two extra points.

A little bit old school thinking there from Gannon.

I'm more upset that he didn't have...

double coverage on Jackson, Smith, and Jigba in the final drive.

He was electric throughout that entire game.

Him and Sam Darnold had a mind-meld.

Well, in the second half.

In the second half.

And who else is he going to trust with a ball that deep that's going to cross midfield and get them into field goal range?

I mean, there was a safety coming over the top to help, but he's not going to get there in time, especially on a route that's going towards the opposite sideline.

And so for me, I mean, that was the biggest call, right?

You're a defensive-minded head coach.

You're betting on yourself to call the right set of plays to keep them out of field goal range, and that's on you.

I mean, not going for it, and then that's the situation you get yourself in.

They, yeah, because I think Jackson, like

really quiet early, but you know, that's going to change.

And on this money drive where,

and I, and Dan, you've been the Darnold hive.

Um, you know, you've been renting out space.

You own, you own the space, but um, Sam Darnold, I thought

it was another night where he proved that he's just another one of these quarterbacks that just simply has grown.

He's just grown.

Like, I think he's such a confident runner of the offense.

Like, it really gives me hope that they could go and compete and beat almost anyone.

And tonight should not have ended the way it did.

That's a good lesson for a young Seattle coach and a team like that.

But, like, Darnold can win you games in this division.

They're built to beat this division.

And it got a little tight tonight.

But, like, I think a year ago, I was like, is this Darnold thing sort of like, I don't know, like, I'm kind of trying to buy into it, but it's hard.

Like, I'm bought in now.

I mean, they,

he has this amazing year with Minnesota, and then it gets ruined with two games against the Lions.

And it's almost like he had to start over again from a public relations side of it.

A lot of teams could have had Darnold this offseason.

It was the Seattle Seahawks that come down with him.

And he does, I think what stands out to me is that he looks, considering they just played their fourth game, he looks so comfortable in this Skubiak offense.

They have familiarity with each other.

And yeah, I just think this team, what we talked about going into this game, fourth quarter meltdown, notwithstanding, not even really a meltdown.

Arizona just kind of woke up and it turned into a fun division game.

But like, they're really built to win games and win games in January.

I think if you're a Seahawks fan, you're feeling very good about this team's upside as we spin forward.

Reminds me of, I mean, set up like a Rams-type offense where I don't think a lot of this is going to look spectacular until it has to.

I think the defense is going to backstop them.

But when they need to generate explosive 10 to 15-yard-plus plays, they're able to do it.

I think there were five different receivers with at least a 16-yard catch in this game for Seattle, and that's just a tremendous, and it just feels automatic when they need it in the moment.

Two quick things before we take a break and then get into the rest of the week for the preview.

Love the

pissed dad

game game official moment after that JSN hold, which for the record, the

rules analyst backed up and said it was the right call, but I understand people had different viewpoints.

I didn't love him.

Sorry, but I did not love him.

Whatever.

He's been doing it for years, but like that was, there wasn't even a great look at that hold.

And like he's like, well, that was a very good call.

He had his hand around.

Come on, the guy's falling on me.

He's looking out for it.

Yeah, they look out for each other sometimes, it feels like.

Anyway, here is JSN hot mic as the official.

Who is the official?

Is that two?

Is it Chevers?

No, I don't know.

It looked like Mike McDonald's brother.

Justin, can you look this up?

Put some respect on this man's name.

You see, Jackson Smith and Jig, because I can't do it,

speaks into the open mic and gets the most disappointed slash.

You know, when your dad was pissed at you, but it was in a public setting, like at a party, and you knew you were going to get buried when you're in the car on the way home?

Well, this was like two weeks ago in my world, but yeah.

But in public, they can only give you the look.

Alex Kemp, that sounds right.

All right, play it.

That's for the YouTube audience.

It was right in front of the bowl barrier.

Just waiting to learn the car.

Just waiting to learn the car.

Amazing.

All right.

And Mark, congratulations.

Well, sweating this one out.

You know, like, I want to say I spent most of the game thinking that Kyler Murray, I thought a couple things were going to happen very quickly that drew petsing would be fired on tuesday um that kyler murray would feel more like the guy friend you had that like breaks up with the girlfriend and but it that they've been living together but then still lives there for six more months but you know at some point they're gonna tear apart um but then it all changed so but i got my locks tell me about

well because it was like i was like i was like i got this thing in the bag and it's thursday night then it's like it all seemed like it was heading in the other direction i was becoming more um

mystified with my own choices.

Okay,

well, congratulations on locking this one up.

You're getting to relax for the rest of the weekend.

Okay.

All right.

Like I said, take a quick break, stay right there, and it's week four preview time, baby.

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All right, we are back, and it is now time with Thursday Night Football in the rear view to dive into

all of week four.

I have a,

I was thinking about this, boys.

Week four, four look at the schedule and i have it i have a phrase i have a slogan for week four okay all right

because

mark you know me

you know what makes a big man you know no you know what makes the yin and the yang of the show right in some ways like you know what makes us sing um you fall in love quickly

yes i do

um and i i tend to keep my guard up a little bit like a like a puppy left on the side of the road in a cardboard box.

Like it takes me a little bit longer to kind of open my heart up to a team, right?

And that's why I call

this week Reputation Amputation Sunday,

because there's a lot of games on this schedule, both from a team perspective, in terms of how they've presented.

in the first three weeks, where that could be turned on its ear.

And then for us in the anal, you know, in the analyst community, we put ourselves out there with certain teams.

So like, I'm just going to quick rundown, Connor.

And I know you love this too.

To me, this is always like, more than anything else, I just like storylines and seeing how the storylines play out, you know?

So like the Browns defense, is it special?

Send him to f ⁇ ing Detroit.

Let's see.

You know what I mean?

Ask the test.

Yep.

Jackson Dart.

Should he really be starting?

Let's see him against the Chargers.

One of the best teams in the league.

Are the Bucs actually elite?

Are they they a real 3-0?

Send the Eagles down there.

The Texans, biggest bust in the NFL.

Well, let's see if they can beat the finging Titans at home.

How bad is this, really?

Colts, the biggest surprise in football.

Send them out west to face the Rams.

Chiefs deserve the top 10 ranking that they still have in the HTC power rankings.

Then go ahead and hold serve at home against the Baltimore Ravens.

Reputation, amputation Sunday in the NFL.

Sunday, Sunday, Sunday.

What do you think, Connor?

I love it.

This is a revival Sunday for me after the bloodthirsty networks kind of sucked all of the talent out of these last few core days on the NFL calendar.

So I'm excited.

I mean, this is going to be, what, there's five, six really good games on Sunday as opposed to a primetime heavy slate, which I prefer.

And for that,

it's not a bit.

It's a good point.

Like, it's kind of like week two times two.

Like, we're learning a lot more, and it is like the old electrochool-ate acid test.

And you didn't have to stretch there.

Everything you mentioned was a legitimate any of my bits, Mark.

I never have to stretch on any of them.

That also is true.

It's 1986, Don Mattingly at first.

It's coming easy.

It is the same as that.

Six teams remain undefeated.

Six teams are winless.

Remember, it was 10 and 10 last week.

We have one matchup of 3-0 teams, two matchups of undefeated versus winless, two matchups of 0-3 teams, two matchups of top 10 power rank teams, and two Monday night games.

How about that?

We're going to start this week on the late, late window Sunday.

So let's dive in.

Let's start.

Where do we want to start?

Where do we want to?

Mark, you've got us going.

What game?

We got four to choose from.

Where do you want to start?

Well,

to me, the game of the week, and you, as you mentioned, is Ravens and Chiefs.

That's where I'd like to start.

And to me, it really is a Kansas City issue because it sounds like Xavier Worthy, who practiced in full today, will be back.

So what kind of difference does that create for the Kansas City Chiefs?

I almost feel like this is the week where, like, no matter who they play, it feels like the game of the week.

I'm ready to move them out of that category if they crumble here.

And if they're, and I, I, like, as a sports in the analyst community, I get annoyed when I hear people say, like, this player is fun to watch or this team is fun to watch.

I get where you're coming from, but I'm an adult male.

So, like, I'm watching this and like taking notes and observing the way that Mark does.

But like, the Chiefs literally do fall into the category where like, you have not been fun to watch.

Like, maybe if you trade for Alvin Kamara and Tyreek Hill, you become fun to watch.

But does Xavier Worthy change all of that?

And if you're the bolt.

No, go on.

I don't think he does.

I don't think he does, but I think Xavier Worthy gets you closer to what the Chiefs were trying to grow and change with their passing game in the offseason, where we're going to get deeper shots downfield.

We're going to get more aggressive offensive approaches.

But this is a team that I feel like cannot impose their will on the ground.

They've got...

issues in the air, obviously.

And it's like, does it come down to getting Derrick Henry to fumble the ball for the fourth game in a row?

They play these close games.

Like you, you know, last week you doubled them up in the lock competition.

I thought that was kind of

hazardous.

Like they pulled it off, but this is not a team that blows teams away.

And the Ravens, despite a rough schedule out of the gate, seem like two times as powerful to me as anything the Chiefs are offering up right now.

I mean, think of it this way, Connor.

One of these teams is going to be one and three

after essentially the quarter pole mark of the season.

And yeah, like in the old days, I'd be very confident about Kansas City

at home in this spot.

But I just think the Ravens, especially the nature of their two losses, I think we're going to get a pissed-off, locked-in Ravens team.

I think the Chiefs are in a lot of trouble in this game.

Where do you come down on it?

Yeah, I think that the Chiefs are in trouble, but I also think that one and three is a little more perilous, actually, for Baltimore than it is Kansas City, because I still think in the back of Kansas City's mind, you do have a help is on the way scenario.

Like Rashi Rice changes this offense and probably instantly makes it a top seven or a top eight offense in terms of efficiency in the NFL.

You know that that's coming.

What Baltimore is dealing with right now, I mean, you had Kyle Hamilton defending Zach Orr this week and the criticism of him, no relation to the Ravens defensive coordinator.

And I think you had the Derrick Henry just looking like his body was betraying him after that fumble on the sideline.

Like Like I'd never seen him devoid of confidence before, even worked up emotionally.

And so I think that that has a potential to cause more damage.

Whereas if the Chiefs lose, I mean, yes, at some point, these losses are going to mount and take them out of contention.

But I still think that this team is in, let's just chill and hang on until we get all of our reserves back mode.

Yeah, I see.

I see where you're coming from.

And of course, if, let's say, Tyreek Hill or another offensive player enters the fray via trade with Rashi Rice, we might be talking totally different about the Chiefs.

So maybe just hold serve until we get to November.

But one other thing, the Chiefs' run defense has been terrible.

I really, I buy into Derrick Henry going on a rampage in this game.

