Leg Cannons, Ref Controversy & the Browns Superteam (feat. Todd Haley and Jarrett Bailey)

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Tell your doctor your medical history, muscle or nerve conditions, including ALS, Lou Gehrig's disease, myasthenia gravis, or Lambert-Eaton syndrome, and medications, including botulinum toxins, as these may increase the risk of serious side effects. Why wait? Ask your doctor, visit BotoxChronicMigraine.com, or call 1-800-44-BOTOX to learn more. EGAD, my fellow football Americans. What a zany weekend of football we have to go over. No matter the time zone, from London to Rio to Washington, D.C., apparently the head coaches of the NFC East, don't know how game clocks work. Sad news, the Niners' O-line finally allowed a sack this season, but I guess the silver lining here is San Francisco stayed undefeated with a win at the Seahawks. Great game, but sheesh, Ref, if Cooper Cupp says he was inbounds, he was inbounds. Matt LaFleur and Jordan Love kicked up the Green Bay-Chicago rivalry by kicking the crap out of Ben Johnson's Bears with extreme prejudice. Snoop Huntley rallied the Ravens past the Falcons. Tua Tee did not rally the Falcons past the Ravens. Meantime, the Browns lost. So I hear Jimmy Haslam's now having a substation installed at the Browns' facility. Wild Saturday at college football. Top-rated Texas lost the Red River shootout at the gun, which I assume has the SEC-loving pollsters trying to figure out if they can somehow move the Longhorns up higher than number one. And Georgia slipped past Bama with the help of the refs. And funniest of all, Lane Kiffin. He's the Elizabeth Holmes of college football, duping powerful men to fall in love and give them lots of money with nothing to show for it. And we still have a showdown in L.A. on Monday night between the last two MVPs. We haven't a moment to spare. I mean, neither did the Commanders. So let's learn from them and start the show. Yes, hi and hello, my fellow football Americans. Welcome to the Week 5 review, Monday Night Football Look Ahead. Welcome to Football America. Presented by DraftKings Sports. Now available in all 50 states. We got a full boat down there in Miami, Florida. Oh, and the Levitard Show. Was there a lot of bellyaching about Malik Willison, the State of the Dolphins? This is what they wanted, you know, everybody. We have 31 other teams that are probably, at least 29, 30 of them are more relevant than the Miami Dolphins. So let's jump into it, shall we? We have our guys Todd Haley and Jared Bailey coming up in just a few minutes. He's here to talk about the state of the NFC North, specifically how that old man played quarterback against the Colts on Sunday. Gino Fuentes, back from vacation. How are you, fella? What's up, Dave? How you guys been doing? I heard you guys had some funny ass shows. Well, better than the Dolphins. We had some great shows. And by the way, Nick Kostos was in on Friday, and he gave me the business about my hair. And I'm vain enough that then I took to the shears as a result. Why do you listen to that guy, Dave? These are the results for the viewers. If you are out there, if you're following us on YouTube. Your head looks rounder than ever. I don't know what that's supposed to mean, but either way, Buddy Badowski. Yeah, if I were you, I'd keep my yap shut, or else we're going to talk about the Gators. And look who else it is. Yeah, I don't want to do that. It is me, Caballo. 10-day Tony Kolodiyud. Welcome back to the show as well. How are you doing, Tony? David Damoshek. I'm doing great. Great week of football. I'm ready to talk all about it. Great. I mean, weird. At minimum. Hey, Gino, let's kick it off like we do every show. We're running out of jersey numbers here. We'll figure out what we'll do once we hit the century mark. In the meantime, it's episode number 90. What player wore that number best in pro football, or if you want to extend into other sports, have at it. Well, right now we've got T.J. Watt and Demarcus Lawrence sporting that number in the current-day NFL. But if you go back in time, you've got some George Webster, some Neil Smith comes to mind, but the big one is, Julius Peppers. And it takes me back to a time when we had a Peppers off on the show. Peppers. There we go. Was it Chris Cody that did the Stephen A? Chris Cody on the Stephen A. Then you had Peppers. Mel Kiper. That was the actual Mel Kiper. Then you have Mike doing his fantastic. It's just a great Mel Kiper. So you have Peppers. Peppers. Peppers. Peppers. Dave, who did it best? A cacophony of Peppers. It's too many Peppers in my head, and now I want to go into 20 minutes. It's a 20-minute debate about what the best Pepper is, but we have too much to get to. Banana. So let's get in. We'll skip over Saturday for now, and we'll review the games that we told you on Friday were the three most consequential in the NFL on Sunday. And let's talk about the greatest NFL rivalry, at least of the 20th century. Bears and Packers. I'll start off with this. Packers uniforms. They were great. But if they were a new team, they'd be great. And they were fine for the Packers, to wear in the year of the Lord, 2026. Just don't wear them against your arch rival. Save those for another game. When you play like the Panthers or something like that, this is no time to break those things out. Either way, everybody in Lambeau, or most of the people there, were over the moon about the result there because Jordan Love and Matt LaFleur freshened up that rivalry. Real, real good, I thought, and stuck it to Ben Johnson. Maybe went a little bit too far with that because I don't know. I think that they're going to have to play each other once again. I'll start off with you, 10-Day Tony. What was your big reaction to, not the win, which I did forecast, and I have to pat myself on the back for that. I did tell you that some of the early season metrics out there just were not sustainable. We'll see what happens over the rest of the season. But I did suspect that the Bears' defense wasn't that good heading into this one, and the Packers' offense wasn't that bad, and both things proved to be true. How say you? My biggest takeaway was, wow, there's Jordan Love, right? Like, the biggest thing we saw was the offensive line gave him absolutely no time to throw, no time to do anything. They had the worst pass block win rate by far, 22%. And we finally see him connect multiple times. I like the sticking in the knife a little bit more and twisting it on Ben Johnson from Matt LaFleur, who's looking like, you don't like me. We've never met. What am I going to do with it? Like, all right, you think you're the offensive guy? Perfect. Here you go. I'm going to hang 31 and keep throwing the ball. Matthew Golden. Went from having no catches and no yards to six catches for 123 yards in the blink of an eye in the fourth quarter. And I was like, what happened here? They're just, they're, they're keep throwing. Okay, fine. I was, I was very happy to see. All right, there's Jordan Love. And if the Packers can sustain that without, you know, the obvious situation they have, the porous old line they have, they can shore that up. The Packers could be in the mix a little bit, right, Dave? Buddy, you've had your eye on Micah Parsons return. What is the latest on that? I'm in the dark. Honestly, haven't seen anything, Dave. Like I, it's been all quiet on the Western