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Bears Blockbuster Trade! Plus, Week 8 Preview: One Stat for Every Game.

1h 45m 19s

Bears Blockbuster Trade! Plus, Week 8 Preview: One Stat for Every Game.

Brian Dawkins shares his personal journey with major depressive disorder, emphasizing the importance of seeking professional help and highlighting how Caplyta, when combined with an antidepressant, provided greater relief for him. The episode also features a detailed discussion of the Bears’ trade for defensive tackle Jeffrey Simmons from the Titans, which the panel views as a bold, strategic move to strengthen their defense. They analyze the significance of this trade and the upcoming Bears-Seahawks matchup, noting how the defensive linemen’s ability to create pressure and the coaching rivalry between Ben Johnson and Mike McDonald elevate the game’s impact. The conversation also touches on broader NFL trends, including increased trade activity due to cap flexibility, data analysis, and younger GMs taking bolder risks. Additional game coverage includes the Ravens-Bills rivalry, where both teams are struggling with injuries and playoff underperformance, and the Chargers-Rams game, which the hosts see as a pivotal matchup with high stakes. Throughout, the discussion underscores the emotional, strategic, and statistical dimensions of football, while reinforcing the importance of mental health awareness and transparency in player experiences.

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I'm pro-football Hall of Famer Brian Dawkins, and I lived for a long time with something I did not know the name of, major depressive disorder. I carried sadness and anger because I thought I could handle it alone, but I couldn't. Now I want to make sure others know that that support is out there. If you're experiencing similar symptoms, talk to a healthcare professional. Visit mddallies.com to watch my story. Paid partnership with Johnson & Johnson. Brian Dawkins is not prescribed Caplyta Lumateperone. I needed more from my antidepressant, so my doctor added Caplyta Lumateperone, proven to provide greater relief from depression symptoms than an antidepressant alone, building on my progress without starting over. Caplyta is for adults with major depressive disorder when used with an antidepressant and is available by prescription only. Individual results may vary. In clinical trials, weight gain was not common. Patients have increased risk of death or stroke. Caplyta is not approved for dementia-related psychosis. Call your doctor about new or sudden mood changes, behaviors, or suicidal thoughts right away. Antidepressants may increase these risks. Report fever, confusion, stiff muscles, which may be life-threatening, or uncontrolled muscle movements, which may be permanent. High cholesterol and weight gain may occur, as can high blood sugar, which may be fatal. Monitoring is recommended. Common side effects are sleepiness, dizziness, nausea, dry mouth, feeling tired, and diarrhea. These aren't all the side effects. Ask your doctor about Caplyta. Learn more at Caplyta.com or call 888-788-7888. Brian Dawkins is not prescribed. I needed more from my antidepressant, so my doctor added Caplyta, Lumateperone. Proven to provide greater relief from depression symptoms than an antidepressant alone, building on my progress without starting over. Learn more at caplyta.com or call 1-888-252-4824. On today's episode of the Ringer Fantasy Football Show, going over all the games for week eight, the Bears traded for Jeffrey Simmons from the Titans. DK's thrilled about it because they played this week versus the Seahawks. Bill's Ravens, the, uh, we haven't made a Super Bowl Bowl. Brown Steelers, Craig, kind of just really coping with the fact that the Browns might beat the Steelers twice in the season. And then other games too. What else did we talk about? Uh, AJ, I'm going to talk about the Browns. I'm going to talk about the Browns. AJ Brown is hurt once again, a new injury, trick or treat. Uh, the L huge game in LA Chargers Rams will get deep into that. Massive implications. DK, can you name one thing we talked about on the show other than those things? Can you name a single one? Fart sniffing. Oh yeah. Yeah. Again, it did come up again. That game at the very end. High fits, high fits playing basketball, which is my favorite subject of all time. Let's just say this. The FBI has weighed in on whether or not you can sniff up a fart. All that and more after the break. This episode is presented by Verizon. Let me tell you all about Verizon's new simplicity plan. You get one plan, one price, just $30 a line per month, even for a single line. So while everyone is running for trade analyzers before offering a backup tight end, Verizon said one plan, one price. Sometimes the simplest move is the best one. Like the simplicity plan head to Verizon.com today for new customers who switched to Verizon $30. $30 per line includes auto pay and switch discount. Additional taxes, fees, and terms apply. Welcome to the Ringer Fantasy Football Show. My name is Danny Hyde. For today, I'm joined by Danny Kelly and Craig Korolbeck. And today we are going over all the games for week eight of the NFL season, starting with, well, actually not starting with the NFL season. Starting with the game with a trade. The Chicago Bears have acquired Jeffrey Simmons, the defensive tackle from the Tennessee Titans for two first round picks. They're sending the first rounder in 2027 and Chicago's first rounder in 2028 to Tennessee. And they also did a swap of like a fourth and a fifth, but who cares? DK, do you think this is brilliant or kind of desperate? Not desperate. It is a lot to give up for any player that's not a quarterback. Two first round picks. I think you go back through the history of that and there's been a lot of hits and a few types of trades go down. I will say. What's the last two? Sauce Gardner and Micah Parsons? Yeah. So far, 0 for 2 on those, but. Well, the Micah Parsons thing's not over. The Sauce one feels like it is probably never going to age well. But I do think the Micah Parsons one has a chance to still age well. Sure, sure, sure. And going back, Jamal Adams, the Seahawks traded two first rounders for Jamal Adams. That was an absolute disaster. I will say, I do like when teams trade for like interior or defensive line players. I do like when teams trade for like interior or defensive line players with that type of draft capital rather than a corner or a safety or, you know, someone that's not going to be involved in every play like Jeffrey Simmons will. Also, Jeffrey Simmons is an absolutely elite player. One of the best, not if not the best defensive tackle in the NFL. If you look at the stats, pressures, run stops, pressure rate, sacks. He's up there with the top defensive tackles in the NFL. He's 29 years old. So they're getting a very good player cost controlled for several more years. Sorry, under contract for several more years. And the Titans already. By the way, they paid off like his huge chunk of his bonus already. So they get him for less money this year. The Bears do. So there's a lot of reasons to like this trade. I do think it is very risky, though. I mean, the Bears clearly think that this is this is go time and that they have a shot. I feel like the NFL season is wide open and I feel like there is no clear favorite to win the Super Bowl, especially like in the NFC. And speaking of the history of the trades where you send two first rounders, I feel like the NFL season is wide open and I feel like there is no If you think specifically about defensive linemen, Leonard Williams, you think of Dexter Lawrence, those perhaps are a little bit have worked out. I mean, I would say the Leonard Williams and certainly hasn't. And Dexter Lawrence, it's only been seven games, but I would say Heifetz wasn't thrilled when that trade happened. I think he'd still take it back right now if he could. So I don't know. I like when teams do this. I like when teams think their windows open and they're going to try to go for it right now. It's similar somewhat to last year where it felt like any team could win it. And the Seahawks, who were not, I don't think a favorite for most of the So I do think the Bears probably look at this like, hey, we could do this. We could be that. We could be that Seahawks team this year. I love this for Chicago. I think it's I mean, this is the yeah, the Bears are trying to win the Super Bowl. And I love that. And I respect it. I understand. Look, if they don't, it's one of those where if they win the Super Bowl, it's brilliant. And then if they don't make the divisional round, it's a disaster. I think this is exactly what Chicago needed. Like at the end of the day, it's funny. The Bears are playing the Seahawks this week. The Seahawks go and get an ass kicker and quit Nelson a guard. And then Jeffrey Simmons goes and for all the intelligence and IQ of Ben Johnson versus Mike McDonald as the coaches of this like game this week, that feels like this new rivalry. It's kind of just about stopping the run and running the ball. And like, it's about absolutely dominating the center of the field. I think this is really smart. I keep repeating this, but I just think interior pressure is so much more valuable than pressure from the edge. Like you can, you can scheme around a defensive end. Like you can, you know what I mean? You can't scheme, scheme around a giant person breaking a double team and the quarterback from like two yards in front of his face. And I think there's a reason that like the last four teams last year were the best four teams in pressures from the defensive tackles, Broncos, Patriots, Rams, Seahawks. And again, the last 10 teams who've won the Superbowl, the best defensive lineman's been a defensive tackle, not a defensive end. I love this. He's going to play right away. I imagine, right? Like he'll play in the Seahawks game. Yes. Some amount. It's funny. It's like DK, who do you think actually can have a larger impact this week? Quentin Nelson being there for like five days or Jeffrey Simmons being there for four days. It's going to be fascinating. Should we get right into this game? Cause I think, you know, this is a good segue. Um, my one stat for this bear Seahawks game, which by the way, is the Monday night football game is that the Seahawks and bears collectively have added nine all pro seasons to their rosters in the last week. That is obviously Quentin Nelson for the Seahawks three days, Jeffrey. Yeah. The last three days, Jeffrey Simmons for the bears and they're going to get to face off. I know, I know, um, Quentin Nelson, we got an interview today and for the press and he was like, man, I can't get away from this Simmons guy. Um, so it's, it's going to be fun. I do think both are going to play. I do think, I don't know. It's, it's a tough decision who, who has a bigger impact. I feel like you can play a little more free form if you're a defensive lineman and Quentin Nelson might be kind of swimming and trying to figure out the Seahawks offense. Maybe that's a slight, slight difference. And maybe that gives the edge to Simmons. Um, but I think they're both going to play and both can have a big impact on the team. We're starting to see this more. Now. I feel like blockbuster trades before the deadline are picking up in the NFL, it's starting to feel a little but more like the NBA trade deadline. Schefter was posted about just like how much this has picked up in recent years, how many trades in between like October 1st and the deadline are happening more now compared to the past. Why do you think that is? I think it's a few reasons. One, there's the cap space. All the teams are better at managing the cap now. There's more margin for error because again, the cap, it's like over $300 million now. I think when we started this show, it was under, I mean, eight years ago, it was under 200. Like the cap, the entire salary cap 30 years ago was like $40 million. Now it's 300. So there's more space. I think because of that, you have younger GMs who, everything's more quantifiable now. Like this deal with Jeffrey Simmons, why did Jeffrey Simmons go for two first round picks and Dexter Lawrence went for one? I'd say part of it's just timing before the draft. The picks are more valuable during the season when you think you win the Super Bowl. The player is more valuable, but it's also because Dexter Lawrence is under contract for like two and a half more years. Jeffrey Simmons is under contract for like four and a half more years. 2030. Yeah, March of 2031. That's when Jeffrey Simmons' contract expires. It's like Trump will be at the end of his third term by then. You know what I mean? So like, why are there more trades though? It's GMs, everything, because it's more quantifiable and they're able to take the value of players and translate it into the, like the actual dollar value of what the first round pick is worth and how much, you know what I mean? What are the odds that player hits? And then it's, everything's a little easier to quantify. And frankly, there's a lot more math acumen to actually be able to do that. Like value players, more data. Like the players are easier to quantify both on the field value, but also into like, what is a draft pick worth? There's a financial element of what it's worth. And then so also, then the older generation of GMs has gone out. So you have younger people who kind of see the world more as like, more, it makes more sense to like, take risks, make trades. And the older generation of GMs, like you could just kind of look dumb giving up on a player if they play well. Yeah. And it feels like the Bears have a lot of good young talent on board. And good young deals, like rookie deals. I mean, like Luther, Burton, Roma, Dunzay, Caleb Williams, all being on rookie contracts, I feel like is a huge factor in this where they're like, now is the time to attack this. And also like the Rams mentality of like, fuck them picks. Like, do we really need the 28th pick in the draft every year? Or should we just go get good players? Maybe the Bears are in that mindset where they're like, we think we're going to be good every year. Are the 2027, 2028 first? We think that's going to be between 25 and hopefully 32 every year. So if we can get Jeffrey Simmons, fuck it, let's do that. Yeah. I think that's part of it. It certainly, it certainly backfires for some teams, obviously, like the Falcons, I think thought that when they traded their first runner and it ended up being, what was it like the 11th pick or something like that? They traded it up to get James Pearson and it ended up being a top 15 pick. At least that was for a younger, well, I mean, you know, he's been suspended the entire season, but. But I think, yes, Craig, I think that's a big part of it is like if you see yourself in the back part of the first round, a lot of teams only have like 16, 15, quote unquote, first round grades on guys. And so they see that as more like a second rounder anyway. I think, is there something to it that it's just people are less scared to do it because more people are doing it? It's like, it's like a snowball effect where it's, you're not like in the crosshairs for people. If something goes wrong or it doesn't like pan out quite as well as they're expected at the time of the, at the trade, it's, it's not as big of a deal anymore because there's so many trades now. Maybe there's just more acceptance to doing these deals. I think it's political capital. It's like Ben Johnson has a lot, like, you know what I mean? Like, and I also think frankly, fans are more understanding of all this now, especially if you're the, you know, if you're the, if you're the tight end, and you're bottoming out, like maybe it's obvious that they want the two first round picks, but like, I feel like fans have come around more to like go for it. But I also just think the defensive tackle in particular element is like, I think there's two reasons it's a huge advantage. It's what we talked about earlier. Like just getting pressure. It makes so much sense. Someone who can beat two people and then get right in the quarterback's face is more valuable. Like it just is. It disrupts the, there is no play that can scheme around someone just getting through the center immediately. But the other one is defensive tackles age well. Like defensive tackles, the last thing you lose as a big guy is strength. Dexter, like there's a reason defensive tackles can kind of hang around the league. Really being really fucking strong. You can, Calais Campbell is 40 years old and like starting for the Ravens at defensive tackle. I mean, look at Cam Hayward. Yeah. Cam Hayward. Yeah. It's like the old man strength stays with you. Defensive ends, pass rushers. If you're winning the speed, it's hard to be 34 and really fast. It's not that hard to, I mean, obviously injuries happen. Relatively. Yeah. Relatively speaking, it's if your game is strength, that stays with you. It's kind of like in a completely different way shooting in the NBA. It's like shoot, Steph