Transcribe your podcast
[00:00:09]

Welcome to NFL Daily, where you don't want to be the favorite. It's week two. You thought you had it made. Your team was given a touchdown away. You probably lost. I'm Greg Rosenthal in the Chris Wesseling podcast studio alongside Patrick Claibonne. Nick schook reporting live from Cleveland, Ohio. You know, a team that also was an underdog and one on sunny. But they, they weren't the big stories, Patrick. It was like every team that we thought was probably going to win in the early window didn't win. It's a beautiful thing.

[00:00:45]

Yeah, well, beautiful thing. Unless, of course, you, you passionately cheer and care about the outcomes for one of those teams, but almost felt it coming. At least if we're talking Baltimore Ravens, you did.

[00:00:58]

All right. Let's not even waste any more time. Sorry, Nick. We're just going to get right to it because let's be real. You know, you look at all the games that are on the schedule, you got Tony Romo and Jim Nantz and it's Bengals, Chiefs, and, you know, wouldn't you know, it comes down to a late field goal and a call at the end of the game and you think, well, of course, you just got to start the show that way. That's just how things not here. I don't want to because to me, this week was more about those big underdogs early. The Raiders, the Bucks, the Vikings, the Saints, who all get it done so we don't have to do the Chiefs and the Bengals. First. Let's start in Baltimore, where the Raiders.

[00:01:38]

Got it done, 26 23, Vegas on top and a ten point fourth quarter comeback.

[00:01:43]

That's right. Just let Max Rousey play the joker.

[00:01:45]

He's not rushing, he's just watching Jackson. There's the snap. Pressure from Wilkins up. Jackson takes off up the middle. He has the 50 and the 40 still on his feet at the 30. He laterals it back to Justice Hill. Near sideline at the 30. Keeps the play alive. He tumps. It looks like it was forward. There's the flag. It's still loose. Raiders bat it down. They're about to fall on top of it and this ballgame is over. The Raiders come to Baltimore and they beat the Ravens 26 23 in a massive effort here on the road.

[00:02:15]

I can't believe it. Patrick Claibonne. It was 23 to 1310 point. Ravens win after Derek Henry scored a touchdown in the fourth quarter. The Raiders have three more scoring drives after that. What happened to your team? We can just go public with that.

[00:02:36]

I think most people are aware. The last time I sat in this chair, the very few moments before we left, I said, the problem with this Raiders matchup, Gardner Minshew beat them last year. And Greg shook, he looks at me and says, oh, that's some fan stuff.

[00:02:51]

Well, that was worried about Gardner Minshew in this spot, but you were right.

[00:02:55]

Okay, so with 403 to go in the game, there was a third and goal from the 17 yard line. Minshew looks for Devontae Adams. Brandon Stevens gets called for pass interference. That was, the Raiders would score after that. They would get a stop and then they would ultimately get Daniel Carson Carlson out there to kick what would have been a game winning field goal. There was the final play. You go back, you watch it. I know people looking at the broadcast were saying, well, Lamar fakes a pitch there and keeps the ball. He scores touchdown. There were three Raiders on top of him. Yeah, but really, if he wheeled again and again, is this would have been a 360, no scope, like, no look being able to see the entire field at once. But Zay Flowers is standing on the opposite sideline all by himself. He's got like 40 yards of space, but that's neither here nor there. They couldn't get the stops down the stretch. They were three of eleven on third down the, the Raiders were four of twelve. But you try to find a spot. The pass protection got better this week.

[00:03:51]

Lamar was under pressure. His passing numbers were actually better under pressure this week against the Raiders. But ultimately they couldn't get those late first downs. After Derek Henry gets over 79 yards, he gets that touchdown. They really couldn't move the Raiders defensive line at all. Christian Wilkins played a solid game. Max Crosby is Max Crosby and, and Chuck, that's, that's just what happens. You can't, you can't close the game out late. You want, you get Derek Henry because you want to have a four minute drill. You want to be able to ice games. They didn't do it.

[00:04:21]

Yeah, I mean, that's where the Raiders invested in the offseason by getting guys like Wilkins and paying Max Crosby when they didn't have to. And all the talk this week was, well, who's going to stop Lamar? Or how, how do we stop Max Crosby? That felt like the kind of strange matchup there. But I look at the box score in this game and I just see eleven penalties for the Ravens, three of eleven on third down. Lamar rushes five times for 45 yards. And obviously you don't want to running as much as he did in week one. But some things that are just a little uncharacteristic of the Ravens to the point that I essentially. Patrick, if I'm, if I'm reading you correctly, with that ze flowers situation, I have to envision Frank, why check to Kevin Dyson, Music City miracle, to give the Ravens a chance in this game. This is unlike them. They should not be in that situation.

[00:05:00]

Yeah, that play, that play wasn't happening. I mean, to focus it on that play is crazy. I would focus more on, look, it's a complete team loss for the Ravens, but for the last four possessions for the Raiders to go. Touchdown field goal. Touchdown field goal in a half where they only had five possessions is pretty wild. Let's. You mentioned Devante Adams had the game tying touchdown. Devante Adams goes nine for 110 and a touchdown, including one of the most beautiful toe tap. They called it the smooth criminal catch on Twitter, which was perfect. Just like an unreal Devante Adams catch on the sideline. And then he gets the touchdown late Brock Bowers, who is very much the same as the Brock Bowers you saw in college. Nine for 98. So those two get it done. Let's listen to that. Devontae Adams game tying touchdown.

[00:05:50]

Minshew in the gun. He's got Samir white to his right. The handoff to Zamir. No, Mitch, who keeps it to the end zone for Adams. And it's caught. Touchdown Raiders. Minshew pulled it out of White's belly. And a quick throw to Devontae in the back middle of the end zone. And the Raiders, with 354 to go in the game, are an extra point away from tying this game.

[00:06:13]

You're halfway through this game. I've seen people calling for AOC Aiden O'Connell, but Gardner Minju ends up with 30 for 38 for 276. What, what happened there?

[00:06:24]

Well, ultimately, there was coverage issues. We saw it last week against Xavier worthy. The Ravens blew a coverage, and for some reason, Brock Bowers just gets a whole bunch of free releases. It's going to be tough to cover Brock Bowers anyway. But you mentioned the field goal on the possession. After that, Antonio Pierce had an opportunity. He wound up playing for the field goal and playing the clock game instead. The Raiders could have scored these touchdowns consecutively down the stretch. There was really very little. There was much more of a pass rush in the first half versus the second half. They. They couldn't get to Minshew, and when they did, it was just Minshew magic.

[00:07:01]

It's crazy. I mean, it's week two, as you said right before we started, you were like, whatever's happened so far, you think it's going to hold this year? So the Ravens are going to win 17.

[00:07:10]

They're not going to win. They're not going to win a single game.

[00:07:12]

They, they are two games back in the AFC north. And yeah, this is a huge win, obviously, for the Raiders to just get some positive, positive vibes. Justin Tucker misses a 50 yard field goal in this game. He's one of his last seven from 50 plus. I think we can safely say Justin Tucker is no longer the best kicker in the NFL. Hitting 50 plus is what kind of matters right now for crickers because they're all hitting all the kicks under 50. They're all so good at it that Justin Tucker's kind of not that dude anymore, which is amazing. But it is cool to see that Devante Adams still is that dude. Before moving to the next game, let's just listen to Devontae Adams because he had a postgame interview on the field with NFL Daily's own Steve Weiss. I mean, Weiss does other stuff, but mostly he's with NFL.

[00:08:01]

Gotta hit the defense last and they.

[00:08:03]

Go up by ten.

[00:08:04]

Max Crosby, the guys shut them down the rest of the way. Those boys, I mean, defense fire, man. They fire. I'm not gonna lie. So we gotta do what we gotta.

[00:08:13]

Do on offense and be a little.

[00:08:14]

More consistent and take some of that.

[00:08:15]

Pressure off of them. But they clearly are fit to withstand.

[00:08:19]

Some of that fire that they're dealing with. So long as they keep dishing it out, we're gonna be a great team. All right, that was Devontae Adams. We move on from Vegas to Minnesota, where another team that was a pretty big underdog on Sunday got it done. And they got it done in large part because of slinging Sam Darnold.

[00:08:39]

Second and nine for the Vikings from their own three. Arnold under center. Play action to Jones. Back to pass.

[00:08:45]

Bosa.

[00:08:45]

Picked up. Deep shot. Jefferson.

[00:08:48]

Yes.

[00:08:48]

Caught at the 50. Heads left to the 40. Cuts back to the 25. Heads to the right. He's trying to outrun the Niners. To the five.

[00:08:56]

Touchdown.

[00:08:59]

A 97 yard touchdown from Sam Darnold to Justin Jefferson.

[00:09:08]

Awesome call there by Paul Allen on Kfan. The Vikings move to two and o on the season, 23 to 17. The upset over the 49 ers with our friends at Sky Sports in the building. There they were. Good luck for the Vikings. I'll see you, Neil Reynolds and Alex Jackson over in the UK in about a month for Jags Bears. But we're here to talk Vikings Niners shook. They got the lead early in this game. Justin Jefferson leaves with a quad injury. They say it's a bruise and that he'll be ready to go next week. It's not believed to be serious. So they even got some good news on the injury front after the game. Like what? What was your biggest takeaway here?

[00:09:58]

I mean, we're living in an alternate universe where I have confidence in Sam Darlene. Now, I know it's only two games, but he looks like he has graduated to the next level. He is comfortable. He's not making, you know, massive mistakes. There was a period where I texted some of my USC friends and said, guys, I feel a Sam turnover, a bad decision coming here with this game getting tight. And he did the opposite. He stood in the pocket with the pass rush, Baron down on his right side, and he rips a missile down the seam over Fred Warner between three Niners defenders to Jalen Naylor for a big pickup late in that game. And that right there proved to me not the 97 yard touchdown pass, which is a thing of beauty in itself, but that right there proved to me Sam might just be built for this. Finally, after all these years, he might be ready for it because he's looked like it through two weeks, and this is not the New York Giants. San Francisco 49 ers is the team that put the New York jets in a crock pot and slow cooked them to death last week.

[00:10:45]

And this time around, sure, they gave up 399 yards of offense to the Niners, but at the same time, they were able to outlast them with plays like that. And that's the beauty of it right now. Also, the other beautiful thing we went last week from Paul Allen being like, you know, it's second down and seven here. Now you can see the excitement in his voice before the action even happens. He's believing, too, everything turning up Vikings.

[00:11:07]

Yeah, and there's reason to believe, Nick, like, this isn't some upset where the, the Vikings were the team that fumbled on the goal line. The Vikings outgame the 49 ers. They were making plays. The turnover battle was even at two a piece. This is just a straight up show up at home and have a nice, solid win over a team where Brock Purdy didn't self destruct today. He played. He played solidly. They just went out and beat the 49 ers like there was no statistical anomaly here.

[00:11:34]

Still win, right when, when Aaron Jones fumbled on the goal line, and that came, was that before or after Darnold's interception to Fred Warner, which was just a fantastic play that was after it. So after those two turnovers happened at the same time, I'm thinking like, clip that play, guys. Let's talk about that play as when the game turned. Because normally in a Viking situation, you have two plays like that. And Darnold's throw wasn't great, but that was an even better interception by Warner. Warner made both of those turnovers. He also forced the fumble on Jones. He is just playing out of his mind. Last week might have been one of the best games I've ever seen Fred Warner play. And then he has another game like this. Normally I would expect, you know, the Vikings end up losing this game, but you mentioned how they, they iced it without Jefferson on the field, without Jordan Addison on the field, and they partly did it. Yeah, because of the defense shook. They blitz Brock purdy on 20 of his 44 dropbacks, 45% with. Normally you say, oh, man, they went crazy. But actually that's, that's just normal.

[00:12:38]

For Flores, it might be under their average, actually 45%. And while all these pressures didn't come on the blitzes, he was pressured 13 times and he took six sacks, the most of his career. So the Vikings defense got home.

[00:12:50]

Yeah, that's what I like the most about this performance from the Vikings. It was a total team win because on one side you had Donald, you know, thriving, but the defense itself, yeah, they gave up close to 400 yards of offense, but they got after the quarterback. They got Brock pretty unsettled. By the time the fourth quarter arrived, he wasn't even getting through his progressions from right to left. He was almost freezing because it had just been so much chaos throughout most of that game. That's the first time I've seen Brock Purdy really uncomfortable in a long time, and that was credit to their defense. And this is a team that, like we just talked about, turned the ball over twice. The Niners took both of those turnovers down the field and scored, and they got right back up off the mat and said, let's go. I'll go another ten rounds with you. And they ended up coming out on top.

[00:13:26]

I love that. And I just love that this NFC north is just going to be even spicier that than we expected. I expect Kevin Harlan to be spicy every week, and all I can say is we look for the moments when Kevin Harlan just makes us happy. And he gave us a beauty on Sunday in part because of technical problems where it sounds like the halftime crew's audio wasn't working. Let's listen and let's take you to.

[00:13:55]

Nate Burleson in New York.

[00:13:57]

I can't hear anything.

[00:13:59]

I can. I can hear you.

[00:14:02]

Go me.

[00:14:03]

Go. Rogers against Tennessee.

[00:14:07]

And they're going deep.

[00:14:09]

And it was caught by the Titans. Ridley with a touchdown reception. The former Jacksonville jungler will nevis with a long throw for Tennessee.

[00:14:23]

Back to Minneapolis.

[00:14:24]

All right, Nick. Thank you. Second down, six.

[00:14:27]

Outside they go. There's Ayuk. I love it.

