Gregg Rosenthal is joined by Nick Shook to recap the Ravens and Chargers facing off on Monday Night Football. The guys start with a discussion about the formula to the Ravens' success, followed by a look at the state of the Chargers (8:00), and who should be the front runner for MVP (17:15). After the break, Gregg and Nick talk about possible Daniel Jones landing spots (26:25), Brandon Graham missing the remainder of the season due to injury (32:40), and give you their players of the week (38:46).
Note: time codes approximate.
Thirty two seconds left to the half. The Ravens have all three of their time outs. Say Flowers goes in motion. Lamar takes the snap, deep drop steps up, going deep at the five at the goal live Peytonent is there.
He makes the.
Couch touchdot were shot Bateman. Oh what a play, What a play it was, and what a night for the Baltimore Ravens. Thirty to twenty three. They go into Sofi Stadium and get the victory. That was Jerry Sandusky on WB A L and that forty yard touchdown late in the second quarter was part of a Raven surge where you want to say this was a close game between two evenly matched teams, but it really wasn't. For the first quarter, it's all Chargers, and for the most part, Nick shook. The rest of the game, the better team showed up and it didn't feel quite as close as the final score even indicated, and.
The better team won in a classic fashion, in a fashion that is very much on brand for the Baltimore Ravens in twenty twenty four, which is running the football, establishing ground dominance, and riding Derrick Henry to victory one hundred and forty yards on twenty four carries. He rumbles down the field, he powers a couple of scoring drives. Lamar Jackson is able to work out of the play action from there and the Ravens dropped thirty points thirty to six after going down ten to nothing and prove their superiority over the upstart Chargers.
Yeah, they only ran about eight plays in the first nineteen minutes of this game. It was perfect for the Chargers. They were controlling the clock, they were going on long drives. They get a ton ten to nothing lead, and after that the Ravens scored five straight times. And they showed a stat on ESPN that the Chargers had stopped third and ten or longer for thirty one straight plays. When they had a third and ten and when Lamar Jackson found Zay Flowers I believe it was on the sideline of that play and they hit it. I'm just like, oh, the Ravens are winning this game. Like, first you put that up. They haven't done it in thirty one times. They go on to score a touchdown on that drive, and then they continue to score and the game nick just on a broader level. And then I'll get into the nitty gritty really had echoes to me of some previous games that me and you have talked about. Number One Ravens Bengals, where the Ravens offense starts really slow, and this has happened a couple times for them. They're like an old car that just like takes a little while to get going, and then once the second quarter hits, you can't stop them. It had echoes of Bengals Chargers from a week ago, where the Chargers start out so well, but what they're doing on offense, which in this case, you know, first drive touchdown, they don't get a touchdown again until the end of the second half, and their defense, which had played so well initially, kind of caves in in the second half. And then it gave me echoes of the game just last night. It's so far ultimately the team that can run the rock, as you said, just absolutely took over in the second half. The Ravens run for two to twelve in this game. The Chargers run for eighty three, which is crazy because they had more than that at halftime. I believe they had negative yards at least late in the second half, it was like one hundred and twelve to negative six in terms of rushing yards in the second half. Our friend JK. Dobbins leaves with a knee injury, so hope the best for him. But just a lot of feel of all these games that we've seen and kind of the commonality in all of them is, as you said, that the team that can just grind it out gets it done in the end.
Yeah.
First off, I like the car metaphor, but the Ravens are not a Ford Pinto.
They are like a Lamborghini tuntajh.
You know, like, let's got there an eighties you know, exotic sports car that has been sitting in the garage for twenty thirty years and he's a little bit of time to warm up, but once it gets warmed up, it's taken off.
That's Baltimore in a nutshell.
But again, it's true in any football game, and especially in a football game that has Dereck Henry the football and Lamar Jackson as a running threat. Oh and Justice Hill popping one for a touchdown as well, is that if you can control the ground game, you could win the game. And especially if you can stop the ground game for the other team, then it really tilts in your favor. Which is essentially the story in the second half for the Ravens. I mean, this is a game in which the Charges go to halftime down by three points. They run the ball five times the rest of the game. They lose JK. Dobbins to a knee injury at halftime. He doesn't come back. Then they just forget that they also have a couple more running backs, one being Gus Edwards, and just go pass heavy. They also lose the time of possession battle, which they led by seven minutes and twenty seconds in a halftime. They end up losing it overall in the game. They couldn't sustain drives and a lot of that I think had to do with the unbalanced approach. And it's really funny. It's almost too perfect. It's poetic. Greg Roman being the OC for the Chargers losing the balance of his offense against his former team which now is Todd Munkin and is able to balance out their offense and put a ton of points on the board to win the game.