Curry is going to be able to make threes to at least 60 years old. It's everything else leaves you. So if his, you know, job didn't have running like defensive tackle. So I think that there's a reason, like there's a reason this Giants made that Leonard Williams trade three years ago and he's still a top five defensive tackle. I, you know, I there's, it's not hard to imagine Jeffrey Simmons still being on the bears and actually pretty good at 20, 20, 29, 20, 30. Jeffrey Simmons among defensive tackles over the last three seasons is first in sacks and first in pressures. Pretty good. Pretty good. Relative to this game though, I think it's going to be fascinating. Number one, both of these guys are going to get plugged into the lineups right away and make fat and make, make themselves known. But I do think this is an interesting matchup. Again, it's kind of like what happened last week with the Seahawks versus the Chiefs where the Chiefs main strength coming into that game against Seattle was their run game. Everything's kind of based on can they create explosives on the ground and all that? The bears are rushing or averaging more rushing attempts per game than any team by like a lot. They're like five more than any other team. A lot of that is salting away victories late in the game, but they're averaging 35 rush attempts per game. They're going up against the Seahawks defense. That's number one in run defense, basically, depending on how you look at it. First in defensive EPA per rush, third in rush defense DVOA, lowest explosive rush rate allowed. And basically to me, this game is going to come down to how does Caleb Williams execute on third downs because those are going to be the big money downs. Seahawks are very good on against third downs, opponent third downs, and we'll have to see how Caleb reacts the other side of this coin. And again, I harp on it constantly, but if the Seahawks have turnovers in this game, it's going to be hard for them to win. I think this is going to be a really fun game. I looked it up 15 and 0. The Seahawks since the start of last year, 15 and 0 in games with one or fewer turnovers, six and six with two plus. So that to me is just the big deal here is can Sam Darnold and the running backs kind of hold on to the football and protect it? I think they have a really good chance of winning if they do. I totally agree with everything you're saying. I think this is a really cool matchup. Like Mike McDonald, the Seahawks coach, Ben Johnson, the Baylor's head coach. These are the two best coaches. They're cutting edge coaches and they didn't come from like, you know, some big family dynasty of coaching. Like they're kind of like the self-made version of like geniuses. And I, you know, I kind of hate that word geniuses, but they're absolutely on the cutting edge. Last week, Seahawks Chiefs rushing versus rush defense was cooler and sexier because Ted Walker was the Super Bowl MVP and they let him go and narratively and dramatically him returning to Seattle was like maybe a cooler narrative. But this week is like a much larger impact on the NFL. This to me feels like the Seahawks Rams games last year where the impact of how these games go, every team in the NFL is going to watch these games and be like, this will change how everyone attacks the Bears and everyone attacks the Seahawks because Ben Johnson is like probably the best run designer in the NFL right now and Mike McDonald's the best defensive coach and how they go at each other is like, it will change a lot like how everyone else goes at both those teams. I also, to me though, it boils down to Zoolander. Can the Bears run left in this game? I'm not even kidding. Like every time the Bears Or the Amby Turners, Amby Runners. The important games, they got to go right. Darnold Wright, I think is, I think he's the best, probably the best right tackle in the entire NFL, especially now that Penny Sewell's left tackle. Like I think, I think, I think Darnold Wright's the best right tackle, especially because on the important downs, they're going behind him. And I kind of think Mike McDonald's going to take that away and make them run left. And I know that sounds so simple and there's a thousand things that go into it, but I do think on, Ben Johnson is also the ultimate like, call your bluff, oh, you're not going to do run defense because it's third and five? We will run on third and five if you're not going to actually expect us to. And that's also going to be fascinating is like, are they going to run left on third and five or short? Because I think that's going to be the thing. That the Seahawks kind of like dare them to do, which sounds funny, but I do think that's kind of where the game's going to happen. Yeah. This, this matchup does feel like, like there's another game this week, Ravens-Bills, which you could say is the game of the week, but it does feel like Seahawks-Bears is like the next wave, you know? Yes. It's like, it's like Wemby versus Shea, not LeBron versus Steph. Like that's Bills-Ravens. And it is cool to see that it's like, these are the, these are mirror images of each other on the defensive and offensive side of the ball. And kind of like just getting started in their careers, even though I know McDonald won a Super Bowl, but like, it feels like this is the first real matchup of the next wave between these two teams. It's cool. The new guard. Bills-Ravens is the ghost of the very recent past. Yeah. Which is funny because no one ever talks about like new ghosts. Someone, my friend just told me that. There's no ghost on their phone. What do you mean? Like no one ever tells a ghost story where the ghost has a phone. Like it's a ghost is from the 1800s, but what about a ghost from like the 90s? Yeah, there's no ghost who's listening to the Beastie Boys. Like no one ever talks about that. So it's like, but it is a recent ghost. Sure. But no, it's true. It's like the Bears-Seahawks, this does feel like very much, we will have, feels like we'll have like a half decade more of this. I do agree. Heifetz, you said you don't like saying the word genius, but it does feel like these are two of the smartest, if not the smartest coaches in the NFL right now. Genius I don't like because it implies that it doesn't take work. And I think if you look at Ben Johnson and Mike McDonald, they're just fucking maniacal and work their asses off. Like not that Kyle Shannon and Sean McVay don't, but their families allowed them a way that they were always going to be able to get into it. And then they happened to be incredible at it. But Mike McDonald, you know, you know, Ben Johnson just worked. It's kind of funny because don't you think if you didn't know and you had to guess that you would have said based on Ben Johnson's behavior and style that he's the defensive coach and that Mike McDonald was the offensive. Yeah. Ben Johnson does have defensive coach energy. He's insane. He's like ripping his shirt off and like fucking pumping people up. And then you're like, that's it. That's gotta be a defensive guy. Mike McDonald was like so calm and quiet. And yet he's like scheming up all this defense. Yeah. I don't think I've ever seen him really. He's never really gotten all that fired up. I mean, he'll do like performative in the speeches and everything, but he's very sort of stoic. Yeah. It's I'd never expected Ben Johnson to be this way. Cause I think. I know nobody knew anything about him. And you assume offensive guru. He's like, honestly, you think of like Mike McDaniel type, he's like nerds that like sit in the room on their computers and figure shit out. And Ben Johnson is like ripped, like pumping iron every morning, ripping his shirt off, yelling. I DK rank teams that you don't want to see. In the NFC championship game of Rams bears 49ers. I mean, it would be the, the bears will be last. Sorry. Really? More than the 49ers. You beat the Niners in the Rams last year and crush the 49ers. The last two. Oh, so that means that we'll beat him again. I guess I don't know it's divisional games are always crazy to me. They're always true. I'm surprised to predict. I'm surprised to me that to me, the 49ers and Rams are still the biggest boogeyman in the NFC. I think just has trauma. I think by the. Well, I think by the time, I think by the time, I actually been curious for so long. Also, I really trust the, both of those coaches too. And I don't know. I just think these are the three top teams. And I see the 49ers and Rams so often. And I, and I kind of feel like they just have beat up on each other so much over the last five years. But I mean, that's not to say the bears are not good. I just, it's the enemy, you know, versus the enemy. You don't know, I guess. Bears. There's some about the bears, even last year in the playoffs. Like there's just, there's just one of those teams, you know, this is a very fun game. Also a quiet USC quarterback matchup between Donald and Caleb Williams, which I don't think anyone cares about, but that's true. I didn't think about that. I like that. We could talk about this bears, Seahawks and Ravens bills. We could probably do the entire episode on and actually have a really good time, but is there anything else in this game? I mean, it's just, this is, it's funny. It's the worst Sunday night football game of the year, probably Eagles, Washington, Tanner McKee, but then Monday to football is bear Seahawks. Like, which we always joke game of the year. This actually could, if we had to look back, this, this could very easily be the game of the year. This feels like the NFC championship game preview. Yeah. Yeah. We could look back on this for sure. I would say two notes for, or one note, I guess for the Seahawks is they could be getting Charbonnet and price back in this game. So that could help the run game a little bit. Yeah. Charbonnet. They just need someone to not fumble. Okay. Yeah. The other one. Yeah. The ghost of, of recent past that Bill's Ravens this week. My one fact for Bill's Ravens is that Aaron shots who invented DVO, a did this study and found that if you look at like five-year windows of how good teams have been, the best teams to never make the Superbowl in NFL history are the bills and the Ravens the past five years. Yeah. I'm cheating a little. It's really 2020 to 2024, but the best team to ever never make the Superbowl is the Ravens are one of the bills are two. And I know that's really stupid and reductive. I have a bunch of stats for this game, but I really do think the stat is Patrick Mahomes made five Superbowls in a year in his twenties and Lamar Jackson and Josh Allen made zero. And like, to be honest, that is absolutely the dark cloud that hangs over this game. And every time these teams play is like the inability for both to get over the hump and it never, you know, they're not talking about it, but everyone's thinking about it. Both fans, all the players, all the coaches. And it's funny because in this game, I think this game is so much more important literally for the schedule and playoffs, and also mentally for the Ravens. Totally. Totally. Yeah, I agree. I mean, dude, if the Ravens lose this game, they're four and four. And if the Steelers or, I mean, the Steelers are the Brown, one of those two teams going to be six and two. Yeah. And they're going to, you're going to be last in the division, two wins behind. I mean, it would, it would get tough. And especially cause the Ravens haven't played the Steelers yet. So I, I very much agree with you. Thank God these teams have each other because if it was just, if it was just one of them, I feel like there'd be such a heavy narrative. And the fact that it's two, they can almost divide the media attention about how neither of them can get to the Superbowl. It's true though, because they're just, it's like Jordan in the 90. And I, not to talk about my homes during the bills Ravens thing, but it's the truth. It's like, they're just characters in my home's a story until they win the AFC. And like, it's true. He's the ghost of the game. And, but the bills though, they lose. All right. Five and two. What? Who cares? Like the Ravens already could really, the Ravens don't have an impressive win this year. They beat the Colts in week one. That doesn't look cool at all anymore. They were really proud of themselves. You're beating the Falcons, but like Tua came in the game and just blew the game. They beat the, they beat, sorry. Yeah. That was the Falcons with Tua. They beat the Titans by six. And I know Lamar got hurt, but like they beat Dallas in week three. That was one that will probably stay and remain the most improbable win of the year. They were losing with seven seconds left. Like they really, or sorry. No, no, no. So I think it was tied to seven seconds left where they should have lost the game. Probably. Yeah. They had the one past is a flower. I think it was, was it six seconds? Yeah. Yes. Yeah. So like the, they don't really have an impressive win in Baltimore this year. And you're coming off a game where Ron's Ronnie Stanley, the longest tenured Raven on the team is talking at length about how they doesn't think that they're mentally tough in the fourth quarter and lack confidence. And they blew leads. And now they're playing Josh Allen and they're tackling horribly and playing Josh Allen this week. And they're also banged up at all the spots. You don't want to be injured playing Buffalo. So I, I, I am very, I'm very concerned for the Ravens this week. I just Kyle Hamilton. He's either not going to play or we'll play a less than a hundred percent. Roquan Smith was going to play less than a hundred percent. Um, Trey Hendrickson who already was kind of bad at run defense has a club on his hand. So he's just like kind of a huge liability and run defense. Joe Burrow was just hunting Marlon Humphrey and Nate Wiggins at cornerback last week. Like the Ravens are kind of in a spot and Vega. You want a, the guard, the rookie guard who they drafted really high was really good is out with an MCL sprain. And Dion Walker for the bills is like the, like the new best defensive tackle. In the NFL, along with Jeff Simmons and Lawrence and Jalen Carter, Dion Walker's like maybe the biggest leap candidate of the season. And they are out with their guard. And I, I think this is a really, really concerning spot for Baltimore. Well, do you think that Lamar's going to play? Well, no one knows. You don't have an agent back to back full practice. It's funny. I do feel like, you know, Lamar is probably doing it the right way where it's like all these players will get to AJ Brown, the Ashton Jenji, Jeremiah love. There's all these players that rush back from ankle injuries. And then it's like, they don't, they don't look good. Right. And it's like, or they aggravated. Yeah. Lamar's waiting. Lamar said that he didn't want to rush back. Cause he rushed back from the hamstring injury last year. And then they looked like shit the whole year. Yeah. He looked good against the dolphins who sucked and that he didn't look good again the rest of the year. And he said he wasn't. And so again, I, in all seriousness, he really is not massaging the media through the, his agent to then set the narrative so that everyone's just like, when's he going to play? And people get mad at him. I do think he plays this week, but then they play on Thursday as well. So. I think he plays, but we'll see if he's a hundred percent, but Derek Henry and him have to be the counter to Josh Allen and James cook. Cause this is a big time of possession game. You can run on the bills, but also if Dion Walker is fucking shit up and making Derek Henry look like the Saddam Hussein statue toppling over, cause he's getting in the backfield. Like this is a big cam Juergens has to justify the second round pick. They give up and block Dion Walker because they're going to have a backup guard. And also like, I mean, man, I think this is also the week where you're going to notice Trey Hendrickson is not Max Crosby. Cause I think, I think Trey Hendrickson is going to get exposed and run defense this week, but whoever runs better probably with their quarterback is going to win this game. Well, I believe the last time these two teams played was week one last year. And it was that crazy game 41 40, the bills one, because Derek Henry, who had an amazing game fumbled in the fourth quarter and lost the game for them. He had like 170 yards and two touchdowns and then, and, and fumbled in the fourth. Yup. And so that's going to be on their minds. And it's, it's just the, the, the bills had scored 22 points in the fourth quarter to win that game. The mental toughness thing. Again, it's on, it's the pucker factor. It's on all their minds. So I, I think again, it would mean a lot for the Ravens to win, but the Delta of the, the confidence within the locker and winning or losing is, is massive for week eight. By the way, Vega Yoni, he is practicing. So he had to spread MCL. Yeah. He's, I guess four days later, back at practice, he's trying to play this week. He says he doesn't know for sure if he's going to, but he's, he did limited practice. I