JB's Sports Podcast
JB's Sports Podcast
The Quarterback Crisis: From Burrow's Season Ending Injury to Arch Manning's Massive Struggles
Everything changes in an instant. This week, I'm flying solo to break down a weekend that reshaped both college football and the NFL landscape in dramatic ways.
The college football slate delivered revelations about who's for real and who's just pretending. Georgia and Tennessee gave us an instant classic that came down to a missed field goal and Kirby Smart's surprisingly candid post-game admission. Meanwhile, Arch Manning's continued struggles at Texas force us to confront an uncomfortable question: what if the heir to football's most prestigious name simply isn't good enough? I dive into Ohio State's emerging star running back with the perfect name—Lamar "Bo" Jackson—and why Dabo Swinney's stubbornness might be ending Clemson's dynasty before our eyes.
Then comes the NFL bombshell that's left my co-host in mourning: Joe Burrow's season-ending injury just as Cincinnati finally achieved their elusive 2-0 start. I explore the cruel reality of having your entire franchise built around one irreplaceable player, and how quickly hope can vanish. From Seattle exposing Pittsburgh's defensive flaws to Patrick Mahomes and the Chiefs shockingly starting 0-2 after losing to Philadelphia, Week 2 may force several teams to reevaluate everything.
The most surprising development? Daniel Jones looking like a legitimate quarterback for Indianapolis, while second year guys like Caleb Williams and JJ McCarthy (now injured) struggle to find their footing. Football's delicate balance between success and failure has never been more evident than in this pivotal weekend that might have changed trajectories for the entire season.
welcome back to the JV sports podcast. Today is Tuesday, september 16th, and we are back for another podcast. If you've been listening for a while, I'm not usually the person that does the intros for the pod, but you know, jace, my podcast mate slash brother I'm not sure which comes first these days, but I was more of a joke than anything but as of recently he's going through a little bit of a morning state, morning period, for reasons If you've been listening for a while, you understand. If not, I will definitely more than bring it up and like kind of lay it out later as to why. So he wasn't really feeling it today, but the pod still goes on.
Speaker 1:I still got to get one out reacting to everything that happened this past weekend. So I said I'll handle the load and unfortunately you guys have to take the brunt of that because you, if you are going to listen to the, you have to listen to me ramble on for a little while. So I'm going to try to keep it shorter and sweeter, not necessarily go too long about anything in particular, but I'm going to try. But I can't promise anything because you know, sometimes I just kind of go where my heart takes me and if it takes me into a rant on something, it'll take me into a rant, me. And if it takes me into a rant on something, it'll take me into a rant. So if you want to like piece this up and like kind of listen to it piece by piece, if it's a longer one, I'm. However you want to do it, it's fine. As long as you like rate and do all that, and you know, listen, I will take it however I can get it. So, without further ado, let me go ahead and just kind of get into things, because there is nobody to stop me. So let's just go ahead and start.
Speaker 1:So I'll go ahead and start with the reacting to all the college ball stuff that happened this past weekend and honestly, it was a very coming into the weekend. It was like a very good slate and we were like, oh, there's gonna be a lot of good games that will really tell us all a lot about, a lot about these teams in general. Because think about, to a certain certain extent, the first one, two, three weeks of the season, not every team is out there playing the best team, other best teams out there and they're playing a few cupcakes, but week three of this year was where a lot of teams that hadn't really played anybody yet are starting to play maybe their own schedule a little bit early because kind of getting into their own conference schedule, or if they're setting up a big matchup with a non-conference opponent, it's usually happening this third week. So at least it's how it kind of turned out for this third week of the season. So, coming into it, we're like, hey, there's gonna be a lot of teams we're gonna have some answers on based on how these games go. And it really was from an all-day affair, so from the start of games at around noon up until the very late game, saturday and saturday night it was. There was a lot of things going on. There was something intriguing in every time slot of college football for that college ball saturday, if you were sitting there watching it all. And I had a very good fun, a very fun time doing it. And I'll just kind of go through some of the games that kind of caught my eye and obviously the big ones that obviously are very important. So before I get to those, let me start with Ohio State, just to get that out of the way. How they won their game. I think that was a 3 30 game, but I know it was a 7 o'clock game, so I had to wait pretty much all day for my game to happen, even though it was against a team like Ohio, a team that Ohio State should win. I think there were 30-point favorites in this matchup. It didn't look great the first half.
Speaker 1:The second half Ohio State started to open it up a little bit, just offensively. They were just a little clunky. If they were to, you know, um pay, get into the red, they got to the red zone like three or four times and kind of only came out with points like once. If they were to get get more points in those in those spots where they got into the red zone, especially in that first half, the score would have been a lot different. But it wasn't necessarily easy.
Speaker 1:Ohio played a very. It wasn't a defense, but it was structured and they didn't let any big. They didn't like let. They weren't stupid, like like. The players knew what they were trying to do and they did it as best they could. And when Ohio State did go out there and get the big plays to score touchdowns, it was because those players were out. They were outperforming the players that ohio has in their roster right and with that it was there they weren't going to be like, uh, the week before, when I say ohio state played grambling, it was jeremiah smith sitting there by himself in the middle of the field with nobody around him. Like that is different than him just being Jeremiah Smith against a player that doesn't have the same talent as him.
Speaker 1:So I think in Ohio, even though they don't necessarily have the same amount of talent that Ohio State does defensively which is where Ohio State had more of the trouble, because when it comes to Ohio State's defense against Ohio's offense, the Ohio State defense looked great. There was really only one big play that Ohio got this whole game. That was a touch. I think it was like a 70 or 80-yard touchdown play based off of our nickel corner, not necessarily doing what he had to do. He kind of got beat on a play big. But other than that, ohio State's defense really kind of like controlled the whole game.
Speaker 1:It was really offensive where Ohio State had a little bit of struggle, especially in the red zone. I know I said I wasn't going to go too long on this, but I did. It's the last non-con game for Ohio State. They're going to have it by this upcoming weekend and then they start their Big Ten schedule, not this weekend but next weekend, going out to Washington on the road. So it was a point where everything's been going great for Ohio State, their offense, the defense, and it was a kind of little bit of a taste of dose of reality for them. It's like, hey, if you don't do everything you got to do, you don't do what you got to do. In the red zone things can be a little bit. Even though you know you're going to beat them, it probably doesn't look the way you want it to look. And I think Ohio State's offense got a dose of that.
Speaker 1:Julian Sand threw a couple picks. I think one was truly on him where he kind of like, where he threw the ball when he was getting sacked, he tried to throw it out, throw out of the sack and then he threw it right into a defensive lineman's hands. And then the other one I won't put on him it was his ball that he was throwing to his tight end, got tipped to the line of scrimmage and then went right into an Ohio player's hands. And I think that those two, those are things he can learn from. So Jeremiah Smith did great. He had a couple of touchdowns in this game, I think offensively like other than those picks that Julian Sand had and then the struggles in the red zone where they couldn't get Pater into the. I think both times they had two drives where they ended the drive within the five-yard line of the end zone, within five yards of the end zone, and they couldn't make touchdowns out of it. Once they went four-on-four with down and didn't work out, and then the other times they got within the the 10 yard line in the red zone. A couple of times they ended up going for field goals instead of going for touchdowns. So I think that's something they can learn from. They'll be able to take this by week and kind of learn from those things and then hopefully by the time they go and play Washington in a couple of weeks they'll be ready to go and have some real answers as to how they're going to have a better time in the red zone getting touchdowns instead of being forced for field goals. And I think against Ohio not a big deal, but against some of the better opponents Ohio State's going to end up playing on their schedule. It can be a lot worse.
Speaker 1:Like I said, jeremiah Smith did great. Carnell Tate had a great game. Jeremiah went nine of nine receptions, 153 yards in the touchdown. He also had a rushing touchdown as well. He got what he. He did whatever he had to do. They managed to give him the ball a lot. Carnell Tate got a big touchdown. I think he had like 11 targets, something like. I think he had like 10 targets, I think, or eight targets. He got a touchdown. I think he had like 10 targets, I think, or eight targets. He got a touchdown. I think he had like 101 yards off five receptions, got the tight ends involved. But this is the one guy I wanted to talk about real quick before I move on to the games that truly mattered and really made an impact on the college football landscape.
Speaker 1:Lamar Bo Jackson is a freshman running back for Ohio State that if again the name itself is absolutely like legit right, you have to think that his parents were like future. They had a crystal ball and could tell the future because not only having the middle name Bo like Bo Jackson being the running, the very famous multi-sport athlete that he was, especially as a running back, he was awesome in his day but the first name Lamar, having Lamar Jackson be his name and be by name, kind of like, oh, lamar Jackson, who is a very great athlete and a great quarterback in the NFL right now. It's almost like a what do they call it? It's almost like a fortune teller type of thing. It's almost like they knew before they actually knew. But he is an amazing freshman running back. I think he has two weeks in a row where he has over 100 yards rushing. And no offense to the other running backs.
Speaker 1:We have on our roster James Peoples, who was like the guy coming into the season that everybody was very excited to see. He's in his sophomore season. Everybody was thinking he was going to be the guy to kind of come out. And then they picked up another guy, cj Donaldson, the West Virginia transfer. That was the kind of like two-back tandem that Ohio State was going with coming into the season. But this guy, bo Jackson man again, the name itself is just so enticing to say. But he is emerging, he looks different and he kind of gives me a feeling that, especially as a freshman running back, that I got with, you know, with um, with Henderson when he was a freshman at Ohio state and with Zeke when he was a freshman at Ohio state. Like, those freshman running backs just kind of have a different gear to them. They just look a little bit different and they just look like instant superstars and it's just like that was the feeling I got watching this guy play, and I think the coaching staff is really making that happen too. I think he had the most carries of all the running backs um on our squad in this game. So like they are getting more and more used to the idea that even though we have two running backs that are a little bit more veteran on our squad, bo Jackson is really starting to take more and more carries away from those guys because he is just that dude and if he can really turn into the running back that can make this offense so much scarier. With a running back like this, I think it could take Ohio State to even greater heights than they already had, with having Jeremiah Smith, the best offensive player in football, and Carnell Tate, one of the best, a number one receiver anywhere else in college football. He's the number two on this team. Like even with all and of all the tight ends we have, like all the options we have, um on the team. Adding a running back of that caliber to like what what potentially he can be to this squad can be very scary for the rest of college football.
Speaker 1:I went to way too long on that. I think I'm like 15, like 10 minutes on that. But I know again, when it comes to Ohio State, I'm a freak about it. I'm a fanatic Fan is short for fanatic. And when it comes to Ohio State, that's me.
Speaker 1:Let's go ahead and go on to the other games. Penn State destroyed Villanova, even though it looked very weird to start the game Again, penn State took care of business by the end of it pulled away, but it was just a very weird, weird game. I'm kind of just going through all these games by their ranking, because that's where I look at on ESPN. It kind of has it listed that way. So I'm just going to kind of go as I go on this because I'm not just sitting there looking for games in the actual chronological order that they were came in.
Speaker 1:Um, let's go with LSU.
Speaker 1:Florida.
Speaker 1:Lsu won that game 20 to 10.
Speaker 1:What do I say? Um, lsu offensively still doesn't look great. They haven't been great for pretty much the whole season. Now I think they looked a little bit better against Clemson in the second half, but outside of that LSU's offense is still a little bit of a clunker, even though coming into the year with their junior or senior guy, garrett Nussmeyer, coming back, everybody was like their offense, especially with the wide receivers that they have. Everybody was like, hey, this should be a very productive and fun offense to watch. They have not been that. This should be a very productive and fun offense to watch. They have not been that and it's really been like a slog for the most part with that squad when it comes to their offense. But their defense, in comparison to what they've been the last few years, this is probably the best their defense has looked in a while and most of their defense is transfers that they've brought in. But they have been the right transfers. They kind of put the right things together and their defense has been looking a lot better in comparison to what they have been the last few years. It kind of just makes you think what if they managed to get a defense of at least how it looks so far with the defense that they had when Jaden Daniels was the quarterback of the squad and he was winning the Heisman Trophy, what could they have done if their defense was close to what they look like now, which is one of those if-ands that you can kind of fantasize about as what could have been.
Speaker 1:But back to the game. Florida was awful. Dj Lagway, the quarterback for Florida, was awful. I think he had like five picks in this game. He went 33 or 49 for 287, a touchdown and five picks. If he would have thrown like three or four less picks he only threw like one or two picks in this game I think Florida probably would have won this game based off of how bad LSU was offensively in this game. It's just because, like where DJ Lagway was throwing these picks, he was on Florida's I mean LSU side of the field. Like they were able to move the ball up and down the field, but it was just when the field was condensed, when they were getting into the red zone, when they were going to LSU side of this field, lagway was just making a lot of bad mistakes and it just led to a lot of picks. He threw five picks in this game. So if you just do a few less picks, I feel like Florida probably could have won this game.
Speaker 1:Even though Florida has looked awful this season. They've had really bad losses and, to be honest, I don't think their coach is probably going to last much longer. Based on how the squad is playing and you combine that with the schedule that they have, coming up where it's like a very, very hard schedule that they have, I just think that their coach, billy Napier, is not going to be long for that job. I think they're going to fire him pretty soon sooner, if not later, especially since Florida has such a talented squad and it looks like that it's being squandered right now. And I think that firing a coach nowadays is a lot harder than it used to be because you have to pay players, obviously with the transfer portal and the fact they're getting paid NIL money, so it makes it a lot harder to pay the crazy buyouts for coaches to go away right, because when you pay the buyout, you're just paying them to not coach with your team anymore.
Speaker 1:But I think he has been so bad as the coach for Florida that they may just eat it, because that's how bad it's been and it's not looking there's. No, this is his fourth year there and it hasn't looked any better. And he has the quarterback that everybody wanted in DJ Lagway so talented, but he's looked, he's regressing and it's just nothing's going Florida's way and I just don't think it's going to get any better. So the fact that LSU, even with everything going their way, only beat Florida by 10. And this was in LSU's house at night where it's like the much, very hard for anybody to play there, I think it's an indictment that Ellis on LSU's offense, that they couldn't make this more of a um, a slanted affair makes, makes it look better. They couldn't make it look any better based off of what their defense was able to do and there isn't.