Well, the only thing I would push back is when they tried to run it with Gus Edwards. It was not effective carries for eleven yards and they weren't good on early downs running. He had a couple short yardage runs, so he did have some successful runs, but they didn't stick with it, which which is absolutely fair to point out. And you flip it over to the Ravens and that first touchdown drive that they had, that which you know finished at the in the second quarter, Derreck Henry was making the right reads and picking up seven eight yards And the reason they didn't move the ball in the first quarter was really just Lamar Jackson was off and it ended drives. He missed a couple throws, ha had a bad read on one of them, and they were three and out and then five and out. But to me, the story of this game, and I'm going to go through a couple of plays here, Nick, so bear with me, are the short yardage plays. You know where I'm.
Starting, right, Yep, yep, yep. Fourth That the.
Mark Andrews fourth and one call with about two minutes to go in the second quarter. You come back after they tried to pull off sides after the two minute warning, you think they're gonna punt, and they actually line up to go for it at their own sixteen and everyone that would have been blaming John Harbaugh if it didn't work, better be pointing out that that decision and their fourth down decisions were one of the big reasons they won this game. Now, the reason you make that call, especially with two minutes to go, the situation is they're losing that game. They don't want to give the Chargers a chance to get the ball again and score before halftime. So at worst, we trust our offensive line. This is what we do well. We can pick up and it wasn't even a full yard three feet and get three feet and at the very least keep them off the scoreboard A handful of plays later, after they hand the ball to Mark Andrews, who gets it with a tush push like play. It's a little ballsy to make that your call. On fourth and one, that's when you hear that Bateman throw to finish out the scoring. Next fourth and one, third quarter on their own thirty nine yard line, they give it to Derrick Henry twenty seven yard run. Later that drive, they have a fourth and one where they're in pretty close field goal range. Again, you give it to Henry, he gets two yards, they convert it. They later score a touchdown instead of a field goal, and then finally in the fourth quarter, you have some short yardage situations. I can think of two, but one really stands out, the third and one to Derrick Henry where they're just trying to possess the ball. It's not a fourth down play, but he gets to the outside. You have the perfect defense called two different defenders are there, and Derrick Henry just stiff arms Dayon Henley into the atmosphere and he gets it. And there's just no answer. When you're that good in short yardage, you win games. And let's wrap up this short yardage montage with a third and three from Justice Hill, which yes, ultimately put the game out of reach. I'm third and three.
We give us a Justice Hill sweeping left side, crosses Smith Peel Hatel, the forty charge with thirty who like race twenty, Justice.
Hill ten.
Touch raves Justice who goes fifty one yards and the Ravens extender lead.
That's what's seven minutes left in the game. And Derrick Henry needed a blow there, sook And that's what happened. Sometimes in these short yarded situations. Everyone's up there trying to stop them and they pop some big ones.
Yeah, that third down that you mentioned with with Derrick Henry stiff arming. He stiff arms two guys to win the edge on that run to get the first down. Like there are only a few running backs in the NFL that can do that, which is why he's the perfect fit for this offense. They even spooking out on the broadcast how there's he wouldn't be performing like this in another place, but because he's in Baltimore, he's having a great year. And it speaks to the threat of the Baltimore offense in that if you get them to fourth down, because that third, that fourth and one sequence that you mentioned just before halftime, Chargers defense is celebrating like we just got a big stop. We're gonna get an opportunity to put points on the board. Crowd is going pretty wild for them, relatively speaking for a Chargers Oh, they were good.
Give the Chargers fans some credit.
These last they were louder than usual. Yeah.
I gotta say Rams ownership might be seeing this and be like, wow, they kind of got they got something going there with the Chargers crowd.
Sorry, No, you're right though, I mean, all the vibes are good for them. They're like, yeah, we're having a great first half. The defense that has been their calling card all the year. They're playing tip physical, they're playing tough. They get a stop and then they surrender. They surrender because Mark Andrews is the one who forces them to surrender by getting the first down, and that leads them down the field to score. And that's when the momentum flipped. And like you said, that's when the Ravens really won this game. It wasn't even the second half and their relative dominance in that game, it was that sequence right there. But that's who the Ravens can be. You can get them in fourth and short and you can't guarantee that you're still going to get off the field against them. That's the mark of a true contender. And it's it really illustrates what we learned about the Chargers was just that even though they have a very physical defense, they played above expectation throughout this year, they are still figuring out how to be winners, how to convert in key situations like that. And I think that this in their first true test of the twenty twenty four season. All the people that were a little skeptical about them, I think they got good.
