NFL 2025 Week 9 Preview + TNF Recap

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Speaker 1 Lamar Jackson,

Speaker 1 18, 23,

Speaker 1 204 yards, four touchdown passes,

Speaker 1 quarterback rating of 143.9.

Speaker 1 Yeah.

Speaker 1 That's a big, that's a big giant who won for Lamar Jackson.

Speaker 1 Heyo, welcome to Heed the Call

Speaker 1 NFL podcast. I'm Dan Hansis with Mark Sessler, Connor Orr, Justin Graver on the ones and twos, and that was, of course,

Speaker 1 Ravens coach John Harbaugh in the locker room

Speaker 1 throwing a game ball to Lamar Jackson, his star quarterback, the two-time MVP who returned from missing three weeks with a hamstring strain to throw four touchdowns and 204 yards, showing very little rust in his return to action and a 28-6 win over the hapless Miami Dolphins.

Speaker 1 So let's get into it and we're going to go through every game obviously in week nine to come on Sunday and Monday, but we start with Thursday night football, the opening game of the week.

Speaker 1 Ceci, we were hoping

Speaker 1 and we still have hope that

Speaker 1 we'll get back to close games. But the first game of week nine was a lot like the games of week eight, where, you know, one team jumps ahead and then the other team goes, bye-bye.

Speaker 2 Yeah, I mean, it didn't feel that way in the first half. Like, the Ravens had four first downs in the first two quarters, and I thought they were a little stunted.

Speaker 2 Then you come out after halftime, and they had this 11-play, seven-minute drive that puts them up 21 to 6. And from from there, I think they broke the Dolphins.
They just broke them.

Speaker 2 Like, this was the first game where I thought Miami really looked like the players were not engaged at all. And so you got the better version of the Ravens entirely in the second half.

Speaker 2 And they looked like...

Speaker 2 This is sort of, is this not what I said would happen? Like, I mean, everyone's saying it's going to happen. And here it is.
But it's like, they're going to win five of six.

Speaker 2 And this is the beginning of it. And like,

Speaker 2 they looked powerful tonight. And Lamar got more and more comfortable as the game went on.
Derrick Henry had a big night. The defense showed up with turnovers, like everything started to click.

Speaker 2 And so it's like, here's season two of the Ravens within one season, and it started this evening.

Speaker 4 I was so bummed because the Dolphins came out in one of the coolest formations that I've seen recently, where they actually had another offensive lineman as like an up back in like a full house backfield.

Speaker 4 And then as soon as the ball is snapped, like five different people scatter in different directions. And for someone who has loved like vintage Mike McDaniel, I was like, okay, we got one tonight.

Speaker 4 Like he's in his bag. This is going to be one of those great McDaniel games and maybe it's a shootout.
But then it like, it turns into like a Christmas present under your tree.

Speaker 4 And then you open it and it's just a note from your dad that says, like, I'm disappointed in you, you know?

Speaker 1 And this is like everything just really flamed out from there.

Speaker 4 I mean, they didn't finish some drives, but all the zeal and the zest and the fun of this team just completely vanished after that.

Speaker 2 And they like that in that false start that you're like, there was a false start that killed them. And then the Ollie Gordon,

Speaker 2 like the tripping scenario, there where he's the one that fell down.

Speaker 2 Like, I thought, like, Mike McDaniel, I've not really seen him this inflamed and annoyed, but those penalties for a team that can't take penalties and turnovers in this state that they're in, those were killer.

Speaker 1 Yeah, that that was that was a tough situation. They had fourth.

Speaker 1 Let me get the this call right here. Yeah, they had

Speaker 1 fourth and one at the Baltimore 12 down 7-3

Speaker 1 with 2-5-4 to go, and Borum jumps off sides, the right tackle, and pushes it back to fourth and six.

Speaker 1 And then they bring out Riley Patterson, who, of course, pushes the field goal from 35 yards. They miss that.
The next possession, they

Speaker 1 get a completion, fumble the ball. The Ravens recover.

Speaker 1 They punch that in for a touchdown. Then they have a fourth down

Speaker 1 and goal where they throw a fade to

Speaker 1 Devon A-Chan with Kyle Hamilton, who's like five inches taller than him in coverage. And A-chan kind of quits on the route, or there's a miscommunication in general, just a bad look.

Speaker 1 And then even like the last play of the first half, and there was some fun percolating on Twitter, like, look at this. We're going to actually see Cantua reach on a Hail Mary.

Speaker 1 It almost looked like Tua waited to get sacked, so he wouldn't have to try to throw a Hail Mary. I know that's not the case, but that was the vibes of Miami.

Speaker 1 They went into the tunnel with the crowd booing, and they never came out of that tunnel. I know there were Miami Dolphins on the football field in the second half, but they quit.

Speaker 1 They were done. And you saw it in the stands.

Speaker 1 The booze were visceral. The bags were over the heads.
And I know Mike McDaniel, the understanding is that he might survive the rest of the season, but he is a dead man walking. Let's face it.

Speaker 1 You cut up to Dan Marino looking sullen for three and a half hours.

Speaker 1 Al is bored out of his mind in the booth again. Herb Street doesn't apologize to Carson Wentz.

Speaker 1 I didn't really get anything I was expecting out of this game, including I predicted that I thought this could be an upset and it certainly wasn't.

Speaker 1 But to your point, Mark, this game could have went a different way if Miami executes better in the first half. And then once things were going against them, they clearly packed up the tent.

Speaker 1 It's not a good look.

Speaker 1 They didn't.

Speaker 2 And I think, like, if you're Baltimore,

Speaker 2 it's the first game you can point to that say that you broke the will of your opponent entirely. And, you know, they didn't even need Lamar to run much tonight.
I think he had

Speaker 2 four rushes at all. And it's like, so they use him in a different way.
And we get it, like, he threw to tight ends all night long and stuff.

Speaker 2 But it's like, okay, this was the first game where I look at the Ravens and think of you a little bit differently. Like you found different ways to win.
Your defense showed up.

Speaker 2 You're getting healthier. And it's like,

Speaker 2 if you look at their schedule coming up, it is, it's pretty, it's pretty wild. It's, um, it's a, it's a, it's a bunch of cupcakes.

Speaker 2 And it's like, you can see the road to them getting back into this pretty putrid AFC North division. Like, they're not far behind.
They're only two games behind. So

Speaker 2 it's possible.

Speaker 1 Yeah, if the Steelers lose this weekend, the Ravens are a game out. Think about that.
Think about how quickly that happened. And I'll just add one thing, Mark, because

Speaker 1 And you were actually banging the drum on this, Mark, about the Ravens, that it wasn't something to just assume they were going to get back into because they had more problems than just Lamar being out.

Speaker 1 And that was absolutely true. But I just think Lamar is such a towering figure for this team and really in the NFL that just his return just, I think, brings stability to the entire operation.

Speaker 1 And I don't think it's necessarily a coincidence that the defense is now playing better with Lamar on the field because of what he brings to it, both tangibly and intangibly.

Speaker 1 And I agree. I think this is now the Ravens' division to win.
I saw the next-gen stats, Connor, about this, that even before this game was settled,

Speaker 1 the Ravens were already the AFC North favorite at two and five, which is crazy to me.

Speaker 1 The team that was a 1% probability of making the playoffs a week ago after two wins in four days, now they're the favorite odds makers-wise.

Speaker 1 It just shows you that a lot of things can happen, a lot of things can change. But with Omar there and the defense settling in, they're the best team in this division.

Speaker 4 Same stats that correctly predicted the last few elections, right?

Speaker 4 But the,

Speaker 4 did anybody else look up at like, I don't know, I think it was like the nine minute mark. And my wife and I were watching the game and, you know, you kind of, you're settling into a conversation.

Speaker 4 And I looked up and I was like, why the f is Derrick Henry's taking carries up 35 points on the Miami Dolphins at the nine minute, like you just got everybody back.

Speaker 4 You almost lost Kyle Hamilton in this game, who got like kind of banged up in a way that looked serious for a second and ended up coming back in and so it's one of those things where it's like learn your lesson get these guys off the field it's a hotter climate that you're going to cramp up things are going to stretch weird just get them off the field like i i was shocked that they were still on the field at the end of this game We know what it is, though, right?

Speaker 1 Like, it's so silly, but they wanted him to get 100 yards, which he hadn't really done this year outside of the first couple of weeks, I think.

Speaker 1 And Lamar, I understood why you want to keep him out there taking snaps and just being in the flow after missing as much time as he did.

Speaker 1 But when he's dropping back to pass on third down, when they're up 28-6 in the fourth quarter, it's like, well, we don't need to do that.

Speaker 1 I agree with you wholeheartedly that they were unnecessarily playing with fire, but that happens all the time, it seems. I don't know.

Speaker 4 Yeah, but you know who doesn't do that, Dan? Who? Nick Siriani.

Speaker 1 Oh,

Speaker 1 get those guys out because he's a player's coach. That's it.

Speaker 1 Yeah, that's a guy that understands his people.

Speaker 1 All right. Anything else from this particular game, boys?

Speaker 2 I would like,

Speaker 2 I want to almost write, like, I don't know who I'd write it for at this point.

Speaker 2 I don't belong to a publication, but just like a deeper study on the set, like the syntax and lexicon of Kirk Herb Street. He drives you crazy.

Speaker 2 I don't need to find out, like, I don't need to hear every 10 minutes, like, this is a big body. He's 310 pounds.
Like, I get it. Like, but it's just like, it's that.
It's,

Speaker 2 it, he's driving me nuts. It makes Thursday nights longer than they need to be.
And, and maybe I'm alone on that. I don't think I am.

Speaker 4 I, I don't want to pile on. I have two Herb Street notes from this.

Speaker 4 Um, one, I texted this to the group chat, but it reminded me of like when you're 10 and your friends talk about like what hooking up with a girl would be like, but you have no concept of what it actually is.

Speaker 4 And that's like him calling an NFL football game. Like, it's just a lot of like what he gleans from like magazine covers and movies of like people kissing.
And like, I imagine that's what it's like.

Speaker 4 But you mentioned the

Speaker 1 fade to Han and he called that a good matchup.

Speaker 4 He's like, I mean, they had a good matchup there. I was like, what part of Kyle Hamilton on Han in a fade into the corner of the end zone is a good matchup?

Speaker 1 There is

Speaker 1 trying to say

Speaker 1 H-han's speed, but there wasn't enough surface area for H-han to take advantage of that.

Speaker 1 And then if you're trying to drop a fade, Kyle Hampton's like 6'3, right? Like, that was a horrible play call. Anyway, don't get me started on Herb Street.
Yeah, yeah. Still got Al, though.

Speaker 1 Al is like, you give him two straight blows. Do we?

Speaker 2 Like, he could not be more disengaged, but I mean, he's still.

Speaker 1 I like disengaged Al. I love it.
It's just like my old uncle hanging out, just shooting the shit for three and a half hours.

Speaker 1 Here's Al again, whenever he has an opportunity, the mind wanders to familiar places in the desert.

Speaker 1 Parbos said it was kind of an an innocent thing, but the league is very sensitive to making sure these are right. The effect,

Speaker 1 the spread went from like five points to one point when it looked like he was going to play. So referring to injury reports.
That was a big deal.

Speaker 1 And I think it was whether it was an intentional thing.

Speaker 1 Herbshade even kind of has this look in his eyes now when Al starts like getting into gambling stuff, where he just kind of rolls his eyes a little bit, like, oh, here goes Al again.

Speaker 4 He had this unbelievable bit about waxing and waning of the moon, where he was just trying to decide whether the moon was waxing or waning.

Speaker 4 But I will say this about, and I give the Amazon broadcast a ton of credit for this because way too much credit in general.

Speaker 1 But yeah,

Speaker 4 Al led the charge on this, but they showed all of the Dolphins fans in droves leaving the stadium, which is a major f you to owners. It is a major f you to owners.

Speaker 4 And it is not normally shown on NFL games because people get their, you know, what's in a tizzy over stuff like that. I bet that broadcast gets red-flagged by the billionaire crowd after this.

