- 9/24/2024
The Kansas City Chiefs winning ways continued with a victory over the Atlanta Falcons. Peter Klein explains what they are doing so well and then breaks down the rest of the week in the NFL.
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00:00I'm worried that I am the slightest bit out of sync, so if those in the chat who are watching
00:12could let me know, that would be fantastic.
00:17But we will begin, just kind of bounce around the whole NFL schedule here.
00:21And again, this will be one of the last weeks where we go over every single game, because
00:25I don't know if we need to go through all, what was it, 13 games that we had yesterday.
00:30Although it was a bit easier to manage, we didn't have the 10 and the whatever this week,
00:37we just had, you know, we had a bit easier to handle 7.
00:41Okay, thanks Toxic, very little.
00:43I don't know if I'll be able to change that on the fly, that's a little bit annoying,
00:47because it seemed to work well last week and I have not changed anything on my end.
00:52But anyway.
00:53So yes, apologies if we are a touch out of sync here this week.
00:57Okay, so we will begin with the Baltimore Ravens, who get a much needed win over the
01:01Dallas Cowboys, but not in as convincing fashion as you would like.
01:07Some questions very much still remain about this team, and quite frankly, that shouldn't
01:12have been that difficult.
01:13I believe it was 28-6 that they had the lead on at one point, and then it just, they took
01:18their foot off the gas, which I get, teams do, all the time, and it is tough to flip
01:24that switch back on once you have flipped it off.
01:27But still, this should not have been as difficult as it was.
01:31This was a real problem for the Ravens, that once they had to wake up and make plays again,
01:39they just couldn't.
01:40It was very challenging for them to get a couple of first downs and string anything
01:45together, and it just let the Cowboys continue to get back into this game.
01:49And I had said after their opener that it was a good performance and a win.
01:56They lost, but you'd feel pretty good about it.
02:00This one, they won, you'd feel kind of bad about it, based off of how the back part of
02:04that closes.
02:05First part of the game, they dominated, and that probably should have continued.
02:08And I think when you look at this Ravens team and how this season has gone so far, I don't
02:12know if you need to be taking your foot off the gas pedal.
02:15I don't know what it is about this team and leads, but they blew a fourth quarter lead
02:19against the Raiders.
02:21I would assume that they would have learned a lesson and tried to not do that against
02:25the Dallas Cowboys.
02:26But there you go.
02:28It really just comes down to a failure to make the big plays when you need it.
02:33It bit them against Kansas City, although they almost did it.
02:36But it bit them against Kansas City, it definitely bit them against the Raiders, and it almost
02:40got them here against the Dallas Cowboys.
02:43On the Dallas side, they are in real trouble.
02:46When it was looking like a blowout, I was starting to wonder, like, is McCarthy getting
02:50fired?
02:51Because I view Mike McCarthy as the most overrated coach in the National Football League these
02:55days, and have for quite some time.
03:00And so I will admit that, like, the second there is any kind of a speed wobble out in
03:04Dallas is, huh?
03:05Coach?
03:06Coach gonna get fired?
03:07Coach gonna change?
03:08We gonna fire him?
03:10I will admit that I have an itchy trigger finger when it comes to that particular coach.
03:15And so, yes, I do kind of look for it.
03:19But this would be back-to-back horrendous blowouts.
03:21And so at least the comeback saves that discussion for a week or so.
03:27But still, this is a big issue out in Dallas.
03:33And for this Cowboys team, what do they do well?
03:36What is the, okay, well at least they do this thing.
03:40They have been absolutely beat up now in two games, and at least, look, they got a good
03:45field goal kicker.
03:46So I guess there's that.
03:47But they don't have a good coach.
03:49The offense isn't really moving the ball all that effectively after beating up on a down
03:54Cleveland Browns team in week one.
03:57And defensively, they're not stopping a thing right now.
04:00And I get, like, different teams perform differently in different weeks.
04:04But I do think that it should be a little eye-opening to Dallas Cowboy fans how easy
04:09it was for New Orleans to kind of kick the shit out of your defense last week, and then
04:13this week, the problems that New Orleans had against the Philadelphia Eagles.
04:16I think that there should be some thought there of like, hmm, NFL math doesn't always
04:21add up.
04:22But that one, that one seems concerning.
04:25And so I think the Cowboys really need to kind of open their eyes and see what is happening
04:30there.
04:31I do like that Dak is calling his teammates out, and I get the, if you want to get off,
04:34get off thing.
04:35A lot of people are pointing that to fans or whatever.
04:38I kind of think that was a shot to people in the locker room.
04:41Like, look, if you guys, because there was a lot of fighting on the sidelines, and a
04:43lot of bickering, and I kind of wonder if there were a lot of players who were a little
04:48upset at the whole Dak Prescott contract situation, and how all that was playing out.
04:54And I just think that he, he is just like, look, I am the leader on this team, rightly
05:00or wrongly, I am the leader on this team, we are going in this direction, so follow
05:05along or get off now.