Speaker 1:The offense has a lot of growing to do and I think one of the reporters it was the first question that they asked, but it was the very first question, but the first thing after, when the reporter asked hey, what's going on with the offense? And Brian Kelly freaks out on him and says it's a bad question and all that. And I think is it right for Chip Kelly to freak out on him? Probably not, but I also think the reporter probably could have done a little better. If you wanted to get an answer on that, you probably should have asked that later on, if not, maybe a few days later in the week Maybe you might get a better answer. But right after a win I don't think a coach really wants to sit there and the first question being asked being like, hey, what's wrong with your team? So I see it on both sides. I think Brian Kelly probably could have handled a little better and, like you know, kind of brush it off without freaking out. But you know that's Brian Kelly. For you that's pretty much how he's been his whole career.
Speaker 1:Oregon beat Northwestern, going away. I think Oregon had to go to Northwestern but they took care of business 34 to 14. Miami, south Florida everybody was coming into this game because South Florida had beaten Boise State and they beat Florida last week and everybody's like, oh, what if South Florida can pull the upset against Miami? That never got close to happening. Miami took care of business. Like I said last week is that they're going to have Miami's attention and Miami was going to take them seriously and it wasn't going to happen in the way that it happened when South Florida played Florida and have it be that way. It wasn't going to be close. Miami didn't make it close. They won 49 to 12. Carson Beck their quarterback looks like potentially a Heisen candidate based on how he's played so far this year. He's being efficient, he's getting the ball out out, um, he's getting the ball out and he's getting it to his playmakers that are playing very good football. I do question what will happen when they play better defenses, but I just think, as of right now, miami is playing very good ball and Carson Beck is playing out of his mind football right now.
Speaker 1:Next game Georgia and Tennessee. They played each other. That was one of the bigger, crazier games of the day. Hold on, let me take a drink here. Okay, where was I? Crazier game of the day Georgia won the game 44 to 41.
Speaker 1:It was a back and forth affair. I actually probably didn't start out that way. First half ended with at halftime, I think Tennessee was up 20. Like it was a point in the in the first half where Tennessee was up 21 to seven and in that second quarter Georgia kind of came back, scored 10 points to make it 21, 17. And then the second half was pretty much a back and forth affair with, and it kind of my question about Georgia coming into this game was was their offense going to be able to put up enough explosive plays to keep up with Tennessee and that's exactly what Georgia's offense did, especially in the once it kind of woke up in the second quarter. Georgia just kept fighting back and, even though I think Tennessee's offense is very, they just kept hitting knockout punch after knockout punch against a Georgia defense where Georgia's defense did not look great in this game. They were letting Tennessee score and Tennessee was scoring very big plays. Brazel, their wide receiver, had six receptions for 177 yards and three touchdowns. He was going off. Joey Aguilar, the quarterback for Tennessee, went 24-36 for 371 and four touchdowns.
Speaker 1:Tennessee was having their way offensively, to Georgia's credit. They were coming back, they were making big plays. I think their quarterback, who I had a lot of questions about whether he can be like that dude he went 23 or 31 for 304 yards, two touchdowns, zero picks. He hit some of the big plays that they asked him to hit, but they wasn't like they. Really. It wasn't like they opened up the offense at all. They had a few big plays they managed to get in this game but their bread and butter was still a lot of short throws and stuff going down the field. But again it worked. So I really can't fault them for that. But on top of them being able to make big plays. When it comes to the passing game, they were able to run the football effectively. They had 198 yards total rushing for Georgia in this game. So they ran the football well, including Stockton who had like 38 yards rushing and a touchdown, and Georgia just kind of kept coming back.
Speaker 1:Man, and I think, especially at the end of this game where Tennessee had the opportunity to hit the field goal going away, it was tied. Where Tennessee had the opportunity to hit the field goal going away, it was tied. All they had to do is hit the field goal and they win the game. And the the coach, the Tennessee coach, put it on their kicker. The kicker was looked terrified, he did not look ready for the moment and he he wasn't ready for the moment. Again, it wasn't a chip shot by any means, but it was definitely within his within reach of his leg. It it wasn't a chip shot by any means, but it was definitely within reach of his leg. It wasn't like a 60-yarder, it was like a 40-something yarder. And he hit it wide right. And then Georgia had their chance in overtime to come back and do their thing. And what did Georgia do? But come out and well, tennessee had the ball first in overtime, they weren't able to get into the end zone. And then Georgia kind of got the ball and kind of did their thing, got into the end zone and the game's over.
Speaker 1:And Kirby this is my biggest point about this game Kirby came out after this game was over and they were doing the end game interview and one of the first things he said is that, like, tennessee was a great team today and they deserved to win this game. And this is where I started grinding my gears a little bit, because I remember him saying that when Ohio State played them back in 2020, was it 2022, yeah, 2022 CJ's last year where Ohio State took them to the brink and all that happened? I'm not going to go and rehash it, but Ohio State had the opportunity on that night it was New Year's Eve to hit the field goal, to win the game, and they didn't. And the first thing Kirby came out and said is that Ohio State was better team today. They deserve to win. And, on one hand, my thought is the first thing I thought was like man, that shows a lot of humility, that a coach is willing to say that when that happens, because I think Tennessee played better that day. They probably deserved to win that game. But I think that with that also, on the other hand, that could be taken as kirby kind of rubbing it in the other team's face, saying, haha, you guys fuck that up, huh, and that was like what kind of got in my head where I'm like man. That's on one hand. Again, I'm not gonna sit here and say that kirby was like on purpose, kind of like rubbing it in, but I don't think he really thinks that way. But it can be taken either way. I'm not gonna lie to you, especially when I was on the other, on the on the other side of that at one point, with Kirby saying that and I will take him at his word that he does believe that the other team played better and again, like Ohio State did that day, ohio State played better than Georgia that day and they they should have won that game but it didn't happen. And just like for that game against Tennessee on Saturday, tennessee probably deserved to win that. But I think it kind of like you have to give Georgia their credit is that as many knockout punches that Tennessee tried to throw, georgia kept getting up and kept getting up and took advantage of their opportunities until it was finally ready for them to go and take it, and they took it, and I think that is something that Tennessee needs to learn how to do. Still, tennessee hasn't beat Georgia in like eight years or something like that, especially under this coaching staff. That hasn't happened.
Speaker 1:And I think to a certain extent, when you compare Hypel, who was the coach for Tennessee, and Kirby Smart, who was the coach for Georgia, hypel needs to make the choices and have his team ready to take advantage of the moments when they arise, and they didn't take advantage of the moments that arose that day against Georgia. And guess what Georgia did? Kirby being the coach, he is winning multiple national titles. They know how to finish games, they know how to take advantage of the moment when it comes, and that's exactly what they did and I have to give them all the credit for that. But again, it still pissed me off when he said the other team deserved to win because it just it like. It's like a flashback in my it's like PTSD takes me back to when he said it against Ohio State that night, new Year's Eve. Oh, my god, it's like is seared into my brain. Very, very awful experience for me as an Ohio State fan. Okay, going to the next game. Very, very good for Georgia.
Speaker 1:I think Georgia and Tennessee both look like playoff teams. By the way, great win for Georgia. I think Tennessee kind of like. They prove themselves to be that caliber of team. Whether they can win the big one is a different question altogether, but they are definitely a caliber of team that deserves to be in the playoff at some point. And as long as they take care of their business the rest of the year, I have no doubt they'll probably be there Next game. I do have to mention this because, even though it doesn't really matter in the long run, texas played UTEP. They beat them 27 to 10. Texas did beat UTEP, but I have to kind of mention this Arch Manning's kind of.
Speaker 1:I have to start entertaining the idea that arch manning is actually bad and I know I amongst like all of the people out there. You know obviously I'm not sitting here talking to the whole world, but you've been listening to me for a while and whenever I've talked about arch I'm like hey, has he done anything? I've been kind of like the arch truther of the podcast. I think jace has to. To a certain extent, when he talks about him it's like what other than his name has garnered him to have all the hype he has had ever since he was a high schooler.
Speaker 1:And now this year was his opportunity to kind of make pay dirt on that. Like it was his time to be the starter at the university of Texas and show out and be that dude, be a Manning, right. That what everybody has been asking for him to be ever since he was a high school. And he was the number one overall recruit coming out of high school. And while at the time people were questioning like, hey, if he's that dude, why is he playing in a lower tier of football and not winning championships? Why doesn't he look like, like, even though he's more talented than everybody here? Why is the production not there? Like there were real questions of him coming out of high school and everybody brushed it off and said he was number one guy, he's a Manning. He's had all the training in the world, he's been groomed since he was a young child to be this guy, to be the next heir, apparent quarterback of that family, and it was his time it's.
Speaker 1:He started out this season with it being his time to make pay dirt, pay dirt on that and be that dude. And it hasn't happened. And I tried to give him some credit after the Ohio State game and say, hey, maybe he was nervous, may it was playing, it's a very good Ohio State defense. Maybe he was just he was lost and he wasn't ready to go. He'll get better throughout the year and they have played absolutely awful teams since then and it has still looked very bad again against UTEP.
Speaker 1:Let me give you this um, this was his, this passing, his um, his stats against UTEP. Utep he went 11 of 25 for 114 yards and one touchdown and one pick. Again, he did have two touchdowns rushing, nine carries, 51 yards and two touchdowns. But when I went back and watched all the throws that he had against UTEP, there was a lot of plays to be made, a lot of throws to be made. There was some open guys that he was missing all over the place he threw. That pick he had against UTEP was bad. He threw it straight to a UTEP player. His mechanics are bad.
Speaker 1:He doesn't know how to read the field, at least from what it seems to me. I'm not going to sit here and be I'm not a quarterback expert by any means. But, like from what little I know, it doesn't look like he looks comfortable playing the position of in a of the quarterback at Texas very well right now. He looks lost. He looks like he doesn't know how to throw, like all of it, even though I know he's probably been.
Speaker 1:He's been trained for so many years by the people that know how to play quarterback the best. If you're talking about a family that knows the quarterback position the best, he comes from that family. Both of his uncles were NFL guys. Obviously, if you don't know the story of the Mannings, like, what have you been doing Hiding under the rock over the last 20-something years? But he comes from a family that knows how to train quarterbacks and ever since he first got his opportunity this year to go and show it all off, it has not looked good whatsoever.
Speaker 1:It's looked awful and I think because of this I really do have to start questioning like, could he be certifiable ass? And I know that it has and I know that it has to be like a. It comes off as being a little funny, but it's true, man, if you've watched him play at all this season, these last three games, his first three games of the year. I don't know how that question hasn't came up in any. Like every person that's seen him this year, I don't know how that's not a question that comes up in your brain because it's been that bad and it's been so bad. I'm just not sure how he's not not a question that comes up in your brain because it's been. It's been that bad and it's been so bad. I'm just not sure how he's going to fix it.
Speaker 1:I think he's probably gonna be at Texas for another year and I think to a certain extent he probably needs to get sat down at some point to kind of just even if I'm not sure, if he's injured I'm not sure what it is, but his head coach, steve Sarkeesian, is like giving him all the backing in the world, cause I do think that again he's not only under the pressure of his own fan base that believed in arch for the last two years while he was sitting on the bench, but he's also under the same pressure of the Manning family dude, you'd think they don't have a direct line to that dude's. That dude's phone they have. They have taken the most control over this manning situ, this whole situation around arch, as much as they can, and I just think if he makes any rash decision decision, the manning family will come calling, and I do think that he has that to think about too. So he's backing arch 100, but at some point Arch has to hold up his end of the bargain and he hasn't done that as of yet. I'm going to leave him some room to potentially change everybody's mind, but three weeks into the season we really have to entertain the question as if he might be awful. We might have to. I'm willing to have my mind changed. I really am, because the worse that this Texas team looks, it makes the win that Ohio State got against them. It makes that win look worse. So, believe me, I want Texas to be awesome because it makes Ohio State look that much better in the long run. But it's just not happening and it makes me question some things, like most people, if you've been watching in-cost football at all Texas A&M-Notre Dame this one was the nightcap game that was like awesome. Texas A&M won the game 41-40.
Speaker 1:This one was a back-and-forth affair. Coming into this game, I was thinking that both of these, like Texas A&M's defense was known to be pretty bad this season, I think they were like ranked last in the whole all the SEC for their defensive stats the first two games of the year. So I was questioning whether their defense would show up to play in this game. But I was definitely a lot more confident in the Notre Dame defense, but their defense didn't show up play in this game. But I was definitely a lot more confident in the Notre Dame defense but their defense didn't show up either in this game. Both offenses really kind of took control of things. Um, and it was a really back and forth affair throughout the game. There was a point in the first half where, like I don't, I don't I again my remembrance of this game might be a little hazy because my Ohio State game was happening at the same time and I don't care what game is happening when Ohio State's playing my, I'm locked into Ohio State. But I did go back and watch like, watch, like recap of the game and it really was a back and forth affair.
Speaker 1:Marcel Reed, the quarterback for Texas A&M, didn't have an efficient day but it was explosive though. He had 360 yards, two touchdowns and a pick. He went 17 of 37. Wasn't efficient, but he got the plays out there and there's a lot of big plays made, but there were some missed too. So the fact that he had 360 yards passing in this game and he had some very open dudes that he also missed shows how dynamic this offense truly was against Notre Dame's defense. They ran the ball effectively. Texas A&M did. They had 128 yards off 32 carries. They ran the ball well. Their receivers were very explosive Mario Craver seven receptions, 207 yards and a touchdown Concepcion. The other wide receiver for them had 82 yards off, four receptions. So, like Texas A&M offensively was absolutely insane and they got the. At the end of the game they had an opportunity to go and hit the field goal to end it and they did and it was like a like again, back and forth man and I think to Notre Dame's credit, their offense came to play CJ Carr 20 of 32, 293 yards, one touchdown, one pick. They ran the football effectively. Jeremiah Love got involved. He had 23 carries for 94 yards and a touchdown.
