Week 13 Recap: A Stunner Seattle, Playoff Races Tighten, Tank Gets Real | NFL Deep Dive

Published Dec 7, 2020, 6:37 PM

Jenny and Gary analyze the Week 13 Sunday action, starting with Colt McCoy-Russell Wilson I and the upset of the day in Seattle. Plus, the Browns light it up in Nashville, the Colts hold off Houston, a very tank-y moment for the Jets, and the Cardinals, Vikings, Bears and Lions make for an interesting—if lacking—race for the NFC's 7th seed.

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Hello, and welcome to the mm QB Monday Morning NFL Podcast. I am your host, Gary Grantling. I am joined by Jenny Brentis of The weak Side podcast, and Jenny, we are these playoff races that are tightening. This is this is just an intense time and in life, really it is intense in life. Great point, Garry, there we go. That's that's the kind of opening banter that the that you all came here for. But we are we're gonna start this one off. Usually we try and start off with the sun n Agam. I'll be honest, that Sunna game is kind of a uh it was good. There there was some some tension to it, but you kind of you kind of knew what the ending was going to be. Uh So we are going to start with the upset of the day and that was of course in Colton McCoy versus Russell Wilson one and uh, Colt McCoy comes away with the victory and this one as the Giants got to Seattle and and pull off an upset. And I guess this is kind of the wild thing about the the way the Giants won this game. Uh well, there's a wild thing and then there's a thing that we should sort of recognize and admire. But the strange thing is, remember earlier in the year when Sae Kwon Barkley was rushing for like negative eight yards on twelve carries every every game, and it was like, oh, my goodness, how can you have a run game like this when you have to quan blah blah. And the conclusion here is not that Wayne Goldman and Alfred Morris combined are better than Sewon Barkley, but uh, the Giants just kind of steamrolled the Seahawks defense in this game. And they did it with this run game that you know, two months ago was completely hapless. Yeah, this is quite a career resurgence for Alfred Morris by the way, I mean, um, it's his career has taken a lot of twists and turns, and I would never have predicted that he would be leading a Giants team that is only recently seemed like it might actually be an interesting team to watch in the playoffs to a win on the road in Seattle. But here we are, and the Seattle defenses woes continue, and really, um loom large over there hopes and dreams this season, I know it just kind of felt like, I mean, look, this game was five nothing Seahawks at halftime after an elite safety in the first half, and it was kind of like, you know what, even the Seahawks defense just isn't gonna give up points to Colt mcoy and co McCoy was was was you know, he was Colte McCoy. He threw for a hundred five yards on twenty two attempts and that's just the way it went there. But yeah, it just ended up being this offensive line really steamrolled them and Alfred Morris. It's so so Goldman did most of the work. Goldman had six Alfred Morris is still the guy I know he's on the team. Every week, Uh that I see his name or I see him on the field, I remember Alfred, But then I forget the upcoming week, and then it's a it's like a fresh surprise every week when I see Alfred Morris out there, which is kind of a gift. Yeah, I did not mean to undercut Wayne Goldman. It's just that Alfred Morris has I have the same feeling every time I see him out there. Here. He scored. He scored two touchdowns in the third quarter, which ended up being enough to uh uh to separate this one. And uh, you know, I mean look at we we've sort of talked about what's becoming more of an up and down Seahawks offense here, and I think they're kind of scrambling away from the let Russ cook and and trying to sort of find a compromise between that identity and the old identity of Okay, we're gonna be run heavy and then get some play action shots off of it. But I do want to move away from from the Shawks stuff and just Patrick Graham's defense. Uh in New York and for so many years we kept looking at the defense and saying, like, oh, you know, they should really try and recapture the old like, uh, straight hand you and your Justin Tuck defense. They gotta get some edge rushers. This is just not this is just not working, trying to do the uh the kind of manufactured pass rush type of thing. But uh, it's it's working all of a sudden. This is a really good defense. They have been great over the last five or six weeks or so, and they were great in this one. And they really had Russell Wilson uh kind of kind of questioning what he was seeing out there was in their zone. Looks. Yeah, Leonard Williams has really had a career resurgence this year, which has been interesting because the move was kind of questioned a little bit at the time, and he's really come into his own. He had two and a half sacks, and you know, to see a Giant's defense get five sacks on Russell Wilson, Wilson is not a quarterback that is easily sacked because he just kind of zooms around and gets out of things. So for the Giants to sack and five times is really a reflection. And I agree with you. I mean, I think what Patrick Graham has done this season is pretty impressive and it is one of the reasons that the Giants are trending in the right direction. It took them a while to find their footing, but with the defense like that, that's something to build on. Yeah, and you bring up a great point with Leonard Williams. I mean, sacks are not the end all beyond, but obviously they're important, and he tells, you know, part of the story. At least he had two and a half in UH in this win. He now has eight and half of the year, which is a career high. He had half a sack last season combined in fifteen games between the Giants and Jets. So I mean, look, it's still a five and seventeen, So you don't want to say the world beaters. Uh, they have a good chance to win a historically bad division, so we won't go nuts. But I mean we were all kind of righting, uh, wrighting Dave Gentleman off. I'm wondering who there they would hire as the next general manager. And I'm again I'm not sitting here saying Okay, now, Dave Gentleman is definitely the answer, because they've they've gone on this little run. But uh, you get a sense that this is, you know, kind of what he had in mind. Is he right? Maybe you can't claim that yet, but he's maybe trending toward being right when it's all said and done. I don't know. Yeah, And you have a pretty good coach and Joe Judge, And if Joe Judge can work with Dave Gettleman, then it makes sense to stick with what you have. So I do think the way this season