The NFL Report: The 49ers Stay Perfect + Nick Shook Joins the Show

How long can the undefeated 49ers keep this up? Coming up on the NFL Report, how San Francisco won again despite another... Big name injury. Meantime, a bon voyage. Are the Steelers for real for France? Nick Shook is here to tell you if he believes in the Rogers revival. And no offense or no offense, but the Vikings are the best team in the NFC North. All of that next on the NFL Report. It is a Tuesday edition.

We are presented by Nationwide. Welcome to a home edition of the NFL Report. My name is Andrew Siciliano. How is it already? Week seven. Coming up, we'll preview TNF. And also coming up, we'll tell you the latest on Washington wide receiver Terry McLaurin. First, however, what is news to me? Our latest headlines. And our headlines actually take us to New York to open up the show where it is the annual fall meeting. An owner's meeting. In essence, we call it a fall meeting. And the headline is the Eagles are not going to be punished. by the NFL for their handling of Jalen Hurts' medical situation. Remember last week, he had blood clots in London. They deemed him okay to play. He did play, flew home. And

then after practicing Wednesday, the Eagles said he was out indefinitely. We begin the podium with Dr. Alan Sills, the NFL CMO.

Is there anything they did along this process that was out of sort of the protocols that the league recommends in terms of how they the timeline of when they learned of Jalen Hurst's injury and deciding to allow him to fly, play, and then fly?

Well, first of all, we don't have a protocol about this. Again, there are certain things we have protocols on, like concussion and heat and emergency preparedness.

We don't.

I'll just sum it up by saying that I have complete confidence in the Eagles medical staff and their handling of this situation, and I would characterize their work as very conservative, very patient-focused, and appropriately guarded at every step.

Did you guys at.

The league do any sort of investigation into– what did happen or are you trusting what the Eagle staff and your confidence in them tells you should have happened? Both talking to the Eagle staff and making sure from people on the ground, tracking the case, talking to the independent hospital and doctors involved that we have, I think, a complete understanding of the course of events.

Key of the quarterback for the Eagles now and wishing the best, obviously, to Jalen Hurts. Week six wrapped up on Monday night with the 49ers going to 6-0 and taking it to the Commanders. Opening drive, Brock Purdy, George Kittle, 11-yard touchdown. Washington made this game interesting early, but this play was interesting as well. This is a fourth down, early second quarter in the red zone. Washington goes for it, and there seemed to be a shot of Dan Quinn on the sideline. Seemingly, if you want to read lips...

Not knowing it was fourth down. We'll get to that coming up in a second. Christian McCaffrey had a couple of touchdowns. Niners are up 20-3. But Washington would rally. And look at the scoreboard here with just under two to go. You had Jaden Daniels firing for Traylon Burks in the end zone on fourth down. Couldn't get it there.

They would get the ball back. But still, San Francisco won. Brock Purdy and company now 6-0. It's the NFL, man.

Every single Sunday. Today, Monday, it's, you know, it's a competitive game. You got the best players in the world in the sport playing and you just never know what can happen. So, yeah, I'm obviously a little upset with how I finished the game and stuff. But I know that moving forward, like it's every single game matters when it comes down to playoffs and getting in and all the things. So we'll take this dub as a team, watch the film and.

Um you know we got to be happy with it man we show glimpses we show flashes of you know how we could be when we're at our best and when we're not shooting ourselves in the foot um and you know we just can't come out here and you know start off slow between the five and oh now six and oh team like that in the 49ers um you know we went out we competed hard but you know competing can only get you too far so far in this league you got to do whatever it takes to win the game and we didn't win.

They did not win and they fall to one and four but the niners did and they have yet another injury it's like uh It's like a receipt at your favorite drugstore down the street. That many injuries. The latest being Mike Evans, who left with an Achilles injury. Jennifer Lee Chan, friend of the program, reports that the Achilles is not torn, but Evans could miss multiple weeks. They play, the Niners do. They play the Falcons this week, week seven.

Hi there, NFL.com's Nick Schuch. And then they do get a bye. But the Niners are one of two undefeated teams in the NFL. The Vikings, the other team. San Francisco out to the big early lead. But they get yet another injury. Is this sustainable? Did you like what you saw last night?

Well, it was really a tale of two halves, and Niner fans probably aren't happy with what they saw in the second half, given that they finished the first half with over 300 yards and finished with under 400 yards in the game. They basically sleptwalked through the second half, but the first half is what matters to these 49ers, where they came out and put it on the commanders.

