Eagles’ Season OVER, Rams PANIC & J.J. McCarthy’s Giants Debut: NFL Week 6 Reactions (Ep. 2277)

0:01 Hello, everybody. Welcome into the tailgate.

0:03 I'm Ryan Wormley, joined on this Monday morning by Derek Brown and by Andrew Erickson, reacting to everything we saw in week six of the NFL season. Reminder, as always, for everybody that all of our 2026 consensus rankings and tiers, if you're looking for fantasy analysis, can be found at fantasypros.com slash rankings. We are taking a wider view of the NFL this week and talking about some non-fantasy stuff, as we always do.

0:26 On this show.

0:26 And guys, I think we're going to start off with a busy news and notes section, not for injuries. I feel like for the first several weeks of the season, it's been a really injury heavy news and notes at the top of these shows. We do have a lot of news and notes to get to, but it has actually largely not been injury related, at least relative to how it was with some of the bigger names earlier in the year. Devereaux, I really just want to jump right into Chris Ballard gets fired as a Colts GM.

0:52 Obviously this has not gone well for Indianapolis. They made some, mistakes within the last year of team building in terms of maybe over-indexing on Daniel Jones, in terms of the obvious trade for Sauce Gardner, which looks pretty disastrous in hindsight. Where's your head at on this firing for the Colts?

1:12 It's like somebody came on this show two weeks ago when they were two and two and said that you burn it all down to the ground. You strip it all down. You fire everybody because of the Colts are an absolute and total disaster. It's like that happened guys. And the Colts are playing catch up here. My biggest thing about not surprised of Chris Bauer being gone because yes, every decision he has made, every calculated aggressive decision he's made, uh, has been a bad one. Trading two firsts for Sauce Gardner. No, thank you. Tying your wagon in a make or break year because you had to know it was that for the Colts this year, for him and Shane Steichen. To Daniel Jones, another bad decision. Drafting Anthony Richardson, which I

2:00 know hindsight is 20-20, but a project quarterback, and then you don't allow him to play. then he plays, then he's injured, then you don't give him the leeway, and then you move on, but you don't move on, and you don't know what to do with him. As well as Alec Pierce is the only real wide receiver of note or name on the depth chart entering the season, although he's coming off his own surgery and has his own questions. And I don't think any of us truly expected him to be healthy for the entirety of this season.

2:35 None of this surprises me. But my biggest surprise is, why is Shane Steichen still the head coach if Chris Ballard is gone? Why didn't they get rid of both of them? That's what I don't understand about all this. I was expecting the announcement to say, Chris Ballard, bye-bye.

2:53 Gone.

2:54 See ya. You can't trade away any more draft picks to try to save you a job or burn this franchise to the ground anymore. Shane Steichen, why is he still drawing a paycheck as the time of recording this?

3:05 Well, My question would be like, what would be the point of firing Steichen right now?

3:09 What's the point of keeping him?

3:11 There's just some stability in terms of leadership in the organization right now.

3:15 Is there?

3:16 When you know the head coach is gone after this year?

3:19 That's stability? Dead man walking?

3:21 I also like Shane Steichen. I think Shane Steichen is still a good head coach. He's deserving of being a head coach. I think this was a Chris Ballard issue in this organization, not a Shane Steichen issue personally.

3:32 I agree with Worm. I mean, I think that Shane Steigen's working with the best he got, right? Like, Chris Bowden's the one who's putting the roster together and doing a terrible job doing it. And Shane Steigen is working with whatever quarterback they get. I mean, look, last year, they had one of the best offices in the NFL until Daniel Jones got hurt. And we knew that it was going to regress with Daniel Jones coming off as a killer's injury and that it was unsustainable. But, D-Bro, correct me if I'm wrong, if Shane Steigen gets fired tomorrow, how many teams are looking to bring him in as an advisor and then hire him as a head coach next year? Or at least as an offensive coordinator next year?

4:06 I don't think that it's the same scenario as like Mike McDaniel. I would take Shane Slick.

4:10 Oh, yeah, yeah. He's not a McDaniel.

4:12 This is a little bit.

4:13 Right.

4:13 So that's the reason I think that he's... Again, Ballard was always going to be the guy they would get rid of first because he was more on the hot seat entering the season. He even kind of admitted that saying like, we got to win now. If we don't, then I'm gone based on all the moves that he made that you kind of outlined. Because I think that's more reflective on him and how he's put the roster together with how he's moved draft picks. versus Shane Steichen, who, again, offensive-minded guy. He's doing everything he can to work with the pieces he has to work with. Again, they've never really had stability at quarterback until Daniel Jones last year when he was healthy and then he got hurt. And

4:44 then they backed themselves in a corner and they overpaid Daniel Jones against literally nobody, which made no sense. But I agree with Worm. I think that Steichen is a good coach and I think that he would be scooped up immediately if they let him go.

4:57 There's also something to be said for a new voice in the room of what has been... underperformance and failure and stuff like that too. And I think the other part about this is that we're assuming that this is all just a Ballard problem and that Shane didn't have a voice in the room. I think that's also a little bit of a heavy-handed assumption to make that the head coach had no input on any of these moves at all. And I know the GM is the person that has the final say, but also you got to believe the head coach has a voice in some of this stuff too. Maybe not all of it, but some of it.

5:32 I would probably guess that Syken did not sign off on trading two first-round picks to get a defensive player.

5:37 Do you think he signed off on bringing Daniel Jones back in a make-or-break season with both of them tied to it?

5:43 Versus who? I mean, I think we had a conversation where should the Colts bring in Daniel Jones for this amount of money or sign Kyler Murray to the league minimum? And I think that we settled on we'd rather than roll the dice with Kyle.

5:56 I was never in the Kyler camp.

5:58 Uh-uh.

5:59 That wasn't me.

6:00 But that's Eric's point.

6:02 If it wasn't Daniel Jones and you don't like Kyler, are you taking the swing on Malik Willis?

6:07 Where else were you going to get a quarterback this year?

6:09 Easily.

6:10 Maybe they tried and Malik just took the better deal or.

6:14 Wanted to go to Miami.

6:17 I think Shane Sagan is a better head coach than Chris Ballard as a GM. I saw some Eagles fans, just with all the Jalen Hurts stuff going on this morning, and people kind of thinking, playing out this season, if this goes really poorly and Nick Sirianni is fired, that Shane Steichen could be the replacement for Sirianni. Obviously, he came from Philly, was their offensive coordinator with some success there prior to getting the Colts head coaching job.

6:39 So that's an interesting one as well.

6:41 Or Chargers.

6:42 He's been there before.

6:44 We'll get to it later. We'll get to it later.

6:45 We'll already get to it.

6:47 We're going to talk a little bit more about Jalen Hurst. Before we do, I want to just kind of quickly round up some of the other injuries. Romeo Dobbs left the game with a shoulder. Lad McConkie, concussion. Devontae Adams, a knee. Rashad Bateman, a shoulder.

6:57 A.J.

6:58 Brown was back in the field for your guys. Erickson didn't really do much. He got targeted a lot, but it wasn't performing super well. Any of these that you want to hit on here?

7:07 I mean, A.J. Brown just played really bad. I don't think that it was anything to do with his injury. Just, I think, knocking off the rust. So, again, he just should have made more plays. He dropped passes. I didn't think that he looked limited though, in terms of coming off of his ankle injury. So I think that he'll play better against the Chicago bears on Thursday. However, the Patriots also lost three offensive linemen starters. So that's something to also pay attention to on a short week.

7:30 Debra.

7:31 Yeah.

7:32 I mean, I think the AJ Brown stuff, I mean, Eric's and I view it a little bit differently. I don't think he's a hundred percent. I honestly don't think he should have played in this game. And I think like, yes, the drops and things like that, but every practice video I saw, man, like, didn't look like a healthy player running routes as far as his deceleration and a short area stuff. So I don't know if the other thing is like, if you're not fully healthy, like as a player, like that, that's in the back of your mind, every route you're running, every break you're making, like if his ankle isn't a hundred percent.

