NFL Week 7 Preview: Major QB Changes, Running Back Returns & Games That Could Change Everything (Ep. 2287)

0:00 What's up, friends, and welcome into the tailgate. I'm Chris Welsh. No Andrew Erickson this week. He got kicked out of the tailgate. He's got to get out of here. He's actually over on Betting Pros hanging with some of our friends. So jumping in for our dear friend Andrew Erickson is Alfredo Brown. We've got Pat Fitzmaurice, and we are talking about all the things under the sun for the NFL.

0:20 We've got some of the big games. What are the games that matter most? We're going to be breaking some of those down. We're obviously always making the calls. We've got things to watch and a little bit of news today. but Alfredo jumping in. Alfredo, you've been doing a bunch of the tailgates, so you are a regular in the tailgate as we create our big tailgate group that people can come and hang out with us in before games.

0:38 Yeah, man, I haven't been to a real tailgate in years, so it's kind of nice to come to.

0:42 One of these.

0:43 There's not as much sun poisoning, and the food choices are a little bit healthier because I'm doing this from home. But yeah, man, it's been great to be a part of it.

0:51 Might be blasphemous. I don't know if I've ever actually done... I did a tailgate when I worked in radio a long time ago. I worked the It was like the Fiesta Bowl out here in Arizona. I might have been a part of it. I've never really gone and done a tailgate. I'm going to go out on a limb. Fitzy, you seem like the person that might frequent a tailgate or two a week.

1:13 Yeah, I mean, I'm from Wisconsin. And Welsh, your wife is from Wisconsin, not that far from Green Bay. So this is a major, it's a hole in your resume, my friend. You have not been to a real tailgate to drink beer and eat sausage before a sporting event.

1:29 My only tailgate is this tailgate, though. I do the Arizona Fall League, 200 people going to these minor league baseball games. And the other day, I saw people tailgating out at that two hours before. And I was just like, this is love of the game. This is love of the tailgate to do it when you're going to go hang out with 150 other people and you account for like 2% of the audience that you're out there. I can appreciate that, but I don't have a tailgate in me.

1:53 Yeah, we went to I went to FIU in Miami and our problem was that everyone went to the tailgates, but no one went to the actual games. So much so they actually had to outlaw the tailgating because all the college kids were getting way too rowdy at the tailgates, never showing up to the games. And they thought that would force the students to go to the games. Nope.

2:11 They just partied elsewhere.

2:13 Well, we'll see how rowdy we get here through the rest of this one, prepping you guys for all the games. Let's jump into some news. Thank you guys for hanging out with us as always. And there's just a litany of weird news across the board. And it starts with actually a little bit of NFL-based stuff. The Giants have made a quarterback change. It is no longer Jameis Winston. J.J. McCarthy, after being traded, didn't take long. Thought it might have taken a little bit longer. Did not take long. Jameis Winston and J.J. McCarthy had that second half. He looked pretty good. And he is now going to be the QB1 versus the Texans. Pat, your expectations. I'm a little bit hesitant. Texans defense, you know, they haven't been what

2:53 we've known of them in the past, but they have definitely kind of found themselves a tiny bit more as of recent. J.J. McCarthy, is he up to the task to take this Giants offense and move them forward through the rest of the year?

3:05 I'm inherently skeptical.

3:07 I don't want to be because I like a good redemption story and this would be a great redemption story.

3:12 And it would also be kind.

3:13 Of fun to see what the Giants would do at quarterback next year.

3:18 If J.J.

3:18 McCarthy played well over the balance of the season and then Jackson Dart comes back from his injury, and all of a sudden the Giants have two promising young quarterbacks.

3:28 So I'm hoping it goes well.

3:31 But man, you know the Texans' defense, which is underachieved through the first six weeks of the season, they're going to show up one of these weeks and just bring it. And I worry that it's going to be against J.J. McCarthy in his 2026 starting debut.

3:45 Yeah, they just bring the house, just go all out. Alfredo, any thoughts on what this does for the offense as a whole? Like, you know, can he do some of the things? I mean, some of the things that Jameis Winston does, only Jameis Winston can do. There's a McCarthy-ness of that that vibes a little bit differently. But like, how do you think the offense is going to work?

4:03 Are you concerned about any player, maybe an Isaiah likely disappearing a little bit more? Can neighbors continuously get the targets that he does? How do you see this vibing with McCarthy or QB?

4:13 Yeah, I think both those guys still get their targets, neighbors and likely just as a head coach, it would be. I mean, granted, they've already done some irresponsible stuff, but it would be so irresponsible to go away from those guys and not have play calls designed for them. What Jim Harbaugh has actually talked about, though, is that now they do have the opportunity to go back to some of the RPO stuff that they designed for Jackson Dart and they were trying to utilize early in the year.

4:37 made the offense simple, made the offense efficient, and they kind of went to this heavy volume-based, less efficient offense that you naturally get with Jameis Winston. So we might be going back to a more efficient and just RPO-based rushing offense that we could see with J.J. McCarthy here. Does that mean that we're going to see less targets for these guys? No, but I think it has an interesting wrinkle here because the Texans have been good against average to bad quarterbacks and then struggled against The good quarterbacks.

5:07 This is going to be one of the first times where it's like there's not a whole lot of film on what JJ McCarthy is doing in this offense that they can utilize for this week. So I think that's going to be an interesting wrinkle.

5:16 The Philadelphia Eagles have not had a lot of good news as of recent. It's actually been bad stacked on top of bad and then filed under bad. One piece of good news that did come out as of today as we're recording is Saquon Barkley has returned to practice and NFL Network's Mike Graffalo had reported that Saquon is expected or is at least in line to be playing against the Cowboys. So this is big news for that offense.

