I Came for Football, Stayed to Watch Green Bay Forget the Clock

Upsets, statements, and a whole lot of truth serum. I open with Friday night drama—Virginia toppling Florida State in double OT and TCU coughing up a big lead to Arizona State—then dive into a Saturday that actually lived up to the hype. The spine of the show is Ohio State at Washington: why the Buckeyes’ “NFL-style” approach is a feature, not a flaw, how Ryan Day is rationing snaps to protect a suffocating defense, and where Jeremiah Smith and a maturing run game give the offense just enough juice without chasing empty style points.

From there, we unravel Oregon’s double-OT win at Penn State—Dante Moore’s poise vs Penn State’s recurring ceiling—and a set of SEC reality checks. Alabama put Georgia in a first-half blender, Ole Miss closed like a grown-up versus LSU, and Notre Dame’s clean demolition of Arkansas raised the floor again. USC’s trip to Illinois? Same song: big offense, leaky defense, late heartbreak.

The NFL half starts in Ireland with Pittsburgh’s early-window grit, then swings through Atlanta’s Bijan-fueled reset, Detroit’s comprehensive win over a toothless Browns offense, and the Giants’ jolt with Jackson Dart’s legs (and a tough Malik Nabers injury). We unpack Philly’s identity tug-of-war—let the pass unlock the run—before hitting Houston’s shutout (and why CJ Stroud’s best version needs more intermediate–deep intent). The headline: Kansas City unlocked explosives with Xavier Worthy while Baltimore’s small mistake snowballed. Cap it with Packers–Cowboys chaos (40–40 and a clock scare), a drab Monday doubleheader, and a Thursday pick: Rams over 49ers given San Francisco’s injuries.

If you’re into sharp breakdowns, clean chapter markers, and zero fluff, press play. Then tell me your biggest takeaway: which “boring” contender is actually built for January? And don’t forget to subscribe, rate five stars, and share with a friend who lives for football weekends.

Chapters

• 0:10 Solo host sets the stage
• 1:40 Playoff baseball aside, it’s football
• 2:07 Why CFB Week 5 slate mattered
• 2:57 Friday: FSU–Virginia upset breakdown
• 6:01 TCU–Arizona State late swing
• 10:26 Saturday focus and fan context
• 10:49 Ohio State–Washington deep dive
• 16:28 Ryan Day’s “NFL model” philosophy
• 24:46 Buckeyes defense masterclass specifics
• 31:10 Offense, Jeremiah Smith, run game
• 37:10 National narrative vs. OSU reality
• 42:50 Oregon at Penn State double OT
• 50:21 LSU–Ole Miss closing drive control
• 54:01 Alabama–Georgia and the Bama problem
• 1:01:10 SEC grinders: A&M–Auburn, others
• 1:08:33 USC falls at Illinois, ND routs Arkansas
• 1:15:04 Quick Yankees update, NFL pivot
• 1:16:11 Picks recap and slate plan
• 1:17:21 Steelers–Vikings in Ireland
• 1:27:44 Falcons rebound vs. Commanders
• 1:31:57 Bills edge Saints but wobble
• 1:35:16 Lions roll Browns’ stagnant offense
• 1:39:22 Patriots blow out Panthers
• 1:42:01 Giants stun Chargers, Dart’s debut
• 1:48:20 Eagles beat Bucs, identity questions
• 1:55:04 Texans blank Titans, Stroud fit
• 2:00:06 Colts–Rams decided by details
• 2:05:08 Jaguars capitalize vs. 49ers
• 2:09:07 Chiefs cook Ravens, Lamar concern
• 2:17:36 Bears block Raiders’ winner
• 2:21:04 Packers–Cowboys 40–40 chaos
• 2:34:16 Monday doubleheader letdown

Transcript

SPEAKER_00: 0:10

Welcome back to the JB Sports Podcast. Date is September 30th, and we're back for another pod. And it's just gonna be me solo today. Uh my brother Jace is not gonna be here. Him and his girlfriend have some urgent matters to attend to. For sure, they're very serious, so not gonna divulge too much into that. But I will let you know that hopefully Jace will be back later on this week when we do our pre-prediction pod to talk about the upcoming college football games and make our picks for the NFL game. So just gonna be me today, kind of sitting here yapping along about all the things I wanted to talk about from this past weekend of football, so and a little bit of baseball too, because the playoffs have now started in baseball, so it's a little bit of uh little bit of things going on there, so stuff that I would really there's not many things that are better than playoff baseball. And that's honestly any game, including the games that I am more kind of like locked into because obviously I'm a Yankee fan. Not obviously, but for anybody that hasn't listened or whatever, whatever the case may be. I am a Yankee fan and I haven't seen a Yankees winning the World Series since what is it, 2011? So I'm just as hungry as ever to watch it happen, and I just love watching playoff baseball. So uh I think the Yankees are actually playing right now. I think they're up one and nothing against Boston right now. So outside of that, I don't want to get too much into it, but again, it is happening, and if I have any updates on it, I will be sure to say something about it. At least I'll try to. But if you're listening to this pod right now, you're not really listening for the baseball talk. You are listening for football and football only. So, well, mostly football. I know we talk about other things. We talk about basketball, we'll talk about a little bit of baseball, but like football is our bread and butter. So, to our bread and butter, butter, we will stay. So let's go ahead and start with it. I do want to talk before this past weekend, I was very keen on the idea that this the week five slate of college football games was probably the best slate we've had in a while. Not necessarily about just like the top games and how good those games are, but like the the games that people aren't really talking about and like are like the middle tier games. Like the middle tier games even came out to be very good, and there wasn't a bunch of blowouts, like it was a lot of close games that had a lot of intrigue going on with them. So I just want to go through go through the games that I found interesting, give some thoughts, and then hopefully not go too long on that, so like I can then go to the NFL stuff where I have I watch so much NFL football that you know there's a lot to lot to talk about. So I guess I really can't start with anything other than the Friday night games because I was actually potting by um solo Friday night when these games were happening, and I stopped before we got to the ending of the Florida State and Virginia game, and that because that was an early game on Friday, and then the the later one was TCU at Arizona State. So I just want to give thee about the endings. I think I gave a good decent amount of insight on those games uh while I was recording the last pod. But since those games are over, I'll give my takes on them finals and all that. First one, uh number eight, Florida State going to Virginia was a very popular upset pick before this past weekend. I did not necessarily believe it. I thought with the way that Florida State looked for a good portion of this year that they would kind of keep rolling. But I was proved to be wrong in this game. Uh Florida State, Virginia went down to the wire. I think it went into overtime. Virginia actually won the game 46 to 38. It wasn't without its little bit of controversy, because controversy, because Florida State in that second overtime, because they had the ball second, they had an opportunity to go get the touchdown. Tommy Castellanos threw the ball to Deuce Robinson, and it was a beautiful ball they threw to him. And it literally hit Deuce Robinson's hands at the front of the like the front pylon of the of the for front pylon for the touchdown. But the problem was was that Deuce Robinson kept he couldn't get a clean catch, and he literally fumbled the ball all the way until he got to the back pylon of the end zone, and he by the time he got full control of it, he was totally out of bounds. And again, there were a lot of people on online talking about how they thought it was a catch and this, that, and the other. And I'm like, if you just watch the replay, and I I do at times I do sit on this side of it where I hate when when everything is slowed down, they do slow moes and kind of like still captures of what happens in these plays, because that's not what the referees on the field actually see. But and it's not really always representative of what actually happened in the moment because you don't because you kind of lose the sense of time within a given moment. But I would say in this in this scenario where it was obviously the question is whether he possessed the ball or not before he got was able to get his feet in bounds. I feel like that was more of a necessary case where you can kind of looked at it, look at it a little bit more objectively and kind of decide, like, hey, did he or did he not have possession before those two feet went out of bounds? And unfortunately for Florida State, he did not get the ball before he went out of bounds. So that ended up with Virginia getting the win there. And it was a crazy field storming because it felt like as soon as the thing happened, it was like boom. Everybody was rushing the field like crazy. And like there was one player, I think his name was Squirrel White, who was like the smallest guy, probably if not the smallest guy, but one of the smallest dudes on that Florida State roster, and it looked like he just got enveloped by all of the Virginia fans that are running out onto the field, and like people were like being funny about it, like saying that there should be an APB out to make sure he's okay. This, that, and the other, which he did turn out to be okay. There was no issues, but I just think this game showed that not only can Virginia really do have it, they they might have a chance because over the last few years it is like one of like the main stay powers of the ACC kind of getting all the way to the championship, to the ACC championship game, and then the other team they end up having to face usually isn't a superpower of the conference, it's usually just like a no-name team, not no-name, but like a lesser caliber ACC team that's coming up having a good year, and their schedule kind of works out to where they don't necessarily have to play all the big dogs in the conference. So Virginia really does have a chance to be that team, especially with this big win over Florida State. The Virginia doesn't have a very hard schedule for the rest of the year. This Florida State team was the hardest one that they had. The rest of their schedule they have at Louisville, Washington State, at North Carolina, at Cal, Wake Forest, and Duke. And I'm like, I'm not gonna sit here and say that Virginia is like guaranteed to win all those games or lose all of them or anything in the middle, but I will say that Virginia does have a path opened up based off of how they've started their season with that big win over Florida State, is that they couldn't have a chance to like if you win enough of your the rest of your games, you could be that other team in the conference title game, probably going up against Miami, because Miami looks like they're a juggernaut that's really hard to stop right now. But again, when it comes to Miami and Mario Cristobal is the head coach, he that stuff can kind of go by the wayside really quick. But I'm going to put a little bit of faith that I have left that not faith. I'm gonna put a little faith. Yeah, no, faith is probably the word, or just like any type of football sense that I have left is that Mario Cristobal with that offensive line that he has, with that defensive line that he has, and then with Carson Beckett quarterback and then all the weapons that they have, I think they should be able, they should, as long as they play good football, they should be the team to be in the ACC, and they probably should be in that ECC title game without much of an issue. But again, I have been proven wrong before, and I would definitely love it if I was because it would just be a very funny scenario for me to be able to jump back on this pod and make fun of Miami and how not well coached they are, if it turns out to be the other way than what I think, with them getting all the way to the ACC championship game and potentially being a playoff team that can be, you know, a potential national title hopeful. So it is what it is on that. Next game, TCU Arizona State. This game was a was a doozy. I'm not gonna lie to you. It was, I think TCU had a 17-point lead at one point in this game, and TCU just kind of let Arizona State kind of like back into the ballgame, especially with Arizona State able to being able to score those 14 points in that second quarter to get the score close going into halftime. Obviously, it was 17-14, and then on the second half of it, it was Arizona State kind of controlling the ballgame and TCU not really being able to get back and score enough points to win that game. It was a close one. It was a game where like if TCU really wanted to like stamp themselves as like the best team, if not one of the best teams in the Big 12 conference, like this is a game you need needed to win, and it just didn't work out that way. And all the credit to Arizona State, like they were let me make sure I'm uh like so that game they lost to Mississippi State earlier on in the year, like they show they had some weaknesses, but they're still working on them, and they at least in this game, they made sure that they had an opportunity, especially with them even going down, that they came back, played good football, and got back into this game and won it. Ain't shocked TCU. So all the credit to them on that. And let me go ahead and go to the Saturday slate because that was it for the Friday. Um, I'm not gonna do it necessarily in order. I'm just gonna kind of go with what the things I wanted to talk about and just talk about the games that uh really again, there were a lot of them. I probably won't talk about all the games that were very interesting to not only myself but to anybody else that might be listening here. But I'll just get good to the ones that I really that like really had an impact on me. And I'll start with Ohio State, Washington. Again, the game wasn't early on in the day, it was a 30 3.30 game, but I'm a Buckeye fan, so if you're gonna if you're still here, you're gonna listen to me glaze Ohio State a little bit because I just think that in general, and you this is the part where Jace usually plays a more significant part in this because when it comes to talking college football, Jace usually doesn't care all that much. Michigan State is his team, and when they're down, he's kind of out of it. But when they're good, he can kind of jump back in. And he was making strides to jumping back in when like coming on in this season where Michigan State started so well, even in the loss against USC a couple weeks ago, they showed some life, and he was kind of kind of jumping all back, like he was getting to the point where he was going to start really following it again. But even without that, JC's usually like the guy that when I start to go too far in one direction, especially when it comes to being a fan of my teams, he can kind of pull me back. Whether I am going to sit there and talk about how great my team is, obviously, being at Ohio State, he'll call me a he'll call me a glazer and like say, Hey, you're going too far on this. And then heck, even when I'm going too negative on it, usually he'll take the other side, even if not for what is the word I'm looking for? Entertainment circumstances, but for like realism. Like sometimes he'll bring me back the other way where I'm like, hey, I'm so negative on my team. And he's like, Man, it's not that bad. You need to stop freaking out. I know you're an Ohio State fan, but like, chill. And I just feel like, like, usually he's the guy that does that for me, but without him, I'm gonna be doing a lot of Ohio State Glazing right now. Because I just don't think they're getting enough of it nationally like they probably should. Because the way I look at it is that I heard somebody say this and because when these games go on, I kind of start listening to everything because I like to get a a good idea of like what nationally, especially in college football, what what people are thinking about Ohio State, because Ohio State is a national brand. And they're it obviously they're in the Big Ten. They're playing with a conference that has amongst like the big boys, the teams that everybody, even though I think the Big Ten has really leveled up to a certain extent in a lot of the teams there that are all playing a lot better. The the talent is getting spread across the uh the conference a little bit more, and it's leading some very good football teams being able to be played. Not every team is great. You still have your your Northwesterns and your Purdue's, but like when it comes to the middle of the Big Ten, it's gotten a lot better, especially and even at the top. Like if we're talking about the best teams in all of college football, like there's two to three Big Ten teams that are in that top 10, top five scenario, probably two, not necessarily three in the top five, because you know, Penn State being out. We'll talk about that in a bit. But oh hi like Ohio, but but when I set look at Ohio State in comparison to everybody else, Ohio State is the SEC team that is in the North. They are the team that has the SEC-like fans, the culture, the buy-in when it comes to not only monetary, but emotional by not only boosters, uh fans, and all in between. So, like, when I so like obviously being an Ohio State fan, I'm more in uh ingrained in it. So Ohio State wins, loses, draw, uh, or draws. I'm in the middle of it just like they're not really gonna draw because of you know college football rules when it comes to overtime. I'll uh NFL should definitely do that. But so here's what I think about Ohio State, okay? I will start with an overarching thought, and then I'll get a little more granular in the things that I've took taken away from this game. Ryan Day, since winning this national title this past season, I get it, it wasn't that long ago. It was literally just last season, but like when you're looking at the like last year and what he's doing this year, I'm seeing a little bit of a blueprint here. And especially when you're looking at the defenses that Ohio State's been putting out since like the latter half of last season, and then coming into this season, where the defense might have gotten even better even after losing eight guys from that defense from last year that all got drafted. So Ohio State's defense may be even better than what it was last year, which is a scary thought for everybody else in all of college football because Ohio State's defense was still pretty good last year. It was impossible to score on them in the red zone just like it looks like looks to be this year. And the offense is where people are starting to poke, not are trying to poke holes when it comes to how things have looked, even though this is where I think this is where I think Brian Day has made the difference when it comes to this, how he's coaching and what his priorities are for this team and for team teams in every year, right? I think Ryan Day and this coaching staff going through the season that they had last year where they had to go through the gauntlet, they had to go through all 16 games, and it they started doing this last year, and it was kind of like under undersold, and then Ohio State lost a couple games not only to Oregon in the middle of the season, but then to Michigan late. But it was definitely a talking point that Ohio State was kind of like becoming more of an NFL type squad in the way they were operating. They were operating under, hey, we're gonna play 16 games, not just 12, 13, or 14. It is we're playing a little bit close, a little bit slower. We're not necessarily trying to get as many plays out as possible. And on top of that, with the defense they're trying to play, and with the defense that is now, I think Ohio State is trying to be as complimentary as possible. And I think to a certain extent, that's not necessarily in the DNA of what college football is. Okay? And what do I mean by that? So in college football, you're kind of either there's not a lot of teams that are great at both sides of the ball. That's just in general. I get it. Some of the big boys, the Georgias, the Ohio States, the Alabamas, they can be good at both. But when it comes to an identity, usually you're gonna lean more towards one way or the other. You're either going to be a Nick Saban team in the very in the very his or very early times where they're defensive focused and like the offense is just there to try to score points if necessary, but otherwise they're gonna let the defense dominate, or you're gonna