Looked like the offense that we have come to know and expect from Brock Purdy to Mike Evans to Christian McCaffrey to George Kittle. The stars all performed, and they all produced. It's just that the second half... They hit cruise control a little too early, left the door open for Washington to get involved, and that's why we saw a close finish. Now, the good thing about this for the 49ers is that they still finished this game on top, not just because it's another win, but because of the fashion in which they did it by leaning on a no-name defensive front to sack Jayden Daniels on fourth down and finish the job. Sometimes they're not as simple as other times, but this game right here, they continue moving on.

They're now 6-0. 6-0, and again, this game's in Atlanta coming up week seven, and then a bye, and when you get Michael Williams back, then you lose Mike Evans. But the Achilles is intact. That is the good news. Let's get to the commander's side of things, and I want to go back to that fourth down, where in the second quarter, they go forward in the red zone, and then seemingly, it looked as if Dan Quinn on the sideline, and he denies this. It looked as if he didn't know what down it was. This all on the heels of what happened in week five with the tie against the Giants. Here's Dan I definitely knew it was fourth down. We were going for it.

And I was, I think whatever you're referring to, I was probably saying like with the illegal shift, there's not a penalty to go for a field goal. Like it doesn't go like it's the turn on downs. Like I think somebody asked me, can we kick a field goal? So no, we were going for it. We knew we had to go for some fourth downs to be bold in the game. No, I knew what happened. I think I was probably just commenting that I remember at least on the headset, somebody asked me after an illegal shift.

It was turnover on downs.

Jaden saw the foul, too.

I think he also came out and saw the penalty.

Nick, if that were the only game management issue last night, then maybe you'd say, eh, big deal. If this wasn't on the heels of what happened week five, you'd maybe shrug your shoulders and say, big deal. But these things keep stacking up.

Yeah, and that's the big problem. That's why it's kind of hard to take him at his word because of how they ended up tying the Giants because it seemed like their operation wasn't at least informed to understand that they needed to stop the clock and couldn't afford to take a sack like they did in that game. In this situation, it's fourth and goal, and you throw the ball away, and that's the last possible thing that you want to do. In those situations, you simply just do not throw the ball out of the back of the end zone. You at least give yourself a chance. one way or another. It just speaks to a bit of disorganization on the part of the commander's offense. I think there's probably some communication issues going on between the two.

Question of whether when does the headset cut off in the Giants game. Last night, it just seems like they weren't properly prepared. This is a team that can't afford these mistakes, and when they keep happening, that's when it becomes extra concerning and frustrating.

And this is a first-year offensive coordinator, David Blau, who's in his early 30s, who was playing just a couple of years ago, the former Lions quarterback for other teams as well. He is calling the plays. And the Commanders, and I'm in Washington right now, I can tell you, this is the only thing on Sports Talk Radio. The Commanders fall to 1-4. And they lose Terry McLaurin as well.

As classy and beloved a sports figure in Washington, has a torn patellar tendon. He got carted off early in that game. The loss in Santa Clara. He is done. Best wishes to friend of the program, Terry McLaurin. All right, let's get to Week 7. Patriots and Bears will open it up Thursday night football. at Soldier Field. Caleb Williams completed his first 12 passes this past Sunday in his first game back, but the Bears' running game is what moves him. DeAndre Swift, Roshon Johnson, 95 yards and three touchdowns combined. Bears, Patriots.

They have really good talent. The O-line is excellent. They're well coached. It's a good scheme. I think that backs run hard. And the receivers, again, when you can run the football, the receivers have to be a big factor in that.

And they are.

So, you know, they block force. We're going to have to do a great job of, you know, that'll be an emphasis. But, you know, obviously there's a lot more than what they do than just.

Run the football.

You can see that their offense is putting up points in bunches right now, three game winning streak and a ton of explosive plays throughout. And so when you look at it that way, it's He's a big challenge. Josh McDaniels does a great job just making sure he puts those guys in the right spots. Even if they're down some O-linemen, he'll do a great job making sure he has that in mind and showcase what the rest of their guys can do.

All right, that's TNF. It's the Packers and Lions in the marquee game week seven in the 425 Eastern time window. Every team of the NFC North is above 500 right now. Packers are four and two. They've won three in a row. Dan Campbell's Lions were swept by Green Bay last year. Sunday, they meet for the first time this year at Ford Field.

