GMFB Thursday Hour 2: Colts Trade Dominoes & Can the Broncos Stop the Chiefs?

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Yeah, get in here, everybody.

On a Thursday, second hour of GMFB presented.

By Old Trapper Beef Jerky. It's Thursday, October 29th.

Jamie Erdahl, Mance Itseo, and Seth Freakin' Rollins at the breakfast table.

Guys, how are we doing this morning?

Great, Jamie. I like the ambiance. You've got the Halloween. It's very festive. Spooky, baby.

I love it.

It's very autumnal and spooky, exactly.

I love it.

And we have sound effects.

There was a cat in here.

There was a cat in here earlier. We are convinced. I'm not sneezing, so maybe not.

Let's get right to the game tonight, which could prove spooky for either team that.

Drops this game.

We love a Thursday that has a weight of importance to it. As we bring in senior national NFL writer, friend of our show, Jeremy Fowler. Jeremy, where do we find you today on GMFB?

I am live from Green Bay, Jamie, a couple miles down the street from Lambeau. It's going to be a great one tonight. I got the fine art deco behind me in my hotel.

We're ready to go.

Yeah, Jeremy.

So people say you don't live there, but I feel like every time you've come on GMFB, it's from Green Bay. So you got to come on sometime when you're from your home or somewhere else. Otherwise, you're officially like a Lambeau resident for me. Jeremy, let's talk this game, Panthers-Packers tonight. Bryce Young was playing some of his best football before that loss last week to the Tampa Bay Buccaneers. He threw two picks in that game. What does a rebound game look like for him tonight against the Packers, no less?

Well, the Panthers were getting to work late last night, finishing up their game plan with Bryce Young. They feel like they can finally get going again because in that Bucs game, from what I was told from people with Carolina, they couldn't even get their game plan off the ground. That's how ugly the game was because of the turnovers, because of the way Tampa was controlling the game with the running game. So Carolina wants to get out tonight and play fast. They want to get a number of plays.

They don't want to bog it down with any sort of three and outs. They want to try to keep the Packers guessing, make sure they don't blitz, keep them honest. And so it's going to be that chess game. I spoke to Packers safety, Javon Bullard. He said that Bryce Jennings is one of the smartest quarterbacks in the NFL.

You can tell by the film he wins games with his brain. And so we have to confuse him after the snap, try to force him into some bad decisions like Tampa did last week.

So the Packers side of things, their run game got a boost last week with the return, of course, Josh Jacobs coming off the commissioner's exempt list. How much do you think this will help Jordan Love and the balance of the passing game needs, especially going up against a defense that's also trying to find themselves?

Well, the Packers are hoping for even more of a boost in this game because they remembered that Josh Jacobs coming back needed a little bit of a grace period. He had missed six weeks. It's hard to get back into football shape. He also missed some time in training camp with a groin issue. So as much as he tried to prepare to get back, and he figured he might serve a six-game suspension get back for that week seven in that Detroit game, It still takes some time for him to find his flow of things. Just 11 carries, 36 yards. He was a factor in the passing game.

As Jordan Love said this week and kind of said it firmly, like we've gotten by, we've skated by on the running game. It just simply hasn't been good enough overall. So they're hoping for a breakout. They've had moving parts all along the offensive line. They know how to deal with that. They believe tonight they can make more of a difference. But really, Jamie, they're trying to move on from an emotional game in Detroit.

You see the highlights there.

They were just rubbing the passer calls and they felt like everything was going against them. I was told Matt LaFleur addressed that with his team this week at the locker room, said, look, that game is over.

We cannot dictate how games are officiated.

So we just need to go out and do us Thursday night.

Yeah, there's no better way to do that than at home.

Maybe on a short week might help them to just move beyond that game in Detroit. Jeremy, we don't call you a senior national reporter for nothing. When you look at the NFL as a whole, we love to pick your brain about it. So the trade deadline is about 10 days away. We saw the Colts trade away Quentin Nelson and DeForest Buckner yesterday. And people are kind of really, really honing in on Jonathan Taylor. But there's another player that you're reporting on that could be on the move away from the Colts.

