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 - S2.43 - Summer Is Cooling Down & Sports Are Heating Up!
Fall is here, and the sports world is heating up faster than a playoff pitcher's fastball! Baseball's regular season wraps this Sunday, setting the stage for October drama while football dominates weekends across America. The collision of seasons creates the perfect storm for sports fans everywhere.
We're tracking the MLB playoff race where Toronto and New York are locked in a dead heat at 90-68 in the AL East, while Cleveland's remarkable 9-1 stretch has propelled them past Detroit in the Central. Meanwhile, Cal Raleigh's historic 60th home run adds another layer to an already fascinating MVP debate with Aaron Judge, who leads in nearly every statistical category except homers. On the pitching side, Paul Skenes has joined rarified air with a sub-2 ERA before age 23, an achievement only three other pitchers have managed in baseball history.
The WNBA semifinals have delivered nail-biters with both series tied 1-1. Minnesota faces Phoenix while Las Vegas battles Indiana, with championship dreams hanging in the balance. We discuss Sandy Brondello's surprising departure from New York just one year after winning it all, and break down what's next for these contenders.
In the NFL, quarterback controversies abound as Russell Wilson gets benched for rookie Jackson Dart in New York, while Kirk Cousins briefly gave way to Michael Penix during Atlanta's shutout loss. The Colts and Chargers have shocked everyone with 3-0 starts, while San Francisco faces new challenges after Nick Bosa's season-ending ACL tear. Week 4 matchups promise more excitement as teams begin to show their true identities.
Whether you're tracking Syracuse's controversial injury-faking fine in college football or preparing for NBA preseason tip-off on October 2nd, we've got insights and analysis on everything happening across the sports landscape. Subscribe now and join our passionate community of fans who never miss a beat!
September 25th, 2025. Welcome back once again. Thank you everybody for joining us for another episode of Sports Talk. I'm Brian with an eye. And I'm Mike. And we are two for the win. Mike, we have a very, very juicy agenda tonight. What do we got coming up?
SPEAKER_02:Well, as we know, we're leading into the fall season. Weather's getting cooler, but sports is heating up because we got baseball playoffs coming. Because the season is ending this Sunday. And come on, man, it's football season. We got football going on with the NFL and college.
SPEAKER_03:Yeah, and you know, as well as you know, the MLB is getting ready to start their playoffs. The WNBA's been running through their playoffs, so they're hot on the tails of WNBA. So I'm excited to talk about playoff sports once again here. It only comes a couple times every seasonally, you know. But real quick before we dive in, I just want to say thank you to our sponsors and partners. Body by D Gym, uh located in Yorktown and Gloucester. Uh Deshaun's a great guy. By the way, just had a birthday. Happy birthday, my friend. Uh doing a great job. He's a former bodybuilding champion and training uh up-and-coming future bodybuilding champions in their own right, as well as so many other things happening out of those gyms. Uh, I really like what's going on up there, especially in the community. Uh, our good friends Caden and Christian over Stala's Outfitters, two young athletes building their brand and playing basketball, hopefully be professional basketball players themselves one day. And down here at Virginia Beach, the Giving Tree, chiropractic service. Uh Justin's very good at what he does. He has a walk-in service, uh, making chiropractic services uh accessible to everybody. Uh so thank you guys again for being our sponsors and partners, and we look forward to continuing doing business with you in the future. Mike, let's dive in, bro. I don't know if I can match that energy, but all right. I was wondering if we were gonna hear crickets on that.
SPEAKER_02:I gave you a good segue there. I know, I know. But uh we're gonna kick off with a a little bit of a different thing we don't normally hear in sports, right? So uh as we mentioned, there was a professional softball league this year that was the AUSL league. We talked about them, actually. We did, we did, we did. I remember them. But here's the thing I wanted to bring it up because one of their players, uh uh Miss uh Alexan Alexander Bennett, she had a little uh surprise for everybody after the season was over. Her team actually won the bandits, won the championship in the first season against the Talons, and then she dropped the bombshell on everybody. She's been pregnant this whole season. Oh, wow. Yeah, so she played this whole season while expecting.
SPEAKER_03:Does that constitute us cheating, having two players on the field at once?
SPEAKER_02:I don't know if that's it. That out of the role book.
SPEAKER_03:She had extra strength. Go back and review all her home runs, okay?
SPEAKER_02:Well, she was a pitcher for them, so go back and review the team. She was a crucial part in their team winning the championship.
SPEAKER_03:I bet she was. It's like two people playing one body.
SPEAKER_02:Well, I have to say a little congratulations to her and her family.
SPEAKER_03:Congratulations, Miss Bennett. Uh, that's a huge accomplishment. And, you know, to hear that you went all the way through the season while pregnant, I cannot imagine. It's hard enough being pregnant. Okay, not that I know or anything, you know, from experience, but you know, it just you hear things. I was about to say, how many times have you been pregnant? You know, you hear things. The word the scuttle butt, you know. But anyway, I cannot imagine dealing with the complications of pregnancy and playing a professional sport and keeping up with that at the same time, all the while keeping it a secret from your team because they know they probably wouldn't let her play. But yeah, but you know, her her her teammates probably knew something was up.
SPEAKER_02:They probably knew. They probably knew a little bit, but that hormone thing, these women got it, man.
SPEAKER_03:It's like a sixth sense.
SPEAKER_02:Well, I mean, you know, it when you're all when your teammate is putting on a little extra weight and it all seems to be in one area, you start going, hmm. Are you pregnant?
SPEAKER_03:Maybe one of those, she's one of those thin pregnancy bodies. Not that I'm trying to be derogatory and think, forgive me if I am, but anyway, congratulations nonetheless.
SPEAKER_02:Uh moving forward, we're gonna go into baseball now. Where uh something we brought up last week. We uh questioned whether or not Cal Raleigh could actually pull it off and reach 60 home runs. And he did. But what makes this cool is he hit his 59th and 60th in the home in the same game, and his 60th home run had a reverse Phillies Karen moment. Remember the Phillies Karen moment where the lady was mad that a guy picked up a ball and gave it to his son?
SPEAKER_03:Everybody remembers Phillies Karen.
SPEAKER_02:So this this was a different situation. A fan got the ball and handed it to a kid with no expectations of anything. Everybody knew this was gonna be the 60th home run, but he handed the ball to the kid, and instantly security came by to get the kid and his family because they're obviously gonna negotiate to get that ball back for Cal Raleigh. So you know he's probably gonna get some cool stuff, you know, maybe a sign bat, maybe you know, a signed jersey or something. He's gonna negotiate and get some cool stuff. But the fan that gave it up, he didn't want anything. He was just like, here, you know, you're a kid, you're at a ball game, here's here's baseball.
SPEAKER_03:Oh, a missed opportunity. Hey, all I'm saying is like that's not how to be successful, how to be successful in a capitalist society.
SPEAKER_02:It's just good to know that there's still some good people out there, is all I'm saying.
SPEAKER_03:It's just good business.
SPEAKER_02:I'm not worried about a business side of it. I'm just saying that that you know what? I bet you he'll get something anyway because of the fact that he showed that he's a good person. Season passes, that's what I'm talking about. Anyway, but but this kind of leads to a debate, real quick, though. All right. As we're leading into the end of the season, you start getting your awards handed out for, you know, AL MVP, and there's been a little debate. Should it be Aaron Judge or should it be Cal Raleigh?
SPEAKER_03:I was wondering the same thing, honestly, myself. I was gonna bring this up if you didn't.
SPEAKER_02:Well, here's the thing Aaron Judge leads in every statistical category except for home runs and RBIs. And he even has, I think, 175 points above on the OPS side on on uh Cal Raleigh. So you gotta ask yourself do we really want to get Judge for another MVP? Now, granted, it's not taking anything away from him. He's had a great season, but in my opinion, it's just my opinion, I think Cal Raleigh deserves it because he's accomplishing a couple of things here. Not only did he surpass Mickey Mantle for the most home runs by a switch hitter, he also surpassed the most home runs by a catcher in a single season. And not to mention, he got to the 60 home run plateau, right? Which not many players have done that. So you're talking about him breaking records, doing historical things, you gotta give it to him. I'm with a home run derby this year.
