2026 Week 6 Recap: Packers Stomp Cowboys, Caleb is Back, Rams Fall Flat and a London Classic

Welcome to NFL Daily, where we sent off the London games in style.

I'm Greg Rosenthal. I'm here with your week six recap.

In the Chris Wesseling podcast studio with Jordan Rodrigue, with Nick Shook. We had major upsets in week six. We had surprising new division.

Leaders in week six. And yet, Jordan.

For the second straight week, the Jaguars gave us a great game and we're actually going to start the show in London because that was a banger.

Hell yeah.

London got awesome games back to back. This one was fantastic.

And it mattered.

You look like you just swallowed something bad, Nick. Just enjoy it.

I mean, yes, but no, I want to say I'm going to save until after because I'm not going to spoil what happened.

Okay.

You never know what happened. Maybe you're just tuning in. Maybe you weren't up at 630 in the morning on the West Coast.

Greg was already three coffees deep at that point.

Sicko.

Let's go to Wembley Stadium.

For the second straight week, an opportunity and a walk-off field goal from 49 yards.

Kaimi Fairbairn steps up. The ball is down. The kick is up.

And the kick is good! As the clock ticks down to zeroes. The elation of last week for the Jacksonville Jaguars turns into heartbreak as they fall to 4-2 on the season and the Houston Texans improve to 2-4. Just one team since 1979 have made their way to the playoffs after starting 0-4. After back-to-back wins, including a road trip here to London, the Houston Texans have to start believing that they could do something special this year.

Forget making the playoffs. Our Super Bowl prediction is not done yet, Jordan.

We're alive.

We'll see.

The Texans are alive, 34 to 31, at least in the AFC South, where this keeps the Jaguars within striking distance. That was our friend Will Gavin on TalkSport. Jordan and I will be joining him in Paris next week.

Already planning my standing angles.

Look, the reason why this game leads the pack is because I actually think these two quarterbacks, Trevor Lawrence and C.J. Stroud, played excellent football. There's a lot of game management stuff to talk about. There's Travis Hunter having kind of the most Travis Hunter-y game that he's had so far, Jordan.

But I would like to start with C.J. Stroud, who was doing his thing. 10 for 11 for 118 yards and two touchdowns. against pressure, had a huge couple of bombs in the game in the first half to Nico Collins and Jalen Noel. And then, yes, after his... Interception to Hunter. He regroups and sets up that game winning field goal.

Yes. C dot J dot Stroud dotting down the field. So sorry, guys. I was like, we're so, so, so excited to have him kind of in an island game. He has been playing like this for a few weeks now. He's playing mostly great football that the course of the year and he's I thought he was excellent. There was a sudden change thrown in the mix. Marvin Harrison jr.

Is on this football team now. And I believe what four for four today was, was targeted, was in the mix with a very limited version of what they're going to do with him, you know, in the fuller game plan. Um, This was the Texans offense functioning at its best and led by C.J. Stroud, who elevates what they can do and is no longer maybe seeming like he's playing within the confines or the constraints of something.

Spread and shred, baby.

Yeah.

Jalen Noel, who I've been waiting to see more of, catches a 50 yard just. bomb dime on a quick change at the end of the first half that I thought was the key possession in the game. Three plays, 63 yards and only 47 seconds shook to get a touchdown before the end of the first half. And the reason why I think it was so big is they came out and had another touchdown to Noel after halftime.

So they double up there and they had to keep scoring because their defense couldn't play like this was. I think as bad as the Texans' defense has looked all season, two drives end for the Jaguars on drops.

It was rainy, especially in the first half.

Another drive had a touchdown called back by a bogus penalty that I think Jaguars fans are rightfully upset about. And then it turns into an interception, which was like the one bad throw Lawrence really had all day. Good play there by the Texans to make up for it. But It was a game where I'm like, man, they're asking CJ to do so much. No running game at all.

He's going to have to keep up in a shootout. And he did manage to. And he did manage to get like a field goal stop-ish by his defense at the end. And his running game did kind of come alive in the second half and at least help out.

Yeah, which is going to be a nice little boost.

But I think this is one of those games where you look at it in totality and you think, Maybe this is where our identity starts to shift a little bit, not for better, but maybe not for worse, because you get a lot less from your defense, which has been your strength for so long. You get a lot more from your offense, which has always been challenging, but you still have the same pitfalls in the running game. And you can kind of you learn as a team that we can overcome these weaknesses or these challenges and win a football game like this. A divisional game overseas. A lot of adversity just baked into that and get the job done.

So let's talk about Liam Cohen's decisions at the end of the game. I think Liam Cohen called a great game plan for most of it. You know, they're they're cook in the middle of the field for Houston, who's missing Jalen Petrie. Reed Blankenship leaves with a concussion, was struggling defensively. Before that, their running game had a high success rate for most of the game early, but then they fall down a couple scores. Late in this game, the Jaguars get an interception from Travis Hunter, who was just all over this game. We'll hear a call of him on offense in a minute. Gives the ball to the Jaguars, and you're thinking, oh, they're going to go down and score a touchdown right now to take the lead.

Liam Cohen has a fourth and three, I believe it was, and it was a 60-yard attempt from Cam Little, Liam Cohen decides to go for the field goal instead of going for it on offense. As someone who is admittedly biased, my son's a Texans fan, we picked him to go far, I was relieved at that point. I had no faith that the Texans were going to make a stop at that point, and you have to hit a 60-yarder, which Cam Little just barely made through the left upright, almost missed to the side.

It would have been good from 70. So, Makes that goes for the field goal there.

And then also the time management decisions where he's taken timeouts early in that Texans drive, especially on a third and one where I thought he saved the Texans 30 seconds. I know the Texans had three timeouts in that scenario, but I thought it was a little too aggressive trusting his defense on a day where his defense was not good in.

This game, which was striking because they have been excellent all year. And so it was quite clear that he was trust. He was leaning on these two phases that have really shown up for the Jags, which is their special teams unit that came through so clutch for them last week. And also their defense, their defense that has, hasn't just been making stops, but taking the ball away.

You know, a lot of these coaches, and I do know that Jacksonville has a pretty like robust game management department and analytics people and all of those things, but but the head coach also ultimately will decide whether he's going to be a feel and flow of the game coach in certain spots or whether he's going to be go on some of those decisions. It was a third, a fourth and four, which probably changed what his call sheet looked like too. And that's not an excuse for it because he.

You did.

You could have seen I think you could have seen either scenario playing out. But it was very clear that he was counting on his defense to make a stop that they didn't make. Yeah.

To be fair, I think it was a tough spot either way. I just wasn't surprised when CJ Stroud got the ball back and had a Woody Marks drive. It ended up just being like a little dump off to Marks who gets 19 yards on the sideline, a couple runs, and they get the game winning field goal from their great kicker. Instead, I mentioned Hunter. He caught a touchdown and he recorded an interception. The first player to do that in a game since Brian Dawkins in 2002. Let's listen to one of Travis Hunter's three catches on the day.

And it's now second and seven from the seven 10 point game 11 30 left in this fourth quarter what have you got for us Trevor Lawrence single back in the backfield alongside him two receivers split right it's.

A straight drop back he tucks.

It he throws it over the middle touchdown Jaguars and Travis Hunter has his second career touchdown both of them coming here at Wembley Stadium.

The former second overall pick just loves London.

And what I just, God, I adored that play call and that touchdown for him. Cause he is just joy personified in both phases today was such an impact player, but just so the listener specifically is clear. Travis Hunter was aligned in the backfield. He was the single back. He ran a route out of the backfield and was the target on that play design. It was so special and so much fun. And at that point in the game, I'm like, Sheesh, Liam Cohen is in his bag right now.

He really was.

We're getting a game and then these end-of-game issues. And listen, D'Amico Ryans is not blameless in the game management conversation either. There were some big mistakes in this one too. It's just that these guys' teams, when they're on, are sort of covering up some of those issues. And the play calling was fantastic.

Oh, no.

Yeah.

Look, Travis Hunter ran seven routes in this game. I most spoke before he had four catches for fifty nine hours. I mean, this was this was their vision when they drafted him. He gets the game changing interception after that. He did give up some plays. He made some plays on defense. He had the Nico Collins assignment like this is what they envisioned. It doesn't turn out to be a victory for them in this game. The Texans come home.

I think they have one more game. Try to get a win before they're by get to. three and four.

Okay.

That's your London game. And so long to London for the season.

A little bit of a bittersweet ending here that on the same day, the Jaguars, you know, give another great game to London. Their, their team did announce like they're planning to go with a full home schedule starting in 2028. So the whole London Jaguars thing is over after next year. Very interesting there. Let's go to across the street, a game that, Twelve and a half point spread going into it.

I did not think was going to be anywhere near the top of this show.

They're going to run out there. Clock moving at 20 seconds to go. Field goal team is on. Chad Ryland five for five today. This one to win it from 43 yards on the left hash mark. Both teams out of timeouts at five on the game clock. The snap comes at three.

The hold.

The kick is in the air. It is on the way.

And the kick is good. The Cardinals win. It's a walk-off field goal for Chad Ryland. Six for six on the day. The Cardinals knock off the Rams. Final score, Cards 18, Rams 16.

What a win on the road in L.A.

Oh, that's the Cardinals radio network, KMVP. Usually you settle for six field goals, you lose.

Not the Cardinals.