5:42 From a fantasy football perspective, that's solid. But. With a new quarterback and a banged up wide receiver core, Alfredo, where do you think Saquon is going to be able to either open this up for McKee? Do you think this is going to be a big struggle? I mean, this return is great, but what is he returning to?

6:01 Yeah, I mean, that's a tough question, right? Is the offensive line going to be able to hold up? Tanner McKee proved last week that he's not totally incapable of handling the offense, and he's done it before, too. This is a really good game for them to try to get everything together and work those kinks out going up against the Dallas defense, who has just been surrendering points left and right, whether it's on the ground or through the air. So having Devante Smith back, having Saquon Barkley back, having Tanner McKee be able to get his feet wet last week, I think we're looking at this is going to be that pivotal point for the Eagles here. Either they get it together this week or all those rumors

6:33 about Saquon Barkley getting traded might become real. And you have to start wondering, do the Eagles start a fire sale if they lose this week? Because then you are just so far behind in the division and the season is over.

6:43 Yeah, Pat Boggs was bringing up the whole Minnesota and Barkley thing. And I was just like, no, I'm I got to move Barkley. I can't just can't imagine it's going to happen, but that's kind of the, that's, that's the line that the Eagles are sitting on right now. It's like, they're gonna have to make that move. And I don't know if that move I've speculated as well.

7:01 Like we haven't seen the trade market go out. I kind of think. them going and picking up a guy like a Jacoby Brissett from the Cardinals would make some sense of just a guy that can sling the ball and move the offense if they want to compete, but they might be too far gone. So what is Saquon Barkley, what offense, what type of offense is Saquon Barkley returning to with the Eagles?

7:21 A terrible one, which is why I wonder if it's wise to bring him back this week. And so Alfredo just used the word fire sale. The thing is, I don't know if it could be a true fire sale because I don't know how many great sellable assets the Eagles have. Like older veterans who aren't really a part of the future. I don't think they're a ton on defense.

7:47 I think Barkley is kind of the clear one guy. And bringing him back to run behind this completely different, torn down. Offensive line has gone from the best in the league a couple of years ago to now it's one of the worst of the league in the league as currently constructed. And he's going to look bad and no one has to honor Tyler McKee and you can cheat up your safeties and it's going to feel like a really constricted offense.

8:15 And I fully expect Saquon to get smothered. So why are you destroying his value? It's not like the Colts where the Colts, if they want to have a fire sale and Sure, they've got all these older veterans. I mean, they're probably not going to deal Sauce Gardner for pennies on the dollar after mortgaging their future for him, but they can sell Quentin Nelson.

8:35 They can sell.

8:36 Why am I blanking on some of these sellable assets for them?

8:42 Well, on offense, I mean, if they really wanted to, they could move some of the receivers if they want. You know, it's funny that you guys are both using the... fire sale term, but it's like, do you ever recall an NFL team actually going into fire sale? You know what I mean? Like fire sale is like two pieces being traded in the NFL.

8:59 Yeah.

8:59 Well, yeah. Like, yeah, I guess that's true. Like in an off season, you might see some versions of it. Have we ever seen an in-season fire sale that you can really recall? Baseball will have it a bit more. Basketball will definitely have it. NFL is, NFL has always lacked and struggled and been behind in the trade market.

9:17 So what a fire set would look like is just trading one to two. I mean, alone trading your biggest piece in Saquon Barkley, but what does the market look like? Where is the value? And to your point, Pat, if he goes in and he just gets slammed all weekend long because the offensive line is bad and You know, they're not cheating or they are cheating on McKee because they're like, let him beat us type of thing. It is a really weird situation. And all of those guys are banged up, by the way. Like, should Saquon even be back? Should Devonta Smith just banged up every single outing?

9:49 So it's a bad time. It's a bad time for Philly fans. Bad time for Eagle fans.

9:54 Oh, yeah. Go ahead.

9:55 I was just going to say the other Colts I was thinking of, DeForest Buckner, who I think would be valuable.

10:01 I'd love to have him on the Green Bay Packers. Niners would probably love to try to bring him back. Niners, yeah, a lot of people. And Jonathan Taylor.

10:07 So maybe you're competing against the Colts in the market for teams looking to acquire a very good veteran running back. I think there's more to lose by playing Saquon Barkley this week than there is for the Eagles to gain.

10:22 So it seems like maybe bringing him back.

10:24 I know if I were Howie Roseman, I'd maybe be asking Nick Sirianni not to activate Saquon this week.

10:31 Maybe. There are a lot of other looming things just to kind of throw out to you. Michael Floyd said a looming injury. pieces as Wednesday and Thursday practices are going on. Matt LaFleur said that there's no concerns about Christian Watson's ankle ahead of this week seven game. If that's something that had been out there for you, Jordan Mason practicing in full, looking to go and be good for week seven. Brock Bowers got into some practices. So, you know, some of the names that might've been floating around, small one, Christian Kirk, who might be the 49ers number one wide receiver with Mike Evans, who's obviously not out there right now. There's a lot of looming practice pieces, if that's on your mind. Only other thing I wanted

11:09 to hit in the news before we jump into some of the big games this week. Really interesting. Again, there were a bunch of these like outside of football type of things that were going on. This one really stood out to me. I don't know if you guys saw this, but Sam Laporta, openly in season, Kind of getting into it with the Lions. He did this on Barstool's Pardon My Take, number one podcast on the planet, Barstool's Pardon My Take podcast, where he said that the team is, quote, not showing him the love and that he's cool playing elsewhere.