The haters are going to come out. You know, I've got this gentleman's or gentle woman's wager with Mina Kimes. Just nothing on the line here but that they wouldn't finish in the top twenty of defensive DVOA. And you know, she asked me the questions today, like have they really played anyone good defense? Me, I'm like, they've played the Chiefs, who have a pretty good running attack when they had Pacheco back then, and they played the Cardinals. So let's calm down about them not having played anyone but the teams they've beat. To be fair, Scott Van Pelt pointed this out had a twenty six and fifty two record, and so the teams that they've beat have not been great teams. Their best win was in Denver, which is a nice win. They are at Atlanta, then they're at Kansas City, home for the Broncos and the Bucks in a row. Those are four challenging games. I think they can win some of those, but the offenses for the most part that are efficient. In fact, three out of those four offenses are in the top eight of dvo WAY. And so we'll see what the defensive ranking is after that stretch of games. You need to find some wins. It would have been nice to come out. You get out to a ten nothing lead here, you're a little disappointed you didn't come away with this one.
Yeah, and my conservative Chargers going forward, this may be a preview of a late season slide for them. And it's not the defense, really. Yeah, they got run through by Derek Henry and Lamar Jackson and Justin Justice Hill tonight. It's the offense. It's the fact that I don't think this team is built to come from behind. And if you're not able to get an advantage, which they did, by the way, ten to nothing early in this game, and hang on to that advantage into the second half, you're in a tough spot because if the running game is not working, as it wasn't in the second half, your passing game, despite how well Justin Herbert has played, especially in the last six weeks, is still very limited by the guy's catching passes from him. Lad mcconkeye is the only guy I trust to make a play in this receiving core right now. They took like four d shots to Josh Palmer. None of them had a chance of being completed at one time. I think the broadcast talked about how you got to put it on him. Herbert puts a perfect ball just inside the sideline redline throw Pauler has no idea where it is, no idea where it is. They keep trying to go to him deep because Johnston doesn't make plays. He drops the pass on the drag route and the key situation down. A score on third down would have been a huge game. If he held on to the football, gets in his head, drops two more. They're limited offensively when they have to throw. And that's why I think as we get into December, we're going to come to realize who these Chargers really are. And I hate to say for Chargers fans, but I think they're gonna get a real dose of harsh reality here in the next few weeks.
Okay, let's calm down.
I'm telling you, I see the tracks.
I hear you. But I do think they're a well coached team. They showed that at the end of the second quarter when they manage the clock very well. They don't beat themselves too much with penalties, and Herbert is the man. He played really well tonight. I thought, for the most part, not nothing out of this world, but You're right, if his receivers make more plays for him down the field, if they get that pass interference call that they change their mind on. On the Josh Palmer play, it was him and Brandon Stevens late in the game, they at least would have been set up to make it more of a one score game. I mean, they're trying to drive down twenty three to sixteen in the fourth quarter. It was a competitive game. When Johnston starts dropping all these passes. So I'm just thinking about the Johnston fantasy owners, like the guys that needed two points tonight in fantasy or whatever, four points and let the ball just keeps coming back to him and he just keeps dropping it over and over or not making contested catches. You're right. There was a couple times where Palmer, who had eight targets, caught three for thirty eight, just didn't turn the right way. The fact that Jalen Rager is heavily involved as actually a decent role player for them and been a little more reliable just shows where they're at. I agree with offensively that they're limited, because one disagreement I had with Troy Aikman during the night was how there are more balanced team, and they're running the ball a lot, and they're not a good running team. They've popped a few runs late in games, but they're not a consistent running team. They have one of the worst success rates in the league. And they're actually not a heavy run team either. Since the bye week, they are one of the past heaviest teams in neutral situations in the league. They have put it all on Justin Herbert's arm because that's what they do best, and it didn't work tonight, and I think a little credit has to go to the Ravens secondary hesitant to give them too much credit, but at the end of the day, the Chargers ended up with two hundred and two net passing yards two hundred and eighty five overall, and that includes a lot of that garbage time yards. I would have killed them if they looked like they did in the first quarter the rest of the game, but they settled down and that's too good an enough performances where guys like Trenevious White and Stevens Nate Wiggins made some play They survived without Rokuwon Smith. I thought that would be a big issue. They survived. They just need to be okay to support the best offense in the league right now.
Yeah, Wiggins actually made a physical play, which I was surprised because he's just a slight guy, Like he's long, but he's pretty thin. He made a really nice physical pass breakup on third and short that forced a punt, and I was like, Oh.
Look at Wiggins, you know, lower the boom a little bit. Okay, that's good.
That's good promise and progress from a rookie corner who's obviously very gifted athletically. And I think that it's also a good demonstration of Zach Orr kind of figuring out how to adjust in the flow of the game because they've there's been times where they have just not had an answer in some of these games. That's how you kind of got to seven and four overall, is because they just haven't been consistent on that side of the ball. But to go back to that Chargers point one more time, the reason that they are where they are right now is because that defense has played well enough. They've played tough and physical enough to win games against lesser opponents. And now you've described that stretch that they're about to face. That's where my lack of you know, where I expect them to actually produce. Like That's where my uncertainty lies in is the fact that, okay, well, if that defense doesn't show up week by week, I don't know if you have the greatest shot to keep up.