think today. So it's good for a sprained MCL. Dion Walker, the largest person on the planet, just throw you to the ground. Some people are just built that. Remember last week, Trayvon Henderson, high ankle sprain just comes back in place the next week. It's like, what, how is this possible? Some people just heal differently, apparently. So those, those are the two most fun games, bears, Seahawks and bears, or sorry, bears, Seahawks and Ravens bills. But yeah, there are also like some really big divisional matchups is like really big starting with obviously the Cleveland Browns. Exactly what we expected. The two teams that are five and two right now. That's right. The two division leading Steelers and Browns who are beating the Bengals and the Ravens are for the division. Yeah. So the Steelers, they already played this, this year, the Steelers lost by three to the Browns in a weird game where Rogers came back and had an awesome two point conversion that he ran in. And then Deshaun marched down, kicked the field goal and won the game. Oh yeah. Now they're back in Pittsburgh. My one stat is about my beloved Jalen Warren, who, there is some, there's like, it's, we have a large enough sample size now where Jalen Warren is actually starting to do some crazy stuff. He, He is first in the NFL in yards after the catch, which is a pretty crazy statistic because when you go back each year and look at the guys who lead the league in yards after the catch, like last year, the top three guys were Bijan Robinson, McCaffrey, and Puka. The year before that, it was Jamar Chase and A-Chan. Year before that, it was Amon Ross, CeeDee Lamb, and Tyreek Hill. Like those are the types of guys that do that. Just like the elite names. Just the best running backs in the league. And you go to like another stat that I heard Mina Kimes talking about today was rushing yards over expected, which is just like, how well are you performing compared to expectations? It's Ken Walker one, it's Jalen Warren two. He's just like become a late blooming exceptional player in the NFL. And it's been like incredibly fun to watch. So considering Rodgers did this with Kenneth Gainwell and Jalen Warren, do you think that there's a chance that actually Aaron Rodgers deserves all these stats, Greg? RB Whisperer. Kevin O'Connell is the QB Whisperer. Aaron Rodgers, maybe, you know, whatever he's doing behind the scenes with the players is working. They had a great flight home from France, it sounded like. Rodgers was like, that was the funnest plane ride with my team I've had in years. Steelers vibes are kind of all right right now. They've won three straight. And to be honest, the Steelers win this game. They play Cincinnati, who they always play well, who they've already beaten this year. Then they play the Eagles. They play Denver. Houston's struggling. The Steelers are in a weird spot where I'm like, I don't know if they can stay healthy. They have a lot of guys on IR that can come back like Derek Harmon, Keanu, who else on IR? There's one other. I'm blanking. I'm blanking on, but the Steelers have guys coming back. Hopefully, I like weirdly feel okay about the Steelers, which means they will lose this game. If they lose this game, I thought this might be your stat. The Browns have not beaten the Steelers three games in a row since the Berlin Wall was still standing. Wow. And this game's in Pittsburgh. I would be surprised if they lose this game, to be honest. Well, that means we should probably take the Browns. I was wondering, I was thinking about how young the Browns core is. You know, Quinn Sean Judkins, and then, Denzel Boston, and Casey Concepcion, and Harold Fannin, who are all under 23. Yeah, yeah, yeah. And I was thinking, the Steelers have sneaky young guys too, but also all the other guys are old. And I was like, Craig, off the top of your head, how many players on the Steelers would you say are in their prime? Okay, Jalen Warren. That's the first person I came up with too. I guess DK Metcalf, you would say, is still in his prime. He's like 28 years old. I think he's passed. No chance. Okay, well, close. Darnell Washington's in his prime. Yeah. I would say he's in his prime. Yeah. Zach Frazier's in his prime? The center? Uh, God. Defensively, it's kind of tricky because they're kind of old on defense. Like TJ Watt, it obviously is on his prime. I don't know. Keanu Benton. I don't know. But yeah, I guess it's not a ton. They're all like, it's like young or old. Yeah, exactly. That's kind of the thing. I was like, I guess you could argue there's five players in their prime on the Pittsburgh, but you could also argue it's like two and a half, which I kind of thought. Like Darnell Washington, I'm like, he'll certainly be better in two years. Like he's not there yet. Like players in their prime. It's just, it's a funny bill of roster. Darnell's so big, I wonder how he's going to age. I'm kind of like right now is the best. I was just thinking about it because I was like, you always joke about the Warriors and the two timelines. And I'm like, the Steelers are kind of sneaky also a two timeline team. They have nobody between like 25 and 30. Well, and it's also on the other side of the ball. It's like the average age on offense must be 24 and the average age on defense is probably 34. Yeah. Well, it's Jalen Ramsey and Cam Hayward and you know what I mean? Like TJ Watt, like all these guys are old, but all. Do you actually think the Steelers win or lose based on your entire life watching the Steelers? I think they win because they've already lost in dramatic fashion to Cleveland in Cleveland. This game in Pittsburgh, I think they're going to win. Okay. Random stat. Deshaun Watson leads the NFL with five game winning drives. That's because he sucks for the first three quarters. I was going to say it's his fault. He sets himself up to be a hero. I'm not falling for this whole. Oh, I'm not saying I'm not telling anyone to fall for it. I just think it's a fun game. It's a funny quirk of the season. I was thinking, you know, when Stephen A. Smith was like Deshaun Watson's the comeback player of the year, you know that meme where it's like Mad Max who's looking up and he's like, that's bait. That's bait. It's like the duck chasing the guy. Why is he? What's he coming back from? Who else is up for comeback player of the year? Like what? I haven't. I never look at that. I mean, I mean, it's probably Patrick Mahomes. You know, I still think it does that count being moms. Why would it count? Towards ACL. When did he tear it? Last year. No, I know that, but like what week? Week 12. I don't, I don't know if people give a shit about that. I think if you're coming off an injury, which, you know, Deshaun has too, I suppose. Deshaun's coming off too. Yeah, I guess. I kind of, yeah. It's like, I feel like when you get hurt in like the final weeks of the season and then it's like weird when you like never really saw him gone and yet he's comeback player. Oh, we saw him gone. Chris Oladukid was out there starting. Sure, for like a game or two, but yeah, I don't know. It should be Malik Neighbors. That's who it should be. Okay, sure. I don't know. That's my thought. Eh, maybe George Kittle and I guess he, he got hurt in the playoffs. Maybe it is fine. Maybe it is fine. It's just who got hurt and played well the next year. I don't really know what I want with that award, but that feels weird. Nobody does. It's just like, which injured guy is having the best season? I don't know. I like it when the, I like it when it's just, he came back from being really bad. Have we ever discussed that? Yeah, I don't. Did we ever, talked about the Joe Flacco winning comeback player of the year over DeMar Hamlin? I just don't know what it's supposed to be. Is it like the best story? DeMar Hamlin literally almost died and he came back. That's great. Or is it like, who got hurt and was bad and is now good? Like, I just, I don't know. They had to change the rules because Joe Flacco beat DeMar Hamlin. Like, you know who it should really be? Is if J.J. McCarthy has a good season, it should be him. Like, spiritually, that's what I feel like. Well, there should be a most improved player. Yeah. Or just the best second year player, but there should be a most improved player and then a comeback player. Because now it's just like, who recovered from their ACL tear the best? Which I'm like, I don't know, but okay. Craig's like, ACL tear? It doesn't impress me. Everybody's fucking torn their ACL. Don't call me unless it's an Achilles. It's like, who had the best surgeon? I don't know. We should do surgeon of the year. Yeah, Neil Elitrosh. Yeah, it's like, you should go to Neil Elitrosh for doing Kittle's Achilles. That's who should win. It's like when Joey Chestnut beat the Kobayashi titles. It's like, oh wow, Elitrosh, he's chasing down Dr. James Andrews. That's crazy. Fando's making this your most rewarding season and in the spirit of giving, we're going to each give our favorite touchdown score of the weekend. DK, who's your favorite touchdown score of the weekend? I'm going with the big guy, Darnell Washington. Touchdown for the Steelers against the Browns. Craig, this one's for you. It's three to one. Three to one. Love him. He's Roger's favorite red zone target. I love it. If they're in the red zone, Darnell's getting a couple balls his way. Absolutely. I'm going to go with, I'm also going to go with a tight end. I'm going to go with Eli Raritan, the rookie tight end on New England. Plus 420 to score a touchdown this week. They're playing Miami. The Patriots don't have a wide receiver over 5'11 and things are dire right now and Eli Raritan, I'd probably toss in Hunter Henry too if you want but the odds are much worse but Eli Raritan is like a promising, good looking young tight end and he's like seven inches taller than any wide receiver they have. Raritan's good. I like him. I think that's a really good bet. Is it crazy that I kind of want to just have Derrick Henry and Josh Allen at one and a half to one? It's probably like a really stupid bet but I kind of just think Derrick Henry. Parlayed together? Yeah. Yeah. No. Because separately, it's like, it's the odds but I'm like, you can also just do Josh Allen. It's not great odds but I'm like, but he will score a touchdown. So that's nice. Like he's going to score. Yeah. So I guess I'll just do Josh Allen. So Josh Allen, Eli Raritan and Deke's really memorable bet. Incredibly memorable which was Darnell Washington. Darnell Washington. Yes. The biggest tight end in the world. There you go. Check out our bet in the Fandle app and remember that Fandle is helping make this your most rewarding season ever. This episode is brought to you by Carhartt. We spend a lot of time talking about what happens on the field but what about everything that has to happen before anyone can play on it? The grass has to be grown. The stadium has to be built. The goalposts have to be welded. That's the work of tradespeople committed to getting every detail right and Carhartt is proud to outperform and fit those people. The crews making football possible. So this season when you're watching the game take a second to think about the people behind it. Learn more at carhartt.com slash join the trades. Okay. The next game here the Minnesota Vikings the undefeated Minnesota Vikings are at the Detroit Lions. I kind of can't wait to watch this game. This is fun. So my one fact for this game is let's just look at first downs. Just first downs. How much you move in the ball. By first downs the Lions offense ranks first and the Vikings defense ranks first. They're both the best. On the other side of the ball the Vikings offense by first downs ranks 31st and the Lions defense also ranks 31st. So on one side they're the best two offensive defenses in the league at first downs and the other side they're both the second worst which I think is like the perfect representation of this game. It is like two different sports will be happening when the different teams are on the field. So it's the opposite of a rainbow strip? Do you guys often feel like when the great defense plays the great offense which side do you usually lean towards? My heart wants the Lions to win but my gut my brain gut whatever is like I kind of think the Vikings are going to win this game because I think the Vikings I think the Vikings defense has kind of dominated the Lions the last Jameer Gibbs just fantasy points wise not that you're going to bench it but two of the ways the worst three games of Jameer Gibbs career for fantasy points is just the last two times the Vikings played the Lions like the the Vikings defense has kind of dominated them last year. Yeah. Jameer Gibbs is going to have to do a lot of pass blocking in this game. He's a show injury and again the last time the vikings played the lions it was also christmas they had six turnovers they kept blitzing jameer gibbs making him stay in having him block he's not great at that i don't know i think i think brian flores kind of not has their number but i think he's been making a lot of gains on them since they lost ben johnson but i will say this game that was so funny to me the opposite sides of the ball that i was thinking it's kind of like a naval battle but like the ships you know two ships are fighting but it's like if the ships they only had cannons on one side you know what i mean yeah so it's like on one side it's like just fucking cannon fire but then they have to turn around and it's like pirates of the caribbean where they're just like throwing spoons at the other side of the deck fuck you yeah and like with the vikings of the ball versus the lions i'm like it's gonna be like the weirdest thing ever and then the flip side you're like oh my god this is like the best thing that we're gonna see all year is lions vikings but i don't know it's a huge jared goff game because everyone says like he's you know he's a pseudo mvp candidate but also you know he's a pseudo mvp candidate but also he's a pseudo mvp candidate but also how does he do with you know jared in front of his face and the vikings are gonna you know they're gonna get that jared goff last year uh in the two games against the vikings averaged 10 fantasy points per game he had three touchdowns to five turnovers uh 89 pass rating so he hasn't fared particularly well um and you know that's just kind of what brian flores does i would also like to see like one good kyler game i think this will be it they're playing but it's like they played the colts new orleans miami none of those particularly great i would love to see kyler in this offense they have that jordan mason's back like i would love to see them this is the time to do it also i'm just so curious if the if the lions insist on playing man coverage all the time again because i think dan campbell it's part it's the downside of the dark side of dan campbell's like grit toughness we will overcome we're gonna just be men and like man coverage but it's a little steelers ask to be it's a little steelers ask yeah yeah exactly and then jamar chase gets 23 targets and you're like you they actually can't out execute you need to out plan like you can't just yell play better like no and if the lions really try to go man coverage in this game with jefferson and add and jefferson's not statistically having his best season but he's you know he is still really good obviously but also kyler murray is the best scrambling quarterback the vikings have had certainly since dan campbell's been there and i am curious if the lions really want to stick to man coverage this is the game to me that if kyler extends and man coverage and they either have to pick between man coverage or man coverage and i'm curious if the lions really want to stick to him running down the field and man coverage while everyone's back has turned kyler king or just like justin jefferson and addison i don't know i i kind of just think the vikings are going to do enough in this game to beat them which i mean to be honest in my heart i love the lions like they're probably my favorite non-giants team i kind of i'm always rooting for them but i don't i kind of just i don't know i think it sounds like we have a ringer 107 pick coming but we'll get to that later i don't want to root against them though against the lions well you just have to root against them to to win by less than a second i don't know i don't know i don't know i don't know three and you'll be fine yeah terrible allegiances though this is fun uh okay the next big divisional game is the chiefs are at the denver broncos dk yeah my stat this is kind of a similar thing mahomes against the broncos in the last two seasons so or sorry last three seasons the five games against vance joseph teams mahomes has five touchdowns to five interceptions and six total turnovers so vance joseph defensive coordinator the broncos has done a pretty good job of bottling um since the start of 2023 the chiefs did win three out of five of those games but no homes numbers have been really not very good um so i think it's going to be interesting that broncos did