05:06I think that's what he was saying.
05:08And so I like that there is some accountability coming from him with that, or holding his
05:12teammates accountable.
05:13I thought he played, I thought he played fine.
05:16The Cowboys, unfortunately, kind of hinge on how he plays, and that's not a good thing
05:21for them.
05:22He is not that guy, I don't think.
05:24And now he's getting paid to be that guy.
05:26But I just, I want to make it very clear that a late game comeback that involved an onside
05:31kick recovery cannot dictate your feelings on this team.
05:36We need to remember, this is a bad football club going forward.
05:40The Philadelphia Eagles get a win that they needed in a huge way, beating the New Orleans
05:44Saints, and now you see Smith go down with an injury, so now it is Goddard and Barkley
05:49that step up.
05:50This is why you assemble these types of super teams, right?
05:54This is why you have, when you are seeing, like, okay, just because I like to pile on,
06:01you look at the Toronto Maple Leafs, and when it gets down to playoff time, it's like, okay,
06:05well, Matthews got hurt, no, well, there's this, this guy didn't go well.
06:09This is why you accumulate high level talent the way that these guys have.
06:14Because the thought isn't just, hey, you know what's awesome?
06:16Having a bunch of awesome players.
06:17Like, yes, obviously.
06:18That helps.
06:20When injuries happen, to some of them, but when injuries happen, you now still have other
06:25high level players that can step up.
06:26And so yes, when this offense has Brown, and Smith, and Goddard, and Barkley, everything
06:32works really, really well, but when a couple of them go down, it shouldn't just throw it
06:36all into chaos.
06:37It is now, okay, this is time for this guy to step up.
06:40Goddard, third and 16, steps up in a big time way.
06:42It is now time for Barkley to step up.
06:44He comes up with a couple of big runs that really helps seal this game away.
06:47I thought this was really nice to see some of those other pieces stepping up for the
06:52Philadelphia Eagles.
06:53Hurts still wasn't amazing in this game, but they were able to get the job done.
06:57I thought this was a really bad game for Sirianni and the coaching staff.
07:02And like, if you want to get on them for the pass on fourth down on Monday Night Football
07:06last week, I guess, maybe, we kind of talked about it, like, I don't, I didn't hate that
07:11as much as some other people did.
07:12I hated fourth and one with 12 seconds left in field goal range with no timeouts and you
07:17run the ball.
07:18You are then assuming you're going to get like a 21 yard touchdown run on a run up the
07:23middle or whatever that play call was to help seal this game out.
07:27It ain't happening.
07:28That's not, no, not going to work.
07:30So I, I do think that there has been some real awful coaching decisions.
07:35And again, the Barkley one isn't it, but I do feel like Sirianni has kind of lost his
07:39fastball a little bit in the play calling department and it is hurting this Eagles team
07:44actually quite a bit.
07:45But again, the defense stepped up.
07:47This was the best this defense has looked this season.
07:50There was a real speed.
07:51There was a real aggression to them and they did a very good job at least kind of bottling
07:55up this run game and putting some pressure on Derek Carr and it kind of brings the Saints
07:59back down to earth a little bit.
08:01We said in the preview last week that the offense was, let's see what happens when this
08:07offense gets pushed.
08:09And they were pushed this week and to their credit, like they hung in this game, right?
08:13And they had chances to win and they just didn't capitalize.
08:16But the offense did look slower.
08:18It looked significantly less explosive and it looked a whole lot less comfortable for
08:22Derek Carr in this game.
08:23And so yes, maybe the Saints are improved and this new offensive philosophy where you
08:28can actually do play action and actually have some movement, all of this philosophy might
08:33be good, but it's still, this isn't as improved of a football team as we thought.
08:40The Eagles were doing a really good job of getting pressure on Derek Carr and then basically
08:44everything felt 50-50.
08:45It forced Carr into a lot of throws and just panic and just throw it out there and those,
08:51like it's 50-50 at best.
08:53And now when you have Chris Olave, that helps.
08:55But he did not look comfortable.
08:57This offense didn't look comfortable all game and I think this is a little bit more what
09:02we'll expect to see from the Saints going forward.
09:05But again, as we've been saying, even going back to the preseason, this defense is for
09:08real and this defense is very much legit.
09:11Moving on to the Sunday Night Football game, the Kansas City Chiefs survive again.
09:15There isn't, there just isn't a whole lot of analysis to do with this team, right?
09:19Like they are a very good football team that make maybe a few too many mistakes and let
09:25teams kind of hang around.
09:26And that like, it's been this way for two years.
09:28And so I have a difficult time overreacting to what we are seeing with now 3-1 possession
09:32wins in three games when A, they're 3-0, B, they did this even worse, like this is still
09:40better than it was last year when they won the whole thing again.
09:44So we've kind of just seen this whole story with this team before.
09:48So it's tough to just be like, okay, well now this is the time we actually have to panic
09:52because the rest of the AFC doesn't look as good.