With some of these teams.
So that's why this game, this week's game against Atlanta is really big for two teams that to me are our borderline playoff teams. But yeah, our candidates to sink a little in the second half and they played each other. They had a couple injuries before tonight on the defense. One of their starting corners, heart Kim Hart was out and Denzil Parriman was out, so they hope to get him back. Joey Bose is killing them. This has really been on my radar that he is in one hundred percent this contract that he's had for them, if you go through it. He hasn't played more than five hundred and fifty snaps since twenty twenty one. He's only played more than five hundred and fifty snaps three times in his career. This could have been a Hall of Fame type player. He's now, I believe, playing through a hip injury and he's just not making any impact on these games. And they have a pretty good defensive line anyways, but it didn't make much of an impact tonight. They did a good job protecting, and they certainly did a good job running and you know, blocking for Derrick Henry and Lamar Jackson, who I think ultimately improves his MVP cases. We got a long way to go to me right now. It's it's Saquon, Josh Allen, and Lamar Jackson as the three main contenders, and it's going to take someone else going a little nuts to get in there. Like if Herbert had thrown five touchdowns tonight and they won, then like maybe he starts getting into the mix. We got a lot of road now outside, but at this point that obviously didn't happen. Far from happen. It's going to be Lamar and those two guys. And I thought Lamar made some bad decisions tonight on like when to throw and when not to run. Got away with the throw a few passes, had some incompletions where he could have picked it up with his legs, but ultimately what he needed it, like on third down, he was money. That throat of Bateman was awesome and and maybe the biggest play in the game other than that, to me was the third and goal. It's the fourth quarter, it's a one point game. They're at about the eighth yard line, and that's a tough touchdown the complete third and goal from the eight and if they don't hit that, you have Justin Tucker kicking to go up four. But they did hit it, and it gives us an excuse to listen to our guy, Kevin Harlan. Third and goal for the Ravens. Chapin chants are territory shotgunsnap chopping back five line tive throw, put raping catch.
Back to the un shown touch tydun Andrews a beautiful front like.
Line five touchdown pass Lamar Jackson with a strike of six yards. That tandem is awesome. Great catch, great throw, great call by Kevin Harlan. What a freaking pro on Westwood One, because there was an officiating nonsense for two minutes after that trying to decide if it was a touchdown or not. But Kevin Harlan knew it was a touchdown and he just called it a touchdown. That alone should make get one of the calls of the year. Although I'll have to remember that at the end of the year put it on the list.
What I really liked was the description a beautiful thread like line drive pass, because that's exactly what it was, and delivering it perfectly in rhythm. That's Kevin Harlan to a tee And that was Mark Andrews to a t No, there are a few guys in the league that you could trust more than Mark Andrews in the red zone in situations like that. Go throw one up there. Let the big man go up there and snag in the back of the end zone. What a great play.
Yeah. All the good Ravens offensive players made plays which kind of loved to see. They are deeper than they used to beak Justice Hill has been a nice role play for them. He obviously had to touch on Derrick Henry Zay Flowers that catch and run that he had after the fourth down. It was on another third down to Zay Flowers where he feels where the defender is behind him and makes a big yards after the catch to help set up that Bateman touchdown just a few plays later. All the guys really stepped up and were in the mix. And it's just it's a tough offense because I feel like, was that really even that great of a Lamar Jackson game? And then you think, well, yeah, he averaged, you know, over eight yards per attempt, a couple touchdowns, had a touchdown running the ball as well. He now has twenty two touchdowns and no interceptions on Monday Night football in his career, which is just a preposterous that. I feel like, half of those touchdowns, I'm sorry, Nick, came against your Cleveland brown so at least tonight it was someone else.
Well, i mean, the Browns won that game, but yeah, it's true there was a couple.
You're right, though, I'm remembering.
The Yeah, he's one of the best players in the NFL. I mean, he's still my front runner for MVP. Saquon is gonna make it interesting. It's funny because we're like, oh, kind of a quiet night, two touchdown passes, rushing touchdown. It's because Dereck Henry kind of led the way, you know, with the visual impression you know, on the audience and everybody watching is just like, oh, look at Derek Henry running through the defense. Again, look at that stuff farm But oh, by the way, Lamar also accounted for three touchdowns in this game. Just classic, typical Lamar, typical Ravens, and this is how they win football games.
This is their brand.
It might work against Lamar when it comes to voting time. I think it will. It's a narrative award sometimes and having a player like Derrick Henry, who tonight I do think picked up his teammate Lamar, and the Running Game picked up Lamar. Now, Lamar is obviously impacting that running Game, but Henry did pick him up after a slow start. And I think it's like you might cancel out the votes. I think people would be more excited if it's close to vote for Josh Allen because he's never won it before. Yes, I do, or just even if it's mental, like you now vote for five MVP candidates. And by the way, I got an update from the Associated Press who listens to this very podcast that they will be voting on all the awards with the top five.