11:38 The quote was, I'm going to continue to do my thing and ball out. And in three months, if I don't get to wear the Honolulu blue and play for the Lions anymore, it's going to be all good. I'll go get paid somewhere else. So whatever. Really?

11:52 Really?

11:54 Something we just don't see week six or week seven of the NFL for a player of this stature. Fitzy, just want to get your take on this. However you think this manifests with the team. Obviously it seems like a, you know, a breakup is in store here for the future, but do you recall seeing stuff like this, especially the contractual stuff of a player playing happening in C it's a new world, you know, podcasts are out there and this stuff, this is happening at like a harder degree, but Do you recall seeing something like this, and do you think we're going to see any effects on field?

12:25 I don't think I've seen it in a podcast appearance like that. I've seen quotes from players who maybe seemed a little salty about not being renegotiated in-season. And I know a lot of teams do not like to negotiate in-season and set deadlines at certain days in training camp or shortly before the start of the season. But yeah, Laporta, even though the tone seemed amicable on the podcast, he did seem salty. And if something doesn't get worked out, I would not be surprised if he, you know, was not willing to give the Lions a re-signing discount to reacquire his services.

13:06 This is the new stuff, Alfredo. This is like, it used to be, you know, like a No one speaks of it. Everyone pretends just like, you know, hey, ask the question. And they go, I'm just taking it one day at a time. And, you know, like those days are gone. And it's now players have podcasts. Guys are doing it. And again, not to turn it back to baseball.

13:26 Mookie Betts has a podcast for the Los Angeles Dodgers. He does in season every single week where they bring on players like these things are going to happen. NFL players to a really high degree. Former players have podcasts through the roof and we're just going to have more and more players coming out and more and more players feeling comfortable to kind of take steps like this.

13:46 Yeah. And how much of it also too is just your negotiating tactic. Your agent says like, oh, you're going on the pod? For sure.

13:53 Don't worry.

13:53 I already saw the questions. They're going to ask you about the contract. Give the lines a little scare. Go on there and say you're cool with whatever happens because even if they don't want to negotiate now in the regular season, you go and you give an extension to Jack Campbell and Jameer Gibbs in the offseason this past year, which I don't remember if they're the same draft class, but similar draft classes. Man, I think it's actually a decent move from Sam Laporte here to bring it up.

14:19 I know that Lions fans are saying, no, just focus on the games. But at the same time, we see these guys are always one game away from not having a career. So to do what you can to ensure that you get your money. I am always pro players getting their money. So as long as you don't do something that's damaging to the team, I think what he said is totally fine.

14:35 You know, it's actually, it's a little similar. It's obviously different in the way you're going to understand, but it's kind of like the Joe Buck, Troy Aikman thing that's going on right now. If everyone's seen where, you know, like there's now, you know, that there has to be a camp of Troy Aikman's people that are leaking a lot of this stuff of the fights and the arguments that are going on. Cause Joe Buck got the a hundred plus million dollar deal. He's saying, you know, and Aikman apparently saying, hey, you screwed me over. And now it's having to be publicly addressed. Like there's a lot of contractual stuff that's happening. Different situation with, by the way, $ 100 million. Incredible what some of these primetime game announcers

15:12 are getting right now. But a lot of contractual stuff in season. Thought that was interesting. Thought we would hit that. More interesting, the big games. Your guys' take on where we're going to be going. We got the lines. We've got all your guys' breakdowns. Before we do that, though... I want to tell you guys about Polymarket. It's a stock exchange for sports, buying in and selling out on your terms. When your team goes down to 20%, you can buy in and sell it off at 40% when they come back and you can double your money. They're so confident you'll never go back to the other guys.

15:39 They're giving you a free $ 25 on your first trade when you deposit just $ 10. They've also launched this great new feature called Squads where it's group chat and you can see what everyone is trading on. So go and download the Polymarket app today and use code FPPOD when you sign up. That's FPPOD to get $ 25 free after you deposit just $ 10. Big games. The games that matter.

16:02 We got five games that we are going to be hitting on in this one. And let's start over in the north. Cincinnati and Baltimore. Lamar Jackson is probably going to determine how exciting this game is truly going to be, but it doesn't matter. It's still an important game here. Cincinnati currently, probably because of the Lamar question on the injury, is currently a one and a half point road favorite.

16:23 Total 48 and a half. Alfredo, let's start with you. Keys to the game on this one. Can Baltimore take this game away from Cincinnati as a home game if Lamar Jackson is not under center?

16:36 We've seen it where Snoop Huntley can play well enough that the Ravens can win games, but I think it's more about the Ravens' defense here than the Ravens' offense, if anything. Can the Ravens' defense hold back Joe Burrow and these receivers who got a week to hang out and plan and get ready and get fresh for this game?

16:54 That's the biggest thing to me. The secondary for the Ravens has been inconsistent at times. They've had these moments where they're getting takeaways and turnovers, and then other times where their secondary has just not been great and been the liability of the defense. So can they do well enough against these receivers? That's going to be the matchup to look for here.

17:11 They are one of only two divisions, by the way, the AFC North, that every team is over 500. I didn't realize that. Bengals 3-2, everybody else is 4-2. The only other is the NFC North. So the North rules the way here, where every team in the North in the NFC Vikings are 5-0 and the bottom Detroit, which Kind of hilarious and ridiculous seeing Detroit at the bottom again with how good that team can be. Both divisions over 500 as far as record goes. Fitzy, where do you think you're heading on this one? Again, Cincinnati, a little bit of a road favorite, really tied to Lamar Jackson.

