2025 NFL Week 7 Recap: Back Where We Belong

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Mark, we've been talking football together for 15 years.

It's about one-tenth of your full lifespan.

And I don't know if there's ever been a crazier game than the one we're going to talk about first on Heed the Call.

No, I'd have to go back to 1812, a game I saw, but I think you're correct.

Giants, Broncos, and everything else, it's the flagship show coming right now.

Heyo, welcome to Heed the Call and NFL podcast.

The week seven Sunday recap.

We call it the flagship show because it's the best in the business, except no substitutes.

Dan Hansis here with Mark Sessler, Connor Orr, Justin Graver, of course, on the ones and twos.

And we got a full slate of action to dig into.

And

Mark, how are you, by the way?

As we just, why don't we start here?

I know you had a lot invested and you continue to have a lot invested in the New York Giants.

And we're going to get it.

We're going to kind of lead with the NFC East today.

A lot of action over there.

This is one of those shows.

We've been doing this now together, Mark, for 15 years.

And there has been, it's like the Ben Affleck, Matt Damon scene in Goodwill Hunting, where Affleck tells a speech.

Like, you know what, the best part of my day is that time when I get to the door and I walk up and I knock on, and I hope that you don't answer.

Because that means you left.

But it's the opposite.

It's the inverse for me.

I don't want you to to leave.

But there are shows, one every couple of years, where it's like, is Mark going to be on when we sign in to do the show today?

Or is this going to be the show that causes him to just walk the earth?

So you're here.

So that's a great start.

How are you doing, buddy?

Yes, I am here.

And I wouldn't do that unannounced to you.

I'd hope not.

I did think about today at some point.

I was like, well, what like if I just got in a vehicle?

Yeah, there you go.

And hardcore outed on this whole, like I keep picking new little pet teams and things that interest me.

And the minute that I do, they sting and they bite.

So you are right.

I have

to die.

Yes.

They die.

And they die for other people too.

And I don't want to cause other people pain.

But

that seems to be what happens.

And I'm kind of running out of answers.

So like,

you know,

that's where I'm at.

And like, Connor, I saw you playing a little bass there at the start of the show.

I appreciate that.

You're bringing some life and spirit.

But yes, I feel

a little lost, and that's okay.

It's okay to do a show when you feel that way.

Yeah, I get that.

Connor, I thought both you and Mark would be in great spirits because, you know, the team of HTC, the Denver Broncos, you know, like, what else?

Why wouldn't we be excited coming into the show?

Well, I was never

here.

We go, Connor.

Oh, God.

I want to make it known, and I don't know if this was ever formalized, but I was not on the show where we decided to make Denver the team of HTC.

It was never like formalized, really.

And I'm on record in several places saying that I was

suspicious of the amount of hype that this team was getting going into the season.

So I feel good with where I'm at with Denver.

My heart goes out to everybody in New York today.

That was just,

my God, just such a troubling, heartbreaking thing.

And everyone around me in my New Jersey suburb was so uplifted.

I was at Trunker Treat

yesterday, and there were multiple kids with Jackson Dart face paint and Jackson Dart jerseys, and they were wearing their mom's necklaces because like the jewelry that they had wasn't big enough.

Like, you know, whatever Gary Cooper, go on.

Yeah.

Just adorable.

And

I was very sad about all that.

I think that was

a sad way to lose the football game.

Very sad.

Very sad.

We're going to get into everything.

We're going to cap it this week with Sunday Night Football, Niners, Falcons.

But before we get into

the NFC East leading off with the Giants, of course, and the Denver Broncos, we must share Mark Sessler's theme for week seven.

This could go in a lot of directions.

Well, you know, and I almost went in a violent one, but like, you know what?

Like,

sometimes we shift enigmatic with these, like, quizzical with this.

I went with my heart, like lounging in the easy chair, cigar smoke wafting, the poppy bull back where we belong.

Wasn't it not a day?

Well, you can describe, you can, you can see if you want to decode it, but I think you know what, where I'm coming from.

Yeah, this one's pretty straightforward, Connor.

Yeah, the NFC East and my dear departed grandfather, John Carson Poppy, he

loved his New York Giants, and we loved watching him in the den on the brown chair.

The NFC East, while an imperfect beast, the Giants win or lose in this game we're about to talk about, and they lost.

They're interesting, and so are the Cowboys, and so are the Eagles, and so are the Commanders.

So the NFC East,

the Poppy Bowl, the Poppy Bowl.

Long live Poppy.

All right, let's get into it.

One of the craziest games I've ever watched.

Yes, the New York Giants

in cruise control.

Up three scores heading into the fourth quarter.

The Denver Broncos being shut out.

But then a flurry of back and forth activity, unlike anything we've ever seen.

And Mark, yeah, we've been doing this 15 seasons.

There have been crazy games we've done.

Unforgettable, iconic games, Super Bowls, NFC title games like that.

You could say, okay, this was the craziest game.

But for the stakes, you factor in the stakes and all that.

But in the regular season, what happened in the fourth quarter at Mile High is one of the craziest things ever.

The Denver Broncos put up 33 points

in the fourth quarter,

capped by the game-ending.

Field goal from Will Lutz.

That is a game winner, not a game tire, because a Giants kicker wearing number 99 misses a second PAT moments earlier.

And that's the difference in a 33-32 win for the home team.

The Broncos improbably

improved to 5-2, and the Giants fall to 2-5 and 0-4 away from MetLife Stadium.

Mark, I...

I mean, let's start here.

You lost your lock.

I'm sorry about that.

Oh, my God.

I just realized that now.

I didn't even think about that.

That didn't even occur to me in the layer cake of disaster that I observed.

But sure.

But like, you know, this game, there's so many directions you can go with it, but

let's start with the Giants side of it because it felt like when they were up, what?

They were up 19-0, I believe, at one point, and then 26-8 after that improbable deflection touchdown

to Johnson.

To lose this game and to lose the game the way they did,

this is a stick to their ribs losses lost for the ages and still hard to process about an hour after it concluded.

It is.

And you could go in so many directions.

You're right.

And here's the thing, though, because these players that Connor and I have glommed onto are so young and so new to all of this that it's like,

well,

you know, like I saw in theory, I picked the Giants like about a week ago on my birthday of all days to kind of like become fascinated with.

And And like a week later, they do what the Browns did, which was essentially lose like the, in a game like the drive or the fumble to the, to the Broncos of all places.

It was a coaching meltdown.

There were so many delay of games.

I think there were three delay of games in this game.

To lose that kind of a lead, I reached out to some giant friends and I said, like, what, like, what?

Sorry to bother you right now, but what the F do you compare this to and it's kind of like the Willie Flipper Anderson game with the Rams in like 89 or something it's like it is up there with the biggest titanic meltdowns by the giants of all time and it takes almost like um ungodly powers for this to happen because it doesn't change how I feel about Jackson Dart and the rest of these people but it was a complete and utter collapse it's the kind of thing where you want to write late night if you write sports because you're going to as the hours unfold between now and midnight and one in the morning, more and more statistical outliers will come out about this game to describe what actually occurred.

That you gave up 33 points in the fourth quarter.

This just doesn't happen.

Dan, you're right.

Like, we've only covered, I think we forget about some of these games, but I can only think of, and I'm speaking esoterically because it almost doesn't matter on some level.

It's like this only happens watching football five or six times a decade, tops.

And this is different.

I get furious about that win probability stat that pops up on Twitter all the time.

And I'm sure at some point it was 100% for both teams in this game, but only one team ends up at 100%.

But yeah,

having grown up in New York and knowing so many Giants fans, yeah, the Flipper game in 89 is a good one.

The 97 wildcard game against the Vikings is another one.

The 03 divisional game against, or the wildcard game against the 49ers.

I mean, it lives in that category of all-time all-time biffs by the Giants.

And

Connor, the crazy thing is, is they got off the mat.

They blew this lead and everything kind of turned on the Dart interception at 26-16.

The Giants are in very good position still.

There's five minutes to play in the fourth quarter.

And this is what you have to live with because Dart plays with so much moxie, but he's also inexperienced and he wants to make a big play every single time.

And he throws an interception that gets returned deep into Giants' territory.

That leads to the touchdown that makes it 26-23.

But the fact that the game ends up with the Giants scoring a touchdown, getting a PI, and Sean Payton, your boy, running on the field and getting tagged on for another personal foul on top of it.

And then the Giants' defense cannot.

And I don't know if it was the elevation.

I don't know if it was just a bad day at the office.

I don't know if the defensive coordinator needs to be fired after this, but

their inability to get any stops and give up that chip shot field goal in the final seconds.

It's remarkable that they couldn't find a way to to win this game.

I likened it almost to, like, if you get migraines,

you know, the little signs that your body is giving you before the full-blown migraine experience.

It's like, oh, like my head, you know, is starting to feel a certain way.

And the dart interception was the start of the symptoms, right?

It was the dart interception.

Then a couple plays later, there's a Deborah at a third and five, and then Kayvon Thibodeau jumps off sides and hands them a first down.

And then on the following drive, you have the delay of game penalty, you know, and then all this stuff starts snowballing.

And you're like, before you even turn around, you are in just a massive amount of pain.

And I think that that's exactly what happened to the Giants.

The sad part is like after the Eagles game, we watched like Scativo taking his shirt off and like Giants fans are able to stomp around the stadium being dickheads again.

And like everybody loved life.

And it's almost, you don't want to go back there.

You know what I mean?

You don't want to go back to that place that's very familiar.

And you want to believe that these people are taking you in a new direction.

And I I think that's why this game was uniquely heartbreaking.

And, you know, let's turn to the Broncos side of it, too, because, again, this team trailed 26 to 8 with just over five minutes remaining,

but scored a touchdown every time they had the ball after that, and then ended with the field goal to win it.

This is a stat from the AP.

This game snapped a streak in which NFL teams had won 1,602 consecutive games when leading by 18 points in the final six minutes of a game.

and it doesn't end in regulation.

If Jude McAtimney, is that the number 99?

Unless you're Aaron Judge, don't wear 99 and also don't be a kicker.

I mean, I could have told you this before the game started that something bad would happen.

A number nine kicker.

What a mess.

But we got to give credit to Bo Nix.

You got to give credit to the whole Broncos team, but Nick's in particular, because this felt like a game where he was wilting.

The whole offense couldn't figure it out for three quarters.

And he does seem to have that something, that junse est croix that the good quarterbacks possess.

And they raise their game.

The moment doesn't get too big for them.

And he made so many big throws in this fourth quarter.

So if you're a Broncos fan, yes, it's been kind of a bumpy ride to 5-2.

And in some ways, they've been disappointing.

And their defense was certainly disappointing in this game.

And their offense was terrible last week against the Jets.

It's been highs and lows, Connor.

But Nick's at the controls in this game is another reason why people need to trust that this guy could be a big-time player.

