Smith.

Byers over the middle. Great grab by Metcalfe out in front, and he will go all the way for a touchdown. Seventy-three yards to the left. Looks toward, Lamb, shoulder shake, throw. That's going to be caught by Ferguson. Touchdown. Locket comes to the slot. Here comes Parsons, and he forces the pass incomplete and that will wrap it up.

That will wrap up a 41-35 Cowboys victory on Thursday Night Football. Maybe you couldn't tell from Al's voice there, but we got the best Thursday Night game of the year. And we got the perfect-Maybe ever. Maybe ever. Who knows? I'd have to go through it. We got the perfect guest for it, too. It's Steven Ruiz of The Ringer, who's been doing Yomen's work all around the podcast land. It's Steven Ruiz week and what better game to have him on for than the Gino and Dak, our gods among us showcase. Thank you, Steven.

I texted you right after that Gino touchdown to open the game. He knew I was coming on today. He was going to give us a show.

Yeah, the last time you came on was the He don't write back game for Gino. So it's been too long. And this was a great Gino game, but it does feel a little beside the point to start with Gino. The Cowboys put up 41 points in a shootout in a game that there were no puns. According to Scott Hanson's researcher at Red Zone, and who am I to doubt his researcher at Red Zone? It's only the fourth game in the history of the NFL to have no points. Five, if you include the Colts, Chiefs, Payton Manning versus Dick-for-Meal and Trent Green showdown in 2004. That was my first season cover in the League. That was exciting. This was just a preposterously great offensive performance by both quarterbacks, both teams. But to me, we start with just the Majesty, I would guess, of Doc Prescott right now that he just has an answer for everything, opposing defense, especially the Seahawks defense was trying to do.

Yeah, I thought Seattle played well defensively. There was a lot of talk.

About the Sacks. They didn't get a stop.

I mean, considering that they were putting him under pressure. Now he was making tight window throws. I really think there's an alternate universe where you put two other quarterbacks into this game and they have to handle that pressure that both quarterbacks had to deal with all day. And it looks horrible. And we don't get anywhere close to 35 to 31 or whatever the final score ended up being. I thought the two quarterbacks were the story of the game. And do you watch on the Prime Vision?

They do, yes. I do enjoy that. I got a little Schwartzdine action in my life.

Right. Right. I love that. It was just a magical performance from that view, too. It really allowed you to appreciate what these guys were doing.

Yeah. Early on, I'm thinking, man, these Cowboys receivers are open. As the game wore on, I'm with you, the pressure built up, the windows got a little tighter. But Dax, specifically, and I misspoke by saying they didn't get a single stop to Seox defense. There was one stop all night by the Seox defense, and that was in, I'm counting it now, nine drives, not counting the kneel down drives. And that was just when C. D. Lamb dropped a ball a wide open, just a short pass on fourth down. Otherwise, there literally would not have been a drive that the cowboys did not score on. And the thing that impresses me is he just has answers for everything. I think of actually a fourth in one situation where he checked out of the play two different times, where they were clearly going to try to stop the sneak up the middle. Then I don't know what he saw the second time, but he checked it again and he checked it to the perfect play, a run to the outside and they get it. So even on plays where he's not throwing the ball, he's just seeing everything you're doing and he's making all the right decisions and he's not missing any throws.

I mean, he was just on the money with just about every throw tonight.

And then I think he's adding on top of that the old school, Doc creation stuff out of structure. Yes. He is the best quarterback in the league, statistically out of structure. Not Josh Allen, not Patrick the Holins, not Lamar Jackson, none of these guys. Doc Prescott.

What do you mean? Like out of the pocket or plus two and a half seconds? How do they.

Measure that? Out of the pocket and PFF, according to PFF, when the defense, the pass for us, forces the quarterback to move off of his spot. So it's not a straight drop back. He is the best in the NFL by PFF grade. He's got a low 90s grade. The next highest guy is in the 70s.

It is ridiculous. And I do think his season changed on that Sunday Night game against the Chargers, where he ran for that touchdown. I think he ran the play before on a play that actually he normally wouldn't have this year. He scrambling. He came up just short on a third and nine or something to set up a fourth and one. He put his head down and I was like, Oh, there's Doc running again. That's what we always want. I swear since then, the rushing yards aren't crazy. Tonight it's 23, but there's four plays where he helps himself with his legs running, which is just a really important four plays. Then as you say, also just making great decisions outside the pocket, which he did on a number of throws tonight. It was just like, unless you have just an elite pass rush and the Seahawks just don't, it's hard to think of how you're going to get this guy down. And it's tough against this Cowboys offensive line, which is playing really well.