8:02 So I think that the fact that he played the full game, he did not seem like he was limited in any way in terms of snaps. And I mean, he was out there for the majority of the game. So I think that this builds confidence though, heading into Thursday night versus just throwing out there on Thursday night. Now, at least he's got a full game under him. He's like, OK, like I didn't have any relapses with my ankle. I played like crap just in the box score in terms of like actually contributing to the team. But now you get a short week. OK, like forget about it. Rub it away. And like, let's get back to work.

8:30 Yeah. I mean, I think the best thing out of everything for A.J. Brown is facing the Chicago Bears corners.

8:35 So also fair.

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9:07 We'll be announcing a winner right here on the channel. So make sure you turn on notifications so you don't miss your chance to claim this epic prize. All right, guys, the last sort of piece of news and notes actually dovetails really nicely with Erickson's first talking point that he wants to have on the show today.

9:21 Jalen Hurts is out for the season.

9:23 This is something that Debro and I talked a little bit about on Thursday on our stream.

9:26 How this was a possibility. We actually got some pushback from people who were like, that's really speculative. You don't know what's going to happen.

9:31 I was like, Listen, we said from the top it was speculative at the time, but we wanted to make it clear that this was a possibility given the seriousness of the situation. And as it turns out, it is that serious. Multiple blood clots making their way to his lungs. Incredibly scary, incredibly dangerous, very much a life-threatening issue. It is remarkable that he played in that game on 36 hours without sleep. It is remarkable that he was on that international flight. The way this has played out has been...

10:00 truly just gobsmacking in so many ways. At the end of the day, the most important thing by far is get healthy and hope for the best for Jalen Hurts. Because again, an incredibly terrifying situation. And then Erickson, your first reaction, which will kind of loop into this news and notes conversation, is are the Eagles done?

10:17 And you kind of asked this question.

10:19 We were putting together the show sheet yesterday before knowing that hurts was going to be officially out for the year. We knew it was a possibility on, of course, but now it's not just on the table.

10:27 We know what's happening.

10:28 So Erickson, how does this sort of obviously add to that question you're asking?

10:33 Does it answer the question?

10:34 I mean, yes.

10:35 Kind of playing for the rest of 2026, right? What is the goal here with them? When you don't have your franchise quarterback, he's going to miss the remainder of the season. And I know that D-Ro is going to talk about this as well, but this hurts even the quarterback in 2027, because I believe he doesn't have any more guaranteed money on his contract. Do the Eagles just decide to, at least on the offensive side of the ball, blow it up, right? You have core pieces on defense that you can still build around. You have Jalen Carter.

11:04 You have Quinion Mitchell, who they should sign to an extension at some point. You have Cooper Djean. So you have those core pieces, but on the offensive side, The offensive line needs to be rebuilt from the ground up, rip it down to the studs because it was so old already. And those guys have now been injured. You lost Lane Johnson. You're losing guys across the board. You traded Cam Juergens to the Baltimore Ravens. Now you got to rebuild that offensive line to help build the infrastructure for potentially a new quarterback. If it is not Jalen Hurts that they decide to bring back in 2027 based on his contract. So that's a question there. Do you roll with Tanner McKee the rest of the season? See, okay,

11:37 can he be our guy in the franchise? I think that this is a, maybe one of the goals for their rest of season is to see what Tanner McKee can do, especially behind a bad offensive line. If he can ball out again next couple of weeks, they've got what, Cowboys commanders? Dude, like there's a chance he could look like halfway decent. You still have Devante Smith. You have Makai Lemon. So there are some pieces in young assets that they can still evaluate. But I think that's kind of like the main goal for the rest of the season.

12:02 Can you trade Saquon Barkley?

12:03 Right.

12:04 What's the point of having him on the roster anymore? And but can you trade a guy that's injured? One of these injured running backs?

12:09 I don't know.

12:10 So that's kind of my idea and look at the Eagles. It's interesting, though, because the one thing that is kind of the back of my mind and this kind of is about everyone in the NFC East.

12:21 Right.

12:21 We talked about that as an NFC, at least the last week where nobody won a game. It's possible that we could have that happen again. We're literally none of them went for two straight weeks despite them playing each other in week five. do they keep the, do they keep hope alive because they could still win the division because the division has been so bad so far. So like, that's the one thing that all the NFC East teams can kind of convince themselves where it's like, well, you know, we're only one game back in the division behind the giants.

12:48 And they just, they're JJ McCarthy's their new starting quarterback. Like we still got a shot here. So maybe all these teams will convince themselves that they still want to be contenders, but we all kind of know whoever wins this NFC East is probably just going to get blown out and walk around, right. They're going to be the host team. They're going to be underdogs to whatever, NFC West team is a wildcard team that doesn't win that division.

13:07 So I don't know. What do you what do you guys think? I'll throw it to you first, because I know you have stuff with Hertz and his potential with the Eagles future.

13:14 I mean, from the very time this was announced, Worm and I were on a live stream and I said it from the very beginning. And we and yes, to Worm's point, we got tons of pushback about like, oh, you're just speculating and stuff. It's like, no, unlike a lot of other people in the media space, I'm not just talking out my butt. Like, I do have some medical background to sit here and talk about some of this stuff, and I'm not going to pretend like I know all the parts or pieces of how all of this transpired, how it's all still getting leaked out to the media. I still have a ton of questions, guys, about how the Philadelphia medical staff handled all of this stuff.

13:48 Like, blood clots, not.

13:50 Like, dude, whenever... And the way that I take the whole him not sleeping stuff, I... The way that I... internalized that is they probably were doing neuro checks on him like every hour to two hours and that's why he didn't sleep but if you're doing neuro checks on a player and again i'm just reading tea leaves i don't know how all of this stuff played out in real time because i think there is still a ton that we do not know about this entire situation that will probably come out in the media and probably be unearthed at some point pablo tori we need you my man But with all of this is that I don't think Jalen Hurts will probably be the quarterback for the Philadelphia Eagles in 2027. Now, however, you want to talk

14:34 about this from a contract perspective, moving on different answers or just straight up with all of this stuff and how it's being handled and how this story continues to unravel in real time in front of our eyes with all of this stuff. If you're Jalen Hurts and this was horribly botched and you got bad advice from medical experts that are in your ear and telling you it's OK to take the flight. It's okay to play football.

14:58 Although we're looking in hindsight and yes, it's 2020.

15:02 Maybe those were.

15:02 Not good choices to make. Does he just not have any faith in this medical team and stuff and his handling based off of all of this stuff in Philadelphia? And he says, nah, I'm out.

15:13 No.

15:14 And so I think we could have seen Jalen Hurts play possibly his last snap for Philadelphia. I think that's definitive a possibility. Also, I want to throw it in there. Like Tanner McKee is also a free agent after this season. So even if Philadelphia, if he plays well and they want to bring him back, what does that look like?

15:31 So there is so much uncertainty with all the Eagle stuff. Do I think that they have a chance in the NFC? I mean, considering the constitution of the NFC East, possibly, but does that mean anything? I think the real team that like, if they can get their head out of their own freaking butts and play to the, to the level of the talent on this roster, I still think that like, this is division. Like, You're saying, OK, Cowboys, can you look anywhere shape, form or semblance of the team that this should be based off of the roster that is on paper that that's the team that should take this division? Now, does that happen? Who knows, man?

16:07 But with all the hurt stuff, the other thing I want to throw out there is. I'm being very trying to be very conscientious about how I'm framing and discussing all about all this. I am so freaking sick and tired of in the sports media space, people coming out, running their freaking mouths about situations they are not aware about, having no medical knowledge at all, and absolutely sounding like an idiot doing so just for clickbait, just for clips, just for whatever, to appease the talking heads of the people pulling the strings. I am so absolutely sick about it.

