Week 4 Recap: 3 Undefeated Teams Remain, First Place Giants and Dominant Bears

Welcome to NFL Daily, where I think this NFL thing is going to make it. I'm Greg Rosenthal. I'm here in the Chris Wessling podcast studio with my friends Jordan Rodrigue and Nick Shook. Going to test a theory out on you. Football is good, man. This was a good Sunday. Good in the morning. games, the Kansas city chiefs, Las Vegas Raiders with a banger of an afternoon game. I think we're going to.

Have a good season.

I'm sorry. Uh, your theory is that football is good. Yeah.

Okay.

I'm going to have to think about that one.

Yeah.

I mean, this is just, this is the type of.

Hard hitting analysis you get.

From, this is why we fund universities, MVP voter, Greg Rosenthal. That's right. Uh, the NFL is delivering right now, just in a, in a good little stretch of great games. We entered Sunday with five undefeated teams, uh, We are leaving with only three. Two of them played in that aforementioned game in Las Vegas.

Let's go there.

30-27 Kansas City.

Now a quick snap as the Raiders and a flag on the play.

Hit as he throws.

The ball's intercepted. Intercepted by Kansas City. Picked off by Xavier Wompa. I think the penalty's on the Raiders. I don't think they were set. Brad Rogers talks over with his crew. Pulling on the field is an interception by the defense.

Illegal shift.

Offense.

Number two.

That penalty is declined.

And the Chiefs are going to win over the Raiders and go 4-0.

Xavier Wampa gets.

His first career interception.

But there was a pressure and a hit on Kirk Cousins with a two-man rush.

A two-man rush. Just digging it in there, Mitch Holtzis on KFNZ. Yes.

Not Xavier Worthy.

Xavier Wampus with the interception to finish off a 30-27 victory by the Kansas City Chiefs. A game that I think we were all looking forward to. Wanted to see, are the Raiders for real? Like, how real is all this? It was a great game. It looked like a game between two evenly matched teams. In which there was one sequence in the fourth quarter that ultimately did in the very game Las Vegas Raiders with Kirk Cousins looking like, I don't know, Dante Culpepper, like back there at his peak running around. Let's actually listen to under five minutes ago.

The Raiders have a lead in this game and then suddenly it goes to a two score deficit.

Kick angles to the near side in the landing zone. And then Find a left side return. Missed tackle.

Trying to reversely field.

But Jalen Royals is waiting for him.

Along with Xavier Wampa.

And now a fumble come out. Chiefs think they've got the ball. Are they going to give the ball to the Chiefs here? They have not yet signaled Chiefs football. Chiefs have the ball.

They've got the ball. A fumble tickles return. Somebody yanked the ball loose.

Jack Cochran ends.

Up with the football at the bottom of the pile.

First down and 10 for the Chiefs. Up four.

K-9.

Walker going off tackle. 20.

Angling.

15.

10.

Sprints.

Dies to the far post. Touchdown! Kansas City!

All of a sudden, an onslaught of points in a 21-yard off-tackle run, and the Chiefs have a coveted two-possession second-half lead at 3-0-2 to go in the game.

An absolutely brutal sequence there for the Raiders. They have Patrick Mahomes on a third and medium to get off the field with a lead under four minutes to go. Instead, he hits Taequann Thornton for a 55 yarder down the field. Taequann Thornton appears to break his ankle on that play, a gruesome injury there. They cash in a play later, fumble the kickoff return. And then Ken Walker, like again and again, this season finishes with 177 yards and two touchdowns.

And he has been the difference in getting the Chiefs over the line in these close games.

I think he's underpaid. Now, this is an amazing example of why the Chiefs went out and got Kenneth Walker, because when things are going sideways and you're in a really competitive division game and it's kind of going back and forth the way it is, you still need the Chiefs to be able to do that thing we so got used to the Chiefs doing for so many years, which is flexing at exactly the right time and being like this wave that just overwhelmed and smothered the opponent, even in moments that can completely alter the game, and that's what this was.

Walker is just playing like he's never played before. I always thought he was underused in Seattle. I think there is a part of the Seahawks that has to feel like, huh. Did we mess this up a little? Not only by letting him go, but by how we used him over the last four years, because they never really relied on him.

And there was a play early on a 21-yard run where he broke about five tackles in one single run. He also had a 76-yard run where he ran out of gas at the very end to Ron Johnson, showing surprising speed. But he really is the reason, more than anything, that they are 4-0 right now.

That.

and allowing Patrick Mahomes to be as good throwing the ball deep, I think because the run game is now setting up the pass for the Chiefs. Yeah, he's been the center of the theme for this team this year.

Look, they have a running game, which means they're so much more dangerous because it's not just relying on Patrick Mahomes. to convert the third downs, whether it's with his legs, extending the play with his arm, whatever it is now, he's the threat on every down. But I think Jordan described it perfectly, which is that this is the game that really proved it more than any. And we can go back to, you know, the crazy debut he had against Denver. You can go back to the, the win over the Colts and even last week's win over the dolphins.

But this is the game because like Jordan just said, it's a division game. It's a game that is very easily lost on the road against an upstart Raiders team. And at that point, everybody's given the Raiders flowers for being four and O and you're three and one and questioning, Oh no, last year we lost the division to the Broncos.

Are we going to lose the division to the Raiders this year? But then here comes Ken Walker to slam the door.

It's crazy.

You mentioned the passing the ball down the field. not going to make you guess. I really wanted to for a second, but I know you already know, Greg, 11.3 air yards per attempt for Patrick Mahomes.

And yeah, they were in, they were using play action.

They've been one of the heaviest play action teams of the year so far, only 30% play action usage this time, which hilariously feels sort of low for them.

And right. They go three for six for 138 yards on deep So Taequann Thornton had a couple big catches in this game. He had two touchdowns. They finally get Xavier Worthy for a contested catch way down the field. That was a bomb. And on a day where they lose Rasheed Rice. to a hamstring injury early. Like he left the game, did not come back. That could be a multi-week injury. And now Thornton, who's been important for them, goes out with what appears to be a serious injury.

The reason I think they beat the Raiders more than anything was they're balanced and the Raiders aren't. The Raiders do not have a good running game right now. They're asking Kirk Cousins to carry them and he's doing it. Kirk Cousins balled in this game. Not only The play towards the end of the game that maybe a lot of people saw where he improvises and hits Brock Bowers in a desperate situation for a touchdown. Bowers, despite having the flu and being somewhat limited in snaps, you know, still has a big day six for 86. But all day, Kirk Cousins is doing well against pressure, buying a little extra time. I kind of can't believe how much he's balling.

And he's got a pretty strong case here for this. QB Island on Tuesday. It's the style in which he's playing. I'm sitting there trying to put my finger on exactly who he reminds me of. Because he doesn't move, you know, all that great.

He's trying.

He sure is trying. It's better. He tries to extend plays.

He makes some throws that are off platform, sometimes against his body. But really, the one guy I landed on, 2008, Cary Collins, who.

Led the Titans.

Okay.

I think he's moving better than Cary Collins. But it's in that ballpark. I like that. I absolutely like that. He's already outthrown him, by the way. I also like it's been a storyline on this show. Clint Kubiak just having a little more swagger. Game day Clint is different than rest of the week. Clint, this was him. at halftime, going in with a field goal lead.

Let's go down the trace.

Coach, so much anticipation for this one.

You go in with a three-point lead.

What did you like about this final drive here?

Yeah, good results.

We got points, but we need way more. Okay, that's a regular week.

Not good enough.

Got to be better.

But you know what? We're winning. We're going to win the game.

Appreciate it.

Yeah.

We're winning.

We're going to win the game.

We want the ball and we're going to score. I was going to say that is going to go down like Matt Hasselbeck, but I do love the confidence and I love, look, the Raiders got to figure some things out on the back end, but I thought their pass rush was excellent today. They had Mahomes under a lot of pressure. The two linebackers and the Kobe Dean and Quay Walker have been really good. It's really the secondary, I think. And then ultimately special teams let them down big at the end, but they're three in one. I think feeling good about themselves. The chiefs are undefeated to have, The teams in the NFC that we expected to be at the very top of the standings entered Sunday with horrible vibes in Philadelphia. And we knew one of them

was going to be horrible after that game. Which one would it be?

From down 10 in this fourth quarter, have Angle to go from the seven, second down with a chance to take their first lead. They run it left. Kyron to the edge of stiff arm. Turns it down the numbers.

Stays on his feet.

And he's in.

Kyron Williams puts it in the paint.

And the Rams have their first lead of week four with 70 seconds left in Philadelphia. Woo!

That's our friend J.B. Long on KSBN. They finish off the victory with a big defensive sequence and wind up winning 24-10 in a game that they were trailing by two scores in under five minutes to go. Kyron Williams has been great this year. This Rams team, you were groaning about them like they were just letting you down all day long. But, you know, it's about how you finish.

Both teams were letting me down. Guys, as it turns out. The other team can be minus two in the turnover margin, face a 20 to 10 deficit with just a 3.2% win probability midway through the fourth quarter. But if you go 0 for 12 on third down and generate just 172 net yards of offense, your lowest total offense in the last 12 years, you're going to have a hard time keeping that lead. That's what happened to the Eagles today.

Absolutely brutal. And we'll get to the vibes of the Eagles because Lane Johnson didn't play in this game because of personal reasons. And he's talked a lot over the years about his desire to play and mental health. We'll see what that is, but something to really watch. But then Zach Bond didn't suit up for this game. Devante Smith didn't suit up for this game. Quinion Mitchell gets hurt in this game and they are just a walking wounded team that can't get anything done. As you mentioned on offense for the Rams, like how did they turn it around? You think?

Yeah, so here's what happened. The Eagles had scored 17 points between two Rams turnovers, both of those Matthew Stafford interceptions. He's thrown six interceptions in four games, speaking of quarterback island conversations. And another touchdown by the Eagles was set up by a 41-yard punt return by former Ram Britton Covey.

So special teams and offensive issues again, get the Rams in a hole early, but the Rams defense and Kyron Williams refused to go under defense holds Jalen hurts one of seven passing for just five yards on third downs. And the, and the, that completion was short, did not allow a converted third down all game, did not allow a converted fourth down on three attempts in the second half and finished the game with a sack on third and 17 at the end of the game. And the Rams stopped the Eagles on downs in the fourth quarter.

They're moving the ball downfield. It's sort of feast or famine. It's a chunk plate of puka followed by a couple incompletions. Kyron Williams gets clobbered by Jonathan Jones for a late hit. And he's only in because Quinion Mitchell is hurt. And there's a late hit penalty. And then Kyron Williams is the one who runs in the score later on that drive.

The Eagles again have to punt after another failed down and the Rams go, go ahead after a no huddle drive. That's 10 plays finished by Kyron Williams, who sheds like four defenders.