Who is it?

Yeah, wide receiver Josh Downs, Jamie, has requested a trade from the Indianapolis Colts. He saw the writing on the wall. They traded DeForest Buckner, guard Quentin Nelson. Clearly a rebuild in Indy, and this is a player who's in an already thin pass a game. They're having trouble getting the ball around, so he has interest from other teams. Kansas City Chiefs, Pittsburgh Steelers, a few others are looking at wide receiver help at the trade deadline. So he's looking at the landscape saying, hey, maybe I can go play with a star quarterback. It's a tough proposition because a trade request comes in this week, but he wasn't traded.

The Colts wanted to hold onto him, especially for this game. Cause he's really a, a crucial part of their passing game where they don't have a lot of receivers. Alec Pierce is out. So it's going to be interesting to see what he does in practice this week, or if he actually plays or does he do one of those hold ends?

And so it's a situation to watch.

Certainly.

I do suspect that Josh downs has a good chance to be traded by the deadline.

Yeah.

The Colts are in a weird spot. They just, they don't have a lot of offense right now and they got to kind of got to keep them in the short term.

Jeremy, real quick, we know that they relieved their GM of his duties not so long ago. So who do these decisions really fall upon now? Is it like 90% ownership? I know someone else's now is in an interim basis, but that's truly a temporary position.

How does this work for the Colts?

Yeah.

Well, they appointed Ed Dodds, who was the assistant GM under Chris Ballard, as now the interim general manager. And he got to work. He ripped the bandit off and said, let's make some moves now. He did that in conjunction with owner Carly Gordon Ursae, who's certainly running the ship.

She's there every day. She's heavily involved in the process.

In fact, I was told when Josh downs was going to make his official trade request, he'd already told the team, but he was going to go talk to Gordon or say in person about it. So she's there every step of the way. And, you know, they're making decisions here before the deadline, two weeks before with some weighty decisions to move on from Buckner and Nelson who have been franchised pillars, but they figured, Hey, we have some depth at those offensive line, defensive line positions where he can at least make by, and they could get enough draft capital for those players. Now, But suddenly they're forced to the situation where it looks like a fire sale, but they really have turned down a few deals as well,

like the Josh Down situation where they're not ready to do it yet. So it'll be interesting to see how much of a fire sale this really is over the next 10 or 12 days.

Jeremy, thank you. Enjoy Lambeau to the best of your ability. We'll talk to you again, I'm sure, soon here on GMFB. We look forward to Thursday Night Football. But we move our attention on GMFB now to an AFC West game where you're going to see the Chiefs traveled to Denver to take on the Broncos. Now this weekend, as the Chiefs look to navigate leaving a lopsided loss they experienced last weekend to the Seahawks behind them, a loss that saw Kansas City's offense shut out from the red zone.

So Patrick Mahomes' logic here seems sound. If the Broncos are going to stop Kenneth Walker III in his tracks, the obvious solution is to take what the defense gives.

I think the biggest thing hopefully is that whenever teams are going to try to stop Kenneth, we have to be able to counteract that. And I think that's something that that'll be big. The rest of the season is obviously Kenneth is a special player and he, he makes a lot of big plays happen and we're not going to stop running, trying to run the football, but if they're going to put so many resources into stopping, stopping him and playing a shell over the top, we have to be able to hit them in that intermediate area.

And then guys have to be able to run after the catch and break tackles and, that'll put defenses in a bind where they have to decide kind of what they want to take away. And so that's how you evolve throughout a season is you continue to get better and better and learn from some games that aren't pretty and hopefully don't have those scenarios again.

All right, it was week one of Monday Night Football.

The Chiefs beat the Broncos in the first matchup between these two of the season. 31-10 was the final back at the beginning of September. Manti, what are you looking for in this rematch, this game to.

Go on in Denver?