SPEAKER_03:And don't get me wrong, Judge is a great player, he's probably gonna continue to be a great player, but to me, MVP, like you know, it's kind of like being the president. You can only be the president so many times, okay? Before you just it's gotta be somebody else.
SPEAKER_02:You're limiting him to two terms or two wins as an MVP. That's a bit messed up, sir.
SPEAKER_03:I'm not limiting him, I'm just saying we clearly have a good candidate here in Cal, you know, in Cal Raleigh. Uh Aaron Judge is probably always gonna be in the conversation. I'm sure there are several others in the conversation as well, but well, yes.
SPEAKER_02:I mean, back when uh Otani was in the AL, you had a situation where it was always, is Otani getting it or is Judge getting it? Now, granted, Judge beat him out a few times. Flip a coin. But yeah, it was like, oh, you take it. No, you take it. I mean, they're both amazing players. I say give it to Cal Rowley.
SPEAKER_03:Let Judge try to win it again next year.
SPEAKER_02:Yeah, that's well, that's kind of my opinion, too, because Cal Raleigh hit 60 home runs this year. He might not have the same production next year as far as home run totals.
SPEAKER_03:No.
SPEAKER_02:And plus, this has just been a historic season for him, period. So they need they need to show the love and just help him out. I mean, geez, man. You know?
SPEAKER_03:But speaking of showing love.
SPEAKER_02:Look, man, there was a situation that happened recently in baseball.
SPEAKER_03:Whenever you have to call a situation, it's always bad.
SPEAKER_02:No, yeah, yeah, yeah. Unfortunately, uh, there was a situation in the Guardians and Tigers game the other day. Unfortunately, for one of the Tigers players, he had a situation that wound up not in his favor. And we'll play a little audio for you here.
SPEAKER_03:This is the David Fry thing, right?
SPEAKER_02:Yes.
SPEAKER_00:Ball coming inside, and Fry gets hit by it. Oh no. David Fry's health is way more important here. There's also the question of did he go on that bunt?
SPEAKER_02:I have to say he got hit in the face with a 99 mile an hour ball. Scoobyl was pitching. He hit him in the face. He was trying to square up for a bunt, and he wound up hitting him in the face with a 99 mile an hour fastball. Definitely has facial fractures, maybe a concussion. Um, speaking from experience, facial fractures are horrible. Oh, yeah.
SPEAKER_03:It takes a long time to recover. And you got yours playing backyard football.
unknown:Yeah.
SPEAKER_03:That was fun to explain to your boss on Monday.
SPEAKER_02:Anyway, point of the matter is he's got a long road ahead of him. He's not going to be playing. He's out for like six to eight weeks, so he's going to miss the entire postseason. We'll get to that. Um, but Scoobyl instantly, you could tell he he felt remorseful. I mean, he he dropped his glove, tossed his hat to the ground, and kind of put his hands over his face, like, oh my god, I didn't know. Yeah, he he definitely this was not intentional. This was just an accident, pure accident.
SPEAKER_03:That or he's a really good actor.
SPEAKER_02:Bro, Academy Award, if that was acting, but that's like Hey, you remember Bounty Gate in the NFL. Look, man, I don't think they were bounty gating this at all. You know, we just hope that Fry Fry is okay.
SPEAKER_03:Yeah, and he did put his hand up as he was being carted out.
SPEAKER_02:Yeah, it just one of those situations you see, and and nobody nobody goes, Oh, glad that happened. Yeah. If you do that, there's a special place in hell for you.
SPEAKER_03:Special place. Yeah. What kind of is that the cold spot?
SPEAKER_02:No, that that that's a spot where uh if you saw little Nikki, it's where Hitler uh enjoys pineapples.
SPEAKER_03:Oh, yeah. The old pineapple scene. Yeah. Yeah. We'll let we'll let leave that to your imagination for those of you not of age.
SPEAKER_02:So uh moving right along, we're gonna, you know, wish Fry the best, and uh we're gonna talk a little bit over in the NL side of things. Uh we're gonna talk about Paul Skins. Paul Skins. So Mr. Paul Skeens is doing something that has not really been done except for three other times in baseball. And what you might ask? Well, Paul Skins has joined the likes of players like Vita Blue, no, it's Vita Blue, Dwight Gooden, and Dean Chance as the only players to record a sub-2 ERA before the age of 23. Well, age of 23 or younger, to say it right. So Doc Gooden did it in 85, uh, Vita Blue did it in 71, and Dean Chance did it in 64. Now, Paul Skeens, he has a 1.97 ERA to finish out his season, and he did six and six shutout innings in his last start. Now, this leaves him with a record of 10-10 on the season. So a 500 record. And the question becomes does he deserve to get the Cy Young in the NL? That that's a question. I mean, I'd would say yes. Well, I agree. I think he should get it. And the reason being, he plays for probably one of the most, you know, bottom-dwelling teams in in Major League Baseball. The Pirates have not been good for a very long time, and they just do not generate runs. They have not generated runs for many starts.
SPEAKER_03:Real quick, for those of us unfamiliar, tell us what the Cy Young Award is, Mike.
SPEAKER_02:Okay, well, it's actually well, it's named after a player, Cy Young, and it is given to the pitcher who has the best performance on the season. So whoever has it usually goes to somebody who has like the most games won or you know the best ERA and most games won. But unfortunately, in Skeen's case, he's got a 500 record with it. So hopefully, what's gonna happen here is the voters will look at it and say, look, he's doing something historic because he's only the fourth player to do this. You know, he's only the fourth player to become a over the course of an entire season record a sub to ERA, which is amazing. I say give it to him.
SPEAKER_03:Just like Cal Rowley, let's go, let's get some fresh faces on these awards.
SPEAKER_02:Right. Well, for the NL though, as far as the MVP, we're gonna be looking at probably Shohe Otani. Or we might see a certain Phillies player. No, not Karen. Karen's not getting it. No, no, no, no, sir. No, no, no, no, no, no, no. Not her.
SPEAKER_03:The most beloved Phillies player of the 2025 season.
SPEAKER_02:You know, if they give an MVP award to the Karen instead of giving it to the players, I think the players would be like, what are we doing?
SPEAKER_03:What the what? And the dad can get the Cy Young award. Oh, jeez, geez. No way. No I like to run with these things.
SPEAKER_02:Good lord, you throw me way off topic.
SPEAKER_03:It happens, it happens.
SPEAKER_02:But no, I mean Kyle Schwarber, man. Kyle Schwarber is hitting bombs, he's having an amazing season. He's basically carrying the Phillies into the postseason, which they're trying. They are trying to get past the Brewers, but that probably is not gonna happen. Speaking of postseason, let's take a look at the records and see who is in the chase right now for the postseason. So what we have after I fix this messed up computer that decided to come off of my screen.
SPEAKER_03:Yeah. That's also what she said. Anyway, speaking of the postseason, we got some good matchups coming up here. Oh, you know, and I know we have some some tight races for it as well.
SPEAKER_02:Alright, so now that I got my screen back. Alright, so what we got going on here is the AL East, we have the Toronto Blue Jays and New York Yankees with the exact same record at 90 and 68.
SPEAKER_03:Yeah, and both are both are clinched.
SPEAKER_02:Yes. It's probably gonna come down divisional record, um, which right now I think the Blue Jays have the edge. So both of them have clinched a playoff spot, though. It's just a matter of are you gonna win the division or are you gonna be the wildcard team?
SPEAKER_03:And you know, the Red Sox hot on their tails.
