2026 Week 8 Late and Primetime Games Preview: Bears-Seahawks on MNF, Chiefs-Broncos AFC West Showdown and more!

Welcome to NFL Daily, where week eight is anything but.

See what I did there? You weren't listening.

It's Greg Rosenthal to the Chris Wesleyan Podcast Studio, where week eight is anything but.

I don't get it.

Anything but week.

It's a great week.

It's a great.

Not your best.

I think it's great.

I think the real ones will know. Let me know if you liked it.

Let's talk Bears Seahawks because that's the game that really inspired that. I mean, you're going to call it week eight and you got Bears Seahawks, maybe the matchup of the year. How about the Seahawks every week? It feels like just banger after banger. They had the Patriots.

That was great.

They had the Chiefs. The game wasn't great, but just thinking about it and them killing Patrick Mahomes was pretty fascinating. They had the 49ers. They had the Broncos. Now we have Ben Johnson and the Bears. They are three and a half point favorites at home. That's been the magic number this week. So once again, the odds makers believe the Seahawks just a little better than the Bears.

Interesting.

Mike Tirico, Chris Collinsworth, and Melissa Stark. on ESPN on Monday night. Can't wait to recap this game. That feels so far away from now.

We got lucky on this.

Yes.

What is your item that is giving you football joy from this game?

Yes. It brings me joy that, first of all, I think this is the game of the week and a potential NFC championship game preview.

Love it.

Second, I have long had this week circled on my calendar as the first time these two teams will play each other in both the Mike McDonald and Ben Johnson era.

They did not play each other last year.

We have no idea what it's going to be, but we know it will be awesome.

These are two coaches.

Who came into their head coaching role, marched to the center of the lunchroom and flipped over the cool kids table. They are two antagonists in their own way. Mike McDonald rising to the top of the NFC West last season over rival Shanahan and McVay and Ben Johnson quickly becoming the best young play caller, not in that coaching family and making it clear.

He does not like their club. Love this game.

I love it too. And as you were talking, I was like, didn't they face off as coordinators? And it was a crazy Lamar game, a crazy blowout where... And.

It's hurting my brain here.

But.

ultimately a disastrous game for the lions and Ben Johnson, not getting anything going against the Ravens. That's all the way back in 2023. It's a different time, but it was 38 to six. It's pretty rare to see a Jared Goff, Ben Johnson team.

You know who I bet really remembers every second of that Ben Johnson.

Ooh, I love it.

It's really cool. And Caleb Williams coming off that awesome, awesome, performance. I want to get to something about him in a second, but kind of just when it comes to this matchup, you think how he got those explosives against the Patriots and how they've been doing it well all season. He had eight plays of over 20 yards against the Patriots.

I do think, and even in that game, like when he took that late sack, which he kind of fumbled the ball and then recovered it against the Patriots, big mental error. His biggest weakness right now, and he's such a young, ascending, great quarterback, is I do think you can speed up his decision-making process sometimes when you can get pressure and The Seahawks are the anti-Vikings. You know, the Vikings don't believe in four-man pressures. That's what the Seahawks believe in more than anything. And they're getting pressure with four up front more than any team in the league, I believe, except one.

I think they're second right now in terms of pressure.

And so... Can you speed up Caleb only sending four with all that back? And that to me is the chess match just in terms of quarterback versus defense.

You need to keep as many players back as you can, too, because even without Cole Comet, who went on injured reserve after a brutal injury last week. So this is going to be his only his second game that he's missed in seven seasons, which obviously he'll miss the duration at this point. But he's like their Iron Man. He's also been a big factor for them in the passing game.

And they still have guys. Luther Burden is delightful. Like just ascending into one of the most exciting young playmakers in this game. They have players all over the field, even the guys like Colson Loveland, who hasn't been a huge factor in the passing game as our producer, Eric Roberts, much to his anger because a family member has him on their fantasy team.

Oh, he's delivering now. He's probably tight end one over the.

Last three weeks or so.

That's what I'm saying.

He's become more involved, but even the players who you think are going to be just blockers, Sam Roush is going to have to step up. They can get all of these guys, as Colson Loveland has been, activated in the passing game.

And... That's so dangerous. Absolutely.

Yes.

Pressure for drop everybody. Try to figure out how you can make things as murky as possible for the skill guys.

Yeah. And the bears, I believe are second in terms of having two tight ends on the field in general. So how much will losing commit change that? Will they just have the faith in, in Roush?