Way to Go A way to bring clarity to the map. Thank you be the change. Yes that I don't.
Really think I was the one that made that happen, but I was informed it is happening, so I'm just gonna take credit either way. Let's let's just enjoy that that is happening. So the Coach of the year, defensive player of the year will all be top five. And so I actually do think Derrek Henry right now would probably be in my top five or and some people's top five. And yes, I do think, just mentally, even if you didn't have him there, you might put Labar down a little bit. Plus he's already won it twice, So I think Josh Allen and Saquon who knows. There's so much time to go that I think we don't need to be ranking these each and every week, but it is.
I am curious.
I want to know who that fifth guy is in your top five, because we just listed four of them.
This could be debatable here. I kind of want to hear it.
Okay, tell me yours, if you've got it off, I would I would. I didn't think it.
Through as of about a week prior. I probably would have thrown Burrow as the fifth.
I don't love that. I know wins are not a QB stat. He wouldn't be a bad fifth spot. He'd be in my mix. I hate that they've lost so many games with the offense having the ball at the end. I would think about Pina Seol, which is why I think having five spots is it's like you you represent something cool. That's like, what what you can do with your fifth spot. I would think if he has a huge dress of the year, people will kill me for this. Actually, no, I take it back. I'm not even gonna say it, not even gonna say it.
Be still by beating Hardy picked a lineman.
Yeah, let's let's go, Let's go Pine School. Uh, it's taken the song. We haven't mentioned that two brothers coached against each other in this game. I'm gonna ask you a question. Are you continually surprised when you hear them say how John Harbaugh is the older brother? Yeah, Gym seemed like the yeah brother.
And I had that thought tonight, and the only thing I can think of was God, all those years in college football in the NFL must have really taken a toll on him.
He's also like more intense, so he's aging.
He also looks great for his age. It's just John Harbaugh's never aged. He's in his sixties on the track right. It's it's nothing against Jim. It's not just the looks though, It's just he just seems like he would be the older brother. But then occasionally you hear Jim say all I ever wanted to be was like my older brother John. And it might be because no one had ever heard of John Harbaugh except you know, if you are a big Ravens fans are Eagles fan, because he was a special teams coach until the moment he was the head coach of the Ravens. I remember I was at Roade World NBC at the time, and it's like, who are they hiring for? Oh, they're hiring their special teams coach. Okay, that's a little random for such a good franchise. Just you know, won the Super Bowl not too long ago, and now here he is all this time later, and he is the big brother. He beats his little brother each time. Three and oh and he's just you know, in the biggest of spots and in primetime tonight three and.
Oh yeah, I mean, good for him. I would love to say, oh, I'd love to see him meet back up in like the AFC Championship, but I think that's a little premature.
I would take it in the wildcard Wildcard round.
That would be fun, although we would all get tired of that narrative.
It's fine, the coaches whatever. I think it's cool. It is cool that two brothers are coaching against each other and there's such Jim is such a value add to any scenario that he's fun. But it's more just Justin Herbert versus Lamar Jackson. I'd like to see, all right, Herbert, maybe in a playoff setting, can you unleash a little more, get a little more aggressive. I don't know how much more aggressive he really could have been. I don't put this on him.
No, it's not on him. He's playing.
He's playing well, and he's taking shots and he's and he's throwing accurate passes.
It's just the other end of the pass is not being held up.
All right, And good job by Justin Tucker hitting a field goal. I hate that we're at the point where we're just like, hey, hit a forty seven yard field goal. But maybe that's technique him turning it around. And I'm glad you also mentioned that Charges crowd when they booed the hell out of Quinton Johnston. I was like, okay, okay, Charges. I'm like, yeah, it's pretty spicy, like Raven's tray. But it was still a very heavy Chargers crowd tonight. It's a good job Chargers fan, Good job, Nick. We're gonna take a quick break and we'll come back after to do some news and give you our players of the week back on NFL Daily. It's a condensed week. It's got my parents coming in. We're gonna be taping our preview show just a little bit earlier. Got some programming all throughout the week. I'm looking forward to it, and let's do a little bit of news, Nick. We learned on Monday that Daniel Jones cleared waivers. No surprise, no one wanted that contract. Not a surprise that he has a lot of interest around the league. There was one report it was up to ten teams, which is wild. The Vikings are believed to be one of them. Kevin O'Connell was asked about Daniel Jones on Monday.
Tons of respect for Daniel Jones as a player and a person got to know him through the draft process years ago, and you know, I'm sure now that he's, you know, a free agent and there's probably a ton of league wide interest in him. You know, Daniel's gonna make the decision. That's that's best for him and his career moving forward. And I'm sure he's working through that process right now. But I really can't get into too much about, you know, any short term or long term. I can just say, you know, been a fan of Daniels for a long time and hope, uh, you know, wherever his next stop takes him, it's a it's a good opportunity for him.