SPEAKER_02:Yeah, I don't know that they have enough games to make up the gap to get there. So they might just wind up being a wildcard team. Um I think they would. Speaking of catching up in the AL Central, the Tigers, which I will have to amend my picking them getting to the World Series because you know, they started out the season hot, hot, hot and led this division all the way until now. They are now behind the Guardians by one game. The Guardians now at 86 wins and 72 losses, lead the Detroit Tigers at their 85 and 73 record. So they're stumbling into the playoffs. They are only one and nine over their last 10, while the Cleveland Guardians have been 9-1. They're playing hot baseball. This is historic, man. This is a historic performance by this team because at the at the midway part of the season, when everybody's thinking about are we contenders? Are we gonna trade players? Cleveland, who everybody thought they were gonna be sellers and get rid of players, they just kept playing ball. And they made it. And this is after losing two players to the betting scandals. So good on them, man. Good job. Way to keep it up. And moving over to the AL West, we gotta give a huge nod to the Mariners. They have clinched, they have clinched their division, edging out Houston, who was trying to give them a fight, but they've been scuffling as of late. Uh, so they they're only been like four and six over their last ten. So they just gave Seattle the way to get ahead, and they won their division with an 89 and 69 record so far, with only a few games left to play. And of course, we know the Phillies won the the NL East, and the Brewers won, won their division because they have the best record of baseball at 96 and 63. But we have the Cubs with them coming in with a record of 89 and 69, so they have their wildcard spot. Yep. The Dodgers are still leading the NL West with a 90 and 69 record, well ahead of the the Padres, who they have a wildcard as well. They have a wild card spot, they're not gonna get the division. They're they've been scuffling as of late, but they're they're gonna be in it.
SPEAKER_03:And the Rockies, not even with 50 wins, the worst, most dismal record.
SPEAKER_02:Yeah, 115 losses. That's not a great that's not a great look. So if we go over here and take a look at the wild card real quick, just to get an idea of who's kind of on the borderline of trying to get in. Yeah, right now Detroit is just barely hanging in there. They're only a half game up on Houston, so they could possibly be out of the playoffs altogether if Houston can collect some wins down these last few games, and Detroit keeps scuffling and losing games. And that's a far cry from what they started out the season as. And you move over to Inno, and it's kind of a similar situation. You have you have the Mets who are only up a half game on the Reds. The Reds have been playing some good ball here lately, seven uh winning seven out of their last ten games. Yeah, they're hot on the tail of the Mets. The Mets, if they don't straighten out, they could be bumped as well. So you gotta do it. You gotta get down this stretch run in order to be in the playoffs. If we were if we were going to make out the playoff brackets right now, we would be looking at the sixth spot, the Cleveland Guardians and the You got it backwards.
SPEAKER_03:That's a three-spot.
SPEAKER_02:Yeah. Detroit is at the sixth spot, and Cleveland is at the three spot. So they would be facing off and giving Seattle the first round by, and whoever wins that would face Seattle, which is not the team you want to face right now, because Seattle's hot, hot, hot.
SPEAKER_03:This next one is actually my favorite part of the bracket right now. Why? Because it's it's Yankees and Boston? It's Yankees, Boston, and then the Blue Dreys got the first round by. This is gonna be a booming series of games right here.
SPEAKER_02:Yeah, it's basically the AL East facing each other to see who's gonna play somebody from either the Central or the West. I'm changing look, I I have the I have to amend my pick before because with the Tigers scuffling, I have to say Seattle is my favorite now to get the AL side. But I'm pretty sure some of these teams over here from the AL East have something to say about that. But moving over to the NL side, we got the Mets at the sixth spot going against the Dodgers at the three spot. The winner of that gets to face the Phillies with their first round bye. I got the Dodgers winning that one. Yeah, I believe the Dodgers will win that one too, and then we'll have a Dodgers-Phillies classic matchup again. But moving over to the fifth spot and fourth spot, fifth spots owned by the Padres, fourth spot owned by the Cubs, the winner of that gets to face the best team in baseball, the Brewers with their their record. I really like the way the Brewers play. Yeah, they're not they're not like bashing the ball, hitting home runs. They just they play efficient ball, you know, like yeah, they just keep in hits, keep getting hits, and they keep putting balls in play, getting guys on, and just moving them along. They just play really good baseball.
SPEAKER_03:Yeah, I like the I like the Brewers as well. Um I mean, it would just be crazy to see the Cubs run all the way through. They haven't won since 2016. 2016, yeah, almost 10 years now. Shit, nine years from here. Yeah.
SPEAKER_02:Well, think about it. We talked about last episode that Anthony Rizzo retired. Rizzo! And they gave him a little celebration in Wrigley Field because he was he was the first baseman when they won.
SPEAKER_03:I don't care what you say, I always think of the Muppets when you say Rizzo.
unknown:Good lord.
SPEAKER_02:Why, because of the rat? Yeah. I did like Rizzo the Rat. Anyway, let's move right along. Let's get into some WNBA.
SPEAKER_03:Let's talk a little bit about WNBA baseball playoffs, obviously heating up, and we'll we'll track those, continue to track those a little bit further. Uh, not much breaking news at WNBA outside of just talking about their playoff stuff, but it is of note since the Liberties, since New York Liberties have been knocked out of the playoffs, uh Liberty and Sandy Brundello, uh the Liberties head coach, they are parting ways after just one year after winning the WNBA championship. So um I wonder if something was said. I I am I'm wondering that as well. It's kind of unorthodox. I haven't I didn't dive into the story too much.
SPEAKER_02:Think about it. You win the championship, you go to the playoffs the next year, yeah. You kind of bowed out quickly in the in the beginning of the playoffs, you know, only mustering, you know, one win. Albeit against the Mercury at that. Oh so I mean Right. I mean, they didn't they didn't have as successful of a season because it came in as the fit the five spot in the playoffs, but you still made the playoffs.
SPEAKER_03:They still made the playoffs, and like I said, they're only one year removed from winning the winning the whole thing. So it's it seems a little unorthodox to me. I don't know if there was just some in-house drama or what, but I'll dive some more into that. Maybe we'll have some more for it on it uh, you know, next episode. But you know, for now, they lost that part of the series to the Phoenix Mercury, two to one in the series. Phoenix advances to take on number one seed, Minnesota Lynx, uh, who are just rolling right now. Uh bulldozed over the Valkyries 2-0 in that. And congratulations again to the Valkyries, you know, locking up that eighth seed, that final spot in their inaugural season. You don't see that very often, Mike, in any sport.
SPEAKER_02:Well, and and the thing we got to give a little nod to right now is the competition is stiff in these next round because both of these series, the teams each have have won a game. So it's coming down to the final game because these are only two wins and you advanced.
SPEAKER_03:Yeah, it's it's one-one tied up in the semifinals for all four of these teams here. And like I said, the aces and the fever, you know, they'll be facing off winner take all. Same thing with the Lynx and Mercury, you know, aces, you know, streaming past the storm and the fever streaming past the dream.
SPEAKER_02:You know, gotta give some love to the fever because they've been dealing with so many injuries this year, and they still just play really good ball. Yeah, and Caitlin Clark dealt, she was out for some time, so they had to, you know, I mean, she's only second-year player, so I'm sure they'll but still, I mean, like when you when you have pieces missing to still be winning, it says something, especially a sport like basketball, because let's face it, when your team is vibing and and there's that you know, cohesion between your players, one player going down, it kind of throws the the whole mesh of the team off. Yeah, like you you you have to almost find out how to play to play together again because you're not you're not whole as a team.
SPEAKER_03:Now, Mike, real quick, I know we don't follow WNBA terribly close, but who do you think we're gonna see in the finals here of these four teams?
SPEAKER_02:I'm thinking I look, I'm telling you right now, I seriously think the Lynx are gonna win it all.
SPEAKER_03:I I I know I honestly I'm not doubting that, but you know it But wouldn't it be crazy if the Pacers win the NBA finals and then the Indiana Fever win their WNBA finals the same year?
SPEAKER_02:What are you talking about?
