The Around the NFL podcast. The home of Cessler, After Dark. From the Chris Westling podcast studio, it's Around the NFL, the week 14 Sunday recap. There it is after dark, so you're going to get a vibey, Mark Cessler, along with Greg Rosenthal, heroes both. I'm Dan Hansus. Boys, how about this? Listen to this right now. As we record.

Here we I refuse to.

What?

Listen. Oh, okay.

Let's get the show going in a positive way. Mr. Rosenthal. The AFC wildcard situation, wild. There are six teams at seven and six. Six teams at seven and six. Pittsburgh, Andy, Houston, Denver, St. See, Buffalo. The NFC, they got the Vikings, the team of ATN, they're seven and six, so that's nice as well. Then five teams with six wins. It should be obvious, there's a lot to be determined in this final stretch of the regular season, and it's really hard to tell who's what. It's like you're in a house of mirrors trying to figure out what teams to really believe in right now.

I was a young kid, I used to spend, and I became obsessed with football. Back then, with a pen and paper, I'd go through these playoff things in my room for hours, but nothing back then was like this because there were always six or seven dominant teams and some trash. They're all cobbled together right now.

Right, we thought the AFC was going to be the better conference going into this year. It is, but for a different reason. At the top, it's not. But we do have 11 teams in the AFC above 500, basically eliminated five, and everything else is up for grabs. I thought this was the best Sunday of.

The year. A very good Sunday, especially the early window. Then we had the game we're going to talk about right now because one of those teams entering action, hoping to be seven and six was the Buffalo Bills. It was a game they absolutely needed. Guess what? They went and they got it at arrowhead. Holmes in the.

Shotgun, two.

Receivers left, one to the right, and Kelsey in motion.

Coming over left, two right.

Here's the snap, back to pass, and pressure coming. Throw it deep down the middle of.

The.

Field. It falls incomplete. Turnover on downs.

Buffalo football with 55 seconds remaining. The defense holds. Oh, indeed, Chris Brown with the call, W-G-R, the Buffalo Bulls. It's been a season of frustration, and yet with seemingly everything on the line, or at least it felt that way in this game, they find a way to get it done. We're going to get to it, some great fortune in this case involving Cedarius Tony and where he put his right foot on a fateful play by the Chiefs on their last drive. But it doesn't matter, 2017, Bills get the win. Yes, they are one of the seven and six teams. And Mark, Josh Allen, the numbers don't jump out at you in this game. It's not like he had one of those classic games, but it was such a great Josh Allen game to me. How often he saved the Bills from catastrophic plays, big sacks, big swings of momentum, and he kept on making great plays, keeping plays alive. It was vintage in so many ways.

I thought he totally responded. When not the entire team did around him at times, there was one play that comes up first for me was just a classic Josh Allen improvisational dose of magic, where it was a four-yard completion of the Dalton Kinkade on fourth and one. He had no business even being around to make that throw. This is the thing that only Josh Allen can do. There was the, I thought, absolutely pivotal moment late in the game where it is 17-17, the driving to essentially get a field goal. He almost took a sack, or he should have if he were a different human, that would have put them out in dangerous worlds outside of where you would want to be kicking a field goal. Instead, he found a way to allude the enemy and again find CK-Don- -You're the sideline?

Is that the player cover? It was.

Right before the field goal. It's like for the one you are completion. I feel like that saved them 12, 13 yards or something. It would have been completely fatal. They don't look completely together to me on offense. This was a team effort. But Allen showed us what he can do and why they're in this moment and you can't count them out on any level. This was a huge victory for the Bills. Season saving.

Right. Their season, I would have finally said, It is over now. I know they would have only been one game back of all the seven and six teams, but they had been in these games week after week after week. Romos said on the broadcast how they've given up three leads in the final minute, Sean McDermott's defense. For their defense, with some absolute fortune to take advantage of that fortune after the call on Cadarius-Toney and make three great plays in a row, it is worth mentioning. Ed Oliver getting that tip there on third and 15. Leonard Floyd, a great pickup to hit Moh homes his arm on fourth down. There's no rule that's saying the Bills aren't going to give up a game tie and field goal in that situation. Anyways, after getting the fourth, and so they took advantage. Yeah, Allen, to me, the key player of that final drive is the design run on third and two. It's just like it's Allen season. It's design run. I'm going to scramble and I'm going to get it season.

All right, let's talk about the Tony play. Second and 10 near midfield. In fact, let's listen to it. Let's listen to Chiefs Radio, Mitch Holtis and company on what it looked to be a dramatic go ahead trick play touchdown that turned into a penalized play for Kansas City. 17, Buffalo. They sent another Blitz, selling out flag on the play might be a free one. They've got Kelsey at the 30. Kelsey, 25, angling back 20. Now he's going to lateral it back. That's a 15-yard line. It's Tony, 10, 5, touchdown. Kansas City They mess around in practice with this all the time. It's going to go with a 49-yard touchdown. Kelsey, the old University of Cincinnati quarterback. Offside, number 19, offense, lined up.

In the.

Nuchal zone. Five-yard penalty. Check them out.

Who was it on? On Cedarius.

Oh, my goodness.

Oh, my goodness indeed. Cedarius, Tony, who set the tone for the whole season, really, in week one on Thursday night with that brutal game of drops against the Lions. I said it as we were gathering around the monitor to watch his last drive. But I just had a feeling, and you don't need to be some type of seer to see this, that a wide receiver would betray the Holmes again on this pivotal drive for their chances to be the number one seed. Not only does it happen, it's Tony again, who was legitimately offside as foot was in the neutral zone. Now, why is Pat Mohom's going insane after the fourth down completion? Frustration, that happened a few plays later, but also because on the third and long, Van Miller had lined up and gone off sides and there was no flag. You had the frustration of them eyeballing Tony the way they did and then missing Van Miller and Andy Reed, who's not just like you're not known to see my homes as angry as we saw him on the sideline. Andy Reed was openly critical of the official. You could sense the frustration all around this operation.

I never use any of this as.

Excuses, but normally I get a warning.

Before something like that happens in a big game. A bit embarrassing in the National Football League for that to take place.

That is strong.

I don't know if you get fined for that, maybe. If you do, Reed can handle that. But that's two weeks in a row now where the Chiefs that feel like they're on the wrong end of a pivotal, officialiating in the game. But once more, guys, you can't just look at the officials with the Chiefs because at the end of the day, in their building, it was the other team's quarterback that you remember the plays and it was the Chiefs scoring 17 points. This is just who they are and they can't figure it out. It's the wide receivers over and over and over and over.

I'd say with the Chiefs that when they had that week one meltdown against the Lions, season starting not in any way that you'd want it to. We were given evidence that the whole internal, wideout crew was not going to be what you'd wanted maybe. Tony obviously stood out in that one. You have today, and they're eight and five, they're two games behind the Baltimore Ravens. You could, from a certain point of view, say, Tony cost them two games, but it's not just him. It's like this cast of whiteouts around Patrick Mahomes, you thought by now they'd develop, they'd be somewhere else, like someone would have stepped up. Tony all summer has talked about it as a potential so-called number one. Well, he's been one of their number one nuisance. Guys.

He was off the field the rest of the drive.

Yeah, and you feel for him as a human, but it's like, Oh, my God. They are one game up on the Broncos now in the division. It's getting into a very weird place, unprecedented in the the Mohomes Reed era.

Yet, they still have a chance at the one seat. It'd be pretty hard. They're back too.

They keep telling us, though, Greg, they're not going to go on that run to get.

In there. I don't think that's going to happen, but I'm just looking at the Ravens and Dolphins who play each other and have to go through. Everything is wide open. Rashee Rice has stepped up, and you're getting on me, Dan, in the newsroom for pointing out. I've been saying, Rice isn't a guy to build the whole playing around because he doesn't really run all the routes and he.

Can't do everything. He's a developing player with a lot of problems.

That catch he made on the last drive around midfield was fantastic. I mean, that is a starting wide receiver type of catch. Not even really open, but a great throw, great catch in that scenario. That was the point where they get to midfield with tons of time and timeouts because the Bills hadn't handled the situation well. Sean McDermott, like he has a lot this year, is just calling Blitz after Blitz. He is very different than Leslie Frager. He continued to come after them early in that drive and it wasn't really working. He gets bailed out a little bit. Then the four-man pass rush, Oliver and Floyd and Jordan Phillips really did impact those last three plays. I choose to believe, because I was the student for.

The Bills. You were. You had picked them in one of your.

Many endeavors. It's game debut. We're picking them. I keep thinking this Bills team is better than it is and waiting for it to show up. I choose to believe Josh Allen would have gone down the field in 72 seconds because he had a lot of time left there. The game was not over and.

Maybe-if you look at him and.

That-we had a classic. We were robbed from that part of the classic. If you.

Were celebrating the fourth and long completion, we're like, Greg, we're trying to watch something cool here.

He's got his personal interest in this. Why can't.

We celebrate?

We're watching football. The Josh Allen and that Eagles game, then the buy happens. It feels like a long time ago. But that and this, I do think the plague calling switch worked in some sense where they're letting him do more what he does. I don't think they have another choice but just to let him do what he does. But we're getting-Right.. He also said, like they talked about in the broadcast, that he said he's not felt this healthy in years and he looks like it. I think it is a situation where you could look at the bills as record aside. If they start to heat up and you get this version of Josh Allen, I don't know where they're going to wind up.

Yeah. It's a weird to see Mohom is that angry. He is... Do we have that, by the way? Do we have the footage? You can check it on in YouTube. That is, and yes, he's mad at the official because he's the one that saw Van Miller and thought he had a free play. But this is a lot of things you're seeing that are boiling over with this team. It's still weird to watch. It's strange to watch this team in that money spot to instead of think what we've always thought, Oh, nice try, Bills, but you missed Gabe Davis again on that and you go to Kinkade and then kick the field goal. That's going to cost you the game. My home is going to make you pay. That doesn't.

Happen anymore. No, not automatically.

It's not going to happen until I fix the roster and you can't do that until after the Super Bowl. That's where they are. Let's keep moving. Great start, fun game. But it wasn't the game of the day. That was in Baltimore. Ethan Evans finding the tiling Wallace.

Evans hangs a wobler.

Wallace settles under the 25, gets a block, comes to the nearside, 30, spins.

Out of one tackle, 35.

Along the nearside line, 40. He's on midfield. Wallace in a 40. Still in the field. Come on, how many tackles are we going to miss?

10, celebration time. No fights. Wallace in the end zone. Pays in the.

Barn and the Ravers win in overtime. Man, yeah, a walk-off, punth return. It's only happened twice this season. Give up. Give up the bongos. Let's give it up for Ram's special teams that always finds a way. Three missed tackles on that. Anyway, here we go. His first game ever, boys returning punts as a pro. Tyler Wallace goes 76 to the house in OT to lift Greggy's Ravens 37-31 over Greggy's ramps. I know it's confusing, but that's the way it is. Anyway, the game winner came following a wild end to regulation that included a dramatic third and forever TD strike from Lamar to Floors and then a game-tying field goal by the Ravens in the final seconds of regulation. But in the end, Greg, they found away the Ravens, which is progress, I think, because this felt like the type of game that in the past this season, the Ravens found a way to lose. Not this time.

Oh, yeah, when the Ravens got the ball in overtime after the Ravens went three and out, I am thinking, good night, Ravens are going.

To go- How about first and 10 at the 30 at the end of regulation? I was thinking, Uh-oh.

Yeah, I think the Ravens are going to win this game and the Ravens found a way to do it. We'll get to all the quarterback play. It was a fantastic game. We're going to watch it for our game of the week on NFL Plus. There is a lot to dig into. Yet in a game like this, sometimes it really does come down to special teams. Devin Duverneay got injured during the game, and that's the only reason why Wallace was the punth returner. Harboss said he thought about going to Zayflowers because let's be real, Zayflowers is just like a more dynamic player. But Wallace had been the guy in practice all season. Duverneay, who according to my Twitter search, Ravens fans are sick of who even though he was a pro ball return, all he ever does is catch fair catches. They're like, Oh, there's no way he would have even returned that one. Wallace makes one of the plays of the year.