Now. That's not tampering because he's a free agent. But if I heard that, I would be like, I want to I want to play with that dude. That's the dude that's gassing up even the quarterbacks he beats like like Caleb Williams and I forget who else it was this season where he's always so good after the game. That's one possibility. Ian Rappaport mentioned the Ravens and the Bills as potential contenders. That he could be a backup on the forty nine ers, depending on Brock Purdy's situation, could be an option. The Raiders would seemingly be interested, but I don't know why Daniel Jones would want to do that unless he was just desperate to play. But I wouldn't want to do that personally. Where would you like to see Daniel Jones. It does sound like he will be on a team in the next week or two.
This has nothing to do with my background or where I live, but I had this thought occurred to me like a month ago, where I was like, oh, man, if the Giants move on from Daniel Jones after this year, I could see him anying up on the Browns roster in the offseason. As of right now, it makes the most sense to go to San Francisco. I think the Buffalo fit is intriguing because he's mobile. The Kevin O'Connell thing saying that he's you know, he always liked him a bit of a surprise, but again, you're working with Sam Darnold, so it's nice to have a backup with experience there as well. Also, he gassed him up in a sweater that screamed I just sweat out and overtime win over the Bears.
Kevin O'Connell loves all these quarterbacks, so they're one on him. He feels he feels for all of them that are struggling because he puts himself in those shoes. And he also knows Daniel Jones is a better football player than Nick Mullens and is supremely confident in his own coaching ability and thinks, well, if we needed someone, if Sam Bradford got hurt, he would probably give us a better chance. So I'm curious to see. And we kept good on our promise. Remember on this very show last Monday, would we said we're not going to talk about Daniel Jones again until the day he got cut. And after this long saga, we didn't even talk about him on the day he got cut because that day was a Friday, the only back to back days of the NFL Daily week where we don't have a show. Then we were onto the recap and I kind of appreciate that the Giants just buried Daniel Jones getting cut on a Friday after playing him as the scout team safety on a Thursday.
What a mess you are, Giants, is yes, yeah, And it was a good Friday news dump number one and number two.
Good on us for not going against our word.
We're winning, although we have probably spent too much time on him. Right now, let's go on to the other New York football team. The team announced on Monday that they are going to get helped from the thirty third team if you're not familiar with that. That is Mike Tannenbomb's NFL technology and media company. According to the press release, I just thought it was like a website. I didn't know it was a technology but maybe they have data that they sell, like maybe PFM.
In the works that I have slight background on that.
I'm not going to divulge further, but yeah, I was also surprised Mike Tannanbomb.
They just can't quit this guy. We love, we love Mike t. We used to have him on the Old Around the NFL podcast. He's a two Lane graduate. I know Mike Tanner bombs. Oh he is, Oh yeah, that's he always He always liked to see another alumni of the college football playoff bound to Lane Green Wave Thanksgiving night. You know if if Giants Cowboys and getting it done for you. The only college football game on entire airwaves is two Lane versus.
Memphis ranked where now, Greg.
I think nineteenth, I think nineteenth.
Ap top twenty five. Green Wave already securitive spot in the AAC Championship game.
I am working on potentially going to that, but oh, get approve. We'll see. So Tannabaum runs this website with Rick Spielman, who is a former Vikings general manager, and his old boss Woody Johnson decides to hire them to help them in their hiring process, which I don't know, man, I just kind of expect Mike Tannabaum to be like, hey, I looked around and I found a pretty great idea. How about I'm the president and here's my GM underneath me? Like, would you like me to do that? Whatdy Johnson? Like, that's how this ends? Right?
Look no more, I have your response.
I mean, look, it's better than the Browns kicking the tires on Condolleza Rice.
Okay, I this whole thing of like going to guys who've been out of the league for a decade, Like when was last time Bill Pollian came up with a good idea. I don't know. I like Mike tannenbaumb, but somehow, going back to what were the good old days for the Jets, Tannenbaum as a GM, they point out in the press release, led them to four winning seasons out of seven, which for the Jets is pretty miraculous and obviously was there the last time they made it to the playoffs. But I don't know can we come up with some new ideas New York Jets. Yeah. Anyways, Brandon Graham is out for the season with a torn triceps. This came out just minutes after we stopped taping on Sunday Night Football. What a bummer, because this dude was having one of the all time I'm just gonna put everything I can on the field for one last season at age thirty seven, the best he's played in years. Their best edge rusher this year flat out was Brandon Graham and now he's out for the rest of the year. So it's a sad story because he was expected to retire. He said he was going to retire and now he's maybe leaving it a little more open. But either way, disappointing for an Eagles team that needs an edgress presence.
