Solo Tuesdays: James Franklin Canned and Buccaneers are a Wagon

Two hours of football clarity without the fluff. We open with a new definition of dominance after Ohio State calmly suffocates Illinois, then follow the shockwaves as Indiana outlasts Oregon, USC runs straight through Michigan, and Georgia escapes Auburn amid an officiating mess. The real quake hits in Happy Valley: Northwestern’s upset triggers James Franklin’s firing, and we unpack the buyout math, portal risk, NIL realities, and why Penn State’s floor isn’t Ohio State’s—plus what it takes to hire forward instead of sideways.

From there, we flip to the NFL and hold a steady lens on identity. The Jets’ protection turns every snap into quicksand, while Jacoby Brissett unlocks Arizona’s middle-of-field game. Justin Herbert wins by being the best player on the field, Drake May quietly becomes New England’s engine, and Pittsburgh delivers wire-to-wire control with Rodgers’ quick game and a relentless pass rush. Carolina exposes Dallas’ defense, Seattle rides a red-hot JSN, and the Rams do the professional thing against a Lamar-less Ravens team. Tampa Bay looks legitimate with Baker’s composed distribution and a next-man-up receiving room, while Kansas City’s offense starts humming again—exactly the scenario no one in the AFC wanted. Monday closes the loop: Atlanta leans into Bijan and Drake London to punish Buffalo’s volatility, and Chicago capitalizes on Washington’s late mistake with Swift’s burst and Caleb’s control.

If you’re here for substance—scheme choices, quarterback asks, roster realities—we’re speaking your language. Hit follow, drop a five-star review, and tell a friend who argues about rankings on Tuesdays. What did we nail—or butcher? Your turn.

Chapters

• 0:09 Solo Tuesdays, Format & Plan
• 2:27 Setting Expectations on Length
• 2:27 College Football Weekend Overview
• 3:34 Ohio State–Illinois: Dominance Reframed
• 10:35 Adaptation, Depth, And Day’s Philosophy
• 17:25 Indiana’s Statement Win at Oregon
• 23:14 Ole Miss Survives Washington State
• 24:59 Texas A&M Handles Florida
• 26:32 Texas Smothers Oklahoma, Arch Manages
• 33:01 Alabama Edges Missouri; Ty Simpson’s Steadying Hand
• 39:12 Texas Tech Blows Out Kansas
• 40:36 Georgia Squeaks by Auburn, Officiating Heat
• 46:04 LSU’s Defense, USC Bully-Ball vs Michigan
• 53:20 UCLA Thrashes Michigan State
• 56:21 Penn State Loses, Fires James Franklin
• 1:09:20 Transition to NFL Week 6
• 1:10:15 London Sludge: Broncos vs Jets
• 1:15:07 Cardinals-Colts: Brissett’s Middle-of-Field Clinic
• 1:21:21 Chargers Edge Dolphins; Herbert’s Hero Ball
• 1:27:08 Patriots-Saints: Drake May Ascends
• 1:30:46 Steelers Control Browns, Rodgers Efficient
• 1:38:11 Panthers Upset Cowboys; Dallas D Exposed
• 1:43:40 Seahawks Top Jaguars; JSN Explodes
• 1:49:05 Rams Handle Ravens; Baltimore’s Lamar Problem
• 1:55:22 Titans-Raiders: Coaching Fallout
• 1:58:39 Packers Beat Bengals; Flacco Stabilizes
• 2:03:20 Buccaneers Are for Real; Niners Stumble
• 2:10:47 Chiefs Rolling, Lions Need Health
• 2:18:33 Falcons Run Through Bills

Transcript

SPEAKER_00: 0:09

Welcome back to the Javid Swartz Podcast. Today is Tuesday, October 14th, and we are back for another pod. And I think I'm gonna start calling the Tuesday recap pods like the solo Tuesdays. That's really kind of what it's turned out to be, just based off of schedules with me and Jace. Obviously my co-host slash brother for anybody that's first listening for the first time. So as of recently, it's been a little better for me just kind of have the solo pods on Tuesdays and then just let Jace do his thing and then kind of come back together, do the re uh the preview pods on the Friday to like in picking games and doing all that with both of us together. So I think that's what I'm gonna start calling this pod. This the solo this is like solo Tuesdays, where I kind of get to sit here, go off on my own, just kind of just like ramble along, ramble on about all the things that I want to talk about in both college and NFL. And honestly, as other sports come along, basketball's gonna become a thing too. Again, I it's never I never have like that crazy of takes about basketball I have to talk about. Maybe like the trade deadline stuff, because if you're any sort of fan that's like attached to anything, NBA trade deadline stuff and all of that is like fascinating in a way because you don't really get that with other sports if you follow up follow like baseball or uh baseball or football. So um, but other than that, yeah, usually not going too crazy on the basketball stuff, but as it comes along, I do start talking about it. So Tuesday, solo pod, and without further ado, I just want to kind of get into things here because hopefully I don't want to go for two and a half hours today. I want to I think I did I've done really good the last two pods of like not the last two of like just kind of being more a little more condensed and not going off as crazy about it. I'm not gonna promise anything, but I'm just gonna I'm gonna try to if if I can control it, which I can, but I can't. I know that's really crazy to say when I'm sitting here by myself doing it in front of a computer, but it I'm I'm gonna try to try to keep it under two hours if at all possible. And again, it may not be, but I'm not gonna promise anything, but I'm going to try. So without further ado, let's kind of get into things here. So let's start with with uh with college football. Let's go ahead and start with that, and then we'll do the NFL recap of last of this past weekend as well. So week seven, college football. It kind of lined up, like an overall arching thought. It kind of lined up to be like a close to perfect weekend for me as a fan, as an Ohio State Buckeyes fan to a certain degree. And if you're not an Ohio State fan, obviously maybe you don't understand totally, but I think if you're if you have a national perspective, or at least you kind of follow it now call if you follow college football nationally, sorry, English is hard sometimes, then you can kind of have an idea of what I'm talking about when I can say it was close as close to perfect as I can possibly get, um, with not including my team, not necessarily beating like a all like a big, big team, but it was still my team did their thing, and I saw some other teams that I'm not as big of a fan of lose. So I'll kind of go through it and just talk about that and talk about some other games, but uh let's go ahead and get on into it. And I'll start with Ohio State because you know, start I'm an Ohio State fan, so why not? So Ohio State beat number 17 Illinois. Ohio State went into their house and beat them 34 to 16. And honestly, this game was like uh pretty much done from the get-go, to be totally honest with you. It felt like Ohio State, it was like a 10-0 at the end of the first quarter, and then it got to a point where it was 20 to nothing, and it just felt like after it got to it, like even at 10 points, it just felt like Ohio State kind of had everything in the bag. And even though it wasn't like because people like to compare, like, oh, Ohio State didn't beat Illinois like Indiana did a couple weeks earlier when Indiana beat them 63 to 10. But I think to a certain degree, that's just not what Ryan Day is looking for as the coach at Ohio State. And I think I have had to change the way that I follow Ohio State football to a certain degree over the last couple years, especially with how last year went. I think I've made some like I'm not gonna sit here and say I've had to like have a heart, like a hard conversation with myself or anything. But I do kind of sense a little bit of a different a shift in perspective on it because I can totally remember for the longest time what I wanted to see, what what total domination was in my brain was blowing a team out by a bunch of points and just kind of imposing your will that way and just kind of making the other team look small, which again, I I just didn't, and I'm not gonna sit here and say that's a bad thing. Obviously, if you can sit there and watch your team go and just score a ton of points and it not matter what happens on the other side of the football, then great. And honestly, in a perfect world, you would like to go and score 50 points on everybody that you play, that especially if they're not in your in your weight class as a football program, and then still keep them to score like scoring very few points because your defense is very good. Like, obviously, in a perfect world you'd love for that to happen. But I think if you understand the game of football at all, then that's not always the case. And again, it does happen at some points, but I just think that's not necessarily a healthy way of thinking about it or a fair way to think about it, because when you're thinking about both sides and when you think about how offensive and defensive football are kind of married to each other, if you're a team that's scoring a ton of points and kind of like having quick strikes, sometimes that leads your defense out to dry because they're playing a lot more than they probably want or should. And if you're looking at it from the other end and the defense is totally locked down and and they're just like they're stopping the other team altogether, then it just gives your offense more opportunities to do so. But I feel like to a certain degree, if your team, and again, this all comes back to how the team is going this year and in comparison, like what Ohio State fans want from Ohio State when they see these games. I think to a certain degree, with it being such a long schedule, and if you are in Ohio State, if you're like one of the tops in college football, your goal should be to play 14, 15, 16 games in a football season. And what that requires, because of how the transfer portal is now, teams even at the top of the sport don't have the same depth they once had. Think about like the 2021, 2022 Georgia teams that were like, hey, I we have a bunch of five stars all over our team, and then guess what? The guys that are sitting behind them, they're all five stars too. We have multiple teams worth of top-tier talent that we just have sitting here that's not even playing because they haven't risen to the top yet. It's not their turn. But I think with the way that football is the way that college football is right now, teams don't have that same sort of depth. And you do have to make some concessions when it comes to the like the talent that you have, depending on the year. And I think with that, you have to kind of think about the season. You're gonna be playing more games, you have a lot less talent, you have not a lot less, but you have less talent than you once did when it comes to the depth, and I think you have to account for that. And I think Ryan Day, after last year, especially with it being the first 12-team playoff, and then Ohio State having to run the full gamut of not having a first round bye and having to play every single game of the playoffs, so they had to they had to play 16 games from start to finish. Like they had to play the max amount of games a college football team can play. And I think that really switched up Brian Day's perspective as to what a great season looks like, and what lasting a whole season looks like. And I think that he has come to the idea. I think he started doing this last year, but I think he's even more absolute in his thinking now, is that especially with the defense playing the way that they are with I obviously getting back to Illinois real quick, the Ohio State defense, even though Illinois scored 16 points, they this touchdown that they got was like that's exactly what like the only way they got the touchdown they needed was with a trick play, like the way they had to do it with like a two-point play. It's like a game winner type of play, or they wouldn't have gotten to the end zone whatsoever. But outside of that, Ohio State's defense is still dominating. And Illinois got some passing yards off. Luke Altmeyer, their quarterback, is a very good quarterback that knows what he's doing. He's played a lot of football. They have some good players on the outside, wide receiver-wise, and it's not like they got a bunch of rushing yards on us either. So I think Illinois's had a lot more success than other teams have had against Ohio State this year, but it was impossible to expect that Ohio State only averaging six points given up per game was going to last all season long. So, even with so with all that put into perspective, I think Ohio State had a great day on Saturday. Um, they did what they were supposed to do. I get it, the offense for Ohio State wasn't very explosive, but I don't think they were looking for it. I think Illinois made a conscious decision to say, hey, we are going to put a lid on the defense and we are not going to let you get over top. And that's exactly, and I think Illinois made it very clear that they are going to make you nickel and dime your way down the football field. And I think Ohio State is going to take that. And I think that's where Ryan Day has made the most had the, or not made the most, but had the most growth as a coach, and especially when you compare it to how things were going last year, and then you face Michigan, and then you have to play differently, and then he obviously him having a Michigan problem, changes, tries to change his offensive philosophy in a way that doesn't seem normal at the time. So it just kind of throws everything out of whack. But I think Ryan Day has really taken that mindset into this season saying, hey, we're going to do whatever, not only as a defense, which is how they're playing right now, they're an Amoeba. They do whatever the other team doesn't like, and they're going to do that on a week in, week out basis. But I think Ryan Day has done that too on the offensive side, and I think that's been an offensive mindset, is that Ohio State is not going to just go out there and be good at only one thing. They are going to do ex they're going to take whatever the other team gives them, and we are going to beat you in the way that you're going to allow us to. In that, again, there's going to come a point where Ohio's going to have to score a ton of points. And I think they showed that last week against Minnesota that they can if they wanted to. But I think there I think Ryan Day has the idea that, hey, we are going to be an Amoeba. We are going to be, we're going to be able to change on the fly. And whatever you're going to give us, we're going to take it. And when he has a quarterback like Julian Saiyan sitting there making the right decisions and setting everything up the way he needs to, being the point guard he needs to be at the quarterback position, I think it allows Ohio State to do whatever they need to do. Do they need to run the football tabby better? Yeah, for sure. I think a little bit of that was tied to the fact that Bo Jackson, the stud freshman running back that has kind of been taking the bull by the horns when it comes to taking the starting job from the veterans that are on this team, I think once he went out with an ankle injury, I think it kind of changed the way that the offense was running. Because I really think Bo Jackson is that dude. Like he is a stud. So once he went out, the off the running game wasn't as good as it probably needed to be. But I think that if you give him a couple weeks off, because I think we play Wisconsin this week and then we have a bye week. So if there we can go into that Wisconsin game, which I think we should be able to win no matter what running game we decide to employ with even without Bo, I think we should win that game pretty easily. If you can give him a couple weeks off, he'll be back and ready to go by the time we come out of the bye week. But I think it does so I just think that I think Ohio State's using these weeks every single week. We're going to win the football game. And if we need to spam the Jeremiah Smith button to get us to a certain spot where we feel comfortable, they will, and they've done it, and it's worked very well every time they decide to. But I think otherwise Ohio St Ryan Day and Ohio State do not care about style points. They do not care about scoring a million points and embarrassing the opponent. Do you know what he cares about? He cares about winning the football game no matter what, because I think I've come to this conclusion as an Ohio State fan, because even if you even at the most diehard of fans, which I think I am, but I think most other fans too, what game coming into this season means the most? And I think most, if not every Ohio State fan, will say the Michigan game, because obviously for whatever reason the national championship doesn't matter as much, which I I would contend it does, but okay, fine. But if you the goal is to beat Michigan, and usually they will automatically say they don't care how it happens as long as it happens. And I think Ryan Day has taken that mentality and said, hey, why not do it for the rest of the games too? And he's gonna do it with a lockdown defense that is proven to be the best in college football. He's gonna do it with an offensive team that has all the talent in the world, but they're not gonna sit here and try to spam it and try to like and try to overdo it. That'll put their own their own players at risk. Because let's be honest, if you're just trying to spam big plays all over the field and putting your defense at risk more, they're playing more snaps, and that can lead to injuries. And guess what? Those backups aren't always gonna be five stars that are ready to go behind them like they were three, four, or five years ago if you're Ohio State, if you're Georgia, if you're Bama. So I think Ryan Day really does have a holistic