has turned has been a good thing for Gettleman, and I would be very interested to watch the Giants play in January. I mean it's hard. It's been hard for most of the season to think that any NFC East team would be a compelling playoff opponent. But at this point I do think the Giants would be a compelling playoff opponent. I mean they are and and look that they're a half game up on on Washington. The football team plays Monday, Monday evening. We are taping on Monday morning. But uh, if they'll they'll host a playoff game, I mean they'll host the right now would actually be the Seahawks if if this is the way it was going to play out. So I don't know, And then we can talk about whether they put Colt McCoy back out there, since Colt McCoy has the secret formula for defeating Seattle. But yeah, and I thought Albert Breer had a good note in his column this morning about how Colt McCoy had his own horrific injury that he had to come back for. And we're not for Alex Smith's being so on fathomable and extreme Colt McCoy's we would have considered that way to He also had multiple surgeries and he and Alex Smith were next to each other in the hospital, and so he also has had a pretty remarkable combat journey. All right, let's let's go down to Nashville where the Browns went down there to play the Titans, and we all kind of were scratching our heads about the Browns. Are they are they really this good? I mean, they just they smashed the Titans. Uh, this game got out of hand in the first half. I do want to highlight and it it's silly to say in the game this lopsided that you know what, you know, one or two players really turned it, but one or two players kind of turned it early on. These are two teams that everyone wants to play with the lead. But these are teams that, especially because the way their offenses are built, uh, being so run heavy and being so reliant on play action being effective, that they don't want to fall behind and and have that play action become less effective because of game situation. So Sheldon Richard and made a fourth and one stop on Derrick Henry early on to to get the ball back, and then on the very next Browns went down score touch. On very next offensive snap for the Titans, Sheldon Richardson strips Derrick Henry forces the turnover, Browns go and score another touchdown, and all of a sudden, the Browns have this this seventeen nothing lead, and it just never really got close after that. So, uh, you know, this Brown's defense might have some flaws ultimately, but Sheldon Richardson became a playmaker in this one. And then obviously the the I mean, this Brown's offense just just lit it up here. Yeah, it was Baker Mayfield's best game quantitatively as well. This is higher highest passer rating and the kind of performance that we were wondering if he could deliver. I mean, there was this early excitement around Baker and it's kind of been a slog since then, head coach changing, and this season he's been really up and down. But this was the kind of game that the Browns, despite their record and despite being in a good playoff spot, had not one. And so now they beat another team that is contender. And you made the great points about how they were able to contain Henry, and normally Henry breaks off one of these nine plus t R runs, like we have come to see this be a regular thing that it's impossible to keep him down for the entire game. His longest run was only ten yards, so that indicates just how good of a job the Browns did containing Henry, which was a huge difference in the game. Yeah, this was a this is a nightmare scenario for Derrick Henry. And it seems like this time of year we say every week like, wow, Derrick Henry, you know, a huge performance in the second half of the of the season, and nope, didn't didn't play on this one. This was, boy, just just a really impressive win here for Cleveland. Obviously, they now sit, uh, you know, they're probably not going to catch the Steelers, but they're sitting there at nine and three. Anything can happen down the stretch, but you feel pretty good about the playoff chances. And obviously with this win, win number nine, they clinched their first winning season since two thousand and seven. So just all kinds of good news for for the Cleveland brown So good for them. A winning season for the Cleveland Browns. Who would have thought it is really full of all surprises? All right, Jenny, hold on for one second. It is time for the SI Fantasy Segment, presented by DraftKings. As always, we are joined by Michael Fabiano of SI dot Com, Slash Fantasy and the SI Fantasy podcast and fabs. We had a we had a weird and wacky Sunday here. As as we go into the fantasy playoffs for most leagues, you know it's it's it's up to everyone, but um boy, that uh before we get to the early waiver wire Sunday night man, Tyreek Hill owners, I'm sorry about that. That one probably cost some people to win and a lot of others to to go ahead and make the playoffs, right, because that play is adding double digit points to Tyreek Kill, who had an otherwise sort of math game for him. I mean he had two touchdowns that he that he had taken away. One was the incompletion that was a catch. When was the last time you saw a wide receiver, especially an elite wide receiver not think he caught the ball. I don't think ever. I need you figure out how he didn't know the ball didn't touch the ground. You see, Michael Thomas like the ball was like too hop to him, and Michael still claim he called launch Sean Payton to challenge, So that was odd and affected Mahomes to Mahomes went from having like you know he would have he would have had he had nineteen to change, which it's all right, but for Mahomes it's not great. So yeah, that was That was really weird. It was very strange. It was reminiscent of do you remember the Antonio Freeman catches. I don't remember it was. It might have been against Minnesota, but I can't remember off the top of my head. But it was like that Freeman got up and ran into the end zone. This was a little bit different in that ty Reeker is already in the end zone. That one hurt, that one hurt. That that that that's not gonna be a pleasant memory for a lot of fantasy fans. Uh. In what's been a very difficult Well, let's uh, let's let's stop looking at the past and let's move on to the future. I feel like I'm setting up a conean uh segment right here. Uh. Let's let's go the early waiver wire and let's start with the let's heart with the running backs. There's not much, dude, there's not much. Uh. And in fact, cam Akers is the guy I talked about last week as my top ad, and I wasn't comfortable saying that he was a start because they were still running all three backs sort of Uh similarly in terms of the snaps, but Acres