Speaker 1:Their rushing offense is not close to as dynamic as you would think it would be coming into the year. Everybody thought Notre Dame's offensive line would be okay coming into the year. It has not been. It's been a little bit more of a struggle. They don't run the football as effectively as they did last year. But Jeremiah Love and Jadarian Price, their two running back system, they're very good. Jadarian Price 12 carries, 68 yards, two touchdowns. Like they both averaged four or five yards a carry, so like they ran effectively. But it wasn't as easy as you think it would be.
Speaker 1:Coming into the game, coming into the year, their rushing offense hasn't necessarily been easy. They've thrown the football well Like. It's just they can't. They haven't been able to get over the hump. Notre Dame's at home. You would think that their defense will be able to get a couple stops to kind of give them the opportunity to go ahead and win this game. And they just couldn't get the stops when they needed it. And this is Notre Dame coming off a bye, like they had that first game loss against Miami, had a bye and then kind of came into this game and their defense was nowhere to be found, like they didn't show up for this game whatsoever.
Speaker 1:So in Notre Dame's case, it's going to be very hard for them to come back and make the playoff now, especially since the rest of their schedule doesn't look nearly as good as it has in years past. These are the toughest games in their schedule and they've lost them both. The rest of their schedule is Purdue at Arkansas, boise State, nc State, usc, boston College, navy, pitt, syracuse and Stanford. The best game left in their schedule is USC. So maybe if they're 10-2 at the end of the year, maybe they might have an opportunity based on some brand bias, and if they play USC and beat them, maybe that'll be an impressive win by the time the year's over. But USC is barely a ranked team in the AP, and in the AP it's very easy to either be a ranked team or a non-ranked team. Because of how bad that's been. We're not going to go down that route.
Speaker 1:But it's an uphill battle for the Notre Dame squad that everybody thought was good, like. This is going to be their year to kind of come out and like, do some things. And it has not looked all that good, especially defensively. But all the credit to texan m, though. They haven't had a win like this in a while and I think this is, like might be one of those wins that kind of can catapult that team, that football program, into being that team. They probably need to be All that money going through that program. They should be one of the top teams in the SEC. Every year they have a coach that looks like he can kind of coach them up into being the team they should be and they kind of made it happen for the first time in a few years. So you have to give them a lot of credit for going in and beating Notre Dame at their place. It was a very big win for them. Next games I want to talk about Illinois beat Western. It doesn't really matter.
Speaker 1:Vanderbilt beat South Carolina. I did mention this game last week on the preview show. I wasn't necessarily all in on Vanderbilt winning this game because I thought South Carolina with their quarterback Lenora Sellers, I thought he'd be able to make enough big plays for them to win the game. He got knocked out of this game early. It wasn't like they were getting beat before he got knocked out, so it wasn't like everything was going great. He gets knocked out and then Vanderbilt kind of rolls. But Vanderbilt was commanding this game from start to finish for the most part and then once Lenora Sellers kind of went out, it only got worse from there Because, like I did say, south Carolina is like a two-man team, like seriously, they have Lenora Sellers, the quarterback on one side they don't really have a lot of wide receivers to really like rely on that you really think could be those dudes to help him out.
Speaker 1:And then defensively, all they have on that side of the ball is Dylan Stewart, the very, very, very good defensive end. I think he's a sophomore. That he's like awesome. But like outside of that they have a lot of new dudes and not none of them look all that talented by comparison. So coming to this game like it was very odd. Like watching this game it was very obvious that Vanderbilt was just the better overall football team um Diego Pavia, their starting quarterback. That's been in college forever. Like I said before, he went 18 to 25, 177 yards and two touchdowns. They controlled the clock, they ran the football okay. They went 146 yards rushing. They threw the football efficiently. This did enough to like control this game from start to finish, like exactly what they did.
Speaker 1:And being vanderbilt, who is widely known as like the worst sec like program in college football, at least in the SEC, even this year, they just have a lot of football players that are older, they know what they're doing. Their quarterback is veteran. He's been through a lot in college football and I think with that they know how to win football games. And if you're not going to be able to come in and bring your best effort and your best play, vanderbilt can get you and South Carolina're not going to be able to come in and bring your best effort and your best play. Vanderbilt can get you and South Carolina's not the most talented team out there and Vanderbilt managed to get the win and they were just a better football team. I do question what will happen when they face a team that's a lot more talented than them. But I just think, even like you, look at what they did last year against a team like Alabama, who's year in, year out, going to be more talented than a team like Vanderbilt, and Vanderbilt won the game last year. So I'm just like talent isn't everything, but it is a lot, and South Carolina did not have that much more talent than what Vanderbilt has, so Vanderbilt kind of took advantage of the situation and they won the football game going away. All the credit to them.
Speaker 1:Give me a second here next. Sorry if you were here for the nfl stuff. I have a couple more games left and then we'll get on to that stuff. This one was probably this game might have brought me the most joy to watch all day, other than Ohio State. Obviously, this game might have brought me the most joy to watch from start to finish.
Speaker 1:Number 12, clemson loses to Georgia Tech 24-21. And I was high on Georgia Tech coming into the year. But when push came to shove, in the episode I had last week where I was giving a preview on the game, I defaulted to thinking of what Clemson is and what Clemson was looked at coming into the year and I said that Georgia Tech has enough to win this game. But I think Clemson was looked at coming into the year and I said that Georgia Tech has enough to win this game, but I think Clemson will handle it. That's not what I believed in my heart. I let my brain take over because I'm like, hey, this is Clemson, right, this is Dabo, a multi-time national championship head coach. They have the veteran team, they have a veteran quarterback, they have all those NFL talent dudes on defense that came back. They're all veteran. They're wide receivers, they're they're all more veteran wide receivers that are talented, the guys they can still recruit, and they came to this year and they just have not played like that at all in any of the games that they have played. But yet I still believe them and I still believe them a little. I at least believed in them enough to not go all in on Georgia Tech winning that game like I wanted to. And Georgia Tech came in there and they just took Clemson's lunch money. Man, they took Clemson's lunch money Like well, clemson went into Georgia Tech's house and got their lunch money stolen.
Speaker 1:Let me start with Clemson and then I'll end it off with the winners here. Cade Klubnick, the guy that everybody thought was an NFL talent I think through three games this year he has shown you that there has been no growth from what it was last year, where he was struggling. Last year I think everybody got into their heads with that last game that they had in the playoff against Texas, where Cade Klubnick came out and had an awesome game against Texas and almost beat them. It was a very close game. Everybody had that lasting image in their head of Cade Klubnick being good and was like hey, if he can translate that over the offseason to a full season, not only can they be one of the best teams in college football, but Katie Klubnick can be a Heisman Trophy finalist and potentially a top five, like a top draft pick, because he has all the tools right. He has been certifiable garbage throughout this season so far, including in this game, he went 15 to 26 for 207 yards, one touchdown and one pick.
Speaker 1:Running the football they had, it seems like they had talented backs right like oh they, they ran actually decently well in this game. I think this is the only thing they really had going for them in this game. They went 35 carries total for 174 yards and two touchdowns, with Adam Randall as their most efficient one, with 15 carries, 80 yards and a touchdown. Cade also got him. He had to get 62 yards and a touchdown Receiving. They really don't have anybody. Bryant Wesko is the guy that everybody thinks is their best dude. He had 126 yards off, seven receptions and a touchdown.
Speaker 1:But here's my thing as much as this game was close, georgia Tech won the game on a game-winning field goal. At the end I think they had 15 seconds left. They had like a fire drill field goal. They had to like convert and all that and it happened and they won the game. This game should not have been that close. Georgia tech had a couple turnovers in this game. They had a couple fumbles and I think they had a pick. No, he didn't know, he didn't throw a pick, it was a fumble and it was something else. They had a couple turnovers in this game that kind of led to that led to this game being a lot closer than it probably should have been. So, okay, let me get the Georgia Tech first, and then I'll give my final thoughts on Clemson, at least for three games.
Speaker 1:Haynes King, the quarterback for Georgia Tech. He's an absolute warrior. Not only was he the leading passer obviously being their starting quarterback, he went 20 of 28 for 211 yards, zero touchdowns, zero picks, so he didn't throw the football in the other team's hands but he was also the leading rusher. He had 25 carries for 103 yards and a touchdown. And let me tell you this right now okay, there must be a rule for this squad that hands king is never allowed to get up on his own, ever again. I think that might be a rule for their town. I think he is going to be 70, like he's going to be 50 years old. One day. He's going to fall on the ground in the middle of the on the sidewalk in Georgia and somebody is going to notice him and they're going to want to go help him up, because it is going to be a mandate for anybody living where Georgia Tech is to make sure Haynes King never has to get himself up off the ground ever again Because he is so selfless. I don't know, in the world of NIL and all this, that and the other happening where there's going to be a quarterback coming into a squad that's going to be willing to do what Haynes King is doing to make this Georgia Tech team viable.
Speaker 1:I don't think this Georgia Tech team would be nearly as good if Haynes King wasn't doing, didn't have efforts like this. I'm not even sure Georgia Tech would be that good if not for him putting up the Herculean effort that he's putting up, not only passing the football but running the football. But he's doing it and he's their most effective player by far. He was there again when they got into the red zone. Everybody knew what was coming. It was Haynes King running that football and he did it multiple times over and he always ended up going forward. He never it felt like he never had a loss when he was trying to run the football and they controlled this football game from start to finish dude. And even though the game was close, it really wasn't. It didn't feel that way. Watching it Again, it was because of a couple turnovers that this game could have been a lot worse and Georgia Tech could have been winning this game by double digits. And it was because Haynes King was doing his thing that Georgia Tech made this happen and they just controlled this game.
Speaker 1:And I think Haynes king is an absolute warrior and there's not another player playing like this, taking on the workload that he is taking on. I don't think there's ever probably going to be a many players that are going to be doing this just like he is, because there's gonna be a lot of quarterbacks coming up from high school like they're. They're very entitled. It takes an amount of um watching him play. It takes a humbleness to not only humble himself and say, hey, maybe I'm not the crazy passer that can just sit back here and throw for 400 yards and win a football game, but he's willing to put his own body on the line for everybody around him and for that team to be able to be their most effective. Because he was hurting. You could tell by the middle of this game he was in pain, but every time he needed to go out there and play, it felt like he just turned it on and he went out there and made the play necessary, but then he looked like he was hurt again and he did it. Man, and I think all the credit to him that he is, he is the engine, that stir that makes that team go and he just keeps doing it, and all the credit to him. Man, he's an absolute warrior and takes this takes me back to clemson. Okay, all the credit, georgia tech.
Speaker 1:But this is my time to to um, take a victory lap on this, this coach named Dabo and this team. Okay, there was a time where Dabo was at the top of this sport, or near the top, because obviously Nick Saban was that dude for as long as he was at Alabama. But there was a few times where Dabo kind of nipped at their heels and he made it happen. Right, they win two national titles or one. I think Dabo's won two heels and he made it happen. Right, they went two national titles or one. I think dab was one too. How many national titles does dabbo have? He has two. Okay, he has two, and he has two national titles and he went to four. So like there was a time where, like, especially in those like 20 teens where it was hit them in Alabama, like really battling it out okay, and but I get so much pleasure in saying this game has passed Davos when he buy His Davos stubbornness in doing the things he wants to do.
Speaker 1:He doesn't want to deal with the transfer portal, he doesn't want to like, like all these things he doesn't want to do he doesn't want to do, he wants to do run Clemson how he wants to. It has been his downfall because not only do they not, they're not as effective when it comes to their recruiting as they once were. They're not getting the type of players they once did, but even the players they are getting, they're still getting talented players that come to their school, but they're not even getting developed the way they need to. Again, I was just talking about Cade Klubnick. He's a five-star dude. They have wide receivers on that team that are five-star guys and they don't look like five-star receivers. They have defensive players that are five stars and they don't look like the players they probably should be by now, especially being third and fourth year guys. And not only do they see that like they're not, they're.
Speaker 1:He's not taking advantage of the transfer portal and he's makes it very clear I run my team the way I want to, and that's one thing I'm not willing to do. And again, he added a couple guys in his transfer portal, but it's nowhere near probably what he should have gotten because of his own stubbornness, and I just think that this game has passed him by and if you're not willing to change with it, it's going to leave you behind. And I think that is exactly what has happened to Dabo. And I think he came out with some crazy statement today where, like, there's a lot of Clemson fans that want him out because they're kind of seeing that they're kind of like a stick in the mud while everything else is like kind of like going past them and the game is changing. He's not changing with it and they have some real concerns over Dabo being too stubborn in his ways. And Dabo comes out today and has this whole statement saying if you want me out, go ahead. If you don't want to win, get me out of here. Go ahead, because I know how to win in this game and I'll go somewhere else and win, because I'm only 55. I'll go win somewhere else. I'm not just going to go sit on a beach somewhere. If I'll go win somewhere else, I'm not just going to go sit on a beach somewhere.
Speaker 1:And I think the people that question Dabo and his stick-in-the-mud mentality on the changes in college football, they're valid. And I think Dabo for so long has hid behind his I hate to say his faith, because a lot of people hide behind their faith and don't really want to get into anything like actually, like serious or anything real. But I think him in general, I think he's done a lot more than most and I think he's kind of hid behind that. And if anything like real conversations happen, he either hides behind his faith or he kind of brushes it off and says I'm dabbo and I know better. And I think if you as guy, as um, as accomplished as he is, you get to have a little bit of that.
Speaker 1:But I feel like it has been far too long since his like glory days that he can just sit on his laurels and like be the holier than thou guy or I know more than you guys. I don't know how to, I don't know what the saying is on that, but I just feel like for too long he's just been sitting on his laurels and just saying, hey, just trust me, and I feel like at some point he has to be willing to change or show that he's willing to, and he hasn't. I think I feel like the game is passing him by and I think he doesn't want to believe it. And I think that Clemson is nowhere near again. Before he got there, clemson wasn't a national power and I think all the credit to him. He made Clemson a national power.