16:44 And if anybody goes out there in the internet and searches, you will find I will not even discuss this person's name on this show to give them the airtime. If you know, you know. But I am so tired and sick of this being a talking point or the ability for people to come out and discuss things and try to get clicks. But insinuating Jalen Hurts, this is all some kind of ruse that his medical situation is not dire.

17:12 It's not serious. It's any way, shape, form, or fashion tied to the fortunes of this franchise or them winning games or not is absolute absurdity and idiocy. I'm done. Okay, go ahead.

17:26 I had not seen that. So obviously I would totally agree.

17:30 You don't need to list the person, but can you, so what exactly did this person say?

17:34 Basically they framed it as, I'm not saying anything and I don't know anything, but it could be that the team isn't winning. And this is really like Jalen Hurts is like, I'm not going to do it, man. I don't want to play, but I don't know anything. And I don't know anything medical about, but it could be the thing saying a lot of things while trying to cover your butt because you're whatever you want a viral moment.

17:59 I'm so absolutely sick of it. Like, can we not as a sports media space discuss things, whether if you don't have a take on it or you don't know anything about it, then don't sit here and say a bunch of things that are idiotic. It's fine. You don't have to have a take or about every single thing in the universe, especially not trying to sit here and put a take out there and into the space of what creating some kind of viral moment or trying to chase clicks. It's just cheap and horrible, man.

18:29 Yeah.

18:30 It's pretty terrible. I don't have anything to add.

18:32 That's a gross approach for somebody to take in a situation like this. And to, to even remotely suggest that this is anything other.

18:41 Than extremely serious is pretty disappointing.

18:44 Yep. Absolutely.

18:45 Yeah.

18:45 So not much to add there.

18:47 Erickson, any final thoughts on this discussion or can we move on?

18:50 Let's move on. not feagles.

18:51 Well, let's go to another quarterback who we're kind of questioning where they might be starting in 2027.

18:57 Debro. Yeah. Where is Kirk Cousins starting in 2027? Because Kirko change looks like he's still got some football left in him, boys. Where, where is that? Like let's, let's, I wanted to come to the show today prepared with a list of questions, just asking the questions about a few of these situations and stuff that I think are very, very interesting because I, I think that, like, obviously we all kind of collectively, and I don't want to put words in your mouths, but I think we all kind of think, okay, however this works out for this Raiders season, Fernando Mendoza will be starting next year for the Raiders.

19:31 Can we all agree on that? Yes.

19:33 Okay.

19:34 So if that is the case, where is Kirk Cousins playing football next season? Is that for the Cleveland Browns? Is that for the Arizona Cardinals? Is he... A bridge quarterback for... another franchise? Like I want to open this up because I'm trying to figure it out because like I think Kirk Cousins could be a starting quarterback next season.

19:59 It's just a question of where does he go? I wonder if he doesn't stay. start the season as a starter anywhere, but maybe almost waits to see where an injury pops up and can come in and help.

20:12 So the Pittsburgh Steelers.

20:17 Yeah.

20:17 What do you think, Erickson?

20:19 I mean, well, I'm trying to think like coaching tree wise, because I think that a lot of the success this year is being in Clint Kubiak's offense. I think that has a lot to do with how Kirk Cousins is playing because he's the perfect fit for this offense. I don't think that he's going to continue to get better.

20:34 as his career progresses, just based on his age. So I do think that whatever team pays him to be their starting quarterback, most likely bridge quarterback for whoever they also draft or bring in as a younger future franchise quarterback, they have to have the expectations that he's probably going to fall off compared to this season. So I guess my mind looks at like a team like Arizona, right?

20:57 So you have a play caller that's familiar with Sean McVay system, similar to the Kyle Shanahan system where Clint Kubiak is from. So Those are some of the things that I think about Tampa Bay. What does this Baker Mayfield thing kind of look like the rest of his career? I mean, I guess he signed the contract.

21:13 He got the contract, so they kind of tied their wagon to him.

21:15 What about back to Minnesota?

21:16 I was just going to say that.

21:17 Does he go back to the Minnesota Vikings? Yeah, Minnesota would definitely be one. I get it, but it depends on how Kyler plays the rest of the year.

21:25 Sure.

21:26 So if Kyler can turn around, then yes, but then... I guess, yeah, it's like if he doesn't move the needle or he wants a lot more money, you're going to get Kirk Cousins way cheaper, probably than Kyler Murray, just based on their age. So I think that makes a lot of sense, too. So but like Pittsburgh, yeah, you can't really throw it out because we know Aaron Rodgers is definitely not going to be there. And they're probably going to win too many games where they don't have a high draft pick. And then you already have two young quarterbacks on the roster between Drew Allen and Will Howard. If if Mike McCarthy thinks that one of those guys can be, you know, the future franchise quarterback, we shall see. But I think Kirk, I mean, Kirk

21:58 Cousins in the steel city though. So weird, but Hey, I felt, he felt like he was a bad fit in Las Vegas and that has actually been a pretty good fit.

22:05 I kind of put the top like two to three teams. I think a reunion with Minnesota absolutely could happen. I'd know the fan base would probably like start burning things down, but we'll see. But I think him playing the exact kind of role he was doing, he's doing this year with the Raiders, but for the Cardinals makes so much sense.

22:25 Yeah, I wonder if he wants to go somewhere.

22:30 Oh, wait a minute. Could he be the starting quarterback for the Philadelphia Eagles if they move on from Hertz next year? And he's the bridge guy for a year?

22:38 Probably depends on who the coach is, right? Like if it's still Sirianni or not, to Erickson's point about kind of the system he's stepping into.

22:45 And yeah, who's the OC?

22:48 Like a lot of question marks about.

22:49 If I had to guess, I feel like Kirk would, and I don't know him personally, but just like from what it seems like, I think he would rather maybe go to like a Minnesota or a Philly where he's just now the new starter for a year as opposed to like signing up again to have the question marks of when is the rookie taking over and I need to play well.

23:08 Like if he goes to Minnesota, he's just.

23:10 The starter for the year. Or if he goes to Philly, he's just Pittsburgh. He's probably just the starter for the year. Because Arizona, that is a similar case to what we saw this year where I think maybe– I don't know.

23:21 I don't know if that's appealing to him or not. Maybe it is.

23:23 I'm just totally wrong in speculating about that.

23:25 Maybe he's the new bridge guy for the Jets next year? Yeah. Yeah? Yeah.

23:32 Interesting.

23:32 Let's keep the quarterback conversation going. My first talking point here is about one. We know where he's going to be in 2027. It's C.J.

23:39 Stroud.

23:40 He's going to get paid by the Texans, and it is going to be worth it.

23:43 Stroud has looked awesome.

23:45 As of late, in the last three weeks, he has two top five finishes in fantasy scoring amongst quarterbacks, two games with over 300 yards. He's got six total passing touchdowns and just one interception in those games. And he also has a rushing touchdown thrown in there as well. He just looks really good. Like when you watch the games, it is, I don't know. Now, Debro, I think it was you on the Friday show talked a little bit about him now compared to his rookie year.

24:15 And, you know, which season was better.

24:17 But like, man, regardless of which one you think he was playing better, I think he looks really good right now. And it is a shock that the Texans don't have a better record considering what we expected out of their defense. If you were to tell us that CJ Stroud was going to look this good, that they would, you know, only have two wins till this point, but they sure look like they have the possibility of making a run here from 0-4 to a playoff spot here. There's more work to do, of course, but there's a path in front of them, especially after their big win against the Jags in London. And Stroud has been a huge part of that. They, of course, traded for Marvin Harrison Jr.

24:51 A week ago.

24:51 So now he has another piece to throw to.

24:54 Jalen Knoll looks.

24:55 Awesome, as Debra has long expected and known he was awesome. And the running game has not existed. So it's like, hey, just let Stroud cook. And he's doing it right now, Debra.