Well, I think last week you watched the Seattle Seahawks do what they did to the Kansas City Chiefs, and they revealed what the secret sauce is. And if you want to beat Patrick Mahomes and the Chiefs, you don't try to beat Patrick, you beat Kenneth Walker III. If you can stop Kenneth Walker, and Patrick kind of mentioned it in his bit there, You have to stop Kenneth Walker. Now, I know that Patrick Mahomes is 14-2 in his career against the Denver Broncos. I mean, those two losses happened in Denver. But the last thing you want to do is try to stop, you.

Know, 15. The issue is the Denver Broncos.

Remember in the preseason, guys, where DJ Jones came out and he says, our goal, I think we could really break.

The sack record, the NFL sack record.

Mm-hmm.

That goal wasn't to be an elite run defense. This year, they're allowing 133 rush yards per game.

That's 28th in the league.

And so if you are trying to beat a rival in the Kansas City Chiefs, the only way to beat them is to stop that run game. And you don't have that man right there, Talanoa Hufong, or he's questionable. I think Patrick Sertan had his first full practice. But again, Pat Sertan helps you out in the pass, not in the run. My biggest concern is unless you can stop Kenneth Walker, that's where Patrick Mahomes can really be free and do what Patrick Mahomes does. It's going to be a long night for that defense, and it's unfortunate because that defense, like the Minnesota Vikings, has been kind of carrying that team so far. I mean, their offense with Bo Nix has had some growing pains. That's a switch offensive coordinator back to Sean Payton. And so until they're

able to get their groove there offensively, that defense has to continue to carry them. I just don't know how they do it with the run defense that they have going against Kenneth Walker right now.

Yeah, I mean, I'm looking for a couple things in this game. You touched on them.

I think.

Kansas City, I don't know if they– they kind of just felt like they were coasting.

On the Ken Walker train.

They were like, oh, we got this. This is our recipe, man. We got it. We cook every week. We cook this spectacular meal. Everybody eats it.

It's great. We go home happy.

And then finally they got a table guest that was like, no, this ain't working for me.

And they shut down Kenneth Walker.

And so you got to– You've got to go back to the drawing board a little bit because now you've got a Broncos defense that's coming and going, okay, we think.

We've got the antidote. If we stop.

Kenneth Walker, this offense stops dead in its tracks. We've got the proof in the tape from last week. So if you're Andy Reid, you're Pat Mahomes, Travis Kelsey, and you're looking at it, you go, okay. Let's go back to the drawing board. Let's try something else. Let's not heavily focus.

On Kenneth Walker.

Our entire success as an offense depends on how Kenneth Walker III performs in this game. We have to be a two-dimensional offense. We can't just run the ball, toss to him on these checkdowns, and hope he does all the work. So that's one part of it for me. Manta, the other part you mentioned is the other side of the ball. The Spags defense against Bo Nix in this kind of like– I know Peyton's taking the play, calling back over, but Bo Nix still isn't that guy that you want him to be that's going to take over these games and get this done. And Spaggs, I mean, he's going to throw every single look at you. And if he can disrupt Bo Nix enough, get the Broncos off the field early, some three and outs, or maybe

force some turnovers, I mean, they may have some short fields to work with Kansas City, and that may make their job a lot easier.

So I'm really looking to see what these.

Matchups look like on both sides of the ball.

For these squads.

Oh, Bo Nix has made magic happen for the first three years of his career.

He's got 22 comeback wins.

So you kind of get distracted by the shiny object in the room. And that is the fact that the Broncos fall behind. Bo Nix constructs a comeback and then they win the game and it's all ooh la la. But like now he's just got to straight up beat teams as he's gone further into his career. They were unable to do so against the Chiefs in week one.

We'll see how this goes this weekend. With that, let's bring Ian Rappaport, our NFL Network insider, with us this morning back in. Rappaport, the Broncos are dealing with an injury to one of their weapons on the outside, one that would help Bo Nix. So what's going on with Jalen Waddell?

If Jalen Waddell was on the field Sunday against the Kansas City Chiefs, that would for sure help a starting quarterback bone itch. We just don't know whether or not that's going to be the case. Jalen Waddell dealing with a chest injury. Remember, this is something that he has dealt with in previous weeks, but he aggravated it on a call that play caller Sean Payton, also the head coach, called awful and dumb. You rarely hear the head coach so vocally destroy the play caller when they're the same person That actually makes some sense. We aggravated the chest injury.

