GMFB Friday Hour 2: Bears Catching Fire, Cowboys Update, Mad Minute!

0:04 Good Morning Football is a production of the NFL in partnership with iHeartRadio.

0:21 Good Morning Football.

0:26 That's right.

0:26 This is Good Morning Football, everybody. Presented by Old Trapper Beef Jerky. It's Friday, October 23rd. Jamie Erdahl, Manti Teo, Willie Colon. We've lost Kyle to the weather in Paris.

0:34 No, just kidding.

0:35 Stay safe, KB.

0:36 Yeah, stay safe.

0:36 He's got to go be on 27 other shows throughout the day in anticipation of St.

0:41 Steelers.

0:41 Kyle likes to say he loves Throwdown Thursday, and there's somebody on Park Avenue, NFL executive, that loves Throwdown Thursday. The last hour of GMFB, for me, it hits different.

0:51 Okay.

0:52 I love it. And really, colognes at the breakfast.

0:54 Table, you don't know what's going to go down this hour. We've got gas coming on.

0:59 We're sending you into the weekend with style, all right?

1:02 And you know why?

1:03 Because we're all jazzed up about that Thursday night football game.

1:06 Patriots-Bears.

1:07 We expected it to be a great matchup. The quarterbacks are great. The coaches are really solid. But then it truly delivered. We got the highlight here on GMFB. Let's get into it. Patriots-Bears.

1:19 Tonight, we remember Mike Ditka. A Hall of Fame tight end and the coach of the 1985 Super Bowl championship.

1:27 Classy move by.

1:27 The Bears to start their evening that way. Ditka passed away earlier this month. And, of course, you always see him in the stands, people trying to dress up like him. And now it's going to be even more prevalent. Shout-out to Mike Ditka and his family. Shout-out to Luther Burden III and his family. He was running for his life on that one. Caleb Williams early and often to Luther Burden III. Bears were already up 3-0. Mike Vrabel had to close his eyes and wince in agony. Because the Patriots lose this game.

1:52 On Thursday night.

1:53 Caleb Williams playing great since his return from his hamstring injury. Back-to-back 300-plus yard games for him.

1:58 Two touchdowns.

2:00 DeAndre Swift delivered on the ground. Luther Burden, like I said, 130 yards. All of them coming in the first half. Both teams now have a 10-day break before they go on the road. Until then, let's hear from both coaches.

2:12 Caleb, it was good to get him now two weeks in a row. Finding some open receivers and I always feel more comfortable as a play caller when we get a full week of practice so that I can see all these plays come to life in practice and we can talk through them a little bit more. For a short week, which we really haven't had many of since I've been here together, I thought he did a great job.

2:37 I know he'd like to have that throwback to Eli, but I thought he really competed and whether that was running around and scrambling and Finding, you know, good places to go with football. Gave us a chance. You know, I know he'd like to have that one back, and he'll learn from it like he always does.

2:59 And, you know, I'm glad he's ours.

3:04 It's good to stake your claim on your guy because this is always going to be the comparison.

3:07 They're friends, Caleb Williams and Drake May.

3:09 They also come from the same draft class, so their success will always be put paper and compared down. Now we have Thursday night, week seven game to look, and the Bears have now won two straight this season, and the Patriots, who had a three-game winning streak going, comes to an end. So what do we see, Manti, when you watch this game unfold, something that really delivered from start to finish?

3:28 Yeah, is the Chicago Bears offense the most complete offense in the league? Like you really got to ask yourself that question. The reason why I ask myself that question is you look at everybody they have offensively, Caleb and all of his offensive targets. If one goes down, does that train stop?

3:44 Well, we're going to find out the answer to that because Cole Komet might.

3:46 Be out for a while. And he was out for a while during the game, right? But did that train even, like, slow down at all?

3:53 Right?

3:53 Like, you think about Romo Dunze. He came on late. I mean, you had Luther Bird, and that was on him from quarter one to quarter three. And then when he kind of fell off, then Romo Dunze took over. Colson Loveland was present. So, again, it's just like when I watch this offense. Like, who do you take away?

4:12 And if you do take away one, there's always another. And that's a question that I think if you ask all the other top offenses in the league, if you take one guy away, it changes the whole dynamic. And we talked about the San Francisco 49ers.

4:25 Right.

4:25 First half of that game against the commanders, they're just smashing the commanders. Then Mike Evans goes down and they score three points total in the second half.

4:34 Right.