That's why I would say I thought that defense didn't play too badly and I didn't think that defensive gameplay was too bad because I thought the way they got to dash Prescott was blitzing. There was a lot of corner pressures, a lot of zone pressures. I thought Seattle's approach to the game, their thinking going into the game was, We're not going to get to deck unless we play a reckless style, and that's our only chance of being in this game. It didn't work out, but I think it makes sense as a strategy going into it. I think if they would have just rushed four and dropped back seven, deck would have picked them apart.

I mean, we're both Gino fans, and because of that, I've become a quasi-Seox fan. Maybe you haven't that far, and so the defense was frustrating me. Yes, they're sending a lot of blitzes, but they can never finish them. They're just bouncing off of them. There's that play, Darryl Taylor, who's not a safety? I mean, he's a defensive end, has him in a bear hug, and I don't know what happened. The play, that just shrugs him off. There were so many plays like that. Adams had another one. Whereas if they could just bring him to the ground or bring some of the receivers that that caught the ball behind the line of scrimage occasionally to the ground, it's like they would have them in big time negative yardage situations, and they just couldn't do it. Again, once that chargers game happened, I was like, Wow, he played just about perfect game, that game. Then the next week, he's perfect that week. People weren't really picking up on it yet because they were playing lesser teams and the record wasn't as good then. But he's almost been throwing a perfect game every week since week six. It's great.

He at this point, is I think, going to come out of this week one of, if not the MVP frontrunners, which is crazy because he was plus 3,000 three weeks ago.

And it's a high degree of difficulty. It's not like he's like Dinkin and dunking out there. He's throwing these covered scene balls, these tight window passes. He's throwing on the run. He's throwing out of structure. He's throwing with guys hanging off of him like we saw tonight. He's up to his game another level. And I think he's finally starting to get credit for stuff he already did well. He's finally starting to get credit for the presnap stuff. And being that brain before the snap, you heard Kirk Herb-Street and I could compare him to patent Manning in the presnap phase. I think that's apt, and I think it's something he never got credit for it. And one of the reasons I think he's so polarizing as a player, even though he's been this steadfast winner and guy who produces at a high level since he's entered the league, beyond being a Dallas Cowboys quarterback and everything that comes with that, is that it's hard to appreciate the things he's really good at because they're so subtle, especially if you're not watching week to week and you're not watching the and you don't really understand what's going on pre-snap.

I just think if we gave him that credit, I don't think we would be having these debates about Jack Prescott every off-season.

I've been trying to give him that credit. I brought up the Manning. I don't think he's Manning or braided, but as that generation was still playing, but aging out, I was like, Well, he's the guy that's the young generation that's the most like that. He's the quarterbacks, quarterback. He's how Greg Cosell wants the game to be played inside the pocket and figuring it out mentally, and it's all coming together. He's at an age where it's all perfect. He's got an unreal number one receiver. I think this game is going to be important for him just in the way... Not important for him in terms of what you're saying, he's playing great. Nothing needs to change. But MVP race and then their playoff race, and even as a team, they were really tested in this game by a good opponent. I know Seattle was struggling coming into this game, but their offense certainly wasn't struggling tonight. I don't know if a team is going to beat up this Cowboys defense any better than the Seahawks did tonight. And so, Daq was really pushed in this game. The score was 28-20, coming out a half time. Once Gino got the kickoff to start the second half, went right down the field to go 28-20.

Cowboys get it closer and then the Seahawks score again to DK to start the fourth quarter. It's 35 to 27. He has to make a fourth quarter comeback. They have the field goal drive. They have another touchdown drive there by Dk. Then they tack on the field goal late. Just like those situations that I know, they shouldn't need to pass these tests, but they do need to because they need to win some close games. It's not just going to be blowouts in the playoffs. They found a way to do that. Even though I have some issues with Mike McCarthy's game management, and we can get to that in a minute, it doesn't matter when you only face, I think they only had four third downs in the second half. I mean, that's the thing. These two teams put up these score with very few possessions. It wasn't like a 13, 12 possession game where they put up these numbers. They had almost no margin for error and he hit it. And he could have actually had more. There was that CD drop and a fourth down. And then one of the best throws he had the night, which was the field goal drive in the fourth quarter that came up short, which looked like a crazy pass.

He put it between three people, but it got to CD and he actually didn't bring it down in that scenario.

