Two for the Win
Mike is a U.S. Navy Veteran and Bryan has more than a decade of civil service experience. Together, these blue collar guys dissect the latest sports headlines and events.
Two for the Win
Two For The Win - Episode 07
What if the Dallas Cowboys' recent struggles could actually make you laugh? In this episode of Sports Talk, we kick off by spotlighting James Harden's history-making moment as he sails past Ray Allen in the all-time career three-pointers tally, marking his triumphant return to the Clippers. As the NBA season heats up, we're breaking down the undefeated Cavaliers' impressive start and setting the stage for their midseason showdown with the Celtics. Transitioning seamlessly from hoops to helmets, we share some lighthearted banter about the Cowboys' woes, while teasing upcoming NCAA football rankings that are sure to shake things up.
On the gridiron, we delve into the world of college and NFL football, spotlighting future stars and legendary legacies. Expect an insightful conversation around Travis Hunter's dual-threat promise and the Heisman chase, where Ashton Jeanty and Carson Beck are rising stars. We also weigh in on Eli Manning's Hall of Fame prospects, comparing his legacy to the likes of Dan Marino and other quarterback titans. Our exploration extends to coaching and management dynamics, highlighting Sean Payton's strategic vision and the Jets' turbulent transitions amid swirling Aaron Rodgers rumors.
As we round out the episode, the NFL MVP race takes center stage, with Saquon Barkley and Jalen Hurts emerging as top contenders. We analyze pivotal games, like the Bears taking on Green Bay, and the Lions' assertion of dominance over the Jaguars. The conversation teeters between the NFC West playoff picture and the Chiefs' enduring supremacy. Looking ahead to the excitement of Week 12, we predict potential upsets and encourage listeners to join us on social media, sharing their thoughts on MVP and Rookie of the Year races. It's a packed episode brimming with insights and predictions that sports enthusiasts won't want to miss.
Thank you for joining us on this fine fall evening, november 19th 2024. I'm Brian with an. I.
Speaker 2:And I'm Mike.
Speaker 1:And we are Two for the Win, Mike. What do we have on the agenda?
Speaker 2:Well, we're going to discuss some NBA, we're going to talk about possible Heisman candidates, we're going to discuss the fresh out NCAA rankings and we're going to discuss Week 11 in the NFL.
Speaker 1:Oh boy, sounds like we got some hot topics on the grill tonight. Let's dive in. Excuse me, let's dive in.
Speaker 1:Yes, let's start with the nba all right, just want to mention something real quick. So james harden, everybody's pretty familiar today. He passed it well, not today, but here recently. This weekend passes ray allen on number two on the altar on the all-time charts for three-pointers made in his career he only trails Steph Curry. Now he's also the 20th player ever to score 26,000 career points and he returns to the Clippers this season. They look to stay competitive in the NBA midseason tournament later this Friday against the Kings.
Speaker 2:Yeah, that'll be a good matchup. Hopefully Harden and the Clippers can make it past the Kings, because the Kings have been a pretty good squad in these recent years. But tonight being the 19th, we have NBA action going on right now for the in-season tournament, with the undefeated Cavaliers going against the Celtics, which should be a pretty good matchup. You've got the leading two squads in the East who happen to be in the same group, group C, for the in-season tournament.
Speaker 1:Oh yeah, this might be the matchup of the week. I know it is for me the defending champs versus an undefeated team, and the first to tip off of the week of the slate.
Speaker 2:I mean, 15-0 is a good way to start out. I mean, how many teams have really done that?
Speaker 1:You know, to be honest, mike, only a couple. You know to be honest, mike, only a couple. Back in 1994, sorry, back in 1949, the Warriors set the record. They started out 24 on the way to a 73-9 season, but they didn't win the finals. But they did make the finals In 1994, the Rockets did it, yeah, yeah. And then in 2016, uh, the Warriors did it as well, but the Rockets all three of those teams made the finals, uh, but the Rockets were the only team to actually win the finals. So starting is such a good start in the season and, in general, having a good season. So, uh, we'll see if the Cavs can keep it rolling and see how far they get with this record.
Speaker 2:No slouch. When you start out the season that way, I know some people will say, oh, they had some easy wins there with some of these teams they faced. But you can only play the team that's in front of you. Everybody can have an off night. Anybody can get you at any point. We've seen it time and time again in the NBA where you think this is an easy win and the team all of a sudden is on fire that night and beat you.
Speaker 1:Yeah, and it's not just the NBA, I mean, it's across all sports. Oh yeah, you know, in football any given Sunday if you would. But to me, professional sports, or professional level sports, I mean we say quote easy matchups, but at the end of the day it's a pro team playing a pro team. It's not easy to win, no matter how easy it may look.
Speaker 2:Yeah, I mean, unless you're the Cowboys, well, they're not winning anything right now.
Speaker 1:They're not making anything look easy.
Speaker 2:Yeah, even their stadiums, like they are falling apart.
Speaker 1:They're not even making it look easy to lose right now, like it just looks like. Oh man, I hope I never lose like the Cowboys. Sorry guys.
Speaker 2:I think everybody who is not a Cowboys fan or on the Cowboys, it's kind of their version of winning. Like everybody relishes in the tears of Cowboys fans and the. Cowboys alike, because, I hate to say it, I mean no ill will towards Cowboys fans, but you know there are some fan bases that are just in your face, all the time obnoxious, and they're one of them.
Speaker 1:Yeah, and I think this one resonates more than other teams that aren't doing well, not to skip ahead, but because the Cowboys were doing so well just as recently as last season. So to see the drop off a cliff here. I think that's where you're seeing all the trash talk come from, and some of us absolutely loving it.
Speaker 2:Well, remember, this is all in. This is what all in looks like for the Cowboys, according to Jerry Jones.
Speaker 1:I had a friend today. He's a Cowboys fan. He said you know what they should sell the team according to Jerry Jones. I had a friend today. He's a Cowboys fan. He said you know what they should sell the team? Move to Oklahoma and be the Oklahoma Cowboys. I said yes, they could be the Oklahoma Cowboys. Just start all over. Create a new identity. You can use three stars instead of one, or a cowboy hat, like be an actual cowboy.
Speaker 2:Look, right now, anybody who's a Cowboys fan listening right now is screaming saying no, that's not going to happen, never going to happen. Don't say that about my Cowboys. They're Dallas Cowboys, even though they don't really play in Dallas.
Speaker 1:I'm a Commanders fan. They'll all just dismiss me anyway. It doesn't matter.
Speaker 2:Yeah, I mean, come on, it is what it is. But let's get back on topic here.
Speaker 1:Let's get back on track here and dive into the NCAA. Let's talk about some college football.
Speaker 2:Yes, yes, let's talk about some college football.
Speaker 1:We just got the rankings. We love rankings.
Speaker 2:We just got the rankings fresh out.
Speaker 1:Fresh out of the skillet.
Speaker 2:Let me tell you, we all kind of saw this was going to happen, so we had some shakeup. We had some teams move up, some teams move down. I love milkshakes.
Speaker 2:But the biggest matchup from this past weekend was probably Georgia and Tennessee, because it had a lot of implication based on the winner of that game. Because, as we said last week, georgia was on the outside looking in. So if they could win and beat Tennessee, who was ranked 7th, they had a chance to climb back in. Well, they won. So they wound up beating them and climbing into the 10th spot. So, okay, if Georgia's in the 10th spot, then that means Tennessee had to fall back out, right Because they got beat by Georgia. So that means Tennessee did fall back out right because they got beat by Georgia. So that means Tennessee did fall behind them and they are now at number 11 in the rankings.
Speaker 2:So you would think, based on past performance, that if you're in number 11 spot, that you're probably going to be in the bracket for the playoff bracket. And unfortunately that's not the case because of conference and strength of schedule and the way it breaks down. So, as it stands right now, if we went into bracket play right now for the playoffs, in the first round you would have the number 12 spot being occupied by BYU and the number 5 spot occupied by Ohio State and those two would face off. Then in the number 9 spot you would have Alabama. The number 8 spot you would have Old Dominion, not Old Dominion. I don't know why I do this every time.