I understand the last two weeks he has not looked like Derrick Henry.

He's had the fumbles all three weeks.

I think this could be a signature type Henry performance against a Casey defensive front that has faltered so far this year, like a buck 60 and two or three touchdowns type game.

I think the Ravens win this game.

I can't believe I'm saying this, but I believe it.

I think the Ravens are going to win this game easily, and it's going to be the move that I'll do a Mia Culpa when we do power rankings on Monday night.

And in general, you're going to see the divide between these two teams when you look at the hierarchy in the AFC.

I agree with you.

On the Derrick Henry front, He is averaging 5.9 yards per carry.

If you take the turnovers that have happened in island games and key situations, like like he is still Derrick Henry.

The thing we haven't talked about is that the Ravens defense, which you just kind of psychologically assume is very strong, they're giving up the second most points per game in the league right now.

Now, you've played the Lions and the Bills, so that factors in.

But they're missing Matabuke.

They're missing Kyle Van Neu this week, it sounds like.

These are key guys that have gone down on a defense that has struggled mightily.

The question is, can the Chiefs really take advantage of that?

They need to find a way to extend drives.

Right now, they're 20th in the NFL in plays per game.

If they can't keep Lamar Jackson off the field, they're not going to win this game.

And it's funny how many times we've said that flipped around, where you have to keep Mahomes off the field.

In this case, I think just how banged up they are, they need to sustain drives.

I mean, that's the one thing that, I mean, one of many things that Kansas City hasn't done well this year.

The Ravens, despite two losing records, the number four team in our power rankings against the number nine team.

And again, one of those teams will be one and three.

I'll dig in on the next game.

The number 12 Colts, 3-0, at the number 7 Rams, 2-1, Reputation Amputation Sunday.

This is the one that I'm really pumped about, Connor.

And to the golden retriever on the side of the road, Corollary,

I've been holding back on the Colts, and you

have not.

I think, and you diagnosed this or predicted this before the season, that things were set up well if Daniel Jones can stay upright and play within this offense for them to overperform.

And they certainly have done just that.

So now, let's be real, Connor.

Very soft schedule overall to start the season.

So putting them on the road outside the dome against a very good Los Angeles defense, specifically their front seven.

I really, really am excited to see how the Colts function in this environment because if they go to LA and they take care of business and get off to 4-0, this is one of the biggest stories, if not the biggest story in the AFC.

This is a more amoebic defensive front than Daniel Jones has faced before.

And I think that they've given a lot of people fits.

Now, they won't be able to do, I don't think, the Rams a lot of what they've been able to do against other teams because you have Jonathan Taylor.

And that's the threat that kind of keeps everybody a little bit static and he's running the ball so well.

But I saw this stat yesterday that was just blew my mind.

Daniel Jones on third down has to convert an average of like four and a half yards.

So by the time that he gets to the most critical downs in all these games, all the hard work has already been done for him.

And Daniel Jones can run, he can take off.

It's easier for him to get these first downs and to sustain more drives.

So for me, it's that little chess match here.

It's like, what are the Rams going to do with respect to

Jonathan Taylor?

And how is that going to impact Daniel Jones?

ability to just keep getting in third and easy.

And it's been incredible how well they've been able to do that so far.

Yeah, this Colts team, I mean, I think to the Shane Steichen angle of it, they're using six offensive linemen on 30 plus percent of their snaps.

I think Tyler Warren, if you're from the Daniel Jones angle, has been a huge addition who's as a rookie automatically contributing.

And Jonathan Taylor, like, this is a weird year for running backs, right?

He's got 338 yards and leads the league.

The next guy is Saquon Barkley with 194.

And we're heading into week four.

That's surprising.

And if you go down to number 10, it's a little bit off the grid here, but like Chase Brown has 94 yards as the 10th leading running back.

Like running games outside of Jonathan Taylor are struggling right now.

And it's like he has been an absolute difference maker.

And if you pair Daniel Jones with the league's best running back, the best rookie tight end in the NFL, and an offensive line that's actually protecting him, which was not the case in the Giants, like, there you go.

That's the sauce.

Like, I think there's a reason to believe that the Colts are not some sort of mythological creature that's going to melt away automatically.

Well, especially in their division, I think the Colts have already proven that they have what it takes if they stay healthy in their backfield to win 10 or 11.

But this is my question: is if they play the Rams, even if they don't win, if they play the Rams hard into the end, it's like, okay, it's a major box check.

And I was just about to say, I'd also like to see the Colts fall behind and see what they look, how their offense looks.

They did do that.

They fell behind by eight points to the broncos in week two and they and they dug out of that hole so they've passed every test um go ahead connor uh so far this season big test too for that offensive line because flashback to last week against the eagles and there were two or three times when jalen hurts got absolutely pasted in that game and committed devastating turnovers daniel jones is not jalen hurts i mean he's not going to survive a lot of those you know he's not going to be able to evade as many of those as jalen hurts so i think that's a really interesting test too for that offensive line.

And one more thing, because we're going to talk with Baldy a little bit later about Daniel Jones.

But on the quarterback front for India, how much things have changed?

Somewhat like disconnected from this game, but Mike Tomlin and the Steelers, they have the Vikings in Dublin this week.

And talking about J.J.

McCarthy going out of the lineup, a struggling young quarterback and Carson Wentz coming in and that actually potentially being a tougher matchup for the team because Wentz, you know a little bit more of what he's capable of if everything is working around him well with a young struggling quarterback.

Sometimes a team is completely paralyzed by it.

And he made that point in reference to Anthony Richardson and what he was doing with the Colts.

And he was referring to last season a game against

the

Colts, Steelers loss that they had to the Colts where

Joe Flacco replaced an injured Richardson and led the Colts to a win.

And it was as big a dig on a quarterback as I could remember, especially from Tomlin.

Let's listen in on this.

I don't necessarily view it as a negative thing for the Minnesota Vikings, at least in the short term, that Carson is playing for him.

We were in a similar situation a year ago.

We're playing in Indianapolis, man, and I commented to the guys that, you know, keep Richardson upright.

Don't put Flacco in the game.

And, you know, Flacco ended up in the game.

And I think that's oftentimes some of the things that you can run into when you run into a veteran guy, at least from a short-term perspective.

Yeah, like, I mean, that is outrageous criticism, but fair.

And remember when the Twitter echo chamber last year was defending Anthony Richardson?

How about that?

Has that enough of a ball knower for you, Mike Tomlin saying the last thing they wanted to do was get Richardson out of the game?

That's how bad he was and how much he was holding back the Steichen offense.

So Daniel Jones has liberated this entire attack.

I love like Tomlin outside of like maybe a fired up Bruce Arians, there aren't a lot of coaches that would just reveal that

in post-script.

I want to show one quick photo because we love these three sisters, but here is Jonathan Taylor getting the

scepter of the week, the angry red scepter.

Look at these sisters.

Look at this character.

What's the one on the right?

Is that Kaylee?

Callie?

Yeah, that's your girl.

Carly.

Striking.

Yes.

Carly.

Striking.

Kyle Brandt's Scepter of the Week.

Is that one of the famous guitars from his collection, or is that just one that they kind of had dolled up from?

I think it's got to be, right?

Yeah.

God,

don't look too closely into Kaylee's eyes.

She'll take you away.

Carly.

I'm starting to love this.

Like, I'm really...

At first, I was like, oh, this is...

Get tight on that face.

This is ridiculous.

And then I converted from that to like, oh, it's kind of funny.

And now I'm like, I'm all fing in on this.

I'm with you, Connor.

i think this is incredible and like it there it shows like a like a glimmer of self-awareness too and there's just some

like a kind of like a cowboy wait where is the self-awareness with any of the ursays historically including this well i think especially with like the arms folded it's like i know what you think of me i know what you say to me on the sidelines so i'm going to embody that character and i'm going to bring it all out i'm i i disagree with that 100 i don't think there's any awareness or or winking with that cross cross-arm.

I think that that's a purposeful mean mug.

Yes.

No, there's no way.

I think that's

Granddaddy's Girl right there.

No, I don't think there's any way.

I love this show because there are now, at this point, 14 to 15 topics where there is a massive divide between half the room.

All right.

One more

big test.

Reputation, amputation.

Uh, for the Colts.

Let's see what happens.

One more game in the late window.

Jaguars, number 18 in our power rankings, traveling to the big bowel bottom.

Number 11, 49ers, a 2-1 against a 3-0.

Brock Purdy, rap sheet, the latest here is that he, quote, might be able to play.

That doesn't help me much.

But he said he looked really good in practice on Wednesday.

Yeah.

And one of the many things we do disagree on, I don't need to see any more Mac Jones.

He's been fine.

They've won, but they are not a very fun team to watch with Mac Jones at the controls to me.

So I hope that Brock Purdy's back.

I don't have a ton of juice

around this game right now, but because I also can't figure out the Jaguars, Mark.

I don't know, like, who, I don't really know what either of these teams are, they're both kind of confusing to me right now.

So I guess from that perspective, a little clarity would help.

Well, the Niners are, I think, just simply because of health status.

Like, you have no Nick Bosa.

It's like at some point you've lost too many people.

But getting Purdy back,

I guess it's a big upgrade.

Like, I've always been a Purdy guy, but but like, Mac Jones did a perfectly solid, fine job in the stead of a guy.

If it might be an upgrade over Mac Jones, we should not have given Brock Purdy that contract.

It's supposed to be a big downgrade.

Yes,

I think that we're going to learn a lot about Brock Purdy in this environment that he's playing in.

Like, I'm with you on the Jaguars because

Look, you're hanging in there and you're winning games, but something about this team feels off to me.

And it obviously starts with like the fact that Brian Thomas, who should be a star and like a top 10 wideout in the league, if not better, has seven receptions off 25 targets.

And I think it's been sort of the story of the disjointed

relationship between the quarterback and this wide receiver.

And Travis Hunter, who you gave multiple ones away for, has 10 receptions and is sort of just a guy on defense.

So whatever the plan was or where you thought you'd be heading into week four, it feels off on offense to me.

And there's like a lot to fix.

And it starts, I don't know, is it the receivers?

Is it the quarterback?

Like neither are really helping each other a lot.

The ground game is the only thing that's kind of been singing.

The 49ers are letting up like 16 points a game on defense.

And I think even without Bosa, I saw that Lawrence this week called them simple, which I thought was an interesting word choice because there's not a team in the NFL that is better at generating free rushers without giving up extra guys in the secondary.

And that's true with or without their star pass rusher.

And so I think that they're in a lot of trouble in this game.

Robert Sella sends guys from anywhere.

This, you know, this team had kind of that hair-on-fire mentality that I think he's brought back.

