2025 NFL Week 5 Recap, Operation: Separation!

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All right, Mark, it is the week five flagship program.

We get into all the games that were played on Sunday of week five.

In the top of our power rankings, an A-bomb has been dropped on the Obsessive.

What are we going to do?

I don't know if people are going to blame us, but the natural truth is that the NFL is constantly evolving and changing, and that happened this weekend.

Listen to Mark, he's a football scientist.

For Christ's sake, let's go.

Heed the call.

Heyo, welcome to Heed the Call,

an NFL podcast.

The week five

recap, the flagship show.

Dan Hansis, Mark Sessler, Connor Orr.

Justin Graver on the ones and twos.

And oh my goodness,

Sassy,

we have no more undefeated teams after a Sunday night shaka.

Well, I think you predicted this or something close to this leading up to the games themselves, but it was a wild and woolly Sunday.

We were texting throughout the day and a lot went down.

We are going to chronicle every little piece of it.

That's what we do.

That's what we do.

So yes, we'll get to all of the games that were played in the early and late window on Sunday, but let's start with the Buffalo Bills hosting the New England Patriots.

And I did, I said on Thursday that I did think that the Patriots could have an opportunity to make a statement, and we knew the Bills weren't playing so hot, taking care of business, but maybe not doing it in the way that we would be impressed.

What would happen if an upstart team like the New England Patriots

stepped up and played their best game.

And that's exactly what happened.

Led by Drake May, who was this his making the leap game?

Maybe.

22 of 30, 273, 9.1 yards per attempt, and

having

on his side Stefan Diggs, who has one of the great revenge games and just an absolute kind of maniac in this game.

10 for 146

in this game, moving the chains all night long.

Those two were a great pairing.

And Mike Frabel had this team ready, and they get a late field goal.

Again,

the new era of the NFL where a guy lines up for a 52-yarder, and this guy, Borigales, hits one that would have been good from 78.

I swear to God.

Final score, Patriots 23, Bills 20.

The Bills fall to 4-1.

No more undefeated teams in football.

And the Patriots suddenly, Mark Sessler, one game out in the AFC East and looking like a team on the rise.

I love watching.

like a team that we don't know very well or we don't know what the variables are and how high the ceiling is or the floor and they grow up before our eyes and the afc east and frankly the the battered afc in general needs a couple of these teams to kind of rise up and surprise us and especially in that division i think new england you said is this kind of the making the leap game You could feel that this moment for Drake May was going to come at some point.

And it's happened in moments on these sort of early window Sunday games that some people are watching.

But now it happened in front of of the entire country where Drake May, who reminds me of Josh Allen in a lot of ways, went into Buffalo and out-dueled Josh Allen.

And it happened with a true revenge game with Stephon Diggs.

You're right.

I thought the way that

May, when he'd roll to his right and find Diggs, it reminded me of Diggs at his heights in Buffalo and to some degree in Minnesota.

And it's like, I didn't really expect this from Diggs this season.

I seemed like he was kind of on the other end of his career.

And the chemistry, there was the one deep shot route where Diggs went out of his way to get truly open for his quarterback.

And, like, the fact that they're playing together that well was the true difference tonight.

Two of his biggest games have been against the Vikings when he joined the Bills, and against the Bills when he joined the Patriots.

So, maybe he's got a little bit of the Baker Mayfield: like, let's put something on his shoulder, get him a little upset, and you get tonight, and it changes this division.

Forget about the Stefan Diggs thing.

It's the Christian Gonzalez breakout game.

My God, I mean, he was unbelievable tonight.

Ran like 900 yards over the course of the whole night.

He was marking people.

He was totally affecting the way that Josh Allen was going to play.

And you need not only that tent pull at quarterback, but you need that defensive tentpole player too.

And I saw almost like some Revis-esque comps from this game, from people watching it.

And he played like that tonight.

This was an incredible outlier performance from Christian Gonzalez.

I'm I'm so happy that he's healthy and he's helping this team.

Yeah, this is just the second game back.

He makes a big, big impact.

This team has players.

I mean, they've drafted or they went into the dumps in the last couple of years, but they've done what good organizations do and they've reloaded.

And Vrabel obviously is looking like he was the right hire at head coach.

Yeah, we talked about on Thursday.

Diggs is a guy that has been quietly very good for them and had been a very important part of this offense, but he had that look in his eyes.

They had some shots of him on the sideline where he was just like maniacal.

And you could tell that it was like it meant a lot to him.

Like he was not cool with Buffalo kicking him out the door, essentially, after all that he did for them during his run there.

After Minnesota kind of kicked him out the door, after all he did for them in the trade that got them Justin Jefferson.

So he is just that type of competitor.

That play that began, kick-started what turned out to be the game-winning field goal drive.

Drake May flushed out of the pocket.

He has a Bills defender all over him, pulling him down by the front of his collar, yanking him as he is trying to stiff arm the defender.

He keeps his balance, keeps his feet, spots Diggs, and it goes from, oh, this is a sack.

Oh, he's just trying to throw it away.

Oh, is this going to be grounding?

Oh, my God, Diggs caught it.

And then to top it off, oh, my God, Diggs is getting 12 yards.

And now this rot, now this

drive is up and running.

I thought that was such like the moment of this game.

And I feel like a lot of Patriots fans, if May turns out to be the player that they all hope he's going to be, it was that play amongst many that he made in this game that really stood out to me as the one where it's like, shoot, this guy might be different.

Yeah, it's like you're watching it happen.

And it's a startling thing to witness that suddenly someone caught that ball that he just whipped away from his body.

But you know how it is?

Like the next day when like all the, or tonight now, like all the AP photos come out, and you've got Daquan Jones, who what weighs like 315 pounds, dragging him down, May, by his full body weight.

And he's having to fight with everything he has just to get the ball off.

And disaster turns into the setup for a miraculous end.

And it's like, that's sort of these moments where it's like, when do we, when does, when do people that are kind of casually watching these night games first really remember watching Drake Drake May?

It happens in a game like this.

It doesn't happen tucked into a hidden Sunday.

It happens to be a game.

But it's also not the same.

It's not the same.

Beating the Panthers on a Sunday at 1 p.m.

is not the same as going up to Orchard Park in primetime with 20 million people watching and taking it to the Bills.

Like, I think this really was, yes, people that have been watching Drake May know that he's talented, but this is the one that it's like, oh, shoot, are they going to actually give the Bills a run for their money?

Because Connor, like, just to pivot a little bit to Buffalo's side of this, like we said, they were 4-0.

They weren't quite as like a,

I don't want to say Fugazi 4-0 like a lot of people have been saying about Philly, but like they have been not overwhelming.

They've been a little sloppy, and they were sloppy again with double-digit penalties in this game, and they could not get the stop at the end of the game.

They haven't been as good or as dominant as maybe we expected.

I think it ended like a 20-game streak where they didn't win the penalty battle, which is pretty incredible.

I think 2023, I think, was the last time they had this many penalties under Sean McDermott.

But yeah, you're right.

I mean, it's an interesting place for this all to happen because I remember being there at the Bills Stadium when they absolutely just ripped the innards out of the Mac Jones Patriots.

And that was the true end of the Belichick dynasty.

And this felt like almost an exorcism of sorts where it's a different team, it's a different identity, but you go in with the coach that is now having you on the right track.

And it was a very, I don't know, it was a fortuitous place for them to be able to make this happen.

I think one other quick thing, like they, it, the Patriots are forming themselves into a pretty complete team because you mentioned Gonzalez, but I thought if you want to get this thing done, you've got to force the very mistake-free Buffalo Bills over the last two seasons into mistakes.

And they had gone 17 games without a fumble.

Tonight, two fumbles and an interception.

So it's like, that's how you got to beat the Bills in Buffalo, and they knew it.

And they've got some dogs on defense.

So it's like, you kind of look around the whole roster, and it's a completely different group of people than the bland vanilla milquetoast operation we've watched for the past couple of years.

I mean, this is a team that earlier this year in January, where one unfortunate Joe Milton,

well, they ended up with Will Campbell, so I'm sure they're not complaining now, but like one unfortunate Joe Milton week 18 performance from having the number number one overall pick in the draft.

And now here they are beating the bills in western New York on Sunday night football.

Quite a turn of events, and it does go to show how quickly it can happen in the NFL if you make a couple of the right moves.

Okay.

By the way, the Patriots just keep giving the ball to Ramondre Stevenson.

It doesn't matter how many times he fumbles and loses fumbles.

He keeps getting the ball.

I was, I was, me, I was terrified every time that he was getting the ball in the fourth quarter.

It's like, what are they trying to do with this guy?

But he had two tons.

I want to see you terrified in your living room, like literally like putting a big couch cushion in front of you because you can't handle it.

My other thought was:

did Cardi B watch this game?

Probably not.

Does Cardi B know that Stefan Diggs is on

the Patriots?

I don't know.

Well, like, is it possible Cardi B was texting Stefan Diggs throughout this Sunday night, super pissed that he wasn't texting her back because she doesn't know that he's in the NFL?

Where are you?

I'm on a boat.

Where are you?

That's pretty good, Cardi B.

Is it?

Mark, you're right.

The AFC needs a dog or two.

We're down a couple dogs in the AFC.

Maybe the Patriots are that dog to enter the mix.

Yes, Justin.

Before we move on, I have a small bone to pick with all of you guys.

Okay.

Okay.

A little early in the show for this, but go ahead.

What do you got, buddy?

I know.

This is like maybe the third or fourth time I've played this

since it became a one-second long drop after I was told to shorten it and not

once.

Not one ounce of recognition for, oh, we got a shorter version of that drop.

That's fine.

I just wanted to

does this feel like something we could handle on a phone call during that versus right here.

Here's another way to look at it.

All the time that we saved from you shortening that drop, we've now lost because of this interjection.

That's on you for not giving me the acknowledgement that I needed.

All right, everybody, sound off in the comments.

Give Justin the acknowledgement for shortening the overlong Wolf of Wall Street McConaughey drop, please, because we obviously did not do it well enough.

Thank you, Justin.

All right, stay right there.

What the fay right there.

Quick break.

When we get back, we'll dig into all of week five.

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All right, we are back.

SNF in the rear view.

Now

we do the job of digging through every game that was played on Sunday in the early and late afternoon windows.

And as per new tradition, Mark Cecil, you're going to get us going with what was the theme

of the week for week five, Ceci.