As you saw at the, at the top highlight, he had 10 catches in this game for 67 yards. He has really worked on his receiving ability. I am mad that I have not brought up on this show enough this year or at all that like Kyron Williams looks better than he's ever looked this year. Like, he is looking like a capital E elite back. He ends up with 147 yards. Like he has been their best player.

And look, Nick Sirianni took some responsibility for going forward on that fourth and two call. I think it was the right call to go for it. And the final score, them giving up two touchdowns late kind of supports the idea that it was a right idea that what's a field goal necessarily going to do for you. The bigger problem is just, They don't have any offense in terms of passing 2.2 yards per play, passing the ball for Jalen Hurts and the Eagles offense.

And Saquon Barkley left the game early with the hamstring issue. There was at one point 10 starters out for the Eagles. Cooper Dejean went out, but then went back in. Jonathan Grenard left with an ankle injury. Tank Bigsby also went down. But yeah, the Eagles offense, regardless of any of that, Everything looks so difficult for them.

Which has been the case for them even when they've been healthier this season. It's not like the injuries suddenly made it that much more challenging for them. But this was a gross game by most metric standards. And Nick Sirianni going for it there makes sense to me because sometimes in these gross games, your best defense isn't your defense.

It's not even your offense.

It's just somehow finding a way to maintain possession, especially in a situation like that. I mean, the fact that your quarterback finishes 12 for 27 for 93 yards... Somehow, Darius Cooper has two catches for touchdowns on three receptions for 33 yards.

This is the low ceiling offense that is.

I don't know if I would say it's gotten worse because they had so many guys banged up, but it hasn't found its rhythm or a stride at all. And it looks maybe a little bit more creative than the Kevin Petullo offense, but the product, the results are very similar.

Yeah, and I don't want to absolve the Rams either. They won this game. It was nasty.

Gross.

They're... their offense was so disjointed and yes, missing Colby Parkinson and Terrence Ferguson.

So they had to be an 11 personnel.

Most of the time, other than a couple of solid catches, Puka Nakua was not a factor for the most part in this game. Like you would expect him to be, especially missing the tight ends that they had, you know, Matthew Stafford was off through the interceptions. He has been turning the ball over, as I mentioned, not playing well.

And they just, they were so disjointed. It was really their defense that that kept standing up and kept holding their end of the bargain up, Chris Shula blitzed or sent a stun on every single third down.

It was extremely effective.

They had the Rams defense accounts for pressure on 57% of Jalen Hurts' dropbacks and blitzed him on 16 of 27 total dropbacks per next gen.

It's crazy. Look, the Eagles have needed their defense to be better than it's been so far this season. And for three and a half quarters, they were. They were carrying themselves to this victory. Ultimately, they run out of gas. And you do got to give the Rams credit who have come into this year saying they want to win games in different types of ways. The running game gets it done in the end. Byron Young, in that final sequence, gets a sack on first down and then a sack on third down to essentially end the game because the clock is running at that point. And then Jalen Hurts just has to throw up a prayer on fourth down.

So he gets two and a half sacks on the day. He's awesome. And they kept them in it the whole time. And we talk about managing the season. They've got injuries right now. I know the Eagles have even more. So, you know, it goes both ways. But Sean McVay's reaction at the end of that game, just how incredibly hyped he was on the sidelines to get to two and two.

The Rams have looked nothing like anyone hoped that they would be coming into this season. And yet. He just avoided an 0-5 duck against Nick Sirianni, and they got to 2-2, and they can get better as the season goes along. It wasn't just the special team's return.

It was Harrison Mevis also missing a field goal at one point in the game. That vibe that we just saw on the screen from Sean McVay could not have been more opposite from a shot of him on the sideline. After another penalty on special teams, I thought he was going to go back-to-back seasons firing a special teams coordinator in the middle.

That's still in play. It's still possible.

It was atrocious.

Yeah, that reaction might also just be like pent-up relief and just a release from a team who I think is feeling the expectations somewhat, and this loss would have felt familiar, but they got out of it, and they got to 2-2, and they need those wins because... They've got one of those undefeated teams in the NFL in their division, and they're playing up in Santa Clara.

And here comes pressure. Purdy backpedaling, checks down to Kittle. Kittle gets a block from Brendel. Kittle is breaking free into space. George Kittle is racing. Hufanga on his heels, won't get there.

Touchdown!

49ers, a breakaway for George Kittle.

And a beauty, 56 yards for the score.

Who says Kittle doesn't still have the juice? He's got all of it. What a block from Jake Brendel. Just perfectly timed by Brock. It's all about timing with the screen game. Perfect time for the call. Kittle cuts inside off of the Brendel block and then turns on the juice.

Oh, that is George Kittle, a.k.a. the closer right now for San Francisco. I mean, he's better than Mason Miller out there. I see you, Jeremiah and all you Padres fans. 24 to 14. 49ers win. Second straight week where Kittle ends the game with a long touchdown. This was a game, Shook, that was 3-3 with five minutes left in the third quarter.

49ers take advantage of some injuries and ultimately the offense wakes up in time.

Your theory about this NFL thing is going to work out that the football is good. The football is good if you also appreciate some gross football, because this was a defensive battle. There was some nastiness to it in some ways. And for a while, I thought maybe this might be a nine to six finish, just the way that things were trending. But once the Broncos lose Pat Sertan, they lose Riley Moss. They're relying on Jaday Barron and Abrams Drain back there as their two corners. They got a little bit weak in a defense that was playing really well against this offense. They played a ton of zone and just dared Brock Purdy. Like, all right, we're just going to drop back, find the windows. And for a while, he was struggling with that. They expected their

pass rush to show up. didn't get there, didn't get the sacks that they anticipated. And so it was a back and forth where you know what you get from the Broncos offense, but the Niners defense is really, I think, the separation here in this game. Of course, we can start with the fumble on the punt return by Denzel Mims, which.

May or may not have been a fumble, by the way.

I don't know if you want to go all the way back to the 2011 National Championship game. Michael Dyer, wrist versus forearm, down, not down, Auburn wins the national title.

It's kind of like that scenario, except in a week.

You are just full of the deep cut references today.

It's a problem.

It's a sickness. And so the fumble then goes the Niners way. They're able to cash in on the short field. Brock Purdy with a fantastic play on third goal because they're trying to hammer McCaffrey.

They hammer him inside. They try to hit him with a quick hitter outside. Can't get in there.

Denver defense standing up and then Purdy drops back and has time to survey the entire field. He goes all the way from right, all the way to left. And he was about to take off and try to run it in himself.

And he stops.

He goes, oh, my God, Debo Samuel's wide open. I'm going to throw it to him. He's on the doorstep at the end zone. They score. That's where the game started to move in the Niners' favor. The Broncos started to press. They do get a little bit of rhythm. They get down the field and score a touchdown. But at that point, their defense, kind of like this last game we just discussed, crumbled, couldn't hold up. And the Kittle touchdown on the screen, a perfectly executed tight end screen.

Yeah, I am so impressed by how they– dial-up plays where Purdy doesn't have to do that much each and every week. Now, you mentioned the Debo touchdown. I think that was a crucial moment in this game.

Let's listen.

Debo in motion. Here's the snap.

Take the pitch.

Purdy drops.

Looks.

Nothing there.

Purdy wiggles outside, throws to Debo!

Touchdown 49ers Devo Samuel backpedaling into the end.

Zone Brock Purdy making a little bit of magic.

And he connects with Devo and the 49ers lead for the first time.

Today so the 49ers don't want to hear anything about injury excuses but Sertan left pretty early with an ankle injury the Riley Moss injury was a ribs problem and yet for most of the day they really you know they pressured Purdy they made the running game look poor Purdy, however, gets to week four or week five now without being sacked, which means my tiny table take that Purdy would not be sacked and they would actually win this game successful.

I'm one for four now.

I am really glad that you arranged the show. So where your tiny table take that you were correct about comes up first.

Oh, yeah.

First time all week that's been brought up.

Yes.

No other reason.

Can I get a tiny table take about Bo Nix refusing to look downfield or at least not having any success downfield because he didn't look downfield until it was late in this game. Captain check down on Sunday fed RJ Harvey who had a career high 10 receptions. He's the only guy I think that really had a lot of success with the Broncos. He played his tail off.

It's just that he's still RJ Harvey and can't carry this entire team.

29 attempts under 10 air yards, completing 24 of them. 184 in a touchdown, but he didn't complete his first long pass until the fourth quarter, according to NextGen.

Yeah, we are not seeing a lot of development, I feel like, out of Bo Nix this season specifically. Because what I've seen going into this game is him getting to that check down way too quickly. And it's a game where... Oh, he's on the left side, too.

Right.

It's a game where, on paper, the 49ers don't have Nick Bosa. They have one of the worst defensive lines in the league.

And guess who couldn't run the football against this defensive line that's so thin?

The Denver Broncos. Okay, so that is an extenuating factor and a really big disappointment, I think, for what Denver's offense wants to do. But they don't have a high pressure rate in this game. They blitz about 30% of the time. That's average. And so Bo Nix... His secret sauce is supposed to be playmaking, is supposed to be making plays while he holds the ball in his hands.

And that's just like not happening consistently enough for them at 2-2. How do you feel about this 49ers team at 4-0?

I thought you were going to ask me how do I feel about the Broncos.

Either way, what strikes your fancy more? I thought this was the first test for the 49ers. And they passed.

And they passed in a fashion that is fitting for them, especially with the George Kittle lineup.

You know, game ceiling touchdown, essentially.

And I still need to see more because I know what their weaknesses are defensively.

They overcame those today.

What they've done really well prior to this week was keeping everything in front of them. Like they gave up points, but the yards per play was not very high. They were just kind of making teams earn it. They made the Broncos earn what they got today for sure. But I also have to reconcile that with the fact that like, I see the Broncos as this team with great potential defensively in an offense that I'm still not sure is ever going to get out of its own way.

And I think, Denver has really missed Jonathan Cooper this year. Their pass rush hasn't been as dynamic with kind of just Benito as a difference maker. And then, so if you're adding things up and you're taking pieces out of the secondary, they're, they're in a little bit of trouble here at two and two, two games back in their division.

And you know, the 49ers are loving, uh, the chance to lead this division right now by a couple of games over, The Rams.

Just like everyone predicted.

Yeah. Speaking of things that nobody predicted, especially the middle of this table, we will absolve Nick Shook. Let's go to Houston. Second down at the Houston 12.

Prescott back, throwing, and zone!

Lamb!

Lamb! Lamb to the post!

Seedy Lamb!

Unbelievable!

12-yard touchdown. Dallas has regained the lead.

A lot of Cowboy fans in Houston. There absolutely were. There were a lot of road fans all over the place. I like games like that. There are so many Chiefs fans in Vegas. This was the Battle of Texas, and, you know, Jerry Jones and the Cowboys are enjoying getting this one over Houston.

34-30.

