NFL Week 13 Preview: Thankful for Football!

Speaker 1 Here's the issue, Mark. You and I are aging, and

Speaker 1 it's hard to stop that.

Speaker 2 Nope. It's problematic.

Speaker 1 So we can't do the things like we used to do, which is like, you know, stay up late at the bar, then go get a burrito, and then wake up four hours later, and everything's fine.

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Speaker 1 Are you curious why I punched the door?

Speaker 2 Yeah, I was going to say that's

Speaker 2 a different conversation. But, you know, if you've got Terra Origin, I'm sure that you're going to be able to get your way out of that mess.

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Speaker 5 I'm going to take the number 30 Saints at the number 21 Dolphins and

Speaker 1 Congratulations!

Speaker 1 Oh, Justin. Justin has spoken.
What was he supposed to do, Justin?

Speaker 1 Heyo!

Speaker 1 Welcome to Heed the Call an NFL podcast. I am Dan Hanses,

Speaker 1 joined by Mark Sessler, a beautiful co-host, Gravy on the Ones and Twos.

Speaker 1 It's a special week in the NFL. It's Thanksgiving week.

Speaker 1 And we have a special show planned, Ceci.

Speaker 2 You're beautiful, too.

Speaker 2 I just want to say that at the top of the show.

Speaker 1 I'm not Vrabe's beautiful. I mean, after what happened Monday night, you were just...

Speaker 1 It was erotic the way you were describing Mike Vrabel. And that bothered me because I've never heard you talk about me in that way.

Speaker 2 You're different type. You're two different types of men.

Speaker 2 You both have your

Speaker 2 positives, your skills.

Speaker 1 But I'll never level up. And that's...
I have to deal with that. That's the messaging.
We have so much to get to today.

Speaker 1 I can't just

Speaker 1 dwell on petty grievances and jealousies of Zaddy Vrabel up there in New England.

Speaker 1 We're going to get to all of the week 13 games a day or earlier because obviously with the holiday here in the States, Thanksgiving on Thursday.

Speaker 1 We're going to get you a full preview of the three Thanksgiving games, which are all kind of bangers on different levels. And then every team is playing this weekend.
So we have so much to get to.

Speaker 1 But,

Speaker 1 oh, and I also want to add that you're going to get this show. Obviously, you're listening to it right now.
You're watching it right now. Friday morning at 11 a.m.

Speaker 1 Eastern, 8 Pacific, a different time overseas. You figure it out.
We will be live streaming on YouTube our Thanksgiving recap of those three games. So you can get that reaction immediately.

Speaker 1 And then it will show up in podcast form later in the day. So I feel like that's something to be excited about.
But that's not even Mark the thing to be most excited about.

Speaker 2 Not, not, not at the top.

Speaker 1 I have a damn announcement.

Speaker 1 I should say, we have an announcement.

Speaker 1 Yes, we do.

Speaker 1 Justin.

Speaker 1 We've been doing a lot of shows.

Speaker 1 Gravy's tired.

Speaker 1 Okay.

Speaker 1 Big announcement.

Speaker 1 Ah!

Speaker 1 make it go away.

Speaker 1 Get up.

Speaker 1 Get up.

Speaker 2 14-piece band.

Speaker 1 Three words.

Speaker 1 Read my lips.

Speaker 1 Merch is here. Hit it again, Justin.

Speaker 1 Yes.

Speaker 5 The merch

Speaker 1 has arrived.

Speaker 3 Oh boy.

Speaker 1 Right now, head over to heedthecallpodcast.com

Speaker 1 and the heed gang has a whole line of t-shirts, hoodies,

Speaker 1 pint glasses, coffee mugs. And Ceci, it's just the start.

Speaker 1 This is a project we've been working on for a long time, months and months, in partnership with Cold Cuts, a great company

Speaker 1 based out of Philadelphia, showing that I don't have any anti-Philly sentiment in terms of business dealings.

Speaker 1 But we put a lot of effort into the design of these shirts. We hope you like them.
There's more to come. And this is an exciting day for the show.

Speaker 1 Because, Mark, literally, people have been asking for merch from this show or our old show for over a decade. And now that day has arrived.

Speaker 2 Yeah. And I mean,

Speaker 2 we started our own business here doing the show, you and I and the rest of the crew. And this was another part of it and part of the vision.
And you're right.

Speaker 2 I mean, I remember sitting at NFL Network with Wes, and we were coming up with handwritten ideas for merch. But then you're like, you can't do it there.

Speaker 1 You can't do it there. We can't do it now.
You can't do it at NFL meetings.

Speaker 2 There's a lot you can't do.

Speaker 1 You only see that more the further you get away from it.

Speaker 2 You do. I mean,

Speaker 2 if you are on YouTube, you took a quick glance at what we're offering. But if you go to the site, I think we went out of our way to create stuff that we would wear ourselves.
And it's got a lot of,

Speaker 2 it's very personal. We put a ton of time into it.

Speaker 2 And it's just the beginning.

Speaker 2 Like, this is kind of like a, I hate this business term, but like a living, breathing document, because as things happen on the show and as fashion, you know, we're fashionable people.

Speaker 2 So there's going to be new waves of merch. It's high quality.

Speaker 1 I like high quality gear.

Speaker 1 We wouldn't design something unless we would wear it ourselves. There's Mark getting to wear a shirt with an image that he hand-picked of himself, which you know it's a very special process for Mark.

Speaker 1 I mean, we might not ever see Mark in a different shirt than the Quiet Storm shirt currently at HeedtheCallpodcast.com, exclusive

Speaker 1 merch. And let's bring in Connor Orr.
Connor is involved with the rollout.

Speaker 1 Probably my favorite shirt in the batch is a heroes shirt that has Connor Orr. We've been alluding to this photo shop for this photo shoot for a couple of months, Connor.

Speaker 1 You actually sitting on the TNC pre-owned as part of a group collective shirt that we have. So big day for the show.

Speaker 5 I'm just glad it's really for something and you guys just didn't want it just to have it in

Speaker 5 like a distant part of your iPhone.

Speaker 1 Like a private folder. Connor photo shoot.
Yeah. No, it's real and it's spectacular.
And again, if there are things that you want us to be producing and put on that site for purchase, let us know.

Speaker 1 Like whether it's in the comment section or on the subreddit, like this, again, this is something we're kind of planning to roll out shirts,

Speaker 1 you know, seasonally, perhaps. Every few months, something may pop up in the shop.
So we hope you enjoy what we have there so far. And just know it's just the beginning.

Speaker 1 And thank you to everybody because part of the motivation was, again, years and years and years of the hedonists

Speaker 1 telling us they needed something to wear that reflects their love of the show. And we hope that we've given you some good options now.

Speaker 1 All right. With that said, what a moment.
Oh, baby.

Speaker 2 And one little nugget that I thought was hilarious during this process was the initial hero show, our shirt with the four of us.

Speaker 2 Connor's license plate was included.

Speaker 2 We had to have that edit it out.

Speaker 1 I cleaned that up. So we've tried to make sure

Speaker 1 everything is buttoned up. And obviously, the process of you going to the website.
And if you choose to make a purchase, we're working with a company that we know and trust.

Speaker 1 And hopefully with the holidays right around the corner, you can get some merch for the hedonist in your life, even if that's for yourself.

Speaker 1 There's nothing against buying Christmas gifts or any type of gift for yourself.

Speaker 2 Because the hedonist would be self-focused typically.

Speaker 1 Absolutely. All right.
Without further ado, let's get into

Speaker 1 week 13 and let's start with Thanksgiving. Like we said, I can't remember.
I'm sure there have been weeks where there have been or seasons where there's been Thanksgiving

Speaker 1 games that have been of the equal or even better. But this slate is really, really good because even the game, like the late game that has a Bengals team that seems adrift, they get Joe Burrow back.

Speaker 1 So when we'll get to that, but let's go in order. Let's go chronologically and start with the 10 a.m.
game. And yes, I did say 10 a.m., Connor.
I don't know if you picked up on this.

Speaker 1 The NFL did make a tweak to their scheduling, pushing that, it used to be customarily a 12.30 start, now at 1 p.m. Eastern.

Speaker 1 The Green Bay Packers,

Speaker 1 7-3-1,

Speaker 1 traveling to Ford Field to face the 7-4 Detroit Lions. Massive implications, Conman, on the NFC North.

Speaker 5 Yeah, I mean, and I hate to keep, I think I took a little heat for saying that I wasn't entirely sure that the Packers would make the playoffs in our last episode, but I do think that this is a show your onions game for Green Bay.

Speaker 5 It's not as hard to run all over a broken Vikings team or to have Micah Parsons, who has been phenomenal all year, but look like the most elite pass rusher in the league against J.J. McCarthy.

Speaker 5 I mean, that's just an adrift team right now, whereas the Lions you have coming off of this miraculous win against the Giants.

Speaker 5 And I think a Lions team that has yet to unlock their deep passing game, their deep passing game is awful. And I think that that's on the docket for Dan Campbell.

Speaker 5 So I would be on the lookout for that.

Speaker 1 I mean, to that point,

Speaker 1 Mark, like Jameson Williams didn't have a catch in week 12.

Speaker 1 And just when we thought, oh, Dan Campbell's taking over the playbook and we're finding a way, this is a team that still hasn't unlocked him fully.

Speaker 1 And he really is the game breaker in the passing game.

Speaker 1 Amon Rosset Brown is the all-all-knowing, complete wide receiver, but there's still there's still a ways to go.

Speaker 1 But I say that at the same time that they had 500 yards of total offense in that Giants overtime win. The defense also gave up 500 yards and that's not good enough.

Speaker 2 Yeah, it's not.

Speaker 2 And they, you know, Dan Campbell's mentioned Jameson Williams multiple times as a focal point, as if that was going to tangibly change. So that was not the performance you wanted to see.

Speaker 2 That said, Jameer Gibbs, who

Speaker 2 is an absolute force of nature, and this is the kind of game where you can see him just continuing to play the way he's played, is averaging 9.5 yards per carry and eight targets a game since Campbell took over play calling.

Speaker 2 So that part is working.

Speaker 2 I will say one thing: that the Jeff Hafley defense has shut down

Speaker 2 Amon St. Brown to some degrees.
He's had about at most like 50 yards per game in the three encounters with Green Bay's defense. So I want to see how this works.

Speaker 2 But the biggest question for me is like Green Bay, I think we have

Speaker 2 a healthy suspicion of their offense. And it's time for this offense to wake up.
And if it's not now, it's not, when is it? Because both of these teams are looking up at the Chicago Bears.

Speaker 5 I still go back to

Speaker 5 with the Lions, just one more note on that, on that offense.

Speaker 5 I have never seen a team fail to capitalize so much on their deep playmakers with such a high percentage of play action

Speaker 5 plays, right? I mean, like, and you look at it, it's like, are they playing off of that? Are they working off of Montgomery and Jameer Gibbs?

Speaker 5 Yeah, outside of, I think, only Matthew Stappard and Caleb Williams, and there's your Ben Johnson connection, Jared Goff has the third most play-action throws in the NFL.

Speaker 5 And I just, I can't understand why it's quite like this at this point in the season, but you have to imagine that

Speaker 5 this is what they've been searching for. This is the blank space in all their minds.

Speaker 1 Yeah, and Jordan Love is, he plays a time safer brand of football, but it's working.

