NFL Thanksgiving Games 2025 RECAP!

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Hey oh,

oh, we live.

Welcome to Heed, the Call and NFL podcast

on a beautiful, brisk

Friday morning after Thanksgiving.

Dan Hansis, Mark Sessler, Justin Graver on the ones and twos,

all of you live in the stream.

Mark, how are you, buddy? I'm doing great.

Awesome Thanksgiving. Probably the best slate of games that I can recall on Thanksgiving in a long time.

I hope you had a good day with your family. How'd it go? It was wonderful, and yes, it was accentuated by all the football.

And yeah, we're going to go in order here on the stream and go through every game. That was played on Thursday.
There's another one today, Friday, that we'll hit on the Sunday recap. Don't you worry.

Do not, don't dare send us like, you know, mentions and angry subreddit threads about like, what about the Friday game? These guys don't care. It's like, we'll hit it on Sunday.
It'll be touched on.

The NFL doesn't get every day.

But I will say that. Yeah, like my overall thoughts, Ceci, and Connor's going to jump on at the end of the show to talk about the Thursday night game.
But

my overall thought about

the big picture at Evol was status quo

in the NFL was upended on Thanksgiving Day. And

it was on a stage to see status quo upended on a stage that was like the main stage at Glastonbury, like that was what an announcement to the world. I mean, the superpowers.

that have come to define football in this decade.

Lions, Chiefs, Ravens. They're these paragons of consistency and the envy of the rest of the football world, like Jets fans and Browns fans and Titans fans.

No, I didn't just say the three worst teams in the league. They're the three teams that our show roots for specifically.
Correct.

Anyway, these three teams, these three teams that are the envy of football, are in mortal danger of not just failing to make a deep playoff run, but to make the playoffs at all, session.

And it now sets the stage for a frantic,

desperate sprint to the finish line for three Super Bowl or bus teams that are trending toward the latter. It's all pretty stunning.

Yeah, I mean, the best thing about late season, late regular season football is when you get closer and closer to the fire.

And yesterday felt like a tectonic shift towards that, where it was like, now we can't act like we've got two more months to solve our problems and get back to good.

And, you know, it was three upsets

by all accounts to some, I mean, these were all six good teams and playing well, but there were three upsets.

And it put like a team like the Lions, for instance, and the Chiefs into a danger zone where you're really questioning where this season goes at this point.

And a lot of self-introspection for those clubs. Man, now that Sussex is calling the Bengals a good team, how the tables turn so quickly.
Well,

I think they, what we saw last night makes them into the the category of like I don't want to play that team right now Do I think they're making the playoffs?

No, but do I don't want to play them down the stretch mega berserker qualities

So let's let's get into it and yes the not to don't want to bury the lead of the teams that came out on top.

So because we're gonna spend the next 45 minutes or so in this stream talking about how the Packers and the Cowboys and the Bengals had the biggest moments of their seasons But I think yeah, it was the losing teams that defined Thanksgiving and a new world order here as status quo was upended.

Let's start with the first game of the day, as customary. It is in Detroit and Ford Field.

Uh-oh, the Packers are figuring things out now. And a big spot hit it, Gravy.
I'm just waking up right now.

It's one of those things that you look, I'm looking right back at my

own vision right now, and it's like, oh, that guy,

he's not awake yet yeah he's he is wake currently waking up

so i got my java and my oh by the way merch is out not this not this particular cup but we're working on it it in time yes people settle down maybe just a little bit on some of the antsiness heat the call podcast.com exclusive merch anyway here we go

I was talking about with my bosom buddy, Bob Castro.

His family was one of the groups. There's the merch plug.
Good job, Justin.

His family was over here yesterday. They actually, they stayed over.
They're all upstairs. Oh, they're still here.
Jordan Love is on Bob's fantasy team, and me and Bob are going against each other.

And after the game was over, when Jordan Love converted a pair of fourth downs with scoring passes in the first half, matched his career high with four touchdowns, and the Packers had dispatched the...

reeling lines 31-24 at Ford Field.

I was saying about Love that he's an interesting quarterback because there's about eight games in the season where he's fine to a little underwhelming.

There's a couple games where he's bad like any other quarterback.

And then there's like five games where he plays like the best quarterback in football and he's just unconscious and he makes every big play.

And it's a reminder that if the Packers were to get that version of love with this defense anchored by Micah Parsons now in full man on a mission mode, Packers can go all the way

and they to me now out of the NFC North Ceci are the team to beat very clearly and it's the Lions now at seven and five that yeah they're a team on the run trying to figure out in real time it's it's the way they did it too just the success you mentioned it the the aggressiveness on fourth down

they were three for three on fourth down passes from love um they were efficient on third down they were two for love was two for two in the red zone.

And you know, you look like, this is sort of what I was hoping we'd see consistently earlier in the year, and we weren't getting that.

But it's interesting that now like Matthew Golden's not able to be in the lineup. Jaden Reed's not in there.
Tucker Kraft's not in there. And these other guys stepping up.

Like I thought Dantavian Wicks, obviously the best game of his career. Christian Watson and Love have real chemistry.
And you mentioned it with the Micah Parsons thing.

It's like, why do you make that trade? What's the destination? What's the reason that you sell the farm for Micah Parsons? And there's a lot of hand-wringing early on.

Like, is Micah Parsons playing in a way where you want to see sacks, not just pressures? He's been great the whole time, but yesterday was a signature island game where he dominated.

And it's like, that's why you make that trade because you're going to win the division now because you just swept the Lions.

Yeah. They are in great position now and.
playing at a higher level than the Lions. Here's Parsons talking about Jordan Love, the two superstars of the Green Bay Packers.
That's just who he is.

He's going to show up, injured, hurt. He's going to fight for his guys and play at the highest level.

Jay Love's the ultimate competitor.

There's not too many quarterbacks that I can put up, you know, that fight like him through everything he's going through.

All the injuries, you know,

he just comes in and he works.

And it's starting to show off. Like, the jump he's making this year has been like night and day.

Yeah. And, you know, know, Green Bay gets out to a 10-0 lead early in the second quarter in this game.
And then

it just had to be so flattening and disheartening for Dan Campbell, the Lions, Lions fans, everybody in that building.