That was one of my favorite calls we've ever had by Brad Sham, former NFL Daily guest on KRLD. cd lamb goes for 189 yards on 17 receptions 21 targets that was his touchdown beat him just insane what this guy can do and george pickens is great like he he had a 53 yard catch down the field he he drew a couple of pass interferences that were really important in this game so the It is a one-two punch, but CeeDee Lamb's different because you can line him up everywhere.

For a little while in this game, they were lining him up on the same side of the field to try to get away from the coverage. They stopped doing that. But so much of CeeDee Lamb's damage was done from the slot in a way to try to avoid Derek Stingley specifically. Didn't really try to avoid Kamari Lassiter, who had the worst game of his career, I would say, for the second time this season. And is really struggling through some things right now. And on a day where the Cowboys defense really didn't show up. I mean, their run defense, we realized like, well, who would be worse?

The worst running attack in the league or the worst run defense in the league? The Texans running game is the worst. Like they weren't any better today. but the Cowboys had a chance to win this game on defense in the fourth quarter. And they gave up a nine play 87 yard drive to CJ Stroud and the Texans.

I thought this was one of the best games of CJ Stroud's entire career. And once again, he sets up his defense second straight week for a chance to finish the game off, Jordan, and they just couldn't do it. They blew it in a couple different ways. I figured this thing's going to overtime. They just have to stop the field goal. But partly because of D'Amico Ryan's, I believe, they end up giving the touchdown there. There just hasn't been.

I don't know enough from this Texans defense.

Can you expand a little bit more when you say partly because of D'Amico Ryan's, this is some of the situational decision and you know, Matt Burke, the defensive coordinator who's calling it. I think he, they've been on their heels combined him and D'Amico Ryan's.

They've been on their heels quite a bit this year. So I thought in the first half, they looked like the Texans defensive old, probably the best half they put together, held the, Cowboys to six points. After half time, like, no resistance, four touchdowns. The last section of the game, first of all, like, they just had no answer for CeeDee Lamb. But D'Amico Ryan's for the second straight week is going to be a topic because of his timeout usage.

He sort of did the opposite after feeling like he tried to learn something from last week and he didn't use timeouts to try to save time for CJ Stroud. He overused his timeouts in this scenario. He was trying to show confidence in his defense. Even when Aubrey was in long field goal range, he took his first two timeouts.

I'm not going to kill him for that. Aubrey's in 50 to 60 range. You're trying to get the ball back quickly. it worked at the end of the first half. Like, literally, he did the thing we asked him to do last week at the end of the first half. It got them three extra points. But he totally lost his head because I believe it was at the 36-yard line, the Cowboys got a first down with under... 50 seconds to go.

It's 52 seconds to go. And at that point, it's the last timeout that the Texans have. The Cowboys would have lost about 25 seconds in that cycle. And I think D'Amico Ryan just wasn't thinking. And he just took another timeout. But it was his last timeout. So he allowed the Cowboys to control the game like they were going to control anyways. And yeah, I know they scored a quick touchdown after that. But it was still moronic.

I think at that point, the Cowboys were probably going to play for a field goal and go to overtime.

Yeah.

It's also a lack of recent intelligence. If you're going back and looking at what happened to the Cowboys last week in a moment of pressure, what did they do? They over-managed, they over-coached the game, and they ended up paying for it. Well, at least let the clock apply pressure on them. Make them situationally decide exactly what they want to do instead of giving them that extra 25.

Well, I think you have to have a feel for the game. That's more what I get to. I actually think the first two timeouts were also mistakes because at that point in the game, Your defense is playing terribly.

Yeah, but at what point are you trying to give them a blow or at least try to regroup here?

I guess.

You just had a blow watching C.J. Stroud go down the field for 10 plays. So you have to have a feel for a game. And you came out of halftime and you gave up a touchdown drive in two minutes, then a touchdown drive in four minutes, then another really long touchdown drive where it took the Cowboys forever to go like 90 something yards. They were killing you at that point. And I think you have to know that the game that you were in and he didn't. And the game that he was in was, I want to get to overtime because CJ Stroud is playing well. I got to play at least one CJ Stroud highlight on a day where he goes for 347 yards. He played awesome.

He finished top five for his career in completion percentage over expected, EPA per play and success rate in this game. And decent amount of it under pressure. A lot of it on third and long because his running game stunk so bad. And then there's a third and 14 in, where Nick Cayley, who's been under a lot of pressure this year, the offensive coordinator, came up with a doozy to lead to a touchdown.

Third down and 14 at the 27-yard line of Dallas.

Stroud shotgun Montgomery in the backfield with him.

Two receivers, five side left.

CJ gets the snap. CJ tore it underneath.

A lateral.

Montgomery right side, 15, 10, and out of bounds inside the 10 at the 7. First and goal, Houston. They ran it to perfection. Demo got the lateral.

They capitalized with a touchdown on the ground right after that. I felt so annoyed by their running game. I didn't want to reward them with a highlight, but that's Mark Vandermeer there on a well-timed. Yeah, the easiest throw probably CJ Strat had all day, but man, he was pushing the ball down the field, had about five or six plays over 20 yards. Joey Porter Jr. on his own will not save this Cowboys defense. I don't think they played that well, but Joey Porter Jr. did play well in this game. He only saw one target in the entire game and late in the game, he did matchup one-on-one with Nico Collins, who had a great... Their offense is so different. He goes over 118 yards and two touchdowns.

If they didn't have Nico Collins in this game, I think they might have scored like 14 points.

This was the Cowboys' formula going into the season where defense has to do... In this game, they didn't do much, but do just enough. And offense has to score... 25 to 35 points every single game. And so you saw that in action. What I think is really disappointing and, and surprising is seeing how quickly these, some of these explosive plays are, are first of all, achievable against the Texans defense. Second of all, just killing them. They have been so successful when they can force teams to crunch down play stressed out football and get the ball out quickly and play small ball ahead of them. That's an attacking front, which means that it dictates what you, what they're not. They don't care how you're lining up. They're

going to line up how they line up. So to me, this is like, all right, what actually has to change here? Because back to front is, They are so susceptible, even philosophically, to not playing the same game the entire way through as a defense. You mentioned it. The Cowboys are able to go on this one long drive. If the Cowboys were able to stay on one long drive... in all of their possessions, the Texans steal back possessions.

Right.

That's, that's the thing is the, it's these explosive plays that the Texans never would give up in the past that they have been so susceptible to in, in each of their losses.

And I thought like when they did mix it up, it, they, it was kind of where the game started to turn against them. They started to blitz to start the second half. That's not them.

Right.

And at one point, Dak Prescott was five for five for 116 yards.

That's not them.

And also don't blitz Dak Prescott.

That's the wrong quarterback to blitz.

Right.

Kamari Lassiter, I mentioned, ended up giving up eight catches for 136 yards in this game on 11 targets. He also had two penalties, one which was very questionable and would have changed the game around on the goal line. But it was a pass interference call that he got that ended up leading to a Cowboys touchdown after another Kamari Lassiter penalty where he's one on one. You can't trust these guys. And what's different is you're playing Jake Hansen and Kenneth Murray as your two linebackers over the middle of the field and Lassiter behind. is losing again and again. So there's just problems popping up everywhere. But give the Cowboys credit. I think they've been better than their 2-2 record would indicate. I think the Texans, who

have been in three of these games till the wire, have been a little better than their 0-4 record indicates. But man, it is a long road back from 0-4. Shout out to Tyler Guyton, by the way. Only gave up one pressure today. He has been a breakout for the left tackle position for the Cowboys. Let's get out of here. This is enough on the battle of the Cowboys.

Let's get... to one of the undefeated teams that I was talking about. Coming into Sunday after the break, yeah, we'll head to Buffalo.

One wide Chisholm, short motion by Henson, Henson wide with May, here comes the blitz, Hamlin on the run, May rolls right, throws it for Chisholm, who reaches out with the right hand! He makes the catch, diving into the end zone, touchdown!

Patriots! You've got to be kidding me!

Eftim Chisholm, two huge catches on this drive, 19 yards on the dig, and it's a one-handed.

Catch with the right! He secures it though, it's under the ball.

Efton Chisholm. Efton F-M Chisholm? I don't know. 26-29, the Patriots somehow beat the Buffalo Bills here despite all the people just pouring graves, I don't know, pouring dirt on the grave before this even happened. We had Scott Zolak trying to bench Drake May last week, but look, when the season is possibly on the line and you can just ask Efton Chisholm to go up and moss someone, you got to do it.

Yeah, like, because why wouldn't you just have that on your play card or a pie? Yeah, it was another rough start for Drake May, who, after an opening touchdown drive when he went 6 of 7 for 77 yards and a touchdown, did go on to finish the first half just 8 of 15 for 111 yards. Interception, he fumbled twice, lost one. They were having center snap exchanges and trouble with ball security the entire day. But in the second half, credit to Drake May because he rallied.

He was 14 for 22 with two touchdowns in that half, including the game winner to Efton Chisholm that you just watched. But Efton Chisholm also set up the game winner with another incredible catch on the go ahead drive. And oddly enough, it was Josh Allen who had been excellent, excellent all game, despite losing DJ Moore in the second quarter to injury through the Yolo ball and to double coverage after spinning to avoid a pressure. And you thought in that moment, Josh Allen is going to make something miraculous happen. And instead, It's an interception. Drake May hits Hunter Henry on third and long on the other side to ice the game.

Drake May has been through it the last few games in that second half.

There are still some issues.

Like I said, center snap exchange is awful right now. But he really, really showed some metal that I think really needed to happen.

Yeah, I thought that last sequence will get ignored. But you have Josh Allen waiting for the ball. You have a third and 10 situation where the Bills still have two timeouts left. There's a thought if you didn't trust your quarterback in that situation where you call like a very safe and instead he hits Hunter Henry, as you mentioned, and he gets around the edge to get the third and 10. What did you think about the fact that Chauncey Gardner-Johnson, after the game, said about Afton Chisholm, we probably won't hear from him again? I mean, come on.

I don't know.

I mean, that one-handed catch. If you were listening to NFL Daily, you would have heard about him having a good day when Jordan went and saw joint practice a couple years ago.

Yeah, he practiced all-star Afton Chisholm. Some guy from Boston attended the Vikings Patriots joint practices. And I'll never forget him raving about Efton Chisholm. And you, you gotta, you gotta see this guy. You gotta see this guy.

Terrible, terrible Boston accent for me.

There were small adjustments by the Patriots throughout this game. Some of it was not pretty. There were tiny adjustments in certain spaces though. short yardage, including the remand Ray Stevenson touchdown, they ran motion on the run play. That is something we've been screaming about for them to do more of. And it worked because it moved the safety and opened up a gap a little bit wider for remand Ray Stevenson. Like I said, uh, uh, Drake may rallying the way he did the Patriots defense, even though the bill scored 26 points And Josh Allen did have some miracle moments. Keon Coleman had an amazing, an incredible game hit one of his best games.

And it was supposed to be his breakout game.