Speaker 1:But I just think that the way that he's running that program now is not going to keep them there the way he thinks they might, and they are a sinking Titanic ship. They've been sinking for a while. I think they've been, honestly. I think they've been sunk for a while, but I think that people want to keep believing In the power of Dabo, the power of Clemson. I just feel like it's not here, no more, and I think that's not going to change Unless they Again. It's not like they're going to return, not like they're going to return to be a national power again once he's gone. But I think doing what they have been doing hasn't done anything for them either, and I think there's too many people in that fan base that know the glory days, they know what winning feels like and I think that they know that he is not going to get them back there the way that's going as of right now. So you know, if I'm a Clemson I feel bad for Clemson fans. Man, I just feel like they've tasted it. They've tasted what winning feels like and I think they understand even more than I do that he's not going to get them back there if he keeps going at this pace. But I feel like he's shown that he's not going to take the necessary steps to change with the game. He thinks his way is going to be the way to go and it's proven that that's not going to be the way to go and it's just it's. It's proven that that's not going to be the case. Um, that's it on that.
Speaker 1:Let's go on the other games. I know I've been going way too long, just college football. It's been almost an hour. Oh my god, I didn't want to do this, but I keep going. Um, almost beat arkansas 41 to 35.
Speaker 1:Almost did come into this game with a I think, trinidad Chambliss, a FCS guy that they pulled from the transfer portal. He went 21-29 for 353 yards, one touchdown, zero picks. It is only, why am I forgetting that coach's name? Oh no, let's see here. I'm insane for forgetting his name right now. Um, lane kiffin. Lane kiffin is one of the brighter offensive coaches in college football and I think only he could take a guy like trinidad chambliss and turn him into a guy that can do what he did on saturday, and they needed it because their defense could not stop.
Speaker 1:A nosebleed Arkansas is not known as an offensive juggernaut type of team, but they managed to score plenty and it was just Ole Miss that managed to score a little bit more by the end of the game to kind of win the game. But it was a back-and-forth affair. It was points scored off the wazoo. Do I think Ole Miss can be like a tie, like a playoff team? Probably not, based on how their team is kind of constructed and their defense is so awful and arkansas obviously isn't a team that anybody looks at is like a potential, like playoff team. But it's just. It's just, it's only a matter of time before almost gets bit by somebody. They probably should beat because of how bad their defense is and it's almost in general, they just like losing to somebody. They probably should beat because of how bad their defense is and it's Ole Miss. In general, they just like losing to teams they probably shouldn't lose to. That's just like a yearly thing for them. So sooner rather than later it'll happen, but it was a very entertaining game nonetheless, against Arkansas that they won.
Speaker 1:Alabama beat Wisconsin 38-14. Honestly, it is a big non-conference win, but if you have any type of idea about Wisconsin and how they're looking as of right now, it's not that big of a deal, man. Alabama, even though they're a little bit down from what they have been. Wisconsin is much worse. I feel bad for um, luke, um, oh no, luke Fickle, that's his name. I almost forgot his name, but Luke Fickle, I feel's his name. I almost forgot his name, but Luke Fickle.
Speaker 1:I feel bad for him because I'm just like when he got hired to go coach that team, everybody looked at it as like a slam dunk, like higher, and it has not been a slam dunk at all. He tried to make them more of a spread offense. That didn't work and now they're going back into kind of being the more pro style running, the football type of offense, and that's not working either. They don't have the talent that they probably should have. They don't look like the coached, like the well coached team that wisconsin has kind of been known to be over the last 15, 20 years they really are in, are in no man's land. I don't think they're going to get rid of um luke fickle because he kind of just he just signed a contract extension before this season started. So I don't think that's a team that's going to be willing to pay a crazy buyout for him to go away. But I just don't know what Wisconsin is going to do. I'm not sure how he's going to build that back up into being the football program that it was for so long, where they could just a 10-win team and be a very hard out for any of the big boys in college football. They're just not that right now and I'm not sure how they're going to get back to that.
Speaker 1:But Alabama, coming off the bad loss they had to Florida State in the first game, they've kind of come back for these last few games and had a very more of an offensive resurgence. The question is, can they be this against some of the better teams that they have to play on their own schedule against Georgia? Against who else they have to play in their schedule against Georgia. I know they play Georgia, but they do that to play Texas too. Now I gotta check against Georgia against Tennessee, against against Oklahoma Missouri I don't think Missouri is as good a team as Alabama, but they're still there. They're a good team.
Speaker 1:So can they kind of keep this offensive output going against the better teams that they're going to have to play on their schedule is a big question to be answered. Ty Simpson, their quarterback has been good for them the last two games. He's been pretty awesome. Brian Williams finally had his first big game since last year. He went had five receptions, 165 yards and two touchdowns. So like if their offense keep playing like this, they can be a very hard out for anybody, any team they have to face. But the question is, can they have the same type of output against a team that has a better defense than w Wisconsin can even hope to have right now? That has to be answered. And not to mention, can Alabama's defense? I think playing against a Wisconsin offense that's not nearly as talented as some of the other teams are going to face in their schedule as well as they play an offense that doesn't have a lot of schemes doesn't doesn't have a lot of scheme. It's like I'm what they're going to try to out physical you in the run game and they're going to try to hit, play action passes, and I don't think they necessarily have a lot of scheme. It's like I'm what they're going to try to out physical you in the run game and they're going to try to hit, play action passes, and I don't think they necessarily have a crazy scheme for alabama players to have to diagnose as well as stop. So what will happen once they start playing more college football? Like offenses that'll have, you know, actual, like a lot more talented dudes, as well as crazy schemes that are going to try to trick you into being in the wrong place at the wrong time. That is something I think Alabama players and their defense is going to have to and their team are going to have to answer as they face some of those better squads in their schedule. I think that'll be more of the barometer as to if Alabama can get back to what everybody thought they might be coming into the year. Let's see Any other games I wanted to talk about.
Speaker 1:Michigan destroyed Central Michigan. Auburn won, missouri won. I don't think I have anything else I want to talk about in college football. So now that I've talked for an hour, even though I really only wanted to talk about it for like half an hour. But you know, like I said, didn't promise anything. So if you didn't want to listen to this, there's going to be markers on this stuff. So if you didn't want to listen to all the college football stuff, I totally understand, I will go ahead and start the NFL stuff now. So start the NFL stuff now. So hopefully the market will kind of switch over. So NFL time. Hopefully I don't go an hour on this stuff. I really hope I don't. But again, no promises being made.
Speaker 1:All right, recap, um, nfl weekend. I think we already we recapped the Thursday night football game last on the last pod. So I'll start with all the Sunday games and just kind of go down the list, have my thoughts and all of that. So in these games I can kind of be a little bit more in chronological order. So let's start with Jacksonville, cincinnati, and get this one out the way. So as to the reason why my brother isn't here right now, like I said, he's in a mourning period right now and, heck, on Monday morning I kind of wanted to text him and say, hey, just try not to find any bridges. I'm not going to finish that joke, but if you, if you know, you know. And the reason why is because if you haven't listened to him for a while, this is your first time, or this is your first time. My brother, jace, is a big Cincinnati Bengals fan. He has a big Joe Burrow stand. Joe Burrow is his messiah, that's his guy. He's Joe Shiesty, and I'll just start with.
Speaker 1:The big news on that is that Joe Burrow got hurt in the middle of the scale, like halfway through this game. He had to get carried off the field. He got a turf toe injury. I believe it was called that. I think was like a grade three uh, turf toe. And again, turf. Doesn't sound like a crazy bad injury when you hear it, but it's from what I read. They say, like in your big toe you have the same amount of muscles as like what your knee has. They say, like your big toe is for your foot what your knee is to your leg, and I think they said that he like tore a bunch of muscles in his toe and because he tore so many different things in his toe, he now has to get a procedure that'll leave him out at least three months. They said that the earliest he'll be back is in December, which I think that you can't necessarily guarantee that everything will go swimmingly. So like saying that, oh, he'll be back in December will be awesome is not necessarily realistic. And with that let me get to the game and then I'll get back to the joe burrow aspect of this. Cincinnati won the game 31 to 27.
Speaker 1:Joe burrow did leave this game, like I already said, but his, his backup, jake brown, is looked at as like one of the better backup quarterbacks in all of the nfl. He came out 21 of 32, two touchdowns, three picks. Didn't necessarily have a great day, but he did enough to come out here and win this game. Jamar Chase got going. He had 14 receptions. He had like 100, and let me see here 14 receptions at 165 yards and a touchdown. Tee Higgins came out 56 yards and a touchdown off three receptions. Chase Brown had an awesome game. He had 47 yards rushing and then he also had 18 another 18 yards receiving. So, like they're off, the bangles offense did enough to win this game and they asked exactly what they did, and I think to. On the other hand, credit to the bangles is that their defense in this game was not awesome. I'm not going to sit here and say that they were a great defense by any means, but I think for the first time, at least this season, if not a while, that their defense kind of came out and made some plays. And again, did Trevor Lawrence help with that on the other side Probably, he threw a couple interceptions. Again, trevor Lawrence had a great game Not a great game, he had a productive game 24-42, three touchdowns and two picks, those two picks being very bad and in bad spots for that Jaguars team.
Speaker 1:But the Jaguars are not Trevor Lawrence. I came into this season saying Trevor Lawrence is like on, this is his year. If he's going to do anything, this is the year to do it. Trevor Lawrence is like on, this is his year. If he's going to do anything, this is the year to do it. And through a couple games this year he has not looked like the light has come on for him in a way, even though they won the last game and they came to this game and lost against the Bengals. But this is a game without the Bengals starting quarterback, joe Burrow, goes out.
Speaker 1:This is a game the Jaguars should win and they don't win it because Trevor Lawrence doesn't make the plays necessary to go ahead and win and all the blame does not go on him. He had his moments and he had some misses too that are like oh, if you were a guy that's been in the NFL as long as you have and you have the pedigree that Trevor Lawrence has, he should not be missing some of these passes. Some of the blame does go to Brian Thomas Jr, who they really did feature in their offense and, honestly, in the middle of the field he looks absolutely dead afraid to make any catches in the middle of the field because he's worried about getting hurt. There's multiple times where there was plays to be made and he goes to turn his head because he's worried about getting hit and he drops it, he alligator arms it and I think that he has his part to play in this game too, because there was plays to be made from the Jaguars to win this game. They didn't do it and I think credit to the Bengals as well because their defense did make plays when some plays had to be made and that, I think that's all Cincinnati fans have asked for. They don't want necessarily a top defense in the league. They just want a defense that can make a few stops when they have to, and that's exactly what they did in this game to win it, especially without Joe Burrow in the game.
Speaker 1:But it just sucks for Bengals fans that finally, when that happens and they're 2-0 like they haven't been in years that's the first time since, I think, bengals have been 2-0 under the Joe Burrow-led era and as soon as that happens, everything looks like it's going their way. And then Joe Burrow is now out for three months, effectively ending the season. I think I, to a certain extent, like you. There's no way, even if he comes back right in the start of December, like some people are optimistically thinking they're gonna like, there's no way they hold up that long to even still be in the hunt to even make it worth it for him to come back. Even and again, I don't think that's necessarily going to. That's going to come out that way. There's, he'll be ready to go. So their season is effectively over, even though they finally got the fast start they wanted, their 2-0, and it's like their season has ended before it really is even started, and that's the part that sucks. So Jaguars not looking as good as everybody thought they'd be coming in the year.
Speaker 1:Let me get back to the Bengals here. Bengals won the game, but again effectively over, because Joe Burrow's not going to be playing this season, which I think is pretty much a huge bummer. So first off, even though I'm a Steelers fan, I always root for Jace's team. I love Jace. He picked that team to spite me, which I still laugh about to this day. Kind of makes me hurt a little bit, but you know, it is what it is. It's a brotherly rivalry and I think to a certain extent has brought us closer together. Because of that, we're very competitive people and I think this is part of it and I think it's led to a lot of good discussion. But even with the Bengals being a divisional opponent of mine, being a Steelers fan at all, I root for Joe Burrow man. He's a Buckeye, even though Jace hates me saying it, but I really do believe Joe Burrow is a Buckeye. He was there for three years and even though he went to LSU and that's where he did most of his like achievements in football, wise, but like, I still see him as like a guy. That's like he came from Ohio state and I want to see him succeed.
Speaker 1:Even though I hates when it, I hate it when it happens against my team. I never want it to happen like this. I feel bad for Jace that you know this is. This is the um good and the bad of having that dude at that position. The quarterback position is the hardest position in all of sports and when you have that guy, that can be that foundational piece for your team. It's such a sensational feeling to have when you walk into any game knowing that you have that dude. As long as he's out there playing, you have a chance to win any game. You walk into any game knowing that you have that dude. As long as he's out there playing, you have a chance to win any game you go into and then, on the back, the the worst side of having a guy like this is that if something were to happen and he can't play and you lose him, your season is essentially over.
Speaker 1:And I think that I've maybe, to a certain extent, have forgot what that felt like until I really started thinking about it over the last couple of days, since it happened on Sunday and it sucks, man, and it made me think about like, hey, I had a time in my fandom as a Steelers fan where I felt that way. I had Big Ben for for for pretty much my whole entire fandom, until like the last five years or so and whenever he didn't play it. And here and here's the. The difference for me is that even when Big Ben didn't play, I had a. There was an infrastructure for the Steelers team to where they can survive it and really you didn't get really like a. Big Ben can't play the whole year until later on in his career I think it was like 2020 or 2021 where he injured his elbow and was out the whole year that I felt even anything close to what Jace is now feeling, where this isn't the first time Jace has felt this or Bengals fans have felt this.