And I think this is a really dangerous matchup for Jacksonville because I just think a lot of the run game stuff that they've been able to do has been, you know, chunky, like they'll pop one here or there.

I don't necessarily think you get that against San Francisco.

Titan.

I mean, I know we're not supposed to, we're not supposed to mention it because we could have easily edited it, but like, you did hit a button that said Titan.

Yeah, so you guys know I have my own podcast, The Music City Audible, right?

So I have two podcasts.

We do.

We are very aware of that.

One of them is this.

Titan Down.

Brian Callahan saying Titan Down.

You know, Titan Up is like our thing.

Got it, got it.

Callahan is.

So you have all your drops for the other podcast mixed in with the drops for our show?

Is that what?

No, they're on two different pages on my board, but I forgot to flip it before this taping, so I missed.

So I was trying to hit.

So you very literally had not turned the page from the

other podcast to this one.

You didn't have to tell us that.

Yeah.

I was just going to jump in to talk about Mac Jones' funny sound bite from last week because we haven't ever gotten to it, and it's funny.

Sure.

We like fun.

I just wanted to play it.

We like mirth.

That's what we do.

Go ahead.

I mean, I threw it right to the guy, so it wasn't like he made a good play.

I mean, good for him.

He caught it.

Like, awesome.

But, like, it was the

technically second part of my read, and I took a hitch to it and ripped it.

I don't know.

And he was standing right there.

He's a squirrely little guy, isn't he?

He looks like a man.

He looks like a man from the 1940s, Midtown Manhattan.

Yeah, right?

looks like he lives in scarsdale next to across from don draper

by the way ricky piersall um who

has been awesome this year so far uh he's banged up also and and so we don't we're not sure piersall's playing we're not sure brock purdy's playing um Brandon Iuk, there's a report that he's not even close to playing.

Like that knee injury was one of those bad knee injuries.

It wasn't just the ACL.

So the idea that he's going to be ready week six or whatever, as people had anticipated initially, I don't know if that's happening either.

You mentioned Bosa's out for the year.

This is a team that's fighting through it.

And again, credit to them because they banked these three wins early on with

all these issues.

And now the Jaguars present.

I am tired of hearing people be like, what's in the water in San Francisco?

People say that a lot.

Well, I've heard that.

What's in the water in San Francisco?

Like, the injuries, like, there's something chemically happening.

Can you produce one example of someone actually saying that?

I'll take a look here for you.

But I've heard that.

How are we feeling tonight, Santa Clara?

All right, let's take a break, and then we'll spin over to the early games.

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All right, we're back.

You know, I spent the entire break just thinking about Mac Jones in that press conference.

Can you fly that back up again?

again?

He is like your

ex-brother-in-law from your sister's marriage that didn't work out.

He's your

used car salesman that you probably shouldn't trust.

Getting a little close to home.

A little bit of a rascal.

A little bit of a rascal.

He did.

Yeah, like the jacket, right?

The jacket feels like we've all been here.

If you were at some point in life, someone puts you in a sports coat and it's, it's not the right coat for you.

It's not a snug fit.

It doesn't compliment you.

It's just sort of large.

And it's like this sort of checkered

sports coat from 1942 or something.

I don't know what.

It's a millionaire.

I mean, it's like the McAdoo thing all over again, although this isn't quite that.

It's not like talking head size, but I don't know.

What the hell do we know about anything like that?

This jacket screams, hey, hold this bottle of pills for me, and you have to say your name is John when we get pulled over.

all right.

Let's uh, hey, let's give the Dublin game a little love.

How about that?

You know, I

love

Connor also.

We love Ireland.

We love our Irish listeners.

I

have Irish heritage.

I have Irish roots.

Why was I excluded from that?

Connor has Irish heritage.

I believe you are of English and German descent, Cecil.

Well, there's a little Irish in there, no doubt about it.

I'd like you to produce that as well.

I'd like to see some papers.

I will work on that.

And now a game is being played in Ireland.

Overdue, quite honestly,

because we know from our history with around the NFL that there's been a fervent Irish fan base there for a long time.

One of the most beautiful places in the world, Ireland.

So NFL being there, I wish we were there.

Maybe that will be on our to-do list next year.

But you know who is there?

It's the Pittsburgh Steelers and Minnesota Vikings.

Now,

the game, I guess, loses a little juice because the J.J.

McCarthy thing, or maybe not.

Maybe J.J.

was in such a way that this game would have been non-competitive.

And Carson Wentz now gives it the juice to use the, I guess, the Mike Tomlin example that makes us an interesting game.

But I also think, Connor, that the Steelers, the way they are built and constituted, they're going to play a lot of close games this year.

So hopefully the people at Croak Park get exactly that.

I think that the people at Crogue Park are not going to get an aerial show.

So, don't go there expecting a lot of Justin Jefferson touchdowns.

When I rewatched that game last week, he had this spectacular Carson Wentz.

It was vintage, like got made it through the line of scrimmage, stepped up, scrambled, and then missed Thielen by like a hair in the end zone.

It was like almost perfect.

But, and so I think a lot of people misinterpreted that as like, oh, old Carson is back.

No, Kevin O'Connell wants him to get rid of the ball instantly.

15 of his passing attempts were like right at the line of scrimmage, one step, boom, get rid of the ball.

And on those, 130 passing yards, like almost 140 passer rating.

So I think that they're going to screw TJ Watt, screw all these guys.

You're going to get rid of the ball before they even get near it.

It's a frustrating game plan for the Steelers who want you to make mistakes.

They want Carson Wentz to eradicate that.

One little nugget on Wentz:

our friend Michael McQuaid, Pro Football Ireland ambassador,

was on these.

He's the Grand Poobah over there.

Absolutely.

Like, he's running the show over there.

He's like their version of Henry Hodgson.

And like, he went on the Check the Mike

podcast with

Sam and Steve, who are our friends, and said that there is genuine welling excitement for the fact that Carson Wentz is going to start a ginger.

The fact that he's a ginger

literally means a lot to this crowd in that there's like, it's happening at the right time and I think what else is happening at the right time is Brian Flores playing an Aaron Rodgers who's aging and who's really struggled under pressure I think the Vikings defense will be the star of this game against a really milquetoast Steelers offense to my earlier point that I'm glad football has the NFL has come to

the Emerald Isle I mean we had a 15-year Andy Dalton career

the the glowing ginger man himself the greatest redhead to ever play the game at quarterback quarterback, or maybe the most clear

recessive gened

player of his generation.

And we missed the boat.

So I guess

we'll settle for Wentz on that.

Yeah,

if you look at the Steelers offense,

and the defense took a step forward last week against the Patriots, but not really.

The Patriots blew that game.

The Patriots took a step back, I feel like more than that.

Yeah, like the Patriots, I don't know what the final yardage was.

Justin, can you check what the final total yardage was of that game between those two teams?

The Patriots are going up and down the field on the Steelers, but then kept on shooting themselves in the dick, right?

So, like, here or the foot.

So, and then if you look at their season as a whole, and I've watched every snap so far, if you take out those busted coverages by the Jets, and now we know the Jets have maybe the worst secondary in football,

everything's come pretty hard for this Pittsburgh offense.

So, against Minnesota, yeah, I believe this is a, you bang the under on this, and you, and this feels like a 13 to 10, 17 to 13 type game to me.

And there it is.

Thank you, Justin.

Patriots had 369 yards.

The Steelers had 203 yards, but they benefited from incredible turnover luck, five turnovers, and they stole that game.

They kind of stole the Jets game.

They needed a 60-yard field goal just to

steal that one.

So a little bit of a paper tiger if you want to give them that.

And remember, Rogers wanted to play for Kevin O'Connell.

This is the team he wanted to be on.

Yeah, he wanted to be a lot of places, I think, before Pittsburgh.

But,

all right, let's move on.

Let's check out the, you know what?

Let's see what are we going to put in the old quad box.

Very, very early slate.

Find a way to pound this thing in there.

Yeah.

Put on your socks and tune in your box.

We are whores for money.

Good for you!

Ah, yeah.

Absurd.

Honestly, I don't even, like, even if that was the entire segment, just that intro, I'd be fine with it.

And I wouldn't hear any criticism of our program.

I really wouldn't.

The quad box, and this is where we help you.

This is the guide to your Football Sunday, that 1 p.m.

Eastern window.

There are

seven games.

And you're coming off having a Guinness.

I think I'm going to have a Guinness, by the way.

I'm going to have a Guinness in the morning.

It's not the same out of the can,

but it's better than nothing.

So I'm going to have a master.

Well, if they're asking you to get up at 6.30 LA time, that feels like a good time to start up.

Just start drinking.

And vibing, yes.

Yeah, maybe we go to the cozy and watch the game like the old times, Mark, with the other third shifters.

Yeah, so you're going to have one game in the can by the time you get here.

Quad box, if there were four screens to choose from, Connor,

put something in the box.

What's in the box?

All right, I'm running to the podium here to take the number one Eagles against the number eight Buccaneers, 3-0 versus 3-0, 1 p.m.

on Fox with the very ethical and non-suspicious Tom Brady and Kevin Burkhardt on the call.

And the reason that I love this game is there's a little bit of a game within the game developing here.

And Baker Mayfield was actually doing like a pod with Mark Sanchez this week and scoffed at the idea of the Eagles going down to Tampa a game early, but he dropped this little nug in there that I thought was fascinating.

And that was the fact that the Jets bothered them the week before with their ability to do a lot of defensive line rotations and bring in guys keep guys off the field keep them fresh and so baker said that they countered that with a lot of throws to the perimeter right make these guys continue to run the length of the field on every down to get them tired the eagles know that that's going to happen they expect it and i'm wondering if baker brings back a little bit of vintage no huddle because you don't want the eagles rotating at all you don't want them getting any subs at all and baker even said one day in the heat is not enough to acclimate and we're going to run them.

And so I wonder if they're just going to try to go no huddle.

They're going to try to get them dog tired and get them off the field because that would be such a fascinating approach to this game.

And, you know, the Bucks who have won games by, I think it's like two points, one point, and one point, like they've been,

they've done it really banged up.

And it sounds like you could get Tristan Wurfs back in this game, which is massive, if that's true.

And potentially Chris Godwin.

I don't know what version you're going to get of Chris Chris Godwin, but they're starting to get healthier.

The one night that when I watch Mayfield and we've talked about how his running ability has absolutely willed this team and brought them heart and soul on key third downs and it's a big part of his game.

But he has avoided what could have been like six turnovers at this point.

And you go back to week one where there's like four very interceptable passes were dropped.

Like this is the defense that can take advantage of that with their secondary.

Like you've got to keep it clean.

Dan, I wonder, like, from an Eagles angle, like,

do we get the second half Eagles from last week, or do they go back to a world where Saquon Barkley is one of the most disappointing fantasy players of the entire season so far?