Maybe had they gotten that final game winning opportunity for Josh Allen at the end, but instead the Patriots defense throughout made things look so difficult at times forced Josh Allen to be patient, which he was, he was very efficient in the first half, especially and forced him to pick his way underneath their coverages, really navigate the surface.

And he can do that very well, but it just takes so much time to actually do that.

Let's listen to the touchstone on that Patriots defensive performance. And for context, their best player on the team, Christian Gonzalez, not available for this game. Christian Barmore, who has been playing well for them, obviously, at defensive tackle, not available for this game. But the secondary in the end makes the big play. One to the right, he takes the shot and unsnapped.

He stands in. Oh, my God. Allen spins away off contact.

Throws down.

Pass is going to be intercepted by Woodson.

Leaping, he brings it down in.

Front of Palmer.

Allen kept the play alive, spinning away from the contact.

But then Woodson finishes it with what should be.

So the Patriots get to 2-2, very similar to last year. They go to Buffalo pretty early in the season and get a win that will keep the Bills at least within shouting distance. Bills at 3-1. Do you think they go away from James Cook too much? Because, you know, I look at the final numbers, Jordan, and I see again, it's like another 55% success rate type of game. And I do think like that's what the Patriots want is actually less James Cook, I think, and more Josh Allen, which sounds crazy.

Well, we talked about it, though, heading into this game, there was going to be a temptation to throw at the secondary. And I don't think that anybody expected the things to seem so difficult at times. And again, there were still some huge voids that Josh Allen found. He found Dalton Kincaid. And like I said, Keon Coleman had an incredible game. There's a third down catch he made where he like rolled on his back and bounced after making the catch.

And it, he had a great, I was getting, who is that in the Superbowl against the Patriots? Chris Matthews, where he tips it up to himself near the goal line.

Yeah.

It was like a roll bounce, thud catch kind of a thing. Like he, And to me though, it was James cook. I said it out loud. Even I love watching James cook, run the football. I love watching the bills run the football. I think it's excellent. I do understand in this case, when the secondary is as vulnerable looking or seeming as it is, and there were yards to be had in certain space, it just was. the right, the certain right times where the Patriots just made things just a little truncated, a little bit difficult, making him be patient. And then when he saw big gains to be had, he had him, you know, he didn't play a bad game. This wasn't a bad game by the bills whatsoever. It's just the Patriots gave the ball back

to Drake May with the chance to ice the game.

And that's what he did. And Drake May finishes with two turnovers here, but he does get the three touchdowns, 269 passing yards. And for a running game, that's been pretty stagnant all year. He leads, the team in rushing with 54 yards, which has been an X factor. His yards for play all year has been good. Just too many, too many bad plays.

Romeo Dobbs had a little redemption too, because he had a, he had a fumble. Uh, it was kind of a weird one. The ball just like popped into the air off of his hands. D Alford intercepted it. And the bills got a field goal again, the Patriots standing up and holding to a couple of field goals was key here.

Marcus Jones had like a weird wild game and adventure of a game.

And so he was key on, on some of that.

But Romeo Dobbs getting the, the incredible touchdown catch later in the game, really some redemption. You saw why they went out and made the, made the signing that they did.

Yeah.

Dobbs that play before halftime where it was another bad throw by Drake May. And then it made worse with Dobbs, like volleyballing up in the air. It reminded me exactly of the play that AJ Brown got hurt on, which was not a good throw by Drake May on what should be like a routine play. And you figure that that would have cost them, but it did not on this Sunday.

Yeah.

Let's stay in the AFC to two teams that I think are going to be in it to win it until the end, especially the road team that headed to Cincinnati on Sunday.

Rodriguez now in the game is the running back shotgun for Trevor Lawrence.

Long snap.

Yeah. Why be in a hurry now? Inside handoff. This is Rodriguez. He's got room. 50, 10, 5. Touchdown. Chris Rodriguez exploded into the end zone. A 25-yard touchdown run.

And Jacksonville has extended the lead here at Paycourse Stadium.

How good is that? That is a statement drive.

Great call there by Jeff Lagerman and Frank Frangie on WJXL. This Jaguars offense is efficient. They don't need any superstar running back. They got Chris Rodriguez. They got Basial Tootin. And they got a big road victory in Cincinnati. They hold on to win 22 to 17 games. Balance game.

Shook.

What do you think was the ultimate key for Jacksonville getting it done?

Perfectly balanced. 27 runs, 27 passes. You don't see that every day.

Liam Cohen trolling.

I mean, this game, I think, told me a couple of things about the Jacksonville Jaguars. One, it's that we can go in anywhere and win with our style of play. And we're also going to announce our style of play to you, which is essentially establish a running threat, a credible running threat in Basial Tootin, work off of that with Trevor Lawrence and let him be, you know, successful and be good at what he does. And then ride a defense that is better than people realize to success, a pass rush that's better than people realize.

Now, numbers wise, like they didn't run up a huge pressure rate.

It was 34 and a half percent, which is still pretty good, but not like, you know, astronomical numbers. But what they did is they because they stuck to their identity, they forced the Bengals to play their game. And it was one of those games that early on it was a field goal fest. Like it was two teams that were stalling and stalling. The Jaguars committed a billion penalties.

They finished with 13 for 125, which would usually cost you. But the Bengals had 11 for 108. That's what he said.

A billion.

A billion. Accurate.

10 for 100 in the first half.

You're thinking, okay, this is a team that is going to lose this game.

And yet they got to halftime up 13 to three.

They could have been up 24 to three at that point if they hadn't gotten out of their own way. Two basial toot and touchdown runs, including a long one called back by holding. All the makings of a disappointing day. And yet the Jaguars overcame all of that. And essentially it wasn't until Joe Burrow mounts a late drive for a touchdown and then they get one more drive that.

It even gets that close.

It had to be a disheartening day for Bengals fans who watched their team. They didn't really try to run the ball at all, even though it was a pretty low scoring game. And they asked Joe Burrow to do too much. And when you ask Joe Burrow to do too much every once in a while, he makes a couple of bad decisions, like two interceptions thrown.

54 passing attempts.

Yes, too much. And he lost Jamar Chase in this game too. So Jamar Chase goes out with... what we believe was a concussion. He was, he was tested for a concussion and did not return to the game. So he ends up with three catches. T Higgins, his route tree is just all over the place. He is incredible right now. He finishes with 157 yards on 11 catches, but he leaves late with an adductor injury. So that's something to keep an eye on. And you keep saying like, it's too much passing for Joe Burrow, 54 passes in this game. And they only rush for 23 yards, but Joe Burrow may disagree that it was too much. 111 rushing yards for the Jags and 23 on your.

End do you feel like there needs to be a little bit more balance there obviously knowing it's all you guys are always going to be a pass first offense but do you feel like it's balanced enough.

You know my response to that would be let's throw more.

Because I know we're great at it I know you know that's what I do best.

Joey Joey Bean not happy after this game. And look, Chase Brown, you're still getting him the ball. 11 catches on this game. But I think the run game and the defense by the Jaguars, which hasn't gotten enough attention, maybe has Joe Burrow a little salty late. Once again, and this is becoming a bit of a theme. The Bengals, because their defense does get the ball back with a couple stops in the fourth quarter, after that touchdown drive, they get the ball with a chance to go. It's a long shot, but a chance to go down the field and get a game-winning touchdown. And instead, this happens on fourth down.

Jags showing blitz, but they're only going to send three, I believe. Maybe they come. No, they send four. Dropping his burrow on fourth down. Fires middle of the field. The ball's going to be caught. The tackle is made. Where's the mark? Where's the mark? He didn't get there. He didn't get there. The Jags stop him on fourth down.

He didn't get there.

How about this, Jags D? What a fantastic play.

And this is a sequence in which they had lost Eric Murray, their usual safety. So they turned to Ray Lane, who is a former Navy midshipman. Go Navy, beat Army. And he makes the tackle of the game, cutting down Chase Brown short of the sticks, cutting him down literally at his legs, flipping him over, keeping him one yard short.

And it was just one of those stands that like credit to the Jags.

This is a defense that is playing better than I think anybody anticipated or still believes reputation wise. But Bengals fans in attendance have to be so salty about this because they The Bengals had a great opportunity to get themselves in this game earlier.

They're driving. They're down to the Jacksonville 10.

Joe Burrell throws a completely unnecessary interception that kills that drive and then just thins out their margin of error to where they have to go down the field and try and make this happen.

And Jacksonville stands up and gets the job done. underrated 10 quick pressures in this game. And I know they had a lot of, uh, opportunities because they dropped back to pass 50 times, but 10 quick pressures is a lot regardless. Whereas the Bengals pass rush only had five there. I saw Travis Hunter make a couple of plays in this game and interception overturn a nice, a big hit, a pass defense. So he's starting to make, he's settling in some ground.

Don't you dare say that not nobody's talking about X, Y, or Z with the Jaguars. Like you did at the top, Joe, they are Greg. They are. appropriately hyped on this show.

No question. We are the change that we want to see. So the Jaguars are three and one. He wears nine.

He's got good looking hair. He throws the ball all over the place. You know, it's Joe Burrow right there.

I wish, you know. Get me a little more hair. No, I need a haircut.

Let's go.

Joey B is happy. Joey B, not happy.

You're in my head.

Two game losing streak for the Bengals. They fall to two and two. But the schedule's pretty generous. Let's go to Chicago, where when we last left off, we didn't know who the starting quarterback was going to be.

Play clock at eight. Killing a play.

Menungai.

The lone back.

Bajan brings Loveland in motion to the right.

The snap. Head off. Menungai.

Busting up the middle.

Into the blue paint.

Touchdown.

Touchdown Bears. Mighty Menungai. With a blast. Right up the middle. And it's 19-6 Bears. Five yard touchdown run.

Ooh, Kyle Menungai. It was all Menungai all the time in the second half of this game because DeAndre Swift fumbled again, and they just decided to bench him. So Menungai finishes with 146 yards and two touchdowns on 30 carries. But it's not like DeAndre Swift was quiet in the game. He had 15 carries. If that seems like a lot of plays, it was. I think they ended up with 89. This, I'm declaring... this 23-12 victory by the Bears to get the 3-1 over the Jets. was by far the most lopsided 23-12 game in the history of the NFL. I would argue it was the most lopsided game in the NFL this season by any two teams, despite that score.

The Bears had more first downs in this game than the Jets had plays. 34 first downs. The Jets had 32 plays. I need a stat on how many times that's ever happened in NFL history. It can't be that many. I believe that the... If you listen to what you just described, I would think.

They have to be playing an expansion team littered with veterans that no other team wanted to hang on to. And the last team to do it, I believe, was the 99 Cleveland Browns against the Pittsburgh Steelers in.

Their opening night. Drew Carey opened that game and opened that stadium. And those Browns were terrible. And I don't think the Jets are that bad.

Which just goes to show how impressive of a victory this is for the Bears.

