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Did Rod Wave Save Bryce Young's Career? | Hour 1

40m 48s

Did Rod Wave Save Bryce Young's Career? | Hour 1

The Dunlabotar show, in partnership with Draft King Sports, delivers a chaotic yet insightful analysis of the NFL season’s key issues. Central to the discussion is Joe Burrow’s alarming number of turnovers in fourth quarters and over time since 2024, challenging his reputation as a reliable late-game quarterback. The episode highlights a series of dramatic "Witching Hour" games—Patriots vs. Bills, Jaguars vs. Bengals, Giants vs. Cardinals—where late-game decisions and injuries dramatically shifted outcomes. The Giants’ resilience and James Winston’s post-game religiously charged commentary are presented as both entertaining and questionable. Major injuries to stars like Lamar Jackson, Saquan Barkley, and Jamar Chase underscore the fragility of current rosters. Meanwhile, team instability is evident in Minnesota’s rapid turnover of JJ McCarthy and Washington’s lackluster performance from Daniel Jones, who fails to make deep passes. The Chiefs’ unexpected 4-0 start is framed as a surprising resurgence under Patrick Mahomes’ aggressive, deep-ball offense. The episode also critiques the AP poll system for inconsistencies, such as Mississippi State’s sudden rise after a humiliating loss, suggesting potential bias from voters with regional ties. Ultimately, the show blends humor, analysis, and absurdity to reflect the unpredictability and volatility of the NFL season, where injuries, coaching changes, and high-pressure moments define the outcomes.