09:54You have Baltimore who is still figuring some things out.
09:57Miami who is going to be on their third quarterback in three weeks when they play on Monday night
10:00probably against the Tennessee Titans.
10:04The Chargers in your division have taken a step back, well maybe not a significant one,
10:08but talent-wise they've taken a step back, although they're a better team maybe than
10:10they were last year, but that's beside the point.
10:13The Raiders who finished second in the division last year just lost to one of the worst teams
10:16football has ever seen.
10:17Like you just kind of bounce around the whole conference and it just, it still feels like
10:22it's Kansas City's to win.
10:24And so it's tough to really overreact to a whole lot of this.
10:31Also, while I maybe wasn't as high on Cincinnati and Atlanta as others, it's still like Baltimore,
10:38Cincinnati, Atlanta.
10:39Those are three pretty good teams that you just knocked off to pick up a win and get
10:45your season going in the first three weeks of the year.
10:49That ain't bad.
10:50You know, and if we're giving grace to some of these other teams, well, oh yeah, no, it'll
10:53click as the season goes on.
10:54Oh yeah, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no,
10:55no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no,
10:56no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no,
10:57no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no,
10:58no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no,
10:59no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no,
11:00no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no,
11:01no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no,
11:02no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no,
11:07no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no,
11:12no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no,
11:17no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no,
11:23For the Falcons, um, I hated some of those play calls, third and fourth down, the runs,
11:27like, I get Bijon is your best guy, I think you have to get him involved in the pass game,
11:31and just give yourself some other options, a run to the outside on fourth down,
11:35if the other team gets there and cuts it off, like, you just, you have nothing.
11:38And I get that that's literally every play, where, oh yeah, if the other team defends it well,
11:42then you're screwed, like, yes, that's how the sport works.
11:45Um, and so maybe not the most in-depth analysis, but it just, like, on those particular ones,
11:50like, even if it's something up the middle, maybe you can at least bounce into a cutback lane,
11:54or something, when the defense outflanks you on the outside,
11:58and you aren't able to turn that corner, there just isn't a whole lot of room,
12:01and now you're getting trapped because the sideline's there, you're just, you're kind of stuck.
12:05And so I don't love some of that play calling there.
12:09Um, overall, like, they were in it for the most part, and what we said about how the Chiefs would defend
12:14kind of came true, where they were just content, like, yeah, just let,
12:18if you're gonna beat us, it's gonna be Mooney, or maybe a little bit in the run game, and the run game got going.
12:22Um, but Drake London having a huge late drive
12:26to, um, end up going over that receiving total
12:30was so annoying, because we had that one bagged the whole game,
12:34and then just goes nuts on the last few drives to get over the top.
12:38But it was nice to hit that Mooney over by the second quarter.
12:42And so, I don't know, like, for the Falcons,
12:46I don't think that this is a, oh, well, they are screwed, I also don't think this is a, hey, look how well
12:50they hung with the Champs, back they come, this is just kind of a, alright, well,
12:54they played well, and it still has looked better than it did in Week 1,
12:58so at least there's that. Um, it,
13:02it might start to get really bad out in San Francisco. Uh, that was a really,
13:06really bad loss, and I get that they have a lot of injuries right now,
13:10that loss is unacceptable. Um, you cannot
13:14get so soundly outcoached and outplayed in the second half
13:18and in the fourth quarter of a game the way that San Francisco did.
13:22And yes, it would help if you weren't throwing to Juwan Jennings, and if it wasn't just
13:26Mason running it to try to put that game away, but those guys actually, like, played
13:30alright. Um, you just, you cannot allow that sort of a
13:34loss to happen if you're San Francisco, with, again, all the
13:38injuries you are dealing with, but San Francisco, um, the Rams are also dealing
13:42with a lot of injuries, and I just, I don't think you can allow for that
13:46type of a loss to happen in a division game when, like, Seattle looks improved,
13:50Arizona looks really improved, and this is going to be
13:54a battle all season long. You have a chance to get a win over
13:58a division opponent, and you let it slip away in that fashion, that is a really, really difficult
14:02loss to take for the 49ers, and now this is two in a row
14:06pretty bad losses for San Francisco. On the Rams' side, um,
14:10I still don't know if there's anything actionable about this. I still
14:14see people listing them as one that could make the playoffs, I just, with the injuries
14:18they have, I just don't see it. But this was coaching brilliance
14:22today by McVay, or sorry, yesterday, um, by McVay, and
14:26it was still, it's Stafford not giving up, and it's Williams
14:30just being an absolute tank, and just getting the absolute most out of every inch
14:34of talent that they had out on that football field to end up getting the job
14:38done. So this is, it is a good win, but I don't think it is an actionable
14:42one for the Rams. If anything for us, um, I think that this may lead to
14:46them being a little bit overpriced in some following matchups, and that might be
14:50something we can exploit going forward. Uh, the Vikings.