be like Tennessee, and they really don't have a lot of great defense up until up until like last couple years, where their defense has gotten a lot better. But like for the most part, they're trying to score, they're trying to have as many plays as possible and then score, and then their defense, whether they do well or not, the like the main the main act is the offensive side, okay. I think Ryan Day going through what happened last year. I think he has now adopted a more NFL model where it's very complimentary football. Okay. He has a young team in general because there's a lot of guys coming in that did not have starting roles last year, but I will contend they all played last year. There's not a lot of dudes that showed up on day one of this season and had never played a snap, probably other than Julian Saiyan. But even he got a few snaps last year in the backup role in the in the third third string role. So even he got a few spots to go in there and throw the football, but it wasn't a lot. I'm not gonna sit here and say it was. But like other than that, like a lot of the dudes that were coming into this season, especially on defense, they had all played. I get it, they may not have all been starting guys, but they were all playing. They were all in the rotation. We did not have a lot of dudes that are just showing up this season and just saying, hey, you're gonna be starting for the first time and never played any type of ball. And especially with a lot of those guys, they were playing during the playoff run. The run that led to Ohio State winning a national championship, these young dudes were playing. So they come into this year, they're playing absolutely awesome defensively, offensively. You have a young quarterback in Julian Sand. Ryan A's like, hey, starting with the Texas game where their their defense is absolutely amazing. We're not gonna put you in a spot where you're gonna have to make a lot of like big decisions. We're gonna play complimentary football, you're gonna we're gonna line you up some easy throws, make good decisions and don't throw the football to the other team, and we should win these football games. And that's exactly what he did against Texas. He didn't throw any picks, he made the throws that were there, did make good decisions. And then over these last few weeks, it has just been getting better and better and better, and they're just putting a little more and more on his plate. And then that has led to Ohio State not really playing a lot of snaps. They're like averaging like 60 snaps a game, which is like in the middle of the country and all of college football when it comes to amount of snaps, it's very average. They're not really a high flying offense as right now. They're playing very slow, they're huddling, they're they're not necessarily trying to pick up the tempo at all, which I think is is what they want to do. Because Ryan Day has shown, like, hey, we if we want to do this for 16 games, if we have to this year's like last year, we have to have a little bit less of a um snap count, especially offensively, because it helps out our defense. If our defense is gonna keep looking how it's been looking, where teams that are facing Ohio State's defense have averaged only like six points per game and coming in, and if that's gonna happen, our defense is gonna play so well, we have to help them out because if that's gonna be the side of the ball we're gonna lean on, and I'm not saying that it's the strength, I'm not saying the because the Ohio State offense has no weakness at all. And I think there's even like there's some obviously standout players on the offensive side of the ball, but I think it has allowed Ryan Day to take the offense a little bit more slowly, and they're gonna say, Julian Sand, we're gonna give you a little more week by week. And they came into this game against Washington and said, Hey, we're gonna have a game plan. And it started off a little slow, we'll I will say, but by the time the second half rolled around, they really needed it. So it's like, hey, we're gonna throw the football a little bit more. We're gonna do, we're gonna be very simple in the way that we're running our offense, and we're gonna do enough, just enough to win this game. We're not gonna sit here and try to blow out anybody. We're not gonna sit here and try to score as many points as possible and play fast. We're just gonna get out, get get in here, get this win, and get out. We're not worried about style points. And I think that's where Ryan Day has really hit the next phase of his coaching arc is because is that he's been to the mountaintop. He knows what it takes, especially with the new, with how the landscape is now with the playoff and having to play so many more games. He's found the what what how he wants to run this program. And this is where people are not going to give Ryan Day the credit he probably deserves. But if this was a different coach doing this exact same thing, or when he was doing this exact same thing, people were applauding when I I'll get to that point in just a second. Or I'll just say it right now. I think Ryan Day could be the next coach Saban. And this is where Jace would jump in and say, hey, you're glazing too much, but this, but again, he's not here, so I'm gonna go with it. And he's hitting his coach Saban arc because I think that he has reached the point of not caring about nothing else. There's not caring about individual wards. He's not worried about how the narrative is about him or his team. Again, the Michigan thing is a little bit different, so I'm never gonna sit here and say that that doesn't matter because Ohio State has shown, Ryan Day has shown that when it comes to Michigan, they're the boogeyman, and that's something we're gonna have to deal with at a certain point. But I'm I'm that I was gonna make sure I mention it. I'm not gonna harp on that point, but it is a point nonetheless if anybody wants to put throw that in my face. But outside of that, I think Ryan Day has sh has had made the case that he doesn't care about style points, he doesn't care about having a high flying offense, he wants to play the best football to win football games, and he wants the team to be peaking at the right time, a lot like last year, and you want to hit hit your stride at the perfect time, so when the end of the season comes and you have to go on that big run to go win it all, he wants to have this team ready to do that. And I think that he is following that blueprint to a T this season. Obviously, it started off a little bit of a bang with the Texas game. You know, Ohio State's defense did everything when it comes to making Texas not look as good as they probably are, and people want to, and and this is what Ohio State's done in every game this season. Again, it doesn't really matter with Grambling in Ohio because nobody really cared about them. But when it came to Texas, and now when it comes to Washington, where Ohio State won this game 24-6, this one I'll get a little more granular granular about this game, where Ohio State's defense is not gonna say probably, but is the best defense in all of college football. And I've watched a lot a lot of college football, and I don't think it's anything close. I don't think there's a defense that's close to the way this Ohio State defense is playing right now. The way, especially in this game where like people were making the case, like, oh, this is a real upset spot for Ohio State. They have to go all the way to Washington, they have to go play Damon Williams, they have to go play um Boston, the wide receiver, and then the running back, I forget his name, but they have to play that trio of offensive players, and they're really explosive, and they could be a very big problem for that Ohio City defense that's looked good this year. And then Ohio State goes and does the job. They make a Washington team that was undefeated in this season and they hadn't lost at home in three years. They went in there and dominated Washington, and I get it, the score wasn't the score, did not look like it was domination for that first half where Ohio State was going in a halftime seven to three. But like when I was watching this game, this was not if Ohio State was going to win, this was gonna be how Ohio State was gonna win. And that's how it felt during the game. Ohio State was dominating, and I get it. There was a few things going on, especially in Ohio State in that first drive where they got all the way down the field. It was a very nice drive, and they ended up going forward on fourth and one in the red zone, and they didn't get it. Fine, that happens. It sucks. You wish it didn't happen, but it happens at times. They don't score, they give the ball right back to Washington. Washington then has a drive, has to kick the ball back to Ohio State, and then Ohio State fumbles the ball on the return and gives it back to Washington, and they keep keep having the ball again. And then so Ohio State went super long without even touching the football, and then they finally got the last drive in the fourth quarter where Ohio State got the chance to go have like a 14-play drive or something. Hold on, let me make sure I have it right. Um play by plays. It was a 10-play, 73-yard drive that led for Ohio State to score that touchdown to go up 7-3, and then gave the ball back to Washington for three plays, ended the half and all that, didn't try to take a touchdown or all that. But going into halftime, the score didn't look great. But it was playing as if Ohio State's defense was showing in this game where that trio, that offensive, that offensive trio for Washington that everybody thought Ohio State should be scared of, they were making them look ordinary. Damon Williams, as great as he was, hadn't thrown any picks and was throwing, running the football for a lot of yards and not making big um and making a lot of big plays all over the place, he didn't do that. DeMon Williams went 18 to 22 for 173, zero touchdown, zero picks. Oh, everybody was talking about his rush, his uh running. Unfortunately, in college football, stats count towards rushing stats. So, like, that's it is sacks are gonna count towards that. It is what it is in college football. Damon Williams had negative 28 yards of 13 carries. They put Damon Williams in a in in a um in a in a cage in that game and said, Hey, we're gonna have a spy on you. We're gonna like switch our spies. Sonny Styles is doing it at times. Um and why am I forgetting? Let me see here. Nope, nope, nope. Why? Arvell Reese. Arvell Reese is doing on the others at times, and they were saying, hey, we're gonna spy you, we're gonna make sure you don't get out of the pocket. If you do, we're gonna have guys ready to go tackle you right away, and we're gonna play very good defense on the back end. We're there honestly playing a lot of one-on-ones, and we're saying, hey, if you're gonna make the play, go make it, but we're not gonna give up any big explosive plays. That's exactly what they did. It was and it was a few plays given up because again, I think the one little weakness in the Ohio State's defense is the nickel spot where we have Lorenzo Styles Jr., the brother of Sonny Styles, playing. He looks like he can be picked on at times. There's again, there's times where he looks great, but there's these last couple games he's been being picked on. That could be a little bit of a problem. But again, it's not going to be a problem that's going to screw over this defense altogether, but it is a something to watch. They made this Washington offense look normal. They only scored six points, and that defense for Ohio State has done this to every team they've played this year, and they did it in this game as a master class. Caden Curry, the defensive enemy for Ohio State, he had three sacks, nine solo tackles, and eleven total tackles, and five tackles for loss. Caden McDonald, K Mac, the defensive tackle, he had seven total tackles with four solos in two sacks and three tackles for loss. And then you add, like I said, Arvell Reese, Sonny Styles, they were spying on him all game and they spying on Damon Williams all game, and he was never getting away. And I feel like he got that, he got the message early on that and didn't even try to run because he's like, hey, they're just gonna run me down and get me, so I may as well just stay in this pocket and try to beat them from here. And that's where it takes away so much of their dynamic part of that offense for Washington, is because he wasn't able to extend plays and like big throw it for big gains down the field. It was, hey, he had to do it from the pocket. He made some plays. He didn't, he was very efficient, but it wasn't going anywhere. Once they got into the get got into the red zone, they weren't scoring, they had to go for field goals twice. So with that being the case, Ohio State's defense made Washington look like not as good of a team as they probably are. And then offensively, I'll give this to Ohio State real quick. Julian Sand was an was nails again in this game. He did the big The moment was not too big for him. They were playing in a hostile environment, and he went out there, went 22 of 28 for 208 yards, two touchdowns, zero picks. He didn't make the bad choice. They didn't ask him to do a lot, but again, everything they asked him to do, he did it. He passed with flying colors. And people want to talk about the fact that he doesn't throw the football downfield a lot. He's nine for nine on yards, passed on on throws, past 20 yards with 20 yards or more in this year, and he's nine for nine and he's perfect and all of that. But in this game, they did not ask him to throw the football down the field a lot because guess what? Washington played a lot of zone. They were playing a lot of quarters coverage. So they were making clear that we were going to drop back, and you're not going to get big, get big chunk plays on us. And Julian Sand took that and said, Hey, all right, fine. If you're not going to let me get the big plays down the field, I'm going to take what you're giving me. And that's exactly what he did. He didn't try to force it. He said, Hey, I'm just going to make the play that's available to me. And he did that multiple times over, again and again and again and again and again. And until they got a few scoring drives, did what they had to do and won the game going away. Oh say rushing rushing attack. Bo Jackson is really kind of emerging to be that dude with CJ Donaldson being kind of being the backup guy. Bo Jackson had the most carries in this game. He went 17 carries, 80 yards, no touchdowns. CJ Donaldson, again, being the guy that's like more of the hammer in this offense, being the running back, he went nine carries, 39 yards, and a touchdown. The running game is fine. I'm not saying it's not explosive. They ran rushed for 149 yards total in this game. It's not explosive. It's like not, I'm not going to no, it is, it can be explosive at times because Bo Jackson really is that dude. I think he's really emerged. Even as a freshman, he's when he runs the football, it's different. And I've talked about him before, so I'm not going to go too deep on that. But I feel like the coaching staff is starting to recognize that too. And they're giving him more and more carries. And as long as he's not fumbling and as long as he's doing his job, they're going to keep giving it to him because I do feel like Ryan Day sees him and says, hey, if we want to be the team we want to be by the end of the season, this dude needs to be the guy carrying the rock for us in the running game more than anybody else. And that's what's happening even four games into the season. And then our guys catching the football man, Jeremiah Smith. You got a healthy dose of him, eight receptions, 81 yards, and a touchdown. And on the touchdown catch that he had, it they were Ohio State was in the red zone, and it was like the time where they were trying to get the big first score of the game, and we're like, hey, we just need to get somebody here. And it feels like I heard somebody say this and it was perfect. It was if you want to score, throw it to four. Exactly what happened. And it the play reminded me of like the mesh stuff that Ohio State did with Marv against Penn State a couple years ago, where Penn State really locked down everybody else, but it was Marvin Harrison where Ohio State was like, hey, we're gonna make sure he's gonna be the guy to superpower us to a win here. And it was the exact same play, it was just like on a mesh concept, and it was more Ryan Day called it a tunnel screen where every everybody was going out and blocking, and then it was kind of giving a shallow cross to Jeremiah to let him go and run for the rest. It was a short pass. But they didn't even have to block. It was just like it opened up and it was perfect because the defense kind of dropped back, and it was perfect, but it just shows that that play reminded me of just like, hey, if we need to go to this well where we need to start really featuring Jeremiah to make sure he gets the ball and is the guy that doing what he did last year, he was the super like he was like Superman leading the offense, they can do that. And that's exactly what they did when they needed it. They turned on the Jeremiah Smith cheat code and it worked out for us. And he had eight receptions, 81 yards, and a touchdown, like I already said. Brandon Inniscott going, he had three receptions, 34 yards. Carnell Tate did not have as many catches or receiving yards as he's had in prior games, but he was involved. Three catches, 33 yards. Max Clare got involved, James Peoples, they bringing in the running backs, a few tight ends. So, like Ohio State did what they had to do. And like I already said, Ryan Day is not in the in the thought process of getting style points. He's not going to sit here and try to score a bunch of points. I really do feel like in this game, if Ohio State wanted to score 40, they probably could have. But Ryan Day didn't care about that. He wanted to make sure that we held on to the football and offense and gave our defense time to rest. And when our defense is out there, they're dominating and suffocating the life out of the offense of the other team. And I feel like Ryan Day got the idea that this is how our team is like playing right now. And he's like, hey, if that's gonna happen, we're gonna make sure our defense is nice and fresh. Because I feel like the Ohio State defense has played like the third least snaps, uh the third least snaps in all of like power four. So like they're making sure that the defense is able to get rest and not have to play too many plays. Does that lead to some slower play? Yeah, for sure. But if Ryan Day understands what this defense is right now and how special they are, and he's like, hey, we're not gonna overdo it, we're gonna make sure they have their time to rest, and when it's time to go, they'll be ready to go. And that leads to Ohio City not scoring as many points as they probably want to. For sure, fine. I get to a certain degree in this game, they only had three possessions in the first half, and that's usually not something that usually happens. But again, with the fumble and with all that, like there was a 15-minute period in this in the first half where Ohio State didn't even touch the football. So that's usually not going to happen. But even with it, with it have like Ohio State six total possessions in this game, and they dominated and scored 24 points. Like Ohio State did what they were supposed to do. The offense and defense did what they were supposed to do, and they're dominating. And this is where I get to like just before I go on to the other games. I know I've been going on this for way too long, but I'm an Ohio State dude, so it is what it is. Like I said before, Ryan Day has turned into Nick Saban, and if Nick Saban, his best teams were playing exactly this way, and Nick Saban was admired and like he was applauded for it. But when Ryan Day is doing this right now to at this point in his career, after just winning a national title with Ohio State last year, people are now starting to proke cold and saying, Hey, do they not trust the offense? And what is the problem, this, that, and the other? And it's gotten to a point now where every time Ohio State faces these teams, when they go and face Texas in week one, and Texas doesn't look good, it's oh, Texas isn't all that good. Orange is awful, and oh, it wasn't that big of a win. And then now with Washington, they go and everybody thought this was an upset spot. And Ohio State goes and dominates. What does everybody say about Ohio State after this game? Oh, Washington wasn't that good