And he's still just developing.

He's further along than Jackson Dart, but he's a young quarterback still himself.

He's still developing.

And we just keep, I don't know about anybody else, but I keep forgetting about the outer reaches of his mobility, which is such a nice tool for Sean Payton, where if you're gold to go and you don't love any of the play calls, you can just create, you know, action one way and then boot him out and just let him bowl his way into the end zone.

And he's so good at that.

He's so much better at that than I thought he would be actually, you know, coming out of college and even after that first year.

And so that's, that's a dynamic weapon.

And still, I mean, you know, even those times where he was missing guys, he's getting that back.

I mean, there were some next level between two defender throws that he made in this game.

And I think he's heating up at the absolute perfect time.

And to your point, because when with the game on the line, when you were crawling back into this thing, he made an incredible throw to Mims,

another one to Ingram, and then used his legs to score the touchdown.

So I kind of see a little bit of similar traits in both of these quarterbacks.

And

I've found the Broncos a little bit of a tough watch at times.

I've mentioned that before.

But as much as this was a signature loss for the New York Giants, this was a signature win for the...

For Payton's Broncos.

I mean, this kind of changes what you think they can do a little bit.

And it took a lot.

Four straight touchdown drives in the fourth quarter.

you can go eight years and not see that like it's you know dominant it was dominant our buddy james palmer had a clip of course palmer's there on the scene in denver and he had a clip of brian burns uh walking side by side with russell wilson by the way i don't even think russell wilson wears shoulder pads anymore by the way um and he is uh cursing he's angry he's venting like the rest of the giants very upset and disappointed uh but you could kind of make him make out that he was uh voicing his anger over the team dropping eight in coverage in the final final possession.

The Broncos had no timeouts in about 30 seconds, and they had no problem getting down the field.

And Burns can be pissed about that, but also somebody on that front four, that vaunted front four, has got to make a play in the fourth quarter.

They could not make a play.

So Burns can be mad about the coverage, but somebody's got to beat somebody on the offensive line and end that game, and they could not do it.

And they had opportunity after opportunity.

Man, crazy, dude.

Only two sacks and five QB hits.

It's got to be better, man.

It's got to be better when you have that much equity in your defensive line.

It's got to be better than that.

All right.

Whoa.

Let's listen to Bo Nix, and then we'll move on.

Rock out of bed for the people that left early.

A complete team effort in the fourth quarter.

It was really bad there for a point.

The juice was, the morale was low on the sideline, but...

Guys never quit.

Took a few plays, and then next thing you know, Will Lutz is kicking a game winner.

And

man, I just, I can't believe it.

I haven't really had one like that.

So

that's a first for me, but I love our team.

There was one at one point

they had a side-by-side of Knicks and Dart and their stats, and they were both very good, obviously, by the end of the fourth quarter.

And it was a picture of like two prominent 80s movie villains.

side by side.

It was incredible.

Like these guys, you know, they're kind of easy to hate on, but they're the kind of guys that you want leading your franchise.

They're both very confident.

They're both have natural leadership capabilities.

And as down as you are, if you're a Giants fan and you're listening right now, and thank you for doing that, there's, you've got juice.

And I think there's, I don't think we've heard the last of the Giants.

I don't, I don't see a tailspin going on, but happening.

But at the same time, that's the second game that they've

blown in brutal fashion.

And those things will catch up to you.

All right.

Thank you, Kevin Harlan.

All right,

let's continue to roll through the NFC East.

Let's head to

Minneapolis, where the Eagles were looking to get straightened out.

And my, my,

they did.

Yes, they did, because they tried their best.

Did it for America.

Jalen Hurts.

I mean, where has this been?

Where has this offense been all season?

Turns out when you have two of the best wide receivers in football and Devonta Smith and A.J.

Brown, you should throw it to those guys.

They were targeted 17 times combined

today in Minnesota.

They finished with 13 catches for

304 yards and three touchdowns.

That was some quick math.

Justin, let me know if I was right.

That was the difference in a 28-22 win over the Vikings.

Carson Wentz.

You know, what a party it is.

Just Carson Wentz just getting dunked on all the time.

He didn't play very well in this game.

But yeah, so the Eagles get back on track.

Connor.

I know it's not that easy because football's not easy.

But some of the plays, some of the throws that Jalen Hurts made, and Hurts was brilliant in this game,

it's just like, man, A.J.

Brown is a mana

against boys, and he could kind of get it whenever he wants it.

So go, go let him get it.

That was my takeaway from watching this game.

I know that's simplified, but the way how easily he busted coverage and made plays whenever the team needed it,

it really stood out to me as something they need to lock in and hone on it.

hone in on going forward.

I guess, but it's like the second half of the Rams game, right?

Where all of a sudden the Eagles threw a bunch and they threw deep and everyone's like, well, why don't they just do this all the time?

And I think it's because they can't.

And the reason that they operate the way that they do most of the time is to set up the opportunities where, like, for example, that long bomb to Devonta Smith, I think it was the seventh time this year that they started a play under center and it was play action and it was a deep shot.

You get those, those guaranteed almost deep shot touchdowns when you run that run first offense the way that they do.

And it still helps them control games.

There are a lot of games that we forget about that Jalen Hurts has tried to take over in the past and even that first Super Bowl year where it's like, yeah, go throw the ball 50 times a game and it doesn't work out.

Like he does not always perform well when he's pressured

when defense pins its ear back.

And I just think that this is the perfect example of why you play the way that they do.

Now, does Kevin Batullo need to balance out his tendencies a little bit more?

Yes.

But some of that past that was leading up to this game set the table for a lot of of the big plays that we saw today.

Yeah, I don't I just to be clear I don't mean like this should be a pass heavy offense and he should be always but he's really good at it and he has really good playmakers.

Yeah, yeah, okay.

I mean, but when he is on and maybe it's that more it's like having the

having the feel when okay, this is a good Jalen day.

We need to lean into this.

After A.J.

Brown scored his second touchdown, the hot mic got picked up and he's celebrating.

This is when you throw me the f ⁇ ing ball.

What the f is that?

Just throw the ball.

So you know, there was a there was a market, obviously, a lot of intensity, a lot of boiled over frustration behind the scenes that came out in a game like that.

And we'll see if that leads to a breakthrough for their offense.

Yeah, like I think no matter what, no matter how you hedge it, like if you're the players on this team, there was frustration.

You know, you've got, you still have Saquon Barkley running for 2.4 yards per carry today.

And I think part of it is that why does it look different different than a year ago?

Like those

explosive runs for Saquon have disappeared, and that changes the way you can pass the ball too.

And it's easier to target other people if you can stop certain things.

Like

I still with the Eagles, because I think this was maybe one of Jalen Hurt's best games.

He was really good on third down, third and long, like he converted some big passes.

This was what you want from him.

But like, does it translate from week to week?

Like, the fact that it came against Minnesota's defense of all defenses is a good sign but like i'm still not in the trust zone of like i believe this will happen over the next month and month or two months in a row i just don't see that but there's still problems with this offense but it's hopeful to see your best wide receiver explode the way he did today and dominate the way he did

i mean he wasn't even the highest yardage game.

I mean, Devonta Smith goes nine for 183, averaging 20.3 yards per catch.

But that's good, though, because them in concert concert is when they've been at their best, right?

Yeah, 30.3.

And I know Barkley doesn't look good.

It's another, you know, 18 for 44.

His average really got condensed even further when they were just trying to run the clock out and they were running against like nine in the box.

But I don't know, Connor, I feel like as I was watching this game,

you know it's coming.

Like he still doesn't have a 20-yard rush this season.

I feel like those are going to come.

And there were a couple of runs in this game where it almost happened.

And I feel like that's the missing piece that as long as he's healthy, that once he starts breaking a couple of those, I think it could open up this offense.

I came out of this game very hopeful, if I'm an Eagles fan, that maybe there is some things to take out of this because it's also against on the road against a Brian Flores defense that is typically very stingy, and they did whatever they wanted when it came to throwing the football.

Yeah, I mean, I think I just don't understand why we treat them so vastly different than we treat like the Kansas City Chiefs.

And I understand there was like Rashi Rice not coming back, but there was this inevitability to them figuring it out and turning it on.

And the Eagles, yeah, they haven't win two straight Super Bowls, but they went to two in the course of three years.

And their offense has always been really good.

And every year their offensive coordinator gets hired as a head coach somewhere else.

And so I figured eventually that they were going to end up, you know, popping some of these things.

I just think that they're a really good football team.

And that's what happens.

Good football teams.

Can I ask you a Vikings question?

Like, JJ McCarthy, like soft benching?

What's the well, you know, like

I don't know if it's just, or is it, is it more time we need to get him acclimated?

I mean, he's on the sideline.

He's, he's in uniform, and I'm watching this game, and I've just thinking about it.

It's like, man, the Vikings are kind of getting off the hook a little bit with how badly they have botched this quarterback situation, that they had Darnold and Dimes in the building last year, and they had McCarthy in the deep distance, and they had Aaron Rodgers wanting to come to the team and now here they are playing Carson Wentz

start after start and they're they have this kid

off two I mean admittedly shitty games but in deep and in witness protection with an ankle sprain he's not even on IR he's just lingering in parts unknown and I'm I'm guessing I'm guessing Mark that

we're at a point where they're probably going to turn it back over to McCarthy if he's healthy because Wentz is such he's such a hard watch and I thought Greg Olson was

rightly kind of on the ball like criticizing how many throws he misses what he doesn't see the inaccuracy there was a play there was a throw to TJ Hawkinson that which by the way drove me crazy.

One of the best catches you'll ever see from a tight end.

He lays out.

It should have been an easy touchdown, but because he's Carson Wentz, he doesn't have the accuracy.

And Hawkinson saves the day.

This would have made it, I think, a four-point game in the final minutes or a three-point game.

He lays out, gets his hands under under it, hits the turf hard,

but the ball's kind of underneath his hands or over his hands as he hits the turf.

Then it pops up and then he cradles it.

But because his hands were

under the ball and it was kind of touching the turf, it can't even be bobbled after that point.

It's just like one of those things where what is the catch rule?

And Hawkinson was furious about it after the game.

Let's listen in.

I mean, there's nothing to overturn it.

I mean, that's, I mean,

you know, I was out there.

I felt it.

I mean, hands under the ball, snag it, and

I just, I don't understand.

I don't obviously understand the catch rule at this point.

JA had one like the exact same thing last year in the corner of the end zone.

So

they got to figure it out.

New York can't call in and say that it's not a catch when every other ref out there says it is.

I mean, that's all it is to it.

That's all there is to it.

We're giving us an op at the end.

But,

I mean, it's just crazy.

This whole thing, you can't have somebody calling that's not at the game and with apparently a different view than everybody else has here.

It is what it is.

I really side with him.