front when it comes to the Micah Parsons injury. But if the Packers, I mean, they're sitting at three and two, they're right in the thick of it in the NFC and right in the thick of it in the NFC North as well. If they're going to get this type of production now, Jordan Love is not going to throw for 367 yards every week, right? And if he does, you can come back and laugh in my face about it. It'd be weird if he threw for 367 yards exactly every week. Specifically every week. Yeah, that would be crazy. But you know, 25 of 31, 367. But one thing I do. The Packers, like we talked about early in the season, they finally found their guy in Christian Watson for so long. It felt like they had like 579 overall receivers. Now they've got Christian Watson, who's an absolute stud, goes for 6143 and two yesterday. But Matthew Golden breaking out in his second year in the league, like people were really excited. They finally drafted a first round receiver in Matt Golden. He kind of had a quiet rookie year and he is breaking out in a huge way this year. Two big time receivers in Green Bay is huge for Jordan Love, who is finally showing like that touchdown pass that he threw to Christian Watson, where he steps up around the pressure almost and launches it. I saw it was 66 yards, air yards. It's like the third longest completion since 2013 or something like that. Nate Tice tweeted that out. Unbelievable. So yeah, if they are going to have the offense rolling like this, once Parsons comes back, like that's a reason I said they were a Super Bowl team last year and could return to being such if Parsons comes back and gets the defense. Fence right. well tony said it and obviously the limiting factor is the offensive line and by the way i'll stand by what i said in the preseason and i'm gonna take the vikings to hold serve and win that division the lions look good it was against the cardinals of course they look good because they wore the silver pants let's stick with those no more of the practice white uh uh pantaloons you know detroit it's enough of those um tony real quick do you do you agree with me that the vikings are the best team because they have an actual defense and that probably carries the day in a defenseless division otherwise a hundred percent they have the best defensive play caller we've seen in maybe this century from from an exotic scheme perspective from blitzes from package from from coverages like we'll get to mike mcdonald in a minute oh well the other the other contender for that the other contender for sure that tributary right but when you look when you look at what the vikings are able to do without a quarterback because like kyler murray just started playing well this past week he had some flashes against miami in the fourth quarter that he played well but like i think top to bottom they have the best roster construction of all the teams in the nfc north all they need is a quarterback to really get them over the hump to me like packers are probably second best i'd probably throw the lions in i'd say the bears right now are the worst team in that division which is crazy because i think the bears are pretty still pretty good like we we can't forget they went two and one with backup quarterbacks like tyson bajan and and they turned up all over five times yesterday they're they're you didn't have a backup running back but he didn't have a backup run that's dude that one two points is he's talking about kyle manunga a backup running back did anybody else hear that or that that hearing things that one two punch has been fantastic for them this year i'm not saying that's going to revolutionize the offense but i do think the big thing is back soon he's good but we're not talking about them being the fourth best in the division because of kyle manunga no i agree with you i'm just saying that they get they get kyle caleb williams likely back next week once they have swift and manunga bouncing off each other that rushing attack that we saw in the first week against the panthers if they can get that going again when he's back in there when swift is you know they get that together and then caleb williams what he brings with his legs like i just think they still went two and one with their their backup quarterbacks they kept the float without caleb williams and that's what they had to do oh yeah right let's keep that in mind i know we overreact and we do it every week and we're we're just five games through here and you know it was with the the thing that i said a couple of weeks ago and i'll remind you of again is you know you can get awfully excited about a backup qb and i understand that baltimore is puffing their chests out because of the big rally with uh with snoop huntley down in atlanta rightly so um but just keep this in mind whether it's case keenum or anyone else you want to talk about the kryptonite for backup qbs is almost always going to be too much playing time they can look good for a week they can look good for three weeks maybe but if you're down in tampa as a for instance don't talk yourself into jalen daniels and what a mistake we made by going after baker mayfield let's just roll with the kid when you are an unknown you can jump the league or you can jump one team or maybe even a couple of teams for a couple of weeks but nfl defensive coordinators are going to figure out what your tendencies are and then they will take away your preference and then it is on you to solve what they're doing to take away what you want to do and find an alternative this is not an answer long term bajan isn't a problem but they need caleb williams back and remember going into this game a lot of people had matt lafleur flyer fired by this morning and uh now everybody considers him a hero up there in wisconsin number two over in london the jags are still there by the way the finishing point on that is i don't think any of the nfc north teams ultimately have a real shot at the at the super bowl so let's talk about at least one that i now sitting around london somewhere probably drinking guinness or otherwise after their win against the eagles it was a zany one and like everybody has already talked about i mean i nick sirianni is the start of it but so none of the nfc's coaches know what the rules are they don't know how to work and all of that right buddy i'm not overstating things that was a that was a really disgraceful display by all of those guys right yeah ugly weekend for the nfc east it's an ugly weekend for any division any time you go winless and you have two teams playing each other that's really impressive to do like the nfc with the tie up in dc which i'm sure we'll talk about at some point did not win a game this weekend and the cowboys get trounce the eagles like i thought the offense in the first half looked pretty good all things considered with no rushing attack you know losing will shipley so now they're down to damian pierce who is up from the practice squad go gators um but i mean yeah i think it didn't always but it you know it just seemed like they stand i wouldn't i wouldn't you gotta do it no matter what about the gators right now i gotta do it no matter what you gotta shout out the gators you gotta shout out the boys but no they stagnated in the second half it looked like everything was really just like at the line of scrimmage they couldn't get anything going and then how they make that mistake on special teams