anyway. They were overrated. It wasn't Ohio State went out there and dominated to make Washington not look as good. It was Washington wasn't that good in the first place. And that was the same type of rhetoric that for Nick Saban for a while, where in his best years on those best Alabama teams, that's what they were doing. They were a BOA constrictor, choking the life out of the other team, and their offense really didn't have to do a lot to win football games. But again, when it did have to happen and the bigger scoring games had to happen, they were ready for it. But for the most part, they weren't trying to go out there and score a bunch of points every single week. They weren't. They were just trying to win games and go home. And Nick Saban was applauded for that, especially at the end, like the latter parts of his career as the coach at Alabama. Everybody applauded him for it. But oh but Ryan Day doing that exact same thing right now is not getting anywhere near the credit that Nick Saban wants to get. I'm not saying he's Nick Saban, but I'm saying he's probably getting up to the point where he's his he's building the resume and he's getting to that point where people are gonna have to start giving Ryan Day some more credit as to being one of the best coaches in all college football. It's probably Kirby and him is like the top two without much of an issue, the way I see it. And I think people are gonna have to start putting some real respect on Ryan Day's amendment. I get it, the Michigan thing is always gonna be a downside for him, and he's gonna have to figure that out. But outside of Michigan, he's like really he's really figuring something out here, and he might be cracking the code on all of college football. He is running this Ohio State football team like an NFL team playing in college. Though that game plan that Ohio State's running right now is very NFL like. If you have in the NFL, if you have a defense that's gonna choke the life out of the other team, guess what the offense is gonna do? They're not gonna sit here and try to score a bunch of points. You know what they're gonna do? They're gonna play conservatively, they're gonna take the plays that are given to them, they're not gonna give the ball to the other team because we know what on the other side, if our defense is healthy and they're good to go, they're well rested, they're gonna choke the life out of the other team, so why push it? If we don't have to, and that's exactly what Ohio State is running right now, and I feel like people need to give some real respect to that. And with that, also give respect to the idea that Ohio State is making these teams look ordinary because of how great they are. The defense that went and won a national title and got eight people drafted, this defense might actually be better. And I'm getting close to where I'm not saying might anymore. This defense might be one of the could go down as one of the best defenses to ever do it if they keep going at this rate. And the offense, I know people are having their questions, but I just see it every single week that they're only doing exactly what they have to to win these football games. But if they need to turn it on, and Julian Sand has passed every test with flying colors, I feel like if they get into a point, and again, I don't know if there's an offense that's going to force Ohio State to do this this year, maybe maybe Oregon might be the closest thing to an offense where I'm like, hey, that team might actually push Ohio State to have to like really open up the offense. But outside of that, I'm not very confident in anybody else. But like if they have to, I think Julian Sand will be ready to go and ready to go out there and sling it if they really need him to. But guess what? He's still very young, and Ryan doesn't want to necessarily put that all on his plate right now. And they're still winning football games while doing it. And I feel like they're just gonna keep building for Julian Sand to where when that moment arises where they need him to go out there and try to win to like really go out there and lead the offense out there to win a football game, he'll be ready to go. And it sucks that people narrative-wise around the country are not gonna give Ohio State that type of credit and they're just gonna look at it as, oh, that defense is great, but what's happening to the offense? Like this Ohio State team, they're not LSU. They're not Bama, they're not these, they're not Georgia, they're not these teams with one side of the football looking very good and having issues on the other. This Ohio State team has a formula and they're running it to an absolute T. And I'm gonna believe it until it doesn't happen that I like this is the same game plan as what they had last year, dude. Again, it came with a few losses last year, and Ohio State was a little more explosive, like they were still trying to push the ball a little bit more last year because they had a a senior latent team with a quarterback that has played a bunch of games, and they're they are still working in a young quarterback at this point, and they're they're gonna do right by him, and they're gonna keep winning football games while doing it. And that's what I believe. And I feel like the more that Ohio State does this, the more people are gonna really start recognizing what the form what they're really doing. And I hope that they start giving more credit to Ryan Day and this team for doing what they have to while also like saying, like, hey, we're ready to go ahead and start dominating anybody we play, and we're gonna do it on our terms. There's a superpower in that. And I feel like, especially if you're gonna have to go play 14, 15, 16 games to go win a national championship, the teams that can do that are the teams that'll go win national titles, not the ones that have to outscore everybody every week or defensively dominate every week. It's the teams that can be an amoeba and go and adapt to their surroundings and play play the perfect type of ball to win a football game whenever it's necessary. And I feel like that's what Ryan Day is building at Ohio State right now, and people aren't recognizing it. And I can't wait for people to start to because it'll be a glorious day for me to kind of go out there and talk all the trash on everybody else for having any type of bad news, anything bad to say about Ohio State and how they're playing this year. Sorry, I went way too. I probably talked about a half talk about that just Ohio State for half an hour. But it is what it is. Hopefully I won't go that long on anything else. Um, next game. Oregon, number six, Oregon, number three, Penn State, probably the best game of the whole weekend. Oregon won the game 30 to 24. Did I say they score the Ohio State game? Ohio State beat Washington 24-6, by the way. I'm pretty sure I mentioned it, but I just want to say it out loud if I didn't already. Oregon and Penn State. Oregon went into Happy Valley and beat them 30 to 24 in double overtime. I don't want to go to this. I'll start with Oregon. Oregon for three quarters, the first three quarters of this game absolutely dominated offensively, defensively. Like they did what they had to do. Dante Moore is incredible. He's out there making the right plays and he's looking very even keel doing it. Their defense is making plays and not necessarily letting Penn State run the football like they Penn State really wants to do. Like when Penn State really, if they had their choice of how they wanted to play football, Penn State wants to run the football and then playoff, do plays off play action for that for Drew Aller to throw to these receivers. And again, the receivers for Penn State are not all that great. I think that's been proven once again this season because Penn State, for some reason, cannot get any type of consistent receiver play. And they keep trying to get guys out of the portal to make it happen, and it hasn't happened as of yet. And I feel like to a certain extent, I think Penn State fans are recognizing this, but I hope that maybe their coaching staff starts to recognize that the things that are similar for what they've been doing these last few years and what this problem still is this year, is that their quarterback's the same and their coach the same. The quarterback, um, and I think Oregon realized that and they said, hey, we're to go out there, and Penn State's defense is very good. Like Jim Knowles running that defense is playing good defense, not great defense. Like that Penn State defense does not have an Abdul Carter on it anymore. Like they don't have a guy of that caliber playing on that defense this year, and Jim Knowles is doing great with the guys that he has. Again, Penn State's defense is a lot more talented than they the talent on that team is a lot more talented than 95% of teams in all of college football. But when you lose a guy like Abdul Carter, there is a difference. They don't have that lockdown dude in the secondary either. And Jim Knowles is doing his thing. The defense played well for Penn State. Like they really held up for a while in this game, but it they held up on not giving up a bunch of points. But Oregon was easily moving the ball, though. Like I said, Dante Moore threw the football well, 29 to 39, 248, and three tutties. They're gonna also ran the football well. I think they had like they had 176 total rushing yards in this game, with a with a motorcade of running backs, and Dante Moore also doing some stuff running the football as well. Um the wide receivers for Oregon did their thing. DeCorian Moore, their young freshman wide receiver, was the leading guy. Seven receptions, 89 yards, and um, and had like a 12.7 yard um per catch average. Gary Bryant Jr., six receptions, 55 yards, and a touchdown. Sadiq, their tight end, who was like, looks like a monster. Six receptions, 49 yards. Like, so they had a lot of dudes out there making plays. And they did what they had to do those first three quarters, and it wasn't until that fourth quarter where Penn State really opened up their offense and like really started doing stuff. And I'll get to the Penn State part in a minute, but then even in overtime, Oregon was time for Oregon to come out offensively and do their jobs. They went out there and scored more points. Like they did what they had to do. And Oregon's getting a lot, like they're looked at as like the number two team in all of college football now, and people are giving them a lot of credit. But I just think for Oregon's side, my only question is Dante Moore has looked is looked awesome, and he can throw the football perfectly. Like he has a beautiful arm, he can layer throws, like he is a very good quarterback, but he does get a little antsy when it came when it comes to pressure getting near him. He does get a little antsy feet-wise and can make some mistakes. And I just don't think Penn State was able to do enough of that. Because again, they don't have a guy like Aldo Carter to cause like to cause uh what's the word I'm looking for? Destruction in the in the backfield in the in the pocket for him. What will they do against a team like Ohio State and like other guy in other teams that'll be able to get more pressure on your on Dante Moore is probably a big question for them. I think defensively, I don't think Oregon's necessarily locked down defensively either. I think they have enough dudes to stop a Penn State Lions team that like they don't their offensive line isn't as good as what people thought they were coming into the year. Drew Aller is not necessarily a runner when it comes to being a twitchy athlete at all. And even when he's passing the football, it's he's not very accurate, and he can't, as much as he has the tools to be a guy with a big arm, he's not accurate downfield, and he doesn't he can't layer a football to save his life, so he's not accurate doing that either. So, how will Oregon's off defense look differently if they go off against a team that can do all those things? They can get after Dante Moore, they can go, they can play some good man-to-man defense against the wide receivers for Oregon that are young, but like are they gonna be able to play with that physicality when on the outside, like they probably need to, but have not had to do that necessarily against yet. And this is where I get to the Penn State side, and this is the Penn State side's the more negative part, man. I want to give Oregon a lot of the credit here, but I think to a certain degree, Penn State had everything leaning their way to win this football game. They're at home, they're playing a wool, it's a whiteout game, they're playing at night, and this was the game that James Franklin and Drew Allers, like this is the game they needed to win. Like everything was going their way. Like, if they couldn't win this game, how is it gonna work against Ohio State when Penn State has to go to Columbus to win play that game? Like, if they can't win this game, like what does it mean for the other big games they're out left in their schedule or even the playoff? And I just feel like it's too much of the same old story with this Penn State team, especially over the last three years with Drew Aller as their quarterback. When they're playing teams that aren't aren't of similar talent and caliber as them, they can go out and play great and beat up on those teams. But when they play teams of similar andor better talent as them, Drew Aller can't make the big plate pass when necessary. He can't be accurate enough throughout the game. Their wide receivers can't get away from anybody when it comes to creating separation. And if they do, like I said, Drew Aller can't make the pass when anybody's going away from him, especially when it comes to throwing downfield. They can't run the football for a lot. Again, they ran for 139 yards, but I was off 35 carries. So it's not necessarily consistent, but they have a good, decent amount of running backs that like can do those things. But like Cray Chunk, like Drew Aller was a second leading rusher in this game. Like that, it wasn't like they were running the air out of the football. And when it comes to receivers, Devontae Ross was their leading guy, four receptions, 48 yards, and two touchdowns. But like he had 35 of the OZ yards off of one touchdown reception that he had. And like the other guys they got in the transfer portal, Trevor Pena, the guy from Syracuse that was a stats monster last year, he had two receptions for 12 yards. It's just like Penn State does not know how to have an offense with Drew Aller at the helm that can be explosive and get have plays on the outside. They don't know how to do it. And again, in the at in the fourth quarter, when it was time and they were down and they had to have two touchdowns to get back into the game, they finally had one big touchdown play that Drew Aller was able to throw a perfect, beautiful deep ball. But like, where is at the rest of the game? If you had like, I don't even think it's sitting there like they're choosing not to be more explosive. It's like because if they if they could, they would. Like, there's no reason they would let themselves get down 14 to then open up the offense. It's just they can't. And then I think Drew Aller showed a little showed his moxie. I do think he when it was time, like he finally did do something to show some competitive fire and spirit. And he got them back into the football game. But when it was time and overtime to go out and do the job, when he had his final moment where he knows that Oregon hit the um what was that in overtime? Hold on, make sure I have this here. How am I playing scoring place? It was in overtime. Oregon had gotten the touchdown. Penn State needs to go out there down there and tie it to be at the set end of second overtime, especially with Oregon not getting the two-point conversion, so it's 30 to 24. All Penn State has to do is go down there, score the touchdown, hit a two, and then you win the football game. And when that when the final, when like when it's time to go out down there and get the job done, Drew Aller goes out there and stares down the receiver he's throwing to and throws a pick to a safety that's just sitting there. Like this is the second big game in a row that he threw a pick that ends in a pick for Drew Aller throwing a bad pass. It's this play where he threw the pick pick against Oregon, and then in the playoff against Notre Dame last year, he threw a bad pick to end the football game. When he had a chance to go down the field and end the football game, if all he has to do is go score. It's too much of the same thing, man. And I'm just sitting here like if they can't do like I just don't know that I just don't see the avenue for this Penn State football team to get better. And this, like, this is the team where everybody thought they were supposed to be like the next Ohio State and Michigan, where they brought everybody back. They brought Drew Aller back, who's people were saying it's supposed to be a first or second round pick. So like they brought back the quarterback, they brought back a bunch of dudes, they went and spent money in the transfer portal to get some new wide receivers to come in and fix the problem, which it obviously hasn't. They brought back their running back duo and uh Catron Allen and Nick Singleton, and that like they are good players, but it's not working as especially in the big game, they're not doing necessarily what they need to. The offensive line was supposed to be better, but it's not. They really can't pass protect and they can't run block the way everybody thought they would coming into the year. So, like, where is the avenue to get better? If Drew Aller is not gonna get better, which he hasn't shown in three years, this is his third year as a starter. I just don't think that you can just rely on the idea that he's gonna turn it on at some point this year. He's done he's been playing for three years now. He has a lot of starts under his belt. And again, I'm not gonna sit here and say that it's such a travesty because I would love for James Franklin and Drew Aller to keep doing their thing. I know Drew Aller is gonna have to leave at some point, but I don't want Penn State to fire James Franklin. Like, I feel like if they actually get another coach, they might have a chance to be better. But guess what? They're not gonna fire him because he does exactly what he needs to. He does 10, he goes, he wins 10 games a year, and he can't beat the big teams. He'll get you to the playoff, but he'll never win you the big one. And I know those Penn State fans are tired of him, but the the um the the school and the athletic department's not gonna do the thing what they need to do because it costs too much money to get rid of him because you gave him a huge buyout. And this was this is like this is like um sweet nothings in my ear when I watch how this game goes and know and I know that Penn State's coming to Columbus in about a month, and I just don't think Penn State's gonna be able to turn it on offensively against the defense that we have. Our defense is much better than what Oregon brings. We can stop the run, we can get after you, and Drew Aller's not running away from nobody. He's not very athletic and fast, so like he's not gonna be able to run away from pressure when we're getting after him. And I'm not worried about those receivers at all. I'm not, and they can't, and Penn State can't run the football enough consistently for me to have to worry about that on for Ohio State's defense right now, the way they're playing. So keep rolling it out there, Penn State. I I know I feel bad for their fans. Like, I know their fans are super tired of this, but they know they're just kind of stuck in like purgatory because they they again, I know this is a Steelers fan. You do just enough to get to the playoffs, but you're never gonna win the big one because you know that's just that's a ceiling you'll never reach. And that's where they're at right now, and that's where they are with Drew Aller and as well. And I think everybody sold them on the idea that Drew Aller is supposed to be better coming into this year, and it's not working out that way. And I just I feel like it has to be groundhog day for them once again, and another big game. Drew Aller couldn't get the job done, James Frank couldn't get the job done, and they just don't see any way out, and I totally understand. I do. But uh but Oregon got the win there. So uh again, groundhog day for Penn State. Next game, LSU Ole Miss. Ole Miss won the game 24-19. The game did not feel this close while watching it. Like it was close, but it didn't feel that because the LSU's offense is