My understanding is his availability is firmly up in the air for Sunday. His practice availability would determine if he could play, and he did not practice yesterday. Neither did Jamar Chase for the Cincinnati Bengals. This one, far, far less worrisome, was listed as a rest day along with an ankle. This is not considered to be a major deal in the Cincinnati Bengals, whose offense is humming. At least it was in the second half last week against the Baltimore Ravens. should have one of their two-star receivers on the field. I mentioned the Ravens. They are expected to get Lamar Jackson back as the starting quarterback once again.

It has been a rough couple weeks. Missed three games with an ankle injury. He called it a high ankle injury. I would add that it's an atypical type of sprain.

All good.

No worries, Lamar. He was a full participant yesterday, assuming no setbacks. He will be on the field for the Ravens Sunday.

That is a thrill for the Ravens. You know what else is a thrill, Rap Sheet?

When you go out of bounds on social media and you announce a little venture that you've been working on, please give the viewers on GMB the details of what is happening in your.

Life right now.

I appreciate saying that. I have a book. It is Where the Cameras Can't Go.

It's pretty cool.

This is the cover. These are not the pages. These are fake pages because the book has not been written. So here's what we're doing. We are going behind the scenes for an entire year in the NFL. places fans have never been able to go. All access embedded in various entities all across the season. The season is going on, so it is still being written. Started at the Combine in 2026, and it is still going through this Super Bowl.

It is going to be so fun. It is incredible. I am still writing it. It has been quite a chore, and I cannot wait for people to read it. August of 2027, right before next season is when it comes out.

Congrats, Rap Sheet.

Rap Sheet question, brother.

How long has this been on your mind? How long have you been wanting to write this book?

I would say probably since creative writing class when I was a senior at Hackley School in New York.

And what made it this year that you wanted to write it?

Just kind of all came together. And it was, I mean, we got Simon & Schuster. I got a great agent. Idea came together. And the fact that I was able to kind of, you know, Fight for a lot of access. Teams have been unbelievable. Players have been awesome. It's going to give the fans something I think they have never seen before.

I can't wait.

Awesome.

Awesome, Rapsheet.

You need that credential on the front, but you also need to be well-liked amongst in the world. So congrats, and you deserve it, Rapsheet.

There it is.

It's very good.

Fill those pages, buddy. We can't wait to hear the stories. I love stories from the Combine. I think that will be an excellent chapter. Yeah, pull that lever, everybody. Roll the games and play on. We're going to do GMFB randomizer right meow. We got all the matchups for the weekend.

I see what you did there.

There's a cat in.

Here, I swear.

There is.

And we all have questions for each other. They're very serious. They're very related to football. Manti, you're up first.

You're going to yell, you're going to say noise, and the randomizer is going to stop, and then I have a question for you. Why will this matchup be must-see television?

Rawr! Ooh.

Michael Penix, Bijan Robinson, they were hot, very hot. And then they kind of slowed.

Down a little bit.

But then you don't want to do that against a Todd Bowles defense, because a Todd Bowles defense the past three weeks has been lights out right now. My boy Alex Anzalone had a tip pick against the Dallas Cowboys, and they held the Pittsburgh Steelers to no points until the fourth quarter. Todd Bowles defense isn't a defense you want to mess with, but If you know Bijan, you know Bijan.

I want to see some. No, they're at Temple, so you won't see that camera.

But I would love to see Bijan go crazy.

Fireworks.

Very good.

Well done.

Seth, now you've got to pick an animal noise.

I'm in. All right.

Seth, why do you wish you were going to be at the following game? And I assume the home team.

Is going to be on the right. Randomizer. Work your magic.

Here we go.

Oh, my God.

Panther.

Is that an eagle? A bald eagle? Eagles at Commander's.

Why?

Were the tickets given to me? Were they donated to me?

All right.

They bestowed upon me by the lovely Commander's organization.

Yes.