win in week one sorry the um the chiefs won in week 131 to 10 over the broncos at home this one's in denver and so i think that does make a big difference the broncos are at home but yeah so basically mahomes has kind of struggled against this broncos defense and so it's going to be you know if they can score points kind of what we saw with the seattle thing and then also on the other side of the ball can the broncos move the ball because their offense has been pretty bad when sean payton takes over the play calling i mean that's going to change everything yeah when they get marvin mims going finally thank god i mean they're really going to start i love that some reporter called him out on that he's like you said this every year yeah you say that every year and he's like i know a few people asked that was not me saying that i wasn't at that presser but thank you to whoever did ask that question that follow-up there um the the broncos are sorry the pay uh the chiefs have scored 19 points and nine points in the last two games in denver respectively yeah i'm very curious i mean i think rishi rice coming back would be a big deal for kansas city he's like been practicing i think in a limited capacity this week he was at he was present at practice on thursday whatever that means um but the last i mean when they played in week one this was like the ken walker explosion debut he had like 200 yards and two touchdowns in the game and the broncos couldn't tackle that's i don't want to throw that game out but the broncos defenses look like night and day since week one like they could not tackle they couldn't do anything um i do think as the chiefs go on i'm curious again that the undrafted rookie free agent they have at left tackle that seems will be there all year just kind of keeps getting exposed and pass protection so i do wonder about like nick benito in this game and it's again it's if they can have ken walker get going it really is the difference between the chop drop back pass the game and everything for kansas city and um can't i just have to note that the chiefs assembled the most problematic special teams group of all time this week which was as if harrison butker wasn't enough of a punch line uh when they signed justin tucker to their practice squad has been i know it's like then they kept both of them great disgusting brothers the chiefs really don't care andy reid doesn't give a bottom line they don't give a they keep reminding us that they don't care on a yearly basis yeah andy reid does not fucking care um oh the other stat that i wanted to point out here with this game coming up number one i think jonah coleman looked good in his first game back yeah it's gonna be interesting to see if he kind of just takes the reins of the run game and sort of runs with it but bo nix i this i was just surprised to see this nix is averaging about five passing yards more per game than malik willis this year i just thought that was an interesting piece of context people don't really see the dolphins passing game as something that is a real thing um so i think again the broncos really need to kind of figure out how a way to get nix kind of going and get his confidence back last week was good because he you know he had that 50 yard touchdown pass that was basically just a screen but that'll help that's like getting a layup and then he also ran that 50 yard touchdown in so maybe his maybe his confidence is back a little bit this week and um we'll see him kind of get closer to what he was last year this game will signal to me who the chiefs really are because i feel like as we discussed on sunday night uh the chiefs haven't really played anybody until they played seattle and kind of got embarrassed and i think like you said hi if it's week one denver is very different than week eight denver so i feel like the version of the chiefs that we get in this game will kind of really dictate how i think of the game and i think it's going to be a really good game and i think it's going to be a really good game and i think it's going to be a really good game and i think it's going forward i hardcore agree with that all right the next group of games here this is uh it looked a lot cooler when we scheduled it starting with the shot and freud a matchup of the chargers at the rams and the rams get the home game because the rams it is definitely their stadium and the chargers is just living there but this game wow so so my one stat for chargers versus the rams is that the chargers are oh and six that oh wow so they haven't won no they haven't won yet they're the only team that hasn't won yet they're the only team that hasn't won yet hasn't won a game yet which is the goal okay here's here's here's the only thing i want to talk about is the chargers are coming off their bye they're oh and six are coming off a bye they didn't fire anybody nothing changed mike mcdaniel's still there reaffirmed their confidence in mike mcdaniel yeah because again i don't think i don't think jim harbaugh knows what's going on in the offense any so he's just like what am i going to do fire mike mcdaniel and then what adam gaze what do i i don't know what's going on i guess i gotta trust the nerdy guy that he can turn things around is we we kind of have been doing this every week i think you know once we burned them we kind of gave up but there is there is 10 of me that is like okay we're coming out of the bye lad mcconkey's back joe alt i think might play um they might get another guard back on their line and i'm like if it's not now then it's actually officially dead and i'm wondering if there's any shot that in the last two weeks anything gets better they talked about they're going to simplify the there is 10 of me that's like could they come out here and look like an average football team in this yeah it's like the charges are either the ultimate bilo or just going to cement themselves as like the most disappointing like one of the biggest disasters of the 21st century and i feel like this game decides that actual punch line that we will remember yeah i kind of think not firing mike mcdaniel was the right move though i'm not saying it's going to work at all but i do think that he gives you a better chance of fixing it with the two weeks than firing him and then just being like all right adam gaze who's been out of the league you do it like right firing coordinators it doesn't usually work it just continues to not work and then we it works for like one week and then it goes back to everything and then we stop paying attention but it gets worse you know what i mean like it usually just means everyone has to go up a rung and then do their old job while doing a new job and like everyone's just worse at their job is truthfully kind of what happens so i don't know if this is going to work but i i do think it makes more sense to me that also they probably owe him a lot of money didn't want to fire him anyway because they're probably praying it works if lad can play and stay healthy that'll help a lot i think he he is a big big difference maker for their offense because when he's out who's the number one it's you know quinn johnston uh keandre lambert smith or whoever it's it's just yeah lad needs to stay healthy for them to be anything in this game lad is the guy that i love so much when he plays and is healthy that i am now with him and he's a great guy and he's a great guy and he's a great guy and he's a worried will just literally never be healthy. Yeah, I know, because he wasn't very healthy in college either. No, he was. coming out of the draft he was a he was an injured guy yeah and um he just it's supposed to be his knee never mind his ribs and his concussions and everything it's just are you guys on board with me is there like a small part of you that thinks maybe this they could look just again just average this week so i see the ember and the fire you're talking about but when i look at it i don't think of like you know something inspirational like it like interstellar or like the avengers 1 and 14 million i think more about like charlie brown like oh i wonder if i'll just fall for this again and feel really stupid it just sucks it's up against a pissed off rams team yeah that's the thing also i've never said this on the show i think but have i ever told you about conspiracy theory about the ram stadium so the rams own it and the chargers lease it but the chargers share it with them but they got screwed in the real estate deal like the rams owner owns the whole like the whole thing and the charges kind of have a raw deal i am convinced that the rams so nofi stadium which again was like a five billion dollar project was designed in the shape of the rams logo the old logo if you superimpose the old logo onto it yeah but then they changed the logo because it was like too insulting to the chargers and they wouldn't have gotten to do the deal if basically the rams weren't going to be allowed to do it so the rams changed their logo i think because it would have been like too embarrassing for the chargers we're not playing in a fucking rams house yes but if you look i think that's why the rams got rid of their logo because it's exactly the shape of it but you think that cronky was like i want to build the stadium in the shape of our logo and everyone was like that's awesome and then they were like ah we feel bad never mind let's change our logo i don't know what happened i don't know why let me because i feel like you don't commit five billion dollars on this hilarious bit of like where our helmet is the stadium and then like you just feel bad so you change it i feel like i guess i don't know why they changed it but i'll say this sofi stadium is the shape of the old rams logo like it just is it is and then it's not their logo anymore so maybe that is a total coincidence that the five billion dollar stadium is in the shape of the logo of the team or something happened and they changed it but i think it's it i just feel like i've never heard anyone talk about this that they made a stadium in the shape of their logo and then changed their fucking logo and i just think of it charges rams this is going to be the only time the rams don't have to do hard counts or silent counts at their own stadium no one's going to be at this game well we can ask dan cronky at the super bowl in la this year we'll see what he says uh okay next one speaking of games that seem cooler when we schedule them the indianapolis colts are at the jacksonville jaguars yeah the jags uh obviously look like the clear best team in that division the colts are tanking or fire sailing at this point i want to point out one player that we haven't really talked about a lot this year and that's basial tootin he had my stat for today is he has broke broken 25 tackles this year according to pff which is fifth most among all running backs um the guys ahead of him in that stat and this this is like what craig was talking about earlier just like you're in good company the guys ahead of him kent walker jameer gabes bijan robinson kyron williams so um it feels like tootin is kind of arriving he is he's the real deal we didn't really know what to do with him during the offseason are we trying to make him into more than he is he didn't really play a ton last year people were worried about chris rodriguez like splitting time with him and the tootin thing is really happening he's the rb16 on the season he's dominating his snaps at least relative to kind of what we were afraid of 54 snaps to 25 for rodriguez um he's got most the most goal to go rushes and inside the five yard line snaps on the team which was another big fear that people had coming into the season um yeah tootin is just he is he is what looks like the real deal you can see it he he passes the eye test to me he's explosive he breaks tackles he rips off big runs he's pretty good in the game he's got a lot of the passing game he's not making a ton of mistakes he has good vision i think he has a chance to be maybe not a star but like a very good player for us for coming years no i think this is a really good call i think he could be a star going forward he's kind of like to me like if devon hn had worse vision because devon hn's running my vision such a really good and tootin's kind of like if it was worse bechel tootin was literally with parker washington top of my list at players at the end of last season that i'm like this will be my guy entering the season and then bechel tootin was going ahead of like the rest of the season and i'm like this will be my guy entering the season and like drake may and joe burrow in drafts and i'm like okay now i feel the opposite i i don't think i i would take bechel tootin before drake may i think second half of the season i am worried that bechel tootin might be like a top 10 running back because if you watch the jaguars games that this you know he had two touchdowns last week receiving but like around the goal line they get him the ball he looks so good and the fact that he hasn't had a hundred yard rushing game they lost anton harrison at left tackle which is you know that that is a huge blow for them but i i do think if you told me some player that's going to be a star and he's going to be a star and he's going to be we've barely talked about it's just going to be explode for the second half of the season i am i feel like it tootin's actually well best candidate if you look at the history of uh liam cohen offenses like they are he feeds the running back whether that's on the ground or through the passing game like bucky irving is the guy that comes to mind but like there's a lot of meat on the fantasy bone here for tootin and i think he could really um he could really emerge also um he has i think i saw this that he has like 85 scrimmage yards and five straight games so he's like been pretty consistent as well he's more physical than i thought he'd be as well it is funny that a lot of the like really overhyped guys this offseason a lot of them have just like worked like if you think about parker washington two of them on the jags yeah couldn't have taken parker washington too early literally yeah it's like kenneth walker i feel like was very hyped zay flowers like that worked luther burton's doing well like i feel like all of the guys that were like i guess the only one jaylen waddle was like a real darling and he didn't work out i don't know i don't know i don't know i don't know but most of them kind of have these like man am i really gonna spend a fourth round pick on blank like all those guys have kind of worked yeah it's true uh the next game here is sunday night football is the eagles are at the commanders man my one fact is just the eagles are dead last in yards per play like they don't gain yards you watch the eagles you're like they're not getting any yards it's literally true they're dead last they need yards to uh to score points usually get them their average third down is like third and eight which has also lasted the nfl like they just there's so many they are so injured that there's players like getting significant snaps for them every week where i'm like oh shit i didn't know he was on the team i didn't know elijah mitchell was on the eagles what when did he sign mitchell if you if you have saquon you need to add elijah mitchell as well yeah because if saquon doesn't play sunday night football you need to go get elijah mitchell have someone in your lineup bleak i know i mean they don't have any running backs david pierce i don't have any running backs i don't have any running backs i don't have any running backs i don't have any running backs i don't have any running backs is on ir saquon i don't think is going to play and so it's like and hamstring issues also why would you play him and he gets more injured right before the trade deadline no options open it's just like eli mitchell and they have jayden blue dude jayden i mean that was yeah i mean again three backups to saquon are uninjured reserves so they're probably talking about yeah your fourth and fifth string running backs are going to play i the or sorry fifth and sixth string running backs are going to play if saquon misses the game i was like jayden blue yeah jayden blue was a third stringer for the cowboys right he got cut by the cowboys yeah so i i this game there's not much to say it's terrible sunday football it's it's the price of monday to football being great it's like hollywood brown running down the field i'm like oh shit i didn't realize he was in there might trade him just because he's healthy you know it's funny i feel like if you asked me what are the most injured seasons a team has had in the last 10 years i feel like i would list four seasons for the 49ers and three seasons for the eagles as the top seven oh and you gotta toss in the chargers but yeah the charges but i thought those teams were all 10. like every charger season but the eagles have had this is like the third one there was a year where greg ward came from like the xfl and then like them and receiving in december and then they had another this is the third time the eagles