so LSU's offense is such di in such disarray. Garrett Nusmeyer, like, um why am I forgetting his name now? Oh, that sucks. Um Brian Kelly, the coach for LSU, came out of this game and said, Hey, Garrett Musmeyer has to play better, and he kind of put it all on him. But I'm just like, there's a lot of things, aspects of this LSU offense that is going wrong. And Garrett Nussmeyer is a part of the problem. He's not necessarily excluded from being a part of the issue, but there's a lot of issues that offensive line can't protect anything, they can't run the football, they can't pass protect, they're wide receivers, like they have talented dudes, but it's just they're not getting separation enough. And then defensively, their LC's defense is actually pretty good. They're not like like lights out, but they're still a very good defense. But when it came down to playing against the olmus squad that knows what they're doing, and uh Trinidad Chambliss for the quarterback for them, both running and throwing the football, the LSU defense broke down as per usual. Ole Miss went there and did their thing. Um and when it came down to and it was time for the big boy drive to go and win the football game and take the air out of the football, Ole Miss was able to do that. They were I think they had like a 10-minute drive at the end of the game to go ahead and put the game away. Let me see here. Make sure I'm not crazy. Like in the fourth quarter, like Ole Miss had the ball for like 10 minutes worth of game time in that quarter because they're like, hey, we have the win here. Let's just go ahead and like just be able to take time off the clock. I know LSU won't scored the touchdown to be down five to make the game look close, but like it was LSU was never gonna win that football game because of how bad their offense is. And I feel like Brian Kelly doesn't have any answer for that. And I think credit to Ole Miss, like, this is a game where they usually lose, and they didn't. They played their best ball. That quarterback for them is playing very well. They have a little bit of a quarterback issue because Austin Simmons is a normal usual starter, but Trinidad, ever since he came in, has been this is kind of turning into Trinidad Chambliss's team. So it might become a little bit of an issue once Austin is Austin Simmons is ready to play again. Like, do you go back to him or do you stay with the hot hand? That like that you're gonna have to figure that out. And but it was just Ole Miss's defense is not all that special, but LSU's offense was not able to take advantage of any of the holes that Ole Miss may have on that defense because of how many problems that they have. And I just think that goes back on Brian Kelly. He's unlikable to a lot of the people in the fan base. At times he looks unlikable to his own team, and they just have a lot of issues that they just don't have any opportunity to fix as of right now. And that's it on that. Um, next game, Alabama, Georgia. I know I've been going too long. Probably, oh, already an hour? Crap, I need to kind of speed up a little bit here. I don't want to be doing this for two hours. Uh would suck. Um, Alabama, Georgia. Alabama won the game 24 to 21. What are my thoughts here? Um Bama scored all of their 24 points in the first half. I know I was talking before this game about how Georgia has a Bama problem, but a lot of people were. Thinking, like, hey, once Nick Saban retires, once he's gone, Georgia can then start jumping over that pump. Georgia and Kirby, Kirby Smart. Like they can get over that hump and start winning this football game, but it's now been two years in a row since Nick Saban has retired, and they've lost two years in a row to Kalen De Boer. In the first half, Alabama and their offense, Kalen De Boer, Ty Simpson, they had Georgia's defense in an absolute blender. And Georgia's defense could not get again, get it going. Like they could not get any sort of stops in the first half. Again, that changed in the second half where Alabama's offense stole out a little bit. But like by that point, it really didn't matter anymore. It just felt like Georgia did not have the juice to come back and really win that game. Again, even though the score was close, but when I was watching it, the game fell over already. Right? And if it weren't for um Williams, the wide receiver for Alabama's like dropping a Ryan Williams, the instant touchdown that he would have had if he would just caught the football. Like Ty Simpson would have had over like close to like 350 yards passing in three touchdowns, but with that drop, he was 24 of 38 for 276 and two touchdowns. So like that'll be even more cushion that Alabama would have had if Williams hadn't dropped the football. Bam was able to run the football decently effectively. They ran the football for 117 yards. It wasn't necessarily most efficient, but they got they did what they had to do to kind of keep some balance going. And for Ty Simpson, the quarterback for them, I was saying in the beginning of the year when they lost to Florida State that he wasn't necessarily the issue. And ever since then, he has just stayed steady. And honestly, in this game, especially in that first half, he was running that offense to perfection, and he was just throwing darts all over the dartboard, man, and he was they were doing a lot of good things, and he's just quarterbacking the offense. He's being the point guard and just give it the ball to their guys and just let them go. And he's not throwing the football in harm's way. Again, Georgia really didn't really help that because I just don't think I've talked about this before, but Georgia's defense is nowhere near the defenses that they had back in 21 and like 20 and 21, where their defenses were absolutely like top of the line, like potentially best defenses like we've ever seen in college football. Georgia's defensive line doesn't really get a lot of pressure on you at all. Like they can't really they don't have any like record, like home records in on the defensive line that can get after the quarterback. They don't necessarily have they their sec their secondary is leaky. Like they let a lot of plays go, big plays, especially. Like, so like they don't have a defense that is locked down as it's been in years past. And on the offensive side of the football, Gunnar Stockton, like he looked good in that Tennessee game, but outside of that, he has looked very ordinary. When things are worked out perfectly, he can make some plays, but if not, he's not going to be the guy to elevate your team. And he did in this game. He had 130 yards passing and a touchdown. Like he did not do anything that looked super special in this game. Georgia did run the football effectively. I'll give them that credit, though. Like they ran for over 200 yards. But it's just when they were down the way they were, it it wasn't even like they were down because at the at halftime it was it was 24 to 14. But it's just in that second half where they really had to start throwing the football to get back into it, they just weren't able to do enough to get the job done and get into the end zone. I don't know, man. Um, it's just Kirby and Georgia really have an Alabama problem very akin to Ryan Day having his issues with Michigan, and it's very like very similar situations. Like against everybody else, they can figure it out, and they're they're the bully. But when it comes to those those specific teams that they have to play on the other side, it can just be it's like maddening to see like how they can lose these games where I'm like, hey, you look unstoppable against everybody else, but against these teams, you just have your mental, there's a there's a mental block there for some reason for both of these teams, for both of these coaches that I think are the best in college football. But it's just it was a it was a impressive win for Alabama because like at when they lost to Florida State the way they did at the beginning of the year, trust me, I was ready to write them off altogether. But it's just in this game against Georgia, like Calen DeBore, the coach for them, just knows how to like have the team ready to go for this game. And again, does this stop them from going and losing games they probably shouldn't to end this year? Probably not, because they've been doing it for a while now. They've done it for the last year and four games now. They've played had games where they've lost where they shouldn't have. So I'm not gonna sit here and say Alabama looks like like one of the best teams. Like they do look like one of the best teams, like they're talented enough to go beat anybody. But it's just do they have the culture that day in, day out, they'll get at their best, like Nick Saban had Alabama looking when he was the coach there? I just don't think so. But against Georgia, Bama just knows they this they've cracked the cheat code on that one. And uh that's something Georgia's gonna have to figure out. But you know, Bama looked very good in this game.

SPEAKER_02: 1:05:18

Let me get a drink here before I go on to the next one.

SPEAKER_00: 1:05:30

Next one we got is let's see, Ann M Auburn. Ann won the game 16-10, a lot of punts. It wasn't necessarily a exciting matchup at all. It really wasn't close to that. Tech Sandem didn't even play all that great, but it was domination because Auburn's offense is so absolutely awful that Tech Sandem didn't even have to do anything offensively to win this football game. And it sucks that because Auburn's defense is not all that bad. Like they're they have some dudes over there and they can play some pretty decent defense, and they're not gonna get blown out by anybody. But it's just that offense for Auburn is so absolutely putrid that it it's like it's insane how bad that offense is, especially with having a coach that's like an offensive-minded guy. But it was just a very gross game to watch in general because of the lack of execution on both sides. But yet Texan really dominated this game, but just it didn't look, didn't feel that way because they just couldn't score the football the way they needed to. Next game, Indiana, Iowa. Indiana coming off of their big win against Illinois coming into this game made you think, like, hey, they should go in and dominate. Didn't necessarily happen. It was a bit of a struggle. They were playing at Iowa's a little bit harder of a place to play, but they got the job done, managed to win the game 20 to 15. Um, Mendoza, the quarterback for Indiana, still looked pretty good. He wasn't as efficient, but he got through some of the issues that he had in order to win the game, and I feel like that is a little bit of a plus in Indiana's column because Indiana showed last year is like, hey, when they're playing well, when they can dominate you, they'll win. But as soon as they faced a little bit of adversity, is when they kind of crumbled a little bit, and Indiana came out against the Iowa team that they should have beat pretty handedly, didn't go all their good, didn't go their way early. But in the end, they managed to make enough plays to win the game late, and that's a big step in the right direction for Indiana when it comes to national thoughts on them. It's like, hey, this they went out there, didn't struggle a little bit, but they still managed to win the football game. Next game, let's see, Tennessee, Mississippi State. Tennessee won the game 41-34 was a very close game all the way up until the very end. Mississippi State has really turned themselves into a very hard out type of team in the SEC. They're 4-1 at this point, so like they've been playing some very good ball. And even in this game, like they Mississippi State had the lead and then just kind of let Tennessee back in at the end to send the ball, send the game to overtime, and then that's where Tennessee kind of finished the game off. But Tennessee got the win there. Uh congrats to them. But Mississippi State has really turned themselves into a team that's like not a pushover this year, which you have to give them a lot of credit for. Georgia Tech, I just don't think they know how to be like the favorite in a matchup because they went and faced Wake Forest. A Wake Forest team has looked like as like maybe the worst ACC team in the whole conference. And Georgia Tech barely pulled the game out. They needed overtime to get the job done. But they played infinitely better when they went and faced a um when they went and faced a Clemson and like Colorado. Like they've looked infinite like Temple. They've looked no, sorry, when they're playing against teams they pr that nobody thinks they should win against. They play a lot better ball. But against this Wake Forest team that everybody thought they were going to dominate just didn't look that way. And just maybe some teams just kind of like don't know how to be a team that just comes in and gets and can wake up to a team that's not as good as them. Because I feel like that in in part is like a strength, not a strength, but a superpower within itself, is to be able to wake up for the teams that you know can't beat you and still go out there and execute the way you need to. I feel like Georgia Tech really did struggle with that in that game. Um, next one, USC Illinois. USC came all the way over to uh Illinois to whip play that game. It was a little bit of a scheduling thing that uh why am I forgetting his name? No, this sucks. Um Lincoln Riley. He was complaining about it because USC played the night game last Saturday, the Saturday before this game, and they played up until like 2 a.m. was the ending of that game, and then they had to go to Illinois and play a game there at noon exactly. So for USC time, it's more of like 9 a.m. for them. So Lincoln, Lincoln Riley was complaining about that before this game happened, and everybody was like, well, that's what the money's for. And USC, even though people were thinking of like how good they've looked this season, went into that game and did not play the most efficient, not efficient, but like no, efficient's probably the a better word. Like they did not play a game. Like this is the game they usually lose, and people were thinking that they may be different, and that they weren't gonna lose the game like this, and that's exactly they kind of went back into the well. People started to believe that USC's defense was gonna be a lot better, and they were facing off against an Illinois team that just got blown out by Indiana last week, and everybody was like, hey, you should be able to handle Illinois since they got bulldozed by Indiana, and it didn't work out that way. The USC defense went back to being Swiss cheese like it usually is. And Illinois just went up and down the football field all over the place. And Luke Altmeyer played very good, 20-26, 3-28, and two touchdowns. I'm not sitting here and saying that USC's offense played bad. Jade Maeva, 30 or 43, 364, two touchdowns and a pick. They ran the football well, had 126 yards total in rushing. But like they, like the USC's offense played great. It's just they could their defense could not get stops. And they cannot get stops against this Illinois team, and that's kind of how it ended it. It's like you Illinois had the ball last, and they got down the field, and they scored the top uh scored the field goal to end it. And it's just like this is the game where Lincoln Riley has made it a career of losing. It's like these big, especially at USC, it's just the defense can't get enough stops to go and win, even with the offense playing well, and that's exactly what happened. And credit to Illinois. They, after their blowout last week, where they got beat up on by Indiana the way they did, they could have just stayed on the mat and just kind of taken this loss to USC without an issue. But they got back up off the mat. They were at home, and they showed out for their fans and the guy in their own stadium, and they won the football game. They went out there and showed some heart, and they really got they really went back out there and showed everybody that Illinois is not to be forgotten. They're still out, they're still here. And they went and beat beat a USC team that people were starting to really believe in, and they did it in not, I'm not gonna say convincing fashion, like they blew them out. But it was a back and forth game and Illinois won. This is not a game that Illinois usually wins either. But they went out there and won it. So all the credit to them. Um, USC, their defense, man, it's just like people started really starting to think their defense was good. It's not. Um next game, Notre Dame blew Arkansas out the water. They blew him out, they blew him out so bad. Arkansas fired their coach after this game. 56 to 13. It was a pretty up and down performance, like not up, sorry, open and shut performance by Notre Dame. They went out there and dominated, man. Uh CJ Carr, their quarterback, 20 of 30, 22 of 30, 354 and four tutties. They ran the football effectively. Their um their duo of backs had a three touchdowns total and uh like over 130 yards of rushing between the two. And they just went out there and they dominated from start to finish, man. And like and it was a performance that people were starting to question whether Notre Dame was even capable of getting out there, even against a terrible Arkansas team that had really nothing defensively, and then offensively, for like people were wondering whether they could stop Arkansas from doing what they what they usually do, because Arkansas had a pretty explosive offense throughout this season, and Notre Dame went out there and they stopped that too. And again, I'm not gonna sit here and say that Notre Dame's defense is fixed because they look no way in the same they don't look anywhere near what they did last year. But when Arkansas came out and they were flat, Notre Dame took advantage and they jumped on them early, not only offensively but defensively, and they didn't let up. So I have to give Notre Dame their their credit because they had because they had a game like this. But do I think they can translate this into more performances? I think I'm gonna have to see them do it against a better team to make me feel that way. Because I do think they still have their issues offense when it comes to their offensive line and on their defense. So um I'm gonna have to see a performance against a better team to really make me change my mind on that. But as of this game, they did what they had to do. And that's about it for the games that I wanted to talk about for college. Is there anything else that I want to talk about college-wise? No, there really wasn't. And I don't want to go too far into anything else because I've already gone so long. What is it, hour 15 on just college football? Man, that's wild. Even for myself, when I know I come into these podcasts and just kind of go off on tangents all the time and kind of have my long, elongated thoughts, I never usually think I go I'll go this bad. But after the Ohio State thing where I went so long on that, it was something I've been suing on over the last couple days. So I think that's the issue. And like I said before, without Jace here to sit there and look at me and say, hey, hey, Mofa, we let's go talk about something I actually want to talk about. I can just kind of go off and go off into the deep end and just don't know when to stop. So before I catch on to something else and want to talk about it, let's go ahead and go on to NFL. Before that, let me give an update. Yankees are still up one-nothing, top of seventh. Hopefully they can keep uh keep this win. Finish this game out, get the win, be up one-nothing against Boston in the three-game series. All we need is one more to go ahead and go on to the next series. So hopefully we can figure that out. I just love watching baseball, man, but it sucks not watching it right now. But you know, I gotta pod. Got a pod. Let's go on to the NFL. And hopefully I won't go this, I won't go an out another hour and 15. I really hope not. Um, but you know, it is what it is. So I want to talk about these games, so let's get to it. So let's start with the records here. So in this week, I went eight, seven, and one, and so did Jace, with that one, the tie being for Green Bay and Dallas. We both picked Green Bay, but you know, that whole crazy Sunday night game ended up in a tie. So that's where the eight, seven, and one comes from instead of like eight and eight or nine and seven. We had four splits. We split on the splits, obviously, and that's about it there. So let me go ahead and go through the games, give my thoughts, anything that I have coming out of it, and then uh give the Thursday night football game