Here's the thought exercise that I would like our listeners to also participate in. What level of quarterback... parentheses, negative connotation. Do you think Ben Johnson could win with?

Good question. Now, he's had Tyson Bajan, who's one of the highest paid backups in the league, in his system for a while now. They gave him an extension for a reason there. Also one with 38-year-old Case Keenum.

Yes.

And technically, Case Keenum did start this game with Tyson Bajan. Ben Johnson was annoyed that there were already reports out that Tyson Bajan was going to start the game, as I was guessing that he was all week long, before he had actually announced it. So just as a shot to the reporters, I guess, or because he just likes to do weird things, he called the first play with Tyson Bajan at wide receiver and Case Keenum at court.

And it was just insane.

He's letting his Case Keenum freak flag fly.

That is bad karma. Why? Trying to show off the media. That is bad karma. I don't know. He was just having some fun out there.

Is he karma-proof, though? I mean, man, remember when he's running all those trick plays for Detroit and they were just running up the scoreline?

They got their karma. The play was not particularly successful. It was a two-yard gain by DeAndre Swift. Just insane how their running game dominated. They had over 42 minutes time of possession. It's one of those games that the stats were so ridiculous in the first half. You're like, well, it's going to even out somewhat. And it really didn't.

They just had long drive after long drive. And I thought Tyson Bajent played... very well in this game, despite, you know, fantasy wise, he doesn't get a touchdown. And there was one blemish that somehow has led us to have a Jets defensive highlight in a game where they gave up nearly 500 yards.

Play action once again.

Agent back to throw.

Fires one deep over the middle.

Make it Fitzpatrick.

He's got the interception.

Runs left to the 50.

He's at the 40.

Inside the 35-yard line on the return. Out of bounds on the jet bench at the New York 34. Minka Fitzpatrick finally breaks the Jets interception drought. And I'm a takeaway New York's in business.

All hail the football gods.

Our long national nightmare is over. The New York Jets have an interception on their tally. Let's go.

600 plus days.

I think 600 plus plays or passes against them since yesterday. They had an interception. Like on paper, the Jets have been a good defense this year. Like the numbers would say they've been a top five defense. No one thinks they've been that good. So for... Be a little skewed now.

Yeah.

So for the Bears to dominate like this, the thing that impresses me the most is just they can win any type of game. You know, we were talking about like the Chiefs want to be like that. The Bears' defense, at some point, we have to give them a lot of credit for what they've done this season. I know they gave up 59 points, talking about skewing their stats for the season. Or not 59. They gave up 30-something to the Panthers' weak one. But since then, it's been nothing.

And Isaiah Williams has, like, one long... touchdown reception late in this game from Gina Smith. I don't even think Gina Smith like played that bad. It was just part of it.

They're possessing the ball so much on offense that they're not giving defense. Like if you don't score almost every time, if not every time field goals, touchdowns, whatever against the bears, you know, on the other side, they are going to continue to overwhelm you.

And they had a 50% pressure rate. I don't think Gino was holding the ball that crazy. They didn't blitz that much. And what they were doing post-snap was really confusing Gino Smith. So that is partly why the pressure rate is up there, is that he's holding on to the ball for a while because Dennis Allen is really doing a great job for the second straight year in the back end without a lot of talent. And there's so many crazy stats in this game. Most first downs the Jets have given up in team history. I mean, yeah, this is not like a new team. The biggest yards margin plus 335 for the Bears until since 1979. And they did it without like their backup left tackle. They're on their third string. I think it was Theo Benedict.

It's just awesome. Maybe they get Caleb Williams back. Maybe they don't next week. They don't need him. They're three and one. Maybe they'll put you in and still win a game. And they'll call you Joe. The crazy thing is they're not in first place. The Bears weirdly have made me think differently about them almost more than any team in the league. I shouldn't. Maybe I was wrong just because they're finding solutions and they're even better than I expected. And yet there's a team that I picked to go to the playoffs that are 4-0 and I don't know how they are doing it. Let's go to Minneapolis.

Andrew DePaul with snaps. Johnny Hecker holds. Will Riker set to kick.

Snaps five.

Reichert's kick is.

Up and it is good. Snap spot. Reichert kick up. Reichert kick is good. Reichert is 9 of 9 this year.

You're welcome, everyone.

Super good.

Snap spot. Reichert's right footed kick is up and....

It is good, and it is halftime. Will Reichardt, nine. Miami Dolphins, zero.

41-yard drive.

Wait, there's more.

Right hash for Will Reichardt. Snap spot. Kick is up, and it is good. Will Reichardt is four for four. 29-yard drive. Right hash. Snap spot, Reichardt, the.

Kick is up and it's a high five for Will Reichardt. He's five of five on field goals for the second time of his career.

Oh my gosh. And good. And that was the scoring for the Vikings. 15 to 10. They're undefeated. The Dolphins are winless at 0-4. Will Reichert is awesome. Thank you to Paul Allen on KFAN for making that sing. Thank you to executive producer Jordan Rodrigue for suggesting that montage.

And to Eric Roberts for enabling me.

Yes, thank you most of all to our captain, Eric Roberts, for making it happen. That was their offense today.

It's been their offense for the past couple of weeks, Greg. Dream with me here, people, about the tale of two toes. First, Vikings kicker Will Reichard was responsible, as you saw, for every single one of Minnesota's points on Sunday, five for five on his field goals, to beat the Miami Dolphins. And then it was a would-have, could-have moment for the Dolphins and for rookie receiver Chris Bell. who would have scored his first touchdown in the second quarter and given the Dolphins a lead if he had not stepped out of bounds by a pinky toe. That was just the kind of day it was for the Dolphins.

Do they have a lead this season? I don't think they do.

That would have been their lead.

That's tough. Look, Ollie Gordon gets a little bit done on the ground. And to give the Vikings a little bit of credit, I know how this game ended. It ended with them on offense and TJ Hawkinson sliding right at the goal line, or they could have had a touchdown. And just from watching this closely, Jordan, what did you think changed for Kyler Murray? Cause I saw the numbers at halftime and they did get a lot better in the second half.

TJ Hawkinson had a great game. He was absolutely a big factor here for Kyler Murray, giving him a big secure target 13 for 13 for 119 yards. Obviously he would have walked in that touchdown, but instead he They are not the team that scores the lone touchdown in this game, which again, still is like so funny to me and blows my mind.

Kyler Murray mostly looked uncomfortable in this game.

He took a couple of really bad sacks, four sacks, two were on first downs.

At least one of those is avoidable. Two were on third downs.

You know, in the fourth quarter, the Vikings are up 15, 10 and Kyler makes two of his best throws all season. One was a 27 yarder to Jordan Addison. That was like in a tiny window over the middle that looked like Kyler Murray at his most comfortable course sin followed, followed by a false start by the Vikings offensive line.

Then a 22 year old bullet to TJ Hawkinson makes a great catch. on the ball, then another false start by the Vikings offensive line. Then the Vikings have to burn a timeout because they can't get the playoff just ahead of the two-minute warning.

It was like that even when.

Things were good, even when the chunk plays were there and Kyler was taking them. Absolutely insane number of penalties, 15 penalties in this game. A lot of it was due to the offensive line, which unfortunately for the Vikings, they're now missing two offensive linemen, Christian Derrissaw and Donovan Jackson early on, there was a new left guard and there just was real situational problems all over the place. However, by halftime, The Dolphins only had 76 net yards and they're already a hundred total combined penalty yards between these two teams.

That's insane. So I guess you can take some positives that look, they move the ball down the field at the end and losing the left side of that offensive line. That is the strength of the offensive line. I hate when the NFL does not protect these players. Derrissa passed concussion protocol at halftime, came back into the game and then left again with a concussion. The injury to Donovan Jackson did not look great just by the tone of Kevin O'Connell after the game. So that is obviously a concern for them, but they get the running game and the offense going. And I guess we shouldn't be too surprised that Brian Flores versus Malik Willis was relatively one-sided.

They blitz 66% of the time and they get enough stops to get out of here undefeated.

Yeah.

I felt kind of bad though for, I mean, I feel bad for Malik Willis right now. To me, this was the best Dolphins performance. Even though they lose, they've been improving in my mind.

I've been on.

The Dolphins beat. I've been watching all of their games. I've been assigned all their games. And they not only on defense make the stop, they make a stop on the opening drive for the first time all season. They then hold the second drive to a field goal. Then they start actually moving the ball. Malik Willis, uh, in, in the run game had a nice third down run for a conversion. You know, it was really unfortunate that the, uh, that the touchdown gets called back because he set that up previously with a really nice throw. You know, I think that yes, absolutely. Brian Flores is going to, I'm going to bring it and did against a group like this, but on both sides of the ball, I did see positives.

And as just kind of gross as the Vikings offense is right now the the Dolphins defensive line Zach Seeler was making plays chop Robinson had a sack Jacob Rodriguez is everywhere as I've mentioned you know this is a group that they said it after the game they are right there they just have to figure out how to actually win these games and they don't know how to do that.

Right now Jacob Rodriguez finished with 18 tackles Outrageous.

And that's the thing is like when you watch the Dolphins, if you don't just look at the score after the game and you watch this team.

Tempting, I know.

You're like, I see it. Like I could.

The building blocks are starting to come together.

Yes.

You know, we're building a house and we're just pouring the foundation right now.

There was a moment where I.

Thought, do I like the Dolphins run game better than the Vikings run?

Yeah, and that's the thing. That's kind of what it looked like.

There was a sequence in, I think it was on that touchdown drive that Ollie Gordon finished off, which was a great run, by the way, where Malik rolls out to the right and fires a bullet to Malik Washington for a first down. And I'm like, see, he can. He can do that when it just doesn't happen often enough.

And then the defense plays with a level of swagger that I think matches their coach who's got the defensive background.

And I'm just.

Believe in what you can. I'm falling in love with potential.

All right.

That's three straight minutes giving the flowers to a team that still had under 80.

Net passing yards. But for the Vikings, the same things over and over again are what is showing up for them. And that is why we were talking about the Dolphins who are changing week over week. The Vikings, it is the same story. It is Brian Flores' defense winning the game. It is a great special teams unit helping to win the game. It is key plays in both of those phases.

And either nothing or Easter famine on offense right now.

They will try to improve, but it's always good to try to improve while you're undefeated. So they will take that victory and they'll move on and try to fix things and we'll see if they get healthier on the offensive line. Another team that's been looking to fix things and has been competitive but can't quite get the victory, the Tennessee Titans. They went to Baltimore on Sunday.

Oh, man, that's a phenomenal throw by Lamar Jackson.

And catch.

On to the fingertips of Zay Flowers.

That is the definition of throw it to where only your receiver can get it.

Oh, those are some of the catches. I've just really enjoyed watching Zay Flowers make over the middle in the red zone this year, just using him in a more productive way. He finishes with 118 yards and eight catches. Some of those from Snoop Huntley, who comes into the game for Lamar Jackson, who has an ankle injury, leaves in a walking boot. In terms of the stadium, that's obviously going to be a big story throughout the week.

