NFL Week 6 - Bad Teams Get Better and Some Get Worse! Giant's Surprise!

Show Notes

• The NFL weekend showcased unexpected performances and team dynamics.
• The Giants' win against the Eagles raises questions about team preparedness.
• Eagles appear disjointed, lacking focus and cohesion on the field.
• Player attitudes and coaching challenges are impacting team success.
• Refereeing controversies continue to spark debate among fans and analysts.
• Emerging teams like the Seahawks are proving their competitiveness.
• The Ravens are struggling, raising concerns about coaching effectiveness.
• The Patriots are showing promise, potentially challenging for the AFC title.
• The Buccaneers are well-coached and performing consistently well.
• The Yankees' reliance on analytics is hindering their postseason success.

summary

This conversation delves into the recent NFL weekend, highlighting key games, team performances, and coaching dynamics. The hosts discuss the surprising win of the Giants over the Eagles, the disjointed play of the Eagles, and the overall state of the NFL regarding player attitudes and coaching challenges. They also touch on refereeing controversies, emerging teams like the Seahawks, and the struggles of the Ravens. The conversation wraps up with a discussion on the Patriots' progress and the Yankees' reliance on analytics affecting their postseason success.

titles

• NFL Weekend Recap: Surprises and Highlights
• Giants vs. Eagles: A Game to Remember

Sound Bites

• "Eagles appear disjointed, lacking focus."
• "Refereeing controversies spark debate."
• "Patriots are showing promise in the AFC."

Chapters

00:00
Introduction and Overview of NFL Weekend Highlights

02:34
Giants vs. Eagles: A Surprising Turnaround

05:51
Eagles' Disjointed Performance and Team Dynamics

08:20
The Changing Landscape of Player Loyalty and Team Cohesion

11:29
Coaching Carousel: The Impact on Team Performance

14:28
Financial Concerns and the Future of the NFL

17:35
The State of NFL Teams: Haves and Have Nots

20:09
Refereeing Controversies and Game Management

23:14
The Jets' Struggles and Quarterback Leadership

26:14
Seahawks' Potential and Playoff Aspirations

29:11
Dolphins and Ravens: Disarray and Future Prospects

37:09
Game Highlights and Player Performances

40:42
Coaching Impact on Team Development

43:49
Team Dynamics and Player Progression

46:51
Quarterback Challenges and Team Strategies

50:51
Division Standings and Playoff Implications

54:17
AFC Overview and Key Matchups

58:19
Yankees' Future and Management Decisions

Chapters

• 0:00 Live hiccups and NFL weekend setup
• 1:11 Giants’ RPO surge and Thursday night fallout
• 3:02 Short weeks, safety, and practice limits
• 6:00 Eagles’ identity, run-game neglect, and cohesion
• 9:15 Player era shift, loyalty, and leadership void
• 13:34 Global expansion vs. product quality and risk
• 18:20 Chiefs-Lions officiating, execution, and perspective
• 23:30 Jets’ stagnation, leadership gap, and QB questions
• 27:20 Seahawks, Chargers, Dolphins: contenders or chaos
• 31:10 Ravens’ identity crisis and backup planning
• 36:40 Patriots’ steady climb and Drake May’s growth
• 40:30 Steelers’ culture, coaching, and defense ceiling
• 44:10 Raiders, Titans, and coaching churn
• 47:10 Buccaneers’ prep, Baker’s form, and NFC picture
• 51:00 Standings scan and division leverage
• 55:40 AFC race: Bills’ mandate, Chiefs’ reset
• 1:01:10 Week 7 lookahead and betting angles
• 1:04:15 Yankees postmortem: analytics vs. heartbeat
• 1:09:40 Closing, schedule, and where to find us

Transcript

SPEAKER_01: 0:12

Hello everyone and welcome back to Sports Live with Steve and Justin. How are you, Justin?

SPEAKER_00: 0:18

I'm good, Steve.

SPEAKER_01: 0:19

Thank you for having me. It's Monday at PM, and as usual, we're here to talk about what's happened in sports over the last week or so. We are, I love when it puts up a little thing, something went wrong. When you're broadcasting live, it doesn't tell you what it is, it just says something went wrong. But anyway, it is what it is. I'm not really going to worry about it. Well, I can see you and hear you, so yeah, I can see you and hear you too, and it's recording. So I go we have that going for us. We can't, I always what I usually do is I package it now before because they process it. The live show, like YouTube processes it, they all go through it and they who knows what they do, but they don't really do anything. I go through and edit it and make it pretty and put it back out there. So but anyway, here we are. A crazy weekend in the NFL again. It seems like, you know, I want to say it's the NFL playing with the rules that has kind of gotten everybody a little crazy, but it also seems like I've never, and I said this last week and a week before, and a week before, I've never seen so many teams unprepared, is the only words I have. More some teams have lots of penalties. Holding calls mixed, maybe we're watching it closer than I ever did before. It seems like there's a myriad of that, but the shining star, the star on top of the Christmas tree, is the first game of the weekend Thursday night with the Giants and our good friend, who's not who we don't know at all. Jackson Dart and running back, what's his name? Cam Scatabou. Scataboo. I have trouble pronouncing his name. So, I mean, that was something to watch, wouldn't you say? It it kind of restored my my feelings about the NFL and football to watch them play with reckless abandonment and some kind of naivete, you want to say, like not realizing that they're running full speed into 300-pound guys and and things like that. And everything went and they played hard and they won the game.

SPEAKER_00: 2:35

Yeah, they uh they really hung tough. I mean, it was a short week, so that plays into the preparation. I I'm still shocked that the NFL is continuing to roll it out there on Thursday nights, knowing that they're they're putting players in harm's way already, with the CBA having lowered their time on the field and practice time and when they can actually put on pads and hit each other, which they don't apparently anymore during the week. Everything is a walkthrough and the time is limited. So to have to get on an airplane, travel to another country, adjust to the time change, I can't imagine that they had any time whatsoever to actually practice or even implement some sort of semblance of a game plan. The Giants seem to just do what they did from the start with Scatterbow, which was just RPO and smash Scatterball right through the middle and Dart, you know, leading the RPO offense, finding receivers on, you know, not complicated routes. You know, they're taking what the defense gives them, which is what they're supposed to do. You know, looking very much like a rookie who's progressing at quarterback from week to week. So that's a good sign going forward. I know there's a ton of more questions about the Giants and you know, where they're really headed and coaching and the players and personnel and all of that. But so far, so good. They look good. It's a division win. Division games are tough. We talked about that last week. That, you know, maybe they had a chance because it, you know, they teams know each other so well. But I don't really think that we expected what we saw Thursday night. And that was uh it was good for the fan base for sure. They were fired up after that win. Both the pl both quarterback and running back were fired up. Um, defense seemed to play a little better. But Philly also, you know, we've been saying all along, how good are they really? And it's not that I don't think they're good. I I think they're good. I think we both think that. But like you said, the preparation plays a part in what it looks like on the field at game time. And Philly hasn't caught up yet to where they where we think they would be or how we think they should look. So the Giants stole one, they earned it, and kudos to them. Hopefully they can build on it and keep the momentum going. But you can tell that they're they're lacking talent. And with Malik Neighbors out, you know, someone's got to step up. It seems like the tight end, just like any young quarterback, is his favorite target. So we'll see. I mean, it's it's it's a progression, it's a weekly progression for these teams. And right now for the Giants, you hope that they can just stay healthy the rest of the season and see what kind of progress their quarterback can make. And you have to wonder about Scatterball, how long can he keep smashing his brains between the tackles? And then he had the one play where he ran to the right, he got outside the tackle, and he just ran over some poor, helpless defensive back, just sent him into next. So it's it's ground and pound, it's smash mouth football. It's good to protect your quarterback, although he does run a lot, which they have to work on that because he can't be running for his life. I know he makes plays, but he's got to last. He's the franchise, so they have to find a way to tone that down and keep him upright and lateral and throwing the football down the field.