That was, you know, one of their red zone possessions, I believe, that fell short and it didn't matter at all. 18 to 16. The Cardinals somehow get it done. They are 2-0 in Los Angeles. They have more wins in Los Angeles combined than the Chargers and the Rams.

A game that.

Really surprised me like multiple times that the Cardinals are absolutely controlling The pace of play, they were out gaining the Rams for much of this game. And they're settling for those red zone field goals in general until that last one was a little bit longer of a field goal. And you figure the Rams will eventually make them pay.

And then they absolutely did. Matthew Stafford, like so many games this season, just up and down. The offense only gets three scoring drives out of 10 possessions per Against the worst defense in the league. But Stafford has some dimes to allow them to take the lead 16 to 15. But an offense for the Cardinals that all day long was just slow and somewhat effective.

10 plays, 12 plays.

15 plays, 14 play drives. The Rams defense just cannot get off the field. Actually gets a quick strike drive with Jacoby Brissett with a dot of his own over the middle of the field to Jalen Brooks, who is now heavily featured with Marvin Harrison.

Not there.

It went well on a couple of targets and not so well on a huge drop that gave the Rams a chance to get the ball.

He makes the catch.

A very shaky hit to the head call by the Rams that Rams fans will be complaining about. Although the Cardinals had a lot of time in that spot to still get into field goal range. Either way, they do it and they get the win. They get to two and four. And this Ram season, Jordan, is off the tracks. When this game went into half their fourth quarter and they're trailing, I'm like either this is going to be a very disappointing start to the season if they win this game. Or it's like a five alarm fire that this team is two and four.

So they lose last week in part because of issues with special teams in their kicking game. They cut the kicker, Harrison Mevis. They signed Blake Groupie. He goes out the first after the first special teams like contain because he has to try to contain on the perimeter because they don't have coverage there. And they, he tries to make a stop and gets hurt. He's ruled out. They have Stetson Bennett in at the end, holding kicks basically for this, for this field goal. And Ethan Evans is place kicking.

And Greg, I think you said it maybe inadvertently, but you said it so well in that moment when we're watching this game in the office, where you said the fact that it's, this is happening and it's, it's kind of coming down to these kicks. And, and you didn't say like, that's the reason, but like, I thought if you are in a situation where, Where this is you can you think that this is the reason or this is this little detail is swinging something so significantly for you.

You don't have a good football team. Yep.

And yeah, they lose Blake Groupie, who makes a misguided attempt at a tackle on a kickoff return like he just joined the team.

He got blasted.

You don't blame him that much, but you do kind of blame him. I mean, they're taught in those situations, maybe just avoid it. He's 156 pounds, so he gets knocked out. In the end, I don't think it affected the way the Rams played that much, except they basically kneeled on the ball to end the first half when they had 45 seconds, which I thought was turtling up a little bit by McVay. Like, go for the touchdown in that scenario. Let's listen to Sean McVay after the game.

Sean, why do you feel like the self-inflicted wounds have shown up so much this season?

I'm not really sure, Nate. You know, it's a lot of different guys are taking their turn. And, you know, I've continued to talk about it. We try to be able to harp on it. And, you know, we've got to be able to figure it out. And I don't have those answers right now. Otherwise, it would have gotten fixed.

And so I have to do a better job, you know, figure out exactly how we settle guys down. But we've had some really critical errors at the, you know, really unfortunate times. But You know, that's what our narrative has been for this year, you know, and we can't keep saying, oh, that we haven't done that before. Well, this year we are doing it.

Right.

I almost push back a little on the self-inflicted wounds because, of course, they made mistakes today. But this just looked like a game that the Cardinals were a little better, that they were too even. Like, if you just watch this game. They look like two Indian teams, two, you know, defenses, especially the Cardinals that like have some deficiencies, but we're playing above their head.

And that's almost more concerning to me.

Of course, the Rams were without Miles Garrett and without Trent McDuffie, but the Cardinals don't want to hear any about that.

They don't have their left tackle. They don't have a million players.

And they're starting running back.

Right.

And they didn't have Jeremiah Love today either. Like it wasn't it's not just one thing with the Rams. It's just like a lot of parts of the team coming up a little short.

That's when you talk about the five alarm fire, that's the cause of the five alarm fires. The fact that you look at this game and you saw two even teams, they're supposed to be in completely different classes. This is a Cardinals team that got 45 points dropped on it by the Lions last week. They give up 36 to the Giants, 36 to the Niners. And that was a game where their offense kept them in it and they were actually pretty scrappy. But the last two weeks they've looked terrible. And then they come to L.A. and apparently we need to move the Cardinals to SoFi Stadium because that's just where they play good football. And they go toe to toe with a Rams team that you can blame a tiny bit on the special teams and not

having your kicker because you have one turnover on downs with the second turnover on downs. You have a false start. You're basically on the edge of field goal range. You're in no man's land. You're going to go for that one anyway. And they didn't execute on fourth and eight. And so when you look at the entire operation, whether it's special teams, whether it's trying to convert these key downs, they don't look good like the team that we expect them to be until their backs are absolutely against the wall, which is what propelled that final touchdown drive and put them in position to win the game before they lost the game.

But that's when the margins of an already tough to win in the margins game becomes so much tighter. And this is not a team that can win in the margins in general, less least of all, when things do get so, so high pressure, you're not supposed to have to that, that Greg, when you said like, you know, it's a lot of different things and every week and all this stuff. I just think that's what this team is.

There are a lot of different pieces, a lot of different identities, a lot of different players, a lot of different ideas of what they are, what they think they are. None of it's coming together. None of it's on the same page. And that starts with the head coach. And that's, that's the entire top of the organization, the executive staff, everybody.

I think the number one thing is like, they're just not explosive. They're not, they're like, they like for the second straight week, Stafford had the lowest air yards per attempt of his season. And they just struggle to like get big plays. If I had to just pick one thing, they're working a little harder than they expected to do on offense. And like the line is just a little bit worse than, They gave up a lot of pressures on blitzes today to Stafford, who made some plays against pressure.

But the play action in the straight drop back is just getting blitzed.

That can be a statistical reason. Absolutely. But the overarching problem is is to me a lot more maybe insidious and a lot a lot deeper than that, because this is not a team that knows what it is or what it wants to be. It knows what it. was told it should be.

So you're telling me that if you assemble a cast of perceived all-stars with no real familiarity or continuity and then just expect them to go win a bunch of football.

Games, it may not work?

I don't want to hear that.

They have about as much continuity as any team in the league.

They're just not playing well.

And it's a shame that we've taken attention away from... you know, a great Cardinals effort.

What a win. Like this is the.

Super Bowl for Super Bowl.

Exactly. Incredible.

At the end, him trying to push his hair up from the headset. My hair is taller than yours today, Sean McVay.

Buda Baker had had a really great game for them. Trey McBride, like I said, Jacoby shows up at the end. And yes, you know, the Rams special teams did show up. This was such a strange moment. I was wondering if they were going to go for two points or go for the extra point with their punter kicking the extra point.

So I'd be curious to see how it sounded when JB Long called the go-ahead extra point with under a couple of minutes to go.

On the most improbable of extra points, backup quarterback Stetson Bennett holding for punter Ethan Evans.

His first NFL extra points.

Snap, hold, right-footed boots. No doubt about it. The Rams have.

The lead.

16-15 with seconds remaining.

And even though he's never really kicked extra points, he knows he likes it from the left half.

Oh, that's great job by J.B.

Law.

Great job by Evans there. Not enough.

Rams lose two and four. They are now in last place in the NFC West with the Cardinals getting the head-to-head win. Let's go to Las Vegas. We're staying at West to start. this show where I was hoping that Kirk Cousins after getting on QB Island would put up a fight and have a little bit of a shootout with Josh Allen and he delivered.

Two receivers right Coleman on the left.

Here's a snap back.

To pass four man rush pressure coming has to step up now still avoiding pressure shovels it to the.

End zone and it's caught by Keon.

Coleman stop it for a 13 yard touchdown are.

You kidding me just stop it.

Alan goes into his improvisational bag and pulls out a magic trick.

Only Josh. Only Josh. Yes.

Only Josh could do that.

That is Eric Wood and Chris Brown on WGR.

No DJ Moore.

I wouldn't say no problem, but week after week, Josh Allen is finding a way to get into the end zone, whether it's handing off to James Cook or, yes, finding Keon Coleman in a really solid season for the third-year wide receiver. Bills hold on to win 33 points. to 30 in Las Vegas to keep first place in the AFC East.

Raiders lose their third straight, fall into three and three.

So this game told me that the bills are going to be okay and the Raiders just won't go away. And this was a great game. Like I encourage anyone who didn't catch this live, like go back. It just was so much fun between Josh Allen's theatrics that you heard at the top, still without the number one receiver on this football team, DJ Moore, by the way, and a Raiders team that just kept swinging until the end.

They're down 10 points and Kirk Cousins hits Trey Tucker for Tucker's second touchdown of the game to bring the game within the Three points. Let's hear it.

And 139 to go.

And you're not that far from field goal range.

Cousins back to throw.

Down 10.

Settles.

Takes the shot.

Towards the end zone. Down the middle of the field.

Tucker lays out.

Touchdown Raiders.

He laid that ball beautifully for 44 yards.

Tucker's second touchdown of the fourth. And with 132 to go. They're not done yet.

So I wanted you guys to see how close this game got at the end, right? Because from there kicker, Matt gay attempted a bounce kick on side kick, but it failed. The bills could exhale and kneel it out. Josh Allen was absolutely spectacular through most of this game today. He's 23 for 33. for 255 yards, two touchdowns, James cook ran in another touchdown.