have done this it's so strange i they're i don't know what's going on with them but it is every three years they everyone just falls apart it's wild how quickly fortunes can change in the nfl i for some reason i don't know why this has gotten back into my algorithm but like the replay of saquon doing the backwards jump over the player and the sideline everyone on the sideline reacting to it in real time i'm just like damn that fucking that was such a fun season but it's like we're so far like 22 months ago like i know it's like wild we're all prisoners of the moment but i that has a serious chance to be the single best football play of the decade it's the saquon i mean it's the most unique and and probably the the least likely to be repeated in any way yeah if you want like highlights if you just went with like it doesn't have to be like monumental won a super bowl i i really think it actually would over the next like five seasons uh i think yeah because man in all the players on the sideline are like in the moment exactly no they couldn't believe it holy shit he just did that that was insane yeah i have nothing else to say about this game though it's this game sucks uh falcons are at the tampa bay buccaneers yeah my stat is michael pennix has the quickest average time to throw in the nfl this year we talked about this for him when he was coming into the league he doesn't take sacks because he's so decisive and he gets rid of the ball so quickly and he's not going to he's doing that in the nfl he's been quite successful this season when he started the five games that he started he is the qb 16 in points per game nine touchdowns to one pick 109 pass rating which is fourth best he's fourth in yards per attempt second in adjusted yards per attempt 11th in epa per drop back and then middle of pack in success rate so all in all he's been playing really well i think um and so i just want to do a little check-in on michael pennix because i think he's been a lot more impressive than most people probably expected him to be we are still in wait and see territory with michael pennix and like you know uh kellerman was talking about this on game over when he was like I thought it was smart when he was talking about it was like franchise quarterbacks and then there are starting quarterbacks. And there's a kind of a distinction between the two. And it's kind of like the Dak Prescott-Kurt Cousins line where it's like, is Dak Prescott a franchise quarterback or is he a starting quarterback? And I think Michael Penix, it's like whatever your starting quarterback is and then the one below it where it's like probably should be a backup, but he's starting right now versus this is our starting quarterback. And I think Penix is creeping closer and closer, I feel like, to the Falcons being like, I think this might just be our starting quarterback. I think Penix, if he had never heard his ACL, we'd be thrilled about this guy. I think everyone's afraid to get their heart involved in someone who's had three ACL tears, but I think he's playing. I love the way Penix is playing. I mean, the NFL has been across the board. You have Bryce Young, you have Tyler Schuch, you have Michael Penix. There's a lot of young guys that are like in this weird spot where like nobody wants to believe it, but they might all be good. And the Falcons are kind of frisky, honestly. They've beaten, they're 3-2. 3-2 in Penix's five starts. That includes wins over the Packers and 49ers and losses to the Ravens and Bears. So they, you know, I still think that they're pretty frisky and just a little bit better than the overall consensus I think would be about them. So they're one of my teams that I like to watch actually right now. They're just a fun team to watch. Do you guys like them over the Bucs in this game? I thought it was kind of interesting that Tampa Bay was favored by two and a half. I know. It's hard to say. I don't know how healthy Baker is. I don't, he threw, I think he had seven completions last week. They killed, they ran so well in Carolina that I'm like. It's hard to win 44 to whatever the Panthers had when you're, and then be an underdog on the road, sorry, at home. I do see what you guys are saying though, where if Baker comes out, like basically if Baker comes out and has like two bad passes in a row. Yeah. I do see what you guys are saying though, where if Baker comes out and has two bad passes in a row. you would very quickly regret having any money on Tampa Bay. Like it could take one drive to be like, holy shit. Like they cannot throw in last week. The game script was the 10,000 out of 10,000 perfect game script for them. But that game was so just out of left field, such a crazy game. Yeah. They scored in every kind of way you can score basically for Tampa Bay. Like they, you know what I mean? Bryce kept fumbling and turning the ball and picking it, throwing interceptions. Yeah. Falcons are kind of, I don't know if I want to bet it, but yeah, you could very quickly be like, Oh yeah. Baker's thumb is fucking dislocated. The Falcons lead the NFL in pressures. Their pressure rates over 40%. The Bucks offensive line is playing really well though. But yeah, they're fourth in pressure rate behind the Vikings, Seahawks and Broncos. If somebody asked me, what's the game you, you, you feel the least confident about? What do you want to bet on the least? It would be this game. I agree. I just had a principle. I hate betting on the Falcons. Don't know what to do with it. All right. All right. Blow out potential here. The Patriots are at the Miami Dolphins, which is only even a question mark as New England, has like a 20 year history of having terrible losses in Miami. That's good. I was going to say my one stat last 10 seasons, Patriots are three and seven in Miami. They can't play in the warm heat. They can't, they hate it down there. I wonder if you actually have wondered about this a long time. And I've always just wondered if it's that the players are stuck in Boston and then they get to Miami and they just fucking let it loose. They're on South beach. Just hanging. Cause the weather's kind of still nice. You're like, it's 78 here. Wow. No, but I actually, I want to focus in on our guy, AJ Brown, who, who didn't practice today with a knee injury. That's kind of flared up. In addition to his ankle injury, I was kind of just looking at AJ Brown season and one stat. My other one stat is that AJ Brown this year is averaging 2.9 yards after the catch per catch. This is 2.9 yards. Every time he catches the ball after he catches it, he goes about 2.9 yards and then gets tackled. That's 77th in the NFL. Yeah. Um, he's caught six of 16 targets since coming back from his injury and is like, just straight up like the biggest miss of the year. I actually think now outside of the chargers, AJ Brown, he's probably not going to play this week. I feel like he's going to be hurt all year. There were quotes before the knee thing came out a few days ago of him saying that his ankle is still not healthy. He was like, it's not right. It's still a little hurt. I noticed it, but I'm, I'm going to go out there and I'm going to play, which like good for him. Tough grinding it out for your team. Cause you have no wide receivers on the team, but, but he's just like hurt and he's going to be hurt all year. Yeah. Yeah. This is what I was afraid of. Yeah. The, the pats now are in such a weird situation where it's like the Miami thing is already weird. Cause they always was Miami. Dude, their receivers are like the worst they've ever been. They don't have a wide receipt. If AJ Brown doesn't play, which I don't think he's going to, they don't have a wide receiver over six feet tall or that weighs more than 200 pounds. Their wide receivers are Efton Chisholm. Who's like five, 10, one, 90 DeMario Douglas. Who's like five, eight, one 80 and Kyle Williams. Who's five, 11, one 90. Those are their receivers. They don't even like Kyle Williams. They hate him. That's it. They begrudgingly put him on the field. Yeah. The AJ Brown thing. I obviously was huge in AJ Brown for the season again. And not that it's any consolation to anybody, but just for me, my ability to sleep at night, I can't tell you guys how important it was that he had the two catches where he looked really good before he got hurt. I actually don't think I could sleep at night with how much, with how hard I told people, to take him. He caught one ball in the flat and kind of like, kind of truck somebody on the sideline. And everyone was like, woo. And I was like, fucking knew it. And then I turn, I look up at them like, Oh my God, get up, AJ. God damn it. And then ever since then, it's been a nightmare. Oh, I mean, I feel like the pads have to be at the top of the list to make a trade for a receiver, right? They have to, you know, it's funny. I think they just did that. They have to, they have to again, they'd be the perfect team to get Josh downs, but they already have this fricking munchkin army. They can't add another five foot receiver. Do they like go trade for like Quentin Johnston? Like a guy who's just like tall and can run down the field. They could get Alec Pierce and just have another injured guy standing next to AJ Brown. I mean, I think in Brian Thomas, but with the Jags really trade Brian Thomas. I do think Brian Thomas is the answer. The problem is. Yeah. Yeah. The Jag. I kind of think the Jags will, cause the Jags are going to pay Parker Washington. And if you, they're not going to read a Jacoby Myers. It just feels like if they do that, they'll meet in the playoffs. And then Brian Thomas will have like a 70 yard touchdown against the Jags. But here's the thing. He's not, he's not playing like it's not like Marvin Harrison status where he's starting. And there's like, if he's not on the field, he's losing playing time to Josh Cameron was Josh Cameron even drafted. Or was it maybe a fifth or sixth rounder? Yeah. Yeah. Josh Cameron was a sixth round pick. Like he's Brian Thomas is below Josh Cameron in the rotation at times. I don't know if that's Brian. Well, for good reason, Josh Cameron is playing better than him. Yeah. Like that. It's like one of those meritocracy things where they, I think, I think they tried to give Brian Thomas a chance and he just hasn't done anything. And again, I don't know if that's attitude, if that's fit, if that's, I don't really, I honestly don't understand how Brian Thomas is 1400 yards. And I know it's a different offensive system, but 1400 yards as a rookie and that can't beat out Josh Cameron. I. The same way Marvin Harrison went for a second. And that's different because for a lot of reasons. Well, the reason being he was a generational prospect before it wasn't that long ago. DK, what pick would the Patriots have to, to send for you to be like, Oh, that's a crazy overpay. Like it's a second rounder for Brian Thomas. You're like, that's insane. Yeah. I probably wouldn't do that. If it was third rounder, I'd probably be okay with that. Third rounder. Like if it's a fourth, you're like, yeah, that's a no, that's a no brainer. Third rounders. Like, yeah, I can handle that. That's fine. But then, then they would have traded like a first and a third for two guys who are really underperforming their expectations. And maybe, you know, just aren't very good. Well, because at least what, what do you guys, what do you value more? I feel like this is an obvious question, but like Marvin Harrison jr. Is really good in college. Cool. And then he's just like, wasn't good in the pros. Brian Thomas had a season in the pros. Yeah. 1200 yards and 10 touchdowns. I know Brian Thomas has done more in the pros than Marvin Harrison. And his skill was far. And it was an element of, I think the fit between him and Drake may could work really well. Totally. Again, I think the skill that Brian Thomas had are these deep shots, these deep plays. I don't, I, the, the reason I think the Texans got Harrison is. You need like CJ Stroud vouching for him in a way that matches with the scouting department thought you want the scouts to pull up their notes from the draft. Be like, we love this guy. We think he's feeling because of this. And then like a lot of times there's a free agent signing or, or a trade, someone in the building, like knew someone, you know, when the Rams gets Matt Stafford, it's like, Oh, Sean McVay's quarterbacks, assistant quarterback coach is like Kelly, Matt Stafford's wife's brother. Or so, you know what I mean? Like there's always something like that where I can personally, absolutely guarantee this, something about this person's football character or whatever. And like, that's why I think Harrison to the Texans goes for like a second rounder. CJ Stroud was like, get me my fucking guy. So I don't know, but football wise, Brian Thomas to the Patriots makes a ton of sense. It does make sense. They just, I mean, they have, I mean, Romeo Dobbs is out to a week 12 minimum. They've said Matt Collins is on IR, AJ Brown. I, you know, can you depend on that? They just don't have anybody. They have no one. They're out of that thing about not having a chisel. The third was on the practice squad like a month ago. I kind of like Efton Chisholm. I'm not going to lie. I know he's did the fact that the Patriots are back and Frabel's the coach and Drake May is a good quarterback and they have another white undrafted freaking court. Efton Chisholm is the whitest receiver. The Patriots have ever had. He's Efton Chisholm. The third. I know. And it's like, I don't know who else is bottoming out. And I can, it's like, you have the Colts, maybe the Brian Thomas. They would trade like Quentin Johnson. Maybe I'm trying to think. think of other receivers that could be on the market quentin no if quentin johnson would not vrabel would kill him you can't just like would like would the saints trade like devon valet no way no probably not saints are not sellers let me tell you that saints don't give up i'm just like i'm trying to think of like who who uh it could be trying to think like a big body maybe the jets sell like ad mitchell in the in the division yeah probably not kill him too um no way hollywood brown like yeah that's another small guy i think he's he's gonna get traded somewhere but that's another small guy that's a good example actually like if they didn't the big guys titans could uh trade calvin ridley i don't know if he has anything left in the tank that's pretty brutal yeah jerry judy it's probably jerry judy jerry judy again not very reliable you oh my god is there a denver broncos receiver they're not using i don't know marvin mims man maybe that's why they're talking him up no no they can't he's getting he's gonna get troy franklin we gotta get little jordan humphrey out there yeah he's gonna get a bunch of targets soon courtland sutton actually is not bad not a bad shot courtland sutton might work they don't barely use trying to take trying to take sutton off the broncos but again are the broncos trading a receiver to the patriots yeah they're five and two absolutely not i don't know it's grim it's grim uh this is why i still don't totally understand why denzel boston went in the second round of the draft because when the season starts it's like giant receivers who are really good or like you know offensive linemen when that almost never traded like the line of being traded this week you're like what teams never do this like i just i don't know also the rate at which receivers are getting hurt the last few years is kind of insane it feels like so just having depth is is really key i know we've been on this for a long time but i have to ask this because i'm thinking about it craig yeah i you get to record a little interstellar message to yourself next season and it's you you're gonna watch this video next august right before your most important fantasy draft and at the time in 2027 you are between talking yourself into being in on the chargers again okay you were impressed by my friend daniel do they have jeremiah smith like what's the situation no you were just like they actually were better than you think in december and like you know what they they were very satisfied in december they were very satisfied in december they were very satisfied in december they were very yeah okay you're satisfied with their explanations mike mcdaniel week year two like people were more hurt than herbert had like one 350 yard game and everyone was like wow that looks good okay aj brown you're back in on aj brown he was hurt all year you're back in on aj brown and don't do it three you're back in on the eagles eagles are way healthier now this is obvious you have to choose one oh it's the chargers of course it's the chargers yeah there's no shot i'm back in on the eagles i i just will never until they completely change hurt sirianni the whole bullshit and until they change that i don't want anything to do with it aj brown i'll never i'll never get within 100 feet of ever aj brown seriously i'm the goofy meme i'm gonna do it again oh i'm not doing that he's hurt all year i have you know 30 year old aj brown coming off