Will they, well, they drafted him for a reason. They talked him up. They, they big time talked him up, especially knowing that commit was going into a contract year next season. And so to me, the big questions that remain are like, okay, I love the bears running game. Seahawks are stifling, absolutely stifling the run game. They totally bottled up and stifled Kenneth Walker last week. They're the second best run defense in the NFL right now in yards per carry and success rate. And again, they do it exactly the same way they rush. Yeah, they bring down help sometimes, but they do it with the four guys they have up front who are playing better than any other four-man front in the league right now.

Right. When I talked about the three and a half, I was surprised because that's saying in a neutral field situation, the numbers would say that the Seahawks are only one point better. I have a lot more faith in the Seahawks than that. And maybe I just need to see the Bears do it a few more times with Caleb Williams.

The Thursday night game was great, but they're not the complete team that the Seahawks can be. Then again, the Seahawks, you know, trading for Quentin Nelson doesn't mean that That Sam Darnold will stop making big time mistakes. It doesn't mean that the running game is totally fixed in one moment, although they're coming off a good week. And Jadarian Price also, it sounds like he's going to be back at practice, might not be back for this game. They need to show it week after week. But I was really encouraged by Darnold's performance. I thought that was his best game of the season, despite one really bad throw. And then suddenly, you know, you're back to the Seahawks team you expected.

I think the question, and it's a totally fair one is like, is the Bears defense actually this good? You know, they, you know, are they better than average, which is just better than we would have expected because the way that they've played this year, you would actually say them versus the Seahawks offense advantage Chicago, which is just, I'm like having a hard time wrapping my mind around that.

I was going to ask you because I do, I kind of side-eye it a little bit because when you watch them play, they play with such energy and they're so active and they are greater than what they look like on paper, at least in the, you know, especially the last few games that they've played. But I still have that sort of like sort of sneaking suspicion about them because we do again of what they look like on paper and they're not supposed to be playing like this.

Kyler Gordon coming back has been an absolute weapon for them and, and super exciting to see him you know, back in action these last.

Couple of weeks. But I just, I don't know. And I'm curious.

I wanted to ask you, if you're Dennis Allen, how do you play this Seahawks team right now?

I'd be worried about them being able to do what they did a week ago on the ground. Because that is where the weakness is of this Bears defense. They're 26th right now in terms of rushing DVOA. And the game script, they've played really good complementary football, has kept them away from that situation. So are they big enough?

Are they... tough enough, like, physically to stand up. And Quentin Nelson, like, you know, it's not like jumping in and playing quarterback in one week. You can go out there and figure out the offense.

Get in the way and stay in the way.

Like, play guard right away. It's not like it's going to be some huge time to build up. But, yeah, just think of the matchups. Like, Eamon Worry and Witherspoon on Burden and Loveland. I'm with you. Burden is just so fun to watch. What did you think about this– poll that Albert Breer took.

I don't know if you happen to see it.

He asked executives, would you rather have Caleb or Drake May after the end of that game?

Oh, spicy. No, I hadn't seen that.

12 out of 17 took Caleb Williams.

Ooh.

Who you got? Who you got? Do you want me to say why?

I know, I know you're picking Drake May.

Of course. Well, because here's, I'm taking, I'm divorcing. You don't get Ben Johnson along with Caleb Williams, although that's going to make your pick look right because Caleb Williams will always have Ben Johnson. Um, But in a world where they had different situations, like Drake May, rookie year, significantly better in both. They were both in terrible situations.

Drake May significantly better. Second year, Drake May and him probably in similar situations or Caleb is even better. Drake May significantly better. So I'm like, I'm going off what I've seen so far.

I think I'm taking Caleb because I think he over time protects the ball so much better.

Takes a lot of sex. Now that that's fair. Actually, he doesn't take a lot of sex. His rookie year.

That was great last year.

A little doesn't turn it over.

Yeah.

Um, it's, it's the type of football you would want to play.

How things change because it was only a year ago where probably many of those same anonymous executives are muttering about Caleb Williams behind their, you know, behind the, under their breath or whatever. And it's like, Oh, you know, I, I always, that's a, that's great insight.

First of all, into the league Brewer always does a good job with that.

But like the, the crazy thing is how quickly these narratives can change.

Well, I also and my suspicion here is like it's confirmation bias. They all had Caleb Williams ahead of Drake May to begin with. So you stick with that evaluation and maybe that evaluation is right. Like they trust themselves. But the reality is he outplayed him by a lot in each of the first two years. And this year, at least how they're playing right now, they both look like.

top 10 quarterbacks, top five quarterbacks.

So this is where, is.

This where we plant like an NFL daily flag too? Like, are we going to kind of be monitoring this? You know, I, I sit my ground on, on one side, you stand your ground on another side.

And the problem is I, the way the problem is podcasting year after year, you know, like one year, you're going to be right.

One year, I'll be right.