The Ravens hold on to beat the Tennessee Titans 24 to 18. Probably not as close as the score indicates here, Shooky, because you get kind of not a garbage time touchdown by Cam Ward. But, you know, they scored with a minute left. It was competitive. You were impressed by the Titans' performance here.

No, but I was impressed by them figuring it out and fighting back at the end of the game. It ran concurrently with a couple of games that seemed to be out of hand that suddenly... were closer than expected. And it was like, oh, wait, I mean, they're an onside kick away from maybe winning this game. But no, otherwise, yeah, it was a pretty comfortable win for the Ravens. More of the same, but the number one takeaway when I watched this team with Zay Flowers on the field is everybody who laughed at the Ravens paying him, eat crow, eat Raven, whatever, because he is worth it. He changes this offense. They are so much better through the air with Zay Flowers on the field. Still the same numbers from Derrick Henry, 23 for 73. Week to week, it

kind of just looks the same. But overall, I mean, yeah, this is what they're supposed to do against this Titans team. I was just proud of the Titans for starting to figure it out. I was playing a game with myself at one point where it's like, Titans are in goal to go. Do they score this time? First time they did, Tony Pollard. Second time, stuffed on the goal line, fourth in goals.

Yeah, and they are... lucky that they were so efficient with Lamar Jackson in the game. Lamar Jackson is being described by Mike Florio on football night in America as weak to weak. So that is an ankle injury. no sense speculating whether it's low, whether it's high, but if it's week to week, it's not the best. And Snoop Huntley, which he avoided making a big mistake in the second half, they also didn't score any points in the second half.

So that's something for them to work on moving forward. I do feel like the Titans are looking, Jordan, for... you know, rays of light. And 145 yards and nine catches out of Carnell Tate is that ray of light from Cam Ward today.

Yeah, they'll take that because it's players who they have spent a significant investment in in terms of like draft capital. Carnell Tate, they've needed to see him take the next step forward. These games this season, there have been The same ups and downs we've seen from Titans receivers that we saw last year and were grumpy about, frankly. Cam Ward will have these games where there will be some real positive moments where you can really see the growth.

You can see the progress.

Having playmakers like Cardinal Tate, who went off today, really, really helps.

And look, they've had one of the worst running games in the league that is not helping him out. Cam Ward, that is. And that continued today. Design success rate on the ground of 26%. 50% Ward overall. Yeah, a little better.

He did have one of those Cam Ward throws that we talked about a lot last year.

Rolling to his right. Somebody's open on the opposite hash.

Screw it, I'm firing.

And it was wide open for a completion. I was like, okay, he's still got it. And a couple scrambles. He's been too. Loathe to scramble as a pro.

Eagles game, when he did, it was positive. Here, when he did, it was positive. Like, I just, I'd like to see that a little.

That's just a little too, the operation is still a little too disjointed. So the Titans lose. They go to 0-4. The Ravens are feeling good. Now in first place with your Brownies, shook at 3-1. You know who else is in first place at 3-1? The New York football Giants.

McBride comes in motion. Brissette back. Pumps.

Intercepted by the Giants as he throws it left.

Deontay Banks across midfield.

Down the right sideline.

40, 30, 20, 15, 10, 5. Touchdown Giants!

The day in which the 86 Giants were honored.

It's the Giant defense of 2026 that saves the day today.

Deontay Banks with a walk-off pick-six.

How about Deontay Banks for comeback story of the week or at least comeback?

I don't know.

I was reading some of the reports out of the rest of the game that he played.

I didn't watch it. That's how you finish. The Giants finish off the Cardinals 36 to 24. This one caught me by surprise. I thought the Cardinals offense would have too much for them, but Jacoby Brissett turns the ball over three interceptions on the day. That's one more than Jameis Winston, and that was the difference. That was the difference.

This was, I feel like when I look at this game and I think about how I viewed these two teams, I was very confident in the Cardinals going into this game. And I believe it is now my time and my turn to eat the third type of bird on the show, which is eating Cardinal because I was wrong.

Okay.

The Cardinals came out there and they jumped all over the giants. They had a 14 to three lead. Marvin Harrison Jr. Gets involved and makes a great catch for a touchdown. He does a little shh to the fans as in shh to my haters who've been all over me for not being a bigger part of this offense. They're, gashing him on the ground it's Jeremiah Love it's Tyler Algier to the end zone I'm like the Cardinals are going to run away with this thing the Giants don't have an answer But then it all evened out. They fight back. Jameis Winston finds good Jameis Winston. Hits Malachi Fields for a touchdown. Shelby Harris gets a paw up.

Bats a Jacoby Brissett pass at about a 60 degree angle directly into the arms of Arvel Reese for an interception. That's the one that wasn't his fault. Winston continues. Hits neighbors for a 25 yard touchdown after the interception. Everything's coming up giants. And their defense starts burying Jacoby and the rest of the offense. Cardinals stuck in mud. Can't do anything. Michael Fleur on the sideline getting increasingly frustrated as the game goes on. But as is the case with any Jameis Winston team, there's back and forth. There's great plays. There's maddening interceptions. And he throws two very ugly interceptions. And it gives you the full Jameis Winston experience by the time it's done. Luckily, one of his

most important throws came late on a touchdown pass to Theo Johnson. But I got to say, the Cardinals still wasted some opportunities because Mack Wilson punches the ball out of Najee Harris's grasp. Zayvon Collins recovers, and they're in perfect position to do something with it. They punt, and they never get that close until we see them on the goal line at the end. Actually, that drove me mad, that sequence there, because they had a timeout in their pocket, and they throw it three straight times. And then on the last throw, you see there that Deontay Banks picks that off.

Sounds like someone out of the Sean McVeigh tree.

Yes, he picks it off because he's one inside leverage and Jacoby has nowhere else to go. And he just forces it there where Michael Wilson should be. So what, in summary, I still don't know what to think about the Giants. And I know that the Cardinals are going to go back home thinking, damn, we just let another one get away.

Well, here's what I think about the Cardinals. Their defense stinks. And Matt LaFleur said, this one's going to hurt. Mike LaFleur said, has to be disappointed with what he's gotten out of Nick Rollis and that defense because they kept Rollis for the continuity. They have talent. I know they've had some injuries and in the back end, like it's not amazing, but they have a lot of talent and a lot invested up front. It just hasn't got it done to the point where, you know, Jameis and the Giants get 36 points on the board. I know the last seven there from the defense and you have Jameis making very ridiculous Jameis-like quotes after the game.

And I just feel like that, man, I'm heating up and I'm starting to get better, better and better. Last week, you know, I was questioning if I could even throw, you know, this week. You know, I got people talking about the Jameis Winston experience again.

He's self-aware.

He's on the podium.

How does he know about the people talking about it? Maybe he checked his mentions, honestly, because the experience is the ups and the downs. I don't know if he fully understands all that. He's got people talking already on the podium.

Maybe he has a permanent, like if it's tweet deck or just pulls up on his phone where it's a keyword search on Twitter.

And he just hits that to see what people are saying about him.

And I know this because when I was in college, Browns cornerback Eric Wright was the bane of my existence. And I would go on to Twitter, early days of Twitter, and complain about him. And he found me without ever mentioning him. So some players do do this.

So the other story from this game was a clip from an official. appearing to F-bomb Trey McBride as McBride is asking for a call. McBride, with one of his most inefficient days, give the Giants credit for that. 12 targets in this game, only 31 yards on 12 targets and seven catches. And the NFLPA immediately complained about it on Twitter. And the NFL says they are aware of the situation. So I think a lot of people will be asking the NFL to punish that official when we're obviously giving coaches either fines or penalties for similar type of behavior.

I don't know about coach and quarterback when they're on the same team. I don't know about that. No. The funniest part about that clip is McBride, as he's going to the sideline, the official's, you know, jawing at him from about 10 to 15 yards away. And McBride, he spots a camera. And he points at the camera and starts smiling like, dude, you're caught.

Honestly, it's like so many things. It's because the camera was there that now I think that official will pay. But the Giants, who knows? But they are three and one. One game up on the Eagles and the Cowboys. Who would have seen that coming? You know what I'm seeing coming? We're going to have a first time Sunday night recapper coming up on the show. Keegan Abduh. of NextGenStats is going to help us out at the end of the show here with some recaps. Looking forward to that.

Sam looks to swing the pass out.

Now he dumps the screen.

Pass over to the right side.

It's Wilson. He's inside the 15, down to the 10.

Down to the 5.

He's in!

Touchdown, Seahawks! That is Seahawks football, baby. Take advantage of the turnover. And number 23, Wilson, takes it 23 yards to the house.

Those fantasy owners have picked up Emmanuel Wilson. Happy on Sunday. That is one of two touchdowns for the new starting running back. of the Seattle Seahawks. Jadarian Price going on injured reserve since we last taped. I thought first touchdown kind of works as a highlight in a game that's so one-sided, but the Chargers end up scoring 10 points in the fourth quarter, making this one interesting before the Seahawks hold on 30-23. As I mentioned before the break, Keegan is joining us now from NextGenStats.com.

Let's go.

Part of our Sunday show. On behalf of the show, thank you so much. I mean, there's too many games, Keegan. We need help, including help explaining what happened in this one.

So this one was a really sloppy game.

30 combined penalties. 14 for the Seahawks, 150 yards, and 16 for the Chargers, 130.

Jeez. Okay, I take back how I started the show. The football is bad. Not to cut you off, Keegan. The football is bad in some areas.

It was a slop ball. Yeah, so the Chargers, they have a chance.

They kick a field goal to go down seven, and they get Sam Darnold to slide on what was going to be third and 12. boneheaded, unnecessary roughness penalty gives them an extra down. They were going to go into the two minute warning with both timeouts facing third and 12. Instead, they get the ball back with zero timeouts. Justin Herbert strip sack to end the game. It was a classic game of the Chargers charging. You had Joe Alt hurt.

He left in the second quarter. Ladd McConkie hurt. He left in the second quarter. Trevor Penning hurt. He left in the third quarter. Rashawn Slater hurt. He left in the fourth.

Whoa.

Let's play a game.

How many Charlton offensive linemen do you think you can name from the end of game lineup on the final drive?

Lotter.

He gave up a career-high six pressures.

Okay, Awosika, is he back?

Cool, cool, cool.

What?

Oh, Cole Strange. Strange. Oh, you got me there.

He gave up a season-high six pressures. Cool, cool, cool, cool.

Is Trey Pipkins still on this roster?

Trey Pipkins, I think he might be on the roster, was not in the game. Okay. It was Travis Burke.

Okay.

Jacob Spalmer.

Okay.

Nope.

And Logan Taylor. No.

This is crazy because.

Those guys.

I want to hear what Seattle's defense was doing in the first half because some of the stats from Herber in the first half, and he had two interceptions in this game, were absolutely grotesque and has everyone talking about like an incredible Seattle defensive performance. I know it turned around, but what was happening in the first half of this game?