a thousand injuries now i tried to talk you guys out of aj i would happily do the chargers again and talk myself into that over the other two this episode is brought to you by nationwide everyone knows that to win in fantasy you need players that can be so much more the qb that can throw for 400 yards and the qb that can throw for 400 yards and rush for a touchdown the defense that can snag a pick six or the running back who can also bring in 15 receptions it's like how nationwide is so much more than a great insurance company they're one of america's largest financial services companies too now that gets the start for your insurance and financial needs nationwide is on your side nationwide investment services corporation member finra columbus ohio ulcerative colitis and crohn's disease symptoms don't pause for the moments that matter that's why understanding your treatment options matters cover what's possible with trimphia guselka map trimphia is a prescription medicine used to treat adults with moderately to severely active crohn's disease and adults with moderately to severely active ulcerative colitis serious allergic reactions increased risk of infections or lower ability to fight them and liver problems may occur before treatment get checked for infections and tuberculosis tell your doctor if you have an infection flu-like symptoms or need a vaccine talk to your doctor and explore what's possible or call 1-800-526-7000 to learn more about trimphia and visit trimphiaradio.com all right next game here tennessee titans at the cincinnati bangles i i you know this is just bless bless the titans heart man it's it's tough out there good job getting two first rounders though yeah no honestly that is it is a good trade for them they got two first rounders for jeffrey simmons who's you know like almost 30 like that's a good like yeah we're in like like it's jover territory for cam ward right like if the if the titans are the top three pick they're taking a quarterback this is i i think they probably should we'll see it's always funny because you can win one game in december and it can like the jets beat the rams at 17 point underdogs it didn't get trevor lawrence you know what i mean like things can change so much with a winner too but yeah i this game i i think this is a tony pollard audition as well i believe tony pollard's in a contract year i think tony pollard who's somehow like 11th and yards after contact per carry which is ahead of jameer gibbs somehow uh which blew my mind my dad wants the seahawks to trade for pollard i think pollard is going to get moved to somebody there's not a ton of teams that need a running back but like the vikings like there are teams that like the vikings win this week but you just got aaron jones who's always hurt and jordan mason was on injured reserve i'm like get tony pollard in minnesota but i do think that this is a big audition for him and any other titans that want to get out of town and then the bangles they also kind of need to run my one stat it's boring but it's like the bangles are averaging 3.6 yards per carry which is like third to last in the nfl and all they talked about all offseason was like we're going and they just can't because they're again always in shotgun ben baby at esp under this great stat bangles this is before entering last week but bangles under center last in yards per play among all teams the inflator center like they have to get their yards at a shotgun they can't run at a shotgun and so you know it's i don't think it's chase brown's fault but they're they're not getting any yardage tennessee third to last run defense in the nfl and dvoa that was before they traded jeffrey simmons who beats the nfl and so they're gonna get worse so if the bangles can't run the ball this week i really don't think the bangles will be able to run the ball on anybody all year and i don't know do you think chase brown is like still one of the latest bylaws into the season you could recommend i'm like i kind of think maybe i still kind of think chase brown is good and he's done this three years in a row too yeah second half like really gets hot yeah i mean like there's nothing is really that different and chase brown has been like elite chase brown like over a long time i don't think he's going to be a top five running back in fantasy yeah i think i think the fantasy advice that i agree i think chase brown i do i kind of do these to buy low for the same reason that there was a couple years that justin fields was like a top four quarterback per game in october because like in september they would try to do all the shit they talked about in the offseason and then they would abandon it and the bangles every year try to do this running stuff it doesn't work then they're like fuck it and then they just start going back to who they really are and like i kind of think that's the kind of thing chase brown just he's had one touchdown this year on the ground that's just going to change as jamar chase and higgins get tackled at the one a little more i kind of do think chase brown's because whoever has him is sick of him i think that's a good call fucking sick of him yeah the last thing sorry the last thing i want to say about bangles titans do you guys think jamar chase and t higgins are having a good season bad season average i think t higgins is having a great season i think jamar chase is having an average season okay so jackson smith and jigba has more points this season than jamar chase and t higgins combined well and jigba is literally having like the best wide receiver season ever i just that just blew my mind we're just like chase and higgins best receiver combo in the nfl and i'm like jason's better than both combined in fantasy chase has been up and down the concussion thing kind of screwed things up chase also has two of the best catches in the nfl this year or like in the last five years i think it is one of those things yes the expectations are sky high for chase but he's still really really he's like my favorite player obviously higgins four of higgins six games are over 90 yards like he's been good that's my point though is tiggins having a career year yeah yeah and i just think it's anyway i just think it's funny like he is half the points that jason does anyway that's wild uh the another boring game cardinals are at the cowboys i couldn't even pretend to find something interesting about i right right like i just the ones that i actually as i was going through this i was like the cardinals are just inflation for pass attempts not to disperse trey mcbride who i really do think is the lost watt brother but the whole he has seven catches every game i was like jacoby brissett my one stat is that jacoby brissett's last 17 games he has thrown 686 passes which if it were a full season 70 games would just be the sixth most ever in a season that's wild like he the car we literally were like well he was throwing at historic pace he can't do that again he's doing it again i know it's 17 games instead of 16 but it still would be they said it couldn't be done yeah i do think that there's a lesson there's some lesson out there in fantasy where it's anytime we say well that can't happen again i think it just can yeah it definitely can it started with aaron jones scoring 20 touchdowns we're like well that's not and then he just did it and it's like austin eckler james cook brissett throwing it 40 times again it's just like regression's a myth most of those regression regression is a statistic and it's not 100 if the situation is kind of the same yeah regression can regress regression also regresses it's like the situation's kind of the same i'm like well why wouldn't it just happen again i already did but yeah the car it's funny because the cowboys defense sucks and i'm kind of the cardinals can't have any explosive plays and i'm kind of hoping that trade mcbride just laid down i really want the cowboys lose this game as a giants fan because if the cowboys start two and five that'd be nice and tasty not gonna lie yeah uh raiders are at the jets the gino smith revenge game that's right my my one stat is about mr gino smith who on the year gino smith has a 70 completion percentage which is third in the nfl while also having the seventh highest air yards per attempt in the league gino is playing good football he's ripping it yeah he's throwing it downfield players are catching it they've been kind of banged up all year breese hall might play and the jets got a lot of young guys and a lot of young talent garrett wilson's still great um garrett wilson also like a very thoughtful interview he's he's a great quote garrett wilson yeah he is i missed it what did he say no just in general every time i hear him talk about like his role on the team and he just very thoughtfully answers questions about like hey i know you're not catching a lot of passes lately does that bother you and he's like he was like well like obviously yeah like i want to catch the ball and like be involved in the offense but i care about winning the most and if we win i'm happy however i do think the games we win often involve me making an impact on the game like he had a very sensitive thoughtful answer around like usually when we win i catch a lot of passes but he didn't say it like that and it was very i appreciated it i'm so glad you said that because receivers are more basketball player mindsets than than other nfl player mindsets and there's a plenty of basketball players that want to be a role player and want to win championships but obviously a lot of guys are happy to like i don't want to say trey young but like get points whatever and just not necessarily going to win garrett wilson is kind of like justin jefferson in that like unbelievably professional garrett wilson is so competitive and he's so sick i think he would do anything to just like make the playoffs with the jets and i totally agree he's like very thoughtful and i i he's handled he i actually think even his outbursts have been at the appropriate times like on like on like when the jets went like five red zone trips versus minnesota and they couldn't they they went out of their way and they they went over five like that's when he like would freak out on zach wilson but he actually is like frankly receivers are not usually your leaders yeah but like gary wilson is like handles himself like about winning very well and justin jefferson also has handled this undefeated thing very well he's like having the worst start to his career statistically justin jefferson and they're like he's like we're undefeated what we're doing is working would i like the ball more sure but like we are literally winning and as long as we're winning that's good and i know that's obvious like agent brown agent agent brown was fucking miserable winning the superbowl dude i i mean even on a non-professional level it playing i play rec league basketball and i will admit that if we win a game and i go oh for 10 compared to a game where we lose by three and i have 20 i might be happier in a game i hit i put up 20 and we lose like or at least like it's it's that conflict you know like that yeah they're it's not obvious i get it like how do you handle the conflict yeah it is human nature to be like i want to play well and even if we lose at least i played well so i get it craig's a diva is what we're finding out so craig's was so the addendum to i could craig saying i could go for three for five from the corner in an nba game is that would make me happier than going like one for six but we but we but we won you'd rather go three for five and lose than one for six and you here's what i'll say about my rec league games i am learning now i'm i'm i'm maturing in the sense that i actually start to i if i'm not shooting well i'm like well i will impact the game with like defense and rebounding and i will try to crash boards and do stuff like that and if i have a good game in that respect even if i don't score a lot i'll be happy if we were you're not doing that before well i think when you're young to save your gotta save your energy to shoot honestly i think it's like that's a young man's thought to be like i just want to put up points and the older you get and i'm like i my athleticism is slowing down and i start to value different things and i'm like you know what's great like if i can tip out an offensive rebound and that gets us another possession i'm starting to value those things more yeah see i i could never really i was never quite the opposite of that i was never quite the offensive threat so i just kind of always played like josh hart or like just crashy boards and really annoying people i would i would go pj tucker for you maybe i always felt like patrick beverly and glenn davis's body was always yeah all those are good yeah that's like that's that was always my strategy though too craig like if i was kind of struggling offensively i would just be like okay i enjoy it i'm gonna like people up right now yeah i'm like i'm gonna try to make the best player like i'm gonna make it so i can't pass it to him i'm gonna like deny every single lane so he just can't get the ball and i'll just exert all my energy just running around the field like running around like a maniac and i just like start to appreciate that more the i i my favorite play this actually probably speaks to my personality the thing that i was like most proud of i could possibly do other than you know you want to hit the game winning shot or whatever but other than that the thing i was most proud of without a question was if i was able to steal an inbound pass oh yeah that was like my favorite someone else ejected like when you for throwing a punch he was taught he was like 10 we needed him out of the fucking game this is like rodman he's just out here to antagonize the opponent like he's just out here to antagonize the opponent he was like opposing best player he was six foot ten this guy and like i i we needed him out of the game i was at center i'm like five and a half he's the michael clayton of the basketball court just a fixer he's just taking care of it he didn't react well the second guy gets the second guy gets the flag how do we feel about claiming that you are a certain height and a half i feel like i think it made it more pathetic which accentuated my point that i was short yeah so you you stole an inbounds pass but you can't is it like are you saying you do it where you you catch them like it's after a made basket and they're kind of lollygagging are you saying it's a true inbound pass where there's like a play ran oh no like like in pickup basket well no actually in regular basketball like when you're just like after a basket yeah yeah so there's a couple ways to do it because you pretend to run down the corner you kind of like hang out you can it's a good cheat code to like if you're like a larger fellow and like you're just like at some point people think you're catching your breath but you can honestly dude feel like you feel like earl thomas because you like what defensive backs really do you're reading the receiver's eyes for the ball and so if you if they start getting comfortable and pushing it you can look at the guy and he's catching the pass and his and so i just feel like i would turn around just earl thomas no look and just have it and everyone's like what the fuck probably miss the layup and then have to go and get it again and then like you know make the second one i really want to miss the layup foul them on the rebound of the missed layup scream be like what is that call not even get any points out of it we got to get back out there i'm the only guy to take off my shoe and stab someone with it i'm glad i didn't play hockey yeah i got a basketball record oh my god anyway raiders jets i'm kind of oddly excited for this game i can't explain why but i think it'll be like mini rainbow strip the raiders have been the worst defense in the nfl the last month um i think there's a chance that there's gonna be like a lot of points in this game yeah i agree these teams have been terrible for so long but i actually really root for all the players on the teams um they're all likable okay ringer 107 today's ringer 107 is brought to you by fan duel we are in first second and third in the ringer fantasy league we're no longer in first ringer 107 but that's not the point because we're in second we're in second yeah i actually didn't even say i just kind of assumed i actually haven't checked the leaderboard so we want to put sal's in first so oh sal went five and oh so sal just kind of can't raise oh we're tied for second that's a bundle um so we want to put 107 seconds on the clock yeah let's do it okay can i i have a couple hit me this is hefty bangles minus 11 and a half at home versus tennessee yeah okay i have the raiders plus a point and a half in new york playing the jets in new jersey playing the jets i like that uh the rams minus six and a half versus the chargers just keep betting the chargers until they burn us i like that six and a half i'm like we can get it under a touchdown absolutely we should