Speaker 1 I mean, ultimately, they're in a very good spot, and they have a half game in hand because of that tie earlier season against the Cowboys.

Speaker 1 And if they can go into Detroit and win this game, They are the favorite going down the stretch with the opportunity to win that division.

Speaker 1 And I think the Lions entered this even after the Parsons deal. I think a lot of people would have slotted the Lions as the team to beat in this division.

Speaker 1 I just think it's such an interesting game because kind of like the Bills in the AFC, the Lions to me are similar in the NFC where it's just like your season kind of sputtered out in the playoffs last year and it was supposed to be your year.

Speaker 1 And now you're just trying to grind through this regular season and put yourself in a good position to take another crack at a Super Bowl run in January.

Speaker 1 But just like they came very close to falling a 6-5.

Speaker 1 I need to see the Lions play better football.

Speaker 1 And I know that's not, it's easier said than done, but they have not been as clean as an operation or consistent as that we've seen in the last couple of years. Remember, they were 11-1

Speaker 1 last year when they beat the Bears on Thanksgiving Day in 2024. This game is very important for

Speaker 1 America's team, like America's new team. Everybody loves the Lions.

Speaker 2 I think to your point of it, is this the best Thanksgiving slate that we've covered together is that the Lions for so long were, and to your point, you were right, you were on this beat for a while that the Lions maybe needed to be removed from automatic Thanksgiving Day inclusion, but that's changed.

Speaker 1 So this game is,

Speaker 2 this game is massive, but I think the timing of it being on Thursday, like if you're Green Bay, they are pretty banged up. Matthew Golden, Josh Jacobs, we'll see how healthy he is.

Speaker 2 Jaden Reed, they've got two cornerbacks and a linebacker and a defensive tackle who were all questionable to play. So it may be a spot for the healthier team of the two to dominate.

Speaker 2 And the Lions are a different team at home.

Speaker 1 Yeah, it's a brutal time of year to be on a short week as you start to really kind of get into the dog days of the regular season. But Thanksgiving week is just different.

Speaker 1 And with that said, let's move. That's the number nine Packers at the number five Lions, by the way.
Great game. Top 10 HTC power rankings matchup.
Let's now move to another great matchup.

Speaker 1 The other thing I like about these games is that the action of week 12 enhanced these games.

Speaker 1 So for instance, the number seven Chiefs, six and five, finally getting off the schneide and finding a way to win a close game, beating the Colts in overtime, travel to Dallas to face the, I don't know, the obligatory America's team.

Speaker 1 But this year, the number 14 Cowboys are a lot of fun to watch, and they are coming off their best win in a long time.

Speaker 1 I'm talking multiple years when you have the Eagles, the defending champions, the big bad Eagles in your building and you spot them 21 points points, and then you just shut their asses out for the rest of the game, come back and win the game, send Philly into hysterics.

Speaker 1 It doesn't get much better than that. So the Cowboys at 5-5- and 1 are in a very, very excited place.
4.30 p.m. Eastern on CBS.

Speaker 1 You're not going to believe it, but Tony Romo is calling this Patrick Mahomes game on Thanksgiving. Very possible, Connor.
His head explodes.

Speaker 5 I think that's part of it, though, right? Like, I was thinking about this not only about Tony, but I saw like a couple Rex Ryan clips this week, and he's just going berserk on everything.

Speaker 5 And it's, he sounds like me writing in like mid-November where you're just, you're just running on pure hatred.

Speaker 5 And at some point, there's only so many things that you could say about Tony Romo before you just verbally melt into like a liquid popsicle form. And I'm starting to sympathize with him.

Speaker 5 Like, I always cross the Rubicon. I make fun of everybody harder than everybody else, but then I try to be the first one to catch them on the other side and nurture them.

Speaker 5 And that's what I'm going to try to do with that.

Speaker 1 There was a couple of moments, and I'm with you.

Speaker 1 There's no sense piling. Ultimately, he's just an announcer.
It's like, it's not what we're really here for. But

Speaker 1 there was a period in the Chiefs Colts game where he really felt a drift in big spots, including

Speaker 1 there was an OPI for

Speaker 1 on Travis Kelsey that negated a big Chiefs completion.

Speaker 1 And almost reflexively, in defense of, I guess, Patrick Mahomes' offense, he was like, Jim, I'll tell you what, this is the worst call that you'll see all year.

Speaker 1 And, you know, it kind of looked like Travis Kelsey did commit a penalty. And then sure enough, it cuts to Travis Kelsey hitting himself on the chest saying, yeah, I did that.
I did that.

Speaker 1 As our announcer, the guy that's supposed to be no one more plugged in or giving us the real eyes and ears on the field is saying the opposite, essentially.

Speaker 1 And that wasn't even, there was a couple moments in like a 15-minute period, Connor. I think you and I were texting in real time as it was happening.
It's like, is Tony? Okay, like, where's Tony?

Speaker 5 So there was that. And my God, how bad does a penalty have to be? And it wasn't bad, but like, how bad does a penalty have to be for a player to admit to it, especially on the Chiefs of all DM teams?

Speaker 5 But it was after that, too. There was the critical fourth down situation where Tony was like, I would go for it.
And Jim's like, really?

Speaker 1 And then

Speaker 5 they ended up not going for it. And then he was like, nah, I wouldn't have gone for it.
And then like two minutes later, he's like, I would have gone for it.

Speaker 5 And you could tell, like, Nance is kind of like, what do you want me to do with the pieces that you're dropping into my lap right now? Like, I can't function with the way that you're acting.

Speaker 1 That was the exact moment I tweeted that this is, that Jim Nance is counting down the seconds to the masters right now.

Speaker 2 That said, and I do, they do seem like there's a bit of a disconnect, but money aside, I would hate to be

Speaker 2 an analyst these days because you are getting destroyed left and right, no matter what what you do. It's just, it's, it's Twitter, it's like the online social media, the coverage of it.

Speaker 2 It's like long gone are the days where there were only like eight of these guys that anyone knew and they were treasures. They were holiday treasures.

Speaker 2 Now it's like your Thanksgiving is swallowed up by being destroyed on X.

Speaker 1 Yeah, but that's not everybody. Like, and Awful Announcing put out their announcer rankings for 2025.
And some guys consistently do well. Romo's been trending in the opposite direction.

Speaker 1 And again, very limited amount of

Speaker 1 mercy on my end. Like when Peggy said to Don Draper, like, and you never say thank you.
And then Don goes, that's what the money's for.

Speaker 1 It comes with the territory of making 20 million a year.

Speaker 2 I know, it just seems, it seems like a terrible time to,

Speaker 2 it's an ugly add-on compared to days of old.

Speaker 1 All right, let's get to the game. Let's dig into the game.
I want to start here because just like everyone thought Rashi Rice would be an unlocking agent in the Chiefs' offense.

Speaker 1 He has been that and more.

Speaker 1 And so many big spots in that comeback against the Colts. It was Mahomes finding Rashi Rice.
And Rashi Rice was doing it late in that game on a bad leg. In fact, it's a hamstring injury.

Speaker 1 Again, because of the holiday and everything, we're taping a little bit earlier than usual. So

Speaker 1 where we stand now, he was a limited participant in practice as we record this on Tuesday afternoon.

Speaker 1 So keep an eye on Rice because you take him out of that. That's going to be a big loss for the Chiefs, even against the bad Cowboys defense.
But at the same time, I say bad Cowboys defense, Cesi.

Speaker 1 They didn't look so bad shutting down the Eagles in the second half. And with Quinnon Williams all of a sudden playing at an all-pro level again, Mike Collum,

Speaker 1 and some of these pieces in the back end even coming together,

Speaker 1 they all of a sudden don't look like a total pushover. I want to see if that carries over in this game.

Speaker 2 It's an interesting matchup because the Chiefs,

Speaker 2 who typically kind of grind it out on the ground, they rank last in the league in explosive runs. And the Cowboys have allowed 100 yards on the ground in the last two games.

Speaker 2 And they're third in pressure rate since trading for Quinn and Williams. So yeah, like it's working.

Speaker 2 I mean, if you kind of look at the Cowboys' journey over this entire year, it's like you traded for George Pickens, who is second in the league in yardage right now.

Speaker 2 That worked. Quinn and Williams worked.

Speaker 2 Like if the Micah Parsons thing feels like it's sort of moving away as like a real knock on them at this point, their defense has been better the past two weeks.

Speaker 2 So if you can take away an element of Kansas City's game, it becomes an interesting matchup because I don't, I think that Kansas City, you can't count on explosive plays at this point.

Speaker 5 The really interesting part about this is obviously Dallas's run defense became fantastic. I think they went from bottom, like 28th or 29th in EPA against the run to a legitimate

Speaker 5 top three team against the run. It's funny, the Jets are one slot better than them in those, that three-week window since they've gotten Quinn and Williams, which is weird.

Speaker 5 But you also had like Siobhan Revelle and you had Malik Hooker. You get all these guys back in your secondary.

Speaker 1 And the real miracle here or the real

Speaker 5 season-altering thing that's happened for Dallas is the improvement of the secondary, the drastic improvement of the secondary.

Speaker 5 Like Revell was giving Devonta Smith all he could handle in that game as a rookie third-round pick. Hooker is solid, a veteran.

Speaker 5 And I think they've gone up to something like 15th in EPA against the pass. And that, to me, is the game changer.
You're no longer a Civ.

Speaker 5 Now, do I think Kansas City still has the edge in that matchup? Yes, because they had Sauce Gardner and Charvarius Ward last week, and they still broke them down.

Speaker 5 I think they will break down Dallas, but that's been the big change here.

Speaker 1 I wonder if this game is going to be

Speaker 1 more low scoring than people expect with Dallas and his defense playing better at home with Rashi Rice, maybe not himself in this game, with Kansas City's ability to flummox even the best offenses when things are going right.

Speaker 1 I kind of see that. Let's pick this game.
I kind of see this as I think Kansas City is going to continue to play close games.

Speaker 1 I see that going in a similar direction here. I'm going to say 23,

Speaker 1 21

Speaker 1 Chiefs.

Speaker 2 I think

Speaker 2 Trey Smith, the Chiefs' right guard, dealing with a high and low ankle sprain right now, which is not a great combo.

Speaker 1 What about the middle? Middle's perfect, though. Incredible middle ankle right now.

Speaker 2 The middle would be perfect.

Speaker 1 It's not that bad.

Speaker 2 That's a factor in this. I really think it is.
I think low scoring sounds right to me.

Speaker 2 I'm going to go

Speaker 2 21-20, Kansas City.

Speaker 1 I'll just be.

Speaker 5 I mean, why not, right? I mean, I like the idea of, we've had some of these great possession-by-possession games where they just look drunk from first instance.

Speaker 5 Maybe this is one of those where everyone's just a little loopy and excited for the holidays. So let's go like 35-30 Chiefs over the Cowboys.

Speaker 1 Okay. Go the other direction.
Classic Conman. I like it.
All right, let's.

Speaker 1 Move on to the final game of the Thanksgiving schedule. It is the primetime game.

Speaker 1 As I alluded to, it's the

Speaker 1 one game with a team that has a losing record. But listen, the number 24 Bengals

Speaker 1 got a lot more interesting because Joe Burrow's back. He's finally

Speaker 1 after foot surgery to repair that toe.

Speaker 1 He's coming off IR after missing two plus months. And he's in a nearly impossible place right here because the Bengals let him down as they always do.
They go three and eight.