had a thirty two touch share. He had a touchdown for the third straight game. He scored over sixteen points. That's that's pretty good and he's the best bat they have. And it's taken McVeigh forever a lot longer than we all hoped, although that's been the situation with some other ricky running backs like Deano Ray Swift for example. But Akers does have a tough matchup upcoming. Uh, they've got the Patriots, but still needs to be owned in every league. Right now, he's not owned in enough leagues. Uh, we'll go from from young to old Adrian Peterson. I don't know if Swift's coming back this week. Peterson's got four touchdowns in his last two games, four and he's got a great matchup coming up next. Right, Green Bay is not good against the run. So if Swift can't come back, like Peterson's on the flex radar, right, I mean, can't age discriminate the guys scoring points. And then this one here I mentioned Ty Johnson with one caveat he plays for the Jets. Okay, the folks. And the Raiders suck. Their defense is bad against the run, like really bad. Like Ty Johnson looked like a good NFL player, and he's he's average, right, Uh had nearly twenty points against Las Vegas. Frank Gore, who's thirty seven, had a concussion. You would think maybe he's not going to be able to play in week fourteen, But the Jets have Seattle coming up next, and so is he worth an ad Yeah, of course, but maybe in the twelve or fourteen team league, maybe in a ten team league, not as highly you know, highly touted a selection. But game script could be a big problem for Ty Johnson if he starts for the Jets next week. But once again, coming off a big game. He's a running back. There's nothing out there. Go ahead. Not exactly a glowing review, but this is where we're at. It's week fourteen, folks, a meek go ahead for Ty Johnson. Here's what's well, let's do the quarterbacks here here, we've got some options, all right. Kirk Cousins, who I said to pick up last week, twenty plus points in four or five games. I remember when this this happens every year, like Minnesota has games where they don't throw it at all, and people get down with Cousins. He has some stinkers. I remember earlier in the season he had like a negative stat line and everyone was just I can't start Cousins. He's been good, and now they're throwing the ball forty three pass attempts again. I mean, all of a sudden, the Vikings are are throwing it all over the joint. They got the Buccaneers coming up. And you may look at the matchup and think with the Bucks defense is pretty tough. No, they not lately, not against quarterbacks lately. Uh, they've given up twenty plus points per game on average over the last three or four games. So Tampa Bay is that could be a high scoring game. Two. I think d K sports book has that at about a fifty two and a half over under two over. So Cousins is in the mix. Baker Mayfield, I was wrong about him, Dude. Mayfield four touchsns in the first half, thirty fantasy points nearly in the game against the Titans, right, six touchdowns in his last two games. No picks. Here's here's the caveat with Mayfield. He's got the Ravens coming up. You don't want that. Okay, if you start Baker, it might not be into Week sixteen against the Jets. He's got the Giants. He's got two road games against New York teams in fifteen and sixteen, and the Giants their defense suddenly playing pretty good. Man rustledn't do anything against them. So Mayfield's an add and Stash here's some other guys who can maybe help you this week, all right. Uh, Philip Rivers has got the Raiders. M hmm. Jalen Hurts could end up being the starter for the Eagles now. The matchup is not great, but something to keep an eye on. Two Tocolo has got the Chiefs. That could be a high scoring game. We're getting into two QB and super flex folks here. Uh. Teddy Bridgewater has got the Broncos coming off of bye. And then Derek Carr, who I told everybody to start last week. It's a week to week league, folks, it really is. And he's got the Colts that could be a high scoring game. It's not a great matchup though, so so so really the you know, the big ads in terms of the dudes that you can play maybe this coming week, it's probably limited to Cousins and Rivers. But all the quarterbacks that I mentioned are are worth a look at some point during the fantasy playoffs if you stream quarterbacks or play the matchups. Yeah, let's let's hit the receivers here again. Not much. Um, t Y Hilton, what did I say? I said, Houston, Man, it's weird, right, Like some guys just dominate certain teams, right. Remember like Pedro Martinez would say that the Yankees are his daddy, those good old things from my Yankees. Um, listen, man, the Texans are t Y Hiltons. He is you know, he is their daddy. Eleven catches a hundred techn yards and touchdown twenty five Fantasy points. He's averaging over twenty one in the last two weeks, and he's got the writers coming up. It's the t Y Hilton resurgence. Uh ken cut told them, told you all to pick him up. Last week nine targets catches at one and at two percent target share, more than Brandon Cooks. Now, the matchup is not great to speak against the Bears, but have you noticed the Bears defenses kind of looked like crap the last couple of weeks. A little bit of do do Marvin Jones. I mean, you can understand it against Green Bay, but you know, no, Kenny gall to Day and Lee let Stafford do that to you. That team is uh, that team was given up and now he's not gonna have a job after this year. Richard Higgins for the Browns nine targets, six catches over twenty one Fantasy points against the Titans. Uh. Last two weeks. He is second and target chair among Brown's wide receivers. Now, same situation as Baker. Uh he's got the Ravens this week, so you don't want them Giants Jets after that. Uh, some other wide receivers. This is more like deep league. I mean Tim Patricks maybe not deep league tended twelve teams, Levis Getschnal, Donovan, People's Jones, Chad Hanson, but those are significant. I'm talking about really deep, deep leagues. There's nothing out there, folks. There's it. It is what it is. I mean, like, you know, you can, you know, you can go out in a non competitive league and pick up a wide receiver who I didn't just mention, but most league right now are pretty competitive with the playoffs here and how about the tight ends the bane of everyone's existence. This one's this one's bad too. So Anthony first screw would be the guy that I pick up for a if I needed a tight end. Right, he had seven targets, he had five catches. Uh, ten points against the Browns. I'll take ten points from a tight end all day long. John hu Smith, I don't know if he's gonna play coming up in week four teen. But they got the Jags. That's a good match. So so here's