I can tell you that Dan Campbell says Matt LeFleur has done a really good job turning the Packers around after they had that little losing streak and after getting pounded by the Falcons in primetime, we question where that team was going. Look at this division. The Vikings have no offense, although Kyler's kind of easing into it, and they are 5-0, followed by the Packers sitting there in second place. They could get to five wins as well.

All right, Shook, which NFC North team? And there is no wrong answer, but I don't know that there's a right answer either. Are you most confident in it?

When I was asked this question earlier today, I had to let out a heavy sigh because it's a very difficult question to answer with this team. Because every team has strengths and weaknesses. Every team has followed their own unique path to this point. And it is only week seven. But I feel as though the team I can trust the most is the Chicago Bears as long as they have their quarterback. And they got him back. last week.

They put up a ton of points and they're masters of owning time of possession. Their average time of possession, 36.01. No team since 1991 has averaged over 35 minutes of time of possession over the course of a season. They're averaging 73.2 snaps per game. They are playing ball control at a level we just haven't seen since the 2012 New England Patriots who averaged 74.4 snaps per game. So I think that if this team, which can lean on the ground game, has a dynamic quarterback, has talented pass catchers, can just command possession and hang on to it. They can kind of buy some time for their defense to not have to be on the field, a defense that has really overachieved so far. And I think that formula

can probably work best in a division in which you have the Packers who are kind of, they found their stride defensively and they're starting to find their stride offensively. Vikings defensive driven and Detroit very much offensive driven.

Yeah, but the Vikings are going to be 6-0, right? I mean, you got Brian Flores at home this week chasing Daniel Jones and the Colts. Yes. Again, recreational purposes only. The Vikings are staying undefeated this week.

They are, and they have an elite defense, and that is their strength. Their offense got a little bit better last week, or the last time they played, given that they were off last week, against the Saints, and that's encouraging. But right now, this defense is still the main way that the Vikings can win football games. And in a division in which you have some teams that can put points on the board in Detroit and in Chicago and even in Green Bay to a degree... I feel as though they're going to run into a situation in which they can't solely lean on their defense, which is why I have a hard time believing that they're the one I can trust the most. But that defense is elite.

That defense is going to be talked about in the company of the Ravens of 2000, of the Buccaneers of 2002, perhaps even the 85 Bears. That's how good they are. But is it enough? That's what I still don't know the answer to quite yet.

Yeah, I mean, eventually you're going to have to score points. Defense does win championships, but you have to score a couple of touchdowns as well. Coming up on the NFL Report, Shook is back. Speaking of offense, the Texans are finally finding theirs. Shook has the most bold of bold predictions you will hear tonight. I promise. You're watching the NFL Report, and if you look at the NFC standings, top to bottom, 1-16, where are the Rams right now? Anyone asking just aloud, rhetorically?

They're 14 out of 16 in the NFC. They are 2-4 and were held under 300 yards by the Cardinals last week. Sean McVay, where's the balance? Where's the offense?

But ultimately, what I care about and what we care about is what's the best way to move the ball and score points. And because of some of the situations that we've been in, those two-minute situations.

Have gotten us a little bit out of balance.

No matter how I cut, it's an excuse. I'd like to be able to have a little bit more balance, and that's reflected by being efficient on early downs and sustaining drives.

And remember, this comes after Kyron Williams. Question why he wasn't on the field more. The Rams this week go to the Raiders, and they are so banged up. Need a new kicker. Groupies hurt. McManus is in. Devontae Adams and Puna Ford going on injured reserve. Adams needs surgery on a hamstring. He's going to be at least four to six weeks. And Terrence Ferguson isn't coming back anytime soon, according to Adam Schefter. So you lose a weapon and you're not getting a weapon back offensively that you had thought or had hoped that maybe you could open a window for. Speaking of offense, the Texans are coming around. C.J.

Stroud looked great. in London with a win and a division win, which is huge, over the Jaguars on Sunday.

CJ has done a phenomenal job all year of just leading the offense, whether we've thrown the ball around really well, and that starts with him and just his performance. his reads, him protecting the football, doing a really nice job all year. No matter who's open, he's distributing the ball to a lot of different guys, and he's just playing the quarterback position really well, really confident in how he's operating, and that's what's allowed our offense to play as well as they play this year.