Speaker 1:Notre.
Speaker 2:Dame, notre Dame, sorry, sorry, would face against Alabama and then number 11, georgia. Or number 11 spot would be occupied by Georgia, and the number six spot would be occupied by Penn State. So Georgia and Penn State would face each other.
Speaker 1:North versus South.
Speaker 2:So then you have the number 10 spot occupied by Ole Miss, facing off against Indiana, so those two would face each other.
Speaker 1:That's right.
Speaker 2:So the winner out of BYU and Ohio State would then face the number four spot, which is occupied by Boise State. In the bracket anyway, in the bracket, in the bracket. This is all about the bracket right now.
Speaker 1:Brass, accurate, brass accurate.
Speaker 2:So Alabama and Notre Dame the winner of that would go on to face the number one spot, which is obviously Oregon.
Speaker 1:Undisputed Oregon.
Speaker 2:And then the Georgia-Penn State matchup. They would go on to face the number three spot occupied by Miami, spot occupied by Miami. And then the Ole Miss and Indiana winner would go on to face the number two spot occupied by Texas.
Speaker 1:Longhorn, longhorn Nation.
Speaker 2:So, based on that information, you might ask well, hold up, where is BYU even ranked in the rankings? Well, byu even ranked in the rankings. Well, byu is ranked number 14, right now so glad you asked. So BYU being ranked number 14 and still being in the bracket is based on conference, conference and strength of schedule. So there's a sneaky thing happening now that most people, some people might be noticing.
Speaker 1:I like sneaky.
Speaker 2:Well, if you're Colorado, you do Deion's Colorado.
Speaker 1:Coach Prime on the rise.
Speaker 2:Well, his team is 8-2 and they're 6-1 in their conference. Byu is 9-1're 6-1 in their conference, BYU is 9-1, and 6-1 in their conference. Now this forward projection is based on who they think might win the conference championship game. So if Deion and the Colorado boys keep it going and they win, I think they're the Bison.
Speaker 2:Yeah, they are the Bisons, but if they win the championship game they will pass BYU and leapfrog into the bracket. So there is a chance that Colorado who, when we were doing this a few weeks back, they were in the 20s they're ranked 16 right now.
Speaker 1:Climbing.
Speaker 2:They can climb their way back into or not back into, but climb their way into the bracket based on winning their conference.
Speaker 1:Honestly, I'm a big fan. I'd love to see it happen, winning their conference.
Speaker 2:Honestly, I'm a big fan. I'd love to see it happen. You know, I think for most reporters and most people that do any kind of sports talk, it would be so great to have Prime in there.
Speaker 1:Yeah.
Speaker 2:Because everybody wanted to crush Prime in the beginning, because they're like it will never work. You're not going to do this. Blah, blah, blah. Yeah, just hating, just hating. You're not going to do this, blah blah blah you know, just just hating, just hating haters gonna hate.
Speaker 1:What does they say? They hate me because they ate me exactly so, but basically what you're seeing they hate to love me what you're seeing is exactly like what prime said.
Speaker 2:He said you better get me now because you're not going to get me later. Because he knew that when he was coming in that first year that the recruits he had were the ones he could get at the time and he didn't have enough time to recruit more guys and get more transfer guys in to build his squad there is so now that he's had a year and has built more of a squad around the pieces he already had, yeah, they're performing better there really is something to be said about swag and confidence and the transference of nobody of such
Speaker 1:nobody's ever accused dion of not having swag or confidence yeah, and trend, and being able to transfer that energy to your players. Let me tell you what you could teach technique and form. You can teach playbooks and systems and this and that and but it's all about executing you can teach execution. At the end of the day, that X factor is confidence and the swag you bring down.
Speaker 2:His team has plenty of it.
Speaker 1:Look at all the teams in the playoffs. Their quarterbacks got swag.
Speaker 2:His son is looking like he's going to be the number one quarterback taken he might be and what's his name?
Speaker 1:Travis Hunter.
Speaker 2:Yeah.
Speaker 1:Yeah, Travis Hunter.
Speaker 2:Two-way player.
Speaker 1:I'm eager to see him and how he pans out. I mean, these guys are playing ball man. Oh, no doubt they're both going to be drafted. Yeah, I mean no doubt.
Speaker 2:I mean they'll probably have a couple other players too, but I'm a big fan of where this program has gone in its first few years, so I'm sure dion is too well, yeah, I mean, he's the coach. So that, just well he did. He did say in a comment that his son was going to go to the right team. He said, if he had to pull, you know an eli an eli manning, eli manning yeah, with archie manning stepping in helping out eli get out of san diego look and go to the giants.
Speaker 1:Look only if he cries.
Speaker 2:It doesn't work if you don't cry hey, I don't think you can get up here, you can do it, you can cry. Go on, hey, you can go, hey look, no, no see, there's a difference here and that's what I said, dion and his son are not crying about anything.
Speaker 1:And that's what I said about Eli. Somebody asked me you think Eli will get into the Hall of Fame? I said only if he cries.
Speaker 2:Shoot, look. Okay, eli is going to make it in because he has two Super Bowls, and only because he has two Super Bowls.
Speaker 1:I mean, Dan Marino made it and he doesn't have any Super Bowls.
Speaker 2:Yeah, but Dan Marino. Dan Marino is probably one of the best quarterbacks to ever play the game.
Speaker 2:Nobody says that about Eli Manning. Nobody ever says that about Eli Manning. Eli rode the backs of two really good running backs one time and the defense of another to get his two Super Bowls. So it's not a matter of Eli suddenly turned into the greatest quarterback who ever lived and just became clutch. No, he is responsible for two of what is considered probably the greatest catches in NFL history because he threw bad passes. I am— and Odell Beckham and David Tyree catching a helmet pass, but those had to be bad passes for them to be amazing catches.
Speaker 1:I am of the mindset that Daniel Jones is what you would see had Eli Manning not had those players and teams and coaching around him no, he was.
Speaker 2:He's better than Daniel Jones. He's better than Daniel Jones. Come on, come on, man. I don't know, look he, he wasn't.
Speaker 1:He's not that inept but to say Daniel Jones is better than anybody is also kind of a horrible notion in itself right now. So I can't speak on that either.
Speaker 2:But let me just say that Eli only led in a. The only statistical category he led in was interceptions. He never led in passing yards, he never led in touchdowns, never led in rushing yards. As a QB, he just has two rings and his name happens to be Manning.
Speaker 1:I have two rings, but I got them on Amazon.
Speaker 2:We're talking about Super Bowl rings man.
Speaker 1:The kind you win, not the fake rings.
Speaker 2:You're not specific anyway, getting back on onto the college football yeah uh. So right now there's a lot of chatter on the heisman candidates and who's in the running for being the heisman winners. So, like we all hear the Travis Hunter debate, you know about him being the two-way player and him having interceptions and receiving touchdowns and rushing touchdowns as well on the offensive side, and he's a darn good player, but sometimes the best player doesn't win.
Speaker 1:Yeah.
Speaker 2:You know, sometimes it winds up being another player who wins it. You know, I mean, you got for Boise. You have the running back Ashton, gentry or Gentee? That kid is killing it, is it Gentee? It's Gentee, ginny, he's killing it. Man, like any other year if you didn't have a Travis Hunter yeah there's no debate now.
Speaker 1:I'm eager to see this guy come out, because the running back last year was not very strong in the NFL look, I'm telling you right now, this kid, there's going to be no lag in his transition to the NFL.
Speaker 2:That kid can play. I mean he has almost 2,000 yards in 13 games lag in his transition to the NFL. That kid can play. I mean he has almost 2,000 yards in 13 games.
Speaker 1:Come on now and I only notated a handful of names here between the contenders and the favorites.
Speaker 2:Well, I mean, yeah, you're going to always have your quarterbacks in there with your Carson Becks and your Cam Wards and don't get me wrong, they're playing all right, but I don't think that they're on the same level as a Travis Hunter and a Genting. I don't think they're on the same.