One month, you'll be right. And then this is like, it goes back and forth. It's like a much better Mariota versus Winston, you know, much, much better.

Let's go to the Chiefs and the Broncos.

The great debate of our time.

Yeah, let's go to the Chiefs and the Broncos.

The game I should have taken in our draft was stupid. It is so important. I don't know why I didn't take it. The Chiefs are one and a half point favorites in Denver. Hmm.

That's interesting.

A little tempted to take Denver when we get to our picks.

On Friday.

You know how much I love hearing about your pick.

I know. I lean. You did well on your picks, by the way. You missed on the game we were in person, so that should count double. But, you know, you took the Saints there. But you did take the Dolphins to win. I did. Great job.

That should count double.

That should count double as well. And then you took the Vikings to win, which just counts like half. The same.

Sure.

That's fine. But you did well. Two and one. See, you've got a future in this. I like the Broncos this week. overall, but what's giving me joy. Thank you.

Thank you. Thank you for me going two and one. Oh no, it's for Jordan.

Okay.

That was pretty money. Although I agree. I did agree. And, uh, you nailed it. Uh, dolphins getting that we're going to get to the dolphins. My joy is big time division games. And I don't like these two teams already having a rematch in week eight. It's similar to the Steelers Browns game. I get it with the schedule. Like this kind of thing has to happen sometimes. but it's a great progress report game for the Broncos because you remember in week one, they didn't top 200 yards.

God, that feels like so long ago.

And Mahomes is 14 and two against the Broncos in his starts. In general, like they have dominated the Broncos in this era, you know, unlike almost any team dominating any other team in their division, including in week one, it's for first place. And if the, Chiefs can pull off this sweep. They really own this division. So it's really important. And it's at a time both of them are coming off, you know, questions about their offense. I know Denver just scored 30 points, but they also also have the fifth fewest yards per game of any team with a five and two record or better in the last 50 years. So this is a long timeline of relative offensive ineptitude that they are overcoming in And maybe they put it all together in a win over the

Chiefs and just totally reset their season if they can do that.

I would believe that the Broncos defense will play this game so much better than they did in week one. Because I remember the story of that week one game was 17 missed tackles by the Broncos defense was insane. Kenneth Walker's debut in all its glory of him just running up and down the field on this Denver Broncos defense.

It was Riley Moss having a tough game. It was just a lot of things that I think that the Broncos over time are known to clean up and are known to be much more impactful in doing.

I am curious.

This is a question for someone like Nate Tice or like Brian Baldinger or someone like if the Seahawks did anything that they could show that can be reapplied against Kenneth Walker. There is always some element of that when you're, you know, scheming and planning for a team. Obviously, players have to go out and do it and do it effectively.

But I am curious just structurally if there's anything that is copyable from what Seattle was able to do last week into this upcoming week.

The biggest thing, and this is not And I'm sure, you know, he had some wrinkles there, but was the tackling.

Like they're such a good tackle.

That was my point.

They were crazy how physical they were, not just on Walker, but especially on Walker. And I think Denver could do that. Most importantly, I think they can get pressure on Patrick Mahomes. Josh Simmons on injured reserve. Mahomes has had a really strong comeback overall.

But last week was rough.

That was one of the worst games he's ever played. Balls were dying on him. He was scrambled. He had that awful fumble at the end. He got forced into an interception. But it was the throws where he had some room in the pocket. And... just didn't deliver there about three or four in that game that you're just like, huh, I'm not going to like read too much into it.

Cause I don't think we've seen that a ton this year, but what a tough place to try to improve on going to Denver and play this defense, which absolutely looks different with Jonathan Cooper on the field. Jonathan Cooper is facing a trial for his domestic assault, but that trial is not scheduled until 2027. And so we can expect now that he's off the exempt list, he's there. And I look at these two pass rushes and they are not the same. On one side, you've got all their best players playing well. On the other side, like, is Chris Jones cooked? He's, he's given them nothing.

Yeah.

He's, he's one of the worst contracts in the league right now. And I know he's warmed up into a couple of seasons, but he's giving them nothing. He's getting paid $ 35 million guaranteed this year. I think he has like a couple of QB hits. Like he's been a negative player and man, they need him right now.

Remember last year around the deep third, like the latter third of the season, There was some rumblings locally that the team was not happy with the production that they were getting out of Chris Jones.

He, I think, took that probably pretty personally.

And then he sort of finished strong.

And then he finished strong.

Yeah.

And so I am really curious about this because we have seen what has been, you know, future Hall of Fame production go up and down quite a bit the last couple of years, especially sort of in this first half of the season.