25:06 He's doing it despite Nick Caley. And the biggest thing that makes me so mad about this is He is he's playing amazing football and it's going to get Nick Cayley another season as the freaking OC for the Houston Texans. And he doesn't freaking deserve it. Oh, my gosh. The glazing of Nick Cayley on that broadcast this last week was insane. Jay Lenoel. runs a fantastic route, fakes out the Jordan Lewis and goes for a touchdown. They're like, Oh, look at the plate. Is that by Nick Kelly? And I'm like, Oh my gosh, what are we doing here?

25:41 What are we doing here? But to the point worm. Yes. And just for numbers to back this up. So CJ Stroud this season versus his rookie season, this season, 100.9 passer rating rookie season, 100.8. His yards per attempt this year, 7.83, a very good number. Actually eighth best amongst all quarterbacks to at least 100 dropbacks. Okay, rookie season, 8.2. His CPOE, 6%.

26:11 That is a fantastic number. Rookie season, 1.5. And just to go through all the rest of the other stuff, his highly accurate throw rate, almost 20% higher this season. His catchable throw rate, higher this season than his rookie season. His pressure to sack rate in his rookie season and really for most of his career has been living in the 20% range. 16.3%. C.J. Stroud's like, it's not even close.

26:37 He is playing the best football of his entire NFL career. He's going to get the contract and Houston should pay him. And dude, can we imagine like next year, them walking into the season and this hates, I hate this because just trade Jalen all. Give him to a team that's going to allow him to play in a full-time role because he is absolutely freaking amazing. Like, this is the next guy that could be the next Parker Washington, just to throw it out there for people. That's how freaking good he is. But just for us to play this out in the world of reality, in 2027, Houston walking into that season with a starting trio of Nico Collins, Marvin Harrison Jr., and Jaden Higgins. Whoa, baby.

27:24 And Stroud, the way he's playing, obviously he can take advantage of having a receiving room like that. Which is very quickly, D-Bro, before we toss it to Erickson, where is he amongst Dynasty quarterback rankings.

27:34 For you right now?

27:35 That's a really good question.

27:37 Thank you.

27:38 I need to go update Dynasty rankings. He's going to go up right now. Do you know where he's at in ECR right now? So on the fly right now, I have him as, oh, this is disrespectful apparently.

27:49 He's QB 20.

27:51 It's hard to know how up to date that is given, you know, in season, the dynasty rankings aren't always up top priority for experts. But that's where he is as of right now.

28:02 12.

28:04 I'm moving him up to right now in real time. Like I would rather I think you have a real conversation of like CJ Stroud or Jordan Love. I think that's real.

28:15 He's behind Jackson Dart, which I disagree with the injury. So he's behind Bo Nix.

28:20 CJ Stroud or Jaden Daniels, considering all the injuries. These are all real questions and conversations to have. But yes.

28:27 Erickson, where's your head at on Stroud of the Texans?

28:30 So CJ Stroud on the season is posting career high in passer rating, completion percentage, over expectation, success rate, and EPA per drop back against a career low 31.7% pressure rate. So... The offensive line has actually been playing a little bit better. And this is without Braden Smith, who they're going to be getting back. Remember, he was one of the tackles that they signed during the offseason. He has missed the start of the year because of an injury. So the Texas offensive line could actually be better as the season progresses.

29:00 And I know I brought to the table two weeks ago when their own four. I was like, Houston, we have a problem in terms of win losses. But when you just if you just take out wins and losses for the Houston Texans team. And you look at just all the advanced metrics. they don't look like a team that is two and four. They look like a team that's like, oh, this is like a playoff contender type of team, just based on what they're doing offensively. Obviously, they've been dealt a lot of tough losses to start the year, but those were against really, really good opponents.

29:27 And the worst part about their defense to start the year was they just gave up a lot of explosive plays. But we know that that can be a little bit more fluky than actually identifying, oh, this defense is really, really bad because the Texans still have one of the best defensive success rates allowed to opposing offenses. So on a down to down basis, the Texans defense is still really, really good. They've just been giving up more big plays in the backhand. But that has not been the case the last couple of weeks when D'Amico Ryans took back play calling duties. So I do think that this team does not view itself whatsoever as a 2-4 team. I think the fact that they were 0-3 last year and made a run, they're playing with confidence right now. I

30:02 don't think that the vibes in that locker room are definitely not, oh yeah, we're 2-4. I feel like they're like, we just beat the Jaguars. This is a must-win game for us. We're going to take the Giants on this week. We're going to beat them, head into our bye week, and we're going to continue to roll here. So yeah, the Texans, again, I think it was right for us to bring them up a couple weeks ago when they were 0-4. And it's like, look, eventually it becomes a numbers game. But right now, at least the play on the field and what the advanced metrics are saying is like, Texans team is for real. And I don't mean to spoil or bury the lead with one of Debro's topics, but I know one of his things he wanted to

30:33 talk about was who are the top three teams in the AFC. And I felt, I don't think the Texans are one of the top three, but I felt like they were in the conversation at least to kind of fill in that number three spot, especially because they beat Jacksonville head to head. So I don't know if we want to dive right into that topic. I don't, I don't want to disrupt the show sheet worm, but can we, can we dive in?

30:52 No, no, no, we can.

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31:31 D-Bro, who are the top three teams in the AFC?

31:35 Again, I want us to open up and have this conversation because I think there are so many different ways we can go with this. But I'm going to lay out the contenders, okay? The Buffalo Bills, the New England Patriots, and again, you guys chime in if I miss anybody going through all these teams. But I think that these are– The short list, and it's not that short of a list, of who the top three teams in the AFC are.

31:58 The Buffalo Bills, the Patriots, the Ravens, the Bengals, the Jaguars. I am throwing the Texans into this conversation. And the Kansas City Chiefs, guys. Who are the top three teams? Because... I look at all of these teams and I think it's a worthy conversation. It's like, okay, I'm not saying who, who takes the division because all the rest of the division sucks, but how does seating work out? Who gets the first round buys? How does this all work? Who are your wildcard teams? Like these top three teams. I'm like, I can make a case for, I don't think there's a runaway team that is the clear best team. And even when you get into record, it's like, like Erickson was talking about, if the Texans make the playoffs, if

32:43 they go on a run, they are not statistically out of it or a total absolute outlier. Like we talked about it on previous shows, the 92 chargers started Oh, and four and still made the playoffs. So it's not like they would be like a historical team.

32:57 To do that. There is one team that made a precedent.

33:00 But for all of this, like even ranking them one to three, who, who is the top team that you're taking? Like, Buffalo Bills at 5-1.

33:09 I disagree with you that there's not a clear number one. I think the Chiefs are number one. They should be number one on everybody's list. I think this conversation is.

33:17 Who are the top three. You're saying they're the clear number one. Their defense is awesome.

33:20 I think with the passing attack, that's something that will improve as the season progresses because Mahomes is coming off of his eighth. I think it can't get worse. I mean, right now.

33:29 I'm asking the question because Rasheed Rice has a hamstring injury.

33:33 They'll probably add Tyreek at some point. I don't know. Fourth in EPA per play on offense. Why do they have to run the ball? Why stop running the ball? Like, if you don't need to throw, why do you have to? So they're the only.

33:46 Okay.

33:46 Even if you want to make a case that they're not number one, D-Bro, I don't think you could possibly make a case that they're not in the top three.

33:51 So to me, this conversation... That's fine. They're in absolute luck. The question is, who are two and.

33:57 Three in the AFC? Chiefs is number one for me.

34:00 And then I think it's why... I think any of the six other.

34:02 Teams you mentioned, D-Bro, could be two.

34:04 And three, and I understand it.

34:07 I'll run through them again. I'll run through them again because we have six contenders. Bills, Pats... Ravens. We know where worm is going. Bengals.

34:15 Okay. That was the exact.

34:17 And Texans. So, so who, I agree.

34:20 Who is you're not missing anybody. First of all, I, I think, I think you got all the contenders.

34:25 Yes. Okay. So who's number two worm. Go ahead. Give your spiel. I know you're going to get the Ravens. Go ahead.

