The Insiders Podcast: Giants to Start Tommy DeVito, Bo Nix vs. Jayden Daniels, Rams Lineman Braden Fiske Joins

Published Nov 21, 2024, 1:43 AM

NFL Network Insiders Tom Pelissero, Judy Battista and Mike Garafolo deliver football's biggest headlines on the eve of week 12 of the regular season. The Insiders begin the show with a discussion about the New York Giants quarterback room, now headlined by Tommy DeVito. Later, Omar Ruiz joins to preview Packers-49ers, and Bucky Brooks taps in with a debate between Bo Nix and Jayden Daniels for Rookie of the Year. You also do not want to miss the Insiders' interview with Rams rookie defensive lineman Braden Fiske, who is playing an integral role on the Los Angeles defense. Also, NFL fantasy football expert Michael F. Florio shares his trade advice for leagues approaching the trade deadline.

Perry.

Deadline is looming in your fantasy league, and you just know your brother in law, Chad is itching to make a deal. Who should you target? Who should you try to unload? Who can you fool him and steal away for nothing? Michael lef Florio has insight you need before you click, except if you don't have Bonnicks or Jane Daniels on your fantasy team. Probably a little bit late for that, but both rookie quarterbacks have a lot to play for on the real field the next seven weeks, including Rookie of the Year honors. Bucky Brooks will be here to tell you who he'd vote for. Could Braden Fisk be the defensive rookie of the Year?

Now?

What we do know is he's making his debut on this show tonight and he does not spell his last name the same way as Carlton. Welcome inside with the Insiders alongside Judy Battista and Mike Garrifola.

So I am Tom Pellaicero.

We are on the eve of week twelve in the NFL. We've got so much to talk to you about over these next sixty minutes. But we start out for the second Wednesday in a row in Chicago where things looked just a little bit better after the offensive coordinator change last week, the Bears breaking a streak and this is a real streak of twenty five consecutive offensive possessions without a touchdown in the first game with Thomas Brown replacing Shane Waldron as the play caller. As for any changes to the offense, Williams said, they really haven't stripped it down too much.

I wouldn't say it simplified it.

We didn't reinvent the will for those three or four days that you know, Thomas became, you know, the office coordinator and play caller. We just I think the decisiveness, I think all of that came from one hour meetings and how we're going to do things. I think it came from being able to get play calls in faster and being able to get up there and not feel like you're rushed or not feel like you know you you you need to hurry up and get the ball snap and things like that. I think I think all of these small things, details of routes, details of you know, the blocking, details of the the the path of running backs, and how we're going to do things.

I think.

I think that led into all of what happened last week.

It's a really painful way to lose a game, obviously on a blocked field goal when you're trying to snap this long skid against your most heated rival MIC but you look at the numbers they put up close to four hundred yards Caleb's twenty three of thirty one passing in that game. Another tough opponent this week against the Vikings, but at least for the first time in the past month, there we seem to maybe there's some positive momentum for that Bears offense.

Well, you could tell that they have respect for Thomas Brown, you could tell Kyle that Williams does. It seems to be more of a calming presence right now, which is what they needed, and getting the play in early. You heard Williams talk about that. That was the emphasis last week. Get him to the line and give him a chance to assess things. That helps a young quarterback, That helps any quarterback. I can't We've seen Aaron Rodgers to the sideline, moving his head. Let's go get the call and get the call, and to get we got to get the call in. I mean, it helps you assess things when you're at the line of scrimmage, so definitely looked like he was more comfortable in that aspect. He was asked if you know he needed some kind of confidence boost, if he needed a showing like this. He downplayed that. I don't know. I think he did, and I really think he did, because you're looking at where they are right now. This is the end of a three game stretch where they're not playing on the road, they're at home, and they're heading on the road for three games including games at Detroit and at Minnesota that's coming up. So you know that it's not terrible from a weather standpoint. San Francisco, I think is in the middle of those, so not from a weather standpoint, but tough defenses and judy some loud environments as well. So getting the line early that's going to help you in that regard.

Well, look, I mean last week is obviously a small sample size compared to the rest of the season, but it was encouraging. He was getting the ball out more quickly, as he said, he was more decisive. Of course, now against the Vikings, all of that is going to be important, and the question is can that be sustained or was that a one off? Because the Vikings are almost certainly going to be in Caleb Williams's face a lot.

They bring a.

Lot of pressure.

Until last week the Bears were not handling pressure all that well. Right, He gets sacked a lot. He gets sacked more than any quarterback in the NFL. The Vikings like to blitz. He has been sacked on blitzes. His passing average per attempt goes way down when he faces a blitz. So they struggle again against pressure, and the Vikings bring a lot of pressure. So we will see here if the changes to the offense they're brand new, if they can be carried over against one of the NFL's best defense as and a defense that, at least on paper, presents a very poor matchup for the Bears right now.