Um, I don't love the fact that like Kirk cousins, two best throws of the season, uh, happened to come when they're like down 10 with under two, two minutes to go, but, uh, it's not his fault.

He's playing well.

That's actually, I would, I would push back on that. Cause actually a couple of his other best throws came before that, but I want to give a shout out to the bills defense here because yes, this is a high volume of points and yards allowed. But the previous possession where the Raiders were still trying to come back and they were down just seven points at that point, they were, uh, Kirk cousins through a couple of balls downfield and including to, you know, Brock Bowers. And you got the sense that this could have been a lot worse, that this could have really opened up, but Christian Benford D Alford and Jalen Kilgore stepped up and made big plays on the ball when their number was called. So it was a very back and forth game. And they were,

you know, the bills secondary was shorthanded because Chauncey Gardner Johnson was ejected early in the game, but this secondary, as much as I've criticized them and they did allow a lot of, a lot of yards and et cetera. they did step up and they played, they played Brock Bowers with incredible plan to where he didn't even have a catch in the first half. And Christian Benford, especially when he was matched up against him on 14 routes, uh, limited him to just two catches for 23 yards throughout, according to next gen stat.

That's awesome.

And like, I look at the, the first thing I look at every Raiders game is rushing success rate them versus the other team. And every team, every game, like the bills are the best in the league and the Raiders are one of the worst. And they're over 50% for the bills. And, you know, under, about 30% for the Raiders. Jente gets a touchdown finally on the ground, but only ends up with 22 rushing yards in this game.

And yes, they're now rotating players in the secondary. So some of the great stories like Hezekiah Mass is falling off a little bit for the Raiders defense. You know who's not falling off? Is Jim Nance in the booth. I just was really taken with this J.J. Watt sequence where, you know, you had Charles Tillman on the show this weekend and the peanut punch, it's just mentioned again, Week after week, let's see Jim and J.J.

Watt demonstrate.

You actually have a theory on how you should do this with the punch out.

I do.

So you see the punch out.

Everybody's gotten good at the peanut Tillman punch.

The bottom of the ball comes out.

But what guys are doing now, and you've seen Cook do it, he's going like this.

I've actually talked to some guys around the league that they do a wrist lock. So now you lock everything in, Jim.

Go ahead.

Give that a good punch.

Really?

Hard as you got, brother.

You serious? I'm serious.

I did not think you were going to go that hard.

Okay.

All right.

That was so much harder than I thought you were going to go.

But the ball stayed.

Yeah, it did.

My wrist is broken. Like, I'm going to knock it out of your hands.

He did wear a wrap in the second half. Don't know if that was a bit or... I mean.

That was a hard-looking punch there.

The way his face just goes, oh. He's immediately reminded of his age as soon as he makes.

Contact with the ball. He's got big mitts there, Jim Nance. Big dude.

I like how he stands to do it. That's what makes me feel like it wasn't a bit, because he really did quite literally put his back into this. Yeah. I don't know if it was... I hope he's okay.

I assume that he will be.

Request and comment from the booth.

We need, yeah, we need.

Good pairing, by the way. Really good pairing.

We need them to do the, you know, when they ask the officials after the game, you know, the pool report.

We need that for Jim Nance after this game. Hope you're well, Jim.

All right, let's take our first break on the show. And when we come back, we're going to visit Chook's part of town. Yes, it's the weird, wild AFC North.

Andre Schmidt, 37 yards now for the win.

We're in a 10-10 game.

This is for first in the AFC North.

Snap, hold, Andre Schmidt to the uprights.

And Andre Schmidt has put your Cleveland Browns in.

First place in the AFC North.

13-10.

That is a game winner. And the Browns are 4-2.

These Browns just won't go away, Sook.

I like it.

More Siciliano.

But more Siciliano. WKRK in Cleveland.

The Browns come from 10 to nothing down against Baltimore after giving up two quick scoring drives. They show they pitch a shutout the rest of the way. And eventually the offense gets it done for them.

13 points.

To 10 in a very AFC North score.

A very AFC North type of game.

If you enjoy a lack of scoring, if you enjoy a bit of a rock fight, a push and pull tug of war with very few fireworks, then you will love this football game because this was all about the defense. It was all about the Browns defense finding a way to bounce back after letting Declan Doyle shred them early with some very creative play calling. and kind of find their rhythm again as a defense and just buy time, buy time, buy time. Can we get another possession for offense?

Another possession.

Oh, they're not doing anything with it because it took the Browns offense a long time to get going as well. It followed the same formula that this team has followed for most of the season, which is lean on your defense and hope that your offense comes alive in the fourth, which they did. It also included another theme that's very common to the AFC North as far as it's concerned to Derrick Henry, who fumbled in the fourth quarter because Carson Schlesinger forced that ball out of his grasp. That turned into a Browns touchdown in the ensuing drive. They missed a field goal that would have given them the lead, but then they get a stop and they get.

One more set up.

And boom, it's Deshaun Watson to Jerry Judy, who finally did something for the Browns. And a few plays later, it's Andre Schmidt putting it up from 37 yards out to give the Browns the most improbable division lead I think we've ever seen.

Yes, and division lead, it is a three-way tie right now.

We'll get to the third part of that tiebreaker. But yeah, the Ravens, lose in the division, their first division game. And the Browns are now two and O in the division. And it really is a similar script because once again, it's a day full of hearing how bad Deshaun Watson and the passing game and the offense looked, but then at the end of the game, he uses his legs to make a couple of plays. And then Jerry Judy seems to only come alive in these key spots. He makes a long catch and run to set up what ends up being a game winner. And like, you know, I know it's a mixed feeling day for Cleveland sports here, but like, what, what is your feeling about this? I just want to paint like the larger picture. I'm not

talking trash. I want, I want the guardians to go far. You're going to, we're going to get a happier shook on Sunday nights. I'm just saying like, how excited are you getting about, what they're doing here.

That team's gone as far as they can.

Look, I think that there's parts of this that you can trust and parts of this that you can't because the Browns are, for all, you know, intents and purposes, they are who you see them as, which is a team that you hope finds some offensive rhythm, finds a few big plays. Deshaun Watson will hit, you know, a deep pass to Denzel Boston for a touchdown, you know, once a game or something like that, once every other few weeks, like he did against New York last week.

But for the most part, this is a defensively driven team.

The cool thing about this team, and I think it's a reason that people can kind of get on board when they look beyond the fact that Deshaun Watson's playing quarterback, is how they're overcoming adversity. Every team deals with injuries. The Browns are also a team that's been affected by injuries. But for example, this offensive line this week, a little bit healthier than it was in previous weeks. You still have a rookie in Austin Barber playing and playing quite well in that lineup. And then you also look at them in their running back room. They're missing all three of the running backs. Quinshawn Judkins couldn't play today. Dylan Sampson on IR. Rocket Sanders on IR. Their backfield today was Jaleel McLaughlin and Audrick Estime. Two practice squad guys.

Two guys that were on other teams that they said, you know what? Come over to Cleveland where we have a job available for you. And they found a way to get it done. The numbers are not impressive. The tape isn't impressive. But if you like good defense, you're going to like watching this football team.

I totally agree on the defense.

And Carson Schwarzenegger back into like peak form with nine defensive.

Stops today, which is just a monster.

Just like statistical.

Performance trey hendrickson also uh baptizes spencer fanna with eight pressures and a sack so he helped hendrickson yeah he's on the on the raven he's on the ravens from the ravens perspective like we thought okay maybe jesse minter arriving is gonna end these weird come from ahead losses And I know Derrick Henry's had his moments here in the fourth quarter. If you're a Ravens fan, and I know we thought earlier this week it was going to be Lamar Jackson, it turns out to be Snoop Huntley.

What are you most frustrated by if you're looking at it.

From a Ravens?

You're probably most frustrated by the fact that your star quarterback is hurt again because he's been hurt a number of times. And Snoop Huntley does a great job last week against the Leicester defense to get the job done in overtime in that win over Atlanta. And they just can't do the same this week. That's the weird thing about the AFC North, too, is especially these matchups. The Browns as a franchise haven't been Very good. They've had some success recently, but they have been very good. Yet these games always turn into games like this. And you should be frustrated as a Ravens fan that your team loses to this team. But you can point at one spot and it's just the fact that you don't have your star quarterback.

And I know they've had their problems on the offensive line, but a 21 percent design success rate on the ground for Derek Henry, who's held under 60 yards per. So great job there by Cleveland. They're keeping this thing tight. And I guess we've spoiled the result of the next game because we said it's a three-way tie in the AFC North.

How about those Pittsburgh Steelers?

In the shotgun, gets the snap, Steelers bringing pressure and Daniels is hit and.

Down he goes.

Who's that man?

And it is Jalen Ramsey once again with a huge play for the Steelers to seal the victory in Tampa.

Two sacks.

Tackle leader. Battering ram.

Jalen Ramsey finishes the game off.

Jalen Ramsey giving up some plays this year, but he's made a lot of plays, too, for a Steelers defense who today was resourceful while struggling. The Steelers' offense, kind of similar to Cleveland, couldn't get it going for most of the day.

The Steelers' defense kept the score low enough.

Jamel Dean with a key interception in the second half, and they make a big-time comeback. They were down 13-0, down 16-3, entering the fourth quarter, come all the way back to win in overtime 26-0. to 19. What do you make of this performance, Shooky, by the 4-2 Steelers?

