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 - S2.45 - MLB Divisional Round-UP, College Football Chaos & Pro No-Bowl?
A rivalry-fueled puck drop, an October baseball squeeze, and a Sunday that felt like a morality play—that’s the ride. We start on the ice with NHL openers that matter right away: original-six heat, playoff rematches, and early questions about repeat bids versus aging cores that still know how to win. Then the MLB postseason tightens: Tigers force a decider, Dodgers grind out the third-time-through, and a looming Schwarber sweepstakes tests how front offices balance windows, wallets, and identity.
From there, the court and the campus collide. Vegas looks unstoppable in the WNBA, a reminder that pace and half-court clarity win rings. NBA tip-off brings rotation tells that outlast hype. College football throws haymakers—UCLA flips the script on Penn State, Texas stumbles into avoidable turnovers, Alabama reasserts after halftime—and the biggest story isn’t just rankings. It’s leadership. Reports of fractured communication and NIL friction under Belichick raise a blunt truth: reputation can’t replace trust.
The NFL? Chaotic, revealing, and loud. We unpack the Mark Sanchez incident with care and talk honestly about redemption through the lens of Henry Ruggs—what accountability looks like, who gets to forgive, and how a league balances talent with consequence. On the field, details decide games: a goal-line punch and a fourth-and-one stuff, Broncos’ defense outlasting the Eagles’ late surge, Bucs and Seahawks trading explosives, and Jacksonville’s defense announcing it’s for real. We preview travel traps, quarterback pivots (hello, Joe Flacco), and why the AFC South might be the league’s most uncomfortable surprise.
If you want game picks grounded in matchups, not noise—and you care about the human stakes as much as the score—this one’s for you. Tap follow, share with a friend who argues back, and drop your boldest upset pick for the week. We’ll feature the smartest calls on the next show.
October 8th, 2025. Thank you once again, everybody, for joining us for another episode of Sports Talk and Banter. Uh with yours truly. I'm Brian with an I. And I'm Mike. And we are two for the win. Mike, 6-7, bro. What we got tonight?
SPEAKER_00:6-7. Oh, good lord. Anyway. No, we got baseball doing its playoff thing. We're gonna talk a little about that. We're gonna talk a little WNBA playoffs, or more like championships. And of course, NFL and college football. Mainstays for this show. We're gonna talk that as well.
SPEAKER_01:But we got a little bit of puck dropping happening tonight. We do, and before we drop the puck on this show, I just want to thank our sponsors and partners. Body by D Gym, located in Gloucester and Yorktown, Virginia. Uh Deshaun Wright's a former bodybuilding champion and training other future bodybuilding champions himself. Uh, he's very active in the community, doing a very good job developing that gym and business and that community up there. Very good job, my friend. Uh pleasure doing business with you. Uh Solace Outfitters, our good friends Caden and Christian, two young athletes building their brand, uh moving through the sports world in their own right, up and coming players and basketball themselves. And the Giving Tree chiropractic service down here at Virginia Beach. Justin's very good at what he does, very knowledgeable. Uh, it is a walk-in chiropractic uh practice, and he the way he has it set up makes it accessible for everybody. So very good job, fellas, and everything that you guys are doing and accomplishing. We look forward to doing more business with you in the future. And now here we go. We get ready to drop the puck here tonight. This is week one for the NHL. We're not gonna say a whole lot about them, but we got the Canadians uh dropping off against the Maple Leafs, uh, the Bruins and the Capitals, uh, highlight match right there, uh, the Flames and the Oilers, as well as the Kings and the Golden Knights. All eight of those teams dropping the puck on the ice here tonight as we record, probably shortly after we record, looking at the time.
SPEAKER_00:But yeah, I mean what I see here is that we're kicking off strong with some good divisional rivalries, and we're also kicking off with the few teams that were in the playoffs last year.
SPEAKER_01:Yes.
SPEAKER_00:So it's gonna be exciting action.
SPEAKER_01:You have any early predictions, Mike? I know we're not terribly big NHL heads ourselves, but we do both like hockey. Yeah, yeah, yeah.
SPEAKER_00:Who I mean, who doesn't like hockey?
SPEAKER_01:Who you who you think it?
SPEAKER_00:You think in Florida's gonna, you know, repeat as champions or I haven't seen anybody yet that really says they're gonna take it from them. I mean, yeah, they're looking pretty strong.
SPEAKER_01:Yeah, they are. Uh, I don't really have a prediction, but I'm gonna go ahead and stand in the corner of DC like I always do with the caps. You know, we'll see how they do. They're getting a little long in the tooth for me. A little long in the stick. Well, maybe I shouldn't have said that. That's weird.
SPEAKER_00:Anyway, yeah, that's really weird.
SPEAKER_01:That sounds like something else. Anyway, a lot of good uh NHL hockey action coming up here in the next couple months for everybody. We're looking forward to diving into that. Uh, real quick, actually, it won't be real quick. We have a little bit to talk about with this one. Let's talk about MLB playoffs. Mike, where are we standing right now?
SPEAKER_00:Yeah, well, you know, last week we were just getting into the playoffs. We were just starting out with all the wildcard series games, and those have all been decided. Uh, we obviously we kind of already know who moved on. I mean, we had the Detroit Tigers move on, we had the L the LA Dodgers move on, Chicago Cubs move on, and the Yankees move on. And they're in the prospective series right now with you know the Dodgers leading two up on the ranked ahead of them, Phillies. The Phillies need to figure something out because if the Dodgers win this next game, it's a sweep and they're going home. You know, right now we just we just had this game in. We were just watching this game between the Detroit Tigers and the Seattle Mariners, where the Tigers put up a strong showing, putting up nine runs, getting themselves tied up in that series and going back to Seattle for a game five. And they got to feel pretty good about themselves. They got their ace, Terrence Schubel, he's gonna be on the on the mound. And you when you go into a game five, win it, run or take all situation, you want your ace, you want your best.
SPEAKER_01:Yeah, give it up to Detroit, giving Seattle a run for their money there.
SPEAKER_00:Exactly, exactly. Because at one point, you know, well, actually, in today's game, if Seattle won, it's over and they're moving on. So they're gonna go back home. Seattle did touch up Scuble for five runs when they faced him the last time. So it's not a foregone conclusion that he's gonna do well, but you like your chances if you're the Tigers. And speaking of putting up a little bit of a fight, the Yankees playing against the Blue Jays uh just last night. They had a they had a strong showing from Judge. Judge had an inside fastball that came in at 99 miles an hour, and he turned on it. And he turned on it hard and hit the left field foul pole.
SPEAKER_01:Yeah, uh yeah, that was a rather good game itself. Uh, I had the Blue Jays pick to win that, but maybe you know, maybe the Yanks turn it around, give them a run for their money, maybe they move on. But I like the Blue Jays to move on in this one.
SPEAKER_00:Yeah, I still I still favor the Blue Jays in this series, but the Yanks aren't going away quietly. And actually last night, when they they came back to uh because they were down five. They were down by five runs, and they came back to win that game. And you know, it's the first time in their history being down five to come back and win a game like that. So kudos to them. But right now, we actually have the Cubs and Brewers game on, and with the Brewers leading the series uh with two two nothing in the series. If they happen to win right now, unfortunately for them, they're down to the Cubs uh four to two. If they happen to win, they're gonna knock the Cubs out, you know. But next game will be played in the Brewers' home. So if you're the Cubbies, you gotta fight tooth and nail, keep in this, but it ain't looking good for them.
SPEAKER_01:Yeah, I'm waiting for them to pull the game stats back up. What inning are they in in this one right now?
SPEAKER_00:I believe we're going into the bottom of the fifth as it stands right now, and they're bringing in bringing in relievers for the Brew. Let's see, he is pitching to Suzuki right now.
SPEAKER_01:All right, so they got some time to turn it around. They're only down two points in the middle of the game.
SPEAKER_03:Two runs.
SPEAKER_01:Yeah, yeah, you know, only down two runs, so you know, we'll we'll see what the what the Brewers pull out here. Maybe they're just having a down game. Uh, I favored the Brewers to move on from this one as well. Um, and you know, Phillies, they've kind of been a strong team, especially toward the end of the season here. But the Dodgers, man, how do you bet against them?
SPEAKER_00:I mean, it's it's I I don't want to say that the Phillies aren't doing well, because their pitching has been, for the most part, pretty good. They've been pretty solid to start out the game, but once you start getting to third time through the lineup, it's like the Dodgers just keep, you know, chipping away. They get maybe a run or two or three. Like they just they pile on the runs, and for some reason the Phillies bats are just not answering the call like they have in in previous games. And and maybe maybe the waiting for them to get done with the series, you know, having that buy affected them. Who knows? I mean, I just I would like to see a little bit more out of their bats than what they've been showing. They're gonna play later tonight, and if the Dodgers win, it's over. Phillies again get into the playoffs and get knocked out and don't make it over to the World Series.
SPEAKER_01:And they made it to a relatively high seed at number two seed, you know, over there in the NL side.
SPEAKER_00:So well, it's gonna be a sad thing for them if they do get bounced because uh they have uh Kyle Schwarber who's gonna be a free agent, and he's gonna get a lot of money thrown at him for the amount of home runs. And he's looked like an MVP this uh candidate this year.
SPEAKER_03:Yeah.
SPEAKER_00:So if they're not gonna be able to bring him back, which they have thrown out a bunch of money to the players they already have locked up, it's gonna be hard to bring him back, and let alone teams like the Yankees, the Dodgers, and you know, other big brands that can throw money at him, he might wind up walking to go somewhere else. So uh among the other free agents that they have. So if he does, where do you think he lands at? That's a tough call. I mean, the Red Sox is a team he's played for before, and they have deep pockets and they got kind of a young team. It's a possibility they could throw a huge contract to him. Um I wouldn't put it past the Dodgers doing it or the Padres doing it because they both have been known to throw throw out some money here and there. Yeah, or maybe he throws a curveball to all of us and just says, you know what, I'm gonna take my talents out out to uh Seattle and go play for them. You know, like it it it all depends. You know, Kyle Schwarber, it it's it's a matter of does he want the dollar amount or does it or is it about where he plays? Because if it's about where he plays, maybe he stays home with the Phillies. But if it's about you know getting that bag, he ain't gonna stay with the Phillies.
SPEAKER_01:Easily, easily a game changer wherever he's gonna be at.
SPEAKER_00:So oh yeah. I mean, he's not a prototypical leadoff man, but he's sitting there in the leadoff spot hitting home runs. I mean, it's kind of it's kind of like, oh, look, we start a game. One nothing. It's a great way to start a game. You're already up.
SPEAKER_01:Well, that competition is whittling down. We almost have a final four here. So I and I, you know, some powerhouse teams here and some storied teams with some history to them as well.
SPEAKER_00:So um you know me personally, I always like the storyline. I know people kind of are like, well, we need the big market teams, we need the Yankees, we need the Dodgers for it to be interesting to America. But if you're a sports fan and you like baseball, you want to see interesting, you need to see other teams other than the big name brands because some of these teams have some really good players and you don't know them because they're not getting the spotlight.
SPEAKER_01:Like the Rockies.
SPEAKER_00:I don't think anybody has confused the Rockies for a good team.
SPEAKER_01:They should call themselves the Valleys since they're down low right now. Jeez, geez.
SPEAKER_00:The ravines. Oh, geez. Anyway. But no, I mean you you you got the Brewers, which most people couldn't name a single player on their lineup, but they have some really good talented players that are doing things. Like you they're they really have, and this is after they've lost some big names over the years, uh, via you know, free agency or trades, and they just keep it going, they just keep playing tough, and here they are, they're deep in the playoffs, looking to possibly move on to the final four teams.
SPEAKER_01:Awesome. Well, I'm I'm eager to see how the rest of that plays out, the rest of that bracket. Uh, we will continue to follow it closely here. Let's talk some WNBA magic here. They have game three coming up, or was this the results of game three here?