Every time they pulled closer,

the Green Bay Packers would restore that 10-point lead. They always had an answer right down to the

final drive where they were able to seal the game. And

it was a really impressive performance. And what Love did on offense was matched by Parsons, who had two and a half sacks.
He's got 12 sacks now this season.

And yes, like the first eight weeks, he was doing all the things that you wanted

on a down-to-down basis to be a difference maker.

But don't let the football nerds tell you there's no difference between Micah Parsons now, these last three weeks, and Micah Parsons a month ago, because now he's actually impacting games directly by taking down the quarterback in big spots and doing exactly the thing the Packers wanted him to do.

So

it's working on both sides. And I, you know, got to give credit to guys like Dontavian Wicks.
Like, like that guy made so many big plays in this game. Romeo Dobbs had a touchdown.

They've, they've, they've been able to find a way to

survive. And on the other side, the Lions lose Amon Ross St.
Brown in this game very early in the game. He gets rolled up on like a double roll-up, and he's out.

Campbell said after the game, they'd be lucky to get him back in a week or two. So it's a somewhat significant injury, it sounds like.

And that is a major concern for an offense that you saw what a destabilizing effect that had. He is the anchor of everything with Gibbs.
Let's listen to Dan Campbell after the game.

So like I told the team, it's frustrating. I know we got a lot to be thankful for, even after a loss.

You know,

and look, we dug ourselves a little bit of a hole. That's the bottom line.
We are in a little bit of a hole.

But that's just what it is.

There's nothing more than that.

Yeah, it's on, you know, they only had 10 yards of offense in the first quarter. And it kind of shows you that the

roadmap when you like lose an Omnon Ross St. Brown is like, you've got to figure out what your offense is on the fly.

And they didn't get like the Jameer Gibbs game from a week ago where he's just dominating and creating complete chaos for the defense. It was the opposite.

And I'm a little concerned about the Lions in terms of where they go from here.

But I do, even just listening to Dan Campbell right there, from more of a human angle and the way that this team is like sticks together, like that's the right coach to dig them out of a hole.

He's not a panic guy. Like I think they're not a panic type team, but they've got to go and win these divisional games.
Like you're not going to win the division.

That's just the way I see it right now. So,

yeah, you're a wild card team, but

it's not as dire as some of these other. Like, it's, I don't view it the way I view like the Chiefs situation, which we'll get into.
But, you know, you're losing guys here and there.

And it's like, this was significant. Like, Dan Campbell had dominated Matt LaFour.
I think he won like six of their first eight contests, and now it's flipped in the other direction.

And you've just been bested inside a really good division, and you still got the Bears to deal with.

Check out the Lions remaining schedule here.

What's going on in the comments, by the way? Fly up anything that's interesting and worthwhile.

They've got the Cowboys next week, then the Rams.

Yeah. So when did Mark start looking so marvelous in that gray denim jacket? I mean, he wears it almost every show.

It looks good. It looks great.
Yeah, well, it's also, it is, I think, you know,

it depends what time zone you're in, but it's eight in the morning here, so I'm not at the top of my game. It's 8 a.m.
after Thanksgiving. Carter asked, I get married tomorrow, but I'm still heating.

That's what it's all about. I'm sure she is very thrilled about that.
Steven, this year feels like a big Lions regressive regarding the offensive line in the secondary. Yes, I agree with that.

It really does feel like they are in danger because they just don't, I don't know. I texted you guys like, you know, in the second quarter or so.
It doesn't feel like the Lions.

have whatever whatever that is, right? And we, I guess you could have said the same thing about the Packers when they were going through their funk in October.

But the Lions, it just feels different right now. Let's see.
They are home against the Cowboys on Thursday. Talk about getting the Cowboys at the wrong time versus, you know, three months ago.

Then they go to L.A. to face the Rams.

Home for Steelers, at Vikings, at Bears. I mean, there could be two more losses on the schedule, which gets you to seven if that happens.
And then you're right on the bubble.

Any other thoughts from this game, Ceci?

I think because of how I felt about the Packers not being who they were a couple, like six weeks ago,

I just choose not to panic about either one of these teams, but you're right about the Lions and that schedule is brutal.

This Packers team, the way they played yesterday with that aggressiveness and the way that they, you know, against all odds, like they're absolutely spinning magic on in the most important moments on fourth down, like they can beat anyone in this conference, maybe outside of the Rams.

I just think that you if you're gonna get the packers to play that way it's what i was talking about way back in september um kind of

my last thought you should have stayed with them by the way the curse of sessler they could have been the curse buster but you got scared off and moved on you gotta well i mean you gotta dig in you gotta dig in i don't i think i was i think what i was doing was reason trying to be reasonable in my analysis they were disappointing um i if i put i did not i don't believe that i'm cursing teams but yeah i don't know if we know the rules around undoing a curse just because I stop glowing over them.

Does it just get removed? Because then I can't. No, because I think what happened was the curse was starting to settle over like a death fog

over

Green Bay, Wisconsin. And then you did your mark thing, all of a sudden you liked the Cardinals for a couple of weeks again, as I recall, and then you moved to somewhere else.

And then the fog was like confused. And it was like, you could see

the death fog in an aggravated manner. Like I'm picturing the the face on it like,

like moving to a different part of America. Like fing sesler.

Well, I have talked up the Patriots and they continue to win. So I mean, I guess the Patriots are one team that probably would be immune to a curse.
Well, no, just stay right there.

I promise you, I will be thrilled if you stay where you are there. Let the fog settle over.
the woods of Foxborough. That would be wonderful.
One last thing. This one was on.

Oh, no, I wanted to share my last line, which is we all love Dan Campbell. We're always in Dan Campbell's corner.
I love Dan Campbell, too, okay?

But

he yanked play calling duties away from his OC when they were averaging 30 points a game.

They've won one of the three games where he's the play caller. They're

0 for 7 on fourth down since he took over his play caller.

And

in general, and I know St. Brown's absence matters a lot here, but I don't know.
I just want to point it out that it's it's not like it's been gangbusters.

It looked really great the one game when he took over. Last two weeks, not so much.

Last thought. It's, yeah, that's something to watch.
Thank you, Mark.

Because what if you then,

you can't switch back now? That's the thing.