Steelers are going to be boarding the plane back to the airport outside of Pittsburgh.

Because it's not actually in Pittsburgh. I think it's in Moontownship, Pennsylvania.

Happy!

I don't even know where that is.

They don't go straight to London.

The home of Robert Morris University.

They're going to be very happy and they're going to be very thankful that they were able to pull this one out because for about three quarters they didn't look very good offensively. It looked more like the every other week bad Steelers offense that we've seen for most of the season. A fresh batch of animated conversation between Aaron Rodgers and Mike McCarthy, not quite as intense as before, but the frustrations were still prevalent. The offensive approach was strange.

They couldn't get much going passing or running, and they eventually just reverted to, hey, we kind of can't protect against this Tampa pass rush, so we're just going to get the ball out as fast as possible. And they just took quick hitters and slowly built their way back into this game. And then they also accepted that we're playing an undrafted rookie at quarterback. We could probably get him to make a mistake or two, which is exactly what Jalen Daniels did in the fourth quarter. He threw two interceptions. One was nearly returned for a touchdown. They settled for a field goal on that possession, which is a big win for the Buccaneers, who then ended up sending it to overtime. But then at that point, the Steelers'

offense has regained some of its identity offensively. they're more confident, and they say, we're going to boa constrictor you to death. We are going to march down the field very slowly, very methodically, and we're going to score a touchdown by going to Jeremy Bernard, a guy who screwed up on a fourth and short opportunity early in the game by catching at the sticks, running backward, getting tackled short of the sticks, turnover on downs. He redeems himself with a touchdown in overtime, and the Steelers leave happy with a win that they can thank their defense for giving them the opportunity to do, and thank the heavens that their offense was able to capitalize.

Jeremy Bernard caught 11... receptions on 12 targets.

1.5 air yards per target yeah the lowest by.

Any wide receiver in a game this season when targeted that much and i was hearing from some steelers fans that were just so frustrated again that aaron rogers is not throwing the ball down the field at all and more importantly that he's not targeting the middle of the field which is where you know to beat this Buccaneers defense until late. And then in the end, they've got a little bit of a Browns vibe to them too.

In the end, he seems to be playing his best football towards the end of games and they're getting away with it. And they're doing it in first place.

Well, they're also fortunate. You know, you want to talk concepts.

Basically, their passing offense became like spacing concepts and just like spots. Like, all right, you're going to have a guy run a hitch right here and just get the ball to him because they're playing soft coverage. Feeding DK Metcalf just beyond the sticks. Let's take the four yard completion. Generate some offense. We watch some teams that can't run the football. They throw swing passes to try to like generate a pseudo running game. This team, it was like, we're just going to take small little dinks and dunks down the field. Look, if that's what you have to do to win a football game, then by all means do it, especially in a game in which, you know, you're pressured at a not a really high rate, but

visually there was more pressure that probably made Aaron Rodgers uncomfortable.

There was a couple of times where he was just absolutely buried.

It's about time, though, from this Bucks front.

Yes, of course. Ruben Bain had a nice little day.

Then Diaby, who there was a shot of him where I looked at him and I was like, that is a scary man.

Like, that is very interesting.

He is one of the strongest players in the NFL. I don't think he gets enough credit for that. There was a lot of, you know, unforced errors, too, by the Bucs that helped Steelers out. There was a wide-open potential touchdown to Ibuka that Daniels missed.

Jeremiah Trotter, who's been awesome.

Dropped a pick six.

Had a potential pick six, dropped it. There was a lot of, you know, dropped passes. And a week after nearly... you know, barfing up that lead in Dallas.

This is a tough one.

I know it's with your backup quarterback, but you have a two-score lead late, and the Steelers are giving you extra chances. They also completely botched a situation at the end of the game where they have first and goal at the three, and they throw the.

Ball twice, which just.

gives the Bucs so much time to get the game-tying field goal at the end of regulation, and they don't even score it. Meanwhile, Mike McCarthy's not even available during halftime. Can you explain what happened?

He was in the tent.

He had somehow gotten banged up in the process of the game, and he showed a visible limp walking out of the blue tent at halftime.

Is it his ankle or something?

Yeah.

So, yeah, he wasn't even there. So good job by I don't know who his interim acting coach. It wasn't very long during halftime, but good job by them there.

And look, good job by the Steelers.

They hold Bucky Irving, who's been great this year to only 46 yards and really tough loss for the Buccaneers. And you can say they're in the NFC South.

Well.

There are three losses behind in the NFC South.

It's so funny how this league can, just within the course of one game, this league can change your entire outlook as a fan. I have a good friend who's a Buccaneers fan who, when they took an early lead, is texting me, hey, you know, we win today. We're only like two games back. We're right in the thick of things. And then by the end of this, he's like, well, I don't know what to say. And all I could say was, yeah, it was a pretty bad collapse, dude.

I don't know what to tell you.

Well, we thank them because we're going to Paris next week, Jordan. That should be eventful.

We.

We are going to watch the Steelers and the Saints play. And, you know, these two teams took some L's early this season. We wanted this game to look as marketable as possible. Steelers are 4-2.

And the Saints... went to MetLife, and pulled off a little bit of an upset.

12 seconds. McCarthy stands. He's in trouble.

Now rolls out and throws towards the end zone.

And that is up in the air.

Incomplete.

Back of the end zone. Trying to hit Isaiah Likely. No flags. Six seconds to play.

In a game.

It's ballgame. Game's over. It's ballgame.

Oh, fourth and one.

Yeah, that's ballgame. Oh, my gosh. You got a Saints player that's down and hurt. But, I mean, that's ballgame.

They had to get a first down, and he had Malik Nabors open.

But the problem was the Saints had pressure.

Thank you to the assist from Deuce McAllister. It was great toting the rock back in the day. This time, given my cost, a little bit of an assist on WWL 34 to 27. The Saints survive a furious J.J.

McCarthy comeback.

What?

I know.

J.J.

McCarthy, who had as many yards in the fourth quarter as this game, as any quarterback in NFL history, but about five. Just outrageous how close he made it. I guess we'll start there with the comeback. Jordan, what happened that they got in position to possibly tie this game?

So on Sunday afternoon at MetLife Stadium, the Giants couldn't run the ball and James Winston kept turning it over in the passing game with two interceptions on the day. They're down 34-10 to the Saints because Tyler Shuck puts together a four consecutive scoring drive like sequence between the end of the second quarter, the beginning of the third and a little bit into the fourth. There's 11 and a half minutes to play and they're up by 24 points.

And John Harbaugh actually clearly thinks it's garbage time-ish. Like he can say whatever he wants, but he benches Jameis Winston and this game seems like it is so out of reach. And JJ McCarthy comes in and he says, oh, you need to run? Oh, you need to pass.

I'll do both.

He does throw a pick in his first series, but then he flushes it and he goes on to throw for the 243 yards and a touchdown. He has a 28 yard run on a potential game tying drive. That was about a third of their entire yardage total on the ground. The giants ran out of time at the end. It is, as you heard, Mike Haas be a little confused by it because they had no timeouts left by that final possession. So JJ McCarthy is basically wasting downs by spiking the ball, which is why the downs got a little bit confusing there at the end. There's going to be talk all week now about whether the Giants should start JJ McCarthy full-time moving forward. And honestly, I think he deserves that conversation after this game because he

played well. And like I said, he had great memory loss of that pick. That was so crucial the way he was able to flush that. The real focus area to me for the Giants should be is how they can't run the ball for crap right now. Cam Scataboo didn't even touch the ball the entire game.

Benched.

Benched. Although to hear John Harbaugh tell us that we can't see what our eyes are telling us or what the player is telling us, no, no, that's not what happened.

You could say, well, I don't like that. I don't like you divvying up the snaps between four backs. And I can tell you, I don't like it either. One of those guys needs to step up. Somebody needs to step up and be the back. And none of those guys have done that yet. And when one of those guys steps up to be the back, then they'll be the back. That's your answer. And that's as honest as I can be about it. You know, and they know that too. And believe me, they're all hungry. They want to step up. One of those guys wants to step up.

Somebody's going to step up and take that job.

We're going to see who it is.

How much of that was a byproduct of the fumbling?

Or are you talking about just the overall results?

I think it's been pretty clear the whole story. I mean, there's really no more. I don't even know what else to say. I mean, that's like that's the best answer you could ever get on that in a thousand years. There's not a coach in the world that would give you a better answer than that. That's if you if you're not like thrilled with that answer. I got nothing else for you.

Honestly.

Yeah.

And before we move on from this, I would say Cam Scadaboo like directly contradicted that post game too. He was talking about how he knew it was basically because of the fumbling issues the last week. I'm paraphrasing a little bit, but it's like, you know, the Geico commercial, we can see you, Carl.

He said previously he wasn't benched and yet he didn't have a carry.

It's like the old Tim Robinson skit where he's like, yeah, he's dressed as the hot dog guy and crashed the hot dog car. And he's like, everybody's looking for the guy who did this. I know who did this. It was the guy on the podium talking about this. If you're going to have a job interview, why not put all of your candidates in there? By the way, the candidates in this interview, you know who led them in rushing, at least in terms of yards per carry?

Darnell Mooney, one carry, 20 yards. Tyrone Tracy, six for 18. Devin Singletary, four for 14. Najee Harris, four for two. It's bad.