Speaker 1 They're at three and eight as he returns.

Speaker 1 They have to essentially win out and has to start on the road in Baltimore against the number 13 ravens at six and five uh let's get into this conversation to rico and collinsworth on the call uh let's get into this conversation with chase brown

Speaker 6 on joe burrows return and the the uh unusual amount of hype around the return of one man i mean it'll be crazy it'll be crazy i don't know i don't know everybody's like making it seem like it's gonna be like this big like dark knight rises return or something like that but it could be.

Speaker 1 I like that. And by the way, do you remember what happened in the summer?

Speaker 1 Probably my favorite sound bite of the year was, and it was under unfortunate circumstances.

Speaker 1 It was after a primetime game for Burrow last season where they finally win a close game and then he's told by a Bengals staffer, oh, by the way, during this game, your house was ransacked and robbed.

Speaker 1 And so he canceled his planned purchase of an authentic Batmobile, Batmobile, leading to

Speaker 1 a multi-million dollar multi-millionaire star professional athlete speaking in very sad tones about the loss of his Batmobile purchase.

Speaker 7 And true that that was the impetus to cancel the Batmobile?

Speaker 1 Yeah.

Speaker 1 Yeah, that was...

Speaker 1 You know, that's, I didn't end up getting the Batmobile because,

Speaker 1 you know, i just had other

Speaker 1 other things i wanted to deal with at that point

Speaker 1 i mean that's an snl scary

Speaker 2 that's that does not feel real to me but

Speaker 5 can we anyway burrows back burrows back connor well okay yeah can we and this is going to get twisted into like connor thinks joe burrow sucks and that's the complete opposite of what i'm about to say but okay can we remember how joe burrow was playing before he got hurt and second, I mean, he tends to, guys, take a couple games to warm up into the flow of the season.

Speaker 5 Joe Burrow was 25th in EPA per play among all quarterbacks over the first two weeks of the season.

Speaker 5 Quarterbacks who had better first two weeks than Joe Burrow, Tua Tungavailoa, Spencer Rattler, Russell Wilson. I'm just saying, like,

Speaker 5 let's just.

Speaker 1 This is a special

Speaker 1 Hall of Fame level quarterback. And when you bet against those guys, Connor, they have a tendency to make you look bad.
That's all I'm going to say.

Speaker 1 You don't be surprised if he throws four touchdowns in this game. And that's the story.

Speaker 5 But I'm just, but the fact that we're just like, we always copy and paste like

Speaker 5 peak heat map Joe Burrow over whatever ails the rest of this team. And I'm just saying, like, he sometimes takes a couple

Speaker 1 up into the flow of it. It's fair.

Speaker 1 It's a very small sample size set against the backdrop of a greater career, including last season, which I thought was maybe the best NFL season ever for a quarterback trapped on a horrible team.

Speaker 1 I just think, I think he's, I don't know, he elicits emotions in me like Mark talking about Mike Vrabel in a hot tub. Like,

Speaker 1 I just think he's so special that

Speaker 1 one. He just thinks that, I just think he's so special that he's someone that immediately adds a massive amount of juice, even in a lost Bengals season.

Speaker 1 And I'm really excited to see how the Baltimore team handles that because the Baltimore team hasn't really been tested in the ways I've wanted them to be tested even during this winning streak.

Speaker 2 Well, they also have held six straight teams to 19 points or fewer. Their defense has improved.

Speaker 2 To Connor's point, like just look at the slow starts for the entire Bengals offense and team during the beginning of seasons when he hasn't been in preseason action or in camp.

Speaker 2 And I don't know, like it's, there's a presumption that Burrow is going to jump in and save the day. Flaca was playing pretty well.
This offense was functioning pretty well.

Speaker 2 It's not like suddenly, you know, the offense comes alive. And also, you know, I think the other problem is the defense hasn't changed.

Speaker 2 And Batman in a Batmobile shows up before the crime to prevent it. The crime has already happened.
Like, this team is essentially gone, I think.

Speaker 2 And so I don't know what quite what we're expecting him to do unless they run the table.

Speaker 1 Batman's not a minority report guy where he's like using software to see into the future. Batman comes and cleans up the business.
He fights crime, though.

Speaker 2 He doesn't show up after the crime and then decide like, hey, he gets here two hours late.

Speaker 1 Who are terrorizing the common people? And it is the common people of Cincinnati who have been terrorized by the rest of the Bengals defense.

Speaker 5 I'm not going to nerd out.

Speaker 1 Do it, do it, Jeff. Do it, Gunner.

Speaker 5 But legitimately, the point of the Dark Knight was when Lucius Fox gave Batman the power to put together everyone's cell phones in Gotham so that he could scan everything.

Speaker 5 And then he was like, This is too much power in one man's hand. So there was an anticipatory

Speaker 5 element of that.

Speaker 1 So just alert, you know,

Speaker 1 geek.

Speaker 1 Geek.

Speaker 1 Praise movie. On the Ravens side, by the way, now, again, short week, brutal time for short weeks in the NFL calendar, late November.

Speaker 1 In addition to, I think, knee,

Speaker 1 hamstring, hamstring,

Speaker 1 now we have an ankle, I think, designation for Lamar. Is it ankle or foot? Toe.
Toe. Toe.
And I don't like toe stuff. Look at Joe Burrow on the other side.

Speaker 1 And it helps to explain what we were talking about on Sunday when he was lackluster against the Jets. This guy is not feeling good.

Speaker 1 And I think I'll be, especially on a short week, what version of Lamar do we get? Do the Ravens have the explosiveness?

Speaker 1 If Burrow does come back and spark this offense, of course, Jamar Chase is back from suspension. we know that T.
Higgins is out, obviously, with the concussion.

Speaker 1 But can Lamar get into a shootout if that's what this game turns into?

Speaker 5 You know, who else? Miles Murphy of the Bengals. Remember that forgotten first-round pick?

Speaker 1 He's had quietly like a really good last few weeks.

Speaker 5 And if you have a hobbled Lamar with a toe injury and you have a pass rusher on a heater, that can change everything. Just keep an eye on it.

Speaker 1 All right, let's move to the final weekday game of the schedule. It's on Black Friday.

Speaker 2 Do we like this trend?

Speaker 1 No. No, nobody does.

Speaker 2 I will say one thing.

Speaker 2 You know who likes it?

Speaker 1 The NFL likes it because it's another giant dangling participle for

Speaker 1 them to make money off of a major streamer, in this case, Amazon.

Speaker 2 I'm not asking if they like it because we know what they like and they're going to get it. But

Speaker 2 if you look at the schedule, and this is really particular just to us,

Speaker 2 we do a show Friday morning and then you can watch this game and we don't do anything until Sunday. It's like the one game each year we're like, we're just free to go watch it.

Speaker 1 Yeah, but I'm going to be hanging out with my family. I'm actually going to

Speaker 1 watch it. After we like do all this work this week and then there's Thanksgiving.

Speaker 1 I'll have to go catch up with this game on Game Pass or whatever because

Speaker 1 Friday is a day where just chill. But I'm not going to complain.
Let's just talk about the game. Black Friday, number 11 Bears at number four Eagles, two 8-3 games.
Al and Kirk on the call.

Speaker 1 Al is coming off a Thanksgiving dinner, Sessler, where he's got turkey and all sorts of types of meats. No vegetables, none at all.

Speaker 1 So he won.

Speaker 1 And his tummy will be filled with wine also. So we're going to get maybe a feisty Al on this call.

Speaker 1 Another great game and a great test for the Chicago Bears, who are outside the top 10 of the power rankings for a reason, despite the fact they've been one of the hottest teams

Speaker 1 in the league. We've kind of been waiting for this moment to see what they would do against against the big-time Eagles team coming off a very humbling loss.

Speaker 1 Scary time to get the Eagles at home in primetime.

Speaker 2 I think it is too, because this feels to me coming off of an embarrassing loss for Philadelphia, like a

Speaker 2 Vic Fangio fever dream forming here where it's like...

Speaker 2 Just, because I think the Eagles are becoming a team that are very easy for people to hate and want to go away on some level, but their defense is not going away.

Speaker 2 So it is a massive moment for Ben Johnson, for Caleb Williams.

Speaker 2 Like they've been tucked away in a lot of early Sunday affairs where it's like we're hearing reports of what Caleb Williams is doing, but he's not out there on island games yet.

Speaker 2 This is a huge moment against the Eagles. And if they can continue to do this, win another game and stay on top of the rest of that division.
Like, again,

Speaker 2 they belong in our top 10. And it's like Caleb Williams has been pretty hot and cold, but he has grown.
He has changed. And the whole offense is changing.
So it's a big test for the Eagles.

Speaker 2 If the Eagles lost this, like that city is going to go nuts.

Speaker 5 Yeah. I mean, Nick Siriani, I think just today was defending.
Kevin Petullo reiterated that he's going to remain as the play caller. But on that defensive front, the Eagles' secondary is beat up.

Speaker 1 They're beat up right now.

Speaker 5 And I feel like Chicago is peaking, not only just in terms of the running game. I mean, they lead the league in pass-block win rate at this point.

Speaker 5 Caleb Williams has time, but he's playing efficiently within a system.

Speaker 5 We got Colson Lovelands kind of finally finally really finding his own niche in this offense, and everybody seems to be maximized to some degree. And so that's where I'm looking.

Speaker 5 It's like, what are you going to do without some of your best players in that secondary where Fanji likes to move them around, put them in the right matchups?

Speaker 5 You're not going to be able to do a lot of that against Chicago. And Ben Johnson will eat you up.

Speaker 1 Did you know that despite their 8-3 record, the Bears have a negative point differential? So

Speaker 1 there's reasons to be wondering about them. And, you know, I'm interested to see.

Speaker 1 I was thinking about that primetime game a couple weeks ago when the Eagles just, and this game is actually not in primetime. It's a 3 p.m.
Eastern kickoff in Philly. But

Speaker 1 everyone in the audience will be incredibly drunk. They'll get ahead of it.

Speaker 1 I know the one thing that our Philadelphia NF sports fans will make up. It's like, okay, the game's starting at 3, not 8.
Okay, that means I have to start drinking at 9 a.m., not 1 a.m. 6 a.m.

Speaker 1 You know, that's what I mean. Like, yeah, maybe earlier.
But

Speaker 1 yeah, thinking about what the Eagles' pass rush did to Jared Goff. Now, Caleb Williams, as we talked about, not always graceful, not a ballet dancer back there, but

Speaker 1 he does a good job evading the pass rush, extending plays. And I think this is another great test for Williams, who I think has passed a lot of tests overall this year.
He's not a perfect quarterback.

Speaker 1 I mean,

Speaker 1 I think they set a goal of having a completion percentage this season above 70%.

Speaker 1 He is, if I'm not mistaken, well beyond that. Yeah, his completion percent right now is at

Speaker 1 59.2%,

Speaker 1 but he's done a good job, just four interceptions this year. And I just want to see what he looks like, again, in a hostile road environment.

Speaker 1 If he's getting heated up by a pass rush, he can make a major statement if he could lead the Chicago offense to success.

Speaker 1 And then on the other side, and we talked about it already, but like Philadelphia got really embarrassed in that Dallas game, not only allowing the Cowboys to come back the way they did, but the offense just disappearing in the second half.