Not overly dramatic to say, the Bears season very much may be on the line. On Sunday, Get Soldier Field against the Vikings. That game in the one pm Eastern time window. Same time, we've got Giants Bucks, a game that is mostly relevant to this show because yes, it's the return of Tommy cutlets Tommy Devido back as the number one quarterback. As they come off the buy. Brian Daboles said, this was a football decision for the team. Daniel Jones still a member of the Giants, but he's not number one, he's not number two, he might not even be number three.

Brian Dabole explain yourself.

Look, everybody's not going to agree with the decision, and I understand that we make the decision we feel is best and then we move forward and get ready to go for practicing. I'm not gonna go you know what's going to be. I'm gonna focus on this week with Tampa, you know, try to do the best shot we can to get him ready to play so he can go out there and perform it at the highest level he can.

Like that year is like a good story, you know, it's kind of like how it happened, but you know, all the fun and games like outside was it was fun. It was last year. I'm kind of over that. I'm sticking football now, not that I wasn't before it, but really focused on that. The external stuff will be you know, on pause. I will already have talks with everybody around me, like my inner circle, like it is going to stay very tight and make sure that everything is about productions out someday it comes down to the small details. You know, everybody, I'm sure across the league, there's always the little things or like one play here, won't play there. But ultimately that's what it is, like we're not scoring points. We weren't scoring points like in the red zone situations, like we just were missing the smallest details on to the block here, I'll pass or cash and it's literally so many things that all this adds up and we're accumulated into that not being as productive as we can be.

So just trying going on those two thousand.

I've got a ton of support from everybody in the locker room, a ton of support. You know, we understand how things went down, Like you know, you feel for other people, you know, because everybody is a human being, and you know it's a lot of especially in New York, you know, it's a pretty it's a pretty wild, uh market, if you will, with a lot of the outside noise in media. So you know, you can be swayed either way, but just continue to stay tight, especially in our group. We are really tight group in our room, and we we cheer each other on and there for each other no matter what. So to be able to have that in this room.

It helps us.

Low.

No, it's expressed to me that I was going to be the two, and I don't know, it's just interesting situation. How much I can really say about it. Besides again, I'm gonna I'm gonna be here forum and uh, you know we're still communicating, still very good friends, believe it or not. No, Yeah, I'm gonna be here for him. It's team needs to get a win, and we start winning, everything gets a little better on here.

You gotta feel for Drew Locke, who's one of the good dudes in the entire NFL. But he sees the opportunity and then all of a sudden, it's not Actually you're staying the same spot.

The guy was behind you all year. He's going to leap frog up.

Also, let it be known that as Tommy DeVito Mike talks about, you know, shrinking the circle, telling everybody let's keep it to football. I'm pretty sure I shaw his agent Sean Stillado on Shrigger's podcast today. So maybe the message just a little bit a little bit late on some of that stuff here, Daniel Jones, if it wasn't already apparent that Ara is over. We've seen him play as last down for the Giants. They even signed Tim Boyle yesterday, Mike, which potentially means Daniel Jones is.

Fourth on the depth charge. We roll back into the Devido era.

We've seen this in recent years, Derek Carr, we talked about it earlier today off the air, Russell Wilson, like, we've seen guys who have been taken off the field so that an injury guarantee next year doesn't trigger. We've seen guys sent home like you just don't worry about it. You'll even have to show up for work, no problem. This is probably the longest stretch that we're going to see now seven weeks left in the season here for Daniel Jones to stand around in practice and just have his hand in that handwarmer, knowing that he had the keys to this car to start the season. It's going to be an awkward situation. As Drew Lock called it, an interesting situation. So you do feel for Daniel Jones. You wonder if he's even gonna wind up talking to the media at any point. I mean, there's just no upside. Maybe there is, maybe there is, maybe there isn't who knows we may not hear from him in that regard. So yeah, it gonna be a lot of shots of Daniel Jones, probably just wearing regular clothes on the sideline at Giants games for the next month plus. We'll see how he handles it. We'll see how Tommy DeVito does. I mean, you know, he's got that spunk, he's got that spark, he's got that energy that he can bring, and that's the hope here is that he's going to bring this judy to this Giants offense.

Yeah, as a matter of fact, somewhere in there, Brian day Ball was sort of noncommittal about whether it was Tommy DeVito for the rest of the season.

So it's even.