approach to saying, hey, we are gonna be the most complimentary, uh, this is gonna be the most complimentary football team as we possibly can have. And that means we are gonna have a lockdown defense and we're gonna have an offense that'll score the points, we'll win it, we'll do enough to win the game, but we're not going to try to put, try to like do something that we don't need to and put our either our players by trying to run a bunch of plays, or only not even for the offense, but for the defense as well. If we're just trying to run a bunch of plays and putting our defense back out there to be hurt more, that'll lead to injuries and that'll like help hurt us long term. And I think Ryan Day has that thought in his brain that he is going to be very complimentary and he's gonna do that. And I like I said, I've come to the realization that I just want to win football games, and the idea that my defense can be a suffocating anaconda that it is, and just suffocate you from minute from the first minute on and just make you feel like you have no chance to win because our defense is so dominating, and then add on top of the fact that Ohio State's offense is effective and they're efficient, then get down the field and score when they need to, that's a good feeling too. It doesn't have to be 70 to nothing to feel good every week about the team about playing well that week. And I think there are a lot of Ohio State fans that are looking for that still, and I think they need to kind of come to some realization that having the sport has talent-wise, I think has evened out a decent amount because of NIL and because of the transfer portal, and it's not just because of money, sometimes because of opportunity as well, and I think with that you have to change the idea. The way you think about it is like what domination is is dominating a hundred percent at on all sides of the football at all times. That's not how that's gonna work, and I and I think Ryan Day has that in his brain, and I'm totally with him on that. And again, I could be proven wrong if Ohio State gets gets into that tough game, and then Ryan Day proves to be the old coach that you know just kind of resorts to not doing those things and just kind of um closing up in the big moments and becoming very conservative, then okay, then I'll have to I'll deal with that when we get there. But until then, I'm gonna believe in guess what? Orion Day, whether people like it or not, he is one of three active coaches that has won a national championship. One of three. It's it's Dabo, it's Kirby Smart, and it's Ryan Day. There's nobody else. And he's here, he's one of the best coaches in college football, and I'm gonna sit here and I'm gonna follow his lead until he gives me a true reason not to believe. And ever since he won that national championship last year, that he's gonna have to do a lot to prove to me that I should not believe in the direction he's taking Ohio State as a program. So that's it on that. But general, general overarching thing, Ohio State, one of the best team in college football, I think. Does some of their opponents not really helped out in helping the resume? Probably not, but I do think that Ohio State is passing the test every single week and doing it in dominating fashion, even if it doesn't come with a million points scored. Um sorry, I did not mean to go. See, I say I'm not gonna go two and a half hours and I go 20 minutes on Ohio State when it's just the first game. Crazy. I'm gonna try to be a little faster here. Um, Indiana, Oregon, number seven, Indiana goes to Austin Stadium in Oregon and beats them in their house 30 to 20. And it was not a fluke, people. Anybody that like did not watch that game, you should because I think what I said coming into last pod, I said this this could be Indiana's second opportunity, just like they had the opportunity last year against Ohio State and came up short, very short in that scenario. I said they have an opportunity this year with a better team in comparison to what they had last year, and you can make the statement to the to the to the nation that, hey, we are here. We are one of the best teams in all of college football, and we deserve that respect. And what they did against Oregon on that Saturday night is that they did exactly what they needed to do, and they showed, hey, we are we are physical, we have a quarterback that can make the plays when we need him to, not only throwing but running. And we have a defense that can stop the explosive plays and play very soundly and make a high-flying team like Oregon has proven itself to be throughout the season. We're gonna make them earn it, and we are gonna make those um those very special players struggle a bit. And that's exactly what Indiana did. And the difference in this game was it was a back and forth game for most of the game until the fourth quarter, where when Indiana went and played Ohio State last year, guess which team was the team that crumbled in the end in the biggest moment? It was Indiana against Ohio State. And then when you come to this year and they're facing Oregon, which team crumbled in the big moments in the fourth quarter? It was Oregon this time. It was not Indiana. Dante Moore, the very talented quarterback for Oregon, was the one that threw a couple picks that took his team out of the contention to really win this game. It was not Indiana. And I think to a certain degree, we have to give Indiana respect for that because not only did they show they're physical enough, they showed they have a talented enough squad, not both not only offensively but defensively. But they showed they have the mental fortitude to not make the big mistakes and the big moments against teams that are of like talent. And that was the final step Indiana needed to make last year, and they couldn't make it, not only against Ohio State, but against Notre Dame. But they did it this year against Oregon, and we have to I I respect them for it, and anybody else needs to respect them for it. And as much as Kurt Signetti annoys the fuck out of me, he annoys the crap out of me so much. He has something brewing there that you have to respect. And I'm not sitting here saying Oregon was an undefeat, like unbeatable monster that Indiana slayed. I had my doubts about Oregon. I do think that Oregon had some like problems with what their team was. And uh my question was, can Indiana be the team to expose those? And that's exactly what they did. Dante Moore, as young as a quarterback as he is, he doesn't have a lot of like a bunch of starts under his belt, he made the mistakes. Like those, like the one pick was like a tip, so like that I'm not gonna blame on him, but the other one was definitely on him. And he made the mistakes that he hadn't really made this season, and Indiana forced them to. Indiana forced Oregon to like earn it all the way down the football field. Like there was the one big uh play, the broken play with uh getting the big the big touchdown, but other than that, they made Oregon earn it, and that was the difference. So I have to give Indiana a lot of credit. And people were saying all over the place, like, hey, the Ohio State is very happy didn't have to not have to face this year's Indiana team. And I'm like, you know what? If Indiana keeps up their end of the bargain as well as Ohio State, we'll see them in the Big Ten championship game, we'll figure it out then. I do think Indiana's a better football team this year, but I do think Ohio State's defense is a different class even from what Indiana faces Oregon. And I think Ohio State's offense is on a different level even from Oregon because of the playmakers that Ohio State has. And because the offensive line that Ohio State has. I just think they're on a like I just think they have a little bit more in the tank than what we're even Oregon has, even though Oregon coming into last week was considered a top three team. So uh but no, I just very big win for Indiana, probably one of the best wins in all in this whole of this whole season. And uh I think Indiana's proven themselves to be a team to be reckoned with, and uh I hope that both Ohio State and Indiana finish off their season the right way, and we have our opportunity to show that. Um, even though Indiana's a very good football team, I just I I hope for the opportunity for Ohio State to show that as well as good as Indiana is, and I think they are a top five squad as of right now. I think Ohio State's cut above, and I can't wait for the opportunity for Ohio State to show that to the world. But Indiana, great team. They did what they had to do. Oregon, still a very good team. They're gonna have some things to grow from. They don't necessarily like when they had to earn it all the way down the field, Dante Moore made a few mistakes. And I think the outphysical to a certain degree, and I think Oregon's defense got exposed a decent amount. And I think that with all those things put together, can Oregon get better from that? Yeah, for sure. But I also think that for anybody that was starting to believe that Oregon could be that like that type of team, I think it showed that Oregon has a few holes in their game as well, and Indiana was a team that was able to take advantage of those. Um, let's go to the on the next game. Ole Miss Washington State. I said in the in the last pod before this game happened that if Ole Miss lost this game to Washington State, they should be not only barred from this year's playoff, but the next year's playoff. I am happy to say that they are not going to be barred because they got away from Washington State. And let me remind you, Ole Miss was at home. Washington State had to come to Ole Miss to play this game. But Ole Miss barely squeaked this game out 24 to 21. It was a real struggle. And I wasn't like, it was because Ole Miss's defense is not nearly what you think it should be, being a top-tier SEC squad. Their defense is just not all like not good whatsoever. And I think Washington State had a good plan. And I think in the end, Ole Miss's offense just a little bit too much for Washington State, but I just think they were just able to kind of squeak it out at the end because Washington State belonged in this game. And I think that's more of a detriment to Ole Miss that Washington State looked like they belonged, because there's no reason that should have even looked like it was the case. So, you know, again, credit to Ole Miss, because again, this is a game that they would lose in mo in years past, and I think this year they have managed to keep winning, and like even with some of these struggles that they have had, but it just doesn't make me feel warm and fuzzy as to what can happen in the playoff when they start to face teams that are just as talented, if not more talented than them, and also can like you know they also have a defense that can slow down Ole Miss's offense, and once that happens, Ole Miss's defense is not gonna be able to stop anybody. So that it that's what that's that's my take on that. Next game, Florida Tech San M. Tech Sanim won the game 34-17. In the first quarter, like it was gonna be a back and forth affair, but Tech Sanim's defense really did kind of lock in in the between the second and fourth quarters. Uh from from that first quarter on when it was a 14-14 affair, Tech San M scored, what is that, 20 points to Florida's three. And I think that was due to Tech S M just being a little bit more consistent offensively, and the Tech Sand M's defense being able to show up and just kind of clamp down a bit and kind of keep Florida from doing what they what they uh wanted to do. They did what they had to do in this game. It was and it was very obvious Tech SM was a better football team than Florida, and they proved it. They kept Florida from being able to run the football as effectively as they wanted to, and Tech Sand was able to run the football pretty effectively. AM had 183 yards rushing to Florida's 74. And with that, Tech SM was able to uh control the game a lot better, and they got away with the win. And uh, all the credit to Tech Sandem, because again, another team that likes to lose these games against teams that are similarly talented to them. And I do think Florida is a talented team. They're not a good team, but they are very talented. And this is a game where Tech San M loses when you face those teams that have close to equal talent, and they and them would find a way to lose. And in on Saturday against Florida, they handled business, and you have to give them credit for that. Speaking of teams that take care of business, Texas, Oklahoma, Red River, Red River shootout. Texas was a team coming into this game unbeaten. They had already had two losses facing off against a number six rated Oklahoma team that didn't have a loss in the season. And when I was previewing this game, I questioned whether John Mateer, the quarterback for Oklahoma who had um surgery on his throwing hand, I was questioning whether he'd be able to come in and play for this game. And when I talked about it, I was like, hey, I'm they say that he might. I don't have any concrete proof of that, so I'm not going to rely on it. I'm just going to act as if he's not going to play. And it turned out he did come in and play this game. But I think that but here's my thing is that when I looked at this game and I was like, hey, if John Matira can't play and they have to go with their backup, it's not going to go well. And especially with Texas defense, even with Texas kind of getting exposed the week before to Florida, I do think that Tex I did think that Texas had the the defense that can lock back in and kind of put up a very good performance. And my other question was can Texas, with Arch as the quarterback, make enough plays to go ahead and win a football game and not make the big mistakes. And it kind of all came together. Even with John Mateer playing for Oklahoma, he made the mistakes. He was bad. Not bad, but he was like the office for Oklahoma couldn't really get anything going on top of the fact that he had those three picks that he threw. John Mateer went 20 of 38 for 200 yards and three picks. Oklahoma really couldn't run the football all that effectively. They only had 48 yards total rushing in this game. And that kind of that just kind of shows goes to show that Tech San M's defense really was able to impose their will in this game and be able to shut down any type of hope that Oklahoma had to win this football game. And what about Arch? Arch to his credit, to up to this point, because I don't I just don't think that Arch has really shown let's get past the idea of him being a first-round pick and being the first guy overall as a quarterback and being the number one dude in all of college football, being one of the best players. There was a time where he was struggling to show that he was going to be a viable starter in college football. And he came into this game in a hostile environment, being the Red River shootout, a rivalry game. And he did exactly what he was supposed to do. He didn't, it was not pretty, it was not flashy, but it was exactly what they needed from him. He went 21 to 27 for 166 yards, one touchdown, zero picks, emphasis on the zero picks part. He did not make the big mistake. And he was efficient, wasn't explosive, but he was efficient, kept the offense moving along with the rushing game of Texas. Uh they were able to run the football for 136 yards in this game. And along with the fact that their defense was being as suffocating as it was, they controlled this football game from start to finish. And Arch was able to be the point guard, just keeping the offense rolling and not making the big mistake. And when you compare that to John Mateer, who was coming back from the injury, he didn't he if Oklahoma is going to be the team they want to be, John Mateer has to put the whole team on his back in order for them to like be the best they can be. And I think Texas Texas is not going to be a national title contender. Like they might make the playoff, if depending on how the season goes, but they are not a team that I foresee like being one of the best teams in college football because of their issues offensively. But that defense is a championship-winning defense. That defense is very good. Can they get exposed just like anybody else? Like I think they've proven themselves against Florida the week before to that to be the case. But guess what? After that down, that downtime for the defense, they locked back in and they came into this game against Oklahoma and they dominated in Tex. And Arch Manning in that offense was able to play complimentary football, keep the offense rolling, score the points when they can, and they were able to cruise to a pretty easy victory in this game, and you have to give them credit for that. Does this translate out to like the rest of the teams on their schedule? Is probably where the question comes comes in because they still have to go play Vanderbilt. They still have to go play Georgia. They also have to play Tex AM. So they still have three very big teams that can match up with them and give their D give the defense for Texas fits. And so my question is, is like when those games happen, can Arch kind of live up to the moment and be a little bit more than just a guy that is not making the mistake? Again, for this game, that's they did not need him to be anything more than just being the guy running the offense, not making the mistake. But it's just when that defense can't be as suffocating as it was in this game against Oklahoma, that is when like when you start to ask more from Arch, just like they probably needed from him in the game before against Florida, he wasn't able to give that, and that's where my question is can