34:30 I think it's the boring answer. I think the three best teams are the chiefs bills and Ravens like that. That's the three best quarterbacks when they're all healthy. It is the three teams that have been the best over the course of the 2020s in this conference. It was a step back last year, but obviously the years before, they were the three best teams.

34:46 And I think they're the three best now.

34:48 The Ravens obviously doesn't look the same because Lamar Jackson.

34:51 Has been out. He's been unbelievably good when he was on the field.

34:55 When he comes back healthy, I'm very confident this will once again be a well-rounded team that's excellent. The Bills offense is a machine, and the Chiefs we already talked about I think is the number one team. So to me, it's those three. I think that, again, for me, the teams I would rule out of this conversation are are the Patriots and the Bengals, and I'd be between one of those AFC South teams would be that fourth team that I would decide if I want to make the case for. I really felt strongly it was the Jags, but it's not been a good two weeks for them in London.

35:24 You know, it's weird.

35:25 They were in London. It's not their usual spot, but it's throwing me for enough of a loop that that's why I don't have them in there. I did have them in there prior to this London stretch, but I think it's the boring answer of, The three best quarterbacks in football are the three best teams in the AFC.

35:40 So Joe Burrow's not in that conversation for– and Drake May are not in that conversation.

35:46 I don't think it's a clear three best quarterbacks.

35:49 So certain. Can you tell me without any kind of like impossibility that Lamar Jackson doesn't come back and if he's at all limited– Does he play anywhere close to the shell.

36:02 Of Lamar Jackson? No, that is possible. He needs to be healthy. But if he's not, but if he's not.

36:07 Sure, but we just don't know. I know that, but that's why we're asking.

36:10 No, no, I said when Lamar comes back healthy, I think, and I didn't say clear top three.

36:14 I said clear top three quarterbacks when he's healthy.

36:17 And if he's not healthy, then obviously it's a totally different story. Erickson and I actually talked about this on the betting pro show earlier this morning about how, you know, the lines are acting as if Lamar is coming back at full strength. But we saw just a year ago, That he has come back to games and not been full of strength when you watch him play. If that's the case, that completely changes this conversation. I'm saying if we are assuming general health, that when he comes back, he will be back to what he was before he hurt his ankle. Then that's when I'd put the Ravens in this conversation. And that's when I'd say Lamar is an easy top three quarterback in the league. If he's not fully healthy, completely different story.

36:53 No doubt about it.

36:54 I still just give Joe Burrow a lot of respect. I don't think it's a clear top three.

37:01 This is not a quarterback conversation, so we can't go too far down this path.

37:04 No, I know.

37:05 But I do think Mahomes, Allen, and Lamar are separated from anybody else. Joe Burrow is awesome. It is not meant to be a shot on Joe Burrow, who I would probably put fourth. Drake May is awesome outside of the first three weeks of the season. It's not meant to be a shot on him. We're talking about guys that have won multiple MVPs, multiple Super Bowls.

37:24 They are on a different level.

37:26 And also, by the way, particularly Lamar and Allen have played amazing this year when healthy for Lamar. He looked incredible in the Declan Doyle offense. So to me, there is actually a gap there, but it's not intended to be a slight on Trevor Lawrence also, who has been really good at times this season. I'm not intending to slight either. But yeah, like I said, for me, I go to boring, Chiefs, Bills, Ravens. Again, when Lamar is healthy, key caveat there.

37:49 What do you think, Erickson?

37:50 So I think if you look at it from like a market standpoint too, right now, we don't even know if Lamar's going to be playing this week and who is favorites this week between the Bengals and Ravens. It's the Ravens, right? So if you're just looking at it from like, when these teams all went head to head in a neutral field, who's the favorite team? The Bengals probably aren't favorites in almost any of these scenarios, which to me would make them not fit for the top three.

38:15 I don't think we've seen a complete game from their offense and defense. You can look at the Bengals defense as one of the worst units of these seven teams listed off. So that's why I would scratch them off again. I still think they should be considered here because if Burrow gets cooking here, then yeah, like I like Joe Burrow as an underdog, but I think that the market would definitely agree with you worm where it's like, you would just pick the quarterbacks because they would be the teams that would be most favorite. However, I want to make the case that the Jaguars should actually still be in the top real.

38:42 Fast for you. Move on to that. The counterpoint to everything you said about them being the favorites. Baltimore is only favored by three points. They are playing at home. But we don't know if Lamar is playing or not. I know that, but what also the market is telling us right now is this game, if it wasn't a neutral field, this would be a pick-em.

38:57 Well, the market, you can also look not just this game, but just the conference odds. At bettingpros.com, you can see the consensus odds. And Buffalo, Baltimore, Kansas City, not in that order. It's both Buffalo, then Kansas City, then Baltimore are the three favorites to win the AFC based on the consensus odds right now, too, just looking at the long.

39:13 Term as well. So here's the thing with Jacksonville. Okay, so... So that game against Houston and London, if the Jags win, are we even having this conversation? I think the Jags are just automatically in the top three. And I think that we're, again, I'm not saying that they didn't lose that game. They did.

39:29 Fair, but they lost. didn't. But they didn't win. Right.

39:32 But if they beat Houston in Houston later this year, then it's a split and it doesn't matter.

39:36 But they almost lost against the Eagles. And we just talked about how they're.

39:41 No, they should have lost to the Eagles. It's a two-week sample then, though, too. The Bills lost to the Patriots.

39:47 So why are we taking the Bills over the Patriots? They beat them head-to-head. The Ravens lost to the Saints with Lamar Jackson. That's a worse loss.

39:56 The Texans are 2-4.

39:59 I don't think anybody is obvious besides Kansas City, to be clear.

40:03 If Jacksonville beats Houston in a game that was wire-to-wire, I don't think there's a debate for it. If you look at the two teams that we're talking about here, there are only two teams that rank top 10 in EPA per play, both on offense and defense. Chiefs and Jaguars. The Jaguars have lost to the Denver Broncos. on the road in Denver in week two, and they lost to the Houston Texans in a back and forth game in London.

40:23 You just talked about how international, again, the Jaguars had to give up two home games to play in London. So they, again, I still think the Jaguars, when you just look at the statistically speaking game, we're giving credit to the Texans. We're not necessarily, you know, burying them because of their record. Jaguars are still four and two.

40:38 They're still first place in the AFC South. Yeah, they lost to the Texans, but they'll get another shot to play Houston later in the year. And statistically speaking, I mean, Trevor Lawrence is still balling out. still playing really, really well. So I think that the Jaguars, if they're not two, I think the Jaguars should be three.

40:52 I will also say just quickly, like, cause I think you could make a, especially if you're concerned about Lamar's health, you can make a case that the Ravens are the team to knock out of the top three of what I gave. I think there is also a case for the bills to be out of the top three.

41:05 The defense is not good.

41:07 They have gotten really lucky with some of these Josh Allen turnovers, not coming back to bite them at the end of the day. This is a team that could very easily have two or three more losses. They should have lost the Texans game when he threw what could have been a pick to end the game to Kamari Lasseter, who just didn't come down with it. They obviously could have easily lost that Rams game if the Rams had any sort of semblance of special teams. They probably should have lost the Chargers game. They turned the ball over five times. It's just that the Chargers are terrible. So this is a Bills team that could easily have a losing record this season, and I think have been very fortunate to have the record they do. And again, that's

41:40 with both a bad defense and a turnover prone Josh Allen so far this season. So like, again, I think the Chiefs are the only lock. I think there's a health case for the Ravens to get knocked out. I think there's a luck case for the Bills to get knocked out. I think it's a great case for the Jags to be in there. I think that's totally valid too.

41:55 They'd probably be my four. Patriots look way different since the first three weeks, right? The Bengals are still really talented. And the Texans, like, from here through the end of the season, if we just totally ignore the first four months, would it stun anybody if they end up actually just being the best team in the AFC from this point on? Like, there's, again, totally valid cases for any of these teams, in my opinion.