Speaker 1:This is like the third time, the second time that Joe Burrows had like a season-ending injury, the second time that Joe Burrows had like a season ending injury and and I remember feeling like, hey, this is it, like that's our season, like this it sucks, right, and you feel like you have to now go through a whole season. You're like what's the point? And I that was like the sentiment I got from Jace when Jace was talking to me about it the last couple of days. It was like like hey, I finally got what I wanted, but in the fast start. And then now it's the season's over and I feel for him. I feel for him, I feel for all bangles fans. I'm like this their season is already bad and I don't. I don't know how to feel like I. I know how it feels because I felt it before. But man, it's just like when you almost like again, like I said, you feel like you're hold the whole, everything's in your hands as long as Joe Burrow's playing and then now that he's gone, it doesn't seem worth it and I'm like I totally, I totally get that. I, I feel again, I feel bad for anybody that has to feel that. And again, that's like the good and the bad of having a guy of that caliber. And I think, like I said, the difference is for a guy being a steelers fan. There was an infrastructure around. There's an infrastructure around the steelers that if you don't have a guy like that, the team's gonna figure it out. But I think that was at a different time.
Speaker 1:I feel like nowadays the teams are even more bitter on the quarterback, especially if you have a guy of that caliber a Mahomes, a Josh Allen, a Lamar, a Joe Burrow that if you do lose them because of how teams are made now, like how teams, how the organizations put their team together, it's like, hey, if you have that type of guy at quarterback, I don't need to spend as much in this spot, or I put more resources into my offense and my defense because I need to help out my quarterback and as soon as that guy goes down, usually there's not going to be a guy sitting in the wings behind them that's ready to kind of output at the same level as those guys are. Again, those guys are one like they're A1 Wagyu, those are like the dime pieces, right, there's not that many of those walking around. Okay, because if everybody had one, everybody would look the same as them. But guess what, not everybody has a guy like that and because of how teams are built nowadays, I think even worse for the Bengals because they did not put a lot of money into their defense.
Speaker 1:They were playing with Trey Hendrickson, they were playing around with having some players on the other side of the ball that could help him out, and I think they're also playing around the offensive line, I think year over, ever since their Super Bowl year, where they had everything kind of went their way. Their offensive line has gotten worse and worse over the last few years and I feel like these first two games of the year Joe Burrow was getting absolutely hounded man, I feel like both defenses that they played I think in game one they played the Browns they were getting after Joe Burrow. I think they sacked him more than a couple of times, and then the Jaguars are also getting after him too. So like, even though this is a freak injury and like quarterbacks are not really known to get this kind of turf toe injury, something was going to happen at some point because of how much he was getting destroyed back there, because the offensive line was bad and because they didn't have the infrastructure around him to kind of keep him healthy, or they don't have the infrastructure to last, like if they have an injury like this to him, where they can kind of stay above water, their team is now screwed over by the fact that he can't play this year and I think that that that is a very scary feeling as a fan.
Speaker 1:I'm gonna talk about life scary, but as a fan that's a scary feeling, knowing that your, your season could be teetering on one man. And again, we don't want to sit here and, like you know I don't know what the word is, but like fantasize, we don't want to overhype up one guy having so much power over so much. But in this game of football, man, the quarterback is that now, and I feel like, especially once you have a dude of that caliber, of Joe Burrow's caliber, he really is your season man and I feel for all Bengals fans out there, I don't envy your position whatsoever, even though I'm sitting in a spot where I don't have a quarterback. I think that has become increasingly clear, especially after this past weekend. But I haven't had a legit quarterback in in five, six years or so since Ben left. So and even I can sit here and be like man, that kind of sucks to have so much kind of like on one dude. So you know, I again, I think Jace, um, jace will have to get through this morning and hopefully he'll be back and be able to talk about a little bit more.
Speaker 1:But I do feel for Bengals fans, man, it's going to be a long season but hopefully I guess the only plus you can get out of this potentially is you'll potentially get a nice pick to kind of help your team out for next year. I don't think this will be a thing that will hurt Joe Burrow for years to come, so hopefully he'll be able to come back next year ready to go. Maybe you'll have a very good draft pick to be able to help out your team going into next year. That may help you be even better for next season. I don't know.
Speaker 1:I I'm it's very hard to look at um the the sunny side of things here, because it's so, so dark for this, for this bangles, for this organization, for the fans, for all of it. I just feel like there's a lot of bad to be looked at. But you know there has to be some type of light at the end of the tunnel and, uh, I don't know it's going to be. It's very hard to see right now. So hopefully they'll get to that at some point. Hopefully Jace will get to that and hopefully we'll be able to get them on um later on this week to talk about a little, not only selfishly as a, you know, as a guy that has a podcast with him talking about football, but you know, I just don't want him to sit here and be sad every Sunday Cause I think that for him that really did become a every Sunday I get to see Joe Shiesty play and I hate for him and for a lot of Bengals fans that that has been taken away from them again and I hate for him and for a lot of Bengals fans that that has been taken away from them Again. That has to be a very bad feeling. You know, I don't know it sucks. But you know, if Jace managed to listen to this I don't think he really listens to the pod when he's not on it but if he does end up magically listening to this pod, I hope for his sake that he'll get through this. You know, as a fan, again, in the grand scheme of the world, is this the worst thing that could ever happen? No, probably not. But when you're a sports fan, you know what this feeling is like and you understand it. And again, if you're listening to this podcast, you're a pretty big sports fan, so you'll understand what a guy like this is going through and hopefully it'll get better. Hopefully Long enough on that Next game. Hopefully I won't go too long on all of these games, but you know again, no promises.
Speaker 1:New York Giants going to Dallas. Dallas won the game 40-37 in overtime. This game was a back and forth affair, man. Especially in that second half it felt like Russell Wilson went really into his time machine and kind of went back to Seattle. Russell Wilson, he was throwing deep bombs all over the place to Malik Nabors man and speaking of Malik Nabors, he had let's start with Russell Wilson. Russell Wilson went 30- 41 for 450 yards, three touchdowns in a pick. That pick kind of being a game ender, which is kind of like I'll kind of get to that in a second. But they threw the football all over the place. Like I said, malik neighbors went absolutely off in this game. Malik had nine receptions, 167 yards and two touchdowns. Wandale Robinson had eight receptions for 142 yards and a touchdown. Those two receivers went absolutely off against this Dallas Cowboys defense and they kind of made this game a lot closer in the end than it probably was throughout most of the game. Most of the game Again, through the first three quarters, dallas, it was 7-13.
Speaker 1:Oh, it was 13-13 going into the fourth quarter. And then the Giants scored 21 points in the fourth quarter to Dallas's 20. Not 13-13. Going into the fourth quarter it was 17-13. And then am I crazy 17, 7 plus 6, sorry, 17 to 16. Sorry, I can't add, it was 17-16 going into the fourth quarter. And then Dallas I mean the Giants came out and scored three touchdowns in the fourth quarter, to Dallas scoring only 20 points and then taking it to overtime, because I think New York hit that final touchdown in the fourth quarter to Malik Nabors.
Speaker 1:And again it got to a point where Malik Nabors where I'm like they had two people on that final touchdown to tie the game up, not tie the game they ended up going up by three and Russell Wilson just threw that ball up to Malik Nabors and Malik Nabors had two DBs on him, both a safety and a corner, but both of those guys let Malik Nabors run past them. And again, malik Nabors is a very talented and very fast player but if you are a defense and if you are a safety, that your main job is to make sure he doesn't get past you. And that's exactly what happened. And it was a very like baffling, to say the least, that the Cowboys are just that bad in their secondary where a game like this happened to them. So the Giants hit that touchdown with, like, let me see here with how much time left here. Overtime touchdown with like 27 seconds left. Okay, the Giants hit that touch, that bomb touchdown, malik neighbors.
Speaker 1:And then the Cowboys got the ball back. They managed to go four plays, 21 yards to get within field goal range to their awesome kicker, um Aubrey, who was at might be the best kicker I think he is the best kicker in the NFL, um, and he just hits these big deep shots. I think he had like a 65 yarder Let me check and make sure a 64 yard field goal to take the game into overtime. And then the ball and then it goes into overtime and then eventually Russ throws that interception to kind of give the ball back to Dallas with like two minutes left and then Dallas takes the ball down the field in four plays, takes the ball I think it was like to end time in in the game right last four seconds and then they hit the final game-winning field goal with aubrey, so like it was a back and forth affair. Dallas cowboys defense is awful.
Speaker 1:Um russell wilson had a throwback performance of the ages right, but he threw that bad pick when it finally mattered. All you do is make that like one last play to try to end it Not the one last play, but he had to try to get down the field and all that to try to get the field goal to end the game. And then he throws the ball straight up to one of the Dallas Cowboys defenders and just kind of sit in the middle of the field because he thought Malik Nabors was going for another deep ball and Malik Nab didn't go for the deep ball, like like Russell Wilson thought so. Like Russell Wilson, to a certain extent it's like a tease, in a certain like a real big tease, because he'll give you these little performances that'll be like oh, this is why Russell Wilson was looked at as that guy at one point in his career. And then he'll go back to playing like garbage, like he did in the first game, and then it's like it's like, oh, he's like it's a little bit back and forth again. Do I think it was a little bit more about playing this very bad Dallas Cowboys defense? Probably, but I just think that it was a video game like performance from, honestly, both of these teams because of how crazy the offense was, especially in that fourth quarter. All the credit to Mike neighbors, though he is an absolute like demon with how fast he is and how talented of a player he is.
Speaker 1:Um, next game Chicago and Detroit. Um, chicago went into Detroit. This is a homecoming game for Ben Johnson, the coach for Chicago, who left Detroit where he was at offensive coordinator over the last few years. Detroit did not give a damn. They tapped that ass of Chicago. Detroit won the game 52-21. This game was an absolute like. This game wasn't close whatsoever.
Speaker 1:Jared Goff had an awesome game 23 of 28 and five touchdowns. With 334 yards passing. They ran the football well. Jameer Gibbs was the leading rusher with 94 yards off 12 carries and a touchdown. Amonra St Brown had 115 yards and three touchdowns off nine receptions. Caleb wasn't the only problem, wasn't the biggest problem for the seattle bears team. Their defense obviously was, with detroit being able to score 52 points. But caleb still just isn't better and it has not shown, as of yet again two games into the season, that it's getting better. Hopefully, throughout the year he'll get better and better, but it just has not, up to this point, happened. He went 19 of 30, two touchdowns and a pick in 207 yards passing. They couldn't run the football effectively. Roma Dunze was their leading receiver with 128 yards and two touchdowns off seven receptions, but it obviously wasn't enough.
Speaker 1:Detroit honestly they it looked like they Chicago Bears did something to them and again, maybe you can look into the idea that Ben Johnson left them to go to the Bears. Maybe they took that personally, but I'm just going to sit here and say the Lions coming off game one where they didn't play all that well. They had a bad attitude coming into this game against the Bears, against their former offensive coordinator, now head coach, the Bears they wanted to come out and make a statement. That's exactly what they did. Again, was this potentially about the fact that the Bears' defense is awful? Maybe, and do I think this takes away any type of questions that I had about the Detroit Lions coming off the first game of the year against the Packers? Probably not, because the offensive line for the Lions is not as good as it has been over the last couple years with the guys they now have missing. But I will say, as long as they can keep Jared Goff upright and ready to go, he can make every throw on the field and their offense is very explosive because of it. They can run the football, they can do anything they want to do. It's just will they be able to be as dominant from game one to game 17 as they probably were in years past? That's probably the biggest question they have to ask. But again, against the Bears team that definitely did not come into this game ready to play, the Lions made it look like it. They came in and dominated and made Chicago look stupid. And Detroit is very good and that's what they have been over the last couple of years. If they face a team that's not ready to go and they smell blood in the water, they're going to take advantage and they're going to make a team look bad, and Detroit is very good at doing that.
Speaker 1:La Rams at Tennessee. La Rams won the game 33 to 19. This game wasn't really close. All that, all the all at all. Um, the Rams really dominated Tennessee. They just like one of the worst teams in NFL right now. They have some moments. Cam Ward had a couple of passes If you watch the replay where, like, cam Ward may not look all that great right now, but once they have an offensive line that'll be able to protect him and maybe some weapons for him to throw to consistently, he can make some passes, man, that are like oh, that's like not many quarterbacks can make the pass that he just made. So even though they got dominated by the Rams to a certain extent, it was like closer in the first half than it kind of got out of hand in the second in the second half. But if they can get some pieces around Cam Ward and don't ruin his confidence before that happens, there are some throws that he can make that not a lot of other guys can make and he showed that flash a little bit, even in a losing effort. But I can see that if they just get the pieces around and they need to get they can potentially have a guy that can be one of those dudes.
Speaker 1:Next game New England. At Miami. New England won the game 33 to 27. This game was close but the Dolphins still kind of have the same sort of issues that they had in the first game. The Dolphins still kind of have the same sort of issues that they had in the first game. Tua played better. He went 26-32, two touchdowns and a pick. Devon A Chan didn't run the football all that effectively whatsoever. I think the Miami had 61 yards total rushing in this game, not what Miami usually does when they're kind of clicking on all cylinders, all cylinders. Tyreek Hill had a decent game six receptions, 109 yards, and even in that effort it still looks like Tyreek Hill and Tua Tagovailoa hate each other. They can't really kind of get any big deep plays going at all.
Speaker 1:I think it was a storyline coming out of the game that, like Tua, off the cuff, in the interview after the game, said that he tells Tyreek Hill and Jalen Waddle to don't run too far because they know I can't throw that far and I'm just like there is. There is such thing as being a little too honest. I feel like there's some things you shouldn't probably say for everybody to hear, and especially when Tyreek Hill, going through all of his issues and he kind of, like he has on the field, fits man. There's times where he feels like he should have the ball or a play should happen and he's freaking out. So why throw any type of fuel on that fire? That's already going on in Miami where it looks like a dumpster fire Like their coach. Why am I forgetting their name? Oh, it's Mike McDaniel. He doesn't look like he's going to be there much longer. He's probably going to get fired before this season is over. They have a terrible culture in that team. They have players going off like crazy. I think they just kind of need a whole restart man. I think Tua isn't necessarily the guy. I think he's proven that over the last few years. Now again he can, with the right help, kind of be a little bit better. But is he their long-term answer at the quarterback position? Probably not. So that thing for the Dolphins is a total dumpster fire.