The concerns of 10 and 3 teams and 11 and 3 teams.

It was against the last ranked, Ram's special teams. All season long, it's not just their kicker, who actually came through today in tough situation. All season long, their special teams have let them down. I was getting on Harba and the Ravens, who are big about special teams, early in the year when they were really low in those rankings. They've climbed higher and higher and they're better than average now. Their kick returns, I mean, their kicker, Justin Tucker, had a nice day. Hell, yeah. He hit some big kicks in tough conditions, and then the special teams stole them a game to keep them on top of the AFC North. Otherwise, that division would seem up.

For grabs. The way that the game started, I thought, was optimistic for Baltimore and tells that they're growing because you had the Isiah Lakeley 54-yard touchdown. Odell Beckham is a factor now where he was just a theory.

-fort for 97 and two of those grabs were.

Reallydifficult grab. -he's a guy.

On their offense, though. -difficult grab. That's a huge development for them. I think looking from the Ram side, they started out really hot in this. Matthew Stafford, games in a row has been on fire. But it's like they got figured out in the second half here by Baltimore's defense to come out after a really optimistic first 30 minutes to pun four straight times.

But they finished so strong. That's why this game went from really interesting, good, two fun teams, 20-17 at half time. You had two high-level quarterbacks to a truly great game because the end of the fourth quarter, both quarterbacks just took over. The Rams get the ball back with eight minutes to go, and Stafford leads just a Cooper Cup touchdown drive where he is doing everything. This was an old school Cooper Cup game, eight for 1.15 in a touchdown. He leads them down the field. To Lamar Jackson, gets the ball back, needs a touchdown. I know this won't feel like an MVP moment. He's going to have to keep stacking. But those two throws, when they needed a touchdown, he gets a touchdown drive in response. Third in 17 to Z. Flor's was just a dime of a throw. Then the two-point conversion, they didn't make a big enough deal about it on the broadcast. That was a ridiculous play by Lamar Jackson to avoid pressure, step up, get smashed, and hit the two-point conversion. If he doesn't hit that two-pointer, they don't win this game because Stafford drove right back with a nice drive. It was really high-level quarterback play.

By both these guys. On the ground, too, by Lamar. I mean, this is like 11.

For 70 on the ground.

I love the body language from Zayflowers after the two-point conversion as well. It's just like, I'm that guy. This is the guy that Lamar has been looking for for years. I have finally arrived and I've taken this offense up the next notch. I know it's in a losing effort, but we like to track calls of the year. Our intrepid producer, Eric, who's having a nice Sunday. The Bills are alive and well. He was in his car rolling in and he got a great JB long call.

Right, yeah. Coming in, it's.

Usually the chargers or the RAMs.

On my radio.

This was.

The.

Go-ahead score.

Late in the game. Here you go. Let's hear it.

Second down and goal from the five. Has a snap, helmet high, looking left, now middle pressure. He steps up. He throws right side, end zone. Todd's cut back right pile on to Marcus Robinson with the go-ahead score. Matthew Stafford playing like an ellipsis, dots after dots after dots.

Touchdown LA. That's our due, J. By the way, I said on Thursday that I see him all the time in the barbershop. I've actually never seen him in the barbershop. I was.

Thinking after the show. I found that statistically to be weird.

I see him out and about and we stay in touch. Then we've hung out in a park before with our families, but we go to the same barber. So a little correction there by the insider.

That's important to get accurate.

That is the type of things... Some insiders brush things under the rug. Some people own their errors. J. B. Long with that call. It is interesting, yeah. Again, it's in a losing effort, but Stafford's pocket movement there. He is having.

Such a great year. I can see why Sean McVeigh is having fun. They are very much alive, obviously. They have Washington, the Saints, the Giants, three arguably broken teams, and then the Niners to close out the season.

This one would have...

I know this is a crusher. This is a.

Total crusher. This one would have taken it to a different level, like a level where, oh, we're a fun story. You might get to the seventh seat of like, we just beat maybe the best team in the NFL on the road straight up. Because for most of this game, Lamar looked a little out of rhythm. It was just him making plays like the Rams. I thought were a little more consistent throughout the game. Their defense was playing well. Then for it to end the way it did with McVeigh, just having the same issues that he always have. You mentioned they had the on the 30 with plenty of time left still.

I didn't like the play calling or just the vibe and energy of that drive from that.

Point on. I totally agree. Part of it was they ran out of time at one point, had to use a time-out late. They took a delay a game. Then in overtime, they get the ball back. They have, I believe it was, a second and four on their first drive of overtime on the 31, and they take another delay of game. This is the history of the Sean McVeigh-Rams and some Ram streams was like, How do you know it was McVee's fault? What about Stafford? I don't know. It's been happening to them more than any other team since the moment they got there. It's just like this one little bugaboo, the game management stuff and the taking a while to get the play and it killed them. The next play that their tight end dropped a pass to that maybe wouldn't have gone for a first down and then the next play is.

A-are they missing someone on their staff, you think, that would be like, don't do this right now. Do this instead.

No, I think it's just McVeigh gets caught up in the moment. That's what happened. They had to burn a time out. He got caught up in the moment on a play before, and then the played call doesn't come in in time, I think.

Maybe they should hire a guy that's great at close situations, late timing, and knows how to pick guys for special teams. Maybe if you get two birds, one stone, there's got to be somebody out there.

Monster. Com could find that person.

I'll shout out to Cooper Cuffe, by the way. Eight for 115 and a touchdown. He had been under 50 yards receiving in.

Six straight games. He was awesome. A lot of the yards were after the catch. Pucca was awesome.

No, Nakua is just like...

Kyrin Williams was awesome. They went away from the run too much.

They start to.

Fainted just there. What? No, I'm just like.

I'm just trying to.

Watch all these games. But I saw the one catch you made. I'm just like, This guy doesn't have a bad game. He doesn't disappear.

He doesn't. They ran about seven or eight straight times to start the game to get inside the 10, and then they got a little pass happy after that. One injury to watch, Kyle Hamilton, to me, who is the most important player on the Ravens defense, maybe except Roquan Smith, but it's the two of them. He left with a knee injury and just the way Harbaut talked about the MRI to come, that's something to watch.

We got to get a fainting chair next time we do a Rams game. Where can have the Vapas.

There for a second? I would say typically I survive Rams reca without any issues.

But that's before Nukola showed up. Oh, my. That's true. He is one talented water.

That is how I actually speak.

All right, let's keep moving. Let's head to San Francisco, where the Niners are just inevitable. Third down of the 11 here. They send Debo inside of Brandon, Ayouk, right. Kiddle inside of Joan Jennings left, and McAfrey goes in motion. That bumper motion out right. Blitz from Bobby Wagner, they pick it up. Deep shot. Brock, Purdy is going downfield for Debo. Touchdown. San Francisco. What an MVP race we got now, Michael. It's between Lamar and Purdy. We're going to talk about Sunday Night football with two combatants in the mix there. It's really starting to heat up here. Great call. Greg Papa, as always, and Brock Purdy was in his bag once more with a career high, 368 yards passing. Debo Samuel, who's as productive as any player in football right now, scored two more touchdowns, including that long TD strike. Kiddle had a long touchdown catch. Christian McAfrey quietly goes over 145 yards rushing, and the Niners win 28-16 over the Seahawks mark. You watch this game closely. Not even a perfect outing by the Niners, but they're so good that they don't have to be.

Yeah, they won it in a typical fashion for some of these shanahan outings on offense because it seems absurd to suggest they didn't have an excellent clean outing on the day. They had 527 yards. I'm going to stop. Okay, and 28 points. But that's eight plays of 25 plus yards that ate up 280 total. Something about all of them right now are operating at a level beyond human. They were all in sync. I think at other parts in the season, you had Debo was hurt for a bit. You'd have guys disappear for a little bit like George Kiddell. They are all right now on fire. The throw to Debo, Samuel, Krish McAfrey opens the game with a 72-yard run that sets up a touchdown. Brandon and Iyuk is catching a 45-yard bomb. George Kiddell had a 44-yard catch off a laser. I mean, Purdy is making these throws and he's making them beautifully. There are some incredible stuff happening. But they were able early on in the game, they came out with the touchdown triggered by that McAfrey long run. Then it was a pun, another pun. Brock Purdy at an interception. It was like Seattle was hanging around and you were like, We're getting maybe not the best version of the Niners.

With Drew Lock, not Gino, who is inactive in this game.

Absolutely. Gino sitting from the sideline. Lock wasn't a huge problem early. He threw two interceptions in the final 14 minutes or something. But the Niners worked their way out of it, not with a 14-play type drive, but this time around, three, four, five-play drives capped by massive, explosive plays. I don't know, just show me another way they can handle their business. It's like this is the one team that is just blowing people away.

Right. If the closest thing we can find to a problem of their disjointed offense is like, well, they're only good other than that... You're not great, except for the 8, 25-yard plays. It's just like a crazy amount of explosives.

There's no way to describe it without sounding absurd. I think you've got to watch it from wire to wire. Early on.

It was a little rough. I'm with you. What I mean by that is even on days where you do some good things defensively, they're going to hit you for those explosives. This matchup is just... It actually used to favor the Seahawks early in the shanahan era before Brock Purdy showed up, and even a little bit, I think, three years ago. But now it's one way traffic. The 49ers have absolutely destroyed them five straight times in the last two years.

Yeah, and the Seahawks are obviously going in the wrong direction. Seattle has lost four straight games for the first time in 14 years under Pete Carroll. They've lost five in order to the 9ers. And DK Metcalfe gets run in this game for a fight later in the game. He starts out.

You body-slam someone.

Yeah, Red Hot with a touchdown that got him ahead early. Then again, like we're talking about the Kansas City, that frustration, especially how you get into mid-December, some of these teams where things aren't going the way they were expecting and it boils over. You saw.

With Metcalfe. Yeah, I think that's been part and parcel with the Metcalfe experience. But I would imagine, Dan, if I body-slammed you at our workplace, there'd be cameras somewhere to catch you. But on the end of NFL.

It'd be great content for our podcast.

It would be. Nfl Field, though, it's like you're not getting away.

With this. I'd like to see that. I'd like to see the attempt even on that. What? To make your body slam the end? I don't know if you could finish.

It out. Maybe if he's high on speed or something. I don't know. Anything else from this game, Mark?

Not really. I will say there was this incredible, Mitch Wiesnawski. It wasn't set up to be a fake pun. I don't believe in terms of the plague call because it seemed to surprise other Niners, but he just saw an open field. They were up 14 to 10 at the point in the third quarter, and he bolted for 30 yards, but it was taken away by a penalty. But I wish it had stayed. It would have been another big, explosive play for them.

Just for listeners that are... It was a cool play. That's fun.

He did it on his.

Own, I'm glad we got in the show. Otherwise, it was never going to be mentioned. We would.

Have been lost in the sands of time. Yes. In the dustbin of history, it would have gone.

If you were someone like that, listen to our previous show and certainly The Thursday and Reekah, you might be like, Why was Gino Smith not playing in this game? Because he was completely healthy and he hurt his groin during practice. I want to find out what happened during practice there on Thursday and did not play. That obviously, that could change their season a little bit if that turned into a.

Long-term injury. If Greg is surprised by something that happened to Gino Smith's groin, you know he's digging in.

He's going to find out. He's on the beat.

He'll find out. Great, pretty quote here, by the way. That shows both a level of awareness and also a reminder of what's going on here. This is from the AP write up of the game. I'm part of a special group. Any one of our guys, any one of our eligibility, you get the ball in their hands and then they do the rest.

Yeah, McAfrey, 153 yards away.