42:17 I agree that the Kansas City Chiefs, I think, are the only team locked inside the top three. The two teams that I'm going to make the case for here that I think, I think The Patriots deserve to be in the top three, and I'm also going to talk about the Bengals. In the sense of Joe Burrow and this offense, we have not seen the best football. They have started slow. That's why they're three and two. This defense is so much improved. They're top 12 in pressure rate.

42:39 DJ Turner is one of the best shadow corners in the entire freaking NFL. Dexter Lawrence has been back to being that game wrecker. So my top three, and again, I'm projecting forward, not just of what we're going on right now. The Bills, I I just don't know how far they go with this defense backing them, dude. I don't know if that changes. And the reason I'm putting the Patriots in the top three is if we get towards the back end of this season, Drake May is continuing to play how he's playing. Is the offensive line and the injuries and stuff like that a big concern? Yes.

43:13 To the other side of the defense, though, dude, if we can get a fully healthy Carlton Davis and Christian Gonzalez down the back end of the season, they can help that pass rush. So I think the Patriots are maybe like the sleeping giant in all of this.

43:30 With the Bengals, I just want to point out that they lost to the Steelers and Jags. Their three wins this season are a Bucs team that is terrible, the Texans without Nico Collins, and a terrible Dolphins team. So I do think the Bengals are good. I think they're worth being in this conversation. But we haven't seen them beat a good team yet this year, or even close to a good team, honestly, because the Texans' offense is not the same without Nico.

43:55 And again, they lost their two games. Not by a lot.

43:57 They didn't get blown out to the Steelers and Jags, but they lost both of those games.

44:00 Can I also point out the fact that the Ravens' four wins right now came against the Colts, the Cowboys, the Titans, and the Falcons. Of course. So it's not like they've been beating a lot of people either.

44:09 The Jaguars beat two teams on this list.

44:13 Yeah, okay.

44:14 So I'm just saying, if they beat the Texans.

44:16 That's why I want to have this conversation. I think it's insanely awesome.

44:18 If they had beat the Texans, which, again, the game went down to the wire. The ball bounces in weird ways. We wouldn't even be considering them outside the top three.

44:26 I'm okay putting the Jags in.

44:28 We're trying to collaborate here and say if we can kind of come up with an official one.

44:32 They're the only other team with the Chiefs that are top 10 in EPA.

44:34 Again, it wasn't my initial reaction, but I think it's totally valid.

44:38 They've already beat the Bengals.

44:39 They beat the Patriots. And they're going to get a chance to beat.

44:41 The Texans again.

44:43 They will get a chance to beat the Texans again.

44:45 If we say Chiefs and Jags, then who is the third?

44:49 We're fighting over team three.

44:51 But that's healthy. I think you can make the case for the Bills or the Ravens or the Patriots. Honestly, I feel like I think it could be the Texans going forward.

45:00 The Texans and the Jags. This is exactly how I thought this conversation was going to go. We would be like, okay, fighting about it the entire time because you can make a case for all of them.

45:09 The only one that I really– they belong in the conversation, but I don't think you can actually at the end of the day make the– like actually say isn't there is the Bengals.

45:16 So we disagree on that, D-Bro. They belong in the conversation for sure.

45:20 I just– I can't quite get there over the Bills and the Ravens and the Texans and the Patriots.

45:24 I can agree with D-Bro where like I think you're just betting on the Bengals– to play their best ball now. Like, they haven't played their best ball yet, but they're going to continue to improve, which I definitely agree with. Especially, like, look, we talk about this next week, right? They beat the Ravens, right?

45:37 Sick.

45:37 Well, it's not the Ravens. So this is their chance to really move up the quote-unquote top three power rankings.

45:44 As we've had this conversation, I do kind of want to say that it's the Texans. Texans and Jags.

45:48 I kind of want to say the Texans, honestly.

45:50 Yeah, dude. I mean, there's so many.

45:52 I'm talking myself out of all the other teams. And I'm like, is it two AFC South teams.

45:57 And the Chiefs? We've gone back and forth through all of them. But this is the point of... Drop in the comments. Who else should be? Yeah, please.

46:05 Give us your rankings in the comments. Also, let's be clear. We are not regretting that the Browns are not a part of this conversation. No, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no.

46:15 None of us are regretting that. But I think this is all just illustrates the point that right now the AFC is wide open. Absolutely wide.

46:23 Bengals have the longest shot odds to win the AFC. Is that what the betting process really?

46:28 Huh?

46:29 It's not long shot. So it's the bills are the favorite.

46:32 This is just when the AFC not to win the Superbowl, the bills are the favorite followed by the chiefs followed by the Ravens followed by the Jags. And then I believe it's the Bengals are fifth.

46:46 So are the Texans last just because they're two and four.

46:48 Yeah.

46:49 The Texans are of the, of the teams we've talked about. Yes.

46:52 The Texans are last. And then the Patriots, am I missing them somewhere? Where, where are they on this list? I feel like I'm– oh, the Patriots are actually– I'm sorry. The Patriots have better odds than the Bengals.

47:05 So the Patriots are fifth behind the Jags.

47:07 Really?

47:08 Bengals are– Consensus odds for the Patriots are plus 900. Consensus odds for the Bengals are plus 1025.

47:14 Okay. So close, but yeah, that is the order.

47:18 So it goes Bills, Chiefs, Ravens, Jags, Patriots, Bengals, Texans amongst the teams we talked about today.

47:25 Okay.

47:26 Okay.

47:27 Uh, we went very long on that. So we had to go quickly. Basically the whole rest of the show. Now you're good. It was a good conversation. Uh, Erickson, what's your number two reaction to the week?

47:35 Uh, Kim Scataboo was benched. She McCarthy led the giants and rushing yards. Second on the giants rushing yards was Darnell Mooney. Neither of those guys played running back. So I don't understand what Harbaugh is trying to do here, where you're facing the NFL's worst run defense in the NFL. And you think that's a good idea. to take your best running back off the field and do a committee of Tyrone Tracy, Najee Harris, and Devin Singletary because you're trying to teach Cam Scadaboo a lesson, which to me, look, they lost the game. And I don't agree with this type of coaching with guys that are like, you got to hold on to the football. To me, this seems like a very old school approach. And I would expect

48:13 nothing less from a offensive staff featuring John Harbaugh and Greg Roman and Callahan and And I get that you want to prioritize ball security. Well, you know who had a lot of ball security issues this season? It's been James Cook. And what did they do? They coached him up. They told him to hold the ball a different way.

48:30 And what did he go out and do? Rush for over 100 yards again. And ball out again. Because you put faith in your best players. And I get that it hasn't been Cam Scott of his best year. I know that he was coming off the injury from last season. He hasn't looked like the same type of runner. But like, you see, we really want to get Najee Harris more involved.

48:48 Like Tyrone, I just, this frustrates me because you see such an advantage for your offense against a terrible run defense and you elect to just remove your best running back. And I think that hurt them from winning this game against the New Orleans Saints. So it's frustrating for me. I think that this was probably more of a one week thing than, okay, every single week. Because I know Harbaugh's talked about, like it's a, It's an open RB room.

49:12 We'll see who's going to step up. We want a guy with a hot hand approach. But how do you get a hot hand approach when you give everybody like two or three carries? I don't think it's possible. So I don't know how you guys feel about this. I have never been a fan. I'm just like straight up benching a guy that fumbles and like, oh, he'll learn his lesson. And that's exactly how I'll improve. I feel like there's a better way to do it.

49:31 I think it's fine if it's like, if it's like, oh, he's like, he's had like four fumbles the last two weeks or something.

49:36 So yeah, so Cam Scadable lost the fumble that led to the tie for the Giants last week. But then two weeks ago, Najee Harris also fumbled. And then he, like, he doesn't get punished. And like Tyrone Tracy fumbled to start the year. And then they went back to him because everybody else, like everybody was fumbling. So it's like, to me, it's like, look, everyone should get equal carries then.