Yeah, I think they want it, right?

That's how they want to win, and they had to get outside their comfort zone.

Maybe that's like...

In addition to being a dramatic fun win for the Eagles, it was a reminder, like, hey, don't get so stuck in your ways and your your tendencies and

keep teams on their toes by showing you could beat them in different ways as opposed to having to throw yourself back into that game the way they did and they were successful with it.

I, you know, the one thing, like,

I don't mind the idea of the Eagles picking up their first wass.

I don't know why.

But they are the number one team in the power rankings for a reason.

They're very tough

to beat.

And the Bucs, despite being 3-0 and despite being fun

to watch, because Baker is one of the most fun quarterbacks to watch.

Like, I watched that game against the Jets last week.

I was like, this team's not that good.

Like, am I crazy?

Like, are the Bucs really that good?

Like, that, it was as messy and sloppy as any team in football.

The first half, they had a drive in the first half where I believe they had five holding calls in one possession.

They had a, it was like Baker threw for nearly 100 yards on their first possession

because they kept on getting backed up.

Uh, and the Jets had a fair share of penalties on the drive, too, including a PI on a third and 29.

Way to go, guys.

It's a little bit bullshit, but beside the point.

So, like, they need to be cleaner.

They need to be a better operation because Baker's not always going to bail you out, especially when the competition gets higher.

So, when we talk about reputation amputation Sunday, like, I think the Bucs need to give us a more complete effort, and it's going to be tougher with Mike Evans out now looking like a month again.

It's going to be the same thing as last year.

The one thing that I cannot wait to see, and this stat absolutely blew my mind, in their last three meetings, Todd Bowles against against Jalen Hurts, he has averaged a 70% blitz rate, which is insane.

And he just has no respect for Jalen Hurts in terms of how he operates under pressure.

And I'm wondering if maybe if Lane Johnson's good to go, if he's not good to go, if he's healthy, if he's not totally healthy and they don't want to risk it in that environment, whatever it looks like, he's going to run that Eagles' offensive line ragged and nonstop and really try to test them.

This has been the one NFC team that has tussled with the Eagles and won big games in the past couple of years.

So I don't know if that is a holdover effect this week, but they believe they can beat the Eagles if you're Tampa Bay.

At one point, the Bucs blitzed the Jets on 14 of 20 dropbacks and got nine pressures and two sacks out of it.

And yeah, that first drive last week, Tampa Bay had five holding penalties on the drive, more than any team had in an entire game this season.

More than 25 team, more than 25 teams have had all season to that point.

So it was like, like, it's just got to be a little cleaner.

The operation,

Abuka, by the way, is everything

that was advertised.

That guy is special.

So expect him to even take a bigger jump now with Mike Evans out of the picture.

All right, next up in the quad box, I will go.

Funny how things change.

I'm going to put a winless team in the quad box.

It's the New York Giants, though.

It's the number 30 in the power rankings, New York Giants, against the undefeated number five in the power rankings Los Angeles Superchargers, uh, Chargers, Kevin Harlan and Trent Green on the call.

And uh, man,

here's the thing: let's start here.

I try not to get sucked in to this stuff because it can make you look bad.

A guy passing the look test is all sorts of

risky and at times problematic.

But man, does Jackson Dart look like a QB1?

Check this out.

He sounds like a QB1.

And if he could play like a QB1, maybe this Giants season won't be totally lost after all.

I don't really feel pressure.

I feel like, you know, pressure is given to those who play at a high level.

And,

you know, the best players in the world are the ones that are kind of involved with that word pressure.

So I don't feel it in that standpoint.

You know, my focus is just trying to just win one game at a time.

Yeah, so like

there's the new quarterback of the Giants.

And I wonder, Connor, as an aside, is that an icy quarterback room?

Because Wilson,

he is a competitor

and

he's a good person, Russell Wilson, but also that is a man that has a healthy ego and he believes that he's still a quarterback one.

And you have this kid that's all piss and vinegar

in that room as well.

I'm just curious as an aside there.

But yeah, so you're going to get Dart against a stingy Chargers defense and also

Cam Scataboo as the new feature back of the Giants.

So why would I put a winless team in the quad box?

Because the Giants very nearly are two and one right now.

And also, there's some juice in the building at the Metal Lands.

At the very least, you have that.

I mean, the thing that might add to Russell Wilson's frustration is the fact that we might see a brand new offense and a brand new type of offense on Sunday that's perfectly suited towards exactly what Jackson Dart did in college.

And so if you look at the Lane Kiff and stuff, it's like, hey, let's spread him out.

Let's use tempo.

Let's get in and out of the huddle really quickly and let's give you answers right off right off the ball.

I mean, the Giants have typically been, you know, one of your static 11 personnel teams.

I think they're like top 10 usage in that.

But I wondered, do they start running extra receivers on the field?

Do they just give him a chance to just get the ball and get it out of his hands?

And it's going to look different.

It's kind of the quarterback that Russell Wilson always wanted to be, but just never displayed the ability to be.

And it'll be funny if he just hands Jackson Dart the keys to that car.

It's, you know, we were, I think collectively, it's like, well, you just wait till you play the Saints and you roll out Jackson Dart.

But that's not how it's working.

This team has transformed in the course of seven days.

You've got a new running back.

You've got a new quarterback.

Brian Davo has a little.

Transforward, panicked, whatever.

Yeah.

Sure.

I mean,

transformation doesn't mean positive necessarily.

It's an unknown, but that's why there's why there's

legit intrigue around them.

But I do think having to deal with this Jesse mentor defense is a rough assignment out of the gate i think you've got a agitated malik neighbors and i wonder if part of all of this is like malik neighbors has had some interesting comments this season um and last season about quarterback play i you know he's He's really struggled in that last game.

They had to be part of the decision.

Like, this has to be to unlock your best player on offense.

And I'm with you, Connor.

I think we're going to see a different type of attack.

And does that help Brian Dayball dig into his creativity the way he did with Josh Allen?

They're not the same quarterback at all, but it's like that got him this job, the quarterback work.

Like, can you do it quickly with a rookie right here in the middle of the season?

Can I bring up something just very quickly on this that I've been tracking that just fascinates me?

When Malik Neighbors was interviewed about him, I think it was yesterday, said something like, got to find a way to get number one the ball.

And there were all these moments where he has by far the worst body language of any player that I've ever seen, like any young star player, like every, before every down, he's rolling his eyes, his mouthpiece is just hanging out, like doesn't seem like engaged.

And I don't blame him for that.

This offense has been really terrible, but I think that that's a fascinating subplot to all of this.

Like he is your archetypal like movie diva wide receiver and he is not being fed.

And this is another new offense and another quarterback.

Could this overflow in terms of negativity or something like that?

I view him as a little bit of a powder keg at this point.

Yeah, I'm with you on that.

And I think, in general, why I think Dable is not cut out for this job is I think whether it's the egos of wide receiver ones or the booing of 75,000 angry tri-state area fans or, you know, the howling

into the void of WFAN hosts, I think that stuff has played a bigger role in this kid playing right now than a coach deciding what's best for the team.

And that's because he's looking out for his ass more than looking out for the team.

He's a first-round pick, though.

Yeah.

I just think that it's like, I feel like I felt this way all along.

It's like...

The dam is going to burst soon enough if you're struggling that he's going to play.

I don't disagree with that.

I'm more saying I don't think this was at all something Dable wanted to do.

And they're saying it's Dable's choice.

So it wasn't coming down from above.

So then I have to, if that's true, if this was Dable's choice, my question is, like, were his motivations purely about what makes the team better or what keeps him employed as the head coach of the New York Giants?

Sure.

And if that, maybe that's human, so it's not that you can't come down on him for it.

But I do think the

outside noise kind of overwhelmed that locker room a little bit.

Let's see.

All that matters is that the kid can play.

If he's fun, does he make the team better?

Then everything works out.

So it's going to be another plane flying over MetLife Stadium, by the way.

The guy's already said he's doing it.

So the fire Brian Dayball plane.

I look forward to it.

Let me hear some good Jim Harbaugh sound.

Okay.

So obviously his number one

crush in the world.

He's absolutely in love with his quarterback, Justin Herbert.

Here's Harbaugh on how Herbert's throws.

I've brought this up before, but it's a romantic thing for Jets fans.

There's an old clip of Namath that me and my dad have watched many times before, where they had him mic'd up at the height of his career.

And they talked about how the ball just sounds different coming out of Namath's hands.

Like,

here's Harbaugh doing his version of that on his quarterback, Justin Herbert.

Justin's throws,

you know, they never die

at the receiver.

It's got that, it gets when I catch his ball pregame, it's like none I've ever caught before because when it's halfway to me, I know I better get my hands up and especially protect my face because it just at the end, I think baseball pitchers call it hop, right?

When

it speeds up at the end.

And, you know there's quarterbacks that that when they throw i mean it'll hop

and as it's and go up but his will hop and go

go straight on the line that it's going i it's it's uh it's different than than anything i've ever seen that was jim on the dan patrick show but now we might have mark we might have a new uh love in the life of harbaugh and is herbert worried about derwin james oh i know i'd said he's the best safety I've ever seen.

I think I did a disservice.

He's the best football player I've been around.

And when it comes to

that stat line that you can't see,

there's only one player I can compare him to, and that's Junior Sayo.

Wow.

I mean,

the iron wall that negativity bashes against Derwin James.

Same with Junior Sayo, and same energy, same,

love of the game and

all-out effort.

It's not 70 good plays.

It's 70 great plays, one play at a time

from those type of players.

They're just different

than

anybody else.

He's crazy.

James is playing on just a level that...

elevates an entire team.

All right.

You could go years where no one speaks about

your

work with that flowery, beautiful language.

Right.

Right.

Yeah.

Like, find a find a Jim Harbaugh in your life and work for that person if you want to be appreciated.

If you play or do your, like, Mark, like your newsletter, like Silver Hoses, like, find an editor of that that will give you what you're looking for there, which is the, the juice and the love and the admiration and the respect and credit.

I'm going to actually.

Be an American where at least I know I'm free.

Justin,

I'm going to literally just change the name of the newsletter to that.

Yes.

It will pull the rug out from under you on this whole bit.

Well, that's what you did last time to me.

And you forgot that Tugboat always finds a way.

I know he does.

What did it used to be called, Justin?

I don't even remember anymore.

I dream in red.

All right.

I dream of red.

Yes.

I dream in red.

Yes.

I dare you to change it again, Sessler.

I dare you.

You might remember

it.

Had you ever clicked into it on any level.

I'm a big fan.

I'm a subscriber to it.

Well, you have to be because it's on our other channel.

Patreon.com slash heed the call.

All right, Justin, up next in the quad box.

All right.

Those were by far the two best games for the quad box, no doubt about it.