Speaker 1:Who do you think the best quarterback is? Let's put the other skill positions aside. Who do you think the best quarterback is?
Speaker 2:Probably Carson Beck you think Carson Beck.
Speaker 1:I think Carson Beck.
Speaker 2:Who do you think the best quarterback?
Speaker 1:is Probably Carson Beck you think Carson Beck.
Speaker 2:I think Carson Beck QB Georgia. Carson Beck is in Georgia.
Speaker 1:Yeah, that's what I said. Yeah, qb, out of Georgia. You think he's the best?
Speaker 2:Yes.
Speaker 1:Why do you think that?
Speaker 2:Well, because I've seen him do things that you see pros do. I've seen him look off defenders and manipulate the defense with his eyes. That's that's a quarterback trait that you need in the nfl.
Speaker 2:You need to be able to manipulate defenses yeah by doing subtle things like changing your eyes and making a defender move because you looked a certain way before you actually threw the ball to where you wanted it. And he seems to have what a lot of quarterbacks need in the NFL, especially when you're a rookie and you're probably going to a crappy team. He seems to have that goldfish memory, meaning that when he has a bad play it doesn't weigh on him. He gets up, goes to the next play and it doesn't affect him on the next play.
Speaker 1:So, having that said, let's play some devil's advocate. Here he goes number one overall. What team's sitting? Number one right now.
Speaker 2:Oh, he's not going number one, he's not going to be the number one quarterback taken. The number one quarterback taken this year is probably going to be Shador Sanders. Okay, Again, this is another one of those. I say that Carson Beck is a good quarterback and I say he's probably the best one. That's in the Heisman contention. But Shador is kind of being overshadowed right now by Travis Hunter and everything that he is doing.
Speaker 1:Okay, yeah, fair enough.
Speaker 2:So people are like yeah, Shador's great, Shador's great, but did you see that Travis Hunter guy Did? You see what he did. He was on defense, but now he's out there in offense. He just got a interception yeah, and now he's got a touchdown reception. You know, like the guy I like plays, it's not just about playing both sides, because there's plenty of players that play both sides yeah but to play both sides at a high level yeah, yeah, that doesn't in a high motor much and I I agree, like I I honestly like travis hunter to to win the heisman.
Speaker 1:Now, going back to carson beck, where do you think he lands at? I just want to play with this a little bit. Where do you think he's landed at? Where do you think he gets drafted? Oh, he'll be drafted but where do you think he goes?
Speaker 2:that all depends on who's moving in the draft. You know, because there's a, there's going to be a few teams that are up there drafting high on the board that don't need a quarterback the jaguars they're not going to need a quarterback no the uh patriots.
Speaker 1:They're not going to need a quarterback do you think he's the second or third quarterback taken off the board?
Speaker 2:Most likely he will be the second quarterback taken, in my opinion, provided that he is in the draft and teams are actually taking a look at him seriously as a quarterback draft prospect, because I also hear Cam Ward's name, too, being mentioned as a quarterback that could be taken.
Speaker 1:That's another good pick.
Speaker 2:But I don't think Cam Ward's going to go until later. He might be a second round.
Speaker 1:So, shadur, definitely first quarterback, maybe even possibly number one overall.
Speaker 2:Very, very likely, but I think his dad might have a say in that.
Speaker 1:Yeah, depending on the team.
Speaker 2:Well, because he doesn't want his son to go somewhere where he's just going to disappear. You know, like case in point, panthers young. He just kind of disappeared because he doesn't have much of a supporting cast, and that's not his fault I mean coaching a little bit too, maybe well yeah, you need to have a good coach.
Speaker 2:I mean, just look at what caleb williams going through with the bears. I mean, caleb williams didn't suddenly forget how to play quarterback. He just is not getting the most out of his coaching they don't have. So you need to be paired with a good offensive mind. If not the head coach being the good offensive mind, you need to have a good offensive coordinator. All they did was pull over offensive coordinator, who they recently fired because the offense has looked inept. They have looked horrible. We discussed this last week and it's not surprising that, oh, our offense looks like trash. Well, fire the offensive coordinator.
Speaker 1:Now one more question. Ashton Jeanty, running back, the only running back, probably highly in contention here He'll be a first-round pick. He will be a first-round pick.
Speaker 2:I don't know by who, but somebody's taking him?
Speaker 1:Where would you like to? Where do you think he's a good fit? At Any team, good or bad? Where do you think he's a good fit? Honestly, Honestly.
Speaker 2:Or do you think he's a good fit? Honestly, man, I would love to see him go to a team that actually has some forward momentum. I don't want him just to wind up with a bottom dweller like, oh, he got picked up by the Raiders, Well, the Raiders don't exactly have a great offense right now. I mean, the Raiders are probably going to they're going to draft a quarterback, 100%, they're drafting a quarterback. But I want to see him go to a team that for the love of God, not the damn Chiefs.
Speaker 2:Denver that was my thought. I think he would fit in there so perfectly. Not to take anything away from their running backs, but their offensive line Pretty decent. They may need to pick up a few guys on the offensive line, but after this next season their cap hit from having Russell Wilson is gone. So if this is the worst, you're going to see the Denver Broncos man. I mean, come on.
Speaker 1:I could see.
Speaker 2:They played, they played the Chiefs to the point where they almost beat them by a field goal last week.
Speaker 1:Yeah, they were. That was my pick actually.
Speaker 2:It's no surprise that you get a good coach in Sean Payton and he takes a team that had pieces and he just he gets maybe not the best players, but the right players.
Speaker 1:I mean, he got his guys. It took a little bit of— Bo.
Speaker 2:Nix is somebody he really wanted.
Speaker 1:Yeah.
Speaker 2:Because one, bo Nix, played for a number of years in college for Oregon and he played in a pro-style system and he was coachable. They hit it off. He knew that he had somebody, that when he came to the pros he could coach him. It's not a matter of the first time he yells at him, he's going to go cry in the corner. He can coach him.
Speaker 1:I think you're seeing the difference here in coaches who know what they're looking for and know what they're doing, versus coaches who are just they're floundering right you know like who?
Speaker 2:who do you think is floundering? The Jets, for instance they don't have a coach. They fired their coach.
Speaker 1:They just fired their head coach, a coach. They fired their coach. Well, exactly that's what I'm getting to.
Speaker 2:They just fired their coach and they just fired the gm today, but um you know, it's funny how you know, after discussions about maybe aaron rogers won't be there next year, well, that they go and fire the gm well, how many gm says we might not have aaron rogers next year. Oh really, hey owner.
Speaker 1:Can you?
Speaker 2:get rid of this.
Speaker 1:GM. They've gotten rid of anybody who's trusted Aaron Rodgers.
Speaker 2:And look Anybody who's trusted or anybody who's gone against him.
Speaker 1:Well, I mean pretty much anybody who had a hand in bringing him in the organization is gone.
Speaker 2:The owner isn't the owner flew over there and went to Roger's house to beg him to come play for him.
Speaker 1:The owner's never going to go anywhere. It took an act of Congress to get rid of Daniel Snyder, okay.
Speaker 2:It took Daniel Snyder being who he is to get Daniel Snyder out of there. It just people finally spoke up.
Speaker 1:After he was gone, I still didn't believe it. For like a good month I was like, nah, he's going to come, he's going to find a way, he's going to come back.
Speaker 2:Yeah, I remember discussing with a number of people the joy that, seeing that Snyder was gone, the joyous cheers as if the team had won the Super Bowl. It was nothing more than we got rid of our owner.
Speaker 1:Yes, I honestly think that if we hadn't had such a bad owner, we might have had a chance at keeping the Redskins name. Nobody wants to support somebody with a bad image okay.
Speaker 2:I think the name was going to change regardless.
Speaker 1:I think. But if he had had any amount of credibility, especially in our nation's capital, he might have been able to prevent that or prolong it. Right Like they bulldozed over him. Nobody liked him. They all wanted even politicians wanted him gone. They wouldn't even let the team back in the city for the longest time, right, so they. He was just loathed. So of course they want to strip his name away, like they're trying to take his football team away.