That's why I was watching the end of the game and I was like, No matter how this ends, it's going to be very disappointing for one of these teams. It's going to be very disappointing for us for having to come up with losers in this game because I just thought it was played at such a high level that even if Dallas had lost, I don't think I would have come on here and been like, Oh, they're frauds, or everything we thought they were. Jito just played so well and under pressure, too. It's not like Dallas made it easy on him. At one point in the fourth quarter, he was 11 for 12 under pressure and averaging 10 yards per attempt. That's insane. Nobody does that.

Let's get to the Jito portion. We put it off long enough, but I'm with you. There are no big losers here. I'm going to be a little annoyed about the Seahawks defense later just in terms of roster construction and everything and some of the game management stuff. Jason Myers missed another important kick in this game. But just in terms of the way this season shapes up before we move to Gino, it was absolutely vital, though, they got this win to stay in the NFC East race. I still think they can win this division because I just think the Eagles are underdogs this week, and then the Cowboys are probably playing for first place next week. That's like, it doesn't get much bigger than that. They actually do have it right there in front of them. I know their schedule is brutal, so it'd be hard to finish that out. But there's a very real chance that they're in first place in the NFC East and they're going to have extra rest going into that Eagles game in 10 days. Whereas the Seahawks felt like this was their chance to sneak one in here during this brutal stretch and they couldn't get it done.

It's so surprising to me, Steven, that they put up 35 points in the first 50 minutes of this game. Their offensive line and everything going into this game and their offensive cohesion did not indicate that this performance was coming.

No, I did not expect this performance, and I did not expect it because of that matchup, the offensive line versus the defensive line. And Dallas's defensive line, despite not getting a lot of sacks, they did get pressure and I thought they won for the most part. I thought Shane Walden, the offensive coordinator, called a great game. I didn't like the calls at the end. That's my one thing against Walden, is that he gets a little galaxy-brained at times. He outthinks himself a little bit. I don't know what that last play was, but it looked like a screen pass, like a late slip screen pass, which is an interesting call in fourth and... What was it? Fourth and Five with the game on.

The line? Fourth and Two.

Fourth and Two, yeah. Fourth and Two, and it gets blown up and it never really had a chance.

I know, yeah, Parsons got there and the next in stats measured in 1.3 seconds. I mean, it was Parsons.

Yeah.

They tried to totally unblock. I'm not sure where the protection went wrong, whether that was supposed to be the running back. It went wrong somewhere. They needed to reset. I don't know who that's on that. It's happened more than you would want to for the Seahawks this year. And yeah, to get into that position, and there were a couple of drives in the fourth quarter where they turned it over on downs and they were in short-yarded situations. After having such a good night on third down, finally, they've been a terrible third down team all year, they went back in the crucible to just a couple of bad plays there on third and one, fourth and one. I'm also thinking about the drive before the same thing happened.

It was good to see Gino adjust because there has been talk about him getting the ball out quicker. I think that is one thing you saw. You saw him make that adjustment. I think it would have been a big red flag if you heard that talk from Gino, you heard that talk from the offensive coordinator, and then he couldn't do it. So I think that I think this was a... I don't think obviously it derails whatever playoff hopes Seattle had or - They.

Still got it. They still.

Got it.

They still have a chance. But it hurts. It didn't help. They had an opportunity tonight for sure.

But I think this is a good sign for the team going forward. I think that Gino still has these moments when he can light up a game and he can match a MVP candidate throw for throw. Right.

And statistically, he's been getting rid of the ball about the same time this year. The pressure has just been getting there faster. He's been avoiding sacks much better. Actually, that used to be one of the worst parts of his game last year. Even in his breakout was still below average, but not terrible. This year, it's pretty good. You saw that tonight. If you had looked at the box score, you would have no idea. I know Parsons got three cubie hits, but you would have no idea that Parsons dominated this game. Lawrence had a good game too because Gino was getting rid of the ball. I mean, some of those dimes early to DK. It was also great to see DK have a game like this because I think that the Thanksgiving game encapsulated what's been a really disappointing season for DK. Not winning, contested catches, just being a little lazy with his routes on the sidelines, stuff like that. Tonight, he was like, he was like, DK, what you imagine him to be. That first dime that Gino threw to him just felt like it freed the two of them. And he threw so many good passes tonight.

It was a beautiful thing. I mean, being Gino-guised, to have him out this night in an island game, it did feel like a release for me. A little weight off my shoulders.