Possible that we see Drew Lock at some point. I guess we'll see. I thank you for everybody in this situation because it's incredibly awkward, and the fact that it is going to be such a long period of time with Daniel Jones just standing there actually goes to why they had to bench Daniel Jones because they still have so much of the season left to go. They just couldn't run him out there. I mean, let's be honest, they haven't won at home, yet the crowds turned on him already. To run him out there again at MetLife Stadium would have probably been pretty ugly and very very awkward. Beyond awkward. So the fact that there is still so much time left in the season points to why they had to bench Daniel Jones. But man, this is going to be a very strange seven weeks and a pretty uncomfortable one, I think for the New York Giants.

And listen, we've talked about the injury guarantee. It's a real thing. You don't want twenty three million dollars to vest for next year because he gets hurt down the stretch. But the graphic Weed just showed Daniel Jones three and thirteen as the starter. Since the start of twenty three, he's won as many games in sixteen starts as Tommy DeVito one of those six starts that he got last year. There's a football team that needed to change something up. Yes, this is part of the impact of it is not having that injury guarantee. But you got to throw something at the wall at a time that mathematically, at least you are still alive. By the way, Sean Slotta would like you to know, you should walk the Glass Mountain barefoot. That was the great quote that he had right before Tommy Neil said no more, we're focusing solely on football.

Other side of this matchup, the Bucks are getting some help back.

It appears their star wide receiver Mike Evans, spotted back on the practice field. Todd Bowles said, it is trending toward Mike Evans being back for this game against the Giants on Sunday. That would certainly be good news and welcome news to Baker Mayfield.

It's huge just for you know, the chances we talk about trying to get explosive plays and somehow creating that and we've you know, trying to be you know, dialing some things up within the scheme. But yeah, it's huge to to be able to have that threat in one on one coverage, to be able to take advantage of it, and then when they do want to double cover him, that opens things up for other guys. So yeah, it's always a big factor when he's playing. I mean, you guys have been around Mike for long enough now. The streak, Yeah, it's important to us, but he cares about winning and so he's a huge part of this offense when he's in there, so it's I think that'll come naturally.

But force.

I've been in the situation where you're trying to force feed the ball to a guy and that's that's not how this offense works, especially so staying true of the Reids defense, like I said, dictate where the ball needs to go. When we have our one on one matchups with him, we need to take advantage of it.

Though.

Doing some quick math here, Mike Evans right now three hundred and thirty five yards this season seven games to go, so he'd have to average ninety five yards judy over the last seven games to get to a thousand. We've seen him make these comebacks before. But bigger picture, the more important thing to the Bucks. They're still alive. The NFC South doesn't have anybody running away with it, and when they've been healthy, it plays a pretty good football right.

Forget they have lost every game since Mike Evans got hurt, including the game in which he got hurt, which was Week seven. It's all been exacerbated by the fact that Chris Godwin is also out, so there's been really nothing for Baker Mayfield to rely on that he had Before, when those guys were healthy, the offense was rolling. But since Mike Evans was hurt, he has only been averaging about five point nine yards per passe attempt.

That's two full yards.

Below where he was before Mike Evans and Chris Godwin got hurt in Week seven, So this is obviously a significant boost to the offense. Godwin is out for the season, but getting Evans back will at least give Baker Mayfield one of his most reliable targets, one of his most dynamic targets.

And as you.

Pointed out, like this is a really good time for it, because yes, they have lost four games in a row, but they have not been buried in the NFC South because the Atlanta Falcons have come back to earth a little bit. They've lost too in a row. They have tough games coming up. They have the Chargers this week, So the division incredibly is still there for the taking if the box, If Baker and Mike Evans can get back into a rhythm and start putting up some points and winning some games, the division is definitely there for the winning.

Yeah.

Over the next three weeks, the Bucks have a bye week and two tough games. I'm sorry. The Falcons have a bye week and two tough games. The Buccaneers have three extremely winnable games. They sweep them all, and the Falcons, who are showing signs of backsliding here, lose all of a sudden, They're back in first place. They have to overcome that head to head tiebreaker which they don't have, which is unfortunate. But in talking to folks in and around this team the last couple of days, you get the sense that after the bye week, caught their breath, looked up and said, we are right in this thing right here, and we have a good team. We have a talented team. We're getting Evans back, We're getting Jimmel Dean back as well. The expectation, from my understanding is he should be able to play this weekend, the cornerback for the Buccaneers. It's gonna be tough, but the road ahead of them is not littered with a lot of tough games. In fact, they got the Panthers twice coming up here. Sorry, Panthers, don't mean to disrespect you, but it is what It is so interesting to watch the Buccaneers see if they can come back and make their way into the postseason. Or perhaps within the division.

