NFL Week 4 Power Rankings + Lions-Ravens MNF Recap

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Garrett, let's start with the going for it on fourth and two.

You make an incredible throw to a Monroe St.

Brown.

Why did that play work?

Yeah, we kind of had that one in our back pocket all day, and I was kind of begging for it throughout the game.

And Dan was holding it, and that was perfect going for it.

And it worked great.

great.

Oh, it worked great indeed, Jared Goff.

Fourth and two near midfield, the game hanging in the balance, and the Detroit Lions.

It doesn't matter that some of the people on the sideline and

up in the booth

have changed.

This is still the Detroit Lions.

This is still Dan Campbell's team.

This is still Jared Goff's team.

And yeah, they dial up a beautiful, beautiful pass play on fourth and short for a long gain to who else?

Amon Ross St.

Brown.

Minutes later, David Montgomery was scampering into the end zone in front of a shocked MNT Bank Stadium.

Sessler going off and the text chat.

Always cathartic for Mark when the Ravens go up in flames, especially in a big spot.

And that they did.

Final score.

Detroit Lions, 38.

Baltimore Ravens, 30.

Monday night football.

And a stellar Monday night game.

And Mark Dan Hans is here with Mark Sessler and Justin Graver on the ones and two.

Twos.

Mark, saying, I think after week two, that,

for instance, in my situation,

we're about to close in now when this season ends up where it's going to end up.

A third of my life consecutively, my favorite favorite NFL team will not even make the playoffs, 15 straight years.

So, to stay in love with the game and involved with it, beyond just something that gives you a paycheck, you got to go chase the joy.

You got to find the joy.

For me, that's a team like the Detroit Lions.

I mean, I have so much fun watching this team, and I love how it's all set against the backdrop.

You know what it reminds me of, Mark?

It reminds me of the 2016 Chicago Cubs when you could all rally behind this fun, young team, great personalities, great talent, innovative play, and then you knew the history that they were up against.

And you kind of, you're chasing that together.

And yes, that will come in January and February.

We'll see where the lions go.

But in the here and now, tonight was another reminder.

God, this is a fun team to watch.

This is America's team.

Yeah,

we're on a party line.

We're of like minds on this.

And you're right, the Cubs and teams like the Cubs that have been,

you know, dinged by history for decades in a row.

The Lions are among that small tribe of teams.

And to watch this tonight, it's the kind of game where I'm sitting in this little room here watching this game and I am clapping my hands and like screaming, like to who?

I don't know.

I guess to my soul, because it's like I found joy in this game too.

And it was for the second week in a row after you decimate the Bears.

You know, the week one raised all these questions, obviously.

We all get it.

Week two kind of was like, all right, well, we don't know what the Bears are, and you went out and sandblasted them, and we feel better.

But tonight, to go to Baltimore and to run the ball 38 times for 224 yards, to, on a key fourth and two, Dan Campbell dials up what you and I both requested on text.

You throw that ball and 20 yards to Amon Ron Say Brown, like play of the game to seal it.

This identity, the identity of the Lions is still intact and their power, their might, seven sacks on Lamar Jackson on the road because I think it's like the Lions have been like this team at home we can trust.

What does it mean to go to Baltimore against a Lamar Jackson figure who came into the game with 25 touchdowns and zero turnovers on Monday night football, arguably the greatest Monday night football quarterback of all time, and you take down the Ravens?

This was a huge victory for the Detroit Lions.

Huge win for the Lions, and you could put to bed, it's the type of win that you put to bed any of that, the summer-long narrative of, okay, have the Lions had a brain drain, as they call it, and have they lost too much personnel from the sidelines and it's going to show up?

Well, no,

they've clearly, and big time shout out to Johnny Morton, who had a star turn in this game, the play caller,

but also on the defensive side of the ball, Kelvin Shepard,

both Morton and Shepard have huge days.

Like you said, seven sacks of Lamar Jackson, who strangely seemed to be running in cement, but I don't think that was the case.

I think that the Lions are big and they're fast and they're long and they chase down and they were relentless against Lamar Jackson.

So

you have a defense that is just healthy after being obviously decimated by injuries last year.

And then an offense that is just when they are in full flight as they were tonight they're just it's just beautiful to watch I mean it is it's football and in in terms of scheme and execution as it's as it's meant to be played at the highest level they have scoring drives of 98 and 96 yards in this game and Baltimore was missing obviously Matabuke which is a big deal for that team you're seeing that

two out of the three weeks are getting lit up by contenders in the NFL the bills in week one and that big comeback, and now this.

They have to get some things figured out.

But yeah, the Lions to me are the biggest story here because this really, I think, was the coming out party after the two weeks of all the Packer celebration and obviously the Eagles doing what the Eagles do, and they're off to another fast start.

This was the line saying, you know what, do not overlook us as the top dog in this conference, and it's going to be fun to see it all unfold.

Yeah, they face the recency bias of the week one crash.

The Ravens have not allowed a 95-yard plus touchdown drive since 2001.

So like you said, two of them tonight, but it's identity for the Lions because one of them was an 18-play, 98-yard touchdown drive with 13 runs.

And

one of them included the touchdown where it was the Amon Ross St.

Brown trick pitch to Jameer Gibbs.

So it's again, you're right.

From a John Morton angle, it's like Ben Johnson is gone, but

the folds and the creative creases of this offense are not gone.

And maybe it took a couple of weeks.

Like there's no preseason anymore for these guys.

So it's like it takes a little bit of time, but the creativity is still here.

And I think that it speaks to Dan Campbell's cultural leadership of this team that like, yes, you lost both your coordinators and it was the big question of the summer.

And we didn't see it in week one, but you have other people on the staff and like he's obviously downloading, working with them and saying, we're not going to change what we do.

And it looks like they're just back on track.

And I mean, just to watch them run the ball the way they did, dominant.

And, you know, the Ravens quietly,

like, because of tonight, the Ravens are tied with the Dolphins for the most points allowed through three weeks.

And the Lions are the kind of team they're going to throw you off course if you're a defense, no matter who you are.

And, like, the power and the might of it.

And they've got a tough schedule, but it's like this team is back.

And like, I feel like they're the team, as you said, that bring me, they bring me happiness to watch.

They're the kind of football when I was young that I enjoyed watching and they are they're they're the duplicate of that that fourth and two again uh just a huge huge moment of the game let me let me check out the play-by-play uh just to know exactly what was happening in that moment they are at

it is uh right after it's at the two-minute warning so

they had a bit of a misfortune where there was about a half second difference between the the play clock it was like nine seconds and eight seconds seconds yeah uh and the game clock so they had to run a play so they call a pass um and it's a three-yard gain uh that takes it to 156 clock stops fourth and two at the detroit 49 and at this point it is uh

31 24

and you know at that moment they go to commercial at the two-minute break and i i texted you guys and then i go on on twitter and it's the first tweet I sent out for the whole game, even though I was so plugged into the game.

I was like, screw all this.

But Dan Campbell, colon,

be Dan Campbell, hang them onions, and a big spot.

All caps, okay?

And I just want to say, I don't want to,

I don't want to go too crazy with this, and I did check.