and allow that kick return like i'm with everybody that's saying just kick it out of the back of the end zone like don't even give them a chance to have a big return to spring a big return like maybe they're going to have a big return but maybe you let the guy guy go one more second but you can't time it perfectly you don't know if the guy's gonna break it and go all the way to the end zone like you got to get him on the ground there but it's just i don't know how you let that happen like cover the kick it's so important in this day and age to cover the kick and uh and and they they don't and and look what happens they lose the game disagree with mike tomlin on sunday night football said you have to be able to cover kicks in this league and there's no hiding from it yeah there is hiding from it the rules allow you to hide from having to cover the kick and so i i think that maybe that would have been the smarter play there but let's talk about the jags tony what do you make of them you know the eagles there's a lot of noise in philly right now but about nick sirianni we've perpetuated some of that negativity on this show i thought jalen hurts largely looked real good and and rose up in a big spot there but it still wasn't enough i don't know what to make of the nfc east collectively i i'm gonna ride with the cowboys even after that atrocious loss to the to to the uh buccaneers but focus instead on by the way the jags now await the texans how do you like that one quick preview of that big one because the texans can play themselves right back into things if they can knock off the jags next weekend the defense that we saw uh against the titans for houston is what we thought we were going to be getting all season right i i wrote about this on my sub sub stack the other day uh why is it that the collection of houston is not as good as its parts right you have all these great defensive linemen you have all of these great players nico collins cj stroud who we thought was maybe turning a little bit of a corner hasn't thrown a pick this year by the way one of three quarterbacks he's been good this year one of three quarterbacks who has not thrown a pick this season him geno smith and jared goff over you know a hundred a hundred dropbacks neither of those guys have thrown a pick but you look at yeah it's it's it's fascinating i didn't know that yeah yes crazy so with with a hundred dropbacks or more the only three quarterbacks to not throw a touch uh an interception were jared goff geno smith cj stroud so you think cj stroud he's got multiple 300 yard games this season nico collins back from injury got two touchdowns and like you look at what they've got going on it's like nothing gels nothing like makes sense defensively they should be one of the best teams in the league they showed it against you know the maybe the worst team in the league outside of miami but going back to the jag side jags defensively are a load like they are a very good team defensively at all three phases don't get enough credit for it they they really don't they force a ton of one of the best d uh defenses against the run uh where houston also struggles now with david montgomery hurt so like there's these pieces that make it an interesting game i think the better the thing to look at is what we always talk about dave what quarterback is better and who do i trust more call in the offense and i'm gonna side with with trevor with liam cohen even though offensively they didn't look great against the eagles um they did enough to win and parker washington's been a revelation for them so i'm gonna stick with if we're doing a mini preview i'm gonna stick with the jags and i think they could be a massive player and i think they're gonna be a massive player and come december and january i think when people talk about don't say that again buddy i don't like the the phrase like doesn't get enough credit we are a show we can give him credit we can get the jags credit and we've given the jags a lot of credit on this show in fact they're at least in consideration to replace the cincinnati bengals as my super bowl pick we're only at week five we're in between five and six i don't know if i have to do that i i i'm sticking with the cincinnati bengals for right now a couple of things though um first of all i thought that to go back to the other side of that and we're talking about the nfc east i mean is there anybody luckier or feeling luckier right now than cam scataboo is because thank goodness in his head for dan quinn and jayden daniels because he had the otherwise the boner of the weekend taking them gloves off and then fumbling in the rain of dc and it's forgotten now because of the buffoonery around the division otherwise so it's it it really is um it is crazy but that game in london all of a sudden is i think i assume it's in london right um it's yes yes okay um but let's jump to number one in the meantime uh on our preview from last friday and react to what we then saw and it was a great game it was the nfl game of the weekend i think niners and the hawks it was a great chapter in the nfc's best rivalry of this century um i think you know it's not just that the game was close and came down of the wire and all of that. But what you'll want is something that spices things up. And Mike Evans doing what he did to Trevon Diggs. So badass. Seahawks. I don't care about the story. In fact, Mike Evans was, if you missed it, Mike Evans, Trevon Diggs was trying to talk trash to him. And Mike Evans literally turned Diggs around to look at the back of the jersey to see who he was. It was the greatest troll job I think I've seen on a football field in forever. And it's funny because the Niners trolled the Cowboys real good down there in, I think it was still Texas Stadium at that point. Yeah, it was. Terrell Owens when he went out to the star and they did not like that very much. It's stuff like that that perpetuates rivalries into a new generation. Great stuff from the first-year Niner, Mike Evans. Here's what he had to say about it after the game. I mean, I was blocking him into the whistle and he said something like, I'm doing extra or something like that. And I didn't know that was him at first because I played against him a few times and we always been cool. You know, he was a good player. And I didn't, I honestly didn't know it was him because in the helmet, it's hard to tell sometimes. And we were just, we were talking trash. I think I like pushed him and he, and then I was like, who are you? And I looked and made sure. Eli, and then he, he, he mushed me. That should have been a penalty. That would have been the best. The fact that he, he capped it off with it should have been a penalty. Yes. You should sometimes be able to get a penalty for getting humiliated and having no response. That would have been funny if, if he had gotten 15 yards on top of all that, you know, I was writing down to myself in the, in the last moments of that game that it suddenly occurred to me watching JSN run around in that offense, in that pass attack, he is the only one who scares you. And it reminds me of Steve Smith when he was on the Carolina Panthers, you guys might be too young to remember, but the high at the height of his power for two or three years talked about it with, with Steve, when he was on the show several months ago, there was a quality to what he was doing in his prime, where you