And worth remembering the bucks of the one team this season that have beaten the Lions, who right now look like the runaway favorites in the NFC. Lions team that put up a franchise record in yards and plus fifty two points on Sunday against the Jaguars without one of their top weapons. Coach Dan Campbell saying today confirming that Sam Laporta, their tight end who missed that game because of his injury, is truly going to be questionable for this week's game against the Colts. But Campbell also said it seems to be trending in the right direction as if the Lions need one more weapon on the field.

The Cowboys do need all the help that they can get.

Wide receiver Brandon Cooks, who's been on injured reserve for almost the entire season because of a knee injury, has been designated to return. They opened up his twenty one day practice window bringing him back to practice.

That would be big.

It may not be enough for the Cowboys, but Cooper Rush needs all the help that they could get. A veteran wide receiver would certainly certainly not hurt. Somebody's gonna be getting a new quarterback in the draft next year. Shadu Or Sanders widely believed to be the top or at least one of the top quarterback prospects according to scouts within the league. He's accepted invitation to the East West Shrine Bowl. There was a memo recently from the NFL making clear if you accept an invitation as a player, you are expected to play in the game. Now, does that mean three snaps? We'll find out, But Shadoor, at least we're going to see one more time at East West.

Gino gets him back to the line of scrimmage twenty two twenty one, gets a snap, looks steps up, Gotta run ten time. Jado hot Downyhawks, Holy catfish. Jao Smith run flip side, can't find anybody open from thirteen out, twelve seconds left. Heard the Seahawks take the lead nineteen seventeen.

Are you kidding me?

No quit in this lunch, Holy Catfish. Indeed, that was some play by Gino Smith, but of course Omar Ruiz joining us here on the Insiders. It also points to the fact that the forty nine ers have had a little bit of trouble closing out games, especially against Division opponents. They've got a huge game this weekend that I know you're going to be at. How are they planning to stop that bad trend?

Well, first of all, shout out to Steve Rabel, the voice of the Seahawks there. Whenever you hear those exciting calls down this stretch in Seattle, you know it's a big moment there. But the forty nine ers you mentioned it, have blown three games now in division play where they held the lead with less than two minutes to play, and you saw their Geno Smith rushing for the eventual game winning score that thirteen yard scramble. Earlier in that drive, a sixteen yard scramble on second and thirteen, getting most of the headlines, but the offense taking responsibility as well. They got the ball back with less than four minutes to play and what were unable to execute their four minute offense only able to burn a minute eighteen off the clock. So obviously the forty nine ers looking for answers, especially in the run game. You see Christian McCaffrey there had a long of eleven yards in that game. Thirteen yards was his long against Tampa. Kyle Shanahan saying they're missing those explosive plays in the run game, and he illustrated their matchup against Seattle the first time around, where they had a seventy eight yard or a thirty six yarder in that game. That's the different right now with that offense obviously, injuries a concern for the forty nine ers, Kyle Shanahan saying the fact that brock Pritty was limited today with that shoulder injury was a good sign, but Nick Bosa Trent Williams, they both didn't play. Nick Bosa injuring his hip and oblique on the other side, that he had been dealing with that similar injury previously and noticeably absent from that final drive against Seattle. George Kittle, who missed that game against Seattle with the hamstring injury, did say in the locker room today telling reporters that he will play, and McCaffrey expected to play too, just getting that typical day off rest and still maintaining that achilles injury that obviously caused him missed the first half of the season, all right.

The Niners opponent this week is the Packers, who have also been living on the edge but getting much better results. They are winning games that come right down to the wire. We saw that incredible ending last week. Give us an update on the Packers.

Yeah, sensational finish. Matt Floor pointing out that the block field goal win against the Bears was their third win in a row that they won with the Zeros on the clock. They had a couple game winning field goals at the Buzzer previously to that Lions loss, and he credits the resilience, the toughness that all starts with Jordan Love in that regard, and the Packers certainly at seven to three showing that they can finish games. And you talk about this matchup the Packers and the forty nine Ers. Another interesting wrinkle in this matchup is that Robert Sala, the former defensive coordinator for the forty nine Ers, has been an offensive consultant for the Green Bay Packers since he was let go earlier this season by the New York Jets, and Matt Lafleur saying that Sala push for the idea for one of Christian Watson's big plays. Watson obviously a huge game on Sunday against the Bears, and another wrinkle to this matchup given that Kyle Shanahan and Robert Sala go back to two thousand and six when they're on the staff together with the Houston and Texans, and of course Matt Lafleur and Kyle Shanahan go back to two thousand and eight on that same staff with the Texans. So the Packers looking to continue their big play, applauding Christian Watson for his effort for targets, four catches, one hundred and fifty yards. They're certainly looking to get him involved, and that they did, but they weren't all joyous in the locker room, Att Lafleur saying, still working for things to improve there, that a couple stops in the red zone that they're looking to address as they head into that matchup against the Niner.