prediction, and then we'll be out of here. So let's go ahead and get into it. Let me get to the stuff here. There we go. Alright. So we already did the we already did the um review of the Seattle and Arizona Thursday night game on the last pods. We'll skip past that. Alright, so let's go to the first game on Sunday morning, and I mean Sunday morning. When I say this, um the first game of the this past Sunday was Minnesota at Pittsburgh, but the game was technically in Ireland, so it was a home game for Pittsburgh, but they are went all the way across the pond to play the game. Steelers won the game 24-21. Me and Jace both picked Minnesota to win to win the game because I was going into it saying, hey, Pittsburgh's too inconsistent offensively. Defensively, they've been a little bit leaky, especially on the back end. And I think against Minnesota that has a very good defense, I just didn't think Pittsburgh had it in them to come out and play consistent enough offensively to win the game. And I was very negative, and I think my negativity is warranted with the way they've played this year as of this point, even with them being three and one. It's just I just know how the season will end. And I feel like, just like Penn State, man, like I said earlier, like when you know, like, hey, you're you're never gonna have a losing season with what this team is, it's just like what's the point of not having a losing season if we're just gonna make the playoffs and go get blown out by somebody there. So, like, what is this all for? And it's like the inevitability of it is where all my negativity comes from, and I still feel that way, even with this win. And I feel like in the moment when I got up at 9.30 to watch this game, I do get sucked in every single time, every single week. I jump in, even though I know it's probably the best for my team long term to go out and just like blow out this season, go lose a bunch of games, and go draft a quarterback for your future, even though there's not a quarterback really out there to go draft from what I've seen from college football. But like create your opportunity to go build for the future. But when it's game time and I'm watching this game because I'm gonna watch every time, it's not it's not gonna happen. I'm never gonna just not watch. But when I do watch, I'm gonna be rooting for Pittsburgh all the way, even though I know it's not the best for me long term. I want that narcotic. I do. I want the Steelers to win. I want to feel that way. I want I want to be on the winning side of it every single gosh darn time I go to watch a Steelers game, especially when I'm waking up at 9.30 to watch it. That was what I've been would have been the most pissed about. It's like, hey, I knew we were gonna lose this game with what I picked before this game started. There's I I bet I hope I don't lose this game and like waste three, two and a half, three hours of my time, and I could have gotten a little bit of extra sleep on a Sunday morning. But let's get to the game. Let's give the credit where credit is due. Pittsburgh Steelers played a little bit better offensively. They played a little more consistently. Again, that is totally because the offensive line still wasn't necessarily being all that protective of Aaron Rodgers. But I think Aaron Rodgers played a little did a little bit better of getting rid of the football as fast as fucking possible to make sure he didn't get hit. He only he get it, he did get sacked twice, twice for 18 yards, but he was getting rid of the football quickly. He was making passes, like he was getting the ball to the playmakers. He got it to DK Metcalf five times for five receptions for DK, 126 yards and a touchdown, including a long 80-yard touchdown off of slant route, which he all Aaron Rodgers had to do is put it in a spot. DK went and took it and then ran to the house. I was running all over the place when that play happened. I was awesome. Very good to see. Like when you think of DK Metcalf on your team, like this is this is a play where he just takes a little slant route and he just takes to the house because of how fast he is at that speed that he has, in that body that he has. That's where he's a special dude. But on top of that, they ran the football effectively in this game, which is something I never thought would ever happen, especially against this Minnesota team. They didn't even have their starting running back in um Warren coming into this game because he had a knee injury, so he was blisted out before this game started. But Kenneth Gainwell was the leading rusher for this team, like a guy that I think is a journeyman running back who was on the Philadelphia Eagles last year when they won the Super Bowl. So I'm gonna give him that credit. But like he's not a starting running back in the NFL, and they made him look like that yes on Sunday. He had 19 carries, 99 yards, and two touchdowns. Like he was they were letting him run the run the run the rock a lot, and he was doing it effectively. And credit to the Steelers defense, man. They just made enough plays to go out there and win the game, especially with guys going down. Like there was I think Ramsey got hurt in the middle of this game, had to go out, and who else had to go out in this game? Darius Lay had to go out, and he came back and like he was dealing with some injury stuff. But it's just in the end, they just came out and made enough plays to win the football game. TJ Watt had he had a pick in this game that he kind of turned the that that was a play that really turned the tide of this football game where he was able to get that pick and put the Steelers in scoring position there. It was off a tip pass that I think Cam Hayward tipped and then uh TJ Watt picked and then took it the other way. Defensively, Pittsburgh just made enough plays to go out there and win. And here's the thing this should have been a dominating performance with the way it was going. I think at the end of the third quarter it was 21-6, and they kind of let off the gas so much that they let Minnesota score 15 points to get back into the football game. And like Minnesota had the ball last to potentially go out and win, win the game, or at least tie the game with a field goal, and the Steelers' defense finally made enough plays to kind of stop Minnesota in their tracks, but like the Steelers, even with them having an impressive performance, still kind of let up off the gas enough to where they let Minnesota come back into this game. Carson Wentz, he went 30-46 for 350 yards for two touchdowns and two picks. He got sacked six times by the Steelers in this game. I think Keanu Benton had a couple sacks in this game. Nick Herbin had a couple sacks in this game. Like Patrick Queen had one, Deshaun Elliott had one. Like there was a lot of contributors as to the sacks that were being made on Carson Wentz. But like he was still able to get his yardage, man. Again, they have a very good set of wide receivers. But like, obviously, in Justin Jefferson and obviously Jordan Addison now being back, he was able to make a few big plays. But it's just even in a win, I still feel very nervous. And I'm not gonna feel this way all year long. They're gonna get their wins, they're gonna lose games, and make me feel the make me only feel more the way I feel about the team now. But I don't know. I I was especially happy with, again, like I said, waking up at 9 30 in the morning to watch this game and not being disappointed by the end of it. It was a good feeling. So I'm gonna take it for what it is. I'm not gonna sit here and make any proclamation this is how the team's gonna look all year. It's not gonna be the case. The offense will look worse at times, the defense will look will look better or worse at times. And it would, but it was a very good win against the Minnesota Vikings team. I didn't think was gonna happen. So all the credit to Pittsburgh for winning the game. I didn't have any faith they were gonna get the job done, but they got the job done. But I don't know. They just need to get better and better, man. If they can keep running the football like that, I think there's something to be had there. But I just don't have any faith that they're gonna be able to be that consistent throughout the rest of the year to make it happen. So, but I will say one good thing on the Steelers side on this is they do have a buy. They have an early buy, a week five bye, is insane in the NFL. But I think it's coming at the right time. They're gonna be able to get some guys back over the next two weeks coming off of injuries. So I think it'll help them long term, but it's just a weird time to have a bye week. But I think it may be the perfect time to try to get some guys back before the next game. But again, how does that work for the rest of the season is my big question there. But you know, go on to the next game here. Falcons commanders, Falcons at home. They win the game 34 to 27. I think the Falcons coming off the bad loss they had that they had to Carolina the week before when they lost 30 to nothing. I think they really needed this game. Michael Penix came out and played a much more efficient game, 20 of 26, 313 yards, two touchdowns. Um BJ uh they did he'd have a pick as well, but you know, it didn't really matter that you won. Um B. John Robinson came out and was a monster in this game, back to doing what he was doing. He had 17 carries, 75 yards, and a touchdown. Tyler Algier, their backup running back, also had 51 yards off 16 carries and a touchdown. Drake London had an awesome game, eight receptions, 110 yards and a touchdown. Bijan came back, had another 100 yards receiving. Like, Bijan was an absolute I think he is probably the most versatile player in the NFL, and he's the most explosive. Like, get the ball in his hands any way you possibly can, and he's gonna like he's gonna have the opportunity to make the big play, and that's exactly what he did in this game. Um, both rushing and receiving. I think he had 170, 180 yards total from scrimmage out of um from this game. So he had an awesome game, was like the main contributor in like what this team was playing a lot better offensively. Kyle Pitts also came to play, five receptions, 70 yards and a touchdown. So this was the game that Atlanta really needed coming off of the loss they had, and they just played a lot better football. Not gonna take too much away from this loss from Washington. They still don't have Jaden Daniels back who was dealing with his knee injury. So Marcus Mariota came out, had a little bit more of a pedestrian Marcus Mario today. It led to a loss, but it's just they still they still came out and played good football, but it just wasn't enough. Made a few too many mistakes on their side, and they lost the football game. So I'm not gonna take put too much into Washington losing this game. Once they get their quarterback back, once they get Terry McLaurin back, I feel like they'll be just be back to playing better ball. But again, I think their defense is probably the worst side of the ball for them. But again, when you have Jaden Daniels, when you have Terry McLaurin and all the guys they have on offense, uh Debo Samuel and all the white the running backs they have, I feel like the defense won't be as big of an issue. But again, it's just it's one of those things like, hey, when your defense is looking worse, your offense has to be better. When your offense is worse, your defense has to be better, it has to go both ways. But sometimes the way you build football teams, sometimes the offense the like one side has to be the stall worth, and if not, they can lose a lot of games. And I will say, without Jaden Daniels, Washington is a much worse football team. So um, again, it was crazy how they got the win last week the way they did in dominating fashion. So, but in this game against the Falcons, they didn't did not get enough against the Falcons and how efficient the Falcons were, so especially offensively. So next game, Saints Bills. Bills won the game. It wasn't the most impressive because it just felt like the Saints were in this game for too long. Like it there's been no reason the Saints like really thought they had a chance to win this game at the end. But Buffalo, it's just they're they Buffalo runs hot and cool. They'll that one some points they'll look like unstoppable and they can't be stopped. Well, I can't, I just kind of that was a double. I just said it twice. Sometimes they'll look like they can't be stopped, other times they'll look like they're kind of lethargic in a way, especially offensively, and then defensively they'll be locked down at some points, other times they'll kind of just let the other team get what they want. I think the defense is a little more often gonna be kind of like hot and cold. I feel like the offense should be the more consistent side of the ball, especially with Josh Allen being at the helm. Wasn't the case in this game. Again, they scored 31, so it wasn't like their offense was awful, but it just with that defense is kind of like not being able to put New Orleans away, the game was not as clean as you would like it to be for a Buffalo Bills team being 4-0 against a Saints team that is winless on the year. Um Josh Allen played well. James Cook played well. They had a bunch of guys making plays in the pass in the passing game. Josh Allen had a rushing, good rushing game too. Seven carries, 45 yards, and a touchdown. Wasn't as effective as I would like. I will say the Saints, but it's just they're they have a lot of they have a lot of moxie, dude. Again, they're not a very good. Team. They don't have the most talented of dudes. Spencer Rattler is kind of like, you know, at points looks like it looks like he's barely treading water. He'll have moments where he finds some stride and he'll start to play better. But for the most part, he's just trying to he's just trying to survive out there. But like Rashid Shaheed and Chris Salabi had a touchdown pass in this touchdown reception in this game. But again, he only had 20 yards receiving off three catches. So like they just don't have a consistent enough offense to like, you know, go play NFL games against other NFL teams every week. But you know, is what it is. Bills got the win there. Lions beat the Bills 34 to 10. Lions were at home. Browns were coming off of Did I say the Browns? I said the Browns. I almost felt like I said the Bills at first, but Lions beat the Browns 34-10. The Lions were at home. The Browns were coming off a big win against Green Bay last week. Were they able to pull off that upset? The question was, was is the Browns going to be able to do the same against the Lions? That was not the case whatsoever. The Lions didn't have to do a lot. I think their defense played. Here's the thing. The Browns are terrible offensively. They're absolutely atrocious. I think the only bright spots on this Browns offense is Quinsha Judkins. Quinshawn Judkins, obviously Buckeye. Love watching him play, but again, sucks that he has to do it for the Browns. He had 21 carries, 82 yards, and a touchdown. And then the Isaiah Bond being the guy they got from Texas. He was he's like the only, he's like the biggest bright spot when it comes to catching the football. Him and probably Harold Fannon. Like those are the two dudes that like those are the guys that I think offensively have any type of shot of like really being those dudes. But like Joe Flacco is playing absolutely atrocious football. He went 16 of 34, 184 yards, and zero touchdowns, two picks. Like, there is no reason he should be quarterbacking a football team. But I think the Browns are just that determined to not let the young guys play whatsoever because they don't want to have a chance to have to go play Shador at some point and either be proven right or wrong on that. That they're just gonna sit there and let a 40-something how old is Joe Flacco? I think he's like 41 or 42. No, he's 40. But even at 40, he just looks like even compared to like Aaron Rodgers, Joe Flacco looks a lot older in the way that he plays, and like it just doesn't look good. Joe Flacco's out there stinking up the joint. And it just sucks because that defense for the Browns is very good. Like they're blocked down, they're crazy, can't really get a lot of points on them. Even with the Detroit Lions getting 34 points on them, it felt like a Herculean effort. Like they it was a hard 34. It was not just throwing the football all over the place and it was a light show. Like the Lions had to grind those those points out. Like that Cleveland Browns defense is very good. It just sucks that they don't have an offense that gives them any sort of iota of a chance to really win without you know being set up by the quarterback making a very bad throw and setting up the offense perfectly in the red zone, like you know, like Jordan Love did last week. But Detroit went out there and won the game. Jameer Gibbs ran the football effectively. Um Mammer St. Brown did his thing and had a couple scores, like, but still, it just wasn't again that Browns' defense is going to keep them in a lot of games they probably shouldn't be in. But it's against the Detroit Lions offense that really a team that was really found their stride. If the Browns aren't able to put up points on the board to really like make you scared, I just feel like that they just don't have a shot. Especially against this Lions team that just they just playing very consistent football right now. They figured it out with their offensive line. Not figured it out, but they're just playing better. And they're playing a little bit more free when it comes to their off their um play calling, and they're just they're finding a stride here, and they just they won a game against a Browns team that was undermanned because they're playing a 40-year-old Joe Flacco that should not be quarterbacking a football team. Um, next game, Patriots beat the Panthers 42-13. Drake May played a lot more efficient ball. It was a little bit close there for a bit. I think they were down six to nothing, and then the Patriots absolutely exploded there for the rest of the game. Credit to the Patriots coming off of the game last week where they um lost. I think they lost to the Steelers, right? Make sure I'm not crazy. Yeah, coming off the Steelers game last week where they had a bunch of turnovers. They cleaned that up, didn't have nearly as many. I don't think they had any turnovers in that game, did they? I don't think so. Yeah, no turnovers. So they cleaned up the turnovers, had a lot better game. They were playing against the Carolina Panthers team. That's very bad. Again, they won the big game last week against the Falcons, but I just feel like that was kind of put on a plate form. But this Panthers team is not good, like, at all. I feel like the days are numbered for Bryce Young, like he had he had a little bit of a spark last year where he looked a little bit better. But coming into this year, he does not look good at all this season. And I think that I think after this season, I think the Panthers will really look at potentially drafting a new quarterback because Bryce Young has really shown no signs of life this season at all. And uh I just don't think it's gonna get any better. But yeah. Like I said, credit to the Patriots. Clean up the turnovers in comparison to what they had last week against the Steelers, and let's be honest. There were times, even last year, where the Patriots lose to a team. I'm not gonna sit here and say that the Patriots are a lot more talented than the than the Carolina. But I do feel like that they like in comparison to what they were last year to this year, they are a little more talented. But I also think they're a little more consistent, like they're not consistent, but um they have a lot more attention to detail from top to bottom from the head coach down, that'll allow them to be able to play a team like this where they are more talented than and actually go out there and produce and put up the score that makes you think that. In a way that if this certain situation happened last year, the Patriots would find a way to lose it. And they went out there and did their thing and won the game against the Panthers, against the really undermanned Panthers team. Um, next game. Giants Chargers. This one was one of the bigger surprises of the day. You have the Giants coming in, uh obviously they're playing at home, starting their rookie quarterback in Jackson Dart. It was announced early on last week that he was gonna play. Me and Jace were questioning why that they would put Jackson Dart in to play against this Chargers defense where they had been playing so well so far this season. Did Jackson