We do look at the standings here and the numbers that the Houston Texans have turned it around. The last two weeks, that much-maligned offense without much of a running game have all of a sudden scored points and run for nearly 100 yards and won back-to-back games. And they are 2-4. Nick Shook. Nick Shook is all shook up about a team that is trying to do, Nick, what it did a year ago. Start awful in September and turn it around and make the playoffs. Are you telling me?

that that is now going to happen.

It has been only two games, but I am telling you right now, you can book it. The Houston Texans are going to complete the turnaround and they're going to make the playoffs. And the main reason is the man taking the snaps behind center CJ Stroud. We flew up some of his stats in the last two games, which were both wins. Let's go back even a week further.

His last three games, I'll run some numbers here, 24-34 for 312, three touchdowns, one interception. Let's go back to week four, 21-31, 347, two touchdowns, zero interceptions. He's playing the best football of his career since his Offensive Rookie of the Year season, and it's in a pivotal moment in his journey as an NFL quarterback. He is powering this offense. He's making up for the defense that's still finding its footing after changing defensive play caller. And if you look at this most recent matchup, this is the one that told me They're going to be here for the long haul. The Jaguars are going to be in the conversation. They're a very good football team. I know the AFC South produces some, you know, strange throw the

rivalry records out the window, that sort of thing. No, this was a litmus test for me. This was a measuring stick, and the Texans passed, and they're going to be here. They're here to stay.

What's huge as well is that these two wins have been division wins. They get the Giants this week, clearly not in division. Might be J.J. McCarthy, you never know. Then they go by, and then they get the Chargers. So maybe we're looking at them winning four in a row and getting to four and four. All right. Let's look at the Steelers if we could, because they are on their way to Paris to play the Saints. New Orleans is already there. Steelers are going to go later in the week. But this past week, the Steelers went down to Tampa and they beat the Buccaneers. And they did so a little bit with defense. Jamel Dean against his former team, a pick late. And then Aaron Rodgers got them a victory. Have they found something now offensively?

I think they may have. And the reason that I even believe that, because this has been a very one, you know, Jekyll and Hyde type of team. In even-numbered weeks, they're bad. In odd-numbered weeks, they're good. This is an even-numbered week, and they were able to adjust in-game for the first time I've seen them do all season offensively.

They realized that the running game wasn't going to be the way to go with Jalen Warren in this game. They realized they weren't going to be able to protect Aaron Rodgers that long against this pass rush. So what did they do? They shifted their offensive game plan to the short game, and it started to generate offense. They were able to sustain drives, and then you couple that with a defense that became very opportunistic in the fourth quarter with a couple of interceptions, and that's how you score 16 points unanswered in forced overtime. And then that final drive, a slow, methodical, boa constrictor-like drive, ended up in a Jeremy Bernard touchdown. He's been a big part of their offense the last two weeks. I I think

they're starting to figure it out. I don't know if it's going to produce anything major in the AFC North, one of the best divisions in football, but it's going to make them more competitive on a week-by-week basis.

All right. I hate the snake analogy. I hate snakes, but that's neither here nor there. However, Aaron Rodgers loves his former wide receivers that he used to play with in Green Bay. I mean, how many times have we seen this story? And that is Aaron brings in a guy he used to throw passes to. And again, it's MVS.

Marquez Valdez-Scantling, who was a Steeler late last year, is back with the Steelers yet again. He is on the practice squad. Hopefully he has a passport again. The Steelers are heading to Paris later in the week. The Bills stayed in California last week. They had the nail-biting overtime victory over the Rams on Monday night, then went to Vegas and hung on, and they beat the Raiders. What is it with this Bills team who get a bye this week? What is it that they always make us wait?

until late in the fourth quarter. I mean, it's partly a TV thing. I'm kidding. Right.

It's got to be to keep the viewers engaged, right? Because every game for them, I feel like I'm on the edge of my seat. Can the Buffalo Bills just win a game in regular fashion maybe for once? Their defense has not been great. We know it hasn't been great. Scoring-wise, it's not good. They've allowed 29-plus points in five of their six games, including that game against the Raiders. They're 31st in yards allowed per game. They're 28th in scoring defense.

but their offense has made up for all of it, just papering over it. They're 16 yards per game. They're tied for first in points per game.

Why?

Josh Allen is your quarterback. He had a touchdown pass where he just shoveled it forward about eight yards through the air. That would have produced an interception for everybody except Josh Allen and Patrick Mahomes, but he gets it done. You couple that with James Cook, who's a great running back, as we all know, needs to work on ball security.