Sunday Omar, thank you don't go far because I know you're coming back to talk about another team.

In the meantime, Mike, Yep, we're gonna talk rookie quarterbacks now, Judy Sean Page. You see what he said down there about bo Nicks and how he's adapted. Yeah, he's adapted pretty well lately, and he has made the conversation about the rookie quarterbacks, about offensive rookies in general. He's made it a conversation now between him and Jayden Daniels. See the comparison there. And as we bring in our Bucky Brooks here, Remember all the talk coming into the draft, Bucky, I know you do, big draft guy. Remember all the talk about Bo Knicks and a lot of passes behind the line of scrimmage, close to the line, like not a lot down the field. This past week nine point three yards per attempt a season high for him. So driving the football down the field a little bit more, making himself more dangerous. Let's talk about it, Jayden Daniels, bow Knicks has Bo cut the lead into the conversation for who's having the best year of the offensive rookies in.

The quarterbacks, he has absolutely into the conversation as offensive rookie the year candidate.

You can make a case that maybe he should be the front runner.

He leads all rookies with nineteen offensive touchdowns since Week four. Look, he's the leader in passing yards per game, he's a leader in passer rating, he's a leader in pass touchdowns.

So he certainly deserves to be in that conversation.

And when you look at the way the Denver Broncos have kind of got into the race. They played teams really will. He and Sean Payton have nice synergy when it comes to the way Sean Payton is called in the game and the way that bow Knicks is executing the game. And each week you see Sean Payton putting more on his plate. So yes, there were a lot of people that were talking about how is he going to transition from playing like he played at Oregon to playing in the National Football League. But so far, so good for the young plate maker for the Broncos.

And Bucky remember that scene earlier in earlier in the season, they're barking at each other, Nix and Peyton on the sideline. Talk to somebody close to Knicks a couple of days ago who said, yeah, there's been a good give and take. They've learned each other. Bow will stand there and give it back, and that's what you need when you've got a coach like Sean Payton. So that dynamic is certainly working for them as well. Thank you, Bucky Brooks. All Right, I'm gonna stop talking about rookie quarterbacks because in just a couple of minutes here we're going to talk to a rookie defensive tackle who likes to swallow quarterbacks. Rookies are not whole. Braydon Fisk, Rams defensive tackle, gonna join us shortly. He may look friendly, but just line up next to him, across from him on the field, all right.

I want to be able to recognize a handful of guys.

Defensively, A couple of guys really, Hey, no doubt about it, all right, Fist, another big day to.

Love being a part.

It's gotta be that week in a week out.

Man, Let's keep this same.

A lot of gray in that Matthew Stafford beard these days. Good thing he's got guts like Braden Fist to keep him young. Massive day for the Rams second round pick with a couple of sacks, a couple of quarterback hits, a forced fumble as well in that win over the Patriots, and he's with us right now. Braden Fist, join us on the insiders, Tom Pella, Sera and Mike Garafullo. Bradon, great to see you getting after that quarterback just like you did in your college day's house life out there right now in La.

It's called good.

He came out to my guy, Matthew the gray and the beer. But uh no, that's been good. Just like you said, man being a part of this team.

We're older guys too, you know, so we're all feeling it. Mike's Mike's got a little bit in there too. So you know, you enjoy being young. You look great right now.

So yeah, enjoy it and enjoy that that young physical body that gets to this time of year. And I always wonder, is the rookie wall there? Have you climbed it yet? Have you felt it yet? What are your approach? What is your approach going to be for when you do meet it? If you haven't met it yet? How you feeling this time of year?

I think that early bye week came at just the right time for me. I think it started hit pretty quick. I don't know.

I think you just go from the six or whatever weeks it was for training camp and you go right in the season. So and he was a good kind of twelve and twelve. I think it ends up being so. I think it's a good vi point. I think by that by weekuse I need this pretty bad. And the h Yeah, I think coming out of the boars are right cool. We can get a little got a little refresh, a little fresh start. That's when things started to turn over for me a little bit too. So it's been good. It's been good ever since.

So for a long time. Aaron Donald obviously was the guy who covered up a lot defensively for the RAM because he's drawn two and three blockers, he's freeing up everybody else. That guy's gone. I know it's oversimplification to say you step in, but this is a really young defense as a whole. What's clicking for you specifically, but also this entire defense right now?