SPEAKER_03:Oh, yeah, that's right. They were in it, that's right. OK, win it. OKC won. Yeah, they made it there. But anyway, either you know, I still like to see the fever there. I I think the Aces will probably win.
SPEAKER_02:What if what if what I think the better way to say it is what if you had both Indiana teams make it to the finals and both lose? Yeah, that would suck.
SPEAKER_03:Yeah, I forgot for a second OKC won that, uh, which is I was kind of on both. I liked the Pacers and I liked OKC, but they're not relevant at the moment here. This is WNBA talk. But yeah, I think the Leaks will they got a good shot at winning it all. I think the Leaks will lock up their next spot. Um I'd like to see the fever go, but I I'm putting my bets on the Aces to wipe this one. So we'll see a Lynx and Aces uh finals. We'll see how that prediction pulls out there.
SPEAKER_02:Well, sir, you bring up NBA.
SPEAKER_03:Yeah, they're not too far away from that. They're not they're not too far away. Speaking of the WNBA, October 2nd starts NBA preseason. Sorry, y'all. Words are NBA, not WNBA. I know, it's just word, it's word magic tonight. And it kicks off with the Abu Dhabi game uh with the 76ers of the New York Knicks on October 2nd. Then October 3rd, we have a game in Australia. It's actually the New Orleans Pelicans versus Melbourne United. So Australia has a has a basketball team that they want to play.
SPEAKER_02:So that's that's that's kind of cool, man. That's kind of cool. Making it making the NBA even more international, having them play some preseason games with some international teams.
SPEAKER_03:Honestly, I would like to see that. I think that's a good shake up. Um, and then the preseason runs all the way through.
SPEAKER_02:I I'll probably just have to catch that later. I don't think I want to stay up to try to watch a game at the end.
SPEAKER_03:Yeah, we'll just we'll watch the recording.
SPEAKER_02:Yeah, the time zone change is gonna be a little I mean, that game might come on at 3 a.m., man.
SPEAKER_03:Yeah, and then October 21st, see uh week one of the NBA kicks off with the Rockets and the Thunder uh on Peacock and P NBC.
SPEAKER_02:That's gonna be one heck of a game.
SPEAKER_03:That's gonna be a heck of a game. And then, you know, Golden State and the Lakers at 10 p.m. that same night. So we're in for a treat, uh, a wild NBA season coming up ahead of us. Oh, and I I think it's gonna be wild as soon as we start the preseason because that Australia game, man.
SPEAKER_02:You know, since you said treat, I gotta bring a trick into this conversation.
SPEAKER_03:Oh shit, it is Halloween season.
SPEAKER_02:Yeah, we're getting close to trick or treat. But this this ain't got nothing to do with that, man. In college football, we had a game where it was blatant that the team was faking an injury. And what team might you say? Ooh. I feel like I saw this. Syracuse. Syracuse has been fined by the ACC for faking injuries to stop the clock versus Clemson. Look, we all know that people try to come up with Competitive advantages in games. But if you're faking injuries, that's gotta be like the lowest of the low.
SPEAKER_03:Yeah, that's desperation low. That's like New York Giants versus the Patriots in the Super Bowl low.
SPEAKER_02:Yeah, I don't I don't really like the fact that they're you know doing fake injuries. You know, like you shouldn't be faking injuries during during that kind of stuff. You know, like you shouldn't be you shouldn't be faking injuries in the middle of of college football games because let's face it, these players they work their butts off and they're going to school, most of them. And you can't really just sit here and pull that kind of mess. You know, eventually you're gonna get caught. And obviously, Syracuse, come on, y'all.
SPEAKER_03:Don't be like that. Are they even ranked right now? Where are they even at? I don't even see them in this bracket, they're not even in the top 25. Yeah, they're not ranked. They're not ranked right now. They're not ranked at all.
SPEAKER_02:They're not ranked. They because they suck. Because they suck! You suck. You suck.
SPEAKER_03:All right, what are we doing? Pulling up scores here. Yes, uh. Alright, this week's scores in college football. It's their week four because we're going into their week five, which is what's coming up. So we gotta go back to week four, which is where we're at now on the screen. Uh some interesting games this last weekend. Florida and Miami, you know. The Battle of Florida. Yeah, and it doesn't seem like Florida's winning its own fight there. Miami 26-7. Uh just Yeah, they got stomped. That's just a beatdown.
SPEAKER_02:No, no, the beatdown was Oregon again. Oregon. Battle for Oregon. Oregon State Beavers getting just stomped by the ducks. 41 to 7. Like it started out great, like, oh good, we got through the first quarter, it's 7-7, and the ducks said, hold my beer.
SPEAKER_03:Yeah, and then FSU and Kens say I would have rather see FSU take on Miami for real.
SPEAKER_02:No, like Florida State is just like, is there a game going on? What is this? What is this?
SPEAKER_03:66 to 10. Why do these blowouts just keep getting worse, Mike? Were there any good games this weekend? Texas over Sam Houston, 55-0. At least Kent State scored. What is Sam Houston? Is that like a community college? Like, why are they didn't score any points? Bro, they're 0-4. They didn't score any points.
SPEAKER_02:They probably didn't score any points in the other games. Like, god dang. Like, you see that. Community college level football. But the big the big upset of the last Saturday's games, Indiana upsetting Illinois 63 to 10. That is that is just obscene, man.
SPEAKER_03:That's terrible.
SPEAKER_02:That is obscene.
SPEAKER_03:Like you're because Illinois is 3-1. Well, they were look, you know, Indiana. They were 3-0 to start.
SPEAKER_02:Well, let's let's remember they made the playoffs last year, and people were like, Do they belong here? Does this is this the thing? Do we really think Indiana is a good team? Uh a 19 seed beating a a nine seed?
SPEAKER_03:Like they're four-o in the Big Ten. I mean, they gotta be either they're doing really good or the other teams are really good.
SPEAKER_02:They're 4-0, but they're 1-0 in the Big Ten.
SPEAKER_03:Yeah, they're 1-0 in the Big Ten, but they're 4-0 and they're part of the Big Ten. Or I guess it's 1-0. Whatever you said. However, you want to read into it. But they're they're becoming a juggernaut team at this point in the season, no doubt.
SPEAKER_02:Yes, they're they're making people take notice. But moving right along over to Oklahoma, edging out a win against Auburn. Barely. I mean, we have again, this is an 11-seed taking on a 22-seed team. Maybe Auburn started punching up because the game was close, man. 17 to 24.
SPEAKER_03:Maybe Auburn should give Cam Newton a statue and they might start winning more. Don't wish that evil one, though. He was complaining about that the other day. About not having a statue? Yeah, he wants a statue. I said it all weird. Stashew. Statue. Pistachios.
SPEAKER_02:That's a pistachio statue.
SPEAKER_03:Tennessee taking out UAB 5624. Nobody cares about that game. What about the the Utah Utes taking on the Texas Tech? That was a, you know, again, another big game, seemingly dropped, but Big 12.
SPEAKER_02:Well, it just Texas Tech, they sit there, they're 4-0 on the season. They're probably going to move up in the rankings, which we'll get to the rankings here in a minute. We're just going to kind of scroll on down, go through these different games. Good to see Notre Dame finally get their win. But this is again another state battle. You have Notre Dame going against Purdue. So Notre Dame, they're still ranked, which has been heavily debated even on this show.
SPEAKER_03:Barely at 24.
SPEAKER_02:Yeah, yeah.
SPEAKER_03:Kind of hanging on by your fingernails there.
SPEAKER_02:Hey, look, man, the back of the seat on the bus is still on the bus.
SPEAKER_03:So they're they're on there. And closest to the exit door that the driver forgot to lock and shut.
SPEAKER_02:What are you saying? This is like the emergency business.
SPEAKER_03:It means they're going to fall out of the bag if they're not careful.