So Herbert first half, as you said, five of 14 for 36 yards and two picks, not good. The two picks are pretty unexcusable on the first pick. If it wasn't going to be picked by Thomas, it was going to be picked by Joe, but you can see it right here. He was right in position right there. And then the second pick also puzzling throwing right there. But in general, I just don't think he had any opportunity to do anything because A very classic case of Justin Herbert.

He was pressured on a season high, 55% of his drop back.

Oh, so it can get worse.

It can get worse.

Sacked four times, including the final strip sack of the game. And 11 of those pressures came within two and a half seconds. There was a play in the second quarter where Byron Murphy is standing up on third and four over the tackle. And he hits Justin Herbert within 2.2 seconds of, uh, the ball being snapped. So they came out very screen heavy. Almost a quarter of his passes were screens. Um, they had a grand total of 19 yards on those screens. You saw more yards on that Emmanuel Wilson screen to start the game. Um, Herbert did turn around in the second half. Um, I think, you know, given what he was playing with, with no lad McConkie, he, uh, played pretty admirably at the end, but it just wasn't enough.

Right.

There was a fourth and seven that I'm not bitter about at all as it relates to our picks show.

Yeah.

Shook where the game was over and he's running on like around the sideline and looked like Seattle's going to win by two, maybe three scores and he hits Quinton Johnson down the field and that ends... That leads to the kind of crazy ending sequence. The Chargers did run the ball fairly well eventually in this game. Leonard Williams goes out with an injury in the fourth quarter. That's one to watch. But it's really not excuse making for Herbert when Slater, Alt, and Penning, and Ladd all go out.

We're back in the same place we were at last year. It's the saddest 0-4.

Week four.

It's a circular argument. Nobody's changing anyone's minds. Let's continue. Yeah.

And look, they're on four. They're honestly not going to be that relevant. Like when it as it relates to the playoff picture. I don't think this year. So let's talk about the team that's more relevant.

Yeah.

The 3-1 Seahawks. concerns about their offense after this game or what was, what were your takeaways?

Um, I would say offensively, um, they were also allowing a lot of pressure, uh, and Donald struggled when under pressure. He was nearly perfect when he wasn't pressured, uh, 10 of 11 for 132 yards in both touchdowns, but under pressure, just three of 11, uh, for 37 yards in a pick. Um, I think they got some juice from Shahid and Tori Horton.

It was good to see that get going. Um, and JSN was excellent as always.

Um, but maybe they got a little bit.

Complacent with the lead and the numbers don't exactly look good there. But what I would say defensively, the biggest difference is that M and worry is back and you see that with how they were matching personnel. Um, So they played only four plays of base, which is a season low. That's going against the chargers who are famously a heavy personnel team. They matched nickel on 27 of 33 plays when there was two or fewer wide receivers on the field.

And that allows you to put both.

I'm a warrior who I would say is a DBI now, a, defensive back and name only. He had 13 snaps in the line of scrimmage and 26 at linebacker, but it also allows you to go dime and put Witherspoon in the slot. Both of those guys were making plays all day. They each had nine tackles, five of which were successful for the defense, and Emanuori had four pressures.

Yeah, and he's standing up, rushing. He's at the line of scrimmage in a four-point stance, rushing.

Felt things. Part of why they can do this too is the return of Julian Love.

Yes.

I think it's been the most underrated and important player in this defense so far this year.

And I'm glad you mentioned Shahid. Look, he only had three touches in this game. One out of the backfield. But one was for a touchdown as a runner and one as a receiver. goes for 20 yards. So baby steps, building it up.

Adult son Harbaugh versus John Harbaugh.

Yes. One of the Harbaugh sons.

Man.

Who won that special teams battle?

Yeah.

Look, the Chargers get a little bit of lollipop for competing at the end of this game, but they are 0-4. Seattle looking at a really fascinating matchup against the 49ers for first place in the NFC West next week. Let's go back to the start of my day. 6.30 a.m. out here on the West Coast. Yes, it was the start of the London games, Colts and Commanders.

Taylor running to the right.

His second touchdown of the day.

And just a well-blocked zone run.

They motion the tight end over and they run it to the strong side.

Great double team block from the guard tackle front side.

That was Jason Kelsey for the first time as an announcer on this show. Dave Pasch on NFL Network. Kurt Warner was in that booth too. For a first time in the booth. You know, if I didn't like it, I just wouldn't say anything. But I thought it was good. I'm looking forward to this crew.

That is how you give feedback.

I have... Well, it depends. If it's NFL Network feedback, I just wouldn't say anything.

You know.

Dave Cash.

My favorite.

If it was, you know, CBS or... Definitely Amazon, I would say something. The Colts win 30 to 13. That was one of two Jonathan Taylor touchdowns on the day. He gets 95 yards. The Colts offense was a mess. So was Daniel Jones in the first half of this game. But Marcus Mariota left with a knee injury on the third down touchdown. in his second possession. Now that was a really important play because not only did he get hurt, but the commanders get off the field with that hit.

I believe it was a sack. And that was two failed red zone trips that Mariota had in that game. They did not get back to the red zone for the rest of the day. So in comes Athen Kalliamakis. Now, oh, Calic Manis. Can you tell me what country that last name's from?

Greece.

I mean, that's not hard.

Come on.

I was giving you a layup. I was giving you a layup.

His first name's Athens?

Oh.

Geographically, what could clue me in?

He was the first Rutgers quarterback to play in the NFL since Mike McMahon 20 years ago. Oh, are you a Rutgers guy?

No, I'm just a Rutgers guy.

And you know what? He had a couple 40-yard plays down the field. There's not much, I think, more that he could have done. Not that he helped them, but it was a disappointing start to the London games because it did feel like the game was going to end then. And ultimately... Shook the Colts offense in the second half.

I do think got it going on the ground against this commander's defense, which gave them problems in the first half. All the pressure looks that Durante Jones was sending them, but it wasn't enough overall.

No, I mean, I'm happy to know this about the Colts offense in this going in the second half because they've been a nightmare. I mean, other than the game that they played against the Chiefs in primetime, like last week against the Texans, it was like, what are we going to, what are you actually going to get out of this? You need to come down and drive for a game winning field goal in the final few seconds.

So it's good for them to get back on track. Sometimes I think you just need a get right or get better game. And if it's a product of unfortunate circumstance for the opposition, so be it. But, Probably the first time this year where I've felt disappointed by the commanders given their circumstances because this defense has played so well.

It did for the first half, but there wasn't... I mean, they did not play well in the second half of this game, but they also held Daniel Jones like... to 2.4 yards per attempt at halftime. I think it was 9 for 18. There were so many possessions, and that's where a better offense, including the two Mariota drives, could have taken advantage a little better. So Daniel Jones looked ugly.

He was bailed out. They blitzed him a ton. Two really poor turnovers. in the first half and they're short on receivers. No Keenan Allen in this game. Of course, Alec Pierce has been out for a while. And so you do give some credit to DeForest Buckner and their run defense, especially like it's Austin Eckler back there, but like Bill Kroski-Mera ends up with 15 rushes or 15 yards on nine carries in this game. They could not get too much done on the ground.

Yeah, Shaq, when you were talking about maybe being disappointed for the first time, what I was about to say is, like, I have liked a lot, to your point, what the commander's defense has done. I think they really found a coach in Durante Jones, and he really has put his own fingerprints on what he wants this group to do.

I did not exit this game feeling, I guess, necessarily worse. I think the circumstances were insane that they were in. Right. And I felt still about the same about the Colts' defense, which is worried.

I felt worried through.

Most of the first half for the Colts' offense as well. And I've had questions all year. I mean, it's a sudden change.

It is a.

uh tough tough situation to be in if you're new offensive coordinator David Blau and and trying to figure out how you want the ship to start moving forward but you know man they've been streaky just in conceptually like the entire year regardless of who's in that quarterback.

Like I said like they they eventually go touchdown field goal touchdown field goal in the middle portion to that game but like that wasn't until their seventh drive the first half so that they're Offense, their defense kept getting the ball back to the Colts and Sauce Gardner has really struggled. this season, he gives up 240 plus yard plays.

It was his most yards given up in a game his career.

Wow.

And I don't think he's he's played that well overall this season. But again, it's managing the schedule. They get to two and two and they did get over 50 percent success rate on the on the running game by the end of this game. And Washington did have 10 defensive penalties. They do go two for 15 on third down.

I think their offensive line has not been playing well in terms of the running game and uh, today protecting the passer. So Indianapolis did get off there. They get to two and two, the commanders fall to one and three. Jayden Daniels could be back next week. We hope that he is. Tampa Bay is a team, um, that is having to live a life. What, what is it like, uh, Kelly McManus was a seventh-round pick, right? I believe he was drafted. Jalen Daniels, the Buccaneers quarterback, was not drafted, and he started a game earlier in the season than any undrafted rookie in a long time. Let's go to Tampa.

Fourth and 11. Here's the snap.

Blitz on, and it is Evan Williams again, and the quarterback fires it over the middle, and.

It is intercepted. Intercepted by Green Bay. Intercepted by Keyshawn Nixon.

At the 44-yard line of Green Bay, and there is your dagger! Evan Williams on the front end, and Keith John Nixon cleaning up.

On the back end.

Oh, you know it's going to be a good first show for Keegan when he gets a Wayne Larravee dagger call. That doesn't hit as well as it usually does. No, I feel like it took a while to get there, and it was against Jalen Daniels, but they got the win at 17-14. to 14. The Packers survive in Tampa. The Buccaneers are 0-4. The NFC South favorite Buccaneers are 0-4.

Not my favorite. I just mean in Vegas and whatnot before the season. Some people picked them to miss the playoffs. Good job. Good job by you guys. The Packers are 2-2. I'm not feeling great about their playoff chances, but they helped themselves today, Keegan. Let's spin it positively. What do you think the best thing the Packers did today was?

They blitzed the hell out of Jalen Daniels. So it was actually the highest blitz rate by Jonathan Gannon as a play caller.

90% of his dropbacks.

And created seven unblocked pressures there, which is also the most that Gannon has had as a defensive play caller. You had 13 different defenders generate a pressure today, which is the most in a game by any defense this season.

And this is all without Micah Parsons.

So I think that this defense could actually carry this Packers team, maybe not to the playoffs, but to be a respectable team. competitive team for all of their issues on offense.

Well, they better get to the playoffs or there's no Matt LaFleur. I don't think on this team. Yeah.

Yeah.

Do you think that this is a formula that could actually apply to a team that's not playing with a backup quarterback who was undrafted and is a rookie?

I do.

I think they have been able to get after the quarterback without Micah Parsons and he's coming back hopefully soon.

Lucas Van Ness. has looked great this year. He's got a way.