For me,

it's uh it's two words

operation

separation oh okay what do we think on this one connor you got a

you got a thought on this one i think i have one i think i have a feeling on this one uh why don't you go then because i'm still parsing this out this is uh often mysterious with mark all right this one i'm gonna say because

I know the way Sussler's mind thinks and he likes the sooner you can you could you could separate the teams that matter from the jets and floats them, flots them, floats them, jets them, the better.

So, operation separation means this was the week, in Mark's opinion, that we started to separate those two teams, those two groupings, the teams that matter and the teams that don't.

Yes, sir?

Yeah.

Yes, I think that's.

Hit you with a ding, baby.

Yeah, hit him with a ding because that's very key.

I thought that this was, and you know,

I don't trust any blowout in the NFL to last for more than than like, you know, a half at this point because it seems like a little suspicious.

A little blue chipsy.

Thoughts are in on everything and like every game's going to come down in the final few minutes.

But this was one of the more like

this was a Sunday of lush, harsh, trashy blowouts early at least, right?

And I thought what it was was a, excuse me, is you, are you running a half-baked production?

Because if you are, we're going to come in and drop a hammer.

A bunch of teams got to drop a hammer drop them.

But I will say, Dan, from another angle,

one little addendum to operation colon separation is that when certain people separate from these garbage organizations maybe they thrive and become heroes and we saw that in one of the most treasured games of the day between Sam and Baker so they separated in a way that changed them too so a little bit of a double meaning Very nice, very nice.

Remember Nick Nulty's character?

There's a coach in blue chips?

What's going on?

There's something weird going on with these games.

I haven't seen the movie in 30 years.

It's just a guess of what the the dialogue was.

There's something weird going on with some of the things in these games.

That's my nugty.

Anyway, nice work, Mark.

Connor, do you have something before we dig in?

No, that was, Mark underlined it perfectly.

And now that I know the full meaning of it, I concur.

All right.

Well, I guess we should lead off with

in our early, late discussion with that game, that shootout between Baker Mayfield and Sam Darnold.

So let's get into it because Sam Darnold, as is the Sam Darnold way, and it's a little bit of a Greek tragedy to it that it seems like every time he has, whether it was over a full season in Minnesota,

he starts great, the middle's great, the end's great, and then the very end's bad.

And for Darnold, that was indeed the case on a day where he just lit up the Buccaneers for four touchdowns and well over 300 yards passing.

It was his interception to Levante David with 58 seconds left that set up

Chase McLaughlin's 39-yard field goal.

And the Bucs survive and advance and once again come down the field against an opponent late in the fourth quarter behind Baker Mayfield, 38-35 over the Seahawks.

And

it was so fun.

And I did.

I texted Mark.

a private text to Mark.

That doesn't happen a lot.

We usually keep things.

It's not very special.

Yeah, we keep things special.

We keep things on the group text 98% of the time.

But this is one of those things where,

and it kind of had, we touched on this maybe last year as well a little bit.

But again, like seven years after Baker goes one to the Browns and Darnold goes three to the Jets and Saquon Barkley goes two to the Giants.

First of all, all three of those players in different places and thriving.

But like our teams did pick the right guy.

It just just didn't work out.

There are different circumstances, but they both moved on.

But here they are now deep into their

NFL careers and just going back and forth and just a really fun game.

And at one point, Darnold

leads Seattle to five straight touchdown possessions before that faithful final drive where he gets hit and throws the pick.

And then Baker coming onto the field with the Bucs trailing by seven points.

And it's reached the point, Cesse, with Baker where it almost feels preordained.

And this is not against some ticky-tack defense.

This is a Seattle defense that we've really pumped up.

He goes right down the field.

He hits Sterling Shepard with 108 to play.

They kick the PAT,

and the rest is history, as they say.

At one point.

If my numbers are correct, Sam and Baker were 56 for 65 combined for 700-plus yards.

Crazy.

And Dan, there was a night then that draft night that we retreated from the newsroom and we went down to our old favorite place, the Cozy.

The cozy.

And

we did a shot saying, I think things have changed for us.

Well, they've changed for someone else because this is how the NFL works.

But

I'll stick to the Bucs out of the gate because when it comes to Baker and the Bucs, they've got some injuries, they've got good depth, but we're deep enough into the campaign that the character of the Bucs and the way these games play out has happened kind of over and over and over.

And it's not just luck.

It's like there is a quarterback willing this team to be there until the very end and line up for that field goal.

And it's nothing against the Seahawks because I still think I believe in them the same way I did before.

This was just a one of those games that when you watch football when you're like 11 or 12 and it starts to infuse itself into the bloodstream, like one of you or your brother is going to come out a Bucs fan.

And secondly, you just love the NFL.

And this is one of those games.

Amidst like a bunch of kind of like B-minus, C-minus games today, this rose up and wore the crown.

That was an exhibit to me of two of the best, and the point totals were high.

And so it kind of works against my point.

Mike McDonald and Todd Bowles calling two of the best situational blitzes that I've ever seen.

And, you know, that's a lot of hyperbole, sure, but Mike McDonald rarely blitzes.

And there was one late in this game where he legitimately sends a corner right into where Baker Mayfield's rolling out.

And if you think that that wasn't preordained, rehearsed, studied, and he knew exactly what play that they were running and exactly where Baker was rolling on that play, then you don't know Mike McDonald and you don't know the Seahawks.

I think this could be an NFC title game preview.

I mean, that's how good I thought both of these teams looked.

Yeah.

Both of their stat lines, as Mark alluded to, were tremendous.

Baker goes 29 of 33, 379, two scores.

And he completes passes to 11 different receivers.

And, geez, I mean, Amika Igbuka, I knew we all knew right away that he was going to be something, and he looked great in the summer, translated immediately, week one.

But now it's like, is he the best receiver on this team with Chris Godwin and Mike Evans?

Obviously, Evans,

you know, on the shelf, but he has 163 receiving yards in this game.

A touchdown, a two-point conversion, cannot be covered.

On the other side of the ball, as I said, like Darnold, 28 of 34, 341, four touchdowns.

He got intercepted on that deflected throw to set up the game-winning field goal, which sucks.

And some people will point to that to say, oh, see, that's the guy that you blah, blah, blah.

Shut up.

This guy can play.

And how happy and thrilled are the Seahawks that they swapped out Geno Smith, who's heading toward the bench

with the Raiders for Darnold, an ascendant player still in his 20s.

So, yeah, I buy into what you're saying, Connor.

I I would sign up for that in a second.

That would be a really interesting, fun NFC title game.

But yeah, just a great classic shootout where nobody could get a stop.

And these two quarterbacks, who it wasn't just the Browns and Jets that ended up whiffing on Sam and Baker.

I mean, they were both nomadic players, even teammates at one point for the same Crummy Panthers team.

So for them to be anchoring high-level offenses in 2025 is one of the more unlikely kind of subplots of the last several several years of pro football.

It is like a lesson that like we, there are a couple quarterbacks that hit right out of the gate, like you're Andrew Lux of the world, but we are looking at quarterbacks now that we're frustrated with in like year two or three.

And

like, what does patience mean?

Like, how long do you hang in there and how long do you hang in there with the coaching staff?

Like, it kind of, like, if you're the Browns or the Jets, do you really have egg on your face?

Or are you kind of forced to do what most other teams are forced to do?

If you don't get it in two or three years, you got to move on.

Like there's no patience right now.

I would say, yes, there is egg on their face, but also the Carolina Panthers, the Los Angeles Rams,

the Minnesota Vikings.

I mean, a lot of teams have not realized that these guys are guys you should keep in the building.

I don't know if this is like anything, but Baker Mayfield is the first quarterback in NFL history to throw for 375 or more yards and fewer than five completions in a game.

That is

damn ridiculous against that defense.

Like, just think about the totality of all the big passing performances that we've seen, even in the last 25 years, and how unbelievable that stat is.

Pretty good.

Brady on this game, by the way?

We have any Brady clips to share.

He was back at it.

I know there are.

He was.

Just assume.

Yes.

I got one.

Sort of a continuation on last week's Brady theme.

Here it is.

That is so tight.

He has some obsession with calling things that are close.

He can't say close.

He has to say tight.

Bit of a one-track mind.

Yeah, a little bit.

Or maybe that's us with the one-track mind.

Let's be fair about that.

That's a possibility.

And Mark, you were off track.

I'm sorry to say.

And shame on you, Ceci.

What are you doing?

I know you try to get on our.

Try to get on Connor and I's Seattle bandwagon and we see what happens there.

And don't think we're not paying attention to that now.

Right.

I mean, don't think we're not paying attention to that.

Get off the train.

Throw mama from the train.

Throw Marky.

Mjar.

Throw Mjark from the train.

I went home, team.

I went home team.

I love Baker.

You love Baker.

You locked against Baker Mayfield.

That's not like you.

That's not you, Ceci.

Get off the train.

You know,

one side mental note for the listener to embrace and ponder is that when we are recording those shows, it is essentially the doorway to our weekend, right?

And like,

I'm not rushing through my picks, but it's like, I look back and I'm like, I don't even remember what I was like, why did I make that pick?

I agree with you, but it seemed wise

in the 11th hour of our work week.

And then it doesn't seem wise in the first hour of our new one.

Yeah, no, I see where you come from.

I mean, it sounds like you're kind of making an excuse, but I also don't disagree.

That is the kind of the last thing we do each week.

And you got a little senioritis when you make your lock.

And that's not going to work out for you I don't think in the long run we might have labeled it senioritis I'm not going down that road that's the road you went down yeah okay all right let's uh move to the next game and by the way I just want to say uh Connor

I did say I thought at least one undefeated team would get knocked off

and one winless team would score a victory.

And I believe I might have hit on both of these.

Every once in a while, we have our days, right?

We all have our days.

And this was the Zeusers.

Imagine that being,

imagine that victory lap on a day when the Jets lose again and the Yankees lose like 400 to nothing to the Blue Jays.

And my fantasy team got beat.

And Justin's probably going to say something annoying now, too.

Yes, Justin.

This is convoluted.

This is the opposite of annoying to you, Dan.

I suspect.

You didn't say one undefeated team would fall and and one winless team would win.

You actually said by the end of the weekend, there would be one of each of those things left.

And what is the reality?

So that means two winless teams had to win.

Oh, yeah.

That's, I did.

I did do that.