SPEAKER_02:Anyway. Yeah, they might. So they need to stretch out some wins here. They can't keep playing playing bad football. But like we said, let's go down the rankings real quick. They'll clean it up. It's still early.
SPEAKER_03:Let's go down. Let's start with the top ten.
SPEAKER_02:Let's do that.
SPEAKER_03:Start at number ten, Texas. Number nine, Texas AM. Number eight, Florida State. That rhymes. They should keep that spot all season.
SPEAKER_02:No, I don't think they'd like that. Coming in at number seven, Oklahoma. And number six, the powerhouse team, that is Oregon.
SPEAKER_03:And coming in at number five, Georgia. LSU sitting hot and pretty at number four. One of my favorite schools. Penn State coming in at number three. Penn State at number three. Not bad. Alright, then we got the Hurricanes. Miami sitting there. Number two.
SPEAKER_02:And of course, still number one, Ohio State.
SPEAKER_03:Ohio who?
SPEAKER_02:State.
SPEAKER_03:Oh. Is there only one of those?
SPEAKER_02:I was just kidding. Good lord. You know there's multiple teams in all of the regions. Alright, what games are you looking to coming up this weekend, man?
SPEAKER_03:We got some good matchups coming up here.
SPEAKER_02:Well, I personally am looking forward to the Penn State Oregon game. You have the number three three ranked Penn State going against the number six Ducks. I am going to love that. And they're both still undefeated at this point. Well, and but here's the thing. Right now, current, currently in the standings, you have you have Penn State with no wins in the Big Ten so far because they haven't played anybody in the Big Ten. But Oregon has a win in the Big Ten. So right now, technically, they kind of have the edge because Penn State hasn't played anybody in the Big Ten. We're gonna really find out who Penn State is based on this game. I think you're I think you're right. Oregon's been playing playing pretty good ball, and I'll albeit you know last week's performance again against the Beavers was not exactly a barn burner because they weren't, you know, I mean, Beavers ain't ranked.
SPEAKER_03:Yeah, and you know, I got my eye on two games here, actually, really just one game.
SPEAKER_02:I just noticed something as you're moving. Remember how we said that Illinois was at number nine? They have dropped all the way down to 23 in the rankings after that loss. Oh lord.
SPEAKER_03:Terrible. And then I want to see this TCU and Arizona State game. You know, Arizona's 3-1, 1-0 in the Big 12, TCU's 3-0, and 0-0 Big 12. This will be TCU's first Big 12 game. Oh, I want to see, I think this is gonna be a good game right here.
SPEAKER_02:More than likely. I mean, it does it does help having matchups with teams that are in their division, so you can kind of get an idea of who they are. Yeah, you know, and how the division will shake out because you want those wins in your division.
SPEAKER_03:I like it. So we got some good college football been happening, got some good college football coming up. That's another good matchup. Oh, Indian, but Indiana moved up to 11 after that win. Yeah, screaming up the boards, moving up the boards, man. Gary Indiana, Gary Indiana.
SPEAKER_02:This guy.
SPEAKER_03:This is look, everybody's gonna have a thing, and that's what it is, all right. Mike, are you ready to talk NFL football?
SPEAKER_02:Of course.
SPEAKER_03:This is my favorite part of the show. I love all sports, but this is really where we get into the meat and bones. If I knew all sports the way we know football, it would be a much better show. Anyway, we're gonna start out hot and heavy here with You Know It's Bad, uh, short segment I just came up with on the fly. Anyway, now you know uh you know it's bad. We all know about the Hurton that Carolina just put on Atlanta, which is weird because Atlanta just put a Hurton on the Vikings. So honestly, Mike, which team here is in the worst position? The Vikings, the Panthers, or is Atlanta? Now, uh, I think this is of particular note. It's more of a meme, it's kind of funny, okay? Uh George Foster, who was part of that 0-16 Lions team back in the day, when he's calling you out for having a bad game, you know it was a bad game, okay? He's speaking from experience. Yeah, he's speaking from experience, okay. Uh so I just thought that was quite interesting. And we're gonna circle back to this Atlanta uh Carolina, Minnesota situation here in a second. But first, let's go in and talk a little bit about our good friend Todd Bowles. Mike, you want to take it from here?
SPEAKER_02:Yeah, man, yeah, man. So Mr. Todd Bowles and Tampa Bay. Yeah. And Tampa Bay, they've been having themselves a pretty good season. They've been edging out close wins every game so far. And recently, I mean, I guess if you start getting wins and uh you start feeling pretty good, a little loose. And as we know, Mr. Todd Bowles, he don't really he don't really say much. He don't really say much usually. I mean, when was the last time you heard a Todd Bowles hot clip? You know, or you know, Todd Bowles said something and everybody's like, oh, we gotta hear that. He doesn't talk very often. No, he doesn't. He knows he does not. But recently I like to call him Todd Bowles. Recently he did, and this is what we got.
SPEAKER_01:The right thing to do when we had the fourth and one, I mean I'll put us up by nine. Wasn't looking for the block and it happened, and that can happen. Thankfully, we came back and win the game. Yeah, who's running for a touchdown? McDonald's. My thoughts were going for when we run for a touchdown. Excuse my language, like you gotta f me. And then after that, you see how much time on the clock and you calm down and you try to win the game.
SPEAKER_05:It's not easy on a lot of these fans as health. Uh so I've been told on social media, but to be able to come from behind a winning game in the final minute three weeks in a row. What does this say about this team you've got?
SPEAKER_01:It's hard to win in this league, period. Um, you know, us shooting ourselves in the foot doesn't help it much, but the resiliency they have to come back and win those games. You gotta stack them early while you iron out your kinks. Um, we're stacking them early this year. I mean, we've been 2-0 for the past three or four years, and we haven't won the third game, so that's a plus winning the third game.
SPEAKER_05:What did Payne Durham say to you when you wrapped his arm around your arm?
SPEAKER_01:Me and Payne have a relationship not many people know about. I know we're secret lovers.
SPEAKER_03:Say what? Say what?
SPEAKER_02:What you say? That's how Bulls messing with the media. It's saying that he has secret lovers.
SPEAKER_03:Me and me and Payne are secret lovers.
SPEAKER_02:Well, the interesting thing though, what he brought up though or came out of those questions was the fact that they talked about the block kit.
SPEAKER_04:Yeah.
SPEAKER_02:Now, when they were playing the Jets, this kick got blocked, but not just blocked, it got ran back for a touchdown late in the game. So you're thinking, oh my goodness, we're about to lose this game because they're they're back in it.
SPEAKER_03:There were a lot of block kicks across the league this season this week.
SPEAKER_02:We'll get to that, sir. We'll get to that.
SPEAKER_03:We sure will.
SPEAKER_02:But but I'm just saying, you know, Mr. Todd Bowles with these close wins, he's he's feeling kind of comfortable and loose. You know, normally Mr. Todd Bowles, who doesn't say a whole lot, said a lot in that interview.
SPEAKER_03:He sure did. And then uh I'll let you take this one too about Aaron Donald. You know, he seemed to have a priceless reaction to what was it, Mike? I'm just gonna let you take it.
SPEAKER_02:Hey, well, for those who do not remember, Mr. Aaron Donald played for Pitt when he played college ball, and Pitt is gonna do him the honor of retiring his number 97 jersey, and that doesn't happen much. You don't see a lot of jersey retirings for players who, you know, college-wise, that you know, I I'd say he had a good career. It's not like they won a national championship or anything, but he is one of the more decorated players, and he was he was kind of humbled by it, you know. They they I mean, look at let me show you just real quick. Look at that baby faced Aaron Donald right there.
SPEAKER_03:He's such a young, young guy.
SPEAKER_02:Yeah, you know, he was being in he was honored, you know, basically.