will he be able to give you the extra that you probably need to win a football game when you have teams of equal talent facing off against each other? And that's where I did have my doubts. But credit to them, they won this game against Oklahoma without much of an issue, and that's something for them to be proud of. Just a second here. Next game. Another ranked on ranked matchup. Alabama going to Missouri won the game 27 to 24. Let's start with the winners. Bama, Ty Simpson. I'm not gonna sit here and say he looks like the best quarterback in all of college football. Because that implies skill and size and talent and all and when it comes to production. And I'm not all the way willing to go there. But I will say he might be like him and probably let me think. Yeah, probably him and Julian Sand are probably the quarterbacks that are playing at the highest level when it comes to doing exactly what their job is asking them to do, and they are playing efficiently, they're getting the ball to their open dudes, and they're not making the big mistakes. And I feel like him being Ty Simpson and Julian Sand are doing that at the highest level in all of college football right now. And even in the loss they experienced early this year against Florida State, like he was not the reason they lost that game. And he has been balling out every single game. As long as he gets protection, he is gonna make the right decision, get the ball to the right guy, and they are going to offensively just kind of like kind of like death by a thousand cuts. There's not a lot of big plays, but they're gonna do what they need to do, and they're going to they're they're gonna so they're gonna cook you slowly. Offensively, and that's exactly what they did. Ty Simpson, 23 of 31, 200 yards, three touchdowns, zero picks. Bama was pretty good running the football as well. Jam Miller, they're leading back at 85 yards. They ran the football for over 120 yards total in this game. So they're able to run the football a little bit too with that offensive line. And this was a game where they didn't get anything from their number one wide receiver in Williams. Sorry, why am I forgetting his name now? Um no. Oh, that sucks. Which which wide receiver is it? Crap. Um why am I forgetting his name? Ryan Williams. Yes, that was so easy. I should not have forgotten his name. But they did not get anything out of Ryan Williams, and they still managed to win this football game. But here's my question Is that this game was close. This was not a game where Alabama won the game running away. The Alabama defense is not like they are opportune, they were opportunistic in this game, but Missouri was able to run the football pretty effectively against them. And to be honest, if Missouri had a better, more consistent quarterback that can just kind of keep the offense running and just be a little bit more reliable when it comes to passing and like passing from every level of the field, I think Missouri would have won this football game. Bo Prabula, the quarterback for Missouri, is not a consistent passer that you can rely on down in, down out. Their offense is at its best when it's running the football and they have a lot of balance, and Probular is not good when he is not asked to do the drop back passing thing. That is not what he is good at. And then once it got to the end of the game where they had to kind of come back from a deficit and they had to like have a consistent passing offense without really much of the running game because they couldn't really run the football anymore being down, that's where he really struggled, and that's where the game kind of got away from him in that way, even though the game was still close at the end. They had their opportunity to go down and like tie or win the football game, and he was the one that threw the pick that kind of that ended it for them. So I think Bama is proving itself like to be getting a team that's getting better and better throughout the year. But I do think Bama has their issues, and I think Missouri, like I said, if they just had a little bit better quarterback play, they probably would have won this game because they ran the football effectively. They had over 163 yards total rushing in this game. But it's just if they just had a little bit better quarterback play, they probably would have would have won and Bama wouldn't have been able to control that. But guess what? You are what you are at this point of the season. There's not they really don't, they brought, they gave a lot of money to Bo Prabula to transfer in from Penn State where he was at, being the backup last year, and they don't really have another option to kind of throw out there to kind of give them that consistent passing gate passer that they need, and Bama beat them. So I have to give credit to Bama, even though I have to highlight the idea that Bama's defense is not locked down whatsoever. And Missouri's defense is definitely not as good as what it needs to be either. But I think Bama's offense is going to be a little bit harder to stop to any defense. Even the best defenses in college football are gonna have some struggles with that Bama offense with how multiple it is. They can they can they have a lot of guys to throw to. Like I said, they score 27 with Ryan Williams not really doing anything in this football game. So they have a lot of weapons to throw to, and they have a guy in Ty Simpson that knows how to get the ball to the right guys where they need to be to be able to keep the offense moving. And that's that's gonna be very hard to stop. But even coming into this game, I didn't have any any illusions by the idea that Ms that Missouri was going to be defensively ready for this football game. I really do I thought it was gonna be a which team offensively can be more consistent, and and that was Bama on Saturday. Next game, um Texas Tech destroyed Kansas. Game wasn't close. I bet Kansas, but didn't really work out well for me. I think Kansas was like a 14-point underdog and that got blown out of the water. Texas Tech has really proven like they're not taking anything for granted. Like the Big 12 is known for games like these, being the games that like kind of like even when they have the best teams in their conference, that that's where that's where they kind of like take the stumble and lose to a team they probably shouldn't lose to. But in this game, they knocked Kangas out early and they just really didn't have a chance to get back up. And Texas Tech could took uh care of business. I'm not gonna lie to you on that. Textex will be proven themselves to be a team that can be a real contender at the end of the year. Next game, Georgia Auburn. Georgia won the game 20 to 10, but this game was a lot closer than what even the score will tell you. And I think this game was an absolute travesty when it comes to officiating and things going here or there. There was a timeout that Kirby called that was granted by an official, and then Kirby then said, No, I didn't call the timeout. And the official was dumb enough to give them the timeout and then give it back to them. And then Kirby's whole story afterward was that he was clapping. When everybody saw the video and can obviously tell he was doing a timeout symbol, which is a very like universal thing. If you have you're right making a tea with your hands, that's a timeout. That's exactly what he was doing. He was not clapping, and this officiating crew was absolutely awful, and they fell for it, and like that was something that a team got away with in this game because of how bad the officiating was. And it was bad not just in that moment, but all over the gosh darn football field. And I feel like if a couple things would have gone differently, I think Auburn did have a chance to win this football game, even with Auburn being as bad as they are offensively. And that just goes to show how I'm not gonna say how down Georgia is, but like when Georgia at one point was looking like the premier team in all of college football, and they won their back-to-back national titles, like people were starting to question like, hey, can Georgia really start to become like the next Nick Sabe in Bama, like when it comes to real domination throughout a decade, not in just a couple years. And I think Georgia this year has proven itself to kind of taking a few steps back offensively. They're they really don't have a quarterback that you can really rely on for week in, week out basis in Stockton. Their offensive line is not nearly as good as it has been in years past. Like they can't really run the football, and they really can't protect the way they need to. And when it comes to their weapons, like they have some they have some weapons that can do some things, but it's not consistent whatsoever. And defensively, Georgia isn't as dominant as they've been in years past either. And I think to a certain degree, Kirby knows that because I feel like he's kind of like coaching his team in a different way. And if you've watched coaches, like when you could just tell when a coach knows that he has a little bit more of a scrappy underdog type of squad, and you could tell that like really with like some of the later Nick Saban teams where it just felt like he was just happy to be there. Like you he kind of you kind of lose, like, especially with these high-tier coaches, top-tier guys that are like best in the sport, kind of, like you can just tell when their motivation goes from domination on a weekly basis to I love my team a lot, I enjoy coaching them. It just felt feels like the the intensity goes down just a little bit in their eyes, and it's like it's not saying that they're not trying to win, but I also think that they kind of have an understanding that like the hey, maybe I can have more fun coaching this team, even if it comes at the cost of maybe not having one of my best teams, if that makes sense. But I think that's where Kirby's at right now. This team, he I think he's having a lot of fun coaching this team, and he's they're a scrappy bunch, but they're not nearly the teams that he had a few years ago when he was winning back-to-back national titles. And again, Georgia's ranked number 10. They're not really a highly ranked team, and obviously they only have one loss in the year. So like they're well on track to get to the playoffs as long as they don't lose too many more games. And but I just don't think Georgia's necessarily that team that they have built themselves to be as a program over the last few years, like being at the top of the sport. That's just not what Georgia is right now. Next game, LSU South Carolina. LSU won the game 20 to 10. A lot of the same issues offensively. Defensively, LSD is still a great team. Like their defense is still very good. It's not necessarily like top of college football like Ohio State, but again, still very good defense. Offense is still a little bit of an issue when it comes to Garrett Nussmeyer. You can tell he's not all the way healthy, which has been like the rumor for a while now. And on top of that, they're facing off against a South Carolina team that's 3-3 now. They're not really all that good. Offensively, they're a mess. Defensively, they only only have really one great defensive player on their team. And South Carolina's a two-man squad. They have their quarterback and they have their defensive end, and outside of that, they really don't have a lot to show for what they got. And LSU took advantage of that. They won the game. Heck, this game should have been a lot, shouldn't have even been this close because of how much of a stark difference talent-wise LSU and South Carolina are right now. And as a team in general, LSU should just be blowing them out because of but because of LSU's recent offensive struggles, that wasn't necessarily going to happen. Next game, let's see, Michigan USC. Number 15 Michigan went across the country to uh Southern California to go play USC. USC won the game 31-13. The game wasn't close. Michigan kind of got bullied at the point of attack. USC ran the football for over 200 yards with their leading rusher being a walk-on freshman running back. Let me repeat, walk-on freshman running back. King Miller was the leading rusher for that team in this game. A USC team against a Michigan football squad that has built themselves upon being tough at the point of attack, in the trenches, offensive line and defensive line, and they let it let USC run for over 200 yards against them. Jay Mayava, the quarterback for USC, also played well. 25 of 32, 265 yards, two touchdowns and a pick. You can tell their offensive philosophy was hey, if we're gonna have to throw, we're gonna throw the football quick. We're not gonna have we're not gonna sit here and make our offensive line have to block the defensive line of Michigan because I do think they have a very good set of pass rushers. But when it comes to stopping the run, Michigan's defensive line isn't as close to as good as it's been in years of past at doing that. On top of the fact that USC's offensive line isn't all that great either. But I do think USC had a very good plan coming into this game to when they throw, throw quick, and they were able to run the football effectively as well. And I think that was a mixture. That was a plan that brought great success for them in this game, and they won the game accordingly. Bryce Underwood is not did not play well at all in this game. 15-24, 207 yards, two touchdowns, and a pick. Uh they ran the football okay, but it wasn't nearly as good as it needed to be if they were going to win this football game. If Michigan was going to win this game, they needed absolutely amazing defense, which they which they did not get, and they needed their running game to be humming, and that didn't happen either. And I just think Bryce Underwood as talented as he is, and he's a very talented guy. And you know I hate giving any type of praise to a Michigan player, but he's just a very talented guy, but he's not consistent yet. You can tell he's 18, 19 years old playing, like playing at the quarterback position. He has plenty of things to learn. He's making mistakes, he's inconsistent when it comes to his accuracy. And they had some better wide receiver play in this game. Andrew Marsh, the freshman wide receiver for them, had a great game. Eight receptions, 138 yards, and a touchdown. So like they got a little bit better wide receiver play than they have gotten in weeks past, but that didn't matter because USC was absolutely controlling this football game and scoring points when they like like when they wanted to. And I think with that, it just kind of shows that Michigan is definitely a far cry away from what they were a few years ago. They don't have the offensive or defensive lines they once had. And you the fact because here's the thing, USC is not a team that's known to be a team that can run the football over any type of like actual good defensive lines, good defenses, like USC has not proven out to be that type of team. And again, I think the passing isn't necessarily that surprising because they they know how to throw the football around. But the fact that they were able to run the football as effectively as they did is a problem for Michigan. But credit to USC. They're 5-1 the year. They're they're playing some good football. They still have some teams they have, like good teams left in their schedule. They have to go face Underdame next week, Nebraska, and then they have to end the season with Oregon and UCLA, which is playing a lot better football as of recently. So like they have to they still have some teams they have to face to prove that they're this team that is a potential like getting to the playoff worthy team, which I think they're probably not at this point. But against this Michigan team, they made they definitely made a statement, and I have to give them credit for that. Michigan, my only big thought on them, again, I don't like giving them any type of uh advice or anything, because you know I hate them, but if they don't have a good plan, is that how I want to say it? If yeah, if they don't have a plan to get Bryce Underwood to be to become a better passer overall, which I think Keith Caughty can be, but you need the coaching as well. If nothing else from Penn State has told you, you need some really good coaching to even as talented of a mold, as even if you get the most beautiful piece of unmolded clay of all time, you have to have a sculptor slash coach that can put them in the right positions to build them up and sculpt that that big ball of wonderful clay into being something that's that's per that's close a lot close a lot better, right? And if they don't have a the coaching that he needs to get where he needs to be, and if they don't get the talent around him that he needs in order to to accentuate his talents, that they will lose him at some point if they don't. And I'm not gonna say you're gonna guarantee it, but I'm saying that they need to show that they have a longer term plan for him, other than just paying him a bunch of NIL money, or he will leave. Because he's a talented dude, but I just feel like they just need to have a plan long term if they really want him to be the player they they want him to be. And from the win at the same time, obviously that also helps as well. Um, next game, we got was that it? Is that all I wanted to talk about? I'll smell Notre Dame. Um, I'll mention the Notre Dame game as well. Notre Dame beat uh NC State 36-7. Again, the winning isn't necessarily all that surprising, but I will say their offense is looking better, their quarterback is playing some very good football, and Notre Dame, if they can win out the rest of their schedule, can be a team that still makes the