He can do anything he wants. He's damn candid.
I guess he could.

And now, last thought about the broadcast itself.

Potentially hot take. I wish Connor is here for this.
He'll join us later. But I think Tom Brady has made major strides in the booth.
I think Brady

really

sounds confident and relaxed and is giving us analysis that wasn't there a year ago. And he also had to deal with a little bit of the Brady tax, which is earned when you are Tom Brady.

You look like that. You act like that.
You're that big of a personality and a figure that I think a lot of us, like we talk about, oh, everybody wants Shadura Sanders to fail.

No, he's just kind of annoying and a a gnat and a fifth-round quarterback. People wanted Tom Brady to fail.
Tom Brady

is a guy that society wants to take down a peg, right? But I think he's doing better.

He's doing a lot better.

I'm really with you. I was saying this to someone yesterday, too, that like I think he

there have been a litany of like star quarterbacks and Hall of Fame type coaches that have come into the booth and you're like, why aren't you more intriguing?

Like, why, if you were able to do all that on the field, why aren't you lighting up my ears and teaching me the game in the way that only you could do?

I think he's gotten much better at describing teaching. He's been talking about like bunch formations and like exactly what's happening on this play and why people are lined up.

It's like, that's what I want from you, Tom Brady. Like, I think it just takes time.
Like, you get plopped into the booth out of nowhere and we're expecting them to be perfect right away.

It takes reps. And I think.
I think that's Fox's fault too, because they didn't

give him time to

figure it out. There's There's like, now you're, we're paying you a zillion dollars.
Now be a zillion dollar, Alice. Yeah.
All that said, um, I know where you're going.

Yeah, Brady, Brady did add this point in the telecast.

My old coach, Coach Belichick, you say, guys, football season starts after Thanksgiving. Well, there you go.

The old trope trope alert.

But I just want to say one thing. Like,

my old coach, Bill Belichick, used to say, the season doesn't start until Thanksgiving. I have an issue with some of the Bill Parcells

erasure around our league. That's Bill Parcells that said that.
That was, you know, Belichick was his understudies. Yes, Barbara Parcels.
That's the Belichick line. Invented that phrase.

And people from Bill Belichick

to, you know, Rex Ryan to Mike Francesa, like everyone. took that and ran with it, but it was Parcells.
So

if we're going to use the Thanksgiving platform to celebrate a man like a great man like John Madden,

let's not forget a great coach like Bill Parcells because he invented that silly phrase, which the question is true.

I have to, I would be stunned to learn that he's attributing it to Belichick, who probably did say it, but doesn't Brady know that that's a Parcells vintage line?

He's only in his own Brady world, and Belichick was, he never played for Parcells. But anyway, I'm just saying, don't forget about that man.
That was a good PSA. Thank you very much.
All right,

we're just getting started. Here we go.

Awake now. That was the warm-up.
Let's take a quick break. And when we get back, Chiefs, Cowboys.

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Welcome back. Now I don't typically get to watch our commercials.

Well, yeah, I have a person. I have a note.
I look like

I should be on the FBI's and FBI list there. Like, I don't know what was going on with my look and my lighting there, but

you're a dangerous man. I mean, I looked like a lost individual, but I'd take a note of that.

Now, you're doing the gravy thing. I know what you're doing.
Now, you're going to have the comment section of the live stream just saying how hot you are for the next

12 minutes.

I'm not talking about my current appearance. I'm saying in that particular ad read,

I look like I have a

little bit of a pressure.

Go ahead. Yeah.
No, just like, you know, if you're a presidential candidate, look out because here comes this psychotic individual. But anyway,

throw up a couple comments for Mark just to get his confidence back.

We need Mark in peak form. This is the Thanksgiving, post-Thanksgiving recap.
A guy with a beard said, Mark is hot AF. Oh, that's how we work.
Are we back?

Yeah.

Thanksgiving was nice.

We had 40.

We had... Actually, a lot of boy energy.
I have two boys. Bob has two boys.

Our Our friends, Andy and Ovni, have two boys.

That's a lot. No, no girls.
We went out there. We did a

pretty eventful. So I cooked the bird outside with the infrared fryer.
Ah, came out incredibly well. While I'm doing that and having a beer, a local boy, the neighbor boy, falls into our pool.

And all I hear is, Dan, Dan.

What do you think Zowser does? Zowser jumps in fully clothed, saves a boy. I love that.
I love that. And I'm not, people are like, why would you bring it up on this show?

Like, what are you trying to bring attention to your heroism? No, I'm just giving you a rundown of my day. Jumps in the bowl.
Saves a boy, the neighbor boy.

Kept cooking the bird.

Added a couple more beers.

Then we went over to the field

and the children

decided we want this, our turkey bowl game, football game, to be adults versus kids. And we didn't like that.
We didn't like the disrespect putting on the 40-somethings in a big spot.

So, what do we do?

I had to go out there and throw four tutties on them, including the walk-off 80-yard bomb

to win it.

They're all upset. They're on the verge of tears.
They go back angry. They barely want to shake hands after all.
But you know what? You challenged the adults.

You know, the fact that I was able to connect from 60 yards out to a guy that was a foot and a half taller than his defender, that's your problem, not mine. That was your decision.
So you're sort of,

yeah, you're, I think you're on top of saving a child's life,

which is the headline there, you're also teaching them important life lessons.

You know, I'm sure that the

gathered wives that were there are asking their husbands why they can't be a little bit more like Dan on the car ride home. Just a little bit more like Dan.

Can you get there maybe just a little closer to being aware of that? And I see it in the thread like, oh, you're a competitive dad.

Like, no, my sons will beat me in sports when they can beat me in sports. That's right.
It's authentic. It'll mean something.

Do you know how many times I played in my driveway growing up with Keith, the old man? And he would back me down in the post.

My dad has an incredible, to this day, if you go out there with my dad, he has an incredible mid-range game. We would shoot 100 foul shots rebounding for each other, taking 10 at a time.

My dad was hitting 85%,

85 out of 100. And I was like, oh, that's so frustrating.
Then you would play horse. The worst thing in in basketball, when you play horse against somebody that has a good mid-range game, just

banging 18 footers on you, just reining them from the elbow extended. Right.
Couldn't beat him. And then when we do one for one, one-on-one, he had this back-end move.