Bo Nix right now, there's some crazy stats that our research department put together, and it's great. But one that stood out was he has a historically bad passer rating right now versus pressure. The only player with a worse passer rating versus pressure in the last, I think it's a couple decades, was a Drew Locke season as a starter of the Broncos, actually.

And now Drew Locke is thriving.

Right.

And so my question, and it's a larger question for the Chiefs, like, can they generate any?

Yeah.

Our loft is an R Mason Thomas is like a hard trying player. I've got my doubts about this chiefs team. I really do. Uh, in terms of their longterm growth and teams go in ups and downs, this could be a 12 and five team that has a dip in the middle of the season. And when would a logical dip be Jordan? How about when you go at Seattle at Denver? Like it doesn't mean that the season's a wash, like you can bounce back, but I just think it's a tough spot trying to sweep a good defense like the Broncos.

I am curious how aggressive they might be. The Chiefs might be at the deadline.

Really curious.

What do you think?

Well, I think they could use another receiver. I mean, I always think that about the Chiefs. I don't know how willing other teams are going to be to trade like a Josh Downs or.

A BTJ to them. I think they could use.

Help up front. Pass rush?

Certainly pass rush.

You know, I mean.

Interdivision teams are never going to trade with interdivision teams for the most part, but the Chargers season is already lost.

I know it's not going to happen. You Chiefs fans, Chargers fans.

You never know.

But they do need help with the pass rush. They are... It's a situation. If that does not improve, they're not a deep postseason team.

To me, it's like a philosophical question because the Chiefs, I feel, are in year one of... it's never going to be a rebuild under Mahomes, but they were trying to like get their picks back and find some young players. And so giving away a pick, they do have that extra one from the Trent McDuffie trade. It's number 76.

And so you have your own third round pick. In theory, you have one third round pick extra.

To play with. But my guess is they.

they wouldn't go too hard in the paint in a trade because it just long-term it's maybe not the year.

But I slightly disagree with you about the status of their build because yeah, I do think, you know, you're alluding to a sprint rebuild, uh, phrase that I love. Um, but you don't go out and sign Kenneth Walker, a veteran player who is going to be your entire offensive playbook for the most part. If you think you're in a, in a rebuild where you're preserving picks, you're not actually pushing for it. Like I do think they, their aim was to go younger and cheaper and in a lot of areas on defense and, and see come what may and, and, and, um, draft and develop there.

But I also, I don't think that precludes them from being aggressive at the deadline.

That's what I would do. You know, this organization does a lot of things that I wouldn't do. So, uh, they, they obviously are, um, we'll see how aggressive they are.

Yeah. You're, I believe alluding to them signing Justin Tucker on the practice squad. Yes. Yeah. I, I, Yeah, like he says, he being Andy Reid, that probably Justin Tucker will not be active this week.

It'll probably be Harrison Bucker who has been.

Struggling. Yeah.

And Justin Tucker, for people who don't remember, was suspended by the league after sexual misconduct allegations, particularly massage therapists took place, what, a decade ago?

Yeah, between 2012 and 2016.

Yeah.

And I.

I don't know.

I felt compelled to say something about it. I think the Chiefs are an organization that's directly profiting off of a massive infusion of female fans, yet reminds them over and over again that it does not see them as people. And it's emblematic to me of the larger NFL. You mentioned it where Josh Jacobs, Jonathan Cooper, Alec Jackson, Puka Nakua are all playing football under a range of allegations of violence toward women.

And the Browns.

Quarterback who is credibly accused of sexual misconduct to the point of an NFL suspension is getting discussed as though he faced adversity.

I love this.

Sport more than anything in the world, Greg. And I know so many women who love it, who work in the NFL, who cover the NFL, who want to do their best just to contribute to this game. in itself, the game does not discriminate. And so I'm like really angry today. And I was angry yesterday and I was angry the day before that. And I'm angry all the freaking time because this is people who are trying to contribute and realize their passion and potential in a system that does not consider them beyond a demographic.

Box that they check for their advertisers. And I am freaking angry.

And this team specifically, the Kansas City Chiefs, and that's really well said. Just do it again and again. You can just go back to Tyreek Hill and everything that went on with him and his children and Frank Clark when they drafted. Just over and over, they have shown themselves willing to look past all that. Like so many other teams. They're certainly not the only one. You brought it up. Not to be too cynical, but it's hard for these teams not to make you a little cynical.

It's always been like this sliding scale of... How much pushback are we going to get from the public? How talented are they? Because if they're not that talented, we just won't bother. The crazy thing is Justin Tucker freaking stunk last time we saw him. And, like, you don't have to do this. You really, like, there's no world where you need to do it, but they're at the sliding scale at the point where it's like, we really need a kicker. I guess it's just we don't really care.