[00:14:30]

I'm throwing a flag. I'm throwing a flag on the crew. Somebody's got to let Kevin Harlan know what the play is because he's, he's doing a million things at once. It's been like Levester Ridley. Just get in his ear so he can finish the.

[00:14:41]

There's so much chaos there. No one is expecting that. And knowing that he's watching on a monitor where that play is in that, in a tiny little box and he gets it done. That was awesome. Not awesome is Christian McCaffrey's achilles tendonitis, whatever you want to call it. Let's listen to Kyle Shanahan after the game. Respond to, I believe, pretty directly, a report from our NFL networks, Ian Rapaport saying that McCaffrey could be out up to six weeks since we've last recorded. He was placed on injured reserve. Jordan Mason got the start on Sunday, and he looks fantastic again, 100 yards in a touchdown. So they have a good backup. But obviously very concerning that McCaffrey's hurt.

[00:15:26]

Nobody knows. You know, we're dealing with tendinitis, so there's a. Not one person knows. He doesn't know. We don't know. It's take it day by day, you know, by putting him on IR. It's at least four weeks, so that'll give him some time to rest and kind of protect him from himself. Us, too. No matter how he's feeling. It's four at the minimum.

[00:15:46]

I guess nobody knows, but, you know, someone like Ian Rapport doesn't put that out there for no reason. It was partly, I think, a scheduling thing, too, and it's just, it's disappointing. And yet I, and again, they're a team that really, the games that matter are going to be November, December, January. Hopefully Christian McCaffrey is back for them by then. Let's continue with the upset theme and go to Lambo, where, look, they're going to start a quarterback they just traded for a few weeks ago. This isn't going to go well, right? Oh, yes, it does.

[00:16:19]

Pittman and Pierce to the right side, along with Branson, the tight end Mitchell split to the left, snapped to Richardson. He looks, he waits, still looking. Winds up rainbows deep down the right side into a gaggle of bodies is broken up, intercepted by the packers. And there is your dagger, intercepted by the rookie Evan Williams and the packers survive 16 to ten over the Colts.

[00:16:52]

I love it. Wrn w Wayne larvae with the call. We'd have to go back and have someone listen to see if he had a dagger call like a minute and a half before that because I swear I thought this game was over after a previous stop, but it was not. The the Colts hung around in a game where it was pretty one sided throughout. 16 to ten. The packers get the victory over the Colts. The Colts now at zero and two. The packers with a big time win. And I watched this game and the first drive was really telling. Malik Willis only throws one pass on that drive for zero yards, and yet they drove the ball 57 yards on the ground. They ended up having 164 yards on the ground in the first quarter, 237 yards on the ground in the first half. That is the third most rushing yards in the first half of any team in any game since 2000. They actually only ended up with 261. So the Colts kind of cleaned it up after halftime, but by then the damage was done. And it's amazing to me that the Colts went into this game knowing the packers are just going to run the ball.

[00:18:15]

Josh Jacobs ends up with 32 for 151. Malik Willis goes six for 41 on the ground. Even Jaden Reid has a couple of long runs. Like every run he has is a long run. And the Colts just weren't ready the second straight week. Their rush defense really killed them. And I was tracking Patrick like a lot of Colts reporters after this game, and people are almost debating like, who is the bigger problem here, the offense or the defense? Because while the defense was getting steamrolled, I mean, the Colts offense only had three plays on offense before it was ten nothing. So they were always playing from behind. Colts offense didn't really get it done either. Anthony Richardson throws three picks, another sort of boom or bust game for the Colts.

[00:18:57]

But now this is the second consecutive game where a veteran running back has gone in against the Indianapolis Colts and run all over them. It was ten nothing with 1213 to go in the, in the second quarter, and Josh Jacobs fumbled or right on the goal line. And so this, this could have gotten even worse. That kind of kept them into the game. And we, we come in and we're, we're saying, I'm Malik Willis has never thrown for 100 yards. He's never had a receiver go over 50 yards. Malik Willis played a pretty solid game today that you said there was no runs on that first drive because one of those swing out was a backwards pass to Jaden Reed. But it's still, he's in a throwing motion. Like, Malik Willis comes. He just got there. Like, what would Malik Willis of a whole offseason? A chance to prepare for this offense that's proliferated around the league. What, what might he be? That that's what I loved about this game. We finally get a chance to see.

[00:19:45]

You know, like in going into this situation strategically, you think from an offensive standpoint, all right, how are we going to, you know, minimize our, our potential to turn the ball over and kill ourselves? It's by shortening the passing game. It's by relying on the run game. And the defense knows that. They know that they're going to come in there and try to pound the rock on the ground as much as possible. It is demoralizing as can be when you can't stop that. When a guy goes 32 for 151, when they rack up this many rushing yards, you can't stop him. And I sound like a broken record at this point, but if you can't stop him at the point of attack on the ground, that takes all the pressure in the world off the quarterback. You need to stack the box now just to stop the run, let alone try to get after that quarterback, and suddenly he's not as much of a factor. Then he goes out and completes twelve or 14 passes, has a pretty nice day, doesn't have to be the star. And that's how you win when you know you don't trust your quarterback that well.

[00:20:30]

So kudos to him. Kudos to Matt LaFleur for putting together a game plan that works. I mean, it's a beautiful thing when all of it works like that, and it's really, really scary and concerning for a defense when you cannot get that type of stop against another NFL team. It's as simple as that, especially two weeks in a row.

[00:20:45]

Speaker zero. I'm glad you mentioned the passing numbers because, yeah, they ended up great. Now, Romeo Dobbs helped him out. His playmakers helped him out. Romeo Dobbs with a great catch in the second half of this game when Malik Willis put it up, but it was a chance worth taking. And on the couple timing routes that they had, Malik Willis was very effective. Let's listen to his touchdown throw to Dantavian Wicks.

[00:21:08]

Third and four. Now for the packers at the Colts 14 yard line. Here's the snap. Willis looks, throws right side, down the sidelines into the end zone. Don Tavian Wex don't pass rock in the career of Malik Willis.

[00:21:25]

What a story. I think Matt Lafleur was having a blast in this game. Some of the run formations they had early were awesome. And look, Jordan Love didn't get ruled out for this game, weirdly, until Saturday. I think he was downgraded to doubtful. They had him questionable on the injury report initially. There's some talk that maybe he's a little closer to returning and that would certainly support it than people thought. We'll see what they do in week three. Either way, it's a great story, but maybe Willis buys them another week to be more conservative with their quarterback. And this is a type of win that everyone just gets really excited about. Let's actually listen to Matt LaFleur after the game talking about his center, Josh Myers, throwing up on the ball. That's a real football guy. I asked Malik why he didn't throw the ball in that third down. He told me that Josh threw up on the ball.

[00:22:19]

I was like, that's the first time.

[00:22:22]

I've ever heard that. Matter of fact, the official came over to me, Sean came over to me and said, you know, we saw your.

[00:22:29]

Center thrown up on the ball.

[00:22:31]

Do you want us to take him out next time? I said, absolutely, please do that. Because, I mean, you're talking about a critical situation and it's third down and I've never had a throw with vomit on a football. I don't know.

[00:22:43]

I don't think pride didn't appreciate that.

[00:22:46]

That is incredible. And yeah, please check out the YouTube subscribe. You get the highlights, you get the sound. Obviously we love you on the audio, but if you do happen to watch.

[00:22:57]

The video, you can see unless you're squeamish.

[00:22:59]

Right. The replay of him puking three or four straight times, it was a liquidy one. Didn't seem too chunky.

[00:23:04]

Well, that's the, that's the issue.

[00:23:06]

Yes. Yes.

[00:23:06]

The volume. And Malik Willis, my goodness, he, Jordan love gets hurt in the final moments. He comes in just to throw a Hail Mary on the slush fest. He falls down and then he comes in this game, his first start for the packers, and the centers throw it up on the football. Thank goodness for him. He makes a decision to just hold onto it and keep it. But that's a, that's a lot to process in vomit.

[00:23:27]

The opposite of stick em like, I think vomit's legal, right? Yeah, probably a little slippery, right.

[00:23:33]

I saw another look, I can, now I'm, now I'm losing track. It might have been in a different, it might have been in a different game. I swear I thought another player vomiting on the field, I believe at the end of, of this game that was not Malik Willis. So I don't know.

[00:23:43]

It's September maybe September. So that's pretty common.

[00:23:45]

Maybe it was just going around.

[00:23:47]

So. But I do wonder from an officiating standpoint, if the, if the defensive tackle does that on the ball, what's, what's the call?

[00:23:55]

I don't think there is a call for that. I think that's just like neutral zone and fractions. It's nature. You just have to let it happen. A disappointing day for the Colts. Not only do they lose to go o and two, they waste a good performance by Jonathan Taylor, who had a nice yard, was not always on the field like on third downs, but he said he was, he was healthy. The time of possession, they've lost by roughly 40 minutes to 20 minutes in both games, which you don't, normally I don't get too worried about time of possession, but that, that's a lot. And then most importantly there, DeForest Buckner had to be helped off the field, appeared to have, um, what could be a serious lower leg injury. We will see. Laughter Lotu also was ruled out late in this game with a hip injury. The defensive line was supposed to be their strength and now kind of looks like a weakness. And, yeah, as I mentioned, I did see Richardson, you know, some of the, the interception, the last one was just, you know, he's throwing up a Hail Mary, but he did have an overthrow where, I'm not a mechanics guy, but it looked a little crazy what was going on, kind of backpedaling.

[00:25:02]

His feet were all crazy into the ball, sailed. So just a sloppy day for the Colts. They will try to respond. We will be responding after the break. I guess we'll get to this. Patrick Mahomes, Joe Burrow, you're going to.

[00:25:16]

Have to deal with waiting for the.

[00:25:17]

Chiefs at some point back on NFL daily. Such a good week of games that, yeah, a 26 25 Chiefs victory over the Bengals didn't even lead the show, but it is pretty awesome. I love this rivalry. It started all Bengals now lately it's been all chiefs. And if you had to guess before the game how it was going to end, the call would sound something like this.

[00:26:00]

It's the Bengals and the Chiefs. Why would you think it would be anything different than this. A 50 1 yd or a 50 yard to try to win it by butger. 25 23. Cincinnati placement is down, but kick leg through. It is high enough and it is good. Kansas City, Harrison Becker, another clutch kick against the Bengals and the Chiefs win it at the buzzer. 26 25 and the Chiefs go to.

[00:26:34]

20 on the year that was WD Af and Mitch Holtis Harrison Bucker gets it done again. I mean, how many of the biggest games of the last handful of years just ended on a Harrison Bucker seemingly anticlimactic kick? One of them happened against the Bengals. That that put them in the Super bowl. The Super bowl obviously ended with one last year. This one was a little more ten shook because the Chiefs were trailing at the time. And yet after that pass interference, which I know you'll want to talk about on fourth and 16 with 48 seconds left happen, it just felt like we were just wasting time until Bucker got done again.

[00:27:20]

Yeah, actually, it felt like. Like a slow march to death if you're a Bengals fan. It was just, oh, here we are again. We're in range now. He's going to make it. The game's over once again. I just checked, by the way, Harrison Bucket had a 50 1 win today, 2022 season AFC Championship game after the Joseph Osai penalty that knocks Patrick Mahomes out of bounds and puts him, puts them into field goal range as a 45 yarder. I mean, it's like you couldn't make it up. How similar they were. This pass interference penalty, by the way, totally pass interference on Dijon Anthony. It's unfortunate for them, but the, the way that this game was played was so similar and yet, unlike their past meetings, because the Chiefs kind of had to win ugly. Like they had four accepted penalties, but I could have counted a few more that were declined or that it just seemed like there was a long pass to Travis Kelsey brought back by penalty. Kingsley Sue Mata, the left tackle getting smoked by Trey Hendrickson to the point that they bench him in the fourth quarter. It just felt like the operation save for the 44 yard touchdown pass to Rasheed Rice was really difficult for them.

[00:28:16]

Every time something went well for them, something brought it back or just got in the way, and yet they found a way to do it in a similar fashion. And that's got to just absolutely hurt Bengals fans because they played well enough to win, especially after the way they played in week one. I mean, Joe Burrow 2336-2582 Touchdowns fumbled the ball away. There was pretty much even turnovers you know, the giveaways on both sides of the ball, six lead changes, I think, in the second half in this game, just back and forth. A classic game. But, you know, for as bad as the Bengals were in week one, they were a lot better this weekend. Yet they're still owen two and they're still on the short end of the stick against the Kansas City Chiefs. And now you just wondered, are we ever going to get over this hump? I don't know.

[00:28:54]

They, the early season issues for Cincinnati continue, but I feel like you got to extract that one from this particular narrative.

[00:29:01]

Oh, yeah.

[00:29:02]

Because there was, there was some, it felt playoffish to a certain extent. And Luann Rumo calls an incredible game. And of course, there's going to be all these shots of Dejan Anthony after the game and people are frustrated about because he got way too much depth on that particular play, comes up and hits Rasheed Rice. He played like five defensive snaps last week. I just wonder why the Bengals, after playing such a great game, are rushing three in this instance, giving Patrick Mahomes all this time. Because there was the third down play where the play before that got called back because of a penalty. The Bengals would have been better off with that initial gain instead of the pass interference on Rashee Rice because it's just, as Chuck pointed out, it's just so similar to the past where the penalty puts. But Kerr in the range and regardless of what he thinks the role of everybody else on the planet should be, his roles. Kicking field goal, is he pretty good at it?

[00:29:56]

Right?

[00:29:56]

Patrick, I live, I live my life by two key rules, okay? Among some one, if at all possible, do not wait in line and to never rush three. And yet that's where they found themselves. So they can only blame themselves for having them in that situation where that occurs. Like, you're absolutely right. It's a, it's a bummer for them, but you're absolutely right.