They're able to overcome these things. But I worry, over the course of a season, when you run into some of the top-tier teams– Is this going to be sustainable? Because right now, they need more from their defense so that every game isn't just so hair-raising.

A defense that will still include C.J. Gardner-Johnson. He was kicked out of the game in Vegas for spitting at an opponent. He was also suspended, but Joe Brady says they're going to keep him on the roster, and we hope to keep you here as well. Coming up next, we'll ask this question. Are the defending Super Bowl champions still a top 10 team? Yes, I said that. Are the Seahawks still a top 10 team in Shooky's power rankings?

You might be all shook up. Next. It's week seven, everybody. Do you have NFL Plus Premium? Okay, why not? Go get it. You get NFL Red Zone. You get every touchdown, every Sunday. and then you can catch game replays, and you can track advanced analytics powered by NGS Next Gen Stats with NFL Pro. Sign up today at plus.nfl.com slash fast, plus.nfl.com slash fast. Terms and conditions do apply. When you're going to nfl.com to sign up, by the way, you can check out Nick Shook's Power Rankings. They're at nfl.com slash power rankings. The full reveal coming up right after this on NFL Channel. The Seattle Seahawks are 3-3 and number 10. Nick Shook. The Seahawks. Mike McDonald. Sam Darnold.

I know he's had some issues. The Seahawks. The dark side defense. Nick Shook are barely hanging on as a top 10 team.

Really? I think I probably could have dropped them even further, given how poor they are with ball security lately. And it's all really Sam Darnold. It's Sam Darnold behind an offensive line that is underperforming. Got buried last week against a pass rush that Denver has gotten a lot out of in the last couple of weeks. And we're back to Sam Darnold before he even played for Minnesota, which is turning the ball over, making mistakes. and this is hurting their entire offense. Their offense also runs way too much through Jackson Smith and Jigba, and they need to find a way to diversify in order to get Sam back on track. So, yes, they're hanging on to number 10, but they better figure it out because I'm not against

maybe moving them down even further.

Oh, boy, there's a threat right there. The Cowboys, meantime, America's team falls well below the power rankings equator. They are down eight spots to 26, Shook.

Yeah, this is a messy situation for the Cowboys, a team that we know has no defense and relies heavily on its offense, except its offense hasn't been able to score points in the last two weeks. You thought, well, maybe against Green Bay they'll get back on track after they were shut down by the Buccaneers. Nope, they scored even fewer points. 16 against Tampa. 13 against Green Bay.

That's not enough. That's not going to get the job done. Dak Prescott looks uncomfortable. He looks a little confused, a little hurried up. This is going to be a bad situation for the Cowboys if they can't get back on track offensively. The good news is they play the Eagles, who are in a worse spot and are even lower in the power ranking, so maybe they'll get back on track.

NFL.com slash PowerRankings full reveal coming up NFL Channel next. Thank you, Nick Shook. Always a pleasure. Thanks for riding with me. Let's get some quick hits in here. Meantime, including in New York where Najee Harris is out of a job, the Giants are cutting the veteran running back after he criticized John Harbaugh's carry distribution. Only four this past Sunday for Harris. He had 31 total in five games.

Can I interest you in 10 international games? Judy Batista says, says Peter O'Reilly, head of international for the league, VP, said we could get 10 coming next year, which is the most allowed during the current CBA. Have speed, we'll always have a job. Mecole Hardman is signing to the practice squad in Indianapolis. The veteran wide receiver last year played for the Buffalo Bills. Mecole Hardman is a cult.

All right, time for one more thing before we go. I don't know if you know this, but there's going to be a game on Thanksgiving Eve tonight this year. It's the night before Thanksgiving Wednesday in Los Angeles, and U2 is going to be the entertainment at the half when the Packers take on the Rams at SoFi. It is another iconic stage for one of the world's most iconic bands, and for my money, U2 has given us two of the most emotional performances at NFL games in recent memory. You want to go back to January, February, actually, of 2002, post-9-11. U2 played at the Superdome. Remember Bono with the American flag? Inside is Jack and then all the names, all the great souls we lost on 9-11 on the curtain behind him. They also played at the

Domecoming in New Orleans when, post-Katrina, they reopened that building. U2, the night before Thanksgiving. I'm Andrew Siciliano. Thanks for watching. So long, everybody.

The NFL Report: The 49ers Stay Perfect + Nick Shook Joins the Show

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