knew he was the only scary guy out on the field for the Panthers. And yet you would consistently seeing him run in big spots in overtime of games and otherwise in the playoffs, just running all by himself, like not another, not a defender anywhere in the TV. It was wild stuff. And that's what G JSN has going. And as I was typing myself to remember that, to say it in the here and now, he dropped that big pass, but just before that, so that was a terrible drop that probably forces overtime at worst. But beyond that, the refs made them say, you know, JSN is a star and the, you know, Brock Purdy is a star and Mike Evans, but the referees won't have any of it. They have to be top of line stars. And I, you know, they have to be top of this game, Dave. The thing that stood out to me about it was that the referee, the official who made that call on Cooper cup along the sidelines, it would appear that he got the ball and fought to get to the sticks and maybe did, maybe didn't, but the referee, the official was obscured from seeing where Cooper cups feet were and where the ball was by Cooper cut cups, but was right in his way. So he couldn't see anything, but he's such a curmudgeon. He's so predisposed was this, the official to do negative that he had to call it niners ball and ruin the day of everybody in that stadium. Not that they should be influenced by cheering fans, but I thought it was telling because as I've asked before, and I ask you now, what kind of weirdo would ever want to be an official who would want the rules over anybody else? Does anybody grow up? Does that nobody grows up thinking like, you know what I want to be when I grow up is a referee. What kind of, but it's telling that it's like, I didn't see the play, but you know what? I'm going to call it. I'm going to call it for the niners anyway. What a creepo, right? Yeah. Dave, I, I, I didn't like the way that he was so emphatic immediately. Like everybody in the stadium is going insane because Cooper cup just made this unbelievable play. And immediately the referee is like going the other way, like first down niners. And it was like, man, you're not the story here. This is the rule of cool, right? We talk about the rule of cool a lot and like cool things should just be a loud because they're cool. Like sometimes you shouldn't overturn a catch just because it's cool. That's a moment where you just got to let it happen. Like the entire crowd is going bananas. The Seahawks are going crazy. Cooper cup is fired up and I'm sitting at home. So excited that he made this unbelievable play. And now the game is over because he just handed it back to the niners. Like that game was so good. So awesome. They're to me, clearly the two best teams in the NFL. And now it just ends on a, on an inch like that. Like it, it just, it's so frustrating. One game, games and like that sometimes. We have a point there. Although the Ravens with their backup QB look good. And that reminds me, I see now we have our guests waiting in the ring, in the wings real quick. Let me tell you, it's time for roast and toast brought to you by Labatt brood for the chirps, the rivalries in the sacred art of trash talk Labatt brood for the roast. And this week I am going to roast the NFC East coaches from Rio to London to Washington, DC. What the hell is going on with their inability to read a clock and all of that disgrace. Full stuff. But I also want to toast those same NFC head coaches, because the other side of that coin is that they don't know the rules. They're bad at clock management. Long, long story short, they stink. And that gives the rest of us hope. If those guys can get NFL head coaching jobs, let alone make many millions of us dollars for the mediocre to poor effort that they're providing. So can we all. So here's to you, Sirianni and the rest of you ready to take over for y'all. My fellow, football Americans here, something you already know, but the football season is officially heating up and every week feels bigger with draft Kings. Draft Kings is now live in all 50 States. One app, all the football nationwide, new draft Kings customers sign up with code. Damasek spend five bucks to get $150 and rewards within 14 days includes all markets. That's code Damasek D a M E S H E K in partnership with draft Kings. The crown is yours. Gambling problem. Call 1-800-GAMBLE. 1-800-MY-RESET. Connecticut called 888-789-7777. Visit ccpg.org on behalf of boot Hill casino in Kansas. 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All right now let's move along to to those guests there they are the two sides of the pump fake Todd Haley and Jared Bailey how are you fellas welcome to football America welcome to October welcome to Steelers winner circle here I guess we can start right there how are you guys what's up football America how are we Todd Haley a pleasure to see you we've never met before Jared an old pal we like to kibitz about the past and the present and the future and the future of Pittsburgh Steelers in summertime we like to rank our favorite Steelers of the Millennium and all of that how you doing you're going to do that you're going to do this dealer talk down there are you Dave nice nice to be with you thank you I have to say I was hearing you talk about that Seahawks game and I was sitting in a restaurant bar watching it and the guy next to me screamed out that's four yards short and I was sure they were going to make that a first down so my girlfriend was like just stay quiet don't say anything and I'm like I I still can't I've heard all the explanation I don't agree with it you know we see that kind of gray area unknown he was inbounds where was the ball I mean that come on get sideline cameras is what I'd say that's right it's a it's a solvable issue that's the most damning thing that we continue to live in this weird purgatory where we know you got you mostly can see what the correct call is if you're watching on HDTV the only people ironically or otherwise who don't seem to know it are the octogenarian officials down on the field and somehow they even if somebody's in their ear telling them that that call may not be right and now that we have TV officials correcting saying I disagree with the call that the on-field refs made it just makes things even worse but all right let's move on the waters of the three rivers are calm today after a double-digit win against the Colts it seems pretty clear to me fellas that if you've been paying attention for the last 18 months this is true the recipe for the Steelers offense is to lean on Jared war a Jalen Warren how say you Jared Bailey yeah I mean we've seen it over the last three weeks now where Jalen Warren has been the focal point and the Steelers offense has taken off they scored 30 points twice in the last three weeks at just efficiency stats right now warren is amongst the best uh in the nfl and over the last three weeks epa wise he's better than bijan robinson he's better than jamir gibbs he's better than derrick henry when they feed jalen warren good things tend to happen and i think that especially in week five against indianapolis they kind of found that formula and you know aaron said it after the game saying you know good things tend to happen when we give it to 30 and it took longer than i think steelers fans would have liked for them to realize that but i do think that it is something that they have come to realize that this is a