Dart produce in a way that Russell Wilson couldn't? I don't think so. He did a lot more on the ground. I think Jackson Dart really like gave them something in the quarterback run game. He had 10 risk, 10 carries, 54 yards, and a touchdown. So like he gave you a little more there, but I just don't think passing-wise, he really gave you anything that Russell Wilson couldn't. Jackson Dart went 13 of 20 for 111 yards and a touchdown. So I'm not I'm not I'm not gonna sit here and say that Jackson Dart is leagues ahead of what Russell Wilson was giving this Giants team. But you know what Jackson Dart does give you? He's younger. He has some moxie to him, he gives you a little bit of hope, not only as a team, but as a fan base. And what he does give you in the running game does supplement his potential lack in the passing game a little bit more. And I feel like that, especially that was enough in this game against the Chargers team that did not play all that well. Justin Herbert, 23 of 41 for 203 yards, a touchdown, and two picks. Justin Herbert did not play lights out like he had been playing throughout this season. Omarion Hampton, he had 12 carries, the running back for them, had 12 carries, 128 yards, and a touchdown. How, if he is averaging over 10 yards a carry, how does he only have 12 carries in this game? I feel like for all of last year, they were so dead set on running the football that this would never it would never happen to where Herbert was throwing the football for 41 times. To a point where like even I, as a Herbert believer, was like, hey, why are they putting Herbert in such a box like that and not allowing him to go out there and throw the football? But like on a game like this where throwing the football wasn't working, and their running back was playing so well, why wouldn't they give him more carries when he was averaging over 10 yards a carry? Especially if they weren't getting anything against the Giants defense that is very good. That Giants defense is actually kind of nasty. They have a lot a lot of guys that can get after you, and they can get after him. They have only sacked Justin Herbert twice, but they really did, they just get got a lot of pressure a lot of the time. And it's just they just kind of the Chargers got down and just couldn't get back up in this game, which is kind of surprising to me based on how they had been playing so far this year. But the Giants just showed a little bit of life. They played some good ball and they got the job done. It did come look come at a little bit of a cost, though, because Malik Neighbors did go down in this game. He ended up tearing an ACL, so he's gonna be out for the rest of this season. So it's definitely their biggest playmaker on that offense. Being taken out of this team is definitely at a bad spot, especially when you're starting your young rookie quarterback just to start the year, just to start of his season, and it just sucks you're taking away his best weapon to throw to. But it's just the Giants just I'm not gonna say, like I said, Jackson Dart throwing the football, I don't think is giving you a lot more than what Russell Wilson did. But I do think that with his Moxie, with his young personality, with his energy, I do feel like gives the fan base and the players and the coaches, he just has a little bit of hope attached to him. And if they can cultivate that and just make him play better and better on a week in, week out basis, I do feel like it'll turn out to be a force multiplier in ways that um I just don't think Russell Musle's ever going to give you at this point in his career. Next game, Eagles Buccaneers. Eagles win the game 31-25, um, even in a win. It isn't without their without any drama. I think Jalen Hurts, he went 15 to 24, 130 yards, two touchdowns, zero picks. I think the stat was that he only had three completed passes in the no. Hold on. Did he not have nothing to say he didn't have a completed pass in the second half? Jalen I think I heard a stat that he did not that he didn't complete a pass in the second half of that game. Which is crazy. Um But it's just even after the game before where they did so well offensively throwing the football around, it's just back in this game again, they scored all those points in the first half where it just like everything was going their way. At halftime, it was 24-6. And it just in the second half where you just needed to just kind of keep the offense moving. They didn't have to go crazy, but they just had to keep the offense moving enough to kind of keep the clock moving, um, run the football effectively and just do what you have to do. They just sputtered out in such a harsh way that they let Tampa Bay get back into the football game. It just like the way that first half went, it looked like the Philly was going to run away with it and it wasn't gonna be close, but they just kind of, like I said, they just sputtered out so bad in the second half. Like Tampa Bay just got back into it. Baker Mayfield came back and he started making plays. Um, he started throwing the football to Bucky Irving, who had 102 yards receiving and a touchdown. Amack Igbuka finally started making some plays in the second half. He had four receptions, 101 yards, and a touchdown. And they just kind of let Tampa Bay call their way back into it when in the first half of like the Philadelphia was just like they couldn't be stopped. They had that fake, they had the no, not the not the fake, but they had a blocked field goal um that they took back for a touchdown at that point, give them 14 points to give them that other touch the second touchdown in the first half in the first quarter. And like they just I just don't they're so hot and cold, man. And then you have um AJ Brown coming out after this game tweeting that like if you had there's issues out there, you just smile and just make it look like there's no issue. But like the fact that you tweeted that, not tweeted it, but they put it on Instagram, the fact you posted that shows that it's an issue. And I like here's the thing. I don't want to I don't think Jalen Hurts is the issue. I don't think there is a lack of him being able to pass. As I don't look at there's a lack there as a reason as to why they don't they're not better offensively than what they are. I think there's a weird case of identity crisis for this team. I think that they are too locked in on trying to run the football in a way, and it's not working. And they I think they need to open up the offense more and kind of just have it be just have it be co-like have it be they feed off each other. It doesn't have to be again. I I feel like they just got so attached to the idea, what they were last year, in just running the football, being dominant, and just running it down your throat, and that being the main way to get the job done, and then just letting Jalen Hurts throw off of that, is that they got away from the idea that maybe the offense might be better if they can have the pass set up the run instead of having the run set up the pass. And I think Jalen Hurts has shown enough throughout his career that he can be the dude to go out there and throw if you ask him to, but they're not. And I'm not gonna sit here, as much as I like I I think Jalen AJ Brown's worries are warranted. I think there are some real issues. Like they I I don't I don't blame AJ Brown for feeling like, hey, I want to be involved in the offense, but I also feel like I feel like that he's in a bad spot because he ha he has these issues, he knows it's a problem, but they keep winning. So it looks like you're just the one bitching while everybody else is happy. But you can make the case that this has been a problem for multiple years now, and then you'll have these spurts where it'll look it'll look amazing and everybody's involved and everybody's happy, and then it'll go back to being an issue again. And I'm like, it it has to feel real gaslighty that every like it just feels like if you're the one that's only you're the only one talking about the issue that you look at as the dude that's being the party pooper in the room when you're still winning football games. But the but the issue's there. I'm not I I'm not um what's the word? I'm not invested in the Eagles winning or losing like that, so I feel like I can be have a little have a little bit more of like a cold take on it, and not necessarily be as um like all in on the scenario, but like there is an issue there, like there is a there's an issue in identity, and I feel like it does lead to them kind of trying to put their head through a wall and they probably shouldn't. They should try try to be a little bit more complimentary when it comes to pass game and rush game. And to a certain degree, Saquon Barkley is not playing all that well. He's not. Saquon Barkley is not put like doing the same things he was doing last year. I feel like part not just I feel like it's not just him as the issue. Their offensive line, I don't think, is as dominant running the football as they were last year. Again, it's kind of hard to be that on a year-in-year-out basis. And I think Saquon Barkley, after doing as much as he did last year, maybe there is a little bit of a fall off of him not being able to put up the crazy amount of stats that he was putting up last year when he ran for over 2,000 yards in a season. And I feel like if they just threw the football a little more consistently, had a little bit more of a fleshed out passing offense, and let Jalen Hurts do it, and I feel like if they could, it would open up the run game a little more and help out the running game for them. And it's just not happening. And it they just fucked around and almost found out, and they almost let Tampa Bay come back and win this game. The only lucky thing for them is that Baker Mayfield had this the one time where he threw that pick at the wrong point, and it just kind of it was the ceiling deal. Even though Tampa Bay had an opportunity to go out there and win the football game at the end, it just didn't work out that way because of a bad pick. But like other other than that, I I just I understand that like if you're you don't want to be the squeaky wheel and everything else is going great. And I feel like AJ Brown, Devontae Smith to a certain extent, but he's not as all in on being loud about it as AJ Brown is, like, there is an issue there. There is. I really do think it's I don't even think it's about trusting Jalen or not, or I feel like it's just an identity crisis that kind of leads to them like just not being as fleshed out as they probably need to be offensively. It's not every not every year's gonna be the same. I feel like they're just trying to rule it out there like it's last year and try to do the same things they did last year. And I just don't think it's working the way they probably think it should. Next game, Texans, uh Titans. Texans win the game, they're at home, they won 26 to nothing. The box score makes it look worse than what it was. Like getting into the fourth quarter, the game was six to nothing. Like Houston was really, like, even with Tennessee not able to do anything offensively, their offense is total cheeks. Cam Ward said as much. He said he was playing like ass. He said that team was playing like ass. And he's like, he said, to keep it a buck with you, we're we're playing like ass. That was like a direct quote from what I saw from his uh post-game presser on that game. As bad as that offense was, and as good as that Texans defense was, and even with Tennessee's defense not necessarily playing all that well and being all that good, it took a while for the offense to get going in this game for Houston. And it finally did get going, especially in that fourth quarter where they scored 20 unanswered points. Well, I guess all the points were unanswered because they shut them out, but they scored those 20 points in the fourth quarter. Maybe that can be a catalyst to help out, help be the platform to get CJ Stroud and that offense to as like a jumping off point toward towards the rest of their year. But it was a struggle for most of this game for Houston to get the points they wanted to get. Like they just weren't able to kind of punch it in. They would have drive start out good and then stall. It's just things are gonna have to get figured out. But I hope for CJ's like CJ had a good game, like 22 of 28, 233 yards, two touchdowns, zero picks. Didn't throw the football to the other team, didn't make the bad mistakes, but again, the offense just did not play as efficiently as they probably should have, especially with Tennessee kind of like being a dead fish at that point. They they kind of gave up on the game. So it just sucks that they weren't able to really figure it out until the fourth quarter. But I hope for their sake, and it was like the one big play that kind of set everything up with Nico, where they had the 37-yard uh play where they just kind of it was like the first real big play of the game that kind of set up everything for them, and I feel like they kind of took off from there. I hope they can use that as a jumping off point to help them throughout the rest of their year, because I really do want Houston to go out there, get to the playoffs, do their thing there, but it's just it's a growing process. I feel like they have a weird offense where they like it's not as good. I feel like they're trying to change the offense too dramatically, and I feel like that's not it doesn't fit what CJ is as a quarterback. I feel like CJ is more of like a a lot of like anticipatory, he wants bigger chunks down the field, and the way that offense is running right now, where they're like they're they're trying to do like the short plays, trying to do that, this, that, and the other, not really trying to get big chunks down the field, and they're trying to make him like a rhythm guy, and that's not what CJ is. Like he is a he's like a uh anticipatory thrower. Like, I just feel like it's the offense doesn't fit what CJ is at his best, if that makes sense to me. Again, I'm not gonna sit here and act like I'm some quarterback savant at all, but it's just me watching CJ for as long as I have, from him being at Ohio State and him coming to the NFL, kind of having the hot start that he did to where he is now. I just feel like the offense and what his mentality is when he's at his best doesn't fit together. And either he's gonna adapt and kind of find his groove, or they're gonna have to find a new offensive coordinator going into next year. I'm not sure which one's gonna win out. Again, if it really comes down to bringing it being a true issue, CJ's gonna win because he is the franchise guy. But maybe he'll like this will be the point where he starts to figure it out and they'll start to marry a little bit more of what he likes to do and what that offense is trying to be right now together, trying to make a better mix, get the play, get the um get the ball to their playmakers and go out there and win more football games. Because again, Texans being at one and three is not how they wanted to start the year. Alright, next game, Colts, Rams. Rams won the game 27-20. This was one of the splits. Jace picked the Rams. I did pick the Colts because I was like, hey, this is the game where I'm like, hey, the Colts should be able to win this if they keep playing the way they've been playing. And even with them losing, Rams won 27-20. This was a close game all the way until the end. And I feel like the difference in this game was A.D. Mitchell, like he, especially all the negative for the Colts, right? Because there was a big play that he was making where they got the ball to him and he was able to run all the way down the field, and it was about to be a touchdown. It was about to be a huge touchdown catch for him. And he was running into the end zone and then went to try to went to try and like um what is the word? Um hold out the ball to get into the uh get into the go past the pylon, and he the ball slipped out of his hand, and it ended up going out of the end zone, and that took a touchdown away from the Colts. That would have helped them get to a win. And then on another play, it was also like a big touchdown run that they had with Jonathan Taylor, and it was a huge play that was leading to four touchdowns for him, and it got taken away because A.D. Mitchell was holding on the block. He got called for that, and that took away another touchdown for the Colts. And I feel like if they had one of those, if not both of them, they probably win this football game. Because it game came down to in the fourth quarter, um, the Rams, I think with a couple minutes left, had gotten the ball, and Matthew Stafford hit 2-2 Atwell with a big touchdown cat touchdown pass. It was like a one big 88-yard touchdown pass that they had to him that gave him the seven-point lead, and that the Colts just couldn't come back from at the end of the game. I think they had the ball with like a minute and something left, and they just couldn't make enough plays to come back and tie the game up to take it to overtime. But I will say the Rams had a big game, though. Matthew Safford played great, 29-41, 375, three touchdowns, zero picks. They ran the football effectively. Kyron Williams was 13 carries, 77 yards, had a good day. Puka Nakua was awesome. 13 receptions, 170 yards and a touchdown. Already told you about 2-2 outwell, getting his touchdown. Devontae Adams had four catches, 56 yards and a touchdown. So, like the LA Rams were awesome on this day. But I have to say, I did come out of this game, especially with me like eating crow throughout the year, thinking that I thought Daniel Jones was going to be so bad coming into the season, and then he's just been very good. He had a couple of bad picks, but like other than that, he played very well. 24-33, 262 yards, one touchdown, and two picks. And like I said, even with him having like a couple of interceptions and giving the ball to the other team, they still had two touchdowns that were taken off the board that would have that would have won them this game, and they're they're just playing good ball. And I just come out of this game feeling very impressed about the Colts still, even in a loss. And it's just the Colts are a good football team, man. And it's just like the Brams played great, and they needed all every little bit of the greatness they got out of Matthew Stafford because even with the Colts making their mistakes, taking off the point, 14 points off the board for them, they score, still actually scored another 20 points, and they still were pretty decent offensively. And Jonathan Taylor were still making plays, running the football. Tyler Warren was a big play machine for them. A.D. Mitchell, like I said, he had a few very bad plays, but he still had three receptions for 96 yards. But it's just those two mistakes that A.D. Mitchell had really, I potentially think cost the Rams the game. I mean, cost the Colts the game against the Rams, but you know, stuff like that's gonna happen. Hopefully A.D. Mitchell will grow from this. But I do come away impressed, even more impressed with what the Colts are, because it was a clo it was a close game against two teams that I think are some of the better in all of the NFL. The Rams won, credit to them, and they got the job done, and the Colts, you know, hopefully get back to the drawing board or come back and play some better football next week. Next game, Jags Niners. Jags won the game 26-21. Brock Purdy did come back in this game. He had 22 of 38 for 309 yards, 309 yards and two touchdowns, but he also threw two picks in this game as well. Like, I think that was probably the difference in this game. Where Brock Purdy just gets in, like he's done this over the last couple years where he just has these modes where he kind of turns it on and he feels like he needs to do a lot more. And he's the he needs to kind of push it and make that big play, and then he throws a pick where he probably shouldn't have. If he was just a little bit safer with the football, I feel like it would like help his team out a lot more. But again, he spends so much of his time being safe and making the right play, and he has the talent too. I do feel like Kyle Shanahan does give him that little bit of rope, but he is playing with fire there because if that rope is given, Brock Purdy then has to do the right thing with it and not turn the football over, and that's exactly what he did. And real quick before I get to the Jag side of this, before I get to the rest of how this game was, I'm just saying. They were winning with Mac Jones, who was a robot that ran the offense and didn't turn the football over. Or just kept the tried to keep like did a lot better in keeping the football out of harm's way. I'm just saying. I'm just saying. You bring you get back, you get back the quarterback you've paid a lot of money to. He comes out, does too much, makes a few mistakes, and you lose the football game. Where I think Mac Jones could have not made those mistakes and potentially led the Niners to win that football game. Just saying. Just saying. Outside of Brock, Christian McCaffrey played well. He had 17 carries, 49 yards. Um, and then he also had six receptions, 92 yards, and a touchdown. Christian McCaffrey is the do-all guy for this team. He's running the football less and less than what he used to, but I do think they're supplementing that more with him making plays as a receiver. And he's doing that. He's doing everything he needs to. Um, Tong Tong is the tight end for San Fran, played well. Three receptions, 58 yards, and a touchdown. Ricky Pearsall had a few big plays that he made in this game. And uh the Jaguars team, uh here's the thing with Jet with the Jags, right? They got those turnovers, which I think was the really big difference in this game. Um, Trevor Lawrence did not play all that great. 