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You are listening to the Dunlabotar show in partnership with the Draft King Sports Act now live in all 50 estates. This episode of the Dunlabotar show is presented by Draft King Sports, Draft Kings, the crowned sewers. Nobody needs to say anything. Okay, all right, fine. - No one's saying-- - Bad stuff for you today. In that studio, people are fighting through it. Yeah. I, something got a hold of me last week that's in my lungs that I have not been able to get out of my lungs. I think it might have been last week's "Witching Hour." And this week's "Witching Hour" was also exceptional because you had all of this happening at the same time. From 3.45 to 4.15, which I will remind you is one of the worst takes ever had around here, where Tony once said that the best time to nap is on a Sunday afternoon from 3.45 to 4.15. The worst take in the history of-- Well, what I meant was right after the "Witching Hour" right before you start, you know, Raider's Colts, that's a nice one to take a nap at. Or first half of Broncos, Niners would try it. You meant the difference. You meant something different, but then when we came back and hammered you for it, you just kept the one down. I stayed in my course. At the end of yesterday's 1 o'clock hour, you had the Patriots and Bills going back and forth shoot out toward the end. You had Jags and Bengals. The Jags tried to figure out a way to give that game away. The Jags had 100 yards, 10 penalties in the first half alone, but-- Those rest, by the way, need to be looked at. I am curious what you guys think of the following because I don't know how I scrub off of Joe Burrow, some of the stuff that he has attached to him. Since 2024, Joe Burrow has 13 turnovers, more than anybody in the NFL in fourth quarter and over time. He's not actually good late at drives, and he's got the reputations as of being someone you can trust in that circumstance, and he doesn't win very many games late with the football. I'm really surprised to hear that he does not come back late in games. He also turns the ball over a lot. More than anyone in football in the fourth quarter and over time. It's 13 of those since 2024. Also the sad that we read last week about him not being a fourth quarterback was a fake sad. Really? Yeah, it was totally fake. Made it up. It's like he had 34 losses in the fourth quarter. I don't think he has 34 losses in his career. No, it was Zach Wilson or not Zach Wilson, Zach Taylor related. I'm surprised you guys didn't jump in there and find me immediately. The Joe Burrow reputation, though, when I get this, that's not made up, Mike. He's got more turnovers in the fourth quarter and over time. 13 of them since 2024 than anybody in the sport in a situation where you cannot have those turnovers. I cannot tell you the amount of value that the NFL places on protecting the football. But Matthew Stafford can undo all of his MVP greatness simply by turning the ball over at the rate he is doing so far this season. He can play otherwise just as good offensively. But if he turns the ball over at this rate, he ceases to be the MVP because these teams are so protective of the football. So when I give you that burrow is worse than anybody in the fourth quarter and over time since 2024 turning the ball over. It's a damning stat like that. You can't have that happen in those portions of the game. People don't like to read Scott Caxmar did like a whole breakdown on all the burrow game was. And there is something to it like when you contextualize where he built up this reputation. A lot of it was Evan McPherson, a lot of it was Joe Burrow getting the ball at midfield and just making a throw to get them in field goal range. So it is a little overinflated, but then that sat came around and the narrative was really wacky. There's truth to parse. I mean, it happens. So, you know, it may not be fair to do it like this. But imagine if you didn't make that run to the Super Bowl that one time. Like, what would we be saying about Joe Burrow right now when you preface it with the record in the fourth quarter? And all of the turnovers and on top of it, the Bengals who spent a lot of money on their defense going this year. Their defense is pretty good. Like now, after all these years complaining about the defense, and we're looking at the guy who's been doing the complaining. We're looking at Burrow kind of looking like Marino, right? Of this generation where you're like, man, he's got such tall and he's got these great wide receivers. He's got all this stuff. The Super Bowl, the beginning of his career. One super one, it's like, where is he? Like, like, this might be their year if they can figure it out defensively, which I think they can. But it's like, man, everything's in front of him yet he doesn't execute when it's time to. When it's time to is the witching hour and you had Pat's bills, Jags, Bengals. You had the Cardinals giants. What was Jacobi Berset doing at the end of that? Try to make a play, Dan. Come on, you know how it goes. No, come on. You got, you're inside the five yard line with what are you trying to make a play? Try to make a play. He's inside, he's at first. Is that one of your observations or no? Well, I have 112 of them today. Oh, you've already done 36. We've done an hour. I'm not ranking them anymore. I'm just spilling them all over the place. I'm not going to numerically assign a number to each of them. I'm just going to tell you there are 112 of these in the show. But I have only gotten through half of the games that were in the witching hour being decided all at the same time. So you got to pick six with the giants where James Winston is producing his first touchdown drives in nine quarters because that's another field goal team before yesterday. So you got Pat's bills, Jags, Bengals. You got cards, giants. You got Packers box. Make me talk about that game. You got Rams Eagles and then you got Cowboys Texans all happening at the same time. All of it just total, total lunacy and getting back to that giants game. Let's hear James Winston's post game sound