playoff. If they have a stumble here or there, it can definitely jeopardize their chances of doing that. But with what they will if they beat USC next week, the rest of their schedule has proven to be pretty easy. They have at Boston College, Navy, Pitt, Syracuse, and Stanford. Like that is very manageable. So if they can beat USC next week, they are on the like they are on the easy path to get to the playoff. So even with them playing as badly as they were early on in the season, they still have their opportunity to kind of get their stuff together and get into the playoff and see what happens happens once they get there. So I had to mention that. So that's about it for college football for me. I really didn't have don't have anything else I really needed to talk about. Um, let's go ahead and go on to the NFL stuff here. Um let's go with Oh, I oh, also, because we have mentioned Jace's team a lot, Michigan State. They played Nebraska, not Nebraska, they played UCLA, and I was the one that kind of came into this game. I think Jace was a lot more uh modest slash down to earth than me, because I did give Michigan State a chance to win that game because I was like, oh, UCLA is coming off of their win against Penn State. Can they? They had they beat Penn State and then had a bye, and I was questioning whether that was a mirage by UCLA, just like one like a a last stand type of day where they're just like gonna have one great game or the then go back to what they were before. And I was saying that Michigan State had a real chance to win that game. That was not the case, and UCLA had to had to come across the country to go play Michigan State at their house. And UCLA played some very good football. And why let me get that score. I I I mentioned it, so I want to make sure I get the score right here. Boom. Big not not that big ten. Um UCLA won that game 38 to 13. Oh, I forgot to mention the other thing too. I'm not done with Cosmo Ball yet. I went too far. Um, again, when I usually do it, it usually has like all the ranked games up of teams with ranked teams. But it's crazy to think that there's a team out there that is like looked at as one of the best programs in the sport, and they're not even in the top 25 because of how bad things have gone. So I do I have this game to talk about, and then I have something else which I'll kind of end it out with. Um UCLA, Michigan State, UCLA won the game 38-13. The game wasn't close. Nico's playing very good football. Offensively, they look like a totally different squad. And offensively for Michigan State, they are just not playing very good football as of right now. Aiden Childs barely played. I think he kind of, I'm not sure if he went out with an injury or they pulled him. I didn't really watch this game fully. But they just weren't good offensively, defensively at all, and UCLA dominated them. And I think that is a good sign for UCLA because of how bad they looked the first four games of the year, and now they've won two games in a row. And I think that's a turnaround that should be noted and given us some type of praise because they really have, as a team and as a coaching staff, after firing their head coach, turned things around and they're looking a lot better because of it. And that rarely happens where like things really turn on a dime and like things get a lot better when you fire a head coach and kind of just change the way they have on the fly in the middle of a year. And uh Usa get get needs to get a lot of credit for that because that's not something that happens all that often. Now, to a team that is not playing well at all, and they have also made a very critical decision to get rid of their head coach after this game, and who's we'll see how they will fare after making such a big uh such a big decision. And by that I mean Penn State Northwestern. Penn State more was what I was talking about, but I'll start with the game that has shifted the landscape in a way because of how it went. Northwestern went to Penn State and beat them 22 to 21. I repeat, Northwestern, Northwestern beat Penn State Kitty Lions in their house 22 to 21. And I will admit to you, I did not have any plans of watching this football game whatsoever coming into Saturday. Because, oh, Penn State's lost the last two games in a row, but as bad as it's been, they won't lose a Northwestern, right? Right? And I think I expected too much of them. I expected too much of a James uh oh no, a James Franklin-led Penn State squad to think that they were gonna beat Northwestern on their home field. Insane for me to say. Uh Penn State wasn't good in this game, Drew Allard wasn't great in this game whatsoever. And as I was watching the scorebox in this game, and it's like, oh, Northwestern's up 10-0, and you're like, oh, Penn State will turn it on, they'll figure it out. Penn State scores 14 points in the second quarter, and you're like, oh, okay, this is fine. And then in the end, Northwestern came back and scored enough points, like nine points in the fourth quarter, and they did enough to win the football game. And the cherry on top of the shit cake that Penn State had, Drew Always trying to make a play in the fourth quarter to score a touchdown, and I think he got hurt on the play. And I think I'm not sure, I think I think it was that play. And he got hurt and he's done for the rest of the year with a lower body injury, something like a leg injury or something like that. He's done for the rest of the year. So not only do you lose the Northwestern, you then lose the quarterback that came back and that was potentially a first-round pick last year. He foregoed the draft to come back and play another year. And Penn State really staked everything on bringing all the talent back from their team and building up for this year to be their year. Coming into this year, everybody was talking about how talented Penn State is, and they brought back their running backs, and they brought some wide receivers in the portal. Drew Aller's back, and their defense is very good. They went and spent$3.9 million on Jim Knowles, paying him$3 million a year to come. They poached him from Ohio State to come coach for them. And they were setting themselves up for this year to be their year. And that Penn St. Hitley Lions team that had so much hype to start the year is now 3-3 with losses to Oregon, which it wasn't a bad loss at the time, but it starts uh but you know it is what it is with Oregon now losing to Indiana. They lost to UCLA, who was had no wins at the time and had not even led for one second in the four games that they had played prior, they lost to them, and then now they have lost to Northwestern. And again, this year, like a year-in-year out basis, obviously, teams can be better or worse. But if you've been following college football at all or just football in general, sometimes there are narratives that you just can't get away from. And one thing that has proven to be a narrative truth in college football in the Big Ten is that if you lose to Northwestern, you have an issue. And that's for other regular baseline middle tier teams in college football. But if you are a top-tier squad in the Big Ten, the top three, which is what Penn State is usually pretty much guaranteed to be in over the last 12 years since James Franklin's been there. If you lose to a team like Northwestern, it's DEF CON 5. And after losing to this Northwestern team, Drew Aller gets hurt. He's done for the year. The administration for the University of uh of Penn State, they decided it was time to let James Franklin go. And I have to admit, I never think I never thought they'd have the balls to do it. I really didn't. And I was more than happy with them not doing it because I'm like, hey, I'm used to Penn State not being a team worth my time. Uh they'll come in with the hype every year, and they're like, oh, this year they beat Ohio State, and I've been the I've been very happy to be the guy to be like laughing at Penn State on the back end after they lose their couple games every year, and they're gonna make the playoff and then lose in the big game like they always do with James Franklin as their head coach. And like I said, like again, I'll say it again, I didn't think they had the balls to actually do it because they had to pay James Franklin such a high buyout. I think he had like 50 something million that's owed to him. And again, it goes down based on if he's able to get a different job, and then they have all they have to do is offset the cost. So if he goes and gets paid, I think they have to pay him like eight million dollars a year for like the next 10 years, not 10 years,$8 million a year for like the next five or six years, and if he gets another job, that kind of gets off whatever he gets paid for them offsets whatever they have to pay him. So the number can go down a bit when in the bio if he goes if James Franklin goes, he gets another job pretty quickly. But again, I'm not gonna go into the minutiae all of that. I just want to talk about the idea that Penn State made the bold move, even with all the money they're gonna have to pay out to not only fire him, but fire the rest of the staff, then have to deal with all the recruiting issues that'll come from that with players. A bunch of the players, not only in current recruit their current recruiting class, but on the players on their own team, like either decommitting or deciding to go transfer elsewhere in the portal after this year is over. And that's a risk they took because they were so dumb with James Franklin. And I never thought it would happen. The fan base was tired of him, and they really were. But I just didn't think the school would actually be willing to do it because of how big of a check you have to write to make this happen. Not only to fire him, but then fire the rest of the staff, they're gonna have to fire when they bring in a new head coach. But they're gonna have to pay out the Wazoo to get, they still have to pay their players too. That's also an option. Like that$20 million a year, up to$20 million, is like what you're gonna have to pay players as well in NIL. So like that's money also coming out of the pocket of the team, and now they're gonna have to try to keep those players under a new coaching staff they're gonna bring in after this year, which is gonna be a problem in itself. They're gonna lose a lot of their recruiting class that they have built up for this this season, and they're gonna have to try to build that back up again. Either they're probably not gonna be able to if they don't have an actual head coach for when this happens. So they really are setting themselves back for year for years to come making this move. But I also totally agree with the idea that if you're going to do it at some point, you probably should do it as soon as possible and just rip the band-aid off. Because the problem is that if you know you don't want James Franklin to be your coach after this year, if he pulls off some crazy upset either against Ohio State, or they I think they have to face they have to face Indiana soon. Like, so if they he pulled off a couple wins against teams they probably shouldn't beat, it'll make it a lot harder to make this move than it is right now when they just lost to Northwestern. So on one hand, for the fans, I'm happy for them because like obviously it sucks being at this point where they knew they were never going to be the team they wanted to be because they had a coach that wasn't able to get them over that hill, right? But I also think that after a couple things that I've seen kind of like explaining the situation and what things are, I kind of understand it both ways. Like I understand that they Penn State's taking a real chance here. You fire, you fire him, you fire James Franklin, you know he's not gonna get you over the hump, but he's a guaranteed 10 wins a year, and he's gonna get you into the playoff, and he's going to but again, that's you can say that for the last 11 years, but in his 12th season, he was known to be the coach that'll never lose you the game you shouldn't you shouldn't win, right? Never lose you the game you should win. He's never gonna lose to the teams they should beat. And that's exactly what he has done over the last couple of games. He's lost to UCLA and he's lost to Northwestern. So like even that has changed, but I think he's built himself up a reputation of being the guy that'll never have you bottom out. And that was happening this year. So where do I so getting back to the idea that you're gonna set yourself back, and if you're gonna do that, you have to be very sure that the next guy you're gonna hire is gonna take you over that hump. Because this could lead to you being the next Nebraska when they have fired Bo Polini or being the next um what is the other uh Florida when they got rid of Urban. Things kind of went real dark there for a while for them. Like you have a chance to like really like take a real tumble down the mountain if you don't get this next hire right. And if you are in if you don't have a guaranteed top 10 head coach coming your way in college football, if you're to be the next guy, you're taking a real chance. And I'm not sure if Penn State, like, because everybody makes the case, like for as an Ohio State fan, Ohio State, because before last year, where Ryan Day kind of went and I finally climbed the mountain and won the national championship. A lot of things people would say is that Ohio State can win with any coach. They can win 10, 11 games a year with any coach because of the infrastructure and the team and the the boosters and the fan base that they have, right? But their floor is a lot higher than Penn State's floor. It is, it just is. And now Penn State is really going to test that theory of whether they can like they can win 10 games a year with anybody, and they're trying to take that next step to really climb to the top of the mountain and go from that good team to being a great, not program not team, but program. Go from being a good program to be in a great program to being a national championship winning program. And I do think there are some real, like anybody that has those type of concerns about like losing James Franklin, not really knowing what's coming next, is they're they're real concerns. And again, I'm not gonna sit here and say you shouldn't try because I think you should. I think resigning yourself to not because I think Penn State has enough. They have the fan base, they have the money, they have all this stuff necessary to go out and do the thing, but they're just they're not Ohio State, they're not Bama, they're not some of those other those other teams that you have to worry that like are at the top of the sport every single year. But they have the opportunity to be, and they were never going to be that with James Franklin, so I understand them making that making the move. I would have thought that they he would have more cachet to kind of like coach out the rest of the year and then make the move after the year because I feel like it was just a it's a better move altogether to keep your recruiting class together until the end of the season, get your uh your winter class in, your this year's class in when it comes to the early um signees, and then try to make up for it on the back end to try to keep them in after they fire him after the season's over, and your team as well. But apparently they were not willing to let him have that opportunity, and I think there is a real chance, even if they do hire the right guy to be their next head coach, they're gonna take a few steps back from where they're at even right now, and even at three losses, it still can be worse. And I think Penn State's really taking that chance that it can get worse before it gets better. But I think they you finally you have to take that you have to take the jump through um into the abyss sometimes if you want to grow to be what you really want to be, even if it comes at the cost of like potentially missing altogether and being even worse for it. Which I think is a real opportunity a real a real thing for Penn State. I think it really is. They're not bad coach proof, they're just they're not. They're not. As great as great as a program as Penn State is, they are not foolproof in a way that Ohio State, Bama, Georgia are. Even Georgia, even with their worst coaches, they're still a 10-win team every year. I think Penn State has, especially with what the landscape is now, I think even some of like the the going thoughts on some of these the top tier programs aren't even the same because of the talent isn't always the same because it's kind of evened out throughout the sport with NIL and all that. So like, even with some of like the going narratives about these teams, what they've been over the last 15-20 years are now different because of the difference in college football now. So like I I think even if I talk about Ohio State now, I think there's a chance for Ohio State to bottom out too, as great as they are and as consistent as they are as a program, no matter what the head coach is, things can get worse because of how much more how much less power programs have nowadays with players now getting paid, now having the opportunity to move around in the portal. Like some of those things have kind of evened out things in a way for in the sport to where it's not as foolproof. And Penn State's gonna be the test case for this. Again, all the power to them for finally making the decision to try to take the next step, but I think they're take they're gonna take a few steps back before they could take those steps forward. And uh question is will they actually end up taking those final steps forward they want to take? And um, that's that's the big one for