17:48 Where do you think Cincinnati fits in this? And, you know, I just want to throw this one. It's a little bit of a fantasy perspective. You think we can, is this a do or die critical Chase Brown matchup? Like the Chase Brown stuff has been just really odd with this team. They need to find themselves. And I know there's a couple of people out there that are feeling like if it doesn't happen here, like when is this going to happen?

18:07 So yeah, on the Chase Brown angle, on one hand, I want to sort of like preach patience with Chase Brown because of the, Bengals' first five opponents, I think four of them are top eight in DVOA against the run. So he has had a murderer's row of run defenses that he has faced so far. Not surprised that the production hasn't been great. On the other hand, I do worry.

18:34 I think there was some talk about maybe the Bengals thinking that they got a little more from Samaj P. Ryan in shotgun. Like they think he's a better runner out of shotgun. And the Bengals had wanted to do more under center stuff on offense this year, but it seems like they're sort of scrapping that in real time.

18:54 Like Joe Burrow's like, nah, I like shotgun. And they're going to more shotgun. So maybe that is kind of worrisome for Chase Brown. Just to piggyback on what Alfredo was saying about the receivers against Baltimore, the Bengals receivers, Jamar Chase, T. Higgins.

19:12 Jamar Chase has tortured the Baltimore Ravens. over his career.

19:16 He has 1,204 career receiving yards against Baltimore. The next highest receiving yardage total he has against any team, 785 yards against Pittsburgh. So Jamar Chase just always brings it against the Ravens, and I'm sure they dread seeing him. Ravens fans, probably not excited to see Jamar Chase.

19:38 Another funny thing about this division, I was just looking here, this is the only division that three of the four teams have a positive point scored versus differential, except for the top team in the division, which is a negative points. score differential versus the Browns. Yeah, this is wild. The whole division is weird. Browns sit at the top. They've got a negative 16-point differential against what they've given up, and then everybody else is positive. And, I mean, by the way, in the NFC North, again, there's weird correlations to the North, which we're actually going to talk about in a second. Every single team has scored more points than given up. So there is something brewing in the North,

20:20 and that takes us to the next game. Green Bay Packers and the Detroit Lions in the Ford course field of football matchups here. Detroit is a three-point home favorite. The line is big. It's 53 and a half. More points to be scored. Fitzy, this is your team, your Green Bay Packers. Looks like they are going to be returning with Josh Jacobs. That whole situation, very muddy. Christian Watson has mentioned before that they don't have any expectation the ankle is going to be a problem. He is out there and the Lions are coming off of a bye.

20:54 And Erickson gets to continue his Jameer Gibbs running touchdown rollover here. So lots of points to be scored. Everybody in that division, as I just mentioned, is scoring more than they're giving up. Talk to me about Green Bay versus Detroit. What do you think about the spread, the lines and what are the keys to this game?

21:09 More interesting game than I thought it was going to be a few weeks ago when the Packers got trucked by the Falcons on a Thursday night. And I pretty much thought it was wave the white flag time for the Packers in 2026. But since then they've gotten back on their feet. The defense is actually playing well by a number of metrics. The Packers past defense has been just behind the Vikings and Seahawks on the short list of the better past defenses in the league. Now they get Josh Jacobs back to potentially uplift a running game that currently ranks 32nd in DVOA. And I know the offensive line is ranked dead last in adjusted line yards, a run blocking metric. So maybe Jacobs helps that. And I think he gets probably a dozen or more carries

21:56 right off the bat. He has not been allowed to practice with the team, but he has been allowed to be in the building, work out with the team, go to meetings.

22:04 So he's probably going to come in pretty ready.

22:07 He's just a tough inside runner who's good at sometimes making— he can do a lot with a little bit of space, and he's not going to have more than a little bit of space with this offensive line. So I think he's the right guy for a bad offensive line. I think it's going to be a great game. I think the Vegas total on this is 53.5. We are going to see pyrotechnics. I'm looking forward to it.

22:34 You got it. You're scoring. Okay, your scoring's in. The Josh Jacobs situation as far as on the field on what he's going to be, I think it's been a really, like a really big discussion lining it over to the fantasy side, fantasy pros. He's already being ranked as like a top almost 15 running back for this week. So there's an expectation Alfredo that a lot of people think he's going to just jump right back into it. I'm kind of one of those. I think like, you know, he had been with the team in the preseason. He had rolled through. He knows the play. It's not like being traded to a new team. He just missed the weeks.

23:02 I imagine he was training during that time he had been around working out. So, I think this is a situation you could also, if you want to speculate, you could say like, you know, the time might be short with him. There's more things that could happen. The bottom line is, is that like, I don't know what the narrative is, why they would baby him with how bad that running back core is. I kind of think that he's going, like when he's out there, he's going to get touches. And I wouldn't be surprised if it's 15 plus and he's involved in the receiving game. But what do you think Alfredo about what Josh Jacobs usage looks like back with the Green Bay Packers and then how this game is going to play out?

23:35 Yeah, I think the reason that they could and likely would, I don't want to say baby him, but ease him back into the offense is one, like you mentioned there, it's the practice thing. He was fully practicing back in June. And then since then, he's been off the practice field and just having to train off on his own and train off on the side. That is so different from training on your own to being an actual football shape and being on the field and being able to take the hits and run over and over and over and over. Plus, with this kind of game, too, are we looking at a more pass-heavy game script where Jacobs... caught the ball.

24:06 Well in college.

24:07 It hasn't always been thought of as the receiving back here, and Pierre Strong was a guy who did well last week for them in the receiving game. So I think what the Packers also likely try to do here is say, okay, let's ramp him up little by little as we keep going. We're playing well enough now that we actually want to have Jacobs fresh and still good to go once we get closer to the NFL playoffs. It's funny, Pat, that you said 12 carries because I put the line yesterday at 12.5 with Erickson. on how many carries that he gets.