as they win it at the end with a pick six. Man, I'm so grateful for the word of God. You know, one thing God do is for getting that is behind me and reaching forward to what is ahead. You think that I'm joking, but Philippians three, 13 states this and you have to do it. No matter the circumstances, conditions, effects, desire what you would love. And I wanted this team to win the game and it looked like the odds was against us. It really did. But God found a way how great you see his thoughts are how do I thought his ways are hot better than our ways. Oh, my goodness. That's only his grace. I know what about the giants. What is it about this team's resilience that it won't wave a white flag coach. Our head coach is tenacious. Our head coach is a kingdom man. Our head coach is instilling every every one of these qualities in us. And it's really a beautiful thing to see, man. So shout out to the defensive line. Shout out to the defense again. Shout out to the offensive line, man. Oh, praise God. Thank you. It's a plan for me. Why would you wish that game upon God? I do have a question. Go ahead. Talk to me. Why does God love the giants more than the Cardinals? Are the odds actually where the odds actually against the giants in that game? Were the giants favorite? Cardinals I think were two and a half point favorites. They're not going to answer my question. You don't know either. He loves to talk in the sing song wise voice of the preacher while saying things that are in no way wise. I think I'm done with James now. I think I'm done with him. Because to me, I will say same. So this is what it feels completely canned. I think he's doing a thing now. And he's trying to do a thing. And it's not funny anymore. And I think it's very transparent. I was like, I saw the headline of like, Jamie's post game interview. I was like, put my seat belt on. I was like, let's go. It's so canned. It's like, oh, okay. Yeah. Not on him. Michael Wilson, a big sinner. I will tell you though, it's a smart move by Jamie's because you started talking about like, how Godly the coach is. King the man. King the man. The coach that just traded for your likely replacement. You got to make sure you pump up the coach so he doesn't replace you. So the thing that Jamie's is trying to do is God. That's what it's like. Yeah. So when you say JJ McCarthy is likely replacement, I was thinking about this the other day because we didn't cover this all that much. I really do think that JJ McCarthy represents a new timeline for young first round quarterbacks. You get 10 games. Like, I think that's where we are. When Minnesota decides that their first round pick is now someone that they can discard for a fifth round pick. Basically, the new numbers are you get 10 games to prove that you can be our quarterback because that's all that JJ McCarthy ended up playing. It ended up being over two seasons, but that's where we are now with how quickly a team can move off of its first round quarterback. Now that there's not a financial penalty to sort of force patients upon somebody. I think that would be a huge mistake if that is what's happening. It is what's happening. It's what happened. I think it's a huge mistake, especially coming off of, you know, the Sunday night football game we watched last night. You know, by all accounts, Bryce Young, we thought he was a big Boston. He's pretty good. Okay, I'm guilty of that, but I warn you about making too many jumps based on what's happening with the Detroit secondary. They're playing a bunch of mechanics in their secondary. They are a God awful defense. This has never happened before. Jared Goffs, the only quarterback ever to have 1200 yards through four games with no turnovers and he's got not a winning record. Number 75. I mean, that's not something that's ever happened before. and it's because their defense is god awful, they're allowing 30 points a game, and their secondary is hugely injured. - Right, but take less away from Bryce Young. This has been a couple game long thing. They've been back to, you know, Canal is taking over. He's totally reshaped himself, and honestly, it's the only thing I hang my hat on is like a cam ward fan. It's that there's several examples right now in the NFL of people figuring it out. - You've been hanging your hat on a lot of things over the last couple of weeks. There've been a lot on that code hanger or on that hat hanger? - By a lot of hats, IG's got me. What can I say? I think I average like maybe 25 hats a year purchased. - Hey. - I give a lot of way, give a lot of way. - So I want to go back to October of 2024 when hip hop artist Rod Wave put on his story. Bryce Young called me, bra. And then since then, he's thrown for, let me get the stats here for you. Since that call out on IG, and I don't know what Rod Wave said to Bryce Young. He has a passive rating of 90.2. He's got 6,300 yards, 47 touchdowns, 19 picks and 30 games in that span and completely revitalize and change his career. - A fair point by Mike Ryan, and I was among those saying that that Bryce Young experiment was over at least in part. What do you laugh about? - What about me? - I told you, Rod Wave. - He said, Mike. - Something about Mike about it. - He said, Mike. - I don't think, I don't think. I gave you the actual points. - Rod Wave said something to him. We don't know what he said. Bryce Young was asked about it. - No, he said it. - It doesn't matter how we got there. - Gone. - Like, he brought the smart. - The media asked Bryce Young, what did Rod Wave tell you? And he's like, a lot of good things. I can't explain it. I can't tell you about it. And all of a sudden, he goes on this completely revitalizing streak. And you got nothing? - Usually when one person stops talking and the next person says, fair point, they're talking about the person that just got the doc training bride to just worship the devil or something. - The reason that I did that was to take inventory of the fact that I was one of the people who was wrong. I thought it was worth noting that I was one of the people who was loud wrong on Bryce Young. And it is wrong