From you. I didn't even mention.

I think 126. He's an MVP candidate, McAfrey. Mcafrey, potentially.

They are an incredible team. It's just let's see if they can... Yeah, he's like the fifth guy you mentioned in this game and he went for 126.

Well, their box.

Score is insane. Yeah, every week.

All right. Fred Warner, too. It's just crazy.

All right, let's-They did suffer some injuries in the secondary, but we can.

Discuss that later. Well, that could have been your last point.

Cheverius Ward went down.

Is this a redo of the last point? Should we take the.

Other one out of the show? We've done four points since the last point.

Dre Greenlaw went down. That could be an actual tag on to.

My Cheverius Ward. Actually, you started your previous last point by saying no, but then you made that.

Other point that we should do. I won't say a single other word, though.

I'm done.

Anything else?

Nothing else. Because once we leave, we.

Can't come back. Nothing else from me.

On this. How about this? Let's go to Cleveland. How does that go, Marky? Are you like that?

Intriguing. It was quite a day.

Mcmanus playing.

With the football- A little on-side kick on to action. -and now.

Puts the football down on the team. Here we go for the on-side kick. He dumps the ball to the right side. The Browns are on it. They got it. They got it on the right side. They recover the ball as getting an air over there is James Roche. Wait, the circle? And the Browns can get into victory formation with a minute 32. What a long afternoon this has been. Wait, this is our call? What do you mean? Never endowed him. This was smooth sailing the whole way here for the Cleveland Browns. An on-side kick recovery? Yeah.

That was how to do game. It's rare.

You could change things up. It's good.

All right. Hey, flag that for me next time, Eric, all right?

I thought it was a.

Good cop. It talks about how it was a won-Win-Kick recovery.

It's sealed the.

Victory by the team that was being kicked to.

It's sealed the victory, factually.

Yeah, Dave and Joku scores two touchdowns in this game. We can get into that. We got Joe Flacko playing out of his mind. He can't get the highlight. Brown's 31-27 over the Jags. Come on, Marky, get one of those guys. Cestog. Yeah. Flacko.

Not a fluco.

Not a flucco. Deserved the highlight. He's thrown for 5-65 and five touchdowns and two starts. Cleveland. They found hope in an unlikely place this.

Holiday season. It has to be one of the more improbable quarterback because of who it is and because of what Joe Flacko did to the Browns for so long and because of how he didn't get a call to work with any other team this entire year until everything burned down in Cleveland. To assume that we'd get the guy that we even saw last time who couldn't move, who seemed out of sorts, who was just like a shell of the former Joe Flacko. I am saying that today, I'm watching him through... I don't really remember a Browns quarterbacking performance in recent years like this at all. They really just found this version of Joe Flacko that suddenly this was their most complete win. This was a weird game. It had 34 possessions. There were 50 passes in the first half. The Vikings game was like, we were a quarter into the Vikings game in the late window and the Browns game was still going on. They got just enough from everyone, but you did get a star turn from David Dejoku. I know he's been your guy. He was.

Frustrating last week.

He was frustrating last week. But today, honestly, I think he showed what he is when he is successful is a powerful Steam Engine who stiff armed someone and just rolled into the end zone on a huge touchdown.

He's very physically talented, that guy. He really is.

Their defense, which has been hot and cold, I think, of late that the Rams put it on him. But when they're at home, they're a different unit. Trevor Lawrence, who looks pretty healthy to me, I was thinking, What version are we going to be looking at? He moved around. He ran a bunch. He was harassed from wire to wire until the very end when they did start to come back and move the ball a bunch. That's why I do think, and I know I'm not going to get you to agree to this, but I really, for some reason, thought another Browns team, because their record to me doesn't quite match up with who they are. I can't really figure out how they're a five. They're ahead of all the riff, rap, right now. That's the thing. It feels like it's been up and down, but they really never really relented it. I see a secondary that plays with total confidence. They picked him off a bunch. They sacked him a bunch. It wasn't even the biggest game from Miles Garrett on the planet. They had a bunch of injuries. The Grand Delpit, who they signed to an extension, got hurt.

That feels very Browns-ish, but they took her business against a Jaguars team that.

Should win the division. How many possessions did you say were in this game? Thirty-four.

That's got to be-Three hours and 48 minutes of football.

Yeah, I went-What? What?

What?

It's crazy. We can't be having that.

I went big on the whole Chiefs played well last week per possession offensively. You love that. They only got seven. Per possession, they were one of the best offenses of the week. This game, these two offenses played two complete games compared to that Packers Chief's game, for instance. They played two games worth of possessions to get to this number. I guess that informs the flacko numbers, but I don't care. Some of the stats are just crazy. He's the first Browns quarterback since Bryan Sype in 1980 to throw three touchdowns of over 30 yards in the same game. That makes me feel special. You know how they always had that Browns T-shirt where it would be all.

The quarterbacks?

It was the jersey, yeah. Now they're going to have to start a new jersey. It's Browns quarterbacks under Kevin Stefanski that have outplayed DeShon Watson. I mean, it's getting longer. We got Baker in 2020. We got Flacko this year. We got Jacobi Brisset for all the last year. Hell, let's throw in the case Keenem, a couple of starts where he won. It's getting long. It's insane. That's why The Fanske keeps taking these guys, and at least for stretches, gets them playing at a.

Very high level. Yeah, I think you deserve some credit and it should be no surprise. But they announced that Flacko obviously would be the starter of the rest of the way. They kept doing this thing with whoever was going to be their starter. Flacko spent last week on the practice squad. I believe I'm correct with this. The jets could have come snatched Flacko off a practice squad and made him their starter. It just seemed like a bit of a hazardous option to them.

They could pull him back, I believe.

At that point, yeah, they could have been.

Because that concerned me that that would be a strategy that we employ.

At this point. I think that happened with John Welford earlier this season, I believe, and the Bucks decided to match it. But that is crazy that they aren't going to do the week-to-week thing anymore.

No, he is. He's embedded now.

It's tough luck for DTR, who actually was playing okay, and then he did lose it to injury.

Dtr came in and had a very critical chain moving run where then they had Flacko jog bet out. They don't know they're not expecting Flacko to run around the field too.

Much, but they look pretty good. Any concerns here about the Jacks who now have given up 27 points or 31 points to flacko, whatever they gave up last week to Jake Browning? They lucked out with the rest of the division results today, but this defense doesn't look as great.

I mean, in the last six days, they got beat by the Cincinnati backup and then the third quarterback on the depth charter fourth for the Browns. When they are not hosting playoff games or they're in a perilous situation come January, it's because they stumbled at this portion of the schedule and credit to Trevor Lawrence for competing in this game. From what I saw, it was moving well. Finally, the Evan Ingram connection is bearing fruit. He had 11 catches for 95 and two touchdowns in this game. But Flacko gives them a little the Browns, instead of being like, what a shame that they don't have any chance because they have these bad QBs and this defense that's being asked to do so much. Now the offense has a little life.

To it. It's just a fun story.

You could block for a flacko. He's shown at 38 years old, he can move an offense.

They look different. This is one of the first complete games in a while.

Mark's back. I mean, he said we.

I would say this.

Is there a we in there?

I missed that. You were there for the we. You said.

Something about we. I hate having to clarify this because then I get a bunch of tweets from people. It's like, why did you change your stance on the Browns? I completely disagree with the Browns signing to Sean Watson on any level. He's not in our lives right now. From just watching football that's enjoyable or teams that are weird in a really strange season, Flacko being the Browns quarterback at this point is one of the weirdest sports stories of.

This year's NFL. To be clear, I love it. You were enjoying this game as a fan, and that's great.

I was. Apparently, I picked the wrong... What I enjoyed was not.

The end. Do we have another highlight? Is there anything we could do? This is eating.

Me up inside. You know what? The call was pretty good because it talked about what a long day it was. It was a nice little summary. That's why Itried to get in on this.

Also, if we tried to- Because they.

Were canceling.

The whole game.

They almost blew that game, and he's like, It was a long day. Because otherwise, you got to go back to the early fourth or something.

Okay, you're all wrong. I'm right. Post it note on the computer for.

No lack of a doubt. Is the joker on your fantasy team?

He's not. But I'm a big fan.

Of David and Joe. You could have gotten the David Bell touchdown in the fourth quarter.

You got to give Flacko the highlight.

Well, here's my thing. How about next week when he does it again?

Love.

It. Spoken like a fan. Lock it up. I like it. All right, let's take a break. I'm going to recover from that recovery, and we will roll on with our guest, nick Shuck. All right, welcome back. It's time now for The Sunday Drive, presented by the first-ever Toyota Highlander. And let's head to Cincinnati, where the Bangles said we are relevant. Second down in goal, inches away. The Bangles already up by seven. Now, Browning moves under center. He has Mixen five yards behind him. Browning will try to sneak it in. Mixen shoves him in the back into the end zone. Touchdown, Bangles. And Cincinnati has a 2-TD lead. Dan Hoard, WKY with the call, Jake Browning has that dog existing within him. The 27-year-old played like a star for the second time in six days, throwing two touchdown passes, rushing for another score and the Bangles beat up on the Colts 34-14. Let's now welcome in a man who could beat up on a lot of people if he chose to. But he's not a man of violence. He doesn't throw hands, Mark, but he will if he must.

If he needed to, but he doesn't. It's not out of pocket that he just goes to do that left and right.

That's a special power. I won't beat you, but just know that I can. Nick Shuck, the Pipe, welcome aboard, buddy.

With great power comes great responsibility, and I exercise plenty of responsibility in conflict situations.

Absolutely. What's going on in those Cleveland? Those clubs and bars, I'm sure. Sometimes they see a guy like Shuck, six foot eight, 275, carved out of the side of a mountain, and they say, I'm going toI'm going to show what a man I am. Yeah, that whole thing. I'm going to use him to lift myself up. That has ever happened to you?

6'8, 275 reads like an overblown college bio. Let's do 6'4, 6'3 and flirting with 6'4, 2:30, 2:35. Let's go with that.

I'm very concerned of late about child gangs, which is a.

Prevalent thing.

It's on your radar, yeah. I like Shuck just he could take out an entire child gang, and they deserve it if they can't do that. He could be.

Another child if you had to.

Is this like child gangs, like pick pockets? You're worried about a group of cockney pick pockets.

Coming and robbing the pockets? No, it's like the violence ranges and what their quest is ranges, but they're criminal in nature.

All right, let's get to it. Browning again. Looking good, huh?

Yeah, real good. That was not a fluke on Monday night, much to the... We all thought it was probably going to be a fluke. And then he comes out and executes the offense efficiently. Once again, Zach Taylor doing a great job coaching it up. A nice little mix of screens, the running game is going. Everything's balanced out and allowing to just do what he's asked to do. And then he mixed in the big plays, started the second half with a few deep passes. He had a beauty down the sideline to T. Higgins. Everything was just cooking on this offensive side of the ball for the Bangles, who this is a team that we thought they were headed toward a dark winter once they lost Joe Borough. And now suddenly they got belief, legitimate belief and hope that they just might make the playoffs to the point where you might not even want to be somebody who faces them because they still have a championship roster outside of quarterback and their quarterback is doing his job quite well. The win over the Colts today, this is a Colts team that we know has probably overachieved to get to this point, considering they've had Garner, Menchiew at quarterback for most of the season.

But the win today felt emphatic for the Bangles and the fact that they blew a 14-nothing lead rather quickly just before the half. And instead of accepting that, Hey, we have a backup quarterback here, they came out firing. And before you knew it, it's 28, 14, Bangles in the lead, and then eventually in control of a game that they just look like the better team.

I think one of the great things is they didn't have to go change their offense to tailor it around Browning's limitations. It's like, this looks like a Joe Burrow offense. There's a lot of stuff happening. I'm not calling him Joe Burrow on any level, but you're the QB index guy. Where would you put him right now? What do you do with someone like that?