14:54I think we might have to start taking them seriously. I had said in the
14:58NFC win total preview that I liked the Vikings
15:02I think a little bit more than other people did, I just couldn't justify getting them, I think it was
15:06over 7.5, like I don't, I just don't see this being an 8 win team.
15:10And they look good. Like, all the things that we were talking about
15:14from last year, where like, this team actually won quite a few games and had
15:18bad quarterback play, so even if Sam Darnold is just kind of average, they might actually move
15:22things a little bit, um, and they did that. Like, this was a really good
15:26performance again from Sam Darnold, and he gets banged up, so we'll see what happens, but
15:30this has been the best he has looked at times in his career,
15:34and Aaron Jones is being used like a legitimate playmaker. This is a
15:38players not plays sort of a thing, where they have kind of understood, look, we have
15:42Justin Jefferson, best wide receiver in the league. After that, we don't got a whole lot.
15:46So, Aaron Jones is our second best player, let's
15:50use him as if he is our second best player. They use him in the passing game, he's obviously
15:54been dynamic in the run. This is a legitimately, I think, good team. I don't
15:58know, like I'm not racing out for Vikings Super Bowl futures,
16:02or anything like that, but offensively, this team is moving it. And defensively, this is
16:06back-to-back, really strong performances from this
16:10defense. And again, I know the injury issues on San Francisco, but they kind of shut those guys
16:14down, and they just ate the lunch of the
16:18Houston Texans. And so, Brian Flores, for all the shit he took for some of that
16:22stuff in Miami, and all of that, um, holy hell man, is this
16:26guy coaching the hell out of this defense right now. On the Texan side,
16:30I know, like we just said, hey, the Vikings are legit, watch out for them. But also,
16:34these guys just lost to the Vikings, that's a little concerning. It is weird to talk out of both sides
16:38of your mouth that way, but I do think there is something to that. Where, like, the Texans
16:42the Texans have some issues here.
16:46Their offense has looked good exactly once. And that was against an Indianapolis
16:50Colts defense, that, quite frankly, we have no respect for. At all.
16:54And so, um, like Chicago, good defense, shut them down.
16:58Vikings, good defense, shut them down. But, the Texans are in a different
17:02stratosphere now, right? They are in a different level where we are talking
17:06about them as a potential Super Bowl contender. And, last time I checked,
17:10you are going to have to play some good teams if you're going to get to the Super Bowl.
17:14So you can't just be like, ah, well, played a good defense, on to the next one. It's like, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no,
17:18no, no, if you, like, it's fine if you're, um,
17:22I don't know, name a team, the Raiders. And it's like, okay, well, good defense, shut us down,
17:26on to next week. Because their expectations aren't that high. But for the Texans, when you want to
17:30win the division, win playoff games, and get to the Super Bowl, you're going to
17:34have to face good defenses, and you're going to have to figure it out. And right now, this offense really isn't
17:38figuring it out. There is just something off with them. They can't
17:42run the ball at all. That, I think, might be a bit of an issue. And now, the run
17:46stats might be a little skewed, because down 34-7,
17:50you're not exactly worried about establishing the run. But I do think that it is
17:54putting them in some disadvantageous situations, and that is
17:58setting them back in some really big ways. So, I do think that this is
18:02going to be something that gets fixed. But this is a
18:06problem. And another thing to watch out for is the defensive side of the football.
18:10When, like, they looked very good against Chicago.
18:14But that, like, it just became obvious what you needed to do against Chicago. Bring one
18:18extra rusher, and you're going to completely shut them down. They gave Anthony Richardson
18:22what right now looks like easily his best game of the season.
18:26And now, in this game, they kind of got diced apart by Sam Darnold.
18:30That is not a who's who of quarterbacks right now, given what we've seen from Anthony Richardson
18:34the last two weeks. So, I think there's real concern about what's happening on the defensive
18:38side of the ball with the Houston Texans as well. Back into the
18:42NFC, the Green Bay Packers, they're just good. Man, like, Matt LaFleur,
18:46this has been a master class in coaching the last
18:50couple of weeks, and kind of understanding the lack of variety that the
18:54Indianapolis Colts are going to throw at you. And I think also
18:58then, going into this one, and yes,
19:02they were given some great spots by the Tennessee Titans, but
19:06I do also think that there has to be a recognition of, like, that this team
19:10went out and executed a game plan almost perfectly. And the Titans
19:14did a better job of bottling up Josh Jacobs. They just didn't bottle up Malik Willis.
19:18There is so much talent on this team that they've been able to get a lot
19:22out of this kid and do a really, really good job. And so,
19:26when Jordan Love comes back, you have to feel very
19:30confident about this team as a real, legitimate threat
19:34in not just the NFC North, but in the NFC in general.
19:38And on the defensive side, like, they just put themselves in positions to win.