guy that needs to be a bell cow guy even when rico dowdle does come back um he's a guy that you need to feed and get a lot of touches to whether it be running the ball or these swing passes out of the backfield they're working and it's opening up everything else in the offense so kudos to them for finally figuring that out and good for jalen warren for for the the stretch that he's having todd um by the way kudos to you i don't think you have gotten you enough shine for what you did in kansas city by the way with matt castle and everything else to get not in the way back machine but to you know take a a look in the rearview mirror just a little bit but what would you be saying if you were coaching aaron rogers right now you know i was talking earlier about backup qbs and i think if you reach a certain station that you accept that maybe i'm not going to be a superstar quarterback in the nfl but if i if i um you know mind my p's and q's and play within myself as they say that somehow that a certain percentage of veteran backup qb's can sort of thrive joe flacco as a for instance comes to mind with the browns um but aaron rogers was a superstar so what what do you imagine is the negotiation right now with mccarthy and with rogers sort of figuring out at 43 you ain't what you were a decade ago so we have to play within these physical constraints yeah he's definitely not what he was there's no doubt about that dave but uh you know what he hasn't lost is his ability to diagnose and see what's happening um you know at the line of scrimmage so you know jared and i on our our podcast the pump fake we uh i said this i said you know there was a lot of drama last week without a doubt it was very unstealer like and and i knew that there were going to be some hard conversations throughout the week um and i i thought it was a thousand times better because we're going to have to do something about it and we're going to have to do something about it and we're going to have to do something about it and we're going to have to do something about what aaron can do is at the line of scrimmage with time and when players are coming in and he's getting up the line with two seconds what he did is not okay you can't call out the coach on national television and the coach can't yell back at him but we've all done it uh but yesterday he had time what did we see we saw him get into the proper play we saw him creating uh offsides by the defense giving them potential shots they missed it and they missed it and they missed it a huge opportunity because you know the one time they jumped i mean i know the rules that i copied aaron rogers and green bay and mike mccarthy and we did it in pittsburgh all the time i mean ab probably caught uh 15 touchdowns off of that exact concept and and the receiver dropped that i get it but uh it just uh you know number one run the football uh aaron aaron is all on board with that uh you know you're gonna have to force him out of the game you're gonna have to force him out of the game you're gonna have to force him out of the game you're gonna have to force him out of the game center some which he doesn't want to do ben didn't want to get under center i mean they're older guys it's tougher i mean you got to turn your back to the defense but it's effective so um you know the best thing i said is rico dowdle unfortunately getting hurt has allowed them to feature warren uh they're now targeting fryer muth which was not happening last year at all and and jared will back me up on this i was frustrated the entire year last year i'm like why will they not throw it uh to pat because especially in accusure you throw a ball to him it's the same feeling i had when we threw a ball to heath there were times i called a play that i knew had a very good chance to go to heath and i wanted to hear the crowd that brought adrenaline uh excitement it just gave juice to everybody involved so uh you know i that was a get right game for the steelers for sure i don't know how good they can be uh you know in the in the long run but um that was a really positive step yeah i mean i really do i know i'm gonna sound like a curmudgeoned uh a percentage of steelers fans who want to endlessly give aaron rogers shine it seems pretty straightforward to me if you give him an extra half a beat that's when he can uh he can pick you apart he did look good moving around he moves way back he doesn't move like 33 year old rogers but he certainly moves way better than 40 something year old tom brady or peyton manning or ben roethlisberger who didn't even get to the end of the game he's a really positive step yeah i mean i really do i his 40s moved around at the tail end of their careers jared we just heard the the uh the nickname ab there regardless of whether or not you think he deserves it or not will ab get into the hall of fame yeah i don't think it'll be first ballot just because we saw i mean we saw him punish to and not let him in first ballot for much less things that went on uh on the field you know obviously ab's done uh you know in terms of things have gone on off the field for him that you haven't been great but i mean just in terms of the talent and whatnot i i think that he'll eventually get in um again won't be first ballot but you know i mean todd and i reminisce about this all the time any chance i get to you know just talk to him about it just because it was a big part of my adolescence watching him catch touchdown passes and todd called the place to do it so um just the pure talent from 2012 to 17 the numbers that he put up in that stretch unquestionably the number one guy for that amount of time and i think that's going to be a big part of his career and i think that's going to be a big part of his career and i think that's going to be a big part of his career um you know like i said i know things that have happened since then you know will certainly hold him off for a little bit but i mean just off that alone i think that he he'll get in it's just a matter of when as good a six-year window as we've seen in the super bowl era for any wide receiver and you could make a case that that starts when he and todd haley kind of go at it ab that that launched 84 into that stratosphere um todd do you think the 2027 steelers quarterback is in the building right now uh i'm not there dave i don't know um you know generally speaking unless it's brock purdy or tom uh brady uh you know if they're not taken in the first round you don't see it play out that way so there's a reason why you know will howard drew aller sorry jared i'm gonna rip on your guy a little bit but there's a reason why they're taken where they're taken um you know it just over time history that's not the way it's generally worked uh you know it doesn't mean that there's not a kurt warner out there that uh nobody knew about at the time that became a hall of famer but uh it's just not um again i'm not there if i were sitting there watching practice i'd give you some real good answers right now but uh i'm not uh you know i i saw you know things throughout college both their careers that i really liked i saw things that i uh did didn't like uh you know so it's there's a reason why they got taken where they got taken i have a hunch and i i don't know either but unlike you todd i recklessly speculate about this sort of thing i think they think that drew aller is the answer i think that that's what it's