Well, we're faced with a little bit of a battle of a while right now between backup quarterbacks because Joe Flacko and Jake Browning are both playing relatively out of their minds considering what we expect of backup quarterbacks. Now, Flacko, being a former starter, probably has a higher level of expectation, but he is 38 years old. So Browning and Flacko are both at the top of the backup's group, and they're actually outperforming some starters in the League right now, and a handful of those guys. It's going to be an interesting week for QV Index. A lot of movement, a lot of performances that we probably didn't expect, but I'm excited to dig in on that. And Browning, you don't want to put too much stock in a win on the road over the Jaguars on Prime time. But now that we've seen him do it a couple of times in a row, now you got to take him seriously from here on out. This is not just a one game, fly by night type of thing. And now I'm really intrigued to see if he can do this for the last four weeks of the season.

Are the Bangles going to get the playoffs? Is Jake Browning going to be the guy?

It's worth watching. They're one of the 6, 7, and six teams right now, and now they have a tie breaker over the Colts. They have a tie breaker over the Bills. It really is a credit to Zach Taylor and that staff. And the fact that when the game got tight again, and we saw it against the Jaguars as well, they trust Browning. I'm like, what you're saying? They were attacking with a backup quarterback. Where you see coaches all the time, when they have a quarterback, they don't or a backup quarterback. They throw out half the playbook and you end up with a very stilted offense, but apparently it's not the case here.

No. I mean, 275 passing yards on 18 completion, he only had to throw the ball 24 times, and yet it felt like they really controlled this game. He's just completely in rhythm. He looks comfortable. And I don't know if this is a microcosm of the way Zach Taylor coaches his offenses, because what he looked like to me, even going back a few weeks ago when they played Pittsburgh right after the Ravens loss, when they played Pittsburgh, I thought, Man, he looks a lot like Joe Borough did way back in week two of Borough's rookie season when they played in Cleveland in Prime time. And I'm sitting there thinking, Man, this kid's got no experience yet. He looks really calm and confident. That's what Browning does. Obviously, he doesn't have the same physical tools that Joe Borough does, but it's a beautiful partnership between coach and quarterback right now. And Browning is just playing as somebody who knows he doesn't have to be the hero, probably isn't capable of being the hero, and is totally fine with that. He's just going to take what is given or what is asked of him, and it's working really well.

Right now. They're also getting contributions in a way they just weren't with Borough for the most part. They run for over 100 yard. Chase Brown literally wasn't on the field ever with Burrow, and he has the second straight big game. He goes for over 100 yard from Scrimage. Then their defense, which has been a siv for most of the season, has its best day of the year in terms of yards allowed. They only give up 14 points. They get involved in turnovers, too. It does feel like the Higgins has a couple of downfield plays, as you mentioned. It does feel like the rest of the team is showing a little bit more of what we expected coming into the year around their quarterback, and that does make them dangerous. Although these two teams, I feel like, I don't know. I feel like they might be on, if I had to guess that they'd both be on the outside looking in once we get to the game. But we'll see.

Yeah, agreed. But we'll see. Cincinnati, winless in their division still, that's really hurt them. They're in a bad tie-breaker spot, so they got to keep winning. Anything about the Colts that you wanted to throw in there?

Too many mistakes. Too many penalties. They had a season high in penalties with nine today, accepted for 66 yards. A bad interception, Gartner, Mishu just under pressure a lot throughout the day. Bernard Ryman, the left tackle, got dominated by Trey Hendrickson. The matchup numbers are bad when it comes to pressures. I don't want to read them. They're that bad. It's a team that I think they've already hit their ceiling. And if they can continue to play at that level, they'll make it interesting through the rest of the year. But games like today are going to happen because, again, you do not have your star future franchise quarterback on the field right now. And there's only so much you can do when you're running games not going and you're trying to dig yourself out of a hole.

All right. Let's stay with nick Shook and head to the desert for a game featuring two teams that will not be in the desert on Super Bowl Sunday.

3-0.

Minnesota with 1-50 to go. There he is.

Let's keep it real.

Intercepted. He hit you off at the.

34-yard line. And the Las Vegas Raiders have gone bust. The game against the Minnesota Vikings. Backflip. Thanks to Ivan and Mays Jr. And Ivan with this first National Football League interception has knocked out the Raiders and the Minnesota Vikings are going to win 3-0.

Oh.

Yes. The Minnesota Vikings. You just don't even try to score on them because they're not going to give you anything. Can't do it. All they needed was a field goal. They said, We're not going to get crazy. We're the team of ATN. We're not going to overexert. We'll just kick a field goal in the final minute, two minutes, and we'll win 3-0. That's what they did, beating the Raiders to improve to seven and six. Here are some data points. Let's give Dick Bank support. This is a very special honor. Yeah, there's reasons to be nervous about the Vikings as the team of ATN, Shuki, because they're trending downward. Josh Dobbs, after his Monday Night Nightmare Against the Bears, comes back off a buy and is so abysmal that they pull in for nick Mullins in this game, who was the quarterback when they went on the field goal drive. Justin Jefferson finally comes back and then ends up in the hospital during this game with a chest injury. That certainly is concerning. But in the end, they did find a way despite just 230 total yards and those measly three points.

Yeah, there was more juice in that theme song than there was in this game for either team. It was a tough watch. If you're a fan of defense, you might say, Well, this is a great game, but it was more a product of bad offense than good defense. Now, the Raiders got after Josh Dobbs a ton. Josh Dobbs didn't help himself with the way that he sensed pressure and panicked. I totally understood why Kevin O'Connor went to nick Mullen late. I was a little surprised just because it was desperate. But again, it was a zero-to-zero game in the last six minutes of the game. And he gave credit to nick Mullen because he converted a few third downs that Josh Dobbs probably wouldn't have converted. And that got them in field goal range to the only points of the game on the board. But the problem is, if this is the team of ATN, right? Like you just said, they're trending downward. I love the way that their defense has played in parts, but my God, guys, they got a bad situation at quarterback. They're going to go into the next week. We're going to have to hear about it all week.

Nick Mullins, Jaron Hall, Josh Dobbs, all of them are not great options. And it's a bummer to see the character arc of 2023 for Josh Dobbs come to a crashing end. But we were trending this way for the last couple of weeks, it needed to be made. I think if they're playing anybody other than the Raiders or the Patriots, they probably.

Lose this game. All right, let's calm down here because first of all, the Raiders have played a lot with Aden O'Connor. This is easily the best defensive performance anyone's had about Adam. Their defense is very good. It's been a top 10, even. Second of all, they lose Justin Jefferson.

All.

Right, keep going. I like this. They lose Justin Jefferson to a chest injury right away. He had two catches early in this game. Both of those two plays were high level plays by Josh Dobbs. It's funny how quarterbacks look better when they have an exceptional wide receiver. They lose their right tackle. I think a team captain, Bryan O'Neal, a pro ball caliber guy. They lose a starting guard, Dalton Reiser. Darren Riser during the game. They find a way to win. Nick mullins, the old mulldog, throwing some lollipops over to the sideline, but in between zone covers, they were some pretty clutch throws, and they get out of there for a victory. Maybe Jefferson's injury is not that serious.

What did you call the throw?

Some lollipop.

We.

Call it Feathered. Okay, feathered. I don't know. They were just like, you could see why nick Mulins has had the career he's had because he came in, he made great decisions. The game wasn't too big for him. You could also see the reason why he's had the career he's had because just the ball was just taking.

Forever to get there.

You could use it. You move on to next week, you get Jefferson back. If you win, beat some bad teams. He's in.

The.

Hospital, Greg. Slow down. I'm just.

Like, You're in tea. They said they don't think it's significant. He's on the plane.

Coming up. I think it's fair to say, depending on eye of the beholder, that nick is right, there is a trending down scenario today when your quarterback gets benched. It's a slight disaster. It was a disaster last week. We'll see what happens with the wide receiver. You've lost a bunch of offensive line.

And it's like- Madison got hurt, by the way, in this game, too, after running well. So they're.

The other ones. You just scored three points in an NFL game and somehow won the arrow up to.

The def. I know you don't like to root for the team of ATL. I'm just saying I-This is part of the package.

Some crazy. I do like to root for them. I don't need to manufacture it out of thin air. I'm going to wait in C mode with this team.

How about this? If that doesn't do it for you, how about a lock?

A double lock. Oh, yeah. Oh, that's why.

That's why. Rosy and Zuzer combo. Two and a L.

This is the soundtrack to my nightmare.

Don't even ask.

At first, I.

Didn't like this whole thing that you were jumping on with the locks, but I got to say, you're doing a good job as an offensive coordinator.

There's more juice here than the Vikings now.

Here's the thing.

Here's my spin on team of ATN because this is an emergency meeting because they did win, but the juice is out of the bottle. Now we're at a low point and we see if they can somehow rediscover the magic. But we picked them based on Dobbs being a funky guy to bring in, their tenacity on defense, Justin Jefferson's eventual return, and all that stuff, except for the defense, has disappeared. I guess the lesson maybe, Mark, is because The Lionwins with such a natural pick last year and we got to go on the whole ride with them. But even that started out poorly. Jumping on the team in the middle of the season is a big risk because the NFL season, despite being only 17 games long, has so many peaks and valleys. Beware of joining a team during a peak. Maybe there's another peak to come, but right now we're in a valley, even though they won.

They're not at it on any level, obviously.

They're two and two with us, by the way, as the team of ATL.

I think the record speaks for itself.

Yes, exactly. Josh Matias with the big force, FOMA, we've talked about him all year. He got an NFL-plus thing. That was the biggest play in the game because that was the only time either team was in the red zone. Then Ivan Pace, nick, an undrafted rookie who's been easily the best rookie linebacker in the NFL. I would put him maybe top five or six defensive rookie of the year, period. One of our guys, SpiceRack's favorite players, 13 tackles a sack and then the game-wining pick. They're getting good production from these random guys that we didn't know much about going into the season.

Yeah, I was going to give a little shout out to Metellus. He's been my favorite guy to watch in this defense all year. You looked at them on paper coming into the season, you're like, I just don't see it. On the defensive side of the ball, a lot of people are playing better than we anticipated them. Ivin Pace being one of them. Dj Wannham has been a guy that has shown up in a number of games this year that I've really enjoyed watching him play. So I totally give them credit on the defensive side of the ball. And they got after Aden O'Connor. They shut that offense down. It's just that, like we just discussed, I don't know, man, it feels like paper clips and chewing gum and last month is a separation season. I just don't know with the quarterback situation how it's going to go, but a good win for them. And then if we do pivot to the Raiders, part of the reason that Bryan O'Neal ended up leaving with an injury is because he was getting ran over by Max.

Crosby all game. Oh, he was awesome today.

That Raiders defense was stifling throughout the afternoon until the fourth quarter. It's almost like he just asked them to do too much since the offense was doing. I feel bad for them. Yeah, I know. But because in that situation, they had to get a stop, they couldn't get a stop. Here's the big question with the Raiders that I present to you guys now is, look, you have a month left. You already declared Aden O'Connor is your best quarterback, your best option. But yet we know that he's had some moments, but he's probably not your long term answer. You have an interim head coach. How do you proceed through this last month? You're five and seven. What is there left to figure out when.

Everybody could be gone? Five and eight. You're just playing out the string. There's not much to it.

Yeah, you get a nice little window here.

I'm trying to.

Add intrigue here. There is no intrigue. I think.

You don't need to force it.

You just take a deeper look at Antonio pierce, who has a.

Supposedly chance.

To be a head.

Coach then. Supposedly there was a 25 minute meeting after the game that held up Antonio Pierce's press conference because Mark Davis was talking to pierce. He was facing an extreme uphill battle to keep that job. I guess that's the only intrigue as if they could keep this going and win a few more games, but that's it.