SPEAKER_00:No, they have it's a best of seven series, and they got they got game three coming up.
SPEAKER_01:Oh, that's right. Okay, uh Las Vegas leads 2-0 over Mercury, by the way, the number two seed leading the number four seed. Uh clearly game three coming up here. It doesn't give me a date. But either way, it's coming up shortly, probably sometime this week. Um, you know, the Aces and Mercury, two hot teams, you know, ran through the playoffs in their own rights. Um the Aces just look unstoppable, man. Yeah, I mean, they're already up 2-0. Um, I expect them to go up 3-0 in this one. Uh, I think they're just a little more fluid team. Uh I've, you know, I've only seen a very minimal amount of WNBA games this season, but yeah, but that doesn't mean we shouldn't shed some light into what's going on in there in there. Yeah, I I agree. I just try not to I try not to speak ahead of my skill level or my knowledge level, so to speak, you know. Like, who the fuck is this guy? He doesn't know anything about the WNBA. But uh, I'm eager to see how that plays out. Uh I don't have much news on the WNBA. Um, and we can we can scoot on into some college football. Oh well, real quick before we get to college football, NBA season's coming up as well, October 21st. You know, their first uh tip-off between the Rockets and OKC, which I think is gonna be a great first matchup. Um and then that same night, Golden State taking on Los Angeles, the Warriors and the Lakers again, another classic matchup to me. Uh so I look forward to still like the first matchup. Yeah, they're yeah, I like the first match. I'm more inclined to watch that one. I'm eager to see how the Rockets do, especially against the defending champs. The Rockets were up and coming and almost almost had a deep playoff run. So uh they're in the heat of preseason right now. Uh, you know, basketball really don't get good till after the holidays, as you mentioned earlier. But I'm eager to see this tip off and see how this season gets started here. Let's talk some college football, Mike. We got a lot on college football tonight. Oh, geez, do we ever, man?
SPEAKER_00:I felt like this last week just this is yeah, whether it's we had some up sets.
SPEAKER_01:Whether it's college or NFL, this is football season. We are hugely loaded on the sport of football this time of year.
SPEAKER_00:So there's there's two games that I really want to highlight because I saw both of these games. And first one is Penn State and UCLA. Now, everybody thought, okay, we got an 0-4 UCLA going against rank number seven Penn State. Just sounds like an easy win. You know, that Penn State, yeah, they're going across country and they're playing UCL UCLA in their house. But nobody told Penn State that UCLA came to play, because they came to play, man, and they they did not hold up. Look, man, in the second quarter, they put up 17 points to Penn State's goose egg. So, like they were putting it on them early, but Penn State give it give them some credit. They had some fight, they tried to come back in the later quarters, but there was no way. Yeah, Penn didn't there was no way they were coming back.
SPEAKER_01:Yeah. Penn didn't even show up until the third quarter. And then by then they were probably too far behind. At that point, UCLA was taking their foot off the gas pedal just trying to close out the game.
SPEAKER_00:Well, and here's here's the funny part. Here's the funny part. You know, normally when they break down all the things that are going on in the game, they'll talk about you know who had the most passing yards, who had the most rush yards, or whatever. And when you go to rush yards, it's not their running back of UCLA, it's the quarterback. The quarterback had three touchdowns, 16 carries, and 128 yards for UCLA. Yeah. He was doing his thing, man. He was don't get it twisted. He was passing too. But like, oh I'm gonna try to say the name. I'm horrible. Let me do this. This is my job.
SPEAKER_02:You go, you go.
SPEAKER_00:Lama Leva. Oh my god, no.
SPEAKER_01:Lama Lea. Is that a V or a W? It's a V.
SPEAKER_00:Alright, try it again. Try it again.
SPEAKER_01:Lama Leah. How about we just say Lavaya? Llama Levea. Okay. You gotta put the llama in. There's clearly a llama there. I don't think it's llama. Llama llama llama viva.
SPEAKER_02:I feel like this is like early AI trying to tell me what the name is.
SPEAKER_01:And like like when your GPS tries to pronounce a street name. Oh yeah. Turn right on Boosh Street. Or my my favorite.
SPEAKER_00:My favorite was when my GPS used to say, turn on Princess and Anne Road. You mean Princess Anne Road? No, Princess and Anne Road. It's like Aaron. Did my GPS just have a stroke? Like what the hell was that? Anyway, Penn State died is just a huge embarrassment for them. Yeah. Gives them their second loss on the season. But you know what? That wasn't far as embarrassing as Texas. Tax ass. Tax ass is right. Because the Longhorns went against Florida, unranked Florida, by the way. And Florida took it to them. And here's the problem. This score says that they tried to come back and win this game, but I can tell you the worst thing that was happening for Texas in that game, it wasn't the fact that there was no heart or no try. It was the fact that their star quarterback, Archie, was thrown into damn double coverage all the time in the game. Like he was just throwing horrible passes. This is a guy that coming into the season was considered to be like the guy. He was ranked one of the guys competing for the Heisman this year. And, you know, if you wouldn't have made a bet on him, he was the leading candidate.
SPEAKER_01:Well, maybe he'll turn it around. I know. I mean, Texas got outscored in every quarter except the fourth quarter.
SPEAKER_00:Brian, read my lips. No. No. He is not going to make a comeback. He is that awful. He's just too bad. He is that awful.
SPEAKER_01:Well, you think he needs better coaching, or do you think he's just not there? Doesn't have that Manning gene.
SPEAKER_00:Look, man, I'll give it to him. He threw it he threw a deep pass to one of his receivers and hit him right in the basket late in the game. And chicken nuggets. It looked great. Looked like a prototypical Peyton Manning type pass.
SPEAKER_03:Yeah.
SPEAKER_00:But that was like one pass. It's like going to the golf course. You can hit one good drive, and the rest of them you're like shank, slice. You're hitting them all over the place. He was like that. He was throwing in, but he was making poor decisions with the ball. He's sitting here throwing deep into double coverage, and his receiver would hit off his hands or not even get to his hands, get tipped up and then pick. Like it happened multiple times, man. That's not what you want out of a star. I saw an article that said that UCLA's quarterback needs to go ahead and quickly transfer to help Texas out and save them from Archie.
SPEAKER_01:Well, maybe, you know, give him some time to develop. Maybe he'll get there.
SPEAKER_00:Yeah, the only thing he's developing is more hatred.
SPEAKER_01:Yeah.
SPEAKER_00:Anyway. Maybe he'll be better than Jamarcus Russell. Moving along to another game that was pretty interesting in the college realm was Vanderbilt and Alabama. Now the final score doesn't really show how tough and how much of a good contest this game was. It was 30 to 14 with the final score. But really, Vanderbilt came out hot. He scored a touchdown. And you know, after the first quarter, it's like, oh, okay, they came to play. Second quarter, they got another touchdown. But then going into half, Alabama scored, tied it up, going in tied 14-14. And it kind of looked like, okay, all right, we got a game here.
SPEAKER_01:Yeah, Bama trying to stay alive in the rakings.
SPEAKER_00:But second half, it was all Bama.
SPEAKER_01:Bama was the only one that scored in the second half. Yeah, 16 points versus zero. Uh, they closed it out, man. I don't know what happened to, you know, V Town down there.
SPEAKER_00:They just, for whatever reason, they just didn't show up the next half. And it's and it's fine. I mean, like, they were the lesser ranked opponent and they played like it, but in the beginning of the game, they looked like they were really doing some.
SPEAKER_01:But Notre Dame beating the pants off of Boise 28-7. Which they should have. Yeah. You know, they supposed to. Illinois like that. Illinois over Purdue. I remember when Purdue was actually a fairly decent football team. I think they're known better for their basketball lately. Yeah, they definitely have had better basketball program here recently.
SPEAKER_00:Kind of like Virginia, but Virginia is 24 and they beat the.
SPEAKER_01:Yeah, UVA was known for basketball too.
SPEAKER_00:Yeah, I mean, there was some other other games that the lists are known. I mean, Texas AM beating Mississippi State. You'd had you had uh the Battle of Florida with number ranked 18 Florida against the number three ranked Miami Hurricanes, with the hurricanes coming out with the 28-22 victory, which, you know, it was a it was a great game.
SPEAKER_01:Miami's undefeated and one and oh in the ACC. I don't really give one and oh uh much credit. You got to get at least a two or three for me.
SPEAKER_00:You know, well, it's still it's still early. But they're early.
SPEAKER_01:They're overall five and oh. Uh and depending on their opponents who they've played, and we've talked about some of them. I mean, they're they're having a decent little run.
SPEAKER_00:Well, I mean, you think about it this way. You could be like Kent State. Please don't even three in their division.
SPEAKER_01:Please don't even mention this game. Please, Oklahoma just whooped this mopped the floor with Kent State. Like Kent did not even score any points. Okay. 44-0.
SPEAKER_00:Look, yeah, that nobody this was basically a nobody scored in the fourth quarter because they probably put the mascots and cheerleaders in to play them first.
SPEAKER_01:This was this was somebody throwing Oklahoma a bone. Hey, man, go on down there, play Kent State.
SPEAKER_00:Well typically the way it works. And basically it's just a tune-up game.
SPEAKER_01:Oh Oklahoma was the windows brother down the burn. You never seen that movie before? It's a musical. Okay, we're just gonna move on.
SPEAKER_00:Anyway, so yeah, okay. Mike, do you like Mike?
SPEAKER_01:Do you like musicals? I got nothing against them.
SPEAKER_00:That sounds like a terrible answer. Anyway, moving on. We're gonna go ahead and talk about some of next week's games and pick out the matchups that intrigue us.
SPEAKER_01:Intrigue. Before we go on here, can we talk about the elephant in the room? Or can we talk about the Belichick in the room?
SPEAKER_00:Oh, I thought you were talking about Bama when you said elephant in the room. I was like, wait, what?
SPEAKER_01:No about Bama. We already talked about that elephant. Let's talk about the Bellachick in the room. Uh it turns out Bellachick or Bella Chick? Whatever.
SPEAKER_00:Are we talking about his girlfriend or him?
SPEAKER_01:I mean, either will apply at this point, but it looks like they're about to ride off into the sunset together here soon. Because I don't think Bill's gonna be around Chapel Chapel Hill much longer.
SPEAKER_00:Well, there's been reports that they're having a lot of division in the locker room, is which is leading to a lot of the issues they're having on the field. Because you have 40 players that were on the team, on the team before Bill got there, and then you bring in, I think it's like 70 new players, and a lot of them getting an IO. So think about it this way. If you were one of the 40 watching these 70 new guys come in, and most of them are getting your your job, your starting spot, yeah, and they're getting paid, how would you feel?
SPEAKER_01:Well, that and there's two things coming out of this when they're on their break. I asked you a question though.
SPEAKER_00:I'm sorry. You could at least answer my question. I'm I'm sorry, what was the question again? I said if you were one of the 40 that were watching these 70 guys come in and some of them might be taking your spot on the team and you're falling down the depth chart, how would you feel?
SPEAKER_01:I'd feel like transferring. Well, yeah, I mean, yeah, I I think I would be. I'd go on and I'd go on and jump into that portal in the famous, you know, Coach Prime words go ahead and jump in that portal.
SPEAKER_00:It's nice and warm. Go ahead and jump on in.
SPEAKER_01:But yeah, there's been other reports like when they were on their on their um their break, you know, Belichick's girlfriend went on vacation. Yeah, a lot of the team representatives and assistants could not get in touch with Belichick, and now there's a report coming out, which I'm just now seeing this, of um an assistant head coach, an assistant coach who was suspended for providing extra benefits to player families. This was via Mike Florio. So there's you know, is cheating bill the thing? Is is this considered cheating? Is this considered you know, there's a lot of things swirling the situation there. Bro, I thought this was known as NIL. Yeah, but this goes beyond the NIL uh parameters that they had in place.