And look, they're going to be talking about McCarthy and Winston. And after the game, we could have listened to that too. Harbaugh had a fascinating press conference. He was noncommittal about making the change, which generally means you're going to make the change.

Yeah.

And I don't want to get out of this game without talking about the saints and Tyler Shuck. Cause I do think that the moments that things really swung for this, for the saints, for this game was when the giants fumbled on a kickoff return late in the second quarter and That was Charlie Jones. And then Isaiah Stahlberg, the depth linebacker was the one who punches out the ball.

Oscar Delper covers it. They take over at the giants, 28 yard line. And this is when Tyler shuck actually breaks a big run, a 25 yard run. to set them up at the goal line. They score on fourth down to tie the game, and Kellen Moore stayed aggressive in that moment. So it's 10-10 at halftime. They go on to score on their four consecutive possessions, including that one, and including this absolutely gorgeous, beautiful 18-yard touchdown catch by Chris Olave. This was just a real treat.

Shuck takes it, throws towards the end zone, lofting it up for Chris Olave.

He makes the catch. Touchdown, New Orleans.

Chris Olave right at the corner of the pylon.

In the end zone.

18 yards and getting both feet down.

Magic. The top of his shoe dragging just to make sure that they can he can get in bounds. Oh, that was great.

It has been satisfying to see Olave as one of the elite wide receivers in the NFL, like top five wide receivers in the NFL this season. Chris Olave is in that group that made the score 34 to 10 with under 12 minutes to go. Saints fans after this game. are kind of having their cake and eating it too because everyone still wants Kellen Moore fired. Everyone thought that the way he managed the end of this game was so disastrous and so annoying. Now, some of it was bad luck and some of JJ McCarthy's great quarter was good luck because the Saints dropped like a second. I saw him almost throw two more interceptions right after he threw a first. And that would have changed things. But ultimately, you get the win, you're two and four, and you're alive.

Yeah, one of them was a great catch that was made by J.J. McCarthy's teammate that definitely should have been an interception. Let's not gloss over that entirely because he had some bad throws.

Listen, watching Jameis Winston operate that offense versus watching J.J. McCarthy operate that offense could not have been more different is all I'm saying. There was juice. The crowd got back into it. I'm just saying.

It's probably going to be J.J.

Yeah, it's probably going to be J.J. The bar is low. But I will say for those who want to go back and watch this on NFL +. which subscribe to NFL Plus.

Good luck to you if you do.

I just want you to know that you're in store for a fourth quarter that saw the Saints have seven different possessions.

That is absolutely outrageous.

Enjoy.

It's probably going to be an hour long.

Yeah, just watch the fourth quarter because that was when stuff got real sloppy weird, but in a good way.

And somehow, yeah, Tyler Shuck still ended up under 150 yards. I am very curious to go back and watch this game. I would recommend the Panthers-Eagles game much less. Don't think you need to go back and watch that.

Panthers with the football. First and 10 from the 19. Three tight ends lined up to the right. Tremaine split out to the left. Fake to Chuba. Bryce steps up. Throws down the middle of the field. Wide open. Touchdown, Carolina. Tommy Tremble.

And a flag at the end of the play after Tremble gave the ball a little spinorama.

Pointing at Cooper Dazeen because he didn't like how Cooper Dazeen Tossed off one of his teammates earlier in the game and kind of suplexed him to the ground. Panthers with a couple of cool play calls. Get Tommy Tremble into the end zone two different times on four catches and ultimately win 25 to 14. Relatively comfortable. They're in first place here at three and two. And this is progress for the Panthers. They are now good enough to let another team just lose the game for them to just be there. And like, we're at least in the middle to maybe if, if things go right, upper middle of the NFL, uh, And we can go ahead and just let you collapse. The defense was good enough to make Tanner McKee look bad. The Eagles felt lucky to

even get 14 points in this game. You grind it out on the ground with over 50% success rate on the ground. It's mostly just Chuba Hubbard breaking tackles. He had 135 yards after contact today. He only had 120 yards, which means he was getting hit behind the line of scrimmage on average. So it wasn't really the offensive line.

It was just Hubbard. Play after play, 28 carries. And then, like I mentioned with the defense, we just wanted this defense to be close to average. I don't even know if they've been that since week one. They're getting closer. But this was a game against a really overmatched offensive line and quarterback where they put the box score just in flames. 11 quarterback hits, nine passes defense. So they just had their hands on Tanner McKee's passes all over Five tackles for losses, a bunch of sacks, shut down Damian Pierce and the Eagles running game. And no matter how bad you thought the Eagles offensive line was going to play, it was probably a little worse than that.

They did not get Landon Dickerson back. They did not get Drew Kendall, their center back. So they were really shorthanded. And Jalen Hurts, since we've last talked to you in the studio, went on injured reserve. We had the update on our show with our pick show that he was hurt, but now he's going to be out at least four to six weeks. And I have to agree with my friend, Bo Wolfe, who surmised that this team would be winless if they played like this on offense and Tanner McKee started all six games. That's the type of team we're looking at in Philadelphia. Yeah.

And this is the immediate future for the Philadelphia Eagles, it seems.

And honestly, if you, go back and use the benefit of hindsight, they played Washington and Tennessee in their first two games.

They could be winless regardless.

Right.

They needed a couple great throws against Tennessee.

To win that game in the final few seconds.

And Washington was weirdly close because they let them hang around in what is always a weird week. This this game in itself, when I look at it, I just think, how do the Panthers prove to the rest of the world that we should take them seriously? They go into a situation like this where you're playing a team that's much stronger defensively. And like you said, let the offense make mistakes. And then at the same time, you look at the entire picture that they put together. You get Jalen Coker back at six catches, 97 yards, Ted McMillan, six for 86.

You just do what you're supposed to do.

Yep.

And Coker got the highest target share of his career.

You know, him being back from an injury is really important because this was the most that Bryce Young has ever completed passage passes percentage wise to his outside receivers. It was working on the outside and it wasn't easy. The Eagles defense held them down for much of the game. The Eagles defensive line lost Jalex Hunt to a scary looking concussion at the end of the first half and then lost Jordan Davis late in the game to That one didn't look great either. And yet, they were very much up for the fight. But like I said, thankfully, the Panthers' defense was too. And this kind of gets to where Sean Mannion, the new OC, I just don't think is ready for this.

And I don't know if the average OC would be. You know what I mean? I think you would need a special OC.

Yeah, do you mean the guy who literally never called plays before?

Right.

Other than coaching a high school game or something? Right. And then got an offensive coordinator job in the National Football League? Was not ready for this? Right.

It's been rough all year, but the players that they're down. That's half the battle, though.

If you look at this roster and you put them in a different uniform, we're looking at them and going, yeah, they're screwed.

Yeah, and the thing that got me with him was Bobby Okereke, who has had a lot of injuries in his career, bounced around the.

League a little bit.

He had five quick pressures from the inside linebacker position running the same blitz that Ajiro Everett called five different times. Like they just would never pick it up. They were never adjusting.

The definition of insanity.

Yeah.

Like the Eagles just could not get anything blocked up. And Tanner McKee finishes 26 for 45 for 215 yards and a touchdown. That really flatters him. He looked a little overwhelmed. My favorite kind of bigger picture stat of where the Eagles are at from where they were as a franchise is They were out gained by 175 yards in the first four years of the Nick Sirianni era, or is it five years? Three times total. That has happened the last three weeks in a row. Like every week.

We have to adjust our expectations with this team.

And I think we have to for the Panthers as well.

Upward.

Yes.

Like they right now are the favorites in the NFC South. They are not only leading the division by two games, they just have by far like the biggest asset in the division, which is their offense in total. They get back Taylor Moten today from injured reserve. I forget who else. They got a couple of players back. healthy today obviously Coker was another one there I think there was another on the offensive line and they are a team that's getting healthier and like I said three and two and with the rest of this division struggling times are times are good for the Carolina Panthers especially because they look down to Atlanta and they saw that lead in the NFC South just a couple weeks ago we think these

two teams might be fighting for the division and instead they have a nice little lead over the Falcons The.

Noise you hear is from Bears fans, not Falcons fans. 3-0-1 to go.

It is third down and 16.

Ball on the 22-yard line of Atlanta. Maddox with Bichon to his left. Play clock to two.

Snap is back. Pressure coming again.

Gordon hit him again.

Ball is out. Covered up by the Bears. Kyler Gordon, a one-man rookie crew. The constant heat from the nickel blitz. And Kyler Gordon, a coming out party of significance.

Here in Atlanta.

When Kyler Gordon plays, he is a difference maker. Kyler Gordon, Spider-Man, as his teammates call him, or as he calls himself, with the forced fumble there. That was Jeff Joniak on WMVP calling the Bears defense. holding on to a game that we thought was going to be a blowout. And ultimately, it took Caleb Williams going down the field and running out the clock on a 31 to 23 victory for Chicago.

Didn't think we'd be leading with a defensive highlight, but Kyler Gordon gave us no choice.

Yeah, Kyler Gordon finished with three tackles for loss, three sacks, two forced fumbles, was all over the field. And really, his first game back, I would say, barely to say like two years, like just really full time. Like he's back back. And he was also playing special teams, gunner, the bears defense and special teams units. for most of this game were absolutely kicking ass up and down the field.

And it was 31 to seven bears were leading with 10 minutes ish left to play. And it's funny because I also had the saints giants game and at 5 41 on the clock, essentially at both times, something crazy happened for both of these deficit teams that were, I was like, oh, okay, this is about to get super weird.