19:42This is back-to-back weeks where the defenses look pretty good. We will get to maybe
19:46why they look good this week in a second when we talk about the Titans, but defensively,
19:50this team stepped up. And they stepped up last week
19:54against the Indianapolis Colts as well. That was kind of an under-discussed part of
19:58everything last week, was that the Colts' defensive game plan wasn't
20:02very good, and it allowed the Packers to kind of hang around and do their thing, but
20:06also, you had a Green Bay
20:10defense that held Indy to 10 points. And now they go out and they do it again
20:14against the Tennessee Titans. So, I'm not going to say this is a good
20:18defensive football team yet, because we have some questions about the offenses
20:22that they have shut down, but I do think that this is a team that you do
20:26need to start taking seriously. And like I said, really, really
20:30seriously. I mean, look, I've been taking them seriously.
20:34And if you've been watching and kind of following along, they were my pick to go to the Super Bowl
20:38in the NFC this year. So, that feels great right now, because I
20:42think that this is a legitimately very good team, and we'll see
20:46as the season goes on. A real interesting matchup with the Vikings coming up next week.
20:50The Tennessee Titans have a quarterback problem. Like,
20:54it's just, it's not getting better. And I get it's only three weeks, and to just assume that he's going to go
20:58from what we saw in Week 1 to now being Tom Brady in Week 3, like, I know it doesn't
21:02work that way. And I know I'm being very impatient right now.
21:06But, this was supposed to be the, okay, we have
21:10rounded you with talent now. Now go out and do it. We got you in the second round
21:14when a lot of people thought you were a first or second round talent. You are not looking like it.
21:18So far. And you had at least a bit of a taste of the starter life last year.
21:22These things shouldn't be as overwhelming for you this year. And they
21:26are. The decision making and the processing are
21:30significant issues. And, like, I get
21:34you have, again, a young quarterback. But, it's
21:38just, it's so bad. It's just, like, I don't know how else to put it.
21:42It is putting yourself in some really, really bad spots. And, like, this is
21:46a good football team, I think. They have brought in some really good veteran players.
21:50And with even just average quarterback play, they are at least 2-1.
21:54And, I don't know, like, maybe they still lose this game today.
21:58But, I do, sorry, Sunday. I don't know why I'm doing that. I didn't watch anything
22:02today. But, maybe, like, maybe they still
22:06lose this game. But, he is not giving them any chance
22:10in any of these things at all. And, I get
22:14with these veterans, like, with a young quarterback, the thought is, well,
22:18let's let him figure it out. Let's let him see. Let's see what we have in him. And
22:22let's kind of go. But, you do have some veteran players on this team. Like, it's not
22:26like this is a young group that is just on the rise and they're all going to get better.
22:30Like, you brought in quite a few veterans across the board to try to
22:34like, get everything fixed on this team. And it's just, it's not
22:38working. And it is becoming, I think, a real problem with the
22:42Titans. And at least the one thing you can say
22:46around Will Levis is you have
22:50you have surrounded him with enough things that
22:54you now know what he is. Right? And I'm not saying after three games.
22:58I'm saying now after 17. When the season is done, you have at least, you can't
23:02say, like, with Sam Darnold with the Jets before, where I was like, yeah, I mean, it
23:06didn't go well, but, like, the offensive line sucked and he had one good guy to pass to. Or
23:10what it would have been with Drake May this year, where it's like, yeah, he has two NFL players on the
23:14offense total. Like, what are we doing here? You don't have that. With this team,
23:18you have an offensive line with two first round picks on it that I think is doing pretty well.
23:22You have a run game that has been able to kind of get going in the first three weeks. You have
23:26Calvin Ridley, who, while inconsistent, is quite talented. You have DeAndre
23:30Hopkins, who, while injured, is still quite talented. You have enough pieces around
23:34him that if it continues to look this bad,
23:38you kind of know he ain't it. And it maybe seems a bit quick to just drop
23:42it. I do think that they are kind of in a spot
23:46that they don't have to pay him right away, I don't think. I can't imagine. This is
23:50only his second year, right? Yeah, we're still ways away from figuring out that we have
23:54to pay him conversation. So maybe you have a little bit more runway with it. But I do think
23:58if this season continues to go the way that it is going, and you are in a position
24:02to draft a good young quarterback next year, you just do that.
24:06And if there's one that wants to come in free agency or is
24:10available in trade, you go out and do that, if this continues.
24:14If it doesn't present itself, if you're drafting fourth, and
24:18the three NFL kids go, one, two, three, alright, well, let's give it
24:22another go with the kid and move on, because he's still quite inexpensive, and let's just try
24:26to make the best of it, but I don't think he's playing himself into a, well, we need to see a little bit
24:30more so far. Because he's actively costing them games with awful
24:34decisions. Week one, it's the pick six that gets the Bears back in it and lets them win.
24:38Week two, another interception, they lose a one score game, and in this one, more ball control
24:42issues and more tough situations that put your defense
24:46in some bad spots that allowed Green Bay to thrive. So overall,
24:50problems for the Titans is kind of what I'm getting at. Not so much out in Seattle.