[00:30:14]

Never rush three because that, that allows Mahomes the time to set up and everyone to get downfield. It's hard not to contrast that approach to the Steve Spagnolo approach on a day where they barely blitzed at all because they were afraid of Joe Burrow, who's great against the blitz. They did send the house on Burrow on the Bengals last offensive possession to get the ball back on third down. So Spags goes big blitz wins. Bengals get conservative, lose. Now, ana rumor will say, look, I got, I got Hendrickson out there winning every snap. And actually, we kind of did flush Mahomes out pretty quick on that three man rush. So you do also have to give Mahomes credit for being Patrick Mahomes and setting up that play because I was ready to rail against it. Then they actually kind of made him move right away. But again, when it's only three rushers, you only have to beat one guy if you're Mahomes. And he's so good at. At doing that. So much happened in this game, I almost don't know where to start. Cause you mentioned, yeah, Joe Burrows fumble that was returned for a touchdown by the Chiefs defense, which normally would be a decisive play.

[00:31:27]

They also had a long 47 yard touchdown throw to Rashee Rice, who's really getting more vertical with his routes. That's not something he was going to do last year. Like, both of these routes that he ran, one for the PI and one for the touchdown, were not routes he was running last year. That shows growth. And yet Patrick Mahomes threw the ball 25 times, shook for 151 yards, and he threw two interceptions on the day. So this was kind of like last year's Chiefs, and they did run the ball pretty well, but Isaiah Pacheco ended up leaving with an ankle injury. So that's concerning. But what did you make of the Chiefs passing attack? Kind of being stuck in mud a little bit like that.

[00:32:06]

You know, I came in with one key takeaway and it was Lou Ann. Arumo is in a special group of defensive coordinators that has somewhat of an answer for the Kansas City Chiefs. No matter what their offense evolves into from year to year, he always seems to have an answer. Until those final moments when they need that one play to get into field goal range. The rest of the game, he's pretty much on top of it. And case in point, the Kim Davis Gaither interception was an ugly interception. As if my homes didn't see him or they shifted coverage. And, I mean, he was right there to take it easily. Then he had Cam Taylor Britt talking trash about Xavier Worthy this week, saying all he can do is run a straight line really fast. He's in one on one coverage down the sideline, makes one of the best interceptions you'll ever see, and in between, they're generating pressure. Now, the Chief still ran the ball fairly well on the ground, like it was a solid three to four per carry, you know, 19 for 90 for Pacheco. And, you know, it's not like they were necessarily getting stopped there, but when it came, you know, drive by drive, as this game stayed close and stayed close.

[00:32:56]

They were able to get stops. They were forcing takeaways. They were doing everything they needed to, to give their offense opportunities. And at the, on the same, you know, on the flip side of that coin, Joe Burrow, he'd make a nice throw here, he'd make a nice throw here, and then also they'd be in a third down and spags would blitz him and they'd have to punt like it was just a great tug of war type of game. I don't really take it as like an indicator of the Chiefs offense. I think that it's just Bengals have experience against them. They know how to answer them even as their offense changes over the years. And I think it's going to always be like that for as long as these coaches are on these teams.

[00:33:26]

I disagree slightly. Hollywood Brown, which is potentially going to miss the rest of the season, that's news that dropped since we last taped this podcast. He's out for a long time now. He's on injured reserve. He had a setback. Rashee Rice is definitely better. Xavier worthy ends up with 17 receiving yards in this game, four targets. We'll see what kind of role he's ready for. So far it hasn't been high volume. And then Pacheco leaves in a walking boot. And I think you said crutches, Patrick, so I think there are things to be worried about. And then their left tackle, Asua Matea did not have a good game, as you mentioned. Juan Yamura, who catches a touchdown. I mean, so many things happened in this game that even that at one interception by Taylor Britt, if this was a one sided game, that's what we would have led with. That thing was incredible. Jamar Chase, very quiet in this game. Four for 35. My guy Yoshivas gets two touchdowns, but only seven yards in a, in a key drop. Right before that big blitz I talked about by spagnolo, Yoshivas had a drop that could have kept that drive going.

[00:34:25]

And, you know, you have the ball late. It kind of reminded me a little bit of the Super Bowl, Patrick, that they lost where the Bengals had a bunch, a couple chances on offense to put it away, and they, for whatever reason, just didn't execute several.

[00:34:36]

And it wasn't just Yosef as Trent Irwin had a ball, hit him in the face mask, could have extended a drive as well. Just those. But it, it's those type of mistakes where it seems like. I know it's cliche, you can't make them against Caitlyn, right? If you do that, you survive against another team. But that sliver of an opening, like fourth and 16, it just, it keeps happening with this particular team.

[00:35:01]

Well, let's listen to the fourth and 16 call. I'm just curious what the Bengals radio booth sounded like for this one. Patrick, you mentioned DeJohn Anthony. Only played three snaps last week. Just went and checked with our next gen stats crew. This was one of his three snaps this week. This is technically doesn't count as a snap, but only two steps accounted. And then this one with the penalty.

[00:35:26]

Mahomes catches a shotgun snap, drops back, bouncing at the 23, scrambling left, stays behind the line, throws downfield, broken up by Dejan Anthony. There's a penalty flag on the Bengal. Wow, he's going to call pass interference on that. Rashee Rice was the intended receiver. Wow.

[00:35:47]

At the 35 yard line of Cincinnati.

[00:35:50]

It's so frustrating to root against the Chiefs because I follow a bunch of Bengals fans that were all like, I can't believe they're letting them do that. Like, yeah, it was past interference, but I can't believe the Chiefs are getting away. Like, no one actually argues that this was the right call. It just feels like we've seen this story before and it's familiar to the people in the game, too. Joe Burrow after the game was very frustrated.

[00:36:12]

How frustrating?

[00:36:16]

As frustrating as I've had? Yeah, it's nice being back playing ball, but, you know, this one stings a little bit. Yeah, I thought I played fast and decisive today. Obviously, I got to hold on to the ball. That one was disappointing. Gifted him six points. So that was frustrating. Despondent. Chuck, you seem to be in a good mood, though. I think you were happy that this AFC north team lost. I know, I know Patrick was here. He didn't want his ravens to fall behind anymore.

[00:36:48]

No, I harbor zero bias. Bias in this. I. It was a thrilling game. I think I just can't get over the fact. If you're watching on YouTube that job or it looks like he just stepped out of 2001, I love it.

[00:36:58]

I like it. I like it.

[00:36:59]

These games, like a puka shell necklace and then he's going to beat.

[00:37:01]

There it is. It really is telling, though, about, like.

[00:37:04]

He'S in the light, funky ones.

[00:37:07]

Like, it brings me back, though. Like, the, the box scores are like 2001 against, like.

[00:37:11]

Yeah.

[00:37:12]

Like, I know there were actually weren't many defensive stops in this game, so it's a little misleading when you look at, you know, 4.8 yards per gain for the Chiefs, 5.2 for the Bengals. Like, that's not great. The Bengals have 320 yards, Chiefs 286. Like, that's really low. And yet it's mostly because they're having these long, drawn out drives that sometimes end in points, sometimes end in turnovers. But there's not many punts happening. But there's not a ton of points either on offense. All right, let's move on to a game where I expected the defenses to dominate, and it was not quite that way. Let's go to Foxboro and listen to another game.

[00:37:52]

Winner is over, 31 yarder to win it from the left hash. Mark Dixon puts it down. Myers gets it away. The Seahawks win the game in overtime against the Patriots, and there are a lot of twelves with their arms up right now saying, yes, the Seahawks win. They go to two and O under first year head coach Mike McDonald all the way across country. It comes down to four and a half left to play in OT. The Seahawks get the drive they need, when they need it, and they go.

[00:38:25]

To two and O in a loss that's going to hurt because, you know, the Patriots are wearing their very best uniforms. They. They bring back the 2001 memories. Like I said, the same sort of formula as a week ago while running the ball so well. But for all the running and the defense that you want, it's still a quarterbacks game. And Geno Smith, to me, was the story in a league where the quarterback play has not been as great this year. Gino has been about as good as I've seen from any quarterback through two weeks. 33 for 44 for 327 yards in a touchdown in this game, when he held the ball over two and a half seconds, 13 for 17 for 184. The decisions were awesome. And you might say like, you know, a couple of years ago, that box score doesn't stand out to you that much. But this is one where you gotta watch the tape because the interior pass rush was really poor. The interior protection was really poor for Geno Smith in this game, and he overcame it. The running game was absolutely terrible for the Seahawks. No Kenneth Walker in this game.

[00:39:32]

Zach Charbonnet ends up 14 for 38 on the ground, getting no help there. At least four to five drops in this game. And yet Gino just kept coming and making difficult throws and a lot of times seemingly having two plays when he goes up to the line of scrimmage and picking the right one. I saw some charting on the Internet that he was the first quarterback that they've charted to have 40 plus dropbacks, an average depth of target over eight yards, and zero off target throws charted. So it's just like he was on point and sometimes a better pass is beating a good defense. And the Chiefs, I mean, rather the Seahawks escaped a really game effort by the Patriots.

[00:40:14]

Yeah. Twelve of 15 g against the blitz, 167 yards and a touchdown. Just decisive. Like Hawkeye ish out there with, with his ackerman.

[00:40:24]

One of those, the last splits in that number was in overtime on a third and seven where it looked like they were going to get to him. Zach Charbonnet makes a nice play to avoid a tackle.

[00:40:34]

And much like last week, where we saw like a seeing eyeball to Tyler Lockett, he had a similar pass to Jackson Smith and Jigba today. And then over, over on the other side, the solid effort because reminder, Stevenson actually got out gained by Antonio Gibson in this one. The Patriots ran heavy the whole game, including my favorite play of the paid for the Patriots today. They go wildcat on the goal line.

[00:40:57]

Yeah.

[00:40:58]

Jacoby Brissette runs out to his wide receiver spot next to the sideliness. Remondre goes to the quarterback position. He looks over at Jacoby for the six. And Jacoby looks back at him like, you're playing quarterback, you call. So they snap it to him. He scores a touchdown. They take the lead on that play, but again, too much. Gino shook. It's just, it's all Geno in the Greg Rosenthal bowl. For his love and adoration, Gino speaks.

[00:41:24]

I feel like, I feel like I'm front row, the Geno coaster with Greg right next to me screaming the whole way down, arms up. This is a blast. I'm having a great time. You know, I think that there, it's telling when you look at the box score this game that 30 of his targets were shared between DK Metcalf and Jackson. Smith and Jigman. Only two went to Tyler Lockett. Like, that's, that tells me, all right, I know who I can throw to and I know who's going to be open based on what I'm seeing from this defense. So what you're talking about with having two plays and picking from one, that makes a ton of sense. Otherwise, I'm thinking, I'm sitting here looking and going, how did the Patriots rack up 310 yards of offensive? Brissette went 15 for 27 for 149. Oh, because like you said, greg, their backfield is back in 2001. What is this Antoine Smith? Are we looking at?

[00:42:02]

Like, they were never actually good with Antoine Smith? That was the thing. He was like 3.5 yards per carry. So. Yeah.

[00:42:08]

Giving falk.

[00:42:09]

Yeah. Let's go have more like, Corey Dillon, that was sweet.

[00:42:11]

Yeah.

[00:42:11]

Corey Dillon, that. That was the one. Yeah. Gibson and Remondre go for 178 combined. Hunter Henry goes over 100 yards. Almost all that in the first half. And the wide receivers for the Patriots combine, all of them combined for a total of 19 yards. So they're, they have limitations on offense, and yet they're kind of coaching around them. And that's why I think this one will sting. I give Mike McDonald, their coach, a lot of credit because, yeah, Henry's eating them up and then he moves julian love on Henry as an adjustment and they kind of shut him down. So, like, the Patriots had a number of sequences where they could have put this game away. You would watch this game. It was very clean, very few penalties, like, no, like, no dumb turnovers. Like, it was just look like a good game between two good teams where the Patriots had like a little bit of an edge for much of the second half, but a key sequence was they were up three points in the second half, driving, and Byron Murphy got a sack of Jacoby Brissette on third and six. Byron Murphy and Derek hall both had great days, and it was such a quick pressure.

[00:43:15]

Jacoby had no choice. That backed up the field goal, and then they blocked a 48 yard. Joey slydehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehe. Field goal. The patriots then get the ball back late in regulation. They actually make a stop, force a field goal so it's tied, so they get a chance to go win it with a two minute drill. But again, a derek hall quick pressure at the end kills that drive. And then in overtime, the offensive line can't get a yard on third and one. The patriots actually had the ball first, and I thought mayo chickened out a little bit. I know he's a defensive coach. He's probably not built for going for fourth and one on his own 39 or so in overtime because, yeah, if you don't get that yard, you basically lose the game. And yet, the way the game was going, I just thought, they're going to get a yard. Have it. Have faith. I know they didn't play before, but have some faith in your offense. He did not, and they lost.

[00:44:03]

Yeah, there's, I mean, there's a million ways you can split that. Of course, with the benefit of hindsight, you should have gone.

[00:44:09]

I thought it at the time, I'm like, there's no way they're going to get a stop at this point. Like the Seahawks are going to drive down for a field goal.

[00:44:14]

But you mentioned Julian Love. It was actually Julian Love that blocked that field goal as well. So not only does he come in and put the clamps on Hunter Henry, who was the leading separation guy, he was getting 3.3 yards of average separation for the New England Patriots, who really had trouble separating. Jalen Polk had the touchdown as well, but just a tough offensive situation to deal with. And then Seattle's making those plays that ultimately wins in the game.