And just say that.

Don't come up to the lectern with these– and adequate explanations and hedges. If you can't adequately discuss misconduct of this nature in one of the highest paid and most high profile professions in the world, this goes for every team. This is Kellen Moore last year that we talked about. This is Sean McVay. This is Sean Payton. This is Matt LaFleur. This is all of these guys. If you cannot adequately discuss this topic in a way that is adequate actually truthful to the situation, even if it is a messy, grimy, unfortunate decision that you have made for the quote unquote betterment of your football team, then you should not be talking about this.

You shouldn't be doing it.

What a world. Bucker and Justin Tucker on the same team.

So we'll see if Justin Tucker ever actually suits up, but he's suiting up at practice this week. Let's take a quick break. Let's come back and we will talk about the battle of Los.

Angeles, not the.

Premier game, I think Fox was expecting early this season.

Take a walk.

Back on NFL Daily for the Chargers and the Rams.

The Rams are the home team. It's rare.

You don't get the battle belly too often. Before the season, I thought, like, this is going to have some real heat to it.

I know.

We know enough, or I'll just speak for myself, I know enough to know, like, the organizations don't necessarily always like each other that much. It's awkward. The Chargers, like, pay, what, $ 1 in rent? It's the Rams stadium, but they changed the signage. They're the little brothers, the Chargers. They will be until they prove otherwise. And you thought, like, hey, like, this is our year where we can, you know, stand up if you're the Chargers. Instead, they're winless coming out of the bye week. The Rams have a losing record trying to get back to 500. They're six and a half point favorites. Adam Amin Jonathan Vilma, Christina Pink. What is giving you joy? And I'm guessing it's not that the Rams signed Joshua Cardi to the practice.

Squad, but that gives me a little.

That does make me laugh.

Cardi party.

That does make me laugh a little bit because he had a really kind of depressing exit from.

The team as well.

Desperate times.

It does bring me joy.

That while this might feel like a lower stakes game relative to what we thought it was going to be in the offseason, that based on the fan bases and the vibes, it's basically an organizational Super Bowl between these two buildings. You must win this game. If you're the Chargers, you must win this game. If you're the Rams, you must win this game. I like that there are stakes involved.

I would like to see the Rams not take a back step after showing some real positive progress last week.

It's a huge game for the Rams. I think less so for the chargers. Obviously it, to me, it's an upside game for the chargers. Right.

Yeah.

I guess I've just, cause I've given up and their chargers fans, they expect the worst. Our producer, Eric was asking like, who, who would it be a worse, you know, loss for. And if the Rams lost to the chargers at this point, the win list chargers that I think the team that it would drive them the most crazy to lose to other, you know, Seahawks, obviously it's like, those are big games, but, losing to a winless Chargers team who made no changes at all in the bye week.

I saw one of.

My favorite podcasts that covers a team as guilty as charged. And I think their podcast title was this week was zero wins, zero changes in bye week. It's like Mike McDaniel still calling plays.

Give it, give it two weeks. Cause they're, I think they're going to be sellers.

Okay. Fair.

And, but also just, we'll see if they're going to change anything schematically, but you know, starting lineup, not nothing sounds like it's changed one item of news. to pass along was Derwin James could be going on injured reserve. According to Jim Harbaugh, according, um, because of a setback, according to Harbaugh in his injury recovery, you, you raise your eyebrows. Yeah. Even the video listeners or viewers cannot see it because we're watching some chargers offensive low lights.

And actually the chargers offensive low lights are, video could fill the next seven hours.

No, I, I, I was telling you off camera before we started the show that I always, my like hair on the back of my neck always stands up a little bit. When I hear about a player who could potentially go on IR suffers a setback. like right before the trade deadline. Now, it could be something, it could be nothing. I just always, I always go, hmm, just a little bit just puts me, just puts me on edge just a little bit hearing that.

If Derwin James was truly available, and I've had my doubts because to me he, Oh, he is the Charger. If there is an LA Charger, it's Derwin James. But if he was available, in addition to Thule, Thule Pelotu, who I think absolutely should be available, he's a free agent. Khalil Mack, if he wanted to go somewhere, like there are interesting players here. But man, Derwin James in Buffalo, Derwin James in Detroit, if that Kirby Joseph maybe is a little duplicative with Brian Branch. Kirby Joseph, I mean...

Derwin James in a lot of places would be fascinating. Baltimore, of course, where Jesse is. I don't know if it makes sense with Kyle. It'd be fascinating.

Just do it. All the Joker players over there.