The last time I was in the Commander's building was for the Hail Mary. The Bears Hail Mary again. So if I were going to go and I wanted to be in the building, look, I'll tell you why, okay? These two teams, bottom of the NFC East. But that's not a big drop, all right? The NFC East, I mean, we know the Giants are sitting on top of it.

The NFC East, wide open, guys. Anybody can still get it. And they got a squad here with Jaden Daniels. And I'm saying maybe, maybe there's something there. And Philly, I mean, gosh.

My heart broke for them.

We were there.

It was awesome on Monday.

So the answer is you want to be there so you can rub in the face the fact that the NFC North could do the beatdown of the NFC East.

Yeah, I mean, gosh.

You just want to see it with your own eyes.

Somebody's going to rise up in the NFC East.

Somebody's going to rise up, and I want to be there in Washington to see who's going to rise up and challenge the New York football giant.

There we go. There you go.

Good.

Jamie, this is your question.

Okay.

Rodis Randomizer talking about rising up.

I can't wait.

Okay.

Jamie.

What? Which player in this matchup will get the game ball?

Oh, I can't wait to pick a player. Kakao.

Oh!

That's a good one.

Thank you very much.

What a layup for you, Jamie. Come on, girl. Game ball.

We just talked about this game, and I know we have bounce back potential.

But you know what?

I'm going to circle right back to the guy that I was just referencing and all the comeback wins.

Okay.

Bo Nix, I need you to give us from start to finish. I need you to check the game time. Kickoff is, I'm sure, at 425 Mountain or whatever, 225 Mountain or whatever awkward time it is in Denver. And I need you to start playing from the first series until the last. None of this comeback kid, none of this wizardry in the second half. Sean Payton, you're going to instill a fantastic game plan, and Bo Nix is going to have a game that defines who he is as a quarterback. I'm going to say 300-plus yards. I'm going to say two passing TDs, 250, maybe 250.

So Bo Nix will get my game ball.

Pressure.

Yeah, thank you.

Pressure.

Fanti, roll it.

I love it. I love it.

Which player in this game, if you were playing in it, post-game, would you want to swap jerseys with?

Ooh, here we go.

Oh, my God.

You're a cow? Yeah, a cow. Oh, let's go.

All right.

Great.

A lot of good options here.

Great options. This is a game that I actually, I'm going to be clued into. I will go Julian Love.

Julian Love, safety for the Seattle Seahawks. If you know, you know, University of Notre Dame, I think we create the best safeties in the game. Julian Love continues to be the leader of that defense. I know that front seven does what it does, but when you have number.

20 back there, the guy's a ball hawk. He's the leader. That's who I'm going to jersey swap with. I would love some Bears ones, too. Oh, my goodness. I'll take Caleb Williams. I'll take Caleb.

That's a Monday Night Football game.

All right, tune in. I'll take Caleb.

All right, roll it for Seth. Last question.

Seth, which player from this matchup do you want to give a hype-up speech for?

Let's see here. You went farm animal. I'll go, wake up, wake up. It's a chicken. Oh, boo.

Roll it again. We can't have two match-ups. Roll it.

Okay, okay.

Roll it.

Can't have the same.

We don't repeat.

Yep.

Roll it.

It's really random.

It's interesting.

This is really random.

It's really random.

Go.

Shoot again. You just wanted me?

Yeah.

Oh, my.

Okay.

All right. Battle for Los Angeles. Go to work, Seth. Who do I want to hype up, man? Oh, my goodness.

All right.

Here we go. Here we go. Here we go. Here we go. Two disappointing.

seasons for both of these teams in Los Angeles, but I'm.

Telling you what.

I need the Chargers to get this W, all right? And it starts with Justin Herbert. Man, it is your time to shine. You've got to get this job done. We have got to win a football game for the Los Angeles Chargers. We've got to just get one. We've got to get that first one. Can we please get a win? It's going to happen this week.

I feel it.

This is your time, man. Just put it all away. Shut down all the noise. Focus.

Do what you do best and slang that rock, son. Get that win.