[00:44:40]

Yeah, fun. Keon White ends up with a 1.5 sacks and a 52%. I mean, this Patriots team has looked much better through two weeks than any Patriots fans could have possibly expected. They kind of let this one get away and it's interesting. Their week one starting left tackle chucks a core for is no longer with the team. This one sort of slipped under the radar. I noticed it this morning that he just left. I don't think he was happy that he was benched last week. There's not a lot of reporting about it, but he was placed on the like did not report list, which you don't normally see in week two. I don't think he was going to get the start this week. I think he found that out. It was going to be verdarian low and he's no longer with the team.

[00:45:22]

So Greg, in that vein, I have one question for you. Since you've seen both these games up close and personal, how do you analyze this offensive line that can clearly make space in the run game but can't protect? Jacobi Brissette very well.

[00:45:33]

I think their performance last week was overrated and they didn't protect percent well this week. And I just think it's like their, their running backs are just breaking a million tackles. Like that's the, like last week, Ramanji broke twelve tackles. Antonio Gibson was electric today, breaking tackle after tackle after tackle and remandrey RAN well, too. So I think the O line has been good enough, I guess, on the run game and quite bad the pass protection, but they're limited and they're, they're showing more than we expected. They've got a fun little Thursday night game against the jets coming up. The jets will be feeling good because they will be coming off a victory.

[00:46:11]

Fourth and goal from the 14 takes the snap, another four man rush. He backpedals, looks end zone, fires one and it is bobbled and dropped short of the goal line by Tyler Boyd. He wouldn't have been in the end zone. Anyway, 17 seconds to go. The jets have the takeaway on downs and they're going to win it here in Nashville.

[00:46:32]

Wax Q Bob was choosing. Why are you laughing?

[00:46:37]

We had our second vomit of the.

[00:46:39]

That was it. That was the vomit was talking about. There's one, I don't know who that was. Someone on the Titans.

[00:46:48]

Oh, there it is. This is why you gotta watch on YouTube right here.

[00:46:51]

We did six vomit replays on today.

[00:46:54]

It's too much. A lot of vomit lately.

[00:46:59]

It's hot. Like muggy.

[00:47:01]

Us open. A lot of vomit going on. Like Yannick Sinner was just vomiting all over the place. That was a 24 to 17 victory by the jets over the Titans in Nashville. A game that was very entertaining. All over the place. Never had a feel of who was going to win this game back and forth and I give Aaron Rodgers and this jets team a lot of credit because I felt like o with the Patriots coming up, like it just was getting a little anxious there. And in the second half of this game, there were a bunch of moments where someone had to make a play and Aaron Rodgers and his receivers made those play. There was a third and one to Garrett Wilson. That was awesome. Where he throws it over Wilson's shoulder and he makes like a Willie maze, like a catch on a nice throw by Rogers. There was another third down conversion to Mike Williams late in this game where he made a really nice catch. And these were just individual plays. It does nothing feel like the scheme is making them win. But when they needed to in the second half of this game, Rogers got it done.

[00:48:09]

They were able to run the ball and they were able to stop the run. All the things that they weren't able to do in week one and that what they weren't able to do in the first half of this game.

[00:48:15]

Yeah. Also in week one, Bruce hall had a couple of drops and then today he comes out, makes a great catch in the end zone. The quick game really got active in the second half, which pressure for Rogers is something we're going to watch all season long. Coming off that Achilles injury. Under pressure in this game, he was two of five for six yards.

[00:48:32]

He was over three last week. I think under pressure was the statue and he was really trying to get rid of it quickly after a while.

[00:48:38]

Exactly. And so to avoid that, we're just trying to not have him under pressure at all. But the turnovers for Will Levis dooming the Titans yet again. Not as disastrous as last week, but it was another situation where Will Levis is trying to make a play on third down in the red zone, gets undercut. He's in midair, and he tries to shovel the ball back to Taj Spears, and he winds up turning it over in the red zone. Just like, how do you get that out of a particular player? I don't know if you can.

[00:49:07]

I don't know. After the game, Callahan, you know, his coach, Brian Callie, and said it was dumb. It was the exact same thing he did last week, and he cost us points. It is what it is. He's a grown up and he knows better. So I was really irritated. And yes, everyone who watched the game knew how irritated Callahan was when it was on the tv.

[00:49:27]

Third and goal, Levis looking. Levis tripped. He tried to shovel it. That ball is free and the jets have it. We saw last week Levis trying to do too much, and it just happened again.

[00:49:44]

Williams jumps on top of it the absolute clearest. What the f. Are you doing? Lip reading. Going on there with Callahan. Great call there by an eagle. Yeah, it's. It's too bad, Chuck, because I know Will Levis is going to get picked on all week for that play, but he made a lot of really great plays in this game, too. But that one is the one that I'll remember the most.

[00:50:07]

Oh, for the love of Tampa Bay, Jamis Winston. Will, I mean, you just went through a week of surrender cobra shame online, and then you go and do this? Look, man, hard habit. Their habits are hard to break, okay? And this is going to be a tough one for him to break. But I actually think that, because I'm looking at the box score here and I'm thinking, man, this is a very even game, statistically safe for the Turnovers. That's the differential. That's usually what's the difference in most football games. I mean, even Brie saw 14 for 62, Tony Pollard 17 for 62. Like, very similar. And then I come down to, all right, well, how did the jets end up winning this game on the fourth quarter? Players who are experienced, who make plays and don't hurt their team. And that's the difference. Like that right there. Goal to go situation, trying to do too much and you turn the ball over. Aaron Rodgers not trying to do too much in certain situations where he's leading them back, you know, from a deficit or trying to take the lead on the road, it's. I think it's that simple.

[00:50:53]

And sometimes in these matchups, maybe he'll break that eventually as part of his maturation. I just spoke highly of Sam Darnold earlier, maybe we could have a similar trajectory with Will Levis, but as of right now, this is something you're probably going to continue to see until he gets pounded into his head that, hey, stop doing that. Just take the sack. Don't hurt us that much. And it sounds like that was the difference in this game.

[00:51:12]

Yeah, it was. And yet, look, he ends up with 38 yards on the ground. One was a totally great escape to set up an opportunity late in this game. He had a dime down the field to Calvin Ridley. That would have been a long touchdown that goes right through Calvin Ridley's hands. And then he has another long throw to Calvin Ridley. That, I mean, is a beautiful throw. It was also fortunate that it somehow fit through like a seeing eyeball, like a keyhole where sauce Gardner was. And Calvin Ridley makes an incredible catch. That was the kind of the experience of Calvin, really. He makes the impossible catch while diving, but doesn't catch the one right, right to him. And I thought, other than that play, Levis played pretty well in this game. But, you know, he also throws an interception late, and it's just like, yeah, there's nothing perfect. And yet despite, like, what Levis did for this game and despite the jets winning this game, they don't feel great about it either because they lose. Jermaine Johnson, what was quickly called an Achilles injury. He was very emotional being taken off the field, and it just.

[00:52:21]

That did not look good. And then I think it didn't get as much attention, but it did to me. CJ Mosley got a toe injury in this game and was doubtful pretty quickly. And that's why I was impressed and surprised that their run defense turned it around. You mentioned how the numbers all look the same. Shook, and that was right. But in the first half, the Titans did what I expected. They ran the ball really well and the jets couldn't do anything. And then the second half, it was reversed. So I thought this was a nicely earned win by the jets. Cause like. Like I said, Rodgers wasn't perfect, but when he needed to, those. Those one on one plays to Williams, to Garrett Wilson a couple of times, and then the touchdown to Breece hall, they were all impressive, and they took advantage of a punt block. That was a massive moment in this game, too, to set up a short field. And they have a nice little backfield here with Braylon Allen, who gets two touchdowns in this game, too. One as a receiver, one as a runner. And I think he's a real legit player here.

[00:53:16]

And, yeah, little fun Thursday night Football. Let's listen to Rogers, who was in good spirits after the game.

[00:53:23]

What does first winiform?

[00:53:27]

Technically my second.

[00:53:30]

We all know that somehow that first.

[00:53:32]

One counts four important plays. Well, I don't know if they count on that, but yeah, it feels great. Feels great.

[00:53:41]

The QB win. Industrial complex.

[00:53:43]

Yeah, yet again, the QB win. You know, not a QB stat, but a nice moment for Aaron Rodgers. All right, let's head to Jacksonville where you're. Brown tried to get off the Schneide.

[00:53:56]

From the 33 8 seconds. Here's the snap. Lawrence under pressure, flushed out to the right. Lawrence off his back foot, lofting front corner of the end zone. Knocked away. Incomplete. No time. No time. Is that going to do it? Yes, it's over. Kevin Stefanski runs to midfield and the.

[00:54:16]

Browns will survive for the first time. It's Andrew Siciliano on WKO RK 1813. Browns get it done. It's time for the Sunday drive presented by the all new Toyota Camry. And yes, you're along for the ride here shook and the Browns fans are. Didn't expect to really sweat it late in this game, but you did.

[00:54:44]

No better car to ride into this bumpy journey than the Toyota Camry.

[00:54:48]

There we go.

[00:54:50]

There's your plug. It was an up and down game for the Browns, and in fact, the Browns left a lot of points on the field. Deshaun Watson did look better. He led a pretty strong opening drive. They commanded this game thanks to their defense. The 2023 Browns defense returned to form on Sunday. Trevor Lawrence had a really rough go in the first half. It was really bad. I think he was five for 16 for like 19 yards at one point before he hit a 24 yard pass to his tight end. And then the Jaguars found life late third, early fourth suddenly made it interesting. But again, the Browns defense come through. They've been on the field for what felt like the entire game, even though Cleveland won the time of possession battle and they get a sack of Trevor Lawrence on it for a safety, which gives them an 18 to 13 lead, which is ultimately how they won this game. But they made it interesting and it was a game that looked. They still miss Nick Chubb like they they had Jerome Ford seven for 64. Most of that was on one long run, on a fourth and short where James Winston had QB sneaked it in a previous situation, and this time they handed off around the end.

[00:55:46]

Deontay foreign was nice with 14 for 42, but this was very much not an offensive, you know, spectacular there. It was just mostly the Browns defense returning to form and. And limiting the Jaguars significantly for most of this game and then just clinging on at the end of this game and nice road. When amid a sometimes driving rainstorm in Jacksonville for the Browns to get to.

[00:56:04]

One and one and you mentioned them clinging on, there was almost an opportunity for them to not cling on. The Jags use their final timeout with a minute and 37 seconds to go. They come back in and Kevin Savansky has Deshaun Watson run a bootleg, and Deshawn throws the ball away. Josh Hines Allen is pressuring him. The Jacks didn't have any more timeouts. If he just slides down, then they never even get to the point where Trevor Lawrence is throwing the ball into the end zone. Zeros on the clock.

[00:56:31]

Not only did he run a bootleg, he ran a bootleg to the left side. Like, if you're going to roll a quarterback out, roll him to his throwing arm side. At least it felt like Stefanski trying to get a little gutsy in a situation and look like, look at me, the big brain play caller, and it almost blew up in their face. That happened to them a few times prior to that. Patrick. The reason they were in that situation, because they were on a methodical drive where they were going to put that game away. Deontay Foreman's running hard. He picks up a first down and gets called for offensive face mask and then all hell breaks loose. The Browns get called for back to back holdings and suddenly it's like third and 37. And that's the best thing they can come up with when they really should have been draining clock. So, so again, fortunate to escape. But the Browns defense, after struggling mightily against Dallas last week, does look more like it was before and they get the job done.

[00:57:15]

Yeah, I'm looking at Watson, who throws the ball 34 times for 186 yards. There's no Njoku in this game, obviously because he's hurt. Amari Cooper has eight targets for eleven yards. It's very early, but there has been some. Amari Cooper is kind of the receiver Josh Jacobs where his seasons are either like, hey, that guy should have maybe made all pro or his fantasy owners are furious. Adam and right now is trending towards the fantasy owners are furious at Cooper. But we'll see. Like, how do you feel about how Watson played in this game? And then, yeah, Lawrence too, going 14 for 30, ends up hitting that, that big, a big play to Brian Thomas, who only makes big plays, a 66 yarder and a 28 yarder. I love Brian Thomas junior, but yeah, talk to me about how you thought Watson looked.

[00:58:04]

Well, the Cooper thing, first off, two big drops in two weeks. Watson put a ball on the numbers, a beautiful throw, and he just dropped it. So that's concerning. He has not really gotten into a rhythm. Watson did a good job of building a rapport with Jerry Judy, who made a couple of really nice key catches on third down, including one that was like tipped in the air. And he managed to stay in bounds at the sticks for a first down. The first half. That was encouraging to see. Elijah MOORE got involved. David Bell made a nice couple catches, but really, for me, from a Watson perspective, it was just the fact that he didn't look overwhelmed and sped up and like, he had no idea what he was doing, which is primarily what he looked like in week one. He looked more controlled, composed, and put the ball on the mark for the most part. Never really got out of sorts. Scrambled a little bit and did a much better job of kind of like game managing, but a little bit more than that, which is anything positive for the Browns. They'll take it, considering where he's come from.

[00:58:52]

Yeah, that, that is encouraging. And these are two teams where to me, it just, especially with the fan bases, there was like a certain sort of desperation that just like, oh, yeah, the vibes were really off for both teams. And the Jaguars now are the team where vibes stay that bad.

[00:59:06]

Yeah, the vibes are down. Horrendous. If you go back to week 13, the Jags have won one of their last seven games and the team that they beat was the Panthers. So they're tied. That doesn't count over that stretch that they get the tiebreaker because they have to win.