24:54This breakdown won't be as much. They just kind of took care of business. Oh, sorry. Hi, Deeds.
24:58Howdy, howdy, howdy. Saw you in the chat there, but was mid-rant
25:02and so didn't want to stop. But hello, Deeds. Thanks for popping in today. Really
25:06appreciate it. The Seattle Seahawks go out and take care of business, and that was
25:10one of those games that you watch it for three minutes, and it's like, well,
25:14probably should have thought more of Seattle in this one. And I do think eventually, that
25:18ended up being a pick that I clicked, and a
25:22game that we do end up predicting right, but I wasn't as confident
25:26about it, and wish I would have banged that one home a little bit more. Because it was just, as that
25:30game got going, it was so clear how one-sided this was going to be.
25:34Was a little scared at how difficult it was for Seattle to get by Denver and
25:38New England, but this was not that. The offense looked great. The defense looked fantastic.
25:42This was a real complete effort from a Seattle team that is now 3-0
25:46and is looking like they are a real...
25:50I'm not going to put them in the Green Bay tier just yet, of like, actual
25:54legitimate contender, but they're a threat for the division, and
25:58I wouldn't want to go into Seattle in the wildcard round or the divisional round
26:02at all. The Dolphins, meanwhile, they take more hits. Skylar Thompson
26:06goes down with an injury in this game. This could get
26:10real ugly out in Miami, real quick. The thing that
26:14worries me the most, and I get like, we kind of all
26:18agree Skylar Thompson's a limited option at the quarterback spot now, and now you go past
26:22him. I think Tim Boyle, who they brought in, also limited.
26:26This was supposed to be the good spot, right? Like,
26:30not that it was against Seattle, because the Seahawks are actually quite good.
26:34And defensively, the Seahawks, I think, are really good. But, this was supposed
26:38to be the extra prep time, right? Like, you're coming off of the Thursday
26:42nighter, so you have ten days to prepare for this team, and they
26:46just took you to the woodshed, man. They beat the holy hell out of them
26:50in this game. And also,
26:54they were coming off an overtime game last week, so while you were sitting at home
26:58being able to prepare, they were going an extra quarter
27:02against a New England team that maybe you shouldn't have to do that against, and
27:06it ended up being a real challenge for them. And so, to have that
27:10extra rest edge, that extra time to game plan and try to figure out how to make life
27:14easier on your young quarterback, to come out with that, is a little bit concerning.
27:18They do have now a little bit of extra time again, going into Monday night against
27:22the Tennessee Titans, but I am not confident they're going to be able to get that thing rolling.
27:26This looked concerningly bad today.
27:30Still some concerns out in Detroit. The Lions, they get a win,
27:34but they don't answer the questions we had from them. I like the Cardinals quite a bit
27:38this season, I think we've established this.
27:42That is not a defense that should be giving you those problems.
27:46And again, they still got the win, but there was a pick-six that got called back for a stupid
27:50two-minute warning hit, when it was very obviously 2-0-1 by the time the ball was
27:54snapped. I wish they paid that close attention to the play clock.
27:58And so for that to happen, I'm not going to say, oh, completely change the game,
28:02because there's still a second half after that, but it might have shifted how the dynamic of that game
28:06was going to go. And so that is a little concerning from a Detroit
28:10standpoint, and then the offense doesn't really get going until there's
28:14a trick play involved. And that's
28:18I've said this a couple of times, and a few times, it is nice to have
28:22trick plays, it's really bad to need trick plays. And they
28:26have now needed some trickery, some trickeration
28:30to get the offense going again. And that is concerning
28:34for me. Goff has not looked comfortable. And this was, again, this was
28:38supposed to be the year. All these games are indoors, and
28:42you have now another weapon in Jamison Williams to go out and do these things with.
28:46It is another year with Jameer Gibbs figuring out how to be one of the more explosive players
28:50in the NFL. You have all of these different things going for you, and it's
28:54just not clicking. And so again, this was supposed to be
28:58the year, this was supposed to be the time that the Detroit Lions
29:02clicked, and it's not clicking right now. Goff,
29:06again, this was not a defense to struggle against. And the defense you struggled against last
29:10week, in Tampa Bay, kind of got eaten up by Bo Nix this
29:14week. And again, NFL math doesn't work that way, but still
29:18this game does not bring down any of the red flags I had for Detroit.
29:22And honestly, makes me feel pretty good about Carolina.
29:26Kyler Murray was kept in check by this defense, and they contained
29:30the run a little bit more than other teams have done in the past, but still, Kyler goes out, he gets
29:34Harrison a touchdown, Wilson gets a touchdown, the run game was still
29:38kind of effective, they just ultimately didn't come up with the big plays they needed at the times
29:42to get those wins. But ultimately, this was supposed to be a team they
29:46lost to, and they did, but they hung around in it. This was
29:50one where Carolina bumps up, in my eyes, a little bit. Steelers against the Chargers,
29:54it kind of was what we thought it was going to be, not necessarily a masterpiece.