24:34 And I think we're, we're pretty much in loft lockstep. And whilst you said about 15 carries, like, I think that's also very much on the table too. Like getting him anywhere from 12 to 15 carries, I think is probably the max at that 15, but I can't imagine them loading him with close to 20 plus touches and giving us the Josh Jacobs of old. Yeah.

24:51 And I think I'm, I'm like in the 15 touch range. I will say though, and you were talking about June though, he was put on the exemplist in August 30th. And, you know, he did know this team. So, like, that's the unknown that we're dealing with with him. It's like that period of time that Smith, you're talking about shape, like he was in NFL shape. He was in football shape.

25:11 And then that had to be put on hold for what has been an extended period of time since August 30th. But has he been able to maintain that? And those are the questions that will be answered. I don't really know if it's going to play the biggest role in the Packers being able to win this game because they've done a great job of slinging the ball. You got...

25:29 Two wide receivers that are, you know, from a fantasy rank perspective, they look like Jamar Chase and Tee Higgins. And what I mean by that is two wide receivers that are, what, in the top 12. Marcus Golden is a top 10 guy this week. Christian Watson, they can sling the ball. And you're going to be able to sling the ball against Detroit. It's going to be a great firefight. I'm very much looking forward to this game.

25:47 Next game up, Kansas City Chiefs and the Seattle Seahawks. Seahawks are a two and a half point home favorite. 42 and a half is the line, so Not a ton of points, not a bunch of points in this one. Alfredo, Seahawks, Sam Darnold looking a little bit rough. Doesn't look like we're going to see Rasheed Rice again for Kansas City, so they're without just a tiny bit. Lack of points kind of just jumps out here, but do you think Kansas City can go into Seattle and make this a game?

26:16 The Kansas City Kenneth Walkers can, yeah. I think they'll have to make it a game.

26:20 Revenge game.

26:21 Yeah, man. And honestly... Is it me or do you feel like Andy Reid is that kind of guy that he's putting a little extra focus on that this week for Ken Walker?

26:30 100%. You know they sit and have conversations and he wants to support his players in having revenge narratives, which I love about him.

26:38 Andy Reid is every old guy that just bought a new car and he wants to go show all his friends. That's what Ken Walker– Ken Walker is a Ferrari that they've been driving around all season. And now he's going to go take it back over to the people that just said like, now we don't want to buy that Ferrari.

26:53 And he's like, look at how awesome it is. He's Ken Walker. I mean, if he doesn't get 25 touches in this game, probably another two touchdown performance. I know it's crazy because it's against such a good defense, man. But being back in Seattle, I think we're going to see a lot of fun force feeding of Ken Walker here.

27:09 And plus the chiefs are coming right off a buy, if I'm not mistaken, like they had a full extra week here to plan for this. And and realize what life is like without some of their receivers. So yeah, I do expect this to be a Ken Walker heavy game.

27:20 The, the old, old guy story is making me laugh. It's literally my, my grandfather many, many years ago, you know, he'd been in retirement and his retirement car, he bought like a BMW, like SUV. He was so proud of it. And he like made, he made me drive it. He was like, get in and we're driving it. And he's like, now punch it. And he wanted to drive fast and he wanted to show it off. That's a hundred percent.

27:43 Andy Reed. He is going to, Pedal to the metal with Ken Walker. I would expect we'll get one of those ridiculous 30-touch games. That's very funny. Fitzy, what do you think about this one? Revenge game with Ken Walker. Going back to Seattle. Seattle's still a really tough defense. And Kansas City is still without some of those parts, though. Again, Rasheed Rice not practicing after the bye week and last week.

28:04 And having all of that, I don't have an expectation that he's going to play. So some of the receiving options are still just kind of banged up there. Which direction do you think this game is playing out?

28:14 I feel like Seattle's going to take care of business at home. I could be wrong about that. The revenge game angle, as much as maybe there is a little incentive for Kenneth Walker, Seattle's run defense is really good. And you know Mike McDonald and the guys on that defense do not want to get trampled by Kenneth Walker coming back. So they're going to be pretty fired up, too.

28:36 Sort of an interesting angle with the other running back situation, Seattle's with Zach Charbonnet. Coming back this week, it'll be interesting to see what kind of workload he handles. Kind of a cool angle, too, is Mike McDonald and Steve Spagnuolo. And I just heard an interview with Steve Spagnuolo on SiriusXM NFL Network where he was an intern for Mike McDonald was an intern for Steve Spagnuolo with the Ravens when Spags was their defensive coordinator in like 2013, 2014.

29:07 And McDonald loves Spagnuolo. Like big influence on him in his career, said that Spaggs could not have been nicer to him. Told a story about how it was one of the bye weeks and Spaggs like McDonald had no plans to like leave the team and Spaggs handed him his credit card.

29:26 He's like, go book yourself a flight home, kid. Like, go home.

29:30 And so, yeah, that's just it'll be cool to see those guys defensively doing their thing. And I think this could be kind of a rock fight.

29:40 Actually.

29:40 I think the defenses maybe carry the day in this one.

29:43 So you like the under if we were tailing that?

29:46 I think so, yeah.

29:47 Yeah, I mean, I think as much as they want, this game would try to be played on the ground, you know, until the Seahawks have to start getting it to JSN, which will be, you know, often. Next game up here, Rams- Raiders. I think there's a lot of potential storylines floating around this one. The two and four Rams going up against the three and three Raiders. The Rams are reeling. They can't keep this pace, especially the Dodgers of the football world are supposed to have all the defensive pieces. They're now out Devontae Adams, who's going to be out a significant amount of time. Don't have Ferguson.