Yeah, And I think just as a whole, you know, where we just enjoyed playing together. I think that's been like the coolest part about this group of how we've grown over the season. And I think early on we had some you know struggles of you know, just playing off each other, especially in our past for us and run game fits and just you know, kind of finding where we all fit in. And I think as the seasons gone on, you that's kind of where we've progressed the most. And I think, you know, what you see now is we just have fun playing together. I mean some of the mic moments we have as a team and some of just you know, some of the meetings that we have as a U and I mean you could just see the you know, pure enjoyment of going out there together and playing and you know, specifically up front, you know, just our past RUSS meetings, like we get excited for you. I mean, we we know, you know, where we're fitting on each other as far as you know our pass rush lanes and you know, passing things off and you know, just find ways to get to the quarterback. And I think we've just gotten better and better and more comfortable. And yeah, I mean it's it's been a lot of fun.

One of the things I love about the NFL draft is these large humans just getting emotional and breaking down. And we saw that with you. You get drafted, you're really excited the rams call. I got got drafted in the NFL. Oh wait, I'm playing with Jared Verse, still my college teammate. And then he gives on the phone you start crying. It's like the end of Brian's Song or Field of Dreams or whatever movie is out there that makes men cry. But I will ask you this now, having played this first half of the season with him, how good has it been to have a guy like that? That you know so well go through this process with you.

Uh, yeah, you know, I think it was huge.

I think even going dating back to Florida State, I think that made the biggest impact of like, you know.

Somebody there to push you.

I think, you know, when you're at the end of your cost career, you kind of feel like you're at the top of your game, but you know, having somebody else there to you know, compete with.

And I think the same thing happened.

I got to the rams of like, you know, especially right now in season, we're just kind of going back and forth and just competing for you know, the sacks, TFLs, whatever it may be. And you know, I think it's kind of grown into the whole D line between me, Kobe, Byron verse, whole you know, everybody along just you know, who's gonna get who's gonna get home.

I think the common themes.

You know, meet me there and beat me there, and you know, we're just kind of competing, and I think it's just growing over time, and you know, we just have a lot of fun with it.

Yeah, he's I don't know, I'm not on Twitter anymore else.

The first time seeing it call me at that man, I think he's trying to get some it's a cloud there for that one.

I noticed.

I noticed that before the show.

I was trying to tag you in the post him like did he disappear? Apparently of that stuffy Twitter August I was on back in August, I was on Good Morning Football and we were talking about you, and we had this tape running from your Florida State days. And we came out of the tape and I went, all I want to know in the segment is what happened to Bradfist's name plate? Because right there there you are number fifty five. Everyone else says their name on their jersey except you. Your dad ended up chiming in on social media and stay it's because his jersey got ripped off in that game.

Take me through.

And by the way, that is not the middle figure. That's a different one. Take me through what happened in that game? How do you end up wearing the backup jersey, which I didn't even know was the thing?

Yeah, it was kind of crazy for me. Too early in the game, you know, probably the first or second quarter, like the whole side on my jersey just was completely ripped. I mean not gonna blame anybody, but they were kind of holding your boy down for a little bit. And yeah, literally the whole side of the jersey. I mean it was completely torn apart for like the end of the second quarter. We're trying to hold it together with a shoe string and then you know, shout out Jason back in Florida State. Our equipment manager yelled it together. But halftime, yeah, we put a whole new jersey on. I didn't even know it didn't have a name play. I was out there playing, you know, nameless, I guess, but they saw the five five flying around.

I'm glad Tom asked that question because I was going to ask something equipment related, and I'm like, is this too specific of a question. But now that he asked that, it's not. You don't wear gloves.

I love that.

It's like a throwback player that you don't wear gloves. Now, I went back and to see if this is always the case. There were games in Florida State where you did have gloves on. I haven't seen any with the rams. Is that something where somewhere along the way you ditch the gloves and you feel better about not wearing them?

Oh?

Well, yeah, that's a whole. That's another story. At Florida State or DLin Closer o'dill Haiggens, He's a legend there and it gets real humid out there, and you know, Florida and Tallahassee, and a lot of times when guys, you know, jerseys are we the gloves will just slip right off. And you know, he always used to yell at guy say, oh, if you hands are gonna slip off, you're not allowed to wear gloves anymore and you need to wear just hands so you can feel the guys jersey. So you know, I kind of grew into it and I kind of fell in love with it. Oh man, I actually get a good feel for it. But now I'm feeling kind of bad because I kind of broke the kind of broke the trend with it because against the Patriots last week, I wore gloves the first time I got to.

I stick with it or not, but I had to change up the swag a little bit.

Last thing for you, Braydon really quick before we let you go. You know, the NFC West right now still wide open. You guys are in the center of it. Everybody in that division is still in You got a huge game this week against the Eagles. How do you get after these guys are talented team and go get a win.