Uh, Troy Aikman is on Twitter.

Uh, he hasn't sent a tweet since August 3rd.

Uh, very active, it's mostly a vehicle to promote his America is awesome light beer.

But

after, this is about two or three minutes later, after the huge conversion to Amon Ross St.

Brown, and this is Aikman's reaction on the ESPN telecast.

Yeah, maybe they try to hard count, draw him off sides, but didn't appear to be any hesitation from Dan Campbell.

Not surprised.

He's got big onions.

I mean,

this is a bold move.

Is it possible during the commercial mark

that someone retweeted me into his feed because connecting Campbell to onions in that spot?

I mean,

just

be honest with me, any chance he saw my tweet during that commercial break and then it was in his head.

Just, let's be real.

I'll go one step further.

I think there's, you know, I think he's an intense preparation guy.

There's a chance he's listened to you on the show and that he's heard that drop and then it's been infused into his

onions.

I'd say one quick thing.

If I were to put together like my top 10 list of males.

We love the farmer.

Maybe

he keeps going.

Thank you, Justin.

Thanks, Justin.

Just rolls them all out at once.

A real tactician.

Go ahead.

If I were to list like a top 10 male crush, Justin, what?

Yes, Justin.

More from you.

What on earth else needs to happen at this point?

A Titans update.

Is that what we need?

This drop predates me.

So roll them all out at once, roll them out where they belong.

I don't know.

I'm just hitting buttons.

The guys are

incredible instincts.

Okay, Mark, go ahead with your point.

Thanks.

It feels like my point has faded down the stream a little bit.

Like, just if I were to list like a top 10

guy crush on guy crush thing, like Troy Aikman is.

We know, Mark.

We know.

It's actually a little uncomfortable at this point.

The idea that he's listened to our show and picked up that terminology is

I will think about that.

Yeah.

And in addition to that grade fourth and two call, as you mentioned, the double pitchdon.

The double pitch touchdown, Jared Goff tossed to Monroe St.

Brown to Jameer Gibbs for that touchdown to put Detroit up 28-21.

That was on fourth down as well.

So like in a huge moment, they could have kicked the field goal there to go up 24-21,

but to go for it and then not just go for it, to pull a trick play out of their book and not a trick play that they've run in a game.

In fact,

according to our old friend Steve Weisch at NFL Media, Jameer Gibbs said that the double pitch touchdown had been in their playbook for three years and that was the first time they ran it.

I mean, these are onions the size of planets.

And

yeah.

And I'll show you a little bit about growing huge onions.

And on the Ravens side of it,

yeah, I think there's reason to be concerned.

The defense, obviously, like we said, they're missing some guys, and I think they'll figure some things out.

They typically do.

The Derrick Henry thing, am I worried about Derrick Henry?

Me personally, no.

I think he's still Derrick Henry.

I think three fumbles in three weeks, though, is the type of stuff that's getting Ramondre Stevens shot to the moon in New England.

But this is an all-time player who's just in the equivalent of a running back slump.

Did you see some of the sideline shots?

Do you have that, Justin?

Some of the sideline sideline shots after he comes off the field, and I don't know, did he get benched?

Because he didn't come back in the game after this occurred.

This is the second time in three weeks a late fourth quarter fumble dooms the team.

He's in shock.

Look at his eyes.

I mean, this is not what you're used to seeing.

And then as they're going to break, he slams his helmet down on the little post behind the benches and he slumps himself onto the bench, which we've seen him do before, but just a little bit like this is a man that's going through it right now this is not the derrick henry we're used to

i agree because it's two game altering game ending turnovers and fumbles and that's not what he's about i'm not concerned um in the sense that if you go back and look at the season on hole 169 yards and two touchdowns against the bills And he was nullified against the Browns, but we're learning that the Browns defense does that to everyone.

And tonight, I don't know if it's a game script thing, but the turnover was bad.

He's got to look at that.

And I think that his emotion is like, this is not who he is.

Like, this guy works harder in the offseason than maybe any other running back out there.

So I'm not worried about what's ahead.

They played two really great teams in Buffalo and Detroit, and it just went that way tonight.

He doesn't stand out to me as like, I'm concerned about Derrick Henry, but

we'll roll out our week four power rankings and we'll see where the Ravens Ravens fall after this one.

Like, yeah, I think Henry will be okay.

I think

this was not a great Lamar Jackson game by his standards.

He didn't have the same escapability against this Detroit front seven.

He also put some balls up for grabs.

He should have had a pass intercepted by Branch at one point, and he couldn't seem to will this team

to the finish line like he typically does, but he'll be okay also.

I mean, but, you know, at the end of the day, they are one and two, and they have two very high-profile island losses that, you know, when they're nine and three in a month and a half or whatever, like, we'll probably look back at this and be like, see, we were right.

There was no reason to panic.

But at the same time, it doesn't change the fact that they've had two huge showcase games to show that they are the team to beat.

And in both cases, they've lost kind of in dramatic fashion.

So for a team that is in the old Steinbrenner doctrine place of win the championship or failure, it's an inauspicious start to their season.

It is.

I really don't want to like over

dramatize it, though, because I think you're right.

Like, I mean, their schedule is brutal, and they lost to two teams that have to be top five in our power rankings, if not top three.

But when you're the Ravens, there's no such thing as a brutal schedule, right?

Because you're supposed to be a team that no matter who's on the schedule, you expect to win, right?

Like, I think there's a, I don't know, maybe it's just someone.

Especially in the regular season, because the regular season is a brutal schedule and like big challenges, right?

Like big games, big showdowns.

So to see them kind of blink in both of these games,

it's a frustrating situation.

I always, and this is, this is my, I have a little bit of anti-Raven sentiment in general, but it's more just observing, well, just observing them like from a subjective angle.

Like,

I kind of just wait.

I always feel like it's just a wait until they crumble type of thing.

But it never happens in the regular season.

We all, everyone feels that way, right?

But

these are the best teams, and you're right, in the sense that, like, had you toppled one of them, we feel very differently about you.

You toppled neither of these two teams.

All right.

Anything else from this game, Mark, before we

one thing about the Lions that kind of

I think we both have a little bit of a Lions fascination right now?

When you got Jack Campbell, who gets hit

right in the lip,

he's got a bloody lip, his mouth is bleeding, and he just goes back out there on the next drive with a gigantic band-aid over his.

They're like, they tried to stop the bleeding.

Nice job by the medical staff.

And he's right back out.

They're like, great job by the medical staff.

That's what I love about these lions.

Like, just, he's, this is not Judy Eve from Accounting.

This is Jack Campbell from the Detroit Lions.

So, yeah.

Yeah.

Good job.

I love it.

That's smash mouth.

That's tough.

We got Dan Quinn with the bleeding nose

on Sunday.

And now you have a split up lip for a linebacker.

And from the NFC North, that's football.

All right.

All right.

Let's take a break when we get back.

Some quick news to get caught up on.

And there's some big, big, big news to get caught up on.

And then, yes, we will end with the power rankings.

Week four.

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All right, we are back.

Welcome back.

Monday night.

Oh, I love these Monday shows, Mark.