SPEAKER_00:So I mean I don't know, sir. I remember the days when all kinds of illegal shit was happening, everybody was doing it, but it was all behind closed doors. Yeah, but people are just like Okay.
SPEAKER_01:Because the team was winning, but this team's not winning.
SPEAKER_00:Yeah, I mean, I know the booster I know the boosters and a lot of other other uh you know alumnists are probably like you said this was gonna be different. Alumni. Alumni, alumnist, whatever. You know, they're gonna they're gonna be upset because they're they're like we thought this was gonna be a good thing. They should be called alarm. They should be called alarmists. Oh, well, the alarms are gonna be set when they start screaming at Belichick, like, what the hell are you doing to our team?
SPEAKER_01:Yeah, and you know, one of their games recently, the stadium was damn near empty after just before the first quarter was even up. So I mean, not a lot of support down there for Belichick. And then there's a class action lawsuit that's said to be in the works against the board right now for bringing him in. So, you know, I I was hoping for greener pastures for Belichick after leaving the Patriots here, but Greener Pastures is probably where he's going. Yeah, it seems it just seems like a lot of like what he was dealing it with in the NFL on the level to an extent. I mean, he didn't have the hot young girlfriend in the NFL.
SPEAKER_00:Um someone would say that was probably Tom Brady.
SPEAKER_01:Yeah, that was yeah, I was gonna say it probably would have been a hot young boyfriend.
SPEAKER_00:He's traded one hot mess for another. Yeah. Only this one wants his money. Yeah, exactly. Exactly. No, I mean uh it it's kind of a it's kind of a hard thing. And even even Dion said something along the lines of like when you have 70 new players coming in, you anticipate that you're going to have struggles because you you can't have that much turnover and expect things to work.
SPEAKER_01:Yeah. You gotta get the chemistry together, you gotta learn the system, the schemes, uh, the language of the playbook. You know, people are just not on the same page here.
SPEAKER_00:And some of that has been alluded to from the communication side. Yeah. Where coaches and assistant coaches and Belichick himself are not communicating with these players to the level that they expect or they have felt in prior organizations and other colleges, where it's like, well, wait a second. You know, we're reaching out to coach and he's not saying anything. Right. Or we're reaching out, finding out what's the deal with this practice, and we're not getting anything back, or you know, we're we're told we're doing this drill, and then they tell us we're doing something different the day, the day of, you know, or whatever the case may be. But communications is probably the easiest thing you could fix. And if they're having trouble with that, already going into you know, October, like, come on, you had a whole month to get this straight. Why are you still failing at communicating?
SPEAKER_01:Yeah. No, I agree with that. So I'm eager to see how the rest of this plays out. Uh unfortunately, it looks to be going like Bill may be out here soon, and only just after one season at that.
SPEAKER_00:So I mean, they might keep him for one more season. He does have the ability to walk away though. Yeah. Can it not affect like there's no kind of penalty for him walking away, and which is kind of smart by the college, by the way, to put it to where they did they could they could gently suggest I think it'd be somewhat like a million-dollar contract buyout or something like that.
SPEAKER_01:And they said they and his representatives are reaching out to other school programs. Um, and if they part ways, Belichick's camp's willing to eat the million or however much it is, uh, to part ways. Uh hopefully they give him another season to see what he can really do. I don't think one season is enough unless you're really just creating that much discontent uh among the campus.
SPEAKER_00:Well, yeah, I mean, if if you got people setting up class action lawsuits and And you got alumni going, get them out of there. Yeah.
SPEAKER_01:Well, they're just mad because they're not Patriots fans.
SPEAKER_00:I doubt it has anything to do with that. I think if I put in money for this team to be good and they're not being good, then yeah, I'd be a little heated too. And speaking of money, you know what I heard recently? Division one, they can gamble. No. Uh I was gonna allude to the fact that you know Stanford and who their new GM is basically for their for their school. Andrew Luck. Yeah. Well, recently, they just got a big boost from one of their donors.
SPEAKER_01:I saw that. They said it was the biggest uh donation to a single program in school history.
SPEAKER_00:Fifty million dollars from one of their donors. And no, it was not Andrew Luck. I don't think Andrew Luck had that throwaway. They say donations like that usually come with like a building or something. Well, this donation is going to the program in order for the school to get better recruits. Yeah. And it's coming from an alumni from back in the 60s. So it ain't nobody that we know of that we well, I mean, you could look it up, but the alumni uh person who's donating all this money, he has donated consistently to the program. So it's not like he's not been around just jumping out of nowhere. He just upped it big time to help improve the program. Yeah. So thought that was kind of cool. Uh little under the radar news that if you didn't see it, you didn't know.
SPEAKER_01:Yeah, I don't know. I actually saw that earlier today, speak of the devil. Um, and then you know, real quick before we jump into these future matchups, there's legislation on the table uh in the W NCAA to allow Division I players to allow them to be able to gamble on professional sports.
SPEAKER_00:So I I imagine there's still gonna be a caveat that it has to not be within college football.
SPEAKER_01:Yeah.
SPEAKER_00:I would imagine it would be something to the effect of they can gamble on all sports except for college.
SPEAKER_01:Yeah, except for their sport or something like that.
SPEAKER_00:Well, I I think they would do college in general because you don't want to have to think about is you know the football player putting in a bet for the basketball player where the basketball player is putting a bet for the football player. You know, if you just say no college sports, then they can still bet on NFL, they can still bet on MLB or NBA or NHL or Olympic sports, you know, whatever.
SPEAKER_01:And speaking of sports, not a lot of interesting college matchups coming up until this Saturday.
SPEAKER_00:Well, I I kind of like this Bama and Missouri match. You gotta say Bama Missouri. Yeah, they usually keep the better games for the weekend.
SPEAKER_01:And then I like Ohio and Illinois. I think that'll be a good matchup. Well, Ohio's just gonna, you know, wipe the floor with Illinois. Well, yeah, number 17, number one. They I don't know, they could they could put up a they could put up a fight against Ohio.
SPEAKER_00:Well, all right, what about UCLA going up against Michigan State, coming off that that Penn State win? Do you think they're gonna rally and get two wins? Yes.
unknown:Yeah.
SPEAKER_00:Very, very straightforward.
SPEAKER_01:Yeah, I'm putting I'm putting UCLA on top of Michigan here. I know everybody thinks I'm crazy, but I'm giving UCLA an upset win here.
SPEAKER_00:And everybody's kind of surprised, but shouldn't be a surprise. Indiana is still holding in there at rank number seven, which by the way, their quarterback has been looking impressive. He really has. He's probably gonna be in the in the draft this next year. But their number seven Indiana is going against Oregon. Uh Oregon's been looking strong. Oh, Reagan. They've been they've been in the the top ranked teams all year long. They haven't really taken any hard losses. Not like Texas, who by this week's projections, uh, they looked unranked. You know, this was a team.
SPEAKER_01:They are unranked.
SPEAKER_00:This is a team that came into the season ranked number one.
SPEAKER_01:Yeah, they did. And now they're unranked and looking at a matchup against number six rank Oklahoma.
SPEAKER_00:Oh yeah, Oklahoma and Texas. That's a that is a rivalry game because they don't like each other. Those fan bases, they do not get along.
SPEAKER_01:I think that'll be a hell of a game, regardless of rankings. But uh, I expect Oklahoma probably to keep it rolling.
SPEAKER_00:And of course, we got the Tex, Virginia Tech, Georgia Tech going against each other. I'm probably not gonna watch that game. Well, with good good reason because Georgia Tech ranked number 13. They're probably gonna be a good one.
SPEAKER_01:Virginia has not looked tech. Virginia has not looked well this season, the last couple of seasons, actually. But uh NC State, Notre Dame. I always like to see who Notre Dame's taking on. Uh you know, Tennessee, Arkansas down there. Navy at Temple. Um Let's see if Navy can get another win. Let's see here. Do we have any ranked like matchups where they're both ranked? No, not really. No, not really. Everybody ranked as taking on an unranked team.
SPEAKER_00:Yeah, this is kind of where everybody's getting that tune-up game.
SPEAKER_01:Utah and Hawaii, that should be an interesting matchup. Old Dominion and Marshall. Now, that's a matchup you want to keep an eye out for. Do we? Do we really? I think that'd be a good matchup. I'll take your word for it. We'll find out.
SPEAKER_00:But speaking of rankings. Kind of slim pickings this week for matchups. Speaking of rankings, let's talk about who's in the top ten.
SPEAKER_01:Yeah, starting at number 10, moving on up, Georgia. Coming in at number nine, Texas Tech. Number eight, Alabama, bam, bam.
SPEAKER_00:As we alluded to a moment ago, number seven, Indiana. Gary, Indiana, Gary, Indiana.
SPEAKER_01:Sorry, I'm reminded of a song. Number six, Oklahoma. And number five, Texas AM. Number four, Ole Miss sliding all up to number four spot.
SPEAKER_00:I gotta say, Ole Miss has been turning some heads, and they did they really have put in a pretty good season. Yeah, kind of far. Flying under the radar a little bit here. I mean, most people haven't really been talking about how they've kind of they kind of slowly snuck their way up into the top top five.
SPEAKER_01:They are undefeated, five and oh. Yeah. Coming in at number three, Oregon. And number two, your hurricanes, Miami.
SPEAKER_00:Moving up a spot above Oregon. That's right. And coming in at number one, everybody knows Ohio State. Yep.
SPEAKER_01:Let's look at who uh who have broken to the top 25 here. South Florida sitting at 24, Memphis at 23.
SPEAKER_00:Uh Iowa State coming in at 22. And and Arizona State in at 21. Vanderbilt dropped a few spots. They're back at 20. Etown down to 20. Virginia's in the rankings. B L. Notre Dame down 16, man. They were higher when this started. Well, they but look, they they graduated up five spots. Remember at one point they were at 24. They were barely hitting. They've compiled three wins in a row, starting to make a little bit of a comeback. But like we're seeing a lot of movement in the rankings this year.
SPEAKER_01:Tennessee, you know, uh Peyton Manning's almost are sitting there at number 12. Yeah. Yeah. And, you know, UCLA is up in there. Joe Burroughs. LSU at number 11. I like to see LSU get into the top ten. They got to figure some stuff out. I have become a big LSU fan since Jaden Daniels was drafted. Oh Lord.
SPEAKER_00:Can I can we just say Homer? You know, being a homer here. Homer Simpson? No, no. You're being a homer. I like it. I like going home. Any any chance, any chance to make a connection to your team, you're dropping in. Home is comfortable. Good lord. This guy.
SPEAKER_01:All right, Mike. It's time for probably our heaviest sport year-round. We always have a lot for the NFL. Tonight we really have a lot. We love NFL. We love NFL. The NFL is the reason we decided to start a podcast, although we are inclusive of other sports. Call us progressive.
SPEAKER_00:Hey, I will watch just about any sport. Aside from soccer. I'd rather play that than watch it.
SPEAKER_01:This man's kinks are limited.
SPEAKER_00:Nah. I watch just no. Look. Look, this is look. I would rather watch curling than watch soccer. Football? Football. I like football. I don't want to watch it. I would rather watch soccer than curling. I would rather play soccer than watch it.
SPEAKER_01:I would rather play soccer. I was a pretty good soccer player. Or football. I'm not gonna even front like I was good at soccer. I was not. I didn't I said I was I was actually pretty good, which means I was like below middle of the pack, probably. Like subpar, enough to maybe be a backup. So pine rider. I mean our benches were made of metal, so you same difference. We had aluminum benches. I don't know where these wooden benches came from. Maybe the 60s. I'm not sure. Maybe they rotted out and then put the metal ones in. Too many splinters in people's asses. That's why they kept losing. Is that what they mean by butthurt? I mean, it is possible.
SPEAKER_00:Sitting on the bench getting butthurt.