some others. Logan Thomas who hasn't played yet this week. Uh, we're here on Monday. Um, he's got the Niners next week. Gerald Everett had a pretty good game for the Rams. But you know it's it's thin. Dan Arnold ed to touchdowns. Tyler Eiffert has had two decent games in a row. Uh, Drew Sample's getting more targets. Um, Colt Comet had a touchdown. But this is where we're at. Guys like you're you're starting. There's nothing on the waiver wire, probably better than what you have on your roster at this point. You know, if somebody goes down with an injury, like a lot of people got got uh you know the scoogy this week because Mark Andrews because he's not gonna play, and you know you didn't have you didn't have Gronkowski as well, So some people were looking for a tight end off the waiver wire, but it's very thin. Uh, and I would think right now first was probably the best option. Alright, Well, if you're if you're heading to the playoffs, good luck to you. Uh. Michael Fabiana, always a pleasure to have you on the SI Fantasy Segment presented by Draft Kings. And if you want more Fabiano, I say it all the time SI dot Com, Slash Fantasy, s I Fantasy Podcast. He's there all the time. Can't miss him, Fabs. We'll we'll talk to you next week. Alright, we are back with Jenny Brentis and Jenny. We left off with the Browns Titans and sort of the positive for the Browns here and the Titans obviously fall to eaton four and they're still in good shape to make the postseason. But now it's a bit of a race for the a f C South because the Colts hold on down in Houston. Uh, they end up eating the Texans. I mean, look, this was this was a really strange game and and it doesn't really seem strange because you know that there were no uh, I don't know, the wacky uh you know whatever pick sixes or special teams player or something. This game was twenty twenty at half time, and then the only points in the second half was a safety of of Deshaun Watson. So, uh, Colts win it twenty. This is kind of how the culture gonna win games. You're just not gonna go out and blow teams away. They probably this was a little more interesting than they would have hoped. Uh. You know, the Texans did have it down on the two yard line about to go in for a potentially game winning touchdown when uh, Deshaun Watson lots of fumble from the from the t one second goal. So uh, I don't know. I like, I know, everyone wants the cold to go out there and just just destroy teams, but this is this is kind of their style. This is how they win. Yeah. That's kind of been my hang up with the Colts all season. It's really hard to have a little confidence in them. The games are often pretty ugly. Um, and they've had some big wins of course, beating the Packers for instance, But um, they very easily could have lost this game, and were it not for what looked to be a bad snap from the center to Watson Um that the Texans would have been in position to win. Yeah, and this one, I mean, look, it would have been interesting that the Colts probably would have had uh you know, they were out of time out, so they probably would have had like a minute twenty left had the Texans score a touchdown on that play, and and then you're talking about you know, they just need to feel go at that point. So it would have been a chance for Philip Rivers to come back and and but hey, you know, no drama. I guess that's uh, that's what makes you happy if you're the Colts at this point. Uh Colts. Yeah, Colts and Titans tied a top the a f C South. I believe the Titans have the tie break right now since they uh they split it. But the Titans are three and one of the division, Cults are two and two. So uh yeah, that's that's that's our a f C South recap at this point. Uh, let's go out to the Sunday night game the Broncos and the Chiefs, and the Broncos are are I mean, look, they were a game with the Chiefs, and they played some weird games with the Chiefs the last two seasons. There was they uh they played the snow game earlier this year where uh there were all kinds of like special teams gaffs by the by the Broncos that just sort of let the Chiefs pull away, even though Patrick Mahomes didn't have a particularly game. Uh. Last year they played a snow game in Kansas City where the Chiefs just smashed them, and then then you had the Patrick Mahomes dislocated knee game. Uh last season in Denver. It was it's it's always a strange time. This was kind of I don't know, if you were hoping for offensive fireworks, he didn't quite get them. You just kind of got a Chiefs team hanging around, which probably stylistically is how the Broncos wanted to play this game. And then in the end, I don't know, he was just there for the Chiefs offense to to to keep the Broncos on the sideline and win it. Yeah, it was definitely a weird game. You had Clyde Edwards Hilaire was active but was not involved in the game. He had been battling an illness all week. That was a big difference. I think. Um, you had the Chiefs suddenly kind of stalling in the red zone and settling for field goals. You also had that bizarre play that Andy Read admitted later probably was a touchdown to Tyree Hill, but he said he's never had to receive ever who made the catch not realize he made the catch. And it was sort of understandable why because it was just one of the more flukey things in terms of the way the ball deflected and landed. It was. I think that was the strangest play I've I've seen this season, just because not necessarily to play itself, but the way everyone reacted to it. Yeah, I think that's true because normally you have somebody who seems to know what happened, and no one seemed to know what happened. That was the most breathtaking moment of the entire night when they when they cut away from the replay and it was immediately like the snap was already being done by the Chiefs, like they were already punting the ball. When you got back to the game and we're just like, no, that was that was pretty good Chiefs. The Chiefs, I mean, look, they had some issues in the red zone. I always say red zone is is kind of a fluky, small samp size type of thing. I don't think you can read too much into it. And you know that that you just don't up a lot of points when you don't scoring the red zone. So I think the important thing is, Look, they vic Fangio punted the ball back with uh a little more than six minutes to go to the Chiefs and figured, you know, okay, we'll get another shot, and they didn't. I mean, the Broncos technically got the ball back with a minute to go and no time outs left, but I mean the Chiefs just went out there and put together a five minute drive, kicked the field goal, and that was that was kind of it. I mean that, you know, their offense just sort of does what it wants to do