of me to simply take last night's game and say, don't get carried away by the fact that Carolina could go up and down the field on that defense 'cause everyone's doing it. - Down lebatar. - I don't like strange for me, but like Mike Ryan. - Oh boy. - This is the down lebatar show. (upbeat music) - But since you mentioned Trey McBride, I wanted to ask you guys what you thought of the entire back and forth he had with an NFL Linesman, where an NFL Linesman evidently, Lines judge, the man's name is Jeff Seaman. That's his name and he's been picked on since. - Do I know? - A young boy. - Yes. - What's his name? - Do I know? - Jeff Seaman is the lineman's name and he lit up Trey McBride. He's got a radioactive nuclear red face and he's just hitting him with FU's when McBride's asking for, you know, please have it. Can I get a pass in her face? - And then Trey McBride sees that he's caught on camera and he gets, and he laughs. He's like points like, "Ha ha, look, they caught you." - I love it. I love it so much. But the funniest part of this is, and obviously you can't defend the line judge, all right? - Jeff Seaman. - Because you're not supposed to use, they are supposed to be above the players. Like, they are supposed to be, you know, a lot more respectful than that. But it always makes me think about when you have those hockey shows, like the 24/7 and everyone's mic'd up on the ice and you could hear the language that the referees use to the players in the hockey game. It is stunningly foul how the referees talk to the hockey players during, like even in Carolina, every other word is the effort. They tell players, "F off, get the F off the ice, go to the F and bin." Like, the way they talk to players is crazy. And you hear something like that in the NFL and it's like, "Oh my God, the unions put out a statement." - I want to talk very briefly because it was not one of the interesting games yesterday about Jets Bears. - 73. - The Bears outgain the Jets by 335 yards and did not punt. That's happened five times in 25 years and the Bears had more first down than the Jets had plays. But the Jets did have their first interception in 637 days. Their first interception. They had two interceptions. They had another interception that was-- - The first one was called back. - It's called back, yes. But that's basically, you know, you're talking about two years without an interception. But that was a game. Afterward, the Bears defender, Devin Bush, had this to say after the game. - The hole in the ball for 42 minutes is kind of wild. Probably one of the easiest NFL games I've been playing and I'm not sore at all, so it's great. - I mean, it ain't fair. It doesn't soreness come like the next day. - I don't know. - I'm sure it's that day too. - I don't know if you played Taco football before. - Dan Moore's a football guy. - Moore first downs than plays. That's crazy. - Yes, that doesn't happen very often. Like I'm gonna say it again, 335 Moore yards and they did not punt and there isn't another occurrence of Moore first down than plays, 34 to 32 since the year 2000. Like that was a-- That's as lopsided as you're going to see a beating because it was at one point. It was like 270 yards to 33, but the Bears were only up 10-3. And the Jets couldn't do much of anything yesterday. That was one of the only games where one of the teams isn't in it. - On one of the goal line stops, Gino Smith tried to get the Bears defenders to go off sides 'cause they were at basically the half yard line and then they took a delay of game and then moved it back four inches and then ran a play. - I saw that. That was very smart. - It was. - That's a smart play. They were just sitting there like, "Go, go, go!" And then it was like, "All right, let's move the both four inches." - The hard count thing hasn't worked since Bella Check, BTCU in the first week of the season. Every team is trying to do that. All these coaches think they're smart on fourth and fourth going out there. "Look, I'm on my own 39-year line. "They're not going to actually go for this." And then they just fake it and take the delay of game and punt it. It hasn't been actually working. But you guys dispute what it is that I'm saying. When I say that the game that if, if, throughout the sport, people are leading their newscaster, sportscaster, with one game from yesterday. You guys don't think it's Bill's Patriots? - Cowboys Texans. America's team. - I mean, the Texans. - That was a big game, Dan. - The Texans are on four. - I'm making it. The Patriots were about to go one and three. - The Texans don't get to count in this discussion because they're one of the worst teams in the league. - Chase Raiders. People had the Texans going to the Super Bowl for the season. - They're one of the worst teams in the league. They have a good pass rush. They've got a chance. - So that doesn't play bad, though, Dan, if you look at what he's done the last couple of weeks. - And he go, Collins came back. He dominated last night. - They're rowing four. - I know, I know. - There was nobody dominating. - Will Anderson, though, Dan. - He's good. - I like him. - Antonio Hunter. - I enjoy watching him, but they're on four. What are you guys talking about? - That's the point. It doesn't make sense. He has good offensive pieces. They got good defensive pieces. They suck. - They're seasons over. You cannot start on four. If they win yesterday, they're still in it. That's why it was so big. - That's how it was a big game. - The Cowboys being able to throw that way, I don't understand how it is that CD-LAM has 17 catches in that game and the entire game. They just keep throwing to CD-LAM without what appeared to be any defensive adjustment. - Hit 21 targets. So many. - And at the end, they're targeting him. The Cowboys were down, double digits at the half. But Dak never wins that game. Like when the Cowboys are down, double digits at the half. There is no coming back for the Cowboys. There are very few resume games for Dak Prescott in which he ends up coming back from that kind of deficit. Can I ask you guys this though, at the risk of ruining