me. But I was surprised. I really didn't think they had the balls to do it. I really didn't. I really didn't, but they did. Uh credit to them, credit to them, even if it ends in a disaster, which I'm definitely here for as well. I'll be more than happy to uh see Penn State fall by the wayside to the to the depths of college football. So be more than happy to see as an Ohio State fan, but you know it is what it is. And that's it. That see, I lied earlier when I talked about that was it for college football for me, and then I went another 8-15 minutes on it. So hopefully it wasn't too much longer, but I had to get in the James Franklin thing. If I would have gone this pod and not mentioned the James Franklin firing, it would have been an absolute travesty for me, and I would have probably would have had to record the whole podcast over again because of it. So I'm very happy I remembered at the at the final buzzer before I went and started talking about NFL stuff. So I'm glad I got that in. So let's go ahead and go to the NFL now with me finally getting into the actual story. That's like probably the biggest story in all of college football, all of probably sports right now with the James Franklin firing. And uh let's go ahead and get into the NFL stuff. Um, let's see here. Is there any NFL stories to really talk about? No, not really. So let's just go ahead and go on into recapping the games from I think this is week six. I think this is week six. Week six just happened this past weekend, right? Yeah, week six. Okay. So we're gonna recap the NFL games from week six, uh, other than like all the games other than the Thursday night game, which we already recapped on the last pod. Uh so I'm gonna go through, go to the gate, go through the games, make uh talk about my thoughts on them, and then just kind of go from there. Um picks-wise, because we do our picks every week, I went nine and six on the week with my losses being Philly, Dallas, Jacksonville, Detroit, Buffalo, and Washington. Those are the losses I had. And then Jace's, he went 10-5 with the the picks he had wrong being Philly, Dallas, Detroit, Buffalo, and Washington. The only difference we one game difference between us, um, with the difference being the split we had with the Jacksonville Seattle game. For whatever reason, I decided to drink the Jacksonville slash Trevor Lawrence Kool-Aid, and uh I took an L for that, and Jace did not fall for that trap, and he got the win. So that's the difference in the picks there. And let's go and go ahead and go on to the recap. So we'll start with this Sunday morning game because they've had this run of having the the across the the games that are playing in different countries. I think it started in uh I think it started early in the year with like Brazil, and then you're talking about uh Ireland, and now they're playing games in England, and the a game that happened in England this past weekend on Sunday morning was Denver uh in the and the New York Giants. No, sorry, not Giants, Jets playing each other. Denver won the game 13 to 11. This was an absolute disgusting game to watch. Denver offense did not show up really whatsoever. Bonex really struggled in this game, they they couldn't run the football at all. And it wasn't necessarily because the Jets defense was playing absolutely lights out, like they were playing better, but it wasn't like lights out, but it was I think it was more about the Broncos struggling. And then on the Jets side, it was absolutely awful. And again, me being a Justin Fields fan, I want to see him succeed, if at all possible, um, even with him leaving the Steelers from last year to go to the Jets this year. I thought he had a real chance to kind of take some steps forward and really be that guy for them. And it hasn't worked out that way. Um The offensive line for the Jets is absolutely putrid. That is something I will give him. That offensive line is absolutely awful. It is terrible. It's it's it's absolute it's terrible. Like he, I think he got sacked nine times in this game against the Broncos. He did not have a chance to think, but even when he did, like he held on, he holds on to the football way too long. And that's been a problem he's had throughout his time in the NFL. He has not won to get rid of the ball quickly. When he has his time and can kind of step into throws and kind of read things, he does do it a little bit slowly. He's not necessarily the quickest when it comes to like scanning the field. When he can scan the field and has the opportunity to get to the throw the ball to the open guy, he does that. But if he doesn't, he's gonna hold on to the football too long, and defenses are gonna have the opportunity to stack him, especially with the offensive line being as awful as it was. That's exactly what happened. Justin Fields had 45 passing yards on Sunday morning. Nine of 17. They didn't run the football that effectively either. I think they only ran the football for like 92 yards total, with Brees Hall being the leading guy, had 50 having 59 yards. Garrett Wilson was absolutely losing his fucking mind in this game. He only had three receptions for 13 yards. I think this Jets team is a dumpster fire. They're the only winless team in all of the NFL. And I think the coaching staff's gone after this year. I think it's an absolute like Justin Fields may not be there after this year. Heck, I'm not even sure. Like, I think they might need a like a full reset with everything with that team because of how bad it's been. But even with things going, like it got to a point where the Jets would have so many, like, if they were able to get to like their own like 35-40 yard line, their offense is so bad. You can tell that their coaching staff was playing for just trying to get in the field goal range and hit the field goal to try to score some points because getting towards the end zone and scoring a touchdown was not in the cards for them whatsoever. It wasn't, it was that bad. It was so bad because of how bad that bad offense is awful. And again, you have to give some credit to the Broncos defense. Like their defense was absolutely amazing. Like nine sacks, that doesn't happen on accident. So like they did what they had to do defensively, and they really put the clamps on the Jets. But again, what like what kind of credit can you get for putting a clamps on a team that didn't really have much fight to begin with? And again, like I said, the real struggle came from the Denver offense. I really couldn't really get things together until the very end where they were able to kind of get one drive together to kind of get into field goal range and win it at the end. But it wasn't anything for the Broncos to be proud of. But they got the win, and again, in the NFL, sometimes just getting the win is enough. But it doesn't make you feel all that confident in Denver moving forward if they're facing a team that is so inept as the New York Jets are, and they couldn't win the game more thoroughly, if that makes sense. That's it on that. Um, let's go ahead and go on to the next game. Arizona at Indianapolis. Indy won the game 31-27. I bet this game because I didn't think that, because I think Indiana, Indianapolis kind of, I said Indiana because Jace always calls him Indiana. Insane that he's invaded my mind like this. But Indianapolis, I did not think, because I think they were eight and a half point favorites. I was just like, hey, I know Arizona did not have Kyler Murray coming into this game. Jacoby Brissett was gonna be the quarterback coming in, but I was like, you know what? Jacoby Brissett can come in and play a very good game of football. Like he's not gonna move, do a lot of moving, but he's gonna get the football to the open guy, and I think they were gonna be able to do enough to kind of keep this game close, and that's exactly what happened. Brissett came in, he went 27 of 44, two touchdowns and a pick, and that's with them losing Marv pretty early on in this game to a um to a concussion. But otherwise, like Arizona scored 27 points in this game. Like Indian Indianapolis won the game 31-27. Like, this was a close game all the way down to the wire. The Cardinals did not run the football at all what whatsoever. I think they only had like, let's see here, they had 88 yards total rushing in this game. This was all on Jacoby Brissett, and he kind of went in there and played very good football. And I think the difference is that because Brissett is more of like a classic quarterback build, he is tall enough to see over the offensive line. And what I could tell in this game was that they actually use the middle of the field in a way that they never would or could with Kyler Murray as the quarterback. And again, you can't blame Kyler Murray for being short, but it is what he is. He's short and he can't see over his own offensive line. So their offense really is like when Kyler is in more outside quick throws near the line of scrimmage or hitting big deep shots down the field. But with Brissett in, it was like their offense is used a lot more the middle of the field than they ever would with Kyler. And their offense was a lot more effective because of it, and they were able to stay in this football game, and they really did have a chance to win it at the end. But give all the credit to Indianapolis, like they made the plays at the end of the game to win. They scored enough. Daniel Jones played an absolutely amazing game. 22 of 30, 212 yards, two touchdowns and a pick. Jonathan Taylor had another awesome game. He had 21 carries, 123 yards, and a touchdown. Daniel Jones also had a rushing touchdown with his five carries and 20 yards. Tyler Orm was an absolute monster in this game. Six receptions, 63 yards, and a touchdown. Josh Downs had his first touchdown of the year, catch, first touchdown catch of the year. So I think this gets back to even with Arizona playing a lot better than I thought a lot of people would, um, than a lot of people thought they would. Sorry, that was a way to say that. I don't know why I inserted the I thought in there. Arizona played a lot better, but I also think Indianapolis kind of they endured. Their defense wasn't as great as it needed to be. But back to giving Jane Daniel Jones the credit he deserves this year for being an a lot better quarterback. Guess what he did? He was exactly what his team needed him to be. He was efficient, he ran the football when he needed to, he was giving the ball to his weapons as they needed, and he did not make the crazy bad mistake that lost in the football game. And again, that's a lot more than you can ever say about Daniel Jones in years past. And I'm going to keep giving Daniel Jones all the credit because he's just playing a lot better football, man. It looks like he's figured it out. And if he might have found his home in Indianapolis for the next few years, he really might have, because I think he's just he's playing that good. And they really do have a system around him that's kind of having him playing his best football. And with Jonathan Taylor as his as a lead back, kind of playing some very good football, running the football very well, and then you have all those weapons for him to throw to, they're they're doing a lot of good things. And uh again, Arizona isn't a great football team, but I think they played it very close, and I think Jacoby Brissett kind of gave them a little bit offensively that they just don't have a Kyler. Even though Kyler is a lot more talented of a player, I just think because Brissett can kind of use the whole field, I think it just opens up their offense. And I do think they they really had an even better chance to win that game if they were able to keep one of their best weapons in Marvin Harrison Jr. in the game. Again, he didn't play the rest of it because he had the concussion, but if he was able to play the whole game, I do think it they would have had an even better opportunity to win this football game outright. But, you know, losing him was definitely a big thing for the offense. But even still, even without him, they Jacoby Brissett and that offense cooked. Like they did a lot, they score a lot of points, they just couldn't get a they couldn't get enough stops in the football game defensively, which again has been a problem for Arizona for a while now. Next game here. Next game. Los Angeles Chargers went to Miami, won the game 29-27. This game was a little bit of a barn burner to a certain degree. I think it was a lot of scoring back and forth. Miami kind of like in the fourth quarter score like 14 points to kind of get back into it and make the game pretty close. And then Herbert in that last drive kind of made some big plays to kind of get them back into scoring position, got them to get the game-winning field goal to win the game. And I think this game, even with the Chargers recently struggling in a way that like you like it's kind of been pretty bad with them losing a couple of their running backs and their defense not really playing as well. And you're like, hey, can they can Justin Herbert kind of put the team on his back and win a game like this? That's exactly what he did. Herbert, 29 of 38, two touchdowns, 264 yards rushing. They actually found a little bit of um production from the running back position as well. Kimani Vidal was their leading rusher with 18 carries and 124 yards. Uh Ladd McConkey came back and kind of had one of his best game that he's had this season: seven receptions, 100 yards, and a touchdown. Uh Keenan Allen didn't really do much. Uh Orani Gas Gadson, seven receptions, 68 yards. He, I think that was it. That was their tight end. But they didn't really have a lot of production from their wide receivers at all. It really was Ladd McConkey and their tight end, and then it was Herbert kind of doing the, you know, I'm gonna be that talented quarterback thing. And that's exactly what there was one specific play where there was a rush coming out and he was able to get away from the rush and kind of like get away from a tackler, and then he was able to make a big play down the field to Ladd McConkey, and I'm like, hey, that's that play right there is why Justin Herbert has been a guy for a while for a lot of NFL fans that are like, hey, this dude's stupid talented, and as long as he can kind of realize it, like he can be one of the best in the NFL. And Justin Herbert had that type of game on Sunday, and he he went out there and won the football game, and especially with their offensive line being absolutely like down bad with injuries. I think they had like only two, one or two of their guys were like returning starters, but the rest of them were just new guys, and the Chargers made do with it. Again, the Miami Dolphins defense isn't great whatsoever. But Justin Herbert made do, and he made a lot of big plays and managed to win that football game. Turned to the other side, Tua played fine, but he made a lot, he made three big picks, which was like the biggest backbreaker. Because even with them scoring the 27 points, imagine what they could have done if Tua didn't throw those three interceptions that he threw. That was definitely a huge difference in the game. But Tua, otherwise than that, 21 of 32, 205 yards and a touchdown. Again, those three picks really kind of take away any type of outs. Like again, those three picks are a definite hamper on what he did for the day. Devon A-chan had a great day running the football, 16 carries, 128 yards, and two touchdowns. Like he was awesome. Jalen Waddell had a good day, six receptions, 95 yards. And then they were just getting the football to a lot of different guys. Julian Hill, Alec Engold, Devon A-chan had a couple catches, Malik Washington, like Darren Waller. Like they just had a lot of guys they were throwing the football to, and they were playing pretty effectively. But it's just with those mistakes with Tua throwing those picks and then their defense not really being able to stop anybody. I think that was the recipe for disaster for the Dolphins. Again, they're a one in five team. It's not like they really expected to come in and win this game, but they had an opportunity to win it. But it's just Tua making the bad mistakes uh in a very bad point that took them away from having a chance to really win. Like they actually, even with the mistakes, they had a chance to win. But Herbert superpowered there, like he just did the I'm the best player on the field thing, and they went and won the football game. And you have to give Herbert and the Chargers credit with that. Next game, New England at New Orleans. New England won the game 25-19. Drake May is really turning himself into that dude, and he's playing very good football. He's probably at like a top five, top six level with what he's doing with his output this year. He's just playing very good football. He's get he's distributing the football all over the field, and he is proving himself to be the best player on that football team as of right now. And he really superpowered them to this win because if without him kind of wheeling and dealing, 18 of 26, 261 yards, and three touchdowns, without that, the Patriots probably would have lost this game because their defense wasn't really stopping New Orleans necessarily. They weren't able to run the football. Drake May was leading rusher in this game, nine carries, 28 yards. But it was him throwing the football to Kayshawn Boutet, uh, five receptions, 93 yards, and two touchdowns. Like that was a difference in this game. And I think that the Patriots' defense is not as good as I thought it would be. Christian Gonzalez coming back a couple weeks ago, he's getting back and getting healthier. I think he does give him that like lockdown corner to a certain extent, but outside of