I think you said it well, Dan.

Like, I just, my note here for this game was this is such an exhausting experience to watch that occur.

It's like, come on.

This is a beautiful catch.

It's one of the best catches I've ever seen a tight end make, totally laid out, and it turned into another red zone failure for the Vikings.

If they made the extra point, that would have cut it to 28-26.

And despite the fact that it felt like Philadelphia was in control, they weren't really.

And in fact, the Vikings had six trips, Connor, to the red zone, and they finished just with one touchdown.

They commit two turnovers.

One of them was a pick six by Jalenx Hunt.

So Philadelphia benefits for another huge play from their defense and special teams.

So, you know, frustration, and it's always going to be frustrating as long as Wentz is your QB1 and the Eagles continue to find a way to kind of squeeze by

week after week, it seems.

Yeah, but I mean, and that wasn't the only touchdown of the Vikings that got taken off the board.

The Vikings, I think it was the center of the guard, got basically flagged for patty cake on a touchdown.

I mean, he like touched the top of a guy's shoulder pads, and it was a very standard offensive line maneuver when you're getting that kind of rush.

There's nothing illegal about it.

And then you get called for, I think it was holding or whatever it was.

And I mean, I think these officials had a bad game.

I don't think, you know, as much as it was branded, because this was like the third perfect quarterback game in Eagles history, I think it was.

Third Eagles quarterback in history with perfect quarterback rating.

And it was branded as this kind of comeback for the offense, this dominance.

If the refs leave those scores on the board, we're talking about like a completely disastrous philosophical loss in Minnesota.

Yeah.

I love that Connors not buying into this on any level.

Yeah, it's enjoyable.

That's good.

Yeah,

it gives us something to chew on during the week.

By the way, before we go,

you know, Brian Flores didn't have a good day.

The Vikings didn't have a good day on defense, but in some ways it was a spectacular success because the Eagles attempted another tush-push in this game.

And I thought it was almost like a protest by the Minnesota Vikings.

They sent some dude, and I don't know how they decide who they send, but they had a dude just lay across the turf in front of the center.

You know what it reminded me of?

It's like what's going on in like Portland, where

to kind of make a statement that this is not a violent protest, despite what it's trying to be presented as, we're just going to have like frogs walking around

in their costumes to try to make a mockery of what they feel is an injustice.

That's the parallel.

That's kind of, yeah, that's what I feel like.

I feel like this is Brian Flores' way of saying, don't try to hit me with this fake news.

I'm going to bang you in a big spot by laying on the turf to show how silly your dumb play is.

It could be their version of Big Dom just lying down on the carpet in front of all that.

I should say they did convert that first down as well.

All right, let's take a break.

That's troubling.

Yeah, well, whatever.

Let's take a break and then we'll continue.

Big Dom, and he's sort of a legend.

Start up.

Let's hit the rest of the NFC East when we get back.

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All right, we are back.

We continue to roll through Poppy's division, the NFC East.

Let's head to Big D.

Man, the Cowboys are fun, dude.

They are fun.

They're not great,

but

I hope they figure out how to win the nine games or so to get in the playoffs because they will play entertaining football in January as well.

This time, they played their best all-around game of the season against the Commanders,

rolling up four.

They roll up a 40-burger on Washington.

Let's see, they finish with 409 total yards, and Dak Prescott once again plays like an MVP in a 44-22 win over the Commanders who fall to 3-4.

And beyond the disappointment around their season, they're now dealing with Jaden Daniels being banged up again.

He left this game in the third quarter with a lower leg, maybe a knee injury.

It was a lower body injury, hamstring, when he kind of got...

rolled up on after a fumble.

So he exited the game.

Marcus Mariota finished it.

But yeah, this was a game the Cowboys really controlled from the jump, scoring 17 points in the first quarter.

And by the fourth quarter, it was just kind of

cruise control.

So

this could have been a 50 Burger, honestly, Mark.

Like, that's how dominant and easy the Cowboys made it.

And CeeDee Lamb made it immediate impact upon his return after missing multiple weeks with a high ankle sprain, five for 110, and a 74-yard touchdown catch.

So fun times with the Dallas Cowboys.

They're one of the weirdest teams in the most delightful way.

Like you could see them winning a playoff game just because their offense is so superpowered.

I think three of the biggest storylines are that, you know, Javanta Williams is literally having a great season when no one thought that would happen.

I was kind of wondering like

Did they start to thrive because you take like a CD Lamb out?

I didn't want to say this.

This seems so stupid, but kind of like the Patrick Ewing rule.

Like if you take him out, all these other players started to contribute, but he had a big day today, so that's not true.

And your head coach can coach this offense and create your quarterback into an MVP-level passer.

It's really an exciting team, and it's like, I kind of don't even care about the defense.

I don't know.

That's why the theme of the week is the NFC East.

The defense is going to get him.

And that's why, like, it will.

It will.

It's not going to sell 44 points in January, but because

it puts Connor a huge amount of pressure on Prescott and the offense to deliver.

But I guess the optimistic way to look at it, because Javante Williams had another big game.

We should give Jarrah some juice here.

I know you don't want to, Connor.

Let's give him a little bit of juice.

They have built a roster.

They identified a running back.

They brought in Pickens, which was a brilliant trade.

Connor is hating this.

Brilliant trade, Connor.

And now have an offensive line that is set up well and protecting Dak Prescott.

Jake Ferguson is turning into one of the most productive tight ends in football.

They have constructed a roster that week after week is competitive and sometimes they can even overwhelm an opponent like they did against a team that went to the NFC title game last year.

Come on, Connor.

Do you think I'm an idiot?

Yes, do you?

Yes, I do, because the whole purpose of the Parsons trade, you said, was to build a contender for when Dak Prescott

is able to bring the team to the Super Bowl.

And Prescott is on a historic run right now.

He's probably playing better football than he ever has.

You know if you're going to get another one of these seasons ever again, but this commander's defense is awful.

It's rounding into like bottom tier in the NFL bad.

I don't know what happened to Marshawn Lattimore.

Every time you watch terrible play, these guys are just serially out of position, just massive gaps in the secondary.

And for a Dan Quinn coach team, it's shocking almost.

and I know that they're a little bit underfed from a personnel standpoint, but I mean, this team had additional mid to late round picks.

They had a lot of resources that they've poured into this and

it can't be this bad.

And so I, you know, yes, there's a world where the Cowboys defense, the Cowboys are good.

I'm not going to call Jerry like, I don't know, if you, if you buy like a sketchy

DVD from like Timu for $2.99 and it turns out to work, You know, is that a good thing that you did that?

Or is it bad that you should have just paid the $10.99 at Walmart for like the regular DVD that you know is not illegal to pirate it?

I mean, they've scored 27 plus points in four of their last five games, and two of those games were 40 and one was 37.

Like they're, this is a legit offense.

Imagine if they had Derrick Henry and Michael Parsons.

We'd legitimately be talking about guys.

If they did, we'd be talking about the books.

Well, no, I don't, but I take that back.

They don't need Derrick Henry.

They honestly don't.

They legitimately have, they have found a guy in Javante Williams, who is a cast off, who is delivering, he's running hard and productive pretty much week after week.

Can we say this for three weeks from now when it's not going to matter?

Okay.

All.

Maybe.

You could say 300 weeks from now, and it definitely

listened.

We're almost halfway through the season now, Connor.

I think if you look in the top 10 rushing, I think he's far above where Derrick Henry is right now.

I mean, like, the Panthers like fell over Rico Dallo on the side of the street and got 900 yards out of him in three weeks.

Like, this is not a mark of a genius.

I don't know why we're also, and we're not saying he's a genius here, but

I'm also saying before we, like, I know everybody's had their fun with the Micah Parsons trade, and Parsons actually played like the guy that we were talking about this week.

We'll get to him, but

let's wait and see what the Cowboys draft with those picks that they got for Parsons, those two first-round picks.

And maybe those guys

will be plugged into a team next year that they're able to make the next step.

And they were on a bigger, there was a bigger plan than just, let's win the Super Bowl this year with all our guys when we're giving 60% of our payroll to four players.

Like that,

you don't have to do that.

There's different ways to go for it, Connor.

And right now, I'm not saying it's working because, like I said, the defense is going to kill the Cowboys,

but they're fun as hell to watch.

And I'll take that too.

Coming from a fan of an 0-7 team, give me a fun team to watch that can't cover for Dick over a team that can't even keep me awake on a Sunday, seven days days out of seven.

Your franchise quarterback is 32.

When is the build going to culminate?

I don't understand.

It's got like three or four more years.

Maybe.

I don't know.

All right.

I feel like, you know, I don't know.

You're a little down on them, Connor.

Like,

they put up 44 points today.

Yeah, like they, it's like a Texas Tech shootout when they play like Shane Bowen's Giants defense.

You're just mad because Jarra's happy right now.

Jara's somewhere completely hammered on the Brown stuff,

surrounded by just like a cadre of like the most beautiful women in North Texas.

Or maybe they're at Party J and

Party J's house just going crazy at the lake house.

That's possible.

My parents are Cowboys fans, so that would make sense.

Listen, I get mad at billionaires too.

We're all mad at billionaires, Connor.

They're messing the world up and our country up.

But this billionaire had a nice Sunday.

Why are we hating on it?

Just let him have his Sunday.

You can go ahead and do that.

I will.

All right.

And we'll see about the.

Oh, no.

Uh-oh.

That's my bad.

I was distracted with the going to break, but that was actually for you, Dan, because you locked the Vikings.

So just didn't want it to go too pushed down.

Jeez,

major callback to the past game that we spoke about.

Justin, how much did you smoke before the show today?

Before the show?

Well, what time?

At like 11 p.m.

last night?

Oh, no.

At any time.

I don't know.

Yes, I did lock the Vikings for the game we talked about seven minutes ago.

Come on.

All right.

Well, let me see

what are they saying about

Jaden Daniels.

I'm a little concerned about Daniels.

You know, I think we all are.

There was a little bit on our text there.

We were talking a little RG3 flashbacks.

You know,

we don't want to go there yet, but it does make you nervous that a guy that thrives on his athleticism seems to be banged up quite a bit.

Here is Dan Quinn after the game.

I'm sure you guys got questions regarding Jaden.

He definitely wanted to back in.

He'll get an MRI on his hamstring tomorrow.

So I'll have a better update for you when I visit with you guys in the afternoon.

I just don't want to say one way or another and not give you accurate info on that.

So I want to make sure I was clear.

It's like they're the chargers of the NFC where it's like, am I going to clown on the commanders for not living up to expectations when the quarterback's been hurt, Terry McLaurin's hurt, Tebow Samuel's hurt, Noah Brown, Austin Eckler?

And then you have guys like Marshawn Lattimore, like one of the worst defensive players in the league right now.

They're really veteran heavy.