Speaker 1 They got so loud, though, you know, the fans, and it's not the first time this happened in Miami, but they got so loud and it became a part of the game as the struggles of the offense continued.

Speaker 1 And I don't know if Tua is going to run into some issues with keeping his job because the offense seemed broken in this game, but you almost had to address it, that this was part of the energy of this game, that Dolphins fans are sick of it.

Speaker 1 And I get it, and I relate to it. And it's a very difficult time to be a Dolphins fan.

Speaker 1 They got a lot of work to do. They probably got to blow this thing up.

Speaker 1 So, there you go.

Speaker 1 All right.

Speaker 1 By the way, I just want

Speaker 1 one little

Speaker 1 disclaimer before we head to break. I know some people were asking about it, but just

Speaker 1 as a result of a recent internal audit,

Speaker 1 Halloween has been canceled on Heed the Call. The termination of said celebration was the the product of a split vote by the owners of Heed the Call LLC and its related subsidiaries.

Speaker 1 As a result, there will be no costumes, merriment, good cheer, or references to the banned holiday here and after, as per the wishes of the unnamed dissenting voter. Thank you for your hedonism.

Speaker 2 Utterly nonsense.

Speaker 2 Utterly nonsense. So apparently, I'm under pressure by a 45-year-old man to dress up in costume, which is really bizarre to begin with.
But like, secondly,

Speaker 2 the larger, I actually did dress up in costume a year ago. And this is from our previous episode.
It was Jordan who did not, but I'm taking the bullets and she flies around, you know.

Speaker 2 I'm sorry, what was your costume?

Speaker 2 I put on incredible

Speaker 2 sunglasses that were from a child that I wore on my head.

Speaker 1 I'm like, shame on you, Mark. Sunglasses does not matter.

Speaker 2 But again, why do I, if you are fully allowed to dress up as whatever you want, why must I dress up because the 45-year-old man tells me to you, the 65-year-old man, you

Speaker 1 have canceled it.

Speaker 2 No, that's nonsense. It's another, it's another campaign.
It's a campaign. It's a campaign.
And

Speaker 2 it's another example where like you and Justin got together to get a little sound bite and do a little thing, a little parade, have your little like verbal parade.

Speaker 2 But it's like, it is, it is another example of utter nonsense.

Speaker 1 It is utter nonsense. What did you call Justin the other day?

Speaker 4 It was the cat from Smurfs, and I had to look it up, and I can't stop thinking about it.

Speaker 1 Azriel,

Speaker 2 and I'll now call him, I'll call him now hobby horse. He is a hobby horse that just does the willing of the master.

Speaker 1 Justin, do you have anything to say? I mean,

Speaker 1 those are some producer.

Speaker 1 Those are some pretty

Speaker 1 big comments from Mark toward you and not overly complimentary.

Speaker 1 Yeah.

Speaker 2 Justin has gone into a new corner of the universe.

Speaker 1 You know,

Speaker 2 the other day, I'm going to give you an example. The other day I sent something to Justin.
I was like, I would like to add this element to the show. He's like, oh, I forgot.

Speaker 2 It's like, oh, if Dan texts you,

Speaker 2 that thing is like front and center.

Speaker 1 But Mark's sense, like, this disclaimer is going to be a lot of fun. Mark's not even part of the show.

Speaker 2 It's like

Speaker 2 Justin's hobby horse, Azriel. Hobby horse Azriel.
This has reached new levels of absurdity.

Speaker 2 I am not canceling a holiday.

Speaker 2 I'm not canceling some pagan holiday.

Speaker 1 I like to lie on to.

Speaker 2 Well, Marvin Lewis is an idiot.

Speaker 1 Well, that's your opinion. Okay.
I'm pretty relaxed. We got a long show ahead of us.
Let's take a pretty big and when we get back, week nine preview.

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Speaker 1 All right, welcome back. Thursday Night Football in the Rear View.
And now it's time to dig into the rest of the week. Nine slate.

Speaker 1 Let's start this up thusly, okay? Four teams on by, Browns, Jets, Eagles, Buccaneers.

Speaker 1 I'd like to do something, boys, before we get into the rest of these games.

Speaker 1 Justin, give me something big, epic.

Speaker 1 I challenge pro football this week to remind the world

Speaker 1 why you're number one.

Speaker 1 You know, we're coming off a grisly week eight,

Speaker 1 terrible football, bad primetime games, and then you have, you know,

Speaker 1 baseball over here, putting Shohei Otani on the grandest stage.

Speaker 1 You got hockey now starting, you got the NBA trying to make it count in October.

Speaker 1 In week nine,

Speaker 1 show why you're the number one sport in this country. Bounce back.

Speaker 1 Okay?

Speaker 1 Because while we

Speaker 1 are very appreciative of the product you've given us over the years, we weren't appreciative of week eight. In fact, it was bullshit.

Speaker 1 So this is a challenge to pro football to give us bangers

Speaker 1 in week nine. Thank you.

Speaker 1 How could you possibly disagree with that, Connor?

Speaker 1 What do you want? More blowouts? I mean, week eight was a mess. I want more from this sport than it gave us.

Speaker 4 I think that you have to look at the season as a little bit more of a tapestry than you are, Dan. Like,

Speaker 4 we can't just,

Speaker 4 and I mean, this is going to be a crude term here, but like, we can't just like blow our loads every week. And it can't be one of the terms.

Speaker 1 It's got to be another term. I know.
Yeah.

Speaker 1 It didn't feel good to that.

Speaker 2 Sorry if you're a father driving around with your children listening to this. You can explain what that means.

Speaker 1 If you wanted to be classy, you could have said, shot your wad. You know, that's another way to say it, if you want.

Speaker 4 I've never said that out loud before. And as soon as it came out, I was like, oh,

Speaker 1 I don't like that at all.

Speaker 2 But

Speaker 4 you can't do that every week. And I think that it's fine.
And it's a table setter. And listen, this is week nine.
This is a marathon.

Speaker 1 We got to cool it. It'll be fine.
I'm just saying, I don't want them to fall into bad habits.

Speaker 1 Just because, like, Mark, the one thing that's on my radar a little bit with the NFL schedule is as they continue to pull from Sundays to feed other aspects of the machine, just knowing that because we're plugged into the algorithm and we're

Speaker 1 doing our gambling and our, you know, our player props and our fantasy teams. And like, I don't, I want them to understand they still have to give us good product on Sunday.
That's all.

Speaker 2 It's, it's a fair, you're allowed to order them to do something. The NFL does not follow anyone's orders but its own.

Speaker 2 I think it's pretty instructive because I've been watching every bit of the World Series and it's been delicious. And it's been a great moment for baseball, I think.

Speaker 2 But it's delicious that we are also asking week nine of the NFL season to equate to the World Series. And you mentioned hockey, which is hilarious to me.
The idea that that's even a factor in this.

Speaker 2 They're only two games.

Speaker 1 The Predators are back, baby.

Speaker 2 Well, there's only two games this week between two winning clubs.

Speaker 2 I looked at this schedule and I'm not sure you're going to get what you want completely. I'm just not sure.
And I'm with Connor. I think it's okay.

Speaker 4 You brought up the World Series and I'm glad you did because what this World Series is, is a slap in the face to the worst people in the world who view things in terms of potential narratives or ratings or bigness, right?

Speaker 4 It's the freaking Blue Jays and they're not even playing in this country. And it's delivered one of the best and most memorable World Series that, at least for me, going back five, 10 years.

Speaker 4 And so I think it's one of those great things where this week does have that similarly anonymous feel where, like, God, like Monday night football gives you Dallas and Arizona, like who the F cares on the surface.

Speaker 4 But I think that if the World Series shows you anything, it's that there's beauty in every corner of this. And so let's be optimistic as we go into it.

Speaker 1 I love that. I love the way you look at the world, Connor.
Thank you.

Speaker 1 And I did just double check. What about the way that I look at the world?

Speaker 2 I also spoke during the day.

Speaker 1 I think it's a leader.

Speaker 1 Yeah, the Dodgers are down three to two, improbably.

Speaker 1 Game six will be played tomorrow night, Friday. Game seven, I was wondering if we might get a clash with Sunday night football.
No. Smart play by baseball.
Avoid the NFL.

Speaker 1 That would be played Saturday night. So no clashes after this.
So just,

Speaker 1 in fact, the baseball season will be over by the time that most of these games we talk about are played. All of them, in fact.
So let's get it going.

Speaker 1 Sometimes I just like to stick it to that machine, the NFL machine. Put them on notice that we just won't take anything.
We want the best. That Sunday ticket package ain't cheap.

Speaker 1 You ever go to a game, try to take your family to a football game? I've tried to. How about the Jets just announced they're raising season ticket prices for like the fourth year in a row?

Speaker 1 Are you f ⁇ ing kidding me? Give me the product that we demand.

Speaker 2 Well, I feel the NFL has stuck it to you a few times as well, historically.

Speaker 1 I hate this team.

Speaker 4 Yeah, that's raising ticket prices. No concern for him in his nice jersey.
So glad he can just coast on.

Speaker 1 How is your doxing going of the young boy, by the way? Have you ruined his life yet?

Speaker 1 How's that long for him over at SI working?

Speaker 1 How are the conversations with the editor going? A little thorny?

Speaker 4 These are delicate situations, age verification and all sorts of privacy laws, for sure. Absolutely.

Speaker 1 It's trendy.

Speaker 1 Have you been able to crack into his school records yet? Have you been able to see if he's had any little league incidents? I mean, where are we in the investigation in terms of ruining this child?

Speaker 4 When I said I was coming from parent-teacher conferences, I didn't say they were for my kids.

Speaker 1 So maybe I was recording.

Speaker 4 Yeah, maybe I was just doing a little yellow journalism.

Speaker 1 All right, here we go. Let's get into the rest of these games.

Speaker 1 We're going to start in the, as we tend to do, in the late window, and we're going to start with,

Speaker 1 man, I don't want to jinx this because I really want to see it.

Speaker 1 And I know I understand like kind of the Sessler angle of things that you're more, you want a little more chaos and you want things to be new and freshened up a lot.

Speaker 1 Like, I love the idea of the Chiefs and Bills meeting again in the AFC Championship game. And I think it will happen if these teams stay healthy.
I think that's the only thing that could stop it.

Speaker 1 So the game that will be played on 4:25 Eastern on CBS, Nansen Romo on the call, is to me potentially the game of the year because the number one Chiefs at number four Bills in our power rankings.

Speaker 1 Remember, it's not just the game. It also could very well determine who is hosting the AFC Championship game.
And that can be the difference with two teams that I think are very evenly matched.

Speaker 1 So, Mark, I mean, there's not much that needs to be said to hype up a game like this, but this is what you live for.

Speaker 1 And when I throw out that challenge at the top of the show, I know in my back pocket we have grand theater of Mahomes-Allen Chiefs Bills.

Speaker 2 And I'm not anti these clashes.

Speaker 2 And there were a couple years where it felt like whether it was Cincinnati, Kansas City, and Buffalo were playing or Baltimore were playing each other every week at 425.

Speaker 2 But I like this because I think what's different for me right now is that Kansas City feels offensively so different than they have in the past couple of years. Like,

Speaker 2 it's becoming a fun watch. I think they're incredibly diverse.
If you look at the numbers, like Andy Reid is more aggressive than he's been on fourth down in years.

Speaker 2 I think partly they don't trust maybe Harrison Butker the way they did in the past for obvious reasons, but Mahomes has been absolutely incredible on fourth down as well, 14 of 16.

Speaker 2 Like, they're going to push the Bills.

Speaker 2 They're going to push them aggressively and go for it all over the field and use what they've seen over the last couple of weeks with this offense against a Buffalo Bills defense that's missing Ed Oliver.

Speaker 2 I really feel like the Bills are under way more pressure, even though they're at home, to not make that big mistake.

Speaker 4 I don't mean to be flippant, but I don't know if this game is going to be necessarily close. The Bills run defense is bad.
It's really bad.

Speaker 4 And it's especially bad against teams who can use two tight end formations really well. And the Chiefs have surprisingly been one of those.

Speaker 4 I mean, Noah Gray has been that little secret weapon in this offense and has helped really kind of prop up Travis Kelsey during the earlier months where he needed to be that main guy.