Speaker 1 I usually don't like these spots. If I'm a Bears fan, I don't like playing a team that I know is really good coming off an embarrassing loss.
Absolutely.

Speaker 1 And I like the Eagles in this game a lot as a result. And some of that might be my, not anti-Bears, but like I'm still not a believer in the Bears.

Speaker 1 Like it sets up to me for a game that kind of reinforces Philly as a contender and maybe knocks down the Bears, a peg. But hey, man, it could go the other way.

Speaker 1 And then we're having a totally different conversation on Sunday.

Speaker 5 I think this is a game where Saquon Barkley needs to make something happen. And I'm sick of people just putting this all on Lane Johnson.

Speaker 5 I mean, Saquon Barkley, a lot of those runs were just otherworldly a year ago. And then we heard this offseason about how he's an artist now and a performer.

Speaker 5 And there's those athletes that cross the Rubicon where it's like, I'm this, you know, Shakespearean monolith, and you're here to see me just do my art for all of you.

Speaker 5 I mean, let's see some of that shit. I mean, he is, and PFF grades are one thing.
I think Tank Bigsby, who is also on the Eagles, is like PFF's highest graded running back of the year.

Speaker 5 Saquon Barkley's behind, he's like 70th. And some of this stuff is just not being spectacular, period.
Full stop. Like,

Speaker 5 let's get it.

Speaker 1 Let's go.

Speaker 2 And that was front and center against the Cowboys, a defense you would have thought a couple of weeks ago he could do that artistry.

Speaker 1 Yeah. All right.
Let's take a break.

Speaker 1 And when we get back, we will dig into the rest of the week 13 schedule, starting where we must start. The quad box.
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Speaker 1 all right we are back yes

Speaker 1 thursday preview games check

Speaker 5 friday preview game check

Speaker 1 now we move to sunday let's start the early slate of sunday games and if we start with the early slate you know what that means black box baby baby.

Speaker 2 I love his mustache. I love the way he speaks.

Speaker 11 RS is in the death pot now.

Speaker 8 Put on your socks and

Speaker 10 must be taking my balls.

Speaker 1 Somebody's coming after me.

Speaker 2 Of course, the mythical fans. Tyca.

Speaker 1 Okay, perfect.

Speaker 1 Oh my god.

Speaker 1 We are up to 23 timer is so good, Justin. and a half seconds as we have it time now and

Speaker 2 it's

Speaker 5 how do I put this

Speaker 1 this is now transitioned for me personally. I'm wondering where you guys come down.

Speaker 1 It went from something where it's like, oh, this is this is fun to this is a little bit crazy to now it's starting to feel a little bit dangerous.

Speaker 1 Like this this is starting to take up space, not just within our show, but the universe itself. Like I'm picturing the longer this gets

Speaker 1 and it spreads. Like, I could picture just entire coastlines falling off each side of North America.
And then inside my own brain, like, all of a sudden, oh, where memories disappearing.

Speaker 1 There goes my wedding day. Oh, the birth of my first child.

Speaker 1 Oh, my childhood dog. And it's just that number getting bigger and bigger and bigger.

Speaker 6 Yeah. And bigger.

Speaker 1 Anybody else feel that way?

Speaker 5 It's

Speaker 2 there's a perilous nature to it. I think that we're kind of waving our fists at the gods.
We're testing society's boundaries.

Speaker 2 We're only years removed from watching the world taken down by a toxic virus. And this feels up that same tree, Connor.

Speaker 5 I don't know if you guys remember like a couple of years ago, there were those the first videos of the MIT robots that were running on AI and they were learning how to like unlock,

Speaker 5 you know, unlock doors and like walk animals. And you're like, at some point, you know, we're just going to find them sleeping with our wives.

Speaker 1 And I feel the same about the podcast. Oh, look, it ran into a wall and it's stuck.
It's prone on its back.

Speaker 1 How funny it is. Look how stupid the machine is.
Like, hey, they're hearing all that too. Yeah.
You know what I mean? Yeah.

Speaker 5 They're coming for our wives.

Speaker 1 They're coming for our wives. All right, let's get into it.
Quad box, we pick four games from the early window.

Speaker 1 Let's see. Where do we want to start? Cesi, get us going this week.

Speaker 2 Well, it is an interesting collection of games. I wouldn't say there's it's not every week can be the same.
I'm going to go the number 16 Texans at the number 10 Indianapolis Cults.

Speaker 1 Good choice.

Speaker 2 It's a pretty fascinating matchup for Indianapolis because we just saw the Texans who feel like in the category of their offense is a bland watch, but they're a bit of a like a berserker item because of what they can do to anyone.

Speaker 2 I mean, to sack Josh Allen eight times, force three turnovers, and just look utterly dominant. So if you can go in, take away the run game in Indianapolis and put the game on

Speaker 2 the shoulders of Daniel Jones. Like, I don't know where we're at at this point.

Speaker 2 Like, is this, are the Colts the kind of team that get unmasked at some stage in this this, in this campaign where we're like, your record was shiny, but what you really are is something less.

Speaker 2 I just think it's like you've got to find a way to stop that pass rush. I mean, they seem almost invincible.

Speaker 2 And if they're on a heater that goes on for a number of weeks, like I don't like that for Daniel Jones on any level.

Speaker 1 It's almost like, Connor, like you have to negate the pass rush with a smart game plan that also maximizes Jonathan Taylor, which the Colts failed to do.

Speaker 1 And that's the main reason I thought they couldn't close out out Kansas City in a huge spot in week 12.

Speaker 1 Because, yes, if this becomes a game where Daniel Jones is being asked to drop back and throw 30-plus passes, I think bad things are going to happen eventually.

Speaker 1 And I don't want to ring the five-alarm bell on the Colts as phonies. I think it's too soon to do that.

Speaker 1 But I might not be saying the same thing if Houston cooks up the quarterback here and all of a sudden the Colts are tied in the AFC South of all places. Like, this is an important game for the Colts.

Speaker 1 It almost feels, even though it's the Texans that can least afford to lose,

Speaker 1 I feel like this is almost a more important game for the Colts to reinforce, even just in their own locker room, that we're those dudes.

Speaker 5 Right.

Speaker 5 And the other thing, too, is like, this is almost the inverse, Saquon, where Jonathan Taylor is consistently turning the spectacular or the mundane into the spectacular.

Speaker 5 And so there's no reason at this point, especially when I think Daniel Jones's drop back to sack ratio, I want to say is back to where it was in primetime Giants.

Speaker 5 I mean, you know, it was low for a long time. We are right back up to where he was before.
So some of those old tendencies are creeping back.

Speaker 5 It's almost like one of those games where you have to look like the early season Kevin Petulo Eagles, where I don't give a shit what's happening.

Speaker 5 This guy needs 40 carries, and you just kind of deal with it, right?

Speaker 1 I would do that.

Speaker 1 If I lose with Jonathan Taylor getting a Christian McCaffrey workload, I can live with that. Yeah.
I can't live with what happened in Kansas City in week 12.

Speaker 1 Anything else that we're looking for out of this game? CJ Stroud, what's the latest on Stroud, Justin? Do we have an update? Again, we're taping a little earlier this week.

Speaker 1 They kept him in concussion protocol on a short week. He's missed now three weeks.
All of them wins for Houston, of course.

Speaker 12 Yeah, I think there's a big misconception amongst NFL fans about how the protocol works. To get out of the protocol, you have to participate in a padded practice.

Speaker 12 Then you have to again see the independent neurologist. Then you have to participate in another practice.
And then you have to see the neurologist again. So Houston doesn't practice until Wednesday.

Speaker 12 So for now, there's a lot of hoopla made on the Twitter timeline today when D'Amiko Ryan said that CJ Stroud is still in the protocol. Well, of course he is.

Speaker 12 They haven't had a chance to practice since their last game. So

Speaker 12 we will find out a lot more on Wednesday about Stroud and whether or not he could come back this week.

Speaker 1 That was a completely off-the-cuff answer from Justin, and he just knocked it out of the park.

Speaker 2 That was prosaic, beautiful.

Speaker 1 The number 16 Texans at the number 10 Colts. That's a good one to get us going.
Justin, you're next.

Speaker 12 Thank God I'm next, man. I don't know if you guys have seen this slate.

Speaker 1 Yes.

Speaker 5 This is just continually pushing me down the ladder to

Speaker 1 set up. Yeah.
What do you say?

Speaker 5 Yeah. Go ahead, Justin.
Yeah.

Speaker 12 Okay. I'm actually going to take the San Francisco 49ers,

Speaker 12 number 12 in the power rankings, at the number 26 Cleveland Browns, 3-8. That was the first.

Speaker 1 Because,

Speaker 1 yeah,

Speaker 12 this is a good - I mean, this is an interesting one. The Browns' defense is, we know, so, so for real.
Brock Purdy coming off that Monday night, I would call it stinker, a lackluster performance.

Speaker 12 Like, can he bounce back in a big way against the defense? And, of course, Shador Sanders starting again. I know Dan doesn't care, but that's popcorn television, baby.

Speaker 1 I care.

Speaker 1 Let's see how he does. Yeah.

Speaker 2 Let's see. I think it is the second best or second most compelling game among these groups.

Speaker 2 It's a good pick because, you know, you're left with questions about, I don't think, I mean, I think Brock Purdy just is Brock Purdy.

Speaker 2 So I'm not like, to your point about not ringing the five-alarm fire on a team or a quarterback right now. It's like, I'm not, except like he is prone to these, these,

Speaker 2 these rough outings. And it was just a couple of years ago they played Cleveland and he was nullified.
It was in bad weather by that pass rush. And the pass rush has only gotten better.

Speaker 2 It's the same Jim Schwartz scenario that really damaged that Niners team back then. And so I think it's a weird thing.
If this were in San Francisco, I might feel a little bit differently.

Speaker 2 But I guess the question with Cleveland always comes down to: you don't know if you're going to get three points or 10 points out of that offense or more, not probably not more half the time.

Speaker 2 So it's like, do they have to just have Miles Garrett go out of control once again and basically throw the Niners into a blender?

Speaker 1 I feel a little different about the 49ers situation after Monday night, and it's still fresh as we're recording this. But

Speaker 1 as we know, Mac Jones, he might not have the payday commiserate with

Speaker 1 the starter, Brock Purdy, but he did have a really, really impressive audition in that offense. And he's also a player that we know from history that Shanahan always liked.

Speaker 1 And so they saw the operation really thriving. And I thought after the third interception, Connor, on Monday night, I was like, I wonder what it's going to take for Mac Jones to get into this game.

Speaker 1 So I'm not saying QB controversy here, but I do think this is not like

Speaker 1 a situation like in Minnesota where you don't even have a backup to turn to.

Speaker 1 Shanahan has that lever to flip if he wants. I don't think he will, but Brock obviously needs to clean up the operation.

Speaker 1 And considering Miles Garrett's on pace for like nearly 30 sacks, this could get very interesting if you can force Brock into some throws late and over the middle, which he is prone to do.

Speaker 5 Yeah. I mean, I think there was a lot of lateness.
And if you're Kyle Shanahan and you have staked your claim and your reputation on the quarterback position, what is the root cause of that?

Speaker 5 Is it the fact that you really haven't had a ton of practice time, that you're still just getting your feet under you? And Mac Jones has been practicing with these guys, throwing to these guys

Speaker 5 more regularly? I don't know. But if an Ezra Everett defense is going to expose you, a Jim Schwartz defense with Miles Garrett is going to compound that in myriad ways.