30:24 They really have a limited amount of pieces. They haven't leaned Especially like a Blake Corum. They've had the backs, but we haven't seen like the insane usage to both of those guys. And they're two and fourth this point. Go against a Raiders team that I think on one hand is, you know, they've overperformed in a lot of spots.

30:41 But on the other, there's still a lot of chatter around, you know, if Cousins kind of brings this back down that we could see Mendoza here in the near future, even though they're a 500 team. They lose this game. Rams take it over. Is there a chance we could see Mendoza in the future? That's a question we could ask. Fitzy, why don't you talk to us about the Rams and the Raiders?

30:59 I think we're on Mendoza watch.

31:01 We are on Mendoza watch?

31:02 Yeah, they've lost three straight games.

31:04 And I don't think there's any pretense about the Raiders being a playoff team this year.

31:10 It's kind of a rebuild.

31:11 So eventually they're going to want to audition Fernando Mendoza. And I think for the Raiders, this entire season, is getting Fernando Mendoza ready for 2027. Getting his feet wet, having him get accustomed to running Clint Kubiak's offense. That's what it's about for them. But yeah, the Rams are in a tight spot here. And I wonder if they just, Sean McVay has been leaning into 13 personnel usage. I wouldn't be surprised if we saw the Rams use 13 personnel on more than half of their offensive snaps this week.

31:45 And maybe we see.

31:46 Some of Kanata Mumfield and Jordan Whittington and these young wide receivers. Or maybe they just totally lean into Tyler Higbee, Colby Parkinson, Davis Allen, and we see Rams tight ends combined for like 15 catches and 140 yards.

32:04 Alfredo, these two teams are combining for five straight losses. The Raiders have lost three straight. The Rams have lost two straight. The Rams offense is going to look a little bit different. You worry about one dimensional and they just haven't found the pieces to cohesively get their offense rolling.

32:21 Do you think they're going to be able to break? I mean, one of these teams is going to have to get a win. Unfortunately, I guess like a tie. I shouldn't say that, but like one of these is going to break this. Are the Rams going to break this skid on the road against the Raiders?

32:33 I mean, you'd have to think that the Rams can, especially against this Raiders secondary here. But I mean, we've seen a very inconsistent Matt Stafford, almost to the point that Rams fans who just earlier in the year were upset about the NFL draft and wanted McKay Lemon instead of Ty Simpson have been saying, is it Ty Simpson time?

32:51 It's like, guys, like, really? We were, we're just, we're less than a year removed from him being crowned as NFL MVP. I think we can, let's just give the guy some time as well here. I mean, players go through slumps, teams go through rough patches. Sean McVay is not throwing in the towel anytime soon. I think it would take another four or five losses for the Rams to be like, okay, let's get Tyson some snaps. And even then, I just don't think at any point you're benching Matt Stafford with the way this team is built here.

33:19 For the Raiders, man, I think everything's on the table at this point. They keep losing games. Not only is it Fernando Mendoza watch, I think you're on Mike Washington Jr. watch. You're on a little bit of everybody watch here. The Ashton Jinty continues to go out there and just look really ineffective running the ball. I know the injuries have been piling up and that's another thing where it's just kind of like, oh, well, everyone's playing hurt and Ashton's given his best. Well, at some point, do we just start to see more of these guys that are healthy and are producing?

33:45 Interesting. Final game up here. We go to the East. The only division in all of the NFL where every single team is on a losing streak. is the NFC East. Every single one of them are, there are two losses, you know, their first losses for, what was it? I just went away from it. It was the Commanders and Giants both lost. Eagles are on a four game losing streak.

34:08 Cowboys are on a one game losing streak. Cowboys are going to Philly. They're a four and a half point road favorite. 44 and a half is the line. We kind of set the stage a little bit for this. Obviously Tanner McKee is going to be the quarterback. Looks like Saquon Barkley is lining up. Dallas is out for blood. Alfredo, talk to us about Dallas. Obviously, someone's going to break this spot here, this bad losing streak. If the Cowboys win, they can jump the Eagles. There's only one team in this entire division, which there's another crazy one that's over 500, and that's the Giants. So there's no team. Neither one of these teams are going to be able to jump up and be a 500 team. But is Dallas going

34:44 to be out for blood? And are the Eagles fans going to be in a really bad spot after Monday Night Football?

34:50 Man, I think I'm one of the few people here that actually really believe in the Eagles in this game. This is sort of the very stoppable force meeting the also movable object, I guess, at this point. Jerry Jones has been talking about the Dallas Cowboys defense. We talked about this yesterday with Eric. He says, I can fix this.

35:06 It's okay.

35:06 Well, how many more players are you going to trade for? On paper, the Cowboys already have this defense that looks stacked and they simply can't do anything with it. On offense, it's the same thing. And their biggest problem has been on offense. They have totally changed their identity from what they were last year. Yeah, they're still passing the ball plenty, but they're now last in run rate percentage with Javante Williams there. They've totally flip-flopped in how they're using motion, how they're using play action, going from under center to shotgun. They...

35:33 Undid everything that was working for them last year. It's kind of like 22 Jump Street. Have you ever seen that where they're like, oh, it's almost as if people believe if you just do the same thing again, it'll work. It's like, yeah, you actually can just do it again. It'll work. And they're just not. Well, the Eagles defense, they've had their ups and downs. They're a better defense than I think they're getting credit for right now as a team because of how much the team has struggled.

35:54 If there's a game where I think the Eagles can get back on track, I do think it's this one against the Dallas Cowboys. And I think I'm just going to say I'm going to call for the upset here.