Speaker 4 And now, like with the way that everybody's playing with Mahomes, those intermediate targets, the run game,

Speaker 4 this is a recipe for disaster for the Bills. They're going to have to tackle well.
They're going to have to stop the run.

Speaker 4 And even though there's no Pacheco, that's not necessarily a total limiting factor for me. I mean, I think Kansas City could blow them out.

Speaker 4 That has sneaky potential for me.

Speaker 1 Kansas City going to Buffalo and blowing out the Bills would surprise me. It really would.

Speaker 1 I think that Josh Allen, he is at that level of a player where I just don't think he's even going to let it happen. I think it would turn into a shootout.
They could be on the wrong end of a shootout.

Speaker 1 And that's with all due respect to Spaggs and the Kansas City defense. I just think that Allen always, he rises to the challenge in these type of games.

Speaker 1 Now, they haven't always won, obviously, as we know, as they try to get past KC and the AFC playoffs in general, but I would be very surprised it's a blowout. And I think the Pacheco injury is huge.

Speaker 1 I mean, I understand what you're saying, but I think there's a big step down. I thought he was starting to find it a little bit.

Speaker 1 I thought the offense in general was really with Hunt and Pachenco in addition to the passing game.

Speaker 1 Taking him out of it certainly makes it harder to capitalize on that side of the game where you think you have an advantage.

Speaker 2 I mean, I think it's also Kansas City's defense. They just held Detroit to 17 points.

Speaker 2 You know, I look at this Bills offense, and if James Cook doesn't go off, they have issues. They tend to have issues if he doesn't go off.

Speaker 2 And Steve Smith, our friend on his 89 podcast, talked about Keon Coleman and basically said, this ain't the guy. So that's meant to be their dude.
And like, I kind of am more concerned about that.

Speaker 1 He doesn't meant to be the guy, though.

Speaker 1 That's the thing about the Bills that I love about the Bills is that they're not going to be able to do that. They'd help him if he was, though.

Speaker 1 But they don't need a wide receiver one when they have James Cook playing football at a higher level or as high as anyone at running back.

Speaker 1 And the way they can utilize their tight ends, they run their offense differently. And then all the things that Josh Allens brings to

Speaker 1 the picture, it would be great if they had a wide receiver one. But I think like the Chiefs are an offense, Mark, that I think they're different.

Speaker 1 And not the team they point to, but who's the wide receiver that's going to beat you? Because I think

Speaker 1 they're built to beat you in ways that many other teams cannot. And I mean, I guess it sounds like I'm in the minority.

Speaker 1 Like, I feel very confident the Bills are going to play well on offense against this Kansas City defense. And it sounds like I'm the only one that's going to pick up.

Speaker 2 I don't think it's that they're not going to play well. I think that Kansas City is rising.
They're rising in their fire right now.

Speaker 2 And I feel like they, like, I'm with Connor in the sense that I don't have any problem envisioning them going into Buffalo and coming out of here with a convincing win.

Speaker 4 Here's the one thing that I think could make your point for you, Dan, is that we don't give Sean McDermott enough credit for the regular season games against Mahomes.

Speaker 4 He is often the architect of that weird speed bump defense that impacts Mahomes for the rest of the season. Like if you remember, I mean, gosh, this is going back a couple of years now.

Speaker 4 It was like the first game where Mahomes was never blitzed in his NFL career, and it was McDermott. And he really stymied him and made it difficult for Mahomes to gain yardage on that.

Speaker 4 Every couple years, he has that weird Haymaker game against

Speaker 4 the Chiefs that, and again, I think that, what is it, they give up 20 points a game to the Chiefs in the regular season and then like 35 in the postseason on average.

Speaker 4 I forget what the exact number is, but McDermott is always good. with that first little speed bump that gives Mahomes trouble.
So maybe this could be one of those games.

Speaker 1 All right, I'm going to look at the last five meetings just for fun between these teams.

Speaker 2 The Bills have been great in the regular season. I think they were 4-0 in the regular season.

Speaker 1 One, two, three, four, five. Okay, last six games, including the playoffs.
Let's start with the epic 2021 playoff game. Chiefs 42, Bills 36.
That was the 13 seconds game, of course.

Speaker 1 Then 22 regular season. Bills 24-20 win.
23 regular season. Bills 20 to 17 win.
2023 playoffs,

Speaker 1 Chiefs 27, Bills 24, 2024 regular season, Bills 30, Chiefs 21. Anybody picking up a bit of a pattern here? 2024 playoffs, Chiefs 32, Bills 29 AFC Championship game.

Speaker 1 And now here we are in November as we move to their next matchup. I can't wait to see.
Can't wait to see. Let's pick it.
Let's pick it.

Speaker 1 I got Bills 34, Chiefs 31. Classic.

Speaker 2 I'm going to go Chiefs 31, Bills 21.

Speaker 4 I'm going to go Chiefs 34, Bills 21.

Speaker 1 All right. Fun, fun, fun.
Just, you want to throw one in, buddy? Uh-oh, he just took a rip. He took a rip.

Speaker 1 Now we're going to have to show you that. That was visually enticing, Justin.
Got him on a rip. It looks like a pink.
It looks like a pink vape pen that he's working with now.

Speaker 1 Is that you borrowing that from Jessica or what is that?

Speaker 4 Is that Kratom? Kratom? What do you got in there?

Speaker 6 It's green on the top.

Speaker 1 Oh, boy.

Speaker 1 Yes, this is our producer, folks.

Speaker 6 It's green on the top, pink on the bottom.

Speaker 1 Why?

Speaker 6 Why? I don't know. I don't care what it looks like.

Speaker 2 What does it do to you during a show? What's the natural effect for you?

Speaker 6 Well, I don't know if you guys realize this, but I'm juggling like 14 different elements. Dan's got bits planned.
I've got like a lot of stress.

Speaker 6 I'm under pressure to execute a good show, and this just takes the edge off a little bit.

Speaker 1 Unfortunately, this was the window to give your Chiefs Bills input. So now we must move on.
Okay.

Speaker 1 All right. Late window.
Let's. So here's they did a nice job, the NFL.
Again, I'm rooting for the NFL. I'm rooting for them to deliver on the drama.
They did a nice job here.

Speaker 1 They cleared the runway in the late window because here are the other two games. So I'll mention them both here.
Number 30, Saints in our power rankings, one and seven.

Speaker 1 At number seven, Rams, five and two, obviously. Albert and Vilma on the call like who would watch this game

Speaker 1 and

Speaker 1 and here and then you have number 21 Jaguars snore four and three at number 29 Raiders say no more so these are the only other two games I guess you're gonna be dinged if these games are in your market there's a there are markets that won't have access to chief bills uh but just a couple um any thoughts on these games boys

Speaker 4 i mean if the and tyler shuck had some some good throws against the Bucs, I don't think it was certainly all bad, but

Speaker 4 this Rams defense could maybe put him into an all-time blender. They're that good and they're that versatile and they're that difficult to play against.

Speaker 4 And I mean, if that's my second start, and I know we said that about Jackson Dart and the Chargers, and I think we say this a lot of times where we envision these soft landing spots for rookies in their first starts.

Speaker 4 I think that's different. I think this is very different for someone like Tyler Schuck, who's who's not going to be able to evade as well as Dart going against this Rams defense.

Speaker 4 It's going to be all sim pressures. It's going to be guys dropping that you never expected into coverage.

Speaker 4 And you really, I mean, we'll see what kind of preparation artist, I guess, Kellen Moore is because this is going to take all of his corner.

Speaker 7 And it's Kelly Moore.

Speaker 2 And it's Sean McVay coming off a bye week. They're rested.
They're healthy. I think it's at home.

Speaker 2 I think it's a terrible situation for almost any quarterback, but certainly one that's barely seen the field. And Puka Nakua's back for the Rams.

Speaker 2 If you're Tyler Schuck, I found this to be a little disheartening because I feel like if I told a partner, like, hey, I've just been named like an NFL starter, like you'd want her to be very excited.

Speaker 2 But apparently that's not how this went down to some degree. If we want to take a look at the comments that Tyler Schuck had.

Speaker 8 Yeah, it was my wife for sure. She's been such a huge role in this.
And obviously, just up to this point, you know, from

Speaker 8 every college, every journey, every step in the process to now through the whole draft process.

Speaker 8 Um, so it was a good feeling, but she's also, you know, she was a competitor, she played soccer, she's like, good, you know, like, I mean, go out there and win.

Speaker 8 She's not really satisfied with any, and neither am I. Like, there's nothing to be excited about.
So, um, it's just another step, and you, I mean, we got to go out there and win because

Speaker 8 I could have done a better job in the Bucs game when

Speaker 1 we had opportunities to go out to the game.

Speaker 8 Um, yeah,

Speaker 1 I mean, I can't hear it.

Speaker 2 I'm sorry. The Tyler Shuck

Speaker 1 sound bites are just not cooking. It ain't cooking for me, Seci.
I can't do it.

Speaker 1 I can't do it.

Speaker 2 Apparently, because you cannot even stop making sounds and verbal cues during any sound drops.

Speaker 2 Do you even listen to it?

Speaker 1 No, well, there was, I tried to.

Speaker 2 What were you doing, whistling? What was going on there? Were you whistling during that?

Speaker 1 Where was it? Snoozing?

Speaker 1 That would be the equivalent of a guy that lived two towns over, knocked on my door, and then just started telling me about his trip to Ralph's and what he got

Speaker 2 in the outside. I wouldn't open your door to that person anyway.

Speaker 1 So it's like, I don't want to hear about it. Like, give me a break.

Speaker 2 Let's see if we can get through one sound bite without you talking over it and giving us in a complete monologue on top of the sound.

Speaker 1 Go ahead, Mark. Tell me what I need to take out of the Tyler Chuck sound.

Speaker 2 Nothing. Okay, great.
Apparently, he's not interesting enough for you.

Speaker 1 No, he's not. That's the problem.

Speaker 1 He is not interesting to me, nor are the Saints. And I apologize to the Saints fans out there.
It's not your fault.

Speaker 1 All right, let's move on. Oh, by the way, the Jags.
I figure I could get you fired up about this one a little bit, Connor.

Speaker 1 There is a piece in the athletic. I think it was Sando.

Speaker 4 Love Sando.

Speaker 1 We like that Sandwich, right? That Sando's a good, that guy's a damn good reporter and writer. And here's the headline.
It's very early, but the Jaguars' Travis Hunter trade looks misguided so far.

Speaker 1 And this thing got me back on Sessler's side. He's all fired up about Chuck.
That Browns trade's looking great, Sese,

Speaker 1 so far. And

Speaker 1 here's a quote from that piece by Sando

Speaker 1 from

Speaker 1 an exec from another team was the citation on it. There is not one trait other than ball skills that makes him different on offense.

Speaker 1 To reach his highest level, he is going to be in one spot, and it is going to be at corner.

Speaker 1 It was also put forth, Connor, in this piece that

Speaker 1 if you really want to make this happen with Travis Hunter, and by the way,

Speaker 1 all due respect, they're coming off a bye. Yes, we know he went over 100 yards, had his first touchdown in the London game.
It was all in, it was lipstick on a pig, but it was production.

Speaker 1 So we understand

Speaker 1 he hasn't been a massive bust or anything like that. And it's very young.
I'm not even going to say the word bust.

Speaker 1 There's There's no bust here, but it was put forth by another person in football personnel.

Speaker 1 You need to let him play wide receiver all year and learn about NFL offenses and have him fully immersed in that. Then in year two, just let him play all defense and let him learn defense.

Speaker 1 And then by year three, you could find a way to thread the needle. Because what's happening right now, the case being made, is that he's getting nothing.

Speaker 1 He's playing a lot, but he's because he has not been able to truly learn and build on things the way any other rookie would do, it's putting him in a situation where he's not able to make an impact, which I think is fair and it's unprecedented.

Speaker 1 And the Jags are trying to figure out how to make it work after a huge investment in him.

Speaker 4 I think that we are not putting nearly enough on the coaching staff not expecting what happened with Brian Thomas, because I think Brian Thomas being Brian Thomas alleviates 89% of these problems, right?