your Mondays? - Gone. - The number of injuries and the specifics of the players being hurt. Lamar Jackson. Saquan Barkley. Jamar Chase and T Higgins. Like it's not just that you're getting rid of your explosive plays, you're getting rid of the people that will make burrow special. Like he's not gonna be able to do the same things with Gaseki. Like that's not, you got Thornton Hurt and then you get the Chiefs reaching out to Tyree Kill out of nowhere because Thornton was the only one getting deep down the field for the Chiefs. You guys keep mentioning Chiefs Raiders. I mean, the Chiefs had a double digit lead in that game and then the Raiders were throwing, but an on-side kick at the end doesn't really put you in the game. - Yeah, but double digit, I think the surprise was that they had a double digit lead because they had a fight to come back to take the lead and then the fumble on the kickoff right away and they scored Kenneth Walker's in the MVP conversation. Did you think that we'd be a month into the season? My homes would have started all the games and the guy you're talking about as MVP is it? Well, the Super Bowl MVP, so it does make some sense. - I just don't expect him to last the season. I'm at the point now where I expect all of these people with high usage rates to get hurt. I expect him on H&N to get hurt if the coach is telling me before the season that he's gonna have 40 touches a game. And I'm just asking you, Zaz, do you care when the Falcons are on their fourth quarterback a month in? When Washington is on their third quarterback, uh. a month in it doesn't mean that uh. they i don't know the young fella the young the young greek fella is jason kelsie kept calling him they uh. they they had the emergency quarterback on the screen his name is yank off uh. their their emergency quarterback was it was yank off i also by the way i'm i'm sitting here talking about the washington quarterback but i cannot tell you how much daniel jones frustrates me because it's all it's just all shallow slants and checkdowns and he just won't look down the field it's not all that especially if you look at allic purist the season last year but now he's will pierces out i know but i'm saying daniel jones guy i'm saying is daniel jones somebody who can only do it when he's got because thorton wasn't somebody i knew before my homes made thorton thorton pierce appears to be a an elite downfield threat and if he's not there for them that aspect of their their game is gone at fun caliac monis that was wild thorton like that deep past gets up to celebrate and realizes he has a broken ankle oh yeah i saw it live is tough broken was one way to describe it you know it's he alive you're not better than me no no i'm just saying the second time today ever just that you keep saying i saw alive that is great me watching in in replay just as good as you know i was watching the live just a little bit later just a little bit later if you live you know what i know you want something live that means you know more exactly right yeah i saw when it happened i got i was like whoa his ankle's out of place i was talking about that a practice here that's a good one too you guys don't have any opinions on all the injuries there i know that from okay i do it's weird right it's very i mean sport not injury but curt cousins still got a little less in the tank yeah he does i mean that final drive so no thoughts on that was dancer odd that was dancer and look we're good teammates we usually walk right past those but this one i mean there was no sound around it it was it was a it was a stereo guttural the flam yelling in there please get me out there's no sound around it kind of like my point about injuries the first month of the season if there's no sound around it because i'm asking you guys whether or not you care but you're right i have bad things happening inside of me i'm ill i've told you guys that i'm not i've been ill for a week you're sick man and yes well i'm the the cough that i have is way too wet it's uncomfortably wet like yeah well i had that too dan i think you gave me that i may be giving it to others here as well i think Greg Cody got a little bit sick as well so my apologies don't get about that on whatever two whatever sounds come out of me with a pre-existing lung condition yeah i asked you last week are you worried you're going to kill Greg you said no but now he's got that uh i haven't talked at all about college football uh it's taken me too long to talk about college football today what happened to florida how is it that jayden ball has 13 carries for 12 yards like well there are theories out there jayden ball 13 carries for 12 yards uh you say there are theories out there as if anybody would get that uh that joke like i i know yeah you made you laugh with an inside joke because a caller to a gainsville radio station said he wasn't having enough sex and so zaz decided to make that as a joke as if everyone's listening to gainsville radio it was better when my body was making sounds amid silence than when you talked i like those little subtle jokes chris had one about the carolina hurricanes were in earlier and that was a great joke yeah that's good is now getting acknowledged online so i heard i was with somebody uh at the at the Clemson game who was glazing that offense pretty good we all were and yes last week i was given florida tonic credit and i was scoring 50 points again and i was crushing mizou also i told you i'm taking mizou this week but the the one thing that was really interesting about that game was florida got dominated dominated at the line of scrimmage and mizou did that without their two starting edge rushers and the best theory that i heard was no one sees more wide zone in the nation than mizou it's all they run so they're essentially seeing their practice uh offense come at them and they are more than prepared for that kind of stuff so that was the best theory that i heard also maybe the sec as a whole is super confusing right now we haven't played enough games to figure out what's what one thing that i do know is alabama's got a good