lock that in i had that one as well i had chiefs minus a point and a half facing denver chiefs i think rishi rice comes back chiefs i don't want i don't think they're gonna lose two in a row bo nicks i don't trust i don't know how we feel about that i like i think we should lock in the rams and i think we lock in the rams i i had those as well i kind of think the patriots giving seven everyone's afraid of like oh the dolphins patriots history i'm like they have no wide receivers but yeah the dolphins are so bad man i i don't really like i don't like the history of the patriots in my i'm telling you malik willis and ollie gordon are there's gonna they're gonna like have two touchdowns at half and then it's gonna be like 14 to 10 the dolphins are gonna be like 14 to 10 they're winning at half it'll be weird they're gonna blow them out the patriots are playing so well i don't know they have no one to throw the ball to eli raritan is very important that's important in important games this is all right if you guys don't i don't want to talk you both into it we could tease it i think it's supposed to rain i think it's supposed to rain on sunday by the way in miami the pages i if you guys don't want to do it i'm not gonna what if we tease it you want to tease it no i want to tease the rate i think the teams to tease are the raiders getting a point and a half so that's raiders plus seven and a half i feel really good about that and then also you could tease the bangles down to five if you think the bangles are going to cover that you could do you could tease the chiefs you could teach the jaguars versus the colts down yeah three and a half you could get the jags down to three and a half first part of me thinks the jags are going to blow out the colts dude they just traded quentin nelson like i i don't know the jaguars have blown teams out ah okay wait we kind of we have rams minus six and a half first chargers locked in yeah locked in we'll do bangles minus 11 and a half locked in and then we'll tease raiders up to seven and a half jags down to three and a half locked in so we got to three sorry so jags we're teasing the jags and who jags and raiders raiders up to seven and a half so we're a bit short jags down to minus three and a half first we do the chiefs minus one and a half yeah yeah let's do chiefs minus one and a half as a fourth yeah fuck it but actually rooting for my homes and against pate sean payton just sounds like a fun day yeah we just need one more uh do you like the Seahawks? - We should do, can I pitch you guys in something? for the Lamar to officially play and have the bills line drop and they just take the bills. Okay. I think the bills are going to win that game. DJ more don't know if he's playing. The other one, the other one that I was looking at was the Falcons two and a half. You said you guys said you don't want to touch that. Hell no. Hell no. Hell no. I don't want anything to do with that. Hell no. I'm afraid of like the country black. It's like hell no. I don't get my damn hand off. Oh my God. Oh, I'm sorry because you're black. Hell no. So good. Got the bastard's eyeball though. Damn alligator bit my damn hand off. Vikings plus three and a half. I know you like that one. You want to do that one? I don't know if I want to root against the Lions, but I kind of just think the Vikings getting a field goal and a half. They're literally undefeated. It's like everyone overthinking it a little bit. I know three and a half. I can't believe it's not three. It's funny that it's like everyone's so against the Vikings that like everyone's so sure that this undefeated team will lose by more than a field goal. Like I just I don't know. At some point. But you guys pause so long that if no one likes it, I'm not talking to you. Do you want to just do the four and then we'll figure the last one out? Yeah, sure. We can do that. So we're doing every time we can't do it. One hundred seven seconds. It's my favorite tradition. All right. So we'll do the Rams, the Bengals, the Chiefs, and then tease the Jags and the Raiders. We tease the one of seven up to two oh seven. Yeah, that's right. DK, look at you. Look at me. All right. Today's rigor one of seven is brought to you by FanDuel odd subject to change. Should you do an email or you guys want to save them? Save them for next week. A lot of responses to the farts. Yeah, let's do people got people got takes on the farts. We do one. Yeah, you can do one. I mean, sure. This is from please don't use my name. OK, P-Bone. I am a special agent with the FBI. Hell yeah. We have a tool called a scent transfer unit. OK, they're basically just vacuums that we use to collect the scent on an item usually to provide sent to our dogs for like the Ghostbusters for like tracking and shit. Oh, interesting. The Ghostbusters back so it captures a scent. Yeah. Wow. Please don't use my name says I have used it. It works and based on the me using this vacuum. It would he's used it on his farts. No, I don't think so. He says he's used it for other things. He says this is for police business. Yeah, really official official FBI. I would never do it on farts. He says it would 100% be able to suck up the smell of a reasonable fart before it disseminates significantly into the surrounding area. What is the name of the device? I want to see how big it is. I don't know the name. Oh, he didn't share the name or what? What did he say? It's called though. There was a freight. What was the word? It's for the scent transfer unit. I love the idea of. Oh, no, that is that. No, that's not a unit. That actually is the name of the thing is the device for a unit. Yeah, I love the idea here on the show. Manhunter. They just have a segment where they're sucking up farts with the scent thing. It's like really like ominous tones and they're sucking up each other's farts. So he says this, this could suck up the farts. Yeah, transfer unit. And think about it. You could store it and then you could like unleash it later. You could bottle that shit. You could bottle it. Yeah. Does that work, by the way? Bottling a stink bomb, bottling a fart. And then does it like stay stinky forever? How how how long people tested that? Are we like fart in a jar and what's the half life open to ten years later? What's the half life on a fart? I don't know if half life is not to get better or worse. You know, how could it get it multiplies? Like if you could actually prevent any air from getting in and out of, you know, because if it's like vacuum seal, a fart vacuum sealed fart, how can it dissipate? I assume that the barrier is not permeable and so that it's not totally like a plastic bag. You know, it can kind of get out through the plastic. I assume like a like a balloon, you know? Yeah, I like a helium balloon. I don't know. I assume it would be just as bad, right? Or worse. I feel I feel like it's probably doesn't work. Do you think it's like cheese or some cheeses are going to age better than other cheeses? So here's a I looked it up. A fart trapped in a truly airtight container can retain its odor for months to several years. Oh, my God. Those several years gradually fade over time. What is it? OK, imagine taking up a Viking for escaping thirteen hundreds, just like buried it, you know what I mean? Is it escaping or is it something to do with like molecular breakdown or something? Yeah, probably. Yeah, it's OK. Can particles? No, that's why I was talking about the half life. Half life, huh? It's a good question. I do. I do not know the answer to that. I don't know. All right, well, now we need a scientist, so we so we do have this FBI guy to answer. I like that we have an FBI guy kind of listening to the show and emailing us. We got to like got other questions. I know it's true, it's true. Well, you read the name, so I guess you tell us. I'm not going to, OK? Why would I do that? It's a very sacred relationship with people, right? Well, I'll find out off air. Yeah, they redacted. OK, I'll ask you later. No, I'm not telling you. No, no, you're not telling me. I'll log into the damn email. What do you think? All right, thank you. If it's locked you out. OK, thank you, DK. Thank you, Craig. Thank you to unnamed person. Thank you to Nikhil. Agent unnamed. Thank you to Austin Fart. The unsub. Thank you, Cam. I would like to shout out and say congratulations to Beef, one of our Discord moderators. Who had his first child this week. Beef! Shout out to Beef. Congratulations. That's wonderful. Lil Beef. Congrats to Lil Beef. Thank you, Lorne. Lorne. All right, this is it. I'm up. Songs You're Embarrassed You Love. Last one of the month, last two weeks. DK, "I Touch Myself" by The Divinals. And Heifetz did "Rockstar" by Nickelback. So what I'm going to do to close this month out, maybe you guys will say this isn't embarrassing, but you're wrong because it is. And if you blasted this out loud, even though you love it, it would be embarrassing, but it is an absolute classic. "Call Me Maybe" by Carly Rae Jepsen, I unironically have always loved. It has never been like an ironic, I'm putting it on because it's put, I've just like straight up always liked it, still do. It's a great song. Why would we not think that's embarrassing? Sorry, it is embarrassing. Oh, okay, good. All right. What's embarrassing about it, DK? I mean, for the same reason all these songs are embarrassing. I just probably would not be singing, belting it out because I'm a 44-year-old man. Well, 'cause I feel like we were talking about like, is Shania Twain, like is "Man I Feel Like a Woman," is that embarrassing or is it just a good song? All right, Austin said something the other day that really stuck with me, which is that men like "Man I Feel Like a Woman" more than women, and he's 100% right. Yeah, I think that is right. Have you checked with any women? I have seen the song come on in bars. Absolutely not. Let me tell you, Nashville, weddings, whatever you want to do, like, I have, it's, men freak out when that song comes on. Let's go, girls. And all the men just like freak. But dude, "Call Me Maybe" was like a fucking anthem. I feel like it got so big, it was like a problem for Carly Rae Jepsen. It was like, this became my whole part. It was like, it's like Jason Alexander being George Costanza. It's like, I guess this is just who I am now. "Call Me Maybe" was like a problem. "Call Me Maybe" was a problem. It was like a legit problem. You know, that came out a month apart from "Levels" by Vici 2011. What a year. Man. Was it 2011? I think so. Let's hear it, Craig. Wow, I thought it was earlier than that. Call me, let's hear "Call Me Maybe." You don't know how it goes? Like, "Hey, you don't know me," or something. I don't remember the words. Oh, you're right, it was 2011. "Hey, I just met you, and this is crazy. "So here's my number, so call me maybe." Yeah. It was Carly Rae. And then all the other guys. ♪ Driving me crazy ♪ Yeah, man, what a time. That was everywhere. Oh, shit, yeah. You couldn't, remember like, we thought "Espresso" by Sabrina Carpenter was everywhere? Yeah. "Call Me Maybe" was 100x "Espresso." The kids don't know. It was when the radio was still a thing a little bit. It was just everywhere. Well, it's kind of like this weird thing that's happening now, where "Choose in Texas" is like the number one, the longest number one Billboard song ever, but then some people are like, "I've never heard this song." Yeah. Which I don't even know how they count Billboard anymore, but like, that certainly used to be impossible. Yes, now you can actually like somehow miss. I mean, the way algorithms work, sometimes they will just be like a giant news story, and I'll just like, "Won't see it," you know? They'll be like, "You see that bridge blew up?" I'm like, "What?" They're like, "How'd you not see that?" I'm like, "Genuinely didn't see it." Oh, man, I'm trying to think of this one song that, for some reason, reminded me exactly of what you were talking about, Craig. It's like, you know the, and I don't remember the name of it, or the, it's like. ♪ If I could walk a thousand miles ♪ Oh, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. That's also just a banger. Well, that might just be the best song of the 21st century, it's possible. ♪ Do, do, do, do, do, do, do ♪ Vanessa Carlton. That became that thing. Yeah, that's it, Vanessa Carlton. That's the scene in "White Chicks" where they're doing it, and that just kind of solidifies it. And I miss you. and see like good example if you're playing that in your car are you is that embarrassing or no it's a good song no it's just it's a borderline call me maybe it's a good song but i feel like if i'm blasting call me maybe right now it's embarrassing i think you could make the case that a thousand miles is like the best pop song literally the most popular song of the 20 like i don't know how you define popular but like everyone likes it of under a certain age that song take that for some reason that song if i hear it it takes me back i was at udub and i was like i remember vividly hearing it in the weight room and i'm like it's like takes me back 25 years yeah yeah that's what you yeah it's like 650 to a thousand miles there is there are kind of these collections of songs like a thousand miles by vanessa carlton that are just like universally loved like you never put it on you're never like it's never like on your liked songs on spotify or something but like when it comes on everyone is like amazing song it's an elite throwback if you're djing a party like it like that's you know what i mean there are certain songs that are just like automatic if you're having people over and you're like oh my god we gotta we gotta resuscitate the vibe right now i want to hear i want to hear some a thousand miles mashups i feel like oh i'm sure they exist good yeah of course anyway call me maybe great one that could be a month we do one year is or one month is is the songs that you're like i need to save this party right now yeah party resuscitation i i so a thousand miles is on i guess it shouldn't reveal yeah don't do it save it yeah anyway that was the party defibrillator the party is that how you say it defibrillator defibrillator the party paddles yeah the party clear someone put on fucking abba we're gonna can we get some gimme gimme gimme in this fucking party for christ's sake um we're gonna put this playlist on spotify people can find it and put it in the description and then we'll post it on ig so people can enjoy where can people find it greg what do you mean on spotify in the description of the episode you can click the link okay all right goodbye everyone 21 plus and present in select states for kansas in affiliation with kansas star casino or 18 plus and present in dc or wyoming gambling problem call 1-800 gambler or 1-800 my reset call 1-888-789-7777 or visit ccpg.org slash chat in connecticut or visit md gambling help.org in maryland hope is here visit gambling help line ma.org or call 800-327-5050 for 24 7 support in massachusetts or call 1-877-8 hope ny or text hope ny in new york for louisiana call 1-877-770-7867 are you looking for support in your weight management journey zetbound terzepetide may be able to help zetbound is a prescription medicine used with a reduced calorie diet and increased physical activity to help adults with obesity or some adults with overweight who also have weight related medical problems to lose excess body weight and keep the weight off zetbound is approved as a 2.5 5 7.5 10 12.5 or 15 milligram injection zetbound contains terzepetide and should not be used with other terzepetide containing products or any glp1 receptor agonist medicines it is not known if zetbound is safe and effective for use in children don't share needles or pens or reuse needles don't take if allergic to it or if you or someone in your family had medullary thyroid cancer or if you've had multiple endocrine neoplasia syndrome type 2 tell your doctor if you get a lump or swelling in your neck stop zetbound and call your doctor if you have severe stomach pain or a serious allergic reaction severe side effects may include inflamed pancreas or gallbladder problems tell your doctor if you have severe stomach pain or a serious allergic reaction before scheduled procedures with anesthesia if you're nursing pregnant plan to be or taking birth control pills taking zetbound with a sulfonyl urea or insulin may cause low blood sugar side effects include nausea diarrhea and vomiting which can cause dehydration and worsen kidney problems talk to your doctor call 1-800-545-5979 or visit zetbound.lily.com this episode is brought to you by whole foods market fall is here and whole foods market has everything you need for cozy meals seasonal treats and easy entertaining elevate your hearty dishes with tasty bone-in beef short ribs or new york strip steaks with no added growth hormones or antibiotics and as the fall evenings draw in why not get ahead of cold season with immunity shots herbal teas lozenges and supplements make sure you look for sales throughout the month shop fall flavors with higher standards at whole foods market