that, defensively, they're not really all that great of a defense. And I think that without Drake May playing this way, I think this Patriots team would have a lot more losses. But guess what? He is playing for them and he's doing what he needs to do for them to win football games. And they he did that on Sunday against the Saints. And to the Saints side, I do admire what Spencer Rattler is doing. You can tell he's just he's he has a lot of moxie, he's playing good football, he's doing what he can, it's just he's not a Drake, Drake May, and the difference between Drake May and Spencer Rattler is a huge golf, and you can tell that when they're you can see them both on the field. And then outside when it comes to like they have some talented guys, but it's just defensively the Saints are not all that good, and offensively, they're just not consistent. They don't really have a great running game, they only ran the football for like let's see here. They only ran the football for 73 yards total in this game. They threw the football well. Chris Olave had a great game, six receptions, 98 yards. Alvin Kamara had a decent day receiving. Um, but it's just they just don't have enough firepower. They're just not a good enough football team on a week in, week out basis, especially on Sunday, to go out and beat the Patriots, even at when the Saints are at home. Next game, Cleveland at Pittsburgh. Uh Pittsburgh won the game 23-9. As a Steelers fan, I'm gonna go ahead and kind of insert my thought here, okay? I think this was the first time this season that I can come out of a game and not really have a lot of complaints. And if you listen for the pod for a while, you know that I came into this whole thing really negative. I really did. Because even though I thought the Steelers were gonna win a lot of football games, which I again, nine, ten football wins, and then make the playoffs, lose the first playoff game, and you know, rinse and repeat. That's what we have been for so many years. And the to start the year, I was a little bit iffy, even though we were three and one, and like but that loss to Seattle wasn't great, and and I was like, hey, things aren't looking good right now, and I'm like, things can kind of things can crumble very quickly. And this was a game where I was like, hey, I picked Pittsburgh to win, but I'm like, this could this is a game in years past where we go and make this game a lot harder than it needs to be, and we keep the game as close, and we heck we lose this game to Cleveland in couple these last couple years. So like I totally saw a way where the Steelers were able to make this game a lot harder than it needed to be, struggle against a very good Cleveland defense, and then for whatever reason have a very bad defensive day against Cleveland's offense and lose the football game. But I can say with a little bit of happiness that Pittsburgh went out there and took care of business from start to finish. Like I said, 23-9. The game was not really all that close, to be totally honest with you. And offensively, Aaron Rodgers played good, efficient football, 21 of 30, 235 yards, two touchdowns. Running the football, the Steelers ran for just literally just 100 yards. But again, there was just enough to kind of keep the defense honest and to be able to kind of get some quick, some tough yardage when they needed to. Jalen Moore and being that guy of getting the tough yards, 11 carries, 52 yards. DK Metcalf had another day. I think it's four games in a row now. He's had a touchdown reception. DK had four receptions, 95 yards in that touchdown. Darnell Washington has really turned himself into a guy that's really used a lot in this offense. Three receptions, 62 yards. He was the second leading receiver on the day. John Du Smith really didn't do a lot. Three receptions, eighteen yards, but he kind of came. And it did some things when necessary. Kenneth Gainwell was able to get a few quick uh receptions from Aaron Rodgers, six receptions, fourteen yards. Connor Hayward had a touchdown reception to from Aaron Rodgers. Like, like I said, offensively, they were able to come in even against a very good Cleveland defense and take care of business. They stayed on schedule. Aaron Rodgers made some plays when he had to. Again, the touchdown that he throw that he had to Connor Hayward, he was able to kind of flush out to his right. And then he sees Connor Hayward right there in the middle of the end zone and throws the quick touchdown pass to him across his body to the middle of the field. Again, something that Aaron Rodgers, even at his old age, can do in comparison to a lot of other quarterbacks, cannot make that throw confidently and be able to get it to the guy and not throw a pick. But he still can, even at his advanced age. At least I say advanced age in football sense. He's 41 going on 42 years old. So he did that, and DK Metcalf, getting the touchdown reception that he got, like a big, big play, 25-yard touchdown reception. Like that's something that DK Metcalf can do that a lot of the guys can't do, and they're they're using him effectively. I think they still need a number two receiver. The fact that Darno, Washington, and Johnu Smith were our second and third leading receiver in this game is fine, but can we do that against some of the better teams in the NFL if you really expect yourself to go win multiple playoff games and have a chance to win a Super Bowl? I do think you really need a true number two receiver that you can rely on to throw to. And it apparently in the news of the Steelers looking around, they're really trying hard to get a second guy to put on the other side of DK Metcalf. If they can do that, maybe it'll change my whole outlook on what they can do potentially in the playoffs this year. But for this game against the Cleveland Browns, they took care of business from start to finish. And I have to give them the credit for that. And I don't have a lot of notes. I'm not a lot of worries. The offensive line played well. They made sure that, again, it was partially because they got they get rid of the football so fast, but their defense, their defensive line didn't get after Aaron Rodgers all that much. I think he was only he wasn't sacked at all in this game. And probably the best part of this whole Cleveland defense is their defensive line. And that this they did not let that the offensive line did enough to make sure, and Aaron Rodgers did enough with his quick passing to make sure they didn't get to him. And it was a very nice game to see. It was complete control from start to finish, which is something I have not seen from the Steelers in a while. And on the Brown side, they're just awful, man. Dylan Gabriel, 29 to 52 for 221 yards, zero touchdowns, zero picks. He was sacked six times. The Pittsburgh Steelers defense was absolutely amazing. Kind of the player of the game for me was Jalen Ramsey, who had six total tackles, four solo, two sacks. They sent him in on corner blitz multiple times, and he has two sacks in this game. Insane. TJ Watt had like half a sack in this game. Alex Hyth Alex Highsmith had half a sack. Nick Herbick had a couple sacks. He made a couple big plays in this game. But again, it's not like this Brown's offense is awful. They've been awful all year. Quinsha Judkins, even though he only had 12 carries, 36 yards, he had some hard runs that like gave you the idea of like, hey, this is a very talented back. It's just their offensive line sucks. They really don't have a passing offense to make you scared of to you know help the running game at all. But you know, they Harold Fannon had a good game, seven receptions, 81 yards. But outside of that, they really didn't have a lot of production. But again, they're not going to. The offense sucks. Dylan Gabriel sucks. And let's be honest, even if they brought in Shador Sanders, they wouldn't get much better because they're kind of the same player. Even though Shador is a little bit taller, I'll give him that. But outside of that, they're the they're very similar players. So anybody that's like hope like wishing for Shador to go out there, I don't think he's gonna make a big difference, to be totally honest with you. He was the number two quarterback, though. So it is a step in the right direction for him. But I just don't think this offense is absolutely awful, and I think that they're gonna be very close to a true clear the deck, get rid of everybody type of thing. And you know, it's it's that but again, the Browns are always close to that because they suck their back organization and all that. But again, the defense is still very good. So the fact that the Steelers went out there, took care of business, neutralized the very good Cleveland defense was a very, very nice thing to see as a Steelers fan. Next game, Dallas at Carolina. Carolina won the game 30 to 27. Carolina was at home. It's starting to become a big difference between what Carolina is on the road and what they are at home. At home, they're I think all of their wins have been at home this year. I think they blew out the Falcons a couple weeks ago, and then they just beat Dallas. Again, it was a barn burner, 30-27. Carolina managed to get the field goal at the end to win it. But this Dallas defense is awful. They've been bad all year. And for the wins that they have had, and what kind of got them excited was Dak Prescott kind of doing their thing and doing his thing and probably having his best year that he's had in years. Dak went 25 to 34 for 261 yards and three touchdowns. George Pickens had a great day, nine receptions, 168 yards, and a touchdown. And I think Jake Ferguson had a touchdown in this game, three receptions, 33 yards, Ryan Flornoy, who was a kind of a more recent standout, he had a three reception for 30 yards. But it's just that Cowboys defense is absolutely cheeks, man, and it's proving to be that way. And it just sucks that even with like even with the defense being as bad as it is, like you would think that they would be able to come into this game against Carolina, who offensively has been kind of like a no-show all year long, except for the one game that they kind of had a big blowout win against uh the Falcons. But the Cowboys are just that team, like defensively, that's just gonna give every offense, even if you're bad, a real chance to go out there and have a great day. Bryce Young, he'd had a fine day, 17 to 25, 199 yards, three touchdowns, and a pick. Only got sacked once. He like he did what he was supposed to do. And Bryce Young has really been bad most of the year. I'm not gonna lie to you. And he managed to have a good day against the Cowboys defense. Rico Dowdle was like the MVP performer for this Carolina team. He had 30 carries for 183 yards. He and then he also had four receptions for 56 yards, and he also had a touchdown reception. So like he really was the MVP for them in this game. And on top of that, Tet McMillan also had his first two touchdowns as a pro in this game, three receptions, 29 yards, and two touchdowns. So, like, this Cowboys' defense is awful. And the fact that they allowed Carolina to stay in this game and kind of like it was a back and forth affair. Again, it was a very embarrassing the fact that the Cowboys' defense is this bad, but it's just credit to the Carolina Panthers for seeing their opportunity and taking it offensively, and you know, Bryce Young having a good enough day for them to kind of just keep the thing going. And Rico Dowdle, he was a guy, he's been with the Cowboys for like three, four years now, and then they cut him coming into this year, and then he goes to Carolina, and then the the week of him coming into this game, he was like, Hey, I want to make sure they regret cutting me and letting me come here, and then so now I'm gonna make them pay for it, and that's exactly what he did. And he absolutely had an amazing day, and then credit to Rico Dowdle for sure against that very bad Dallas defense. Next game, Seattle at Jacksonville. Seattle won the game 20-12. Like I said, this was the split me and Jace had, and I somehow fell for the for the Jacksonville trap, and they didn't play great in this game. Again, Trevor Lawrence played fine. He went he went 27 to 42, 258 yards and two touchdowns. He didn't play awful. He didn't make the terrible mistake that lost you the football game. I don't I don't think he did, did he? No, he didn't. He didn't play awful, but it's just they just weren't able to kind of punch it in and get into the end zone like they needed to if they had wanted to really win this game. They really couldn't run the football that effectively either. I think they only ran the football for like 50 something, 59 yards from what I'm reading here. Uh Brian Thomas Jr. had a great day, eight receptions, 90 yards, and a touchdown. Uh but outside of him, it was kind of like they're distributing the ball to a lot of guys. But it's just their defenses could not stop Seattle from, even though Seattle didn't only score 20 points, but that was enough with how like how much Jacksonville just couldn't get anything going offensively. Sam Darnold really like I was questioning whether Sam Darnold can like put together multiple years in a row of like playing very good football. Last year he was close, he was like in the MVP conversation with how well he played. And coming in this year, coming into a Seattle team where I'm like, hey, there's not a lot of guys around him. All he practically has is JSN. Can he kind of like be the guy to kind of lead this offense to play some good ball? And Seattle, quietly at 4-2, is like one of the better teams in the NFL. And Sam Darnold's playing very good ball, 16-27, 295 yards, two touchdowns, zero picks. Played very well. They didn't run the football effectively whatsoever. They only had 60 yards total rushing. But you know who the real guy for this team is? The real, like, even though Sam Darnold's playing very well, there is one dude that is playing on a different level than Practly, than anybody else in this team for sure, and he is the NFL's leading receiver right now with how well he's playing. JSN, Jackson, Smith, and Jigba, a goddamn Ohio State Buckeye wide receiver. Who would have thought? He is the leading receiver in the NFL right now. He had an eight reception day for 162 yards and a and a touchdown. He had an average of 20 yards a catch. He's an absolute sensation right now. He is unstoppable. And there was one play where he totally, I think the Jags recently traded for um what's that cornerback's name that they traded for from the the Browns. Miller, da da da day, Hamilton, Tramwalker. I'm forgetting that guy's name. They just traded for the corner from um Oh, why am I forgetting? Jag's trade. Um, Newsom. Newsome, Greg Newsome from the Browns. They traded for him, and on his first opportunity to go and go one-on-one against JSN, JSN burns him for like a 61-yard touchdown reception. Like, he is absolutely sensational. He's having his he's getting his flowers for being like him and Mekka are just having a monster years with from both of them. JSN being a guy that's been in the league for a few years, and uh Mech having a very good rookie season. But I'm I'm telling you, with those two leading the way, and Marv doing his thing, and I think they're gonna take over, like they are really gonna take over the uh the narrative for who's wide receiver you with how good those two guys are playing right now, because they're absolutely insane. And JSN is on a different level right now the way he's playing, and he's an absolute monster. And Jaxville couldn't stop him. And Sam Darnold knows that when it when I need to, I'll just go ahead and try to get the ball to him, to JSN, and he's gonna absolutely make the play, and like he's gonna, he's absolutely explosive. And for anybody that said that he couldn't be a number one guy in the NFL, oh my god, are you fucking eating it, eating it at this point with how good he's playing right now? It's absolutely insane to watch, and I love it. Love seeing my buckeys go and play well in the NFL. Um, next game, LA Rams at Baltimore. Rams win the game 17-3. First off, I have to give credit to the Baltimore defense that played a lot better to what they were the week before. They showed a little bit of fight. They did get a couple of their guys back, Kyle Hamilton being the leading guy that they got back. So they played a little bit better defensively, and the Rams could not like absolutely blow out Baltimore way they probably would have if they hadn't got a guy like Kyle Hamilton and some of his other defensive pieces back. But Baltimore's offense is absolutely awful. They can't really do anything without Lamar there. Luckily, they do have a bye coming up to where they have a week seven bye, and then Lamar should be back for week eight when they go and face the Bears. So, like, again, Baltimore being one and five right now, they are on the they are on the verge of like really like having a terrible season right now. Like the season's already terrible, but they still have an opportunity to turn it around once they get get uh Lamar back, obviously being an MVP candidate and all. Not MVP candidate, but MVP winner. So I just think that Baltimore's in a bad spot. They really need Lamar back, they're gonna have him back, and he does give them an opportunity to turn the season around, but because of how bad their season is, like they're gonna have to win the division to get in the get in the playoffs because of how how uh what is the word I'm looking for? How contentious it's gonna be to get those wildcard spots. Like the record, their record is too bad to kind of get into the wild card negotiation with the wildcard discussion. So like they're gonna have to hope for the Steelers to kind of