whenever it wants to do it. Yeah, And there was the statistic that Mahomes now has three seasons in a row with passing yards, twenty five touchdowns and a hundred five passer rating, which is pretty remarkable. I mean, obviously offenses are more prolific, but the fact that he's just been so consistent, UH is really unlike anything we've seen. And so when you have a day, well maybe you're not great in the red zone. To your earlier point, Gary, it's hard to read too much into that when he has just been so consistent, all right, consistency. Everyone thinks of the Eagles offense when they think consistency at this point. Uh so, so Packers Eagles. Uh so the Packers will win this game. Uh it was not particularly close. It got a little close. Uh, And we can get into that a little bit. And I mean, look, I I hate I hate this quarterback controversy for for a couple of reasons, and we can get into that too, But uh, this game got a little bit close because he had Jalen Hurts, uh you know, throw throw a throw a long touchdown to put some points on the board. And then Jalen Reagoru, the first round receiver who has really been struggling, he ran a punt back to suddenly closes to a one possession game. And then then the Packers got along Aeron Jones run and that was that was kind of it. But uh, all the buzzes about, Okay, who are the Eagles gonna start at quarterback? This upcoming a week, what do you do with Carson Wentz Jalen Hurts him out there, And I just kind of wanted me to this clear. Jalen Hurts is a developmental quarterback. They knew that when they took him. Uh, well, we we can talk about whether or not it made sense to take a developmental quarterback, especially when you're not really using him in terribly creative ways as a here goes for it. But this offense is also just they don't do the basics well. So I'm not sure there's really a role for a a Taysom hillish type of guy in this offense anyway. But um, Jalen Hurts was not very good in this game. He did throw a touchdown pass, and so that is like that's where the bar is, Like, we scored some points instead of no points. Therefore, let's make the quarterback switch. I don't think it makes a big difference here. I don't think Jalen Hurts is a huge upgrade or possibly an upgrade at all over Carson went at this one. But mostly I'm just worried about this has been such a disjointed, just disaster of an offense for any quarterback to playing and You've seen what it's done to Carson Wentz this year, who is playing. You know, he was an MVP candidate last year, I mean the nd last season, he was probably one of the top ten quarterbacks in football. You see what playing in this It is just melt down of an offense is doing to him. So now you're gonna do to Jalen Hurts. Now you're gonna put Jalen Hurts in this your developmental guy, and you're gonna ultimately ruin two quarterbacks this season. Yeah, we talked about this a couple of weeks ago to Gary and just the idea that there's just so much going wrong. There's, you know, issues with play calling, there's issues with the quarterback play, there's issues with the skill position players. So just making one change isn't going to magically fix things. Now, Hurts did give them a spark when he went into the game. You know, it was a team that was just kind of yet again floundering, and they made a change and it worked for a little while. But I agree that on the whole, there isn't going to be much of a difference this season because no matter who you play at quarterback, because the Eagles are just in a such a bad spot on so many levels. And so I you know, the Eagles have given this contract to Wentz. You know, they have this money that's already invested, so you know that may end up being At this point, it certainly looks like that's just lost financial money. But um, they have some big decisions to make of like, with so many things going wrong, how do you get this team back on track? Yeah? I mean I've seen people thrown out there like, oh, well you have to address like, oh, line depth, and it's like, I don't, Oh, line depth is kind of luxury in this league, and it's hard enough to find good offensive lineman. They have good offendive line, and they did get hurt this year, and I'm not sure. I mean, are you spend a first round picking another offensive lineman here and and possibly just have him as your as your number six guy if guys get hurt? You know, outside of improving the receiver position, I don't know if there's a glaring need in this offense. And but the question is, Okay, let's say everything is running as planned this year, they just again the number of times where guys just don't run the right plays or I mean clearly every other play. You know, whoever Carson Wentz, it's wrongdo he's on He's not on the same page with On on some of these these option routes. So yeah, I don't know, I don't know what the solution is, but I would just, uh, maybe you punt the ball in first down going forward and just see if you can force some turnovers. Yeah, there's too many things going wrong, and certainly a lot of that does reflect on coaching, and I agree with you, Gary, It's just weird to see this team that looked like it was in position to contend for a while, especially because the NFC East is not a heavy hitting division. You know, they had a player that looked like an MVP candidate, they went a Super Bowl, the roster looked pretty complete, and then to be in this position that they are in just a couple of short years later. It's studying. Also studying with my use of the phrase financial money a few minutes ago, which I don't really know where that came from and what I was trying to say. It's not I don't know, it's it's not like, uh, it's not a person named money. You know, we are talking about finances, just to make that clear. Yeah, that was that was pretty good. Wanted to acknowledge that because people are probably thinking of haveing more on and they rightfully should. See That's why you come on across from me, because no matter what you see, or no matter what you say across from my stammering and misspeaking, you always sound okay, financial money. Let's let's go out west to the Rams of the Cardinals Rams, they once again take charge of the NFC West here. Uh. I think the takeaway from this game on the Ram side is you've got a better version of Jared Goff. And and maybe it's not the version of Jared Goff that that you want for the contract you pay him in the year he's in and the offense that he's playing in, but uh, this, I mean you can more than live with if if Jared Goff is going to put together uh an efficient performance that keeps this offense on the field. And I mean look, they presented the ball for for almost thirty hindmands in this game. Yeah, this is the way