SPEAKER_03:You know, being in the later part of our years, I guess we're still relatively young, but you being over the hill and me being only 37. Um Well, thank you very much there. Well damn. I appreciate seeing photos of people when they're younger now much more than I used to. Good Lord. I used to like seeing pictures of people when they got older. I'd be like, oh, that's what they look. Now I'm like, I wonder what they looked like when they were younger. It's weird now, right? Like, anyway. Um topic. Uh now this week we saw, you know, we already knew there were five starting quarterbacks across the NFL that were injured, okay? But we had our first two QB benchings this week, actually, okay. So uh my favorite one, which by the way, Mike, I called this some time ago on our podcast. I said, watch, Jackson Dart is gonna be starting by week six. Here we are going into week four, and Jackson Dart is starting for the New York Giants. I mean, that's not exactly a stretch. The Giants suck. No, Russell Wilson sucks as well. I mean, he didn't always suck. Well, I'm not gonna debate that. He sucked enough to get benched, and I called this, I said, and Russ we do not trust. I said, watch, by week six, we're gonna be seeing Jackson Darr. Here we are, and I'm just so proud of that. We've had some good uh we've had some good calls, both you and I, here on the show this last year, since we've been doing this. We've we've got we need to start keeping track of this track record of ours. Whoa. Because I feel like we know how to call it.
SPEAKER_02:Uh sometimes, sometimes. I mean, my my call last week with the Detroit Tigers possibly making a run to the World Series looks pretty bad now. That's why I'm choking up to Mariners.
SPEAKER_03:But you know, well, there's a mulligan for everything, but I digress. But we'll circle back to the Giants in just a second. The other quarterback get benched was Michael Penix, who I like to call Penix, because it sounds like things I like to say. So Lord. They're turning. So is Atlanta having a change of heart with Kirk Cousins? Because I remember they were entertaining, trading him away at one point, or maybe even cutting him. I I don't know that it's a change of heart.
SPEAKER_02:I mean, when you're p playing a divisional opponent and you're not scoring, you gotta do something to change it up.
SPEAKER_03:Yeah, I mean, lay a goose egg. I mean, the the week before you just lit up Minnesota like they had no business, and then you come out the next week against a weaker team, and you can't even score.
SPEAKER_02:So I think the more uh imposing question since you brought up Minnesota is the performance they just put on the Vik the Vikings put on the Bengals where they put up 48 to 10. Now, mind you, this was a Bengals team without Burrow, which we'll get to that. But the fact that you have JJ McCarthy sitting out and then the team looks ultra productive. Now, granted, they did get some help help by Isaiah Rogers, you know, running back to you know, running back an interception for a touchdown and a fumble recovery for a touchdown. But still, even if you take those two scores away, they still scored 34 points, you know, with a 48-point.
SPEAKER_03:But there's no, but you know, there's no replacement for displacement, and the Bengals are fielding one of the worst defenses right now. Well, past defense anyway.
SPEAKER_02:Yeah, but you you gotta say though, if Burrow was in, they would put up more than 10 points.
SPEAKER_03:I think they would, it would have been a more level game. Uh, but Carson Wentz under center for the Vikings looking relatively okay. Okay.
SPEAKER_02:He's looking alright.
SPEAKER_03:I'll give him relatively okay.
SPEAKER_02:But I gotta I gotta say this though. Because of how poorly the Bengals were, does this then lead to the fact that a Kirk Cousins, a Russell Wilson, these guys that are not having a run with their team, do the Bengals just say, hey, uh can we have him? I mean what do you want? What do we need?
SPEAKER_03:Browning Browning has been a somewhat reliable QB2 for them over the years. The the thing I really want to know is, is New Orleans gonna try to seek a trade for a quarterback? Because why would New Orleans seek a trade? Well, because Tyler Shu's clearly not ready yet, they don't have any confidence in him, and Spencer Rattler is not getting it done. They're sitting at 0-3. So the beg I beg the question do you think the Giants maybe eventually end up trading Winston or Russ down to New Orleans?
SPEAKER_02:I don't know that they're to the point yet where they want to trade one of them unless they get a ridiculous offer, and I don't think anybody's making a ridiculous offer for either of those quarterbacks right now. I don't know. They've already had they already had Winston down there and they didn't keep him, so yeah, it's probably not gonna be a whole different coaching staff now. Um but I think that could we see a cousins or a Russell Wilson be moved? Sure. I think Russ will do it through his agent where he's like, hey, get me out of here. I don't want to.
SPEAKER_03:I don't think we're gonna see a cousins move. I think that they're gonna lean on him. I think Atlanta's gonna lean on Cousins until they either find a replacement or until they gain some confidence back in Penix.
SPEAKER_02:Well, one team that was ultra confident this last last weekend was the Green Bay Packers. Yeah, until they lost. Until they went up against the Browns, that shocked everybody.
SPEAKER_03:But by the way, fielded a healthy and legally viable Quinshawn Judkins who ran amok in the role that he played, and we'll probably see more roles. Yeah, yes, he did.
SPEAKER_02:And you know, that uh Steelers Patriots game, which used to be a pretty prime time big game. That used to, yeah. I remember when that was like a game of the week type of thing. Yeah, this this was uh not that. No, this was a uh who really wants to win here kind of game.
SPEAKER_03:Yeah, it was not Steelers are getting it 21-14, just a touchdown difference, but at least there were points scored, so unlike Atlanta.
SPEAKER_02:But the game that was really interesting to watch was that Rams Eagles game. You know what the Rams did? The Rams caught up the Eagles asking if they could come kick it, and the Eagles said, Hell no, you can't kick shit around here.
SPEAKER_03:You can't kick nothing on my turf. In fact, they had two block field goals, one of them to win the game, and that boy, who was it that blocked it? I forgot. Davis, Jordan Davis. Yes, he that big boy can run, okay? I ain't never seen a big man run that fast since I was in high school wrestling, okay?
SPEAKER_02:You know what he was clocked at? What? 18 miles an hour. Oh that big dude ran at 18 miles an hour. That is moving for a tackle.
SPEAKER_03:You might as well call him the flash at this point. You don't get much faster than that.
SPEAKER_02:They're gonna start putting him back there to feel punts. Yeah, he's gonna start feeling like that. Yeah, go try to tackle him. I mean, there were a lot of blocked field goals. As we alluded to in the in the uh Buccaneers game, there was a block kick. Yeah. But hey man, I I just wanna I just wanna point something out. I gotta I gotta I'm gonna toot my own horn here. Remember when we were saying who will win divisions? And you were giving me a little bit of crap about the Colts possibly being the division winner?
SPEAKER_03:I believe I picked the Houston Texans.
SPEAKER_02:Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. That that Houston Texan team that hasn't won a single game this year. Uh-huh. But but the Colts are 3-0. Don't change the subject. Colts are 3-0. Yeah. Colts 3-0. Yeah, yeah. Man. Yeah, just them, just you know, just pointing it out.
SPEAKER_03:I actually had it between the Texans and the Jaguars, and they both kind of eh right now. But yeah, the Colts are rocking and rolling at 3-0, bro. They look like an NFL team.
SPEAKER_02:Well, they are an NFL team.
SPEAKER_03:Well, yeah, and they're scoring like one too, 41 points. Yeah, 41 points against the Titans. Don't get me wrong, against the Titans. Sorry. They're not that sorry, okay? They got some good playmakers and they're putting up points in their own right. They just, you know, they gotta get some things together.
SPEAKER_02:Well, here's here's the thing, though. You know, they're showing that they have Indiana Jones doing some things, man. You know, he got cast aside. It's something about the Giants. When they cast aside a player, all of a sudden he seems competent in other or can, you know, perform above what everybody expects when he goes elsewhere. Because, you know, the the conversation was when the Giants were letting Saquon walk, they're like, oh, well, he's just injury prone. We don't know what's gonna happen. He he doesn't look like the same player. Because the Eagles and has one of the best rushing seasons in his career. Like, yeah, yeah, that guy was washed.
SPEAKER_03:And you talk about surprises. The Chargers are at 3-0. Uh, I believe, yes, they're in control of the AFC. But but here's the thing. Of the AFC West.