4:35 And they have I think they had like three, three and outs or four, four and outs or something like that. A total of two yards in the fourth quarter. I can't say the same thing about the Bears. And Ben Johnson has these these guys playing at a high level. More importantly, he has Caleb Williams playing at a level that.

4:50 There's only a few quarterbacks playing at right now. His ability to scramble, his decision making, his composure, and his leadership. Last night, my biggest takeaway, Willie, was how do you beat this offense? And who do you take away? And if you do take away them, there's three other guys that can stop you. And I haven't even talked about DeAndre Swift and Kyle Longa in the run game. So Ben Johnson has a problem at offense, and it's a problem for 31 other defenses. And I hope that Caleb stays healthy because, man, you see what they put on tape last night, and you can't help but be happy.

5:20 Yeah, part of the reason the Bears' offense looks so good because it's Pat's defense.

5:24 Flat out looks spotty throughout the whole game.

5:26 I mean, I've never seen a team have so many penalties and so many missed tackles in one game.

5:30 It was crazy.

5:31 I think the Pats had, yeah, they had 14 missed tackles. I think last year versus Steelers Week 3, that's what they tied as far as missed tackles. And from a penalty standpoint, they had 10 penalties for 71 yards. When you play a complete outfit to your point in the Bears, it just can't happen.

5:46 I think if you're Mike Vrabel right now, you.

5:47 Understand the deficiencies you're having on the office line.

5:49 Due to injury.

5:50 You know Drake may have dueled, and some might say out-dueled, Caleb Williams from a stats standpoint. But when you're a defense who prides himself at getting after the quarterback, being sound, tackling, and penalties, you failed last night, and that's what cost you the game.

6:04 So I'm looking at this Bears team. Credit, you won the game, good.

6:07 But if you're Mike Vrabel in this outfit, your defense is in trouble right now because you can't get after the quarterback, you're missing tackles, and penalties are absolutely killing you. So they're going to have to get back in the film room and figure it out, and hopefully they can do it sooner than later because the season is rolling along.

6:22 Can we address one moment from the game last night? And Ben Johnson, while he never changes his facial expression, which I appreciate and respect so much out of him, I do think I saw a flicker of frustration. And it was on a play design that was ended up called back.

6:34 For a penalty.

6:35 And Caleb Williams goes to do a fake handoff. And the flag is thrown because your eye immediately goes to the fact that the big man has the ball.

6:43 This is called back for illegal formation.

6:45 You can't... Illegal forward handoff.

6:48 Illegal forward handoff.

6:49 Yes.

6:50 To Joe Tooney.

6:51 And Ben Johnson, I have to imagine on the headset, is like, guys, I thought we studied the rule book. What's going through his mind right there, Willie, do you think?

7:00 Score. Yes, of course. What do you mean?

7:04 No, for Ben Johnson.

7:07 They practiced this. There must have been a logical reason as to why they thought they could.

7:12 Get away with this.

7:14 I think that's such a great point, Jamie, because, you know, they had a coach's meeting. I was like, hey, let's make sure. Number one, it's a legal play.

7:20 Yes.

7:21 Right.

7:21 And I'm still trying to get my mind off of how is that illegal? Because I get like you can't hand. I don't know if it's because it's alignment, because technically and really you and I were talking about this before the show. If we're in shotgun, Jamie, and we run an RPO and I'm. I have the ball in the belly of my running back and he's moving forward. By the time I release it, the running back is in front of me.

7:45 Yep.

7:45 We got, we actually, the reason why I even brought it up was because Ben goes, we practice.

7:49 I love seeing the whole week. We get to practice all the plays. We got coach. We got Caleb on the play at hand.

7:53 Here are the guys.

7:57 Very similar to what it looked like.

8:00 I mean, obviously, it was a penalty.

8:03 Yeah, it looked clean in practice for us, so I'll have to see it on tape.

8:06 Joe was supposed to score, but I didn't know that rule.

8:11 So I'm going to go back, and we're going to talk about it, Coach and I and the other people that are in charge of that.

8:17 So we'll figure it out, and hopefully we can figure some.

8:20 Cool plays out again.

8:24 Okay, so the reason why Ben Johnson thinks it was clean in practice is because it is legal to make a forward handoff behind the line of scrimmage. So the flag must have been thrown because.

8:33 Tooney was behind the line of scrimmage.

8:35 Well... He was pulling. Because he was pulling. Yeah, yeah, yeah.

8:37 I didn't throw the flag.

8:41 The flag was called dead, and, you know, Ben Johnson.