quarterback what's what alabama alabama looks like they're back then they score a ton of points they're smoking fools even in games they're in a couple of games as you're Kentucky and fs you were they're trailing by double figures at halftime and like it doesn't matter in the second out they're so smoking fools alabama damn might be back might be why would you do might be when they keep putting up 56 okay they're back well seven more tough games and they could lose a couple they haven't played any good defenses they haven't played any good defenses they're about to play a good one in Georgia but that went a mischievous state come on we we think george has a good defense but george hasn't played any good offense so we're going to find out who's who this weekend classic who's who game they cleaned a mischievous uh states clocks tailor got injured everyone was was really hyped on the comario tailor train and the person that came away with a heisman hype was russell rightfully so mississippi state gets blown out at home they fall one slot in the ap this is the scc racket in the top 25 now mzoo actually won a game against the top 25 opponent so they're probably going to be there for the next five years you look at mississippi state it's like they've got the one guy comario Taylor but that's it it's mississippi state at the end of the day a team last year was terrible they just have the one they're not terrible last year they were sneaky decent last year I told you that start Vegas tough place to play but the tough thing for comario Taylor is they got the one guy and he gets pressured a lot and I mean those are the best edge guys that he faced but I was still surprised at how that game got out of hand now it got out of hand because Taylor wasn't there in the second half they were trying to fight back into that but really curious to see what happens between Alabama and Georgia two teams that look really good so far but also the context of who they've played I think we feel a little bit more certain because they want a Kentucky and we think Kentucky is good but Kentucky inflated themselves by beating up an SEC team in Texas and then that we also have questions about wow that came out of my body not turned up at all happens a lot in fact if you were following along closely it happened again after just people were talking oh get me out of here that is horrifying it's my life dude what kind of animal is that it sounds like a demon pig like a pig in need of an exorcism yeah sometimes it happens and you blame Greg Cody yeah and and I go along with it because I feel bad for Dan and they're yeah yeah yeah yeah it's a bad look I feel guilty every time because Dan does that 17 times a show that's not true it is a pointed out the next time that it happened you sure yes well let me get through this yeah let's let's revisit next week but it happens a lot even when you're not sick that's startling when you speak up when you speak if you make me laugh through art I'm gonna become Cody coughing and it's gonna be a wet laugh like a wet call like I'm in a swamp close your eyes you're gonna swamp and there are frogs everywhere a dark swamp it is late late late at night you can't see very well and there's something in the marsh what that's shuffling around wait a minute is that it or is it on he's there yes the swamp down levitar the only is captain slappy jenna dan saslo is this chumbucket this is the down levitar show when you talk about the ap vote can you guys start getting some imaging for me on ap a whole because every week we should announce a new ap a whole because of the the sheer number of stupidities that you'll find in the polls it's every week every week there's some a hole ap a hole it's good every week there's some a hole who let like look here you have a vote you could vote however you want your opinion is your opinion but I have a problem with when you vote one way one week and then what your bow it is the next week makes no sense to compare to the way you previously voted so this person he's an ap voter he's called Greg Luca all right make this make sense to me dam last week for instance Mississippi state who had all the hype around them who ranked 18th in the country now when you're ranked 18th in the country damn and you lose at home by 33 points do you think you should move up eight spots to number 10 mask your question of course not of course not of course not now again it's your poll you can have what opinion you want I don't care about that but it's not okay when you have a team ranked 18 they lose by 33 at home and you move them up to number 10 in the country that's not okay to me well I'm just looking at the Miami stuff because obvious bias and I see Alabama's now ranked ahead yeah Miami went down yeah ahead of Miami in his ballot week to week but you understand why this is because they they just throttled number 10 Mississippi state all this stuff is reverse engineered to benefit the SEC Notre Dame has won 15 straight games by double digits it's 15 straight it's a tough for time in that game that I anticipated yep yep yeah that was it it went to that kickoff balls like oh wait a second we got there against North Carolina. What was there? What was there was an opportunity there? It was there. 