Jackpot, baby. All right, Shuki, you said it all. Thanks, bud. Thanks, Reddy. You didn't answer the question. I had one question. Oh, yeah. Have guys picked fights with you to try to prove that they're men for their buddies or for girls or whatever?

Has it happened? Yes, until I stand up from the table, they approach me and then.

They back. Oh, hell, yeah. Oh, hell, yeah. That's the pipe, baby. You got my back. I got yours, buddy. All right, thanks, nick.

All right, guys, thanks. That's odd, though, because nick sitting down at a booth with five other people, I still look big, but you wouldn't go pick him out of the... That's not how you'd be the guy walking around, it seems.

Like-are you poking a hole of this story?

I have additional questions. You literally said-Next time we speak with him.

Stay dependent on that. We're going to ask him more next week. Will do. Eric, remind us that, okay? Because by the time next Sunday this time comes, it will literally feel like this conversation was seven years ago. To the saggy metal as we go where Magic was in the air. Shotgun for Zach Wilson-Hall to his left. There goes Gibson in motion. Wilson takes the snap, drops back, looks left, throws left. Caught front left, power line into the end zone. That's a jet touchdown. Chris Hall walks in and the Jets answer and stretch the score to two leads again. Hit it. No. New York City. I didn't think we'd hear the song again this year. Bob was choosing with the call, Jets radio like a Phoenix rising from the ashes, Zach Wilson has returned. The much belligard quarterback threw for two second half touchdowns. He went over 300 yards passing and has returned from a bizarre two-game benching, and the Jets beat down a Texans team that played like one of those Dome teams that don't want anything to do with a rainy December afternoon in the Northeast. That's what the Texans looked like in this game.

30-6 was the final. It was the tale of two games because, boys, this one played out exactly like the game we just talked about for the first two quarters. The Jets and Texans combined for 11 puns in a scoreless first half before New York erupts for three touchdowns and three field goals in the final two quarters. They scored 30 points in the second half, the jets. Interesting, Zach Wilson game because you see he made plays in this second half that you understand on some level why the jets have been reticent to let go because they think they could. There's one day someone unlocked in there. Now me and Connor Or wrote something that I agreed with over on SI today. I think it more points out just how inconsistent Wilson is as a quarterback, and that's never going to change, or at least not with the jets. Maybe if you get him with a legitimate play call or elsewhere, he can develop in a different way. But this guy, and this was his third game of 300 more yards, he has amazing tools. Some of the moves he made with his feet, finding little open spaces and then slinging the ball, no look passes.

It was the best version of Zach Wilson. For a jet team that had went into a very dark place, it was nice. It was a nice Sunday at the middle of.

The week. It's like also they kept cutting up to the booth where Nathaniel Hackett in the first half when things were bad. I thought I saw a crack in the armor of just a bit of concern.

-like deflated almost.

Yeah, just like, I mean, he knows that we're staring him on camera and things are going terribly. I mean, just from a human side, because I feel like Zach Wilson obviously been yanked around so much. I love seeing it just for him because no matter what, if his career isn't in New York and this is a good thing for him to find out what they want to do with him at quarterback going forward, I think they can't maybe make the same mistake. That's a huge, it's just a personal. He can walk around New York City this week and not feel like he's letting the entire metropolis down. I like that. But C. J. Straud going out was to me the biggest story of this game.

Yeah. The Texans, it was a total loss. It was all bad. The game was already well decided when Straud gets hurt. He was knocked out of the game with a concussion. It was a pretty bad hit where he slammed the back of his helmet on the turf on a Quinnon-Williams hit. Nico Collins, who we're just talking up is this guy that nobody's paying attention, but he has almost 1,000 yards receiving. He lasted one possession before leaving with a calf injury. Linebacker, Blake Cashman, went out. Tavari, Thomas, Will Anderson, their first round pick also goes out in this game. I'm not sure the severity of his injury. You had all these injury issues and an offense that was.

Just- Five starters.

Yeah, in the midway through the third quarter, before they had their one scoring drive, they had negative 11 passing yards that deep into the game. It was the type of performance from the Texans that, yes, and I know you're high on a mark. I think when they have everybody on the same.

Field- But when.

They're healthy. -and they're healthy, they can be dangerous. But I did not like, even before Stroud went out, just the vibe of the team did not feel like a team that's ready to play crucible games in December and January. It could be just a bad day at the office, but they were badly outplayed by a team that was in tatters going.

Into this game. Well, they're down their top three wide receivers, which now with Collins gone, and including receivers in general because Schultz is gone. You have a rookie quarterback down three receivers, and then you lose three of your key defensive places. Two, Cashman and Thomas have been vital to them. Their offense really hasn't been hitting since that Bengals game. That was the high point of their season. I know they won the following week by the Cardinals, but they've had inconsistencies in each of the last three games against the Cards, Jacks, and Broncos. Their schedule stays favorable, but this was a major come down to Earth game. They had a missed opportunity with Jacksonville, who lost that game against the Browns. They just need to get healthy. They need Strat out there next week. It is a reminder. It's a long season. They've been right around, to me, a 500 team, but just with a little more excitement this season. They're plus eight now in terms of point differential for the season. I would caution them because I saw some Texans Twitter stuff. It's like, is the over all this stuff. All this stuff, all these seven and six teams, every time you lose, the season is not over.

The odds are of all those seven and six teams, a total of zero will go four and a no. That's an overwhelming odds that none of them will run the table. Because you think of the first four weeks of the season, how many 4-0 teams did we have? Only great teams win four straight games. If you're seven and six, you probably have one game to play with. If you finish 10 and seven, you're more than likely, not definitely because of tie breakage, but more than likely in the AFC, I think if you finish 10 and seven, you're probably going to make the playoffs. If you finish nine and eight, you're probably not going to make the play.

You're engaging with Texans fans who are concerned about their mathematical chances when the entire AFC is within a year and a half.

I think it's more the way.

They lost, the way they're engaged with them.

-well, I'm not engaging at all.

It seems.

Absurd to me. It's the reporters, too. I see. Imagine if you're a Browns fan, you come into this game 7 and 5, you lose 30 to 6 to the jets, and your quarterback goes out with a concussion of four other stars. You're feeling like it's all over.

I'm saying that. All that stuff feels real to me. The fact that you're probably going to get an AFC team that wins nine games and sneaks into the wildcard and they're sitting, they have seven. They play the Titans twice, and who knows where the Colts will be at that point?

Long way to go.

Last point, circling back to Hackett, in the second half, when things started going the other way, and he called a good game. I have to say, for the first time, it was like, okay, there was some misdirection, some trickeration. He was actually having a nice day for once. They showed him having a release and a celebration. I was like, Oh, that's good. Because we knew from Hard Rocks, he's a good guy. He's just in over his head. One point about Wilson playing in front of an offensive line, that again, by the way, was terrible. Mckai Becton had the worst game I've ever seen him have today. He was making these plays. At one point, he was 17 of 18 in the second half. He played really well and did show something. He's a curiosity. He remains. I don't want him to be my quarterback ever again after his last four games. But you know what? It's fun to see him when things are going well and just cutting loose. All right, let us move on. Hold on, Dan. Yes. One second. You wanted me to pull something from the. Oh, yes, thank you. I did not want to let you get passed.

Thank you. Because this can't go without mentioning that someone did lock this game up and it was one nick Wessling who was having a grand old chuckle during his prediction. Let's revisit that. Are you kidding me? This team is an absolute shit show.

How can they even be considered an NFL franchise right now. This is a joke. How there are only three and a half point favorites is beyond me. The Texans are going to roll by 30. This isn't even funny. I don't even know why I'm laughing. It's a disgrace. All right, guys. Good luck, jets. Better luck next year. Bye. Who's the disgrace now?

Oh, boy.

Wrestling.

I don't think nick is wearing pants in that video.

All right, let's move on. Where are we going next? Let's go to soldier field. Listen, he's a showman.

That was.

A- That was a great message, just it.

Wasn't accurate. He put himself on the line and it didn't work out for him.

Lions showing Blitz.

Lions have their safe to back deep, waiting to snap. Justin Fields moving off the left side. Free play for Justin, worked it down the left side. He's got DJ on the line. Loping into the end zone for the touchdown. Touchdown, Bearers are back in front. 38-yard strike. Dj Moore, the catch.

He's.

Overplayed, touchdown. Wow. My goodness. Man, who did we give bongos to? Who's deserving? -rams-ravins. -but I got to say, the bears are-.

Bikens would have been a fun bongos.

The bears. I did have that thought for a second. So many choices. The bears could have gotten the bongos because the bears played a really good game on Sunday, really giving it to the lions, the rival. 28-13 win. Justin Fields threw for a touchdown, ran for another. That play, I chose that one because it was a fourth and long and just no hesitation. Justin Fields dropped back. He sees DJ Moore in one-on-one coverage and he just drills it. They say, We have this ability. Matt Ibroflus, the head coach, all of a sudden, they've won three or four, and he got his first division win last week, even with lose, which is insane. Now that he has his first back-to-back wins as head coach of the bear. They're stacking some things here now. It was just nice to see the bear is showing some life. Mark, I think I threw this out there a couple of days ago, could Justin Fields get the bears thinking with a strong finish? I thought he played better than even his box score in this leading this offense on an impressive show.

Yeah, I think for these teams that they're out of it to some degree, but a lot still matters. I mean, Eberflus, two weeks ago to me felt like, Will he finish the season with his team? Probably because the GM and him are very linked. But it's important for us to see what the vision of Matt Eberflus is. Beyond even Justin Fields, this was a defense, a roster that gave away defensive talent a year ago. Burned it all down a little bit to the ground, had no pass rush coming into the year. The Montez sweat acquisition, I think, has absolutely turned a key on this defense. But they've been a legit, really good defense.

-four QB hits today.

Right. He's been great and they had four sacks, I believe, and they made life really difficult for Jared Goff. I think the other side of this is like, concern around the Lions continues to grow and bubble.

Yeah, I just don't like the energy around this team right now. I think Lions fans that are freaking out, I'm sure there are some out there. I think reason to be concerned because there's just some things that we are not seeing. Aden Hutchinson finally got it going again in this game, so that was positive. But the slow starts, Detroit, they've been trailing at the end of the first quarter now, in three of their last four games. When this team is playing from behind, they just look and act different. Goff is put in more uncomfortable situations, and they can't play defense, Greg, and especially against mobile quarterbacks who just run around this unit.

Every quarterback has their best game in a while against this team. It's concerning, this is division matchup, and so they know each other a little better than other teams, but it's the bears. These two teams have played twice. I watched every second of that game live last time, and the bears were the better team- To disrupt them. -for 55 minutes. It wasn't fluky. I know Goff had a couple of interceptions in that game, but they were also winning the line of scrimmage. They were moving the ball. They were the better team. The bears have looked pretty reasonable, I would say, for seven, eight weeks now. They had a backup quarterback playing, but the team around Baygent, and now since fields come back, they're a dangerous team. They're one of the team I wouldn't want to face down the stretch. The Lions, you're right, their offense is great, but they also only have 2-3 pieces. If Goff falls behind and starts getting under pressure, it's not the best offense in the league that you can have this level of defense around it. It's concerning.

Yeah. Jameer Gibbs also, once again, maybe getting him more and more involved with the offense will help because he gets a ball in his hands and he was excellent again in this game. But overall, just not enough.

The Packers, by the way, who play Monday night are very much in this division race now. Oh, for sure. Down to if they can win that game with four to play, it is not over. We mentioned Hebrifluus. If they finish strong, you could see this Bear's organization in over the years has been not wanting to pay their coaches to go away. It's just not been their MO. Their ownership isn't too involved. I think he has a chance if they keep playing well to.

Save his job. They've won five to nine now. If they can finish with a sense of dignity and some success, I think he will get another year, which maybe is not the right move, but if they're showing progress, and then the next question will be, Greg, to circle back to the Fields thing. You have DJ Moore now, and that's now a legitimate thing. You have Marvin, the Harrison Sun out there as the next big thing coming out of college. The idea of, well, we could draft a new quarterback, or we could give him a potential superstar to pair with Moore and really start building.