So the Rams were great last week in a lot of ways. I don't want to take away from that, but it is disarming to watch Matthew Stafford make so many good throws and then look up at the end of the game. and realized he had 6.2 yards per completion, even, I mean, per attempt, even though he's completing almost all his passes, because it's just dink and dunk and dink and dunk, and it's under five air yards. And I was watching that game, and I'm thinking, for a second, I wrote down, like, he is the more exciting version of Kirk Cousins right now. Like, it's just like, kind of, and then I thought, no, Kirk's pushing the ball. Like, he's the more exciting version of Aaron Rodgers right now.

And I don't think they're going to always play that way, but that's the way that they're having to play. And not great.

So, you know, I, I know this team well, and I have theories about this. I think that first of all, they had to reset in a big way. The passing game was so much of the main character of this team and the passing game was so up and down and it was not steady.

It was not consistent.

The thing about this group is, is there's so much, um, respect for Matthew Stafford. And then also, um, the head coach, Sean McVay is such a thermostat, meaning he sort.

Of, his vibe sort of affects the vibe of everyone.

So when the passing game is up and down, the thing that he is the architect of with Matthew Stafford, You're feeling it across the entire group. And so I think that contributes to some of their lack of identity. And to me, getting this back is a, is it solves two problems at once. And you've sneaky sort of seen the Rams dabble in this in, in previous years where one, you build the plane out of your steady guys, this Blake Corman, it was Davis Allen this, this last week as well. The third string tight or the number three tight end. It's like a big part of their blocking game. And Kyron Williams was great, but Blake Corham was the best running back on the field. He had no wasted movements, which I thought was really important because they,

they could not afford to be loose with the ball. They turned it over twice still, but to me, it, it created an effect. and a steadiness and an urgency and a time on task that they were lacking on offense. First of all, second of all, I've always held this longstanding theory that when the Rams do something like this, whether it is create a run first plan and, and make Matthew Stafford be a man game manager, or they, they, sit him for like a late week game and play Jimmy Garoppolo, for example, like they did a couple of years ago. He sort of I think this is my personal opinion. He sort of internalizes it and he simmers on it. And then he and then he is like he adamantly gets better and like darkly chaotic.

Matthew Stafford returns.

Right.

I think that is a twofold thing. Like, I think this is a strategy they really, really needed. And I still don't know what this defense is, but Jalen Watson is playing awesome.

Jalen Watson, 10 targets, gave up two catches last week with four passes defense. It was one of the first time in the next gen stats era. uh, that you gave up that few amount of catches on that many targets. And so we'll see if Trent McDuffie comes back this week, but yeah, to me, it's, you know, relying on their strength, which is yes, the running game and the running backs, but the offensive line in particular was awesome last week.

So they'll try to keep that going. And, uh, I'm now like one week away from declaring it's okay to be a little disappointed by Aaron Donald in this return. That's just personally, I'm, I'm a little, I, I'm going to give it like one more week and then I'm just going to say, it's okay. Feel your feelings. You can be a little disappointed by him just being okay.

All right, let's move on to the next game. Let's go to the Patriots and the Dolphins. The Patriots are favored by six and a half.

My Dolphins.

Your Dolphins.

Versus your Patriots.

With my quarterback, Malik Willis. Not just Drake May.

Had him one overall, so it was really nice to see him last week.

Oh, he played so well last week.

Giving me joy. He had the second highest recorded QBR game of all time.

It's incredible.

You know who had the best QBR game of all time? Also in this game.

Drake May. Last year. During the season.

So how do you get that? By extreme efficiency, throwing the ball and running the ball. And I really thought Malik Willis put it together last week.

In a way that you just hope for.

And I really was encouraged, and I've been encouraged by this coaching staff in general, that out of the bye week, we saw some changes. Number one, he just handled the blitz much better. His pocket movement was really awesome. And that's less about... schematics and more just about working on that. And he worked really well staying in the pocket. I've actually wanted him to run more. He hasn't run as much as I thought, but in this game, I appreciated it that he was having subtle movements in the pocket against the blitz. Uh, he had Caleb Douglas and Chris Bell, his two rookie receivers available to him together for, if not the first time, I think the first time from whistle to whistle where they actually lasted the whole game.

Douglas is a ball winner. He's a real dude.

Um, As a third round pick, everyone made fun of that pick and it looks awesome. And man, this offense can be dangerous. Mike Rabel was talking them up this week, you know, 185 yards on the ground and back to back weeks. And that the Patriots who showed some real vulnerabilities against the run last time out, they're now below average in terms of stopping the run are going to have to try to get Miami off the field or they can shorten this game.

And then it's like one Drake may mistake and you could be in trouble.

One of my favorite things after the week's games conclude is like our friend Nate, you just did a show.