And Kyle Pitts has two touchdowns. The Falcons go to two point conversions as well. Michael Penix in that time period, about 10 minutes left in the game, goes eight for 14 for 152 yards and two touchdowns. But the Bears defense that had stepped up all game found a way to close things out at the end. This was guys all over this very much maligned defensive line. It's like James Lynch is getting his hands on the football defensive lineman, Daniel Hardy. has a sack. I mean, I bet even some Bears fans weren't aware that this guy's on the team. Like, Kyler Gordon obviously was moved around everywhere. They were creating on special teams. They forced a turnover there, too. This was just a complete, for most of this game, a

complete butt-kicking. Caleb Williams was fantastic. I have very little complaints about this one.

Yeah, I thought it was really telling. First play of the entire game, they roll Caleb Williams out. He shows his mobility. He hits loveland and that leads to a similar play for that caps the first scoring.

Drive here we go for the bears second now in 13 back just about the 15 yard line out of the pistol they send it back pressure coming steps up against it here's room to run he's still looking scanning throwing.

Loveland touchdown bears in traffic double team can't have had grass to run he fires it to loveland 14 yards and a beauty.

Now that's where he gets out on the move, makes a great play.

I don't know if they would have qualified that under pressure. Probably.

The difference I saw statistically, and you can tell me how it looked to your eyes. When Caleb Williams did not face pressure in this game, he went 24 of 24 for 248 yards. So basically, if you don't get pressure on him, he's going to kill you 10 yards per attempt. Michael Penix, on the other hand, when he did not face pressure in actually averaged under four and a half yards per attempt under 13 for 21 for 92 yards. So that's a team that like, even when they weren't really getting to him and that might've been because he's just getting rid of the ball so quickly and they're picking up short games.

Well, he also was protecting the ball. Caleb Williams was so, so for me, that that's one of the big elements that differentiated the two teams in this game was The way that Caleb Williams protected the football, when he didn't have something downfield, he didn't force plays. He took care of the football, even when he was flushing or try to create, and he didn't see something, he would throw it away. He finished 30 for 36, 30 of 36 with a touchdown in the 305 yards. He wasn't always comfortable back there, but he didn't make, he didn't take negative plays and he didn't make mistakes or, or try to press or force anything, which I think is a credit first of all, to him and how he and Ben Johnson worked together. and the rest of this, this team,

but also what the defense was able to do on the other side and how dominant they were playing early in this game. You guys, we saw that we've seen the Falcons absolutely like almost like they're playing on two football fields worth of yardage. When it comes to their outside zone runs, they are averaging came into this game, averaging 6.7 yards per carry just on outside zone runs and well over, you know, 120 yards per game on average, just on outside zone run plays. The bears totally bottled up that those run concepts specifically, and the Falcons could not and would not switch to run inside. The Falcons came finish this game with 63 rushing yards. It totally was a big swing factor where I think this defensive

line and the collective of players like Kyler Gordon coming down to help. in the tackling game too. Like it completely flipped and inverted where the Falcons strengths were and they had to rely just on the passing game and they got enough pressure so that they couldn't.

Yeah.

Look, these teams want to run the ball. Neither one did very well in terms of Efficiency or total yards. But I look at that the Bears actually ran the ball design runs 33 times, didn't even get over 100 yards. And the Falcons were only able to 12 times because you couldn't use Bajon after you fell down early. And so I think this is a well-coached team in Chicago.

I feel good about them getting this victory moving on and heading into a Thursday night football game. against the New England Patriots. That's a good looking TNF game.

Thomas is split to the right against A.J. Brown for the Patriots with two receivers left. Shotguns down to May. He throws it to Hunter and it's wide open. Walks in.

Open.

Walks in. Float coverage. Touchdown New England. Taking Katie from the baby right there. Touchdown for May. Another three for the big guy.

It hasn't been a great day for him.

But keep pushing. Keep beating teams like this.

What's wrong with Scott Zolak? That was a great day.

Is he back on DeVito now?

Is he talking about May or is he talking about Henry? I don't even know.

26-19.

Drake May was easily the best part of this Patriots team today. in a 26-19 victory because he had a lot go against him. You lose three offensive linemen for the game, and you've got to assume they're not coming back for Thursday Night Football.

That's worrisome.

Morgan Moses starting tackle. Elijah Vera Tucker goes out with a hamstring. Ben Brown, who I believe was their third right guard, they're now going to be on their fourth. They're actually now without their top four guards going into the season.

You lose those guys. You have A.J.

Brown drop three to four passes, killing two drives and taking... Points off the boards and your teammates, Demario Douglas and Travion Henderson specifically, both fumble away possessions. And yet every time the Jets kind of got back in this game, May had answers for the blitz. He had big time throws, especially late. I mean, in the game.

There you go.

Let's listen to one of those big time foes. To Romeo Dobbs, another player that he lost to a shoulder injury. This was Dobbs' only catch of the day.

From this angle in a phenomenal, phenomenal job by your offensive line all day May.

That was the first drive of the game.

And so Drake May, yeah, getting off to a fast start, ends up with three touchdowns, has eight touchdowns in the last two weeks with no turnovers. I think he's just had a good barometer of how to get away from pressure. They're not all risk-free plays, but he's managed to keep the ball the last couple of weeks out of harm's way and ultimately like a pretty comfortable victory over a Jets team that held the ball for a lot of the first half.

Of this game.

I was really.

surprised they didn't get much pressure. They're basically, I mean, they didn't sack Drake May once and I'm looking at the quarterback pressures and I was looking, checking in on this one from time to time and they just were not getting pressure at all. You would have thought with the restructured over offensive line with the injuries they're dealing with that this would have been a lot more of a opportunity for them.

It was the biggest mismatch in this game is that the Jets pass rush was not making it happen and the Patriots pass rush was. And you just look at the personnel and you don't think that's going to happen. Huge credit to Will Campbell, who's playing through an ankle sprain or a knee sprain, rather. We thought he was going to be out multiple weeks. He ends up playing.

Travion Henderson's playing through a high ankle sprain. I don't know why he didn't play well. But, like, I totally agree. And I actually don't think David Bailey and Inigbari have been winning a lot of one-on-one matchups this year, but they've been great at hustle plays. And every time, Chuck, that Aaron Glenn, like, dialed up the perfect blitz... Drake may just beat it with his legs, whether it was going to be throwing or passing. The rushing numbers don't look crazy, 4 for 24, but each one of those scrambles could have been a bad sack, and they end up leading to big gains.

Yeah, and that's where he's at his best.

If he's able to actually have a legitimate running threat or just at least extend plays and pick up a few yards here and there just to keep yourself on the positive side or closer to on schedule, then it's going to be that much harder to defend. It is funny, though, Jordan, what you mentioned, because you think about last week, the Jets had eight sacks last week, right? And it was a banner day for the entire unit. I think about it conversely with the Patriots' pass rush. They've been sneakily very.

Good over the last few weeks.

Yeah, we talked about it last week.

Ponder with another good game. Elijah Ponder had three quick pressures in this game. That is two more than the entire Jets team. Christian Barmore and Milton Williams also had a couple sacks early in the game. Then they were a little quieter, but Milton Williams still, who had yet to get his first sack on the season, was happy to get off that goose egg.

It was just on us. It was eating at us, you know, week in and week out, just being close but not, you know, finishing the job. And so we had those conversations all week, you know, talking a little noise, getting our ear a little bit. But we just continued to challenge each other, man, like this is going to be the game. This is going to be the game when we get it done. And, you know, like you said, back-to-back plays, you know, we went out there and just executed it. when we were supposed to and took advantage of the opportunity.

I love coach season, by the way. There's been some fantastic coats.

Out there today.

He's got a very fancy, going-to-a-holiday-formal Rick Ross.

Vibe going on.

I love that coat. I would wear that.

So the Patriots get it done, and the Jets get Omar Cooper back, who made a huge impact. Six catches, 103 yards, and a touchdown. Also had a touchdown pulled back from penalty. Geno Smith, through his first interception of the season, was a bad decision, bad throw, and it was during their second-half comeback where... They were down 17 to three, had a chance to make it closer.

He did bad throw. What are you laughing at?

I know that hurts you to say that.

I mean, we got close to my perfect Gino versus the Patriots game because overall, I thought he played well until that moment, like, you know, over eight yards per attempt.

They moved the ball pretty well.

They should have been ahead by way more or at more competitive in this game. But he, he being Frank Reich, kept going for fourth and shorts and And gun runs. And out of the shotgun. On one hand, like, yeah, you can blame the play caller. On the other hand, like, pick up a short yardage situation. The Patriots were just shutting them down.

Did they not learn?

Second and one. Third and one. Four and one. And that happened over and over.

Let's think back to one of those games they lost this year that they totally could have won and then didn't.

Week two or something. Week two where they failed on the fourth and short run out of the gun. Same situation. Did they not learn?

They did not learn.

The Jets.

Thank you.

Ball to two and four.

It was a big swing game, I think, for these two teams. If the Jets really wanted to get into the mix, they could have here. The Patriots have now won three straight. So that'll be a good game on Thursday Night Football. Let's take a quick break. And then when we come back on the other side, we will get to another big time division rivalry.

Sprinting in motion. Walker gets it left side.

Swords through 20, 15, Walker inside the 10, 5, touchdown! Kansas City, the NFL's best running back so far in 2026, just hammers the Chargers with a 33-yard run to the sweet neck for the end zone.