Speaker 5 I mean, this is a far more versatile, far more talented defense, and we'll see what happens.

Speaker 2 Very consequential. Kind of wild that

Speaker 2 with the way that Garrett is playing, and we've just never really seen something like this

Speaker 2 in the post-Reggie White, I'd say, or something. But we could be like two games away from him setting this record.
He only needs, it's five, right? Like, I mean, it could.

Speaker 1 He could do it. He could do it on Sunday.
He does have that feeling, you know?

Speaker 2 But that's a historical, wild moment.

Speaker 2 And it's not a Browns moment. It's an NFL moment.

Speaker 2 I mean, it's a Browns, but it's like, from an NFL angle, like it's kind of insane to think that we're almost definitely going to see that in the next fortnight or so.

Speaker 1 Don't jinx it.

Speaker 2 I don't want to because that's my one thing is like, just stay healthy and get it done. Don't say it.

Speaker 1 Just let's just let it happen. Let's let the Browns and their fans help.
I'm not getting tagged with that one. While also sending Strahan straight to out of space.

Speaker 1 Like, you know, the scene in Total Recall when Arnold falls. It's like a flashback or one sequence.

Speaker 1 Thank you, Mark. Gastono.
And he falls out onto Mars and his eyeballs blow out of his head and his head explodes. Like, that's what I need Michael Strahan to do when...

Speaker 1 Miles Garrett gives the sack record its dignity back.

Speaker 2 He vanishes from humanity.

Speaker 1 All right.

Speaker 1 Up next.

Speaker 1 I guess I'll go next. I'll say the number one Rams.
92.

Speaker 1 Okay.

Speaker 1 The number one. You got to get a look at the number one team in the league traveling to Charlotte to get the number 20 Panthers six and six.

Speaker 1 Very, you know, obviously a disappointing Panthers performance on Monday night. It really knocks you down a peg.

Speaker 1 I do want to talk about the incident on Monday night between Trayvon Moorig and Juwan Jennings.

Speaker 1 I wonder how that that plays out.

Speaker 1 Did you guys see this? Like, it happened at the tail end of the game. And I remember watching it in real time, and I'm saying, Jawan Jennings is pissed.
He's kind of limping back to the huddle.

Speaker 1 This is in the final minutes when the Niners are just trying to run out the clock. It's like something seemed to happen, and he's not feeling good.

Speaker 1 And sure enough, after the game, you see Jennings take a swing at Moorig, and then they show the replay. And I don't know what would ever, why people do this thing, why this happens in sports.

Speaker 1 But sometimes guys just like to punch another guy in the nuts. And that's exactly what happened.
It's like it was a cheap shot. It was at the tail end of a play.
The play was over.

Speaker 1 And Jennings is just standing there. And Morig, for whatever reason, says, I'm going to nut tap this guy and put him into excruciating pain.
It doesn't seem like in a league marked by men that are.

Speaker 1 hyper masculine and don't want to ever show any type of weakness.

Speaker 1 And, you know, when you're interviewing someone like a Kayvon Thibodeau, they can't even have a conversation about Big Spoon, Littlespoon, because it might imply something that they would never want to be implied.

Speaker 1 We're out here just grabbing each other's balls and dicks to elicit a response. Thoughts?

Speaker 1 Surprising that this is a thing that happens in our league quite a bit.

Speaker 2 Yeah, I agree with you. There are a lot of stories of like when you get these pileups of like six dudes tackling a guy that what happens that we can't see within those pileups are unhealthy.

Speaker 1 But they're both standing in this case.

Speaker 2 It stands out as something ridiculous. And I know we're setting up Connor for another soliloquy about suspension.

Speaker 1 So where are you? We're in the runway for Connor to explain why grabbing the private parts of another is perfectly fine.

Speaker 5 Well, how could you not, like, how could you not make this suspension? Like, smashing a guy in the grapes is twice as bad as spitting on him. This has to be a two-game suspension.
No?

Speaker 1 Oh, we're going to double it up. I like it.
I think

Speaker 1 the other one is. Well, there's two testables.
Yeah, that makes sense. You've caused injury to both of them.

Speaker 2 I don't have a problem with spitting getting one, but it's these other ones that get one. They should just get more.
And so this, if you're going to do this, it should be heightened beyond that.

Speaker 1 That one would work for me.

Speaker 5 Every honor code

Speaker 5 hero out there that was saying that spitting is akin to burning down a village in some hidden war crime to to come out with the same energy against getting your grapes whacked.

Speaker 5 I'm sorry, but like if spitting is disrespectful, like

Speaker 5 squaring up like Street Fighter and just punching a guy right in the dick and balls, right in the twig and berries. So much more disrespectful than just being like,

Speaker 5 you know, like

Speaker 5 that's your manhood.

Speaker 1 That's like I feel like there's got to be some research that we could help Connor with that there is a long lineage of spitting on a person that is a deeply disrespectful human act.

Speaker 2 Right. It's a little more symbolic than it is.

Speaker 2 Brutal.

Speaker 5 I don't understand this.

Speaker 1 I can't believe we're here again. And

Speaker 5 we can go back to Camelot when people were dumb and most of the population couldn't read and maybe they interpreted it that way. And I'm sorry.

Speaker 5 But like, if someone came up to me in the street and went, whatcha, and like punched my balls, I would freak the f out. If they spit on me, I'd say, that's gross.
This person

Speaker 5 is something wrong with that.

Speaker 2 Connor, do you have have anything on flag football while we're here?

Speaker 1 How about that Shadar Sanders, folks?

Speaker 1 Anyway, this game, real quick on this game,

Speaker 1 the Rams are playing at such a high level.

Speaker 1 I would take them to beat anyone.

Speaker 1 Certainly, I would take them to beat the Panthers after what we saw Monday.

Speaker 1 But I guess the one, if you want to try to talk yourself into the number one Rams having trouble with the number 20 Panthers, Ceci, it is that the Carolina team has made a habit of every time you completely count them out count their quarterback out they deliver an effort to to make you think otherwise you have the the rams traveling across the country um

Speaker 1 you know on a short week i guess i don't know making

Speaker 2 well yeah you're trying you you have to see look at it through a certain lens to get there um they've been a split personality squad but what i don't like is that rico dowdo who i think really inflamed them on in a good way on offense like has been a bit of a down contributor of late he's not been the same guy.

Speaker 2 And I don't know, like go back to what we just watched against the Niners.

Speaker 2 Like I'm the whole Bryce Young experience, I think there's sort of like a creeping sense of doom on what happens this offseason, where we are with this quarterback.

Speaker 2 I know he just threw for almost 500 yards two weeks ago, and then he was completely a different player in primetime. I just, I don't feel you can trust this quarterback.

Speaker 2 I don't really trust the Panthers in general. And I certainly don't come up with a reason to not trust trust the Rams no matter what city it's being.

Speaker 1 Yeah, they're an easy pick in this one. All right, one more game in this early slate.
And remember, before anything, Connor, and this is not a setup, I swear to God,

Speaker 1 Justin decides whether you make the right pick here for the quad box and whether there's a penalty. That's all I'll say.

Speaker 5 Just been left with a puddle of Framunda cheese. Like, there's no

Speaker 5 winner here.

Speaker 5 And with that,

Speaker 5 I'm going to take the number 30 Saints at the number 21 Dolphins. And

Speaker 1 Justin has spoken. What was he supposed to do, Justin?

Speaker 12 Cardinals, Bucks, Jags, Titans, Falcons, Jets are all better games than Dolphins.

Speaker 1 Justin, if he would have picked one of those games, would you have hit him with the flag anyway? Yes.

Speaker 1 Yes.

Speaker 5 Jags Titans.

Speaker 1 Okay.

Speaker 1 All right.

Speaker 5 Jags Titans, says Justin, totally without any bias on this, that it's going to be a better game than

Speaker 1 I mean, didn't you hear the graver monologue on the Sunday show that all of a sudden, you know, Cam Ward is Jaden Daniels with more talent

Speaker 1 coming off the last couple of weeks? Jesus Christ. I did not say that.

Speaker 5 All right, Justin. What game do we have to to do then?

Speaker 1 I would imagine that's what he wants to talk about. No, it doesn't matter.

Speaker 12 I'll jump in on the other ones when we get to that. Do your Saints Dolphins game, and

Speaker 12 we'll just have to revisit this on Sunday when that game is the biggest news fest of the weekend.

Speaker 1 Can you believe it? And then

Speaker 5 it's going to be like the Dolphins are going to win by two touchdowns, and Justin's going to be like, Connor,

Speaker 5 were you surprised that this is actually a bad game?

Speaker 1 Little Mr. Innocent.

Speaker 2 It is Justin way.

Speaker 1 Little Angel, little Stinky Davis down there.

Speaker 1 Down there. I'm just curious.

Speaker 1 I hope you listeners and viewers know what's really going on with the producer. Oh, because we see it.

Speaker 5 It's a total Machiavellian situation here.

Speaker 1 I'm just Justin. I'm just a producer.

Speaker 5 I don't know nothing.

Speaker 1 Me not being bad.

Speaker 1 I'm just doing my job, turning the knobs.

Speaker 2 Barely understands English syntax.

Speaker 1 Please, I'm going to actually waive that.

Speaker 1 I'm going to use my veto. Thank you.
Connor, go with the game that you want to talk about. Okay.

Speaker 5 So since October 26th, the Dolphins have been three and one. They beat the Falcons.
They beat the Bills. They clobbered the Bills.
And after that Bills game, we kind of missed it.

Speaker 5 Mike McDaniel was like driving downtown in Miami, like mugging Bills fans. It's like he's back.
And then the week after that, they beat the Commanders in overtime in Spain.

Speaker 5 Then you have the bye week, and now we have the Saints and Jets coming back to back. The Dolphins right now have a 1% chance of making the playoffs.

Speaker 5 However, what changes in the AFC playoff picture if they get back to, I mean, okay, 5-7, 6-7, they can be 500 against the Pittsburgh Steelers on December 15th.

Speaker 5 Like, this is going to completely alter the AFC playoff picture if they continue to beat the teams that they're very much capable of beating.

Speaker 1 All right, let's go through it. Let's go through it.
You just kind of alluded to it, but yeah, you beat the Saints at home. That gets you to five and seven, and you've won four out of five.

Speaker 1 Then you go to the New York Jets. You should be able to win that game.
The Jets are a bad team that also traded away their best players. You get to six and seven.
Pittsburgh's a coin flip.

Speaker 1 Monday Night Football even gives that game a little bit of juice. They might not even face that game.
And if you win that, you're seven and seven.

Speaker 1 You get cincinnati okay all right you i think you've talked me into this one just uh connor this does have

Speaker 2 the dolphins have the faintest of pulses um but until they lose one of these games they should win we shouldn't totally dismiss them in the playoff picture and even like the argument to like for mcdaniel beyond the win-loss but i that would all help is that It felt, this team felt chaotic, especially

Speaker 2 pre-Tyreek Hill injury where he's squawking left and right. Like McDaniel felt like the coach that was losing his players and the modern-day player.
And it's like, I don't see that right now.

Speaker 2 Like, they have, that is, that roster has been stayed intact, and the effort has been there, and they've not given up on their season. I mean, it's an argument for McDaniel to stick around.