We're nice and loose.

We're having a good time.

Good old time on the old HTC.

Maybe just me.

I don't know.

No, I'm having a nice time.

I hope Justin is too.

Seemed a little bit on edge before the show, but.

Lizzie?

Justin, how are you?

I'm good.

I am building the power rankings graphics right now, and I estimate I have like 15 to 20 minutes to finish that before we get to the segment, at which point, we'll need to show them.

So, just working away, you know, multitasking.

All right, get back to it.

We'll uh try to, yeah, we'll try to keep uh

we'll try to keep it from getting too overwhelming for you.

Uh, Mark and I will do the uh heavy lifting here.

Uh, let's get caught up on some news.

What did Payne Durham say to you when he wrapped his arm around you in the time?

Me and Payne have a relationship not many people know about, and we're secret lovers.

I mean, you gotta like

you gotta know Todd Bowles

or have an understanding who Todd Bowles is to truly appreciate him making a tossed-off reference to

someone in the football realm being his like secret lover.

I mean, that's didn't see that one coming.

That's the type of stuff when a coach is

and he knows in the back of his mind that he could easily be 0-3,

you know, you're feeling a little flip and you're making some like, you know, fun gay jokes in a big spot.

Yeah, yes, you are.

And like, this is not a typically, verbally not a Rex Ryan figure.

Right.

So you're right.

Or.

And we love fun gay jokes on this show.

Like, oh, we do.

On the screen, on the screen.

I mean, so we're all about it.

We thrive off them.

But like from another angle, it could be true.

We don't know.

Like, it's a joke to everyone else.

Maybe not a joke.

Maybe not.

You're right.

Who was that one you were talking about?

Who was the

tight end?

Sorry, Justin.

It's their tight, one of the tight ends, right?

Payne Durham.

Yeah.

So Payne Durham.

I'm not to add like another nor innuendo to that, but like I know, right?

Yeah.

Interesting name to be connected to such a thing.

All right, let's get into it.

We didn't really hit on this on Sunday night, but that's okay because the Sunday night show is packed and we gave about

10, 12 minutes to the Giants Chiefs game.

The one thing we didn't really get into, Mark, so I'm glad we have a chance now,

is

the Giants fans at MetLife Stadium, obviously by the second half and through the fourth quarter, are pretty loudly booing Russell Wilson and the offense for some of the play calling.

Anytime they were running the football, when they were down to scores in the final eight minutes, which is understandable.

Some of the play calling, Russell Wilson just continually firing the ball through the back of the end zone

when they were just trying to get it back to one score and he couldn't even get that touchdown to make the game interesting.

The crowd's going nuts.

And then notably, Collinsworth on the telecast, and maybe we could connect this to the Tom Brady controversy.

I always pay attention when a color guy, especially one with the level of prestige of a Collinsworth, kind of makes a comment that arches my eyebrow about what's happening inside a building.

And he says something along the lines of, you know, you talk to people in and around the Giants and they love this kid, Jackson Dart.

And there is a, and now I'm paraphrasing, but basically there's a real drumbeat to make this kid

someone that's doing things on the field as opposed to just being this hope that rests off it or just jogs on the field for running plays.

So

that tells me that there's some murmurings and some rumblings inside that building that it's time to put Dart on the field in a developmental year for the Giants.

The crowd and the Giants fans are already fired up about it.

Dable's already been inundated with questions.

And naturally, after a difficult, frustrating loss to the Chiefs, he was asked about it.

He put them off on Sunday night, but on Monday,

the questions returned.

Now, I haven't heard any of this yet.

I heard from a friend in New York, Mark, on a text chain.

Oh, it sounds like it's time it's going to happen, that he's going to switch from Wilson to Dart.

Let's listen in and let's decide.

Good.

So, Russ remains the starter moving forward?

Yeah, I mean, we're working through all personnel decisions, and we'll do that over the next few days.

Hmm.

Thank you.

Sam, Dog in.

Hold on, Tom.

You're not saying Russ is the starter, right?

You're saying you're still working through that?

Yeah, we're doing what we normally do, which is

watch the tape.

We're just watching it with the players right now.

So,

you know, we'll have staff meetings after this, but we watch the

when we come in, we watch the tape,

offense, defense, kicking game as a staff, and then we go meet with the players.

That's where we're at right now.

Most Monday afternoons, you know who your quarterback's going to be the upcoming week if everyone's healthy, though.

It seems a little different.

Your responses.

New York.

Yeah.

Well, look, we're going going through the tape right now.

We're evaluating everything.

So quarterback change is on the table.

I'd say we're evaluating everything.

Bye-bye.

Just turn it up.

When would you like to have a decision on who are you going to start quarterback?

Yeah, I'm not saying who's starting or who's not starting, Dan.

I'm just saying we're evaluating everything.

This doesn't happen in Atlanta, by the way.

We're going through the tape from yesterday, and we're evaluating, you know, every position right now.

All right.

And Giants fans know Dable was similar in some of his language and wording when he moved off Daniel Jones last season, who was benched a couple days later and then eventually cut.

The schedule matters here.

Mark, I'm going to go reading,

I'm going to hear all that.

My theory is that they will go with Wilson this week against the Chargers

and

give Wilson another shot.

He gets a very tough Chargers defense.

And then if that doesn't go well next week in New Orleans against the Wobegone Saints, maybe you put Dart out there.

So I'm going to say he sticks with Wilson, but there's a lot of wording there that's classic coach speak for a making a change.

What do you think?

It's tilted in that way

95%

because, you know, I think Dayball came into the season as

the hottest seat.

in town and I kind of don't care about the schedule because the schedule never lets up.

You can put them in there against the Saints, but then you've got the Eagles twice over the next three weeks sandwich around the Broncos and then the Niners.

It just kind of gets worse and worse.

You're an NFL quarterback.

You're Jackson Dart.

You got to play these teams.

It's like, go find out.

Because I think in New York, New York is different than, like you said, Atlanta or Jacksonville or somewhere else.

Like when you've got...

what I still want to call just giant stadium, sorry, but like you've got them going mad and booing like they were were and that's being audibly noted on television and then dayball who day ball could be gone in three weeks if things get any worse what what is the purpose i guess what is the purpose of russell wilson if what happened against the cowboys repeated itself this week everything's rosy but the russell wilson we just got is stopping the fans, the team, the coaching staff from maybe finding new hope in a rookie that everyone has fallen for.

So I don't see the purpose of Russell Wilson at this point.

I'm not surprised that it's happening sooner than some thought, but

go with it.

Make a change.

I don't know why.

I don't understand why you'd stick with Russell Wilson for another month.

By the way, there's no romance to Mad Life Stadium, buddy.

It ain't Giants Stadium.

Oh,

I agree that it's

flavorless.

The Oasis concert.

That is the worst stadium that exists in this country.

It's as ugly as it is on the outside as it is on the inside.

And that was a shared bill between the Jets and Giants.

and you could tell they got it on discount so you know

a minor aside but

so do you think there is dart playing against the chargers

i think so come on sese get off the i think so yeah i don't know how you do this for another week because again you're at home again if you were going to la maybe you roll with russell wilson because it's a it's an environment that does not care about this but it's you're back in at home against the same season ticket holders and fan base.