I was listening to it on the way and it was great.

He does these like little like film tidbits, like he'll just things that interest him.

He'll just put it out there.

And he was pointing out that the Dolphins do like to run like specific families of concert. Like they have these. They're like, oh, we're going to dabble in this this week. And we're going to try this family of concepts.

And we're going to try this.

I think it's beneficial for multiple reasons. One, it helps expand their play menu over the course of a season. You couldn't do this in training camp with this group. A lot of times teams will just install their full run packages and everything they will need in advance and then call back to it.

Can't do it with this group.

You're basically learning how to line up with how many young guys and rookie and new players are on this roster. So I like that they're doing it this way under Bobby Slowik, who did need a bit of a bounce back, I think, year. And I also like that it's hard to scout. And so that goes to your point of how the Patriots have struggled of late in stopping the run.

It's very, very hard to know exactly what conceptually the Dolphins are going to want to do. Makes it even harder when the quarterback can move and thus disguise some of these concepts as well.

They've had long drives all season, but they haven't kept it going throughout the game like they did against the Jets. They had a 14 play drive, a 15 play drive. And the push they got up front was just dominant in that game. It wasn't quite Bucks versus Panthers like, but it wasn't that far off. And they have some real difference makers between Patrick Paul and Aaron Brewer. And Caleb Proctor, who's been up and down as a first round pick by all accounts this season, had the key block where he was on the move on like a counter on the game winning play, basically. So that was a really nice moment for him. And I think they could give the Patriots defense problems. The Patriots defense, though, talked about at the podium Christian Gonzalez this week. This

is going to be the first time all season they have their entire secondary together. So the Patriots have been close to leading the league and guys on injured reserve. But they have had a lot of guys that have been in and out and guys coming back. They are getting a little healthier on defense. So that's really positive news for them. On the flip side, you know, to me, it's a game where, yeah, you want more possessions if you're the Patriots.

You don't want it to get that limited.

And you want to put up 30 plus points and keep their offensive mojo going because they look great in Chicago overall. I think it was a really good Drake May game. One bad mistake, but other than that, awesome. And they've had some... transformations like it's the all tight end offense a lot of the times like Hunter Henry and Eli Raritan like can you get AJ Brown to do anything they've they've really had like a deep offense and it's not the guys you expected Travion Henderson's their third best running back he's he's getting harder to play right now because he can't pass protect and Corey Kiner's playing really well but I actually think it's a good problem to have for them like they actually have a

quite deep diverse offense. That's what Josh McDaniels likes because he can kind of pick what he wants to do in a given week and comparing them to where they were after three weeks offensively. I actually do think there's like belief that like we can be a top five offense if you're a Patriots fan. Like I think it's it's getting there and it's not all the way there, but it's getting there. And this is a game where you got to win this game. You got to put up a lot of points.

You put you put it into great context there. Like they are very, very multiple. They're not productively multiple. So that's where I think that's the sort of the gap right now. And part of it is because they keep shooting themselves in the foot too. Their turnovers are killing this team. They're second worst in turnover differential in the NFL right now. And some of that's the quarterback, some of it's fumbles, you know, it to me, and then they're not taking the ball away.

Like you would hope that they do.

So for me, it's like to be more productive, like in their multiplicity or their potential is, of multiplicity that they have. We saw it in a couple of games, right out, right out of the gate too. Um, you know, I, I just think they have to stop with the self-inflicted errors and pushing themselves back or forcing. sudden changes because then you have to basically... Josh McDaniels can be as flexible as he wants, but if you've got to scrap your call sheet and start over and you're based down in distance, that's not helpful. Right.

They've somehow been a top 10 offense since that slow start, despite they're on their fifth guard right now. They might get one of those guys back to Greg Van Roten. I mean, how much.

Hey, don't hate on Greg Van Roten. That dude is a, he's a great guy, but yeah. So there, I mean, you can hate on his plate. Don't hate. I'm not hating.

I'm just saying like, I'm, I guess I shouldn't put too much faith in that, but Caleb Lomu, their first round picks come in and played pretty well as an injury replacement. Like they've had things going on. This is a massive spot for them. Just cause I think when you look at the dolphins and the jets, it, for the Patriots, their schedule is so tough otherwise, you got to sweep those games. If you can go 4-0 in those games, the playoffs are very possible. But if you suddenly lose this game, then it's like, oh, we're on a two-game losing streak and the Packers and Lions are coming up next.

Like, it gets much more difficult.

And, you know, can I just, again, reiterate how well the season is going for the, what, 1-6 Patriots?

Miami Dolphins.

One in five.

One in five Miami Dolphins. They are having a lot of fun. Last week was emotional. Maybe a letdown game for them.