You're right.

Bang.

I have a genius.

Can you play that patriotic American music?

Oh, that one.

No, but I can play a different patriotic American music.

We know the rights of the music.

Here we go.

Let's get into it.

Well, that's not mine.

I can't claim that.

That's Mark staring at Matt Rushmore with just like tears streaming down his eyes.

Incorrect.

With a giant rifle in the back of the pickup truck.

All right, let's see.

I don't agree.

Anyway, I thought the Eagles would f ⁇ ing lose today, and they did.

Let's get into it.

Because Bo Nicks leads the Broncos on three straight scoring drives on three possessions in the fourth quarter quarter in Philadelphia.

And the Eagles' offense, again, this is stuff we talked about last week.

Nothing made sense about their 4-0 start, and they were going to need to play better, specifically on the offensive side of the ball, to continue to win.

And when they needed to come up with some plays on that final possession, they couldn't do it.

They were maybe the victim of some whistles and calls that didn't go their way.

But that doesn't matter.

No one cares about that because at the end of the day, it's 21-17.

And the Broncos, a team that looked dead in the water in this game about halfway through, ends up stealing one and giving the Eagles their first loss of the season.

And that is the signature Sean Payton Bo Nick's victory that I think could really send them to the next level.

Here is Sean Payton in a very smoky Broncos locker room after the game.

I'm going to say something,

man.

We came here to win.

Looks like fire smoke, not like Fog Machine.

On behalf of the coaches and ownership, Rainbow Six try to clear this place out.

When you play a team like that, it's never going to be perfect.

But man, not once did we flinch.

And that's what you have to do to be a team like that.

And you did it.

Connor, I thought this was.

I hesitate to do this because he doesn't need the ego stroke, not that he'll hear this, but Sean Payton, I thought it was a masterclass by Payton, especially late in the game,

how he handled the clock,

how he was able to use his timeouts, his decision to go for two instead of

pulling them to a 17-17 tie, decision to go for two and then feel confident that the play call would work, which it did, which then puts them up one, which means when they go down the field and kick a field goal, now the Eagles will need seven.

It felt like here's a team that has a good head coach who's seeing the game and playing it like a chessboard.

And I'm not saying he out-coached Sirianni because I think it was more a execution issue once again for the Eagles.

But when you have a top-level coach like that and a quarterback like Bo Nix, who's taking some unnecessary flack early in the season, I think this kid can play.

He steps up in big moments and they embraced this challenge like I thought that they might.

And now they are in the best position they've been in all season.

I thought it wasn't just the big decisions, right?

Like the two-point conversion or

any of those things.

I thought it was the type type of plays that he was calling for bone nicks right that's i meant that as well yeah

and i think that you know because you looked at him and there was still and i don't think it was unnecessary criticism we've talked about the bone nicks issue over the first couple weeks of the season but even throughout the first couple drives of this game like throws that are supposed to be to the boundary right and receivers are supposed to catch with their outside ham or just inside or you know just those little things that as a coach you probably have an indicator of might not be working for him today he might just not have all the cards in the deck and so that kind of play calling adjustment, I think, was massive for the second half of this game and a huge help for this offense.

Yeah, and they had like,

just to make one more quick point about that, like the Cardinals, as an example, we'll get to the Cardinals and Justin's Titans.

The conservative play calling, just trying to get out of that building with a win.

And they, and the Broncos were the opposite.

They were using play action and bootlegs and running situations that didn't always work, but he also trusted his quarterback to not make the killer mistake if the play wasn't there and Knicks rewarded him for it, Mark.

Yeah, I think like the

when we talk about coaching decisions, like Sean Payton has to trust Bonix and the offense enough to dial up one of the bolder calls of the day against a team that, you know, is coming off a Super Bowl win and at home and dominating on defense this season.

And like,

I thought that the Broncos, because like it was like the end of third quarter where I thought, you know, this is a team that I'm not really rooting to get into January because they're sort of a dull watch.

And then they changed everything, I thought.

And it's like, this was the signature win.

And they went into this fourth quarter

one and 112

all time on the road trailing by 14 points.

And they added their second win.

They're now two and 112.

And it left me

thinking that this was the kind of moment for the Eagles that we knew was going going to come at some point.

Because you can't get out of this game with your new play caller explaining to anyone that's going to get this and feel good about it that Saquon Barkley had six carries, that you were sacked six times, that AJ Brown was furious after this game.

I can even see him smoldering.

I will say one thing, because I think Eagles fans would kill us if we don't.

This was one of the worst officiated games

I have watched all season.

You did, but it's like, I mean, mean, it really, really changed this game.

And there was an unnecessary roughness call on Zach Baum that was questionable, okay?

There was a grounding call that was questionable.

And Adrian Hill, the lead official, said that his communication broke down during that.

There was, to me, there was a pass downfield in the critical moments to Goddard that

there was a DPI on that.

It seemed like DPI, and it wasn't called.

And I mean, everyone, it's like everyone knew it was, and it wasn't called.

It's not just that.

They've got to get out of their own way and decide when do we want to dig in and be what we are?

Because right now you're a stopped up, stuck offense where your stars aren't playing like stars.

Yeah.

Anyone who has them on their fantasy team is going nuts.

And so that's true, too.

But this was a conjuncture of a lot of weird stuff going on.

But the Broncos were bold and Sean Payton-esque when it mattered most.

There were, these things tend to.

average out the calls.

And there were some, obviously, as everybody knows, with all the tush-but, push dialogue this year and some of those firing off false starts from the interior of the line that weren't getting called.

They didn't get the whistles in this game.

They didn't get the flags.

The play that you're referring to,

the grounding call that was initially not called, and then it was called,

and then you see the Broncos celebrating and clapping,

but then they don't make an announcement.

And I guess that's where there was a communication breakdown.

And then all of a sudden, it's still, I think, third and seven instead of third and 17, I guess it would have been.

And then the Broncos convert, and that was, I believe, on their touchdown drive that led to them taking the lead.

And then the Goddard play, it was in the final seconds.

The Eagles were in desperation mode, but they had put themselves in pretty good position with no timeouts left.

If that gets called, and it was Skinner, the defensive back that definitely got there early and had it was all over Goddard on the play, you could throw the flag there.

I think, Connor, what happens in a lot of these situations, especially fourth quarter, game on the line, the officials are more likely just to say, I'm not going to do it.

I'm not going to make this call.

And they didn't.

But I understand why Eagles fans were furious afterward.

There is a statistical phenomenon of whistle swallowing.

That's a thing in late games and big games.

And you saw it there.

I mean, I think that...

I would be fascinated to see what the Eagles would have done in that play call situation, right?

Because I think that would have been an untimed down, right?

They would have had one shot, one crack left at the end zone at that point if the DPI was called.

Am I wrong?

Yeah, it would have been, let's see, nine seconds on the clock when the play ends.

So, yeah, if it would have been, the flag comes out, it would have been first and 10 with nine seconds to go.

Instead, they are heaving it from the 29.

It actually had a chance, but it got knocked away.

But even on that play, and I think they made a

good comment about it.

The announcer is like, there's two Eagles guys on top of each other.

So it's A.J.

brown and devontae smith like yeah which is so perfect it's so perfect that the offense uh with this petula offense is just so out of sync there's no rhythm to it there's no flow to it and i think we do we have a j brown sound yeah we do yeah let's check that out and then the ball was strong so like i said we just missed um

did you guys talk after the play about maybe if a miscommunication what happened no in a game like this that is that close is that one of those plays that you'll kind of think about in this one

yeah because it's a big play, but there's so much more that you can look at and determine

what we didn't do well.

Aren't they at like a...

Some weird energy in that building.

I really agree.

And like, I think I was pushing back on some of the inherent negativity around the Eagles

for a while, but today it really manifested.

And like, there was this incredible graphic that CBS put up that the Eagles came into the game averaging 251.5 yards per game, which was the fewest by a 4-0 team since 1940.

Right.

So yeah, a couple calls didn't go your way, but you are very fortunate to be where you are right now.

And one last note, Bo Nix, again, shout out to Bo Nix, who had a very tough start to the season, but is playing a lot better now.

In the fourth quarter, he completed nine of 10 passes for 126 yards as they wiped out a 17-3

deficit.

This is a team that just won the Super Bowl, Sean Payton said.

So that's a good win.

Oh, please.

I mean, that guy.

Can you imagine?

His head's going to float away.

Smoky rooms.

All right,

let's head to

right here in Los Angeles, where the Chargers and Commanders did battle.

Jakori, Krosky, Merritt scored two touchdowns.

The Commanders, They also rallied back from a 10-point deficit with a big fumble in the second quarter changing things as they scored 27 straight points, knock off the Chargers 27 to 10.

Connor, this...

Where do you want to start in this one?

Because the Chargers just, they don't seem like themselves anymore.

They're not quite the Ravens, but they're not too far off either, where you don't even know what version of the Chargers are getting beat up.

Meanwhile, the Commanders, with their quarterback with a big, huge knee brace,

they find a way, and it's a nice road win on the other side of the country.

The Jaden Daniels effect is so real.

And I know that Marcus Mariota did play well, and I'm not saying he didn't, but there's just this idea of you can get close to this team, but you can never get close enough with Jaden Daniels.

There's just something about him that just keeps a distance between you and the other team.

And it's hard to describe.

But I guess if you want to say where it starts, I mean, Omarion Hampton being hurt in this game, I think, was consequential, especially down the stretch when they were trying to come back and they were trying to get it done.

And the game was closer than 27 to 10.

This wasn't a 27 to true 27 to 10 feel, but I think at the end, it was just the Chargers are exhausted.

I mean,

there's a talent deficit at this point.

I mean, they're not healthy enough to be able to win these games.

Justin Herbert was sacked another four times.

It was cute at the beginning of the year when we were saying how awesome it was to see him unleashed.

I think we want the Greg Roman run game back now where he's only throwing the ball 15 to 20 times a game.

And so I think this is just going to be this is a back to the drawing board kind of moment for them.

There was the Lad McConkey 57-yard touchdown return that got called back.

It's like these teams that are so kind of close, it's these little moments.

And what I see that's different about the Chargers, tell me if you agree, it just feels like they're now ordered to win slugfests like this.

And I think that the offensive line at the tackle position stuff is getting Herbert under much more duress than he was earlier in the year.

And I think that's what we've seen in the past with Herbert.

It changes everything.