that you want the Rams to play. You can win games with golf plays this way that they seem to be kind of finding a little bit more of a group with the running game and cam akers. Uh, and the defense is just a really big part of this. I mean you have been saying that the Rams are going to win this division for a while, Gary, I kind of got sucked into the Seahawks hot start, and I still think, you know, there's a good chance they could as well. But the Rams that we saw in this game against the Cardinals, and the Rams that beat the Seahawks, that looks like the team that will win the NMC West. It's say for a while, put your financial money on the Rams to win in this division. Uh, look at Cardinals side. Cardinals are in are in something of the tails I mean look, no, no, no, it's not something the tailspan. It's a tailspin right now. They've lost three straight. I mean, if DeAndre Hopkins is not catch at Hail Mary, it would be five straight losses right now, and we'd beat talking about Uh, you know, I don't know, sounding sirens or something. I don't know what you do when you lose five Street and you were thought to be playoff team. They're sitting at six and six. They're tied with the Vikings for the seven seed. Uh. In the NFC right now. But when you look at what's going wrong here, we knew the defense would slide back a little bit without Chandler Jones. I think the defense has played well. I think Vince Joseph has done a nice job with that group for the most part. Uh. You know, obviously had a tough time getting off the field against the Rams here, but the offense is so much Earlier in the season, it was Kyler Murray's ability to scramble and and and get a couple of chunk runs every week that that's sort of was a difference maker for this offense. He hasn't done that in the last three weeks. And and maybe it's a result of the shoulder injury. We're also seeing teams approach him a little bit differently as far as the pastris goes. You really don't see guys running past him anymore. Uh. And and look he has rushed. Uh. Let's see this math is fifteen carries sixty one yards over the US three weeks combined, a long run of fifteen yards. He hasn't had a ten yard run in two of those three games. That has kind of dried up, and you're seeing they just don't have much in the offense anymore without it. Yeah. Well, first of all, Gary, if you're looking for some sirens, there are plenty on my block. Just wait long enough, you will hear them. Uh. And I was thinking about the hail burry. And sometimes when you see a play a team have such an emotional play like that, it's very draining. We saw that with the Minneapolis Miracle. Am I getting the name rights in the play name? I think so? Um, But you make a better point. We're not for that miraculous play. It would have been five straight losses. So rather than they're just they're being an emotional toll, I think the proper way to look at is just they got a flukey win that game, and we probably thought they were better than they were. Um. And I do think the adjustments that you pointed out the way that teams are are handling Murray, Uh, they have better game plans for containing him and not letting him move around and make plays off of that. Um And, so I think we are seeing the impact of that. I still think they have a good chance to make the playoffs, but you know, they were really looking like a team that was you know, one of the Darling's and that shine has kind of worn off a little bit. Yeah, let's let's take a quick look at that sort of race for the seventeen the NFC. Uh, these were not beautiful games played in the NFC North Uh in week thirteen here, but the Lions and the Bears, Daryl bebel in terim head coach, gets gets a win here. So that's a that's that's really nice for him. Uh. And the lines go out there and look, Mitchell Robinsky was he he was first seconds rate week. I would call his overall performance uh acceptable, it was fine. Uh. And then you know he loses as the fumble inside his own ten when they're protecting a lead late in the game. And that's how this ends up getting away from the Bears. I mean they are you talk about tailsman, I mean they have now lost. Uh, it's sixth straight. They are down to five and seven. But there's still only a game out. Uh. In that seventeen the Lions are actually also only a game out for the seven seed in the in the NFC or in in the NFC. What a um, what a horribly ironic world it would be if they fire Matt Patricia mid season and then make the playoffs anyway. But uh, the other game here the the Vikings. Boy, what what an ugly, ugly game they play with the Jaguars. Uh. They end up forcing four turnovers in this game. Uh. Dan Bailey misses a couple of kicks, a couple of extra points, and a long field goal that would have won it in regulation. They end up going to overtime and and Dalvin Cook kind of grinded away and got him the win. In this one. You had another Kirk Cousins pick six in this one. It's just it's not terribly good football. But here are the Vikings sitting at six and six, tied with the Cardinals. Uh, the forty Niners who played Monday night. Again, we don't know what the result will be of the forty Niners upset the Bills. Uh. Then you have the forty Niners at six and six as well, And I don't know, I don't know what to make of this race. Here do you do you if you have to pick one of these teams, is it still the Cardinals at this point? I mean, I think the Cardinals are the best of those teams. I'm not entirely convinced by the Vikings because of games like the one we saw Sunday. But the Cardinals don't necessarily have an easy schedule. I mean, they have the Giants next week, suddenly researching Giants, Okay. Then they have the Eagles, who are clearly struggling. Then they have the forty Niners, which have a habit of pulling off tricky wins, and then they have the Rams. So other than the Eagles, those aren't those could be games that go either way. Yeah yeah. And then I mean you look at the Vikings that they still have to go to Tampa, they still have to go to New Orleans. Uh, they only have one home game left here against the Bears. So I don't know, I don't know what's gonna happen with the seven seed. I guess, I guess this excitement, but it just seems like a bunch of teams that aren't terribly deserving battling it out for for this I don't know, this playoff spot the right to go to Lambeau and and get smashed, I guess. But yeah, very anti seventh seed here. But now we get to move into the conspiracy theory part of the show, and that is that is the Raiders and the Jets, and the Raiders win it, and the Jets lose another game. The Jets are still winless. They are still the front runners, and the Trevor Lawrence uh sweep takes and again this is this, by the way, is