All right.

I'm going to split the baby here.

I don't think that's the right use of the expression.

We like to do that.

Russell Wilson starts.

Russell Wilson struggles.

Dart comes in at halftime for the third quarter.

And the Dart era is, as the Boo Birds begin to take over MetLife Stadium,

as the teams go to the tunnel.

It's Dart who emerges as QB1 and the Dart era begins.

And, you know, we'll talk about this with Connor because maybe there'll be an announcement by later in the week.

But this always felt like the most, that's why I was so surprised by Connor's take about Wilson and that he thought he was going to hold on to the job and play well.

So many things were stacked against him.

And Dable, also, I had Dable the hottest seat when we did the hot butt rankings.

You guys talk me out of it because there was so much Giants' optimism.

Like this was always just a major powder keg situation.

And sure enough, against a tough schedule, they're 0-3.

And now this is what happens.

You have a young charismatic rookie quarterback who's a first-round pick and a progress stopper veteran.

And something's got to give.

And Dayballs is probably throwing up his hands at this point.

And he's like, I got to just make this move.

It's holding the whole team hostage in a way, right?

I like your halftime switch.

That feels like a kind of a cunning, smart Dayball move where it's like, you get it.

We're all going to watch you get it in real time in the middle of the game, and it's confirmed.

I still think it could happen before that.

Like,

I don't get the Russell Wilson thing at this point, but you can't look at the schedule because it never lets up.

And so it's like, go play the kid.

We're not asking him to save the day, but change the energy.

Yeah, because that giant team, it does have pieces.

I know why there was optimism around them, because there's some exciting pieces both on the offense and the defense.

And

they just need that little kind of supercharge with the rookie.

All right.

Another news.

Terrible, terrible, terrible news out of San Francisco.

The 49ers cannot catch a break, man.

Late in

San Francisco's win on Sunday, Nick Bosa plants his leg, his knee buckles.

And, you know, they were hoping that testing on Monday would not reveal a worst case scenario, but indeed, Bosa has torn his right ACL.

He will miss the rest of the season.

Shanahan said that he was pretty confident, Bosa was, that he had torn it on Sunday.

This is a guy that had a partial tear of his ACL in high school, tore his ACL at the sardine can in the Meadowlands a few years ago and blamed it on the turf, that notorious turf there, and now has done it again.

So he's going to need season-ending surgery, and that's a huge loss.

You lose the 2022 NFL Defensive Player of the Year.

You just took a big step back in your goal of getting back to the Super Bowl.

It's a test of how much the Niners believe in themselves this season because

you're really thin at that position.

You got Mikkel Williams, Bryce Huff, Gross Matos.

Like there's not a lot going on there.

Robert Sala, I wonder how much influence he has behind the scene, but

do you trade for someone?

Like a name that was quietly whispered about.

I don't know why the Jaguars would do this, but someone like Josh Hines-Allen, like, do you make a big trade?

I'd say this about the Niners.

If anything, they're bold.

Like, they make big, bold moves because they believe that they're always on this doorstep of a Super Bowl.

And so do you go and fortify that position?

Bosa,

he made like huge plays against the Seahawks and Saints at the end of those games.

And, you know, we saw him walking off the field and he looked up into the crowd and just put his thumb down.

And you kind of knew something was going on.

Like, he knows his own body.

He's had multiple ACL tears at this point.

So you're right.

The Niners, I feel like at every position, there's like,

what would this starting lineup have been?

And what are they right now?

They're resilient, but at some point, the bow breaks.

Yeah.

And this is a team that already

was featuring eight new starters in week one.

And Bosa was the anchor holding the whole thing together in the front seven.

And now he's out the door.

My feelings about the 49ers, despite the 3-0 start, are that

I think there are two teams in that division I feel better about right now.

And, you know, maybe Brock Purdy comes back and he's healthy and they start, you know, to, and Brandy Ayu comes back and CMC stays on the field and Pierce Hall continues his breakout and Trent Williams stays healthy.

Maybe all these things happen,

but maybe this is just a team that's

breaking down again for the second straight year and they're just going to have to take a different path at it.

Let's see what happens.

But their injured players could beat various teams around the league.

Right.

Which is after last year, they were probably saying, oh, injury regression, positive regression for us.

We'll be one of the healthier teams, right?

Right?

No, it didn't work out that way.

The Cowboys, speaking of like just really crushing losses, CeeDee Lamb,

and I'm not sure who was on the telecast, who was on the call of Cowboys Bears yesterday,

but made the good point.

Can you check that, Justin?

Made the good point that one thing about giving a wide receiver

working in

end around and handoffs and those type of plays is it changes both angles that you're taking as he's trying to get around the corner in a situation.

Also, who's tackling you?

It goes from a corner or a safety to now.

There's a big ass linebacker that is collapsing on top of you who's Tom Brady.

It was Tom Brady.

Okay, because Tom Brady, like, well, we can get into that another time, but he had some interesting things.

Yeah, Brady.

Brady said, yeah, you put your wide receiver in a bit of a tricky spot potentially because now you have a big, heavy, fast linebacker collapsing on your body.

And in this case, that's what happened to C.D.

Lamb.

He gets caught underneath.

It's a high-ankle sprain.

It's the dreaded high-ankle sprain.

Jerry Jones says that the team

is contemplating putting him on IR, which would shelve him four weeks.

And the report's out there that it's a two- to four-week injury.

And I don't know, Mark, with the Cowboys defense being what it is, which is arguably right now the worst in football,

maybe the Ravens is worse.

I don't know.

Probably not.

But

you have a remarkable amount of pressure on Dak and CeeDee Lamb to be MVP/slash Offensive Player of the Year level.

And now you just took one of those guys out of the picture.

And now it's Dak and George Pickens.

And again, the bow might be breaking in Dallas because they can't afford to lose this guy for a quarter of the season.

I think we see Pickens as a really good number two paired with CeeDee Lamb.

I don't like what's happening there at all.

Their whole skill position lineup is a little dubious.

They're not a balanced offense.

They're able to get yardage on the ground, but there's been turnovers there.

And

they don't strike fear into the heart.

And their defense made.

Russell Wilson, who we've just discussed, look like the Montana-led 89-9ers in that Giants team.

So this is a bad football team.

And, you know,

it's great to be in the offseason with the Cowboys.

Then football starts.

But to lose CeeDee Lamb, it's like, you know, it's like your own fantasy team.

Like when one of these guys disappears,

there's not much else you can do.

And I don't know how the Cowboys get out of this.

I didn't have a lot of trust in them to begin with.

A little feisty, but terrible defense.

I think they were.

I think they were a feisty team.

And I think they can be a feisty team.

And

even the defense, even the defense, the secondary has been a mess but they've they've shown some flashes in terms of getting after the quarterback and dak was playing and is playing at a at a high level so far this season but you can't take they don't have enough depth to handle the loss of someone as special as cd lamb um i was kind of pegging them as maybe the most entertaining like eight and nine or nine and eight team in football but I don't know how they get out of this stretch with Lamb either hurt or compromised out or compromised with anything less than like a one and three record if it is four weeks.