He would back in, and then he'd use his left arm to kind of swipe away, clearly an offensive foul, and then go up with a little jump hook. No ref.
It took me, you know, it took me a long time.

It took me a long time.

I want to be surprised, but we're talking about Keith Hansis here. So

very competitive man himself. So it passed down the gene.
Anyway, let's lock in

and talk about the middle game. By the way, the middle game,

Francesa style, the book, it's going to be a huge number.

The idea is that this Chiefs Cowboys game could top 50 million viewers,

which would make it, if it is indeed the case, it would top Cowboys Giants Thanksgiving 22

for the most watched regular season game ever. I believe it because this had all the earmarks of a game that America wants to tune in for right in that middle slot.
Let's get to it.

50 million people watching the game. You got people that don't even watch football watching that, like, because it's just not in every household that functions technologically.

People love football on the holidays.

Dance ain't the local boy.

All right, here we go.

Dak Prescott

and the Dallas Cowboys. Remember how this year started? They trade Micah Parsons.

Oh, the criticism was loud and relentless. What is Dallas doing?

What are they trying to do? Jerry Jones is lost. This team's going nowhere.
I mean, I feel like I said some of those things, but you weren't alone. Yeah.

And yet here they are as the season starts at Thanksgiving.

6-5-1,

4-1 at home and a team that you don't want anything to do with because they have put it together. Prescott threw two touchdowns.

Malik Davis had a 43-yard score.

And despite a really strong Patrick Mahomes game, four touchdown passes, including two

on fourth down,

It is the Cowboys who prevailed 31-28.

And I'll just go back to it again, Mark.

It wasn't even two weeks ago.

I was sitting in the upstairs of the loft at my brother's apartment in Brooklyn, and we were talking about how the Cowboys had just smoked the Raiders, and we were like, you know, that was a really good game.

Nice night for Jerry, but let's see how they do when the schedule tightens up. And all they've done the last two weeks, or the last, hell, the last four days, is beat the Philadelphia Eagles.

And now the Kansas City Chiefs, the two teams that were in the Super Bowl. So we said said those three games, and they have another big one next week.
What do they have next week?

Let's see. I'm blessed.
It's Detroit. Detroit.
Detroit. See, waking up.
We're getting there.

We said if they could win one, they'll keep their season alive. If they win more than one, they announce themselves as something much more than we ever thought they could be.
And here we are, Sesse.

Yeah,

they're the first team in... NFL history, I believe, to beat the Super Bowl teams back to back.
And you're right, it happened in five days. They had to do it on a short week against the Chiefs.

It's how they're doing it to me, too, because

George Pickens is just becoming a raging star. It makes CeeDee Lamb all the more unstoppable and he had a great game yesterday.
But

the reason you couldn't take the Cowboys seriously was obviously the defense. It was an embarrassment for

the big chunk of this part of the season that started. The Quinn and Williams trade completely flipped the switch on what they're able to do and how they're able to affect an offense.

Their run-stopping ability has completely changed.

And I know for a Jets fan, it's annoying that Williams goes to Dallas and becomes like twice the player, but he had six quarterback pressures yesterday, a QB hit and four tackles.

I think the return of DeMervian Overshone has been amazing. That guy is all over the place.
That is my type of football player. And it's like, it is working very well.
Yes, Justin. Justin had a little

circle came up on the screen there for a second. Just doing the hook'em for Overshown.
Necessary. That is a necessary part of it.
That was a necessary interjection. Thank you, Justin.

But I mean, I just feel like there's this other thing about the Cowboys because

for years it's just been,

they're a story, but they're not

serious to me.

Brian Schottenheimer somehow has this team more unified and together on both sides of the ball than I can recall a Cowboys team in any recent past.

No matter the record of some of those Mike McCarthy teams, this feels like a different traveling circus to me than in the past. And it's not a circus.
Like they are a dangerous team right now.

All right, let's hear from Brian Schottenheimer, who absolutely now is going to be getting some coach of the year buzz based on these last two wins.

Let's see how they finish this season, but they are in a very good place, and Schottenheimer is looking very good right now. Yeah, we'll play anybody, anywhere.

I mean, I think you can see that by what we've done the last couple of weeks, and the moment's not too big for us. We just play, and then we know the fourth quarter is going to come.

And when the fourth quarter comes, we know we're going to find a way to win. And I think you just keep doing that.

It has to be such a good feeling for Schottenheimer to wait so long to get a head coaching job. And then the way just the circumstances work out, you end up landing.

maybe the primo head coaching job in all the league and then the season starts where it does and now it is where it is and um

yeah the defense has been a major part of this because and I agree, like CeeDee Lamb could be sometimes frustrating, right?

Because he'll have, like he had against the Eagles, a bad game and he'll have some bad drops and you're like, you're left wanting more.

But when you get the CeeDee Lamb who showed up yesterday and you pair him with Pickens, and then you even have a running game now with Javante Williams, who scored another touchdown, he's closing in on a thousand yards rushing.

And you have Dak Prescott playing at an MVP level and an offensive line that is doing the job in both pass and run blocking.

All that stuff is not going to go away, barring injuries, but it's the defense's rise. And we talked about it in the preview show, how the secondaries piece things together.

Quinnen Williams continues, yes, to be an absolute force on this.

I don't have any heat toward Quinn Williams because, again, he suffered around dysfunction and just the hideous era of Jets football. Set him free.
Send him to the other conference, even better.

But 21 pressures now in three games with Dallas after 19-8 with the Jets. And I don't think that's because he wasn't playing hard for the Jets.

I think some players get revitalized and just the engine revs up a little bit as a competitor, and you're seeing that. It's like

if Quinner was in the Turkey Bowl,

you would see the way the game rises up because you sense it. So you have a difference maker on that line.

And it's been all the way around just a tremendous, tremendous stretch for the Dallas Cowboys.

And it's like for all the Jerry Jones discourse, like you said at the top, like he's executed, along with, you know, whoever else is making the decisions there, it's him.

It's two of the best trades of the NFL season with Pickens and Williams. I mean, they both just flat out changed each side of the ball for that team.