And like, so you need, they're older than other teams that are

congealing right now, if that's the word.

Yeah, it's close enough.

Marshawn Lattimore called for two PI penalties that have resulted in 55 yards for the Cowboys.

On the season, he's been flagged eight times,

seven accepted, six automatic first downs for the offense.

That is not good enough.

And they traded for him as a like a final piece on the defense or a difference maker.

Let's move out of the NFC East and head to the desert.

One of Mark's pet projects, the Arizona Cardinals, could they find a way

today?

Yes,

the Packers came to the desert.

And the Packers did what the Packers have done for a lot of the season.

They don't blow you away, but they can make a big play at the end of the game and find a way.

Josh Jacobs ran for a go-ahead, one-yard touchdown with a minute 50 remaining.

And Micah Parsons, as we said,

gave him a little bit of ish last week for not filling up the box score.

But he filled up the box score today, career high, three sacks.

Packers rally back and win this one 27 to 23.

Mark,

kind of your two-year pet teams.

It's hard for me to keep track.

There's so many pet teams for Mark Sessler.

So you got to win, you got to loss.

Who do you want to start with here?

I'm done being a pet owner to start with myself, but then I'll move on.

But like

I think Micah Parsons coming out of this

was the biggest story because this is what they signed up for.

And

he was dominant.

It was the QB hits.

It was the tackle for losses.

He had a big impact on this game.

The Packers defense in general, like, and I was kind of like questioning Jeff Hafley and the rest of you guys, like, what are we doing here?

But they made two key stops on the Cardinals.

They stopped them on 4th and 11,

and they stopped...

Jacoby Brissette on 4th and 1 on the previous possession.

That's the end of the game for the Cardinals when they were hanging around.

They had a lead here.

and um that was it it's like it was one of these games where you know you're playing an arizona team that is missing it's down to its third essentially its fourth running back it's backup quarterback who arguably is better than their starting quarterback we know that um and missing guys all over the place they hung it's like every cardinals game ever they hung around um they were really tough in this and made me just question again the idea that

the packers are eighth in our power rankings i had them lower actually this past week i'm comfortable with where I had them.

I think they are about ninth or tenth right now.

They've got a lot to figure out, but they made stops today.

You got enough out of your so-called best player on defense.

And they are not

a real difference maker to me in the NFC.

Not yet, not right now.

Not against this team where this should have been one where you're playing an injury compromised unit and it didn't look like it.

It's so weird because the Cardinals,

you could make an argument that this team is like a couple weird bounces away from legitimately being 7-0, but are also a couple of weird bounces away from being 0-7.

They float in that world.

It's just like the hardest, the absolute hardest team to figure out right now.

It's ridiculous.

I think I do kind of remember, Mark, you kind of bought back in on them at 2-0.

They've lost five in a row now.

So they've done it.

In weird ways.

In weird ways.

It doesn't matter, though.

Because I'm watching this game and I'm like thinking to myself, okay, like, you know what's going to happen here.

The Cardinals will find, they're one of those teams that find a way to lose.

And that's a sign of when you don't have the right quarterback, you don't have the right coach.

In this case, you had Jake Brisket, who's done a nice job filling in for Kyler Murray and has probably been a better quarterback than Kyler has been at any point in the season.

When you, as someone who has a lot of experience with watching bad teams find different ways to lose, when you always lose close games, it's time to take a closer look at the coaching staff.

And

I wonder if that's happening in Arizona.

I think we're getting close.

We're getting close with a couple of these teams.

We can dig into it, but like they've lost five straight games to your point by a combined 13 points.

They're just the third NFL team to lose by four points or less than five straight

joining like the 2017 Niners from this research and the 84 Browns.

This does not happen often.

This is, I do think I did put a hoops on this team.

And I'm not going to do this anymore.

Just stay away from the Cardinals, man.

Let's wait until they reboot, you know, because

this is just who they are.

Shout out to Trey McBride, by the way.

Scored two touchdowns

for the first time in his career in a game.

And, you know,

he is the one kind of shining light.

on this team.

I don't even, did Marvin Harrison make a play in this game?

I don't, I kind of had this on a a secondary TV.

I didn't see him do much in this game, but

yeah, the Cardinals are tough watching.

The Packers, yeah, they're 4-1-1, and that's the most important thing.

And Parsons having a huge game is very promising, but obviously, you kind of want to see a little bit more from them.

They have the Steelers on Sunday night football next, and the Cardinals have a bye.

And I guess Kyler will re-enter the lineup after that bye, but you know, I think he will.

Just to answer your question, Harrison had two catches for 58 yards.

um a little you know if anything

previously like he had a huge second half you want to see that again um he went out with a concussion the week previous week it's like it's just not consistent you're right they find ways to not win that like they're really good at not winning right and it's almost like the packers are the opposite they're the inverse and they they find they do find the ways and you look at the standings and it makes a lot of sense let's move on let's head to the backyard here sofi stadium uh where the cults offensive machine rolled on.

Let's see, let's see.

How many punts for the Colts today?

Not gonna be a lot.

Rigoberto Sanchez,

two punts.

So busy day for Ricoberto.

What was the famous Italian restaurant, WFAN?

They would

Umberto's Clam House.

I just remember they're always talking about the suit plate, the suit house for big men.

If you had big men's suits, Umberto's Clam House.

Let's see if it's still open.

Umberto's Clam House on Mulberry Street, New York.

Looks like it's still there.

Good.

Go to Umbertos.

All right.

So anyway, the Colts.

Keep on rolling.

Daniel Jones, ho-hum, 23 of 34, 288, two touchdowns.

Jonathan Taylor continues to, you know, keep himself in the MVP race, well over 100 total yards, three rushing scores in this game, 38-24,

cultural.

And this is a game where the Chargers put a little lipstick on the pig, to be quite honest with you, with three touchdown drives in the second half.

The crazy thing, you know, the Chargers have obviously really regressed here.

They started out 3-0.

But like the Commanders, Commanders, like,

you know,

how much do you put this on, you know, Justin Herbert's shoulders or Jim Harbaugh kind of failing to get this team to the next level?

And how much do you just say,

hot damn, like, this team has been savage?

They had, on the

first snap of this game, they have another tackle go down with an injury.

They've now, they're on their fifth string,

I believe I could have this switch, but I believe it's their fifth string right tackle and sixth string left tackle.

And you're seeing it, Herbert, when the game was, you know, still open to be decided, the offense cannot get in any type of flow because the backfield is just completely flooded

in this case by the Indy front seven.

And it's just the jury, the jury's back in.

And it's like the...

The Chargers can't protect, the Chargers can't stay healthy, and the Chargers continue to fade from relevance as a result.

And against the Colts team leading the league with over 32 points a game, it was just more of the same.

They are just a machine right now.

And Jonathan Taylor, as much as Daniel Jones Connor has gotten so much credit and Shane Steichen, and they deserve it, Jonathan Taylor being the,

you know, arguably the best running back in football this year is the engine that's making this team go.

I don't remember.

I mean, I could probably count on one hand, the amount of drives where they're not like, you know, already on their front foot.

They're always like ahead.

Like they're the most efficient offense that I can remember seeing.

And every play like cuts the down and distance to the net to the sticks in half.

You know, it's first and 10, then it's second and four.

And then it, you know, and it's just,

I don't know, I can't remember.

And they're just demolishing every argument that we've made against them to make ourselves believe that this thing is like a figment of our imagination, right?

Whether it's the quality of the opponent or anything like that.

And they just continue to mow people over.

And you're right, Jonathan Taylor is the engine of that.

I mean, he is, I mean, yes, the offensive line is blocking well, but there are these guys like defenders in the secondary.

You know, these plays are designed to get him to the linebacker level.

And these guys aren't touching him.

Linebacker safety is like, he's just running by everybody.

He has three games this year in seven weeks where he has scored three touchdowns.

That's insane.

And his three touchdowns today, 23, 8, 19 yards, he wasn't touched on any of those runs into the end zone.

And we viewed their offensive line as having been a bit diminished in recent years too, compared to where they were a while back.

Like they had a drive today that was 17 plays,

a touchdown drive for 70 yards that took up eight minutes off the clock.

Did Chris Ballard just buy himself like another five years inside this organization when he was like the GM on the hot seat?

We did a flashpoint focus

on the Colts in the offseason, and it was a turkey shoot on Ballard, not just by us, but by everyone.

And Connor, I'll forever give you the credit because you were the first one that I knew that was on this about, hey, give Daniel Jones a chance in this offense.

But a lot of other people were talking about the Colts being...

a lottery team that were in position to pick first in the draft.

And look at them now.

I mean, when we do the power rankings tomorrow, they'll probably be in the top three and maybe even the number two team and maybe even number one.

I don't know, but like that is,

it's been a remarkable.

I think it's the biggest surprises of the NFL season through seven weeks, the Colts, and not just that they're six and one, but the dominance of the offense and the historic level of their production.

Nobody saw this coming.

Nobody saw it.

To your point, Mark, about the offensive line, this team lost Will Fries and Ryan Kelly in free agency to huge money deals with the teams they signed with.

They have a second year third round pick and a second year fourth round pick stepping in to take over as starters, and it's like they didn't even miss a beat.

They might be better than they were last year on the offensive line.

That's where Ballard deserves tons of credit.

Yeah, he does.

Credit him.

And I guess

it's like a hard line to walk, right, Connor?

Because it's like either credit the Colts for having institutional patience, maybe the fact that Jim Ursa got sick and then passed away helped keep the team stable because they didn't want to blow up the

top of the personnel chain at this kind of vulnerable time for the organization.

Whatever it was, it worked out in their favor because they're in a great spot.

I have a shot, by the way, of our friend, Carly Ursay

Gordon.

I mean, a succession of shots.

I mean, look, this is really, first of all, she is,

this is her craziest outfit yet, and I'm totally into it.

She looks like Lady Gaga now.

She's got some type of like Christian Dior like visor, and then she has like Bono sunglasses from the Pop Martour in 97, and she's just in total command.

And I should note also, you know, at one point you see a cult player embracer, and everyone's very happy on this sideline.

It's just like vibes are good in indie.

We are such a long way from that steichen coaching search.

And I remember some of my notes from that because I went back and looked at it the other day.

That like, this is kind of how weird of a place that organization is in.

That they were so enamored with Gus Bradley that they wouldn't entertain the idea of hiring a defensive coach because they wanted to hold him over.

And like, that's just kind of weird.

Like, this was not that long ago.

And I think we will look back at that time.

I think we will look back at the way that Steichen was able to kind of

bridge the road from there to now to the plays and the offense that he did call for Anthony Richardson as like all-time coaching jobs that I just don't think that he'll ever get the proper credit for.

I think we should get together and look back at that time as a group.

I think her look there, Dan, might be:

Is she celebrating the new Tron film, maybe?