Speaker 2:Yeah Well.
Speaker 1:I don't think it would have come to the level it was at had we had a competent owner with a competent legal team, because it was a, it was about money and then politics kind of took it, ran with it and so it wasn't young politician, it wasn't just that, it was a lot of.
Speaker 2:It was a lot of the behind the scenes stuff that was happening that wasn't coming to light. And now it is.
Speaker 1:Well, that had to do with him getting kicked out, but I'm talking about the name change in itself.
Speaker 2:Well, the name change is going to happen, regardless of who the owner was, because of the fact that we live in a world now where things that are inappropriate, I still think. Come on, man the name.
Speaker 1:We do, but Things that are inappropriate.
Speaker 2:I still think, come on man, the name was inappropriate it was not inappropriate.
Speaker 1:First of all, I think if we had a more competent owner and a more respected owner, it would not have gotten to the level it was at. People didn't like Dan Snyder and they used that against him. Okay, the people would use anything they can against you when they don't like.
Speaker 2:The people that were protesting didn't even know who dan snyder was. They just knew the, the team name, and they didn't well, yeah, it was about money, so it had nothing to do with dan snyder himself it was about money.
Speaker 1:some lady back in even back in the 90s, early 2000ss was selling Redskins stuff. Dan Snyder served her with a cease and desist because she was not licensed. Back then you could do things more easily like that. She had ever since escalated it and escalated it, started going around and then she started playing the race card because she wasn't getting any traction with the financial side.
Speaker 2:Yeah, but it wasn't just one party man, there was multiple groups.
Speaker 1:Yes, but this always starts small right and it grows and spreads.
Speaker 2:Yeah, it panned out the way it did and we might all be better off because of it the way it did, and and we might all be better off because of it because you're you're getting off of the dan snyder and that era, just kind of separating it from where you guys are now yeah so it.
Speaker 2:It might, it might almost be one of those things where you, you look back and you say we got past a point we needed to get past and and now we're in a better place, which you guys are in a better place now than you were.
Speaker 1:Yeah, and I'm not denying that right, but for me it's all about context. Okay, were we doing or saying anything that was Now? Maybe it was okay to?
Speaker 2:the folks who were a lot of. A lot of folks felt it was and a lot of folks look it's done, it's over with, we've moved past it, we've moved on to something else.
Speaker 1:I'm always I'm always good for a good debate. This is good radio talk.
Speaker 2:Well, I'm not trying to debate, I'm just saying that it's done and over with, and it was done with the intention that we need to move on past things that can be construed as being insensitive or being demeaning to others. I mean, the Guardians are now. You know, Cleveland is now the Guardians.
Speaker 1:Well, they were the Braves, but no, they were the Indians. Yeah, they were the Indians.
Speaker 2:But it was not only the name but also the logo that went along with it. So a lot of folks through the years have asked for a lot of these teams to switch off of these things because of the fact that it is considered insensitive. Now, I know you mentioned the Braves, but the Braves, they don't fall into that category because what they've been doing for a number of years, before any of this stuff has been kicked up, they have been working with tribes, not just one, multiple tribes working with them to make sure that they are being respectful and being honorable, the Redskins were working with tribes Well, the commanders now but they were working with tribes.
Speaker 1:They had a lot of input from tribes and they did have that. But I'm not trying to go back down that. But anyway, and again I'm not trying to point the finger but if we're putting an end to disparaging names, why not the Raiders, why not the Buccaneers, why not the Fighting Irish? You know what I'm saying? All these are aggressive.
Speaker 2:But those names are not based in racist context. I mean a buccaneer, you know, you think of like a pirate, a swashbuckler.
Speaker 1:And we have a pirate problem off the coast of Somalia right now.
Speaker 2:Well, that's a different type of pirate off the coast of Somalia right now. Well, that's a different type of pirate. What I'm talking about is, you know, blackbeard or Davy Jones or you know, like the Robinson and Caruso kind of stories not the Somali stuff.
Speaker 1:Just like Bonnie and Clyde, these are all people who were legends to us later in the future, but they were outlaws in their time.
Speaker 2:future, but they were outlaws in their time yes, they were outlaws in their time, but this is we're, we're.
Speaker 1:We're comparing two things that aren't alike, dude but yeah, but we can, we can move past this yes, we can and get back on the nfl.
Speaker 2:Get back to who you think is floundering coaching wise, because you said, you said there are some coaches.
Speaker 1:Oh, definitely the Jets, since they don't have one.
Speaker 2:Well, yeah, we said that, but would you say like, for instance, doug Peterson? Would you say Doug Peterson of the Jaguars is sitting on a pretty warm seat right now.
Speaker 1:I think Doug Peterson is. I also think Mike McCarthy is as well.
Speaker 2:Well, mike McCarthy is in a situation where, even after the season, he won't be fired because he doesn't have a contract. He's playing out his contract, so dallas can simply say we're not gonna rehire you well, they could just simply say hey, mike, uh mind leaving your keys there when you walk out, you won't be needing those, mike bro in 2024, if anybody still has a physical key, I'm worried for their security, their stadium security. I'm just saying.
Speaker 1:Their facility. No, this guy key card problem.
Speaker 2:Yeah, I know what you mean. I just wanted to make fun of it. Yeah, I'm just saying they're not going to. They're going to say, hey, credentials, that's going to be it. They're just going to give them a box and walk them out the front door.
Speaker 1:I would also say let's see here who's having trouble. We know Everfl, everfloat in a way, is having trouble.
Speaker 2:Everfloose.
Speaker 1:I intentionally mess it up.
Speaker 2:Oh okay. But yeah, I have the biggest problem with that organization that they even hired him back or even considered extending him. Knowing that you're going to take a quarterback like Caleb Williams, you don't even attempt to go get an offensive-minded guy. And the fact that you had Cliff Kingsbury, who worked with Caleb Williams in college, he is in your facility. How do you let that man walk out without a contract, despite what your head coach feels you should have said I don't care what you think, he's our offensive coordinator. You better make it work.
Speaker 1:Yeah, and I think you know on paper this was a team that was, you know, don't say rebuild, they were supposed to be out there lighting it up right now say rebuild.
Speaker 2:They were supposed to be out there lighting it up right now. Um, because it's. It's what everybody falls victim to every preseason. They see the piece of paper with all the name new names on it and they see the preseason which you gotta. You gotta stick to the fact that the preseason is nothing more than you're feeling out your team. So you're trying to feel who your first string, who your second team, who your third string players are and who's just cut candidates. And some of these players out there aren't going to be anything more than a practice squad guy. So you know, it doesn't matter that you're winning all these games in the preseason, because we all have seen where a team in the preseason goes undefeated and they get into the season and they don't win squat. Case in point right now the Bears. They haven't really won squat.
Speaker 1:Yeah. Yeah, they haven't done much with what they've gotten. If Iberflues gets another year, maybe they'll get some improvement, especially with a brand-new quarterback, it's hard with just one sample size.
Speaker 2:What about the Raiders? You think they're firing their head coach?
Speaker 1:No, they just got that guy. I think that they're playing well enough. They're not winning a lot Hear me out but I think that they're playing well enough. They're going to give him at least another year, maybe one or two years. I mean, he has a hit with a quarterback, but Brock Bowers was a hit.
Speaker 2:Well, that's not because of him. He didn't draft him, his general manager drafted him. But I think, and it sucks.
Speaker 1:Still haven't had a rookie year, though.
Speaker 2:It sucks, but it really looks like the Raiders are going to do him dirty. You ship out Derek Carr and you say, ok, we're going to use O'Connell as our starting quarterback, and then we're going to get Gardner Minshew. They started out with Gardner Minshew being their starting quarterback. He got hurt. They put in O'Connell. They're not having any success from either of their quarterbacks and that is not the coach's fault.
Speaker 1:Well, let me ask again Whose call was it with the Cliff Kingsbury call? Because they didn't want to give Kingsbury three years, they only wanted to give Kingsbury two years. Whose call was that? Head coach or GM? Because Kingsbury and the Commanders are.