Speaker 4 If he is a dominant number one wide receiver from that outwide position and you can stick Travis Hunter in the slot, which is what Liam Cohen does a majority of the time, it's the same thing he did with Mike Evans and Chris Godwin.

Speaker 4 If he can play them off of each other like that, and Brian Thomas is your dominant one, Travis Hunter is ripping the NFL apart right now. Now you're seeing the tea leaves.

Speaker 4 And if you read some of what Liam Cohen said during the bye week, Travis Hunter is going to be like the first read. He's going to have to be Mike Evans in that Liam Cohen offense.

Speaker 4 And we've seen the ball skills. We've seen the ability.
And I can't believe I'm at the point where I'm the one defending this guy, but I think that he is a capable corner.

Speaker 4 We saw him defending some deep passes a couple weeks ago against the Chiefs in big situations.

Speaker 4 You can throw him in there situationally, but I just, I think a lot of this is Brian Thomas not drawing the attention anymore, not going where he needed to be.

Speaker 4 And I mean, the fact that we're even questioning whether or not they should trade this guy at the deadline says all you need to know about how unexpected this has been.

Speaker 2 Right. That's the biggest surprise of their offense.

Speaker 2 And I will say one thing, and I'm sure this was a good piece, and I'll check it out, but anonymous NFL executive, they have been wrong in these articles for like a thousand years in a row on stuff.

Speaker 2 They're not inside the building.

Speaker 2 Dan, I find it quizzical.

Speaker 2 Did I hear this right?

Speaker 2 You say that he should play wide receiver this year, then cornerback next year like isolated as one this is not my name theory this was this was uh proffered by i think that is you don't you don't trade for him that's that's a wild movie i'll read you the quote i'll read you the quote

Speaker 1 this was a quote another exec so not the same guy the only way you prove that this worked is to let him play receiver this year let him learn a complete offense and then the next year play him a majority on defense you won't get value until like your third year i mean it's it's it's kind of a silly quote but also yeah that's crazy to me i think this was a risky, it was a risky player to take on, although we weren't saying that during the draft as much, but like it's a coaching challenge.

Speaker 2 And you've got, they're a new coaching staff, but like, I can't believe the plan would be we light him up in year three, and then he's out of there maybe two years later.

Speaker 4 Well, let's, let's also be real about what this was, because I think that it's playfully, I put a lot of this on James Gladstone, and James did a good job of driving it home with the speech at the podium, but this is a franchise that, you know, if you talk to people who who were there a decade ago, they were miserable and they're like, our best player is a damn punter.

Speaker 4 And then the cat or the jaguar or whatever, Jackson Deville, that like takes his pants off.

Speaker 4 Like, if you asked about the two things that people come away from games from, it's like the urine pool, the punter, and the sexual cat.

Speaker 4 And so it's like, we need to, we need to start hammering this market with sucker. He does like, he does like oddly sexual.

Speaker 1 I think like rhythmic pelvis thrusts. Yeah.
Yeah. He's known for that.
Jackson. eroticism.
Of course.

Speaker 4 Yeah, unnecessary from a cat if that's your only fans thing.

Speaker 1 And by the way, James Gladstone, we were on this from the beginning. I don't think he did a good job.
I think he did a terrible job.

Speaker 1 And everybody, because there was a romance to it and it was a cinematic nature to what Gladstone did after the draft, saying that he could change the very face of pro football and all that shit.

Speaker 1 Like, that was a last thing.

Speaker 1 And I hope, like, it was a learning moment, but I understood why a lot of people thought it was amazing because it's just great quotes from a front office guy, but it put expectations on a kid that already had enough on his plate.

Speaker 2 Yeah, but everyone is coming off like a cocaine high after the draft, thinking that they just conquered like North America.

Speaker 1 But they all do, and most of them don't then get in front of

Speaker 1 an entire group of media and say what a genius they are for potentially changing football with their trade. You know, learn, live and learn, young Gladstone.

Speaker 1 Live and learn. All right.

Speaker 1 Let's take a break. And we'll hit the early games.
Stay right there.

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Speaker 2 Dan, do you?

Speaker 2 I know this happens to you. Do you remember that doctor's appointment you were supposed to make a while ago? The one that you were meant to book and completely forgot about until now?

Speaker 1 You know that appointment, right? Yeah, I know exactly the one you're referring to. I don't know how you know so much about my personal life, but go on.

Speaker 2 That's a fair question. But you know, listen, it's it's certainly happened to me.

Speaker 2 I, there was a morning when I woke up with like a ridiculous case of pink eye. I don't know how I got it.

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Speaker 1 All right, we are back. Late, slate.

Speaker 1 I mean, it's Chiefs, Bills, and then a couple other games. Early slate, lots to get into.
And you know what we do on this show.

Speaker 1 We try to help you, the football fan, discern what are the games to really focus on in that chaotic early window.

Speaker 1 And we do that through,

Speaker 1 here it comes, the quad box.

Speaker 2 Jim! RS is in the deck pot, man.

Speaker 4 Put on your socks and tune in your walks. Here, force, here before.

Speaker 1 Good for you.

Speaker 6 Hey, NSL fans.

Speaker 3 Kathy Bates here.

Speaker 1 Four games to pick.

Speaker 1 Let's start with Connor. Connor, Connor, you grabbed the first game for the people.

Speaker 1 Speak for the people, Conman. Speak for the people.

Speaker 4 So I may not pick what turns out to be the best game because there's a couple best games on here. But I am going to pick what I believe to be the most consequential game.

Speaker 1 Okay.

Speaker 4 And that is the number 22 Vikings at. the number three Detroit Lions.
This is a Burkhart Brady game. It is on Fox, and it is the return of JJ McCarthy after he gets that little respite.

Speaker 4 There's a lot going on with the Vikings, okay?

Speaker 4 There's the heat centering around, like, did you send a completely, knowingly battered Carson Wentz out there because you're this unconfident in JJ McCarthy? There's that storyline.

Speaker 4 There's, you know, how much did he learn during this? How much can he learn, right? During this little month off after how uneven he looked going into this game.

Speaker 4 And then you just, you face him against this Kelvin Shepard defense, which though anonymous, we've seen just playing with complete blood in their eyes every week. And so we'll see what happens.

Speaker 4 But if he's good, this is a potential playoff team. I mean, if he plays the way the second half that he did against the Bears, I think in the opener, this is a playoff team.
If he's not,

Speaker 1 this is a disaster. He's played one good quarter.
But

Speaker 1 it was a fun, exciting primetime quarter. I get you on that.

Speaker 1 Like, he was the player of the week. He was technically, that is absolutely, he has the trophy somewhere in his house.

Speaker 1 Just to close the door on this, because we did have an extended conversation about it on our Monday show,

Speaker 1 about the Carson Wentz thing.

Speaker 1 Wentz did speak to reporters because the story started to take on some steam about like the responsibility that the Vikings maybe should have had to protect Wentz even from himself. And Wentz,

Speaker 1 to his credit, kind of took the, tried to take the heat off the team.

Speaker 10 This isn't my first rodeo. I'm not an idiot.
I know what I was signing up for going out there.

Speaker 10 Nobody was forcing me, pressuring me, any of those things. Anybody in this building, everybody's handled this tremendously.
The communication's been phenomenal from coaches, trainers, all the things.

Speaker 10 And so knew what we were doing all along. And yeah.

Speaker 1 Yeah, Mark, I think

Speaker 1 this is a great game to watch. And I think...
The McCarthy, just the curiosity about how he looks out of this game.

Speaker 1 And then, you know, is there any way to slow down the Detroit Lions offense, especially at home? Brian Flores in the Minnesota Day. It's been a little bit of a disappointment in recent weeks.

Speaker 2 They have been

Speaker 2 compared to how we've talked about them for two seasons now, where as a coordinator, he scrambles so many quarterbacks. Connor is right.

Speaker 2 This game is consequential. And from a McCarthy angle, it's like this is the future of the Vikings.

Speaker 2 Either it's happening and we need to see some of it this season, or everything about the Kevin O'Connell experience changes.

Speaker 2 Like there are whispers out there and some reporting that Kevin O'Connell's been a bit of a different different guy over the last couple of weeks, a little down, a little not morose because it's just it's just been not fun.

Speaker 2 And my biggest concern for this offense is that, you know, Darasaw had been out for a while. Brian O'Neal, they have given up the fourth most sacks in the league.
The pressure rate has been terrible.

Speaker 2 And J.J. McCarthy has not looked ready for pressure or anything that could scramble him.
I think that's a huge concern.

Speaker 2 And I'm not sure how I can look at this Vikings team and not think that the season has a very high probability of going south.

Speaker 4 Well, this week, and I'm glad you brought that up, this is like they have four out of five starters back on the O-line, and that hasn't happened in a while. O'Neill's back.

Speaker 4 And so I do think that if we're going to see a representative McCarthy start, this is it. I mean, you have pretty much a clear runway.

Speaker 4 It's not going to get better than this in October for the rest of your career. So let's see what you do with it.

Speaker 1 Yeah, and barring a trade, which is unlikely, this is his big audition now. I mean, his first year was wiped out, then he missed half of his second year.

Speaker 1 And now, with Carson Wentz out of the lineup, Max Prosmer is not somebody who's going to take snaps away from J.J. McCarthy.

Speaker 1 And you just imagine that he's going to get these eight or nine games now to show that he belongs.

Speaker 1 And if not, if things go as poorly as they did at the start of the season, Minnesota is in a bit of a tricky bind in the offseason to make decisions.

Speaker 1 They'd probably bring in a better competition than Wentz, would be my guess. But in the here and now, we see how he plays.
One last note: the Lions are so great offensively, right?

Speaker 1 And obviously, the big story around the Lions this week was Aiden Hutchinson getting that massive new contract.

Speaker 1 But they have so much talent on offense that they can not

Speaker 1 fully leverage out some of their most talented offensive players and still be a thriving machine.

Speaker 1 And I bring that up because Jameson Williams has not really found his footing in John Morton's offense. And Morton spoke with the media this week about needing to be better about that.

Speaker 11 Yeah, I looked at everything as far as that.

Speaker 11 I'm going to do a better job with that. But there has been opportunities where it just didn't happen.
You know what I'm saying? It's not like we ain't going to try to target him.

Speaker 1 So

Speaker 11 that was the biggest thing. So I looked at everything and

Speaker 11 I definitely, I failed him. That's what I told him.
You know what I mean? I have to do a better job with that. But it's a two-way street, you know what I'm saying?

Speaker 11 So we were definitely looked at that.

Speaker 2 See, what I hear there is it's on the player. I get what the coach is doing with the I failed him, but like it's it's been on the player for a while.

Speaker 2 But it's always interesting to hear coordinators speak coming out of the buy because they've gone into the bunker and looked at everything that they've done so far.

Speaker 2 And I think those comments are pertinent. But that was the coach covering for a player that has simply not broken out.

Speaker 2 It's a two-way street, but it's on Jamison Williams as well.

Speaker 1 I hear that, and I think they're going to put in a few extra plays in the playbook this week for Jamison Williams.

Speaker 1 And I bet he can make them because he has flashed all throughout his career, although not as consistently as they hoped when they made him a first-round pick, that he is a playmaker.

Speaker 1 So I call a splash play touchdown for Jameson Williams this week. All right, I'll go the next pick in the box.

Speaker 1 The box, easy one. I've been waiting for this for a long time.

Speaker 1 The number two Indianapolis Colts, 7-1,

Speaker 1 at the number 13 Pittsburgh Steelers, 4-3, Iran Eagle and J.J. Watt

Speaker 1 on the call.

Speaker 1 And, you know, we've been talking about it

Speaker 1 through eight games. The Colts have had a couple of tests along the way, but they've also had a lot of lollipops.
They got the Titans twice, by the way, in eight weeks as an example.

Speaker 1 So now here is a Steelers team that at four and three and coming off

Speaker 1 a couple of disappointing losses, you could say that the Colts should be favored in this game. But I think this is a very good challenge.

Speaker 1 And I think one place to look at in this game is in the trenches, Connor.