Speaker 1:And even with that this game was pretty close because you know as much as the Patriots with Drake May. Drake May played a lot better in the second game than he played in the first game. He went 19 of 23, 230 yards, two touchdowns, zero picks. They ran the football 122 yards total off 29 carries and a touchdown they had. I think there was a point where there was like two back-to-back Let me see here Special team touchdowns with no, no, no, no touchdown. It was back to back. Right, my crazy 30 to 27. It was a point where it was back to back special team touchdowns. This was a back and forth affair. New England Patriots won the game. But I just think that the fact that this game was even close with how Miami is so down bad, is a little bit of a detriment on what the Patriots are right now. They have a coach that you know, mike Rabel. It's looked like he's like one of the better coaches in the NFL. So like the fact that they are in a back and forth affair against the Miami Dolphins team, that is like literally bottom of the barrel. Looking that bad right now is a little bit of a red flag. But again, nobody came into the season thinking they were going to light the world on fire with a new head coach and not having as much talent as they probably need to to kind of be that type of team to make the playoffs and do the things they kind of want to do. So Patriots win, but not necessarily a fashion that makes me feel great Probably a good way to say that.
Speaker 1:San Fran at New Orleans, san Fran won the game 26-21. Mac Jones' time in San Francisco. He played a decent game. He had 279 yards. He went 26-39 for three touchdowns, 279 yards total passing. Chris McCaffrey had an awesome game. I think he had 55 yards rushing and then he had another 52 yards receiving and a touchdown. Juwan Jennings had a great game five receptions, 89 yards and a touchdown. Ricky Pearsall had 56 yards off four catches. Luke Farrell had a touchdown for the San Fran in this game. I think this was a game where San Fran Mack Jones has played a little better football, even though Spencer Rattler didn't play bad for the Saints he had 25 of 34, 270 yards and three touchdowns. Zero picks. Alvin Kamara looked great 21 carries for 99 yards and then he also had another 21 yards, receiving off six receptions. But it was just very obvious that the Saints are just like one of the worst teams in the NFL. They just don't have the same amount of talent as a team like San Fran does, even with all the guys they have missing. And San Fran is just a better football team, even if they're not necessarily that crazy amount more talented right now with all the injuries that they have. Mack Jones played great.
Speaker 1:Again, this secretly, not really secretly, because I'm talking about it for a while. I want because they said that. Why am I forgetting this? Brock Purdy is going to be out for a couple weeks. Well, they say he's going to be out for this game. I'm not sure if they say he's going to be out for a longer period of time, but with my whole question about Brock Purdy being the fact that he is playing in an offense where all they need you to do is make the right reading, get it to the guy the offense coordinator wants you to go to and you can be productive. That's been my whole point as to why Brock Purdy isn't looked at as being better. I don't think he's all that much better than what um in like in the hierarchy of the NFL quarterbacks how I don't really see him all that highly and the fact that Mac Jones, who has been certifiably awful everywhere he has been for the most part in the NFL, his his young NFL career he's kind of been bad. The fact that he can come out with San Fran and kind of look good kind of feeds my whole narrative that they just need a guy that can go out there and make the passes just to the guys they want them to and they can just be effective. So again, for my own personal gain, I would love for Mac Jones to keep playing good so I can use that against Brock Purdy later when everybody wants to call him a top five, top 10 quarterback.
Speaker 1:But San Fran just made enough plays to win this game. Chris McCaffrey played great again against a New Orleans Saints team that's looked at as one of the worst teams in the NFL. So the fact that the game was as close as it was is a little bit of a detriment on how do I think this game will be as close as it was. If San Fran had all their guys in, probably not They'd probably be winning this game going away. But the fact they have so many injuries on this team coming to this game, they win it Again against a lower tiered competition. But they won the game anyway. They took care of business and that's kind of all you can ask for in the NFL. But they won the game anyway. They took care of business and that's kind of all you can ask for in the NFL.
Speaker 1:Next one Buffalo at the New York Jets. Buffalo won the game 30-10. Justin Fields got knocked out of this game early with a concussion. So once that happened the game was probably over at that point I think he got knocked out in like the set first half. See, now I got to check Um Tyron. No, he got knocked out in. He got knocked out in the second half, I think. Or late late in the second half, I think, or late late in the second quarter, something like that. Once that happened though, the game was already out of hand at that point I think buffalo scored 20 points in the first half.
Speaker 1:It was it was very apparent very early at the. Buffalo bills were just a much better football team and there's nothing the new york jets can do. Again. That made me look kind of terrible. Let me feel terrible because of what the Jets did the week before against the Steelers, where the Jets looked like their offense was an absolute juggernaut. But I'll get to that in a second. But Buffalo did not. Buffalo took care of business in every sense of the word. They didn't really have to do all that much offensively. They were just more effective just getting the ball. They ran the football more effectively. Cook, james Cook, had 230. Nope, he had 132 yards rushing off 21 carries and two touchdowns. He was like the main guy for the Bills in this game. He was like their leading guy. Josh Allen didn't have to do all that much. He only had 148 yards passing total in this one I think he only had. He didn't even have a touchdown pass. So it wasn't like they necessarily needed him to do a lot, because it's just how dominant a performance it was, especially with the jets not being able to score at all. I think just the Buffalo Bills were able to kind of, just, you know, stake their claim on that game very early and they just cruised.
Speaker 1:Next one. Oh, getting to my team, seattle. At Pittsburgh, seattle spanked that ass of the Pittsburgh Steelers. Seattle won 31-17. What to make of this game? It is a defeating feeling and I'll start with the Seattle offense against the Steelers defense.
Speaker 1:The Steelers defense has been awful the first two games of the year. In the first game of the year against the Jets, they made Justin Fields like Justin Fields played his best game as a pro the year. In the first game of the year against the jets, they made justin fields, like just feels, played his best game as a pro. In that game he looked practically unstoppable and it was partially because the steelers defense couldn't stop a nosebleed and I. That was made all that more apparent when, in week two against seattle, who did not look great in the first game that they played, seattle looked amazing offensively.
Speaker 1:Sam darnold, who didn't look great in the first game that they played, seattle, looked amazing offensively. Sam Darnold, who didn't look great in the first game, threw for 295 yards. He went 22 of 33 for two touchdowns, two picks. I will say Sam Darnold did throw a couple interceptions that kind of helped the Steelers out to try to keep them close in this game, even though offensively the Steelers were a no-show. But even with that Kenneth Walker ran for 105 yards off 13 carries and a touchdown. They were slicing and dicing through the Pittsburgh Steelers defense without any issue, both passing and running, and it's a very defeating feeling when it's a bunch of crossing routes.
Speaker 1:Dude and Jalen Ramsey was getting ran away from. Darius Lay did a little better. He wasn't necessarily getting ran away from but it was still there were. There were open guys practically every play and if one, if they did not get to Sam Darnold and he wasn't able to get away from pressure, like if he was, if he was, if he was able to get away from the pressure the Steelers were trying to get on him, there was an open guy to throw to. Every single time and too often in this game the Steelers had open the Steelers defense, even Jalen Ramsey, every guy that they had in the secondary there was an open guy ready to catch a ball from Sam Darnold if the pressure didn't get to him, and that was made true with Jackson Smith and Jigba Again a Buckeye. I love seeing him play well, but he had an awesome game Eight receptions for 103 yards. Cooper Cup had 90 yards off seven receptions. Let's see.
Speaker 1:Like I said, walker played well. It was. It was defeating man. It was like it was close in the first half and in the second half it was just like getting more and more out of. It was getting out of hand and it made me feel terrible as a steelers fan. Obviously, coming off the first game of the offense played so well for the Steelers, I was like, oh, maybe if again, I was not naive enough to believe that the offense is going to look like that every single week. But I was saying like, hey, if Aaron Rodgers and this offense can be 75 percent of what they were that first game, maybe they can really do something this year. And my greatest nightmares came to fruition for myself.
Speaker 1:Aaron Rodgers did not play well. He went 18 of 33 for 203 yards, one touchdown and two picks. He was sacked three times and did not look all that great. What else? They couldn't run the football whatsoever. Jayle Moran was the only guy that could even get close to anything. He only ran for 48 yards off 14 carries, so nothing really great with him. No, no, no sorry. Jayle Moore did everything he could do.
Speaker 1:Our offensive line is absolutely garbage. They can not really block anything and especially with Aaron Rodgers being a quarterback that can't run away from any type of pressure, it accentuates that even more, even though there was like individual efforts on that offensive line. That, I think, is good. But it's just. I think teams are going to lock in on the idea that they're just going to keep sending pressure and, even if they don't necessarily get to Rodgers, are going to speed him up and make him want to throw the football away, and they're going to because he's I think he had like a quarterback rating of like a QBR, of like point something, it's like in the single digits with how bad he was against pressure. I think teams are going to do that against this team all year long and they're going to make the bet that either Aaron Rodgers gets rushed into making a bad decision or the offensive line is not going to hold up and they're going to get to him.
Speaker 1:And that's exactly what the Steelers offense can't handle, especially in this game. They can't run the football whatsoever. They had 72 yards total, rushing off 21 carries, with Warren being the best guy and Caleb Johnson the guy they spent a third round pick on out of Iowa to come in and be the running back for this team. I think in the last two games he's had a total of less than five carries total. I think I might be exaggerating a little bit, but it's definitely under 10.
Speaker 1:And then Caleb Johnson made the egregious error because they have been having him back there off on kick return and with the new kick return rules again doesn't really matter if it's new or the old stuff they kick the ball towards him. He ends up touching the football and then just not catching it and letting the ball roll behind him into the end zone and he doesn't go and run after the football. And then Seattle goes and picks up the ball in the end zone to get a touchdown. That kind of put them up 14 points like it was a two-score game at that point, to kind of put the game away where the Steelers couldn't come back. And that that was the nail that sealed the coffin for the Steelers that day is because he made a terrible decision and I don't give a damn about him saying he made made a made a mistake because the thing is that if you're going to put him back there, if the guy can't do enough in the preseason and in practice to go out there and actually carry the football like he was drafted to do, and the only thing you can get him to do is go out there and be on kick return, he better know the gosh darn rules to go out there and be able to do the job effectively. And he didn't and he made the very bad mistake. And again, if that play didn't happen, the Steelers only down one scored.
Speaker 1:But do I think the offense is going to be able to do enough to get back into that game? Probably not, but I think, even with the Steelers defense being absolute Swiss cheese, I think they made enough plays to give the Steelers an opportunity to win this game and I think once that play happened, it was the nail in the coffin for the Steelers. And that's the thing I can't get over, especially for a guy they use a third round pick on and can't sniff the field because of how bad he's been or how much they don't trust him to go out there and play. It's one of those things, because a third round pick is a very valuable pick to use on a guy and if he can't see the field, there is a problem. And he's not the only problem. The defense is an issue. Offense is an issue Again.
Speaker 1:Will Aaron Rodgers play this bad? Probably not over a 17 game span, but I think more and more. If teams just keep blitzing him, there will be more outings like this than there will be the outings that he had in the first game against the jets. And we I think we play the patriots this weekend and if that's a game we lose, I think that might be my. That's the game for me. If we lose that game, I'm ready I'm just ready to lose every single game this year and try to get the best traffic possible. But If we lose that game, I'm just ready to lose every single game this year and try to get the best draft pick possible. But if we win, there's maybe a little bit of light at the end of the tunnel. For me to kind of get back on the bandwagon Well, I'm always on the bandwagon, I'm a Steelers fan until the day I die. But if we lose that game and the offense still looks that bad and the defense still can't stop a nosebleed against that offense, the Patriots offense. That's been awful over this year. I'm ready to flush this season down the toilet, man, if we lose that game. That's where I'm at right now. That's how bad the Steelers were against the Seahawks team. I don't know, man, I don't know.
Speaker 1:Like I said before the season started, all the moves that they made, bringing in Aaron Rodgers at 41 years old and bringing in all this older talent Again. Dk Metcalf was probably the best move we made because at least he has many like a few, like three, four, five, three, four, five years left of like real good production, with him being only 30 years old, but like outside of him. We brought in a lot of older talent that is combustible, that was not guaranteed to work and that were win now moves, and I said that this is a very win now type of move, but if it doesn't work it can go down the shitter very quickly and I think this can go down the shitter very quickly. If this doesn't, if if we keep losing games like this and I think that this is, this may be moves that gets everybody fired and like will make the stealers start fresh in a certain extent, and I'm not necessarily against that from where we're at right now, because I feel like keep, if they keep rehashing over the last three, four or five years what they've been doing, of just trying to put band-aids on these scenarios rather than just taking the medicine and just losing for a year or two and really kind of rebuilding it from the ground up, I think it's going to be very hard, especially the way it is nowadays in the NFL, to kind of like build it back up the way they need to.
Speaker 1:Next game Cleveland at Baltimore. Baltimore won the game going away. They won 41-17. Baltimore kind of flexed on them, especially coming off that first game of the year against Buffalo where they lost. They came out, won this game going away. Lamar Jackson was not awful. He was awesome in this game. He went 19-29 for four touchdown passes. Derrick Henry didn't do anything in this game, but again they didn't really need him to.
Speaker 1:But this is one thing I will say.
Speaker 1:Baltimore is awesome. Like I said, they're bullies. If everything's working out they can roll you and the game doesn't look close. But here's what I will say. I am not in the business of giving credit to the Browns at all, but they have so much defensive talent on that side of the ball. That I think is a travesty, that they're letting their offenses as bad as it is and that they're starting a 41-year-old I think over 40-year-old Joe Flacco for that team, where it's very obvious he should not be on the football field. And again, it's very high and mighty for me to say that when I'm starting a 41-year-old, aaron Rodgers. But I think that again, you're right, it works both ways.
Speaker 1:But I think the Browns are in a scenario where they just need to kind of start from fresh. Maybe start one of those rookies, either Shador, or why am I forgetting the other guy's name? Oh no, it's Crap. Why am I forgetting his name Dylan Gabriel. Go ahead and start one of those rookies, because if you're going to lose all these games anyway, you may as well try to give the fans a chance to kind of like wish for something better, especially when they have so much rookie talent and defensive talent that there is something to look forward to. But it's just, I don't know, the Browns just don't know how to get out of their own way and kind of like maybe do something different. They're just going to keep losing football games.