Speaker 2:Kingsbury had nothing to do with the Raiders.
Speaker 1:He had an interview with the Raiders for offensive coordinator before they did not. He wanted three years. The Raiders weren't giving to him. We swooped in last second and hired him. He also had an interview I believe, believe with the Bears as well he did.
Speaker 2:He went to the Bears first.
Speaker 1:No, he went to the Raiders first.
Speaker 2:Are you sure?
Speaker 1:Yeah, I was pretty sure the Raiders and him were in talks to be offensive coordinator.
Speaker 2:Possibly I don't know, but regardless they haven't done any favors with the team they've put out there for the Raiders.
Speaker 1:Not this year, no.
Speaker 2:Well, I think what really honestly, what I think happened with the Raiders? They were sitting in the draft and they thought Michael Penix was going to fall to them because he would have been a perfect guy to plug in there. And I think when Atlanta said, well, screw it, we want Penix, and everybody nobody had that on their draft board. Everybody, even the announcers during the draft, were like I don't know if Atlanta.
Speaker 1:What in the world is Atlanta doing? Even Atlanta was like yo. What are we doing?
Speaker 2:Even more so, Kirk Cousins. Kirk Cousins' side eye. He's sitting there like the hell. I just came to y'all because I didn't want to be sitting there with a rookie QB sitting behind me looking to take my job. He's sitting here thinking, man, I could just stay with the Vikings for this.
Speaker 1:I think Atlanta is the one doing players dirty right now. I think they're going to do cousins dirty.
Speaker 2:Cousin did them dirty with his play last week. He played like garbage.
Speaker 1:Yeah, I mean, what'd they do?
Speaker 2:Nothing, broncos, molly whopped them man yeah the Broncos were my pick.
Speaker 1:I think the Broncos have turned a corner. I mean, that coach just knows what he's looking for, knows what he's doing. But, back to the Atlanta game. You know like you say six points.
Speaker 2:I mean Atlanta and Broncos did play each other.
Speaker 1:Yeah, that's what I'm talking about Atlanta Broncos six points against the Broncos, who I was just talking about in this context.
Speaker 2:That's because that defense is playing lights out. They really are.
Speaker 1:And some of their offensive players are starting to come around right.
Speaker 2:Yeah. So let's back up a little bit and go to the Thursday night game Washington and Eagles Skip, I know you want to skip it, but we got to discuss it, man. I mean, look, okay, the game started out pretty tight, you know it wasn't until Look, I can always tell when they're about to slip. Okay, they were playing good in the first half, but they really weren't playing good right they were playing they in the first half, but they really weren't playing. Good Right they were playing almost like cautious.
Speaker 1:They were on the brink of giving up a big play, pretty much the entire game. It was just a matter of when and where. It just happened.
Speaker 2:And they just happened to give up two to Barkley.
Speaker 1:Two yeah.
Speaker 2:But in all fairness, it's not your team. Barkley's been doing that all year long. He's been breaking off some big runs.
Speaker 1:Look, barkley is my favorite for MVP this year. Okay.
Speaker 2:Oh, come on, dude. You know what happens they give it to a quarterback.
Speaker 1:It goes to a quarterback every time Jalen Hurts will get it, but we know it doesn't mean. Jalen.
Speaker 2:Hurts is not getting it.
Speaker 1:We know they'll mean Saquon Barkley. Okay, saquon Barkley will accept it on behalf of Jalen Hurts and he'll just put it on his shelf with Jalen Hurts' name on it. But we all know it was Barkley's effort Anyway, quit being biased. First of all, I'm talking highly of the Eagles.
Speaker 2:If anything, he's going to get Rookie of the Year. He won't get MVP.
Speaker 1:Not Barkley.
Speaker 2:Not Barkley. I'm talking about your quarterback.
Speaker 1:No, I don't think Daniels is going to be MVP. I think their player has been around much farther longer and probably have much better stats, not to say his stats aren't good. He has really good stats for a rookie, but I think he's definitely. In my opinion, he's a lock for rookie of the year. I'm trying to be unbiased with that.
Speaker 2:No, I just said it. I just said he could be a rookie of the year.
Speaker 1:Well, I know you said it, but I've been saying it. The only other one I could think of would be Brock Bowers. Yeah, but would be Brock Bowers? Yeah, but that's only because I have him in fantasy, so I don't know how he's actually been playing.
Speaker 2:No, he has actually been a pretty. He's been the one bright spot in the Raiders offense. So I mean not to say that they don't have other players producing it, just he's been a bigger player.
Speaker 1:Unfortunately you don't get these awards if your team as a whole doesn't excel. Typically right, right, right. So that's, that's why jayden daniels is my rookie of the year favorite. I thought it was probably going to be between him and, uh, caleb williams the whole time. But caleb williams not saying he's bad, but his team is just not putting up the numbers he is.
Speaker 2:Well, moving on to a good divisional matchup in the Bears and Green Bay. Man that was a close one, wasn't it? I thought for sure Bears would line up for that kick, and it wasn't until somebody pointed out to me later on that Cairo Santos, he hits line drives for kicks when they get longer. He's not like some of these kickers where they loft a kick when they get a little further out. He hits line drives so he can still keep distance on his kicks.
Speaker 2:So he has to hit a lower kick so he can still keep distance on his kicks. So he has to hit a lower kick. And I think that Green Bay knew that, by the way that they set up before that block, because when they got that block, I mean, granted it was almost a barely block, but it was a block nonetheless and they won the game because of that block.
Speaker 1:Man, I was sitting there. I said and they won the game because of that block. Man, I was sitting there, I said this is the game right here and I had it in my hands to watch. I said they're gonna miss. It's weird when you can feel it sometimes right well it's.
Speaker 2:It's probably that feeling of this team hasn't been playing well. They haven't really got these clutch kicks and games they had every reason in the world.
Speaker 1:Is that the one where the kicker slipped? Is that where he slipped, or was that the Detroit game? There was another game. I'm pretty sure this was it. No, I don't know, maybe I have to double check, but there was a game where the kicker slipped and he missed because he slipped.
Speaker 2:So there's debate, though, that the Bears screwed up because they had a timeout. They could have gone for a few more yards and then kicked it, but they didn't.
Speaker 1:Yeah, it was like, wasn't it like third down or something like that? Or was it fourth down?
Speaker 2:They had some more time, they could have gone down the field a little bit further. Called timeout, set up their kicker with a better kick.
Speaker 1:Yeah.
Speaker 2:But they for some reason didn't. And you know, sometimes that's just coming down to coaching. And you know, speaking of coaching and coaches that might be out, doug Peterson, his team's showing nothing this weekend going against the Lions, and speaking of another possible MVP candidate in Jared Goff. Jared Goff went off in this game because you have the Lions crushing Jacksonville by youville by 52-6.
Speaker 1:They really just.
Speaker 2:Now there was some complaining from some folks saying that the Lions ran up the score on them and it's like, quit crying. This is professional sports. This isn't backyard football or something. Don't cry about them running the score up on you.
Speaker 1:stop them to me, this is a lack of defense and a lack of game management. Okay, um, number one 52 points to six, I'm thinking your defense. They didn't even show up for the game, like they're just playing 11 on zero out there.
Speaker 2:I think what's happening is you're seeing a team that is quitting.
Speaker 1:Yeah, I mean they might be tanking as possible, but I mean, you can't help it. You're running back. Your defense misses the running back. He breaks through, he runs the touchdown in. Your players are going to get their stats, they're going to get their scores. You've got to stop them, bro.
Speaker 2:I think that you also have to factor in that they ran into a buzzsaw. Right now, the Lions are playing probably the best ball out of any of the NFC teams. They're on another level. They have built a team that is good on both sides of the ball and they're just playing good football.
Speaker 1:They are playing lights out. I mean 40 to 50 points a game, just putting up.
Speaker 2:Well, it's not 40 to 50 points a game. They've had two 50-point games this year. But it feels like they're ramped up and ready to score a bunch of points.