Speaker 1 The Colts have been absolutely dominant in the run this year. We know that Jonathan Taylor is an MVP candidate.
The offensive line

Speaker 1 led by Quentin Nelson, but they're getting five across, just kicking ass in the run game. Not as good in the past game and in terms of pass blocking.

Speaker 1 They're about middle of the pack statistically per PFF. And I'm wondering if the Steelers, that's where they can win this game.
And as part of that point, Connor,

Speaker 1 I'm not saying there should be because I was a little annoyed by it with Sam Darnold last year. But there was always a little bit of a discourse around Darnold during his breakout season last year.

Speaker 1 Like, yeah, but is he actually good? I feel like we're not hearing that around Daniel Jones as much. It's more like Daniel Jones finally has found his place and Daniel Jones is now good.
Hashtag good.

Speaker 1 But I would like to see him in a game where the pass rush is getting home and he has to hang in the pocket and he has to make quick, good decisions and has to protect the football.

Speaker 1 Like, I'd like to see the Daniel Jones in adversity game here and see how he comes out of it. I'm really excited for this one.

Speaker 4 I would like to see that too. And not to be a dick, but it's not going to happen against the Steelers.
They can't get home against anybody right now.

Speaker 4 And I just think that that's not necessarily the defense you're looking for.

Speaker 4 And I think you can tell what other teams think of Daniel Jones based on, and this still blows my mind every time that I say it.

Speaker 4 So if you look back at the Titans game game a week ago, and this is a team that like Jonathan Taylor has scored like 50 touchdowns every week for the last four weeks, they did not, according to next gen stats, register a single snap where they played more than eight defenders in the box.

Speaker 4 against Jonathan Taylor.

Speaker 4 And so that to me says all it needs to say about teams worried about who's going to beat them because, you know, you're putting guys into coverage and you're saying like, I'm worried that Daniel Jones is going to light us up.

Speaker 4 And that's been happening throughout the year. I mean, when you're Jonathan Taylor, yes, you're going to have a good season because you're a gifted running back.

Speaker 4 But also, week after week, you're getting light boxes. And the reason is because teams are worried about Daniel Jones.
So I'm dying to know what the Steelers do here, man.

Speaker 4 They play a ton of man coverage. The Indianapolis Colts have a bunch of great athletes, like, and Tyler Warren is, again, going to be, I think, kind of that catalyst in here to break it wide open.

Speaker 4 But we'll see. I think this is another one, man.
Another blowout. I'm calling a lot of blowouts this week, but I think that's going to happen again in this one, too.

Speaker 2 I think you're dead on with that because if you took this Steelers defense and just put it in Tennessee and we didn't know it was the Steelers, I think we'd see it for what it is, which is an old, broken down

Speaker 2 unit. It's the most expensive defense in the NFL, and they have given up, talk about Tyler Warren, only the Bengals have given up more yards to tight ends.
I see a massive opportunity there.

Speaker 2 Only two teams have given up more explosive plays on defense than the Steelers. Like Jonathan Jonathan Taylor is against a defense that lost to Sean Elliott, who was a good run-stopping safety.

Speaker 2 Like, it's kind of all cooked up for everything the Colts have done to keep doing.

Speaker 2 Unless there's something wacky that happens, like, this is not the defense to stop this Colts' offense and what Shaden Steichen is cooking up as we speak.

Speaker 1 I wouldn't say that. Certainly in the back end, they are...
near the bottom of the league in yards,

Speaker 1 near the bottom of the league in missed tackles. The Steelers off defense on balance is a mess.
I was specifically talking about their pass watch, which is top 10 in pressure, pressure rate.

Speaker 1 They also are a top 10 team in takeaways. So it's like, I'm just talking about it.
Can you get some pressure in Jones's face and will he make mistakes?

Speaker 1 And can you win the game with splash plays, defensive turnovers? I think that's the only path of the Steelers to win this game. But it is more than anything else.

Speaker 1 Yeah, it's another test of how good are the Colts? And I can't wait to see. I can't wait to see.

Speaker 1 All right.

Speaker 1 Up next, Mark Quadbox.

Speaker 2 Okay, I'm going to go. You guys left me with a little bit less of a cornucopia here.

Speaker 1 There's some options.

Speaker 2 There are, though, because I like this game because I think it matters. We're going to find out a lot about one of these teams.
It's the 20, number 20 Falcons at the number 10 Patriots.

Speaker 2 And you know that I'm high on the Patriots. I cannot figure out.
the Falcons.

Speaker 2 They are one of, this just doesn't happen this often to find a team that has gone and won impressive games, but then completely no show in two contests.

Speaker 2 Like, I don't know if that comes down to coaching, if it comes down to the fact that Michael Pennix wasn't in the lineup there, Drake London has been out. I think that all is a factor there.

Speaker 2 But now you go up against a New England offense and Drake May that have been absolutely devastating.

Speaker 2 And I'll tell you one thing that I think is a real trouble spot for the Atlanta Falcons is that New England's run defense has quietly been kicking serious buttocks of late.

Speaker 2 And it's this game comes down to you need Bijan Robinson to just become a star. And they only

Speaker 1 become a star.

Speaker 2 Well, I think it's a star, but I mean, right now in this game, it's like this is when you're counting on to get the Falcons out of this hole that they're in.

Speaker 2 They were held to 45 yards rushing against the Dolphins.

Speaker 2 Okay, that game got out of control, but I thought that was a gutless and weird performance by the Atlanta Falcons. And right now, you are hanging on for life in that division.

Speaker 2 We'll find out who you are because I think the Patriots are getting to the point where you have to look at them as a top three team in the AFC easily, easily.

Speaker 1 All right. Calm down, Mark.
Simmer down. Well, I believe that.

Speaker 1 I know you believe it. We all believe it.

Speaker 1 I agree. I think that the Patriots are a very good, very exciting team.

Speaker 1 And this, and the thing about the Falcons that drives me crazy about the Falcons, and we're still having these conversations about Zach Robinson and this offense.

Speaker 1 Do you know the Falcons with Bijan Robinson, Connor, have the lowest play action rate in football? I know.

Speaker 2 How is that possible?

Speaker 1 And how are we still having this conversation? Because a month ago, before they won a couple of games and sucked people in, it was like, how come this team runs so much out of the pistol?

Speaker 1 How is it so easy to judge their game script? How come Bijan Robinson is getting the ball eight yards behind the line of scrimmage routinely?

Speaker 1 And back then, it was like, how come they're not running more play action? We're still asking these questions.

Speaker 1 And it makes me wonder if it's just the operation is holding this team back as much as injuries and anything else.

Speaker 4 I want to see not only, and I guess that they, they run it, they're like the fourth or the fifth most frequent team, but like go all in on, you know, that Bills game, for example, Tyler Algier just hammers teams once they get light and they start respecting the pass.

Speaker 4 And I think the Falcons are what,

Speaker 4 for 21 personnel, right? When you have two, both of those backs on the field at the same time, or Bijan and a fullback, right?

Speaker 4 They play really well in those formations and you still don't see them enough where it's like, okay, that can be your identity.

Speaker 4 I think he's just another great player and such a stylistic complement that it's almost just like, you just got to move the, the pieces are there.

Speaker 4 You just got to kind of move them around on the board a little bit and reimagine it a little bit. And like you said, a little bit more play action, a little bit more mystique at the line of scrimmage.

Speaker 4 And God, like you could hammer teams. If you get up a score or 10 points, this offense is built to choke the life out of you if you want it to, but they just haven't put themselves in that spot.

Speaker 2 They're so inconsistent. And Dan, to your point about my fervor around New England, they have beaten the Dolphins, Panthers, Saints, Titans, and Browns, and the Bills game.

Speaker 2 But it is fair to say that New England needs to pass more tests before I start running around the streets.

Speaker 1 I buy it. I buy the Patriots.
I absolutely do. And I think that those whispers around A.J.
Brown or them, they should absolutely be aggressive and bring in more talent and see if you can do it.

Speaker 1 Um, uh, yeah, I think this story that I've come to expect them now at this point. The only games that they've lost, they kind of blew also when you look back at the early season struggles they had.

Speaker 1 Steelers game, it's like what version of the Falcons shows up, and I'm so sick of asking that question on the show for years and years, but let's see which does. Um, all right, one more quad box.

Speaker 1 Let's see if Justin is ready to talk this time. Looks looks good, looks like he's ready.
Okay,

Speaker 2 all right, I got two

Speaker 6 options here that stand out to me. I'm not gonna pick Broncos Texans because the Texans are boring and I don't want them in the quad box.

Speaker 1 So, I'm gonna do this every week. What are you gonna pick? Yes, I don't know.
What is the deep thought process behind this?

Speaker 6 All right, I'm slightly nervous to get a violation, but I'm going to put the Panthers at Packers in the quad box because

Speaker 6 I want to see these 1923 uniforms that the Packers social media team can't shut up about. And I also want to see which version of, you talk about the Falcons being hot and cold.

Speaker 6 I want to see which version of the Panthers shows up in this game as well.

Speaker 1 So that's my story.

Speaker 1 I'm going to confer with the other two gentlemen on the show.

Speaker 1 Quad box violation, yay or nay. It's not so much the game, guys, that I'm worried about with this.
It's more he's citing

Speaker 1 these uniforms as the reason why it should be in the quad box, which feels like that maybe is not. Where do you guys come down on this?

Speaker 2 Might have buried the lead if there's other things about the game that intrigue him or anyone.

Speaker 2 I would say that picking fourth, there weren't a lot of other picks, but to go with uniforms as your heart's desire for this contest is a little sketchy.

Speaker 1 Okay, Connor, you decide it.

Speaker 4 I don't think it's a violation. And I mean, as we confirmed, you know, 10 minutes ago, this kid is high as a kite right now.
So it's one of those things where maybe colors, uniforms.

Speaker 4 He might spin out.

Speaker 4 Well, yeah, colors, uniforms, different things with like textures, I think, just appeal to him more in this state. And so we have to just let him go a little bit.

Speaker 1 And you've been to many, many, many dead shows, many fish shows. Like, you've seen your share of bad trips, I'm sure, Connor, maybe been on a few yourself.

Speaker 1 We don't want to do anything with our producer to put him down a dangerous road like that, you know.

Speaker 4 Yeah, if we'd yanked it out of the quad box, it'd be like the time at a string cheese incident. I thought my legs turned into rocket ships.
And you don't want that.

Speaker 1 All right. There you go, Justin.
Congratulations. Do you have any images of these helmets? If you do want to lead with that as a driving force for watching this game,

Speaker 1 I'm a little bit annoyed because what happens on this show is inevitably I'll come down on these uniforms and then I'll be hit with criticism like, okay, Boomer. And it's like, nah, bitch.

Speaker 1 I was the generation where throwback uniforms were invented back in the 90s when they first did it for the league's anniversary year in 1994. I love different uniform combos um

Speaker 1 but painting

Speaker 1 i don't know man like

Speaker 1 painting the likeness of a leather helmet onto a real helmet yes it strikes me and this is one of those things where i know connor's gonna have the exact opposite take but i'm just gonna roll anyway it strikes me as there's this line between cool and dumb as hell and we crossed the line we just crossed over the line to a really stupid looking helmet and and now we're going to have to stare at it for three and a half hours.

Speaker 1 Connor, your thoughts?

Speaker 4 No, I'm 100% in it.

Speaker 4 If you know, there was like the big reclaimed wood trend a few years ago. And I remember like everyone was putting like barn wood everywhere.

Speaker 4 But then there were the places like home goods and, you know, the kind of your budget home decor shopping places. And they would do like the engineered plastic reclaimed wood and it looked hideous.

Speaker 4 And there's just a slight difference, right?

Speaker 4 It's a slight difference between real leather and painted leather on a helmet but one looks really cool and authentic and one feels like you're getting stabbed in the face by like a dental instrument and so i feel like that's where the packers have come down on it just doesn't like that was that setup connor was like tell me that you're a settled-down father and husband in the suburbs without actually saying it outright when you're mentioning i literally have i have no idea what you're talking about right like when i mentioned you guys are off on your own little furniture discussion i have no idea what you're discussing at this point.