29:58It does really drive home this Steelers defense is legit, and maybe the best
30:02defense in the NFL. Told y'all on the Patrick Queen thing, just saying. Not that
30:06there was a whole lot of pushback, but still. The offense, still not great, but
30:1020 points against the Chargers, no one's done that so far.
30:14I'm not saying, like, watch out, here come the Pittsburgh Steelers.
30:18I think the offense is equal parts lacking talent and not being
30:22run well, and so there's that also. But no, this is
30:26a good team. For the Chargers, I don't know if there's a lot here.
30:30Honestly, they played kind of well. Giving up 20 points to Pittsburgh for the first time this year
30:34isn't awesome on the resume, but still, that's the toughest test they have faced
30:38and I think, for the most part, passed. Like, they lost, but they passed.
30:42Herbert, the injury stuff continues to be a concern, and
30:46you do have to worry about this being an ongoing thing all year.
30:50You kind of just, maybe three weeks rest won't help,
30:54but you kind of just want to be like, hey, can you just not for a couple of weeks and
30:58try to get this thing figured out, and we'll take our lumps. I mean, we're not winning because of
31:02great quarterback play anyway, so let's just take our lumps without you
31:06and you try to get this figured out. Because I do think there's something there with this team, but
31:10it's not if Herbert's only going to play three quarters every week.
31:14The Bears have established now, it's not it. Not it
31:18this year. Williams at least showed a couple of signs of life this week, but
31:22this offense is going nowhere. Swift is not helping in the run game.
31:26We are now into three spots where, oh no, he's good, it's just not
31:30whatever. They're not using him right, it's not whatever. Well, they're using him in the ways we want him to be used
31:34and it's not working. And this is now three teams where it isn't working.
31:38So, maybe Swift just isn't all that good. The receivers are getting hurt all the time,
31:42so that's not great. The offensive line has issues that
31:46continue to be a real problem, and Williams has to run for his life an awful lot.
31:50And so, while I do think Williams is going to be good, and I do
31:54think Roma Dunze is going to be good, I do not think it's going to be
31:58this year. And so, the breakout for the Bears that I keep
32:02waiting for keeps not happening, and I'm now done
32:06waiting for it. I will say, this defense is for real.
32:10This defense is just ferocious, and it's going to keep them in a lot of games. But like,
32:14again, the Colts do not mix things up on defense all that much, and for the Bears
32:18to have the issues that they had with it, it's concerning.
32:22At least, I think, from a Chicago standpoint. For the Colts, they survive. This is
32:26back-to-back quiet Richardson games, which is not great. I have him in two fantasy leagues, and
32:30it's not... it's not helping, that's for sure. And
32:34I don't... I don't see a lot of signs that it's going to get better.
32:38Again, this was a good Bears defense, so you don't want to overreact to too much, but
32:42the only game that he did well in, he completed nine passes, right? So, unless
32:46those huge plays are going to be there, I don't think that he is ready
32:50to methodically move an offense down the field. Again, they still get
32:54the win, but there you go. And at least the defense held their own this week. I
32:58am going to refuse to let two low-scoring games from this defense
33:02fool me into thinking that this is a good defense. The Broncos get their
33:06first win of the year, the defense really came to play on Sunday. Nick started to use his legs a little
33:10bit more, which might be a bit of a game-changer, to kind of help at least sustain
33:14some drives for this offense, and get the defense a little bit of rest. That whole complimentary
33:18football thing, when the field position battle and whatnot,
33:22so maybe that helps a little bit. I am still not going to buy into
33:26this team at all, but good on them for getting the win. For the Bucs,
33:30this is a nice reminder that they are a good team, not a great team.
33:34I think this offense was absolutely shut down by Denver. Nowhere to run.
33:38Now, they were down early, and teams tend to abandon the run when that happens.
33:42But, nowhere to run early. Godwin makes a nice catch in the end zone, but they really
33:46did a good job of shutting down Evans in this game. I'll have to go back and watch a whole lot
33:50of it. Mainly just red zoning the whole day. But, I
33:54want to see, like, what were they doing on Evans that just completely took him
33:58out of this game? I have some thoughts, but I will wait to go back and actually watch
34:02that to see. But, this whole game was just
34:06like a nice reminder that the Bucs were
34:10our biggest win last year, and helped make it a winning year
34:14around these parts last season. But, that doesn't make them a great football team.
34:18It just means we saw that the market was wildly underestimating them last year,
34:22and jumped on it. And so, now this year, they're 2-0, things are going good,
34:26alright, these are our guys again. It's like, ah, wait. Mid.