Frankly, yeah, and he looked good on Sunday Night again. But I have a feeling that saying this would be his last year was said with the whole bitter taste in his mouth of the way last year's season ended and now that they're experiencing success again. I mean, he's a bubbly guy, like, he's a guy that's easy to get along with. His teammates love him, He's still producing. Why not give it one more go if you can come back. You know, it's not like it's a knee injury. Trycups is still significant. It ended Joe Thomas' career, but I would love to see him give it one more go.
Yeah, I was reading some reporting from Zach Berman of All PHO Y and some of the interpretation of that it just might be up to the Eagles front office too. It might have almost been in agreement with them, because you know, they keep bringing him back every year at a pretty good number. He's been there forever known as one of all time best leaders, energy, everything, and so it might be up to them too of how much do they want to pay him to bring him back? If they were interested, you would think they would be. But I just want to point out in case this is the last time we talked about I guess we'll know on retirement day that just he was a guy that for years was looked on as a disappointment and they stuck with him development and like his second contract was not a huge contract, and when they gave it to him, people were surprised, like really Brandon Graham and he just he had a lot of setbacks early in his career. It was a lot of pressure and not a lot of sex. And he just kept getting better and better and better. And it does show sometimes it doesn't pop for you right off the bat, even as a high draft pick. And he turned into an Eagle's legend, a guy who, by the way, strip sacked Tom Brady to win the Super Bowl. I feel like that doesn't get mentioned enough. Like literally, he ended the Super Bowl with the strips of all time. It is kind of true, like like, give give him his props someone we're not giving props to. Serious story here in Los Angeles Monday morning, the wide receiver DeMarcus Robinson, who has been starting for the Rams, was arrested on suspicion of driving under the influence, according to a California Highway Patrol release obtained by NFL media. Sean McVeigh is expected to address this on Tuesday. I don't know what to say about this when this happens, other than we'll see how the team handles it, how the NFL handles it right away, whether he'll stay on the field. But he has been on the field quite a bit most snaps and been very valuable for them in the red zone.
Yeah, especially when they didn't have Cooper Cup and Poop and a Coula. They were desperate for, you know, veteran assistance at receiver, and he stepped up and came through. Oftentimes it was him and you know, a ragtag crew of other guys, Jordan waitting from the rookie I think Tyler Johnson was in that group as well.
So yeah, we'll see, we'll see what happens there.
Luckily they have cup in Nicula back, even if the KUA might not be one hundred percent, but yeah, we'll track that.
And then you know, it was like hours after the game and just yeah, take take your ruber. And I know sofvice far take your ruber. Some injury news, Brian Robinson has an ankle injury. Dan Quinn not sure if he'll be able to play this week. They'll see. Austin Eckler is in the concussion protocol after a brief trip to the hospital after which really worries you if the concussion sent him to the hospital. That was a really scary hit at the end of that Washington game. It's also the second time this season that he's been in the concussion protocol, so all the best to him. Jalen Petrie of the Texans is gonna miss multiple weeks with a pectoral injury. That's bad news for a secondary that did not really play that well against Tennessee. Trevor Lawrence is back to practicing and that's big news for Texans fans because Jaguars play Houston this week. Josh Downs is week to week with a shoulder injury. He played through that injury on Sunday, but it sounds like he's gonna be out at least a week and then eight and O'Connell might be starting a football game on an Island game and that is the Black Friday game. He is back at practice Nick, which would keep Desmond Ritter out of the starting lineup for the Raiders. You could address any single one of those injuries if you want, including the last one.
AOC.
Well, we'll start with Aidan O'Connell because I still think he gives them a better chance of victory against the Chiefs defense. Who's but that's who they're playing, by the way, then Desien Ritter would it's the quarterback situation. There's not good regardless, but he was going to be their starter until he got hurt and gardermanshe had to come back in. So they're just kind of figuring it out as they go because they're forced into this weird situation and they're a low ceiling team at this point.
The lowest of ceilings. There's you know, what's the opposite of the ceiling is through the roof, like their ceiling is through the basement.
Yeah, exactly.
Trevor practicing is encouraging because the Jaguars has been a bit of a tough tough watch without him, Mac Jones has not been a fun viewing experience and Josh downs, you know, with with the Colts in the situation, Threa in right now. You know, he's been one of the more reliable receivers. He was more productive with Joe Flackol than he was Anthony Richardson. But I would not be surprised if he does not play against the Patriots this week because they have a late buy coming right after that. Buying that extra week a time would make more sense for that final stretch run that starts by the way in Denver.