all adding up to that that's the value of mike mccarthy whatever shouting matches and whatever happens this season i think that that's why he's there is to bring along a guy like galler either way you're the head coach let's say um todd haley and you have these three coaches on your staff arthur smith matt canada randy feichner promote one demote one fire one well you're not doing that to me i had to take my swing i thought i am not falling into this trap you know come on randy was a great i i don't know arthur i know his dad because my usfl time uh his father who's now passed away uh was around a little bit and i got to talk to him uh but i do know randy and i know randy was a a great resource for me um you know he was up in the box uh he gave me great information he was a great conduit to ben uh it made my job really easy to coach ben because all i had to do is go over and talk to randy during practice and then two minutes later ben would call him over and say what'd he say you know so it was a it was a easy way to talk to randy and then two minutes later ben would call me over and say what'd you say to coach you know and get get the job done and and get results so um uh you're you're not pulling me into that trap i i did my best and i i'm not gonna hold your feet to the fire any longer on it then uh jared answer this one for me it's the quarterback league and so you can't say aaron rogers but you know i have the jenga theory which is that if you remove the wrong piece the whole thing will implode who do you suppose is the jenga piece of the steelers offense and the steelers defense if we remove quarterback well that's a good question um i think that i mean right now we already talked about jalen warren being that big jenga people what he's done so far if they were to lose him for any stretch of time obviously knock on wood don't want that to happen but if they were to lose him at this point from what we've seen over the last three weeks i think that that really kneecaps them in terms of what they want to do offensively and what they can do offensively uh so i think that he's become that big jenga piece you know i would love to sit here and say it's dk metcalf but he just had three catches in 12 yards against him so i think that he's become that big jenga so i'm pretty safe to say it's not him uh zach fraser could be another one you'd throw in there uh top five center in the nfl right now uh with a young offensive line uh if you lose you know the guy in the middle who's become the leader of that you know that could you know lead to issues that pertain to protection and whatnot and not being able to run the ball too so i think that those are the guys you probably circle defensively uh i think that we've seen that joey porter might have been the jango piece just because secondary wise they haven't been very good since uh since the beginning of the year when he's not out there you know it's not to say samuel flashed in in preseason but he's had an up and down year you know they brought in a bunch of uh you know journeyman veterans at safety you know ray sean jenkins came in and hasn't been great jacquan brisker came over from chicago had high hopes he hasn't played great so i think it might be okay to say that joey porter might have been that jenga piece uh at least uh as of right now um they survived derrick harman being gone uh against against jonathan taylor and the colts so uh hopefully they get him back soon but yeah joey porter being gone just gives them a need that he had already filled in terms of finding a good young corner so they they cut off their nose despite their face i uh you and i park our cars in the same garage there real quick fellas um todd should you have gotten a head coaching job in cleveland when greg williams was promoted to replace hugh jackson um no what the first we're talking jenga here oh yeah jenga piece was we had the first and fourth pick in that draft uh we visited with everybody all the quarterbacks which was obviously what what we needed we didn't have a quarterback on the roster uh the jenga piece was um i was asked daily you know what what i would do and by ownership by everybody and and some people were on board somewhere and i said easy simple take saquon barkley number one take josh allen number one take josh allen number one take josh allen number four easy in hindsight to say it would have been something special but uh that you know whether whatever happened there i mean it's uh cleveland's a mess generally so i get it uh you know i i got my contract so that that that all worked out but there are there are nights i wake up in a cold sweat uh especially after we see josh allen do some josh allen like things this is not a indictment denzel ward who's a really good player or baker mayfield but i i think things would have looked a lot different uh if if you had saquon and josh allen on the same roster man oh man you're you're spot on and denzel ward i always question when a coordinator is pushing hard to get i need this to make my defense work like well in success dc you're gonna leave right in a year or two so that doesn't make any sense to draft guys that you specifically need for your scheme either way um last thing here let's so we want to talk a little afc north so let's jump to the end of the novel here jared who's going to end up winning that division or better yet which teams are going to make the playoffs uh in the preseason i picked cincinnati to win it um and i get the steelers to be a wild card team um it could end up being three teams but those are the two that i had in i was worried about baltimore and you know a quiet lack of like blue chip talent outside of lamar derrick kyle hamilton but zay flowers has been awesome so far you know a lot of ravens fans have been quick to tell me that because i kind of shrugged off that extension they gave him but he's been terrific when he's been on the field and you know they just gutted out a win last night against a hot atlanta team on the road with a backup quarterback in their four and one so i think they'll probably get in but not backing off cincinnati winning the division offensively when when they're in a groove they're as good as any offense in the league and defensively like that's not a unit that's a complete crutch anymore you know bringing over dexter lawrence we're seeing dairy wise i think they've got a quietly good unit with dax hill and dj turner and jordan battle so i'll stick with the bangles winning it and i think both pittsburgh and baltimore will sneak in wow i got uh i got the bangles going to the super bowl as a matter of fact call me you and i hey we park our cars in the same garage on that my friend i picked the same thing well i don't want to root for it but i'd like to be right too todd how say you um the bangle you know i picked the bangles uh you know a believing that defense would be a lot better i didn't know they you know they're actually playing better than what i thought they would at this point so that's a good sign for the bangles we know offensively uh you know my biggest issue with the bangles is they finally handed the football off uh yesterday which was a positive sign i mean i just don't think you can throw as good as joe burrow and chase and higgins are you can't throw the football 45 50 times a game week in and week out um but the run game showed a little signs of life with p ryan so uh that's