Podcast Summary

Key Points:

  1. Brian Dawkins openly shares his experience with major depressive disorder and emphasizes the importance of seeking professional help.
  2. He credits Caplyta (Lumateperone) with providing greater relief from depression symptoms when used with an antidepressant, building on his progress without restarting treatment.
  3. Caplyta is approved for adults with major depressive disorder and is available by prescription only, with potential risks including increased mortality, stroke, weight gain, and high blood sugar.
  4. The show discusses a major NFL trade where the Bears acquire defensive tackle Jeffrey Simmons from the Titans in exchange for two first-round picks, highlighting its strategic value and risk.
  5. The Bears-Seahawks matchup is seen as a pivotal game due to the defensive tandem of Simmons and Quentin Nelson, and the coaching rivalry between Ben Johnson and Mike McDonald.
  6. The episode notes a growing trend of high-impact trades in the NFL, driven by cap flexibility, data-driven GM decisions, and younger, more aggressive leadership.
  7. Defensive tackles are highlighted as valuable due to their ability to create pressure and their longevity, as strength declines less with age than speed or agility.
  8. The Ravens-Bills game is presented as a narrative-heavy, emotionally charged matchup with both teams struggling to overcome playoff disappointments and injuries.

Summary:

Brian Dawkins shares his personal journey with major depressive disorder, emphasizing the importance of seeking professional help and highlighting how Caplyta, when combined with an antidepressant, provided greater relief for him. The episode also features a detailed discussion of the Bears’ trade for defensive tackle Jeffrey Simmons from the Titans, which the panel views as a bold, strategic move to strengthen their defense. They analyze the significance of this trade and the upcoming Bears-Seahawks matchup, noting how the defensive linemen’s ability to create pressure and the coaching rivalry between Ben Johnson and Mike McDonald elevate the game’s impact.

The conversation also touches on broader NFL trends, including increased trade activity due to cap flexibility, data analysis, and younger GMs taking bolder risks. Additional game coverage includes the Ravens-Bills rivalry, where both teams are struggling with injuries and playoff underperformance, and the Chargers-Rams game, which the hosts see as a pivotal matchup with high stakes. Throughout, the discussion underscores the emotional, strategic, and statistical dimensions of football, while reinforcing the importance of mental health awareness and transparency in player experiences.

FAQs

Major depressive disorder is a mental health condition characterized by persistent sadness and loss of interest. Brian Dawkins lived with it for a long time, carrying feelings of sadness and anger, and initially believed he could handle it alone, but eventually realized he needed professional support.

Brian Dawkins added Caplyta (lumateperone) to his existing antidepressant regimen. Caplyta is approved for use with an antidepressant in adults with major depressive disorder and is designed to provide greater relief than an antidepressant alone.

Caplyta works by enhancing the effects of an existing antidepressant, providing greater relief from depression symptoms without requiring a complete change in treatment. It builds on progress made with initial therapy, allowing for continued improvement without starting over.

Patients using Caplyta may face increased risks of death or stroke, weight gain, high cholesterol, high blood sugar, or uncontrolled muscle movements. Common side effects include sleepiness, dizziness, nausea, dry mouth, and fatigue. Monitoring is recommended.

No, Caplyta is not approved for dementia-related psychosis. It is specifically approved for use in adults with major depressive disorder when combined with an antidepressant.

Individuals should contact their doctor immediately if they notice new or sudden mood changes, behavioral shifts, or suicidal thoughts, as these can be serious risks associated with antidepressant use.

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