You have a ton of. Or we trade down...

Or.

We trade.

Down allot. Right. Or we trade down to whoever is the two or the three-pick, get Harrison, get more picks. It all could be exciting. I'm not sure keeping Eberflus would be the right decision. I'm leaning no. But I like more Eberflus in our life. The last six or seven weeks, I've realized he's an extremely goofy person in press conference that I feel like if he was coaching a different team, people would be like, What is with this guy? He gave a little example. It's just a little example. He's just weird.

Now, Jorvan had 17 tackles today. Jivon. Yeah, is that crazy? What did.

You think.

Of the way he was playing? Sounds like my college to us. You know what I'm all stayed over there, I got you.

Well, he's winning. He's feeling good. It's been.

A long time. But even just the is like, Hey, over there. I got you. This is.

Something- Safety, Jorvan, risker had 17 tackles. Safety with 17 tackles. You see linebackers with 17 tackles. I like that, though. That's one of those sneaky flexes where I'm showing I have a sense of humor. I'm showing that I'm loose and easy. I'm also showing you that I was a great player once upon a time.

I bet some of his pillow talk at home is like, Honey, you've got to show them who you are. Show them the person that I know.

We want the real Matt to come out. I recognize him now when I see him. I think there's progress.

That's a turning point.

Team of ATN?

Can we jump? Switch? Pivot? Pivot?

Who.

Would blame us?

I mean, who says we can't?

Who locked this game? Whose choice is it other than...

Who locked it?

Oh, II did.

Oh, Marky. Oh, Cess Dog.

That's okay. Maybe I'll join Ship with some other person winning 12 games a week.

Do you want to? Do you want to join us?

No, I'll examine it. But this was a dumb lot because it's like, why do I keep picking these teams on the road that are trending downward when I'm picking them?

You know, Greg, the only thing that would actually end the lock competition is if we all just joined on the same lock. That would be the only way that we're going to do it.

I'm considering it. I'm heavily considering it. I'll take it to the committee.

My own committee. I think my second team in the standings is now tied you.

Well, yeah, you have multiple franchises to sort out, so I can't.

I'm like Mickey Lumas. I'm the Mickey Lumas of the Locks competition. All right, let's take a quick break and then we will finish up. All right, welcome back. It is time to dive into the mysterious and terrifying and grizzly world of the NFC South. Mask up, everybody. Like the outbreak gear, the full body suit with the pull on and then the window. We're back there.

Yeah, we're back there. Let's go. From the 11-yard line. Good snap, Mayfield. Let me go back. Goes the ball left to the left. There's a caught ball, caught ball, touchdown. Tampa Bay, Cain Oten makes it over the shoulder catch, and the Bucksbury take the lead. Yeah, one-on-one coverage, and you could tell by the body language of Mayfield, he was going to Oten the whole way. He gets number 20. Holding defense number 27. Declined it.

Declined. Touchdown.

Listen, Roberts, he's a stickler for rules and he wanted to make sure we had the holding call and announcement in there.

Thank you. A completionist, I like that. A completionist.

Kdot, no, that was Jane Deckerhoff with the call. Kdot and pretty good tight end. A little tight end. No, and Joku.

Well, some weeks he is. You should have been in the show today.

Dave should have been in the show today.

You know what? We'll do.

An entire- Can we get him to Joku highlight by the end of the.

Just do an entire episode on his highlights from today.

Kate Otton hauled in an 11-yard touchdown pass with 31 seconds to play. It was a wild fourth quarter, and it allowed the Bucks to move into a tie for first place in the stinkiest blue cheese, NFC South, 29-25 over the Falcons. Greg, are we completely certain that the season will end with an NFC South champion? And if so, do you think it is the Bucks who find a way? They did on Sunday.

I think you're selling the Bucks short. They're not tied for the first place. They are the first place team.

The Bucks are back. Don't excuse me.

This.

Game.

Was drafted by yours truly for just the scenario that happened. That the Bucks had the ball late in the game, and I was thinking, this is the Bucks season. If they do not score a touchdown on this drive, which they received, I believe, with three minutes and 20 seconds left, their season's over. They're down to they won't have the tie breaker. Four to go. Bye-bye, Bucks. It's gone. Baker Mayfield, who was terrible today, 14 for 29, missed seven throws. Yeah, but he's got moxie. Ran into four sacks pressure that wasn't there. Baker, for most of the day, had his best two throws of the game when he absolutely needed to, which has been, I think, typical of him late this season.

He's in the perfect division for who he is.

He's come up with his best work late in the game. Third and 10, it was 1-16 to go. They had been forcing throws to Godwin the whole time, 10 targets for, at that point, like 20 yards. Baker had a dime. He finally wins this match up against Clark Phillips. They were trying to pick on this rookie safety the whole game, and the rookie safety was winning. It was a beautiful throw and catch. Then the next play or two plays later is to Atten for the touchdown. That was enough to just get out of here in a game that Desmond Ritter and the Falcons just kept finding ways to let the Buccaneers stay around, even though the Falcons really.

Outplayed them. I'm issuing a correction to your correction. What? There's a three-way tie atop the NFC South.

I get it, but the answer-No, no.

No, tie-breaker stuff, it's not the end of the year yet.

-who is in first place? Who is in first place in the NFC South?

There are three teams that are six and seven. But who is in first place? In the middle of December, that's all that matters.

Who's in first place?

Don't worry about.

Anything else. You're not worried about the tie breakers and all that.

Business right now. We'll get to that. There's plenty of time for that to decide it. But right now, this is the NFC South, Mark. Six and seven, six and seven, six and seven, one and 12. Have some fun.

I know I'm rooting at this point. You got to flip it around. If you're looking for something that's intriguing, there's a chance we could get a seven-win team winning this division. We've had seven and nine. You've never had seven and 10. That would be intriguing. I mean, if I said to you back in August, I believe that Baker Mayfield will be the best quarterback in this division by mid-December. I'm not saying he.

Is-bryce Young, Car, Baker.

This year's version of Car. I'm just saying it's that much of a car wreck in the division. When I woke up this morning, I was feeling pretty dangerous. That, it does apply.

We tried, who was it? Who was the reporter? Tried to get Baker at the end of the interview to say he was feeling dangerous. He'd shoot him up on it and everything. He's like, no, I wasn't feeling dangerous when I woke up and he walked away. Pretty good. Who was the reporter? That's amazing. That is somebody we know. Who did that game? Go ahead.

Go on. I'll figure this out. I think they had something like 80 something yards on their first eight or nine drives. The Bucks defense was giving up. This was the ultimate Desmond Ritter game who's gotten better at football. He threw for 347 in this game. He threw for a touchdown, ran for another. But he just finds a way to make the biggest mistakes possible in the most crucial moments. He missed a wide-open Bajon, Robinson, for a touchdown early. He threw an interception on a swing pass that was a great read by Carlton Davis, but still it set the Bucks up at the eight. Their offense was not going to do anything today, but that set them up for their only touchdown early in the game. He had two fumbles. He took a brutal safety in the game where he held the ball too long. It's like, yeah, you can be great, the other 45 plays. It was driving me crazy. Arthur Smith just refused to run the ball at one point, and this is when the game is close, they had 31 drop backs for Ritter and 11 carries for the running back. I was like, what is.

Happening here?

We're back in that world. B. John Robinson, by the way, Youngway Koo, who's great, he's nails, but he missed two field goals in this game, which cost them the game in a way, but also, and they're 50 and 52 out. But for him, that's usually money in the bank. That also gives Justin Tucker back, I believe, the all-time leading kick percentage for active players.

Nice work.

I'm happy about that. But I like Young Wait Ku, so bummer to him.

Good player. Just not a.

Great day. I think my two All-Pro safety were in this game and they were both making monster plays. Bates ended three drives and Winfield is the one that had that horse fumble. I think we agreed, Bates. Which could have been a touchdown. It turned into a safety because it bounced and the Falcons.

Got it. We agreed Bates was clearly the best free agent pickup of.

The of the office. He's been great.

Great maneuver. Without even thinking, who wins the NFC South? Mark.

Bucks.

Greg.

I'm going to go Falcons.

Me, Bucks.

Those... No, not that. Nobody. It just says a lot about the Saints that they get no votes in this scenario.

All right, let's stay in the NFC South where the Panthers and Saints did battle. Saints moving towards- That feels like a strike. -and the field-level suites rolls to his right this car, throws to the end zone. Touchdown. Is there a car playing in this game for us? Jimmy Graham. Touchdown. We thought he might dunk it, but he didn't. Jimmy don't want that fine. Four-yard touchdown.

For Jimmy doesn't have that hot of a hop anymore. He doesn't have that.

He's not allowed either. He had to ruin the goal post that one time, remember? It was his heyday. Mike, Hoss, and Deuce, McAllister with the call. Derek Carr, who apparently is unkillable, returned from a concussion and various upper body injuries. He threw late touchdown passes to Chris, the lobby, and Jimmy Graham. The Saints beat the moribund to Panthers 28-6 to pull back into a tie atop the division with two other teams. I don't know if they're tie breakers, but whatever. Mark, the whole vibe around the Saints seems so weird to me and toxic. Even after this win, all I see around the team, the reporting and the fans and the retweets and everything, is just negativity. Why isn't Jimmy Grant playing more? Drama about Carf and the center fighting on the field and reporters squabbling with the head coach. Enjoy a win, guys. Christ.

I understand what you're saying. I think that you could look at just the score of this game and it's deceiving. It was a really rough watch. On both sides, we already understand that the Panthers are a rough watch, but these two quarterbacks, and I think this frustration is just that you want to look at the win alone, isolated? Cool. But it is a continuation of a disturbing pattern with car and the Saints. It's like, I get that he's the lightning rod and he's going to take critique no matter what he does. But both quarterbacks combined for 58 passing yards in the first half. It does feel like a year, more than any other season that I can remember, where you come out of every one, half of these games with a quarterback that has a reputation of succeeding in the past or at least producing with 18 yards or 28 yards or some nonsense. It was the perfect storm of both quarterbacks playing some gas leave football out of the gate. I mean, Carr specifically was 13 for 20 for 37 yards with a bad interception. I just think there's bubbling frustration. The only thing they did well offensively early on was run the ball pretty well out of the gate, and it just all flared up from there.

It's just like if you were going to have a week where everything comes together and you look like a Saints team that we want to potentially view as a team that can win this division without us having to see an extra game, you beat this Panthers team and they've got nothing. And Bryce Young at one point... Bryce Young was one for nine to start this game. This is a crazy stat. He averaged 13.4 air yards per attempt today, the fifth most by any quarterback in a game all year. On those passes, he was 0 for 6 in the first half and 1 for 9 with 32 yards in the whole game. It's like you're going 10, 12, 13 minutes at a time, drive after drive, where it's like no matter how depressing the car situation is, I just want the season to end for Bryce Young because it's like there is- They're.

The.

Saddest team in the league. It's sad because of what you've given up for him, who he is, what he's meant to represent. You've already fired your coach and it's a.

Tough watch. They ran for 204 yards on the Saints, which is another continuing issue for the Saints, is that they get run over every week and they still only picked up six points. The reason, though, that there's negativity after the game is, look, Eric McCoy is the leader of that offense. If you have to pick one player over the last five toeight years or whatever, he's the center, he's the captain, he's the leader of the offense. He's always very cool, calm, and collected. He gets into a huge screaming match with the car on the field that continues onto the sideline. There's going to be a lot of questions and they all try to downplay it. It's unclear, honestly, what it was even about.

They just feel like a big misery party.

Down there. But that's going to be like- It's a loss. It's a long season. -when that guy is getting in arguments with the quarterback, it's like.