36:02 Eagles win.

36:03 Oh, baby, you've got to save that for the make the big call. Well, you have another really good one, but that's a good call to make there. You know, Fitzy Bogman's kind of in this too. He was kind of touting McKee a little bit and him being with the team and knowing the offense. I feel like I'm a little bit more questionable there, but where do you sit on the Eagles making this a competitive game against Cowboys?

36:24 I'm pretty questionable about McKee too. It's just that it was the Eagles' offensive line.

36:31 Of old, right?

36:32 I would feel better about it if there was Jason Kelsey up front and Lane Johnson were still playing and things were like they were a couple of years ago.

36:42 This is a much worse offensive line.

36:44 So that's the side of the ball I'm anxious to see in sort of a perverse sort of way. Alfredo mentioned the resistible force versus the movable object, and that's kind of how it is, the Philly offense against the Dallas defense. Although to the Cowboys' credit, their defense did play well enough against the Packers on Sunday night to win that game if the Dallas offense had showed up, but it didn't. So I actually, as bad as the Dallas defense has been, think it might have a leg up against the Philly offense. That's, I guess, where I'm not sure that Philly can win this, but I don't have immense confidence in Dallas either.

37:25 So, man, we were.

37:27 show us the schedule on the eve of week one and circle this game. And we would be like, yeah, that's going to be a good one. And now it's like, now it's like, yeah, okay. Let's see which of these teams has a pulse.

37:40 Yeah.

37:40 Well, I think the NFL is probably crying about this too. They were just like, well, all, you know, well-made plans looking at this and Tanner McKee is going to be the quarterback. But what do you guys think? You guys can drop comments below your picks for some of these big games and some of the keys we'd love to hear for you. And guess what? When you do so, you might just hook yourself up because if you want a chance to win one of the most unique pieces of NFL gear out there, the large NFL PA wall smack, courtesy of our friends over at Trophy Smack, the number one destination for epic fantasy football hardware, then this is your shot. They're oversized, officially licensed NFL PA wall smack.

38:14 They're bold statement pieces that are perfect for your fan cave, office, or living room wall. It's not just decor. It's a way to rep your favorite players in style. To enter, all you've got to do is subscribe to the Tailgate YouTube channel. Do that right now. And then guess what? Drop a comment, like any of your takes, and you are instantly entered. That's all you got to do. We'll be announcing a winner right here on the channel, so make sure to turn on notifications so you don't miss a chance to win and claim this epic prize. Let's make some calls for the week, some big calls. Fitzy, you got to go bold or you got to go home.

38:46 Give us your big call for the week.

38:48 Man, as much as I want to believe in the J.J. McCarthy redemption story, I hate that he's going up against the Texans, and the Texans are so due to play a good game defensively.

39:00 I'm going to say J.J. McCarthy commits three turnovers against Houston.

39:04 So he pulls a Jameis Winston.

39:05 Basically, yeah.

39:06 But maybe is he going to pull a Jameis Winston without the touchdowns? Because Jameis saves himself because he turns the ball over three or four times, but he's got three touchdowns. Is this going to be an empty Jameis game?

39:16 I'm worried that it will be, yes.

39:20 Alfredo, make a big call here. This one is very funny. Fitzy's going to laugh, too, because this was kind of it's funny because you're filling in for Erickson. It's kind of an Erickson one. but then when I called Erickson out on this on the rank show, he folded, but let's hear your big call for the week.

39:36 Yeah, man, you said go bold or go home. I'm already at home, so I'm going bold. Bo Nix throwing two touchdowns against the Arizona Cardinals here in I don't even feel like it's all that bold. I know Nix has been bad. I've been watching him and charting him and going through the film each week. But the Cardinals have allowed two or more touchdowns to quarterbacks in each of the last five weeks, including Jameis Winston, including Drew Locke.

39:59 And you go and you look at the schedule for Bo Nix and who he's played. A lot of these teams are in the top five or top eight in fantasy points to quarterbacks allowed, meaning the least amount of points allowed to quarterbacks. And when Bo Nix just isn't going up against top five defense, he's streamable. I'm talking about in fantasy terms here. So Cardinals are allowing 21 fantasy points per game to quarterbacks. Bo Nix on the fantasy side, he's my quarterback 17 this week. I think he's streamable if you need him.

40:26 Okay. That's what I was literally going to ask you. I was kind of hoping it would be a little bit more. Fitzy knows this because Erickson was talking up. He's kind of in the same vein where it was like, this is also about Jalen Waddle. Cause I'm so done with Jalen Waddle at this point, it's been just a whole bunch of nothing, but it was like, how can you be up on Waddle? And then we talk up Bo Nix and then Bo Nix is like QB 19 for the week 17. We're getting there. Do we think it did two touchdown output is maybe a little bit closer to like a 15. Can I get you, can I get you any higher Alfredo?

40:58 Sure.

40:59 I can, I can be convinced to put him at quarterback 15 to the problem for me with Bo Nix is we're not getting any of the rushing that we used to get that ankles still bothering him. So, That's why I'm thinking maybe he throws two touchdowns here, but I don't know if he has the crazy boom performance that we've been waiting for.

41:14 Can we put Alfredo on the spot like we did with Erickson and get Alfredo to promise us that Bo Nix looks like vintage John Elway on Sunday?

41:22 Yes, exactly.

41:22 Exactly.

41:23 How vintage?

41:24 You mean the way he looks now because he's a vintage person?

41:29 No, vintage early 80s John Elway. Yeah, no shot. Not doing it.