SPEAKER_02:They're divisional wins. So they're getting a leg up not only in the wins and losses category, but they're getting divisional wins that put them miles ahead of the rest of the division.
SPEAKER_04:Yeah.
SPEAKER_02:Because they beat the Broncos, they beat the Chiefs. Yep. You're you're stacking up these division wins.
SPEAKER_03:They're stacking up divisional wins, you're right. So the Chargers under the Jim Harbaugh era are rocking and rolling too, and they just lost Najee Harris. Is is Jim Harbaugh one of the best coaches ever? Listen, man, I'm gonna ask you to shut up right now, okay? No, I gotta I think you're being biased. No, no, no, no, no, no, no, hear me out.
SPEAKER_02:Hear me out.
SPEAKER_03:I think there's some biasedness coming out of your 49er mouth.
SPEAKER_02:No, no, hear me out, hear me out. He starts off at San Diego State, turns their program around, they start becoming a winning team. Then he goes to Stanford, same thing. Stanford sucked, and then he turns them into a winning team. Right. Then he goes to the NFL, coaches the 49ers, they sucked. I know, it's my team, and then he coaches them up to a winning team, takes them to a Super Bowl, and they lose, but you know, still he was a winning team.
SPEAKER_03:They were consistently a Super Bowl competitive team.
SPEAKER_02:Goes back to college, coaches at Michigan, wins a national championship, turns that program around because they were pitiful, and then goes back to the NFL and takes the Chargers, who were not a great team, and now they have one of the better defenses in the league.
SPEAKER_03:That means he is I think he's a good coach. And you know, both the Harbaughs honestly are good coaches. John look how long that the Ravens have been playoff competitive, as long as John Harbaugh has pretty pretty much been around.
SPEAKER_02:Well, think about all the coaches that were good in college but weren't good when they go to the NFL, like Urban Meyer. Yeah, he sucked. Or uh oh, help me out here. The the Alabama Alabama Nick Saban. Nick Saban Saban when he went to the NFL, which mind you, he had a chance. He decided to choose Culpepper instead of instead of take taking Drew Brees. Yeah. Which, no, mind you, Drew Brees, you didn't know if his shoulder was going to be good when he got there, but that's what you have medical staff.
SPEAKER_03:Well, nor normally, like you say, you're good in one or the other. I mean, Chip Kelly was great with Oregon, had a rough time in Philly for a couple years. He's the now the offensive coordinator with the Raiders. Maybe he'll find his footing again. But usually you see these coaches, they're either good in the college game or they're good in the NFL. The Harbaughs seem to be good, especially Jim, seem to be good in both playing and uh both realms.
SPEAKER_02:Well, he had a cup of coffee, Chip Kelly did with the 49ers, and he was not good. Just saying. Just saying. But a team that is good, dude, the Seattle Seahawks, man. Look at what they did against the Saints. Like, they looked like a good NFL team.
SPEAKER_03:I don't know if the Saints are a good barometer team right now.
SPEAKER_02:No, but what I'm saying is like they they looked like a complete team when they played them. Special teams, running back, kicks for touchdowns. Their defense was rushing to the ball anytime anybody put their hands on it. They scored on offense with regularity.
SPEAKER_03:They're very the Saints are a very distraught team right now. I don't think this is one game where you can look at it and be like, yeah, this looks like a complete NFL team. Like obviously, when the team you're playing sucks, it's gonna be easier to look good against them.
SPEAKER_02:I realize the Saints suck because they're 0-3, but that doesn't mean they don't have good talent on the team.
SPEAKER_03:No, they have great talent. They're just not executing well, they're a little disorganized. They need a few more pieces. And there's some chaos there. They're a little long in the tooth in some spots. A little long in the tooth. I don't know if I like that saying anymore.
SPEAKER_02:Well, speaking of uh speaking of if we don't like anymore or probably never liked, how about them cowboys? How about them cowboys? We could skip right over that. They don't like they do not like what happened there.
SPEAKER_03:No, no, they don't. And uh I got a couple more things here. We'll I'll I'll come circle back around to new realities, another uh one we came up with tonight. But since we have Seattle and Arizona on the TV right now, uh James Connor down, Benson up. Do you think Benson's gonna be a boom or bust RB1 for this Cardinals team?
SPEAKER_02:I think that what's gonna happen is he's gonna have moments where he looks like the competent running back just because of pure workload.
SPEAKER_04:Yeah.
SPEAKER_02:But I don't know that he's gonna be better than Connor because Connor Connor is more of a power back that, you know, he gets his yards, like he forces his yards.
unknown:Yeah.
SPEAKER_02:As we see the Seahawks just score a touchdown now. Banner. Banner.
SPEAKER_03:Or Barner, I forgot. But anyway, yeah, I think he could be the guy. It might take him a few weeks. And the Seahawks game is actually a good litmus test for him because they're fielding one of the best rush defenses in the league this season right now. Um, so they're gonna be hard to run on. So kind of see how he does in this game. Might be able to tell us a lot. Uh, and maybe it won't, I don't know. But I'm I'm eager to see how he does as an RB1.
SPEAKER_02:And I'm glad I'm glad you brought up injuries because uh one of the games last week was the Cardinals going against the 49ers, and the 49ers they got another injury, and it's it's kind of a big one. Nick Bosa tore his right ACL. Now, granted, he's had Surgeries on his left ACL a couple of times, but this time it was his right ACL. And what was more notable about when this injury happened, it was a non-contact. He kind of jumped up, came down, and was like landed awkwardly. But when he was walking off the field, he looks up in the stands, and fans are like, Is it okay? What's going on? What's going on? And he just does a big old thumbs down because he knew.
SPEAKER_04:Yeah.
SPEAKER_02:He knew that it was done. And as we alluded to, Connor in that same game against the 49ers, he he's done, man. Like his ankle got all screwed up.
SPEAKER_03:Speaking of Bosa, this brings me to my final segment of the night. Could I at least get the score out?
SPEAKER_02:Yeah, fine. Somehow the Niners, even though they didn't lead in any statistical category, won the game 16 to 15.
SPEAKER_03:You guys almost let it slip away for a second there, but you you came back and got it. Now win's a win. In the 2025, every season there's new realities that we as fans have to settle into, okay? Um, and I actually saw this article on fantasy football, but it actually can apply to all NFL fans. Some things that we just need to come to terms with now. Things that we as fans need to now accept. And starting with your 49ers, uh, I think it's safe to say San Francisco can't contend without Nick Bosa. This is this is a fact, sir. Blasphemy, sir. Uh Ramadunze is WR1 in Chicago. And better be because they drafted him to be that. Caleb Williams just might not be a bust after all.
SPEAKER_02:Yet to be seen. I mean, look, everybody's been tearing up the Cowboys' defense. Here's a hot one. It's it's not a good defense at all. Speaking of which, the Bears torched them, or Caleb Williams torched them for touchdowns. And some of those, dude, some of those plays, those receivers were open for like college wide open.
SPEAKER_03:I know the Bears are one and two right now, but under Ben Johnson, this looks like a totally explosive Bears offense, okay? Oh. This looks like a better simulation of what the Bears were trying to be last season.
SPEAKER_02:If Caleb would stop looking for the explosive plays and actually hit the receivers because he's supposed to stop holding onto the ball. I use the word explosive, very explosive.
SPEAKER_03:Now here's a one for you, and you can tell me if you agree or disagree. Quinchon Judkins is going to outrush Ashton Genty this year, season one. And Genty has an interesting stat line right here now. He has like a hundred and thirty-two or a hundred and thirty-three total rush yards, but he has a hundred and thirty-six yards after contact. Which is awkward. It's weird, right? Well, it's because normally he's been hitting the backfield. Yeah, he's yeah, he's been hitting the backfield 58% of the time before he even, yeah.
SPEAKER_02:Those are hard hard fought yards. That's what that is.