Well it really starts in New England. They do not have much margin for error, but the way Houston looks right now and their upcoming open schedule, Like, if you can get to nine wins, Colts, can you get to nine wins? Can you win four more games? Like that? That might be enough. Man, the Texans would only need to win two more to get there. But it is not looking great for the Texans. You're you're bumming me out, Texans. Let's go to a place that makes me a little happier. It's time for the Captain's Corner, presented by Captain Morgan. I'll go first this week. Let's mix it up, John gonna go. Leonard Williams of the Seattle Seahawks. I can't believe I didn't give him more pop after watching one of the best defensive performances by any player in any game all season. This game alone made that trade worth it, made that contract worth it. I think he's been a very good player for Seattle, but this was an Aaron Donald type of game where one defensive player just absolutely takes over nine quarterback pressures, three were under two and a half seconds, four quarterback hits, two and a half sacks, a pass defense, and that was despite getting double teams almost thirty percent of the time. That's mostly when he was on the inside, but he also played on the outside as their edge about half the time because they don't really have an edge there and they thought he could take advantage of that matchup. He was awesome. There were also plays where he was kind of pushing and collapsing and making Kyler flesh out the other way. I don't even know if he got a pressure on those plays. One man wrecked and crew. That Seattle defense is getting better and better. But Lenny Williams another guy where for a minute there was like, is this guy a little disappointing as a Jets draft pick? No, stick with your g guys who have talent and they could stick around and have a great long career. That's what Leonard Williams has done.
I like that pick.
I'm gonna go back to the beginning of the week and we're gonna go back to the blizzard that occurred at the recently renamed Huntington Bank Field on the shore of Lake Erie.
We're going for two weeks in a row with.
Jamis Winston as a Maps Corner selection, and this time it's because of not only his performance, which statistically is even, but it's the clutch plays and it's the content that came from it. He comes into the press conference after leading the Browns to a thrilling win over the Steelers amid a snowstorm, and he says, it was like my NFL film's moment. I was squishing my feet through the snow. Everything was moving slow, and I dove in the end zone. And then sure enough, because they're doing hard knocks in the AFC North NFL Films produces, they're shot of it.
Right after.
I saw his micd up today and the Browns had posted the whole thing, and he was just super excited about playing the idea that it was snowing, the idea that he had another chance to play a game in the NFL, and he delivered like the Browns lost their lead in the blink of an eye and he was able to lead this drive as the snow was falling so hard you couldn't even see the stadium, and he gets the job done.
So good job. Jameis Winston typically.
Came, I made you happy. Tell me a little bit more about what that that was. Like. I know, I asked you quickly on Sunday. We didn't have a ton of time, like that that had to been a crazy viewing experience. Your picture, by the way, nice seats that Chooky had good night. Yeah, in that NFL Daily Money, well, it was absolutely cinematic.
Yes, that's exactly what it was.
It was beautiful.
It was you know, I've I've had some great sports viewing experiences of my life, including Super Bowls and everything else. I've been to a snow game in Cleveland back when they played the Bills amid another white out level conditions back in the day. But this one the flakes were thick. It was a wet snow. I was soaked. I was with my lifelong best friend, who you know, grew up a Browns fan, were surrounded by Steelers fans. We're having friendly discussions as the game progresses. The Browns are playing way above expectation. Nothing's working properly for either team in the snow just a thrilling environment. And there's something about being in a stadium at night when the snow is falling that lights up the whole stadium like a snow globe. And when the game is as thrilling as that one was, and it's not just like two field goals in a safety like it was against the Bills way back in the day for the Browns.
There's just something special about it.
You walk out of the stadium, You're like, man, that was a moment I'll never forget as somebody who just loves football.
That's awesome. How are the Steelers fans when you won? Did you kind of stick it in their eye? A little dangerous?
The guys behind me were from Columbus, so we commiserate over being Ohio State fans, and they were great. The people next to me not so great, but they exited quietly, so you know, that is what it is in the EFC door.
That's awesome. Glad to give you some good memories, get put you in a better mood. You know, there was some road rage conversation before the show. I'm not supposed to mention it as your friend and put you back in a bad place. So we want a happy Nick Chuck, Thanks buddy, Yeah.
Thank you.
This has been one heck of a Monday night, you know. And I'm not going to talk about that road rage incident because I have a long views and I well you are you.
You are a pretty chill guy, but you would be one of the last people I know that I would want to instigate again. Yeah, in a road rage incident or even right now, so all shut up. That was the Captain's Corner presented by Captain Morgan. It's delicious and crisp, perfect for your game day with friends. Spice it up. Visit Captain Morgan dot com to find a Captain near you. Please drink responsibly. That's it for this NFL Daily. We will be back on Tuesday with Colleen Wolf and Jordan Rodrigue. As I mentioned, the schedule a little bit different. Today we are previewing all the Thanksgiving games with Colleen and Jordan. We'll do the rest of the preview the following day. We got the Black Friday game as well, two great quarterbacks tonight. Look when the next game is on Thanksgiving, this bitbit might be over because, without a shred of a doubt, football was backh