Let's go, Herbert. Let's go, Chargers. Come on. Give it to me. Give it to me. There you go.

The basic nature of the sentence that you said in there, which is we need a win in the National Football League because they're still searching for it.

Oh, I can't believe this.

This game is at SoFi Stadium. Battle for SoFi. Go ahead, man.

All right, Tim, you ready? All right, roll it. It is the spirit of Halloween. Okay, you ready for this? All right. Jamie. What?

What player from this matchup would give up full-size.

Candy bars at their house when you go trick-or-treating?

That's a house you want to be at.

Yes.

Stop.

That was a snake.

Let's do it.

Go again. Random.

Stop.

Ooh.

Okay.

Oh, I know the answer. I know the answer to this one.

I got it. I got it.

I got it.

I got it. You think. You know.

But actually, it's Snowman.

Snowman.

You know.

You know Deion Dawkins.

With his joyful persona and all the smile and the get in here.

Like that guy, not only would he.

Have bought 1,000 king-size candy bars, he would have a whole haunted house like into his garage, into his house. And he would be like three different stops of like someone who's like spooking the kids but also like hugging them oddly on the back end because he's so wonderful and loving.

Deion Dawkins, we know how much.

Candy you have at your house. We know that's the house to stop at. in Western New.

York for trick-or-treating.

We know you'd be the king of the king-sized candy bars in your neighborhood. Snowman, you are a trick-or-treating king.

Was that what you guys came up with right away?

That was exactly what I had in mind. You thought we was going Josh Allen?

Well, I don't know.

I mean, there's a lot of options here. Like, the king could hand out king-sized candy bars. I went there for a second.

He's too healthy, man. I feel you.

That's true. He'd be like, here's a steamed chicken breast.

Snowman is one of our friends.

That's one of our guys.

He's one of our guys. He's one of us. I felt that energy in him.

Immediately, king-size Katie Bar energy.

That's a compliment. With Mama Doc over there, too.

Yes, exactly. Trick or treat. That was the randomizer.

We got safe deals coming on the show to wrap up our Thursday on GMFB.

Somebody make another animal noise. You're multiple chicken.

Oh, no. There he goes. There he goes.

There he goes.

Oh, my God.

He's gone.

There's an easy equation to follow in the NFL. The more success you have on a team, the more people want to know how you got there. And specifically about the relationship between the main characters behind that success. Oftentimes, it's the head coach and the quarterback. And that is never more true than what's going on in the Chicago Bears facility right now. And the fascination people find between Ben Johnson and Caleb Williams and why this relationship works so much. Well, here's a head coach ahead of another challenging game for the Bears this weekend. They're on Monday Night Football with the Seahawks. and how much the head coach cherishes what Caleb Williams' skill set has become in listening to some feedback from his coach.

That's what I love the most about him right now is he loves that criticism. He loves to take that and he chews on it, you know, gets a little time out of the building, chews on it, and then he comes back and just had a great walkthrough. And once again, it's not flawless. Certainly will never be this early in the week. And yet you can see him, you know, working through it and man, I got to get this in practice. What am I going to do?

What's it going to look like? He's just matured a lot in that regard, taking a game plan, downloading it and being able to bring it to life.

I often tell my guys, man, we're the best in the world, B-I-W. And, you know, that's the mindset we like to go into games is practice, you know, that mindset. And so that mindset, you have to hold yourself to a certain standard. And, you know, that's what these primetime games are. They're And the league seeing us as one of those teams, that's the best in football. And we want to go out there and prove ourselves each and every week. It doesn't matter if it's prime time or not.

Here's our BIW, what she does.

Stacey Dales, everybody, coming on to talk Bears.

NFC North, and all things NFL. What's going on, Stace?

Hi, guys.

You had to show me in a winter coat. We're not there yet, okay?

We're not there.

That's naturally where our head goes. Stacey, right off the top, I have a question for you. How do you feel about acronyms in the NFL? Give us a Stace to the Nation.

Best in the world. I'm down with that. I continue to be amazed by this league. I mean, the acronyms win the day. Caleb Williams won the day. And the fact that you started me off best in the world set my day right, Jane.