And so I'm kind of like, I'm not saying that we need to think differently about Jerry Jones because he's still just this experience, but the plan that we laughed at, I laughed at it.

I thought they were just floating away in terms of what they were from team, from a team building angle. Like, it's worked.
worked it's worked and also that extends to the coach

what what was the Brian Schottheimer was the coach that everyone's like what are you doing there like that's not that's that's not gonna work and it's like I'm sorry all three of these major significant moves are working for the Dallas Cowboys and they're a they are right now um

coming together like completely at the right time and you're right you don't want to and they could they could they could create complete damage for the Detroit Lions a week from now.

It's a wild game.

In fact, I wanted to be a coach.

We know, Jerry. And they're going to get the Lions without Amon Ross St.
Brown. So they have a chance.

I don't think anybody, I don't even think Cowboys fans thought you could potentially go through, now knowing the Cowboys, they'll lay an egg.

But like, they have a chance to go through this stretch and win all of the games. And that is, it just changes the entire look of the NFC

in a way.

On the Chiefs side, yeah, it's a big story. It's this team cannot find that gear

and get on the run we've seen them get on every year for the past seven or eight seasons. And in this game, it was the defense.
Like, I don't think the defense is getting enough criticism.

Spaggs' D has not been getting the stops.

They lost another one-score game here.

In this game, Mahomes is playing at, you know, peak level.

There was that one play, I believe it was in the third quarter, maybe third or fourth quarter, where he almost gets tripped up for a sack, and then he evades the rush. He's rolling right.

He gets away from another pass rusher. As he's falling forward, he wings it 40 yards downfield for a huge completion.

I feel like Tony Romo probably passed out for about five minutes after that play. And it's like, there it is.
Like, so you still have this guy, and he's playing at his highest level.

Travis Kelsey, obviously, is having a really nice season, especially compared to the last year.

Rashi Rice has been everything they could have asked for in another big game today on Thursday with close to 100 yards and two touchdowns. But every time Mahomes, especially in the fourth quarter,

made plays, Prescott would answer right back. So like Mahomes throws a go-ahead touchdown pass on fourth down.

Cowboys and Prescott march eight play, 68 yards, go right down the field and score again. And

you just saw that all game long. Afterwards.

Afterwards,

we heard from Mahomes, who knows the road now is tough.

Yeah, I mean, at the end of the day, he's going to win every game now,

and hope that's enough. So, I mean, we're going to play a lot of good football teams coming up.

And if we're going to make the playoffs, we're going to have to win them all. And that's got to be the mindset when we step into the building when we get back.

Yeah, I mean,

he's realistic. You're 6-6.

You do have a game against the Broncos down the stretch.

But that doesn't matter anymore. It doesn't matter.
It's gone.

Well,

you could lose maybe one more game, but I think that the mentality is we've got to win out. And, you know,

adding to the peril of where they are, Josh Simmons, their left tackle, who they're counting on, is lost with a dislocated and fractured wrist.

So you don't have him next week or anytime soon.

You know, there's a lot going on here. And it's like

you said it well because

we've kind of been concerned or talked about the what was the issue with Kansas City's offense for the past couple of years. It's not right now.
It's the defense.

And like to see how they were completely mauled by Pickens and CeeDee Lamb, like that's that's like that's a recipe to keep losing these one-score games if they don't close games.

I mean nobody could really cover Lamb and Pickens, but you expect the Kansas City Chiefs to find a way to do it. They can't.
They can't get near Dak Prescott. They didn't have a sack.

If you can't get

all pro receivers and you can't get the quarterback,

you're going to have a long day. And I think, because remember, the Chiefs have some tricky tiebreaker stuff working against them as well.

You saw that when they beat the Colts last week and actually dropped in the playoff standings. So, you know, this was

an out-of-conference game, so it doesn't hurt as much as an in-conference game in terms of tiebreakers. But you look at it, they have

Sunday night football against Houston. Okay, home.
It's huge. They have home against the Chargers.

They have a layup against the Titans in Nashville.

Total layup. It's like

Keith Hansis doing the swipe and the little jump sky. It is.
That's the parallel.

Then home Broncos, as you said, and then another finger roll layup against the Raiders. So you got two layups, but then every other game.
is against the potential playoff team in the AFC.

So I just don't think it happens. I've now seen enough that this is going to be a team like the Lions potentially, where it's just like, you know, there are some more.
That's what we feel like.

Yeah, there's more cracks in this roster than we all realize. We just assumed they were going to

figure it out, and it just never happened. And yeah, the Simmons loss, that's a big one.
Anything else on this one, bud?

I think it would be an incredible story to see them climb back into this into playoff position. They're ninth right now.

This is kind of weird, but they have the tiebreaker over the Ravens. I know none of it matters unless they go pile these wins up, but

the Houston game looms as a massive contest. That's their season.
They finished this game without three of their offensive linemen. It just feels like one of those years.

Sometimes it's one of those years.

Trey Smith with the ankle, Juwan Taylor with an elbow. We mentioned Simmons, left wrists.

That's when you worry about Mahomes, too. If that line breaks down, we saw it in the Super Bowl.
It would happen for any quarterback.

But they get nine days now to rest up, and then they have to go on one of those runs. And if they do it,

I'll be very surprised, put it that way. I feel we've now seen, we've seen enough.

It makes this, I think this regular season has been growing in fascination by the week, especially the last couple of weeks. Like, to have the Chiefs sitting in this position,

all those teams yesterday, every one of them, like, they're all much more interesting than they were a couple weeks ago because of where they are, good or bad. What's up, Gravy?

How about Jake Ferguson sticking his hand into the turkey and carrying it around like a glove? I mean, that was a pretty incredible moment.

Yeah, I like it. I like, you know, offending

convention and a subversive act.

It's like

taking the power from the turkey and saying, I am man. Right.
Questioning man. I can manipulate.
I've already captured the turkey. I've prepared it.
I've cooked it.

And now I'm going to desecrate the body in an act of celebration over a pigskin game, which, by the way, is the skin of another beast. I mean, it's a bit of a human flex.
It feels like an annoyance.

An ugliness of humanity. An annoyance to other...
Like, typically you're sharing a turkey.