Okay, what is the next? It's a bench the quarterback. He's already injured anyway. If everyone's so miserable about the quarterback, get the quarterback out of the lineup. I don't know. But it isn't- Just from a distance, it seems a little odd that there's so much even in a blowout win, 28-6.

I'll say this, though. They did put together two late touchdown drives where Jimmy Graham became a factor late in the game on that front. But it isn't like, I think to your point, Dan, a couple of weeks ago, the idea that car is getting killed, but he's actually playing well. It's like, he had a couple of nice passes in this game, but we're not even getting the Derrick car that we got a year ago in Oakland, which was not the Derrick car we got previous to that in Oakland. I imagine he.

Was far less than 100%. I would have been in this game.

He was battling through entry. I thought.

He played his best game of the season against the Lions last week for what it's worth.

Some guys get presented as Warriors and then there's Car who's being killed for playing poorly in a game where he barely made out of the previous game alive. I'm just like the whole vibe is frustrating to me around New Orleans right now.

Mccoy did apologize to reporters about the spot saying he shouldn't have been.

What was it about?

They won't say.

There's that guy, John Boy.

We'll.

Find out somehow. Yeah, there's the guy, John Boy, who does mostly baseball stuff, but he has a whole empire up there in New York. He's a great lip reader and he does all these great videos if you're a baseball fan. I like that. Reading lips of whether it's fights on the field or what's going on, we need that. We need that guy. Nfl needs a version of that guy. I was thinking of that when the Mohomes sideline terrorade happened. This would be another example.

Does John Boy have a brother or sister that.

Has the same skill? I don't know him personally. Our buddy, Chris Rose, works with him. How about for the second half of the football game we're going to try to go to watch in a few minutes? We're going to try to get a watch in a few minutes. We're going to ask him. We're going to.

Ask him. Here's good vibes. A pun return touchdown on a day where Steve Gleason is there in attendance.

How about that? I'm glad you mentioned that because I was sitting at the top of my notes and went somewhere else. But it was actually ruled a fumble. It was-I mean, it.

Looks like a pun. It was a.

Pun, though. It is. But that, yes. I guess even a dance point, even that couldn't just have been what it needed to be.

You know what's remarkable? Steve Gleason, who had the famous block pun when they reopened the Superdome after Katrina, late stage ALS. The fact that he's going to these.

Games, remarkable.

Whether or not I counted.

Well, the touchdown counted, they just.

Ruled it. No, it's nit-picky.

Apparently, if you caused a fumble before he even tried to pun it, essentially, you didn't count it. But you're right, he is a remarkable human. I think he has a new book out where he had a book. Every time he speaks, people.

Should listen. There you go. Good. Enjoy yourselves, guys. It's the holidays. Let's go across the sidewalk. Charges football. Ball now at the charger, 46-yard line as Wilson has him at the line of scourage. Jeremiah walked by the glass before and just gave a thumbs down. Tough times. For Ever to throw the ball, steps up. Now, froze a deep ball. He wants Courtland something in the end zone. Oh, Greggie. Courtland goes up. Oh, Gregie. And makes the catch. Touchdown, Denver. Penaly flag thrown. Get your penalty flag out of my highlight. Let's go. We're going to pass the interference call as Courtland much like an NBA power forward, just blocked out Davis, caught.

The ball. From here it looks like it's one arm. From here it looks like it's one arm.

I thought you got in the booth. I thought you got to come over.

How did you do that? Because you were in the newsroom, I thought, the whole day.

I just trotted over.

He didn't go to Brown's charges, but decided to.

Go to Brown. Well, I needed to make this comment, though. I had a feeling it was coming.

Dangerous bounces back after last week's three-interception performance. He throws two touchdown passes and 224 yards through the air. The Broncos crews over the chargers who are dead in the water. 24 to seven, the final. The Broncos keep winning. Yeah, like I said, improbably a game out in the AFC West as the Chiefs continue to struggle on their own. Okay, so who had this game? I did. Greg. Justin Herbert might have played his last snap this season.

What happened? Let's get to the Broncos later, but that is the biggest story to come out of this game. They're playing on Thursday night. He had a right index finger injury. It's been reported by our guy, Rapsheed. It's a fracture. And Ian, said because of where this is happening in the season that he might not be able to play again this season. Brandon Stanley- What a lost year. Right, was asked about it as well. And he said in terms of Herbert returning this season specifically, that is to be determined. I think we can take from those comments that he's definitely not playing Thursday night. They are five and eight and he's probably out multiple weeks. Just going out with a whimper. In a 4:25 PM game, there's only two of them today, that approximately 0% of the non-Broncos fan part of the country was watching.

Our market didn't get Chief's bills.

Right, because of this. Our market got it. That's an absurd. With East and Stick back there. It was emblematic of what's happened because Herbert was just crushed in the first half. He took four sacks and he never takes sacks, but they were all over him. Their offensive line had injuries in this game. Zion Johnson got hurt, and that's been part of the season as the offensive line not nearly playing as well. There was just drops. He's making some really bad throws early. It was 17-nothing at one point, and then Stick gets in there. East and Stick didn't have a chance, and this is how this daily era ends. It's probably not going to end this week. Maybe it'll end after the Thursday night game if they want to get a jump on it. But if not, it'll happen at the end of the season. Does it seem.

Antiquated for where we are in society that regions of the country are still getting banged by the local team playing? I mean, it's a national sport. Come on, you got to give us another way to watch.

One of the games of the year. You can get Sunday TV.

That's expensive. It is, but I mean, tons of people are watching Red Zone 2 and things like that.

Not anymore, though. Not anymore, the more expensive than the other option, but I hear what you're saying.

They find a way to figure everything like this out. This hangs out. There is an odd pathway.

Denver defense finished with six acts, two turnovers. They held the chargers to combine one of 18 on third and fourth down.

Jaquan McMillen is a star. Every week, this undrafted slot guy makes just a couple of massive plays. He was great.

Hey, if the Broncos... Follow me on this one. The Broncos ever won 10 and 7. John Payton, Coach of the Year?

He's got to be in the mix. I mean, you.

Have to-Would that be one of the.

Greatest turnarounds? Yeah, because I think it's relative to what they were last year and what they.

Are with him. I would put that similar to my fantasy team going from one and five to eight and six. I think that's where I.

Put that. I think you would get consideration and should. The only part with that argument, and I've seen Bronco's fans, Megan, already, is the main part of the argument seems to be about how they responded to one and five, but he was the coach of the one and five. He gets full credit for the one and five, too. The fact that they're at seven, six overall, I think, is a good coaching job. But I think if you said that going into the season, that's one game better than expectations.

He also is taking over a team that was somewhat in tatters with a lot of questions starting right with your quarterback. The defense needed time to figure itself out. I don't really- You've done a great job. I don't think he did.

A great job. I just mean the six games that they went one and five count as part of the.

Overall race. Yes, he did. He would definitely be the first NFL coach to win Coach of the Year that also lost 70 to 20 in the season. That has never happened.

You could.

Cement that as true. Vans Joseph, I mean, this has been in the defense, is capricious. How about that? I like that. It goes up and down, but Vance Joseph is coaching a top 10 defense now for two months straight. The defensesat, the offense has stayed about the same all year. It's been consistent. They let other teams lose games. It's a winning formula. They run the ball well enough. Wilson has a lot of check-downs and then a lot of just bombs. He might have gone two for seven on bombs today or whatever, and that's happening every week. Yet the bombs that they hit are so worth it. Keep throwing the bombs. The Sutton catch that he had to me was his season in a nutshell. The defensive back, I think it was Michael Davis, was literally holding his arm full hold, two hands on his other arm. He's 50 yards down the field and he catches the ball with the other arm in the end of it. I think it was one of the catches of the year. It got slept on because you didn't see it on the angle. When you saw the other reverse angle, it seemed completely impossible and a beautiful throw that Wilson had all the time in the world.

They're playing well.

I'm not sure I want to see them in the playoffs personally. That's a Mark thing, but something about them- Who.

Gets in instead of them? I'd rather see them over… I don't really care.

About them either.

Julius Thomas and De Marius Thomas were the last Denver receivers to reach double digits and touchdowns until Courtland Sutton. Those were in the Payton Manning glory years. Also, Mark, I know you like exaggerated numbers comedy. This is Russell Wilson on your corner. I think I had about 35 seconds back there, he said, about the clean pocket before the Sutton touchdown. I went left, went right, went through my reads, and then back to Courtland.

I mean, that's what I used to do in Seattle, so it must feel good.

I mean, that offensive line is falling out, too.

They have the, yeah. When Joey Bosca got hurt that just ended this little Chargers.

All right, if the Panthers are the saddest team in the NFC, I think the Chargers...

The AFC? The jets.

Agreed. No, now the patriots have escaped. It's the Chargers.

I mean, the Chargers, it feels very bleak. It feels very bleak and just depressing. It's week after week without any light shining through.

The jets is like a tragic season, but even like today showed that they're fighting hard. I don't know if that's happening for Brennan's, Daly's team. They're packing up the tent.

I don't think it's happening for Brennan's, Daly's team, no.

All right. Real quick, guys.

Yes. Before we get to Saturday Night Football. Yes. I have something.

For you, Dan. Oh. Flatcoe underneath center on third and one. Takes his turns, bootlegs it out to the right. He's got a man wide open and Jokey's got it at the four and do it in touchdown. Bang. Hit. No food, though. What a beautiful fake by flat bone. Oh.

You're happy?

Come on.

That's a good call. Well, my argument wouldn't be that it's not a good call.

How did you do this? For the first time, as we've been doing this show for 11 years, you somehow turned in a great Browns touchdown into something you're needle in, Mark, about.

I mean, it's a.

Big- Big surprise. -it's amazing. It's a magic trick.

You pulled. I'm glad that Dave Nezoku got his moment. It was a great day for Joe Flecker. Those two men deserve to be celebrated on the show.

Now they have, and I'm with you on that.

Teamwork. All right, to Sunday Night Football. Second and goal, snap to Prescott, looks left. Slant, Gallop, touchdown. That was right now. That is four offensive possessions for the Dallas Cowboys, and that is three touchdowns in a field goal. Man, Brad, Sham the Sham, God, with the call. After the score on NBA, they cut away to Jarra's box, which, listen, Jarra makes the rules, although they have had trouble in the stadium's history with fire code. You're right. Go do your research if you don't know what I'm talking about. There had to be 300 people in that suite celebrating. Everyone vaguely looked exactly the same. Grade 5s, though, for the Cowboys who beat the Eagles 33-13, exactly the type of comprehensive takedown of their rival that they needed, not just Mark to potentially steal the NFC east away from the Eagles and the top seed in the NFC, but also for the skeptics out there, they're like, Wow, they're the Cowboys. They'll find a way. Again, another performance where it's like, Or this might be a different team.

They feel differently to me. I've been a skeptic and waited for Dallas to have the game where it is assured, it is cemented that they're a different type of cowboys team. I saw it. I mean, these two teams know each other so well. I think they caught Philadelphia at a time where the Eagles are having some struggles of their own. But that doesn't explain without you talking about the great nature of this cowboys defense and what they did tonight, where you've got Stephan Gilmer playing a game of his life, punching the ball out from AJ Brown. That doesn't happen to AJ Brown typically. Devonte Smith, who has been so good for the Eagles, dropping a bomb in the end zone on a pretty good throw.

And losing a.

Fumble himself. And losing a fumble himself. They couldn't get unhooked. I thought there were a couple of moments here where the Eagles could have climbed back in and done what happens on every Sunday night football game. Dallas just wouldn't let them back in. Even with the Fletcher-Cox, strip sack of Jack and Jalen Carter, that seemed like a momentum shift. But momentum doesn't exist, Craig.