[00:59:19]

They're going to start maybe not even considering Panthers wins as actual wins in the, in the stand, you'll get like three quarters of a win or something just because we, we love Andrew so much. Let's listen to his call of a big time safety in this game.

[00:59:34]

Trevor Lawrence shotgun in the end zone with ETN to his right. First down. Here's the snap back to throw under pressure. Alex Wright's got him and throws him out of the back of the end zone. Safety.

[00:59:49]

I love it.

[00:59:50]

Built for that.

[00:59:52]

Absolutely. Also built for it. Nick shook. So, Nick, what we're going to do here, we're going to give you just a little bit of a breather. It's like you're Josh Jacobs today. You have like 30 carries. You're going to take the next couple games off. We're going to bring in Kevin Patrick for a couple and then we'll bring you back for the rest of the show. So we will see you in a second. And, yeah, everyone listening. We'll be back with Kevin Patrick coming at you after the break. And yeah, by the way, that was a Sunday drive presented by the all new hybrid Toyota Camry. Whatever your vibe, it's a Camry vibe. Learn more@toyota.com Camry back on NFL daily. Back on the show. Kevin Patrick coming at you. So when, when we were the around the NFL podcast, we often had Kevin Patra on, on Sunday nights, and he would often talk about the Lions. And that was a tough era of Lions football. There was a whole season there where, yeah, it was hard to find wins. And I thought, we're gonna have Patra back in, in this new era of Lions football, and we're gonna talk about Lions, and it's going to be great.

[01:01:10]

And yet we're leading with the highlight of Baker Mayfield running around like he's Sonny Jurgensen.

[01:01:17]

Empty backfield for Mayfield now kicks that left leg. Barton, the center, snaps the ball belt high. It's going to be a quarterback run by Mayfield inside the five three, to.

[01:01:26]

The two, to the one.

[01:01:27]

Touchdown, Tampa Bay. Baker Mayfield back to back runs and the Bucks retake the lead.

[01:01:33]

Wfuse Gene Deckerhoff. Yeah, Kevin. Yeah. Sorry about this one, but love having you on. And just the Lions guy, you're an incisive analyst, so tell me where it went wrong for your guys here today.

[01:01:52]

Well, let's put it this way. Todd Bowles crew came in and out gritted Dan Campbell's crew. They got a, I mean, the Lions gained almost 250 yards more. Twelve more first downs. The defense sacked five times to zero sacks for the Bucks. It was just very lopsided. And the Lions found a way to shoot themselves in the foot at every turn. Basically, whether it was the end of the half, coming down and not getting a field goal, that would have changed the complete context of the end of the game, where they were now having to go for a touchdown. Instead, instead of kicking a field goal to go up and have the lead late, Jared Goff looked skittish again, kind of like he did last week, even though they didn't have any sacks. Every time he got pressure on him, he just threw it to no one. His second touchdown was, was pretty bad. Either there was a really bad miscommunication with, with where Tim Patrick was supposed to go, or he just panic bailed and threw it because there was a guy in his face.

[01:02:54]

Panic bail. This kind of what he does even in, in good times, they. They've done a good job protecting him. And, yeah, he had those. The turnovers last week. That's concerning. You mean the interception there? The second interception by golf and, yeah, I didn't realize it was so dramatic. I guess if you're going to lose, you feel better about it if you more than double the other team's yardage. And, yeah, the Bucs only had 216 yards in this game, and yet, you know, they also were short a lot of players. Patrick, including Villa de Vell, gets hurt in this game.

[01:03:26]

And it's not just that. Coming into this game, I thought that the Buccaneers had a great chance to win. Then we get the reports that Antoine Winfield, junior, is going to be out for an extended period of time. And then, as you mentioned, Vita Vea goes down against the team that can absolutely run the ball against anybody, and you're thinking, well, here comes Detroit. But ultimately, Baker Mayfield. The play before that touchdown run, there was another eleven yard run by Baker Mayfield, which is probably why he called his own number on the very next play, he puts his foot in the turf and absolutely dusts the defender. Just a nasty right from, from Baker Mayfield on the play before that is, they made the plays down the stretch until. Until ultimately they did. There's a weird decision where one of two teams today, inside of a minute, who inexplicably threw the ball when another team only had one timeout. It gave Detroit another chance, but it was just. It was too much. Baker making key plays and key moments.

[01:04:21]

Yeah, I think the Lions came in thinking they could throw the ball over that, you know, hurt secondary, and then you didn't see them even really try to run. And then vita. And it's like, vita ver one. I was like, oh, we can run the ball now. And you got. David Montgomery started getting going, and it just. I understood the game plan, but it clearly wasn't going to work, even. Even against the secondary. And credit. Credit Todd Bull's defense. They, you know, they came and made some plays at the end, especially the secondary, but it just can't get out of this loss without thinking that the Lions pooped the bed.

[01:04:56]

Yeah, this is one that they will regret the interceptions, for. Golf, to me, are pretty decisive in a game that they're moving the ball. But at halftime, Dan Campbell speaks to Laura Oakman. You know, they're now required a few more in game interviews, and we actually got something pretty fun out of this one.

[01:05:17]

Listen, 100% on the head coach here.

[01:05:19]

All right. Totally screwed my team. That is, that is mine.

[01:05:23]

We're going for the clock.

[01:05:24]

Clock.

[01:05:24]

It, it's not a hurricane. And I made a decision that I.

[01:05:28]

Shouldn'T have made and our team's gonna have to overcome it. That's the bottom line.

[01:05:32]

They did not. Kevin, that was like a game management situation where they kind of blew the clock at the end of the first half. Yeah. What have you kind of thought about the Campbell experience and that, that situation and just, just everything about how this team sort of started this season?

[01:05:47]

Well, I mean, you take the good with the bad. I think Campbell does have that little game management issue. He always has. He's gotten better, but it's still something that pops its head up every once in a while. Kind of like the timeout in the San Francisco game in the playoffs when they could not afford to take a timeout at the end, at the end of the game. But, you know, he also is himself and he, you know, went for a fake punt on fourth and twelve and is backed up in his own end zone and they went forward again on fourth down and then that drive stalled out. So, I mean, you take the good with the bad. I think this team still has a lot of positivity. The offense needs to wake up. It still just looks a little off, a little rusty because like last year, last week we saw a lot of offenses look rusty since they didn't play in the preseason and then they kind of kicked it into gear this weekend. The Lions are still one of those that I think needs to find their way and that's why I was surprised that they didn't come out pounding the ball on the ground even, even against the good bucks run defense.

[01:06:40]

Yeah. Jameson Williams has a long catch in this game, ends up with only five for seven, nine only. I mean, that's a good game. But after the big play early thought he might have Mon right. St. Brown got a little banged up in this game but he had eleven for 119 yards. So we'll just keep an eye on St. Brown and, yeah, just shout out to Chris Godwin, I noticed it on tape last week that he's had a lot of injuries in his career and I thought he had lost some juice and it might be one of those things where he's now more than a year away from those major injuries and he's got a lot of that juice back. Seven for 117 and he's so effective out of the slot. They have a great one two combination and look, the NFC south has a great one two combination. We have two of the better teams in the league so far in the NFC southe, the Bucks are 20 and the Saints are two and o after going to Dallas and put it on the Cowboys, Derek Carr hit me.

[01:07:39]

Under center is car. Play action to Jamal Williams. Looking deep, but he's throwing deep and he's throwing for Shahid. Shahid makes against ten. Five, goose, see you later.

[01:07:51]

Five.

[01:07:52]

No flash, 70 yards. You can be greedy, my friend, because it makes for a great touchdown.

[01:08:02]

That is Mike Haas of WWL. Yeah, let's just throw a perfectly placed bomb to Rashid Shahid in the first quarter of every game this year. Derek Carr, let's do it. 57 yard touchdown later to Alvin Camara. In this game they win 44 to 17. They put up 30 in the first half for the second week in a row, 35 this time, actually five straight touchdowns. They start their season on offense when Carr has the ball with 15 straight scoring drives. What the heck is happening in this new Orleans Saints team? Kevin Patrick I mean, they are the story of the NFL through two weeks.

[01:08:44]

Have to be. And Clint Kubiak is already getting his own float in February. It's already getting. It's going to happen like they're going to throw a parade for, for him and only him because this offense is completely different than what we saw last year. We hoped that was going to be the case coming in, but in the preseason what we got was kind of like, and you know, Dennis Allen kept saying, well, this is what it's going to look like, but we don't necessarily always believe what Dennis Allen says. So. But the first through two weeks, they've been phenomenal, like you said, 15 straight. They scored six straight touchdowns to open the game and it was over by then. I didn't even think Dak played that badly. He got his receiver tripped on the first interception and then he just was playing he ball with it during the second one. I didn't think their offense played that badly. They just stalled out and kicked field goals. But the Saints, when Al Camara can get to the edge, it's just game over. And he had one of those like magic runs that he usually does where he came out through the other side of the hole that you didn't see and he just slid off a tackler and he scored his fourth touchdown.

[01:09:42]

Like he is a perfect fit for this offense. And I think Carr is becoming confident. You can see the confidence oozing from everyone. Everyone like Crystal lobby is making contested catches and blocking his butt off on the runs. It's just up, up and down the roster. The offense has been ridiculous.

[01:10:01]

And also, maybe Trevor Penning was sandbagging.

[01:10:06]

Last year were excellent, excellent today, both.

[01:10:10]

In training camp practices, he was sandbagging when everyone there was like, he was struggling. And preseason, he was saying, I mean.

[01:10:16]

Just over the course of the game, you're wondering like, hey, are Michael Parsons and Tank Lawrence playing in this game? I mean, there, there was a late. I mean, not, not a late hit, but Derek Carr did get hit. At least he got touched on that touchdown pass to Rashid Shahid. But, but after that, just the play calls as well. And oddly enough, Alvin Camaras seven touchdown game. Excuse me, six touchdown game also came against the Mike Zimmer defense. And then he has a chance to get five. Derek Carr sneaks one in instead of the handoff to Khmer, but that could have easily been five touchdowns. It's like pick and choose what's going on here and then on the other side. Yeah, I mean, Dak Prescott is Dak Prescott.

[01:10:53]

Right?

[01:10:54]

They get pressure on him. He completes almost all of his passes under pressure, gets a touchdown as well. Has a perfect passer rating under pressure. But as, as Patrick pointed out, there's just this, the second consecutive game in at and T Stadium where the team has scored more than 28 points in the first half. The packers came in and did it, and the Saints have come in and done it again. He changed defensive coordinators. It didn't seem to matter for Dallas today.

[01:11:18]

Well, Dallas is the run game, I think, is becoming an issue for no run game because they can't convert those third and shorts, and then they're kicking long field goals. It's massive. Zeke, there is a huge committee. Like, they all took like five snaps and, like, so there's no, there's no issue. And then by the time the second half rolled around, they were just in chuck it all over the park mode because they were down so much.

[01:11:37]

Yeah, be, be careful, you know, when, when you can't run the ball, like, it's hard to play with a lead. I think it is hard to make comebacks because of what you said. You need to be effective in short yardage situations. And I don't. I think they were just pretty surprised, as we all are, for the Saints offense to put it on them like that in the first half. I mean, when Jamal Williams is going eight for 39, I'm just, I think that's the blocking. Like, I could not believe watching the tape over. And you can see it in the highlights today, too, from the Saints last week and then also today. How cohesive the offensive line looks doing the zone blocking on those outside zone runs because you can see it. You don't need to be an expert. The, the synchronicity is there. They're all running in unison. And Khmer is the perfect running back, as you said, patrick for he has 170 yards from scrimmage in this game and four touchdowns. The, the agenda that I have had the last two years that I've been put, that I've just been pushing that. Like, I swear, if you watch the film, Alvin Camara is not washed.

[01:12:42]

Like, maybe he's missing that last little extra gear to take the long runs, but if he had some blocking, he would be getting eight and twelves and fifteens because he makes guys miss. And now he's not getting touched for the first four or five yards. He's making good reads. He's one of the smarting, smartest running backs, I think, of all time. Let's just listen to another Alvin Camara touchdown call just because it's fun to do that.

[01:13:06]

Second and seven.

[01:13:07]

Shahid in motion across the formation bar.

[01:13:09]

Takes the snap, looks to throw. Here comes pressure. He hits Camaro across the middle.

[01:13:13]

Camaro in the run inside Dallas. 40, 35, 30. Got a blocker. You ain't going to catch him. Not Alvin Camaro.

[01:13:19]

See you later.

[01:13:20]

By touchdown, Alvin, 57 yards.

[01:13:26]

This is a Saints offensive line that invested a lot of high picks in their line, including tales Fuaga, and it's, it's happening. They were without Marshawn Lattimore in this game, and they, they still got it done. Tyron Matthew, another game where he gets a turnover. So that's two weeks in a row kind of keeping an eye on like every three or four years. Honey badger pops up with like a first team all pro year. He's gonna have one of the craziest hall of Fame candidacies someday because he's got the first team all pros and the game changing plays in the Super bowl ring to do it. So this could be a monster season for him. And just before we go, I just want to mention every week on this show, I'm going to mention what's the throw of the year so far? Because people are questioning me when I said Anthony Richardson had that throw in the first quarter of the first game of the year, and I said that might be the throw of the year. And every week on this show, we're going to have a belt for what's the throw of the year.

[01:14:23]

And the candidate for this week is that car throw that we led this game with to Shahid in stride while getting hit just before getting hit all the way down the heel the field to Shaheed. Do you guys think that is a better throw than the Anthony Richardson throw from week one?

[01:14:43]

No.

[01:14:44]

No. Okay.