a positive but uh with the ravens the unknown was jesse minder and what that was going to look like a young offense coordinator but uh it's been positive derrick henry was the other question can he continue to look like 27 year old derrick henry and he does which is amazing zay flowers has taken a huge jump uh the defense looks solid uh we know the chargers are missing jesse mentor uh defensively so um if you gave me a chance to change it i might if you tell me lamar is going to be back here pretty quickly i might zigzag back to the to the ravens but uh i'll stick with the bangles since since jared stood up and did it um i have the steelers just on the outside looking in but uh you know they're they're in a good spot right now um fellas uh i'll stick with the bangles since since jared stood up and did it um i'll stick with the bangles since thanks for the time fellas don't be strangers come and shadow our door again sooner rather than later won't you what do you uh what do you say it's been a thin slice of heaven uh appreciate you for uh yeah for giving us a little bit out here pal sure thing anytime fellas thanks again for the time my fellow football americans here's something you already know but the football season is officially heating up and every week feels bigger with draft kings draft kings is now live in all 50 states one app all the football nationwide new draft kings customers sign up with code damasheck spend five bucks to get 150 and rewards within 14 days includes all markets that's code damasheck d-a-m-e-s-h-e-k in partnership with draft kings the crown is yours gambling problem call 1-800 gambler 1-800 my reset connecticut call 888-789-7777 visit ccpg.org on behalf of boot hill casino in kansas bed tax pass through may apply in illinois 21 and over void in canada bet with draft kings sportsbook to get bonus bets that expire in seven days or trade with draft kings predictions to get predictions dollars that expire in one year event contract trading involves risk of loss predictions offer void in new york non withdrawable rewards issued as 50 click to claims every seven days for 14 days terms at dkng.co slash offer limited time offer nationwide based on sports book predictions and free to play sports contest availability varies by state all i was excited for football but now i'm really really excited because jagermeister is on board jagermeister knows being a football fan comes with some unwritten rules never admit your lactose intolerant in green bay never mention 28 to 3 in atlanta never leave a folding table unattended in buffalo and the most important rule of all always serve jagermeister ice cold on game day zero degrees fahrenheit drinking cold or don't drink it at all jagermeister damn that's cold drink responsibly jagermeister liquor 35 alcohol by volume imported by masked jagermeister u.s white plains new york now let's move on here how we doing on time there gino do we uh do we have any time to get into monday night football here real quick we got about eight minutes worth of show let's go let's get into it oh a luxury of time even i you know what let's bring the fellas back i have i have 17 more questions to ask him i can get them in in eight minutes all right now we'll move on to monday night football and in fact let's not just move to monday night football let's move past it let's jump to the very near future about midnight 11 59 p.m pacific coast time the delorean has now transported us here 10 day tony since you really understand time ready for this you ready for this one even though it was right the last time you nailed it i was right the last time we jumped to the delorean i said i can't believe jordan love plays down his competition and they got waxed by atlanta on a thursday nighter but yes i understand okay so yeah you understand yeah josh allen and the bills just played the los angeles rams in sofa right you understand okay what what what was your big takeaway or takeaways of that game stafford is back in his bag and he was able to distribute the ball to the team and he was able to distribute the ball to the team and he was able to in a way that we haven't really seen. It's usually the Jenga piece that we talked about is Puka. This time he was able to get some of the tight ends involved. Kyron got involved. Devontae Adams was a big piece of it. They really had their way with the defense of the Buffalo Bills. Josh tried to do his best as a Superman impression, but the offense for the Rams was just too good. Buddy, is he seeing it clearly? Does he need glasses? How say you? Tony and I are on the same page right now in terms of just the offense getting going here. I think this secondary presents a great opportunity for the Rams to kind of. Take advantage of that from the Buffalo Bills. Their secondary has struggled all season long. Why are you talking in present tense? It already happened. Sorry. Yeah. Now I don't get the game. He doesn't know how to make fun of Tony. Hopefully Gino gets the game. I don't know. No, I think the Stafford and Puka and Devontae Adams feasted on this secondary on Monday Night Football and put up a huge game, especially from Puka. Caught not one, but two touchdowns. Oh, I didn't see that. I saw Devontae Adams with two touchdowns. Oh, okay. All right. I saw a little bit too much shade on Puka's side. Devontae Adams, number 17, wasn't able to get two touchdowns. Gino, I don't know. Either way, I think I saw Stafford just dealing, looking like himself, looking like the Rams finally looking like this powerhouse that we all expected them to be. They got to keep pace. They knew they had to keep pace with the Niners and Seahawks, who look like the two best teams in the league, and they did it with a big win over the Bills on Monday Night. Gino, were you surprised to see the Rams lay 33 on Buffalo like that? I mean, 33-26, pretty impressive win, high-scoring affair. How say you? Well, I mean, it was to be expected, though. The Bills' defense has been bad all year. I couldn't believe that Josh Allen managed to score all the touchdowns for the Bills. He just, you know, every time that Cook thought he was going to get the ball out of the goal line, Josh Allen just dove in headfirst like he always does. But it's going to be a great game. This was my Super Bowl pick, by the way, at the beginning of the year. Nobody asked me. You guys all made your Super Bowl picks. Nobody asked me, but there it is right there. So it was a great game to watch. Well, you know what? That's a fascinating point you make there, Gino, about that, because I'm about to mention it in just a second how that could well be. This could be a preview of the Super Bowl that ends on Valentine's Day. You know, I think the thing that people are ignoring about, I think it's been mostly positive for Buffalo in the new-look regime there, new stadium and all of that, but the thing with the Rams that people are sort of ignoring, when you sort of, I guess through deed, it's not as though anybody on the roster called them, a dream team like Vince Young did a generation ago with the Eagles. But I think you attach a certain pressure. Aaron Donald comes back to join Miles Garrett on an already great team. There's a certain level of expectation. But the first month for the Rams, they were in Australia. They've been traveling to Philadelphia, back and forth. Now they have three of their next four at home. And I think that