20 at some point, it was there. They've won 15 straight games by double digits. I don't want you taking away the credit from them when they've won 15 straight games by double digits. There haven't been that many streaks that are like that. That's an unusual streak. Let me see who they've played and I'll get back to you about that. This Greg Luca guy covers UTSA. So it's not like he's like in the SC, but still just biased. That may be who he covers. Let's let's keep digging. Who does he love? Who does he love? Where did he go to school? Who's his in-laws family? Something that bears watching in the NFL when we talk about the Chiefs, as you guys mentioned, the Raiders and Kirk Cousins. Patrick Mahomes versus Man coverage the last two seasons. This is from Next Gen Stats. In 2025 against man coverage, says he was five yards per attempt. It was last in the NFL. In 2026, it's 11 yards per attempt because he's got a running game and everything they're doing out of play action. It leads the NFL. And now they're calling Tyree Kill because they want some deep help. But this is a this is Patrick Mahomes reverting back to 2022 form because he's got Kenneth Walker to offset a bunch of things offensively. They're playing offense differently than they have the last two seasons. There is no world where anyone was saying that the Chiefs were going to be 4-0 to start this year. I mean, you don't think so? No, I don't. Like, who did you hear with getting Kenneth Walker? It felt like, all right, wait a second, they may revitalize the offense. No, but the conversation was, is Mahomes going to look anything like he used to? We didn't even know if he was going to be ready at the start of the season. And to say that the Chiefs at 4-0, I think it's the biggest surprise to the league. So right now, I don't think so. Greg Luca went to Florida. Is that a Jim Tom Zoola? What are you saying is the biggest surprise? No, the Chiefs at 4-0. There's no ways as what's a bigger surprise? The Vikings at 4-0. The Chargers at 49ers at 4-0. What's happened to the Chargers? The Chargers, 0 and 4. The 49ers is a good one. You want it well, I'm giving it away. You want to take a guess who's lost the most games to injury so far this year? It's not a surprise. It's the last five years. It's always the 49ers and they're still unbeaten. That's substation. They keep making fun of it. There's something there. Sas, I don't know how surprised you can be about that. Why would you be surprised about the Chiefs being 4-0? This was supposed to be a down year for them. And they only went five games last year. We didn't know if Mahomes was even going to be ready at the start of the season. I think it's completely reasonable to say this is, this is very surprising. Not just 4-0, but looking like a championship team again. Yeah, but last year was the outlier. Every year before that of Mahomes's career, other than the year before that, it's looked like this. It hasn't been the surprise was that Patrick Mahomes would look like check down quarterback five yards per pass, but they are now throwing the ball down field. You guys see the injury list yesterday from yesterday because it's, I mean, it's, it's a crazy list from just yesterday. It's Nailer, it's Hollins, it's Mariotta, it's Humphrey, it's Alt, it's Bigsby, it's Mitchell, it's Rice, it's Cirtan, it's Neighbors, it's Jant, it's Janty, it's T Higgins, it's DJ Moore, it's Lad McConkey, it's Jamar Chase, it's Safequan Barkley, it's Lamar Jackson, and you get the weirdness yesterday of how often have you guys seen this? How often? Tell me. Lane Johnson, suddenly, before the game, personal reasons, out when I'm telling you that what Jalen Hertz's numbers are when Lane Johnson plays and doesn't play, Jalen Hertz is one of the best quarterbacks in the league when he plays, and is one of the worst when he doesn't play, and it's that easily tied between the two if he has his right tackle. How often do you guys see right before a game? A guy's just not out there, he's personal reasons. What, what could those personal reasons be, and do we respect that sort of stuff? Yeah, let's go around the room and guess. It's a great question. I'm gonna say ghost. Again, I'm saying it's unusual, it's super unusual for a guy to just admit that you only get 17 of the game. You think you saw ghost or he became a ghost? I think you got a call. We got a ghost. Go check out a go. Because he might have become a ghost. You think, it's not out of the question. You think he died? I think the personal reason was he died and became a ghost. No, it's not out of the question. It's not out of the question. You've been terrible. No one's confirmed that it's not that. Tony, I got things to ponder. Check out what's going on with Venetius. Outside of the chin job, they're saying he got cloned. He's gonna come out and have to address this. There's tattoos missing. He can't play well against India. It's a thing. Check it out. He doesn't look anything like himself anymore. He's missing tattoos. His muscle definition is different. He's not playing well. Funny enough to help Zaz's point in the things to ponder file. The first thing was, will my homes be the same post knee injury? What else is in the things to ponder? Fauci for prison. That one is still working on that. What do you believe the fifth so much? Is there a higher level that Caleb Williams can reach or have we seen his peak? I think the case can play better in the system than Caleb did. That's another story. Zaz, how do you feel about the fact that you were alleging publicly to an international audience that it's not out of the questions that the reason that Lane Johnson missed the game yesterday for personal reasons is because he had become a ghost. Hold on a second. Mike Ryan offered up the theory that the reason he missed the game was because of ghosts, but your problem was me coming on top of that saying maybe he became a ghost. Yes, and all this is a deflection from you, definitely wanting to play guess the personal reason. I'll grant you that this is the outcome of me wanting to guess the personal reason, which is irresponsible. I will grant you that, but you have to grant me that as he points to you and says that I did not dismiss your point and the only reason I didn't dismiss your point is because you were clearly making a joke, joke, whereas when I came to him for his point, he doubled down. He wanted to go further and you and say that Lane Johnson had become a ghost, and then as I'm staring at him in the silence, he says it's not out of the realm of question. You're complaining about guys being good teammates here. We were just trying to help. Yeah, but not good teammates. You helped poorly. That's not helping well. That's helping poorly. Anxiety. Look how fun this is. I so badly hope that he pooped himself. I so badly hope that he was a ghost. Someone sick. How is that your analysis? You're going to triple down. You have been terrible today. Here's sick man.