[01:14:46]

It was a great throw.

[01:14:47]

It was. It was great. It was the best one I saw today. Someone can come at me if they saw someone better. That was a ridiculously good throw. But Richardson keeps the belt. He's got the belt for at least.

[01:14:57]

Oh, and two.

[01:14:58]

But he's got the belt one more week. Patra, you're keeping the belt there. I know you're playing somewhat hurt tonight. There's family drama going on there with.

[01:15:08]

Just a baby sick. No drama, just a sick toddler.

[01:15:12]

Yeah, let's just say like, you're going.

[01:15:13]

To get me in trouble.

[01:15:14]

Vomiting was the theme of we've had.

[01:15:18]

A good bit of it season.

[01:15:19]

And yeah, love, love that picture in your background of you and your beautiful wife, bre. And so it's great to have you on NFL daily, Patra, and we will do it again. So we're going to say goodbye to Patra for a minute. We're going to welcome Nick Schuck back in on the other side. And we're going to hear one of my favorite touchdown calls of the entire day in Arizona.

[01:15:44]

Snap to Murray. Three step drop. Looking left, now in trouble. Spins left, now steps up running left. Murray breaks a tackle, looking end zone, firing left side. A sliding catch for a touchdown. And it's Higgins making the grab. Kyler Murray does it again. More Murray magic. I have absolutely no idea what to say about that play.

[01:16:08]

I don't either, because when you draw up the dots, Kyler Murray's dot just goes in a figure eight and then around and through. And it was part of what I'm just going to say was a magical first half by this Cardinals offense. The Cardinals get it done 41 to ten. Kyler Murray has a perfect passer rating on the day. First Cardinals quarterback to do that since Kurt Warner. It was 31 to three early in the third quarter before the Rams even touched the ball after halftime. And everything that the Cardinals wanted to be this year was in this game. James Connor, Kyler Murray and Amari DeMarcato combined to rush for 227 yards just between the three of them, which is that's big time on only 28 carries. And it wasn't like a bunch of forties in a fifties. It was a whole lot of eight and tens and twelves. Kyler Murray also five for five on throws over 20 air yards. For 156 yards and three touchdowns. I mean, he was just incredible, Patrick. And we'll get to the negative Ramse side of this, but I do just want to give the Cardinals their full amount of love.

[01:17:28]

They've been in the, in the darkness here for a little while, and it really feels like this is a matchup. They've been blown out so many times that maybe this is their time. That's like, hey, we're, we're not one of the worst teams in the league anymore.

[01:17:39]

No. And it was emphatic. Kyler tweeting a yawn emoji, like, seconds after the game ended. They couldn't get to him on the, on the touchdown that you mentioned. And then all the talk coming off of last week, didn't see Marvin Harrison junior in the end zone. The people taking his quote out of context. If him saying, hey, it's not my job just to feed Marvin Harrison. It's my job to read the defense. Well, he did both. He did both today, had the bomb to Marvin, and then it's just four.

[01:18:06]

For 130 for two touchdowns for Marvin Harrison. I probably should have mentioned that, too. Like, there were so many superlatives to.

[01:18:11]

Get to, but, but ultimately, it's, it's just one of those things where healthy, Kylere, you have to defend the play twice. And we say that a lot of guys run. Nobody scrambles like this. Where on the play you mentioned, there's three guys diving at, diving at his ankles and getting nothing but air. And then Kyler just pops right up. He's neo matrixing, dodging people with his slides. Like, when he, when he puts it all together, shook. It's like, wait, how do they not win every game?

[01:18:41]

So I live near a cemetery here, and I promise this will, this will be connected. And I often spend my time watching cats, groundhogs, and squirrels chase each other around this cemetery. That is Kyler Murray scrambling. You can pick any one of those three creatures. That's Kyler Murray scrambling. You can't catch him.

[01:18:57]

Wait, do you just see that while walking by, or do you go there to seek it out just for some, like, late night entertainment?

[01:19:02]

Oh, no, it's, it's, it's in view from the home. I see it all the time. And before the trees got cut down, the groundhogs used to climb the tree. It's crazy out here in Cleveland, but that is kind of very scrambling. And the beauty of it is that he knows how to keep his eyes downfield. We saw this last week in Buffalo, and as I'm watching that game, I'm thinking, man, I can't wait to watch this guy play football all year. I think I even wrote that in QB index, which you can check out@NFL.com. qB index.

[01:19:23]

Nice plug.

[01:19:25]

And, and so I'm looking forward to this game and I turn it on and before you know it, it's 14 to nothing and it's two touchdown passes to the guy that he couldn't see last week in, as Gus Johnson has famously called him, Maserati. Marv, like Marvin Harrison gets going, he's force feeding him early and then he just settles into the offense and they're a machine rolling through the Rams like they had no answer for him. So it's a beautiful thing to watch Kyler, when he's healthy, operate this offense and see the Cardinals kind of just develop under Jonathan Gannon and take these next step forward. I'm not going to say that they're going to put this type of point total up every week, 41 points. You don't see that every week from every team. But that is like, like Patrick said, you got to defend the play twice. That's what makes him special. That's why they paid him that money. And that's why I think we all forgot about him last year because he was, you know, hurt for the first half of the year coming back from injury. And now we should all be paying attention then.

[01:20:11]

Not because they're going to win a ton of games, necessarily, but because they're going to be fun to watch from start to finish every week because of Kyler Murray, who knows?

[01:20:17]

Now, this is a division matchup and we'll see how the defense holds up every week. They got, they got after Matthew Stafford in this game, the Rams only with 245 total yards. The Cardinals go 7.9 yards per play, 489 yards. That's some 2019 stats. Bring it. Bring an offense back. The the Arizona Cardinals, I absolutely love it.

[01:20:35]

Well, coming into the game, the reason I picked the Rams was because the Rams young defensive line played great against Detroit. And I asked who was going to provide pressure for the Arizona Cardinals. The answer is Dennis Gardek. He had three sacks today. He got pressure on 25% of his pass rushes. He got four pressures. So you do the math. He's only, he's only got twelve pass rush snaps and he's coming through getting three sacks out of those, getting all those barbarian. It's it, they were solid on defense. Xavin Collins played a good game as well and just really bothered the Rams. But the issue with the Rams is that they've all fallen apart. Greg. It's horrible.

[01:21:10]

They're so hurt.

[01:21:11]

Right? So Rob haven't. Stein does return for this game. He's their swing tackle, but they've had so many injuries up front. And then they lose Cooper cup during this game to what was called an ankle injury. He was seen leaving with a boot. It happened on his last catch of the game, which was, I believe it was the second quarter. Whereas a 24 yard catch and run and defender fell on his ankle, he ends up with four for 37. So suddenly DeMarcus Robinson, two two. Atwell, Jordan Whittington and Tyler Johnson are the receivers. The running game gets absolutely nothing done. Kyron Williams actually gets out, gained by Blake Quorum because they gave quorum some garbage time. Snaps late. When they finally took Stafford out, one of those guard x was a force fumble on Stafford with like eight minutes left when they're trailing 41 to ten. It was absolutely crazy that he was still playing at that point when this is the team that doesn't play any of their guys. Just a brutal day for the Rams. And it's going to get more brutal because now if they listen to our text report here from Jordan Rodrigue.

[01:22:18]

Course NFL dailies Jordan Rodrigue, she's texting her thoughts from from Rams game and well, she seems pretty harsh and I get it. Like she writes the Arizona Ward's offensive identity and these are her words on its sleeve at the end of last year, all spring and summer, and the Rams defense still seem totally unprepared to counter the heavier stuff in their run multiplicity. But Jordan says, I even asked Julie about this directly last week and they just did not seem prepared going ball control. He, he acknowledged all that and they still look so unprepared. Sean McVeigh didn't directly answer when I asked him if he felt his defense was adequately prepared for how Arizona would attack them. I am aghast that a team so often ahead of the schematic curve doesn't seem to be built to counter heavier run concepts and personnel so many teams are using. And yeah, when you think about who's in the division, the 49 ers will certainly send some of that. So this Rams run defense kind of got ran off the field at the beginning of the game. And yeah, Jordan mentions also the offensive line was a disaster.

[01:23:22]

One of the worst Rams games that you can possibly imagine. Zero two for the first time since 2011 and somehow this is their first loss at Arizona since 2014. And yeah, giving up 41 points doing it. They have the 49 ers next week and so it's getting late early for the Rams. That is also true of the home team. In the next game, we're going to talk about the the paper bags were out in Carolina.

[01:23:53]

Dobbins trying to stretch it. He's got the corner. Dobbins left sideline 30 21 man to beat a cuts inside ten, five gallons into the end zone. Touchdown Chargers. JK Dobbins. Gary Anderson brought Cirque du Soleil.

[01:24:13]

Tom, that was Gary Anderson.

[01:24:15]

Old school flip into the end zone.

[01:24:18]

I love the reference by Matt Money Smith and Daniel Jeremiah. K y S R d K Dobbins with the 43 yard touchdown. I guess he's just gonna have like a big old run every single week. Dobbins Nation population, at least two. Me and spice rack. We're loving it, but everyone's welcome. If you listen to NFL daily, you're in Dobbins Nation too. Phil Wesseling, a big Ohio state fan. I know he's a big Dobbins guy. It happen. This was exactly Patrick how Jim Harbaugh would want to draw it up, just squeeze the life out of him defensively, run the ball for what, 219 yards and kind of a ho hum, 26 to three victory for the Chargers.

[01:25:04]

And on that flip into the end zone where JK Dobbins lands directly on his back after the game, Joe Ortiz, the GM for the Chargers, said, hey, no more flips. JK Dobbins flipping career into the end zone comes to a close and his yards per carry craters. He was at 13 last week. Now he's down to a pedestrian 7.7 yards per carry in this resurgent comeback season. Comeback player of the year candidate early on for JK Dobbins. And really, there was only a couple of bright spots for Carolina in this game. JC Horn had an interception, then comes right back, gets toasted by Quentin Johnston is hand fighting him down on the goal line. Justin Herbert hits him for a touchdown pass. There. There was, it was very difficult for Bryce Young and the offense to really get anything going. He throws ball 26 times, 18 completions for just 84 yards. Deontay Johnson had had some issues getting away from defenders. Adam Thielen beats him in that regard. But again, there's not a lot of passing numbers to go around. And then Chuba Hubbard gets 6.4 yards of carry. Some of that comes late, but just where do you find the positivity for Carolina?

[01:26:13]

Dave Canales comes out after the game, says, bryce is still our quarterback. So there's that. There's they're sticking with none.

[01:26:20]

It's crazy that we're in week two and he's saying that about the number one overall draft pick from, from last season. You know, I feel bad for him. Obviously, it's uncomfortable to watch. He just seems a little out of it. And I think it shouldn't get lost that these two games this year are magnitudes worse than his average game last year and I would say would rank maybe even worse than anything we saw. Let's put up the just the next end chart of his passes. If you have him, Eric, behind the glass, and you just see a guy that literally didn't attempt a pass that went over twelve air yards, much less complete one, everything is near the line of scrimmage. Like, like Patrick said, 26 attempts for 84 yards and he just looked lost. He was asked about a possible, you know, lack of confidence after the game, and he said he was confident in the lord. And I just see, I almost even with his, like, footbar footwork. My friend, that boy wolf on Twitter pointed this out, but I was watching it, too. Like, even his drop look, like his drop back from center and shotgun look weird.

[01:27:29]

Like they're in slow motion to something's funky here, shook. And I actually think it would help him maybe to sit him down for a couple of games. But I guess. Why would you think it would be better when he comes back? I don't know. It's just a very difficult situation.

[01:27:43]

That's the issue is the only way you're going to get better is getting more reps. Like, it's just you worry. If I think about this with Justin Fields in the way he played in Chicago, like, are you going to break him? Like, I don't know if the Bears broke him, but I'm worried that the Panthers are breaking, you know, Bryce Young with the way that he's played so far this year and last year. Because for you to describe his first two starts as exponentially worse than last year, last year was already really ugly. I look at the pressure numbers today, one for six or 15 yards in a pick, and he's clearly not comfortable, you know, in the pocket or at the speed of this game, and it's only getting worse for them. So, like, where do you go from here other than continue to play him and hope that something turns around? Dave Canales is supposed to be the guy that's going to get him back on track. And through two weeks, they've been completely uncompetitive. They have not stood a chance against either of these teams. They've played and it seems like Bryce is only getting worse.

[01:28:24]

So the only thing you do is keep trying. And before you define insanity, I guess, right?

[01:28:30]

His literal first throw of this season, I don't want to get it lost, was an interception. That was last week. Like his first throw, his second play of the season, last week, he ran into his old teammate butt fumble style. He didn't fumble the ball, but he ran into like, it was just almost like he started with this crazy negativity. And then today the game starts five for seven. Okay, that sounds good for twelve yards in an interception stuff. Let's go positive. Should we just get to the side of it, Patrick, or no? You want to talk Bryce? Let's.

[01:29:03]

Well, I mean, it's, it's a negative for the Panthers, but it's, it's the fact that it's not that, like, their defense is keeping them in these games and then Bryce is wrecking them at the end. Quentin Johnston, second touchdown. We had two Quentin Johnston touchdowns today for the Chargers. He's running across the zone in the back of the end zone and the Panthers defenders just release him to turf. It's like, all right, the turf will get that guy and the turf did not get that guy.

[01:29:29]

Let's listen to Matt money Smith. I haven't heard this one, but now that I know more about that play, I'm looking forward to how money called it.