Speaker 1 But here's the thing: McDaniel's gotten

Speaker 1 a long leash there, right? I mean, I'm looking at, he's been there since 2021, right? Is that right?

Speaker 2 But they've been good up and

Speaker 1 so this is gonna, he's wrapping up his fourth season.

Speaker 1 This team is, you know, if you want to go hire a GM, obviously they fired their GM.

Speaker 1 How much do you like that job if you don't have a quarterback and you have a head coach entering his fifth season without a playoff win?

Speaker 1 I would think that that's going to be a major part of this conversation too, even if the season ends in a positive way.

Speaker 5 would I agree with you to a certain degree, but let's take out,

Speaker 5 okay, because a lot of what Mike McDaniel had to deal with was a got-off a roster, a roster that was so bad that you fired your GM in the middle of the season instead of your head coach.

Speaker 5 Let's take that out of it and just take Mike's offensive, let's just say his, his EPA per play rankings through the first three or three years that he's been in Miami, okay?

Speaker 5 You put that guy as a play caller without head coaching experience on the open market. He's probably your first candidate that's hired in this one.

Speaker 1 Absolutely.

Speaker 5 And so if you're a GM, you're looking at it and you're saying, okay, I got Kubiak and people are wondering if he can run a room.

Speaker 5 I think that there's still a little bit of uncertainty around whether he can run and get a job in this one. And then the rest of your best coaches are all defensive.

Speaker 5 So if I'm a GM, I'm saying this is great on two fronts.

Speaker 5 It buys me an extra year because if he sucks, I'll hire my own coach and then restart my contract a year after that because I'll want to be extended with him. And they'll do that.

Speaker 5 Ownership will do that. Or I keep the best offensive coach that would have been on the market this year anyway.
I don't know.

Speaker 1 I hope you're right.

Speaker 5 I do too. I hope you're right.
I've settled up my career. Like, you know, I hope I'm not, don't look like an idiot.

Speaker 1 But all right, let's take a let's take a break and we will hit the late games.

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Speaker 14 What's up? It's Draymond Draymond Green. I'm back for my 14th NBA season, and my podcast, The Draymond Green Show, is back too.

Speaker 14 This season, I'm breaking down games, reacting to the biggest NBA stories, and sitting down with teammates, rivals, and culture shapers. And trust me, I'm not holding back on the court or on the mic.

Speaker 14 Two new episodes every week: new segments, big conversations, real basketball talk for the real hoop heads. Listen to and follow the Draymond Green Show wherever you get your podcast.

Speaker 14 We're back, we're better. Let's get it.

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Speaker 1 All right, welcome back. No Baldy this week.

Speaker 1 Who knows? What is Baldy doing? We don't know.

Speaker 2 It's going to be enticing. I can guarantee you that.

Speaker 1 It's got to involve involve swimming with sharks and bodacious babes. That's the only thing I know for sure.

Speaker 2 He feels like a friends-giving type of guy, and you don't know who the friends are going to be. It's going to be wonderful.

Speaker 1 Right. A collection of

Speaker 1 all the people that he's come across in his long journey in life. Anyway, happy Thanksgiving to Baldi and all the things that he's given us this year.

Speaker 1 Also, happy Thanksgiving to all you hedonists out there because

Speaker 1 you have continually answered the call, heeded the call as we make our march toward 30,000 subscribers.

Speaker 1 The 30K challenge.

Speaker 1 We're getting close. We still got a ways to go.
We're closing in at 28,000.

Speaker 1 Once we get to 30K,

Speaker 1 Connor spills the beans on his testy relationship with Broncos head coach, Sean Payton. Hit that again.
Let me hear that that sting again. You have more povichism.

Speaker 1 So make sure.

Speaker 2 Free flying around on the screen.

Speaker 1 Poor Justin got like

Speaker 1 tied up with building out this board. Check it out on YouTube for like an hour and a half this morning.

Speaker 1 We just played it four times in a row. Yeah.

Speaker 12 I was going to say, I'm glad we played it four times because I spent like two hours making this.

Speaker 1 you're a pro

Speaker 1 all right to the late window uh there's one really good um late game so we're just going to focus on that when it's nanson romo back to work oh i i take it all back mark he's doing two games in four days that tony romo well it may be two weeks tony depending on your point of view but that's uh sure that's he's working hard the number eight buffalo bills coming um off their most humbling loss of the season, a tough Thursday night game against the Texans, Travel to Pittsburgh to get the number 19 Steelers, 7-4 against 6-5.

Speaker 1 Another huge game.

Speaker 3 I actually think

Speaker 1 that the way

Speaker 1 AFC playoffs are a little bit funky. I'll give you an example.

Speaker 1 The Chiefs won last week against the Colts, and they actually dropped, I believe, from eighth to ninth in the AFC playoff standings.

Speaker 1 I think they're 10th right now. Yeah,

Speaker 1 things are jumbled, and things can really change in a hurry. But I don't have to tell you this, especially given

Speaker 1 Baltimore's trajectory in the AFC North as they now become a favorite to take care of that division once again.

Speaker 1 You look at the Patriots between the softness of their schedule, the fact that they beat the Bills once and they got their three games in hand in the win column.

Speaker 1 This looks like a battle for a wildcard spot, and the team that loses this is in a very difficult situation, Ceci.

Speaker 2 I'm trying to figure out which of the two teams I believe less in. It's probably overtly Pittsburgh.

Speaker 2 Buffalo to me just feels like a sitting duck for something evil to unfold later in the year. They've had losses to the Dolphins, Falcons, and Texans, which we talked about.

Speaker 2 They're also weird because you need wide receiver help, and you've got Keon Coleman as a healthy scratch two weeks in a row for his off-the-field kind of demeanor and attitude, right?

Speaker 2 Don't Don't love that situation considering who they passed up on in that draft at wide receiver. They've also put up 400 yards of offense in three of their last five games.

Speaker 2 So they're not broken, but I don't trust them. But I do trust them a little bit more than I trust the Steelers, who feel to me like a fraudulent offering.

Speaker 1 Yeah, I feel like the Bills are much... better positioned than the Steelers.
They have a much higher ceiling. They have the reigning MVP, healthy a quarterback.

Speaker 1 But that is not to dismiss some of the disappointment

Speaker 1 because obviously

Speaker 1 they sandwiched that impressive win over the Bucs at home with a 30-13 loss to the Dolphins and the 23-19 loss to the Texans. It's just they've had trouble kind of just getting earthbound.

Speaker 1 And like the Lions, it's like this like struggle. Can we just get to the 11 or 12 wins or whatever it takes to set us up for the playoffs? I mean, they've used up all their rope on that end.

Speaker 5 There's been some interesting kind of just like underneath the hood metric stuff on the bills that I was reading the other day.

Speaker 5 Like, for example, they generate a shit ton of pressure, but for some reason, their defensive ends and their edge rushers almost never get holding calls.

Speaker 5 Like, it's one of those weird things where all these little things that end up mattering over the course of big games for these teams, Buffalo just isn't really getting them.

Speaker 5 And I hate to be like, this team isn't getting the calls. I don't think that's necessarily the main reason for it, but I'm sick of Pittsburgh.

Speaker 5 I launched them into the sun in my latest power rankings, mostly out of frustration because I just don't like the way it looks. I don't enjoy watching them.

Speaker 5 And I think that this is a perfect opportunity for Josh Allen to come out and just steamroll these guys. I hope he does.

Speaker 1 Yeah. It's in Pittsburgh, though.
Truly great. Yeah, it's in Pittsburgh, but I don't know.
I mean, what is Pittsburgh at this point? We don't.

Speaker 1 Like the Eagles, there's a team standpoint with this kind of stuff. When a really good team gets embarrassed, they come back and they kick ass.

Speaker 1 Allen was humbled in that loss himself, taking all those sacks, throwing the two interceptions, didn't get into the end zone. I also think that could be a big performance coming for Allen on the road.

Speaker 1 I wonder, you know, we're going to get Aaron Rodgers back in this game. It sounds like

Speaker 1 how sturdy is Rodgers going to be on a broken left wrist? Because all it takes is one hit, and you might be back to Mason Rudolph land, which is not the worst place to be.

Speaker 1 He's not a terrible backup quarterback, but the Steelers get that much more uninteresting, at least to me, if you sub out.

Speaker 1 Aaron Rodgers for more Mason Rudolph, Pittsburgh Steelers football, which I've seen enough of to last a lifetime.

Speaker 1 I feel like Mason Rudolph's been in the league since 1983 and started seven games for the Steelers every year.

Speaker 1 I know that makes no sense because we had the Big Ben era, but sometimes certain eras of quarterbacks seem to disappear from the memory. Maybe it's our quad box segment that's doing this to my brain.

Speaker 1 I feel like Ben Rothelsberger was quarterback of the Steelers literally 30 years ago. It feels like it's been such a long, painful ride to quarterback position in this time since Big Ben went away.

Speaker 1 And Rudolph, for me, is kind of the face of that.

Speaker 2 And Rudolph left and then came back. And so we're back back in that old world of he's back on the Steelers again.

Speaker 1 So wild. Wild.
Any other thoughts on this game, boys?

Speaker 2 Can we have a game where J.J. Watt isn't announcing TJ Watts' performance? I think that's probably the case this week, but he's done that like four times.
It's not a trench you do.

Speaker 1 This is Jim Nance and Tony Romo.

Speaker 2 Well, I'm glad that's not happening this time.

Speaker 5 Wow, is Romo's just shipping off from Thanksgiving?

Speaker 1 That's an upset.

Speaker 5 Holy smokes.

Speaker 1 They are working him to the bone. He's going to be just talking major nonsense.

Speaker 5 That's like when you're Sunday. That's like when your corporation is like, yeah, we're going back into the office and then they just hope you quit.

Speaker 5 Like Tony Romo is going to be calling like Illinois Southern Miss next week. And it's just like, no, just quit.
Just walk away.

Speaker 1 We dare you to quit.

Speaker 1 All right. Like we said, the late window and not as beefy.
So that is the only game we'll get into depth on. In fact, we're going to move right now into the other ones.

Speaker 1 90 seconds for each game that we missed in this big week. No buys, obviously, so a lot to get to.
So we got a bunch to hit here. Let's start with the number 22 Falcons, 4-7 at the number 29 Jets.

Speaker 1 I got to pull this stat up. I cannot believe.

Speaker 1 I cannot believe the Jets are going to be playing a game after Thanksgiving and they still don't have an interception.

Speaker 1 Oof. And they have a single fumble recovery, and that was weeks ago.
Prior to 2025, no team had ever forced fewer than five turnovers through 11 games.

Speaker 1 The Jets have one forced turnover through 11 games. They don't have an interception.

Speaker 1 Like, how is this possible?

Speaker 1 I just, it boggles the mind. And if you're the Falcons, you're loving it because you're like, oh, Kirk Cousins is old as shit.
He's going to throw some balls up for grabs.

Speaker 1 Don't worry about it because the Jets will do nothing with any opportunity to take the ball away.

Speaker 1 And for that reason, expect the Falcons to take care of business and maybe get themselves back in the playoff race themselves.

Speaker 2 And your coach is a defensive guru in theory. That's why you hired him.

Speaker 2 And like the kind of coach that's going to form the identity of the Jets off of

Speaker 1 turning the ball over.

Speaker 2 Mark, like they've actually played pretty well since

Speaker 2 they're a terrible defense, but

Speaker 1 it boggles the mind. Right.
Zero interceptions, 11 games?