8:44 Yeah, hopefully Rapshi can give us some insight on what the heck may be. I don't know if Rapshi... I thought it was clean on this whole play. I mean, Tooney's behind the line of scrimmage. He hands, Caleb hands the ball off to him. I think Tooney squatted down a little bit because I did see this play being run by a high school team back in California in 2014.

9:02 If he would have squatted a little bit, maybe. I just don't know. Look at 50 for the Patriots. He doesn't even know, Jamie.

9:07 Right.

9:08 Rap sheet. You got anything more on this?

9:10 No.

9:11 Okay. Well, then what about Cole Komet?

9:13 Okay, let's talk about that. That's something I do know about.

9:16 We're going to go back to the replay and talk to people and figure out what was going on with that handoff.

9:23 I don't know.

9:24 It looked pretty cool to me, whatever the penalty was. Anyway, let's talk about that's what we should really be focusing on. Fair or not, foul or not, that was a pretty cool play. All right, anyway, let's talk about Cole Komet. Not fair, not cool. Cole Komet was carted off yesterday with.

9:39 A knee injury.

9:40 I called it earlier a non-contact knee injury because you can actually see his knee.

9:43 Buckle before contact.

9:45 This is not the kind of injury that contact delivers. This is one where the knee buckles, and you can see he goes down, and he was carted off, and he's going to have a test today, but even Ben Johnson, a minute after the game, This does not look very good. The fear, obviously, is a significant knee injury. We have much better news for some of the other players. we were talking about, starting with Saquon Barkley, who returned to practice yesterday for the Philadelphia Eagles, missed a couple games with a hamstring injury. Meanwhile, it seems every running back who's been on the Eagles has gotten hurt since he's been out.

10:15 Tank Bigsby, Will Shipley.

10:17 Well, Saquon now has a good chance to come back. The fact that he is practicing in the first day of the week on Thursday, they play Monday. Excellent sign for his return. Also good signs for Baker Mayfield.

10:28 The Tempe Buccaneers quarterback.

10:30 He has been a full participant in practice both days this week.

10:34 He has been throwing.

10:35 He was able to throw Wednesday, then come back Thursday, throw the next day. That's a good sign because had he had swelling and discomfort, he might have had to take a day off. And you say, all right, well, maybe he's not ready. All signs point to Baker Mayfield being ready. And then there's Lamar Jackson, who also practiced yesterday, just like he had practiced Wednesday. He is recovering from a ankle sprain that knocked him out yesterday.

10:56 The previous two games.

10:57 He was limping on Wednesday, reported to be better on Thursday. My understanding is he's doing more now than he has done, but he's up in the air for Sunday because it's Lamar. They don't know how he's going to respond. They don't know what level he is going to be at. I think there's some hope, but no one can say for sure that he is playing.

11:15 All right, Rapshi, thank you very much. As we continue to have mind-bending moments, I'll just make one clarification about that play, okay?

11:22 You can hand it off.

11:23 Forward, forward handoff, to a receiver or a running back. If you're going to hand it off to an offensive lineman, it has to be.

11:29 A backward handoff.

11:30 Oh, okay.

11:31 That's the difference.

11:32 That's the rule. Exactly.

11:33 Let's move on to the rest of week seven.

11:35 Asking Jamar Chase a question, this really frustrated me recently, so we're going to bring it up, about a specific player historically has not rendered a great answer. He made us all sit in intentional silence a couple weeks back when he was pressed to analyze Travis Hunter's development from year one to year two. So perhaps inquiring about a familiar divisional opponent will be more fruitful for us.

11:55 Their secondary has been, you know, the same for so long. Is it harder to kind of find weaknesses and things to attack versus, you know, playing another team that you see once every couple years? No, not really.

12:09 I mean, they're a well-rounded defense at the end of the day. You know what I'm saying? They don't have that many weaknesses, but they do have some at the end of the day. I feel like it's on us to explore them and expose those weaknesses whenever we get the opportunity to. But at the same time, I feel like they got to play us. You know what I'm saying?

12:28 They got to adjust to us. They got to stop us. And that's the biggest thing when it comes to this.

12:34 All right, Jamar, I like it. Good take on the Ravens' defense. What are we watching when it comes to Ravens' Bengals this weekend, Willie?

12:40 Oh, for me, it's the Ravens' offense, man.

12:42 You only scored 10 points against the Browns, and Derrick Henry, you couldn't find him on tape.

12:45 Obviously, he had a bad fumble in the fourth quarter.