[01:29:36]

Chargers, three of five on third down. This is the 11th play of the drive. Dobbins in the backfield, Disley and Hurst to the right, Q to the left. Herbert, play action to throw. End zone wide open. Caught. Touchdown, Chargers. How about a two touchdown game for Quinton Johnston as it's 120 bolts.

[01:30:02]

Love that man's voice. But before we say goodbye to this cursed game and yeah, the, the boob birds were out pretty hardcore. Not a surprise. It's going to be a situation where fans just stopped showing up at Panthers game. That certainly started happening last year a little bit. And then there were paper bags which you never want to see. I do want to give a little love to Joey Bosa, who I think we maybe mentioned his stats on the show last week, but when I rewatched that game was like, oh my God, Joey Bosa. When Joey Bosa is actually healthy, he's one of the best players in the NFL and he had a big time sack in this game. After being questionable on the injury report, he, he ends up playing. And this will not be Matt money Smith. One of our listeners looking out for us said, you got to check out the Chargers radio network, the spanish call with Adrian Garcia Marquez and Francisco Pinto. So I can't wait for this.

[01:31:12]

I want to eat is what is one thing that I picked up.

[01:31:15]

I love that. I know my high school Spanish.

[01:31:19]

Yeah.

[01:31:19]

We should have Randy come in and tell us everything, I guess. Next time. That's awesome. I love that Joey Bosa has his own sack call song, so maybe we'll.

[01:31:27]

It's a song.

[01:31:28]

Yeah, bring that back.

[01:31:29]

It's gonna get stuck in my head.

[01:31:30]

One last quick thing about the Chargers. Justin Herbert told reporters after the game. He got rolled up after fumbling in the second half. He went for x rays. That's a little concerning. ESPN.com reported he was limping and Herbert said he'll know more in the coming days. So just something to watch there for the Chargers. They got a big game against the Chiefs. A battle of undefeated teams in the AFC West. Chargers at 20. All right, let's take one final break. We'll wrap up for the last three games, and that includes Sunday Night Football back on NFL Daily. This is the spot in the show you don't necessarily want to be. I'm just saying, if we're ranking them and it doesn't mean the games weren't great. These are both one score games. I think we have a lot of takeaways. Heck, we could have a playoff team out of these two games. Okay, but if you're this deep into the show, it just means we didn't see those games quite as high. Maybe I'll. Maybe we'll just start mixing them up a little more. Because you know what? The Steelers, frankly, deserve a lot of respect after what they did in Denver.

[01:32:48]

Knicks in the shotgun, has McLaughlin to his right. Now he motions him to the left, brings him back to the right again. Nick's back looking. Looking over the middle of the field. It's intercepted. And there is Corey Trice in the back of the end zone with his first career interception. Oh, sweet Marie. What a beautiful job of coming through.

[01:33:07]

At the moment.

[01:33:08]

You're most needed in a time of need. Corey Troy stands tall.

[01:33:12]

I love that. Put that on the calls of the year nominees there. Wdve, Robert King, Craig Wolfley. And yeah, that was the first of Bonix's interception. And that was the closest they came to scoring a touchdown. The Steelers win, 13 to six. Bonix throws away that red zone chance. They get the ball back late. He throws a Hail Mary that had no chance for a second interception. And the Steelers defense gets it done. Patrick in a strikingly similar way to the way they got it done a week ago. They did score a touchdown in this game, but they didn't score as many points, 13.

[01:33:53]

They made big plays. But that big play by Corey Trice, real game, no limits, comes up and makes that play. But ultimately, the two plays before that, the Broncos equaled their entire offensive output of the game. Up to that point is third to quarter, eight minutes to go. They had 75 total yards on the game. Then they had a, wow, they had a deep post to Courtland Sutton and then a reverse pitch back to Bo Nicks, who had Josh Reynolds wide open, by the way, before that interception. Josh Reynolds has to stop and come back, catches the ball. That's how they got to that point. And then Corey Trice again, real game, no limits, makes that interception, gets the Steelers the ball back. But it's another game where Justin Fields is, if you clip off individual plays, it's like, wow, Justin Fields, you're thinking the Steelers might have scored 40 in this game. He had a couple of throws that had to come back, a couple of throws that were PI, one of the best throws that we're going to see all season. To George Pickens, a seeing eyeball with Patrick certain all over him.

[01:34:57]

That ball gets right to him. It comes back for holding as well. But that's kind of been the tale of this season for the Steelers. We're in spots. They look really good. Then you look up at the scoreboard. They got 13 points. It's one of those things. But they're two and O and Greg Rosenthals picked to go to the playoffs, much maligned by, by everybody on the planet.

[01:35:16]

No, I did not pick them.

[01:35:17]

Oh, you didn't pick them either. Nobody disrespected them as well.

[01:35:20]

We all did. And I was so mad when I saw, you know, on NFL.com, like 37 people make their predictions and not one of them had the Steelers in the playoffs. And that was the moment where I thought, oh, they're definitely going to the playoffs. And yeah, Jalen Warren's healthier for this game. He goes nine for 42 and also catches a couple. Najee Harris is running hard. I mean, they only end up with like 250 yards of offense, but you don't need it when you got TJ watt playing like this. And that, that throw you mentioned where Bo Nicks under throws him. Now some people will say, oh, see, he doesn't have that strong of an arm. He can't go deep. I think more about the people shook that told me, well, if you have great timing. You don't need the big arm because really, he was just late on that throw. If he threw it earlier than maybe it would have made up for it. But the timing hasn't been there for Nix. He's. He's looked a little bit lost and they don't have a running game. It's not a good sign that Bo Nicks was their leading rusher today.

[01:36:11]

No, that's a terrible sign, especially if Javante Williams in that backfield. But it's more discouraging that all of the strengths that we saw in the preseason against vanilla defenses have not translated the regular season. It's disappointing is really what it is because he came out of the preseason looking pretty confident, like he won that job pretty easily and through two games just has nothing handle the job very well. And that interception in the end zone is a prime example of it. It's. It's a disheartening start for the Broncos, but you still want to trust that eventually they'll figure it out. But they have to string together more plays than they did today. They also have to be cleaner. Nine penalties accepted for 124 yards. The only reason that they didn't have the most penalties in the game is because the Steelers had ten for 78.

[01:36:48]

Not a game. I'm looking forward to rewatching on your.

[01:36:52]

45 minutes or on condensed just because of so many stoppages for flags. All right, I'm not looking forward to it either, but you're right. And that's the thing with the Steelers, too. They're going to win a lot of games ugly right now because their offense can't put the ball in the end zone, save for once. But Justin Fields did not hurt them again. Just like last week, he did not commit back breaking turnovers. He did throw a touchdown pass. He didn't have to run the ball nearly as much as he did last week, and yet they still found a way to win. So you know what, Steeler fans? Look, I'm going to speak to you directly real quick. If you can accept losing or winning 13 to six or winning 18 to ten, and it's never going to be super pretty well. First off, that fits your city's mantra and personality better than you even realize that. I was just there a few weeks ago and I can confirm that. And secondly, you're going to win a lot of football games this way. You should be happy about your defense. Okay? TJ wants a monster, and he's not the only good player on that defense.

[01:37:40]

Spicy. All of Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania is an ugly win?

[01:37:45]

Yeah. I mean, no, no, no.

[01:37:47]

But they do have a lot of short, aggressive men, I will say that I met.

[01:37:51]

I mean, a guy from Cleveland talks about, you know, the Steelers being ugly, winning the same. I see some spice here. Seven quarterback hits, by the way, for the Steelers in this game. So they, they beat the hell out.

[01:38:03]

Of bone, and it seems like the, the one thing that has been true for two weeks now with Arthur Smith is the designed Justin Fields run game leaves a lot to be desired. Justin Fields seems to be at his best running the football on broken plays, on scrambles, as well.

[01:38:19]

Yep.

[01:38:19]

There was one very circuitous QB run towards the end of this game where I'm sure on the whiteboard, it looked great, like the tackles, running back and then coming back around for Justin Fields, but the Broncos were all over it. Just scrap that one. Just go ahead and let Fields run the typical, you know, read options. That feels like the, the move to me, because the, the straight design runs aren't, aren't producing.

[01:38:43]

They are a defensive team putting up crooked numbers. Six passes defense, six tackles for loss, seven quarterback hits. So you don't need a lot of offense when that's happening there. 20. And the Broncos fans are just apoplectic. They were so over their skis a couple weeks ago, and now they're miserable and they're mad at Sean Payton, the Steelers two and O with only one touchdown on the season. The commanders kind of know how that feels. They want a game somehow where they gave up three touchdowns and they didn't score any touchdowns, and yet they were the victors at home.

[01:39:19]

Way asks if he's ready. Tyler R is the snapper.

[01:39:23]

Way turns, gets the snap.

[01:39:26]

It's down.

[01:39:27]

Kick on its way.

[01:39:28]

It is up, and it is good. Washington wins 21 to 18. Congratulations to Dan Quinn, Adam Peters, Josh Harris, Jayden Daniels, everybody, as this group together gets their first win in Washington.

[01:39:46]

That is a big time win for the Commanders. WBIg, Bram Weinstein on Austin Sabert's 30 yard game winning field goal. Weird game. Shook. I felt like Jaden Daniels and the Commanders were in the red zone all game, but it was just, they just ended up settling. What was it? Seven field goals? Is that how they won this game? That's a wild way to get to 21.

[01:40:17]

Just got there. Kick seven.

[01:40:19]

Yeah. Well, you know, if at first you don't succeed, try, try again. And when I say that, I mean, if the first kicker that you got from the Browns doesn't work, cut in and then sign another kicker who was drafted by the Browns and Austin Siber. He'll get you to victory because that's what they did in week two. I sent a text to my buddy diehard commanders fan, and I said, hey, I know it's not necessarily Cliff Kingsbury's fault, but can you guys, like, actually get Jayden Daniels to the end zone today? Because he's playing well enough to deserve to make at least one trip there, and yet they couldn't. But somehow they find a way to win. Credit to them. Look, guys, I talked about Kyler like this earlier. Love watching play quarterback. Look forward to watching him play every week. I look forward to watching Washington play because of the same reasons. Jaden Daniels is, is so fun to watch. But for the love of God, get in the end zone, please, please, maybe.

[01:41:04]

Get down on some of these runs. He, he is unlike Kyler Murray, who is God like in avoiding hits. Maybe. Maybe the greatest I've ever seen, really. I mean, he is truly an incredible scrambler. Jaden Daniels is a great scrambler, a great runner, but not great at avoiding hits. And that, that's a little worrisome. He missed the play in this game, right.

[01:41:25]

I typical Jaden Daniels, as you just mentioned. He's, he's running to the right, trying to get a few extra yards. He's got a defender low, takes a shot, kind of goes down pretty hard with the defender at his ankles. I'm, I'm worried about his ankle at his knee. Misses some time. He's able to come back in the game, but it's just one of those things where the accumulation of shots that Daniels is taking, and they're not even really taking shots down the field, which is one of his. The best parts of his skill set is his accuracy downfield. Not a whole lot. He completes 23 or 29 passes for 226 yards. But you're just wondering when's the big, big play going to come.

[01:41:59]

That's not you running the ball, that's Kingsbury ball. Not the best sign. Like Noah Brown steps in off the waiver wire and, you know, is leading their wide receivers. Terry McLaren's fantasy owners, like myself, are dying a slow death. Yeah, I think he has less than 40 yards on the season, and yet they get it done because. Because their running backs have looked fantastic, I think, shook through two weeks. Brian Robinson looks to me like a different player he did a week ago. They start the game, Nick, with a nine minute drive, and that sort of set the tone of what kind of day it was going to be. I know they didn't get a touchdown, but they end up with 425 yards. I mean, their offense was ultimately pretty effective except for the red zone.

[01:42:38]

Yeah, they were great between the twenties. I mean, they're fantastic. They moved the ball well all day. And Brian Robinson looks like, I don't know if he found another gear or something, but he's more explosive and running harder than he has in his career. That's why it was so frustrating. But at the same time, to see them piece together these drives was encouraging. You talked about receivers and Noah Brown being their best receiver today. The best catch was made by Zach Ertz and it was because it was a wrestling match with Jason Pinnock who Zach had the ball, then Jason had the ball, then Zach had the ball. Like that was the extent of the downfield passing game for them. So there's a lot of room to grow. I don't know if they'll ever get there, but it's nice when you can balance it out with this rushing attack, which, you know, you obviously have the Daniels rushing at threaten. I would like to see him avoid some hits. Eckler still looks good, too. You know, he only had eight carries for 38 yards, but he'll pop one off here and there. They have a good balanced approach.

[01:43:20]

It's just that we do have to push the ball down the field eventually. Washington, like, we got to wake up from our slumber there. So maybe in due time. But again, they're still in such a better situation than they were a year ago just because of the quarterback.

[01:43:31]

I thought you were going to say the, the better situation than the Giants who are now Owen two and Dable started his press conference really talking about how the offense improved. And I get it.

[01:43:41]

And they did.

[01:43:42]

I get it. But they also scored 18 points and they're playing a team that should have given up about a 50 burger last year in the commanders. And yeah, there were. So, you know, they, they ran the ball better. Singletary goes for 95 yards. Daniel Jones is much more effective. Malik neighbors gets 18 targets. No one else on the team gets more than four. Unfortunately, the target, even though neighbors goes ten for 127 and a touchdown that we're probably going to remember best is a fourth down that Jones threw the ball to neighbors at the end of the game with a chance to really ice the game and potentially kick their own game winning field goal or go for a game winning touchdown.

[01:44:21]

Jones, out of a shotgun set, calls out signals, takes the snap back to throw, pumps under pressure, now fires one right, completes it and, oh, it's dropped by neighbors along the sideliness he would have had the first down and he dropped it. He pounds the turf in frustration with 204 to go.