SPEAKER_01:It is possible. But jumping right into some for to former NFL, this situation here is kind of obscure to me, Mike. We've been trying to follow details. What exactly the hell is going on with Mark Sanchez? Uh, because although he's never really been a great player, he's always been in the spotlight and he was an upcoming analyst as well.
SPEAKER_00:I okay, okay. Hold on, hold on, hold on. I know he's known most for the butt fumble, but let's not forget that this is the man that he took the Jets into the playoffs twice, and one time, one of those times, was to the AFC championship game. They lost, but they got there. So it he had he had some good games, he had some good runs. He was he wasn't a bust, he wasn't a bad quarterback. He just was he was alright.
SPEAKER_01:And let me tell you what, but fumble is gonna be a hard nickname in prison to go, okay. That's not one you want. That's not one you want. No, it's not. But while we're on this, what is what exactly happened here, Mike? Let's let's glue in our listeners here if they're not familiar.
SPEAKER_00:Okay, so this basically happened. He was supposed to he was in Indiana, right? He was supposed to be calling the Colts game. Damn it, Gary. He was supposed to be calling the Colt Colts Raiders game, which by the way, uh kudos to Brady Quinn for jumping up and getting up there and and handling that game because he he was called quickly and is like, hey, can you go fill in?
SPEAKER_03:Yeah.
SPEAKER_00:Because they they were trying to figure this all out. Uh, because we're just getting bits and pieces out of this, and probably because they're still trying to figure out what they can and can't say about it. But basically, he had an incident, and uh this incident involved a truck driver or you know, some incident on the road. It was a Greece truck driver, yeah. He said that this article says that Sanchez was actually stabbed in the chest by the truck driver who was also hospitalized on Sunday afternoon, or no, Saturday afternoon. My apologies, it happened on a Saturday. Uh Sanchez was arrested and charged with battery, uh, with injuries, unlawful uh unlawful entry of a motor vehicle, and public intoxication. So he's got a few really big charges coming up on him, and this is not looking good.
SPEAKER_01:Mark Sanchez does not even look like a guy who could kick somebody's ass. So I I'm rather impressed with these charges.
SPEAKER_00:After his release from the hospital, he was take taken to central booking at uh Mariana County jail where he was booked and posed on$300 bail, uh, bail bond, according to the New York Post. So yeah, this ain't looking good. Uh apparently uh Sanchez was reportedly running sprints in an alley when he took issue with a 69-year-old truck driver who was picking up discarded grease for whatever whatever that means.
SPEAKER_01:From a hotel, I believe.
SPEAKER_00:And uh Sanchez reportedly attacked the man who pepper sprayed the former NFL quarterback, then stabbed him in the chest, and then you know, felt like it was a life or death situation. I mean, let's face it, if you're 69 years old and this former NFL quarterback, which most of them, you know, over 200 pounds, over six foot, and we don't know how big the guy is.
SPEAKER_01:And in limited light, he probably didn't even know it was Mark Sanchez. But it's probably just another guy to him at that point.
SPEAKER_00:But the the fact of the matter is, one, you're intoxicated on a Saturday afternoon and you're running in an alley for whatever reason, I don't know why he's running in an alley, but he takes issue with a truck driver who's just doing his job, and then you attack him.
SPEAKER_01:It sounds like something's not being said here. It sounds like there's a lot of something's not being said. It sounds like there's something not being said, like this is one of those mutual, they were jabber-jolling at each other, and neither of them wants to say what they said to each other, but somehow we have an incident where both guys have been stabbed and hospitalized.
SPEAKER_00:Well, Sanchez was stabbed and hospitalized. The uh truck driver they never said was stabbed.
SPEAKER_01:Yeah, they stabbed. Well, he was the one he got stabbed in the face or something. Somebody had a knife go through their cheek and hit their tongue. I think that was the truck driver. Oh the truck driver was hospitalized.
SPEAKER_00:Well, either way, either way, uh, you know, knives being pulled out, people getting, you know, irate while they're drunk, and craziness happening.
SPEAKER_01:You know, this is a situation where you know, Mark Sanchez is employed by Fox, and we don't even know if he'll be employed, let alone if he'll even not wind up in jail for look, people get fired from media business for way less. Okay. I think he's out, they're probably waiting for the situation to play out, but let the courts figure their stuff out and figure out what's gonna happen. I I think Mark Sanchez is he may not be done for good. It depends on how he tries to come back from this, but I think in his current role, yeah, he's probably done.
SPEAKER_00:Yeah.
SPEAKER_01:Um we say so. Especially given the circumstance. And this is why I say everybody, y'all have heard me say this a hundred times before, and I'll say it again. Uh, you lose your cool, you lose your judgment. And alcohol is one of the biggest contributors to that. Um, because you know, it as soon as you start feeling tipsy, it doesn't take much for some of us to just flip that switch, happy to angry, okay?
SPEAKER_00:Well, uh let alone feel like, oh, this dude's pissed me off. Yeah. You want to fight?
SPEAKER_01:Alcohol, alcohol, well, substances, but alcohol in particular, particularly, really removes your ability to control your emotions liquid courage. Yeah, liquid courage. So it removes your judgment, your ability to think clearly, and your ability to control yourself. That's really why part of why alcohol is so dangerous in a sense, right?
SPEAKER_00:Well, for those who can't handle themselves properly.
SPEAKER_01:Yeah, I can handle myself properly. That's why I love to party, but that's not here or there.
SPEAKER_00:Future advice. If you find out your friend is a happy drunk, that's the guy you go drinking with. Don't go drinking with the guy that sees somebody in the bar and goes, Hey, I don't like the way that guy looked at me.
SPEAKER_01:Well, hold on now. That can change in a second. Everybody's a happy drunk until they're pissed off about something, okay? Everybody is a happy drunk until that switch flips.
SPEAKER_00:Sir, you know which friends are hotheads, or you should by this point. You do.
SPEAKER_01:You don't drink-these are the ones you don't go drinking. Well, clearly you don't drink with the ones that are known hotheads, but I have, you know, not that I've been in any serious situations, but you know, I've bear witness to people who I thought were completely level-headed people, and as and they got drunk, and then a scenario happened, and it was like talking to a whole different person. Look, it happens. And I'm not saying that this is forgivable, I'm just saying like that happens. Like, you just don't know until you're there and in the scenario. But getting back to Mark Sanchez situation, like, you really gotta keep your head on straight, man. Like, first of all, what were you doing?
SPEAKER_00:So, okay, like he was doing wrong, first off, but I can tell you right now, I really hope that if he if he winds up in jail, which he probably will, because he's probably gonna have jail time, fines, and I think he's gonna be sued. If he does wind up in that scenario, I hope for the love of God, he reaches out to Ryan Leif. Oh Lord. I hope he reaches out to Ryan Leaf. No, hear me out. Like Ryan Leif, he has really turned his life around and he's had some shaky incidents like this. He went to jail, man. Ryan Leif was in jail, he was dealing with substance abuse issues, and he was going through it, and he's not shy to tell people about it. But he literally goes in now and talks with players and coaches and and people that have gone to jail who had promising futures and tells them, like, look, yeah, you can turn this around, you just have to understand the things that get you here, that get you to this point in your life. And I really think it would be beneficial to Sanchez to have a conversation with Ryan Leif.
SPEAKER_01:And I'm gonna move this thing up in our agenda while we're talking about this and talk about Ryan Leif. Speaking of second chances and turning things around, uh Henry Ruggs is due for parole, eligible for parole in 2026. There's talk of him trying to make an NFL comeback. Do you think he even deserves to try to have a second chance in the NFL? He still runs a sub-4-4, actually sub-4-3-40, still fast. Um, so I mean, what what do we make of the situation with Ruggs when it comes to uh poor judgment and really having to come back from some incredible adversity here? So and when I say incredible, I don't mean that in a good way. I mean, this was not a good situation he went through.
SPEAKER_00:I think this is a scenario of what most people fear. Uh when you give a young athlete a lot of money and they feel like they're on top of the world, and you you let's face it, when you're young, when you're in your like early 20s, I'm talking from 20 to 25, you do some dumb things. Because you have a little bit of freedom, you can start drinking, you can start like you start feeling like you can you're almost invincible, right? Everybody kind of thinks that way in their early 20s, they're up for doing anything, they try anything, they stay up late, they do all kinds of craziness in their early 20s. In his case, he decided that he was gonna drive his new Corvette at a high rate of speed. Actually, I don't think it was Corvette, it was a Corvette. He was under the influence. He was under the influence, driving his his girlfriend was with him. I don't know if she was pregnant or not. Driving at a high rate of speed, over a hundred miles an hour, hits an SUV with a woman and her dog in it, and it instantly ignited the car, killing both the woman and the dog.
SPEAKER_01:By the way, that SUV was dead stopped. Yeah, like he ran into them 100 plus miles an hour, them dead stopped. I mean, that was probably nothing but total carnage. Yeah. I'm impressed he even lived. Right.
SPEAKER_00:That's the part I the lady in the SUV, she passed away, right? Yeah, that her and her dog were engulfed in flames instantly.
SPEAKER_01:Yeah. And so, you know, to me, this comes down to first of all, I get the blessing from the family. Okay. First of all, I go straight to that woman's family. This is just how I hand it. People don't handle things like I handle them. But to me, I'm thinking, before we even talk about second chances, I asked the family, okay, uh, it's hard to reconcile ever losing a loved one. Right. But especially after this situation, I would ask them, like, hey, rugs is rugs is due for parole. He wants another shot at the NFL, which is a feasible, you know, possibility. Do you give a blessing after everything that's happened? Like, I asked the family straight up, what do you think? They're probably gonna say no.
SPEAKER_00:It depends on how they view life. I mean, some people, yeah, some people who've been in situations like they've have been known to forgive and move on, and some people say, Never ever in a million years will I forgive you. And and it's really on them on how they feel. But as far as him, he still has the skills to possibly get back to the NFL. But I don't think I don't think any team is going to be willing to give him a shot right off. I think what his best course of action is either go CFL or XFL and then go from there. Or, you know, practice squad and maybe. But I mean, ultimately, he's gotta reconcile, like you said, with himself, with the people he affected, yeah, with everything that he's done. I mean, like he's had it's not like he didn't do his time. He did go to he did go away. Yeah, he did go do real jail time.
SPEAKER_01:And re and regard prison time, actually.
SPEAKER_00:And jail, prison no, two. Either way, you're behind bars. Two different things, bro. I know they're two different things, but what I'm saying is either way he has paid a debt. But but not saying that that doesn't devalue the person's life, because that is not what I'm saying. Like you you don't devalue somebody's life by just getting a few years, you know.
SPEAKER_01:Yeah, and you know, a lot of times whether you're getting ready to be a famous athlete or not, even for just us common folk, right? People make mistakes all the time, people do dumb things, colossal mistakes, right? Oh, a lot of times, even if it was just something like even if it's just something like us common folk, we'd be out of job, right? Obviously. Is this society should we start moving towards this is a bit of a slippery slope, right? You because if you mess up, you lose your shot, you're done. That's how it works here, right? That's how it works for most people. For most people it does, but it's should we should we start moving towards, okay, you know, maybe the debt sp maybe he's paid for there's not a debt to it, but maybe he's reconciled.
SPEAKER_00:I think this is really a problem where it's perspective. It really is perspective because some people can see somebody and see that they've changed and see that they've done different with their life and forgive them. Some people they can't let go of it. It's not in their nature. They just it's not that they are bad people. It's like some people, it is hard for them to let go of somebody doing them wrong. You know what I mean? Like, so it really comes down to how people feel about the situation in him and what he's done and whether or not his redemption is.
SPEAKER_01:And then there's the thing the question of level of maturity, right? Like, okay, yeah, he's grown, not just rugs, but any individual. Okay, yeah, this person's grown, they've learned from their mistake, but then they go out and make a mistake again. Then you realize you regret giving them a second chance.