That's kind of where I'm thinking she's going there.

I'm not sure what the deal is, but I think Tron.

I'm trying to place it.

So, maybe the only bad thing that happened with the Cults?

Okay.

We're going to get comments.

We don't like what you said about them.

Oh, Connor.

Are we still upset with Tugboat's decision to make it underdog week and the blind locks?

Because it looks like you're the only one that got a W.

You're the only one club dub.

Okay.

So that's like...

Okay, are you this one?

Carl the Contrarian.

You're the only one that got the W.

Okay.

Yeah, that's like saying that we added like a spiked wall climb to the steeple chase, but you still want it.

Like, why are you mad?

Because I had to do all this other bullshit to get to the place that I was going to go anyway.

Sure.

Congratulations.

In spite of you.

All right.

I guess.

I guess.

Congratulations.

Pick up a game on everybody.

All right.

Let's take a break and we will roll on to some lesser games from week seven.

All right, Mark.

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Wow, that's cool.

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All right, welcome back.

Hey,

before we dig back in,

this is a more innocent time type situation.

Earlier in the day

on the text thread, when there was a lot of optimism around being a newly

Christian Giants fan, I just want to, yeah, let's throw this up.

We'll do a little earlier in the day and later.

Mark Sessler.

I don't need to be invested in this as my real team plays at 4.05 New York City time.

And then Connor chimes in, we're fired up over here.

Gonna get AJ.

Is that one of your children?

Nice son, yeah.

Yes.

A dart jersey if they win.

Zuzzer chimes in.

There are serious sessy curse implications here.

Mark replies, I'm just trying to warn you.

I get that, but I think they're immune.

I picked the Browns over them for 40 years.

You know what this is?

Right, So, and then here is, here is, this isn't even when the game's over, by the way.

This is as the Giants are collapsing in real time and they fall behind late in the fourth quarter.

F everyone,

this sport.

F Sundays.

Mark Sessler.

Justin thought that was my theme of the week, and it is.

Okay, it's my shadow theme.

Do you know what it is, honestly, Mark?

Like,

I think what's happening here with the football gods,

it's like, and I love you, buddy.

Like, we are taking different paths on our football journeys.

I'm just living in hell as a Jets fan, knowing there's nowhere to go.

There's like I could pretend to not like the Jets anymore, but I'm not going to do that.

I could pretend to be a fan of someone else.

I can't do that.

So, I'm just resigned to this horrible life that I live, right?

You are doing something else that's like a horror movie where you're going down all these different roads, and then

you kind of get turned around and you open your eyes, and you're right back in front of the Browns complex in Berea.

Like, no matter what you try, the fate just puts you, parks you right in front of the Browns complex again.

There's no escape.

Yeah, well, you could either do my version or your version, but we don't get out of this.

Nobody gets out alive, Mark.

They don't.

I was better at divorcing other things than this football team that I follow, apparently.

So

we'll go there.

Weird.

All right.

Interesting.

All right, let's head to the Meadowlands.

Speaking of the darkness.

I mean, you want to be put to sleep.

Watch the New York Jets.

I tried to

stumble and bumble.

In another lifeless performance, Justin Fields finally benched after two more quarters of just subterranean quarterbacking.

But Tyrod Taylor...

True to form for the 2025 New York Jets wasn't much better.

In fact,

he hung some balls up in the air that could have been big plays.

He was late on his timing.

He threw two interceptions to JC Horn.

And in the end, it was another team, this time the Panthers, that was like, we don't need to take big chances.

We'll just score above 10 points and take the air out of the football.

And that's what they did.

They went 13-6.

The Jets fall to 0-7, 0-5 at Jet Life Stadium.

And the Panthers are...

Are they on a 3?

Is it a four-game winning streak?

Where are the Panthers at?

Panthers are streaking.

I think it's three in a row for the Panthers.

The only bad news here, Bryce Youngmark Youngmark goes out of this game with, I believe, an ankle injury, and we'll wait to find out the severity of it.

But other than that, it was a nice

business-like victory for the Panthers against the woe-be-gone New York Jets.

It is three in a row.

And I guess that's the difference because I also had eyes on this, and it was, you know, we're watching all these games.

I'm like, how do I help myself not nod off into a deep slumber?

And I suddenly wake up and the show has already started and I miss it.

It's like, don't watch this game.

But

I will say

that you see two coaching staffs going in different directions right now.

And

I'm rooting for Aaron Glenn to survive here.

And like, it's just like, this is kind of worse than the last game in a way.

And it's like, I'm watching Tanner Eggstrand, their play call.

And I'm like, I think you need to be a social studies teacher in like deep Iowa.

I don't know what.

Oh, leave him alone, dude.

Look at his quarterbacks.

Look at his playmakers with Garrett Wilson not playing.

I get it, but there's it's I'm not saying he's great.

I don't even know where to point fingers.

No talent here.

I don't know where to point fingers.

It's like they have less talent than they did last year and the year before.

How?

Like when you're this bad, you should be adding talent.

And like, but I could point to three of our teams in this quad box that we're on and say the same thing.

So I get it, but it's like,

how do you survive this?

I think that's just like, how do you survive it?

You bench the quarterback.

You keep blaming someone.

There'll be a scapegoat, and there's so there's only so many scapegoats.

Can I just push back on the there's no talent thing?

Because I think that's what's been bothering me.

And I couldn't really, you know, and I watched this one and I just couldn't get to what was really bothering me about this Aaron Glenn thing.

And I think the issue to me is the constant comparisons to, oh, this team is just like Detroit, where Aaron Glenn was before, and they're going to build.

That Lions team in 2021 was so bad.

And if you look at some of the guys that were getting quality snaps on that roster that have not made rosters since then,

it's not comparable.

And this team still has like Quinn and Williams, Sauce Gardner, Quinnen Williams, Sauce Gardner.

They have even

today, four of their five offensive linemen are either talented first-round picks with high upside or guys who have been top 10 to 15 players at their position before.

Brees Young has had 1,200 scrimmage yards each of the last two years.

Like, there are coaches doing way more with less than what the Jets have now.

And I think that, like, I hit a breaking point today with, like, just because Aaron Glenn was in Detroit, that he's somehow going to recapture that magic when it's not a comparable roster.

I think that's fair.

Where the Panthers coaching staff might be one of those coaching staff.

Yeah.

Aaron Glenn would do himself a favor to stop referencing his time in Detroit at this point.

Yeah, I think there's overall the pieces, there are, I would say, in upwards of five or six like

plus players or plus plus players on the Jets.

But on the offense right now, you have the two young tackles who are developing players but have a lot of upside, obviously.

Elijah Vera Tucker, another one of those former first-round picks, has been out since August.

Brees Hall is a good, but he's never been a truly great player.

There's nobody else there on this offense, though.

Like that, like other than the two young tackles, like if you were to blow up this whole thing, I guess that's just my point.

The Ingstrom side of it, like, especially with the quarterback play as bad as it is now,

it's, it's just, there's just not a lot of, the cover is pretty bare.

How about from the Panthers side of the ball?

I mean, I think that Everett's having like a tremendous bounce back season.

Now, again, they've had the Cowboys, they've had the Dolphins who have just completely white flagged on this season, and then the Jets.

And so I think it's easy to kind of get

a different perspective on this team than you probably should.

But I would say that he's just doing an incredible job.

And I mean, it's Derek Brown.

We talked about this on the preview show, is a monster right now.

And he's just pace setting.

They don't have to put a lot of guys in the box to slow down the run.

They can do it with four guys.

And then the back end of the secondary, I mean, JC Horn was unbelievable in this game and

is a top five cornerback.

And again, why are you throwing at him?

I don't know.

Why are you throwing at him multiple times and multiple drives?

And this is, yeah, but like on the Jets side, yeah, we all say Sauce Gardner, former defensive rookie of the year and all that, this team still doesn't have an interception.

Chasey Horn had two in this game alone.

This team does not have an interception in seven games.

One turnover forced a recovery in London last week against the Denver Broncos, zero interceptions.

They are so bad, and they really, really, this is a game like we talked about on Thursday.

Okay, where is the Jets wins this season?

Home against the Panthers.

They didn't even come close in this game.

The score doesn't even illustrate how far away this game felt for the Jets.

It is very grim.

And shout out to the Panthers for a three-game winning streak.

And one last note on this one.

Chuba Hubbard and Rico Dowdle together in the backfield took the juice from Dowdle after obviously almost 500 scrimmage yards the previous two weeks.

But combined, they put up over about 110 yards.

And again, team didn't have to do much because the Jets can't score on offense.

Also, also, Bryce Young is hurt, and we saw Andy Dalton, and so um, he left MetLife Stadium in a boot.

Uh, X-rays negative, um, but that doesn't necessarily mean that we're gonna see Bryce next week.

I think this could be an Andy Dalton game next week, so

that's a bummer, but it is nice to always see the glowing ginger man start a couple games every year.

So, I'm gonna choose to look at the bright side on that one.

Let's move to Soldier Field.

Speaking of

former struggling teams on the rise.

all right.

How about this?

Football, man.

One day you're on the bottom,

a couple things change in your life.

All of a sudden, you're back on top.

Ask Dennis Allen.

His defense dominated on Sunday

against the team that fired him.

How does that feel?

26 to 14, Bears over Saints.

Justin,

that is,

there's some developments here with Chicago, although this isn't an

overwhelming game from them.

But the offense is starting to find an identity.

And Dennis Allen, if he can get this defense going in the right direction as they were today, okay, we could start to talk ourselves into the Bears a little bit.

Yeah, I actually thought it was kind of a dominant game.

Like, it may not have been overwhelming in the box score, and Caleb Williams didn't look great.

Actually, before I get into this game, can I just

want to say the NFL, you can't fault them for trying.

They are trying.

This is a tweet that went out on Saturday.

A QB duel you don't want to miss between Spencer Rattler and Caleb Williams.

Rattler versus Williams, Sunday, 1 p.m.

Eastern on Fox.

And so

I don't even know if you're going to be able to do on a liquid lunch to take this seriously on a Saturday lunch.

And can I just say something also?

Like, if this presupposes that everyone knows what's going on in college football, if you're not someone that closely follows Saturday football, like I was like, Rattler versus Williams, what am I missing here?

I guess they both played at Oklahoma.

Yeah, there's some Legos.

Many years ago, they both played at Oklahoma, and Caleb Williams kind of forced Spencer Rattler to transfer to Arkansas or to South Carolina, I mean, because he was also there.

And then Caleb Williams left with Lincoln Riley.

Neither of them actually graduated from OU.

Whatever.

This is the image.

Whoever in the graphic department, they really went for it.

It was like it's a ripped crease down the middle with them in their college uniform and pro uniform.

I kind of give them credit.

They tried their best.

They did try.

These two quarterbacks that we couldn't wait to watch combined to complete 35 passes for just over 400 yards, two touchdowns, four interceptions between them.