shoot themselves in the foot a couple times and like totally destroy themselves uh for the end of the season and just hope that Baltimore can just put enough game, enough wins together to win the AFC North. But, you know, it's just it's a it's a struggle right now. And I knew this game they were gonna lose, but I I thought it was gonna be a little bit more lobsided. But I think I do think the Ravens showed a little bit of fight defensively and played a little bit better. But Cooper Rush, their backup, is not good. 11 of 19 for 72 yards and a pick. Derrick Henry had a good rushing rushing yard day. He had 122 yards off 24 carries, but they did have an opportunity to get a touchdown with they were like within the five yard, within the five-yard line in the red zone, and they had four plays to get into the end zone and they couldn't make it work. They went forward on fourth down and couldn't get it, do it with four Derrick Henry runs in a row and they couldn't make it happen. It was absolutely insane to watch it because having a quarterback, I mean a running back as dominant as Derrick Henry, it's just like, hey, they can't make it work in four plays to go score a touchdown, but it's just it was absolutely insane to see. But the Rams did what they had to do defensively to make it happen. But Derrick Henry had a decent day for sure. On the Rams side, Matthew Stafford played okay, 17 of 26, 181 yards and a touchdown. He played fine. I do think they were kind of stifled a little bit by the Puka Nakua injury. He kind of got he got hurt, had to leave the game for a while. He was potentially going to come back in, and they kind of already had the game well in hand by then, so they just didn't like they didn't like really turn it back up offensively because of how bad Baltimore was offensively. So they didn't really have the offensive output they really wanted, but they had did enough to win the football game, which is what you need. Kyron Williams had a good day, 50 yards rushing and a touchdown. Higby was a leading receiver with 40 yards and a touchdown off four receptions. Devontae Adams didn't really do a lot, but again, they just the Rams didn't need a lot because of how bad the Baltimore offense was. So credit to the Rams. They got the one they needed. They're 4-2 on the air. Ravens being 1-5 is absolutely an insane thing to see. Um next game, we got and again with that, Steelers real quick. I'm just, I have not seen. I think I mentioned this on the last pod, but it's just I never would have thought the division would be this wide open for the Steelers to just as long as the Steelers play good football and just don't shoot themselves in the foot and like totally bottom out at the end of the year, they should win this division pretty easily. And heck, you don't even have to beat the Ravens twice, they have to face them twice before the season's over. All you have to do is beat them once and just have a normal season, and the Ravens aren't coming back. But it's just, I don't know. Uh again, I've been very negative, and I'm like, there's gonna be a point where the season bottoms out and it's gonna be bad, but you know, as of right now, they have a huge lead on the Ravens, so hopefully they can keep it. Again, it doesn't say anything about what they're gonna do once they get to the playoffs, but the fact that it's so wide open and they have the opportunity to win the division as easily as they do, I think that is a step in the right direction, at least, even if I don't think it's gonna lead to them, you know, winning multiple playoff games and even winning a Super Bowl. Next game, Tennessee at Vegas. This game was absolutely awful. Vegas wins the game 20-10. It was this game was nothing to it was awful. Coming out of this game, Tennessee fired their head coach Brian Callahan, which I think everybody's been asking for because of how bad of a head coach he's been. He's been absolutely terrible. Nothing good about that coach whatsoever. Luckily they got rid of him. Cam Ward is doing everything he can. 26-38, a touchdown and a pick. The offensive line sucks, the defense sucks, he like off, like they just don't have a lot of crazy offensive weapons for him to get the ball to. And I think it showed, but the Raiders weren't playing well either. Geno Smith, 17-23, one touchdown, one pick. Ash and Gente playing okay, 75 yards rushing off 23 carries, wasn't efficient whatsoever. Did have a touchdown, though. But it's just, you know, two not so great, well, one awful team in the Titans, and then the Ra the Raiders, sorry, the Raiders not being all that great. It was just a bad football game. I just did not watch a lot of it because it's it was just it was gross. Every time I tried to try to switch to it and try to pay attention, it was some bad football being played, and I just wasn't too enthused uh by that game whatsoever. Next game, Cincinnati going to Green Bay. Green Bay won the game 27 to 18. I will say Cincinnati had a better showing, and I was talking about on the last pod, is that my my questioning of them trading for Joe Flacco, and I'm sitting there like, why would you do that? And again, coming in watching this game, Joe Flacco was better. He had to throw the football 45 times, which is crazy because they couldn't run the football really at all in this game against against the Packers. They only ran the football for like 50 something yards. Yeah, they ran the football for 55 yards total. So Joe Flacco had to throw the football 45 times, 219 yards, two touchdowns, zero picks. Again, a lot better than what Jake Browning has done for them at all this year. So like I do think he is better. But at what end? Like, why would you want to be better with how bad this season has gone? I just don't think he's like you're you should want to bottom out and get a good draft pick and have Joe Burrow come back healthy for next season. But you know, all I get I don't know. I don't know what they're doing. I'm not gonna sit here and we already talked about on the last plot with Jay's, so I'm not gonna dive back into it again. But he did Joe Flacco played but played some decent football, even though he got sacked, only got sacked once, but he got rid of the football quickly, got gave the football to his guys, he got Jamar Chase going. Jamar Chase had Teb receptions, 94 yards and a touchdown. T. Higgins got involved. He had five catches for 62 yards, Noah Fant got some catches. Like they he was Joe Flacco was able to come in and be a point guard and just get the ball to his guys and get the ball out quickly. So the offensive line wasn't as big of an issue, but it didn't matter. The Packers had total control in this game. Again, it was just the game should not have been even been this close. So that I have to give the Bengals a little bit of credit that they played well enough to make the game as close as it was. But Packers came in and dominated, man, uh at least offensively. Uh Jordan Love, 19-26, one touchdown, one pick. Uh it was a bad pick, though. It was bad, but Jordan Love can do that at times. But if he kind of came in and played some good football. Uh, Josh Jacobs, 93 yards rushing off of 18 carries and two touchdowns. He had a very good day. Matthew Golden had a good day, eight, three receptions, 86 yards. Josh Jacobs also had five receptions for 57 yards. And then you had Romeo Dobbs getting involved, Tucker Kraft. Like they just they get the ball to a lot of different guys. So Green Bay did come in and do what they had to do. Defensively, you would like to see them do a little bit more against the Bengals offense that has been struggling throughout the year. But again, give the Joe Flacco some credit that he did. I think Joe Flacco to a certain extent, because he's played so much football, he's not going to, even though he'll throw some picks at times, he really will. Like it's gonna happen at some point with how much he'll be playing for the Bengals, but he was a calming force for that offense. He played better, he played better than what Jake Brownie would have done in this game. He went in there, was the point guard, didn't make the big mistake, and just got it to the guys and let them look and go make plays, and that's exactly what he did. So, credit to Joe Flacco. It's a stupid move because I just don't think, again, if Joe Flacco's better, why would you want to be better? I just don't know. I don't know how the Bengals think they have a real chance at like winning at all this year. They should just be trying to lose, but I I don't know. It's weird, it's weird. Um, but yeah, credit to the Packers for going out there, taking care of business, and winning the football game. Next game, San Fran at Tampa Bay. Tampa Bay won the game 30 to 19. I will say, man, it's certainly like Tampa Bay is a real like a like legit, legit. Like it doesn't matter, man. I think Tampa Bay's defense is not like they're opportunistic, but they're not really locked down, but it doesn't really matter. They're gonna make the plays that are given to them, and they go out and do it just do that just fine. It's they're not gonna like if you have a high-powered offense, you are gonna be able to shred them to a certain degree. But if you make any sort of mistakes, the Tampa Bay defense is gonna be able to be opportunistic and kind of take advantage of those. And Tampa Bay, led by Baker Mayfield, man, he had a absolutely like a really good day. 17 of 23, 256 yards, two touchdowns, zero picks. And this was behind an offensive line where like most of their guys are hurt, and they had a bunch of guys, backups, kind of blocking for him in this game. It didn't matter. He was out there dealing, wheeling and dealing. They didn't have their leading running back, obviously, with uh oh no, why am I forgetting his name now? That sucks. Don't do this. Uh oh, this sucks. I've been so good at my not forgetting names. Oh no, why am I forgetting his name now? Um, hold on. Let me get I I got I gotta get the name. Bucky Irving. Without their leading running back in Bucky Irving, Rashad White came in and played some very good ball. He's been doing that for the last couple weeks. He's kind of come in and played some played played very well, 17, especially in this game. 17 carries, 65 yards, and a touchdown. And then on top of that, he also had a couple receptions for 21 yards. But they ran the football for like 100 yards total. Sean Tucker, their backup backup running back, also played well. Six carries, 25 yards, and a touchdown. And then wide receiver-wise, like again, I've talked about how great Emeka Ekbuko has been throughout this year, but he got hurt with the hamstring injury and couldn't even come back in this game. So you know who their leading receiver was? It was Cameron Johnson. Four receptions, 64 yards, and a touchdown. Some guy out of nowhere. Like, that wasn't a guy nobody even thought of on their offense, and he kind of came in and had a great day with Baker Mayfield leading the way. Sterling Shepherd was still there, two receptions for 51 yards. Kate Otten was involved with five catches for 51 yards. Tez Johnson had the big play. The uh little wide, the sorry, the small wide receiver from Oregon that they drafted came in and had a had a good day. He had he had one reception, 45 yards and a touchdown. It's a big play. It was just him kind of getting down the field, realizing he was open, breaking off his route and just going for the deep, going for the deep ball. And Baker Mayfield saw it and threw the ball right on the money, and they made the big play. It's when Tampa Bay, even without all their dudes, they don't have Mike Evans, they don't have Emeka, who's been great for them this year, being their leading receiver. He goes out in this game. They don't have why am I forgetting the other wide receiver's name? I'm forgetting the other guy's name now. That's not good. They don't have Chris Scoblin. Like they he's throwing to pretty much Sterling Shepherd and a bunch of other guys, and they make it work. And Baker Mayfield's doing his thing, not making the big mistake, and just out there wheeling and dealing, and I think he's playing very well. You have to give him a lot of credit for that. On the other side, it wasn't like San Fran played terribly. They didn't. Like they did what they had to do. Mac Jones, 27 to 39, 347 yards, zero touchdowns. He did throw the two picks, though. So that like was a big hamper on what he was able to do for the day. Christian McCaffrey did what he had to do, 17 carries, 54 yards, and a touchdown. On top of that, also having seven receptions for 57 yards. So like Christian McCaffrey is still being the Swiss Army knife. He's been throughout this year. Kendrick Bourne had a good day, five receptions, 142 yards. Jake Tongis, uh, six receptions, 58 yards. And it was just they just weren't able to get into the end zone as much as they needed to, especially with Tampa Bay scoring as much as they did. Tampa Bay is just becoming a wagon, dude. Like Tampa Bay really is. Like they are they are in discussion with like them and the Lions being like the best teams in the NFC. And there's really not much else to maybe the Packers if you want to have that combo. But like Tampa Bay is a real contender. They really are. And led with led by Baker Mayfield, it's it's a very fun team to watch every week, I have to be honest with you. So if you're not watching a lot of Buccaneers games, if you have Sunday ticket at all, turn on those games, man. You're gonna have a lot of fun watching that Buccaneers offense play on a week in, week out basis. Next game. Detroit at Kansas City. Kansas City wins the game 30 to 17. This is a Sunday night game. This game wasn't at all close, to be totally honest with you. Even though the score is a little bit closer than you think. Detroit did score the touchdown at the end to make it a little bit closer as they were trying to come back, but this game was controlled from start to finish by the Kansas City Chiefs and Mahomes, 22 of 30, three touchdowns. I don't think he threw any picks in this game. Let me see here. He didn't throw any picks. He's been very efficient. Getting the ball out, getting the ball to his playmakers. Exactly what they needed to do. Isaiah they ran the football effectively, had 112 yards total rushing in this game. Pacheco was the leading rusher with 12 carries, 51 yards. Mahomes had 32 yards rushing. Kareem Hunt got involved, and they so they did what they had to do. Oh, Mahomes, with his 32 yards rushing, also had the rushing touchdown as well. And then when it came, comes to their pass catchers, man, there I think they're really starting to figure it out. And they're gonna get Rasheed Rice next week after his six-game suspension. Like so they're gonna get another playmaker back to add to this receiving core. But Travis Kelsey, six catches, 78 yards. He had a good day. Juju, Smith Schuster, three receptions, 57 yards. Hollywood Brown had a couple touchdown catches with his 45 yards and four receptions. Uh Xavier Worthy had a touchdown. He only had two catches, 20 yards. So like the fact that they they have so many dudes to distribute the ball to, and Mahomes is just kind of wheeling and dealing. A lot of credit to them. And like I already said, they're getting Rasheed Rice back next week as well. I think they have a buy, though. Hold on, let me check here. Raiders on the night. Oh, so they against the Raiders this week, they'll have Rasheed Rice. So that's another pass catcher they'll have to add to this team. And I just think that like I said last week, their defense is not as locked down as it's been in the last couple years. But in spots, in situations, they can turn it on and make the bright play call, and some of their players, obviously led by Chris Jones, can kind of make the big play to win you a game in a big scenario. But they're not the same defense they've been in years past where they have been absolutely locked down, just kind of suffocating teams over the last few years. But with that, I think they are starting to figure out something offensively with Patrick Mahomes with having all these pass catchers and being able to run the football. I'm not saying like dominating. But at least they're able to run the football effectively to kind of keep a team defense on their toes. I think that this is this is where hold on, let me let me let me mourn this real quick before I say what I'm about to say. I think the Chiefs might have just like we were all thinking based on how they started this year that they were gonna have a down year and finally we were gonna have a Super Bowl without having to see Patrick Mahomes and the Chiefs playing in it. I think we're gonna be watching the Kansas City Chiefs in the Super Bowl again, man. I'm I'm really worried. I really am because Mahomes are starting to figure it out, they're starting to offensively are starting to they're getting going. And if their defense can just sit, like I said, they don't have to be the best defense in the NFL, they just have to be good in situations to kind of make the big play when necessary. But if their offense is gonna start being explosive again and they're gonna start being efficient with Patrick Mahomes at the helm, they're gonna be a very hard team to stop. And again, when you get into those games with when it's in the playoffs, when it's Mahomes against whatever quarterback he has to see on the other side, there's not gonna be a team that is gonna feel confident in going into that spot like Mahomes will be. And I think with that being the case, I think that the Chiefs are, you know, they're three and three right now, but it feels like they're four and one. Like it feels like they're like five and one right now, based on how they have really turned it around, based on how