49:52 And the fact that Scadaboo got none to me, it's just like, oh, sick, dude. Like you really taught us a lesson. We lost the game and we didn't have our best rusher on the field. So I don't know. I just, I, again, I don't know.

50:05 So my takeaway with all of this, and I've been very adamant and vocal at times about it, that I think one of the most dinosaur-esque type of things for a coach to do is to bench a guy after fumbles. because fumbles like interceptions, we need to have a different category for some of these things, to where fumbles like interceptions need and deserve context. Every fumble is not made the same exact way, same thing with interceptions, to where if you throw an accurate pass and some guy flubs it and it goes up in the air and then it's free game, is that really should be on, at the end of the day, on the quarterback? No, if you delivered an accurate target, That is not on the quarterback at all. Same thing to a running back. If

50:51 you have it tucked into your freaking chest and somebody peanut punches the damn ball out and it goes on the ground, that's not you carrying it like a loaf of bread out like five feet from your freaking body like an idiot.

51:04 Sometimes defensive players make plays.

51:06 Exactly. We need to give credit where credit is due. Sometimes there are really good plays that are made by a defense and a fumble is like, look, man, what do you want me to do? I can't superglue it to my body. I can't stitch it to my arm. I don't have like a strap that I pulled out of my freaking truck bed and I tied it to myself. So...

51:28 What is a player going to learn by being benched because of a fumble? Because had you addressed technique? Had you addressed the situation? Had you given context to how the fumble happened? No, none of this. It's a dinosaur-esque type of way of coaching of, he fumble, he go to bench. He does better tomorrow. What? What? Come on, man.

51:48 So I agree with a ton of that. Now with all the cam scataboo of it all, I think this is more of a larger part and parcel of, Cam Scadaboo vibes? I don't think vibe with Harbaugh. I don't think that's his guy. I don't think that, like, I think there's a certain thing about Cam from all the off-season idiocy and the backflips at certain events, which you're like, bro, come on. We need you fully healthy. I don't need you on an ankle cutting backflips to sit here and charge up a crowd. Can you use your brain? I know you got one. Please use it and make better decisions, man. So...

52:24 I think this is more about like maybe not so much the fumbles because as you.

52:28 Illuminate it, like Erickson, like everybody in the.

52:31 Depth chart is fumbled. So why is he the guy riding the bench? I think this is more of like Harbaugh is like, nah, man, I can deal with a lot of things. Cam Scadaboo, not my guy.

52:45 Let's go to my reaction here. My second reaction.

52:47 The Rams are in more trouble than we thought. And I actually, I actually wrote this down before they officially lost the game. It was just during the game, watching how close that was. They were trailing for most of it, obviously do end up losing. But even if they had won, this would have been one of mine. Guys, I've still the conference odds pulled up here on bettingpros.com. They have the second best odds to win the NFC right now behind only San Francisco.

53:10 They're two and four.

53:12 A two and four team has never gone on to win the Super Bowl in NFL history. And this is the heavy, one of the heaviest favorites we've seen in years. to win the Super Bowl coming into the year. And like right now, they're certainly not even on pace to make the playoffs. Like some of the losses when you think about this team, I think you can sort of point to, hey, they're figuring things out. Miles Garrett's been hurt.

53:35 They traveled weird to Australia, all that stuff. Cardinals are not a good team.

53:40 And credit to them, right?

53:43 It's not, I don't want to just look at this from the Rams perspective and not from the Cardinals perspective. The Cardinals, went out and earned a win. And Erickson, you and I talked about sort of the coaching matchup there on the Betting Pros show. And that Mike LaFleur, you know, has obviously a lot of familiarity with Sean McVay, all that stuff.

54:02 But the Cardinals are not a good team.

54:04 And to lose that game as the heaviest favorite of the week, 12 and a half point favorites, where they were pretty much the entire week, they've only beaten the Giants. And obviously that was a weird game with Jackson Dart. And the Eagles, who are not good, and they barely beat them.

54:19 They've lost to the Niners.

54:21 Yes. They lost to the Niners. They lost to the Broncos. They lost to the Bills, obviously, in a game that they should have won. And now they've lost to the Cardinals. This is the worst one of all of them, obviously, which is why I wanted to bring it up. I just think they're in serious trouble. I do not think it's a guarantee they make the playoffs. I'm not saying I'm just going to come out here and bet against them doing it. I'm not that level of sure. I'm not saying it's over for them this season. And there are actually wins to be found on the schedule. The next three games are Raiders, Chargers, Commanders, and then the Cardinals again. They could go 4-0 pretty easily and all of a sudden be 6-4 and you're feeling a little

54:54 bit better. Maybe Miles Garrett is back healthy by then. It's not the toughest schedule of all time.

55:00 Their closing schedule is ugly, dude.

55:02 Well, I was going to say, there's still two Seattle games there.

55:04 Their closing schedule is ugly.

55:07 All I'm saying is, like, the 2-4 vibes of the Rams versus the 2-4 vibes of the Texans are, like, totally different. They're like, oh, like, Texans, like, dude, like, best 2-14 that there is.

55:18 The Rams will have to face the Chiefs, the Niners, and the Seahawks twice.

55:22 So let's... And they get the Packers and the Cowboys in there, too. They could lose those games, too. And the Buccaneers!

55:28 Just for the sake of argument, though, those four toughest games, again, just to play out the idea, let's call those losses. Obviously, they came with some of those games, but let's call those losses for now. That already puts you at eight losses this season with absolutely no margin for error against a Raiders team this week that's pretty good, against the Packers, as you mentioned, against the Cowboys, as you mentioned. Maybe Tampa Bay figures it out by the time they face them in Week 17. So, like, maybe the Chargers. Chargers might run into a win at some point, right? Like, you have no margin for error when considering how tough at least four of those remaining games are. So, yeah, I think they're in real trouble, and I find it

56:08 baffling that they are still the second most favored team to win the NFC right now. I mean, I know the NFC is not that strong. I'm going to pull up the Super Bowl odds specifically, too, to see where they're at, but Erickson, like, Do you agree with these odds being where they are? They're plus 1,000 to win the Super Bowl. That's the fifth best odds in the NFL.

56:26 I don't think I agree with that. I think it's a hope and prayer that when they do get some of their defensive pieces back, when they get Myles Garrett back. I mean, right now, Aaron Donald's been like the best defensive player on their team, which I don't think that has been their approach or what their plan was entering the season. It was pair him up with Myles Garrett, get Trent McDuffie. I mean, McDuffie didn't play last week because he was injured. Myles Garrett is injured. So it's a bet on some of these defensive players coming back, but now you get Devontae Adams. He's been banged up with a non-contact injury. So how does that affect him rest of season?

56:59 Dude, I agree with everything you laid out there, Worm. Like, okay, assuming they lose those other games, like that's eight losses.

57:07 And again, they could win some of those games. I'm not saying those are auto losses. It's four very hard games.

57:11 They could also not. The Cardinals could beat them again in their 0-2 versus the freaking Cardinals, dude. Like, This goes back to what we've seen over a bunch of seasons with Sean McVay teams. Sean McVay, arguably best head coach in the NFL. Okay, fine. Top three. However you want to talk about it. We can also have a very honest and serious conversation over the last few years.

57:37 Has also Sean McVay teams at various points for stretches played down to the competition? And that's just what happened to the Arizona Cardinals. So could that happen at other various points where the Rams play up to the actual talent of this roster? Sure. The other part about all this, and I think we all shared the same concern entering this season, is how top-heavy this freaking team is with the Stars and Scrubs approach. And Terrence Ferguson is hurt.

58:11 He's out. Devontae Adams, we're still waiting on news of the non-contact injury and what the heck that looks like. Puka Nakua from depending on what like intelligent, uh, uh, physical therapist or sports injury person that you follow may have a sports hernia may miss time at some point during the season. Matthew Stafford. I know that no, we don't talk about this anymore. Does his back ever flare up?