And then you look at their schedule and where they're at,

the season's kind of over.

So it's gut check time in Dallas.

They got to figure some stuff out.

Eberflues got to figure some stuff out on that defense.

Well, I think Eberflus' defense does not fit.

They've had so many defensive coordinator changes that you draft for someone that's going to be there for five or six years and you go from defense A to B to C and you've got the wrong players in there.

And then look, like you can parse the Micah Parsons trade, that's a weird way to say that, any way you want, but like

your best defensive player and the best player in your team outside of maybe Dak Prescott is gone.

And then your best offensive player outside of Dak Prescott is gone.

So good luck with that in the NFL.

This is called a classic tough sitch.

Yes.

In other news, you know,

I don't know if you noticed it, Ceci, because you were early on the Packers bandwagon.

Was it starting to get a little crowded on that bandwagon?

Are you starting to get a little claustrophobic in the last week or so after they got to 2-0?

Absolutely.

And other media types were like, we don't see you on national television, so we want to push you to the back of the wagon.

And maybe the flap on the back of the wagon opens and we just toss you off, and they forget about the fact that you, you know, initially built the wagon, but that's okay.

Right.

Right, exactly.

Exactly.

And

here's the thing: there was so much love about the Packers, starting from the evening that

Parsons got traded to the Packers through week two, that

clearly maybe some of the Packers were reading headlines, like Packers' offensive tackle Rashid Walker, who proclaimed last week, and this got past all of us.

Maybe it didn't get past you, Mark, but you suppressed it on the bandwagon.

It did.

Walker proclaimed last week that he believed the Packers could go undefeated.

They're 2-0.

You want to talk about these young guys that are two online?

You have to imagine they must think they were, you know, king shit of Mountain, right?

To say we might go undefeated.

We're 2-0.

Anyway, he told reporters, I think we can go undefeated, honestly.

I look at these teams and I don't really see who's better than us.

Shut up.

Shut up.

The football gods don't like that either.

And sure enough, they go to Cleveland and get beat by the Browns in week three.

And Matt LaFleur LaFleur was asked about all this.

And obviously, Matt LaFleur, who would much rather you spout a bunch of cliches about keeping your opponent in front of you and not look beyond one week, is not happy with

an offensive tackle talking about winning 15 more times.

I don't think Sheed was planning on making a proclamation that you guys would go undefeated.

I think he kind of got riffing a little bit.

But I think it's always a good reminder, like, hey, guys, like, pump the brakes on everything.

We're just trying to win one game at a time.

And, like, if you're thinking or have your sight set on anything outside of that, I think

you're focused on the wrong things.

Like, we got to be focused on trying to get better.

Obviously, today, the focus is on, first of all, being honest about the tape and what the tape says.

And then,

you know, learning from that.

And then it's moving on.

Obviously, Mark, that was a confusing situation for you on Sunday.

The team of Mark defeating the team of Mark.

Well, that's how life works.

But here's the good news for your Packers.

They get at Dallas

without CeeDee Lamb, home Cincinnati without Joe Burrow, at Arizona

with Kyler Mooney.

So they should be able to get their groove back, unless there's some type of football god slash,

you know, curse of Sessler that sidewinds them here.

It's,

you know, I've thought about exactly what you just said because

I do not wish ill on entire football operations.

We'll get to the power rankings.

I think this was a case of like the Cleveland Browns defense, not a good football team overall, but like

three weeks in a row, this defense

has blown people up.

They're the greatest defense.

I'm not saying they are.

It's just that, like, I think at home,

I also think that the,

did, do the Packers, were they a team that looked past Cleveland to Dallas?

Like, are teams doing that?

Because I think it's very granular.

And you can't, like, I'm sure the Browns are an easy team to think, like, we'll go in there and just be what we are.

But

they really weren't themselves.

Do I think that they're going to

go lose games?

No.

Like, I think they're, this is like a 12-13 win team.

Yeah, I agree with you.

This will work out for them in the end.

They just needed to be taken down a peg, and offensive linemen need to just, you know, chill.

The Falcons have made a move after getting shut out

30-0 by the Panthers

in one of the, you know,

big, like, how dare you expect me to take you seriously after this games of the season.

They decide they have to take it out on someone.

They fire receivers coach Ike Hilliard, former that guy from the Giants, and passing game coordinator.

Oh, no, excuse me, passing game coordinator TJ Yates will assume those duties.

Wait, TJ Yates?

Is it that TJ Yates?

Yeah, I think it's he's going to be the wide receivers.

At this point, every player that we covered is now a coach for the most part, unless they're doing something.

He's a quarterback.

Why would you have a quarterback?

Maybe that's something that happens in the league, but

it kind of almost is like it's a bit of a tell, like, maybe we don't need a wide receivers coach.

That's a fair point.

If you could just send the quarterback, and not even like a gifted athlete of a quarterback.

This is like, oh, well, in high school, I had 400 catches for Lamont High.

I'm TJ Yates.

Now, clearly, TJ Yates was not that type of athlete, right?

And now he's the wide receivers coach.

What wide receiver is going to take any

instruction from TJ Yates.

Answer me that, Mark.

Well, counterpoint.

Yeah.

What quarterback would be glommed to opinions from TJ Yates if you watched a lot of TJ Yates?

So it's like maybe.

I get that, but we live in a world where like Dan Orlofsky is the number one quarterback analyst in media right now or the hottest one.

And Orlovsky's claim to fame is running out of the back of the end zone for a winless Lions team.

Like, I can get like the.

Those who can't do teach.

Yeah, like I can get the, and that's not a shot of Orlovsky, but like the he is a quarterback, so even if he wasn't a high-level quarterback as a player because he didn't have the physical abilities, he knows the game, he understands it, he could talk about the mental aspect of it or what is expected from you physically.

Uh, but what is Yates going to teach my wide receiver?

What is TJ Yates, Mark, gonna teach Drake London about playing wide receiver?

This, this has, you know what, it's like half

Falcons in chaos, five and twelve.

Okay.

Five and twelve.

You delight in this too, because I think for years you've been wanting, right?

I do.

You've been wanting to unplug the Falcons

whispers.

And here you go.

Every year, this is the one thing that you know the old Zeuser is going to get right.

Sessler and all the other Jabrones are going to say, oh, the Falcons, oh, the Falcons.

And then Dan's going to say, no,

they're the Falcons.

They're dysfunctional and will not be good.

And guess what?

That is always the case.

Without fail.

You've been right so far.

So I can't, I don't have a huge comeback on that.

Like, I think it's like TJ Yates.

Wide receivers.

When you do go hire the defensive head coach, like

there is a kind of thing where I think offense and defense are different like worlds.

And the offense gets into these chaotic things where it's like, you don't have a head coach plugged into your quarterback, plugged into the offense the same way.

And that could be a case here.

I'm not panicking, though, about Michael Pennix yet when he's, that was his fifth start.

Like, like we're watching backup quarterbacks and old quarterbacks revive their careers left and right.

Like, I'm not panicking over someone after five starts.