matters to allow them as human beings to settle in. Just a little bit. And I think they're getting a little bit healthier, too. I have a hunch that the Rams are about to take off right now. I know everybody's down on them, and they say that it hasn't really worked so far. So far, the formula hasn't really taken hold. I don't know if everybody knows, Miles Garrett has barely touched the field so far. And Aaron Donald is now coming back. I bet you Aaron Donald has a good game in a big spot. He had a good game, Dave. Looks like the Rams took off. I know we're live, but go back. I can cut it out anyway. That was a mistake. Aaron Donald had a great night. And the Rams were victorious in that. Hey, how about real quick what Todd Haley said there? He advocated. Fascinating. How about how he advocated for—I wish you would have answered my offensive prediction. The other question, yeah. I thought he was about to get, like, legit angry at me there when he was like, don't do that to me. I got a little nervous. But how about what he said? Did he float? He floated and was pushing in the building with Cleveland. Saquon? I mean, the Browns browned it once again, right? I mean, that's pretty interesting stuff. I couldn't even imagine Saquon Barkley and Josh Allen in the same offense. Like, I have no idea what that would look like. It would be—especially for when Saquon, you know, he had that 2,000-yard season, like, just enthralling that offense. I don't know that—it would be unstoppable. Those are two of—arguably the two best players at their positions in their league. Like, it would be unbelievable. I messaged social. I'm like, clip that immediately. Like, put that out. I hope that goes viral, that Todd Haley was trying to get the Browns to have Saquon and Josh Allen out there. Unbelievable. Me, Caballo, as we look ahead, we're not going to get into the DeLorean here right now, but on Saturday in Bloomington, Indiana, all my pals are getting together. You've seen them on the show before. A lot of people getting together in Bloomington. Ohio State paying a visit. How Ohio State is ranked ahead of Indiana right now makes no GD sense to me, but that's the— That's the least of it. What did you make of the goings-on? And what was your two-line takeaway from college football Saturday? The 12-team playoff needs to stay 12 teams. That was my takeaway because, like, I saw the Georgia-Alabama game. I was like, man, this is awesome. And, like, if you take the stakes out of those games and whoever loses, it doesn't really matter. That hurts the product of college football. I thought that—I thought Matt Rule and the boys, had you guys by the short and curlies, Dave Damoschek. When I saw 17-6, I had a big smile on my face, and then I immediately saw somebody running 85 yards for a touchdown in white and red. Why would you be happy about the way you—because it would make me sad? I don't—I don't understand why that would give you any pleasure. He's still mad about what—he sees Mendoza storming into the end zone. By the way, I—we didn't mention it, but Mendoza. Looks pretty good. Not a bad little sequence late in that game, Dave. No, I'm—I'm still sad about Mason Heinschel. It was going to be a special season. But now, what this has allowed for me and all Pitt fans is to say, if he hadn't gotten hurt, we obviously would have run the table and wound up in the national championship game. Probably against the Indiana Hoosiers. But it's getting—it's getting—it's getting real. Even in the bayou, where it's usually sweltering, even in October, it's starting to get a little chilly. Dave, I'm so cold in here. You have no idea how cold it is in this room right now. Oh, my goodness. Presented by Jägermeister. Serve it cold or don't serve it at all. Jägermeister. Damn, that's cold. For more, visit Jägermeister.com. Drink responsibly. Hey, I hate to brag, but I know how to read. And what's more, I recently read, and it was a book. No, no. It was a novel. And it was a gem at that. The Remains of the Day, it was about an English butler who wastes his life in service of a rich guy in the name of duty and dignity while sacrificing personal happiness. Long story short. Loyalty to your employer is nice, but sometimes it can cost you what your heart really desires. And as that relates to an NFL QB, a Lombardi trophy is the only thing that'll scratch that itch. Also money, but I'm talking about the Lombardi. I think you're picking up what I'm laying down. Now, of course, a lot of the NFL QBs are like the slobby sitcom husband hitched to someone way out of his league. But I'm not talking about them. I'm talking about the actual good ones, not the ones paid as though they can carry a franchise. That's the ones who actually can carry a franchise. Those guys need to recognize when they're in a bad relationship before it's too late. Matthew Stafford knows what I'm talking about. He did that dozen-year stretch in Detroit. Looked like he was going to go his whole career without one great moment in January. So he left his longtime partner, ran off with Sean McVay, and immediately got himself a ring. Now Josh Allen knows what I'm talking about, too. He may not have come right out and said it, but he had to be wondering if he was spending. His best years faithfully working with a supposed defensive whiz who couldn't hold up his end of the marriage. 13 seconds was more than 1,700 days ago, so I get it. But now Josh is in a new relationship with a guy named Joe Brady, and it's all good. They've been friends at work for a while. They've just raised the standard a little bit. And so far, it's so good. Same with Aaron Rodgers and Mike McCarthy, who are the NFL's Affleck and J-Lo. They got it on a while back, split up. Real ugly-like. Now they're giving it another shot. I love love. Purdy's got Shani. Mahomes has Reed. Joe Montana was lucky enough to hook up with the Silver Fox, Bill Walsh, who did wind up moving on and going younger. Terry Bradshaw and Chaz Knoll, oh, those two had a volatile relationship. Dan Marino, meanwhile, got stuck in a long-term relationship with an older man. And like one of DiCaprio's girlfriends, there were no rings involved. Point is, loyalty is a virtue. Not a suicide pact. A great QB gets maybe 15 years to find true love in the form of the 7-pound silver tchotchke that gets handed to you by Roger Goodell. That butler I mentioned blew it by wasting his time. And by the time he understood what he'd sacrificed, his opportunity was gone. That's a tragedy in literature. In football, it's called Marino Island. And take it from this novel reader right here. Nobody wants to spend his remains of the day wondering, if he should have asked for a trade. That was pretty stupid. That was a lame way to do it. I'm sorry I did that. But the point is, now that both Stafford and Allen have a new lease on love, don't be surprised if Monday night in SoFi is just the first date in a season that ends in the same spot on Valentine's Day. And that's that. Gino and I do park our cars in the same garage. Thanks to Haley and Bailey and all the fellas down there in Miami. And most especially, you, my fellow footballers. We'll be back on Friday to help get you right for NFL Week 6. Until then, thanks so much, my fellow football Americans. It's been a thin slice of heaven. No two football players are exactly alike. And the same is true off the field. Like a good neighbor, State Farm is there.