Speaker 2 You said Atlanta's going to be loving it. I don't think Atlanta loves too much right now.

Speaker 2 This is a tough watch, this team.

Speaker 1 Put a bow on it, Connor.

Speaker 5 Let's see them come out because I want to see Kirk Cousins sling it. Every year we get the weird 500-yard Kirk Cousins game.

Speaker 5 Let's see it because the Jets run defense like we talked about before is good. You're not going to be able to two-back it with them and just cram it down their throat with Algier and Bijan.

Speaker 1 This is at the Meadowlands too. So we'll see how Falcons, how Cousins slings it.

Speaker 5 God bless Cousins' Achilles on that turf.

Speaker 1 Jesus Christ.

Speaker 1 Major danger. Between the swirling winds and that rag arm and the Achilles on the death turf.

Speaker 1 Say prayers. Say prayers.
And Jonathan Dillum on the call. Shoot me.
All right. Number 25 Arizona Cardinals 3-8.
Travel to the number 18 Buccaneers 6-5.

Speaker 1 We said on the Monday show, Connor, that the Bucs got good news on Baker Mayfield that it's not a serious shoulder injury, but it is the AC joint sprain.

Speaker 1 It's an injury that he's dealt with in the past and not always played well. So you just hope that if Baker's playing, you get fun Baker, because otherwise

Speaker 1 the Bucs are going to continue to struggle on a three-game losing skid here. Well, we remember what...

Speaker 5 When Baker Mayfield had a serious shoulder injury, it started that clock on Cleveland basically falling out of love with him.

Speaker 5 And that was one of the main reasons that he had struggled so much towards the end of his career with the Browns. We've seen what happens to the Buccaneers' offense when he's afraid.

Speaker 5 And I put afraid in quotes here. We would all be scared.
You're not willing to be as mobile as you were before, as reckless with your body.

Speaker 5 When he's not full baker, fully transformed, it's just a different offense. And this Todd Bowles defense, I mean, at some point, has got to get a reckoning.

Speaker 5 It's gone entirely stale and I think has sort of ridden on reputation for the last couple of weeks, but it has not been good.

Speaker 2 They feel like they're falling apart a little bit physically.

Speaker 2 Identity-wise, we talked about that off their last game.

Speaker 2 On offense in EPA, they were seventh

Speaker 2 up until six weeks ago, where they've since been 28th.

Speaker 2 It's injuries, sure, but I'm over pointing injuries. They're getting healthier, and it's like they're just not the team that I watched a month ago.

Speaker 1 I'll give the Cardinals this. They're fun to watch on offense.
Well, not fun might be strong, but they are not a slog to watch on offense with Kyler Murray and Mothballs.

Speaker 1 If you were making the NFL jam instead of NBA jam,

Speaker 1 you can get some juice out of Jake Briskett, Michael Wilson, and Trey McBride. Did you know that Michael Wilson was targeted 15 times on Sunday against the Jaguars? Turned that into 10 for 118.

Speaker 1 And McBride is on a historic

Speaker 1 start to his NFL career. You could pencil that dude in for seven catches every week for 70 to 100 yards.
And he's finding the end zone this year, which he hasn't last year. The Cardinals have pieces.

Speaker 1 They just need leadership. Up next, the number 17 Jaguars, 7-4 at the number 31 Titans.
Let's start this one with Trevor Lawrence talking about

Speaker 1 his manic style of play that led to a ton of touchdowns and a ton of interceptions both last week and in general his entire NFL career to date. But I'm never going to

Speaker 16 play scared. I'm going to continue to let it rip.
And I think that's why

Speaker 16 we have a chance at the end of the day is because you keep playing. So never going to apologize for that.
But I will say, cannot turn the ball over four times.

Speaker 16 So I own that and know I got to clean that up.

Speaker 1 But I'll watch it and see what it was.

Speaker 5 He's undefeated, guys, since he started wearing a wristband with the plays on it. Isn't that cool?

Speaker 1 Yeah, but he also had four turnovers in one of those games. So I don't know.
Is that actually help? I don't know. I only find it funny.
He's a tough one to crack, that Lawrence.

Speaker 5 I only find it funny because like a couple weeks ago, someone was asking Liam Cohen, like, hey, why doesn't he wear a wristband with the plays on it?

Speaker 5 And Liam Cohen has this 45-minute answer about like, you know, understanding the play call and then how hard it is to look at the sheet and say it and all that stuff.

Speaker 5 And then two weeks later, he starts wearing it and things are kind of relatively fine. And then they're like, oh, yeah, he just likes having it.
Yeah.

Speaker 5 I mean, sometimes it just helps to have the f ⁇ ing plays on it.

Speaker 1 Connor, if you really want to get revenge on Justin, keep talking for the last 22 seconds. Yeah, it's neat.
So Justin can't get his Cam Ward conversation.

Speaker 2 Yeah, let him talk about Cam Ward's rushing ability last week.

Speaker 1 I think it's absolutely fair. I think that Justin deserves that because Cam Ward played at a really exciting level in week 12.
So it only makes... Yes, Connor, one last thing.

Speaker 5 And just another thing on that front, I will say that when I was doing the power rankings, I did watch a compendium of Cam's best throws of the season, and I think that he's a good quarterback.

Speaker 1 Sorry, Justin. No, go ahead.
Put a bow on it, Justin. I'll take all that.

Speaker 12 The bow for this game. The two best punt returners in football.
Two guys, the only two guys with two punt return touchdowns apiece. Parker Washington for the Jags and Shimmery DK for the Titans.

Speaker 12 Could be like, don't flip the game when the punts come on, is my point.

Speaker 1 Washington's been good, too. My eyes will be glued to Jags Titans

Speaker 1 for DK Washington. Number 23, Vikings, 4-7 at the number 2 Seahawks, 8-3.
Joe Davis and Greg Olson on the call. We talked about it on Monday.

Speaker 1 Let's see if J.J. McCarthy's playing in this game.
I'd be surprised. And if it's not J.J.
McCarthy, it's Max Brosmer against the very stout Seattle defense.

Speaker 1 Doesn't not trending well for a Vikings team that is starting to look like they might be picking in the top 10 in the draft mark.

Speaker 2 Yeah, because it's, you know, you've got... Justin Jefferson's frustration, but it's everyone in the current offense.
Like Jordan Addison didn't have a single catch last week. And so

Speaker 2 this really talent, what once talented offensive lineup is sort of going away.

Speaker 2 I think that

Speaker 2 we get a couple players like this a year, but it's Jackson Smith and Jigba, who is on pace for 2,000 yards

Speaker 2 in an offense that is not really, it's not like a run and shoot pass heavy offense. It's just incredible to watch.
And it's like, you got to track this every week. Like,

Speaker 2 we all knew he was a good player. I don't think anyone saw this coming in this offense the way that we thought it would be structured, and it's pretty fascinating.

Speaker 5 When Kevin O'Connell is talking about this undrafted rookie free agent, he's talking about processing ability.

Speaker 5 And I think that that's an intentional thing that he continues to bring up when he talks about this young kid.

Speaker 5 And it's not a shot at JJ, but it's saying this guy actually sees the field the way that I want him to see the field.

Speaker 1 And I'm going to be watching that on Sunday. Can we give Kenneth Walker the clear RB1 job?

Speaker 1 He's a better player than Zach Charbonnet, right? Mike McDonald said that.

Speaker 2 Mike McDonald said that they were going to focus more on Kenneth Walker.

Speaker 1 Well, he deserves it. He's a good player.
And he's been healthy for, I know he had a sore butt in week 12. The old strained glute.

Speaker 1 But he did play in the game.

Speaker 1 All right. Up next, we have the number 32 Raiders, now dead last in the power rankings, 2-9.
Just fired Chip Kelly traveling to SoFi Stadium to get the number 15 Chargers, 7-4.

Speaker 1 coming off their buy Raiders QB coach Greg Olson is taking over play calling. And here's Pete Carroll on why they moved on from Chip Kelly.

Speaker 9 I've been doing it this way for a lot of years and it's a winning formula for if you play good defense and you kick the ball well. And so we're trying to get that and we just have not captured it.

Speaker 9 And so this is what this move is about.

Speaker 1 Is there a little bit of a differing opinion on that between you and Chip on how?

Speaker 9 Not so much so, but

Speaker 9 I gave Chip a lot of leeway because he's got an extraordinary background in history and he had such a phenomenal season coming out of Ohio State last year that we wanted to you know give him his due and all that but as we continue to grow and come together

Speaker 9 it just just we just couldn't get there I I disagree

Speaker 5 and and we'll see what happens I mean I don't know I think that Chip Kelly's a good coordinator he really did a good job of incorporating a dual-back system And you're asking him to do what he did at Ohio State last year with Trayvion Henderson, Quitchon Junkins, with, yes, Ashton Jenny, and just an offensive line and a quarterback and surrounding weapons that it just doesn't make sense.

Speaker 5 So I don't know what you were necessarily buying in that regard. And you're not really letting him go tempo.
I don't know. It just, you know, it seemed like a bad marriage from the start.

Speaker 5 Chip will be fine.

Speaker 2 They're really talent poor, and so it was a tough ask for Chip Kelly. I think it's every week for the Chargers, for me, is just a test of how you can survive the lack of your two tackles.

Speaker 2 They're fifth in the AFC playoff rankings right now and have the tiebreaker over Buffalo and Jacksonville. So grind out these wins in any way possible.

Speaker 1 Yeah, interesting to see how the Chargers' offense functions. All those injuries have really impacted their offensive line.

Speaker 1 And let's see if they could stabilize that without alt or Slater.

Speaker 1 Nice to get the Raiders out of a buy, though.

Speaker 1 All right.

Speaker 2 Out of our lives.

Speaker 1 Yeah, Sunday night football. The number six Broncos 9-2 at the number 28 Commanders 3-8.

Speaker 1 You might have seen in the news that Jaden Daniels is practicing again.

Speaker 1 But don't get your hopes up that you're going to see him in prime time.

Speaker 1 He does not want to get shut down. He wants to play again this season, but at 3-8,

Speaker 1 the Commanders would be foolish to rush back their franchise quarterback. But then again, the Bengals are 3-8, Connor, and they're doing that with Joe Burrow on Thursday night.

Speaker 1 So I don't know, we'll see what happens.

Speaker 5 Yeah, I mean, after this whole Jaden Daniels thing happened, I went back and I looked at a bunch of games in similar situations, and like 90% of the team starters were in those games.

Speaker 5 And filleting Dan Quinn for absolutely no reason when I bet he went to Jaden Daniels and said, Hey, do you want to sit down? And Jaden Daniels said, get away from me.

Speaker 5 That's probably the long and short of it. And if he's healthy, he's going to play because we put quarterbacks on this pedestal.

Speaker 5 We force them to martyrize themselves when they're having terrible games and they have to be responsible for all the world's problems, geopolitical and otherwise.

Speaker 5 And so when they're healthy, they're going to play football games because we're going to fade them if they don't. And so that's the world that we've created.

Speaker 5 And Jaden Daniels will play if he can play.

Speaker 2 And the Jaden Daniels wants to play. Right.
They want to be in these games. I mean, barring like when you yank, you know, Matthew Stafford when you're up 38 to 7 or something, that all makes sense.