But that was.

But we pumped it.

I guess the bigger issue is people took a lot.

And one of the grave sins one can make is taking too much out of three starts by a young quarterback in early January or late December.

Like, too much was expected of him to be stepping in and all of a sudden be a difference maker when he's, yeah, to your point, he's just learning how to play at this level still.

So it's going to take some time and patience.

Do the Falcons have it?

Does Arthur Blank have that at 99 years old or whatever?

Like, we'll see.

Well, we know one last thing.

Like, when you start firing assistants and like generating scapegoats left and right, who comes next?

Like, we'll see where we are by the end of this season with Raheem Morris.

Yeah, I didn't love, although one thing that I've proven to be wrong about was many things, but

I was very vocal that Bill Belichick should have been hired, not Raheem Morris.

I don't know if Bill Belichick was the right guy.

Can you imagine that malarkey happening on the NFL side?

Yeah, I don't think Jordan Hudson

is going to be on the sideline at Mercedes-Benz Stadium before an NFL game, but God, who knows?

I mean,

we kind of missed out on this.

Let's be be honest.

That would have been awesome.

But I also like, I remember there was a lot of even Raheem Morris hype.

And I'm like, damn, I've been covering this league for 15 years.

I remember Raheem Morris as a head coach in Tampa.

It didn't go well.

And then the hiring was like, oh, they got the right guy.

They got Raheem Morris.

It's like, what?

Four years ago, they couldn't wait to get him out of the building with the Bucks.

I think it's reporter coach relationships.

It is.

All right.

Oh, they're also, this is fun too, Mark.

You know, you gotta love the Falcons are also moving OC Zach Robinson down to the field to play call there as opposed to the coaching box.

Yes, that's that was the issue.

That was.

Get him down.

We're good.

We're good now.

These are all the signs of a team that is about to explode.

And it's not even late, it's barely late September.

So, yes.

I saw a theory that the Zach Robinson move is to help Pennex,

not to help Robinson, but so that Pennex has that face-to-face communication between series.

You know what I miss?

You know what I miss?

That's good, Justin.

Thank you.

Like, you know what I miss?

The old days when a series would end, a quarterback would throw an interception or a drive would get sabotaged by a sack or a drop, and then you'd cut to Neil O'Donnell and he'd be on the phone, just be on the phone, just talking it out on the rotary phone.

Yeah, right up to the booth.

So maybe that's what the problem was.

What are they not doing that for?

Is that because it's in in their helmets now?

They just keep their helmets on and they talk.

What is that?

Yeah, you've got communication with coaches 20 years.

Phone's back.

Yeah.

Give me like Aunt Brenda's phone back.

You know what I mean?

Like, I want Aunt Brenda's big, like, push-button phone on the sideline back.

Well, she should stop being so selfish.

She needs her own phone.

Well, like, we, a team had this phone, and now remember that was like a big conch.

It was like a seashell.

It was like, bang, now it's in my ear.

Stupid.

Neil O'Donnell, the great communicator.

Other injuries.

Good news on Mike Evans.

It is deemed to be a low-grade hamstring injury.

So hopefully that's not a long-term situation.

Colts, Kenny Moore, second, suffered a calf injury on Sunday.

He'll miss a couple of weeks, but they don't believe it to be major.

They've signed Mike Hilton to

their practice squad.

Cowboys guard, more bad news for the Cowboys.

Tyler Booker out four to six weeks with a high ankle sprain.

So two high ankle sprains in Dallas.

Giants running back Tyrone Tracy.

Oh, you'll like this, Mark.

This will be good for your next newsletter.

Dislocated his shoulder in the first half.

He gone.

Expected to miss time.

That means, your boy, Scataboo.

It's Scataboo time in northern New Jersey.

I think fucking time.

I'm aligned with all of northern New Jersey.

This is a tough time.

Nothing bad could happen.

It can only happen.

This is an exciting running back.

Is this the cover story?

I don't think you've clearly not read um the new man what is it

justin had time from his other duties to you know go down that road for the little bit so i appreciate we're like 30 seconds away from the power rankings i have finished like a real thoughtful uh q a profile with scataboo it's like sessler ex scataboo

Finally, well, I get the angle.

The running back has come that I can relate to.

I get the angle.

Like you,

having come from the tri-state area, I have many friends who are distressed Giants fans.

This is the only ray of light that they have right now.

He's Gataboo.

He plays it the right way.

Well, they're mostly like, get Dart and Scataboo in there and like, we're going to be fine.

Like, I don't know if you're going to be fine, but I get that it's a little more of a tick and chip.

Get Russell Wilson and Tyrone Tracy out and get in Jackson Dart from Utah and Scataboo.

It's a little bit of wish casting.

I see that.

Daddy Chill.

This guy.

Yo, this guy Scataboo, you know what?

He's not some prima donna out there.

You know, he plays the game the way it's supposed to be played.

What do you mean, Uncle George?

You know what I mean.

It's like, uh-oh, Uncle George has had a couple pops.

Yeah, he has.

It's a good analysis by George, though.

The uncle.

We love him.

We love that Uncle George.

All right, let's take a break and then check in with the power rankings.

All right, here we go.

We're back.

It's like Uncle George shouldn't be at the kids' table on Thanksgiving.

He's outgrown it by about two and a half decades.

And yet,

just for safety, we put him at the kids' table, you know?

It makes the other table feel

Uncle George, irresponsible adult.

Yeah, just for

just to be safe, you put George at the kids' table.

All right.

Power rankings, week four, the power rankings of record.

And again, a reminder, we are now two weeks clear, I believe,

of the,

I apologize, I don't remember his exact

title anymore.

But

what was it?

Jerry Farbuck.

What was it?

Seth Farbuck.

Ken Farbik.

Sort of a czar, a power ranking czar.

Yeah, he's from the International Power Rankings Alliance, reached out to us

that they were

launching an investigation because of a threat-level orange power rankings that we delivered.

I thought we bounced back in week three, and sure enough, did not hear from Farbuck.

So now week four.

Let's go through it.

Let's hope that

we deliver a professional set of power rankings.

Thank you, Paul Rudd.

Here we go.

Let's start with tier one, one through eight.

This is where you want to be.

It's where you want your team to be.

The Eagles.

All right, there we go.

The Eagles off that incredible comeback win against the Rams.

Number one across the board.

And the defending Super Bowl champions remain at number one.

The Bills.

I have them at number three.

Ceci, Connor, Justin have them at two.

So they're up one spot to number two.

The Detroit Lions.

maybe as impressive a victory as anyone has had this season.

They are up two spots to number three.

The Ravens.

Yes, I like this.

This is the shit I'm talking about.

It is not the power standings.

It is the power rankings.

The Ravens have issues, but we also know what they're capable of.

We know the injury issues, and we still believe this is a top five team in the NFL, even at one and two.

We all have them in the top six, and they're at number four overall.

Sensible.

So far, the rankings are sensible.

The Chargers.

I thought the Chargers might move up a little bit.

I had them up at four on my rankings.

Check it on YouTube.

You can see where we ranked everything.

But,

Mark, you have them at six, so you have them outside the top five.