Speaker 1:Denver at Indianapolis. This is something I will say. I know this is might be a little bit crazy to say two games into the year, but I think I might have to eat some crow on the Daniel Jones thing, and I say that because, coming into the year, when we did our quarterback rankings, I had Daniel Jones at the bottom, if not very close to the bottom, when I ranked, literally starters, all the quarterbacks from one to 32. I think I might've had him at the bottom of my list of all the quarterbacks from 1 to 32. I think I might have had him at the bottom of my list of all the quarterbacks and I think from what I've seen over the. Again, it's just two games. It can go badly, it can change some things, it can go back to being what it was, but I think through two games I have to give Daniel Jones some credit. He has looked like a stable guy that is just making the throws that are available to him. He went 23 of 34 for a touchdown, 316 yards total in passing yards and he is just running this Colts offense.
Speaker 1:And again, ike said, coming into the year, that the Colts are not. They have a talented squad. They have Jonathan Taylor who's looked at as like a top five, top 10 running back in the NFL, went healthy. They have Tyler Warren, the very talented tight end that they had coming that they drafted out of Penn State coming into the year. They have talented wide receivers. They have Michael Pittman Jr. They have Alec Pierce. They have Josh Downs, who's another talented wide receiver. He's not necessarily one of the top guys, but they have a very talented team.
Speaker 1:Their defense has some real dudes on that side of the ball and, crazy enough, their defense coordinator, lou Anarumo, was the defense coordinator for Cincinnati. They kicked him out of there because they thought he wasn't the guy to kind of lead their defense to do what they need to do. Lou Anarumo might have the most talented defense he's had in years, probably ever since he was on coaching the Bengals defense that when they made the year they made the Super Bowl. This might be the most talented defense he's had in a while and they look like it. They have a talented defense that can get after you. They do a lot of crazy looks. They are like their defense is legit and this Colts team is.
Speaker 1:Again. I'm a very if I had to pick a second team that I root for on a yearly basis ever since CJ got drafted. I root for CJ Shroud and the Houston Texans because I'm a big Ohio State fan, obviously, and CJ, I'll love him forever. I want to see him do everything he can in the NFL and I'm worried for that Houston team because of how good this Colts team has looked for the first two games of the year and, like I said, I have to eat some crow on Daniel Jones man, at least through two games of the year.
Speaker 1:It can change throughout the season, but he is just running that offense. He's sitting in there making the tough throws, he's getting the ball to the open guy and what I wouldn't give to have a guy that is of a relatively good age as an NFL quarterback and that could just make the throws that are there in an offense, what would I give to have a quarterback like that that maybe get away from a little bit of pressure? I would love to have a guy like that. And the Colts are using a guy like Daniel Jones and making him look like a viable NFL starter. And credit to him as well, because I think he's made some changes to where he's not trying to do too much. He's just running the offense and the Colts team is playing very good and they won that game, especially with, I think at the end of the game they were going for a field goal to win the game and then the kicker misses the field goal but then the Denver Broncos get called for leverage because they kind of got on the backs of the snapper and all that that's snapping the long snapper and the Colts get like 15 more yards down the field, a closer field goal, and then the kicker hits it the second time. So the Colts end up winning this game 29-28.
Speaker 1:But the Colts played better ball in this game. Bo Nix played better 22 of 30, 260 yards, three touchdowns and a pick, that pick being a very big one. They ran the football effectively. They had 118 yards total rushing in this game. But the Colts, through two games, have not punted at all, which is like the first time it's happened in a long time. I think, based off like one of the stats that I read, but like it's just every punch the Broncos try to throw, the Colts just kind of came back and scored some points, man, and they couldn't be stopped. And again, it's not like the Colts are like an explosive offense, but they're just making the plays that are there, and again, there are some big plays we made.
Speaker 1:Jonathan Taylor had an awesome game, like I already said no, I didn't actually say what he did. Jonathan Taylor 25 carries, 165 yards. They had some big, explosive plays in this game. He averaged over six yards a carry. So this Colts team is a scary team, especially if they keep playing like this down there because they are a talented squad and if Daniel Jones can kind of keep the mistakes at a minimum and just kind of keep running the offense, he might be this year's Sam Darnold. Do you know how? Sam Darnold played very well last year for Minnesota and made everybody question like, hey, what is with Sam Darnold? He's kind of like struggled at so many places but he finally figured it out and he had a very explosive year with Minnesota last year. Like Daniel Jones could be doing that for the Colts right now and that's what he is doing through the first two games. Again, it has yet to be seen throughout a whole season, but two games in I'm very impressed, very impressed. And again, the Colts were like a very trendy pick coming into the year of being like one of the better teams, especially with their defense. But it's just, the Colts are just like a machine right now. They just can't, they don't, they haven't punted yet. Like that's a crazy stat that they threw two games. They have not had to punt yet. Every time they get the ball, they're scoring some type of points. Yet Every time they get the ball, they're scoring some type of points. Very good, they're just a very they're a machine right now.
Speaker 1:Next game Carolina Arizona. Arizona wins the game 27-22. Arizona really tried to lose this game a lot Like. They were ahead. They were up 20-3 at halftime and then the second half they let Carolinaolina not let. Well, kind of they allowed carolina to score 19 points in the second half and like really make this game like a lot closer than it should have been. In the second half they let bryce young it get. Bryce young had to. They had to throw the football back to get back into this game and arizona kept making the mistakes to kind of give, keep giving the panthers a chance to get back in it. And that's exactly what they did. Bryce young, 35 and 55. He had. They let him throw the football 55 times. Crazy 35 and 55 for 328 yards, three touchdowns in a pick.
Speaker 1:It's not like they ran the football effectively. I think they only had like 49 yards rushing, so it wasn't like they ran the football all over the place. Ted McMillan had a great game six receptions for 100 yards. Hunter Renfro had two touchdown catches in this game seven receptions, 48 yards. Chuba Hubbard had a touchdown catch in this game and the Cardinals man, kyler Murray, 17 of 25, 220 yards, one touchdown and a pick.
Speaker 1:It's just times where he's a roller coaster in the middle of a football game. There are times where he can string together multiple possessions, where he just looks unstoppable and can make every throw and can run away from pressure. And then there's times where he can string together multiple possessions where he just looks unstoppable and can make every throw and can run away from pressure. And then there's times where he plays like absolutely awful and the offense bogs down into nothingness and it's like maddening to see when they're just like all over the place because the way the game was in the first half if they would have just kept that up they would have won this game going away and it would have been an easy win. But they just like, offensively they got bogged down so much and then defensively they had to keep playing so much in the second half because Arizona could not sustain any type of drives, that they just let Carolina get back into this game when it shouldn't have been even close to that. Like Arizona couldn't run the football effectively at all, they had 22 carries total for 82 yards. James Conner was their leading rusher at 34 yards off 11 carries. He didn't have a touchdown, but 34 yards against a bad Carolina Panthers team. There's no reason that Arizona should only have 82 yards rushing against this bad of a Carolina team. Carolina team like they didn't like it was. Just the Arizona was not efficient enough, especially in that second half to this game should not have been this close. But yet Arizona is so up and down offensively based off of Kyler's play, of course, but that just. They just can't do it. They're just so up and down, man, I don't know what's. I don't know what the deal is with them.
Speaker 1:Four more games this one was probably the most hyped game coming into. Sunday was the Super Bowl rematch between Philadelphia and Kansas City. This game was in Kansas City. Philadelphia won the game 20-17. Let's be honest, coming off the first game where the Chiefs defense looked very suspect. I'm not sure if this is the Chiefs defense kind of coming out and just making a lot better effort in that second game against the team that they got blown out by in the Super Bowl I think I heard this somewhere was that the Eagles this year, coming off of their Super Bowl win last year, may have turned themselves into the Chiefs teams of years past, where the Eagles never like.
Speaker 1:These first two games the Eagles have played, they have not looked good whatsoever. Playing offensively, defensively they have their issues, but it's just every time, every game, they are just doing just enough to win right. Offensively the Eagles did not look great. Jalen Hurts had 101 yards total passing in this game. He went 15 of 22. He only hit one big play down the field and that was to Devontae Smith who had that one big catch, but other than that really didn't do anything. Saquon Barkley had 88 yards total rushing Wasn't like he had a great day off 22 carries. He only averaged like four yards a carry. He had that touchdown as well. But it's just, the Eagles are just doing just enough to win these football games.
Speaker 1:And that tush-push it was became very apparent in this game where like it was like very it was pointed out by Tom Brady. I hate listening, tom Brady, but he definitely pointed this out and it was very valid that a lot of these times when they're they're making these tush push plays, their guards are moving early, the center is over the football like he shouldn't be, like that play, even though I was a proponent of a of this play, even though I know that at some point this game, that that play, is going to get rid of because teams are going to get privy to the idea like, hey, if only one team is good at this, we probably should get rid of it. But I think they have the. After this game this weekend, they have been given even more of an opportunity to say hey if most of the time when they're running this play, if they're not lining up correctly, they have guards that are moving early when they shouldn't be and the officials aren't catching it. So they're being allowed to get away with things that other teams wouldn't get away with. And if that's going to be the case, it's going to be used as even more of a reason why to get rid of it by the rest of the NFL. So like that was one thing that kind of got my nerves watching this game and but again, they're going to have it this play for this last year and they're going to take full advantage of it.
Speaker 1:And on to the Kansas City side. Man, it's just like, even though the game was won 20-17 by the 20-17, philadelphia won this game. Kansas City had their opportunities. Their defense played a little better. I'm not sure if it's the defense played better or the Eagles offense is just not really all that dynamic, but it was the offense for this Chiefs team that just was is all out of sorts, man, I get it. They're. They're missing a few receivers.
Speaker 1:Patch Mahomes was like the only productive guy on that team whatsoever. Um, he was their leading passer and their leading rusher. In this game. They do not have a rushing offense outside of Patch Mahomes using his legs. Mahomes had seven carries for 66 yards and a touchdown. Like he was their only reason they were able to run the football whatsoever.
Speaker 1:Mahomes also went 16 to 29 for 187 yards, one touchdown and one pick, and that pick that he had was when they were in the red zone and there was a play to Kelsey where it was like a little bit of like a. Um, I figure I don't know what route to call. I'm not gonna say I'm not a football spot by at all, but it was like a very it was an in cutting route and all he needed patch um travis kelsey to do was snap his head around and mahomes put it right in his hands and it bounced right off of travis kelsey's hands into an eagle defender's hands so like if they would have gotten that touchdown, the chase would have, would have went up by four to have the lead. But instead, because the Eagles got that pick, they managed to get the pick and then it kind of go down to the other side of the field and then that turned into a touchdown to put the Eagles up 10. So, with that being the case, that was the difference in this game.
Speaker 1:So the Chiefs had opportunities and then there was a few passes Mahomes missed. There was a deep ball to one of their receivers why am I reading that guy's name? Uh, taequann Thornton. There was a deep ball that Mahomes missed where he like way overthrew it. If you would have hit him, that would have been a big play touchdown. But there was other plays as well where Mahomes just this offense does not look like it's in sync whatsoever and it's like the third or fourth year in a row where this, like their offense, is looking worse and worse.
Speaker 1:And now the chiefs are Owen too, and in this, in this AFC, where the the bills look so good, the Ravens are always going to be very good, and it's it's been a foregone conclusion that the chiefs are just going to win their division, and that's not necessarily the case anymore. They're Owen-2, while the Chargers are 2-0, and I'll talk about the Chargers here in a bit because they played on Monday night but they have real competition in their own division that now have more wins than they do. So if their offense can't get it together and their defense is still going to be a little bit lackluster in comparison to what it's been in past years, this Chiefs team may have some real issues to get over, and it's not just because they're just going to be able to turn it on by the end of the season and make the playoffs and they'll just be that team. If they don't fix some of the things that they have going on wrong with the squad, they might not even make the playoffs again. I'm not going to sit here and be that guy to say they're not going to make the playoffs, but like they have some real issues to get through and I think that they'll figure it out.
Speaker 1:But it's just another game to as evidence to say that maybe the chiefs aren't the team that they have been. That's all I'll say. And it's just again that offense being is like we're. Again they're missing their top two receivers right now rashid rice, with him being suspended the first six games of the year, and then Hollywood Brown, I think he got a shoulder injury so he's like week to week, so maybe he'll be back sooner rather than later and that'll help their offense out. But I don't know, man, it's just weird. And this Chiefs team that Mahomes is not looking as, even though he's making plays there's a lot more plays he's missing that he wouldn't have missed at one point. And it's just weird to see. It's just weird.
Speaker 1:And oh, the last thing about the end of the game where there was like it came up on the you could hear it on the broadcast where it was Chris Jones telling Jalen Hurts that you only threw the ball for like 100 yards. And then Jalen Hurts looks at him and says, well, when did the game show shut the fuck up? Hilarious that he said that and I think that does kind of lend itself to the idea that, like I think, jalen Hurts has never really cared what his stat line is, as long as they're winning. I think he's kind of reached that point in his career where all he wants to do is win. He doesn't care about anything else. But I think there's a couple guys on that offense that may want to have their stats. Aj Brown had more catches in this game than he had in the last game, but he had five receptions for 27 yards. Devontae Smith four receptions for 53 yards. Is this because the Eagles offense isn't clicking and they just need to figure some things out? Or is this because this Eagles offense will never get to being all that dynamic again and they're going to have to keep slogging these games out game by game and try to win, like the Kansas City Chiefs team does in years past, where they're just like winning in situations, doing just enough to win? But I just think the whole thing is that I think Devontae Smith and AJ Brown, if this keeps going on, if that production, that's a tandem right there. That's a real tandem of two legit wide receivers and I think at some, especially AJ Brown, he is going to be loud about it. There's going to be a point where he's going to get frustrated enough to talk about hey, I should be getting the ball more. Why aren't we more dynamic offensively? That will become an issue if this keeps going on long. Something to throw out there.