41:35 I want Bo Nix, if we had the graphic for it, like the yodeler in Price is Right where he's just going up and up and up. That's how I've been trying to push the rank of everybody talking about Bo Nix. I love it.

41:45 All right.

41:45 Mine is a bold one. I think that Cam Scadaboo is going to be thrown back into the driver's seat. And more than anything else, I think he's going to score a touchdown this week. It's bold only because he was a disappearing act last week, but I said this on a couple of shows. I actually think, and I can be completely wrong about this. I think Harbaugh is going to have respect for absolutely like whatever lies he wants to say that he threw Kim Scadaboo into the bus and they threw him in fumble jail and he was punished. You don't just accidentally forget about a guy like Kim Scadaboo for the 10, the team scheme. He was punished. But Kim Scadaboo took absolute accountability for it.

42:26 He didn't cry. He didn't go on Pardon My Take and say how pissed off he is about John Harbaugh. He said he deserved it. And he took accountability for it. I think John Harbaugh is going to give him the benefit of the doubt. And I think he's going to jump right back into it. And if this team, you know, if it's JJ McCarthy running around, hopefully not actually turning it over three or four times, that Kim Scadaboo will be given opportunities again. Alfredo, you gave a pause here.

42:51 Do you disagree?

42:53 He gave a weird answer. He did. He did say that, like, I deserved it. But he also flat out said I was punished for what I did the week before, which is there's been a lot of weird verbiage in the past few weeks about players being punished. Like Joe Brady kind of said a similar thing with James Cook. Like at some point there needs to be consequences. And there's been like this weird thing with running backs this year where they're just like, go to your room without any dinner.

43:15 And then the running backs are all just like, well, I didn't eat, you know, and then next week they're going back.

43:19 I'm going to go tell mom.

43:20 Yeah.

43:21 I mean, maybe that's the case. I just have a feeling that's actually a really good point is what's going to be more important, the accountability, or is he going to use a word that's going to piss Harbaugh back off again? I'm leaning on that. I think the accountability for it and saying like, that was my fault that Harbaugh is going to put him right back. I mean, they also cut Najee Harris when he tried to speak up, which by the way, don't say anything.

43:41 Yeah.

43:42 Don't say any words. But I'm going to go with Cam Scadaboo back into the driver's seat. getting the primary RB role and score a touchdown this week against a Houston defense that is going to get better, but their defensive line has struggled this year. So this is a spot that they're going to be able to take advantage of.

44:00 If you guys, by the way, are watching on YouTube, make sure to leave your favorite calls in the comments, hit the like button, subscribe to tailgate. If you're listening on the podcast. Make sure you guys can leave us a comment. A lot of the podcast places let you do that. Rate and review really helps out for more NFL fans to find the show. And if you guys want to watch us on YouTube, go to YouTube and put in at tailgate NFL. That's how you can find us at tailgate NFL. One final thing to watch for the weekend. Fitzy, what do we need to be paying attention to for week seven?

44:28 Green Bay Packers at Detroit Lions, Jordan Love and Jared Goff at the height of their powers, both playing magnificently this season. I think we are going to get the shootout. We were supposed to get last Sunday night with the Packers and Cowboys. We'll get it with Packers and Lions.

44:43 I absolutely 53 and a half. Got to say that it's going to get in play. Alfredo, what's one big thing you're watching for week seven?

44:50 I'm so interested in Baker Mayfield potentially returning here for the Tampa Bay Buccaneers. Is he going to be good Baker by the time he gets back on the field? Or is he the one hand man that ends the Bucs season here? Because if you can't be able to throw the ball against the division opponent that's missing their two starting corners, then I don't know when you're going to be able to do it, man. And that's another team that if they lose again this week, I think they might just be calling it a season.

45:15 Kind of a tricky one too, because Emeka has the, remember the fangled concussed foot? Yeah, the concussed foot. He's got a bunch of, so we're not really sure where that's going to look, but if Baker comes back, that'll be big. Mine, it's a little bit a homer. I'm a 49ers fan, but I really think, pay attention to the 49ers offense here without Mike Evans. And I want to throw this out to people, not just to talk about the Niners, but Mike Evans has completely opened up this offense to do something the 49ers have struggled with in many years, and that is converting consistent third downs and having wide open spots. They look unbeatable when he's out there because Purdy can go to Evans, check down

45:51 to Kittle, go to Christian McCaffrey. There are three pieces, there are three targets on the field at all times that are separating. When Mike Evans was off the field, the 49ers got back to some of the frustrating pieces I've seen them be in the past where they can't convert. Three and outs, throwing bad passes, the pass rushes in, teams are being more aggressive defensively, And if that is the case and Mike Evans is out, there might be a real... I know we don't have letdown spots in the NFL like college football. This might be a letdown spot for the 49ers going to Atlanta. And they've got a bye week next week. As a 49er personal fan, I'm very concerned about it because Mike Evans does a lot for this offense. They're going to get Christian Kirk back.

46:32 But Brandon Cooks and Christian Kirk, this isn't 2020. That's not a really good piece here. So I worry the one-dimensional side the 49ers could become, and that could hurt some of the offensive pieces from a fantasy perspective, and they unfortunately might be going into a bye week with their first loss, but we'll have to watch that. But see how the 49ers run without Mike Evans. That's a big one. Whether it's Green Bay, Detroit, whether it's what Baker Mayfield looks like, or where the 49ers play without Mike Evans, those are our things to watch. You guys can also drop in the comments below, what are you watching for this week? Thank you guys so much for hanging out with us. For Alfredo Brown and Mr. Pat Fitzmaurice,

47:09 I'm Chris Welsh. Thank you for hanging out with The Tailgate, and we'll talk to you next time. Bye, friends.