I don't know why.

They've done everything.

They've checked every box you could ask for so far, but they're number five.

The Packers dropped four spots to number six after the loss to the Browns.

Connor, who always is a wild card, he dropped them out of the top 10 after getting beat by the Browns.

Tough league.

And that cratered them and took him out of the top five, I guess.

The Rams coming off that loss.

Connor just says crazy stuff.

They stay at number seven.

The Bucs stay at number eight.

Now, Mark, you and I have a little bit of a differentiation there.

You have them at five.

I know they're 3-0, but I've watched every Bucs snap so far.

I'm not over the moon impressed by them.

Like,

I don't see them as a top 10 team.

And I know it's like, oh, Dan, blah, blah, blah.

My team loses every game.

It has nothing to do with the Jets.

I just think that they are a good team, but they're a great NFC South team.

But I think they're a good NFL team.

No.

Does that make sense?

I struggled with this one, to be honest, because I see Connor.

You have him at number five.

No, I see that Connor has him at six, but I really do believe in them.

I think they're very balanced and well-built.

And it's kind of like it was them or the Chargers for me.

Like, that's the team I kept flipping, them and the Chargers.

And I put the Bucs at five and the Chargers at six.

So,

absolutely incorrect, but I believe in it.

I think the Bucks.

The Bucks are dealing with a ton of injuries, and I know some of those are going to be season enders, but like Tristan Wurfs is coming back, Chris Godwin is coming back.

Those are big pieces on offense that the fact that they're 3-0 surviving without those guys, I think they're going to continue to get better as the season goes on.

Yep, but show me a team on this list that's not dealing with injuries also.

I mean,

everybody is all the Bills to some degree, but sure.

All right, let's go to Tier 2.

Tier 2 begins with the Chiefs, so they stay in the top 10.

They actually move up one spot.

Connor has them at 12.

I have them at 9.

Mark and Gravy have them at 10.

The number 10 spot coming off,

hmm, this is interesting.

So the commanders, Jaden Daniels sits out with the injury.

They stomp the Raiders, and yet they drop a spot in the power rankings.

I had them at eight.

Farbuck.

Farbuck.

Justin had him at nine.

Mark, you had him all the way at 12 and Connor at 13.

Why are you dinging the commanders for kicking the shit out of their opponent with the backup quarterback?

I don't think it's just about one game.

It's just the overall comparison to the other teams.

And

I feel very comfortable with putting them at about 12.

Like, are they a top?

You have the Bucs at five and the Raiders at 12.

You think there's that much of a difference between those teams?

Other than the fact that they're records, which is not power standings, I do.

Rankings.

Okay.

I do.

Fair enough.

Hey, listen, you're entitled to the opinion.

And I respect the hell out of you for it, Mark.

The Niners at 11.

I have them down at 13 just because the Bosa injury, I really do think that's going to be a major problem for them.

I think their defense is going to start to hurt them.

And

obviously, they have injury issues right now at quarterback as well.

So, I have them at 13.

You have him at 9, Connor at 9, Justin at 12.

That comes out to number 11.

The Colts, this surprised me.

I thought you guys were going to gas up the Colts even more

after their week three win, but they sit at 12 and they don't move.

That's a good sign for the group that we're really starting to lock in.

Isn't that the classic early season team where it's like, look at you've been fun,

and I feel the romance and the joy, but like, I'm not ready to throw you up the board yet.

I like that.

And guess what?

They get the Rams a tier one team in week four, and then we could really decide where to move the Colts.

Number 13, the Twilight Zone, the spot where when I'm not sure what to put a team, I'll just stick them at 13 and stop thinking about it.

That's the Niners for me right now, but our group

consensus is that's the Seahawks.

You also had them at 13.

Justin had them at 13.

Justin, are the Seahawks a Twilight Zone team for you where you can't quite figure out where to peg them in terms of, are they an elite team or just merely a potentially good one?

A little bit, and it feels like they've gotten better every week as the season's going on.

So that's definitely a positive sign.

Sam Darnold has looked, I mean, he had probably his best game last week against the Saints.

It's sort of like the Colt situation where I'm like, I'm not sure exactly how much to take away from.

beating the Saints, but I do think their defense is for real, and I think they're going to be able to run the ball against almost anyone.

Yeah, I said it on the Sunday show.

I think they're a little bit of a sleeping giant in the NFC right now.

That's why I gave them top 10 status.

Conner's got them all the way at eight.

So we're going to go.

He outdoors them.

I think if they go hammer someone next week, like they're going to.

Who do they have next week, Justin?

Get back to me on that one.

The Vikings,

with a complete defensive effort

and with Carson Wentz at quarterback.

They stomp their enemy and move up three spots to 14, so they stabilize after they plunged on our board last week.

The Broncos, here's an interesting team.

They're down two spots on the power rankings.

I had them at 14.

Mark, you had him at 17.

Connor at 16.

Justin also at 14.

Who do the Vikings have next week?

The Seahawks have the Cardinals.

The Seahawks, excuse me.

Seahawks.

In Arizona.

On Thursday night.

Thursday night for the

expected Seahawks to do well in that spot.

Interesting.

The Steelers, this is perfect.

I think we're having a good week right here.

The Steelers are a perfect middle of the pack at number 16.

I had him at 16.

Mark, you had him at 15.

Connor at 15.

Justin at 18.

But I get it.

They're up three spots off a win over the Patriots, but still, nobody's going nuts about them.

Tier three.

Oh, yeah, here we go.

Tier three.

Now we're getting into a little bit of a different zone.

The Bears have a very, very, very impressive showing blowing out a you know, a bad Cowboys defense.

Uh, but because they have some juice and Caleb's playing well, we loved it.

So, we jumped him up eight spots all the way to number 17, and we're all parking our cars in the same garage.

Um,

the Jags are up four spots off their win.

The Cardinals are up two spots.

Hmm.

I think that's because in this case, if you look at like the Cowboys, the Falcons, what happened to the Bengals, the Texans, like they're the benefit of other teams dropping.

Yeah.

100% agree.

I get to this point and I'm like looking at those five teams you just mentioned, Mark, and I'm like, I cannot put the Falcons ahead of the Cardinals after they lose a game 30-0 to the Panthers.

If you're 19th,

we're not sending you to the Super Bowl at this point.

Yeah, one point loss to the 3-09ers is not anything to.

I hated how they couldn't close the game, but

that's why they exist right around 20.

The Cowboys down five spots to number 20.

And frankly, with the CD Lamb news, it would have been okay if it was even further.

Connor has them all the way down at 25, but Connor's a Giants fan, so I get that.

Number 21 is the Falcons.

So you get shut out 30-0 by a bad Panthers team.

And what happens?

You plummet.

They're down five spots to 21.

The Bengals, they get off the mat or they don't get off the mat.

They get pounded through the mat in the first game without Joe Burrow.

And what happens?

They drop four spots to 22.

The Texans, now 0-3,

we're pretty much in lockstep on this one.

They are down three spots to 23.

And the Panthers, yeah, they get that shutout.

And so we give them a little love.

So we put them ahead of all the shitbirds as a reward.