So, you know, I don't want someone's hand in there necessarily, not permanently. Did he save a child? No.
So

who actually performed better yesterday? I think it's clear to the audience.

I think it's clear, too. We're going to get to the last game, but there's nothing.
It was the saddest turkey situation ever in the Baltimore game.

Because obviously, the home team, it's like probably 30 degrees or whatever in Baltimore. By the end of that game, it's late.
The place is 85% empty.

And then they cut over to the, oh, let's, who's going to be the turkey MVP? And it was.

It was the coldest, like stalis-looking plate of food I have ever seen in a Thanksgiving telecast.

I can't imagine that anybody ate what was left on that table, you know, after the home team gets spanked in the biggest of all spots.

Well, you know, like we've worked on when we were at NFL Network, like there were a lot of kind of quasi-fuges-you know food situations where they'd bring in a bunch of food for the hosts on like you know, the morning show or something.

And it's like it just sits there for hours and becomes rot. No one actually eats it.
Absolutely.

All right.

You didn't find that to be a compelling.

No, you just put a nice little

period on the whole conversation of the game.

By the way, if you're listening to the podcast version of this, we're going to take a quick break. Stay right there.

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To the

audience.

Right after this.

Yeah, right after this show concludes, you can head over to the Patreon and get the week 13 draft

www.patreon.com slash heed the call. We draft the week 13 games, the games we're going to watch.

We're also joined by Jason Zummalt for that particular episode, and we go through some headlines as well. So a lot of fun there.

We also got a new Rolling Thunder out with Jason and

AI as the subject matter.

We have heed the call podcast.com if you want to get exclusive merch. And I think that's enough whoring

for the moment.

Less whoring. Let's bring in a man that has to have takes to get off.

Look at this guy. There he is.
Look at this guy.

Connor Orr. Hey.

What's up, buddy?

I'm fresh from,

I spent the morning trying to assemble this studio quality

setup here in like in a remote cabin. And then I ended up totally torpedoing the audio for this.
So I'm really forward to just ruining your show in every way. Well, you look great.
Yeah, you do.

You look freshly, Sean.

We appreciate you joining us.

He had the wrong adapter cable, people.

So he's just going to do a portion of the program, but we're happy that you're here, Connor. Congratulations

on

everything.

And I'm sure the holiday was a raging success for Connor, a major family man. And how did it go for you, your Thanksgiving? It was great.

And I will say that there's been a lot of new blood in the families. And that means a lot of new desserts in the mix.

And I got to say, like the people who are coming into this family are just crushing it. Like we had like a peanut butter chocolate cake situation.

We had an ice cream cake situation, a chocolate, peanut butter, pumpkin pie hybrid with like a salt salty crust. And

I like slipped into a diabetic coma briefly, I think, between like the hours of 11 and 12. Missed maybe part of the end of the game, but it was worth it.
It was awesome.

Are you, when you say new blood, are you talking about you have a newborn child? Like,

or is it people out, like outer family members coming in, you know, new faces, like brothers-in-laws and sisters-in-laws and stuff? New cousins,

well, cousins getting married to people, right? Because I'm kind of on the older

of the cousins. And so we're bringing in new ones.
We got to surprise my grandmother yesterday. She's going to have her 10th great grandchild.
How about that? And so not

by me, not by me, but by someone else. So that's, yeah.

Love it. And I do like that we brought Connor on to discuss the game that he's just acknowledged that he had slipped into a diabetic shock and didn't see the end of.

I saw it. I saw it.
I'm good. We're streaming.
We're live. And crazy things happen.
Let's get to it. The final game in Baltimore, the sad Thanksgiving platter portion of the telecast,

the triple header for the NFL. And yes, Joe Burrow was back.

Here's the thing. Here's the thing.
You know what really annoyed me? You know what really pissed me off, Cesare?

Well, tell me. People who pointed to Joe Flacco's success this season and said, well, yeah, maybe Joe Burrow is actually not that good.

Joe Burrow is special. Joe Burrow is different.

Joe Burrow is, I always mess up this.

He is

the tide that lifts all boats for the Cincinnati Bengals.

Who defeat the Ravens handily. 32-14 in Baltimore.
And Burrows' return following foot surgery.

Cincinnati gets the 4-8. Baltimore 6-6 and looking for answers.
And Connor, let's start here.

So it wasn't like it was like the greatest Burrow performance or the greatest offensive show showing either.

Like we talked about a little bit the idea that Burrow might have some rust in this game, and they stalled in the red zone a few times, could not cash in on what should have been a gimme score after a Lamar turnover in the first half in this game.

But when it was winning time, Burrow made big throws. He got help from a cast of characters that was, you know, not all, it wasn't all Jamar Chase.
T. Higgins wasn't even playing in this game.

And they just, to the point I was making, like, you saw the defense keyed up in this game.

All of a sudden, the team that, a defense that I saw a stat on ESPN, that the Cincinnati defense is statistically one of the worst, if not the worst ever since 1978 in EPA.

And all of a sudden, they're just snuffing out any Baltimore rally in this game.

And you just got a sense that Burroughs' return did more than just put one of the best quarterbacks in the league on the field again.

The Bengals believe again, and maybe they have berserker tendencies in the AFC.

I think it's been a couple of weeks coming now. We've seen two good Bengals defensive performances leading into this game.

And then we saw an outstanding Bengals performance where they had as many turnovers forced last night as they did the entire season up to this point.

If you actually check the EPA rankings, congratulations to Al Golden. You're no longer dead last.
That's the Dolphins and the Commanders who are now behind you. So they have that dubious distinction.

But we talked about it, I think, on Thursday's show, or maybe it was a week ago, that out of all this, I mean, they drafted Shamar Stewart.

They re-signed Trey Hendrickson because they thought Miles Murphy was being left behind. This guy gets left one-on-one with Isaiah likely in this game and just dominates again.

And so it's not the edge rusher that they thought they were going to get, but it's the edge rusher that they need.

And especially with a hobble Lamar Jackson, that makes so much difference for cincinnati they were that i i the story of the game is burrow but to watch like joseph acai create complete pressure and put lamar jackson in the blender it was the effort too they didn't look like a defeated defense it was the complete opposite when jordan battle stripped isaiah likely at the goal line like that was effort like that didn't have to happen that way and a and a dejected defense wouldn't have done that.