58:34 Does he miss games? Like this team is one or two like big hits away from like, okay, the season is capsized. So I, yeah, dude, like I, if, If I'm going to make a proclamation or if I had to make any kind of sweeping judgment of how the rest of this season goes for the Rams right now, based off of the schedule they have remaining, all the other parts and pieces of this roster, I think that they are more likely to miss the playoffs than, and again, going against the betting markets, they're more likely to miss the playoffs right now than they are to end up in the Super Bowl or even get to, let's not even say the Super Bowl get to like the final two NFC teams.

59:13 We still have one reaction each from week six, so let's go quickly on these. I'll actually just do mine here first because I think it's going to be the quickest. The Browns are still bad, even though they're in first place. Their win was much more about the Ravens' mistakes in that game than it was about the Browns being a deserving first-place team in the AFC North.

59:30 I thought that game was.

59:30 Entirely about the Derrick Henry fumble and the defense not getting a stop late and Tyler Huntley really taking a step back after his great performance in Atlanta. I thought the Browns looked terrible, honestly. I thought Deshaun Watson looked awful. I did not think the Browns played well. I didn't think they looked well coached, although there was a nice drive at the end of the game. I'll give Todd Munkin credit for that. That was about the Ravens making a mistake and blowing that game in a way that the Ravens have done all too often in the last handful of years. That was not about the Browns coming out like gangbusters and taking control of the afc north i still think they're the worst team in that division

1:00:03 and uh that game didn't change my opinion on that so do you guys have any quick thoughts on that before i move on you're gonna go quickly.

1:00:08 Sugar sanders will make starts this season i've said it before and i'll say it and dashawn watson is not playing good quarterback the last two weeks especially he's been awful the entire freaking season all it's been worse the last two weeks is low a dot point guard And all the playmakers have been covering up the fact that he is not good.

1:00:28 The Cleveland Browns ran 22 plays for 46 yards in the first half of that game against the Baltimore Ravens. They're not a good team. They're not so bad. This is classic, but this is why I took on the tailgate prediction show. I said, the Browns are going to win this game, whether it's Deshaun or whether it's Lamar Jackson or Dude, it's because it's because they were the lone divisional underdog playing and those teams always win. It's I mean, look, the Browns always play well at home in AFC North matchups like this is nothing new. So this doesn't change my trajectory of like how good this team is just in this particular matchup. They were going to win with Todd Munkin having intel about the Ravens personnel.

1:01:11 The Browns playing at home and this was always going to happen. And then they're going to get probably smashed by the Titans. And week seven, who are also bad, horrible teams. So I have nothing else to add. Just, yeah, to your point. Crappy play by the Ravens.

1:01:23 Ravens missed a field goal.

1:01:25 Ravens were the victims of another terrible call.

1:01:27 I love how Erickson's playing wearing the hot dog suit. We're still looking for whose fault this is.

1:01:33 Erickson, give me your final reaction here.

1:01:36 Yeah, Kenneth Walker revenge game. The Chiefs are underdogs against the Seattle Seahawks on Sunday night football. So take the Chiefs to win outright as underdogs always been on the homes as an underdog, especially when it's Ken Walker and Ken Walker is going to finally get into the red zone in the end zone at Lumen Stadium, which is which is crazy because he's never sniffed that because they never gave him the ball in the red zone. So revenge game for Ken Walker.

1:01:59 D bro.

1:01:59 I was talking about this on the betting show with Erickson. Uh, how high would the number need to be for you to not take the over and rushing yards for Kenneth Walker in this game? Or would you like Erickson's approach, which was just bet multiple touchdowns.

1:02:11 Bet multiple touchdowns.

1:02:12 I think you're gonna get better odds than that.

1:02:14 Like, cause the rushing yardage, it's going to be, uh, aggressive and I don't disagree with it.

1:02:22 Uh, also before I get to my final point, how much.

1:02:24 Do you think the Seattle Seahawks wish they would have paid Kenneth Walker?

1:02:27 Huh?

1:02:29 He's just a committee back. I was told he was a committee back. I was told he can't stay healthy and he's overrated.

1:02:34 They do. They needed to pay Rashid Shaheed so he could run less routes than Cooper Cuff.

1:02:39 You have to. When you have the ability to pay Rashid Shaheed and then you go spend a first round pick on a running back but not spend your money on retaining the running back that carried you to a Super Bowl title, you have to do it, right, guys? You have to.

1:02:58 Uh, Debro last reaction here.

1:03:00 Who will be the head coach for the Los Angeles chargers in 2027 boys. Uh, I've got a list of candidates here. Uh, one being, uh, and we are open to Jim Harbaugh staying so that that's an option. If everybody wants to go down that road, the other, uh, candidates that I'll throw out real quickly. And we can have a little group discussion about this. Shane's dyking, uh, Ties to the Bolts previously. Think that he is not going to keep the job with the Colts. You can disagree with that. That's fine. Worm, this is for Max Payne for you. Declan Doyle, is he the offensive lineman?

1:03:34 You knew I was going here. Sean McDermott, and I'll even throw out Brian Flores, considering what he's doing in Minnesota. Does he get another head coaching opportunity? Although I think that's probably, I highly doubt it. It's really more of a four back here. But who do you think? Let's go into the time machine, guys. Who is the head coach.

1:03:52 For the Los Angeles Chargers in 2027?

1:03:55 You know, you didn't mention the one where my brain went to Steichen, obviously, because we talked about him earlier in the show. My brain went to Declan Doyle because it's near and dear to my heart. And I think pretty much every opening will consider him next season. So if that one's open, I think it's there. I think it is possible that Jim Harbaugh is still the coach next year. I don't think it's totally no matter what over for him. But when you mentioned Sean McDermott, I was surprised because I was thinking a different head coach who's not coaching this year in Mike Tomlin. I know he has sometimes made comments about maybe that's not something he's coming back to do, but you talk about a guy who's going to come in and fix culture, and

1:04:36 who needs that more than the Chargers?

1:04:37 Automatically, 9-8. Team's 9-8, baby.

1:04:39 I mean, high floor.

1:04:41 Just a real culture stability there. So that's where my brain went. I don't know if I want to make that my official prediction until we finish this conversation.

1:04:47 I want to kind of.

1:04:48 Play out what you guys are thinking. But that was the first thing that came to mind that you didn't mention.

1:04:53 I like Steichen, just given his past connections with the Chargers, with Justin Herbert. And I like Declan Doyle. Again, he obviously is coaching right now with Jesse Minter, where Jesse Minter come from, the Chargers. So there's a connection there too with Minter being connected back to the Los Angeles Chargers.

1:05:07 Because I think the defense of the Chargers is like not, that's not the main issue here. So I don't think that they should just like totally ax who they have as their new defensive coordinator. I think that he's been doing an okay job just based on what he's working with. and based on how bad the offense has been. So I would suspect that the Chargers, if they do make a new hire, that it's not a CEO head coach because that's what Harbaugh and his role is. So I would assume that they would go on the offensive side because that's obviously the big issue is trying to fix Justin Herbert, getting him back to where he usually plays because obviously this year has been a disaster specifically on the offensive side of the ball.

1:05:40 I kind of lean that I think the Steichen connection is going to And also wanting to veer into an offensive-minded head coach, I think, is where they're going to go with this. And I think you're seeing kind of the league is doing this kind of like almost to the kind of like a Buffalo reset, but not a reset in a way where Buffalo was like, okay, we get rid of like the more CEO type or defensive-minded head coach, however you want to frame this and stuff like that, and go to a younger offensive-minded head coach that we could tie our quarterback to. I think that that's probably where this goes. So, again, pulling out the crystal ball, I think it'll be Shane Steichen. And if for some reason he stays with the Colts, I think

1:06:26 you're looking at Declan Doyle. But that's kind of where I'm at. Yeah.

1:06:31 We'll go ahead and wrap things up there. Thanks, everybody, for checking out our Week 6 reactions. For Erickson and Debro, I'm Ryan Wormley.

1:06:38 We'll see you again next time.

1:06:49 Thank you.