I'm going to go with one that has a chance to be interesting.

If Jaden Daniels plays the number 10 commanders, traveling to face the number 21-ranked Atlanta Falcons.

Love that Ian Eagle and J.J.

Watt are on the call, so let's get them in the quad box and let's see if the Falcons can bounce back and again if Jaden Daniels will suit up for Washington.

Yeah, I love this one.

You know, Zach Robinson is picking up

a lot of criticism

and not

without

reason behind it.

Like, he,

the way they are running this offense is crazy.

You know, PFF's Dalton Wasserman, who they do really good stuff over there in their game breakdowns and previews.

And he said that they're running the Kirk Cousins offense essentially still, but with Michael Penix, there's like a ton of, and Orlofsky was hot about this too.

They're They're running just so much pistol and their tendencies are so easy to discern for opponents.

When they're under center, which is not enough, they almost always run the ball.

So Bijan Robinson is running into boxes where they can sniff it out.

When they're running out of the pistol, Bijan is eight yards behind the line of scrimmage.

So even when they are handing the ball off, the guy has to run nearly for a first down just to get to the line of scrimmage.

And Pennix, who can move, unlike unlike Kirk Cousins, it's reduced him in this pistol setup to a guy that's a statue.

If you watch the pick six he threw last week against the Panthers, he takes the snap, he pivots his hips, he spots the receiver on the outside, and he puts it and it's picked off and run back.

So

they need to figure out a way to make this offense better.

They have to fix this offense or Zach Robinson is going to get fired.

And oh, by the way, Bijan Robinson, we just heard from Raheem Morris.

This guy's the best football player in the world, arguably.

How about some play action?

How about you make him the guy that defenses need to like sell out for and set up things to help your essentially rookie quarterback?

It's very messy in Atlanta.

So that was the underlined word in my notes when I went back and I watched this game was run in all caps and underline it.

Like put Michael Pennix on the run.

Allow him to do some run fakes, allow him to get out and to see the field and allow him to play that way.

I view it as a little bit more of a scrambled egg situation, though, in Atlanta.

I went back and legit watched all of his dropbacks again against Carolina, watched them a couple times each.

And I think it's a potpourri of stuff.

There are times when I'm seeing answers.

And I know that there are some analysts who disagree with me.

And I saw Dan Orlofsky, who obviously played the position I didn't, but saying that this kid has no answers in this offense.

I saw open receivers, and I've also seen receivers get rerouted a couple of times when they're supposed to get the ball.

But there's been a couple of times where I just,

it's almost like he wants to trust himself to rip it and he just doesn't.

And I don't know what that is and I don't know why that's lingering.

But also we have to remember that he only has three more starts than Cam Ward.

This is not a true second year player.

And I think we're seeing, we expected a sophomore bump when we haven't even hit our sophomore season.

I think like the enthusiasm that I felt for Pennex based off of the three starts from a year ago and what carried over the summer, and now we're here.

And what's different is that he had, by his own nature, a very aggressive attitude in throwing the ball.

And it generated

life and energy in that offense post-Kirk Cousins.

And it kind of made me think: if this is what you're getting,

I think differently about the Falcons' attack.

This year, he has, on throws of 10 plus yards, a 32.4 completion percentage.

Only Cam Ward has a lower completion percentage on such throws.

So that aggressiveness, and that's only 24 throws.

Like that aggressiveness has not been there in this offense to everything that you just spoke to.

But when he is going downfield, it's not the same guy we saw at points last year in that very small sample size.

Yeah, and he also,

even when the ball's coming out of his hand last week, I mean, and every team has terrible bury of the ball games.

Hopefully that's the Falcons game, but the ball is coming out high.

He was sailing passes.

He almost threw two pick sixes in the game.

It was just, let's see.

I'm interested.

It's a good game.

We'll see Washington if Jaden Daniels comes back.

He's been limited at practice.

He's doing, quote, everything he can to get back this week, but there's a chance it could be Mariota in Atlanta.

And if that's the case, the Falcons, you know, get off the mat and show that you should be taken seriously.

All right, one more game in the quad box, Mark.

Okay, well,

to Justin's point, there is not a lot to pick from at this point.

I am intrigued by this, and it's not because,

look, I get it.

It's my childhood into adulthood team, but the Browns go into the Lions.

The number 27 Browns.

Quad box violation,

Sessler!

Why at that moment did you have a second?

Quad box violation by Mark Sessler.

As per the rules, you cannot select a team three consecutive weeks if they're under 500 and you've done that with the Browns.

I can't believe this happened.

But a quad box, listen, Connor, a quad box violation is a quad box violation.

And what are we supposed to do about it?

What's my penalty?

What happened?

Rule

change.

You know what this is?

This is, Mark, I'm wondering if you feel like

in the usual suspects, when you start to realize everything, when the Kevin Spacey character turns out to be the bad guy, like,

why was it waited till I was the last choice in the quad box?

It feels like were they edging toward getting me to take the Browns?

Did it start to come into focus?

Is all that happened?

It has, in a very Kaiser-Sose way, come into focus.

Start to Soze you there.

Yeah.

Well, for the viewer,

I'm not going Saints at Bills, and I wasn't going to go Panthers at Patriots or Texans at Titans.

So it's like I kind of...

Do we want to waive the violation, Connor, for this week and just let him off with a warning?

Yeah, I want to hear Marky talk about the

upstart young Browns defense, man.

Yeah, we're going to waive it.

I'm going to get after Jared Goff.

Let's go.

We're going to give you a warning, Mark, on this.

That was a quad box violation, but we're going to let you off with a warning.

Go ahead.

I was pulled over by a female cop along Interstate 10.

And you love it.

Number 27 Browns at the number three Lions.

Now, the special secret sauce here is that the glorious Kenny Albert will be calling the game alongside Jonathan Villama.

The great lovers.

Okay.

A real swordsman, that Albert.

It is a chore to unfurl this game opener here.

But

if you're the Browns or the Lions, like you gave the Lions an incredible gift a week ago.

The much ballie-hooed Green Bay Packers are taken out, but now what if you go give the Green Bay Packers a special surprise of their own?

I don't see that happening here because I think Cleveland's defense, which is historically good right now,

is running into Detroit about two weeks late.

Like maybe back in week one, you could have caught them off guard, but there's too much happening here.

Like I really am focused on a couple things.

Like Jack Conklin at right tackle is probably not playing.

The Browns backup, Dewon Jones, is out for the year with with a knee injury.

So you've got a compromise line.

The Lions looked absolutely unstoppable on offense against Baltimore.

And I just don't know if this is where we find out that Cleveland's defense is very good, especially at home.

They're such a young team.

Like, I will say one last thing about the Browns before I pass it over is like, I'm interested in watching them against what I think is a Super Bowl contender, if not the second or third in the league, because of Carson Swetzinger, who is a defensive rookie of the week candidate, Mason Graham, Graham, who leads all defensive tackles and pass rush win weight, Harold Fannin, who leads all rookies and receptions, and Quinshawn Judkins, who hadn't even started practicing until about 14 days ago, leads all rookies in rushing.

So

that's the Browns to me.

They're young.

That's it.

They're shut up.

Yeah, and this is why it's Reputation Amputation Sunday, right?

Like, if the Browns, by metrics, by pop the hood analytics, are either the best or one of the best defenses in football.

So let's see how they handle, arguably, the best offense in football.

And the Lions were so fun to watch in that win over the Ravens.

Just such a complete effort.

So

this

battle, Connor, I love it in the trenches because we're talking about that Miles Garrett led defensive line, but it's not just Garrett and a bunch of Jabrones.

They're really getting a push and doing damage across that front four against the Lions offensive line.

Did you know that Penny Sewell had virtually a perfect PFF grade in week three?

That guy is playing football at the highest levels.

Their offensive line was a marvel against the Ravens, both in pass protection, but especially in the run, where they just embarrassed.

They completely humiliated that Ravens' defense with the running game.

So it's strength against strength in the trenches in this one.

Mason Graham last week, I think

it was whatever the stat was, it was something like an average defensive tackle has a 9% pass rush win rate, and Mason Graham had like a 43%

a week ago.

And to go back and to just watch his snaps singled out, he was fabulous.

I mean, I haven't seen movement like that from a defensive lineman in a long time, but it's different.

It's not like your stereotypical interior pass rusher.

He's got something to him that I haven't really seen before.

So this is your biggest test right here.

I mean,

this is a go-out-and-get-it kind of game.

I love it.

The way that, like, Miles Garrett, I think we've seen the clip where he has this like

extra move that no one else in the league can pull off, where it's like he almost levitates.

Um, he gets past a tackle and then like levitates almost if like someone up on Mount Olympus, Olympus is moving like a chess piece quickly across the board out here on Earth, and he's in the quarterback's face right away.

But you're right about Sewell, like it was the PFF's highest run-blocking grade ever.

And so, this is strength on strength.

And I think the weakest unit, and this is where I look at games like this.

Number one, the Browns are just not a complete team.

They put up 16 points, 17, and 13.

They're so imbalanced.

That's the problem with the Browns right now.

And I don't see it getting better, right?

Unless Judgins turns into the great rookie of the 2025 season, and he's gotten off to a good start.

The quarterback playing the offense, Jerry Judy's been invisible.

Like,

you know, that's the problem.

But the defense could keep it close.

All right, let's take a break.

And when we get back, Brian Baldinger, Baldy himself.

Nothing funny about that, Mac Jones.

Stay right there.

He got Willow.

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Today, experience what is being called the best movie of the year.

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You came back.

All right, you know what time it is.

We're joined by Odyssey NFL Insider Brian Baldinger, host of the Best Football Show podcast.

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Baldy, how are you?

Where are you at today?

I'm good, guys.

Good to be with you.

I mean, we're just kind of cruising along here.

So

I guess you guys are live here Thursday.

So we start week four.

I'm ready to roll.

All right.

Love it.

And it's always a little different when he's not in the NFL Films cave, but I feel like we're going to get through this together.

Let's start with Sunday night football this week, Baldi.

We got Green Bay,

Dallas.

Green Bay, obviously, coming off that humbling loss to the Browns.

Now they get a Cowboys team that just seems to be just

a mess in terms of their defense.

Is this a game where the Packers get right and get healthy, or is there things on the Dallas side of the ball that you see that, especially on defense, are like, there's room for improvement and growth here in a big spot?

Well, I mean, it would help if they covered the receivers of Chicago last week.

I mean, you know, Trevon Diggs tried to, you know, basically punk Roma Dunze on a play and missed him.

And he ran right by him.

And they ran a little throwback to the running back or, you know, from DeWandre Swift back to Caleb Williams.

And, you know, Luther runs down the field untouched.

And nobody covered Cole Komet in the Enzo.