they especially from when in contrast to how they started the year. So I'm worried. I really am. I I I really was hoping for a year we didn't have to see the Chiefs in the Super Bowl again, but it's starting, I'm starting to get a pit in my stomach that it may go back that way. And I'm not too happy about it. So to the team that lost this game, Detroit Lions. They didn't really do a lot in this game. They weren't efficient enough, they didn't score enough, and it's just especially when they were just weren't able to run the football the way they wanted to, and it just got to a point where it felt like the Chiefs were just kind of keep they were just able to keep bearing Detroit and they just weren't able to score their way out of it. Their deep the Detroit defense was very hurt again, just like they ended up got like a point they got to last year at the end of the year where like so many of their guys are out defensively, they just really didn't have a chance to stop Kansas City coming into this game. So the question was was can Detroit score enough points to stay in this game and potentially win it? And they just weren't able to on Sunday night. And I it's not a big detriment on what they are, but they need to get their defense back healthy as soon as they possibly can. Because when they're healthy and they're able to play all their guys, like they their offense is good enough for them to beat anybody, but their defense needs to be able to get a few stops throughout the game. But as they are as they are right now, currently constructed, with those guys that are injured, they're they can't stop a nosebleed and they're not gonna be able to score enough points. But Jared Goff played well. 23 of 29, 203 yards, two touchdowns, zero picks. His only downside is that he wasn't Patrick Mahomes, he was like super efficient and threw three touchdown passes. They didn't run the football that effectively. Jameer Gibbs had 65 yards rushing. Um they had 98 yards total. Um Jameson Williams, 66 yards off six catches and a touchdown. Sam Laporta had a touchdown catch with five receptions and 55 yards. Imamro St. Brown, nine receptions, 45 yards. They just like they just weren't able to be, again, their defense just wasn't able to up for the task of stopping the Chiefs at all, and with that, they were just kind of buried out from the beginning, and they just weren't able to kind of keep up with the Chiefs as the Chiefs just kept scoring, and that by the end of the game, the Chiefs were just kind of salting the game away, running the football and doing what they have to do. And Detroit wasn't able to kind of push past that on Sunday night. If they end up facing each other again, potentially in a Super Bowl or something like that, it could go totally different. But it's just the Detroit Lions' defense really needs to get healthy and get their guys back, or they're gonna be in the same spot they were last year at the end of the year, where they were losing all the football games, even though their offense was still very good. Last couple games, getting to the games that happened last night. Uh, first one was Buffalo at Atlanta. Atlanta won the game 24-14. Buffalo has lost their Buffalo has lost their second game in a row. Josh Allen did not play well. 15 to 26, two touchdowns, two picks, um, 180 yards total. Um passing, you got James Cook, 17 carries, 87 yards. Josh Allen also had another 42 yards rushing. So, but it's just the offense just could not get clicking at all last night. And they got down like 21-7, like 14-7, 21-7 pretty quickly in this game. And I just felt like once that happened, the Bills just could not get themselves, dig themselves out of that hole. And it's just you can just tell, like, Josh Allen didn't have a good day at all, right? But it was just he was so off, and this team is so Josh Allen centric, is that what if he is not playing at his best, this Buffalo team is nothing. Their defense is not good. Their offense is so in like I said, the offense is so Josh Allen dependent. They didn't run the football effectively. James Cook was fine, 17 carries, 87 yards for five five yards a carry. So like maybe they could have run the football with James Cook a little bit more, but guess what? They were down 21 to 7 so fast, you can't run the football as much as you would like because of how because you're in a hole, so you have to throw the football more. And if Josh Allen isn't on point, this team really can't do anything. And all the credit to Atlanta, though, is that even with even if Buffalo's defense is not playing the way they need to, it takes Atlanta to take advantage of that for the game to go how it went, and that's exactly what they did. Michael Penix, 20 of 32, 250 yards, one touchdown, zero picks, didn't make the big mistake, but he was the point guard that kept the offense moving. They were able to just kind of keep going down the football field and keep scoring. Um B. John Robinson was the absolute hero for this team in this game. He had 19 carries for 170 yards rushing and a touchdown, average eight yards of carry. And then on top of that, you also add the six receptions that he had for 68 yards. On top of that, he had like two over 250 yards of total offense, like sorry, 230 yards of total offense by himself. Um, he was an absolute dog in this game. Like he was the he was him along with Drake London, Drake London had 10 receptions for 158 yards and touchdown. And he almost had a second touchdown with the at the end of the half, they were kind of going down the field, and they kind of got a quick slant strike to Drake London, and he was able to run all the way down the football field, and this kind of got forced out at the end as he was lunging for the end zone. His foot just so happened to touch on the uh on the sideline to go out of bounds. But it was just Atlanta was just able to jump on Buffalo early, and this Buffalo wasn't able to dig themselves out of that hole. And Atlanta, when they're right, they're again their defense isn't all that great. And I think if Josh Allen was on point, this game would have been a back and forth affair. And, you know, if Josh Allen is playing at his best, it's hard for any team to beat him, any quarterback to outplay him. So like Josh Allen having his having a bad night, throwing those two picks like he did. Two games in a row definitely isn't a good sign. But I'm not gonna sit here and say that's gonna be a thing for the year for him because he has had a couple years now where he has kind of gotten rid of the turnovers, but these last two games have not been a positive thing for the Josh Allen Buffalo Bills winning us like really having their year this year, type of thought. So I don't know. It's a bad couple games for him. If he can turn it around, they'll be fine, but if he can't, their defense is not good at all, and their offense just doesn't have enough outside of him to do anything else. So it's Josh Allen or nothing. Again, this Buffalo team is built a lot like the Bengals to a certain degree, but I just think that the Bills do not have a Jamar Chase or a T. Higgins, they don't have the explosive passing game. So if Josh Allen is not able to they got the one big play to Josh Palmer, but outside of that, they're a dink and dunk offense. And if uh Josh Allen is not on point, efficient getting the ball out and getting the football down the field, uh getting sorry, not getting the ball down the field, but like, you know, just progressively getting down the field with their offense, they're not gonna be able to do a lot, man. They're not. Um so hopefully he can turn it around and get out of this funk and then they'll kind of get back on track. Again, they're four and two, so like they're not in a bad spot. But it's just if they had any thoughts of them being like them being the team this year, they're gonna need Josh Allen on point on a week in, week out basis, because that defense is just not good at all. But credit to the Falcons. They played a very good game last night and they won the game, and it was absolutely awesome. B. John Robinson is an absolute animal. Uh, but that's all I got for this game. Last but not least, let's get to the other Monday night game. Again, these Monday night football doubleheaders by ESPN has kind of like been dominating my Monday nights to where I'm like, man, there's so much football to watch, and it's happening at the same time, and I'm kind of like watching something on the TV and then having one on my phone. It's a whole thing. There's a lot of stuff going on, but it's a as long as the games are good, because a couple weeks ago the games were bad, so it kind of like the whole night was awful. But the games last night were pretty decent football games, so it was a decent watch last night. Uh so the la the last game that happened last yesterday was Chicago at Washington. Chicago won the game 25-24. They were able to get the field goal at the end to win it. And it was powered by the fumble that Jaden Daniels had. I think that was the let me see here. Yeah, it was the fumble that they had. So the Washington fumbled the ball with about three minutes left and gave the ball back to the Bears, which then took the football with those and then took like three minutes off the clock, hit the field goal at the end to win it at the end. And that was the difference, man, because to a certain degree, it was the mistakes made by Jaden Daniels, not only with his pick that he had, but that fumble as well. But like the Bears were able to kind of jump, jump ahead early with like a 13 to they were able to they were leading 13-7 at the half. And then Washington started to heat up in the second half and got to a point where they were ahead with Jaden Daniels playing well outside of the turnovers. He went 19 of 26, 211 yards, three touchdowns, and then he also had another 52 yards rushing as well. They ran the football decently, 124 yards rushing with Jaden Daniels 52 yards, and uh with Krosky Merritt beating their leading rusher with 61 yards. And they threw the football effectively. Washton did. Even with the rain coming down, again, the rain was probably made the ball a little slippery, and then on that fumble, it was like uh Jaden Daniels never had full control of the football, and he still tried to hand it off to Merritt, and it wasn't a clean handoff. Ball was fumbled, and it gave the Bears the ball at the end to go ahead and go and win the football game, icing the game and then hitting the field goal at the end. But Washington did what they they were able to score. Chris Moore was a leading receiver, Zach Ertz also got involved. Luke McCaffrey had a big touchdown catch in this game as well. But I think more credit has to go to the Bears, man. They played they played well enough to win. They played what's the word I'm looking for? They played complimentary football on both sides. Again, were they helped by the turnovers that by Jane Daniels? For sure, they were. But I do think Caleb Williams played a good game, 17 of 29, 252 yards, one touchdown, zero picks. And then you also have they ran the football effectively. DeAndre Swift, 14 carries, 108 yards, and then on top of that, he was also their leading receiver with two receptions, 67 yards, and a touchdown catch as well. Um, they were able to distribute the football to a lot of other players. Luther Burden had 51 yards off four catches, DJ Moore had 42 yards off three catches. Roma Dunze had a little bit of a pedestrian day for what he's been this year, but he had 32 yards and two catches. But like they were distributing the football around. And again, you have as a team, sometimes you're not gonna be able to be playing at your best at all times. But I think as a team, you have to be ready to jump on the mistakes that are made by the other squad, and that's exactly what the Bears did, and they were able to win the game because of it. The Bears are now currently three and two, and I think they it is a very good point for them to kind of feel some confidence. I'm not gonna sit here and say they're gonna be a playoff team and they have a chance to really do some things this year. I'm not gonna go that route. And I think the Washington Commanders will only get better, and they'll be probably better at the end of the year than what they are right now. But the commanders' defense isn't has not been all that good, and they're not going to be good this year. But once Jaden Daniels gets back to playing like MVP football, like what he was potentially playing last year, not MVP, MVP-like football, because he wasn't really in the MVP discussion last year. But the better he plays, the the farther the Washington Commanders will go. And again, he played well outside of those mistakes that he made, but those mistakes were backbreakers. So you have to get it's an L for that because you you can't make the mistakes, especially at the end of the game, when you have a chance to ice the game with the lead, but you fumble the football, give the ball back to the Bears, and then the Bears go and do what they did, hitting the field goal at the end. So you just you have to take care of the football, even with the elements, and that's exactly what he didn't do with that fumble, and then he also threw the pick earlier in the game. So, with all that being the case, credit to the Bears for taking care of taking the opportunities that they were given with the turnovers, playing better offensively, DeAndre Swift having an absolutely amazing game, and Caleb Williams not making the big mistake. And I feel like all that together, Bears get a lot of credit, they deserve that win. They played very well last night. And that's it for all the games. Uh, I think I did a recap for all of them. Yeah, that's pretty much it for that. I don't have any big stories to talk about here. Oh, the Thursday night game, because we won't be talking, we won't be on the pod again until after the Thursday night game. I think that game is the Bengals and Steelers here. Let me make sure here. Week seven, Pittsburgh going to Cincinnati. You know what's funny? If Joe Burrow was playing, me and Jace would definitely be going to this game. But as soon as Joe Burrow got hurt, Jace pretty much said from the get-go, he's like, hey, we're not good, we're not going any games now. I get it. He's there to see Joe Burrow play. If Joe Burrow can't, it kind of ruins it, especially with how bad Cincinnati has been. But um, but yeah, Thursday night game, Pittsburgh going to Cincinnati. I picked Pittsburgh in this game, Jace picked Cincinnati. I think just quick analysis before I end the pod here. I think that Cincinnati, I think Pittsburgh will be able to get after Cincinnati defensively. They'll be able to make Joe Burrow, Joe Flacco, sorry, Joe, not Joe Burrow, Joe Flacco uncomfortable. And I feel like they'll be able to get after him, get some sacks, and then make him make a few mistakes. He's prone to make the throw picks already. So I just think that they'll be able to make enough plays to uh to win the game. And I think defensively for since for Cincinnati, I don't think they have enough to stop Pittsburgh. Again, I'm totally aware that the Steelers can kind of fuck it up by themselves and just play very bad offensively. But I think if Pittsburgh has a decent offensive plan and kind of can play closer to what they did on Sunday against the Browns, I think that'll be more than enough to win this football game as long as the Steelers defense can get after Joe Flacco and make him feel comfortable and make some big plays. So I'll take Pittsburgh to win, but I'm not going to guarantee it whatsoever because again, I'm I'm very iffy. I'm ready for the bottom to fall out, fall out from under the Steelers at any point, and it could easily be this game. But I just think that the way the Steelers are playing right now, I have to give them some type of credit at some point that I think they can win this football game. I might live to regret the saying that, but you know, it is what it is. Alright, that's it. Uh let's go ahead and end the pod here. It's about a little over two hours, so not as bad as I thought it could be, but it's not two and a half, but again, it's close enough. But uh, but that's it. So if you've been listening for a while, we appreciate you. If you're just now joining on, hopefully you like us and enjoy us enough to join us on this road, on this journey of talking about sports in the dumbest way possible. If this if this is the first pod you're listening to, hopefully you can jump to a different pod with both me and Jace on to get a better idea of what our pod is when you when we're at our best with both of us talking sports, like I said, in the dumbest way possible, talking shit, going back and forth. That's probably what we that's what what this podcast is at its best. So hopefully you can kind of go listen to a different pod, get a better idea of that. But if you do like us and want to join in, we would appreciate if you do a couple things for us. Us. If you could like our podcast, subscribe to the podcast, rate the podcast five stars. Wherever you listen to us, we're pretty much available on all audio platforms out there. Uh, if you could also share a podcast, friends, family, enemies, anybody you feel like can enjoy the podcast we put out on a weekly basis, and also two times a week when it's football season, we would love if you could do that. And then last but not least, if you could follow us on Twitter and or X, whatever you would like to call it, at JB Sports Podcast, at JB Sports Pod is the podcast handle, at Javante Boozer is my handle, at JaceBooozer1 is Jace's handle, and that's about it. So thank you guys. Have a great day, have a great night, and we will see you guys in a couple days. Bye y'all