And I like how you got to see him thrive under pressure. You got to see that this is what he's been dealing with all year. He's been dealing with this type of protection and receivers that I don't think have been running great routes. It's hard to say when you're outside of the building, but there's been a lot of miscommunications. I think that's the best way you could put it. You didn't really see that tonight. You saw Gino get rid of the ball and the receivers ended up where they were supposed to be, and the ball ended up where it was supposed to be. I think if this team could find any consistency, they might look like the team we see when they're at their highest, when they have these breakout performances because they are capable of it. We've seen it a handful of times over the last two years, just streaming them together.

Right. And defensively, they have so many players you would think that they can have some better games than the ones that they've had. I'll get into it in a minute. But they've just been a sub-mediocre defense, a very below-average defense. And you saw it tonight. But if they can get their offense going like this, they did have Ape Lucas back in the run game, which maybe that helps. Zach Charbonne, though, was 19 for 60. He did have a 39-yard catch too, but he left late with a knee injury and was immediately ruled doubtful, which that is not a great sign. Maybe Kenneth Walker's back next week. But Smith and Jigba made some plays until he had that miscommunication on the turnover on downs, on the drive before the last one. And Locket, I think one of the plays Seox fans are going to remember is the Seox are up 35 to 30. They're driving, right? They had the ball up 35 to 30 to possibly kick a field goal, to go up eight halfway through the fourth quarter, or even score a touchdown and put the game away. And Gino has one of his best anticipation throws of the night.

It gets there after Lockett makes his turn and it hits him right in the helmet and Gino gets sacked the next play. It was a... Maybe it was a pressure and a throw away the next play, but that drive ended right there and they would have been in field goal range on one of the better Gino passes of the night. They're robbing our boy, Steven.

They really are. And I feel like we're talking about how well these quarterbacks played. I don't think the receivers played all that well outside of DK.

Now we're sounding like we're just like it's a pro Gino thing.

There were a lot of drops.

There were a lot of balls that hit people's heads. There were some drops. Fint had a nice catch.

I mean, on both sides. I mean, on both sides.

Yeah, on both sides, certainly. There were some drops. Smith and Jigba, I like that he's getting more consistent. He had the touchdown that was overturned on review, but at least he drew a long PI on that call. There were a lot of PI calls. We'll hit that. But first, we're going to take a break. Okay, we're back. I mentioned before the break, the penalties were a huge story of this game. There were 257 penalty yards, Steven, in this game. That is the most for a game in regulation since Bear's Bills 2018, which I don't know, it was in November. I don't have an immediate recollection, but- I do. -likely a Mitch Trabisky, Josh Allen showdown.

No, Nathan Peterman.

Oh, was it? Wait, really?

Yeah, I think it was Nathan Peterman special.

Al Michaels commenting tonight on the penalties. Let's listen.

We're going to take the rest of the night off of the Cleet, Blake, and Coral game. You buy him?

Sure.

Al was getting so mad. I don't know if he was having... Occasionally, he has senior moments, but he literally said, Oh, and guess what's next? When the Flags came out on four straight plays at one point in the third quarter. He was just beside himself.

I mean, this was a great performance, a throwback performance for Al, in my opinion. He was last in Gino and Daak. He was right there with him.

I'll buy that. I would like a little more excitement there at the end. I would like it's more of a Herb Street thing, but there were a lot of game management situations at the end of the game that were very interesting and they didn't really go over ahead of time or even afterwards. The Cowboys had the ball, we might as well talk about it now. They had the ball after they turned the Seahawks over on downs and they get it with two... Let's see how long was left in the game. They get it with 143 to go. They basically... Or no, sorry. They get it with 3:11 to go. That makes more sense. At the Seahawks 49 yard line. Two first downs basically wins the game there. They immediately get into the red zone on that drive. They get into situation where it's third and three. The Seahawks are all out of timeouts. There's 140, maybe a little more left on the clock. They throw a pass from, I think it was the 14, into the end zone. I know it's one-on-one, City, Lamb, and he's been so great tonight, but it wasn't really close.

He was well covered. The ball was... I was through a safe pass to make sure it didn't get and it's incomplete. I love being aggressive, but that's actually not being aggressive. That was just bad game management. If they run the ball there, it goes under a minute and you run the ball there because it's fourth and three and you're playing on, you play it on. You run the ball twice and you win the game and it's over with. If you don't get it the second time, it's under a minute left and they're inside the 10-yard line or the 13-yard line. I thought that was crazy about McCarthy.

No, that's always the thing with McCarthy, right? Every time I'm starting to think McCarthy's turning it around, getting Jack to play like this is an accomplishment. I have to give him credit. I'm not going to take credit away from him for.