Not Caleb Williams' best day, but the Bears dominated in two areas.

You mentioned the defense.

They also dominated on the ground.

I mean, DeAndre Swift, 124 yards on 6.5 yards per carry.

He's thrive.

Rookie running back Kyle Monongai, 81 yards of his own, 81, or sorry, 6.2 yards per carry, just 13 attempts.

And those two guys really carried Chicago's offense.

But the story of the game was Chicago's defense.

The Saints had 11 drives in this game.

They did have two scoring drives, sandwiching halftime, right before halftime, right after halftime.

171 yards on those two drives.

On their other nine drives, they averaged 7.5 yards per drive with four turnovers and a missed field goal.

It was a horrible day for the Saints offense, or on the flip side, an incredible day for the Bears' defense.

And turnovers can be fluky, but the Bears have now had three or more turnovers in four straight games.

They're on a four-game winning streak.

They have 16 forced turnovers on the season.

Sometimes these things come in bunches.

Sometimes coaching has a big deal to do with it.

I think Dennis Allen deserves a ton of credit.

And let's listen to Dennis Allen after he gets the game ball

from

Ben Johnson in the locker room after the W.

Sometimes the good Lord just has a freaking plan for you that you don't know about.

Yes, sir.

And sometimes, sometimes you ain't good enough for somewhere else.

Three is perfectly fine.

I love being here.

I love being with this group of guys.

You guys work your damn offer.

But four ain't enough.

Four ain't enough.

Everybody on in here.

Never let it rest.

Never let it rest.

It was not on my bingo card that.

Dennis Allen would say something in a post-game locker room that would connect with me on a personal level.

The idea of a redemption arc and like finding success in a different place,

I feel that.

And it is whether or not you believe in Dennis Allen or whether beating the Saints on a random Sunday in the middle of October actually matters or not.

Just he's a great example of pro football and the journey so many of these guys go on, especially in the coaching ranks.

Well, and

to be not to be cynical, because I totally agree with you,

but the fact that the journey includes them getting rehired by their friends over and over, too, no matter what they do.

But I will say this, like

maybe it's a Peter principle where he's perfectly suited to be a coordinator and not a head coach.

But like my one note from this game watching this was like, oh,

yeah, the Bears are going to annoy some people when they win a playoff game this year.

I'm usually my radar.

We'll talk about Jacksonville soon.

My radar is always up with high turnover variance teams, especially ones that are this inconsistent at the quarterback position.

But listen, the Bears fans, enjoy it.

Don't let.

I know last week it was a little on my radar.

Like, don't worry so much about anybody doubting you.

Just enjoy winning games and see how many you can win and see if you can get to nine or 10.

And yeah, play a January playoff game because that would be huge progress for this organization.

All right, let's move on.

Let's head to Nashville.

Oh baby, Mike Vrabel revenge game?

Sure, why not?

And it's easy to get revenge when you're playing a dick bag team like the Titans.

And you have Drake May, one of the best young quarterbacks in football.

May

had just two incompletions in this game.

The same amount of touchdowns as he had.

Through for 222 yards.

Patriots easily vanquish the Titans 31-13.

Yes, it is the first win for Vrabel and the first game for Vrabel

against the Titans since they fired him in January 2024.

A couple notes on that before we get into the game itself.

One,

our friend, Ms.

Strunk, here's a throw up this tweet, Justin.

The power friendship.

This is from Buck Reesing.

Amy Adams Strunk rising and the rest of the Titans ownership group just walk by Vrabel greeting his players out front of the locker room without so much as a nod.

Icy.

Was this pre-game or post-game?

Post-game.

Post-game.

How about that, Mark?

Oh,

you used to be somebody I cared for, but now I am scorned.

Yeah, she's like, you know,

I got a heart beating inside of me, too, and it might be a little bit burned and annoyed by you.

Get away from me, big man, big fella.

Get away.

I don't even see you anymore.

And it's not because of my cataracts.

cataracts it's because i move on there are no reverse gears in my tank i'll find another man easy peasy i'll just go right on downtown to one of the saloons and find a man at about eight minutes i don't need you know i like to have a good time just not with you anymore mr vrabel um

stupid talk football stand the show drake may uh uh talked about why you know vrabel is feeling good and deserves it after this one i did yeah that's that's pretty cool.

Yeah, I think that's always cool.

I think that's,

you know, he downplayed it all week, which we appreciate.

You know, I think he was focused on us and worried about us, and that's what matters.

But I know that it feels good for him.

All right, Justin, the Patriots.

They're the story here.

Obviously, we'll get to your Titans.

But

with Vrabel at the controls and May's a rising story,

and Vrabel

at the controls and May a rising talent, a quarterback, 5-2 Patriots are a team to reckon with in the AFC.

This is a playoff team, in my opinion, in the making.

They're a team that's still coming together, but they're getting better.

And in this game, yeah, Drake May was pretty much unflappable.

The deep ball, still on point.

I think Mark mentioned his passer rating on deep balls on our previous show.

Hits Kayshawn Booty right before halftime for a huge one, right after the comment.

I can't remember if it was Charles Davis or Jason McCordy.

You're talking about how Josh McDaniels does not want to score too quickly here.

There's still over 40, still 50-something seconds left.

They want to work this clock.

They don't want to give the Titans a chance.

Next play is a 40-plus-yard bomb to Booty for a touchdown.

And then the Titans inexplicably just like ran the clock out for halftime.

And then the Patriots get the ball back after halftime and score again.

So they pulled the classic...

Belichick move up there in New England of scoring before half and then scoring after half.

And they took a 13-10 deficit, turned it into a 24-10 lead just like that.

And then on the next possession, the game was over because Cam Ward, again, inexplicably drops the ball while getting into his throwing motion while retreating from Caleb on Chaseon.

Chason scoops it up at the two-yard line and scores a touchdown.

And that was pretty much the game.

The other big factor for the Patriots in this one is that they were able to run the ball at will, especially early.

I think Ramondre Stevenson had over 70 rushing yards in the first quarter.

He had more yards in the first quarter of this game than he personally totaled in either of the previous two games combined.

So the Titans' inability to stop the run.

Jeffrey Simmons leaves this game in the first quarter with a hamstring injury, does not return.

He's like the only player on the Titans' defense that's worth anything.

Logeria Snead, the other highly paid Titans defender, also leaves the game with a quad injury.

So without those two guys on the field, the Titans defense didn't really stand a chance.

It's definitely another one of those games where you look at the winning team and say, did we really learn much about you?

We knew you were better than the Titans.

You obviously are.

You were today.

You are.

I think they're going to be, like I said, said, a playoff team, but it's still kind of hard to take much away from, because, like you said, the Titans are a real garbage bag for

the player schedule.

You get the Browns next week, and if the Patriots win that game, they'll continue to keep the pressure on the Bills, the Bills, who everyone thought was going to cakewalk in the AFCE.

So, congratulations to all those Patriots fans who had to walk in the wilderness for almost half a decade before landing back on Easy Street.

I hope you guys came out of the cold without the flu or any other frostbite.

Last thing on this one, Justin,

Cam Ward, P scale, one, pants totally dry, 10, pants soaked.

Got to find a change of pants, change it under pants.

Don't even wash them.

Got to throw them out.

He fumbled for the second consecutive game.

He had an embarrassing fumble that led to a Patriots touchdown.

And in general, his stats are some of the worst in football.

If not, he's the worst starter in football, arguably, right now.

How much you put on him?

Where's your P scale?

One to 10?

Two, two to three.

It was his best game of the season by far.

Completed over 70% of his passes, 255 passing yards, another passing touchdown on a deep, his first deep complete, his first deep passing touchdown of his career.

Yeah, the fumble was horrible, and he's got to figure out this fumbling thing because, like you said, two weeks in a row, and those are the two times that he's just like dropped it inexplicably.

He also has three other fumbles on strip sacks.

He's got to protect the ball.

He said it this week on Wednesday.

Ball security is job security.

And he didn't do it in another game.

So that's something that is definitely like on my radar as something to watch.

But statistically, I'm throwing the first six games of the season out.

Brian Callahan, I'm confident in saying was the worst head coach in the NFL, maybe the worst head coach of the last 20 years.

Camword was completing under, like just over 50% of his passes coming into this game, completes over 70% today.

The Titans couldn't score an opening drive touchdown all season.

They didn't score an opening drive touchdown today, but they got a field goal on their opening drive and a touchdown on their second drive.

The scripted portion that I was bitching so hard about just last week looked good.

So I think it's his seventh game of his rookie year.

I'm not even panicked yet.

He's got to fix the fumbling thing.

But

yeah,

the fumbles are the only thing right now.

You know, Dan, like any of us that, and that's all four of us, any of us that live with

a woman and

we've all got our little avenues that we go down verbally.

You You know that the lovely Jessica's heard that

some version of that rant.

God bless her.

Four to five hundred times.

How about when they're laying in bed tonight and Justin's like,

I locked the Titans.

I don't know why I did that.

What am I thinking?

Why would I lock them?

I know it was an amazing job by Zuzzer opening up the blind locks with the underdog bowl, but I don't know.

I mean, if you just ended this game with a minute 58 left in the first half, Titans win 13-10.

Can we do that?

Can we start doing that?

That'd be cool.

All of a sudden, Justin sounds like Beaver Cleaver when he talks.

I don't know, Wally.

All right, let's move to Arrowhead.

I don't care for Mike Vrabel no more.

He is in my past, and I only look to the future.

I have a new man,

Mike McCoy.

Don't act like I grazed his big bowly chest with my fingers, because I did not

One more martini, sweetie, and I'll make this game go away from my mind.

The Kansas City Chiefs, number one in the HDC power rankings, I almost thought this performance was like, We got you, boys.

We got your back.

Because we're going to make the Raiders Raiders look like a

damn XFL team 31-0

completely overwhelming Pete Carroll's bunch.

Pete Carroll's that seat's getting warm for Pete.

And he's old, so that's probably good too.

He'd probably be, he's probably wants a blanket anyway, you know?

So, but anyway, Patrick Mahomes, another great game.

Statistically, we haven't seen this run of great statistical games from Mahomes

over this

long a stretch in some time.

So that's kind of a throwback.

And yes, the return of Rashi Rice was predictably successful with two quick touchdowns in this game.

Connor, what do you take out of this game?

I mean, the amazing part of this is that the Chiefs got a massive statement victory, and most of their starters only played like 39% of the snaps.

And so when you're talking about saving your body over the long course of a season, that's like a, it's like another miniature buy i mean you played less than half of a game uh which is massive for a team that's probably going to play very deep into the playoffs but um my big takeaway from this and i had to like double check it to see if the stat was true the kansas city chiefs only allowed the raiders to run 30 plays like that is

i have a stat there buddy from true media sport this is the fewest amount of plays an nfl offense has run in a game since at least 2002 it's one of those things where the stat is so crazy they didn't even

think to start tracking it until the turn of the century.