Speaker 2 But like a young player that's learning and growing in the center of your franchise, like, I mean, I think Quinn is just doing what a good coach would do is taking accountability for something that really isn't entirely his fault.

Speaker 2 But that's Dan Quinn.

Speaker 1 And on the Broncos side, you're not going to get a big test here. They should take care of business against a broken down Washington team on the road.

Speaker 1 But yeah, I guess it's consistency from Bo Nix and the offense. There's no, they lost.

Speaker 1 J.K. Dobbins for the year.
So there's some things to be worked on on the offensive side of the ball, but that defense makes up for a lot of the shortcomings with their attack.

Speaker 1 Up next, Monday night football. Very rare.
I don't think this has happened all year, but we threw both primetime games into the other one's conversation, which should just tell you a lot about it.

Speaker 1 The number 27 Giants, 2-10, just fired their DC, traveled to New England. Man, the Pats.

Speaker 1 Patriots fans, don't be sensitive about it. Just acknowledge that you have a very nice schedule this season so far.

Speaker 1 They now get the number three Patriots on our power rankings at 10-2 and riding a nine-game winning streak,

Speaker 1 get get

Speaker 1 the Giants. And I guess the storyline here, Mark, is around the Patriots, who, in addition to the schedule, have had very good injury luck this season.

Speaker 1 They've been, I think, the healthiest team in the league overall. But obviously, that changed with the offensive line, especially Will Campbell going down with that knee injury.
So they'll be tested.

Speaker 1 If the Giants pass rush ever has a game to wake up, it would be this one. And we know the Giants historically do give the Patriots a hard time in big spots.

Speaker 2 They do historically. right? It's Will Campbell, which is a

Speaker 2 major centerpiece for the success they've had at left tackle. And Jared Wilson, your left guard.

Speaker 2 That's that's a game changer for Drake May and everything you're trying to do on the ground as well. And I wonder if the Giants

Speaker 2 can take advantage of that. Their new DC, Charlie Bullen,

Speaker 2 you know, in the world of Kayvon Thibodeau and Brian Burns, those guys have raved about Charlie Bullen inside the building.

Speaker 2 So I do do wonder if that's the kind of situation where like a personnel change can spark something, but again, especially against a banged up line cunner.

Speaker 5 Yeah, I would say this. There's a reason that the Giants want to see Bullen in that spot.
There's a reason that I think Mike Kafka wants Bullen in that spot.

Speaker 5 They've just been unoriginal to this point with all their pass rushers. I think the way that they've dotted them throughout the formation.

Speaker 5 So look for him to utilize all of the information that he's gathered on these guys and let them rip in odd spots. I mean, we need the Giants' pass rush to take over a game.

Speaker 5 Abdul Carter had some a good, I think, a good week last week, if I'm not mistaken. I think three QB hits, but like he needs to take over.

Speaker 1 And on the other side of the ball for the Patriots, a little bit of injury issues. Milton Williams is on IR.
So their depth is being tested a little bit.

Speaker 1 But again, the schedule remains soft, which allows them a little bit of grace. Let's see if they take care of that, take advantage of that, and get their 10th straight win.
All right, there you go.

Speaker 1 That is the schedule for a week 13, a big one in the NFL because, you know, the season doesn't really start till Thanksgiving, as they say. Now, we have our own little business to take care of now.

Speaker 1 It's the blind locks. And we showed these standings on Monday.
Connor very fired up after his team could not cover

Speaker 1 and let him down on Monday night. So as a result, he drops into a first-place tie with Zuzer, who's on a winning streak.
Sessler picks up a game two. He's at six and six.
Gravy at five and seven.

Speaker 1 Connor, are you feeling the heat a little bit now? You had been all alone in first place for over a month, if I'm not mistaken. And all of a sudden, you got company.

Speaker 5 Yeah, I mean, that's an understatement. One of my favorite things in life is to just act like a haughty douchebag when I'm doing really well.

Speaker 5 And if I had built up some semblance of a lead there, I think that would have made some of these podcasts like truly otherworldly enjoyable, even more so than they already are. So, yeah,

Speaker 5 I'm struggling.

Speaker 1 Well, that said, and that was,

Speaker 1 I appreciate the honesty and the candor there. Self-awareness.
And the self-awareness.

Speaker 1 So I almost feel bad with what I'm about to say.

Speaker 1 Rule change. Rule change.
Rule change.

Speaker 1 It's a holiday week.

Speaker 1 A lot of people traveling.

Speaker 1 To be with friends and family for this beautiful Thanksgiving holiday. And with that in mind, the team you pick in week 13,

Speaker 1 so too must they travel.

Speaker 1 You must take a Road Warrior in week 13. Oh, you're killing us.

Speaker 2 Why do you get to,

Speaker 2 why, what, how's the power structure set up that you get to just do this to the

Speaker 1 tugboat is just pulling you through the

Speaker 1 sound. We're pulling you through the bay.
What is it? What is the port? I'm pulling you through.

Speaker 1 I'll start.

Speaker 1 I'll start.

Speaker 1 I'll start, and I feel good about it, and it ties in with the conversation we had at the top of this show.

Speaker 1 When in doubt,

Speaker 1 go with somebody that's special. Joe Burrow's back.

Speaker 1 Joe Burrow going to face a Ravens team that

Speaker 1 is not impressive to me.

Speaker 1 And it's a primetime game, and special players do special things in special spots playing with their season on the line.

Speaker 1 Even if

Speaker 1 we think the greater football public, the Bengals are already dead, the Bengs don't think that. The Bengals believe because Batman has arrived

Speaker 1 to save Gotham City.

Speaker 1 In this case, Charm City.

Speaker 1 Bengals over Ravens at M ⁇ T Bank Stadium.

Speaker 1 Blind lock. And I know I don't have to worry about any spreads there.

Speaker 2 All right. Well, that was an honorable lever pull by you.
I'm looking at the grid here. I don't love the situation.
I'm going to go, and

Speaker 2 I'm praying the spread is not a disaster here.

Speaker 2 I'm going to go the Bills traveling to Pittsburgh. I'm taking Buffalo.

Speaker 1 All right. A reminder that if the Bills are favored by five or more, the spread doubles, and Mark would have to cover that.
Um,

Speaker 1 whereas anything under that, you just have to win outright. Okay, so Bills going to Pittsburgh.
I like that pick, Mark. Good, good selection.
Um, I would feel confident there. Okay,

Speaker 1 uh, Connor, you're up.

Speaker 5 Debating being locked bros here with Mark, uh, that was the direction I wanted to go.

Speaker 5 However, I'm considering the advantage of

Speaker 5 maybe playing the odds, knowing that the Rams are going to lay over five and a half on the road, but they are going to comfortably double up that total against a bad Carolina Panthers team.

Speaker 1 Wow.

Speaker 1 Traveling across the country.

Speaker 5 I sound like Tony Romo.

Speaker 5 Let's go Bears over Eagles.

Speaker 5 Nothing matters anymore. Let's do it.

Speaker 1 Black Friday, Chicago makes a statement.

Speaker 1 That's dangerous. Connor.

Speaker 1 You know, whenever the rule change comes in, you wonder if Connor's a little bit scrambled. I mean, that is a bold choice from a bold man.

Speaker 1 And we love you for it, Connor.

Speaker 2 Self-destruct mission.

Speaker 1 Finally, the producer. Gravedigger.

Speaker 12 All right. I am going to maybe bank too hard on what we saw last week happening again.

Speaker 12 But like Connor's been saying, the blueprint is out there for how to rush. Daniel Jones, give me one of, if not the best pass rushing duo in the league to take down the Colts on the road.

Speaker 12 I'm locking up the Texans over the Colts.

Speaker 1 You know what? I thought about that one, Justin. I thought hard on it.
And for the very reason why you, the way you started that is why I didn't do it. Because as good as that pass rush is,

Speaker 1 they're not always totally invincible like they were on Thursday night. So, I didn't want to

Speaker 1 get overly caught up with that for that reason alone. I stayed away, but I believe that Houston's going to play the Colts very tough in that spot.
So, that's a good one. Wow, pretty bold.

Speaker 1 I feel like we're all going to be fine in terms of the lock zone, even See. Let's see.

Speaker 1 Oh, See, Buffalo minus four.

Speaker 1 Philadelphia minus seven.

Speaker 1 Indy minus four and a half.

Speaker 1 And what was the last one? Oh, my game. Baltimore minus seven.
Oh, we're hanging some onions.

Speaker 1 We need the three

Speaker 12 underdogs that we locked to win outright. If that's not hanging onions, I don't know what is.

Speaker 1 We kind of got forced into it by virtue of the rule change, but at the same time, nobody needs to know that. Okay, there you go.
Rule change change.

Speaker 1 The standings are tight and the picks are ballsy. And let's just hope

Speaker 1 a guy in the Panthers doesn't punch us in the nuts because we're hanging them right now. They're vulnerable.

Speaker 2 Right, they're out there. They're visible.

Speaker 1 They're out there.

Speaker 1 These plums are exposed.

Speaker 1 You know what I mean?

Speaker 5 It's only a one-game suspension.

Speaker 1 Who the f cares? Ridiculous.

Speaker 1 Let's see. Can I get again? HeedtheCallPodcast.com.
The merch is live. It's beautiful.

Speaker 1 So you could stop complaining to us about where's the merch and you could start complaining about how the merch isn't good enough. That's fine.
We'll do whatever you want.

Speaker 1 But just know that heedthecallpodcast.com is your one-stop shop for official hedonist merchandise, and there's more coming. And let us know

Speaker 1 how you like it. Send us photos once it arrives, wearing the gear, and also any design ideas, all that stuff.
We're in business, and we're so excited about that. So thank you to everybody.

Speaker 1 HeedtheCallPodcast.com. And let me get that Thanksgiving music back, Justin.

Speaker 1 A

Speaker 1 happy and safe Thanksgiving we wish to all of the hedonists out there,

Speaker 1 all of us here in America and abroad. You know, why don't you just celebrate the holiday? Just do it.
It's good. The food's good.

Speaker 1 Internationals need to be celebrated. Internationalists just celebrate Thanksgiving.

Speaker 2 Add a holiday to your docket.

Speaker 1 Sure. And thank you.
Thanksgiving's fun. It gets a little wild.
Relatives come over.

Speaker 1 The political culture is wild in this country. So

Speaker 1 a lot of drag out fights potentially. Like, what's going on in the ore house on Thanksgiving? Did it get hot in there?

Speaker 5 Well, we got a lot of travel and it's going to be planes, trains, and automobiles coming up. We're loading up the TNC as we speak.

Speaker 1 Oh, the TNC. It's a major test for the TNC.

Speaker 2 Yes, yeah.

Speaker 1 You know, knowing the stress test. Knowing what the

Speaker 1 board, you know, passed down about the reliability of the car. This is a major, major opportunity for the people that are pro

Speaker 1 pre-owned Chrysler TNCs to say, suck it. I just drove to grandma's house.
Everybody's alive.

Speaker 2 I just like that he bought it from a neighbor. Like, if anything goes wrong, like,

Speaker 2 there will be confrontation.

Speaker 1 Yes. But in all sincerity, happy Thanksgiving to everybody.
We'll be back with, again, live Friday, 8 a.m. Pacific, 11 a.m.
Eastern,

Speaker 1 Thanksgiving recap from our show. And then again on Sunday, have a happy Thanksgiving and heed the call.

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Speaker 2 Es suiciente para legarme listas.

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