the problem with the rookie wage scale is it's not just you get Trevor Lawrence's, you get Trevor Lawrence on about of what his market value is for the first three seasons of his career. It is a really dumb system. Uh, and it it it entices teams to perhaps do things like this, which was, oh my goodness. I mean, the Jets are protecting a four point lead with twenty seconds left. The Raiders have no time out, so the Raiders need a touchdown. That's how math works. You you get three points for a field goal that would have led to a one point loss for the Raiders. So, uh, the Raiders need a touchdown. The Jets end up just sending seven in the in the past rush on back to back plays and the first one, Nelson Agalor runs behind the defense and is wide open for a touchdown. Derek Carr overshoots him. Then on the next play, the Jets sending all these rushers again, and it's Henry Ruggs against Lamar Jackson. And with all due respect to Lamar Jackson, I think you run like a ran, like a four six five forty at at the at the combine. And you have Henry Ruggs, who may be outside of Tyreek Hill, is the fastest receiver in the league. And he's just out there on an island about him. Excuse me, he's out there on an island with him. I can't even talk him. So I'm so fired about this play. Uh, and he just Lamar Jackson like stops his feet for a double move. And it's like, one, why why is this the matchup? Why does he have no safety help? Uh? Number two? Why is he playing this as if you know a ten yard gain is something he needs to defend against. So of course Ruggs just runs by him, and uh, it's a free touchdown here for the Raiders. And um, you know you've written about this, Jenny, You wrote about the Dolphins early last season and and the sort of front offices perhaps cynical approach to the twenty nineteen season, but you know people say all the time it's the front offices that sort of do the tanking. It's not the players, not the coaches. They're out there trying to win. But you see this play out and it's kind of like, I don't know, did you guys try to win? I'm not entirely convinced. I think this was what Greg Williams thought was trying to win. I think you said it while Gary that players and coaches don't tank for a lot of different reasons, but largely as pride. No one wants to have a stain on their record of having been part of an Owns sixteen season. I think this was just representative of one of the biggest problems that there is in coaching right now is coaches thinking they know best, trying to get too cute, trying to just say, hey, I'm going to do a blitz in this situation, despite the fact that it makes absolutely no sense, right, they just kind of outsmart themselves. That's exactly what happened here, because knowing the situation, all you had to do was protect the sidelines and protect the end zone and the clock would run out and you would win. But instead he gets really cute, see and tries to dial up some blitz. I don't really know for what purpose. I mean, nothing is saving the reputation of anybody on the Jets coaching staff at this point in time. So even if the call had worked, I don't think he would have been getting widespread a claim. But it ended up being a really dun't call that the players after the game called out. They were saying that they it was a bad call and they were in a bad position because they were. So this is really just, uh, what a season for the Jets, And this really summed it up. I think it's just bad coaching that puts players a roster that is devoid of talent and key areas in even worse positions than they might otherwise have been. I wonder if Lawrence was watching these games as because you had the Jaguars and Vikings were tied at this moment when when the Raiders retook the lead and they were obviously heading to overtime. But I wonder if you watched these games and or just it's just kind of like, oh, I guess I should pay attention because you know, I'll find out where I Am going to live for the next five years of my life at least. Yeah, and imagine looking at those teams and coming from Clemson and saying, Wow, I'm going to be going to a team that hasn't won in a while. M boy, it's pretty bleak. It was. It was something I just I couldn't It's hyperbole to say I couldn't believe it. Uh when when you watch football, like, oh, I couldn't believe that play. After Aglar got behind them on the previous play, it was like, oh, well, clearly they are going to that. This can't happen on back to back plays. That would be madness. And it did. It happened even worse on the second play. Actually, and and again, Lamar. Look, Lamar Jackson is a guy who will probably spend his career on the fringe of of NFL rosters. I hope he has a long and and and and product productive career with the Jets, But I don't think he's quite that kind of guy. So he's not going out there to be like, oh, I you know, maybe I'll just give up this touchdown and help the help the team out for the long term. I mean it was it was again, I literally, literally I cannot believe that this. Alright, well, let's go down to uh to Miami Dolphins. Bengals. Dolphins win this one. Dolphins are still right there in the projected playoff field. Uh. And by the way, Dolphins and Raiders play uh in Week sixteen in Vegas, so that one will be potentially a big impact game there. The Raiders are a game out of the of the playoff picture right now in the FC, but Dolphin's gonna Cincinnati. This one was It was interesting because, uh, it's a really chippy game and you had sort of a big h you know, maybe not quite a total breakout brawl here, but uh, Jackiem Grant, the Dolphins returned specialists and receiver. He got cheap shot twice. It was either cheap or it was just incredibly reckless. Uh, And uh the Dolphins did not appreciate it the second time. You know, a lot of you have seen the clip of Brian Flores uh coming across the field then looking like he was he was he was kind of ready to go at that point. So, UH, that was a little bit strange. But I think as far as the the impact, long term impact goes uh to a tongue of Ioloa struggled in the first half. He did have Grant drop what would have been a long touchdown, and maybe that would have made everyone feel better about it, but it was a it was a dicey first half or two and it was kind of everyone was thinking a half time like, is this gonna be another Ryan Fitzpatrick relief appearance because the Dolphins were trailing, um uh, you know, a little bit longer than you'd like to be trailing against a branded Allen led Bengals team, and of course to us sort of writed the ship in the second half and it was all right, but this one was there was some handwringing going on. Yeah, definitely, he had the thumb wrist injuries, and it just looked like