So in the last 23 years, this has not happened.

And it went with, so it was varying drives, right?

I mean, there was a couple quick drives, but then there was a couple of those 16, 17 play, punch you in the mouth drives.

And what was really kind of stood out to me was, again, I think Travis Kelsey has looked better, like more agile over the last few weeks for some reason.

I don't know why, but I also think that now that he's not, not, you know, really receiving a lot of double coverage or he's not getting chipped at the line as much, I think that's just going to help him, right?

I mean, he's going to get into his routes with less of a physical interaction with anybody else.

And I think that's going to help, right?

He's like the third option on this team right now.

I'm looking at their drives and like after the end of the first quarter, total net yards, not a single drive for the Raiders went more than nine yards.

And that's eight drives.

That's pretty crazy.

to your point about the stats.

Like that just, that doesn't, that's a wild outlier.

How bad is this team?

Yeah, this was a grim game between a defending conference champion, obviously, and one of the worst teams in football.

If anybody remembers anything about the game, it will be that early in the second quarter, the Chiefs had a fourth and one near midfield.

Before the ball was snapped, Mahomes showed off a little bit of his acting ability in

pretending that they weren't going to run a play, that they were trying to draw the Raiders off sides.

And then, after, and you can listen to it here,

baiting them with a verbal

lobby, they lobbed a verbal assault toward the Raiders.

They run a play, and they get the first down anyway.

I got there.

I don't know.

Let's listen to Mahomes.

Try to draw him off side.

Sorry.

Mahomes says, Coach, it doesn't work.

Oh, there they go.

He was faking it.

Yeah, they got you.

Fuck, it never works, man.

And then

he snaps it, and they get the first down, just trolling a really bad Raiders team.

And I don't know.

Just

who knows what's going to happen with the Raiders?

Who knows if Geno Smith is going to continue to start?

And yes, keep an eye on Pete Carroll after the season at this point, because they weren't supposed to be this bad, and yet they are.

Connor, put a bow on this one, and we'll move on.

I mean, what, the first three drives alone

with Rashi Rice back in resulted in nine plays, 92 yards, touchdowns, 17 plays, 84 yards, touchdowns, 16 plays, 94 yards, touchdown.

Pat Graham doesn't have a great defense in Vegas, but he's not a bad defensive coordinator.

And I think that this does not bode well for the rest of the NFL.

Do we have any

Romo sound here, Justin?

You ever seen Mahomes do anything in 13 seconds?

Oh, I see what you did there.

I am in the same wavelength.

I caught it.

Jesus.

That is going to be a lot.

I know what they were referring to.

Put your boner away.

All right, let's take a break and we'll hit the rest of the games.

You know, Dan, we had a softball team for years, and I touted myself as the manager, and it's because I couldn't see anything.

Yeah.

So it's like, who wants to put me at the plate?

So it's like time, it's like, I'm an adult.

It's time to get glasses.

And I walked by Warby Parker here in L.A.

and like, um, got a great pair of glasses.

And I look up at trees now.

I can see the leaves.

I couldn't see anything before.

Warby Parker changed all that.

Mark, I get it.

And we would have loved to bat you clean up and had you at center field for that softball team.

Maybe if we find a time machine.

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All right, few more games to get to the London series concluded with a stinker.

You know, there's always one, by the way.

Because it feels like there's like so many London games now, but

and it almost goes sequentially.

Like the first one, just the way it feels, like beautiful blue skies, and everybody's on fire and excited.

It's like, football's back in London.

And it's just the game's great.

And then by the time you get to the last one, it's like

the rain's coming down.

It's dreary.

The game sucks ass.

And it's just like, all right, it's time to head back stateside.

It's time to fold up the

tent.

That's what happened on Sunday

where

Matthew Stafford threw five touchdowns.

He only averaged five and a half yards per attempt in this game.

I don't know if this has ever happened.

Five and a half yards per attempt, five touchdowns, 182 yards passing.

And the Rams just overwhelmed the Jaguars, 35 to 7.

You know, these are the games where where you get up to watch it at 6 15 in the morning you're like you son of a bitch

I could have watched these highlights

at like 2 p.m.

and been totally prepared for this because the Jaguars just didn't show up and it's very

very concerning how these last two weeks have gone for Liam Cohen's team

let's see they they manage

They actually outgained the Rams, crazy enough, 358 to 271, but there was a lot of garbage production in there.

They have 13 more penalties in this game for 119 yards.

And again, they don't force a turnover.

And this is kind of what I was saying about the Bears, like these teams, Connor, that

jump out to quick starts in a season.

And it's like, oh, we've had three turnovers a week.

We had four turnovers.

We had a pick six.

We had a fumble return.

And it's like, yeah, but are you actually good?

Are you actually a good team?

And after watching the Jaguars the last two weeks, I am as out as anyone could be.

And the quarterback's a big part of it.

I am sick of pretending that Trevor Lawrence can play.

This ain't working.

And the Jags have a major problem.

The boy GM has got to figure this out because this guy holds this team back.

Like,

that's a thing that the Jaguars have to have some hard conversations about.

He was so inaccurate in this game.

He could not hit the broadside of a barn.

And I'm not saying it would have made a difference.

But they went into the red zone over and over and over again.

and they decided not to kick field goals.

They're like, oh, we need to get on the board.

We need six.

We need six.

And the problem for Lean Cohen is he has a quarterback who can't make a play, at least not in the conditions in London today.

It was very dispiriting to watch overall.

You never know exactly.

You never know exactly where quarterbacks reads are going to take them, but there were several times.

It reminded me of that, the Russell Wilson Nate Hackett year in Denver, where there were guys on Sunday where I was like, there he is.

Throw him the ball.

Throw him the ball.

Throw him the ball.

And then all of a sudden, he's just like, his back's turned.

He's just like rolling into pressure.

And it's like a version of the yips that I think that some quarterbacks develop over time.

And certainly with Lawrence, when you started your career the way that you did with Urban Meyer, I think it might be inevitable, but he's just, he's not getting the

whatever it is.

There's something that's just lost in translation with him right now.

Yeah, there was a particular, it was a study in two types of quarterbacks because there was a particular late game screen pass that they pointed out with Trevor Lawrence where it's like, this is where you just get soft yardage and you just got to make one of the easiest throws.

If you're Trevor Lawrence and you're 6'6 and you look like a Roman god, you make this throw.

Mark might not.

Dan and Connor and Justin might not, but like he would, but it's like he just bounced, he just ripped it into the dirt.

It's like, what are we doing here?

And then you got Matthew Stafford without Puka Nakua.

And like they were, I thought it was a great example of an offense coming in with a great plan.

They also flew in on Saturday, which is pretty badass because Connor and I flew to London together once too before Dan and I went together.

And like you feel like pieces of F the next day, right?

You feel awful.

And like they didn't look like that at all.

And like

pieces of F?

Well, you feel terrible.

I just remember feeling like a massive mess.

Dude,

they did a great job making up for no Puka Naku.

I thought they used everyone in their offense, and they came out of there with a convincing team win.

They didn't even have 300 yards of offense, but they didn't need to.

This is their, for a team that ostensibly should have had jet lag or whatever.

Other teams might be studying what the Rams did here and be like, oh, there's another way to do this London game.

I don't think the NFL likes it because this is

going to do all the photos.

Yeah, we're not going to do the dog and pony show and do

all the different programs and do a bunch of events.

Like they said, we're going to play the Ravens last Sunday.

We're going to stay in Baltimore for six straight days.

And we're going to practice at Camden Yards in the outfield.

I like the thing I was watching this game bored out of my mind.

I'm like, what did the Los Angeles Rams do in Baltimore for six straight days?

I want to know.

I would say.

Then what?

The aquarium one day.

Then what?

Okay.

And then there's a new great wolf down there.

So you do that one day.

And then you do the like the You Can Touch Science Museum, which is super awesome.

Keep going.

I like this.

I think you could go up to one of the

men.

You could

see Science Museum.

Go see the Lincoln Memorial.

Yeah.

All right, I take it back.

Tons of shit.

I love Baltimore.

You can

go up to Aberdeen at

Cal Ripken Stadium.

There's a Marriott there that you can look into the baseball field.

I love staying there.

Can you go to the

fuse box that the Orioles tripped to cancel the game after Cal found out somebody was sleeping with his wife, that old urban legend, that allowed him to keep his consecutive game streak going?

Go right there first.

Can you visit that fuse box, Connor?

Can you?

Can you?

Can you?

Connor's an Orioles fan, strangely.

Yeah.

Why don't I just demystify all your heroes then?

If this is going towards something negative about Don Mattingly, I will not stand for it.

Okay, it's all I have left.

All right.

Anyway,

they get off the plane, and their first three drives in this game.

13 plays, 60 yards touchdown.

Six plays, 79 yards, touchdown.

Five plays, 60 yards touchdown.

That ain't bad.

And the Jaguars do nothing.

This game is 21-0 at the half.

And the only positive for the Jaguars is they put a bunch of lipstick on the pig and got Travis Hunter his first touchdown.

But otherwise, just a mess.

Here's what Stafford had to say when he was told that he had the first five-touchdown game in the London Series.

Do I get a sword or something?

Do I get a sword or something?

It's just like so many other Americans.

We have a vague idea of what like England, like the customs are.

And like, I agree.

It's like, if I did something good, I think I'll get knighted.

And I'll definitely get, I think they, I think they tap each side of your shoulder like the king with a sword.

Do you get the sword?

Maybe.

Yeah, I think you would.

Well, it's not if you did one good thing, one thing good.

It's if you'd probably change British history.

He did five things good.

Five touchdowns, three of Devontae Adams.

Here's Liam Cohen.

Let's see if he was weird.

Yeah, it's definitely frustrating, but you're just like everybody else in there.

You got to look inward first.

Like, what am I doing as the head football coach that's not clear right now?

How am I communicating these things?

How am I, and how are we practicing these things?

That's what I've got to look at, right?

I mean, I've got to look at the whole thing ultimately, but I'm not going to stand up here and blame these players.

It starts with me.

Do ball.

Well, you know Shad Khan's going to take his anger out on someone and probably an innocent person.

Let's head to Miami.

Cleveland Browns football, baby.

Unstoppable.

Oh, yeah, See.

See, you're knocking all these doors, going down all these roads,

cursing all these teams, ruining the lives of all these fans across America with the Sessler Curse Tour 25.

When it's, there's a warm hug, a warm embrace waiting for you.

It's the Cleveland Browns, the 2-5 Brownies, who stomp the moribund Miami Dolphins 31-6

in some nasty weather in Cleveland.

Not as nasty as I wanted it to be.

Right.

You know what I mean?