And they sneak into the back end of tier three up eight spots.

Mark has them all the way up at 20, which is recency buys.

But listen,

over the last quarter,

over the last six quarters, they have outscored their opponent 49 to nothing.

Okay.

I'm just, I'm not sure.

I mean, they're also getting their asses blown out by the Cardinals before they put that lipstick on the pig.

I'm not trying to predict the future, but I kind of feel like, is there a shift here?

Is there a turn?

We'll see.

All right, that's fair.

That's fair.

You know what, Mark?

Absolutely fair.

Tier four.

This is where you don't want to be.

The Raiders, you know, who I've been talking up a little bit, I don't like them going and getting their asses blown out

by the Commanders without Jaden Daniels.

That's troubling.

What's that?

You beat me to it with your.

Yeah, yeah.

And they can't seem to get Ashton Genti going, and I'm starting to get nervous about that, too.

They are down two spots to 25.

The Patriots coming off a five-turnover game at home.

They dropped two spots to 26.

The Browns, look at Mark showing restraint.

How about you, Mark?

I believe that I have improved at this exercise.

Leaps and bounds, my friend.

You and I and Justin, we always pulled it off.

You always want to have maybe one team where we all have the same number.

I have them at 26.

Mark has the Browns at 26.

Connor has them at 27.

Connor f ⁇ ed it up.

Justin has them at 26, up three spots to 27, right ahead of the Jets, who obviously have a great comeback on the road there against Tampa, but they lose, and they're 0-3.

So what do you want?

Down one spot.

Again, three of us had him at 28.

Justin, and I, you know, I love you for this, Justin.

You have him all the way up at 25.

So shout out to Justin McGraver

and Party J.

I mean, if your head coach is everyone in North Texas.

If your head coach is going to frolic down the sideline in a way that Aaron Glenn didn't, I see what you're doing, Justin.

We didn't have to drop him after the Aaron Glenn dance, but we did.

That's okay.

The Dolphins fight hard last Thursday against the Bills, and as a result, we keep him at 29.

The Giants can't get it going.

Down four spots to 30.

The Saints.

The Saints come marching in.

How did the Saints out of the number 32 spot?

I had him at 32, but I'm the only one.

Mark had him at 31.

Connor had him at 30.

Justin had at 31.

Down three spots.

And it is, of course, the Tennessee Titoons.

I had him at 31.

Everyone else had him at 32.

The worst team in football.

Bill Callahan

struggling.

Brian, but his dad also struggling, yes.

I met that Bill because he's disappointed in Brian.

And

Justin ranted on the show.

And

the head coach, hated by the fans, and the Music City Music podcast, just going off about it

on a level that we've never seen on that program.

Music City Music.

Connor would have got a kick out of that one.

I don't hate him as a human.

I just don't want him to be.

Listen, just because he takes some pot shots at the Titans, Connor's like a great guy.

I don't think about that.

Oh, Brian Callahan.

Yeah.

Like, he's not hated.

We just don't want him to be the coach of our team anymore.

I got you.

I've been there, buddy.

I get it.

I like Rob Rasala.

I'm happy Rob's happy out in San Fran now by the bay.

Well, if you're Callahan, you get fired.

You get paid for the next three or four years like multiple millions dollars a year to do nothing, like go cut your own little stuff.

No, go back to Cincinnati and get Jake Browning playing at the level he was playing at the last time Joe Burrow was hurt, and everyone will love you again.

Yes, if it can do that, okay.

All right, so last thing before we go,

of course,

let's go through the the history of this because

Pete Sweeney, our friend, the chief speedman for the Kansas City star,

we've gotten to know Pete.

He's become a real friend of the show, and Pete likes to cut as Sessler's jib, and he knew that Sessler was coming to

Missouri over the summer and or in the springtime.

So he shot Mark this text, just a little update here.

Okay, Mark, next time you're in Missouri, I can take you to the shittiest dive bar known to men.

Mark no shows him.

He reads and doesn't reply.

Okay, it's a heartbreaking situation for Pete, who deserves better.

And then I texted Pete

last night because I knew that Sessler had made a big show of human empathy.

Like, oh, yeah, no, I got that wrong, but I'm going to text Pete on Sunday morning because I know he's going, he grew up in the New York, New Jersey area, and now he's covering Chiefs, Giants on Sunday night football.

It's a big deal.

I'm setting a reminder for myself to

send Pete a text, a friendly text, which is kind of a bit of a la ravile magnifico in its own right that you're setting a reminder to do such a thing.

But that's what he said.

I texted Pete last night.

Hey, Pete, did you get the text from Sessler this morning at the game?

And his response.

La

Pete told me last night he hadn't heard anything.

He was still sitting on the Missouri text.

And then he texted me this morning at 7.30.

He finally came through last night.

Final wait time, 160 days and 39 minutes.

So just to button that up for the audience, yes, Mark did text Pete, but clearly Mark forgot on Sunday and then did a scramble to send something out after the fact.

Nope.

I'll tell you what I did.

I'll tell you what I did.

Because everyone was like, if you're a good person, you're going to text him in the morning.

But it's like, I'm not going to do it the way every I will handle.

I will handle communication and friendship my way.

Yep.

And so my plan was to text him during the Giants Chiefs game.

Yep.

This is a lot of...

But any beat writer wants to get a personal text.

Well,

not that we're going to have a discourse.

I get that.

But it was like you're here in the middle of this environment that's very special to you.

And, you know, you come home.

But the Giants were so moribund, as we'd say,

that I thought, oh, shit, like, I'm kind of screwed on that one.

So I'm going to wait a bit.

And so, right after the right after our show, I'd sent him a text when the game was well done.

And

I sent it to Justin.

Like, I'd here, you want to read to read, you want me to read what I sent?

Sure.

I mean, you deserve that.

He said

a second ago.

Well, look, it was a very hardfelt text.

And he wrote back, and I think we're in a good place.

So I did it my way.

You know, I did it Mark's way,

not the groupthink way.

So 160 days and 39 minutes is Mark's way.

Cat and string theory.

Sociopath.

There you go.

He's a top top 10 football.

He's a top 10 football insider.

We'll be back Wednesday with the end around.

I hope everybody enjoyed the week three content.

It just keeps going.

End around Wednesday.

Gonna have a lot of fun on that show.

So make sure you're there for it.

And

then before you know it, we'll be previewing week four and all the fun that goes with that.

So thank you to everybody.

A reminder, Patreon has all sorts of great stuff.

Patreon.com slash heed the call.

Check that out.

And I don't, this is a late show tease, and this is only for the real ones, Mark, that are still listening.

But we have a major announcement for the fans coming up in a matter of weeks.

We do.

Maybe even less than weeks, maybe a week.

Who knows?

It's coming.

And I feel like a lot of shows say things like that, and then it's like, that was the announcement.

This is in a different category.

Different category, entirely.

So sound off in the comments.

Let us know what you think it is.

And if you haven't subscribed to the show, do it.

This is the long one.

Okay, good.

All right.

Oh, all right.

Here we are.

Do what you must.

All right, now do what you must.

This time.

All right.

Heed the call.

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