12:47 But overall, man, if you're Declan Dourif, there's been a lot of calling for him to kind of shave down the playbook because he plays with so many personnel.

12:54 Things have gotten big.

12:55 Right now, you don't know what the Ravens do from a bread-and-butter standpoint really well. You know they can run the ball. Without Lamar Jackson, they seem limited. You know Snoop Huntley. He's the type of quarterback, when he scrambles, he's scrambling to run, not scrambling to throw the ball. So they're losing that explosiveness. Overall, man, when you're 0-2 in the division and this tape is starting to look much like last year's tape without Lamar Jackson, you start to get worried because Jesse Minter– Hey, you're the new head coach.

13:21 Hey, you know what you're supposed to do? Fix it. Fix it in real time.

13:24 So now you're talking about the offense right now that's going to have to score points against the Bengals offense coming off a bye that is not only going to be healthy but can score in bunches. So the pressure's on this Ravens offense to produce at a high level.

13:37 Can they keep up with the Bengals offense?

13:39 You know, what does it look like if, once again, if Lamar Jackson isn't able to play in this game? I know he was able to practice a little bit. It was talk about a limp. He said, it's not a limp.

13:47 I'm just, you know, it's just my pimp. But with all.

13:50 That said, man, it's going to be imperative for this Ravens offense to pop off the tape and really produce some points.

13:58 Put some points on the board.

13:59 Yeah, they're going to put points on the board when I watch this Bengals defense year two under Al Golden.

14:04 Yeah.

14:05 They are definitely improved from last year, especially on the interior of that D-line with Dexter Lawrence and Jonathan Allen. Their biggest weakness right now is defending the outside runs. And if the Ravens are going to put up some points and be productive, one thing that Declan wants to do is. He wants to run the football, right? And you do have Tyler Huntley in there, so they're going to rely more on Derrick Henry in this game. I mean, he leads the league in touches. We just went over that. So, you know, he's going to get his opportunities. The second thing, let's get to the spicy stuff. The second thing I'm going to look for is... Trey Hendrickson. Did we not forget that Trey Hendrickson was in a contract dispute with

14:43 the Bengals?

14:44 For a couple years.

14:45 For a couple years.

14:46 I mean, remember we talked about on this show, he did a report for training cap and he posted a picture of him driving down a highway and we knew it wasn't in Ohio. It was probably in Florida somewhere. This is the first time he's playing his previous team. A guy that led the team in sacks for years while he was there. You talk about the R word that we don't really use on this show.

15:04 Sometimes it applies. Revenge can apply here.

15:07 Hendrickson?

15:08 Permission to use.

15:09 Okay. Revenge game.

15:11 Okay.

15:11 This is a personal one for him. And I can only imagine that out of all the 17 games that he had circled, two of those 17 was against his former team. So we'll see how that pans out for him.

15:22 There's a couple of television terms that are overused on other programs. We here have a very strict stipulation as to when you are permitted to use a revenge game. Trey Hendrickson constantly getting franchise tagged by the Bengals and then leaving for a divisional opponent, now playing them for the first time again.

15:38 Qualify. Yeah, thank you. Qualify. Thank you, Jamie. Okay.

15:43 So, TGIF, I get that.

15:45 But on Thursdays, we do Throwdown Thursday, pitting two things against each other. Well, we do have a special little appearance for Throwdown Thursday on a Friday to accommodate this controversial topic presented to us by the Detroit Lions.

15:56 Do you eat mac and cheese with a fork or a spoon?

16:01 With a fork?

16:01 Come on, man.

16:02 What do you got going on right.

16:03 Here, man?

16:04 Whoa, you're scoring dangerous.

16:07 I don't trust you either with a spoon.

16:09 Spoon. How you do it with a spoon? I feel like that's how you should.

16:12 Did you answer it already?

16:14 No, I didn't. A spoon, for sure. Use a fork. I think I'm going to go with a fork. Or a fork.

16:21 Or a fork, yeah.

16:25 Fork.

16:26 I only use a spoon if it's like soup. What kind of mac and cheese? Like if it's Kraft, spoon. Okay. Like Thanksgiving mac, fork.

16:39 Yeah, I start with the fork.

16:41 I end with the spoon because you got to be able to scoop out the last bits of macaroni.

16:46 No, if you're eating it with a spoon, your mama made it wrong. It means there's not enough cheese on there. You need to put the fork.

16:53 Don't talk about my mama.

16:54 To pull the cheese.