SPEAKER_00:Right, but this these are the these are just playing devil's advocate. There's always there's always a risk of people continuing to do wrong. And I I've heard a lot of uh former players and and former athletes who will say these are these are the can't get rights because they're they're literally some guys, like no matter what you do, no matter what you tell them, they just say they just seem to always pick the wrong move. And you know, in the sports realm, especially in NFL locker rooms, they call those dudes the can't get rights, they can't be on time, they can't be at the practice, you know, on time. Right. They're constantly getting drunk and getting in fights, or they're constantly doing the in some kind of legal trouble of some sort. Yeah, they just they uh it not not for people not caring and trying to help them, but they just they can't get out of their own way.
SPEAKER_01:Yeah, and and for me, you know, um honestly, I I'm not sure which way I waver on this because I myself has have been through some adversity in my time, especially as a younger younger man myself. Um so like there's a part of me that says, all right, especially when it comes to Ruggs' situation, okay. Uh I would like to maybe see him in an NFL jersey one day, but at the same time, the other part of me is like, okay, I recognize that there were mistakes made on such a colossal level here that they just may never be reconciled for him. And he just might have to find another way in life. Uh so that's what I'm torn on right there. And that's the a lot of that drive is comes from my own personal experience. Like, you you don't want to miss out, okay. Yeah, yeah, I messed up, I made a mistake, but you still want to pursue that goal, but that might not be feasible, right?
SPEAKER_00:But again, this is where I go back to Ryan Leif and look at how he literally spiraled, and he even himself had had said, I didn't deserve redemption, I didn't deserve the things that happened. You know, he he said, I was just lucky that I had the right people around me to get me in the right space mind-wise, and and just get me in the right spot in my life to where I could get right. And another and sometimes that's what it takes. You just need the right people in your corner and you need the right situation to get to where you need to be. The right guidance.
SPEAKER_01:And another good example, uh, and this one's very touchy, so forgive me if I strike a chord, Michael Vick. Yeah, he did get another chance in the NFL, and now he's getting he's furthering that opportunity as a college football coach, head coach. Uh so and and analysts. He does he does do some analyst work, and analyst work. So he himself seems to have turned it around. So, like when you look at Vic's situation, Vic did one of the unspoken evils ever, right?
SPEAKER_00:So, like there's again, this is where some people can forgive people, and some people you're never ever gonna get that forgiveness. Yeah, and and and I understand, I understand it's everybody has their right to feel the way they feel, it's their opinion, and it's fine. Yeah, but you know, right or wrong, you have your opinion, you have the ability to think for yourself, and thank God we live in America, yeah. You can have your own opinion, and it's not gonna it's not gonna send you to the gulag. So the gay leg, the gay leg, the gallag. But I think we need to move on and talk about some other things.
SPEAKER_01:I think there was some good conversation around them, Mike. We did a good job with that.
SPEAKER_00:There is, but we're gonna move along and we're gonna talk about an another situation. It's not so great.
SPEAKER_01:That's right. And chime in to our social media guys. We're on the gram, you know, for you young folks or for old folks, Instagram. Um the Facebook, um, also known as old people's social media now.
SPEAKER_00:Yeah.
SPEAKER_01:Uh you can find us two for the wind.com. Feel free to tune in. Let us know how you feel about Henry Ruggs' situation. You know what? Just go up there and post on it.
SPEAKER_00:I'm glad you brought up Facebook. You know what Facebook is now? Dead? No. No. For all the generation right now, that's your baby book. That's where all your photos, all your pictures from when you were a kid. Yeah. So when so when you're when you're sitting here trying to like joke Facebook, yeah, just wait till your wait till your future wife goes up there and finds all your your horrible little baby videos and pictures because your mom posted everything. You kids can't get away with everything.
SPEAKER_01:Yeah, Facebook is baby book now. Yeah, it's baby book. Anyway, moving on. Speaking of Tyreek Hill, man. Speaking of second chances.
SPEAKER_00:Bro. So Tyreek Hill, Miami. Second blow after having his knee just basically explode. Yeah. So the Dolphins had just come out and said, Yeah, we're releasing you after this season. So he's going to get all his surgeries, get it all fixed up as best he can, and try to make his comeback, which it's possible because we've had this happen before where players have had multiple tears in their knee and had a dislocated kneecap and come back, but you don't know if it's going to be the same speed, the same player after such an injury.
SPEAKER_01:I think this is a double whammy here for the Miami Dolphins. Okay. Obviously, the multiple ligament tour. Uh he was already soured out with team staff and his teammates since the end of last year, so statements he've made and his performance. But I think a huge driver that is uh also uh contributing to this situation of him being out in 26 is his own legal situation, domestic violence accusations. And I'll call them accusations because they still gotta go through court and trial and you know crazy things happen. But whenever domestic I've noticed whenever domestic violence comes up, before somebody's even been to court for it, the team is usually like Brendan McMahon. Uh is it Brandon McManus or Brett McManus? The kicker for Green Bay. I think it's Brandon McMahon.
SPEAKER_00:Oh, oh, oh, yeah, yeah, it's us.
SPEAKER_01:He was with Washington. If you guys will remember, he was with Washington. We signed him in the offseason as a kicker, and then he was facing some domestic violence allegations before he could even get through the process. That's not what it was.
SPEAKER_00:That's not what it was. It was not domestic violence. He was he was accused of of being sexually harassing some stewardess on an account.
SPEAKER_01:Oh, yeah, that's right. That's different.
SPEAKER_00:And and he got released thereafter, and when he got released, uh he would basically sat at home until everything got cleared up, and then the Packers signed him. Yeah. And he became their kicker, and he's now their kicker since.
SPEAKER_01:We should have just kept him. I I don't think anybody should lose anything while it's just an accusation.
SPEAKER_00:Even still. Even still. Like if you have the thought that this is a thing, and it could bring because let's not forget, remember, your team was going through a lot of BS because of the former owner.
SPEAKER_01:And a lot of that is not something you want a lot of that was your team. Yeah, a lot of that was sexual harassment driven as well.
SPEAKER_00:So so this was a uh we're trying to get away from being that, and they try to move on from that narrative. So naturally they're gonna move on from the kicker, they're just gonna sign another one. It's not like it was the uh the big name player on the and circling back to Tyreek, though, yeah.
SPEAKER_01:I mean, I I think his time has been up for some time now, to be honest with you. Um the Miami experiment just didn't work out.
SPEAKER_00:It started out okay. It started out okay. But the problem was is they started doing the same thing that they did when he was with the Chiefs. They started doing the too high safety, and just we're gonna keep everything in front of us and keep you from you know having the deep threat, and they just try to push everything down low. Because if you noticed in his last few games, even leading into last year, all of the stuff was becoming short little in and out routes that he wasn't blowing the top off because there was no room to blow the top off.
SPEAKER_03:Yeah.
SPEAKER_00:Because he would go blow the top off, and there'd be two guys on him, so then he gets completely blown out of the play.
SPEAKER_01:And since he's been down, Tua's performance has uh increased uh slightly because now they're not just looking to throw it to him all the time. Uh they're spreading the ball around a little more here this last game.
SPEAKER_00:They spread it around when he was around. I mean, they did throw it, throw it to Waddle and Gasicki, and when Gasicki left, they started throwing throwing it.
SPEAKER_01:Well, now they got Darren Waller, which I think honestly is a huge upgrade for them at the tight end spot.
SPEAKER_00:Well, they had Johnu Smith uh last year, and he was he was coming on pretty good for the later part of the year. Johnu up with the with the Steelers now, I believe. Yeah, they traded him to the Steelers.
SPEAKER_01:And speaking, you know, of what you say out with the old, before we get into these games this last week, I got one more question for you, Mike, and then we'll talk about some games. We'll talk about some other things here. Uh no Pro Bowl 2025. There's talk of the so right now, if you pull up the schedule, right? Okay, uh, this is via uh football, football forever. John Lewis of Sports Media Watch reports that the NFL does not have the event on its calendar and has not commented about that all-star weekend, right? So the games usually happen between you know there's no there there hasn't been a Pro Bowl in a few years. There hasn't been a legitimate Pro Bowl All-Star game. They were like the Pro Bowl games where they're playing like flag football and some weird.
SPEAKER_00:I hate to say it. Between all the sports, baseball has the best all-star game.
SPEAKER_01:Period. Because it's an actual game. It's an actual game, actual match.
SPEAKER_00:Everybody actually likes watching it. Yeah. And they used to have a lot more gravitas in the in the uh in past years because it used to be the only time you would see certain players because there was no ability to watch like we do now.
SPEAKER_01:Yeah, and the and even the NHL came up with a a workaround for their Pro Bowl stuff, like they had before game.
SPEAKER_00:Yeah, doing doing their their world event where they're basically having nations, you know, the four nations. Four nations eventually. Which was amazing. I love that. I thought that was great.
SPEAKER_01:What do you what do you think the NFL? This has been ironically, this has been a topic of discussion since for for 20 years now. Me and you grew up. Uh we've been talking about the Pro Bowl and its lack of quality, and they've done different things over the years.
SPEAKER_02:I always wanted to get hurt.
SPEAKER_00:It really, what it was, when it started getting to the point where people are just kind of standing around where linemen and defensive linemen were just kind of you know, just pushing each other back and forth and not really doing anything, it it really turned into just a pass affair and a run affair. It did. And guys would basically just go to wrap a player and the player would just go down instantly because nobody wanted to get hurt. Yeah, I mean, really, it was a vacation for the best players to go to Hawaii. And then when you said, Hey, we're not doing it in Hawaii anymore, they're like, Oh, we don't want to do it. Yeah, and by the way, the only aspect that made it worth doing.
SPEAKER_01:Honolulu, that is the last actual NFL Pro Bowl game I remember.
SPEAKER_00:Well, they have they tried to do it in Orlando a couple times, and it's just like this ain't the same.
SPEAKER_01:It just ain't the same. The game quality is not the same. And you're right, these football players they don't want to get injured. I mean, NBA has an all-star game too, a couple of them actually, because they have the international games as well.
SPEAKER_00:Uh again, that's another one. No defense, it's all offense, and it just it's not as it's not as good of a product as actually watching a real NBA game.
SPEAKER_01:Yeah, I mean, and I I agree with you there. I just I wish the NFL would figure something out, but maybe they just go to the all-pro voting and it'd just be a vote, and these are your all pros for the year. I mean, that's how college kind of does it, even though they got their bowl games.
SPEAKER_00:But let me remind you that one of the Kachuk brothers in the Four Nations in the Four Nations contest got hurt and missed the pretty much the rest of the season until postseason from that contest, but they they still played their hearts out. So that's another reason that fans love that kind of stuff, is when players play at a high level and you get great competition, and that's what you got out of the four nations. That's why I think they hit a they hit a home run on that.
SPEAKER_01:Like I think that was an absolutely great job they did with that. I can't, like you say, I can't wait to see that again. Let's go ahead and talk about some matchups from this last weekend. Week five, just got off the tap.
SPEAKER_00:So we're gonna start off with the Niners and the Rams. And that's not being a homer. That was the Thursday night game. And if you watched it, if you watched the whole game, you were treated to a great game. Look, Mike, that's not that's not me being a homer. Don't lie to us.
SPEAKER_01:Do not lie to us, Mike.
SPEAKER_00:You're a homer as much as I am. No, I no, I love my team, but I'm not being a homer in this because this game was full of excitement. He's being a homer.
SPEAKER_01:I'm not it was not an exciting game.
SPEAKER_00:Look, late in the fourth quarter, the Rams look like they're getting ready to go down and score. They give the ball to their running back, and Alfred Collins, a rookie on the Niners, you just see this big haymaker of a punch come around and just punch right on that ball, fumble it, the running back fumbles it, and then he recovers it.
SPEAKER_01:I remember this.