And you ran into a team that is going to keep scoring points left and right and you also ran in you ran into the rebirth of bill bill scored two times we saw it's a bill game finally we got a bill game yeah um yeah herbert sack four times on the run the whole game makai bechton hurt again he goes out of this game trey pimpkins the third the uh right tackle he left the game with an injury And yeah, I don't know how does the center hold at this point if even the guys that are left on the line start getting hurt, not making any excuses.

Because also, I should note that the Commanders are far from healthy as well because McLaurin's out of this game.

Noah Brown's not playing in this game, but the Commanders had no problem kind of moving the ball, especially in the last three quarters.

No, I mean, this looked like a smooth operation.

But again, I mean, the Chargers, they lost contain on this.

Like, both the Bills' touchdown runs were, you know, no one was really challenging them from the outside.

And it just looked, it looked very easy.

And I think you could just tell towards the end of that Giants game with the Chargers and coming into this one too.

I don't know if it's just back-to-back, the cross-country road trips, whatever, or well, this game is at home, but like the kind of going back and forth across the country and the accumulation of injuries, they just look gas to me.

And I think that that can happen, especially when you start the season in South America.

10 penalties, 85 yards for the Chargers, three turnovers on the other side of the field, which is just killer.

Last thing I have on this one, Connor, how did Jaden Daniels look?

Did he look like a healthy quarterback to you or a guy that could be the version of Jaden Daniels that took the league by storm last year?

There was enough running.

I mean, there were eight attempts, right?

But it was like four or five yards a carry at this point.

There wasn't like that big explosive Jaden Daniels run, but there was enough of them that necessitated the Tom Brady, I need to make sure everyone knows I told him he needs to slide more conversation, which he wanted to tell everybody in the world during this game.

So I do think that that's going to be part of the conversation going forward is, you know, he does need to slide more, he does need to get down more, does need to protect himself more.

But I mean, I didn't see it as like a flagrant thing, but he looked all right on the move.

Okay.

All right.

Let's take a break.

And when we get back, more from week five.

Stay right there.

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All right, let's head to the Superdome where, yes, the New Orleans Saints, They get off the mat and they beat the G-Men to do it because Spencer Rattler kicked off a really nice

comeback for New Orleans.

They fell behind early in this game, but he hits Rashid Shaheed in a stride.

He goes the rest of the way 87 yards for a touchdown.

And from that point onward, starting with that play, really, the Giants completely self-destructed.

You could even say before that, Connor,

the Giants began their self-destruction where they are, I believe, up 14 to 3, and they have a flea flicker that is perfectly set up.

Dart underthrows it, and it's incomplete.

And then you have the 87-yard touchdown.

This turns into a game, Connor, where the Giants have five consecutive turnovers.

How is that even possible?

Tough loss for your G-Men.

I think, too, the turnovers were egregious to me.

I mean, there was the Cam Scatabo fumble

inside the 20, and a bizarre situation after that, too, where you saw him on the sidelines screaming, I need better gloves.

I need better gloves, and I need more tape on my hands.

And then there was the Jackson Dart one, which was very similar to the

Bryce Young fumble, which we'll get to, where it was almost just like he stopped and was trying to go a million different directions and then just handed the ball to the opponent.

It wasn't just caused by anything.

But to me, the biggest disappointment in this entire game was you were up 14 to three.

The Giants finished the game with one quarterback hit, and you have supposedly three of the best pass rushers in the NFL.

Spencer Rattler was not sacked a single time.

This is not Lamar Jackson back there.

He's mobile, but you have Abdul Carter, you have Brian Burns, you have all this talent.

And the fact that you could not take 14 to 3 and clamp down on this team and disallow them from coming back was hugely disappointing.

I mean, I think to me, that is the underline.

Yes, the turnovers are a killer.

That's going to happen when you're dependent on your second best offensive player is Cam Scatabelle, your fourth round pick out of Arizona State, okay?

That's going to happen.

You're going to make mistakes.

Not being able to close the door on defense, I think, is indicative of bigger issues that have happened in the Cowboys game, and we've seen it throughout the season.

Yeah, you'd think like the way that the Giants are built and there's hope for Giants fans, no matter what occurred today, like there's pieces in place that, I mean, you know, Dan, we're hearing from Giants fans all day long and like they're They're enthused about what's good, what's happening, but you'd think the bedrock of the team you've built right now is that this pass pass rush creates those turnovers and those opportunities for you versus the Giants being the first team since the 2016 Jets to give up five turnovers on five straight drives.

That's not what you wanted to come out of here with.

And yet, like, I kind of feel like if I'm a Giants fan, it's like, I don't love what happened today, but it's a little Teflon because there is new blood and new energy.

And it's like, you got to be patient with it to some degree.

You don't have to win all of these games today.

I know what you're saying, but like

they, they end up making the right move, even though a lot of people said it might not be the right move.

I was one of them by putting Dart in there against the good Chargers defense, and you have this great win, and now you get to have a chance to get a momentum, and you jump out to this lead, and then you just absolutely implode.

Like, if we are of the opinion, I think we are on this show.

I know you guys are,

I think you are, that the Giants actually are frisky enough to hang around potentially.

They have maybe some some juice to them.

Like, you got to win this game and to not just lose it, but to implode the way they did, that's a very disappointing loss.

And, like, on the other side of it, shout out to like Spencer Rattler.

That guy had never won in the NFL before.

This was his first, this was his, like, I kid you not, this was his first win as a starting quarterback in 12 tries, I believe.

So, you know, you want to, when you, when you have that.

possession, when you have that opponent that's a winless opponent that has a quarterback who's never won before, you expect to to find a way there, and yet they did not.

Also,

Taysom Hill was back in this game, and like pregame, you would have thought like they rediscovered the animated John F.

Kennedy body.

Like they were, everyone was so

amazed by this.

Like the rounds of applause, like he was just coming back on for encore after encore.

People,

this man is beloved and rightfully so, but I've never seen an arena full of people get so excited about a guy throwing one pass and then I think running like six read options for negative one yard.

But it's great to have Taysom Hill back.

I guess from the perspective of, do you mean more like from the fans or is it also the booth?

I think it was a combination of the broadcast making it a big deal, but the broadcast

was a big deal.

Yeah, I mean, it was.

I have a theory.

I think if you're a broadcaster, there's not a ton of like excitement around the New Orleans Saints in the modern era.

Taysom Hill's had a lot of like cool moments.

He's had a fun, different NFL career.

And Hill is also like the let him and Kamara are the last connection really to them being a team that mattered.

So I could see why Saints fans would hold this white boy near and dear.

You know, I could see it.

It makes sense, you know.

My only other thing I got on this one was I do have to give, and to Mark's point, Brian Dable deserves credit for before this fell apart.

And now you could say, whatever, you're not doing enough ball security drills.

There's other stuff that's happening here.

But the fact that they went to like a 12-personnel look because you don't have Malik neighbors, and then you target your two tight ends like 10 times, and it was working.

Like this thing was rolling.

And I don't know, Theo Johnson, yeah, Theo Johnson, Daniel Bellinger, but they're moving the ball.

And so, I don't know.

For a minute, there, I thought, okay, they found a solution.

You guys go have a little party about the Giants tonight.

That's fine with me.

No, I'm not.

I'm, I'm, I'm, I'm, I'm having it right now.

Yeah, I'm disappointed.

You know who deserves love?

Also, Kellen Moore.

Kellen Moore got a win as a head coach in our league.

Let's go to the Saints locker room.

Ellen Moore.

Oh, that's nice.

And there's Demario Davis, by the way, who is like every week.

Amazing.

Another link.

He was on both of our teams.

Drafted the same year as Kellen Moore, I think.

Unbelievable.

All right.

Good stuff.

Let's keep rolling on.

Let's move to the Meadowlands.

Oh, another fun game for the New York Jets.

Dak Prescott throws for four touchdown passes, two of them to Jake Ferguson.

I mean, when Jake Ferguson is catching a pass and then just rumbling 24 yards without being touched into the end zone, you have to start talking about some things.

You have to have some hard conversations behind closed doors.

Anyway, Dallas went on multiple marches of 90-plus yards and even missing a bunch of their offensive line.

They cruised past the Jets, 37, 22.

The Jets put a little lipstick on the pig to make this game closer, but I believe it was 30-3 at one point.

So, again,

the Cowboys are showing us that they are going to score.

I mean, they're going to score points against a team like the Packers.

They could score points against a bad team like the Jets.

They are going to score a lot of points.

And the reason they can do it is Dak Prescott is back to being one of the very best players in the NFL.

And I think maybe a lot of us slept on that.

I did.

Maybe I didn't think that Dak could be or is that type of difference maker.

But I've been so impressed by how good this offense has been without CeeDee Lamb.

It has not skipped a beat.

George Pickens had another

big play in this game, beating Sauce for a long touchdown.

that essentially put this game away.

And Prescott is just totally locked in and playing football at such a high level.

He got some love from Brian Schottenheimer after the game.

Yeah, I just, you know, look,

I think we're spoiled.

You know, I think he's one of the best players in the league and he's certainly one of the best teammates and leaders I've ever been around.

The guys believe in him.

He's playing with a ton of confidence right now.

You know, that's why you can do some of the things that we do.

Yeah, and this is a team that's had no problems on offense for the most part, but it's the defense that's been really bad.

They get a big fumble,

forced fumble on Brees Hall inside the 10-yard line.

From 10-10, if Brees goes into 17-3 is how it turned out.

They also added five sacks.

They got two stops on fourth down.

So, yes, it's the Jets, but you have to take care of your business, which they did.

And maybe they instill a little confidence on that side of the ball.

It's good to have the Jets on your schedule, and the Cowboys took full advantage.

Is like

is this a top-two offense?

And is Brian Schottenheimer proving that he's got more than many of us expected?

And this isn't Marty Ball.

By the way, here's a, before you answer that, in our chat here,

Justin drops this nugget.

Also, a reminder that Dak was my offensive player of the year pick because I said Dak would play like an MVP.

You know, yada.

It's like, thank you, Justin.

Thank you.

In the middle of the show, that I.

It's very well done by you, Justin.

It was a response to Dan saying, I don't know if any of us thought Dak would still have this.

I apologize, Justin.

Paraphrasing, something like that.

I bend my knee to you and apologize.

Thank you, thank you, thank you.