Speaker 1 All right. Any other thoughts on this game, Justin,

Speaker 1 while we're here?

Speaker 2 So

Speaker 6 Dave Canalis was asked this week, a reporter made a really nice observation that Rico Dowdle has been vastly more productive than Chuba Hubbard.

Speaker 6 And Canalis was asked about this on Monday, and here is what he had to say.

Speaker 1 I've been saying this for two weeks, too. Okay, go ahead.

Speaker 7 You know, Chuba has meant a lot to this organization, certainly to the identity that we wanted to build our team on, and wanted to give Chuba the opportunity to go out there and to continue to impact our team in a positive way.

Speaker 7 We cannot ignore the fact that Rico has been exceptional, you know, in a couple of games and then in the opportunities he's had over the last two weeks. You know, he's made some excellent plays.

Speaker 7 Love the tempo and violence that he's running with.

Speaker 7 And these are all things that we're talking about and working through this week as we look back, you know, on these last four games and really taking a snapshot of what's been successful for us.

Speaker 7 You you know, these are conversations that we do definitely have.

Speaker 1 Kudos, kudos

Speaker 1 to Dave Canales because he handled it exactly the right way.

Speaker 1 And if you don't know, it's a little thorny, obviously, because Chuba Hubbard, who has played very well under Canales, he was rewarded with a four-year contract extension with the Panthers last November.

Speaker 1 It was actually a year ago, next week, reportedly worth $33.2 million, $15 million in guaranteed money, which is the type of money you give to a running back if you love the running back, right, in this modern landscape of the NFL.

Speaker 1 And for Dowdle to play so much better while Hubbard was hurt, I understand why Canalis did it. He said, all right, he's healthy now.
He's our dude. He's a foundational player for us.

Speaker 1 I want to try to split the load. But then after two games of seeing that your running game has not been as good,

Speaker 1 having the guts to say, all right, we're going to go in this other direction. And Mark, we're going to tell the media in clear terms.

Speaker 1 And I imagine he had the same conversation with Hubbard before that. So I'm into it.

Speaker 2 I like Canalis. I think it was a good answer.
I sometimes feel like these coaching answers are like chat GPT, but like he covered the bases there.

Speaker 2 And it's a tough spot because I think if you want to, you've got to ride at running back, you just ride the hot hand.

Speaker 2 That would just be what I do in any video game I played, anything I do in life with that. It's like, go with Rico Datto.
Like, why take him off the field? But it's a tough stitch.

Speaker 2 You're the Panthers. It's not too tough.
You're not really a big part of the story, but

Speaker 1 yeah.

Speaker 1 We should get back. I think we're going to get back, Bryce Young, I believe.
Anything latest on that, Justin, as we record?

Speaker 1 Because Andy Dahl didn't look like he was it, obviously, in that game.

Speaker 1 All right.

Speaker 1 Let's see. And the Packers, I want to see if the Packers can stomp on an opponent that they're better than because they've been playing down to their opponents.

Speaker 1 Let's see if Green Bay can do the thing.

Speaker 6 Yes, Bryce Young, full participant on Wednesday, expected back. I am starting the Packers defense in fantasy, though.
Micah Parsons, NFC Defensive Player of the Month.

Speaker 1 He's a good player. Good player.

Speaker 2 Voted on by anonymous league executives.

Speaker 1 All right, stay right there. And when we get back, we do some primetime talk.

Speaker 12 What's good, y'all? It's Vaughn Miller, Super Bowl MVP, SAG Master, and now your host of Free Range. This is where NFL meets real talk.

Speaker 12 Every week, I'm bringing you inside the game, from locker room stories to league-wide headlines you want football IQ locker room insight and real conversations with the people shaping the league welcome to free range with von Miller where nothing is off limits and every down counts new episodes every Wednesday listen and follow free range with me von Miller wherever you get your podcast you know I bought a lot of glasses over the years and I used to think you had to choose between style comfort or price Turns out, you don't.

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Speaker 1 Thanks, Mark. I appreciate that compliment.
You're welcome. All right, we are back.
No baldy this week. So, Connor,

Speaker 1 if you would hold off on your sandwich. How are we doing on the sandwich preparation? I know there's been a lot of heat around who's going to produce the package.

Speaker 1 Your wife doesn't necessarily want to do it. I don't even know if you reproached her on it.
Did you approach your wife about the sandwich?

Speaker 4 We've talked about it because there's something at one store that she goes to that's very specific to the sandwich that she has to get. And she got it.

Speaker 4 And I'm not going to lie, I ate most of it without making the sandwich. And then the rest of it, I was like, I'll save to make the sandwich.
And then it expired. It's got a very short shelf life.

Speaker 4 It's a very delicate product. And so on Sunday, we're going back to that store.
Well, she's going back to that store

Speaker 1 while

Speaker 4 I'm grinding some tape. And she's

Speaker 1 for those that might not know, Connor has a very special sandwich that he likes to eat during our baldy segment.

Speaker 1 And he's going to, or the plan was that he's going to put that on video, the preparation of the sandwich, which a lot of people out there want to know because they want to try Connor's sandwich.

Speaker 1 And it looks like positive progress, Mark. It looks like we're moving in the right direction.

Speaker 1 It does.

Speaker 2 It does. But we're talking probably about a two and a half minute film production that has taken on the scope of like Ishtar eyes wide shut at this point in terms of production production issues.

Speaker 2 Like, I don't, this was a request that came about a month ago, and we've got expired foods as part of the cast.

Speaker 1 So, yeah, a little bit troubling. All right, let's get to primetime football in our league.
Let's start with Sunday night football.

Speaker 1 And,

Speaker 1 you know, again, let me, I don't want to, I don't want to understate it. I love Sunday afternoon football, and I'm very happy the Chiefs Bills is the late afternoon window game.

Speaker 1 Yes, keep Sunday afternoon special in the NFL. And so they had the control, and obviously it's part of their deal with CBS.

Speaker 1 The CBS wants a couple bangers and a big spot, and that's the biggest, right? So we get Seahawks at Commanders, Sunday night football. You know, I love it.

Speaker 1 I'll be watching my boy Sam Darnold shredding Washington's jacked-up defense. Great stat.
I have a great stat, Mark, to get us into this one about

Speaker 1 none other than Jackson Smith N'Jigbo, who is, there is not a wide receiver in football who's taken a bigger leap this season than N'Jegba, who came into the league as this guy that was like a you know a slot merchant, you know, that type of player, but he's so much more with Sam Darnold.

Speaker 1 In fact, here is his average depth of target this uh via uh Dalton Wasserman of PFF

Speaker 1 in his three seasons, rookie year 6.4.

Speaker 1 2024, last season, 9.2.

Speaker 1 This year, 13 yards average depth of target. And Sam Darnold is letting it rip and finding Smith Njigma over and over again.
And I don't know who stops him on this Washington defense.

Speaker 1 This could be a 160-yard type game with a couple touches for JSN.

Speaker 2 I think you're right.

Speaker 2 The back half of Washington's defense, their defense in general is a little questionable right now. I mean, in Jigma, they just made a decision because let's get rid of Tyler Lockett.

Speaker 2 Let's get rid of DK Metcalf because we believe in him a much, in his much to do this. And Darnold's fit the bill.

Speaker 2 And I think if you look at the Seahawks in general, they've got the second highest DVOA in the entire league. And they've been top four for like a month.

Speaker 2 And it speaks to Mike McDonald and the roster construction and just how complete they are on both sides of the ball. They've got...

Speaker 2 the third best point differential in the league, which is, I think, a stat that matters. And this is a very complete team.
And I feel like there's a tipping point for teams.

Speaker 2 Like we've been talking up the Seahawks. You two, I understand that came a little earlier than I jumped on the train.

Speaker 2 But the tipping point where like everyone's talking about the Seahawks like five days from now. Like everyone is, because this is a legit NFC title contender.

Speaker 4 That's why we have number three in the power rankings.

Speaker 1 Ba bang.

Speaker 1 Correct. Ba bang.

Speaker 1 Your thoughts on this game? That's why I do.

Speaker 4 Again, I mean, you can.

Speaker 1 Oh, you used the Royal Lee for yourself? That was. Yeah, yeah.

Speaker 2 Yeah. It's Connor and his staff over there.

Speaker 4 Yeah.

Speaker 1 So I, I, by the way, they ever change the spelling in that current article on your name. They ever fix that, edit? No.

Speaker 1 I went out of my way and I called him out on Twitter. I used my,

Speaker 1 yeah, my, I, I didn't hear anything from you like, hey, Dan, that was a class act by you, but that's fine. Like, I got up on my soapbox and I got after him.

Speaker 2 That's the only factor here that matters. Dan didn't get a thank you.

Speaker 1 Well, no, like a little, if Connor would have shot me a note and say, hey, man, I saw that you, you know, called him out on my behalf.

Speaker 1 that's cool dude that's that's awesome that's a dad hands this shout out

Speaker 4 um i you know

Speaker 4 it did feel like for the first time i i had i had an older brother you know and that was nice and uh you know so but i was ignored as well

Speaker 1 so it was just like another f you to the show basically but beside the point anyway um tom curran get the spelling right all right and that's and that's and that's that all right go ahead buddy um yeah i mean i think that the commanders actually

Speaker 4 think that there were some ingredients of defensive improvement last week, and I think that they have some under-the-radar guys that are popping, uh, especially on the defensive line and the defensive end.

Speaker 4 But the back end of this is the problem, and this is where Seattle is just going to be able to tear you apart consistently.

Speaker 4 I'm dying, like, it does it get bad enough where you have someone like Marshawn Lattimore, where he becomes almost expendable before the trade deadline, and someone wants to take another flyer on him.

Speaker 4 I don't know. I mean, could it get to that point? That's what I'm I'm kidding.

Speaker 1 Benched. Yeah.

Speaker 2 One thing, hey, Seattle, how about no, don't do the four-turnover thing at the end of the game like you did last time against the Texans. That won't work against Texas.
We don't like Texas.

Speaker 1 We can talk about that fourth quarter.

Speaker 1 The double mighty night fourth quarter. You're right.

Speaker 2 Stretched on deep into the night.

Speaker 1 We don't need it. Is Jaden Daniels playing in this game?

Speaker 6 Yeah.

Speaker 6 Seems like it. He is.

Speaker 1 Good.

Speaker 1 And it's getting late early for the Commanders. They really, really need to win a game that, quote unquote, they're not supposed to win.
And they have to find a way, Connor.

Speaker 1 Like, I think this is, and I always,

Speaker 1 even though I like the Seattle team a lot, I always keep an eye on the Ravens were this case last week, right?

Speaker 1 When a team is really back against the wall and absolutely feels like they need a win, and I think they're close to that point, I like to pick that team.

Speaker 1 And for that reason, I might have the commanders in this game, especially if Daniels is indeed on the field.

Speaker 4 This is a very personal matchup for me because I was very early on the Commanders Could Regress train and it made me sort of a target for DC area radio. And

Speaker 4 there's a YouTube clip that addresses me specifically and also spells my name wrong that

Speaker 4 I watch frequently.

Speaker 4 I watch from time to time and I'm planning a response for when it's very clear that I've been proven right. And so this is this is a very important week for me.

Speaker 1 Yeah. See, it's not just me, Sess Dog.
You know, everybody's setting up how to clear their own personal grievances.

Speaker 1 And I can only imagine what the ore man's cooking up, the A-bomb he's looking to drop on the Washington media and their fan base.

Speaker 2 It's going to be delivered with power

Speaker 2 in that nation's capital. I mean, Connor, are you at the point where maybe

Speaker 2 you spelled your name wrong?

Speaker 2 Like, no one anywhere seems to agree with whatever you've done with the spelling of your name.

Speaker 1 I mean, in there, and it says Mark with a C.

Speaker 2 Yeah, but I get my name name spelled wrong like 400 times a week and I got it. You got to live with it.

Speaker 4 I think I will find agreement with our international brothers,

Speaker 4 our wonderful fan base abroad. Connor with one N is a first name.
Connor with two N's is a last name or part of a last name. That's how it's always been.

Speaker 4 I don't understand why we don't know what it is.