SPEAKER_01: 6:01

I agree. Uh but what I'm more surprised, and I shouldn't say I'm not surprised, I think it was the same thing last year, even though they won the Super Bowl, is the Eagles just seemed they have no, I don't know what you want to say, focus. They have no team togetherness. It seems like they're playing this disjointed game with a whole bunch of people that have a load of talent and they're able to complete. And I beside myself when I say, Why aren't they running the ball? I mean, I know they have offensive line problems, but the attempts are like ten. You know, I mean the attempts are ridiculous. He's not getting enough touches. And and you know what? What do we know? We know that give him enough times, he's gonna break one. Give him enough times. I mean, he is that great player, right? That sooner or later he rips one loose. Yes, sooner or later he may that's what great players do. Sooner or later they make a play, right?

SPEAKER_00: 7:18

Yeah, I think it's a combination of things where the coaches know that they haven't practiced and they're leaving it up to the talent to make plays. And I'm talking about the quarterback and this dynamic wide receiver set. But the reality is if if if you're not running those plays in practice during the week, it's not gonna be crisp. And to expect them to turn it on on game day is unrealistic, in my opinion, no matter how good you are. And that I think also leads to what you said about how they don't look like they're playing together. These guys don't really practice together during the week. They have no camaraderie. This is the, I hate to say this, but this is the LeBron James generation of players where these guys grew up watching, I'm gonna take my talents elsewhere. And it's not like the Michael Jordan era where players stayed where they they were drafted and tried to win and took on the challenge of getting over the hump. Now it's you know, more so in the NBA, obviously, they have this super team mentality and nobody's there's zero loyalty. In football, you don't really have it that much. And you see guys, you know, look at El Dor Beckham. He's only 32 years old. He's been on three different teams. He's still available to come play like a mercenary, which And he will, maybe he will, because I've I've heard some rumblings, but that's just where we live now, where the talent doesn't want to, they don't want to practice. They they they're just any excuse not to practice. They think that they have this entitlement to playing well because they're they have the talent. Whereas the generation prior, like I talked about Jerry Rice last week, he was doing things off the field to make himself better that attracted other players to do it with him. It inspired other players. They knew how hard he was working. He was a leader on that team. But where are the leaders of the team? I I don't know. I just don't see, like you said, there seems to be no, they don't come together. And it's been that way for a few years now. Even with the, you know, the last four or five Super Bowl champions, maybe longer than that. You know, there there just doesn't seem to be this group of guys that are close knit, like you've had with champions before.

SPEAKER_01: 9:37

I I agree. I I just as a sidetrack, the you brought up LeBron James era. You know, you you did you read the stuff about the big announcement too? That he did another big announcement and and no everyone thought he was gonna retire. And he brought up like, I don't know who what the alcohol brand is off the top of my head, the cognac. Yeah. And he said, I'm gonna be representing them, or he's not gonna represent him anymore. I don't know. But to think that like everybody's like, who cares? You know, but who cares? It's not about, and that's a perfect example, it's about the players, not about the team anymore. But with a team like my Miami, the team like Philadelphia, they have all this talent, they're able to win, even though they look disjointed. That's exacerbated with a team that doesn't have as much talent like Miami, who's really in a bad way. I mean, you know, the quarterback uh came in.

SPEAKER_00: 10:44

I heard to his comments.

SPEAKER_01: 10:46

Yeah, uh to his comments where uh for everybody listening, basically said, we call team meetings team-only meetings, and nobody's and not everyone shows up. We do all these things, they are definitely in a disarray. It my opinion comes completely back to the coach and management. It's really whatever. Oh, look at the Titans who fired the coach today, right? Titans fired the coach today. It's like almost every rookie's every other year had a new coach than what they signed for. They fired so many coaches over the past, I don't know, was it 10 years?

SPEAKER_00: 11:27

It's a quarterback and a coach carrots.

SPEAKER_01: 11:29

Yeah. So so how are you supposed to build an organization? You know, you need to hire a good coach, and there's a million of them out there, I think. A million of them out there. I mean, you know, you hear about sorry, hit an edge. You hear about Rick's Ryan going to Miami, maybe. I heard some things, and you know, Ryan's looking to coach. I mean, he's not that bad. He can really get a team together. I don't know if his mindset is the same mindset of the players are today as it was when he left, but I mean, there are coaches like him out there looking to coach.

SPEAKER_00: 12:09

Yeah. He seems to understand the personalities of these players in this generation. I thought when he was with the Jets, he did a good job of putting himself right in front of the media and making himself the spectacle to keep the media off the players. I don't know if that was intentional or not, but it certainly seemed to work. I mean, they went to two AFC championship games in a row and with a rookie quarterback. But I, you know, you still have to be an X's and O's guys, an X's and O's guy to win in the postseason. And they seemed galvanized, they seemed together. I mean, they got ambushed that that one year at Pittsburgh, and they were not the better team, but you would expect that they would have grown past that and challenged again at some point, and things just seem to fall apart, which is just so typical of the Jets, because you have one regime leave that built half the team, and then the new regime comes in and props up the other half, and there just is no continuity between them. And now you have this era of athlete that is just they're they're all in it for themselves. They're coming out of college, you know, from this NIL money and promoting themselves, and it really isn't about the team. It's not about tradition, it's not about sticking with a school and trying to win the conference and a national title. It's who can I play with? How can I maximize my worth? It's just a different ball game altogether. And the NFL can say whatever it wants about, you know, the product. The product is not good. It hasn't been for a long time. They're talking still about expanding into Germany and Spain and Great Britain and all that. Who's gonna play there? How are you gonna pull that off? Who's gonna play in Mexico? Who's gonna they're not gonna play in Canada because of the Canadian Football League, and there's there's too much at stake there for both entities, but you know, it it there's some logistics that won't work. So it just it doesn't make sense to me. I mean, I know it it's about money. That I'll leave that to the financial people about expanding the brand and making money that way. But how much money do you need to make? Don't you want your product to be good? I I I just don't understand. It's like, you know, trying to think of a solid American product that's well, you don't even have to do that.

SPEAKER_01: 14:31

All you have to think back is when the original Maras and um uh Pittsburgh, what's the name of it? The Rooneys. The Rooneys got together and they said, listen, we can make more money than anybody else in the league, but we need people to play. So let's create revenue sharing. We'll make a little less money, but we'll still make a lot. But but we'll create a whole league, and that money will continue on until ever. Yeah. The Pete Rosells of the world that all kept the integrity of the league together, it's not all about money. And I know we live in a money generation at the moment, but or maybe always, maybe always, but it's really not about all that. And you don't want to be the shirting shooting star, right? You don't want to be at the point where it burns out because you're not making a good product.