16:55 Like you should be able to pull that thing and have the call. They call it the cheese pool like that. If it is all separate and it looks like a soup, which that Detroit Lion guy, the player said, It's wrong. It should be all stuck together, Willie.

17:08 Don't you agree?

17:09 You're looking at me. Give me that look again, Willie.

17:10 Enter the chat, Willie.

17:11 I'm just trying to process.

17:13 This is your time to shine, Willie.

17:14 It feels like it. And I hate it because there's been a fat theme lately. No!

17:18 Willie, how is that?

17:19 It's not. Listen, I'm with you, Manta. Thank you. It's like a fork.

17:23 Yes, it's a fork.

17:23 You've got to go for it.

17:25 Whatever utensil I use, I'm starting the game with it and I'm finishing the game with it.

17:29 Yes!

17:29 Yeah, I like to poke, scoop. I multitask with this fork.

17:32 What about, can I interest you in a spork? Rap Sheet, what do you think?

17:36 If I'm going to use a spoon, which is generally my tool of choice, I would go with a little spoon.

17:42 I eat soup a lot. I have big soup spoons.

17:44 I don't want to, like, be shoveling this thing in my mouth like it's a big bucket, you know?

17:50 Like, I need a tiny spoon would be.

17:51 The way to do it.

17:52 For mac and cheese?

17:53 For mac and cheese.

17:55 Yeah, I don't want to.

17:57 Yeah, I'm not like.

17:59 You know, it's just like a tiny spoon, small bites, but much better than using a fork.

18:03 Perfect.

18:04 And the quantity of bite is excellent. We should have put 60 seconds on.

18:07 The clock for that.

18:09 Yeah.

18:11 Let's start with the Lions, shall we?

18:13 They are facing their first divisional opponent this weekend.

18:15 It's the Packers.

18:17 Go ahead.

18:17 Take your first bite, Alliance.

18:18 Well, Jamie, one thing I know about the Lions is you use a term with the Lions called points-a-palooza.

18:24 Points-a-palooza, game of the week.

18:24 Points-a-palooza.

18:26 Jameer Gibbs, Amonra St.

18:27 Brown.

18:28 This could be a points-a-palooza because of the way that Jordan Love has been playing with his wide receivers, Matthew Golden and Christian Watkins. They're going to be a whole bunch of points. The question is, who's going to play defense? You know, who's going to play defense better? The Green Bay Packers secondary has been taking the ball away. So we'll see what happens over there, Willie. Yeah, I'm going with the Packers offense. They've been popping off the tape the last couple of weeks. You talk about Matthew Golden.

18:48 He had three drops, but he is an absolute catching machine. When you throw the ball, he had 13 targets for the Packers. Had a drop touchdown. Nevertheless, man, he's been the number one go-to for Jordan Love. I'm excited to see him go again.

18:59 No one's going to talk about Josh Jacobs making his return to field for the first time after six games of being on the commissioner's exempt list. This is a massive, massive lift for the Green Bay Packers. Obviously, you hate what he was away. All of that was bad, his legal situation, everything bad there. From a football standpoint, a massive lift, one of the NFL's worst rushing games, now becomes one of the best.

19:20 Nice.

19:21 The next game for Mad Minute, they hope to be my points-a-palooza game of the week. Broncos-Cardinals is happening, Willie. The Broncos quarterback play was called into question by a member of the media recently, so Bo Nix now has to stand up and defend himself.

19:34 At the quarterback spot and the Cardinals.

19:37 Well they can hang scrappy Cardinals. Yeah.

19:40 If you watch that game last week with Bo Nix man it wasn't a good outing even though he did win the game nevertheless. But the Broncos are 10 and 1 all time versus the Cardinals. But this is the opportunity for the Cardinals to get the Broncos because they don't look like they're all together. There's still some holes in the game but if you're the Arizona Cardinals right now, do one thing. Get Trey McBride in the game.

19:59 Man, he's your number one option. You've got to be able to feed him.

20:02 I know Jeremiah Love is still up and down with his injury, man, but this is a tight end man who must see TV.

20:07 Figure it out.

20:08 When people look at the Broncos schedule, they say, man, the schedule gets easier. They got the Cardinals coming up.

20:13 Not so sure about that. Big one last week against the Rams. A feisty Cardinals defense. I would keep an eye on this one and how uncomfortable they make Bo Nix.