But Schottenheimer's Schottenheimer, these players seem to love Schottenheimer.

I feel that.

Dude, he is, Connor, you got it.

If you were going to do voting for coach of the year, he's got to be in the conversation, right?

For what they strip Micah Parsons off his roster and say, go find a way with this team.

And I know they're no great shakes.

I mean, after this game, what are they?

Two, two, and one.

But they have been a fun, competent, energized team that's been competitive week after week.

And Schottenheimer, a guy that I didn't give a lot of credit to when the hire was made, like he has really got this team going in the right direction.

And

the players that he's getting something out of, I think, are the ones that are surprising me, where these are veterans that have come here almost to die, right?

I mean, Javante Williams, Solomon Thomas, all these guys, and they're dominant.

I mean, Solomon Thomas had that massive stop of Brees Hall that set up the field goal that prevented the Jets from

scoring the touchdown at the beginning of the game.

Javante Williams is week after week just ripping it up.

And that's coaching, right?

Is getting the most out of these kind of disparate pieces.

And it's impressive.

I have to hand it to him.

And it would be so Jerry Jonesian to take credit for winning a Coach of the Year award that he caused

the issue that put Brian Schottenheimer on the pedestal in the first place.

But

that is the world we're living in.

Did we have a Jerry of Moment this game?

Yeah, so Jerry, I caught this.

I found this on Twitter after

Jerry Jones.

I don't know.

You never know what's in his bloodstream by the end of a win, but he's just dropping the middle finger on Jets fans.

Let's take a look here.

I'm sure they weren't saying very nice.

I think the Jets had some tumblers in them as well.

That's pretty good.

Hey, man.

I'm sure he was hearing a lot of stuff up in that luxury suite.

Cigar in his hand?

Are you just allowed to smoke?

Does he have a Monopoly guy cane also?

Like, what is going on with Jarrow right?

Who rules?

No, it's just on the partition his hand.

Yeah,

it's been a fun year.

The Cowboys are an entertaining team.

Last thing on the other side of this, the Jets are 0-5.

They're the last winless team in football.

The Jets

are 0-5 for the third time in the last 30 years.

They continue to make the same mistakes.

14 missed tackles, 10 more penalties, another huge fumble in the red zone.

They are not showing progress.

And they also made a weird kind of history.

They became the first team since 1933.

That's actually when turnovers were invented as a stat.

For real.

They're like, oh, yeah, see, what do we call this thing, see?

Like, mama's Apple turnovers.

You want to take those off the old windowsill?

Let's call it that.

I don't know.

Was it?

Who knows?

Anyway, they are the first team since turnovers became a stat to have zero takeaways in the first five games of a season.

I don't know.

And they're also.

Let's hear Aaron Glenn try to, because people are now saying Steve Wilkes has got to go, the DC.

I call him Steve Wilkes Booth because he's killing the Jets.

He's killing them week after week.

But he is standing by his man just as to note, Dan Campbell once stood by Aaron Glenn with the Detroit Lions.

I know that's going to be the thing that everyone says, but I always go back to

my first year in Detroit when we struggled on defense too.

And our head coach had a lot of confidence in me making sure we get it right.

And I feel the exact same way.

I have a lot of confidence in Wilkes.

He's done a lot of great things in this league as a defensive coordinator.

And I'm going to allow him to do his job.

I am.

Because once things change, then the mentality of everybody starts changing as far as, oh, he can't coach.

And that's what happened to me.

So

I have all the confidence in the world in him.

I have all the confidence in the world in Tanner and all the confidence in the world in Banjo.

I'm going to let those guys do their job.

I despise.

coaches who lose week after week, but display a mastery of what the media thinks.

thinks.

And it's just like, I know the narrative, but you guys are.

It's like, how about put that into the fing game plan then?

Are you studying narratives?

Are you studying?

But I will say this too.

The one thing that ultimately broke my heart in this game more than anything else was my offensive rookie of the year candidate, Armand Menbu, probably at his worst game.

And I think committed his first three penalties of the season.

That killed me.

I love that guy.

I was like, that's my boy.

That hurt.

We're having a tough go of it over in Jets Nation.

And I sincerely think Jets fans should strongly consider boycotting the product.

Stay out of that sardine can in the swamp.

But did you watch it with your dad, Dan?

Like he's.

I did watch it with my dad, but I'm not going to get into it because I've already done my Jets rant and

I've said what I've needed to say about this team.

They're a disgrace and they got to find a way.

And now they're getting on the plane and they're going to London.

So there you go, England.

We hope you enjoy it.

Jets Broncos, week six.

All right, let's move to Baltimore.

Put a tariff on those guys.

You should have done it in your impression.

That would have been even better.

Got to put a tariff on them.

There's no price attached to this disaster that we're looking at.

Pretty good.

Pretty good, Cesi.

All right, let's head to Baltimore.

The Ravens fans, they're also going through it because they don't even know what they're watching anymore.

He loves Trump.

They host the Houston Texans, and they allowed the Texans, who could not hurt a fruit fly with their offense this season, to go up and down the field on them.

C.J.

Stroud throws for 244 and four touchdowns.

The Houston Texans, again,

the Texans, have we watched the Texans for the last year and a half who can't do anything?

They score on all eight possessions on offense when Stroud was on the field.

And they just waltz.

They dance to a 44-10 win over the Ravens or what team the Ravens are right now with half their players, including Lamar Jackson, injured.

That is a really,

really,

really grisly blowout, Justin, and one that I got to say, like, I understand the Ravens are playing Cooper Rush at quarterback, but they keep showing me how bad, down bad they are more than I even realized.

This feels like it has to be rock bottom.

Yeah, I mean, this was complete and total domination.

With all the injuries the Ravens are dealing with, this this game had the vibe of one of those preseason games where one team decides to play their starters and the other team plays their backups.

And it was like, like you mentioned, Houston up and down the field, ended every drive in a score.

But what the Ravens did with their possessions is equally eye-opening.

They get a field goal on their opening drive, 12 plays, 66 yards, by far.

their most productive drive.

Their next three drives, three and out, minus 19 yards punt.

Three plays, one yard punt.

Next drive, three plays, 34 yards, missed field goal.

They finally get something going.

They come out in the second half, which, by the way, 24-3 at halftime.

Total domination by the Texans.

First drive, interception.

Second drive, three and out.

Third drive, they finally put a touchdown drive together.

But at this point, Davis Mills is getting ready to enter the game for Houston because it's 34-3.

And they're like, they're ready to wrap this up.

Then fourth quarter, they close the game.

Interception, Interception, three and out, interception.

It was just like, they couldn't do anything.

And I don't even know if it's fair to judge Baltimore with the state the team's in.

But at the same time, like, it's week five.

Lamar, there was a report he might be able to come back for week six.

If not, they have a bye week seven, so they would only presumably have to play one more game without him.

But then, I mean, this team is one and four.

The odds that teams come back from one and four to make the playoffs are extremely long.

I will say their literal odds.

This was like tweeted out during the game.

I got a notification from Bleacher Report: Ravens playoff odds crashing.

And it's like they're still minus 200 to make the playoffs, which means they're pretty heavily favored to make the playoffs at one and four, which is, I don't know, maybe that speaks to the state of the AFC or the fact that they should get healthy.

I don't know.

But all I know is, like, can you even judge how bad this Ravens team is or how good the Texans' offense is when it was mostly Ravens' backups playing on defense and at quarterback?

Well, it's been in vogue to say today, I've heard it from multiple places.

Just a reminder, they weren't very good on defense before all the injuries.

Well, okay, you have $160 million of your salary cap on the sideline.

And you've got the Rams next week.

And I think the only reason that there's glimmers of hope is because of what we just feel about the Ravens aesthetically in general, right, over the past 10, 15, 20 years.

And realistically, if you lose another one,

your your glimmer of hope is that you're in a really trashy division that's injury-riddled and has not a lot going on.

And so that's your hope.

But it was unusual.

I can't think of too many times where I clicked into this game for like towards the end of the first half at one point, and it was heavy,

noisome booze raining down in Baltimore.

You just don't hear that from your home crowd towards your team that right now is shattered.

I would honestly play Derrick Henry at quarterback next week.

I'm not kidding, right?

I mean,

no, I hear you.

Go on, King.

Go off, King.

I mean,

King Henry.

And it starts with Baltimore's defense, right?

Because Houston is not a complex offense by design because you're handing a lot of it over to Stroud to get him comfortable.

But the mismatches that he was able to create with a defense that had no idea what it was doing.

I mean, you had linebackers covering receivers.

I mean, there was just, it was scattered.

It was like, what's that game where all the shit pops out when you can't can't put them in the holes at the right time?

The whacketoad or whatever?

Perfection?

Is it?

I don't know.

Sounds horrible.

Board games are stupid, but

the amount of

money.

Board games are stupid.

No, they're not.

Connor versus Justin.

Sign me up.

Six hours.

Four, five, round six.

How many rounds have we got?

You need to be able to prolong your offensive drives in some way to to not turn the ball back over to that defense.

And that's why I'm kind of saying it kind of tongue-in-cheek, but I would rather 40 direct Wildcat snaps to Derrick Henry and see that defense a little less than to put an actual quarterback.

I like that idea.

Henry also went 15 carries for 33 yards in this game and was still taking handoffs with six minutes to go, three minutes after Davis Mills came into the game because they are just trying to get something going.

I wouldn't be playing 30-year-old Derrick Henry in a 44-10 game with six minutes on the ball.

You know what?

That's just me.

I think they're on tilt.

I think they're getting booed in that building.

They're probably in a little bit of shock of what's happened to their season.

And you're right.

Harbaugh's like, maybe if we could put together, this is such an old coach move.

We could put together one touchdown drive that could give us some momentum going into next week.

It's like, no, man, you have a 30-year-old running back who's really a meal ticket for this offense.

Put him in mothballs and live to fight another day.

Here's Kyle Van Oi on the state of the Baltimore Ravens.

We're one and four, right?

And

I don't ever think it'll be a rock bottom.

I mean, it could if it keeps going this way, but

I just think we have good enough players that all it takes is literally like one play, one play to change it, one win to change the momentum.

And somebody has got to do it and believe that they're going to do it and you know continue to show up and work uh

i think as a group i will say guys are working like we're not not working we're not not trying

um we just got to play better as as simple as i can get and take accountability too for not playing well um

yeah Here's the here's the path that I'm guessing the Sharks in Vegas are looking at here.