SPEAKER_00: 15:31

And they're full speed ahead. And you have to wonder, and I'm not wishing this on anybody, but I was listening to a financial speculator last night talking about we're reliving the roaring 20s and we're in a bubble. And at any minute, I mean, the market crashed yesterday, right? Or the day before yesterday, and took a huge hit. I know it rebounded yesterday at some point, but that was a huge significant hit. I mean, that was a in any other era, that's a crash. Um, and I know we've redefined what recession and depression is now because of administrations, but imagine being an NFL owner, imagine being the commissioner, you're trying to expand, you're trying to sell your product. If there's a collapse, a financial collapse, how is it gonna affect these guys? It's got to affect, I mean, I know they have billions of dollars, but that's gotta affect the entire entity because that means people are gonna sell their season tickets, they may not afford to go to games, you can have empty stadiums, they can't afford to buy jerseys, whatever. Again, I'm not wishing that on people, but I I don't think the NFL is prepared for something like that. And they're acting from a position of, you know, riding this financial wave like it's not gonna stop, and they can just keep generating and printing money rather than solidifying the product and making sure that players do practice and they're not getting hurt, and they're not playing on crappy field turf, and they are playing on safe field conditions and things like that. And all of that seems to go by the wayside after these CBAs are signed because the players just want money. They don't care if they play in this league for a long time and/or win a championship as long as they get paid. And I don't begrudge anybody their money, good for them for getting paid, but at some point there has to be some trigger or mechanism that curtails that kind of attitude or outlook and gets back to making this about the product on the field because you can't have I mean, we've seen week in and week out the the six weeks. It's one thing to be unpredictable, but there are some bad football teams out there that and I don't, you know, oh, we lost by one, we lost three one-point games or one-score games. If this happened, then that happened. If we're the referees are are not whatever, you're a bad football team. There's just no way around it. And there's a few of them. And it just seems like it's haves and have nots. And I don't remember the league being that way. Yeah, there were some bad teams growing up when I was a kid, but it was never like this. At least it didn't seem that way back then.

SPEAKER_01: 18:12

Well, it's funny because Kansas City, I know your most favorite topic, when can't Kansas City started the season, you saw that same thing. They were all over the place. Yep. Now you saw them last night, and they got their act together. They rebounded, they organized, they got some players back, of course.

SPEAKER_00: 18:37

I think they sold some Bitcoin and pocketed into the referees, but they they did, they were much more crisp and efficient than Detroit. They were the better team on the field last night. I know there was a lot of talk about penalties and non-calls. But how many non-calls could there have been? Two or three? Well, if you if you go on Twitter, there was dozens, you know. I don't expect a ref listen, it's not like calling balls and strikes where it's coming at you at 100 miles an hour. You're gonna miss some of that for whatever reason. In football, I'd like to think the referees are a little better at judging, I mean, they they have essentially one job and you know where you're supposed to look, right? I mean, who's who's looking at the holding? Line judge? I mean, he's got five guys in front of him, he's got to watch, but typically the tackles, right? Like if the blitzers come and you gotta keep an eye on somebody grabbing them and dragging them down, et cetera. It it when it's when it's bad, it looks really bad on TV. If they don't see it, they don't see it. But the if you watched that game last night and you thought the Chiefs won because of penalties, I really don't know what to tell you. Detroit dropped a fourth down pass that that guy catches 99 out of a hundred times. I'm on Ralse Brown. And they had another play where they, you know, I mean, they scored that touchdown and got called back on the uh Goff was under center. He tapped the center's butt and then he went in motion on the goal line.

SPEAKER_01: 20:06

Right.

SPEAKER_00: 20:08

That to me was I mean, it seemed like the announcers were scrambling to justify why they called that.

SPEAKER_01: 20:14

Well, I I don't think any of them were trying to justify. I didn't think they knew the penalty. I think somebody upstairs said, Idiot, this is the penalty, and they had no idea. I think no one had any idea about that except the officials, it would seem.

SPEAKER_00: 20:29

They said after the broadcast that that's not a call from upstairs, that the officials got together and discussed it. So that means somebody had to see it. So why didn't you call it when you saw it? You know, it's things like that that make you question the officiating. So again, I I I don't think they could play ten times and they'll probably split.

SPEAKER_01: 20:50

Well, I think the officials sometimes if the offense makes uh penalty and the uh play ends up going for no game, no gain, I think they don't call it if they didn't call it right away.

SPEAKER_00: 21:05

Sometimes it'll be a let them play kind of situation. Right. However, the Chiefs got called for zero penalties last night.

SPEAKER_01: 21:12

I don't remember that happening.

SPEAKER_00: 21:14

That was a big headline this morning. So, you know, there was one play where Kelsey was holding a guy. I mean, it was so obvious, and the play ran right pop right past them and they didn't call it. He also got that phantom pass interference call, which I still don't, you know, I think if that's another team, another game, they just let that go. Conversely, if you watch the Jet game, Justin Fields got sacked and had his helmet ripped off. The play was not whistled dead. He gets tackled. Luckily, he didn't get his head split open, and I'm waiting for the flag. How do you get your helmet ripped off? And it's not a penalty.

SPEAKER_01: 21:51

Right, because you can't do anything.

SPEAKER_00: 21:53

You can't tackle somebody from behind and drag them down. You can't horse collar a guy, you can't. How is that not a penalty?

SPEAKER_01: 21:58

You can't have hands to your head.

SPEAKER_00: 22:00

Right. And the guy literally ripped his helmet off. Oh, there's I mean, maybe the officials were from London. I don't know. They didn't know the rules, but I don't think so. No, I don't think so either.

SPEAKER_01: 22:13

Actually, the uh the English announcer was pretty good.

SPEAKER_00: 22:15

I thought he was pretty knowledgeable. He did sound good, actually. Yes. I I agree. It it was it was listenable to for a change because sometimes these announcers get, you know, even the good ones like Well, they have that one guy with him, I don't know who he is, that you know, because I don't listen to those broadcasts so early in the morning sometimes, but he's always like, Yeah, let him play, let him play, let him play.

SPEAKER_01: 22:40

That's that's football.

SPEAKER_00: 22:43

Yeah, I I I thought the broadcast was okay. Uh, you know, we're not watching for that anyway. But again, another game where teams just, I mean, the Broncos looked pretty good until they got to London, and they were losing this game 11-9 or whatever. I mean, or 11-11-10. It was just such an ugly, ugly, ugly game. The Jets defense, everybody said how good they were, and I was like, yeah, but when they needed it to stop, they didn't stop, even though it was a very low-scoring game. I'm not taking anything away from them. It's just it's just typical Jets.

SPEAKER_01: 23:19

By the way, the market went back 600 points today. So it went 100, 800, so you know, 61, 870, I think it was on the other night. Yeah, well, mine doesn't exist, so it's not gonna, it's like it didn't go anywhere.

SPEAKER_00: 23:36

Um, the the Jets are seemingly, you know, I really feel bad for them. It seems like they're always a year ahead or a year behind where they should be in terms of who's coaching, who's quarterbacking. And they never seem to be on the on the right page. Forget about the same page, they're just not on any page at some point. And you have to wonder, everybody, you know, they're calling for Aaron Glenn is getting killed in the new in the New York media.

SPEAKER_01: 24:05

Who are you getting better than Aaron Glenn?

SPEAKER_00: 24:06

Right. I don't know why they're so harsh, because who did you want to coach this team? If he wasn't the guy, I don't remember people coming up with names other than Rex Ryan coming back. And I don't think that was a reality.

SPEAKER_01: 24:20

Oh, I don't think they were gonna pick Rex Ryan.

SPEAKER_00: 24:24

They certainly weren't gonna pick him after they hired Tannenbaum's agency to hire the coach, so or to tell you who to hire. Right. So that wasn't gonna work.