Great.

Stacey, you covered all for us.

Let's get a Stace to the Nation on the Bears as they prepare to head west to take on the Seahawks. This team's got the number one total defense, number one pass defense. Seattle obviously defined itself last week with the game against the chief. So what makes Seattle's defense so special this season?

My goodness.

Can you believe you guys, the bears have had to see the Vikings defense back in week two, a game I was at, and now they're going to see this just incredible, formidable defense on Monday night football. And that's what they're preparing for to your point, Jamie. I mean, this group is special and I've had conversations in the league about the Vikings and the Seahawks respectively.

And, And they do it.

Differently, but they accomplish the same thing. They distort everything that you do as a quarterback. So they rush you up, but they make you hold the football and they get pressure and they get pressure with four. And it's all the unique things that Seattle does on the back end with their defensive backs because they're able to only rush with four, which Ben Johnson alluded to this week and he has spoken about. They change the picture so much defensively, the quarterback is always guessing. And so for the Chicago Bears, Coach Johnson said it best, guys. They can't beat ourselves.

They've been a highly penalized team. They cannot go in and ill afford to go in on Monday Night Football and make mistakes. It's that simple because the rush is coming. They get home with four. They'll stop you in the run game. And the stats don't lie. I mean, you just mentioned it, Jamie. They're the number one passing defense, number one total defense in football. And again, it's all the things that they do on the back end to change the picture for the quarterback, make him think a tick a little bit longer and have to make decisions for four quarters. They will run you down the field.

The Chicago Bears will in terms of running the football. But can they do it is the question against the Seattle Seahawks on Monday.

Stace, you know I am hyped for this game.

I am.

I can't wait for it.

Might go out to Seattle to watch it.

But we've got to talk about tonight's game as well. We've got to talk about the Green Bay Packers, Carolina Panthers. What are the Packers going to need to do to stop Bryce Young and the Panthers offense that are among the league leaders in yards per game and points per game?

Seth, you better get on a damn flight, man, and get to that game on Monday Night Football.

Yeah, come on, Seth.

Bully him.

Bully him, Stace.

The Bears need your support. They need your support in that one because that's a tough one there in Seattle. For the Green Bay Packers, we know what they're doing offensively. They haven't been able to run the ball, though Josh Jacobs is back, which is exciting because you have to think this surge is coming. And Jordan Love has been so good down the field.

But guess who's been better down the field?

Bryce Young.

I mean, he is second in the NFL with, I think it is 12, yes, 12 deep completions downfield. And this is an explosive passing offense. They're one of the top passing offenses in football because he is just diagnosing things at the line of scrimmage at an incredible level. And so I go to the Packers defense. Can they get the job done? Can Jonathan Gannon coach these guys up?

And as Jonathan Gannon told us this week, We just can't let things get over the top of us. And that's, you know, you look at the weaponry that comes in with Ted McMillan and company and.

The way Bryce Young is delivering the football.

Head coach Matt LaFleur said he has been remarkable to watch this season. And when a coach uses the word remarkable, I tend to take heed and I tend to listen. And the Packers defensively on the bottom of the screen. Look at the one on the far right, folks. Number one in takeaways. That's been impressive out of their group.

And they're going to attempt to do that here tonight on Thursday Night Football. Everybody's banged up coming into this one. Matthew Golden, obviously, is the big one to circle there. But for these incoming Carolina Panthers, they beat the Packers, remember, last year. And Bryce Young didn't have a spectacular game, but he is playing really good football right now.

And the number one objective is to take away his explosive plays in this game.

Stace, you talked about the Seattle Seahawks defense and how they changed the picture for the offense. I think the same thing can be said about Brian Flores and that Vikings defense. Now they go to Detroit and they take on the Detroit Lions, the top scoring defense in Minnesota, against the number two scoring offense in Detroit. What makes Brian Flores' defense so difficult to go against?

Talking to them, Manti, it's incredibly unique.

I don't know.

Who's better?