We'll see.

Sunday night football. One of the worst Sunday night footballs of all time. Maybe the worst.

We'll be covering it. It's statistical right here.

This is the first Sunday night football game in the history of like the spot where it became the premier game of the week with NBC.

That was over, that was 20 years ago.

Where both teams are under 300%, 30% winning percentage after September, you know? So this on paper is the worst Sunday night football game of all time, which is, funny to think about and i just ask the flex people out there this nfc east chokehold needs to end like you had the browns steelers right there i did some research i did some reporting oh Ravens bills was blocked, but, but Brown Steelers was wide open. That was the game they were really looking at. And that was already reported.

That wasn't by me, but I.

Wonder if they, like me expected the saints to upset the Steelers.

Right.

They might have thought and maybe the Browns, although the Browns are playing the Titans. Like, so you got to make this decision. It was a dumb decision. Why is this in primetime? They don't deserve joy.

No, maybe they do.

We do have like a little tidbit of joy out of this game.

It was something that I heard retroactively from the Manning cast when Wade Phillips was discussing at length the Philadelphia Eagles issues so far on defense.

The great Wade Phillips. Coach, thanks for stopping by to teach Peyton how defense works, even though we're not seeing much of that here tonight.

I don't think we're seeing any.

But there's really, there's only two plays that they can't stop. That's a run and a pass.

Simple.

Simple, he says. It's amazing.

That brought me so much joy.

The delay hurts so much there.

Son of bum, he's got it.

That was an absolutely bum Phillips quote, I'm sure, back in the day.

I love those old... Old quotes.

Like, yeah, what do I think about our offense's execution?

I'm in favor of it.

I'm in favor of it, yeah.

I think the commanders are more interesting here.

This is a tough spot that they're 1-5-1, and they're not totally out of it. 1-4-1, right? Because they had a bye. Oh, right, the tie. Like, they don't have as many losses. I've been... They've been a little bit of a guilty pleasure where I think they're interesting to watch, and the Eagles... look like a defense that honestly just like isn't playing their hardest right now it's been a bad Cooper to senior which is weird Jalen Carter hasn't done that much Moro uh Ojomo and Jonathan Grenard I wonder if they could be traded so that's something to watch in this game but man the Eagles are are a tough watch right now and it's an important spot for Washington to just kind of like Give themselves some hope.

I don't think they're that out of it. I believe they have the Cowboys next week. And if nothing else, win this game to set up that Cowboys game as a game that matters in week nine. And if you won those two games, you can absolutely convince yourself that the games matter.

I was really puzzled, I guess, by some of the quotes I saw coming out of Eagles press conferences earlier today where Nick Sirianni said he did not think that Lack of effort was an issue where you didn't see lack of effort as an issue with some of what happened to them on defense. I mean, we could, we could see it. There were a couple of times where those interior defensive linemen were so slow. and late getting to the line of scrimmage and then getting positioned. If I am the commanders and I'm coming off the buy and I see that I go no huddle as often as I can.

I get to the line of scrimmage fast. I get the playoff fast. Hopefully the communication between the headset and the quarterback are better at this point.

And I just try to capitalize off of a team that seems like quite disinterested, even from its best players in, in playing football this year.

The commanders are favored by five and a half in this game.

Wild.

Whoa.

I keep looking for numbers that confirm my bias that the commanders are better than the record shows. They are 24th in DVO way, which is maybe a little better than the record shows. I, I do find them compelling and they have a real quarterback who, and we're watching his trajectory. It was only what two years ago that we would have that, Those same executives would have taken him over Caleb Williams and Drake May. He's a long way from that, but can he stack games the rest of the year? What did they do during their bye week?

We will be watching on Sunday Night Football. And then we will be recapping on Sunday night with our friend Nick Shook.

We did it.

Nick Shook did a.

Great job, by the way, and Keegan and Patrick. They did a great job while we were in Paris.

They brought it almost in an uncomfortably... Like, effectively.

I know.

Are you feeling the heat a little bit?

A little bit. Yeah.

I need a little, you know.

I did.

You did.

You were very juice forward today.

Yeah. I'm going to say, like, a little more Tanner McKee out of them would be great and a little less, like, 2001 Tom Brady.

That would be nice. Let's get out of here.

Check out myself and Jordan Rodrigue for the first time on Thursday Night Football. Remember? Yeah. You signed up for that. Coming back from Paris. This is me telling you.

The look I just gave you.

Yeah. You're on. Because we didn't do Monday. It's me and Jordan. A fun game.

Panthers-Packers.

Two teams right in the NFC mix. We'll be live on YouTube after the game. We will see you then.

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