Like I thought they just found a way to create so many problems for the Ravens. And it was very unexpected.
I mean, the Burrow part to me less so

because he threw 32 passes in the first half. That's the most of his career.
So they sort of said, we're putting our foot on the gas right away. We're not kind of easing Burrow in.

I mean, it was, he looked healthy to me, completely healthy. Like, that does make them a berserker team.
Again, I said, I don't think they make the playoffs with that record. There's no way.

But I do think that you don't want to deal with them if that defense is a couple notches better or anything like we saw last night.

And here's the thing with burrow uh i mean a lot of those misses were on timing routes and what do you need to complete timing route passes you need time right and and so i was surprised that they called so many of those in the red zone and i think those were almost directly responsible for some of the misses in the red zone but you give him two weeks and he's going to be hitting those 10 out of 10.

And yeah, it does speak again to the level of confidence and trust they have in Burrow to not ease him back into the game plan at all.

To Mark's point, Burrow became the first player of the season to have 40 or more passing attempts through three quarters per ESPN research.

His 42 attempts before the final quarter were the most by any QB since.

Ellipses. Joe Burrow, 2023, when he did that in week three against the Rams.

What about that Jacoby Brissette game that we were all annoyed by? Like, I mean, it didn't, it feels like that would have successful.

The game when they lost 42-22, and now his Jenzi's hanging in Canton. It wasn't successful, but

he threw the ball a lot in that game.

Here is Joe Burrow

after

a very, very. And by the way, they were 4-8 last year.
We don't have to go back in time to find the last time the Bengals got hot and went on a run with a bad defense and an all-time quarterback.

I think he's an all-time quarterback. They went 9-8 last year.
Didn't get him in the playoffs, but they can do it again with Burrows. They're good at going 4-8.
We know that. We'll see what happens.

But they have a chance here. I really do think they do.
All right, here's Burrow after the game

certainly hasn't been easy on me through through six years

from a lot of different angles but

you know I've worked really hard to put myself in position to be back out there and a lot of people around me have done the same and

there's been a lot of discussions and a lot of time in the training room and

just a lot a lot that has gone into this and you know I'm I'm proud to be back

I'm proud of that coat and the hair just as easy as

they showed him walking into the stage. I mean, it was like, what is going on here? But we know he's a fascist.

He knows it. He leans into all of it.
And, yeah, one more point. Yes, winning out is going to be very difficult to do.

But, man, the AFC North is a mess. Yeah,

is a mess. And Lamar Jackson on the other side of it, quarterback-wise, I mean, geez,

he is just not playing anywhere close to the MVP level he's played at the last five years. He turned the ball over three times.

He is just not able to get the offense in a groove. Like, there's no sustained consistency to their attack.
He's, again, not.

the same difference maker on the ground with all these lower body injuries. And after the game, he sounded like a very frustrated franchise star.

I can't describe the level of frustration. You know, I'm ticked off.
You know, it's not even frustrating. I'm just mad because, like I said, we can't have that.

And turnovers is a big part of winning, losing games. And turning the ball over, giving them an extra possession,

this is the outcome.

So there you go. So the offense.

is not playing at the levels we're used to.

The defense

is

been very good. In fact, that was the first time they allowed over 20 points in a game since October 5th.
But kind of a lot of that was soft schedule. And we've been on top of this.

And we talked about it on the power rankings: that the Ravens were a little bit of a paper tiger during the winning streak they were on.

And now, after you see them play the way they did at home in this spot, again, you're like re-examining the AFC North.

You have the Steelers, and they have obviously a big game this weekend against who is it, the Bills they have this weekend.

And you have

now the Bengals got Burrow Burrow back and Baltimore at 6-6. It's a wide open division.
And whoever gets to 9-8 may actually have a home game in the playoffs.

Yeah, and the Ravens aren't aging well. This entire division is not aging well.

And that's why I wish I kind of jumped on your Burrow Berserker take a little bit earlier instead of throwing cold water on it because you say what you will about Cincinnati, but they're like the youngest and most athletic team in the division right now and may just have enough stamina to survive at the end.

I mean, Baltimore just looked looked old yesterday. They looked so old.
And you could see how much, like, Kyle Hamilton was playing like 11 different positions for this team.

And you could see how much he was patching up on this defense. It's just everything's kind of breaking through for this team right now.
It doesn't look good. There was the one play

where

Lamar lost the ball on a pass attempt. It just slipped out of his hand.
It's like, this is, you know, that's a human thing. It's cold out.
I get all that.

But these were these little moments that were not happening to Lamar Jackson Jackson a year ago. I kind of feel like his body just isn't right, and

that was very evident in weeks past, but it just doesn't seem to be all there physically. It's a different quarterback.

They lost three fumbles in the first half. They turned the ball over five times

in this game. All five of the turnovers

were

on passing plays.

Derrick Henry continues. You know, he gave them a touchdown run early, and he's fine.
He's fine, right? But they're not able to,

it's like there's no pivot right now. It's like, okay, we're going to have Derrick Henry drive, you know, handle the captain of the ship.

It's like, you're going to sink or swim with Lamar and this offense getting it figured out. We're just, we're not there.
And again, just like the Chiefs, it's almost like

you've seen enough where it's like, I don't know if this team has that second gear this year. And if

this team, just like the Chiefs, don't have a second gear, like the AFC is going to to look totally different come January when we get to the playoffs, which is a little bit, I know, especially for somebody like you, Ceci.

You get a little like ground down by the same teams involved all the time. We might

have a totally different landscape of the AFC come January. I love the season for that reason.
There are, as Connor would say, there's new blood.

This is a critical juncture for the Ravens. They've got the Steelers, then they play the Bengals again in Cincinnati, then the Patriots, and then the Packers, and then the Steelers.

Like, that's a rough schedule. That could be bye-bye time.

By the way, the Bengals had the ball for this game almost 39 minutes. Also, just

there's a lot of quick three and outs for Baltimore's offense.

It's a tough situation. I'm going to ask you this question.
Oh, by the way,

we have a little lock competition. I don't know if you guys remembered.

This is Road Warrior Week, and we all had to lock up a road team. I went with the Cincinnati Bengals.