Doing that.

But these are the moments where you're like, Uh-uh. That's going to come up in the playoffs and I don't think he's going to make the right decision. There was even a two-point conversion chance earlier in the game, and I don't know what the analytics say about it, but a lot of people were wondering why they didn't go.

For it to tie it up. Yeah, it was 20, 26. It was like, Why were you not going for two at that moment?

And then for.

Me, it's not - They went for it later and they got it later.

It's not just McCarthy. I got questions about Dan Quinn.

Okay.

And it's the same questions that anyone would have about Dan Quinn and that style of defense that we've seen. We see it in Seattle, like that cover three lineup and play. We're not going to do anything to trick you. I just think it's a defense that can be scheme up, and it's a defense that can be exploited by the best quarterbacks in the NFL. And in order to win a Super Bowl, you have to beat the best quarterbacks in the NFL. And that's my worry.

Yeah, it's a fair point that the Cowboys defense has been great this year. I mean, it hasn't been Ravens, Browns level, and it's got great talent. But this is the first game in a long time. Granted they haven't played many great offenses. They did a pretty good job, I thought, against the Eagles overall. They gave more points than they should have, but they played well. It was disarming to see the like a team go up and down the field throwing the ball on them. I mean, Daron Blaine, Michael said, gave up more yards in that first half than any cornerback in any half of football all year. So his defensive player of the year, Candidacy, was always silly to me. I mean, give him an all pro. That's fine. But people were trying to talk that up this week. That's over with now. Even though he had an electric interception, that was not even a bad throw by Gino, I didn't think. If anything, Blaine just bodied Locket out of position on a play. Locket had position when the ball was thrown and Blaine made a great play. But Blaine got cooked in this game.

And you're right, maybe the secondary. Do you think there are holes here, like in the back seven, essentially for Dallas?

I do think it can be attacked. And I think if you can mitigate the pass rush, which I don't think Seattle did in any shape or form tonight, but I think there are teams that are capable of doing that, like San Francisco, as we've seen, then I think it's going to be an issue. And I don't think Dan Quinn's style of defense offers you like, schematic help. It's really reliant on execution and talent and, I think, fundamentals, which is a great way to play and it makes sense with their talent. It's just when you run into offenses that can match your talent, it becomes a problem then.

Yeah. Because Blaine is playing outstanding. Gilmore is still a really solid starting corner. Odigizua and the Guys Insider are good. I think, Parsons is just outrageous. I think as great as Garrett's been, I'm still holding out my vote there that we got a long way to go. In my heart, I still feel like Parsons is actually better and having a better season, even though it's not quite there. I'm allowing the possibility that he might just close really strong. Then Lawrence had a huge fourth down stop on Charbonne. It's just those little moments of the game where their best players stepped up. Like Jake on a screen, the play before, it looked like he had more yards to pick up. I mean, these are what you think about when you're a Seahawks fan. I'm a quasi Seahawks fan now. What happened to me?

You don't get to claim that. Aren't you a Patriots fan?

You don't get to claim that. I jump on different teams depending on the year. This Patriots team was dead to me.

Before we even said. The Patriots start.

Losing a little bit and you jump ship. My great friend Chris Wesley, and they already made fun of me. I remember saying even as the Patriot's run was over, I was like, I'm not going to be as into it once, Brady's gone. Because I know it'll never be the same. What's the point of chasing that high? I mean, you're a Panthers fan, so you've had a tough week.

That's why you've been busy. That's how I was with KM. Once KM left, I'm a Panthers. Fans are a strong word.

Is how I'll put it. You've been busy. They got you just doing the whole podcast circuit. You did Mena's show. We should have coordinated me and Mena. It's maybe too much, Ruiz, for the people out there.

No, it's not enough. Do people need more? Yeah, they tried me out playing like Sarah McLauchlin music with the Sad Puppies. That's who I am.

It is tough. What is your opinion of the Here we go. Here we go. Sure. Yeah, Here we go. Do you hear it while you're walking around? Is it just like part of your life? It is mine at this point?

It is. I didn't really notice it until people started pointing it out. I always felt like Cam Newton had a weird one too. I'm partial to them, and I don't hate it.

Like everyone else does. Yeah, what were Cam? He was always high on my cadence rings. He had a nice, deep voice, but I can't think of him right off the top of my head. I think.

It was similar. I think it might have been, here we go. Yeah. No, no. It was like, ready. It was something like that.