Like,

if you're going to tell me

the

shitty Browns and the even shittier Dolphins are playing, and then you dangle a carrot on Thursday, oh, the weather is going to be so bad, like,

you know, you might get swept into one of the lakes there in Cleveland.

And then I turn on the game, and it's just like a mist, a heavy mist.

Red.

No.

You misled me, Sam Champion.

Go ahead, Mark.

I saw Sam Champion at the Danbury Fair Mall once, my friend.

I bet you did.

And boy, did he stand up there?

Spent some time with him, too.

You know, I'm with you because at one point, I believe that the play-by-play gentleman said, oh, there's literally no wind here at this point in the game.

It was like 30 years.

There's literally no wind.

And I had prayed to God on

Thursday's show for God.

Like, I guess you're not listening to me.

I get that.

I think it's pretty clear God's not listening to you, Mark.

Yeah, at this point.

I mean, if anyone's been listening to the podcast the last 15 years, it's very clear God, the football gods, any celestial being is not plugged in.

I think you're right.

Both teams survived, but I don't know if the Dolphins

coaching staff will survive, and we can dig into that in a second.

My one takeaway for the Browns is when they play games like this, and it's very infrequent because they surpassed 17 points for the first time in 11 straight games.

But you look at a guy like Quinchon Judkins, who was dominant today.

Like, it's another example of him, like, looking to me like a top five running back if they can get their act together in general on offense.

I don't mean right now, but I mean, like, he could develop into that.

He could develop into that if it's not like teams knowing he's all they have right now.

Um,

that's pretty much it.

I don't believe in.

Yeah.

I don't believe in any of their quarterbacks.

Um, they're really thin all over the place.

They've got a good defense.

We know that.

They dominated a Dolphins team that to me looks like you've given up.

And whatever Tua, and the afterglow, and that's the wrong word, it's the opposite, of Tua's post-game comments.

I think it's part and parcel of this team being very damaged.

And I don't see players that truly believe in their quarterback.

I don't even mean that negatively.

It's just like there's no idea that Tua is going to save all of this, that he's at the center of all this, that he is your solar star that everyone revolves around.

It just doesn't feel that way.

It feels like the end for the Dolphins, that they've got a couple of nice pieces who many might be traded.

The coach could be gone in days, and you lost to probably this second-worst team in the league, and you might be the worst.

There's some competition.

They're not the second-worst team in the league.

Come on, come on.

The Browns?

They're not even the top two team on this podcast.

Well,

the three worst teams in the league are represented by three people that make this show happen.

That's fair.

We're just shuffling our hands through a garbage can at this point.

And that's who the Dolphins lost to.

One of the one piece of garbage.

Here's Mike McDaniel.

And like I said,

when a team dies as an organism, it's death by a thousand cuts.

And I really think by the time a lot of people listen to the show, McDaniels is not going to be the head coach anymore.

And if it is, we made sure to pull sound of his last press conference.

This is kind of a sad watch.

The guys are tired of,

you know,

they wanted to win.

Okay.

They did.

And they didn't do it.

And it's all of us.

So I don't think anybody's spared

from accountability.

I think we all need to look at the mirror or in the mirror.

And

the main thing is teams that go through hardships, you double down on those hardships if you don't stick together.

can't get blown out by the browns i know the browns have a pretty good defense or whatever but you just can't get blown out it's non-competitive and it looks like a team that's quit looks like a dead ass team mike mcdaniel looks like the unabomber on the sideline like he's ready to go into witness protection and with jj mccarthy after the game i mean it is he really does look like the jets is rough it's rough dude

The whole thing's rough.

I mean, as a Jets fan, I'm like feeling kind of for the Dolphins fans because this is an ugly, ugly place where the organization sits right now.

One kind of thing to think about here, though, if there is an interim situation.

Remember last year when Robert Saul was let go by the Jets, he immediately went to another Shanahan friend and was a special consultant for the Green Bay Packers.

Mike McDaniel would be on a plane the day after he leaves the Dolphins for a job, and it will make a big difference for a playoff team down the stretch.

So just mark that.

What does that do for your pay, though?

Because like they just talked about the fact that we're like all like, oh, we feel so bad for Brian Callahan.

He's making Brian Callahan is making more than all four of us times 10 every week for like the next four years if he does nothing.

Well, some of us don't judge happiness on what your paycheck reads, Mark.

Maybe that's what it is.

That's simply all.

Maybe that's what it is.

Maybe that's not the total summation of whether

you found

joy in life.

All right.

Sure.

To Sunday night football.

Oh,

Sunday night.

You know, they tried to push this.

I couldn't tell if it was a joke or not because I also thought National Tight Ends Day was a joke the first seven years.

Like bumper stickers and t-shirts were being dropped on my chair at work at the NFL.

But they labeled this as National Running Backs Day or the advent of it.

And I get it.

B.

John Robinson, Christian McCaffrey on the field at the same time.

And isn't it interesting?

In a year in which it feels like B.

John Robinson is taking the scepter of the greatest running back in the world from Christian McCaffrey.

McCaffrey says, no, not today, bro.

McCaffrey goes off for 129 yards on the ground with two touchdowns.

He had 72 yards through the air and a dominant throwback performance for CMC.

Paired with really good San Francisco defense, it's a 20-10 win for the Niners who've improved to 5-2.

Atlanta

can't quite seem to kick it into another gear.

Falls to 3-3.

Connor, something that you said a week or two ago stuck with me and popped in my head during this game

that this might be like Kyle Shanahan's greatest achievement, what he's doing.

And it's still early, but for where they are to have five wins in seven games,

I'm with you on that.

Like, this has been a really impressive showing of a head coach keeping it together when it feels like the football gods are trying to tear everything apart.

And this is your first game post-Fred Warner, Warner and to face this Falcons team that's coming off some massive season-altering victories and to hold, what, Bijan Robinson to 40 yards on 14 carries and to not let him demolish you in the passing game.

And that's where he's really been making his money.

That's incredibly impressive.

And that shows.

you know, complimentary football on both sides of the ball, defense, good hire there with Robert Sahl.

But like, you know, Mac Jones wasn't spectacular, but like, you know, they're making the whole thing work.

This is great.

They're, they're, like, doing it without looking special or pretty.

Um, I put them at number eight in my power rankings.

I think I took some flack for that, um, which is fine.

I understand why.

Like, uh, but they keep just surviving, and they are, you're right, they're missing so many people

on both sides of the ball.

And guys like Bryce Huff tonight

showed up, Tatum Bethune or Bethune, like they kept talking about, like, these guys, they're a young defense and

an offense trying to get by without their starting quarterback.

And yet, like, I think Mac Jones is as sort of the equal of Bryce Purdy.

They find a way, and I think it's fair to say that it is Shanahan's challenge, and he loves this.

He loves this, trying to win these games.

And while it says a lot about the Falcons, it says a lot about the Niners to survive and to keep going.

Yeah,

Eun steps in and he holds it down.

Of course, he's not Fred Warner.

Nobody is.

But, you know, they're also missing

Nick Bosa, obviously.

Brock Purdy misses another game.

They're missing so many key players, and yet they continue to truck on.

And on the Falcons side of the ball, yeah, it's kind of, it's a tough one because just when you feel like they're ready to maybe

take off after that Monday night win against the Bills, I felt like this this was a real opportunity, Connor, against a

successful this season.

We've been talking about 49ers team, but a team that's vulnerable.

There's no way around it.

A Mac Jones-led Niners team.

And yet

you just can't get it going.

You can't sustain anything offensively.

You can't get the big stop at the end of the game defensively.

And there's got to be a frustration for a Falcons team as you see Michael Pennix taking a beating at the end of this game, limping off the field.

Just a disappointing Sunday night.

I mean, mean, consistency has been the hall, inconsistency has been the hallmark of this Falcons team for like half a decade now, which is, you know, it's no longer new.

But the fact that you can put Zach Robinson down on the sideline, you've run everything through Bijan Robinson.

It starts to finally make sense as an offense.

And then you have a performance like tonight.

And Penix, again, you know, it goes back to the Carolina game like three weeks ago.

Is he not seeing some guys again?

Do we wonder about is he missing some throws?

Is he taking some bad penalties?

All that kind of stuff.

And so, I mean, granted, you're going going to have that over the course of a season.

No, it's perfect for 17 games, but this Falcons team has struggled with consistency for such a long time now.

The big play in this game is 13-10.

Falcons have a third and one at the San Francisco 35,

but they stop Bijan Robinson for no gain on third and one.

And then Chase Lucas makes the biggest play of the game, breaking up a pass from Pennix to London on fourth down to end that threat.

The Niners take over.

They score game over um so yeah

anybody surprised about the play calling there uh by the falcons i was i think we we texted about it like um

well you had tyler algier who i think is a i love him he's like an old school power back who's gonna get you that yard if you need it and like um it was a daring play like it maybe it's maybe strategically you throw him off but like um do you not feel confident with bijan robinson who's a top three running back or Tyler Algier, that you can't get that

space, that real estate?

I think you could.

I mean, Bijan wasn't even on the field, right?

No, he wasn't.

He wasn't.

I mean, like, he wasn't.

In any play calling situation, wouldn't you want the absolute best player on the field just to be there?

Even if you're not going to, you know, and we can argue the merits of like not always giving it to your best guy and, you know, what that does for you, but to not even have him there as a decoy and to just draw bodies away from wherever you're trying to go.

I mean, I think that to me is kind of my biggest issue with that.

And hasn't that been like a recurring theme of criticism around Zach Robinson this year?

Is the offense has been a little one-dimensional or easy to decode?

Yeah, um, and it is, it's like a two steps forward, one step back uh situation because you you put it all together against the bills, and here we are once again, uh, the Falcons looking to kind of find that consistency.

Okay,

that's it.

That's the Sunday that was week seven.

Um, make Make sure you are

back here for Heed the Call on Monday night because Mark Sessler, I believe it is a quadruple header that the NFL is unfurling on Monday this week.

Yeah, I know.

Look, it's like the circus of all circuses, and we love it.

And it goes on.

It's going to be a nine to 12-hour journey.

And that's the journey we'll take together.

And then we'll recap it all for the people.

That's what we do because we're professionals.

And Mark, we appreciate you being professional.

There's another doubleheader, Tampa Bay at Detroit and Houston at Seattle.

This is a crushing day as you continue to open doors and try to find yourself a new embrace and you just keep on staring at that

abandoned Native American graveyard where the Berea complex in Cleveland was built.

All roads lead back there.

So just

keep the bad juju away from all these other fan bases.

We're begging you at this point.

I shall.

And it's always a pleasant surprise to um find out that you're

um that it's an that it's sort of that i that my being professional is a surprise to you

on that note thanks to everybody for your support of the show and the flagship program uh another week begins uh start tomorrow so be there for it until then do what you must heed the call

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