Speaker 1:It just feels like they're just lighting it up. But I mean, you know, like you said, two teams on two opposite ends of the spectrum here.
Speaker 2:Oh, yeah, totally.
Speaker 1:You know, like you said, they just ran into a buzzsaw just slice, slice, slice and they're out Like the line. You know, jacksonville played in Detroit.
Speaker 2:Yeah.
Speaker 1:I mean.
Speaker 2:You know the fans loved it.
Speaker 1:They just I mean, the Lions just came to cook, yeah, they did. And Jacksonville obviously, just I don't know, they just didn't show up, they had poor game management, whatever they're doing. But I agree with you, I think Peterson has a high chance of being out.
Speaker 2:Yeah, more than likely Speaking of another coach possibly being out.
Speaker 1:I'm going to pause you real quick. I heard a rumor, if Peterson is out, that Belichick might have his eye in the offseason on that job.
Speaker 2:Yeah, because him and Trent Bulkey have a history and if they're not going to let anybody, if they're not going to let Belichick have full control, they're going to let somebody who knows him kind of take control, being Trent Bulkey. But I can tell you right now, if they think that Trent Boelke is going to somehow turn into something from the past and make that team outstanding, I don't know that that's going to be a thing because, speaking as a 49ers fan, who had Trent.
Speaker 2:Boelke. As a GM, I can tell you right now he's not the easiest guy to work with, because he is the reason that Harbaugh went back to Michigan, because it came down to it's Trent or it is going to be Harbaugh. So they fired Harbaugh and kept Trent, which was a bad move because Trent was not worth keeping. We found that out in the next few years when we sucked horribly and he chose garbage coaches for the next few years.
Speaker 1:And look at where Harbaugh's at this first year we got Kyle and John Lynch and that kind of changed.
Speaker 2:They got Kyle and John Lynch and that kind of changed.
Speaker 1:Yeah, yeah and now.
Speaker 2:But we'll get there. I know what you want to talk about. We'll get to them. But okay, so it's like you can smell it on my breath.
Speaker 2:Going to another coach, possibly on a hot seat, being the Raiders and Dolphins matchup this past weekend. Raiders might be looking for a new coach because they dropped another game, losing to the Dolphins 34-19., but the Dolphins feel like they're going to be that team that you don't really want to face towards the end of the year, because they feel like they haven't hit their stride and they just might do it late in the season.
Speaker 1:So here's what happened with the Dolphins, in my opinion. Right, the first game or two they come out. Right, lighten it up, okay, people take them seriously. Then Tua gets injured. Oh, he's got another concussion. Well, it seems to be a routine thing now. Well, he's got it out of the way early in the season. He's out for what? Three weeks, something like that. Two or three weeks, maybe four weeks. You know, they didn't perform overly well during that time span. I don't even know if they won any games they played like garbage. Yeah, because they perform overly well during that time span.
Speaker 2:I don't even know if they won any games, but he plays like garbage. Yes, they didn't have good quarterback play he comes back.
Speaker 1:His first game back is a little iffy, but his next game back now they're lighting it up. I think the dolphins, especially once tua gets back in his groove, are definitely a team to be aware of.
Speaker 2:Yeah, um, and obviously that offense runs through tua, because you see what it's like without him yeah, so well, and speaking of uh tua and in that division, uh, we got the patriots and rams had their selves a little bit of a back-and-forth contest last Sunday.
Speaker 1:The Patriots- are holding their own man.
Speaker 2:They are holding their own. You can tell when you're a team that is young and you're trying to kind of rebuild a foundation, you just want to see improvement and you can kind of see the Patriots are having a bit of an improvement. They're getting better quarterback play out of May, yeah, and they're getting better defense out of their defense and they really put up a good fight against a pretty good Rams team. I mean, they basically kept their running back from doing anything.
Speaker 2:Yeah, I mean they won because they had to sling the ball all over the field. It was Stafford just throwing the lights out to get them down the field.
Speaker 1:The Patriots are fielding a good defense. They're holding their own. To me, they are the definition of a true team in rebuild, because they wiped a lot of the. They didn't wipe a clean slate, but they wiped a lot of the slate clean. You know, belichick retired and other things New coach, some new quarterback, other things but they're competitive. Right, they might not be winning a lot yet, but when they play their games they play hard, they play competitive, they're scoring points. Other teams are having trouble scoring points against them. This is a team that's being well coached and that is being raised okay.
Speaker 2:Well, I mean, it's kind of like the Saints. The Saints are playing some tough ball and you know, granted they're not seeing the wins that they want to see, but this past weekend they put it on the browns listen 35 to 14.
Speaker 1:The browns don't count.
Speaker 2:Okay, I'm so sorry the saints have skidded through seven straight losses. I'm not saying that they don't well remember a few of those games. They didn't have Derek Carr, but they have Derek Carr again and the offense is performing a little better now. So losing your quarterback does have a great effect, unless you have one hell of a backup. True, I mean not everybody can have Bledsoe. Go down and go. Hey, put that Brady kid in.
Speaker 1:I mean, I guess they figured out who Spencer Rattler is over the course of those games.
Speaker 2:But yeah, they learned he's not going to be anything, so harsh, harsh moving, harsh moves from the, from the teddy bear yeah, moving on to, uh, one of the juicy matchups from this past weekend, the steelers and ravens good divisional matchup and they always play each other really tough and this game was no exception.
Speaker 2:I mean, we had a tale of two kickers here, if I told you that you had a game where it really needed your kicker and one of the kickers was justin tucker. You would probably be like, oh, if it's coming down to a kicker oh man, we are good, Like we got tucked. We're good, we're good.
Speaker 1:They are feeling this one, aren't they?
Speaker 2:It was the Steelers kicker who was kicking all the field goals this past weekend. I mean literally they won because they're a kicker. They didn't win because they're off and scored a bunch of touchdowns, it's been like that all kicks.
Speaker 1:It's been like that for a couple weeks. Boswell's been putting up some points for that team man he has been.
Speaker 2:He has been. I don't know where they would be somebody put boswell in the mvp conversation okay, come on, he's the stealers mvp. This guy is scoring all your majority, of your team's points.
Speaker 1:But here's the Steelers MVP this past weekend. This guy is scoring all your majority of your team's points.
Speaker 2:But here's the thing You're getting a habit out of Lamar not playing the Steelers. Well, he has historically played bad against the Steelers, and it's not just him.
Speaker 1:It might have his number.
Speaker 2:The coaching almost seems to be different. They get away from what works for them. At one point they go for two in the game. And if you're going to go for two and you're going to do a run player with Lamar, you would think let me have Derek Henry in there to kind of change some eye levels and get people like looking at him instead of Lamar but no, he wasn't even on the field Like why not? You have your best running back on the sideline for a two point conversion. Try, that's just no. No, I'm sorry. You gotta even if you gotta do something like have a guy go down for a second like oh my ankle, to get more time to get him out there.
Speaker 1:You need to have him on the field for that play this is like when the seahawks were in the super bowl and instead of giving it to Marshawn Lynch, they tried to pass it.
Speaker 2:Oh, yeah, yeah, yeah yeah, I saw a great meme on that.
Speaker 1:Bro was averaging 4.4 yards a carry and they were two yards out from the goal line.
Speaker 2:I saw a great meme of that where Pete Carroll is in a drive-thru window handing food to somebody in their car and it says now do you want me to hand this off to you or do you want me to back up about three or four yards and throw it? For no fucking reason.
Speaker 1:I saw that meme. I know the meme you're talking about. That was good.
Speaker 2:But yeah, steelers got themselves a good win. They're leading the division now, which will help them later towards the playoff run. And speaking of possible playoff runs, the Vikings narrowly made it by a team. They probably should have beat down in the Tennessee Titans Now, granted, the Titans have a good defense, they just don't have much on offense.
Speaker 1:Was this Sam Donald's first game back from injury? Somebody? Came back from injury. This game.
Speaker 2:Well, TJ Hawkinson, but he was back last week.
Speaker 1:Well, their other tight end put up numbers, though for them Doesn't matter.