Yeah, And I think defensively, just keep doing what we're doing. You know, we're flying around, playing fast football. You know, we got a lot of young guys out there on the field, but you know, we're playing together, and I think that's the biggest thing, you know, you know, getting hats to the ball. I mean, this is a team with a lot of guys from the inside out, you know, very talented team. You know, from a lot of their school guys. I mean they make a lot of plays. So yeah, I think the key for us is gonna have more assistant tackles and solo tackles, I mean, getting hasts to the ball, flying around, and then you know, offensively with the guys we got out there, you know, I trust nine out there all day, especially with Coope and Polka. You know, no dullas. Guys can go out there and get it dumb. But you know, I like where we're at. You know, we got a good pace going on defense. We're only trending up, and you know, I'm'm excited we're gonna compete.

Even though Stafford's getting old, it has a gray beard, still can get in done.

Huge game this week.

Brandon, You've been awesome man, Please please come back on the show again.

Most definitely appreciate you guys having me. Thank you.

Kyler Murray and the Cardinals.

They are back, they're well rested, and they are a top the NFC West Division as we roll into Week twelve and a huge matchup this week against the Seahawks. Welcome back to the insiders, Tom Pelasero now joined by Omar Ruiz down there in Arizona. They're back from the by Omar. They're a top division. What's the warder on that team? How they finish this thing off?

Yeah, well they're going into round eleven, as Jonathan Gannon explains, maintaining that process driven approach. And I ask an in today, when do the stakes of the game start to maybe change how they look at that process, and he said, essentially they don't because they have so many young players that have played in big games throughout the season. He said, when they played at Buffalo, that was a big game that young players played in and they all count the same. So they'll continue that approach heading into Seattle. I asked something similar to Kyler Murray, especially after the Cardinals went into the buy with two blowouts, one against the Bears one against the Jets, and he said, it's up to them from team leadership to keep those young guys not from getting complacent, so they're sole focused maintains on the Seahawks. They're blasting that music loudly at practice. I heard a lot of that Seattle themed music, Jimmy Hendrix, Foo fighters making sure that they're prepared for that loud and hostile environment. And I thought Jonah Williams, the offensive tackle who was freshly activated off ir today, said something interesting. Muncovering a lot of games over the years in Seattle, never heard this. He said, you probably you might miss a play call in the huddle because it's so loud. But he said it is up to them to know the playbooks so well that what other gaps that they don't hear, they're able to fill in based on the situation at the rat where they're at on the field, that down and distance.

That was interesting.

One other note about the Cardinals, Darius Robinson, their first round pick, the defensive lineman who had that calf injury in training camp. We have yet to see him practice for the second day in a row. He wouldn't say if he's playing on Sunday or not, but certainly excited to be getting closer. So these Cardinals I mentioned Williams mentioned Robinson could be adding more reinforcements down the stretch.

Here, Tom, keep forgetting Darius Robinson's They got Marvin Harrison Junior, who's been one of the top rookies so far this season. They got a second first rounder who's yet to see the Field's been a long journ that Darius Robinson. Hopefully he's back soon. Omar, Thank you very much, Big one Cardinals and Seahawks.

That's not the only one around the league.

Judy, you know, one of the most confounding things about the Jacksonville Jaguars is just how complete their collapse has been. They were eight and three at this point last season, and now well they have two wins. Look at the comparison seventeen and eleven in Doug Peterson's first twenty eight games and only three and fourteen. Since points per game way down, points per game allowed way up, all of the numbers going in exactly the wrong direction for the Jacksonville Jaguars as we welcome back our Bucky Brooks, who knows this team about as well as anybody can. The Jaguars, we should note, are in their bye week right now. It's been quiet this week, maybe a little bit quieter than many people expected it to be in Jacksonville. But Bucky, take us behind the curtain a little bit. What's the boot there? What's the expectation for the rest of the season.

Yeah, no, it's been tough, Judy.

You talking about a season where the team came in with playoff expectations. The owner thought it was the most talented team that he's as symbol during his time in Jacksonville, and so there was a lot of optimism that despite the collapse last season, this team was going to bounce back. They're going to play great football, and they were going to be in the conversation of being a playoff contender, maybe win the division. It hasn't gone their way, and my eyes say that, like, look, it's a confidence thing, it's an execution thing.

It's everyone not being on the same page.

And what you hope going into the bye week Now that you've gone through it and it doesn't appear that anything's going to be Dug, Doug Peterson and the staff. They have to focus on trying to find a way to finish the season strong.

You have six games.

You want to reset, refocus, try and get the team to play better football. One of the stats that you showed, I think it was minus thirteen in the turnover margin. Hard to win games in this league when you're giving the ball away. The Jaguars have to work on dead part of it and it would help. We don't know if Trevor Lawrence comes back. What you're hoping that you can start building a little momentum that give you some confidence that twenty twenty five will be different in twenty twenty four.