SPEAKER_01: 24:34

So I I think you know, Rex Ryan, I don't think they'll ever pick Rex Ryan. For the reason is that if they don't do what Rex Ryan wants them to do, he's gonna hang the whole, the whole group of them up in the media and and and the media's all gonna take his side.

SPEAKER_00: 24:52

Yeah, he's a media darling because he he gives them what they want. And like I said before, he takes uh a lot of the pressure off the players to not have to be not that they won't they're not accountable, but Rex is accountable for that.

SPEAKER_02: 25:05

Right.

SPEAKER_00: 25:05

And that's what I think they loved about him. This being a different era where players seem to not care what the media thinks. They want to be out there to sell themselves no matter what.

SPEAKER_01: 25:15

Right. So we have the Giants that look really good, actually. I think they care even when things at the moment you think it was gonna turn bad, they kept plugging along and made it good.

SPEAKER_00: 25:29

The one thing they did take advantage of Jalen Carter not being in the game right away. They were gashing inside the tackles and running right at the Eagles, which I thought was interesting. I mean, good for the Giants from the Eagles' perspective. You lose one guy and you can't stop the run. I mean, this is the team that rotates defensive tackles in and out of the game. They have like six or seven on the roster. So that was got to be an alarm bell for the Philly defense, which I'm sure they will address and fix if Carter's gonna miss an extended period of time because they do have enough talent.

SPEAKER_01: 26:08

So the Giants win 34-17, kind of decisively towards the end of the game where the Eagles didn't really have a shot. The Jets lose at the final minutes or again. 13-11 in England.

SPEAKER_00: 26:24

Well, they still had a shot to get in the field goal range, and they, you know, their play calling was atrocious.

SPEAKER_01: 26:29

I mean Atrocious.

SPEAKER_00: 26:31

Absolutely atrocious. It made you wonder at some point, you know, would you make a switch at least at halftime? And then they didn't bring Tyrod Taylor in. They sent Field Zach out there in the second half, and by the time he came out for that last drive, he looked so dejected and so matter-of-fact, like, not that he didn't care, just that he he looked defeated. The look on his face just was, you know, hey, if we win, we win. If not, who cares? He just he didn't seem like a guy coming out like you always talk about Tom Brady leading the charge and you know, firing up the troops and being accountable. And there was none of that, I don't expect him to be Tom Brady, but you know, at some point your quarter, like look at Dak Prescott, look at Baker Mayfield. Those guys are fired up. Those guys are running all over the place. They're yelling at people, they're in people, people's faces, you know, they're showing enthusiasm, and maybe that's not his personality, which is also fine, but it's not coming from anywhere. And if it's not gonna come from your quarterback, there's nobody on that field at any point, except for maybe Garrett Wilson, who, you know, shows a little fire and yells, and but he's a receiver. It's it's not gonna, it shouldn't have to come from him. It's gotta come from somewhere, either the quarterback or maybe an offensive lineman, the center, who I don't know. But they just don't seem to have any veteran presence that can galvanize them and lead them and they can rally around. You had a chance to win the game, you just had to get in field goal range.

SPEAKER_01: 28:04

Yeah. So, I mean, that's the same story all week long. Oh, you know. So the other team that I think nobody's talking about and should be talking about, and that is the Seahawks. They beat the Jaguars 20 to 12. Um, I think the Seahawks have possibilities.

SPEAKER_00: 28:23

I mean, they have The Seahawks have a lot of talent. I mean, you know, Donald is playing within himself.

SPEAKER_01: 28:30

Right.

SPEAKER_00: 28:31

You know, their defense is formidable. You know, I don't think they're great, but they're not terrible at all. They're in these games, they can play with anybody, they travel well for a West Coast team, which is a hard thing to do a lot of times. Obviously, they have a a probably a bigger home field advantage than anybody except maybe the Chiefs when their crowd is in the game. But they're they're every bit of a playoff team at this point, and certainly, you know, in consideration for challenging even the Lions, if you think, or the Packers, maybe on paper it doesn't look that way, but you know, on the field it certainly looks that way.

SPEAKER_01: 29:07

And then you have the Chargers beat Dolphins, and we talked a little bit about that, how bad they look through, you know, to it through a lot of of the interceptions and just just in a total disarray.

SPEAKER_00: 29:19

Tua's comments really kind of made me think that, you know, this is it for him there. Um if you're a new coach and you come in there, you're gonna want your own quarterback. You're not gonna put your job future on him.

SPEAKER_01: 29:35

Uh well, if you get a pick high enough to get a good quarterback, you're gonna go out and get a new quarterback. You're not gonna leave it on tour. I mean, personally, unless physicality, you worry about his physicality anyway. Concussions.

SPEAKER_00: 29:50

Just from a humanity standpoint, I worry about the guy.

SPEAKER_01: 29:54

I do too.

SPEAKER_00: 29:55

I I, you know, don't want I'm not wishing it on him, don't want to see anything happen to him, but As far as his play on the field, it hasn't been great. Um, you know, they talked about Jalen Hurts not playing well against the Giants in some of those coverages, but those are fixable things. It's not like he was inaccurate. I mean, he did throw that almost pick six, but he misread the defense and should have thrown the ball, you know, over the middle of the field. There were two open receivers on slant routes. But Tua is is is not even he's not connecting. I know they lost Tyreek Hill, but they still have talent on the offense. They still have guys that can run. They have a good running game, or at least, you know, decent running backs, but they are a mess. Their coach, you know, the guys wearing capri shorts in the press conference. What are you wearing? So it makes you wonder like this is a team that's not practicing.

SPEAKER_01: 30:49

They're really right. And the other team you want to scratch your head about that you probably thought was going to be in it to win it, and that is the Ravens. The Ravens got beat by the Rams 17-3.

SPEAKER_00: 31:00

Killing my fantasy season. They're uh they are not good. Their defense is just a sieve. I mean, they their defense cannot get it together. I I know that they they have some injuries, but you would expect a Ravens coached team to look better on the field. And you have the best running back in the league.

SPEAKER_01: 31:21

He fumbles the once in the first three games. Pretty much causes you to lose those games.

SPEAKER_00: 31:27

Yeah. And they they can't, they couldn't before this weekend, they couldn't seem to really. He had a great game in Buffalo, and then he had four games where he did nothing. You know, I know Lamar's out. The funny thing was they they lose Lamar, right? And Lamar is the offense. The offense goes through Lamar. That's the kind of thing, I mean, they made that switch from, I guess then it was Joe Flacco, who was at the end anyway. I can't remember who was between them. But, you know, they moved up in the draft to get Lamar, and that changed the complexion of their franchise because they changed the entire offensive philosophy. So they got back to a little bit of the hard run game when they traded for Derrick Henry or signed Derrick Henry. Right. But they bring in Cooper Rush, and I don't expect him to be Lamar Jackson, but if your offense is built to operate that way, why is he playing? I can't remember the the third string quarterback's name, but he wears a single-digit jersey. He looks just like Lamar when he's out there running those RPOs and he takes off running. It's like their offense is moving when he's got the ball in his hands. So maybe he's just not an accurate enough passer, or they don't trust him in the pocket to get rid of the ball. But, you know, you have to be prepared for that if you're going to run that type of offense, or you have to have a plan B when your quarterback goes down. So, you know, that's I mean, that's football one-on-one. So I I they just seem lost. They they don't seem like a team that is a hardball coach team. The only other thing I can think of, and I don't even want to put it out there, is that they're just losing to lose, and they're gonna try and get a meaningful draft pick out of this, which is a horrible thing to say about an NFL team because someone will get hurt.