They're not buying into the Steelers, right?

The Bengals are done.

The Browns are the Browns.

And they look at the Steelers and like, we still think the Steelers are a 9-8 team.

That's what Vegas thinks.

And then that means Baltimore at 1-4 has to get to 9 wins.

And they have to have the tiebreaker over the Steelers, which means beating them at home on 12-7.

And then in week 18, they are at Pittsburgh.

Would anybody be shocked if this team can get healthy, that that turns out to be a division, a game that decides the North?

That said, to Justin's point, they have this bye week, and it probably makes more sense to sit Lamar and then bring him back because it's a hamstring.

But one and five puts you in a situation where you would have to go what?

Just to get to nine and eight, you would have to go eight and three, and that's that's tough to do.

But they can't.

But it's also not just Lamar.

Like, it's you, you've got like 17 players not healthy.

You're right.

So it's kind of like because they were struggling before that, but they are now in there.

We all talk about how Burrow take him out of it, and Zach Toe and the Bengals are a disaster.

They've lost 11 of 15 games that Lamar has missed, including playoffs.

You take him out.

He's obviously the everything of them.

And their next game is against the Rams.

It's not like they have the Dolphins or the Cardinals or the Titans or someone who's going to shoot themselves in the foot.

Like the Rams.

Derek Henriette quarterback.

Before we go, can we just say that, can we all agree that what happened with Jalen Noel was probably the funniest thing to take place on a football field on a Sunday?

That was my absence.

So he scores and he does the Ray Lewis dance.

It's his first career NFL touchdown.

And he plays for the Texans and he does the Ray Lewis dance and then he gets the ball ripped away from him because that's sacrilegious, right, to do that in the stadium.

But it was such

the ball away.

I think it was Jalen.

Jair Alexander, who just

joined the Ravens.

He's just joined the Ravens, but he's already been indoctrinated in this culture.

You don't let anyone do that, but they're fighting for the Texans are fighting for the ball back because it's Jalen Nill's first career touchdown.

He wants to keep the ball.

Absurdity.

That's like the old Terrell Owens putting the football down on the star.

Remember that?

That was an all-timer.

That was an all-timer.

Yeah.

George Teague.

Teague.

That's a good trivia.

Good job, Gravy.

All right, let's take a break, and we'll be right back.

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Wow, he is loving it.

What do you feed Cooper?

Blue Buffalo life protection formula?

He never leaves a crumb.

I love it because it's made with high-quality protein, nutrient-rich fruits and veggies, and wholesome whole grains.

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Ah, yes.

Listen to that.

American football

has returned to the hotati.

Vikings Browns.

Oh, yeah, baby.

Get me up at 5.45.

Let's fly.

Watch Carson Wentz slinging it around against the Browns.

And I'll give Carson Wentz credit because this is a back-and-forth game.

Fairly entertaining for what it was.

But Wentz does lead the Vikings on a drive on their final possession of the game down the field against that vaunted Cleveland defense.

Come on, Sesse.

Got a stop.

10 plays, 80 yards, culminating with a touchdown to Jordan Addison, who was benched to start this game from missing a walkthrough.

Probably went somewhere in London, had some of that great 80s.

I think he was out on the town.

I believe he went touring.

I said a huge Indian dinner, but he could have been at the Jack the Ripper tour that we were coaxed into attending and turning into content.

You remember, Mark?

Yeah, I do remember that.

Jack the Ripper tour.

I'm standing by that as the reason Jordan Addison

missed a walkthrough.

Anyway, 2117, Vikings, this has gone off the tracks.

2117, Vikings defeat the Browns.

So Minnesota,

you know, despite the J.J.

McCarthy mess, and we'll see if he, you know, pops up at some point, because that is now the third game that Wentz has started, and they've gotten two wins out of it, and these are important wins.

These are the wins that can keep Minnesota in the wildcard hunt come late December and early January.

So, Mark, I know from your perspective as a Browns fan, it's again, they're right there.

Dylan Gabriel in this game, he did some nice things.

Quinchon Judkins continues to look like a real player.

There's exciting players, young players on this Cleveland defense, but they couldn't get that last stop, and that was disappointing.

They're still really leaning on the need for the defense to make a, and you know, specifically Miles Garrett, probably to make a game-changing play at the end of these games.

I'm in a different place than you guys might be with your own struggling teams, because to your point, like, I'm looking at this rookie class at Cleveland and Judkins, who looks like the real deal.

Harold Fannin hit the scene.

I think tight end slims take a little bit of time.

Like, he is a legit player.

Gabriel, I don't really know what to think of him long-term, term, except that he played a lot of college football and looked relatively calm and comfortable to me, at least, in this first weird start overseas.

I love their rookie class, and I think, so I'm kind of like watching these with a little more of a philosophical eye.

You came very close to beating the Packers and Vikings with this team.

That said, the Vikings just simply got the job done.

And Cleveland can't make plays on offense when it matters most in some of these situations.

And you can't just rely on, I don't like teams where it's like, you've got a great defense, which is sort of a week-to-week proposition, depending on the environment who you're playing.

And it's a lot to ask them to go four quarters.

It was a tight game, but

I thought

the Vikings gave them a test and kind of showed where they have weaknesses.

But the Browns have hopeful players for the future, but that's not doing a lot for me today.

Yeah, how about this, Connor?

Like,

we rightfully gave

your boy Mac Jones flowers on Thursday night for rolling around the turf in agony like he came across Mark Sanchez in an alleyway.

How about we give some love to Carson Wentz, man?

Like, how about Carson Wentz takes a shot to his left shoulder?

He leaves the game.

There's some guy that's getting ready to come into the game that no one's ever heard of, at least certainly I haven't.

And Wentz says, you know what, I'm coming out of the tent.

I'm staying in the game.

So for him to clearly be less than 100% and to end this game with that touchdown drive, I'm giving Carson Wentz a little bit of juice for being better than expected, at least in the results department.

For being better and really against all expectation, right?

I mean, Minnesota's offensive line was super banged up in this, enough that...

During that final touchdown drive, Kevin Stefansky was using all of his timeouts super early, if you notice that, because I think that he was expecting, he was thinking there's no way that they're going to score a touchdown.

They're going to kick a field goal here, and then I just need to build in enough time to get myself back to like the 35 or the 40 on the other end.

I don't think there was a thought in his mind that they were good enough.

I mean, Cleveland's defensive line was beating them up for a good portion of that game.

Shows the toughness and ability to hang with it.

I thought this was a great performance for him.

I mean, I don't know if you necessarily start those conversations yet, but I think that JJ McCarthy is probably on a shorter leash than he would have when he comes back.

And to your point, like there was a period in the game where the Vikings did not have a first-string offensive lineman in the game.

Yeah.

That they really are banged up.

And I think if you're Carson Wentz, that matters a lot against that defense.

Last note on the brown side to what you were saying, Mark, this via CBS Sports.

Their first-year players have registered 988 snaps, most in the NFL.

Gabriel did some things today.

I didn't think he was great, but he was, I think, an upgrade over what Flacco was giving you.

Mason Graham, the number five overall pick, has been an immediate impact player.

The linebacker, Schweshinger, Schwesinger.

Is that how you pronounce it?

That's a title.

Yeah, he dude.

Carson Schwesinger.

Schweshinger.

He leads the team in tackles.

He had 12 on Sunday.

Jutkins looks really, really good.

Fannin looks good.

Yeah.

Isaiah Bond making some plays.

That's what you want.

If your team's going to be one and four, you at least want to feel like you're building something.

So that's good, Mark.

That's why you feel, I could tell there's a little glow to you.

It's like, I'm not down, I'm feeling great.

That's why a little extra button is down for you today.

I see that.

It's just that you don't have to.

I don't have to be married to the results.

And also, that game took place like 78 hours ago, mentally, to me.

So

Connor remembers it because he locked it up.

Oh,

how dare you?

How dare you?

You were a little nervous when Carson Wentz came on the field

needing a touchdown in the end.

Never sweat it, baby.

The Ginger.

I was flying high in that game because the whole time, because I managed to get a take off my chest.

I have English family, and

I've been thinking for a long time that they should have kept it as God save the queen after Elizabeth because this king's kind of got no pop.

And

I felt good enough to let you know.

Charlie boy?

Yeah, he's got no pop.

No, he's been around for like 70.

Like, I agree.

It's not a new face.

Queen Elizabeth was the goat.

And so my thought was,

I was keeping it close to the vest.

I was like, you know, I'm not going to say this.

I don't want this out there because it might upset some people.

But

the whole game, I was just, I felt liberated because I finally said it out loud.

I just, I don't think that they should change it back.

It should just, it should always be the queen.

We should always try to save the queen.

Wait, so you're attacking British relatives over text?

Is that what you were doing?

What?

FaceTime.

Yeah.

FaceTime.

You know what this also does, by the way?

You know what this get this take?

As strange and potentially asinine as it may be,

it also lands Connor the cover of Feminist of the Week.

Boom!

Yeah, Feminist Weekly or Feminist Group.

International Feminist of the Week.

International.

Here's a pose for your photo, please.

Because, I mean, you are an ally.

You are an ally if you're saying it should stay as God save the queen, even when the queen's dead.

I mean, that's pretty

good, buddy.

Smart.

Thank you.

You're an ally, man.

Well, it's a little controlling.

All right, let's move on.

Another blowout.

This one at Lucas Oil Stadium.

Jonathan Taylor ran for three touchdowns.

And what the hell?

I'll throw in a two-point conversions as well.

Daniel Jones continued to do Daniel Jones 2.0 things.

He throws for two touchdown passes, no turnovers.

And the Colts get up off the mat after that near win against the Rams and beat up on what's looking like a putrid Raiders team.

Final score, 40-6.

Sese,

yes, the Colts are a great story.

And as we've talked about on this show, the teams that are the actually good teams beat the piss out of the bad teams.

That's part of being a good team.

You play the other good teams tight like they they did against the Rams.

Didn't work out for them, but they did.

Beat the Broncos, another good team in a game that went to the end.

And then when you get these teams on your schedule, you kick the shite out of them.

Yeah,

this was where operation separation sort of crystallized for me among places.