Right, that is something worth keeping an eye on in the next few days. Whether Trevor Lawrence can return to the lineup. That would certainly give them a boost as they come down the stretch. Bucky, thank you very much. And when we return, we're going to talk about somebody who has absolutely not been a disappointment in any way, shape or form.

Bo Nix.

Is he a player you should be trying to trade for in fantasy or Michael f Florio will join us.

It is fantasy trade deadline week unless you're in some weird league where it's later or earlier.

Why would you do that to yourself?

If you're thinking about making a trade, you can contact the NFL Fantasy account get some advice, or you can stick around right now because it's time for safe flight, repair and replace as we go inside with NFL Fantasy Live and our guy Michael f Florio, who is here to repair and replace lineups. Okay, train talk here, Michael F. Give me a quarterback or two you think could be on the move in some fantasy leagues.

Yeah, right now, I would be trying to flip any of Patrick Mahomes, Sam Darnold or Tua Tongue of Iloa for bow Knicks because he's flat out been better than all of them this season in fantasy football, averaging twenty one point five fantasy points per game since Week five. That is top five quarterback production, and the Broncos have the fourth best remaining schedule, third best in the fantasy playoffs for quarterbacks.

Meanwhile, Mahomes and Tua.

Have top twenty one that number I said Nicks is averaging one time and their schedules are the top bottom two for the rest of the way. For quarterbacks. Donald also has a tough schedule. He has been productive, but not quite to the level of Bonnicks.

All right, we're I haven't informed you we're having a personnel meeting here because you helped me draft my team on the Show back in September. We are clinging to a playoff spot like Jayden Daniels, just hasn't brought it as much as he did early to see. We need more of early season Jayden. But forget that, let's talk about running backs. I think we're okay at the running back position, but I'll listen anyway.

Yeah, I know you both have alsin Eckler on your team and he's been coming through. But I would look right now to be trading Naji Harris, Chuba Hubbard or Kareem Hunt for someone like Tony Pollard, partly because Pollard sees so much volume each week twenty opportunities per game, and he has the second best remaining schedule for fantasy running backs, third best in the fantasy playoffs.

When he gets get this.

The Bengals, Colts, and Jaguars, and he's coming off of a couple of down games, so the price might be lower. Naji Harris has the toughest remaining running back schedule. He has the Eagles, Ravens, and Chiefs, three teams want to play running backs against in the Fantasy playoffs. Chuba Hubbard has the third toughest remaining running back schedule, and Jonathan Brooks's returning, and then Kareem Hunt. He's gonna have to deal with Isaiah Pacheco there, So all players I would try to sell high on right now, and maybe even by low on Tony.

Pollard all right, and now repair and replace. What wide receivers would you like to see on the move here?

Michael Naved like, how you guys, you can't think I'm gonna wear a Elik Neighbors shirt and then tell you to trade him away or.

Something like that. What kind of guy do you think I am?

I think you have to go out right now, good question and trade for Elk Neighbors. Some players I would look to give up, some big names, Deebo, Samuel Devonte Adams, Brian Thomas Junior, because we know Malik Neighbors has the talent to be elite at this level. We haven't seen quite a blow up game in a little bit, so that could drag the price down a bit, and people are worried about a quarterback change. Even though Tommy DeVito was a better down field passer last year then Daniel Jones has been this year, Debo hasn't been the same. Fantasy schedule gets tough, same with Devonte Adams and then Brian Thomas Junior. You guys have watched the Jaguars as of late, so I would ship those guys out and try to get my boy Malik Neighbors on all your fantasy teams right now.

Michael and Florio, thank you very much. We will talk to you again next Wednesday. The Pro Football Hall of Fame today unveiled the twenty five Modern Era player semi finalists for the Class of twenty twenty five.

Among those on the list, you can see.

Eli Manning is in their colleague, Steve Smith Junior once again is on Thos Reggy, Wayne, Vince will Fork among others. Those will be revealed among other awards during NFL Honors in New Orleans in.

February during Super Bowl Week.

Baker Bayfield in the bus got a big game this week against the Giants, But I want to talk a little bit about what Baker and his wife Emily are doing off the field. There's a local high school down there in the Tampa area called the Space Coast Vipers, who were struggling financially. When one in eight last season, they couldn't even accept new players because they didn't have equipment for him. So Baker, his wife Emily, and their foundation stepped up seventeen nine dollars donation gave everyone on the team new equipment. And how about this, These Space Coast Vipers now heading to the SSAA one A state championship for the first time in school history. Go Vipers. Thank you all for watching. We are on YouTube for the fast Channle tomorrow.

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