[01:44:40]

No, that is Bob Papa calling the completion before it happened. Because neighbors had such great hands and had such a great game, you just assume he was going to make it. And, yeah, that was just over two minutes left in terms of game situation. Both teams still had three timeouts, so there was a lot left to go there, but it was tied. But the reason they went for it is because they didn't have a kicker all game. And to me, that was maybe the biggest factor in this entire game. Uh, they tried an extra point to start the game with their punter, uh, Blake Gillen, and he missed it. And so then they went for two later when they were up three, which is like the one spot where you really need an extra point, but they, I guess, were afraid. All right, you missed it the first time. Let's go for two. They didn't get the two. And then at that point in the game where they probably would have kicked the field goal to take a lead, they. They go for it. And, yeah, like, it's. It's kind of weird when you have a guy who was on the injury report and Graham gnow and you don't have an extra kicker up.

[01:45:39]

That, to me, is a. An organizational failure. Like the GM and the coach kind of lost them this game by not having a kicker potentially available.

[01:45:48]

So Jamie Gillen, formerly known as the scottish hammer, maybe still known as that by some people. Another former Brown who makes an appearance in special teams in this game, last kicked field goals consistently at Arkansas Pine Bluff and did not do very well in college. So, yeah, you were in a bad spot going to this game if kicker was going to be a concern. So a lack of preparation on their part. I mean, look, Daniel Jones did play better. He played better because he had a life raft named Malik neighbors, who just caught everything for him except for the most important pass of the game, which was super unfortunate because neighbors is a stud and he played his tail off in this game. He kept them afloat throughout this game, the passing game, and unfortunately, that's just the way the cookie crumbled for them and their own two.

[01:46:27]

Yeah, it was one of those games where I don't know if we learned a ton about either of these teams in terms of how they'll compete against others, but if you're a commander's fan or you're on that stuff, like get a win.

[01:46:38]

Yeah. And you think. You think that they'll figure it out the downside on the other side for the Giants is you get the nuclear Malik neighbors game. But still, there's not a lot to speak of. And as you mentioned, if the plan is Jamie Gilliam coming in and then you immediately punt on that plan, I guess pun intended, then it's, it's just like, so what, what, what? How are we approaching things between the coaching staff and the front office?

[01:47:03]

If a guy has a groin, a groin injury for a kicker? Like, yeah, I think that's, that's probably a concern coming into the game. Cause they showed dable watching his kicks very intently in the warm ups and stuff, so they knew it was an issue coming in. He can, oh, is actually active. He was the holder. So that was just like, what, what is happening? I've seen, it's too many times where you see kickers where like, before the game and then there's no one. I don't know, maybe this should be something team should think about. You like, literally lost a game. How valuable is that? Because you didn't have a kicker available? We're always happy Patrick Claibonne is available with us each and every week. Now we're going to throw at the sun and football. Patrick will not be with us for the Sunday Night football program. So we, we appreciate you, Patrick.

[01:47:49]

Appreciate you.

[01:47:49]

And we send it to Houston.

[01:47:52]

Let's go straddle the gun on second and 24. Here's the snap. CJ looking. CJ firing downfield. Hits Nico. Ten five to the end zone. Touchdown, Houston. And that's weight room right there, baby.

[01:48:10]

Niko Collins has been hit in the weight room. Also hit the end zone. Touchdown for Collins. Goes eight for 135. Texans win 19 to 13, wrapping up a fun week two and almost misleading to have an offensive highlight. Shooky, because in the end, it was the defense that took over this season. Game. In the second half, the Texans picked off Caleb Williams twice in a row. And then they hit him and then they hit him some more and then they sacked him all over the place. Eleven QB hits in this game. They pressured him on almost 50% of their drop backs. Will Anderson and Daniel Hunter combined for 17 pressures alone. Between the two of them, the Texans made that Bears offense look bad and they get the win 19 to 13. What stood out to you?

[01:49:06]

Well, first off, coming out of the break, Matt Iberflew stated, we're going to go down the field and score a touchdown. And they never came close to scoring a touchdown in the second half because of the Texans defense.

[01:49:16]

I mean, Hasselback in lamb, where do you get the ball score in the late in the playoffs? Energy. I love it. I mean, no one's more confident than uberfluss with a good haircut. It's awesome.

[01:49:29]

The question is who, who plays the role of Al Harris there? Is that a Kamari Lassiter? Is it Derek Stingley? Does it matter? It didn't matter. I mean, my takeaway is the same takeaway that I pretty, pretty much anybody who's watching this game nationally had. Caleb Williams had no time to throw and was just getting bludgeoned, especially late in that game. I mean, you can say what you want about the Bears offensive line. Obviously, I think they need work in protecting him. Maybe it's an upgrade in talent, maybe it's a change in scheme. They certainly weren't doing their job and it, it frazzled the young guy. I mean, it's a second NFL start. You could tell that when he had time, he would make some good decisions. He also would miss some throws. He doesn't have a rapport with his receivers that veteran quarterbacks have. He missed a number of back shoulder throws. DJ Moore looked visibly frustrated by the end of this game because the balls were just sailing over his head or were woefully short of its intended target. And what you got was a Bears team that mustered a whole three points in the second half and never really got close to threatening, even in a one score game down late because of course, they couldn't protect Caleb Williams.

[01:50:27]

Yeah, and even that one, the score that they did get to to cut the lead to 19 to ten, that's aided by penalties. There was a lot of penalties. This game went really late for a game that went in regulation. Not like the most perfect advertisement for football, but it still was exciting because they kept it close. And you mentioned those last couple drives. DJ Moore getting frustrated because Williams just misses him, has a lot of room. That drive ends because of that next and final drive. The last throw of the game is, is Roma Dunze and Caleb Williams not really being on the same page. So Williams accuracy has been a little iffy. That said, he, he comes out like the first three throws of the game were awesome and there were really nice moments. He gets 44 yards on the ground. Deandre Swift goes 14 for 18. Herbert, you know, has the short touchdown, but otherwise doesn't do anything. So I don't think you can overstate how much Darnell Wright struggled with Daniel Hunter in this game. I mean, Will Anderson was often beating kind of the protection scheme and like beating running backs and tight ends and gut and getting hustle pressures and had some biggest time wins.

[01:51:46]

But Hunter is just abusing the Chicago's first round pick. So that was a big time acquisition for them in the offseason. They were pretty confident publicly, maybe even, you know, privately and definitely a little publicly that he was a pretty big upgrade from Jonathan Grenard.

[01:52:03]

And he showed a good year last year, by the way.

[01:52:06]

Yeah, I mean, gracie good, too. Neither of these teams could really run the ball. Cam Akers fumbles the ball on the goal line late or else we, you know, we wouldn't have sweated out that ending. But I just look at this Texans team and I just think, man, there's so much talent everywhere. CJ Stroud, for the second straight week, I think has showed improvement at making plays out of structure. Last year was all about, oh, yeah, this guy's the next like Joe Burrow. He's got enough athleticism and every winning from the pocket, and he's done some of that through two weeks. But really, all of his best plays over the last couple of weeks have kind of been plays that broke down. And he made a couple of them to Nico Collins in this game. I mean, he had a beaut. He had some beautiful throws from the pocket to including the Stefan Diggs. Good situational football to get three points at the end of the first half where again, Nico Collins makes a great catch. So overall, just smart football here that they probably shouldn't have had to sweat out quite a as much.

[01:53:06]

But again, if Akers doesn't fumble that ball there, we're probably not talking about all that.

[01:53:11]

Yeah. You know, on the texan side, it is really beautiful to see what can become of a pairing of a young quarterback and a receiver. And that's, that's Stroud and Collins. That's going back to last year, last preseason. You could tell even then they had a rapport. I picked him out back then thinking that's his favorite target. That guy's going to have a breakout year if CJ plays well, because that's his favorite guy. And it carried over to the regular season. It carries overnight, eight for 135 and a touchdown for Nico Collins. He leads this receiving core that, oh, by the way, has defined digs in it. But Collins is the star. There's one throw in particular. It's in the second half where Stroud rolls right and Collins kind of enters the scramble drill and just finds open space and Stroud hits him perfectly to move the chains. That's, that's the example of experience spent together. Even though, if it's just a season, they, they understand each other. They're on the same page. That's what Caleb Williams, Romo Doon's a DJ, Moore and obviously Kenan Allen didn't dress tonight. That's what they don't have yet.

[01:54:01]

But I don't want to sound like a broken record. But again, like I said last week with a different team, it starts in the trenches and the Bears. You just have to look at the rushing numbers to know everything you need to know about this offense right now. You can blame scheme, you can blame play calling and too many passes, the flats and too short of a passing offense, whatever you want. But if you can't run the football, you're instantly one dimensional. Even in a one score game, even before it gets late, you really can't do anything on the ground, and you're putting everything on the shoulders of a guy who's making his second NFL start. And that's just losing football. That's bad business. It's, it's a losing formula. So they're going to have to figure out how to balance this offense if they really want to see Caleb take the steps forward that they expect from the first overall pick.

[01:54:40]

Right? I mean, they're, their offensive line really struggled against a blitz, so D'Amico Ryan is not a coach that likes to blitz that much. He's very good at a well timed blitz, but they showed tonight they couldn't protect the blitz. So that's offensive line number one, but that's also a young quarterback not knowing how to set the protection and coaching. They ended up blitzing on almost 40% of their pass rushes, and it was just free rushers at the end of the game, teeing off. I mean, that was a welcome to the NFL type of night for Caleb Williams. And, yeah, the, the talent's just everywhere. Derek Stingley with an awesome interception, that's going to help him get to. I think he's going to be an all pro this year. Nice to do it in primetime. He'll have other chances to do it. And then Kamari Lassiter, who, who had two interceptions in that second half, one was called back by penalty. And one thing I've noticed with Lassiter, he has great hands. Like he, when he has a chance to make plays, he makes plays. So he's given up a couple plays in this season.

[01:55:38]

But again, it's the Texans. It's playmakers all over the field. Jalen Petrie had a much better game tonight, and I thought the Bears defense was really really good in this game, too. They don't have to worry about where they're at and by any means, Kyler Gordon and Tyreek Stevenson and some of their guys up front like it is a really good defense and they challenge a good offense in CJ Stroud. So the Bears go back to the drawing board one and one on the season, and the Texans are at 20 atop the AFC south. You know where I'm not atop right now. Oh, but I actually do want to mention this one little stat that Josh Debo of the Associated Press pointed out. The Bears have averaged 3.1 yards per play on Sunday night, and they averaged less in week one. The only teams to do that in the Super bowl era average that few yards per play in the first two games of the season. In the 21st century, there's actually two teams, the Bears and the 2006 Raiders, who really old school Raiders fans will remember were nicknamed the bed and breakfast offense.

[01:56:47]

I think that was the JaMarcus Russell team. I don't even like. So that's it. The two worst teams in the 20th century. You have to go back to the 96 rams and then the seventies for teams that have started that slow. So it has been pretty rough.

[01:57:01]

Yeah. I don't think that's indicative of what their offense is going to be over.

[01:57:04]

The course of the season.

[01:57:05]

I do think that they'll get better. But one last point in the Texans real quick, because I know we talked about the playmakers and everything else. What I love the most about them, their identity. These guys play with a massive chip on their shoulders, not, not worthy of the chip tracker, but just a massive attitude. I mean, they're going out there and tackling guys and then they're adding a little bit extra after the play. You know, it might spark a little fracas here and there, but they play with an attitude. They don't just want to get stops, they want to get stops and let you know about it. And, hey, this is a no fly zone. You're not allowed over here, and we're going to keep coming all night. And it was, it was really impressive to see, even against the Bears team that, you know, struggles up front. I think that bodes well for them because this is their year. Last year they came and won the AFC south.

[01:57:42]

Yeah.

[01:57:42]

This year they're, they're aimed for more than they're Super bowl contenders. They want to make a deep run. Yeah. And they're, they're going to prove a point.

[01:57:47]

Yeah. They're absolutely super role contenders and, yeah, the, the bed and breakfast Rams, just to, I mean, Raiders, just to circle back, was coached by Art Shell was the head coach. They only won two games that year. But the reason they recall that was because Tom Walsh was their offensive coordinator, a man who had been out of football for seven years before running while running a bed and breakfast ranch in Idaho before he came back to football to run the worst offense in the league.

[01:58:18]

How many, how many of the breakfast dishes included potatoes at this bed and breakfast? Had to be a lot in Idaho.

[01:58:23]

Hey, there you go. As we wrap up here and yeah, a chunky week to recap for you, I just, I'm going to end with some bad news if you happen to listen to the preview show. Patrick Claibond's survivor pick in week one didn't make it out of week one. That was pretty unfortunate. Bengals losing to the Patriots. My week two survivor pick, the ravens over the raiders, I guess is the segment. The segment's over. Both of us, we have not survived. It's over.

[01:59:01]

I don't know.

[01:59:02]

Weiss came in in week two and picked the test. Texans. Maybe that counts that. Yeah. Tie a bow on the Texans. I let him join week two. Maybe we'll start over. Who knows? We're doing more than surviving here, though. In the Chris Wesleyan.

[01:59:14]

I'm more curious about these sounds. I heard a lightning bolt and somebody drowning.

[01:59:18]

It was tough out there on the water. Thank you. Nick shook for everything tonight. Appreciate you, man. It was a lot of fun. I feel very grateful to be able to do this. This is a ton of fun in the studio. Eric Roberts and Randy Chavez just absolutely killing it behind the glass. We will be back, me and you, Nick, at night. Monday night football, Eagles and Falcons till then, so happy football is back.