SPEAKER_00:Bro, it's crazy. They go into overtime, they kick, they kick the uh go-ahead field goal by the Niners, and then they go down, the Rams go down the field, they have a fourth and one, and they're gonna go for it on a fourth and one when they could have kicked the tying field goal, and then either giving the ball back to the Niners or try to do an onside, or try to go for the touchdown. No, they hand the ball off to the running back again, and the Niners stop him, stuff him. He'd not even not even a shot because Siegel, the safety comes screaming down, but it wasn't so much Siegel as much as the front line with Warner breaking through in between two two defenders, pushing the running back over, getting met by Collins, and being met by uh Diamond Lenore coming in and grabbing onto the running back, and then the safety coming crashing in and stopping him, turning the ball over, giving the ball to the Niners, giving them the win. Crazy, crazy game. The entire game, you had the quarterback getting all kinds of issues with cramping. So they're I think they fed him like 11 bananas during the game, and he's just pounding electrolytes like crazy on the sidelines, trying to keep from cramping up so bad.
SPEAKER_01:I'm trying to think, is this the game where I felt like the Rams should have been locked it up and they just kept it. This is the game, yeah. You're right, because they went to overtime.
SPEAKER_00:Yeah.
SPEAKER_01:This was the game where they mismanaged at the end of the game, right?
SPEAKER_00:Well, it yes and no. I mean, they did they did take it into overtime, which is what they should have done.
SPEAKER_01:Well, where this was the game where they had like seven seconds left, and instead of s instead of spiking the ball, they tried to force another play. No, no, no, no, no, no. No, no, no, no, no, no.
SPEAKER_00:No, sir. No, sir. So what happened was what happened in this game was at the in the fourth quarter, they were driving, they were getting ready to score, and then that turnover happened. Like I said, the running back fumbled the football, and when he fumbled that football, it gave the Niners the ball inside the five, and so they they ran it a couple times. Each timeout was used by the Rams with leaving them no timeouts, very little time left. They kick the ball, you know, punt the ball, yeah, give it back to the Rams. The Rams work it's in field goal range, kick a game tying, go into overtime. Well, the 49ers take the ball down, kick their field goal to go up. Rams try to go down, they get stuffed on on their fourth fourth and one. You know, it's not they had their chances, and even their coach admitted we had our chances, but we just screwed up.
SPEAKER_01:Yeah. I was trying to think of the game. Maybe I'm thinking of a game from week three or week four, I'm not really sure. But uh, you know, moving on here, Vikings, you know, taking down the Browns 3-2, the Browns won in five.
SPEAKER_00:And the very first game. Yep. Very first game for rookie quarterback. Dylan Dylan Gabriel. Yeah. Mr. Gabriel getting his first start. Mr.
SPEAKER_01:Gabriel honestly did not have a bad showing, didn't throw it, did not turn it over. I think he went uh 19 of 33 for 200 yards, two touchdowns, relatively serviceable game.
SPEAKER_00:Yeah, he ran the he ran the offense efficiently, kept him in good position. They were playing trying to play field position game with a few of their possessions when it they just didn't seem to have things working. But what they they just were not the ones with the ball last, basically, in this game. And you know, give it up to their to the Vikings backup quarterback, Wentz, for having a good showing with Addison.
SPEAKER_01:Yeah, and uh we're gonna revisit the Browns when we talk about this upcoming week's schedule because we talk a little bit about Joe Flacco and his situation. But right now, let's go ahead and continue with the recap. Um, you know, the Vikings, they did good in that game, but here we have I had higher expectations for the Ravens this season, and they're only one in four, bro.
SPEAKER_00:Well, okay, first off, this last game against the Texans losing 44-10, they did not have Lamar starting because he was hurt, and they basically were missing tons of players on the defensive side of the ball. I mean, their their top paid safety Hamilton wasn't playing, most of their offense their defensive line was not playing, and they just they looked inept in offense. Yeah, they just really did. They just did not look like a good team.
SPEAKER_01:Yeah, Chase is not running that. Chase is not running the offense well. Uh Derrick Henry's fumbled a couple times.
SPEAKER_00:I actually I think it was uh Cooper, the former former Dallas backup, Cooper Rush.
SPEAKER_01:Yeah, Cooper Rush is the one running the offense for them. And then again, Derrick Henry has had a couple fumbles. He's been pissed off. Uh just not a good time for the Ravens. Maybe they clean up. They have a chance to salvage their season, but they're gonna have to go on a run here, okay? And then they need it bad, but I don't think it's gonna happen. Talk about a game. I thought Miami actually had this game in the bag at one point, and the Panthers came back with 27. Well, I think they came back with like 17 unanswered points.
SPEAKER_00:Well, how about the fact that we found out late that Chupa Hubbard was not gonna play? Yeah, and they they brought in uh uh oh, what's his name? Ricardo uh Rico Dowdle.
SPEAKER_01:That's it, that's it. And he split he split carries with a couple of their backs. Rico Dowdle got the start.
SPEAKER_00:He got over 200 yards rushing, man.
SPEAKER_01:Yeah, in that game, which is crazy from a Panthers' perspective. And the Panthers, look, I gotta give the Panthers a lot of credit. They're only two and three right now, but they are a tough team to play, man. Like especially defensively. And Bryce Young is kind of coming along. They hopefully get Jalen Coker back here soon. But uh, I thought that Miami would have had this in the bag, and they did for a little bit.
SPEAKER_00:Well, he's starting to look good with the the rookie receiver, McMillan. They're starting to make it like he hasn't found the end zone yet, but they're starting to make some chemistry. He's starting to figure out that even if he's get uh has a contested situation, just give him a chance.
SPEAKER_01:They have an offense down there, they need a little better protection, but McMillan's been a lightning rod. He's been an absolute strike. Uh Leggette, their first round pick from a couple years ago, is finally starting to show some buzz, and they'll get Jalen Coker back. They're gonna be loaded at receiver down there in Carolina, so I'm eager to see how the rest of their season plays out. Um, the Colts, I honestly had higher expectations for the Raiders. I didn't have very many expectations for the Colts, and it's quite the opposite now.
SPEAKER_00:Yeah, this game was not at all close being 40-6 with the Colts running away with this.
SPEAKER_01:Literally running away with this. Bro, I suffice to say, and step on my toe if I'm wrong, uh I think the Colts might be one of the best teams in football right now. They are freaking hitting right now.
SPEAKER_00:Well, one of their other division opponent division mates might have a say on that, and but we'll get to that here in a minute. Yeah, we'll see what the Gyms think later. We'll get yeah, we'll get well, I was gonna get to that in a minute. But moving on to the New York uh Giants versus the Saints, man, I really thought that the Giants would put a better fight than this. I mean, yeah, it was 14 14 on their side and 26 for the Saints. But the Saints, the Saints showed us something in this game. They they threw a pass to uh oh what's the receiver? Shahid. Shahid, that's it. Shaheed was clocked at almost 22 miles an hour on that run. That is fast, dude. That is fast.
SPEAKER_01:And by the way, I have a very love-hate relationship with the Giants. Never mind that they're an ex-girlfriend's team. But aside from that, I have a very love-hate relationship with them because I really like Cam Scadabow and I really like Jackson Dart, okay? But I really need them to continue sucking, okay, because I'm a Commanders fan. So they're doing just that, but both of those players are doing just well enough.
SPEAKER_00:But they're they're another team that, you know, their record does not show how tough they play.
SPEAKER_01:No, it doesn't. The Giants, honestly, a very tough team to play right now, especially since inserting Jackson Dart and Cam Scadibo. And Cam Scadabow is diving headfirst into everything, even if he doesn't have the ball.
SPEAKER_00:This guy knew he was gonna take over that running back spot.
SPEAKER_01:I did too. I'm so glad. Uh, and I I'm eager to see how the rest of their season plays out, kind of like the rest of them. Uh, Cowboys over the Jets. We don't really need to talk about too much. By the way, Cowboys accomplishing a very hard feat to do through five weeks. They are 500 in week five. Look, man. Look.
SPEAKER_00:The the Cowboys won, but this just shows even more that their defense is crappy because they got 37 points, but they allowed the Jets, who have been very inept this year, yeah, they're 0-5 for a reason, to get 22 points on them. Honestly, the Jets don't, they're not doing too bad. I mean, they are they don't have a single takeaway this year.
SPEAKER_01:They're 0-5, but Garrett Wilson is getting touchdowns in every single game. So I don't I don't know where the Jets are falling short, but they uh in defense and offense, they need some help.
SPEAKER_00:Game management, a lot of things. First year under Aaron Glenn, they'll get it together though. Bro, this next game had me hyped. I was so into this game. Oh, I would love this. Broncos and Eagles with the Broncos coming away with the 21 to 17 win late in that game.
SPEAKER_01:And like that was such a great game. And let me tell you what. Do not sleep on the Broncos. They're better than people give them credit for. Uh, Sean Payton has that team rolling now. The Eagles just got into this too late. That's all it was. They let the Broncos get ahead too early. They wait till fourth quarter to show up and play, and they just can't get it done. I've noticed this with the Eagles for the last couple games. They have waited until fourth quarter to come out and play NFL caliber football. Um, and then they try to win it. It's not it didn't work against the Broncos, bro. Y'all took it out.
SPEAKER_00:The Broncos, the Broncos played tough. Like they hung in there, yeah. They played some field position in that game to basically keep them in it. Their defense really deserves the nod in this because they really they held Saquon Barkley back a little bit. I mean, Saquon did get a a uh receiving touchdown, but like they they didn't allow him to run all over them.
SPEAKER_01:Honestly, the bro the Broncos they have one of the toughest defenses in the league.
SPEAKER_00:And and Patrick Sertan multiple times added a ball away from from AJ Brown because they were trying to feed AJ Brown, but it just was not hitting. Speaking of which, AJ Brown's having a down year right now. I mean having a down year because they haven't been throwing him the ball.
SPEAKER_01:They haven't been throwing him the ball, but even Devontae Smith hasn't been getting it that much.
SPEAKER_00:So like they're not throwing the ball, man. They're trying to do all this run him BS, and then you have your carbon who chooses to run more than he does to go through all the progressions.
SPEAKER_01:Even Barkley's had a mediocre year. The Eagles' offense is kind of struggling a little bit. It's looking a little stagnant.
SPEAKER_00:Yeah, it is a little stagnant. You know, for a team that's four and one, they just they they look just not like for a team that's four and one, you would think there'd be a little more to them.
SPEAKER_01:Yeah.
SPEAKER_00:It's just weird.
SPEAKER_01:They just I I had a feeling that my prediction was that the Eagles were gonna take a step back this season, and it it so far that seems to be true.
SPEAKER_00:So well, I mean, they're still four-and-one. That does I mean they're doing good. But speaking of of things being weird, I don't know if you saw this Titans Cardinals game. Look, I'm telling you, look, this game should not have been lost by the Cardinals, because the Cardinals at one point were up 21 to like six and late in the game. But there was a play in this game. The quarterback ward throws a pick, and then the pick turns into a lovely it turns into a fumble, and this is all happening on the cardinal side of the field. So he throws the pick, one of the offensive players knocks it out, it becomes a fumble. The fumble gets kicked around, battered around until it's in the end zone, and then Lockett, the receiver Lockett, grabs the grabs the ball, and it's a touchdown. So it was a pick to a fumble to a touchdown, and bro. They had to make a special stat correction for that in fantasy football. Fantasy football put a stat up and it goes it it explain tries to explain this play where it says there is a pick, so the pick counts. There is a fumble.
SPEAKER_01:They gave the credit for the pick, then they gave the credit for the fumble.