Speaker 1 Under Connor during this monologue, please. Right.

Speaker 2 Look at him building allies all across the globe there.

Speaker 1 All right. Finish this point.
There you go, Connie.

Speaker 1 Long ago.

Speaker 4 I just, you know.

Speaker 1 No, you're good. You nailed it.
Yeah, okay. And I do like when you'd reach across the aisle or across the Atlantic.
I like when you do that because we haven't.

Speaker 2 Which has now happened once.

Speaker 1 Yeah, we have a substantial overseas following. And like

Speaker 1 you picking fights with Europeans and others is something we're trying to wean you off a little bit. So good.

Speaker 4 It's very strategic. When and where.

Speaker 1 When when and where yep it is but it's a little bit of a you know what it is sassy i know you you did this in camp happiness uh when you were a swordsman by the lake i did all sorts of things

Speaker 1 uh it's a little carrot in the stick you know it's that old it's a mystery from the um the book you know he's yeah he's nagging he's doing these things but it only makes the overseas listeners more intrigued, more attracted to Connor the more he puts them down, puts down their culture, puts down their football games.

Speaker 1 You know what I mean?

Speaker 2 Yeah, no, it's a little cat and string on stream.

Speaker 2 We've all done that before, and what it generates on like online and on like our subreddit, like a lot of Connor-esque posts where you've got a lot of Brits and Scottish and Norwegians and people from Belgium all fired up, like Connor does not understand us.

Speaker 1 But it's like, well, you know, I've had my fill of Connor or.

Speaker 2 Well, they love when we do this, too.

Speaker 1 He does not respect us,

Speaker 1 and nor do we him.

Speaker 1 Stiff upper lip.

Speaker 1 It's like the least attractive British person ever, right there.

Speaker 1 Monday night football, the number 26 Arizona Cardinals.

Speaker 1 Bleh. Two and five at the number 18, Dallas Cowboys.
Three, four, and one.

Speaker 1 Buck and Aikman on the call. And, you know, Aikman's always

Speaker 1 got a little pep in his step when he gets to call his beloved Cowboys.

Speaker 1 Thankfully, Jonathan Gannon

Speaker 1 said he expects Kyler Murray to return this week. And here's my thought on this one, because, you know, my feeling on the Cardinals.

Speaker 1 If the Cardinals and this

Speaker 1 GD quarterback, Kyler Murray, can't find a way to score 30 points, I'm asking for 30 points against this Cowboys defense. If you can't do that,

Speaker 1 I don't want to hear anything from the Cardinals.

Speaker 1 I don't even need need you to win the game because the Cowboys, I understand the Cowboys' offense is awesome, although I know your defense is maybe a little bit underrated, but I don't need you to win, Arizona.

Speaker 1 What I need you to do is entertain. What I don't need is those Kyler Murray first halves where it's just like, dude, why are we punting for the fourth time in the last five possessions?

Speaker 1 Get into a flow, gain some confidence, score touchdowns, give us a shootout on Monday Night Football because I will not stand, Connor Orr.

Speaker 1 I will not stand for another one of these games where the Cardinals get their ass kicked and then they score a couple touchdowns in the fourth quarter and everybody's stats look okay, but the game was bad and the team is terrible.

Speaker 1 Like, go for it and maybe even win a game and try to save your season a two and five on a five-game losing streak.

Speaker 4 I mean, you say Kyler. I don't even know if it's going to be Kyler, right?

Speaker 4 I mean, I was just looking at some of the practice reports from Arizona, and Kyler and Jacoby Brissette have split reps each of the last two days. And then here's the funny one.

Speaker 4 So this is Darren Urban, who I believe covers the Cardinals for the Cardinals. Let me just confirm that.
Yes, he covers the Cardinals for the Cardinals' official website.

Speaker 4 Kyler Murray was scheduled to speak today, but the announcement was made that the Cardinals' quote quarterback, unquote, will be available later this week.

Speaker 4 And so, not specifically Kyler, but whoever is the starting quarterback is available later this week.

Speaker 1 And Justin right now is playing the clip. Tyler Drake has

Speaker 1 Cardinals practice. They're splitting reps with the main pass catchers during the open portion of Thursday practice.
That was one hour ago. So yeah, good call there, Connor.

Speaker 1 Is there something cooking? There may be something cooking behind the scenes in Arizona around the quarterback and the coach. And that might turn into a big story this weekend.

Speaker 2 I mean, would you ever move? I've always wonder if he's a trade candidate. I think that's not the case now.
I think he's probably just not healthy. That's obviously the case.

Speaker 2 I will say the Cardinals, I get it. They're annoying.
They're visually annoying.

Speaker 2 From a product angle, they're annoying. From a results angle, they're annoying.
But they have lost five straight games by a total of 14 points.

Speaker 2 They play close, but this is against a shattered secondary.

Speaker 1 I'm with you, Dan. Like, go do it.

Speaker 1 Yeah.

Speaker 1 Bad teams find ways to lose games. Here's a chance to...
The Dallas defense, there are some...

Speaker 1 Shithouse defenses in the league this year. Dallas absolutely is a case to be the worst.
Score points. Marvin Harrison, give me 120 yards.
Trey McBride, score three times.

Speaker 1 Not just for my fantasy team, for yourself, son. And Kyler Murray or Jake Brisket,

Speaker 1 throw the pill around the yard and turn that game into a shootout.

Speaker 1 All right.

Speaker 1 Moving on. The other ones.
It's not our fault are here. And it's not your fault either.
It's their fault.

Speaker 1 90 seconds for each of these games that we missed. Let's start with the number 15 Bears, 4-3 at the number 24 Bengals, 3-5.

Speaker 1 Speaking of injury issues, Joe Flacco has an AC joint sprain in his throwing shoulder. He was on field for Thursday's practice.
I don't know if he was a limited participant or full participant.

Speaker 1 We'll find out later.

Speaker 1 But we are firmly, Connor, in Jake Browning territory again. I hope that doesn't happen.
Flacco has made the Bengals entertaining, if not successful.

Speaker 4 Yeah, I mean, and if not, this is going to become a slippery slope because as uneven as the Bears' offense has been, I mean, the Bengals are, what, 30th in the league in EPA against the Rush?

Speaker 4 And even though, again, the Bears are 27th in rushing offense, they've had games where Swift has popped off. When Menangai has gotten loose, that's going to be one of those games.

Speaker 4 I mean, I can almost write that in stone, especially if Flacco is not there to at least extend some drives and get that defense off the field for extended periods of time. I mean,

Speaker 4 we need one more game where like Flacco does something cool and then gets to walk off the field and do the cute dad things. And like, I can't get enough of that stuff.

Speaker 4 And I need one more week of this.

Speaker 2 Yes, he's sort of like the only visually exciting part of the Bengals. Like, Trey Henrickson did not practice on Thursday.
They have the worst width and one of the worst four-man rushes in the NFL.

Speaker 2 So it's an opportunity for Ben Johnson and the Bears to

Speaker 2 basically end the Bengals. If they lose this game, they are done in my mind.
They are gone from my mind.

Speaker 1 And, you know, on the Ben Johnson tip, Caleb Williams, his lack of whatever it is, fundamentals, accuracy, it's a tough watch because you see how it caps Ben Johnson's offense, especially when you compare it to how the attack operates with an elite, accurate pocket passer like Jared Goff, for instance.

Speaker 1 And I know he's at the top of the shelf with that type of thing, but you see how the frustration I would imagine behind the scenes of Ben Johnson watching the tape and being like, I had this, I had that, I had this, but you don't have it all because there's just too much scatter shot with Caleb still.

Speaker 1 All right.

Speaker 1 The number nine Denver Broncos, six and two at the number 19 Texans, three and four. I want to start this one out, Mark, with a little graphic.

Speaker 1 Through 25 career games, Broncos quarterback Bo Nicks has the fifth most touchdowns of any player to come into the league in the last 10 years. No, just kidding.

Speaker 1 He has the fifth most touchdowns, 52, of any player in NFL history.

Speaker 1 Bo Nix

Speaker 1 can play ball, and I think he'll continue to do it against D'Amico Ryans and the Texans. But a good test here: Peyton versus D'Amico.
Fun.

Speaker 2 Yeah, it could be like the lowest scoring game of the week.

Speaker 2 It shapes up that way. And I think Nick's just

Speaker 1 all these rookies. Even the graphic I throw up, Ceci, about Bo Nicks, it's still, oh, this could be the lowest scores game of the week.
We will give the man some respect.

Speaker 2 I give him respect because I'd say he landed with the perfect coach in a good situation. His college experience was an example of why that matters.

Speaker 2 He's a little older. He was prepared, and you've got a great defense.
But the Houston defense, for as putrid as that offense has been to watch, has been awesome this season.

Speaker 2 So I think it's a big test for that Broncos offense as well. And it's like, if you are Houston, even without Pat Sartan, like the Broncos, I think, might destroy Stroud in that offense this week.

Speaker 2 It's going to be a rough watch for that offense.

Speaker 4 Bo Nix, I think you touched on it before, Dan, but there's a stat called catchable throw rate. He's still in the bottom five of the NFL.
Wait until he gets cooking.

Speaker 1 This thing's going to hum. Yes, he's just scratching the surface, I think.
I think he's a star. Nico Collins, we'll see if he plays in this game.
That's a big part of this. He is practicing.

Speaker 1 Last time these teams faced nine for 191 and a touch. You know, we talk about Thomas in Jacksonville.
The Houston Texans could use Nico Collins. His yards per separation per route is down this year.

Speaker 1 He's been banged up. They need him to be the dude.

Speaker 1 Up next,

Speaker 1 the number 12 San Francisco 49ers, 5-3 at the number 25 Giants, 2-6. I feel sorry.
I never say this. I feel sorry for Giants fans.

Speaker 1 The season was getting so exciting, and you just keep on getting these stomach punches. The Cam Scataboo injury is the latest one, obviously.

Speaker 1 And you have Tyron Tracy, who hasn't been as good or as decisive or as good a fit in the offense as Scataboo was. So that's a big setback.
And Connor with the Niners is like, same thing.

Speaker 1 New week, same shit. Is Brock Purdy playing? Is Ricky Piercell playing? Is Brendan Ayuk playing? Like, who's playing? Who's on the field? Can they get it going?

Speaker 4 Robert Sahl is one of my favorite people in the world. And after sticking his foot in his mouth with

Speaker 1 the whole sign-stealing thing, he said this week that I'm going to kill you to another coach. Yes, that one.

Speaker 4 He said that Jackson Dart was so good that if he was Brian Dable, he would have screamed at the concussion Doctor Two in the blue tent.

Speaker 1 It's a pretty good line.

Speaker 4 It's a really good line. And, but I do think that this is...
Now, I was surprised when they didn't torture C.J.

Speaker 4 Stroud a week ago, but I think that this is a bounce back game for the 49ers defense because, I mean, Dart at this point

Speaker 4 is just going to be, they're going to sell out to stop him on the run. And they have lots of pieces that can still do that.
A lot of athletic guys.

Speaker 2 It's crazy how different they are without Scatterboo. Like, they're just, they feel different.
And, right, he's going to be.

Speaker 2 The targeted guy. And, I mean, the Niners, though, you have no Nick Bose at this point, no Fred Werner.

Speaker 2 They're not the same defense, but maybe this is a different type of situation, but they're compromised.

Speaker 1 I mean, can we talk about the Giants as a disappointing defense? We know that they've had terrible luck with injuries on the offensive side of the ball. This team is 30th in EPA per play.

Speaker 1 They're also,

Speaker 1 they've allowed more explosive plays than any other defense in the NFL. They give up 27 points a game.

Speaker 1 Like, this wasn't supposed to be what we were worried about with the Giants this season, and yet it is. That's why you're hearing a lot of calls for the D.C.
to go bye-bye.

Speaker 2 and for christian mccaffrey like because saquan barkley goes off um an hour after i traded him in fantasy but the giants allowing 5.73 yards per carry the worst by any team through eight games since 1959.