Say it with your chest, Ms. Toltes.

Kenneth Walker making it happen again. A well-rested Kenneth Walker.

I love that for him.

He's going to make it happen. He goes over 100 yards again. This time, 128. A couple touchdowns.

We have some Crazy stats, Chuck, that like Kenneth Walker is doing things not done since Jim Brown. That's the kind of start he has had to his career with the Chiefs. They win going away 22 to six. Make this game interesting to me.

Oh, I think that clip just did it for us. That was the story of the game. That's been the story of the Chiefs season. Kenneth Walker, my first note is Ken Walker, Ken Walker, Ken Walker, because he defines this offense. He makes plays like that on a day in which the Chargers defense actually played pretty respectably. except for when Kenneth Walker was there to make a big play.

He had that touchdown run. He had another one later that just made me start chuckling in my chair because I'm just like, oh.

Just stop it.

Pish posh.

Just stop it, Ken Walker. You're doing too much.

And he's doing so much for this offense that you don't even have to think about Patrick Mahomes. You don't have to think about the fact that they keep losing receivers to injury because he is the bell cow and the engine that makes this offense go. I will say, though, the Chiefs, when they look back at this tape, they're going to lament some of the things some of the points that they left out on the field, whether it was a missed field goal or a missed opportunity. There were many opportunities in this game where they could have really piled it on. 22-6 is not reflective of how one-sided this game really felt.

Yeah, they get to 400 yards of offense, but Mahomes throws a groaner of an interception. In the red zone, Justin Herbert, though, has to top him. with an even worse interception in this game. And yeah, some of the stats are just extreme for this game. I believe, let's see, Jim Brown and Kenneth Walker, Jim Brown for the 63 Browns, are the only two players with 600 rushing yards, six touchdowns, and multiple receiving touchdowns through the first five games of the season. So that's one extreme. Here's an extreme for the Chargers. They're the first team to start 0-6... average 15 or fewer points per game, and have 15 plus giveaways since the 09 Titans quarterbacked for those first six games by.

Cary Collins. Now, it's kind of unfair. We did this before the show.

Yeah, but.

You're the Cary Collins guy.

I pretended to act surprised.

Yeah, you did a good... You were such a good... Acting! You were such a good co-host.

The thing is, that's so... cool about this is you can just see more and more as the games go with. the chiefs and with Kenneth Walker, like how much this playbook literally must have a picture of him at the top of every single page. It's like passing play screen, like all the cool little tunnel stuff that the Andy Reid likes to do. And it's literally just like artistically done just around like his face. It's just, it's a, he's, he's a delight. He's a joy to watch right now.

Stained glasses. His upper body is the centaur and the bottom half is a horse.

Yeah.

And the, And then on the Chargers side, I think that's nine in a row since last season that they've lost, right?

Yeah.

What did you see that was, I don't know if it was any different because statistically, you know, it looks the same. And I saw some of the low lights.

What did you see?

It's a reinforcement of the same thing. Their offensive line can't hold up at all. This is a Chiefs team that didn't have a sack in any of the last three games. They had four today. They nearly had five. Oh, like just inches from having a fifth late in the game. They got tons of pressure after him. After Justin Herbert all day, he was forced to try to make something out of nothing. But he also makes mistakes that hurt his team, like the interception.

It wasn't the only one.

He's a little bit better when he's getting sacked about avoiding fumbling the ball away, unlike the game against Denver. And the worst part about all of it is that he still makes a throw or two a game, and you're like, that's the guy I know. And he made one of those throws in this game that I think may be a throw that you can't make.

I feel like it is.

Because the Chargers are so bad, we can't go full call on the throw. But if you watch us on YouTube, thank you. Subscribe and give us a like.

But that... Dime.

Do you see how accurate?

57 yards.

It's so accurate, it.

Lodges itself in his shoulder.

He is moving left while under pressure, and I don't know what the air yards was on that, but he throws it about the 35-yard line all the way to the opposing one to Quinton Johnson.

Do you know what they got out of that drive that ends at the one, right? Field goal.

Can I just say, sometimes I feel that we get less ethical than we should be about our highlights friends. And yes, that was a fantastic throw.

Yes.

Similar to our choice to play the Rams, ultimately game losing field goal at the end of the Ram segment.

It's a fair point.

We need to be more ethical with our highlights.

I don't know about ethical, just, um, We probably could have skipped that one in the end, but it just was such a weird, weird.

Moment in this game.

I'm going to be the Debbie Downer here, right? Let's just be creditable with our, you know.

The T, creditable.

Creditable.

Who was the Chiefs wide receiver that got hurt in this game, you're saying? Or coming into it, Rasheed Rice. They also lost Jalen Moore at tackle and who now will be in the concussion protocol. So I am curious to see if Josh Simmons ever comes off the injured list for this Kansas City Chiefs team, which is undefeated.

We have three undefeated teams left, one of them playing on Monday Night Football. Kansas City is now 5-0, like the Vikings, who are on their bye. The Chargers also head to their bye, winless. Jim Harbaugh was noncommittal, asking about the potential changes on the offense, including maybe his offensive coordinator, Mike McDaniel. We shall see. Let's go to Indianapolis.

Another two teams playing there that could have some changes coming up.

Rigoberto Sanchez, it's blocked! It's licked up!

Olumwafemi, Oladejo, that is a Titans touchdown!

They blocked a punt, and Oladejo takes it into the end zone.

The Titans have the lead!

Wow, Bones Fossil Special Teams unit gets home and blocks it. James Williams Sr. was all over Rigoberto Sanchez there.

If the Titans were going to get off the schneid, you knew we were going to have a funky call to make it happen. That was Taylor Zarzor on WGFX. That was Femi Oladejo. I would say that was his biggest play as a Tennessee Titan. They hold on, ultimately winning 26-20. They were down 13-0 in this game, Shook.

Come all the way back. Colts do tie it up, but too late. Joey Sly field goals end up being the difference in addition to some Daniel Jones turnovers. The Titans watched what Denver did on Thursday night football, winning despite only 168 yards of offense. And they said, we can come close to that. 186 yards of offense out gained by nearly 200 yards.

And they found a way to win. How did they do it?

How did they do it?

Well, they activated Carnell Tate. in key moments and they needed to move the ball down the field. They hit Cornell Tate seven targets, six catches, 70 yards and a touchdown. He got absolutely blasted by a defender and made it managed to shake it off and stay in the game. and make some key catches, including probably his best contested catch of his young career so far, which is his greatest strength coming out of Ohio State. They also got Tony Pollard going. We've been saying this for weeks. If the Titans, indisputably the worst team in football through the first five weeks, can actually find some life, they have to run the football a little bit better, and they did.

19 for 76.

It was pretty consistent overall with this offense, and it balanced it out enough that even when you had some weird Cam Ward moments where it just looked awkward and uncomfortable, they were able to overcome that by winning in all three phases, which was forcing the turnovers. getting the offense going well enough, just well enough, and getting that special teams punt block.

And a win when you are 0-5 should be absolutely celebrated. It will be a huge relief, and you'd like to see maybe they get Looser that the defense starts playing better in the defense while it gave up a ton of long drives and a lot of yards ultimately did turn the ball over three times. Now the Colts blew so many opportunities in this game that their fans were booing up 13 to three, up 13 to nothing, up 13 to six. It's pretty rare to see a home crowd boo while the team was ahead. And it's like they knew by the end of the game, which is, Daniel Jones threw what appeared to be a game-ending interception, but then they got the ball back from Tennessee to the point where they actually had a Hail Mary attempt

to try to win this game. The crowd was just empty.

Yep.

Like nobody left.

Nobody was there, but the few people that were there were audibly chanting, fire Ballard. I don't want to do it here, but that's just like... Even though you just did.

You just... Well, I mean, I didn't... I just heard.

Puppet master. I heard it in my head, and then I was like, oh, I've taken us down a bad path here. That's just dark.

And you, Jordan, kind of.

alluded to this was a sneaky big game for them because it was a type of game they couldn't lose. I've been saying that they've looked worse than their two and three record. You watch this one closely, Shook. Like, what did you see out of Daniel Jones, who will not be benched, according to Shane Steichen? He stood behind him after the game, but another couple interceptions from this off.

Yeah, it's more of the same. It's a lack of an ability to protect the football. I thought he did a good job with that last week. Did not do that as well this week. They also wasted some nice runs from Jonathan Taylor. You know, at one point he hits a sweep and I'm like, Oh, you know, it really warms my heart to see a team just run a traditional sweep and rip a big gain for it.

And it just felt like every time they made that progress, they got little out of it, if anything. Even your guy, Spencer Schrader, flirted with missing a field goal. He made it, but barely.

Flirted with missing a field goal.

It just kind of gave me a sign that after a strong first quarter.

Oh, I flirted with not being perfect.

You know, just to spice things up a little bit.

Yeah, that flirted. I saw that field goal.

I'm adding color to the picture. It went in.

It went in.

But yeah, I mean, overall, it was just, they are with, oh my God. Not to quote the late Denny Green, but they are.

Who we thought they were.

It was the, I believe, it was the anniversary of that press conference just last week.

We're going to crown him. We can give him some credit.

There was a surprise inactive for this game, at least, you know, early in the week. We thought, We had no idea that Tyler Warren was going to be hurt. He got hurt at practice on Friday. So Keenan Allen is your wide receiver one in terms of 11 targets. And then it's Josh Downs and Deion Burks. It's not an explosive offense, but other teams find a way, especially against the Titans.