SPEAKER_00:And then they said Lockett does not get a touchdown because it's not Lockett who got the touchdown, it's the defense. But wait, the offense was on the field. So the defense is credited with a touchdown, and Lockett doesn't get squat. And mind you, after the play, Lockett takes the football over to the sideline because it's his first touchdown of the year as a Titan. Yeah. So it was just a nuts play, but that's not the play that really defined this game. The Cardinals who are decimated at running back have uh and go ahead and say his name because I'm gonna screw it up. You go for it. Which one? The running back. You know the one. Emmanuel DeMicardo. Yes. So we got that one right. He he is running for a touchdown. He is running for a touchdown. He is like he cuts through the line, and it's just greengrass for days. The only buddy he has to be is a safety, and the safety has already been pulled over to the left side of the field. He is running, he's gonna get this touchdown. And he does the thing you never do. And nobody has learned this, not since uh Deshaun Jackson. Deshaun Jackson did it on a Monday night game. He let go of the ball before he was actually in the end zone, causing the ball to be turned over to the Titans. So he doesn't get the touchdown. So terrible. A few things happened because of this. Because of this play, it gave the Titans their shot to come back. And because of the turnover, it also gave them that. But their coach had an altercation with him on the sideline, is being fined a hundred thousand dollars.
SPEAKER_01:Yeah, because uh what's his name? Cannon actually punched him. I don't agree with that. Uh you gotta find a way better way to be a coach. Yeah, but that game. Jonathan Cannon might be out after that.
SPEAKER_00:I I think he's gonna lose some of the locker room for his behavior. I think I think he's out.
SPEAKER_01:I think the Cardinals part way with Jonathan Cannon after this after the season. Depending, depending on how the season goes, that is. And then here we have the Bucks and the Seahawks. Bucks sitting at 4-1, really a dark horse team to be almost undefeated here. And the Seahawks, the NFC West, by the way, your guys' division is is freaking nuts. Is nuts is loaded. Every single one, I mean the Cardinals just fell to two and three, but the Seahawks are three and two. What are the 49ers? Y'all are like four and one. Uh, and then the Rams are three and two, I think.
SPEAKER_00:This game, though, between the tight between the Seahawks and the Buccaneers, it final score, Buccaneers 38, Seahawks 35. This was a back and forth game. Both quarterbacks had over 300 yards passing, and and Buka, I think, had two touchdowns in the game. That he's he is hands down the best rookie receiver and best rookie overall so far this year in this short season.
SPEAKER_01:Now, Lions, Bangles. Bangles actually kind of held their own a little bit, putting up 24 points on a potent Lions defense.
SPEAKER_00:Yeah, but but Browning threw not one, but two, two bad picks where he basically threw it. He looked like Archie. He was throwing into double coverage.
SPEAKER_01:Jake Browning is clearly like QB4. Joe Flacco has now been traded to the Bengals. Mike, are we buying or selling on Joe Flacco here with the Bengals? Well, he's an upgrade from what they have.
SPEAKER_00:Are you sure? He is. He is. He's an upgrade. Yes, I'm sure. But here's the thing this trade says two things, right? One, it says the Browns don't think very highly of Flacco. Or they failed the higher of Dylan Gabriel and No, it does say that they think well highly of their two rookies, but what it says is they don't think high enough of Flacco, and they're moving Flacco because it's going to go forward with Gabriel. But but here's what it says. Because not only do they trade him, but they traded him in division to it to a division opponent.
SPEAKER_01:So that yeah, they don't think highly of them. And I saw a meme of Kevin Stefansky, right? The Browns head coach. Um it was like, well, now that we've traded Flacco, we're banking on either Stefansky or Shadur being the QB2. And right now we're leading towards Stefansky. So not that I'm trying to throw shade at uh Shadur, but I thought that was kind of funny.
SPEAKER_00:So here's another thing that says, based on the Bengals side of the house. Let's not forget, there's other options out there to trade for a quarterback who would be a starting quarterback in the NFL. They chose to choose the cheapest option possible. This is saying to me, they do not wish to go out and spend money this year. Bro, because it's a lost season.
SPEAKER_01:Joe Flacco just needs to go do a season on Steelers so he can complete his NFC his AFC North tour. Because he won the Super, he won a Super Bowl with the Ravens, long time starting quarterback for them. Wound up with the Browns after the stint with the Colts, I believe. Yeah, but Steelers will never take them. So yeah, because of the Steelers, they got Aaron Rodgers now. They already have their old quarterback. They have Flacco Crack.
SPEAKER_00:Um now to the game I know you want to talk about.
SPEAKER_01:You know, I honestly don't have much to say about this game. Washington went into LA, they handled business, and they left. It was not much notable about this game to me. Yes, there was. Um they they won it with Marcus Mariota. No, they didn't. Oh, wait, that's right. Jaden Daniels was back for this game. Jesus, did you watch your game? I did. I'm thinking about Lamar Jackson. Sorry. They're like the same person to me now at this point.
SPEAKER_00:No, no, no, no. Look, sir, you you are underselling your running back. You are underselling. Krosky Merritt? Yes. Bill. Yo, Bill. Look, that dude was fire in that game. He did.
SPEAKER_01:He had a he had a very he had a very good game.
SPEAKER_00:Um you know why I know that? Because I have your quarterback in fantasy. And every time they got close to scoring, they gave it to his ass.
SPEAKER_01:Yeah, I I agree. That messed up my that messed up some of my parlays as well. But you know, for the commanders to go in 27-10 over a Chargers team that beat the Chiefs in week one in Brazil.
SPEAKER_00:Context. Let's put it in context. Uh this is a Chargers team that their offensive line is hurting because they've already lost two of their starting offensive linemen. They're left, their left tackle, and then they moved their right tackle, and their right tackle got hurt, and they have a guard hurt. And the running running backs hurt too. They're they're missing two of the running backs, and they're also missing a few pieces on defense. So they're feeling the hurt bug. So that kind of lends to that. But your team came out with such a good game plan, they just couldn't recover.
SPEAKER_01:Yeah, they honestly, they just like I said, they just went in, handled business, and went home. Uh, to me, that was a very good win, an expected win, because they dropped the ball last week. They couldn't afford to go two and three.
SPEAKER_00:Speaking of game plans, man. How about that Sunday night game? The Bills. This was the game of the week to me, right? The Bills and Patriots playing in Buffalo, the Patriots come in with such a good game plan. They held the they held the Buffalo Bills, who have been a good scoring.
SPEAKER_01:Well, at least they held something because nobody could hang on to the ball in that game. Look, I kept I had never seen so many turnovers in a game in my life.
SPEAKER_00:Look, that's because those teams are playing hard and it's divisional when it's a divisional game. Game and let's not let's not lose sight of it. The Patriots are now three and two, with the Buffalo Bills only being four and one. If they have the same record, right now the Patriots would have the tiebreaker. So if they can roll off a few more wins off of this win, they could feasibly become the division leader. You know, and this was a very good game for Stefan Diggs. Stefan Diggs getting a little get back at his former team, which by the way, not to spoil it for most of y'all, but the Cubs just won, beating the Brewers, sending this game back up to the Brewers. Uh anyway. For for for a uh Well actually, no, it doesn't send it back to the Brewers. They're gonna play one more game. They're gonna play one more game in Wrigley and then they'll go play game five in the Brewers House. Okay. So if the Brewers win the next one, it's done. Let's see. Let's see. Yes. So right now, yeah, if if they win, if they win one more, it will go. If they win one more, because they just won one. If they they won one, so it takes it to 2-1 in the series. If they they're gonna have one more game in Wrigley, and then game five will be in the Brewers Milwaukee.
SPEAKER_01:Well, let's see if they let's see if the Cubs pull it out, man. Yeah.
SPEAKER_00:And then speaking of another seven minutes out, bro. I said don't sleep on the Jaguars defense. Shut up.
SPEAKER_01:I said that. I've been saying that for like two years now.
SPEAKER_00:You did not.
SPEAKER_01:I did stop your mess. I can pull episodes where I said watch the Jaguars because they're an up-and-coming team. Anyway, so the the Monday night. You guys called me crazy, and I know I'm crazy, but I'm not crazy on the Jaguars.
SPEAKER_00:So look, the Chiefs and Jaguars played in Duval Stadium, and the Chiefs, I guess, thinking that they're just gonna get over on this Jaguars team. You realize when Patrick Mahomes throws a pick six, he has not won a game. He is he has done it in playoffs and he's done in the regular season, where he has thrown pick sixes, and when he does, he does not win. Now, mind you, the final play of the game, that was a goofy looking play where you know the stumble roosky, as some are calling it. Stumble Roosky. Where where uh you had you have uh sunshine falling down because his guard stepped on his foot. He gets up in a panic, and he he he described it perfectly at the end of the game. He said it was pure panic.
SPEAKER_02:That's exactly what it was.
SPEAKER_00:Pure panic. Pure panic. So he gets up and then falls down, gets up again, and then manages to scamper into the end zone to get him a touchdown. Now, which mind you, if you're paying attention to that play, Chris Jones quits on the play.
SPEAKER_01:Chris Jones, Chris Jones, Chris Jones.
SPEAKER_00:You need to stop that because that dude quit on the play. He was just standing there. Andy Reed, Andy Reid said he knows better. He knows you don't quit on the play.
SPEAKER_01:And I don't know what he was doing there. And he's a Pro Bowl player, too, and a team captain at one point. I don't know if he is this year or not, but that is not acceptable. And by the way, the Jaguars have had a pretty formidable defense for a little while now. We've just been waiting for their offense to catch up. And look at what's happening now.
SPEAKER_00:Well, they have ETN healthy. He's he's leading most of the league, getting almost six yards.
SPEAKER_01:Well, they got Etienne healthy, uh Bretton Strange in his second year as tight end. He should break out a little bit. But he got hurt. Yeah, he got he got hurt this game, unfortunately. And then you got Brian Thomas Jr., who is an all-pro caliber receiver. Oh, and they got another receiver over there. I forget his name.
SPEAKER_00:Really? They're rookie?
SPEAKER_01:Maybe you can help me.
SPEAKER_00:They rookie receiver in corner.
SPEAKER_01:I thought he played for the oh, he is with the Jaguars. And I don't know why I keep thinking of the Panthers when I think of that. Well, who is it? Tavaris Jackson. What? Travis Hunter. Sorry. Like, what are you talking about? This is when they throw a random X player out there. Lord. Anyway. By the way, starting, not just playing, starting for the offense and the defense in an NFL game.
SPEAKER_00:And not to mention they'd be getting a little love from a former receiver of your Washington Commanders, Deomi Brown. He's been showing up a little bit for the game. That's right.
SPEAKER_01:And honestly, I love Diomi Brown. He's just been needing that opportunity, bro. And he showed flashes in Washington, and I'm I'm glad he went somewhere that's going to try to give him a chance. Uh Diamme Brown's a hitter, man. They just got to put it in his hands if he can so if he can catch it.
SPEAKER_00:The thing that you got to take away from this game, that now with them being four-and-one and having having already defeated a perceived playoff team, they're showing something. So now at a four-and-one clip, also with the Colts being four-one in their same division, it's going to be a slug fest going down the way. I can't wait to see when Jacksonville plays Colts.
SPEAKER_01:Oh, I can't wait to see here. Now, looking forward to this coming week, we got some good matchups here. Nobody cares about Thursday night's game. We're going to skip that one. Oh, only because it's your division? It's a four-and-one team versus a one-and-four team. I fully expect the Eagles. It's a trap game. I think I agree with you. I think it is a trap game. Uh the Eagles have slipped here this last game. New York is kind of trying to get it together. I could see New York getting the win, but I fully expect the Eagles to get the win here. Oh 9:30 a.m. Uh where are they playing at? London? Yes. The Broncos and the Jets from London. Broncos 3-2, Jets 0-5. Broncos are going to spank them. I think the Broncos are going to walk all over the Jets. Just forgive my disrespect. The Rams, you know, normally I would pick the Ravens in this, and they're not expected to have Lamar back. Nope, it's Rams all day. This is going to be Rams all day. Sorry, Cowboys and Panthers.
SPEAKER_02:Panthers.