Podcast Summary

Key Points:

  1. Joe Burrow has 13 turnovers in fourth quarters and over time since 2024, more than any other NFL quarterback, raising questions about his performance in high-pressure situations despite his strong reputation.
  2. The "Witching Hour" period saw multiple crucial games—Patriots vs. Bills, Jaguars vs. Bengals, Giants vs. Cardinals—decide in dramatic fashion, highlighting the chaos and unpredictability of late-game NFL dynamics.
  3. The Giants' victory over the Cardinals, fueled by resilience and a strong defensive line, stands out as a rare example of team grit, while the offensive performance of James Winston is framed with religious and motivational flair.
  4. There is growing concern over quarterback instability, including Minnesota’s quick replacement of JJ McCarthy after just 10 games and Washington’s reliance on a rookie quarterback, Daniel Jones, who lacks deep-threat ability.
  5. A series of major injuries—including Lamar Jackson, Saquan Barkley, Jamar Chase, and others—have disrupted key offensive dynamics across the league, threatening to derail teams’ seasons.
  6. The 2025 Chiefs’ 4-0 start is viewed as a surprising reversal of form, with Patrick Mahomes shifting to a more aggressive, deep-passing style, potentially reviving the offense after years of inconsistency.
  7. The NFL’s defensive vulnerabilities, especially in teams like the Detroit Lions with a severely weakened secondary, have allowed high-scoring offenses to dominate, questioning defensive reliability.
  8. The show critiques biased AP rankings, such as Mississippi State’s jump after a huge loss, and highlights potential conflicts of interest among voters like Greg Luca, who covers Florida and may have a bias influencing the polls.

Summary:

The Dunlabotar show, in partnership with Draft King Sports, delivers a chaotic yet insightful analysis of the NFL season’s key issues. Central to the discussion is Joe Burrow’s alarming number of turnovers in fourth quarters and over time since 2024, challenging his reputation as a reliable late-game quarterback. The episode highlights a series of dramatic "Witching Hour" games—Patriots vs.

Bills, Jaguars vs. Bengals, Giants vs. Cardinals—where late-game decisions and injuries dramatically shifted outcomes.

The Giants’ resilience and James Winston’s post-game religiously charged commentary are presented as both entertaining and questionable. Major injuries to stars like Lamar Jackson, Saquan Barkley, and Jamar Chase underscore the fragility of current rosters. Meanwhile, team instability is evident in Minnesota’s rapid turnover of JJ McCarthy and Washington’s lackluster performance from Daniel Jones, who fails to make deep passes.

The Chiefs’ unexpected 4-0 start is framed as a surprising resurgence under Patrick Mahomes’ aggressive, deep-ball offense. The episode also critiques the AP poll system for inconsistencies, such as Mississippi State’s sudden rise after a humiliating loss, suggesting potential bias from voters with regional ties. Ultimately, the show blends humor, analysis, and absurdity to reflect the unpredictability and volatility of the NFL season, where injuries, coaching changes, and high-pressure moments define the outcomes.

FAQs

The 'Witching Hour' refers to critical time periods in games, such as from 3:45 to 4:15, when key decisions are made and many close games are decided. The show highlights how these moments often determine outcomes, especially in high-stakes matchups.

Joe Burrow has had 13 turnovers in fourth quarters and over time since 2024, more than any other NFL quarterback in such high-pressure situations. This has led to debate about his reliability in clutch moments, despite his strong reputation in earlier seasons.

The claim that Joe Burrow had 34 fourth-quarter losses was later revealed to be false and fabricated, likely involving confusion with another player like Zach Wilson or Zach Taylor. The show clarifies it was not based on factual data.

The Giants' game is highlighted for its dramatic finish, defensive resilience, and the coach's strong leadership. The show notes it exemplifies how teams can overcome odds and maintain composure under pressure.

The show suggests that young quarterbacks now face intense pressure to prove themselves in just 10 games, with some like JJ McCarthy being replaced quickly. It also notes Bryce Young's performance surge after a personal connection with Rod Wave, though the exact impact is debated.

The show finds it funny when McBride is publicly called out by a linesman, only to laugh at the moment, highlighting a lack of respect in officiating. It's compared to hockey referees' language, suggesting a cultural disconnect in sports officiating.

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