21 of 31, 174 yards and a touchdown. Like Trevor is not setting the world on fire at all. But in this game, their defense made enough big plays for them to win, win, and they and Trevor Lawrence didn't ruin it, which I have to give him credit for in this game. Um, they ran the football effectively. Travis Etienne had 124 yards total rushing and a touchdown. Um and they did what they just did what they had to do offensively, man. They I feel like in prior weeks the Jaguars were looking for reasons to lose, and I feel like in this game, they were looking for reasons to win. San Fran gave it to them and they took advantage and they went out there and won the football game. Brian Thomas Jr. played well. 49 yards receiving off five receptions. Travis Hunter made one big catch on a um big fourth down or third down, it was third and long. Um and he did what he had to do, had a 28-yard catch that get led to a uh AM first down and that kind of led to a scoring drive for them. But I'm not like some like I watched some people that are like way into the Jags and saying they could be one of the best teams in the league. I'm like, I'm not seeing that. Like I just don't think they're g they're uh consistent enough offensively to kind of believe that. But again, with Brock Purdy coming in and trying to do too much, they gave the ball to the Jags and they took advantage of the moments, and you have to give the Jags credit for that. And they won the game because of it. It was a it was a big win, even though I don't I don't think the C the San Frans all that good. Again, they're missing a lot of players, especially Nick Bosa on that defense. Uh without him, they really don't have that premier pass rusher to get after you. And I just feel like it kind of takes away a lot a lot of the bite from that defense can that what that defense can do. And if Purdy's not going to take care of the football, games like that are gonna happen for sure. Next game, Ravens, Chiefs. This was probably the biggest game of the weekend. Ravens, uh, sorry, the Chiefs kind of take care of the Ravens swiftly in this game. They did it early, often, I think by halftime, the Chiefs were winning 20, like 20 to 10. And then the Chiefs came out in the third quarter, had 10 points, and then it just felt like the Ravens were over. It was a point in this game where they actually took Lamar out of this game for um Cooper Rush because apparently Lamar had a hamstring injury that they're saying he might actually be missing a few weeks with because of. And that if they start missing him for that, especially with now Baltimore being one and three, and if they don't have him coming up the next few weeks and maybe become an issue for them. Um Derrick Henry did not play all that well. He had eight reset eight carries for 42 yards. Lamar did have made some plays rushing the football. He had six carries for 48 yards and zero touchdowns. Lamar Jackson didn't really, he wasn't throwing the football well either. He had 14 of 20, 147 yards, a touchdown, and a pick. And here's what I'll say. I'll get to the Chiefs in a minute because I've talked a little bit. I've I haven't been talking trash about the Chiefs. I think it's been more Jace's ideal thing because you know he's a Bengals fan and all. So he has that personal rival rivalry with them. But the Ravens get into these big games, they've shown it already against the Chiefs. I mean, sorry, against all right, right here in this game against the Chiefs, against the Bills, against the Lions. Lamar Jackson, these big games just makes a big mistake, man. Again, he didn't do it in the last couple games that he played against the Bills and the and the Lions. It was more the defense. But Lamar in these big games, man, he makes that one because the pick that he threw came in a very bad spot where Baltimore was up 7-3, and they were going down the field and they was ready to have another scoring drive, and he threw the very bad pick to Kansas City that kind of breathed breathed life into that Kansas City team, and that allowed that kind of like gave Kansas City the boost they needed to kind of jumpstart their offense, and they went out there and scored 37 points in this game. Sorry. They already had like three points in this game, so they scored another 34 points in the in the rest of this game because of that. I just feel like it was like the momentum was on Baltimore's side, and they had the they had the time, they had the bump, the momentum in the ball, and Lamar Jackson threw a very bad pick at a very inopportune time, and it led to Kansas City kind of turning on this, like it could have been totally different if he didn't make that mistake. But he did, and he's it's been happening in big games, it's been happening in the playoffs, and I'd like I've I've said this before is that like to a certain extent, you have to start blaming Lamar. You have to also blame um Harbaugh, their John Harbaugh, their coach, but like you have to start blaming Lamar as well. Like you can't like yes, would you like to think that they would run the football more with the guys they have on that offense? Probably. Derrick Henry only had rushing the ball eight times with 42 yards is a problem. Like, especially with how good they they went had 17 total carries in this game. They had 166 yards rushing in this game. So like they ran they almost averaged 10 yards of carry with all three of their guys. Lamar, Derrick Henry, and Justice Hill. Like they again, Justice Hill kind of like ballooned that because he had three carries for 76 yards in a touchdown. But like so, like people like to say like Lamar is the one, like usually Lamar is not he's like one of the most efficient passers right now. He's pretty heck, I was saying last week how deadly he has been throwing the football this year. But it's just in these big games he keeps making these big mistakes, and sometimes like it gets to a point where we have to start blaming him. He's a part of the problem. I get to start blaming um Harbaugh, he's a part of the problem. And I'm just like, sometimes it gets to a point where they're just like trying to prove a point at some points where like I keep saying point, they keep trying to prove something that Lamar doesn't have to run the football to be effective, and he can keep throwing the football and it's gonna work, and sometimes it's not gonna work out that way. And I feel like I feel like it if they could be a little more flexible in the w where they're thinking and in their offensive game plan, I feel like it'd be better because either they're running the football and they're running all over you and they're big, they're the big bullies, and then they get their confidence gets shaken when the team doesn't go down and just take it, or when they're in games and they're behind and they just have a kind of a weird dynamic where they lose all type of sight of what their identity is. And it doesn't help that their defense was just a lot of the a good portion of their defense didn't even come into this game because they were hurt, and then they lost a few guys on this defense, like dropping like flies in the middle of this game as well. It's like they were missing guys defensively all throughout this game, not only to start, but throughout the game, they were kind of going out, but like they weren't all that good before either. That defense is a problem as well. I I just don't know. I'm like, and I'm gonna get to the Chiefs in a second, give them their flowers for how they played. But it's just the Ravens just have a big game problem to a certain extent, and it's not only on Lamar, and it's not only on the guys around Lamar or the coach. Like it's it's a whole team thing. They have a big game problem that they have to fix, and I'm not sure it's gonna get fixed because it's the he's it's been the problem, it's this has been the problem for a while. Again, kind of akin to the Penn State thing. Like, if it gets to a point where you just have to like everything is the problem. There is no one specific thing, like it's the whole thing, it's the whole shebang. But let's let's go ahead and get to the Chiefs here. I'm gonna give it a second. Sorry, talking for two hours straight like I really didn't want to. Can get quite um can cause some dry mouth. Chiefs. Patrick Mahomes, 25 of 37, 270 yards, four touchdowns, zero picks. Has his most explosive game that he's had in a while in a few years. They got Xavier Worthy back in this game. He was kind of like the blinch pin that kind of unlocked their offense. Because of that, it just seemed like they had a lot more options to throw to. And they did, and they were effective, and they were uh um, I'm not gonna say explosive, they didn't really throw the football down the field a lot, but they were making the bigger, they were being more consistent offensively with what they have been to this point in the season, and they looked a lot better, and they scored 37 points on that Baltimore City, um, Baltimore Ravens team, and they looked very good doing it. Um But like I said, getting Xavier Worthy back kind of unlocked a good portion of their offense. That is like their big play threat, and he did exactly that. Xavier Worthy, he had 38 yards rushing and two off two carries, and then he also had another 83 yards off five receptions with a long 37-yard uh catch for him. So like he unlocks everything in that offense. So they get a little bit more out of Travis Kelsey, he's able to do a little bit more, five receptions, 48 yards, and then they just get a lot of other guys involved. Hollywood Brown had a touchdown with three receptions off in 38 yards. Juju Smith Schuster had four receptions, 36 yards, and a touchdown. Pacheco got involved in the receiving game. In this it like the offense for Kansas City woke up and kind of played a lot better game against the Baltimore team. Do I think this is like their offense is totally fixed and they won't play, they'll play like this the rest of the year? I don't think so. Like this will be an up and down thing for them. But credit to them. They they woke up on this game against the Ravens, and they played well in the same game where the Ravens didn't play well. And to a certain degree, you have to give the Chiefs credit for that, especially when people were questioning like if they if they're in trouble if they don't win this game and all that, guess what? We don't have to worry about that because they won. And now the narrative gets pushed on the Baltimore Ravens now being one and three. How are they gonna fix their issues? And what happens if Lamar's gonna be out for a few weeks? Can they survive? So, like, the Chiefs now being at 2-2 now have a chance to like kind of restart their season, and they can really like again. I never really questioned that the I never thought that the Chiefs weren't gonna make the playoffs. I do, I did think that they just have enough championship medal that they they know how to get there. Like they know what it's like when it's time to go. And even with some of the offensive issues and defensive issues that they have, they just know how to get situational football. They just know how to set it up where they need to to go out there and play their best ball. And they were able to do that when they got some of their guys back, and they played very well against this Ravens team. And like I said before, we have to start giving some type of blame to Lamar as well. Like, he needs to play better in these big spots, and he didn't play as good as he needed to in that game, and that's on him as well. And it was very jarring when he did leave the game because it's like, hey, he has a hamstring injury, but like there was like no specific moment where you're like, oh, he looks a lot worse now. He was just bad throughout that whole game. And the next thing you know, he's just sitting out, and everybody's like, what's going on with him? until it finally comes out that he was hurt and wasn't able to come back in this game. And again, if he's gonna be missing the next few weeks, it's definitely gonna be an issue if they're gonna be able to kind of stay afloat without him at the helm. That will definitely be a spot that they're gonna have to get through, but who knows? Next game, Bears, Raiders. Bears win the game 25-24. This is a back and forth affair. Bears were able to pull off the win when the Raiders. I think the Raiders had the ball last and they were coming down. It was like 30 seconds left. They were going for the game-winning field goal. Bears blocked it, and then that led to the win for them. Here's my thing. Caleb is taking steps forward, he's playing better. 22 of 37, 212 yards, one touchdown, one pick. They still can't run the football to save their lives, like at all. Um, the connection between him and Roma Dunze is very good, very strong. Um, and they have a lot of weapons on that offense. Like they're making plays. But they totally win this game if Geno Smith isn't absolutely atrocious in this game. Geno Smith was 14-21, 117 yards, two touchdowns, and three picks. If Geno doesn't throw those three picks, I think they I totally think they win this football game. Because you know who was the superstar for the Raiders in this game? Ashton Freakin Genty, the guy who did not necessarily start the year all that strong. He kind of had his breakout game for the NFL eyes to see. He had 21 carries, 138 yards, in a touchdown, and then he also had another two touchdowns receiving. Like he finally had his big game, and Geno Smith was playing so bad that they lost the football game. Like the Raiders played so bad, and like even with Geno playing as bad as he did, they still had a chance to hit the game winning field goal, and again, Chicago blocked that, so credit to them. But like I was more of a Gino believer coming into this year that he can be a guy that can help lead the Raiders to wins, and it has not looked that way whatsoever. He's given the football to the other team a lot, and he's not playing efficiently, he's not getting the ball, he's not throwing the football consistently to who he needs to throw the football to. And it's definitely an issue, and especially when you're you're wasting a great Ash and Denty game that he gave you with him throwing three picks. It's definitely not the way you would like to have your quarterback play when he was brought in just to be a stabilizing force. He was meant to be the guy not necessarily that you can win with, not necessarily be the guy that you have to win because win in spite of. And Geno Smith is looking more like the guy you have to win in spite of right now, and that's a problem. But all the credit to the Bears, though. Like they when it came down to it, they made the plays they had to win the football game. And that's something that the Bears didn't do a lot of last year. So like they found their opportunity to win, and they got a good got good enough quarterback play, and they made the plays in the end, with special teams included, to go ahead and win. You have to give them credit for that. A few games left. Uh for right now, we're on to the Sunday night game. This one was a doozy. I this game ended in a tie, 40 to 40. It was a the way this game started and the way this game ended was a total contrast of like anything you thought was possible coming into this game. First half, Packers really dominated for the most part, like especially in that first quarter. They got 13 unanswered points, it was 13-0, and it felt like the Packers were gonna like cruise to an easy win throughout the rest of this game because of how putrid the Cowboys looked offensively for the most of the first half until they kind of exploded there at the end of the second. It started with the blocked field goal, um, not field goal, blocked extra point that the Packers were going for. Packers were trying to hit the extra point in the second quarter. Cowboys blocked it, took it all the way back to make it 13-2. And then from there, the Cowboys really started turning it on offensively. They got, I think they going into halftime. They scored another two touchdowns. Sorry, going into halftime in that first half. Dallas was actually winning the game 16-13, even after starting the game as badly as they did. Okay, and then you're like, okay, and going into the second half, especially with Dallas not having CeeDee Lamb, like he's not back yet. He's still dealing with the ankle injury. And like outside of George Pickens, it didn't like they had really anybody else to throw to. And Dak Prescott wasn't necessarily being all that efficient in the first half, but it's just with that blocked extra point, it just kind of gave Dallas a sense of like a sense of hope. And they capitalized. Dak Prescott started playing a lot better, especially in that second half. And that third quarter was a little bit of a snore with it like only scoring seven points apiece, but that fourth quarter heated up real quick. It was a back and forth affair. Green Bay scored 17, Dallas scored 14 in that fourth quarter, and heck, Green Bay had a chance. Like Green Bay needed a last second field goal to even take the game to overtime. And that was almost like null envoy because it was Green Bay taking the ball away down the field. They had about 15-20 seconds left, and they tried to go for another play. They didn't have a touchdown, they didn't have a timeout left. So they kind of let Jordan Love sit there and like go and call the next play, and like he was taking his sweet old time to go and call the play, and then they get the play, and then he goes and throws, try to throw it in the middle of the end zone, and he hits the back of a Cowboys player and the ball drops to the ground, and luckily it hit the back of the guy's jersey and dropped to the ground. Because if not, if that ball would have sailed throughout the back of the end zone, there wouldn't have been any time left. And that was not the plan. Like they, if there was any chance that they did not have a chance, like if there's any chance that the clock was going to get anywhere close to zero, I don't think they should have even ran a play. But guess what? They wanted to, and then Jordan Love took a sweet old time doing it. And I'm like, that is something a rookie does, not a guy that has been playing in the NFL for multiple years now. And he's looked at as a guy that could potentially want to be better the quarterback can be one of the better quarterbacks in the NFL. And that's just not a mistake that you can make. And it just lucked out that he was able to that that ball dropped with one second left, and it gave them the opportunity to hit the field goal to take the game even to overtime. Then overtime hit with the new overtime rules. Um, both teams get an opportunity to to um possess the football, and both teams get the ball. Both teams hit the three. Was that to go to overtime? Was that for the No, that wasn't. Hold on. Now I got it. No, that wasn't the that wasn't the end of the fourth quarter. No, it wasn't. Sorry, I was thinking all crazy. Because in that fourth quarter, play by play, scoring plays. Yeah, because in the fourth quarter, Dallas would score, Green Bay would come back and score, and then yeah, because George Pickens, they scored the touchdown to George Pickens 30 to go up 37-34, and then Green Bay had the ball with like around 40 seconds left. Okay, and then Green Bay took the ball down the field, got into field goal range, and hit the hit the field goal. Okay, so it was a back and forth affair in that fourth. Let me sorry, let me go