SPEAKER_01:Honestly, I'm picking the Cowboys. Panthers. And I hate it, but I'm picking the Cowboys. And here's why. The Cowboys offense, okay. Their defense, not terribly bad, but I'm picking the Cowboys to go up there. I just simply think they're going to outscore the Panthers. Okay. They have to outscore at this point because their defense is so horrible. Well, that's how you win the football game. But anyway.
SPEAKER_00:Oh, you mean if you score more points, you win the game?
SPEAKER_01:But I just I just simply think the Cowboys are going to outscore the Panthers. And they're the now the Panthers do what they did in Miami. Very different team. Great. Cardinals and Colts.
SPEAKER_00:Everybody knows that's going to be a Colts game.
SPEAKER_01:That is definitely a Colts game. They got issues. Seahawks and Jaguars. I'm pulling the Jaguars here. And I never I would not normally call this an upset because the Jaguars are the favorite. But to me, this is an upset win. I think the Jaguars are gonna be.
SPEAKER_00:Because the Jaguars play the the uh 12 personnel very well, which is what primarily the Seahawks play. So you're playing into a strength of the defense. Yeah. So they got to really play a clean game to hope to come away out.
SPEAKER_01:And they're in Jacksonville at that. West Coast teams flying to East Coast historically do not have that much luck. I'm taking the Jaguars all day. Uh Chargers at the Dolphins. I think this is a trap game for the Chargers. Uh the Dolphins are desperate game.
SPEAKER_00:I think it's a get right. I think it's a get-right game for them.
SPEAKER_01:Yeah, it's a get right, but I think it's also kind of a trap. The Dolphins are in desperate, desperately trying to get another win under their melt, and they're playing in Miami. Another West Coast flying to East Coast. Again, historically, don't work out well, but I think the Chargers will get this one. Uh Browns at the Steelers. Are we buying Joe Flacco again? Or are we selling on Joe Flacco? Joe Flacco's not in the game, man. This is a real show. Well, this he's starting. Oh, wait, that's right. Flacco's with the Bengals. Sorry, orange helmet, orange helmet. Forgive me. It's okay. Bonk.
SPEAKER_00:It's okay.
SPEAKER_01:Yeah, this is definitely the Steelers game here.
SPEAKER_00:Unless the Browns are the Browns got a pretty tough defense. It's a divisional game. They always play each other tough. Remember, remember, the Browns won with Jameis Winston at the home. They just beat the game. And they they looked they looked great against the Steelers. And then next week, you couldn't stop Jameis Brown.
SPEAKER_01:They just beat the Packers a couple weeks ago. So don't count them out of this one here. Uh the Patriots and the Saints. I'm thinking Patriots, bro.
SPEAKER_00:Yeah, I'm thinking the Patriots, but I'm not saying the Saints can't, you know, kind of keep it close in the beginning, go toe-to-toe a little bit, tit for tat on scoring, and then all of a sudden it's gonna be it's gonna be who can play the cleanest operation in football. Yeah, I agree with that. As long as I trust the Patriots more with playing cleaner football than the Saints.
SPEAKER_01:Yeah, I I agree with that. I I I think the Patriots will pull this one out.
SPEAKER_00:But they do have the hometown favored with the crowd, so crowd noise might play a factor in it.
SPEAKER_01:Now, the Titans and the Raiders, the battle of two bottom dwellers, nobody really cares. Sam Fran and the Buccaneers, that's gonna be a four-one versus four-and-one. The team with so many injuries. You guys have do you guys have Bosa back yet, or is he he out?
SPEAKER_00:He's done for the year, man. Or he's out for the year.
SPEAKER_01:Right ACL. I know you're picking your home team, but I I really think the Bucs might pull this one out.
SPEAKER_00:So here's the thing. The Bucs have a great offense. They do not have a great defense. Because their defense has given has given up double-digit points in every game this year, and they've had to play down to the wire in every game this year. You can only get away with playing down to the wire so long before it catches up.
SPEAKER_01:And I got one more thing. West Coast team flying to the East Coast. So statistics are not in their favor, but maybe maybe they pull it out. They gotta stay alive in the division. So, and this is separation time. Mac's been playing great. Now, the Bengals and the Packers, do are we buying Joe Flacco here to have a decent game against a stuptacular Green Bay defense?
SPEAKER_00:That that Green Bay defense is gonna just rain on them. I I don't I don't see the Bengals doing well in this game. I just don't. Because the Packers, you don't know who's gonna be the top receiver in the game. And I believe they're getting Watson back, so now they're gonna have even more options at receiver.
SPEAKER_01:And they yeah, the Bengals, regardless of the quarterback, have not fielded a good defense this year. That Sunday night game, though, man.
SPEAKER_00:Lions, Chiefs. Hey, remember, they opened the season with them not too long ago, and the Lions beat them. Embarrassed them.
SPEAKER_01:In their house. This is a tough pick for me because the Chiefs are really trying to get back into it, and they have the scoring power, especially with uh what's his name back.
SPEAKER_00:Well, but something that goes in their favor is the Lions have been hit hard a little bit with the injury bug to their secondary. They just had Terry and Arnold go down to injury. They lost him for the season, who's a good corner for their team, and they had another corner that went down. I I forget the player's name. He's not at the top of my mind. But that will play to the Chiefs' favor with trying to get past their secondary.
SPEAKER_01:You know, well, we'll see how it plays out. And then we got a double header on Monday night football. Uh the Falcons and the Bills. This is a trap game for me. Because the Falcons have been hot and cold, right? Yeah. They can go in there and whoop your ass, or they could go in there and lay a goose egg. Uh the Bills think the Bills would get right. I think the Bills, this is a get right game for them.
SPEAKER_00:But I'm more interested in the backs in that game. Yeah. Because you got Robinson and you got Cooks. Yep. I think this is going to be the battle of the backs. I want to see, I want to see which one puts up more yards.
SPEAKER_01:They the Bills have more firepower than the Falcons do. We'll just call it what it is. I think the Bills could get right in the get-right game. And then we have yours truly, the Commanders, three-and-two versus the two and two Bears. You're going to want Hail Mary to win this game again. Once again, we may have we have Jaden Daniels versus Caleb Williams. In your house. At our house. Hail Mary again to win the game. Maybe to a different receiver this time. It won't be McLaurin, unfortunately.
SPEAKER_00:Um maybe y'all could just get it right and just beat the bricks off them.
SPEAKER_01:Look, I this is a tough call for me because the Bears have a very potent offense right now, okay? Not so potent defense. Uh no, not really. They the defense is okay, but they are vulnerable.
SPEAKER_00:Remember, they let the Cowboys run all over them.
SPEAKER_01:But we we don't really have a good defense either. So, I mean, especially not a good secondary. Once teams realize that they can pass on the commanders, they just start passing all day long. So if the commanders can lock down their receivers, I think the commanders can get this win. But we'll see what happens. This brings me to my last point of the show here. Mike, yay or nay, okay? Mac Jones deserves a starting spot in the NFL.
SPEAKER_00:Oh man. Well, let's look at it this way. We had Sam Darnold. Sam Darnold had a good showing. He moved on, got a starting job somewhere else in the NFL. We had Jimmy Garoppolo, he was our starter, he had a good showing. He went on to play somewhere else after we had Brock Purdy show well. So historically, we've had quarterbacks come through, show well, and go play somewhere else. So I think so. Let's not forget, he was a he was a number one first round pick.
SPEAKER_01:Honestly, I think I think Mac Jones has shown considerably more than those other two names you named.
SPEAKER_00:Well, and and let's keep in mind his first offensive coordinator was a defensive coordinator.
SPEAKER_01:I think he absolutely deserves to go somewhere and start, especially once Purdy comes back. I wouldn't I would try to trade him maybe in the offseason, to be honest with you, uh, and see if anybody bites on him.
SPEAKER_00:But at the same time, in this league, when we've seen players go down and seasons be tanked, sometimes it pays to have a good backup. Yeah. But it's also up to him if he wants to be a backup.
SPEAKER_01:Speaking of good backups, yay or nay, Carson Wentz should remain QB1. Yes. Even even above JJ McCarthy.
SPEAKER_00:Okay. 100%, yes. And here's why. The offense does not look inept under Wentz. Number three.
SPEAKER_01:This one's kind of fancy related. Javante Williams is the biggest fancy steal of this season. I think yes. Nobody saw that coming. Javante Williams? Dallas is running back. Former Broncos running back.
SPEAKER_00:I think Abuka is the biggest steal only because like most people didn't know who he was unless you watched Ohio State play. Yeah. He is being deemed the best Ohio received Ohio State receiver in the NFL right now.
SPEAKER_01:By the way, I think Ibuka is the best rookie receiver in the game right now. McMillan with the Panthers might be. He has five touchdowns in five games.
SPEAKER_00:And has over four, he has over 400, well, he has 455 yards so far. Yeah.
SPEAKER_01:We could be looking at a Mike Evans retirement here because of Ibuka's rock.
SPEAKER_00:I don't know about Evans' retirement, but we might be seeing uh another receiver that's been with him for years being shipped out at trade deadline. There's Godwin.
SPEAKER_01:Maybe, especially since he's healthy and and uh he's not. But you know, my next point, Drake May will finish the season as a top eight QB. Top eight is really a random number. Uh, I'm gonna go ahead and upgrade this. Drake may Drake May finishes in the top five.
SPEAKER_00:He showed me something in that game because like even with a defender all over him, pulling him down, he still managed to get a pass off to Diggs and convert that into a first down and keep a drive going late to get them to win. Um so yeah, I saw some Moxie and saw some resolve and saw saw a quarterback who looked like a quarterback who's had enough experience that he's he's getting confidence in his play in the NFL.
SPEAKER_01:I think so too. I think Vraibro's a big part of that. Oh, this is one that I've been calling for a while. And so if you the Jaguars are an AFC dark horse. Honestly, I think the Jaguars are an NFL dark horse.
SPEAKER_00:I think with that Monday night win, they announced to the rest of the NFL, don't sleep on us. Remember, last week I said if you did not have them in fantasy as your as your defensive team, go get them. Who do you because they have put up points every week? Who do you think the bigger dark horse is, the Colts or the Jaguars? Oh, could the obviously it has to be the Colts because the Colts nobody knew what you were gonna get with them? And you got and you got Danny Dimes, yeah. Like well, actually, no, it's now Indiana Jones.
SPEAKER_01:Indiana Jones. I like that.
SPEAKER_00:It's a fitting moniker.
SPEAKER_01:I wish they changed his name to Gary Indiana, but we'll go Indiana Jones. It's more fitting. Um this is kind of Jamar Chase's I haven't even seen some of these. Jamar Chase's stock goes up with the addition of Flacco. Yes.
SPEAKER_00:Because Joe Flacco can throw can throw a deep ball, whereas you have Browning every time he threw a deep ball, it was into double coverage and threw picks. And I only think that you're getting a downgrade.
SPEAKER_01:And I only got two left here. Justin Fields isn't the Jets' answer at QB.
SPEAKER_00:I think you need a lot more than just him. I think there's some missing pieces overall. Like, their offensive line needs help. Their defense is playing ruddy. I mean, like, they're just not good.
SPEAKER_01:I agree. And the to my final point, Jalen Waddle will continue to feast without Tyreek Hill.
SPEAKER_00:I think as long as he's healthy. I think so. That's been his injury. He's an injury plagued player player, and now he's he's looking good in his comeback.
SPEAKER_01:Words are hard. Everybody, I'd like to thank you once again for listening to Mike and myself speak on sports this evening. We got a lot of good sports coming up. WNBA's closing out, NHL and NBA are kicking up, and the NFL is rolling hot. Thank you once again for joining us. Go to our social media pages on Instagram and Facebook. Go to our website to that's the number two for the win.com. For the last time tonight, I'm Brian with an eye. And I'm Mike, and we are two for the win. Thanks, everybody.