Quicker get off his burst off the line of scrimmage is looking better than ever. Um, and I think that, you know, uh, they did lose Edgerton Cooper, I believe, which is a tough one. Uh, and there's second level does not have a lot of depth. Uh, they've been playing a lot of nickel this year because of that, but Evan Williams had a good game. Um, and I think overall, like Gannon's been doing well with what he has this year.

Um, Jalen Daniels.

Yes.

If you'll let me.

Please. If you'll let me highlight.

Him a little bit. I think that I was actually pretty impressed by him.

Okay.

The knock score does not look good necessarily. But first of all, the Buccaneers clearly like him. You said he was an undrafted free agent. One of the first earliest starts by an undrafted free agent in a while.

He also has the most.

Guaranteed money out of any undrafted free agent quarterback. I think he could have a decently long career as a backup in this league.

He looked pretty decisive.

Despite facing all that unblocked pressure, he only took three sacks on 17 pressures. That's a significantly lower pressure to sack rate than Baker was having this season. He was quick to scramble and showed some juice there. He had two explosives on the ground. I think Zach Robinson did a good job kind of protecting him with a lot of screens. Overall, I think Baker's going to be out for a while, but this Bucs offense can do something a little bit and be a little competitive, I think.

They need to get a win at some point, and they didn't partly in this game win. because for a while, they got no heat on Jordan Love. After the offensive line has looked so bad for them all season, the pressure rate for the Bucs was very low in this game.

I will caveat, though.

Yes.

Caveat. Jordan Love was getting ready to the ball in 2.43 seconds.

Yeah, that's good. That's good coaching.

They rebuilt the entire offensive line. Matt LaFleur was also going to have to step up and do his part on the scheme side.

And he did early in this game. Let's hear the touchdown to Matthew Golden.

Fourth down, goal to go to two yards left.

Long count.

Here's the snap.

Love waits.

Looks.

Throws.

Right side.

Goldman.

Leaping. Touchdown.

Green Bay Packers. They beat Keontae Scott. Beautiful throw from Jordan Love. to Matthew Golden.

So, Golden has a great touchdown catch there. I love the aggressiveness by LaFleur to go for it on fourth down in a scoreless game. And he's rewarded. Tucker Kraft ends up with a touchdown in this game. And they have to feel a little better offensively. But I am curious what you think overall because... they left with a bit of a sour taste in their mouth with, with how Jordan love finished this game.

Yeah. I would say that this offense is broken. Like you have a terrible run game. Uh, you have the only team with more penalties right now is the Browns. And those penalties are mostly coming from the offensive line procedural holding. Um, so you look at, you know, their third down efficiency and how it's regressed because they're getting into long down and distances because they can't run the ball.

They can only throw very quickly, 2.43 seconds again. Today was his time to throw. Last year, they were second in the NFL in fourth down conversion rate.

This year, they're dead last.

And it's tough to ask Jordan Love to be back there on third and seven plus five, six times a game with that offensive line.

They can't hold a block for more than two and a half seconds.

And they'll get some of the free agents into the lineup a little more quickly. As we get on, we'll see if that saves their season or not. But man, the Jordan Love interception with under four minutes to go was a total groaner. One of the worst I thought all day. And it does take away some of the positives. Again, they only finished with 17 points. You know, you get a win and you hope again to improve as the season goes along. Keegan, like you don't need to do much improving. Knocked it out of the park. Appreciate you helping us out. He's going to be doing this on future Sunday night shows. He will not be joining us for Sunday night football, but we'll be here to talk Panthers Lions. Let's get to it.

Here's the snap. Panthers rush five. Goff steps up, throws, completes the test long. Does he get to the marker? No, he is short. Tackled at the 21.

How about this defense?

Bloodied, but unbowed.

They come up with the stop, and Carolina just has to kneel it, and we get a little kneel diamond.

Great call there by Anis Shroff of WRFX. The Panthers defense might not have been gangbusters for each and every drive. But they delivered perhaps the most surprising four and out by a defense all season long. They hold on to win 32 to 26 in a game where we almost got 1,000 yards of offense. Ultimately, yes, it was the Panthers defense that got the key points. stop late in a 32-26 victory. A great night for Carolina. A great night for Jordan Roderig, who loves herself some Panthers. And this is a night that those fans have been waiting for for more than a decade. First Sunday night football game in over 11 years at home. They are 2-2.

Yeah.

And you could tell the way the cameras were shaking that that crowd at Bank of America Stadium was rocking. Oh, man, I had some FOMO not being there. It was so cool watching that. How about Teteroa McMillan, which what an incredible game, a career game for him, 14 of 16 for 192 yards, two touchdowns. My most impressive thing was his connection with Bryce Young, who was balling the entire game and the way that the Panthers coaching staff and Bryce Young and Ted McMillan collaborated to maximize and really hurt.

The most vulnerable area of the team.

Of the Detroit lions defense, which is specifically the way that they cover heavy personnel passing attacks. And they made Ted McMillan a mismatch from the slot where both of his touchdowns, 94 yards and six catches came from. They moved him into that space that the safeties would cover, and they used that to their advantage to then move Tet around where he would draw more attention after that production and get other players into the middle of the field.

It was a masterful night for Bryce Young, for Brad Idzik, the play caller. It was a really, really fun game to watch.

Yeah, Bryce Young is playing awesome football right now. He goes over 300 yards. Let's hear one of those touchdowns you mentioned today. to Tedaroa McMillan.

Takes the snap. Lions bring the blitz. Young, Gross, Enzo, McMillan, center cut. Touchdown, Carolina.

T-Mac's career game and career night continues.

The stars are out in Charlotte. T-Mac and Bryce, the brightest among them.

Love that. Also had a beautiful downfield bomb for his first touchdown of the night. And that's the thing with Bryce Young right now. Like, he can get you before the snap. He can get you on a couple different fourth and fours. Like, one to John Mechie, one to Darren Waller. Like, he has seen everything, but he can also beat you deep. It's an ethical result. I've watched these teams, all four of their games. They both deserve to be two and two. The Lions, frankly... maybe deserve even worse. But their offense is consistent enough. They came up short a couple times in the red zone. Jameer Gibbs, surprisingly, held to only 46 yards on the ground. That was kind of the difference is the Panthers defense. which lost

Jay Lynn Phillips late in this game. And it's had a lot of injuries. They did enjoy having Devin Lloyd back. They were able to stop the run, make Jared Goff and the Lions more one-dimensional. Whereas the Panthers offense can do whatever they want. Chuba Hubbard's been awesome this season and he was great in this game too.

Yeah, they were really, really effective running the ball. Chuba Hubbard went over 120 yards, two touchdowns, 6.1 yards per carry. to me on the defensive side, Greg, when you, you know, you guys mentioned the, the limiting Jameer Gibbs, like that's a combination, Derek Brown, Devin Lloyd, a linebacker lineman combo.

They have been waiting for in Carolina. That's a combined stat to me looking at that. And really that Panthers defensive line is depleted as it was, you know, remember they're missing their two starting edge rushers, right?

They're missing their two starting corners. They're come.

They definitely just coming back from an injury. They're, They said, and he said it on the call, they are bloodied up in every way and they're doing everything they can knowing that they're not necessarily always going to get sacks. They're getting their hands on passes. Batted balls were a huge story of the game. That wasn't the only fourth down stop. They also had a huge fourth and 20 stop where it's sort of like a desperation. Jared Goff and the Lions offense have to go for it, you know, in the sort of like murky scoring red area.

They try to pull a Nick Cayley, do a hook and ladder.

And they make the stop. And so to me, it was like they did whatever they could short of like, you know, picking each other up and throwing each other at Jared Goff to try to at least limit this this Lions offense.

And I just I don't know. I enjoyed watching it. I thought it was fun.

And what was most creditable, these are the terms that you used, about this was the fact that, yeah, the Lions moved the football on them in the fourth quarter. The Lions needing two touchdowns to win this game moved the ball, but they didn't wilt. Yes, they gave up one touchdown, but of those three final possessions in which Detroit is in desperation mode, they have every reason in the world to air it out. Jameer Gibbs is not really a huge factor in this offense. They were able to force two turnovers on downs. That's big for them.

Bryce Young's been one of the best quarterbacks in the league this season. He's going to have a strong case for quarterback island in a couple of days I just think he's playing from the neck up so well but more importantly he is so confident in how he is moving in the pocket and creating plays and is just willing to go downfield even without his guy Jalen Coker you know you have multiple receptions for Tommy Tremble and Bryson Tremaine who was involved last week and Mechie as I mentioned so Big win. I think it's, I think it's concerned. I'm a little concerned about this Lions team.

They haven't passed the eye test really every week. And the fact that they're losing a game to a very similar team with huge defensive shortcomings, like the Panthers right now look like a better team. And they were tonight at winning kind of a, well, we're a, we're a one-sided team. We're an offense heavy team, but that's just how we're going to win a great, job for the Panthers and a little concerning there for the Lions.

I mean, the worst part about this Lions offense is, yes, they can put up points, but they're pretty one-dimensional in terms of who can do it. It's not that they don't have talent like in Sam LaPorte, Amin Ra, St. Brown, James Williams, Isaac Tisla, all good guys, but if they can't get Jameer Gibbs going, you see a result like tonight, which is that you can't score enough to beat the Carolina Panthers.

Bryce Young was so unfazed this entire game.

Collinsworth maybe made one too many comments about his facial expression, but okay.

That's Chris Collinsworth.

But like that, he literally, he hits, he, he, he hits one of his receipt, Bryson Tremaine. Then he loses one of another one of his linemen. So they're down like four linemen. By the time this game is over, Freeling has a, has a leg issue, has to leave the game. Then he hits Mechie again, up the middle, exactly where they're trying to move players and move space, whether they're doing it with motions or alignments or RPOs, they were maximizing that most vulnerable area for him. in the lion secondary. And it just was so, they had horrible field position in, in quarter in the third quarter, the Chuba Hubbard drive. And, and he's just unfazed whether he's executing what the plan is or elevating in so

many ways. He had a throw to Ted McMillan on the sideline tonight that Ted McMillan had an incredible catch on, on third and 14.

That was one of it. We have to nominate it for one of the throws of the year so far. That was a great throw. Just as good a catch. These two, just a combination that are making the Panthers a primetime type of team. Now they're not really scheduled for primetime much of it all. I think the rest of the year, but a great performance here. They get to two and two. We are through four weeks of this season and the Panthers are one of the two teams next week that start giving us some bye weeks.

Although just, just two teams weird. We're just like, you know, soft testing bye weeks in week five. We got to get out of here. Let's think about what we're doing Monday night football. It's a big week for the NFC South because the Falcons are back in primetime next Sunday night. Weird, possibly against Snoop Huntley, but we got the Falcons and the Saints on Monday night football. Jordan Rodriguez and I will be live on YouTube right after the game. Of course, you can listen to us in your ears. We'll see you then. Week four was a fun one.

Week 4 Recap: 3 Undefeated Teams Remain, First Place Giants and Dominant Bears

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