34:30They are still mid, and because of that, they will put up good performances, like we saw
34:34against Detroit, but they are also very much capable of just absolutely
34:38shitting the bed. And so, to just have them locked in week in, week out as a team to play
34:42is just not the way that we should be doing this. They are, I think we had
34:46maybe Denver a touch lower than we should have, although I don't think so, but we definitely had
34:50Tampa Bay a little bit higher than I should have in my mental power ratings
34:54of this whole thing. Giants-Browns was as bad as we thought it was going to be,
34:58but we have established, like, Malik Nabors is a beast.
35:02I thought Roma Dunze was going to be the second best receiver in this draft
35:06and better than Nabors, and he still might be, but he has a long way
35:10to go, because Nabors just looks like an absolute beast.
35:14And an absolute world beater. The kid is just phenomenal.
35:18Meanwhile, the Browns, like, they're terrible. They
35:22scored on the opening possession after getting a fumble recovery just outside of the
35:26red zone off the opening kickoff, and then didn't score again
35:30against the Giants until the fourth quarter. Watson,
35:34terrible. We need to save Amari Cooper from him. Cooper makes an amazing
35:38catch down the... was it down the sideline, or was it for the touchdown?
35:42I think it was down the sideline. And, like, he's just... he is so
35:46talented, but this is such... it is immeasurable
35:50how screwed up this franchise is. Moving on. Speaking of
35:54embarrassing franchises, the Carolina Panthers are on the board as they step up
35:58and beat the Raiders. Andy Dalton picked this Raiders team
36:02apart, and I said that I didn't think he was going to bring that much life
36:06into this team. I still said, this is one of the least talented teams in the NFL.
36:10And, yes, quarterback was an issue, but it's not the biggest issue.
36:14Oops. He came in and just ripped apart
36:18my favorite team in the Raiders. And I said on Let's
36:22Raid, the Vegas Raiders podcast that we do here, it ended up being Saturday morning, but
36:26leading up to kickoff, anyway, you're going to be able to catch that
36:30right here on the Couch Potato Diary feed. For YouTube fans,
36:34people watching on YouTube later, there is a playlist on the YouTube
36:38channel for just Raiders stuff. And I said on there
36:42this is not a game you should lose. To come off of that win last week against Baltimore,
36:46you're moving the football well. I get it's Andy Dalton, but
36:50still. That is an immobile quarterback back there that Max Crosby should be able to just
36:54feast on. And he didn't, and potentially banged up whatever.
36:58But this was a sound and thorough ass-kicking.
37:02And on the Carolina side, it does, I don't want to overreact
37:06because the very obvious thing is, okay, well Bryce Young was the problem. And I don't think
37:10that's the case. I think this team sucks. I really do. And I don't think Bryce Young is
37:14the problem. But, I will say, that
37:18looked different. That looked energized. That looked fired up. It just
37:22it looked so much different for Carolina.
37:26And it felt like a team sending a message to Bryce
37:30and to ownership that, hey, maybe it's
37:34not us. Maybe it is him. And again, it's one week. I don't want
37:38to read too much into it. I am not there. But, it is very
37:42easy to draw that comparison. On the Raiders side of things,
37:46I kind of, in my notes, I kind of went on a rant. I'm not going to go into this whole thing.
37:50I've basically now prepped half of Let's Raid, at least. But, every aspect
37:54of the game, the Raiders were dreadful in. How does that defense hold you to
37:58218 yards passing before you make a change at quarterback? How does that offense
38:02put up 34 points when they had scored 13 in the previous
38:06two games? Even Carlson's missing field goals out there. And he was only 0
38:10for 1 because they couldn't even move the ball into field goal range. This was an
38:14abysmal performance. And Pierce calling out the team, saying like, yeah,
38:18a lot of business decisions were being made. We'll make some business decisions too. I'm interested
38:22to see what that looks like. And now this is the test for him, right? They have the
38:26Browns next week, who as previously stated, suck. But,
38:30I do also admit, Carolina
38:34sucks. And they just kicked the shit out of the Raiders. So now, this is
38:38where, I think, a real test of the Antonio Pierce
38:42thing kind of comes together. This is not a talented
38:46football team. And any suggestion otherwise is insane. Although,
38:50I do like the talent of the pass catchers that they have. And again, you have Crosby,
38:54you have Wilco. Like, this isn't, the coverage aren't bare. Like, they are seemingly in Carolina
38:58right now. But, this is not
39:02an overly talented football team. This is a team that wins with
39:06effort, quite frankly. And the effort was bad. So now, now that you
39:10have this, and you have sent this message, how does the team respond? This is
39:14going to be a very telling week. And I don't know, I don't think
39:18ratings for Browns Raiders is going to be super high this week. And again, I don't think
39:22Scott Hansen is going to be popping in much during the witching hour for this game.
39:26But I will say that this is going to tell you a lot
39:30about Antonio Pierce as a coach, and these
39:34players, and what they think of him. So while we don't want to read too much into one game
39:38on the Carolina side, I am going to be reading a whole lot into what happens out
39:42in Carolina. Sorry, out against Cleveland next week.
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