Like

one of the reasons, well, so

I would have seen these two teams a month and a half ago as probably relatively equal, and maybe there was a little more juice, obviously, to the Raiders with all their new faces and the colts felt like is the coach going to be there a month from now um it's completely flipped the colts to me feel very complete all over the place they're really well coached daniel jones is a real thing um jonathan taylor running this way is unstoppable and you've got tyler warren you've got a big cast a crew of wide receivers and a defense that's nasty enough to make geno smith look like a thing of the past um one of the reasons that i love this game though was that they lost spencer schrader Schrader, their kicker.

And so they were one of these teams stuck in this place where they had to go for two every time.

And they had to do stuff you wouldn't have to do.

And it didn't always work, but it's like, it helped them just pour on more points.

And they just absolutely.

dismantled the Raiders, who outside of Austin Genti having a really nice start to the game.

At one point, he had like 45 yards rushing and six catches for 45 through the air.

And it's kind of like, maybe this is a real thing.

I think it is, but it's lost inside a mess.

And the Colts Colts today kind of looked like a team that like, we're going to find a way through coaching and our actual roster and talent and a quarterback who's functional for the first time in this organization in many years.

Like we're going to dismantle you and we look like a playoff team.

Here's Shane Steichen on Jonathan Taylor, the engine that makes the Colts go.

I think he's playing the best back in the league right now.

You know, credit to him, credit to the O-line.

You know, that first one, obviously Q pulling around there.

And then the other one we scored down in there tight.

You know, we had a little pulling center on with with Bort, and Bort opened up the hole right there.

His great job by the O-line, and he stretched and cut that thing back up in there.

So it's everybody.

It's everybody.

It starts up front with those guys, but he's just seen it well.

He's running, you know, hard, patient, great vision, great bursts, and he gets the home runs.

All right, before we move on, on the other side of it, Geno Smith is up to nine interceptions.

Stat via Ryan McFadden of ESPN.

That's the most by any Raiders quarterback in the team's first five games of a season since Jim Plunkett

43 years ago, the last NFL quarterback to record nine picks in the team's first five games was Zach Wilson in 2021.

That is not the company that you want to keep.

And that's four straight losses.

And Pete Carroll, I don't know if he's going to be feeling heat right now, but at the same time, not the direction they thought that they would be going with Carroll taking over this season.

That's why we pointed it out in hot butts, Danny.

Unusually short contract that he signed there.

With Mark Davis, perhaps easily led by super famous quarterbacks that might want to have a bigger voice behind the scenes.

Keep an eye on the quarterback position.

Keep an eye on Pete Carroll if this thing continues to go in the wrong direction.

All right, let's move on to...

I got to say, Gravy,

this game, your Titans getting their first win of the season, 22-21

over the Cardinals,

All due respect because Cam Ward makes a big-time throw late in this game to Ridley, I believe, to set up the Joey Sly guy field goal.

I thought he was going to miss it, by the way.

It looked like it was

some of those

sketches.

Just 29 yards.

There's no reason to miss it, but Sly has missed a bunch of kicks this year.

And he also...

They were doing that thing, CBS, where they keep the camera on the kicker, like between anytime there's a slowdown in play or whatever, whatever, like in the last minute, and it's like, that guy looks like he's thinking about a whole bunch of bad stuff.

He missed an extra point.

He missed an extra point earlier in this game that made it a much more difficult comeback.

Kept it a two-score game.

Yeah.

So, but credit to Sly.

He's able to nut up there.

Credit to Cam for making that throw.

Credit to the Titans for finally winning.

Your boy Brian Callahan, this maybe you'll get an extension off this.

But I say all that, Justin, because

God love love you, Jason Zumwalt.

This was maybe, and this is coming from a Jets fan, the worst loss I have ever seen.

Do you want to tell the people that might not be aware of how the Cardinals lost this game?

Yes.

So there were a number of calamitous moments for the Cardinals in this game, starting when Kyler Murray, not ready for the snap or miscommunication with the center, not sure what happens.

The ball is snapped in the red zone.

They're positioning to go up 28 28 to 6, I think, at this point.

Ball bounces off his face mask.

Titans do nothing to like force a mistake or a turnover, but they are opportunistic and pounce on the loose ball.

On that play, Kyler Murray does something to his lower body.

He has to go all the way back to the locker room.

Jacoby Brissette had to play a couple plays.

Murray did come back into the game.

Then in the fourth quarter, Amari DiMercado, who was...

Like not the starting running back because Michael Carter started, but whatever.

With them missing two running backs, he's getting run.

He breaks through the line.

Gonna score a 70-plus-yard touchdown.

And at the goal line, he does the thing where he starts to celebrate just a little too early.

And it's like it was one of the weirder ones because most of the time they're like throwing it backwards when they flip the ball out too soon.

He like flipped it forward.

So it was actually like

really close.

Did he do that over the goal?

Like he did it an inch in front of the goal line, touchback.

Cardinals turn the ball over.

And then as the Titans are driving, the Titans have a chance.

You know, they can do the thing where they go for two on the first touchdown but then they decide they're gonna kick it the extra point that's the missed extra point so they could have gone for two there to make it a seven point game instead they miss the extra point so it's still a nine point game Titans are driving back into scoring territory again.

Cam Ward rolling out of the pocket, throws a pass that an unbelievable athletic play by the defender jumping up from like eight yards away from Cam Ward is able to tip the ball.

Another Cardinals defender is able to intercept it.

He takes three steps and then falls to the ground on his own is not touched again no titans player is there like forcing this mistake it's just a meltdown by the cardinals as he's falling down with the interception he drops the ball it squirts into the end zone and tyler locket is able to pounce on it and just like that the titans are down by two points it was unbelievable the meltdown like you said i've never seen anything like it and you know you do one of those plays in a game it's bad but you can survive it you do two of those things in a game still pretty bad but not a death knell three times in one game completely unforced turnover error you can't overcome that it's not even against callahan's titans i couldn't believe it i could not believe it

not only that too but just the complete lack of faith in kyler murray even at other points in that game i think it was right before the two-minute warning and you couldn't force the titans to use a timeout you had a third and eight and you still just ran the ball so you could punt it.

And you didn't let him throw to try to get a game-altering first down.

Uh, this was

or get him on the move.

He scored a 12-yard touchdown early in the game without even being touched on a scrambled drill play where he just runs it.

Like, get him on a bootleg where he has a little dump off, or if it's not there, he can try to do something.

Like, I don't know.

That was a disaster class of the highest level.

Can we look at this?

Like, um,

there's a little bit of a clip here of the Kyler Murray body language on the sideline,

Yeah.

Which I feel is sort of happening on a weekly basis, but

you know, it's like, are you on the bus traveling downtown in a snowstorm here?

Like, like, where is, what is happening?

Like, and I don't know Kyler Murray, obviously, right?

It's like, I'm not, I don't want to go, I'm not slinging bow and arrow at him, but like, um, I'm not going to defend Kyler Murray here.

At that point, it's 14 seconds left, and they've already completed the pass to get in the red zone, and they know they're about to lose by a field goal.

I understand his body language there.

It's fair.

It's just, it's not, but it's fair.

It's like, this is just the Kyler Murray experience.

I feel like I've had to hear on the show that Jonathan Gannon's a good football coach.

He's not.

I've heard Kyler Murray is a guy that people should be getting behind.

He is not somebody to get behind.

He was the guy in the press conference this past week that was like, maybe I'll be around.

I hope I'm around to see the new facility.

Like, this whole operation

dropped the A-bomb, Justin, on this whole operation because the whole place has to go up and they need to start over.

I hope, I hope for Cardinals' fan's sake, I hope for Jay's sake, like that they take this as a sign, like, this whole thing is not working.

Brutal.

We have Gannon on the disappointment of losing a game like this after

this game presser.

Obviously, very disappointing.

Felt like we had multiple chances to put away the game in all three phases, and we did not do that.

So, collectively,

we have to do a better job.

And it feels like that's now three games in a row that I'm saying the same thing.

But until we do a better job, we're going to keep losing.

So

it's never about one play, never about one phase.

All of us collectively have to do a better job.

So that's what we'll work on tomorrow.

And

our sense of urgency and our connectedness is always there.

It obviously needs to increase because time's ticking.

The last three plays from scrimmage.

I don't need to hear this guy anymore.

The last three plays from scrimmage, two-yard run, zero-yard run, run, zero-yard run, punt it away

at the two-minute warning, and you never get the ball back.

You lose the game.

Like,

Justin, say something nice about your Titans because they do deserve some love for finally winning.

One thing I'll say about this team is that Callahan was getting grilled last week about, would you, you know, Paul Kaharski, is this a resilient and relentless team?

They were resilient today because they were down 21-3.

And while, yes, it required a multitude of calamitous, like I said, errors by the Cardinals, they still found a way to fight.

They didn't have to go score, get that game-winning field goal at the end.

They had to drive all the way down the field.

Like that, if this is a team that was quitting or that didn't have any competency, that drive wouldn't have happened.

Shout out to Cam Ward for who's, I mean, to be totally real, he struggled with his accuracy, with his timing for a lot of this game.

But that final drive, he was perfect, poised, accurate, on time, amazing.

Game-winning drive.

Burst of his.

Congratulations, buddy.

Thanks.

um the titans titans titans podcast is gonna go off everybody check it out wherever you get your podcasts well i would assume you already recorded that probably went off earlier today correct yes that is correct quick little 12-minute reaction because you know i have to produce a podcast for my job so did you pick that up on mark's radar there did you pick that up at all

what

All right.

Congratulations, though, buddy.

That's good.

It would have been nice if we were still holding hands together in winless Loserville, but you know what?

It's like one of those things where you just like, you hug your friend and you see them off.

Yeah.

I'll see you.

I'll see you down.

I thought we were going to be having a discussion about are the Jets or Titans going to be battling it out all season for the top pick, but I mean, that could still definitely happen.

Yeah, hold on tight.

It's going to get exciting.

All right,

let's pour through the rest of week five, starting with the Detroit Lions, who took care of the business like we thought they would.

They jump out to a huge lead against the

woe-begone Cincinnati Bengals.

Bengals put some lipstick on the pig late, but 37-24 is the final score.

David Montgomery ran for a touchdown, threw for a touchdown as well.

Nice little trick play.

Jared Goff, ho-hum, three touchdown passes.

That's four straight wins for the Lions after that disappointing week one against the Packers.

And they're piling up points, Mark,

every week.

So any concerns about the demise of the Detroit attack have been put to bed, right?

Absolutely.

They were enjoying this experience.