SPEAKER_01: 33:17

I don't think I don't think hardballs.

SPEAKER_00: 33:19

But they just don't look like they're even vested in winning games.

SPEAKER_01: 33:23

I know.

SPEAKER_00: 33:24

So I, you know, you know, you can coach to lose and and cover it up, you know, uh, and not not get people hurt, but you don't want to do that for 17 games, you know.

SPEAKER_01: 33:35

Uh agreed.

SPEAKER_00: 33:37

Yeah, I it's not it's not a healthy plan. So I I don't know what's going on there. I don't know if there's I don't think they've ever had any inner turmoil between the GM and the coach. And I know, you know, Ozzy was there for a long time. I don't think he's still the GM, but you know, they're they're they're very much in this flux period where their identity is lost and they're just they're not playing good football at all. And if they're waiting for Lamar to come back from the hamstring, they have to buy, I think, this week, you know, they they can't rest at all on him. However, the silver lining being that if he comes back healthy, their schedule is pretty favorable the rest of the way. I think they have uh what do they have? They're they're they have 11 games left, and I think they have eight games against teams that, you know, are are not necessarily formidable opponents. They do have the Steelers twice, I think, and the Steelers' defense hasn't been great. So those games are gonna be important. They're gonna be meaningful. So if you're Baltimore, you have to take care of business and beat the teams that you should beat, and try and get that defense into a position where, you know, you're gonna play Aaron Rodgers twice. I don't care that he's 40-something years old. You know, he's playing very much like a seasoned vet MVP. Not saying he's gonna win the MVP, just that that Steelers' offense is coming along every week and getting a little better every week. Uh, and they've got some injuries and they seem to have overcome that. And they're obviously a well-coached team. So those two games are gonna be very interesting to watch because they will decide not only that division, they might decide the conference.

SPEAKER_01: 35:22

Right. So then you have whoops, I hit my button here. Where do we leave off? Ravens. You had the Vikings and the Bears, and the Vikings win again.

SPEAKER_00: 35:34

They win again without JJ, right?

SPEAKER_01: 35:44

Sorry, I closed my thing.

SPEAKER_02: 35:46

Nope, that's all right.

SPEAKER_00: 35:51

I'm staring at it myself, and I can't remember who they played.

SPEAKER_01: 35:54

So back to the next game I had on my list was Indiana Jones.

SPEAKER_00: 35:58

Oh. You know, I wrestled with that while I was making my fan duel picks if I wanted to play Jones or uh Bryce Young in Carolina, and I just couldn't, I just couldn't put it on Daniel Jones, and I played Bryce Young, who played well and unfortunately threw a pick, but they won the game. But Indiana Jones, rolling right along. I mean, he's he's got them believing in him. Every week he comes out, he just plays his game. Looks very much like a seasoned vet who is in control at all times. He's not running for his life. They're not, you know, they're not getting at him. I don't know that they've played anybody yet with a fierce pass rush. Maybe they played the Browns yet. But, you know, they're gonna be around. 31-27.

SPEAKER_01: 36:48

The Cardinals are who the hell knows what's up with the Cardinals? I never can figure out what's going on with the Cardinals. I mean, I don't even know where they have a team. So let's skip off them. So then you have the Panthers and Cowboys. Carolina pulls it out.

SPEAKER_00: 37:02

Carolina, let me tell you, I mean, they they came, they came to play for sure. Uh that wide receiver had no touchdowns coming into this game. He caught two. I call him the 10 offensive. Uh, I mentioned Bryce Young before, the running back double that used to play for the Cowboys. I mean, he looked like Priest Holmes. He looked like a world beater. He was just pounding it in there and, you know, running into guys, running guys over, running away from guys. I mean, he came to play. He he talked before the game about they better strap up and he delivered. So kudos to the Panthers because, you know, it's another team. They're kind of like the Cardinals. You don't really know what you're gonna get. And, you know, they seem to be holding their own. They're they're coming along nicely, and that's a big win for them over the Cowboys.

SPEAKER_01: 37:52

Right.

SPEAKER_00: 37:52

And the Cowboys And a big loss for the Cowboys. Huge loss for the Cowboys because that, you know, you you win that game. The Eagles just lost. You have it all right in front of you. Not to sound like Aaron Boone, but you're you're putting yourself in a position to compete still for the division. And, you know, they really, they really wet the bed there because it's it's it's starting to look like, you know, again, we have talent, but you know, are we playing to win this week or not? And it's almost like they don't look like they're playing to win. They don't look like they're vested in winning these games. Maybe Baity Dak does, maybe Pickens does, but clearly they're suffering on defense. It makes you wonder how good their defense really was, even when they had Mika Parsons. And I think it's starting to show now. But Pickens played well with CeeDee Lamb out, so now that's going to create a stir, obviously, in Dallas. Do they want to trade CeeDee Lamb because of the contract and blah, blah, blah? And do we get somebody else in here? And it's Jerry. And, you know, if they don't win, you know, those guys might be on their way.

SPEAKER_01: 38:58

So who knows? So then you you walk into the other team of the week kind of thing is you have the Patriots and the Saints, and the Patriots keep getting better. Good good good coaches, train good players, and those players keep getting better every week.

SPEAKER_00: 39:19

They're getting better every week. Drake May is progressing nicely. Something that I think you know, you look at is their number one wide receiver is Stefan Diggs. But he's not getting the ball like a traditional number one. Right. He still carries that number one weight because he is good. So defenses are playing him as the one to take him away from Drake May. And Drake May is finding second and third receivers on his progression, and that's what you're supposed to do. So he's playing good quarterback right now. I'm just not trying to force anything. He's seeing the field, he's making his reads, he's accurate with the football. I mean, the Saints are not a good football team, so I'm not trying to make the Patriots sound like they're world beaters again. But they are, like you said, they are well coached. And, you know, you have to beat a team like that if you're the Patriots. You can't come out flat and, you know, they went out there and, you know, they delivered. And kudos to Drake May for continuing to progress and looking like somebody who knows how to run an offense.

SPEAKER_01: 40:21

And the coach seems to be really have control of that team.

SPEAKER_00: 40:24

Yeah. The coach is definitely in charge, and he's got them ready to play every week. Um, they are prepared. They're, you know, it seems like they have plan B if it, if, if it arises, you know, they don't just get caught with their pants down and fumble through, you know, the second half if things don't go their way. They're they're a team that fights. And uh, you know, I think there's probably some, you know, um, sentiment, anti-Belichek sentiment, from not from the players, because I don't think any of them were even there when Belichick was there. Maybe some left over, but um they're they want to establish themselves. They want to separate themselves. And I think this is a new era of Patriots football, and they've embraced that, and they're really not living in the Belichick shadow that they were living in for the past few years since he left and Brady left and all that. They have their own identity and they're building on it, and you know, you have to figure the way the Dolphins are playing, obviously the Jets stink, that Buffalo's got to be looking over his shoulder at some point, thinking, man, we got to beat this team to put them away, and they're gonna be formidable going forward.

SPEAKER_01: 41:37

Right. So another team that you have to realize that they're here to play, and we mentioned them briefly, is the Steelers. They beat the Browns 23-9, and Browns, you know, as we said in the past, has a pretty good defense, and the Steelers came to play. Absolutely. He's got that team cooking on all cylinders.