a player that was kind of coming off an injury, maybe hadn't practiced a time this week and took a while to get into the groove. But after halftime he was a lot better. I know, they used up tempo offense that seemed to kind of kick things into gears. So this ultimately is a team that's led by their defense, and you just kind of want to a kind of continue making progress. I think there's been a little bumpier than maybe we thought initially. Um, but as you mentioned, that's going to be a huge game. In Vegas to decide playoffs spots in the f C. Yeah yeah, I mean this was just seven six Bengals at halftime, and it was just kind of like, no, this can't this can't happen, kenned. This was the second straight week then the Bengals got doubled up an offensive yardage in a game, and uh, that's just kind of that's the team they are right now. Uh, let's go down to Atlanta, where all I really want to say. This one played out similarly to the last Saints Vikings excuse me, Saints Falcon's matchup Taysom Hills first start, where the Saints story just gotta lead and um just kind of held on. The Falcons did have a shot late in this game, so it was a little more interesting. But um, Tayson Hill is now three and oh as a starter. Uh look, it's it's it's going to be Drew Brees team once he's ready to go again. But the Saints are now they are eight no without Drew Brees over the last two seasons. Teddy Bridgewater went five and oh a year ago Tastemilk three no, So uh just kind of a testament to it's a very good team overall, very good team from one to fifty three, and Sean Payton is is just kind of a good coach. I guess. Yeah. It indicates an ability to game plan for different quarterbacks, to get your backups ready to play in the game, to create a game plan that accentuates their strengths. And the backups have all been different styles of players, so he's really done a lot to bring in different quarterbacks and not have there be a drop off from Drew Brees, which um bodes well for the post Drew Brees era. It was also and I was I was shocked when when they said this tastumil through his through his first career touchdown and passed in this game, which um, I mean, I didn't think he had a ton, but I was really surprised it's this first one. So uh yeah, good, good, good things continue to happen in New Orleans where they have won nine straight and right now they're still hanging onto that uh that number one seed in the NFC and they do not have they they lost to the Backers earlier this year, so should those teams end up in a tie, the Packers actually get the tie breaks. So the Saints have to have to hang on at this point. Uh, and the final game of Sunday. And look, any of you who listened to the MMQB Gambling podcasts on Friday with myself and Jimmy Traina and Mitch Goldich, it is uh, it is critically acclaimed. Um. You heard me say something along the lines of how the Chargers are really in the end, they're better than the Patriots. The reason that you might say the Patriots are better is because the Chargers are so bad in special teams. But you can't bank week to week on a team special teams in there. It's just it's a small sample size. I mean, you know, most weeks you just have a bunch of uh um, you know, a bunch of fair catches and stuff like that, and you won't think twice about special teams. And uh, boy, was was I incorrect about that? In this particular game. Uh, the the Patriots getting seven yard punt return uh in the first half, they all so get a a blocked field goal to end the first half that they run back for a touchdown and then uh, Michael Badgeley also missed another kick in the first half, So uh, that kind of set the tone for this one and it ends up being a forty five nothing Patriots victory. And that's I don't know. I don't know what else to say about that, except for the fact that the Patriots were actually really good defensively again in this one, justin Herbert his worst game as a pro. So, Um, I don't know, I don't know what to make these Chargers special teams anymore. I I don't think I can. I think I'm just gonna turn off the TV when they're punting or mining a for field goal from now on. Yeah, and obviously they changed the special teams coordinator a few weeks ago, but still have woes in that area that they're just the Chargers have just having another Chargers season where there's just been a lot of things going wrong. Um, despite the bright spots these they just seem to have, you know, bad News Bears type of thing. Uh. And it's this was just a strange game, Cam Newton through passing yards and they win. I mean, it's just kind of Wildcary. But I agree with you about the Patriots defense, and this is really in Belichick's wheelhouse right to come up with a really smart game plan for a rookie quarterback that's been surprising a lot of other teams. Uh, and that's exactly what happened. Yeah, it was. Look, we thought the Patriots are gonna win games in this fashion this season, but this has sort of been to the extreme the last two weeks here and look they are now they're they're right there there there, there's six and six. There are two games out of the playoffs. They probably don't quite get there, but it's still it's just it's just kind of really impressive season. And they're going to get a bunch of dudes back next year and uh, you know, they'll have a chance to sort of rebuild things a little bit. And I don't know, this was at the same time a disappointing and an encouraging season in Foxborough. Yeah, that's exactly what it is. It's been a little bit of both. And you know, then they have a dominating performance like this and you're kind of like, alright, you know this is uh, this has been not so bad of a season. All right, Jenny, we will we will hear you on the week Side podcast. If you don't already subscribe, please do everyone out there and then you and I will be back next Monday for a recap and Week four team can't Wait to talk about how we spent our financial money over the next week. The MMQB Monday Morning NFL podcast is Jenny Brentis and me Gary Gremling. We are produced by Shelby Royston Sis. Executive producer of podcast is Scott Brodie ben Eagle is director of Editorial Projects and product Mark Ravick is Emeritus editor of the MMQB. Andy Benoit is the founder of the MMQB NFL podcast. Be sure to be sure to subscribe to this feed, as well as the feeds for the week Side podcasts and the Albert Brier Show. They're all for free on Apple Podcasts, and once you do subscribe, please leave a rating and review for all of them. It really does help other people find the shows, which are also available on Spotify Radio dot Com, Stitcher, s i dot com, and wherever else you listen to the podcasts.

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