I mean, it was

a rich day at the office.

Like, Sam Laporta, monster performance.

They had David Montgomery rolling out and throwing a touchdown to Brock Wright at this point, simply because I learned on the broadcast that Dave Montgomery was a quarterback in the Cincinnati area during his high school days.

So they're like, they knew all this, and so they're making making all this happen.

And you're playing a

Bengals offense that the whatever we thought we knew about Jake Browning has vanished at this point.

He is a turnover robot, and he's giving the ball back to one of the most powerful teams in the league over and over.

Three interceptions.

Chase Brown is not a thing.

They're just simply not a balanced offense.

And when you're going to also, like these other teams we talk about, hand the ball away multiple times.

To me, this felt like Detroit.

It's like it was play, you know, it was like, I don't know if there's any dirt on the uniforms.

It was like my dinner at Andre's, my dinner with Andre.

You know, it's like just, it's a one-camera shoot.

We get in, we get out, we drop a hammer, and it felt a little lost inside the rest of the game action.

But it was another reminder that Detroit, like...

When they flex their muscles, like,

they can really inflict damage.

And I know you're, you're, it's not, there's a no Joe Burrow scenario here, but it really was just simply garbage time at the end.

It felt like they were just playing out the string.

Like, this was another powerful win by the Lions, a very real Super Bowl threat.

Isn't it crazy that the Bengals, who once fashioned themselves a Super Bowl contender, are now playing a team that is so certain of victory that they're like trying to scheme up plays for the running back because he was prom king of a local town like seven years ago?

I mean, exactly.

And they're able to do this spot.

By the way, just so you know, like they didn't have any dirt on their uniforms, I believe they play on an artificial surface.

Well, what I'm more,

even if they had been out

at Pay Corps Stadium.

Had they been out

by a lake in the rain on a muddy surface, I don't believe there would have been any dirt on the uniform.

Got it.

Just wanted to be totally clear with the audience.

I didn't want to mislead anyone to thinking they were playing at an alternate site.

No, they were playing at Pay Corps Stadium.

What's pay core?

No one knows, Connor, but Pay Corps Stadium site of the game.

Any other thoughts on this game?

Because it feels like one of those cut-and-dry games that we don't need to spend a ton of time on.

I will say one thing.

Kirby Joseph,

20 interceptions in his first four seasons.

That is essentially two behind Ed Reed and a couple more behind four or five of the best players to ever play the game on defense.

So I feel like that's snuck up on me a little bit, but

he led the league last year in interceptions, and he had another one today.

I don't know.

They talk about him in a way where I think they know how special special he is, and maybe others don't see it with all the star power there.

Does anybody know who's behind Jake Browning on the Cincinnati Bengals?

Because I would think

after three more interceptions and being very clear,

this is a teal color disaster, whatever Farbek had to say,

that this is a situation where maybe we need to go in a different direction here.

And it also makes me think for the Burrow heads out there, like my niece niece Lily.

Like, I can't imagine a scenario where Joe Burrow comes back this season.

I mean,

if this season is truly as off the rails as it appears, him being available in mid-December, probably you don't want to mess around with that.

So, very tough.

They have been outscored.

Oh, my God.

This is going to be really bad.

By the way, they have Brett Rippian and Mike White.

I would maybe roll the dice on a little bit of a break.

You said Rippian again.

It's Rippin'.

That's how I say it.

Rippion.

Rippion.

Like the one guy that always tweets me about that.

Like, come on down.

I don't know.

I was about to add up like how much they've allowed and how much they've scored.

It's a lot too little and it's very ugly.

Let's just move on.

I'm sorry, Bengals fans.

It sucks.

113 to 37 is the scoring says Borrow went out.

Okay.

Let's head to Charlotte where the Carolina Panthers got a go-ahead four-yard touchdown pass from Bryce Young to tight end Mitchell Evans with a $1.59 to go.

Enrico Dowdell, my goodness, 2.06 and a touch.

The Panthers wipe out a three-score deficit, beat the Dolphins 27 to 24.

Yes, the Panthers are 2-3,

and that's a nice win.

And the Dolphins, my goodness, Connor, you got to win this game, and yet you did not.

This game was an absolute blast.

It was a total pleasure.

And even though I was stuck with it last in the draft, I enjoyed every single minute of it.

I don't know if it was because we had Eric Collins on the play-by-play or whatever it was, but it was a, yes, Miami went up 17 to nothing in this game and then went on to surrender the single greatest rushing performance to occur against the Dolphins in franchise history to Rico Dowdle.

And it was so bad that Bryce Young was like being chased by Bradley Chubb, and it looked like he just kind of freaked out and handed him the ball like, ah, here.

Just gave him the ball.

That was the tenor of this game before it just completely flipped.

And Dave Canalis deserves a lot of credit.

He really turned the play calling, I thought, and got Bryce Young a little bit of confidence and just got him to the spot where he could make it work.

But two 40-plus-yard runs just absolutely gutted this Dolphins defense.

And I loved it.

I loved every minute of of this game.

But the Miami Dolphins are a joke.

I mean,

I mean, that is, the Panthers are playing without three of their offensive linemen, and yet the Panthers outgained Miami 237 to 19

on the ground.

And Bryce Young, and this game I did not see a second of, so I'll throw it back to you, Connor.

But like on our text thread, there was some grim Bryce Young conversations going because I believe he turns it over on the first two possessions, but he picks picks it back up and he kind of gets his swagger back in a big spot as well, huh?

I think swagger is a strong word.

I think that he made some good throws in the second half, and I think that the Panthers put him in a structure that eliminated some of those issues and eliminated some of those mistakes.

But

yeah, this was an all-time gut job by this Miami defense.

But you're right.

In our text thread, I did not think Bryce Young was coming out for the second half.

I really didn't.

I thought that this was going to be an Andy Dalton game.

So, credit to him for making it work.

Um, we're going to, but we're back on Mike McDaniel watch after this.

I would imagine.

Uh, there were some shots of him walking to the locker room after a game.

Oh, that was grand.

Just, yeah, probably a guy that's just thinking, is did I just coach my last game as a head coach with the Dolphins?

It's a tough situation there.

Do we want to?

We have, I believe, a

Eric Collins.

So, Eric Collins

filling filling in.

There's a couple fill-ins right now because the MLB playoffs for Fox

who do a lot of the game.

So Collins steps into the booth.

He is the play-by-play man.

You might not know this of the Charlotte Hornets.

You might not even know the Charlotte Hornets are around.

I think the Charlotte Hornets left or they changed the name, NBA fans, the Bobcats, I believe.

And then they were like, nah, we like the Hornets again.

That is literally breaking news to me.

They brought it back.

They moved to New Orleans.

That's right.

They reignited the franchise as the Bobcats for a few years, and then they were like, Bobcats is so good.

What are we doing?

The Bobcats, that sucks.

We're the Hornets.

And then they said,

not only are we going to rebrand and go back, we're turning back the clock.

We're bringing in Collins in a big spot.

And I'm sure they're happy with that decision.

And we were very happy because Collins just put together a, it made me think of Gus Johnson on the come up in the early 2000s.

Let's listen to Eric Collins on various calls in this game.

Tungo Bailoa has one.

He's up there.

Caught back in the end

Hey, have you seen that giant bag of acid in our hotel?

Yeah, it's like every it's like a professional wrestler, like Hogan would do the

boot to the face and then into the atomic leg drop.

His whole thing is like,

it's like tongue of O at the pet.

He's sad!

It's like the Nirvana Pixies dynamic where it's quiet loud.

Like that's what Collins is doing in a huge spot here.

And it sings, baby.

It sings.

It reminded me of one of my good friends who would just like at the most random times, like we'd have to go to Target to get camping equipment.

And he'd be like, do you want to do a bunch of ketamine here and really just turn it up?

And because I was dreading watching this Panthers game, I'm not going to lie.

And by the end, I wanted it to go to overtime because it was so much fun.

I'm not joking when I said I had the time of my life.

One question, though, because if you're the color guy paired with him, did you

get out of the booth?

Go get a hot box.

Was he under pressure to raise his own volume and madness?

Or is he just like you're going to someone who sounds like they're in a library?

You know what you do?

You say this guy, all right, there's nothing I can do to have a role in this booth.

This guy is he's an ascendant star of the highest level.

I'm going to try it.

I'm going to go up.

I'm going to take the elevator up one level to where the luxury suites are.

And I'm just going to try to walk into one of them.

and fix myself a drink and get some free chicken tenders.

That's all I'm going to do.

Right.

Solution.

Sounds Sounds like a game that could have been really fun in the quad box.

I don't know.

You're talking about your quad box violation on Thursday.

Yeah.

Like, can we appeal these violations after the game plays out and maybe it gets rescinded?

Or how's that?

Yeah, sure.

How about this?

Send in an appeal and we'll deal with it.

Yeah, send it in.

Let's make it.

It has to be a minimum of 12 pages

single-spaced, both sides of the page.

Type.

Okay.

I'll just get a transcription of Eric Collins, and that'll be the appeal.

All right.

There you go.

That was week five, the week that was.

We talked about it.

We hit the 25,000 subscribers on YouTube.

But I don't know if we said thank you in the way that we needed to.

So thank you to everyone for your support of this show.

We are,

this show,

this engine, little engine that could heed the call.

we are growing.

The audience of the show is growing.

Our numbers are up both on audio and on video.

And we know the hedonists, your support, especially you guys that have been there since the beginning, is a big reason why.

So we thank you so much as we close the door.

And Mark, why don't you add something to those words by me?

Well, I do thank you.

I do thank you.

I would say without the four of us, I don't think it's possible that any of this occurs.

The four of us I'm looking at is on screen right now.

So, thank you externally, but internally, thank you to the four of us.

You did promise you'd take your shirt off if we hit 25K.

I'll go confirm.

I'm going to go confirm the numbers.

I will be taking it off at some point, maybe not on screen.

We'll see.

Anyway, we get to talk about football for fun and make a living out of it.

So, thank you for you and your support.

We love you.

We'll be back on Monday night with the Monday night football reek.

How many games on Monday night?

Six, seven, twelve?

How many Monday night games?

I think it's a triple header minus two.

It's a one, thankfully.

Just one.

Okay, good.

For one.

So we'll have the Monday night recap, the news rundown, and the wheel keeps turning.

Everybody, have a great night and a good week.

Till next time, heed the call.

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