Yeah, I mean, Burks had a nice catch. And I was like, oh, nice.

It's another receiver who could turn into something with the last name Burks, other one being Traylon.

But the rest of this group is just, I mean, it's disconcerting.

Josh Downs, I feel bad for him because he's a great slot receiver, but he's not somebody that you send out there and try to win against double teams. And every team double teams him because they know he's their best option. They're just, they're a low ceiling operation. And if Daniel Jones isn't playing at his absolute best and special like it was at the start of last season, they're just not going to get very far offensively.

Yeah, I'm glad you brought up Downs. Like there was a play where they're running a screen to him.

It was a good play. And he's trying to run over defenders at the goal line. He's not a big guy.

But he actually got like 12 yards in a first down on that play and gets down to the two. And that was another possession where they end up settling for a field goal because you can't.

Even cash in.

So they flirted with a touchdown? Yeah.

Do you think they're going to be... You were in that building. Do you think they'll be.

They're probably not going to fire anyone mid-season.

I don't think. What's the point?

I know that this... Ownership group with Carly or say Gordon at the helm. They don't want to be reactive, particularly if you think about who would be taking over mid season at this point.

Right.

And so, you know, that, that would surprise me. Never say never, but that would surprise me. However, she was incredibly clear that this is a ultimatum type season for both of those guys.

She also said that, that she felt like last season was a movie that got put on pause when all the injuries and everything happened.

And she wanted to see the end of the movie.

Unfortunately, the rest of the movie looks exactly like it did at the end of last season. Sauce Gardner got hurt again. Obviously, they're a little more competitive, but here they are at two and four and struggling again.

With it. All right, we go from one division rivalry here.

Let me ask you a story real quick. That brings me to my last question for all these recaps. They go to 2-4.

The amount of 2-4 teams in the NFL right now. Houston, Atlanta, Indianapolis, the Jets, the Saints, the Eagles, the Cardinals, the Rams. How differently do you feel about that group of teams? I know it's a broad.

Well, right.

The fact that the Rams and the Texans are in that group, like, they are still teams that can get it together and would be dangerous if they make it into the playoffs.

The Saints I.

Also haven't totally canceled out, although it's not looking great.

Where do the Colts fall in that group?

Close to the bottom.

Yep.

Close to the bottom.

They, um.

They are closer to me to the very bottom of the league than they are to the top.

But you know what? I don't like extremes.

You?

I'm just saying, I don't like teams being winless.

He literally just asked you to do a ranking. For the first, I need to hold on to something.

What?

You refused to do a ranking?

I just gave him the ranking. I answered the ranking.

What I was going to say is I don't like extremes that we still have some winless teams out there.

We don't speak in absolutes and we don't live in our fears. How about this?

I feel better. No, I'm just kidding. I'm not going to bring up the team that we always talk about. They had a bye this week. Not going to do it.

Nope, we're not doing it.

I don't even know who that team is.

Let's go to two teams we talk about a lot, the Packers and the Cowboys on Sunday Night Football.

Melton in motion to the right. Half-loaded shotgun.

Snap to Love. Looking left.

Throws.

Middle.

End zone.

Golden. Touchdown.

Back line to the end zone. And a Lambeau lead. To the north end zone stand for Matthew Golden. They beat a mere speed.

Sometimes we don't need to hear the dagger call from Wayne Larravee and Packers Radio Network. Sometimes we hear the first touchdown call of the night because it set the tone for a 23-13 Packers victory over the Dallas Cowboys.

The Cowboys get one in garbage time. Didn't feel that close.

Felt like the Packers could have gone over 30 in one of the better performances I thought of Jordan Love's career. It's almost too easy for the Packers in this game. And Chuck, if you'll indulge me, I'm just going to run through why I think that is. Well, you brought the notes out by using the first drive as an example of how well Jordan Love is playing and is in his bag.

First try.

First third and five. Middle of the field to Savion Williams. I mean, this is where the good quarterbacks win. Middle of the field. Tough throw. Next third down. Dime to Christian Watson. Again, middle of the field. Just over the outstretched hand of the Cowboys linebacker. Like, absolutely beautiful throw.

Later in the drive, a touch throw down the sideline to Matthew Golden. Like, just showing a little bit of everything. Then there's a third and 13 throw. where he picks out the right mismatch, which happens to be Pierre Strong. I think it was on Jaishan Barham. And Jaishan Barham is just struggling in coverage right now. And he's the guy that you're picking on. And you get a third and 13 throw over the middle where he's smart enough to recognize the mismatch. And then finally, it ends with another nice throw again over the middle to Matthew Goldin. Love, I know, ends up 276, one touchdown, one interception. But between Golden, especially, and Watson dropping passes, he could have had about 100 more yards in this game.

He was awesome.

And to me, he knew everything that the Cowboys were throwing at him and ultimately led to a comfortable win. I feel differently now about these four and two Packers.

Yeah, well, and you can give all the praise in the world to Jordan Love for exactly what you just described, but also this kind of feels like this is what he should have done against this defense, right?

Sure.

Okay, that's fair. And it was like the quality of the throws.

And I hear you, and I think that's all very valuable, but it doesn't diminish it. It's just that this is what we expected. This is more confirmation, reaffirmation of Jordan Love, who he is and who he was last week against Chicago, that it wasn't just a flash in the pan kind of a fluky thing, that he was able to do this against this defense. What's more important to me is the way this Packers defense is playing. Because this is two straight weeks in which they've taken offenses that had reputations for putting up points. I know last week was Tyson Bajan and Case Keenan, but this week, it was Dak Prescott. It was George Pickens. It was CeeDee Lamb.

They were not at full strength, but pretty close to full strength. This is a team that was supposed to put points on the board. This was a matchup that, in the last five matchups, it required 31 or more points to win. The Packers took four of them. 40-40 tie was the most recent one. We were supposed to get points!

Yeah.

Where are the points? I'll tell you where the points are. They're not here because the Packers defense has arrived.

I love that. I wanted more.

This game dragged on with penalty after penalty in the fourth.

22 combined.

In the fourth quarter. And Jonathan Gannon. you know, ate up Brian Schottenheimer for dinner. Jonathan Gannon has turned into a really good hire. The interception that Evan Williams had on Dak Prescott, where he backs off the line of scrimmage, they have used Evan Williams and Javon Bullard, I would add, too, as the two safeties, just in excellent ways.

And Evan Williams is having... an all-pro type of season.

And this is really back-to-back weeks where Dak Prescott, who threw a couple interceptions, one was bad luck in this game where CeeDee Lamb fell, but he could have thrown a few more.

So I think the luck evened out.

He had one taken off the board by a bogus penalty in the fourth quarter. Two straight weeks where he's been pretty confused by the blitzes that the Buccaneers and now the Packers sent at him. And going into this game, the Packers' defense was eighth in defensive DVOA without Micah Parsons. That's going to improve after this performance. Overall, they're really playing cohesively and a Cowboys offense that you just expect to be better.

Man, it's a long season.

I felt quite differently about these two teams just two weeks ago. If you think about what the Packers have done since losing that blowout against the Falcons, the blowout loss, and then what the Cowboys now have done back-to-back losses.

Well, I just asked you about the 2-4 situation.

The Cowboys are now part of that group, and it just kind of goes to illustrate how these teams can be at different points in their progress through the season and how we view them differently.

And yet.

You talk about managing the schedule all the time. The next three games for the Cowboys at Philly, which is always weird. It's always a rivalry game, even with Philly in their current state. Home versus Arizona at Indianapolis. They can get back on track offensively pretty quickly.

And then we can.

What will happen is we'll be fooled into looking at this and going, oh, it was just a bumpy stretch for them.

They're totally fine.

But do we... I don't... Here, this is just a team I don't know if I trust to win games.

I know the vulnerabilities of this Dallas offense now, and it's all built around when you face defenses that know how to give you confusing blitz looks and bringing pressure from different areas they don't handle it.

Well joey porter jr helped them out tonight i know he had the long penalty uh but in general uh he helped him out but i think there's bigger issues here for the defense that are going to be harder to fix and yeah george george pickens gets it going late but just doesn't seem quite as good overall um the first six third downs of the game for the packers they averaged over eight yards on third and down you know third and eight plus average over eight yards and they were six for six yeah i mean that that is just outrageous without a running game schottenheimer meanwhile is punting on fourth and three across midfield to start the game uh whereas michael floor is going for it matt lafleur rather so good job by the packers uh

seasons do change fast right now we have an nfc playoff situation where if the season ended today no seahawks no rams no eagles no No Cowboys. And yeah, a game where Dak Prescott not getting it done against the Blitz.

I have so much contemplation ahead of me with this week's power.

Oh, yes. So much.

So much has changed.

That's what's really important. No, what's really important. You know, we had a good time. We should have mentioned Jordan Rodrigue raced off into the Los Angeles into the night. She's working multiple jobs like you. And so I'm looking forward to her next column at the athletic.

They've all been tremendous.

Let's get out of here.

And let's talk about what should be a fun Monday night game. This NFC East, it's wide open right now. Washington, you can't even say they're out of it.

Maybe they can pull an upset victory over.

The unbeaten 49ers who can take major control of the NFC West.

We'll be live on YouTube after the game.

See you then.

2026 Week 6 Recap: Packers Stomp Cowboys, Caleb is Back, Rams Fall Flat and a London Classic

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