I want to know from you guys who's better. Is it the Seahawks or is it... the Minnesota Vikings, because they do it differently, but again, they accomplish the same thing. They load you up at the line of scrimmage. Look at all the purple jerseys at the line of scrimmage in Brian Flores' defense. This is the number one scoring defense in football. They're giving up 12 points a game, you guys, and they harass quarterbacks, but you don't know where they're deploying the pressure. The unique part is they'll drop into coverage against you, and suddenly, oh, it's not seven, it's not six, it's not eight.

Now it's five.

Now it's four.

I mean, he's constantly changing the dimensions, forcing the quarterback to hold the football and think now it's a second too long. And now the pressure is there. I believe they are number one in sacks or number. They're one of the top sack team sack teams in the league. I mean, I've got the stats in front of me, but if you listen to Dan Campbell talk, that.

Is the priority. You got to figure out how.

Everybody makes mistakes against these defenses, including Brian Flores is in my conversations. They are so veteran laden and they are so uniquely tied on strings together. All 11 as one. And Brian Flores, guys, has done a heck of a job with that group this season. And it's been a puzzle for everybody to figure out.

Stacey, I want to pick your brain about something going on in the NFC West because the trade deadline is approaching and the Colts are seemingly in the middle of a fire sale right now. They, in a single day, made the Seahawks better and the San Francisco 49ers better with Quentin Nelson on the move to Seattle. and DeForest Buckner on the move to San Francisco. How do you think this makes the Rams feel? Because we are all waiting for the other shoe to drop, the good kind of shoe for the Rams, and get right.

Perhaps against the Chargers this weekend.

I just want to pick your brain on what you think has gone on with the Rams and what the future looks like this season.

I think the Rams have underachieved thus far. And I think we all expected something incredibly explosive. Really sad to see Jamie Devante Adams suffer the hamstring injury and require surgery for that. And obviously we haven't seen this duo up front with Aaron Donald and Miles Garrett.

Now Miles is coming. Just like Micah Parsons is coming.

We expect him back to practice, by the way, next week or perhaps back next week, I should.

Say, for the Packers. We'll see that trajectory.

But I think the message the 49ers are saying is we just lost. We suffered our first loss of the season. And, you know, we need another player. And DeForest Buckner returns. We've seen them bring back former players because they know the system that they like to run there in San Francisco. And I just don't think we've seen the best of the Rams yet. I think it's still to come. They're so talented, Jamie. But again, I don't think we've seen the best of them just yet in the NFL season.

Stacey, you are too.

And that is why our bosses have apparently decided to include you on college basketball coverage this season. We'd love to know more about what you're doing this winter that doesn't involve you having to wear a parka outside in the winter.

You get to be inside a gym again.

Jamie, you're going to get me all emotional because I started. Thank you guys so much for that. I started my career at ESPN in basketball, obviously, and I am returning to to work games again, and I'm returning to cover the incredible landscape. It's a privilege and honor. I was just part of the college basketball seminars this week. Thank you for noticing that and mentioning it because I am Really, really humbled to be back joining the team that I started with in my TV career. Coming out of college at Oklahoma and having that experience, going to a Final Four, all of the stuff. But I get to go back and talk kind of like riding a bike, talk what's natural.

Not that the NFL isn't.

I mean, 20, almost 20 years. It's been a great journey.

And I'm still doing football.

You are, of course, naturally, because you are loved on the sideline in the pregame for the NFL. But excellent, excellent decision by those who make those choices to put you back in the college game. And we're so happy for you, Stacey. And now there's even more to look forward to on ESPN's college basketball coverage.

Stacey Dales, we love you.

That's why we said B-I-W at the start of this thing. She played for the Sooners, but she also represented her home country.

Gosh, look it. She's so cool. Team Canada.

Oh, God. Let's go.

Take them to the bucket, Stace.

I hope I don't make those faces anymore.

Look at that.

Oh, God, guys.

Take them off. Take them down. Take them down.

That's sick.

Look at that face.

That's just a horrible look.

That's termination, Stace. You guys are.

GMFB Thursday Hour 2: Colts Trade Dominoes & Can the Broncos Stop the Chiefs?

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