SPEAKER_03:Yeah, they're hard fought yards, is what they are. Uh speaking of speaking of hot hard fought yards.
SPEAKER_02:Dude, the Chiefs, man. Maybe it's me. You tell me if this if it's just me, but does their offense just look inept?
SPEAKER_03:They seem to be fighting injuries and suspensions every single year to the point that it is crippling to them. Well, because now Rasheed Rice, I mean, you know, week one, Travis Kelsey ran into his own. Oh, Xavier Worthy. Oh, was it Worthy? Yeah, it's right, because Rasheed Rice is ended till week seven. Yeah, yeah, that's right. He had the racing. So yeah, you know, he runs into Worthy and frickin' he's down now with a dislocated shoulder or something like that. Kelsey's not Kelsey is not in the game right now.
SPEAKER_02:He's well, he's he's just not the Kelsey of old. No. You know, and he's never gonna be. Because let's face it, as you age, you don't you're not as quick, you're not as explosive, and it's harder to be what you were because you're not gonna recover as fast as I miss Chris Cooley. That has nothing to do with this, sir. Anyway, the point of the matter is you're you're saying you're leading to all the receiving options, but the thing that's healthy for the team is both the running backs, but they're not getting yards.
SPEAKER_03:They're not doing much. They're not doing anything. They have any blocking up front, they're not getting any lanes.
SPEAKER_02:Look, I watched that game against the Giants, and Patrick Mahomes on a few occasions was not on par with his receivers or his backs. Like he's sitting here throwing backwards passes to a a running back who's not even ready for it, and then he's basically giving it up to the other team, and if it wasn't for a quick scramble and stealing it away, you know, from the defender, they would have gave the ball to the Giants inside their 20, you know, and giving them short field. But and and my god, Chris Collinsworth, can he please stop? Stop with the Patrick Mahomes, the greatest love BS. He was sitting there saying, Look at that hustle, look at that great play. Like great play. He caused a bad play to make a great play.
SPEAKER_03:I don't know if he was talking about the play or if he was just talking about Patrick Mahomes' hustle on the field.
SPEAKER_02:He had to hustle because that was gonna look really bad if he didn't. Fair enough. When you throw a pass that bad where it doesn't even touch a receiver's hands, it doesn't touch anybody's hands, and then he's running over there to go get it to keep it from being being a turnover. You know, and that's that's not even we didn't even get to the best game. The best game was Monday night.
SPEAKER_03:Monday night was a good game. The Ravens and the Lions. Bro. And you know, the Ravens might be slipping a little bit too, man.
SPEAKER_02:Now, well, let's give them a little bit of a pass because they have some injuries mounting on them on their defensive side. You know, you have Van Noy out, you have two other pass rushers out that you lean on. You're kind of coming in shorthanded, and you're going against a team that, bro, if we look back at these Lions, remember, we're not that far removed from them looking really bad at the beginning of the season. In all preseason, they looked horrible.
SPEAKER_03:Yeah.
SPEAKER_02:But now this Lions team is looking like a true contender, you know? And poor Derrick Henry, man. Three fumbles in three games.
SPEAKER_03:Now, don't get me wrong. I mean, I think he was trying to protect the ball, but I mean, when the ball gets punched out versus when you drop it is slightly different circumstance. I mean, you can't always stop the ball from just getting punched out. Sometimes you're just in the wrong place at the wrong time. High and tight, bro. Yeah. High and tight. High and tight.
SPEAKER_02:You gotta keep it high and tight. Asked Tiki Barber about that one when he was with the Giants and couldn't stop fumbling. That's what she said. But look, that game was amazing because you saw what we expected from the Lions, where they did a nice mix of run and pass and not just one back. They were both backs were getting their run and pass.
SPEAKER_03:They got that young back out there now.
SPEAKER_02:Well, they got Gibson and they got Montgomery. Yeah. As they like to call themselves, Sonic and Knuckles.
SPEAKER_03:Jameer Gibson. Yeah, Sonic and Knuckles. One of my favorites.
SPEAKER_02:But I I think the Ravens will be fine. I think it's just gonna it's gonna be a little bit of a lull in the season as they start getting a little healthier, get a little further into the season, I think things will start to kick off for them. Yeah. They just hit a rough run. I mean, let's let's face it. They face the Lions, they face the the Bills, they just they've been having some rough, rough matches so far.
SPEAKER_03:They'll be alright. Nice. Now, coming into week four, I know we got Seattle and the Cardinals on TV right now. That's not a huge game I was looking forward to.
SPEAKER_02:It's a divisional game.
SPEAKER_03:It's a good divisional game, and I'm eager to see how Trey Benson does as their starting running back tonight. But let's look ahead to some of these other matchups. Mike, what are you picking? What are matchup you're looking at this week?
SPEAKER_02:Well, I'm gonna point out that the teams playing right now, they both have their one loss against the Niners.
SPEAKER_03:So yeah, I will recommend flexing the Jets and the Dolphins game over to Tuby and off of all. Why?
SPEAKER_02:Because you think nobody wants to watch that game? Probably. What do you want them to flex in the Bills and Saints?
SPEAKER_03:Um, at least the Bills are watchable. Okay, I'll give them that. The Saints might be watchable too, but I don't see uh, you know, one thing I the Buccaneers and the Eagles game, the Colts and the Rams game, I think is gonna be looking good.
SPEAKER_02:That's the one I want to see because I want to see what I mean. I'm not saying the Colts have kind of played some subpar opponents, but like I want to see what they can do against a team that one you know has a decent defense and can also go down the field and score themselves. You know, they're a balanced team. I want to see what they do. I really do. I mean, not that's not to take anything away from when they played the Broncos. They played the Broncos and they won.
SPEAKER_03:Yeah, I have the Colts winning that this week. Yeah, well and the Rams were in control all game over the Eagles and they let it slip away.
SPEAKER_02:Yeah, they let that comeback happen. But you know what that exposed? That exposed one big weakness with the Rams that they probably are gonna address at the trade deadline, and the fact that they don't have a very physical corner. Like their corners are little. I mean, not little, but they're they're little guys. They're little in comparison to the little guys. Because what did they do the second half? All they did was, you know, give these short outs and get it to AJ Brown, and AJ Brown was just muscling off the corners. He was like shoving them aside like they were a toddler.
SPEAKER_03:Yeah, and you know, I I think Green Bay at Dallas, that'll be another banger. Um, I thought the Raiders and the Bears. Yeah, I thought the Raiders and the Bears could be a good game, but Geno Smith has not been playing well under center for them. So I don't I think the Bears are gonna win that game. Um, you know, it just there's only a couple matchups this week that I myself personally I don't even care about. Um you know, the Bengals, too bad Joe Burrow is injured. That would be a hell of a game.
SPEAKER_02:Yeah, Bangles Bengals and the Broncos would be one hell of a game, but I think I think it's gonna wind up where the Broncos win that one.
SPEAKER_03:I think the Broncos are gonna take this with a yeah, the Bengals are just not looking like the same team right now that they've always been.
SPEAKER_02:I mean, I know it's I know it's kind of me being a homer, but it does seem like a good matchup, the 49ers and Jaguars.
SPEAKER_03:I have this being a sleeper game for y'all. The Jaguars really aren't that far off from being competitive, and y'all are dealing with some injuries uh that are quite notable.
SPEAKER_02:But our defense has been playing much better under Robert Salah.
SPEAKER_03:Yeah, I think so too, but I think the Jaguars will still give you run for your money here. Uh, real quick, before we wrap it up, I just want to thank our sponsors and partners uh one more time. Body by D Gym, Sala's Outfitters, and the Giving Tree Chiropractic Service. Uh, I want to thank everybody for listening to us for another episode of Sports Talk and Banter. Uh, you guys have a good rest of your weekend. Enjoy this Thursday night football game. I'm Brian with an I. And I'm Mike, and we are two for the win. Thanks, everybody.