20:21 Yeah, I would be very comfortable about saying that because I think the Rams said that last week and then they lost. One thing I love about the Cardinals is they're playing bully ball right now. Tyler Algier. I mean, you mentioned Trey McBride, Michael Wilson. I really like him. Kendrick Bourne. But they're just bullying people at the line of scrimmage offensively and defensively. So I like their brand of football.

20:38 All right, I'll take care of the news.

20:39 For you on the next one, Rap Sheet, so you can give us a good take on Rams Raiders. Puka Nakua left practice yesterday with a calf injury. That is amongst a list of Rams injuries that you have to pay attention to. And the Raiders have dropped three straight now.

20:51 To AFC opponents.

20:52 They have the NFC best Rams coming in, which they have not been the best. This one catches your eye, Rap Sheet, doesn't it?

21:00 If the Rams are going to do it, if the Rams are going to turn it around and be that super team that we all thought they would be, even with the injuries, Devontae and Puka up in the air and basically their entire defensive front not out there.

21:10 If they are going to be that team.

21:12 You got to beat the Raiders.

21:13 Raiders have lost three straight. They are struggling. They are reeling.

21:17 The Rams have to do it if they are going to turn it around. That is not a hot take, but that's my take.

21:21 You know, I know that the Raiders have been struggling a little bit, but, man, Kirk Cousins has been playing some good ball. I know that they brought in Fernando Mendoza for his overall pick, but this is exactly how you want this thing playing out from a quarterback standpoint. to have Kirk Cousins be able to be the veteran there. Now, if you are hurting offensively for the L.A. Rams, this is not the good game to be hurting because Max Crosby has been on a mission this year, and he's been able to solidify that identity for that Raiders defense, Willie.

21:45 Yeah, I'm worried about the Rams offense.

21:46 You talk about Devontae Adams being down now, Puka Nukua. They've been struggling running the ball, and the large Jackson Valley, he wasn't in the last game due to suspension, but they did give up three sacks.

21:56 So overall, man, they're asking Sean.

21:57 McVay to get in his bag and figure out how he can correct his Rams offense and get him back on track.

22:02 All right, NFL Network Sunday morning.

22:03 It's Saints-Steelers' first ever regular season game for the NFL to be played in Paris. Manti, Aaron Rodgers, has been playing great. He's one touch on pass shy of tying Peyton Manning for third all time with 539.

22:16 He's been playing great.

22:18 Yeah, he has been playing great. And I would leave the Steelers to Willie because Willie is a Steeler.

22:22 And I'm a hoot at.

22:22 So I'm going to go with the Saints.

22:24 Tyler Shuck.

22:26 I don't know how he's been able to do this with a hurt hand. He's doing it one-handed. And Chris Olabe has been great. But Devon Vele, man, he's been huge for the Saints without, you know, their rookie wide receiver that they drafted out of Arizona State. So I really like what Tyler Shuck has been doing with the guys out there. And Jawan Johnson at tight end has been effective.

22:44 Yeah, I think the goal for the Steelers is to play all four quarters, not just one quarter in which they were able to win. But nevertheless, I think there's some kind of brewing concerns. Not concerns, but something's happening in Pittsburgh. Everybody right now thinks D.K. Maycalf is the number one seed. Maybe Jeremy Bernard.

22:59 Yeah, sir. Jeremy Bernard may be the number one and switch D.K.

23:02 To number two because that man, 11 catches, 12 targets.

23:05 He's instant offense. So watch out right now. Jeremy Bernard is coming.

23:09 For years, the Steelers developed, drafted receivers and developed. Seemed like it's been a while, but seems like they got another one. I would like to know what in the world the Saints are. Kellen Moore was under fire.

23:19 Then they won. It was a had to hang on.

23:22 For dear life.

23:23 We'll find out a little more about that.

23:25 You always know when it's intriguing when Rap Sheet retweets something with the eyeballs, and that was when Gil Benson was talking the other day about how, like, the Saints have to turn it around. No bigger stage than the International Series. Rap Sheet, thank you for participating in Mad Minute. As it rolls on, Aaron Rodgers, as we mentioned, the Steelers, they're in France to take on the Saints.

23:46 This Monday, this weekend, we're heading to Philadelphia.

23:49 There's a three-hour good morning football special happening.

23:52 At Stateside Live.

23:53 Join us as we kick off a long day.

23:55 Of coverage ahead of Cowboys-Eagles. 8 a.m. Eastern, come hang with us at Stateside Live.