Nobody covered DJ Moore.

I mean, it would be help if they covered guys, but that's been an issue.

It was an issue against the Giants.

It was an issue two weeks in a row now.

So, you know, it's not going to help that Micah Parsons is coming after you, too.

You know, they've had no pass rush in Dallas against Chicago, none.

And Caleb Williams had all the time in the world.

So here comes Micah, who's coming off a pretty good game.

The stats don't really show it, but he won a lot of rushes in that game last week against Cleveland and really chased Flacco and did some things.

So they're not going to be happy to see Micah coming back, and the defense is a mess right now because the pass rush isn't there.

And really...

Corner play around the league is bad, but it's really been bad in Dallas.

It's, you know, obviously there's a built-in ready-to-go narrative with micah parsons coming back to dallas and that's the that's the show piece of this whole game um what is it like in your career when you were playing like for someone to be traded and face their team like this everyone circled this game right away what what as as a player what is if you're micah parsons hat does it change anything or you just go about your business like how much does it mean Well, it means a lot.

And really what happens is, you know, I don't know Micah's status within the team of of Green Bay.

I'm guessing they're pretty happy he's there, but the guys kind of rally around you, knowing it's a payback game and they couldn't get this deal.

You know, Micah leaves, and all of a sudden, they have money to sign the left guard and sign all these different people, you know, but yet they wouldn't pay their best player.

So, I would think that the other guys, Rashawn Gary,

you know, you're looking at Devontae Wyatt,

you know, Quay Walker.

I would think the other guys would actually rally with Micah to really make sure that, you know, the payback is in full.

And I kind of think that that's going to happen because that does happen.

There is an immediate

just ramping up of the energy to go play a football game when you see a team that you were a part of for four years and

a successful team for the first three years.

I mean, where they won 12 games a year with him.

Let's move to Colts Rams.

Another game we're excited about.

We have a theme so far for this week for we're calling it Reputation Amputation Sunday.

There's a reputation of the Colts as the big surprise team in the league here, Baldi.

But this is a different challenge for them now on the road against a Rams team that has a chance to really get after Danny Dimes.

You buying in on the Colts or do you feel like there's going to be a bit of a reality check this week?

No, I'm buying in on them.

They were well coached.

I mean, you watch this, you know, Daniel Jones has thrown 88 balls so far.

He's completing over 70%.

He hasn't turned the ball over, hasn't come close to turning the ball over.

And the design of the offense makes a lot of sense to me and i think there's a real weakness in the secondary of the rams so you know how they can block guys up up front will be paramount i mean there are some good pass rushers there and you know jared verse and fisk and you know byron young and kobe that it's a good group so i think protection is going to be paramount but i i think if the design of the offense makes a lot of sense the tight end the rookie tight end tyler has been a big part of their success but the ball is going to everybody right now and so i like the design jonathan taylor leads this league in rushing right now.

So they've got a lot of things going for it offensively.

And then Lou Anarumo, you know, the last time Lou was on that field, he was watching, you know, Cooper Cup win a Super Bowl against him.

I'm sure he's pretty well reminded of the last time he was at SoFi as the defense coordinator of the Cincinnati Bengals.

So I think there was a lot going for the Colts right now.

And really, the two pass rushers that they really are counting on, in Quiddy Pay and Layatu Latu, really hasn't done much yet.

And so I'm kind of curious to see how they kind of come out and play Sunday.

It's like when you look at Daniel, I think the reason we're kind of a wait and see.

Like they played Miami, they played Tennessee,

and

you're just wondering if we're going to get the other version of Daniel Jones.

But we're in a league right now where you're watching quarterbacks later in their careers evolve, change, and become something different than we've seen.

Like is this coaching?

Is this the pieces around him?

You mentioned a lot of the pieces, or has Daniel Jones just literally evolved into a different type of player from what you, what you've watched?

It's a reclamation project of the highest degree at this point.

And it's only three games.

I never thought he could play like this, where he's pinpoint accuracy.

He can put the ball where he needs to put it.

Like, I didn't see that in New York.

But

when we're talking about Sam Darnold and Baker and some of these guys, you know, and their second, third chances and what they're doing right now, maybe even Carson Wentz, who knows, in Minnesota.

But

it kind of goes to show you how important the stability of an organization is, what the players around the quarterback are, and how talented and how well coached they are.

It takes all of it.

It just can't be the quarterback resurrecting these franchises.

And so I think it's a reminder of how important it is to build the team around your quarterback and give them stability where there isn't this constant turnover like there was in New York, a bad offense line, new GM, new coach.

I mean, all the stuff that Daniel Jones went through, it seems like he's in a stable place, at least right now.

It feels stable.

Yeah, I see it, Baldi.

You know, I'm a Jets fan.

You see what happened to Sam Darnold there, and now what Kevin O'Connell was able to do with him, and now what he's doing in Seattle.

I wonder if KOC thinks about, damn, I had Danny Dimes in my building.

I could have had him with the rookie.

And now instead of trying to fix Carson Wentz,

it makes you think.

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Hey, can we ask you about the Texans?

I mean, they're a tough watch, Baldy.

They're a tough watch right now.

What's wrong with the Texans?

What's wrong?

0-3.

Well, I mean, it's a lot of the same issues that they had last year with a different offensive coordinator and Bobby Slowick, a different offensive line coach.

It's the same issues.

I mean, I don't know how you let Laramie Tunsell out of your building.

I just don't know.

Like, why would you trade that guy?

Like, even Adam Peters is still wondering how Houston did that.

I know he had penalties last year, but he's a great player.

And look, you can put Ariante Ursury out there.

Like, I think he's going to be a good player, but he's not right now.

Like, he handed a hand.

So, you know, the penalties, the sacks, the pressure.

the lack, you know,

maybe Nick Chubb is it.

Maybe he isn't.

Like,

but there's not many good pieces around him outside of Nico Collins right now.

And so the, you know, you, he can't do it all right now.

And so it's just been from his offensive rookie of the year where he had real stability, he had a good offense line, he had a good running game, he had tank Dell, and he had, you know, different receivers to go to.

I feel like it's all dwindled right now.

And you could tell me Lake and Tomlinson's an upgrade at left guard.

I don't believe it is.

I know he doesn't get hurt and he plays, but he's not a great player.

So they're struggling up front.

And,

you know, that's where it starts.

And so you can put a new offense coordinator, new offense line coach in right now.

He's getting hit way too much right now.

Is it, you know, because it raises the question, D'Amico Ryans is beloved in Houston, and he's...

He is the reason their defense is a nasty operation.

But this is an offense that scored 38 points.

Does it start to swirl into the, this is what happens when you hire a defensive-minded coach.

and on the offensive side of the ball your young quarterback isn't nestled and protected the way that Deshaun McVay would be in your ear all the time you're on your second coordinator and it's it's looking very chaotic and the quarterback is devolving like does it raise the question of hiring an offensive-minded coach or a defensive minded head coach

I don't think so only because

Ultimately, when D'Amico stands in front of the team, he's got to talk to all 53 players and practice squad players in the organization.

When they lose a tough game, he's got to get everybody, he's got to rally the whole troops, regardless if you're offense or defense.

It's up to the organization to build the team around the quarterback.

They recognize the talent that CJ is, but I don't think they've done a good job of building around him right now, regardless of what side of the ball D'Amico Ryans comes from.

There's other defensive coordinators as Dan Quinn is a defensive coordinator, and they've won a lot of games with him with a rookie quarterback, but they've done a good job of building around Jaden Denny.

You see Marcus Mariota go in there last week.

I haven't seen Marcus play like that in years and they run for 200 yards against the Raiders.

Like they're a better team around the quarterback than they were a year ago.

And so we'll see what McCarran looks like.

But that's an organizational failure to me at this point right now in Houston.

Yeah, it's a little weird.

It's a different situation because Sometimes you have the young quarterback and you never get it figured out for him.

And then he goes somewhere else and finds success.

Houston immediately gave Stroud structure and then kind of squandered it, seemingly.

That's very tough.

All right.

Last one.

You got to check out Baldi's breakdowns on Twitter.

And I love the one you had on the DT for the Panthers, Derrick Brown.

The weekly feature of the, quote, frisbee toss, you call it.

Can you throw that up there, Justin?

Just you called it.

I'm going to do this weekly setup of Derrick Brown.

Where he takes grown men and he throws them like they're frisbees.

Like this is Chris Lindstrom that he's going up against.

He's getting doubled.

Lindstrom's a hell of a player, pro bow guard.

But when it's time to go make the play on Bijan, see you,

Frisbee toss, Derrick Brown.

Like, he's just different.

Nobody wants to be at the end of the Derrick Brown body toss.

I guess my question as a follow-up on that, Baldy, is you played many years in the trenches in the NFL.

You ever get frisbee tossed?

And if it did happen, did you feel like the same man when it was over?

Like, tell me about the machismo of life in the NFL when something like that happens.

Well, I mean,

I did play with Reggie White, and I did play against Reggie White, and Reggie had a hump move.

And when he wanted to throw you off the screen, you got thrown off the screen.

I mean,

nobody wanted it on the resume, but it would happen.

The thing that's interesting, like, I like, I could have put three more plays of Derrick Brown against Lynchstrom, which was even worse, but I like Chris.

So I didn't put the other plays up there.

But

it's now something I'm looking for every week because he did the same thing last week.

I put the video up.

It had 3 million views.

People seem to like it.

But Derrick Brown is just like he got hurt in the first game last year.

You know, he's the first defensive tackle to get 100 tackles in a season.

Like he is.

He's one of a kind right now, physically.

I mean, there was Aaron Donald, and he was in a category by himself, but Derrick Brown physically is as good as anybody playing that position in the league right now.

I read that as Mark.

Unless you're literally Reggie White, you're not frisbee tossing or doing anything to Baldy because he's a man.

That's what it sounded like.

That ability.

That was Odyssey NFL insider Brian Baldinger, host of the best football show podcast.

Insider calls are brought to you by Nationwide for your insurance and financial needs.

Nationwide is on your side.

Thank you, Baldy.

Thanks, guys.

I'll talk to you next week.

All right, there he goes.

Thank you to Baldi.

We hit up the Sunday night football game with Brian.

So now I call him Brian.

Nobody has ever called Baldy.

I don't think that's ever been.

I don't even know if that's a good idea.

That's almost offensive.

I would think he would be offended by that.

So I'm sorry.

He's rebranded, and you went against that.

I'm sorry about that.

All right, Monday night.

Let's check out the two Monday night games.

First, the number 28 Jets winless at the number 29 Dolphins winless.

Christ, we also got Fowler on the call.

Hopefully, he's healthy.

Fugazi, Fagazzi.

You know, with Orlofsky and Lewis Riddick.

I like Orlofsky.