Minus seven, Zuzzer, who, by the way, saved the neighbor boy who fell into the swimming pool yesterday morning, Connor. I don't know if you said that.
Yeah, you got to hear this connector. So I did.

I caught that

while I was making this cup of coffee, and

I couldn't believe it, but I could. I mean, that's you through and through.

Were you wearing clothes and you jumped into the pool? Because that's like the

fully clothed. I was wearing jeans, t-shirt.

It would have been, it's a different story if you were

air-frying the turkey in the nude. Right, that's true.
That would actually get me arrested.

Right. Different story.
Yeah.

We wouldn't want that for a number of reasons. But anyway, I locked up the Bengals, and now I'm rolling in the lock competition.
It puts a huge amount of pressure on Connor.

Yeah, this Black Friday Bears-Eagles game, which I was pretty content to ignore and and just will out of existence is now going to become the center piece of my day, which is

pretty terrifying.

I see someone in the chat says, this is why I hate Dan. Oh, because I saved a child in a swimming pool.
That's cynical. You dick.

I know what you'd be doing,

Julian Ponce. What did you want him to do, not do it? And then be like, that's what he did.
Yeah, I'm not Dan anymore. I'm not going to say that.
How old was the child? The boy? The neighbor boy?

Yeah.

It was 16, 17.

I was going to say you saved a team

high school teen. It's a five-year-old boy.

Well, you really did the right thing. Don't let it.
I don't like to bring attention to it, I don't like to bring attention to it. There might be a photo.
I'll have to get a photo.

There is a photo out there that was snapped at the moment of grace. It's just like staged by your agent.

Shout out, Evan, WMA.

All All right, here we go. Let's wrap this up now.
Shout out, Luis, for dropping a tip, a super chat in the live comments here. Great stream, fellas.
Go, Broncos, F the Chiefs.

We appreciate any and all tips. That's very nice, Luis.
And also, where does your money go?

To Justin.

To Justin's wedding fund. No, to fund Justin's gambling losses, which are mounting.
I did have Chiefs over 10 and a half wins, but I also have have Broncos to win the AFC West.

So it's kind of a watch, you know. Do you have any other updates?

Thank you, Justin. If you are on the live chat and you're not subscribed, please do it.

Bang that subscribe. What should we do with the subscribe, Mark?

Smash it. Smash it.
I love when Cessna is. I want to know where the 499, where does the 49, I want an actual answer on that today.
I'm not joking.

Justin is in a very deep hole with some people that break kneecaps.

Okay, fair.

Don't want the kneecap broken. Not until we, you know, off-season break.
Anyway, last thought before we say goodbye.

I'm going to ask you guys both this.

Theme of the episode, Connor, status quo, upended in the NFL. Lions, Chiefs, Ravens, all at a crossroads.

How many of these teams make the playoffs?

Start with Connor.

If we're talking about the Chiefs, the Lions, and the Ravens specifically,

three.

All three make it. Yep.

Okay.

How many of these six make it that we saw yesterday?

I have to agree with three. No, no, no.
Three. Lions, Chiefs, Ravens.

Oh, of those three. Lions, Chiefs, Ravens.

One.

One.

Which one?

I'm still going to go. I'm going to go Lions.
Yeah.

I'm with you on that.

I think the Ravens,

I'm still going to take the Ravens to win the division. I can't quite get there with the Steelers or the Bengals.
So I'm going to go two.

And I think the Lions will get there. But I just, it's kind of depressing because they're quasi-America's team.

Now I see the Lions getting in the playoffs and then going back to Philadelphia or something when it's freezing and just having an ugly ending to their season.

But I do, I don't think their season's up. But how about that? None of us, only Connor, picked the Chiefs to make the playoffs.

From where we stand right now, they have a lot of work to do, but it's not over for any of these teams, but it's getting late early, earlier than we expected. All right.

Anything else before we

donation on the heat down?

This is a very, like, very on-brand for our

company. It's like, let's illuminate that people can tip when there's three minutes left in the show.

Yeah. Shout out to Rindin820.
Hope the kids' family sends Dan assigned to football, much like Dabo Sweeney once did. You know, the neighbor boy's dad is a listener to the show.

I'm not going to say anything to him. But we'll see if he listens to this particular episode.
MLB41 is funding Justin's Lake House. Thank you very much.
We appreciate it.

And Ryan Hansen 11, $4.99 specifically designated as a donation to Connors TNC fund for adding 20-inch rims.

That would be incredible if you pimp out the pre-owned TNC, which maybe we should actually put that money into some safety measures because it is one of the more dangerous cars on the market driving on the highways.

I was going to say getting it in actual transmission that meets safety standards would be the first move on that one, but we roll on.

All right. Beautiful, beautiful, beautiful.
Thank you to everybody that jumped on the live stream. Good numbers.
I think we had over a thousand people or close to it at one point.

The audio audience will get a version of this program as well. The Patreon is up.

The draft, as soon as this goes, you can head over there if you want to get some of that with Zumwalt sitting in for Connor. We'll see if Connor is happy with Zumwalt's draft on his behalf.

We'll pay that off on Sunday night, the week they're going to be able to do that. We're going to try and do something wild in that draft.

You'll have to go see, but we had to slow Jason down from doing something.

I've been trying to do the audacity of Zumwalt. He was trying to trade future number ones, Connor, to move up in the draft.

In the worst draft, like the worst great games we've had. I had a David Stern his ass and be like, whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa.
We can't be playing with someone else's future here, Zumwalt.

You're mad with power.

It's like when you ask the kids, can you just stir the soup for like two seconds and then you go back and the entire kitchen's on fire and you're like jesus christ what happened all my number one picks yeah so yeah check us out at patreon go get the merch if you if you'd like and uh and then um sunday night we'll be back with the flagship program um

and that's it

good job hey the producer live show live stream beautiful job

magnificent

uh mark final words as people head into their holiday weekend. I am thankful for most of the people in the chat and each of you.

Okay.

Not the person that's going to be able to do it. You got to hit the ending, though.
You got to hit the when the music hits for the outro, you have to land the plane before that hits.

Okay, so you get one more chance. Here it comes.
Take it away, Mark.

I am thankful for most of the people.

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