24:01 That's the crew that we'll be rolling with and a couple of extra special guests that will jump on the show as well since we're there for three hours. Fans are welcome from both sides. Let's welcome in our girl, Jane Slater, on to GMFE this morning. Jane, if it's Cowboys-Eagles... Frankly, if it's anything to do with the NFC East these days, we got to get your take on it. So after a tumultuous week in Philadelphia, Jane, how do you think the Eagles are preparing for a perhaps equally desperate Cowboys team to enter Monday night and they're both be scrapping.

24:29 For a win?

24:30 I mean, desperation is really what stands out to me when we talk about these teams heading into Monday and who wants it more. But we'll start with the Eagles. They are coming off four straight losses. They've got issues with their quarterback's health. And now they're getting ready to have Tanner McGee start their offense.

24:47 Now, when you talk to Nick Sirianni.

24:48 He says there's things that he can control, things that he can't. but his attitude, effort, and energy aren't among them. So what are the bright spots for the Eagles? We've got Saquon Barkley coming back. He's working towards return. Remember, he's been missing time with a hamstring injury. That would be significant because they're currently ranked at the bottom of the league in rushing.

25:08 And before we go, another.

25:09 Interesting prequel here because you've got former Eagles assistant Christian Parker who's now running Dallas' defense coming into town, and it was Sirianni who was asked by reporters about this, and he said, look, Parker knows their philosophy, but it's ultimately on Philadelphia to create doubt about what Dallas thinks that they know.

25:26 Jane, let's talk about the Cowboys now. They need to find a way to get back on track after two huge losses.

25:31 How can they do that?

25:32 Well, when you look at these last two games, Manti, I mean, they've scored just 29 points combined in the last two losses.

25:39 Talk about this team.

25:40 I mean, we've looked at Mike Pettin has come in to help out Christian Parker. We've pointed out that this offense isn't looking like it did at points to start the season. I don't know how this works for you guys as a guy who's played football. You've been in the locker room going through some tough times, but I want you to listen closely. to Brian Schottenheimer yesterday. He was asked about the run game. How can they get it going? And he decided to single out one player in particular, George Pickens.

26:12 He needs to understand that he impacts us in the running game as well. And, you know, he's got to do the same thing in the run game, picking up safeties and blocking corners, just like Javante does, picking up blitzes so he can catch balls. And that's part of the team-first strategy. mindset, and GP does understand that. When he's going, they're going to play soft to his side.

26:35 When he's not going, then the safeties get pretty good runs at our backs, and that's got to improve.

26:42 All right, guys, real quick, I want to ask you this because, you know, his message is everybody has a responsibility to make this offense work.

26:49 But does accountability not extend to Schottenheimer?

26:52 I mean, right now we're looking at his record, 9-13-1 as a head coach. You're starting the season 2-4. Remember, he's the one calling the offensive plays. If you look at the film, they've moved away from some of that pre-snap motion.

27:06 They're struggling.

27:06 It's a blitz protecting the football, and they're not sustaining drives offensively. So if you're in the locker room and you're hearing the coach talk about one element of this game and you're putting it on a player.

27:18 OK, we'll start with you. Let's wait. Let me let me just make sure this before.

27:22 Let me make sure we understand the context because Willie is like treading. He's going to tread lightly here. And I'm going to I just want to make sure we have the beats of this conversation. So someone in the Cowboys media.

27:30 Yeah.

27:31 Asked Coach about the run game explicitly, which ranks 31st in.

27:35 The league right now.

27:36 And Shottie went out of his way to say that my wide receiver, my 1A and my number two wide receiver, needs to block better for the run game downfield in order for us to pick up yardage.

27:48 Do I have this correct? That is correct.

27:50 And Jane, just a confirmation of context. He didn't come out talking about the O-line first. The first thing he talked about was George Pickens. He did that right out the gate.

27:59 It was getting into George Pickens has to be responsible for more than just catching passes, that he is one part of why it's been a cog in the wheel for the run game. And that's why I'm bringing it to your attention because.

28:12 Now we're informed.

28:13 You know, when I talked to Schottenheimer before he became the head coach, I said, what do you want to be remembered for?

28:18 And he says, I want to be remembered for having.

28:21 the greatest culture in all of sports and then I go back and I listen to some of the things like last year Jaden Blue when he came to practice and he had the wrong cleats did you have to say it was Louis Vuitton cleats when Trayvon Diggs decided that he didn't want to travel back with the team last year and they were going through all their issues was it important to share all of that with the media I guess that's where I'm coming from with this maybe it's not an issue for players but maybe you need to go and motivate them in the media. But I'm just curious, when you hear all of this, what do you guys think? What does that do for the locker room?