SPEAKER_00: 42:00

No doubt about it. No doubt about it. He has, you know, he's a he's a coach that's prepared. He's a no-nonsense guy. I'm sure players don't come late to the meetings in Pittsburgh. I bet. And if they do, they probably get an ear full or they don't play. He's not afraid to get in players' faces, but he also is very supportive of his players. He's not the kind of guy that blames players and yells and screams at them and then does it support like when they do well, he gets right in their face and slaps them on the helmet and yells at them and good job. And, you know, he he knows how to handle his players. And that organization knows football players. They always draft well. They always have guys in the field, even when they get free agents or trade for players from other teams, they always find good football players.

SPEAKER_02: 42:49

Right.

SPEAKER_00: 42:50

So they must fit not only the mold of being a football player with talent, they have the right mindset in Pittsburgh. If they can get the defense together, they're gonna be hard to beat in the playoffs for sure.

SPEAKER_01: 43:02

Right. Well, they're good. Um, I think they're gonna be tough all the way around. Uh, the next game on the list is the Raiders and the Titans, as we mentioned, and Titans fired the coach today. Whole team is in a disarray. I mean, the Raiders really aren't that good. Uh there's not really too much you can say about them, other than Pete Carroll. It's got to be scratching his head because he's never really been in this position before.

SPEAKER_00: 43:27

Yeah. Uh you wonder, I mean, we saw Geno Smith just, you know, not playing well the last few weeks. And I know they've got, you know, that rookie running back, but he's still a rookie. And they were talking about him making an adjustment and having some big plays from the way he stands up in the backfield.

SPEAKER_02: 43:46

Right.

SPEAKER_00: 43:47

But there's so much more going on there. They, you know, they're tight. I know their tight end is hurt. He's a big part of their offense. He hasn't played in two weeks, or he's he was unavailable this weekend at least. And I think he, I don't think he played last weekend either. So that hurts. But again, you've got to have a plan B. You've got to have a way to get receivers open and put your quarterback in a position to succeed. And their offense just seems to be sputtering and not able to control games. And defensively, you know, uh, they're they're par at best. They're not they're not a good defense. You know, when I set my fantasy lineup every week on the fan duel, I'm always looking at the Cowboys, the Jets, and the Raiders, see who's playing against them before I make my selections. So, you know, who knows? Who knows? It's still, I'm still, it's still hard for me to pick players from Vegas or against Vegas because it's Vegas. My mind, I'm like, it's rigged, it's rigged.

SPEAKER_01: 44:42

Right. So uh, you know, push them aside. Then we have another team that seems to be another team that has a good coach. He's uh, and that is the Buccaneers. The Buccaneers have been playing well, they get their team ready every week. This week, you know, they played the 40s, which is an interesting team. They always seem like they're gonna be at the top of the heap, and then half the team goes out hurt, and and you don't know where they're at. I mean, yeah, for a while they had their backup quarterback that was tearing it up to the point is they they didn't know if they're gonna put Purdy back in when he got healthy. And then, and it's funny because that's how Purdy got there. He was a backup, and and you were like, Well, Purdy's playing so well, why would you take him out? And and now Purdy's hurt, the backup quarterback, and they're on this third string thing. You're not gonna win with a third string quarterback. I don't care if you're the New York Giants.

SPEAKER_00: 45:40

It's unless you got a gem or really tremendous offensive line. Um, and not knocking them, but I don't think they're that tremendous.

SPEAKER_01: 45:49

But the Buccaneers are prepared. Every week you see them prepared, and every week they win. And, you know, I don't know, what are they? Five and one? Is that what they are? Five and one, I think. So I mean that's it.

SPEAKER_00: 46:06

Todd Bulls, you know, I remember when you know he became the head coach of the Jets, and that was his first coaching job. And I remember the high praise that he got from people like Mike Francesa uh and other, you know, coaches from his era when he played about the character of the man and you know the integrity that he has as a human being. And all those things are nice, but they do matter. And, you know, he seems like such an even-keeled guy. Oh, yeah. No nonsense guy. You know, he doesn't get too high, he doesn't get low. You know, you can tell when they lose, he's pissed, but he doesn't, he doesn't really let it out. He doesn't take it out on anybody. He's not very animated. Um, and I I'm not knocking him. I like that stuff about him. And it's nice to see him on the front end of a winning team heading into the middle of the season here with a quarterback who's, you know, I mean, Baker made that play yesterday on third down at the near the end of the uh third quarter where he scrambled, I think it was like 17 yards. He thought he was cut and sacked, and he comes out of it and he makes this crazy run. While he's running, he's got the football in one hand, he switches to the other hand, he pushes a guy away, he spins, he leaps, he sticks the arm out for the first down. I mean, he's he's playing great. Really playing great.

SPEAKER_01: 47:46

I mean, he was rated, I think, last week after the Monday night game. So on Tuesday, they went through the top-rated quarterbacks, and he was number one.

SPEAKER_00: 47:55

Yeah. And you think about the quarterbacks in the league, that's pretty impressive. I saw a stat about him. He threw he's thrown double the amount of touchdown passes over 20 yards than anybody else in the league this year. That means something. I don't know if it does or not, but he's he's accurate with the football. He's not making many mistakes, he's using his legs to get out of trouble when he has to. He's not a run first quarterback. He adds that element where teams just don't know seemingly how to defend it because you're not going to spy Baker Mayfield. You just, you know, you want your front front four or five guys to contain him and not let him get out of the pocket, and he gets out of the pocket and goes.

SPEAKER_01: 48:35

So here are the standings. I mean, I know we didn't go over some of the games yet, but here are the standings. Eagles are four and two, commanders are three and two, cowboys are two and three, giants are two and four. I mean, to say it's not an open an open division, it absolutely is.

SPEAKER_00: 48:53

I think it's tighter than than it than we we see them.

SPEAKER_01: 48:57

Packers are three and one and one. Lions are four and two. Excuse me, Cowboys are two, three, and one, by the way. Lions are four and two, Vikings are three and two, and Bears are two and two. Buccaneers. No, nothing there. Buccaneers are five-and-one, Panthers are three and three, Falcons are two and two, Saints are one and five.

SPEAKER_00: 49:26

I really would like to see the Panthers fight their way into the playoffs. You have to wonder, now that they beat the Cowboys, how much that tie with the Packers is gonna play at the end of the season and whose favorite is gonna play in. Because that's a you know, it's not a loss, but it's it's takes away a win. So it's it'll be interesting to see how it plays out for sure.

SPEAKER_01: 49:53

So um 49ers, Seahawks, and Rams are both tied at four and two. And the Cardinals are two and four.

SPEAKER_00: 50:03

And the Packers didn't exactly, I mean, I know they won, and they won by, you know, more than a touchdown, I think, but they didn't they didn't exactly look like a team coming off a bye that was, you know, I would expect I thought they would come out and score, you know, 28 or 35 points. Um because who they play? Cincinnati, right? And they're down, and I know, you know, I know Flacco's Flacco's there now.

SPEAKER_02: 50:32

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00: 50:32

Um, but they only won the game by, you know, nine points. I mean, I, you know, some garbage time there, but I would have thought that they would have been better prepared than than they looked in that game. I thought, really thought that their defense would not let up that many points. So they they have some question marks, Greenback.

SPEAKER_01: 50:52

Right.