The rest of the,

it's pretty dark.

7.15

Eastern Time on ESPN.

We also had the number 22 Bengals at the number 15 Broncos, 2-1 against 1-2.

Aikman and Buck on that call at 8-15.

What are you looking for in either of these games, Mark?

Go ahead.

Well, I guess for me, it's like, can the Bengals,

you know, you come out of last week very concerned with what occurred there, and are they shot, or can they survive somehow with the situation they're in?

You've still got a lot of talent, but I kind of feel like it's a team that's floating away, and I don't like playing in Denver against what is probably an agitated Broncos team.

But from the other angle, like, Bo Nicks, are we, is this a sophomore slump?

What's happening here?

This is not looking like a great quarterback at the moment.

So this looks like an ugly game.

game both of these games seem very ugly but this one is not um magnetizing me i'm not being drawn to it like a tractor beam pulling a ship out of space i i think that nicks has been getting a lot of criticism i'm not all the way there on it but i see where it's coming from he had one really bad game

and his accuracy probably is not where it really needs to be he's actually per pff ranking in the bottom five in uncatchable inaccurate pass percentage 22 and a half percent and then there's the one other thing that he's doing that's driving me crazy connor as as someone who has banged the over on Broncos and also ostensibly the team of HTC.

How many times is Bo Nicks going to have a 75-yard touchdown and then he lays the ball out there and it gets over the fingertips of his receiver by about four inches?

Like he comes so close, like two to three times a game with these deep balls.

And

so the accuracy, even on those throws, which was kind of like his money when he announced himself in the league last year.

He needs to be better.

He needs to be more accurate, and he needs to lead this offense.

I think those are one of those things that just gets honed over time.

I mean, we saw that even with Patrick Mahomes and Taekwondo over the matter of a couple downs in the Giants game.

And I do wonder if it's just a matter of like, hey, let's just give this.

I mean, Sean Payton said it the other day.

Just keep shooting those shots.

There's nothing mechanical I'm seeing that concerns me on any of these throws.

And that would be the issue, right?

If he's not having his plant foot down, if he's trying to do something ridiculous that he picked up in the offseason, some sort of bad habit.

I think it's there.

Tracking a deep ball is such a hard thing to do in the NFL for a wide receiver, and I think it's one of those things that's just, you know, it'll come.

By the way, I don't know, maybe he'll throw them into this game, Jake Browning.

He was not as bad as he was last week.

He is a guy that can move the team.

He has obviously great receivers to throw to, but I will pay each of you $1,000 if he does not throw a pick six in this game.

That is my promise to you.

Wow.

Take that.

$1,000.

Well, now I've got something to watch in this game.

The other game, yeah, the only thing really to keep an eye on at the Jets and Dolphins is

does Mike McDaniel, is he fired on Tuesday morning?

If they can't beat the Jets at home, I don't even know if Justin Fields is playing, at least trending that way now.

He's back to practicing for the Jets.

He hasn't exited the concussion protocol.

But if you can't find a way to beat this Jets team that has, I don't even know if Sauce is playing.

He's coming off a concussion.

Sauce played terribly last week before he went out with the concussion.

This is arguably with all due respect to the Dallas Cowboys and what they put together out there in North Texas.

The worst secondary in football,

the New York Jets.

So I imagine that the Dolphins are going to move the ball at will.

And I think this game could actually get ugly in the Dolphins' favor.

The Jets just have a lot of problems on defense.

I like, by the the way, that you say with all due respect to the Cowboys, noting that they're the worst secondary in football.

It's like they've really built something out there.

They've built something that's memorable, which is a dog shit secondary.

The Jets

have matched that and then some, especially if Sauce is going to be inconsistent, which we're looking at that again through three weeks.

All right.

Darren Waller's back.

How about that?

Yes, Justin.

Yes, Justin.

The Jets dog shit secondary got a little better this week when they traded for Titans cornerback Jarvis Brownlee Jr., second-year guy who's been a starter in Tennessee.

Not sure why the Titans made this move.

Why did they part with him?

Yeah.

Well, I mean,

get all the Titans you can to save your season.

That's how I look at it.

I'm hearing some stuff that he was a bit of a head case in the locker room and slightly uncoachable, but

Titans fans are very upset that they moved him because he's a young guy, cost control through 2027, starting caliber player he's a great tackler in the run game i think the jets get better with him on the run of a fire titan source by the way can i just say that like i don't know if anyone's appreciated over the last like eight episodes that you've dropped some of the spiciest like peak kaharski titans tidbits on this thing just casually through people that you're talking to yeah i'm i'm giving a lot of credit man this is hot

you cannot ask me that kind of a question reveal your sources could be

could be a girl, Amy Adams Strunk, or maybe a daughter of Amy Adams Strunk.

Very close.

Highlighting.

Not a woman.

A girl.

Could be a girl.

You got a sex edition?

You got a problem with sex?

Could be a girl.

I am saying they're equal.

It could be easy.

Maybe it's a girl that's a secret source.

No, we assume

a source is male, and I think that's incorrect thinking.

She's a pretty girl who keeps secrets.

My favorite.

It could be

a female.

All right, let's head over to the other ones.

And a reminder: don't get mad at us that your team's in this segment.

This is your discussion.

Stick your little comments in your pocket.

If they play better, they'll move up in the show.

Let's dig into it.

90 seconds, put it on the clock.

There, Gravy, for each game, starting with the number 31.

Oh, booy, number 31 Saints at number two Bills in Orchard Park.

Slaughter, Catalan, CD, and McCordy on the call.

All right.

I mean, my only concern on this one, Connor, let's start here.

I have Josh Allen in fantasy.

This is a game that could be a four-score game by halftime, and everybody's in mothballs till week five.

That's true.

That is a concern that we're going to see Mitch Trubisky action on this one.

But I'm wondering also, is it Tyler Schuck time?

Because we've had a lot of the wagons circling in New Orleans.

Kellen Moore being asked a lot about whether he's ready to change quarterbacks or not.

I think Spencer Rattler's actually been part of the solution and not part of the problem there.

I know that's a pet project of mine, and I keep going off about him, but I think that with one more kind of demolishing loss, we're looking not only at Kellen Moore's inability to put a game plan together to just play close against elite defenses, but maybe his hand gets forced at the quarterback position.

Ellen Moore.

Rattler, two games in a row before last week's destruction, had a chance to carve out game-winning drives.

He's 0-9 as a starter, but I am with you where I don't think he is the key problem, but they don't have a genuine NFL starting quarterback.

So Ellen Moore has been put into a tough spot.

This is also a defense.

Ellen Moore.

This is a defense giving up the league's fourth

highest passer rating, and they played Sam Darnold, Brock Purdy, and Kyler Murray.

So, you know, destruction.

Bills are impossible to game plan against.

They don't have a superstar X receiver, but they got all these tight ends.

They could all do different things.

You got Allen being a freak.

And the running game has been awesome.

Up next, the number 24 Carolina Panthers.

1-2 at the number 26 Patriots.

1-2.

You got Myers and Stink on the call for Fox.

Man, I need to...

You know what?

Hey, Patriots.

I don't want to, all summer I get told what your new team you're going to be.

Go put out 60 minutes of good football against the Panthers.

Mark, give me 60 good minutes in your building against the Panthers team that 30-0 against the Falcons withstanding is not special.

Panthers have been hot.

There's one thing I'm really watching from the Patriots because there's a push in New England, in those circles, to start playing younger players.

Like, you got a bunch of young guys, get them out there.

I would start with Trevion Henderson, who, you know, Ramondre Stevenson's turning the ball over a week ago.

Henderson was the first player to take reps in genuine tackling ball killer drills on Wednesday.

Like, let's get the breakout game.

Let's get this guy going.

Like, not to talk about one's fantasy team, but I drafted him thinking he's going to be like a hot potato type of badass by now.

And instead, he's not, he looks good, but he's not.

But that had all the hallmarks of the summer hype project that maybe that could happen with in retrospect.

Right.

But now with Stevenson issues, it could happen.

Yes, Connor.

Yeah.

Why not pick Carolina putting together two straight good games defensively?

I mean, guys like Chow Smith Wade, I mean,

I think they got a sprinkling of some little, maybe not stars, but some quality players here.

Let's see what they can do.

I think they could put together another dub.

Ted McMillan, another big-time player.

By the way, remember Christian Gonzalez?

Remember him?

Yes.

Yeah, very talented cornerback.

He might, might return in that game.

Up next, the number 17 Chicago Bears at the number 25 Las Vegas Raiders, both teams one and two, Spiro Didas and Archillette on the call for CBS.

Connor, I want to see the Bears put it together again.

I really want the Bears to be fun and interesting this season and not be every Bears season.

So coming off a great dissection of that bad Dallas defense.

And congratulations to the Cowboys for what they've built there in that secondary and the pass rush for that matter.

Can they stack it against the Raiders team that you should be?

be able to move the ball against them as well.

Yeah, I mean, I want to see time to throw come down on Caleb Williams.

I I think that's what everybody wants to see there.

They want to see him running that offense by design, not freelancing, not rolling out because he doesn't need to.

The answers are already there.

They're built into the equation.

And so I think, can he continue to refine that discipline and not back himself into mistakes?

I wonder if this could be Ashton Genty's big game.

You are playing a Bears defense that has absolutely been an open barn door for opposing running backs.

Raiders' offensive line is a hot mess, but could this be one where we finally get the guy, another rookie running back where it's like, when is this going to happen?

Why not now?

Well, it's only week four.

I feel like he's been

impatient.

I feel like he's been unfairly maligned so far because the game scripts, the offensive line, the quarterback play has been bad.

Like, God, you'd like to see it set up well for him.

Maybe it will be this game.

Maybe it will.

All right, one more.

Number 32, Titans, winless.

Number 23, the Texans,

winless.

Beth Mowins and Tucker on the call for CBS, Mark.

Well, absolutely.

You know, we do have a little bit of breaking news, actually, on the Titans front.

Yes, we do.

This is happening as we tape.

Let's go to Brian Callahan at a live press conference, Justin, if you can wire us in.

Cool.

I'm not quite sure why I'm here or what I'm doing,

but there's a reason.

Ma'am, we're discussing the rezoning for the Portillos.

Do you have any comments on that?

For what?

We're discussing the rezoning on 53rd for well, I live on 63rd.

Again, we're here to hear comments about the rezoning.

Well, I don't like Facebook,

and I don't like the internet because I can't find a job.

The library blocked my password.

Now tell me, does that make any sense to you?

Well, there you have it.

Justin, I don't know how you'd unpack that, but um...

Now I understand Justin's frustrations on Sunday evenings.

So much more.

All right, let's move on.

Hold on.

That's Beth Moens on the call, one of the great underrated play-by-play announcers, Syracuse University grads.