I mean, it didn't in that case because the Cowboys took it right back. Every single moment in this game, they just looked like they were going to make the big plays and the Eagles wouldn't. You look at the yardage and it doesn't look that uneven yards for play, like Eagles move the ball. You're right, you mentioned those mistakes, and we didn't even mention in that grouping, Jaylen Hertz lost the fumble, and AJ Brown ended a drive with a drop that would have put them inside the five-yard line in the first half. They only had eight drives when this game was still in and three ended on fumbles from their three best players, and one ended on a drop from one of their other best players, AJ Brown. That was half their judge. But I honestly don't think it would have mattered because this was going to be the Cowboys Night on that first play call. We knew Zadi was feeling it, the first drive rather. Calls for that big sweep to turp in on third and one. That was a gutsy call. They run the ball on fourth and two at one point and they pick it up.

They ran the ball well in the red zone. I just think Jack had so much time on that touchdown. It was all just working. When they needed to make a play, they made it. Even on the rare chances when the Eagles won upfront, because actually the defensive line have thought played okay in this game, Jack just hits them with a beautiful Eli Manning to Manningham-type bomb to Gallop on the sideline. They were just better. They're just better.

That's very big of you to reference that play.

Twice in one night. That was incredible.

Yeah, Jack with pressure in his face, dropping that bucket to Gallop. That just shows the zone he is in right now and has been for weeks. I mentioned earlier in the show, this MVP race is becoming a corker because Daq does not lose any ground. Lamar moves up a little bit, Purdy.

Reestablishes himself. Tyreke on Monday night. I'm not giving up on that one either.

You can have your Tyreke MVP.

Just saying.

These QBs, I guess, what I'm saying, more than not taking away from Tyreke.

I'm just saying one more to go. I think those are the four main ones.

Right now. But I think now we're saying, Oh, there's no quarterbacks where it's really jumping out. Some of these guys now, they're starting to stack week after week, big performances, and the numbers are getting gaudy, and that wins MVP. But yeah, you have this game for the Cowboys, and they are essentially unbeatable at home. Well, they are. They're not essentially unbeat. They're 7-0 at Jareworld this year. That is a big deal because if they can keep this up and take that top seat and make the NFC go through Dallas, once again, you're starting to think this could be a different year for the Cowboy.

Yeah. There is an interesting stretch coming up because they are untouchable at home. Only one of their final four games in the regular season are at home. They have to go to Buffalo. They have to go to Miami, they play Detroit at home, then they have to go to Washington. The Cowboys have to keep proving this if they.

Want to someone's seat. I guess part of the point we were talking making at the beginning of this is they've proven themselves now to me. I don't expect them to go lay eggs anywhere now.

This is a different experience. We've been covering this Cowboys team as a group for a decade plus. There was a reason to be annoyed with the pitch versus the product in past years. They're beating teams in every possible way. They just went and did it to the Eagles who... It's like, That's what I needed to see. I'm good.

The Eagles are now 10 and 3. There's an instinct to say, Okay, well, you just got through the toughest five-game stretch any team is going to have all season. You went three and two, which isn't... If you take a step back, it's not too embarrassing. You got those wins against the Cowboys. You split with the Cowboys, against the Bulls. Who's the other one that I'm missing in there? Chiefs. The Chiefs. Then you lose these two games, but you lost these two games by a combined score of.

70-75.

32. -75, 32.

-yeah. It's an eye-opener.

You're just getting tired. Yes, their last three games of the season are easy, but next week you're in Seattle. I actually give them a slight edge to win the division just because of the schedule, and that would make all the difference in the world. I think they're a veteran enough team that they could gather their forces and improve from now until the playoffs and end up being very dangerous in the playoffs. But right now, they're not a great team. They're too deficient defensively. At one point, they had given up a score on nine straight drives. I think they ended up finishing that game. They've now given up a score on 12 out of 14 drives. They're just not a great-It's not good enough. They're just not a good enough defense right now. The offense, at least tonight, one thing that they put on tape that they won't be happy with is they had no answer for the zero blitz. Just like the Cowboys just kept doing it over and over and they didn't really have good answers for it. Where are we going?

I think you know exactly where we're going. Cowboys are not that dissimilar to the 49ers and that they can come at you in waves with big-time players and stars. They have unearthed a major star in their special teams. It's Brandon Aubrey, the former soccer player who was... They all had great backstories. He was an accountant or something for a brief period.

Software manager after his pro soccer career didn't go well. Then his wife said, watching football, you could do this. He just practiced for three years.

Until he got a job. See, a great wife will take you to great places, including to the top of the kicking power rankings, four for four in this game with a long of 60, also hit a 59-yarder, also hit a 50-yarder. And he's piping these kicks. And yes, it's bottle service. It is straight, all friends allowed in. The girls coming in with the big signs and everything and the sparklers like Brandon Aubrey gets all of it in the kicker club tonight. And if I may be a little more serious, this game could have turned out differently in the second half if not for Aubrey's greatness, because after the Jalen Carter scoop and score makes this a game. What's the score at that point?

It would have been- It would have been 23-14.

Yeah. 23-14, the Cowboys get the.

Ball.

Back. 24-13. 24-13. They make a couple plays and then the drive stalls on the Eagle side of the field. Zadi decides to bring out Aubrey for this bomb from 59. If he doesn't make that kick, the Eagles are coming off a defensive score and they have the ball midfield. You just don't know what could happen. But the fact that he made that kick, it calmed everything down. When you have a kicker that you can rely on, the way Zadi can rely on Aubrey, he's like a legitimate weapon and one of the biggest stories for this team.

This year. Yeah, and to close the game out with three field goals from him, and these are drives that ended at the Philly 41, 27, and 32. Dallas wasn't able to knock out punch with CD-LAM or Tony Polar to fill in the blank, but each of those drives ate up five plus minutes. In a way, I thought he was the executioner in this and kept chipping away and taking the life away from Philadale.

He's 30 for 30 on field goals.

Forget about Tucker being on top of the list. We got a new one. That's 100%. I know he doesn't quite qualify, but...

Not.

Yet. My God. They just have so many elite players. When they were showing at the beginning when they do the starting lineups and they show the PFF group, I know PFF is not perfect now, but I just... It's like, Doc, number one out of 34 quarterbacks. Tyler Smith, number one out of 40-something guards. Tyrone Smith, number one out of 40-something tackles. Cd-lam, number three out of 115 wide receivers. It's just like, that's a lot of elite players. Now, Aubrey, maybe number one right now.

Out of 32 kickers. You wonder why Jare's box is shaking with everyone celebrating because they have put together a monster team there. It should be said. I went through all that. Aubrey is the first kicker to make a 59 and 60-yard field goal in the same game. That's history.

It's pretty crazy. Yeah. I was thinking, Wait, that's never happened before. But to your point, Greg, you're saying- Those are bombs. Yeah, those kicks weren't really being attempted in ages.

Of old. I mean, until 10 years ago, a 59-yarder, there probably was less than 10 in NFL history until 10.

Years ago. Imagine the thousands of people, this is the final week of the regular season in fantasy, that went into Sunday Night Football. Their opponent just had a kicker and they had an 18-point lead and you lose because Brandon Aubrey literally makes history. Crazy. So big win for the.

Cowboys- 49ers now in great position for.

The one-seed. -niners in the driver's seat, but the cowboys right behind them if there's a slip up. And yes, the Eagles very much in the mix as well. It's going to be a great ending to this regular season in the NFC. Before we say goodbye, I want to circle back because I thought the quotes are strong enough from the homes on the situation at the end of the game. We were noticing on Twitter, people were doing lip reading. By the way, John Boy, Jimmy O'Brien does have siblings.

Yeah, a younger brother and two.

Sisters, I believe. Yeah, Chris Rose confirmed that, but I don't know if any of them are willing to or even have the ability to help us out in that way for lip syncing or lip reading in the NFL. But we'll stay on top of that story. Here is my homes, who what he was so furious about was it seems like not the Van Miller fake-off sides as much. It was that they called that on Tony and given obviously the play that wiped out. In that moment, I mean, I've played seven years, never had offense all sides called. That's elementary school we talk about. I mean, you point to the ref, do all that different type of stuff, and it doesn't get called. If it does, they warn you and there was no warning throughout the entire game. Then you wait till there's a minute left in the game to make a call like that. It's tough, man. I mean, it's lost for words, man. It's just tough because regardless if we win or lose, man, just for it to end with another game and we're talking about the refs, man. It's just not what we want for the NFL and for football.

Again, this is out of character for the homes to be this outspoken. But also what he says here about what Kelsey did on that play, and that's why as a football fan, Greg, I know because you would pick the bills, but to have that exciting play wiped away, you understand the frustration, and I thought, Mohom, summed that up well. I mean, it's a legendary moment, man. I mean, nothing that's not taught, something that only a couple of people in this world would even think about doing. For him to make that play in that moment, making the catch, making a couple of dudes missed and throwing the ball across the field to another guy and scoring a touchdown in that moment, I hope they still.

Show it.

Whenever he goes to the Hall of Fame because that's.

A legendary.

Moment that we didn't get to really witness. Calls back to what you said earlier, Mark. What is it that I said? One more point and then you mentioned a play that was wiped away by penalty. You and Pat Mohom.

Well, first of all, I trust him to point out an inconsistency in this call. I mean, it's not something that we see. I don't know. It was so frustrating. Last week, it feels like that game against Green Bay was a million years ago, but that game was torn down by really wacky, officially. It stood out as one of the worst games of the year, officially. Then this happened in this moment.

Is the call wrong? Technically, no. Should the officials maybe get the hell out of the way?

But the nuance he mentioned about there's an agreement between the officials and the player.

Right, usually the players are looking over to the side. We don't know if that happened. You also can't give the warning if Tony wasn't out there and doing that in similar spots. He has not been playing much in recent weeks. I don't know what his snap count was in this game, but it's been under 20 snaps in general, most of these weeks. He was so far offside, he was blocking the view of the official. It wasn't like it was close. He was way on the other side. I understand my home's point.

Way on the other side is strong. His foot's on the line and.

The visible line. His head is blocking the official. I just mean, there has been, it seems to me, an emphasis. We checked the numbers, and there has been 13 offensive offsides called this year, which doesn't sound like much, that's one per week, but that's 10 more than the two previous seasons combined. It was a call that they never used to call. Point of emphasis. I wish I could remember, but this was called in a big spot just last week, and I was looking for it, trying to find it, and it wasn't. But it has been happening here and there. I think it's the frustration of the whole season. It's part of it. It is part of it. Right, for sure. This is a safe way to take out some of that anger.

He said, I held my nose or I didn't say anything after that controversial Packers game. But this time I couldn't. I don't know.

It is brilliant from Kelsey. That was not a play call. That is something just does. It is freaking crazy.

It's true. It didn't count. I know Eric agrees that that should have been a touchdown because you're a man of integrity. All I know is this side of the glass.

2:0 in these games you guys.

Are talking about. I don't know. Oh, that's right. Because you got Big Phunk was on the right side with the Fackers. We've actually not been listening to anything you've been saying in the last 10 minutes, though. That's all right.

That would have been untrue of previous producers.

You guys have to listen to plenty of honking from us. The play was amazing. I will give.

Them that. Ticky-tack, yes, definitely. But hey.

Rules are the rules. Just get out of the way. Yeah, I feel you. Listen, if I was a Bill's fan, I'd be exactly the same as you. But as a football fan, I'm like, Damn it, that should have killed it. That was awesome. There's been countless of.

These games go the other way against.

The Bill's in weird fashion. This one, I'm like- I get it, man. -take it. Take it when you can get it. You have nothing to apologize for. Thanks. Football fans like this. Greg's like, Yes, I have a pic in one of my 17 things I'm doing.

Yeah, well.

That's.

17 too.

Slightly villainous game debut. Yeah. Check it out. And the locks. Let's go.

All right. That is the Sunday flagship program. Hope you enjoyed it. We'll be back on Monday on NFL Plus, Game of the Week, and also our Monday Night podcast, which is a news rundown and two Monday Night football games.

What?

That's a real thing. Why? I don't know. You need the call.