28:54 I mean, be very frank, man.

28:55 When I was in Pittsburgh, the great Mike Tomlin used to say, your tape is your walk and breathe and resume, right? And when you're talking about the run game right now, who was very proficient last year, you've got to say Devontae Williams was a thousand yards back. But this year, they're not running the balls more. And we all know if Dak is throwing the ball more than 40 times a game, they're 11 and 22.

29:14 So this is an identity issue with me.

29:16 I'm looking at I'm looking at George Pickens who, you know, to all accounts, to Coach Schottenheimer, this is part of his tape. And it just hasn't started here in Dallas. That's some of the same things you saw in Pittsburgh. But put it all together, man, this is on Shottie too. Shottie has to be more accountable of dialing things up schematically.

29:32 We all talk about bread and butters, right, Mantell? You got to figure out what you do well and what you don't do well. Kind of have pepper in the offense around looking for explosive plays throughout the game. That's not enough. They just not a balanced offense right now. So as much as he wants to put it on George Pickens, he has to be able to put it on himself.

29:46 Yeah, it's a collective, right? Jane, when it comes to at the end of the day, it's a collective effort to make something happen. And when a coach does that. It's almost trying to deflect that accountability onto somebody else. And I think Willie can say it too. We've all had coaches that have done that. Does that resonate with players?

30:05 No.

30:05 Does it make me want to play for a coach like that? No, quite frankly, it doesn't. I've had coaches that have said, you are the reason why our run defense is what it is. And I'm like, I'm one of 11 guys. And so I've definitely been on the receiving end of it. And I just hope for Coach Shottie that he understands that. I hope he had that conversation with George first before doing that. But even so, even if he had the conversation, that's just something that I would keep in the house and make sure that when you are in those offensive unit meetings, that you do address that as a unit. and go to the individual and address it and see it so they can understand what impacts they have. If they don't understand already

30:42 what impacts they have on the football field, whether they're getting the ball or not.

30:45 I've got one more soundbite. These are great talking points from both of you. That's why I love talking to former players. You guys have been in the locker room. You get the feel of this. So then when Coach Shottie was talked about some of the criticism that's being directed towards the Cowboys at two and four, here's what.

31:00 He had to say.

31:02 No one likes it.

31:03 I block out. Most of it.

31:06 Some of it gets to me. Doing this job and having to speak to you guys is part of that. But at the same time, I've got strong shoulders. I know what a great coach I am. I know what this team is capable of, and that's what.

31:19 I focus on.

31:22 So you have him saying that he knows what a great coach he is, but he's 9-13-1 in Dallas, guys.

31:27 And so I bring all this up because. I like Brian Schottenheimer. I like Christian Parker.

31:35 I like a lot of these guys in the locker room. But I've been around Dallas when things start going south.

31:40 And the one thing.

31:42 That I will say about some of the coaches in the past is they're really good about keeping it in the locker room. That's what they always say.

31:48 Keep it in the locker room.

31:49 This just feels like maybe there's being a little bit too much shared about what's going in the locker room. But maybe that's just my observation. I don't know maybe how you guys.

31:58 Feel about it.

31:58 Well, Jane, I would say I've always believed that a team is a reflection of their head coach. And if there was something that I took away from last week's game against the Packers is you start to see a disconnect between players, whether it be Dak and CD. The beauty of football is in order for this whole vehicle to work and to go the way we want it to, we all have to work as one. And I think for the first time, maybe the frustrations defensively trickled over offensively and you started to see people play defensively. for themselves instead of for the guy next to him. And those comments that Coach Shottie had without knowing the context behind it, it reflects that a little bit. It's like, it's about me and I got to handle me. Where

32:35 in the game of football, it doesn't work if you're just handling your stuff. You have to worry about the guy next to him. So again, the Cowboys brand is a big brand in the National Football League. Hopefully they'll be able to get it together because if you look back at when the Cowboys were very good, those guys, Troy Aikman, Emmitt Smith, Marvin, they worked together. Even though they're all stars, they worked together and they made beautiful football, so hopefully they can get back to that.

32:57 Listen, there's a reason why you feel like you've made it in your life when you're looking at apartments and it says laundry in units. Just keep that dryer in unit. Don't put it out back, Jane. You know you feel like, you know, I don't have to go to the basement and then hang it on the clothesline in the backyard, okay?

33:11 In unit.

33:12 That's what makes us feel like we've made it in life. Jane Slater, thank you so much.