Love Beth.

Great job.

Yeah, I said that.

I said it was Beth.

Did I say Mowens?

Are you saying you're correcting my personate?

Yeah.

Mowens.

Mowens.

Beth Moens.

She's great.

Beth Moens.

Syracuse.

Teamed with Brex Ryan for a while.

Yeah.

Moines.

Gotcha.

Corrected.

Won't happen again.

Let's move to the blind locks.

Yeah, Moans is one of their, they have satellites when they jump in every once in a while.

So there's a Moan spot.

Yep, big Moeen spot.

Carmel Anthony on the cover of NBA 2K26, my son Harrison was quick to tell me.

Another member of the Orange.

Really, he peeked with the Orange at the old carrier dome.

Yeah.

All right, let's get into it.

Blind Locks.

All right, so

wait a minute.

Why would he be on the cover of this year's?

There's a lot of Knicks fans, I guess.

And

he's in a Knicks uniform.

They have different covers.

He's one of them.

Okay.

All right.

Let's check the standings first of all for the Blind Locks.

It's pretty tight, as I understand it.

Let's see what we got here.

Wow.

Ah, Harry Houdini with the image today on

YouTube.

All right, two and one, two and one, two and one, two and one, all four of us.

So, Mark, right there, it's a tie for first, I guess,

through.

What is the theory behind sticking me down in second place with the same

my record is identical to the other people in the group?

Oh, I do see that.

Justin, that's an oversight, I guess.

Can we adjust that maybe?

Yeah.

In post?

That's a mistake.

Sorry.

Yeah, we're all two and one.

I will find you and punish you.

All right.

Now, with that said, let's go into the blind locks.

Mark, you already made your blind lock a Thursday night game, and we will have already addressed that.

See how you made it kind of convoluted now for the show?

We will have addressed whether or not you locked up.

I mean, the whole thing's fed up now, but that's fine.

You did what you did, and we move on.

You put yourself ahead of the show.

That's fine.

That's fine.

It happens.

So there's three of us that.

Me, Dan, we're taping this like an hour and a half after Thursday night football.

You're right.

You're absolutely right about that also.

So let's make, and again, a reminder, the line locks, we don't know the spreads.

So we're going to make our picks.

And if we go,

my rule change, which is just an outrageously successful rule change, now it went from plus seven or minus seven to minus five.

So if you pick a favorite that's

favored by five, you have to cover 10, 6, 12, 7, you got to cover 14.

So beware if you want to cherry pick, unless you're leaning into that sort of thing.

All right.

And I'll just say this particular

week, there are a few landmines.

Maybe you weren't expecting that line to be what it is.

All right.

I'll be aware, Justin.

Thanks.

The next Hitchcock, a master of suspense, Justin Graver.

Thank you.

Thank you.

Thank you.

Oh, boy.

Give me the 49ers over the Jags.

I think that's where we're going.

49ers, Jags.

You know, it's funny, I'm not going to take this game, but per the

mirror rule,

the Bills' Saints spread has to be

insane.

Yeah.

Like, you got to win by...

In our game, the Bills would have to win probably by around what, like 25 or 30 points, right?

I think it's got to be like 13, 14 or something.

I don't know.

Right.

So I'm not going to do that, but they certainly are going to win that game.

Give me,

I know

this is going to be pushing back at some of the narrative on the show, but give me the Rams.

I think they're going to hold court at home against the Colts.

And it doesn't mean I'm out on the Colts, but I think the Colts

kind of get brought down to earth a little bit in this game.

And I think Dimes struggles to thrive the way he has.

And even Taylor, with that coaching staff, they slow down the running game and really take the Colts out of their comfort zone for the first time.

The first team that can do it.

Give me the Rams as a lock.

How about you, Justin?

I was between the Niners and the Rams.

And now that you guys have done it, I know we can lock bro it up and stuff, but for the sake of fun competition, I want to go somewhere else.

So I think I'm going to pivot to the Lions over the Browns,

fully anticipating that whatever the spread is, that I actually don't remember what it is.

But I am anticipating it will double for me.

But I think that's going to be a bit more.

Well, that's certainly going to be more than minus five.

I'm going to, why don't we have some fun with this one before you reveal it?

Um,

I'm going to think I'm going to guess that you're going to have to end up covering

people.

I think the desert's going to, they're smart.

They know the Browns play good defense, but I think you're going to have to cover 14 points there.

That's what I think.

It's more.

Yeah.

Like 18 or 20.

Okay.

And what about the Bills?

Well, let's see.

All right.

Let's fly it up.

Oh, dude.

The Lions have got minus 10 laying 10 points.

You've got to win by 20.

That's going to be a tough one.

Three touchdowns?

Come on.

They can do that.

The Bills are favored by 15 and a half.

God, we would have had to cover by 31 in our game.

All right, so we avoided that mind land.

Is everybody safe?

Let's see.

Three and a half.

The Rams are laying three and a half of wood.

The Niners also three and a half.

Okay.

There you go.

Quickly.

The marks already been decided, so totally disconnected from the segment, but that's fine.

For you two, I think you both have an advantageous position here with those teams traveling pretty far to the west coast to play.

So that's just something to watch.

The sluggishness, the 400 energy.

Yeah.

Thank you very much.

Thank you very much on that,

Justin.

Hey, last thing before we go.

I had something.

I had been talking to Justin about this since our last show.

Holiday Touchdown, the sequel, the Buffalo Bills.

I can't get this out of my head.

It's one of those things that just parks itself in

your right cortex of your brain or your right quadrant of your brain.

It just won't go away.

Is it left or right?

I don't know.

But anyway, it's parked there.

The poster, the poster, the tagline, right?

Right.

Fly it up, Justin.

This tagline.

The tagline.

Wait, where are you going with the

oh?

What are we doing here?

Oh, yeah, the hand on the inner thigh.

Sitting on the crossbar.

The hand of the female.

Yeah, no, but go back up.

Go back up.

I mean, that is weird what's going on with her hand, the gloved hand on the inner thigh.

Mark likes it, sicko.

But right here, the slogan,

go for four, you might find forever.

Doesn't make it, has anybody figured out what this means yet?

What are they trying to say?

I've seen some discourse that might tie into their fourth Super Bowl.

That's the only thing I've got.

Yeah, that doesn't make sense either.

Go for four,

you might find forever.

What does that mean?

They were wiped out in all four of them like 30 years ago.

Go for four.

You might find that you will forever not go back to the Super Bowl if you go for.

This is

a command.

This isn't a 30 years ago past tense.

I don't understand this at all.

See, this can be better, and it's not too late.

So this is what I asked Justin to do, guys.

I asked Justin to look up a contact with the people over there at Hallmark.

And Connor, with all due respect, I want to run everything on this through you because you are our point person in this realm.

And I want to respectfully,

did you find a contact, Justin?

This is the stuff I have Justin doing on Thursday mornings of our

busiest day of the week, by the way.

It's a poor guy.

What a producer.

I reached out to Tubai.

Dan said, yeah, reach out to Hallmark too.

And I said, okay.

Yeah, hit him up.

And we want to find a contact.

And we would like crowdsourcing this with our listeners, an alternate slogan to put on their posters.

Once they start rolling this thing out in earnest, not just on social media, but on billboards and on the side of city buses, let's help them have a better slogan for this movie.

Does that make sense, Connor?

Are you comfortable with this, like helping them in terms of marketing the film?

So I've been on the

Hallmark Reddit for a little while and just sort of reading the tea leaves on this one and arrows up all over the board.

One little detail that I unearthed about the film is that all the waitresses and bartenders are actually the staff of Bar Bill in Buffalo.

And if you know anything about Buffalo Wings, Anchor Bar sucks.

And Bar Bill, 9-11 Tavern, there's a couple really good places.

Say the 9-11 Tavern?

Yeah.

Did Sean McDermott open that place?

Yeah, so

they're really sourcing the locals.

They know the good spots.

I feel like this is going to be uniquely Buffalo.

And so I feel great about it to the point where the slogan doesn't bother me as much because they always come full circle, right?

They always bring the magic.

And I think we got to give them the benefit of the doubt here.

Oh, okay.

See, I was thinking we could be involved with the process, and it would be exciting.

I mean, I'm do we have your permission to try?

Yeah, I'll dig in.

I'm happy to dig in.

Yeah.

So if you, if, if you, the, uh, the listener, have an idea for what the slogan should also be, should be for this film.

And do not, we don't want bits, no jokes.

We want actual slogan ideas for holiday touchdown.

Think something, a love story connecting to the Buffalo Bills and the lore,

and hashtag it.

What should we hashtag it, Justin?

Maybe we'll do this via Twitter.

I don't know.

Hashtags are kind of dead, but just for fun, hashtag.

Well, it's still searching.

I know they're dead in terms of the popularity, but if it helps us kind of sort, right?

Holiday redo.

We've got holiday redo.

Yeah, something that nobody else will have made a hashtag for.

So when we search it, it's definitely ours.

A little bit like HTC holiday redo, so that it's definitely

HTC holiday redo.

All right.

Hashtag tag your posts with your idea for what the slogan should be.

And then we'll take a...

like maybe five or six or ten or twelve and send them along to the contact that Justin dug up.

And we're going to help them fix this poster for this film.

Because otherwise, as Connor said, we're over the moon about it.

We can't wait to do it.

We're going to do a live watch on Patreon in December.

But if we can do something to just, as football fans, give the product a little more authenticity in terms of the slogan, we're going to try.

I have to admit

that during this conversation,

well, I did come up with a slogan of my own that I'll release later, but

it is hurting my mind.

Yeah, that's what I mean.

It's hurting my mind.

What is your slogan, by the way?

We got to hear it.

I will hold on that because I think it's a little off color.

It's a little.

Oh, it's something.

You know what?

You are.

You're thinking about the red glove on the inner thigh, aren't you?

I know you are.

That's exactly what I'm saying.

I'm really thinking.

I am genuinely agitated at the slogan that they've created, and I think it's a little bit

dumbing your nose.

What's wrong with sex?

You're addicted to sex.

Sex addiction.

It's dumbing your nose at the loyal Hallmark

viewers out there.

Connor may be aside if he's on Ward of.

But I mentally am annoyed by it, and that's where I'm going to.

Yeah, we're going to try to fix it.

All right.

Thank you to everybody for your support of the show.

Remember our subscriber goal, we're trying to get to 25K, so bang that.

Smash it if you haven't yet.

The subscribe button on YouTube.

And we'll be back on Sunday with a full recap of all the games we just previewed.

And go over to the Patreon for the draft.

This is going to be a good draft week because there's a lot of fun stuff to break down.

So So check that out at patreon.com/slash heed the call.

Till next time, do what you must.

Heed the call.

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