Speaker 1:Sunday night game it was Minnesota and Atlanta. Atlanta won the game 22-6. Jj McCarthy played like ass again. He played three of the five of the eight quarters he has played. He has played one good quarter of football again. That one quarter of the first game in the fourth quarter was a great one. He had three touchdown passes. But those other, those other seven quarters he has played he has played like garbage. And now it has come out after this game that he has an ankle injury and he's going to be out two to four weeks. So this is my issue.
Speaker 1:Minnesota put their whole team on the backs of being able to get JJ McCarthy up to snuff and being ready to play coming into the year. Through two games it has not looked great, other than that one quarter where he played some magical football. And now he's going to be out for the next three to four weeks and I think who's going to be their starting quarterback? Now I've got to check. I think Now I've got to check Carson Wentz hilarious. Now Carson Wentz is going to be their quarterback for the next 2-3, 2-4 weeks.
Speaker 1:So like they had Daniel Jones on their roster last year and they decided to let him go because apparently they were willing to pay him the money that he ended up getting from Indianapolis but they weren't willing to guarantee Daniel Jones to have a real shot at the starting job, like what if they had Daniel Jones on this roster? Like what if he was the guy doing playing for this Minnesota team rather than JJ McCarthy? How much different they would look two games into the year. And again they did not play well. This game Atlanta kind of ran away with it. It's not like Atlanta destroyed everything. Michael Penix only had 135 yards, total passing 13-21. Bijon had an awesome game though. He had 143 yards total rushing off 22 carries. Drake London had a few catches for 49 yards. It wasn't like Atlanta was like an offensive explosion. It was just the fact that Minnesota was so inept offensively and Atlanta just kept taking advantage of the opportunities that they kept getting and they won this game going away. So I just don't know. This Minnesota team is just, like you know, just looking bad offensively man.
Speaker 1:Like I said, they staked their hopes on JJ McCarthy when they picked him as a top-ten pick, or was he right outside the top ten? I think he might have been outside the top ten like 11 or 12 or something like that. So like they put all their hopes and dreams into JJ being that dude. And again he's gonna be out for the next two to four weeks. So maybe he'll come back and it'll look better, but as of right now it does not look great. And again I will recognize my bias, because he was a michigan quarterback and you know I hate michigan and all that, but I think I can be at least um, I can at least kind of put that to the side enough to recognize that like and be honest about the fact that he's just not played a lot of good football. He had one great quarter of good ball in the fourth quarter of the first game of the year, but outside of that it has looked inept in general. So maybe he can get better, but as of right now it has not looked great. But he'll be gone for the next two to four weeks with an injury, so that doesn't matter at all. We'll just see how he looks when he comes back and if they can hang on until then. Again, they're one and one right now, but who knows how they'll look four weeks from now, once they get him back.
Speaker 1:All right, last two games and then I'll get out of here, I promise. I know I've been going for two hours now. I told myself before the podcast I didn't want to do this for two hours. Oh, but you know what it is. What it is, it was a two-game night last night, for it was like the doubleheader for Monday Night Football for ESPN. They had an early game and a late game. Early game was Tampa Bay at Houston. Tampa Bay won the game 20-19.
Speaker 1:I did pick Houston coming into this game because I wanted to believe that Houston could, like you know, play a little bit better in comparison to what they did the first game, which I think in general they kind of did. But it was just a lot of plays that were missed, that were not there, well, that were there to be made, that they couldn't make because of the offensive line for Houston being too bad. They just could not get CJ shot enough and again there was times where they could make it happen and CJ had a little bit of time and he was making some plays down the field. And then there were other times where he was just like it's to the point now where he can't trust his offensive line so much that he looks antsy in the pocket in a way that he never looked this antsy at Ohio State or in his first year at Houston, where it wasn't like the offensive line was much better than what they were now, but they were a little bit better, but he looks so much more poised. But now it's just, he's missing some passes he probably should hit and it's just, it's going, it's having a huge effect. And again, they made enough plays to win this football game.
Speaker 1:That defense for Houston is absolutely amazing, but it's just when push came to shove, they could not run the football effectively whatsoever, outside of one run that Chubb had for the touchdown in the fourth quarter. Honestly, almost kind of like hindsight being 2020, you would almost hope that he didn't get that rushing touchdown, because that gave Tampa Bay the ball back with like over two minutes, like around two minutes left and they had all three of their timeouts. Like what if they didn't get that touchdown and Nick Chubb would have just kind of like sat down, they were able to take more clock and take those timeouts away from Tampa Bay, like how that game could have been different, because I think going into that they were down. They were down, they were down two and then they hit the touchdown and then tried to go up seven. I think Hold on, let me check here Play-by-play scoring plays. At that point they were down by one.
Speaker 1:Houston got that touchdown from Nick Chubb and then they tried to hit the two-point conversion to go up three and that two-point conversion didn't go well, so they were only up that one, I think. No, they're only up five. Sorry, again, I never said I could add, even though I can add, but it's just in the moment when I'm podcasting it's just not really working out. So they go up five instead of being up seven, like they were trying to with that two-point conversion. But, like I said, they just left. They just left too much time for Tampa Bay to kind of add two minutes, to kind of go all the way down the field and managed to get enough to like go and hit. The touch was a touchdown to win the game. Yeah, it was a touchdown, so they managed to get the touchdown at the end of the game to win.
Speaker 1:And it's just that Houston defense is very good. They made the special teams play to kind of give Houston the chance in Tampa Bay territory to go and try to get the touchdown, which they did. But it's just that defense for Houston is very good. They're going to keep them in a lot of games, but it's just. If they cannot protect CJ and give him a running game enough for him to be able to feel comfortable, they're just not going to have the offense they need to in order to win these games. But just credit to Tampa Bay though.
Speaker 1:Baker Mayfield coming into the year, I think, like I keep saying ever since he was a Brown and ever since he left the Browns and kind of has been going on his NFL journey throughout his career every time, every year, I just feel like I'm being more and more turned into a Baker guy and he's that dude for them. He makes plays, he's feisty, he'll jaw with anybody and he just keeps making plays. He went 25 of 38, 215 yards, two touchdowns, zero picks. Bucky Irving one of my favorite running backs to watch out there. He just does everything for them 17 carries for 71 yards. Rashad White, their backup running back, had a big game in this one. He had 10 carries for 65 yards in a touchdown and receiving for Tampa Bay. Mike Evans came to play. He had five receptions for five receptions for 56 yards. Bucky Irving again had 50 yards, receiving off six catches. Emeka Igbuka had four receptions for 29 yards and a touchdown.
Speaker 1:And it's just. Tampa just keeps finding ways to win football games. Man, if you give them an opportunity at the end of the game to win, baker has the cojones to go out and make the plays necessary to win and they have enough offensive pieces to make it happen. And that was even with their offensive line, like they think, both of their starting tackles coming in. I think Tristan Wirfs didn't even play in this game and they had their backup left tackle and their right tackle playing. Then both of the tackles in that game got hurt and they were playing with backup tackles there, so like they were missing guys all over their offensive line and they just kept the. Tampa Bay just knows how to stay in football games and if you give them an opportunity to win the game late, they'll come back and do so. And again, like I said, houston man. I'm just like their defense is so special but it's just their offensive line is a little bit of a kryptonite for them and I think there is some growing for that offense to do. Hopefully CJ can just get more comfortable and get more confidence, because he just looks a little shaken right now and it's just his accuracy is taking a hit and that offense in general is taking a hit because they have enough talent on, like when it comes to their receivers, to do what they need to do, but it's just they can't run the football effectively and they can't keep cj stride up shroud upright and that's like two very big issues for that team.
Speaker 1:And and then, last but not least, this was the late game last night and it was the Chargers going to Vegas. The Chargers won the game, going away 20-9. They didn't really need a lot from their offense. It was a slanted, not sl, it was total domination. Man, not necessarily domination in a way that's just like, oh, they were just so much better. Hold on, let me get the stats here, because apparently, for whatever reason, espn doesn't have them up um, only chargers. So Chargers won the game, like I said, 20-9.
Speaker 1:Justin Herbert 19-27, 242 yards, two touchdowns. He was their leading rusher as well. He had nine carries for 31 yards. Quinton Johnston another good game from him Three receptions, 71 yards and a touchdown. Keenan Allen also had a touchdown in this game. He had five receptions for 61 yards. Ladd McConkie didn't even do all that much. He had five receptions for 48 yards. Like they did not need, like they had, control this game from literally this, from wit said go from the time that this game started, the Chargers had total control of this game.
Speaker 1:Geno Smith after the awesome game that he had in week one, where I was singing his praise and talking about how good he was, he had an awful game on this one. He went 24 of 43 for 180 yards, zero touchdowns and three picks. Not good on Geno's part there, even though, again after I was singing his praises, ashton Denty did not have a great game. Not only was he not really blocking all that well, but he didn't run the football that effectively either. He had 11 carries for 43 yards, averaged a little under four yards a carry, no touchdowns. Brock Bowers was held in check. He had five receptions for 38 yards. Jacoby Myers was the leading receiver for the Raiders in this game 68 yards off six receptions. But this game is a little bit more what the Raiders are probably going to be this year. Their offensive line isn't all that great and against a good defense, what the Chargers are going to bring out there, I think it just shows how volatile this Raiders team can really be. Their defense isn't all that great.
Speaker 1:Coming into the year we all knew that was going to be the case. But I had a little bit more hope that Geno would be a little bit more of a steadying force and I was thinking that maybe Ashton Jente being the running back, he was coming out of Boise that he would be able to run the football effectively and they would be able to have a good like balance on their offense that would be able to keep them in the football games. But it's just if Geno's going to be throwing picks man again. I always knew that Geno was like more of like a gunslinger that was going to make some mistakes and throw some picks. But I was just like I thought, if they gave him a little bit more of a run game which they really haven't had the first two games of the year that if they're going to have him throw the football 43 times that having him having a three pick night is not all that crazy. Because again, that's kind of been like Gino's one flaw throughout his not his one flaw that's been his major flaw throughout his NFL career that if you give him the football too much and kind of make him make decisions, he will have some big mistakes. And that's kind of like been like the one biggest thing for him throughout his NFL career that he will throw the football to the other team. And that's exactly what he did last night.
Speaker 1:Of that, the Chargers were just able to kind of cruise to a nice little win here, even though they just really didn't have to do that all that much offensively. And that's about all I got on that game because again that game was so boring. Man just felt like from at least from the start of the game the Chargers want like scored that 10 points in the first quarter and ended that quarter 10-3, and it felt like the game was already over from how bad the Raiders were looking at that point. So I don't know, man, that's just. You know that's what I get for believing too much of Geno. He kind of bites back and shows you why he's been kind of a journeyman throughout his NFL career. Even though Geno can be very good at times, I just don't know, it's very up and down man, he's a roller coaster of sorts. I don't think he's as bad of a roller coaster as, like you know, like Jameis Winston, but just, he can give you those very, very low, lows if you're not, when you're not ready for it, you know, and it can hit at the worst time. You know. It's just is what it is on that, all right.
Speaker 1:So I've been going for a couple hours now. Two hours and 19 minutes now, so almost two hours and 20 minutes. So I want to end this podcast very soon, like now. So the last thing I wanted to talk about was I know we're probably not going to podcast before the Thursday night game. So the Thursday night game I think it said it was Buffalo and Miami. I want to say Let me check here Buffalo, yeah, miami at Buffalo.
Speaker 1:So me and Jace, obviously we have to make our picks for that game, picks as of right now. Jace is actually ahead because I made that big mistake this week with picking Houston. I picked with my heart instead of my head. So overall right now, well, last week I went 13-3. Jace went 14-2. Overall I am 24-8. Jace is 25-7. He has one game ahead on me. Um, the thursday night game is gonna make it a little bit easier on us because we're both gonna pick buffalo. Because of how bad miami has looked, this game is in buffalo. So you know, miami doesn't even have the chance of you know, saying like, hey, we have our weather on our side. Um, so buffalo's gonna win that game. Buffalo's a lot better team. Miami is a clusterfuck as of right now. So we're going to pick Buffalo in that game and that's about it. So we'll be back later on this week. Hopefully I'll have Jason so he can give us a little bit of insight on how he's feeling about his Bengals. But then, other than that, we're going to do our previews of this upcoming weekend's games, both college and NFL. So hopefully you'll get a um, you'll get us both back here in the next couple of days. So with that I went in the podcast.
Speaker 1:Now, if you're listening for a while, we appreciate you. If you're just now joining on, hopefully you'll like us and enjoy us enough to join us on this ride of talking about sports in the dumbest way possible. And if you didn't like just me sitting here rambling on by myself. Hopefully you can find another episode where you have both me and Jace on it so you can have a better idea of what this podcast is. When you have both of us on here Making jokes, going back and forth and that's what more of. What our podcast is at its truest form Is when you have both of us Our brotherly relationship and our competitive relationship, kind of going back and forth, talking about sports In the dumbest way possible, which is what I usually say.
Speaker 1:So if you like us and enjoy us enough to kind of join us on this ride, we would appreciate if you could like our podcast, subscribe to the podcast, rate the podcast five stars wherever you listen to us. We're pretty much available on all audio platforms out there. Make sure you kind of do those things for us. You definitely appreciate if you could do that. Make sure you share us with friends, family, enemies, anybody you feel like can enjoy the podcast we put out on a weekly basis.
Speaker 1:During the football season we're putting out two podcasts a week and then when it's not football season, we'll do one, but again it's football season, so we're putting out multiple podcasts a week, talk about football and everything. So we would definitely appreciate if you could share us with anybody you think could enjoy what we do we on a weekly basis. And then, last but not least, if you could follow us on Twitter and or X, whatever you'd like to call it. At JV sports pod is the podcast handle. At Javante boozer is my handle and at Jace boozer, one is Jace's handle and, uh, that I usually hand it over to Jace at this point, but he's not here. So thank you guys for listening, thank you guys for always listening. We appreciate you have a great day, a great night, and goodbye y'all. We will see y'all in a few days. All right, bye, we'll see you next time.