back a little bit. Back and forth affair in that fourth quarter. Like I said, Green Bay scored 17 in that fourth quarter, Green Dallas scored 14. Um, and it took Green Bay to hit a 50-yard field goal at the end of the end of the fourth to take it into overtime, and then goes into overtime, Dallas gets the ball first, goes all the way down, uh gets into the red zone, and they couldn't and they couldn't score, so they ended up having to hit the field goal to go up three, gives the ball back to Green Bay, and Green Bay gets all the way, um, all the way down the field, gets to the red zone, and then has the whole flub up with the having 20 seconds left for um for them to hit the hit the field goal and then let's see with yeah, because they called the timeout with 28 seconds left. Because they only have two timeouts, so they call their last timeout with 28 seconds left, run another play, and then they were playing around with like getting all the so getting all everything together, kind of getting their offense set. Jordan Love was taking his sweet old time, hiked the ball with like second with like 10 less than 10 seconds left, hits the Dallas players back, ball falls with one second left, and then they had just enough time to hit the field goal to tie the game up to make it a tie to end the game. Sorry, that was like a that was a weird way for me to kind of get confused on how that game went because I watched it all, which is crazy because I was um I watched it all because it was a good game, but I was trying to win a bet. It was a six-leg parlay. I was waiting until the very end. I needed overtime to get the last leg, so it was like definitely one I was sweating it out. Um, but let me get to my sense for this team, for these teams. For Dallas, I have to give credit where credit is due. I have been a perpetual DAC hater throughout his career, his career about how he can do it in the regular season, but when the games matter most, he can't make it happen. This game mattered a lot. You had um Micah Parsons coming back from him being traded from the Cowboys to the Packers. He's coming back to come play in Jerry World in his new um Packers gear against the Cowboys, and there was a little bit more coming into this game. And Dallas had not played well up to this point. They were one and two. They did not want to lose another game and kind of keep looking terrible. And even with them losing games, Dak Prescott has not been playing terribly. He's been playing well. In this game, he played awesome. He went 31 to 40 for in three touchdowns. Um, they ran the football well with Javante Williams. Um, he had 85 yards. It wasn't efficient, but it was enough, and they got the yards they needed to get at times. Um, George Pickens, and this is where the the funny thing comes in. He did this with the Steelers, right? He'll have these amazing explosive games. He'll come out and play awesome. George Pickens, eight care, eight receptions, 134 yards, and two touchdowns. He has awesome games like this. And he'll make you lock in and will make you like really love him. And then he'll have those boneheaded games where he does absolutely nothing, doesn't try hard to do any of that. And that's where the he kind of suckers you in and just to disappoint you in the end. So like I'm a little bit happy to see that happen because it's just like you're you're gonna realize what Steelers fans realize as talented as he is, he's so inconsistent emotionally and as a player that it can kind of ruin it all in the end, even as talented as he is. But to his credit, he had an awesome game. They really couldn't stop him whatsoever. And with him, and then with a bunch of like Jake Ferguson is good, but like Jalen Tolbert, Cavante Turpin, like they don't have the most explosive amount of weapons without CD Lamb there, and they may do. And they played well and they scored enough points to get to tie it all up in the fourth quarter and have a lead. Um, and again, that Dallas Cowboys defense is not all that good whatsoever, but they did enough in this game to get after Jordan Love to kind of get him off the spot a little bit, and he made some mistakes because of it. And I'll get to the Packers here. Offensively, they sputtered out way too much throughout this game, and you would you would think that if they didn't have that third quarter where they really couldn't get anything going consistently, if they would have done a little bit more to kind of get out of that funk, that they could have been winning this game going away where it didn't come down to having a shootout in the fourth quarter and getting to overtime where it ended up being a tie. So you would think that with Jordan Love being your guy, that you wouldn't have such a lull when you started out the game so hot. And on top of that, like with Jordan Love being your guy, with him being there as long as he has, that he wouldn't be making that mistake at the end of the overtime to potentially give you a chance to not even have a chance to tie the game to end the game with a tie because he was like messing around at the line of scrimmage, setting up the offense. Like Packers, outside of that, Packers ran the football well. 22 yard um Josh Jacobs had 86 um rushing yards off 22 carries and two touchdowns, and then he also added another 71 yards receiving off four receptions. Romeo Dobbs had three touchdown receptions in this game with six receptions and 58 yards total. Matthew Golden came to play. Tucker Kraft made some plays. Like offensively, they had guys making plays, but it's just as a whole, offensively, they kind of hit a lull that they probably, if they would have just kind of stayed consistent throughout the whole game, it wouldn't have gotten to this point. But it did. Again, it's we're dealing with humans here, so you can't expect everybody to work at peak efficiency all the time. But it's just against the Cow Dallas Cowboys defense, you think they'd be able to kind of stay a little more consistent, but they didn't. But where I'll kind of give a little bit of a bad grade on this Green Bay team is their defense, man. When they started out as hot as they did with Micah Parsons at Micah Parsons there, um their defense was kind of Swiss cheese that Sunday night. And they let Dallas and Dak kind of make a lot of big plays and they couldn't get after him as much as they probably needed to. And it's just as hot as they started the season when they played against the Lions and really shut them down. We haven't really seen that defense since. And if that's gonna be the case, like what is closer to the truth for this Green Bay Packers defense? Is it what we saw on Sunday night or is it closer to what we saw that first game of the season against the Lions where they really shut them down? I'm not sure because they really haven't played well since that first game of the season. And if that's gonna be the case, it's just like this Green Bay team does not look nearly as scary as they once looked like. And especially with Jordan Love not necessarily playing all that consistently all the time, like there is some true things to be worried about if this Green Bay defense isn't as locked down as it looked at one point. But it was an awesome game to watch. It was back and forth. I'm not saying that, like, it just makes you think like this Dallas team playing as well as they are offensively, if they were to keep Micah Parsons, if they can like get a little bit more defensively, what this Dallas Cowboys team would be. I'm not saying they're gonna be like a Super Bowl contender, but they would be a pretty scary team to have to potentially go face in the playoffs for the NFC. And again, they would get back to can Dak play well in the big game in the playoffs? That would still be a question. But outside of that, they would still like Dak is just playing very good football right now, and I have to give them that credit. But um, but yeah, it was it was a back and forth affair, very good game, um, especially in comparison to what we saw last night in the Monday night games. That I would take that Packers Cowboys game every single time. Because the Monday night slate was not good, even on the outset when me and Jace were talking about it. Like the first, it was a double header for Monday night last night. The first game was the Jets and the Dolphins. Dolphins ended up winning that game 27-21. And the second game was the Bengals-Broncos. To the schedule makers' credit, that game looked a lot better when Joe Burrow was going to be the quarterback for the Bengals, but he ended up getting hurt. Things don't go always as planned. So you have um why don't I give why am I forgetting his name? Jake Browning being the starting quarterback for the Bengals. That kind of takes away all the wind out of what potentially that game could have been if they had Joe Shiisty at the helm. I don't want to go too much longer because I've already done this for almost two and a half hours now. So I don't want to go too much longer than this. So I'll try to keep it quick. Jets, Dolphins, Dolphins played well. They had a lot more fight than I thought they would at this point of the season. Um Tua played a little bit better. He played, you can tell in this, he doesn't see the field well against zone. And that, but when they're playing in man, whereas wide receivers can kind of just run at go run and find some open space, he can kind of find them. So he's playing well that way. Um defensively, the Dolphins are just like it just sucks that the Jets were as bad as like so the let me just keep stick with the Dolphins here for just a second before I get to the Jets. Because that was like me and Jace both picked the Jets. We thought they were gonna be playing a lot better than what they are. Justin Fields was coming back in this game, and it just it was a disaster on the Jets side. Dolphins, Tua played fine. They were playing pretty well offensively, they kind of had a rhythm for the most part. Um, Tyreek Hill ended up getting hurt in this game. He had a dislocated knee that they said he like tore everything in his knee as well when it happened. It was a very gruesome looking injury. He's gonna probably he's gonna be gone for the rest of this season and uh probably a good portion of next year as well. At his age, there is no guarantee that he comes back and is full it comes back fully healed. So like this could be the last time we really see like Tyreek Hill had it at his best. Again, I'm gonna say that hope that he does he does come back fully healthy and is ready to go next year. I doubt it. It was just that gruesome looking of an injury. But again, medical technology is getting better and better every day. So who knows? We'll see. But the Dolts like ultimately the Dolphins showed a lot more heart than I thought they had with how bad they have looked at points of season. And I just think that maybe the Dolphins have a little more fighting than than we thought. Okay. To the Jets side. Justin Fields didn't play awful, but he did not play great. He had the one big play that he made for the touchdown run, and then he threw the touchdown pass to Garrett Wilson. I think Garrett Wilson had a better catch than Justin Fields had a throw. But that is it on that's about it on that one. Like the Jets, like they were so bad offensively in the first half. They had so many um self um what is it? Self-imposed, not self-imposed, because they wouldn't they didn't throw the flags themselves. But like they had so many. Um they hurt themselves a lot with with um different flags and stuff like that that they were earning throughout the game. They had a bunch of fumbles. Like it this team is so undisciplined. They are lacking, like their defense is nowhere near what we thought they would be with adding the coach they add, the um Aaron Glenn. He was the defense coordinator for the Lions last year that played with a lot of grip, a lot of toughness. That defense doesn't look anything anywhere near like that for the Jets this year. Their defense is not good. They have a lot of self-imposed, self-inflicting wounds. That's probably the that's the phrase I was looking for. And Justin Fields just that not just him, because I think he played well. He didn't play bad. He had 20 of 27, 226, a touchdown, zero picks, and on top of that, he had seven carries for 81 yards and a touchdown. So like he was doing his thing. Brees Hall, 14 carries, 81 yards, did his thing. Garrett Wilson, six receptions, 82 yards, and a touchdown, he did his thing. But it's just this team is so inconsistent and they hurt themselves with penalties, and it's just if they would have just played a cleaner football game, they probably would have won this game going away. Well, that's not really true because of how bad their defense was, but they it would have just looked a lot better and they probably could have had a chance to win the game. But even with the score being as close as it was, they was just my the Jets were such a dumpster fire in general that the Dolphins were just able to win the football game because they just played a little bit cleaner of a game. But um, but yeah, but it's it was a gross game altogether. Dolphins won. I think there was one point for the Jets where they f they um what do they call it? They fielded a cat, they it was a punt, and they fielded the punt, and at the two-yard line, they just kind of they caught it and I forget what they call it, but it was it was it was bad. It was a dumpster file all over. It was a very bad game. But Dolphins win, credit to them, they showed a little bit of heart. Last game of the night, last night. Broncos beat the Bengals 28-3. This game was not close. It's a dumpster fire for the Bengals. Jake Browning is worse. Like he is legit, like I I thought he would be playing a lot better than what he has throughout this year. To give him potentially a little bit of credit, the offensive line is a lot worse than the last time I saw him have to play some real minutes for this Bengals team. The offensive line is awful, they can't protect him whatsoever. But again, he's still playing terrible as well. I think he's only averaging like five yards and attempt, so like they're not even trying to push the ball down the field whatsoever. It's just not good. He's they're playing badly. They can't run the football, they can't protect Jake Browning. He's not thrown the football effectively enough to the weapons that he has. T. Higgins had 32 yards off in three receptions. Jamar Chase had five receptions and 23 yards. With Joe Burrow on the field, if Jamar Chase has five receptions, it's probably for over 100. And T. Higgins probably has over 70 with those three receptions that he has. It's just a lot different of an offense without Joe Burrow there. And Jake Brownie is playing a lot worse than I ever thought he would when he had to take over. And it's just, it's it's very bad. Very bad all over. The Bengals' defense is not good. The Bengals' offense may be worse without Joe Burrow at the helm. And they are just a lost team in general. And I just feel like this may be a reset year in many more ways than one. I think they're going to have a very good draft pick. Hopefully they'll be able to get Joe Burrow either a great defensive player to help them out or a great offensive lineman to help protect him because this team is not going to do a lot of winning this year. I can tell you that for sure. Denver did not start the game all that hot. Bo Nicks didn't, but he kind of started warming up. He played well, 29 to 42, 326 yards, two touchdowns and a pick. He played well, made the plays. He had the one bad pick, but other than that, he played very well. JK Dobbins, 16 carries over 100 yards rushing. RJ Harvey is backup running back, 14 carries, 58 yards. They ran the football for over 186 total yards, so they ran the football effectively. Cortland Sutton had a great game. Five receptions, 81 yards, and a touchdown. Marvin Mims made a couple big plays. RJ Harvey had a touchdown reception. This game should have been even farther of a difference in when it comes to the score-wise because of how starkly a difference. I think the Broncos had twice as many yards as the Bengals. Like this game wasn't close. Um, it was a very bad game to watch all around. I was only watching it because I needed a last touchdown for a parlay. I didn't get it. J.K. Dobbins, they just took him right off the field after he ran them all the way down the field and let RJ Harvey get the touchdown, which is crazy. But it was it was a very bad Monday night slate altogether, and it's just like, man, I wish they could have flexed these games. There's coming into the night, there was no way these games were going to be good at all. And they weren't. And it was bad all around, and it just sucks I had to watch it because I'm a sucker for NFL football. But it it was a it was a bad watch altogether. Last but not least, I do want to do the Thursday night game because we're probably not going to do another pod until then. So I did have Jace send me his pick for the Thursday night game. And it is let me make sure I get this game right here. I think it's Niners at Rams. It's Niners at Rams, right? Oh, let me make sure I check here. But yeah, Niners going to Rams on Thursday night. Um, Jace picked the Rams, and so will I. San Francis has a lot of dudes injured. Brock Purdy did not play well in his first outing. I think he will be better, but I think the Rams are just playing a lot better football right now. So I think the Rams will probably win that game, especially with San Fran not having nearly as many like defensive playmakers. But without a guy like Nick Bosa there, with him tearing his ACL and being out for the year, so I'll go ahead and pick the Rams along with Jace. And that's about it there. So and alright. I went two and over two and a half hours. It's oh my god, I suck. This is awful. There's gonna be chapter markers, so I hope that if you do come in to listen to the pod, that you can kind of skip around and listen to the things you want to listen to because listening to a two and a half hour podcast is absolutely insane, especially when I'm just sitting here talking to a wall. Um, but if you do listen to it all, I appreciate you. Um, but man, it's man, I'm going to go way too long. But it's just when I have these moments, I have to talk about it all. I just have to, and I just can't stop myself. So especially with Jace not here to look at me crazy and just say, hey, dude, we're you're going way too long on this. But uh it is what it is when he's not here. So, you know, all credit to him though. He's dealing with his own thing. No, no blame at all for him not being here. It is what it is. He's dealing with something. It's a biggie. Hopefully we'll get him on later this week to do our prediction show. Um, but that's about it there. So I'm not gonna go too much longer. I've already gone long enough. So I'm gonna end the podcast here. If you've been listening for a while, we appreciate you. If you're just now joining on, apparently we've been having some decent amount of listeners because we have over a thousand downloads last week. So anybody that took the time to download our pod and give us some likes and anything like that, we definitely appreciate you for doing all that, but just keep doing your thing. So keep as in your thing, what I keep asking you to do. If you could like our podcast, subscribe to the podcast, rate the podcast five stars. Either you listeners listening to us for a while, keep doing what you've been doing, just not listening to us. Hopefully you can do that for us. And if you like listening to us on a weekly basis, we'd love if you can do all that. If you could also share our podcast, friends, family, enemies, anybody you feel like could enjoy our podcast on a weekly basis. When we we release podcasts twice a week, especially during football season, we would love if you can do that for us. And then lastly, if you could um follow us on Twitter and or X, whatever you would like to call it, at JB Sports Pod is the podcast handle, at Javante Boozer is my handle, at Jace Boozer1 is Jace's handle, and there's nobody really to hand the podcast over to, so I will go ahead and say thank you guys. Um, if you don't really like just me sitting here talking by myself, just go find another pod that has both me and Jace on here so you get a better idea of what this podcast is at its best when you have two brothers here talking sports, talking shit to each other back and forth. It just makes a lot it's a lot more funny and witty of a podcast when it's not just me standing here rambling along. So have a great day, have a great night, y'all, and uh, we will see you guys in a few days. Bye.