SPEAKER_00: 50:53

You know, they're gonna be fighting for that division at some point. You know, you would expect them to have taken a step forward when they got Micah Parsons, and they're still very much in the weeds in terms of who we think they are and where they really are. You know, and Detroit's in that division, and Detroit is seemingly, you know, I mean, they're they're the the class of a division at this point, but Chicago's tonight'll tonight'll be a big, big deal for Chicago. Both those teams will be a big uh big game because that's that's where things went south for Caleb Williams last year. Right. After the Redskins game. So I'm sure they have they have a chip on their shoulder coming in tonight. And the Redskins, you know, I think they're just looking to stay healthy and get out of there with a win. So this game tonight, we'll see how it goes. I think it's gonna be like rock and sock and robots.

SPEAKER_01: 51:45

I agree.

SPEAKER_00: 51:46

I think it'll be a dogfight.

SPEAKER_01: 51:48

So let's look at the AFC for a minute. In the AFC, you have the Bills four and one. Because they're playing tonight yet, right? Yep. You have the Patriots four and two. Four and two. Then you have the Dolphins one and five, and the Jets 0-0-6.

SPEAKER_00: 52:08

You can write them off. It's gonna come down to, you know, like I said before, the Bills looking over their shoulder at the Patriots and taking a look at the schedules. I'm sure the Bills' schedule might be harder in terms of who they play outside the division. So, you know, the Patriots are poised for, you know, a run, and they already lost to the Patriots. So the Bills, you know, if they want to be conference champs, if they want to go to a Super Bowl, they have to put their foot down and make a stand. They, you know, I know division games are tough, no matter what the talent level is on either team, because you know each other so well, and it's, you know, it's it's it's like sometimes it's a mirror reflection, but when they know each other that well, anything can happen, but they really have to put their boot on someone's neck to prove that they are the class of the AFC because the Chiefs are back in it. The Patriots look like they're formidable. The Ravens, even though they're terrible right now, if they start winning through this next 8 to 11 game stretch, where they the way their schedule is, you know, the Bills have to establish that they are who they are and that they can take over this, not only the division, but the conference and get home field advantage and, you know, prove that the team we saw in week one that scored all those points and came back and won that game can also be a team that can stop another team from even being in the game before they get started so that they can start mashing teams. So they've they've got a tough schedule ahead of them.

SPEAKER_01: 53:47

So AFC North, Steelers are four and one, Bengals, Bengals are two and four, the Ravens are one and five, and the Browns are one and five. I mean, how are the Steelers not winning that division? Well, Aaron Rodgers gets again.

SPEAKER_00: 54:06

Again, the Steelers and Bengals play twice though, and Flacco's Flacco's there now. I don't expect 40-year-old Joe Flacco to best 40-year-old Aaron Rodgers, but there's talent on that Cincinnati team. We talked about that. They have good talent, they can throw the ball. I mean, they have receivers that can catch the ball. We'll see if Joe can throw the ball. They do have a very friendly schedule, and I think that's why they made that move to get Flacco in there, because they they do still think that they can compete for this division. And we know they're not afraid of Pittsburgh, and that's you know, like we talked before about division games, anything can happen. Um and they've had some success over the years, so we'll see. I mean, for all intents and you know uh purposes, it it it it seems like Pittsburgh should take control of this division. It's gonna come down to, you know, the Cincinnati, the two Cincinnati games. Because I think they play, I think they play like three weeks apart. I think they play each other, then they have a game in between, they play each other again, if I'm not mistaken. So So it'll be it'll be decided quickly.

SPEAKER_01: 55:16

Right. So you have AFC South, you have Indiana Jones, he's five and one, Jacksonville's four and two, Houston's two and three, and Tennessee's one and five. Who knows, right? Who knows? Because Jones is you don't know if he's gonna keep it up, he has so far, and then you have the West, which is tie the Chargers in Denver at four and two, and Kansas City's three and three, and they've really come together. I mean, they're not the same team they were in week one, that's for sure. And then you have Las Vegas, which was two and four.

SPEAKER_00: 56:02

I think it sounds a lot closer than it is. The Chargers kind of struck gold with their backup running back this week who looked good, but they still had to go to the end of that game to beat Miami, and they needed a field goal at the end to do it. So, you know, I don't know if they're I mean, I know they're prepared, right? It's a hardball team. I know there's no, you know, no stone left unturned when it comes to preparing for these games.

SPEAKER_01: 56:30

Right.

SPEAKER_00: 56:32

But the Chiefs are the Chiefs, right? I mean, they are who they are, and Denver, you know, I mean, I know they had their hands full with the Jets, but the Jets do have a pretty formidable defense, all jokes aside.

SPEAKER_01: 56:44

The Chiefs, I mean, they have they're healthier than they've ever been almost.

SPEAKER_00: 56:51

Yeah, it's it's you have to wonder right now, did they get the defense together? Because the first three games, we thought their defense was just non-existent. Right. And they seem to have stepped up. Now, I don't, you know, I'm not gonna get into the whole referee thing. They seem to have righted the ship, and you know, two teams had a chance to put them away and and wreck their season and didn't. And they're back now. They're gonna come together, right? They know who they are, and they're gonna play their game. And Mahomes, the whole time, I've watched him play every week. He just looks like he's carrying it with him. He wants to win. He knows the window is closing. He knows Kelsey's not gonna be there much longer, right? All this talent that they have coming and going, and who's staying, and who's this, and the guy's coming off suspension, and they've got a third string running back that look, look, look, uh, that's looking to get time. You got Kareem Hunt, who seemed to have got the message last week. Pacheco, same thing. They looked like they were running a little harder. So, you know, if this team plays with a chip on its shoulder and has something to play for and something to prove, watch out because they've been there already.

unknown: 58:09

Right.

SPEAKER_00: 58:09

These other guys haven't. And that's a huge advantage when the team has that experience and believes in themselves, makes it much tougher to beat them. I'm not saying that the Chargers in Denver can't beat them.

SPEAKER_01: 58:23

And they went there last year and got humiliated. That's big for winners like them.

SPEAKER_00: 58:30

That's huge. Yeah, and typically teams that lose the Super Bowl, you know, don't come back from a loss like that. And for them to be relevant right now, I mean, listen, I I can't imagine anybody who wants to play them, but if you want to be the champ in that division, you're gonna have to go through Kansas City. I mean, we talked about at the beginning of the year that we thought Philly and Kansas City were still the two most talented teams in both divisions that, you know, who was gonna who was gonna take over the AFC? The Bills, the Ravens, well, it's not the Ravens, right? I mean, I like I said, their schedule's favorable coming with the city.

SPEAKER_01: 59:12

The Bills start they're playing tonight, matter of fact, they're playing Atlanta. So they started out that way and they looked a little weak last week.

SPEAKER_00: 59:19

So I mean that they've got some holes to felt. They certainly do. They don't, it's you know, they don't have like a big stud wide receiver that's tearing it up every week. They just have a fantastic quarterback that's getting everybody the football.

SPEAKER_01: 59:33

So, you know, so the other game tonight we didn't talk about is Washington and Chicago. It's at Washington. Uh I'll be shocked if Washington doesn't win tonight. I think they need to get on, keep, you know, the young quarterbacks on a roll, and hopefully he stays on a roll. The two teams that are on the bye week are Minnesota and Houston. So, I mean, that sums up the week, I think, a little bit. If you want to just you know look talk about a couple of the big games next week for week seven. I mean Thursday night you got Pittsburgh and Cincinnati. You know, you don't know what team Cincinnati's gonna bring, like you said. What else you got? You got Miami and Jazz Panthers. You got Miami and Cleveland. That could be the battle of the nobodies if Miami still has their coach by then.

SPEAKER_02: 1:00:31

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01: 1:00:32

New England, Tennessee, not really anything. Kansas City gets a gets a break with with Vegas.