Speaker 1 shane bowen in the crosshairs in new york uh texar lawrence too

Speaker 4 yeah did you see the lawrence carl banks heat this week so i've been on the opposite end of carl banks heat before um and it's not a good place to be uh it really isn't he has he has like the imagination or the love or the adoration of giants nation and if you step into that furnace you uh your ass is going to get toasty in a hurry so okay yeah banks was uh banks was on the 86 team he was on the 90 team so there's an entire

Speaker 1 generation of guys from north jersey and New York that will die for Carl Banks. In fact, it makes me think of one of my favorite

Speaker 1 those posters, those great posters that they rolled out in the late 80s and early 90s.

Speaker 1 It was a theme of like Goodfellas with it was Banks, LT, maybe Leonard Marshall, all in like the parking lot at the Meadowlands, like Goodfellas.

Speaker 1 That's special team. But I would have sided with you, Connor Fat, and I would have sent out a social media posting.

Speaker 4 And I would have thanked you this time. I thought that our relationship was close enough where it was understood, but now I will make that public.

Speaker 1 It's special to see. It's special out there, yet, but it's getting so close.

Speaker 1 Up next, the number 14 Chargers, 5-3 at the number 32 Titans, 1-7, Tom McCarthy and

Speaker 1 Ross Tucker. Our buddy Ross Tucker on the call.

Speaker 1 Justin.

Speaker 1 Hi. Go ahead, buddy.
Go off, guys.

Speaker 2 Max Poetic.

Speaker 6 We can skip this game.

Speaker 1 We don't really want to do this one.

Speaker 6 The Titan, the best bet of any week for the last two years is for the Titans to not cover a spread. I won't spoil our blind locks by telling you the spread, but the Titans are not.

Speaker 1 I imagine it's more than, yeah.

Speaker 6 Yeah, it's outside the zone. The only thing working in the Titans' favor is the Chargers have to travel across the country and play in an early window, but nothing about the unproven matchups

Speaker 6 would tell you that the Titans have any hope to do anything in this game.

Speaker 1 Can we, here's like a thing, Connor.

Speaker 1 Can we start to ease the pedal off the accelerator on this team how to travel to the other side of America, given the conditions that these players, and thankfully, they deserve to be treated the way they are in terms of air travel and hotels and massage and PT and everything.

Speaker 1 I don't think that's going to be the difference in this game. It's not 1982 anymore.

Speaker 2 It's a fly on Saturday.

Speaker 1 FedEx DC cargo plane where you're just holding on to a strap across America or like major league where they're taping the propeller with electrical tape to get across on their road trip.

Speaker 1 You know what I mean?

Speaker 4 This is a take so good that it makes me mad that I didn't have it.

Speaker 4 And I remember doing a story once about the 49ers health and wellness and even like they travel with red light therapeutical bands around their joints on planes. So yes, I'm not.

Speaker 4 Yeah, I don't think they're worried about it.

Speaker 1 Titans are cooked, brah.

Speaker 1 All right.

Speaker 1 Keep rolling, taking a break.

Speaker 2 We keep rolling, Justin.

Speaker 1 We keep rolling. Let's keep rolling.
Fun. Okay, speaking of blind locks,

Speaker 1 we're at that time of the show.

Speaker 1 We're at that time of the show. First of all, let's check out the

Speaker 1 standings. Oh, look at Connor Orr.
He is locked in. One R.
I mean,

Speaker 1 two R's in Orr, one N in Connor. He's five and three.
The Zuzzer is on a bit of a slide right now.

Speaker 1 I need a win.

Speaker 1 I feel like the commanders right now, if Justin built the board, it's correct. That's the way I look at it.

Speaker 4 Because I lost last week.

Speaker 2 Right.

Speaker 1 And I beat Connor on a one-on-one.

Speaker 6 You were five and two.

Speaker 1 And I was three and four.

Speaker 1 Holy shit. Wow.
So it's all right.

Speaker 1 You better believe it. I believe it is.
Yes. Never a doubt.
Never a doubt, my producer. Connor, five and three.

Speaker 2 There was open doubt there, but sure.

Speaker 1 Sessler, four and four.

Speaker 1 Gravy in a deep slump at three and five. And here we go.
Time to make our lucks. Now, if you are unfamiliar with this, we do not know the spreads of these games.
And

Speaker 1 if you pick a favorite and

Speaker 1 that favorite is five points or more in terms of lay in the wood, it doubles in terms of what you've covered.

Speaker 1 I don't want to do that anymore. It's stressful to me.
I did it with the Jets last week and the Bengals and it just made it

Speaker 1 less fun watching that game. So I'm not doing that.
I'm just going to say that. Instead, I'm going to pick a team that's going to just win.

Speaker 1 I'm going to ride with it. I don't believe in the Cardinals, and I think the Cowboys are their team like this.
The

Speaker 1 audience I'm doing a roller coaster they're up they're down they're up they're down I think they're gonna be up this week they're gonna score a lot of points and they are going to boat race a Cardinals team that's already thinking about Cancun

Speaker 2 like that

Speaker 1 what do you guys got how about you Mark

Speaker 2 um

Speaker 2 God I'm looking at these I feel like there's a lot of huge spreads I'm gonna go I'm hoping this is because there are Colts over Steelers

Speaker 1 Taking the road, dog. All right.
I like that. That's an interesting spread.

Speaker 1 I think the Colts at seven and one are going to be favored, but I would imagine it's going to be inside the danger zone for you. It will be close.

Speaker 2 Yeah, it'll be close.

Speaker 1 I'm going to say three and a half. Let's come back to that.
How about you, Connor?

Speaker 4 The Cardinals, Cowboys, one is fascinating to me because see, Jerry Jones told the Wall Street Journal this week that he'd made like $100 billion on some insane thing.

Speaker 4 And he said, that's why I haven't been fixing our defense.

Speaker 1 And just like like a flagrant

Speaker 4 lock off baby so come on baby as much as i as much as i would like a lock off i think what i'm going to do is bet on the fact that because it might be mac jones and because the 49ers are traveling cross country i think that spread will still be manageable and so i want 49ers uh over the giants

Speaker 1 oh that's interesting okay i see where you're going with that i think they

Speaker 1 have to be under what five if it hits five it doubles the 10.

Speaker 1 No, I think you're good there because I think Vegas respects the Giants at this point, even with Scatterboo. I think they respect Dart enough as a home team.

Speaker 4 No, I'm nervous.

Speaker 1 You know, San Francisco, they have to fly all the way across America, which we know is a problem. But

Speaker 1 okay, Justin?

Speaker 6 All right. You guys know because I've talked about it, I hate being locked bros because it does, it's not as fun to me to get a win with somebody else.
But this is the game I had picked picked out.

Speaker 6 I need a win sitting here in last place, and I think that this offense is just truly unstoppable, especially against this older, slower defense. So, Mark, let's ride together, baby.

Speaker 6 Give me the Colts over the Steelers.

Speaker 2 Ride with you, but you've just described it as not as fun and you don't want to do it, but you're reluctantly joining me in this.

Speaker 1 Sessler Gravy, strange bedfellows. I like this.

Speaker 1 An uneasy alliance. Put it that way.

Speaker 1 Well, I didn't choose it.

Speaker 2 Also, I didn't choose it. I didn't choose my partner.

Speaker 1 It would be funny to maybe I'll rule change this one. I'll start.
I'll get in the lab on this one, Connor.

Speaker 1 Should I cook up something where one can reject?

Speaker 1 You get one opportunity to reject a Lockbro.

Speaker 1 Well, I mean, I just like the,

Speaker 1 that will sow some seeds of disconnect. In fact, that's it.
I'm announcing it. Rule change.

Speaker 1 You get one opportunity in a season to reject a lock bro and uh mark do you want to use yours against justin right now you don't have to obviously i'm just giving you the option you know what it's a long season

Speaker 2 and the other thing i think is if i lose he also loses

Speaker 2 so i'm gonna you put this in my back pocket for a week where i'm truly agitated by this smart Because also you might need it for strat.

Speaker 1 You might be a game out at the end of the season and someone tries to lock bro with you, just knowing then you can't gain on that person. that's like I could see Connor doing a move like that.

Speaker 1 So then you can kick him out of there. Because you know, Connor would do anything to win these competitions.

Speaker 2 I know he will.

Speaker 6 May I ask a point of clarification?

Speaker 1 Absolutely, Justin. Go ahead.

Speaker 6 Since I go last on a weekly basis in this exercise, is it like the person who jumps on as the bro? Here we go.

Speaker 1 Here's what I want you to do, Justin. Here's what I want us to do here: effective next week.
Yeah. We're going to line up

Speaker 1 these picks with our draft. That way, we'll have a rotation.
Everyone will be similarly opportunities. And that's just, I like that.
That's a rule change that everybody can get behind.

Speaker 2 Yeah, it only took us till week 10 to figure out

Speaker 2 how to change this out.

Speaker 1 Sorry, I didn't hear that, Mark. I was too busy hearing rule change.

Speaker 2 I said it only took us until week 10 to figure out how to functionally work on this.

Speaker 1 All right, good stuff. All right, let's see the spreads.
Let's see if anybody got banged.

Speaker 1 Yeah.

Speaker 1 What do we got? Yeah, there you go. So let's see.
Let's see. Indy, I said three and a half.
It's three.

Speaker 1 Giants are getting two and a half points from San Francisco. Dallas is getting two and a half.
That defense. You know, Vegas is like, we want to give more, but we can't.

Speaker 1 I mean, it's just, there's nothing you can do here. It's two and a half.
And we're all good then, right?

Speaker 4 I really like the, I don't, I don't gamble. And maybe I should say this on mute so that Justin doesn't go ahead and place a bet here, but the Rams don't blow teams out.
You know what I mean?

Speaker 4 And so like a 14-point spread is kind of tasty in that one if you're like, look at the Saints actually.

Speaker 1 It crossed my mind earlier this morning during the research portion of this Thursday. I was like, should I just get behind the Rams knowing the Saints could, it could be apocalyptic?

Speaker 1 But I didn't think it would get that high. Minus 14 in our game, that would have been a 28-point cover, which I can't go there.
No one can.

Speaker 4 Look at their games. Like they beat the Titans by 14 was, I think, their biggest margin.
Well, and then the Jaguars blow out, but that was in London.

Speaker 1 So,

Speaker 4 okay, they've won some 14-point two 14-point games. All right.
Maybe not.

Speaker 1 Maybe not. Shut up, Connor.

Speaker 2 And, you know, the other factor is the Saints, but yeah.

Speaker 1 Yeah, and that is a real factor.

Speaker 1 The one other thing I want to point out is

Speaker 1 Minnesota, Detroit, you know, nine months ago, 10 months ago, were both, what was it, 14 and 1 or whatever, playing 15 and 1, playing for a division on Sunday night football.

Speaker 1 Flash forward to week nine, and Detroit is laying eight and a half points on the Vikings. So a heavy favorite in that game.
Let's see.

Speaker 1 Let's see if the Vikings can get off the mat and make a statement. All right.

Speaker 1 Good stuff. Fun.
We have fun. Remember, the sister program to this their draft,

Speaker 1 This There preview is the week nine draft, exclusively available on Patreon.

Speaker 1 In fact, just to let you know how the sausage gets made, as soon as we wrap this, we roll right into the draft in terms of our taping schedule.

Speaker 1 And then Justin does his great job getting it all nice and pretty and puts it up first thing Friday morning. So be part of the revolution.
Be a hedonist.

Speaker 1 Join us over on patreon.com/slash heed the call. And remember, the subscriber challenge.
We're trying to get up to 26,000 subscribers by Sunday.

Speaker 1 Please do what you must to support us because we need to.

Speaker 6 We are well over that number, actually. They came in that 10 hours.
It was crazy.

Speaker 1 Wow, I love this. I love it.
Thank you so much. We thank you from the bottom of our hearts.
Let's go higher. Let's go 26,500

Speaker 1 500 by the week nine recap Sunday night. We'll see you then.
Mark, final words for the audience.

Speaker 2 If we don't get to 26,500, you will be punished.

Speaker 1 To the dungeon. You go to the sassy dungeon.
But maybe you want to go there.

Speaker 1 Maybe you want to go. All right.
Till Sunday night. Heed the call.

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