Speaker 2:Okay, doesn't matter Moving on, but no, they managed to get the win. Kudos to them, and a surprising one that I didn't see going this way. But with Anthony Richardson back in for the Colts, he squeaked out a win against the Jets.
Speaker 1:This was definitely the toilet bowl matchup of the week.
Speaker 2:I don't know. Richardson played well. He did. He played really well in this game.
Speaker 1:Well, I mean, this is probably my least favorite matchup of all of the games.
Speaker 2:Yeah, it wasn't exactly high on my watch list either, but you know.
Speaker 1:I mean, the Colts got the win, the Jets bro, they're a fringe.
Speaker 2:Believe it or not, they're a fringe playoff team.
Speaker 1:I believe so too. I also believe so If they can get their quarterback and their coaching figure out a little.
Speaker 2:I also believe so. They're right on the edge when they put the teams in the hunt. They're in the hunt. I'm not saying they're going to make it. I'm just saying that they're a team, that there's always teams that get hot at the right time. Yeah, if they happen to get hot and rattle off a couple wins in a row, they could be in the discussion. I mean if they get played like that.
Speaker 1:I only have to get ahead of the Texans.
Speaker 2:Well, they're not getting ahead of Texans. Texans are well ahead of them. Texans only have seven wins.
Speaker 1:Well, yeah, I mean the Colts have what like three or four wins.
Speaker 2:No, they have five. Well, that's not. They need for the Texans to lose a bunch of games and then to win a bunch of games. We'd have to pull up the scores, and also you need divisional wins more than the Texans there's a lot of plays into it. Yeah, we don't have the information readily available. Well, we're not going to go down that rabbit hole.
Speaker 1:Let me just say that I am not a believer. We'll make that clear. I'm on the Texans train.
Speaker 2:Well, yeah, the Texans are definitely going to win the division. But to the game I really don't want to discuss. But we're going to discuss because I actually have some things that I need to say, to discuss, because I actually have some things that I need to say. So, okay, the Seahawks beat the 49ers this past weekend and this division. They always play each other really tough. They always do. Now the 49ers lost 17 to 20 to the Seahawks.
Speaker 2:Now most people are probably saying you know what's going on with the Niners. Why are the Niners not playing well? And you know they were a playoff team and they were in the Super Bowl. Okay, there's a few factors that are causing this, and notably injuries. Yes, when you're losing a lot of your pieces they didn't have George Kittle this last week they're missing a bunch of defensive players.
Speaker 2:Yeah, those things matter, but one thing you can't deny is they're having a problem with their offensive line. They're having a problem where their offensive line is not meeting the call. They're supposed to move up and you don't just block one guy. A lot of times you have a guy who's going to double team and then he's going to move up and block up into the second level and they're not getting that off cleanly anymore. You're getting free rushers at the running back and the running back's getting dropped in the backfield or they're trying to make a move and move past that More.
Speaker 2:So you're having a crap ton of penalties called that are pre-snap penalties, that are bad coaching penalties, and it all comes back to the same thing. It all comes back to the same thing and I hate to say it coaching. Now I know it's Shanahan. Shanahan is a good coach, but the coaching is not there. If you're getting this many penalties called against you, the coaching is not there. If your offensive line is playing so trash-worthy that you're having issues doing the things that you normally would do in a Shanahan offense. Now, normally in a Shanahan offense you have all these motions. You have all these things to draw the defender's eyes away from things. Now you would say like, okay, you move Debo across the line and you hand the ball off to him. Debo's not playing effective in that sweep motion anymore.
Speaker 1:Can we change his name to Elbow?
Speaker 2:He's not playing effective in that role. He's probably battling injuries and he's not saying anything. He's not as effective this year. So those sweep and those motions they're not effective if you don't respect it. If you don't respect it, then these linebackers and these defensive linemen, they're pinning their ears back and running down and hitting the hole because they know they don't have to respect the motion. So Shanahan is not changing his coaching plan out of what he's been doing, even though it's not effective. It's not effective.
Speaker 1:Yeah, and on the surface this looks like the most wide-open division, but I see the division records here. It's probably going to be between the Rams and the Cardinals, if I were to guess the division records here it's probably going to be between the rams and the cardinals, if I were to guess?
Speaker 2:well, the seahawks order. In order for anybody to win the division, you need to at least break even yeah or have a winning record in the division, which right now, the niners are one and three in the division. So in order for them to win the division they won, they have to have a better record, but they have to win their next game against the Rams and the Cardinals.
Speaker 2:If they don't win those next games against them because they've already played the Seahawks twice they will not win the division period, let alone even make it into playoffs.
Speaker 1:The Cardinals are 2-0. They haven't faced anybody in the division yet. No, not really the Cardinals are 2-0.
Speaker 2:They haven't faced anybody in the division yet. No, not really, the Rams are. They've only faced the Rams and, I believe, the 49ers.
Speaker 1:Yeah.
Speaker 2:And they already beat the 49ers.
Speaker 1:The Rams are 2-1 in the division. Seahawks they're kind of flying under the radar. I don't think they're that bad, but to see they're 1-2 in the division and 5 five overall um the nfc west through week 12. You know we're going into week 12. This is usually I'm used to seeing this as one of the powerhouse divisions, right, somebody in this division?
Speaker 2:oh they're still, they're beating up on each other is what it is.
Speaker 1:Yeah, but I mean.
Speaker 2:But it's also the fact.
Speaker 1:None of them have more than six wins.
Speaker 2:It's also the fact that this division is playing some tough opponents. You know the 49ers have a strong, one of the hardest schedules going down the road Because they still have to face Green Bay Bills.
Speaker 1:Speaking of tough opponents. Excuse me, ladies and gentlemen and everybody, what do you think about the Chiefs getting knocked off?
Speaker 2:That was an excellent game because you have Buffalo who, yes, they have beaten the Chiefs in the regular season a few times and then lost in the playoffs. So right now the Chiefs are doing their. We'll see you again. You know, as Kelsey did his little golf clap because he's a sore loser, but the game started and ended the same way for the Chiefs. Patrick Mahomes' very first play throws a pick. His very last play throws a pick. I don't know about you, but you can't have your quarterback throw in multiple picks a game and keep thinking you're going to win every game.
Speaker 1:Oh, especially not against a team that scores on pretty much every drive.
Speaker 2:Well, and let's point out the fact that the Bills weren't even at full strength.
Speaker 1:Yeah.
Speaker 2:They were missing one of their tight ends. They were missing one of their receivers. Yep, they were missing a middle linebacker in Milano who's been out all year, and they were missing, you know, just people all over the field and with people out, they still played like that, they still showed up, they still showed yeah, the chiefs, you're not gonna be running over everybody. Yeah, and, and, and, let's, let's, you know, tip the hat and say to the 72 Dolphins you can pour yourself another drink because you're still the only team to go undefeated the whole way.
Speaker 2:So again, the 72 Dolphins are happily pouring themselves a drink to celebrate.
Speaker 1:The Chiefs and congratulations. They made it a long way, but the Patriots, most recently, were the ones to go even further.
Speaker 2:Yeah, but they lost it to Peyton Manning.
Speaker 1:They lost it to them. So let's say the Chiefs congratulations. Good job as far as you made it undefeated.
Speaker 2:Yeah, look, I'm not saying the Chiefs aren't a good team and I'm not saying that they're not going to go far. I'm just saying that you tend to, when you get on a bit of a win streak and you feel like you're invincible, you're brought back down to earth once in a while. And this is that moment. They're brought back down to earth and they're shown like hey, you can't just play like everything's cool, we're going to just figure it out in the end. Sometimes you need to go out and you need to beat a team Right On that game. In particular, the Bills went out and won that game because they had a fourth and two.
Speaker 1:Yeah, they played the better game.
Speaker 2:And Allen ran the ball on that fourth and two and got into the end zone to put them up.
Speaker 1:Yeah, and that was a great play by the way, that was a ballsy call and a ballsy play. That was your quarterback going out and getting it done.
Speaker 2:Yeah.