SPEAKER_00: 1:00:41

Still a division game. It's tough to win. You can't can't take a division opponent for granted, but I think looking at the right week.

SPEAKER_01: 1:00:49

Giants in Denver. Indiana.

SPEAKER_00: 1:00:55

Giants are in Denver, and they're already plus seven. But I, you know, you have to wonder, are the why wouldn't the Giants be able to win that game? And how are they minus or plus seven?

SPEAKER_01: 1:01:07

I would take them in a minute at plus seven.

SPEAKER_00: 1:01:09

At plus seven? Certainly.

SPEAKER_01: 1:01:11

So you have Washington and Dallas, which is uh and you have Green Bay and Arizona, Atlanta and San Francisco. But Monday night you got some nice, you got a nice matchup. You got Tampa Bay and Detroit. Detroit's gotta be reeling to come back. They have a next extra day of rest. They gotta be coming back to to make a name for themselves and beat the one of the considered one of the best teams in the league at the minute and teach that new new fresh quarterback a lesson.

SPEAKER_00: 1:01:41

That's a big game.

SPEAKER_01: 1:01:43

That's the big game for the week, I think.

SPEAKER_00: 1:01:45

Big game for sure. Yeah. So mm the Jets are favored to win right now. The Jets are minus one and a half. I'm looking at that right now. I'm like, what? How could that be? I I they're they're at they're home against the Panthers. I mean, I I this has got to be a trap game for the Panthers, then I I would imagine. I think everybody's gonna be betting on the Panthers. They might maybe maybe there's something going on. Well this will be the week everybody gets knocked out of the suicide pool.

SPEAKER_01: 1:02:18

Right. Well, I don't know if there's anything else you want to cover.

SPEAKER_00: 1:02:22

Well, we could talk about the Yankees' demise and what they might be looking forward to next year if you want. They uh I thought we would be we would still be talking about the Yankees this week.

SPEAKER_01: 1:02:31

And um I never thought we'd be talking about the Yankees. I really don't. I think as long as management and we talked about it, and as long as management wants to keep playing analytics and make calls from non-baseball people not on the field, I think they're never gonna be the team they need to be.

SPEAKER_00: 1:02:51

Well, I think the most telling thing was Jeter's comments in the post-game, post-series, where he said, preface it by saying, you know, I don't have any inside information, but he doesn't think that what they're seeing being called on the field is coming from Aaron Boone. And it was kind of a defensive Aaron Boone, but he was definitely taking a shot at Cashman and Fishman. And I agree with him 100% because we talked about it before. Boo is not making the decisions. He's not, I don't he's not a manager, he's just a yes man. And I don't think he's a good manager if he wasn't. But uh it it's clear as a bell that orders are coming from upstairs, and that's from uh pregame lineups to in-game decisions to pitching changes, and it's all analytics driven, and it's gross, you know, taking pictures out of games that they give up one hit and one run.

SPEAKER_01: 1:03:52

I mean, they're not really making baseball decisions in a game on the field, feeling the pulse of the players, feeling the, you know, as we all know, baseball games have ebb and tides. You you you know, there's a time you're playing well, you're up six-nothing. All of a sudden, one thing happens, and you say to yourself, uh-oh. They're in trouble. And they're still down those same six runs, but things start to happen and start to go the other way. And next thing you know, they lose the game 7-6, right? Yeah. And you say to yourself, you know, here was the here was the pinnacle event that started the momentum going the other way. And that's the way baseball is played, and that's the way it works. Boone has um has a contract through 2027, where he makes fifteen million dollars over three seasons. Um, he made 4.5 million in 25, 5 million in 26, 5.5 million in 27. Um, he had gotten a two-year extension. So, you know.

SPEAKER_00: 1:05:06

And they're not gonna fire him. They're they're we're stuck with him. They're they're not gonna Hal's not gonna spend money. He's not gonna do it. And if they don't get better on paper, there's they're just not a good baseball team. I'd like to think that they go out and make some free agent signings and trade for some players to put a better product on the field, but it's unrealistic at this point. They had their chance the last four or five years, they didn't do it, and it shows. I mean, you know, look at the teams that are still in the playoffs and look at the teams that are home. The Yankees are just not, I mean, the the Dodgers are a buzzsaw. I know we talked about, I was kind of hoping Philly would win, but and I talked them up a lot. But uh the Dodgers are just you know, they're loaded. They are absolutely loaded, and we're used to seeing the Yankees be loaded, and it's just not the same, it's not the same Yankees. It's it's it's just not. They've acquiesced to analytics and you know, stats and all that metrics-driven uh stuff. And uh it is, it's not built for the postseason, they're built for a regular season where they can win enough games and get in the playoffs, but they're not built for a short series in the postseason, they're just not. And people say, well, Cole was hurt and this guy was out, and you know, what's the excuse? Judge hit 500. I mean, what else could the guy do? Uh he, you know, I know he's taking a beating for his playoff performances, but they're the Yankees. They should be able to win whether he's on the field or not. And I'm not taking anything away from him. It's just, you know, it used to be if somebody was out, somebody stepped in and filled the role to whatever degree. And I know he's playing hurt. I think we all know he's playing hurt. You know, he's got the elbow uh issue, and he still hit 500 in this postseason. And it was nice to see. I was at the game where he hit the home run. The stadium went absolutely bananas, and he deserved that moment, and I'm glad it happened for him. You know, but they were even losing that game. You know, that was a game tying home.

SPEAKER_01: 1:07:15

But they are not gonna regain the heart, the passion. They're not gonna get as long as it's run by numbers, you're never gonna have that baseball passion that makes you win. I agree. I agree. And I think we should leave it at that. I mean, we keep we've been harping on these Yankees. We don't agree. They're not gonna do anything. If they do, we'll be shocked, and if they do, we'll start talking about it.

SPEAKER_00: 1:07:43

Yeah, it's disheartening because you see it coming, but uh, you know, I'm not giving up on it. I'm still gonna root for them, unlike the Jets.

SPEAKER_01: 1:07:51

Right. All right.

SPEAKER_00: 1:07:52

I think we'll be burning my pinstripes anytime soon.

SPEAKER_01: 1:07:55

Yeah, well, we'll we'll get into the when the Jets really blow up. Uh, it's hard to believe they haven't happened again. We'll get into the time Justin burned all his uh uh Jets gear in the backyard because they had made stupid mistakes, but we'll get into that. But for now, I think unless you have anything else, Justin will call it a day. No, that's it. That's all I got. Thank you everybody for watching. I know some of you are watching out there right now, and I appreciate it. Uh please come back next week. We're on every Monday at 5 till somewhere after 6, somewhere 6, 6 30. And we appreciate it. And you can find us on Facebook, on X, on YouTube live, and also the video is available on YouTube after I polish it up a little and work on the sound and and all those kind of things. And then also all the audio is available on all the major podcasts. I thank you all. You have gained just in a couple of weeks, we've been doing this. We're on week five, so maybe we're on week six, maybe we did it seven weeks, two weeks before we started doing football. You know, we've gained 500 subscribers and we're looking to have more. Please like, subscribe, love to hear your comments. Um, please, if you're you're on live, you can ask us questions and sign on into the chat, and we'd we'd love to address them. Try not to call us names. All right. Thanks a lot, everybody. Thanks for listening. Good seeing you, Justin. Uh thanks for having me, Steve. Have a good week, and we'll watch the game tonight. Buffalo all the way. Let's go.