Ready. He bit it nice and deep. And Dax just got that bass. Yeah, it really started for me in the RAMS game. I don't know why I didn't notice it before then. I still want to get on Pete Carroll before we go. Just because of the way they've built this team. As I see Jamal Adams getting pressures, but not really finishing the play on those blitzes. And when I see him in position, but not doing anything about the ball when the ball's in the air and they're throwing it to Jake Ferguson to win the game. There were other plays like that. I think about what they gave up for Adams. I know he's gotten hurt. Wagner has been good, but he'll get frozen a little bit in coverage on that first touchdown, he's not even moving. Then Darryl Taylor is bouncing off him. I just think of all the picks and they traded that pick for Leonard Williams, the second round pick. I just think they came into this game 23rd in D. V. O. A. I know it's the Cowboys, but the Cowboys looked as good or better against this defense than they've looked against anyone.

That net number is going to go down to like 26th. It's a defensive coach. They've been above average one time, Steven, since 2017 in terms of D. V. O. A. They were 13th that year in the COVID year. Even that year, it's not like they were great. I don't know. I don't really believe in building around defense anyways, but they've put too much into it to me for this whole thing to make any sense because the often... You've got a good quarterback, but you don't have a top five quarterback. You need your defense and running game to help out.

Yeah, it's tough. I think Pete Carroll is a good head coach, but I agree with... It's like the Belichick thing where you got to separate the coach from the.

Team builder. I think he's a good coach too, and it's not a total thing. It's just their defense is disappointing. It's very often less than the sum of their parts. He's a defensive coach, so it's never more than the sum of their parts. You would think just by randomness, they would luck into a number six defense season one of these years, but they don't. I'm really surprised they're below average. I'm surprised.

No, and that was the point I was going to make. I think the thing that we overrate with Carroll maybe is his defensive mastery or whatever you want to call it. I think that's the overrated part. I think the way he motivates the locker room and keeps a team together, I think that's the secret stuff. But his best defense is, I mean, give me five Hall of Famers and I can give you a top 15 defense at least. Earl Thomas said he had Richard Sherman, and that wasn't even how his reputation was built. His reputation was built on the 90s, 49ers who had 10 Hall of Famers on their roster.

Well, he did it at USC, too, and it was the right defense for that time.

They had talent on that team.

Too, though. Right. And it's the Belchick-Brady argument. It's the Walsh, like Montane. It's always symbiotic. That's football. He was the right coach for those groups of players. And he was right to target certain body types. And he hit the lottery and he maxed it out, except for finishing out that Super Bowl against the Patries. But he maxed it out. But that was a five-year run in the defense. It's no longer happening. By the.

Way, did you notice the moment that they had fourth and one at the end of the half? No. They threw it. Seattle threw it again. It was fourth and one. And they threw the slant. It was the same route combination, too. They threw the slant. Gino defeated the slant. Russ couldn't complete it. Difference in the Super Bowl.

Right. Man, now I forget because I was running around at one point and then caught back up. The Seahawks also ran the same concept as the Patriots go-ahead touchdown in the Super Bowl. I mean, the Cowboys ran the same concept, right? Against the Seahawkses. But basically, the Patriots had run to go ahead. It was a fun little vintage night. We got Dan Quinn. We got it off. This is beautiful. We didn't have a punt. We got all these penalties. This was it. This was the game to have Steven Ruiz on.

I appreciate it.

Steven, where can we check out your work? I know where. It's The Ringer. What days are your podcast on? Give me the lowdown.

Wednesdays and Monday mornings.

Okay. In The Ringer NFL feed, you've got the quarterback rankings.

-outstanding -Yeah, those are on Wednesday.

We should have a quarterback rankings off between you and our new QB index writer, nick Shook.

I read his every week. I keep an eye on the competition.

Oh, yeah. He's great. And hes just like, he helps us out on our Sunday nights because, look, you've been doing this while he's been doing it a while now too, but just started the QB thing, but he's bigger than you. He's just like a intimidating looking guy. He's huge.

All right, then his quarterback ratings are the best.

Just know that. No, I just wanted you to know because you probably never seen him. Just check out, we call him The Pipe, just check out his little ABI. But yeah, people should check out Steven. I've been following his work now for a while. Steven is young, and yet now he's a veteran. He's been in the game a while, and people should read everything he writes and check him out on the podcast. That will do it for tonight. It was a fun one.

It was a great one. It wasit was great talking to you about it.

Steven Ruiz's week is over, but the podcast never ends. We will be back on Sunday with The Flagship show. Until then, lead the call.