Speaker 1:That was huge it done.
Speaker 2:Yeah, um, that was huge, and he was he one thing he was doing in that game he was nullifying their pass rush, because the thing they like to do on defense is they like to do a lot of zero blitz. They like to sit there and run multiple defenders at you and try to get you, or fakes so what they were doing?
Speaker 2:they were. They were piling up with a three man, three man look and or fakes field. So when you rushed your quarterback with it with a free defender, alan's already like I ain't got the ball. The ball is out and it's already hit, hitting shakir in the middle, go go tackle him. Yeah, I don't have it. Yeah, you know. So they had an answer for them. They've been watching it and even wish.
Speaker 1:Even with Amari Cooper in the picture now, Shakira has still remained a pretty solid receiving option for them. Well yeah, you always need multiple receivers to do pretty well, Well, yeah everybody thought he was going to take a step back and his targets did a couple of bucks.
Speaker 2:Helen's been spreading the ball around.
Speaker 1:He spreads the ball very well and I think, shakira, he's pretty effective with the ball in his hands too. I think he has, I think he leads, or he's in the top five for yards after reception or something like that yards after the catch. So I have to give him the exact numbers Moving on here.
Speaker 2:Moving to the next really good game of Sunday, which didn't seem like it was going to start out as a good game, but Bengals started figuring out and scoring. So we're talking about the Chargers and the Bengals Sunday night game, where man Harbaugh's team looks really good man.
Speaker 1:They're catching on good, just like with the Broncos. I am a believer. This is a team don't say rebuild, because they're not acting like it. This team might already be on the next level. They're ready to rock and roll.
Speaker 2:Well, I mean Harbaugh went there because he believes in Justin Herbert.
Speaker 1:Well, yeah.
Speaker 2:He believes they had the pieces and they have they. They had the pieces, again they they have.
Speaker 1:they have had good pieces and they still do and his brother sent Gus Edwards and JK Dobbins his way. I know they left a free agency.
Speaker 2:JK Dobbins went there because he he already knew Harbaugh, yeah, and he was a free agent. So why not go where I know the guy, I know he's, he's big on the run, yeah, and he's going to set me up for success no, I agree, he has a strong run style offense which I hate to say he's having a pro bowl year now.
Speaker 2:I hate to say it, though, it's greg roman's offense that he's running and it's Greg Roman making the calls, and anybody that is a 49ers fan can tell you Greg Roman offense gets really annoying at times because he will call three straight run plays, even if they got negative production out of them, and then punt the ball away. So he can get annoying as a play caller. Well, that's okay. Or calling multiple fade routes to Crabtree in the Super Bowl, even though it wasn't working.
Speaker 1:Well, it explains why they're heavier on the ground than they are through the air, but still, jk Dobbins having a career year.
Speaker 2:But poor Burrow man, like that guy, he is playing as hard as he can and he is just not getting the wins.
Speaker 1:What do you think this is man? What do you think is going on with the Bengals?
Speaker 2:I know exactly what it is it's crap defense. It's crap defense. What it is is they have lost so many players on the defensive side and Burrow can be as mad as he wants at the defense, but, Burrow, you didn't have to sign that contract eating up all that money that they could use on the defensive side. So all those guys that, left are gone, you don't have that defense that you had before Did you see their Pro Bowl nose tackle, defensive tackle Hendrickson getting upset on the sideline.
Speaker 1:Of course he is.
Speaker 2:He's another one. He is playing some of the best ball of his career because he's having to play so much harder, because he doesn't have the support. He doesn't have the back. He doesn't have the back, the back end that's doing great coverage to get him extra attempts at the quarterback or running back. So yeah I mean, do we even talk about the, the monday night game should?
Speaker 1:we? I mean, is anybody surprised that houston rolled past the cowboys 34-10?
Speaker 2:No, I mean, probably the most surprising thing that happened Was the roof falling in on them. It was before the game, it was not even the game, it was the roof falling apart.
Speaker 1:Yeah, this is to show the Cowboys need a lot of work, even their stadium needs work, bro, yeah them and their stadium is falling apart. It could have hurt somebody, it could have killed somebody.
Speaker 2:This is why Jerry Jones probably didn't want to put curtains up, because he knows there's way worse things happening on that field.
Speaker 1:Notice where it fell. It fell right where the cafe is.
Speaker 2:Well, it almost hit somebody.
Speaker 1:I was going to say If you go back and look at the video.
Speaker 2:It came real close to hitting a guy. He just barely moved out the way at last second. But there was another piece that was up in the rafters, that got caught, that was stuck up there. So they had a worker go out there and screw it in place so they could play the game, so it wouldn't fall. They would go and get it after the game. They probably have it out of there now, but but yeah, it's just like all I can think of pipes now, but yeah, it's just like man, All I can think of pipes busting at FedEx Field.
Speaker 2:It's just dumpster fire this year for the Cowboys.
Speaker 1:Safety. Rails collapsing and pipes busting over fans.
Speaker 2:Fedex Field has this shit too. It's rainwater.
Speaker 1:It's rainwater, no it smells like poo. That's called sewage bro. It smells like poo, that's called sewage bro.
Speaker 2:It smells like poo. It's not rainwater.
Speaker 1:Yeah, and don't drink it. It's not good for you. I wouldn't touch it. If you can help it, all right, we got coming up this week. First of all, the Jets have let go of another piece of their personnel. Gm Joe Douglas, after five seasons, is out. Are we really surprised.
Speaker 2:No, no, I'm not.
Speaker 1:The writing might be on the wall for Aaron Rodgers here.
Speaker 2:No, I think they're going to keep him. If he wants to stay, they're going to keep him. It's just how it is.
Speaker 1:I guess a player of his caliber and his paycheck, I guess yeah, he'll get what he wants, yeah.
Speaker 2:Yeah man, yeah, I'm not too worried about his status there with that team. I don't think he's going anywhere.
Speaker 1:Who's your upset pick this week? Do you see one?
Speaker 2:For week 12?. Yeah, so for me, week 12, week 12. Well, it certainly isn't going to be the Cowboys.
Speaker 1:You mean the Cooper Rush show? The Trey Lanson Cooper Rush show is coming to town.
Speaker 2:No, if I had to pick one, I'm thinking that the Chargers are going to beat the Baltimore Ravens and I think that's going to be a real eye-opener for a lot of people, where people are going to have to take notice of the Chargers a little more and take them a little more seriously. You know, as much as I would love to see an upset like the Panthers beating the Chiefs, that would just, if that happened, that would just be so, so funny.
Speaker 1:Yeah, I mean, I agree, I see a lot of good matchups, I see a lot of hot matchups.
Speaker 2:Yeah it's kind of hard to see, one where it's like I mean, maybe the Rams beat the Eagles. It's like I mean maybe the Rams beat the Eagles, but that would only happen if the Rams' defense can step up and really put a stop on. Saquon and make sure that he doesn't go two touchdowns.
Speaker 1:Now the Rams have Kyron Williams.
Speaker 2:Yeah, but he hasn't been playing well.
Speaker 1:The other one. I mean I kind of look forward to seeing Arizona and Seattle, but I agree with you, Baltimore and the Chargers, I think that's going to be fireworks.
Speaker 2:And it's a hardball bowl.
Speaker 1:Yeah, the hardball. And I agree with you. I think the Chargers might come away with an upset win here. They're playing pretty good. The Ravens have skidded a little bit. They have their moments where they skid out. The Chargers are new. They got a new identity and they're playing tough football. They're trying to show they're here to stay.
Speaker 2:So I agree with you on that man. Yeah, I mean, it's the only matchup I see that I really think has great potential.
Speaker 1:Yeah, now real quick, move it over. Go to our social media. We're predominantly on Facebook. We're working on other things. Let us know who you think is going to be MVP. Let us know who you think is going to be MVP. Let us know who you think is going to be Rookie of the Year and, on that note, I'd like to thank you once again for joining us for another episode. I'm Brian with an.
Speaker 2:I and I'm Mike.
Speaker 1:Good night everybody. We are Two for the Win.